#the cynic and also most likely to go calamity of the group

[aashiyancha]

I wanted to do a power rangers 2.0 with a bit more of a group pose. @darkacey I went ahead and had the wonderful nb purple ranger Ari join in officially thus time ;))

[omothercrystal]

LOSS OF SELF

A general outline of how Hydaelyn approached past Warriors of Light and how she was affected/changed by each defeat.

[[ If your Characters are from another Reflection, we don't need to follow this, but if not -- these are reference points I'll pull for my portrayal.]]

THE FIFTH REFLECTION - Overcome by Wind, the First Calamity

Realizing that the Unsundered are attempting to rejoin and revive Zodiark, Hydaelyn began to call out to the fragmented souls to see who would answer her. Coming off of her disappointment with the Convocation, she took a sterner approach and became more mentor, more strong arm the mortals than the kindly teacher she had been.

THE TWELFTH REFLECTION - Overcome by Lightning, the Second Calamity

Hydaelyn overcorrected. The stern approach did not work. She tried to be kinder, but the cynicism and scrutiny of man left her with few willing to do what was necessary. And those that did were not brave enough to do everything required of themselves.

THE SECOND REFLECTION - Overcome by Fire, the Third Calamity

Perhaps she was being too hands-on. She was weaker now and tried to keep her intervention to a minimum to conserve energy and also allow the mortals to do what they wanted. But with minimal guidance, they came to their own conclusions, and by the time she tried to reach them they no longer heeded her.

Venat was starting to forget the little details of the world she loved so much. Not the important things, but the names and faces of everyone she had met on her travels. She usually had such a good memory. Would she forget the names and faces of all those who had answered her Call? She was wracked with guilt and fear and yet she knew she had to press on.

THE THIRD REFLECTION - Overcome by Earth, the Fourth Calamity

She tried to find a balance in her approach. She tried to bring groups of Warriors of Light together to form a traveling party, but in-fighting and petty squabbles caused a breakdown in their communication. The Ascians were able to manipulate them to turn against each other and no amount of pleading could prevent their undoing.

Hydaelyn was beginning to feel the drag of her weakness. She could no longer project her appearance into the mind of her chosen.

THE SIXTH REFLECTION - Overcome by Ice, the Fifth Umbral Calamity

Hyadelyn attempted to possess people to communicate more clearly with her Chosen, but her attempts were widely ignored or scorned as sacrilege. When her possession led to the deaths of one of her Chosen (they let her use their body and were mortally wounded when she tried to speak), she vowed not to do so ever again...

Hydaelyn could no longer remember the name or face of the visitor to Elpis, only their message. She could only retain the most important information necessary to try and save their worlds...

THE SEVENTH REFLECTION - Overcome by Darkness, the Seventh Umbral Calamity

In a Reflection swarmed in Darkness, Hydaelyn could barely reach her Chosen. But those she did reach were so wonderful -- they listened, they grew, they had allies they could depend on! They were on the younger side and they adored her and treated her like a child would its mother.

But they were so young. They were defeated so easily. They died calling for her aid that she could not render.

If she was going to survive doing this, she could not allow her heart to be dragged down by the defeat, disappointment, and misery. She began to distance herself from her emotions, disassociating and minimizing the woman that was Venat to her most meager of essences...

[cnovel-readalong]

TGCF Character List: Non-Spoiler Edition

The Mains

Xie Lian:: The Crown Prince of Xian Le. A thrice ascended (twice banished) god who now wears the mantle of the God of Misfortune and God of Scrap-Collecting. Other Heavenly Officials look down on him.

Ruoye:: Xie Lian’s spiritual device. It has the appearance of a bandage that is wrapped around his arm, but he can command it and use it as a weapon or tool. Ruoye is shown to have emotions and attitudes.

San Lang:: A young man Xie Lian meets on the road. San Lang is highly intelligent and talented at all things. He knows a bit of everything and has a very cynical view of the world.

Hua Cheng:: A Devastation-level (high ranking) demonic Ghost King also known as the Crimson Rain-Sought Flower or Scourge of Heaven. He is the most powerful and dangerous of the group known as the Four Great Calamities.

E-Ming:: Hua Cheng’s blade. A long, curved silver scimitar with a decorative pommel that contains a glowing red eye. E-Ming has a psychic connection to Hua Cheng, and he can sense its moods and emotions.

The Heavenly Host

Mu Qing // Xuan Zhen:: The Southwest Martial God. A former servant of Xie Lian’s in their mortal life who earned the rank of a full god after Xie Lian’s second banishment. Has a volatile relationship with Feng Xin // Nan Yang.

Fu Yao:: A junior disciple under Mu Qing // Xuan Zhen. Despite his master’s hatred of Xie Lian, Fu Yao occasionally sneaks off to help Xie Lian on his adventures.

Feng Xin // Nan Yang:: The Southeast Martial God. Xie Lian’s former bodyguard, he was also brought to the heavens by Xie Lian initially and earned the rank of a full god after Xie Lian’s banishment. Has a volatile relationship with Mu Qing // Xuan Zhen.

Nan Feng:: A junior disciple of the god Feng Xin // Nan Yang. Despite his master’s hatred of Xie Lian, Nan Feng occasionally sneaks off to help Xie Lian on his adventures.

Ling Wen:: A literary goddess and friend of Xie Lian. Only Ling Wen greets Xie Lian upon his third ascension, and she often helps him research things. Ling Wen is the linchpin of most Heavenly business. Known as one of the Divine Tumors.

Shi Qing Xuan // The Wind Master:: One of the Five Elemental Lords, Qing Xuan often takes the form of a woman. With their stunning looks (in any gender) and eager personality, they make fast friends wherever they go.

Shi Wu Du // The Water Master:: Dubbed “Tyrannical Waters” by San Lang due to the practice of demanding tribue from those who sail upon the seas and oceans. Elder brother to Shi Qing Xuan // The Water Master. Known as one of the Divine Tumors.

Ming Yi // The Earth Master:: A frequent companion of Shi Qing Xuan // The Water Master. Not much is known about the Earth Master because he likes to keep a low profile.

General Pei Ming // Ming Guang:: Northern Martial God. Pei Ming is a legendary womanizer. He makes sure his statues look handsome and has frequent dalliances with worshippers. Known as one of the Divine Tumors. 

General Pei Su:: A junior official in General Pei Ming’s household. He acts as an underling and errand boy of Ming Guang.

Quan Yi Zhen // Qi Ying:: Martial God of the West. A young god who has no cares for his position. He ignores Heavenly summons, frequently beats up his worshippers, and does nothing but eat and sleep. Despite this, his popularity and power keep growing.

Lang Qian Qiu // Tai Hua:: The Martial God of the East, born the Crown Prince of Yong An- the kingdom that grew upon the ashes of Xie Lian’s own. He enjoys throwing himself headfirst at any situation he thinks makes him look heroic.

Jun Wu:: The Heavenly Emperor. Despite banishing Xie Lian from heaven twice before, he has a certain fondness for the god and often sends him on special missions in the mortal realm and helps him build his reputation among the other gods.

Ghosts and Demons

Night-Touring Green Lantern Qi Rong:: Though only a Wraith-level demon he is counted among the Four Great Calamities. He mainly creates disgusting and cheap imitations of the other Great Calamities biggest achievements. Has a particular hatred for Xie Lian.

White No-Face Bai Wu Xiang:: The eldest of the Four Great Calamities and first to reach Devastation-rank. He is the one who destroys Xie Lian’s kingdom before vanishing himself.

Black Water Demon He Xuan:: One of the Four Great Galamities. He keeps to himself. Though Hua Cheng is the Demon King of the Land, He Xuan is the Demon King of the Seas. The two mainly keep to themselves and avoid one another’s turf.

Lang Ying:: A peaceful ghost spirit of a young boy infected with the Human Face Disease- the very plague that destroyed Xie Lian’s kingdom. Lang Ying was traumatized and lives with Xie Lian in Puqi Shrine as a form of therapy.

Ban Yue:: The former High Priestess of the Ban Yue peoples. Though the Ban Yue kingdom died out long ago, an ancient grudge between Ban Yue and her general Ke Mo turned them both into active ghosts.

Ke Mo:: Former general of the Ban Yue kingdom, Ke Mo was a father figure to the young priestess Ban Yue before she betrayed the kingdom to slaughter. His grudge against her turned them both into active ghosts.

