#second best professor imo

[doubleddenden]

A little more beta stuff was leaked recently- this time focusing on Legends Arceus and Scarlet and Violet.

So first off, I won't link anything outright to my blog just in case. Find it on Twitter, YouTube, or Reddit.

Second, there's nothing about beta Pokemon so far- and I kind of doubt there will be in the files given the games were rushed to a degree. But it is strange, both have elements in them that could have changed the final games a bit- probably Arceus moreso, as SV's is more on the graphics side.

Third, i am not a leaker nor do i personally have access to the builds- this is strictly commentary on *videos* you can easily find yourself. This is simply just thoughts I have- some may agree or disagree, I'm not arguing.

That out of the way: Legends Arceus

So first of all, we finally have confirmation that the modern bedroom found in LA's game files (as in the final distributed product) was indeed a remnant of what would have been before the official beginning we got. There were storyboards with it that depict the player watching a professor give their "Welcome to the World of Pokemon" speech, then it zooms out to reveal the player was playing a game on TV, they take a break to scroll on their phone, then digital shenanigans happen on the phone and the player gets sucked into a whole in reality.

This is old news to some- but there's also unfinished animation that depict this, basically only modeling the player and the tv- the rest is grey. It seems to be an idea they were serious about, but decided to cut it- I think it's for the best tbh. I never have liked GF's "kids and their smart phones" rhetoric and this made it seek like we'd rather be on our phones instead of playing the game.

Onto gameplay, there's footage of beta Hikari (has a headband instead of the bandana) and a Unovan Zoroark running and JUMPING around in the field. They battle with a Luxray in what appears to be auto battling with some limited commands from the trainer. This actually validates certain leaks for Legends Arceus and perhaps maybe even pre SwSh? Anyway, they claimed GF were debating intensely on a new battling system, and I believe one even compared it to Digimon World Next Order- this certainly matches the description, imo, but definitely dumbed down and in early phases. These rumors would persist a while during LA's marketing phase, so the decision to change to the system we have must have been last minute.

On a personal note, I know there are a lot of fans that are tired of the turn based battling system, but I'm personally glad we didn't go down the road of auto battling. It looked awkward to watch, and also it would make catching pokemon hell because there'd be a chance to knock it out when it's in the red. It does need work for sure- but I would argue it just needs work on an animation, camera, and overall aesthetic angle rather than try to fully shift things to a new system you know they wouldn't get right for a long time.

Back to the facts- there also appears to be a very early and very janky ability for the player to ride their Zoroark? I think? At the least, although both models are running on top of each other (developer beta, keep in mind), the player DOES seem on top of Zoroark, who does seem to gain a massive boost of speed in response.

Side note- this does harken to the supposedly canceled game: Pokemon Rodeo, where you ride Pokemon around. I believe footage showed the area where Scyther hang out in LA, and the project had been worked on since 2019. Perhaps they wanted to try to implement it in LA, but they scrapped the idea for accessibility via the ride system.

It's also clear they wanted to do something with Zoroark all the way back here- they weren't kidding when they said Arceus would be a very experimental game, it seems.

Onto the next game: Scarlet and Violet.

Scarlet and Violet beta footage doesn't really glean much other than a similar build of the final product (and let's not kid ourselves, the game is clearly unfinished). However, there is 1 unused music track, I think, towards the beginning of the game.

There's also a much different LIGHTING and SHADOW system compared to what we got in the end. It honestly looks way better than the final product, and it meshes with the environments WAY better imo. Most likely it was changed to the inferior one for performance purposes, as the game did somehow run slower than before (in an emulator, but still).

Personal take- I know some people's gut reaction is to immediately blame the Switch for being "under powered," but do keep in mind it could handle BoTW, ToTK, Xenoblades 1, 2, and 3, and more while still handling pretty decent shading. It is curious, however, that ported games such as Red Dead Redemption or Fate/Samurai Remnant might have some issues in a similar manner (there are some leaks of pc versions of some of these games being leaked, but they require very specific pc builds that would make them harder or impossible to run on much besides dev kit or Switch hardware). I don't know if this would be an issue with creating with the Switch 2 dev kit and having to downgrade- we know that from other leaks, GF had been experimenting with improved performance on Switch 2 dev kits as of one of the earliest Indigo Disk leaks- circa Dec 2022 or early 23. However, I don't think they had the kit during early SV's development, as it started in 2019 or so after SwSh ended development, and the Switch would only be 2 years old at the time- I think this is simply poor management and direction from people TRYING to get that BoTW look, but not wanting to update their tech or habits to properly accommodate it and not wanting to take their time with it. I think we all understand there was just a maelstrom of things going wrong for SV's development from the Pandemic, to trying to follow their same flawed release cycle, bad management, etc. It's a tired topic at the least.

As far as other things in the actual build, there does appear to be a... well, honestly? BETTER pop up menu for the bag and menu. It's stylized in a pretty unique way that feels nice and organic to the game vs the final product. The bag menu sort of overlays to the regular game like the finalized start menu does, but cleaner.

I can only guess this was changed because it affected performance somehow- perhaps related to the game's strange habit of being lit up when the battle menu appears in the final product, or maybe just another slow down like usual. It's too bad, it looks really good.

Between the bag and the lighting system, I hope both come back for gen 10. There's serious promise behind both.

As for anything else worth noting- like the LA beta, the SV beta has a lot of unfinished areas, nothing really worth noting on that angle.

But picnics- those loaded way quicker before, despite the game running slower on emulator. And sandwiches? Well, they were planned back then, too. It does appear to be an earlier build, as the guy was somehow tossing eggs from UNDER the sandwich to the bun, and underhand throwing the top bun on top instead of the finalized orbital drop method we have for both.

The only other things worth noting is that the player had a Lucario and Staraptor on their team (the Lucario is interesting considering Unovan Zoroark was in the Beta LA build). However the menu displays other things instead, such as Charizard (of fucking course), Poliwrath (not available in game until Teal Mask), MUDKIP (wouldn't be added in until ID dropped), and Nidoqueen- who isn't available in the final game AT ALL. Of course, these are just menu sprites and none of these actually appear in the videos- in fact, other than the creepy blacked out Koraidon, Staraptor, Lucario, and I think Staravia flying around, I don't think there was a SINGLE other Pokemon visible in the overworld.

Oh, and it does appear that the initial uniforms were planned very early, as the blacked out model matches the overall shape. Personal note- I hope they got that out of their systems. I hated it so much, and it was probably another time saving measure planned from the beginning.

