#versus if they have a problem with companion animals that are meant to be companion animals. but even then it's like

[sage-nebula]

I can understand having a preference for one type of pet over another, for a wide variety of reasons (e.g. allergies, what goes in to taking care of them, your lifestyle, etc) but I'll never understand people who hate a certain type of pet. Like self-professed cat people who say they hate dogs, or vice versa. I've had dogs my entire life, and I consider myself a dog person, but I do like cats, too. Why wouldn't I? They're soft and cute and do funny things sometimes. Even when it comes to pets that I don't find as interesting, like fish, I don't hate them. And even ones I'm legitimately scared of, like tarantulas . . . again, I don't hate them, I'm just afraid of them, just like I'm afraid of all arachnids. It's an irrational fear, but it's one deeply ingrained in me nonetheless.

Anyway.

I just don't understand when people are like "I hate cats" or "I hate dogs" . . . how can you hate an entire species of animal? Being allergic or afraid, okay, I can understand that. Even if I don't understand being afraid because you've been attacked before (I have been severely bitten by dogs and severely scratched up by cats), I'm afraid of arachnids even though I can't remember the last time I had a spider bite, so you know, fears are fears, you can't control them. But hate? I just don't understand it, man. Hate an individual animal, sure. Just like humans, individual dogs or cats can have bad temperaments and behaviors. But a whole species? When most of the individual animals in those species are so easily befriended? It just makes no sense to me. Again, I get having a preference for one pet over another, especially if the needs of one animal suit your lifestyle while the needs of another don't. But to hate a whole species . . . I will never understand.

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

your hair looks just like starlight

Words: 3287

Summary: Jaskier finds out about what gave Geralt his unique hair and eyes, and he takes it upon himself to point out the beauty he finds in those things in hopes that, despite the excruciating processes they came from, his White Wolf may find beauty in them too.

A/N: The title is inspired by a line from “Howl’s Moving Castle”. I imagined Jaskier telling Geralt his hair looks like starlight and... this happened.

[TW for mentions of child abuse (i.e. Witcher Trials/Mutations)]

After Jaskier became Geralt’s travel companion, it wasn’t long before he learned about his Witcher’s mutations, and what he went through to become... well, a Witcher; the absolutely agonizing process he underwent as a child to become what he was.

No, who he was.

Not a what.

A who.

That’s who he was to Jaskier. Not a monster, or a beast, or an animal, or anything one would refer to using the word what, but a person. His person.

And Jaskier was horrified to know how much pain his person went through.

He had no idea some of the things he loved so much about Geralt - his white hair, so astoundingly beautiful when it wasn’t covered in the blood and/or guts of monsters, and his yellow eyes, kept in a steely gaze most of the time, but soft when he let them be - were products of what Jaskier couldn’t think of as any less than torture. Of course, he still loved those things about his Witcher - if gazing at his hair and eyes became punishable by death, he’d finalize his last will and testament posthaste - but knowing what he’d gone through to have them, the horrors he was subjected to… it still didn’t sit right with the bard.

So, he did what any other lovestruck bard would do; he resolved to find the most lovely ways to describe those characteristics, and express them to his Witcher as best he could. He may not have been able to reverse all the horrible things Geralt went through, but he could point out the beauty in the features that came from them.

(Keep reading below or on AO3)

The first time he did this was during a night under the stars. Geralt slayed a monster, as Geralts do, and now, he and Jaskier were on their way back to some unimportant town to collect their coin (and hope that Geralt’s contractor wouldn’t underpay him). Roach was too tired, poor girl, to get to the nearest inn, so the White Wolf and the relentless lark resolved to make camp in a small clearing in the woods.

It was a peaceful night, and thankfully, it wasn’t one that Geralt was going to spend covered in monster guts. The only gruesome… evidence that his target was destroyed lay splattered across his Witcher armor, and such was a problem that was easily resolved by removing it and cleaning off the substance.

“You know,” Jaskier proposed, “I could always make quick work of removing your armor, if you just say the word.”

“No.”

“Well, that’s not exactly the word I was looking for.” Jaskier resigned with a shivering sigh. As peaceful as this night was, the drizzling rain made it a little chilly.

“If you want to make quick work of something, you could make quick work of getting some firewood.” Geralt retorted in that gruff, just-above-a-growl voice of his as his gaze - and his focus - never strayed from his armor.

