#second-hand experience of seeing shipping wars on the internet

[bicheetopuff]

Hey puff, it's me again!! First of all, I want to offer you my favorite fic of BK to you as an offering.

Second of all- I read through your Puff ask tag again and I was enjoying myself until the part of the ship war pops up. I'm really sorry for anyone who had genuinely got fried due to the fandom spaces being hostile. For my younger fandom experience, I didn't really get into MHA fandom much as a child. I have a fixation over Katsuki and that's that. I wasn't as obsessed of BKDK until 5 months ago because of college and needed something to fill my brain. Then bkdk ended up filling that brain.

Third of all, and what I want of your in depth opinion of is Mitsuki. I'm born in the southeast asia (what country, you can guess lmao) and when ever I actually look at Mitsuki, she remind me of my own mother. She's loud, she hits me as a child and mostly discipline me like how Katsuki is being treated. I always thought it was wrong kind of because I know I was kind of different from the other kids, (in a sense that I have problems mentally and never did get unchecked). Unlike Katsuki, I can't just yell back- and when I talk about this to other family members, they just say that it's normal. My dad is also kinda like Masaru.. just, more distant. Lmao my parents fight all the time that seeing them interact normally felt like something is wrong.

When I see Katsuki and Mitsuki interact I kind of see them having a flawed, but happy nonetheless family in some kind of way. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I can't help but think in some kind of way that yelling might be another form of affection for them(?) Every family have another language for affection right?.. I'm not sure anymore.

So what I'm getting from this is like.. I don't, understand what counts as Abusive or Not. I'm getting better to understand that what my mom did to me as a child is the result of her punishing my misbehaving ass but was it really necessary to hit and scream at me? I'm not really sure. You don't have to answer this ask. I don't want to justify Mitsuki's actions but I also think that she does care about Katsuki. She's just, not good at parenting.

Sorry for the venting kind of ask, I just want to know the line honestly. It's kind of hard to understand where the lines are when you're buried in said line.

It’s not weird at all, I’m sorry for taking so long to respond to this. I wanted to find the time to give a meaningful response when I wasn’t busy.

I think the bnha fandom is the first time I’ve been in a hostile fandom space, but I’m grateful to have found a corner of the internet with minimal hate. But I relate really hard to bkdk filling my brain when I became overwhelmed with college. They became a great escape for me and now two and a half years later, they filled my mind again when I’m going back to college lmao.

My opinion of Mitsuki is kind of in shades of gray… I’m not Asian, however I am a person of color with one of my parents having been an immigrant and she really reminds me of my mother too.

On one hand, she upset me by blaming Katsuki for All Mights retirement and when I realized that it was probably a trend throughout his childhood, it upset me even more, mainly because I related to it. Being told that everything you do is wrong and feeling like you’ll never be good enough for your parents approval, hurts. I don’t care if Katsuki is tough, I know that shit hurt and had a big impact on who he grew up to be.

Having said that, I do kind of appreciate that Katsuki is able to defend himself to some degree without any real punishment. I like that Mitsuki lets him feel angry without shaming him for it, but I also feel like she kind of ignores his feelings, and the fact that she never addressed them and even encouraged him, also effected how he grew up to view himself. He saw himself as someone who’s praised blindly while thinking that he’ll never be good enough for the expectations he set for himself due to his mother degrading him. We’ve never really seen either of his parents celebrate his accomplishments like we’ve seen with other characters so I think his parents don’t really congratulate him because success is what they expect from him. They make more of a big deal out of his losses and faults than anything else.

I try to see them as a happy family as well, but I think that’s just me projecting. Because if their family isn’t happy, then what is mine?

I know for some people yelling and hitting playfully is a form of affection, me included, but it took me a while to realize that there’s a difference between playful fighting and actual fighting. Because, like you, my parents used to fight a lot and as a kid I just began to associate that with love (which probably explains my shit show of a love life lmao).

Again, this is probably just me projecting, but i don’t think I’d use the word “abusive” to describe this kind of family dynamic, especially since it’s basically customary for most children of color to grow up in a similar strict environment. It’s definitely not ideal, but I think it does have a lot to do with culture and generational trauma. I’m sure Mitsuki’s parents weren’t much different.

Where the line is, is up to you ultimately but I think there are certain lines of respect that shouldn’t be crossed for anyone, as just basic human decency. Hitting you, blaming you for things that aren’t your fault, taking away your ability to defend yourself, are lines that are the same for everyone in my eyes. No one should put your hands on you, no one has a right to take away your voice, and no one has a right to make you feel like you’re less than them. I don’t recommend yelling back, but I hope you can find the voice to stand up for yourself on day. Good experiences with parents doesn’t make the bad experiences go away, nor does it justify their bad treatment.

I’m sorry for the winded response, idk if I make any sense because I’m stuck in that cycle myself and didn’t start to realize until more recently what’s bad and what’s good when it comes to family. I hope I didn’t upset or offend you.

To ease the tension, um… I’d like to know what your favorite fic is!

[residentshipper69]

Sooooooo- heard there was an annual voting poll on Tumblr's sexy man- and im kinda late but if im correct- quoting @Coleydoesthings' video about this-

Alastor from Hazbin Hotel lost over Bill Cipher, Onceler lost over Megamind, and fucking REIGEN MUNAKATA? ALMOST won over SANS, yes, SANS THE SKELETON?! why am I super late damn-😭

if i could have voted id voted Alastor, Megamind, and Sans though- Bill Cipher is OG Tumblr sexy man but Alastor though-😩 and Reigen- I do simp for him but more so as unofficial mentor figure to Mob or Shigeo-😌 and well SANS- im sorry but Sans all the way-😤

[tothemeadow]

A Discussion

Y’all I am SCREAMING over my new media textbook I have. It’s incredibly up to date about what’s happening in media, and I just had to share this bit because - from my experience - people need to get their heads out of their asses.

Found in Producing New and Digital Media: Your Guide to Savvy Use of the Web, second edition (written by James Cohen and Thomas Kenny), page 59-60, this is a direct fucking quote regarding fandoms.

“A fandom is a group of online users who are fanatics to the point of creating a community that acts as a small kingdom of a shared common interest. The fandom usually creates related media and writing that is an extension of the media. Fandom isn’t new to the web, and it has been around since fiction authors published and changed readers’ lives. It’s rumored that Johann von Goethe had a huge fandom surrounding his Sorrows of Young Wether (1774) and Faust (1808) books. If his fans had access to the Internet, they probably would have created a fandom on Twitter and written additional fan-fiction.

Fan-fiction are stories created by the community that follow the “canon” of material made by the original creator. Fan-fiction writers become so passionate about some of the characters that they may “ship” the characters, creating an “OTP” story that is completely fan made. To “ship” means to create a relationship between two existing characters who were not intentionally paired in the original concept, making them a “One True Pairing,” or OTP. For example, the Sherlock fandom may create an OTP out of Sherlock and Watson, and write shipping stories about that new subculture plot line. If the fandom collectively agrees the story is good enough and plausible to the original story line, it may get accepted as fandom canon.

If you like something, there is most likely a fandom already out there for you to join. You should write for it - you have nothing to lose but new friends and writing skills to gain.”

Let this sink in. 

Fandoms have been around since the creation of fiction (and probably towards non-fiction). It’s human. I guess this is targeted towards individuals who say negative things about fandoms and what goes on within them. What really caught my attention was the shipping part, because holy shit is there so much negativity towards it. 

Now, I’m not saying you have to be a shipper. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. If you do, that’s fine. No one literally cares. Most of the problems I’ve seen regarding shipping is that a.) they’re not canon [which is also the literal driving point behind ships, you dunce] b.) the ship is gay [lesbian, polyamorous, etc.] and c.) the wars.

I know a lot of people go online and complain about how their OTP isn’t canon, but that’s why fanfiction exists. Frankly, I’m tired of seeing “oh my god, that’s why people hate this fucking fandom” on art posts or writings or whatever. I guess the point of this is to bring something to light -  not all fandom works are based upon ships, but rather to spread the joy we’ve received when witnessing what’s at hand. 

(Also I had my sister out me to my mom by saying that I write homoerotic stories like a big bitch, so.)

It saddens me to see people come for each other’s throats over something so simplistic, so human. There’s popular ships for a reason, there’s rare pairs for a reason, there’s crack ships for a reason, whatever. I want to bring others comfort with what these literal grown ass men have published. Not everyone is going to be into the same things, and that’s only natural.

People focus on what separates us rather than what brings us together.

You have nothing to lose but new friends and ___ skills to gain.

Get out there and enjoy what makes you happy. Respect others, but most importantly, respect yourself. Write what you want, draw what you want. Rock on, my dudes, dudettes, boths, and neithers. 

[aiweirdness]

Bigger than before! A larger neural net tries to write fanfiction

I’ve done several experiments with GPT-2, a neural net that OpenAI trained on millions of pages from the internet. OpenAI has been releasing the neural net in stages, with the second-biggest model, 774M, just recently released. I decided to put it through its paces. Last week’s experiment, where I generated new XFL team names? Merely a warmup challenge. This week’s task is fanfiction.

Unlike the experiments where I trained neural nets from scratch on Harry Potter fanfiction summaries, I didn’t do any special training of 774M, just used talktotransformer.com to prompt it with the opening line of a scene. To up the challenge (and to make it more interesting), each of the prompts (in bold) introduces a new crossover or puts a character in a situation that hopefully it hasn’t already seen too often in online fanfic.

Hermione pushed frantically at the controls of the spaceship.

"We have to take this ship out of service!" she shouted, pushing the controls.

Harry Potter stepped forward, his face contorted, and pointed his wand at the controls and the ship.

"Fire! Fizzle! Burn!"

The control fires suddenly started being foggled by the magic, the ship starting to rise up from the ground and then it was off.

verdict: impressive! knows this is the Harry Potter universe, displays a basic understanding of what spaceships and wands do, and even makes a convincing attempt at magic incantations.

Kylo Ren glared at Han Solo from his bedroom doorway. His hair was completely white and his eyes were black.

The young smuggler took a breath and turned his head to face Kylo Ren. His eyes were focused on Han. Kylo Ren was very tall (at least 6′11″) and extremely muscular. His face was covered in a large beard. From his voice, it seemed like Kylo Ren was not his real father and he was the illegitimate one. Kylo Ren was very smart and was able to use the Force to his advantage. In the same way, Han Solo was always talking to other people and was not even aware of his own existence. He had never been exposed to the light side nor the dark side as it were. Because of how well Kylo Ren could communicate with the dark side of the Force, he was able to manipulate Han when he was feeling down. Han, himself, was a Jedi Knight who would learn the dark side first.

verdict: was this written by Kylo Ren? The AI definitely knows this is supposed to be Star Wars fanfic, but it doesn’t always seem to know exactly who the characters are. The fact that it DOES stick with the same characters for even this long is impressive.

Darth Vader glowered at the cupcake batter, spoon in hand. Lumpy, lumpy... why was the batter always so lumpy? Ahhh... why was he always being so... why was he even here in the first place?!

"You're the one with the chocolate, kid," said the voice. All around him, there was a flurry of people moving their heads in the hopes of finding one who could help them in the dark, to no avail. The cupcake batter was too thin and the butter too thick. Too thin, yet too thick... too thick!

"Why is the butter so thin?!" cried one of the few that didn't seem to have noticed, and this was no help, for the cake batter was so thick it was almost un-cakey (and just looking at it made me want to break all of the cake into tiny pieces). "Why aren't there any pieces in the pan!"

"And no crumbs falling out. There's too many layers!"

verdict: most text-generating neural nets would have drifted in focus by now. But 774M is still here, thinking of new ways that cakes can go wrong. Speaking of cakes…

Mary Berry's Victoria Sandwich Cake

Ingredients: 225 g (8 oz) softened butter 225 g (8 oz) caster sugar 4 large eggs 225 g (8 oz) self-raising flour 2 level tsp baking powder 2 x 20cm (8in) greased and lined sandwich tins

How to make: Combine the butter, sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl. In a separate medium bowl, mix the eggs with the self-raising flour and water just until combined. Sift in the water, the icing toffee and the vanilla extract. Chill for 30 minutes. Once chilled, fold the dry mix into the wet mixture, beating well after each fold. Roll out the dough into a 14cm (5in) circle, trimming the centre to create a triangle. Cut out the triangles from the center but leave some space around the base for the filling. Cut 3 triangles each from the edges. Brush the triangles with buttercream. Roll each of the triangles again into a circle, making sure not to wrap completely around the base. Cut into 12 triangles again. Brush the triangles with buttercream again. Roll each one into a 3.5cm (1in)(6.3cm) circle. Cut into 12 more triangles and brush with buttercream. Roll each one into a circle again, making sure not to wrap completely around the base. Cut into 12 more triangles and brush with buttercream. Fold one over the other. Brush with buttercream. Fold one over the other. Brush with buttercream. Cut each triangle into 3 triangles, brush with buttercream and trim one last triangle. Cut three lengths of the triangle in half, brush with buttercream and trim one more triangle. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into 1 more segment. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into 3 segments. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into 1 more segment. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into a full length. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into a final segment. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into 1 more segment. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into a final segment. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles into a final segment. Brush with buttercream and trim the triangles…

verdict: the neural net will not be winning the Great British Bakeoff Technical Challenge anytime soon. i would like to see a video of this recipe being made. The next prompt is a preview of the subject of my next blog post.

Harry threw down his crochet hooks in frustration. The hat just wouldn't turn out properly, no matter how hard he tried. Harry wasn't sure how much longer he would keep up the habit.

Forcing his thoughts back into the present, Harry sighed and pulled the hat off his head. He was glad that the hat was so small, because he knew he wouldn't be able to wear it for the length of time he had planned.

He looked around his house for something to wear. He found a thin woolen jacket and pulled it over his head. Although still not nearly the long enough to cover his ears, it would be enough. He took his shoes off and placed them in his shoe box. He could wear his socks now, they hadn't grown out of hand. He threw on his glasses and went outside.

verdict: I didn’t specify that this is Harry Potter, so fair enough. While sticking creditably with the theme of items of clothing, the AI displays a perhaps shaky grasp of just how they work.

Subscribers get bonus content: I generated more of these than would fit in this blog post. It’s kind of hard to stop, actually.

My book You Look Like a Thing and I Love You is now available for preorder! It comes out November 5.

Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Indiebound - Tattered Cover - Powell’s

[just-incorrect-beastars]

Beastars Fandom Interview!

This post starts a series of interviews I want to make to artists in this fandom! I’m really sorry for the delay with this, but I had to take care of some business irl! The first interview it’s with @dooptown, talented artist and writer of Craving More Than You’re Given, Beasts in The Stars and co-author of We’re Only Animals with @nilesthewhitetaileddeerqueer! Enjoy! If you want to submit other questions feel free to do it!

How did you get into the fandom?

My friend showed me its debut cover on Shonen Champion back in like 2016? At the time I thought the art looked weird so I put it on the backburner. Fast forward to May of 2017 and the same friend started reading it and recommended that I do as well. And the rest is history.

What do you feel about Beastars? Has it improved or not with the latest volumes?

My relationship with Beastars has definitely been complicated. If you go way back on my blog you're sure to find text posts of me complaining endlessly about it because that was back when I thought the whole thing would devolve into a romance story. I saw the romance between Haru and Legosi as forced and shallow (I don't think that anymore, although I do wish it was given more focus so we can really understand it). After the Meteor Festival Arc I got really invested in it, and I believe the Murder Solution Arc is the strongest in the story. The slice of life leaning of Legosi living on his own is really good too. Melon's introduction kind of marked the descent into the Weirdness we're seeing now. I love Melon to bits but the story right now is really weird and weird things keep happening. I still enjoy a handful of the chapters coming out currently, and the last few have been really great, but it's definitely not as good as it used to be. What I crave most from Beastars is slice of life.

Do you have a favorite character?

Overall? I'm not sure. I'll just say it's Louis.

You are considered one of the first Lougosi writers/artists and one of the most looked up to. How does it feel?

While there were certainly a handful of Lougosi fics before mine as well as some art, I do remember that ship being a bit barren when the manga wasn't as popular. I'm not aware of just how influential or far reaching my work with this ship is, since this is the internet and tracking that sort of thing is kind of impossible and I tend to be a bit of an aloof hermit. Knowing I'm relatively well known in a community I care a lot about is a nice feeling, though! But at the end of the day I'm a fan just like anyone else.

How has the fandom changed since you joined, especially since the anime came out?

It has blown up, that's for sure! The tumblr tag for Beastars back in 2017 was me and maybe four other regular posters, and I was the only artist posting consistent Beastars art back then (that I remember) As time went on it definitely gained in popularity, mostly by word of mouth, but even in March of 2019 it had a virtually empty Ao3 tag. So the anime, understandably, launched Beastars into the mainstream (or at least close to it). This is awesome and I love that it's seeing so much popularity and praise! Of course that also brings with it the ugliness of general Fandom Drama. Beastars Discourse is the most unwelcome thing to come of this popularity and it's the reason I no longer track the tag here on tumblr or look it up on twitter.

Your art is very popular. Have you ever thought of making a comic?

I would like to make comics but comic layout is intimidating and so is the whole process. Maybe one day.

 3 fics that you would recommend?

serendipity by elkieistrying

  Want a Haru/Juno story with a nice helping of Lougosi on the side? Serendipity can scratch that itch. Both ships are very well written and I love the characterization so much in this story.

