#that way it's a more accurate argument re colourism

[nellygwyn]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply to my unasked-for-ask re casting. I had a good long think about why I feel the way I do after I sent my ask. I’m not white myself, and in the course of writing my ask I was tempted to say where I’m from, and that impulse got me thinking, too.

You’re entirely right re Anne Boleyn we see on camera isn’t real. I can’t access the telegraph article, so thank you for the picture.

I’m a bit uncomfortable now because I’ve realised that putting so much pressure on the actors skin colour over *every* other metric in their casting is...ridiculous. I wouldn’t want my opinion to have any more or less weight based on the colour of my skin, because there is so much else to me beside that. And in acting, particularly, skin colour is no signifier of talent or, indeed, suitability to the role.

There is also something to the idea of exporting culture. Of being at the forefront of a kind of global culture. And potentially a responsibility inherent in that? Something about that idea bothers me, as an expat from a colonised country — I wonder at how much we expect countries like the US and UK to ‘show us the way’ or, maybe more accurately, show us that they’ve learned How Not to be A Dick. Hm. I’m not sure where I’m going with this, these are all very unformed and not properly connected thoughts.

My argument lacked, amongst other things, nuance. I suspect my biggest problem is that I’m looking the issue as if we’re at the Racism is Cured stage, instead of taking into account that we are currently in the uncomfortable (Some of us are) Trying to Fix Shit stage.

Well, that’s enough rambling at you! Thanks once again! And I’m looking forward to the gifs already xx

Thank you for your considered reply! I'm glad that some of my thoughts were interesting to you!

For what it's worth, I don't think anything you are saying is dumb or wrong, I think it's entirely valid to be on your guard initially re: things like this when you are a person of colour because there are definitely times where colourblind casting goes awry (I have lots of thoughts on the way Bridgerton did it, for example)...but the way I see it is like...I just don't think not letting actors of colour play white historical figures is right, especially in a country like the UK, where we're both multicultural and backwards re: racial equality, and I can only see representation as a good thing - not necessarily the answer to racism, but a step in the right direction. And that doesn't mean that we should abandon portraying the life of actual people of colour from history on screen, but I think we should strive for both. I liked what Olivette Otele said in her article about how history doesn't just teach us about the past, but how we can live with each other in the present and future, and as cheesy as it sounds, I think a diverse period drama does have the power to contribute to that.

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

What do you feel about amandamaryanna’s video on gossip girl and cosplaying poor? It reminds me of those tik tok videos that are about the most insane rich person behavior you’ve experienced. I feel like it’s subjective because the characters Dan Vanessa and Zoya are basing their poor ness around THEIR environment. So yes, there are MANY people who are actually poor but compared to their UES counterparts they would be considered “poor” due to the fact that they do not have the insane amount of disposable wealth that the other characters have and I do not really see that as them trying to cosplay as poor.

Also what are your thoughts on her argument on GG not really talking about class consciousness and POC issues. Even though the characters Ursula, Jane and Raina had short appearances on the show, as a Black person I think that is was great that they added the few POC characters on GG because their identity was not the main focus of their characters. Usually with Black or POC characters they have to go through some racial turmoil as part of the plot and in GG they got to be rich UES-ers simply because they are. Even though GG is very verryy flawed Penelope, Nelly, Kati, Isabelle and Zoe were shown how POC characters can be rich like the white characters in the show as well GG is obviously a fictional show that’s not based on anything so I don’t think that racial income statistics/racial implications need to be talked about 24/7.

so i started watching this video & just ended up reading the transcript instead. anyway. under a read more:

like, yes. i agree with her on one hand - i think gossip girl 2007 messed up by making dan's grievances be connected to financial status, because the humphreys certainly weren't "poor". like i think this point she says makes sense to an extent:

The comparison between outsiders and insiders and gossip girl is all about relativity. To the average viewer it seems absurd that a character like Dan is supposed to represent the outsider when he is so farther in than any of us could get.

But honestly, something i hate is how people who talk about this show act as if everyone who's watching is expected to know the prices of rent in new york city, etc. like i did NOT realise how expensive that loft is until someone else mentioned it to me and i would not have guessed! who is your "average viewer" - is it an American? someone who lives in New York? someone who lives in Brooklyn? you can't just define an average viewer in that way, i feel! like you are making a BIG Assumption there and it's not necessarily accurate. people who aren't american watch american tv! such is the world we are living in.

but keeping that aside, yeah: dan and jenny had stable and secure housing, the guarantee of meals, and were attending expensive private schools, so i think the show's messaging regarding class was a little strange. they definitely weren't in a financially unstable situation.

but also, you're right. like, dan and jenny weren't super duper broke, and at no point do they actually act like they are, tbh. dan is very 'oh my parents sacrificed so much to send me to st jude's' and jenny is very 'damn i wish i was richer' but there isn't really an instance where the humphreys seem to view themselves as being extremely poor, that i remember at least. in s1, jenny says something along the lines of, "we're humphreys; we're not exactly royalty." and like. she is not wrong! they're financially stable kids, but they're ordinary kids living in an environment where everyone else has the safety net of millionnaire parents to fall back on, and however much money rufus has, he isn't that.

so i think it's a grey area, like, YES, the humphreys have wealth related privilege (i don't know if this can be said for v, because honestly we don't know much about her living situation, but we do know that she works as a waitress for a bit in s1, and also that she's homeschooled, so she isn't shelling out big $$ for school fees.) but also dan and jenny are treated as 'less than' because they are considered nobodies.

and i feel like THAT is the angle the show should have taken. not "i am oppressed because i am not rich" but rather, "everyone at school alienates me and treats me different and it's making things so difficult for me." whenever people say that dan and jenny acted like they were more oppressed than they actually were i'm like. they were both, in different ways, made to feel small and insecure and hopeless, at school? like of COURSE they're gonna feel victimised. dan is treated like he doesn't exist, and jenny is treated so horribly that i don't even have an adjective. like. i think the writing of the show would've been much stronger if it had focused on THAT and not made it a class thing.

i haven't watched the reboot beyond ep02, so i'm not gonna comment on that.

so yeah, i don't think it was 'cosplaying poor' as much as it was 'showing wealth related stuff extremely inaccurately.' like an anon told me, portraying nyu as community college is super inaccurate, as well. and it makes no sense? like i don't know why they had to do this and why they couldn't just... shoot at a regular community college. gossip girl 2007 did not care for representing poor people at all, like, if you watch the show you can tell that it just luxuriates in this aesthetic of like: more food than anybody can eat at every meal. so many luxuries. unnecessarily expensive things everywhere. like the show was very much luxury porn. to me it felt like it wasn't cosplaying poor as much as it was offering people a chance to wank off to the rich. & maybe because of that, the humphreys weren't allowed to be poorer. gg 2007 wasn't supposed to represent all of NY, it was supposed to represent the uber rich elite. and then you have dan and jenny humphrey, and vanessa abrams. they weren't allowed to be rich, because we needed a class conflict. but they weren't allowed to be poor, either, because this show was all about rich people aesthetics. so we got something weird & in the middle instead.

people forget that chuck was canonically a billionnaire - like, that is a LOT of money. and he is dan & jenny's peer! sadly, i think solely because of THAT, a lot of the oppression the humphreys face... checks out. like chuck being shitty to both dan and jenny - he' has an unethical, absurd, uncomparable-to-whatever-the-humphreys-have amount of money. he can do whatever he wants & buy his way out of there. rufus humphrey's ten thousand dollars or whatever amount he mentions are like pocket change to that guy. if jenny is gonna be treated like a commodity by everyone around her, do her upper middle class roots and expensive loft really matter? well, not do they matter as much as like. can they protect her? (we've watched the show. we know the answer is no.)

re: the characters of colour... i think it's subjective. i ADORE raina, and honestly, if we'd had a NJBC that was nate, serena, blair & raina, the show would've actually been AMAZING. like raina was such a cool character to me - i liked that she was driven, passionate, intelligent, sensitive, caring, fun-loving, thoughtful.... she wasn't on the show for long, but her character felt really solid and fleshed out. i remember a review (idk who wrote this one) in which someone felt that raina's character was "lazy" because a lot of her traits and her backstory paralleled chuck, but i strongly disagree. on raina, those traits were interesting. on chuck, any backstory and larger motive felt like a carpet to cover the dust that was his predatory nature, and to me, felt forced and off. like. this dude assaulted people, i don't care about his daddy issues. but raina seemed SO amazing. her backstory actually fit her personality and gave her depth, and to me, didn't feel forced.

i liked ursula, too! she was a really minor character, but she had a whole arc, and i liked that a LOT. her friendship with serena was very cute! i sadly do not remember jane. i think she was... someone's assistant? but i don't remember who. but i agree with you about raina and ursula, their arcs were very interesting and did not end up being about racial trauma & all that, which, like you said, is refreshing when done right.

that said, i think blair's minions were, uh, an example of blair's racism, and i think it would've been cool if the show unpacked that. blair uses her minions as a status symbol - her 17th birthday at kati's place which is anime themed (?) leaves a bad taste in my mouth because it feels very tokenising of a culture that blair isn't a part of? it would be different if blair treated her minions with respect and dignity and like they were her equals and peers, but she doesn't. the word "minions" itself makes me flinch because it's such a "oh you're inferior" kind of word. it felt to me very much like - they never got to be characters in their own right. they solely existed to prop up blair. and i think that is racist. there was a sense of "Oh, I can't be racist! I have a Black friend and an Asian friend" from Blair - like that's what kati & is were to her. and i think that is a big problem, especially glossed over like that.

i also do think that racial stuff doesn't always need to be the focus! but i don't think it can ever be completely ignored, either. an example of something that is maybe unintentionally racist, but racist nonetheless, is how dan cuts vanessa out of his life entirely but forgives his white friends for treating him farrrr worse. it's an inherent double standard, because dan kind of went "oh yeah. my threshold for white people fucking me over is really high, but if my Black best friend who's so close we're practically family does something even slightly wrong i'm going to cut her out of my life 4ever." did the writers realise this? i don't know. maybe they just didn't think about it. but this is exactly the sort of double standards and racist bullshit that woc, especially Black women, have to face irl (though of course i don't need to tell you that at all), except here, the narrative doesn't even address that, hey, maybe dan's being a dick by reacting this way. and i think that's a problem, too.

[spartanxhunterx]

Bug And Shell(d): The Bubbler.

Normally Nino was excited for birthdays, between him, Kim and Marinette they were often a blast or at least memorable.

Today, however, was Adrien's birthday and Nino was a little afraid on how to proceed, just slightly really.

He'd only known Adrien for all of a few weeks and he felt like he didn't know much about his new bro-friend.

So he had decided to pick out a gift based on a little something that he did know about him. That was wrapped up in the box.

For now though, Nino's attention was drawn to the other item that had arrived with it. All very last minute but he didn't care. Opening the packaging he pulled out his brand new wireless headphones, gone was the plain orange and black colour scheme.

His new ones were custom designed with the outside of each ear piece looking like Carapace's shield, the inside was a dark green much like the darker shade on his costume and the head band came with a soft plush cushion of the same colour.

Overall, not bad and he could always claim it was his way in supporting the heroes, even if he looked a little biased towards his own alter-ego.

As long as their wasn't any harm, then there would be no foul.

 "I'm not as caught up with technology as I probably should be." Wayzz stated as he flew around the headphones, inspecting them. "But I'd imagine these won't last forever, power wise at least."

 " No they won't, " Nino picked up the headphones before pointing to a small cover, opening it to reveal the ports for wires. "That's why these are here, so I can re-charge it and not worry about power."

 he placed them on his neck, feeling a little tension fall out of him at feeling the weight on his neck. He'd gotten slightly stir crazy without his last pair, which he had broken helping that old gentleman, he had almost been tempted to break out the old-old headphones that he kept locked away.

 "That's better, come on dude." He opened up his jacket and waited for Wayzz to fly into the inner pocket. Picking up the wrapped present he tucked it under his arm before he left his room, messing up Chris' hair as he walked past him he called his goodbye as he shut the door.

-

 "Here you go dude." Nino placed the slightly haphazardly wrapped present in front of Adrien before he swung around the table to sit in his seat. "Happy birthday dude."

 " Oh, " seeing that look of genuine surprise on Adrien's face made this worth it, seeing the real excitement as his hands rested on top of the box before he turned to him. "Thanks Nino, you didn't have to do this you know."

 " I know. " Nino leaned back slightly. "I wanted to, you're my buddy after all."

 He leaned forwards, arm leaning against table. "Besides what friend would I be if I didn't celebrate my buddies birthday?" Holding up a hand to cut off Adrien's protesting he pointed to the gift. " Now are you going to sit there all day? Or open your present? We gotta get it done before miss Bustier gets in here. "

Nino watched as Adrien gave in, fingers carefully peeling back the paper as he tried so, so hard to not tear the paper.

Nino was patient though and let Adrien open it in his own time. By the time he was done the standard red paper was half torn off, half preserved and left all over their desk. Not that he minded though.

He saw Adrien peer into the clear plastic, seeing the Ladybug themed wireless headphones that were the same model as his.

It felt a little cheap or unoriginal but when the headphones came with a '50% for a second pair' deal he couldn't not capitalise on that. Besides, now he could also make the argument that they symbolized their friendship as they both had a single set of the pair.

 "100% accurate, Ladybug themed headphones dude. How's that for a B-Day present?"

 "Its... Wow, thanks Nino, I don't know what to say."

Slinging his arm over his shoulder he pulled Adrien into a side hug. "Its cool dude, Don't need to say anything," He smiled at him, getting one in return. "Say, why don't I throw you a party?"

That made Adrien's face drop slightly and Nino's own smile dropped as well.

"I don't know Nino... My father... I don't think he'd allow it."

Nino was about to respond, however, Both Marinette and Miss Bustier had entered the room. Marinette handed a wrapped gift to Adrien as she past him. "Happy birthday Adrien."

" Thanks Marinette. "

Before Bustier could get on their cases about the mess Nino scooped up the torn paper before depositing that into the trash bin as Adrien slipped the gifts into his bag.

 "Alright class, hope you've settled down now. Cause its time we get started."

-

 " Come on man, it's your B-day, Insists. " putting away his tube of bubble mix Nino wrapped his arm around Adrien's shoulder, leaning himself closer to him. "You know what? I'm gonna have a conversation with your pops."

 "Don't waste your time, he's not going to change his mind." Nino shook his head. His best bud wasn't going to go without a birthday party, not if he could help it.

 "Adrien, dude, I promise you, I will get your father to let you have a birthday party. I promise."

 Adrien turned to him, about to respond but was interrupted by Chloé, who had come running from behind them and latched onto him in a sort of awkward hug.

"Adrikins! Happy birthday!" She pulled back and Nino caught onto the genuine smile she seemed to give him. Perhaps Nino was imagining things but he was sure Chloé had been smiling more ever since Adrien had started going to school. It was subtle, but he could see it.

Perhaps her friendship with Adrien meant more to her then people realised.

 "Anyway. I ordered something special for you for your birthday, it should be there by this afternoon... Provided the moving guys aren't lazy or anything."

 " Thanks Chloé, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. " A cars horn went off several times and the trio turned towards Adrien's limo as it pulled up. "Anyway, I gotta go, Photo shoot."

Nino's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "On your birthday? Not cool dude."

The two of them watched as he walked to the car and Nino adjusted his hat so it wasn't loose. "Looks like I've got some business to take care of with Adrien's old man."

"You. Speak with Gabriel? Don't make me laugh Lahiffe, Gabriel would never waste his time with you."

He shrugged at the blonde girl, a small smile etching onto his face. "So? I thought you of all people would have been thrilled that someone was trying to give Adrien a B-Day party. "

 "I'm just saying it how it is." Chloé spoke as she examined her nails. "Uncle Gabe is very stubborn and set in his ways. So don't come crying to me when you can't do anything."

 "I'll keep that in mind... Cosplay."

 " Hey! "

-

Standing in front of Adrien's house made Nino feel slightly inadequate and nervous. Here he was, outside his buddy's house that looked big enough to house his family, cousins and other distant relatives and still have empty space inside.

Given that it was only Adrien, his dad and several staff, he could understand why Adrien was so keen on getting out of the house. It must have been terribly quiet.

Stil, he resolved his nerves and pressed the button on the intercom as Wayzz nestled into the crook between the headphones and the back of his neck for his comfort, yet out of the way of prying eyes.

He was not, however, expecting to have a large camera come out of the wall and nearly smack him in the face.

"Yes? How may I help you? "

Must've been some fancy camera.

 "Uhh... I'm Nino..." He spoke slowly, confusion clear in his voice. "I'm a friend of Adrien's and I was hoping to speak with his father regarding his birthday."

With each passing moment that was silent Nino grew more uncomfortable.

"Please wait, I'll be out there to guide you in a moment. "

within a minute the gates pulled back open and he could see someone walking towards him, he stepped several steps forwards until the two of them met.

"Come with me. Mr. Agreste will see you but only for a moment, he is a busy man."

Ah, this must have been his assistant. Nathalie, if he remembered correctly from when Adrien would take about his home.

The two of them stepped into the front door and Nino's hands shot into his jackets pockets and his hand fiddled with the bottle of bubble mix that was in there. He could feel Wayzz wiggling his way down his top and had to tense to not squirm in front of Nathalie.

Hqer head turned to him with one eyebrow raised but she didn't say anything.

"Nervous. Just a little."

She nodded before peering at her tablet before looking back up at him.

" Mr. Agreste will be here in a moment. "

Great... Just Great. He brought out his tube of bubble mix before unscrewing the cap, his hands fiddled with it as he waited, not spilling a drop.

Even though he knew they could most certainly afford to have to pay someone to clean it up.

Was it him or did the house feel cold?

"Adrien's not home yet." The sharp voice of the man of the house brought his attention to the top of the stairs, his hands freezing in place as he was dragged out of his thoughts.

He suppressed a shiver as he looked Mr. Agreste in the eye, he could feel no warmth coming from those eyes, not like what he saw when he looked in his mother's eyes.

Closing the cap of the tube he swallowed down his fear. "No I know du-Sir. I came to speak with you, actually."

" Me? " There was a shift in his posture that Nino couldn't place and the raise of an eyebrow that made him worry.

"Yes, I came to ask about giving Adrien a party du-Sir, it's his first birthday with some real friends and I think he really deserves to hav-"

" No. " Nino blinked at his cold voice, causing him to stop mid-sentence. "Adrien is my son, and I say what is best for him."

Somehow his eyes grew colder and Nino had to fight to not cringe away. None of the those present in the room noticed as Adrien slipped in behind them.

"Du-Sir. Adrien has been working really hard lately." Slowly Nino extending his fingers as he started his list. "Piano, Photo shoots, fencing, Chinese. I think it's only fair that he gets one day to enjoy himself. "

"Nino?" He turned to his side seeing Adrien next him. " You're here? "

Wrapping his arm around Adrien's shoulders he pulled him closer before before bumping his fist to his shoulder. "Of course, you're my buddy."