Final thoughts: it's interesting hoe the beta build seems to be Scarlet- idk if there's one for Violet specifically, but looking on it, a lot makes more sense from a Paradox design and story angle if you just assume Scarlet is the canon game. It's easy to think of how a Great Tusk can kill a man in Area Zero 200 years ago, not quite how a robot could- and the final explanation certainly doesn't provide satisfactory explanation as to how it arrived there before the time machine was built.

As for appearance: Some of this makes me remember an official game freak reveal of early SV at Game Freak's CEDEC 2023

And this is officially revealed info. The Snorlax is definitely photoshopped in, but the shading and rock textures look a lot like this beta build. It does look better than the final build, there's no real arguing with that.

Again, I'm hoping whoever in charge thqt needed to learn a few lessons DID, because some devs were clearly TRYING to make some ambitious ideas work but just couldn't on the time alotted or the programs used. I think I heard they wanted to transition to Unity or Unreal for the next games anyway, so maybe programming it will be easier going forward and we can finally achieve these graphics they wanted. Probably not with ZA, but it'd be a nice surprise for Gen 10 or something.

That's all. Have a nice day

[eyesfromhell]

Leverage: Redemption S2E10 "The Work Study Job" could've and maybe even should've been way more intimate

(That's the episode about the grad student whose research was stolen by her professor)

The episode begins with a student accusing her professor of stealing and publishing her research, and him using her severe anxiety to publicly humiliate her.

Pretty good start, right? No need for a sob story, we already despise the Bad Guy, great directing. But most importantly: it's extremely low stakes, and yet the emotional stakes are so very high. If the team fails, a very nice girl is upset, loses 2 years of her life. She says that she'll have to drop out of her PhD program, that it will ruin her life, but we also learn throughout the episode that she's very smart and underestimates herself, maybe she could build herself back up. But also, if the team fails, this really nice person with no evil in her heart - who was betrayed by a man she trusted, was humiliated publicly, and had her biggest work yet stolen - would be incredibly upset. The stakes are the feelings of a girl who the episode makes us deeply sympathize with in 150 seconds.

And then it turns out the research is gonna be the anti-oil or whatever. It turns out the Bad Guy wants to steal it and sell it to Big Oil so they could bury it. And now it's a whole thing, they need to stop climate change, they need space Hardison. This very grounded episode about a guy everyone knows abusing his power became a larger than life heist.

This episode could've been so many things: What if her research was just fun math? What if the Bad Guy just really wanted attention? It could've been enough to get him to steal bogus research and spend the rest of the episode showing Emma (the Victim) how to believe in herself (which they already did, but it was kinda sidetracked by the high stakes heist they were doing).

Some of the best episodes of both shows are, imo, the ones where it's just about helping some guy stuck in trouble - The Bank Shot Job where they help the most helpless bank robbers, The Carnival Job where Elliot teaches the Mark's daughter to love herself, The Order 23 Job which is an ok episode except when Elliot saves a kid from abuse from his cop father, The Rollin' On The River Job which is an ok episode except when Elliot befriends a security guard, The DB Cooper Job.

In general Elliot has huge Big Brother Energy and every episode where he interacts with someone is elevated.

My (barely supported) conclusion: the episode didn't need elevated stakes, it set up great stakes in the first 2:30 minutes, and I think that's enough.

[theozilla]

I stayed up late last night finishing the Pluto anime (I watched the English dub; I am planning on rewatching it in Japanese and the German dub eventually) and now I am putting down my thoughts after having slept on them. 

Urasawa’s Pluto is one of my favorite manga (and comics) of all time, so I was very invested at the prospect of it getting an anime adaption (regardless of the fact that I expected I would end up, and still do, preferring the manga as the best way to experience the story). Anyways, overall, the Pluto anime is a great anime and a good adaption. The animation was very good, though I agree with the common criticisms that parts of it could have had better compositing. I do have a few criticisms of it as an adaptation though, critiques that go beyond the standard practice of shortening, slightly modifying, and cutting of (less plot-essential) dialogue and scenes that come when an anime adapts a manga (especially text and plot dense ones). I essentially have three major/not-insignificant criticisms of how the story got adapted (though I am quite aware that the cause of these shortcomings may be more due to the anime production just not having the time and/or resources to do so, than being deliberate creative choices). 

         My first criticism is the fact that in the manga Gesicht and Brau-1589 did end up exchanging memory chips (this happens at the end of volume 2 in the manga, which is roughly analogous to what episodes 2 and/or 3 of the anime adapted). Cutting that plot point from the anime is a significant story loss IMO as it was an essential step in Gesicht’s character arc, specifically him slowly realizing that parts of his memory were erased. It also diminishes the effectiveness of Brau-1589’s character as not only does it further explain and justify why Brau considered himself and Gesicht to be two of a kind (i.e., Brau was able to notice and discern Gesicht’s erased memories) it also removes narrative parallel/“rhyming” of how Atom had previously read Gesicht’s memory chip and is implied to have picked-up on the same erased memories as well. Also not getting to hear Brau-1589 do the haunting line of "500 Zeus a body" voiced-acted is a crying shame. 

         Secondly, the choice to cut out the various scenes Dr. Roosevelt, the immobile super-computer A.I., and the President of the not!USA, from the first half of the story was a mistake. In the manga, by volume 2, the audience is supposed to be explicitly clued-in to the fact that Dr. Roosevelt and the President are directly involved the serial murder conspiracy (with the how and why still being unknown). Not having this context established before the second half of the story in the anime I would imagine makes the later scenes of Dr. Roosevelt and the President that do get adapted much more confusing and random for an anime-only watcher. It also diminishes the greater connective and overarching themes of the narrative, particularly the ones critical of the USA and Neo-imperialism (which I cynically wonder if that was one of the reasons said scenes were cut). Excising the earlier Dr. Roosevelt scenes and references to it, as well as the parallels with Brau-1589 (and the theme of robots feeling hatred and other extreme emotions), brings down the quality of the character and thematic writing in general as well. 