Lan Chang // Jian Lan:: A prostitue in the Ghost City. Known for wearing layers of makeup so thick that it literally flakes and chips off her face as she speaks. Lan Chang finds herself in the center of a Heavenly fight.

Cuo Cuo:: A demonic fetus spirit who devours the body and soul of babies still in their mother’s womb. Before Cuo Cuo was violently cut from its mother’s womb and murdered it was likely the child of an unknown Heavenly Official.

Humans of Note

Gu Zi:: A child who comes to live in Puqi Shrine, the main residence of Xie Lian, after his father is possessed by a demon. Gu Zi is too young to understand possession, and so he follows the demon as if it were his real father.

[kyndaris]

Truth Seeker

You would imagine that after playing through most of the Yakuza series during the pandemic, I would have wearied of exploring the same city for the sixth time. Yet there was something special about finally starting Judgment that washed away the malaise I was feeling towards the franchise that started my Kamurocho journey ever since it was praised by a member of PlayStation Access. Perhaps it was because I was playing a different character from the stoic Kiryu Kazuma. Or maybe I would now be thrust in the role of a lawyer-turned-detective in an alternative history of Phoenix Wright if he had allowed Matt Engarde go free at the end of Justice for All. Honestly, Takayuki Yagami’s swagger and more cynical attitude to life was a breath of fresh air. One that allowed Judgment to maintain its more serious narrative and juggle it with the levity peppered throughout that was represented by the side cases.

But first, a little backstory on how I managed to get my hands on the title. In fact, it might be best to think of my quest to pick up the game as one of the side cases that are in the game itself.

 After keeping an eye on its impending release in the West, I made a beeline to the nearest JB Hi-Fi after work. Unfortunately, the one closest to the train station had sold out of all their copies. Why would anyone bother to purchase a relatively unknown title that was not Call of Duty? I cried within the privacy of my mind.

Luckily, two other stores still held copies and I was directed to both - though they were in opposite directions of each other. I picked the one at World Square. It was a gamble, but it was the one that had the most copies was also quite close to an EB Games.

Off I dashed, in my heavy coat, my umbrella propped up until I reached World Square. I stormed the entrance and made my way to the gaming section, the shelves decorated with all kinds of other games to distract me. To my relief, a copy of Judgment was waiting. I picked it up and presented it to the cashier.

With my purchase safely tucked into my bag, I made the slow slog to the train station and returned home. The game would sit on my shelf, gathering dust, until the year after.

Now, back to the game.

Despite many of the assets being reused from the Yakuza franchise, Judgment still felt fresh. After experimenting with their new engine, Ryu Ga Gotoku studio in Yakuza 6, they were able to take advantage of what they had learned. The narrative starts off with Yagami locating a fellow detective that owes money to a gang. Players soon learn that a killer is stalking the streets of Kamurocho, his signature being the removal of the victim’s eyes. When the captain of the Matsugane family is fingered as the culprit, a yakuza family with which Yagami has ties to, our main character is drawn into a conspiracy involving a drug to cure Alzheimer’s and a mysterious connection to a previous case three years ago that forced him to leave his lawyer days behind him.

From the very first moment, I was gripped by the story. I was immediately drawn to desire to hunt down the truth. From a character standpoint, it made perfect sense. In stark contrast with Yakuza 6, I felt Kiryu could have simply stopped as soon as he pulled Yuta away from making the worst mistake of his life by trying to kill his own father. The whole Onimichi secret of a battleship that survived the end of World War II felt a little too contrived. Was there really a need for Kiryu to hunt it down except for the desire of the writer’s to see their elaborate plots seen to their conclusion?

Yagami’s guilt was also an important factor in many of his interactions with his fellow cast mates. And, despite being a civilian and never sworn into the yakuza lifestyle, it was still possible for Ryu Ga Gotoku studio to do what it did best by representing the seedy underbelly of Japan. The whole AD-9 drug and the subsequent scandal surrounding it also felt believable. In fact, it came as a shock to learn that dementia has such a high prevalence in Japan and the world. Unfortunately for my own thriller writing, I’ve been less able to incorporate proper facts and figures into my own story regarding climate change.

What I liked most, regarding the plot, was that the key figure behind the deaths in Kamurocho was a seemingly milquetoast gentleman scientist: Yoji Shono. Rather than a big hulking brute, it was a short thin man that had a face that barely stood out amidst a crowd.

By game’s end, I was almost reluctant to see Yagami’s journey come to an end. As soon as the credits rolled, I was eager for a sequel. Yagami, Kaito, Hoshino, Sugiura, Higashi, Saori and Mafuyu all seemed like characters I would like to learn more about. It helped, as well, that the writers managed to make it believable that all of them had a shared history.

The scenes in the court houses made it abundantly clear that Ace Attorney is very much a Japanese courtroom. With the prosecutors and defense seated facing each other. 

Although, it could be said that Yagami’s and Izumida’s alliance near the end was a little on the nose when it came to unmasking Ichinose. In fact, it was a bit like Edgeworth and Wright teaming up to uncover the truth of the matter rather than trying to win a case for the sake of prestige and standing.

The side cases were also quite enjoyable. Ryu Ga Gotoku was still able to retain its sense of humour even by making most cases available through clients seeking the help of a detective. I personally enjoyed Yagami’s hunt for a ghost in a local apartment complex and taking photos of a wrestler-turned-politician. Even the ones that were encountered on the streets of Kamurocho were enjoyable, ranging from stopping calamities to chasing a wig.

All of this was heightened by the controls of the game and the numerous side activities on offer. By trimming some of the fat, I did not have to worry about subjecting my eyes to softcore porn videos or watching Kiryu type with two fingers the phrase: ‘it’s growing.’ I will miss hostesses but the girlfriend system was also quite robust. In fact, the conversations were quite nice and I liked how Yagami went out of his way to help a woman snag her first interview. Alas, the one detriment to this was that Judgment offered no karaoke - a stapler minigame that should have been kept.

I also very much liked the combat. While it took some adjusting to, with X used to sprint, within moments, I was leapfrogging over enemies or wall punching the street thugs and Keihin gang into the dirt. The return of different combat styles was welcome. I often changed between crane and tiger as I took on groups and bosses. In fact, this was the first time in the entire history of the Yakuza series that I took on an ‘Amon’ and won! 

That was in spite of the mortal wounds mechanics that proved a little frustrating and the very limited healing items. I’ll never say a bad word about Toughness Emperor ever again!

On a side note, why were there so many stray cats? Even in the flashbacks!

Judgment proved to be a detective game set in the backdrop of Kamurocho. While the tailing missions were tedious, it was nevertheless an enjoyable excursion back into the world of corrupt politicians and the seedy criminal underworld of Japan. Yagami was also a refreshing main character that had his own burdens to bear. Should there ever be a sequel, I hope that karaoke would be reinstated as a side activity. As it is, I’ll need to double down and learn how to play shogi if I ever want to enjoy another iconic past time that has been incorporated within the world of Kamurocho.

[belovedrival]

Today was just a little bit too much. Rant coming: there’s your warning. Obviously it’s all my opinion, and you can like it or lump it.

I had another appointment at the clinic early this morning. On the surface everything was fine. I have another appointment on Friday; at this point, I’m doing what they tell me.

Which might be why I feel so unsteady; if this infertility ride was the only uncertain thing right now, I would be better prepared to deal with it. But as we are all aware, everything is uncertain right now.

And I have never liked simply doing what someone tells me to. Unless there is a damn good reason.

Instead of taking me into the little room for the blood draw, the nurse took me straight into the ultrasound room. She explained that they had changed their procedures, which made perfect sense to me. Instead of the usual callback-to-the-room-for-the-bloodwork-go-back-to-the-waiting-room-after-bloodwork-get-called-back-to-the-ultrasound room-have-ultrasound-wait-for-nurse-have conversation, both the blood draw and the ultrasound took place in that room. There was no conversation. Instead, the tech told me after I got dressed again, to go out to my car and they would call me with instructions.

All the nurses wore masks, in case they coughed. After the ultrasound I walked back out to my car. Two minutes later my cell rang.

“This is weird,” the nurse said, laughing. It was. I laughed too, understanding why they’re doing it this way - to limit the waiting room filling up with people, to limit exposure for both patients and staff. It doesn’t mean I like it.

