#the technical level on display is genuinely impressive

[spitblaze]

idk much about music theory but i feel like you could make an entire class on either that or composition just about Weird Al's Hardware Store

[hxltic]

𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐒. 𝑺𝑼𝑵𝑨 𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑹Ō

part one | part two

Before you could think about how awkward it’d be if Suna wasn’t in here (or somebody else was), the door quickly clicks and an arm suddenly peeks out to rip you inside. A glimpse of soft, pale skin with the occasional court burn mark that scarred into a slightly darker version of his complexion allows you to recognize this as him; however, you meet face to face anyway with the door to your back and his breath fanning into your nose, only standing nearly an inch away from your face.

“Hello,” you boop his nose.

“Hello?” A wave of irritation surges through him, resulting in him only stepping closer. You didn’t think his eyes could get any narrower. This was a new amusing sight because you’d never really seen him genuinely angry, always just smug and insulting. “What the hell was that?” His eyebrows deepen as he rectifies you.

“Payback.” You grumble. Your eyes flicker up to him kindly.

In pure disbelief, he pauses before arguing, “That’s your payback? You do realize had anyone picked up on it your brother would’ve slaughtered me?”

You shrug and fiddle with your fingers carelessly. This most likely only angered him more, but was he even actually angry? He has yet to yell at you…just…establish his concerns.

“Yeah, but that’s what you get. Be glad people didn’t find out.”

“Find out you just gave me a handjob?” His head tilts as he looks down at you in annoyance. Your orbs roll into the back of your head, driving a strong sigh.

You exclaim, “You started it!” causing him to rush to explain himself. With a few steps back he runs his hands through his hair manically. His chest rises and falls in deep breaths. Yelling at you was not an option but he was trying really damn hard to get it across to your stubborn ass.

“I didn’t start it. You kept shoving and touching me after I told you to stop.”

“I didn’t know I was doing that!”

“I told you that too, did I not?”

Both of you stare at each other. He was technically right, and you didn’t want to admit it, especially now as you are backed into a door with an angry Suna that you hate to say you find attractive. You kind of wish he got angry more often; it felt good to get under his skin.

“But you liked it.” You cross your arms. He seemed to be thinking of the next move before you said it, staring off mindlessly. The words catch his attention immediately.

“What? So?”

“So?” you parrot.

What does he mean so? Clearly the confusion displayed on your face, convincing him to take the steps he took away from you back to get in your face again. With a solid countenance and an extreme amount of patience, he whispers. If he leaned forward just a bit, you would be forehead to forehead.

“It doesn’t matter how I felt. It doesn’t matter you felt. Your brother is somewhere on the other side of this door.”

You tease him and drop your head to the side while your eyes match his. “What, you scared of him?”

“You-”

Your arms reach out to wrap around him in a hug, rendering him idle. You touch all over him, including connecting your fingers behind his neck on your tippy toes and even lifting his shirt the slightest bit to run the pads of your fingers along the dips of his sharp v-line to belly button. The fleshy part of your cheek rests on his chest when you bat your eyelashes at him. He refuses to look at you, ridden of all anger to keep his cool as you tempt him.

You slip a nail under his waistband on one hand and bring the other to palm at his print again. It wasn’t even just a bulge—everything was on display for you.

Suna was just waiting to snap. From the time in the doorway to the table, his resolve was enough to impress himself, but he’s not so sure if that’s a veracious reward in comparison to your body.

A strong grip stops any movement. The male takes a deep breath, then bends down to your eye level so you could hear him loud and clear, front and center: “Your brother is my friend. You are his sister.”

The words replayed in his head a thousand times to keep him grounded, yet somehow they didn’t process, like a book you thought you were reading but instead you were just running your eyes over the pages cluelessly.

You were right. He wasn’t angry because you did it, he was angry because he couldn’t have you. There was a slight misconception.

You survey his pinkish lips, then back at him. With a squeeze hard enough to re-darken his eyes, you nag him.

“Pussy.”

“Drop to your knees, back to the door. Don’t say a fucking word.” He hisses declaratively.

It was a switch in his brain that you clicked with your acrylics. Although, you can say how embarrassing it was how fast you followed his orders. The jacket on your back ended up on the floor to protect your knees.

While you questioned whether to be annoying or not, Suna dug a hand into his sweatpants and started stroking himself. You watched as his hands trail up and down, only to twist at the height of his shaft and tug at the base. You’d been watching for only a small amount of time before your shorts started to become uncomfortable.

The man hovered over you while jerking himself off, eyes glaring bullets through yours. By this point you still haven’t said anything.

“You done this before?” He questions from above. Do you respond? Verbally?

You just shake your head back and forth.

A side of his lip lifts and it’s enough for your shoulders to slightly hunch. Would you be you if you obeyed him?

“You’re obedient now? You want it this bad?” This time he outwardly laughs at you, but removes his hand. You scoot backwards until you reach the door.

Suna hears a soft “yes” in response, so soft he could be just imagining he heard it. This was enough for him. He grabbed his length before shoving his waistband down his hips, not enough to fall in a pool at his feet but enough to leave his cock heavy in his hand, ending with a dark trail of groomed hair. You shift in your shorts.

Palm-up, a hand silently asks for yours, which when once received was wrapped around the shaft. You hadn’t seen it until now, only a little darker and redder than the rest of him, larger than you suppose what the average was, and pink with a brown tint at the top. With two hands instead of one, up and down, and with the hand on top handling his tip, you run it over any white leaking out to spread. His head throws back for a deep, sexy groan, and you promise yourself to do whatever you can to hear it again.

Your lips give it an open-mouthed kiss, you’re tongue peeking out to circle around as your lips cover more and more of his cock with each rebound of your head. Gradually, saliva spilled from your lips, coating more and more of him and small bubbles to form around your mouth. Soon he was slick, and a constant pace was set on your own.

He couldn’t do anything but stand there and question if this was really your first time, how long you would crave more than just the friction of your thighs, and what would it take to get you completely comfortable. Questions swarmed through his brain at your talented mouth. Long fingers search through your hair with uncertainty, not quite sure what he was allowed to do yet, but just resting them there as the slurp entertains him. Grunts and moans fall from his mouth, at least letting you know you were doing okay alongside the fact he was moving with you. You wanted to hear it from him.

You disconnect your lips from a little over halfway down his cock to speak.

You purr, “Is it okay?”

“Yeah, just like that. Twist it for me.” You correct your hand positioning and twist on the way up and back, naturally gathering whatever could drip its way down to his balls. Now thinking about how neglected they were, you fit whatever of his cock you could in your mouth and jerked the rest, then using the opposite hand to massage them. With an exiting pop you come off and suck on them, both fluidly coming into your mouth with ease. “Fuck, life’s much better when you’re quiet.”

One of Rin’s hands drop by his side while the other tightens in your hair to move wherever you did. No pressure. The view was mainly of his chin because when he wasn’t examining you he was thinking. Or maybe it was the opposite, and he wasn’t thinking. A rumble reverberates on his dick, and it didn’t take him long to figure out that was a response to your hair being pulled.

It takes everything in him not to roll his hips deep in your throat, so when you completely disregarded his past statement, and took it as an opportunity to do the opposite, he couldn’t help it when you mutter, “Being quiet isn’t my specialty.”

“Well let’s go deeper and see how well you can talk then hm? Call it throat training.”

This time he took matters into his own hands by making sure you were completely parallel to the wall, instructing you to open your mouth, holding two strong hands full of hair in the form of messy pigtails, and sliding in slow as much as possible to fit until you were unable to go any further. There may have been 2 more inches left?

After a few passes of glucks coming from flexing and relaxing your throat to match his movements, it became tolerable. You attempt to talk around him, and the fact that you could even still try to make out a word pissed him off. It didn’t help that the one word he did understand was “lightwork.”

The grip significantly tightened when he quickly sped up, snapping his hips to the point where his thighs were refuge for your hands because they didn’t hold any use anymore. He held you still with no way out. You were caged by his body, his feet planted and cock driving into your throat as a release of pure irritation. Every now and then he’d catch a drag of your teeth.

“I’m starting to think you like pissing me off to get what you want. You like it rough? Want me to fuck your little throat ‘till you can take it all?”

The pace was one you couldn’t keep up with. You’re not sure if you saw it as a challenge or something, but your panties were drenched from the leer he flaunted as he bruised your throat. But that is exactly what you wanted and in comparison to the embarrassment of saying it aloud, you’d rather just nod your head.

“Say it. Talk like you did just then.” A smile plasters on his face as he tells you what you just said you didn’t want to do. Like he could read your mind.

A muffled jumble of sounds come out as an attempt to answer him, and when you couldn’t, he laughed meanly at you. In a single stroke of his hips, he slows tremendously. The slightest movement of his cock heavy on your tongue led you to take this time to breathe through your nose while you still could.

“Talk.”

With a swallow to regain your voice, you pleaded, “Yes.” One brow of his cocks up, implying that wasn’t enough. “I like it rough,” your course voice finishes.

“Your first time and you want it rough?”

“Y-Yes, choke me, do whatever.” You took deep breaths that brought chills to his wet tip, chills that traveled all the way up his bloodstream. Your hands crawled up from his thighs to lift his shirt in the front, showing his abdomen. Since you were unable to back up because of the door, you slid to the left, and licked the side of his dick, right along a vein that one of your wet hands never failed to miss. It came down to caress his dripping length while your puffy lips left kisses as high as his belly button.

“You wanna be my whore for the day?” His own hand came to replace yours, so you dropped this one to your side, the one holding the fabric up while he stopped for a moment to look at you. He knew the answer was yes.

Lipstick smudged your chin and tainted his dick. Your eyeliner still stood strong. He’d fix that.

The other hand of his previously dug in your hair now covered your fingers rubbing his hard cock, so you took them off and held both hands at your side. Suna saw one slip into your shorts from above.

His best friend’s sister was on her knees, rubbing her clit, awaiting his cock with a now open mouth. He chuckles to himself. That’s crazy.

He holds himself before slapping it on your tongue teasingly, then anywhere else on your face, effectively spreading wetness to your eyes and cheeks, leaving them glistening. It was all from your own mouth, so hopefully you wouldn’t mind. It didn’t seem to be a bother considering you hummed through the whole thing.

His head tips back once more when his hips curl into your throat again, with the ride being a lot easier this go around. You had learned to regulate your breaths so well with his slower pace (slower in comparison to the one before), so your eyes could remain open, glossed over from your throat being abused. Vibration from your moans ring through him again.

“Haaahfuck, extend your throat. Take a deep breath.”

His free hand held under your throat, the perfect way to feel the way he was marking you from the inside, and also the perfect way to feel whenever you followed his instructions. You had.

And it felt fucking heavenly. He felt the breath you inhaled, when your jaw dropped the slightest bit, and he heard the small gluck when the muscle in your throat relaxed. So when the barrier dissipated, it allowed him to reach places he couldn’t before. Deeper and deeper the walls rubbed against him in the warm cavern of your throat, so perfectly that a line of curses slips from him. He was moaning now, breaths stuttering and voice getting louder with each time he hit the back of your throat. Did you even have a gag reflex?

“There you go, mmh- good fucking girl.”

The blue shirt refrained him from doing what he wanted, so he peels it over his head, stopping when it comes to a puddle around his neck and only one arm inside. Both hands come down to push falling strands of hair out of your way and tilt your head up to him as his pupils dilate at the sight of him disappearing into you.

Your black bra could be seen from your damp shirt being covered in spit dripping down your chin and falling from his thrusts. You fondle his balls as a finger dips into your wetness.

Once again, there was another moan—resulting in him speeding up. It was just as hard as the first time. It sent you back to the point you were in before as his cock breached your mouth, forcing your hands back to his thighs and your eyes to glaze over. You gagged but it made no difference to his pace, though it did release tears that carried black down your cheeks.

Suna could feel the pressure of your nails digging into him through his pants but he wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. The noises that came from what he was just thinking about last night on your couch was too much to handle. And honestly, it felt like he was losing himself.

He retreated from your throat to allow you to breath the smallest amount before stuffing it back. By this point you felt if you wished to live, you should just retract your mind and relax up, letting him use you in whatever ways he wanted. Your eyelids fall closed, and they may have even rolled back.

“You better not,” the man above you grunts. They slowly re-open to him pulling out, then bending down at the waist. It hurts when he pulls you up by your hair with a single hand, showing off his strength, but when you’re at an acceptable height, he closes his other hand around your neck, turns his head, and closes the gap between you.

You moan into the unexpected kiss. Your mouth wasn’t the cleanest, yet he still sucks on your tongue as if it’s a lollipop. He kisses you like he’s done it a thousand times but explores like he hasn’t: he turns his head whenever yours does and tastes your strawberry lips. You whimper when he pulls away with even more of your breath.

“Open up, stick your tongue out,” he commands. His eyes hang lower than ever before. Anyway, you follow his orders, waiting patiently on your palms. A glob of saliva drips from his mouth, landing on the pink muscle. He hadn’t told you to swallow it, but instead, he actually pats his swollen, red tip right on the spot before sliding himself back in. It mixed with your own, not even authorizing you to taste it.

He fucks your throat with his hands stable on your forehead. Not running through your hair, but the fleshy part of his palms set on your eyebrows.

“You feel so goddamn good...might start shutting you up like this more often.”

You don’t mind this proposal. It would’ve pissed you off, but you aren’t quite in the position to do anything about it, especially as his speed practically doubled. He pistons into your mouth.

His balls constantly slap on your chin. You feel the gag coming back, about to choke you, but he rotates to the back of your neck, tucking you in close so your nose was deep into dark brown hair. You still for a moment, your throat muscles moving along his cock. This is the time you take to observe him.

His face was completely flushed and his eyes were fuzzy. His mouth was held agape at the feeling, and his abs shudder each time you move. When you began to choke around him, he pulls off roughly, letting you sniffle and collect yourself. He does it again. It was clear the warmth near his stomach was bubbling up quick.

You cough this time on the exit, to where he tugs you immediately back down, but only on the tip. Taking down the three inches was a refresher. He turned you to the side, his tip making a bulge in the cheek that wasn’t closest to him. He slaps the spot as you’re held there. Not hard, but just enough to where he can do it a few times.

“You feel that?” He was fully breathless now, chest rising and falling with difficulty.

You nod. The slow blink that follows elucidates how fucked out you were.

“Now you can proudly tell your brother you’ve taken all of me down your throat. Can you do that?”

You respond, “Mhmm.” You aren’t completely sure to what, but you don’t care. He grins, then pulls out to grind slowly into your face.

“Shit, what a sight.”

Your cheeks are covered by his palms with his fingers stretched in different directions down your neck. Your eyes are puffed up, low, and decorated with a mix of smudged makeup. Your tongue has been in one spot for the majority of the time you’ve spent together. Rin’s head involuntary tilts as if he was admiring a painting at an art gallery. “Stop looking at me like you want me to take you right here, pretty.”

Purposely, whatever’s left of your eyelashes blink up at him like before and your eyebrows arch up the slightest bit. This combined with every gulp sound, evidence of him reaching the back of your throat each time, had his slick cock ready to fucking explode.

He kept his thrusts steady though, a slow, unchanging, grind. Before long, your breaths had steadied again and his forehead fell to the door. One particular thrust was extra slow. His fat tip yielded just at your entrance as if giving him time to catch his breath, so instead, you closed your lips around him, hollow your cheeks, and swirl your tongue just like when you first started. You only got to do this for about an utter five seconds before he was grunting, pulling out and quickly stroking above your face.

