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bgallen · 1 year

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Pink grasshoppers, reading children's books, Six Triple Eight, and more...a Friday List

Happy Friday!

I hope that you have had an enjoyable week with hopefully decent weather. I know that in many places this week the weather has been devastating. I have compiled a list for you to enjoy and as always I hope that you find one or two things to enjoy. I have also added some podcasts that I have been enjoying as well as a new to me book that I’ve begun.

May your weekend be one of rest, activity, joy, and calm – whatever it is that you need in this moment.

· Why adults should read children's books - BBC Culture, “So it's to children's fiction that you turn if you want to feel awe and hunger and longing for justice: to make the old warhorse heart stamp again in its stall.”

· Texas Author Reunites with TikToker Who Made Him Bestseller (people.com), what a neat story!

· The Pink grasshopper - Erythrism (roeselienraimond.com), oh my I have never seen one of these and didn’t know it was possible for them to be pink. It would seem more likely to find one of these in Alice in Wonderland than out and about in real life. Here’s another beautiful one, Anglesey: Rare pink grasshopper spotted in garden - BBC News

· Six Triple Eight: The battalion of black women erased from history - BBC News, how incredible! Such an impressive accomplishment and I am so glad they are finally being recognized as they should have been. Tyler Perry is currently filming a Netflix film about them with Kerry Washington starring as well as producing in it.

· Sounds of Motown (A cappella Medley) - Kings Return - YouTube, I really enjoy Kings Return…harmonizing is impeccable and covering Motown?! Even better.

· DREAMIN' WILD Trailer (2023) Casey Affleck - YouTube, this looks to be a really great film.

· Tiny Octopus Gets So Excited When His Diver Friend Comes To Visit Him | The Dodo - YouTube, oh my goodness – this is the sweetest little mollusc (yes I did have to google that.) I am always fascinated when animals interact with humans that aren’t animals that we keep as pets.

· Elizabeth Cotten - In the Sweet By and By - YouTube, Learned something new today…”cotten picking” was created by Elizabeth. She was left-handed so she played her right-handed guitar upside down, which apparently is not the easiest thing to do.

· Woodland (2020) – Sarah Anne Johnson, I saw Sarah Anne’s art on a house tour on youtube and fell in love with this Woodland series that she has. This is what she has to say about the series, “ I then transformed the photographs with paint, metal leaf, holographic tape, photo-spotting ink, and photoshop to create a more honest image that reflects my personal experience with the landscape.” I once had a friend tell me how she edited her photos so beautifully and she said the same thing as Sarah Anne, she edits the photo to appear in the photo as her own eyes and mind experienced it in person.

Podcasts I’ve been binging:

· Lionsgate Sound | Scamanda, this is an incredible story….that I can’t quite wrap my mind around. I have found that I prefer podcasts that are hosted/created by journalists. Charlie Webster did a great job researching this story along with her team and the original investigative journalist that began the work and then she does an excellent job telling the story.

· Betrayal on Apple Podcasts, another well done podcast. Heavier material than Scamanda, well it’s a different sort of heavy. Depending on how you handle things, you may want to read up on it before you listen. Both seasons so far have been so well done. The first season is now a documentary on Hulu.

· Huberman Lab, I just began this one today. In the episode I began listening to today, Dr. Malenka is on it discussing how the brain changes in response to learning and reward and reinforcement. Fascinating and exciting stuff!

New book:

· Operation Barbarossa - Jonathan Dimbleby - Oxford University Press (oup.com), the largest military operation of all time – the invasion of Russia by Germany in 1941.

#fridayblogpost #weekendpost #fridaylist #hope #joy #fun #music #art #photography #flowers #summer #2023 #summer2023 #themoreyouknow #growth #learn

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wehavethoughts · 4 years

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The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins Review!

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins Written By: Clint, Griffin, Justin and Travis McElroy Illustrated by: Carey Pietsch Comic book First Second Publisher, 2018 Based on the podcast The Adventure Zone: Balance

Rating: 4.5/5 Waves

This review does NOT contain major spoilers for The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins.

Summary: A D&D based adventure comic starring three unlikely friends: Magnus, a human fighter with a heart of gold, Taako, an elf wizard who can charm the pants off a bugbear, and Merle, a dwarf cleric with just enough blood to go around. When a routine delivery to Haverdale goes sideways our heroes must face gerblins, mages, animated robots and the titillating mysteries that unravel in the lost mine of Haverdale.

Review: I’d like to start this review with a disclaimer: I have listened to and thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of the podcast that this comic book is based off of, The Adventure Zone: Balance. Therefore, my review of this comic is going to be a bit biased. I know how this story ends and I’ve already bought into the shenanigans, genius and tomfoolery that are the McElroys playing D&D. Nevertheless, I attempted to approach this re-read from the perspective of someone who didn’t already know and love The Adventure Zone.

The very first thing that stands out about The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins comic is, of course, the art. Carey Pietsch does such a fantastic job of conveying action and emotion that I never lost track of the characters or their movement, even in the most hectic fight scenes. The art style is colorful, detailed and dynamic in a way that is incredibly engaging to look at. Even on my third read through I found new and wonderful details that added to the experience. Comic book art is critical to the enjoyment of comics and I am so glad they hit it out of the park with this one.

Character design is also an important component of why I enjoyed the story so much. As a fan of the podcast I knew what Taako, Magnus and Merle looked like in my head and, while Pietsch puts her own spin on the characters, everyone was perfectly recognizable. Her designs felt faithful to the spirit of the characters and the range of emotions portrayed in her art allowed me to almost hear the characters’ voices in my head.

The plot and the dialogue of The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins is taken from the podcast The Adventure Zone: Balance and they did a good job of keeping both the flow of dialogue and the jokes from the original. There were many scenes in this comic that made me grin so hard my cheeks hurt and some lines like “He vas one day from spider retirement!” had me trying to explain Bryan and Magic Brian to my mother through my laughter (not an easy task). The comic also had an excellent blend of humor and seriousness. The humor rarely distracted from the meat of the story and kept what could have been some extremely depressing plot points relatively light.

The best thing about this comic, in my opinion, is its length. The first arc of The Adventure Zone: Balance podcast is more than 10 hours of audio content. The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins covers the same story, but it can be read comfortably in an afternoon. The comic is also broken up into convenient chapters for people who don’t have time to get through it all at once. I also loved that there is now an alternative to listening to this story via podcast. This may come as a surprise, but I am not a big fan of podcasts and listening to the 80+ hour entirety of The Adventure Zone: Balance was a strenuous labor of love. So for people who don’t have the time, or the mental focus to go through that, this comic is a fantastic way to engage with a potentially inaccessible story.

One thing all readers should be ready for with The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins is that it is the first comic in a series and while it has its own stand alone story, the last couple chapters are very clearly setting up the rest of the series. The ending is nearly a cliff-hanger with how much it tries to drag you into the next arc of the narrative, which for some readers is bug and for others it’s a feature. As of February 2021, only three of the eight arcs from The Adventure Zone: Balance have been made into comics so if you are the type of reader who needs to binge the entire thing, you might want to give it a few years.

The reason I didn’t give The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins full marks was because I felt there was a bit of a barrier to entry to enjoy this comic. People who haven’t engaged with the podcast will get a full and satisfying story, but they will miss a good amount of the humor and in-jokes tossed around in the characters’ dialogue. Even me, someone who loves the podcast with all my heart, felt like some things went over my head because it's been years since I finished The Adventure Zone: Balance. Additionally, readers who are not familiar with D&D might have a tough time with some of the scenes. Unlike the podcast wherein the players were learning to play D&D with the audience, the comic assumes the reader has a basic grasp of D&D concepts like what a Dungeon Master does and what a Perception Check is. Background knowledge in D&D isn’t critical to understand most of the plot or characters, but for some scenes my experience with D&D really helped me make sense of what I was looking at. At the end of the day, though, I don’t think either of these barriers would make the comic unreadable.