         And finally, a few adaptation choices done in the final eighth episode, I feel brought down the quality of the climax. Beginning with the least significant one, but still important IMO, was the cutting of Doctor Tenma and Professor Hoffman’s scene at Gesicht’s grave. Besides it further elucidating the themes of the narrative, it’s also just a loss in terms of giving a bookend to Hoffman’s role in the narrative and his relationship with Gesicht. Next, is the anime’s decision to make Bora completely non-verbal when Atom and Pluto confront him during the climax. In the manga, the intelligence of Goji/“Abullah” was still present, which not only made the climax more emotionally engaging, but it also specifically made Pluto/Sahad coming to terms with the ghost of his father much more effective as well. Lastly, and my biggest issue with how episode 8 adapted volume 8, was the choice to have Atom remembering Gesicht’s final words and the flashback that reveals how Gesicht found the robot child he and his wife adopted, occur in the middle of the scene where Professor Ochanomizu witnesses Atom picking up a snail and showing how he still has his humanity intact after being revived in the way that he was. In the manga said scenes occurred right before Atom is about to deliver a killing blow to Pluto (and are subsequently intercut with the remainder of the climax). The way the anime rearranges the contents of volume 8 in episode 8 really messes up the flow, particularly the emotional flow, of the story’s climax and makes it less engaging and effective as a concluding experience. 

Anyways, despite those three major areas I took issue with, I still really enjoyed the Pluto anime and consider it to be a great work overall. Though I still recommend the manga as the best and proper way to experience the story. 

[worriesndoodles]

ok crossover final thoughts, spoiler warnings and potentially bad opinions ahead

soooooo i want to correct one things first, i said darklaw cases boredom in me but thats not entirely true; i actually like her concept and design and themes a lot, i just feel like she barely shined through in all of this outside a very tiny part at the end (not even the whole trial! she was a placeholder prosecutor for a bit there imo)

next im going to say absolutely preposterous thing, i think they went overboard with plot twists here for the sake of plot twists...it might explain layton's sudden character variation and also i think since they stacked so many shocking twists only to the end (MUCH more than usual i think) i had a hard time keeping up even though i played through once and knew the general idea

its simultaneously doing a lot and glossing over cantabella being a horrible human who somehow gets a father of the year title at the end??? i guess its the same as bill hawks plot point except cantabella is barelly condemned even by the professor and phoenix...

*more on layton as a prosecutor, i think the role of prosecutor in ace attorney itself kinda constrained him and made him less like himself as a character. he kinda became an older edgeworth copy there at some points and i dont think they would behave that similarly at all...i guess it makes sense since shu takumi wrote the game but still. it wasnt as bad as i remember but he definitely wasnt hershel layton that he seemed like even the rest of the game. still not a big fan for sure and also i dont think professor was ever that big pursuer of the truth, at least not at the expense of others. i dont know what alternative there could be but pushing like that is still not hershel-like, at the very least

the music was bomb though, ill miss the best of two worlds in one with sick medieval vibe (and the knight/witch aesthetic too....that was so fun)

considering this is the second time i play this game i enjoyed it very much both times, puzzles were kinda easier than other layton games for me (but trials were probably harder than average aa game)

i lowkey wish some themes were clearer in execution since they mostly come up only at the last trial with very minimal setup but im hesitant to say anything about writing overall because i, as it stands, know barely anything about writing and have zero brain cells to adequately judge it (that being said, something about portrayal of trauma there rubs me the wrong way but it might be just general discomfort around a heavy topic)

[zackstriker]

dyou have any surrealist/absurdist/adjacent short story recs? 👀 i’m interested in the style but don’t tend to have the brainspace to commit to a novel u_u

YES I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED !!!

I’m actually going to start with a novella rec and a narrative poetry book rec before i go into the short stories, bc they’re quick reads and fundamentally changed the way i read think and write.

NOVELLA REC: The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente— a cli-fi (climate sci-fi) absurdist story about Tetley, who is the most hated girl in garbage town. I love this story with all my heart.

POETRY BOOK REC: Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson— PLEASE IF YOU READ ANY OF THESE RECS READ THIS ONE. IT CHANGED MY LIFE AND IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS IVE EVER READ. An anachronistic queer retelling of the story of Geryon and Herakles, with translations of the fragments of the original story.

Who Will Greet You at Home by Lesley Nneka Arimah— this is a beautiful story that touches on classism/capitalism, motherhood, and generational trauma. it’s beautiful and tragic and captivating and has lived in my brain since I read it.

Blur by Carmen Maria Machado— eyes, gore, lesbians, horror, brilliant. tw for implied domestic abuse.

The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado— probs their most famous story. it’s beautiful and tragic and I have read it for four different college classes.

Inventory by Carmen Maria Machado (can you tell i like her work)— my second fav story by CMM after blur. Does super exciting things with form.

St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell— so entertaining and fun and sad and brilliant and lovely.

The City Borne Great by NK Jemisin— literally one of the best literary voices of a generation and i will die on that hill. SO unique, so gorgeous. If you like this short story the author expanded it into a book series that’s also brilliant called The City We Became.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Neil Gaiman— lonely and funny and exciting and weird. I like the way it fucks around with dialogue.

Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolf— super short but brilliant story that completely fucks with how time can work in a story. brilliant.

Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl— this is a play not a short story but it’s a quick read and one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. Sarah Ruhl is a huge inspiration of mine and a brilliant writer who does crazy cool things with absurdism and stage directions.

Baby Teeth by Lina Rather— very niche story i read for a class bc the author was my professor’s friend but i LOVED it.

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx— pretty different vibe from the movie imo but very good and does beautifully tragic things with cycles.

anyways i have so so many more but i will leave you with these for now!! i love love love love literature.

[illusion-of-death]

I'd love to hear more about Urbosa in CMFTW! What are her hobbies? What does she value in this AU? What's the relation like with her family? Also, what's the place and country called where she travelled to to fetch Riju? (I admittedly dislike the canon name because it cheapens the Gerudo as characters and their culture imo.)

CMFTW Urbosa beloved!! I’m glad you asked :)

We’ve gotten to see quite a few of her hobbies in-fic so far—dancing’s always been a big one, even before she started professoring about it at UH, and I imagine her preferred style to be contemporary, though I’m sure there are plenty of specific subgenres within that style that I know very little about. She no longer plays D&D (besides the one notable exception) but her time with the game before her life went to shit did spark an interest in folklore and mythology, hence her coming up with the idea for that combined RELS course. She is also very much into engaging in silly shenanigans with her best friend/platonic partner Daruk, including but not limited to recipe experimentation, bowling as incorrectly as possible, and what I imagine are some very wild board game nights.

As for her values—I think that family seems to be a pretty big one. Caring about people in general. Ensuring that all her students are treated justly and fairly. Doing what she can to ease the suffering of others, because she wouldn’t wish certain life experiences of her own unto anyone.