Ashfall by Skeptacles

This fic doesn't seem to have many hits, and I think that's because people are turned away by it being a Game of Thrones crossover. As someone who has never read, watched, or even knows anything about Game of Thrones, I can say this fic is a great read! Skeptacles presents the setting and worldbuilding in an easy to understand way and if you have no GoT knowledge like I do, it simply seems like a Beastars Fantasy story.

To one I am tied, to the other I am true by Sinpie_Senpai 

This was the first Lougosi fic I ever read, and it is the second English Lougosi fic on Ao3. It was very influential to my decision to start writing Lougosi fic, and if you haven't read it yet I think you should.

How much have you worked on merging the manga’s plot and your story for Craving More Than You’re Given?

For CMTYG the merging of the plot just happened naturally. I started it in March of 2019 so at that point Legosi just had his birthday and hadn't seen Louis in a while, so I figured a birthday party would be a good reason for them to meet again. I wrote from there while also paying attention to where the canon plot was going to see what I wanted to incorporate.

You think you're gonna include the turf war in your fic? And are there any new characters you want to include?

Since this story was conceived long before this manga plot started, I won't be including it. Things are going to go very differently. As for new characters, I don't think so.

What inspired Beasts in the Stars?

As for Beasts in the Stars, I've always been a Sci fi fan. This story is loosely based on an AU I made for my OCs back in 2015, as well as some Sci fi ideas I've had bouncing around in my head for years. I can't point to any specific inspirations, but people compare it to Cowboy Bebop, which I can see since both of a laid back hard Sci fi aesthetic. I also write Star Fox fanfic, so I’m definitely using some of my experience from that. 

Legosi in the fic is homosexual or what? What about Louis?

Their sexualities will be explained, but I usually work off my headcanon of Legosi being bi and Louis being gay.

What other characters do you want to include in Beasts in the Stars?

BITS will hopefully include virtually every character from Beastars in some capacity.

What's the difference between writing a story more anchored to the manga and one that isn't?

Writing a fic that's manga-compliant is fun because you have to take into consideration past actions in the story and make sure it lines up with what they're doing in the fic. Of course, there's less freedom there, so that's why writing an AU also has its positives. Using the characters as a base to work off of in a new setting is very exciting.

Any spoilers you would like to share for both of them?

CMTYG: Next chapter is being written, and the summer clothes Legosi pics I've been drawing definitely play a role ;) 

BITS: Next canon characters you'll be seeing are the Drama Club folks. I hope people enjoy how I adapted them for this story.

And this was it! If you are an artist in the fandom and you want to partecipate to this please feel free to write me, I’ll get back at you as soon as possible!

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (sharing here Admin approved)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Oracle Obscured and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for letting us get to know you a little better.

Many readers will know you already and if they don’t I encourage them to look your works up including Teaching Miss Granger and How I learned to love teachers’ meetings

Okay, let’s jump right in.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Hmmm ... that’s kind of a weird answer for me. I wanted to choose a name that didn’t immediately indicate whether I was male or female. I’d noticed a certain freedom afforded to authors of indistinguishable gender. With no societal construct about the “nature” of the creator, the story stood on its own, without prejudice or conditioned expectations.

I brainstormed about six or seven names and then picked the one that appealed to me most. I’ve always felt drawn to the idea of oracles (those who see beyond). And I definitely felt obscured in that department. (Hell, at the time, my whole life felt obscured.)

Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most?

I don’t know if I do. I guess if I had to pick, I’d say Hermione, as I have a tendency to be an obsessive perfectionist when it comes to work/studying. I like to be organized and plan things out. And I can be quite demanding and harsh with myself when I feel like I’m not measuring up to my own insane ideals.

But I took that openpsychometrics.org statistical quiz a while back, where you answer like a bazillion comparison questions (I did the longer version), and my highest HP match was Remus Lupin (83%). Yeah, I can see that.

Luna is my favorite character, but I don’t know if I identify with her more than anyone else.

Do you have a favourite genre to read? (not in fic, just in general)

It used to be horror/suspense, but ... I don’t know ... I’m just not as into it anymore. Maybe it’s because the real world is horrifying enough without adding fictional monsters to the mix.

Now I mostly read classics.

Do you have a favourite "classic" novel?

To Kill a Mockingbird.

At what age did you start writing?

Just writing stories in general? Maybe second grade. It wasn’t a passion or anything, just something I was pretty good at. I only really did it at school, though, not so much at home. I read A LOT growing up, so I naturally imagined that I might be an author one day. I tried to write a book when I was about 13 or 14, but less than one chapter in, I decided it was too hard. (I was NOT a Hermione growing up. Planning and perseverance were not my style.)

I took a massive break from thinking after high school (the smorgasbord of medications I was on didn’t like me using my brain too much, and my plans for college went out the window when my depression become unmanageable). I didn’t really start writing again until I was about twenty-seven. That was when I found fanfiction. I consider that when I really started writing.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

I found fanfiction while looking for erotica. Needless to say I discovered the motherlode, and I was hooked. Over the years, I’d written bits and pieces of my own sexy scenarios (which is what you do when you grow up without the internet and you have to depend on your imagination for all your kink requirements), but I’d never really thought about taking someone else’s “story world” and using it as my setting. For a little over a year I read/devoured all the HP fanfiction I could, and then I realized I could take all the fantasies in my head and play them out with my favorite characters.

The first story I wrote was a funny/smutty Ginny/Draco thing, and it was HORRIBLE. The story and the sex were fine, but the writing was a nightmare. I submitted it to The Restricted Section, which was the only site I knew at the time, and they vetted their stories, so I had to get approved. They wrote me back saying it needed work and I should get a beta. So I went on the forum and found one (which was rather brave of me now that I think back). The person who helped me must’ve had the patience of a saint, because he/she(?) never said a damn thing about all the mistakes and shitty-ness. Suggestions and corrections were made, and I changed some of the pronouns to names so it wouldn’t sound so repetitive. The next time I submitted it, they accepted, and I got a decent response for a first-time writer (like three or four nice reviews). No one seemed to hate it, and the reviewers said the sex was hot, so I tried again, hoping to do better.

That’s when I wrote the first chapter of Teaching Miss Granger. It started out as just a oneshot. And it got a much better response. I wanted to write more, but I became extremely depressed and lethargic, and I didn’t really do anything for the next six or seven years. (I mean nothing. Unless you consider watching every episode of Law & Order CI and SVU ten times over to be an accomplishment.)

I came back to it years later, intending to add a few chapters to TMG where they have sex, but ... it just sort of evolved into the monster that it is. I worked on it pretty much every day for about a year. I’d never stuck with ANYTHING that long in my entire life.

What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works?

I would say love or “the power of love” is probably my favorite theme. But that includes synonyms for love as well. (Like wholeness, which is the theme of Quartet.)

What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter?

None. I like other fandoms, but I don’t write for them, and I don’t usually read their fanfiction.

If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon?

I’ve never really thought about changing cannon. I mean, I change it to suit my fictional purposes (like Snape lives etc.), but I wouldn’t want to change canon for real. The deaths in HP serve a purpose, and while I find many of those deaths heartbreaking, that’s kind of the point. Hatred is bleak and destructive, and good people don’t survive wars simply because they’re good; bad things happen to good people all the time. As for changing something about the individual characters, I can’t get behind that either. The reasons people do things are multifaceted and complex and they’re colored by a lifetime of experiences I will never know or understand, so I don’t feel I can really judge. I can’t say I understand all the choices I’ve made in my own life, and there’ve been plenty of times where I had no choice at all. I can’t hold others to more rigorous standards than I myself can meet. We all have our shortcomings. (And that’s cool. Without them, there would be no growth or diversity.)

Do I have a favorite piece of fanon? Hmmm ... probably Head Boy and Head girl rooming together or having private rooms.

Oh! And uniforms.

Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet?

I used to listen to really quiet classical music while wearing headphones. Every little sound in the house distracts me, and I have to block it out. But lately I’ve just been running this old box fan that drowns out the noise.

What are your favourite fanfictions of all time?

Crap, I don’t know if I can choose. (Plus I feel like I’ve forgotten a lot of what I’ve read.)

My friend Desert Sea is my fav Hermione/Severus writer. Out of her stories, the ones I like best are In Their Hands and At the Headmaster’s Discretion.

After a brief search of my accounts, I’ll go with:

Do Not Go Gentle by senlinyu

Another Dream by dragoon811

The Last Twenty-Four Hours of Severus Snape by CryingCinderella

Pretty much everything by Aurette

Pet Project by Caeria

Post Tenebras, Lux by Loten

All the SS/HG stuff from snapeslittleblackbuttons

There’s a Teddy Radiator story that I like a lot, but I can’t remember the name of it. (Or what it’s about.) (Yes, very helpful, I know.)

And in a category all it’s own is Farmer Granger and the Most Glorious Cock by MyWitch. (Seriously, I read this like once a month and it makes me laugh every time.)

I read a lot of Drarry too. Drarry stories I love:

Everything by bixgrl1, but especially Balance Imperfect and In Evidence of Magical Theory

Everything by lq_traintracks (even the non-Drarry stuff). The writing is amazing.

I love all the advent stories by Saras_girl.

I like all the Drarry stories I’ve read by Faithwood.

I really like RZZMG’s writing. (No particular story or pairing.)

And I just rediscovered a story I found in 2007 (the first m/m fic I ever read). It’s a Snarry, which I know isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it was excellent. Snape: the Home Fries Nazi by pir8fancier

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process?

I enjoy a bit of both. My oneshots are all pantsed. TMG was totally pantsed. But Getting Personal and Quartet were both plotted and planned. For GP I did sort of a chapter by chapter synopsis before starting my rough draft, and for Q I went into even more detail—EVERYTHING was planned out ahead of time. The only thing that changed during the first draft was I ended up combining some of the chapters.

How does plotting affect my writing process compared to pantsing? It streamlines it. In a oneshot there’s not much to streamline; the basic story (or general idea) is all you really need. There’s not enough story to get muddled. But when I’m writing something longer, with multiple chapters, I find it’s better to know where the story is going. How deeply I go into that planning can vary. Sometimes there’s just a basic outline of the major plot points and then I fly by the seat of my pants from there. Sometimes I write out a very rough synopsis (sort of like a short and loose first draft) and then start writing as if it’s my second draft. Things inevitably get changed once I really start writing, so the planning isn’t set in stone by any means, but when I plan, the story goes in the general direction I intend without veering too far off course and there aren’t any plot holes. After I wrote TMG (with no planning) I saw that there was A LOT I could have cut or combined without affecting anything important. I learned a little more with each story I wrote, and when I got to Q, there was a lot of complicated ideas that I wanted to incorporate, and there were so many characters (and character arcs) going on that I had to plan extensively to make sure everything fit together. If I hadn’t worked it out ahead of time, it would’ve been like throwing a heap of puzzle pieces on the table but not being given a reference picture to know what it was I was working toward.

What is your writing genre of choice?

I have no idea. Plotty sex? Erotic dramady? Some of it is just straight up PWP, but I usually like to have something meaningful in there too.

Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why?

Usually the answer is whatever I’ve most recently written, as it’s the most likely to represent my current “best.” In terms of writing, I’ll go with A Brush with Magic, but Quartet is probably my best storytelling. A lot went into that (symbolism, planning, obsessive re-writes) and it holds a good deal of personal meaning to me. So, I guess I’ll go with Q due to the time and effort involved.

Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote? What did you learn from writing it?

The unexpected always crops up (even with all my planning), and it’s the unexpected that makes the magic.

While I had many insights into my own nature while writing Quartet, in the end I think it taught me to trust/listen to myself more.

Later, however, it brought me a very different message. While writing it, I felt a lot of tension and anxiety; I wanted to “do it right” and present my story in the best light. But after some time away, I realized I’d been so worried because I felt as if that story represented me, as if it defined me. And the pressure of being judged worthy or unworthy had been eating me alive.

But I don’t feel that way anymore. Now it’s like I wrote all my stories in another lifetime. While they all might be a snapshot of a fraction of my mind, nothing I create ever says a damn thing about who or what I truly am. Since letting go of that, I’ve found a sense of freedom around writing. I still like to express things as clearly and beautifully as I can, but it’s more a celebration of words than a search for acceptance.

How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write?

Quartet was extremely personal to me when I wrote it, and in a lot of ways I think that made it easier to write. When I have to go strictly by imagination, I feel as if I’m missing some depth of understanding (like I’m getting the surface-level stuff, but missing the nuance). When I write from experience, it has an entirely different quality. Richer. More intimate. It’s work to write what I don’t know, but it’s easy to write the truth.

Posting, however, is an entirely different story. Other people don’t always want the truth, and if you feel like your story is an extension of you, it can hurt to have any part of it rejected.

What books or authors have influenced you? How do you think that shows in your writing?

I think everything I’ve ever read or seen has influenced me. In terms of writing, I guess I’d say I’m inspired by beauty in all its forms. When I first started reading fanfiction, I just searched for the kinks I liked; it was all about the sex (with bonus points for having a decent plot). Then one day I read an extremely well-written PWP (I don’t remember what), and the way the author described the sex was so unlike anything I had ever read, it totally blew my mind. It was art. Exquisite art. And before that, I didn’t know sex could be art. That author didn’t just recount the characters’ actions, they painted a word masterpiece—they turned porn into poetry. THAT was what I wanted in my life. And I didn’t know it until that moment.

Books/authors that stick with me:

The Harry Potter series (obviously).

Shel Silverstein (Love the poetry, but The Giving Tree is one of my favorite books of all time.)

Dr. Seuss (Always.)

Judy Blume (I still have my copy of Are You There God it’s Me Margaret from when I was, like, 10. Tiger Eyes is my favorite of hers.)

R.L. Stine (I got hooked prior to the creation of the Goosebumps series, but I had EVERY Fear Street Book he wrote when I was in middle school.)

Weekend by Christopher Pike (This was the first YA thriller I ever read. *Sigh* memories. I still have my original copy, and I still read it every once in a while. The characters and plot are great.)

Stephen King (Carrie is my fav.)

Anne Rice (I’ve read all the vampire and witch books, but The Witching Hour is the only one I’ve read multiple times. Blackwood Farm is my next favorite.)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Charles Dickens (David Copperfield is my fav.)

Jane Austen (I can’t pick between Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility.)

Thomas Harris (Brilliant writing, and Hannibal might be one of the most intriguing anti-heros ever.)

Stieg Larsson (Another brilliant writer with a brilliant character.)

The Giver by Lois Lowry (I haven’t read the rest of the trilogy. And I haven’t seen the movie. I refuse to besmirch my childhood love with Hollywood’s interpretation.)

Bridge to Terabithia (This book devastated me as a child.)

Gillian Flynn (Sharp Objects is my fav.)

Liane Moriarty (I like all of her books, especially Big Little Lies. The way she plays with the timeline is masterful.)

Frank Herbert’s Dune. (I grew up on this. It’s my dad’s all-time favorite book. And, yes, we’re looking forward to the new movie.)

Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale is horrifyingly wonderful. And Atwood herself is fascinating. Watch her Masterclass if you get the chance.)

Steinbeck’s East of Eden (This might be my second favorite book.)

The Lucifer Effect by Phillip Zimbardo (This isn’t fiction, but it was the first book that really affected the way I see the world.)

Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade (Also not fiction. If you’re interested in the divine feminine and a more egalitarian society, this is the book for you.)

Loving What Is by Byron Katie (The only self-help book that’s ever actually helped me.)

Daphne Du Maurier (I love Rebecca, but she also has a story called “The Blue Lenses” that isn’t really intended to be scary, but it freaked me the fuck out.)

The Secret History by Donna Tartt (Gorgeous writing, and the plot left me seriously disturbed.)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (Gah! I love this. The writing and the story and the characters and EVERYTHING!)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (I Bradbury’s writing style, but the plot of F451 is pure horror for any book hoarder lover.)

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding (This might be my third favorite book ever. No, wait, I might like it better than East of Eden. I can’t choose!)

The Diary of Anne Frank (How in the hell could anyone read this and not be affected by it?)

Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction?

No. This is my own private world, and I like it that way.

How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"?

Very. I write what I want to read. There are certain adjustments I make when I write for other people as opposed to what I do when writing strictly for myself, but nothing major. I refuse to write things I have no interest in, and I don’t write to make people happy. I write to please myself. (But it’s nice when what pleases me pleases others. It’s wonderful to share that connection.)

How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media?

I like hearing from my readers. I don’t have a lot of time to interact, but I like talking to my audience and listening to their insights. I try to reply to all the comments I get on AO3 (it’s just too hard on FFN). And when I have free time (which isn’t often) I check my FB groups to see what’s going on. To me, the interaction kind of completes the creative cycle; it helps me set the story free and allow it to be. It really belongs to the reader once I’ve published, and it’s nice to see the ripples creativity creates.

What is the best advice you've received about writing?

Unless it’s absolutely necessary, stop using the word “was.” Completely changed my writing.

What do you do when you hit writer's block?

It doesn’t really happen that much, as I usually know where I’m going with my story, but there can be glitches between scenes or times when I can’t find the words for something (like ending a chapter). When that happens, I usually just leave it and come back later—I can’t force it if it won’t come.