Overall, this comic is a very fun read with fabulous art, hilarious jokes and an engaging adventure. It’s the perfect length of story to be read and enjoyed over and over again.

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theliterateape · 3 years

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A Bad Landing Destroys the Entire Trip

by Don Hall

You're on a plane flying across the country. The security check-in was a breeze. You were in the mid-section but as you board the attendant moves you up to the third row. The in-flight movie is one you've been dying to see and the flight is almost completely devoid of turbulence. It's a wonderful flight.

As you descend to land, however, the turbulence gets kind of insane. At one point, the oxygen masks pop out and upon hitting the ground, the front tire of the landing gear snaps off and you screech to a long, terrifying halt in the middle of the runway.

The flight is remembered as one of the worst, most traumatic experiences of your life.

I was severely late to the Game of Thrones party. Everyone in the free world (which is actually how Twitter feels until you realize how small a percentage of sentient humans use the app) was into it. Podcasts about it. Constant raving about it. I finally caved in and decided to binge the whole thing once the ending was in sight.

I loved it. Until the landing. The last five or so episodes were so rushed, so poorly thought out, and so sloppily put together (a Starbucks cup on the set of one of the most expensive and immersive televisions shows in modern history?) that the result seems to be a wholesale rejection of everything enjoyed breathlessly for years.

The very instant Twitter discovered the tepid ending, the uprise was evident. A huge flare-up followed by...silence. These days, if I ask someone I know was a whole hog GoT fan about Westeros, I receive a shrug and the quick response of bringing up a bad break-up from a disappointing ex.

My mom and dad loved Longmire. Effectively a crime procedural set in rural Wyoming and centered on a sheriff who reminded me of nothing less than my dad if he were a sheriff in Cheyenne country. Mom and I frequently (as so many do) recommend television and film that we think the other will dig, so I bit and jumped into the first episode.

Dana didn't care for it; I thought it had some merit if for no other reasons than I love Katee Sackhoff and Lou Diamond Phillips and firmly believe neither get enough screen time. I've spent my pandemic watching long form, episodic shows so the "Crime/Investigate/Solve the Crime" in one hour format was a step backwards but I liked Walt Longmire and I especially enjoyed the themes around white people co-existing with Native Americans. I can't recall too many shows that explore Life on the Rez in too much detail so this was new and interesting.

I binged some with breaks for six seasons. The first three were produced by AMC, the show was canceled then picked up by Netflix for three more. All in all, I spent a truly enjoyable 60 hours with Walt, Vic, Henry, the Ferg, Jacob Nighthorse, and Hector.

It was apparent that the writers knew the series was ending with Season Six, so they started wrapping things up in fairly tidy fashion. It felt a bit rushed but I was willing to go along with a lot of it until the last three episodes and then it took a shit. Like the writers all got high and told the interns to finish it up.

Now, despite digging 57 hours of the show, the last three hours prevent me from recommending it to anyone.

You decide to take your wife for a high-end meal at one of the super-swank restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip. It's beautiful and sexy inside. You are seated at a table with a view of the Bellagio Fountain.

You order and each course is better than the last. The liquor is top-shelf. The food is fresh and expertly prepared, each bite melting inside you mouth like nutritious gold.

The dessert comes and, unknown to you, the chef has left a solid chunk of dog turd in the center of it. You bite down on dogshit and instantly vomit into your wife's lap.

The dinner is remembered as the worst in your life. Your wife declares that she will never eat out again and you subsist on nothing but Ramen and canned soup for the rest of your life.

It is a fundamental truth that no matter how solid the ride is, if you can't stick the fucking landing, the landing is the only thing anyone remembers (except your mom because she loves you and will lie to you to make you not want to eat a bullet).

Endings are almost more important than the rest of the journey.

We all loved Lost until we didn't. We all reveled in Dexter until it blew chunks. Stephen King managed to create one of the scariest creations in fiction with Pennywise then made him a giant spider who is defeated by people taunting him.

Granted, one man's shit ending may be another man's perfect ending. I've read that the conclusion of War of the Worlds (the aliens are done in by germs) is somewhat like the ending of Signs (water kills them so why hop over to a planet covered in fucking water) but for some reason I love the first and despise the second. Maybe it's Mel Gibson?

Lots of folks hated the ending of The Sopranos but I loved it.

Whatever the case, a bad landing blows the entire ride.

You have ten years of a great marriage. Lots of love, lots of sex, lots of vacations. Compromises and laughter. Fights and reconciliations.

But the last year, she has an affair with a mutual friend that she’s cast in a bunch of shows with you and it ends badly.

No matter how good the good years were, you're see that marriage as a failure.

The ending is essential to the journey.

#bad endings #GoT #Longmire

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theabhorsenslibrary · 4 years

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TV Show Recommendations

Originally this was put together with “Top 10″ books, music, films and podcasts but I decided I would like to split them out. I knew I would find it easy to write about books but not necessarily about the rest so I wanted to adapt the others just in case I didn’t have a top 10. However unlike books, and more along the lines of my podcasts post, I thought I would do 5 TV show recommendations.

1. Its a Sin I am a big fan of Russell T Davies from his Doctor Who days, and I heard good things about “Its a Sin” from my sister and dad. So one afternoon while my parents were out, I sat down and binge-watched the show. Russell T Davies has created an amazing and heartbreaking show focusing on the HIV/AIDs crisis in the 1980s and 1990s. The characters were what made this series stand out and I hope at some stage to rewatch the show.

2. The Good Place I really enjoyed the premise of this show and was probably just as taken back by the cliffhanger at the end of series one as anyone else. I also enjoyed how they managed to make the show still work over the next 3 series.

3. Downton Abbey There’s just something about a period drama that’s enjoyable to watch and I don’t quite know what it is. Downton Abbey has so many fun and quirky characters and it manages to keep us in the loop despite having such a large cast to try and include in each episode.

4. Gilmore Girls I have to admit, the first couple of series of this are my favourite. I love Lorelai and Rory’s relationship as well as spending time in Stars Hollow, seeing all the quirky characters interacting with each other. Its nice to see a show that focuses on the relationships of people.

5. Being Human (the UK series) Being Human is a seriously underrated TV show, it takes the supernatural element (a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire living together) and it really works. Its also one of the few shows which has a full cast change and it actually works and doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.

#The Good Place #Downton Abbey #Gilmore Girls #Being Human #Its a Sin

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etudier-avec-bella · 5 years

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Studying a Language with your Degree?

Life is all about balance, and as someone who is passionate about learning, I like to try and dabble in many different areas of interest as I can. My extracurricular activities are just as valuable to me as my academic studies, because I believe it’s important to have things in your life that are productive without feeling like hard work. Things we enjoy engaging in that help us to enrich our lives outside of our main education pathway.

Whilst I don’t think I’ve ever formally stated it on my blog, I actually study French alongside my Chemistry degree with my university’s languages scheme. You might be thinking ‘Bella, what are you doing? Isn’t studying Chemistry enough for you? You want to cause yourself extra stress by picking up a voluntary language module as well?’, and the short answer is… Yeah, I guess so.

But, I’m actually here to show why studying a language is a wonderful thing to do whilst you’re at university, and to show you how I keep up with French alongside my degree. On y a va!

Why study a language course alongside your university degree?

