#now to spend forever setting it up and downloading stuff it’s fine

[vaciena]

I have a new art tablet !!!

[rjmhereunderprotest]

I Miss My PC Games

Years ago, I had a desktop like pretty much everyone else. Had all my stuff on it. All my games. All my work. Everything important to me at that time. Then, out of the blue, the whole rig just died on me. The disk drive gave out. I lost everything prior to my back ups. It was devastating. Since then I've been using a succession of laptops, one after the other, as my desk where the desktop used to be has become cluttered with stuff. I've kept saying I'll get a new one, I never have. And something always seems to go wrong with my laptops sooner or later to boot. This one I'm currently writing on is honestly reaching the end of its lifecycle. I'm considering getting a new one.

But I suspect, the next laptop won't be anywhere near powerful enough to work with any of my games. The ones I've had sitting in storage, waiting for installation. I've repurchased them digitally from Steam of course, but the laptop can't play them. Hell, about all I can play on this thing is Doom, which isn't very impressive. Doom plays on everything. Meanwhile all the other games I want to play with, the old favorites, the franchises I love? Sitting in a corner or stuck in the cloud.

Every year I get especially nostalgic around this time. I remember things I missed and haven't seen in a while. So, because I'm feeling extra sad because of... everything, I wanted to try and cheer myself up some, remembering fond memories of the games I used to play. And hope, one day, to play again.

First a brief disclaimer, I'm excluding a few games based on the fact I can still play them with minimum difficulty. It's also based on how comfortable I am playing them on the consoles they're available on. As well as the quality of the remaster or console release. There's some exceptions to this, but not many. So let's start.

RTS games were always a big thing for me. Playing the general in a massive war never failed to excite my young mind. Empire Earth appealed to my inherent history nerd, more so than most as it didn't tie itself down to to a singular era or form of combat. From the Stone Age to the far future, you could command all sorts of armies to absolute victory.

With four campaigns in total, Greek, English, German and Russia, each with their own distinct settings, it was an amazing slice of history to play around in. I remember spending hours upon hours battling from Medieval England to the Napoleonic Wars under the English banner. Where else could I go from knights to muskets in the span of a few minutes?

A lot of my time though was spent on the German and Russian campaigns, although I didn't particularly like the final missions of the German campaign because it involved an alt-history scenario where the Nazis. As I'll explain, I don't like helping the Nazis. I prefer to kill them. The WW1 levels though were pretty good. Fighting through Verdun, brutal, but very rewarding.

The Russian campaign, that was something else entirely. A completely original story set in the future where brutal Russian dictator seizes power and attempts to conquer the whole world. Only he can't live forever to see it through, so he downloads his mind into a robot successor, who becomes even more brutal in its insane quest for power. The only hope in the end is for a heroic pair of warriors to travel back in time and stop the dictator before he ever comes to power. It was a really fun campaign... although I imagine a reemergent Russian Empire is not exactly as fun to talk about these days.

There was an expansion that added new campaigns, including an American one spanning most of the Pacific War. As well as another future campaign with a new epoch to expand into, the space age. Now that was a hard campaign, I much preferred the Pacific War, as a I'm always invested in the World Wars historically. I'm sure someone big into Roman history would've enjoyed the Roman campaign way more than I did, although I like it fine.

What was great about Empire Earth was how much it revered history as much as I did and used history to tell its own stories. It's unfortunate we don't get more RTS games that are willing to span the length of history. Nor as many that will take on less well known or used eras in history. There really should be more WW1 Real time Strategy games honestly, far too few in my mind. Sadly, the game is still only on PC. I mean, the RTS genre works best on it. But really, with advances in tech that's making consoles basically just PCs in their own right, it should be a lot easier to adapt them to consoles more often. If only to make it easier for everyone play them.

This one might be more familiar to you as a result of some recent developments. Age of Mythology was always right up my alley. As a student of history, I was also always drawn to the myths born of history. An RTS that explores Greek, Egyptian and Norse myths? Sign me up! You don't know the true joy that can come from raising an army of Hydras that only get stronger the more heads they grow. Or watching an alligator with a sun beam laser burn through enemy fortresses. Or summoning Nidhogg the dragon to basically annihilate your enemies from on high. Simply the best.

I played through the whole campaign at least twice, because I was that obsessed with it at the time. It was the only way I could use more of the crazy awesome units available to you in this game. Scorpions, Valkyries, Krakens, Anubis Soldiers, there's a friggin turtle that you can use to transport troops! And let's not forget the god powers, summoning meteors from the sky is never not fun!

It was also just really nice to see Egyptian mythology represented for once. I do love me Ancient Egypt and it's pantheon of Gods. Sadly, they're not as used as the Norse or Greeks for things. Which is really a shame, they got some killer stuff that is worth adapting. In AoM, we actually help assemble Osiris so he can come back to life and help stop the apocalypse! I feel there's a bit of a concern among people though, that they'll get it wrong and offend someone. Which I can sorta understand. But not using Egyptian Myth to create media is almost as bad as getting it wrong.

I suppose I should just be happy they aren't going to have Kratos kill all my favorite Egyptian Gods. At least I can be grateful for that much.

You might be asking, why not just play the Retold remaster? I would, but it's just not the same. Something feels lost in the dialogue and delivery of the updated campaign. I don't know if its me or I'm just misremembering it, but I felt Arkantos had a much better commanding presence with his original voice actor. Now he just sounds off. Don't get me started on Gargarensis. He just sounds all kinds of wrong, his evil poetry doesn't read the same. Also, the achievements are a problem too. So ridiculously overly difficult. I'd be forced to play the game forever just to get most of them. Not really worth it in my mind sadly.

Overall, I'd rather play the original on PC, not as many issues there. But at least I still have the original disc if I ever want to go back.

Let's switch this up, Crimson Skies is an arcade-style flight combat game. One that, in my mind, is one of the few alt-history settings I'm still actually interested in post-TNO and what it did. More on that, but not too much, later. Right now, it's the Fortune Hunters' time!

You play Nathan Zachary, ace fighter pilot and ex-playboy who leads a band of merry sky pirates, the Fortune Hunters, in an alternate 1930s America that has split apart following the stock market crash of 1929. In this Balkanized United States, conflict is ever present and railroads and highways are no longer safe for travel and trade. Which means zeppelins have become the new means of import and export and that's opened the path back up for the cutthroats of the world to start a new golden age of piracy!

I love planes, and Crimson Skies offers so many to choose from. All of them wildly imaginative in design, from reverse construction with the propeller in the back, to planes with rear turrets in their tails, bi-wing design or whatever crazy stuff you can think of.

If nothing else, Crimson Skies drew me in with its cast of colorful characters, pulpy action-packed storyline, and damn good dogfighting action. Seriously, so of the most fun I've had flying the unfriendly digital skies was in this game alone. I've pretty much measured every flight sim and air combat game by its metric. If it's not nearly as fun as Crimson Skies, it isn't worth my time.

The game did get a sequel, on consoles no less, which is backwards compatible, even better. High Road to Revenge is indeed a great game... however, it's downsized. The cast of Fortune Hunters is cut down to three, which includes Nathan, so it's more like two. It's not nearly as long, there aren't many returning characters or factions, and frankly it's just more simplified in its roster of planes and upgrades. It's a good game, but its not the original, which is nowhere to be found on any console, remastered or otherwise. It's not even on steam. If you can get a physical copy, good for you. Probably might cost you a bit though. But the truth is, if I ever want to play Crimson Skies' original entry ever again, I'll need to get a new PC.

I don't even understand why there hasn't been a new entry in the franchise. Microsoft just lets it lay there on the shelf, practically abandoned. I wanted to see what this world's WW2 would've ended up looking like. Can you imagine how a United States with such divided ideologies would end up like? Trust me, something like THAT would be worth exploring.

From a past that never was, to a far future in space where none can hear you scream and if it bleeds we can kill it. Aliens vs Predator 2 is the pinnacle of either franchise in shooter form. There have been many games since featuring both the xenomorphs and predators, but none have ever reached these heights since.

Playing as a Marine is perfectly fine for those just looking for a solid FPS experience, but it's really only the tip of the iceberg. Being able to play as the Alien, facehugger to warrior brings an entirely new dynamic to the game as you become primarily focused on stealth more than anything. Similar to the Predator, but you have more weaponry and other abilities that switch things up considerably.

Each campaign had its own feel to it, following branching paths of the same storyline. Everything you could ever want out of these franchises is here. From the Marines' assault rifles, to the Xenomorph being able to skewer enemies with its tail, to the Predator's plasma cannon and thermal vision. And each of them feel powerful in their own right.

While I can always pick of the eventual sequel to this that came out on consoles, it's still not the same. Something about this entry just feels the best of all of them as it wasn't too reliant on nostalgia and fanservice as others. It was just focused on telling a story in this world, helped along by the Aliens vs Predator comics that were so prevalent around this time. Don't take this as me complaining about how Disney owns both IPs now, its not. I just recognize that, at the time, games based on big IPs weren't as concerned about recreating moments you're familiar with. They were concerned with getting the feeling down.

I really don't want this to sound like I'm complaining, so I'm making that clear. AvP2 just wasn't worried about reminding you why you liked these two franchises because their place in pop culture was more recent and known to the target demographic. Regardless, maybe we're starting to see a resurgence. The success of "Prey" and "Alien: Romulus" proves there is still life in these franchises, and maybe they'll actually meet up again in the future. Although if they do, one would hope they follow this game's lead. Send in the Marines! Come on, it's been decades since an Alien movie has featured the Marines! Disney, you have James Cameron on payroll now! Ask him to make the next AvP movie with the Colonial Marines once he's done with Avatar! Come on, give people an excuse to release a new AvP game or at least remaster the old ones.

Freedom Force is a comic book lover's dream, a top down RPG in the vein of Diablo but starring Superheroes, in a Silver Age 1960s ripped straight out of the panels. If you love classic comics of the era, whether DC or Marvel, Freedom Force checks every friggin box.

There are so many awesome characters in this, it's hard to pick a favorite. Minuteman, the leader of the team. A clear stand-in for Captain America, save for the fact he's not actually a frozen WW2 Soldier, but an aging scientist who worked on the Manhattan project, revitalized into a younger version of himself with twice the strength and patriotic bravado because an alien chemical landed on him. Yeah, it's basically that sort of game throughout. The Any is basically Spider-Man, but he got Ant powers, again, because of alien chemicals. Man-Bot, former playboy, got in an accident, hit by the chemicals, forced to live in a metal suit forever. You get the picture.

You work your way through chapter after chapter fighting a variety of bad guys and enemies in various scenarios that you could've found in any of the comics of the 1960s. There's even some cutscenes done in the style of those old comic books. Your powers even make the same sort of sound effect onomatopoeia that is so connected to the medium. It is very clear the creators loved old comic books. Oh by the way, Ken Levine of BioShock fame worked on this, just to let you know.

There was an expansion, this one featuring time travel, where the heroes go back in time to stop Nazis from re-writing history. It introduced some new heroes, including my two favorites, Green Genie and Tombstone. The former, a fun loving Muslim-girl whose powers have granted her reality warping powers and green skin. The latter, a wrongfully accused man who was executed in the electric chair just as the alien energies struck the power lines. Turning him into a badass skeletal specter who punishes the guilty. He might be a little out of place in the Silver Age, but damn it if he isn't cool.

I don't play a lot of games like Freedom Force, the Diablo-Style mechanics can be overwhelming. But it had a number of features that made it easier to handle, such as pausing the action to plan out attacks. This made the gameplay a lot more accessible but no less fun, as picking the right team of heroes and upgrading them effectively to face any foe was pretty much half the fun. It's been forever since I've played the game, but I still remember the joy I got watching Minuteman clock a goon in the face straight up before shouting "FOR FREEDOM" at the top of his lungs.

If only they had made a sequel, they would've expanded out to future comic book eras and added even more heroes and villains based on those periods. Sadly, while it is on steam, it's not on consoles and probably never will be because it's not exactly the most well-known superhero game out there. I don't believe in this "superheroes are played out" nonsense people claim is going around. That's simplifying cultural shifts in my mind. There's always going to be a place for superheroes, in films and games.

I just wanna watch Green Genie change some dude into a flower vase while Tombstone shoots a goon with his dual blaster guns. Is it weird I ship them? It's probably weird I ship them together.

Alright, time for another alt-history and RTS game, this one a bit more interesting in my mind, as its about the Soviet Union, recognizing its about to die and can't sustain itself, makes the Cold War go hot, invading West Berlin before the rest of Germany and Europe. Finally taking the war to the shores of America on the very day in our timeline when the Berlin Wall was supposed to come down.

My version of the game is played exclusively from the American perspective, leading company of US Army Soldiers as they tried to turn back the red tide as it sweeps through Washington State. The ultimate goal being to take back Seattle before America and Russia inevitably turn this conflict into a nuclear one.

There was an expansion I never played because I rarely care about playing the obvious bad guys. Soviet Assault gave the game more missions from the Russian point of view and greater towards the larger conflict. You don't actually change the outcome of the campaign, this doesn't add a new ending, as the Soviet missions play out parallel to the American ones. But they got a long way to showing a different side to the events unfolding in the story.

For me, World in Conflict was a seminal game and a core memory, important to crafting my ideas concerning how to tell a war story. It had some of the most exciting missions and gameplay in an RTS, focusing purely on commanding units rather than base building. It kept the action fluid and constant. And it made you very careful about which units you ordered into the fight and how you used them.

The real fun part was when the game let you go all out with artillery and air strikes. That was the big draw honestly. If you accumulated enough combat points and did well enough in objectives, you'd gain access to powerful strike capabilities that could turn the tide of battle. Napalming Soviets on the highway or targeting occupied buildings with surgical airstrikes is supremely satisfying. And with how often enemies will get in close, you will be shouting "Broken Arrow" more often than not.

I'm pretty sure every current edition of the game is packaged with Soviet Assault, completing the overall experience. All I know is, without a proper PC rig, I cannot run the game anymore. So I'm locked out of one of my favorite RTS games with one of the best campaigns I've played in a long time.

They say every time you mention this game, someone, somewhere reinstalls it. I can believe that, it's just it's never been an option for me for a good while. Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines is just one of those RPGs that manages to succeed despite itself. Not because of anything it fails at, but because its development was screwed and it was released in such a sorry state. Fixing it proved to be more than a little difficult, but fans pulled through and have been consistently adding onto the game for years since, long after the license has expired.

For me, this was the one time in my life I actually wanted to play as a vampire. When it comes to supernatural creatures, vampires are always last on my fantasy list. Bloodlines somehow managed to make it something worth playing, by abandoning some clichés, enhancing stronger tropes, playing around with the mythology and actually making the Vampires interesting as a species and culture. I tend to better respect something that can defy my usually and admittedly steadfast and stubborn edicts. If you can somehow get me to like something I'd otherwise hate, you have my respect forever. That's Bloodlines, it made being a vampire fascinating.

Not because Vampires were all powerful or anything, but because they were all so deeply fucked up. The game blatantly admits that vampire society is basically full of scheming, conniving backstabbers. That they're all absolutely terrified of their own disease that gives them so much power and are constantly fearful of being extinguished. Their entire society revolves less around controlling the world, and more around just surviving by any means necessary. It's a sad existence, but they don't really have a choice. It's this or damnation. And even then, they're all still worried about a possible coming apocalypse that will spell unspeakable doom. And you, as a fledgling vampire, get caught up in the middle of all this, as a pawn of various factions and individuals, all out for each other's blood. At the end of the day, your job is the same as everyone's, survive.

It's a unique take on vampires, basically admitting that you're a blood-sucking parasite and you're probably on borrowed time. Best you can hope for is to try and make it to the next sunset alive. And seeing how all these different vampires deal with the reality of their existence, none of them really good, but not exactly evil, humanized them somewhat in my mind.

And yes, fine, Jeanette Voerman is super hot and I love her and all that. I really love her and her sister's storyline. Her school girl outfit and pony tails did things to me, whatever. I'm not going to lie about what I am, but I would prefer not to be mistaken for a stupid gooner gamer. I played this game several times over for a lot more reasons than just Jeanette you know.

I also really liked playing the Malkavian for the funny dialogue.

Obviously, since it has no console release, I can't play it anymore. And it looks like the long gestating sequel is going to be an entirely different animal that is slowly losing my interest as more about it is revealed. I don't even know if Damsel is still showing up or if I can customize my character at all anymore. And that's if it even comes out. Next chance I get to play this game, I'm going to do my first playthrough with something other than a Malkavian for once. My original playthrough was with Brujah, which was fine, and I prefer being a Malkavian overall. But I think I need to try something new for next go around.

And maybe fix the dialogue fonts too, they never appeared how they were supposed to.

I don't know why we keep trying to colonize Mars when it's just gonna cause problems. All the video games say it will. Red Faction was one of them. Sold on the very exciting concept of being able to destroy the environment around you to create shortcuts or take out enemies, Red Faction was a kickass shooter about rebelling against corporate tyranny on Mars.

Created by the dudes who would later go on to make the Saints Row series, Red Faction might have otherwise been an average shooter was its environment destruction mechanic not its focal point. Being a miner on Mars gave you access to a lot of explosives, honestly the Ultor corporation should've seen this coming. So as a result, within the very first level of the game, you're already blowing up walls or busting through floors to push forward. Before long you'll be doing the same to take out towers, bunkers or maybe just get past a locked door.

Don't get me wrong though, it is a fun game. I've taken a lot from it honestly and the idea of fighting corporate tyranny never gets old. I just recognize that there isn't much else that separates it from other games of the era. Although it took some seriously crazy swerves. Fighting an evil psychic-enhanced mad scientist and all his creepy mutant creations was not what I was expecting to take up a good portion of the second act. Let me tell you.

It's been so long, but a lot of the game still remains fresh in my mind, even if its less gameplay and more specifics. Really though, none of the other Red Faction games did it for me in the same way. The Rebels became exceedingly unlikable come "Red Faction Guerilla" and the actual Red Faction 2 is not at all connected with this one. Strangely, I could play this game again without the PC, it's on the Playstation 2, which I have. I just haven't gone out of my way is all. I suppose its because it's never been more core console. I am an Xbox gamer. I know, a lot of you probably want to call me scum right now. I get it. But I still love the system, nothing you say is gonna change that, no matter how crappy the company can act. It's not like they're the only ones being dicks in the gaming market today.

Just to be clear, this is the whole series, which are too many to really name as of now. Getting into all of them would take too long. Let's just say, C&C had a huge impact on me and it has not left me since I first played around in their worlds.

From fighting the Brotherhood of Nod and it's seemingly ageless charismatic leader Kane, to thwarting psychic megalomaniac Yuri in Red Alert 2's expansion pack, I am intimately familiar with the series' ins and outs. As well as its highs and... lows. Real big lows.

Let's not mix words here, EA fucked this series. It fucked it so hard. They wanted to turn it into an E-Sports game to rake in Starcraft money and it failed so hard. They ruined the Tiberium universe with the fourth entry. Cancelled the Generals sequel outright. And Red Alert 3, while perfectly fine, is pretty much just so ridiculous that you can't take any of it seriously. Granted Red Alert 2 already made that half of the universe less serious to begin with, the Soviet campaign had you turn the Eiffel Tower into a Tesla coil. But there was still a semblance of taking the material seriously beneath the B-Movie charm.

I still have a love for the various entries though. Red Alert 2, Generals, Renegade, (Who would've thought you could make an FPS out of an RTS?) each hold a place in my heart one way or another. I just wish I could try to experience the games again from the start. Don't get to though, no console release, not even for the remasters. I still have my box set for the original four games, the Renegade CD, Generals and its expansion (Although I'm not as fond of said expansion because its campaign's story is ridiculous... even if currently plausible thanks to certain recent events) and of course there's Yuri's Revenge, which really cranked up the silliness before Red Alert 3 came around. All the same, good series in its heyday. Wish EA hadn't basically destroyed it like it does most games and studios it touches. Let's keep hoping BioWare doesn't join Westwood in defunct studios owned by Electronic Arts. Mass Effect 4, you are our best hope now.