Work was a mixture of boredom and trying to get some things done. With the stock market resembling a roller coaster there isn’t much for us to do, except for the little work we have (stretching some things out to pass time) and gossiping about whether or not we’ll all eventually be sent home to work. Meanwhile the closures of, well, everything continue, and I haven’t heard a hint of how long we’ll be expected to live in this reality. Or (more importantly) what parameters are needed to get us back to somewhere resembling a month ago. Are we waiting until the American death rate drops? Not that the death rate is so high here (yet). Or until a certain percentage of people have gotten sick, and have recovered? Are we to live with increasing restrictions without any hint of how long they might last? Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? Don’t the people shutting everything down realize that if the hospitals aren’t crowded in a couple weeks; if the death rate stays where it is; if most of us are looking around and can’t see anybody we know who’s gotten sick - people will want to be able to live their lives again? Do they think they’ll be able to keep people shut away at home, indefinitely?

I understand there’s a lot of ifs in that statement. If we’re going to assume anything is possible, though, why are the powers that be acting like ONLY calamity is possible? Honestly before yesterday I would never have thought that governors had the authority to simply close every restaurant in a state. I am *NOT* saying that social distancing isn’t important. I am asking, why are all these worst case scenarios being assumed they WILL happen? For every Italy, there’s a Singapore. The extremely cynical side of me thinks someone’s on a power trip. I’m also kind of appalled at how fast people have succumbed to fear. Again, I know this is a new virus and everyone’s freaking out. But really? The hoarding and panic buying and toilet paper becoming THE thing to get?

Someone gets spooked, and the herd stampedes. Who benefits from this? Certainly not the elderly and sick, huddled in their homes, afraid to leave, scared for their lives. Not the parents trying to figure out how they can care for their children and still work. Not the teachers who have to scramble with lesson plans. Not the workers who rely on tourism and travel and event planning. Not the healthcare workers who have to deal with paranoid people as well as those who truly need help. Not the small business owners who barely break even and will have to lay off workers or declare bankruptcy when all this is finally over. If it ever will be...

As disappointed and as worried as I am about what this is going to do to our communities (what’s left of them), I reached my breaking point this afternoon. No groups over 50 people allowed to meet. My pastor sent out emails about how services will be split, in order to comply with that. No choir for the foreseeable future. I cried on the way home. It isn’t supposed to be like this; it’s dividing up family. Evil divides, isolates, abandons people. Love unites, binds together, cherishes people. We have let fear take hold. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18)

I’ll go along with it for now, but I despise what’s being done. To all of us.

This is NOT how a free society runs. Organizations voluntarily deciding to cancel meetings, places of worship deciding on their own to have virtual services - that’s all fine. But these decrees from On High that keep getting sent down - what is the justification for these draconian orders? “Flattening the curve”? How flat will the curve have to be, to be acceptable? A straight line? Last week, events with hundreds were still allowed. Tomorrow it might be 10. Do the experts really know what the right number is to keep people healthy?

More importantly, will they actually tell us when they know, or will we be expected to continue to obey them, regardless of what happens as time goes on? What if the worst DOESN’T happen? Then people will have been isolated, businesses and livelihoods lost, and this grand experiment of democracy will have been damaged, all as a consequence of fear.

It isn’t that I want people to get sick or die. Of course I don’t! It’s simply that there are other things that can be lost, other than lives. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” President Franklin Roosevelt said. How right he was.

[vardasvapors]

Do you have any Lindon headcanons, if so please throw ALL of them at me because I have zero and it's terrible. This was more Elrond-centric bc I've been trying to fill in that thousand-year gap between Elros and war but then I realised how LITTLE I can actually picture of... the biggest Elven kingdom in Middle-earth... Galadriel's off collecting fairie court campsites, and Celebrimbor's kickstarting a magic object Renaissance, and what's every other elf doing this millennium? I just don't know!

omg i’ve lazily on-and-off thought about making a wip list of vague Lindon headcanons before so this is the perfect excuse. hope you don’t mind me limiting this to just the timeframe you mentioned, or this post would be WAY too long, instead of just regularly too long:

First: observe, my Lindon tag! It’s not very long, but

This and especially this are some of my favorite headcanon visuals for Second Age Mithlond as a capital city. Starting as a giant camp for everyone who escaped from Beleriand, lots of flux, more like a RL city than most Tolkien cities: gorgeous, but very disorganized, patchwork, built up ad-hoc, happenstance and convenience slowly rising into districts. All the people stopping in it or passing through it, either east or west, leave another layer of their presence there. um….I still haven’t read invisible cities despite buying it because of bamboocounting like….months ago. Anyway it’s 90% turned to dust by LOTR.

With abruptly going from lush inland forested river-filled Ossiriand to this newly-formed bluff-edged shoreland with a huge new saltwater gulf splitting it down the middle, I headcanon it being a pretty big mess for decades. Before Galadriel took a lot of them to Eregion, I picture all the characters you mention spending a lot of time on fixing up – collecting and reuniting scattered people, building houses, establishing diplomatic ties and supply chains, etc.

eg: there is very little formality or ingrained institutions and no palaces full of comforts let alone luxuries for at LEAST a century, thanks

BUT, the fixing-up period being mostly a very happy time! Like, I think there was certainly a ton of hardship and stress with trying to keep people fed and housed in this chaotic near-post-apocalyptic situation while new villages and stuff were built, and fighting stray dark creatures who had also escaped, but still a lot of general relief and feelings of being insanely fortunate and curious exploration, finally free from being under constant overwhelming threat again even if this peace is quite a different kind from the peace before Morgoth returned, going hand-in-hand with the work, and building together as a conduit for bonding and feasting etc – and celebration and joy as deliberate defiance against the loss and grief and war they suffered. I think this real-world thing would fit it well.

Not a very big population at first, since not a lot survived at all, and most of the elves went to Eressea and most of the humans went to Numenor, and most of the Sindar who remained went east. I headcanon the early “kingdom” as more…scattered villages along the shore with a large but transient population concentration around the Havens because most of those were just looking for their friends and relatives and waiting for seats to open up on the constant flood of ships heading west, and when the passengers finally dwindle down this distribution has taken root and multiplied, but not a really powerful force until post-The Mariner’s Wife.

After the establishment period, now that it FINALLY isn’t a time of war, after centuries of it, elves start having babies all over the fucking place, and all the accoutrements that go with it. Dozens of new and half-forgotten festival days that are literally just giant bacchanalias, zillions of weddings, society shifting to be very oriented towards sex and romance and children and child-rearing, rather than warfare, etc. With this showing up a lot in their songs, and art, and lifestyle, etc.

One of the most delightful Lindon-adjacent nuggets in the Histories of Middle Earth I think is that elves of Lindon spent at least 50 years, if not more, ferrying the Edain to Numenor. I won’t repeat the tag ramble I appended to that passage here, but just… *blows kisses off fingers* it’s so absurd and fitting….I think of this as a big post-war self-image thing, the cataclysm and Morgoth’s defeat just so utterly scrambling their view of the world and their role in it. >_o

Speaking of that, not a lot of cultural continuity between the Noldor of the First Age and the Noldor of Lindon. The people of Cirdan and therefore at first for Gil-galad were the Falathrim, so I hc that especially after lots of Noldor left for Tol Eressea and Eregion the dominant culture of Lindon was a blendy Falathrim twist.

But that’s mostly just dominant as a plurality – the real “main culture” of Lindon is the hodge-podge mixture itself. Exiles who stayed because they wanted to, exiles who stayed because they are ex-Feanorians or otherwise can’t face going back or aren’t allowed. Descendants of exiles, mixed Noldor/Sindar elves who weren’t even born during the early Silm. Noldor who feel totally alienated from everything, Noldor who feel more connected to their fellow people of Sirion than to the Noldor generally. Survivors of Gondolin, survivors of Nargothrond, Sindar who didn’t want to go east, Edain who didn’t go to Numenor, Edain who are just waiting around to go to Numenor, Dwarves who had to leave the Blue Mountains due to them being broken up in the war, other peoples of all kinds, who all scrambled convergently to Lindon to flee the incoming war and water like ants. The areas of Lindon, and the districts of Mithlond, array themselves as reflections of, or deliberate eschewings of, the weird headlong rush into intertwining and splitting apart and morphing into new things that characterizes late Silm-era dynamics and groups.