If I really need to get it done for some reason, I read what I have over and over, adding a little bit more each time, trying out words that “sound right” and building what I need bit by bit. What I come up with isn’t always right or what I want, but at least I have something to work with. Sometimes seeing what’s wrong makes what you want more obvious.

Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing?

Yeah, just about everything Sex, depression, anxiety, personal growth, likes/dislikes, insights, interests, philosophy, all my little neuroses. Every once in a while I’ll even include some dialogue from real life.

Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser?

I’m juggling about five long stories right now (plus a couple oneshots). And I haven’t worked on any of them in ages. I don’t know what’s going on with me; I’m just not in the mood. I don’t want to say what they are, as I might never finish them. (Two are Drarry and three are Sevmione. One is a compilation of oneshots. Four of them are completely planned out and just need to be written. The unplanned Drarry was always just meant to be for myself and I doubt I’ll ever release it.)

Any words of encouragement to other writers?

Yes. Enjoy the whole writing/creative process as much as possible. Try not to beat yourself up, and don’t try to force yourself to be better. You will naturally get better the more you write. Change is inevitable; allow it to happen. Read books about writing, and read good writers. Notice what brings you the most pleasure when you read and tap into that same pleasure when you write. Play with words and ideas just for fun. Watch and see what appears. There is no perfect.

If you’re writing about sex (because I get asked about that a lot), write what turns YOU on. Don’t try to be sexy. Don’t try to write what you think other people want to hear. Don’t worry about what other people think (at least in the first draft). If they don’t like it they can go read something else. But if YOU like it, it will shine through in your writing, and that will have a bigger impact on your reader than any activity you describe. Also, the physicality is only a fraction of the sexual experience. Don’t turn your sex scenes into a play-by-play. You’re not really writing about what the characters are doing so much as how what they’re doing affects them. It’s a personal experience, and the more personal you make it (the more honest and vulnerable you are as a writer) the more satisfying the story will be for your reader. Wise words! Thank-you so much for speaking with us today Oracle Obscured.

[irandrura]

The Elder Scrolls - a disclaimer and rant

I am going to make some posts about The Elder Scrolls, and in particular, its background, setting, and characters. That means that a disclaimer is probably necessary.

Here’s the tl;dr version: yes, I know about the lore. Please trust me when I say that I was really super into it about a decade and a half ago, and I’ve kept an eye on it since. I have read the Michael Kirkbride forum posts. I have read C0DA, The Seven Fights of the Aldudagga, Sermon Zero, the Loveletter from the Fifth Era, and so on. I know the forum roleplays like The Trial of Vivec. I know that Ayrenn is really a time-travelling mining robot from outer space. I think all the stuff I just referenced varies widely in quality, opinions quite reasonably differ on it, and it’s frequently at odds with what’s actually depicted in the games, but at any rate, I promise that I know it.

So when I go on and talk about Psijics – I know, all right? I know. I am choosing to engage with the setting on a level that focuses more on characters, human stories, and, well, the narratives of the games. The TES apocrypha is interesting, but of limited relevance to the things I’m interested in. There are many valid ways to enjoy TES. Okay?

Now, the longer part:

If you haven’t played TES, and… actually, scratch that, for like 90% of people who’ve played TES, none of the above needed to be said. The thing is, when you play a TES game, it is a fairly straightforward elves-and-wizards-and-dragons fantasy setting in the D&D mould. Indeed, the earliest versions of it, back in the 90s, were based on a D&D campaign. So there’s relatively little surprising about it, and “it’s like D&D” will carry you most of the way towards understanding it.

However, TES games are also renowned for containing lots of in-game books you can read, which are often some of the most striking and evocative parts of the games. These are supplemented by a large library of apocrypha: often unofficial material, posted by developers (and ex-developers) on the internet. The most infamous of these writers is Michael Kirkbride, who has some… very unusual tastes and interests, but there are a range of other names as well. In any case, the result is that TES has an ‘expanded universe’ composed of these non-canonical writings. Often canonical texts in-game hint at some of this vast, unofficial hinterland, and sometimes ideas invented in the apocrypha sneak back into the games themselves.

Further, the apocrypha often hints at what seems to be a very different setting to the one directly experienced in the games: one that’s less about warriors and wizards and adventure and more one about divine magic, transcendence, myth, and meaning. The descriptions often seem to be somewhat at odds. This can best be demonstrated with some examples.

For instance, here is Michael Kirkbride’s description of a High Elf warship, written before any game had depicted the High Elf homeland:

Made of crystal and solidified sunlight, with wings though they do not fly, and prows that elongate into swirling Sun-Birds, and gem-encrusted mini-trebuchets fit for sailing which fire pure aetheric fire, and banners, banners, banners, listing their ancestors all the way back to the Dawn.

This is Old Mary at Water.

 You will immediately notice two things. The first is that this sounds really cool. Some of it you need some context to parse (the old elven homeland is called ‘Aldmeris’, hence ‘Old Mary’ as a mocking nickname given by its foes; the High Elves believe that they are literally, genealogically descended from the spirits that created the world at the Dawn), but even so, man, that warship sounds awesome. This Kirkbride guy can write. The second thing, though, is that it is extremely unclear what any of this even means. Given that descriptions… what does this ship look like? Try to picture it! What the heck does ‘crystal and solidified sunlight’ look like? How exactly does a trebuchet throw fire? What?

You might then go on to play a video game where the High Elves are taking part in a war to conquer the continent. If you’re like me, you’re probably keen to see one of these fabled warships. But then it turns out that in-game, High Elf ships look… like this. Or like this.

(Indeed, the High Elves are often a good example of this. An earlier written text, in a pamphlet enclosed with the video game Redguard, described the elven capital of Alinor as “made from glass or insect wings” or “a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly high towers, designed to catch the light of the sun and break it into its component colours”. Needless to say, should you visit it in a game, it does not look like that.)

After a while, you start to notice that there is very little connection between the world implied by the apocrypha and the world experienced in the games. Kirkbride says that the “closest mythical model” for the ancient knight Pelinal “would be Gilgamesh, with a dash of T-800 thrown in, and a full-serving of brain-fracture slaughterhouse antinomial Kill(3) functions stuck in his hand or head”, and says “Pelinal was and is an insane collective swarmfoam war-fractal from the future”. Indeed in Kirkbride’s descriptions Pelinal seems to have been an ultraviolent schizophrenic who led a wild, genocidal band of anti-elven warriors, was very definitely gay, and who had only a red, gaping hole where his heart ought to be (which in turn is a reference to the missing heart of the creator-trickster deity Lorkhan, whom Pelinal was in part a mortal incarnation of). You might find that really cool or you might find it banal, but there’s no denying that it’s extremely different to the Pelinal whose ghost you can meet in-game. The apocryphal Pelinal is a mad butcher whose closest mythic model, contra Kirkbride, actually seems to be Achilles; the game Pelinal is a straightforwardly sympathetic chivalric knight. This is complicated somewhat by the in-game books being written by Kirkbride and therefore being gonzo bananas insane, so the ‘canon’, such as it is, is unclear – but at any rate it is impossible to deny that there’s an incongruity.

I could go on with examples for a long time. I haven’t even mentioned the most famous – the 1st edition PGE description of Cyrodiil compared to what it actually looks like in Oblivion – or more recent ones, like the gulf between Alduin the mythic dragon who will consume the world and indeed time itself in its terrible jaws and the frankly quite underwhelming beastie you fight in Skyrim. The point I’m making is that there are effectively two TES settings: one relatively down-to-earth, immersive, and depicted in great detail in the video games, and one that’s this absurd mash-up of magic and science fiction and whatever psychedelics Michael Kirkbride has been taking this week.

I write this long disclaimer because it has been my experience discussing TES in the past that people who are mostly interested in the former – in the relatively grounded setting experience in the games – sometimes run into an elitist attitude from people who are interested in the latter. Sometimes fans of the apocrypha can come on much too strong, or gatekeep the idea of being a fan of ‘TES lore’. Any sentence that starts with “actually, in the lore…” is practically guaranteed to go on to be awful.

My point is not that the apocryphal TES is bad. As I hinted above, in my opinion its quality varies extremely widely: there are things that Kirkbride has written that I think are pretty cool (I unironically love the Aldudagga) and there are things he’s written that I think are indulgent tripe (C0DA stands out). Ultimately it’s all about what you enjoy, and I would never try to tell anyone that they shouldn’t have fun reading or speculating about or debating the zaniness of some of these texts. Indeed, as far as online fandoms and video game fan fiction goes, TES probably has the most fruitful ‘expanded universe’ that I’ve ever seen, and I think that’s wonderful. Kirkbride himself has said that “it’s really all interactive fiction, and that should mean something to everyone” and “TES should be Open Source”, which is a position I wholeheartedly endorse – and does a lot to take the edges off some of the worse things he’s said.

Rather, my point is that everyone should enjoy what they feel most interested in, or most able to enjoy. Further, I argue that there is absolutely nothing wrong – and for that matter absolutely nothing less intelligent or less intellectual – about a person preferring to engage with the version of TES most clearly depicted in the video games. Part of this might be defensiveness on my part, because in my opinion what TES has always done best is a nuanced depiction of cultural conflict: this is particularly the case in Morrowind and Skyrim, and ESO’s better expansions tend to deal in this area as well. As such I take relatively little interest in the metaphysical content of much of the apocrypha. For me, Shor, say, is most interesting as the protagonist of several conflicting cultural narratives, rather than as a metaphysical essence.

I would also argue that the most recent game content has taken a good approach by going out of its way to legitimise a range of possible approaches to the setting. The latest chapter of ESO, Greymoor, includes a system where the player can dig up ancient artifacts, and a number of NPC scholars will comment on them for you. This allows the game to indicate in-character scholarly disagreement over issues fans have previously debated. One item shows disagreement over whether the mythical character Morihaus was literally a bull, or a minotaur, or whether he was a human allegorically referred to as a bull. Another one points to disagreement over the possibility of magical spaceships: apocryphal materials have referred to ‘Sunbirds of Alinor’, ‘Reman Mananauts’, etc., as sorts of magical astronauts, but that seems so ridiculous given what we’ve seen in the games as to be easily discounted. I like items like this in-game because they seem to say to players, “It’s okay to disagree over questions like this – no one is doing TES wrong.”

That said, I am reasonably positive that I’m in the minority here, because I am in the camp that usually says that legends exaggerate, and so Morihaus probably wasn’t a bull and magical spaceships don’t exist. This is not a popular position. My reason, of course, is that I think tales are more likely to grow in the telling rather than shrink, and I have a dozen of what I think are hard-to-deny examples of this happening in TES (e.g. heroic narratives of the War of Betony are very different to the grubby reality you uncover in Daggerfall, or Tiber Septim is almost certainly from Alcaire rather than Atmora). However, this means that I openly take an opposite methodology to Michael Kirkbride. Kirkbride was once asked by a forum poster whether some in-game writings are exaggerated. His reply was: “I prefer, "It is very possible, as is the case throughout this magical world, that some of the exaggerated claims made about some subjects pale in comparison to the Monkey Truth. ZOMGWTFGIANTFEATHEREDFLUTYRANTS."”

Needless to say, I find this implausible, and it means that, for example, I interpret the Remanada as an obvious piece of propaganda, inventing a story about Alessia’s ghost in order to retroactively explain why Reman, probably born the son of a hill chieftain with zero connection to the previous dynasty, really has imperial blood. This is a very different but in my opinion more historically plausible take than Kirkbride’s, who has a naked thirteen year old Reman standing atop his harem and slaughtering recalcitrant followers.

I’m not saying that my approach is objectively correct. It’s all fiction – and as Kirkbride said, TES is open source. The only thing that matters is what you the reader, player, or interpreter find the most interesting. For me, that means generally favouring what is seen in the games over the developer apocrypha, which I can take or leave.

At any rate.

I’m going to go on and make some more fannish posts about stuff in ESO that I liked.

Just… if it’s relevant, be aware that I am familiar with the zany stuff. Some of it I like, a lot of it I don’t like, and I feel no obligation to use it if I don’t like it.

There. Disclaimer over.

[treeib277]

Xbox 360 Pc Wireless Gaming Receiver Driver Download Vista

Win 10 Xbox 360 Pc Wireless Gaming Receiver

Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver Driver Download

Xbox 360 Pc Wireless Gaming Receiver Driver

Old title: PC Wireless Gaming Receiver for XBOX 360 controllers I have bought the hardware recently, unfornately the software will not install(presumably got a broken CD). Download Microsoft Xbox. Drivers available for Windows Vista and Force Feedback for the Wireless Racing Wheel. Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver Driver Xbox. Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver For Windows. I bought a wireless gaming receiver for my XBox 360 controller this week. Download the drivers. Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver For Windows. I bought a wireless gaming receiver for my XBox 360 controller this week. Download the drivers.

Discover greater precision, comfort, and control. The Wireless Xbox 360 Controller for Windows delivers a consistent and universal gaming experience across both of Microsoft's gaming systems. Experience the ultimate gaming experience on Windows and Xbox 360. I bought a XBOX 360 wireless controller and a wireless gaming receiver for my laptop. However, I cannot connect the controller to my laptop. Anyone know how to connect it to my laptop? Jun 07, 2010. When I plug in the xbox 360 wireless receiver the drivers will not. Xbox 360 PC wireless gaming Receiver. Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows.

Old title: PC Wireless Gaming Receiver for XBOX 360 controllers

I have bought the hardware recently, unfornately the software will not install(presumably got a broken CD). So I was wondering if I can get a driver online for this specific hardware. I cannot find it anywhere.

If you have Windows 7:

1. Click start, right click computer and then click device manager!

2. right click where it says unknown device, then sear internet for driver

(it will say cannot find driver but below will say search driver myself from list!)

3. Click search from list of drivers, scroll down to Microsoft wireless controller!

4. Highlight The microsoft controller and click next, a list of microsoft gaming accessories will appear!

5. Click on Microsoft wireless receiver and then next! (it will say it is not recommended to install driver because unknown publisher, but if you installed software from http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/download/download.aspx?category=Gaming&type=Gaming you know the driver came from there! and then.........ENJOY!!!

As the latest wave of gaming consoles have offered more powerful hardware and more sophisticated online experiences, PC gaming has seemed on the defensive. The first-person shooter, once the exclusive denizen of the PC, is already firmly entrenched on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, while role-playing games and even real-time strategy titles are popping up on consoles as well. But Microsoft is hoping to breathe new life into PC gaming. The company's Vista operating system and a new Games for Windows drive is a one-two punch aimed at making the free-for-all of PC gaming a more standardized plug-and-play experience--in other words, a lot more like playing games on a console. The Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows ($20 list) is the latest salvo in that campaign. It's a tiny peripheral that lets you use your any of your wireless Xbox 360 accessories on your Windows XP or Vista PC.

The biggest thing about the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows is its mouthful of a name. The device itself is a sliver of white plastic that's smaller than the tiniest of cell phones. It's featureless except for a single green LED and a button, and connects to your PC with a 6-foot long USB cable (once again, going 'wireless' always seems to require wires). As such, the Gaming Receiver is not much different from a dongle that might have come with your wireless mouse or keyboard, except that it's designed to communicate with any and all Xbox 360 wireless peripherals. To date, that's a pretty exclusive list: the standard 360 wireless gamepad, the Xbox 360 Wireless Headset, and a wireless racing wheel for racing games. If and when additional 360 wireless peripherals are released, however, they should also be compatible.

The Wireless Gaming Receiver is a tiny USB dongle.

The idea is great: being able to use peripherals interchangeably between the PC and the 360 means you don't have to buy PC-specific controllers. And as more PC games adopt the 360 control schemes (most games with the Games for Windows label on the box should work), developers and players get a standardized game environment. Ideally, that means you won't have to spend the first 15 minutes after your game's installation customizing a litany of mouse and keyboard commands.

We loaded the software package from the included CD and then plugged the Wireless Gaming Receiver into our Windows XP machine. After installing the software from the included CD, just plug in the dongle. We tried syncing the two wireless controllers and a headset by pressing the Xbox 360 Guide button on the former and the power button on the latter. At first they didn't connect--but then we heard our Xbox 360 power up in the next room over. Lesson learned--after unplugging the 360 (leaving the PC as the only compatible device in the area), we tried again, but the green lights just spun on and on. Thankfully, hitting the wireless sync button on the receiver and the devices--that little key with the three wavy lines--got them talking to one another. Once synced, tapping the Xbox 360 Guide button will show a small status icon on the computer screen, similar to the Xbox Live pop-ups on a 360. It reveals how many controllers are connected (up to four will work, but we only tried two), as well as the battery status and any other relevant info.

Not content with a single PC, we also tried the wireless receiver on a second XP machine and a brand-new Vista box as well. On the second XP PC, we were unable to get the wireless headset working. It was recognized, but Windows kept asking us for a compatible driver--which we could neither locate on the disc nor download. We did find an updated version of the software on Microsoft's Web site (version 1.10.120.0, versus the version 1.00.81.0 that ships on the CD), but the problem persisted after installing that version as well. Truth be told, that particular XP machine has quite a few issues, so the fault is likely attributable to the PC more than the wireless receiver. Still, we did notice quite a few complaints on Microsoft's own forums while investigating the issue.