Her relationship with her family is kind of twofold, I think. There’s her blood family, who we do not hear about besides her sister (who Hope and I never actually named, oops) and Riju, and nobody else is ever mentioned. I imagine that Urbosa and her sister lost their mother relatively young, and had a pretty bad time of it with only each other to lean on until they were adults, at which point Urbosa ended up moving to Akkala and her sister landed halfway across the globe. The few other relatives they have are not people either of them were particularly close with, which is why it was so important to both of them that Urbosa specifically be the one to take care of Riju after everything.

But there’s also her chosen family now! Daruk, as we all know, is the absolute best, and the two of them got super close almost immediately when they both started working at Akkala Elementary. Urbosa met Saphira the year of Link and Zelda and Mipha’s graduation to middle school, at the cute little ceremony Zelda’s dad couldn’t be bothered to show up to, and that relationship started growing pretty much the second Saphira finally got that divorce. They got married pretty shortly after that first D&D game got started, and Urbosa and Daruk’s QPR got a bit more official not long after that, much to Saphira’s delight, though the three of them all agreed not to be particularly open about it.

As for your second question—we… never actually decided. Our worldbuilding outside of Hyrule itself is VERY loose. Hyrule is pretty much a microstate, wide enough that it would take about two days to roadtrip directly across but with a very spread out, extremely low population. While it’s not quite as isolated here as it is in-game, it’s still pretty unusual for people to travel in/out of. Urbosa and her sister are originally from what would be the Gerudo region on the BotW map, but Urbosa moved to Akkala, and her sister fully left Hyrule altogether—all you really need to know (which is to say, all we ever bothered to establish) about where she ended up is that she went FAR. Like, think moving from Canada to Australia kind of far. Solid 20 hours of flights, completely opposite timezone—not exactly conducive to ease of visiting or communication. Plus, for plot convenience reasons, really, really bad phone service.

Thanks for asking!! If @ofstormsandfire has anything to add, go right ahead :)

[superfluouskeys]

Do you have any advice for someone who will be applying to grad school soon? I want to eventually get a PhD and teach, but it's so scary to think about organizing myself enough to do the applications and I also barely know where to begin. Any advice is welcome!!

Also p.s. i love your fics <3

Thank you so much!! I will try my best! Disclaimer: I only know how it is in the U.S., but I do have a fair amount of friends/acquaintances who have gone to grad school in various fields, so I think I have a pretty wide range of experiences to go off of besides my own.

BIG first thing: find programs that will either pay for your degree or otherwise offer you some kind of excellent financial aid situation. It is almost never worth it to get yourself into some kind of hellish student loan situation. If you want to teach there might be some kind of government forgiveness thing but even those can be unwieldy, so just watch out and stay on top of it.

But, going off of that, and this is just my personal opinion, but don't bother applying anywhere you don't actually want to go just because the money is good or it's prestigious or whatever. You're already going to be mildly miserable a lot of the time while doing your PhD, you might as well do it in a place you can tolerate. Figure out what's most important to your own success--for me, I absolutely have to like my professors or I will really struggle. Other considerations fall below this.

Someone will probably have a suggestion specific to your field for how many schools you should apply to to maximize your chances, so you can build a list of schools you're interested in based on that vague estimate to start looking into, but I also think there's something to be said for drawing the line at a certain point where it's not worth it, and you might be better off getting some kind of work experience for a year or two and then trying again. I actually applied to graduate school right out of college, which would have been a DISASTER if I had gone LOL.

BIG second thing, just based on my personal foibles, reach out to some professors/mentors/employers/whatever with whom you've had a good relationship in the past (if you haven't spoken recently), ask them how they're doing, and update them on what you've been up to and that you're thinking about pursuing your PhD. This is especially important if you've been out of school for awhile, but it's good to get into the habit of periodically touching base with professional contacts even if you're still in school. You're going to need letters of recommendation, AND you're going to keep needing references for various things, and it's good if you don't have to cold call people you haven't spoken to in a long time once you already need something.

Note that calling up esp. professors you haven't kept in touch with is usually fine! People generally want to help you! It will just make you feel less awkward if you've kept in touch ahead of time. It's great if the person has some connection to your field, but IMO it's better if the person just knows and likes you and can speak honestly to your merits.

I also personally had a huge issue just wrangling the people who agreed to write me letters of recommendation to like, do it, and use the website submission thing correctly, in time for the submission deadlines LOL, and I felt SO awkward reminding them about it but was also going INSANE as the deadlines approached. This was honestly one of the most stressful parts of the whole process for me, and you might find you want to apply for an internship or grant or something early on before you've really connected with your new profs and need these references AGAIN, so my advice is just try to get some people who are willing to help you lined up ASAP so perhaps you can avoid this particular nightmare. 2 minimum, but 3-5 is ideal.

As for organizing everything, it's definitely time-consuming, but there's also something kind of gratifying about it. When you go through the trouble of gathering together every mildly relevant or impressive thing you've ever done in your life, you'll be like, wow, I did some cool stuff actually :). Note that you never know what admissions will find interesting about you, so don't count anything out right off the bat--my school loved that I have a background in music, while my German degree continues to be pretty much irrelevant LOL. If you're still in or just out of school there's probably someone whose job it is to help you with e.g. how to put together a grad school resume or read over your personal essays or w/e, so definitely take advantage if that exists, but you can absolutely do it yourself if not, no sweat!

Though I would recommend finding someone, like maybe one of those past profs/mentors/etc. I mentioned, to look over your personal essays for you just so there's another pair of eyes on them. Personal essays were the SECOND most stressful part of the whole process for me because I HATE writing personal essays LOL! But having someone tell me what kind of narrative law schools are looking for helped me to refocus my writing and feel slightly less insane about it.

Finally, always remember, don't sell yourself short!! In any application process you want to play up your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, but don't hold yourself back based on the weakest points in your application. Apply for things you really want to do or that would be really beneficial for you even if you don't think you'll get them--you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and this applies to every aspect of your life btw!

I hope some of this was at least mildly helpful! I wish you all the best in your journey! Grad school is great and such a rewarding--

[owls-den]

Hii. What is your opinion on the pokemon XY anime gang?

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

Oh man, I have a lot of thoughts regarding XY! Let's see...

