#part time tennis player full time model (real)

[firstservepercentage]

Qinwen Zheng for Bazaar

gurl helloooooooo????????

[weirdmarioenemies]

Alright, class, that’s all for today! Your parents are waiting to pick you up outside! I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and I’ll see you tomorrow! Remember, tomorrow’s our quiz on sprockets!

...Ah, I love my job as a Robot Kindergarten Teacher. It’s so rewarding, helping to nurture the next generation of automatons, putting them on the right path toward reaching their potential, whatever their dreams may be! Yes, it is a wonderful full time job which I have, and have had this entire time, and-

Oh! I’m sorry, Clown Junior, I was lost in thought! What’s the matter? Your father is just outside, I saw him pull his self into the usual parking space.

...You’d like me to write... a letter of recommendation? For Clown College? Wow! Well, you have quite a long time to go until you have to worry about that! But... I know how serious you are about your clowning. You mean this. And I’m not one to dash the ambitions of any child! I’ll do it! Your ambition is going to knock the polka-dotted socks off of those admissions office clowns! Now, let’s not keep Mr. Car waiting, I’m sure he’d love to hear all about your day at school!

Name: Junior Clown Car

Debut: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Junior Clown Car is, to get straight to the point, a top-notch clown. Clowns, as we all know, are all about containers. They come from containers (clown cars). They themselves are containers of things (colorful handkerchiefs). So as a clown car and a clown itself, we can expect Junior Clown Car to both contain clowns, and contain all manner of wacky things!

Junior Clown Car can contain not a clown, but some sort of strange, mischievous turtle child! And what better way to spice up a routine of clownery than to Keep ‘Em Guessin’? Everyone would expect a clown in there. This turtle is Junior Clown Car’s go-to sidekick, always tagging along on its tours, and the two play off of each other quite well! A truly great clown recognizes that performing as a group is not a sign of individual weakness. It’s a show of trust, of confidence, of the potential to improvise, and bounce off of a potentially unpredictable companion. That’s a very mature way for such a young clown to be thinking!

And what about props? What does Junior Clown Car have up its sleeve? A whole lot! It can even pop out some arms, allowing it to literally WEAR sleeves to have tricks up! Its go-to routine has it sporting a pair of boxing gloves, some of the silliest gloves out there- a real slapstick clown! And you know what it does sometimes? It plays tennis. This is not just a clown playing tennis, which would already be impressively wacky on its own. This is a clown, who is also a flying vehicle, containing a turtle, playing tennis, while wearing boxing gloves. There is so much going on here! Something for everyone!

If you’ve been worried about Junior Clown Car’s facial expression range, worry no longer. It can do much more than a simple smile. It even has a real flesh tongue in there, and a real flesh tongue is one of the cheekiest parts a clown’s face can have! Maybe not as iconic as a honky nose, but we have made it clear at this point that Junior Clown Car is not afraid to break traditions.

Even at such a young age, Junior Clown Car is undoubtedly an inspiration! Just look at this mass-produced model in its likeness. This different weird turtle guy is even performing acts of clownery with his! Truly, Junior Clown Car is bringing in a whole new generation to the art of clowning!

And lastly, this is a clown who can perform Fire Blast Attacks. Just another example of its wacky slapstick capabilities!

In conclusion, Junior Clown Car is the greatest clown I know, and it is just getting started. Any teacher should be HONORED to have it in their class. I know I certainly am! It may be a very long time before it will reach Clown College, but that just goes to show Junior Clown Car’s passion for the art. Maybe it will change its mind. Maybe it will someday want to be a Baseball Player Car, or an Electrical Engineer Car. But for now?

For now, Junior Clown Car is the best damned clown I’ve ever met.

[tengose]

Which padel racket should I choose?

Which padel racket should I choose? We want to help you with this here at Padel Xpert and that's why we have made a guide to choose the right padel racket to your level.It is important to play with a racket that fits the level you are at and what style of play you have. Therefore, we have made a guide that can help you find the right padel racket, using the techniques you need on the padel court.

Whether you are a beginner, experienced or professional, whether you are an offensive or a more defensive player, there is a racket for you and we will help you find it with this

guide.

Padel racket – What should I choose?

These things you should consider when choosing a new  Padel racketar

padel tennis racket: • Which shape of the racket is best suited to my playing style?

• What surface should the racket have?

• What techniques and materials do I need?

• Which grip do I prefer?

• Which price range should I choose?

There are basic three different types of padel rackets for

adults:

The round padel racket

The round padel racket will give you a big sweet spot located in the middle of the racket, it will give you more control and make it easier for those who play to hit the ball clean and therefore make a sensible shot over the net. The balance/weight is often placed at the bottom of the racket and therefore gives a feeling of a low weight. Due to the large sweet spot and the increased control you get with a round racket, this racket is usually chosen by my beginners and exercisers. However, this does not mean that the round racket is not used by experienced players. Good padel players who already have a lot of speed in their strokes as well as a style of play where control is an important part can also use the round padel racket.

The diamond-shaped padel racket

The diamond-shaped racket often has a high balance and is heavy on the front, which means that the weight is placed high in the racket. This gives you extra power in your stroke and thus more speed, at the same time this racket feels a little heavier to play with than other types of rackets. In a diamond-shaped racket, the sweetspot is placed higher up on the blade of the racket and is thus more advanced to play with. This racket is typically chosen by experienced and talented players who want extra speed in their battles. The racket is especially dedicated to offensive players who can attack high up the net and want to smash the ball.

The drop-shaped padel racket

It can be a bit difficult to distinguish between the round and the drop-shaped racket as they are very similar. However, there are a few different differences in the features of the racket. The drop-shaped racket is a middle ground between the round and diamond-shaped rackets. The balance/weight is often placed in the middle of the blade and in this racket you get a good combination of speed and control. The sweetspot is placed a little in the middle and the racket therefore gives a little less control than the round racket but is easier to play with than the diamond-shaped racket. The drop-shaped racket is dedicated to a wide range of players, but is often chosen by slightly experienced padel players.

Junior padel racketJunior rackets are available in both round, drip and diamond form with the same features for adults. The difference in relation to adult rackets is above all the thickness of the racket. Junior racket is generally thinner and weighs less.surfaceOnce you've decided whether you want a round, diamond or drop-shaped padel racket, decide which surface of the racket fits your game. There are both smooth surfaces and coarser surfaces. If you are a beginner and do not yet have the best technique as well as the feeling with the ball, a racket with a smooth surface fits really well. If you are more experienced and can spin the ball or "slice" it, you should have a coarser surface that allows you to do this.

Material in a padel racketThere are major differences in the materials and techniques used in different rackets. This is, above all, what sets them apart.The coreThe hardness of the essence of a real padel tennis racket affects how the battle turns out. There is a difference between hardness in materials in different rackets. The core is typically made of EVA, which is a type of rubber or foam. In the more expensive rackets, combinations of several different types of foam are often used and this makes the racket more elastic and more controllable. In the cheaper rackets, a kind of foam or rubber is often used, which allows the racket to vary. It is up to the individual padel player what you prefer when it comes to hardness and here it is an

advantage to try different rackets to find out what you think is comfortable to play with. It also means that softer foam gives a better feeling with the ball, the racket is more elastic and you get more control.

The frameA padel racket frame is usually made of carbon, ball fiber or fiberglass. The cheapest rackets are usually made of cheaper materials such as ball fibre and fiberglass while the more expensive ones are made of carbon. Some frames can consist of a combination of several different materials. Carbon is a stronger material and therefore has longer durability.

WeightThe weight of a padel tennis racket is usually between 360 and 390 grams. The light rackets are in the weight class 360-375 grams and the heavier ones weigh between 375-390 grams. Typically, new padel players and women choose to play with lighter rackets as they are easier to handle. The heavy rackets are easier to handle. The heavy rackets are harder to handle but in return a heavy padel racket can provide extra punching power in your stroke.GripOn padel rackets there are not different sizes of the grip. All rackets come with a standard grip. However, many padel players choose to buy a wrap so that you get the thickness you prefer. There are several different lindens and it is recommended that you change your wind at regular intervals as they wear quickly. With a bought grip, you can notice a difference when you hit the ball. The wind also reduces the risk of injuries to the wrists, shoulders and elbow and there are many different possibilities.

   Quality, technology and priceIt can be super difficult to choose a padel racket. There are so many to choose from and to the naked eye they resemble each other very much. But there are differences and it is clear that price and quality are linked. The prices of padel rackets start at around 500 SEK and go up to the most expensive models cost about 3000 SEK. But it is not always right to buy the most expensive racket and expect to get a racket that is best suited for its level.

If you're a beginner, it might not be right to buy an expensive racket that's full of techniques that you can't use

yet. It's about finding a racket you feel comfortable with and that has the techniques to help you further in your game. The most optimal thing is to try different rackets to see what you prefer. You have the opportunity to do this in PadelXpert's physical store in Odense where you can come and try out different rackets that are perfect for you in our test center.

See our full range of padel rackets BELOW You will see examples of a round racket, a diamond-shaped racket and, for example, a drop-shaped racket.

[x0401x]

Hoshiai no Sora Production Notes #03

Akane Kazuki answers questions asked by the fans!

← Previous || Raw || Index || Ko-fi

Q.: Between traditional Japanese, Western and Chinese cuisine, what’s Maki-kun’s specialty? Also, I would like to know if there’s any cuisine that he’s good at in particular.

A.: He can generally cook anything without having a particular specialty. The reason why he often made Chinese food in the cooking scenes of the series is that Chinese food can be made in a short span. For dishes that take up time, he makes and stores them on Saturdays, then uses them for his lunch boxes.

Q.: I want to know the hobbies of all the club members!

A.: Maki has an interest in astronomy, so astronomical observation. Touma likes dinosaurs and fossils. Rintarou collects cat goods. As for Nao, fishing. In Itsuki's case, I guess it would be horror-type shooting games or the like. I feel that his older sister, Namie, likes them indiscriminately and would join him. Taiyou plays with his father using his miniature cars, which are also his hobby. Tsubasa might not have a hobby that actually seems like a hobby. Shingo watches anime with his little sister.

Q.: I want to know the reason for everyone except Maki to have joined the soft tennis club!

A.: I guess the only one who joined it because he wanted to play soft tennis was Touma. Middle schoolers in general must join some club, and many of them join clubs that they pick due to having no other option. I think that the club members of Shijou Minami also ended up gathering there because each of them had no other place to go, but as they all carry wounds that do not show on the surface and have formed a relationship where they understand one another without saying anything, it has turned into their own little place to belong.

Q.: The production of not just the soft tennis scenes, but also daily life scenes where Maki cooks and everyone eats with relish in their own way, is rather sensible, to a surprising extent. With what kind of policy did you proceed on that?