When we went to install on a Vista machine, the new OS pre-emptively warned us that the newer software was available, so we were able to install that one straight off the bat--and it worked perfectly. But we did find it strange that the 'check for updates' function that pre-installs with the CD version did not notify us that the newer version was available on the XP machine.

Win 10 Xbox 360 Pc Wireless Gaming Receiver

The Wireless Gaming Receiver lets you use your Xbox 360 wireless peripherals on your XP or Vista PC.

The good news is that once the controllers were set up and synchronized, everything worked smoothly. We used to test things out. The game--where you play through the events of the original Star Wars trilogy as if it were set in a universe of Lego toys--isn't the most typical PC title, but it's difficult to control with a mouse and keyboard. With the 360 gamepad, on the other hand, playing was a breeze. And because the game is a certified Games for Windows title, the controller was preconfigured to work--no additional setup was required, though you can further customize the controls to your liking, if needed.

On older games, however, your options will be limited. If the individual title supports gamepads, you won't have a problem, but otherwise, you'll be out of luck. We tried configuring and to work with the 360 controller using the in-game control menus, and had mixed results. Some of the hard buttons were usable in F.E.A.R., for instance, but we weren't able to map the analog control sticks for movement. Quake 4 was a total bust--we couldn't map any of the controls to the pad. Yes, Microsoft wants to position the Xbox 360 compatibility as a forward-looking feature for new games, but it would've been nice if the company had provided some way to support legacy titles. One poster in the aforementioned Xbox forums suggested that the Pinnacle Game Profiler was a good workaround. The third-party software is free to try, but it'll cost you $20 to buy the full version.

The wireless headset is a bit more flexible--it should work in pretty much any situation where headphones or headsets would. It worked fine for all PC applications and games, so it's a worthwhile option for everything from Skype to Counter-Strike. Newer games such as will let you split the radio chatter on the headset while the environmental audio stays on the PC speakers.

Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver Driver Download

The rated range on the Wireless Gaming Receiver is 30 feet, and it was still working for us when got far enough away that we could no longer see the screen. In other words, even if you have your PC connected to a projector or a big-screen TV, you should have no worries in terms of keeping a connection.

Xbox 360 Pc Wireless Gaming Receiver Driver

Is the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver worth getting? Considering the $20 price tag, it may well be hard to resist for gamers who ping-pong between Xbox 360 and PC titles on a regular basis. For now, it's hardly a must-have PC gaming peripheral, but as more Games for Windows titles are released--titles like and Halo 2 are due later in 2007--that may well change. In the meantime, we hope that Microsoft continues to tighten up some of the software and driver issues that seem to have affected some users.

[myupostsheadcanons]

Books “Read” in 2020

Previous entries: 2019, 2018, 2017

I don’t rank these based on actual literary quality, but by how much i enjoyed reading/listening to them. Hopefully with Audible’s new “Premium Included” feature it would cut down on so many Average/Below Average books next year, it’ll give me more of a choice on what kind of books/podcasts i want to listen to rather than given a handful to pick from a month.

The “Top 10″

Forging Hephaestus / Bones of the Past: Villains' Code Series - Drew Hayes has became one of my fav authors over the past couple years, from his Vampire Accountant series, 5-min Sherlock, and his Spells, Swords, and Stealth books. FH is one of the few times he wrote Adult Fiction. This is the second time Drew created a world of super heroes (the YA Superpowereds), thus previous experience in dealing with the nuisances and meta of super meta dynamics. I love the main character, Tori, and especially love many of the side characters (like Ivan) and the comedy is the right tone of dark and not-in-your-face (not quite as well -written as something like The Venture Bros or The Tick, but being adult fiction you can get away with having characters named Johnny Three-Dicks and Captain Bullshit)

Dreadnought / Sovereign - the second super hero series I’ve placed on my top list this year, this one is Young Adult. This one is far more serious and deals heavily in issues like trans and women’s rights, mental abuse, and social acceptance. The main character is full of angst, but that should be a given for a 15 yo with lots of mental baggage and new social pressures. The main character is the main draw, most of the side characters are a bit more one-dimensional.

The Trouble with Peace: Age of Madness, Book 2. It isn’t a “First Law” book if you don’t want to strangle half of the main characters. Many are stepping outside of the shadow of the previous generation and finding themselves falling flat on their faces. If they aren’t at each other’s throats, they would soon have to deal with rebellion in the streets and the constant looming presence of Bayaz, who waits to sweep the board clear and rearrange the pieces the way he sees fit.

Michael J. Sullivan’s: The Riyria and Legend of the First Empire Books.

Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords / Rise of Empire / Heir of Novron

Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower / The Rose and Thorn / The Death of Dulgath

Age of Death / Age of Empyre, Pile of Bones

After finishing the Legend of the First Empire books that came out earlier this year, I went ahead and read the prior series that takes place in the same world. I would suggest reading the entire series by Publish order, but they can be read Chronologically. I read the Legends books first, and it helped me see where Sullivan was heading and when he started to plan out the Legends books in more detail. (The early cameo of the Main characters from Legends in a mural in Heir of Novron, and knowing who is behind the events in Dulgath)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks / Battle Grounds - They really should be read as one book, because that was how they were written. It is a Feast of Crows / Dances with Dragons situation, where the book got too long and got split up. The fans are pretty divided by the book(s) ending and how some of the main characters are handled, but these are Jim Butcher’s characters not theirs and he can drop bridges on whom ever he wants.

What Lies Beyond: Cycle of Galand, Book 6 - This is a “mythology” book (like Sullivan’s Age of Death was) where it introduces most of the Pantheon of their religion and corrects much of the mythology that had been lost over the decades. They seek a weapon to vanquish the Litch and save their world and the afterlife from oblivion, but not all of their Gods are happy about it.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation!) has to be one of my favorite internet personalities for the past 10+ years, and I eat up every book he puts out and because he wrote the books, and is an actor himself, he could deliver the lines as they are intended to be. The sequel to Will Save the Galaxy for Food does not disappoint and even ups the stakes from the previous book.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - This has to be one of the most charming books I’ve read. It is magic and wonder at it’s finest, no need for long explanations on how the world works. If you like Ghibli movies, you’ll be interested in this book. It has its dark moments but isn’t outside of what you’ll find in something like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicca.

The Goblin Emperor - the youngest son of the Elf King finds himself emperor after the death of his father and brothers in an assassination. The only problem is, that he is only half-elf... his late mother was a Goblin, and he had been in exile as an embarrassment to the family for most of his life. He knows nothing of how the courts work and what’s left of his own family work against him just for being who he is.

Lost Gods: Brom - I liked this book more than I did American Gods (which I read a few years ago). It is darker and bleaker by the bucket loads. One of the few books with a downer ending that I actually liked. I would compare this book to books like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men-- but it is a Fantasy!

Above Average.

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4)  - What happens to adventurers after they retire? A fun concept that is explored with our party of NPCs running across a town full of epic-level characters that no longer have a player.

The Arthurian Saga - The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills  / The Last Enchantment / The Wicked Day - A more realistic version of the Arthurian tales, taking the POV of Merlin, bastard son of a princess, as he earns notoriety as a scholar and wizard.  The Wicked Day takes the POV of Mordred, making him far more sympathetic than other iterations of his character.

Arc of a Scythe - Scythe / Thunderhead / The Toll - Science and Technology eliminates death and in order to prevent over population and complacency an order of grim reapers are chosen to randomly deal out quotas of permanent deaths. An example of what happens when every need and want is satisfied by a higher force and the apathy that causes rot in human society and the superiority complex of those in charge of life and death.

The Diviners / Lair of Dreams / Before the Devil Breaks You / The King of Crows - Horror during the Roaring 20′s. Tackles issues as Racism, Poverty, Government Secrecy, Christian-Evangelical Cults, Nationalism Cult Mentality, Communism, Labor Unions, Eugenics, Post-WW1 trauma... It could almost pass as an adult fiction book. I wouldn’t recommend giving it to someone under High school age.

Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword / Ancillary Mercy - Artificial Intelligence takes over human bodies as a form of capital punishment, controlling ships and space stations. The dominate human empire outgrew the need to label any gender, using “she” to refer to everyone rather than the vaguer “them/they” pronouns, and only outlying colonies stick to the binary ideals. Think of “The Left Hand of Darkness” but on a more broader scale and as the default majority/ruling empire. Toss in a solid military action novel on top and it isn’t nearly as boring as Left Hand.

Children of Time / Children of Ruin - War destroys the human population of Earth and those that remain are the ones that headed out to the stars on tera-forming missions. A virus created to advance life forms to prepare a world for human habitation runs amuck with out its overseers, creating intelligent arachnids, crustaceans, and squid.

The Licanius Trilogy - The Shadow of What Was Lost / An Echo of Things to Come / The Light of all that Falls -  It is very heavy on info overload, there is a lot to keep track of, so much so there is a summary of book one and two at the start of the third. I like the twist at the end of the first book and that the villain is actually trying to help save the world, and you spend most of the second stuck between who thinks they are doing the right thing and who is actually doing the right thing - a lot to talk about doing the lesser of two evils.

Mythos - Steven Fry - A humorous retelling of Greek mythology. I read Mythology - by Edith Hamilton prior to this book, which is a more scholarly take on the myths, and helps if you are unfamiliar with classical mythology prior to reading Fry’s take on it.

Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones - a nice history book about Iron Age royalty. It is actually refreshing to read after going through so much faux fiction that is in Philippa Gregory’s books.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Children ask questions to a Mortician about death and what happens to bodies after people die. I listened to her autobiography last year/year before and it is worth picking up this one along with it.

Average, but still good.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet Universe: Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3) / Tarnished Knight: Lost Stars, book 1 - The realistic space battles just drag me back in each and every time.

The Case of the Damaged Detective: 5-Minute Sherlock - Drew Hayes can’t write a boring book. It isn’t quite on point as his other series, but still fun to read. Hayes is really good at making YA books with Adult Protagonists. It is a road-trip book, the main character is a washed-out operative that is getting his second chance playing bodyguard and future assistant to the 5-minute Sherlock.

Locked In / Head On - Do you remember “Surrogates”? that Bruce Willis movie where people walk around in robotic avatars, well... it’s almost the same thing. A virus kills millions, save for a select few that experience “lock in” syndrome and are able to connect to robots via their brains and the internet.  The main character is gender neutral and you get a choice to listen to the book with a male or female reader.

Murder by Other Means: The Dispatcher Book 2 - more John Scalzi! The first book was in my top list a few years ago, and i enjoyed the sequel just as much. Between Scalzi’s The Dispatcher and Locked In series, i like the Dispatcher more.

The Shattered Sea Trilogy: Half a King / Half the World / Half a War - Joe Abercrombie’s attempt to make Young Adult books. It keeps all the grim dark, but lacks all the swearing and humor that made The First Law books more enjoyable. Many of Joe’s favorite character tropes are still present and is one of the better “Fall to Darkness” stories I’ve read. It also has different POV characters each book and is one of those “faux fantasy” settings.

Mage Errant: Books 1, 2 & A Traitor in Skyhold: Book 3 - If you are wanting to get away from Harry Potter, pick up this book series. It takes place in magic school, but it is its own world and setting and not just a hidden world within our own. The main group of kids are misfits among the school, unable to master their powers, that get taken up by the badass librarian to be trained in more unconventional ways.

Dawn of Wonder: The Wakening Book 1 - the main character has ptsd from growing up in an abusive household, and i thought it was handled rather well. He would be rather competent and cleaver most of the time until he gets triggered into an episode, he fights really hard to overcome this short-falling of his. Standard classic affair else wise, family leaves home because the local authority figure doesn’t want them around anymore, goes to big city, kid wants to do good and avenge the deaths he was accused of, joins the badass school of hard knocks...  big powerful evil thing trying to consume the world.

The Rage of Dragons - It shares a lot of tropes and story points with Red Rising... just in a fantasy setting, not in space. If you are wanting fantasy with POC main characters and a non-European-centric culture, that doesn’t pull any punches, give it a shot.

Earthsea - Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea - I had read the first three books several years back, and i did re-read them in order to refresh myself prior to reading the final two.

The Secret Garden - I absolutely loved the movie from the 90′s as a kid, and finally got around to listening to the book.

Six of Crows - A heist book in fantasy world with the magic users being heavily “Jewish / Slavic” coded by how they are treated and persecuted. I might have thought more favorably about the book if i hadn’t read other books with “street rat slum” main characters. (Seriously, after spending six books with Royce in Riyria someone like Kas is just second bananas)

Unconventional Heroes / Two Necromancers - Comedic Fantasy, the humor’s not on par with say MogWorld, and has more jokes than Fred The Vampire Accountant. It is still a parody of villains and heroes in fantasy worlds. I would find it safe for a 12/13yo to read, cursing and all, though they might not be aware of many of the tropes that are being deconstructed. The reader of the book did better in this one then he did with Six of Crows and Beezer, still the audio needed some editing because it repeats itself a few times.

Once More Upon A Time (Free Audio Book)  - I don’t always care to read romance stories. I like the idea behind it however, to trade their love for each other in order to save their partner’s life, then learn to re-love one another again.

Monster Hunter International - If you think Dresden is too liberal, this takes a hard turn to the right.. replace the magic with GUNS, lots and lots of GUNS. An organization that hates the government but hunts monsters for government bounties. The main cast is multi-ethnic and they do make fun of that at one point. There isn’t a lot of thought into the plot, because action is #1, but it is fun enough to ignore the politicking.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collection - i bitched about there not being an omnibus last year, and then Audible uploaded one. The ending is still one big clusterfuck.

Stephen King’s Insomnia - this book is the bridge between Steven King’s two universes. It is a sequel to IT and brings up the Darktower often. IT dealt mainly with childhood fears, Insomnia deals with Elderly and feminine fears.

D’Arc / Culdesac: War with No Name - I liked D’Arc more than i did Mort-e, and Culdesac is more on track with Mort-e. The virus that mutated the ants and animals reminded me of the virus from Children of Time/Ruin, even though i read Mort-e first, reading D’Arc after CoT let me notice it.

Michael McDowell’s:  The Amulet / The Elementals / Gilded Needles / Blackwater - From the guy that wrote the screenplay of Beetlejuice, and the pioneer of the Southern Gothic Horror. Gilded Needles is a bit out of place, taking place in 1890′s, and is more of a social horror rather than a super natural horror the other books are.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 - high fantasy dark fiction. if you really want some CHONKY door stoppers, there’s over 10 of them in this series. Could’ve done less with the manipulative bastard mage that speaks in 3rd person. I had read The Willful Child, an attempted comedy science fiction novel by the same author, and it showed that the author was unfamiliar with that kind of genera and should stick to grim fantasy.

The Knife’s Edge / Citadel of Fire: The Ronin Saga - This is one of those series that I’m always going “oh, that reminds me of [insert another better series]”  At times it reminded me of The Licanius Trilogy, Shades of Magic, Arc of Scythe, Riyria, Korra... It is just shy of being as good as them, and is rather firmly in that Sci-Fi Fantasy Ghetto and has a bit of “anime” feel to it with their magic users having ‘power levels’ and the power creep. 

In Calabria - My only problem with the book is the massive age-gap between the Main character and his love interest. Outside of that, the whole Unicorns in the modern world concept is done very well.

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book)  - Journalism and romance during WW2. A quick read and the book really shows that research had been done about the setting and time period.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist: An Audible Original - Not only does it talk about the heist, it actually touches on the subject of migrant farmers and slave labor, as well as the desertification of the California Valley.

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel (Free Audio Book) - a neat little informative podcast if you are looking for an introduction to some of the harder science fiction.

Mythology - by Edith Hamilton - Text book about Greek Mythology. Like “used in schools” text book. It is a good read if you don’t want to go through Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and all the other classical writers on your own.

The Space Race: An Audible Original - America didn’t win the Space Race. Russia did just about everything first. The only thing we did first was put people on the moon. It also goes into detail about how the inventor of the Nazi’s V2 rockets became employed with the US Space program. As well as the government’s announcement to let space travel become privatized.

Pale Blue Dot / Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - It’s Carl Sagan. Come on! Everyone should be reading them. Pale Blue Dot was being turned into an Audiobook in the 90′s but with Sagan’s death, only the first few chapters were read by him and his partner reads the rest of it (she does a decent job, and i understand why they wanted her to read it, it should’ve been done similarly to Cosmos, with guest readers doing each chapter)

Thicker Than Water (Free Audio Book)  - start up pharmaceutical company scams people out of millions with promises of a miracle machine that was ahead of its time. Story told from the whistleblower himself as he recounts what his job was within the company and how he knew the owner/founder of the company and how coming out about what was going on ruined his relationship with his family and friends.

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - biography on Douglas Adams and the history behind the creative process behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The Genius of Birds - It reminded me a lot of “The Soul of an Octopus” in quality. It is rather informative about birds, how they behave, and how we judge intelligence in non-human animals.

It’s “ok.”

Les Miserabes - I can see why people favor movies and theater versions because of how dense the book is, getting the cliff notes version of the book instead of reading several chapters about the Battle of Waterloo. 

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book) - It’s cute, and I spent the next several weeks humming that freaking song.

Challenger Deep - A book about mental illness by the same person that brought us The Arc of a Scythe series. It isn’t a bad read, but if you are prone to get panic attacks and have mental illness yourself, you might get too into it and make you uneasy. It can help with neurotypical people with understanding how some illnesses work.