“Oh fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Still following orders, your tongue hung ready to catch whatever he had for you. Heavy breaths, curses, and moans carried him through his orgasm as lily-white spurts of warm cum land on different sections your face. You took it upon yourself to replace his hand with your own smaller ones, milking him of everything he had and more. You squeeze until it leaks out of his tip into your mouth.

Two long, ring adorned fingers dipped into your mouth, reaching the very back. He just chuckled, to himself you assume. With his cock freshly out of your throat, you had gagged on them, to which he then shook them side to side, bringing your face along.

A fair amount coated you, a little even getting into your hair, and some dripping down the side of your eye. With a final lick and suck, you’ve successfully drained him. Your won’t dare try to speak, but after a second he hoists you up on your feet by your shoulders and gives you a peck. He’d eventually give you a paper towel from the dispenser as well, but for right now, he was busy sucking and biting onto your neck, efficaciously giving you a darkening hickey.

“Why would you do that?” You try to speak but nothing comes out, and the parts that were perceptible were extremely grainy. He’s learned to understand you.

“So your brother knows why your voice is gone.”

Rintarou now calls you his babysitter

©�� hxltic

[mecachrome]

(sorry for rpf ment) but id like to know your opinion bc from ur tags it's clear you understand oscar pretty well. basically i keep seeing fics and things describe him as "analytical" and "focused" but personally i never get that vibe? could you maybe extrapolate a bit on where that comes from?

oh anon thank you for giving me the opportunity to do my favorite thing in the world (talk about oscar)!!

honestly i do think that "analytical" and "focused" describe him very succinctly — these are words you'll find that he and many others have described him by in real life — it's maybe just a matter of understanding what that means for him and not equating either trait to the sum of his personality. to me this is not a bad thing because i genuinely enjoy athletes who are considered analytical and boring (which i've also reclaimed as a term of endearment now. i'll gladly take a boring dude if it means he doesn't like playing golf!) so i think he fits that archetype well, it's just that he's obviously more than that and thus his personality is endearing to people because he has "unexpected" quirks that betray the occasional assumption of his one-dimensionality.

here are a few direct quotes from people around him:

BROWN: "He's very mature, he's very focused and he’s very technical." STELLA: "There is no external noise in his brain. He doesn’t dissipate or dilute his talent into things that are not useful or functional, and that was apparent to us relatively early on." STALLARD: "Everything is meaningful. I’m not sure I’ve met that many [drivers] who I would describe as calm and intense." WEBBER: "He’s a Prost, mate. He’s such a thinker and so calm. At first I thought I needed to inject a bit of urgency in him, but actually no, he’s got his own frequency. That’s just where he is."

rest below the cut because i talk too much...

i would be curious to hear more about why you don't get that vibe from him so i could elaborate more in that direction, would you say it's because he doesn't come across that way in off-track media that mclaren posts of him and lando? i'd argue that at least on-track his being analytical, focused, unflappable, and most of all ~adaptable~ (if you listen to any commentator talk about him you'll quickly hear that this is people's favorite word for him) is what made oscar thrive at the junior level when he was a rookie in both f3/f2, and what's helped him deliver the rookie campaign he's managed so far with mclaren — of course the extensive testing mileage with the a521 helped immensely with this acclimatization but that was a completely different car with different regs, and more impressive to me is not only that he managed to be decent "as a rookie" in an on-average midfield car and didn't commit egregious mistakes when the mcl60 was a backmarker tractor with constant reliability issues but also that he quickly stepped up alongside lando once the aero upgrades came along and immediately recalibrated his expectations from "maybe points if we're lucky" to "podiums whenever possible." that's a bigger mental feat than it seems and definitely speaks to his analytical nature; another example of his inherent reflectiveness is his somewhat subdued reaction to getting his first podium in suzuka because he was more concentrated on his pace deficit to lando and overall tyre-management issues than the superficial milestone of a podium. similar to tom sarcastically going "i can hear that you're excited..." after quali that weekend and oscar quipping back "that's as excited as i get for second place!"

maybe "focused" is difficult to qualify as a personality trait but i'd say it manifests largely in his calmness, especially when you consider the high-adrenaline nature of racing and the effusiveness other drivers on the grid are prone to displaying. how oscar strikes me as is that he's self-critical while still managing requisite internal belief and optimism, which stella and others have spoken highly of and credited for driving forward his rapid development curve over the course of a weekend, especially at new race tracks. maybe you're asking about "analytical" in the context of relationship dynamics in fic so feel free to correct me there (AND ALSO APOLOGIES FOR THIS UNGODLY SPIEL), but another great quote is andrea in his latest btg appearance where he says this of oscar:

 "[What impressed us is] his awareness of what the opportunities are, even before he looks at an overlay or looks at any telemetry. He kind of has this capacity to self-recognize where there is more to come from either himself or from the car, and this is not so obvious. I know drivers that can be fast, but they kind of definitely need external support as to see what is possible. [...] He has a large capability from a self-awareness point of view, and then he has this capacity to then drive according to the opportunity identified, which for me is the definition of talent."

in terms of his media personality, you'll commonly see people online say that oscar is a talkative kimi or that he's winning the idgaf war etc. and i think maybe people (not fic writers but like Guys On Reddit) tend to extrapolate a bit too much from his "mentality" and are like this is why he's going to be the next wdc and lando will become washed which is literally absurd and insane and i'm not even going to entertain that with a ten-foot pole. but i think how i'd describe oscar is that he's very intentional in disseminating his image in a highly specific "everything is a product of cringe culture" gen-z way — he knows exactly how he comes across to the camera or how people perceive his tweets online and is willing to play into the meme when he thinks it'll benefit him, for ex. how he knew the camera was on him during the jetpack guy moment and consciously made that face to incite some kind of reaction. obviously oscar isn't wholly preoccupied with making people like him and isn't going to be as loud and rambunctious as a character like dr3, but he's capable of being "silly" and making jokes because he does like being perceived as funny and will engage in low-effort banter or make his drs tweets and post a 240p reaction gif of the jetpack meme because he enjoys social media virality to some degree. like i'm sure the crb debacle was a stressful time for him but another part of him was like "oh sweet more followers" LOL... maybe because of that it feels like there's a dichotomy between his "silly" self who makes bottoming jokes in mclaren youtube videos and who giggles at everything lando says and then his more focused, technically-oriented side, but imo there is very much a positive relationship between these facets of him. i'd say that because he is generally so analytical and calm he therefore has the mental capacity to be introspective in an actionable manner and improve on his weaknesses without getting emotionally carried away, and then in social settings this also allows him to live in the moment and take things less seriously and not overreact to people's opinions of him. if that makes sense...

also for bonus maxf/renault acad lore purposes: here is the insane mia quote about them that maybe explains more of his "ruthless" focus... i feel like sometimes it sounds weird when people call him that because being ruthless is essentially associated with being cruel or lacking empathy but to me oscar's ruthlessness is entirely inward and not a marker of his EQ or social awareness, just a reflection of how effectively he self-motivates and pushes himself:

"Consistency on track is based on how stable you are off track. [...] If you look at Oscar Piastri, he has been living on his own, [away] from his family who are in Melbourne for the past five to six years. [...] That's why he thrived in those weekends racing. He loves being on his own without anybody. On the other hand, we had Max Fewtrell, for example, who can't – he couldn't survive the 11 weekends racing, because he always needed his family to be around him. So those are the things that suddenly you see and, I think that that we see now, after a few years, a driver who is quick, a driver who has the talent, and then the driver who is stable."

again SORRY for how long this answer is but hopefully it is at least mildly informative!!! T__T

[romanceyourdemons]

among 1970s hong kong wuxia films, the line between “so bad it’s good” and “actually a genuinely amazing film” is razor thin, and magnificent bodyguards (1978) toes that line on the side of shockingly good. starring james tien and jackie chan, who plays a non-comedic role very different from the work that would define his career over the next few decades, this film’s narrative is packed with enjoyably ridiculous and appropriately effective twists, and it displays an impressive level of technical sophistication on many fronts. the fight choreography, directed by jackie chan, is very visually good and is well-paced within the film. the characters are striking and well-varied in concept, from evil scholar to the righteous skinner, and their use in combat effectively reflects their characterization. the costumes are excellent as well; they are detailed, well-crafted, and visually interesting on a level that would not be consistently matched until well into the 90s. the sets and locations are nearly as well-chosen and -crafted as king hu’s, and the wire work is both ambitious in conception and successful in execution. the film has a habit of shots that thrust objects—swords, fists, falling stones, etc—directly at the camera, which looks undeniably hokey until you get the context that this is one of the first hong kong films shot with 3d technology. there are also some scenes that use music from star wars (1977) as their soundtrack. i don’t have an explanation for that, but it is pretty fun. although there are certainly elements of magnificent bodyguards (1978) that are as cheesy and ridiculous as any 1970s hong kong wuxia film, it is overall well-executed and a very fun film to watch

[quirkessake]

open to all —crossovers & ocs welcome

          "Welcome to the Museum of London! I'm Tom Natsworthy, and I will... I will be your guide today! I suppose."

          Tom grinned and rolled excitedly up onto the balls of his feet, his hands folded neatly behind his blue Historian's coat as he addressed the museum's newest visitor. He was only an Apprentice Historian (and a lowly Third Level at that), but he was fortunate today; their unexpected guest had come at an off hour when all the other Historians in the guild had long gone home. Technically, he shouldn't be there either, because technically the museum was closed, but he was, and so was this visitor, and he could hardly let them poke around on their own without guidance or supervision. So naturally that left him to do the big Senior Historian Duty of guiding, and showing, and telling (all three of which he believed he could do very well if only anyone gave him the chance to, thank you very much).

          Another little bounce. Tom cleared his throat and swept his arm ahead of them. "Well! Shall we get started, then?"

          The Museum of London was expansive, one of the largest among all of the predator cities, Tom expected. From natural science to mysterious Old World tech, they had it all. Grand displays of ancient mummified animals in glass cases stood against the tall, stone walls and birds of all sorts (some taxidermy, some merely manufactured depictions of what they believed such creatures must have looked like) hung from the arched ceiling and swayed gently with London's movements. Tom pointed them out as they went, explaining the what, where, and when of each creature: This is what the Ancients called a 'bear', specifically a 'pan-da', which once roamed parts of Shan Guo before the Sixty Minute War... This was known as an elfant... This was a tiger... This was a massive, man-eating lizard mysteriously called a croc o' dials which used its great prehensile tail to... And so on, and so on. Each animal he presented with a muted, fidgeting sort of enthusiasm, as if struggling to strike a balance between professionalism, genuine interest, anxiety, and his delight at finally being able to play tour guide. But no exhibit seemed to fill young Apprentice Tom Natsworthy with quite as much glee as the one he brought them to next:

          "...and this gorgeous creature is the blue whale. The most magnificent megafauna of the ancient world and one of the Museum's most impressive archaelogical discoveries!" Tom spread his arms wide. The exhibit was in part real skeletal remains from the tail to just behind the blow hole, and from blow hole to its broad, smiling face, it was painted fabrics and leathers, carefully stretched over a... mostly accurate wire sculpt. "Recent discoveries suggest that the blue whale was not, in fact, the scourge of the deep seas as previously thought. Instead, we believe it survived largely on a diet of small fish, sea insects, and salt, which it either pulled from the ocean's water or harvested from stones at the floor. The blue whale is a living— erh," Tom flushed pink, "was a living example of a gentle giant. My personal favourite, if I'm honest."

          Still looking a touch embarrassed, Tom cleared his throat.

          "Anyway! Those are the Natural Science highlights," he said. "Down that way we have Old Tech of the Ancients, and to the left there... Art of the Ancients, which, um, includes a small section for Old World gods, if you're interested, but... Well. Enough of my blabber, do you have any questions?"

[market-news-24]

In a stunning display of Market movement, a whopping 47,000 Bitcoins were accumulated within a 24-hour window, showcasing a significant surge in investment activity. This impressive accumulation highlights a growing interest in the cryptocurrency, potentially indicating a bullish trend for Bitcoin enthusiasts and investors. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to monitor this fascinating shift in the digital currency landscape. Click to Claim Latest Airdrop for FREE Claim in 15 seconds Scroll Down to End of This Post const downloadBtn = document.getElementById('download-btn'); const timerBtn = document.getElementById('timer-btn'); const downloadLinkBtn = document.getElementById('download-link-btn'); downloadBtn.addEventListener('click', () => downloadBtn.style.display = 'none'; timerBtn.style.display = 'block'; let timeLeft = 15; const timerInterval = setInterval(() => if (timeLeft === 0) clearInterval(timerInterval); timerBtn.style.display = 'none'; downloadLinkBtn.style.display = 'inline-block'; // Add your download functionality here console.log('Download started!'); else timerBtn.textContent = `Claim in $timeLeft seconds`; timeLeft--; , 1000); ); Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators [ad_1] In the world of cryptocurrency, where volatility is just another day at work, Bitcoin has once again made headlines. This time, it's not because of a drastic price plunge or regulatory crackdown, but because of the strategic moves by some of the Market's biggest players - the Bitcoin whales. These savvy investors have seized the recent dip in Bitcoin prices as a golden opportunity to beef up their holdings, adding a staggering 47,000 BTC, which translates to around $2.9 billion. This massive accumulation, spotlighted by Ki Young Ju of CryptoQuant, excludes the coins held by exchanges or in ETFs, highlighting the genuine interest of these heavy hitters in expanding their Bitcoin portfolios. Despite the temporary setback that saw Bitcoin's value tumble below the critical $60,000 mark, the sentiment is far from bearish. Industry experts and technical analysts are eyeing this as a strategic buying moment. Noteworthy is the analysis by Rekt Capital, who suggests that a weekly closure above $60,000 could solidify this price point as a robust support level, hinting at a bullish momentum in the offing. Historical patterns, especially post-halving behaviors, seem to align with this optimistic outlook, offering a glimmer of hope for those holding onto their digital assets. Parallel to the whale activities, the macroeconomic landscape seems to paint a favorable backdrop for Bitcoin's ascent. With the U.S. Federal Reserve hinting at a softening monetary stance, risky assets like Bitcoin might find themselves basking in newfound attention. Coupled with an unexpected unemployment rate drop, as revealed in the latest U.S. job reports, the Federal Reserve might lean towards maintaining an accommodating monetary environment for an extended period. For Bitcoin, this could mean more wind under its wings. However, as with all investments, especially in the high-stakes domain of cryptocurrency, potential risks loom. A significant concern is the $700 million worth of leveraged long positions that could face liquidation if Bitcoin's value slips beneath the $60,000 guardrail, as pointed out by Coinglass. The unfolding scenario where whales ambitiously stockpile Bitcoins amidst a promising though uncertain macroeconomic context presents a compelling narrative. Bitcoin might just be gearing up for another bull run, setting the stage for a potential upward trajectory. Yet, the shadows of volatility and regulatory unpredictability remind investors to tread with caution. As this fascinating chapter in the Bitcoin saga unfolds, enthusiasts and investors alike are reminded of the unyielding dynamism that defines the cryptocurrency Market.