I could go on for a long time about the benefits of learning a language- so to save you the pain of my waffle-ish ramblings, here are the three main reasons I think it’s something worth considering:

It’ll be a highly valuable skill when applying for a job. Communication is a vital ability underpinning most, if not all, careers- especially moving up towards top positions within your chosen field. Speaking one language fluently is fine, but being able to speak multiple languages instantly makes you stand out from the crowd and offers you a much broader range of potential career pathways and opportunities.

Your brain will never take it in as well as it will now. Let’s face it, we’ll never have the same neurological elasticity we did as babies. But as young adults who spend most of our time occupied with reading, writing, and studying for our degree courses, our brains are much more likely to absorb and retain information than they will in five, ten, or fifty years’ time. The perfect opportunity to learn something new!

Because languages are beautiful. It’s about so much more than what you can see on the paper. You’re now privy to the origins of the things we say, and why we say them. The emotions that your mother tongue alone cannot capture. Being able to feel the meaning of a word, rather than just knowing it… Why wouldn’t you want to study something so wonderful?

How do I keep up with French alongside my Chemistry Degree?

So far, I haven’t found it too difficult trying to keep up with my language course by making good use of my independent study time. This term has been quite light in terms of lecture content and contact hours (~17-20 per week), so I took it as my chance to organise things and create a schedule for myself in order to ensure I stay on track with French for the rest of the year. It’s pretty easy to slip up and just ignore it if you aren’t strict with the extra work you do outside of class to solidify what you’re learning, so I’m thankful I came up with my system so early on.

Again, I’ll make this easy and state the main methods I like to use to study for French- these tips can apply to anyone studying any level of language qualification!

Quizlet: An absolute essential when it comes to committing vocabulary to memory! Quizlet recognises the language you’re learning and can read out the words you have typed onto the flashcards, allowing you to practise your ability to recall, spell, and write the word.

Doing your grammar: Yes, most people find it boring, but it’s a necessity if you want to speak fluently and with confidence. I would recommend buying/borrowing a grammar textbook for your level of study and doing extra exercises outside of your classes to help you better understand the concepts you’re learning.

Reading Comprehension: By exposing yourself to more written works in the language you’re studying, you’ll not only improve your ability to retain information, but also pick up lots of new vocabulary. So, read anything and everything you can. Books, blog posts, news articles,

Writing Practise: I like to consolidate the topics we cover over one term by writing a piece that includes as much of the vocabulary that we’ve covered. It’s an excellent chance to practise your spelling, recall your tenses, and make sure your grammar is as polished as it can be. It doesn’t have to be from your own perspective- I actually find writing articles/stories a lot better, as you get to practise more he/she/they/them conjugation, and it means you can talk about things you don’t have personal experiences with. Plus, it can be hard to talk about a topic that you feel pretty indifferent about…

Talk to yourself. Like a crazy person: It feels weird and uncomfortable at first, but it seriously does help improve your fluency and pronunciation. Whether if you just read a comprehension exercise out loud, or have a full-blown argument with yourself in the shower, it’s all good practise.

Yes, you have to put in hard work to see improvement, but there are actually some really fun, effective ways to improve your language abilities, too! Here are the ones that I find the most useful:

Podcasts/Music: It can be really tricky to find useful listening resources outside of the ones your teacher has access to, so a great way to get some practise in is by finding some music or a podcast in your language! For French specifically, I like Intermediate French Podcast by innerFrench. The guy who records them doesn’t translate what he says, but rather explains it in French so that anybody listening can understand regardless of their native language. Smart!

Put your chosen language’s subtitles on for your favourite TV shows: I can't tell you how much vocab I’ve learned from bingeing Glee with French subtitles. It’s a good way to quickly pick up new words, and a lot more enjoyable than just memorising them from your textbook. If you’re feeling brave, you could even change the spoken language of the show to the one you’re learning (if it’s available) and put on your native language subtitles for extra listening practise!

Find a penpal: Whether it’s writing a physical letter, or just sending a text to an online friend, speaking to someone in your new language will do absolute wonders for your writing and spelling abilities. Plus, making new friends is always fun, and proof that learning a new language brings people closer together!

Name the things in your immediate surroundings: This is a good one to do on the go, or when you’re stuck somewhere for a long time with nothing better to do. I find it’s an excellent way of procrastinating my other work, just sitting at mon bureau and noticing all of les stylos in ma trousse… Yeah, be careful with this one

I hope this has helped anyone considering learning a language in university, and maybe it even convinced some of you who weren’t thinking about it before to give it a go!

I’d like to add that you don’t have to sign up for a course if that isn’t an option (my department covers the cost for me because my degree includes a year abroad), and that you can do it just as successfully with any number of free resources available to you online.

Thank you for reading!

#studyblr #studying #motivation #determination #organisation #university #language #language course #french #learning french #language tips

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tropicaldruid · 4 years

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If you loved the first gwers, just wait till you see... the first gwers!

I had a nice weekend. Very restful.

Gave me plenty of time to wrap up the introductory packet from OBOD. Then today as I sat to start hashing out this blog post, I got my first actual packet of materials from OBOD, including Bardic Gwersi 1-4 (needle scratch) I thought I just finished gwersi 1&2?!? Nah, turns out those were introductory gwersi.

Not that I’m complaining. The material has been so amazing and enjoyable to work through, I feel like I got bonus gwersi. Gwersi is a fun word. It’s Welsh for “lesson.” Cuz Druids. Anyway. The most recent mailing includes my first issue of Touchstone, and my new goal is to submit something that ends up on the Bard’s Page. Hey, it could happen. There is also The Book Of Ritual, pretty much does what it says on the tin; and an additional booklet with more detailed ritual of Alban Elfed (Mabon, the Autumnal Equinox) and I gotta say, I’m really excited to read up on this. The harvest festivals have always been among my favorite holidays and I can’t wait to see how Druidry lends its particular magic to the one closest to my birthday.

Also also, a few letters from Philip Carr-Gomm’s rubber stamp. Y’all, I didn’t think I’d officially BE anything until I completed the course but all of these letters address me as Bard, so...that’s mine now.

But in all seriousness, one letter says I need to choose whether or not I want a mentor for the course and that actually presents a bit of a dilemma for me. On one hand, I have a big chip on my shoulder about someone possibly taking a “my way or the highway” hand with me. On the other, certain areas of my life have definitely shown me where the ‘sponsorship’ of a wiser, more experienced mentor can be invaluable. There are other factors like my very real anxiety involved with feeling like I’m burdening someone else by simply existing, but then this might be the perfect aversion therapy for that? I dunno. Luckily I don’t have to make a decision right away, so I have plenty of time to agonize over it, and I will.

The last item in this packet was a list of Groves and Seed Groups, and not surprisingly there are none near me. That’s not such a big deal to me at this point, as mentioned above I have anxiety about people so I don’t think heavily social situations are what I need starting out.

I’ve started taking walks outside as often as I can manage, either out at my friend’s place or taking the kids to the nearby parks with nature walks. It’s been really cool, I’ve gotten some field guides for the area as an early birthday present, and I’m starting to learn the proper names of the local plants, birds and butterflies. Sadly by nature of the work I’ve been doing around the swamps I’ve been better acquainted with the invasives.

Also I’ve been bingeing DruidCast. Damh the Bard does an excellent job of the podcast and I’ve gotten to hear some amazing talks. I’m about 135 episodes in and I can’t wait to get caught up, there’s at least 10 episodes I want to go back and listen to the talks given by Ronald Hutton, Penny Billington, and Roland Rotherham, and maybe write a post or two about them at some point.

Well I think that’s about all I’ve got for this installation. I’ve got lots to talk about later in the week regarding the projects going on out in the swamp, so stay tuned.