Ash: I like the way he was portrayed this season honestly. He was very likeable and went through a lot of key character moments especially thanks to his Greninja. I had multiple moments where I just told my friend "man he's such a cool guy". Very good portrayal of his character :))

Serena: I'm a bit mixed with Serena. I like her but also feel like she didn't have as much character as any of the female protags before her. I liked her character arc but it felt a bit rushed weirdly enough? There was also a lot of fanservice around her which felt a bit weird (and the romance with Ash was... Well, no shade to Amourshippers at all but I did not see the chemistry. It felt like they didn't want to commit with it. If anything she had more chemistry with Aria imo) and in the finale everyone had a role except her (Bonnie was calming Zygarde, Clemont was taking care of the Lumiose tower, Ash was battling Lysandre but... Serena was just... There.) All in all I like her but she feels a bit like wasted potential? Of course that is merely my opinion on the matter. I think she improved dramatically in her small appearances in Journeys <3

Clemont: I love this little guy! He has such a nice bromance with Ash! His catchphrase and the ensuing running gag somehow always gets me. I just like that they committed with the character. He's very distinguishable from Cilan and Brock which is a plus in my book and gosh, his role in the finale broke me. I cried twice and the Citroid "death" was one of them. Clemont makes me happy :))

Bonnie: I honestly really like Bonnie! She was well written in my book and she had a lot of moments where my cynical ass had to sit down and say "... Yeah, that's cute actually". She fills me with uncontrollable cute aggression (that feeling when something is so adorable you just have to squish like bug) especially with the way she was with Zygarde. Remember how I said I cried twice during the finale?... Her singing to a rampaging Zygarde was the second time.

Some minor characters below!

Professor Sycamore: I love that he appeared often although his plot relevance is more in relation to Alain than it is to Lysandre in this. I'm a bit sad that he doesn't actually know Lysandre before the events of the Mega Evolution Special because MAN it would have been fascinating to see him torn up between the man he loves as a dear lover friend and his son assistant! Loved his dynamic with Alain <3

Tierno: HE GOT SUCH A GLOW UP??? Like I didn't care much for Tierno in the game but NOW HE'S IN MY TOP TEN FAVE POKEMON CHARACTERS???

Shauna: Wish she had appeared more because I really liked her <3

Trevor: Such a tiny guy! I think a tiny bit of his bite was lost in the anime adaptation but I still really love his friendship with Tierno. Boy best friends!

Sawyer: I love how it introduces the concept that EXP might exist or is a pseudo science in this world?? He's a tiny guy who packs a punch and that's great for him :)) very likeable.

Miette: I want to like her and I do but this whole "love rival" was introduced and then severely underutilized 😔

Alain: Is it a secret that I love Alain? I was making fun of him a lot during my first watch, calling him a bit of an edgelord but, hey, that's how I show my love. After multiple months of intense roleplaying with my friend I ended up... Really REALLY loving him??? And now whenever I rewatch his breakdown I feel terrible inside ��

Mairin: You know how Bonnie fills me with cute aggression? Mairin is even better at triggering it. I love her with every fibre of my being <3 Her dynamic with Alain is everything to me. (He just wants to see her smile again 🥺🥺🥺🥺)

Lysandre: Might as well talk about him! I did like his portrayal (even if the line of "protecting the professor at all cost" at the start sounds super parasocial considering they never formally met?????) and he has some crazy good moments for only being introduced in XYZ and the Mega Evolution Special. He's grand ! I still can't believe the scene where he flungs himself off of the tower exists but it made me gasp very loudly!

SORRY FOR THIS LONG POST I didn't know if you met just the main four or more soooo here are my thoughts on most of the main cast?? Anyways haha hope you enjoyed that? Overall I really liked the entire XY series especially XYZ. It started a bit slow for me but had a lot of cool moments I'll remember for a while.

[abhorrenttheorizer]

I've had a mild case of "health impacts grades" in high school with having to take a couple days out, and having that fuck up my grades a fair bit. It's a fucking travesty that teachers and professors aren't required to take health problems into account in their curricula. As for engineering, my brother's an electrician (kinda related). He does talk a lot about how demanding it is, but considering how much it pays, a lot of the guys he works with just take up short term jobs with high pay for a few months of the year and take the rest of the year off through budgeting. That's one way to go about it, though I imagine you can't predict when these illness spells are going to hit. Best advice I can give is save up and budget so losing a job over illness isn't as much of an issue. And if you haven't already maybe talk to the health resources at your school.

it seems to depend on the school imo, as the current professor im suffering with has let me receive several short term extensions so i don't leave the class with a d or f, something im very grateful for.

i hope this indicates that times are changing, and that at the very least professors are destigmatizing poor immune systems and the workloads people are able to do. i remember when i was in grade school, most health issues were dismissed as being overdramatized out of laziness, ESPECIALLY during remote learning.

but i still worry about how, say, an employer would treat my health issues, since my performance would be nil for a loooong time.

also that's pretty interesting that some of your brother's coworkers work for only a section of the year, i didn't know you could do that with jobs like electrician work. not sure how well id fare using a similar method due to personal reasons as well as the fact ill probably be some sort of designer when i graduate.

as for the advice, i do appreciate it. i have a bunch saved up over the years. though i think im also better off showing up to interviews full on disclosing my issues with illness, better to get turned away at that second than fired later for an issue i never mentioned.

im still hesitant to consult any officials at my college about my health because it's remote, and also they may ask for doctors notes and so on that i won't be able to show.

thanks for the message! /gen

[dragbunart]

...could I have a Chihiro x Miu scenario please? I don't know why but the pairing of incredibly vulgar and perverted (yet secretly sweet) girl x boy who is such a sweet little cinnamon roll he could give you cavities, is just so damn good pairing IMO and nobody writes stuff for them

Never heard of this ship before! But it sounds cute.

"Miu you're amazing!" Chihiro stared at Miu.

"I know! I got a rocking bod AND i'm a genie-" "No! Genius doesn't even begin to cover it!" Chihiro was bouncing. Miu blinked. "You're on a whole nother level! I can't believe I get to be a part of this project."

"Y-Yeah, well you know i needed an extra set of hands to program and go over my stuff..." MIu was blushing at his honesty.

"I'm a little jealous of you, not only do you have the code down, but you can build your idea's from scratch! I can only program..."

"Program AI's! THat's why i chose ya, Chi. I needed a brain that could match mine." She was quiet for a second.

"You could've easily had any other guy in the programming world help you! They would've been more than happy."

"Sucks to be them because I only want you!" "You're just saying tha-" "N-no, i'm not." MIu took a breath.

it's now or never...