In addition to pre-existing Falathrim attitudes about the sea, a major cultural/religious/etc tradition would spring up in Lindon in relation to the sea – the destructive, overwhelming, healing, saving, unfathomable, un-tameable, enticing, perilous sea that broke the earth, yet cleansed it, destroyed both enemies and homes, the place that now holds everything that Beleriand was in its depths, the place that deliverance came from. Kind of a less cynical but still very terrified version of Voronwë’s complete lack of chill about it. Sea-longing and going to sea and either never coming back or not coming back the same carves out a major place in their understanding of the world. One of the Standard Identities available to a segment of the popular in Lindon is like, “oh, he’s Waiting For A Ship,” An overlap of understanding grows between them and the Numenoreans over this. Ahem. Feel free.

eg: great Implied Significance for the new shoreline and the gulf of Lhûn as the place where Beleriand broke off and sank. References to these places as idioms to refer to being just past the furthest reach of a calamity, or a now-innocuous reminder of past calamity, or the duality of homecoming and escape

also eg: “lmao X is as unpredictable as the Lhûn amirite #microclimates”

the Numenoreans love them, but are sort of boggled by them. They have the same strange varied mixture and mood swings of cheer and gloom and Issues as the ex-Exiles and ex-Sindar of Tol Eressea, but the Numenoreans don’t entirely understand why they stuck with Middle Earth, for after a few generations have passed, the Numenoreans can only really guess, from their own lore, what having life experiences that were once concurrent with the long-distant sufferings of their Edain ancestors might be like. The Tol Eressean elves, on their island of release, are easier to understand, they’re sort of like us! But what of these weirdos back east – and that way lies the peril of like…you know. Everything wild, that Numenor is not

ETA: Later, when they realize the shadow has returned, this slow kind of infuriated disillusioned backslide…like, really? really? again? and the buildup back to war being really grim and depressing, though a minority of them always knew something like this would happen again. And rising conflict short of outright hostility with Eregion. People relearning to be soldiers again…or generals…

[qrhymes]

Tales of Berseria Analysis - Laphicet (Phi)’s and Eizen’s character arcs - Coexistence and Romanticism.

Three and counting.

I don’t have problem with child characters (And when I talk about child characters, I mean genuine child characters, no adults or teenagers looking like children or immortal children or characters that age different and looks like child but in reality are legally adults…they are a complete different subject)…conceptually. I don’t like when they are used as plot devices, I don’t like when they are pointless and I specially dislike when they behave like fucking adults without a motive. 

…Therefore you may suppose that I really like Elise from Xillia 

…and you would be right reader, I love her, she is a great character and Teepo would be the best Tales mascot if not for Rollo…

(…He is a god in comparison with other anime (Videogame) mascots…)

But if you want to have a child character, with clear motives, good development, a meaningful arc, etc. I say go for it, and make it great…and Laphicet (Phi) is indeed great.

First of all, he is adorable, he can cast Indignation and he also is the middle-ground between emotion and reason that the game wants to reach.

If Eleanor is the constant inner-conflict between the ideas, Phi would be their natural coexistence.

Phi starts as blank page, a puppet just referred as Number 2 and a representation of the Malakin subdue for the Abbey, then he is “taken” from Teresa and joins for the party and then…he just start to learn, to grow, to know these flawed people…and even if he cannot understand the totality of each one, he can acknowledge the inner goodness that he sees in each one of them. And in that matter, we as the players get to know a lot more of the cast trough his interaction with him (Eleanor also serves to this purpose but is with Phi that we get to know the best of the party because…). He is an adorable, cute and innocent child and the party, conscientiously or not, TRIES (and I emphasize the tries, because wanting it or not, the Menagerie is still the Menagerie and there is still conflict here, these most notorious been Velvet’s seen him as a replace for her brother, that gets resolve in a really heartwarming scene, I loved that scene… or Rokuro intent to kill him during the encounter with Kurogane) to be the best to him, teaching him, explaining and in reward we, and Phi, have this amazing little insiders for each one of the party members; Velvet’s first redeemable traits are shown us thanks to her interactions with Phi, seen Rokuro and Eizen playing the wiser older brothers is hilarious, Am I right, Rhinostragros? But it also let see us that Rokuro and Eizen have a genuine concern about been good examples for Phi with they “Don’t be like us” and fuck it, some of the first shades to Magilou’s true character are through her interaction with Phi. And in the end he takes the best all of this knowledge and experiences, this great and epic journey, and grows thanks to that travel.

He is the moral compass of these less than perfect people (Eleanor also tries to play this role, although with less success than Phi) and thanks to him we get to know the better of them.

He is also the best developed character in the cast and seen him grow from this helpless and quiet child to this determined badass who will fight for what he thinks is right (And been honest, leaving Magilou’s monologues to Melchior, he has the best scenes in the game)

“Eat my arm! I don’t care just leave me the other one! I need It to clobber the jerk who made my Velvet cry!”)

It is just fucking amazing.

In regard as his ending as Maotelus (And his eventual fate in Zestiria)…Is fitting. This kid that was nourished for this amazing journey with Velvet and the Menagerie, for all of these different experiences, points of views and teachings…He grows assimilating both ideologies and now he stands as the ideal manifestation (With Eleanor been the practical) of the healthy coexistence of reason and emotion…and the literal hope to reach Velvet’s endless and idyllic dream, …it gets the better of me in the same way that Velvet does and it’s just a beautiful ending for Phi’s arc and the game.

And that was the four…Uff…uff…you know what they say about pointless worries…

…MAGIKAZAMAZAMAZAM…

Eizen is awesome; he has the height, the posture, the voice, the long coat, the quotes, the family connections, the dorkiness, the “Perfect Mayhem” one of the most kickass designs of the franchise, his character screams “I’m fucking badass”

…Badass indeed…

…he is also one of the most interesting members of the cast.

Eizen is 1000 years old Malak afflicted for The Reaper’s curse which cause misfortune to the people that surrounds him, he is also a pirate, the second mate of The Aifread’s pirates, who ends joining Velvet quest in order to seek pass through one of the Abbey’s fortress and later for the possibility to find clues of the missing Captain Aifread whose disappearance maybe connected with one of the highest ranks of the Abbey.

Eizen is pirate, a ruthless thief, a man with little regards for the rules of the Abbey or the Kingdom, someone who has no moral compass other than his own convictions, an intrepid and dorkish adventurer who travels the eleven seas for the pure joy of doing it, loyal to his crew, to his captain, and his creed…

Wait a minute…He is still a bad guy, right?…

Let me see, thief? Check. Inclination to punching people? Check. Does business with morally questionable people? Check….oh he is also a second in command of a well knowing pirate crew…double check …then why he still looks like he could be one the good pirate characters in One Piece?…Well because that is the point.

In the same way that One Piece (Or the first Pirates of the Caribbean) explore a heavy romanticize vision of what a pirate is, Eizen is the romanticize vision of what a life led by emotions is. His arc doesn’t deal with themes like obsession or blindness or about losing yourself in your own overwhelming emotions (through there is something like that in regard to his arc during the Zaveid side quest, but is played in a different manner but don’t worry we’ll get there) like Rokuro’s or Velvet’s. No, his arc revolve about why emotions are so important for us and how following our own path, our own believes, is the only way to live our own life to the fullest, and in that regard he is the biggest contrast with the oppressive ways of the Abbey.

Eizen is someone that live adventures with his friends, he travels to exotic places, he doesn’t answer to anyone, a man that values his freewill above anything else and that will not letting that anything or anyone take it away from him, but as I said in the begging he’s not an auto-destructive person nor an anarchist, he plays the role of the lovable rogue (Despite that we actually don’t see much of thesem because the game isn’t about the adventures of Eizen and Benwick in the Van Eltia) with a stoic attitude and tough demeanor but also with a heart of gold a dork and in that regard he is the most enjoyable and funny member of the party (Aside for certain witch)…he is the most open to express his appreciation for the group aside for Phi, maybe, his completely honest fanboy rants about history or relics or just expressing his more pure inner feelings about his ways of life…He is amazing…Live hard and day young, Am I right, Eizen?… but in that regard, how many people have the raw muscle to decide their own fate? But even more important than that. Do you have it, Eizen?

Eizen has a role in the narrative and goal in the game, but they are just little bifurcations in a much greater story about Eizen fighting his own fate.