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1)  - Ah, the cat book. It is prob because there are soooo many books in this series that it over-saturates the kids impressionable minds.

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book)  - I read this book prior to Monster Hunter International, and thinking back on this one, i am reminded about the other. Save for this one is PG. So... the kid friendly version.

The Martian Chronicles - Space Horror, on Mars. If you like old science fiction, like Classic Trek, Wells, or Forbidden Planet stuff. There is a lot of zerust.

Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - The third superhero series I’ve read this past year. It is not as ground breaking nor subversive as Villain’s Code or Dreadnought. The humor is a bit too forced and parts of it falls into “we can be more offensive because it is an adult book” category.

Interview with the Robot - Don’t really care for books or programs that are set up in the “interview” format where it is two people talking to one another. (I have no fucking idea how this book got top Kids book of the year on Audible, it is more of a YA book... it must been because it was Free and lots of people picked it because the rest of the choices that month were complete garbage)

Micromegas - perhaps one of the oldest examples of Speculative Science Fiction. Written by Voltaire, it is about a giant from another solar system that is so big that humans and life on Earth are microscopic. “what value are the lives of ants to a man?”

The Three Musketeers - i had forgotten how much espionage there was in this book. I would say this is a good companion book to Don Quixote, as it takes its fair share of inspiration from and even name-drops the character a couple times. 

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist / David Copperfield / A Tale of Two Cities - DC is the standout IMO among the three, it is Dickens’ Magnum Opus. Les Mis did a far better job with the Revolution than Tale did as well. I felt rather obligated to reading these books because of the subplot in the Age of Madness books being about Poverty during the Industrial Revolution and Workers Revolts against the Ruling Class.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - the version i listened too made most of the Americans sound like GWB... which is funny because one of them is Canadian, and the Comic Relief character about how boorish Americans are.

Stuck (Free Audio Book) -  it is a neat idea, getting jarred free of time but everybody else isn’t and doesn’t remember. It gets a little heavy for a kids book near the end, edging into YA territory as the character gets older mentally and the people around him age physically.

Phreaks (Free Audio Book) - i knew a lot about Captain Crunch and other phone hackers of the 60′s. There is a subplot of the big radioactive corporation covering up causing cancer to their workers, and the father (voiced by Christian Slater) being in the closet but still homophobic about it.

Silverswift (Free Audio Book) - If you like fairy tales set in modern times, it is worth a look. It is similar to In Calabira in that way. The mom being the nonbeliever and thinking grandma is off her rocker, but the granddaughter knows it in her bones that grandma is telling the truth.

Sleeping Giants - alien mechs from the distant past, once mistaken as the titans and gods form mythology, now being studied and experimented on by the government. This is another “interview style” story telling.

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes - there is a lot of names and stories, it is worth prob getting a physical copy of the book to keep things straight and to use as a reference.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps - A love letter to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and other RPG games.

Casino Royal: James Bond - the movie was rather faithful, including the part of being tied to a chair. I do wish they kept more of the book’s ending where Bond was ready to retire prior to his secret-spy love interest gets killed.

Aliens: Bug Hunt - a compilation of Alien stores about people landing on various planets and encountering aliens, not always the Xenomorphs we know, but the term “Bug” came synonymous to any dangerous alien lifeforms encountered.

Macbeth: A Novel - retelling the story of Macbeth but in a novel form. If you can’t get past the language of the original play, this would help. It sets it more firmly in historical fiction.

Hannibal: A Novel -  I went ahead and re watched the tv show after finishing the book. I’ve seen the movie a dozen times, and i understand why they changed the ending to the movie. The book is the main one that characterizes Hannibal and the show uses a lot of the plot. Hannibal Rising wasn’t really needed because Hannibal (in this book) does think/talk about what happened to his sister and home, and i can see why Harris didn’t want to write that book either. The audiobook is rather poor quality, they talked too fast in places and i don’t really care for their acting...

The Power of Six - I read I am Number 4 several years back and this one popped up on sale so i nabbed it. I like Neil Kaplan, and i think this one is better than the first one and actually gets into the meat of the story.

Cut and Run: A Light-Hearted Dark Comedy - body parts harvesting.... mmmm.

Calypso - non-Fiction, biography of the author. Talks about his family, his life with his partner, and what he does. Much of it is charming and it is read by the author. this was prior to him loosing his marbles about retail workers and becoming a karen.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster - the history of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. I didn’t mind this podcast so much because i was reading The Diviners during the same time.

Malcolm and Me - another biographical book. one of the free books i got during Feb’ Black History Month.

History of Bourbon (Free Audio Book) - Informative about the liqueur industry in America.

Junkyard Cats: Shining Smith Book 1 - post apocalyptic action science fiction novel. the moment that guy showed up i was “that’s your bf.” and it was so... the plot wasn’t hard to figure out, it’s all about the action and setting.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - One of the better Heinlein books. The man can’t write romance and he is rather big on casual polygamy and open marriages. An anarchist-revolution book written by someone that is more on the Libertarian side of the aisle. Mycroft (the computer) comes off as rather antiquated, an AI that runs on a closed server, communicating through the telephone lines and printed paper, makes me wonder what Heinlein would’ve done if he was told about the internet and Deep Fake tech. (the book takes place in like 2075, but written in 1966)

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World - the production of coffee and it’s prevalence around the world.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert - Exactly what it says on the can. *rimshot*

The Real Sherlock: An Audible Original - a biography of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Design of Everyday Things - using psychology to improve the design of systems, products, and the modern business model.  It gives proper terminology for several common design features and how to improve on existing structures.

Bottom of the Barrel.

The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity. I was hoping there would have been something in there about European Religions, there isn’t, and the book was mostly Greek and Roman life styles and how gods are worshiped. It let me know where the word “auger” came from and why it was used in the Licanius Trilogy.

Life Ever After - disjointed at best. a couple that aren’t good for each other spend the next several hundred years in a crappy relationship.

Beyond Strange Lands: An Audible Original - The audio was complete crap on half of the voices. Which is bad because this could’ve been better. It is a Pod Cast Show and the director couldn’t make sure everybody had decent recording equipment and the sound effects often drown out the actors.

Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde: An Audible Original Drama - They were going for a modern telling, but the language used is archaic. They speak like Dickens characters even though they talk about cellphones and computers.

A Crazy Inheritance: The Ghostsitter book 1 - The concept is there, but it is too nerfed. It was made for the 8-12yo crowd in mind by people that don’t know how to write for children.

Tell Me Lies (Free Audio Book) - It really wants to be smart. Who’s playing who and who is the actual villain of this story? If you want a quick “who done it?” maybe look into it.

Evil Eye (Free on Audible Plus) - told through phone calls between a mother and daughter. The whole genera of evil boyfriends/husbands isn’t really my cup of tea, and the boyfriend’s actor was too fake and the set up to the meat of the story was annoying.

The Half-life of Marie Curie - I didn’t mind learning stuff about Marie Curie... falls squarely in “made for TV lifetime movie” quality though. You should not carry around a vile of uranium where ever you go.

Alone with the Stars - A girl in Florida hears the call for help from Amelia Earhart, but nobody listens to her. Part fiction, part biographical. It would’ve been better as a biography and talking about various conspiracy theories about what happened to her and finding the pieces of the airplane.

Beezer - The son of the Devil learning to become a good person with a found family... however, most of the characters are annoying.

The Year of Magical Thinking (Free Audio Book) - very heavy on the subjects about loss and death.

Complete Garbage.

The Getaway (Free Audio Book) - A man being a POS by stalking and abducting women. It broadcasts just about everything that is going to happen.

Agent 355 (Free Audio Book)  - Do you like “American Mythology?” Like the whole “the founders are the greatest people in the world” kind of vibe? I don’t. I also hate the main character for being one of those “i’m smart, because i read books that women aren’t supposed to” girls when she doesn’t really think for herself at all.

[keenstarlightmusic]

Are Slot Machines A Game Of Skill

Video games and slot machines converge to create a new casino experience

Skill Slot Machines For Sale

Are Slot Machines A Game Of Skill Play

Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania confirmed that video game machines manufactured and distributed by POM of Pennsylvania are considered “slot machines.” The questionable games, bearing the name ‘Pennsylvania Skill’ are produced by Pace-O-Matic and Savvy Dog Systems.

By Rob Wiser

The impact of video gaming has not been lost on slot manufacturers. It’s impossible not to notice how the machines have shifted towards flashier, arcade-style presentations, with plasma screens, booming speaker systems and sophisticated graphics. With titles such as Star Wars and Top Gun, the experience is practically cinematic

Today’s young adults have grown up with the Internet, gadget-packed cell phones, iPods and other devices that often leave parents scratching their heads. But the high-tech phenomenon that has really exploded with the younger generation is the video game industry. Though video games have been around since the 1970s—whether in the arcades, or played at home on your Atari—their popularity has soared due to blockbuster game titles released for the PlayStation, Xbox, and other state-of-the-art home consoles.

Video games have, in fact, begun to dominate the U.S. entertainment industry, generating nearly $20 billion in sales last year (including playing consoles and accessories). Back in September 2007, the game Halo 3 grossed a staggering $170 million in U.S. sales in its first 24 hours, making it by some reports the largest debut in entertainment history. By comparison, the biggest Hollywood blockbuster that year, Spider-Man 3 generated $151 million over its opening weekend.

Skill Slot Machines For Sale

The impact of video gaming has not been lost on slot manufacturers. It’s impossible not to notice how the machines have shifted towards flashier, arcade-style presentations, with plasma screens, booming speaker systems and sophisticated graphics. With titles such as Star Wars and Top Gun, the experience is practically cinematic—and the action goes far beyond tapping a button and watching the reels spin.

Targeting the Next Generation

Casino guests are getting younger. In Las Vegas, ultra-hip nightclubs draw thousands of young people to the Strip every weekend—and they travel with plenty of disposable income. Yet slot floors remain pretty predictable, if only because slot players, who tend to be older, demand a certain level of familiarity. The randomized spin is still the standard game after more than a century. Technology inspires innovation, but underneath it are the same devices we’ve been playing for years.

What will happen as the older generation of players is replaced by younger customers who have different expectations when they spend money on entertainment? Can the allure of a Blazing 7s machine compare to playing Halo on a giant home theatre system? Or can the two be merged?

Behind the scenes, this question is already being addressed. Skill-based (or “fully interactive”) games, which combine the thrill of chasing jackpots with a video game-style experience—in other words, rewarding manual dexterity or mental acuity—are on their way. This defies a long-standing misconception that all slot machines must be games of chance. Most people are under the impression that skill-based video games would not be allowed in a gaming floor.

Early attempts at skill-based slots (the more accurate term is “perceived skill”) have included titles like Battleship from Progressive Games International (formerly Mikohn), which arrived in casinos back in 2000. With this machine, the internal random number generator selected a field of several possible results, and the player used his wits to find the best bonus. As in the famous board game, ships were placed in predetermined locations on a grid, and the player had to find them and sink them to win the bonus amount. In Progressive’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! game, correct answers to multiple-choice trivia questions yielded higher bonuses.

Games like these gave the illusion of being skill-based. The outcomes of the bonuses were predetermined, and you had to be lucky to reach the bonus round in the first place, so it wasn’t as if being a trivia wiz or a great board game player guaranteed you a profit.

Amusement game laws vary by jurisdiction, but usually prohibit wagering on the outcome of a game. You feed coins into the machine simply for the experience of playing; if it paid out winnings, it would fall under the category of a gambling device. Slot machines, however, are gambling devices—each state designs its regulations to ensure a fair gamble, and even defines what constitutes a “gambling device.”

Historically, this has meant that slot machines are games of chance, and video games involve skill—but it doesn’t necessarily mean it is illegal to combine the two elements. Most gaming regulators are receptive to slot machines that include a skill component. In Nevada, Gaming Control Board member Mark Clayton remarked that he was “dumbfounded” that manufacturers hadn’t yet presented skill-based video games for consideration, in light of the soaring popularity of home video games. “There is no formal policy that would preclude skill-based games,” he says.

Are Slot Machines A Game Of Skill Play

Fact is, the slot manufacturers have already gotten started. Last year, Bally introduced a slot machine version of the classic Atari game Pong, in which players knock a ball back and forth between two paddles. The casino version plays like a typical slot machine until the player reaches the bonus round. This triggers a 45-second game of Pong, with the player competing against the computer. The amount of the bonus depends on how well you play.

This simple bonus feature, based on the most primitive of video games, is an industry milestone. Pong is the first slot machine that allows hand-eye coordination to affect payout. It was approved by Michigan’s Gaming Control Board and installed in Detroit’s casinos, as well as Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun. Before the Nevada Gaming Commission approved it, they wanted to make sure the bonus round offered some type of minimum payout, regardless of the player’s ability. That only seemed fair for a bonus round, after all.

Bridging Two Worlds

From a technical standpoint, incorporating a skill element wouldn’t be a big leap for slot manufacturers. Some of the biggest names in the industry have been involved with both types of games for years. Bally Technologies originated with a pinball game called Ballyhoo, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, its former subsidiary Midway Gaming brought to the United States two of the most popular arcade titles in history: Space Invaders and Pac-Man.

Bally has kept up its involvement with traditional arcade games, but its focus is on slot machine development and casino management systems.

The Konami Corporation has also had success with both gaming formats. The Japanese-based company originally rented and repaired jukeboxes in the early 1970s, and over the following decade it developed classic video games for the Nintendo console, including Contra, Metal Gear and Castlevania. Konami entered the casino world in the late 1990s, applying its creativity and technical know-how to supply popular slot machines.

IGT, the biggest slot manufacturer of them all, has never been in the video game industry, though it has introduced many of the high-tech innovations that have made slot machines more of an arcade-style experience. The company has secured several patents that relate to “perceived skill” games, which appear to reward players based on how well they perform a certain action, although the outcomes are predetermined. Last year, IGT partnered with Sega Gaming, a major video game developer, to create a slot game called Three Kingdom Wars. We could see more of these partnerships in the future.

Cyberview Technology is another company that is actively developing video-slot games. In one of its titles, called Galaxium, the buttons normally used to draw or hold video poker hands are instead used to move a spaceship from side to side, or forward and backward. In another pinball-style video slot, The Big Score, the buttons are used to control left and right flippers. With these two games, the player purchases a set amount of time. As the pinball or spaceship comes into contact with various objects, the machine registers a win or a loss. The goal is to keep racking up points while your credits tick down for every second that elapses.

A highly skilled player is not guaranteed to make money—these are still slot machines. By playing well, you experience an average result closer to the odds of the game, while less skilled players will experience more volatility.

Another Twist on the Technology

Las Vegas-based Shuffle Master has also combined slot technology with a skill element, but in a different way—by installing random number generators in table games. Titles like Rapid Roulette, DigiDeal’s Digital 21, and Novomatic’s TouchBet roulette combine the excitement and social interaction of table game play with the high-tech graphics and automation of slot play. Some of these electronic blackjack and roulette tables feature a pre-recorded, life-size image of a dealer, while a random number generator determines the cards you are dealt or the outcome of the spinning wheel.

Although they play like tables, the technology behind these games makes them slot machines. This has enabled casinos in states where regular table games are not allowed to offer a table-playing experience.

As slot machines take on more arcade-like qualities, one aspect will remain constant—all of the new concepts and titles will be subject to strict testing and oversight. This makes it unlikely that we’ll see any dramatic leaps forward in the near future. There is also concern among gaming experts and manufacturers that players will need time to grow accustomed to the idea of skill-based slot machines.

It’s going to require a considerable amount of time before skill-based slots make a significant impact on gaming floors. Patenting, developing and testing these games of the future—and getting them licensed—could take years. But once these games begin to arrive, it could be a watershed for the industry. For future generations of slot players, the reel spinners we enjoy today might seem as primitive as Pong.

Video games and slot machines converge to create a new casino experience.

[fandom-necromancer]

162/907 - anniversary special

This continuation is kind of cheating because @aurea-b prompted it after part 5 and I didn’t really forgot but still never wrote it. Well, now I have, I hope you like it!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

[part 1]   [part2]   [part3]   [part4]   [part5]

Since he had told Gavin his feelings and Nines updated Gavin’s status to boyfriend, two things had changed. One, they had become more physical in their interactions. Two, Nines spend a lot of time researching how to be physical properly. As a machine built for war, he was too hard, too rigid and had far too much power to be comfortable or soft. Hugging his human either ended up in just resting his arms on him or near crushing his bones. They practised a lot, but realising just how the human enjoyed contact, he wanted to surprise him

Cuddling on the couch worked well. Nines had understood it was more a passive display of affection than an actual decision and just going through the motions Gavin showed him and experimenting a bit with what he had seen in others was enough to get the hang of it.

Hugs still were a challenge. The pressure used was something very important and depending on social situations. There had to be a standard hug used for everyday life, but when Gavin hadn’t seen him for a while, they tended to be stronger. The same applied for when he was excited, relieved or wanted to put a special emphasis on the action. Too many parameters were involved, one being a rough understanding of the emotional atmosphere. His social module was good enough to work with, but it definitely wasn’t advanced enough for these decisions. He had learned he was good at comforting hugs though, but that was mainly because Gavin knew how to communicate with him. Whenever he was frustrated, sad or just bored, he came to him requesting a high, medium or low-pressure hug. Nines realised he liked these ones best.

