#the ship name is still in development but I go for millions spiders

[xxrat--punkxx]

Todays shitpost of the week is- so thanks lmaP0st for this… idea

[scintfms]

           hi  kids  !  wow  ,  we’re  already  at  opening  and  that’s  so  crazy  !  i’m  kofi  ,  your  co - admin  ,  and  i’m  so  excited  that  you  guys  are  here  !  i’m  23  ,  from  the  est  tz  ,  prefer  she / they  pronouns  and  i  graduate  from  college  in  a  little  more  than  seven  months  ...  yikes  .  that  being  said  ,  i’m  ready  to  introduce  you  guys  to  my  latest  muse  ,  who  may  have  huge  development  changes  as  we  go  on  because  of  him  being  brand  new  ,  mr  .  saint  moon  !  he’s  um  ...  something  of  a  mess  and  idk  if  i  love  or  hate  him  yet  ,  but  i’m  happy  to  plot  with  ya’ll  on  my  d.iscord  @  𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲.#4090  !

            (  lee  juyeon ,  22  ,  cis  male  ,  he / him  )  *  fun  fact  about  me  ?  okay  ,  let’s  see  .  .  .   an  injury  stopped  my  promising  olympic  career  .  crazy  ,  right  ?  i’m  saint  moon  ,  i  live  in  the  contemporary  new  build  with  a  three  thousand  square  foot  outdoor  patio  on  ocean  lane  in  key  biscayne  , &  not  to  brag  ,  but  my  family’s  worth  around  $740  million  .  pretty  decent  for  real  estate  and  construction  developers  ,  huh  ?  we’ve  been  around  for  some  time  ,  but  in  town  ,  everyone’s  always  associated  me  with  the  gatsbys  ;  but  it’s  not  like  that’s  my  whole  identity  ,  or  anything  .  while  filming  for  key  biscayne  ,  it  was  surprising  when  i’d  get  dragged  on  twitter  for  being  “  errant  ,  impetuous  ,  &  rancorous  ,   ”  but  the  cameras  don’t  see  everything  ,  &  my  real  fans  know  that  i’m  nothing  but  coolheaded  ,  venturesome  ,  &  enamoring  .  i’m  not  too  bothered  by  it  though  ,  because  since  the  series  ended  ,  i’ve  opened  a  highly  successful  café  in  south  korea  and  planning  to  expand  to  the  states  .  follow  me  on  instagram  @SNT.MN  to  keep  up  . 

name  :  saint  moon  .

nickname(s)  :  none  .

age  +  date  of  birth  :  22  +  july  19th  ,  1998  .

astrological  sign  :  cancer  .

myers - briggs  personality  type  :  infj  .

enneagram  type  :  the  individualist  .

moral  alignment  :  chaotic  neutral  .

gender  +  pronouns  :  cis  man  +  he / him / his  .

place  of  birth  :  gangnam  ,  south  korea  .

place  of  residence  :  key  biscayne  ,  florida  .

sexual  orientation  :  bisexual  .

romantic  orientation  :  biromantic  .

occupation  :  former  reality  star  /  instagram  influencer  /  café  owner  .

nationality  :  korean  .

ethnicity  :  korean  .

language(s)  spoken  :  korean  ,  english  ,  japanese  ,  and  learning  mandarin  .

social  media  handle  :  @SNT.MN

THE  BACKSTORY  .

            saint’s  story  starts  when  his  parents  ,  moon  ji - ho  and  park  soo - ah  went  on  their  first  date  .  in  truth  ,  it  had  been  a  rare  instance  of  love  at  first  sight  when  they  bumped  into  each  other  at  ji - ho’s  office  in  seoul  ,  and  the  date  was  only  used  to  solidify  their  feelings  .  you  see  ,  ji - ho  and  soo - ah  were  fairly  well  known  with  ji - ho  being  the  second  heir  to  moon  industries  alongside  his  sister  ,  moon  eun -  ha  .  moon  industries  was  founded  in  the  1940s  ,  and  is  known  primarily  for  their  real  estate  and  construction  business  .  the  company  was  founded  in  seoul  ,  and  originally  started  out  by  purchasing  and  renovating  beautiful  homes  and  condominiums  within  the  city  .  after  thirty  years  in  the  business  ,  ji - ho  and  eun - ha’s  father  was  one  of  the  first  in  south  korea  to  reach  the  status  of  billionaire  .

            ji - ho  and  soo -ah  were  looking  to  forge  their  own  path  ,  though  .  although  they  were  lucky  enough  to  have  wealthy  parents  ,  both  of  them  have  always  liked  the  idea  of  working  for  themselves  and  getting  their  hands  dirty  .  so  ,  they  refused  ji - ho’s  father’s  investment  and  decided  to  start  their  own  real  estate  firm  .  they  went  through  the  process  of  obtaining  their  real  estate  license  in  both  south  korea  and  the  united  states  ,  specifically in  florida  .  after  studying  hard  ,  they  were  able  to  open  moon  real  estate  ,  and  it  was  a  hassle  for  them  .  they  initially  ‘ struggled ’  seeing  as  though  they  were  their  only  employees  ,  and  soon  ,  soo - ah  discovered  that  she  was  pregnant  with  their  son  .

            for  four  years  ,  they  worked  hard  with  their  bumbling  baby  boy  ,  saint  ,  crawling  at  their  feet  and  curiously  looking  at  home  or  building  buyers  .  for  a  long  time  ,  they  considered  saint  to  be  their  closer  as  he  was  the  selling  point  and  allowed  people  to  hold  him  while  looking  at  the  home  .  usually  ,  soo - ah  would  use  saint  as  a  marketing  ploy  whenever  they  were  trying  to  sell  to  young  couples  ,  and  it  always  worked  .  the  moons  became  known  for  saint  syndrome  ,  where  those  same  young  couples  would  typically  call  to  say  that  they  were  expecting  within  a  year  of  buying  their  home  .  it  only  took  a  few  years  ,  but  the  moons  were  soon  raking  in  their  own  money  without  the  help  of  ji - ho’s  father  .  

            when  saint  was  six  ,  his  family  relocated  to  key  biscayne  ,  florida  .  life  was  easy  living  on  the  water  ,  and  his  parents  continued  to  sell  gorgeous  homes  both  in  seoul  and  in  the  wealthy  neighborhoods  of  florida  .  with  such  a  lifestyle  ,  it  wasn’t  unheard  of  for  saint  to  excel  at  his  private  school  ,  where  he  was  known  for  his  academic  prowess  as  well  as  his  ability  to  play  both  the  piano  and  the  cello  .  saint  was  a  fairly  popular  student  while  growing  up  ,  and  it  showed  when  the  moons  would  host  their  annual  christmas  party  .

            he  was  fourteen  when  he  finally  started  to  understand  the  rivalry  between  thoroughbreds  and  gatsbys  .  originally  ,  he  put  off  like  he  didn’t  care  ,  but  in  reality  he  was  trying  to  figure  it  out  .  the  moons  were  a  special  case  ,  considering  that  ji - ho  was  clearly  an  heir  to  a  billion  dollar  fortune  ,  but  also  had  become  wealthy  in  his  own  right  thanks  to  his  business  with  his  wife  .  saint  never  understood  that  jabs  and  jeers  that  he  would  receive  from  thoroughbreds  ,  because  to  him  ,  they  were  all  rich  so  what  the  hell  did  it  matter  ?  he  eventually  began  to  side  more  with  the  gatsbys  ,  never  understanding  why  the  thoroughbreds  felt  as  though  they  needed  to  stick  their  noses  up  in  the  air  at  them  .

            within  two  years  ,  though  ,  saint  seems  to  have  changed  for  the  worse  .  while  his  grades  may  be  good  ,  he  begins  to  spend  more  time  with  new  friends  in  miami  .  while  there  ,  he  surrounds  himself  with  fast  cars  and  short  nights  ,  but  he  thinks  it’s  his  parents’  fault  for  buying  him  a  488  spider  for  his  sixteenth  birthday  .  saint  began  to  get  into  trouble  ,  often  pulled  over  for  speeding  and  reckless  driving  to  impress  his  friends  .  like  always  ,  a  star  is  meant  to  fall  ,  and  it  all  came  crashing  down  for  saint  when  he  thought  that  drag  racing  on  u.s.  route  1  was  a  good  idea  .  he  assumed  that  he  could  lose  the  cops  ,  but  he  was  stupid  for  ever  thinking  so  --  he  totaled  the  $1.3m  dollar  car  ,  and  after  being  treated  for  minor  injuries  ,  he  was  booked  in  the  county  jail  .

            having  rich  parents  seems  to  be  all  fun  and  games  considering  they  were  barely  able  to  get  him  out  with  a  slap  on  the  wrist  ,  but  that  very  same  night  they  sent  him  away  on  a  business  plane  to  live  with  his  no - nonsense  grandparents  .  for  the  first  year  ,  saint  pouted  and  argued  ,  screamed  and  kicked  over  being  trapped  in  seoul  .  he  tried  to  escape  the  fortress  of  a  house  in  pyeongchang  ,  attempted  to  ditch  his  security  guards  when  he  went  out  in  public  ,  but  he  eventually  realized  that  there  was  no  getting  out  of  this  .  so  ,  he  made  the  most  out  of  it  :  he  finished  school  ,  and  during  his  senior  year  with  the  help  of  his  grandparents  ,  saint  opened  goodnight  moon  ,  a  late  night  café  that  appealed  to  college  students  and  late  workers  in  need  of  a  coffee  and  pastry  pick  me  up  .  the  café  went  viral  ,  and  so  did  the  handsome  owner  .

            he  returned  home  when  he  was  twenty  ,  and  discovered  that  key  biscayne  was  filming  .  as  the  resident  who  suddenly  disappeared  ,  saint  was  sought  after  by  the  producers  and  was  introduced  mid - way  through  the  second  season  .  

THE  SHOW  .

saint  and  his  family  were  not  introduced  on  key  biscayne  until  midway  through  season  two  .  he  was  introduced  as  most  table  shakers  would  be  ,  with  a  flurry  of  local  headlines  ranging  from  KEY  BISCAYNE  TEEN  ARRESTED  FOR  DRAG  RACING  and  HOW  MONEY  GETS  YOU  OUT  OF  A  JAIL  SENTENCE  .  his  parents  didn’t  like  the  idea  of  being  on  a  reality  series  ,  so  they  weren’t  featured  although  there  were  a  few  scenes  with  them  .

he  was  the  reality  show  villain  and  you  can’t  tell  me  otherwise  !  showed  up  with  an  air  of  what  the  fUCk  ever  and  despite  the  air  around  him  since  he  was  arrested  and  shipped  back  to  south  korea  ,  he  never  let  that  stop  him  ?  like  ofc  he’s  a  rich  boy  who  got  away  with  something  bc  he’s  rich  ,  but  it’s  not  that  he  doesn’t  acknowledge  it  ,  he  just  chooses  not  to  talk  about  it  .

was  definitely  the  subject  of  show  cliffhangers  ,  probably  nearly  got  kicked  off  the  show  because  of  his  short  temperament  and  despite  all  that  would  still  be  invited  to  the  reunions  because  he  would  always  start  some  shit  .  he  was  very  vocal  about  who  he  didn’t  like  on  the  show  ,  and  probably  had  good  chemistry  with  a  cast  mate  and  fans  of  the  show  always  pushed  for  them  to  become  a  thing  (  a  wc  ...  mayhaps  👀 )  but  they  were  never  anything  more  than  friends  .

by  the  end  of  the  show  ,  saint  was  that  cast  member  that  fans  love  to  hate  .  he  was  employee  of  the  month  ,  and  that’s  on  period  !  gave  what  he  was  supposed  to  gave  and  was  highkey  problematic  (  not  in  a  bad  way  ,  but  in  a  way  where  he  was  always  the  one  in  the  middle  of  some  shit  )  and  when  people  would  question  him  about  it  ofc  he  didn’t  care  KFNDSJBFS  .

THE  PERSONALITY  .

a  little  shit  .  that’s  it  .  that’s  all  you  need  to  know  .  although  he’s  standoffish  ,  still  has  his  insecurities  because  he’s  not  the  ‘  perfect  ’  son  that  his  parents  pushed  for  him  to  be  .  very  much  so  the  black  sheep  of  the  family  ,  and  is  deemed  as  a  lost  cause  by  his  thespian  of  a  mother  ,  so  he  figures  that  he  might  as  well  live  up  to  that  name  .  comes  across  as  someone  who  genuinely  doesn’t  care  ,  and  he  doesn’t  KFDBJSFSD  .  sometimes  only  looks  out  for  himself  which  adds  more  sand  into  the  asshole  bin  ,  and  he  hates  being  asked  ‘  dumb  ’  questions  .  it’s  a  pet  peeve  that  his  mom  thinks  he  picked  up  from  his  father  .

THE  HEADCANONS  .

he  does  not  want  to  be  your  friend  KFNDSFUS  .  he  can  be  very  standoffish  just  to  get  that  point  across  ,  and  he  doesn’t  interact  with  people  outside  of  a  chosen  few  .  

can  be  wildly  off  putting  and  while  someone  else  may  be  afraid  of  confrontation  ,  he  isn’t  !  might  be  the  subject  of  bar  brawls  and  minor  scraps  because  he  genuinely  does  not  know  how  to  shut  the  hell  up  .

hates  walnuts  ;  idk  why  that’s  important  but  it  is  .  serve  him  something  with  walnuts  in  it  and  he’ll  never  talk  to  you  again  .

romantically  and  emotionally  stunted  ,  therefore  he  bides  his  time  with  casual  sex  and  noncommittal  acts  of  romance  .  can  be  found  slipping  out  of  beds  in  the  middle  of  the  night  ,  never  returns  texts  ,  and  at  times  will  pretend  that  he  doesn’t  know  who  the  other  person  is  (  ew  !  )  .

a  chaotic  boy  with  a  heart  of  gold  ,  he  just  doesn’t  show  it  and  has  mastered  the  art  of  being  fake  .  

despite  his  repulsion  of  romance  and  relationships  ,  he’ll  flirt  with  anyone  that  has  a  pair  of  legs  ,  and  he  quite  honestly  might  call  someone  daddy  just  for  the  hell  of  it  KNFDH  . 

probably  posts  those  outfit  thirst  traps  on  instagram  reels  or  tik  tok  bc  he’s  annoying  .

THE  CONNECTIONS  .

an  angsty  ex  boyf  👀 if  i  have  to  BEG  for  it  i  will  !  and  i  promise  to  make  you  cry  xD

a  best  friend  pls  !  someone  who  has  been  friends  with  him  since  before  he  was  shipped  back  to  korea  for  a  few  years  so  when  he  came  back  and  was  on  the  show  ,  they  were  THE  dynamic  duo  .

i’ve  been  really  into  his  plot  but  someone  he  works  out  with  ?  maybe  they  don’t  work  out  together  per  say  ,  but  they’re  somehow  always  at  the  community  gym  at  the  same  time  .

something  soft  ?  something  so  sweet  that  it  would  make  my  teeth  rot  ?  could  either  be  a  boyfriend  or  girlfriend  thing  or  tbh  i  don’t  know  but  i’m  literally  looking  for  something  that’s  all  fluff  and  all  marshmallows  and  if  i  don’t  get  it  then  i’ll  cry  .

a  plot  where  they  full  on  hate  each  other  .  none  of  that  cute  shit  KNFDNFHSD  .  no  lingering  feelings  ,  no  moments  of  hate lapse  --  they  hate  each  other  and  it’s  a  spicy  hate  ship  that  literally  gets  your  blood  pumping  .  

SKINNY  LOVE  ARE  YOU  THERE  ?

his  hoodrat  friends  NFDJNHFBD  i’m  kidding  but  i’m  thinking  like ...  a  billionaire  boys  club  type  of  thing  ?  perhaps  the  five  of  them  get  together  and  ppl  try  to  penetrate  the  group  or  they  have  these  instances   where  ppl  straight  up  hate  them  for  no  reason  ?  they  were  probably  the  TALK  of  the  show  bc  thought  they  were  assholes  KNFDJBFBD  idk  either  way  ,  my  hand  is  out  .  (  1  of  4  spots  filled  )

a  one  night  stand  with  some  substance  ?  like  yeah  ,  they  fuck  around  and  they  have  their  fun  together  but  they  don’t  pretend  to  not  know  each  other  in  public  (  unless  this  person  is  a  thoroughbred  and  i  oop  ,  chile  )  so  they  probs  tend  to  be  a  little  like  confidants  at  times  but  also  have  a  tendency  of  shutting  each  other  up  with  sex  .

[xtruss]

The Amazon’s ‘Mouth-Watering’ Fifth Flavour

— By Catherine Balston | BBC Travel | November 23, 2020

The ancestral sauce of black tucupi is making its way onto the menus of some of South America’s best restaurants, bringing a new sense of pride to an age-old tradition.

It all started with a bottle of chilli sauce. It was so fiery it makes my eyes water just thinking about it. I had bought it in 2014 from an old woman in Paraitepuy, a Venezuelan village near the base of Monte Roraima. It was the end of a seven-day hike up the table-top mountain, a sacred place for the local Pemon people, from which waterfalls spill over the edge in dizzying vertical drops. The sauce came home with me where it stayed, lurking unused in my kitchen cupboard for the next four years as it was far too hot for my palate.

A couple of years later, I discovered that this sauce was in fact black tucupi, a thick, dark sauce rich in the satisfying savouriness of umami, the so-called “fifth flavour”. Little-known beyond indigenous communities in the Amazon, it is being discovered by high-profile chefs in São Paulo, Lima, Bogotá and even Paris. Curious to know more, I began to dig into its origins, and what emerged was a tale of ancestral wisdom, rare Amazonian languages, poison and layers of intrigue that thickened, just like the sauce, the deeper I dug.

I am not the first person to be fascinated by black tucupi. The first written record of the sauce dates to 1929, in a posthumous publication by the Italian explorer and ethnographer Ermanno Stradelli: “To my taste, it is the king of sauces,” he wrote, “as much for game as for fish… and to which extraordinary cures can be attributed.”

Black tucupi, a thick, umani-rich sauce, has been made by indigenous communities across the Amazon for thousands of years (Credit: rchphotos/Getty Images)

Stradelli had discovered black tucupi during one of a number of expeditions deep into the Amazon rainforest in the 1880s and 1890s. The unique flavours of the Amazon enchanted him, as they had the Dutch, English and Portuguese explorers who had been shipping their “discoveries” back to Europe as far back as the 16th Century. When writing about this king of sauces, Stradelli referred to it as tucupi pixuna (pronounced “pishuna”) – pixuna meaning “black” in Nheengatu, a now-severely endangered language that was spoken all across the Amazon region until the late 1800s.

Tucupi pixuna, tucupi negro, kumaji, ají negro, kanyzi pudidy and cassareep are all different names for the same sauce. It’s a linguistic register of some of the indigenous nations that still make black tucupi right across the Amazon as far and wide as Guyana, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. “When was black tucupi discovered? Who discovered it? No-one will ever know because it was thousands of years ago,” explained Sandra Baré, from the Baré people that live in the Upper Rio Negro region, one of a handful of ethnic groups who still speak Nheengatu and whose tucupi pixuna is sold in markets around São Gabriel da Cachoeira, on the banks of the Rio Negro.

As for how it is made, that is one question Baré can answer, and I happily listened to her explain the process as part of a cooking class on manioc, a root vegetable (also known as cassava, or tapioca when in its pure starch form) that is now the staple food for hundreds of millions of people across the world. “Manioc has been sustaining indigenous nations for many years,” said Baré. She detailed the various techniques for turning bitter manioc into breads and flours, as well as the process by which bitter manioc juice is simmered down from a yellow liquid into dark and syrupy black tucupi.

Manioc, which is a staple food for hundreds of millions of people across the World, is packed with toxic cyanide (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

“You have to be really careful cooking black tucupi because bitter manioc kills,” Baré warned. “Anyone who drinks the raw juice won’t take two steps before falling down dead.” It turns out bitter manioc is packed with toxic cyanide, and I wonder how many people over the years have literally fallen at that first hurdle. None hopefully, at least not for a couple of millennia, as bitter manioc has been cultivated and cooked (which brings the cyanide down to safe levels) by the Amazon’s indigenous nations as far back as 4,000 years.

Denise Rohnelt de Araújo, a Brazilian cook and food writer, first came across Stradelli’s reference to tucupi pixuna 10 years ago in História da Alimentação no Brasil, an encyclopaedic register of Brazil’s diverse culinary history that was first published in 1963 by the historian Luís da Câmara Cascudo. She’s been on its trail ever since, collecting samples from all over the Amazon. Late last year, when I visited her home in Boa Vista in Brazil’s northernmost state of Roraima, she presented me with a box full of bottles in all shapes and sizes.

“When I read Stradelli’s description of this king of sauces, I had to find out more,” de Araújo told me. “There are various different ways to make black tucupi and none of them are the same. The only thing they have in common is that it’s a reduction of bitter manioc juice. Some remove the manioc starch, others don’t. Some are fermented. Others add ants. The Venezuelans add chilli. In Guyana you have clove and cinnamon. Some have a slight bitterness or smokiness. Every ethnic group does it their own way.”

Boa Vista was my jumping-off point into the interior of Roraima to see for myself how different indigenous peoples make black tucupi. Here in the heart of the Amazonian savannah on the triple border of Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana, hot, dry air blows across a mainly grassy landscape. At Tabalascada, about 24km outside Boa Vista, a Wapichana community are fighting to preserve their land and their culture. Monoculture crop farming and urban development encroach from all sides. I hiked from the village into the forest with a community leader, Marcolino da Silva, to see their manioc plantation. The young plants were only five months old and nearly twice my height already, with leaves fanning out at the top of thin stems.

To prepare black tucupi, manioc has to be peeled and grated and the juice squeezed out (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

Back in the village, a long table was being laid for lunch under the shade of some tall mango trees with parakeets screeching overhead. The shy but lively 62-year old Dona Carol, da Silva’s mother, is the village expert in making black tucupi, and she busied about bringing dishes to the table and clapping a nosy cockerel away. Everything she laid out was made with manioc, from the bread (beiju) to a manioc and fish stew (damorida) and a jug of boozy fermented manioc (caxiri). The prints of trainers, bare feet and animal claws in the dry earth charted the afternoon’s comings and goings, and as the sun started its downward slide and the caxiri went to my head, I eyed up a nearby hammock. Dona Carol has been teaching the younger generation her black tucupi recipe. “They have to learn to do this to not forget our Wapichana culture,” she said. “I am here today but who knows about tomorrow. Death knows no age.”

My next stop, Yupukari, was just over the border in Guyana’s Rupununi region. In a small Macuxi village, home to about 100 families, I was spending three days learning how to make black tucupi. I met the team at Caiman House, an eco-lodge in the village and one of a dozen or so eco-lodges run by indigenous peoples in the interior wilderness of Guyana. Nature lovers come here to explore the “land of the giants”, as it has been called; the world’s largest otters, spiders, anteaters, rodents and eagles can all be spotted here.

I had my sights set on black tucupi, however, known in Guyana as cassareep, or cassava sauce. This is the only country in the Amazon Basin where black tucupi has made its way into the national cuisine. It’s an essential ingredient in pepperpot, a meat stew in which black tucupi mingles with the cloves and cinnamon of Guyana’s Caribbean heritage. Industrially made cassareep is sold everywhere in Guyana, but I’d come to learn the traditional, artisanal way.

The resulting manioc juice is decanted and then simmered for several hours until it becomes dark and syrupy (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

My next two days were spent with two local women as they harvested, peeled and grated nearly 100kg of manioc. The grated manioc was stuffed into a plaited palm tube called a matapi (or tipiti in Brazil), which looks like the engorged belly of an anaconda before it is stretched out thin, squeezing the manioc juice into a bowl below. Next, the juice rests for a few hours to let the solid starch (tapioca) decant, and the juice was then poured into a cauldron and left to simmer over a wood fire for around four or five hours.

In the meantime, the women transformed the grated manioc into toasted flour and flatbread. A crowd of onlookers shuffled around the space to avoid the smoke as it curled up and around. Things got tense in the final minutes as the simmering manioc juice begins to camarelise, turning red and then dark brown, then as thick as molasses and hastily whipped off the fire before it burned. Once it had cooled we all dipped the flatbread into the sauce and tasted the flavour bomb: intense, sweet and mildly sour.

The next day, it was added to a fragrant bowl of tuma pot – a traditional fish stew – served for lunch on my last day. I also took a bottle home with me, all the more valuable having seen the backbreaking work in making it.

Outside of indigenous communities, black tucupi evangelists in some of South America’s best restaurants are getting excited about its umami potential, glazing meats with it, adding it to dressings, broths and sauces, and even mixing it in Bloody Marys.