"Cause No One Lives Forevvvvveeeerrrr! But evil never diiiiieeeesssss!"

Cate Archer is not only one of the most awesome/hottest fictional spies out there, she is also one of the least well known. Its unfortunate that her series faded into the background, but I suppose that's the consequence of the shooter boom post Half-Life and Halo.

However, that doesn't diminish what this game accomplished, creating a wholly original spy thriller that somehow was able to keep the camp without sacrificing the seriousness of real-world espionage. Sure, Cate uses a robot poodle to blow enemies up, but she's also a consummate professional dealing with 1960s sexism in a field dominated by men. I'm sure today grifters would be complaining this thing was "Woke" or whatever. Or maybe they wouldn't care because Cate shows off her boobs while wearing a tight spandex spy suit. Who can say?

All I know is I had a blast whether sneaking or fighting in both entries. And I enjoyed how much it paid homage to the classic spy movies of the era without ever feeling crass or cynical about them. It played itself straight at all times, even when the dangerous menace that threatens is using a weaponized chemical agent that makes you burp a lot before you explode violently, killing yourself and everyone.

Yes, that is real. The sequel makes you fight mimes while escaping on a tiny bicycle. Also ninjas.

You laugh, sure, but it's still fucking cool. Don't expect a video game now, let alone a shooter, to ever be allowed to have some fun anymore. I'm more than positive someone out there would claim this type of silly pulpy humor would be cringe or whatever. Maybe Cate's eventual reboot will be some hyper-realistic spy simulator that takes itself extra seriously and removes anything funny from its story. All in favor of increasing the edge super high because its the only way you'll take Cate seriously. Women aren't allowed to be funny anymore, look what happened to She-Hulk. She cracks a few jokes and dances a little, suddenly everyone wants her head on a pike. They even predicted it would happen! How you think Cate Archer having a little fun with her killer robot poodle or weapons disguised as accessories is gonna be treated? Not well, I can tell you that!

Maybe I'm overexaggerating some. Point is, No One Lives Forever was a franchise gone too soon. I wish someone would try to bring it back in some form. Maybe Nightdive has it on its Radar. I suppose we'll have to wait and see. Until then, I won't be playing it. Just waiting for a chance to.

Time to get into a theme here, starting with this one. Company of Heroes was a top down RTS game that followed various branches of the US Military as it worked to retake France from Nazi Occupation. From D-Day to the Falaise Pocket, it recounts the struggles and triumphs of the first step to liberating Western Europe.

This holds a special place in my mind because... I never finished it. I got to the last level, the last mission... didn't finish. And because my computer crapped out, I probably will never get to finish.

Company of Heroes has had other entries, but this is the one that I care about the most, as over time I feel it has run into the trap so many of these RTS games do now. The sequel that took place on the Eastern front with the Russians drew criticism for seemingly demonizing the Russians you were playing as for their, historically accurate, brutality against their enemies. The third game decided it was going to frame its single player campaign on the German side of things... while trying to pay tribute to the indigenous population they committed war crimes against.

Ok... what? You want me to play as the guys who did war crimes? I already don't like playing as Germans in WW2, it always leaves a sour taste in my mouth. But... I gotta tell ya, RTS games let you play as Nazis a lot more often than should be normal. Disturbing, I was instantly turned off of the third game, needless to say. If the only real narrative campaign option I have is the fucking Germans, you've instantly lost me. You could've let us be the British, but nah, just play as the fucking War Criminals I guess. Sure there's another campaign where you play as the Allies taking Italy, but that's an entirely different sort of single player experience that is much more free flow. I'm talking about the narrative campaign that I usually pick these up for.

Company of Heroes, the first one at least, knew better than to try and make us play as the fucking Nazis. Its cover system for your squads was engaging, the units themselves diverse and interesting, and the tactics involved in how to use them effectively were fun to figure out. I did bust through the various levels after all, I had a ton of fun getting through the game. I just... never got the chance to finish it is all. Sucks, I know, and I just want the chance to properly finish something I started. I don't like leaving things unfinished.

Alright, we're down to the real good stuff now. The games that cemented my status as a gamer. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was one of my first full-fledged shooter titles. Given its release timing, I likely played Halo on Xbox first, but that hardly changes things. All I know is that this game spoke to my history nerd so hard. I needed to experience it, I was not disappointed.

I think Allied Assault was special to me because it proved how cinematic games could be. Yes, the D-Day mission is straight out of Saving Private Ryan, but a lot of it was like that. The music, the action beats, the in-game animation, it all just expressed this incredible aura. Like I was starring in my own adventure. That I was a part of history.

That's what worked so well for me, that it completely pulled me into this period in time. Infiltrating submarine bases, moving up Omaha Beach, pushing my way through sniper alley, stealing that tank and using it against the Germans, all to an epic score I can still hear in my head.

The game of course had two expansions, extra missions covering other aspects of the war in Europe. Spearhead and Breakthrough were both excellent additions in their own right. The challenge was at times frustrating, but ultimately rewarding. And while Medal of Honor couldn't survive the transition to modern shooters like CoD did... I'm kinda happy it didn't. I don't think I would've liked Medal of Honor sacrificing its heroic optimistic outlook and production values to become what Call of Duty is now. A dreary, hyper monetized, cash cow that can feel exceedingly soulless in the face of how many studios are slaved to making its multiplayer maps. We can only hope Raven will one day be free of those mines.

I suppose there is merit in better showcasing the horrors of war, but CoD has just completely slipped in to a very right-leaning outlook on a lot of things, torture especially, although that is by no means unique to it alone. Medal of Honor always felt like it was more balanced. That war is hell, but there is still inherent true heroism to be found within the horror. Perhaps it hasn't all aged perfectly, and its own brand of patriotism can be tiring, even misguided. But I appreciate the series for shedding a light on the sacrifices made to defeat the greatest evil this world has ever known. I wish more people today were as willing to take a stand against similar ideologies, especially since similar ones to the Axis powers have become so prevalent today.

I just miss when games like Medal of Honor tried to share history with you, as much as anything else. And help place back in another time, to help us understand what it was like. And I really wanna hear that music again, okay? That shit was fucking kickass!

Call of Duty wasn't always the shooter juggernaut. It wasn't always the biggest franchise in existence, released annually like Madden to keep the multiplayer shooter scene satiated. It wasn't always stale and desperate and edgy and bereft of anything original. I hear Raven actually managed to make the new Black Ops at least a little less formulaic at least, good for them, hope they can get to do their own damn games again soon.

Back when CoD was just starting out, it had one mission, to illuminate the lives of those who fought in WW2. Not just Americans, but British and Soviet soldiers too. Trying to show everyone that wars are not won by singular individuals, but by scores of people risking everything for the homelands and the people beside them.

And it worked. We got to experience being an Airborne Paratrooper, an SAS Operative and a Russian Conscript. Each of the fighting on their respective fronts to bring final victory in the most devastating war known to man. It was a fun and engaging game that never got stale because you were always shifting perspectives, you were never static or in one place. There was always something different waiting around the next corner. It felt like a breath of fresh air in a sea of steadily increasing WWII titles that even by then were getting a bit much.

As CoD went on, it adopted more and more of its less savory aspects. Focusing more on multiplayer, single player getting downplayed, formulas being overdone, things just not working out the way they were supposed to. CoD got further and further away from its origins, now it practically own the FPS scene to the point it has become stifiling.

I barely play CoD games anymore. The only time I purchase them is when they go back to WW2, hoping to capture the same magic again, never really managing. I can technically still play the first CoD. It's on my Xbox 360, released under the arcade titles. However, you can't get that anymore with the 360 store closed down, so the rest of you are out of luck on that front. But I can't play the expansion, United Offensive, which I guess is why it's still here. I'm locked out of the full experience for the first Call of Duty. And that's sad, it really is. Maybe one day, that won't be the case though, we can hope.

Of all the games I've talked about, this one, right here, is the most important in my mind. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is the single most important game in my life, alongside Halo and Medal of Honor, as I played each in very quick succession of each other. But RTCW has always held a huge place in my heart because it spoke to me on so many levels that have become synonymous with how I view gaming even now.

Sure, there are stealth sections that can be a pain. Sure some enemies can be cheap as hell. Sure the challenge can be overbearing to the point of madness. But I replayed this campaign from start to finish on my PC more times than I can count. That's how damn good it was.

From the second I woke up in the castle dungeon and knocked out that guard, I was hooked. I made it my mission to try and sneak around, not get caught for as long as possible. Generally so I could over hear the Nazis in the next room going on about stuff. When it was time to go Rambo, I did so. Kicking in doors, blasting off a stolen MP-40, raining lead down from on high before finding a plate of delicious food to eat to heal me up.

This was, in my mind, the pinnacle of gaming. It was like Indiana Jones meets Captain America, it was everything I ever wanted. The supernatural elements, the crazy mad science, the kick ass weapons, that scene at the rocket plane airbase, when the elite Nazi paratroopers drop in, that was fucking cool from start to finish. Everything about this game made me smile, I loved it that much.

I was a fan of the Wolfenstein franchise from then on... until Bethesda and Machine Games broke my heart with that insult of a reboot. The New Order, in short order, killed the series for me. It's alt-history storyline was a complete clusterfuck, it's characters pissed me, its weapons weren't all that fun to use, and they literally stuck a middle finger up at the previous games in the series. First by dismissing any supernatural elements from the story outright, then by releasing that godawful Old Blood stand alone that was nothing more than them redoing RTCW's story, but worse.

I hate what they did to the series. I hated what it did to me more. I became so bitter and angry. By this time, my desktop computer had already given up the ghost, so I couldn't go back and play it again to wash the stink out. I had to get the game's original Xbox release just to be able to play it again! I needed to play it again just to remind me what had been lost.

So yeah, this is the one game on this list I really can still play in full, but I miss playing it still. As much as I love that the Xbox version is there and even has some improvements on the PC version, it's still not the same, it doesn't feel the same. And that's why it's just a substitute. Yeah, I can play it, and enjoy it on console. But I do still feel I'm missing some only the PC version had, sadly.

Well there it is, a small stroll down memory lane. Hopefully this brought some memories back for yourselves as well. I know this probably isn't my most insightful post. But maybe it gave you all a better idea about me.

We'll see what the future brings. Maybe I'll get a computer that can run these games again. We can only hope. Until then, I'll keep waiting to return to my old stomping grounds.

[bltngames]

SAGE 2020: Fan Games

I’d hoped to have this article out a little bit sooner, but I overestimated how long it would take to write about some of these games. Whoops! Like I said when I outlined the posting “schedule” on the first day, we’re playing it fast and loose, so this is just what you get.

Today is the day I talk about fan games! And even though SAGE has “Sonic” right there in the acronym, it’s always hosted fan games from all types, so today we’ve got Mega Man, Mario, Rayman, and even fan games of fan games, if you can believe it.

Sonic Pinball Panic!

Pinball is one of those things where I’ve always been obsessed with it, but never very good at it. And now, with access to digital pinball collections like Pinball Arcade and Pinball FX, I don’t actually find myself playing as much pinball as I thought I would when I was 14 years old. Still, I find myself fascinated by a good pinball table, and this honestly caught me off guard. This could very easily be an official DLC release for one of those aforementioned pinball collections and I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash (in fact, if you ask me, this is better than Pinball FX, which has always had weird ball physics). This looks, sounds, and functions exactly like a real pinball table should. My complaints are minor: for starters, the table feels kind of easy. I’ve never been a pinball wizard, but I was losing balls left and right here and it still took a good 15 minutes before I finally got a game over. Score accumulation is also pretty slow; most pinball tables will dump millions and millions of points on you, but here, it felt like a struggle just to reach the 379k I finished with. Both contribute to the fact that the table feels a little flat, like it’s missing a spark to really put it over the top. And, third, it would be nice if it had controller support. The keyboard works just fine, here (it’s just pinball, after all) but I find that the triggers on a controller feel really good with pinball flippers, and mapping the plunger to the right stick is great, too. This is a Unity game, so I wouldn’t think it’d be that hard to hook it up to the controller mapper. Still, I came away impressed.

Mega Man: Perfect Blue

There are two things out there that always give me pause: fan-made Doom level packs, and Mega Man fan games. Fan made gaming content generally has problems when it comes to difficulty balancing anyway, but these games have earned a certain reputation for their difficulty, which creates a problem when you have content made by fans, for fans. This insularity means these things are usually way too hard for what I would consider “normal” people (read: casual fans and outsiders). Add on to the fact that I’d even say that there are official Mega Man games with bad difficulty balancing, and you have a recipe for frustration. Sadly, this is how I’d characterize Perfect Blue: though this introductory level isn’t impossibly hard, it’s definitely pushing that edge where it’s not very accommodating to someone who hasn’t played and finished every Classic Mega Man game ever made. It almost immediately throws you into scenarios where you have jumps you can barely reach, insta-kill spikes, and enemies that not only actively dodge your shots, but invincible enemies that launch counter attack homing missiles. And then it starts making you juggle all of this stuff, together, at the same time. None of this is insurmountable as long as you’re paying attention, but as a very casual Mega Man fan, it’s an unfriendly first impression and makes me worried about what the rest of the game is going to be like as the challenge naturally ramps up. For those hardcore Mega Man fans among you, the rest of this is solid, at least. The presentation and controls are excellent, and the new sprites are beautiful. It’s a game I’d love to enjoy when it’s done… but I’m assuming I’ll be left out in the cold. A shame, really, because there’s so much promise here.

Sonic and the Mayhem Master

There’s a lot to like about this game, but there’s a part of me that really wonders if this should even be considered a Sonic fan game. Mayhem Master’s depictions of Sonic and Amy Rose are atypical to put it mildly. Here, Sonic seems to be a bookish nerd of sorts, a sidekick to Amy Rose, who has been turned into a burnt out, cigar-smoking detective. Most of the game plays out as half an adventure game, half an RPG, where you roam around the world talking to NPCs and gather clues while being assaulted by random battles. The battle system is super off-the-wall, too, perhaps taking inspirations from games like Mario & Luigi and Undertale. This means that battles aren’t passive -- you spend most of each fight dodging or nullifying incoming attacks with simplistic action-based commands. It’s weird, and different, and occasionally even a little bit overwhelming. That’s kind of the whole game, really. It’s the sort of thing that really doesn’t feel like a Sonic game at all, but it also doesn’t feel bad. The artwork is very charming, I’m interested in seeing the characters develop, and there’s plenty of worldbuilding and mystery. Would this still be as intriguing if you removed the Sonic connection, even if it’s so threadbare? That’s a hard question to answer. I know that some of my interest in this game is seeing how it spins more familiar Sonic elements into something that’s completely different. Worth checking out, for curiosity’s sake if nothing else.

Sonic and the Dreamcatcher

This is a fairly brilliant little game with two unfortunate quirks. If you didn’t know, the special stages in the original Sonic the Hedgehog were inspired by an arcade game of the era called Cameltry, published by Taito in 1989. Now, Sonic’s special stages were different enough from Cameltry that it wasn’t a case of Sega outright stealing the gameplay, but there’s a clear lineage there, and it only becomes clearer when you compare the special stages in Sonic 4 Episode 1 to Cameltry (spoilers: in that game, they’re nearly identical). Dreamcatcher is also from this lineage, but is infinitely more charming than either Sonic 4 and maybe even Cameltry itself. The idea is that you must collect a specific number of blue spheres in order to reveal the Chaos Emerald, after which you have a limited amount of time to find and collect it. It’s very simple, but the presentation really sells the game’s charm. It’s just a game that looks good and sounds good, with an interesting premise executed very well. Also, you get a dedicated “& Knuckles” button to spawn infinite Knuckles to help you collect blue spheres and bash enemies. Being able to have unlimited numbers of these guys sounds like it would break the game, but once that countdown clock begins, the last thing you need is 20+ echidnas clogging up the route back to the emerald. The first quirk this game suffers from is that there’s only two levels. Parts of this have a very “game jam made in a weekend” vibe to it despite the rock-solid music, sound, and gameplay, and only having two levels contributes to that. Hopefully more are coming in the future. The other quirk? You can’t actually download this game -- it’s embedded in a webpage. I’m sure this is to make it easy to play on any platform with a web browser (phones, PCs, etc.) but I find myself greatly desiring a hard copy of this game that can live on my computer forever.

Sonic Galactic

Now here’s just a good old fashioned Sonic fan game. Though it clearly takes inspiration from Sonic Mania’s aesthetics in some places, it’s clearly doing its own thing, featuring not just the core cast of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, but also Fang the Sniper, and even a brand new character named Tunnel the Mole. Unlike a lot of Sonic fan games at SAGE, this appears to be using something besides Clickteam Fusion, Game Maker, or Unity. Here, it’s the “Hatch Game Engine,” whatever that is. Whatever the case may be, the game runs very well and is basically indistinguishable from just playing Sonic Mania. Visuals are sharp, music’s good, the two included boss fights are surprisingly fun to fight -- everything seems to be in order. As a result, there’s not really a lot to say. This is just a good, fun game. Anything else I’d say would come off sounding like nitpicks. For example, there’s no way to set graphics options yet, so the game is stuck in 2x Windowed mode. Fang and Tunnel are cute additions, but I wonder how much utility they have as characters. Unless I missed something, Fang’s pop gun is mainly for a weak double-jump ability, and Tunnel’s ability to dig and ricochet off floors, walls and ceilings is cool, but it doesn’t have quite the universal utility of Tails’ flight or Knuckles climbing and gliding. It’ll be interesting to see how or maybe even if their abilities have a chance to grow into something special. Anyway, like I said, those are nitpicks, so try to give this a shot if you can.

Sonic Robo-Blast!

Remasters seem to be a bit of a theme this SAGE, between Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit, Sonic 2 SMS, Sonic 1 Revisited, but this is perhaps the most surprising of them all: a loving remaster of the original Sonic Robo-Blast. SRB1 was perhaps one of the first true “landmark” fan games, given that it was basically a whole entire game that people could play. It's not a stretch to say that SRB1 probably helped kickstart the fan gaming community that still survives to this day -- I certainly owe my involvement in the community to seeing SRB1 for the first time. The problem is, as historically significant as the game might be, it’s nearly impossible to go back to nowadays -- it’s much, much too dated to be any fun. This remaster completely re-envisions SRB1 as a regular Sonic game, while also pulling in gameplay elements from Sonic Robo-Blast 2. It’s a bit of a time paradox mindwarp, but it helps give it a bit more personality than just making a bog-standard 2D Sonic. It works, aided by the fact the sprites, music and overall presentation are fantastic. The only downside is the Act 2 boss, which commits the cardinal sin of taking away player agency and making you wait around far too much. Here’s hoping this gets finished, because it’s definitely on my radar now.

Super Mario Flashback

This has been floating around for a few years now and I’m glad to see it’s finally starting to get some more substantial content as it moves towards becoming an actual game. That being said, this is also one of those games that’s kind of hard to talk about because it’s just… really polished. The art is incredible, it controls exactly like a Mario game, and there’s already a decent mixture of ideas at play in the demo. Anything else I’d say would sound like nitpicking -- like, for example, the backseat game designer in me wonders if maybe the game is prioritizing aesthetics a little too much. This is a wonderfully animated game, absolutely gorgeous, but some actions, like the butt-stomp and the wall kick, feel a bit sluggish, and I think it’s because they show off fancy animations. Even if it’s a split second, waiting for Mario to attach to a wall to kick off of it feels slow. Really, though, that’s an insignificant complaint. This demo is still well worth checking out.

