#there's a damsel in distress character that damsels so hard I was baffled

[tribow]

So I watched The Silver Guardian

A.K.A. Gin No Guardian. Both seasons.

This is one of the worst shounen's I've seen. Wow! Seriously that's impressive.

So you got a story where the main character is supposed to be an elite gamer. Yet, he's lame as hell. This guy shows off absolutely 0 skill in every battle he takes place in. He wins his fights not because of himself, but because of an item someone gives had given him. Every single time. He never wins on his own merit.

What makes it worse is how he is set up. He was a famous player who could take down end-game bosses with the weakest gear. His whole shtick is that he was too poor in real life afford paying for the best items, so he manages with the weak gear. (The game seems to be an MMO...think of it like Maplestory if you know that game).

So in this new MMO game, money is literally power. Maximum pay to win energy coming from this game. If you're rich, you're OP. In-game currency is literally your power level (which you can buy with real money). How is the poor main character so good in this new game?

Ah, he was given billions of money right at the start he doesn't even have to actually try c'moooon. What's the point of the setup? Was it all just a waste of time?

Yes.

That's what The Silver Guardian is. A bigass waste of time. What I just complained about wasn't even the premise of the story, just an aspect of the main character. There's no point in discussing the story or the characters. There's nothing to it.

Characters? What about them? They're nothing but a stack of cliches. There's no character writing to speak of here, just cogs in the plot machine.....a machine that explains nothing by the way. The characters may allude you to something deeper within the story, but there's nothing there! There will never be anything there for you!

I'm repeating myself at this point, so how about something actually interesting? The production:

The Silver Guardian is an adaptation of a manhua. It's Chinese....well sorta. The original manhua is certainly Chinese, but the production of this anime is fairly japanese. A lot of the staff are Japanese staff, but the studio is a Chinese one.

Haoliners Huimeng Animation is the studio. It's the first time I've seen their work and it seems aight. Although they got help from BLADE too and there was contracted japanese animators involved as well. It's hard to judge how much of the animation came from Haoliners without looking into it. (Even the opening is a japanese one!)

I'm not debating whether to call this "anime" or anything. I just find it interesting. Silver Guardian is apparently a pretty popular manhua. Surely this adaptation isn't faithful to the original. I can see proper setups to story beats that the anime just doesn't execute on.

Was this trying to pander to a japanese audience or something? I definitely got the vibe of an unfaithful production Could this be some kind of cash grab?

I could be a little too suspicious, but when I saw that Tencent is the publisher of the manhua I couldn't help being skeptical. Maybe the original work is actually that bad, but then how is it so successful? Aaaaaaaaa, I'm so curious!

Well anyway, the show sucks ass. I wouldn't recommend watching it unless you're there for the sole purpose to tear it to shreds. All those youtubers who farmed Sword Art Online's bad writing for views have no idea what some actually terrible writing can be like. THIS is some bottom of the barrel shit that would actually need more than an hour to dissect everything wrong with it. It's truly fascinating how bad this is.

[eolewyn1010]

Dragging Frankenstein - Chapter 20, part 1

Moody lighting, slate claps, here goes! This is honestly my favorite chapter of the entire book. The quandary around the Distressing Damsel, the conflict between the Creature and the creator taking the deciding turn, Victor FOR ONCE proving insight and strength of character? This here. This is why it's worth to read this book. Since my talk about this got way long, I'll split my recap in two parts for once.

I’m quite shocked that Victor actually does some reflection on how fucking clueless he is about the Distressing Damsel, same as he was about the Creature. Not repeating the own mistakes? Who is this, an actual scientist??

Of course, he only thinks about how miserable said mistakes have made him (William and Justine whomst?), so he still gets IT’S ALL ABOUT ME: 21

I LOLed pretty hard at him also, and fucking finally, subverting the Saintly Girl stereotype that was set up all throughout the book, by randomly assuming that the Distressing Damsel might not only be more prone to violence, but also more sadistic about it than the Creature. Don’t worry, honey; he’ll grow into the sadism just fine on his own.

And there’s this: As I noted a few chapters back, Shelley’s God-Adam-Satan parallel has always avoided an Eve character insert. The women in this story are passive and pure; they don’t take on a proactive role. For the first time, Victor acknowledges that this hypothetical woman could be different, and it scares the shit out of him. In his role as God wannabe, it’s ultimately him who chooses not to complete the Creation story at hand. It’s incredible, it’s much too late, but it is a sign of direly needed humility, as he has no power over her.

I’m even more shocked that Victor of all people reaches the conclusion that no one else could reach around here, not Victor’s family in regards to Elizabeth and certainly not the Creature – that the whole ship-at-first-sight thingie might not work out. Like. Where did he suddenly take the brain from (and I don’t mean the one he’s setting into the Distressing Damsel)? No one else around here ever assumed that “he was a boy, she was a girl” doesn’t automatically lead to “they hit it off immediately”.

“She also might turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man” …or, y’know, woman. But this reminds me of how the Creature very much gushed about the beauty of Man first; he had a pretty bad boner for Felix, so count it I shall. DAS GAY: 31

Of course, even with the reflection on how unforeseeable the Distressing Damsel is, the book still works on the presumption of absolute superficialness. Perhaps the reason why she’d dislike him is because, y’know, he’s a grooming, self-centered asshole?

And then it gets interesting. Because Victor fears that they might reproduce. That’s for one pretty fucking stupid bc – he’s the one putting the Distressing Damsel together. Just don’t give her a uterus?

But also, he works on the assumption that the Creature absolutely is capable of procreating. And he’s also the one who put him together. Evidently fully functional. Capable of the entire erection AND sperm dealie. DAS GAY: 32

INCEST VIBES: 14

Hey, I’m not here to kink-shame the monsterfuckers, but he’s still kind of the Creature’s father.

Also, gotta love the line “yet one of the first results of those sympathies for which the demon thirsted would be children”. Thanks for lampshading again that the so-called sympathies are really just a case of The Horny™.

And how he trembles at the thought of “little devils”! Didn’t he want to be the father of a new species? How the turns have tabled. Victor is also thinking of future generations of humanity now, and for ONCE not of himself. This chapter is truly baffling. Paul Cantor’s essay (highly recommend) calls that his “abstract benevolence”, in that Victor himself suffers and makes those around him suffer, but mankind as a whole is too big for him to surrender to an incalculable evil.

Eww, the Creature grinning up at Victor during the window while the latter is working on the Distressing Damsel makes me think he gives him a really nasty horny expression.

And that’s the end of the Distressing Damsel, the single female character in this book who had any potential. I will miss her. Reminds me of when I read Dracula and lowkey wanted Mina to change fully because then Dracula would have created himself a powerful enemy out for vengeance. Would’ve been so cool. Why can’t we have nice things?

Left the room, locked the door, made a solemn vow. Uhm, bitch? Maybe destroy the laboratory? Set everything on fire so it’ll never be found, especially by your smartass pseudo-offspring? Dumbfuck.

We get a foreboding night mood (how come I still enjoy these landscape descriptions? Probably bc it’s the only time Victor isn’t talking about himself), and then it’s on. Creature’s turn to talk about himself and how hard his life is! IT’S ALL ABOUT ME: 22

[nipotazzi]

I genuinely hope they take upon their time and seriously rewrite it or add more stuff to what is already there, even a follow up that add things to what already happened, maybe make a big overhaul update, because the story is so nonexistent that any fan fiction, even small or bad ones, might do more lore than SO in it's entirety.

If I were to rewrite it, here are some changes I would do first:

Pearl and Marina subtle/not subtle hints that they are basically engaged: big deal, we always knew that since OE and you could have made it more poignant and interesting if the reveal was tied with the player struggling to save Marina instead of getting her in the fucking tutorial or having them go uwu in the elevator (or the post game content energy the dialog had was baffling). It's not that I dislike it, but saving her would have been a nice first motivation (wich is, because it adds to the initial mystery of what the hell happened) and then reveal Order/Smollusk just like how it happens in game, but with him kidnapping Marina and imprisoning her because he wants to "fix" his creator. After returning to the base of the tower, we discover Marina managed to help us remotely, giving Acht access to the permanent upgrades and so give her a bigger role than the one of a glorified elevator attendant. Yes, this makes her a damsel in distress, but it's probably better than having her stay with you the entire time and explain everything, ruining the mystery.

The tower is ever changing, meaning that getting directly to him would be impossible. A way to have it make sense would be using the keys we gained to open up more palettes, and the more we open the more Smollusk's control weakens, eventually opening up the right floor to him. This makes the following runs even more worthwhile. Speaking of Acht herself, saying that she was wasted doesn't convey it enough, she's just... here, after the tutorial, just like Eight, but unlike her she doesn't even get out of the damn elevator!

Eight's main motivation can easily be the classic quest to save her friends, but having them all be saved at the start and then having to "save the souls" of the characters that don't even appear isn't enough for me.

Essentially just having the palettes is not compelling enough. One thing I saw in another post was the idea of having something similar to the Parallel Canon fight with 4 but personalized for every character. The last boss fight for everyone, instead of being Smollusk, could have been a fight inspired by the characters, with two major ones being the ones related to Eight itself: Octavio and herself. To make an example, if you use Marie's palette, then you have to beat her grayscaled version in a sniping duel. At this point she would appear in the plaza of the memverse and already make it more lively.