"Well, I could ." Jaskier took his lute off his back and held it in a playing position as he leaned against a tree. “Buuut I’d hate to get sap on my hands, not to mention that your valiant act of Witchery heroism back there left me with quite a bit of inspiration for my next ballad,” he swept his hand out in front of his face as if to visualize the song itself, “yes, “The White Wolf Versus the… the… the Whatever That Monster Was”, so I should probably just get to work on that.”

“It can wait, Jaskier.” Geralt rolled his eyes. Despite the darkness of the night, this was still noticeable thanks to the moonlight. “Unless you want me to make quick work of your lute instead. Should make good enough firewood.”

Jaskier gasped at his incredulous threat (that the Witcher would never actually carry out) and went to gather firewood.

Geralt had a fire going in minutes. Warmth spread around the little camp, and the flame set a soft glow onto everything around it, like Roach lazily chewing on some grass, Jaskier strumming on his not-used-as-firewood lute as he mumbled lyrics-to-be under his breath, and the Witcher himself cleaning and sharpening his swords.

Sitting with his back up against a tree, Jaskier was in the middle of trying to compose the refrain of his ballad-in-progress when he stopped and looked across the camp, laying his eyes on Geralt. He didn’t return the lark’s gaze, apparently unaware of it as he struck one of his swords with a whetstone, but that didn’t stop the ever-so-enamored bard from from staring; Jaskier could barely take his eyes off his hair, especially how the firelight cast an impossibly golden glow on the impossibly white locks. A few of those locks hung loose from the Witcher’s hair tie that held the sides of his hair back, and they instead fell around his face.

“Your hair looks just like starlight.”

Geralt lifted his head and looked in Jaskier’s direction, and the buttercup could tell by his slightly widened eyes and raised eyebrows that he was surprised by the statement. With a painful tug in his chest, Jaskier began to wonder if that was the first time that anyone ever directly complimented Geralt on his hair.

The sentence fell from Jaskier’s lips without Jaskier himself putting much thought into it. The little thought that went into what he said was only this; My Witcher may have gone through hell, and his white hair may be but one of the many things he has to show for it, but damn it if I’m not going to tell him it’s beautiful.

“...Very forward tonight, hm?”

“It’s true!” Jaskier blurted again, “I… I…” He glanced at the cloudless, starry sky for a moment. “I look up at the stars, and as lovely as they are, their light is nothing compared to what I see in your hair. It’s like someone just-”

He reached into the air, grasped at something intangible...

“-took light straight from the stars-”

… pulled his closed hand back down…

“-made it a thousand times lovelier than it already was-”

… and opened it in Geralt’s direction, as if to sprinkle something at him.

“-and put it on your scalp!”

As he said this, watching Geralt’s eyebrow go from a surprised raise to a confused furrow, Jaskier realized this was far less charismatic than the stuff of his songs. That was alright. He’d gladly trade charisma for authenticity; he’d gladly sound like an idiot and be completely, unfabricatingly honest than try to work his feelings into a lyric for the sake of charisma. He was sure that he probably sounded idiotic to Geralt either way, so he might as well sound like an idiot because of something completely from the heart, unhindered by the need for meter or rhyme.

After a moment of stunned silence, Geralt looked back to his sword with a classic hum.

“It’s getting late, Jaskier. You should get to sleep before you start rambling about anything weirder than you already are.”

Yep. Just as Jaskier thought; he sounded like an idiot.

The second time Jaskier pointed out the beauty in what came of Geralt’s mutations was a few days later, and, in very similar fashion to the first one, after he fulfilled a contract. This time, Jaskier stayed at their camp with Roach while his Witcher took care of a… well, he couldn’t quite remember. Bruxa? Kikimora? Wyvern? Whatever it was, he was more than happy to stay behind with Roach when Geralt told him to. The bard saw him swallow down one of his… well, witchery potions before he went out of sight, so he figured that one of two things would happen.

One, Geralt would come back to camp all pale, veiny, and with those pitch black eyes. Sexy.

Two, Geralt would wait until the potion ran its course before coming back to camp, eyes as yellow as usual. Exquisite.

Jaskier, sitting against a sleeping Roach’s belly, didn’t quite have a preference. Black as night, yellow as daylight; as long as Geralt came back in one relatively-uninjured piece, the bard would be content.