" You know what young man? " Looking back up the stairs Nino grew hopeful, maybe he had gotten through to him. "I've just decided that you're a bad influence on my son." Both boys eyes widened at that, Nino's hands tightening around his bubble tube. "In fact, you are no longer welcome in my house ever again, leave."

" Father. " Adrien called out, pulling away from Nino but Gabriel didn't listen as he turned and walked to his study, adjusting his tie as he went.

Nathalie stepped in front of Nino before he could try to follow. "Goodbye."

Eyes darting between between her and Adrien, he took a deep breath in before turning and walking out.

Adrien caught up to him after he was a few steps out and stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Nino, I'm sorry, my father is stubborn... Thanks for trying though. "

"Its not fair Adrien..." Nino struggled to form his words as he gestured to Adrien, as if he could convey his thoughts that way. "Its totally not cool dude. "

Pulling his strap up his shoulder he turned and stalked away, he could feel Wayzz moving up his jacket again and he simply tapped where he was gently.

-

Plopping himself down on the park bench he pulled out his tube of bubble before taking the wand out and blowing a few bubbles out into the air.

"That dude it straight up not cool."

He switched forwards before resting his elbows on his knees. Trying to regulate his breathing and calm himself down, it wouldn't do to stay in a bad mood.

"But dad!" His eyes shot up, landing on the child who was trying, and failing, to break out of his father's grip.

"No Son, it's not playtime, you've got chores to do." He watched as the boy was taken out of the park before blowing a sharp breath out of his nose.

"Why have parents got to ruin everything man?"

Feeling Wayzz moving around again he opened his jacket enough to let him pop his head out. He didn't want to make him feel like he was trapped, not in the way Adrien was.

"You agree with me right little dude?" He turned his head away as he shook it. " I mean, we're kids, we should be allowed to have fun and be ourselves. "

"While I agree, I must say kids need adults, to guide them through life." Nino didn't stop him from floating out of his jacket, just a little in front of him as he started to look around. "But please calm down, being angry won't solve anything."

"Maybe not but I'm just so... Ugh, " he kicked his leg out at the grass, watching as it bounced back into place with ease.

"Please. Master, copy me. Deep breaths, in and out, copy me."

Nino turned to him, missing the pleading expression Wayzz was giving him before he groaned and rubbed his hand down his face. "You don't need to call me that dude, it's not necessary."

Today had been going so great until now and he couldn't help but feel like it was his fault.

He jerked slightly as Wayzz thumped against his temple. " Nino. Akuma. " The words spoken in his ear caused his head to jerk up, eyes widening as they landed on the black butterfly that was making a direct path to him.

"Woah!" He threw himself off the bench, before backing away from the butterfly without letting it out of his sights.

Why was an Akuma after him? He had a miraculous. Didn't they grant him immunity to being akumatised?

He grunted as his foot hit a upsticking root of a tree and he fell flat on his butt. His eyes darted back and forth as he tried to find some way out of this situation, his arms pushed against the ground as he tried to back away.

"Think happy thoughts!" Wayzz fluttered around him, trying to be both encouraging and hidden. "It can't get you if you're happy."

Happy thoughts? What was his most recent happy thought? Seeing Adrien happy this morning? Maybe Marinette's smile? that made him happy.

He could tell it wasn't working as the Akuma grew closer, his eyes darted to the tube in his hand and he threw it at the butterfly without thinking. As it made contact it sunk into it, leaving it to go a horrid grey colour.

"Ohh... That was close dude. Sorry about that." He kept his eye on it as he fell back to lay down on his back, just in case it came out on his own.

Wayzz landed on his shoulder before patting his check. " it's my fault, I should have warned you sooner, you're not immune to the Akuma's, I should have told you. "

Rubbing his head, Nino gave a slight huff. "Not your fault, I shouldn't have assumed." He sat up pulled Wayzz into the crook of his neck and gave him a one handed hug. "What are we gonna do about that?"

"We need to get Ladybug, then we release the Akuma and she can purify it. Don't touch it. "

 He nodded as he began to stand. Eyes looking around to find the closest place to transform. He didn't want to leave the Akuma unattended for long.

 "No!" His attention was drawn to the centre of the park, the boy from earlier was back and it looked like he was out for round two.

He watched as the boy ducked and weaved around people, doing his best to avoid his father. It looked like he really intended to stay at the park for as long as he wanted.

Which, now that he was looking at it more calmly, didn't look as good as it did before. He Could just imagine himself and Chris in that situation... It wasn't good.

Feeling Wayzz tugging at his clothes he was about to turn away before he saw the kid catch sight of the tube of Bubble mix. His eyes widened as he saw the kid make a break for it, no doubt thinking it was nothing more then bubbles.

"No, Kid! Don't! " Despite trying to run to it first, he had thrown it a good distance and had neglected to move closer in case the Akuma sprung out of it.

He, unfortunately, wasn't fast enough as the kid had picked it up before he could stop him. Hawkmoths symbol appeared over his eyes and Nino could see the discoloration that occurred around his eyes.

 "Kid!" he Stopped before him, hands hesitating to reach for the akumatised object, in case it somehow affect him too. " Don't listen to him kid, he won't help you. "

The boys father stopped not that far from him, seemingly hesitating to come closer. Nino grew hopeful when the boys eyes looked towards him and not spaced out, maybe he did get through to him.

"Yes... Hawkmoth." Oh Speakers, Hats and tables that was not good.

 The dark bubbles clouded around him and Nino scrambled to get a few feet back. As the bubbles peeled away he caught sight of the Akuma's form. And... ugh, it was going to make him sick just looking at it.

The boy now looked like a cartoon character, his top half was a bright red colour while his arms where a solid black, small 'bubbles' were sat around his joints and his legs were the same. He looked entirely like he was made out of plastic.

"Jason?" His father seemed to snap out of his stupor, stepping closer to his son. Nino was torn between running off to transform and staying to try to convince him to hand him the Akuma.

The akuma, Jason, turned his head towards the man with a frown on his face. "My name's not Jason." Quick as anything the boy raised his wrist and Nino saw what looked like a water gun strapped to his wrist , a small tube lead back to a tube looked backpack on his back. "Its bubble boy!"

In an instant a large bubble shot out and captured the man within it, turning it from its original purple to a sharp green, as the man floated up Nino decided that was his moment to finally get away.

-

The sound of an explosion caused Marinette to stumble off her chair with a scream, her dinner going flying, her mother jumped from the noise too.

scrambling to the window she could see both Carapace and an Akuma fighting it out.

"I... ugh, I'm going to my room! To hide!" Marinette scrambled up to her room, not giving her mother a second glance. Said woman stared after her daughter in confusion before closing the shutters on the window, just to be safe.

-

Carapace dodged to the side as another burst of bubbles shot past him, the park had long since vacated she to the Akuma and now it was just him and said Akuma.

"Listen to me kid! This isn't the way. This isn't solving anything, just causing more problems."

The akuma screamed at him, much in the same was all kids did when they were angry before pointing his bubble gum at him. "It's bubble boy! And I say it's playtime, Forever! "

Bubble boy fired off three massive bubbles towards him, two red and one purple. He knew he could deflect the red ones but he also couldn't touch the purple one without getting caught in it. He also would have time to deflect the red ones of he avoided the purple one.

He was about to cast Shell-ter when he felt something wrap around his torso. He was quickly yanked up and over the Akuma, at the peak of his impromptu swing he caught ladybugs eyes from where she was flying before he landed to a skidding halt well behind the Akuma.

"Just as a serious question. Is this going to become a regular thing with you? "

Fluttering down next to him, Ladybug let her yo-yo hang limply. "You're my partner, of course I'm going to protect you."

 "Yeah, but that's my job." He muttered quietly before taking his shield off his back and holding it in front of him. " Be careful of his bubbles, red explodes, purple captures you and they're unbreakable. He's already sent someone high up with one. Akuma's either in the bubble gun or in the backpack. "

 "Right," She nodded, eyes squinting at the Akuma . "Then let's get this done before I'm missed."

 Spinning her Yo-Yo into the air she called out- "Lucky Charm!" - The ladybugs swarmed around each other into the air and came together to form A- "Skipping rope? How's this going to help?"

 "He did say that he wanted playtime to last forever."

Ladybug nodded as she looked around, her nose scrunched up in thought. " Right I got it, " She tossed one end of the rope to him, which he caught. "You ever tie yourself up?"

Catching her meaning he nodded before he brought up his shield, the rope handle in his other hand. "Right, ready?" Receiving a nod he ran forwards, Ladybug floating just behind him.

 "You won't stop me!" Bubble Boy raised his hand at them, a large red bubble forming at the end of the bubble gun. "It will be Playtime!" He launched the Bubble and it shot towards them with speed.

 "Shell-ter! " A small semi-circular shield formed around his shield, protecting their front halves and allowed them to keep moving without removing it.

The bubble hit dead on, causing it to explode against it, the force caused his arm to real back. Instead of fighting against it he let himself be spun, throwing the shield once he was fully turned around again.

it flew through the air until it sailed right past the kids head, causing him to flinch in surprise.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction Carapace slid to the boys left while Ladybug flew past his right, as soon as both of them passed by his shoulders they turned to loop behind him.

Carapace ended up on his right, while Ladybug was on this left, the skipping rope was looped around his chest and arms, loose.

 "Now!" Both of them pulled, tightening the rope just enough to pin his arms down. Slowly Carapace wrapped his side of the rope around his arm as he moved closer.

Grabbing the Akumatised object he carefully removed it from the boy before violently tossing it towards his returning shield, where it shattered on impact and released the butterfly within. Ladybug released her end of the rope to capture it and purify it.

Carapace relaxed slightly as the boy when more limp in his arms as his Akuma form was stripped away from him. He carefully pulled the skipping rope away before throwing it to Ladybug And pointing upwards. The boys father was still up there after all.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

 There wasn't nearly as many magical Ladybugs as before, given the lack of damage, but Nino knew he would never tire of seeing them swarm the area.

 "Jason!" And there was the boys father, Nino released the boy and both of them collided into each other in a hug. He couldn't help but smile at the sight. What had he been thinking when he was groaning about the adults earlier?

The ringing of their miraculous brought him out of his trance and he turned to Ladybug as she began to hover slightly. "Not to charm and dash but I've gotta go."

" Bug wait! " He reached out and grabbed her wrost, stopping her from flying away for just a moment. "We need to talk."

Oblivious to Ladybugs face growing darker he looked to the father son duo as she began to talk. "Now's not a good time Cara, our timers."

 " I know," as if to punctuate her point their miraculous beeped again. "Eiffle tower, Tonight, ten thirty, yeah?"

Carapace was so caught up in organizing what he was going to say that he missed Ladybugs dreamy sigh. " Yeah... ok... " Snapping out of it Ladybug shook her head. "I mean, yeah sure, Ten thirty, not a second late."

 Nodding Nino let her go, watching as she fluttered away, chuckling as she looped in the air. Flashing the duo a peace sign he made his own quick exit.

-

Adrien's birthday might have been a bust but he had learned several important things today and Ladybug needed to know about them.

Which is why he found himself waiting on the top of the Eiffel tower, far above where anyone else could even reach. He didn't mind the height, despite how it was a little difficult to actually get up there for him but they needed the privacy.

Especially since what he was going to talk about was not something he wanted any civilian to hear. Lest he cause a little bit of a panic.

He was a little nervous about bringing it up to Ladybug, given that the Akuma was originally after him and he couldn't quite say that without worrying Ladybug and/or revealing who he was. Both of those things were bad in their own right.

The heavy thump of feet hitting metal caused him to spin around, meeting Ladybugs eyes with a nod. "Sorry I'm a little late, didn't want to get caught sneaking out."

Nino chuckled as he shook his head. " Oh, I know that feeling. The paranoia that you're being watched, your heart racing like it's beating its last. I know it well. "

"Sneak out a lot then?" Nino couldn't quite place the look that was in her eyes but he got the impression that she was... Impressed? Or maybe evaluating something about him.

"Not a lot, but sometimes I just needed some air and a walk around, you know?"

She shrugged, her wings fluttering behind her, despite being on the ground. "I guess, sometimes I need new stimuli to be able to work on some of my projects. "

He nodded and the two fell into a sort of awkward silence, he offered with his hands, finger brushing over his miraculous as Ladybug swayed side to side slightly.

"So?..."

 "I learned something today, a few things actually." Slowly Nino moved to the centre beam that stuck up the middle, before hitting his back against it and skidding down till he was sat down.

"We're not immune to the Akuma's bug. " Unknown to him, his words had ripped Ladybug out of her hypothetical daydream of Carapace confessing to her atop the tower.

Thoughts on having a hamster on hold she moved closer before kneeling down in front of him. "What do you mean? "

"Earlier, with the akuma," when he got a nod from her he continued. "The boy, he wasn't the original target for the Akuma." Seeing Ladybug about to open her mouth he held up his hand to signal that he wished to finish .

"There was this other boy, had these sick headphones styled after me, he was upset..." He completely missed the way how Ladybugs eyes widened in surprise, he had not way of knowing that she knew his civilian self. "Or mad, I dunno. "

"Point is, it went for him and he threw... Whatever the item was and it absorbed the Akuma but didn't turn him." He took a breath in as he pulled one of his knees closer. " The boy picked it up, became the Akuma. "

"Oh..." Ladybugs eyes darted around for a moment before she moved and sat next to him, their shoulders touching. "So we can trap Akuma's?"

" As long as no-one touches the item and we somehow get you there to purify it quickly. "

"Ok?..." Ladybug twisted her hand in a Thoughtful manner. " So, how does all that connect to us not being immune? "

"I made an offhand comment to Wayzz, about being glad we were immune. He said we weren't, that Akuma can come for us and we need to be careful."

He shivered as he remembered how close that Akuma had come to him, never again. Noticing the far off look in ladybugs eyes he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and bumped their shoulders together.

His missed as her face began to go the same shade as her suit, hands shaking slightly from the surprise contact. "Don't worry about it too much Bug. Just ask your Kwami to help you find your happy place, that should do it."

 " Yeah... ok... "

Despite it all, Marinette couldn't stop herself from looking at Carapace in slight awe. She leaned into his hold, glad to be able to take advantage of this moment, even if it wouldn't last.

[coochiequeens]

In the past week, there has been a wave of anger over the treatment of women, and a stronger feeling that things need to change. Individual actions make up the cultural scaffolding that supports violence against women. This means we have the power to disrupt these structures if we want to.

We can start by changing how we understand and talk about violence against women. It is not an “isolated incident”, nor is it rare despite current claims that it is. Violence against women exists on a continuum, different forms overlap and their impact is cumulative. This is true for victims of violence but also for the perpetrators.

Related to this is the need to accept women’s views of the world as they experience it. Telling women we’re hysterical for talking about our fears and the things we do to stay safe is deeply unhelpful. It feeds our doubts about our own experience, and tells us not to trust ourselves at the same time as expecting us to use our instincts to evaluate when we’re in danger.

What women are being asked to do is find the right amount of panic. Don’t panic enough and it’s your fault if something happens. Panic too much and you’re paranoid. It’s a catch-22 that means no matter what we do, women are doing it wrong. We need to start trusting women’s ability to accurately assess risk, and understand that the “safety work” they’re required to do limits their freedom.

More broadly, we are all complicit in structures that dehumanise women. Recent research on men’s sexual aggression has argued that dehumanisation, and in particular the denial of women’s “human uniqueness”, can be a driving factor for men who commit sexual offences. Put simply, some don’t see women as people.

We have to stop producing and consuming representations of women as nothing more than a conduit for the actions of men. Stop watching pornography that sees women as endlessly replaceable; that describes women only by their skin colour or hair colour; that sexualises coercion and women’s non-consent. If you don’t watch it, stop just scrolling past it as though by ignoring it you’re not complicit. Demand this material is removed and stop using porn until it is.

The argument here has gone way past causation. It is about recognising that pornography has a social function: it helps authorise “what counts” as sexual practice and sexual pleasure, and shapes how we see ourselves and each other. Recent research from myself and colleagues at Durham University found that one in every eight titles on the front pages of the UK’s most popular porn websites described sexual acts that fit the World Health Organization’s definition of sexual violence. This is not a problem of niche sites or the dark web, something only found by “bad men” actively searching for this content. This is mainstream pornography on mainstream sites with the mainstream message that sexual violence is sexy.

And it’s not just porn, “true crime” is too frequently a retelling of men’s violence against women. More often than not the opportunity to use these stories to raise awareness of the harms of violence against women and to communicate the humanity of its victims is rarely taken up.

Instead, perpetrators are sensationalised and celebrated. We saw this most recently when the families of the victims of Peter Sutcliffe asked Netflix to retitle their series on his crimes. They urged the producers to remember “that the word ‘ripper’ relates to ripping flesh” and to recognise that its use glorified violence and gave Sutcliffe celebrity status. Netflix claimed that the show was “a sensitive re-examination of the crimes” and the series went on to be a huge success. Nothing will change until we stop watching.

Men need to speak up when women are being treated or talked about in ways that don’t feel right or respectful. It’s going to feel uncomfortable, and you may be mocked, but men need to challenge other men about their attitudes and behaviours. As a society we need to raise children without the constraints of gender limiting who they are and who they can become. Simple actions such as altering pronouns in children’s books – so female characters have the rich lives and adventures that the male characters have – will help over time to build a world where it is harder and harder to not see women as people.

Finally, we need to ensure that our laws and policies recognise the humanity of all women. Migrant women, for example, were deliberately left unprotected by the current domestic abuse bill. Last night, the Lords passed an amendment to help rectify this, but we need to keep the pressure on. The government has reopened its violence against women consultation, let’s take the opportunity to tell it that every woman deserves protection.

For women to be free and safe we need to do more than increase street lighting and surveillance. This past year has shown us our actions are connected; individual decisions have consequences that ripple out and affect us all. We can apply that understanding to this situation and recognise our role in upholding a culture that endorses, excuses and eroticises violence against women. We need change and we need it now. Women can’t afford to wait a day longer.

Dr Fiona Vera-Gray is the author of The Right Amount of Panic: How women trade freedom, and an assistant professor in the department of sociology at Durham University

[sisterdharma]

When it comes to #BlackLivesMatter, believe it or not, YOU may be the problem!

From a BLM ACTIVIST:

Ok white friends, I’m about to lay some hardcore truth on you right now, and many of you are not going to like it. Some of you are going to get immediately defensive. But before you comment from an emotional place, I encourage you to stop, re-read this post, do a little bit of research about casual racism and white privilege and then come back and re-read the post again. After that, if you still want to comment, please feel free.Ok, here we go....

Many of you are the problem. 

Yes, you read that right. Many of you are the reason why these riots are happening. Many of you are the reason why it’s come to this. This is especially true if you’ve ever (but especially in the last week) said any of the following;

1. “It’s awful but...” - No. No buts. In the English language, the word “But” is often used to deflect or to justify behaviour. Police murdering black people in the street is awful. Period. End of discussion.