Sonic Advance 4 Advanced

This game seems like a greatest-hits of Dimps best ideas, spanning the first Sonic Advance all the way to Sonic Rush. There’s just one problem: the game seems broken. Now, my desktop PC is starting to show its age. I built it four and a half years ago, and though it can handle game like Gears of War 5 on high settings at 60fps, slowly, newer games seem to be leaving it behind. That being said, I don’t think a game like Sonic Advance 4 here should be running at what appears to be half its intended speed. It also originally launched in a teeny-tiny window (we’re talking, like, smaller than a postage stamp) and even though the options menu has a toggle for full screen mode, it doesn’t want to work. Something about this game under the hood seems to be struggling very, very, VERY hard. It’s a shame, because if this actually played at the proper speed, it seems like it might actually be an alright game, if a bit complex and busy.

Sonic 2 SMS Remake

Here’s a game I was all buckled in expecting to enjoy. Like it says on the tin, this is a remake of Sonic 2 for the Master System (and Game Gear), but with wide screen visuals and huge expansions to the mechanics, roster of playable characters, and levels. On the outside it seems really impressive, and to a certain degree it is, but something about the controls feel a little off. Sonic’s heavier here than he is on the Master System, perhaps to simulate “real” Sonic physics a little more accurately, but you can also pretty much stop on a dime, and the combination of the two feels awkward. The camera also needs a lot of work, as it’s basic at best and does a poor job of letting you see what’s below (to the dev if you’re reading this: there’s actually video tutorials out there on how 2D scrolling cameras work, it might be worth looking a couple of them up). It also leans into some of the tech limitations of the Master System, like how you aren’t given any rings for boss fights (and even hiding the HUD, a move done to save on resources for the large enemy sprites). I could be picky on a bunch of other little stuff, too, like how the flight mechanics feel, but there are other games to play at SAGE and I’ve got at least two more articles to write. Needless to say, this is a solid (impressive, even) foundation but it’s missing a lot of late-stage polish to clean up the tiny little rough edges.

Rayman Redemption

I tell this story every so often, but it was about three quarters of the way through Rayman 2 on the Sega Dreamcast when it struck me, suddenly: I love this game. I was being chased by a pirate ship through some rickety bridges and even though I was dying over and over and over again, I realized I had been enjoying Rayman 2 enough that I might put it in my top ten Dreamcast games. But that was 2002, and the years haven’t been so kind to ol’ Rayman. From the strangely celebrity-infused Rayman 3, to the tragedy of Rayman 4 (eventually becoming Raving Rabbids) to the endless, careless ports of Rayman 2 to every platform under the sun, one gets the impression Ubisoft maybe didn’t know what to do with Rayman. Especially now, when most of Ubisoft’s games are some form of online live service or cookie cutter open world experience (or increasingly both). But the fans know what they want. Rayman Redemption takes the original 1995 Rayman game and lovingly gives it a fresh coat of paint. The results are akin to what Taxman and Stealth did for Sonic CD in 2011, with wide screen visuals, improved controls, touched up level design, but gameplay that still feels faithful and accurate to the original experience. Except that Sega charged money for that, and here, fans have released this for free. Ubisoft’s loss, I guess. I didn’t play Rayman 1 until well after I’d finished Rayman 2, and I’ll admit, I kind of bounced off of it back then. It felt slow, and awkward, and when the difficulty ramped up, it got very hard, very quickly. Now, admittedly, I’ve only put about 30 minutes into Redemption here, but just the addition of a run button is incredibly welcome, and the retooled level design and powerup mechanics helps the game feel way less obtuse overall. It’s just a cleaner, tighter, more accessible and more polished version of Rayman.

Stay tuned for the next article: Indie games.

[swordarkeereon]

Tech Review for Writers: reMarkable2

I got myself a piece of interesting tech this year in hopes it would get me from out in front of a computer screen more often. Meet the reMarkable2, a distraction free (i.e. it’s not connected to the entirety of the internet) e-ink tablet workhorse that’s easy on the eyes.

The reMarkable2 Tablet

First things first. The reMarkable2 tablet is not for everyone and your average person probably won’t find it the least bit useful. So let’s talk about why you don’t want this tablet first.

reMarkable 2 is not for you if: 

– You want an eReader.  eReaders have a VERY DIFFERENT function than the reMarkable2. Yes, you can read PDFs on a reMarkable, but it’s more for *marking up* a PDF and commenting in the margins of a PDF. Not just reading. eReaders like Kindles and Nooks often have built in dictionaries, ways to bookmark pages or passages of text, etc…  that the reMarkable2 doesn’t have. You can search your documents for specific phrases and words and also highlight things in a light gray, but if you’re just looking for an eReader, I suggest a Kindle.

– You want a full functioning tablet that you can put apps on and surf the web with- If you’re looking for a full functioning tablet, you’ve missed the whole point of the reMarkable2. The main point behind reMarkable2 is so you can go to your creative place (wherever that may be) and brainstorm, free from ALL distractions. You can’t stop to surf FB or your Twitter feed on a reMarkable2, thus making it more likely you’ll stay on task and get more done.

– You want something with color so you can highlight because what you really want is a fully functioning ebook reader or tablet. This tablet is really more of a no frills brainstorming and note-taking tool for entrepreneurs, professionals, academics, and creatives (including engineers, writers, musicians, possibly artists if they like to sketch in black and white) who use a lot of black pens and plain paper.

I bought the tablet for the following reasons (which I wrote down BEFORE I received the device):

– I wanted an electronic notebook (not a tablet). I’m one of those people who goes through 3 packs of sticky notes every month, and countless notebooks every year. I am constantly jotting stuff down to keep myself focused and on track while running my own business and helping out at the family business.  My notes can be anything from putting together presentations, classes, and meetings, to extensive to-do lists for the day. Sometimes it’s just me keeping track of sales figures. As a result, my desk is always filled with papers and notebooks and I’m constantly searching for shit. The electronic notebook cleans up all this clutter and helps me organize my brain. (Have you seen my brain!? It’s a mess in there.)

– I  like to write freehand, especially when I’m plotting the next book or writing a blurb, or even writing a chapter – and it must be distraction free. This is something only fellow authors will understand. The fact that the reMarkable2 can convert handwritten notes to text sent via email has me excited because, if I’m lucky and it works, I won’t have to go through and transcribe all my handwritten notes. It basically saves me time by eliminating a step. I can copy/paste the note from my email into the appropriate file on my laptop. This will also save me the clutter and weight of carrying countless notebooks.

– I am involved with projects that require me to sketch out ideas for marketing and/or artwork. I do have tablets that can do this, but nothing that does it *well*. The closest is my Surface tablet, which can do a lot of things, but it still doesn’t feel like paper or allow me the fine detail paper allows. I’m hoping this tablet is a bit more responsive in this area. – I am forever printing out rough drafts of manuscripts for markup – wasting a ton of paper and toner in the process. All because I can’t edit on a backlit screen. My eyes get tired and I miss too many errors. If I can transfer my PDF drafts to the reMarkable and mark them up there with minimal errors left over, I could save some $$. I am actually estimating that I could easily save the cost of the reMarkable2 in 6 months to 1 year’s time by not having to purchase the paper, pens, and toner I usually go through in that time frame.  Plus, these marked up manuscripts often end up in a stack on my office floor for 6 months to a year after publication. 

– I am forever having to read PDFs of laws and regulations for the family business, and while I usually use them on the computer, I sit in front of a computer 8-13 hours a day. I need a non-backlit screen for reading in the evenings just to give my eyes a break.  Yes, I imagine I could do the same with a Kindle paperwhite, but I may just want to jot some notes in the same way I’d mark up a paper copy. I’m still a pen and paper girl. I’m really hoping the reMarkable is my replacement for that (most of the time anyway).

reMarkable2 test to sample the pen styles.

Some considerations I took into account before purchasing:

A lot of customers complained that it took too long to receive the reMarkable or to get support. From all of the research I did, and in reading their website, it’s clear to me that this company caters to academia and businesses. I ordered my reMarkable2 on January 16, 2021, and had it in my hands by January 25, 2021. 9 days. I also ordered it and paid for it through my business. I don’t know if that’s actually why I got mine so fast, but I wouldn’t be surprised. That said, I do think the company should work a little harder to increase their customer service efficiency. 

With regard to customer support – the website clearly states it can take up to 10 business days for support to get back to you. And a lot of the things people seem to be complaining about have troubleshooting instructions on the website. Clearly people weren’t going to the website to try to look up their issue through the support FAQs, which likely would have helped them out sooner.  They were just contacting support immediately, and angry when they weren’t getting a response after 3 days, when it’s clearly stated on the website that it can take up to 10 days due to the fact that reMarkable is a small company. But like I said earlier – they would be smart to increase their customer service team.

reMarkable’s folios are a custom fit and really pretty, but a bit pricey. I made the tablet more affordable by skipping the upgrade on the pen, because a friend of mine got the eraser feature and she wasn’t digging it initially (she loves it now), and I purchased a relatively nice folio from Amazon for under $30 (with no magnets – research told me magnets can cause dead spots in the screen of the reMarkable2). You can also just buy a 10″-11″ tablet sleeve and it would work much the same. There are also universal tablet folios that will fit 10″-11″ tablets that are free of magnets and will likely work just fine. All for under $20 bucks — even a few in faux leather. Remember that a case should protect your investment, not just make it *look* sharp. 

Right out of the Box.

Right out of the box I set the reMarkable up and started using it for brainstorming. Here were my first impressions:

1. It really is pretty damn close to writing on paper.

2. You can rest your damn hand on the screen and it won’t fuck things up or make it wobble as with traditional tablets.

3. My handwriting actually looks like my handwriting and you have almost the same control with this as you would with real pen and paper.

4. The interface is simple and intuitive and anyone who uses computers and tablets day and in day out will have no issues figuring this out.

Now some thoughts on the features:

Handwriting to Text: As an author who likes to occasionally spend time writing the old fashioned way, one of the things that attracted me to this tablet was its ability to translate handwriting to text. No writer wants to have to transcribe their written notes and waste all of that time. So of course I tested it with my horrific handwriting, vs purposefully trying to be neat, and the reMarkable2 was able to convert my chicken scratch into actual text that I could read. I was able to turn the handwritten notes into a PDF, but I was also able to send the handwriting converted to typed text as the body of an email, where I was able to cut and paste it into any program I wanted. I took it further and wrote 1000 words (about 8.2 pages) longhand. It converted all the pages to text in one swoop and I was able to copy/paste it into my manuscript. While there was a little formatting and editing involved — it was a lot faster than retyping handwritten notes. WIN! 

Handwriting for conversion test.

Conversion successful

PDF Transfer, Markup, and Signature: Transferring PDFs to the reMarkable is easy. You simply download the app on your phone and your desktop, and you can take any pdf from either device and import it onto your reMarkable, which you can then markup. I sent myself a slew of PDFs that I had to read and markup. It’s amazing how much more focused I am on a screen like this. I really got the same experience with editing on a digital PDF as I did with editing on a paper copy. My only caveat is that I don’t have more space to make notes since the margins are a bit small on the screen and there’s no “back of the page” to carry notes over to. I can likely manage. Despite that – what a great experience. Goodbye manuscripts all over my office floor!  Hello being able to drag editing work with me wherever I go!    

You can also transfer your PDFs that don’t have an electronic signature option to the device, sign them, and send them back. Talk about HANDY since I do that a few times a month by default. This just eliminates the print/sign/scan. Now I just have to transfer it to the device, sign the document, and email it straight back to whoever sent it. 

Digital Planners may be something I look into for 2022 because reMarkable actually makes them feasible. I tried a tester digital planner, courtesy a friend, on my reMarkable and I have to say – it offers just as much satisfaction as a paper planner. Plus, you can SEARCH large pdfs. It won’t find search terms in your handwriting, but it will find it in your PDF. That’s definitely a handy feature when you’re working with 500 page PDFs. That said, the tablet saves your place (last page you visited) as you’re navigating a PDF, so no need to search for the place you left off. However, there is no way to bookmark multiple pages.

ePub Reading: suppose I could sideload books as ePubs, but I really have no use for this feature. If I want to read ebooks, I use my kindle or the Kindle App on my tablet or phone. Unless I start doing editing of ePubs or want to check out an ePub format for something?  I didn’t buy this as an eReader, and it is terribly lacking as an eReader. Where the reMarkable excels is as a tool for marking up documents. So my guess is it would be great for that if you have a lot of files in ePub format that you have to go over. You also can’t change font sizes for easier reading. You can zoom in and zoom back out to regular size. That’s it. (And this is another reason this is not an eReader.)

Storage: Storage is a little over 6GB (you do not pay for the reMarkable website cloud-sync). But even with about 15 PDFs (some of them really long) on my reMarkable at any given time, I was only at .38 GB. 

reMarkable2 Storage

File System: Like I said earlier – the system is highly intuitive and easy to use. I made folders for my most common notebook uses, then I moved the appropriate PDFs to those folders, and created any notebooks I needed for those folders.

Exporting: You can export as .PNG, .SVG, and PDF.  Handwriting to text can only be sent as text via the body of an email. This is actually great for writing because then you just have to copy/paste from your email into your Word Doc, Google Doc, or Scrivener.

Importing: Imports PDFs and ePubs.

Templates: The templates are great. I generally only use graph paper, plain, and lined paper myself. But I could see how a lot of these would be useful to people. The to-do list is a crappy template just because it requires you to hide your menu to use it (you can’t tick the the checkboxes until you do this). To hide the menu tap the circle in the upper left top of the menu bar. So if you want a partial page to-do list, you can easily make your own checkbox lists using the graph paper option. There are also dot pages for the folks into bullet journaling.

A small sampling of reMarkable2 Templates

Search Feature: You can search within a PDF, but not through your own handwritten text. You must be in the PDF to search it, otherwise you can only search for file names. You can not search across documents for a phrase or word. So if you’re looking for something with the same search capabilities as a laptop or possibly a tablet, you won’t find it here.

Zooming: You can zoom in on PDF documents and write on them while zoomed. However, you cannot change font sizes to make reading easier.

Battery Life:  On days where I used it heavily (about 4-5 hours), I was using around 15% power in a day because I didn’t put it in airplane mode. Three days of 4-5 hours a day use drained my battery to 50%. So me, as a heavy user, not in airplane mode, will likely get 6-7 days out of a single charge. Possibly more since clearly not every day will be a heavy use day. The device does go to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Pen:The pens are a bit pricey. I did not buy the expensive pen with the eraser and I’m okay with that. But $60 for a pen is still a bit — ouch. 

Pen Nib: I am expecting I will be one of those poor unfortunate souls who will be replacing pen tips every 3-4 weeks during heavy use. Luckily the pen itself doesn’t use batteries. The pen nibs seem reasonable in price, just be sure to order a new pack with your device and when you start that pack, order another as shipping times on those can take a week or two depending where you are and how efficient your mail service is. You don’t want to accidently run out and find yourself without a pen. Yikes.

Security: You can add a password to your reMarkable to keep prying eyes out. But if you’re like me and self-employed, that’s not really an issue. Your remarkable has Wi-Fi, yes, but you can put it in airplane mode to cut the connection. Plus, it only syncs to your cloud storage. There really aren’t any entry points for viruses or people hacking into your device. But then I’m also not a tech person. Let’s just say I highly doubt security will be a huge issue on this thing. Besides, anyone who wants to take a peek at my tablet would likely find themselves bored stiff, unless they like reading really rough first drafts of speculative fiction.  LOL

Backup/Download: You can easily transfer your files back to your computer by opening the app and simply exporting your finished documents, etc… to your computer, backup drive or cloud drive. You can also just email yourself a copy to make it super easy.

My Wishlist:

1. I wish I could add or append new, handwritten pages to an existing PDF. That would definitely solve the space issue. Now, I just make notes in a different file and jog back and forth between the PDF and the notes, which is a little annoying, but doable. One way to solve this issue would be to save all your PDFs to double spaced. It might make markup a little easier. I’ll try that with the next books to go under the editorial knife.

2. I wish there were cheaper alternative covers. My $17 cover looks great and protects my tablet. reMarkable could easily come up with a few additional low-cost choices here. The ultra professionals are still going to buy nice leather folios. 

(I may add to this list in the coming weeks, but right now these are the two main things jumping out at me.)

Overall Review Summary

For writers, reMarkable2 truly is a remarkable distraction free device that can help improve your concentration and organization, give you the freedom to write out longhand and convert it to text without the tedious re-typing, and help you mark up drafts with ease. This would probably serve prolific and professional writers more liberally than the writer who takes a few years to pen a book. Plus, it will probably save you a lot of printer paper, toner, pens and notebooks. For business owners/users – reMarkable will likely save you pounds of sticky notes and legal pads, and hours of time transcribing your notes. Plus, it’s a great on-the-go working tool for content creators and people who review a lot of PDFs. 

Have some thoughts on the reMarkable2? Feel free to leave a comment below!

[watermelon-pxpsicle]

ℙ𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥| ℍ𝕒𝕨𝕜𝕤 𝕩 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕆𝕟𝕖||𝔻𝕠𝕨𝕟𝕝𝕠𝕒𝕕

𝕏𝕏����

{•N/N•}=nickname

{•M/L/N•}=mother's last name

𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℙ𝕆𝕍

I wait patiently in my chair checking my notes on this week's modeling session. In pure boredom I start to do that leg thing that people do when they need to get out extra energy. Before I look up though I can feel warm calloused hands covering my eyes. "Guess who?" I chuckle and say "Hm, well I suppose my only guess would a certain man with wings who is late to his modeling session" he laughs and says "aw come on, I'm not late you're just always early!" He takes his hands off my eyes and says "I'd never be late for a modeling gig with you" he gives one of his famous smug smirks and I roll my eyes.

I lead him back to the hair washing chair and continue to wash his hair. "So how’s hero work?” He sighs and says “Stressful, I guess but it’s nothing I can’t handle” he says it with a cocky smirk but I can’t help but feel sad for him. Hero work certainly does look stressful and it’s a shame that the hero commission can’t give the heroes just a little bit more free time. Although I guess it’s not like villains are just going to give them some days off to chill and just relax. His wings make it a bit difficult for him to lay down in the chair so he usually just sheds all his feather into a pile and just leaves them there, until he uses them again. It’s kind of weird to just have hawks feathers all over the place, but I’ve gotten used to it.

Once I'm done with washing Hawks's hair I blow dry and brush it. After I'm done with perfectly brushing it though he just has to run his hands through it. "H-hey! What are you doing that for!" I rush over and he chuckles. "Aw come on, I was itchy! It's not my fault that you buy high-class shampoo. Besides I like having you brush my hair" I sweat drop and go back to styling his hair until it's back to its fluffy, clean, and neat self.

Next is makeup. I don't have to add too much makeup to Hawks since he already has flawless skin, but fixing his bird eyeliner usually helps the aesthetic. It wasn't until the first time I tried wiping the little triangles under his eyes that I found out that that was part of him. We laughed it off anyways, but I still felt embarrassed inside and curios on how he just happened to be born with eyeliner on. When applying the eyeliner I have to be careful to not to touch Hawks too much, since he's ticklish and last time I did that his wings ruffled and spread and knocked over the chairs.

I can almost hear his breathing when I'm applying the makeup, maybe scared of getting ticklish again or just from staying still for a period of time. After I'm done he relaxes again and he follows me to his changing room. When he's in the changing room I check my phone to see any text notifications from the date I had last night. Although it seems as though I'm cursed to be forced alone, forever.

When Hawks comes out he notices my slightly saddened expression. "Hey chickadee, whats got you down?" I look up at him surprised and try to put a smile back on. "Oh nothing, just was spacing out that's all" He nods but I can tell he doesn't believe me. When we're around less people he asks again. "Seriously though, are you okay?" I sigh "I don't know, I guess right now my love life is slowly dying, although not like it was strong in the first place" Hawks looks a little taken a back by what I just said and a little sad too.

"I mean, all my friends have boyfriends. I'm just a twenty two year old who hasn't had one in what feels like forever" I exhale and look back up at him. "I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be talking to you like this. Super unprofessional of me let's do the photo shoot now" he was hesitant to move or talk back first but Hawks eventually followed me to the shoot. "So anyway I was thinking about matching the tones of your outfits to compliment the backdrops to really get a whole aesthetic going. And anyway I was also thinking about- Hawks?" I snap once trying to regain his attention. "Hawks?" Snapping gains got his attention and he turned to me.