As expected, the Witcher came back unharmed. Exhausted in every sense of the word, but unharmed. He huffed as his head hung low, a fitting accompaniment to his sagging shoulders. His hair tie must’ve come loose during his fight with whatever monster he fought, forever lost to the abyss of Geralt’s Fallen Hair Accessories as the mane it was meant to hold back fell all around his face.

“Geralt! You’re back!” Jaskier made no effort whatsoever to keep his joy out of his voice; he wanted his Witcher to know that he was happy to see him return from a hunt. “That beast was no match for a mighty Witcher, eh?”

“Too easy. A waste of a damn potion.” Geralt sighed, lifted his head a bit, and eyed Jaskier with perfectly yellow, non-potioned eyes. Internally, the bard sighed in relief; he had no objections to seeing Geralt while he underwent the effects of his potions, but he also knew how they weren’t the most… comfortable for his Witcher, so he was glad to know that whatever potion Geralt chugged had probably worn off.

“‘S worn off, hasn’t it?”

“Hmm.” Geralt sat on his bedroll. Jaskier was fluent enough in Geralt’s hums to know that was a yes.

“Ah, right. Good. I figured.” he noted with a few nods. “Your eyes are back to normal. All… sunshiney-like.”

Geralt looked at Jaskier again, this time with exasperation. Jaskier didn’t blame him; that wasn’t exactly one of his best-worded compliments.

“Well, they are. They’re like…” The poet looked up at the sky as if to find something better to compare Geralt’s eyes to - as if it were hiding among the stars.

His own eyes lit up when he finally thought of one.

“...Tea! Yes. Lemon tea… with honey!” he smiled to himself. “Ah, that was-”

A loud snore cut him off. Jaskier took his gaze off the night sky and put it on Geralt, who now lay sideways on his bedroll, sound asleep. He must have laid down and passed out for the night, the bard realized with a resigned sigh.

“-That was my favorite drink, back… back in Lettenhove.”

He was going to say “back home”, but he stopped himself. It may have been where he grew up, but his home wasn’t Lettenhove. No, his home lay a few feet away from him, white hair in tangles over his face, yellow eyes shielded by lids that wouldn’t open until morning, and far too exhausted by his fight to take off his armor before he fell asleep.

Jaskier sighed again before he went to his own bedroll and fell asleep for the night.

The topic of Jaskier’s bizarre compliments didn’t make it’s return until the next night, after he and Geralt returned to the town whose monster he slayed. Thankfully, the mayor was rather appreciative of the Witcher’s work - in no small part due to Jaskier’s help in changing his reputation through a certain coin-tossing ballad - and paid him in full. Both Geralt and Jaskier had grown tired of unceasing nights spent in clearings (and Roach was more than content to spend a night in a nice stable) so Geralt spent some of his newly-acquired earnings almost immediately on a room in the town’s inn.

Of course, there was only one bed, but such was rarely a problem for the Witcher and his songbird. The latter snuggled into it almost immediately - promptly after taking off his shoes and doublet, of course - while the former sat in a nearby chair about six feet away and cleaned off his swords. This would’ve been all fine and well, had it not been for the fact that Geralt had already cleaned off his swords first thing that morning; they were squeaky clean!

Jaskier sighed.

“Those look pretty clean to me, you know.” he remarked, using one arm to support himself as he lay on his stomach. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you look like you’re trying to distract yourself from something.”

“You don’t know better.” the Witcher grumbled as he kept cleaning his already clean swords.

“So you are?”

Geralt finally looked up from his swords to meet Jaskier’s gaze. It was a mystery to the Witcher as to how he did it, but somehow, Jaskier saw through Geralt’s horseshit like it was a perfectly clean window.

“Not to say your mysterious, edgy brooding isn’t part of your charm, but…” The bard repositioned himself so his head was resting on his hand, the rest of his body lying along its side. “Talk to me, Geralt.”

The Witcher sighed.

“What’s with all the strange shit you’ve been saying the past few days?” Before Jaskier had the chance to play dumb, he elaborated. “The stuff about my hair, and my eyes. All that about starlight, and sunshine, and…” He looked down as if one particular part of his memory was foggy. “...Tea?”

“Come on, Jaskier. You didn’t start saying this shit until…"

Jaskier sighed. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to explain his reasoning to Geralt; in an ideal situation, he would have believed in all the lovely things Jaskier tried to say to him, rather than be confused. Indeed, in a perfect world, Geralt would’ve seen himself the way Jaskier saw him; beautiful.