2. “I support the movement but not these disruptive protests...” - No, you don’t. Right now, the movement is taking the form of disruptive protests. They’re the same thing. You either want police to stop murdering black people in the street, or you don’t. If you do, then support the protests — even if you find them disruptive and frustrating — because that’s black people fighting for their lives.

3. “All lives/White lives matter too..” - no one said they didn’t. The conversation is specifically about black lives right now because police are murdering them in the street. Until police stop doing that, and White people stop dismissing it, it’s not “All lives matter,” it’s “MOST lives matter.” It’s not “ALL Lives” until Black Lives Matter too. Stay focused.

4. “There are good cops...” - No one said there weren’t. There are three categories of cops; Good cops, bad cops and complacent cops. Good cops are marching with the protesters. They’re sharing the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. They’re trying to change the system from within the system. There are many levels of Bad cops. The most obvious one is those officers that are murdering black people in the street. Bad cops are also sharing the hashtags “blue lives matter.” Bad cops are trying to shift the focus. Bad cops don’t stop their colleagues when they murder black people in the streets. Complacent cops just show up, follow orders and try not to take sides. Complacent cops are bad cops.

5. “I don’t support the looting and destruction...” - no one says you have to, but please stop acting like looting nullifies the entire protest. And definitely stop acting like looting is “just as bad.” That’s like comparing someone stealing your car to someone murdering your child. They’re not equally bad. Stop pretending they are. Police murdering black people in the street is definitely worse than robbing a Target.

6. “Just because I’m white doesn’t mean my life has been easy...” Of course not. Everyone struggles. But being white has never been one of those struggles. Being poor has been a struggle. Being a woman has been a struggle. Being gay has been a struggle. But being white has never been a struggle. The same can’t be said for people of colour. I could go on and on about white privilege, but it would be so much easier if you educated yourself instead. This isn’t about how you, a white, cisgender, straight man has suffered in your life. This is about police murdering black people in the street. Stop trying to make it about you.

7. “I really wish they would protest peacefully...” - of course you do. They’re easier to ignore that way. People of colour have been peacefully protesting for hundreds of years. It hasn’t been all that successful. The reason riots and violent demonstrations work is because it makes people — especially white people — uncomfortable. We can’t ignore them when they’re waving torches in our faces. It scares us. It puts us on edge, which is precisely where we need to be. People only pay attention to the extreme. If you have trouble recalling a single one of the hundreds of peaceful protests that BLM held across North America last year, but you can still recall, with crystal clarity, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, then you’ve just proved my point.

8. “I don’t see colour...” — Congratulations , you’re lying to yourself. Of course, you see colour. And that’s good! Black people want you to see their colour. Their colours are beautiful and the very foundation of who they are. If you don’t see their colour, then you also don’t see their culture. If you don’t see colour, then you erase their very identity. If you don’t see their colour, then you also can’t see the pattern of violence they’re confronted with every day. If you don’t see colour, then you’re blind to more than just racial injustice. You’re blind to the world.

9. “They shouldn’t have committed a crime...” - This one is a big one for me. Consider me triggered. A boy who steals a can of pop from a 711 does not deserve to be shot in the back three times. A man illegally selling CD’s on a street corner doesn’t deserve to be shot to death in front of a record store. A man who runs a red light does not deserve to be shot while reaching for his registration. This isn’t about their crimes; this is about bad policing. Stay on topic.

10. “Black people kill white people too...” yes, murderers exist in every race and walk of life. But that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking police brutality, and the reality is, black officers are not murdering unarmed white men in the street. That seems to be almost exclusively white officer behaviour. Stop gaslighting.*Additions based on comments to this post;

11. “Black people kill other black people...” - Yes, they do, just like white people kill other white people and Latinos kill other latinos etc. Crime related violence does not adhere to any imaginary racial boundaries or allegiances. But, we’re not talking about criminal violence right now. We’re not discussing drug violence or gang violence or sexual violence or domestic violence or bar brawls or whatever random type of violence you’d like to bring up. The conversation is specifically about POLICE BRUTALITY. Say it with me. Police. Brutality. Any other form of violence you bring up is entirely irrelevant. Please stay on topic.

12. “I support black people, but I can’t support the violence...” — In other words, you would prefer people of colour continue to be murdered by police, rather than have them rise up violently against their oppressors. Got it. That’s not support.

13. “It’s not about race. We are all human beings...” yes, except people of colour often aren’t treated like human beings. For instance, they’re being murdered in the streets like animals. On video. While people watch. While people do nothing.

14. “The looting and arson distract from their message. It’s their fault for not controlling it...” If you’d like to lay blame, how about we start by blaming the police who frequently murder unarmed people of colour. If they didn’t frequently murder unarmed people of colour, the protest wouldn’t be necessary. The protest wouldn’t have turned into a riot, the riot wouldn’t have turned violent, and looting wouldn’t have happened. Blaming the oppressed for not better “controlling” their social unrest is asinine.

15. “More white people are killed by cops than black people. Here are the statistics...” - I love when people do research! Thank you for that! But those stats that you’re proudly flashing around aren’t an accurate reflection of the issue. According to data, there are approx. 234,370,202 white people In the United States. Comparatively, that same data states that there are 40,610,815 “Black” Americans. So, when your stats show 1,398 white people have been killed by officers since 2017 and only 543 Black people, what those statistics really show is .0005% of white people were killed by police in those 3.5 years, while .0011% of black people were killed by police. That means black people were killed at a higher rate. 220% higher, to be exact. Math has no racial bias. Those aren’t great stats. Stop using them to defend your position.

16. “Black people commit more crime...” - Do they really, though? According to data released in 2017, there were 475,900 black prisoners in state and federal prisons and 436,500 white prisoners. That’s a difference of about 9%. So for argument's sake, let’s say those numbers are an accurate reflection of the amount of crime committed. If people of colour commit only 9% more crime, why are they killed by police at a rate of 220% higher?

17. “Well, the same stats you mentioned shows that even though they’re only 12% of the population, they commit 54% of the crime.” - Good Catch! You’re right. But those numbers don’t actually reflect the amount of crime committed. That’s why I said to assume they’re correct. Those numbers only reveal how many people are incarcerated. The reality is, while those numbers are all we have to go on, they don’t tell the complete story either. In the United States specifically, socioeconomic racism, which was designed to keep POC in poverty through district red-lining, lower quality of education and other systemic obstacles, is a huge component. Thanks to redlining (look it up) and other zoning and banking practices, the quality of education in “black” neighbourhoods are significantly lower, which means the average income for POC in those neighbours is lower and the unemployment much higher. Also, thanks to redlining, the unemployment rate, and lower-income rates, crime in those neighbourhoods tends to be higher. That means those neighbourhoods are patrolled by police more often. Thanks to racial bias, POC are followed, stopped, harassed and arrested more frequently than the white people who live in those same neighbourhoods. What all of this means is that, when POC are arrested more frequently, they often can’t afford fancy lawyers to help them. They usually end up with Public Defenders, who are often overworked, and they often encourage POC to plead guilty in exchange for less time. Then there’s the fact that, because white people make up 73% of the population, they also tend to make up a bigger percentage of Jurors. There’s lots of factors to consider. So don’t assume that just because they make up 54% of the people in jail, that they make up 54% of the crime. The entire system is broken. That’s part of the problem.

18. “You’re promoting violence and destruction, shame on you...” - I don’t remember encouraging anyone to riot. I also don’t remember encouraging anyone to loot or commit arson. The truth is, looting and arson is certainly not my preferred form of protest. But it’s important to remember that protesters haven’t committed most of the violent behaviour. Civil unrest tends to cause chaos and confusion. That chaos provides the perfect opportunity for poor-intentioned people to do poor-intentioned things. That doesn’t mean the civil unrest should stop. I don’t condone the violence. I just don’t think it should dominate the conversation. If you want to focus on the violence, try focusing on those officers who’ve killed POC in the street. You’re focusing on the wrong violence.

If any of you are guilty of saying any of the above, then I have unsettling news for you. 

YOU are the reason it’s come to this.

YOU are the reason peaceful protests haven’t worked.They haven’t worked because 

YOU haven’t been listening.

YOU haven’t been learning.

These violent riots are happening because YOU have left people of colour, no other choice.

These riots are happening because no matter how people of colour have said it, taking a knee, marching the streets, bumper stickers, banners, signs, or chants, YOU still don’t get it.

That doesn’t mean you’re bad people.

That doesn’t mean you’re racist. 

It only means you’re white. And that’s not a crime, any more than being black is.The difference is, police aren’t going to shoot you in the street for it!

Copied and pasted. Feel free to do the same. 

[evakuality]

Episode five of this ongoing comparison.  The earlier episodes can be found here:

Episode one    Episode two    Episode three    Episode four

What we have here is the start of the pain.  This is where things start to go downhill for both of our boys, though in different ways.  Because we also have the start of the bigger diversions, or in this case more accurately the bigger shifts in clip placement, from the original in Druck.  Before we get to the pain, though, we of course have the post-kiss cuddling, making out all night scenes.  The actual cuddling etc goes mostly the same for both.  They’re both wrapped up in their partners, soft and warm and glowing.  The one really big difference is that while Isak has some teasing banter with Even they stay mostly wrapped up in each other, whereas Matteo and David are more physical in their teasing and banter.  There’s wrestling and pretend biting.  They’re more active and energetic together and this sums up a lot of the differences between Isak and Matteo as well.  Isak is far less physical with Even in these sorts of ways.  He’s far more likely to be quiet and calm together with him.  Whereas Matteo and David are much more physical in their way of being together.  They wrestle, kick, run, poke, play fake table tennis etc etc.  And in fact this is a cornerstone of the way Matteo interacts with others.  Later on we see him playing table tennis and a weird football game with the boys.  It really highlights how unlike himself he’s been at this stage where David is the only one he’s doing this stuff with.  Isak, by contrast, hangs with his boys in much more static ways.  They sit around, they talk, they play video games, they joke etc.  But they’re not as physically active.  Part of this difference could also be the timing of when each couple left the party and thus when they might have got home and thus how much sleep they might conceivably have got.  Matteo and David left mid afternoon, whereas Isak and Even left well after 9.  But the differences in this way in other scenes are also quite clear so it’s at least partly because of a difference in preference in terms of how they enjoy hanging out with people.

What we do get here is Isak having the confidence to contradict Even, though.  For once he’s not just being swept away but is carving out his own space in this thing.  It allows for a deeper, more real conversation even than the one they had in episode two.  Matteo and David have already had this sort of conversation, where they were both open and vulnerable with the other.  So this for them is just a continuation.  I don’t think that Matteo and David are genuinely more ‘equal’ than Isak and Even, but I think Isak thinks Even is out of his league for a lot longer than Matteo thinks that of David.  That’s partly to do with how much vs how little time they were able to interact in previous episodes and also to the fact that their ages are different with Matteo and David being in the same year.  This difference is really highlighted at the end of this clip when it’s ‘I’m so fucked’ vs ‘we’re so fucked’ -- Isak is still more aloof from Even and his issues than Matteo is from David’s.  The thing here is that Isak is getting comfortable with this new person and is beginning to let his true colours out.  He’s competitive and argumentative and he likes to talk and discuss.  This is the point where he starts to come into his own with Even and Even really becomes less of a godlike figure and more of an equal.  The other difference in this scene is the variety of things we see Isak and Even talking about.  Their conversations roams, bouncing from thing to thing and they don’t dwell on any one topic for long.  Isak is open and curious and wants to know it all, but he’s unwilling to share too much of his own stuff.  He shuts his Eskild story down with ‘blah blah blah’ whereas Matteo, when asked a similar thing, is much more willing to talk about his family life and why he’s thinking what he’s thinking.  He’s very clear about what he needs: yeah being alone is bad.  He’s so willing to let David in, again probably because they’ve been here before and that conversation went well and it therefore becomes easier to share vulnerabilities.  Isak is still feeling out how much and what he should tell.  Matteo is clearly having just as long and just as varied a conversation with David but we don’t get to hear it.  Instead we see how energised they are together, how much David makes him laugh, how much he enjoys the time together.

Their morning after personas are very different too.  Isak is wary, scared at having been ‘caught’ when Even left and he shuts his friends out, very deliberately via the door to his room.  Matteo, on the other hand, literally doesn’t seem to care that he’s so different to usual.  He actually invites the girls to share some of his pasta and jokes and has some fun with them.  Considering that to this point, isak has been much more open and connected with his friends and Matteo has been the opposite it’s an interesting development.  It speaks again, I think, to Matteo being much more secure in who he is.  Literally all he’s been needing is someone to push him out of his rut, whereas Isak has now had his experience with a boy and is swimming in all the new things that throws up for him about who he is.  He wants to process it alone or with Even not with the general world.  Matteo is more than happy to be seen happy, and as we see later in this episode, he’s far more willing to be open about this relationship and to kiss etc in public spaces, something we continue to see Isak struggling with almost to the end of this season.

This more connected Matteo and less connected Isak carries through into their post-weekend meeting with the boys.  Isak is sidelined, clearly on the outer and can’t even find Even at all.  And his boys, who he blew off to be with Even, now have a shared experience and are animatedly talking about it with Isak visibly pushed off to the side.  He feels lonely and isolated.  Matteo on the other hand gets a firm commitment from David to meet later in the week and when he talks to Jonas he’s invited into the discussion.  That’s easier of course because it’s just the two of them, but it’s still a major move away from his self imposed isolation of earlier.  He’s found David, is happy and positive about their future, and so he’s re-entering the world.  We get a really good indication of who he really is here, and it’s someone who enjoys being open with other people when he’s feeling good.  He has his down moment when Sara confronts him about breaking up with her, but even then he doesn’t seem all that bothered by it not even when she ‘accuses’ him of not being into girls.  In fact he’s so unbothered by it that he’s genuinely confused when David asks how she’s doing after their date.  Yeah he’s not into girls, he met ‘this guy’ and he’s willing to go after what he wants and doesn’t care who knows it.  He makes his intentions very clear to David, while still respecting David’s choices and preferences.  David’s conversation here is very opaque, and we don’t really know what he means or why he’s acting the way he is.  Matteo certainly doesn’t seem to get it, and while he’s confused he’s willing to let David take it at his own pace during that date.  He still thinks they’re on the same page, and in a lot of ways they are.  David is scared to be open but not because of anything Matteo has said about the things that are important to him and so the path back to each other is a lot less fraught.  Matteo into the next few episodes is more free to reminisce about their time together as ‘beautiful’ without the strain of some of the other things Isak deals with.

Isak by contrast is left in a very awkward state.  He thinks they make a commitment to each other there in that locker room.  He isn’t aware that he’s said anything that will push Even away, indeed he thought that saying keeping mentally ill people (eg his mother, who he has a difficult relationship with) away from him is a drawcard.  So the path of both of these boys to the end of this episode is very different.  For Isak, the ‘we’re going too fast’ text comes out of nowhere, after he thinks they make a firm commitment.  Even used words that very much suggested they would be together, so it’s not strange that Isak believes they are.  Isak is also forced now to talk about his parents in a way that he avoided with the ‘blah blah blah’ story, and so he’s being vulnerable at a time when he wants to be honest.  He genuinely wants to answer Even’s question about how they’d feel if he was with a guy.  But he fumbles it a lot because he’s doing it on the spot and he knows it’s a delicate topic.  His mother probably wouldn’t be happy, but he doesn’t want that to drive Even away so he makes the infamous comment that is what actually pushes him away.  That text also comes after the very passionate discussion with Eskild whose disapproval of Isak’s commentary on being ‘gay gay’ is so very deep and cutting.  His reaction to that is shame and then he’s hit with that message from Even.  It devastates him as we see when he’s isolating himself from the boys again the next evening.  He withdraws into himself and his self isolation only gets worse once he sees Even.  He completely shuts the boys out and goes off on his own, wanting to deal with this huge emotional blow by himself.  It’s a far cry from the Isak we saw at the start of the season.  

Matteo’s reaction is to get angry with himself.  The tone and the flow of the conversation is different even though the content is much the same, with Matteo at the start once again seeming to try to explain why he feels the way he does, unlike Isak who was quite defensive in his dismissal of being ‘like that’.  Matteo is more ‘that’s your thing, this is my thing, and I want to stay me’. Unfortunately, Matteo does get to Isak’s level of causing offense by the end as he digs his hole deeper with some of his comments.  He tries to apologise, much the same way he did with the dancing girl scene, but Hans cuts him off and leaves.  Hans seems much less hurt than Eskild, or at least less bitter with it.  There’s no ‘I don’t want to talk to you’ comment and so Matteo’s reactions mostly stem from his own internal annoyance with himself.  His ‘fuck’ is directed at himself because he knows he screwed up and didn’t get the words to come out right.  Isak’s seemed more ignorant to start, whereas Matteo appears more to be just trying to define himself (though this could be in hindsight just because Eskild and Hans react quite differently).  This means of course that when Matteo gets David’s ‘we’re going too fast’ text he has no qualms in going to his house.  This is more in character for him anyway; he’s never been one to just accept David coming to him.  He’s always been more proactive and in this case he’s going to fight for what he wants.  That of course ends badly because David gets spooked and pushes him even further away.  One thing I haven’t really mentioned before is how much more aggressive Matteo is than Isak.  When he gets upset or angry he throws things to relieve some of that pressure and tension.  It’s never designed to break anything, indeed he usually chooses harmless things that will let off steam without causing damage.  But it’s something I can’t ever see Isak doing which is why the way he shoves Mahdi at the party shows how much he’s hurting.  Matteo’s is more of the same, Isak’s is a shocking burst out of nowhere.

Both boys are left devastated at the end of the episode, but Matteo’s is far more from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.  David’s text seems to have come out of nowhere, just a random ‘it’s going too fast’ after he’s been mulling it over.  Even’s is in direct response to Isak asking to hang out.  And Matteo gets shut down when he goes to see David, both by his sister and by his second text, the much harsher ‘I’m not into you.’  Isak sees Even from a distance when he’d have no way to know Isak would ever see, and so for Isak there is still the possibility of hope.  ‘I need time’ is much less definitive than what Matteo is told.  The result is the same, though.  They both further isolate themselves.  But for Isak this is a continuation of what he’s been doing or what has been happening this whole week; it’s just a deeper slide into this state.  Whereas Matteo had one shining week of reconnecting and being happy before this hit him hard.  He retreats to his old standby after this, taking it even further.  It’s interesting that again we see Isak trying to take the lead a bit by asking Even to hang out, and getting shut down again, which reinforces the idea that Even is still the one calling the shots here.  But Matteo is used to being the one to take the lead.  He and David generally share that role, and so it’s easier for him to decide to fight.  The thing is that in the past David has been willing to go along when Matteo has taken the lead (and vice versa, but that’s not so important right now), so having him back off so many times during the date and on the Friday night really drives home for Matteo that something has gone wrong.  All he knows is that one day things were great and the next he’s lost David for no discernible reason.  Of course he’s devastated.  Isak’s week has been pretty bad, with one shining moment of brightness in the middle, so for him this is just one more blow on top of a number he’s already endured.  His has been building up to this point.  Either way, they’re both suffering at this point and we get the real start of all the pain.