Whether this whale-fueled accumulation marks the dawn of a new bullish epoch for Bitcoin or merely another twist in its rollercoaster journey remains to be seen. However, one thing is clear: the intrigue and speculation surrounding Bitcoin are far from over, making it an asset that continues to captivate the financial world's imagination. Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators [ad_2] 1. What does "47,000 BTC Accumulated in 24 Hours" mean? It means that within a single day, 47,000 Bitcoin were gathered or added up by people or organizations buying or receiving them. Think of it like a giant pot where everyone is adding their own Bitcoins and, in 24 hours, it filled up with 47,000 of them. 2. How much is 47,000 BTC worth? The value of Bitcoin changes a lot, but you can find out how much 47,000 BTC is worth by checking the current price of one Bitcoin and multiplying it by 47,000. It's usually a very large amount of money in terms of dollars or any other traditional currency. 3. Why would someone accumulate 47,000 BTC in one day? There are many reasons. They might believe the price will go up and they can sell it for more later, they could be investing for the long-term, or maybe they need it for big transactions. Companies, investment groups, or very wealthy individuals are usually behind such large accumulations. 4. Can anyone accumulate 47,000 BTC? In theory, yes, but in practice, it's very hard. You need a lot of money to buy 47,000 BTC. Also, finding enough sellers and making the transactions without massively affecting the Market price could be challenging. It's much easier for very rich people or large companies. 5. What effect does accumulating 47,000 BTC have on the Market? Accumulating such a large amount of BTC can have several effects. It might increase the price if people think Bitcoin is in high demand. It could also make other people want to buy and hold onto their Bitcoins, expecting the value to rise. However, if the accumulation is sold quickly, it might lower the prices. The exact effect depends on how the Market interprets the action and the overall Market situation at the time. Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators [ad_1] Win Up To 93% Of Your Trades With The World's #1 Most Profitable Trading Indicators Claim Airdrop now Searching FREE Airdrops 20 seconds Sorry There is No FREE Airdrops Available now. Please visit Later function claimAirdrop() document.getElementById('claim-button').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('timer-container').style.display = 'block'; let countdownTimer = 20; const countdownInterval = setInterval(function() document.getElementById('countdown').textContent = countdownTimer; countdownTimer--; if (countdownTimer < 0) clearInterval(countdownInterval); document.getElementById('timer-container').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('sorry-button').style.display = 'block'; , 1000);

[interviewpreparation]

Mastering the Digital Handshake: Online Interview Tips!

In today's digital age, where remote work and virtual collaboration have become the norm, online interviews have surged in popularity. The term "Digital Handshake" has emerged, emphasising the significance of making a strong first impression, even on screen. To navigate this virtual terrain successfully, you need to enhance your online interview practice and be prepared to ace every aspect of it.

Setting the Scene: Your Physical Space

The ambience plays a pivotal role. Even if your online interview practice is impeccable, a noisy background or poor lighting can be distracting. Choose a quiet, distraction-free environment. Ensure good lighting so that your face is clearly visible, preferably from a natural source. A neutral, organised background is ideal. Adjust your camera to be at eye level, offering a clear, professional view of yourself—it makes a difference!

Tech Talk: Ensuring a Smooth Digital Experience

Technical glitches can interrupt the flow of an interview. Enhance your online interview practice by ensuring a stable internet connection. Test your microphone and camera beforehand. Familiarise yourself with the interview platform, be it Zoom, Skype, or Teams. Being technically prepared not only reduces the chances of hiccups but also boosts your confidence during the interview.

The Actual 'Digital Handshake': Making a Strong First Impression

Your online interview practice should teach you the importance of the initial moments. Greet with a genuine smile, maintain eye contact, and offer a clear hello. Dress as you would for an in-person interview—it displays your professionalism. Sit up straight, ensuring your positive body language translates even through a screen.

Communicating Effectively in a Virtual Space

In virtual interviews, clarity is paramount. Ensure you articulate points succinctly and maintain eye contact through the camera. Actively listen, pausing before responding to ensure you've grasped the question. Incorporate non-verbal cues, such as nodding, to indicate understanding. A focused, engaged demeanour can elevate your online interview practice, ensuring you're both understood and memorable.

Wrapping Up the Interview Gracefully

As the interview concludes, maintain your composed demeanour. Express sincere gratitude for the interviewer's time and insights shared. Reiterate your enthusiasm for the role and the organisation. Thoughtfully ask about the next steps, showcasing your eagerness to progress. This blend of courtesy and professionalism ensures a memorable, positive endnote.

Post-interview Actions

After your online interview, promptly send a thank-you email expressing gratitude for the opportunity. Reflect on your performance, noting areas for improvement. Engage in online interview practice to refine skills for future interactions. Monitor your email and phone for feedback, and be prepared for potential follow-up interviews or tasks. 

Conclusion

In today's digital era, honing your online interview skills isn't just beneficial—it's essential. The nuances of the virtual environment present unique challenges, but with dedicated online interview practice, you can navigate them seamlessly. Remember, first impressions count, even if they're made on a screen. By mastering the digital handshake, you not only showcase your professional abilities but also your adaptability and forward-thinking approach. Make every pixel count and leave a lasting, positive impression!

Source: https://e-learningproviders.blogspot.com/2023/11/mastering-digital-handshake-online.html

[bruhtechno]

Differentiate Your Brand: Harness Top-Notch Digital Marketing Services Now | Bruh Techno

In the bustling marketplace of the digital age, where brands jostle for attention and recognition, standing out from the crowd has become a formidable challenge. Amid the cacophony of digital noise, how can your brand rise above, capture hearts, and leave an indelible mark? The answer lies in the art of leveraging the best digital marketing services, and at the forefront of this transformative journey stands Bruh Techno, the best digital marketing agency in Jodhpur. Dive deep in the secret success through best digital marketing services with this article as it sees through the world of innovation, strategy, and creativity, exploring how the right digital marketing services can empower your brand to shine like a beacon.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) the guiding light- 

Imagine your brand as a star in the vast cosmos of the internet. SEO is the light that guides your star to the eyes of your audience. Bruh Techno's SEO wizards understand that in the digital universe, visibility is paramount. They craft a journey of discovery for your brand by optimizing keywords, enhancing website architecture, and fine-tuning technical aspects that search engines adore. With a deep understanding of algorithms and a touch of magic, they ensure your brand shines bright, standing out against the dark backdrop of search results.

Content Marketing connect with people- 

In a world where content is king, crafting compelling narratives has become an art form. Bruh Techno's content virtuosos are the storytellers who weave tales that resonate with audiences. Through captivating blog posts, engaging videos, and visually stunning graphics, they create an immersive experience that goes beyond words. Each piece of content is a brushstroke that paints a vivid picture of your brand's essence, leaving an impression that lingers long after the scroll. Connect with the audience in the best way possible of representing the content with the best digital marketing agency in Jodhpur. 

Social Media Management foster relationships- 

Social media platforms are like bustling marketplaces, where brands attempt to be heard above the chatter. Bruh Techno's social media maestros aren't just amplifying the noise; they're orchestrating symphonies that resonate. By infusing creativity, strategy, and authenticity, they create a digital experience that isn't just about posts – it's about forging connections. With a careful blend of engaging content, timely responses, and a dash of spontaneity, they ensure your brand's voice stands out amidst the chaos.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising play smart- 

In the race for attention, sometimes a sprint is more effective than a marathon. PPC advertising is the accelerator that propels your brand to the forefront. Bruh Techno's PPC experts are the navigators of this digital express lane. With meticulous targeting, strategic ad placement, and captivating ad copy, they ensure your brand's message lands directly in the sightline of your audience. Whether it's search ads or display ads, they fast-track your brand's journey to recognition. Experience the best smart play with the best digital marketing service company in Jodhpur. 

Email Marketing level up the personalisation game- 

Email marketing has transformed from a relic of the past into a powerhouse of personalized engagement. Bruh Techno's email artisans understand that each email is a brushstroke in the canvas of customer connection. Through segmentation, automation, and creative content, they paint a portrait of your brand that resonates with individual recipients. The result? A masterpiece of personalized engagement that transcends the inbox.

Influencer Marketing amplify the brands symphony-  

In a world where authenticity reigns supreme, influencer marketing emerges as the megaphone of genuine connection. Bruh Techno's influencer strategists are the conductors of this symphony. They orchestrate partnerships that amplify your brand's message through voices that resonate with your target audience. By leveraging influencers as extensions of your brand, they create harmonies that resonate and linger long after the campaign ends. Leverage the expertise of minds at Bruh Techno, the best digital marketing services in Jodhpur. 

Analytics and Reporting make yourself insightful to thrive- 

In the realm of digital marketing, data is the symphony that guides the melody of success. Bruh Techno's analytical maestros are the composers who interpret this symphony, transforming raw data into actionable insights. Through comprehensive reporting, they uncover the rhythm and cadence of your campaigns, revealing what's working, what's not, and how to fine-tune for optimal performance. With their insights, you're not just making decisions; you're conducting a symphony of success.

What sets Bruh Techno apart is their unwavering commitment to innovation, strategy, and creativity. Their team isn't just a group of experts; they're artists who paint success on the canvas of the digital world. By blending cutting-edge technology with a flair for creativity, they create an experience that isn't just transactional; it's transformational. With them, you're not just partnering with an agency; you're collaborating with visionaries who are as invested in your brand's success as you are. Bruh techno is the best digital marketing agency in Jodhpur. 

In the grand theater of the digital age, your brand's journey is a symphony waiting to be conducted. Bruh Techno holds the baton of digital marketing services that can elevate your brand's melody to new heights. From SEO to influencer marketing, their services harmonize creativity with strategy, crafting an experience that captivates and resonates. As you strive to stand out from the crowd, remember that the right digital marketing services aren't just a strategy; they're the ultimate key to unlocking the doors of online success. Welcome to a world where your brand shines as a star in the digital constellation, guided by the brilliance of Bruh Techno's expertise.

[collegeowl1]

Building a Strong Engineering Portfolio for College Admission

The world of engineering is highly competitive, and gaining admission to esteemed B.Tech colleges demands more than just good grades. A well-crafted engineering portfolio can be your ticket to success.

Why a Strong Engineering Portfolio Matters

Admission committees seek students who stand out not only academically but also through their extracurricular pursuits and leadership abilities. Your portfolio is a visual representation of your journey, showcasing your skills and dedication.

Showcasing Your Academic Achievements

High School Scores and Transcripts

Your academic track record is the foundation of your portfolio. Compile your high school scores, transcripts, and any standardized test results to display your consistency and dedication to academics.

Relevant Coursework and Projects

Highlight relevant coursework and projects that demonstrate your passion for engineering. Whether it's a physics research project or a robotics competition, showcasing your hands-on experience is crucial.

Academic Awards and Honors

List any academic awards, scholarships, or honors you've received. These accolades validate your commitment to excellence.

Highlighting Extracurricular Activities

Engineering Clubs and Competitions

Membership in engineering clubs or participation in competitions like Science Olympiad can showcase your practical skills and passion for engineering beyond the classroom.

Personal Projects and Innovations

Detail personal projects or innovations you've undertaken. Whether it's building a solar-powered car or developing a mobile app, these projects illustrate your creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Internships and Workshops

Summarize any internships or workshops you've attended. Practical experiences outside of school provide valuable insights and industry exposure.

Demonstrating Leadership Skills

Positions of Responsibility

Highlight leadership roles you've held in clubs, organizations, or school activities. Leadership demonstrates your ability to coordinate and manage teams effectively.

Community Service Initiatives

Involvement in community service or outreach programs reflects your social consciousness and desire to make a positive impact.

Crafting a Stellar Personal Statement

Your personal statement is your chance to narrate your engineering journey. Be genuine and articulate about your motivations, goals, and what sets you apart.

Acquiring Strong Letters of Recommendation

Solid letters of recommendation can vouch for your character and abilities. Approach teachers, mentors, or supervisors who can speak to your strengths.

Emphasizing Technical Skills

Programming Languages

List programming languages you're proficient in. A strong technical skill set is highly valued in engineering programs.

Software Proficiency

Highlight your familiarity with relevant engineering software and tools. This demonstrates your readiness for college-level coursework.

Building a Digital Portfolio

Online Presence and Professional Profiles

Create a strong online presence on platforms like LinkedIn. A professional online profile enhances your credibility.

Showcasing Your Work Online

Consider creating a personal website or blog to exhibit your projects, write-ups, and accomplishments. A digital portfolio offers a dynamic way to present your work.

Tailoring Your Portfolio for B.Tech Lateral Entry

If you're aiming for B.Tech lateral entry, emphasize your prior academic and practical engineering experience. Showcase how your background aligns with the program's requirements.

Conclusion

Building a strong engineering portfolio requires time and effort, but it's an investment in your future. By curating a comprehensive collection of your achievements, experiences, and skills, you'll be well-prepared to impress admission committees and secure your spot in a top B.Tech college.

FAQs

Q1: What if I don't have a lot of extracurricular activities?

A1: Quality matters more than quantity. Highlight activities that align with your passion for engineering.

Q2: How long should my personal statement be?

A2: Aim for a concise and impactful statement, around 500 to 700 words.

Q3: Can I include non-engineering-related experiences?

A3: Yes, especially if they showcase transferable skills like leadership or teamwork.

Q4: How many letters of recommendation should I submit?

A4: Typically, two to three well-crafted letters are more valuable than several generic ones.

Q5: Can I update my portfolio after submission?

A5: Some colleges may allow updates, but it's best to ensure your initial submission is strong.

[flickeringart]

Virgo Sun and Moon Combinations

Planets represent different energetic principals in the life of an individual – the signs show what filter these energies express through.

Having an inner planet (or luminary) in the sign of Virgo gives the personality a shrewd, analytical quality. No matter what other placements the person has, the methodical and adaptive nature is going to come through.

To simplify;

The Sun represents individuation, ideal self-expression and conscious self-actualization.

The Moon represents instinct, emotional nature and personal needs.

Virgo Sun – Aquarius Moon

This person’s path of individuation involves coming to understand the components of physical life as intimately as possible. This means that a sense of self is found through in depth observation of what works and doesn’t work in terms of handling everyday life. A lot of emphasis should be put on following the empirical trail of cause and effect, but not to establish a deterministic view that life is fundamentally working like a wound up toy and that there’s no free will. The person should seek to understand life in order to work with it in order to gain a sense of autonomy. Emphasis should be put on attempting to do the right thing in terms of carrying out behavior. The emotional temperament is quite level, not too dramatic unless it is to prove a point or initiate change. The instinct is to understand one’s own needs on an intellectual level and relate to them as abstractions, as phenomena of the human condition. There’s likely a strong urge for independence and self-possession in this person. Being dominated and disrespected would be the worst, especially since there’s an idealistic streak to the temperament. Behaving in a way that fails to indicate that certain essential humanitarian values are in place makes this person’s skin crawl. The person needs space in relationships more than anything – being burdened by too much confusion or chaos doesn’t work well. Some people are comfortable with intensely personal experiences, which is not the case for this person. There has to be space around everything that is experienced, a kind of detachment from the up close and personal. One could probably navigate any terrain as long as one wasn’t “in it” completely. Change is always felt to be possible to this individual. The mind or the “soul” has to be held in the greatest esteem as to not let it be tainted by the limited and temporary. Although the temperament is idealistic, the path of selfhood is more concerned with the realistic. It’s concerned with the resources and conscious cultivation of health on a practical level. In many ways, this combo lends itself well to living in alignment with convictions while remaining open to reconsidering and redoing things in order to improve well-being. The fixed temperament stabilizes the personality while there’s a continuous striving to become more nuanced and flexible as part of the individuation process. Overall, there’s the potential to be of true service in the world, and to show an ethical and liberal disposition. One should be cautious of the tendency to become obsessed with perfection in oneself and other people to the point of detriment. It’s good to have high standards but they shouldn’t become a burden.