In many roguelikes the difficulty is often directly tied to the player progression: extremely hard to progress at first, but eventually beatable. The trick here is how satisfying it becomes for the player to progress through after many tries, gaining pieces of the story after every run, and getting stronger. SO does it too, but the difficulty is... baby's first roguelike. Roguelikes are my favorite type of games, so trust me on this when I say that this game got too easy, way too fast for it's own good: suffering and frustation are part of the experience my guys, it wouldn't be satisfying beating a boss or reach a new level if it wasn't hard to do it. Luck has always a factor in beating a run, but skill is always the biggest part of the gameplay: games like ETG and Hades (wich I have beaten) balanced this wonderfully, while I think I have beaten SO for the first time with Octavio's palette, after only 6 failed runs. It's ridiculous, it has to be way harder (this on brand with modern Nintendo making most of their games piss easy)

Smollusk deserves way better.

Splatoon 3: Side Order is good, but not great. I still highly recommend it, but if you care about the story, you're going to be disappointed. Quick review: spoilers ahead.

Side Order was the devs experimenting with Splatoon's gameplay loop. The campaign is a rogue-like, and it works amazingly well. Super fun, super challenging, building my deck and fighting through challenges with the stakes of resetting really scratched an itch in my brain. They did a great job with it.

Unfortunately, I feel like priority went to game design rather than story. Much of the mysterious artwork we saw in the first teaser trailer was completely unused; turns out, all of that was just concept art that never made it into the final product. Side Order failed to make me care about what was happening. I don't know why the protagonist had to be Agent 8; it could've been anyone else and the story would've worked the same.

Octo Expansion was the absolute peak of meshing story and gameplay. The campaign's hook is insanely strong; we immediately empathize with Agent 8 because we know from previous lore that octolings like her have been trapped underground for all their lives. We care about her fight to the surface because it's a fundamentally ideological fight for freedom. The plot stuff about Tartar and the Thangs is just nice set dressing; 8's fight for freedom is the real story.

There's none of that in Side Order. I don't particularly care about Marina's metaverse, even if it's tied to Octo Expansion's story. I don't know why Acht is there other than backstory stuff. It really feels like 8 is just told to do something and she does it because she's the protagonist; she has zero personal stakes or motivations in the conflict. This is a story blunder the devs did in Splatoon 3's default campaign––forgetting to give the protagonist a personal reason to fight––that I hoped would be fixed here, but alas.

What makes it worse is that the gameplay and story progression are completely out of sync. I beat the entire game on my third run in 4 hours. With each run, you get up to two keys to potentially unlock bits of story. That means you'll get about one piece of the story every two runs. There are twelve pieces of the story; I got the first and then beat the whole damn game. Now I have to go back and grind to see the remaining story when I've already beaten the final boss and resolved the conflict. I missed the entire story because I never had to reset because I blazed through the gameplay! It's just a real shame that I experienced everything without knowing... why it's happening. The final boss had me asking myself what the hell is going on because I don't know the backstory at all.

Again, I still really recommend. The devs did a great job, but Side Order remains in the shadow of Octo Expansion's incredible success. Like the default singleplayer campaign, there's just a lot of lost story potential here that, while not necessary, would have really elevated this DLC into something amazing.

[thankskenpenders]

And so that’s it... nearly 200 issues deep, we’re done with the contributions of original writer Michael Gallagher. I’ve been asked in the past about the possibility of writing an article going over Gallagher’s run, like what I did with Penders. And I might still do that. But for now, here’s a shorter postmortem summarizing my feelings on the work of the original writer for history’s longest-running video game comic

I think it’s easy to look back on Gallagher’s silly old stories with a lot of nostalgia, especially after seeing what the series would become in its Dark Age. I can’t blame anyone who feels this way. I feel that way sometimes, too. It was a simpler time, with short, self-contained stories and a ton of puns, and it was a lot more easily digestible than a lot of the teen melodrama and half-baked sci-fi that followed. But the thing is... that doesn’t mean that Gallagher’s writing was good

Gallagher was always an odd fit for Sonic. I can’t really blame the man for introducing lame concepts like Cal and Al that didn’t fit in with Sonic early on because it’s not like he had much to work with in the early days. The guy was expected to write a monthly comic series based on a couple 16-bit platformers with very little story and some snippets from a cartoon that wasn’t out yet. He also had no way of knowing that his work here would lay the foundation for the longest video game comic ever made. I don’t envy his job. Of course he’d do a goofball story where Sonic travels back to caveman times. It’s not like he had much else to do

But as the series progressed and the cartoons and games gave the comic writers more material to work with, Gallagher didn’t really play along. He gave us a few solid, fun stories like Mecha Madness, but for the most part he was off in his own world, trying to sell us on shoehorned characters like the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters or the Downunda Freedom Fighters who existed almost exclusively to deliver new flavors of lame pun. One time he even worked with Jim Valentino to make a naval-gazing parody of classic Guardians of the Galaxy so they could make lame puns about a comic they used to write (that very few children in 2001 reading Archie Sonic would be familiar with)

People generally pinpoint Penders as the guy who became obsessed with his own pet characters over the main cast as time went on, but really, Gallagher was just as guilty. And honestly, sometimes Gallagher doing it bugged me more. At least Penders had some prominent characters people actually liked, like Elias, Lara-Su, and Julie-Su, as well as some semblance of an overarching plot to work with. Meanwhile Gallagher was over here trying desperately to get people to care about a group of characters he had created exclusively as a vehicle for trite Australia jokes

Gallagher did introduce a few characters who stuck around, but he doesn’t really deserve much of the credit for that. Most notable would probably be Fiona Fox, who would become a major recurring character under later writers... except Gallagher only really invented her robotic doppelganger that Robotnik tricked Tails into falling in love with that one time. He created Knuckles’ grandfather Athair, the one comic character to somehow make it into a cartoon, but Penders helped out with that lore and did more with the character, meaning most people just assume he’s another Penders echidna. He created Tails’ parents, but Karl and Ian were the ones who actually did stuff with them. And he created the Ancient Walkers, who were kind of neat at first but quickly devolved into a tired plot device, only to be killed off by Ian almost immediately to cut down on the deus ex machinas. If you look at the list of characters Gallagher created, it’s mostly just randos he created for the sake of puns

And that’s really what most of it comes down to. Lame puns. I’m totally down for Sonic stories that go for a silly tone. I love Sonic Boom as much as the next fan, and I’ve been having a blast with the extremely goofy Sonic X comics. I’m not a cartoon snob who won’t watch a show that doesn’t have action and drama and lore, I’m out here watching shows like Apple & Onion. But while Gallagher could write good jokes sometimes, he mostly relied on groanworthy newspaper strip-level puns. (I guess it’s fitting, considering he’s related to both the guy who created Heathcliff AND his successor who makes those comics about the Garbage Ape.) I love me a good pun from time to time, and a lot of Gallagher’s are funnier when shared out of context, but when a story is just wall to wall puns it becomes agonizing. Puns should be a spice, not a main ingredient. And when Gallagher got a chance to follow an ACTUAL newspaper comic strip format in the Off Panel, he fared even worse. It was so rare for the Off Panels he wrote to actually be any funny

He WAS genuinely funny at times, though. I’ll give him credit for that. I don’t want it to seem like I hated ALL of his stories. (He did impress me with at least one political joke that’s sadly still relevant today, and in hindsight there’s something really funny on a meta level about the dark and gritty return of Cal and Al.) I think his best work came when he was paired with better artists. Scott Shaw’s more energetic Sonics really helped sell the cartoony comedy in the original miniseries, and obviously Spaziante’s work on Mecha Madness made that story legendary. When he was stuck with the less exciting Manak or Mawhinney, though, not so much

Beyond the puns, there was also this undercurrent of nastiness, meanness, and general grossness in his stories that I don’t see as many fans pick up on. This was mainly evident in the many odd decisions he made with the female cast

We had his take on Sally, who was treated as little more than Sonic’s annoying, moody, bossy girlfriend who bickered with him, sat on a big throne, and occasionally got to be a damsel in distress. He added Bunnie to the cast early on, but it felt like he didn’t have many ideas for what to do with her except make her the butt of jokes about her being a southern belle, including literally making her say “the South shall rise again!” We had Barby Koala’s extremely creepy flirting with Tails, who was half her age. We had that tone deaf Off-Panel joke about turning the special dedicated to the female readers into a swimsuit special (which isn’t far off from what everyone else actually did). And we also had that baffling story where Dulcy killed her mother. I have NO idea what the fuck he thought he was going for with that one.

It wasn’t just the girls, though--Antoine was somehow even more of a punching bag in Gallagher’s early stories than he was on SatAM. At least in the cartoon Sonic was responding to Antoine’s’ massive ego when he poked fun at him. In the early comics, Sonic would constantly rag on Antoine at any opportunity he got. It was VERY distracting in the early issues, and it made his Sonic come off as way more of a jerk

Later writers would often talk about needing to fix certain characters. Penders, for all his countless insufferable faults, used his early stories to steer Sally towards the version of the character fans knew from SatAM. (He then ruined Sally in his own special way, but, you know.) Just about every writer who touched him spent years and years trying to fix Antoine and make readers stop hating him. The unspoken part here is that the original incarnations of these characters that everyone had to work so hard to fix... were Gallagher’s

Again, Gallagher didn’t have an easy job as the first writer on this series, and most of his stories were... fine. Nothing I’d recommend to non-fans, but they had their moments. They make for an amusing read for their sheer absurdity. But a lot of it ranged from not very good to outright bad. We’ll always cut him some slack for having so little to work off of when he started and for writing stories that were, in hindsight, better (or at least less grating) than a lot of the melodramatic schlock that came later. I’ll always have some nostalgia for those simpler times. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Gallagher’s stuff was ever all that good

But I can’t hate the guy too much, because he gave me the greatest Sonic character of all time

[shidoukanae]

YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @cipher-wise​

Favorite series:

My favorite series based on what I watched and enjoyed would have to be Arc-V!!! It's honestly the series that got me to adore YGO when previously I'd seen YGO as, and I chilidishly quote, "uncool". Everything about Arc-V is pretty much wonderful: Yuya's presence as a "everyone MUST be happy" kind of character in a plot that discusses themes of war, revenge, and despair is absolutely refreshing (especially when Yuya's ideals of happiness are stripped from him and made a mockery of by, *coughs* one of my favorite characters in the franchise *coughs*). 