#OBOD #druidry #bard #groves #anxiety #gwersi #recovery

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digitalhovel · 4 years

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A review of “Juno Steel,” a hilarious and emotionally-driven queer space opera

I recently began work as a DoorDash driver, and you know what that means: living in fear because you have to constantly expose yourself to shitheads who aren’t wearing masks? Yes. And also, lots of time in the car with nothing to do but listen to stuff. Which means I decided to go back and binge the first two seasons of one of my favorite podcasts, The Penumbra Podcast’s “Juno Steel” series. “Juno Steel” is an enjoyable, enthralling story about home, mental illness, and what it means to be good.

The Penumbra Podcast, created by Sophie Takagi Kaner and Kevin Vibert, is an anthology series that focuses on telling interesting stories while representing marginalized sexual, romantic, and gender identities. It began with a Twilight Zone-esque series of narratives, each with a different setting and characters, but they now run two main storylines: “The Second Citadel” (a fantasy setting examining prejudice and relationships) and “Juno Steel” (a dystopian space noir set in Hyperion City, Mars). The Penumbra Podcast is one of the first podcasts I ever listened to, and it’s still going strong.

The following contains spoilers for “Juno Steel” season one. If you want to give them a listen, try the remake of “Juno Steel and the Murderous Mask.” Episodes are 30-60 minutes, but the commitment is well worth it in the end.

The characterization in “Juno Steel” is one of the series’ strongest points. Juno Steel is a classic noir detective: determined, depressed, and damn stubborn. The first season of Juno Steel follows him as he uncovers a plot to harvest ancient Martian tech in order to kill the citizens of Hyperion City. Along the way, he develops a complicated relationship with a thief, Peter Nureyev, and their lives become inextricably linked. Juno is an ex-cop and struggles with several issues: trusting someone whose expertise is being untrustworthy, and also trusting literally anyone else. (Note: there is a brief, problematic moment between Juno Steel and a woman PI named Alessandra. I’ll explain at the bottom if you want a warning before listening.)

Juno Steel is blunt and focused on good, on solving the problem, on doing his best even if it kills him. He struggles to take into consideration the wants and cares of others, and he often jeopardizes his relationships by jumping to conclusions and acting before thinking. Peter Nureyev is suave, collected, and always has a plan. Their dynamic is incredibly fun to listen to because

1. The acting by Joshua Ilon (Juno) and Noah Simes (Nureyev), is incredible (as is the work of everyone in the cast), and the writing carries their chemistry incredibly well

2. They are forced into situations where each must give up their expertise and authority to help the other

This challenges their pre-conceived notions of the world, and it gives their characters places to develop and grow throughout the season. It also provides rife opportunities for comedy. Juno is sardonic and blunt, and Nureyev is witty and concise. Every character has a distinct voice, a distinct sense of excitement, and a distinct humor that makes each episode worth listening to as the creators tackle various tropes in the genre and spin an exciting mystery. While Juno often has a low speaking tempo, his secretary Rita gives monologues in seconds. These small moments of contrast build a broad and unique cast that make every interaction dramatic, and often hilarious. These character beats continue to influence the characters in season two, as Juno has to begin grappling with his own senses of responsibility, his past, and his guilt as he continues trying to do good in the world.

This idea of ‘good’ pervades the message of both seasons of Juno Steel. The Juno of season one is obsessed with self-sacrifice and self-destruction. The creators have never been shy about Juno having mental illness, namely, depression. In his case, he lashes out at people who disagree with him and can’t see consequences of actions that aren’t his. Somehow, it’s always his fault. But the rest of the characters disagree with that philosophy. The Penumbra Pod presents a great deal of viewpoints on coping with feelings of grief, responsibility and guilt, from self-destruction to bottling it up and moving on to just trying to live every day to forget about the one before. No one is right, but the diversity of opinions provokes genuine thought in the listener. The show deals with heavy themes but the characters are grounded and deal with their grief, guilt, and fear in realistic and dynamic ways, letting the audience learn alongside Juno as his perspective slowly opens up.

The following contain serious spoilers for “Juno Steel,” season two.

It’s a testament to the writing that Juno learns from these lessons. In season two, he’s less self-destructive, but still driven to making the world a better place, fueled by his guilt and his past. Season two of Juno Steel features and more nuanced villain, Ramses O’Flaherty (heavily influenced by Walt Disney). Ramses wants to create a good world, plain and simple. The issue is, he thinks his version of good is universal, and he has the power and resources to try to enforce it with impunity. It’s a tense narrative that forces Juno to examine his own motivations for doing his job and perspectives regarding the place he calls home. He struggles between idealism and defeatism, even deciding whether violence is needed or useful in his line of work. But again, the core message of the series is simple: we can never make those changes alone. Only by working willingly with others and listening to them can Juno begin to decide what he considers to be good. While the political situation of “Juno Steel” season two doesn’t mimic our own (I wish our public leaders had only good intentions [they don’t]), it is an inspirational story about the value of trying to grow as a person and begin accepting help from others and trusting them when it’s needed. Because goodness is based in how we affect the world and the people around us. These days, found family can be more real than blood relations, and solidarity is the greatest path towards building a better world.

In short, The Penumbra Podcast is great. They’re telling interesting, unique, entertaining, queer, gender-diverse stories through personal and diverse lenses, and they’re doing a great job of it. “Juno Steel” has been influential in my life, both as validation for my emotional and psychological experiences, and my changing perspective as I try to learn about myself and do better all the time. Because Juno isn’t perfect. He makes mistakes; we all do. But we get to watch him learn, and in the process, maybe learn something about ourselves.

If you do listen to them and enjoy it, here’s a link to their website, where they host episodes (you can also find them on most podcast-listening mediums), and their Patreon.

*The creators of The Penumbra Podcast have addressed this, but in “Juno Steel and the Prince of Mars, part 1,” Juno non-consensually kisses Alessandra Strong. The writers have said they wish they hadn’t done it or could redo it because it’s a problematic noir trope, and they wrote it in to confirm that Juno is canonically bisexual. The incident does not come up again, and in future discussions, Juno and Alessandra have a relatively healthy working relationship. Some other concerns have been raised with their presentation of other relations on TPP, and the creators have acknowledged that they are also growing and trying to do the best to present their stories in a positive way, but they also can’t be made into pillars of the queer community. They have individual perspectives and are trying to reflect that. I, for one, believe them, and I hope you’ll still give their podcast a try.

#Juno steel #TPP #TPP spoilers #the penumbra podcast #review #gay #queer #podcast #hovelreviews #thedigitalhovel

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hannahgoestomars · 6 years

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2018 year in review

This year feels like it has been long. So, so long. It’s been a good year, I think, filled with a lot of great things. But also hard. And I feel very, very tired. Still, here’s the roundup:

It’s been just over a year since I moved to California. Since my 2017 roundup, I found my own apartment in Pasadena, filled it with furniture, and did the very grown-up thing of buying a car, a old silver Toyota Prius that I’ve named Mae. I knew since I found out I’d be moving out here last year that I’d need a car for living in the LA area, and having it has been exceptionally freeing. I can go visit other areas like Burbank or downtown LA without too much trouble, I can offer people rides, I can be a bit spontaneous with what I want to do. I can go on road trips! Such as taking the Thanksgiving weekend to go on an epic drive up to Sacramento and along the route of the Pony Express through to Fort Churchill in Nevada. That was a lot of fun.

The ruins of Fort Churchill. I promise to do Thanksgiving properly another time!!

Work at Caltech has been good - I’ve finally finished the two papers hanging over from my PhD, and have had the opportunity to get my teeth into new projects. In between the never-ending cycle of writing telescope proposals and conference talks, of course. It’s a lot of hard work, but I’m enjoying myself, and I’ve landed in a really good group that I get on well with.