Black tucupi is making its way onto the menus of South America’s best restaurants due to its rich umami flavour (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

In São Paulo, chef Helena Rizzo glazes fish with black tucupi at Maní restaurant; while Carla Pernambuco served confit duck with a black tucupi sauce at Carlota. On the far side of the continent in the Peruvian capital, Lima, high-profile chefs have been experimenting with black tucupi on their menus for a few years already. Their supply, sold in elegant glass bottles in Lima’s upmarket delis, comes from Bora and Huitito women near Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon thanks to a partnership with NGO Despensa Amazónica. Pedro Miguel Schiaffino has put it at the heart of his menu at new casual diner Boa Street Food, infusing tomato sauce, pirarucu (fish) sausages and smoked pork tacos with its richness; while Gaston Acúrio brushes it on roasted cauliflower at Astrid y Gastón.

“Some people compare it to soy, some to Worcestershire sauce, but chefs simply see it as something unique,” said Joanna Martins, whose Brazilian food company Manioca sells black tucupi to retailers. She supplies some of Brazil’s top chefs with her version and is testing out the US market, too.

The Wapichana community in Tabalascada has plans to launch a certified, branded version to Brazilian retailers next year. They sell it locally and informally for now but are building up their capacity through a partnership with Brazilian NGO Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) as well as government funding thanks to Joênia Wapichana (the first indigenous woman to be voted into the Brazilian congress).

Manioc is also turned into flours and bread, as well as traditional alcoholic beverages (Credit: Tina Leme Scott)

“Black tucupi is an incredible product that respects the Wapichana way of life and their traditional agricultural systems, and that in turn helps protect biodiversity and the forest,” said ISA’s Amanda Latosinski. “For the youngsters, the chance to earn an income is an incentive to not leave for the city, and to resist the pressures of destructive activities like mining.”

It’s a win-win for the indigenous communities. And it’s a win-win for those who can get their hands on a precious bottle – the chance to try a unique, umami flavour and support a tradition that runs deep into the heart of the Amazon. I can still only handle a few drops at a time of the fiery black tucupi bought all those years ago in Venezuela, but the treacle-like cassareep from Guyana is black gold, used in my cooking as sparingly as my willpower allows.

[wellhalesbells]

I see you reblogging some comic stuff an I was wondering if you have a favorite comic or favorite character or ship?

this ask is from so long ago but [DEEP BREATH IN] i’m finally going to answer it, nonny.  finally.  i kept wanting to read a little bit farther in my comics stack because.... maybe i’ll like that and will regret not having recced it, i just hafta--get--to it, see?  and, honestly, i’m still there BUT, come on, i’ll never be caught up because that would mean comics would just have to stop coming out and i would be sad forever if that happened, SO

i’m not even going to pretend like i can narrow this down to one comic.  (one ship?  sure, that’s spideypool.  one character?  sure, that’s the merc with a mouth, the regenerating degenerate, wade motherfucking wilson.  but one comic?!)  there is just straight-up too much out there to make a definitive ‘yes, this is it, this is THE ONE ™ ’ statement.  instead, uh, let’s break this shit down, yeah?  (super special secret bonus round, will note all lgbt+ rep and standalone comics.)  in no particular order, here the frig it goes!

HORROR

infidel, by pornsak pichetshote and aaron campbell.  in case you haven’t seen this on every 2018 best list ever, here it is.  and, yeah, it was good.  a muslim-american main character living in a haunted apartment building where the entities feed off the xenophobia of its occupants.  if that’s not a fucking modern horror story i don’t know what is.

spread, by justin jordan and kyle strahm.  THIS IS ONE OF MY NEW AND ALREADY ALL-TIME FAVORITES.  what an awesomely weird and epic story.  the spread is an uncontrollable, unstoppable monster-making force that humanity accidentally unleashed by digging too deep.  it infects everything it touches and basically all of humanity is running from quarantine to quarantine just hoping for the best.  and speaking of hope.... she’s a baby, rescued by no, and the only thing that’s ever been able to stop the spread.  also, no’s gay?  and i just DID NOT see that coming.  it seems like it’s going to be such a formulaic, bro-y story about the action hero who kisses the face off his girl (her name’s molly and she’s batshit insane and amazing) and instead, nope, it is not that at all.  lgbt+ main characters.

the black monday murders, by jonathan hickman and tomm coker.  hate capitalism?  think all the rich and powerful are evil, soul-sucking monsters?  [obnoxious, low-budget commercial sound effects] MAN, HAVE I GOT THE SERIES FOR YOU.

the beauty, by jeremy haun and jason a. hurley.  i just started this recently but so far, oh my good golly gosh, i looove it.  a sexually transmitted disease that makes you conventionally gorgeous.... at least before it explodies you.  [wide, creepy smile]  the art is gorgeous, the characters are aces and i am very, very pleased so far.  lgbt+ minor characters.

the great divide, by ben fisher and adam markiewicz.  this?  was a COOL idea.  the execution stumbled a bit but, gosh, was it neat.  it’s post-apocalyptic where touching another person will literally kill.... one of you.  the survivor then absorbs the memories of the person who dies, taking on a ‘rider.’  some people collect them, some people go mad, some form a bond, all have the side effect of dyslexia.  like i said, neat as all get out.  lgbt+ minor-ish/main-ish character.  standalone.

revival, by tim seely and mike norton.  a rural town in wisconsin experiences ‘miracle day,’ where the dead rise again.... except, they were kinda already mourned and buried and this is really just fucking up the status quo.

the woods, by james tynion iv and michael dialynas.  a high school gets picked up and plopped down in an entirely new, and wickedly hostile universe.  it’s all survival and alliances and seeing what you’re really made of when it comes down to it.  lgbt+ main characters. 

clean room, by gail simone and jon davis-hunt.  a cult, a journalist and a clean room walk into a bar...

anya’s ghost, by vera brosgol.  you think it’ll be a cute story of a girl and her ghost.  HA HA THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS AT ALL, OKAY.

FANTASY

rumble, by john arcudi and james harren.  SCARECROW WARRIOR GOD, SCARECROW WARRIOR GOD, SCARECROW WARRIOR GOD!!!  okay, first off, the art in this?  pushes every friggin’ button i’ve got, and many i did not know i had.  second, this book is so fucking fun.  it’s mythology that’s balls to the wall ridiculous, funny, and features a main character whose life motto is basically: ‘do i have to?’  infinitely relatable and then some.

heathen, by natasha alterici and rachel deering.  UGH, ONE OF MY FAVORITES.  the art is just horribly, horrendously gorgeous and it’s LESBIAN VIKING MYTHOLOGY, OKAY.  OKAYYYY???   lgbt+ main characters.

the wicked + the divine, by kieron gillen and jamie mckelvie.  one of my favorite ever series right here.  it’s a hella cool concept (gods reincarnating as humans every twelve years, and burning up their hosts in two), whip-smart and if you’ve ever met a human being who likes a pun more than kieron gillen i defy you to produce them.  lgbt+ main and minor characters.

batgirl, by gail simone and adrian sayaf and vicente cifuentes.  you know how people rave about gail simone?  there’s a reason people rave about gail simone.  honestly, i’ve never had much interest in babs.  i don’t tend to go for superheroes who don’t kill and i have even less interest in ‘the killing joke’ story line and i am convinced only gail simone could’ve done the recovery on that and she did a GLORIOUS job of it.

red hood and the outlaws, by scott lobdell and dexter soy.  (ignoring recent - and annoying - developments), this is my favorite of all the rebirths dc did.  scott lobdell is the only writer to have gotten the idea down of: okay, we’re starting over, i assume you don’t know anything but i also assume there are a bajillion people reading who know everything, and hit the perfect medium between those two things.  so if you want to start a jason todd run, you legitimately can here, and get all the found family, badassery, batman-teasing enjoyment there is to be had.

iceman, by sina grace and robert gill (covers by kevin wada).  classic super-heroing here and bobby’s first solo title.  he’s figuring out coming out while fighting (and flirting) with baddies.  sina really gets his humor and how truly wonder-awful it is!  lgbt+ main character.

spider-man/deadpool, by joe kelly and ed mcguinness.  watch those names there, those are your guys right there, period.  they looked at the void of a spider-man/deadpool series and filled it with absolutely everything you could possibly want for the pair (sans a hardcore make-out sesh, though they did get a few variant covers with some puckered up lips in there!)

limbo, by dan watters and caspar wijngaard.  a fusion of 80s aesthetics, voodoo elements and a noir tone.  just some remarkably cool shit in this.  the ending, for me, left something to be desired but it was more than worth it to see worship via mixtapes.  standalone.

hawkeye: kate bishop, by kelly thompson and leonardo romero.  kate bishop is, apparently???, a super impossible character for a lot of writers.  kelly thompson is not one of them.  kelly thompson is my favorite kate bishop writer, actually, and the fact that she is ever not writing her is a gd travesty.

the unbeatable squirrel girl, by ryan north and erica henderson.  honestly, i’m so tempted to just stick this under ‘contemporary,’ because it really does just feel very... normal.  doreen’s navigating college, new friendships, and y’know... the squirrely-ness.  this had every opportunity to suck and instead it’s funny as heck, never takes itself too seriously, and is just pure good-hearted entertainment through and through.

wolf, by ales kot and matt taylor.  a paranormal detective and the-possible-antichrist go on a road trip.  people hated this comic and i don’t know how you can hate a comic that has a character called freddy chtonic who has tentacles for a mouth??? 

ms. marvel, by g. willow wilson and adrian alphona.  hi, you read ms. marvel because the world is a garbage fire and people are terrible and your cynicism is at an all time high and then kamala khan waltzes in and reminds you people generally want to help each other and the world improves when we work together and that thing optimists feel?  you’ll feel that for as long as you’ve got the pages open and that’s a magical thing.  lgbt+ minor character.

monstress, by marjorie m. liu and sana takeda.  psychic links with monsters, matriarchal societies, magic and witchery, half-human/half-animal (and other ratios) characters, all through a steampunk lens.  what’s not to like about that??

inhuman, by charles soule.  i love this series, i love the idea of being a total average joe/joanne, getting smacked in the face by a cloud of mist and suddenly having to figure out how to live basically a whole new life.  also, if you don’t fall madly in love with dante pertuz, i don’t even know what to tell you, my dude.

heart in a box, by kelly thompson and meredith mcclaren.  break-ups suck, but only because of that whole pesky broken heart thing, right?  so emma gives hers away.  problem solved, no?  standalone.

i kill giants, by joe kelly and j.m. ken niimura.  i didn’t cry my eyes out or anything.  did not.  standalone.

sex criminals, by matt fraction and chip zdarsky.  having sex = stopping time, which leads suzie and jon to the only logical conclusion: let’s rob some banks!

hawkeye, by matt fraction and david aja.  honestly there are a lot of other artist combos in this run but the only ones that are worthwhile are the ones that have fraction and aja’s names on them - sorry not sorry.

SCIENCE FICTION

black bolt, by saladin ahmed and christian ward.  saladin revived this character one hundred million percent.  there is absolutely a reason this was parading around all over ‘best’ lists when it was released.  it really, really did the damn thing.

saga, by brian k. vaughan and fiona staples.  this is the comic you recommend to people who don’t even like comics because it is that good.  like, my dad - who hadn’t read a comic since he was a pre-teen, eagerly awaits each new trade.  the world-building, the characters, the care put into every single solitary bit of all the things?  unparalleled.  lgbt+ minor characters.

frostbite, by joshua williamson and jason shawn alexander.  a post-apocalyptic story that has humanity dying from a plague that literally freezes you from the inside out.  very neat, very cold, very readable.  standalone.

descender, by jeff lemire and dustin nguyen.  this had a rough start, for me, with the main character of the first trade being tim-21, an android who is literally incapable of having the depth to be a lead BUT that does not last through to the next trade, thank god.  lots of space and found family and world-building in this to be had!  but you know how people rave about jeff lemire?  there’s a reason people rave about jeff lemire.

paper girls, by brian k. vaughan and cliff chiang.  the 80s and time travel and lifelong friendships.  it’s brian k. vaughan, you know it’s good, okay?  why do i even have to sell you here, man?  lgbt+ main characters.

injection, by warren ellis and declan shalvey.  this is another one on my list that started out a little rough but really appealed to me later on.  there was just a lot to absorb in that first trade but, once you’ve got it, the ride gets way, way smoother.   lgbt+ main and minor characters.

black science, by rick remender and matteo scalera.  this was a rocky start, because the main character is such an asshole but in a way where he can’t see he’s an asshole, he’s just a tortured genius who’s superior to all of you, don’t you know? but i am so glad i persevered because if that’s the set up?  the rest of the series is knocking him back down.  super scientist grant mckay finds a way to access the eververse, every possible reality the universe has on offer, and that’s really what causes every single problem that follows.  hard to cause the apocalypse and be an arrogant prick, ya know?

CONTEMPORARY

giant days, by john allison and lissa treiman.  this series is so funny and smart and warm.  these girls are so kind to each other and relatable and failing at adulting regularly and often and i love reading about them.  lgbt+ main character.

lumberjanes, by noelle stevenson and grace ellis and brooke a. allen.  this is funny and ridiculous and kind and cool and all other awesome adjectives and you should read it, fact.  lgbt+ main characters.

my brother’s husband, by gengoroh tagame and anne ishii (translator).  this is such a sweet story about acceptance and family tbh.   lgbt+ main character.

fence, by c. s. pacat and johanna the mad.  i mean... i need to see nicholas and seiji hook-up, i need that, stat.  stat means now!   lgbt+ main characters.

WEB/INDEPENDENT COMICS

long exposure, by kam heyward.  so mitch and jonas are my absolute faves and i love them to death and the author is so kind in that they actually put this up in print on indyplanet so i can read it the way i, personally, love to read comics (and - bonus! - support them with the monies).  lgbt+ main characters.

modern dread, by pat shand and ryan fassett (editors).  i’ve been trying to find more better horror comics lately so i’ve been kind of half-heartedly stumbling through kickstarter on the hunt and this was SUCH a great find.  it’s an anthology but more cleverly done than any other kickstarter anthology i’ve read, with a main story line that seamlessly strings together the would-be-disjointed ones.  this was really thoughtfully put together and really well done!  standalone.

heartstopper, by alice oseman.  a very sweet story about two high school-aged boys becoming fast friends, playing rugby and falling in love.  the two characters are mentioned as an aside in the author’s book, solitaire, and she became so invested in them that she wrote their backstory as a free webcomic.   lgbt+ main characters.

the pale, by jay fabares.  JUST started this (like, just a day or so ago) but i’m enjoying it so far!

hotblood!, by toril orlesky.  i mean... is it a webcomic about a centaur falling in love with his boss?  it just might be.  did i get a bound edition through a kickstarter campaign?  maybe.  maybe i did that.  who’s to say?   lgbt+ main characters.

the bay, by bbz.  life on mars through the lens of three young professionals who form an odd but lasting friendship.  lgbt+ main characters.

hard drive, by artroan.  is it a nsfw comic about a dude and a robot?  .... it might be a nsfw comic about a dude and a robot.  [coughs]   lgbt+ main characters.

seen nothing yet, by tess stone.  a nsfw comic about two amateur ghost hunters.  can’t imagine why i might be interested in that [coughs]   lgbt+ main characters.

captain imani and the cosmic chase, by lin darrow and alex assan.  i mean did i want a starship captain who can’t help but lust after the smuggler he’s chasing.  i mean, maybe i did.  maybe.   lgbt+ main characters.

taproot, by keezy young.  ghost falls in love with boy, boy falls in love with ghost, AND THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.  lgbt+ main characters.

always raining here, by bell and hazel.  just two boys falling in lurve.  lgbt+ main characters.

[thoughts-of-loyalty]

Captain Marvel (2019) Review

So, I saw the Captain Marvel movie recently (on 3/9, as this’ll likely end up posted a bit late) and as the big movie that’s set to bridge the gap between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, as well as the big-screen debut of Captain Marvel (not to mention the first Marvel female hero to get the limelight), there was a lot of excitement and hype built around this film.  Starring the titular Captain Marvel, real name Carol Danvers, and set in the 90s - before any film sans Captain America 1 - we’re given a look into the origins of the “Strongest Avenger,” the one Nick Fury sought to call upon at the end of Infinity War to fight against Thanos.

Full movie spoilers and my opinions below.

Synopsis: This film focuses on the origin story, so to say, of the future Carol Danvers/”Vers” (as she’s known among the Kree), in the adventure that sets her on the path to become the superheroine known as Captain Marvel.  Believing herself to be a part of the Kree due to memory loss, she is part of a group tasked with investigating the reported abduction of a Kree agent who was captured by the Skrulls (an alien species capable of mimicking the appearance of any human they view, one which is supplemented by their poorly-elaborated-upon talents at learning a lot about their targets).  Due to events beyond her control, she is separated from her Kree allies and ends up stranded on Earth.  Discovering details about her past life while there, she teams up with a young Nick Fury to discover the truth about her past and how intimately tied she is to the current Skrull-Kree conflict...

The Good:

The Visuals: To be sure, Captain Marvel - like all other big budget Marvel films - is a visual spectacle.  The CGI is very on-point for this film, the fight scenes are generally well handled, and it generally managed to capture the 90s look and vibes that the film is set in fairly well.  The Skrull are also made to look great for their big screen debut, with amazing work put into the transformation scenes, and Captain Marvel’s abilities are a visual delight.

Not Bogged Down by Continuity: One good thing about Captain Marvel in the relative sense is that it doesn’t bog itself down much with a desire to connect itself to the other films.  While some things will certainly make more sense in context of other movies (such as the importance of the power source everyone is fighting over and who exactly Phil Coulson is in relation to Nick Fury), the movie is self-contained enough that one can enjoy it without feeling they need to see everything Marvel-related prior to keep themselves informed.  This is in contrast to, say, Ant-Man 2 or Spider-Man, which require one to have seen Captain America: Civil War to understand all the ongoing character dynamics.

A Straightforward Story: Tying in to the above, but Captain Marvel never loses itself in trying to tell an overly-complex narrative with a million different plot-lines at once.  While there is certainly a twist or two to be had, the movie kept itself focused on the important characters and most of it’s attention was on Captain Marvel and her personal journey.  It told the story it wanted to tell and never did it veer into pointless sub-plots or give focus to truly meaningless characters.

A Lack of a Love Story: In what is something of personal gripe, I appreciate the complete lack of a romance story in this film.  A common criticism that has been directed at many other Marvel films was the inclusion of romance between the male lead and a major female character (usually inspired by one of the comic romances), usually to the detriment of the film as the romances were rather out of nowhere and had little purpose beyond just having one.  This film didn’t have any of that, and while one could make arguments or ship as shippers are wont to do, there was never a “These two are suddenly in love and kissing because there needs to be a romance” moment and I am glad.

The Cast is Well-Acted: A bit of a weird one, I suppose, but most of Captain Marvel’s cast is just as enjoyable to watch as any other Marvel movie’s cast.  I never felt a single cast member wasn’t giving the role their best, and while the dialogue could be cringe-worthy at times, it was only ever due to the script, not the actor/tress in the role.

A Good Message: It was made no secret that Captain Marvel would be a primarily feminist film and have messages about gender equality and women not needing the approval of men to be who they are.  And the film delivered it with only a minor heavy-handed approach.  The female characters were all competent and never eye-candy, but at the same time the movie never used the “machismo men who talk big but are actually pretty lame” trope other less-subtle movies used, all the characters were as competent as they were implied to be.  It was occasionally blunt during some portions of dialogue, but it never felt forced and it carried its message well.

The Bad

A Tonal Disaster: The movie was unfortunately bogged down by an overindulgence, so to say, on comedy.  Now, this in and of itself is not an issue, as Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok can prove - a movie can be primarily comedic in nature but still have great stories and be serious when they need to (though one could argue both had tonal issues, I wouldn’t deny that).  That said, where this movie most falters is in how it tries to be primarily comedic at times where characters necessarily shouldn’t - for example, there’s a earlier on moment where Carol blasts open a door some time after Nick Fury had done secret spy stuff to open a prior one, making him incredulously ask why she hadn’t done so before and her responding she didn’t want to steal his thunder.  This is at a time when Carol knows there’s a time limit of sorts (the Kree are due to arrive in less than 20 hours to rescue her) and Carol is learning about events that may intimately involve her and her lost memory, but they let the cast wait around so they can have this joke.  This is around the point I started to worry for the movie, as well, because I could tell the movie would be willing to let it’s mood go to waste for a quick joke.

A return to basic villains: One common issue held with many of the earlier Marvel films was the very weak villains in their movies.  They could look cool or be menacing, but Loki was pretty was really the only one who was complex for the longest time.  It took until arguably either The Winter Soldier or Age of Ultron to buck this trend and give us memorable or complex villains.  This continued for most of Phase 3, with their villains being complex, sympathetic at times, or otherwise memorable presences.  Spoilers: the Skrulls were build up as that, but plot twist, the Skrulls aren’t the villains, the Kree are.  And the Kree do nothing to establish themselves as memorable villains - you could arguably have even forgotten two of them were main antagonists in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.  The only relatively memorable one is Yon-Rogg, Carol’s mentor, and the two spend so little time properly interacting after he’s revealed as a villain that any complexity he could have is never properly utilized.  For that matter...

The Supreme Intelligence is kinda pointless: Tying into how the Kree are an unfortunate return to basic villains, the Supreme Intelligence - the Artificial Intelligence ruler of the Kree - is an exemplar of this aspect of the Kree in this movie.  The Supreme Intelligence is something of a recurring presence in this movie (though I use that term lightly, given that it only appears before Carol for a grand total of five minutes if I’m being generous), and as the guiding force behind the Kree, it is technically the main antagonist of the film (Yon-Rogg is the most present of the Kree antagonists, but his actions are ultimately guided by the Supreme Intelligence).  As noted above, though, Carol and the Supreme Intelligence only spend about five minutes together, and only half of THAT time is spent as them on opposing sides, where it is little more than a generic overlord-emperor type, giving us a nothing driving force for the antagonists as a whole. Which is unfortunate, because...

The Kree are very underdeveloped in general: This is an issue because for a chunk of her life, after receiving amnesia, Carol considers the Kree her people and becomes part of a Kree task force.  While somewhat understandable that she’d be willing to stand against them as they’re responsible for her predicament in various capacities, the movie spends so little time developing the relationship between them and the other Kree.  Neither she nor the named Kree she battles seem to hold any strong emotion about coming to blows, to the point that they could have been replaced with a random Kree task force she never knew and nothing would have changed.  This goes double for both Korath and Ronan, who were incredibly flat villains in Guardians of the Galaxy - any hopes one might have had that they’d receive stronger characterization was misplaced, as they’re just as one-dimensional as before.

“Subverting Audience Expectations” ruins the Skrull: Many have (supposedly?) praised the Skrull for their role in the movie as a red herring antagonist who are actually sympathetic, with many bringing back the old praise of “This movie is great because it subverts audience expectations” that popped up during Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  I have a much longer rant about that, but that isn’t the issue I mean to address here.  And before anyone gets on my case, I have no desire to argue “the Skrull are ruined because they don’t follow their comic book selves;” the MCU is perfectly allowed to reimagine the Skrull as they desire, and if they wish to make the Skrull sympathetic, then that is their prerogative. In this case, the issue is that they’re so intent on making the Skrull red herrings that the Skrulls pre-reveal and post-reveal are essentially entirely different beings.  Before the reveal, Skrulls are making an proactive effort to discover what they need, capturing a Kree agent and luring Carol in with deception to read her mind and learn where to go, and when they get to Earth, they immediately install themselves so that they can best discover what they need to know - which isn’t necessarily bad, because that can still be played as sympathetic but willing to do whatever is necessary to get what they need to survive.  But post-reveal, the Skrull we knew as antagonists are almost entirely different beings - Talos and his “Science Guy” are almost comic relief after the truth is revealed, albeit with a few moments of competence (for a prime example of their newfound incompetence, it’s revealed the Skrull couldn’t find Wendy Lawson’s lab because their “science guy” didn’t realize the coordinates they were trying to figure out were directing them to space).  Talos in particular goes from “Leader of the Skrull remnant doing whatever is necessary to save his species and his family” to “Leader of the Skrulls who wants to save his people but never wanted to hurt anyone while doing it.”  Sure, Marvel subverted our expectations, but when your red herring is essentially two different characters before and after the reveal, it’s no wonder audiences ended up surprised.