Virgo Sun – Taurus Moon

The person would strive to develop the observational and analytical faculties throughout life while being temperamentally suited for the long-term grind. A stable and functional base of material safety is sought first and foremost to meet the personal needs. As it relates to individuation, there’s more of an emphasis on curiosity and processing information rather than merely settling into a comfortable life. The person would find a sense of selfhood through caring about organizing and structuring things and to make it work practically. Usually there’s a lot of reassessing and adjusting that is going to be part of the person’s life path. The intellect is supposed to be sharpened and put to use as to facilitate a smooth process of living. The emotional nature is quite compatible with what the definition of the ideal self, which makes it so that there’s not tug between potential and innate temperament. The overall personality is earth based, which comes with all the positive qualities of practicality, duty, good work ethic, patience, stability and serenity. On the flip side, there are the negative qualities of stagnancy, blind stubbornness and avoidance of change. The more the person self-actualizes, the more flexibility and adaptability is going to show. The innate temperament is quite fixed and reliable in that the person will instinctually gravitate toward what’s familiar and constant. Too much unpredictability and uncertainty makes the person worried and anxious. The person needs to know that he or she owns things permanently and be reassured that some things aren’t going to alter with time. There’s a need for permanence that has to be considered and met. Physical comfort is extremely important and should not be overlooked. Fortunately, this is also part of what it means to be stepping into one’s identity. To organize the physical components of one’s life situation and to make them work in harmony as to secure overall health and well-being. It’s important to not fall into the trap of micro managing everything and cultivating a sound judgment on what is worth obsessing about and what is not. With a double earth combo it’s advisable to not become too dogmatic and fixated on ritual. It’s easier said than done, because it’s true that the routines that we stick to can make or break us, get us to where we want or in the opposite direction. It’s good to attempt to take a more broad perspective and detach from the outcome enough to not be blinded by the fear of not doing things right. Life has it’s own invisible intelligence and not everything depends on us being on top of things in order to prevent disaster.

Virgo Sun – Scorpio Moon

The person strives to be self-reliant, methodical and reasonable. The person is set on a path of self-sufficiency and a path of acquiring skillsets that are useful. The person should strive to anchor his or her life in service – being receptive to what any given situation calls for in terms of adjustment. That which can be done should be done in this person’s opinion - it should be done with humility and genuine desire to be of assistance. Virgo Suns are people who strive to better themselves, to facilitate and make way for the optimal expression of life. This requires openness and discernment as well as good observational ability. In combo with a Scorpio Moon, the personality is set up for laser sharp focus. The emotional nature is intensely linked to the person’s individual self; everything that is felt is taken personally. The person is quick to spot threat and very careful to let people in. Vulnerability is guarded carefully. One might be prone to quickly be triggered into defense mode and as a result, attack or isolate in order to cope. The person is probably afraid of their own ability to feel and afraid of other people’s ignorance and lack of awareness. There’s usually a lot of pent up anger, or more accurately – rage. There’s not much that this person forgets because there’s the experience of being permanently damaged by things. Emotions are given enormous importance and are not just something one goes through. It is who one is on an innate, instinctual level. For this reason it becomes very important to this type of individual to control emotions because they are so intense and fearful. This can become a vicious cycle because the more rigid and controlling one becomes, the more the emotions are suppressed and allowed to fester. The analytical Virgo identity might try to rationally deal with the inexplicable intensity, trying to make sense of things intellectually. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t because the conscious mind can only brush the surface of what is going on most of the time. However, with this combo it seems like practical skills will have to be developed in order to navigate the emotional climate. The person may go through daily deaths and rebirths; feelings of being in control and out of control yet there’s probably a deep need to transcend all of it. There could be a lot of dabbing in the mysteries of life, the underpinnings of reality. This combo likely produces a reserved individual that has a strong magnetism and shrewd judgment. The person would strive to look put together and impeccable – strive to have an eye for the details and technicalities of things. No doubt the person would come off as intimidating because of the secretive and intense vibe, not to mention the proclivity to be critical and realistic. There would also be the impression of strength and efficiency on the more positive end of the bargain.

Virgo Sun – Leo Moon

The practical busybody is combined with an open display of emotion. This combo could be a person who is concerned with making things work practically while needing to get recognition and attention for it. These signs together present a bit of a paradox because Virgo is the humble servant and Leo is the divine child. The person strives to be of service – to be someone who is self-possessed and willing to be put to use in the world to serve. The personal temperament on the other hand is dramatic and big – one wants to be treated as someone special, someone who is talented and worthy of admiration. The person might experience a disharmony within relative to these distinctly different pulls if one hasn’t worked out a way to make room for them both yet. If the need for appreciation isn’t met, the person might turn sulky, bitter and resentful. There might be an attempt to create drama or inflate the emotional experiences in order to make people take notice of the inner experiences. Leo Moon can be the epitome of a drama queen, as it tends to blow things up in order to enhance a sense of significance. However, the Virgo ideal is not on board with any of the drama and disarray. A solar Virgo wants to actualize qualities of proper conduct and proper living. This usually doesn’t include exaggeration or unnecessary demonstrations of one’s worth. In Virgo’s mind people should know their worth, not resort to “shameful” self-expression and self-centeredness. One’s worth is shown through diligence and intelligence in the way one handles life. There’s more of a respectful approach to Virgo, although the person might slip-up in moments of stress and become overly critical of the environment and of other people. In general the person has high standards and could turn sour if other people get more love (attention) and rewards for their work and efforts. The person can’t stand not being given their due – even if one probably claims that “it doesn’t matter”. The key is, of course, to not focus so much on others and focus in on one’s own uniqueness and talents. One doesn’t have to prove or compare oneself to other’s so called “success” - it never really works. It’s wise to hone in on what makes one feel strong and important, on what generates confidence and steer one’s thoughts and actions in that direction. The path of self-actualization is to develop useful skills in order to serve life and to serve the self. The lunar needs will benefit greatly from the confidence boost of “being good at something” which might lead to less friction felt on an emotional level. Acquiring skills will make the person feel worthwhile and of value to others and the self.

Virgo Sun – Libra Moon

The orderly and detail oriented ideal self is combined with a relationship- oriented temperament. This combo is the definition of “perfection” or “pleasantness” because the person is preoccupied with other people and creating social harmony while striving to be humble and put-together. The person probably has an exceptionally likable air. There’s probably an innocence that is unmistakable that stems from a need for harmony and an ideal of orderliness. On a temperamental level, the person needs to be liked and will do anything to gain other people’s approval. This is not done by down right agreeing with everything other people think - it’s done through skillful diplomacy, of defending an ideal of fairness at all costs. Friction is unbearable to this person and there’s always an attempt to make it go away by adjusting and modifying. There’s sensitivity to roughness because the person craves the light and easy more than anything. Overall the personality is very unsuited for coarse and “less than civilized” behavior. The person is set on perfection when it comes to planning, processing and relating to other people. The sensitivity to imbalance can be both a blessing and a gift. On the one hand it can make others feel judged, on the other hand it can make them feel respected and protected. There’s always a tendency with the Libra Moon to not take sides but to always side with the idea of the ideal and attempt to adjust things accordingly. The Virgo Sun doesn’t operate from an ideal but from the standpoint of what could facilitate everyday life and lead to optimal and well-rounded health. Virgo works from a standpoint of examining life and taking action according to what is practically needed in the present. The person would appreciate neat simplicity. Everything that is done should have a purpose, ideally. However, the instinctual needs might occasionally push toward indulging in pleasure for pleasure’s sake. It might not be the most practical and healthy choice that is made from this space, but there’s little risk of over doing it since it all stays within what is considered to be “right” according to a certain standard of pleasantness. Moderation would be the unconscious program this person is running on. It is accomplished by constantly checking the self to evaluate what is working and not working. The person’s ultimate fulfillment lies is adapting and adjusting to evolve and become better through trial and error.

Virgo Sun – Capricorn Moon

The process of individuation is characterized by constant improvement, of adjusting and modifying components of physical life in order for it to be purposeful. The innate temperament is concentrated, serious and restricted. There’s probably difficult for this person to let emotions flow freely without attempting to keep them in place. There’s fear of sensation getting out of hand and hindering one’s ability to keep up with one’s ambition. There’s an innate need to achieve and accomplish something tangible that will meet one’s needs but it seems to require effort and temporary deprivation. The concept of “work” is ingrained in the person. Nothing is free of charge. One can’t expect to get any true fulfillment through luck– that’s just not how the world works. One has to organize and limit the self in the right way in order to yield concrete results. Safety, comfort and satisfaction are not gained through letting things be. The base line is always misery and disorder but one can work upwardly to reach heights of joy. If anything, this kind of person has the potential for making something happen in the world of form through deliberate strategy. The Virgo Sun seeks to be of service to be genuinely helpful in terms of work while the Capricorn Moon provides an innate work ethic and a patience to see things through when the going gets rough. That being said there’s always a risk for depriving oneself too much with a Cap Moon. A lot of guilt and fear can lie at the core of motivation, making the work more destructive than constructive to the person. It’s very important to not let the concern of failure dominate one’s whole existence, although it’s easier said than done with this combo. Self-care and self-acceptance play a big role in living a happy life – without a dose of ease along the long road of life the goal won’t be worth it. With this combo there’s the proclivity for judging and critiquing excessively to the point of it becoming depressing to the self and to others. It’s not always helpful to jump in and be the fixer of everything - sometimes things don’t have to be forced, they can be trusted to work themselves out. Being busy isn’t always the most productive; sometimes space is needed to receive some clarity on how to proceed. Taking action and going to work on something is what this person is going to excel at. Assessing what a situation needs and providing it will feel wonderful because it’s in alignment with one’s ideal self. Although the emotional temperament is strained and austere, it’s deeply invested in doing what is “right” and not being too demonstrative about it.

Virgo Sun – Cancer Moon

This combo reflects a gentle and humble person that is instinctively caring and keen to be of service. There’s going to be something pure and innocent about the person, which is not to imply that one exudes weakness, merely that one is self-possessed and sensitive. The person likes to be someone who can look after him or herself, but at the same time craves to be cared for by another person. There might be a strong need for close personal relationships with a simultaneous striving to rely on one’s own capability and discernment. On the one hand, the person would like to rationally observe and think and reach conclusions on his or her own – to take action according to the gathering of facts. On the other hand there’s a tendency to come off as needy and moody, to let complaining and whining take over. A Cancer Moon is a tricky one, because it has a direction and an agenda but it won’t pursue its needs upfront. It pursues closeness through displaying sensitivity and vulnerability and appealing to people’s sympathy – not necessarily in a clingy way though. A Cancer Moon usually offers understanding and emotional support in return for being listened to. They don’t tend to judge people for feeling, but they certainly condemn that which is harsh and attacking. Instinctively, the person is defensive rather than assertive. The Virgo Sun would help to keep the person keep occupied with something concrete instead of staying stuck in protection mode. The solar Virgo always seeks solutions and answers; they aim to be resourceful and effective. More than likely the person would develop great skills to deal with overwhelm and mood swings through organizing the daily life in the right way – managing diet or routine in order to remedy the worst of it. The person would likely have an air of being “a good and decent person” without any frills or excesses. Cutting to the point of what is important and avoiding the unnecessary makes for a good life. It’s the little things that matter; the day-to-day living that is treasured the most. Being able to enjoy the ordinary is what this person does the best. Truly, the person just want to be caring and of the utmost use when it comes to their own and other people’s well being. There’s great potential for intuitively sensing what others are experiencing emotionally which blends well with the desire to be of service. This person is not only concerned with the physical but with the emotional as well – the soul has to be fed first and foremost.

Virgo Sun – Aries Moon

The ideal self is methodical and practical while the instinctual self is impulsive and assertive. There’s a lot of energy to this person that needs an outlet. There’s a thrill that’s experienced through projecting and extending energy outwardly. What this person needs is very simple, to be protruding and uncompromisingly expressive. Usually one gets away with it because it is done in such a genuine and uncalculated manner that it won’t produce long term grudges in other people. The person is very direct and forceful temperamentally, but it’s not sprung out of festering emotion. One moves on and forgets quite quickly even though things can get heated in the moment. The ideal self, as represented by the Virgo Sun, is however not entirely compatible with the instinctual Aries mode. Virgo is quietly observing and getting things done in order to purposefully put things in order. It’s deliberate and thoughtful in action and method. Nothing is left to chance because life is too important to not take seriously. There are too many components and factors that are necessary to make up a good life – the devil is in the details. The Aries temperament can unfortunately function counter to the Virgo ideal, causing a great deal of tension and frustration within the person. Instinctually, the person is not humble and doesn’t like taking advice or asking for help. One just wants to express for the sake of expressing – it doesn’t have to be perfect or profound in anyway. Emotionally the person just wants to be allowed to be direct and honest without having to modify behavior. To have to mold oneself to a social or societal standard is a nuisance because it denies the spirit within to be what it wants to be at any given moment. This combo would indicate a person who is impulsive and competitive in nature but strives to be meticulous and careful. It could become a little confusing, not only to the person in question but to others as well. On the one hand there’s a modest and analytical self that seeks to have everything in order, on the other there’s the need for letting out the force of energy because one has so much of it. When there’s too much energy that wants out it is usually a risk of being too quick or hasty as to ruin whatever one is working on. Fortunately the Virgo Sun might provide the necessary influence to take a step back and carefully assess how things should be done to produce the best results. One might have to keep in mind that physical life requires some precision not only force.

Virgo Sun – Gemini Moon

This combo makes for a mentally active and busy individual. There’s always something going on with this person, there’s restlessness and sensitivity to the environment. The person lives through the intellect – it is one’s primary tool of operating. It’s great for interacting and communicating, learning and acquiring skills but it can also be a burden. If there’s too much stimulation and an overload of information that has to be processed the person doesn’t cope well. Mental fatigue is the single biggest risk for this person. It’s very difficult to stop the mind from constantly running. The person needs to be stimulated and becomes bored if the mind is not fed “quality food” on a daily basis. The person strives to be of service, to put acquired skills to practical use. The person is probably highly esteemed because of one’s casual yet methodical approach to life. Somehow this person would always land with their feet on the ground no matter how chaotic things get. The personal process of individuation involves being resourceful and useful. Whatever the occupation and life situation, the person should hone in on the analytical and processing skills. This would be the most fulfilling, no matter the circumstance. On an instinctual level there’s less of an emphasis of putting one’s skills to use and more of an emphasis on being stimulated. In a nutshell the person simply needs to talk and write and communicate without any serious regard of the outcome. Temperamentally, the person is better suited for creative endeavors than mere methodical and systematical ones. Temperamentally, there’s a need to use the mind and freely conceptualize of things. The personal ideal however, is more deliberate and critical. The person should strive to develop a more grounded approach that is not too eccentric and fanciful. The mundane and ordinary is what stands as the ideal. Cultivating humility and a good work ethic would prove rewarding. Since both the Sun and Moon are mutable, the overall personality would be open to adapting to new situations – there’s a desire to progress and evolve with this combo. Rearranging and reinventing would be appealing. The person is very skilled at taking what’s in front of them and making it work somehow. There’s both a creative-intuitive streak and a detail-protocol- obsessive streak that can be found in this individual. There’s a bit of friction between these two modes of approaching life, but it can serve to stimulate action.