His natural affinity as an earth Malak, The Reaper curse, the laws of the Abbey, the Malevolence that slowly has started to overcome him and even the event of the game are no more than other rock blocking his way to…well, nothing. Eizen journey is just an endless resistance test that will have an abrupt end (In the context of the life spam of Malikhim/Seraphim), a romantic one for sure, fighting for the sake of the word against a future Lord of Calamity, and later, after becoming a dragon, killed as a way of saving him and putting him to rest of his madness state, but an end after all.

Eizen’s story is one of a man against the world, an endless path which mere travel through him symbolize the quest of men for freedom in his lives…Eizen is the coolest, and he was made to be the coolest, a romantic hero who has been throw it in a cynical story about clashing ideas as one of the idealist and inspirational parts of the emotion side…and again he does amazing in his job.

Part 1: Tales Series Retrospective

Part 2: The Elements of a Wonderfull Game

Part 3: Velvet’s character arc - Blindness and toxicity

Part 4: Rokuro’s and Eleanor’s character arc - Obsession and Conflict.

Part 6: Magilou’s character arc - Contradictions.

[drink-n-watch]

  Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life, Supernatural, Sci Fi, School

Episodes s3: 2

Episodes Reawakened : 6

Studio: J.C.Staff, EGG FIRM

  What possible problems could a guy that has almost unlimited psychic powers have? Well quite a lot really. First you have to develop the world’s most impenetrable poker face so that no one notices you’re accidentally reading their thoughts. It would be rude to react. And then when your friends get into trouble, which happens quite a lot when you attract every misfit around, you have to bail them out without them noticing. And what will happen when they find out? Is it ok to just erase their memories? How do you make sure your family doesn’t get over-reliant on your powers or deal with jealous siblings? These are all troubling questions every super powered psychic has to deal with. Oh and of course how do you stop the world from getting destroyed by an unprecedented calamity? There’s that one two. It can be a real pain. Fortunately, it’s fun to watch!

I’ve already watched the first two seasons of the popular Disastrous Life of Saiki K. If you’re curious, you can read my thoughts here: The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. and here: The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. 2. Super abridged version – I liked it!

yay!

When I heard that Netflix had decided to pick up this franchise for a little extra run, a lot of thoughts went through my head. One of which was definitely, I wonder how a Netflix budget is going to affect the show. And the answer to that is: not at all…

Season 3 of of Saiki K is a completely seamless continuation of season 2 in all production aspects. They are only two episodes and I wouldn’t have been surprised if they were made at the exact same time as the rest. As for Reawakened, I honestly couldn’t spot any differences. The cast may be a touch wider with pretty much everyone making at least some cameo appearances as well as new characters being introduced. And I guess maybe there were a bit more background mob characters so a few extra pennies might have gone that way but don’t hold me to it. It was in all appearance and sound, the good old Saiki we’ve all come to know and love.

For what that actually means in practice, feel free to read either one of those past season reviews. It’s honestly the same thing. And that’s not bad. The look of Saiki is a part of it’s identity. I’m glad they kept it.

not that looks are all that matters

But what about the actual…story is probably not the right word here. The Disastrous life of Saiki K has always been a series of quick sketches with a fairly loose connections to one another. Season 2 started setting up the end of the world scenario and that is the closest thing to an actual plot we have.

I’m going to talk about season 3 first because it’s a bit of an outlier. On top of my post there I have it as 2 episodes because that’s how it’s structured on Netflix which is where I watched. Two standard time episodes. However AniList has it as a single 1h episode which makes sense. It is really one continuous story. Or rather it’s a series of little adventures all leading to the same conclusion.

S2 left off with the revelation that Saiki has been trying and failing to prevent the end of the world due to an enormous volcanic eruption in Japan. As a result, he’s been resetting everything by a year over and over again for an untold amount of time. It’s sort of an endless eight situation.

exactly!

S3 picks up right there and shows us his last and successful attempt which culminates in Saiki giving up his psychic powers once the world is finally safe. And I really liked it. A lot. It has all the trademark humour and punchy jokes but it’s a little softer, punctuated by some honest sappy shows of friendship and character growth. It was a beautifully fitting end to the series which even left a sliver of opportunity for a follow up.

I went into Reawakened wondering if they were just going to ignore the finale events of season 3 or quickly rest them. I also was particularly on the lookout for studio interference, trying to spot Netflix’s influence in any of the episodes.

Well I was in for a surprise. First Reawakened screws a bit with the timeline. The bulk of the events seem to be taking place somewhere around the middle of season 2. We know this mostly because Aiura is there. But season 3 has definitely not happened yet. Then the last episode of Reawakened catches up to season three and gives us what happens after.

it’s unexpected

I actually really loved this. It managed to perfectly respect the events of previous season and integrate them in a way I hadn’t foreseen. I also really did enjoy how it ended even if it was a cop out.

As for the tone or studio interference well… If you watch all three seasons in a role you will see a sort of evolution and softening from season to season. It becomes a bit more of an ensemble series. Saiki himself gets a bit more layered and nuanced as a character and steps away from the mildly cynical straight man role. The jokes also stat to be a bit more surreal or get more set up as they can base themselves on more past episodes.

Reawaken didn’t quite fit with that narrative flow, but I don’t think it was because it’s a Netflix series either. If anything, I think maybe there was a span of time between the production. I say this because in feel and delivery, Reawaken very closely resembled season 1. It was sharper, the humour was more quickfire, Saiki was presented much more in isolation rather than an integral part of a group. And it really really had the exact tone of that first season which is a fan favourite so it may have been quite intentional.

solid plan for an anime!

For myself, I would say I liked s3 a little more than reawakened. Because I’m a softy. But I really enjoyed both a lot. I thought the entire experience of binging through these episodes made for such a perfect light distraction that had me giggling and smiling and just left me relaxed and carefree. It was like meeting up with old friends and having one of those kind of useless dinners where you just chat about whatever and you don’t even remember most of the conversation the next day but you’re left with a vague sense of happiness that carries on for the rest of the week. Like that!

I would recommend it as a watch or even rewatch for anyone that isn’t annoyed by rapid paced sketch comedy and that is in some need of a distraction right about now.

Favourite character : Saiki Kusuo. It’s fairly rare that the lead ends up being my favourite but I noticed that I was really enjoying the episodes where he was by himself.

Beer is made of hops, hops are plants, therefore beer is salad

Suggested drink: a Clairvoyant

Every time the 4th wall breaks – take a sip

Every time Kaido freaks out – take a sip

Every time Toritsuka dos something useful – gasp!

Every time the gang is in street clothes – take a screenshot

Every time someone(thing) pretends to be Saiki – take a sip

Every time there is coffee jelly – get a snack

Every time something goes wrong with Saiki’s limiter – take a sip

Every time Saiki takes his glasses off – blush

Every time we see Teruhashi’s fan club – cheer

Every time we see one of the supporting cast family – take a sip

Every time everything gets resolves offscreen – pfiou

You know the drill, tons of pics on Pinterest…

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. 3 and Reawakened – Great Quarantine Binge Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life, Supernatural, Sci Fi, School Episodes s3: 2 Episodes Reawakened : 6…

[prideguynews]

The ‘gay small movie Oscars’, the Iris Prize, is occurring in Cardiff, Wales as I article this. The 6-working day celebration of LGBT+ movie is centred about its justly prestigious Iris Global Prize. This is the most valuable LGBT small movie prize in the planet, worth £30,000, which lets the recipient to make another small. The initial of the 35 films in opposition have now screened, and after additional it is an eclectic and interesting bunch, covering a variety of themes about sexuality, gender and additional.

This 12 months the screenings of the shorts have been brought together into thematic groups, so choose a glimpse below to see our feelings on the Iris Prize Global Shorts from Day 1 of the fest.

Wild Beasts (Villdyr)

With Close friends Like These

The initial screening brought together a selection of films centring on strategies of friendship, having in the two the positive and the adverse.