Nick Fury backstory is now a joke: Now, this in and of itself isn’t an issue - there’s no rule stating Samuel L. Jackson NEEDS to be badass in every movie, or we can’t have a “Younger Nick Fury who is comedic due to being new to it all.”  Like I noted above, Nick Fury is generally competent - as are most characters in this film, even the Skrull post-reveal - and does well enough in his role in the film.  But there’s an elephant in the room: how Nick Fury lost his eye.  Namely, he lost his eye to Goose the Cat/Flerken after the cat decided is was being messed with and scratched his eye.  Yes, you read that right.  Nick Fury’s lost eye was due to him essentially getting scratched by an alien in cat form he pissed off.  And no, it wasn’t “rampaging alien form that hit him with a massive claw,” no, it’s “small house cat claw to the eye.” Now, if it isn’t clear why exactly it’s bad, let me explain it in a bit better detail.  This isn’t just an issue of “We wanted to subvert audience expectations, so Nick Fury lost his eye in a funny way because no one saw it coming” - though it still is that, too.  Rather, the issue here is that what happened here is now canon, and is retroactively canon for the whole of the MCU up to that point.  Nick Fury justifying why he hid secrets to Captain Freakin’ America as because “Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye.” - that’s the story he tells everyone because he’s too embarrassed to admit the truth.  That big reveal at the end of the Winter Soldier, where he reveals he had a backup retinal scan of his scarred eye because he was just that prepared in case someone tried to lock him out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. systems by removing the retinal scan of his good eye?  Thank goodness he had that eye scarred by a cat, otherwise, there’s no way that plan would’ve had a chance of working later on.  Him calling Coulson, his most loyal supporter, “His good eye?”  Thank goodness a cat clawed out his eye so he could make it clear how much Coulson meant to him with that distinction. That’s the big gamble you take when you retroactively introduce a character’s backstory in a prequel - everything that happened there is now canon to everything since.  And now Nick Fury’s backstory in the MCU will forever be “He lost it to an annoyed cat,” because Captain Marvel decided that it was better to make a joke of it.

And now, for a minor gripe: This is a bit of a lesser example, but y’all recall what S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for?  Don’t recall off the top of your head?  You could rewatch Iron Man, because it tells you in recurring joke form - Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.  Someone really should shorten that, right?  Something the characters note anytime the full name is brought up.  And at the end of the movie, Coulson tells Pepper - who is going to recite it by name - that it’s S.H.I.E.L.D. for short now. If only Coulson was around back in the 1990s, where Nick Fury makes reference to how he’s “Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D.” and namedrops S.H.I.E.L.D. a few times. *ahem* Yeah, it’s a minor continuity error in the grand scheme of things, but it was something I figured should be mentioned because that was something that I noticed and wanted to bring up.

Final Verdict

Captain Marvel is a... competently-made movie.  And I’m really sorry to say it, but that’s the most I can say about it.  It’s well-made, well-acted, tells a simple enough story to understand that isn’t bogged down by continuity, and it has good messages in it’s narrative.  But it loses so much of itself due to having an inconsistent tone throughout, and it’s plot goes from decent to bog-standard around the time it decides to “Subvert audience expectations” and give us some of the most boring villains this side of the Phase 3 MCU films.

Would I recommend others to watch it?  Somewhat.  It’s not exactly incredibly essential viewing for the MCU and I don’t think it’s really all that good, but it’s not a terrible movie, I can understand why one would like it despite all it’s flaws (people can learn to overlook nearly everything), and it does add to the MCU enough that it is worth seeing if you want to see all the Marvel films.  But if you want a good female superhero film with a feminist message, you’re better off watching Wonder Woman.

And now, to address the elephant in the room pretty much every male who didn’t enjoy the film needs to deal with:”You didn’t like Captain Marvel because the main character was a woman and it had a pro-women message and you must hate feminism.”  It’s a comment that tends to get directed at males who don’t enjoy films with female protagonists, regardless of quality of the film (see: Ghostbusters) or reasons for disliking the film (albeit not without reason, to some degree - after all, those biased against something would be much harder on it than something they aren’t even if their flaws are much the same).  Not helping matters were that trolls DID review-bomb its Rotten Tomatoes score before it even had a full day under it’s belt - which the movie didn’t deserve, it should be judged on it’s own merits, not targeted by insecure men angry about there being a Marvel movie starring a female hero.

And I don’t expect to convince anyone who isn’t willing to believe me otherwise.  I can point to all the video games (Metroid, Portal, Resident Evil, etc) I love that star female protagonists, or that I considered the Wonder Woman film to be excellent, and it won’t convince anyone.  If you think I’m sexist garbage because I’m a male who didn’t like the film, my reasonings above or thoughts below won’t probably won’t convince you.

Here’s my views on this, however: Marvel had taken much too long to give us a movie primarily starring a female hero.  Marvel has many great female heroes, Captain Marvel included, and any one of them would have been as worthy of a film as a male counterpart.  The MCU dropped the ball repeatedly when it came to giving their female heroes films - Black Widow would’ve been great for a film but never got made and the omnipresence of Scarlet Johansson has made many people not care; Scarlet Witch got primarily confined to Avengers-focused films; The Wasp is very enjoyable but still has to share screentime and billing with Ant-Man; Gamora was probably the best and still those films still spent more time with Star-Lord, not to mention she was killed of in Infinity War without certainty of her return, leaving that “Third Guardians movie focused on her” up in the air.

We finally have a Marvel film that’s starring a female, and it’s primary message is about how feminism is important - and it’s good we’ve finally got one, but it took us until Phase 3 to finally get it and the film was marred by so many other issues I would struggle to call it good even with its positive qualities.  And that’s not the quality it deserved - not as a Marvel film, as a Captain Marvel film, or as a feminist film.  And anyone who would say “Who cares if it was not all that good, we’ve finally gotten a feminist superhero film from Marvel”?  You’re settling, and you shouldn’t.  What we deserved isn’t what we got, and by defending it, you’re essentially saying that Marvel can get away with low-quality movies so long as they can say “Sure, but fans were asking for this and we gave them what they wanted.”

You want a film with a female superhero protagonist that has a feminist message that is, above all else, good?  You should watch Wonder Woman.  And I know how there’s all the issues with the DCEU as a whole, or the rivalry between Marvel and DC fans and the former who wanted this movie to be good so they could be proud Marvel made a feminist hero film that was better than DC’s.  And kudos to you who support brand loyalty.  But DC did what Marvel didn’t for the longest time, and for all of the DCEU’s issues, Wonder Woman had very few issues on its own, and the issues that were present were very minor compared to everything it had going for it.  Wonder Woman was what Captain Marvel wanted to be, and what it ultimately failed to be.

[togafukagiftexchange]

Kaleidoscope and Barrikuya

@pinlc-candy: This is my gift for @die-einzelganger. I went with “Prompt #2 for fanfic *Supernatural powers (NEXT abilities, Stands, bending, etc.)” and when I told you that I was going into your t&b fic blind, I KIND OF told a lie - I had watched the movie by that point. I threw in a few minor ships that you mentioned liking, but it’s my first time writing one of them though i tried to do them justice. I really hope you enjoy this. <3 I had a lot of fun writing this.

During the day, Hope’s Peak City looked like a lost civilisation, washed out with grey and blue hues. Buildings towered over the intricate network of roads, dominating the endless stretch of sky, and many, many, statues dotted the city, but at night, the city’s mood advanced by centuries. Warmer hued colours consumed the city, a starving fire with an unsatisfiable appetite, stinking up the air with the smell of spices and smoke. Sleek, silver trains with long noses careered along rails that wound through the city, not bound to only ground level, whizzing far above people’s heads too. They operated during the day as well, but when darkness usurped the sky, they hurtled like shooting stars.

A loud thump above one of the carriages jolted everyone onboard. People tensed, clustering into little groups or huddling by themselves, and they tried to appear smaller by hunching their shoulders and stooping their heads a little, all except one person. This person, dressed in a grey tracksuit, gazed up at the roof with the rest of the passengers, but he didn’t stay still for long. He spun around and shoved his way toward the door at one end of the carriage, and everyone that he elbowed out of his way tumbled aside passively.

When he reached the door, loud screeching grated on the ears of those present. The man looked over his shoulder. Seconds later, two men dropped into the carriage through a hole ripped into the roof, wearing clothes that were as outstanding as the other man’s tracksuit intentionally wasn’t. One of the men was gangling and wore black with red accents on the joints, red boots, shoulder pads and gloves, and there was red on his eye mask that resembled part of the distinctive mark of a widow spider, and his crotch completed the pattern. His outfit was vaguely reminiscent of a cyclist’s attire.

Beside him, the other man’s maroon mask covered not just his eyes but his head and cheeks too, and his white outfit had a different pattern on the front, marked with brown lines, also like a cyclist’s attire. Most notable were his eyes, rendered completely black by his mask.

Whispers and shouts overcame the passengers in a frenzy.

“It’s the Green Widower and Bloodhound!”

The only green component of the man dressed mostly in black was his long hair, which was streaked with red dye, but Bloodhound lived up to his name, with the flaps on his mask resembling ears and his gloves bearing claws. They both stared at the man in the tracksuit.

“It’s the end of the line for you!” Bloodhound snarled, raising a fist in front of him.

“Not literally,” Green Widower pointed out with an awkward smile. He scratched at his chin. “There are several more stops and the train’s still moving, but you’ve got nowhere to run.”

As if fate slammed down its hand with ill-judgement, the train stopped and the doors either side of the carriage drew open. The man in the tracksuit dashed out, carrying a duffel bag under his arm, and he burrowed through crowds as he tried to flee.

From the helicopter looming overhead, he seemed ant-sized, but the camerawoman zoomed in and after some blurring, his image blew up and he came into focus.

“And the thief has disembarked,” announced a man sitting in the helicopter, holding a microphone to his mouth.

Beside him, his redheaded companion pointed her camera at the scene below, following the man in the tracksuit as he sprinted down a flight of steps and recording his every movement until he disappeared into the station building.

“Will Green Widower and Bloodhound, his partner in more ways than one, apprehend him?” the announcer wondered aloud. “Or will the thief get away with stolen diamonds worth millions? Stay tuned!”

A beat passed.

“All right, we’ve got one minute of commercials,” said the announcer, dropping the hammy pleasantness and volume. He touched two fingers to the side of his jaw, placing them below his earpiece. “Togami-shacho, what do we do?”

Across the city, a blond man in a suit stood in a room where monitors occupied an entire wall, each one showing different perspectives of the outside of the station in District Sixteen. By now, Green Widower and Bloodhound had followed the thief into the inside part of the station, and so couldn’t be seen anymore.

The blond man pushed up his square, white-framed glasses.

“Hey, Touko,” he said, and someone squeaked behind him. He didn’t turn around and folded his arms over his chest. “You know what to do.”

“R-Right,” said the same person who squeaked. Touko Fukawa was a head shorter than him and her aubergine hair was styled into two long twin braids. She adjusted her circular framed goggles and opened the compact mirror that she had been holding in one hand, in case a situation like this called for it.

Her brow furrowed in concentration, and her body began to sheen blue. Just as she started to lean into the mirror, it sucked her in, and immediately after, she was spat out into a tunnel. It seemed to go on forever either side of her, and she looked around, floating, weightless.

For all she knew, the tunnel did finish at some point, but she had never reached the end of it. Then again, she had never tried to because as soon as she found the right exit, she left. Touko had entered the tunnel through a paneless window, and many more plastered the surface area all around her, showing snapshots of a variety of scenes frozen in time. Their colours bled out beyond their screens and tinted Touko’s skin with their light. Her dark grey full body suit, which covered everything apart from her head, remained unaffected, as did the leather holster strapped to her right thigh. Even as a keen reader and an experienced fiction writer, Touko would struggle to fully describe such an otherworldly environment.

When she entered this separate dimension, a short commercial break had been taking place. The hit television show, ‘Hero TV’, would resume its broadcast once the break finished, but here, time didn’t seem to pass, not on the outside and not inside of it either. Or if it did, it passed very, very slowly, which she greatly preferred over returning to reality with hours unaccounted for, and Touko flew through the tunnel at a slow and steady pace, glancing this way and that, occasionally pausing to study a particular window before proceeding forward again.

After peeking through a lot of windows, she came across one that showed a grey wall with a dark green stripe running horizontal at the top. The image trembled. Part of a poster advertising an opera could be seen near the edge, and from the kind of poster and the colour scheme, she knew that this was her destination.

Touko kicked her legs and boosted herself toward the window, soaring through.

On the other side was a corridor in District Sixteen’s train station. She jumped out of a puddle and stumbled as she landed on solid ground. People dodged out of her way. Sparse crowds stopped to stare, and she glared at them, holding her tongue for professionalism’s sake. They should have been used to this by now. Her heart raced. So should she.

She grimaced and pressed a discreet notch on the rim of her goggles. A pinprick of green light lit up on that spot. The thief was nowhere in sight, so she hurried down the corridor, trying to avoid bumping into people, and swerved into the next one, already out of breath.

With every step, her heart bobbed up and down. For those watching the developments unravel in the comfort of their own homes, or on their phones as their train sped them to their next destination, they were only exposed to certain sights and sounds. They didn’t feel the bounce back of hard floor against her feet, the tightness in her chest and the pressure from indoor heating cranked too high.

In an attempt to help people get off at their stop when music or a crowded carriage could prevent other senses from alerting a commuter, each district’s station had been assigned a certain smell. Touko inhaled. The smell of beer hops wafted over her, but that couldn’t be transmitted to the viewers.

Even with the senses available to them, the audience listened to the music that the television company played, or the rumble of people picked up during recording. Whatever the show wanted them to hear, they heard. Not the ringing between Touko’s ears or her shallow, uneven panting, and they saw what Touko saw.

Her foot twisted a bit as she stepped forward, causing her to stagger. She flailed her arms, but managed to stabilise herself and kept going. As jittery as she was, she refused to disappoint the viewers and most importantly, him.

The announcer’s voice chirped in her earpiece.

“Welcome back to Hero TV, the go-to show for all your hero needs. For folks just tuning in, diamonds worth millions of yen was stolen from ‘Fora Selec Thew’, and our favourite superhero couple Bloodhound and Green Widower are hot on the criminal’s tail. As the first on the scene, they’ve bagged one hundred points, but will they rack up more and capture the crook? We bring this to you live from District Sixteen - ”

Footsteps spluttered at one end of the corridor. Touko was halfway down the corridor at this point. The footfall didn’t belong to someone on their way home after a busy day, or a worker heading to their night shift, but possessed a mantic energy, and when Touko whipped her head around, her eyes locked onto the thief. He lurched forward, heading her way with no care to who or what lay ahead of him.

As the distance between him and Touko shrunk rapidly, she stiffened. No way could she fight him, not with her slender frame, with her lack of fighting experience. All she could do was avoid being flattened and give chase. She scrambled out of the way, making sure her goggles kept recording him.

“Oi, piss-for-brains!” yelled Bloodhound from the ceiling, back-to-back with Green Widower, their arms hooked at the elbows.

“P-Piss-for-brains?” Touko said, wrinkling her nose, but Bloodhound hadn’t been talking to her.

The thief glanced back but kept running. While Bloodhound’s legs were tucked up toward his chest, Green Widower carried him on his back and sprinted across the ceiling in a way that he always had one foot touching it. Blue light emitted from Green Widower’s body, like that which had been around Touko when she entered her mirror and until just after she had fully risen out of the puddle.

Bumping into people slowed down the thief, while Green Widower had no one to evade on the ceiling. Therefore, Green Widower easily overtook him.

Bloodhound unlinked their arms and slammed down onto the anti-slip platform panels below, not far from the thief. He bared his teeth in a wolfish grin. The thief widened his eyes and bolted off, with the spectators too stunned to change from their passive role, some even side-stepping to let him pass so they wouldn’t get run over.

With great speed, Bloodhound stampeded over and leaped forward, tackling the thief to the floor. They rolled but in the end, Bloodhound was on top. Above them, Green Widower stopped glowing and fell from the ceiling. He flipped in midair and landed expertly on the same surface as everyone else.

“And Bloodhound and the Green Widower have caught the bad guy!” roared the announcer as the spectators erupted into cheers.

Green Widower cupped the back of his head and waved his other hand with a sincere but creepy smile, which if it had a noise, would have been nails down a chalkboard. Bloodhound sat on the thief, posture stooped, and leered at no one in particular. He might have been trying to smile.

“Oi,” came the voice of the blond man with white glasses from Touko’s earpiece. “Get closer. We need some shots of our sponsors’ logos.”

Touko nodded, shaking the camera in her goggles by doing so, and approached them. On Green Widower’s chest, in black font, was the name of a Chinese restaurant, and on Bloodhound’s chest, over his heart, was the emblem for Bepsi.

“And our company name too,” said the blond man.

She shifted slowly and made sure to get the writing on their shoulders, as instructed. Across one shoulder in kanji and in romaji on the other, in gold text, on both costumed men, was ‘Togami’.

*****

In the sea of buildings that made up Hope’s Peak City was a tower called Togami HQ. It belonged to a young billionaire who had taken over the company from his father a few years ago. Or, rather, the position had been thrust upon him after his parent’s sudden death. Touko remembered that the very next day, he had come in, not taking even one day off despite what happened. He had thrown himself into his work more so than usual and continued to power through with the same level of formidable diligence to this day. People had doubted that a boy fresh out of high school would cope, no matter what his father had insisted should happen in the event of his demise, but the company had since thrived like it had never done before.

The automatic doors yawned open. Air conditioning hummed in the blue-hued room. Byakuya Togami took a few paces forward, leaving enough space behind him that Touko could follow him in. A silver-haired maid darted past them to the table, put down a tray, and bowed before leaving. Seconds later, the doors shut.

Further in, already seated at the table, were two men. One looked like a standard businessman. Short, dark hair, plain suit with tie, and the only bit of colour on him was his dark purple tie. His companion, in contrast, seemed like an eccentric time traveller dressed up for Britain in the 1960’s, and wore a white suit accented with orange, a few of his shirt buttons unfastened at the top, a matching trilby hat and a loosened tie. The first man turned his stony gaze on the new arrivals while the other man gave a crooked smile and saluted lazily with one hand.

“Don’t worry, we weren’t waiting too long,” promised the second man. As he inclined his head forward, his scraggly blond hair, hanging limply down to his chin, swayed a bit. He pinched the rim of his hat and twitched it.

“I wasn’t worried,” Byakuya told him.

Byakuya pulled out a chair and sat down opposite him. Touko dragged out another chair and seated herself a short distance away from the table. She plucked a pen from behind her ear and positioned the nib at the top of her clipboard. He crossed one leg over the other and poured himself some green tea from the teapot on the tray. Three other cups flanked the teapot still.

What reason would Byakuya have to be worried?

“I’m not the one with anything to prove,” said Byakuya. “All I’m losing is time that I could be spending elsewhere.”

The man with the hat chuckled. He slouched, resting his chin in his hand and hiding his goatee from view. His blue eyes studied Byakuya with a gleam.

“I assure you, Togami, this is a proposal that you will be very interested in,” said the plain-looking man.

“We’ll see.” Byakuya pursed his lips.

Touko jotted down everything being said.

“My name is Jin Kirigiri,” said the plain-looking man. He gestured toward his companion. “And this is Koichi Kizakura. Currently, I head a private tutoring company for Noted Entities with Extraordinary Talents. NEXT, as people call them. We currently have five students.”

“But with some funding, we could train more,” said Koichi as he rubbed his index finger and thumb together. His wide grin distorted the shape of his thin moustache, and the skin by his eyes crinkled.

“So you’re after money for your school,” said Byakuya bluntly. Touko flung a dirty look their way.

Koichi remained slouched and flapped a hand. “Ah, but it’s not like it’s all going toward alcohol, is it? This is something even more important. The Togami Conglomerate is a fair way down the scoreboard despite owning HERO TV, and it has mostly been the same two heroes doing all the work... and they’re getting on in age.”

His eyes stayed just as playful but his smile became more subdued. More like a smirk.

“We’re astute guys, but I’m sure other people have noticed too,” said Koichi. “NEXT are a fairly new phenomenon. They’ve only been cropping up in the last few decades, and younger, fitter people in their prime are going to be the ones bagging all the points, not middle-aged men. By the way, can we smoke in here?”

All of that, even the last request, was spoken in the same casual tone.

“No,” said Byakuya.

Koichi sighed and got out a lollipop from his chest pocket. He unwrapped the plastic and stuck the sweet into into mouth. His tongue pushed it to one corner of his mouth. It clacked against his teeth.

“So what do you say?” asked Jin.

“That was ‘no’ to both your requests,” said Byakuya icily. “Bloodhound has the ability to track people by their smell, as long as he has access to something that they have touched within the last twenty-four hours. That’s why he was first on the scene and him and Green Widower were able to pursue him. We don’t need more heroes.”

“But what if it wasn’t a petty thief they were chasing?” asked Koichi. He removed his lollipop and wagged it, pointing the sweet end at Byakuya. “Are your heroes capable of handling all possible crimes? Assault? Kidnap? Murder? Terrorism? Those are the crimes that people are most concerned about. Recovering a few diamonds won’t net you big points, like catching a bloodthirsty killer like Genocider Syo would.”

Touko accidentally scribbled a jagged line across the page. Byakuya’s face betrayed nothing.

“How many NEXT have you got?” asked Koichi. He began counting off his fingers. “There’s those two, and your gloomy assistant...”

She glared. Byakuya’s nostrils flared.

“Better gloomy than a vagrant,” hissed Touko.

Koichi’s eyebrows rose. His lollipop froze in place for a few seconds, and then he returned it to his mouth.

Jin squared his shoulders, regarding Byakuya with flinty eyes.

“We’ve done our research, Togami. Those two aren’t your biggest point-getters. They’re your only ones,” said Jin. “And new heroes are going to be coming onto the scene. Some already have. With us, you would have a steady stream of heroes who have been trained and will continue training while representing you.”

Touko glanced at Byakuya, whose brow had creased. He stared downward, drumming his fingers against his arm, and finally raised a hand to his chin.

“You have five students?” Byakuya asked without looking up. Koichi lifted his head a fraction.

“Would you like to see them in action?” asked Jin. “We’ve brought them with us, so we can provide a demonstration of our work. If you got the Green Widower, Bloodhound and your assistant together, we can show them off in a friendly spar.”

For a few seconds, Touko noted down what was being said, but when her mind caught up to the present, she tensed violently and jerked her head up.

“Don’t make such demands!” Touko snapped, gripping her pen tightly. “I don’t fight. I can’t fight. I won’t fight. That’s not - ”

“Fine,” said Byakuya. He met their eyes calmly. “Let’s go somewhere more spacious. There’s an abandoned factory just outside of the city that will be sufficient.”

Touko squealed, jumped up, slapped her clipboard against her legs, and bowed so deeply that her braids flopped down and smacked the floor. “I’ll be r-right there!”

She held her position. Kokichi scratched his temple.

Jin blinked a few times before saying, “That was a quick change of heart.”

Her body straightened.

“That’s not it. My heart is always with Byakuya-sama, you see,” explained Touko, hugging her clipboard.

Koichi cracked a grin. Byakuya continued gazing into space.

*****

Up until a few years ago, the building that Touko, Byakuya and everyone else walked into used to be a clothing factory until a fire devastated it, killing tens of people. She had woken up here once before, some time after the tragedy, and she had left in a daze. To some, that might have sounded shocking, but this sort of thing used to be a regular occurrence for her. Above their heads loomed a network of support beams, the blue metal discoloured by heat and with rust in places. The factory consisted of two floors, but the upper floor had been particularly ravaged and mostly destroyed, so much of the grubby arched roof was viewable. Streaks of light seeped through misshapen holes and crevices, and dust particles danced ring o’ roses in the spotlights.

A low whistle blew behind them. Touko turned and as she expected, Koichi had let off that sound. He cradled the back of his neck as he inspected their surroundings with Jin, who permanently looked like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. With them were the five students that they claimed to have. They all wore a uniform appropriate for gym class, comprising of sneakers, a white t-shirt and navy unisex long-legged shorts. Two of the girls came to an expected height for people in their late teens or early twenties, a male fitted a standard height for those like him, and the last two, a woman and a man, surpassed their companions’ heights, but only the woman was taller than Byakuya. Just one of the girls was shorter than Touko.

“So these are the runts, huh?” asked Bloodhound, shorter than two of the five. He cracked his knuckles and showed off his teeth wolfishly. “You got their parents’ consent forms on ya? Extra packs of diapers?”

“They’re all around the same age as your boss,” Koichi pointed out while a few of the students glared, though the others seemed equally unamused, but Bloodhound blanked Koichi, eyeing the students like they were helpings on a platter.

The tallest male, who had a brown pompadour that had gone out of fashion before people even knew about the existence of NEXT, strained to keep his composure, hiking up one end of his mouth in a tight, lopsided smirk.