"Hm? Oh! Sorry spaced out there for a bit" we continued the shoot without any further problems with him and his tendencies. We actually got it down fairly quick. "Anyway we'll reschedule for next time?" He nodded "yup just as usual" I go to exit and then I hear him mumble "look forward to seeing you again" I turn around making sure I heard him correctly. "Hm?" He looked a bit a flustered and just said "ah, I meant- I mean, um Bye!"

"Uh, yeah sure. Bye!" I exit the building a bit confused but eventually shrugged it off. "Just bird stuff right?" No matter the cause I go back to my cozy studio loft and sigh. "It's only Four O clock, but I still feel tired" maybe I should make something to eat. After I made something to eat I sat down on my couch and started sketching new ideas for different fashion and jewelry lines. I also brought a bag of popcorn with me. Eventually I put my hand in the bag and nothing was left in there except kernels. Looking around I realize the sun has already started to set. "Did I really just spend three hours non-stop drawing?" I shrug and decide to get to bed.

𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕡 𝕥𝕠 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕪'𝕤 𝕃𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕓

"Aw come on {•Y/N•}! You need to put yourself out there. Here it's a free app, just get it" I sigh listening to my friend, Alex's lecture about why I should get a dating app. "Listen here you've been single for way to long girl friend. It's time you go get yourself a man!" "Alex I'm honestly fine, it's sweet that you're doing this for me, but maybe I'm just not destined to meet someone" I take a sip of my drink and look down at my purse.

"Hey can I borrow your phone I want to know what the weather is tomorrow"

"don't you have your's?"

"Yeah but I left it in the car"

I reluctantly gave her my phone and before I knew it she was giggling. "What?" I look over and realize she already downloaded the app!

"A-Alex!" She puts her hand up just to drop and give me one of those "Oh please" looks and showed me my phone back. "Look hun you already got a match" I look down at my phone and notice that I did get a match. "Hold on, really?" I scroll though the person's name and it read 'Keigo Takahiro' he didn't have a picture but it seemed like none of these profiles did. "Hey why aren't their any photos here?"

"This app is made so people don't focus on looks and focus more on the person. "But then you could be talking to a creepy old man!" She just shrugs "you could be doing that too on any other app". Wait so you put my name as {•N/N•} {•M/L/N•}?" She nodded. "I mean you're kind of well known. Since your always around Hawks it's probably better if people don't read your profile and just say 'omg it's that one girl who always around hawks'"."I suppose" although I wasn't really listening I was scrolling through his profile. I didn't find anything that really stood out to me. "Hm his favourite food is chicken, he likes heights, he has a stable job. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all" alex smiles "see? I told you so, soon enough you'll be out here with kids" I roll my eyes and laugh "oh please no let's talk about marriage before that"

ℍ𝕒𝕨𝕜𝕤'𝕤 ℙ𝕆𝕍

𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕪

"I don't know Miruko, I just want a girlfriend" she looks at me weirdly and says "don't look at me I already got myself a girlfriend, and trust me I don't think I'm going to be needing no man anytime soon" We're lying in a parking lot because apparently I crash landed there and Miruko came because she thought there were carrots involved. I sigh "I didn't say you, Although you know {•L/N•}?" she jumps up and says "you mean your fashion designer?" I nod "I think I like her" after a few minutes of silence she says "dude, I know. You tell me this everyday" Then it looks like she gotan idea "hey! You should get a dating app!" I blink "what why?" "To get your mind off {•L/N•}! Since your obviously not going to make a move anytime soon" I think for a while "but what if I don't want to get the app?" She shrugs and says "then have fun complaining to me that you want a girlfriend everyday even though you found a girl but are too scared to make a move. You should just put your self out there. You'll be surprised" I look down "I don't know Miruko I think I'll pass" she then goes off to leave "suit yourself with loneliness!"

"Wait!" I shout back already regretting what I’m about to say. She turns back "yeah?" Defeatedly I pull my phone out of my pocket and hold it towards her. "Can you at least help me set up the account" she laughs and grabs my phone. "But wait, what if people only like me because I'm a pro hero and the publicity they would gain?" She looks up at me "just change your last name, and this app doesn't allow you to add a photo" I lean over "why?" She chomps into a carrot and says "something to do with love isn't about how you look or whatever, but I made your account, just fill out some of the other stuff"

"Hold on, am I going to be cat fishing people?"

"Course not! Just change your last name to your mom's last name!"

"Oh, okay"

Once we get my profile ready I hit done and wait a while. Then my phone buzzes "hey look you got a match!" I look on my phone to see '{•N/N•} {•M/L/N•}' I scroll through her profile and think to myself what's the worst that could happen right? “Hey, I gotta go, but have fun with your online dating!” I wave goodbye and check my phone again. It’s not my ideal way to finding a partner, but besides, this is only to get my mind off of {•L/N•}. It’s unprofessional of me to have feelings towards my employee, I mean I’m technically her boss and yet I have these, these.... feelings! That I can’t get rid of, and I just, I just want to.. I don’t know what I want to do with my feelings.

Miruko was right, I really do need to get my mind off her. She is just my fashion designer. That’s it, nothing else. Just my really attractive, kind, and nice employee. If there is some god out there,I hope they will at least send me a sign! Then my phone pinged.

||{•L/N•}||

Hey you free in two weeks? I was thinking maybe Wednesday at 9am

||Hawks||

Yeah why? Taking me out on a date lol

Could this be it? A sign from the gods? Maybe a push that {•L/N•} and I are meant to be?

||{•L/N•}||

To discuss your next fashion line silly :)

||Hawks||

Oh Okay

This girl is going to be the death of me, and hopefully {•M/L/N•} will be able to breathe me back to life.

𝕏𝕏𝕏

[wheretfisbucky]

Scholastic Aptitude- part I

(aka the Starker fic I’ve been working on since the beginning of time) Warnings: there’s a lil bit of smut in this part

Also on ao3

He doesn’t want to ask her. Since May lost her job, he’s already had to ask her for money for a new backpack and supplies for his robotics project. May’s been driving Uber and frantically searching for a new job, but she can’t seem to stay ahead of the rent. He doesn’t want to ask her, but he isn’t sure what else to do.

“Why don’t you just whore yourself out?” asks MJ at lunch.

Peter looks up from where he’s been discussing it privately with Ned. MJ is sitting far too close to them, as usual. “Can you, like… stop eavesdropping?”

MJ shrugs her shoulders, rolling her eyes in that weird way she does. “I mean, I’m just sayin’, the SAT only costs like 80 bucks. There’s plenty of weird old men who would give someone as pretty as you way more than that to be their ‘sugar baby’ or whatever.”

Peter cringes at the term ‘sugar baby’. Ned is chuckling into his palm. MJ goes back to her sandwich.

“Ned!” Peter says, hitting him on the arm. “What am I gonna do?”

“I don’t know, man, why don’t you just let me lend you the $80?”

“Because you’re my friend, and you wouldn’t let me pay you back.”

“Yes I-”

“Ned.”

Ned lowers his head in defeat. “You’re right.”

“I know I am.” Peter smirks, the matter at hand momentarily forgotten.

Ned bursts out laughing again. “Wait, did MJ just call you pretty?”

Peter turns beet red, but quickly begins giggling as well. “I dunno, man. Ew.”

______________

Peter wants to get a job, to help out with the bills. He has for years now. But May won’t let him. She says he needs to be focusing on his schoolwork and besides, they don’t have money for bus tickets. Peter counters that she can just drop him off at his job, he’ll find one that’s close. But she always insists that it’s ridiculous, and he should drop it.

Peter doesn’t even want to go to college that badly. Sure, he’s a brilliant student and would do fantastically, but he knows how the system works. Institutions of higher education are all set up to send people into debt. They’re for-profit. Once Peter takes the SAT, he’ll still have to pay for   college applications, and once he’s accepted into a university, he’ll have to pay tuition. And for books. And for furniture for his room and for school supplies. Peter would rather not. He can learn all sorts of new things about science from the public library, which he has free access to. Fuck the system, in his opinion.

Unfortunately, May thinks a little differently. Like the rest of the brainwashed general population, she believes that college is integral to Peter’s future success. Which means that she’s making Peter take the SAT. And apply to colleges. “I want you to have an easier time than I’m having.” May is still in school, getting her associate’s degree. Meanwhile she’s getting tossed from one receptionist position to the next.

Peter stares down at his phone, where he’s currently downloading an app called Sugar. It’s not serious; MJ’s comment just made him curious. He laughs to himself at the thought of banging some old man for cash. No fucking way. He knows he’s better than that.

The app finally loads. It’s bright, all pastel pinks and glitter. Handsome men float before his eyes underneath a bright purple button encouraging him to ‘SIGN UP NOW!’

“Hey Pete,” says May as she comes in the door, kicking off her flats. Peter jolts, nearly dropping his phone, fumbling to grab it out of the air before it can fall. He quickly tries to regain his composure.

“Oh, hey May,” Peter answers, trying- and failing- to sound nonchalant.

May huffs out a laugh, writing it off as typical teenage hormonal awkwardness, and heads into the kitchen. “Brought pizza,” she announces. Peter takes a moment to close the app and lock his phone, leaving it on the coffee table and bounding into the kitchen to grab dinner.

“How’s school, Peter?” May asks around a mouthful of pizza. Peter understands. She’s had a hard day at work, and she’s starving.

“It’s fine,” he says simply.

“And that robotics project?”

“It’s coming along well.”

“Well, good.”

The rest of dinner is mostly quiet, and afterwards Peter makes his way to his room, phone in hand. When he unlocks it the first thing notices is the brightly colored Sugar app. He thinks he should definitely delete this before May actually catches him on it.

But first he opens it one last time.

He can’t be blamed, honestly. There were plenty of hot guys on that app and he’s been single since, like, forever. Of course he wants to look at them.

Some of the men- or ‘sugar daddies’- are in their 70s, extremely wealthy, and look like their faces were created on a randomizer app. But every few swipes a younger, handsome stud catches Peter’s eye.

He swipes through three guys named 'Dave’ before someone catches his eye and he absolutely chokes on air. “That’s- that’s Tony Stark.” He can’t help but to say it aloud. His eyes are bulging. “That’s the CEO of Stark Industries. That’s Tony fucking Stark!”

Peter knows enough about robotics to know that it’s definitely him posing shirtless on a yacht above a caption that says “looking for a pretty young thing to spend time with while my husband is away.”

He’s so handsome, Peter can’t help but think. And fuck if his cheeks don’t heat up because he’s dreamed and fantasized about meeting Tony fucking Stark.

So maybe he doesn’t delete the app. Maybe he swipes up on Tony fucking Stark’s profile and sends him a message. It’s not as if Mr. Stark will ever see it. He just couldn’t help himself.

Before Peter goes to bed he comes over his fist, groaning “Mr. Stark!” into his pillow.

*******

Stephen’s eyes roll back into his head and he sighs in pleasure. “Christ, Tony.”

His husband is above him, panting as he rocks into Stephen in slow, deep thrusts. Stephen’s on his belly, hands clutching at the sheets.

“You oughta let me top more often, huh?”

Stephen’s gasping, but he catches his breath long enough to laugh. “Oh, absolutely not. You give it to me good, but I give it to you much better.”

The room is mostly quiet for a few moments- with the exception of the steady slaps of skin against skin and breathing in the form of gasps and pants. Stephen is thinking he’s made his point when suddenly his head is pulled back and he lets out a grunt.

Tony is fucking him much, much faster, and he’s yanking on Stephen’s hair. Tony knows that’s his husband’s weakness and it’s not long before he’s moaning and coming, eyes shiny with tears he refuses to shed. Tony rolls him over, though, his cum mixing with Stephen’s on the latter’s stomach, and he laughs heartily as he gently wipes Stephen’s eyes. “Any bold statements you wanna retract, Strange?”

Stephen shakes his head. “Not in the slightest. And I’d demonstrate, but I’m exhausted.” He yawns, and Tony giggles.

“I love you, Stephen,” he says as he nuzzles his husband’s neck.

“I love you too, Tones.” Stephen sighs contentedly, but Tony starts to squirm.

When he speaks, there’s a whine to his voice. “I don’ want you to go tomorrow, Stevie.”

His husband sighs, stroking up and down Tony’s back. “I don’t want to leave you either, Tony, but this is an incredible opportunity. You have to understand, I’m going to learn so much from this doctor, she’s using techniques no one else has ever-”

“I know, I know.” Tony cuts him off. “I know Stephen. You’ve said that a million times, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.”

“Why don’t you find yourself a little plaything for while I’m gone, hmm?”

Tony doesn’t reply. Not being exclusive is nothing new between the two of them; neither man is insecure in their relationship, and sometimes they just need things they can’t give each other. Like when Stephen is out of town at one of his surgery conferences, or his trip to China, on which he’ll be leaving in the morning. But while Stephen tends to satisfy himself by screwing other guys when he’s away, none of the countless guys and girls Tony’s been through has been able to stop him thinking and worrying and wanting his husband.

Stephen senses his hesitation, starts massaging Tony’s scalp. “It’s not that long, I promise I’ll be back before you know it.”

Tony just nods, basking in the sensation and not thinking about how miserable he’ll be without his Stephen.

*******

The next day Tony wakes around noon. He insisted on driving Stephen to the airport for his redeye even though Stephen argued he could just get a cab. Maybe he blew him in the parking lot, clutching his thighs tightly and trying not to cry because he hates it so much when Stephen leaves. But now his phone is buzzing, and he unlocks it with a grunt to find a message on that Sugar app Stephen had made him re-activate.

Hi Mr. Stark ;)

That’s interesting, because Tony’s page doesn’t say his regular name. It says Anthony Strange, though legally he’s still Tony Stark. Still, for someone to know his last name was Stark, they’d have to know him, or know of him.

With a smirk, Tony clicks on the page. The boy’s name is Peter Parker, and Tony certainly isn’t disappointed in what he sees. He reads through his list of interests. Biophysics, biochemistry, mechanical engineering. The good stuff. So this kid must know him from his company, Stark Industries, the most innovative operation in their field. This could certainly get interesting very quickly, he thinks.

Tony types out a reply. Hi Peter ;)  

He’s not sure whether to be surprised or not when the response is instant.

Wow, I didn’t think you’d answer me!

Exclamation points. That’s cute. How old are you?

18.

Wow, that’s young. But he has to wonder if this is fate. What are the odds a stunning young scientist messages him only a few hours after Stephen leaves?

So you’re a budding young scientist,  huh? Tell me about that?

What was previously a choppy and odd conversation launches into a passionate dialogue as Peter describes a project he’s been working on for his school’s science fair. He’s won it the past three years of high school, and he intends to win it again. Tony doesn’t tell Peter how much that reminds him of himself, lest that make it weird. Instead he just tells him how endearing he finds it and invites him over to the penthouse. He texts Stephen, of course.

I think I actually found someone to keep me busy Stevie, he types excitedly.

Surprisingly, Stephen replies almost instantly. I’m so glad, Tony. Have fun ;)

What are you doing right now? Tony types. It’s the first time Stephen’s texted him back all day. He wonders if he’s managed to sneak away for some free time.

I’m eating my lunch.

Are you alone?

Yeah.

And ohhh, Tony wants so badly to play with his husband, to send him pictures and rile him up, but just as he manages to set up the perfect shot, FRIDAY calls out to him. “Boss, there’s a young boy at the door requesting entrance to the penthouse.”

“He’s not a boy, FRIDAY, he’s 18. Stop judging me and let him up.” Tony quickly composes himself. He texts Stephen that he’s here and heads out into the living room, and out of the elevator steps the cutest thing he’s ever laid his eyes on, except maybe his Stephen.

This is gonna be fun.

I started this so long ago y'all don’t even understand. I hope you like it! There’s definitely gonna be a party 2 and probably a part 3 as well, I’ll link them when they’re up. :)

[dramaqueeenamby]

Waves {drabble}

A/N: Well. Not too happy with this one. It was supposed to be based on @petit-funsize (WHAT IS YOUR NEW @ MA’AM) request for additional scenes of these two while Summer was pregnant, and while this does tackle that.....meh.

Words: 1.5K 

masterlist

Warnings: None

TAGLIST: @kpizzletrash @letsshamelessqueen-m @forbeautyandlife @90sinspiredgirl @honeyybey @amethyst-dreams-and-candy-canes @hello-therree @brittyevans @afro-royalty @periodtcevans @babygirlofwakanda @ERATOTALLES @blackandnoir @tntnv @chaneajoyyy @missyperle 

WAVES

“What about this?”

“Christopher.”

“It gets pretty decent mileage.”

“Christopher!”

“I’m thinking red.”

“Sir, if you do not stop this nonsense.”

“Since when is planning nonsense?”

“Baby, you’re talking about getting cars for children who aren’t even born yet!”

“I fail to see the problem.”

“You-“ Summer closed her eyes and shook her head. “How about we focus on things that we actually need now and not 16 years from now.”

He scoffed. “Excuse me for trying to be a good papa. Didn’t know that was a problem.”

“You’re going to be an amazing papa, Christopher without spending a ridiculous amount of money on cars that they won’t be able to use for over a decade.”

His eyes widened with excitement. “What about the little motorized ones?” Summer stopped in the middle of her brushing to turn toward him. “Come on. For their mobility!”

“I am seriously about to throw this brush at your big ass head.”

“I’m not the one who keeps stretching bonnets.” He quickly ducked as she lived up to her threat. “Now what did that solve?”

Summer threw her head back and groaned. One hand going to her back and the other to her stomach, she rubbed her growing belly.

At seven months, she was feeling every bit of her pregnancy. The twins were forever moving around, playing tag with her bladder, and reacting to every single thing that they heard. They were especially active when they heard herself or Christopher talking, and since relaying his entire day, play by play, to her stomach, became his new favorite pastime, sleeping was something that happened scarcely.

“I’m sorry.” Summer opened her eyes and immediately smiled at the soft blue eyes and childlike pout. “I’m just...so damn excited.”

“That you just can’t hide it?” She giggled at his scowl, his hand moving on top of hers. Sure enough, showtime. “Speaking of hiding, can you please tell Thing 1 and Thing 2 to take a nap or something?”

“Leave my children alone, you bully,” he defended, his other hand going to feel on her ass. He was obsessed with her pregnancy curves. “They’re getting restless in there.”

“Trust me, the feeling is mutual.” A hard kick let her know that her comment was not appreciated. “What! I wanna meet you both just as badly as your dumbass sperm donor.”

“Wow. I feel so loved.”

“You should.” She turned around in his arms, her pregnant belly forming a sort of barrier between them, prompting him to rest his hands on her hips. Christopher was big in contact. “I don’t just have children for anybody. What kind of woman do you take me for?”

“A fine ass one.” She busted her smile as he kissed on the side of her neck. “And mine.”

“Asterisk.”

“Shut up.”

Christopher eventually allowed Summer to finish getting ready, and 30 minutes and a sleeked down top bun later, she was ready to go out.

It was her first outing in about two weeks as she’d grown frustrated with the constant sneaking and following by the paparazzi whenever she tried to go out and engage as a normal person.

Both Summer and Christopher had taken a sort of break from social media following their completion of the Infinity War promo. They didn’t go out as much either, both the parents to be focused on preparing for the birth of their children.

Unfortunately, given their international fame and status, everyone was expecting what felt like monthly updates on one of Hollywood’s favorite couples.

However, neither Summer or Christopher were interested in making a thing of her pregnancy. They wanted to celebrate in private and without the judgmental and watchful eyes of the outside world.

“This is cute.” Summer mumbled, lifting up a pink and black floral onesie. “I like it.”

Christopher looked over and nodded. “Me too.” She glanced at him to see he had his phone on her, prompting her to smile and shake her head.

“Another recording?”

While the actor hadn’t engaged much in social media, it seemed like every day he had his phone on his wife. From recording her help decorate the nursery to just laying in bed, watching the movement of their energetic twins in her belly, he was capturing everything that he could.