Wild Beasts (Villdyr) Director: Sverre Kamme In the snowy isolation of rural Scandinavia, a group of young teens are hanging out, figuring out their lives and making an attempt to find anything to do. However, one particular of the boys may well have sensation for his male good friend that he does not very totally recognize and is not guaranteed how to convey. Wild Beasts is an intriguing and properly shot movie that manages to capture the uncertainties and damaging impulses of adolescence, wherever young people today usually glimpse for a sensation of management in the improper areas. However, when properly observed, the movie could have carried out with digging a small deeper into what is genuinely likely on amongst these people today. That stated, it certainly does not outstay its welcome and has a couple of emotionally resonant times. 3.five out of five

Pink Tablet Director: Xiaoshan Xie China has a odd and challenging to get the job done out mind-set to gay content. In latest several years some Chinese films have been banned or cut prior to release in their homeland to get rid of LGBT-themed scenes, when other people have been authorized out unscathed. Equally, there have been gay-themed films that Chinese authorities have permitted to be screened at worldwide festivals but not at household, when conversely some films (and filmmakers) have been pulled from overseas competition line-ups. I say this not for the reason that it took place to Pink Tablet, but for the reason that I believe it claims anything about the context of how anything like this movie can get designed and the planet it comes from.

In it, a teenage girl’s lifestyle is upended when a homophobic classmate publicly reveals a website page from her diary, which demonstrates she has sensation for another female. Just one of her male classmates still demonstrates curiosity in her, and he may well be inclined to go to serious lengths to make her ‘normal’. Inspired by accurate occasions, Pink Tablet is a provocative and complex movie, wherever its doable to examine items in various methods that give a distinct spin to occasions. For illustration, you could see the primary boy in the movie as wrestling with his individual sexuality, or just as a peaceful but decidedly straight young gentleman. In truth, distinct viewers at the Iris screening took it distinct methods. It guarantees that even when it goes to some darkish areas it hardly ever feels gratuitous. 4 out of five

Three Centimetres Director: Lara Zaeidan Final 12 months a one particular-shot movie won the primary Iris Prize. Three Centimetre is also just a one shot but usually takes on distinct issue make a difference and a distinct, possibly unforeseen, venue. The entire thing usually takes position in the gondola of a ferris wheel in a decaying enjoyment park in Beirut. Four young feminine pals go for a experience, with one particular specifically loud, mouthy female dominating the conversation with discuss about how you do not shed your virginity if its only in three centimetres. When the conversation turns to acquiring about an ex by wondering of them being gay, it results in one particular of the women, Marwan, to appear out. This revelation will get an array of reactions, from worry to anger to dismissal.

Smartly designed, the one particular-shot mother nature of the small movie could have appear throughout as an affectation, but immediately turns into integral to the small and significantly less distracting than it could have been. The Lebanese placing also provides to the movie, so that as a western viewer it troubles perceptions of the middle-east and also make you mirror on the similarities and variation amongst reactions to somebody coming out in distinct nations. 3.five out of five

Don’t Connect with Me Bro (Nenn Mich Nicht Bruder) Director: Gina Wenzel A feminine soccer workforce is baffled when a boy demonstrates up for exercise, right until Cheyenne discovers that new boy Dany is actually transgender. Dany commences to befriend some of the male soccer players, including Cheyenne’s boyfriend, Josh, and he hopes that Cheyenne will maintain his key. Though he immediately starts to find acceptance in this ragtag, chaotic and relatively violent crew, a sense of threat hangs in the air due to what the other boys do not know, and the electric power Cheyenne has about that. This German small productively results in a sense of menace that grows as it goes on.

Some may well choose problem with regardless of whether it is rather stereotyping young ‘chavs’, or certainly regardless of whether its stunning and relatively disturbing times border on exploitative, but it certainly has an impact. It also does a very good work of looking at the reckless and damaging impulses of youth, and the threat of electric power imbalances among all those who do not recognize duty. 3.five out of five

Calamity

Gender & Relatives

The next screening focussed on gender difficulties and films featuring transgender characters, and additional specifically their connection with loved ones.

There You Are Director: Lisa Donato Jessica requires to go household to see her dying grandmother. However, when she is now residing as a trans female, her loved ones have generally acknowledged her as Jason. In buy to check out to mix in in the course of this challenging situation, Jessica attempts to determine out how to go for a boy once more. When she will get household her mother is as challenging as generally, but other people may well have unforeseen reactions. Penned by and starring trans actress Jen Richards, I observed There You Are most interesting for causes that genuinely should not be interesting at all. In the movie the way the emotional character beats and shifts get the job done is carried out in a rather mainstream design, to the issue wherever the most cynical viewer could see it as a small sentimental. However, it is still very rare to see this carried out with trans stories, which tend to be dominated by arthouse outlooks and a focus on the adverse sides of the trans encounter. There You Are demonstrates that possibly just as important are the stories that show a small additional hope, not the very least that in contexts like this it will help underline that trans people today are part of ‘us’ and not just a ‘them’. 4 out of five

Profane Cow (Vaca Profana) Director: Rene Guerra This is one particular of all those films that I can imagine leading to massive arguments amongst viewers who could glimpse at it in radically distinct methods. Nadia is a trans female who’s been mainly acknowledged by her neighborhood in a weak part of Brazil. Just one of her pals has a modest baby she wants to adopt out, so Nadia agrees to choose the baby, satisfying her prolonged held dream of motherhood. However, items get sophisticated when the birth mother has next feelings. It’s certainly an intriguing and at instances provocative movie, when delves into the concept that the longing for motherhood significantly transcends the actual physical means to have a baby, as nicely as the point that the actual physical means by itself does not make you a very good mother. However, the way it does it is perhaps problematic.

Although I do not believe it is making an attempt to propose that trans people today are in essence doing the role of somebody who’s a distinct gender than the one particular they ended up assigned at birth or that they are ‘weirdoes’, but the movie does perform into all those stereotypes at instances, not the very least when Nadia decides to wear a pretend baby stomach. This and a couple of other difficulties signify that when the film’s surface area is trans-positive, beneath it could be viewed as significantly additional problematic. 2.five out of five

Calamity Administrators: Severine be Streyker, Maxime Feyers Middle-aged couple France and Lucien return from a crack to unexpectedly find their son Romain and his new girlfriend Cleo in their household. France insists they stay for evening meal, as she wants to fulfill her son’s new appreciate curiosity. What none of Romain’s loved ones know while, and what he hadn’t wished to convey to them nonetheless, is that Cleo is a trans female in the early times of her ‘treatment’. When they realise this the loved ones does not know what to do, as it is a situation none of them has at any time even contemplated.

Calamity is a small which is shut to outstanding. The decision to focus on the mother and to flesh her character out so that we know she is not happy and stuck in an unfulfilling standing quo guarantees the movie avoids the melodramatic. Equally, the short’s humour will help to carry the viewer into the characters’ encounter. It also properly contrasts the appreciate and contentment of the young lovers with the emotional desert of the moms and dads, so that France’s desire for items to go back again to ordinary is not just about transphobia but also about validating the staid selections she’s designed in her lifestyle. However, there are a few far too many times wherever Calamity can’t very stability its loved ones tale with its self-consciously filmic times and an unevenness in its technique to a heightened fact. Although its still a very good movie, I did experience that it could have been additional. 3.five out of five

Michael Joseph Jason Scott

Masculinity

The closing screening of Iris Prize Shorts on Day 1 of the competition focused on difficulties surrounding masculinity.

Crashing Waves Director: Emma Gilbertson A extremely small small, Crashing Waves right away stands out for the reason that most of it is expressed via dance. Two young gentlemen (who, for want of a superior term would be classed by some as ‘chavs’) fulfill just outdoors some substantial-increase tower blocks on an internal-city housing estate. The tensions and doable connections amongst them appear out via dance, which in the beginning looks like it may well explode into violence or as a substitute could erupt into enthusiasm. But even when dancing the gentlemen simply cannot escape the planet they stay in. The movie is only four-minutes prolonged, but it lingers in your thoughts partly for the reason that it is so unforeseen and partly for the reason that it is extremely nicely carried out. Dance is usually filmed terribly on display, but Crashing Waves realises that the digicam is also a dancer and not just a window/lens. As a final result, it pulls the viewer into this sensual pas de deux. 3.five out of five

The War Place Director: Ben Hantkant Each 12 months at Iris there is at the very least one particular movie that absolutely flummoxes me and I experience like almost everything about it has flown about my head. The War Place is one particular of all those videos. I’m not even one hundred% guaranteed I can properly explain what it is about, but it sees a young gentleman dealing with lifestyle in the Israeli Army and the pressures and strategies of masculinity and bravado it areas on conscripts, especially if that form of machismo does not mirror who they are inside of. However, the entire thing usually takes areas in a form of darkish, dreamlike fantasy of projections and online video installations, as nicely as toy army gentlemen and efficiency art.