“These are the guys we’re meant to be beating up?” asked the male. “Their hips will probably break if we breathe out too much air near them. This feels like elder abuse.”

Green Widower jolted his head back like he just received an electric shock, features asymmetrical, while Bloodhound’s jaw clenched and his cheeks began to fill with pink.

“Remember, you’re representing our school,” warned Jin, but Byakuya apparently didn’t share this complaint in regards to his own heroes. He turned to Byakuya with the closest to a smile that he had given so far. “I’ll let our students introduce themselves. Shall we give them some space?”

Jin held his hands behind his back and without waiting for an answer or even acknowledgement, he retreated to one of the walls. Byakuya and Koichi did the same, standing themselves either side of him.

“You may begin,” said Jin.

The two groups of NEXT faced each other.

“Three against five?” said Green Widower, oozing a grin. “That’s not fair on you guys, is it? You’d need at least double our number to suffer a defeat that isn’t humiliating.”

Touko hesitated, but it didn’t take her long to count to three. Chills drenched her. Right. She had agreed to join in. Still, her first instinct was to run for cover or cower, but her legs wouldn’t budge and other than trembling, her body wouldn’t respond. The first person to move was the shortest woman, who leaped into the air with her hands above her head.

At the peak of her jump, the woman tilted so she was upside down, and she plummeted downward with her arms still stretched out beyond her head. Touko and her teammates braced themselves, but the woman didn’t go near them and dived into the ground like one would dive into a swimming pool.

Exactly like that. Her body glowed a gentle blue as the ground swallowed her whole, leaving behind no crumbs, no splatter. The trio squinted at the ground, while their opponents’ countenance didn’t change at all.

“W-Where did she go?” asked Touko, squeezing her hands together tightly.

Bloodhound sniffed ungraciously. His face remained screwed.

“I can’t smell her,” he said, and moments later, a large diamond crashed into him. He rolled several times. Touko shrieked and bent forward with her hands on her head.

The diamond didn’t bounce or tumble like Bloodhound. It hovered for a moment where it had smashed into Bloodhound and then transformed into the tallest of the men, the one with the pompadour. When he landed, small clouds of dust poofed by his feet, and he gritted his teeth, but he wasn’t in pain - the corners of his lips twisted upward.

Green Widower gasped and staggered over to Bloodhound with a hand extended, but then the woman who had vanished shot up from the ground just in front of Green Widower, and she dealt a punch to the underside of his chin.

He stumbled back with a yelp, and losing his balance, he fell down with an additional squawk.

“Impressed?” Jin asked Byakuya at the edge of the factory.

Byakuya’s smooth features were unreadable. Jin turned back to watch the fight.

Touko looked this way and that, hugging herself. Bloodhound had returned to his feet and thrown himself into a fistfight with the pompadour guy, who was able to turn parts of his body into diamond, ideal for punches and body parts that he predicted Bloodhound would aim at. Both exchanged heated cuss words between huffs as their strikes whooshed and thudded.

Nearby, Green Widower dodged the next attack from the woman who could flit in and out of the ground as she pleased like it was water. He swung a fist at the woman and caught her on the cheek. She tottered to the side and before she could recover from the first hit, Green Widower continued on his onslaught, dealing blow after blow, and though he lacked Bloodhound’s raw power and ferverence, his fighting style involved a lot of unpredictable movements, almost like he was breakdancing, his limbs jutting at strange angles as he glided from one stance to the next, sometimes striking, sometimes feigning. On top of that, or maybe partly due to that, the woman seemed to be in a stunned state, mesmerized, and she only managed to clumsily block some of his attacks until she fell onto the ground, not into it.

The remaining three students had been standing back up to this point. One of the women had long violet hair and wore dark purple gloves, while the other had scraggly white hair and leathery skin. Despite her appearance, the woman with white hair didn’t seem older than the others, and her hair thrashed against her back as she rushed over to Green Widower. She wasn’t just tall but wide as well, yet despite her heavy footsteps, she didn’t emit a single sound. Therefore, she was able to reach Green Widower without him hearing her approach, and she kicked his back hard. He was tossed through the air like a ragdoll and smacked painfully into a wall.

With Green Widower down at least for the time being, Bloodhound preoccupied with his own fight and Touko keeping to herself, the woman with white hair dropped to one knee next to the woman able to swim through solid matter, and she cupped the back of the smaller woman’s head, gently lifting it, while her other held her companion’s hand.

“Are you all right, Asahina?” asked the white-haired woman. She brought her head closer, causing her hair to brush against the cheek of who could only be Asahina, the white hair standing out starkly against Asahina’s skin.

“I’m fine,” said Asahina, her dark hair tied back in a ponytail. A paperclip kept her fringe in check. The white-haired woman smiled softly and helped Asahina up.

Touko turned away from them and watched the other fight taking place. Bloodhound reeled back and looked past his opponent. He spotted the downed Green Widower.

“Yuusuke!” he bellowed, and he sprinted over even though the man with the pompadour was more than able to continue their brawl. Bloodhound’s footsteps pounded and he pulled back his fist, growling, but halfway there, he was ripped from the ground by an invisible force.

The shorter of the two men had his arm stretched forward, and as he slowly raised it, Bloodhound elevated too. All Bloodhound could do was cycle his legs uselessly through the air, only able to make small movements side-to-side as he squirmed. His captor had a very serious face. Between his thick eyebrows, his skin puckered, and his red eyes were absolutely focused.

No matter how much Bloodhound flailed, he couldn’t break free, and the man with the pompadour charged toward him, kicking off the ground on the way over. Mid flight, he changed into diamond, and he ploughed into Bloodhound. Both collided into the ground together.

Only the man with the pompadour rose afterwards.

He swaggered over to his teammates. Touko gripped herself tighter and her feet dragged as she shuffled backward. She made sure to keep everyone in her field of vision. Her body shook as she got out her compact mirror from under her clothes, dipping her hand down her neckline, and her eyes darted about frantically in search of a reflective surface.

Across the open room, the violet-haired woman who up to now had kept to the sidelines now finally strode forward. Blue light flickered across her body and she summoned an ogre three times as big as the white-haired woman.

The ogre fixed its eyes on Touko and ran toward her. Touko could have used her mirror to escape. She should have used her mirror to escape and gone far, far away from here. But Touko, who had barely any fighting experience, who had been hit too many times since she had been a child, froze up, and she watched the ogre’s fist sail toward her.

To her surprise, the ogre passed through Touko harmlessly, not pounding a hole in her like she expected, or leaving any mark. Not a single hair moved on her and her skirt didn’t flutter even once, but though she didn’t feel anything, she shrieked and blanched. Straight after, the white-haired woman tried to follow up with her own attack, but her fist stopped just short of Touko. There was a loud crack and the woman flipped back, landing beside her teammates. Blue electricity rippled in front of Touko across an otherwise invisible plane floating in front of her, rectangular and wide enough to shield Touko. It had almost certainly appeared there prior to the ogre’s attack.

Koichi and Jin stared for a short while, and then in unison, they turned to Byakuya.

His body glowed blue. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

“You’re a NEXT too?” Jin exclaimed.

Byakuya didn’t bother answering. He ran forward and positioned himself between Touko and the invisible shield, with his back toward her. The ogre leered down at them.

Touko trembled. Her legs wobbled. In a small voice, she said, “B-Byakuya-sama...”

“Don’t just stand there, you dolt,” he said. The ogre punched him, but its hand carried on going through him like it had done with Touko. He turned his head so she could see half of his face and added, “It’s an illusion. It can’t hurt you.”

“Right,” said Touko. Next to Byakuya, she felt calmer and safe, and was torn between swooning and passing out with relief.

Asahina balled her hands into fists.

“Kirigiri-chan’s powers might be illusions, but ours aren’t!” Asahina cried out.

She dived into the ground, and she wasn’t the only one on the move. The pompadour guy lowered his head, like a bull about to gallop forward, and his male companion began to glow blue.

Like Bloodhound, Touko started to drift upward due to an unseeable force created by the man with the thick eyebrows. Byakuya hurled out his arm and launched a spray of invisible shards at him, each individual one smaller than the plane that he summoned before. In order to avoid them, the male had to sacrifice his concentration, and Touko was freed. Her feet returned to the ground. Some of the shards fired by Byakuya sliced the man’s skin, and he cringed and touched a hand to a wound on his cheek.

Blood. Touko averted her eyes, feeling woozy. If she stared too long, she would faint, and if she fainted, her other self would take over, and Touko didn’t want that. She couldn’t let that happen. Her desire to protect Byakuya hardened her resolve.

Byakuya activated his powers and formed a shield beneath him and Touko. He levitated it with them on it, lifting them off the ground, and Touko drew closer to his side.

Asahina emerged from the ground underneath them, but by then they had risen high enough that she couldn’t reach them even by jumping. Despite being able to swim through solid matter, she seemed unable to fly. Her fingers couldn’t even skim the platform, and she winced when she touched down again. Though Green Widower had been defeated, Asahina hadn’t left their fight unscathed.

The white-haired woman squatted and then leaped up. She was able to attain a height much greater than Asahina, but when she threw a punch at them, her fist rammed into something solid.

A wave of blue light swept through the transparent flat surface between her and the other two. Byakuya had generated another barrier. It didn’t break, dent or even shake, and the woman swooped back down to join the others on the ground. The man with the thick eyebrows turned his attention onto the pompadour guy, and he floated him over to Touko and Byakuya, suspending him in mid-air above them.

When he was high enough, the man with the thick eyebrows released him. During the fall, the man with the pompadour changed into diamond, but even someone with his hardness rebounded off the barrier without doing it any damage. Touko watched the man revert back to normal as he fell. She shivered. Byakuya had surrounded himself and Touko with barriers from all sides in a box structure, but though they had protected themselves from their opponents, they couldn’t safely leave either. They had reached a deadlock.

“Can you see any reflective surfaces?” muttered Byakuya.

Touko raised a hand to her forehead and studied the factory. Places that the Sun didn’t touch were as dark and dull as her outfit, and she shook her head. Even if she could travel to another area in the factory, all she would be able to provide was a distraction, and against five opponents, that wouldn’t help because with their number, they could deal with more than one person at a time. Maybe if Green Widower and Bloodhound were up, then they could have come up with a plan, but they showed no signs of rejoining the battle.

The woman with white hair picked up Asahina. Her palm cushioned Aoi’s behind, and she drew back her arm, readying a throw.

They didn’t know if Asahina could travel through barriers, but now was a bad time to find out.

Slow claps echoed from the side of the room. Touko and Byakuya turned, and so did the students. Asahina remained in the palm of the woman with white hair.

Jin lowered his hands and strolled over. Koichi sauntered toward them with his hands in his pockets. Both grinned.

“I hope that taster whetted your appetite,” said Jin. He didn’t shout, but the large room carried his voice. His violet eyes stared up at them. Touko noted that they were same colour as the eyes of the girl with violet hair who could create illusions.

Someone groaned nearby. The sound came from Green Widower. He raised his head groggily.

“These students and more would represent your company,” said Jin, not breaking eye contact with Byakuya. In the background, the man with the pompadour dabbed a handkerchief against the cheek of the man with thick eyebrows. “We would also be happy to have Green Widower and Bloodhound help train the new recruits, and our training wouldn’t be just for those we take on... but for the four of you too.”

“I’m not a fighter,” grumbled Touko, but Byakuya was holding his chin thoughtfully as he gazed down at Jin.

Green Widower limped over to Bloodhound and helped him up. Both were conscious.

“Togami, you were incredible,” said Jin. “And with us, we could unlock your full potential.”

Touko bristled.

“I’m here too!” she said, but she couldn’t disagree with Jin. “And of course Byakuya-sama was incredible. It’s a given, right? He’s perfect.”

She fidgeted, beaming widely, well aware of her face warming and unashamed of it.

Koichi gave a short laugh.

“Fukawa-chan’s not too shabby either. We’ve seen her on Hero TV,” said Koichi. He winked and whipped a hand out of his pocket to point up at Touko. “Her form-fitting non-glitzy outfit stands out, and she has a useful power too. After hearing some interviews - ” - which Touko rarely gave, so at least some of those must have been with other people - “I think ‘Kaleidoscope’ would be a good crimefighter name. And Togami-san could be Barrikuya.”

Touko pulled a face.

“I’m not a superhero,” she reminded everyone, but she fizzled out when Byakuya shot an icy look at her. He turned back to Jin and swished a hand.

“That name is stupid, but I suppose I can hear out the finer details of your proposal over dinner,” Byakuya drawled.

Jin’s previous smiles were up for interpretation, but this one was definite, and he bowed. “You won’t regret it, Togami.”

Byakuya finally lowered the barrier carrying him and Touko to the ground, and when he took a step forward, he revealed that the other barriers had disappeared too. Asahina slipped onto her friend’s shoulder. Bloodhound and Green Widower hobbled over with their arms around each other.

The man who could turn into diamond faced them. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Um... Sorry about all that. I get carried away when I’m fighting sometimes.”

Bloodhound sneered with a bloody nose. Touko wished he would clean himself, or at the very least get his husband to do it for him.

“If I were a few years younger...” He trailed off. The tension in Bloodhound’s face faded and he broke into a grin. “But today’s today, yeah? And this is nothing a little time in a healing pod won’t fix. You’re not bad, kiddo. You’ve got potential. You all do.”

He gave them a thumbs up and guffawed. Then he had a coughing fit. Green Widower looked at him worriedly, and only once Bloodhound recomposed himself did Green Widower relax a bit.

“Thanks,” said the pompadour-bearing guy, equally cheerful, and he returned Bloodhound’s gesture by thrusting up his thumb. “Hey, Togami, how’s about I buy us all a round of beer? My treat. We did a number on your heroes and I know we didn’t land a hit on you or your girlfriend, but she looked pretty freaked out, and I feel kinda bad about that.”

Toward the end of his offer, the man’s face darkened a little, though he maintained his smile. A muscle jumped in Byakuya’s cheek but he said nothing back.

“G-Girlfriend!” Touko said, hands over her heart. Bloodhound ignored her.

“Are you even old enough to drink?” Bloodhound asked.

“Don’t make me give you another thrashing,” responded the man with the pompadour but without any malice, and they both burst out laughing.

Asahina turned to the white-haired woman, who shrugged. The one with violet hair folded her arms over her chest and the man with thick eyebrows tilted his head to one side.

“I’m done here,” said Byakuya. He adjusted his glasses and marched toward the doors leading out of the factory. Touko hurried after him.

Koichi cupped a hand beside his mouth and craned his neck. “So that’s dinner and beer, right? Is tonight good?”

“Tonight is fine,” said Byakuya, not wavering in his pace.

Touko and Byakuya continued on in silence, but just before they arrived at the doors, Byakuya stopped, and Touko halted abruptly right after.

“One more thing.” Byakuya whipped his head around. His eyes narrowed. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

He grabbed her left wrist and raised her arm, to better show off the ring on one of fingers.

“She’s my fiancée.”

[rickrakontoys]

INFINITY WAR Spoiler talk

Random spoilery thoughts and rating of the movie

Things I liked:

- Thanos. This is his movie. A sad, lonely, yet terrifyingly driven villain. His relationship with Gamora helped humanize him, but he’s still a genocidal monster through-and-through… One of the best MCU villains (though I feel Killmonger is more relatable since his motivation is grounded in our reality, and Loki since we’ve spent so much time with him and witness his struggles) - Loki saying “we have a Hulk” - The various team-ups throughout the movie in general. - Tony butting heads with Dr. Strange, and his continued mentoring of Peter Parker. - Dr. Strange demonstrating more of his mystic arts powers, and going toe-to-toe with Thanos and holding his own quite well. - Ebony Maw is the only member of the Black Order worth remembering…. creepy and intimidating. - Thor managing to remain humble and mostly-level headed despite losing everything he was protecting and fighting for in Thor: Ragnarok. His bonding with Rocket of all people was endearing. - Kevin Bacon in the Avengers - Rocket matured a bit since GOTG vol. 2. He’s still Rocket as we know him, but more willing to step up and “be the captian” now than before. - The Invisible Drax. Stupid… but i liked it. - Gamora’s flashback to her homeworld and meeting Thanos, and her scenes with Thanos on his ship. We finally get to see her confront her father directly, and the dysfunction lends weight to both their plot threads. - Thanos to Quill: “I like you” - Seeing Vision and Scarlet Witch’s relationship play out on the big screen. - Hulk not coming out to play due to the beating he received by Thanos. He’s still got a child-like mind, and it’s totally believeable that he’s pout and whine and not want to come out. Banner still gets some heroism in nonetheless in the Hulkbuster. - Seeing Wakanda again with the Avengers there alongside Black Panther and Okoye. - All the cameos… always good to see Pepper Potts. Peter’s friend Ned. “Thunderbolt” Ross has an obligatory scene. The Collector appears. M'Baku returns to help T'Challa and the Avengers. Shuri gets to banter with Banner. - the Red Skull’s return… even though he has only a brief scene, it confirmed he was only teleported away and not killed by the Tessaract. - The entire battle with Thanos on Titan. It’s just cool to see heroes all battling a single enemy as opposed to another faceless army. - Nebula confronting Thanos on Titan, and her inclusion at all in the film. I hope she plays a bigger role in the next part. - Thor’s adventure with Rocket and Groot to get a new hammer. He is still obsessed with hammers…. - Giant Peter Dinklage… - “Thor, you’re about to take the full force of a star… it will kill you.” “ONLY IF I DIE!” …“Yes, that’s what killing you means…” - “WHY IS GAMORA?!” - Thanos getting more and more somber and depressed as the movie went along, especially after sacrificing Gamora, the only person he cared about. - "Tell them about the dance-off to save the galaxy." Footloose. - Quill’s angry reaction to Thanos killing Gamora and screwing the heroes… it’s perfectly in character. He’s always been an immature man-child, even with the development he received in the previous films. Part of his curse of being raised by the Ravagers. Likewise, who would NOT have an emotional outburst like that? Stark had one in Civil War. - War Machine back in action. Blowing shit up. - Winter Soldier/White Wolf alongside Rocket Raccoon……. - Thanos throwing chunks of a moon at the heroes. Tony: “If you throw another moon at me…” - Thanos’ admiration of Stark. “I hope they remember you” - Later he tries to comfort Scarlet Witch after she kills Vision. If he wasn’t a maniac hellbent on universal genocide with a history of child abuse, he might be an ok guy… - Thor’s heroic return with Stormbringer. Seeing him back to full power was great, though… it takes away a bit from his development in Ragnarok… He’s not a god of hammers… why does he need one so much? - Thor keeps calling Rocket “rabbit” and Groot “tree”. Didnt bother to learn names - “This is my friend, Tree”, “I am Groot”, “I am Steve Rogers” - Okoye + Black Widow + Scarlet Witch vs. Proxima Midnight - Vision sacrificing himself, and Wanda having to witness him die twice. - “You should have gone for the head!” - The ending… the fingersnap. The dissolve into ashes… The character’s reactions to these deaths is what makes it all work, even if we the audience know it probably won’t be permanent. - “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good…” and “I don’t wanna go I don’t wanna go… I’m sorry”…… - Knowing what Tony must have felt when Peter disappeared… probably adds a whole new level to his current PTSD… - Dr. Strange clearly playing the long game, even at the sacrifice of himself and half the universe. “Tony, it was the only way”… Witnessing their deaths 14 million times must have been rough. - Cap gets the last words in the movie: “Oh god….” - The simple end credits, playing almost like an “in mermoriam” - The fact that we have no idea where the heck Avengers 4 is going plotwise…. will those who became dust in the wind return? Seems likely since Homecoming 2 and GOTG vol. 3 are filming soon… and like they’d kill off Black Panther after he made ALL THE MONEY before this movie made all the money again. - “Motherfu-”

Things I didn’t like:

- Heimdall again gets kinda shafted… after getting such a prominent role in Ragnarok. At least he got a last heroic gesture by sending Hulk home. - Loki dying so early to be motivation for Thor. Unless he has more up his sleeve in a long play, having him try to stab Thanos in the face felt like sloppy storytelling. What if he succeeded? The Black Order is RIGHT THERE. They would’ve killed both him and Thor anyways. Loki probably knew death was imminent and wanted one last act of defiance and proof of loyalty to Thor and Asgard. I don’t mind him dying early on, but I feel the writers should have been smarter about his actions. - The GotG felt a bit flanderized. I get it though since they need to share screentime here. Quill remains immature and childish and it leads to disaster. Drax merely spouts comedic lines and is generally useless. Mantis is not much of a fighter but at least managed to subdue Thanos a bit. Groot barely registered at all until he makes the handle for Stormbreaker. Groot meeting Captain America was amusing though. - No one during the Wakanda fight calls attention to the talking raccoon… - Cap, Falcon, and Black Widow also didn’t get a whole lot to do. Their fights seemed to devolve into shakey-cam BS. - Vision was nerfed for sake of the plot. Guess he’d otherwise be too OP. - What was the point of Red Skull being there at all… if you replace him with someone else, would it have affected the plot in any way? Why was he floating like a spectre of Death? - Rocket just gives Thor a new eye…. guess they got tired of CGI-ing that eyepatch on Thor. - The fake-out of Gamora killing Thanos in Knowhere… of course they’re not killing the villain in the first third of the movie. - Gamora’s death… when she asked Peter to kill her, I knew she’s probably going to die. Of course not by Peter… the scene of her, Peter, and Thanos was a good one though. - Something about the scene on Vormir felt… heavy-handed. Maybe the music? The silly fade to Thanos’ crying face when Gamora is falling to her doom? Something just took me out of the moment… maybe the awareness that i was looking at a purple, ballsack-chinned, CGI space man crying CGI tears. - The Black Order… generic looking scary alien people… They didn’t amount to a whole lot. Just excuses for more fight scenes. They all die inglorious deaths. - The final battle in Wakanda was another giant brawl with faceless alien monster people… there’s nothing creative about it. - There is no build-up to that battle either… it just happens. Take a page out of Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers… the build-up is just as, if not more important than the battle itself. - Hawkeye and Ant-Man being convieniently written out of the movie… - Where is Valkyrie? and Korg? Not even enough time to give them a mention? Valkyrie might’ve been helpful in the ensuing fight… - Thanos didn’t seem to use the Gauntlet to its full potential despite demonstrating some wild powers. He mostly just shoots purple beams at people… - Thanos is “burdened with knowledge” and thus knows who Stark is…. ok…. what. - The pacing of the movie felt too relentless. Let the movie breathe a bit dammit. - The CGI in some scenes screamed of “reshoots”… Banner in the Hulkbuster comes to mind. Iron Man and Spidey’s Iron suits looked very cartoonish. The Black Order’s CGI looked very off in a few scenes. Could they not have achieved Proxima, Corvius, and Maw using prosthetics? Thanos looked very convincing though, even if his look was a tad simplistic. - The music… you hear the Avengers theme occassionally… but there’s no memorable new music. We don’t hear any of the respective themes of the various characters. No Guardians theme, no Dr. Strange theme, no Iron Man or Captain America or Spider-Man or Thor themes…. Music should factor into this “culmination movie” as much as the characters. Least we got the Black Panther theme when we see Wakanda again. If somehow the different themes get interwoven into a new melody…. plz Avengers 4? -Knowing that this was a part 1 of a 2-part finale sort of robbed the movie of a sense that the deaths will be permenant… but I would like to be surprised in Avengers 4. The question is seemingly “how” they will defeat Thanos and revive their allies, and not “if” they do…

Overall, there is a lot of good in this movie. It’s not as… “fun” as the previous Avengers movies or even Civil War. They tried to be a lot darker, and for the most part they succeeded. The issues I have are mostly nitpicks to the plot, and minor issues with the craft involved.

After two viewings, I don’t feel the need to really watch it again… until Avengers 4 next year.

8.25/10

[fantroll-purgatory]

Lycosa Robess - College Student Communist

@chaoticevilfantrolls

I’ve been considering making her a purpleblood, rather than a tealblood. I’d love some ideas for tying that into her re-design, if possible!

Reading her profile, I’m definitely interested in making her a purpleblood. So I’ll absolutely address that as we continue! I think linking her back to teal a little bit may be reasonable, though, given the setting.

Planet: Alternia, AU where she plays SBURB and as well as the age of being shipped of planet is 10 sweeps. Also, caste traits can be mixed up thanks to linked traits and genetic weirdness (like with Vapula).

Name:Lycosa Robess - Lycosa: From Lycosa tarantula, the animal originally known as the common tarantula. Ties into her lusus, horns, and just about everything else relating to bugs in her theme. 

- Robess: From Maximilien Robespierre, one of the most prominent figures of the French Revolution. Connects to her ‘revolution for the sake of it’ ideology, as well as her typing quirk (As the two numbers she replaces are also part of the year of the beginning of the French Revolution).