"I only want you Chihiro... I've... No one has been able to keep up with me like you... And you don't find me gross or weird... Or seem to care when I make my amazing and well times sex jokes!"

"They help you work! I'm not about to criticize the GReat Miu Iruma's creative process!" "But you're the greatest guy I've met... You like cute things and aren't ashamed of it!"

"Not anymore. It's amazing what supportive friends can do."

"You also aren't ashamed to be associated with me..."

"Why would I Miu? Behind all the Bravada and all those jokes you make, you're a really sweet girl." "I like you more than just as a friend, Chi... I want to... To..." Her face was red as a beet she was sure. But she just had to take one look at Chihiro sitting there patiently, all his attention on her... That was all she needed. "I want to hold hands with you and be able to tell everyone 'Fuck off Bitches and Bastards, the hottest guy to ever wear a skirt is mine!'" It was Chihiro's turn to blush. He listened to her every word. "I want to build inventions with you... Forever... I... I want to be your Girlfriend, Chi." "Miu I..."

"You can say no and we can go back to just being partners in science... or we can just be fuck buddies if you don't want anything serious!" Miu bursted out. "oh... It'd be a shame for us to NOT have a kid together, I mean that kid would be so fucking smart... And drop-dead gorgeous!"

"Miu." "And we could make them a robot twin that would Rival Kiibo and we've both met Kiibo, he's going to be hard to beat in specs and programming." "Miu." "I've been meaning to talk to his inventor, heard the old man is retiring, I think we'd be the best people to make sure he stays function-" "Miu!" "GAH! I'm sorry!" Chihiro giggled and grabbed Miu's hand, placing it on his chest right above his heart.

"My heart's beating so fast right now... I'd be ecstatic to be your Boyfriend." "Wha... REALLY?"

"I like being around you Miu, and I wouldn't mind working on projects forever with you." His smile was so innocent and genuine. "I have a few boundaries tho."

"Ok!"

"I'd like to wait on..." When he said the word it was almost a whisper. "Um... sex... For a bit... And when we do have... it... I would like to keep it mostly private... I don't care if you make jokes about screwing the entire world... But no one needs to know the specifics of what we do together..."

"Ok, what else..." "I want to be the only Programmer you work with! I'm willing to make an exception for Professor Itabashi! He's both our idol!"

"Make sense. What about pet names and nicknames?" "Huh?"

"We've talked about your gender stuff, so i assume stuff like 'baby girl' is off the table." "If you'd be willing." "How about 'Cutie Pie about to get Cream Pied'..."

"... I'm going to veto the last part.... For multiple reasons."

[moltara]

I hope this is ok to ask, how did you learn anatomy? I’m still struggling and yours looks awesome. Are there any specific resources you used while learning ?

hello!! yes this is totally ok to ask, i am always happy to share any resources i might have handy! lmk if you have any questions :3

i attribute a lot of the anatomy knowledge i have from all the life drawing courses i took in college! i understand that this. is not really all that helpful however bc i know that college is super expensive and not the best option for a lot of people.

not to mention a lot of the actual resources i used in college were lost to time (either because i only rented the textbooks, sold them after the fact or i lost access to them) i also was a lazy student and didnt actually read 90% of my textbooks whoops

BUT. i can offer this! if you know of any local studios or museums around you that hold in-person life drawing sessions, definitely look into attending those! i actually work at a small art museum that offers them weekly at $25 per session for the general public.

if those aren't available to you, i know that there are websites online that serve the same purpose!

line of action

adorkastock

are two such websites i can name off the top of my head! they offer in-website timers you can adjust to mimic how a life drawing session works. start out with 30 second or 1 minute gesture sketches to warm up, and then ease into longer 20-30 minute drawings when you feel ready.

i also have some resources uploaded to google drive, including some notes from a constructive human anatomy course i took in college!

i also highly recommend michel lauricella's MORPHO series, which you can find scanned in its entirety here! (or you can purchase the physical books on amazon. they're super portable and affordable and well worth the investment imo!)

the way i was taught anatomy was very comprehensive and from the inside out. in many of my classes, the professors emphasized getting to know how the body works in order to improve your work. i can also look into finding better resources about this too! or if there are none, i am not opposed to making my own!

if you ever need more guided and personalized feedback, my inbox is always open! feel free to send me any artwork you'd like to hear some input on! i can also offer more in-depth advice on how to effectively study and reference models as you draw :> (artistic nudity cw - not to toot my own horn but i would like to think i'm pretty good at it!)

[irxnmaiden]

Pokémon Favourites!

repost, don’t reblog! 💕

FIRST GAME: Red. Infamously got stuck in Cerulean for almost a year bc I was a dumb kid and had no idea you had to enter someone’s house to leave lmao plus the ledges confused the fuck out of me, had NO idea what they were supposed to be

FAVOURITE SPINOFF GAME: Stadium 2, if that counts? As a true oldhead, I cannot express enough how much a slay that was to experience for the first time, everything looked so CRISP... plus being one of three siblings, it was nice having a game we could casually play - not to mention the minigames, which all slap to this day!

FAVOURITE EVIL TEAM: Aqua, hands down, because I have a thing for pirates and an entire world of water doesn’t seem too bad tbh. Not to mention, Archie is Daddy like c’mon now 🥴

FAVOURITE TEAM LEADER: Archie, but if we take away the thirst and I’m left to dehydrate, I’d say Giovanni for sure - he was legitimately ominous in the games, and the threat level felt more tangible and less... over-the-top (a diplomatic way to put it) than the other teams? I like realism when it comes to my villains, and shit felt super real

FAVOURITE STARTER: Squirtle, this is not an easy choice but it is the one I’ll make (shoutout to my second fav, Chikorita, which apparently is universally disliked? tasteless)

FAVOURITE BOX LEGENDARY: Lugia, they imo are one of the best designed Pokemon in the bunch and I adore their lore (evident by the lengths i will go for them to have a presence on this blog lol)

FAVOURITE POKEMON: my least favorite question but it is simple, Espeon! But Slowpoke, Dunsparce, Sableye, Jumpluff, and Scizor are also up there! love Gen II and III’s designs the most on average

FAVOURITE PROFESSOR: Oak for sure

FAVOURITE RIVAL: Hugh, bc I too would battle 8 gyms and take down an evil organization all bc they’d taken my sister’s cat. He was so real for that

FAVOURITE CHAMPION: Lance stan all day long, but we love Mr. Stone too!! 