I love how the four Yuu boys are a wonderful combination of "protagonists" (/anatagonists) and how they each play off of each other's weaknesses and strengths, often acting as mirrors to each other in their individual dimensions while having amazing interactions (Yugo and Yuri, anyone? Yuri and Yuya?).

I admire how the endgame plot is a perversion of Yuya's ideals: he gets what he wants, showering happiness upon all, but that "happiness" is corrupted into the notion of entertainment. While Yuya seeks to provide people with smiles and laughter, to give them hope to work together through tough times and to stay strong in the face of adversity, his "counterparts" in the endgame are really good at acting as Yuya's mirror: showing that his style of performing can also be used to appease the bloodthirst of one's own self and that happiness can be corrupted into self-deserving power.

...Hard to put that into exact words without spoiling a lot of things but, gosh, let's just say that Yuri and ____ are the perfect mirrors to Yuya in terms of what his entertainment dueling style is meant to be.

The plot over all is pretty good! I won't lie and say it stands strong all the way throughout the story but the first half is amazing and there are some pretty strong episodes in the second half (Yugo and Rin, the parasite episodes in general, Yuri Yuri YURI). I can definitely say that the humor is there, the characters are amazing (if nothing else, watch for the Yuu Boys, the Bracelet Gals, and Shun versus Sora!!) and having come into the show around episode 104, I was pleasantly surprised by the trip Arc-V brought me and how it played with its protagonist, giving him hope, kicking him down, and toying with his mind - just like the way a warzone might to any idealistic individual.

In terms of other series, I like VRAINS but only up to like episode 19 (or the end of the Data Bank arc). It had potential and I kept hoping it would get better but the plot was constantly floundering, there are plot holes abundant (sewer monsters, ugh), character development is inconsistent not to mention very shallow, VRAINS has some of the best side characters but they're kicked to the curb by a bland protagonist and a villain that could've been so much cooler but they made him a sympathetic mess.

...I have a lot of gripes with VRAINS but, if it were to ever be rewritten with clear goalposts and plot twists in mind (not to mention development on ideas like Charisma Duelists because at the end of the show I still have not a fucking clue what a Charisma Duelists is or was) I would say it has potential to become my favorite series but Arc-V clearly beats it for me in every category lmao.

Zexal’s also really good too!!! I don’t get all the hate behind it because it’s actually really interesting and engaging (also IV’s definition of fanservice is literally the only type of fanservice I will ever accept) and I think I’ve even cried a couple of times during the course of the plot which is like,,, shocking considering it’s not a show I thought I’d cry over (I cried in Arc-V too but goddamn does tiny Yuya just want to make you tear up lmao). This show is really good emotionally and it’s literally so stupid how Kaito carries a lot of the early and middle game of the show yet most of the meat of the plot doesn’t begin to unravel until the second season.

Also, if you ever want to watch a show of 100+ episodes that is so masterfully written that there is foreshadowing for stuff in like episode 130+ on EPISODE ONE, please watch this. Literally there are so many hints of what is going to happen in the future in the early episodes and you won’t really be able to tell what those hints are until you’ve finished the show but goddamn when you go back and rewatch things it does indeed feel amazing how much foreshadowing they threaded into the show without you ever knowing...(please don’t search for spoilers if you intend to watch this. I went into the show knowing some spoilers tho not all and, while I was still pleased by what I watched, I honestly can agree the show is A Lot Better without knowing ANYTHING)

Favorite Protagonist: Yuya. For sure, out of all the series, Yuya. 

He’s a refreshing protagonist, especially considering he shines in a world of war and despair. He’s also someone who you empathize with right at the start and want to hope in, especially since he is the “happiness” in a word of “madness” and “sorrow”. He’s not someone out to save the world (not really, anyways), but his actions touch on the lives of others anyways, giving people in a hope in a world that is otherwise cruel and heartless. Also, it really helps that he’s able to pull you into his world of “egaos”, making you believe in him and root for him despite how cheesy his ideals may or may not sound.

Also love how, despite being the centerpiece of “happiness”, Yuya isn’t allowed to always be happy :> Not spoiling plot related things but if you like protagonists going off the rails insane at times, Yuya’s definitely a fun protagonist for that!!!

Favorite Rival:

Kaito Tenjou!!! Literally the best rival in the series that I’ve seen. Everything about him is literally perfect ngl. From the way he’s chillingly introduced, with the spine-tingling whistles and cruel, almost merciless nature, to the way he slowly becomes sympathetic while also remaining a terrifying presence whenever he appears...I love him????

Favorite BFF:

Does Shoichi count? Because like...he’s Yusaku’s closest friend and ally in the series and I generally don’t pay attention to the other BFF’s in the other series (or at least, the ones I can recall bc I know in Zexal that Yuma has a whole group of friends lmao).

But I like Shoichi!! He cares about Yusaku a lot, is pretty damn cool as a sidekick hacker, his sideplot with his brother was actually honestly endearing and I loved the mystery about him. His early-game jokes w/ Ai to tease Yusaku were also a good laugh.

Favorite GFF: 

Not a girl friend forever for the main protagonist (although she like...lowkey confessed to him...though that plot really never went anywhere so I still don’t know what the fuck THAT was about) but,,, Ema Bessho,,

If y’all knew me back in my peak YGO days when VRAINS was airing,,, this gal was and STILL is my favorite girl of the YGO series. Even though she was pretty much done dirty imo I still love her (even despite considering she’s been made a damsel-in-distress at least three times, she’s only ever won one duel on-screen despite being supposedly good at dueling, ngl they could’ve done so much more with her but tbh she’s mostly just an asset to solve problems at whim and barely gets character development/does nothing but watch and spectate stuff late-game).

Even though she’s like...the unfortunate side character who’s probably meant to be more fanservice than interesting, in the first 19 episodes (and even the Revolver vs. her fight as well as the one time she meets Aoi IRL early-game) made her out to be a lot cooler and complex than she ended up being. I mean,,, a hacker gal who’s self-serving, cynical, and cold-hearted taking on the tasks of her (potentially ex) boyfriend while being really nice to his sister to the point she baffles even herself,,, we could’ve had a really unique and cool character to play around with here but instead we got...cool-ass character with potential to be something more reduced to a spectator with nothing better to do than idolize the main protagonist and have a plot with her brother that honestly detracted from her character more than it added to it imo.

Also Ema could’ve been a female Yuri but,,, nope,,, they decided she was better as a background piece instead TwT

Favorite Villain: Yuri.

Literally Yuri.

I could choose the leather jacket w/ fluff boi in a certain series because hot damn was that guy convincing AF that he wasn’t an evil psychopath (and even while knowing that he was, I still got fooled into thinking he was a good guy somehow omg) however,,, I’ve always held a love for Yuri and the way he’s been portrayed.

Despite ALWAYS being the bad guy, the show has always made this purple fucker into the most entertaining character on-screen. He even beats Yuya sometimes in terms of how entertaining he is - that’s literally how good he is,,

Also his facial expressions are amazing, he’s a VERY VALID threat to the main cast (and his creeper levels are not only off the charts but literally called out by the main female protagonist herself lmao), and he acts as the perfect foil to Yuya, battling not to entertain others but to entertain himself.

Also, he likes killing people.

No this is not a joke.

He literally likes killing people. And is pretty sadistic about it, too.

(^^^^ for those who don’t get the joke, “Fusion” is pronounced “Yuugo” which sounds similar to “Yugo” which is what,,, Yuri is making fun of,,, more context is needed of course but this is a Great Running Gag)

Favorite card:

I don’t know if it actually exists as an actual card but...that crystal dragon from the YGO movie with the glass pyramid. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon...it’s really pretty...I love it...

Favorite Episode:

I’m...too lazy to search for names of these episodes but I can give brief summaries of them,,, because I can’t choose,,,

Arc-V: Shun vs. Sora (ALL episodes). Hot damn if you have never watched YGO but want to try and see for yourself why people like it: WATCH THESE EPISODES. I can’t explain how amazing these episodes are and, while I admit jumping straight into them might have you missing out on some important context (such as who Shun is or why Sora’s battle tactics lead to revelation) it’s honestly an amazing fight regardless. The battle starts off plain enough - there’s obvious tension, it seems like a typical fight of a battle royale, etc. - my god does the battle ramp up in emotional tension and promptly kick you in the gut with not only how blindsided you’ve been, but it also showcases just how cruel these “entertainment duels” can really get.

Any episode with Yuri. Literally any episode he’s in. 

I think this is like...episode 8 of VRAINS...but whenever it is that Akira hires Ema to find the reason why Aoi just...straight up got knocked into a coma. Literally this is my favorite episode when it comes to Ema. The way she makes fun of Akira even while aware of his situation,,, her cruel selfishness and desire for money bubbling to the surface, the way she confesses how she can’t be trusted willingly and still asks Akira why he’s hiring her,,, god I love this episode in terms of what Ema could’ve always been.