Oh man… I used to be a bit of a French Revolution nerd. I adore this connection to her revolution for the sake of it ideology. Robespierre was a really chaotic man who was willing to go to some incredible extremes. Nice link!

Age:Typically between 8-10.

Strife Specibus:chainKind. Her iconic weapon is a Kusarigama with a hammer on one end and a sickle on the other. 

I See Your Joke And I Love It. 

Fetch Modus: Hive Modus. All items are stored within a hexagonal grid, forming rings around a core item. Only items on the current outermost row can be accessed, and each row needs to be completed before items can be added to the next layer. She picked up this modus when she was still really in her bugs phase, which she kind of regrets now that she’s going for a cool hip college communist aesthetic.

Just inconvenient enough to be fun. I also like that even though it harkens back to her old bug interest, it’s also a modus based around the structure of a communal species, making it still count for a reasonable communism reference.

Blood color: Currently Teal, though I’m thinking about making her a purpleblood (maybe a defector from the cult? Especially because her rebellious nature is taken to an idealistic extreme- she doesn’t have a moral end goal, she just wants things to change.)

I do think that a purpleblood defector is a great thing to do. It ties into her theme of a desire for change and development to have her rebel against a structure like that. And even if we change her, we can still link her back to this tealblood root a little bit. See, a desire to change Can be her moral center. Her view of right and wrong can be ‘anything goes as long as it is in the name of change.’ She can have a judicial nucleus built around the conception that change is the ultimate right. 

Symbol and meaning: It kinda looks like a bug? I don’t necessarily want to go with an extended zodiac sign, because her symbol is technically from the same family as Vapula’s. Maybe a small adjustment to match the teal sign language would be good, if not changing the symbol to something else entirely (if she ends up as a purpleblood).

Oh yeah, I’ll definitely give her a custom sign. It fits teal sign language well enough that I might leave it mostly untouched even when I change her to a purple.

Trolltag: malcontentMarionette  - Malcontent: Someone who is displeased with their current situation

- Marionette: I feel this would tie in well to making her a purpleblood? She ends up as a sort of puppet, controlled by the violetblood in her session and becoming the leader of his consort army. Additionally, a marionette would tie into the inherent circus theme of most purplebloods, and her status as a mind player (controlling choices in some form).

Oooh I love this… It expresses her original feeling of being malcontented with the state of things and feeling like a puppet of her institution while also acting as foreshadowing for her story… And if she’s a purple, it Does indicate the general clown theme as Well as the chucklevoodoos. And if we do make her a time player (I’m on the fence there… Maybe. Mayhaps), it’s a good reference to that too.

Quirk: Actually has two different quirks, although they’re not used simultaneously.

Originally, she typed in all caps, replacing b with 8 and t with 7, representing insect eyes and mandibles. She would use horizontal emoticons with two sets of eyes (oOwOo) to represent a jumping spider’s face. She also wouldn’t use much ending punctuation, instead sticking to commas to denote pacing.

“MM: 7HE QUICK 8ROWN FOX JUMPED OVER 7HE LAZY DOG oOwOo”

As time goes on, her quirk becomes much more ‘refined’, cut back to proper syntax and grammar, with a distinct lack of emoticons. She maintains the symbol replacements out of some deep, in-borne spite, but that’s about all.

“MM: 7he quick 8rown fox jumped over 7he lazy dog.”

I like it a lot!

Special Abilities:Nothing in particular as a tealblood. As a purpleblood I’ve considered giving her chucklevoodoos that incite feelings of outrage, overconfidence, and anger, which can cause riots and rebellion. Additionally, being able to manifest insects (ala Gamzee creating Lil’ Cal, on a much lower level).

That’d be pretty neat, because chucklevoodoos are said to be a way for purples to keep the lowbloods in check/keep them in line. Her abilities having the direct opposite impact could be good… Maybe her abilities naturally started as an ability that influenced individuals to cause infighting, inducing rage against companions and manifesting visions of insects to get people to swat at each other and exacerbate fights? But she’s been actively teaching herself to move away from that ability because she does not want to be a tool of the system or a tool of control. Of course she could then try to utilize it as a power for unifying feelings of anger and giving it motivational direction. 

Lusus: A jumping spider the size of a kitten at most. A sweet, gentle lusus whom Lycosa most definitely doted on when she was younger. Her lusus will knit you sweaters out of web silk. 

Oh I love… If we make her a purple, we could just shift that to a sea spider probably. The silk’s still fine. Make some fishing nets out of that silk, little cute spider.

Personality: Lycosa, as a person, is fundamentally unhappy and ill-at-ease, banking on rebellion and change for the hell of it to fill some sort of thing that she can’t seem to place. She doesn’t care about the morality of the change she’s advocating for, as long as it happens, and as long as it soothes whatever emotional turmoil that is bubbling inside of her. 

She tends to let herself get swept away on flights of emotional fancy, elaborate stories of ‘what if’ that eventually become ‘it will’. Her belief that she can find all of the answers to her disillusionment in the form of others, or in the form of external relationships is one of those things. She ends up clinging far too much to a fellow player in her session, who uses her fancy to manipulate her into becoming his second-in-command, and an essential puppet under his control. 

She also tends to hold back any signs of her old interests, and any traits she has that others might not like. When the violetblood in her session expresses distaste in her interest in insects, she drops any signs of interest besides the most minimal, retaining only her quirk in some subconscious spite, justifying the lack of change as simply matching his.

A big part of her story line is learning to cope with her general malcontent with life in a way that doesn’t involve deep-throating molotovs for revolution, or clinging to the first person who offers her some sense of stability no matter how much they’re using her for their own gain. 

The relationship clinging is another of those little teal traits that I really like shining through in her. Picking someone that is bad for her and committing too powerfully to him… With the added purpleblooded fun of the dedication. 

I definitely love her. I love her a lot. She’s a very detailed and thorough character with a lot of story growth potential. She has a wonderful character arc here… And she has so many aspects that she’s throwing around that you can develop her in a million directions… 

Interests: Lycosa’s interests are few and rather simple, often shoved to the side in favor of mimicking whatever interests her current lover or friend happens to possess. 

She spent most of her youth obsessed with bugs, from their physiology to their behavior. She knows how to manage just about any insect, from wasps to butterflies to mosquitos, and she has a deep fondness in her heart for arachnids as well. She can draw detailed drawings of them from memory (which ends up becoming relevant at a point in her quest), 

Lycosa also has a deep and involved interest in illegal histories and recovering the names of banished and excised revolutionaries, recovering propaganda, symbols, and techniques they used to further their causes. Not out of any legitimate desire to bring those ideals to fruition, but because they’re a personal aesthetic and something to devote herself to. 

Lycosa has a secondary interest in improvised weaponry and field first aid, which she learned as part of her research into revolutionary tactics. 

God these are good interests… You’re great at picking a theme and sticking to it STRONGLY. Just to tie into that last bit, you should include interest in guerrilla warfare tactics, laying traps, Disarming traps… Just a little additional information that she could brag about having for theoretical revolutionary purposes.

Title: Her session already has a Void, Doom, Life, and Light player, so unfortunately those are off the table. I’ve been leaning towards Rogue or Thief of Mind or Heart, though. 

Rogue of Mind might work for her over-abundance of options, which she has difficulty coping with. Thief of Heart would better show how she takes parts of herself from others, mirroring them more than showing much of herself in a relationship.

Okay… I’m definitely struggling to make a decision here. Right now I’m between Mind, Heart, Rage, and TIME. 

Rogue of Mind works for sure. She needs to learn redistribute and allocate all of those choices, needs to learn to balance them out and move them around. To find the right decision among all the crap. And also to take back her own mind, her own free will, her own actions. She’d be able to redistribute logical thought and action. Her inverse is Knight of Heart, which would mean she could actively utilize the strength of her personal will, her emotions… 

If she were a heart player, I’d argue she’s a Page of Heart. She’s someone who has a weak identity. She cares so much about her aesthetic and what others think of her and moving herself to their whim instead of being capable of defining her own identity and having her own self confidence. This would leave her in a really malleable and endangered position. She would have to break out of this mold and reach her potential and figure out her identity and confidence in order to start utilizing her power, her soul, to its full capacity. With the inverse Thief of Mind, she’d also be able to steal back the right to action for herself, steal the options and activities while utilizing the strength of her will… 

Rage references strongly her malcontent and her firm desire for a little chaos, a little mess, a lack of care for whether something is right or wrong and just a strict need for MOVEMENT. If I were to recommend this I’d probably say Prince of Rage? Someone who is actively destroyed by all this pessimism and this need for everything to be torn down, but who is then able to learn to use this to destroy the systems around her… 

And time of course discusses her struggle, her want for social development. But it would also challenge her to engage in active struggle instead of passively accepting things as they come and taking a backseat goal. It would make her need to find a goal to focus on and strive towards it instead of vaguely aesthetically aligning herself with real struggles. I’d probably recommend Page of Time here for the reasons I detailed in the heart segment… 

God but it’s really hard to pick. She has so many possible routes… I think I’d personally recommend Page of Heart, but it’s really up to you to decide.

Land: Land of Streetlights and Discord

I almost joked about changing it to Land of Lit Streets and Discord so the acronym would be LOLSAD. But that feels a little rude. I might actually recommend something that implies control/a search of identity more? Maybe Land of Streetlights and Nevron. Nevron is the greek word for string and harkens back to the word for puppet, nevróspastos. It literally means “muscle” as well as sinew/tendon/string, which is a nice reference to the heart if you go with the heart title.

Dream Planet: Derse

Very suiting, especially considering her tendency to hide her interests because of what others think.

Now design fun!:

Hair: Because I moved her to a purple I decided to make her hair a little bit wackier. Not too much, but just a couple more flips and bits. 

Horns: I gave her some longer horns. I didn’t really see a reason for her to have two sets since she doesn’t have much link back to goldbloods? So I created a sprite with just one set and a sprite with two sets for your selection convenience. 

Glasses: I just edited them a bit darker because they looked awkward at that middling shade. 

Eyes: I changed them to purple, obviously. On the right side I also gave her a little facepaint? I knew she’s defected from the cult but it still does at some rebellious visual interest. And it hints casually back to her old insect interest. I additionally added some bags under her eyes because she is exhausted. 

Shirt: I changed her jacket to a lighter shade to provide contrast because of some of my other changes. I also lightened her outline on her shirt. 

Symbol: I decided to mostly keep it the same. I deleted like a single pixel between the two connecting lines to make a set of four open arc. It matches the teal sign language more than the purple, but I think it’s still at least tangentially similar enough to purple visually to be acceptable. 

Pants: I know that fashion is considered an object of consumerism and a lot of communist rhetoric frowns upon it, so I kept the rest of her outfit really simple. But I wanted to use some level of patterns on her clothes, since she’s a purple. So I used the Iconic Communist Yellow Star.

Shoes: Just edited to purple and given some laces.

I love her! Thanks for sharing.

-CD

[thegreatmercutio]

Shadowhunters Drama-O-Rama...(a long rant and reflection)

First…the Malec Kiss was adorable…can’t wait to see the FULL Content…there better be a FULL content!!

…and now let’s rant about the drama. There’s two 10 seconds teasers…2 teasers…which means…it’s just a tease, not a full trailer…That’s all we’re getting at the moment…a tease. And yes, there’s more “seconds” of contents on some characters vs. others…and yet somehow a war began!!!…and old wounds are open again…and to be truthful the contents are not a surprise at all. (Jace is not Clary’s brother, Simon and Clary are dating…Malec relationship is expanding…Izzy is pushing Raphael away…Luke is standing intensively…nothing was really new, just random clips, don’t get me wrong as a Malec shipper, the kiss was sweet).

I am going to say this…because I feel like I need to put another side out there…agree or not, it’s doesn’t really matter to me at the end of the day…so here it’s goes…this show is not about JUST Clary…and her name might go first in the credits but it’s called “Shadowhunters”…not something like “Buffy the Vampire Slayers”…and even in Buffy, there were episodes that focused on the other characters and their development. It’s not, Clary the Shadowhunter…she is NOT the only main character and yes it’s not the Malec Show…but it’s NOT the Clace show either. True, the relationships are important and the characters are essential. But, this show does have a bigger theme. In general, it’s a supernatural show, about good vs evil…, etc. One of the plots coming up is the Downworlders going to be treated with restrictions…like today’s reflections on the immigration laws that we are currently living in.

This is not the books. It’s “based” off the books. I understand this might piss off a lot of the loyalists of the books, but they did attempt to do a movie franchise…but they failed. Even the movie took some “artistic license” and change things. It had the potential to be the next Twilight or Hunger Games…but it didn’t make the cut. Even with the failure of the movie, it’s still holds some potential to be something. So, When a series of books get pick up as a show, it opens more doors, meaning things are going to change even more. It’s also means there’s more room for more characters development and more storylines.

The books centered on mostly Clary…Jace, and Simon perspectives with Izzy, Magnus, Alec, Luke…etc…as the supporting characters. That’s the author’s choices. That was the books, this is not the books. The show will take parts and influences of the books, but it’s going to shine more light in other perspectives that wasn’t explored in the books…that’s a given. The creators, showrunners, writers, producers, directors…are going to make choices that will and “has” made many people either happy or really fucking pissed. That’s a given. Even the author called the show, “a fanfiction.” She knows what she sign her rights off to. Like Marvel, Star Wars…Disney owns them now. She has to know that, things will change. And her loyalists should know that too.

A lot of key aspects made it into the show…it’s not like the show abandon everything…like the main ships are there…they are in development. Climon did happen in the books before Clace. Clary is discovering and exploring her rune creating skills…Jace has Daddy’s issues…Alec is out and openly gay…Magnus and Camille trouble relationships…the Shadowhunters discrimination against the Downworlders…it’s not like it’s not there, it’s just delivered with different tones and directions.

So, yes it’s Clary’s perspectives and Clace is THE relationship in the books…but yet every popular polls, awards, and marketing has centered on the two LGBT characters. There’s a reason why and it’s very clear, very…VERY clear reason why…they are the most popular characters on the show, some people don’t have to like it but it’s fact. They are what most people want to see. Even non-fans, are aware of them. They are getting noticed, competing with big ships like Olicity and Stydia…basically…THEY ARE BEING CELEBRATED just like those other ships. And they should be.

So, if the Malec fandom is making some of you mad, that’s you’re prerogative. Most of the “negativity” comes from years and years of hurt. I know it’s just a show and it’s for entertainment, but you must understand that a picture say a thousands of words. When you were little and all those heroes and characters that you grew up reading about in school, watch on TV…in the movies,…on stage…they were always in the characteristics of the “default.” White and Straight…but you look at them and you look at you…sure you might relate to their morals, their journey…their struggles…but no matter what, you still never be their equal. You’re different and people won’t treat your story, the same as them. When will someone that looks like you get to be the hero, the main character? And when you see a guy like Magnus and a guy like Alec…as individuals and as a couple, it’s something special and the reactions to them, is heart warming and welcoming.

Do you know in 1989…when they created a new Robin for the Batman comics after the death of Jason Todd, Tim Drake…the creators wanted him to be Asian, but were told that the public won’t respond to him…won’t relate to him. So, he’s not. You heard about it before, we can’t get this person, they won’t sell tickets..that’s why in 2017, Scarlett Jo can play Japanese..and guess what? Her movie flopped and they lost $60 millions dollars in profit. And one of the executives of paramount even had admitted that their failure was due to the Whitewashing controversy and blamed the audience for spreading “the truth”. I am sure it was really hard for them to admit to that.

Now, currently the new Robin is Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s blood related son…he is canonically…Caucasian, Arabic, and Chinese…yet I have seen fan dream casting him…as White. That’s how some people respond…to years of being told that this is what the people want to see…but recently with the talks about the bat-family being created for the DCEU movies…and a possible Tim Drake being casted…fans are positively rooting for Ryan Potter…who is Japanese and White. See, people are speaking and demanding for change…just how people wanted Donald Glover to be the next Spider-Man…yet it didn’t happen but the people wanted him to be. It was massively trending. And he got a lot hate too, but there was a louder and positive support for him.

Alright, back to the program…

This isn’t new, there’s multiple fandoms with that one ship that’s stands out. This one ship is a big deal because, it’s an LGBT and an interracial relationship…and true, there’s other LGBT and interracial couples out there in the media, but are they getting the press, the mass acknowledgement, winning awards,…do they have a big fandom like this? A fandom that would trend them on multiple social media outlets. Name another couple with this representations with this massive love?…And they have been popular since the books, but they were never this popular until Malec were given flesh and pulses.

The most important thing is perspectives…telling people and reminding people that this show is about this person or that person, is meaningless and stressful. Because people are individuals with their own perspectives and they going to support what they want. If you’re there for Clary and Clace, you will get them…season 1 was very Clace focused…and Clary focused and if you’re there for Malec and want more Malec, you will get Malec…how much of it (we will see) and there are people who is still very angry with the choices that was made with Malec in 2a and some are not.

For me, I watch the show, I saw too much Clace…but another person will tell me…this is becoming the Malec Show. That’s what they saw vs what I saw. I saw 1 minute of Malec interaction scene in 1 episode and I was pissed. There was literally an episode where Harry had one scene…he called Alec for drinks…and that’s it. The rest was centered on Alec, Clary, and Simon interacting. And Luke…literally do I need to remind you about the treatment there. So, if you’re going to compare this and that. If you’re going to get Mad, because Clary isn’t getting the fair treatment because it’s apparently the Clary’s show, you jumping to privilege thinking and that’s a dark place to go…trust me, there’s plenty of Clary and Jace in the show…but the fame light is on Malec. It’s because the people, the fans that shined...that light on them.

So, I can be mad if I choose to be, when I did see less of this character and of this relationship…and yes, you also tell me that this is the Clary’s show and the Clace’s show…and that’s your perspective. That’s you. Be you. But also be open minded, Shadowhunters is a diverse shows…it’s aiming was to be open. It’s still has its flaws, but I hope it’s a show that’s listens to the fans. That’s a whole bag of another drama.

You can choose to be mad or passive, you can avoid the negativity, just scroll on by or follow people that think like you. It’s your choice. But why not be open minded…you are watching a diverse show. Why not understand that their aim is bigger now?

I wanted more Malec, to be honest…I had a good serving of Clace while reading the books. I like them, I ship them…and I care about them…and they will be there as much as the other characters are, but I want more characters to shine now. And there is room for more development for the other characters. It’s ambitious, but why the hell not!

When Leonard told Sheldon…don’t go thinking outside the box, but then go rub your ass against the side of the box…that Isn’t progress.

(This is nothing against the actors of the show, they really are sweet people and have been openly supportive of the representations…and my aim wasn’t to anti- this person or this ship…I just wanted to say this…if you don’t agree…scroll on by, might be a long scroll though).

[thatsnotcanonpodcasts]

Gaming Hotels, Money & Nebula

Hello, welcome, and G’day, we are so happy to have you join us again for our latest episode. When we say episode we don’t mean Buck having a rant and all that; just thought we should clarify that up front. Now we have a bumper episode this week with lots of stuff for you to enjoy.

            First up we have Professor bringing us news about Atari’s plan to open a chain of hotels. They have announced that they will be themed and focus on developing E-sports functionality. But we wonder is it going to be presented with the old style timber/brown laminate like we used to see on the old Atari? Guarantee that it won’t be the first option for the honeymoon market, although, any ladies who think that would be cool let us know that we are wrong once again. Following this Professor has the ESA’s environmentally unfriendly stance against the right to repair and modify your machines/consoles. BOO HISS!!! How lame can these idiots be, I mean, don’t they realise that advancements in technology have come about by people looking under the hood and figuring out ways to do things better?

            Next up we have DJ talking about IDW losing money and what they are planning to do about it. Apparently they have announced they are struggling in various markets with the material they are presently distributing. Of course the solution would be to develop new material, breathe new life into the company instead of just pumping out more of the same thing. But, no, they are hoping that their partnership with Netflix will save them. Then DJ brings us news on the critic’s reviews on Birds of Prey for us to laugh at and make fun of. Seriously, does anyone actually take them serious anymore? Buck suggests that if Rotten Tomatoes give a film a bad rating it must be good, and if it is good then stay away. What do you think, does that sound like a good approach to use?

            Then Buck has the latest on the Spitzer Space Telescope, which has just retired. After being on mission since 2003 it has provided heaps of data for scientist, with the first images and data being of the Tarantula Nebula. In homage to its origins the last images and data developed by Spitzer were also of the Tarantula Nebula. Which honestly is a hotbed of activity, with the explosion of a supernova that was first discovered in 1987 (interestingly called 1987a) and still sweeping through space creating some awesome images. Also there is a collection of 40 massive stars at least 50 times the size of our sun all in a tiny area together. If this isn’t enough for you Buck also brings us news of the latest evolution of robot tanks. Before anyone gets all Terminator Judgement Day on us, they are not all armed and those that are still need a person involved to fire on a target. But for those who are looking for an alternative to a trailer that hitches to your car, we might have a solution for you.

            We hope you enjoy this bumper episode this week. As normal we have the usual shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events. Let us know what you think, make requests if you have a topic you are interested in having us dig into. Or just drop us a line and we will give you a special shout out. As always, remember to take care of yourselves, look out for each other and stay hydrated.

Atari’s new idea : Gaming Hotels - https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-01-27-atari-to-open-gaming-hotels-in-at-least-eight-us-cities

ESA’s stance on Right To Repair - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAVp1WVq-1Q&feature=youtu.be

IDW loses money…a lot of money - https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/01/25/idw-loses-17-1-million-in-2019-projects-profitability-in-2021/

Early reviews of Birds of Prey have arrived…. - https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/01/27/early-audience-reviews-for-margot-robbies-birds-of-prey-arrive/

The Tarantula Nebula - https://phys.org/news/2020-01-tarantula-nebula-web-mystery-spitzer.html

Robot Tank…now with no firepower - https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50387954

Games Played

Professor

– Steamworld  - http://imageform.se/game/steamworld-dig/

Rating: 3.5/5

Buck

– Thunder Run: War of Clans - https://www.facebook.com/ThunderRunWarOfClans/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Rating: 3/5

DJ – DNP

Other topics discussed

Niagara Falls' real-life Mario Kart track

- https://dailyhive.com/toronto/niagara-falls-real-life-mario-kart-track-opening-june-2018?fbclid=IwAR32kb9QxDvcX-YzQGY0G9GGRDlYfkpqRU2fH2Kee96JtqNXo_r5YrDl1Jw

Nintendo wins legal battle against one of Tokyo's real-life 'Mario Kart' tours

- https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/29/nintendo-tokyo-mario-kart-legal-win/

Final Fantasy VII cafes

- https://soranews24.com/2020/01/25/final-fantasy-vii-cafes-are-opening-in-tokyo-and-osaka-to-celebrate-legendary-games-remake/

OutRun (arcade game released by Sega in September 1986.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Run

Mario Bros. (platform game published and developed for arcades by Nintendo in 1983.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Bros.

The Verge PC Build (Reuploaded) by Ext_Nation

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ4viTwfFxA

Louis Rossmann - Why I don't use Apple products

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfrYOWlKJ_g

JerryRigEverything (American YouTuber and tech reviewer. He has gained fame and popularity for his technology reviews including smartphones, watches, apps and much more.)

- https://www.youtube.com/user/JerryRigEverything

- https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/JerryRigEverything

Every Console In One Box - The Origin Big O by Unbox Therapy

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErQQc6cUSTA

Star Trek (comic book series by IDW Publishing, based on the Star Trekscience fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(IDW_Publishing)

Captain Marvel (2019 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Carol Danvers.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Marvel_(film)

Punisher (A fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher

Spiderman 3 (2007 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_3

Dexter (American television crimedramamystery series that aired on Showtime from October 1, 2006, to September 22, 2013)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_(TV_series)

Snakes on a Plane (At one point, the film was given the title Pacific Air Flight 121, only to have it changed back to the working title at Samuel Jackson's request.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_on_a_Plane#Production

Black hole (A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting gravitational acceleration so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole

The Amazing World of Gumball (British-American surreal comedy animated television series created by Ben Bocquelet for Cartoon Network.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_World_of_Gumball

Cartoon Network - The Amazing World of Gumball | The Meaning Of Life

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZspV3ser1Q

Tarantula (The spider originally bearing the name "tarantula" was Lycosa tarantula, a species of wolf spider native to Mediterranean Europe. The name derived from that of the southern Italian town of Taranto.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula#Etymology

RoboCop (1987) - It's Only a Glitch (Dick's boardroom demonstration of the Enforcement Droid 209 goes awry when the droid opens fire on Kinney.