Episode six can be found here

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

ASM vol 5 #10/811 Thoughts

I suspect I’m gonna be a bit more down on the issue than everyone else!

 Fundamentally the things that put my feelings into conflict with this story are how the past of the characters should be reconciled against the needs of the present.

 What do I mean by this?

 Well in this issue we have Peter being chill with Black Cat and also MJ claiming that for the longest time she couldn’t handle worrying about Peter and this would lead to a cycle of them breaking up and getting back together, and she also felt she was not on his level that she was dispensable and that maybe he should be with someone else. These pieces of dialogue are accompanied by images clearly evoking marriage era MJ which allegedly post-OMD still happened but they were not married.

 If you go by recent history Peter should just not be this chill with Felicia. She is literally a burglar and he was willing to let her walk away which wasn’t his origin entirely about how doing that once killed his uncle? This isn’t even getting into her body count during her Queenpin tenure. I now they provide a sort of fix for that but my point was before that fix happened in the story he was clearly still chill with her and that is BS.

 If you go by the wider history of Peter and MJ her statements do not really add up. Even in the 1990s MJ didn’t literally spend all her time worrying about Peter (she went out partying in Torment for example) and both back then and even before they married she clearly could handle his life, just not handle it in a wholly stressfree manner (because nobody could do that). The idea that this inability to handle his life, specifically the fact that she worried constantly about him, was the reason they’d break up before getting back together is also not true.

 If you even include their break up under Marv Wolfman’s run MJ broke up with Peter the first time mostly due to her commitment issues. The second time they sort of broke up was in Spider-Man vs. Wolverine where there was a miscommunication problem but that was also due to her commitment issues a little bit. However it is obvious Spencer wasn’t referring to that stuff but the stuff during their marriage and during their marriage (I know they weren’t married now but you know what I mean, I’m just using ‘marriage’ as shorthand) they broke up just twice.

 The first time was during Mackie/Byrne’s run and it wasn’t because MJ worried too much about Peter it was because she felt dispensible to him, that she didn’t really matter in his life, that he did not in truth need her and that he didn’t in effect love her much more than he would have loved a mistress or a trophy wife. The second time was in OMIT where they broke up over MJ feeling like being with Peter endangered her family too much. Granted that last one was indeed about not being able to handle his life but it wasn’t about concern for him or even herself as the issue implied. Moreover multiple times during the marriage, in fact very specifically during the issue they reunited under JMS it was made clear to MJ that she WAS indispensible and that Peter truly needed her. He said as much even in Spencer’s debut issue (if you discount the FCBD issue of course).

 All of which means MJ’s statements don’t really ring true to her character or her shared history with Peter. She knows she doesn’t need to be a part of his world to matter. Now I say all that with the caveat that you can of course explain away the discrepancy to a degree. Perhaps in this one moment out of nervousness, or the chance to FINALLY unload her feelings, the sake of brevity and/or some combination of those things MJ is misremembering things.

 There were periods where she found coping with Peter’s life very hard, and they did break up. And perhaps in seeing him with Black Cat and Mockingbird feelings of inadequacy crossed her mind and in this moment all those things are mingling together coalescing into her not truly accurate account of their relationship.* Equally her presenting their relationship as a constant merry go round of breaking up and making up could be her conflating the entirety of their relationship before and after their marriage, including all of Slott’s dumbass teases of them getting back together (and the Superior stuff too). Remember in-universe all the stuff she is talking about played out across several years and their break up depicted in OMIT was several years ago circa this issue (Superior alone played out across 1 year in-universe).

 So there are totally ways of explaining this in-universe, even if there aren’t any for why Peter was so chill with Felicia.

 However this is where we get into the ‘needs of the present’ as I discussed above.

 Because it is plainly obvious to me that Spencer with this story was doing yet more clean up of BND and Slott’s mess more than trying to religiously fit everything into continuity.

 Spencer has done much already to fix things but there is still much that is broken, so much like JMS I think we need to say its okay for him to bend certain bits of characterization in service of over all setting the ship back on course and cleaning up the mess he inherited.

 As I said JMS did this too. To be incredibly harsh right now the fact that Peter and MJ were stayed broken up as long as they did under the JMS run really wasn’t in character for either of them.**

 However his genius game plan was to course correct the series over all and do that by illuminating just WHY their relationship was so important and he did that by examining their feelings about NOT being together and making a story about them working to get back together.

 It was a neccesarry direction to go in as it conveyed to readers on a meta level WHY them being together was a good thing and why it was in fact vitally important to the lead character and over all series.

 Spencer in this story I think was doing something similar.

 On a meta level he essentially connected Felicia losing her memory of who Spider-Man was, of what their relationship was like WITH her mischaracterization since OMD. Which works in-universe perfectly fine but along with Peter’s chill attitude to her it was set up for his big fix of her re-learning his secret and essentially going back to (starting to go back to) what she used to be like and what she always should have been like.

 After all it NEVER made sense for Peter to have kept her in the dark at all so bending his characterization by ignoring her recent activities is equivalent to how he ignored the baggage from post-OMD to just immediately get Peter and MJ reunited.*** Although he again here provides a short yet solid explanation even for that just to address everyone who really was annoyed by Slott’s BS characterization being ignored.

 With the MJ thing I think that storyline existed more for Spencer through MJ to essentially address readers’ (especially recent readers’) beliefs surrounding the character and her relationship with Spider-Man. It was essentially post-OMD MJ bringing up common arguments raised against her being with Spider-Man by editorial and characters within the comics (including her from Slott and other author’s stories) and then through the story debunking them. In this way using Black Cat, Spider-Man’s most famous super hero girlfriend (and sometimes romantic rival to MJ) as a representative of every potential argument in favour of Spider-Man not being with a civilian like her was simply genius.

 It was Spencer writing on a level Slott never did, weaving these disparate plots together organically to deliver a statement on the characters, who are the reason we are reading this after all.

 So that is where I am at with the story.

 Trying to reconcile the technical mischaracetrization with that mischaracterization being in over all service of fixing the decades long mischaracterization and misconceptions of the characters.

 I suspect with time I will be more okay with it and lean more towards the latter. I do hope though we don’t see more stuff like it though because I’d rather the marriage era be celebrated positively than negatively the way post-OMD portrayed it.

 Other points I want to hit up.

 -          Ramos seemed better this issue than in the other ones

-          There were some honestly hilarious scenes like the phone app and the reference to Spider-Man’s hyphen

-          The lack of jealousy from MJ was a nice piece of maturity and subversion of expectations from her, especially given who she was dealing with. I also adored Peter just being up front with her and clear about what went down. You know...doing the resposnsible adult thing. That’s not even great to see in Spider-Man, it’s subverting an annoying as Hell trope in countless pieces of fiction to generate cheap drama.

-          I almost feel Centipede guy is like Scarlet Spider because his costume colours were very reminiscent of Spidey’s but he also adorned a hoody

-          There was a misplaced word balloon which is...c’mon guys try to catch those obvious mistakes...

-          The cover hilarious and a great meta joke.

-          Bandini’s art was still gorgeous

-          I don’t know if all of MJ’s jobs and life prior to working for Stark (which still makes no sense) honestly could be regarded as the opposite of Spider-Man’s career strictly speaking. After all...they both earned money from posing for photos so...Maybe from her pov tha’ts just how she feels about her jobs, a little like how she felt in Unlimited vol 3 #2.

 I’d give this an A- at worst, A at best.

 Which is like...I know I brought up a lot of draw backs but look how far we’ve come in such a short space of time!

 I was honestly jealous of everyone who read this before me! That’s where I am at with modern Spider-Man and it feels good!

  *Also whilst Peter might’ve made his need for MJ explicit in issue #1 that might not have fully convinced her thereafter that maybe he’d be better off with another super person. After all he said what he said after almost dying so he might not have been thinking with a totally clear head.

However given how MJ, in two brilliant little scenes, takes Jarvis’ words of wisdom and also seems to absorb and grow past her insecurity rather quickly you could argue that said insecurity was less truly something weighing on her mind and more a wobble she was having at that moment. We all have little wobbles and moments of insecurity that do not necessarily speak to anything deepset within us.

 **It made a little more sense when JMS retconned in the reason for why MJ left Peter but he didn’t reveal that for the first ¼ of his overall run so MJ appeared to be OOC for that time.

 ***Also once Spider-Man learns Felicia’s misdemeanours are partially his fault because they are connected to her loss of memory which he caused and perpetuated then it makes his willingness to forgive her and (presumably) trust she is on a path to redemption more believable.

p.s. Flash’s death being used as the explanation for MJ and Peter’s reconciliation is a microcosm of the issues I discussed with the story.

On the one hand Flash’s death is at last acknowledged. On the other it’s lack of acknowledgement before this and presumably after this story will continue to be eye brow raising because why be so unaffected by the death of your close old friend?

But at the same time diving into the realistic ark and depressing emotions of grief that should accompany Flash’s death would compromise the necessity of fixing the broken Spider-Man series so once again, we got to ‘bend the rules’ as it were.

[phantom-le6]

Film Review - Mortal Kombat (2021 reboot)

To kick off my between-series break of film reviews, I’ve decided to start by looking at a live-action film released earlier this year that is a reboot of a live-action film franchise based on an iconic series of fighting games.  In other words, this will be my take on the recent live-action film reboot of Mortal Kombat.

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

In 17th-century Japan, Lin Kuei assassins led by Bi-Han kill the warriors of the rival Shirai Ryu ninja clan led by Hanzo Hasashi, including Hanzo's wife and son. Hanzo kills the attackers before being killed by Bi-Han, resulting in his soul being condemned to the Netherrealm. Raiden, god of thunder, arrives and takes Hanzo's surviving infant daughter to safety.

 In the present, the realm of Outworld has defeated Earthrealm in nine of ten tournaments known as "Mortal Kombat"; if Earthrealm loses the tenth tournament, the rules state it will be conquered by Outworld. However, an ancient prophecy states that the "blood of Hanzo Hasashi" will unite a new generation of Earthrealm's champions to prevent Outworld's victory. Aware of this, soul-eating sorcerer Shang Tsung, who has overseen the last nine victories, sends his warriors to kill Earthrealm's champions, identified by a dragon mark, before the next tournament begins. One such champion, a former professional MMA fighter named Cole Young, is attacked alongside his family by Bi-Han, who now calls himself Sub-Zero. However, Special Forces Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs rescues the Youngs, directing them to find his partner, Sonya Blade. Jax stays to battle Sub-Zero but loses his arms in the process.

 Cole tracks Sonya to her hideout, where she is interrogating a captive Australian mercenary named Kano. She reveals that she and Jax have been investigating Mortal Kombat's existence and that the dragon mark can be transferred to anyone who kills the original bearer. They are attacked by Shang Tsung's assassin, Syzoth, but Kano kills him with Cole and Sonya's help. They travel to Raiden's temple and meet current Earthrealm champions Liu Kang and Kung Lao before being brought to Raiden, who is critical of the newcomers. They are joined by Jax, whom Raiden rescued and fitted with a set of mechanical arms. Shang Tsung attempts to attack the temple, but is stopped when Raiden shields it from intrusion. While Sonya helps Jax recover, Cole and Kano train with Kang and Lao to unlock their "arcana", a special power unique to all dragon mark bearers.

 During an argument, Kano awakens his arcana, the ability to shoot a laser out of his right eye. Cole is unable to awaken his despite his persistence. Disappointed with Cole, Raiden sends him back to his family, while revealing that he is a descendant of Hasashi. Shang Tsung gathers his warriors, including Kano's former ally, Kabal, to attack the temple. Kabal convinces Kano to defect and sabotage the shield. During the fray, Jax awakens his arcana, granting him strength and upgraded arms. Concurrently, the Youngs are attacked by Goro. Cole rouses his arcana, giving him a suit of armour and a set of tonfas derived from a strength bracelet made by Cole’s daughter. He kills Goro and helps repel the attack on the temple. Shang Tsung and Sub-Zero are infuriated when Raiden discloses Cole's bloodline before he teleports most of the Earthrealm fighters to the Void, a safe space between realms. Lao, however, sacrifices himself defending Cole.

 Cole proposes a plan to force Outworld's champions into a single combat with those from the Earthrealm before neutralizing Sub-Zero together, forcing the tournament that Shang Tsung tried to prevent. Agreeing with the plan, Raiden gives Cole Hanzo's kunai, which still has Hanzo's blood on it, telling him that using it would get Hanzo's spirit to fight alongside him. Raiden transports Cole and his allies to their targets. While defeating Outworld's champions, Sonya kills Kano and acquires his dragon mark, while also getting the ability to fire purple energy blasts as her own arcana, which she also uses to kill Mileena. Sub-Zero abducts Cole's family to lure him into a one-on-one fight. Overpowered by Sub-Zero, Cole uses the kunai and drains Hanzo's blood left on it, releasing Hanzo as the vengeful specter, Scorpion. Recognizing Cole as his descendant, Scorpion helps him defeat Sub-Zero and free his family before immolating Sub-Zero with hellfire. Thanking Cole for freeing him and requesting that he take care of the Hasashi bloodline, Scorpion departs as Raiden, the other champions, and Shang Tsung arrive.

 Shang Tsung vows revenge as he sends his champions' corpses back to Outworld before Raiden banishes him. Raiden declares his intention to train new warriors in preparation for the next tournament and assigns his current champions to recruit them. Cole then departs to Los Angeles in search of Hollywood martial artist and movie star, Johnny Cage.

Review:

As someone who prefers PC games of the military strategy or simulator variety, it’s fair to say I don’t have the greatest familiarity with the Mortal Kombat franchise, but it’s not something I’m a stranger to, either.  I grew up playing Mortal Kombat II with my older brothers on our old Commodore Amiga despite being too young by the age-rating systems later introduced due largely to this game series, as like a lot of kids who grew up in the 90’s, I also watched the decidedly toned-down animated series that was Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm.

 Based on this childhood nostalgia for the world of Mortal Kombat, the idea that films were being created in the here and now to reflect the franchise piqued my curiosity, so when this film came out on blu-ray, I bought it along with last year’s direct-to-home release animated Mortal Kombat films (which will be the next film I review after this one).  Given my relative lack of familiarity with the later incarnations of Mortal Kombat, I came to this film at a kind of tipping-point between the expert fan and the new audience member, trying as best I could to judge how the film would play to both groups while not really being in either myself.

 To my mind, a good first instalment in a Mortal Kombat film franchise needs to get three things in it and done right; the tournament itself and sufficient background exposition to explain it, a decent Fatality count to honour the very concept of the game, and accurate representation of the game’s longest-lasting and most iconic characters.  The first point is one the film only goes some way towards managing; the tournament of Mortal Kombat is mentioned and aspects of it are explained, but no origin is provided for it.  Game fans probably won’t mind this and may not need it, but the new fans coming into the lore through this film would need it.

 I imagine that like Star Wars, the powers-that-be probably think it’s not necessary to provide an origin for the whole concept within the continuity itself, but I disagree.  An origin, a proper backstory, adds context that better explains why the villains are villains.  Not every villain is meant to be like Batman’s Joker, a force of true evil and pure chaos that is best left unexplained to avoid humanising them and making them relatable.  In fact, most villains outside of a computer game fall flat, and it makes it difficult for new viewers to understand the stakes involved.  Ok, Shang Tsung and the Outworld crew want to enslave Earth – why? What does enslaving the Earth get them? Are they after it for our population, our resources, bragging rights – what?  This is often why adapting games into films is a bad idea; games can work without a lot of plot detail, films can’t.

 Second, the film seems to baulk at racking up much of a main character kill-count.  This is a problem that was also experienced in the DCEU when they did the first live-action Suicide Squad film.  Like this reboot, that film was also a Warner Brothers live-action film, and both are beaten in this department by counter-parts made by Warner Brothers Animation.  It feels like the studio’s live-action productions are being run by people who don’t get how to do adaptational work correctly.  If a franchise is defined by named characters dying, then you can’t be too squeamish about killing them.  There’s only about one death on the side of the good guys versus a lot of death, largely delayed, on the side of the villains (I discount what happens to the guy who becomes Scorpion from this as he’s very much an anti-hero by the standards of the franchise, and it’s the one “death” that’s never going to stick). I think the film needed more run-time for both exposition and a higher death-toll.

 Third, there’s the matter of character accuracy. In terms of the characters I know, most are faithfully handled, but I dislike the costume designs on the ninja outfits worn by Sub-Zero and Scorpion.  Remember how everyone hated Zack Snyder for toning down the costume colours for Superman in the DCEU?  Well at least you could still tell the colours were just toned-down versions of what Superman should look like.  In Sub-Zero’s case, there’s not a single iota of blue anywhere on his costume, and there’s no real attempt to honour the fact that the two characters were originally re-colours of one another.  Had I been making this film, I’d have given them outwardly similar costumes but worked differences into the details, and Sub-Zero would have sported the blue colour in his costume that he should do.

 Granted, I know the game series has tried to move away from the recolour concept for character creation, but to my mind it’s something that should be honoured for two reasons.  First, it’s an iconic part of the series’ history, especially for anyone who played the earliest games as I did.  Second, I think that while most character in the series look different outwardly, when you look at them more closely, they become a bit similar, almost to the point of being easily interchangeable.  If they have a very similar initial character design to start with, however, I think more work gets done to distinguish them from each other beneath the surface.  That, in turn, adds depth and resonance to their appearances and their fights that other characters lack.

 Beyond these issues, I’m also unimpressed with the audience-POV character of Cole Young.  At first, he seemed like a decent addition brought in as perhaps a more relatable character than some other existing candidates, and I thought the idea of him being descended from an original core character of the franchise was an interesting choice.  However, the moment I became thoroughly uninvested in the character was it turned out his powers were all derived from a little bracelet his daughter made for him. I mean seriously, how cliché, saccharine and just plain un-Mortal Kombat can you get?  The chap might as well grow fur and get a rainbow laser in his chest. If there’s one thing a Mortal Kombat film doesn’t need, it’s a bunch of touchy-feely b.s. like this.  The powers should have either been something else more in keeping with the brutality and seriousness Mortal Kombat demands, or they should have used another character that already exists within the franchise to act as the audience POV.

 All this said, the film does honour a lot of what the games are about, and the action is excellent, though I could do with the actor who plays Raiden diluting his accent a bit when speaking in English. At times he was impossible to understand without subtitles.  Overall, I think this is a half-decent start to a new live-action Mortal Kombat film franchise, but it has significant flaws to correct before it really nails the game in film format.  In other words, we need more colourful and similar-looking versions of Scorpion and Sub-Zero in the sequel, Cole Young needs to be killed off, the death toll needs to be higher, and we need to both get to the tournament and learn about its origins.  Overall, this reboot as is just earns a modest 6 out of 10.