Normally, Summer was opposed to her husband always trying to get her on camera, but not for this. This was special. These were memories.

“You got it,” he replied and moved so that he could be in view of the camera, holding up two fingers. “Just two more months, kiddos, and we’ll finally get to go to the beach.”

“You would want that to be their first outing.”

“The ocean is a magical thing, Chlorine.”

“You motherf-“ he moved forward to cover her mouth as she tried to pry at his hands.

“Your mother also can’t wait to meet you guys. She’s so excited that I had to say it for her. Isn’t that right, honey?”

He dropped his hand and Summer slyly moved her hand behind Chris’s back to pinch his skin. “Mommy just can’t wait for you guys to stop sitting on my bladder.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to her. It’s an honor to have such wonderful children-“

“I can’t believe that you’re really out here recording. What’s next? A YouTube channel.”

“Who told you!”

She laughed and hugged him, resting her face on his chest as he kissed the top of her head. “We just want to hold you already. We love you.”

“Very much so.” A beat. “Hence why we’re getting you two matching Tesla’s.”

“Christopher!”

••••••••

Hand on the small of her back, Summer waddled out of the bathroom after finishing her nightly routine.

“Baby, reminds me to call your mom tomorrow. She found some more of your baby stuff that she wants to show me.”

“Yeah, sure. Of course.”

Summer sensed the distracted tone of his voice and saw that he was on his phone. Sucking her teeth, she shuffled over to their bed and snatched it out of his hands. “Hey.”

“Sir, I am sick of you and this damn book.”

Christopher and Summer’s first “date” took place while they were in the middle of filming AOU, and it really just consisted of him inviting her over to his rental where he cooked for them. During dinner, conversation transpired where playful and suggestive banter commenced.

During that conversation, the Australian shared that he was never big and still wasn’t on reading. Fast forward to years later, and every time that Summer checked in on her husband, he was downloading or reading some book on parenting.

Looking at the phone, her eyes darted do the top to check for the title.

Strong Fathers. Strong Daughters. 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know.

“Can’t I be productive?”

She gestured down to her stomach. “You already were.”

He smiled. “My best work yet.” She flicked him on his chest as he reached for the phone. “Okay. Come on. Give it back.”

“No. You’re obsessed with these damn books, and enough is enough.”

“Summer.”

“Christopher.” She matched his tone and placed the iPhone on their nightstand. Summer carefully  moved onto the bed, his arms reaching out to help her down where he welcomed her in between his legs. “Stop it. You keep reading these books and watching all these videos, and for what? You don’t need them, honey.”

He sighed. “I’m just tying to-“

“That’s just it, Christopher. You keep trying to be something that you already are.” Without waiting for him to comment, she continued. “Baby, you are an amazing husband. You’ve been so attentive and gentle with me throughout this whole thing. Even when we were filming, I know you’d go against set rules and break away from scenes just to call or even come check on me since Thing 1 and Thing 2 kept taking turns making mama want to throw up.”

“They did it with love.”

“You watch me almost every second of the damn day. Literally. You enabled Find My iPhone without even telling me. You march into the bathroom if I’m in there for more than five minutes!”

“You know now, and many a women have almost drowned in the bathroom, Sunrise!”

“And I know that you’re scared, baby. Shit, I’m scared too. There’s going to be two little rambunctious ‘us’ depending on us when we don’t even have ourselves together if you really want to go there.” She chuckled quietly. “But that’s okay, because we’re in this together, and we’re gonna mess up, sure, but we have each other, and I believe in us. I believe in you.”

“Christopher.” She moved her hands over his forearms, turning her body as best she could to look up at him. “You’re going to be the best papa ever. The kids are lucky to have you, just like I am.” A beat. “You’re freaking Thor for god’s sake.”

He laughed and pressed a warm, lingering kiss to her temple. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She smiled. “Now stop worrying, and help me up. I have to pee.”

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Drawing tablet recommendation!

So a lot of you know I not only write but draw and paint as well. Digital space is my favorite to work in because it’s so forgiving, powerful, and easy to use. For a lot of people, making the move up from paper and pencil to digital is a big, scary leap that is usually also a tad expensive for most to break into.

I don’t usually post random reviews of stuff, but with the holiday season upon us and potentially having people looking for something for themselves or others and this being SUCH a good product already I had to at least drop it for anyone considering something like this. It’s a bit long, so I’ll leave the rest under the cut, but if you’re looking to gift someone the ability to draw digitally or are just trying to try it out without breaking the bank, please give this a read!

Well, good news everyone, Wacom is dead to me and let me introduce you to my new best friend the Huion H640P!

On the website it’s listed at $50, but I nabbed this buddy for $40 off of Amazon (still through the company, just in an Amazon storefront). When you compare that to the $80 Wacom’s lowest level tablet (currently Intuos, I think), it’s a clear bargain, but especially in comparison to the latest versions of the Intuos it has some major advantages!

Pen stand (you don’t know how nice this is until you don’t have it!)

4 More quick buttons than Intuos (once you get the hang of these, they’re indispensable!)

All buttons are on one side of the tablet instead of being on both sides

Android device compatible (I can’t take my laptop everywhere anymore, but now I can neatly pack this little guy and pen in my bag and draw on my phone!)

USB adapters included! (Even a Type C adapter which my phone uses!)

These alone are reasons to me to spend less and get more than going through Wacom. The active area automatically shrinks to match the ratio of the phone screen so drawing flows smoothly (this was the reason I bought it in the first place) and it requires absolutely no installation on phones - just plug and play!

On PC/Mac you will need to install the driver which will require you to go the site and select, download, and install the correct model driver to use properly, but once it’s done installing I didn’t even need to restart to be able to use it.

I have an older model of the Wacom Intuos, a Cintiq 16HD, and my first good tablet was an old Intuos model I ran into the dirt. The H640P more closely resembles the latest Inutuos model which is marketed as a beginner/hobbyist tablet, but frankly for most it’s all you’ll ever need! It draws smoothly with good pressure sensitivity and control. It’s really seamless if you already have experience using a tablet, and if it’s new to you it will take a learning curve to develop the hand-eye coordination, but this is a very friendly tablet to learn on.

If you’re concerned about the size, don’t be. Especially if you’re one to curl up with your drawing tools like I am, this fits neatly and lightly into your lap and is more than enough space to draw since it adjusts to the ratio of your computer screen after the driver is installed. You can also rotate the tablet to put the buttons on the other side if you’re left handed or if you just want to orient the tablet differently. You can use the settings to customize the function buttons, buttons on the pen, pressure sensitivity, as well as the working space.

If this tablet was available years ago I would have abandoned Wacom forever and a day ago. Competitor tablets and tablet displays from companies like Huion and XP Pen offer the same (if not better) functionality and design for literal fractions of the price now. Some people have issues with their drivers or other design choices, but frankly Wacom does not have a great track record with me, either. When all of my gear gives out I’ll be going to these companies to replace them. There’s no reason for Wacom to have such a strangle-hold on the market any more.

Bonus:

If you’re in the mood to continue saving money in terms of drawing programs my first recommendation is:

Autodesk Sketchbook

It’s a completely free program (just create a free Autodesk account) with both desktop and mobile versions, supported by Android, Windows, and IOS. You’ll get the full functionality of a paid program such as fine-tuned brush controls, custom brushes, and unlimited layers but in a layout that is easy to learn and experiment with, which for someone new to digital art can be a godsend!

There are other free programs such as IbisPaint and Krita that will work just fine, but if you’re really and truly new to this world, Sketchbook was my go-to for the longest time as a professional artist before I converted to Clip Studio Paint. I’ll always recommend CSP over anything else now because of how powerful and useful all of its tools are, but for someone just dipping their toes in on a budget, Sketchbook is your best friend.

[spamzineglasgow]

(HOT TAKE) Notes on a Conditional Form by The 1975, part 1

In the first instalment of a two part dialogic HOT TAKE of The 1975′s latest album, Notes on a Conditional Form (Dirty Hit, 2020), Maria Sledmere writes to musician and critic Scott Morrison with meditations on the controversial motormouth and prince of sincerity that is Matty Healy, the poetics of wrongness, millennial digression and what it means to play and compose from the middle.

Dear Scott,

> So we have agreed to write something on The 1975’s fourth studio album, Notes on a Conditional Form (Dirty Hit/Polydor). I have been traipsing around the various necropoli of Glasgow on my state-sanctioned walks this week, listening to the long meandering 80-minute world of it, disentangling my headphones from the overgrown ferns, caught between the living and dead. Can you have a long world, a sprawling fantasia, when ‘the world’ feels increasingly shortened, small, boiled down to its ‘essentials’? Let’s go around the world in 80 minutes, the band seem to say, take this short-circuit to the infinite with me. I like that; I don’t even need a boat, just a half-arsed WiFi connection and a will to download. I’m really excited to be talking with you, writing you both about this; it’s an honour to connect our thoughts. I want writing right now to feel a bit like listening, so I write this listening. When my friend Katy slid into my DMs on a Monday morning with ‘omg the 1975 album starts with greta?????????’ and then ‘what on earth is the genre of this album ?!’ I just knew it had to happen, this writing-listening, because I was equally alarmed and charmed by the cognitive dissonance of that fall from Greta’s soft, yet urgent call to rebel (‘The 1975’), into ‘People’ with its parodic refrain of post-punk hedonism that would eat Fat White Family on a Dadaesque meal-deal platter ‘WELL, GIRLS, FOOD, GEAR [...] Yeah, woo, yeah, that’s right’. Scott, you and I went to see The 1975 play at the Hydro on the 1st of March, my last gig before lockdown. I’d been up all night drinking straight gin and doing cartwheels and crying on my friend’s carpet, and the sleeplessness made everything all the more lush and intense. Those slogans, the theatrical backdrops, the dancers, the lights, the travellator! Everything so EXTRA, what a JOURNEY. And well, it would be rude of me not to invite you to contribute to this conversation, as a thank you for the ticket but also because of your fortunate (and probably unusual) positioning as both a classically trained musician (with a fine-tuned listening ear) and fervent fan of the band (readers, Scott messaged me with pictures of pre-ordered vinyl to prove it).

> It seems impossible to begin this dialogue without first addressing the FRAUGHT and oft~problematic question of Matty Healy, the band’s frontman, variously described as ‘the enfant terrible of pop-rock’ and ‘outspoken avatar’ (Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork), ‘enigmatic deity’ (Douglas Greenwood for i-D), ‘a charismatic thirty-one-year-old’ and ‘scrawny’, rock star ‘archetype’, not to mention ‘avatar of modern authenticity, wit, and flamboyance’ (Carrie Battan, The New Yorker). ‘Divisive motormouth or voice of a generation?’ asks Dorian Lynskey with (fair enough) somewhat tired provocation in The Guardian, as if you could have one without the other, these days. ‘There are’, writes Dan Stubbs for The NME, ‘as many Matty Healys here as there are musical styles’. So far, so postmodern, so elliptical, so everything/yeah/woo/whatever/that’s right. Come to think of it, it makes sense for The 1975 to draft in Greta Thunberg to read her climate speech over the opening eponymous track. Both Matty and Greta, for divergent yet somehow intersecting reasons, suffer the troublesome, universalising label of voice of a generation. Why not join forces to exploit this label, to put out a message? I’ve always thought of pop music as a kind of potential broadcast, a hypnotic, smooth space for desire’s traversal and recalibration. More on that later, maybe. What do you think?

> You can imagine Matty leaping out of a cryptic, post-internet Cocteau novelette (if not then straight onto James Cordon’s studio desk), emoji streaming from his fingertips like the lightning that Justine wields in Lars von Trier’s film Melancholia (2011); but the terrifying candour of the enfant terrible is also his propensity to wax lyrical on another (bear with my clickhole) YouTube interview about his thoughts on Situationism and the Snapchat generation. It feels relevant to mention cinema right now, if only in passing, because this album is full of cinematic moments: strings and swells worthy of Weyes Blood’s latest paean to the movies, but also a Disneyfication of sentiment clotted and packed between house tracks, ballads and rarefied indie hits. Nobody does the interlude quite like The 1975. Maybe more on that later, also.

> Where do I start though, how to really write about this, how to attain something like necessary distance in the space of a writing-listening? Matty Healy, I suppose, like SPAM’s celebrated authorial mascot, Tom McCarthy, poses the same problem of response: how to write about an artist whose own critical commentary is like an eloquent, overzealous and self-devouring, carnivorous vine of opinion?  

> Now, let’s not turn this into a discussion about who wears pinstripes better (we can leave that to readers - these are total Notes from the Watercooler levels of quiche). There seems to be this obsession with pinning (excuse the pun) Matty down to a flat surface of multiples: a moodboard, avatar, placeholder for automatic cancellation. He’s the soft cork you wanna prod your anxieties through and call it identity, you wanna provoke into saying something bizarrely, painfully true about life ‘as it is now’. Healy himself quips self-referentially, ‘a millennial that babyboomers like’. I don’t really know where to start really, not even on Matty; my brain is all over the place and I can’t find a critical place to settle. I’m lost in the fog and the stripes, some stars also; I haven’t even washed my hair for a week. Funnily enough, in 2018 for SPAM’s #7 Prom Date issue I wrote a poem called ‘Just Messing Around’ where the speaker mentions ‘pinning my eye to the right side / of matt healy’s hair all shaved / & serene’ and you don’t really know if it’s the eye that’s shaved or the hair, but both I guess offer different kinds of vision. Every time I google the man, IRL Matty I mean, I am offered a candied proliferation of alluring headlines: ‘The 1975’s Matty Healy opens up on his beef with Imagine Dragons’, ‘The 1975’s Matty Healy savagely destroys Maroon 5 over plagiarism claims’. Perhaps the whole point is to define (or slay?) by negation. Hey, I’ll write another poem. The opening sentence comes from Matty’s recent Guardian interview.

Superstar

I’m not an avocado, not everyone thinks I’m amazing. That’s why they call me the avocado, baby was a song released by Los Campesinos! in 2013, same year as the 1975’s debut. In the am I have been wanting to listen and Andy puts up a meme like ‘The 1975 names their albums stuff like “A Treatise on Epistemological Suffering” and then spends 2 hours singing about how hard it is to be 26’ and I reply being 26 IS epistemological suffering (isn’t that the affirmative dismissal contained in the title, ‘Yeah I Know’) I mean only yesterday I had to ask myself if it’s true you can wish on 11:11 or take zinc to improve your immune system or use an expired provisional license to buy alcohol like why are they even still asking I thought indie had died after that excruciating Hadouken! song called ‘Superstar’ which was all like You don’t like my scene / You don’t like my song / Well, if you Somewhere I’ve done something wrong it seems a delirious, 3-minute scold of the retro infinitude of scarf-wearing cunts with haircuts, and yeah sure kids dressed as emos rapping to rave is not the end of the world, per se, similarly I had to ask myself is there a life in academia is there a wage here or there, like the Talking Heads song And you may ask yourself, well How did I get here? Good thing I turn 27 next month Timothy Morton often uses the refrain, this is not my beautiful house this is not my beautiful wife to refer to those moments you find yourself caught in the irony loop and that’s dark ecology the closer you are the stranger it feels like slice me in half I’ll fall out with more questions you can plant in the soil like a stone or stoner, just one more drag of does it offend you, yeah? will I live and die in a band Matty sings the sweet green meat of my much-too-old -and-such-youthful experience of adding healthy fat to conference dialogue, like ‘Avocado, Baby’ was released on a record called No Blues I believe a large automobile is hurtling towards me now in negative space and the driver is crooning Elvis and reciting my funding conditions and everything feels like there aren’t not still people who believe the new culture of content is a space ‘over there’ and you can still have earnest power ballads about love if you want them =/ to cancel (too many tabs don’t make a tableau but in the future facebook has a paywall) and fame is a drag the pressure we put on the atmosphere, like somewhere you’re alive and still amazing asking wtf I’m reading this novel by Roberto Bolaño set partly in 1975 before we had internet it seems poets got laid a lot that year in Mexico City before I was born to pick up video calls with a spliff in one hand in the splendid, essential heat like a difficult knife in my side you can put me on toast, grind the pepper over me gently and say fucking hell this has taken forever.

> I guess I want or wanted to begin with this question of difficulty that rises when responding to Notes on a Conditional Form. How do you approach an album whose delayed release places it in a position of considerable hype, an album whose world tour and promotion is again delayed by global pandemic, an album shrouded in the ever-shifting controversy of Matty’s persona, an album whose length and sonic variety risks collapse into litanies of zany superlative and necrophilic attempts to revive musical category as vaguely relevant here? As beautiful as it is to catalogue the offbeat Pinegrove vibes of ‘Roadkill’, the shoegaze croons of ‘Then Because She Goes’ and the pop-punk, chord-bright euphoria of ‘Me & You Together Song’, I could keep going and going with this. I could just list and just list this. The album is a generous offering: a tribute to the album as form in an age where attention tapers away on high-streaming playlists set to conditioned, circadian moods curated by the likes of Spotify or Apple Music. The album is a Borgesian plenitude of multiple pathways, multiple timelines, infinite feed, choose your own adventure; a hypertext of cultural reference almost worthy of Manic Street Preachers at their Richey Edwards era of paranoid, intellectual peak; a metamodernist feat of oscillation between irony and sincerity, an extended tract, a drunk millennial ramble, a journey that loops from house party to club basement to the streams of sexuality repressed and expressed encounter...and yet. It is both more and less than these things. In trying to capture Notes on a Conditional Form with some pithy, journalist’s statement, I’m doing it all wrong.

> Sidenote: I recently listened to Rachel Zucker give a 2016 lecture on ‘The Poetics of Wrongness’ as part of the Bagley Wright Lecture Series. She makes a case for wrongness in poetry and critique, rejects the poem of pithy essence, the short, pretty and to the point lyric whose meaning is easily digested in a greetings card, or A Level exam paper, say. ‘Instead of the Fabergé egg of the short lyric, I prefer the aesthetics of intractability and exhausted exhaustedness’, the mistakes, lags or aporia made along the way in one of these long and winding poems. Notes on a Conditional Form is full of what some might deem mistakes, digression, exhaustion; but it is also peppered with the gloss of almost perfect pop ‘hits’ such as ‘Me & You Together Song’ and ‘If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)’. A wrong poem should be, ‘ashamed and irreverent’, which feels like a decent description of The 1975’s general orientation towards artistic conception. There is cringe and incongruity, there is by all intents and purposes ‘too much of it’, whatever we mean by ‘it’. And yet, that is its beautiful poetics of wrongness, the sound of wrongness, which ‘prefers the stairs’ to the easy elevator pitch (as Zucker puts it), that ‘prefers a half-finishing crumbling stairwell to nowhere’. I like to think about this 1975 album as a kind of exhausting Escherian scene of shifting, crumbling stairwells, shuffling and reassembling against the glistering backdrop of the internet’s inverse void, where everything, literally everything is translated to a starry excess of 1s and 0s, our collective binary data, the white hot, unreadable howl of our noise. What do you think Scott, would Matty find this image agreeable? Does that matter?

> Pushing dear Matty aside, say what you like, let’s start (again) with the title: Notes on a Conditional Form. Following 2018’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, it’s fair to position these records as gestures towards philosophical statements ‘of the times’. Important to recognise the resistance to total or dominating knowledge built into the titles: these are not complete tracts or theses, but rather ‘a brief inquiry’ and ‘notes’. It’s obviously the ancient yet *hip* thing to do in capital-P Philosophy, to put out your statement on aesthetics and ethics, and I think The 1975 are playing with that tradition and its failure. You can imagine if his attention span were different, Matty Healy would’ve already written a PhD thesis on this stuff and published it as drunken bulletins on LiveJournal in 2007. As it stands, we have the smorgasbord sprawl of this eclectic record to get through in this cursèd year of 2020 — it’s not like we have much of anything better to do right now, when everything feels so futile, beyond reason and even the greatest human endeavour. Haha, woo, Yeah :’(((.

