#the climate where I have been living at had changed very drastically to where the ecosystem literally can't handle. This is in the US btw

[sadioradio]

fuck you mean that carbon absorption was at zero in 2023?

[ms-scarletwings]

Dave the Diver: On Aberrations

Between a scattering of recently discovered islands rests a jewel of paradise, mystery, and a hint of exotic danger. The famous Blue Hole has found a name for itself among the most envied tourist destinations among the world, with a gorgeous view, thrills to experience, and rich natural resources… but on a day like this, the scene has become anything but recognizable as the bustling hub described. That is because a ponderous fog has decided to linger over the lagoon by the time my vessel reaches port.

Despite the warm weather, I could feel my hairs standing on end from the very moment the clouds had enveloped our ship. Aside from the occasional day like this, fog horns would usually be a rare sound to hear across the bay. Since the discovery of the area, vacationers have enjoyed a tropical climate punctuated by mild storms. It all paints a picture so drastically unlike the eerie one I have pursued to this end. By sunset, I know that the white mist outside will give way to a crimson haze. With it, begins the investigation into the unusual animals only spotted on previous fogged nights: What familiar aberrants have made their way to the region, what are they capable of, and to where they fit within the additional puzzle of Blue Hole’s astounding ecosystem.

The Fog Coast, Part One

The hour is roughly 10pm, and “Blue” Hole has turned to a sight otherworldly. Thick, red vapors and an eerie silence hang in place of what was a starlight sky over the whistles of dolphins a mere night ago. The locals claim that the lagoon is an inscrutable locale, whose underwater geography both hosts an impossible collection of species and undergoes rapid, unexplained changes every few hours. On a night of crimson fog, it has been made enigmatic even from the surface view. Rocks easily seen by daylight make sailing close to the shorelines a hazardous endeavor along a coast with no lighthouse or other navigational indicators. It is a coastal venture treacherous, but also rewarding, for much more hides under these waves than the rocks. A watery gyre is barely seen at the edge of shiplight, and at its core, I have heard there can be found treasures far more interesting than mere gold.

• Encyclopedia Entry No. 83, 84

[Testimony of a local fisherman]

“Now it’s not unusual for cod to happen up close to the shores at night. Obviously, I was hoping for it or I wouldn’t have been fishing in that stuff, but there was something else going on with these fish. Something not right. They weren’t taking to the bait, but they just kept coming up closer. Like they were trying best they could to get up on my ankles without getting stranded. Almost like they see someone standing on the beach and that’s all they’re interested in. Not that I let them, but they got close enough to tell something ugly about them. The only thing I managed to get hooked snapped my line before I could figure out what I was even looking at, other than big teeth and nasty looking eyes.“

Analysis: Our first descriptive cases of mutated cod corroborated with archived specimens from off the coast of Greater Marrow. Though there are instances where residents have managed to capture these codfish whole and live, no success has been found in attempting to keep them or any other mutated fish in captivity, due to their propensity to die shortly after they are harvested from the ocean. The two ‘flavors’ of tainted cod found here include the Fanged and Three-Headed variants, with no cases of hypertrophy. Their behavior has observed to feature heightened predatory behavior, to the point of stalking and testing large animals as oppurtunistic targets. They approach sluggishly at first, and lunge to close distances. They pose some hazard to swimmers, notably the unarmed, but can be reeled or netted as readily as any scrod. The three-headed cods are generally larger than the fanged variant, and both can be found close to the surface during a fog night.

• Encyclopedia Entry No. 79, 80

[We join the crew of a commercial trawler, company left unnamed to permit this revord of the onboard operations. As the ship coasts upon the outskirts of one of the smaller outcrops, fishermen gather at the fresh haul to do their work. Mackerel from all global ranges and climates incredulously line the deck of the vessel, meticulously sorted into an array of containers. One worker calls out as an unusual sight is plucked from the pile- a brown shiner with half a dozen too many eyes for an average fish. The bosun indicates for me a specific container the individual is packed into. What I find there is a collection of similar wretches, scales still twitching and mouths gasping wet with a shimmering fluid.]

“We don’t actually come across that many of them in the nets. One for about every hundred of the healthy ones. Their meat is considered tainted and has to be separated from the catch, but we aren’t allowed to return them to the environment either. They’ll stay on ice for now, later today they’ll be dropped off with a merchant who’s agreed to handle the… disposal.”

Analysis: In spite of the sheer diversity of mackerel to be seen at Blue Hole, these turned pacific mackerel are the only shared species between Greater Marrow and this living collection in such regard. Specifically, the Many-Eyed and Grotesque mackerels found in shallower coastal water. Like most aberrants, they are prone to agitation and exhibit territorial, if not predatory aggression at first contact. Like all aberrations, their blood runs a purple hue, and their sightings dry up once the fog has dissipated.

• Encyclopedia Entry No. 91, 92

[Shared anecdote from a lionfish diver]

“You have to really love a place like Blue Hole to do what I do. A lot of people don’t think of lionfish as an invasive species here, but they can do real damage to reefs where they’re not native, and ours are no exception. Worse still is that they’re far more aggressive here than anywhere else in the world, and not any less venomous. I thought if anyone was prepared to do a part in protecting local animals from these new pests, why not me? And yeah, I bagged a few. I speared things with a few too many eyes, a few too many heads, a few too many teeth. I found these great big ugly fish with no eyes at all that still would come right at you. And then I saw a… thing. The thing, Reason I don’t go night diving anymore. Came out of the dark like a ghost, black bones and green light. It didn’t look like something that should have even been real. I was lining a shot up and I felt like my arm had taken a lion’s barb. I didn’t even know what happened, that thing sparked, and I felt pure pain pulse through half of my body. Everything was panic after that. Panic to get back up and the hell out of the water. Fingers were still tingling almost until morning. All I know that I know is, I’m sticking to day hunting.”

Analysis: What’s to be expected was found in observation of the Tusked grouper. Despite their blindness, they show no hesitance to begin tracking and pursuing any nearby disturbance of water they sense. While their sole offensive boast is a strong mouth full of elongated teeth, the Voltaic variant wields a far less conventional weapon. When approached to a range of a couple of meters, it is capable of discharging a potent shock. Likely, this is utilized both as a defensive and hunting technique, similar to the currents produced by an electric eel. Similar accounts have attested to this stunning capability, reporting temporary paralytic effects from direct contact with the fish. Mechanism of this ability remains unknown. Especial caution recommended in presence of Voltaic grouper, not only for the risk of attack, but also from the drowning hazard posed by their stray arcs.

[senselessconjuration]

I just reblogged a post about DS9 that got me thinking about the little bubble of anxiety about genetic engineering that happened in the late 90s.

It was like: we’d seen how fast computers advanced. We were seeing the growth of the Internet and how quickly it changed Everything. And then a sheep got cloned and a lot of people were saying this is it, this is the next thing. We’ve unlocked a new technology and it’s going to speed up exponentially like technology keeps doing And we’re all going to be genetically engineering perfect test tube babies and creating a new underclass of the genetically imperfect.

Remembering it I’m like lol sci fi Really oversold the danger of clones, what we should have been anxious about was climate change or the erosion of privacy and advances in surveillance technology.

But as a teen in the late 90s it really felt like we had climate change beat, because we had been so aggressively sold on the idea that it was fixable through small individual action. I lived in a liberal college town so as far as I could see most people were doing the things. We were recycling. Turning the water off while brushing our teeth. Not standing in front of the fridge with the door open. Everyone I knew was doing all that stuff they were told would work, so clearly we were gonna be fine. They said the holes in the ozone layer were shrinking, and I know as a kid I was not alone in assuming that they would close with in the next couple of years and then we just had to hold on a little bit longer until Solar energy was ready to go and global warming was fixed forever.

And to be fair we were also not expecting 9/11 to drastically alter what basically everyone who grew up afterwards thought of as an acceptable violation of privacy. If you don’t remember the Patriot Act being passed, you probably do not remember what it was like to have reasonable expectations about what personal information government and corporations are entitled to. The line was crossed so far and so fast that it seems inconceivable we’ll ever get back to where we were when we should’ve started freaking about about privacy and surveillance. (See also: that post about how the Must Be Stopped Evil tech of the 2000 Charlie’s Angels movie is CELL PHONE TRACKING)

It’s weird to look back on that 15yr old who figured that climate change was mostly taken care of as long as we kept recycling our cans, who was sure the Internet would be an outlaw paradise forever, who thought it not impossible they might retire to a Martian colony someday. That 15yr old who wondered if she’d be the last generation of gay people or maybe would gay parents engineer their kids to be gay? Who hoped someone maybe would invent gene therapy to cure Being Fat but knew more likely what would happen is people would engineer their children to not be fat and it would be even worse to be fat for the next 100yrs or so until all fat people are extinct.

(Lol typing that out really makes it clear that I said to myself “when they invent human fixing technology the first kinds of people they will get rid of are People Like Me.” Which is very typical teen me.)

There are plenty of things that did turn out to be just as big of a problem as I worried about back then like: soulless consumerism, gentrification, cops, school shootings, Nazis, Russia, and the decline of American theater.

[cadyrocks]

The idea that this is simply a matter of energy extraction in the 20th century is somewhat undermined by just how comically evil large corporations have been. To this day, they are spending massive amounts of money to lie about climate change, lie about their culpability, and lie about the feasibility of any shift away from fossil fuels. As a result, we continue to drag our feet on addressing the problem.

This is not some formless natural outcome. Various people and organizations made (and continue to make!) choices that helped lead us here. Oil and gas companies chose to hide and lie about internal research on the effects of burning fossil fuels. Oil and automobile companies lobbied hard for car-dependent sprawl. Mobil directly advertised against electric cars and various oil companies pushed back against the rollout of EV charging stations in the 90s. Automobile makers intentionally bought up and destroyed public transit infrastructure. None of this was a natural result of energy consumption habits. They were decisions. Decisions made to further the short-term greed of a handful of shareholders at the cost of a world in which Bangladesh isn't underwater.

There may be an alternative universe where, shocked by the research they had commissioned, Exxon and Shell stepped forward and said, "this is a big problem and we need to drastically change things to avoid a future where the gulf of Mexico is a jacuzzi and Florida is underwater", then led the charge on renewable and alternative energy sources. It would be a better universe than the one we have today, where people who got disgustingly rich off oil decided to use their wealth to ensure nothing changed.

The actions, both past and present, of companies like Exxon, are sociopathic, selling out the future for a quick buck. The people in charge have spent decades making these sociopathic, selfish, deeply harmful decisions and facing zero repercussions. Maybe some repercussions would make the next guy in line ask, "is what I'm doing likely to make people want to kill me?" before spending another billion on climate disinformation. Currently, I see no reason to believe any of the bastards who are still running these corporations are even the slightest bit concerned that their actions might have consequences. That's a problem.

You want underlying material reality? We've known since the 80s at the very latest that burning fossil fuels in bulk will have drastic consequences. That's a material reality we have proceeded to ignore for *checks notes* my entire fucking life, in large part because of the actions of the oil industry. We've known for an entire fucking generation that we need to drastically change things, and we still aren't doing it. We don't need oil! Certainly not in the amounts we've been using it. There has been an active, malicious campaign to keep people using as much oil as possible and to shut out alternatives, because it makes certain people very rich. If you're looking for villains in this story, there they are. And I think they should spend a lot more time wondering if their latest scheme to get even richer at the cost of countless lives will lead to someone saying "no" in a very loud, double-barrelled voice. They've had it coming for a very long time.

Tl;Dr: what @togglesbloggle said in the comments.

[afenvs3000f24]

Unit 5 Blog Post

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

While this month is about being thankful and remembering what we are grateful for, the ongoing hurricane Milton has been on my mind. The severity and dangers of the hurricane have made me feel more thankful and appreciative of my circumstances. Hurricane Milton has left many of us frightened and shocked by the record-breaking winds and rainfall, which has a significant effect on both the environment and humans. I believe as an environment interpreter it is very important to discuss and bring awareness and spread knowledge about the ongoing crisis. This hurricane not only places highlights the devastations of natural disasters but also brings light to the challenges that the communities and environment face. 