It’s the form of movie that will speak to some and get their brains performing, when other people will be still left absolutely cold. However for me it is the latter. I also speculate regardless of whether Israeli navy company is one particular of all those items which is challenging for outsiders to properly recognize with no having lived in the region and being familiar with the cultural and societal context of nationwide company. As this is a movie about it that is so open up and experimental, it leaves few openings to let outsider to properly get inside of. Although possibly I just want to enjoy it a few additional instances. 1.five out of five

Michael Joseph Jason Scott A gentleman hooks up with a guy on the web and invitations him round to his New York condominium. The visitor looks keen to maintain items nameless and get to the bedroom ideal absent. However, every single gentleman may well have distinct strategies about what they want to get from the fulfill, with one particular wondering about their long term and another considering anything significantly darker. Michael Joseph Jason Scott (titled immediately after the names one particular of the gentlemen guesses could be the other’s) is a additional clear-cut and easier enjoy than many of the other Iris Prize shorts.

That is not to say it is straightforward while, just that it is additional very easily accessible. Quite a few viewers customers will be capable to relate to problems about who you are inviting into your household, as nicely as the hope and feeling of prospects when you believe you have designed a connection with somebody. Although there are a couple of times, specifically in direction of the end, that could have benefitted from a small additional subtlety, it is still an pleasing enjoy. 3 out of five

Wren Boys I’ve viewed Wren Boys a couple of instances now and each individual time I genuinely want to like it. This is, immediately after all, a movie that acquired a Greatest Brief Film BAFTA nomination and a British Independent Film Awards Greatest British Brief nomination, as nicely as screening at the likes of Sundance, the BFI London Film Pageant and SXSX. However, every single time I’ve viewed it, it is felt to me unfinished and a small far too delighted with alone, and which is not for the reason that of its open up ending. I can recognize why many do like it while, as the concept at the rear of it and how it attempts to unpack that are attention-grabbing. The basic set up is that it is Boxing Day, and an Irish priest in County Cork is driving his nephew to jail to see one particular of the inmates. I won’t say a lot additional as part of the way the movie works is a gradual unravelling of the assumptions the viewer can make about who these people today are, as nicely what other characters are wondering and assuming about them. It also attempts to offer with a region trapped amongst an previous, rigid, Catholic, dogmatic way of being, and a new, enlightened region that has gay marriage (and certainly now has a gay chief). Even so, for me it works superior in concept than exercise, especially as a couple of its ‘twists’ experience like relatively hassle-free sleight of hand. 2 out of five

Something About Alex (Anders) Director: Reinout Hellenthal Something About Alex is a challenging one particular to discuss about just for the reason that the primary thing any viewer is likely to want to talk about about it is also a main spoiler. Alex has developed up on a farm but is upset when he discovers his sister and her boyfriend are transferring absent to the city. Realising that almost everything will improve, Alex finds it increasingly challenging to cover his accurate feelings. The movie works nicely just as what in the beginning seems like it could be a coming out tale, but in direction of the end it turns items on its head with a main twist, so that when we’ve been viewing the ‘truth’ it may well not be as other people perspective it.

Something About Alex is based about what is actually a rather straightforward concept, but it is a challenging one particular to pull off. It is while a extremely intelligent way to appear at the difficulties it is dealing with from a distinct angle, in methods that may well be easier for the viewers to empathise with than additional normal methods of accomplishing it. Even superior is that it is carried out in an very easily accessible and nicely put together way, assisted by a very good efficiency from the young direct. For me it was the greatest movie of Day 1 of Iris. 4.five out of five

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Connected

The post Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 1 (Short Film Reviews) appeared first on PrideGuy - Gay News, LGBT News, Politics & Entertainment.

[clubofinfo]

Expert: The ‘anti-Semitism’ rumpus engulfing Jeremy Corbyn and tearing the Labour Party apart comes at the very moment when the country needs an alert and dynamic Opposition to Theresa May’s shambolic administration.  The campaign, so obviously orchestrated by powerful pro-Israel interest groups to bring down Corbyn, threatens to derail all prospect of worthwhile change at the next election, which could be called anytime given the chaos over Brexit. This would be a calamity not just for Labour but the whole country. The distraction is such a blot on the political landscape and so disruptive that Corbyn must neutralise it without giving ground. The question is how. Clarity please – who are the Semites? What is the argument about? It’s the S-word, ‘Semitism’. At least, that’s the cover-story. The real issue, as many realise, is something deeper. But let’s stick with ‘anti-Semitism’, which is the weapon. It is stupid to go to war without asking questions. So who exactly are the Semites? They may not be who they seem, or who we’re told they are. So let us first deal with the cover story, anti-Semitism, by setting up a learned panel to review the research by Shlomo Sand, Arthur Koestler, Johns Hopkins University and others, turn the S-word inside out, shake it all about, and establish (if that’s possible) who is, and who is not Semitic enough to be offended by certain remarks. For example, DNA research by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and published by the Oxford University Press in 2012 on behalf of the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution, found that the Khazarian Hypothesis is scientifically correct, meaning that most Jews are Khazars. The Khazarians were never in ancient Israel. They converted to Talmudic Judaism in the 8th Century. Even if you believe the myth that God gave the land to the Israelites, He certainly didn’t give it to the Khazarians. Russian and East European Jews like the thug Lieberman, Israel’s defence minister, and countless others who flooded into the Holy Land intending to kick the Palestinians out, have no biblical or ancestral claim to the land. Probably no more than 2% of Jews in Israel are actually Israelites, according to the findings. So most of those living today who claim to be Jews are not descended from the ancient Israelites at all. Palestinians, who are indigenous to the Holy Land, are the real Semites. Of course, there’s no rush by Israelis or their admirers to acknowledge this. Has the Johns Hopkins study been refuted? If they and others who came to the same conclusion have got it right, the whole anti-Semitism thing becomes an upside-down nonsense – a hoax – in which the anti-Semites are actually the racist Israeli regime and its Zionist stooges who stalk the corridors of power and have been oppressing the Palestinians for decades with impunity. Until the topic is thoroughly aired and we have clarity, all anti-Semitism allegations ought to be withdrawn. And no organisation, let alone the Labour Party, should import any definition of anti-Semitism onto its rulebook without looking into the basics. In the meantime, yes, Jeremy Corbyn needs to dislodge the anti-Jew morons and racist crackpots, of which there are many in all parties. He should also disband Labour Friends of Israel, an aggressive mouthpiece for a foreign terror regime that has no place in British politics. Job done – Israel’s stooges now in control and doing the dirty work Meanwhile the concerted fear-mongering by the Zionist Inquisition and browbeating by Jewish community leaders seems to have worked. As I write, Jeremy Corbyn is touring Scotland talking about important things like his ‘Build it in Britain’ plan to regenerate Scottish industry.  But the media are gloating over a story involving a former Scottish Labour MP being suspended by his local constituency party and publicly shamed for alleged anti-Semitic remarks – on the strength of just one complaint apparently. Furthermore the local party executive, in a statement, have already found him guilty. iNews and other media outlets report Renfrewshire North and West Constituency Labour Party Executive Committee as saying: We fully condemn the anti-Semitic comments expressed by Jim Sheridan, and it is right that he is subject to a full investigation by the Labour Party…. The views expressed by Jim Sheridan in no way reflect the views of the members of the Labour Party in the Renfrewshire North and West constituency…. [His] comments are in direct conflict with the Labour Party’s values of anti-racism, equality and solidarity. That’s before he’s had a chance to defend himself. Bearing in mind that the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies claim to represent the Jewish community in the UK and have been instrumental in the damaging anti-Semitism campaign against Labour and Corbyn, it is difficult to see anything objectionable in Cllr Sheridan’s remarks in the screenshot above. Cllr Sheridan said he was restricted from making comment at this stage but told me, as a matter of fact: I haven’t had a hearing yet or a date for that to happen. You may wish to know that I visited Auschwitz along with a group of schoolchildren and fellow MPs and saw at first hand the horrors and felt the pain and anguish the Jewish prisoners must have felt. Also, in all the years as an MP I signed the annual Holocaust remembrance book in the House of Commons. Does that sound like an ‘anti-Semite’ speaking? In Renfrewshire they seem hell-bent on destroying the Labour Party’s credibility without any further help from the Israel lobby. It is a vivid example of self-harm by brainwashed twits from within. If the press story is to be believed, somebody makes an allegation, the accused is immediately suspended, publicly shamed and possibly has his reputation damaged irreparably without being heard and before the allegation is substantiated. The accused is gagged from making public comment while the local party executive committee feels free to pass judgment and prejudice the whole matter by declaring to the world that the accused is guilty and stating that nobody else in the local party shares his views. ‘Due process’ is conspicuously absent from the proceedings and party officials in Renfrewshire seem to think it’s OK to issue a statement condemning the accused when he hasn’t been told when his side of the story will be heard and by whom. It’s medieval. And last month another Scottish Labour councillor, Mary Bain Lockhart of West Fife, was suspended voicing suspicion that Israeli spies might be plotting to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader after three Jewish newspapers published a joint front page warning that a Corbyn-led government would pose an “existential threat to Jewish life in this country”. She wrote on social media: If the purpose is to generate opposition to anti-semitism, it has backfired spectacularly. If it is to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader, it is unlikely to succeed, and is a shameless piece of cynical opportunism. And if it is a Mossad assisted campaign to prevent the election of a Labour Government pledged to recognise Palestine as a State, it is unacceptable interference in the democracy of Britain. She added: “Israel is a racist State. And since the Palestinians are also Semites, it is an anti-Semitic State.” Those paying attention will remember, back in January 2017, revelations that a senior political officer at the Israeli embassy in London, Shai Masot, had been plotting with stooges among British MPs and others in the political woodwork to “take down” senior government figures including Boris Johnson’s deputy at the Foreign Office, Sir Alan Duncan. It should have resulted in the ambassador himself, Mark Regev, a vile propagandist, a master of disinformation and a former personal spokesman for the Zionist regime’s prime minister Netanyahu, also being kicked out. But he was let off the hook. Regev is still here exercising his shifty talents and oiling his links to Mossad. Masot’s hostile scheming was captured and revealed by an Al Jazeera undercover investigation and not, as one would have wished, by Britain’s own security services and press. “The UK has a strong relationship with Israel and we consider the matter closed,” said the British government. The Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, who is Jewish, also declined to investigate. So Cllr Lockhart is entitled to be suspicious. Nevertheless a complaint about her remarks was lodged by former Labour MP Thomas Docherty. It was Docherty who wrote to the Culture Secretary in 2015 urging a debate to ban Hitler’s Mein Kampf, a best seller on Amazon, arguing that it was “too offensive to be made available”. And Paul Masterton, the Tory MP for East Renfrewshire, complained that, given how “offensive” Cllr Lockhart’s comments were, the Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard had been too slow to act and should have spoken out against her behaviour immediately. Instead we have continued silence from him and a failure to prove to the Jewish community that he and his party are taking this issue seriously. It’s clear to the vast majority of people that Mary Lockhart is no longer fit to hold office, and Scottish Labour must understand that a suspension doesn’t go far enough. What the media didn’t tell us is that Mr Masterton is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews which is funded, supported and administered by The Board of Deputies of British Jews which, along with the Jewish Leadership Council and others is heavily implicated in picking a fight with Corbyn and trying to ram the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, unedited, down Labour’s throat. The IHRA definition, which has been allowed to consume Labour when the Party has better things to do, seems to be having its intended effect. It is obvious that many members still haven’t read the two caveats proposed by the Home Office Select Committee and the legal criticism by Hugh Tomlinson QC and Sir Stephen Sedley. Had they done so, more would insist on it being drastically modified or rejected altogether. http://clubof.info/