[ruffsficstuffplace]

And The AWRD Goes To (Part 64)

Note: Lyrics originally by kran* at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov5IyW-O6bg and Will Stetson at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QsjrS_xxpI, used without permission and modified by me.

The current version here used is shortened, and relies on a remix of the track I made in my head. Sadly no accurate backing music to that.

9:30 PM, the Professional bracket of the Moonlight Serenade began in earnest.

Crews rushed in and assembled their sets and props in Devalekha’s famous revolving stage. The contestants, their crews, and their supporting members packed the dressing rooms full, if they didn’t have trailers of their own. The hosts smiled as they subjected the audience to enough noise and spectacle to drown out the sounds of frantic construction, and roar of the stage’s complex machinery just behind the curtains.

The seats were packed full with people, from the luxury boxes filled with wealthy individuals, talent scouts, and many of the sponsors for the contestants; the rows upon rows of benches reserved for the rest of the paying audience members; and especially those standing around on the fringes, trying to find the vantage point to escape the crush, or just watch the show, live on the stage or through any of the giant screens attached to the sides of patrolling airships.

And of course, the fans and supporters were out in full force. Whether they were packed together in matching colours like armies, or spread out in small handfuls all over the area, they were all armed with banners, posters, and words to be shouted at the top of their lungs, to their favoured contestant, or to anyone who dared voice the opinion that they might be flawed, or worse yet, inferior in comparison to a different performer that night.

“MARU FOR LIFE!” some random fan dressed in purple cried, their companions chiming in too.

“MIRA IS BETTER!” came from the group opposite them, all dressed in orange instead.

Just beside the two warring groups, the older Schnees, Taiyang, and Zwei did their best to ignore them, but their increasingly passionate arguments began to drown out the background music and the words of the hosts.

A minute in, Freya snapped. “Will you all SHUT THE FUCK UP?!” she yelled as she sat atop Nick’s shoulders. “I’m here to watch the show, not bear witness to your senseless bickering!”

“Piss off, lady, this isn’t your fight!” someone from the Orange team cried.

“Yeah, shut up, this is none of your business!” someone from the Purple team added.

Freya’s ears pulled back, her tail stiffened, and her hands balled into fists. “And if you both annoy me enough that I make it my business...?” she growled.

“Yeah, what’re you going to do, call the cops on us?” someone from Orange taunted.

Freya smiled.

“Freya...” Nick said quietly, but it was too late.

A monstrous screech filled the air, the crowds started to panic and whip their heads about, screaming as they saw a giant, slate blue nevermore’s head sticking out of a glyph. It threateningly snapped its beak a few times, glared evilly at the Orange and Purple teams, but did nothing more.

Almost immediately, a police patrol airship was hovering over them, its spotlights shining down on the them. “Break it up, break it up!” said a voice over a megaphone. “And get rid of that Grimm!”

The nevermore turned to Freya, she nodded, and it obediently faded away into slate blue mist. The two teams began to split apart in retreat, the other people in the crowd rushing in to fill the space.

“Thank you for cooperating, and please do not harass, threaten, and/or use violence and semblances on your fellow audience members, or otherwise disrupt the event,” said the officer on the megaphone. “We would like to remind you that it is illegal to do so, and we have the right to immediately eject you from the premises, and pursue further legal action, if necessary.”

The ship left to patrol other areas, the wedge driven between the two groups seemed too large for them to argue anymore. Freya smiled, and said, “Much better.”

“That was a little excessive, don’t you think?” Taiyang asked.

“Yes, yes it was, Mr. Xiao-Long, but mark my words: no one and nothing is going to ruin my granddaughter’s performance tonight, and my enjoyment of it.” Freya replied. “It was already insidiously sabotaged once, I will not stand idly by and let it happen a second time.”

“Oh, come on, Grandma! You can’t honestly still believe that after all these years?” Winter asked.

Snowie gently nudged her in the side, and said, “Just let it go, baby.”

Winter sighed heavily, and did.

Elsewhere, Weiss and Aqua were in the communal dressing room, sitting at one of the many vanity tables. They were a patch of relative calm in the sea of chaos and busy work, Aqua doing little more than retouching the make-up Weiss already had on, and adding some extra decorative markings and putting on ornate jewelry that would have looked off outside of the stage.

“You nervous?” Aqua asked as she dipped her brush back into the bottle.

“A little.” Weiss replied.

“Well you shouldn’t be,” Aqua said as she let the excess drip off, before she resumed her work. “You’re going to absolutely kill it out there, and that’ll just be with your singing.”

Weiss smiled slightly. “You sound so confident...”

“Because I know just how good you are, Weiss,” Aqua said, smiling as she made one last careful stroke. “There, all done. What do you think?”

“I’m absolutely terrified of sweating, touching my face, or otherwise marring all this wonderful work,” Weiss replied calmly. “Thank you, Aqua.”

Aqua laughed, before her expression turned serious. “Can I confess something to you, Weiss? It’s not recent, just… really long overdue.”

“Uh, sure… what is it?” Weiss asked.

“I was really intimidated and worried about losing to you, the first time you competed here,” Aqua started. “Topaz wasn’t that worried when she did some oppo research and those videos of you performing at Hoshiko and Sanctum popped, but I could just tell you had It—stage presence, appearance, and a talent honed to razor-sharpness. So when I sidled up to you on the night, chatted you up, and saw how flustered you were getting…

“I went full on Sun Tzu, and I am really sorry I did, however little that probably means by now.”

Weiss nodded slowly. “Was the relationship after that some kind of insurance that I’d never compete again?” she asked half-jokingly.

Aqua smiled. “Nah. That was because I find out your cuteness wasn’t all skin deep afterward.” She sighed, and looked down. “You deserved so much better than me, Weiss… better than how I treated you, better than how it all ended...”

Weiss gently put a hand on Aqua’s arm. “Let’s not dwell on the past, Aqua—especially not when we’ve got a show to put on so soon,” she said, smiling.

Aqua looked up and slowly smiled back. “Yeah, you’re right… break a leg out there, Weiss.”

Outside, at the staging grounds, all the construction crews were getting ready, clearing paths for wheeling their equipment, props, and sets in and out; stretching and re-energizing themselves with snacks and stimulants; and running through plans and assignments all over again, just in case.

“Man, that cannon looks big enough to fire someone out of it!” Amanda said as she helped unload the contents of a Bunyan Logging Co. van. “I wonder if they’ll let me borrow it after the show...”

“Most probably not, and I politely ask that you put a stop to any other burgeoning plans involving it,” Diana said as she stood nearby with a clipboard in hand. “Whatever they are going to do with that, it will be a stunt that the inspectors have deemed safe and sane, and I am quite certain that whatever you are planning to do with it won’t be.”

Amanda scowled as she hauled a bundle of prop tools on her shoulder. “You’re no fun, Diana.”

“Well forgive me for thinking of the success of our show, and by consequence, the size of your paycheck once all of this is said and done,” Diana replied calmly. “It will not help our already risky plan in the slightest if any sort of untoward incident garners the wrong sort of attention to ourselves, and thus, the Bakunawa.”

“Alright, alright, no making after-gig plans, sheesh!” Amanda said, before she deposited the tools before Constanze, Akko, and a squad of training dummies.

“You excited to perform for real, Amanda?” Akko asked as she picked up a rake, and put it in a dummy’s hands.

“Hell yeah I am!” Amanda cried as she did the same with a scythe. “Not looking forward to having to stand around here with nothing to do till they let us out at 11:30, though. My cut better be higher than what Jaune got me to agree to way back when, or I am not going to be happy.”

“It’s not that long of a wait,” Akko said as she grabbed a pickaxe.

“It is when the only thing I’ll be able to do is walk around, twiddle my thumbs, or try to chat someone up!” Amanda replied as she kicked up a wooden mallet to her hands. “It’s fucking bullshit they won’t let us use our scrolls for anything other than emergency calls, man.”

“If it helps stop people from sabotaging the other contestants like they did in other years, I can’t really argue against it,” Akko said. “Maybe you should just pretend you’re on wild watch.”

“And here I am, the huntress who did everything she could to get out of wild watch...” Amanda grumbled as she rested the bulky head across a dummy’s shoulder. “Honestly, who’d willingly sign up for a job where you stand around in a tower for hours to days at a time, constantly watching and waiting for something to MAYBE happen…?”

Far and away from the lights and hubbub of the Tsukimi Festival, a few miles out from the city’s borders, Qrow stood alone in a wild watch tower, binoculars in one hand, the other hovering near a large bottle of alcohol with marker notches all over its side.

What was normally a relatively quiet patch of mountain wilderness was alive with the sounds of Grimm driven berserk by the moonlight, the wanton destruction they were causing, and the cries of animals that weren’t given the mercy of swift death. Your average army lookout or Grimm hunter would likely be hyper aware of every last noise as they cowered in a corner with weapon in hand, but Qrow had long tuned it all out, the area effectively dead-silent.

He was just about to take another measured sip of his drink when he heard it: a mechanical noise like a flying machine’s rotors, screeching and whirring like something particularly awful had gotten sucked into the turbines.

It only lasted for a second, but a second was all Qrow needed to whip his binoculars in the direction he’d heard it, tag the location on his scroll’s map, before he pulled it up. “Tower 7 to Central, Tower 7 to Central, come in, Central, over!” he barked.

“Central to 7, what is it, over?”

“Suspicious noise in the immediate vicinity, sounded mechanical, definitely not supposed to be around here tonight. Requesting permission to investigate, over.”

“Permission denied, 7, over.”

Qrow blinked. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. This is the first interesting thing that’s happened all night!”

“Not to us, 7. We’re stretched paper thin and just got ripped into even littler pieces with similar disturbances reported in the other areas; we need you to stay up there, and maintain your bird’s eye view until some of them start to report what they’ve found, and/or confirm they have returned to their posts, so remain in position and proceed as usual, 7, over.”

“...”

“Do you copy, 7, over?”

“Roger wilco, Central, 7 out.” Qrow said, before he sighed, put his scroll down, and picked his bottle back up. “Isn’t that just my luck…?” he muttered, before he took a long drink of it, ignoring the notches completely.

9:44, back at Devalekha Terrace, Luna Nova’s performance had been completely set-up. The Bunyan workers, Woody, and the Timber Wolves fled the area, everyone else got into their positions, be they human, Faunus, or a creature of aura.

In the center, Diana and Whitley wiped the sweat off Weiss’ face before it could start to ruin her make-up, the glow surrounding Akko and Ruby faded as they stopped channeling their aura into her. They each wished her “Break a leg.” or gave her reassuring looks, before the warning lights began to flash, the safety siren whined, and they hurried to their places.

The stage revolved once more, their section now faced the audience. The inner set of curtains whizzed by behind Weiss and obscured the set and the others, the outer set parted slowly, keeping Weiss from getting blinded by the bright studio lights beaming down on her.

“… And here she is, returning to the Moonlight Serenade after her debut four years earlier, contestant number #2, Weiss Schnee!” the hosts on-stage said, before they ran through the gamut of introductions, small talk, and of course, the ad spot for the Bakunawa.

“I hope to see you all again there later!” Weiss said flirtatiously, before she winked at the audience.

She did not have quite the same effect as Aqua had with her audiences in years past, but there was no time to worry about that, as the lights changed, the inner curtains rolled back, and the show began.

The music was upbeat and fast, the choreography just as energetic; Weiss danced across the stage, the background rapidly shifting and changing as she passed them by:

A beautiful mountaintop palace on the highest peaks of Mistral; the busy and bustling streets of a marketplace in the lower levels; to the rolling fields, thriving seas, and dust mines that fed the kingdom and its industries.

The dummies and the others mimed the daily lives of the people:

Aristocrats and royalty strolling through the gardens and enjoying the beauty; the common folk going about their business, creating art, and sometimes even fighting; and the workers toiling away, loading carts full of food, raw materials, and especially dust and jewels.

Whatever the scene, it was colourful, lively, and bright, cherry blossoms petals floating down all over the stage… and then, the “sky” grew black and thick with smoke and fire, everything was cast everything in dark, gloomy tones as the cherry blossom petals burned up and turned to ash.

With a bold and sudden calling, Northern Revolution's starting Steel your hearts, prepare yourselves, the Great Storm is coming Riding on their beasts of metal, ash and ruins left in their wake Drawing evil spirits like moths to the flame

Mantle soldiers started to charge in, bringing guns and war machines. People were shackled and herded off, instruments, brushes, and art pieces were torn out of hands or destroyed outright, those that resisted or tried to fight back were shot with impunity.

Weiss found herself in the thick of the horrors, dodging and weaving through the crossfire and the explosions.

On the great roads, soaring through the skies, let us move forward, don't look behind. Boys and girls bear blood of the samurai And the pride of their lives gone by.

Bandits and Grimm joined in the mess, Weiss managed to flee back to the palace, where inhabitants remained untouched, as happy and carefree as earlier, even with the Mantle soldiers and war machines surrounding them. With the brief pause in the music, Weiss put on expressions of confusion, horror, then rage; and as the chorus began, so did her plan.

Thousands of cherry blossoms dwindling in the light Though I can't hear your voice, keep what I say in mind - This bouquet that surrounds is iron poison, see, Looking down at us from that big guillotine

With deft acrobatics and graceful movements, evaded the guards and into a new location: a “vault” full of weapons and treasures, the Shiny Rod in the center. She spirited it away, out of the palace, guards chasing her through the market’s streets, to the fields and right into a Grimm attack on dust miners, handing the weapon to the first person she saw:

Akko.

Darkness has just engulfed the universe we know The lament that you sing can't reach ears anymore We are still far away from reaching clear blue skies Go ahead, keep fighting, ignite the light of hope!

Akko raised the Shiny Rod and a fake dust crystal, a bright flash “vanquished” some of the Grimm. The tide began to turn, more fighting, “gunfire,” and explosions rocked the stage as the Mantle soldiers came in.

Veterans who've trained through struggles are now officers in battle Here and there, we see the harlots in procession This one, that one, doesn't matter, every single person gathers March on to our saintly deaths now! One, two, san, shi!

The common folk fell quickly, but more came to replace them. The Mantle soldiers sent in reinforcements and even cannons, but even those didn’t help them as the bandits and thugs came in, clearly on the people’s side as they stabbed the soldiers in the back and joined the mob.

Passing through the gates on the mountain peaks, Escaping this world, kill all the evil fiends Surely this will end in a denouement Among the crowds giving their applause

They stormed the palace, the guards there and the royals stood no chance. The mob tore through them, Akko leading the charge with Weiss, till they reached the top of the “mountain,” victorious. The others raised their arms and cheered.

And then, the Grimm returned in full force.

Thousands of cherry blossoms dwindling in the light Once your song can be heard, we'll dance with all our might! We are still far away from reaching peaks of hope Go ahead, keep fighting, use your shining bolt!

It was chaos all over again, the Grimm fighting their way up the mountain, making short work of the helmeted, faceless training dummies as the living actors put up a fight, but slowly got pushed back up the “mountain” and to the peak.

Akko raised the Shiny Rod, another bright flash exploded all throughout the stage and pushed the Grimm back, the colour and life began to return to the set as they all “vanquished” the horde.

Darkness has just engulfed the universe we know The lament that you sing can't reach ears anymore We are still far away from reaching peaks of hope Go ahead, keep fighting , spread your wings and fly!

The remaining Grimm bowed and cowered at the base of the “palace,” the dummies and the living actors stood proud with their arms raised on the steps leading up, Akko and Weiss stood proudly at the top, holding the Shiny Rod between them as a storm of cherry blossoms rained down upon them again.

And it was then that the real Grimm attacked.

Nevermores flew in en masse, turning the brilliant night sky black from sheer numbers. The music and the audio cut off as emergency sirens and announcements blared in their place. Audience members screamed and started to run as the largest of them all swooped in, ugly, jagged scars and burn marks all over its body.

It blew past the patrol ships and obstacles in its way like paper, broke through the ceiling of the stage, and ripped it off completely as it fled, Weiss and the Shiny Rod in its talons.

Note: God I hate modifying song lyrics, but it was incredibly important for this chapter. Almost all of Weiss important character developments come in song form, after all.

P.S. I just could not get the stanzas to format properly.

[mi4012lukasaddy]

Critcal Reflection

In this critical reflection of my work I will be focusing on Heterotopias as a concept, and where my research into them lead me with my final illustration. Throughout the second semester of this year-long topic, I have explored places, artists, storyboarding and my own ideas using a vague and interesting stimulus.

Heterotopias are locations which are embedded in aspects and stages of our lives and which in some way mirror and at the same time distort or unsettle or invert other spaces. Put simply a normal location rooted in reality which can be seen as a distortion of reality. This usually involves typical and atypical characteristics clashing within a single space. For example, my first heterotopia used for this module was a space station. Despite being surrounded by human technologies, the unknown environment of space changes the context of everything and shows a distortion of the indoor setting. Heterotopias can be sorted into different types, summarised into six different principles by the philosophical researcher Michel Foucault. The concept my heterotopia of this semester encapsulates most however, is that it ‘Encapsulates spatio-temporal discontinuities or intensities’. This is due to the structure of the overall city and how it functioned. Many things which should have been separate such as businesses, homes and advertisements where forced into the same location due to lack of space. That or aspects such as streets, signs and homes where packed beyond the normal limit within the typical amount of space. A normal seeming city was distorted to accommodate its huge population, giving it heterotopic features.

The heterotopia I chose to research and re-create was the now demolished but well documented walled city in Kowloon Hong Kong. The city stood for around 50 years before being demolished in 1994 by the Chinese government. Before then it stood as a safe haven for dangerous gangs and hosted many unlicensed medical practices, especially dentistry. The city despite having a police force was dangerous and fairly lawless, as the poor squatters which continuously moved in made makeshift homes on the roofs of other homes, which continuously stacked up creating dangerously high buildings. Most citizens however enjoyed living within the walled city, as those who could not normally practice medically with their licences in Hong Kong due to certain restrictions, were able to work. I believe the walled city of Kowloon is a heterotopia as it’s a city disconnected from everything around it operating using its rules and regulations, which distorted a highly urbanised city into an almost dystopian context.

The mood board I created for the city is a collection of images mainly demonstrating the dense population and structure of the building in the city. I used mainly real photographs with few drawings to illustrate the aesthetic and tone of the city. The mood board is oversaturated with images closing the text in-between to help conveys the hectic, overwhelming and oppressive feeling of the city. Collecting the images I needed made me realise how well documented the city was. Various photographers kept extensive portfolios depicting the city, and even multiple accounts of  video footage showing locations and citizens exist.