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Virgo Sun – Virgo Moon

This person is a Virgo through and through in terms of personal ideal and temperament. Daily routine and self-sufficiency would not only be what is sought as an ideal but what is deeply needed for this person to feel safe and emotionally fulfilled. There would be an urge to exude capability and intelligence, a need to be on top of everything that has to be done to secure the order of physical components. This is a person that can be trusted with making sure that nothing has been overlooked or missed in the process of organizing or putting together something important. On the downside, the meticulous and detail-oriented disposition can result in the person being tightly wound and stressed. The most important thing is to keep things simple and to the point, which of course requires a whole lot of sorting through the irrelevant details of life to get to the important bits. There’s no end to the process of discerning and adjusting. Other people might be extremely appreciative of the honest and humble quest for order and correctness, but they would not be as appreciative of the critical and nit-picky tendencies. Virgos are very observant and nothing escapes their scrutinizing eyes. This would not only be intimidating to others but it could become a burden to the person in question as well. The act of judging and labeling in order to make sense of things makes for a tense atmosphere with no room for mistakes. The person should take care as to not intellectualize and analyze everything because it leaves no room for freedom of movement and spontaneity. The desire to have everything be perfect is not always beneficial because it allows for no relaxation and trust in life. Having to monitor and control everything only leads to more and more problems to manage. Some things are out of one’s control and one can’t be efficient to the point of nothing ever going wrong. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s not worth trying. With this combo there will be a perfectionistic tendency present whether one likes it or not. The person would be well suited to work with something that requires refined skills and a sharp intellect. One would do well with things that can’t be left to chance, that depends on accurate observation and alertness. In relationships there might be shyness and reservation – one would prefer to talk about things that one is familiar with, that falls under one’s domain of expertise. Treading into unfamiliar territory often makes the person uneasy and insecure.

Virgo Sun – Pisces Moon

This is an interesting combo because Virgo and Pisces are opposite signs. The person’s path of individuation leans in the direction of developing skills and methods for handling physical life in a proper way while the instinctual nature is ethereal and diffuse. Emotions are constantly fluctuating and gripping the person from out of nowhere. There’s intimacy with the transient, which conjures up feelings of sorrow and being robbed of the beauty the world has to offer. Yet it is in the frailty that beauty is revealed and it touches this person deeply. Although the person feels the most like the ideal self when there’s efficiency and order present in their life, on a temperamental level there’s a longing for oneness that can border on destructiveness. There would be a strong tendency to romanticize life, to be consumed by fantasy rather in the cold and unglamorous reality of the physical. There’s a polarity conflict between the personal ideal and the personal temperament. The ideal involves practicality, usefulness and moderation while the innate nature is soft, boundless, bittersweet and resigned. The process of individuation does not accommodate for the emotional nature, which makes it so that the person has to consciously make room for both without forgetting about one or the other. It might be easy to project one or the other onto the people in one’s life because the polarity is too difficult to contain within oneself. The person might not like being described as soft-hearted even though it would probably be an accurate description. Capable, self-possessed and skillful would be traits that the person would like to be associated with. Intellectual, analytical and shrewd would be traits that resonate well with the ideal self that wants to be actualized. The person would likely be very sensitive but unwilling to openly show it or admit to feeling any powerful emotional reactions. With this combo it’s particularly important to not try to control or criticize unruly emotions too harshly because it will only enhance the inner disharmony. What can be done however is to deliberately make room for creativity and free flowing activity as to emotionally purge and process everything that is going on. Health is not only about routine, diet or exercise – it’s about being present and open to feeling life unconditionally without any attempt to fix things or put them in order. For this person it’s important to allow emotion to have a free outlet – preferably through some creative medium. Whether it’s art, music or poetry something else, there’s enormous richness that is waiting to be channeled.

Virgo Sun – Sagittarius Moon

This person has a life path of managing mundane life and perfecting methods of living while the temperamental nature is individualistic and spontaneous. This obviously presents a conflict because the path of self-actualization requires concentration and the temperament is too boisterous and freedom hungry to be bothered with tasks that require detailed knowledge. The person needs to live in a big way, on the wings of faith, yet would find that one keeps returning to the theme of living humbly and responsibly. The person would love to learn, experience the world and live without another thought of tomorrow because this is the need that sits at the core of the personal emotions. Freedom is very important; in the sense that one must feel that one has free will. This means that chores and strenuous labor must be done because one has willingly taken it on and not because someone else has demanded it. Being tied down is the worst experience. Variety is essential to this person’s well-being. If it’s withheld, there’s nothing that prevents the person from leaving the situation or stop caring about it all together. There’s a casualness and boldness to the emotional nature that will have varying effect on others. Some will appreciate the simplicity of it; some will resent the insensitivity that it entails. The Virgo ideal would temper the boldness of the Sagittarian instinct slightly because one would consciously prefer to be seen as humble and modest in expression. However, sometimes reactivity will get the best of the person and the Virgo ideal is thrown out the window. When there’s not too much emotional charge and pressure and one has space to consciously choose how to be, the Virgo qualities are going to front more easily. There’s a general proclivity for studying and learning with this combo. From the Virgo end it stems from a desire to be helpful and of service in honor of life, from the Sagittarian end it stems from a spiritual quest to understand and explore the totality of the universal self. Ultimately, the enthusiasm and inspiration that is innate to the person is fueling the ideal of dealing with physical life effectively and with confidence. The tension created between the two signs stimulates action and dynamic activity. The person is controlled and outgoing, careful and impulsive. Life is taken seriously, but it’s also just an opportunity to have fun. It would be important to make sure to not restrict the more adventurous streak of the personality too much, otherwise it might come out with force due to excessive repression. It’s much better to make room for the more instinctual needs before they make room for themselves. Certain needs, if ignored for too long, will operate unconsciously and steer life “off course”.

[clarythericebot]

potential internal conflicts/character arcs for nhie s2

(based on the table read, news, and things that i personally just want to see :P)

- Devi learning to see others as ends of themselves instead of means to an end. No-brainer that this is going to be a theme next season (especially with that pros and cons list of her love interest), but I’m so excited to see how the show’s going to handle it. As I rambled about on this post, one of Devi’s biggest developments as a character was to stop treating Ben as an extension of herself (either as boxing him into the role of Antagonist/Nemesis in her own narrative or as a hateful mirror that points out personal traits she dislikes) and as an actual person and friend, and it’s that which sparks the small epiphany of her feelings towards him. From the table read and the stills, though, it sounds like she might be putting him in a new, albeit prettier box: Love Interest. The same box that she puts in Paxton, who at this point also does have genuine feelings for Devi. She’s looking at them as experiences, not people, and it’s all going to inevitably blow up in her face.

- The Devi/Fabiola/Eleanor friendship changing somehow. I had this impression that all season 1, the three of them have been hanging on to a dynamic that just doesn’t work anymore, in light of Devi’s grief, Eleanor’s abandonment, and Fabiola’s identity conflict. While Devi is definitely in the wrong of blatantly choosing a guy’s inconvenience over her best friend’s weightier problems, I think the larger problem here is that they don’t seem to know how to be there for each other for difficulties larger than to do with school, although the care and concern is there. It actually takes a third party to push them towards solving the overarching issues in their friendship, and even then only briefly. I’d really like to see this explored as a conflict shared between the three of them, instead of it being sidelined completely as Devi being selfish.

- The narrative that Devi will tell Princeton + the parts of herself she’s willing to take to college. (These are technically two conflicts, but I feel like it would make sense to intertwine them, especially since they’ve already been intertwined in the Ganesh Puja episode.) Devi has expressed her intention about leaving her Indian-ness completely and utterly behind her, as well as all the other embarrassing and painful parts of her identity (her grief and her insecurities). She’s come to terms with her father’s death to an extent, but she doesn’t seem to have yet accepted how his death has shaped and marked her. I think this is going to extend with how she deals with her Indian identity, and perhaps how she deals with her relationships.

- The double-standard between Kamala and Devi. On one level I understand Nalini probably treats them different because of her differing relationships with them—one’s her niece that only came to live with them and the other is her only child, her whole family. On the other hand, from the narration Devi has never really experienced her mother expressing such a blatant double standard in favor of Kamala before (about her secret boyfriend); she fully believed her cousin would get into trouble. It never did get addressed.

- In the first season, we experienced how Kamala’s western ideals influenced the part of her life still infused with tradition (her relations to other Indian people and her arranged marriage). The still of Kamala in a labcoat makes me hopeful for the inverse this season: how Kamala’s arranged marriage and traditional ideals affect her career as a scientist.

- Paxton engaging in the fact that he likes someone who is smarter than him (at least in a bookish sense). I’ve never seen this conflict delved into before—most writers just ignore it, focusing on what the love interests have in common (and don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to Paxton engaging Devi in this way, either by trying new things or revealing some hobbies or interests we haven’t made privy to). This insecurity is so close to his chest, though, and as much as Devi seems to make a point not to make him feel bad about it, it would be fascinating friction since Devi is very rightfully proud of her intellectual prowess. I imagine this will only be accentuated with knowing that his competition for Devi’s affections is someone razor-edge smart.

- Ben’s anger, and it being dealt with in constructive and destructive ways. I think one of the (numerous) things that I love about Ben and Devi is that they have different approaches to their internal and external conflicts. Devi runs away internally, refusing to face grief and sadness, while she delves head-first into external situations (e.g. asking Paxton to have sex with her, going to a Model UN trip with absolutely no prep and being willing to steal alcohol, talking to her friend’s estranged mom in other to get back into said friend’s good graces). Ben, on the other hand, has remarkable emotional intelligence underneath his high school immaturity (he can read Devi beyond her words actions, he doesn’t deny the isolation and loneliness that he feels, he is prepared to be vulnerable in certain situations) but he doesn’t do anything about it (he stops himself from telling his parents how abandoned he feels, he gives in to his girlfriend essentially using him as a prop, he is ushered into dining in his nemesis’ house by her concerned mother). Then Devi kisses him, and suddenly he’s willing to put his eggs in one basket. He stands up to his parents and demands that they spend family dinner together—because of her, he claims. He breaks up with his girlfriend, finally admitting that what they had wasn’t real, and earnestly informing Devi that he thinks what they have is. “I’m all in,” he tells her, thus crushing my heart. Because what’s strongly being implied, at least by the first part of the first episode, is that Devi’s either going to choose Paxton or neither of them. I imagine that Ben, used to being abandoned time and time again, will not react well to that. (This is expanded in this really awesome meta by @catty-words). There’s potential for the show to frame this as sexist entitlement, but I’d like to hope that the creators will be more compassionate to Ben’s conflict, as they have been in the past. It would genuinely be hurtful for someone you’ve displayed a lot of vulnerability to suddenly turn tail and say it didn’t mean as much to her. My guess is that he’ll lock into their nemesis status quo from before and lean into it hard, and it will likely hurt him badly. What I’d also like to see, though, (if only to assuage my own heartbreak) is him taking steps to deal with this a little more constructively, in addition to the inevitable self-destruction. I’d love to see him get back in touch with his ride-or-die middle school friends or even make new ones. In fact, I suspect that’s who the character of Aneesa is going to be, regardless of whether she becomes a contender for his love interest.

Aneesa is described as someone whose confidence and radiance will pose an immediate threat to Devi. I doubt that means she’ll be another academic rival, at least not completely; Devi already has Ben for that. As for romantic rivalry, it is likely not going to be Paxton Aneesa will be paired with, since it’ll only be a rehash of Devi’s insecurities of Paxton liking ‘hotter’ girls like Zoe and vying for his attention. (There’s a possibility she and Paxton will have history together and that threatens Devi even if she’s already in a relationship with him, but for me, that’s a less interesting choice than letting Devi focus on the challenges that will be inherent with Paxton being her boyfriend.) I think Aneesa will be another mirror for Devi—who she could have been if she pursued friendship and openness and maybe even a relationship with Ben, and that’s likely going to make Devi bitterly jealous. If this results in friendship and openness and maybe even a relationship for Ben (a deeper, more genuine one than his previous), I’m completely here for it, even if I am still hoping for a Bevi endgame.

(Low-key theorizing that Ben's smiling at Aneesa here, btw)

[doomonfilm]

Ranking : Gus Van Sant (1952-present)

I was somewhat familiar with Gus Van Sant prior into taking the deep dive through his catalog, but he was certainly a man that I thought I had a handle on.  I knew he had more than a few amazing films under his belt, but the recent years had not been kind to him (see the shot taken at him in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).  I knew that he was from the Pacific Northwest (Oregon specifically), and his coming of age in an area that embraces weirdos and outsiders had an impact on him as a human and as a creator.  I knew that films like Milk and Good Will Hunting had taken Van Sant to the highest heights, while the collective panning of films like Psycho and Last Days served as valleys in a career full of glorious peaks.

What I came to discover, however, was a man with genuine creative integrity, and lots of it.  I found a director who understood his characters and actors on a human level, and shared them with viewers in ways that helped rich connections develop.  I saw a director who was not afraid to make those that society often considers outcasts the  emotionally rich and important centers of his narratives.  I watched Gus Van Sant present, explore, develop and refine his style over deeply independent and infamously studio-driven projects, giving all experiences as much care and attention as he was able.  I saw films I was familiar with find placement behind films I was new to, I discovered that his recent creative years have not been as kind to him as the first two-thirds of his career, and I can see that there still may be a bit of a smolder left in his creative fire.  

Ranking directors is a labor of love, but by no means do I consider myself the definitive professional on film canon.  I enjoyed all of the Gus Van Sant films I watched on some level, and as always, for those brave enough to interact, I’d be curious to see where you would make adjustments to the list.  But enough introduction talk, let’s get into what you folks came for!

17. Restless (2011) There are things about Restless that I want to love without judgement.  First and foremost, Mia Wasikowska is an absolute treasure who shines in this performance from the earlier portion of her career.  The portrayal of Hiroshi is one of the more subtle, substanced and interesting ways of using a ghost within the film framework.  As minor a thing as it may be to the casual moviegoer, some of this film’s technical aspects are astounding, specifically the costuming and the lighting choices.  Where the film distracts me, and therefore drops in these rankings, is where it takes the YA approach to the romantic drama, with a healthy dose of manic pixie dream girl energy thrown in for good measure.  When it comes to displaying romance on-screen, be it teenage or otherwise, there are no expectations, even for a director with a distinct style.  Where my issues arise are in the way that death is handled in this film… while I do understand that not every film has to be a distinct statement for a director (especially a film written by another individual), Gus Van Sant had already established a very mature approach to the subject of death, and the way that death and the manic pixie dream girl aspects are intertwined feels more on the amateur side than I am comfortable with for a Gus Van Sant film.  Maybe giving the impossibly troubled young man a muse with an expiration date as his way to find the best version of himself is a stroke of genius that provides a gateway for deep commentary on the concept of the manic pixie dream girl, but the film is so approachable and not the type to bare teeth (be it satirically or otherwise) that I doubt there is any subtext to its intention.  For that reason, this film finds itself on the bottom half of the Van Sant canon.

16. Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018) After the critical and box office disappointment that was The Sea of Trees, director Gus Van Sant had quite the hill to climb with his next film, and with his adaptation of Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, it seemed he was able to right those respective ships.  Strangely, the film failed to connect with me, and as far as I can tell, it seems to be the victim of an “all sizzle, no steak” scenario.  The film is certainly a showcase of a very diverse cast, and based on both the flashback-based and group therapy approach to the story, there are a wealth of opportunities to create memorable moments.  Unfortunately, and perhaps due to an oversight on my end, I failed to find enough substance during my viewing of the film to prop up the parade of moments.  What it felt like I was left with, sadly, was a Simple Jack-level approach to conveying a paraplegic-centered story, which undercut the fact that the film is actually telling the true story of cartoonist, artist and musician John Callahan.  That’s not to say that the film doesn’t have it’s positive aspects, such as the John Callahan illustrations and the animated versions of his work, but those positive aspects feel sparse in comparison to how much the film relishes in what feels like Oscar bait.  If nothing else, see this film for Jonah Hill, because it took me much longer than it should have to recognize him, partly due to his impressive weight loss and partly due to how dedicated he is to achieving the film’s period look.