[tarnishedninja]

okay so this is a look into who ripple / kano sazanami is as a person and her development over the course of the series. under the cut because it got kinda long lmao oops

when introduced, ripple seems to be cold and quick to anger. she judges people harshly for the smallest of things ( she literally goes on a page-long rant about sister nana the first time they meet... honey, please ). however, she isn’t narcissistic- she doesn’t necessarily sees herself as being better than others. in fact, she sees someone was being better than her / worthy of her respect- snow white.

ripple is neither a pessimist or an optimist, instead she’s a self-proclaimed realist. even after being turned into a magical girl, she doesn’t completely disbelieve it or fall into the illusion of a perfect magical life. she does tests to make sure she isn’t dreaming / hallucinating, weighs up the pros and cons, and makes her decision based on that. she does lean more towards cynicism, but ultimately she’s pretty accurate in calling herself a realist.

as ripple’s given more screentime, we start seeing other sides to her. she cares deeply for top speed, although she finds that difficult to admit. when she’s alone she’ll do cute or dramatic things just for the fun of it. she’s honest, even when in situations where it would be easier to lie, and is very hard-working.

in her backstory, we find out why she is the person she is. she finds emotions difficult to deal with ( both her own and other people’s ) due to the emotional neglect & manipulation of her mother. she distrusts people in general due to mistreatment by her peers and step-father. she’s independent and doesn’t get along well with others because that’s what she’s always had to be.

in the death game, top speed and ripple are the only ones who continue trying to gather magical candy aside from snow white & co. they take neither the high ground nor the low ground, just doing the thing that makes the most logical sense.

during her fight against calamity mary, ripple reveals that she does care for the town she lives and and the people who live there. she may not like them as individuals, but as a group she wants to protect them. ripple doesn’t see herself as a hero, but she knows how to be heroic when the situation calls for it.

after top speed’s death, ripple is obviously upset about it. i dont really think i need to go into too much detail here because everything around this is fairly self-explanatory.

ripple wants to kill swim swim more than anything to get revenge for top speed. she knows it’s selfish and that she isn’t acting on top speed’s wishes, but she doesn’t care. however, after she kills swim swim and realises how young she was ripple regrets it.

by the time snow white raising project comes around, ripple has fully accepted that there was no reason for swim swim to die. she still doesn’t like her, but she regrets her actions. part of the reason ripple doesn’t accept the land of magic’s invitation to heal her injuries is to remind herself not to go that far again.

ripple no longer wants to fight. she’s calmed down a lot since the death game. after everything that’s happened, she wants to be able to rest. however, she stays around for the sake of snow white.

ripple sees snow white as her responsibility to keep safe, but more than that she also sees snow as a good friend. at this point, snow white is the most important living person in ripple’s life. she’s the only person left who went through the death game with her and honestly, ripple would do anything to keep her safe.

ripple is so focussed on snow’s safety that she initially refused to teach her how to fight. she’s afraid of losing snow in the same way she lost top speed. in fact, the reason that ripple is so easily manipulated by frederica in swrp is because of how much she cares for snow. frederica can see that ripple wants the best for her and uses that to her advantage.

we don’t really know too much about what happened between swrp and limited, but the little information that we do know shows that ripple made huge changes.

in limited she mentions how she went out to meet new magical girls to build a pool of contacts so she could start working for the land of magic. ripple is being friendly and helping strangers with their problems. she even compares her attitude to top speed’s- this is such a huge change from who she was in unmarked!

in limited itself, ripple volunteers to help the investigation team. she fights alongside them and she trusts them. hell, she even tells mana to be more trusting.

ripple’s instant distrust of strangers is gone. she doesn’t trust everyone she meets, but she knows how to trust her instincts. she’s had enough bad experiences to pick up on red flags and to determine who’s trustworthy and who isn’t.

she even manages to talk to kuru-kuru hime while she’s crying without wanting to punch her which, i mean, is a huge improvement from unmarked ripple who was openly disgusted by sister nana’s displays of emotion (granted, the situations were slightly different)

when given the opportunity to let rain pou kill frederica, ripple doesn’t take it. she’s against taking underhanded tactics. ripple’s turned into the type of person who will take the moral high ground and wants to do the right thing. she’s determined to follow in snow white’s footsteps and not become the type of person that she fights against.

of course, this turns out to be a mistake considering what happens next...

what ripple does under brainwash isn’t really relevant to who she is as a person so i’m not going to go into that here, and there’s not really enough information about post-queens ripple to go into that in any detail.

anyways, i think this is all im here to say today

my point is, there’s more to ripple than anger and ‘tch’ing. even unmarked ripple is more than that, and i want more people to be able to appreciate her character!

that being said, she’s not the most misunderstood character in the series. im so sorry for how people see you, quake