The main idea for using the city as a heterotopia was to depict the city in a mostly negative light, highlighting the problems of an inconsistently modernised city which retains slum like aspects. My original storyboard ideas showed various shots a people, from various places in the city. I wanted to show how the city was perceived by different types of people from regular citizens to children, business owners and more. After I received feedback from presenting my ideas, I realised I needed to keep my focus on the location and focus less on the people and use them as more like accessories to the city environments which can help tell the story. I decide that instead of creating one image in aftereffects going horizontally across the city, I should change the image so that it pans vertically. By doing this I could emphasise the height of the city buildings, and still conveying the feeling of being small I wanted to get across with the characters with other shots. Working vertically at for example, street level for the whole animation would limit the scope in which the city would be perceived by the audience. I chose to pan downward starting at a clear sky before showing how the screen eventually becomes more and more filled and hectic. Starting with a few wires coming across the shot from the roofs until eventually its filled with advertisements and crowds.

I planned on making my final illustration of what the finished scene would look like, on paper with pencil instead of any other format. I have software that I’d likely be able to create this image in however I feel this was the more suitable choice. As I’ve had less experience drawing digitally overall, as well as more experience drawing characters over background art, I feel I’d be able to make an overall higher quality image using pencil and paper. Using paper however provides it own difficulties. Using colour is a lot more difficulty and complicated. Erasing mistakes with colour also may not be possible, so instead I used greyscale shading. I’d also have to use high quality drawing paper in a format where I could create a lengthy image. The final image turned out well as I started discovering how to use shading and outlines more effectively as I worked. I had the idea in retrospect to draw the initial image on paper, and transfer it over to a digital software to use a base, where I could then use colour and the other advantages or digital art.

One thing I struggled with was the perspective and angle of the shot. I wanted to be able warp the image and give a perspective of looking upwards, as that was one of my original ideas. I used references to try and create this and inadvertently found the two games in development which used the city as either inspiration or as a setting. I thought having a 3D representation of the city could help with this. I had to settle for a normal angle in the end however, as the overall composition and look of the image felt distorted and out of place in my trials. I also first envisioned creating character sheets for the people in the animation, but after feedback and realising that I’d have to make a crowd shot, I settled with making featureless silhouettes. Using silhouettes is simpler and also adds to the mysterious atmosphere of the city I’m trying to depict.

The sound design of the animation would also be fairly simple. I would start at the top of the image with quiet diegetic background noises such as wind. As the screen travels downwards, the noise would slowly get louder as voices of muffled crowds and domestic arguments will be heard as the screen travels down from the apartment windows, into the streets below. I likely would have found royalty free noises online instead of making these myself as it would be quite difficult to emulate this myself. Collecting these noises in the streets could also pose problems, as recording individuals without consent violates some ethics.

During this module I did some research into some ethical issues when it comes to animation. These being IP (Intellectual property) and Image Content. Once my work starts being used in a professional context, I need to be aware of not infringing upon any copyright with my animations and artwork. Along with the basic need to respect others work and IP rights, I need to make sure I never directly use other materials in my work. In this context, not using and publishing any photographers’ images and calling it my own. This is in exception to works in the public domain, in which I feel I should still provide credit. Another more difficult issue is that of Image Content. There are times where if work is too similar to other people’s there could be problems. It can be up to interpretation where materials are to similar, but I still have to be careful to avoid this kind of conflict.

Overall, I am content with the ideas I came up with for this module as the research into Kowloon City was extremely engaging and interesting. The abundance of materials available about my chosen topic area was incredibly useful in my research of the design and aesthetic of the city.  Despite struggling to accurately depict the scene how I wanted, I found solutions and am happy with the overall product. In the near future I plan on improve my illustration skills both traditionally and digitally so I can properly express my ideas and concepts in the most appropriate format, as I feel a strong visual style and identity will greatly benefit my work.

[akshay-s]

Free Mind Mapping Tools for Data Scientists to Enhance Structured Thinking

By Great Learning 

In today’s world, where data is king and tonnes of information is being generated every day from all sorts of sources, data visualisation is the need of the hour. This is especially true for data scientists.

Data scientists are tasked with seeing value in data and communicating these insights with other stakeholders who aren’t data scientists. This means each concept, relationship and result needs to be thoroughly understood and represented by a data scientist, to be able to pass it on to experts and non-experts. Structured data derived from unstructured dumps is becoming increasingly important for businesses looking to power decision-making and further business goals.

Why do data scientists need to have structured thinking?

It is crucial that a data scientist be able to think critically and analytically in a structured manner. Structured thinking is defined as the process of creating a structured framework to understand and resolve an unstructured problem. Having a structure enables a data scientist to understand problems at micro and macro levels– this, in turn, highlights areas that require a deeper understanding and more hard work. The benefits of structured thinking are as follows:

Evaluating tools needed: There are plenty of tools, software and coding languages available at a data scientist’s disposal. However, structured thinking is what allows the scientist to pick and choose from this array in order to resolve the problem efficiently, accurately and in a scalable manner.

Understanding problems: Data scientists work in high-pressure scenarios and need structured thinking to immediately grasp the crux of the presented problem. It is only after doing so that they can understand how to come up with the best solution.

Dealing with setbacks: If a data scientist applies structured thinking to the solving of a problem, they are more likely to be well-equipped to deal with setbacks. This could be in the form of mental roadblocks, new influential factors or human error. Structured thinking allows a data scientist to understand the new problems and evaluate how best to deal with it without taking two steps back on progress made or losing out on timelines.

Keeping organised: Solving a complex data problem is as successful as its steps– if the flow of steps and approaches is haywire, chances are the solution may not be the right one. Structured thinking allows a data scientist to keep all their tools at hand and have a step-by-step method of approaching the problem. In the long run, and if there’s a hiccup in the process, this approach allows the scientist to trace their steps and make changes where required before proceeding.

Nearly everyone has the ability to think simultaneously. However, the ability of a data scientist to carry out structured thinking is what sets them apart from the crowd.

How Mind Mapping Helps ?

Mind-mapping is an age-old concept that’s taking on a new form. In the earlier days, it meant putting pen to paper and charting out arguments, logical explanations and flows to enable anything from product creation to writing an essay. Today, it has become the weapon of choice for good data scientists looking to whip up new-age solutions to modern problems.

Mind-mapping is the process of putting down thoughts and explanations in visual forms, using symbols and geometric shapes to draw connections. In essence, it’s a visual representation of your mind thinking in a structured manner.

Mind-mapping is best suited for data scientists who focus on:

Decision trees

Random forests

Boosting

Here are the ways mind-mapping is beneficial for data scientists:

Engages visual learners: 65% of people are visual learners. By using visual aids like mind maps to plot out arguments and divide unstructured data, visual learners are more likely to grasp the concept or problem faster, which will then lead to quicker solutions.

Tackles volumes: Big data appears in large avalanche-like volumes which can be nearly impossible to sift through without any form of structure. With mind mapping, data scientists can delineate given data and create connections, thereby reducing information noise and retaining only valuable insights and inputs.

Finding main topics: When dealing with a large dump of data, it can be difficult to pinpoint the central topics around which the rest of the information revolves. Mind mapping can help to a certain extent by emphasizing on central topics and then moving to draw out related facets. It is a vital process because, without identifying the main topic, it is highly unlikely that a viable or accurate solution can be delivered.

Enhances memory: Mind maps often use a lot of shapes and colors which are said to have a positive effect on human memory and perception. By using a variety of colour codes in your mind map of information, data scientists are more likely to identify connections better and remember them for when they’re needed. It cuts down on a lot of time spent sifting through data dumps or notes because a data scientist has forgotten an important piece of information.

Free Mind Mapping Tools For Data Scientists : 

MindMaster

A professional tool for creating mind maps at the data science level, Mind Master has plenty of tools and templates that are useful for both first-time mind mappers and veteran structured thinkers. The wide range of functions allows full customization. So does the task management function, which lets users go through tasks in different overview layouts including Gantt chart view, outline view and mind map view.

Text2Mindmap

A household name among data scientists, this mind mapping tool is best known for its speed. The browser-based programme allows users to present ideas first as a list of text. This list is then converted into individual nodes to form the overall mind map. Keyboard shortcuts allow users to create maps rapidly. The download option is also handy– it allows users to get their created mind map as a PDF for print or an image for on-the-go reference.

Coggle

It’s in the name– Coggle works data scientists’ cogs by enabling them to brainstorm, collaborate and share with other people. The user interface is designed in such a way that images can be easily dragged and dropped to make the mind map more interactive. Separate projects can be colour-coded and shared; changes are tracked in the edit history section so all collaborators are on the same page. When the mind mapping is all wrapped up, it can be exported in the form of a PDF or an image or shared through personalised links with other collaborators or the final recipient.

XMind

A widely-used open source program for mind mapping, XMind is the go-to for brainstorming, planning, structured analysis and simplification of ideas. By allowing data scientists to arrange complex data into simple, understandable structures, it creates a conducive platform for finding trends, relationships, patterns and solutions to even the most complex data conundrum.

MindMeister

The drawcard of this mind mapping app is the live chat through which scientists can collaborate and make changes in real-time. The user-friendly interface allows for tracked changes and a complete edit history to track progress. It also allows users to access their mind maps on mobile phones on the go; however, safety and security of data are always of utmost priority.

Pros and Cons of Mind Mapping

Here are the pros of mind mapping and why it’s beneficial to data scientists in particular:

Widely usable: Regardless of the topic, mind maps can be used to develop the seed of an idea into a full-fledged structure. It emulates the way the brain works in that it crafts structures and arrangements and influences the learning of concepts and building of solutions.

Concisely crafted: Mind maps simplify even the most complex topics to ensure they’re properly understood. This is beneficial for those who struggle with learning difficult concepts or relationships between various facets and saves a lot of time during the learning process.

Unlimited editing: A mind map can be done and redone over and over again because its re workable, especially when using a free mind mapping tool. This allows data scientists to explore different opportunities or possibilities without having to fixate on one from the beginning. Naturally, this aids the creative process.

The cons of mind mapping, though few, are as follows:

Text limitations: Since mind maps are visually driven, they usually don’t allow for too much text. Even if text is included, it doesn’t cross the threshold of 4-5 words. For those who learn through lines of text, this may prove to be a hindrance as the very crux of mind mapping is doing away with long sentences and simplifying concepts into a few all-encompassing words.

Time consuming if creative: If a data scientist prefers colourful mind maps complete with images and changing fonts, mind mapping may evolve into a time-consuming process. The basic mind map saves on time and effort, but the more creative and perfection-oriented one gets, the more likely the process is to take time.

Data analytics and visualisation is a core component of business decision-making at any level, be it grassroot or eye-in-the-sky. Data scientists, equipped with structured thinking through mind mapping processes, can condense and evaluate tonnes of data into revelatory insights, becoming an integral part of any business.

[scripttorture]

First off, thank you for running this blog. It's super helpful! But on to my question: you've made it perfectly clear that torture for information does not work. However, there's a historical precedent for it, and a long running one at that. In what situations would it be "appropriate" to torture a person? I guess my question is what are some reasons for torture, outside of punishment or experimentation?

Quite a lot of peoplehistorically doubted that torture could be used to produce accurate informationand there’s considerable argument about whether most historical torture was for information or for punishment-But that’s not really the question.

 I feel like I shouldjust re-iterate here that we’re talking about fictional situations and that torture is never and can never be‘appropriate’ in the real world.

 I’m seeing two ways ofinterpreting this question. The first is a summary of ‘reasons’ torture happensin the real world. And the second is a sort of broader discussion about whentorture is appropriate in fictional works, when it fits the story.

 The first one is a damncite easier to answer.

 I’ve put forward fourmain things torture is used for in the real world, they’resummarised in this Masterpost. Briefly I suggested that torture is used toforce confessions, topunish or humiliate groups of people, toterrorise groups of people and tomaim perceived political opponents.

 I divided the reasoningin that way because I felt that division would be most helpful to authorsbecause it concentrates on motive ratherthan structures that encourage or allowtorture.

 Rejali categorisesreasons torture occurs in a way that focuses on societal structures. That’s because his research is focused onidentifying risk factors and preventing torture.

 Briefly Rejali suggeststhree categories: the national security model, the judicial model and the civicdiscipline model. That’s torture ‘justified’ by saying it’s necessary forsecurity (ie in cases of terrorism, armed political opponents, ‘war on drugs’etc), torture to obtain confessions in systems where the judicial system prizesconfessions over evidence, and torture of people who are seen as undesirable bysociety (for instance homeless people, drug addicts, ethnic minorities, thepoor-) in the name of ‘cleaning up the streets’.

 None of these are quiteas simple as punishment but there’s an element of punishment in all categories.

 Fiction is, obviously,different to reality. And I find it harder to come up with hard rules for whatis ‘appropriate’ in fiction.

 I don’t think that‘torture for information’ turning up in fiction is a problem in and of itself.

 I think the problem isthat fiction usually suggests it works.

 Fiction tells us thatthe ‘reason’ for torture is to obtain information and that torture can be used to obtain accurateinformation. Which just isn’t true, but it’s such an overwhelming message fromour fiction that we’ve come to assume it is true.

 I don’t think that themotives for torture in fiction shouldalways line up with reality. But I dothink that fiction should never justifytorture. In the same way I think that fiction should never justify rape.

 I also think that asauthors we should treat these topics andmore importantly survivors with respect.

 For me that usuallymeans research. I’m a big believer in doing the damn reading and making doubleand triple sure of something. It also means accepting that different peoplerespond to trauma in different ways and there isn’t a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’response.

 It means making avictim character, whatever their context in the story, more than what theysurvive.

 I am, ratherinevitably, thinking about my own writing a lot here. I think for me the reasonI write about torture (whatever the plot and context) is because I’m interestedin our collective ability to survive. I’m interested in what we do and thinkand feel when everything goes to hell and howwe pick ourselves up again afterwards. How some people come out of the mosthorrific situations full of kindness and other people come out full of hate.

 For me that’s colouredby my background, by knowing that war, mass deportation and so forthwere….realistic possibilities for the future. I have been lucky enough thatI’ve never had to find out ‘what I’d do’ when the world goes to hell. Many ofthe people around me have not been so fortunate. And it makes you wonder whatyou would do.

 A lot of my fiction isa way for me to explore that.

 But well not everyoneis interested in the same questions; we’re not all writing the same thing. AndI’m a big believer in not dictating how other people should write.

 Whether torture isappropriate to a story depends on a lot of different factors within the story.The tone of the story, the context it takes place in, the treatment of victimcharacters and the characters who torture, as well as the setting of the story.

 There are two people inmy writing group who’ve written children’s stories over the years. One of themis working on a lyrical, little story about a group of animal-friends living ina wood. The other wrote about his Grandmother surviving the Armenian genocide.Torture would have fit into the latter, not the former.

 Which isn’t just aquestion of setting: the rather ponderous, almost musical way the first ofthose stories is written would not fit very well with describing something sohorrific, while the matter-of-fact tone of the second story…does. Questions oftone and setting are hard to judge but I think it’s important to consider themwhen we’re writing and to avoid…breaking the atmosphere or tone that’s beenbuilt up throughout a story.

 I’ve personally foundmotives rather easier to balance than the question of whether a particularincident or scene is ‘right’ for a story in the first place. People can and dotorture for very little ‘reason’, especially if they’ve tortured before. Faronquotes a real life case of a torturer becoming more violent at home, eventuallytorturing his wife over an argument about hitting their children.

 This has turned ratherlong and rambling I’m afraid.

 I think the main thingsto avoid are suggesting that tortureis justified, whatever the case andwhoever the victim and suggesting that torture gives useful information. Ialso think we should be realistic abouthow much damage torture does. There’s a tendency to underestimate thedamage caused by tortures that don’t leave scars, which feeds into apologistarguments.

 Beyond that whethertorture is appropriate to a narrative, whether the character’s motives feeltrue and whether it fits with the story as a whole…I think that’s something tojudge on a case by case basis. It’s down to what the author does with it andthe characters.

 I’m sorry if that’s nota hugely helpful answer. Writing well isn’t an easy or straightforward thingand it’s much easier to look at a finished work and judge whether it’s donesomething well than it is to come up with a set of rules that explain why.

Disclaimer

[c-rankin93]