For people who have not heard about this hurricane, I will briefly explain what and where it is. Hurricane Milton is a very powerful and damaging storm that contains strong winds, flooding rainfall and storm surges that cause extreme danger to the ecosystem and living species. The hurricane affected coastal regions across the Atlantic basin, it hit many countries and some areas in the Caribbean until it began to move towards the southeastern United States such as Florida. Unfortunately, some of these communities were still trying to recover from a previous hurricane that also recently hit. This hurricane rapidly intensified and was listed as a category 5 storm, which is the most intense category. The storm is causing flooding in many communities due to the high levels of rainfall, in some communities the water is ranging from 4 to 12ft. This has caused many people to lose their homes and damage all their belongings. The intense storms of Hurricane Milton are linked to the results of climate change. 

Looking at this from an environmental perspective, hurricane Milton caused a large destruction to ecosystems. Many of the areas that are located near the coastal region are extremely negatively impacted by this storm, and they are experiencing severe damages to beaches, coral reefs and other local regions. These ecosystems are used as barrier which protect inland regions from storm surges, and the dmages to those areas make them very endangered to other storms. Many of the forests have been torn down by the storm and habitats have been destructed. The increase in loss of vegatiation places a risk for soil erosion, leading to a decrease in land quality and also impact water pollution later on. 

Additonally to environmental damage, Hurrican Milton has had a drastic effect on people. The people effected by the hurricane have to deal with evacuation, financial damages and loss of homes. Many people are now left without food, water, electricity and healthcare. This causes a large strain financially on low income families, who will have to struggle in order to recover from this disater. This will cause many individuals to fave physical and mental health impacts. 

Overall, Hurricane Milton impacted both the environment and communities and is extremely important to understand that effects it places on our environment. Having a good understanding of what is happening to our world builds a sense of interconnectedness and can help us work together to find solutions to these climate issues. 

An image showing the damages facing Siesta Key in the city of Florida.

[kyndaris]

The Never Changing Nature of Humanity and War

As another year ends, I look back over the major events that defined it and despair. Humanity seems desperate to repeat the same mistakes of old. Though there are moments when we shine, we are still motivated by greed, jealousy and pride. Look no further than the two wars currently being fought, the posturing in the Pacific and how little our world has done to combat climate change. Still, I suppose things could be worse. We might, after all, be suffering the effects of a nuclear winter (except no-one yet has the cajones to start such a huge chain reaction just yet).

But I digress.

January 2023 was a mess of events. Here in Australia, news of Pope Benedict passing away was only in headlines on New Year's Day. Other notable deaths included George Pell (a cardinal who was sent to prison for child sexual abuse in 2019 but who had his convictions later quashed) and the former king of Greece. From there, the world spiralled with Europe enduring very warm temperatures for winter (turns out 2023 was the hottest year on record!), Jacinda Ardern resigned from being Prime Minister of New Zealand/ Aotearoa. In Brazil, Bolsonaro tried to pull a Trump by stoking a Capitol-riot-style insurrection. This was later met be counter protesters.

As the year progressed, Kevin McCarthy was elected as speaker to the House of Representatives after going through fifteen rounds of voting. He was later removed and later replaced by another Republican: Mike Johnson. News of his Kevin McCarthy's unsuccessful bids were later drowned out by the shooting down of a Chinese air balloon. This led to several other unidentified objects to be shot down, which later turned out to be weather balloons set up by civilian scientists.

The United Kingdom enjoyed protests and strikes among public servants due to rising costs of living. Madrid protested their leftist government. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, resigned.

But in case the first quarter of the year wasn't exciting enough, Mother Nature also wanted to have a little fun by sending a cyclone towards New Zealand (Aotearoa), with many residents suffering from flash-flooding. Oh, and there was an earthquake too!

An earthquake also hammered Turkiye and Syria. What's particularly telling, though, was the fact most of the humanitarian aid was directed to and more focused on the citizens of Turkiye rather than Syria. It lefts thousands dead and millions were displaced. Thankfully, though, it didn't much impact this blogger's trip overseas as our tour stayed primarily in the western portion of Turkiye and din't venture too far south.

From there, we saw the rise of the H5N1 avian flu, killing huge swathes of domestic and wild birds. The flu also had outbreaks in mink farms. So, although COVID-19 might be in the rearview mirror, there are plenty of new diseases ready to take its place! Like the zombie dear disease which as been spreading in Yellowstone! Essnetially, though, it's a chronic wasting disease with symptoms such as drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurological symptoms. While there are no current reported cases of this in humans, studies suggest it could pose a risk to anyone who eats meat from infected animals.

Of course, one should never forget that COVID-19 is still rampant around the world. We've all just comfortably shoved the little inconvenience to the back of our mind, even as it features as one of the core reasons for death.

Back home in Australia, permanent residency was being offered to many refugees who held temporary protection visas. There was also a resumption of assessments for asylum seeker sponsored visas where they would try to bring family members over.

Speaking of refugees (and jumping ahead a few months), there was a shipwreck off Greece carrying several hundred refugees and migrants. Most were fleeing conflicts in their countries. Of major note was the one in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary force. And when you have many countries refusing to take up migrants or helping out their fellow humans (looking at Tunisia cracking down on illegal immigrants), you end up with many a humanitarian crisis.

Further disasters abounded with a head-on crash in Greece leading to 57 being killed. China later had its own subway crash due to heavy snowfall causing carriages to detach. India, too, also had a train crash killing about 100 people.

Elsewhere, many other social media services began to emulate Elon Musk's subscription services for Twitter X, allowing users to become 'verified.' The Silicon Valley bank collapsed, followed by Credit Suisse leading to a significant downturn on Wall Street as people panicked.

In happy news, Everything Everywhere All At Once won 7 Oscars. A victory, it seemed for so many people living in Asian diasporas across the Western world. Given that many Asians were attacked during the COVID-19 pandemic simply because of their appearance, the win of Everything Everywhere All At Once proved to be a pivotal moment for many.

As the year rolled on, the International Criminal Court issued out a arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. Trump was indicted for falsifying business records. He was even later arrested. But alas, nothing has seemed to stick and Trump has used many of the court cases brought against him to target those who would stand against him in his bid for the 2024 electoral campaign.

Following the death of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II last year, King Charles III enjoyed a state coronation alongside his wife, Queen Camilla.

Other quick events: Joe Biden was forced to cancel a trip to Australia to deal with the US debt ceiling. There was the discovery of a Kenyan starvation cult. Tina Turner passed away. There was the destruction of a dam in southern Ukraine by Russian forces.

And in the news of cyber security, there was a hack of file-transfer program MoveIt, affecting many companies and governments. This was topped by a hack against Insomniac and the leaking of 1.6 TB of files showing games in development as well as the personal information of many employees.

As the northern hemisphere reached the summer, Canadia endured several severe wildfires that even affected the air quality in America. Silvio Berlusconi passed away and to cap it all off: five people were killed in an imploding submersible headed down towards the Titanic.

In other news, both domestic and international, corruption findings were noted of previous New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian. A teenage boy was shot dead in France leading to protests. Microsoft won a case against the FTC to delay a merge with Activision-Blizzard. SAF-AFRA began to strike alongside the writer's guild regarding working conditions with the move to streaming and the threat of AI supplanting jobs.

With summer peaking and then waning, heatwaves continued to devastate America, Europe and Asia. There was the passing of a controversial bill in Israel limiting the power of the Supreme Court to overturn decisions made by government ministers. In Niger, the military staged a coup.

To put our thoughts at ease, people turned on their televisions and headed to stadiums to watch the FIFA Women's World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Although Spain won, I'm happy to say Australia's own team came in fourth with a strong showing and with much love showered on our Matildas.

To keep us on our toes, however, we also saw the death of Wagner Group leader in a plane crash: Yevgeny Prigozhin. There was chaos in New York when live-streamer Kai Cenat decided to host a Give Away event. In Africa, there was another coup. This time in Gabon. And in some positive news, India was the first country to land on the Moon's south pole.

As the rest of the world headed towards winter, and Australia to summer, Mother Nature thought another earthquake would shake things up a little - killing thousands in Morocco. There was also an earthquake in Afghanistan, killing quite a number of citizens.

And just to fill out our assassination quota for the year, Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada.

But in a move to surprise us all, and to raise the stakes in our very fragile ecosystem, Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, killing a few thousand and taking hundreds hostage. Israel, of course, retaliated - vowing to crush Hamas. This has since led to Israel bombing the Gaza strip, killing many hundreds of people including children and a few of their own people in a desperate bid to stamp out Hamas.

While there was a brief ceasefire and a release of hostages, the situation is still quite dire for many Palestinians. And now Iran has taken a step, declaring they would close off the Mediterranean.

In Australia, we hosted a referendum for the Voice to Parliament. Unfortunately, it was a campaign filled with a lot of disinformation and misinformation. To my dismay, the Voice to Parliament failed, setting Australia back when it comes to acknowledging Indigenous voices.

As for those clamouring for a Treaty first, while I agree with you that a Treaty would be important, a Voice would have greatly paved the way. Even if it might not have been an immediate change or be the change everyone wanted, sometimes the best way to make things better is by taking small steps. True, it might not be what one hopes for but when it comes to swaying the minds of the public on key issues, governing a nation is a delicate balancing act. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET BUT DO NOT TRY TO HOLD THE PEOPLE/ BUDGET HOSTAGE. Public opinion IS important but relying solely on populism will get you nowhere and a country in shambles.

Australia also saw several bushfires in Queensland and norther New South Wales. We even had an Optus outage nation-wide, where many people had no internet or phone coverage. It proved, once again, the disadvantages of relying solely on technology and our phones for anything and everything.

And as we neared closer to Christmas and the New Year, Henry Kissinger passed away at the age of 100. In China, there were reports of another mysterious respiratory disease affecting children - with cases of pneumonia beginning to spike again. In north-east Myanmar, a temporary ceasefire was negotiated between the rebels and the military government. New Zealand also saw the rise of a new government (with Labour having been ousted in favour of the National Party). This set in motion a 100-day reform agenda seeking to unwind many of the policies designed to improve outcomes for Maori and Pasifika people, damaging race relations.

In India, after the firing of a smoke grenade in the halls of Parliament, more than half of the Opposition Members of Parliament were suspended in India. Back in America, Joe Biden pardoned thousands convicted of marijuana charges and there was also a mass shooting in Prague!

To round off the year, COP28 was held in Dubai for some inexplicable reason.

And as Santa touched down in Australia, many Australians have been struggling due to the large interest rate hikes and the increased cost of living. Rent, in particular, has proven difficult to overcome for many because of the high demand for housing. Some of it has been exacerbated by inflation but quite a bit of it has also been attributed to the changes in migration policies following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course, it's not an Australian Christmas if we don't have a cyclone tearing through northern Queensland in the week or two beforehand, leading to floods and the shutdown of Cairns airport.

So ends another rotation of the Earth around the sun. 2023 has had its highs and its many various lows. Yet although it was the hottest year recorded in living history, we are still here, ticking ever closer to midnight for when we destroy the Earth as we know it.

Actually, no. The Earth will be fine in the long run (unless we somehow destroy the core or the sun explodes). It's us humans who will be wiped out from the planet, resetting civilisation as we know it. And I, for one, am eager for a reset though I doubt we will learn our lesson.

Of course, since I'm writing this post on Christmas Day (and listening to the 2023 Carols in the Domain), I can only hope there will be a light at the end of this very long tunnel we've found ourselves in. They do say it's always darkest before the dawn. Here's hoping there is a dawn for us all where collective governments can work together to make changes so we can continue thriving on this planet we call home.

[february-1-9-9-6-blog]

WOW WOW WOW!!

So it’s been like a whole year+ since I last used this … I always forget that I was trying to use this as a form of journal type thingy. So we’re into a new year already… 2023 is here and things are drastically different from when I last updated.

2022 saw a lot of changes for myself.

I got a new job at the end of 2021, which I’m still working but might be looking for something ne me due to ~*circumstances*~ … I now live in North Carolina with my FIANCÉ!!!!

We got engaged on the Disney trip, June 2022.

Other things that happened in 2022- I saw lots of concerts, and one very important broadway show. I saw HAMILTON, AJR, Wiz and Logic, Big Time Rush, Sir Elton John, and the love of my life, Posty. Posty was actually my last concert in Pittsburgh 😭 I also saw John Mulaney! AND I GOT STERILIZED PRAISE BABY JESUS NO BABIES FOR ME!!!

So what brought us to NC? Well once upon a time, the fiancé asked if I’d ever be willing to move out of Pgh, and I said “only if it’s a warmer climate and still has NHL hockey. Dallas, Tampa, Arizona, Nevada, or Raleigh NC would all be options” 😂 well little did I know, w couple months later he would interview with Duke University and get the Men’s Basketball Equipment Manager position, thus leading us to Durham, just outside Raleigh.