15. The Sea of Trees (2015) Death is no stranger in the films of Gus Van Sant, but I don’t feel that it would be bold to state The Sea of Trees deals with death in the most direct manner.  For those that subscribe to grief having stages, this film accounts for all of them in some way, shape or form during the course of the narrative as we watch Arthur Brennan fall apart and rediscover himself in the wake of losing Joan Brennan, his wife.  Placing the film in Aokigahara (aka the "Japanese suicide forest") not only gives the film a sense of natural beauty, but a foreboding sense of dread and despair as well.  The core cast is as strong as any found in a Van Sant film, with Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe and Naomi Watts all turning in solid performances.  Sadly, the film falters in one very core aspect : sympathy for the protagonist.  I found myself feeling very bad for Joan Brennan as I watched her arc, and despite knowing nothing about Watanabe’s character portrayal of Takumi Nakamura, I found myself sympathetic to him based solely on what he was emoting.  Arthur Brennan, however, is interesting in all the wrong ways… he is extremely cold and purposefully flat when introduced, the moments we share with the Brennans only seem to show Arthur finding joy at the expense of Joan’s pride, his view of the loss of his wife (and his world view in general) seem to be extremely self-centered, and when he does show heroic attributes they are rooted solely in self-preservation.  Perhaps if Van Sant had not already made such eloquent reflections on death via The Death Trilogy and Paranoid Park, The Sea of Trees could have been seen in a different light, but when you set such a high bar for your work, returning to stereotypical storytelling can feel flat and uninspired.

14. Last Days (2005) Last Days is a film with a weird energy and aura surrounding it… in some ways, it feels like the most performative film not only of the Death Trilogy, but out of the entire Gus Van Sant catalog.  At the risk of using too negative an adjective, it also feels the most exploitive, though neither of these observations are necessarily meant to be a knock against the film.  The Death Trilogy could not help but be exploitive at its root, as each film was inspired by an infamous death event, and with Michael Pitt’s Blake meant to be an avatar for Kurt Cobain, it would be simple to take the film at face value for some sort of glamourized and idealized fictional retelling of his tragic final moments, not to mention a few stylistic nods to iconic Cobain-related imagery.  What that viewer would be missing, in my opinion, is a film looking to make some familiar points on outsider culture (specifically alternative rock and roll counterculture and addict culture) minus all the glamour and shine.  While Blake’s house is grand, it’s decrepit and in a state of disrepair… despite it being isolated, expected and unexpected guests arrive constantly, not to mention an intrusive ringing phone that connects Blake to outworld obligations… Blake has a number of people living with him, but he almost never interacts with them.  Michael Pitt is done up to look so similar to Kurt Cobain that much of the narrative background is implied, and what we are left with is the Death Trilogy style implemented and fused onto a loose leaf narrative with just enough structure to let the supporting actors have isolated memorable moments while we watch Pitt’s Blake decay in the ways that many of us Cobain fans ruminated on in the wake of his sudden and tragic death at the height of his tortured popularity.

13. Gerry (2002) At the risk of sounding cliché, Gerry may be the most fascinating film in Gus Van Sant’s canon.  It marks a clear and definitive break in convention from a director that seemingly never cared too much for convention anyway.  Multiple aspects of this film make it extremely unique : both characters referring to one another by the same name (though Gerry eventually evolves into an all-purpose non-specific descriptor), a seemingly absent narrative, a shared goal between the characters literally referred to as “the thing” in order to purposely keep viewers in the dark and, perhaps most importantly, a deliberately methodical pacing that pushes even seasoned film lovers to the limits of their patience.  The film is beautiful, and that is a fact that cannot be denied… the painterly shot compositions of our characters in the isolated desert, the unfathomably long tracking shots that pull us deeper off the beaten path and the sonic stillness (due to a largely absent score that is replaced with the sounds of nature) either commit you fully to the experiment or come off as massively pretentious.  To view the film through that secondary lens, however, is to miss the point of it all.  Once it is understood that Gerry marked the entry point for Gus Van Sant’s Death Trilogy, you began to realize that Van Sant, in tandem with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, are giving us an understanding of how we should view the trilogy, and how open-minded we should be in processing what is given to us, like some early high-concept version of what Quentin Dupieux would later go on to master in a more abstract manner.

12. Mala Noche (1985) It’s fitting that this was a feature-length debut from a driven and working director, as it has a very distinct look and feel to it that immediately lets you know you’re dealing with an innate storyteller and someone who has spent time observing the human condition.  In terms of visual and narrative balance, Gus Van Sant utilizes what feels like a mix of John Cassavetes and Jack Kerouac, respectively.  Van Sant’s use of titles in the film is striking, specifically in terms of the handwritten opening credits and the Dr. Pepper ad copy used to subtitle the Spanish language dialogue.  Focusing so heavily on immigration and homosexuality in 1985 is a bold choice, especially as neither group had yet to benefit (even if only minimally) from the onset of politically correct culture policing.  While the film was more than likely shot in black and white due to budgetary constraints, the infusion of somewhat modern elements (for the time) gives it a youthful and forward-thinking energy.  Having a film of this nature lean so heavily on multilingual and multicultural elements is refreshing, and even more impactful when examined under the boorish and (at times) tone deaf application that humanizes these elements.  For all of these aspects of the film, however, when examined at the pure narrative foundation, what we find is a story about how love can blind us from the reality we inhabit, and how we often choose to ignore the obvious when romance and romanticism enters the picture.

11. Psycho (1998) Of all the films in the Van Sant catalog, perhaps the bravest, boldest and most baffling entry is his nearly shot for shot remake of the iconic Alfred Hitchcock thriller and cinematic game changer Psycho.  Remakes were certainly not a new or unheard of practice at the time of the Van Sant Psycho release, but most directors opt to put significant twists or updates into their retelling of most remakes, and most films chosen do not hold the lofty stature and position that Psycho does when it comes to remakes.  Van Sant’s approach not only made viewers keenly aware of just how direct the homage was, but in some places, modern touches were added in very subtle ways to make the movie more palatable for modern audiences, including more salacious references to sexuality, sound design choices in both the diegetic and symbolic realm, and even an update or two to iconic scenes meant to make us much more uneasy with the Vince Vaughn portrayal of Norman Bates.  The actors cast were all famous and respected enough to keep the film’s timeless feeling in-tact, even if the remake could be taken as its own weird and warped project.  Personally, I’ve always loved this remake, and taken it as an experiment on the highest commercial level, and a signal to all that Van Sant (at the time) was done with the traditional approach to filmmaking and concepting.

10. Paranoid Park (2007) While many movies centered around skateboarding spend their time and design budget trying to make the outsider nature of the practice look “cool”, Paranoid Park spends its time making sure that the isolation, deep focus and rebellious attitude that come with skateboarding were more authentic than they were appealing.  High school is already a very taxing and polarizing section of juvenile development, and based on your perception at the time, the weight that the world unloads on you can feel wholly unbearable.  Perhaps this is what makes Paranoid Park such a tense film… that natural teenage angst is already imprinted into the film (and amplified due to the casting of relative unknowns), but Gus Van Sant’s signature use of alternative film stocks, obscure soundtrack and expressive, layered sound design but you square in Alex’s head from the opening moments.  As the narrative unfolds, we realize that Alex is not only dealing with standard-issue teen stress, but has unwillingly found himself involved in the type of events that change an individual’s world.  This film plays well as the first film post-Death Trilogy, as it deals with the gravity of mortality head-on much like the aforementioned three films, but does so from an adaptive stance rather than one based on true events.  If you’re a fan of skater flicks, movies with strong teen acting, or little-known Gus Van Sant gems, then Paranoid Park is a gem waiting for discovery.

9. Finding Forrester (2000) Gus Van Sant has always had a way with stories that dive below the surface of the human experience and condition, so it makes sense that his attempt at a New York-based movie about people living in “the hood” would cover an array of topics with masterful subtlety, specifically the topics of race relations, generational gaps and the blurry line between education and exploitation.  The casting on this film is extremely strong… then newcomer Rob Brown gives a riveting and dynamic lead performance, it’d be harder to cast a more perfect curmudgeon than Sean Connery, and appearances by F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes and a Matt Damon cameo all stand out.  Speaking of Damon, Finding Forrester shares a similar energy to Good Will Hunting, but the proximity of release ultimately held Finding Forrester from finding its proper audience (no pun intended).  I wish I had more to say about this film outside of my personal feelings and connections to the story (which I will save for a dedicated deep dive in the future), but Finding Forrester is one of those films that has no trouble speaking for itself.

8. Promised Land (2012) As of the point that this blog post was created, this film stands as the last of the great Van Sant creations.  There is something about the Gus Van Sant approach to filmmaking that works best with “salt of the Earth” types, and with Promised Land being centered around the practice of fracking, much of that down-home nature is immediately baked into the story.  Speaking of the story, the film was co-written by the characters who ended up being the protagonist and antagonist of the picture, respectfully, which created an electric main dynamic that served as the spine for many other strong dynamics present in the film.  In terms of the cinematography, much of Van Sant’s bold approaches and stylistic shifts are absent, save for a few beautiful bird’s eye view perspective shots that give you a real idea of what rural America looks like.  Van Sant is no stranger to stacked casts, but he gets some truly top notch names to take part in this affair, and true to the clout behind these names, the performances are as stellar as they are believable and natural.  The film also touched a nerve with the actual oil industry due to some of its comments on fracking, despite it not having the reach or success of other Van Sant films.  While possibly an indicator that Van Sant would be making a stylistic shift, Promised Land still manages to capture what makes Van Sant his best self in terms of not only presenting real people, but topical and important situations.

7. Milk (2008) Gus Van Sant is clearly no stranger to having representation for the gay community in his films, so it makes sense that one of the hallmark films in his canon would center around gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk.  Much like JFK crystalized Oliver Stone, or Spike Lee was raised to another echelon by Malcolm X, Van Sant found a second round of Academy Award-level validation via this biopic while solidifying himself as a creative who could go back and forth effortlessly between big budget studio films and independent projects.  With Sean Penn giving one of his signature chameleon-like performances and leading the pack, this Van Sant production is filled with tons of burgeoning talent who have since gone on to make names for themselves in the industry, including the likes of Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill and others, plus a standout performance from Josh Brolin (who also depicted George W. Bush in the same year for the aforementioned Stone).  While it may not be the most technically marveling film of Van Sant’s career, it is clearly one of his most important, and the way that it handles the messages it intends to share is as confident as it is even-keeled, which is important for a film that could have easily become a soapbox for espousing personal beliefs and political agendas.

6. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) This Gus Van Sant adaptation of the famed author Tom Robbins novel shares the same creative energy of films like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Natural Born Killers, Harold and Maude and so on in the sense that it is a very expressive film with a very specific idea it is looking to present.  Where the aforementioned films explored ideas of free love taken to the extreme, the toxicity of media, love without judgement and so on (respectively), Even Cowgirls Get the Blues puts femininity and identity outside of the male gaze squarely in its crosshairs.  Uma Thurman takes on the role of Sissy with wide-eyed zeal, floating through a series of hitchhiker-based adventures until her reluctant visit to the Rubber Road Ranch helps her find the missing piece of her puzzle.  Seeing a bizarre, star-studded tale of a woman finding her agency sounds like it would work on the surface, but from what I could find, the film failed to make a connection with audiences and is considered a commercial and critical failure (which is probably why it was the toughest film to track down on this list).  That being said, I’m a sucker for films that catch a bad rap, especially when the combination of such a unique director and visionary author are the foundation of it, because it makes me curious about why I find connection where others did not… who knows, maybe it was those extremely distracting rubber thumbs (the only real knock I can make on the film), or maybe the Tom Robbins style is tough to transfer from page to screen, but for my money’s worth, I can see the vision.

5. My Own Private Idaho (1991) Somewhere within the intersection of films like Midnight Cowboy and Fight Club lies My Own Private Idaho, an extremely personal and nuanced film that covers many topics with depth and an ease that comes with wisdom and experience.  For example, when it comes to views on identity, we get two rich narratives that could easily both be their own film : Mike (portrayed by River Phoenix) is going through a crisis of identity based on a sordid history with his mother and absentee father that makes his search for love transform into a life of hustling as a way to find momentary intimacy; meanwhile, Keanu Reeves (who plays Scott) is an entitled young man awaiting an inheritance that decides to spend the time until it happens “slumming” with those many would consider the outcasts of society, much like the “tourists” spoken of by Edward Norton’s narrator in Fight Club.  The struggle with masculinity in the face of homosexuality is all over this film, from its multiple male on male connections to the very toxic manner that the core group interacts with one another, when they are not grieving or putting their livelihood in danger via petty crimes.  In terms of Van Sant style, the film is one of his most innovative (outside of the film holding the top spot) in terms of looks, with its unique range of colorful title cards, the pinhole vision that Mike uses on his road, or even the standout magazine rack sequence.  The film is also a perfect follow-up to Drugstore Cowboy, and could easily double feature with it to this day.  As someone not wholly familiar with Shakespeare’s Henry plays, I did not catch that My Own Private Idaho was an adaptation, so I will not only have to revisit it with that familiarity in tow, but  I will have to take a look into James Franco’s re-cut, My Own Private River, as well.

4. Elephant (2003) Based solely on the nature and definition of a trilogy, a second film can make or break things.  Gerry and Last Days share similarities in how quiet and isolated they are, so it makes sense that Elephant, part two of Van Sant’s Death Trilogy, would in many ways be the meat of the trilogy sandwich in terms of style and thematic substance.  Elephant operates on several distinct levels based on Van Sant’s observations of the world going into the new millennium, as the film allowed him a foundation for both experimentation and examination by proxy.  While the long takes and vast amount of distance traveled during said takes was present in all three films of the trilogy, Van Sant made a concentrated effort to make the shots look and feel similar to that of video games like the later Grand Theft Auto entries, hence a number of the shots being positionally locked during travel (often times a few feet behind the character at the center of that moment’s focus).  There are ramp-downs of the frame rate to punctuate certain moments, and quite often the camera is thrown on a tripod and allowed to take in the array of high schoolers living their standard life.  It is this mundane world-building aspect that not only gives the viewer a rapid but deep look into a handful of character’s lives, but it gives you a sense of the school’s social hierarchy while forcing you to reflect on where you once stood within it.  Per the film’s clever title, the elephant in the room eventually appears in the form of Eric and Alex, the pair of school shooters meant to reflect the Columbine Massacre perpetrators.  While school shootings weren’t an unknown phenomenon going into the 2000’s, Elephant became prophetic in its vision by releasing right before the numbers started rising at an alarming rate on these incidents.  In that sense, Elephant holds the dual distinction of not only being one of Van Sant’s best films, but one of his most important.  I will soon be looking into the 1989 Elephant film as well.