A.: What is interesting in animation is not just showy action; there is also warmth, reality and sense of presence in simple dramas, so this time, I wanted to make an anime where these things would become its charm by being portrayed sensibly. The detailed play of the cooking and daily life scenes were interesting even for me when I watched them, so I think they turned out as something that the viewers can enjoy too. This is of a higher difficulty level than flashy action, but even worldwide, I believe it is something that can only be done with Japanese animation.

Q.: At the beginning of episode 2, when Touma helped Yuuta, he was described as someone to be feared, but what was the reason for that?

A.: Because he snaps easily. He must be famous for it.

Q.: What were the words that Nakao-kun threw at Itsuki-kun on episode 3?

A.: He chose cruel words and spoke them out. Sakurai also says it during the series, but his words were meant to show that they can hurt someone. However, that terminology unfortunately seems to be forbidden from being said on TV, so during the post-recording, we decided to mute it.

Q.: Who made the lemon honey pickles that were placed on those two benches at lunch in episode 11?

A.: It was Yuuta. Yuuta was also making drinks for everyone during practice, so I think he was providing modest support while nestling close to the feelings of the club members.

Q.: I want to know what the recordings are like!

A.: The number of people was so big they could not fit inside the booth, but I could feel an unanimous enthusiasm towards series from all of them. There were also many cast members who came to me with questions even about things that were not depicted in the animation in an attempt to understand the characters’ personalities. On the other hand, when the New Year’s issue was announced, we gathered in front of the TV and made merry, and we got along well.

Q.: I want to see the floor plan of everyone’s houses!!

A.: I believe this will be included in the setting reference book, although it is just a part of it, so please look forward to that. When making the rooms, we created them after deciding on the floor plans, having in mind the daily life style of each family. I had even the parts that were not animated be made in detail, so I think I gave the settings designer a hard time. *laughs*

Q.: Were there any references to actual players or games for the soft tennis parts, such as forms and play styles?

A.: We actually went to collect data at middle school competitions in Tokyo, and used references from the practice skills of middle schooler clubs such as the ones from Seimei Academy, as well as the Lucent Cup and other such tournaments that involve influential national athletes, including their different levels of prowess.

Q.: Do all the club members know that Touma-kun likes dinosaurs and Nao-kun likes fish?

A.: They do, somehow or other. I think boys their age have their hands full with their own matters, so they do not mind other people’s tastes that much.

Q.: What kind of practice do the soft tennis club members of Shijou Minami do on rainy days?

A.: We have depicted a little bit of this in the drama CD of the second volume, so please look forward to it.

Q.: About the incident that happened in the soft tennis club five years earlier, which Sakurai-sensei knows of. Does it have anything to do with Ryouma, who was the ace back then, and his pair, as well as little Touma and Maki? I am also concerned about the clover protection charm.

A.: The story of their past is one of the things I want to write about in the future. There are also hints in each of their lines, so please try to watch the main story again.

Q.: What was the intention behind not giving a title to each episode?

A.: “Hoshiai no Sora” was written through taking cuts of those children’s lives, so we did not make any conveniences for the developments of the stories from each episode. Therefore, our intention was that the first episode was the first story and the last episode was the last story, thus we did not give them titles.

Q.: I want to know in detail the reason why the Itsuse brothers started playing soft tennis, their family structure and their school lives! (Sorry if this has already been made public...)

A.: This is part of what I want to depict in episode 13 onwards.

Q.: Why did Itsuki only give pet names to Maki and Kanako? Is there any sort of specific criteria for Itsuki’s usage of pet names?

A.: Itsuki has actually given everyone a pet name in his mind. They are peculiar nicknames fitting of a cynic person like Itsuki. He merely does not voice them because he thinks the other person will get angry if he says it to their face.

Q.: Why does Tsubasa-kun wear a T-shirt that says “15”?

A.: It is 15 as in “fifteen years old”. He looks up to that age, or rather, he might just want to ride off on a stolen bike. *laughs* Tsubasa is still thirteen, though. Thirteen-year-olds think of fifteen-year-olds as grown-ups.

Q.: Everyone’s individualities show through in that scene from episode 2 where they are all running and I quite like it, but how did you decide on and animate the particularities in the way each of them runs?

A.: I drew a rough sketch of the characteristics in each of their running styles, then had them clean-copied by the animation director, Irie-san.

Q.: Who has the best grades amongst the characters? Also, who has the worst ones?

A.: Rintarou has the best grades regardless of subject. Since he is a hard worker, his grades are top-class in his school year. On the other hand, the biggest dummy is Shigo. I am thinking of including the anecdotes related to this in episode 13 onwards.

Q.: I have the impression that you write about “things that might not be commonplace, but are a part of commonplace daily life”, without making the issues that each character bears into something excessively tragic. If there was any point in the shooting where you planned this out, I would like you to tell us.

A.: I believe animation already has a special filter for the shooting just from the fact that it is hand-drawn. That’s why I thought that dropping the ostentatious performance and making pure animation art would suffice this time. Since we were handling sensitive contents, we did not do an unnecessarily exaggerated staging. This might not be as interesting if shot in the same way as live actions, but the portrayal as animation is in itself enough for the shooting. Shots where they are walking, for example, are already an incredibly special picture, so isn’t this the greatness of animation?

Q.: Are Yuuta-kun’s feelings for Touma romantic love? Or is he sitting on the fence between love and friendship? Maybe it is admiration?

A.: I think there’s a part of him deep inside that has not yet figured it out. Surprisingly enough, Maki is the one who seems to understand it accurately.

Q.: How did you choose the rackets of each club member? Please tell us about the rackets of Arashi, Joy, the Itsuse brothers and Ryouma as well.

A.: For the rackets that have models, I picked them after deciding on my images of the position and skills of each one. Rackets have their own levels and popularity in real life, so for that part, I referenced the information I received from each maker. For example, I selected a racket that is, just as Touma said, easy for beginners to use as Maki’s first racket.

Q.: Jizue-san’s music was impressive as there is a sense of transparency to it, but the environment sounds were rather effective in that scene right before getting to the EV at the end of episode 5, so it felt like an extention of daily life and the sense of tension came alive. What kind of points were you particular about when making it?

A.: Music and sound effects can convey what the dialogues and acting do not. Even if a character is laughing, they aren’t always truly smiling on the inside. On the other hand, it’s not like we are going to play dreary music just because they’re scared. We did not put music in that scene precisely in order to enhance the unease. If we put music in it, we end up restricting its image. What we wanted people to feel was not fear, but the anxiety of wondering if something was about to happen.

Q.: How did you do the paste-up of the rackets’ gut strings?

A.: We had it pasted during the shooting. There were so many materials to be pasted other than this, such as books and cloth bibs, that the photography staff screamed. There were also many parts that we ended up omitting in the main story. Speaking of gut strings, there were special scenes where we did them as animation instead of paste-ups. The scene where Maki’s racket was destroyed was also entirely hand-drawn.

Q.: What was the reason for the OP and ED being cut off in the last episode?

A.: To emphasize that episode 12 is not the end of the story. The story of those boys that exists inside me is not yet complete, and I have only depicted half of it. I wanted the viewers to feel that the story would continue after this, so I directed it that way.

[bunkershotgolf]

LedgeRock, Rees Jones plan May debut for new 17th hole - Renovation continues through spring, at a safe social distance

LedgeRock Golf Club has broken ground on the renovation of its 17th hole, with plans to reopen the infamous par-4 by the middle of May. 

The project has been undertaken by superintendent Alan FitzGerald using in house crews, under the direction of architect Rees Jones, who authored the original design at LedgeRock GC back in 2006.

Notably, the work has been funded not via member assessment but via voluntary membership donations — one reason the work was authorized and ground broken with such speed.

“LedgeRock is a different sort of place. They aren’t much for lengthy meetings and drawn out procedures here,” says FitzGerald, a native of Ireland and the only superintendent the club has ever had. “People are really invested in this place. I suppose that informs the way things get done around here.

“I was in Orlando for the Golf Industry Show in late January and I was explaining to Rees Jones what we had in mind for 17. He said, ‘Well, I’ll be there as soon as you guys are ready to go’ — thinking that’d be months or at least weeks down the road. Well, I got home a couple days later, our General Manager Gerry Heller secured the funding authorization from our members, and I called Rees that first week in February: When can you be here?”

Most course renovation work in the Northeast is undertaken in the fall, allowing construction crews the opportunity to work until the snow flies. That schedule also allows seeded turf to mature all the following spring, once the snow melts. But Fitzgerald’s in-house construction capability affords him an extraordinary flexibility — to undertake renovation in February, for example, and have golfers playing the new hole by May.

FitzGerald was involved in the original construction at LedgeRock. The Penn State graduate also gathered considerable course renovation experience during assistant superintendent stints at famed Pine Valley Golf Club in Clementon, N.J., and the luxury Mt. Juliet Resort in his native Ireland.

“We had thought about trying to do 17 when we renovated no. 10, last spring, but for several reasons it didn’t make sense,” GM Gerry Heller explains. “One reason we pulled the trigger this winter was Alan himself. The work his team did at the par-3 10th hole was so well received (and under budget, I might add). Once we had gone over the project at 17 in real detail — to confirm all the numbers were solid — the members didn’t see any reason to wait.”

The weather has cooperated, even if the prevailing national health situation has not.

“We were well underway by the time the Covid19 situation hit home here in the U.S.,” Heller says. “But golf is one of the few sports where social distancing can be effectively maintained. After consulting with Alan, his crews, Rees Jones and his lieutenant Bryce Swanson, we continued full speed ahead. There are extra precautions to be taken. But outside, on your own, working a bulldozer is about the safest place to be these days.”

LedgeRock Golf Club opened in 2006, 15 minutes southwest of Reading, on 212 acres of terrain marked by striking elevation changes and riven by half a dozen roaring brooks. In today’s uncertain market — an average of 150 courses have closed each year since 2008, according to the National Golf Foundation — LedgeRock has thrived by doubling down on golf itself. There are no tennis courts or swimming pools here. Just its nationally ranked golf course and one of the Northeast’s most expansive practice facilities, which doubles as a sort of social hub — another clubhouse just down the hill from the clubhouse. Further down the hill sits Kohl Lodge, where national and regional members can stay the night.

The par-4 17th at LedgeRock has always been demanding. Its sharply uphill approach — over a cross bunker to a green nestled into a steep hillside — is one reason it’s the no. 1 handicap hole, the club’s most difficult hole.

“In many ways it has always played as a half-par hole, a tough par-4 for long hitters and a par-5 for shorter hitters,” architect Jones says. “And the cross bunker was an issue.”

Phase 1 of the renovation project, now underway, replaces the cross bunker with a single small bunker on the right, creating a generous lay-up area short and left of the putting surface. Jones also reimagined the green complex at 17. Where it had been flanked left by a greenside bunker, with bluegrass rough behind and right of the green, Jones artfully designed greenside chipping areas right and left, allowing players a variety of recovery shots.