That means the Carolina Hurricanes have swiftly become my number 2 team. Oh yeah, we’re also season ticket members LOL. Never thought that would ever happen. And what makes it even better is that they’re a good team, they’re definitely on the upswing.

So yeah, I moved down to NC in October just in time for hockey season to start. Fiancé had been here since August. It’s been nice. He doesn’t work nearly as much since he’s only working with 1 team now. For Thanksgiving the team played in a tournament in Portland, Oregon, and I got to tag along. For Christmas, we went to Florida w my parents to the Condo in Bonita Springs. For New Years, his sister and her fiancé visited. So yeah that’s where we’re at.

We’re trying to figure out our wedding, which we def want to happen in MAY … so that’s stressful.

Oh and I’m actually starting to exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Here’s to the New Year!

January 12th, 2023

[imreallyhereforkataang]

You ever think about how rare Air x Water relationships probably were, even before the war? Like, I haven't read the Kyoshi Novels yet, so idk if they ever mentioned an Air x Water pairing, but I'm not surprised to hear about an Air x Earth pairing. Cause ofc the Air Nomads would be traveling around, going to visit different locations big and small (not sure if that's how Kyoshi's parents met specifically, but regardless), and I'd imagine the Nomads' voyages would be pretty reserved to the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Those are the "mainlands" of the Avatar universe.

Meanwhile, unless for some specific reason, I wouldn't really expect that the Air Nomads headed over to the Water Tribes too often. Because of geography and climate and maybe even the amount of supplies they'd have to bring along, since it seems the majority of Water Tribe food is caught. I also think of Aang’s initial reactions to Bato’s setup in Bato of the Water Tribe. 

Likewise, I'm not sure how often people from the Water Tribes would've left their homes to travel other parts of the world. The Water Tribes are known to have a deep sense of community that strengthens their ties to the land and the people living there. The NWT seems like it stayed completely out of the war unless to hold off invasions. Idk, they just appear to be usually isolated communities when they can help it. And for those who did leave their homes, as I’m certain some did, I'm not sure how likely it would’ve been for them to cross paths and fall in love with an Air Nomad.

Part of me suspects that Aang hadn't even been to a Water Tribe before he froze himself. I know his near-immediate line "Will you go penguin sledding with me?" suggests that he’d done it before, like how he might've ridden the elephant koi of Kyoshi Island before, but consider how Aang didn't question the fact that he recognized no one from the Southern Water Tribe. He didn't appear to wonder why the heck the village of the same location from where it'd been 100 years ago had become so small since the last time he was there. And maybe it's just me, but asking "Do you guys live around here?" the way he did sort of gives off that he himself was unfamiliar personally with communities in the South Pole. Like, I think he'd figure they came from the once-large village, if he visited there before, even if he didn’t recognize them. So I'm skeptical Aang traveled to the SWT despite not living too far from it.

Also, I wouldn't call this evidence, more like support, but Aang didn't know how to catch penguins, either. The apparently common tactic was to have a spare piece of fish on you, and I don't imagine Air Nomads would have caught fish for penguin sledding. Maybe they would've accepted fish like how Aang did from Katara, or used some other method, but Aang asked if Katara would "teach" him how, which sounds like he really didn't have any prior knowledge from watching other people do it.

So, after all, maybe Aang had only ever heard of penguin sledding. Maybe going with Katara was his first time. Again, since he didn't live too far from the SWT, I'm sure somebody would've mentioned the penguins to him. Or maybe the above paragraph is null and there's an explanation I don't know about, but my point is that it's very possible he never met someone from the Southern Water Tribe in the era before the iceberg.

And then it’s pretty clearly shown that Aang had never been to the NWT. The NWT probably doesn't look exactly how it did 100 years ago, but given how long-standing and traditional it was, older than the SWT, it wouldn't look so unrecognizably different, and Aang seemed pretty in awe when he went there with Katara and Sokka. Also the fact that, before he knew 100 years passed, Aang said to Katara, "There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who can teach you." Obviously that sounds speculative.

Aang mentions in The King of Omashu and The Blue Spirit how he used to "always" visit his friends Bumi and Kuzon, from the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. But he never mentions a friend from the Water Tribes or what the Tribes looked like in the previous era. Thus, if Aang had gone to the Tribes, it was few to no times, and it seems the Air Nomads didn't make trips there like how they did to the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation.

That's all to say, Air x Water probably wasn't a common relationship. And it's kind of cute to me to think how Aang very likely had the first set of grey eyes Katara ever saw, and, with the aforementioned in mind, it's possible that Katara had the first set of blue eyes Aang ever saw. But what’s much greater is how this realization about Air x Water’s rareness makes their coming together all the more significant, the joining of these two cultures through Aang and Katara, survivors of genocide, that much more powerful. Because even though they probably wouldn't have met under normal circumstances, fate had something different in mind for them.

The Water and Air cultures and how they went about day-to-day life appear drastically different. Water Tribes mostly hunted, Air Nomads grew and gathered. Water Tribes stayed mostly to themselves, Air Nomads traveled the world. Water Tribes are like one large, heavily-connected family. Air Nomads sought detachment and free spirit. But even when they have such contrasting traditions and approaches to life, their values have more in common with each other than at first glance. They're both loving, spiritual cultures, embodied in beautiful, fluid, life-giving elements that probably didn’t bend together often, but when they do, they work in synchrony, in equal amount to make something more. 

It gets to me so much how the cultures Aang and Katara come from turn out to be so valuable and fulfilling to each other. Both of them have an anomalous inclination to the other person’s culture. In Aang's case, through Katara especially, the Water Tribes are like his second home. He lost everything he’s known, and the Water Tribe just seems like such a perfect community to welcome him with open arms, deem him a member of their resilient family, and encourage his connections with the people he’ll be protecting as the Avatar. For Katara, the Air Nomads lived a lost way of life, representing a peace within the world and themselves, that she’d been hoping and fighting for from a young age. Through Aang, that perspective and lifestyle is breathed back into this era, and he shares it with her firsthand. Really, it’s like there’s a bit of Water inside Aang, and a bit of Air inside Katara.  

They lived such different lives at such different times, but they both came from the South, which would allow for Aang to keep close over the next century. Despite living those different worlds, they were nearer than they realized. Their cultures involve such different customs, but resonant essences. They’re more complementary than they appear, like Aang and Katara, and they keep balance that way, accepting each other wholly, not discouraging either one’s beliefs or history but instead learning and growing from those. 

Air x Water feels so special to me, so representative of Aang and Katara and them joining forces to change the world, to confront their pain, to find their personal triumphs despite the tragedies unleashed on their cultures that few others can relate to. And after the war, they’d rebuild those cultures. Make new memories, start new legacies. Have a family together. Their relationship is SO important and meaningful. They found each other out of their harsh pasts, an Air and a Water meant to connect when their ancestors often did not, meant to help each other when they’d lost so much, and created something totally new, unique, and beautiful.  

[capricornsims]

Strangetown Mystery 16: Tycho

The last few months of Pascal’s life had changed drastically ever since Tycho was brought into the world. He never thought he could feel unconditional love like this until he met his son. There was something about Tycho that completed a piece that he was missing in his mundane life. Now he had a purpose and that was to protect and raise this extraterrestrial gift and prove to everyone that he was a good father. Ever since he started his investigation in the [Redacted] lab along with his work at the Bunker, his time with Tycho was greatly limited. His encounter with the Mother plant instilled a fear in him that he never felt before, as though if he continued fighting he would never see his son again. He assured himself that everything he was doing at the lab along with his dangerous endeavors would be worth it in the end. The last thing Pascal wanted was for his son to grow up in this toxic world, shunned for his existence and locked away in a secret lab. Yes, he thought ... he was doing the right thing. 

....right?

Vidcund swiftly made his way out of the [Redacted] lab, Pascal’s investigation preoccupied him for the most part, rarely seeing the infant alien he kept hidden in his room. After the Mother Plant was discovered, his older brother wasted no time going back to the Bunker to continue his research on the bizarre plants, not even taking a break to see how Tycho was doing. All of this worked in his favor, The Dudes in Black were waiting for him at the house after all, with a brief case full of money waiting to be put into his bank account. This was probably one of the most morally bankrupt things he’d ever done, but at this point refusing to aid the Dudes in Black would be even more dangerous. All the Dudes in Black requested was one Sixamian alien baby, for $500,000. 

Vidcund: Well here he is, we call him Tycho and he’s turning five months soon. 

Dude in Black 1: Fine specimen you have there, from one look I can determine that it belongs to Pollination Technician #12 am I not correct? 

Vidcund: I don’t know, I wasn’t abducted yet. My brother, Pascal, made this one.

Dude in Black 1: PT12 is ...particular about their spawn, weaponizing them with extreme telekinetic powers. What you are holding is a very dangerous specimen, which I shall take off your hands. As Promised $500,000 will be deposited into your bank account, Vidcund Curious. 

Vidcund: Oh man...well I think it’s for the better, Pascal is too busy to take care of him anyways. 

Dude in Black 1: Yes you are doing him a favor, now hand over the infant.

Vidcund: It was nice knowing you, Tycho, I’m sure Pascal can just ask for another one if he gets abducted again.

Dude in Black 1: Yes he can. Now hand it over I have urgent matters to attend to. Oh, and tell Pascal that the Dudes in Black say hello.

Without saying so much as a goodbye, the Dude in black tucked Tycho under his arm and walked out door. If Vidcund had a hint of rationality left he would rush after the agent and pry Tycho out of his hands. But he didn’t, Vidcund watched as they disappeared in the distance, into the unknown expanse of the desert. 

The house was silent for a moment as Vidcund stood in the center, taking in the uncharacteristic silence. All he could hear was his rapid heart  beating in his ears and feel the sweat in his palms. He froze when he heard tires screech outside and the sound of Pascal’s voice approaching the house. “ I’ll see you tomorrow, Erwin” he said....Vidcund was f*cked. He didn’t even think of a cover story despite planning this weeks in advance! The door unlocked and Vidcund was face to face with his brother, smiling widely at him “ I think I got it. A way to combat the Mother!” He said enthusiastically. Vidcund could only nod with a weary smile plastered on his face, he knew that Pascal’s optimism was due to be short lived. Pascal pushed passed him and rushed into his room to see his baby, finally having the time to spend with Tycho...

Pascal: Tycho you won’t believe what just happened at work! 

Vidcund: ( oh my watcher...what have I done? ) Pascal! Wait! 

Pascal: TYCHO!!!

Pascal: Tycho... Where did you? Oh no...oh no no no no no no This ISN’T HAPPENING.

Pascal: This can’t be happening.. HE was HERE this morning! I fed him this morning... I...He was here.... I WAS HERE!  he’s not under the bed...no he can’t even crawl...no no no no no. 

Pascal: This..THIS IS ALL MY FAULT! If I wasn’t so busy in the lab... trying to find out the goddamn cure...trying to fight the mother... if...I just stood here for one day and actually looked after Tycho he would still be here.

He would still be here... if I was a good father. Tycho where are you!

Pascal spend the next hour tearing through the house to find any clue of where Tycho went, from under the bed, Lazlo’s laundry, and the cabinets. The house was left in an absolute wreck once he finished his emotional rampage, too exhausted to continue. He crumbled to his knees and broke down crying once more until his throat strained and his eyes were sore. He wiped off his glasses and stumbled outside in an attempt to find comfort in fresh air. The plants and the spores around him only served as a cruel reminder why his son had suddenly vanished...it was because of this Strangetown Syndrome, it took away his family, his time, his friend and his baby.

But he couldn’t just blame himself, he spent all the money he had for Tycho’s care and the one person who said that they would look after him managed to lose him. The sound of footsteps broke the silence of the desert and Pascal turned to see his brother standing pathetically behind him. He was so weak and feeble looking like a dog with its tail between its leg. He could practically smell the guilt emitting from Vidcund. The more he gazed at him, he could feel his blood boiling, his face tensed with rage as he snapped.  

Vidcund: Pascal I- 

Pascal: DON’T YOU DARE SAY THAT YOU ARE SORRY, VIDCUND. 

Vidcund: I’m - I don’t know what else to say.

Pascal: THEN DON’T OPEN YOUR STUPID MOUTH IF ITS SOME LAME EXUSE AS TO WHY MY INFANT SON IS MISSING! YOU. HAD. ONE. JOB!!

Vidcund: Now take a deep breath. I was in the basement working. I had the baby monitor right next to me the whole time 

Pascal: AND YOU LEFT HIM ALONE! YOU LEFT TYCHO ALONE!