But there was one thing they hadn’t gotten to yet: kissing. Somehow Nines wanted their first kiss to be perfect already. He knew it was unlikely, but if he didn’t manage perfect, then maybe at least not terrible. It was difficult to practise, but maybe if he just researched it enough the actual thing wouldn’t be that bad?

It took him weeks of nervousness to finally feel well prepared enough. Then it was a matter of finding the best moment to do it. Nines was sure now to be exactly that: They were at Gavin’s home, sitting on the couch just as the movie they had watched had ended and the credits rolled down to slow music. Neither of them wanted to move just yet, too comfortable in their positions. Gavin leaned against him with Nines leaving his arm resting on his shoulders, gently brushing his shoulder with his fingers. The blanket between Gavin’s sensitive side and Nines’ hard metal-enforced ribcage adding to the cosiness. If that wasn’t the right moment it would never come, the android decided and remembered his research.

[Drop hints you’re interested.] That included keeping his lips softly parted and getting caught looking at Gavin’s lips. Nines would have said his execution was flawless. Except that Gavin didn’t see it. He had his eyes closed and was sitting huddled into his side. [Mission failed] Nines was quick to delete his initial reaction. Just a set-back, not a failure entirely.

[Break the kiss barrier] He had to plant a two to three second kiss on a sensible part that wasn’t the mouth, most mentioned places: hands, cheek, head. He went with the top of Gavin’s head, as any other part of his head wasn’t really reachable naturally. He tried to keep his lips soft, as much as that was possible with plastic only flexible enough to imitate lip movements when speaking. It was a quick light kiss that should work with every direction the internet could give him. Now it was to watch for Gavin’s reaction, who- Who grumbled slightly, scratching the spot Nines had just kissed. Nines felt emotion flaring up he could only describe as a combination of sudden anger, frustration and desperation, as another [mission failed] came up.

He shook his head. That was fine, there was still a way this could work. [Set the mood with a compliment.] That would work surely. Nines was good with words. That was what Gavin had helped him with and what had won the man over. Words were easy. Or at least easier. Nines squeezed Gavin closer with his arm, converting cuddling into a hug, low-pressure. Then he mumbled: ‘I’m so lucky to be with you right here right now.’ That brought a smile to Gavin’s face. Honest happiness. So far so good. ‘Hmm, me too.’ [mission failed.] That- that couldn’t be! He had done all he could have done according to his research. Why didn’t it work? It should have!

He mulled it over and could only decide that his source material had to be faulty. If it didn’t work, clearly he had to have picked the wrong sites. Or maybe you needed human instincts for this, who knew. Regardless, Nines was utterly frustrated now but stubborn enough not to let weeks of research go to waste. Gavin liked him for being himself, right? He had said so himself. Maybe perfect simply didn’t work with the man.

So, he scrapped all of his research and deleted it permanently, before simply moving out of his position and leaning down to press his lips on Gavin’s. Immediately he pulled back again, waiting for the last [mission failure] pop up. Maybe he just wasn’t made for this. Gavin was looking at him, fully awake and blushing, while Nines still waited for a reaction he could understand. Then the man grinned. ‘Not like this, babe’, he chuckled, taking his hand. ‘Should I show you how to kiss properly?’ Yes! ‘If you want to.’ Gavin leaned in to push his mouth on his almost expertly. So many sensations and emotions flooded his systems that it was difficult to concentrate on technique and before he got used to it, Gavin pulled away. ‘Now you!’ Nines regretted deleting all his research completely in a fit of anger instead of just pushing it aside for comparing. But he did as Gavin said and dove in. It was… slightly worse.

But the man just laughed. ‘Oh, god, you are such a bad kisser, Nines.’ The android huffed out a heated breath. ‘I can’t be perfect when I only just begun!’ ‘I know, I know’, he said quickly. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it, I’m sure!’ Gavin pulled him down again, smiling at him completely lovelorn. ‘Besides I’m looking forward to practising this with you already.’

Maybe not being perfect had its perks, then.

[aion-rsa]

The Mandalorian Recap: What You Need to Know Before Season 2

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This The Mandalorian article contains spoilers.

Five years after Return of the Jedi, a gunslinger comes to town in the latest Star Wars phenomenon. The Mandalorian took the internet by storm last year, thanks to the central duo of Pedro Pascal’s titular bounty hunter and the adorable Child, aka Baby Yoda. Even if you aren’t a hardcore Star Wars fan, the story of a heavily armed mercenary suddenly becoming a father figure to protect the mysterious and Force-sensitive Child is very charming.

With the show returning for a second season on Oct. 30, you might need a refresher on how Mando and Baby Yoda met, what the Empire is up to, why IG-11 is constantly trying to self-destruct, and who the Darksaber-wielding Moff Gideon is. If so, you’ve come to the right place!

Disney dropped a season 1 recap video earlier this week that plays the hits. Check it out below:

But if you need a proper recap of The Mandalorian season 1 in more detail, we’ve got a chronological timeline of events below:

The Client Hires Mando for a Top Secret Bounty Involving the Empire

From the very start of the show, the Mandalorian, whose real name is Din Djarin, has a job to do. He’s a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, good at his job but low on credits at a time when the fall of the Empire has destabilized the galaxy. And the highest paying job right now, according to Bounty Hunters’ Guild leader Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), is from the unnamed Client (Werner Herzog), a crime lord loyal to the Empire. He will pay top credits for Mando to find a 50-year-old escapee referred to only as “the Asset.” Working for the oppressive Empire isn’t at the top of Mando’s list, but he needs the cash to keep his ship, the Razor Crest, running and send some home to his clan, which is hiding in a secret Mandalorian conclave on the planet Nevarro.

Mando Suits Up with the Help of the Armorer

The Client is willing to pay in beskar, the highly durable metal Mandalorians use for their legendary armor. Before heading out on his next job, the Mando checks with his clan’s Armorer (Emily Swallow) to make sure his pay is the real deal. A skilled blacksmith and community leader, the Armorer explains that the beskar came from Mandalorians lost in a Great Purge.

The Armorer builds Mando a new armor piece and talks about the importance of the signet, a symbol of a Mandalorian’s victories. Every time he finishes a job, he’ll return to the Armorer for a new piece. Her work also gives him time to think about his own past as a foundling, orphaned during the Clone Wars.

Kuill Helps Mando Find the Asset

The new bounty leads the Mandalorian to Kuill (Nick Nolte), an Ugnaught farmer on the desert planet Arvala-7 who used to be an indentured mechanic for the Empire. Getting to the Asset isn’t going to be easy: Mando has to ride ornery animals called blurrgs, and he isn’t nearly as good at it as he is at killing. Kuill mentors Mando with patience and insight, and he agrees to help him find the bounty.

IG-11 Is an Assassin Droid with an Enthusiastic Self-Destruct Mechanism

When Mando reaches the target’s location, he discovers he isn’t the only bounty hunter there. IG-11 (Taika Waititi), an assassin droid with the ability to spin his body all the way around and fire in any direction, agrees to work with Mando to find the Asset. IG-88’s deadpanning and his eagerness to self-destruct when facing overwhelming odds bounce off of Mando’s straightforward, serious demeanor, and the two become effective teammates.

Read more

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By Joseph Baxter

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By Megan Crouse

Mando Forms an Instant Bond with Baby Yoda

It turns out the Client was a bit misleading when he said the Asset was 50-years-old. It’s a child of Yoda’s mysterious species, and Mando remembers the loss of his own parents too keenly to consign anyone else to orphanhood. The Child, who has no known relation to the Jedi Master despite the fact the majority of fans call him Baby Yoda, is green, cute, and harmless, and while Mando initially wants to turn him in for the money, a deep bond begins to form between them as soon as they meet inside a mercenary hideout.

Needless to say, the reveal of the little guy was as surprising to Star Wars fans as it was to Mando, since we rarely see any other aliens of Yoda’s species, and certainly never a child. When IG-11 tries to kill Baby Yoda, Mando takes him out, and a new heroic duo is formed.

Baby Yoda Reveals His Force Powers

In order to leave the planet, Mando has to wrest his ship back from scavenger Jawas who have dismantled the Razor Crest for scrap by offering a trade. They want a mudhorn egg, and, naturally, the rhinoceros-like mudhorn doesn’t want to let him into the nest.

Mando’s acquisition of the egg turns into a messy, muddy fight, the animal’s bulk almost proving a match for Mandalorian beskar and weapons. But just when it looks like Mando might lose, Baby Yoda levitates the monster with the Force. Do Jedi abilities run in his species? We don’t know, but the little guy’s magic enables Mando to kill the beast.

The Mandalorians Pledge to “The Way”

When Mando returns to his people, it sparks an argument about whether Mando is doing the right thing by taking Imperial bounties. Through this we learn more about the culture of the Mandalorians, who had to go into hiding after the Empire took control of their homeworld of Mandalore. “This is the Way,” they intone, emphasizing the seriousness of their creed to stay hidden, keep their helmets on at all times, and be loyal to one another. At one point, the Armorer has to break up a fight between Mando and another Mandalorian warrior.

Mando Hands the Child Over, Then Steals Him Back

Technically, Mando does his job, turning the Child over to the ominous Client. But when he learns that the Client’s men plan to do some kind of experiment on him — there’s a strong implication that Baby Yoda is an early strand-cast, just like the Emperor’s clone in The Rise of Skywalker — Mando can’t live with that. He sneaks back into the Client’s Imperial facility and cuts through the crime lord’s ranks of stormtroopers.

Stealing the Child back, Mando soon finds himself at odds with not only the Imperial forces on Nevarro but also the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, which can’t standby Mando after he breaks their code. Ultimately, Mando’s clan helps him escape and rocket away on the Razor Crest.

Cara Dune Brawls Her Way into the Story

Trying to find a safe place for himself and the Child to hide from the Empire and other bounty hunters, Mando winds up on the planet Sorgan. There he meets the ex-Rebel shocktrooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano), who suspects he’s there to collect a bounty on her. After a fistfight emblematic of The Mandalorian‘s more down-to-earth take on sweeping Star Wars combat, they become fast friends.

We learn Dune turned to the mercenary life after the end of the Galactic Civil War because she wasn’t interested in the peacekeeping career for the New Republic. Fighting for credits suited her better.

Mando Finds Himself in Trouble in a Quiet Village

Mando’s next stop on Sorgan is a small village that he needs to protect Seven Samurai-style. The village is under threat of attack by Klatooinian marauders, with a farmer named Omera (Julia Jones) and her daughter leading the defense.

In order to get Mando on their side, Omera offers Mando sanctuary: he and Baby Yoda cab hide from the rest of the galaxy in the village. Mando, who seems to develop feelings for Omera during his time in the village, almost shows her his face, which is forbidden by his clan, which would banish him. Mando stops Omera from taking off his helmet at the last second.

Ultimately, Mando, Omera, and Cara Dune defend the village, but they can’t stay together. Baby Yoda still has a price on his head, so Mando and Cara move on.

Gunslingers on Tatooine

When his ship falls under attack by another bounty hunter, Mando is forced to make a quick pit stop on Tatooine to do repairs on the Razor Crest. While on the famous Star Wars planet, Mando meets both the friendly mechanic Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) and the young bounty hunter Toro Calican, who is searching for an infamous assassin named Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). Toro asks Mando for aid taking down his target, promising to split the bounty.

While the two successfully defeat Shand in the desert beyond Mos Eisley, Toro ends up betraying Mando in an attempt to collect the bounty on Baby Yoda. This turns out to be a poor decision.

Mando’s time on Tatooine is particularly notable for the final scene of the episode “The Gunslinger,” which teases a mystery character wearing armor and spurs not unlike those worn by another famous Mandalorian bounty hunter from Star Wars‘ past! Based on the season 2 cast list, this is either Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) himself or a sheriff from the books named Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), who finds Fett’s armor in the novel Aftermath by Chuck Wendig.

Kuill Dies Protecting Baby Yoda

Mando, Cara, Greef, and Kuill, who has reprogrammed IG-11 as a fast-shooting service droid, eventually have come up with a plan to throw the Imperials off Baby Yoda’s scent. They’ll turn in Baby Yoda’s pram to the Client while Kuill takes the kid himself to safety. But it doesn’t work: the Client’s boss turns out to be Moff Gideon, an Imperial warlord who knows exactly who he’s up against. Gideon recommends the Client double check the kid’s whereabouts and the plan falls apart. With the season coming to a close, the Client’s troopers catch up to Baby Yoda and kill Kuill, while the others are trapped in Nevarro’s cantina by Gideon’s Imperial forces.

Moff Gideon gives the Mando an ultimatum: surrender before nightfall and he’ll let them live. The good guys try to break out of the cantina, but they’re thoroughly trapped.

Read more

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IG-11 Saves the Day, But Pays the Price

Fortunately, IG-11 swoops in to steal Baby Yoda back. In a blaze of blaster fire, he breaks through the Imperial ring around the cantina, then blasts his way into the underground network of tunnels where the Mandalorian clans live. But Mando is injured and faces another type of exposure: IG-11 needs to remove his helmet to heal his wound. Although Mando can’t show his face another living being, the droid is no such thing, so he gives in.

With the wound stabilized, they limp into the tunnels. After a cascade of action sequences including the Armorer kicking stormtrooper butt, IG-11 finally self-destructs to give his friends their only possible way out of the Imperial trap.

Mando Takes Down Moff Gideon’s TIE Fighter

The last piece of equipment the Armorer gave Mando is the perfect counter to Moff Gideon’s starship. Mando activates his jetpack and follows Gideon’s advanced Outland TIE fighter into the sky, putting to use all the skills he’s learned since he started earning back his beskar. He plants explosives on the ship and brings it down, seemingly killing Gideon in the process. It’s a bittersweet victory for our heroes, who have lost a few friends along the way. At least Baby Yoda is finally safe, right?

Moff Gideon Wields the Legendary Darksaber

Wrong. Moff Gideon has one more surprise to show. He not only survived the crash, but is able to cut his way out of the wreckage with the Darksaber, a black-bladed energy sword that was once the symbol of the true leader of the Mandalorian homeworld.

Last seen in the hands of the Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze, the Darksaber shouldn’t be in Imperial hands. It’s an insult to the Mandalorian people and suggests Gideon is out for them personally. With Din Djarin’s people scattered after the Imperial attacks, Mando and Baby Yoda really are a clan of two against the world, and will have to face overwhelming odds to finally defeat the Empire.

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Mando and Baby Yoda Embark on a New Journey

At the end of the season, Mando and Baby Yoda follow the Armorer’s suggestion (although it’s more like an order) to find the Child’s people (the Jedi, ancient sorcerer enemies to the Mandalorians, the way she tells it) out among the stars. Meanwhile, Greef and Cara Dune stay with the Bounty Hunter’s guild, sharing a final farewell with Mando and Baby Yoda before the head out to parts unknown on their new mission. This is where season 2 will pick up!

The post The Mandalorian Recap: What You Need to Know Before Season 2 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[luckyjak]

fic: like 80/20 on the kinsey scale

Summary: Modern/College AU. Caleb sleeps with Essek and panics about his sexuality. Is he gay? Bi? Straight with exceptions? Beau gets to be his Obi-Gay Kenobi. Jester is there to look hot and paint Caleb’s nails. A story about friendship and identity, mostly.

Ships: Shadowgast, hints of Widomauk, past Caleb/Astrid, hints of Beau/Jester, one line of Jester/Cali, one line of Jester/the Bright Queen

There was a knock on her door. “Beauregard.” Another knock. “Beauregard.” Another knock. “Beaur--”

She slammed the door open. “What, Caleb? It’s--” she beadily looked over at the alarm clock before groaning, her face in her hands. “9:30 in the morning, fuck.”

“Ja, I know. I’ve already gone to my 8 am class. I need your help.”

“Can it wait an hour?” Despite her words, she opened the door wider to let him in, knowing he’d follow her. She made a beeline to the tiny keurig on top of her dorm minifridge and set about making a cup of coffee. “Maybe two?”

“I was nice and let you sleep this long, all things considered. As my closest queer friend who isn’t currently in Japan, you are obligated to help me. Please help me.” He flopped down onto her bed, face down into her pillow, curling around it needfully. “I’m having a full-blown gay panic attack, Beau.”

She rolled her eyes and dug around her and Jester’s things, looking for a coffee cup. She finally pulled one out that wasn’t clean, but wasn’t as disgusting as some of the others. “For the last time, finding Molly hot doesn’t make you gay, it makes you human. His gender is a question mark and shouldn’t be counted. I find Molly hot and I’m a capital L lesbian, so--”

“I slept with Essek last night.” Caleb mumbled into the pillow, his face bright red from what little of it Beau could see.

Essek? Essek Essek Essek--who the fuck was Essek? She’d heard the name before, but she couldn’t place who it was. It did sound masculine, though. Maybe there was a point to Caleb’s panic after all. 

It was only as she went to open the mini-fridge to grab cream for her coffee that she glanced at Jester’s schedule (9 am MWF, Intro to Physics, Kryn/Thelyss, Roshana hall 311) that her eyes widened with realization.

“Hot boy? Hot boy from the group chat?” She screeched, turning to Caleb, her coffee abandoned. “Essek Thelyss, the hot TA you and Jester have been obsessed with all semester? The one in the wheelchair? The one even fucking Reani is talking about now? That Essek Thelyss? You fucked him?”