Beyond the green, a wide fairway-cut swale has been created to catch approach shots that, in the past, would skitter over the green into thick rough.

“On a hole this long and this uphill, players naturally take a bit of extra club — to be sure they ‘get there’. But that downhill chip from the rough over the green at 17 was very difficult,” FitzGerald says. “Now they can putt from back there. They can putt from everywhere around the green, including short left. Better players chip, but that’s a tough shot off a tight bentgrass surface. The green surface has not been touched. But everything around it has been radically expanded, regraded and softened to give players the chance to recover, if they happen to miss the target.

“We made the decision to sod these renovated areas with bentgrass, to move things along schedule-wise. The plan was to get it open by May 1, but I think mid-May is more realistic. Either way, we’re only losing maybe a month of play on the hole.”

Phase II will be undertaken in October, on a more traditional renovation schedule. The design calls for significant widening and regrading the landing area on 17, which is flanked left by one of LedgeRock’s many babbling brooks. By widening the landing area, more golfers will be inclined to hit driver — which should shorten the length of the uphill approach shot.

“The grading on 17 fairway will accomplish two things,” FitzGerald explains. “We’re making the fairway more concave, so off-center drives will kick into more advantageous positions. But we’ll also be building up the left side of the fairway to add more landing area. When it’s done, that fairway will be one third large.” The sort of renovation/reinvestment taking place at LedgeRock is not on the radar at most private clubs in 2020. Berks County alone has seen a dozen golf properties shuttered over the last decade. Reading Country Club, just north of LedgeRock is operational but not as a private club. In the Harrisburg area, Blue Ridge CC, Wren Dale GC and Felicita GC have all been shuttered since 2012. “We do feel as if we have reimagined the traditional private club model here at LedgeRock,” Heller says. “Our national and regional membership programs are part of that evolution. Your golf course has to be truly top drawer to make that work, of course. But again, I have to credit our members for the attitude and atmosphere that prevails here. They’ve allowed us to streamline operations and decision-making. I’ve been in this business for 35 years. I’ve never seen a project approved in this way — with voluntary donations vs. a club-wide assessment — or this quickly.

“But you know what? Guess who benefits: The members do. They’ll be playing that new hole in May, instead of waiting till 2021.”

[forestwater87]

A big box o’Gwenvid AU ideas: A is for "Aww” and “Angst” and “AAAH”

This post is fucking rad as balls, and I started thinking of fun AU ideas . . . until I remembered that I already have approximately 2 billion WIPs already and don’t necessarily know if any of these have legs as actual fics. But it was fun to think about, so here we are! This is the first of . . . presumably 26 of these? Who knows, but this post we have:

Accidental Marriage AU

In which Campbell convinces incredibly wealthy investors known for their focus on “family values” that the Camp is a sweet family business run by a husband-and-wife team of counselors. The problem, of course, is that it isn’t sweet and its head counselors aren’t married. Campbell only has enough booze to fix one of those situations. 

He’ll figure the rest out in the morning. He thinks better with a hangover, anyway.

(Yes I think this one would be awesome in Campbell’s POV. You cannot change my mind on this.)

Actor AU

Okay, real talk this would just be @whiskyarts​‘s gameshow AU. Because I kinda love the idea of Jerk!David who just pretends to be a sweetheart for the cameras. Except I would cover it with my filthy Gwenvid hands and make it shippy in that antagonistic-hatemance-eventually-turns-into-something-resembling-feelings. There would be lots of angst and snark and sparkly clothes and I would love it and probably no one else would.

Alien AU

An Interplanetary Anthropologist, Gwen, manages to land a position on the Campbell after years of education and networking and plain old hard work. She is an employee of the most impressive warship in the galaxy -- sure, it’s gone to seed a little bit in the last few decades, but it still has its shine if you look at it sideways and squint a little -- and more importantly, it’s work experience! Paid work experience . . . as a janitor.

When the Campbell picks up a POW that the ship’s commander plans to (illegally) sell to the highest bidder, Gwen decides to treat it as an opportunity to build a real-life case study on one of the universe’s rarer life forms while it’s within arm’s reach. But the more she learns about the strange, sunny alien who was his platoon’s only survivor, the more uncomfortable she is with letting him disappear into her captain’s nefarious dealings and -- 

Oh fuck, this is The Shape of Water, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve never seen The Shape of Water but I’m pretty sure that’s what this is. Fuck. Goddamn it. Fuck.

Amnesia AU

David takes a rogue bus to the . . . well, everything -- something that’s more or less routine by now -- and hits his head hard enough to knock him out for almost a full day. When he wakes up, he’s the same cheerful David the camp is used to . . . except for three strange new things:

He doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing -- doesn’t, in fact, remember anything after some vague memories of childhood.

He’s completely terrified of the forest, and especially of Spooky Island.

He has no idea who Cameron Campbell is, but he’s quite positive he hates him.

Android AU

Actually @ciphernetics​ and I put this idea together a little while ago! Basically Camp Campbell has a state-of-the-art off-brand helper android named David, who is a perfect camp counselor, childcare provider, and comes equipped with the finest Forest Survival software Cameron Campbell could find for free online in half an hour.

Gwen, the new (requisite human) hire, hasn’t ever really interacted with androids, and doesn’t especially want to now. David is used to the distrust, even outright hostility -- very few of the campers seem to like him, and he knows that his presence can be unsettling to humans, and look, it isn’t a D:BH AU okay? It just looks like one, and acts like one. And is one.

Angel/Demon AU

Um the perfect Angel/Demon AU literally already exists, but they only wrote one chapter back in 2017 and never updated, and that makes me absurdly sad. Regardless, David being very bad at being a demon and Gwen being very bad at being an angel is the ideal setup for this kind of AU, in my humble opinion. 

However, David being an angel trying to reform his fallen ABFEL (angel buddy for eternal life!), who probably became a demon over something stupid and probably horny, also sounds extremely cute. They’re still friends, even though that is against literally all of the rules, and they secretly meet and hang out. David is convinced he can bring her around, and Gwen insists that she hates having him hanging off her nonexistent wings all the time. 

Honestly, probably neither of those things are true. Gwen wasn’t cut out for heaven -- and probably, neither is David.

Apocalypse AU

Cameron Campbell was probably doing something dangerously stupid in the hopes it could make him money. That, or the Quartermaster was doing something dangerous for reasons only he could ever understand. Hell, maybe that’s what that weird Daniel guy’s cult was trying to do. Whoever was doing what, they ripped a hole in their dimension at the bottom of Lake Lilac, and all sorts of awful things start creeping through.

There were signs, of course -- that weird fish-monster certainly didn’t come in through customs -- but an inopportune explosion, or wayward firework, or the rumblings of Sleepy Peak Peak, or something ripped a hole in the fabric of reality big enough for Lovecraftian monsters to start crawling through. There’s no stopping it. Really, there’s no chance of even fighting it. 

The second the rift opens, the story becomes one of just trying to stay out from under the Elder Gods’ feet.

Arranged Marriage AU

I think the easiest way to make this one work is by making either David or Gwen Campbell’s actual biological child -- maybe an heir, albeit to a highly illegal fortune and a mountain of credit card debt. But Campbell gets in trouble, the kind of trouble where he’s gambled everything and the only collateral he has left is a kid he got saddled with because their mother had better lawyers. A kid he’s been more than happy to put to work for the last 20-something years, who happens to have caught the eye of a ludicrously wealthy magnate -- not for her own sake (though Campbell would’ve been open to that too) -- but for her child, one she loves more than anything and keeps carefully shut away until the Right Person comes along.

His kid isn’t necessarily the right person, but for the first time in his life Cameron Campbell has a genuine treasure on his hands.

And, like all the fake treasures he’s passed off over the years, he just has to find a way to shine them up and make him a fortune.

Artist AU

Gwen is a starving artist living in a rat-infested hovel in the city, scraping by on a series of uninspired landscapes she paints on postcards and the goodwill of friends, family, and significant others. One day, a bright young man bounces up to her “studio” (it’s a cardboard box outside the park) and tells her excitedly that he’s been looking for her for weeks; he thinks her postcards are the most beautiful things he’s ever seen, and he would like to know if she’d be interested in moving down to a cabin by the lake. He runs a summer camp, he explains, and he knows they’d all be honored if she would teach them art lessons -- and of course paint in her spare time! The views are indescribable, and he’s sure she’ll have no shortage of inspiration.

She weighs the cost of what little artistic dignity she has remaining against room, board, and a steady paycheck for three months, and takes the job immediately.

Art Student AU

Put them in an art college -- maybe condense the ages so that the campers are like, younger students? -- and have Gwen as the Serious Art Student who cares a lot about theory and form and doing things right, and she’s constantly irritated by her classmate David, who sits at the same table as her and has declared them art buddies, and is convinced that the point of art is just to have fun and do your best! Maybe force them to do a group project together and really see them clash.

(Alternatively, there is the infinitely more shameless route of one being an art student and the other being a newd model for figure drawing. I am obviously much too classy to ever insinuate such a thing, but if someone was really looking for a way to write smuht . . . it’s sitting right there. On a table. nekkid. I HAVE TO CHANGE THE SPELLING TO MAKE THIS GO IN THE TAGS ARE YOU KIDDING ME)

Athlete AU

There are 4 major ways this one can go, I feel like:

Basically HSM: Gwen is a small part in her school’s musical (techie, maybe, or the orchestra) and lanky jock David -- which is the most hilarious phrase ever but he’s probably a runner or tennis player, something light on muscles and heavy on speed and springiness -- who’s well-mannered and cheerful but not the brightest, is put into the show as an extra-credit way to bump up his GPA so he can keep sporting his sports, and it turns out he’s both very good at and super enthusiastic about it.

A little like HSM, but as grown-ups: Gwen is the head of the drama/art department, which has just faced heavy cuts to support the superstar sports program, and she furiously storms over to the head coach’s office to let him know exactly what she thinks about him and his stupid meathead jocks. Of course, when the man who opens the door is a sweetheart beanpole with big eyes who already knows her name, she finds it hard to keep up her righteous indignation. And when it turns out that he was completely ignorant of the hit her department took from the budget cuts (or maybe not ignorant, just terminally oblivious) and is almost as upset as she is to hear about it, she’s forced to reconsider everything she’d assumed about Coach Greenwood; maybe he’s not the enemy after all, but someone with whom she can formulate a new battle plan.

Reporter/Famous Athlete AU: Either Gwen is a professional sportsball person and David is the shy, bumbling photographer eager to prove himself, or she’s the plucky, intrepid reporter and David is a good-natured professional athlete who she’s determined to interview.

Teammates AU: Professional or amateur sports team, and they’re just trying to scrape their way out of the bottom of the league without killing each other. 