Pascal: Do you have any Idea what world we are living in, Vidcund? He’s just a baby, he only just started eating solids. I put all that I had into Tycho and made sure that he was taken care of. Physically, mentally, spiritually! He is all that made me whole...Watcher it feels like someone just dug into my rib cage and tore a piece of me out. 

You cry about Circe all the time now imagine that pain 10,000x more. This is real, Vidcund, I can’t just take a deep breath and make this better!

Pascal: Watcher- What if something bad got him. What if he’s sold on the black market and vivisected... I can’t imagine that...what if he’s hungry. I have all his formula here. What if they don’t sing to him that lullaby...it’s the only thing that gets him to sleep....they forgot his bear...I- I- can’t.

Vidcund could only watch as Pascal’s expression fell from rage, his eyes gazed down at the sand as he imagined all the cruel scenarios Tycho could be in, tears streaking down his cheeks again as he tried to speak. He tried to say something else but he was too focused on looking around his surroundings that he completely disregarded his brother and the rage he felt a second before. His breathing became rapid as his chest weighed heavily against his lungs. The world was growing so blurry as he tried to breathe. He thought he heard Vidcund say something as he turned his heel and sprinted down the sidewalk. It was  all he could do.  

What was he doing, running until his legs burned, trying to find another living being that had not had their brains rotted by spores. For the first time he felt helpless, the weight of the world weighed on his shoulders along with freeing his family, and finding his friend Nervous. Above all now he had to find his baby. Who knows where he could have been taken in a climate like this. 

Where ever Tycho was, Pascal prayed that he was safe, somewhere that he would be fed and changed and taken care of for the time being. 

The swirling clouds of the spores towered in the air as Pascal stood in the middle of the barren road, taking in the immense responsibility he had put on himself. He knew he wasn’t alone on his mission but as the days wore on he felt doubt take over his morale along with his team’s. He needed to put an end to all of this. He didn’t know how much he could hold on. 

Pascal: Where ever you are, Tycho. I will find you even if it kills me. 

[kanohivolitakk]

Some ramblings about Memory and why I’m happy it wasn’t canonized

Honestly the more I think about the story, the happier I am that Memory (a winner of the Memories of the Dead canonization contest) was never officially canonized. And Im saying this as someone who absolutely adores Nidhiki as a character and would've liked to see more content of him, especially one that explores his psyche in a nuanced manner.

Before we go on a few disclaimers. First off, yes, I'm aware that Memory is fan-made and that some people see critiquing fanfics as bad, at the very least unless the author personally requested it. And I completely understand that sentiment given that fanfics are hobbies and the writers may not always want critique on stuff they worked on for personal fun and passion. Thing is, Memory was not only submitted to a canonization contest, but was one of the winners. The only reason it (and the other winners of the contest) weren't canonized was because Greg wasn't allowed to visit BZPower anymore (or had it to do with LEGO quitting Bionicle g1 completely in preparation for g2, don't remember tbh). In other words, Memory was this close getting canonized, and was only left out due to external circumstances. That makes criticizing Memory fair game in my opinion.

Secondly: I actually like Memory as a story. It's well written, explores Nidhikis character in an interesting way and has a really interesting theme of how some individuals are forced into roles they didn't want to by circumstance. I think it fills in gaps from the lore nicely (especially the ending). And not only does the story use Mimic (a Dark Hunter I desperately wish was used in canon) it characterizes and uses him rather well. Him acting as a pararell/comparasion to Nidhiki is a solid way to showcase the storys central theme. All in all, it's a solid story in vacuum. Even as part of the larger Bionicle mythos I do like some elements of it and have adopted them into my headcanonverse.

That being said, I have one major issue with the story specifically regarding how it relates to the greater Bionicle canon. And that is, giving Nidhiki a "my original teammates were killed by Dark Hunters and now I desire revenge" type of backstory doesn't work for his character and arguably makes him less interesting.

First off, I understand why the writer chose to do this decision, to paint Nidhiki in a more sympathetic light. In canon, Nidhiki isn't really a sympathetic character (or at the very least wasn't intended to be one, ymmv whether or not he can be seen as one). He is selfish and his reason for betraying toa Mangai boils down to desire for glory and self-preservation. So wanting to give Nidhiki a more sympathetic backstory in order for the reader to understand why he is like that and thus sympathizing with him makes sense especially given how Bionicle doesn’t really have that many sympathetic villains to begin with and Nidhiki is one of the few who could easily be written in a more sympathetic light without making his character worse thanks to his backstory being rather tragic and there being a few hints of him being a more sympathetic character than the canon presents.

Thing is, by giving Nidhiki a desire of wanting revenge against Dark Hunters, I feel the writer misses a major part of Nidhikis character, one that could be easily expanded on to make him a more sympathetic and understandable character: his pragmatic opportunism born out of survival instinct.

Nidhiki is largely driven by pragmatism and self-preservation, by making actions that benefit him. This sense of pragmatism most likely comes from him coming from Tren Krom Peninsula: a harsh climate where you had to be pragmatic in order to survive. Pretty much everything from his characterization boils down to this survival instinct, this desire to survive taught by harsh living conditions. This is the core of his characterization and something worth keeping in mind  both when trying to understand him and writing him. And while the writer of   Memory does understand this to some extent, I feel they only saw it as part of his character rather than the main core of his characterization and driving force of his actions.

While Nidhiki loosing his teammates does add more fuel into him not trusting anyone and developing this pragmatic mindset (something Memory does pretty good job showcasing), I also feel that it's kinda unnecessary. It feels as if it exists as this big push, this big traumatic event that shaped Nidhiki's mindset into this pragmatic self-survival we see in canon and I just...don't feel that suits him. It makes more sense if rather than one big traumatic event that made him what he was it was a series of smaller events, it was him living in a place with a certain mental climate that forced a certain mindset just so he could survive.

The backstory also feels that like it exists largely to give Nidhiki a history with and grudge against the Dark Hunters which just...doesn't make sense at all when you give more context into canon. Like, if Nidhiki had a grudge against them I doubt he would've interacted with Lariska the way he did in BOADH let alone agreed to betray his team, no matter how good opportunity it felt like. Well at least it gives him one more reason to despise TSO and his organization and that’s always a plus if you ask me.

However,the main reason I don't really like this is because it feels kinda cliche and makes Nidhiki less interesting than he could be. Like, it feels that the easiest way to make your audience to sympathize with a villain is to give them a tragic backstory of them loosing a loved one that made them bitter and cynical. It just feels like a cop-out, an easy shorthand. It feels such "been there done that" and does more harm than good for Nidhikis characterization, feels like its there to make him more sympathetic through tried and true means than actually trying to understand him and what makes him tick, and building up a more sympathetic portrayal from there.

What makes this all worse is that I do think you could make Nidhiki a more sympathetic character without resorting to cliche tools like that. And thats by focusing on expanding on whats already there: his desire for survival and self-preservation. While it does make him rather selfish, its also what makes him understandable and (for lack of better term) real. While we want to talk about how self-righteous and good we are, truth is that desire for self-preservation and survival is a driving force that can override (or at the very least heavily affect) our moral compass, especially if you come from a traumatic upbringing. And like I said, the harsh survival of the fittest nature of T.K Peninsula certainly was that kind of place where Nidhiki was essentially forced to adapt a certain mindset. It’d be cool to see him slowly develop this mindset from the environment he grew up in, to have whatever potential goodness and optism he once had be eroded through him having to come in terms with the messed up nature of the world. it would’ve made him much more interesting, sympathetic and tragic character than he is in canon, all while feeling unique

That being said, I understand why the writer did the way they did. Like I said, Nidhiki isn’t exactly the most sympathetic character in canon, and wanting to give him a backstory that’s easy to sympathize with is an easy and good way to do that. It’s also worth pointing out that Memory was an oneshot, so the writer didn’t have time to go through everything Nidhiki went through before becoming part of Toa Mangai and as such, it’s easy to understand why the writer choose to give one big event that changed his mindset. I also dont think giving Nidhiki revenge motive is inherently bad (I mean its basically canon he wanted revenge against Lhikan), nor is making him more emotional and not just a pragmatic opportunist (if anything making him emotional is more than welcome in this house). But I feel that Memory just kinda, changes his character in such a drastic way that didn't sit with me, at least not completely. It kinda makes him an archetypical "I'm aloof and refuse to work with others because I lost my friends against these villains" type of character. Not only is that rather cliche that's also not what Nidhiki is like...He's more interesting as an opportunist who became such due to the harsh nature of Tren Krom Peninsula rather than your archetypical edgy shonen anime rival whos aloof because tragic backstory murder.

So yeah, Memory is a good story but I’m happy it isn’t canon because while it was an interesting take of my favorite Bionicle character, it being canon would’ve done more harm than good for his characterization as whole I feel. Also you can make a character sympathetic without having to resort to “they saw someone close to them die and desire revenge because of that”, especially when it doesn’t fit to that characters characterization as whole.

[hargrove-mayfields]

this is part two of this fic if you want to read that first!! warnings in the tags!

When they finally make the leap out of Hawkins, they move into a one story in Oregon, of all places. It’s not California, but it’s close by, and the doctors say that for the sake of Billy’s lungs, he needs a more mild climate than he’d have there. Besides, Billy insists that anyplace is home enough for him as long as Steve’s with him.

After a few months of living there with a nagging sense that something was missing from the space, they’re able to complete their new home when they find an upright piano for next to nothing on the side of the road to replace the old grand they had to leave behind at Steve’s parents place.

It’s much less sophisticated than what they’re accustomed to, the finish had long ago chipped off and half of the yellowed keys played the wrong notes, but they’re able to fix it up with some work.

Once it’s presentable, shined up and once again functioning properly, it sits like a trophy in the corner of their dining room, a symbol of what they could do with music. That graceful ability to grow and to change and to heal that they were so familiar with, and of the love that developed between them on the bench.

Billy plays more than Steve does, to keep himself occupied when he’s on his own and itching to get out there and break every rule of his recovery laid down by his doctors.

Even after he regains most of his strength, his hands no longer shaking from the simplest of tasks, the piano never loses its power to keep him out of his thoughts, chasing away nightmares and rampant fears so he can feel like himself.

The sounds of Billy’s playing carrying through their houses, the soft twinkling of keys as the first rays of sunshine cut through curtained windows is like an alarm clock, has Steve waking up in a bliss each morning.

Even in the winter, when the cold is especially hard on Billy’s body, his scars sore like they’re still new and his joints stiff and aching, he’s guaranteed to be up to play at the first rays of the morning sun, usually before Steve is even up for work.

One particularly snowy morning, when Steve wakes up to the usual melody of Billy’s playing with the sun in his eyes, he takes a moment to just stay in bed and revel in the warm music drifting in the room before he realizes he’s slept through his alarm.

He panics for a moment, shoves his glasses onto his face crooked and stumbles out of the bed fast enough he almost trips over the comforters still wrapped around him, but in his effort to stay upright he notices a note on the nightstand.

In Billy’s shaky handwriting it reads, “School’s cancelled. Thought I’d let you sleep in -B”

Steve chuckles to himself over the mix-up, and peeks out the window past thick curtains to see a few inches of snow that wasn’t there when they’d gone to bed the night before. He’s not one to say he hates his job, or even dislikes it, teaching is what he’d always wanted to do, but a thousand times over he’d rather be given the chance to stay at home with Billy.

Without bothering to change out of his pajamas, he pads down the hall into the kitchen, focusing on the song drifting in from the dining room, one he doesn’t think he recognizes, as he starts to make their morning white tea.

Billy would’ve rather it be a morning coffee, but that much caffeine is bad for his heart, so they settle for tea with honey and a pinch of sugar.

“Mornin’, Stevie.” Without looking up, he acknowledges Steve as he enters with two steaming mugs. “Did you get my note?”

“Wouldn't I be out the door by now if I hadn’t?” Steve sets their teas on the corner of the dining table to cool, and sits down so he’s straddling the bench. He situates himself so he can wrap his arms loosely around Billy’s braced torso, and rest his cheek against his shoulder so he can watch scarred hands as they glide across the keys.

Billy chuckles, smiles down at the keys. “Touché.”

Once he’s settled, Steve sighs through his nose and asks, “What’s that you’re playin’?”

“S’a song called When.” This tip of Billy’s tongue pokes out just between his teeth, his concentration on what he’s playing intense. He acknowledges Steve again when he reaches a slower part of the song. “You wanna hear it?”