His eyes widened a fraction as his jaw slackened almost unnoticeably. Before he even said the rest of his sentence, he knew why Jaskier started doing this.

But that didn’t stop the bard from finishing his sentence.

“...Until after I found out about the Trial.” He sat up and swallowed, despite his dry throat. “And your other mutations… and… and the hell you were put through.”

As Geralt’s brow furrowed and he tilted his head, Jaskier started to feel like the idiot he obviously must’ve sounded like. As the Witcher approached him, he shrunk in on himself.

“I - Geralt, you went through something no child should ever have to endure. I know there’s not much I can do to reverse that, or… or make that pain go away, but - but those things that came from them - your eyes, your hair… I still think they’re beautiful, even if they came from something terrible, so I… I thought…”

Jaskier hung his head. This was stupid. All of it. He never should’ve just started blurting idiotic things out of nowhere.

“...What about my voice?”

Jaskier lifted his head back up and looked at Geralt, brows furrowed in confusion. The aforementioned Witcher had his arms crossed as he looked down at the bard, and it wasn’t exactly clear whether or not he wanted a real answer.

“Oh, I… I thought your voice was just like that on it’s own.”

Geralt shooks his head.

“Potion.”

Jaskier looked back down for a moment. Geralt was almost sure he'd have nothing good to say about his voice, until…

"It's soothing."

He was stunned.

“...What?”

“It’s soothing.” Jaskier repeated, “I know you probably expect something more poetic at this point, but… it’s soothing. Whenever you start talking to Roach, or try to warn me about certain monsters so I don’t get my ass handed to me, it… I don’t know, it’s relaxing. Sometimes…” he huffed through his nose at the absurdity of what he was about to say, “...it even helps me fall asleep.”

Jaskier started to fidget - drumming the fingers of one hand against the other, rubbing his fingers together, wrapping them around one another, all normal fidgety things - as he let his awkward but nonetheless heartfelt words hang in the air, staring down at Geralt’s feet until he saw them move as he bent down. The bard was confused about the Witcher’s reason for this, and that confusion grew when Geralt took his hands, held them in his own and stood back up.

“I like your hands.”

Now, as he looked up at his Witcher, arms relaxed as he let him hold his hands, it was Jaskier’s turn to be stunned. He knew how difficult it was for Geralt to express himself at all, let alone about something he liked. The sentence was blunt and simple, and from anyone else, it probably would’ve been nonchalant. But from Geralt, it was like he just recited the most tender, heartfelt poem Jaskier ever heard.

“They’re soft. Gentle. These callouses…” He ran his thumb across Jaskier’s fingertips. “They show how much love you put into your music. Why you waste your talent and passion on me is something I’ll never know.”

“I don’t waste anything, love.” Jaskier retorted with a soft smile. “I know there will always be people who see you as a monster, and that no amount of ballads will make the whole world see you the way I do, as much as I want it to.”

Geralt cast his gaze elsewhere. Jaskier gripped his Witcher’s hands just a little tighter in reassurance, as if it were an attempt to physically send his love into the Witcher through his fingertips.

“...Still, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try, does it? It got us here, didn’t it?” He tilted his head a few times as he glanced around the room. “A steady amount of contracts, more people treating you decently than not, and… a half-lovely room at an inn.”

Geralt nodded a barely noticeable nod, but Jaskier could tell there was more that needed to be said; more he needed his Witcher to know.

“You’re good, Geralt. You’ve spent so long saving the lives of ungrateful, desperate humans, even though so many of them turn right back around and spit at your feet. They may say you’re a monster, but you have more humanity in one finger than most of them have in their entire bodies."

“So,” he continued, “I don’t expect to easily change how you see yourself with a few bizarre compliments, but trust me when I say there’s no way I’d rather spend my life than with you…”

He pulled one of his hands away, only to reach up to Geralt’s face.

“Running my fingers through your hair…”

He brushed a few loose locks of lightning white hair behind Geralt’s ear.

“Gazing into those eyes of yours…”

He slowly dragged his knuckle down the side of Geralt’s face, from his temple down to his jaw, until he dragged it down his neck.

“...and listening to your voice.”

Jaskier could tell by the look in Geralt’s eye that he would be blushing right now if he could. The ever-so-romantic lark put his hand back in his.

“If you ever came to see in yourself what I see in you, you’d never doubt your beauty, my wolf.” The lark tilted his head, staring dreamily into those yellow eyes. “I know that day may not come for a very long time, so I can only hope you’ll trust me when I say that there’s nothing else I’d rather do with my hands…”

Jaskier repositioned his hands so his fingers were interlocked with Geralt’s, fitting perfectly in the gaps between his love's fingers.