Author AU

There are a lot of potential interpretations of this AU, but my personal favorite is Gwen as a novelist with two distinctly differing careers: as G. E. Santos, the high-concept writer whose books are critical darlings in the maybe 3 publications that care about such things but whose sales can’t quite crack the triple digits; and as Annabelle Elizabeth, whose steamy erotica regularly tops the bestseller lists and is reviled by all of G. E.’s colleagues as “populist genre trash.” 

The only person alive who knows about her Jekyll-and-Hyde author personas (besides her older sister Audree, who plays the part of charismatic and sensual Annabelle flawlessly) is her editor, David. He’s an odd choice, as her colleagues in both fields have pointed out -- reading her romance novels with his pen in one hand and the other covering his eyes, peeking through his fingers to write tremulous notes in the margins; stumbling through her ponderous literary works with a dictionary in his lap and his tongue between his teeth, poring through them like he’s learning a new language -- but he’s the only person Gwen will allow to touch her writing. 

Maybe it’s because he always seems like her biggest fan. Maybe it’s because she’s known him since they were at a summer camp together years ago. Maybe it’s because he believes in her in a way no one else does -- in a way she absolutely doesn’t believe in herself.

David is, for reasons she’s not entirely sure how to explain even to herself, the only person she trusts.

Avian (Bird People) AU

Centuries ago, it was said, avians were a rarity, an aberrant mutation to be locked up and intently studied but never trusted. Some people thought they were antichrists, a sign of the end times, when all normal humans would be destroyed and only the strange bird-people would remain.

In a way, maybe they were. Because when the earth’s crust ripped open and flooded the planet with magma and boiling water miles deep, avians were the only ones who could take to the sky.

Not all of them, certainly. In fact, most were locked up in detention centers and laboratories when the Swamp formed, and were unable to escape in time. Considering the people who could get to high enough elevations to escape the deluge, there were decades afterwards where the decimated human population outnumbered the avian one. Those were periods of tension, outright war and tentative alliances -- even romances, the kinds of great love stories that dragged both avian and human populations a few generations along when one or both of them should’ve died out.

That was over two hundred years ago, however. Now the Swamp is a murky expanse of scalding water and the boiled remains of civilization transformed into unrecognizable muck, with islands of “land” cobbled out of what remains. This is where the avians live, now. And humans don’t live anywhere, not anymore.

At least . . . that was what they thought.

[rafaelnadalfans]

Our collective memory is full of milestones, situations and characters that connect us and help maintain social cohesion. We tend to cling to these day-to-day references to reassure us that we’re still alive, that we haven’t steered off course. That we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Rafa Nadal is one of these icons, an anchor that has a lot more to tell us about besides his athletic success. He goes beyond that. Nadal has become a cultural icon thanks to his humility, despite his grandeur, and thanks to his sportsmanship, despite competing in an individual discipline, which is, by definition, selfish. Also thanks to his modesty and accesibility, despite the fact that he has long been an established star. Nadal will be remembered as one of the best players in the History of tennis, of course, but also as a role model who serves as an example of how to handle failure, and and, especially, success.

By now, you may well have lost count of how many years you’ve been at the top. What drives you to pick up the tennis racket each day?

The main thing that drives me to train each day is my passion for the sport and for competition. It’s something I like, so I enjoy doing it. It’s true I’ve been at it for years, and I can’t say I am the same as day 1 of my career, because it’s different now. But I still have this desire to better myself and keep improving my game.

Your mental fortitude seems intact. And your mindset has no doubt benefited from experience. Is the battle you’re now fighting against your own body? This year, you cancelled your tour of Asia because of your knee…

No, no, the whole issue of injuries is a hindrance, it doesn’t benefit me. In my case, I wish I hadn’t had injuries, or at least not so many of them. Injuries limit your capacity to compete.

How do you adapt your tennis playing to face the future after so many years of competing at the top and with so many younger players threatening to kick the door down.

We all need to adapt to the times. No just in sports, but in any other area of life. As far as tennis is concerned, it’s normal for players improve in their game and become more well-rounded player, so we have to keep getting better ourselves to stay at the top.

What professional challenges have you set for yourself for the next two or three years?

It’s hard to say. The main thing is to have physical endurance and be in shape to compete at the highest level.

How has tennis changed since you first began, when you were a child player going from tournament to tournament within the Balearic Islands?

Tennis in general has changed a lot over these years. That’s normal, it’s a law of nature in this sport. Evidently, my tennis playing has also evolved in every sense. It has changed in just about every respect, including technical aspects. But especially as far as speed.

Do you see any young players in the circuit who might be ready to take over the baton from the historic Nadal-Federer Djokovic triad?

There are a lot of players with great potential, but then you have to be there in every tournament and be constant. Maybe this constancy is still missing, but there’s definitely a lot of quality. It would be hard to point out one or two players in particular. LikeI said, there are many.

Do you remember the first tournament you won?

Yes, of course. My first ATP professional tournament was in Sopot, Poland. My first Grand Slam was Roland Garros.

What has been your most special tournament since that 2004 Davis Cup?

Fortunately, there have been many very special tournaments. I couldn’t possibly forget any of them. But no doubt Roland Garros is very special for me. Also Wimbledon 2008 with Federer, and Monte Carlo and Barcelona, two tournaments with a deep-rooted tradition behind them. Or my first tournament in Madrid, which was in an indoor court… I mean, I’ve had the chance to celebrate wins in many different places.

You’ve created the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar in order to not only initiate young players in the racket sport, but also teach them everything you’ve learned throughout your career. What are the fundamental rules that should be engraved in every student’s soul?

There are many, because, when it comes to athletic education, the work cannot be limited to simply teaching them to hit a ball or physical training. We try to transmit values that are also important for a person’s life. These are values that must also be present in sport.

Your professional career has very close ties to the Balearic Islands. You own several businesses with Abel Matutes Prats, including the restaurant Tatel, where Cristiano Ronaldo is also a partner. How would you define the restaurant’s concept?

I see it as a modern and contemporary concept. Travelling around the world playing tennis has given me the chance to visit many places with good restaurants, and I’ve tried concepts that I really liked a lot. Whenever I’m in Madrid, I usually have dinner at Tatel.

And, in November, you’re also opening your academy at Mexico’s new showpiece hotel, Palladium’s Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort & Spa. What makes this new collaboration so noteworthy?

I think it’s a very interesting project in a beautiful place that will captivate anyone who visits it. I think that our center at this hotel will be very interesting for all tennis fans.

You are directly involved in your tennis academy, which is based in Manacor, in Mallorca. What advice would you give children, youngsters or adults who decide to sign up?

Yes, of course I’m involved. That’s crucial. To date, I’ve gotten very involved as far as the concept, and right now I’m training there. And when I’m not participating in a tournament, it’s also my training base. But I also like to be with the kids, train with them and participate in activities.

With this collaboration with Palladium, you’re inaugurating a new concept of sports tourism that focuses on top-level tennis.

Yes, that’s right. And we’re opening the first center at CostaMujeres. I think it’s going to be quite a hit, a real revolution.

What does this sort of highly demanding professional training contribute to a vacation in a paradise such as Costa Mujeres?

I think this formula offers the perfect combination between lounging at the beach on vacation and just the right amount of tennis for various levels.

What do you value the most about a partner when it comes to opening a business?

There are many things to take into account. Evidently, loyalty is an important factor. As is friendship. And, above all, know-how and being a good fit.

You are very familiar with Ibiza and Formentera, both their beaches and their leisure offerings. You have often been seen at Usuhaïa. What do you like about this venue that has revolutionized the market in Ibiza?

Since I’m from the Balearic Islands, I’m familiar with the islands and I like each and every one of them. Ibiza is world-famous, and Usuhaïa has managed to become a world leader. I think it offers one of the best atmospheres you can possibly find.

What do you think about the impact Usuhaïa has had in the hotel and music worlds? The brand is known all over the world.

It has managed to position itself worldwide and become known everywhere, and it’s also helped promote Spain and Illes Balears.

Do you like electronic music?

Not as much as I like Latin and Spanish music, to be honest…

After so many years of travelling almost every week, have you developed an aversion to airplanes or hotels? What is, for you, the worst part about living out of a suitcase?

No, no, I have no aversion at all. I think those of us who are at the top of the tennis world are tremendously fortunate, because we stay at good hotels and travel in comfortable airplanes. We are very fortunate, because we make a living doing the thing we love most. That’s the case with me.

Do you have as many obsessions in your day-to-day life as you do on the tennis court?

Not as many… but I do have some, which I’m not about to share (laughter).

What advice would you give parents of players with potential to reach the top?

Above all, that it should be something the boy or girl wants to do, and that they should enjoy it. You shouldn’t force them in that sense. It should be enjoyable for the child.

I understand you could have been a good soccer player and that you’re a loyal fan of Real Madrid.

I don’t know about that… Although, it I do really like soccer and I wasn’t all that bad. But I’m glad I chose tennis…

You know Cristiano Ronaldo. Are you sorry he left Real Madrid? Don’t you think Real Madrid will benefit from not having to play for a single player?

Yes, I know him and I think he’s done great things for Real Madrid. He’ll always be part of the history of the club.

One of your passions is the sea. And your friends. How do you imagine life after retirement?

I really like the sea, and I go sailing whenever I have the chance. That’s nothing new, I’ve liked it since I was a child.

Source: Palladium magazine

Interview with Rafael Nadal: I do have some obsessions, which I’m not about to share Our collective memory is full of milestones, situations and characters that connect us and help maintain social cohesion.

[saltyblazestudent]

The Video Game Industry

Video games have come a very long way. From humble beginnings as a simple interactive exhibit to an entirely new form of interactive storytelling and ways to experience adventures with friends. The video game industry has been ripe with change, controversary, technological strides, and amazing works of art and commentaries on society.

Key Terms-

DLC- Downloadable content available for a game offered for a small extra price after the full release of the game.

Micro Transactions- Payments made with real money to get in game currency used to buy in game content.

FPS/TPS- First person shooter/ third person shooter.

Cabinet Game- An arcade style video game built into a cabinet like structure.

Console- a gaming device that can be used at home by plugging it into a TV screen.

Sandbox environment- A game environment that allows the player to roam where every and do almost whatever they want.

Triple-A Games- games that are very popular, make great sales on release, and is usually annualized to release a new game every year or two.

 Historical developments-

The first video game was invented in 1958 by Physicist William Higginbotham and it was called Pong. The game was created was by Higginbotham as an interactive exhibit for the Brookhaven National Laboratory Group. The game was displayed on an analog computer and was based off tennis with players using two knobs to control two parallel bars bouncing a ball in between them. This simple concept was eventually ported to an arcade cabinet style and later an at home console game and led to the development of other cabinet style arcade games and at home video game consoles.  