An answer isn’t really necessary, Billy knows undoubtedly that Steve is interested in anything he does, but he gives a confirmation regardless. “You know I do.” He shifts until he’s comfortable against Billy’s side, and Billy starts into the song.

His voice is much better than before, now that his throat is healed. It’s still a little gravelly, gets deeper when he sings where Steve’s gets higher, but it’s smooth and warm and just about Steve’s favorite sound in the whole world.

Closing his eyes, Steve focuses on just listening to the magical sounds that Billy can make, on feeling the soothing vibrations of his voice as he works through the piece.

With words the song is vaguely familiar, and it’s truly a beautiful thing.

It’s a ballad to nature, ironic for someone who spends most of his day confined to indoors or his own backyard. The song is gentle, full of pretty trills to accentuate even prettier lyrics, but it takes on a melancholy tone, given the context.

Appreciation for life, for the world and everything good within it is something anyone can relate to, but apply it to a sick man and it changes the meaning drastically. Gives it more a sense of longing for these things, and it’s got Steve feeling overwhelmed by its sincerity.

Typically, Billy favored songs he thought were fun like The Bitch is Back and piano covers of songs far too hard core for the dainty instrument, so it’s surprising, hearing him pouring his heart out through an actual ballad, but Steve is glad for it, that fond and warm feeling growing in his chest at hearing Billy’s song.

The song trills one more time into a slow crescendo, and finishes off in a way that Steve couldn’t have been expecting with the words, ““When the whole world is filled, with Mother Nature's noises… that's the time to stuff cotton in your ears!”

The change of tone in the song is so abrupt it makes Steve open his eyes again and pull away from his hold around Billy’s waist, keeping his fingers linked but leaning way back to look at his face. Billy’d duped him, had him feeling all emotional before revealing his cards, his normal sense of humor.

He’s wearing a smile, crooked and relaxed as he takes in Steve’s reaction, the confusion at the pace change. Despite the humor twinkling in his eyes, he asks innocently, “What?”

“Nothing.” Steve can’t help but smile back, even if he shakes his head at Billy’s choice of song.

Still smiling, Billy kisses him, soft and slow in a way that has always made Steve feel like it was the first time, his heart doing backflips while he melts into the bench.

They pull away for a breath, and the moment passes bittersweet, just as many do these days. Giggle almost always turn to tears anymore, and Steve feels his lip start to tremble, feels Billy put a hand on the small of his back so he can pull him closer and sigh into his hair.

Billy’s dying.

The doctors say he’s only got a few years left in him, if that. His heart is worn out from too many surgeries and medications to keep the hole in his chest closed.

They can’t fix it for fear of doing nothing but speeding up the process. They’re stuck with the recommendation to take him home and make him comfortable that nobody ever wants to hear, especially not now, when they’re still young, supposed to be living their lives to the fullest.

He’s already lived longer than they initially estimated when his body started rejecting the transplanted lung a while back, but he’s sick, getting sicker all the time.

The weight he’d been able to put back on in the years following that initial hospital stay was gone again, and his lung capacity was worse every day to the point that even with the oxygen tubes he felt breathless and dizzy, and he was coughing up blood.

Steve doesn’t know what he’ll do when Billy’s gone. Doesn’t know if he’ll keep teaching, if he’ll leave the area, he doesn’t like to dwell on it too much.

But what he does know for sure, is that the house will never be silent, and the piano won’t be covered. Won’t be forgotten in that corner or left unplayed after he goes.

It will stay just where Billy left it, to commemorate him and all he’d done with it, to honor and remember his music through Steve’s own.

Moments like these, fleeting as they are, are everything to Steve anymore. When Billy isn’t here anymore, all he would have were the memories of mornings like these and every second together with him, sealed in a box in his heart where nobody could touch them.

To lose the person behind that, there are no words that can describe how hard that’s going to be. Loss has never been easy for Steve, and having time to anticipate it did nothing but draw out the pain of knowing what was coming, what he’d have to let go of.

But it wouldn’t hurt forever.

Of course he would allow himself the time to mourn, how couldn’t he, when he’d be losing the only person who’d been able to take every wish and dream he could ever have possibly had and make them all come true, who’d ever really loved him. But he promised Billy, and himself, that he wouldn’t let himself be sad.

Because he refuses to remember him by his lows, all the countless days spent in the hospital, sleepless nights when he’d have coughing fits and be in so much pain he couldn’t sleep, the teary eyed panic attacks when something triggered a bad memory. That wasn’t Billy.

When the time comes, Steve wants to keep making music. To use the very tool he’d given Billy after government conspiracy and more than a year in the hospital, back then to offer him an outlet to feel better, to now keep his memory alive. Give him a legacy.

In the moment, Steve lets Billy wipe away his tears and pull him closer still to kiss the top of his head. He chokes back a sob listening to that wavering heartbeat from where he’s drawn close, and tries to chase the thoughts away.

Because they’re here now. Billy isn’t gone yet and Steve isn’t letting go. Right now, there’s still time to create more moments to hold onto, to create something beautiful, melodic, powerful.

Steve taught Billy to play the piano, but Billy taught Steve how to live in the moment, how to care for someone with all of his heart. More than anything, Billy taught Steve how to grieve.

[politijohn]

Sorry to bother you, i was just kind of curious. I always see your tags #taxtherich , #eat the rich, or whatever.. basically saying to tax the rich more, but what exactly is wrong with the wealthy? (Trump excluded , everything is wrong with him.) like I’m speaking like musicians and maybe lawyers? Does the MC (middle class) have to suffer because the rich aren’t taxed enough? Can you explain this please?

Thanks!! :) I love your blog as it’s very informative.

Hello! If you looked through those tags already, I suspect you already have a little bit of an idea. I could write an entire essay on this, but I’ll try to be brief!

Money is the inherent cause of almost all the world’s problems. It drives climate change, corrupts politics, war, enables mass incarceration, poverty, low wages, high rents, inadequate union authority, etc. Capitalism has coerced too many people into thinking that happiness revolves around making lots of money and buying lots of nice, flashy products. People who maintain a lot of wealth built and maintain a system that entices others into wanting to achieve it. It gives them power in a society attracted to greed.

The result of this has been that rich people acquire more and more wealth and the rest of people have less and less (I’ve tagged #economic inequality on many related posts on this topic). At the same time, these wealthy people don’t pay their fair share of taxes. In fact, the top 1% in the US owe ~70% of all unpaid taxes. It is also too difficult for the IRS to audit rich people because they have such (intentionally) complicated and shady assets to track. Those tax dollars should, of course, fund programs that help people who are less fortunate.

Some rich people are more sinister than others. I wouldn’t say Donald Trump is the same type of rich as, say, Serena Williams. Williams certainly made her mark as a professional athlete, which leads to other ways of building money later on. Trump on the other hand... 

But what’s similar between these individuals is they are both inclined to maintain the economic status quo because it benefits them. In many ways, enabling the accumulation of wealth is a bipartisan issue. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see the majority of Hollywood stars identify as liberals who support liberal politicians like Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi. As I’ve discussed in my blog before, liberals are not our friends. They’ve been bought out to exhibit an illusion of concern towards social issues but they would never dare threaten to upend the economic system that we see today. I say “illusion” because if you refuse to combat the inherently destructive economic system we have, “social issues” like LGBTQ or women's’ rights will never be fully addressed. It’s a perfect place for “non-sinister” rich people to think they’re doing good while pocketing more money. This even extends, of course, to foreign policy where demand for resources like fuel and trade are key to making the rich even more money. On these issues, the Republican and Democratic Party often agree, which is bad.

I laughed a little when you brought up lawyers because the people in that profession who make lots of money are those who represent wealthy people and corporations. I.e. they help them make more money, so they are rewarded with some in return. After reading about this topic, are you surprised?  

So as the rich get richer, the middle and lower classes slowly merge into a mega class of people with less and less resources to afford the bare minimum. Even as employees become more productive, comparable wages are laughably low. It’s not by accident.

“Eat the rich” was a saying dating back to the French Revolution. It has resurfaced because economic inequality in the US is moving to the same abhorrent condition that France was during their Revolution. There’s another relevant saying, "no one earns a billion dollars.”Similar to how the French aristocracy exploited peasants, today’s uber rich have made so much money so fast that it is impossible for that money to have been genuinely earned. Looking at Jeff Bezos, for example, you can see how his employees historically received low wages and continue to experience harsh working conditions. His plants and headquarters buildings have also inspired mass gentrification. Why? So he and his shareholders can make more money. Bezos makes ~$321 million a day, $13.4 million an hour, $222,884 a minute, and $3,715 a second in 2020. There is no possible way one person could spend that money in a lifetime, nor should they be able to while his employees are living on welfare. 

Drastic measures are needed to repair or rebuild the economic system. Taxing the rich is an important first step. The rich, whether they are bad in a sinister or passive sense, will still have lots of money if they are taxed at a higher rate. It’s not even unachievable. We had a great start under FDR and the economy was booming for the middle class. 

One more note: The happiest countries on Earth have higher taxes and strong social safety nets that enable a strong middle class.

“When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.” - Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

[natromanxoff]

Here is the interview that has been translated by Google, from the link ‘1′ on this post:

After Freddie Mercury visited Zagreb, it was clear why he was leading two big guys everywhere

By YugoPapir

TODAY, exactly 25 years ago , the great Freddie Mercury passed away , and on that occasion we remember his visit to Zagreb and the interview he gave on that occasion. It was back in 1979 ...

"In a situation of useless concert rock scene (such as at least Belgrade), an interview with one of the world's famous rock stars is a special event. However, although the man is not in a position to choose and has no experience with Jagger, Lennon or Dylan, these conversations are sometimes it comes down to the usual routine of exchanging questions and answers ... Kind me, kind respondent ... I smile, the respondent smiles I ask a question, I know the answer in advance.

Hand on heart, that was exactly what the conversation with the first man of the Queen group was like. Despite the millions of records sold, the sound clearly defined and the status of the stars, the guys from the group do not have a particularly interesting "story" behind them. The only way to do something extraordinary is to try to provoke the interlocutor, but one usually doesn't have the opportunity to do so in such "serially" organized meetings between stars and the press, where a bunch of idle idlers are dragged around without much smarter work in mind.

The press conference was held in "Intercontinental" full of boring luxury and, on this occasion, unusual teams. After a short wait (the stars are always late), the Queen appeared, dressed as employees of an English insurance company on vacation.

After a few moments of doubt, various guys of unknown faces and occupations attacked them. Of course the main victim was Mercury. Honestly, I didn’t expect so many people with tape recorders, notebooks and similar supplies. It is not only clear to me where they will be able to place all this, because I have not seen the results of that journalistic attack anywhere except in "Polet" from an interview done on another occasion.

Maybe it's better not to publish it anywhere because I heard so much nonsense and ignorance in a short time that I felt pity for poor Freddy. Now it is clear to me why he is taking with him two guys, as if removed from the mountain, who were strategically arranged around the front door during the whole press conference.

And finally when the crowd subsided I seized the opportunity to talk to Mercury.

Not particularly tall, black, in a leather jacket and jeans, he looked more like one of the tappers in front of Belgrade cinemas than the world-famous rock old man. Stoic accepted to give an interview for "Jukebox", although over time he approved and became somewhat more exhaustive. I probably bothered him less than the others.

As usual, I started from the beginning ...

"It's a long story. Brian, Roger and I knew each other since we were students. John came later. We had experiences with earlier bands where we played as high school students. When we created Queen we had a clear idea of ​​what we wanted to do and our work today is the evolution of these plans and dreams.We had a very clear guiding star.From the very beginning.

Is it still clear that guiding star after all these successes and millions of records sold?

Why not. The halls where we play are always full, the records are on the charts. Why not?

From the articles we read about you, it could not be said that the critics really like you. What does it look like to be in one of the world’s leading rock bands while at the same time reading how records are being ruthlessly denigrated?

This is the case only with the English press. It could not be said that we live in the best relationship with them. The English today have no choice but to be cynical, which is why the press is like that to us. That’s why you can rarely read our interview at NME or Melody Maker. There is no point in us being a training ground for them. We learned to live with it and, you know, I didn’t care too much about it. Our records sell well. In recent years, a big thing has happened with punk, and we are understood as the total opposite.

One of the main drawbacks is the dependence on technology. Your records are lavishly produced to perfection ...