Episode 13 (/14?) of Zexal!!! This is the episode Kaito appears and when the show REALLY picks up. Kaito is a fun bastard of a rival and tbh I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting chills of him walking in, debris frozen in time all around him, as he approaches his victim, whistling an eerie children’s tune as he gets ready to close in for the kill,,,,

Favorite Deck to Use:

I don’t...really play the game itself but...I have used a couple of decks and I guess you can say I really love Raid Raptors??? First of all, those warbirds make really fun sounds I love ‘em in the anime but they’re also just fun to use in general (even tho I used a,,, very basic deck for them,,, I love them still).

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum or Link:

XYZ bc it’s really the only summoning method I’m used to lol :P. Also XYZ loyalist I guess???? 

Years in fandom: roughly five to six years iirc? I mean, I was a fan of the early day YGO and watched it as a kid but not active enough to be in the fandom for it lmao. Also not in the fandom atm because Sevens lost my attention (it’s a good show!!! I’m just unfortunately more a fan of things with serious plots and darker themes and it’s hard for me to stomach slice-of-life shows that don’t focus on a mature and engaging plot). However, Arc-V and Zexal holds a special place in my heart (as does VRAINS, begrudgingly) and so I occasionally find myself wandering back to these shows like right now,,, 

[everydisneymovie]

Review #58: Babes in Toyland

Post #63

9/15/2020

Next up is 1961′s Babes in Toyland

Enjoyment : [4]

This movie is very charming, but in a completely unintentional way. None of the actual jokes or heartfelt moments land even in the slightest, but you still find yourself smiling because the movie failed in such a spectacular manner. It has the same feeling you get from watching a blooper reel. The story is a hot mess, and the budget is so low it might actually be in the negatives, but gosh darn is it earnest. The characters are not anything to write home about and the story meanders so badly that nothing is really resolved by the end. It just sorta... exists.

Quality : [4]

This movie is a very bizarre watch. The sets are colorful and fit the lighthearted cartoony tone, but they are also so cheap and poorly made that they miss ‘charming’ and end up in the ‘ugly’ territory. I would normally applaud the stylism of this movie, but you can tell the aesthetic only looks that way because they cut corners, not because they were trying to look that way. The story structure is also horrendous, with some characters contributing less than nothing to the plot, and huge plot points being dropped with no resolution. Like, Little Bo Peep loses her sheep, and the heroes end up in great peril trying to track those sheep down, and then the movie ends without a single sheep being found. Also ‘Toyland’ doesn’t even get mentioned until 1 hour into this 1 hour and 40 minute movie. The only reason this category doesn’t get a lower score, is because the singing and dancing is good enough to pull them up a tiny bit. The lyrics to the songs aren’t any good, but the actors give it their all regardless. 

Hold up : [3]

Yeah this movie isn’t a fan of minorities or women. There is some pretty cringe worthy depictions of “gypsies” (Seriously what is it with Disney and gypsies?) And it isn’t just a one off line its a whole scene and pivotal plot point that the gypsies steal children. Also there is a real apathy in the way this movie treats its female characters. Women are only ever damsels in distress or prizes to be won. The villain gets more than a little rapey, and there is line where Tom (the male lead) describes Mary (his love interest) as a “toy that belongs to him.” and it is meant to be romantic. Also there is an entire song about Mary not being able to function without a man to do all the thinking for her. She has to balance her household budget and she basically turns to camera and says:

Risk : [3]

This movie is a bit of a snooze fest. The villains are cartoonish to the point where any moral decrying them is totally lost. It isn’t really fun, it doesn’t challenge anything and it isn’t willing to spend the effort to say anything. You’d assume because of the storybook aesthetic there would be some mother goose style lessons to impart on the kids, but nope. Come to think of it, Mother Goose disappears entirely from the movie despite being the narrator. I don’t think she’s even in the final wedding scene. Wow this movie really just doesn’t care does it? 

Extra Credit : [2]

Some jokes made me laugh, and there are some imaginative moments. I really like some of the dancing, and Gene Sheldon got to shine with some classic clownery. Clownery always gets a free extra credit point in my book.

Final thoughts:

Fun fact: This movie gave my dad nightmares as a kid. The scene with the talking trees is actually kinda creepy. Which leads me to my main point: This movie is just a rip off of The Wizard of Oz. There is a dark clothes villain after our sweet but naive heroine, a quirky inventor is a massive magical city, talking trees, a spooky forest scene and lots of musical numbers. But somehow, despite having a smaller budget and also being made twenty years prior, The Wizard of Oz looks a million times better than Babes in Toyland. The songs are better, the characters more memorable and the sets look worlds more convincing despite having the same cartoony aesthetic. This movie is a baffling slog from start to finish, it’s best aspects getting buried under the pure laziness behind the craft. The filmmaking is just not skilled enough to accomplish anything worthwhile. Honestly this movie just feels phoned in and I personally could not get swept up in the fantasy no matter how hard I tried.

Total Score: 16/50

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[dmbakura]

I'm not assuming the girl thing because of hair or clothes, rather that the placement of those characters in the story is more akin to how anime/japan writes female chatacters who aren't moe trash or w/e. KT has already shown or at least alluded to the fact that he's not afraid to play around with gender stereotypes/sexuality and SJ does have a history of altering writers work to fit the target demographic more i.e teen boys. I don't assume gender cos of clothes, oh no!

I like the idea that Ryou is just an effeminate boy, believe me, that's cool, same with Otogi but there are instances within the story and just knowing enough about this kind of writing that makes me question it a bit. It is only a theory and if I still was on tumblr, I'd be breaking it down. I think had KT been picked up by another manga publisher we would've seen an even more diverse cast & in this case I do think there would've been more female characters. Also, why was Miho taken out in DM?

I admit too that Honda takes a back seat early on I just picked up on all this now cos I'm rewatching Duelist kingdom and he's a teensy bit more present there. I don't think all bishounen are female either, not at all. It is hard for a writer to have female characters who aren't just tits/ass/ moral support in shounen though, so no, I would'nt be surprised if KT was altered/censored by SJ in order to rake in more cash. Eh, nevermind I really can't elaborate with this word limit anyway ! 

I like a crack theory as much as the next person but your reasoning doesn’t make any sense at all. Like dude I’m not trying to be mean but I’m seriously BAFFLED by what you put in my inbox LMAO

So KT wanted more women characters because hes actually super progressive therefore he wrote Ryou and Otogi like damsel in distresses which are “women roles” because SJ were censoring him? Can you not see how bizarre and contradictory that sounds?

Both Ryou and Otogi have large female followings in-universe and are seen as super attractive by women. By your logic, was KT so progressive he actually meant for these two pretty boys to be lesbian chad icons? I’m not giving him that much credit and neither should you LOL

How does Miho even factor into this? She’s a one off side character in the manga that the toei anime took and included more for some reason. The DM anime cut out 90% of the early manga. They didn’t cut her out because she’s a woman lol she’s literally just not part of the main cast

Like you seem to be operating off the assumption that KT is some secret feminist or something having his vision squashed down by shonen jump and that’s very uh, presumptuous? Like I dont know the guy or his personal beliefs/biases and I don’t care to. But if you look at the female characters in his writing, as much as some of them are well written and have more agency than others you might see in the genre, most have an uncomfortable amount of sexism or objectification surrounding them. 

Kisara and Mai are subjected to extreme violence as part of their arcs in the story. Anzu is sexually harassed and super objectified in the early manga where KT clearly had the most creative freedom before YGO shifted focus to their commercialized card game. Stealth sneaking in female characters because he wants “diversity” and didn't actually wanna objectify them? Why do that when he very clearly has no problem showing really uncomfortable stuff with the female characters he does have. In fact, later iterations of his work (such as DM and certain prints of the manga) would tone down a lot of the violence and weird stuff present.

If you seriously want to credit all of this to the publisher forcing him to objectify women in his work and turning his “female” characters male, that’s a batshit amount of plausible deniability you’re giving him. I think the theory he’s a closet bisexual and just doesn’t know how to write women hence all the homoeroticism and overabundance of male characters in YGO is more believable than that LMAO

[babyleclerc]

Love Her Madly

Pairings: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Style: One-Shot

Warnings: Just mild cursing, but what’s new lmfao.

Word Count: 1.8K

Summary: After probably the worst day of your life, you find yourself stood up at a nice restaurant by your date. To make things worse, you also run into your ex - who sees you there alone. Who better to save the day than the one and only Tom Hiddleston?

A/N: W O W. Guys. It’s been a fuckin’ WHILE since I’ve gotten Tom to flow through these fingers. PHEW it feels so fucking good to be back to writing him. I’ve missed him so much. All praise goes to my absolute partner in crime, writing buddy, and bestest of friend, @sxbastianstan. She is my everything, my ultimate bae, and the reason this fic even exists. So go THANK HER for getting me out of my writing rut. Ily all. Hope you enjoy. <3

This was officially, easily, the worst night of your life. You glanced at your Apple watch for the hundredth time that hour, its little neon numbers staring back at you; mocking you. As if looking at it again would magically erase time. Surprise: it hadn’t.

“Would you like to order anything, Miss?” You could tell your waiter was getting impatient and wanted to give the table to someone else. The hour you had been waiting for your blind date was starting to look pathetic, and you knew it. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes at the judgment laced throughout the waiter’s tone and smiled up at him as sweetly as you could.