Very soon after moving out to Pasadena, I found and joined an excellent church called All Saints. It felt long past time for me to find a church where I can be every part of myself and be welcomed and loved for it, not despite it. I’ve thrown myself into it gleefully - I joined a choir, took part in a book club, got involved in the LGBTQ ministry, and recorded a podcast on pronouns. I love this church dearly and I feel incredibly fortunate to have found it. Here, I am thriving.

As far as Mars One is concerned, it’s been another quiet year. There have been some rumblings concerning investments, but otherwise we continue to wait for Mars One to be ready to take the next steps. An impatient part of me wants everything to hurry up and happen, but none of this is quick or easy. I’ve just got to keep on trucking - to be ready for when things start to happen again, but also give thought to what I want to spend this part of my life doing. I don’t know yet if I’ll even still be in the same country this time next year, although I hope so.

Still, outside of Mars One itself, I’ve been leaning into my interest in religion in space this year - I wrote a post about Ilan Ramon on the 15th anniversary of the Columbia disaster, and I gave a talk (paper; video) at the Mars Society Convention in Pasadena. That was a lot of fun to attend - I learned a bunch of interesting things and it was great to meet other Mars enthusiasts. And in broader Mars news, the biggest thing is probably the launch and successful landing of the Insight lander - I drove up with fellow candidates Sergii and Jay-Mee to see it launch back in May, and it landed without hitch in November. Congratulations to the team, and I look forward to the science that comes out of it! Also, SpaceX performed its first launch of the Falcon Heavy back in February, which was a joy to watch - landing the two side boosters near simultaneously, and sending a Starman out into the Solar System.

Godspeed, Starman, wherever you are now.

The wider world continues to be stressful. It was very interesting to be in the USA during the midterms, and watch it unfold around me even if I didn’t get a say in anything myself. All things considered, the results did give me a sense of hope that the tide of awful in the States is beginning to turn. On the other hand, watching Brexit unfold from a distance has been chaotic and frightening. It feels like everything is incredibly unpredictable, changing from day to day, and I’m very worried for the future, especially on behalf of my friends living in the country. The year was rounded off by the Gatwick drone crisis, which unfolded in a manner beyond satire - to my relief, though, I was at least able to get back into the country for Christmas and New Year (which I have spent with my family, and my Durham friends respectively).

In the process of settling into a new country and having to make new friends from scratch, a lot of my spare time has been spent at home or on solo trips out to various places. Most days, though, I’m just very tired, so it’s been a good year for flopping onto the sofa and watching TV. Good job there’s been a lot of great TV to watch - highlights for me include Anne With An E, Altered Carbon, The Good Place, and the entirety of Person of Interest which was excellent binge material. Kids cartoons are also a good staple for when I come in from work and just want to wind down, and I’ve very much enjoyed the Voltron and She-Ra remakes on Netflix. I got back onto the Doctor Who bandwagon I fell off a few years ago, which took me over to Burbank where I found a weekly watch-along and after-show, which was a lot of fun (and got me out of the house!) I have not yet got around to finding a LARP game over in LA, but I did play a wuxia-inspired event when I was back in the UK over the summer. Hopefully this year I’ll get myself a little more involved again.

Revolutionary firebrand, champion of the people, wielder of ridiculous giant fans: Eternal Service Tin!

One positive development is that I’ve done a lot of writing this year. I’ve enjoyed doing creative writing ever since I was a kid, but this past year I’ve really decided to put time into it. I’m not at a point where I have stories to share widely right now, but I am looking to work towards getting things to a point where I can submit them for publication, and it’s very satisfying to look over what I’ve done over the year.

Looking back at my last roundup and not-quite-resolutions, I mentioned driving. If 2017 was the year of learning to drive and be comfortable with it, 2018 was the year of it becoming normal and even enjoyable. LA traffic no longer intimidates me, and my aforementioned road trip found me actively enjoying traversing the landscape of America while listening through my podcast backlog (Alice Isn’t Dead is fantastic solo road trip listening). I definitely want to keep exploring while I am out here, for however long that is.

I also mentioned keeping an eye on my mental health. This has been a year out of my comfort zone, living on a new continent, taking a step up in the work expected of me, getting involved in things and exploring - and I like my life right now but it is stressful. Keeping on top of the news does nothing to help that stress either. I spend an awful lot of time being very tired. I need to remind myself that resting and not doing much is not necessarily a problem. And those tired times have been really helped by having writing to work on over the year, even if just in little chunks. Still, while it’s been a good year for me in a lot of ways, it’s not been an easy one. This coming year, I hope to keep looking after myself.

Thanks once again for following along with me. I’m feeling quite tired again today, and I have a feeling that 2019 is going to be very tough. I wish us all the strength to face the upcoming year head-on!

#year in review

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choefitness · 4 years

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How To Crush Your Fitness Goals

The biggest obstacle when it comes to first starting out on any training/diet protocol is doing too much all at once. Typically, when it comes to transforming our bodies and improving our health, we get so fired up and motivated to make drastic changes in our daily routine that we tend to overlook the extensively ingrained habits that currently shape who we are today. For example, an overweight individual did not gain all of their body fat overnight, it probably took months and years of overeating in addition to lack of exercise. It works the same way with reversing those years of poor nutrition - days, months, to years to not only physically transform but to actually unlearn and relearn healthy habits; in the end, your transformation will be a byproduct of all your hard work. I’m going to break down the key steps to get you from average to fit as comfortably as possible:

Slow Increases

If your day one of your fitness journey involves 100 squats, push ups, and pull ups, while exclusively eating chicken, broccoli, and rice. You may power through it for a couple days but I can guarantee that you will end up binging on other foods by the end of the week. Your body and palette needs time to adjust. Take it slow, try one healthy meal a day for a week at first. Same with training - start with 3 times a week with split routines or fullbody. You are in it for the long run so why rush it?

Consistency

If you fall off, get back up and try again. Just jump right back on course. Remember it’s about what you do MOST of the time. Sometimes we all need a break, listen to your body and take a day or two off if you have to. Injuries are the last thing we want to worry about so always make sure to train with proper form and technique.

Find flexibility in your diet

Being obsessive about perfection will lead to failure or creating bad relationships with certain foods. If we tried to be perfect 100% of the time, we are more likely to fall off track. It’s because flexibility allows us to occasionally enjoy life and take a diet break. As long as you are eating whole foods 80% of the time, your road to victory will be so much more comfortable.

Always show up

I’m a terrible liar and always have been. For me to write this to you and tell you you’re going to love every minute of this journey is complete bullshit. Somedays I’m not pumped to workout or eat my meals, but I do it any way because it’s always worth it. Here’s a quick story. For the first 2 years when I started out on my fitness journey I took my diet and training to the extreme and I don’t recommend this to anyone. During the time, I had nothing going for me - dropped out of school, broke, out of shape, partied all the time (with friend’s money), and had no real life goals. I’d wake up in the morning feeling like crap every single day. One day my life changed after picking up a book on bodybuilding. From that day forward I decided to make it a goal to live healthier and build a better physique. I used the last of my remaining dollars to purchase a gym membership and since then I never looked back. I would workout 6 days a week for 2.5 hours a day at 4am and never missed a day. I specifically chose that time because I knew I’d have the entire gym to myself. Everyday was the same, work my miserable 9-5 desk job, come home sleep for 6 hours and wake up to meal prep then hit the gym again. I regret to mention this but I even decided to miss my grandpa’s passing at the local hospital one night because I could not miss a day of training. I believed so much that this was my only way out of a miserable life and I was fully committed to changing it. My diet was strictly low carbs with chicken and broccoli 6 days a week and I would binge on every type of food on my rest day. Everyone thought I was insane. I was crabby, selfish, intense, and tired all the time. But my physique had changed so drastically that neither I or my peers couldn’t believe my transformation. Although I didn’t need to take it to that extreme, I learned the most important factors to my transformation was that I showed up no matter what, I didn’t care how long it took I just knew I wouldn’t let one day go wasted. Likewise with my meals, I gagged down my chicken breast almost every other day but I always made sure to meal prep because I knew as long as I had it prepared I would have to eat it out of convenience. Bottom line, I knew that I had to create momentum . If I missed days then it would become a habit, but as long as I showed up regardless of how I felt I’d create positive momentum which leads to consistency which leads to habit.