Caleb nodded, his head still buried in the pillow.

“Oh my god,” Beau jumped in bed with Caleb, tackling him briefly. She then sat up straight, leaning with her back against the wall. “Tell me everything. Wait. Not everything. I don’t want to hear about dicks touching. But everything else is fair game.”

Slowly Caleb grinned at her, coming out from behind the pillow. He checked his phone quickly before he scooched up so Beau wasn’t sitting on his legs anymore, leaning against the wall as well. “I’m glad you are taking this seriously, Beauregard.”

“Cut me some slack, dude, I just woke up,” she yawned to prove her point. “Start at the beginning.”

“I took him up on the tutoring session that he offers--”

“The ones you don’t need?”

“I need them, just--not as much as I pretend to,” Caleb checked his phone again before he rubbed the back of his head. “You are distracting me.”

“Sorry dude.”

“Anyway, I went to tutoring, and then we started talking, about life and not just about physics, and he asked if I wanted to go get a drink, and I thought, you know, Astrid dumped me a year ago, I haven’t dated anyone else ever in my life, I don’t even know if I’m gay, or bi, or straight but appreciative--”

They had spent a long time talking about that, actually--when Molly had been around, he had dragged whoever was nearby and willing to the university’s Gay-Straight Alliance meetings, which usually consisted of the Mighty Nein and one or two other friends, like Cali and Shakaste. Molly was real good at making them talk about gay stuff, like identity and labels and experimenting, stuff like that. It helped that most of them were queer in some way: Fjord and Nott were mostly straight but good allies, Caduecus was asexual, Yasha, Jester, and Molly were all bi, Beau was a big ol’ lesbian, and Caleb?

Caleb was a question mark. He had, in his own words, only ever dated Astrid in his small podunk town in Zemni Fields, and so didn’t really know what label, if any, applied to him. He had admitted to the group that he found some men attractive, and Molly had argued that that was enough to be bi, but Caleb had hesitated.

...Man, she missed Molly. Stupid fucker had to go and move to fucking Japan in an area with shitty internet service, and thus, sometimes felt like he might as well be dead to them.

“--But I thought, one drink wouldn’t hurt, right?” He sat up on the bed, looking at Beau with a mischievous look on his face. “I must confess, we did not end up getting drinks, Beauregard.”

“Oh?” Beau grinned at him. “What did you end up doing instead, Caleb?” she teased.

“We made out in his car for an hour,” Caleb’s face was as red as his hair, but he didn’t seem embarrassed or ashamed. In fact, there was a sort of confident smugness to Caleb as he told his story, like he was proud of his little tryst. “Then he invited me to his apartment, where I had a panic attack in his bathroom. After he managed to get me to calm down, we proceeded to have the best sex of my entire life--”

She held her fist out, which he bumped gingerly.

“And when I woke up in his bed this morning, I had another panic attack, left him a note with my phone number, and snuck out before he got up. Went to my 8 am class, didn’t hear a single word Professor Wacco said all hour, and then I came here,” he pulled his phone out, checking it anxiously. “And he still hasn’t texted me, and I want him to text me, and I don’t know what any of this means, and I need your help.”

“Help me Obi-Gay Kenobi, I’m your only help?”

“I still haven’t seen Star Wars, but I know enough to know that was a reference.”

“We’re gonna have to fix that one day. Alright,” she refocused her legs in the crisscross, reaching over and snatching Caleb’s phone out of his hands. “First things first, you gotta stop checking this. Dude is teaching Jester’s class right now, so he’s probably not on his phone. Hell, he may not have even seen your note yet, depending on how rushed he felt he was in the morning. I know I don’t always notice booty notes until way later, and he might be the same way.”

She put Caleb’s phone in her pocket, which he immediately protested. “Beau--”

“As soon as it vibrates I’ll hand it over dude, but you’ve got to calm down. Let’s figure you out first and then we can figure out Pretty Boy later.”

“Hot boy,” Caleb mumbled, but didn’t argue. 

“Whatever. Second, and I hate asking this because I really want to know nothing about how dudes have sex with each other, but was it like, hand jobs or blow jobs or--”

“His cock was in my ass, Beau,” Ah, the red on his face was from embarrassment, okay. “And it was amazing, and I’ve never come that hard before ever, and I’m re-evaluating my entire life because of it.”

“First off, props to you for bottoming for your first ever gay experience,” she held her fist out again for him to bump, which he did. “As a fellow bottom I’d like to welcome you to our ranks, we are a proud and noble people, etcetera etcetera.”

He put his head in a pillow. “Beauregard.”

“Second, you never do anything half-way, do you? Couldn’t you have, like, I don’t know, watched gay porn for a bit before you decided to try anal with your TA?”

Caleb shook his head. “I don’t like porn. It’s--I find it vulgar. And demeaning towards women. And I’m afraid I’m going to get a computer virus. I’d rather read.” His face was still red, but at least he’d lowered the pillow. 

“Your smut club with Jester.”

“It’s not a smut clu--well, I guess it sort of is because Jester picks out all the books, but it was always meant to be more than smut books!” He held the pillow close to his chest like he might his cat.

Beau ignored him, holding three fingers out in front of his face. “Third, remember what Molly said about how labels are meaningless unless you want them to mean something? That’s still true. You don’t have to be gay or straight or bi unless you want to.”

He turned his head, looking away from Beau and instead at the messy desk/kitchen area of her joint dorm room with Jester. 

“I think I am gay, though,” he said quietly, still not looking at her. “I--I really enjoyed myself last night. If that’s how sex with men usually is then that’s what I want. I don’t want to have sex with women, I don’t think. Not unless it’s the right woman.” He groaned into her pillow, pulling his brown hoodie over his head so that it covered his eyes. “Which makes me bi.”

“It’s the Kinsey scale,” Beau leaned back and grinned. “100 is attracted to men, 0 is attracted to women. Where do you fall?”

“Like, 80/20?” He pulled his hoodie back again. “I loved Astrid, but I feel if what happened with Essek is what sex with men feels like, then my attraction to her was the exception, not the rule.” He groaned and lowered his head again. “But what if Essek is the exception instead? What if I don’t actually like men but I like this man. Sheisse, this is so hard. I never worried about this back in Zemni Fields. Don’t--don’t most people figure this out earlier?”

She squeezed his shoulder in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. “Look, dude, it’s fine. You can be an 80/20 bi. Or you can be a 50/50 bi. Or you can call yourself gay, or queer, or any other label you’d like. And if you end up dating a woman, the gay police aren’t going to show up and take away your licence or anything. That’s not how it works.”

“It’s just confusing, I guess,” he flopped his head back, banging it against the wall slightly. “I always thought I had it figured out, and then it turns out I didn’t. I’m twenty four years old and I’m in graduate school, I should know what I am and what I want already. Most people figure this out when they are teenagers,” he bit his lip hesitantly, as Caleb often did when anxious. “When--when did you realize you liked women, Beau?”

“When I was like, 11. But it doesn’t even matter. So you are a late bloomer? Who gives a shit. This stuff is hard and complicated, and nobody has all the answers. So you just do you, man.”

He smiled at her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “Thanks, Beaur--”

There was a clicking noise at the door, and then Jester was home, swinging the door wide open and letting the sunshine in. “Good morning beautiful! It’s a beautiful morning outside and--oh! You are already awake!” She gasped, throwing her backpack at her desk with little care. “And Caleb’s here too!” She jumped on Beau’s bed, squeezing herself between Beau and Caleb. She wrapped her arms around Caleb with a tight squeeze. “Good morning Caleb!”

“...Good morning, Jester.”

“What are you doing here so early? Is everything okay?”

Before he could answer, Beau jumped in ahead. “Caleb slept with your TA last night and is experiencing his gay awakening.”

Caleb rolled his eyes as Jester gasped. “Thanks for outing me, Beau.”

“Oh shit, I didn’t even think about it, dude, I’m sorry--”

“It’s fine,” he reached over and hugged Jester again. “I did sleep with Essek though.”

“Essek’s gay?” Jester flopped out of Caleb’s embrace into Beau’s lap. Beau started running her fingers through Jester’s hair out of habit. “Of course he is. He has well-manicured nails and a skincare routine. I should have known. Beau, why is my type apparently hot gay men?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you need to date more women, then.”

From where Jester couldn’t see, Caleb wiggled his eyebrows towards Jester and made a scissoring motion with his fingers; Beau threw a pillow at him.

“Maybe you’re right. Last girl I dated was Cali before she transferred. Still, congrats on being gay, Caleb. I always knew you were one of us.” Jester yawned and stretched, curling up like a cat in Beau’s lap. “I need to redo my nails.”

“I need Essek to text me,” Caleb groaned, tossing the pillow back at Beau. “He hasn’t texted, right?”

Beau pulled out the phone to double check, but there were no new messages. “Sorry, bud.”

“If it makes you feel better, he was like, super distracted during class. We ended up getting out early because Professor Kryn needed to talk to him, and you know she only gets involved when things are super bad. Apparently they caught some Dwendlian kids on campus? Whatever,” she leaned back and yawned against Beau. “Professor Kryn is so beautiful, you guys. I don’t know where she gets all of her clothes but they are all so gorgeous and she is so hot. I know she’s like a thousand or whatever but that woman can still hit it, like, any time she wants to--”

“Dwendlian kids?” Caleb asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion. “Like Beau and I?”

“Some other group, I think. Essek called them Scouragers or something? I wasn’t really listening; I was daydreaming that I was a moth and I got to eat some like, delicious curtains. Hey, do you think that’s a metaphor for anything? Anyway--”

Beau wasn’t listening: instead, she was watching Caleb. A lifetime ago, Caleb had been a Scourager, and it hadn’t ended well for him. It was part of why he was at Xhoraus now. Beau expected to see a bit of panic on Caleb’s part, but he mostly just looked relieved.

“Good,” he said, interrupting Jester’s train of thought. “They followed up on the lead we brought them.” 

Oh, right. The text message Jester found from the phone that had gotten left behind in the basement they cleaned out for Zorth. It had been written in Zemnian, so none of them could read it but Caleb, and he had insisted that they turn the phone in to Professor Kryn herself.

“We good, Caleb?”

“Better than before,” he breathed in deeply, then placed a hand on Jester’s knee. “Jester, would you like to paint my nails for me?”

“Sure! What color? I’ve got pink, and blue, oh, and Molly let me have this really cool purple color before he left, and red--”

“How about a rainbow?” He offered, studying his nails with quiet contemplation. “Like the flag.”

Jester gasped. “Caleb I love it,” she squealed, jumping off the bed to run to her dresser. “Oh my gosh, we have got to bring you to Pride this year, you will love it! Well, actually you might hate it because you hate crowds and stuff, but it’s super fun. Oh my gosh, I get to use this yellow nail polish! I never use yellow because Beau hates yellow but I gotta use it if I want to give accurate Pride nails. Which shade of red do you think?”

Beau wasn’t listening, because at that moment Caleb’s phone had vibrated.  It was Essek. Sorry I didn’t text sooner or see you off this morning--it’s been a hell of an eventful morning so far. I’d love to tell you more over coffee if you are free later? ;)

Caleb hadn’t noticed she pulled his phone out; instead, his attention and his arm were being held captive by Jester, who had started painting his thumb a glittery red. 

“Hey loverboy,” she teased, causing Caleb’s head to whip around towards her. “You better let Jester do well on your nails, because you’ve got a date later.” She waved his terrible old phone around the air.

The fact that Jester and Caleb let out an identical high pitched noise at the exact same time was going to be the highlight of her day. She could already tell.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

One thing I noticed when I was reading debates on So Kai's canon status on KHinsider, was that a lot of people were vehemently insisting that both So Kai interactions and Sor iku interactions could be interpreted as either romantic or platonic. I completely disagree, but, do you think a lot of people are under the impression that this is true because of their experiences playing Final Fantasy and other games that play both sides of a love triangle?

I don’t think so. Though I could be wrong, of course. Because the only game to really do that is V*II (and even then, you have C*leriths in particular--though C*loTis do it, too--that C*lerith is totally the intended, canon pairing. And even as a C*loTi myself, if I’m being honest... I think they might be right. It just seems that if most of the developers did have to choose in the end, they’d choose C*lerith. And you get the C*lerith scenes easier than you do the C*loTi ones). Some of the other games somewhat have other love triangles, sure. Like Q*uistis likes S*quall in V*III, and you can get scenes with R*ikku and L*ulu as T*idus in *X... But even there there’s a clear intended pairing. Squall never showed any interest in Q*uistis, as he was all about R*inoa. And while you can get those scenes with R*ikku or L*ulu, T*idus of course still falls in love with Yuna canonically in the end (and also, not every K*H fan has played F*inal F*antasy). And even a lot of other media that has love triangles has their intended pairing planned out from the get-go.

Warning: This post is probably going to get salty, because to explain what I think happened with the whole S*oKai vs. S*oRiku war all the years that K*ingdom H*earts has existed. And since I wasn’t as chill in the past as I am now, some of this stuff used to tick me off and I might unintentionally unearth those old feelings here, in making myself remember it all.

But at least for the the fans who have been here from K*HI on or from K*HII... I think they saw S*oRiku because they wanted to see S*oRiku. Like, apparently there were some fans who saw it as early as the first game, and were trying to argue it was canon over S*oKai even way back then. And while I’ve been with the series since only K*HI was out, I didn’t have Internet at the time (I got it right after K*HII came out, so I found these old arguments then). And just... no. Just no. S*oKai was so clearly canon in K*HI, while as S*ora and R*iku pretty much hated each other 99.9% of the game. I don’t get where those people are coming from. 

And then with K*HII, a lot of people were like “Oh my gosh, S*ora totally touched R*iku’s butt! These two are so g*ay!” And also “no” there. Guys, this is a D*isney game. In what world do you think D*isney would ever let that happen. And then there’s the infamous S*ora cries when he finds R*iku while holding his hand while he falls to his knees, that really started all of this--because don’t you seeeeeee, that S*ora reacted so much strongly to finding R*iku here than he did K*airi?!--never mind the fact that to try and push that angle, you really have to take that scene out of context. But even if you count that scene as S*oRiku, instead of somewhat as a writer’s flop, that’s really all you have pointing at S*oRiku from I-II, while you have a million things pointing at S*oKai... and yet S*oRikus were adamant that S*oRiku was canon, and people were fools for thinking otherwise.

And if these games were always going to be S*oKai, like I think they were because tbh... J*apan still isn’t very open about when it comes to g*ay couples and you definitely see that with S*quare E*nix, I wish they would have just left it like it was instead of giving us C*oded and D*ream D*rop D*istance.

Why those games are how they are, I don’t know. But we at least know K*airi was originally planned to be in C*oded, even if that doesn’t excuse that she wasn’t in the end. But tbh... And granted, I’m clearly a S*oKai, so maybe I can just never really see S*oRiku because of that (even if I have tried, to see if these people are right and I’m missing something): I’ll admit it... But while C*oded is a game many people look to to say that S*ora and R*iku are g*ay, all I see here is friendship... even when I tried to look at it through another lens. 

But this game is, perhaps, where you had to start to wonder if S*quare E*nix knew S*oRiku was so popular, and started q*ueer-baiting with it to try and sell games. You could argue that that was why K*airi was left out in the end. I think it was probably more for time-constraints (which is still bull), but you could still argue it. And you have that part where S*ora’s going inside of R*iku. Which at the time, a pretty famous amv maker (who recognized S*oKai was canon and shipped it) posted that scene alone and titled it “The Reason Re:C*oded Will Sell”. And tbh, they probably weren’t wrong. And you could say that that part in particular was q*ueer-baiting. But again... I don’t know if it was. Because to do so, they would have had to be trying to give that line a double meaning--rather than it just meaning that Data Sora had to go inside Data Riku’s data. I.E. Another computer had to access another computer’s data--which I don’t think they would do, because that wouldn’t have flown with Disney. And as I’ve said above, S*quare E*nix--until the FF*VII R*emake, perhaps--usually treats g*ay couples as a joke, like with the non-serious B*arret and C*loud ship, that’s played for laughs. The only exception is, perhaps, V*anille and F*ang. But they’re never even said to be flat-out canon, and F*ang was originally supposed to be a guy... yeah. Also, sometimes it seems like N*omura doesn’t know much about what goes on in his games’ fanbase--at least not originally--because he only heard that A*kuR*oku was a big ship in the fandom a few years back, and then quickly stated that that wan’t canon. So... I don’t know if they’d really do this. But it’s up to you, I guess.