3. Drugstore Cowboy (1989) The power of Drugstore Cowboy as a modern-day narrative tragedy about the epidemic of prescription drugs, the dark allure of crime and the oddball way that broken people find solace in one another is immediately evident to anyone who has had the pleasure to see Gus Van Sant’s studio directorial debut.  Where the film really stands out however, in my opinion, is the way that Van Sant is able to achieve his major studio look while deeply applying a very artistic and personal aesthetic to the cinematography and editing.  The traditional looks are interspersed with the use of different film stocks, subtle blends of animation and flashes of stylistic edits that were almost certainly an inspiration for Darren Aronofsky’s “hip-hop editing” style.  Add to this an incredibly intuitive and expressive core cast driven by the chemistry between Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch (and a very early Heather Graham supporting appearance), plus a strong appearance by the always memorable Max Perlich, a fiery James Remar performance and an iconic cameo from William S. Burroughs.  The jazz-influenced score not only makes key scenes livelier, but it is a symbolic statement on the drug use depicted in the film, while simultaneously playing counter to the soundtrack choices.  Period, point-blank, Drugstore Cowboy is the kind of film that surely put the world on notice, and was a clear signal of the magnificent work that would follow.

2. Good Will Hunting (1997) If held up to the standards of what people consider to be good (or even classic) film, Good Will Hunting more than holds up to scrutiny.  Visually there are a small handful of flourishes, and having Elliot Smith’s music accompany Will’s painful but enlightening journey has only become more of a bittersweet sting as the years go by.  In terms of performances, everyone brought their A+ game to the table, be it the leading performances of Matt Damon, Robin Williams or Stellan Skarsgård, the supporting performances of Ben Affleck or Minnie Driver, or even the engaging nature of Cole Hauser and repeat scene stealer Casey Affleck.  After a flurry of dedicated fandom viewings in the years following this film’s release, a very long period away from the film where I had leagues of personal growth, and a revisitation for this set of rankings, what I have discovered is that Good Will Hunting presents a wish fulfillment fantasy that was nearly incapable of being a reality in the pre-internet age for anyone other than a character like Will : an undiscovered genius with a degree from the school of hard knocks.  In a world where people often wish they had the correct answer to every question, the looks and personality to be a social magnet, and the ability to back up any tough talk with stone hands, Will Hunting stood as an idealized example you wished you could peel off the screen and have some beers with.  As the internet has invaded our lives, however, most everyone has turned into a keyboard version of Will Hunting, looking for fights online when not having briefly intimate Google sessions to flex our supposed knowledge.  Much like Will, many people find that the knowledge minus the wisdom of worldly experience and vulnerability leaves you a shell of a person filled to the eyeballs with regret, and perhaps that is why this film only gets better as the years go by, and remains among the best of the Van Sant creations.

1. To Die For (1995) For the longest time, I avoided To Die For simply because I was not a fan of Nicole Kidman…  the vast majority of her roles held no interest to me prior to To Die For (it took Eyes Wide Shut for me to really start paying attention to her), and because she was so key to the film, there was never a sense of urgency about seeing it.  As time went by, however, I started to hear rumblings that To Die For may have been a bit ahead of its time, to the point that technology and social practices have caught up to some of the ideas presented in the film.  I finally watched it for this ranking set, and man, I really missed the boat on this one.  Plain and simple, this film is pure genius on every level.  The presentation starts off documentary-esque, which not only allows for expedited distribution of backstory information, but immediately gives you an idea for the personalities of our key characters.  Kidman’s portrayal of Suzanne stood as the textbook example for what has become commonly known as sociopathy, with her blind desire for fame and respect leading to a wake of human destruction.  In terms of narrative pacing, the film proceeds like a match dropped at the endpoint of a long gasoline trail, slowly drifting towards the eventually point that everything blows up and damage must be assessed while blame and accountability must be handled, resulting in a truly powerful ending more than deserving of the heavy lifting that precedes it.  The 24-hour news cycle was on the horizon in 1995, daytime talk shows and MTv’s The Real World had not shifted into the reality TV landscape that we know today, and while a few high profile cases such as the Menendez Brothers and Pamela Smart trial (the loose inspiration for this film) had happened, the bombshell and watershed trail that was the O.J. Simpson murder case was hot on the heels of To Die For’s release (the same month, actually).  Stylistically, the film also bears striking resemblance to an updated version of Sunset Boulevard, be it knowingly or not.  Long story short, the best films not only comment on the times in which they are created, but gain relevance as time passes, and To Die For handled both of these things phenomenally.

[darkarfs]

my favorite WWE matches of 1997

Though I officially started watching wrestling in 1995 (my family famously first bought SummerSlam that year, which would be my first wrestling show ever, because it was $25.00. 1995 was a bad year for wrestling), I became a regular watcher of both WWE and WCW Raw and Nitro, and was able to buy my own PPVs, around summer of 1996, when Hogan turned. The first show I bought with my own money was In Your House: Buried Alive, though I kept up with weekly TV. And, for better or worse, I've been a fan ever since.

1997 was a REAL rollercoaster year for wrestling. The NWO was becoming a bloated mess in no time at all, Bret Hart was riding high, while he and Shawn Michaels publicly hated one another, a young Rocky Maivia was slowly transforming into the most charismatic wrestler of maybe all time, a young Steve Austin has broken his neck and can only work 5 minute matches but is somehow the most OVER wrestler in the company, and by the end of the year, the Screwjob happens, Bret's in WCW, Shawn's on handfuls of SOMAs (yet main-eventing). In a lot of ways, I'm grateful, because I side-stepped all of Hogan's WWF and WCW run. But it was a tornado of a year for a business always on precarious footing, as it ever has been.

And it gave us some CRACKING matches! - The 1997 Royal Rumble I love me a Rumble, and it's REALLY hard (but not impossible) to find a bad one (1993, 1995, 1999). And I personally love one with a storyline that runs throughout, and in this case, it's the ultimate heeling of Stone Cold Steve Austin. He visibly dominates the match until he hears Bret Hart's music, and then goes into panic mode. And it furthers the characterization of Bret's hand-spun narrative as being rightfully pissed that he's being taken advantage of by the roster, screwed by the company, and booed by the fans. Fun bonus: this is also the only Rumble appearance of lucha legend Mil Mascaras, who was so full of old-school carny spirit he famously refused to let anyone else eliminate him, so he eliminated himself, pissed Vince off, and was not spoken of again on WWE TV until the 2012 Hall of Fame ceremony, where he was inducted by his huge prick nephew, Alberto del Rio. - Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, WrestleMania 13 This match is considered legendary, and for good reason. The greatest technical wrestler in the company vs. the best brawler, months of build, the world's most iconic (and off-the-cuff) blade-job (so much so that the visual of Austin bleeding in the Sharpshooter going "DAAAHHHH!" became the cover for his first VHS) and the wrestling world's most exquisite double-turn. It's fun, it's thrilling, it feels at once timeless and modern. Fun fact: there's a fun version of this match you can watch with just Austin doing commentary over it, and it's entertaining as hell. A true classic, and one of the greatest 'Mania matches of all time. - Ken Shamrock vs. Vader, No Holds Barred match, In Your House: a Cold Day In Hell Vader, famously, while a big teddy bear and a for-all-accounts lovely guy outside of the ring, had a reputation of being a bit "snug" with other wrestlers. Meaning he hit a little too hard, had little self-control, and took liberties with people, especially rookies and younger guys. It's supposedly why Shawn Michaels didn't want to work a world title program with him from summer to fall of 1996, because he was "too rough." But what never occurred to Vader is that trying that with a guy who's had 2 matches but has almost 5 years of MMA experience might not be the smartest or most prudent idea. Shamrock gives Vader as much as Vader gives him in this match, and there are moments where you can tell the guys are going into business for themselves. There's a moment where Shamrock is clubbing Vader with punches, and you can hear Vader, as he's turtling up and putting his arms up to block, yell "SLOW DOWN!" and then he rolls out of the ring to catch a breather. Vader, by the end of this match, is bleeding through his mask, a product of a broken nose, which is why I assume he gives Shamrock the stiffest short-arm clothesline I've ever seen. It's brutal, it's stupid, it weaves in and out of the script SO many times like a drunk man trying to stand up straight on a canoe, and I'm fascinated by each and every instance. - Owen Hart vs. the British Bulldog, European Championship Tournament Finals, Monday Night Raw, March 3rd Somehow, a workrate classic is stuck on a rinky-dink episode of Raw from Berlin, Germany. Smith and Hart blended some of their acquired WWE-style of work with classic junior heavyweight wrestling, complete with intricate reversals and fast-paced offense that was unlike either man's designed ethos of the time. Hart's shift toward his underhanded instincts as the match wore on provided enough story to balance the beautiful grappling from two men with impressive resumes. You can feel that these two knew one another, grew up together, and most importantly, wrestled together. An honest-to-God sleeper hit, but everyone who knows this match calls it a classic. - Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, King of the Ring It's a concept that would be beaten into the ground in short order: Tag Team Champions that hate each other's guts. John Cena, seriously, has only been tag champions with people he's feuding with. That's

not even a joke. Austin and Michaels won the belts out of mutual dislike for the Hart Foundation, and then were programmed together for a wild match at the King of the Ring, one without a winner. Early on, the two actually pieced together a tremendous wrestling match full of nifty counters (prior to Austin changing his style after August for obvious reasons), before it degenerated into chaos after both men assaulted referees in the heat of the moment. Granted, neither man could really lose this one, so the screwy finish did serve its purpose. Until that point, it's a different type of incredible Austin match. You're never so happy to see a double-DQ finish. - Owen Hart & the British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels & Stone Cold Steve Austin, Monday Night Raw, May 26th And now we have a match set! The previous 4 participants in a brilliant and brutal tag team match. The Tag Team championship switch marked Austin's first piece of recognized gold in WWE, in a match on free television no less. That's not to insult the match any, as it was a pay-per-view quality fracas that barely slowed down. It is a mere 14 minutes long WITH entrances, but it moves at a clip, and everyone has their working boots on. It was a harbinger of days to come for this new period in WWE's history, and the crowd ate it up.

- Taka Michinoku vs. the Great Sasuke, In Your House: Canadian Stampede What happened here? Just when you think WCW had the cruiserweights cornered, WWE pulls this shit...and then kind of ignores it for a few months. But not before importing two of Michinoku Pro's finest to have a TakeOver-length exhibition. At first, the crowd in Calgary wasn't sure what to make of the undersized performers, but it wouldn't take long to win them over. From Michinoku's hands-free springboard dive to Sasuke's beautiful Thunder Fire Powerbomb, the expansive crowd was positively hooked on the daredevils with each passing minute. Although Sasuke wouldn't be long for the company, and Michinoku's run as Light Heavyweight Champion faded as 1998 wore on, the display at Canadian Stampede was a wondrous experience. This wouldn't have looked out of place in a Chikara King of Trios tournament. - The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Brian Pillman, the British Bulldog) vs. Team Austin (Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock and Goldust), In Your House: Canadian Stampede I would have put this match on the list for the entrances and the finish alone. The crowd is at fever static for the entire match, seriously at the level of Punk/Cena at MITB 2011. And even though the Harts are the heels, they're in Calgary, and they get rock-star level ovations for merely existing. Everyone plays it mad and delighted, and you can tell they're all having a ball. Especially Pillman, who is just magically unhinged, a template for a young Dean Ambrose during their feud with the Wyatt Family. It is a magical, unreal main event, one of the best B-ppv main events maybe of all time. Well...other than MAYBE... - Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker, Hell in a Cell, In Your House: Badd Blood The very first Hell in a Cell match may very well double as the greatest of its kind. What stands out to me (other than how the match ends) is just how GREAT Michaels' selling is. When he's running away, he's constantly looking around for an exit, like a scared rat. When he finally gets caught and struck, he sells almost to the level he did for Hogan at SummerSlam 2005. But while he was doing that to make Hogan's offense look stupid, he's doing it here to make Taker's offense and anger look legit, and it somehow WORKS. But as fabulous as the match and the psychology is, it somehow takes a backseat to the debut of the Undertaker's monstrous little brother Kane, finally confronting his older brother in perhaps the greatest character debut in WWE history. - Mankind vs. Kane, Survivor Series I dunno what it is about this match that does it for me. Mankind's emotional lead-up to the match, where he's sad that Uncle Paul (Bearer) left him. Maybe the fact that Kane sells like Michael Myers, not so much that he's in pain, but as if he's never been hit in the face with a steel chair, a DDT or a piledriver. Maybe it's because Mick takes more horrific bumps than he needs to to make sure Kane looks like a legit monster. Maybe it's the broken Virtua Boy lighting. But it's genuinely unlike any other Mankind, Kane or ANY match I've seen before or since. It's a perfect somehow sympathetic serial killer vs. bigger, scarier serial killer that feels nothing story in a wrestling match. I didn't even know you could DO that.

[throughdigitaleyes]

Twenty One Pilots Takeover HOB Boston

Twenty One Pilots played to a Sold Out House of Blues Boston Tuesday night (10.19.21) for their second of four shows on Boston stages this week on their Takeover Tour.

It felt right to be covering this show, at this venue. House of Blues Boston was the first venue at which I experienced Twenty One Pilots’ electric live show back in 2014. Since then, I had seen/photographed them another three times, the last of which was in June, 2016. So it definitely felt good to be back at a Twenty One Pilots show, especially after so long. Thankfully, it was worth the wait.

Favoring their newest album, ‘Scaled and Icy’ and their sophomore effort, ‘Blurryface’, Twenty One Pilots delivered the exact level of energy the die-hard crowd expected. Sure, a lot of their antics are far from new, but they’re still very exciting, as the duo – Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun – still execute them with every ounce of heart and showmanship they’ve been executing them with since the first time I saw them seven years ago. But it’s not all the same. Joseph’s onstage presence has become significantly more assured, if slightly less humble, over the years. And while Dun has perhaps become slightly less emotive and playful (his backflip felt like he was just ‘going through the motions’), it’s because he’s become all the more focused, making for an even more impressive technical display musically.

The setlist wasn’t quite the best I’ve seen from them, but that’s only because of its lacking in some favorites, especially those off of ‘Vessel’. The ‘Scaled and Icy’ material sounded simply fantastic live, and their continuing to lean heavy on the ‘Blurryface’ material is understandable seeing as how their fans still react to it, and how fun and genuinely good the songs are.

The highlights of the night came when they paid tribute to their inspiration during ‘Mulberry Street’. Mixing in Elton John’s ‘Bennie and the Jets’ worked so well, giving credit where credit’s due in a delightfully playful manner. And while I’m not the biggest fan of their medley’s (most of the time they end up stripping away what makes each of the songs involved so good) I do love what they’re doing with ‘House of Gold’ and ‘We Don’t Believe What on TV’. Plus, who doesn’t love ‘Trees’ as their closer? They’ve closed with it every time I’ve seen them, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Twenty Ones Pilots blew up not long after I was first introduced to them, and it’s been interesting to see the directions they’ve taken artistically, both on their records and in their live shows, since then. This tour, and its recognition and celebration of the stages they started out on, is proof that they understand how far they’ve come and are grateful to the fans who literally carried them here.

half•alive & Jay Joseph (hit link below for photos) opened the show with brief, crowd pleasing sets.

MORE PHOTOS from the show can be seen on Facebook: Twenty One Pilots; half•alive & Jay Joseph.

All photos ©Timothy Patrick Boyer, 2021.

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (11/25/2020)?

Anonymous said: This week's floppies?

Anonymous said: This week’s comics?

Anonymous said: Have you read Red Hood #51 yet? It’s one of the best stories Jason has been in since Under the Red Hood and I don’t think I can go back to his normal stories after this

Anonymous said: God damn the Other History of the DC Universe has a pretty brutal call out of Superman, yet as a Superman fan I wasn’t offended or put off by it at all. Ridley specifically narrowed in on one of the key flaws of Superman, his need for public love and approval. What did you think of the portrayal of Supes?