The 1970’s was the decade that arcade style video games became mainstream. Even a year before Pong was ported to a cabinet there was Atari’s 1971 game Computer Space a simple joystick-controlled game where you control a small spaceship and the first Arcade Cabinet game. These successes paved the way for all sorts of companies to start developing some of their own games to be made into arcade cabinets and played for a few cents a play. One of the most famous arcade games is Pac-Man a Japanese game licensed and distributed in the U.S. by Midway games and released in 1980. This is a simple arcade style game in which the player uses a joystick to control a small yellow circle shaped character named Pac-Man. The goal of the game was to earn points by going through a maze eating small dots while Avoiding Blinky, Pinky ,Inky, and Clyde four ghost who chase you through the maze. This simple yet incredibly fun game led to many sequels spinoffs and even a Hanna Barbara cartoon series.

Pac-Man isn’t the only game or character to receive mainstream popularity. The Japanese company Nintendo had a game and a character that would truly become timeless, he was a short Italian plumber, that wore a red hat, overalls and a large mustache and had a very funny accent. His name was Mario and the first game he was featured in was a 1981 arcade game called Donkey Kong. This game had Mario trying to rescue Princess Peach from the giant gorilla Donkey Kong. The player would use a joystick and buttons to guide Mario up platforms and over barrels being thrown by Donkey Kong. Mario would later get another main role in Mario Bros which introduced Mario’s brother Luigi. Mario has since become the face of Nintendo and is their flagship Character and shows no signs of losing any popularity.

  It was popularity such as this that helped gaming companies make the next big leap from the arcades to peoples’ homes. These consoles usually had the same games you could play in an arcade preloaded onto them so you could play them as much you wanted for free at home. The first at home console was created in 1967 and was called simply the Brown Box and offered only six games ping pong, tennis, volleyball, hand ball, a chase game, and a light gun game. The Magnavox Odyssey was another early at home console that was so primitive to modern standards that it didn’t even have audio. These early 2-D arcade consoles eventually led to the rise of another technological breakthrough in the industry, 3-D gaming. These were not 3-D in the sense that the images appeared to be jumping out of the screen but more with the art style and how the games were graphically improved. For example in Super Mario Bros the character models are created from small colored squares called pixels. These pixels are colored and stacked into shaped to create a 2-D shape on the screen such as the image of Mario. Fast forward to the 3-D tech breakthrough and the number of pixels being used to create Mario increased dramatically, this meant the game developers could make much more detail character models that you could view from any angle. These advances in 3-D character modelling led to the development of one of the most famous consoles created, the Nintendo 64 was a huge leap forward for mainstream gaming and introduce help introduce the concept of a handheld controller with smaller buttons and a small joystick instead of a single joystick for controls. 

The N-64 also brought amazing games such as Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, James Bond: Goldeneye, and Mario Tennis. The popularity of the N-64 paved the way for other companies like Sony and Microsoft to hone in on the gaming console market with the release of the Sony PlayStation and the Microsoft X-BOX.

Notable Artists-

           The gaming industry is filled with brilliant artist, studios, writers, programmers, and other types of creators that dedicate their time and effort to creating beautiful and stunning games for us to enjoy.

Shigeru Miyamoto- Creator of the Mario Franchise Japanese game developer Shigeru Miyamoto has one of the most creative and colorful imaginations in gaming. The worlds and characters he creates are colorful, cartoony, fun, and most of all memorable. Miyamoto claims to have been inspired by stories such as Alice In Wonderland in his design of the game world and the characters who inhabit it. Miyamoto has created characters such as Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Goombas, Toad, Yoshi, and countless others.

Rockstar Games- Rockstar Games is a company the develops and produces some of the most detailed and expansive Sandbox Environment Games that not only present the player with amazing film quality level story and script writing but also a massive world to experience it all in that feels very close to real life.

Rockstar has published numerous successful game franchises such as the Max Payne, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Bully and many others. Rockstar games are notorious for amazing sales records as well with Grand Theft Auto V  has made over $6 billion dollars in sales since its release in 2013 and Rockstar’s newest release of their Wild West epic Red Dead Redemption II making $725 million three days after the game was put out.

Recent Trends-

           Video Games like any other form of media is subject to trends and the consumers demanding video games that are new, exciting, and interesting. In the 90’s the trend was first person shooters which were popular with computer gamers. First Person shooters consist of putting the player in the first person view of the protagonist, this makes actions like shooting at enemies much easier and more immersive. Games that pioneered this “FPS” (First Person Shooter) genre were games like Wolfenstein, and Doom. The FPS trend evolved in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and was greatly influenced by the 1998 movie Saving Pvt Ryan. After the film’s release there was a huge spike in WWII themed FPS games. A couple of these games almost recreated the Omaha Beach scene from Saving Pvt. Ryan perfectly, allowing player to take part in one of the most famous battles of WWII. Trends in gaming have again evolved with the popularity of the “battle royale”(BR). The BR genre consists of dropping up to 100 players on an island or other large area and having the play area slowly shrink as the players fight for supplies, weapons, shelter, and to be the sole survivor.  Games like Player Unknown’s Battle Grounds and Fortnite popularized the genre and now larger annual game titles such as Battlefield and Call Of Duty have included BR game modes in their newest games.

Exemplary Examples-

An amazing and fairly recent example at how far gaming has come and shows just how amazing gaming can be as a mode of storytelling. Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption II is the sequel to the Highly praised Red Dead Redemption. After an eight year wait Red Dead fans flocked to stores to pick up the high anticipated sequel, and they were not disappointed. Red Dead II raked in not only over $725 million after only three days but also almost universal praise from the media. The game was in the news not only on gaming websites and magazines but also in the mainstream media. The game takes place in America during the year 1899 and has a strong Wild West theme to it. The game offers over sixty hours of gameplay just with the main story but adding in side activities and side missions to that play time can exponentially increase the play time for Red Dead II.

Red Dead II offers fun and in detail activities besides the main story missions, such as hunting. Hunting in Red Dead II consist of travelling to a location on the huge map where the animal your hunting is found for example if you want to hunt Alligators you must go to the swampy southern end of the map, if you want to hunt elk you must go to the snowy mountains in the north of the map. Once in the region of the animal you must rack it by looking for clues, once the animal is tracked you must decide the best weapon to take it down with-out damaging the skin. Animals skins that are intact and in better shape when you hunt them can be sold for more money or crafted into clothing for your character in game. This hunting mechanic is just one example of Red Dead II’s highly immersive world.

 Ownership-

           The video game industry lives on game developing companies that actually create the games. These companies like any other industry vary from small independent companies with a limited number of employees to large corporations and conglomerates that push out Triple-A games on a monthly basis.

An Example of a smaller independent developer is Tripwire Interactive. Tripwire specializes in FPS games especially “hyper-realistic” type FPS games like Red Orchestra and Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. The Red Orchestra games were a welcome change to the type of gameplay offered from most WWII themed FPS games at the time. While other games feature fast gameplay with things like regenerating health and a Heads up Display (HUD) that displayed a mini map, health bar, and ammo count, Red Orchestra cut all that out. Tripwire focused on making a more realistic experience. This included mechanics such as realistic bullet ballistics with shots staring to arch over a certain distance, excluding a HUD feature altogether, and having the player venerable enough to be killed by a single bullet to add to the realism. These mechanics later carried on into other Tripwire games such as the Pacific Theatre WWII game Rising Storm and the Vietnam War game Rising Storm II.

An example of a larger and more corporate game developer that makes games similar to Tripwire. Dice Studios is a very well-known studio most famous for the production of the Battlefield franchise and more recently the Star Wars: Battlefront franchise. Dice is owned by Electronic Arts or EA a huge gaming development conglomeration that has many smaller game developers working for them. Dice has been making battlefield games since 2002 with the first title being a WWII FPS called Battlefield 1942. The game saw great success and EA recognized this and now has Dice pumping out Battlefield games almost every two years.

 Demographics-

           The demographics of gamers are actually a lot more diverse than one might believe. The usually stereotype is that gamers are either boys between the ages of 7-17 or young men in their twenties that live in their parents basement. There’s also a major stereotype that females do not like video games.

64% of the US general public play video games, The average age of the male gamer according to a Nielsen survey is 33 years old, according to the Entertainment Software Association the average age of female gamers is 37 years old. The countries that make the most from gaming revenue are The US bringing in an average of $25,426 million, Japan with $14,048 million, and China with a whopping $32,538 million.

 Controversaries-

           The gaming industry and its companies are not immune to controversary and culture movements.

The Grand Theft Auto Controversaries- Rockstar Game’s Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise is their most successful and most controversial franchise. The games are usually themed around crime and the main storylines have very graphic violence, drug use, and sexual content. The sandbox nature of the game also allows the player the opportunity to commit violence against non-enemy NPCs (non-playable characters) or go on shooting sprees until the cops kill you. GTA V came under harsh criticism for a playable scene In the story mode in which the player is forced to torture an FBI prisoner for information with anything from shock with a car battery, pulling teeth with plyers, or waterboarding. This scene especially got lots of media attention with many people asking the question if GTA games are to violent especially in today’s culture. Rockstar however uses this publicity and actually counts on it with each GTA release because it ultimately drives up their sales.

The Doom Controversary- On April 20 1999 two high school students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered their high school armed with guns and homemade bombs. They killed twelve people that day and themselves, and in the subsequent investigation it was found that the boys were fans of one the first popular FPS games Doom. Doom is centered on very simple gameplay with an interesting story with the main character traveling to Mars and to Hell to fight demons. It was the demonic themes and violent gameplay that led some to believe that Doom was actually sending Satanic subliminal messages to players trying to corrupt them to violence.

          Sources

https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200810/physicshistory.cfm

http://pacman.com/en/pac-man-history

https://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/in-which-game-did-mario-make-his-first-appearance/

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/06/19/415456813/the-legendary-mr-miyamoto-father-of-mario-and-donkey-kong

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/10/30/red-dead-redemption-2-sales-revealed-725-million-in-three-days/#79f7000455d7

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-red-dead-redemption-2-2018-9

https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/company/#top

https://www.wepc.com/news/video-game-statistics/#video-gaming-industry-overview

[trash64]

N64 Switch Online Wishlist

I wrote a N64 Switch Online Wishlist some time ago on a personal blog. Since I’m sorta fitting this as my N64 fan blog. I feel the listicle translates here even if N64 Switch Online has since been announced. Check out how right or wrong I was.

---

I see enough of these online; it’s the laziest engagement grabbing commentary possible. What’s your hypothetical “hit list” for a N64 mini or Switch Online. For the insatiable gamers it’s heroin to talk down a Nintendo Switch Online release like Jelly Boy and then immediately turn around and say “Why release this when there are countless other titles under Nintendo’s ownership given the shaft?!” Namely, Super Mario RPG or Earthbound.