“Sorry, just five more minutes.” Right as the words slipped from your glossed lips, you heard a male voice from across the room.

“Y/N?” He called out, and your heart sank. You felt your stomach drop and your head feel dizzy as you looked up at the owner of said voice, recognizing it immediately.

“Hey,” You said timidly as your eyes rested on your ex’s handsome face. Damnit, now this really was the worst night of your fucking life.

You stood to give him a quick hug, annoyed by the smell of his cologne and the blonde bimbo hanging off his arm, with perfectly manicured hands and highlighted hair. You immediately felt self-conscious of your own looks and tried to make yourself as small as possible in comparison (as if that were even possible).

“What are you doing here? Are you here by yourself?” He didn’t give you a chance to answer, and instead just plowed on. “This is Anastasia, my fiancé.”

Fiancé. Good. Fucking. Lord. This was just getting better and better.

You smiled tightly, that nauseating feeling twisting in your gut as you shakily held out a hand to meet hers, exchanging niceties. This was the worst.

“So… no date?” He asked again, glancing at the empty chairs in front of you and looking at you with pity. Was there a small smirk on his lips, too? You would give one million dollars to slap that look right off his face.

Before you could answer, you notice some shuffling from the corner of your eye, and a tall man, clad in a dark blue suit, approaches you, leaning over to kiss you gently on the cheek.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, darling. Traffic was a nightmare.” You felt your cheeks get hot and your eyes widen as the British man easily snaked an arm around your waist, his large hand resting gently on your hip. There was a collective pause from the group as they soaked in the man standing in front of you. You tried not to let your jaw drop as your eyes glazed over his gelled hair, his bright blues, and a slight 5 o’clock shadow resting along his jawline. He swiftly buttoned his suit jacket and extended a hand to your ex-boyfriend who just stood there, baffled. He turned his attention to Jack, as if just noticing him for the first time. “Ah, sorry, didn’t mean to be rude. I’m Tom.”

“Jack,” Your ex shook his hand and seemed to stand up straighter, as if measuring himself against this mystery man named Tom. (It was of no use, Tom was a full foot taller than him, at least). There was an awkward beat, and you hoped no one noticed that in reality you had no idea who the hell this Tom character was, but boy were you thankful that he had decided to step in right at this moment.

“Well, we should get back to our meal. I’ve been keeping my poor girl waiting for over an hour; she’ll kill me if I don’t get food in her system soon.” Tom winked at you and you felt yourself coming undone, your cheeks so hot they could burn the restaurant down.

Without waiting for dismissal from Jack, Tom led you towards the table you had previously been abandoned at, pulling your chair out for you and allowing you to sit down. By the time he sat down, swiftly unbuttoning his suit jacket in the process, Jack and Anastasia had gone back to their table, stunned. You could feel the envy seeping from both of them as your heart pounded in your chest, finally drinking in the man in front of you. He seemed completely at ease, as if this had been his plan all along. As if he hadn’t just spotted you from across the room at the bar, and decided to swoop in and save you like some sort of prince charming.

“Uhm,” You started, biting your lower lip. “You didn’t need to do that.”

Though his eyes smiled at you, his lips formed into a beautiful smirk, oozing with confidence. “A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice.” He raised his hand and called for the waiter. You sat there, stunned, sputtering stupidly. “I’ll take a vodka tonic, and the lady here will have…?”

He turned to you, waiting, and you blinked, your brain trying to process what he was asking you but being infinitely distracted by his confidence and distracting British accent.

“I’ll have a Scotch, please.” You finally managed out, your hands trembling slightly.

Tom flashed a smile towards the waiter, thanking him, before once again letting his beautiful blue orbs rest on you. It made you feel uncomfortable, the way that he was assessing you – as if he knew you were panicking and sweating beneath your somewhat (?) calm exterior.

“So, where were we?” He asked, leaning back against the chair, crossing one leg over the other easily. His hands rested on his thighs. “Ah yes, you were about to thank me.”

You would have scowled at him had his grin not been so fucking handsome. You hated to admit it, but the guy was smooth. Too smooth.

“Right,” You rolled your eyes, gaining some of your confidence back, “Thank you for swooping in and now hijacking my dinner.”

Tom raised an eyebrow at your tone, “I’m sorry, did you want me to leave so can eat by yourself?”

You glared at him, his comment a straight punch to the gut. You sighed, backing down. “No, but thank you for saving me. You don’t have to have dinner with me, though.”

Tom waved it off with his hand, shaking his head, “I was only teasing. No need to thank me. I hate seeing a beautiful girl stood up. I’m assuming that’s what happened, yes?”

You sighed again, but suddenly feeling more comfortable, nodded. “Yes.”

“Tinder?”

“Bumble, actually.”

“Ah.”

The waiter now returned with your drinks, setting them on the table in front of you and taking your orders. Tom ordered the fish while you ordered a steak (thank God you knew what you wanted already, you would have died if he looked at you stupidly again), and he took a sip of his vodka, letting the ice-cold glass rest in his hand. He fidgeted with the lime, head cocked to the side as his eyes watched you.

“So that’s an ex of yours, I gather?” He asked finally, swirling the drink in his hand as his head nodded discretely towards Jack.

You blushed slightly, embarrassed that he had caught you staring at Jack and Anastasia for the thousandth time. You sighed, nodding. “Yeah, we used to date. For a while, actually.”

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.” Another swig of his vodka tonic. You watched as his tongue dashed along his lips slightly, annoyed at how effortlessly your body was in-tune with his.

You sighed, partially from the question but mostly from the way Tom oozed sexiness and comfort without even trying. “Long story, but he broke up with me. Typical ‘guy likes girl, guy wins over girl, girl falls in love with guy, guy falls in love with someone else’. It was a while ago.” You shrugged, taking a deep swig of your Scotch.

Tom’s eyes darted over to Jack, just in time to see him glaring at you. He thought for a moment, then peered back at you, a playful look dancing in his eyes. He leaned across the table and reached for your hand, allowing his fingers to gently intertwine with yours before speaking in a low, husky voice.

“Let’s make him burn with envy.”

Dinner went on so smoothly from there, it was hard to believe that the night had started out the way that it had, and that this was a “first date”. Tom was ever the gentleman – listening intently, complimenting you at all the right times, never getting distracted or looking uninterested. It was as if he was hanging on to your every word, like his life depended on them. It was as intimidating as it was refreshing.

“So tell me,” You started, cutting your knife easily into your steak, “What made you come over and save me earlier tonight?”

Tom grinned, chuckling slightly, “You should know by now that your radiant beauty made it hard for me to stay away.”

You laughed wholeheartedly, amused, “You seriously expect that line to work? What do other girls say to that?”

He shrugged, “Wouldn’t know, you’re the first woman I’ve ever used it on.”

You immediately sobered, your head tilting slightly, “I call bullshit.”

It was Tom’s turn to laugh, the corner of his eyes crinkling just slightly, his tongue peeking out from between his lips. You wondered, for just a moment, what it would feel like to kiss them…

“Not bullshit, actually, I hardly have time between filming to go out on dates.”

“So it just happened to be my lucky day that you were here, tonight, huh? Just waiting for a damsel in distress to save?” You grinned back at him cheekily.

“I’d hardly call you a damsel in distress, Y/N.” The way his accent drawled your name out sent goosebumps up your arms. You wanted to hear him say it a thousand times over, preferably in the dark, in his bed, his lips pressed against your skin in the most sinful ways.

You squirmed slightly in your chair at the visual, crossing a leg over the other in an attempt to calm yourself down. Tom noticed the slight gesture and smiled softly against his raised glass, fighting everything within him to wink at you.

Tom cleared his throat, glancing at his watch, “I know this is extremely forward of me, and I swear I would never ask just anyone this, but, would you-”

“Yes.” You answered before he could finish.

Tom grinned, his eyes twinkling. He pulled out his wallet and set down a few hundred-dollar bills – you weren’t sure how much but tried not to gape at the load of cash he still had in his wallet. He took you briskly by the hand, pulling you in front of him as he guided you out of the restaurant, both hands resting easily on your hips.

You were too happy, the grin far too wide across your lips, to notice a sulking Jack behind you.

Fin.

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[notbemoved-blog]

Books, Books, Books

Lists are all the rage at the end of any year and this plague year is no exception. Since I’ve read a fair number of books by friends this past year or so, I thought I’d send out my “Goodreads” reviews of all three books that I’ve enjoyed with the hope of giving each a bit more recognition (and perhaps a bump in sales) in the New Year. The reviews are presented in the order that I reviewed them. All three books are available on Amazon or through your local independent bookstore. Also try IndieBound, the online independent bookseller. 

[End of Year Note: My apologies for not being more active on social media lately. I’m working on my own follow up to “We Shall Not Be Moved” and have tried to stay away from all forms of distraction, including social media. With any luck, my next project, the story of the Tougaloo Nine Library Sit-In, will be on its way to the publisher at the end of 2021.]

And now, for our 2020 BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!

Wave On: A Surfing Story by Michael E.C. Gery

(Amazon Digital Services, 2018, 432 pages, Autobiographical Fiction)

[Reviewed August 2019]

"A wonderfully adept stoner’s diary for the boomer generation."