You can't survive without technology today. Loudspeakers, light instruments and the most ordinary rock band look like an LP&P to a folk group or a symphony orchestra ... Even today they can't survive without technology. Electricity is all around us and you can't avoid it. The production on our records is rich, but I don’t think it’s an end in itself as many want to present. I play a plain piano, John a plain “Fender bass,” only Brian has special “pranks” that I make myself, but that’s not overdone either. The most important thing is that it is all in the service of the idea.

You are all college educated. Do you think that had an impact on this direction of the group. I have noticed that there are prejudices in English newspapers about such groups, in fact about groups that originated from such an environment, starting from “Genesis” onwards?

First of all, we don't have much to do with "Genesis", then such prejudices are the most common nonsense. I don't see any purpose for them. I don't even know that being in college automatically makes us intellectuals.

I have no doubt that you spend a lot of time in the studio preparing the album, that's obvious. You've created some kind of art since filming (interrupts me) ...

We record, than what. That's what everyone does! But we made a style out of it. We do everything in a special way and I think there is imagination. It's specificity, not covering up weaknesses or something like that ... We don't even try to reproduce the sound from our records ... It's hours and hours of work and there are hundreds and hundreds of recorded sections.

The record is one thing, and the concert is quite another. Although some people pass it on to us as a flaw, we are very happy with their gig. It would be a tedious and boring job to always play the same ... At one time we were thinking of introducing assistant musicians to our performances, but I don't think that would work. It is our music and we understand it best. Such a way would only bring us unnecessary problems and obligations.

Can any significant changes in your sound and direction be expected on the next panels. There is a lot of criticism that you got into a certain "gyre" ...

Again about the critics ... we care the least about them! We have created a certain sound, success, image and that is what we are. It is logical for the group to evolve slowly ... It would be stupid to try something radically different ... And that is what the "scribblers" expect to have something to fill the newspaper with. Drastic changes lead nowhere and make no sense. You can't become something else overnight ...

Normally we will change. Whoever has followed our work so far is clear in which direction. This is also evident from our latest albums. There is no longer as much luxury as at "Opera" or "Racing" ... I think that our next albums will develop in that direction.

The group "Queen" is considered to be a very stable formation. No sharper disagreements were heard, and only the drummer had solo outings. Should we expect new solo projects and do they pose a danger to the group?

Although Roger has a lot of experience with solo attempts, I don't see any danger in that for the group "Queen". I think the best we can provide, we provide together. Solo attempts are just a small change of climate and refreshment. There is no special need to try our luck outside the team. When we realize we have nowhere else to go, the group disbands - there are no illusions that it won’t come and we don’t even think about it.

Do you have any information about your audience in Yugoslavia, and does the sale of records in our small market mean anything to you financially?

Well, I've heard from people in our company that we sell a lot of records. Do you see these gold and silver plates we got here? Also, we care that our music is heard all over the world, that everyone listens to it, that's why we perform so much. One should not be blasé ... It is not only important for us to be popular in England, America and Japan ... People are the same everywhere and we like to play for them ... This is just rock'n'roll after all ... "

Interviewed by: Branko Vukojević, filmed by: Dražen Kalenić (Jukebox, 1979)

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Lost and Found

Another plot episode and another mountain of missed opportunities, failed set ups, and foreshadowing that goes nowhere. But outside of that it’s pretty entertaining. Are we seeing a pattern yet? 

Summary: Rapunzel and Eugene go on a journey to retrieve the fourth and final piece of the scroll that will lead them to the Dark Kingdom. They receive help from Vigor the Visionary, who reveals himself to be Lord Demanitus himself, the author of the scroll depicting the purpose of the Sundrop and Moonstone. He leads them to the maze that he hid the last piece of the scroll in. Guiding them through the maze, they obtain the last piece, which united the four into one singular map. As they are about to leave, they are attacked by a stone monster.

Maybe That’s Why You Should Have Brought the Only Person Who Can Read It Along?!

Once again, having the characters acknowledge their stupidity in meta dialogue doesn’t alleviate the fact that the audience is going to think them stupid.

Regardless of your personal feelings towards Varian or what he has done in the past that does not change the fact that he is literally the only character in the show thus far who can translate the scroll. The mains knew that before leaving and they knew from the get go that they were going to need the scroll piece which is why they took it from him.  

Not bringing him along, not getting a translation key from him before leaving, nor even showing us a scene of Raps trying to ask him to translate the scroll for them before leaving and then having him refuse to do so, is a plot hole. 

Timeline Hint...Sort Of...

Rapunzel said last episode that it had been almost year since they left Corona, and it’s now close enough to her birthday again that Eugene could be tricked by it but not enough to actually be her birthday. 

So...when are we again? 

I’m going to guess 10 months after Secret of the Sun Drop? Maybe... It could also be 9 or 11 who knows... but I am still seeing fall like trees which is our only indication of a changing season in this show because the creators don’t understand climate apparently.  

Maybe cause we’re now further north of Corona we see fall/winter leaves even into early spring? 

Where Was This Rapunzel In Season 3? 

Rapunzel actually giving a crap about what Eugene wants is as rare as seeing a fawn in the woods. It happens, but most of the time you forget it's even there. 

While come season three, Rapunzel will just shoot the poor deer dead. 

Madame Canardist is a Wasted Character

I’ve already discussed at length the biggest problems with Madame Carnardist in my Vigor the Visionary and Curses reviews. So I won’t rehash those talking points here again. However what I spoke about were larger problems with the media industry and bigotry as a whole and not the specific impact the character has on the story. Which is next to none. 

The crew went through all of this trouble to make a deleted character from the film relevant to the series’s plot, and even there they failed. Madame Canardist is nothing more than a translator for Vigor when Demantius isn’t around. The story doesn’t utilize her properly despite her connections to one of the more plot important characters. 

What is her relationship to Demantius and Zhan Tiri? How did Vigor come into her care? Why is she the only person who understands him when Demantius isn’t in control? If Vigor is centuries old by this point than how old is she? What is her stake in all this and why does she bother with Rapunzel at all if she has nothing to gain from it? Why doesn’t she go along on this important quest through the maze seeing as how she is Vigor’s caretaker? 

She’s not completely useless, but like with Lady Caine, Xavier, and Hector before her, she has far more potential than the series is willing to explore with her.  

So Much For Caring About What Eugene Wants 

Welp that lasted all of five seconds. 

Man, Rapunzel is a shit girlfriend.  

The Pay Off Works, But It Then Serves No Purpose Afterwards 

I don’t mind the idea of Demantius being the monkey. I mean it is one of the very few plot points in the show with proper foreshadowing and follow through. And yes, Demantius does accomplish one thing here, by helping Raps obtain the last scroll piece. 

The problem is, nothing changes with this revelation. 

No one’s perceptions or interactions with Demantius/Vigor are altered after this reveal. No one changes their plans, goals, or motivations afterwards. Things carry on more or less afterwards the same as if they had never met. The only thing of importance here is the scroll pecice and that’s only relevant in Cassandra's Revenge and is then forgotten about completely for the rest of the series. 

What’s the point of having a plot twist if the status quo still remains?    

If the information being revealed doesn’t alter the story then why keep it secret to begin with? 

How Could You Research Them If You Never Found Them?

So did Demantius write the incantations or not? 

He is the one who put them on the scroll, so it’s natural to conclude that he did create them, but he couldn’t have done that unless he had studied both the moonstone and sundrop to see the effects the two macguffins had to the spells. 

Now according to this exposition dump, the sundrop and moonstone had been around for ages before Demantius and had become legends by his time. It is possible that someone else studied the two macguffins before him and came up with those incantations, but who? 

The ancient people of the Dark Kingdom might have studied the moonstone since they were tasked with guarding it, but no one knew where the sundrop was until Gothel found it. 

The audience needs to know this sort of information in order to understand the motivations driving the conflicts of the characters. 

Imagine a Lord of the Rings trilogy that never bothered to say where the one ring of power came from or how it came into Gollum’s possession. You’d be left wondering why everyone was fighting over what amounts to an invisibility spell that once belonged to a small deformed hobbit who used to catch fish.   

This Explanation Goes Nowhere 

Why did the disciples betray Demantius? What did they gain from siding with Zhan Tiri? Why was Gothel with them? Did she betray everyone once she found the sundrop? What was Demantius and Zhan Tiri fighting over to begin with? 

Don’t expect any of those questions to be answered. The series inexplicably makes a big deal over Gothel being connected to Zhan Tiri, but then never actually explains what that connection is, what they’re relationship dynamic was, nor how it connects back to Rapunzel’s and Cassandra’s current conflict. 

That’s the real failing of the show’s lore and backstories. They don’t connect back to the current conflict. It’s just there. 

In a well constructed show, Demantius would have been a parallel to Rapunzel who was also ‘betrayed’ by people she trusted. It would have been revealed that it was Demantius’ own actions that drove away his followers and caused them to side with Zhan Tiri. Thereby serving as a warning to Rapunzel herself and forcing her to realize in the end that in order to save everyone she’s have to apologize to those she hurt. We also would have gotten three betrayals instead of two since that’s more thematically impactful. 

But this isn’t a well constructed show and the characters in it don’t ever evolve.   

This Contradicts What We Find Out In Season 3

We find out in the last season that Zhan Tiri was originally from this world and that the only reason she was ‘bent on destruction’ was because of Demantius ticked her off somehow.  She also had no magical powers of her own until after Demantius had banished her to that other realm where she was imprisoned. 

Also Demantius didn’t use any powers. He just chucked her into a portal he had built without any warning or trail, with zero idea if it would kill her or not, all because she just stood there yelling at him. Like there wasn’t even any physical fighting, so it wasn’t a case of in defense either. 

Demantius should have been revealed to be the real antagonist all along but that would require the showrunners to be actually clever for once and not misogynistic towards their female characters. 

This Makes Zero Sense

First off, when was Zhan Tiri ever looking for Demantius? She’s been too busy trying to escape from her prison and it’s been centuries. She has no reason to suspect that he’s still alive nor does she care. Zhan Tiri’s plans are not dependant upon whether or not Demantius still exists. 

Secondly, how is the host body still alive after centuries? Why go with monkey when I’m sure there are actual human beings out there who would agree to living forever. Does the transfer actually destroy the mind? Cause if not you could have had an actual coherent host that could have helped out when Demantius was dormant.   

And don't give me any guff about ‘ethics’ because this is the man who played judge, jury, and executioner to his supposed friend/possible lover and probably killed one of his disciples as Sugarbee’s spirit was trapped in his device.  

Not the Best of Plans My Dude

So Demantius is basically committing suicide here for no real reason. 

Unless he was just already dying anyways when he made the transfer, then Demantius is drastically shortening his conscious life span. The monkey will live on, but he won’t. 

So why? He had no way of knowing that the sundrop would become a person in the future, it’s completely coincidental that he met Rapunzel just at the right place and time to help her, and as stated above, Zhan Tiri was no longer a threat to him or the world since he imprisoned her and defeated his disciples. 

Like what was his thought process here? “I just really, really want to be a monkey?” 

Eugene Isn't Wrong 

Look, I am a deeply religious person and I have faith in many things, but even I know that critical thought is necessary for basic survival and that scepticism is just plain common sense. Believing in something doesn’t mean shutting your brain off and never thinking for yourself. 

Demantius has yet to give any reason for why Eugene and Rapunzel should trust him. Him saying ‘have faith’ repeatedly does nothing to instill confidence and in fact does the opposite. If you want to people to believe in you, especially in a dangerous situation that you dragged them into, then you need to earn that trust. 

There’s a world of difference in assuming the best in people and being a fool, and Rapunzel is not the better person just because she blindly goes along with anything because she stubbornly wants to do whatever she wants and assumes she’s always right. 

Eugene is Still Right

Is ‘Faith’ the new ‘Destiny’ now? Are we just assigning different meanings to random words in order to push the story’s narrative along? 

This entire maze only involves solving puzzles, answering riddles, and a bit of running and climbing here and there. ‘Faith’ has absolutely nothing to do with it. 

This theme doesn’t even work when you take into account the reveal that it’s Eugene who needs to have faith in Rapunzel. Because Rapunzel isn’t the only one doing these things and getting them through here. 

In fact Demantius being here, and being the one who built the maze in the first place, kind of negates Rapunzel’s importance in this area. Secondly, Eugene is doing half the work anyways so it should be a message about having faith in each other. But they already have that so...yeah what’s the point of Demantius constantly bringing it up? 

Why Are You Caring About Money While Stuck In a Death Trap?