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TstteJ1eIZg

Law Abidding Citizen (2009) - Weaponized bomb disposal robot kills people

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrK-UojUTNw

Remote controlled weapon station (A remote controlled weapon station (RCWS), or remote weapon station (RWS), also known as a remote weapon system, (RWS) is a remotely operated weaponized system often equipped with fire-control system for light and medium-caliber weapons which can be installed on ground combat vehicle or sea- and air-based combat platforms.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_controlled_weapon_station

Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) (a remote weapon station systems used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CROWS

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

- https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields

Dulce Et Decorum Est (poem written by Wilfred Owen during World War I, and published posthumously in 1920)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_et_Decorum_est

Podcast Nine and Three-Quarters (TNC Podcast)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/nineandthreequarterspodcast

Shout Outs

-  26 January 2020 – Kobe Bryant died – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kobe_Bryant

On January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter crashed in Calabasas, California, around 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, en route to Camarillo, California. It was carrying former basketball player Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, six family friends including baseball coach John Altobelli and his wife and daughter, and the pilot. All on board were killed.

-  26 January 2020 – Australian of the Year 2020 awarded to eye surgeon James Muecke - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-25/australian-of-year-awards-2020-announced-in-canberra/11901006

Dr Muecke was honoured in a ceremony in Canberra. In 2000 he co-founded Vision Myanmar at the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology and later co-founded Sight For All, a social impact organisation aiming to create a world where everyone can see. More recently Dr Muecke's work has specifically focused on preventing the leading cause of blindness in adults — type 2 diabetes. When accepting the award from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Dr Muecke said he viewed type 2 diabetes — something that impacts nearly one in every 10 Australians — as a "looming catastrophe for our health system".

- 28 January 1958 – Lego patents its First Bricks - https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/jan28/lego-patents-its-first-bricks/

The Lego Group, with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, patented its design for interlocking plastic bricks. The design was so stable that those bricks can still be used with Lego sets created today. Today, the Lego Group, based in Denmark, is worth more than a billion dollars.

Remembrances

-  26 January 2020 – Louis Nirenberg -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Nirenberg

Canadian-American mathematician, considered one of the most outstanding mathematicians of the 20th century. He made fundamental contributions to linear and nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) and their application to complex analysis and geometry. His contributions include the Gagliardo–Nirenberg interpolation inequality, which is important in the solution of the elliptic partial differential equations that arise in many areas of mathematics, and the formalization of the bounded mean oscillation known as John–Nirenberg space, which is used to study the behaviour of both elastic materials and games of chance known as martingales. He died at the age of 94 in New York.

- 28 January 1918 – Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCrae

Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I, and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He is best known for writing the famous war memorial poem "In Flanders Fields". McCrae died of pneumonia near the end of the war. "In Flanders Fields" appeared anonymously in Punch on December 8, 1915, but in the index to that year McCrae was named as the author. The verses swiftly became one of the most popular poems of the war, used in countless fund-raising campaigns and frequently translated. He died from pneumonia with "extensive pneumococcus meningitis" at the age of 45 in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

- 28 January 1996 – Jerry Siegel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Golgi

Jerome Siegel who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter and Jerry Ess was an American comic book writer. His most famous creation was Superman, which he created in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster. Siegel and Shuster had been developing the Superman story and character since 1933, hoping to sell it as a syndicated newspaper comic-strip. But after years of fruitless soliciting to the syndicates, Siegel and Shuster agreed to publish Superman in a comic book. In March 1938, they sold all rights to Superman to the comic-book publisher Detective Comics, Inc., another forerunner of DC, for $130 ($2,361 when adjusted for inflation). Siegel and Shuster later regretted their decision to sell Superman after he became an astonishing success. DC Comics now owned the character and reaped the royalties. Nevertheless, DC Comics retained Siegel and Shuster as the principal writer and artist for the Superman comics, and they were well-paid because they were popular with the readers. He died from a heart attack at the age of 81 in Los Angeles,California.

Famous Birthdays

- 28 January 1611 – Johannes Hevelius - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Hevelius 

A councillor and mayor of Danzig (Gdańsk), Kingdom of Poland. As an astronomer, he gained a reputation as "the founder of lunar topography", and described ten new constellations, seven of which are still used by astronomers. He discovered four comets, in 1652, 1661, 1672 and 1677. These discoveries led to his thesis that such bodies revolve around the Sun in parabolic paths. He was born in Danzig,Pomeranian Voivodeship.

- 28 January 1912 – Jackson Pollack – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock

American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his technique of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface ('drip technique'), enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. It was also called 'action painting', since he used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a frenetic dancing style. This extreme form of abstraction divided the critics: some praised the immediacy and fluency of the creation, while others derided the random effects. He was born in Cody Wyoming.

-  28 January 1966 –  Seiji Mizushima - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Mizushima 

Japanese anime storyboard artist and director. He has directed such series as Shaman King, Fullmetal Alchemist, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Un-Go, and Concrete Revolutio. He also directed anime films such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer. He was born in Fuchū, Tokyo.

Events of Interest

- 28 January 1887 - The first digging work on the Eiffel Tower started - https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/the-monument/history

It took two years, two months, and five days after construction began. The pieces of iron are connected by 2.5 million rivets. They were put in place by between 150 and 300 workers who were employed to build the structure. The structure may be named after Gustave Eiffel, but it was actually his senior engineers, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, who designed the building.

-  21 January 1981 - The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph). - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W125_Rekordwagen

The streamlined car was derived from the 1937 open-wheel race car Mercedes-Benz W125 Formel-Rennwagen, of which also a streamlined version was raced at the non-championship Avusrennen in Berlin. The main difference to the Grand Prix race car, which had to adhere to the 750 kg (1,653 lb) limit, was the engine. While the GP car had the 8-cylinder inline M125, which was rather tall, the record car was fitted with a V12 engine that was lower, which reduced drag. It remained the fastest ever officially timed speed on a public road until broken on 5 November 2017 by Koenigsegg in an Agera RS driven by Niklas Lilja, achieving 445.6 km/h (276.9 mph) on a closed highway in Nevada.

- 28 January 1896 – Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined oneshilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h).  - https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Walter-Arnold-Worlds-First-Speeding-Ticket/

The London Daily News detailed the four counts, also known as “informations”, on which Walter Arnold faced charges at Tunbridge Wells court. Arnold’s vehicle was described several times in the newspaper court report as a “horseless carriage”, and the case clearly raised some interesting philosophical as well as legal points for the bench. The first count, which reads oddly now, was for using a “locomotive without a horse,” the next for having fewer than three persons “in charge of the same”, indicating the enduring influence of horse-drawn and steam locomotion when it came to legislating the new vehicles. Next came the actual speeding charge, for driving at more than two miles per hour, and finally, a charge for not having his name and address on the vehicle. The case may have had an influence on the changes to legislation shortly afterwards. The fearsome machines no longer needed a minimum of three people to control them.

Intro

Artist – Goblins from Mars

Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)

Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ

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[wikitopx]

Fort Worth is great of everything cowboy;

Once home to cowherds, outlaws, and cowboys themselves, it retains its identity, albeit in a more urban environment, with interesting museums like the Art Museum. Kimbell magic and American Art Museum Amon Carter. However, let's not lose this beloved city for the first reason here; see Fort Worth Herd, a world of only two cattle drives a day, go on a trip, or two steps on the night road at one of Billy Bob's great concerts. Ready to take your partners?

[toc]

1. Kimbell Art Museum

This is quite an unusual art museum in that the natural light inside always displays its pieces in a way that shows them to their best advantage. And, cleverly, the humidity is carefully controlled to keep the art in its best condition.

The museum hosts a small and excellent collection together with educational programs, traveling art exhibitions and an extensive research library. The lovely thing about this museum is that its intimate size makes it more approachable for people who are new to art museums.

There are just a few exemplary examples on show, so a nice place to take your kids to get them started! There is also a fabulous shop selling everything from publications, prints, gifts, jewelry and more.

2. Fort Worth Zoo

For many reasons, I gave Fort Worth Zoo to my nearby Dallas partner. Fort Worth Zoo has been named a leading zoo through prestigious publications such as the LA Times, Family Life magazine and USA Today.

One of the lovely things about this zoo is that the nurturing and development went into it; Founded in 1909 with just one lion, a crocodile, two bears, a peacock, a wolf, and a few rabbits, it is now home to 5,000 exotic and indigenous animals.

One part of its popularity is due to its intimacy and easy navigation and the excellent job it does in introducing kids to the care and conservation of animals. Your kids will have an unforgettable visit!

3. Amon Carter Museum of American Art

This museum has a truly fascinating collection of 19th and early 20th-century American art and should really not be missed! A number of works include works by artists such as Georgia O Summer Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Alexander Calder, and Thomas Cole, as well as a host of significant photographic works.

Of course, this is part of the museum, which must be a museum of 150,000 items focused on American history, art and culture. In addition to the free museum entrance, it also boasts a great restaurant with an interesting menu of great desserts!

4. Fort Worth Stockyards

The family will really feel they have touched the cowboy country when visiting the Fort Worth Stock Exchange. As you watch the drovers corralling the cattle up the Chisholm Trail to the railheads, you will start to get a taste of how things had been in the late 1800s, when more than four million head of cattle had trailed through the city.

The arrival of the railroad brought the construction of the Union Stockyards and the city became a major livestock shipping point. There is plenty to do and see here and where you can still experience some of the old west wild forests, from meeting cowboys to visiting original, original stores.

All the buildings have been renovated but have somehow been able to retain the look of old fashioned saloons and bars.

5. Bureau of Engraving and Printing

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Western Currency facility is one of only two in the United States that prints money. (The other one is situated in Washington, D.C.).

Take a free 45 minute guided tour – available on weekdays – and watch how money is printed as well as learning all about the history of American money and stories about the various money designs.

The children, in particular, will be interested in various performance exhibitions. There is also a turn of century spider newspaper and an engraved bench to watch. Security is super efficient of course, but the facility’s staff is very friendly and happy to answer any questions.

6. Sundance Square

Make sure not to miss a visit to Sundance Square when you’re here in Fort Worth. The area has numerous museums, art galleries, movie houses, and a large number of great options for shopping and dining! Suitable for keeping all families entertained, although nightlife and impromptu comedy venues may be of greater interest to adults.

Pay attention to the many special events and festivals for everyone and have fun as people watch from a cafe or one of the many ice cream shops located on one of the lovely red-brick streets and courtyards. augment the space of the area. On a hot day, the kids can cool off in the nearby water gardens!

7. Hidden Valley Miniature Golf

This miniature golf course has lots more to it than just a very pleasant family golf course; it also comes with a video game room that includes an air hockey table and a place to throw a baseball, picnic, grill, and cooking area too.

Because of its excellent reviews - including very clean facilities, nice staff, and affordable prices, it's easy to recommend this place as a great day for the whole family. The course takes about 30 minutes to complete, and that’s with kids, too. Everyone will enjoy the relaxed and comfortable old fashioned fun atmosphere!

8. Trinity Park

Trinity Park is a 252-acre park that stretches along the banks of the Trinity River. Popular with locals and tourists alike, it really is a lovely venue for families to enjoy and have fun, with its duck pond, several playgrounds for the kiddies, miniature trains are known for having the best cycling and hiking trails around town!

If you want to try your hand at fishing, you’ll be pleased to know that fish are periodically released into the River. With a basketball court, a spacious walk area, bike rental facilities, picnic stands, fountains and plenty of clean toilets, everyone from tots to adults will have an enjoyable visit to this lovely park.

9. The Secret Chambers Escape Challenge

For James Rockford fans of the family, why not try searching for clues, solving puzzles, unlocking and finding a way out to work at the Secret Chambers Escape Challenge? There is no time to waste because you and your team only have 60 minutes to complete all challenges and successfully escape!

This is a very fun outing for all the family to get involved in, and it’s guaranteed to bring you all closer together as you jointly attempt to solve all the clues. And if you get stuck at any time, the guide is within reach, just in case. Famous puzzle room with great space and fun experience!

10. Flight Deck Trampoline Park

For family fun, head to Trampoline Park on the flight! Or should I say, pop up your way! The trampoline park is a large indoor court made up of connecting trampoline, where children can have fun and dive into the shady soccer fields or dive into big holes.

For the younger members of the family (including toddlers), there is also what is known as the safe zone, so everyone gets to have safe fun, whatever age. Great exercise and super enjoyment for all!

More ideals for you: Top 10 things to do in Tucson

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-fort-worth-2-704076.html

[ciathyzareposts]

Star Control II: Building the Empire

The aptly-named “Orz” do indeed make me want to kneel down and bang my head against the floor.

          If I do end up running out of time and having to start over with Star Control II, at least I’ll get to revise my decision to name my new alliance “The New Alliance of Free Stars.” I didn’t realize I’d be giving that name to everyone I meet. Next time, I’m going with “The Empire of Chester.”

The Empire is growing. In contrast to my last session, where I didn’t seem to make much progress, I did nothing but accomplish things this time around. It began with a slight rewind. After I reloaded from my fatal (for him) encounter with the Shifoxti rogue ship, I was back at starbase. I returned to Delta Gorno, but by way of the Melnorme ship at Alpha Centauri, where I sold a heap of biological data and now had enough credits to actually start buying things.

        No rainbow worlds yet, though.

            When dealing with the Melnorme, you can buy a piece of technology, information on current events, information on alien races, or historical information. You only get to choose the category; they choose the next item to give to you. I altered among the categories and ended up obtaining/discovering the following:

             A schematic for blaster weapons twice as powerful as my current ion-bolt guns

A schematic for faster lander speed

In addition to the Shofixti warrior I’d already met, there’s another solo warrior out there plus several females in the menagerie of the Vux admiral Zex. If I can bring the females to the two males and things work out, there will be millions of new Shofixti within a few human generations. The Melnorme recommended that we adopt an approach of insulting the Shofixti and then fleeing if attacked.

The Ur-Quan are presently at war with a race called the Kohr-Ah, which are not the alien probes, so I was wrong there. The major fighting is in the middle of the galaxy. The Kohr-Ah seem to be winning. Their war has caught the Zoq-Fot-Pik in the crossfire (something I’d already heard from that race).

The Ur-Quan are part of an ancient alliance of races called the “sentient milieu.”

The blobbish Umgah, one of the races in the Ur-Quan hierarchy, renowned for their sense of humor, has begun screwing with the Ilwrath (the spider-like creatures) by using a device called a HyperWave Caster to impersonate the Ilwrath gods, Dogar and Kazon. When the Ilwrath priest caste decried this fakery, the rest of the Ilwrath population slaughtered the priests. If we could get our hands on this Caster, we could effectively neutralize the Ilwrath.

          I ran out of credits at this point, but I’d added a few new items to my “to do” list. On we went back to Delta Gorno, where I ran into Tanaka the Shofixti again and this time insulted him. When he attacked, I fled. I re-engaged him almost immediately and noted that I had different insults among the dialogue options, so I figured I must be getting somewhere. He attacked again; I fled again. I think on the third attempt, he realized that the Ur-Quan had never insulted him before, and thus slowed down enough to figure out that we were his allies. Although glad to hear of a new alliance against the Ur-Quan, he declined to join us, preferring to stay and guard his old system. I assume I need him there for when I bring back the Shofixti females.

              I’m going to try to get you some company.

           Back I went to my quest list. Let’s divert for a moment to note that this is one of the few games of the entire 1975-1992 period in which you have anything like a “quest list.” It’s extremely common now, of course. Fire up any modern RPG, and you’ve got a dozen items on your “to do” list (which the game now helpfully keeps for you) before you’ve left the first town. There are multiple approaches to deciding what item to pursue next, and I’ll explore the consequences in a future special topic entry. Briefly, some of them are:

         Gingerly: Do the easiest item (or what sounds like the easiest item) next

Chronologically: Do the oldest item next.

Geographically by Proximity: Do the closest item next.

Geographic by System: Explore the game using a systematic geographic approach (e.g., west to east), solving quests along the way

Consequentially: Do the most important item next.

Comprehensively: Do all the side quests before the next step in the main quest; the side quests are probably prioritized using another approach here

Organically: Do the item next that you’d really do next if you were the character, which probably juggles a lot of these options.

Mercenarily: Do the item that sounds like it will give you the greatest reward next.

Randomly: Count the number of items on the list and roll a die.

Anarchically: Explore the game completely at whim without regard to quests, solving them if you happen to stumble on them.

             (Let me know if you think I’ve missed any.)

I find that altering your approach to quests makes a lot of modern games extremely replayable. I tend to play the first time using a “consequential/geographic proximity” combination, meaning I prioritize by importance but pick up side quests as they exist along the route. This ensures that I actually finish the main quest. I don’t want to be one of those people that says things like, “I have 1,200 hours into Fallout 4 and I still haven’t won the game.” I go for the win the first time. The second time, if I’m motivated to play again, I might try a chronological approach to ensure that I explore more of the side quests. Lately, though, I’ve been prioritizing a random approach, such that Irene is sick of hearing me say, “Hey, Siri, give me a random number between one and twenty-five” before heading off to bag a Legendary Elk.

With Star Control II, I’ve been using the random approach, mostly because none of the quests seemed obviously more important than the others. But by the end of this session, I had decided to revise my system and use a geographic proximity approach instead, mostly because I nearly ran out of fuel twice while in the fringes of space.

Still using the random roll, I next chased rumors of an unknown ancient race who used to make their home in the Vulpeculae constellation, in the middle of Androsynth space. I didn’t expect much from the expedition. Indeed, I figured I’d be attacked by Androsynth and that would be the end of it. Sure enough, I arrived to a swarm of ships who immediately started approaching my own.

              Well, this doesn’t bode well.

             They weren’t Androsynth, though. They were bright yellow things, looking like a combination between a fish and a flower. When they made contact, my translation program warned that it was having trouble with their speech, and it put asterisks around words they weren’t sure about, so in an early speech, we got:

          Hello extremely! I hope you like to *play*. Some *campers* are not so good for *games*. . . Who are you? You are not Orz! We are Orz! Orz are happy *people energy* from the outside. Inside is good. So much good that the Orz will always *germinate.* Can you come together with Orz for *parties*?

             At first I thought something ribald was going on here, like “parties” meant “orgies” or something. But things didn’t develop explicitly along those lines. The best I could work out from their many lines of only partly comprehensible dialogue is that the Orz come from another dimension, that the individual Orz we perceive are all just “fingers” of a single being (like a happy version of the Uhl from Starflight), and that they destroyed the Androsynth for some unknown reason. (They got mad when I even asked about it.) They also don’t seem to like the Ariloualeelay, whom they suggest are from their dimension, but from “above” while the Orz are from “below.”

          Let’s just make sure we agree on a safe word.

         Anyway, they seemed to join the Alliance. They let me land on their planets, and they gave me specifications for an “Orz Nemesis” ship that I later had built. Good to know that the Androsynth aren’t a threat anymore.

On one of the planets–the second around Eta Vulpeculae–my scanners picked up energy signatures for the first time since (I think) Pluto. There were a lot of them–destroyed Androsynth cities, it turned out.

As my lander explored these cities, the game again invented names and personalities for some of my interchangeable crewmember-hit points. Their reports together created a kind of mini horror story. It began with “xeno-historian Kilgore” reporting that some kind of land war destroyed the cities but left no corpses. Later, “science officer Bukowski” that the Androsynth had been researching “Dimensional Fatigue Phenomena,” based on their discovery of some Precursor artifacts. They were generating waves that allowed them to see into other dimensions. They ended up making contact with some life form on the “other side,” after which their research degraded into rantings about ghosts and poltergeists before abruptly coming to an end.

            Multiple lander reports deliver a growing horror story.

           In continued reports from the lander, “Ensign Hawthorne” radioed that Bukowski had continued his inquiry into the Androsynth research project and had himself gone insane, ranting that “they” could now see him and that he had to stop “them” before “they” could see everyone else. Stigmata started appearing on his body, as if he was being cut by an invisible source. The crewmembers on the lander begged to be brought home, and running them into other cities didn’t seem to generate any new reports, so I complied. Lots of mysteries here. Are “they” the Orz? The Ariloualeelay? Some other beings from another dimension? Just who have I allied with here?

             That sounds ominous.

            On another old ancient ruin, my crew found an “unusual glowing rock-thing” that seemed to make some people sick with headaches and “mental disarray.” It was said to be Taalo in origin, this name appearing for the first time. I assume it’s the name of the ancient race that lived in Precursor times.

Back at starbase, Commander Hayes praised the design of the Orz Nemesis. Later, he reported that the Taalo rock seemed to have something to do with blocking psychic attacks. Those that had become ill were those with some psychic ability. (He referred to them as “espers,” either a reference to 1988’s Star Command, or just a term that’s more common than I thought for someone with E.S.P.)

              Adding the Nemesis to my fleet. Now I have four ships that I can’t pilot effectively!

            For my last expedition, my random roll gave me the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld, which is in the middle of the map but the farthest I’ve traveled so far. I stopped at a few systems on the way to search for minerals and whatever else. I’m finding that I hate planets with a “weather” score higher than 2. I can usually avoid earthquakes, and thus deal with a high tectonics score, but lightning bolts often seem to target my lander specifically, and none of my dodging and weaving helps. 

One of the worlds I stopped at randomly was Betelgeuse. There, I was surprised to find a red force field covering a planet and a starbase in orbit. It turned out to be Gaia, the new homeworld of the Syreen, their old one having been destroyed before the events of the first game. When the Alliance surrendered, the Syreen–like Earth–chose to live under a dome rather than serve as battle thralls.

            This seems familiar.

           In a long conversation with the Syreen Commander Talana–in which the game seemed to delight in giving me boorish, inappropriate dialogue options–I learned quite a bit about the race. They used to live on Syra–which we call Beta Copernicus–before an asteroid impact caused such volcanic upheaval that the planet had to be abandoned. Now, the entire system seems to have been taken over by the Mycon.

            The game gives me one professional option and three takes on sexual harassment.

             When the Syreen surrendered to the Ur-Quan, they chose the shield but noted that they had no actual planet. The Ur-Quan asked them about their requirements. The Syreen talked about Syra (“about the color of its sky, about the abundant, varied lifeforms, about the fertility of the soil and seas”). The Ur-Quan took an hour, then communicated back with the coordinates of Gaia, which the Syreen found to be absolutely perfect. “We’d been searching for a home planet for seventy-five years,” Talana said, “and in the end, it was our enemies who gave one to us.” Naturally, they were now uninterested in violating their treaty and upsetting the status-quo unless I could give them a good reason, and I had nothing. But I put their old planet on my “to do” list for investigation.

On to the Zoq-Fot-Pik system (ZFP from here on). When I arrived, I found it swarming with Ur-Quan, and before I could escape, one of the Ur-Quan dreadnoughts approached. Our dialogue just consisted of the Ur-Quan captain making threats. In the ensuing combat, I couldn’t do anything. I tried about five times. The dreadnought fires huge metal swastikas or something–I think they’re actually supposed to be autonomous ships–that fly around until they hit something. They have as many hit points as my own flagship. None of my smaller ships lasted more than a few hits and even with my flagship, it became clear that if I won, it would be with about 10 crewmembers left over. I really hope it’s possible to win this game without being good at the space combat.

             I missed the shot of the enemy’s projectile. It’s just crashed into my cruiser.

              So I ultimately sighed and escaped combat, which leaves your ship immobile for about 10 seconds as it jumps to hyperspace, which is enough time for the enemy to destroy a couple dozen crewmembers. I dodged the rest of the Ur-Quan ships and made my way to the ZFP homeworld, where the faintly ridiculous species agreed to join my alliance.

           The Pik is the emotional one.

          I leave you on my way back to starbase. The trip to the ZFP system took so much fuel that I have to keep my eye on the gauge as I explore for elements. But I do have to explore because if I don’t, I won’t have any money to buy new fuel when I get back. 

Lots of fun and progress this trip, though I’m not sure what it’s amounting to just yet.

Time so far: 15 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/star-control-ii-building-the-empire/

[briantalksmovies-blog]

Infinity War Opinion

I am not going to give this thing a rating of one or two thumbs up, or a scale of 1-5 stars. cause those are stupid and pointless. Its whether or not the movie was enjoyable or not and then talking about the things that bothered or excited me about the project. I am not an expert and these are my opinions, treat them as such. I will gladly have a discussion about these opinions, but I won't take part in silly yelling matches behind a keyboard. That is boring and a waste of time. So on to Infinity War!

First things first, Thanos is the real MVP of Infinity War. That is the only way to score this movie. Yes, Thor was the best Avenger, and I will argue for days about that fact.