Which brings us to D*ream D*rop D*istance. I don’t know why this game is the way it is. I don’t. Though people have said they don’t think N*omura was in his right mind while making this--because this was the time that those “N*omura’s Depression” articles were coming out, because after ten years he was getting nowhere with V*ersus X*III because of the company’s shitty decisions--and F*rustrated J*acob makes the good point in his D*D*D playthrough, that it sounds like N*omura was moreso making V*ersus at the time than D*D*D, because I think this was when Yasue first became co-director. And in interviews, Nomura was mostly saying things like, “This happened in D*D*D because the team wanted it”, but not that he did. Which is the opposite of how he usually handles KH. But this was the game where even I started to feel there was some q*ueer-baiting going on (though when I recently made a post about this, palizinhas--a friend of mine who does ship S*oRiku--explained that the game moreso felt again like N*omura just celebrating how great male friendships are (a big thing in J*apan, and also in N*omura’s work. *cough* V*ersus/F*FXV and perhaps even more *cough*), and I think I agree. But still... this game, and to a lesser extend C*oded, makes me feel bad for the S*oRiku shippers, because I feel they were teased about their ship when it would never become canon, and I kind of just wish S*quare E*nix had left it alone. And I guess it’s also worth noting, that D*D*D was originally supposed to be the start of K*HIII, as was 0*2 after that... which might actually explain a lot. In a world where that had actually happened, we would have had one better balanced game. We would have had the section that focused on S*ora and R*iku’s friendship, the part that actually focused on R*iku and K*airi’s a little bit (0*2), and then the one that finally pushed the S*oKai romance forward again (K*HIII). And in a game that was about how S*ora felt his strength came from his friends, and that he didn’t think he would triumph without them... it would have made sense if said game was divided into his strongest friendships (his one with R*iku in the first half, and his one with K*airi in the second, and his ones with D*onald and G*oofy all throughout). It’s kind of sad that isn’t the game we got in the end, as that would have fixed a lot of problems. Alas.

...And I don’t really know how to end this thing, so I’m just going to randomly end it here. Yep.

Edit: And I just remembered why Kairi may have been left out of Coded and DDD: because the fandom hated her. So much.

[zonecarbon09]

What'S So Important With Lens And Frames?

Why Are Titanium Frames So Expensive?

Content

Can Make-Up Misbehave For Our Eyes?

Elle Brown Blue Tortoise Gold Arms Round Circular Spectacles Frames El14401 Db 145.

Lens Colour.

Use Flexon Tablet

For How Long Does It Take To Obtain Glasses From Walmart Vision Facility?

Exactly How To Order Substitute Lenses For Your Existing Frames.

Finished Lenses.

Blupond Evening Driving Glasses Yellow Tint

The two wide prescription categories are solitary vision and multifocal. If you have a very solid prescription, you need to consider ultra thin high index 1.74 lenses. By routinely cleansing crystal lenses, one will certainly maintain their Ray-Ban sunglasses looking as sharp as they did when they were initial purchased.

Can Makeup Misbehave For Our Eyes?

It's just like the 1.50 standard-index single-vision lens, other than it has the bifocal segment. This lens is good for SPHs of -3.00/ +1.50 or reduced with CYLs of +/- 6.00 as well as an ADD of +3.50 or reduced. On top of that, the 1.59 pure polycarbonate lens has a tendency to damage more conveniently than the 1.50, 1.57, as well as 1.53 lenses, because it's a softer lens material. Likewise free with single-vision prescriptions is the 1.57 mid-index lens. This lens is frequently described as "polycarbonate compound," because along with polycarbonate the lens is composed of other polymers and also resins that keep the lens thinner than the 1.50 lens.

Why is Maui Jim so expensive?

They are not made on Maui, there is no Maui Jim. It's an advertising hoax. They are so expensive because they can get fools to pay too much so they can impress their friends with a super expensive pair of $30 glasses.

Solitary vision lenses have the exact same prescription power throughout the entire lens. Perfect for fixing myopia (near-sightedness) and hyperopia (far-sightedness).

Elle Brown Blue Tortoise Gold Arms Round Circular Eyeglass Frames El14401 Db 145.

Inexpensive analysis glasses are just excellent as an alternative backup set, which are just used for short periods of time. If you simply require to throw on a set to check out a label, that's penalty, yet they are most likely to cause problems with even more substantial use. Every person is constructed differently, and even small differences can considerably impact how well the lenses work. You could obtain lucky and also find a pair that just take place to fit your head well, however a real eye doctor can ensure a proper fit. If you're over 40, checking out glasses can be a necessity, and also they serve double duty as a style accessory.

occupational glass lens "/>

Just like single-vision high-index lenses, an anti-reflection coating is recommended for high-index bifocal lenses. Among the bifocal lenses we offer is the 1.50 standard-index bifocal lens in CR-39 plastic.

Lens Colour.

Its range is -4.00/ +2.00 or reduced on the SPH and +/- 6.00 or reduced on the CYL. CR-39 plastic is a polymer that gets its name due to the fact that it was the 39th formula of a plastic developed by the Columbia Materials (therefore "CR") task in 1940. The first use this plastic was to aid create glass-reinforced plastic gas storage tanks for the B-17 bomber in The second world war.

Try our Frame Browse page to look through our huge stock for frames with your certain demands, such as frame size, product, and also form.

If you simply wish to redo your existing lenses, you do not require to send the prescription in since we can read your prescription from your old lenses.

Nonetheless, sometimes a frame will damage while we are mounting lenses and also we can not be called to account if this occurs to your frame.

After we get your bundle, we will call you to complete the order.

Having an up-to-date prescription is extremely important - it will assist direct your choice as well as let you understand specifically what you need from a lens.

We ship the frame to you, and also you can take it to your neighborhood optical store to have actually lenses installed.

We will certainly try to replace your frame at on the house; if that is not possible, we will certainly supply you a 50% discount to buy an additional frame from our website.

With boosting need functioning within smaller atmospheres, these lenses are coming to be 'first choice' in providing a far more enhanced visual experience. Occupational/Degressive lenses are commonly used terms to refer to varifocal/progressive lenses specifically designed for usage in limited job areas. It generally provides significantly bigger aesthetic passages than traditional varifocal lenses. These classifications of lenses are guaranteed to supply extremely clear vision for the computer as well as near work, however, for distances no even more than 4 meters at severe.

Just like single-vision lenses, anti-reflection finishes are advised with high-index lenses. The 1.50 standard-index progressive CR-39 plastic lens covers SPHs of -2.00/ +1.00 or lower with CYLs of +/- 6.00 or reduced, and also an ADD power of +3.00 or lower. The 1.57 mid-index progressive polymer lens covers SPHs of -4.00/ +2.00 or lower, CYLs of +/- 6.00 or reduced, as well as an ADD power of +3.50 or reduced.

Use Flexon Tablet

How Long Does It Require To Get Glasses From Walmart Vision Center?

This is particularly true as the lenses grow older and deposits accumulate on the front and back surfaces of the lenses. You can find Crizal lenses on internet sites like ebay.com, however you will certainly require to be careful concerning which supplier you select to avoid counterfeits. Essilor has a directory you can use to discover areas near you that offer Crizal lenses.

How To Order Replacement Lenses For Your Present Frames.

Are blue lenses good for driving?

Blue glasses are not suitable for driving, while yellow sunglass lenses are really good for sharpening up images, but causes more colour distortion. Brown lenses reduce glare sufficiently well, including absorbing the blue frequency of light in the sun's rays, which makes your surroundings seem hazy.

Thankfully, cleaning crystal lenses needs no greater than a mixture of cozy, soapy water and also a lint-free fabric. Permitting sunglasses to soak for 5-10 mins is handy in eliminating any kind of germs that has actually collected on the lens surface. The expression 20/20 is a Snellen fraction, named for Dr. Herman Snellen who developed the visual acuity gauging system in 1862. The top number never alters; it's always 20, which is the range in feet (in the U.S) that the individual is from the eye chart. The bottom number shows how plainly you see things at a range.

In a flashlight, it's much easier to do this task with a mirror, which typically considers much less than a lens and is cheaper to produce too. Our New Berlin lens laboratory is the first in North America to take on environmentally-friendly prescription lens making modern technology. Wisconsin Vision is leading the way in making optical lens production more secure as well as greener with alloy-free lenses. lenses have excellent optical top qualities, are scratch resistant and also normally expense less than plastic.

Progressive lenses have no lines, so if you're seeking a lens without lines, these are for you. They feature the appearance of a single-vision lens as well as permit you to see in all distances. Let's have a look at the distinctions between dynamic and bifocal lenses to help you determine which is best for you.

Why are Oakleys not suitable for driving?

Oakley Collector According to the AS/NZS1067:2003 standard, lenses are banned for use when driving if they provide "very high sunglare reduction", so the ban seems to be based on light transmission levels.

Mirror finishing on sunglass lenses not just looks cool, it can enhance aesthetic convenience in extreme light problems. While absolutely About us Top Specs Opticians Aylesbury can make optical lenses scratch-proof, an anti-scratch finish makes the surface area much harder as well as much more sturdy. Normally, a choice of lenses is offered providing top quality vision at differing functioning distances. Generally, they are available from 1 metre intermediate setups to 4 metres with a very smooth progression to the close to zone over a shorter range making the shift a lot more effective.

What are driving glasses?

Driving glasses reduce glare Sunglasses for driving feature polarized lenses that reduce glare and make it easier to see in bright sunlight. Drivers who have been in accidents often claim that they couldn't see the other car or a pedestrian because of glare reflecting off the road or the sun shining in their eyes.

This efficiently implies that you don't need to acquire two pairs of glasses for 2 various ranges. Call us and we can look at the advantages and disadvantages for you specifically relating to the anti-reflective covering in addition to other choices for your brand-new glasses. Whether you have the finish or otherwise also may affect your future glasses acquiring.

Be-cause they are cost-effective and also readily available in a wide array of designs-- and quickly misplaced-- you may get them by the handful. Yet, you might be better off purchasing a specialist eye examination instead. You can additionally customize the lenses to fit your specific prescription and also preferences. I was asked about my face size, frame shape preferences, preferred shades and also materials, the date of last eye examination as well as whether I wanted sunglasses recommendations.

What is the best color sunglass lens for driving?

Although gray and green lenses have their own benefits, and colorful lenses are fun, copper and amber tints increase contrast, making them the best options for driving. If you're looking for a crisp, clear view, we suggest finding a pair of shades with amber or copper lenses – and extra points if they're polarized.

Right here are our specific single-vision lenses, with the prescriptions they fit. A little section of glasses wearers have prism adjustments on their prescription. We can fill up these for single-vision prescriptions up to 5.00 in any type of base instructions.

Glass lenses are not widely utilized since they are larger and damage even more easily than plastic. a greater refractive index than CR-39 plastic, making the lenses thinner and lighter. Dynamic lenses are coming to be a significantly popular choice over bifocals and trifocals. Progressive lenses right vision at close to, middle as well as far distances with no "change area" or visible divide.

Some customers may rather gain from choosing another sort of lens. The concept of using man-made lenses rather than eyeglasses dates back to a minimum of the 19th century. Scooped lenses are utilized in things like TV projectors to make light rays expanded into the range.

Avoid over-wearing your contact lenses and also make sure to dispose of and change them as guided by youreye doctor. You can substantially lower the threat of contact lens-related eye infections by appropriately cleaning and also sanitizing your contacts after each use. Use only thecontact lens remedies your ophthalmologist advises, and don't transform brands without very first consulting with your doctor. Contact lenses also increase the danger of eye damages since bacteria as well as various other infection-causing agents can build up on them.

Blupond Night Driving Glasses Yellow Color

If you're not able to review the 4th row from all-time low as well as you go up a row, you have 20/25 vision. On the other hand, if the lower numbers decrease, your vision is superior to the typical 20/20.

[art-by-rozzai]

a sequel to the band au headcannons? u fucking know it

https://jacksmellington101.tumblr.com/post/186483036220/band-au-headcannons-more-likely-than-u-think

c h e c k o u t t h e f i r s t o n e p l e a s e ^

badadadada guess what the boys have grADUATED HIGH SCHOOL!!! yayy!! after self titled blew up, the friends continued writing and wrote another album! this time they strayed from they’re original a lot, picking up a new style while mainting parts of the old style. think going from tøp to panic! at the disco (sorry i’m a slut for emo bands😤)

roman played acoustic and electric gutair in the album instead of uke, logan played bass and even got a chance to play cello in one song!! they’re identities are still a secret tho, so they decide to make a dramatic lead up to the drop of their album

logan goes first-at first he really enjoyed the secret identities but now? he just feels guilty for no reason??? garbage!!!!

so on the youtube channel they have (remember the one they originally posted taxi cab on? that one) he makes a video that starts off as audio and a black screen. the video then goes on to show footage of logan as a child learning cello, middle school logan shredding on the bass, space and cities and grades and perfectionism and fear/denial of feelings all while logan tells a story about “the boy who loves stars and sounds” eventually revealing his identity with the last sentence-

“the boys nickname was logic, but now he thinks he can trust u all. he wants you to call him logan-logan croft. and he wants to thank you all for the support. he loves you all” and a silent shot of logan shyly waving to the camera

the internet goes c r a z y

everyone is freaking out

what does this mean

they are real??? they have names??? they’re telling us their names???

logan thinks he’s going to throw up when he sees himself featured on phillip de franco’s channel, youtuber news and even a small section in “extra” on nbc

patton is so happy for logan!! but he doesn’t want logan to feel singled out, so he tells the group he wants to make his reveal next. everyone’s cool with it! on top of this, the friends are searching desperately for a place to live, when a four bedroom apartment is up for rent in nyc. instantly, they decide to move.

patton is so excited to live with his best best best friends-especially logy! he loves virgil and roman, they’re his best friends but something about logan is-different

oh

oh

roman puts on some facade that he is only pumped to be living with them bcuz it will help create more albums but after a rare moment on the roof of his soon to be old house with virgil, roman knows that he doesn’t think he’d be as happy as he is without them. him and virgil spend a long time together watching the thunder on his roof, and though virgil is mesmerized by the flashing light, roman can’t stop watching the way the light reflects off virgil’s features. his freckles, his pale skin his-

oh

o h

f u c k

anyways patton’s turn to reveal!! his video is a lot less serious than logan’s! it’s animated too!! bcuz patton is pretty good at art, and he has a similiar style to odd1sout so the video is kind of like one of those! it’s bright and funny and explains all of patton’s expierence with music. how playing the drums helps him manage his adhd, how he thinks everyone should learn to appreciate the little things (he then animates in dogs and butterflies and sunshine)

he also talks about feelings-how anything u may be feeling is always valid-nothing is wrong, or not allowed. he ends the video similarly by flipping the camera to his smiling face and saying “and i, patton hart approve this message! thank you guys for being the best fandom ever! just remember that i beLEAF in all of you!!” he giggles before tossing a bunch of leaves at the camera.

and for the second time in two weeks, the internet breaks

he’s so pure ohmygod he’s just so relatable and sweet and we must protect him at all costs-

people really ship logan and patton

and now that the four friends have really moved in together, logan seems to find himself noticing rather annoying feelings of...infatuation with the human version of a golden retriever

but patton is so cute and makes his little nerd heart go badumbadumbadumbadu-

the next week is here and it’s romans turn to reveal his name! his video is obviously super extravagant-he makes it a skit of sorts. the video features him acting out of a lot of real life experiences-things like him practicing uke and getting leads and writing and playing dress up as a kid and posting covers and learning gutair and painting, as well as times where he breaks down, moments where he feels too stupid to do anything and moments where he feels plain worthless.

none of those make him any less of a prince-“roman prince, actually. you all have given me so much, and it’s time i give you all something. you are all worth so much, my ladies, lords and non-binary royalty. keep creating!” and he winks at the camera before covering it with his hand

internet break

fuck

everyone’s like wow roman hot

also ship wars are breaking out-royalty, logince and logicality, as they have been dubbed, are all in question. which member belongs with which.

people are also picking favorites, however this one evens out a lot more. everyone has one member they prefer slightly more, but still love each of them dearly

virgil finds roman immdiatly after he posts the video-romans sitting at his computer staring at the comments, gripping his mug of tea so tight that his knuckles are turning white. virgil rips his away from the internet and takes him to go get starbucks-it’s the end of october now and they pick a spot by the corner of the cafè

virgil gets a pumpkin spiced latte with extra espresso and roman gets a pink drink-they play pictionary on the windows that have been taken over by condensation

it’s these little moments that make roman fall even more in love with virgil-and virgil’s falling too

and then it’s the last week of october-virgil’s video is scheduled to drop on the monday, and their new album with drop on the friday

virgil’s video is just him talking- he’s wearing a plain black hoodie, the video starts off black and white. the only thing the camera shows is his torso, cutting off the view of his face completely. virgil talks about his dealing with anxiety and even deppression, and how mental health is messy and not fun but everything gets better. and how music helped drag him out of some of the darkest places in his life. he talks about his headphones and his frustrations in school and his lack of friends up until recently. the video slowly adds color.

before the end of the video, virgil plays a bit of “ingenue” by thomas yorke- before it cuts to a shot of him wearing his iconic hoodie and his bangs are in virbrant purple. “and on the inside i’m the same as you. a nerdy little fanboy with mental health issues and a shitty sleep schedule. but thank you so much-you’ve given me something i never thought i’d have: actual friends, people who love music the way i do, people who connect with me. so i want you to know my name....my name is virgil storm. i love you trash goblins so so much, and just remember that no matter what your brain says, you can be a good guy.” he gives his salute and the camera goes black.

virgil feels like he’s going to throw up the minute he pushes post. logan finds him crying into his pillow, and helps him calm down before the two drive logan’s jeep to the edge of the woods and stare up at the sky together

and then our left brained bois complain about they’re growing crushes, about they’re growing lives about everything in between

logan is so grateful for virgil-his quiet, shy friend understands him so well without being too talkative

they just really love each other like brothers

k so this is getting super long so i might make one more after lmao anyways thanks sm for checking this out and just say that u want to b added to the tag list and u will!! xoxo

tags- @athenashipsthings and @flowersheep