Find Accountability

Finding a partner or gym buddy will help you go further as long as you have the same goals. But it’s important to remember that we are alone in our individual goals. The reason is because our partners may not always want to show up to the gym or life just happens and your schedules become misaligned. Do you just decide to slack on your goals or show up only when your partner decides to show up? This is where a coach may come in handy to keep you showing up constantly and to motivate you even when you’re not feeling 100%. We all need that extra level of support. Even coaches need coaches!

Find Workouts That You Enjoy

As I mentioned, I worked out for 2.5 hours a day for my first 2 years of working out. Most of it was grueling work with heavy sets. Often times I would have to set my mind to a hypothetically dark place in order to be able to lift those weights with everything I had conjured up in the moment. But I definitely had something to look forward to each day. I felt an accomplishment with each lift or set. In short, I found a routine that challenged me and excited me. Which was another huge reason why I always came back for more. It will take hard work but we need to find enjoyment in the process. As long as we continue day after day, the results will show and that in itself will give you huge waves of motivation. So keep going and trust the journey, your life will never be the same!

Listen To Music

You can listen to my Spotify playlist to get you amped up for the gym. For me, listening to metal revolutionized my training sessions and intensified them. I also have podcasts I listen during cardio sessions.

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graphic-design-student · 4 years

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Day 23 - F - Oct 2

I woke up to the daily NPR News Now podcast (~10m) at 10am, as I’ve been doing for a week or two now. It’s a nice way to start off the day and helps me feel connected with the rest of the world (or the nation, at least), even if it’s not all stuff I want to have on my mind. I was up late working on school projects last night, but the podcast, a latte (or two), and a bit of overwhelming stress got me up and going.

My girlfriend had tried out my skateboard a few times over the past week and decided she wanted to learn so she could ride around campus, so I took her over to Zombie Boardshop to put together a cruiser setup. It was fun being in a specialty store for the first time in months. There were lots of customers and the atmosphere was lively. Almost made me want to buy something for myself. I ended up having a chat with the store owner about snowboard sizing and cost. Definitely outside my budget. I tend to gravitate towards more affordable habits. I’d love to learn violin, for example, but that price tag...

I’ve caught up on Amazon’s The Boys, and now I’ll have to wait a week between each episode. I’ve seen lots of poor reviews from people complaining about not being able to binge-watch the show, but I honestly prefer it. Having weekly episodes keeps me from getting sucked in and losing entire days, gives me something to look forward to, and makes me feel more connected with the world. Having a routine for the entertainment I consume gives me a sense of comfort.

On a similar note, I started playing Death Stranding again last night and while I still feel on edge about having so much to do, it was nice to have something purely enjoyable to spend time on. I’ll try to leave myself a bit of time each day to do something recreational that I really enjoy. I think it’ll be healthier than two times as much mindless time-wasting every day.

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kellexplainsitall · 4 years

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Having a long weekend was so delightful.

On Friday, Rebuck and I went out to Palmyra to run Bob's second loop (six miles) of his 40 miles for 40 years. Colin and Amanda also ran our loop, and it was quite the enjoyable (if humid) morning. We even briefly threw axes after.

Post-run, Tim and I walked over to the coffee shop and stood in the parking lot talking to Jenny and Bob, and finally "meeting" their daughter, Eliza. Keegan looks GIGANTIC next to her, it's crazy how much he has changed. Sloane stopped by in the afternoon to meet Keegan, but I made her sit outside and she wasn't too thrilled about that. Oh well, we then took Keegan to the pool, where we had a great time. I am so happy we joined. We were pooped by the end of the day, so we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

I was up early Saturday for the group run, it was already ridiculously hot and humid by the time we started at 7 a.m., but I felt grateful for the company. Since we had had such a busy Friday, we elected to take it easy on Saturday.

Jenny and Bob stopped over with a gift from her mom, so we chatted for a while, we haven't been able to catch up in person in so long. Tim and I opened a cider on the porch and spent the rest of the night relaxing.

I got up early to run Sunday (out by 6), so Tim and Rebuck could go early (7:30) and then we spent most of the day inside, it was just so hot. We did venture out to the pool, which was so refreshing. Keegan really enjoys it too, which is so great.

I don't know how it's already Wednesday. I just don't understand time lately. My routine is the same daily, which is great for me. I am loving running so much right now, despite the humidity. I go at 6 a.m. pretty much every day and since Keegan has been sleeping so well (KNOCK ON WOOD) - we've only had one middle of the night wake-up in the past 3 weeks- 5:30 to get up (plus a 4 a.m. pump session) isn't too bad.

Work has been steady, but not overwhelming. I am trying to make my way through the new season of Unsolved Mysteries. I am obsessed with the podcast Sinsterhood, so I have been binging their backlog on my walks and weed pulling. Reading has taken a hit, but it's always something.

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Why Hunt A Killer Is the Perfect Murder Mystery Game for Amateur Sleuths

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article is sponsored by:

Have you ever watched a crime show and thought you could solve the mystery better than the detectives? Is your ideal night out a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater? Are you a true crime aficionado? Do you love deciphering coded messages? If you answered yes to any of those questions, Hunt A Killer may be the game for you.

While I will admit to having a low scare tolerance, I’ve loved murder mysteries since growing up on reruns of Murder She Wrote. Given the inaccessibility of events like dinner theater during the pandemic, the idea of solving a murder mystery right in my own home sounded like a perfect opportunity for my husband and I to do something fun together. Hunt A Killer is a subscription service where you receive episodes of a murder mystery in a monthly box. The full mystery takes six boxes to solve, and each episode has a particular goal for you to resolve. The result is a mix between a role playing game, a party game, murder mystery television, and dinner theater—and utterly enjoyable.

Part of the reason the combination works so well, according to Carlea Holl-Jensen, one of the staff writers on the currently released season, is that the writers for Hunt A Killer seasons come from many areas of expertise.

“The teams have really diverse sets of backgrounds,” she explained. “We have people who come from video game backgrounds, who come from educational backgrounds, who come from TV and theater.”

The very first game produced by the company was an immersive theater live event; co-founders Ryan Hogan and Derrick Smith worked together to try to figure out to scale that for a broader audience, how to bring it into people’s homes. “In 2016, they started producing boxes basically in our co-founder Derrick’s living room,” Carlea laughed.

When I mentioned that the style of social mystery-solving reminded me of the old How to Host a Murder party game boxes, Carlea said there were three people on the Hunt A Killer team who hadn’t just played those, but written for that type of game themselves (many members of the company are also Dungeons and Dragons players, which will surprise absolutely no one familiar with both games).

While some similar games are one-shots, the serial storytelling nature of murder mystery television programming helped the Hunt A Killer team land on a subscription model—and they borrowed the style of writers’ room collaboration for creating the story of each season from television as well.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The current season of Hunt A Killer, titled Curtain Call, is a cold case mystery. In 1934, actress Viola Vane disappeared; the case was closed quickly by police of the era, but when her mummified body is discovered by the current theater owner, it’s clear she wasn’t missing—she was murdered. Neither the police nor the theater board are particularly interested in picking the case back up, but the theater owner is determined to achieve justice for the woman, so she hires you, the player, to solve the clues.