For starters Thor loses his brother, sure they weren't always on good terms but its family, then he loses his entire people(?), I'm really not sure if Thanos let half of them live somewhere or not, but he did blow up their ship. Thor survives the ship blowing up, floating in space for an unidentified amount of time then rescued by the guardians of the galaxy. Calls Rocket a "rabbit" and convinces this ship of people he doesn't know to give him a ship and a crew and just leaves. He then gets a new eye (not sure the importance their, but I kinda liked one eyed Thor.) Then he goes to a star forge. He restarts the forge by again, going into space with no need of breathing apparatus, and just pulls the forge until it restarts the star. A fucking star! Then he helps really tall dwarf Peter Dinklage forge a new hammer. FYI this requires Thor to hold open the forge which exposes him to the heat and power of a star. Again, a fucking star! He gets his hammer, and he can now ride the bifrost and he returns to Earth to kick some ass and take some names. Almost killing Thanos. Show me any other character that went through more in this movie that was part of the good guys. Cause I'll give you a hint no one even comes close. My major bore of this movie was the lack of character development. Yes we had 10 years and 18 movies to get to know everyone, but I could still use a little character struggle from the good guys. The only struggle these people had to go through was to kill one of their own to save half the universe. While that is kind of a heavy thing for Vision and Gamora, That only puts development on Star Lord and Scarlet Witch. They are the ones asked to do the deed, and its funny cause both end up deciding to save the universe, and both fail because of the infinity stones. It reveals that those heros are willing to kill a good person to save a shit ton of other people, and it breaks them. I really wish Thanos' "children" were a little more developed, they were just ugly people doing mean (sometimes awesome) things to try and get the stones. The main "child" was awesome and I thought he really got shafted with a stupid Aliens reference. Side note, I know Peter Parker is a super genius teenager, but why is his main joke making movie references that don't apply to his generation. (We had Star Wars in Civil war, and if he was trying to be a movie nerd, he would have known that they are called At-At's. So lets stop with those jokes. Which they sort of did, but I'll get to that later. The bad guys were really not that great. Thanos was amazing, but every other villainous role, was so fucking dull and boring that I wanted more. It was just a bunch of stir crazed alien dogs on a hunt. We don't know where they were from, if they were there by choice, if they cared that they were slaves of Thanos, anything. They were worse then soldiers, they were just weird looking dogs. So point against Marvel for lack of originality when it came to Thanos' minion's. That being said Thanos still won and it was awesome. 

Now I don't want to do much speculation on the next movie, because speculation ruins movies, but that is for another rant (see my friends podcast Problematic Pod at problematicpod.com where I really go to town on the subject but I digress). But we must address the large emotional elephant in the room. The 50% of people that died at the end. Including our main man Peter Parker, Black Panther, Star Lord, and even Dr. Strange. I'm pretty sure they are going to be making more movies with these people as the main protagonist, and while I would love to brag to my grandchildren about the amount of actors I witnessed wear the spidey suit before I was 30 I'd be happy if it stays with its current host, and there are a large contingency of fans that I think agree. So this puts Marvel in a very tricky situation. My biggest worry is if they bring most or all of these characters back to life in the next movie will they have cheapened the first movies biggest gut punch? Now I could speculate on how they bring them back, the time stone, or soul stone or what have you, but I think the biggest thing for the next movie is if they do plan on bringing these characters back (very very likely) then how do they do it while making this first movie still land that punch upon re-watching. I think its important that in order to bring them back it better cost a lot cause if it is just someone turning back time like superman flying in reverse around the earth ruined this movie. It makes the emotion of the moment mean nothing if it could so easily be reversed. Which worked really well when Scarlet Witch killed Vision and the stone only to have him brought back and then killed again. That was a good use the whole turn back time thing. So I think as it stands now all those deaths were amazing because it was showing how bad ass Thanos and the gauntlet were. Now don't ruin it by fixing it too easily. Now lets talk about the most interesting story line of the next film, and no its not going to be the quest to bring back half the universe. This line in question is the fight between the hulk and Bruce Banner. Before Thanos beat the shit out of Hulk that dude hadn't lost a single fight and one single loss has got him scared to come out again. Its a new emotional level from a giant, supposedly fueled by rage, monster.  I find it a bit silly Bruce is so eager for the big guy to come back, because now he has a lot of personality, and because he was the hulk for so many years Bruce was afraid that he might never be Bruce again if he went back to the big guy. But now he is ordering the big guy out. So I'm getting mixed signals here. 

*Also side rant, I am pissed with the beginning of this film. Lets clarify a few things at the end of Thor Ragnarok they are on the ship and Thanos is picking them up. On this ship we have some key players that show up in Infinity war: Thor, Loki, Hulk, and Heimdall. At the end of the movie (Ragnarok) there were a few other characters that stole most scenes they were in, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and director Taika Waititi's Korg. I mean am I supposed to believe the best bit character of the MCU gets an unceremonious death off screen without a single line of dialogue! I was pissed the moment that ship blew up and I had no idea where those people went. (It was close to the moment in The Last Jedi where Admiral Akbar gets the short end of the stick). If they are smart they will bring Korg on in the knew one, cause all the comic relief died with Star Lord, Spider-Man, Drax, and even Groot. He would be a good addition to this new adventure, and Thor can just fly anywhere now with that awesome war hammer. But back to the Banner question. I am wondering what will make him come out and play. I hope its cool and worth while, not some stupid scene where everyone gets in line and shakes him and slaps him in the face a-la Airplane. 

But overall I think it was a very entertaining movie. The best part was at moments I was actually really excited for Thanos. There was a part of me that wanted him to get all the stones, because I knew it would be the best possible version of a near indestructible bad guy, and he did not disappoint. That dude pulled down an entire moon from orbit to come crashing down on Iron Man and company. My favorite part may have been the end where he meet Gamora in the amazingly orange temple arch and she asks him what did it take, and his response of "everything" was awesome. It was a story in which the man wanting it more succeeded. If Star Lord wanted it more he wouldn't have slapped Thanos in the face, and lost control of his emotions. Thanos was stronger then all of them mentally and physically.

Now I have one more tiny problem with this film, and its more of a stupid movie thing that made me groan out loud (gol?). It was when Dr. Strange was all like, "I was just looking at millions upon trillions of potential futures to this outcome. And there is only 1 where we succeed." And this one in which they succeed requires Star Lord getting all love sick knowing Thanos killed his girl, and he ruins it for everyone and then that results in Tony getting stabbed, Dr. Strange giving up the time stone and then half the universe needing to die? Was that part of the 1 in which Thanos loses...bullshit. I could see a percentage. like 1% cause that at least gives a few possibilities of success. where as this one single time line that leads to success means I am going to judge really hard any movie magic that happens in the next Avengers next summer cause I know its was the only course of action that would lead to victory. The ONLY one! Come one! I give it... 3 swims.

[gamerzcourt]

A Chat With Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter – Xbox One X, Loot Boxes, Exclusives And MoreA Chat With Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter – Xbox One X, Loot Boxes, Exclusives And Morexbox 360

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A Chat With Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter – Xbox One X, Loot Boxes, Exclusives And MoreA Chat With Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter – Xbox One X, Loot Boxes, Exclusives And Morexbox 360

The video game industry is in a state of flux and transition at the moment. Sony and Microsoft have launched all new iterative consoles that turn the paradigm of a console on its head, Nintendo has launched the Switch which is unlike anything on the market, experimental technology like VR seems to be taking off, and on the software front, games seem to be going through growing pains of new trends like games-as-a-service and microtransactions.

It’s almost too much to keep track of- trying to understand what the industry may look like going forward can be difficult when we barely have a handle on how it is currently in the first place. However, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities has made a name for himself for his predictions on trends, games, and hardware in the industry- so when we had a chance to speak with him again, we decided to see what he had to say on where video games are headed. Here’s what he had to say.

My first question is, I want to talk about exclusives. In 2018, all three have big games, like Microsoft has State of Decay, Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves, maybe a new Gears or Halo. Sony has God of War, Days Gone, Spider-Man, maybe The Last of Us 2 or Death Stranding. Nintendo, Yoshi, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, and Metroid. So, Microsoft’s slate definitely looks better next year than this year, but is it strong enough to go up against Nintendo and Sony?

You know, I think that people sometimes place too much emphasis on exclusives. I think this late in the console cycle, I mean, the consoles launched in 2013, who doesn’t own one of them yet? Sony is something like 70 million, and Microsoft is 35 million, so I guess they are two thirds of the way through. The only people who haven’t bought a console yet who will buy one are working people, or very young kid whose parents will get one for them. And, I guess, exclusives will bring some people back in who haven’t played Mario in a while, to the Switch, which is still new. But not something like Halo 6- if you like Halo, you got an Xbox One for Halo 5. Halo 6 will definitely sell a lot to its fanbase who already own an Xbox One, but it’s not gonna drive new hardware sales, it’s very different this late in the console cycle. So the reason Ij think the Switch is so popular is that they launched two giant games with Zelda and Mario, plus two really good games with Mario Kart and Splatoon. And that’s enough for Nintendo fans to say “I have to have this device,” which is why the Switch is sold out…

To answer your question, yes, any Microsoft lineup with Halo in it is better than any Microsoft lineup without Halo. But, for example, if they had had Halo this year, I would still have said Nintendo wins by a mile. Mario and Zelda in the same year? I can’t remember that happening, ever. This year Nintendo won by a mile, but I can’t expect them to to do that next year. Next year, Microsoft with Halo coming out, I think it’s coming out, looks strong. And, Sony’s lineup looks fine, I mean their lineup over the next several years looks good. But I don’t think either their line-up or Microsoft’s makes a difference anymore, people have already made their minds up, and it was probably driven by, “If I want early access to Call of Duty DLC, I’ll buy a PlayStation.”

Okay. So let’s talk about multiplatform games, then. The Xbox One X is Microsoft’s attempt to be able to say that games like Call of Duty and Destiny run the best on their console. The Xbox One X has seen great developer support, loads of developers are jumping on board to support the console with 4K and enhancement patches… but on the other hand, do you think that the Xbox One X getting so much support might inadvertently end up helping Sony and the PS4 Pro as well? In that now more developers who were previously not supporting it are now supporting it along the way with the Xbox One X as well?

I’m sure that that’s right. I think that the PS4 Pro also has the benefit benefit of being priced lower, and it seems to be selling a bit better, though that is a bit hard to tell with retail, because we don’t know exactly how many Xbox One Xs were shipped; they’re probably sold out for a few weeks. But yeah, I think that as opposed to the Xbox One X helping the PS4 Pro, I think the very low price of 4KTVs now is helping both. So if you’re going to buy a new TV now, say it’s time to replace your main TV, it no longer makes sense to buy 1080p TVs. The difference in price between 4K and 1080p screens is now negligible, literally a hundred bucks. So it just doesn’t make sense. So if you’re a gamer, and you’re playing on a 40 inch TV, the difference in price is literally negligible. So once you make the decision to get a 4KTV, you might as well get a PS4 Pro or an Xbox One X- and I know the Pro is not actually 4K, but that is how it is marketed. So, yes, I think all these things are connected. More 4KTVs lead to more sales for PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, and more sales for those systems lead to more developer support for both. And you’re right, once you make a game enhanced for Xbox One X, you might as well do it for the PS4 Pro. So sure, you’re definitely right.

““Once you make a game enhanced for Xbox One X, you might as well do it for the PS4 Pro.””

Okay, I want to go back to the Switch, now. You talked about how Nintendo definitely won this year with their exclusives lineup. Will they be able to maintain this sort of momentum in 2018?

No chance. I think that Mario and Zelda are evergreen titles, so of course if you haven’t played Odyssey yet, and it’s a fantastic game, and if you haven’t played Breath of the Wild ever, it’s new to you. So there’s an audience out there who hasn’t purchased a Switch yet, and when they do, Mario and Zelda will be new games for them- so I think those two games will keep driving system sales for sure. So the answer is, they will keep up some momentum. But the reason I don’t think they can keep up this sort of momentum in 2018 is, I don’t think Nintendo can keep up this cadence of game releases. So, I don’t expect they will have any game of this profile- there probably is a Smash Bros. game coming some day, it could be next year. If that gets announced, then yes, I could see the Switch keep up its momentum. If Smash is a 2019 title, then I think there will be a while where Switch sales level of, but they will stay strong- but more like 15 million in the west and Japan, plus whatever they can sell in China, although I think a lot of people are overestimating what they can sell in China too.

So, for this year, we have the NPD numbers for December, which will be announced in January- would you like to guess which console comes out in top this month?

You know, I’d say that Sony will sell more PS4s in November and December in the US, but not by a ton, I think Xbox will be close. I think Switch is not supply constrained, but you know, it looks like PS4 outsold Switch by a healthy margin, and the Xbox as well. In December, I think PS4 wins again- I don’t think Nintendo has the capacity to ship that many units, Sony meanwhile can sell 3, 4, 5 million consoles in December alone. And I don’t think Switch will sell below 3 million, I think that’s impossible, I don’t think Nintendo would ship that few.

So in December, you think it will be PS4, then Xbox, then Switch.

Xbox, the problem is the Xbox One X is expensive and in tight supply. The Xbox One S is remaining discounted at $ 189, which I think works in its favour. If I am buying the first console for my household, it’s hard for me to justify buying a Switch for $ 300 plus two games for $ 120, when I can buy an Xbox One S for $ 189, and two older games for cheaper, and walk out the door for $ 250. It’s a significantly lower entry point. I just don’t know how I can tell someone with a straight face, ‘your 8 year old boy needs a $ 300 Switch with Mario and Zelda’; that’s a lot of money.

Okay, going back to Xbox, one thing you are getting at is Xbox’s larger appeal for the more mainstream crowd. But even for the core crowd, they have made some great initiatives this year, services like the Game Pass, cross platform play, backward compatibility, Play Anywhere, EA Access, so on… do you think all of these help the console’s appeal, or is it more about user base retention within the Xbox ecosystem?

I think it’s more about retention. It’s impossible to know how many people are sold on Xbox because of Game Pass or EA Access; when you walk into a store, and if you were a brand new console purchaser, and you ask for someone for help, I don’t think anyone will say ‘get an Xbox for EA Access,” I can’t imagine that. So I don’t think Microsoft is driving new purchases with these- the truth is, if you go to buy a new console now, you look at the price of the hardware, and the library of games. And both consoles, PS4 and Xbox, have pretty deep libraries. Just the idea that you can get 3-5 games at the outset for not that much money for both reinforces that.

I think one great Xbox feature os backward compatibility; the idea that a $ 5 copy of RDR for Xbox 360 will work on Xbox One as well is a good deal. So that might drive system sales, but the truth is, while Xbox has done a lot right with their services, most of these things are for the exiting install base, not for a new one.

““I don’t think Microsoft is driving new hardware purchases with services like Game Pass.””

Speaking of services in a different sense, one topic that has been in the discourse a lot lately is microsotransactions and loot boxes; some analysts say they are here to stay, others say that we need an increase in the base price of a video game- which of the alternative are likelier?

Higher priced games will never happen. Publishers seem to have accepted $ 60 price points as the right price points. And though we have had inflation, games have stuck to this price for a while. That’s not going up. I think that the problem the publishers have is, they want to make money, and the cost of maintaining a multiplayer experience has gone up. So when they used to make a single player game only, they had just a self contained experience on the disc, no obligation on the part of the publisher to provide ongoing content or maintenance. And once a game was sold to the consumer, the publisher had given the consumer everything they owed for those $ 60. Now, with multiplayer, you have consumers who have been trained to expect more content and ongoing maintenance, and that’s great, gamers develop relations with their games, you can see how they react when a popular game goes offline, for example.

So the publishers came up with DLC, by trying to sell them more content for $ 15 or $ 20 per download; but what happened was, on a big game, they would only achieve 30-40% sales on the first pack, 20-30% on the second, and 10-20% on the third, which didn’t help cover for ongoing costs, especially since DLC seems to have an in built cap of $ 20 that consumers will spend on it. So if you have a lot of money, and you will engage with the game a lot, you will still pay only the $ 20 that I will pay if I play it for a week. So what they came up with is like a free-to-play model, which started on PC in China, then spread to PCs all over the world, and now to consoles, where thy add micotransactions, going after the whale who will spend $ 100 a month. So instead of selling something for $ 20 every once in a while, they sell things for $ 100 every month. And EA has proven with Ultimate Team that that works, that there are whales out there- EA gets $ 600 million in microtransactions from Ultimate Team alone.

So yes I expect microtransactions to stay around- and I expect that if they do, they will try and keep their games alive for many years. I think the problem is in the implementation. I don’t think gamers are wrong to expect certain things as part of the package if they buy a game for $ 60; I don’t think publishers are right to lock away Darth Vader in a $ 60 Star Wars game, if you buy Star Was, you ought to get Darth Vader from the get go. But, I don’t agree that microtransactions should be eliminated, because that would basically mean we regress to single player games only. People like playing multiplayer- and when they play multiplayer, they spend far more hours on a game than they do when they play just single player, and you know that. So hypothetically you should pay more for the ongoing experience, too. And players say “I pay for Xbox Live and PSN’” and that’s great, but the publisher doesn’t get a dime of that. So the publisher has to have a way to monetize, and the publishers who are adored by gamers are the ones who don’t implement pay to win mechanics in their games- like Blizzard with Overwatch. Customization, people are willing to pay for. So EA made the mistake of locking up characters and progression, and I think the complaints were legitimate.

On the other hand, let’s be real, when you play a game, there are plenty of unlocks. I remember, one of the older Call of Duty games, playing and I got a weapon when I reached Level 30, and I was so psyched, and I saw a better machine gun, and I knew you get it at a higher level, and that gave me an incentive to keep playing the game. I just had to keep playing the game to get a better weapon- and that’s the kind of thing we are used to. We all understand that- it’s just locking away actual content…

There’s an art to microtransactions, where you present the gamer with a balanced opportunity to earn something by grinding it out, or cut to the chase and pay for it. An the art is in making it fair. If it takes 80 hours to to earn something, and costs 50 cents, then even at that price, that’s pay to win. If it costs $ 1000 to unlock, but it takes you five minutes to get it, no-one complains. It’s extreme as an example, but the art is in making something that seems fair.

So they will stay, but it comes down to implementation.

Oh, absolutely. Yes. And as I said, it’s too big of an opportunity, look at League of Legends or World of Tanks, earning hundreds of millions every year. But again, implementation- have you ever heard anyone complain about GTA Online? The reason is, GTA is a single player game, there is no expectation for additional content. But they give you multiplayer as an additional option anyway- you just have to pay. Take Two implemented it in a very smart way, to be honest. So GTA5 gives you an 80 hour experience for $ 60, and the multiplayer is a bonus- and people don’t mind paying for that bonus. Star Wars, who knows what the single player is like, people are buying it for the multiplayer, that’s the appeal- and it is contingent on EA to balance the microtransactions in the multiplayer family for there to not be a backlash.

Okay. So now I want to go back to games for a bit. There were a few I want to talk to you about- the first one is an apparently upcoming open world AAA RPG from Playground Games, the folks behind Forza Horizon 3. Do you have any insight as to whether this might b exclusive to Xbox, or if they are going multiplatform with this?

I have no idea, I’m sorry.

Okay. The next one I had was Ghosts of Tsushima on Sony’s side, which looks pretty cool, like a ninja-Assassin’s Creed kind of thing. And, the last time I talked to you, I asked you for your opinion on various games- what is your opinion on Tsushima? Do you think this has broad commercial appeal?

I don’t think anything that Japanese has broad appeal. They’re great gams and get high ratings, and the hardcore audiences love them. But, for the average audience, they’re hard games. They’re too hard for most people. I mean, I played Persona 5, one of the highest rated games ever, and I like it, but I can’t believe it went on to sell as many copies as it did. It’s just not the kind of game that seems like it has mass appeal, even though it’s one of the best games ever made, and probably wins Game of the Year. But… going back to Tsushima, no, I don’t think it has broad appeal either.

““I think The Elder Scrolls 6 is coming next year- maybe they announce it at E3.””

Okay, so broad appeal- GTA6 and The Elder Scrolls 6, why do you think these two have not been announced yet?

Well, GTA, probably because it’s not coming out any time soon. So that’s that. I’ll take over/under on 2022, I say it comes out after 2022. Remember, Red Dead 2 came out eight years after the first one- so the idea that GTA6 comes out before 2021 seems ridiculous. And Rockstar, the only announcements they’ve ever made more than a year before launch was because the launch itself was delayed. So best case, GTA6 gets announced in 2020 for a 2021 release…

Elder Scrolls, I personally think they are working on it. You know, Pete Hines took me on this year after July when I said they might be working on it, he said it’s not coming this year. So I think it’s coming next year- maybe they announce it at E3. But, if I’m wrong, then I’ll say this next year, and then the year after that. But it’s in development.

Okay, so going back to the idea of the resolution war- early in the generation, Sony managed to use to great effect to establish themselves as the more powerful console for multiplatform games. It’s a strategy we’ve seen Microsoft attempt with the Xbox One X, but it doesn’t seem to be sticking as well. Why do you think that is?

Because it’s priced far higher than the alternatives. The Xbox One X is $ 500, and four weeks later, the PS4 Slim was available for $ 199, and the Xbox One S for $ 189. You could buy one of each for the price of a Xbox One X. So I think the One X has a lot of appeal for the existing Xbox owner, but I don’t know how much appeal for a new console owner. It’s just too expensive. If it ever comes down in price to $ 299, I think it will sell amazingly well.

So, let’s talk about single player games. The general consensus seems to be that there is a shift towards multiplayer games as a service on the whole, and that single player games will be sidelined. Do you think that is actually what we are trending towards? Or is that analysis an overreaction?

I think that sidelined is an overstatement, but I guess there’s more money in games as a service- this was something I talked about previously. The opportunity to sell someone a game for $ 60, an then collect microtrasnaction even regularly for a year or more is a big deal. For example, again, GTA- a single player game, and yet GTA Online did more than $ 100 last quarter. So they’re earning almost half a million dollars a year from micotransaction on top of the revenue from the actual sales of the game, that’s just too lucrative to pass up. So, the question is, will the next GTA be designed differently, where the single player campaign has the microtransactions bleed into it? Or will they go the same route, a 97 rated single player game, and then later add on multiplayer? I think the Rockstar guys created a compelling formula, to be honest- a compelling single player game with a multiplayer game built around it. So the answer is, you’re going to see both. There’s a reason that GTA5 is the best selling game of all time- and that’s because people buy it for the single player, and there’s a reason GTA Online earns so much money- because people stay for the multiplayer after the single player is done. So games should be able to have both.

But on the other hand, I have read statistics on how many Call of Duty players don’t even play the single player, they just jump into the multiplayer, or how most of FIFA is played in Ultimate Team online. So gamers are telling publishers that they like multiplayer- publishers recognize that they can make money in multiplayer. But even then, single player won’t be sidelined, multiplayer will just be emphasized. Remember, this all starts with the developer, and the best developers in the world pretty much make only single player games, like Kojima or Ken Levine. So- I don’t think single player games are going away or being sidelined, as much as multiplayer games’ potential for monetization is being recognized.

Okay. So I think one of the things you are getting at is that the future might be something like the GTA model where there is a satisfying single player campaign, with a compelling multiplayer mode added on-

I think that would be the goal for all publishers, to have a game that’s even a quarter as successful as GTA. But we’ll see how it goes, even with Red Dad. I think they’ll follow the same model, a compelling 60 hour campaign an then multiplayer on top of that. I don’t know if the setting means that the multiplayer will be as compelling, you know, the Old West versus modernity, but maybe.

Okay, so Rockstar apparently has the formula down. EA- well , as we discussed, they seem to be doing fine with sports games, but with non sports game, they are clearly struggling with how to effectively monetize their games, they’ve been too aggressive. And, of course, they’ve been making a lot of other missteps too, for example Mass Effect Andromeda was a big failure for them this year. Do you think this all affects the chances EA’s upcoming Anthem has at success? A nw games as a service game by a company in the public eye for not doing them well, and the new game by a developer whose last game was criticized is heavily?

Yeah, good question. I think if you look at companies that are successful in microtransactions, you’ll see that they are either making mobile games or free to play PC games. So there’s some formula to creating a compelling game along those lines that doesn’t seem to have translated over that well to console games yet by big publishers. I think the analogy is, the big publishers are like movie studios making these cinematic experiences, like Sony with Uncharted and Rockstar with GTA. So deciding that you like the other model, the mobile or League of Legends model, that’s not say to do- if it were, you’d see every company doing it. So the question for Anthem is, will A screw it up like with Star Wars? Or will they follow the Overwatch and destiny roadmap, where the actual game is fun to play and the payments are ancillary? Because where they got into trouble with Star Wars was in making it pay to win. Had they limited themselves to purely cosmetic items, I don’t think anyone would have said anything. So Anthem has the potential to be Destiny like in terms of game experience, and Overwatch like in terms of mcirotansactions offered, where it’s all cosmetic and no one bats an eye. But the truth is, Bioware has made several games that have sold around 5 million, so I’m very comfortable saying Anthem will sell at least that much. 7 or 8 million? Yes, if it’s a great game. 10 or 20 million? Probably not, but we’ll find out. Bungie did that with Destiny, Blizzard does that all the time. Biowae hasn’t yet done that.