FAVOURITE CHARACTER (if not already covered): SABRINAAAA no seriously she is my favorite and if i wasn’t drowning in muses, she’d make a reemergence. One of the only characters to interest me in game, manga, and anime. 

FAVOURITE STORY: tbh I consider Gen I and Gen II as one story, similar to BW/2. Those are tied for my favorites. The newest gen’s story is quickly rising the ranks, tho 

FAVOURITE MUSIC: Gen V was so superior, it’s hard to pick a favorite. But I love Iris’ Champion theme bc it reminds me of Rainbow Road...

FAVOURITE REGION OVERALL: Hoenn, or Unova - too close to call! Hoenn has the gorgeous scenery, Unova has all the excitement and tbh there’s something I love abt each town/city there. Both vibes are immaculate

[thenotsosecretdiaryofbiyu]

2024年8月5日-- Calligraphy at National University of Tainan, Archery at Ten Drums, Performance, and Night Market

Today was a big day– we moved to Tainan! Thankfully, it wasn’t too far away, only about an hour. So, it was no time until we began our first activity of the day– Calligraphy at the National University of Tainan! We were very fortunate to have had the wonderful opportunity to have Yeh Laoshi (different Yeh Laoshi, this one is a man) teach us how to do some calligraphy!!! He showed us the basics, and then let us practice some on our own on some practice paper, before letting us do some calligraphy on our own paper 團扇 (round fans)! Super funny thing though, is that he was going around complimenting everyone, but I didn't get a single compliment on mine LOL. At one point he even came over, showed me how to properly write the characters using the brush, and told me my technique was all wrong LOLOLOLOL. Mine definitely didn't turn out the greatest, but I did the best I could do, and that's okay. Everyone at the university was super welcoming, and we even got to meet another professor who worked in the calligraphy department, and the president of the university herself (who sat in to do calligraphy with us)!!!

Funny anecdote is that the classical Chinese radical for "heart/心" looks strikingly similar to certain types of doodles. A lot of people in the class were giggling when he drew it, and he stopped and explained that it was NOT that, while making an "x" with his arms. But even he noticed the resemblance, and started laughing when he demonstrated how to draw it again on the overheard XD. After we drew on the calligraphy (I chose the Chinese word for "eternity"), he helped us put traditional stamps onto our fans! Then after our fans were completed, the university provided us lunch! It was a tasty bento box and lightly sweetened black tea! There were three different kinds of meat for the omnivores and veggie bentos for us veggies! There was also a bit of a giveaway, where the first person to raise their hand and say the question correctly got to pick a hand-painted fan by Yeh Laoshi or the other professor with us (sorry, I don't remember her name)! I didn't win either of them though, Eli and Jasmine got them because of how fast they were smh. But Yeh Laoshi sent us home with beautiful hand-painted red magnets that he wrote on himself with the character "福" on it!

Scary tidbit is that the college walls had bullet holes from the Second World War. 

After we said our goodbyes, we got on the bus and went to a sugar cane museum (an old factory) named Ten Drums! We went to watch a performance, but before the show we had a few minutes, so I used the bathroom. By the time I got out, everyone else was gone except Yeh Laoshi and Chief, so I followed them over to the archer field! It was my first time ever using a bow, so I was super pathetic at it, but Chief explained how to use it and I got the hang of it and shot an 8 pointer! My beginner's luck lasted for a bit, but eventually I started missing the shots again lol. But it was also Yeh Laoshi's first time too, so she wasn't much better than me hehe. I think I actually ended up winning? But ehh, it doesn't really count imo.

After our quick round, we rejoined with the others to watch a performance by Cross Metal! They were really good, except omg they were a bit dramatic, to put it lightly LOL. So many times they made very dramatic faces and poses, it’s just hard to explain. They were definitely good though, and afterwards we were able to all take a picture with them! Andy tried to stir up trouble though and told them that "we" (as in only the girls) thought they were all attractive. I wanted to smack him so much (but I restrained myself).

Afterwards, Yeh Laoshi, Chief, Amy, and I went to go play some drums! We made a few mistakes, but the teacher was kind and didn’t acknowledge them, and there were only like six of us altogether in the lesson, so it was just a relaxed, good time! After the drums, Chief and Yeh Laoshi went on their own way, while Amy and I met up with some of the others to walk around a bit.

After leaving Ten Drums, we finally made our way over to our new hotel! It's really nice and fortunately (or unfortunately for my wallet), there's a stationery store right next door! I went in because I really wanted to get some letter paper and some calligraphy materials, and although I ended up getting the letter paper, I accidentally bought some useless stuff that ended up NOT being calligraphy stuff whatsoever (I bought a pen I thought was calligraphy, when it was more akin to a regular pen smhhhh and I bought a little book that ended up not being a book for calligraphy but just a regular notebook styled after calligraphy AHHHH).

I distracted myself from the pain of my mistakes by going to the night market to get some din-din (dinner) with my buddies! I got some roasted corn, two slabs of tofu, and a milk tea! All super tasty! I also got these mini pancake sandwiches (a chocolate, red bean, and butter one) and they were not that good… but that's okay. I got home and then I've been typing away ever since!

Academic Reflection

I had no idea whatsoever that the folded fan (折扇) was actually originally from Japan, and not China! Usually most things like this travel the other way around, with cultural aspects/literature/clothing styles originating in China before being spread to other places like Korea and Japan. This happened with the writing system, which was widely used in Korea and Japan. Korea however, had one of its rulers create a new alphabet for the country, but Japan still uses very many Chinese characters in its modern script (just sometimes with different meanings and of course different pronunciations, etc.). It is my understanding that Japanese traditional dress (i.e. the "Kimono") actually has origins in Chinese culture from the Wu Dynasty. Many other things are this way too, such as the Lunar New Year, which appears to have originated in China during the Shang Dynasty about 4000 years ago. This holiday is now celebrated in many different parts of East Asia.

Scary note is that when I was leaving, a jet soared close to the ground above the National University of Tainan. I was explaining to Amy that a certain government (that is very close by and has tense relationships with the country we are currently in) recently has been sending fighter jets to soar through Taiwan to scare the population, when one of the professors who escorted us out explained to us that the one we just saw was Taiwan's. She explained that Taiwan has been sending out jets of its own to fly around the island a few times each day, to help show that Taiwan wasn't scared of the threat.