When you open the first box, you receive a letter from your contact—a private investigator—and a second letter from the theater owner. Inside the box are documents, physical objects, clues, and collectibles.

Each episode also has a particular mission for you to achieve; for example, in episode one of Curtain Call, the clues provided give you enough information to identify the murder weapon. We found that it didn’t take us long to solve the episode’s mission—but that the sheer amount of information provided about the rest of the mystery had us guessing about who had motive (and who might be having an affair; or why the victim had so much money in her purse!).

“That’s really what we want, is for people to keep coming back and going, ‘Actually, now that I think more about that, that couldn’t have been right,’” Carlea said.

While they do have people who play the boxes solo, many people play them socially—some even collaborate virtually, despite the physical objects in the boxes. “Sometimes people come to it with a little bit of anxiety, like, ‘Oh, I don’t know how do ciphers, or I’m not that good a detective,’” she continued, explaining that especially first-time players may feel more comfortable pairing with a teammate who has different skills. “It’s also just fun to debate and talk about things.

The amount of research that goes into each element, especially in a historical story like this one, is intense. Each episode comes with a physical object—a cufflink, a handkerchief—that provides tangible information about the murder. Even the documents are physical objects: the texture of a letter produced on a typewriter gives more tactile experience than a mass-produced photocopy. Carlea discussed how one of the staff designers, Krystle Alder, researched even the fonts to make sure they were available on typewriters in 1934.

Because Curtain Call takes place at a Broadway theater, Carela talked about how much research had gone into the theater of the era. “I did a lot of listening to podcasts and reading about sort of characters, real people in the period who kind of had similar stories. So there was a lot of sort of, ‘Oh, this person had a similar trajectory, or something happened to them,’” she recalled, and though none of her historical figures met the same grisly death as Viola Vane, she was able to crib notes from the backgrounds of real performers.

One of the staff writers, Elinor Haney, did a lot of research into what would happen to a body left in an attic for 80 years—she looked at mummies and tried to figure out how Curtain Call’s victim would appear upon her discovery. (Forensic and legal research is important in other seasons, which have primarily featured contemporary murders as well.)

I asked how the team selects the props, and while some of it comes down to what it would cost to produce a particular piece for every box sent to subscribers, a lot of it has to do with the story. The writing team will pitch an idea they think will have the most impact to their procurement manager, Kristina Green. Sometimes, Carlea recalled, Kristina’s response is “Absolutely not. That’s ridiculous. There’s no way.” But in most cases, “she just does such an incredible job of finding the stuff that we just kind of dream up out of thin air.”

Ultimately, no matter how cool the concept (some seasons have required players to destroy a piece of evidence in some fashion to be able to get the clue!), the question for the team is “How is it serving the story?” Each clue is designed that way: a cipher, a photo, a playbook from a fictional Broadway musical, or a physical object like a cufflink.

Curtain Call is also a transmedia experience. In addition to the box, there are clues delivered through a “file-share” system (which includes some very tasty recipes for mixed drinks that would have been served just after Prohibition ended; pictured is a non-alcoholic Tango Twist I tried out—and it was quite tasty). The team also created a website for the Cadence Theater (where I found possible additional clues for the episodes I haven’t yet received while I was writing this article). While I’m an old-school gamer when it comes to this type of experience, and prefer for everything to be able to be done without an Internet connection, I was surprised to find how much I felt the online component added to my experience. (We also looked up conversion rates for currency, street addresses, and other hidden pieces of information.)

The team behind each season is huge, including not only the writers (for Curtain Call, that’s Elinor Haney, Travis Madden, Stephanie McGowan, and Carlea Holl-Jensen) and designers (Krystle Alder and Keith Pinkston), but also photographers (Leah Hewitt) and costumers (companies Milk & Ice and The Marilyn Johnson Sewing Design Studio, who provided period clothing for all the photo shoots), Director of Production (Melissa LaMartina, who coordinated the photos and shot the website video), and Sourcing Manager (Kristina Green).

On pieces like the website, players may wonder which parts are created media and which are found photos—and that’s part of the delight. The newspaper clippings, magazine articles, advertisements, and receipts are all produced with the intent to feel so real, players can get fully immersed in the world of the story.

When players run into difficulties (one player wrote in to say a dog had eaten one of the clues to the mystery!), Hunt A Killer has social forums and other accessible hints where players can reach out for help. If players just can’t wait until next month for their box, because they want to binge it all at once, there’s an option to expedite the next box—or players can purchase completed seasons or premium mysteries from the Hunt A Killer store. Players that want a more X-Files experience can also delve into the Empty Faces (paranormal mystery) or Earth Break (sci-fi survival) boxes. While the games have a higher price point than some at-home subscriptions, the Hunt A Killer team encourages cost-sharing and playing with friends (in ways that are safe and responsible during the pandemic).

But whatever you bring to the table, whatever your play style (solo or team, role play or riddle focused), you’re doing it right. “There’s no actual right way to do it,” Carlea confirmed. And that’s part of the fun.

Do you have what it takes to Hunt A Killer? Click here to find out! Use code DENOFGEEK for 20% off your first box!

The post Why Hunt A Killer Is the Perfect Murder Mystery Game for Amateur Sleuths appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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stephaniefitz · 4 years

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Pandemics and The Price of Productivity

Hi everyone!!

Isn’t that the best way to begin a blog? Introduce yourself, so you seem as friendly in and out of the virtual realm?

I’m kidding; I am friendly always and welcome you to my very first blog post!

So, Hi! Hello! I’m virtually greeting you! I’m waving the way you’ve been greeting your family and friends for the past several weeks. Did you think I was going to write something during this time without mentioning the quarantine? It is everywhere you look! On Instagram, your Facebook walls, and Twitter. The quarantine is on dirty dishes and unopened Amazon Prime boxes that have been sitting in your house for over a week. The past three weeks have been hard on everyone. You are not seeing your friends, engaging in five-minute hangouts six feet apart, and, most importantly, being an essential worker during a worldwide pandemic. But, if you aren’t an “essential” worker, you’re at home make shifting a work from home (WFH) space next to your roommate or significant other crammed next to a litter box.

The joys, right? How lucky are we to be able to WFH in our pajamas and binge watch “Tiger King” during our lunch break? How lucky are the entrepreneurs and media folk trying to crank out content now that we have all the time in the world to get our newest blog and web series started? Before we became quarantined, we had access to everything distracting.

We were preoccupied with happy hours with our friend groups at the local brewery, Sunday brunch on the belt-line, and my favorite, people watching at my favorite coffee shop trying to break a bout of writer’s block. Now that we are in the middle of a mandatory shelter in place, all of our usual activities stopped—no more outings, no more family visits, no more in-person happy hour. At the drop of a hat, our lives changed, and now we have all the time in the world! Now we can start the podcast, start the blog, start something in general! Now is the time! Shelter in place is the time to be productive, right? Since the quarantine began, we immersed ourselves in the digital world of memes and Tik-Tok challenges. People aspiring for the blue checkmark can now create the content they have been putting off due to our supposed distractions and social obligations.

While I am in full support of a creative endeavor and goal setting, I saw a post on my Instagram feed that was rather unsettling. The message read: “If you don’t come out of this quarantine with a new skill, your side hustle started, more knowledge. You never lacked time; you lacked discipline.” This post made me beg the question of why our culture so obsessed with being productive.

If you’ve made it this far in my post, then you’re probably rolling your eyes—another millennial “triggered” over a meme they scrolled past while not understanding the bigger picture. While I am notorious for being overly sensitive in my social circle, this person is presumptuous in their attempt to encourage productivity by assuming another person’s shortcomings. Yes, I am that aspiring content creator I was speaking about above who is trying to produce content to the masses in the name of WFH distractions. I need to get my podcast recorded. I need to post more to my blog. I also need to be more productive and organized. While this person’s post is in good faith and motivation, it conveys judgment and shame. Our society is so obsessed with “hustle culture” that even during times of crisis, we still expect ourselves to produce.