I was thoroughly enchanted with “Wave On” from beginning to end. Even when I wasn’t sure exactly where we were going, the ride was exhilarating. Perhaps it was because I knew many of the places where the action takes place: Williamsburg, the Outer Banks, Annapolis, Ocean City, College Park, and even The Who concert back in 1971 [or was it ’70?] at Merriweather Post Pavilion, which I also happened to attend!! I read very little fiction but a fair amount of biography and memoir, and I must say that I rarely find a work of fiction that is as engaging and heart-driven as “Wave On.”

Part One is a pure, lovely, romantic love story that is contemporaneous with our early adulthood and, thus, easy for me to put myself in the shoes of Cro as he tries to navigate the strictures of young adulthood in a laissez-faire new world of the mid-1960s. The fact that he has been schooled at an Episcopalian Boys school and loves all of those old hymns and prayers makes it all the more real for me, having attended a 4-year Catholic high school seminary. Cro’s goofiness, uncertainty, and (initial) shyness around women also resonated.

What I loved about Part One is that Gery establishes a voice for Cro, the Narrator, that is immediate, engaging, alive, and consistent throughout the entire novelization of what I believe is Gery’s young adult life. (A new term I just picked up--“autofiction” i.e., autobiographical fiction--seems to apply here.) Cro is so normal in his struggles to understand how the world works, so honest in his mistakes, so in love with his environment—the ocean, the waves, the shore—that he makes us love them, too, perhaps a bit more than we already do. But it is that voice that intrigued me throughout. No matter what kind of scrape Cro and his interesting band of friends and lovers gets into, there is a confidence that they are up to the challenge. [I must admit that Cro’s drift during Part Two with regard to his professional aspirations and even his family life was a bit baffling, but I came to think that the weed had a lot to do with his lack of ambition and direction.]

Part Two, of course, gets a bit more complicated as real life intervenes and our little Love Couple begins to encounter troubles from within and without. I hated to see that and was certain that Cro was going to lose his wonderful Ella and Adam and couldn’t see my way through to how it all might resolve, particularly when Maryanne enters the picture and the Neil Young Concert kiss betrays a problematic (if not fatal) flaw in our hero. But I suffered through all of that, wanting to see how it all came out in the end. Although there was no deus ex machina, the surprising turn of events that helps resolve these dramatic arcs is shocking yet consistent. It all made narrative sense and helped explain why we were taken on so many to such a happy ending.

“Wave On” is a wonderfully adept stoner’s diary for our boomer generation. I can’t wait for Gery’s next work of autofiction to continue the journey with him. 

 Hard Road South by Scott Gates

(Blue Ink Press, 2020, 254 pages, Fiction)

[Reviewed, May 2020] 

“A little jewel box of a novel.”

 “Hard Road South” is a little jewel box of a novel set during the early days of Reconstruction Virginia. This beautifully rendered tale imagines a naïve Connecticut Yankee—a former Union soldier—who travels South to visit and potentially settle in some of the lush foothills of the Shenandoah Valley where he once engaged the Confederate “enemy”. Hoping to find peace while helping to reform a culture that wishes to be left alone, our hero, one Solomon Dykes, finds fast friends but also fast enemies amidst the verdant pastures of his would-be Old Virginny Home.

An early scene sets the tone: A down on her luck woman is stopped in the town of Middleburg—the place that would become the enclave of the likes of millionaires John and Jackie Kennedy and Jack Kemp Cooke a century later—by some Union soldiers still on the scene occupying this “foreign” land to ensure compliance with Union directives. Her transgression? Wearing the Confederate uniform jacket of her dead husband. The three Confederate buttons on the jacket must be removed or she will be arrested and charged with treason. Such is the over-reach of conquering heroes.

Our damsel in distress is aided by the swift thinking of one Jeb Mosby, a local farmer, who pulls out his knife and gently removes the buttons so as to spare his life-long neighbor the embarrassment of arrest. “Such was life now,” Mosby observes. “Filled with reminders—small as they may seem—that life would not soon be returning to how he’d left it before the war.” It is small observations such as this that gives this book its charm and its weight. Representations of what life must have been like for the conquered South are constant reminders that the likes of Solomon Dykes were not at all welcome and most likely would be rebuffed should the opportunity arise. Scott Gates is new to novel writing, but you wouldn’t know it from his sharp eye for detail and his pacing. Gates gives his story and his characters plenty of room to breathe and develop while providing the reader with glimpses of the specifics of their war-torn lives. A Southerner by birth, Gates offers a sensibility of one trying to bridge the great divide while not shying away from the difficulties building that bridge might require. This is a tale for our time, as well, as our nation is once again fraught with deep divisions perhaps not seen since the ending of that great Civil War more than 150 years ago. We are stuck and unable to move forward until some fundamental rift gets settled. “Hard Road South” is a highly readable, thoroughly enjoyable yet cautionary tale for our time. Perhaps we can learn from the past and this time get things right. Perhaps … 

 Small Business Big Heart: How One Family Redefined the Bottom Line by Paul Wesslund

(Highway 61 Communications, 2020, 242 pages, Nonfiction)

[Reviewed, August 2020]

“Big-hearted Book Teaches That Care for Others = Good Business”

In the midst of a global health crisis—the worst we’ve seen in generations—and while we struggle as a country, as a people, to find our footing morally and culturally during a reductio ad absurdum political creep show, Small Business BIG HEART lands as a corrective, a balm to soothe frayed nerves and intemperate minds. That is not to say that this big-hearted book is pablum. No, the stories it brings are all too real—people who often have lost their way through drugs, alcohol, and bad choices; refugees who have fled horrific circumstances and are looking only to start a new life but can’t due to the stigma of being different; and one family in particular that is faced with its own dissolution as well as the loss of its dream of a thriving family business. The high-stakes rollercoaster ride that journalist Paul Wesslund takes us on is dizzying not only for its incredible highs and sometimes tragic lows, but also because it introduces a concept too often forgotten … no, disregarded … in modern business life—what corporate governance experts would call “the duty of CARE.”

Sal and Cindy Rubino are two hard-working business owners who, through the course of their trials and tribulations, manage to hold on to the dream of a creating their own business from scratch while also enduring the inevitable personal strains that such a dream exacts. The two met and fell in love while working toward Hospitality Management business degrees in Miami, but the real story starts when they try and apply the lessons of their training in the difficult day-to-day drudgery of actually running their own restaurant—simply named “The Café”—in an offbeat, run-down section of Louisville, Cindy’s hometown. It is here that their skills and wills are tested to the limits and each will have to adjust their visions to fit the realities not explored in textbooks. And it is here that their hearts will be broken, and then opened to the truths that adaptability and innovation can be applied not only to recipes and business models, but to the very people you employ and the methods you use to build a team for success.

Along the way, we meet all manner of broken individuals. The restaurant business is notorious for laying waste to lives due to its thankless dawn-to-dusk hours and the constant requirement to please the customer at all costs. Wesslund has an expert’s eye for the telling detail and the wrenching story line. [I found myself tearing up at any number of stories throughout this engaging, nonfiction tale.] His twenty years as editor-in-chief of Kentucky Living, the largest circulation monthly magazine within the state, shows in the well-drawn portraits of individuals from as far away as Bhutan and as near as Pricilla’s Place, a half-way house just a few blocks from the Café, where Cindy and Sal would find some of their best employees. Perhaps Wesslund’s (not to mention the Rubinos’) refusal to judge people by the standards of upwardly mobile middle-class values but instead, with extraordinary discernment, to look deeper into their souls to spot their special sparks and unique talents is the hallmark of this extraordinary book.

It is rare outside of evangelical circles to find a book that so openly espouses Christian principles, but Sal and Cindy make no bones about the fact that their faith community helped to save their marriage as well as their business, and Wesslund recounts the strength of those relationships and the power of religious inspiration with rare delicacy. Yet the book is not all seriousness and drama. We get, of all things, recipes (!) at the start of nearly every chapter—a creative way of introducing a new topic or the next development of this constantly churning story. And we are introduced to Cindy’s creative cooking style, to Sal’s winning smile and to their gracious, open approach to hospitality.

Small Business BIG HEART runs the gamut of the small business life cycle. It is a soup-to-nuts (literally) primer on the ups and downs of small business management. As such, it is tough medicine for anyone daring to think of creating their own start-up. Given that, however, it provides a deeply affecting microcosm of how we as a society—as a culture—might live if we, indeed, saw everyone we encountered as a member of our own family. It does not skimp on the tough decisions that must be made to keep a business afloat—the “tension between compassion and the bottom line”—but it provides a template on how to “run a business with heart”—where everyone can be a winner.

Wishing you a New Year full of new books, new ideas, new opportunities, new promise. 

[ao3feed-buckyxtony]

(Not so) Internal Conflicts

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zV7Lx7

by antigrav_vector

Tony gets taken. James overreacts. Steve and Bucky are along for the ride, and somewhat baffled. Nat thinks this is hilarious and that James is falling for Tony. The men think she's lost her mind. At first.

Words: 4558, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 8 of Things I blame on the CapRBB slack, Part 4 of Acts of Defiance

Fandoms: The Avengers (2012), Iron Man (MCU), Captain America (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, The Winter Soldier, Jarvis, Natasha Romanov

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark/The Winter Soldier

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Past James "Bucky" Barnes/the Winter Soldier, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Past Bucky Barnes/Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Mental Health Issues, Self-Discovery, Identity Issues, Self-Determination, Choices, Bucky and James are different personalities, but they're learning to live together, tony is not a damsel in distress, but James treats him a bit like one, really weird love triangles, don't question it too hard, idek, Mission Fic, Rescue Fic, Kidnapping, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony, offscreen blood and gore, James flirts a bit like a sledgehammer, I blame CAPRBB slack chat

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zV7Lx7

[ao3feed-stucky]

(Not so) Internal Conflicts

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zV7Lx7

by antigrav_vector

Tony gets taken. James overreacts. Steve and Bucky are along for the ride, and somewhat baffled. Nat thinks this is hilarious and that James is falling for Tony. The men think she's lost her mind. At first.