Anonymous said: Thoughts on "The Other History of the DC Universe" and why it's already one of the greatest comics of all time?

Anonymous said: Thoughts on "Other History"?

X-Men #15: Heck yeah, Quiet Council discussing protocol, this is what I come to Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men for, and Cyclops getting his Captain America in Hickvengers moment.

X of Swords: Destruction: Look this rules and I guess I understood the Arakko story by the end but not the Otherworld/Captain Britain stuff, and it’s the former that’s gonna matter to Hick-Men going forward. But I don’t care if it put a ‘_ of 22′ counter across the top, if a crossover is for real going to demand you buy 22 comics in 3 months for you to see the entire core story you need to be screaming that from the rooftops with every single interview that it’s genuinely the whole thing that’s essential, because editorial claiming that you should totally get everything aside that’s not how crossovers have actually worked since the 90s no matter how many checklists and reading orders may be provided. This whole thing really sorta felt like the Infinity of this run, good stuff but ultimately Hickman serving a master beyond telling his own story - in this case trying to provide a forcible on-ramp from Marvel’s hottest book to all the ancillary related stuff.

Shang-Chi #3: This continues to be a really solid little mini with some poignant bits.

Power Pack #1: Haven’t read much if anything with them in it before, but as good as I could have hoped of Ryan North’s first post-Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Marvel gig.

Fantastic Four: Antithesis #4: Fine, but it would have been so much funnier if Waid’s last Marvel work before finally returning to DC had been that cancelled Squadron Supreme two-shot.

Daredevil #24: God so goooooood. And next issue’s next week?!

The Department of Truth #3: Imagine going literally any duration back in time, handing this to someone who’d read and even enjoyed his work, and explaining “THAT’S the level James Tynion is going to end up operating on”.

BANG!: My shop got the TPB this week of the recent mini by Kindt and Torres, and this is a top-notch reimagining of assorted 80s action/pseudo-pulp archetypes into something modern and strange and delightful, that while technically concluding somewhat tidily if the sales aren’t there is set up to go on for as long as the creative team has ideas for it. It taps into that America’s Best Comics/Planetary/Adventureman energy for a slightly different branch of genre storytelling, and even if like me it’s not an iteration you grew up with it’s definitely worth your money and attention.

Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Multiverse Who Laughs: It’s fine, whatever, just a buncha little Dark Multiverse stories...except for the last story, where the Twilight Zone-esque shocker final twist is that being black in America and thereby constantly experiencing the constant low-grade terror of the background radiation of systemic racism essentially acts as a vaccine against Scarecrow’s fear toxin, which...okay??? It’s written by a black man so it’s not as if I think it’s offensive, but particularly given that given the rules of the Dark Multiverse one of the three characters in there had to have imagined this possibility, and that then The Batman Who Laughs must’ve seen it and gone “Hell yes, all about this, definitely one of the 52 scariest of all possible universe”, it’s a serious candidate for weirdest comic of the year.

Legion of Superheroes #11: This is an excellent kickoff to a 3 or 4-issue arc so I have absolutely no idea how it’s going to reach some kind of season finale next month.

Action Comics #1027: Romita Jr.’s deteriorating by the day but I did like his take on the Phantom Zone, and I feel like this while taking it a bit farther than I’d prefer still convincingly sells the idea of Superman just being absolutely fed up after a truly awful day.

Justice League Dark #28: So is this the end of the run, Future State notwithstanding? Shocking how coherently it held together through the transition in writers, and I really hope it says and so does Ram V to take it in a direction wholly his own.

Wonder Woman #767: Substantially improved now that it’s not working off the completely bizarre and increasingly uncomfortable ‘buddy-cop’ premise.

Red Hood #51: GOOD NOW?! I checked it out because of the rec above and because I was curious how someone would try and salvage the concept post-Lobdell, and while it obviously isn’t literally by him, Shawn Martinbrough and Tony Akins are for all the world doing a Christopher Priest Relaunch with this tonally and aesthetically; I think it’s even a direct sequel to Priest’s Batman: The Hill oneshot from decades ago. I sure hope this isn’t a two-issue filler run with the book either cancelled or reshuffled after Future State, because this has all the makings of an excellent crime comic.

Suicide Squad #11: I’ll probably check out Taylor’s Revolutionaries book once that happens, so I guess mission accomplished. Fine little run.

The Other History of the DC Universe #1: I heard someone on Twitter say this is the best thing that’s come out of superhero comics since HoXPoX, and I don’t know if I’m on that level with it but that is absolutely a fair conclusion. I’ll be honest, I had measured expectations here from having seen some of Ridley’s past comics work - I figured it’d be a perfectly solid book with a few standout moments, but instead it throws out all the haymakers in the world and emerges as one of my favorite comics of 2020, even given we’re only seeing the one issue this year. I can only judge so much because it feels like a lot of what we see in this debut is going to be completely reframed through the perspectives of other characters in subsequent entries, but standalone this is a brutal, intimate, brilliant character study set against the backdrop of a hazy dreamscape vision of the history of DC reformatted as needed to fit the concerns in play here (though the dates presented are so specific I wonder if aspects of this are leftovers of the original version of 5G), and probably as close as we’re going to see to a ‘trilogy capper’ to The Golden Age and New Frontier. That’s why the take on Superman here works, as much a product of the worst of his mass-consciousness image as the Superman of DKR but meshed with a profound understanding of what makes him tick as a character that makes the inherently compromised version on display here palatable, and a believable extrapolation of the Silver/Bronze Age’s version of him when that’s the era this series is thus far working as a contrast to. And god, the art. I always liked him fine enough, but even with finishes by Andrea Cucchi and colors by Jose Villarrubia I never could have imagined Giuseppe Camuncoli putting out the likes of this, and Steve Wands’s lettering is doing at least equal legwork in defining the look of the book. There have been several impressive titles out of Black Label at this point - Last Knight on Earth, Rorschach, Strange Adventures, and especially Harleen - but nothing else has come close to demonstrating the potential power of the imprint as a vehicle for creators taking this iconography and doing something radical and unrestrained and phenomenal with it.

[jenivi]

Top 5 Persona Characters?

oh i’m so glad you sent this ask!! for this, i’ll try not to include any of the protagonists because they technically don’t have a canon personality; their personalities are mostly widely known fan inferences rooting from their dialogue options and overall attitude (which i also believe as well,, but yeah we’ll just not include them in. plus let’s just have the other characters shine!). keep in mind, i really am not the best with putting my thoughts into words, so some sentences might seem kinda funky lol. and everything here is my opinion :]

1) yosuke hanamura (persona 4)

sometimes, it saddens me that people view his character from the surface level and are quick to renounce him as homophobic and pervy. to add fuel to the flame, atlus kind of flanderizes yosuke’s character in golden and the animation (trust me, i love the animation and they did add some parts for yosuke that i love, but you gotta admit they could’ve done his character a bit more justice). of course yosuke’s flaws should be recognized and be critiqued, but honestly, these flaws are what make yosuke yosuke. removing those things, in ways, takes away from the 3 dimensional-ness of his character.

i feel that it was made clear what his “stereotypical role” was going to be in the story from his easily perceived surface personality traits. some of these traits were his recklessness, competitiveness and the fact that he was constantly being dunked on by the other characters, making him seem like just the comic relief. but throughout the story, you find out he’s more than that (which i will talk more in detail a little later). most prominently known by fans, there is the “bro” aspect to him. in this game, yu is the one who has to walk up to people and ask them to hang out, but yosuke is the only one of all the characters who takes the initiative to get to know yu. he nicknames you partner, constantly calls you on the phone at night, and always kind of asks you questions and says things to get a reaction out of you. from this, a natural friendship between blossoms and you feel like you get know really know yosuke personally. you learn that he’s actually very strategic and intelligent, incredibly loyal and cares deeply about his friends, and is overwhelmingly insecure and repressed. okay, we have to talk about this part. he seems closeted, and that can be the reasoning on why he sometimes makes homophobic remarks. i do think it’s a shame that his romance route was scrapped when it obviously was far in development. for some, the bro aspect can super fixated on and might be one of the only reasons why someone likes yosuke. this sadly kind of subconsciously fetishizes their relationship. of course that’s not the case all the time! but it’s something to be mindful of. even looking past the souyo ship (which i love deeply!), they are such great friends platonically, and yosuke himself is such a great character. throughout the story, he matures and develops into someone more humble, thoughtful and appreciative. from the moment he first showed up on screen, i kind of had a feeling he was going to be my favorite. and it’s kind of crazy how much i grew fond of him over time and realized the impact his character made on me.

2) elizabeth (persona 3)

elizabeth is so underrated, and i speak that from the bottom of my heart. she is so hilariously naive and funky, while also being one of the most powerful and intelligent persona characters. the way you are first introduced to her are through fulfilling her requests in the velvet room. as you fulfill her requests, you’re kind like, “you want me to do that,, really?” she tells you to bring her oil?? for some reason? and to feed a cat so it can prosper forever and ever? those are just some things i can think of at the top of my head. from these requests, you kind of get a peak at her funny weirdness and you’re just like “okay you’re weird but i like you.” and when you get to take her on dates (but i just see them as hangouts :]), you are essentially helping her make new experiences of the world outside of the velvet room and get into a lot of wacky hijinks. with this, her endearing weirdness and naivety really starts to shine, making you fall in love with the character. so now you’re like “wow, you’re really weird i love you lol.” her funny weirdness also translates to her dance style in persona 3 dancing, which i absolutely  love. it really encapsulates that side of her character accurately (and you gotta admit she’s got some cool funky moves).

beyond the funny side of her, you find out how truly powerful she is as a being. she can wield thanatos, which was only previously held by someone with the universe arcana), and is unfathomably strong as she is one of the harder boss fights in the entire series. it is also important to note that she is also very determined and i found it bittersweetly heartwarming that she is still mourning over makoto/minato(i nicknamed him virgin walk)’s death years afterward (as seen in persona 4 arena) and that she is dedicating herself to free his soul that is bound to the door of death. she misses her dear friend, and i just really love that she threw caution to the wind and went on this journey to try to find a way to resolve something that is seemingly impossible. and she is still doing it to this day, into the persona 5 timeline (because persona 5 royal shows that minato/makoto/virginwalk is still bound to the door). persona 3 happens in 2009 and persona 5 happens in 20XX (which is assumed to be 2016). it has almost been a decade. i truly think it’s in her character to keep searching for a way to free him no matter how long it takes. with all aspects of her personality in mind, i love her character with my whole heart. 

3) yukiko amagi (persona 4)

if i’m completely honest, yukiko was not one of my favorite characters at the time i played persona 4. i was one of the many people who overlooked her character because the others pretty much outshine her. because she is introduced in the beginning as the first dungeon, you start to put her towards the background once kanji, rise and naoto are introduced. from the surface, the first impression of her is “okay, i guess her quirk is that she laughs a lot?” i initially thought this too, but thinking more about it, i began liking that about her, and with more thought, i realized that i liked other things about her character as well. her sense of humor is so dumb? she laughs at lame stuff and fixates on things in conversation that just make you go “uhh okay,,, yukiko??” i think i opened my eyes to this when i was playing her story in persona 4 arena. i found it so hilarious that she fixated on the quality of the box lunch she prepared for everyone out of all the things happening, and that her whole arc in that game revolved around how bad it was (putting it into simpler terms). i also really think its funny how blunt she is too. she’s ready to shoot people down, and most of the time, it’s unintentional. 

and other than her quirks, i kind of like how her arc developed in the game. i know that many people saw that the end of her arc as “wrong” because they were expecting the usual resolution to problems similar to hers. they expected her to “follow her heart and pick freedom” if she feels trapped in her role as an innkeeper when she inherits her family’s inn in the future. but that wasn’t the point. i actually kind of like that she ultimately chooses to stay. in her social link, she decides to stay in inaba and to run the inn because it’s her own choice. she chose this out of her own will and that’s the only thing that mattered; no one else is forcing her to inherit the business and she decides that’s what she wants. i also really like that the animation showed the responsibilities and hard work she has to go through at the inn; it was a nice touch and really displayed how responsible she was and how much she prioritizes and dedicates her time at the inn. although she is responsible, she is not necessarily the “mom-friend” of the group. she can be a bit crazy like everyone else too. honestly the whole investigation team runs rabid because there is no mom-friend to keep them in check (persona 3 has mitsuru and persona 5 has makoto). anyway, really taking the time to think about yukiko’s character made me love her.

4) yusuke kitagawa (persona 5) 

okay, this is going to be very straightforward, but i think that yusuke was one of the most enjoyable parts of persona 5. i loved whenever he was on screen,, he’s super eccentric and i find it so funny to see the whole starving-artist thing taken literally. he’s definitely awkward but is trying his best! he definitely has the most stage presence compared to the other phantom thieves. the other members are pushed to the background whenever he speaks. he’s dramatic and over the top, but somehow this hilarious absurdity is relatable. 

other than the tendency to steal the show, his social link is more focused on his own development and his own personal growth. whereas, with the other characters, it kind of focuses on the character and the people they associate with outside the phantom thieves. for yusuke, in comparison, it’s much more personal. you travel around with him to help him to figure out what the aspects of the human heart are and to help him get out of his artistic slump after opening his eyes to the abuse he went through with madarame. he originally had a narrow perspective but overtime he learns to broaden it. i just really like how the social link plays out, it was really satisfying. and i just love how genuine and sincere he is as he is always doing things out of pure intentions. it’s also so admirable to see how much passion he has for the things he loves. yusuke, with certainty, is one of my favorite phantom theives. 

5) yuuki mishima (persona 5)

mishima is such an important and underrated character in persona 5. mishima throughout the whole game has been nothing but nice to you, even with akira/ren’s reputation. sure, he can be awkward and can be seen as overbearing to some, but he’s always had his heart in the right place. i’ve kind of always liked his dumb awkwardness and seeing how he’s trying hard to be our friend (it’s a shame our dialogue options toward him are always kinda mean but hopefully he sees it as teasing). he is so crucial to the story because honestly, he’s the one who got the ball rolling by creating the phansite, and that phansite actually helped so many people. he, himself, doesn’t even get recognition for making the site, he just really believed in the phantom thieves and wanted to help them in the ways he could. he did have an arc to humble himself after getting hungry for fame, but in the end he changed his own heart with his own will (and is the only character to do that!) which is pretty powerful. 

i also love that he’s always been a supporter of the phantom thieves no matter what happens and what other people think. when the phantom thieves were being trashed on, he still held onto hope and believed they were doing the right thing (plus him supporting them in those times just proves he wasn’t just doing the phansite for fame!!). another moment that screams this most is toward the end, when everything was in destruction and people were forgetting about the phantom theives in the time literally needed someone to believe in them most. mishima was the only one who still had faith in them and knocked some sense into everyone else. without him there, things could have turned out pretty badly. and i know i’ve heard that some fans wanting him to be a phantom thief himself, but it would just mess with a major part of his character. there’s something about him not completely knowing who the members of the phantom thieves are and him deciding to help with the phansite despite this, you know? yeah i like mishima a lot :))

some honorable mentions are kanji tatsumi (persona 4) and aigis (persona 3)! some of the honorable mentions are characters i like over some others that are on the list but i wanted to make sure i included people from persona 3, 4, 5 (because honestly this list would be persona 4 dominated if i didnt lol).