Fandom is a vast complexity and presently my entire mood is to not engage and just move on. As sure as the sky is blue, passionate fans will log-on and complain or barrack behind a company in an ongoing war where nobody really wins in the end.

Anyways, lest I digress here’s my list based on previous releases on Virtual Consoles and just whatever I think fits based on current trends.

Super Mario 64 – Goes without saying. Mario’s first foray into 3D brought the imagination out in players, modelling the N64 controller on the breadth of movement the aerobatic plumber can produce is an incredible feature. It’s just as bright and enjoyable to play through today – and its inclusion on the Super Mario 3D All Stars says it is possible.

F-Zero X – A fully 3D interpretation of F-Zero without the Mode 7 trickery of yore. A lightning speed racer built to handle a whopping 60 fps. People have been clamouring for an F-Zero continuation for years, whilst Fast Racing Neo has been unofficially handed the mantle F-Zero X is still impressive today.

Mario Kart 64 – The emergence of Mario Kart it its finalised form, filled with expressive tracks, items and being 4-player multiplayer. Mario Kart 64 is a title I played most of all racers. 4 player online would be a very sweet treat, however as good as I think an online time trials leadership would be… it’s not a real possibility.

Yoshi’s Story – What the original Yoshi Island did, Yoshi’s Story handled differently to say the least. Away with the typical level progression, players are placed in a 6 world storybook where dependant on how many hearts players collected (0, 1, 2 or 3) determines what levels will be available to players on the next world. Levels are completed when a number of fruit is eaten, rather than reaching the conclusion or end to a level. Unfortunately it was perceived as too easy and simple – missing some of the magic Yoshi’s Island on the SNES had.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards – All Kirby titles have this whimsical quality and while many other titles jumped to 3D, Kirby stuck to the 2.5D side-scroller format, I’ll say it’s fun in small bursts and includes Kirby abilities you can merge together for some additional experimentation and fun.

Star Fox 64 – Upgraded the wireframe form of the SNES title to full 3D models of the N64. Full branching paths that followed the trend of “fully realised” titles in 3D space. It’s an awesome 3D shooter that I haven’t spent enough time with.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Basically set the mould for all future 3D Zelda titles, immaculate storytelling with the return of some set-pieces of A Link to the Past in an expressive 3D world. Included amazing dungeons and lively townships as well as introduced the Z-Targeting system. Short of being one of Nintendo’s greatest, it is a sure inclusion.

Sin and Punishment – An arcade on-rails shooter that doesn’t get the given praise of earlier Treasure titles that appeared on the Mega Drive. The game uses almost a twin-stick design on an N64 controller, handling player movement and the shooting cursor simultaneously to take out enemies – both through shooting and through close combat physical fighting. Stylistically awesome and honestly the more people with access to this the better!

Super Smash Bros – Choose your Nintendo favourite and fight it out with your friends! The first in a huge series, everything can be tracked back to the original – the base characters here perform similarly in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and of course all the stages feature in Ultimate too.

Paper Mario – Spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG on the SNES. This falls into the “unsure” category, we are yet to see Super Mario RPG on Switch so far. But we have seen Paper Mario Origami King – and this is very similar. Learning the weaknesses of each character and the timing of moves is key to winning encounters handily. Definitely a fun game with ounces of charm. At a time when the Mario characters weren’t super expressive Paper Mario really rounded out the edges of series personalities.

Pokemon Snap – Get snap happy with your friends, a cult classic release which has since spanned its own “New” sequel. It’s an on rails shooter meets Pokemon photography, you’re scored based on Pokemon’s activity and placement in frame. This game encourages replaying levels to find hidden secrets. I feel this is a good nostalgia grab that encourages fans to check out the new title.

1080(degrees sign) Snowboarding – Nintendo pulled back a little to their classic “Black Box” style of sporting games from NES with a little more 90’s flare. What I mean to say is, this is a realistic take on Snowboarding showcasing great snow textures that set the formula for the genre on N64.

Wave Race 64 – Much like 1080 Snowboarding, Wave Race showcases the realistic water rippling effects of the N64 and demonstrates a more arcade inspired realistic take. There are passionate fans of the series.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – This I place on a “later down the line” release, not a launch N64 Switch Online title. It’s the oddball sequel to Ocarina of Time, explore the land of Termina to retrieve a lost friend in a harrowing dooms day scenario where within 3 days the moon will destroy the world. The game has its own 3 day clock with events occurring in real time, rote memorisation of time is necessary to progression and in terms of supporting cast this houses some of the best. If I could wipe any game from my memory it would be this just so I could play it again blind.

Mario Tennis – It’s Mario, it’s Tennis. Introduction of the great Waluigi! Plays like an action tennis game with many zany power-ups and antics. Great fun.

Mario Golf – It’s Mario, it’s Golf. Game developers Camelot of Shining series and Golden Sun games were involved, I hear it’s fairly RPG orientated… But who knows it could be the more action orientated counterpart to the Game Boy Colours RPG leanings.

Donkey Kong 64 – This is debatable but people love the Saturday Morning antics of the DK Crew. Possibly taking the formula set by Super Mario 64 a step too far. With 5 characters to change between to use in many situational circumstances and too many collectables to even count. It’s hit and miss.

Ogre Battle 64: Persons of Lordly Calibre – A real-time strategy RPG which in part is almost a parallel to Final Fantasy Tactics. I can honestly say I haven’t given this series the time. While these have in past been readily available on Virtual Console, the first title Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen is yet to be available on the Super Nintendo service.

Mario Party 2 – It’s Mario, it’s a party. Arguably the best of the series. This is a 4-player board game/mini-game extravaganza. Which introduced themed costumes and a set of items for each character in each map – which is the stand-out feature honestly. Screw your friends over in the ongoing quest to beat a series of Bowsers.

Please note: I wrote this “listicle” back in 2020; since then some things have changed. Such as Mario Party Superstars being a remaster of previous maps and games means Mario Party 2 becomes a less likely candidate. Nintendo has generally been good with keeping the N64 spirit alive with Stages from Super Smash Bros. in Ultimate and new releases for basically every franchise. 5/10/21: The N64 doesn’t have a huge library but I managed to guess... 13 of the 16 coming to the Western service. I would not have ever guessed Banjo-Kazooie would ever arrive being a Rare property (even if it is on Smash Bros.) - I listed Donkey Kong 64 as an aspirational choice. Didn’t really know about Dr. Mario 64 (and neither did Japan). Operation WinBack is an odd third party option and I’m looking forward to the potential for more obscure options like Hybrid Heaven or Body Harvest and further Japanese titles. The first addendum discounts Mario Party 2 and Super Smash Bros. somewhat. Whereas Wave Racer 64, 1080 Snowboarding and Pilotwings 64 may be later additions.

[askmegambler]

LV BET Casino

LV BET Casino Review

This worldwide online club was set up in 2015 and is situated in Malta. Microgaming, Bally Wulff, NetEnt, and Skywind are only a couple of the whiz engineers whose games are facilitated on the site. LV BET Casino is as of now offering an awesome invite bundle and has probably the best competitions and advancements accessible on the web. For more data look at our definite survey beneath or click on the reward to begin playing.

Full LV BET Casino Review

LV BET is a grounded brand in the iGaming business and has gained notoriety for giving elite client assistance, working with the best game suppliers, and offering players a one-stop virtual betting objective. Regardless of whether you are in the disposition for games, gaming machines, live gambling club tables, or sports wagering – LV BET has something to bring to the table everybody.

The club's client arranged way to deal with business is upheld by its most significant standard: 'Our clients are the core of the entire LV BET organization.' The site acknowledges players from all nations aside from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and United States. How about we view the main aspects of online gambling clubs and see what LV BET has to bring to the table its players.

Discover some data about LV BET in the crate beneath.

LV Bet Casino Bonus

LV BET is offering an elite first store invite offer to CasinoTopsOnline perusers! The Welcome Offer comprises of a 150% reward up to €150. The base store is €10 and to get the most extreme reward, a store of €100 is required. While storing at least €100 with the selective invite reward, you will likewise be attributed with 50 LV Spins to be utilized only on Cat Wilde and the Doom of Dead opening.

Stores made utilizing Neteller, Jeton, Skrill or Skrill 1-Tap won't be qualified for the select invite offer. Any first-time stores made utilizing the previously mentioned installment techniques will naturally add to the standard four store invite bundle clarified underneath. Any individual who utilizes the restrictive invite offer for the primary store can likewise guarantee the leftover rewards from the standard invite bundle when making their second, third and fourth store.

LV BET invites its new players with a four-section store offer. To meet all requirements for the twists and rewards, players should guarantee that they put aside their initial four installments inside 90 days of enrolling a record, and each store should be at any rate €10.

The complete invite bundle offer is comparable to €1,000 in rewards and 1000 LV twists. It is separated across the initial four stores as follows:

first Deposit: 100% coordinate to €200 + up to 200 LV twists on Starburst

second Deposit: half up to €200 + up to 200 LV Spins on Aloha Cluster Pays

third Deposit: 25% up to €500 + up to 500 LV Spins on JokerPro

fourth Deposit: 200% up to €100 + up to 100 LV Spins on Wild West: The Great Train Heist.

LV Bet Bonus Code

Exceptional extra codes are not needed to guarantee the offers recorded previously. At LV BET, enrolled players essentially need to choose the right reward tab prior to setting aside an installment. New players can enlist a record, select the 'welcome reward's tab, and afterward set aside the installment. When the store has been made, the reward will consequently be credited to the record, and any twists will naturally be designated the important game.

LV Bet Casino in Latvia

Major parts in Latvia can profit by an incredible invite bundle of €1000 + 1000 LV Spins split between 4 stores as clarified beneath:

Store 1: 100% up to €200 + 200 LV Spins on Starburst.

Store 2: half up to €200 + 200 LV Spins on Aloha! Bunch Pays.

Store 3: 25% up to €500 + 200 LV Spins on JokerPro.

Store 4: 200% up to €100 + 100 LV Spins on Wild West.

Full terms and conditions apply.

Accessible Games

LV BET has table games, big stake spaces, video poker, and both new and exemplary video openings. The club just works with trustworthy suppliers like BF Games, Gamomat, Kalamba, Oryx, Pragmatic Play, Thunderkick, Greentube, and Pariplay – to give some examples. LV BET Casino additionally works a restrictive LV Wheel game, which adds a shiny new component of energy to gaming, and can see players winning prizes as high as €6000 in Cash on a solitary twist.

Openings

LV BET right now has 1584 space games accessible and is constantly adding new openings to its overlap. For major parts in the state of mind for a fruity space, there is Merkur's Multi Fruits, major parts in the disposition for a slot machine type game can take a shot on Bars and 7s by Wazdan, while players that favor arcade-style games can have a go at Red Tiger's Arcade bomb.