Words: 4558, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 8 of Things I blame on the CapRBB slack, Part 4 of Acts of Defiance

Fandoms: The Avengers (2012), Iron Man (MCU), Captain America (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, The Winter Soldier, Jarvis, Natasha Romanov

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark/The Winter Soldier

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Past James "Bucky" Barnes/the Winter Soldier, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Past Bucky Barnes/Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Mental Health Issues, Self-Discovery, Identity Issues, Self-Determination, Choices, Bucky and James are different personalities, but they're learning to live together, tony is not a damsel in distress, but James treats him a bit like one, really weird love triangles, don't question it too hard, idek, Mission Fic, Rescue Fic, Kidnapping, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony, offscreen blood and gore, James flirts a bit like a sledgehammer, I blame CAPRBB slack chat

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zV7Lx7

[144-13]

How about 👤, 🤖, and 🏺 :D

👤-What kind of character I’d love to see in Lady Layton

I’m not sure if this question means the return of a character from a previous game or a type of character (detective, reporter, etc) so I’ll just answer it both ways. I’d honestly like to see the return of Flora. As much as she is my least favourite character I think that’s only because she really doesn’t get much love in the prequels. They treat her like a damsel in distress and when she’s not being kidnapped, she’s whinging about being left behind. Level-5 only imply she’s more of a tomboy, that she likes danger and intrigue and enjoys going on adventures with the Prof, so in Lady Layton I’d love to see those implications lived out. Now that she’s older, maybe she’s moved out and goes on her own adventures. Maybe she’s a detective? Honestly, that would be really interesting to see her character finally blossom into something she’s always had the potential to be.

In regards to the other bit of the question, I think I’m excited to see some of the new types of characters they throw in. Level-5 have always been good about not sticking to a major genre but more mixing that genre of character with its own personality (if that makes any sense at all…) For example, Chelmey is a detective but he’s not portrayed as just a detective always pounding the pavement. He works hard, but he also has a home life, a favourite food, he’s actual taken time out of his passion to travel in AL.

Anyway, talking of Chelmey, it would especially be interesting to see that new detective. I wonder how he replaces Chelmey and Barton. Barton becomes a Commissioner in Mystery Room so I’m also curious as to where he is on the scale at this point. Also, it would be interesting to see a bit of the new generation of kids in this series. Considering the original series is believed to be set in the 50s-60s and it’s now about twenty or thirty years in the future, how would they portray the 80s-90s kids? This is about when computers and video games started to emerge and become popular so will there be a computer-wiz? Or some of those trouble-making kids with skateboards running around? All in all, I’m just excited for all the characters in general ;)

🤖-Which machine in the games I thought was the coolest

The Mobile Fortress. Not only is it an absolutely enormous machine that towers over even the Detra-Gigant in Eternal Diva but it’s also the product of so much hatred and rage. Clive–who, based on Spring and Cogg’s dialogue, was always a gentle and kind boy when he was younger–spent years planning this machine until he has the money and resources to cobble the thing together, all the while fuelling his own anger in the process. And when he finally reveals it, it’s at the apex of his insanity. This is where we learn of his past, how everything he loved and knew–his family and his home–was suddenly ripped from him in one fell swoop. How he spent many a probably sleepless night trying to understand what happened only to realise the very government was behind the incident and the cover up. How these deaths were all for money, power and fame. And that’s not even mentioning the trauma he suffered all those years.

The connection between man and machine–between this monstrosity and a boy fuelled by ten years of emotions he’s bottled up–is incredible. I myself was absolutely blown away by how much power Clive had suddenly obtained. He planned on destroying London and it didn’t seem at all out of his reach. Eventual, even. It was practically futile for Layton and co to even try to stop him because, looking at the thing, where would you even begin? It would be hopeless almost. And that’s the sense that scene gives. London is done for and our heroes are dead. No question. That’s what any normal person would think at least. And even though Prof Lay has been on many adventures–been killed even because of a robot civilisation–and though he does put himself in harm’s way to stop this destruction, he’s still baffled by what Clive’s doing. Just an incredible amount of raw emotion in that entire scene. Honestly gives me chills, that ending.

🏺-if I’m interested in archaeology at all

Archaeology is interesting to me, but it’s not my favourite science. I’d rather be studying the mysteries of time and space or the human mind than what sort of pottery humans were using back in ancient times. But even though I’m being cheeky, that certainly doesn’t mean archaeology is at all an impractical science.

Thanks for asking, friendo ;)

[erurilicious]

Send me a ship and I’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it

Ah yes, the ship that must not be named. Or that I like to call err0ri because it’s like an error in the matrix or idk. I’m not directly answering the ask because I don’t want it to show up in the search and have any brats in my inbox lol. Alright, sit down, my child because this turned out so long, holy shit X”D

Tbh this ship never made any sense to me, and I was baffled when I joined the fandom and found out that it’s the biggest/most popular ship in the fandom. Like wtf the wrong with y’all?? First of all there is the obvious age gap. Why you gotta turn Levi into a pedo? He just doesn’t strike me as the guy that would fall for a teenager. He might care for them as a father figure and superior because he’s empathetic. But romance? Never. “But it’s only fiction!!!!!!!!!!!” Have you seen how teenager boys act nowadays? How can you look at someone as immature as Eren and think he would be able to take care of a man in his 30s irl? You wouldn’t. And idk what should be so different in the snk verse. Eren is immature and egoistic and definitely not, NOT. AT. ALL. suited to take care of someone like Levi who went through so much shit, grew up underground and lost so many people that were dear to him. They are on totally different levels. But there is more to it than just the age gap. There is a total lack of chemistry. I just don’t see it! But the worst is that the whole ship is built on an act of violence. How can abuse be the base for a ship? When I joined the fandom in 2013 it was totally a thing in err0ri fanart that Levi would beat Eren up before anything romantic or sexual happened. It looked like violence was a foreplay for them and that’s simply disgusting. Abuse was heavily romanticized and played down in this fandom. But it was just a trick to get Eren into the Scouting Legion right? Also it was the plan of Erwin, the evil guy that stands in the way of this ~dream ship~. Let’s just ignore how Levi did not only beat Eren a second but also a third time. The second time was just Levi’s way of bonding with his new squad, right? Lmao this was such a fucked up “meta” post that I read. For the third time they couldn’t even make any excuses. They just simply ignore it. Like basically everything else that happens in canon. This ship is so damn ooc. It’s like they are two completely different characters that just coincidentally look exactly like Eren and Levi. This fandom is an expert in mischaracterizing characters and I’m also talking about third parties, like every other character that could come in the way of the ship is a potential danger, an abuser and rapist. Maybe it’s because most shippers are very young and just see Eren as a self insert. Maybe they haven’t written many fics and that’s why they can’t get the characterization right. Who knows, maybe I would’ve fallen for this ship too when I was 15. (Though I was always into height differences, so who knows?) However, there are also enough people that are not teenagers or even around Levi’s age that ship him with Eren. I honestly can’t come up with any logical reason why you would ship these two. I don’t understand it and I honestly don’t want to. The only reason I can somewhat understand is “they are my favorite and second favorite character so I just want to see them together and fuck canon, I make up my own canon/AU”. Or if someone ships them for the ~aesthetics~. I don’t see these aesthetics, but tastes are different.

I gotta admit that in the beginning I was just unfazed by this ship and felt just indifferent. I didn’t mind if it showed up on my dash, I scrolled past it and sometimes even took a second to appreciate the art itself even if I didn’t like what it portrayed. But the more time passed the more I’ve learned how nasty the shippers are. Istg the shippers made me hate this ship with a burning passion. Now if any err0ri shows up on my dash, I get physically sick. I totally wish I could go back to indifference instead of feeling like puking, but I can’t. I’ve seen too much shit. And I’m totally aware that there are normal shippers, and that other ships have black sheeps in their flock too. But there are just so many err0ri shippers that can’t stay in their damn line. They have to take art of other ships and change Levi’s partner into Eren. They have to leave nasty comments under eru/ri art like “I think you meant to draw Eren as Levi’s husband instead of Erwin” or that the artist drew a rape scene under a simple nsfw drawing. And don’t get me started on the shit that goes on in the eru/ri tag on AO3. Why do so many writers have to tag their err0ri fics as eru/ri? Istg no matter when I check the tag, there are always 20-25% err0ri fics. I’m so fucking tired of this shit. I don’t want to see it! NO ONE goes into the eru/ri tag to see this endgame err0ri crap. Especially not if all of them turn Erwin into a monster. Aren’t they tired of reading their own same shit over and over again? Can’t they come up with anything new? Why does it always have to be Erwin who is the bad ex and Eren the knight on a white horse who rescues Levi? Levi is no fucking damsel in distress. He would never let Erwin abuse him and he’s definitely not unable to defend himself. He doesn’t need a third person to get him out of there, especially not someone as unsuited as Eren lol. But I‘m repeating myself and already talked enough about mischaracterization. I just wish they would take a random OC instead or just stop to tag their fics as eru/ri if it’s just a past relationship and not the endgame. And NO, eruri/ren is NOT the solution. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. When I already hate err0ri, I definitely don’t want to drag Erwin into this shit as well. Leave him out of it. I know multishippers exist. I don’t understand how you can ship both of them when eru/ri is basically perfect while err0ri is the bad kind of trash, but ok. But I’ve never got along with those kind of multishippers. I talked to some in the past but it never ended well. So I prefer to avoid any people that are shipping err0ri tbh. Oh and one last thing... why do so many of them are such apologists? Whenever they are confronted with the “pedo argument” (yes, I’m aware that pedophilia is the wrong term and it should be actually hebephilia/ephebophilia but most people use pedophilia as a synonym for a minor/adult relationship), they get so defensive and aggressive and try to find stupid excuses why this ship is not problematic. Suddenly Eren is so mature because he’s in the military and that automatically makes him an adult. But once he has to face punishment for insubordination he’s a sweet child that doesn’t know any better. That’s so fucking pathetic and hypocritical. Just admit that you like a problematic ship and that’s it. It’s not that hard isn’t it?