But I’m encouraged because we have Casey Hudson back, since he is very capable- so I am confident Anthem will be great, and it will do well, on the whole.

““I’m encouraged because we have Casey Hudson back, since he is very capable- so I am confident Anthem will be great, and it will do well, on the whole.””

So you think there’s potential for it to do ell as long as EA doesn’t go all pay to win again.

Yeah. I think right now EA is on probation with gamers. I think everyone is watching everything they do. I don’t think they can afford to put an onerous mcrotransaction scheme in any game going forward, they need to re-earn gamers’ trust again. So I hope they are sobered by this experience, and learn from it. But I think they are smart people, so I am sure they will do the right thing going forward. We’ll see.

Okay. Do you think that we’re moving towards an all digital market? 100% digital delivery?

The problem with 100% digital is that as long as we have consoles, there has to be a trail store that sells it to you. I mean we can buy hardware on Amazon, but you still need a trail location selling it for a lot of people. So you’re never have a console that’s purely digital just for that- until the console is eliminated altogether. But if you get someone, say Amazon, as a seller of true game streaming or Game Pass style services, then yes, something like that might happen. And I think each time Amazon is selling something like an Echo Show, which has its own screen, and an Intel chip with a powerful microprocessor, and a GPU, they’re getting closer to a game console. Because if you’re selling something that can manage a person’s home entirely, why not throw gaming capabilities in there too? So I actually think at we are moving toward a world where at least very healthy people have these multi function devices in their homes, and in 10 years, I think that they will have penetrated 20-30% of above median income households. So you end up with 200-300 million households globally with these devices in them- why not put your games on them as well?

So, yes, a full digital system might happen- but if it does, it won’t be a traditional console, it will be something like this, and it won’t happen this generation, or even this decade.

So a lot like the move towards smartphones and tablets, but on an even bigger level.

Yes. It’s amazing what you can do with these devices, and how they link together. But I remember when Apple first said they would make a phone back in 2006, I thought it was the dumbest idea ever, I had my Motorola, and I was perfectly happy with it. But now, ten generations of the iPhone later, there are hundreds of millions of them sold. And we have hundreds of apps we all use- so even if the idea sounds alien now, yes, I think that is exactly the kind of shift we will see with these home devices for consoles.

We’ve talked about games as a service, games via digital delivery, and so on. One company that has been prescient with all of this, that has been ahead of the curve, has been Valve. One the last ten years, they made the shift to digital delivery, to microtransactions, to games as a service. But in all of this, the single player experiences that the company was known for have fallen by the wayside, a new Portal or Half Life game seems to be far distant and in the future right now. Do you think that Valve is still working on new single player experience? Or do you think they are going all in on their current games as a service model?

I would be really disappointed if Valve wasn’t working on Half Life 3. I know it’s been 12 years since the last one. But I’d still think they are working on it. I would b really disappointed if they weren’t working on a Portal 3, too. I know a lot of their writers have left the company, but I would still be disappointed. Those are valued properties that they should use continue producing, if only for the fans who brought them the success they have today. So- that doesn’t mean they can’t keep doing DOTA or Team Fortress or Counter Strike- I am sure they will keep enveloping those. But I think tat that company is very profitable and passionate, and I think they are consumer focused. Their games have open architecture, they encourage users to modify their games- even Counter Strike was born out of user mods for Half Life. What a great company, saying, ‘no, we don’t know better’. If they had never allowed that mod, they would be a single player game company today, I think. So those user mods matter too. So I think they will keep doing what they have been doing, that includes single player games- it’s just taking a long time for them to come out.

I really hope you’re right!

One of my worst predictions ever was when I said that Half Life 3 would launch with the Steam Machine, and be playable only on that. So, obviously I have been consistently wrong about Valve, an also about Bethesda and Elder Scrolls, and Rockstar and GTA… so, I guess I’m an optimist when it comes to these companies.

Well, hopefully your optimism spills over into my next question. That’s about Metal Gear- Metal Gear is a popular franchise, but it seems to not have much of a future right now because of the Kojima-Konami fallout. Right now Konami is working on Metal Gear Survive, which is most charitably described as a spin-off… but do you think there is a future for Metal Gear beyond that game?

I don’t understand how anyone can think that brand can survive without Kojima, so- I- no. I think that there are some games where the lead is so central to the success of the game that the game is nothing without the lead. I think that Mortal Kombat and Ed Boon, or the Housers and GTA; and I think Kojima is so central to the look, feel, story, and art style of Metal Gear, that without him, I think Metal Gear is over. Metal Gear as we know it is over. It’s done.

Do you think Metal Gear fans will be well served by Death Stranding?

Its the day before The Game Awards, and I’m hopeful we learn more about the game tomorrow. There’s going to be something told about it. And… most Japanese games are bizarre, but we love some of them anyway. I mean, Katamari is so weird, and I love that game. I couldn’t stop playing it. Or look at Final Fantasy- compelling, or bizarre. I on’t think Kojima is quite as bizarre as other Japanese developers. He has this crossover appeal- so does Miyamoto. I think it’s something to do with their personalities, they are really likeable people, ad they are open to thinking about other people and cultures, which translates into their games.

So yes, I think Death Stranding will b a phenomenal success, I think Kojima is on of the finest developers who ever walked the planet. I will play his games no matter what they are called or what they look like.

Another game I want to talk about is Pokemon- you said that the Switch’s momentum in 2018 is contingent entirely upon the release of Smash Bros. But what about Pokemon? Assuming Pokemon does come out next year on Switch, what do think its potential for success is as the first console Pokemon game ever?

You know, Pokemon will come out and sell well. It’s an interesting question, because I don’t think of Pokemon as a system seller for consoles- I think of it as one for handhelds. So this brings us back to whether we consider the Switch as a console or a handheld. I know Nintendo views it as both, but I personally think of it as a handheld. And I also think that at $ 300, it’s way too expensive for a handheld, which means that once the hardcore fans have bought one, it’s going to be viewed as an expensive handheld because of the price. And if that’s the case, I don’t think Pokemon pushes it over the top. I think Pokemon has mass appeal, and it sells tons of millions of copies to a lot of people- but I don’t think that those people will spend $ 300 on one game, while I think that Smash Bros. fans will spend $ 300 for the one gam that pushes them over the edge. So, no, I don’t think Pokemon will be a system seller for a $ 300 console. Yes, it is one for a $ 129 handheld- but not for a $ 300 console.

““I don’t think Pokemon will be a system seller for a $ 300 console. Yes, it is one for a $ 129 handheld- but not for a $ 300 console.””

Okay, so this brings us to the question of price. Do you think the Switch, PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X might get price cuts any time soon?

PS4 Pro I think you will get a price cut for next year. I think they will take the Slim to $ 199 permanently and knock the Pro down to $ 299 after that. I don’t think the Switch gets a price cut until October 2018, mostly because I don’t think Nintendo has a big profit margin on it. So once economies of scale kick in and production costs fall, then I can see the price dropping. Xbox One X, we’ll see. I don’t think it can sell tens of millions of units at its price. My guess is it is $ 400 this time next year- but that still feels too expensive.

Alright- and for my final question, which 2018 game are you personally looking forward to the most?

Probably for me, Red Dead Redemption 2. I think that’s coming at about the right time. I’m not a big Anthem player, I don’t play games like destiny. Not a Battlefield player, Black Ops is not my favorite of the Call of Duty series… to be honest, the first game I will play next year will be Far Cry. I love that series, and this new one looks special. So that will be the first game I play. But I will definitely play Red Dead as well.

Hopefully it lives up to all the expectations!

Yeah, Rockstar does great work. I don’t think there’s a chance Red Dead isn’t 90+ rated.

Well, thank you for your time!

No problem, thank you for the chat.

GamingBolt.com: Video Game News, Reviews, Previews and Blog

[shuga-hill]

Fashion Tech Labs' Miroslava Duma (second from left), Patricia Ermecheo from Osomtex (left) and Stella McCartney (right) discuss sustainable fashion with actor Selma Hayek and her spouse, Kering CEO Henri-François Pinault. Engadget

On Sunday, there were no cars in Paris as the city clamped down on soaring pollution and tried to honor the climate accord that bears its name. With Paris Fashion Week here too, garment makers must face their own part in the planet's despoilment. An incubator called Fashion Tech Labs (FTL) is trying to break the textile pollution cycle with new tech like stem-cell leather, recycled fabrics and ultra-strong spider-silk-based fibers. At Google's Paris Arts & Culture Center, I had a look at some of the tech and talked with FTL and the event's esteemed host, sustainable designer and fashion icon Stella McCartney.

The fashion industry uses obscene amounts of water and fills dumps and oceans with materials that linger for generations. "You have to understand the impact the fashion industry has on our environment," McCartney told Engadget. "It's the second-most-harmful industry on the planet. We need to take responsibility."

McCartney is on the forefront of sustainable fashion, having used "skin-free leather," recycled fabrics and other innovative materials ever since her company launched 16 years ago. Another major manufacturer experimenting with the idea is Adidas, which has developed several shoes in conjunction with ocean-plastics recycling organization Parley. Adidas plans to eventually produce up to a million of its Ultraboost Uncaged Parley shoes by the end of 2017, but for now, production is in the thousands.

Gallery: Fashion Tech Lab at Google Arts & Culture Center | 11 Photos

Unless the majority of clothing and footwear companies -- and not just high-end fashion lines like Stella McCartney or select manufacturers like Adidas -- start to make sustainability a priority, the problem will only get worse.

That's where Russian fashion industry scion Miroslava Duma and her new organization come in. Fashion Tech Labs is an incubator for sustainable fashion, wearable electronics and other cutting-edge clothing, jewelry and designer innovations. FTL is one of a new breed of such research and incubation firms that see garment-industry waste as not just a problem to be solved, but a financial opportunity.

"This is a revolution that's coming," said Duma. "So we'd rather be in, because it's going to happen anyway."

Duma's company organized the event along with McCartney and Google's Arts & Culture Lab, which has a tie-in via its recently launched We Wear Culture virtual style exhibition. The idea was to show off some of the tech that's germinating, often literally, at Fashion Tech Lab.

That includes VitroLabs tissue engineering, which creates ethical leather from cow, ostrich and crocodile cells, and Worn Again, which recycles discarded textiles, saving copious amounts of water, oil and other raw resources. Other companies include Bolt Threads, which produces high-tensile-strength materials molecularly derived from spider silk, Diamond Foundry's "morally pure" man-made diamonds that are "optically and atomically the same as a mined diamond," and Mint Materials, which is producing a plant-based antibacterial and odor-control treatment for clothing.

All of these companies are doing cutting-edge work that, in some cases, has yet to be commercialized. To help, FTL used the Paris show as an opportunity to introduce them to both investors and the press.

"We use advanced stem-cell technology and tissue engineering to create full-thickness skin that we then tan and turn into leather," VitroLabs co-founder Ingvar Helgason told Engadget. "This completely removes the need for animals; it reduces the environmental impact and allows us to enjoy the beautiful materials that we've become accustomed to, but without the environmental or ethical implications."

VitroLabs showed off a piece of the leather, which was, to say the least, weird. However, the company has made only small chunks of skin and is still working on scaling it up (though it says it will have an announcement about that soon). Suffice it to say, VitroLabs needs tons of capital, support, and a network of fashion contacts, which it hopes to get in spades from Fashion Tech Lab and Duma.

"Fashion Tech Lab is working across a couple of different pillars, the first one being investment into these startups," said the company's chief of technology and research, Dr. Amanda Parkes. "We're really trying to grow and scale these technologies to make them accessible and connect them with luxury and big fashion brands."

The company is certainly creating a buzz for its clients. At one point while shooting photos and video, I looked up and standing right in front of me was McCartney, actor Salma Hayek and Diane von Furstenberg, checking out the VitroLabs leather and schmoozing with Duma.

The fact that celebrities and designers are taking an interest in sustainable fashion tech is a good sign. Wearable technology needs fashion designers more than fashion designers need technology -- smartwatches, for instance, were moribund until Apple, Fossil, Tag Heuer and others introduced decent-looking products.

Some of the technology, from Diamond Foundry and VitroLabs, for example, is aimed at the high-end luxury fashion business, for now. "[We have] a customer base that really does care about sustainability," said Ian Rogers, chief digital officer at ultra-luxury brand LVMH. "If we can upgrade the high-quality materials that we work with and make the planet better along the way, that's a win."

But what about the rest of us? Recycled textiles and materials made from ocean waste and other sources seem to hold the most promise for the larger consumer market. With its ocean-plastic shoe, Adidas proved that customers are buying into the premise, and Stella McCartney thinks manufacturers and designers needn't worry about demand.

"The consumers are way ahead, sadly, of the designers and businesses," she said. "And I hope the industry is seeing that we seem so old-fashioned. [Textile waste] is really quite terrifying, so I hope that they go away from this event and reflect on how they need to do something about it now."

Steve should have known that civil engineering was not for him when he spent most of his time at university monkeying with his 8086 clone PC. Although he graduated, a lifelong obsession of wanting the Solitaire win animation to go faster had begun. Always seeking a gadget fix, he dabbles in photography, video, 3D animation and is a licensed private pilot. He followed l'amour de sa vie from Vancouver, BC, to France and now lives in Paris.

771 Shares

After Math: Everything sucks

what a pointless article. why do you write for engadget? you need to find another gig

First 'Rocket League' Halloween event kicks off October 16th

Why can't we just earn stuff (candy corn, coins, whatever) and buy the thing we want with it. Why must everything start turning into this BS rng crate crap ?I've been saying for years this game industry needs a big crash for anything to change, it may just happen soon with more and more of this freemium garbage being pushed onto paid for games.I wouldn't mind paying more for a game, hell back in the day I was paying $75 for SNES games.

Google Home Mini review: Taking aim at the Echo Dot

A comparison to the Dot and no mention of an AUX port?? That’s a HUGE difference for some of us that wanted to connect to external speakers or stereo system without depending on a BT connection.

Steve Wozniak just created his own online university

He pulled it out of his Wozu.

Tesla fired 'hundreds' of workers this week

I wonder how Elon Musk would do in these annual performance evaluations?

Baidu plans to start mass-producing autonomous vehicles around 2019

sure, china, sure. always such big talk from this country, and they don't even have one successful exported vehicle. they are good at mass producing low-level goods; batteries, bags, etc., but the real test of a nation is vehicle manufacturing. very annoying to read such ambitious articles describing china at the forefront of electric vehicle development. pffft! look at tesla, chevrolet, bmw; now those are e.v. kings. keep talking though

Oculus Go is a $199 VR headset that doesn't require a phone

If it CAN be hooked up with a PC then it's a deal. Otherwise it is just pointless really.

Paris wants all gas-powered cars out of the city by 2030

Glad I don't live there. Would move if I did.

EA rebuffs 'pay to win' loot criticism of 'SW Battlefront 2'

I am a little turned off with the direction gaming is going ,these publishers are getting too greedy, I have play these microtransaction games and if you refuse to spend money you have to do boring repetitive grinding to proceed which is a big turn off, I am at the point where I am no longer going to buy games with microtransactions.

Oculus' standalone headsets point to a changing VR landscape

You mean HTC's first-announced standalone headset points at a changing VR landscape? Oculus is just following suit.

First-ever 'negative emissions' power plant goes online

From tiny acorns grow mighty oak trees.

Project Fi Moto X4 won't ship until late October

How? The article says shipments have been delayed.

Fear of the US government led me to censor myself on Twitter

I avoided weighing in on topics that would show my political leanings.Welcome to the world of every conservative that works for, with, or employees a liberal, has liberal friends, family members, acquaintances, neighbors, or happens to get stuck with a liberal Uber driver. This article is a masterpiece of fear-mongering. You should be more concerned with the desire by some politicians in Congress to end fake news by giving themselves the power to determine what information the American public has a right to view through not just social media, but any media that conveys information.

WD is developing 40TB hard drives powered by microwaves

love these cock teasers prototype may up to potentially futuristic god gadgets. i think its sole purpose is marketing spin.2025? okayyyyyy...next.

OnePlus limits the data it collects from your phone

Uh, pretty sure you couldn't opt out of the deep data collection it was doing. There was a superficial toggle which did turn off just a few things like crash logs, but the more invasive logger was unaffected. It requires running ADB tools via USB on your PC to uninstall the system service responsible in order to disable it fully right now.

[movienewsemail-blog]

Movie News 07/23/17

Hello Everyone, and welcome back to your Movie News Email.

  Each week we count down the top 5 box office hits of the weekend, and bring you the news that we have learned from the past week.

  This week we find out if "Spider-Man: Homecoming" was able to recapture the top spot (as I predicted that it would.  Man, I hope I'm right.  I hate being wr......), we have some more news from D23, and we have some news coming out of San Diego Comic Con.  All this coming at you this week.  Enjoy.

 First off, we sadly have to add an "In Memorium" segment to this week's edition. 

John Heard, the man known mostly for his role as the father in the "Home Alone" movies has passed away at the age of 71.  John's other main role was that of a corrupt detective in "The Sopranos".

John was found dead at a California hotel where he was staying while recovering from a recent back surgery.  No cause of death has been reported at this time.

Rest Well, John.

  OK, to the box office.  We had 3 new movies hit the theatres this week, and, surprisingly, all three hit the top 5.  Well, that knocks one of my predictions out.   Let's see who took the number one spot.

  We start at number 5, and the first of our debut films.  I expected this one to hit the top 5, but I wasn't sure where it would land as I said this has the potential to be a new cult classic.

"Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets took in just over 17 million dollars to take the first spot of our list.  A little disappointing for the film, but it really wasn't promoted as much as I thought it should have been. 

One of our members was going to see the film.  Hopefully we will get a review for next week's edition.

Taking the number 4 position is last week's number one movie.  "War For the Planet of the Apes" pulling in 20.4 million dollars, could not hold the top spot. (As predicted)

At number 3 we have "Spider-Man: Homecoming". (Damn, I was wr...-Not right.) Spidey took in another 22.1 million dollars to bring it's domestic gross over 251 million.  It will still be interesting to see what happens to it over the next couple of weeks.

At number 2, is the second of our debut films, and another not right prediction on my part.  I thought this film would not hit the top 5, but Queen Latifah's "Girl Trip" pulled in an impressive 30.3 million dollars and very handily snagged the number two position.  (Oh well, can't pick them all.  Congrats to the cast and crew)

And our new number one movie is one that I hoped would make the top 5, but am also a little surprised to see it hit number one, but I am glad it did.

The WWII historical drama from Christopher Nolan, "Dunkirk" easily took the number one position with 50.5 million dollars.

This one, I want to see.  I may not get a chance until it comes out on DVD, but it is one I will see.

If anyone has seen this one, or any of the other new releases, please let me know.  I would love to hear what you thought of it.

  So that's what happened this past weekend.  What's coming out next week?

Well, we have two movies opening in major markets next weekend.  And to be honest, I have no clue what they are going to do.  I suspect both will debut in the top 5, but I am not sure where they are going to land.

First up is the animated movie based on those little pictures we all (Or most of us) use in our texting.  "The Emoji Movie" stars the voices of Patrick Stewart, James Corden, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jake T. Austin.

The second of our new movies is "Atomic Blonde" and stars Charlize Theron and James McAvoy and is being touted as the first female James Bond.

I have seen trailers for both movies and I have to be honest.  Neither one excites me to go and pay $10.00 to see them, let alone $17.50 to see them in an IMAX theatre.

But if anyone gets to one of these and likes them, let me know.  I have been wr.... Not right a lot this week.  What's another couple times.

  So let's get to the news, and we have quite a bit to cover.  So let's not waste any time.

Here is what we have heard so far coming out of SDCC.

  FX's "Legion" creator, Noah Hawley confirmed that he is developing a movie for Fox centered around the Fantastic Four's number one villain, Doctor Doom.  The movie will not have the Fantastic Four in it, however.

Marvel's "Ant Man and the Wasp" added a new name to the project.  Janet Van Dyne, wife of Michael Douglas' Hank Pym, will be played by none other than Michelle Pfeiffer. 

  DC now as the next movie slated after "Aquaman", and it is "Shazam".  David F Sandberg will direct. It was expected that either "The Flash" or the Joss Whedon "Batgirl" would be the next up, but since they are still in early development, it was decided that "Shazam" be next.  Shooting is expected to start in 2018 for a 2019 release.

  DC has also revealed it's lineup of movies as well.  No dates attached to them yet, but here is what they said is up and coming. It starts with Justice League, Aquaman, then Shazam.  After that it's "Suicide Squad 2", "The Batman", "Justice League Dark", "Batgirl", Green Lantern Corps", "The Flash: Flashpoint", and finally "Wonder Woman 2".  No word on "Gotham City Sirens", nor "Nightwing", but don't give up on them.  They're coming

  Hot off the heels of "Shazam", we have a couple of release dates from DC now.  They are:

Feb 14 2020

June 5 2020

  Now we don't know which movies are going to take those two spots, but more than likely it will be "Suicide Squad 2" and "The Batman"

  And who is going to play "The Batman"?  Well, Ben Affleck answered that question at SDCC.  He is.  Period.  That pretty much puts those rumors to rest.

  In a Facebook post, Todd McFarlane is writing and directing a new verson of "Spawn".  McFarlane created the character as his flagship title for the "Image" comic book company which he started. In the 1990's, McFarlane became the biggest name in comics art and storytelling with his work on Marvel's "Amazing Spider-Man, and the spinoff series "Spider-Man". 

  The Russo Brothers have announced that production has wrapped on the "Avengers: Infinity War".  The movie now moves into post production where voice overs, special effects, music, and editing takes over and cleans up the movie.

  Well, this next bit of news isn't movie related, but it is Star Wars related and it is just too cool not to talk about.

  Now we all know that Disney is creating a Star Wars land as part of the parks in both Florida and California.  Well, at D23 they named it.  "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge".  This will be a totally immersive experience.  When you enter the land, you are entering into the world of Star Wars.  You will first meet the rebels in a forested area, then as you enter the city, you will interact with the First Order, as well as bounty Hunters.  While in the park, what you decide has consequences.  One area you get to pilot a ship similar to the Millennium Falcon.  If you don't fly it well, the boss will not be happy, and when you go into one of the cantinas, you may find you have a bounty on you for damaging the ship.

  And the hotel resort that resides in the park will be completely Star Wars related.  All employees will be in character 100% of the time.  You check in, possibly get a costume, and interact with the role playing characters working there. 

It is set up to be in the style of being on a spaceship, so when you get to your room, you do not look out over the park, you have a screen that shows you being in space.  And from what I understand, you get to see yourself lifting off from the docking bay and going into space.

It's a two night stay, and a price tag of $1000.00 per person.  (I take donations, by the way). 

"Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" will span over 14 acres of land and is targeted for a 2019 opening.  Who's going?

  And coming out of SDCC, have we got a toy for you.  Well, maybe not for you, but for the kids.  From Radio Flyer, the makers of the metal red wagon, comes an actual scaled down replica of Luke's landspeeder.  Now this isn't a pedal car, but a motorized vehicle, similar to the Power Wheels. Not available yet, but I am sure it will be before Christmas. (When are they going to build one for adults???)

  Whew!!! Enough for you for this week.  Yeah, I think so too.  More and more information is coming out of SDCC, and will continue to do so all week long, and we will bring that news to you as we learn more of it.  But look for more trailers for "Black Panther", "Thor: Ragnarok", "Justice League", "The Inhumans", "Ready Player One", and many more to surface.  I have seen a few of these, and they look fantastic.  It's going to be a lot of fun.

  So that's it for this week.  A big thanks to everyone who has given me their thoughts on movies they have seen, or news they have heard.

I hope you had a good time reading this and enjoyed it.

  If you would like to receive the Movie News Email outside of the building, just drop me a line at

sierraandnevadacomics@gmail.com, and I will start emailing them to you from there.  If you have any information or reviews, you can also leave them for me there.  It's easier to get to than my regular email.

We are also blogging, at least I think we are.  Not really sure.  But go to Tumblr.com and search for Movie News Email.  Let me know if you find it so I know I am doing it right.

  Come back again next weekend for the next edition of your Movie News Email.

  See you then.

  So until next time,        “Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars” - Kasey Kasum Rocky