There are likewise video openings like Play'n GO's Troll Hunters 2 and Megaways games like Big Time Gaming's White Rabbit Megaways. The choices are genuinely perpetual. The games can be sifted by the supplier, and players can choose the 'New' class for simple admittance to every one of the furthest down the line augmentations to the club's anteroom. There is additionally a classification for 'Bonanzas' which shows a determination of more than 25 big stake games, including unsurpassed reformist top picks like Mega Moolah and Divine Fortune.

Table Games

There are more than 30 table games for players to browse. The roulette tables incorporate titles like American Roulette, Lux Roulette, European Roulette, and French Roulette. There are additionally various blackjack tables and other games like Baccarat and Jacks or Better to browse. Players searching for poker won't be disillusioned by the same token. LV BET has Casino Hold'em games just as ordinary assortments of poker like Deuces Wild.

Competitions

LV BET is the ideal web based betting objective for openings competitions. The club entryway has an energizing, easy to understand 'competitions' region where players can view and join competitions that are now in play, just as forthcoming competitions. Every one of the competitions are shown close by their assigned time periods and other important data. The entryway makes it simple for players to settle on an educated choice prior to joining. There are genuine prizes available to anyone just as club related prizes, like twists.

Different Games

The LV Wheel is LV BET's select adaptation of the eminent Wheel of Fortune game. On the LV Wheel, each twist gives an award. To gain admittance to the LV Wheel, players should top off the force bar and open levels by playing any gaming machine at the club.

When the LV Bar is full, the player step up and the LV Wheel will consequently dispatch on the screen. Prizes are consequently credited to a player's record after a success. The higher the level that is opened, the better the choice of prizes that can be won. Prizes range from money and rewards and LV Points, contingent upon where the bolt arrives on the wheel.

There are 30 levels, and prizes as high as €300,000 in reward cash, €3,000 in real money, 150,000 LV Points, or 3000 Free Spins to be won. Toward the finish of consistently, all players are positioned into one of five 'super' levels dependent on the quantity of levels that they opened during the month. Players are then granted extra prizes dependent on the excessively level they fall into.

Live Casino

LV BET has a best in class live club, controlled by Evolution Gaming and NetEnt Live; two forces to be reckoned with in live club diversion. The live club has 125 games, including the customary table games like Blackjack, and Baccarat, also some special choices like Dream Catcher, Football Studio, Deal or No Deal, and Crazy Time. Players can tap on the 'LIVE CASINO' button at the highest point of the page. The games are shown with their beginning and greatest wagering values. For example, Blackjack Gold has a wagering scope of €1,000 to €100,000 while Mega Ball has a wagering range beginning at €0.10 up to a limit of €100.

Each game at the live club is overseen by a club representative who is there to deal with the course of the game and help players when required. LV BET likewise upholds live games that can oblige various players all at once. The club has various variants of live roulette including Lightning Roulette, Immersive Roulette, Dragonara, and Roulette London to give some examples.

Sportsbook

Devoted games punters will cherish LV BET's model games wagering stage. It covers every one of the significant games competitions, just as a great many games from around the world. Players can wager on matches ahead of time or they can put down live wagers while the matches are in play. The sportsbook really has its own invite offer for new players. Players who register another record can guarantee an invite reward of 100% coordinate to €50 on their first store.

LV BET doesn't just cover notorious games like Football, Basketball, Tennis and Baseball, the club offers players the chance to wager on an assortment of lesser-referred to games like snooker, darts, StarCraft, Rainbow Six, Rugby Sevens, and squash. Clients can even put down wagers on legislative issues, TV shows, Movies, and the Oscars.

Exploring to the Sportsbook from the club should be possible by tapping on the 'SPORTS BETTING' button at the highest point of the page. When players are in the sportsbook entryway they can explore to various highlights including a live match tracker, which gives live updates and measurements on well known occasions. There's additionally an alternative to put down wagers on a wide assortment of virtual sporting events like virtual football, horse dashing, and tennis. Players can wager with high chances, uncommon wagers, achievement rewards, and various selective LV BET advancements. It's an unquestionable requirement for all games wagering fans. There's even a committed android application for versatile clients to download.

Versatile Casino

The LV BET site works entirely on cell phones. Players can get to the gambling club paying little mind to which sort of cell phone they are utilizing, or which working framework the gadget runs on. To explore to the site on a cell phone, essentially open your top pick

[expatimes]

The life and career of Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s cricket prodigy

The life and career of Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan has seen the theatrical treatment: The curtains parted one day and there he was.

Among a cast of romantic, colourful cricketers from the country’s fairy tale, stood the teen prodigy, the one player ready-made for the biggest stage.

Online profiles feature Rashid’s One-Day International (ODI) debut at the age of 17, the 25 teams he has represented in various formats, his admiration for Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, that whippy, whirly action, dead-eye wrong ’un, striking ability with the bat, athleticism in the field and the ICC T20 Player of the Decade title, even though he played in only half of it.

But what about the other parts of the man that was known as Rashid Arman, the sixth of 11 brothers? The dreamer who thought he would become the family’s first doctor? The computer science student with beautiful handwriting? The part-time English teacher? The boy who was called “Peshawari” in Afghanistan’s local cricket and “muhajir” (refugee) during his college days in Peshawar, Pakistan?

There are bits that make up his life from Bati Kot to Peshawar and back to Afghanistan’s Jalalabad then Kabul, before his October 2015 ODI debut in Bulawayo – on his way to becoming Rashid Khan, the superstar.

In the life of every cricketer, there are family, coaches and teammates who watch their rise with a mix of emotions: Love, pride, delight, among lashings of envy.

We begin with a story from Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain who was Afghanistan coach from October 2015 to April 2016.

Looking at a list of his squad for a 2016 tour of Sharjah, Haq noted Rashid’s omission.

While Rashid’s performance in Bulawayo had not been earth-shattering, he – out of the roster of leg-spinners Haq had first called out and tried – had impressed.

So much so that Haq ended the arguments with selectors by saying: “Only after Rashid is in the team can you talk to me about other things.”

Six years later, Rashid’s name is first on every Afghanistan team sheet.

These days, Rashid is in Abu Dhabi for the Test series against Zimbabwe.

In the touring party is senior team manager Nazeem Jar Abdulrahimzai, who, in his many past roles in Afghanistan cricket remembers 2012 as the year he first met Rashid.

At a provincial Twenty20 match in Kabul, playing for a club called Kochian, Abdulrahimzai watched an unknown teenager, of small built, batting like a dervish.

“He was opening, he scored 93. When he bowled, no one could read him. It hit the legs, bowled. It hit the pads, LBW. It’s like they couldn’t see,” said Abdulrahimzai. “I had not seen a boy like that.”

Rashid had been spotted, marked for attention and encouragement.

Abdulrahimzai started emailing regional teams, asking them to try Rashid out, pushing those who hesitated.

“Listen, I’m the domestic manager, you take him, give him training and a trial. If you’re happy with him, fine. If you’re not, he can come back.”

Khan won the ICC T20 Player of the Decade title, even though he played in only half of it

In 2013, Afghanistan set up the Shpageeza Cricket League, which was to become its national T20 competition, one of the many steps Rashid would take on his meandering odyssey.

That year, at Peshawar’s Arbab Niaz Stadium, Islamia College Coach Ali Hoti was approached by a teenager who introduced himself as Rashid Arman and said he wanted to join the college and its famous cricket programme.

Islamia College alumni have represented Pakistan in various sports. Among its celebrated cricketers are Haseeb Ehsan, Yasir Hamid, Wajahatullah Wasti and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

When Hoti and team captain Sajjad Hashmi saw the youngster’s clean-hitting with the bat and his unorthodoxy with the ball, they knew they had spotted a winner.

But at the trials for the university’s sports quota admissions, the young man was missing. He had had to dash over to Afghanistan to play in a tournament.

This to and fro was due to Rashid’s nomadic boyhood, often as part of a business family alongside 10 brothers.

Cricket, the constant

During a period of uncertainty and war, as the family moved between towns on the border, cricket remained the only constant.

Rashid’s skills were homemade, on the concrete strip inside the housing compound meant for parking cars, in taped tennis ball contests with his brothers, especially brother number two, a football fan.

Once, so furious at being done in by Rashid, his brother wrapped extra tape on the tennis ball only for Rashid to get past him again.

The brothers were competitive but protective. Abdulrahimzai remembers one of Rashid’s brothers Jalil, sitting next to him during an early under-19 match, asking: “What will become of this boy? Of Rashid?”

If he had asked Rashid, he would have been shown him the road map.

At Islamia, Hoti said Rashid enrolled for a computer science degree from 2013 and the formalised structure of cricket training and competition.

Team captain Hashmi befriended the quiet, new entrant and saw what Abdulrahimzai had seen: Presence and confidence.

Hashmi, a former opener-wicketkeeper who played domestic cricket in Pakistan, said Rashid immersed himself in cricket, barely spoke and never complained.

“As college captain, players come and argue their case: Why did you bowl me so late, why can’t I bat in this position. With Rashid, nothing,” said Hashmi.

On one occasion, Rashid was dropped due to a dispute in the team and Hashmi went to his home to make peace.

“The next time I went to the ground, he was there. With his cones, doing his training and shuttle runs,” said Hashmi.

“Others might have gone into a sulk, but he knew what he had to do and wasn’t going to stop. Rashid didn’t waste time, he was driven and completely focused. It was like inside, his real talents were hidden, waiting for their time.”

Rashid’s batting, especially his clean hitting, added to his prowess as a world-class cricketer

Within three years, the world would see those talents.

We must turn to Abdulrahimzai’s Urdu to understand what Rashid’s on-field manner reflected: “Haawi rehna” (domination) and what Abdulrahimzai never saw in him: “Bebasi” (helplessness).

In collegiate and inter-university cricket, Hashmi said Rashid earned the reputation of being the spinner all batsmen thought best to see off.

Hoti is now director of sports at what is now Islamia University and recalls Rashid’s “zabardast” handwriting and the pressure from home to study.

“Rashid was a good student, a thinker. He would try to speak in English, practice it every day, along with his Pashto and Urdu.”

Rashid once said in an interview that he taught English for about six months before cricket took over as he prepared himself for a life beyond college and the towns he called home.

The variations

Rashid’s first cricketing schools – the restrictive and demanding surface of the concrete corridors in his family’s many homes – gave him the fast-arm action to get extra zip on the taped tennis ball.

Flipping the ball out off his fingers – who said wrist-spinners must only use their wrists? – he sent it whirring through the air, rushing the batsmen on concrete, matting, turf, anything.

Where conventional spinners use variations of pace, loop and flight to judge what works best where, Khan’s pace – more than 90km/h (56mph) – is his fundamental staple.

He said he has five grips to choose from during a game… and three googlies.