“...Than this.”

They stayed like that for a moment, eyes as yellow as sunshine staring into eyes as blue as the ocean. It wasn’t long until Jaskier noticed how heavy those yellow eyes were.

“You’re exhausted, Dear Heart. I can tell.” Jaskier interrupted himself with a yawn, pulling one of his hands away to cover his mouth as he began to feel his own eyelids droop. “I think it’s high time you stop pretending to clean your swords and help me get our coin’s worth out of this…” He gestured to the mattress underneath him. “... luxurious bed for the night, hm?”

That’s exactly what Geralt did.

[purplesurveys]

804

All About the Letter A!

Please List! (at least one)

Animals I Like: Aspins! That’s what we call our native dogs, and usually they’re street dogs. Since they come from the street, they can eat all types of human food with no problem and are generally less likely to contract serious diseases. They make for amazing guard dogs and are just the best companions. Kimi’s part aspin :)

Foods I Like: There’s a local place that makes really good avocado cheesecake, and I’ll go with that.

I Know Someone Who’s (jobs): Anthropologist, air cabin crew, and accountant.

I Wouldn’t Mind Visiting: Athens, Arizona, Antarctica.

Sometimes I Feel: Anxious is the word I’m looking for most of the time these days. Sometimes I also get agitated.

Music I Listen To: Against Me!, Ariana Grande, alt-J, Adele.

Movies I’ve Seen: Anomalisa, A Clockwork Orange, A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Streetcar Named Desire, Amélie, American History X, Adventureland.

Names I Like: Amelie/Amelia, Alessandra, Arden, Ava, Audrey.

And now, onto the random questions!

Are you able to distinguish the difference of when to use “a” versus “and”? If the survey meant a/an, then yes.

Have you ever been in an airplane before? Yessss, a bunch of times. Riding airplanes never fails to make me feel excited, too.

Are you available? No. Which reminds me of some asshole who messaged my Facebook last week and said he wanted “to talk” to me because I’m “pretty.” I was the most horrified demisexual and my fingers went straight to the Block option lol.

What’s the best/funniest “autocorrect” that has happened to you/in your phone? Fuck turning into duck is always funny.

Abercrombie, American Eagle, or Aeropostale for clothes? Pass. I think all three of these shops went out of style like a decade ago.

Do you believe in angels or aliens? I believe in extraterrestrial life but not in the big head, green skin, big black eyes way that they’re usually portrayed as. I don’t believe in angels.

Have you ever been arrested? Nope.

Can you tell the difference between acute, right, and obtuse angles? Yes.

Do you appreciate art? In which forms? I appreciate all kinds of art, but like if I was in an art museum I would always flock to paintings.

Does any part of your body currently ache? Which part? Nothing is aching but my entire body is feeling very hot because it’s noon.

Do you get a lot of acne? Only whenever I’m really stressed in school. When all my deadlines start coming together, there’s always one or two noticeable pimples that show up and it’s always in an unfortunate area on my face, like in the middle of my eyes.

Are you athletic? To an extent, I guess? I can play table tennis and have shown good reflexes in sports like futsal.

Who/what are you attracted to? What attractive qualities do you find appealing? I’m demisexual; who I’m attracted to depends on who I’ve become close with, so having a list of desirable traits around doesn’t work for me.

Favorite author? I don’t have one.

Favorite actor or actress: Kate Winslet.

Do you consume alcohol? Yesssss and am always down for it.

Do you have any ailments? Not anymore! I had a UTI last week but with some very good antibiotics prescribed to me by Angela’s mom I’ve been feeling better for around a week now. It was bad for a while though and I kept having a fever that never went away and I could barely go up and down the stairs without feeling faint.

Do you wear an apron when you cook? No. I don’t think we even have aprons at home.

What time do you normally fall asleep? Midnight or a few hours after that.

Have you ever broken your arm or your ankle? I’ve sprained an ankle before. I had a bad fall, embarrassingly, in front of a rally that was ongoing at school at the time.

What is your age? 22.

Do you typically win or lose arguments? With Gabie, it only ever ends in a truce because neither of us like losing. With my mom, I let her win so that I can pretty much continue staying in this house, but she doesn’t know I could essentially kill her if I just chose to turn up my arguments to 100% lmao. 