Thanks for your ask, and sorry that this got so long :”D

[bookish-thinking]

two mini book reviews: two dnfs for me

“The City in the Middle of the Night” by Charlie Jane Anders

The concept sounded soooo good and I was so happy to get my hands on a library copy of this, only to be left severely disappointed. This book had a good idea, but I felt left alone while reading. You need to take me by the hand a little bit, explain a little bit, especially in the beginning. Yes, by all means, leave some mystery, but don’t just throw me headfirst into the world without explaining at least some of it so I know where left and right are. Having one of the two pov-character entirely first person and with hardly anyone to talk to did not help, and also there was generally an outsider missing to explain things to within the narrative. I gave up after four or five chapters because I just did not know where I had landed. 

“How to Break an Evil Curse” by Laura Morrison

The premise of this also sounded awesome - a strong female character, defying the trope of a damsel in distress and breaking the curse brought upon her on her own while also thinking about justice and fair ruling in a medieval fantasy world. Cool, right up my alley. This one left me baffled though. Yes, it is middle grade / YA, but it also did not appear to take itself seriously? Or was it so tacky on accident?? [Example: two men, brothers-in-arms, friends since childhood, fighting, one betrays the other - the other, a prince, rips off his literal bff-bracelet and throws it at his ex-friend. I mean ... Also, apparently, the secret magical plant that the whole economy centers around is asparagus. Yupp.] Anyway, I left it for rolling my eyes too hard. (I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions expressed above are my own.)

[sammy24682468]

Bible quotes continue

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32.

Repentance, confession, and restitution are all required. But these cannot atone for the sin, for God has been wronged in the person of His saints. The Lord Jesus alone is able to atone for sin, by the application of His blood, shed for the guilt of the sinner. His blood cleanses from all sin. —Manuscript 47, April 2, 1902, “Lessons From the Eighteenth of Matthew.” UL 106.6

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

The faith that is unto salvation is not a mere intellectual assent to the truth. He who waits for entire knowledge before he will exercise faith, cannot receive blessing from God. It is not enough to believe about Christ; we must believe in Him. The only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour; which appropriates His merits to ourselves. Many hold faith as an opinion. Saving faith is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God. Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power. DA 347.1

Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.” KJV — Proverbs 13:15

Yet do not therefore conclude that the upward path is the hard and the downward road the easy way. All along the road that leads to death there are pains and penalties, there are sorrows and disappointments, there are warnings not to go on. God's love has made it hard for the heedless and headstrong to destroy themselves. It is true that Satan's path is made to appear attractive, but it is all a deception; in the way of evil there are bitter remorse and cankering care. We may think it pleasant to follow pride and worldly ambition, but the end is pain and sorrow. Selfish plans may present flattering promises and hold out the hope of enjoyment, but we shall find that our happiness is poisoned and our life embittered by hopes that center in self. In the downward road the gateway may be bright with flowers, but thorns are in the path. The light of hope which shines from its entrance fades into the darkness of despair, and the soul who follows that path descends into the shadows of unending night. MB 139.1

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” Matthew 6:27

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

The truth of God received into the heart is able to make you wise unto salvation. In believing and obeying it you will receive grace sufficient for the duties and trials of today. Grace for tomorrow you do not need. You should feel that you have only to do with today. Overcome for today; deny self for today; watch and pray for today; obtain victories in God for today. Our circumstances and surroundings, the changes daily transpiring around us, and the written word of God which discerns and proves all things—these are sufficient to teach us our duty and just what we ought to do, day by day. 3T 333.1

 Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:” Mark 10:42-43

In the kingdoms of the world, position meant self-aggrandizement. The people were supposed to exist for the benefit of the ruling classes. Influence, wealth, education, were so many means of gaining control of the masses for the use of the leaders. The higher classes were to think, decide, enjoy, and rule; the lower were to obey and serve. Religion, like all things else, was a matter of authority. The people were expected to believe and practice as their superiors directed. The right of man as man, to think and act for himself, was wholly unrecognized. Christ was establishing a kingdom on different principles. He called men, not to authority, but to service, the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed their possessor under the greater obligation to serve his fellows. To even the lowliest of Christ's disciples it is said, “All things are for your sakes.” 2 Corinthians 4:15. DA 550

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:24-27

The great plan of redemption, as revealed in the closing work of these last days, should receive close examination. The scenes connected with the sanctuary above should make such an impression upon the minds and hearts of all that they may be able to impress others. All need to become more intelligent in regard to the work of the atonement, which is going on in the sanctuary above. When this grand truth is seen and understood, those who hold it will work in harmony with Christ to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God, and their efforts will be successful. By study, contemplation, and prayer God's people will be elevated above common, earthly thoughts and feelings, and will be brought into harmony with Christ and His great work of cleansing the sanctuary above from the sins of the people. Their faith will go with Him into the sanctuary, and the worshipers on earth will be carefully reviewing their lives and comparing their characters with the great standard of righteousness. They will see their own defects; they will also see that they must have the aid of the Spirit of God if they would become qualified for the great and solemn work for this time which is laid upon God's ambassadors. 5T 575.1

https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/113.2804?ss=eyJwYXJhbXMiOnsicXVlcnkiOiI1VCA1NzUuMSIsImxhbmciOiJlbiJ9LCJzZ19pbmRleCI6IjAifQ%3D%3D#2813

“Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.” John 18:17

Many who do not shrink from active warfare for their Lord are driven by ridicule to deny their faith. By associating with those whom they should avoid, they place themselves in the way of temptation. They invite the enemy to tempt them, and are led to say and do that of which under other circumstances they would never have been guilty. The disciple of Christ who in our day disguises his faith through dread of suffering or reproach denies his Lord as really as did Peter in the judgment hall. DA 712.1712.1https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/130.3419

“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24

God is too wise to err, and too good to withhold any good thing from His saints that walk uprightly. Man is erring, and although his petitions are sent up from an honest heart, he does not always ask for the things that are good for himself, or that will glorify God. When this is so, our wise and good Father hears our prayers, and will answer, sometimes immediately; but He gives us the things that are for our best good and His own glory. 1T 120.2_120.2_https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/116.616#618

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2Corinthians 12:10

Men of power are those who have been opposed, baffled, and thwarted. By calling their energies into action, the obstacles they meet prove to them positive blessings. They gain self-reliance. Conflict and perplexity call for the exercise of trust in God and for that firmness which develops power.

MH 500.3_500.3_https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/135.2620#2638

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” Psalm 55:17

It is necessary to maintain a living connection with heaven, seeking as often as did Daniel—three times a day—for divine grace to resist appetite and passion. Wrestling with appetite and passion unaided by divine power will be unsuccessful; but make Christ your stronghold, and the language of your soul will be, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). Said the apostle Paul, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27). AG 111.4 ..https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/33.770#774

And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.” Luke 19:8-9

When the rich young ruler had turned away from Jesus, the disciples had marveled at their Master's saying, “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” They had exclaimed one to another, “Who then can be saved?” Now they had a demonstration of the truth of Christ's words, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Mark 10:24, 26; Luke 18:27. They saw how, through the grace of God, a rich man could enter into the kingdom. DA 555.3.555.3.https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/130.2686#2704

 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9

The consciousness of rightdoing is the best medicine for diseased bodies and minds. The special blessing of God resting upon the receiver is health and strength. A person whose mind is quiet and satisfied in God is in the pathway to health.... 2MCP 407.4_407.4_https://egwwritings.org/?ref=en_2MCP.407.4¶=78.201

[ao3feed-stevebucky]

(Not so) Internal Conflicts

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zV7Lx7

by antigrav_vector

Tony gets taken. James overreacts. Steve and Bucky are along for the ride, and somewhat baffled. Nat thinks this is hilarious and that James is falling for Tony. The men think she's lost her mind. At first.

Words: 4558, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 8 of Things I blame on the CapRBB slack, Part 4 of Acts of Defiance

Fandoms: The Avengers (2012), Iron Man (MCU), Captain America (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, The Winter Soldier, Jarvis, Natasha Romanov

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark/The Winter Soldier

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Past James "Bucky" Barnes/the Winter Soldier, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Past Bucky Barnes/Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Mental Health Issues, Self-Discovery, Identity Issues, Self-Determination, Choices, Bucky and James are different personalities, but they're learning to live together, tony is not a damsel in distress, but James treats him a bit like one, really weird love triangles, don't question it too hard, idek, Mission Fic, Rescue Fic, Kidnapping, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony, offscreen blood and gore, James flirts a bit like a sledgehammer, I blame CAPRBB slack chat

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2zV7Lx7