I see it everywhere. Influencers are giving out quarantine makeup advice and graphic designers creating t-shirts making references to “social distancing” and washing our hands ( Yes, I bought one. Guilty as charged). Podcasters are also dishing out unsolicited advice on dating while we self isolate. We capitalize on everything. Hell, at this point, I’m surprised people aren’t trying to make personalized COVID kits complete with your monogram (“BOGO on my newest Etsy account, this Friday only”). I understand, and this person is entirely valid in their opinion of using your free time to produce what you have wanted to create. Being stuck in traffic on Monday through Friday sucks up most of our time outside of work, and now that we are void of that responsibility, it is time to take action on our heart's desire.

In a matter of seconds, many people lost income they relied on to keep a roof over their heads and food in their fridge. Some people are now working and living full time with their significant other, which I’m sure has caused a little bit of strain on some relationships. Parents are now trying to teach their kids from home while simultaneously re-adjusting their living space to make it more work AND school-friendly. Some of these parents are doing this alone. A vast majority have already worked from home, but fear of catching a possibly life-threatening virus that has yet to see a vaccine causes a lot of anxiety. When trying to make everything as “normal” as possible in times of crisis and sudden upheaval, is the side hustle and the exploitation of your hobbies that important? If we aren’t learning the language we’ve been putting off for months during this time, are we undisciplined? If we don’t pick up our art supplies and become the newest art sensation on the front of the Instagram explore page, are we wasting our lives in the pursuit of being lazy? Or are we more disciplined in the pursuit of trying to do our best given that most of our typical day to day turns upside down?

I am lucky, however, to still have an income and no kids to aid in my distraction of “exploiting” my time for productivity purposes. But, I am still facing a ton of challenges. I am a flight attendant who typically has three to four days off during the week, which to most (and myself), is a pretty flexible schedule. I also am trying to break into the world of multimedia and have several other hobbies. So you could very well argue that I am the queen of the side hustle and understand the importance of using time wisely. You could also say that I am hypocritical as I launch my very first blog post as the constituent in the grand scheme of becoming an influential content creator. I use my time “productively” to question the toxic relationship we have with hustle culture. While I am here to get my content off the ground, I am mostly here to empathize.

Thriving from structure and routine when I am not jet setting around the globe, I have also been thrown through a loop. Before COVID took hold of our daily lives, I began establishing a routine that would allow me to be my most productive self. I would wake up early, grab breakfast, and head to whichever coffee shop struck my fancy—ideas and laptop in tow. Unable to follow the routine I spent weeks establishing, along with the looming torment of a pandemic, having to start all over, became another source of anxiety. I am struggling with this sudden change just as much as anyone, and comparing a person’s shortcomings based on society's standard of an acceptable work ethic, is the very attitude that fosters shame in so many when they face life appropriate distractions.

All of a sudden, the home Keurig became our source of morning coffee and the kitchen island, our brand new work cafe. Overnight, our spouses and children needing our attention became our co-workers. My main point is that everyone’s life got turned upside down in an instant, and we now face other immediate distractions that garner our attention rather than the “hustle” or “grind." People who were laid off are now asking themselves how they are going to pay rent. Teens bummed out because they are missing graduation and prom. Now spouses everywhere are wondering why their partner wants to begin the conversation regarding kitchen repairs as soon as they start a conference call.

If you are working on a side hustle, have been trying to learn a new language, or engage in a new hobby you’ve been putting off for months; don’t feel bad if it hasn’t transpired by the time the world is up and running again. Our “new normal” has fostered a brand new host of problems we need to manage, along with adjusting and maintaining our regular responsibilities. When an unexpected crisis happens, it isn’t a time where we have absolutely nothing to do. Right now is a time when we have more to think about and adjust on top of our already busy lives. Messages that are aimed to spark inspiration are often worded as messages that cause shame. Speaking as if those who have yet to start something they’ve wanted to accomplish aren’t disciplined are viewing life through a narrow lens where everything exists in a world of black and white, where everyone is living in a world void of imperfection and equal opportunity. Our mindset that if you haven’t accomplished or started anything AMAZING, GREAT, or PROFOUND during a period of necessary rest lies at the heart of our obsession with hustle culture.

Our value shouldn’t be held on the pedestal of production. Our value as people should be based on whatever it is that helps us feel safe, rejuvenated, and like we live a fulfilling life. If being productive makes you feel good about yourself, that’s great! However, we are all individuals with different expectations and visions for how we wish to live and spend our time. We are all in such a rush to be the “next best thing” that we sometimes forget to prioritize our values and take care of our needs.

My notion isn’t to be proud or self-righteous, because I also have issues succumbing to the pressure of hustle culture. More often than not, I feel guilty for resting or taking the day to read a novel for my enjoyment when I feel overwhelmed or stressed. During my time in self-isolation, I slowly realize that I am allowed to feel just as anxious and unfocused like everyone else regardless of my goals. I know that with a change in routine also comes a period of readjustment and realigning of priorities. If we treated people as individuals and understood that at our core, we are all human, not machines meant to run on empty for the sake of production; maybe we could allow more room for understanding and empathy- even for ourselves. While the quarantine is a good time to start that fantastic business venture you have been putting off, or read the book you have put down several times because you are always on the go; you are not undisciplined if life got in the way like it always does. Sometimes, learning to be present, knowing your limits, and not holding on to others' expectations is the only discipline we need.

#productivity covid covid19 atlanta atlantawriters atlantabloggers bloggersoftumblr tumblr

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amh365 · 6 years

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You Don’t Have to Take My Word For It

I have flown through a few episodes of LeVar Burton Reads on my commute, and it has made it so much more enjoyable. If you happen to follow me on twitter, you know exactly how I feel about Boston drivers. And yes, I know that I am so very late to this particular podcast party. Flip side, I get to binge, which is how I have been consuming most of my media lately. Yesterday morning I got caught up in:

Seriously, transported to the Sedona desert, which happens to be a bucket list travel destination. This morning's treat was Black Betty:

I now need to track down the rest of her talking animal stories. And yesterday's evening commute was:

which introduced me to Octavia's Brood so you know my to-read shelf just got longer. I'm actually looking forward to my drive home tonight If you listen to this podcast, what are some of your favorite stories? via Blogger https://ift.tt/2uRZPxb

#Book Review #Nisi Shawl #podcast #Rebecca Roanhorse #Review #short stories #Ursula K LeGuin

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zeeman960 · 6 years

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How To Stop Yourself From Nighttime Bingeing

“’This will be my last ice cream ever’ is a thought I have had so many times I’m embarrassed by it.” – Paul

Late night bingeing is an especially tough habit to break.

You repeat the same destructive behavior over and over, knowing it’s wrong, but stopping feels impossible because it doesn’t seem like something you can control. Rationalizing the behavior becomes second nature, and you don’t see a way out.

This is Paul’s story. Paul knows his bingeing habit is the reason he is overweight. His late night episodes alone in the kitchen are something he looks forward to, but also wants to stop.

It doesn’t matter if it’s celery sticks or potato chips, it is the act of being able to eat as much as he wants–with no one around to judge him–that’s such a relief and so rewarding.

Sometimes behavior patterns like these can be changed by identifying and avoiding your triggers or finding an alternative outlet for whatever it is your brain is craving. But, those solutions are only useful after you’ve unraveled why you are using this behavior as a source of relief in the first place.

Today I help Paul find his “why” so that he can find peace and enjoy indulgences without regretting or overdoing them.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.