“Shahid Afridi was my role model while growing up in Afghanistan”. (Rashid Khan) Inspiration of many.❤️@SAfridiOfficial Thank you Lala.#BoomBoom pic.twitter.com/31Y1pyvuwA

— Zain Zahid (@ZainZahid____10) March 9, 2021

To most batsmen, the range is not the issue. Rather, it is the sameness of what everything looks like that leads to befuddlement over what is going to arrive.

As Haq described it, the batsmen’s lack “response time” to react to a ball that not only turns, but turns at speed.

It was not those skills alone that marked Rashid in Haq’s eyes.

On his debut tour in Zimbabwe, Rashid sat out the first ODI. Before the second, Haq told him to bowl at him in the nets.

“If I’m out, you’re in,” he said.

Rashid failed to dismiss his coach but remembers beating him once.

“Even if I had got out to him, it would’ve been fine, that’s the quality of bowler he is. I would have played him, but I wanted to see how he would respond,” Haq said.

What happened before their exchange had revealed more to Rashid.

“When I challenged Rashid, the 17-year-old looked me in the eyes and said ‘haanji, theek hai, aayein net main’ ,” said Haq with a chuckle.

Rashid’s game was always going to be on.

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=18875&feed_id=36713

[theliterateape]

A Troubling Hare

by Paul Teodo

I have a lot of problems. Let me restate that. A lot of problems have me. Having a problem is an illusion. It implies I have control over that problem. I don’t. The problem has control over me. When the problem has me it makes sense to get some help, indicating that this problem must receive more help than I alone can muster up. If a medical problem has me I go to a guy who went to school and has a license to cut me open without getting into too much trouble. If a mental problem has me I go see a shrink, or at least a good friend with a ton of patience for my whining or who can look stuff up on the internet and help me feel better. If my car starts jacking me around I go to a mechanic and spend a lotta dough, especially if I have an Italian or German model.

Let me tell you about a few problems that have me. 

BPH. Benign Prostate Hyperplasia. It’s got me big time. Some days I piss 20 times. I know, I’m closing in on seventy and it’s normal for stuff to be going on down there. But damn, it’s a nuisance.

What is BPH? It’s got to do with a guy’s prostate gland. The prostate gland plays a major role in male reproduction and ejaculation. A normal prostate is about the size of a walnut, mine’s about the size of a fucking cantaloupe. 

An enlarged prostate blocks the flow of pee from the bladder to the urethra and when that happens a man becomes obsessed with locating places to piss because he always has to piss. And the problem with pissing a lot is you begin to lose your inhibition about to where to go. Bushes, trees, dark alleys, well lit alleys, Starbucks, libraries, building lobbies, bottles strategically stashed in automobiles, lamp posts, anyplace a dog lets loose, all are fair game. 

So what do you do if this problem has you? Talk to the guy who went to school and do what he says. And he’ll say No COFFEE, and a few other things. I love coffee. But since I quit I’m down to pissing about 10 times a day, and only once or twice at night.

Well done, Doc.

I got more. 

Technofuckingphobia Yes, that’s a real word, except for the F-part, and more importantly it’s a very serious condition, especially in the 21st century, and it’s got me bad, real bad. Ask me to copy and paste, download an app, stream, or how much RAM I have, and my bowels turn to foam, my knees wobble, and my teeth chatter like a naked man perched upon an iceberg. 

And having a cell phone has made it worse. I’ve become dependent on the damn thing; emails, texts, photos, weather, music, directions, how many steps I take going from one stupid place to the next, all have become obsessions. I read a study a few months ago that said the average American, while awake, checks his cell phone every 72 seconds (less frequently when not awake). So most of you have already checked your phone since starting this little piece, or worse yet, are reading it on the damn thing now.

C’mon! 

Was I leading a miserable existence before I spent nearly a grand on a hand held computer that scares the shit outa me? I think not. And my techie friends tell me it needs to be encapsulated in a protective cover,(the difficulty of installation akin to stuffing an offensive lineman into a gymnast’s leotard), in case I drop it, or more likely throw it against a fucking wall when I can’t figure out how to use it, with a special ring tone for special people, which I have no idea how to set, with alerts for everything I’m supposed to do that I would prefer not to. And now I receive texts from people standing right next to me, which for the life of me, despite my protestations, I can’t ignore. 

And to highlight my total lack of control, if I misplace this electronic demon, I panic like a junkie jonesing for his next fix.

And then there’s the Tinnitus. Remember I’m almost seventy. What? 70…Tinnitus. What? Catch my drift?

I am condemned to a constant ringing in my right ear that varies in decibels depending on where I’m at and who I’m with. Put me in a reverberating room with a few people talking all at once (meaning anyone who has a speck of DNA that identifies them as having a trace of Italian or Jewish ancestry dog-paddling around in their cells) and I feel like I’m struggling to awaken from the depths of a coma. I’m foggy, befuddled, helpless, and morose. I lean forward with a twisted look of confusion splattered across my face feeling like I’m in a therapy group facilitated by Nurse Ratchett with Jack Nicholson at my side.

A few years ago I read that bananas helped tinnitus, so I began to consume 4, 5, 6 a day. The only change was the massive wads of hair that began to sprout from my back and the uncontrollable desire to scamper up a tree and swing from its branches.

OK I overplayed it with the tree.

And now, pray tell, I have been stricken with Leporiphobia. This malady is exhibited by a deathly and uncontrollable fear of rabbits. I shudder and become dizzy when I think of or encounter the tiniest of bunnies or a full grown big eared Jack. This condition is a rarity in the medical journals.

However, a point of note; in a 2012 survey the Journal of American Psychology polled 100 professional athletes concerning their fears or phobias. Hands down Andy Roddick, player on the men’s Pro Tennis Tour and winner of over 30M$ took the grand prize for weirdness. Leporiphobia has him! He admitshe is terrified of rabbits. All he has to do is think of one and he panics. Seeing just a tiny bunny brings him to his knees. He’s actually withdrawn from matches where he was heading for the winner’s circle and then regressed into “rabittual” thinking (OK I made that word up but it’s a great fucking word.)

Allow me to digress. 

I met Lydia in a coffee shop; my kind of coffee shop. No internet. People were talking. I was not sure if they were Jewish or Italian. I couldn’t hear. She leaned closer. I still couldn’t hear. We stepped outside. A truck rumbled by. I couldn’t hear. Finally, she stood on her toes, cupped her hands, and hollered.

“I’m Lydia.” I could hear…fairly well. We talked about the theatre and I asked her to a play. We went. We sat in the front. I could hear. It was great.

We went to dinner, a very quiet place. I gazed across the table into her gray-blue eyes. That was greater.

Afterwards she came to my place. It was very quiet. That was the greatest!

After a few of those datey kinds of experiences we wanted to do normal stuff; stuff we were interested in day to day._

She asked, “What do you like to do that is somewhat normal?”

“Bike,” I responded, enjoying her directness.

“I don’t own a bike.” she replied.

“I’ll buy you one,” I said thinking I was gallant.

She said, pursing her lips, her hands perched on very shapely hips, “I can buy my own.”

She did. I liked that.

“Do you want to go for a ride?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, “But it’s so hot.”

“We won’t go far,” I said once again, trying to be gallant.

“We’ll go as far as I want,” she said.

“OK,” I said knowing that attempting to be gallant was no longer a good idea.

So I put air in my tires and waited to see if she wanted any.

“Could you put some in mine?”

“I’d love to,” I said.

“Thank you.”

Off we went down a dusty path of crunchy gray limestone; thick bushes bordering each side of the trail.

We came to a clearing in a small town. The bank sign read 97 degrees-1pm. The sun broiled my back, sweat puddled in my navel, and my hands slid from the rubber grips of my silver Trek.

“It’s so hot.” Her voice rose over the noisy limestone. “Are you hot?”

“What?” I couldn’t hear her.

“Hot!” she screamed.

I was near death, my head ready to explode. “I’m fine,” yelling over my shoulder.

“Wait!” I heard her voice. It must have been very loud.

I jammed the brakes, my bike twisting sideways.

We skidded to a dusty stop. She was huffing and puffing.

“Are you OK?” Salty sweat stung my eyes.

“This is your idea of fun? How can you stand it? This is normal?”

“What?” This time I pretended I couldn’t hear.

“Hot!”She wiped her brow with the back of her hand. 

“I try to stay cool: water, and stuff.”

“What stuff?” Her indignant voice rose.

I had to pee.

“Sometimes I take off my shirt.”

“Go ahead. But I can’t take off mine.”

I had to pee more.

“Go ahead,” she repeated.

I removed my shirt.

“Let’s go,” she said. “It’s too hot to stand here and talk.”

We started once again, crunching along the shimmering trail.

And that’s when it happened.

Two dark blurs darted from the brush directly in front of my bike; the one in front larger than the one who trailed. The larger one turned and glared with his devil-red eyes, into mine. And without any notice, he leapt off the ground, a full four feet, and went for my throat. My legs froze. I gasped and choked on my own spit. He was on me screeching a high pitched hideous rodent like noise; fangs gnawing at my flesh, his bristly fur scraping my chin. I yanked my right hand away from the brake and threw him off, his pin-like nails scratching my sun burnt skin. His body thumped to the ground. I jammed on my brakes. My wheel turned cock-eyed and my torso flew over the handlebars. 

I landed next to him; so close I could see his whiskers and his pinkish nose twitching with a sense of evil. 

He wriggled his nose again, paused, and scampered into the brush.

“It was a rabbit!”I think Lydia screamed. While I was aware of that, tinnitus is accentuated in a panic situation, and I needed to pee even more.

“I can’t believe it!”

I could. I lay on the limestone gazing up at her.

“Why did you bring me here?”

“You wanted normal.”

She stepped off her new bike, whose tires I had just put air into, trying not to be gallant.

“Are you OK?” she asked.

I wasn’t. I could be extra gallant and say fine. “I’m…” I paused, “hurt. Severely.”Trying to gain some sympathy.

“Oh my God,” she said.

Shards of gravel were imbedded in my tender skin. Bloody chunks of flesh dangled from elbows and knees. My left shoulder was locked tight, conspicuously off-kilter to its twin; pounding with a sledgehammer heartbeat.

“What can I do?” she asked tears welling in her eyes.

I lay there, my fears, problems, and pain running away with me.

My cell phone was shattered. How would I text myself a reminder to buy a new one?

I needed to pee.

But there was Lydia standing over me, offering to help. We met in a coffee shop, my kinda shop. No internet.

My ear ringing like the 3 o’clock dismissal school bell at St. Frances.

“How can I help?” she repeated. 

I thought I saw the rabbit peek out from the brush. Leporiphobia had stricken me. 

“Kill the fucking rabbit.”

She smiled a deep warm smile. She made me feel better.

She touched my cheek. “I will.”

I believed her.