> Let’s stay in that conditional space between crying and laughter. Conditional form is interesting as a term, often used in grammar to refer to the ‘unreal past’ because it uses a past tense but does not actually refer to something that literally happened in the past: If I had texted him back, we would probably have gone to the gig that night. There’s something about the conditional as the ur-condition of the internet, the proliferating possibilities it offers and the hauntological strains of what could have been had we chosen x option over y, z, a, b, c, infinity...As millennials, we often make decisions by hedging, always caught in the conditional state of what it is to be. Hovering in the emotional shortcuts provided by dumb yellow icons, the poetics of abstraction. A verb form’s dalliance with uncertain reverb; and so we live our conditional lives.

> To push this further, we can say the internet is, as ever, Matty Healy’s natural habitat. In a recent podcast interview with Conor Oberst for The Face, Healy tells his favourite emo-country hero that ‘my natural environment by the time I started The 1975 was the fucking internet’. So how does that ecosystem play into the music? In a damning review for The Line of Best Fit, Claire Biddles concludes:

The 1975’s first three albums are ideal and distinct worlds to inhabit, each individually cohesive but situated in specific contexts — the anticipation of the small town, profundity in the face of vacuous fame, and the horror and isolation of late capitalism. Perhaps because of its broken genesis, Notes has no such common context, and ends up feeling flat, directionless and inessential, where its forebears felt vital, worthy of devoting a life to. For a band with proven dexterity in deftly capturing the nuances and quick changes of contemporary conversation, it is disheartening to witness them with nearly nothing of note to say.

That description — ‘flat, directionless and inessential’ — is kind of how I experience the internet right now, in the paradox of Web 2.0 becoming utterly essential, somehow, to how I live my life, how I love, how I am with friends. The internet as my ecosystem, my utility, my complete environment, my Imaginary — beyond the mere utility of a WiFi connection. Broken genesis might well describe the childhoods of those of us who grew up online, whose platforms collapsed around them, whose adolescent data was lost in the great ~accidental annihilation of the MySpace servers, whose identities were always already fractured, performed, anonymised or exquisitely personalised, deferred into only the (im)possible keystroke of utterance and trace, the fort-da play of MSN sign-ins. ‘My life is defined by a desire to be outward followed by a fear of being seen’, Matty says in a new short film for Apple Music, released in tandem with the album. The internet requires this chiaroscuro destiny: not to burn always with Baudelaire’s hard and gem-like flame (O to be an IRL flaneur beyond times of lockdown) but to endlessly flicker between the bright green light of presence and the shade of what once was called afk, away from keyboard. To live and burn in the gap between extroversion and introversion, to live in this conditional state of tendency. To express with emoji, send pics, is to both reveal and withhold something else, essential.

> I like albums to feel like worlds; I appreciate Biddles’ evocation of the cohesion experienced in the first three 1975 records. But perhaps it is a kind of violence to assume a world must have cohesion to exist. What is even meant by ‘common context’? What pressure are we putting on a singer, a band, a cultural moment to produce something familiar and harmonious, and to whom, at what scale? What does it mean to be the biggest band in the world...for a bit? How does that work when everything is dissonance, transience, noise, interference; both this and not-this; when life itself is lived as the flat traversal of a millioning existential terrains that seem to collapse into this nowness in which I feel myself sliding forever? Can anyone weigh-in on what it means to make music, art or writing that’s ‘worthy of devoting a life to’, because the gravity and force of that condition for good art, good pop, seduces me so.

> Maybe the point is to always be in the middle, to never quite start to write about The 1975, to find yourself always already writing about this album because this album was always already writing about your life. I have said nobody does the interlude quite like The 1975, but I was being coy, because the hottest twentieth-century philosophical double act, Deleuze and Guattari (haters gonna hate), do the interlude rather nicely. The point of a rhizome being ‘no beginning or end [...] always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo’ as they write in A Thousand Plateaus (1980). I see the musical interlude of a pop record, the instrumental moment without lyric, as a kind of middling gesture that places the listener in that conditional state of presence and absence, a hinge between songs, times and narrative moments. Maybe my favourite moment in A Thousand Plateaus is the statement: ‘RHIZOMATICS = POP ANALYSIS, even if the people have other things to do besides read it, even if the blocks of academic culture or pseudoscien-tificity in it are still too painful or ponderous’. Painful or ponderous might be a fair critique levelled at the enfant terrible vibes of Matty’s lyrics and generic pick’n’mix, but isn’t this tactic a kind of swerving punch at the categorical violence that keeps people out of academia, that keeps academic discourse so often stale in the first place? Unlike most journal articles, let’s face it, pop reaches ‘“the people”’. Perhaps Notes on a Conditional Form is the rhizomatic sprawl of the myriad we need as an alternative to institutional hierarchy, ring-fencing and the language games of academia. Surely the title is a reference to the very ‘pseudoscient-tificity’ D&G mention? I’m gonna quote Richard Scott’s blurb to Colin Herd’s 2019 poetry collection, You Name It here (not least because the indie publishers, Dostoyevsky Wannabe, come straight out of Manchester, home to The 1975, and because Herd’s poetic spirit is pure pop generosity with a platter of theory on the side), because I want to say similar things of this album: ‘Colin Herd’s poems are masterpieces of variousness. They are talismans against Macho demons. They are snatches of theory operating under lavish spills of language’. The good thing about Herd’s poetry and Matty Healy’s lyrics is that the impulse towards romantic or florid expression is always tapered by an interest in the mundane and everyday. Healy is always singing about pissing or buying clothes online or, as on ‘The Birthday Party’, singing about ‘a place I’ve been going’ that seems to consist of the lonely, infinite regress of conversations about seeing friends and watching someone drink kombucha while buying, in the convenient life of rhyme, Ed Ruscha prints.

Ed Ruscher, Cold Beer, Beautiful Girls (2009)

> So what kind of listening does this rhizomatic sprawl demand — does it expand beyond the banal or find a holding space there, a heaven of affect chilled to late-modernity’s crisp perfection? ‘The End (Music For Cars)’ is a luxurious, Hollywood ‘soaring’ moment, all strings and swells, fucking woodwind, and comes as the third track on the album, where normally you’d place it as some kind of penultimate climax, the album’s landscape pan-out or big swelling screen kiss in three-dimensional rotation. The band’s ‘Music For Cars’ era comprises their two most recent records, and you have to take it as a nod to Brian Eno’s 1978 ambient classic Ambient 1: Music for Airports (Matty recently interviewed Eno again for The Face, cool). The thing about cars is you drive around in them, you follow rules but also whims and desires, convictions; you choose to join others or you pursue the selfish acceleration (‘People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles’ goes the laconic teenage refrain in Bret Easton Ellis’ 1985 debut novel Less Than Zero). You only listen to music half-attentively; you don’t listen close enough to trade in souls. Are we being invited to experience this album as an ambient disruption of figure and ground, presence and absence, here and there, space and place, intimacy and despondency? Driving feels increasingly ‘directionless and inessential’ when the scale effects and obscenities of the anthropocene, of covid and other late-capitalist crises loom in our vision, when the sign systems we used to navigate our lives by seem to shimmer out of focus, or pixelate and deteriorate through endless memetic replication... You can’t help feel like Biddles review kind of misses the point.

Sylvano Bussoti, Five Pieces for Piano for David Tudor (1959)

> What point would that be though, in a world of rhizomatic overlap and intersecting, middling lines, a direction without seeming end? I love the approximation at work when Biddles writes, ‘with nearly nothing of note to say’, because that seems to be a possibility condition for writing in the age of the internet. To write in a way that is almost less than zero and loop back upon some kind of infinity, yet keep it in 2-step. I think back to Rachel Zucker’s image of the half-finished crumbling stairwell, and feel an amiable sense of approval towards this band who always work between the registers of diary, confession, advertising, provocative sloganeering and faux-didactics, never quite settling in to specifically tell you this particular story. It’s all mess, and it’s awful and delicious, I’m sorry. ‘Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied’ is the title of track 13 on the album: that movement between nothing and everything feels like the absolutist, absurdist conditions of ‘truth’ possibility in the Trumpocene/age of so-called ‘post-truth’. ‘Life feels like a lie, I need something to be true’, Healy sings with strained conviction in the song’s opening. But what is at stake in this truth? ‘I never fucked in a car, I was lying’, goes the line, referring back to the dramatic in medias res opening to ‘Love It If We Made It’, notable banger from A Brief Inquiry…: ‘We’re fucking in a car, shooting heroin / Saying controversial things just for the hell of it’. If lying is a pun on telling a mistruth or laying back, practically sexless in a passive state, there’s a deliberate play on apathy, agency and distortion here. It’s something Matty seems snagged on. On ‘I Like America & America Likes Me’ he collapses aesthetic superficiality, capital’s lyric abstraction (‘Oh, what’s a fiver?’) and generalised crisis into this (un)conscious desire for shutdown, expressed in fragmentary bullets of needing-to-know-and-not-know: ‘Is that designer? Is that on fire? Am I a liar? Oh, will this help me lay down?’ And then that impassioned refrain, processed through vocal distortion as if to enact the difficulty in clarity as overcome somehow by the sheer making of noise: ‘Belief and saying something / And saying something / And saying something’. It’s the endless, driving recursion of our lives online, online.

> Back to ‘The End (Music for Cars)’ which really is the middle of the beginning. It’s weird to listen to songs about driving and lying down in the middle of lockdown, drowning in the bloat of social media, on top of our ongoing climate emergency (yeah, remember that, it’s still happening), where high-carbon travel feels like an exhausted, almost impossible concept. A musician complaining about travelling is an age-old subject for a song, but this feels just as much about living in the in-between times of the internet (remember the sweet naivety of the information superhighway) as much as the great Road, for which Kerouac longed as much as Springsteen, Dylan, or Lana Del Rey. Is Matty Healy homesick though? ‘Get somewhere, change my mind, eh / Get somewhere but don’t find it / I don’t find what I’m looking for’. It’s all ‘(out there)’ as the parenthetical refrain goes, but maybe ‘out there’, outside, is the maddening supplement, as Derrida would say, to our lives online, thus revealing their mutual, entwined dependency. Imagine the M6 but tangled up crazily, zanily, like one of those Sylvano Bussoti scores. It’s not like you’re trying to get home, get back, exactly. It’s not like you can just click back on your browser and erase that trace of the touch that enacts it. That’s the weird-ass sensation of being an ecological being: ‘Wherever you go, there you are’, writes Tim Morton in Being Ecological (2018). We’re all pretty alien, even to ourselves.

> If life feels like a lie, as Matty sings, does it matter anymore whether it is or not? Or, to pose the question differently, how do we feel into, attune to something like ‘truth’, a shared reality or feeling? ‘Out there’ is only a state of ellipsis [...] a vine extended, something for the listener, user, consumer and/or human to cling to — or be strangled by. In the aforementioned Apple Music video, Matty takes away the canvas and presents the frame beneath, in a gesture that is comically overwrought with Duchampian pretention around the state and context of the artwork itself. ‘Sometimes I think what is the point of...it’s not my atheism coming out, it’s just my being human coming out’, he muses. The phrase ‘coming out’, with its connotations of closeting, shame and cocoon-like emergence is intriguing here. In a dehumanising, post-internet world of neoliberalism and its attendant microfascisms, its commodification of all kinds of art, its easythink translation of poetry-to-advertising, what would it mean to come out as human after, or better still, in the middle of all this? It’s significant that he trails off after ‘the point of…’, for surely the point itself (of the art?) would be to find yourself here, there, right in the middle of it all. And then in ‘Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied’, it’s like Matty is calling us back from that epistemological and ontological boiling point of knowing and being, like in singing we could go along, we could feel present and ‘true’ again, even with friction and difference. We gotta take hold, cool ourselves down from the rhetoric and into warm emotion, the smell of paint, erotic vibration of bass, in a manner of speaking.

> What if the mode of inquiry were not to investigate but rather to follow the lines of flight, to riff on this world where narrative arcs and chains are replaced by the multiple possibilities of hallucinatory experience, what Deleuze and Guattari call ‘a continuous, self-vibrating region of intensities whose development avoids any orientation toward a culmination point or external end’? To just desire and trace it. This, Scott, is where you come in (and I finally shut up to listen). There is so much more to write about this album, echo for echo, and I feel like I’ve only begun the tracing which was already beginning: I want to know your thoughts on The 1975 and America, on gender and genre, on bodies and football and friendship, on political engagement, those house beats, on the beautiful, sultry appearance of Phoebe (fucking) Bridgers, on sincerity, on the question of ‘What Should I Say’...It’s been playing on my mind that I will never say what I want to, or should, or would say of this album, but this perhaps is what I would otherwise have said. I give you my notes in conditional form.

Read part 2 of our review in Scott Morrison’s response here.

Notes on a Conditional Form is out now and available to order. 

~

Text: Maria Sledmere

Published: 23/6/20

[sulfurousdreamscapes]

It was the morning I was going to get the bow. Made from the wood from the Tha'syl forest, it would be the first bow I would use in my whole life that wasn’t a hand-me-down. The entire previous night, the song of the Cleric had been ringing in my ears. I went to sleep humming it, and I woke up humming it. I’d heard it only once before, when we made camp, on our quest to retrieve the goblet of the elven queen. And yet, it had remained lodged in my head like a fly in a spider’s web. I’d devoured it, and now it was a part of me: every note, every sound, every plucked string of the harp, every beat of the drum.

“I don’t really know if I’m ready for this,” I said, kneeling before my mentor, the old elf Dorannir. He conferred the bow to me, and I didn’t really have much choice in accepting it.

“You’ll never be ready for it if you keep wondering,” he said, “I spent a good deal on having this made, just for you. You deserve it, more than anyone else I know.”

“Even more than Tele'zica?” I asked. The very name made his face drop, and I fell sorry for bringing her up. “You know I would rather not have to think of her,” he said. I nodded and apologised. I felt the bow in my hands. I drew the string and fired at a blob of goo jumping around near the trees. It died instantly. Satisfied, I retrieved the arrow, and also some of the gold the blob had left behind.

I had an MP3 of the song. Yeah, that was a different era—YouTube was too unknown, and you didn’t have Spotify or Pandora to stream songs from. Back then, you searched high and low on the Internet for songs. And this song, from the MMO? Oh, it was rare. I found it on a file sharing tracker: a private one. It was like my little treasure. I played it over and over again. That probably explains my obsession with it.

Dorannir had been moved by the song too. Or well, that’s what I called him most of the time, but his screen name was Sugi49. The 49 stood for the year the People’s Republic of China was founded. He’d admitted that he’d had questionable taste in screen names as a kid. Any way, he had some video editing program, and he was working on a video for the song. It would have lyrics, and graphics and even animations and stuff. I think you kids call it ‘lyrics video’ nowadays.

“I know what you’re wishing,” I said to him over MSN Messenger, “You wish Tele'zica was here to hear the song.”

“Yeah,” he replied. He sent a nudge, which shook the entire chat window around. He knew I hated that.

I knew the full lyrics to the song by now, and I’d sung it a few times. Sugi49 wanted to hear me sing it, but my voice was too terrible for that.

I played the recording back. My microphone was terrible, and it picked up a lot of noise. All in all, it sounded like my voice was coming out of a shoddy radio. With a beating heart, I searched online for a host to upload it on (again, you have to remember that this was a time before Google Drive, Vocaroo, Dropbox and all these fancy services). I didn’t find one, so I told Sugi49 that I’m going to send it over MSN Messenger. And I did. And on my speed, it was going to take four hours to send one audio file. I sighed.

“It’s not really very good, and the microphone is bad too, so like, don’t judge it too much, okay?” I said.

Sugi49 lol’d. “I just hope neither of us have a disconnect. Then we’ll have start the transfer all over again,” he said. Ugh, I thought—disconnects are the worst.

I spent the next hour reading the MMO’s official forums. It was our own little community. A little hidey-hole from the rest of the world. I say this in retrospect, of course. Back then, it was just there—just so obvious, that I never even questioned it being there for me. I wouldn’t have used the term ‘escapist fantasy’ then because it just sounds so patronising. Like I’m a fucking child who needs escapist play to feel good about myself.

And then, on another lazy refresh, I saw the thread. It was Dorannir’s thread about the lyric video he’d made. “What the fuck?” I said to him over messenger, “You didn’t show me first?”

“Surprise!” he replied.

The video had been uploaded to this new video uploading site that was starting to pick up popularity. It was like Photobucket for videos, you could say. They called it… YouTube.

I started playing the video, and it took ages to buffer. I decided to leave it on buffer and left the computer. I helped mum cook, and she was glad about that, for once. I was glad I could make mum happy. Even though she’s a bitch most of the time.

When I returned, I hit play on the video. The video wasn’t really special, you have to understand. It was actually quite bad in comparison to what gets made today. But Sugi49 had poured his everything into it. It was full of effects. There were images from the game: wallpapers from the official site, key art, concept art, loading screens, even a screenshot or two. Sugi49 had used almost every transition and every effect available in his program. There was that old-timey-movie effect, there was the black-and-white, there was the shredder transition.

The song was ethereal, and Sugi49 had used imagery from outside the game, too. Clouds, forlorn-looking elven girls, full moons shining over the sea. There was an album cover, too. The band was Nightwish. He loved them, but I only got into metal much later.

And of course the video stopped buffering midway through. So much for waiting an hour for it to load.

Sugi49’s video blew up on the forum. No one had really made a lyrics video for this specific song from this specific MMO before, so it proved to be really popular, and a lot of players with internet connections far better than mine praised him for his effort and how cool the video was and asked him if he was going to make more.

He didn’t talk to me much that day. Of course he didn’t. He was too busy talking to people on the forum and answering private messages. He didn’t even show up in the game. I tried playing a bit myself, using my new bow, but I couldn’t bring myself to hum the song anymore. I didn’t even like being a Cleric class and using the bow. I wanted to punch the Cleric ‘Sister’ who sings the song in the game. It’s a stupid song.

I asked Sugi49 on Messenger if he listened to my recording. He said my connection dropped during the transfer and it was interrupted. I started the transfer again. Meanwhile, an anime episode I had on download finally completed downloading, so I hit play. As a side, I feel like the long downloads from back then really meant something. When you’ve had to spend days for an episode, weeks for a series, a month or two for a game, you start to treat them as something special. It’s almost like spending money on entertainment, except not.

I left a comment in the forum. “Nice video, Dorannir,” it said. Nice and simple. He never thanked me for it. Fine, I thought. I’ll just listen to J-Pop and anime themes. Fucking Sailor Moon cared more for me than Sugi49.

I didn’t really know what came over me to hate Sugi49’s popularity. It was like he’d been torn away from me. He’d become famous and now he probably didn’t care about little ol’ me. It was so stupid, but I couldn’t shake it off. Mum asked if I’ll help her cook. I told her I’m not feeling up to it. She said something passive aggressive. I sniped back. We argued. Also, fuck Sugi49.

In the evening, I asked him if he’d listened to my recording. He said he hadn’t. Then he checked, to make sure. Nope, the file download had stalled at 42% for some reason, and it wasn’t moving beyond that. We waited half an hour to be sure, and then cancelled the transfer. “This is never going to work,” I typed, and deleted a sad face emoticon before sending the message.

“Prolly not,” he said.

“Enjoying your new-found popularity?” I asked.

“Yeah sure, why not,” he replied.

“Well, there are people who don’t enjoy popularity, you know. Or like, there’s impostor syndrome, if you’ve heard of that,” I said.

“Ugh, so many PMs,” he said, “I give up answering all of them. Brb, gonna get some lunch.”

I played the recording of my voice again. And again. My own ugly voice singing to myself. I wanted to get on a boat, ride out into the middle of the ocean, and drown the damn recording. I’d let it sink to the bottom of the ocean floor only after I was sure it was dead. Unfortunately, digital data cannot be drowned.

That, and I’m scared shitless of open bodies of water.