SHE'S NO YOU - Background + Ch.1

As promised, it's here! ###PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE READING THIS FIC!!### A/N: This book is based in 2016, in New York City. Finn is CEO of his own company, and his Ex-wife Rae is a Senior Architect at her Friend Chloe's Company. Together, they have Two beautiful children, Josh who's 7, and Ruby who's 6. Both in there mid-30s, thry despise each other after an ugly divorce. They are both very family oriented, both with plenty of Siblings. I wanted a different twist to my MMFD fic, especially for Finn.  Rae (32): Linda (65) & Karim (50) (step-dad to all siblings), Robert (38) + family, Julian (35) + son, Mark (34). Rae + Siblings: dad passed away when Rae was 6 months old. He wasn't very loving, and died a lonely man. - Finn (35): Gary (69) (Finns mum non-existent) & Veronica (58), Natalia (31) + family, Daniel (25) + GF, Mika (23), AND FINALLY FINNS LAST BROTHER IS... ARCHIE! (33) Just to explain Finns family... Finns mum and Gary had a small fling before he started dating Veronica. Finns mum Julie turned up with a 3 month old baby boy claiming it was Gary's (this point he was seeing veronica). She gave Finn to Gary and took off with a wad of cash.. never to be seen again. Finn calls Veronica ma, and is the only mother he has known. Together Gary and Veronica had Archie, Natalia, Daniel and Mika. (DNA tests confirm Finn is Gary's son) - SO much information to take in, but I thought I'd give you a bit of information about everyone. Chloe, chop, archie and izzy will have aperences in this book but I wanted this to focus more on Rae and Finn!! As always ignore my grammar mistakes and spelling! Not too good at editing. --- CHAPTER ONE - DIVIDE --- "Kids hurry up, your father will be here any minute now" I yelled up the stairs whilst I finished organising their weekend bags. It was a constant battle to get them moving after 6pm. If it wasn't to go to the toilet or get food, I swear my childen wouldn't shift away from that idiotic TV. "Josh! Don't forget to pack your inhaler this time" I called over my shoulder. "There's no freaking way I'm dropping that off again" I mumbled to myself, thinking about the awful scene. He called me lousy mother for not packing it, and I called him a dick for not double checking it was there. Yep, it wasn't a Rae and Finn 'chit-chat' without a smidgen of abuse thrown around. Verbal abuse, of course. He wasn't a violent person, but a slip of his tongue could pack a punch. "Got it mum" Josh smiled. His spiderman onsie was a little big for him. It had been flying off the shelves when I walked into Target a few weeks ago. I grabbed the closest one, running away from the dog pile mother's had formed in the Isle. He looks adorable, and turns out they are his favourite pj's. Bonus! "Good. Now can you please tell your sister to hurry up and brush her teeth whilst I finish getting ready" I cooed. When he turned around, i cheakily patted his bum. I chuckled at the little scowl he gave me. It always reminded me so much of his father, it was honestly heart breaking. The little facial expressions he gives you, and them chocolate brown eyes were everything. Joshua did make me miss the man that tore my life apart, just that little bit more everyday. I went to the mirror, trying to ignore the small argument that was going on from the upstairs bathroom. Currently, (by the sounds of things) Ruby is giving her brother another ear full about using her princess toothpaste; very expensive toothpaste may I add. Even at the age of 6, I could see my little girl becoming a diva. I re-applied my nude lipstick, smacking my lips together for effect. Then straightened out the skirt of my black dress, making sure there were no wrinkles. Lastly, I tussled the soft curls in my hair, and deemed myself acceptable for the rest of the population. It was already 7:25pm, and I had a company dinner at my one of my families restaurants. It was still a 20 minute drive by taxi (if the traffic was good), and at this rate I was going to be late for the 8pm start. Between the kids messing around upstairs and Finn's tardiness, my frustrations would soon boil over. I say 7pm, he comes 30 minutes late. Of course, I couldn't expect anything better from the deceitful man. "Mooooom, do we have to go to dads? Can't I just come with you?" "Ruby we've been over this four times-" I sighed. "But-" "No! It's your dad's weekend and your going to spend time with him honey. He loves you. He wants to spend time with you" I ran my fingers through her curly brown hair that was a complete mess on top of her head. Another thing for him to complain about I guess. "I love daddy too. I just wish she wasn't there all the time". I couldn't help but awkwardly drop to my knees in front of my little girl. I lifted her chin and kissed her plump cheek, this seemed to become a annual accurance everytime she was set to spend every second weekend with Finn or even the two school pick ups he did on Tuesday and Thursday. I couldn't stand the bitch she was talking about as much as the next person, but I couldn't tell a 6 year old that. It sadden me that she felt this way but the one time I tried to express that to my ex-husband, he went off on another crazy rant about slandering his girlfriend to our children. It nearly caused us another day in court.  "You need to tell daddy that" I stroked her cheek and got to my feet just as the bell rang. "I don't want him to be angry with me..." she sniffed. I could see my daughters eyes glisten with unshed tears. As a mother, you never want to see your children cry, doing everything in your power to make them happy. This unfortunately was something that I couldn't help fix, without world War 3 breaking out in my living room. "Baby he would never get mad at you. Now go get cleaned up and hurry back. I'll go let daddy in" she nodded, headed back towards the bathroom whilst I went towards the large wooden door of my town house. "Finally" Finn grumbled as I opened the door. He stood there in his work clothes, since it was a Friday night I understood why. He looked as dashing as always in his suit and tie. I was glad he went for the light colours today, normally it was always red and black. He looked handsome. As always. "Well hello to you too" I mused sarcasticly. Leaving the door open, I didn't even wait for his grunt reply and just simply went to the kids suitcases. "Everything is packed. Josh now has two puffs of his inhaler at night as well as in the morning, just until his completely over this small cold he can't seem to shake. Doctors aren't worried but it's just for precaution". "Why wasn't I notified about this doctors appointment Rae! I'm his father I should of been there" Here we go again. "I did call your office, your mobile was busy..." I slipped on Joshua's jacket on his shoulders, not even bothering to acknowledge Finn whilst I talked to him. "I left a message with your assistant-girlfriend whatever. If she didn't give you the message then it's not my problem". "RUBY, HONEY. HURRY UP OR MOMMY WILL BE LATE" I called just before I heard the pitty patter of her feet. "Hey dad" Josh cuddled his dad once i finished buttoning up his jacket. They had always had a strong relationship, it's something I've admired. From birth he cared more about his father's soothing voice then the women that carried his little body around for nine months. Not that I cared, I was glad that their relationship was so close, I always had my little boy but Finn had his mini me. You could tell that made him proud. "Hey buddy, how was school?" A genuine smile radiated Finn face. He crouched down so he was looking up at Joshua whilst he talked about his day, and how Mrs. Thorne gave him a gold star of his creative writing story.  "Hi daddy" Ruby's timid voice sounded off when she walked towards her brother and father. They both didn't notice, so I didn't feel the need to acknowledge it either. Another kick to the stomach, as a mother. "There's my beautiful little girl! Have you been keeping mom and joshy on their toes" he grinned picking up ruby's little body and giving her a squeeze. "Well Joshua has been using my toothpaste again..." I left them to talk by the door and ordered a taxi. I looked at the time again as I slid on my coat, and grabbed my bag off the kitchen counter. 7:40pm. I was definitely going to be late for the dinner start, but I new they wouldn't be ordering food til at least 8:30pm. Thank God. "You two go to James and he will help you guys get into the car" he nodded to his driver who stood waiting. "I'll grab your suitcases and meet you there. I just have to talk to mommy, Ohkay?" They both nodded, then gave me both a kiss goodbye. Trotting off towards James yelling Hello as they got situated in the car. I waved towards James and smiled, he had once been my driver when Finn and I were married, he was a lovable old chap that use to talk my ear off. I miss our little chats. "Where are you going?" The question didn't come across one, more of a demand to tell him why I was dressed up and heading out on this rare occasion.  "Work dinner. Not that it's any of your business..." I couldn't help but flush at our proximity. This was probably the closest we had been in years, and that was only because he was standing directly in my way. "Your little boyfriend not taking you out I see, how disappointing". He smirked watching the anger build within me. He knew I was a ticking time bomb, I always have been. I can't help that I take after my mother in that aspect but he has no right talking about Greg and our Relationship. Yes, we have both 'moved somewhat on'. "Excuse me! What does Greg have to do with this Finn" I sneered. "What about your girlfriend where's she? Spending all your money on another boob job?" Shit. Why did I have to open my big, fat mouth. He fed me the bait, and I took it. "Liv is actually at her sister's house if you must know. Tonight it's just the kids and I" I relaxed when he didn't scream back at me. It was still weird to watch his demeanor go ridged, and know I was the one to cause it. "And if you must know-" I fucking knew he would have more of an input. "I quite like Liv's tits the way they are, firm and perky. Unlike someone I know, maybe you should get yours done". "You mother fu- how dare you fucking body shame me! These 'saggy' tits of mine fed both of your kids for nearly two years each, giving them the best start in life. You asshole" His face was stoic, but I could see in his brown eyes there was a hint of underlying sadness- regret even. "Rae I didnt-". "Get out!" "Wait-". "I said get out of my house Finn. Now! Before I grab our kids out of that car. How dare you treat me like that". I was too mad to cry, too angry to even care anymore. Even though Greg and I's sexual relationship wasn't as active as I hoped, I knew for a fact he liked my body. After two kids, who used my body like a factory I was proud I managed to maintain my weight for once. No more late night snacks, and unhealthy foods. I didn't want to go back to my former obesity stage, high school was not kind to me. He grabbed the suite cases with a sigh and headed for the door just as the taxi pulled up. No more words were exchanged. We both knew it would damage this non existing relationship more. -- There's chapter one... I hope you liked it. And there will be more too come. If you want to be tagged just tell me. If not, it's all cool bro :) @lily-pop-2 @eveerez @i-dream-of-emus

[allyinthekeyofx]

Blurring the lines 3/5

@whatfallsaway @therobbinsnest @xfile-cabinetx just for you! Sorry no ‘read more’ insert. I’m on my phone.

Chapter 3

“How did you know where to find me?”

Mulder shrugs lightly and grimaces as the movement pulls at his shoulder injury. I make a mental note to check it when we get back to my apartment, slightly ashamed that I haven’t been able to bring myself to even think to do so before now. Past experience tells me that Mulder is just stupid enough to ignore any warning signs that the injury isn’t healing as well as it should. But he quickly rearranges his features in the hope I haven’t noticed and takes a step away from me, gesturing towards the lake below with his good arm.

“I know you used to come to the lake when you had Can…..” he pauses and swallows and sadness abruptly overwhelms me that even after all these years he still has trouble with that word. “…..when you were sick. So I played a hunch and after a couple of false starts…..well, here you are.”

“Here I am.” I whisper, unable suddenly to meet his eyes because there is a part of me that is afraid of what I will see there or maybe more accurately, what he will see in me and I remember another time in another place where he searched for me before while the snow packed landscape stretched ahead of him in to infinity and his singular determination to bring me back pushed him to limits no one should ever have to endure.

We’ve never talked too much about it – some wounds are just too painful to keep re-opening – but I have always known with blinding certainty that he was prepared to give his own life in an attempt to save mine; that he accepted the odds without question as he quite literally travelled to the ends of the earth to find me and bring me back. That he wasn’t ready to give up on me then; that he isn’t prepared to give up on me now.

And I find myself feeling so ashamed suddenly of just how I have treated him these last few days. I have directed my own confusion, my own uncertainty and my own discomfiture squarely back at him when I essentially have no right or reason; because for years I have refused to allow him even a glimpse as to what actually lies behind the walls that over time have left me more damaged, more insular than I ever thought I could be and half of the emotions I keep locked away I don’t actually understand myself, so how in the hell am I supposed to expect him to?

As though to contradict me, as though he is literally reading my mind he touches my arm gently and without even looking up I can hear the smile in his words.

“Least this time you were easier to find huh?”

And he trails his fingertips downwards until his gloved hand envelops my own, instantly warming me through the thin fleece gloves I wear. I hadn’t realised just how cold my hands were until that moment; or of how the lighting had subtly changed around us, bleeding what colour there was from the landscape and casting everything in a peculiar luminosity that, after years of living through winters here I knew was a warning that a storm was gathering; a bad one if the weather warnings of this morning were to be believed. In fact, I could feel the temperature had dropped at least a few degrees since I had left my apartment and neither one of us, but Mulder especially, was dressed to get caught in a serious snowstorm.

“We should get back Scully. There’s a hell of a storm brewing.”

Reading my mind again Mulder? The thought makes me smile; the first genuine smile I think I have managed for days and I nod, waiting for him to release my hand from his. But instead he tightens his fingers around mine and pulls me in closer to him, our arms practically touching and despite the biting wind that has sprung up from nowhere, I don’t think I have ever felt warmer than I do right now.

XXXXXXX

By the time we reach the haven of my apartment, the sky above has darkened to an ominous shade of purple and wind is howling around the building. Unsurprisingly, we hardly saw a soul on our return and the few we did see were hurrying along, heads bowed against the biting wind with hands thrust in to coat pockets, intent on getting home in to the warm as quickly as they could and for me at least, the blast of warm air that hits me as we step over the threshold in to my apartment instantly banishes the chill that was starting to creep upon me. Mulder though is shivering like a rain soaked puppy and despite trying valiantly to hide the fact that he is freezing, the hollow sound of his teeth clacking together kind of gives him away. I’m not surprised he’s cold. His suit pants are soaked to the knees from the ankle deep snow and I’m in no doubt that his feet have benefitted from only scant protection afforded by the dress shoes he wore to work today. Hardly the correct attire to come searching for your errant partner through five inches of fresh snow; under normal circumstances I would be frustrated with him – angry even - but my fingers are still tingling pleasantly and frankly, I just don’t have the heart. My tone though, leaves no room for argument.

“Hot bath Mulder. Right now.” I gesture toward the bathroom “There’s fresh towels in there. I’ll fetch you some clothes.”

The fact he immediately acquiesces speaks volumes but I know he won’t be able to resist at least an attempt at a Mulder quip.

“Feel free to join me Scully. Plenty of room for two.”

And despite what happened between us, the kiss we finally shared, I know that this time he is just teasing me because he feels that a glib comment is expected of him and which does more to dispel the niggling fear that has been my constant for days than I think anything else could. Because this is normal, this is him and this is us.

“In your dreams Mulder…..and Mulder? Don’t get those stitches wet or I’ll kick your ass.”

“Promises, promises Scully”

I shake my head, knowing that he has to have the final word. The final word that has set a pattern during our long partnership and one which I usually concede because if I didn’t he would carry on with the verbal sparring all day long.

I’ve always known that he has a reputation for arrogance and it’s all too easy to see why but those who know him well – and I can count on one hand just who he has allowed that singular privilege – know that much of that perceived arrogance is simply Mulders way of protecting himself. Of projecting an unshakable self-belief that cushions him from the deluge of incredulous ridicule he has suffered over the years. Because despite the facade he tries to hide behind, I know it’s all pretence; because while he has become skilled at outwardly ignoring the constant jibes, immune to them he certainly isn’t and I sometimes find myself marvelling at the fact that he has managed to survive at all. And while it would take a thousand armies to drag it out of me, it’s the reason I could never leave him. Not now; not after everything we have shared. Because I have seen him fall too many times when he reaches breaking point; when the pressure becomes too much and his self respect is replaced with a self loathing that creeps up on him. An insidious darkness that would, if it were permitted, devour him from the inside out.

I decided a very long time ago that I could never let that happen; that whatever it took I would remain with him and even though it weighs heavily on me at times the sacrifice, if it can be described as such, is worth it to me. Because I love him; a love that transcends all boundaries and one which sometimes threatens to consume me with an intensity that scares me beyond rational thought when I consider just what my life would be without him by my side. So I tend not to dwell on it and right now I shake my head to dispel the thoughts before they overwhelm me, turning my attention to more mundane matters; switching effortlessly back to the Dana Scully that is practical and methodical and unruffled. My own way of surviving I think.

XXXXX

By the time Mulder emerges from the bathroom I have lit a fire in the small grate that is the focal point of my living room. He is wearing the t shirt and sweats that I had earlier removed from the drawer in my bedroom where they sat neatly folded alongside an almost identical set that he keeps here for situations just such as these and it hasn’t escaped me recently that somehow, along the way, other items of Mulders have joined them. A pressed suit, a dress shirt and tie which hang in my closet and which, assail my senses with the scent of him each time I open the door, a pair of faded jeans hanging beside them that he left here after spending the night on my sofa and which he never saw fit to claim, a small drawstring bag containing a razor, soap, shower gel and shampoo which I actually went out and purchased after he complained one day after showering here that it was a dent to his masculinity to have walk around all day stinking like a sidewalk florist display. His toothbrush is kept permanently on stand-by on my bathroom shelf, keeping my own company in the frosted tumbler that matches the soap dish. And when I really think about it, it probably seems a little odd to some that we keep such personal items to hand in each other’s homes; but to us it’s just how it is. The years have made us both comfortable enough with each other for it to be normal. Friday night movie nights have become a weekly tradition and only rarely do we bother driving home from whichever apartment we happen to find ourselves in and I’ve spent many nights sleeping peacefully on Mulders soft leather sofa where he has covered me gently with the old Navajo blanket before retreating to his own bed.

I’m conscious now though that he is lounging in the doorway that leads from the hall to the living room, just watching me as he watched me in the office earlier and I know that sooner or later we are going to have to talk; to bring this thing out in to the open – this thing that for reasons I still don’t understand, made me retreat from him in a way I haven’t in years.

But right now, I have more pressing matters to attend to.

“Come over here Mulder and let me take a look at your arm”.

The look on his face tells me instantly that I’m not going to like what I see and neither the redness around the ugly row of stitches that are holding the deep wound together nor the strangled hiss of pain he emits as I start to gently probe the wound with my fingertips particularly surprises me. Because while I couldn’t say that it’s raging with infection, it is certainly inflamed way more than it should be and I struggle to keep my tone neutral, knowing him well enough to know that accusation and judgement on my part will just seek to put him immediately on the defensive.

“When did you last take your antibiotics?”

He doesn’t answer but at least has the decency to look contrite. Because without him having to confirm it, we both know that he hasn’t bothered. And by the look of the wound, the 6 hourly anti inflammatories have also gone by the wayside.

I resist the urge to call him an idiot. Because he already knows he is and I have never been able to fathom just why he seems to put so little stock in his own well being; this man who will cross continents to keep me safe but who seemingly lacks the ability to take a pill that will keep him healthy.

I know the hospital prescribed him Augmentin due to the nature of his injury, an antibiotic often used to treat animal bites where the risk of infection is high and they had teamed it with a fairly effective painkiller which, if memory served me, was most likely Naproxin. It seemed like the logical choice under the circumstances and one which I myself would have prescribed. Unfortunately for him though, I didn’t have the same luxury of choice and the best I could come up with at short notice was Amoxicillin and Vicodin. He pulled a face at the Vicodin, a drug which I know from past experience makes him drowsy and occasionally nauseous but he had the good sense not to argue, taking them both without comment and resting back on the sofa, angling his body slightly so his uninjured shoulder takes the weight of him and I half expect him to close his eyes but he doesn’t. Instead he shifts position slightly and turns them on me, the colour dark and intense with the flickering flames of the fire reflecting within. And there is something in the way he looks at me that makes my heart begin to beat painfully inside my chest; respect, gratitude and an aching vulnerability that, if I really thought about it, would break me in two, a man of such complexity, of such intelligence and such compassion that he is sometimes unfathomable to me.

“You want to know why I kissed you?” his voice is soft, barely more than a whisper as he leans toward me, cupping my chin in his palm, his long fingers brushing my cheek and I can’t move, can’t breathe, can’t find the words to answer him, so I just nod my head slightly, almost unconsciously inclining my head towards him as he moves closer, feeling his breath against my neck which makes me shiver despite the warmth he radiates.

“I kissed you because I was still with you. Because I don’t want to die regretting all the things I should have said to you…….because I don’t ever want to die with you not knowing and because you deserve so much more.”

And slowly, so excruciatingly slowly, he brings his lips to mine, teasing me, tasting me, claiming me finally as his, deepening the kiss as I slide my hands around his neck, even now carefully avoiding putting any pressure on his injury as I close my eyes, savouring this moment, knowing that I am falling, that finally I am falling and that this time, there will be no going back.