#calligraphyiscoolbutthestationerystoreisgatekeepingmydreams

[simonmaclean]

Maybe no ones succeeded because they're approaching the concept the wrong way, to surrender control is really the biggest show of power someone could do knowing at any time they can take it back, it makes the whole act sacred in a sense

Everyone thinks it takes a top to 'rahh assert dominance i control i lead' but imo it takes a bottom to know what would make someone else bottom; its not a 'ill force you to sub' or 'ill coerce you into enjoying it', its more like you Choose to surrender, and i would appreciate every second, and I would thank YOU for letting me see you so vulnerable and trusting me to do what makes you feel the best, also I just think body worship would be more your thing than any kind of force ;p

-📚

You are so smart, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Thank you professor <3

And I don’t know, I haven’t had real sex in a loooong time.

[grimaticerror]

Get this

White supremacists have a patterned history of labeling Hispanics or any marginalized group that migrated to America as.... uh ahem "retarded".  Bigots realize they are just projecting or attempting to continue the cycle of othering marginalized groups like this to keep their race or complexion at the top baseline of power and they will continue to make any excuse to keep it that way. I've literally been told I was retarded because I identified with something queer by people I would've hoped were joking. Racists and bigots have always been the narrow minded retards, you give them any course material from an ethnics studies class and they wouldn't be able to absorb any of it because of their own disinterests in not serving their agenda and this continues to be a tragedy for education across America as ethnic study classes have been banned in the state of Arkansas due to being ...."racist" towards white people, or as they claim, molding marginalized groups to see themselves as "professional victims," which is just.....🙄 To call an ESL Hispanic student retarded imo is very retarded. 

I went to a segregated school in South Los Angeles that consistent of nothing but black and brown students, some of brightest complexions from that school were never truly white, they were at most Spaniard/Latin ethnic mixtures from Europe and south America. I used to struggle so much in that pre-cal class back at that school, but it was a class you were put in if your grades reflected the potential of passing. That class consisted of my other peers who were in my honors classes in previous semesters. However, the whole backrow of kids in that class were migrated ESL students from Mexico/Salvador who were able to score 90% or above marks on their exams. My pre-cal professor always mentioned if people who didn't even speak a lick of English were able to pass their math class, that btw wasn't even taught in their language for a second, made him saw the potential of anyone passing because of the universal language that is math. 

I took that class, I did my best, failed, and cried about it with my other fluent English-speaking friends. At the time, I was embarrassed for myself but the older me now who went through extreme lengths of bullying and harassment for their marginalized identity by people from high white segregated areas that lived nowhere close to the poverty baseline in the LA county, I'm able to look back with a lot more appreciation with my experiences there, I wouldn't trade it for another school that was brighter in the northern white baseline of schools in LA. Infact a lot of the honors  classes there I felt were so fun and interactive, and I'm happy knowing I wouldn't have received these experiences had I gone to a brighter school. Having attended a white college in comparison to a black and brown school, I now know I wasn't really missing out on that much as I was told by the runaways that came from white schools. 

I wasn't inferior for being part of a marginalized group. I was just surrounded with disgusting bigots who proved they really didn't give af if they were putting down other ethnic/marginalized groups to keep themselves above power by oppressively labeling others. It didn't matter if they had latin or black friends either. It didn't make them less racist, they're latin friends were literally just misguided victims who think they can sympathize with their oppressors. Maybe you could convince them of their inferiority but not me, no, never me. Not ever again. 

[mrsq8geek]

This makes me feel old to say, but the straightforward answer to "why should i be expected to respect authority" is "because you have good faith that the authority figure is doing what's best for you". in before "i don't", yes, that's exactly what's been happening over the past couple of decades as the internet expanded.... well, everything.

while i was growing up, if you read "x study claims y", you assumed that those people did their due diligence and gave you the actual, beneficial answer, and that the journalist who reported it did so to help you. part of it was the naivete of youth, but another critical part was the lack of, again, internet, and everything that entailed.

the dissemination of information also made it really easy to understand things like academic integrity, and lack thereof, the fact that studies aren't always impartial, quite the opposite, there's a good and increasing chance they're paid for by someone who wants to sell something, because that's another thing that exploded over the past couple decades, globalisation and capitalism. if you live in the states, that was already happening to you, but if not, then it was forced upon you and is now replacing the way you used to do things, the way that was probably better suited to your situation.

while it's not uncommon for youth to have anti-authoriarian sentiments, we know both through data and anecdotally that starting from millennials onwards, people are not getting more conservative as they get older. we no longer have the aforementioned good faith that our authority figures, whether they're our parents and teachers or our bosses and scientists and lol politicians, even remotely have our best interest in mind.

there's corruption everywhere, of course. but where i am, the corrupt people in power have neither class nor their own long-term self-interest in mind. i can't find that post right now, but someone on tumblr was talking about how people protected capone because he took care of them and they could trust him better than the police. our people don't have that kind of class. or how feudal lords make sure the wealth and power stay in their family and benefit their children? our corrupt people only care about themselves.

but, importantly, there's a disconnect between the people who remember The Before Times of respect being granted automatically and irrevocably, and people who believe respect must be earned and can be lost.

it's a shitty thing for both parties, imo. there's value in respecting people who know more than you and learning from them, just as there's value in allowing yourself to be questioned and understanding that being respected isn't because of your own intrinsic value, but because of your the way your fit into the grander fabric of your society, and treating the people whose respecting you're demanding as such.

anyway, this was super long, here's a couple videos i remembered while writing this.

first one is a tom scott video, briefly explaining the idea that language and communication are cooperative

here's the second one, it's an extra credits video about faith, and it was the channels' reaction to how people responded to their previous videos about religion in games. this that aforementioned good faith, and it also reminds me of the time our math professor told us -- and we believed him, as there's little reason not to -- that we do have the mathematical proof that 1 + 1 = 2. The proof is a 200-page paper. Very much an "I'll take your word for it" situation, thanks I hate it.

so yeah, without being pedantic, what's happening to our faith in our elders and expert sucks for everyone involved. I don't think my parents know what they're doing... but also I don't think fresh college grads know what they're doing either.

Who do I think does know what they're doing? People who've proved it to me personally. It's exhausting. I don't want to think my doctors don't know what they're doing, or aren't giving their best in their work and genuinely trying to help, or that their first interest is protecting themselves from liabilities because other, more petty and destructive people have burned them or their collleagues before... but it is what it is. That's why I'm writing my own medical history and I've essentially become my own doctor. The respect was lost.

never understood why i should be expected to respect authority anyway. like if you're gonna order me to do something for you you'd better give me a good reason to do it with a smile on my face. "because i said so and i'm in charge" doesn't count.