Call it prophecy, call it a vision from the future, call it what you will. I realised how little all of this matters. I won't be playing this game forever. It's not even particularly huge, so it's almost likely going to be shut down at some point. Will Sugi49 and I still be friends then? Will the forums continue? Probably not the latter—those will be shut down with the game. The roleplays, the fanfiction, the discussion threads and polls, all gone. All the comments praising Dorannir and his mighty lyrics video would disappear into the aether of the internet, only to be resurrected in some Internet Archive page—if anyone cares to look.

It made me sad.

I messaged Sugi49. "Sorry," I said. "What for?" he said almost immediately. "I don't know, just sorry, I guess," I said. He sensed that I was having a pretty profound time right now, so he chose to accept the apology.

"Can you upload that audio to YouTube?" he asked me. He helped me put the audio into a video container with a basic title screen and a graphic of the game. It was kinda cool. I set it for upload, and sighed, almost certain that my connection was going to drop, or the upload was going to stall, or someone was going to bomb my house, or I was going to die in a flood, or something.

I went around looking at some fanart. and that's when I got a message from an excited Sugi49. "You won't believe what just happened," he said. I disagreed, but never mind. "Tele'zica just messaged me. She said the video is great. She's alive! I don't believe this," he said.

The irony is that he definitely didn't believe this, but I did. I mean, why the hell would I care enough to not believe it.

"What did she say?" I offered some interest.

"Nothing, just 'great video'," he said, but soon after added, "She's asking me how I am and stuff now. She's really back."

"Good for you," I typed, and deleted it without sending.The upload was working, so I just stared at the progress bar for a while. It moved really, really slow.

Somewhere in the game, in a forest where monsters once roamed, I sat down next to the campfire. "It's nice to be alone," I typed in the local chat. There was nobody around. Just me, and the chat box. There will be a time when even I won't be here. And the chat box won't be here. We'll only remember it by screenshots—old photographs proving that it once existed, and that it displayed people's messages.

Everything passes? The bow I have, that Dorannir spent so much gold on. The graphics and sounds here. All gone, but still tormenting me in my memories.

So what happened then? No, my YouTube video upload failed. And then at one point, my computer broke and I had to get the hard drive formatted, so I lost both the audio of me singing and the video I'd made out of it. Sugi49 and I stopped talking daily, then weekly, then monthly, and now we barely say hi.

Nearly a decade later, his lyrics video is still up on YouTube, although the comments have stopped trickling in. I can always revisit that—until YouTube is gone too, I guess.

This post was delayed due to technical issues.

Today’s throwback story is about a really tall tower.

[canaryatlaw]

alright, well today was decent. I had my alarm set for 8:30, and as luck would have it I woke up at 8:27, which is just obnoxious, because then I can’t fall back asleep and I have to spend the next three minutes not sleeping and knowing I’m about to have to get up. I did however get up and get (somewhat) dressed for the online training I was doing today. I forget if I talked about it in last night’s post or not, but it’s like this 40 hour required training for people in the field that I was supposed to do in like September but then this year was nuts so I’m only getting to do it now, and of course this is the first time they’re doing it online. so basically it started at 9, the whole thing was on Zoom, there’s like 24 of us I think, and for the first session the person running it spoke for a while then we did some small introductions to each other. I’m pretty sure I’m the only lawyer, but everyone works in the field in some capacity, or at least volunteers there. they then used the screen share option to put up powerpoint slides, which we could also download, so we didn’t really need to take notes, and I’m already familiar with a lot of this stuff not just from working for 9 months here but the 3 years I spent prior to that digging into cases and finding different situations, so it wasn’t really the most enthralling stuff anddddd I basically ended up reading fanfic for most of the time while still listening though haha and definitely still taking stuff in. we did an hour break for lunch, then the afternoon session had us split into smaller groups of like 6 where we each took two parts of what they call the “power and control wheel” (I’ve known about it forever because they had it up on the wall at my job since I started there as a law student) which is really well known for breaking down the different aspects of DV and such, so that was interesting and it was good to see just how many of them overlapped onto each other and how interconnected a lot of them were, so that was cool. We ended a bit after 3:30, so not bad. it’s going to be Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next 3 weeks, which is definitely manageable. so that’s good. after the training finished I just chilled out for a bit and watched some shows and listened to music, all that good stuff, then had dinner and watched Stargirl, which was still cute, and then of course the Legends finale. This whole season has been weird from day 1, there’s no denying that, and while this episode was definitely not one of their best, it did have some genuinely funny moments that I have come to appreciate (when the line “are they tired from the crossover?” was said I lost my shit). Despite the weak plot though, the strongest part of the episode and really the strongest plot of this season overall has been Zari(s) I really cannot say enough about how Tala Ashe is such an incredibly good actor. Like Zari’s not even my favorite, character, I’ll always be a Sara stan and a Caity Lotz stan, but Tala is by far the best actor on the show, and that shone so clearly tonight in just about everything she did between the two Zaris and Behrad and like the intensity of that sibling bond that she brought from the sister who never knew her brother surviving and would do anything to save him, with the one who never lost him up until now and is desperate not to have that happen again. like I really just cannot stress how amazing Tala was in every single part of this. And she had lines like “Every day since then everything I’ve done has been to save you” and “It’s my turn to save you” said with such incredibly sincerity that actually brought tears to my eyes. So she gets a big amount of credit for being way more interesting and entertaining then the actual main plot, which I don’t really have much to say about other than it was pretty meh and disappointing for a season finale (though I do appreciate its funny quips). The other part that actually stood out to me was the culmination of Mick spending time with Lita and actually becoming a Dad, and tbh I came into this totally ready to hate this plot line, but they actually executed it in a way that winded up having me really love it and I’m really glad they gave it to Mick instead of just have him be standing in the background being bored every episode. They did a really good job of showing the journey he took from learning he has a kid to actually being a proud and caring father and I have to give the writers credit for that. so yeah, that’s where I’m at with all of this. after it finished I watched kpop videos for a bit (since they’re doing like “promotions” or whatever right now there’s like 6 new videos a day, it’s a lot to keep up on) and then the news for a bit and some Jimmy Kimmel before showering and starting to get ready for bed, and now I’m here. I don’t have any like work responsibilities to do tomorrow mostly because I have 3 meetings instead, but that’s a lot easier to deal with than being on call constantly, so I’m fine with that. first one is at 10 am so I should get to sleep in at least a little later than the today at least, but it’s 1 am so I should probably still go to bed now. Goodnight babes. Stay lovely.

[rafi1228]

A course you’ll actually finish! This SQL course taught by a Product Manager and Marketing Data Scientist

What you’ll learn

Analyze user behavior

Find actionable customer/business insights

Make data-driven decisions

Measure and track marketing efforts

Discover sexy marketing stats (e.g. 1 in 4 people love toast!)

Requirements

No previous technical knowledge required

Description

Buff up your resume/CV and become interview-ready by learning real-world SQL in this course.

This SQL course has been taken by fine marketing folks at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Lyft, and Udemy.

Your Story:

Bill was looking to move into a more analytical role and saw SQL as a requirement in the job listings he saw.  He wanted to add “SQL” as a skill to his resume/CV with a clean conscience and back it up if any questions arose in the interview.  But getting there would take forever. Better to just “fake it til’ you make it”… right?

Joe was working in a marketing position at a small company. He had a bunch of creative ideas but sometimes felt like he was shooting in the dark and guessing at what customers were doing. If only he had some insights about user behavior so he could be a more data-driven marketer. But data analysis is only for technical folks… right?

Our Story:

David and Pete joined Udemy with little to no technical experience. But after a lot of trial and error, headaches, and help from their friends, they got good enough to uncover unique insights for themselves, their team, and their company using SQL. They were able to discover interesting things about user behavior, create dashboards to track and measure progress on team goals, pull data for the exec team to use in investor pitch decks, and get data driven about decisions they made. They’ve since helped many team members buff up their data analysis skills and helped students land jobs!

What You’ll Learn:

If you have no technical background, don’t be afraid! We’ve distilled our knowledge and experience using SQL into a short course so that by the end, you’ll have the raw skills to do some real data analysis for your company using SQL – a language virtually EVERY company uses. Note: this courses teaches you real-world SQL – not just the theory in abstract, but real skills you can use to get more data-driven in your current job.

How This Course is Structured:

In this course we’ll be pretending we’re a real business (i.e. Blockbuster) so the stuff you learn will be easy to apply to your own situation/company. No abstract/theoretical mumbo jumbo.

We’ll go through queries a real business would run while also teaching you the raw skills undergirding those queries so you can adapt those skills to create custom queries for your own specific purposes

To reinforce learning, we have exercises and quizzes scattered throughout the course so you can learn by doing

We’ll have a bonus section where new lectures will be added occasionally (including student-requested lectures, more advanced topics, strategies for getting unstuck, etc.)

We’ll be actively involved in the discussion board answering any questions you might have! Don’t be afraid to ask!

A Note About Pedagogy:

We know what it’s like to buy a book, feel good about yourself, never finish it and have nothing to show for it. We don’t want that to happen with this course. We want this to be a course you’ll actually finish. We believe half of learning is motivation and engagement, so we’ve tried extra hard to make this course fun, relevant, entertaining, and punchy – no frills, no dragging things out, just the good stuff. Heck, you might even find yourself skipping a party to spend time with your new best friends (i.e. us)!

FAQs:

Do I need to purchase any software to take this course? Nope! Everything we use to do data analysis with MySQL is completely free. We’ll walk you through the installation and set-up of any software we’ll be using.

Can I take this course with Linux? The set-up and installation lectures we’ve created are for Windows and Mac, and we don’t currently have specific installation lectures for Linux.

Who this course is for:

Marketers

Startup folks

Non-technical folks

Aspiring Data Analysts

Recent College Grads

Job-seekers

Created by A Course You’ll Actually Finish, David Kim, Peter Sefton Last updated 12/2018 English English

Size: 578.01 MB

   Download Now

https://ift.tt/1DDwAtd.

The post SQL for Newbs: Data Analysis for Beginners appeared first on Free Course Lab.

[sentrava]

Gifts for You, Gifts for Your Friends, Gifts for Everyone!

Every year when I’m putting together my annual holiday gift guide, it’s more a compilation of my own wishlist—as well as gifts I’ve purchased for my loved ones. (Loved ones, look away! You might spoil the surprise.) No $2000 items or things like a Peloton that you’d never actually buy someone, just things I’ve got on my own wishlist or have mentally bookmarked for my family.

Quick side note: I don’t know why it took me so long to sign up for eBates! I always thought it was a sham, but it’s most definitely not. If you shop online a lot like I do and install the plugin on your web browser, you’ll get an automatic notification when an online store offers cash back; the stores I regularly shop at offer anywhere from 2 to 15 percent back, which is refunded to me every couple of months via Paypal. I pretty much only shop online as I hate going into stores and have gotten $500 refunded to me this year alone. You can sign up here, which I highly recommend before doing any Christmas shopping!

With that said, here are many things I’m loving this year:

FOR A FANCY STOCKING STUFFER: SOCK FANCY

Remember how as a child you’d roll your eyes anytime you received a piece of clothing as a gift, then somewhere around your teens or early 20s, you only hoped someone would give you a present like underwear or socks? Socks have become a routine staple for me: I get them for my mom, sister and SVV every single year, and spent hours searching online for the perfect prints. SVV, you may be surprised to know, is a bit of a sock connoisseur and the crazier the print, the more likely he is to wear it. So when I learned of Sock Fancy, an Atlanta-based sock delivery service, I was more than thrilled that someone was going to take that time searching for the perfect prints off my hands. Best of all, you can customize your subscription—men’s or women’s; all crew, all low-cut or a mix of both; one, two or six pairs per month (I’m going with six given that my washing machine eats socks like no other!)—in a commitment of three-, six-, nine- or 12-month subscriptions. Shipping is free, and if you don’t like something? You can make unlimited swaps. How’s that for satisfaction-guaranteed? You can also get 20% off with the code BF2018.

Price: from $11/month (purchase here)

FOR THE AT-HOME CHEF: RAW SPICE BAR

Born from the desire for better quality sourcing of raw spices, RawSpiceBar is built to control the entire process of ground spice production here in the United States. We’ve been using their products for a few years to make Indian chicken, Italian food, Asian-inspired tacos and so many other yummy dishes. SVV gravitates towards the blended ingredients like tandoori masala or the Persian advieh and absolutely loves the extended recipe section of their website for dinner inspiration. I’m not complaining! If you’re like me and can’t choose, RawSpiceBar offers a subscription model that will kick your kitchen up a notch and it’s customized to how you cook and what kind of dishes you typically like. Genius! We’ve now been subscribers for three years, and not only do we get brand new spices we’ve never before tried sent to us on the regular, but now we can also log onto RawSpiceBar’s online shop and order bigger portions of the spices we love. Note: You can get 12% cash back through eBates with this one.

Price: from $9/month (purchase here)

FOR YOUR PRODUCT-JUNKIE WIFE: GURU POUCH

We all have that person in their lives, who opens up her purse and an entire makeup counter spills out. And if you don’t have that person, it’s probably you (spoken from experience, ha)! The Guru Pouch is a drawstring makeup bag that opens into a 20-inch flat surface. Not only can you can see everything at once, which is my big frustration packing all my stuff into a tiny makeup bag when I travel, but when you’re done, you just pull the strings and everything is tucked inside. Best of all, you don’t need to pack and repack when you’re traveling, as you can use this method at home instead of taking it all out of your makeup drawer and messing up your counter; instead, just set the products back down on the open bag and cinch them all inside when you’re done. Voila!

Price: $12 (purchase here)

FOR YOUR TOY-LOVING HUSBAND: DJI MAVIC AIR QUAD

The best gift I ever gave SVV was the DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone a year-and-a-half ago. We use that thing all the time, and it’s become an important component in our photography kit. That said, if you’re just a hobbyist, you don’t need a $2000 drone; the DJI Mavic Air will work just fine (we actually produce videos for tourism boards so need the higher-end model). DJI almost never puts their gear on sale, but for this Christmas, they have the Mavic Air bundle—which includes the remote controller, a spare battery and a hard case, all expensive accessories on their own—on sale for $749. If you’ve ever wanted a drone, now’s your time. If you (or your husband) are in the production industry, I highly recommend the DJI Phantom 4 Pro, which is on sale in a bundle with a ton of accessories for $1800. And if you’re not ready to commit to the real thing just yet, SVV spent a year learning to fly on this $60 BLADE Nano before launching a $2000 piece of equipment into the air. (I much endorse this method! Too many rookie drone pilots out there ruining it for the rest of us.)

Price: $749 (purchase here)

FOR YOUR COLOR-LOVING SISTER: 3D EARRINGS

MonsteRawr was one of my first ever blog friends, so when she launched MonsteRawr Makes earlier this year, I was one of her first clients. Stephanie, who has a long history of working in theater production, uses a 3D printer to make amazing wearable art in the form of earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Her style really speaks to my geometry-loving, former math-major heart, and I absolutely love how she incorporates asymmetrical prints and circles in her pieces. You can pretty much order any color you like—her products come in pink, yellow, purple, blue, green—and Stephanie has generously offered all C&C readers 20% off their order through Dec. 31 with the promo code CAMELSGORAWR.

Price: starts at $17 a piece (purchase here)

FOR YOUR FRIEND ON THE GO: A PORTABLE POWER BANK

SVV and I got a couple of these handy charging stations by Lynktec last year, and boy have they saved our lives ever since upgrading our phones and coming to terms with the harsh reality that Mophie doesn’t make a charging case for the iPhone X. Instead, we each keep one of these charging stations in our laptop bags or purses at all times and pretty much use them daily when outside the home, whether out and about in Nashville or traveling for work. Each one gives you four full charges before you need to plug it into the wall and recharge it, plus they come with mini-USB ports as well as an Apple mFi connection, so you can charge iPhones and Droids. Can you say lifesaver? Right now, Lynktec is offering 40% off everything with the code BLACKFRIDAY18.

Price: $60 (purchase here)

FOR YOUR INQUISITIVE KID: LITTLE PASSPORTS

I bookmarked this kids’ subscription box company when I found them almost a year ago as a gift idea for my five-year-old niece Lucy. She’s a precocious kid and always eager to learn new facts and skills. So I ordered her a one-year subscription to Little Passports for this Christmas. Little Passports makes subscriptions toy boxes for kids ranging from 3 to 12 years old with each box designed to take kids on an adventure where they discover more about the world. Even better: The boxes are put together with the help of scientists, educators with PhD and Masters degrees, and award-winning writers and designers. Kids learn by touching and doing, not just memorizing facts. I reached out to Little Passports and they kindly extended a 15% off offer to C&C readers with the code PR8N2F through 12/31/18. They also have some Black Friday sales happening now, plus eBates is another 6% cash back in your pocket.

Price: $12.99/month (purchase here)

FOR THE PHILANTHROPIST: ST. JUDE

Y’all know of my love for my home state non-profit, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, by now. There’s no company I’d rather donate my money and my time to, so when they reached out to tell me about their #ThisShirtSavesLives campaign, I was more than happy to share the good word. For the second year, they asked dozens of celebrities (and a few bloggers like yours truly!) come into the studio and get our photos snapped wearing the newest iteration of the #ThisShirtSavesLives. If you commit to donate $20 a month alongside us, you’ll get the new shirt sent to you—and rest easy knowing that you’re helping St. Jude give children with cancer free access to treatment, lodging and so much more. (In case you didn’t know, St. Jude’s entire ethos is that no family should have to worry about expenses while they’re focusing on their child’s life.)

Price: $20/month (join here)

FOR THE BROADWAY FAN: THE GREATEST SHOWMAN REIMAGINED

Has it really been only a year since The Greatest Showman catapulted into our lives (and our sound systems), forever changing them for the better? I don’t know about you, but I memorized the entire soundtrack in, oh, about 1.5 days, so when I heard The Greatest Showman Reimagined was coming out just in time for the holidays with covers of the popular tracks by some of my favorite pop artists including Kelly Clarkson, Pink and Kesha, I immediately bookmarked it to download in my Amazon Music account. (Side note: Don’t have Amazon Music? We pay $7.99 a month for it, but I just saw that it’s on sale for $.99 a month right now!) If you don’t have a streaming account, you can buy this amazing soundtrack via Amazon as a CD or audio download.

Price: $13.49 (purchase here)

FOR YOUR WOMAN ABOUT TOWN: ALL THE BODEN

I absolutely love buying my clohting from Boden, usually dresses and tunics that transition easily from day wear to night. Typically, Boden pieces are a bit more than I tend to spend on clothing (think: $150 for a dress, which isn’t bad), but Boden frequently has sales and right now is offering 30% off with the code V4N9. Things I’m lusting after: this jacket with toggles, this green jersey dress, this lilac dress, this fun yellow sweater, this color-block dress.

!function(d,s,id){var e, p = /^http:/.test(d.location) ? 'http' : 'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)) {e = d.createElement(s);e.id = id;e.src = p + '://' + 'widgets.rewardstyle.com' + '/js/shopthepost.js';d.body.appendChild(e);}if(typeof window.__stp === 'object') if(d.readyState === 'complete') {window.__stp.init();}}(document, 'script', 'shopthepost-script');

JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.

FOR YOUR UNICORN-LOVING NIECE: A PERSONALIZED PILLOW

I bought this personalized sequin pillow for two of my nieces for Christmas after it popped up on my Facebook as a sponsored post (can you tell I buy a lot of unicorn things?). I love that you can personalize the name, pick silver or gold sequins, and have an option between designs. They also have other designs like a llama, mermaid, Santa and even an option where you can put your own photo on there if you’re that narcissistic, ha.

Price: $35 (purchase here)

FOR YOUR STYLISH LITTLE: ALL THE CUTEST CLOTHES

My niece is now eight months old, and I’ve had the best time outfitting her in the cutest little girl clothes throughout the year. A few of my favorite resources are Gap Baby, Mini Boden, Cat & Jack from Target and Nordstrom (I’m obsessed with Tucker + Tate—they even have adorable little boys’ clothing, which I find is rare). Below you’ll find several of the outfits I bought her this fall and winter. I’ve been stock-piling clothes for her, but have already had to give her a few of her 1-year birthday presents as she’s 8 months but already wearing 12-18 months! That kid is not small.