Continued Part four

[myfriendpokey]

mystery market

most of my imagination of game culture comes from memories of video rental stores (which rented games, too), with hundreds of different packets of various levels of opacity, blurred alluring pictures, unaccountable gaps (why was there always a copy of The Fly II but never of The Fly?), an enormous immediate level of variation coupled with a strange sense of equivalence, of anonymity. 500 videocassettes which each cost the same to rent / are packaged in the same format / come from the same store are all essentially the same videotape, regardless of what any particular one contains, or how good or bad it might be - everything united through the levelling effect of exchange value. it was a place of great mystery to me but it was also a kind of market, and consequently the way i thought about videogames was also kind of like a market.

this is obviously a framework with sharp, sometimes gross, limitations, even if i'm not sure how fully avoidable it is - i get the joke when small developers invent "companies" called Bob Corp or Susan Industries but it's also sort of close to home when considering just how mediated our images of these things are through the formats most amenable to business and capital. but that being said i don't think this means they're necessarily tainted right through from the start, having an alienated or aestheticised image of these things can help to identify tensions within them, particularly when compared to later and more accurate impressions. i think in retrospect the appeal of the video store to me was as a perverse image of egalitarianism, one of a community where membership would not be given on the basis of some particular quality (being good, being smart, being worthwhile) but in a structural sense which ignored the existence of such qualities altogether. the fact that all the individual cassettes seemed lost in their own worlds, that there was no communication between one video and the other, also had a specific appeal if you were shy or aloof - it was a community which didn't necessitate talking to anyone. and i wonder in general re. the famous affinity of white nerds with market capitalism if, on an emotional if not economic level, it's in part driven less by individualism than a sense of the community of commodities, one which opens indiscriminately to anyone willing to pay, heedless of all invisible hierarchies of social communication - while of course sidestepping the question of who is able to pay, and why, and allowing for the continued pleasant ressentiment towards other, supposedly more sectarian communities (i.e. ones excluding the speaker)  such as blacks, gays, women, etc. so the video-store-as-utopia image doesn't hold up, not just in the most obvious sense of where and who it existed for but even as an experience in itself - where unless you're 8 years old it almost immediately becomes obvious that the videos on display are far less heterogenuous than they initially appear, overwhelmingly the same recent-ish studio productions, the same aspirations and assumed set of references and emotional priorities, same genre signifiers and same functions, like one of those 999 game-in-one cartridges where 994 of the games are just variations of tetris. and in fact this experience is magnified even more enormously in any kind of "open" online market, such as steam or the app store or netflix, where the particular unease comes from the coupling of almost infinite choice with an uncanny lack of actual variation, like bad procedural generation, every possible combination of zombies and match-3 repeating endlessly into the horizon, in fact like a sort of negative image of our earlier videotape fantasy: where instead of individuality existing in a fixed structure we have the coexistence of an open structure with blandly oversimilar, repetitive elements. this might not be especially less "egalitarian" than our previous examples, "you can watch anything if you have money" not that much less limiting than "you can play anything as long as it's match-3" but i think it does highlight one of the felt contradictions of the system - in the discrepancy between the cultural fantasy image of endless "choice", sensation, multiplicity and the real economic factors which ensure such multiplicity will only ever be a fleeting dream before the increasingly uniform accumulation of capital.

i don't know what such contradictions are worth, although the enormous amounts of money and energy spent trying to fix or elide them suggest they're at least worth something - for example every essay or news report in a financial magazine taking the time to point out either that videogames are healthy in some neurological way or else focusing on the bright creative young things who are even now moving this horrible medium away from shooter games and collectibles and closer to dare we say it "art", the frequency of which have risen as the amount of money both made and invested in the format continues to grow. surely nothing this profitable can be ALL bad, surely there isn't a totally irreconcileable break between profit and human value. the question of whether videogames are art is political in the sense that it touches on one of those deep ideological articles of faith which provide legitimacy to economic or political order, like free trade equals freedom or capitalism being a natural fit with democracy, in this case the idea that commercial culture can never depart too dramatically from accepted parameters of merit and taste, which is typically a fantasy both sides are invested in maintaining even as the restless desire for more profits and more markets ensures the line is always only moving one way. in the same way that many proponents of truly free trade would (presumably) still feel some distaste at the prospect of selling heroin to teenagers even hardened conservatives can become a little sickly at the prospect that the future of the film industry consists of 44 years of spiderman reboots and pornography.

which brings us back to indie games, and to a certain awkward argument within them; namely, are these things meant to be replacing the existing industry or just supplementing it? with the consensus, by now, firmly with the latter. it's a little eerie to imagine "indie games" on their own, out of the contrast with some AAA counterpart - they immediately begin to seem more diffuse, if not distracted, stylish but also curiously listless outside of the deep mulch of practice games, physics toys, and abandoned projects that make up the majority of development practice. how much more sense they make as kind of a vitamin tablet, as transient and local infusions of colour, inventiveness and thought helping to smooth over cracks in an otherwise regimented genre landscape - and acting the same way in a moral capacity, where playing a short cute, weird, empathic or political game sort of clears your conscience about going back to play another 50 hours of destiny in the same way that jogging to work "earns" you a packet of crisps later on. which isn't necessarily to dismiss these games, which i think might require another 10 years to see clearly, to understand what "indie" meant to people growing up online or playing videogames - but i do think that lending themselves so readily to a place in this moral economy, acting as the human, creative supplement which makes videogames seem bearable, being the GOOD games, plays maybe more readily into the ideological survival of a dismal market consensus than maybe anyone involved would like to think.

does this mean moving away from things which are cute, weird, empathic or political in favor of some kind of bleak accelerationist impulse (everyone just make spiderman games now. no future), i don't think so. in a weird way i think part of the reason that image of the video store has stuck with me is as counterpoint to this equation of interesting or weird work with values of individuality, creativity, moral seriousness, all the other virtues that small developers are asked to provide in proportion to their gradually vanishing from the scorched earth of consumer culture. the alienated video store image, for reasons discussed above, is untenable as an actual proposal, but it's worth considering what that image, or that desire, represents: the difference between the dream image and the reality is that one is a market without competition, and this discrepency i think strikes at something real, the tendency of competition to extinguish that "variety" held up as the friendly, carnivalesque face of the market, the tendency of capital to eat away at those very features habitually portrayed as its most acceptable. when i think of the most appealling prospects offered by homebrew videogames i invariably think of those which assume from the start that competition is what's holding them back, like the glorious trainwrecks pirate karts or david kanaga's unionization proposal, both of which imply that true variety is only compatible with the equitable structures that they set out to create - which in other words argue for a basic fault in capitalism from the start and a need to move apart from it rather than that of finding aesthetic solutions for economic problems. i think at this point if there's anything i'd "like to see" it's just acknowledging how shitty the existing system for making and distributing these things is, and how few people it actually works for, and trying to move away from the idea that a few "cool folkz" making a living is good enough, broader structures, colder structures. both videogames and video stores are compromised by capital; the value of both is in their insufficiency, in the sense of promises not kept, of unfinished business.

[entergamingxp]

Ghost of Tsushima review – a likeable, if clunky Hollywood blockbuster • Eurogamer.net

Quite early on in Ghost of Tsushima, you’ll be introduced to its dramatic, one-on-one duels. Two warriors, a dozen yards apart, face each other down across the divide. Up close: narrowing eyes and crumpled brows. Hands hover at hips, knees bend, feet press down into the earth, muscle, sinew and fingers tighten. Then – bang! – combat. It’s a cracking moment, especially the first time you give one a try, and it’s also a cracking example of what Ghost of Tsushima’s all about. These heightened standoffs begin with shot-for-shot facsimiles of that famous scene from Yojimbo, an Akira Kurosawa classic that’s both a mirror of older westerns and an inspiration for the ’60s greats.

Ghost of Tsushima review

Developer: Sucker Punch

Publisher: Sony

Platform: Reviewed on PS4

Availability: Out on 17th July on PS4

They’re also, once you’ve done a few of them, slightly flat, the enemies you battle mostly re-using the same attacks and movements of ones you’ve faced before, and the concept quickly becomes a little overused, predictably occurring at the end of certain quests, and generally lacking the complexity to require more than a few tries each time. Like the game itself, they go for authenticity through facsimile – recreating moments without the requisite weight and context. And, like the game itself, they’re lacking a little depth. Despite the immediate and undeniable thrill, the gloss can be just a little too quick to wear off.

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Still, much of Ghost of Tsushima is enjoyable enough. Developer Sucker Punch has definitely aimed high with its first full-length effort since InFamous Second Son, way back at the start of the generation in 2014. The much-trumpeted inspirations here are the stirring epics of samurai cinema. It’s a tough genre to crack, nevermind the potential for awkwardness in an American realisation of feudal Japan. Namechecked directors like Akira Kurosawa, who gets his own grainy, black-and-white mode in Ghost of Tsushima, are known for their lengthy epics of extraordinary nuance, adapting – and arguably mastering – the works of Shakespeare, or chipping away at the great problem of the human condition. Next to inspirations like that, Ghost of Tsushima is never really going to compare. It lacks the nuance and the depth, or the dedication, even, to telling a good story itself – as opposed to telling a story that simply keeps out of the way of the mechanics – and the slack left by its story isn’t picked up in those mechanics, either. But it has a kind of Hollywood, popcorn charm, which shouldn’t count for nothing.

In Ghost of Tsushima you are Jin Sakai, a samurai of noble birth, tasked with almost single-handedly fending off a Mongol invasion of the feudal Japanese island he calls home. In doing so you’re forced to evolve, from staid and honourable samurai to the Ghost, master of underhand tactics. And therein lies your central conflict, as the screenwriting gurus would put it: Jin has to defend the people of the island, but he does so at great cost, abandoning tradition, honour, and everything that comes with it. It’s a bit of a cliché – and one that happily departs from Sucker Punch’s stated aim for authenticity, when you read historians’ arguments that for most samurai in feudal Japan, there was no such code of honour at all – but Ghost of Tsushima is good at carrying you along with the drama.

As far as stoic male video game protagonists go, Jin Sakai sits somewhere in the middle, but he’s played with likeable subtlety by Daisuke Tsuji, who leads a fantastic voice cast. It’s a shame they don’t benefit from Kurosawa’s framing – for a game inspired by cinema, Tsushima sure does like a default over-the-shoulder.

It’s helped by some stellar voice work from a cracking cast, including a turn from the magnetic François Chau, of Lost fame, as a curmudgeonly master archer Sensei Ishikawa, and an imperious Patrick Gallagher as the big bad Khotun Khan, a fictional descendant of that famous one Ghengis. There are some stirring sequences, too, especially when Sucker Punch digs a little deeper into its characters to mine their pockets of rage, or just finds an excuse for another heroic charge, while the family-political intrigue is at least more accurate to the period than the lengthy monologuing on honour and tradition. And there’s a stunning, sweeping score to accompany it all, capable of dragging you up from even the deepest mid-game cutscene malaise, carrying you across rolling landscapes and striking wonderfully at the story’s noticeable highs.

What it lacks is the grit to go with the melodrama. Samurai tales are, famously, much the same as what we’d more quickly recognise as westerns, and as such they’re reliant on certain things to really work. One of them is that grit, or rather a sort of tangible earthiness, that comes from a particular grounding in the world. There have been obvious examples of earthy cowboy games recently but the best illustration in this case remains The Witcher 3, which told a similar story of a stoic, semi-outlawed warrior riding into villages and solving problems with his sword, but did so through the immense weight of its world, through the detail and humanity of its side stories and the intimacy of its smaller, quieter moments. There are countless others – Assassin’s Creed’s now known for its side stories that bring levity, heart and mystery, and the first Red Dead Redemption has even been cited by Sucker Punch as inspiration.

As far as the bulk of side quests go, ‘Help! The Mongols!’ is about as sophisticated as it gets.

This is why Ghost of Tsushima feels so frustrating. Side quests are the beating heart of a good outlaw story, the secret to a great samurai game that so many others not set in feudal Japan have managed to master. For Sucker Punch they seem to have been almost an afterthought. There are effectively four kinds of quest in the game: the main story, one-off side quests, mythic quests, and “tales” – multi-step quests – that are tied to a specific named character. The character tales are far and away the highlight – Lady Masako and Ishikawa’s standing out among them, thanks to the strength of the performances and melodrama of the stories – but they’re sadly over before they really begin, and the actual activities involved are still far too limited. Follow a character, track some footsteps, fight some enemies and maybe grind out some instant-fail stealth sections, onto the next. There’s some minor variation on this for the mythic ones but not much – not enough – and the standalone ones are worse, often feeling like a procedural patching together of pre-set objectives and activities, wrapped in the loose-fitting context of another unnamed peasant crying for help from the Mongols. The only reward for your time with them is a nudge of XP or some upgrade materials, as opposed to a chance to really bed yourself into the character or the world itself. They’re a huge disappointment.

In fact, if you pick at the surface of Ghost of Tsushima it all starts to quite worryingly unravel. The world as a whole is beautiful – utterly, undeniably, oppressively beautiful. Such colour! Everywhere you look, it’s crimson, windswept fields and forests of golden yolk. Sunsets and oceans, beaches and snowy mountain peaks – environments of improbable range for a temperate island of Tsushima’s kind, set to broad, enrapturing splashes of orange and teal. The vivid green bamboo jungles, the ephemeral fireflies, the swirling, milky petals that rise and fall with the wind – a wind that could be a game of its own, a magic thing bending everything around you. It’s a sign of a studio that’s mastered the tech, with a console generation’s worth of experience behind it, but what it’s missing is the maturity or restraint to put it to use. Ghost of Tsushima’s bursting with undeniable beauty, yes, but beauty of the obvious, in-your-face kind, the kind that doesn’t offer much thematic or tonal subtlety but makes a great ad for HDR OLED televisions. It’s an odd thing to find a problem with – an excess of sumptuousness – but Sucker Punch is best imagined here less as master painter than overexcited barkeeper, serving up shot after shot of wincingly concentrated emotion, slamming the table and pouring out another – bigger moon! more falling leaves! make it a double! – before you’ve gulped the last one down. It’s a bit much.

Ghost of Tsushima is absolute photo mode fodder. It’s gorgeous, but conceptually that beauty is a little shallow.

More troublesome is the construction of Tsushima’s open world, which is technically open but best described as closed. It’s a big area – there are three parts to the island, the second and third opening up after you reach the end of the first act plenty of hours in, and they contain all the breadth of those wildly varied biomes outlined above – but the sense of closedness comes from how little mystery there is to it. In fact, there’s really no mystery at all, once you get to know the way the game works.

Spanning the island are a litany of fixed, more or less identical locations-of-interest, which all involve a set interaction and a set reward (and all of which you’ll be led to by the game’s clunky, if admirable attempt at using nature for navigation – gallop past a nearby point of interest and a golden bird will appear, piping up incessantly in invitation to follow it to whatever that undiscovered spot may be). Those points of interest never change, though – they never deviate from the set list of things to do that you can check off from lists in the menus. So there are hot springs which you press R2 at to bathe in and increase your max health; fox dens, where you follow a mewling, over-adorable fox to a shrine, which you press R2 at to increase your max charm slots; bamboo strikes, which do at least give you a very brief, quick-reaction button-pressing minigame to beat before their designated reward (there’s an accessibility option for turning off the time-sensitive element, if that sounded worrying to you).

Haiku spots, another point of interest, might be Sucker Punch’s most egregiously fawning decision, and a key example of where they’ve gone wrong. You look at one of three preset points and press X to select a line of Haiku. It’s such a lovely idea, with some nice writing, but practically it’s all back to front, taking an act of observation and conscious mindfulness and making it one of passive follow-the-dot. An attempt at poetry through literalism.

I could go on, but the point is sooner or later you’ll realise this is it. A bird will chirp and, after slavishly following them until now, you’ll decide the bird can do one, actually, because it’s just going to take you off your path to something you’ve already seen and done a dozen times before. Even the rarer, more elaborate activities like Shinto Shrines – locations that sit atop mountains and cliffs, requiring a spot of ultra-light, golden ledge guided platforming to reach – start to wear thin after a couple climbs. The result of it all is a busy world, full of activities, but one that soon feels paradoxically empty of things to do.

A brighter, if still imperfect part of Ghost of Tsushima is its combat. In melee, Sucker Punch has created a kind of Arkham-Sekiro hybrid, which works relatively well. Enemies all have a guard meter as well as a health meter, which will need to be broken for you to really get in there with the pointy end of your katana and do some damage. Much of your success will come from successfully countering, as is the Arkham style: you can dodge and perfect dodge, dodge-roll, parry, and perfect parry, all of which feel snappy enough – although I’d like some attack-cancelling to feel a tad sharper. And while there are unblockable enemy moves, marked with a red symbol – hello Sekiro – most of these can be turned into parryable ones with an early upgrade in the skill tree (Ghost of Tsushima has something between seven and ten skill trees, depending on how you look at it – don’t ask), which unfortunately takes away much of the tension and skill.

The world is so darkly lit and densely packed that often you can’t actually see what you’re doing or where you’re going, so the game resorts to overt and heavy-handed methods to compensate. Trademark golden climbing ledges is one. The guiding wind is another: a great idea for reducing ugly UI that soon becomes an aesthetically pleasing version of the infamously passive big Bioshock arrow.

Where it gets interesting is stances: there are four stances in the game, each granting new heavy attacks effective at breaking the guards of a certain type of enemy. You unlock them and their respective skill trees one at a time – with another slightly repetitive open world task of killing certain numbers of Mongol leaders – but once you do the combat gets noticeably more interesting, becoming a much more conscious exercise. At its most satisfying, you’ll be facing swollen numbers of varied enemies, requiring you to rapidly switch between stances as frequently as every enemy attack, so as to clash swords, break shields, charge archers, parry spears and slash brutes as effectively as possible. In these moments of intimate violence, the music soaring, enemies cowering and crumpled, Jin clad in some imperious armour lashed with rain and soaked in mud, Ghost of Tsushima feels glorious, and also truest to its soily roots.

The problem is they come too rarely – there are a smattering of climactic battles in the story that open with a bang, before swiftly fizzling out – and too late, with the enemies only getting really varied and dense towards the end and the game falling into the usual RPG-lite trap of dishing out its most enjoyable gimmicks after a load of time without (or hiding them behind mythic quests, some of which are only accessible after certain points of the story). It struggles with the camera, which sits too low and close over the shoulder, and doesn’t come with an option to lock onto an enemy. It sounds minor, but can result in annoying hits from enemies out of shot, an awkward inability to act and look around at once, or worse still a totally obscured camera altogether, if you get too close to an object or wall.

In motion Kurosawa mode is stupidly pretty, and lip syncing aside – oddly, it’s not synced to Japanese dialogue – there’s real attention to detail in the conscious application of shade, grain and sound. It’s more than an Instagram filter, and makes me wish Sucker Punch had payed as close attention to samurai games as they have the aesthetics of the films – in focusing on the latter they seem to have missed the basics of what makes them great.

Ghost of Tsushima’s stealth, meanwhile – which is prominent enough to be the driving force of its story, and technically half of your own arsenal – is frustratingly unsystemic and largely underbaked. It’s very much stealth-lite, closest to modern era Assassin’s Creed with even fewer toys, and so you’ll be frequently defaulting to the usual suspects: X-ray vision, throw a jingly distraction bell, pop a smoke bomb if you get in trouble and try again. All of that couples meekly with a range of insta-fail stealth missions and yet another selection of excessively crunching, crackling and squelching neck stabs.

It’s desperately frustrating, because I maintain that Ghost of Tsushima is still, largely, quite fun. The problem is it’s an easy, breezy, lite beer kind of fun – the kind that Sucker Punch is known for, after all – and the blanket genericism of it just doesn’t sit well against such a po-faced tone. It’s another game fallen victim to the palatability blender, coming out the other side as a slightly formless smudge of every genre, without a mastery of any. Going back to Ghost of Tsushima’s roots, as an American game inspired by the comics and the movies of Japan, in a way it’s quite apt. It’s what happens when you want to pay homage, but don’t want to add anything new of your own. It’s Hollywood.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/ghost-of-tsushima-review-a-likeable-if-clunky-hollywood-blockbuster-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ghost-of-tsushima-review-a-likeable-if-clunky-hollywood-blockbuster-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net