You’re rich now, Eugene. You’re the future prince consort and live in a palace. As soon as you get back to Corona or a place that recognizes Corona as a kingdom you’ll have plenty of money to spare. But you can’t do that if you’re dead inside a maze. 

Moreover, Rapunzel still has money on her. She just threw two coins in to the well; one for her and one for Demantius. You two live together! You’ve been traveling inside a caravan together for over a year now and neither of you work. Ergo, you should logically be sharing your finances at this point in time. Especially since that is what you’ll be doing anyways once you’re married for real, as you’ll both be heads of state.   

That’s Now How Faith Works

Faith is evidence for things unseen, or to put it more accurately the evidence for things that are unprovable. God, death, the future, creation, souls, the meaning of life, ect, are all concepts that can’t be proven nor disproven. No one upon this earth will ever know for certain what happens after death, how the universe was made, or if there is any intelligent life out there beyond ourselves.

People don’t like the unknowable.

Believe systems of all kinds, whether they be religious or not, exist to bring us comfort when face with the dread of such existential questions. Even if that belief system is agnosticism itself.

Gravity, weight, and basic physics however are all provable concepts that have been around since Ancient Greece, if not longer. Man has always known that if you drop something it falls, even if they didn’t have the math to back it. It’s just a fact of life.

‘Faith’ isn’t going to stop Eugene from falling. It’s not going to make the bridge more sturdy. It’s not going to magically make him as light as a feather. It won’t turn the acid below him into water. “Faith’ can’t literally give you wings and make you fly; that’s just a metaphor.

What Demantius is promoting here isn’t faith. What he’s asking Eugene to do is to blindly follow his orders without question.

This is especially jarring when you consider that Demantius is supposed to be a famous scientist. He should know very well the importance of critical thought and that having faith doesn’t mean shutting your brain off.

The Scroll is Such a Let Down

We’ve spent a season and a half finding the pieces for this thing and it won't actually be relevant until the halfway through season three. Mostly because the one person who can translate it isn’t here.

On top of that, it’s no longer important outside of  one episode. It’s an example of  the payoff not living up to its hype.

So This Is a Lie

The scroll only contains four incantations on it, and one is on the back in invisible ink and not the fourth pecice itself. None of those incantations involve combining the moontsone and sundrop together. In fact, after using two of those incantations only once they’re never seen being used again for the rest of the series. Furthermore, once the moonstone and sundrop are combined they only allow the user to perform the healing and hurt incantations, which Rapunzel can do anyways without the moonstone. 

Demantius wrote the dang scroll himself! He should very much know what is on it and what it does. This is yet another case of the writers not planning things ahead. 

Being Good at Riddles Doesn’t Make You ‘Pure of Heart’ 

Being ‘pure of heart’ means that you are kind. One does not need ‘faith’ to be kind. Being kind is doing the right thing and helping others even if it doesn’t benefit you at all.

Not only does running through a maze not have anything to do with faith, it also has nothing to do with kindness.

The only thing it proves is that Rapunzel enjoys running through a maze, and will do so in addition to dragging others along with her regardless if those people want to do it or not.

That’s not being kind.

If anything Rapunzel has only proven thus far in the series that she is a very selfish person who shouldn’t be trusted with such grave responsibility.

But as already pointed out, Demantius doesn’t care about actual faith, kindness, or purity. He just wants blind obedience. He’s mistaken Rapunzel’s exuberant and stubborn nature for nativity; not realizing that her complancany is only because they both desire the same goal.

Had he asked Rapunzel to do something that she didn’t already want to do, she wouldn’t have been so ‘pure’ to his mind.

That Is a Very Valid Question 

Eugene has a point. There’s no reason to go on this quest. In fact knowing about season three in hindsight, turning around now and not going to the Dark Kingdom would be the better option for everyone.

Cass couldn’t steal the moonstone. Zhan Tiri would never be freed. Corona will never be destroyed and the brotherhood never mind trapped. As for the black rocks they will just sit there impotently not doing anything.

Even freeing Quirin, not that Rapunzel cares, only requires the hurt incantation, which she already has.

The only problem is that Cassandra has ZT trapped in her mind but without the moonstone that has no consequences outside of Cass hearing a annoying voice in her head that she is perfectly capable of ignoring. And even that wouldn’t have happen if they had turned around after the Great Tree.

SHOW DON'T TELL

Nothing in the show back up what Demantius is saying here. We haven’t seen the rocks being active since season one. Even when Rapunzel was lollygagging around or going off the path. 

When they do become active again in the next episode it’s to help her, and after that in season three it’s all Cassandra’s doing. 

Also in season three Rapunzel is able to rebuild Old Corona around the rocks with little problem even though she didn’t reunite with the moonstone. 

In a Competent Show This Would Be Foreshadowing. This Is Not a Competent Show. 

I genuinely thought this was hinting at Moon Eugene, when I first saw this. Now couple that with the talk of ‘three betrayals’ earlier and I thought Eugene would be the final ‘betrayal’ and that a true love's kiss, after Rapunzel had apologized to him, is what would reunite the two powers and save the day.

I’m not going to fault the show for not living up to my expectations and predictions, but I will fault the series for failing to utilize Eugene properly and not working him into the main conflict. He’s the duel protagonist of the franchise. He should have just as much weight in the narrative the same as Rapunzel has.  

Oh How I Hate Where This Arc Goes

What the show does wind up doing to Eugene however, is incredibly stupid and frustrating. 

Remember how I said that ‘faith’ in this show is just blind obedience? 

Yeaaaahhh.... 

That’s what Eugene takes from all of this. Not that he should support and believe in his partner, something that he already was doing by the way, but that he needs to be a doormat to her and her whims. 

Like with Rapunzel yelling at Hook Hand in Brother’s Hook, this is the point where Eugene’s character starts to break. You just wouldn’t know it until after watching season three. 

This Is Such a Lazy Cop-Out

Like the audience has these questions too. Neither us nor Rapunzel will ever have these questions answered. You just backed out of committing to any real answers because you didn’t have your story planned out like you should have.

Why Does Everyone Act Like There’s a Prophecy When There Isn’t Any Actual Prophecy? 

Once again, Demantius had no way of knowing that the sundrop would become a person. No one did. There’s no prophecy and there’s zero explanation for his psychic abilities, which are inconsistent at best.  In fact I don't think he does have such powers, otherwise he’d be more helpful inside the maze. I think those are reserved for Vigor only and we don’t know where he got them or if he even is a ‘real’ psychic. 

Tangled the Series wants to act like it’s running on a predestination plot. That events must occur and will occur regardless of what actions you take to prevent it. Now ignoring how that causes problems with the characters’ agency for a moment; you can not have any predestination if there’s no actual destiny. 

Chosen one plots often have prophecies for a reason. Predestination is there to evoke either tragedy that can’t be prevented or present consequences for  if/when the main hero doesn’t follow along. Either way it’s there to establish conflict. 

Everyone in TTS acts like there is a conflict when said conflict hasn’t actually been established! 

This is writing 101. You need conflict. You need to establish shit. You can’t just pretend that a conflict exists where it doesn’t. ‘Fake till you make it’ doesn’t work in long term storytelling and television animation. It has to be pre-planned.  

Also The Timeline Doesn’t Match

Demantius said that it was a millenia when the sundrop and moonstone fell.He also just said he’s been waiting for a millenia to ‘meet the sundrop’. Yet Demantius acted like the sundrop and the moonstone were already legends by the time he started to search for them. That means they had to be around longer than he has. It also brings us back to the first question of who wrote the incantations if he and Zhan Tiri never found them? 

Believing In Someone Does Not Mean Shoving All the Work Onto Their Shoulders

You’re supposed to be in this together. Couples should work as a team. Both of your lives depend upon getting out of here so you should both be coming up with ideas and working together.

Not only does this miss the entire point of what ‘believing in your spouse’ actually means, it’s also incredibly unfair to both of these characters. It’s unfair to Rapunzel for put so much pressure and unrealistic expectations onto her and to have her be the person to carry both of them through when Eugene is perfectly capable of physically doing things. It’s also unfair to shove Eugene to the side and make him a useless character all of a sudden.

Rapunzel Does Nothing To Earn Such Blind Devotion 

Rapunzel’s magical hair has nothing to do with Rapunzel as a person. It’s an entity separate from her being. Literally. The hair can move of its own accord as shown here and it’s possible to physically separate Rapunzel from her powers as seen in the finale.  

Believing in Rapunzel should be about believing in who she is as a human being, about her individual character. It should not be because she has magic glowing hair.  

Not only is this a betrayal of Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship and why they came to love one another in the first place, but it’s also a betrayal of Rapunzel’s growth as a character. It’s not only Eugene who blindly kisses her ass after this point, it’s everyone, even though she gives them little reason too. 

This the Last We’ll See of Vigor and Madame Canardist

Three episodes spent establishing these characters and now they’re just gone for no reason. They’re never seen of nor mentioned again beyond a single meta joke. Despite the main conflict revolving around Demantius and them both having the closest connection to that character.  

This Is Bad Foreshadowing, But At Least It’s Actual Foreshadowing  

Up till now any ‘foreshadowing’ we got for Cass’s villain arc has been confined to poorly thought out background images; the painting of the moon, the broken mirror in Gothel’s tower, and I won’t even dignify Chris’s bullshit about her handmaiden dress being blue. 

Not to mention all of that was only in season one. Outside of her conversation with Eugene about their parents, way back in Cassandra vs. Eugene, we haven’t had any real foreshadowing until we hit the Great Tree. 

Since the Great Tree we’ve only had a couple of bitch fights with Raps, which I personally don't consider real foreshadowing since no ill will was attached to those, and her glaring angrily at Rapunzel after escaping the shell house. 

In light of that, this scene is at least genuine foreshadowing, it’s just poorly done foreshadowing. 

While the other attempts at foreshadowing were too subtle, this one is too obvious. It gives the game away too early because there’s no other viable options within Rapunzel’s group. Adira comes closest and she’s not actually here and not really considered a friend by Rapunzel herself.  

So what winds up happening is that Cass’s arc feels rushed despite being planned since the beginning.  

Conclusion 

I spent three days fighting tumblr to get this review posted! Appreciate it! 

As for the episode itself, it’s fun to watch in isolation, but it’s such a let down knowing what’s to come from it all. 

[cheshiregrimmjow]

Why everyone needs to stop what they’re doing right now and watch Gargoyles...

1994 blessed us with a rare gem of television: Gargoyles. It had the perfect blend of good story telling, character development, cultural representation, mythology, fantasy, action, romance, and timeless themes. It has stood the test of time. At the very heart of the story is a message that I feel everyone in today’s cultural climate needs to hear and remember...

Forgiveness and compassion are the only way forward to peace and change. 

For those of you who aren’t at all familiar with the story, I shall attempt to summarize the intricate plot. In 994 AD, a clan of gargoyles, stone by day and living beings by night, protect a castle in Scotland. When the castle and the gargoyles are betrayed and many of them killed, a spell is put on the survivors that puts them in an eternal sleep (broken only if their castle rises above the clouds).

Fast forward 1000 years. A wealthy owner of a multi-national organization hears of the legend and moves the castle and gargoyles stone by stone to the top of his Manhattan skyscraper. Come night, they revive for the first time in a millennia, finding themselves in a world much changed. Humans no longer believe that gargoyles ever lived, and they find themselves alone and disoriented.

The leader of the gargoyles, Goliath, soon meets an NYPD detective, by the name of Elisa Maza. Like all modern humans, her initial instinct upon seeing the monstrous creature is one of fear. She recoils from him, accidentally falling off the battlements of the castle. Naturally, he swoops down and saves her, then climbs back to the top with her clinging to his back (because gargoyles can’t fly, only glide). He tells her to trust him. She listens to his story and decides to befriend him, immediately resolving to teach him and his kind how to live in this modern world. Thus begins a wonderful relationship.

Gargoyles have one primary purpose in life - to protect their demesne from enemies by night. Goliath and the Manhattan protectorate soon learn that those who threaten the peace are not in the form of foreign invaders, but the very citizens of the city who refuse to abide by human law. They partner with Elisa to help control the crime in the city (ranging from scaring off would-be purse snatchers, to busting up protection rackets, and of course, battling the super villains who want nothing more than for all of humanity to be destroyed). 

But everywhere they go, the people of the city treat them with fear and hatred - even the ones they help. With few exceptions, the gargoyles are viewed as monsters. Granted, the gargoyles have to keep a low profile due to their vulnerability during the day - so the humans don’t really know much about them. Even so, the ones who do get a chance to meet them tend to view them as nothing more than tools to be used or beasts that deserve eradication. 