!function(d,s,id){var e, p = /^http:/.test(d.location) ? 'http' : 'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)) {e = d.createElement(s);e.id = id;e.src = p + '://' + 'widgets.rewardstyle.com' + '/js/shopthepost.js';d.body.appendChild(e);}if(typeof window.__stp === 'object') if(d.readyState === 'complete') {window.__stp.init();}}(document, 'script', 'shopthepost-script');

JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.

  FOR YOUR FRIEND ON THE GO: TOMS

A couple years ago, I swapped out all of my designer footwear in favor of everything TOMS, no matter the season (I often buy them via Zappos, FYI, as Zappos always seems to be running deals). They’re just so dang comfortable, they’re affordable and they have regular sales, not to mention I love their give-back philosophy, donating a pair of shoes to kids in need for every pair sold. I absolutely love their booties and have no fewer than seven pairs in my closet, with more on the way. My favorites are the Ella booties (no surprise there), but I also love the Kala Wedge Booties. BONUS: TOMS just launched an amazing initiative called “End Gun Violence Together” where they’ve pledged to commit $5 million to gun reform, plus will send a letter to your Congress person on your behalf asking for more thorough background checks of gun owners and it only takes 30 seconds, so go to their homepage and do just that. As if I couldn’t love them any more! Plus, they currently are offering 30% off site-wide with the code THANKFUL. And you get another 10% cash back in your pocket with eBates.

Price: starting at $89 (purchase here with the code MADHOUSE for 20% off)

FOR YOUR PUP: THIS CLOUD-LIKE BED

A friend posted this Best Friends by Sheri dog bed that I immediately snatched up for Ella, who has a bed in every house but only seems to be placated by sleeping on my blanket that looks very similar to this. Here’s to hoping our fur child is finally comfortable (ha)! There are four different size options of this donut-shaped bed depending on how big your pup is.

Price: $35 (purchase here)

FOR YOUR GROWN DAUGHTER: ATHLEISURE

Ahem, are you listening, Mom? Honestly, at this point in life, all I care about are leggings, tunics and puffy vests. My go-to shops are Gap, LOFT and Athleta—particularly as all of those have frequent sales (I also stock up on Zella leggings during the holidays or Nordstrom’s annual sale). Since I work from home and don’t often need dressy garb, the majority of my wardrobe is some form of athleisure that can transition from home office to errands to home office again—or be worn on planes or on road trips. I have an entire wardrobe comprising just leggings, and let me tell you I wear them all; the best leggings brands in my mind are Gap or Hue, though I’ve had success with the Vera Wang and Lauren Conrad brands that Kohl’s carries, as well. Here are a few items I’ve either purchased for myself lately or put on my own wishlist. Gap currently is offering 50% off everything with the code BLKFRIDAY (plus 10% in cash back on eBates), which makes my favorite leggings just $15 a pair. These are seriously all I wear in winter months under a tunic, and they tuck in great to boots!

!function(d,s,id){var e, p = /^http:/.test(d.location) ? 'http' : 'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)) {e = d.createElement(s);e.id = id;e.src = p + '://' + 'widgets.rewardstyle.com' + '/js/shopthepost.js';d.body.appendChild(e);}if(typeof window.__stp === 'object') if(d.readyState === 'complete') {window.__stp.init();}}(document, 'script', 'shopthepost-script');

JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.

FOR YOUR CHILD STARTING HIS/HER OWN BUSINESS: GETTING NAKED

SVV recently bought this book by Patrick Lencioni as we continue to evolve our own business model into more consulting in the coming year and show more vulnerability as business owners. It’s a helpful look at entrepreneurship, no matter what field you’re in, as well as a quick read. He also has a number of other business books that are more targeted to specific industries.

Price: $15.99 (purchase here)

FOR THE STAY-AT-HOME MOM: BAREFOOT DREAMS

OK, let’s widen this net to say “anyone who is at home the majority of the time,” including but not limited to stay-at-home moms and grandmoms, creatives, freelancers, remote employees, anyone for whom comfort is key. Barefoot Dreams makes the coziest of the cozy cardigans and wraps that are legitimately like being wrapped up in a big hug. I originally had some bookmarked via Nordstrom, but they all sold out, so randomly I found them on QVC for much cheaper; they’re also having a major sale on everything through Nov. 26 making them even cheaper. They also make these amazing throws that I’m wanting for my home office.

!function(d,s,id){var e, p = /^http:/.test(d.location) ? 'http' : 'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)) {e = d.createElement(s);e.id = id;e.src = p + '://' + 'widgets.rewardstyle.com' + '/js/shopthepost.js';d.body.appendChild(e);}if(typeof window.__stp === 'object') if(d.readyState === 'complete') {window.__stp.init();}}(document, 'script', 'shopthepost-script');

JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.

Price: from $75 if you buy via QVC (purchase here)

As always, I’m giving away a holiday bundle, a selection of my favorite things, some from this list and some which may be surprises, so enter below to win my annual C&C giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All you have to tell me is this: What’s your favorite holiday tradition?

Note: A few of these products are from our partners or are affiliate links, meaning I’ll receive a small commission for any purchases made. The majority are things I bought for loved ones this holiday season (hope my loved ones aren’t reading this list!). All items featured are 100% endorsed by me.

  PIN IT HERE

Gifts for You, Gifts for Your Friends, Gifts for Everyone! published first on https://medium.com/@OCEANDREAMCHARTERS

[forzagameshorizon-blog]

Forza Forever

Forza Horizon 4 Review Embargo Lifting Off On September 25

Treadmills are exercise machines which will provide you the maximum benefits of walking and running without having to go out for a long run or walk which will not only eat so much of your time but will also be inconvenient especially when the weather is bad. I am a very educated, non -promiscious person. I mean, I enjoy sex as much as the next person, but I don't just have sex with anyone, I'm usually in commited relationships before having sex with a person forza horizon 4 download & this is something I never phatomed could happen, I have never thought things like this could happen., but upon the first time meeting my sisters&brothers in person, I had the most intense connection with my brother. More intense than I have ever had in any relationship, it felt like I had known him my whole life, and I felt insanely safe and comfortable next to him. Around everyone else, I felt the normal nerves you would feel upon meeting a family you haven't seen for so many years, but I was right at ease with my brother. Part of my adoration is that there's just so much stuff here. Forza Horizon 4, for those unfamiliar with the series, is an open-world racer closer in tone to Test Drive Unlimited than Burnout Paradise, with the wealth of content forza horizon 4 download on offer in this iteration spoiling me for choice. Your favourite car is undoubtedly here, be it a 1997 Lamborghini Diablo, several different models of Subaru Impreza or the iconic Warthog from shooter Halo. It's all done to take advantage of the new weather systems that have evolved since Forza Horizon 3's dynamic implementation of the idea. Now, the weather is based on the season. In Autumn, browned leaves litter the ground, trailing behind you in swirling little vortices of air as you speed away as an example. You'll compete in races from the primary disciplines - road races, that have a stricter path muddy, drifting dirt racing unsanctioned street racing and cross country rallies that have you bouncing all over forza horizon 4 download for pc the terrain in an off-road vehicle. As you do so, you'll not only level up in those disciplines, unlocking even more races, but also earn experience points, in-game currency and the necessary influence to make it through to the next season. As you drive you'll also accrue skill points that you'll use to unlock perks on a per-car basis, which do things like modify your skill multipliers and influence. Graphically, Forza Horizon 4 looks absolutely gorgeous. Everything — from the foliage to the roads to the cars — looks stunning during all four seasons. There's some environment deformation, so going through a large grassy field in the summer leaves behind flat areas that you tore through, and the same goes for mud and snow you plow through. There's little to no sign of texture pop-up, and the load times are very good forza horizon 4 download, especially when you take into account how well they're disguised via white room results screens and live shots of Great Britain during the seasons. About the only noticeable flaw comes from the shadows, which look fine but lack smoothness when reacting to the changing times of day. Stay in a place for a while, and you'll see the shadow immediately jump from one angle to another instead of a slow and smooth transition. The physics governing the cars, which feel a touch heftier, looser and more tuning sensitive, are excellent. And so much of in-game play, from the sat-nav instruction to the ghosted guidelines on the road surface, feels like a familiar facsimile of Horizon 3. In terms of customisable difficultly settings, it's much the same forza horizon 4 download, and there are ample rewards from even rudimentary challenges to quickly build enough credit and reward to assemble a decent garage with some wickedly fast machinery in one sitting even before spring arrives and game proper - where AI opponents can be substituted by on-line players - commences.

Will Forza Horizon 4 Download For Pc Ever Rule the World?

So here is a way you can influence the thinking of project managers and business leaders when a new project is on the horizon. Firstly think in terms of how they think, generally they are thinking phases of managing the project lifecycle, so for example the following phases initiate plan build implement and close. So firstly think about change management in each of those phases across the "soft side" of business issues such as communication, stakeholder engagement, training forza horizon 4 download, human resources issues and measurement. Then decide what activities, actions and strategies you could recommend to be included in each of these phases and identify the precise benefit to the project manager and business leader for your specific change management advice to be included in each of these phases for the project success. Then there are the event category levels. Except Showcases, everything in Forza Horizon 4 belongs to an event category. You get points for playing these too. Increasing a category level unlocks more forza horizon 4 download events of that type, while raising an Influence level lets you have the best bonus of all: a Super Wheel spin. Gearheads can fine-tune nearly every single aspect of their ride to eke out that extra horsepower. Artists on the other hand can play around with decals to create forza horizon 4 download custom looks. If past Forza titles are any clue then we can expect to see some gorgeous creations in the game's auction house. After spending close to 30 hours in Forza Horizon 4, I've realized that it's an excellent game for casual gamers looking to have some fun with some of the maddest cars that ever hit the streets. The best thing forza horizon 4 download in this game is that you don't have to win every race to progress, and because there are so many things to do in this world, you probably won't get bored any time soon. The last thing I'd like to touch on is the inclusion of driver avatars, something that Forza Motorsport 7 also used to some degree last year. This is certainly a more goofier approach than what Motorsport offered, and generally fits the overall vibe of Forza Horizon well. I don't think avatars are game-changing by any means, but I found myself more invested in unlocking clothing options and emotes the more forza horizon 4 download I obtained. There's just something about seeing my dumb driver pop and lock during a victory at the end of a race, or run through the motions of the John Travolta confused gif while standing amongst historical sites found in the wild. The clothing options are suitably ludicrous, and it just gave me more incentive to level up, earn wheelspins, and participate in events for unlockables. Again, not a super important addition if you come to Forza Horizon for the racing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[thegloober]

Part 1: Capsule Wardrobe Planning

Today, I am starting a three-part series about capsule planning! In this first post, I’ll share our free download that you can use to plan your capsule and TONS of links to items in the different categories. In my second post, I’ll share the best tip that changed the way I shop forever. And in my third post, I’ll share my fall capsule. I am SO passionate about these posts and hope you enjoy them!

How I define a “capsule wardrobe”: I define a capsule wardrobe simply as preparing your closet for the coming season and then wearing those items for the full season.

A lot of people do it by creating a minimal wardrobe (sometimes with a set number of pieces) and making sure everything matches so you can mix and match. I find this appealing, but too limiting, so I don’t limit the number of pieces. I also don’t limit myself to strictly neutrals. I believe that to get the most out of your experience, you need to tailor your rules to your lifestyle and goals!

Why is a capsule valuable? There are many different motivations for creating a capsule! One benefit is saving money. You can do this on any budget! You can even create a capsule using only things you already own if you want. I always end up saving money by planning and sticking to a capsule, but it is not my main motivation. Another benefit is saving time. This is my key motivation. I tend to get in a bad habit of online shopping way too much. It’s a huge waste of time! So for me I love to do this because I spend a lot of time on it for a few weeks and then I don’t really have to think about clothing for a full season.

Another benefit is becoming a more conscious consumer. This is huge and I have benefitted from it immensely. I’ll share more about this in my second post.

My capsule rules. My rules are simple! Create a closet for the coming season with ONLY items that fit me that I will wear, and that make me feel happy or confident (preferably both, lol) when I am wearing them.

Sentimental items (wedding shoes, funny clothes from high school and a dress from our first date) cannot stay in the closet unless I plan to wear them this season.

Clothes that don’t fit need to be tailored, donated or sold. Clothes that have a negative memory attached to them must go. Clothes that I am only keeping because of guilt (money spent, they were a gift, didn’t wear them much) also have to go.

Like I said above, I don’t limit my capsule to a set number of items. I don’t have any purpose or desire to get rid of all my clothing except for 40 items. So if I end up with 100 items, great—I don’t care. As long as I will wear them all, they can stay.

My goals. My goals are to simplify my process of getting dressed. I used to keep SO many clothes that didn’t fit me (either too small and I was justifying them as “goal clothes” or they needed alterations that I hadn’t gotten around to). This is fine, but when your closet is FULL of clothes like this it makes getting dressed each day super annoying and discouraging. When your closet only has clothing that fits and that you like to wear, getting dressed is quicker and more fun.

My other goal is to save time. I love shopping, but shopping every night (online) is a waste of time. When I get all my shopping done for the season it is so nice to free up all that time and use it for more important goals and passion projects in my life, like working on my children’s book, sewing for fun or writing for my family blog. This free time is valuable and it feels so good to reclaim it!

Click here to download our capsule planning sheet. Use this sheet to figure out what you already have to wear this season and what you would like to purchase.

Here are some roundups of some of my favorite items in stores this season to shop, divided by category.

Tops. I always struggle to find enough tops and I tend to do the most returning in this category—maybe it is just me!  My ideal lineup of tops is a few cozy sweaters, some blouses that look put together with jeans, some blouses that layer well (since I love overalls and layering tops under dresses) and a few cute tees. Here’s a link to my new favorite sweatshirt.

Shop Here:

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

Bottoms. I think this category is so key for confidence! Finding jeans that fit just right, skirts that are the right cut and length, the perfect cozy overalls and a few pairs of pants that are a little more dressy is all I really need. I used to be a hoarder of jeans and felt too guilty to narrow down my collection, but it’s so great to walk into a closet where everything fits perfectly. I’ll never go back!

This denim skirt is currently on heavy rotation.

Shop Here:

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

Dresses and Jumpsuits. My favorite category! If I had to only wear one item forever, it would definitely either be a dress or a jumpsuit. I LOVE them. I did realize this season that I had too many that I was only wearing a handful of times. So my mission this season has been to only purchase dresses and jumpsuits that I can see myself wearing over and over again. This dress is just too perfect for words. It’s my new favorite.

Shop Here:

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

Outerwear. It’s not fully winter yet and it’s not going to be (at least not here in Tennessee) for a while. My fall capsule is all about light jackets. I like to have a few options for denim and a bunch of cozy sweaters to layer.

This denim jacket is a bit oversized and so cozy. I love it with skinny jeans. I have a more tailored one that I love with dresses. Options!

Shop Here:

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

Shoes. I have been trying to branch out and try new styles of shoes these past few seasons. I am still in the middle of slowly reworking this part of my closet. My ideal mix of shoes are a few casual flats (I’ll always love my white Converse!), a few pairs of flattering boots and heels and a couple statement pairs, because there is nothing I love more than statement shoes.

These heels are so cute and flattering that I bought them in white and then went back for the black pair.

Shop Here:

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

Accessories. OK, I am going to break these sliders up into bags and then other accessories.

Shop Bags:

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

This season, I am loving scarves and dainty gold jewelry (this is nothing new!).

Shop Other Accessories:

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

Here are a few of the outfits made of pieces from my fall capsule (all these items are linked above except the exact Madewell overalls, which are sold out now).

I’ll share more soon … I am still finishing my returns and finalizing the capsule. That part is a lot of work (I have returned SO MUCH stuff), but it’s totally worth it. I am really enjoying the feeling of being super picky now that it feels normal to me.

OK! I hope this post inspires some of you to create your own capsule in some form or another. Here’s a bit of reading material that I loved if you want to learn more about this subject …

The Curated Closet – This book is SO GOOD. I am currently reading it for the second time. It has a lot of homework that helped me to figure out my closet “issues.” I highly recommend it!

The other book I would recommend if you just need help cleaning out your closet is The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up. I tend to get a lot of mental blocks when cleaning out (like people on the show “Hoarders”) where I just feel like I can’t get rid of stuff, and the things I learned from this book always help me to keep making those decisions.

I’d love to chat in the comments if you have any questions or thoughts about planning an autumn capsule! xx – Elsie

Credits//Author: Elsie Larson. Photography: Amber Ulmer. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.

The post Part 1: Capsule Wardrobe Planning was shared from BlogHyped.com.

Source: https://bloghyped.com/part-1-capsule-wardrobe-planning/

[aterimber]

Sooo, my beloved Galaxy S4 died yesterday. It had been randomly turning itself off for a few months, so I knew the end was coming. But I was using it fine up until it shut itself off at 8pm, so I go to the Rogers store today, and I was pretty sure it was just the battery, but I'm due for a free upgrade anyway, so I ask what's the closest one to the S4, they say A8. (S8 has thag weird curved screen) I say okay great, wasn't too worried (I was a bit testy since I hate change, I would've been happy with a new battery and having that be my phone forever) and then he tells me I also need a new SIM card because the S4 one won't fit. I'm a bit more uneasy because there go all my contacts, and Notes and probably some passwords as well, (luckily I had been monthly taking the pictures off my phone to save to my computer) so I'm not too happy but whateber, S4 won't turn on so there's no way to get the data. At least I got to keep my number.

Then I get home and start turning off all the stupid facial recognizion/finger print log-in/weird micro-chip in the neck stuff and begin downloading apps and redoing my contacts. (With help from my mom) I begin searching for the emoji keyboard I was using on the S4, as the default one doesn't have emojis and I like them. I spent 2 hours looking through keyboards and NONE of them were right. All the buttons for the punctuation were in the wrong order - kinda hard to type like that. The closest is the default one so that's the one I'm currently using. Add that to the list. Then, I start trying to customize the phone to make it personal. Change the font no problem. The text message boxes (whatever they're called) were customizable on the S4. Not too many options but they had one where they had a sketched black line around it that didn't quite line up with the boxes, don't see that anywhere.

I also had a few other questions (mainly for screen protectors [couldn't find any that said A8, all were S8 so wanted to know if I could get it] and if S Memo was still a thing [it's not] and the text message notifcation shows the message in the notifcation - wanted it back to just the simple '1 New Message') So I Chat with a rep from Samsung - it's their device, they should have the answers. Spend an hour talking to this one guy who makes me Factory Reset (completely wipe everything) the phone. THEN after when I tell him it didn't work he tells me the thing I was asking about couldn't be changed, that's just how it is. (I asked about the fact that the Swipe to Unlock screen was still there after I set up the Pattern Unlock)

I got so frustrated with that, I ask why he made me Factory Reset if it couldn't be fixed, and he goes 'we did it to fix other issues'. To which I'm like, what other issues?? Everything else he told me could 't be fixed/that was how phones were now.

So now I have to redo the contacts and download/change the settings AGAIN. It's so friggin frustrating!

Soooo if anyone knows any good Galaxy Emoji keyboards that are similar to the Default one? (That don't make you download 3 parts seperately) Or if you know any good screen protectors? The ones I used for my S4 (that were AMAZING only changed it twice in 4 years) were Screen Guarder PET (also has BHB in top left corner but not sure what that is) I wasn't able to even find this company again, so I guess they don't exist? Or changed their name. All screen protectors I saw today were temepered glass. I'd prefer the PET ones, if still an option.

Sorry just had to rant. It's 4:30am, I'm gonna finally try to sleep. Continue fixing this stupid thing tomorrow.

Tbanks for reading my rant though, if you made it down here. Don't forget to drink water, take your meds and get some sleep.