Goliath knows that humans fear what they do not understand. He acknowledges it and accepts it, but he never stops hoping and striving for a world where his race can live in harmony with humanity - as equals. No matter how many times he and his kind are betrayed, shunned, and mistreated, he forgives them and moves forward. Though occasionally tempted to vengeance when his family and loved ones are killed or attacked, reason always prevails over hatred. He never stops protecting them. He never stops valuing them. And because of his respect and eventual love for Elisa, he knows that humans are capable of understanding and accepting one such as he.

Elisa, for her part, is the ideal person to befriend a justice oriented race of beings. She is a cop, after all. She takes her oath “to serve and protect” very seriously. When she sees injustice, she won’t stop until it’s dealt with. She works within the confines of the law (but also tolerates the gargoyles bringing a heavy hand on criminals caught in the act). 

Elisa is also uniquely able to see through to the heart of her strange friends because of her own background. Elisa’s mother is Nigerian and her father is a Native American. Her father was also a police sergeant. They forged a strong marriage, despite many ethnic and cultural differences, and raised their three children to see past appearances and stereotypes. When their son ends up having a drastic appearance change (thanks to the reckless experiments of a mad scientist), they quickly overcome their shock and accept him as he is.

Similarly, Elisa begins to fall in love with Goliath, despite the difference in their race. Just like many people on the show, some viewers see this relationship as problematic because it condones “bestiality” or “monster-f***ing”. If you can watch Gargoyles to the end and believe this - congratulations, you missed the point of the whole show (and you might struggle with racism). One, Goliath is not an animal, so bestiality is not an accurate descriptor. If Elisa had fallen in love with lovable gargoyle/dog Bronx - that would have been bestiality. Furthermore, Goliath is not a monster. He is an intelligence, deep-thinking, compassionate, forgiving, and honorable person. His outside appearance and unique culture is the only thing that separates him from other humans. Elisa sees that and accepts it, though she struggles with her feelings for him for a long time. She eventually decides that the obstacles to their relationship cannot stand up to the depth of their love, respect, devotion, and trust in each other. 

Goliath has fewer reservations than she does, but I appreciate that the show made a point to reveal to us that Goliath did not find her attractive from the beginning. Her human form was not appealing to him and it wasn’t until she was temporarily transformed into a gargoyle that he noticed her beauty. In the same way that she saw past his looks to the heart of him, he also saw past her appearance to the heart of her. It was their love of people, their insatiable desire to protect, and their strong sense of justice that made them so compatible. Though both have their flaws, like all of us - they face their demons, take ownership of their failures, and extend grace to each other and their enemies.

I look around me today and listen to the words that people are saying to each other (particularly on this very website), and I wish that more people could be like these two. Instead of looking at the color of a person’s skin or the uniform they wear and making assumptions about their thoughts, beliefs, or character, we should all attempt to get to know people as individuals. I wish we would stop clinging to our self-assigned clan labels, whatever those may be (white, black, cop, civilian, privileged, minority, etc.). I wish we would realize that we are the same in all the ways that truly matter. 

I wish we would look at the injustice around us and unite to stand against it - instead of creating more injustice by responding to crime with more crime, hate with more hate, racism with more racism, bigotry with more bigotry. I wish we would look at humanity and recognize that while racism and bigotry will always exist in the hearts of some, most people are eager to look past our differences and bond over what we have in common, if given half a chance. I wish we would learn to forgive the faults of others and acknowledge our own. I wish we would take more chances on people. 

Violence, protests, vengeance, and anger will not move us to a place of unity. They have their place. Injustice should incite righteous anger. But we can’t dwell in a place of hatred and hurt. At some point, we must forgive and extend a hand to the people across from us. Relationships are the only way forward to peace and unity. 

Many “white” people don’t understand the “black” community and vice versa. Many civilians don’t understand the police community. It’s so easy to look at evil people from both groups and extrapolate stereotypes to everyone in those groups. And that WILL NOT END until we stop generalizing and trying to dehumanize each other. Get to know some people who look different from you or live in another neighborhood as you. Get to know some of the men and women who took an oath to serve and protect everyone in their communities (like Elisa Maza) and decide if denying them their calling is the answer to our problems. 

In Gargoyles, there are three races: Fey, humans, and gargoyles. Humanity is treated as one race. I think it’s high time we started thinking that way ourselves. Though humanity has great ethnic and cultural diversity, we are the same in all the ways that truly matter. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Goliath: I still don't understand how Dracon could ever believe that you would turn to a life of crime.

Elisa Maza: I guess the corrupted are the first to believe that somebody else can be corrupted. And it's not impossible. None of us are perfect, that's why we need protection, even from ourselves sometimes.

Goliath: Then I will protect you, you will protect me, and together we will protect this city.

[ladykikyo1792]

Deleted Scene:  Neverland Flashback (before the Football Game)

As requested by @thiscrazyfan​, I’m able to provide you all with a deleted scene!

How this segment works:  you’ll see commentary from me that is non-italicized.  The italicized parts are the flashback/deleted scene.  

This scene has spoilers for/would have taken place in Chapter 15, “I’m Learning All Your Tricks, I Can Hurt You from Inside.”  I’d love to know what you think- though to keep spoilers to a minimum, please send me an ask or a message! I hope you enjoy!

In the original story layout, this scene took place after Wendy and Peter converse in the cafeteria.  He follows her over to the trash can, and Wendy reminisces after Peter remarks, “Birds can’t fly if they don’t eat.”  

          When Wendy had returned to Neverland in hopes of saving Baelfire, she’d immediately noticed a change in the land.  The sweltering jungle heat had been replaced by the cool air of a temperate forest.  Massive pines had replaced the palm trees, and a few mountains had sprung up where none had existed before, as had groves of Dreamshade.  Wendy recognized that plant, if none of the others- all the Lost Boys coated their weapons with it and she knew how dangerous it was.

        What she hadn’t accounted for was how dangerous Peter had become.  Her first few weeks on the island were filled with horrors.  Lost Boys were slaughtered for the slightest infraction.  Slightly almost lost a limb for mentioning his former life.  Felix received a deeper scar for questioning Pan- the only time he ever had.  And a member of the Indian tribe, who served as an ambassador requesting Pan’s aid- the changes in the island, especially those among the animals present, had drastically cut their food supply  -had his head chopped off and sent back as Pan’s answer.  

        Wendy, throughout all of this, struggled to keep her calm.  Each day she repeated her request to see Baelfire.  Each day Peter declined.  Eventually her requests morphed into demands and his refusals morphed into insults. At times she found herself screaming at him, and he merely laughed at her rage.  

        Seeing that words wouldn’t get her what she wanted, Wendy concocted two plans:

(1)  steal some of the pixie dust she knew Peter kept hidden on the island, and fly to find Bae herself,

(2)  refuse to eat until Peter relented and allowed them to meet.

        She didn’t care if one plan or the other worked, or both, only that she got to see Bae.  At first, Peter taunted her when she pushed her meals away.  He thought she was joking.  Then, he realized something was wrong.  He began to try to placate her, tempting her with her favorite foods- many of which should no longer exist on the island due to the climate change -but she would not eat even those.  She pushed Neverberries (which Peter had especially conjured for her) away as though she hadn’t once nearly eaten her weight in them.

        Even Peter, who was confident in everything, was unnerved by Wendy’s denial of food.  She couldn’t die, of course, so he wasn’t concerned about that.  But he thought her behavior awfully strange.  

        One day, a frustrated Wendy was digging in the soil around Pan’s Thinking Tree.  Her fingernails were caked in dirt, and her white nightgown was covered in brown splotches.  She had dug nearly an entire circle around the tree, figuring it a likely place for Pan to hide the pixie dust- he forbade everyone from going there except him. Even so, Peter would not risk hiding it in the top of the tree, because the Lost Boys could still fly as well. So it had to be beneath the ground. It had to be.  It had to.  It just had to-

        Wendy shrieked in frustration, sitting back on her heels.  She’d been searching in the dirt for hours, and had come upon nothing.  Nothing.  If not here, where could the dust be?  There was nowhere else.  Nowhere. Peter was hardly a fool; he wouldn’t leave it anywhere the Boys or Indians would find it, and of course he wouldn’t hide it by the lagoon (though the Mermaids, admittedly, had no use for it) or on the Jolly Roger.  The Thinking Tree was it.  

        “Looking for something, Bird?” Peter said, leaning against a nearby tree.  He smirked at her.

        “Peter, give me the dust-”

        “Why?” Pan demanded, crossing his arms, “So you can find your precious Baelfire and leave? Never.”  He strode towards her, eyes flashing, and as he moved, she noticed the telltale glint in his belt.  

        Of course.  How could she have been so stupid?  

        “You have it,” Wendy said, open-mouthed, “You’ve had it the whole time, haven’t you?”  Abruptly, she leapt to her feet, then launched herself at him.  She scrambled for purchase, then dug for his belt. Pan laughed, dodging her attempts with ease.  He stepped backwards, and she stumbled towards him, fumbling at the pouch near his right hip filled with precious dust.  Pan moved just out of her reach, and now, filled with a fury and desperation she didn’t know she had, she cried out and went to him. This time, though, she did not reach for the pixie dust, but his face.  This wasn’t what Pan had expected, and his mouth dropped open as she raked her nails along his cheeks.  In one place, she’d even drawn blood.  

        For a long moment, Pan said nothing.  Then, he took a handful of dust and passed it to her.

        Wendy looked up at him, unsure whether this was a trap.  Peter was silent, but made no move towards her.  Realizing this might be her only chance, Wendy rapidly poured the dust over herself.  As the green glow settled over her, she felt herself rise into the air.  

        Yes! she thought giddily, half-delirious, I can find Bae!  We can get out of here!  We can make it-

        Then, suddenly, a huge weakness came over her.  The pixie dust disappeared, and she fell to the ground.   She nearly landed on her face, but as always, Pan caught her.  This time, he held her by the back of her nightdress instead of holding her in his arms. She could see the leaves on the ground but an inch away from her face.

        Panting, she placed her hands on the forest floor and pushed herself up.  He released her, and she moved into a sitting position.

        “I don’t understand,” she said.  

        Peter replied, “You need to eat if you want to fly. Neverland will keep you young; it will keep you from dying; but you need to give your body something to use. You’re starving yourself, and it’s impossible to fly if you do that.”

        Wendy said, “You knew this would happen, didn’t you? You knew that no matter what, I’d never get to Bae.”

        “I knew,” he confirmed.  

        “So why...?”

        “I needed you to see it for yourself.  The only way you will see Baelfire again is if I permit it.”

        With that, Peter had scooped her up- she was fighting back tears -and flown her to her treehouse.  He tucked her into bed, much to her consternation, and then summoned all sorts of food before her.  She only had soup, but he stayed with her every time she ate after that until she gained the color back in her cheeks.

          The scene would then have switched back to the present where Wendy tells Peter she wants to be normal and doesn’t want to fly. I really, really liked this scene, and didn’t want to delete it, but ultimately I had to for the sake of the narrative:

1.  When she returns to Neverland, Peter keeps Wendy locked in her treehouse so she can’t see Bae.  She has no reason or method to be wandering around Neverland.

2.  If Wendy somehow did manage to get out of her treehouse, Bae would have eventually heard Wendy was there from some other Lost Boy, and would have tried to find her. This couldn’t happen, because otherwise Wendy wouldn’t agree to Peter’s bargain for her to stay in Neverland later in the story.

3.  I wanted Wendy to see how mad Pan had become, but I didn’t want it to be restricted to a simple paragraph or retelling (e.g., the Indian ambassador’s decapitation, Felix getting a second scar, etc.).  Those are very big events and deserve detailed description.

4.  Wendy does suffer from trauma/angst after her ordeal with Pan, however, she’s not so desperate as to go on a hunger strike in her first few weeks back in Neverland. She’s more fiery, still determined to find Bae.  While Wendy later does realize Pan has control over everything and fighting him is typically pointless, she hasn’t come to that conclusion this early in the story.  Not enough has happened.  As such, she wouldn’t have a hunger strike to begin with.

5.  Additionally, I felt it slowed down the pace of that chapter.

So, this scene was deleted, and ultimately Wendy makes a pact to live and try to avoid her Neverland memories, if possible.  In doing so, that keeps the pace of the chapter up.  So what do you all think? Did you like the scene?  Did I make the right decision in deleting it?  Would you like to see more deleted scenes?  Any questions?