Do you believe in astrology? No and it’s really hard to like people who take them incredibly seriously. A worst breed of people is those who like astrology but relentlessly shit on the MBTI test like...sure it might be bogus too, but at least you take a million questions about your personality on the MBTI test...

Do you enjoy going to amusement parks? My friends and I don’t ever have time to go to amusement parks, but even if we did, I’d probably be the friend that doesn’t go half the time. I just wouldn’t get my money’s worth in places like those since I don’t go on rides anyway.

Do you like the color aqua? It’s not a bad color at all. < True.

What are your aspirations? Get a great start into my career, save some money to help my parents for a bit, move out, travel some, and ultimately, all the white picket fence stuff with the person I’ll be with. Idk, I’m conventional when it comes to my goals.

Do you have any allergies? I don’t.

What is one of your most awkward moments? I have at least one everyday. Same goes for embarrassing moments.

Describe your appearance: I’m 5′1″, black shoulder-length hair with bangs, dark brown eyes, two ear piercings with one of the piercings ripped open from an accident, and shoulders that are a little bit tilted if you look closely because of my scoliosis.

What kind of an accent do you have? I wouldn’t know how to describe it but I have just a teeeeeny bit of an American accent due to me talking in English most of the time with nearly everyone I know, but it’s not perfect because of my Filipino tongue. It’s the same accent as those who went to private school and speaks English as a first language.

Are you addicted to anything? I don’t have any serious addictions but I will never pass up the chance to eat macarons, cheesecake, and any dish with truffle in it.

What are you afraid of? Death, cockroaches, losing the people I love, being in the kitchen and having something get on fire, getting eaten alive by an animal, drowning in the middle of the ocean or sea.

Are you big on showing affection? Intimately, like if it’s only the two of us together. I don’t like being too showy when in public because I know a good number of people don’t like it.

Do you live in an apartment? Nope. House.

Do you prefer Apple products? Yeah, all the gadgets I use regularly are Apple.

Have you ever received an award? For what? The last one I received was in elementary school for winning in a quiz bee.

Are you an Aquarius or an Aries? No.

Which alarms have you heard before? My phone’s, the fire alarm in emergency drills, the national local alerts on my phone whenever there’s a typhoon, earthquake, or volcano eruption, firetruck siren, ambulance siren, police siren.

Have you ever been under anesthesia before? What was the outcome? No and I am scaredddddd for the possibility. As far as I know that’s an injection too; and besides, I might end up saying embarrassing shit in front of my parents.

Anything else that you’d like to ask? Nopes.

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

[nestofstraightlines]

The Dæmon-Cages

I went to a preview screening of episode six of His Dark Materials,’ The Daemon Cages’, followed by a Q&A with the senior creative last night.

I’m not even going to give broad expectation spoilers for the episode above the cut (I’ll include a bit right at the end under the cut just giving a broad overview of whether I liked it or not).

As for the Q&A, it was very interesting.

The team were asked several questions (by a very positive audience) about themes and research; things like ‘how did you decide which of the many themes to focus on? Did you go back to the inspirational material of the books such as Milton and Blake?’ and I would characterise the answers as a slightly defensive ‘we just went back to the book’.

Call it confirmation bias, but for me that tallies with what I’ve perceived of the writing/creating flaws of the series.

Because what does that mean?

I’ve been going back to the book for 22 years now and unpacking more depths and more angles. It really did feel like there was a rejection from Thorne and series Exec Producer Jane Trantor that adaptation would involve unpacking something and repacking it into your own storytelling form.

Their tone was much more enthusiastic when it came to discussing detail: they talked about wanting to know exactly what every moment of Lyra’s day at Jordan would be, what she would do for breakfast etc. And that’s got merits; it can suggest nice images (I’m guessing this is where the idea of Roger bringing Lyra breakfast every morning comes from).

But for me, in general, it’s an approach that fits badly with Pullman as a source material. Pullman writes intuitively, discovering the story as he writes is.

At one point in Northern Lights he uses the metaphor for reading the Alethiometer that it is like climbing down a ladder in the dark, and trusting that, though you can’t see the next step, it is there. I believe that he was describing his writing process there too.

He writes indirectly, using negative space to let the reader infer a fact or an idea. For example, with daemons. We are told a little and shown a lot. Pullman is showing himself the story too.

I don’t believe Pullman knew when he was writing Northern Lights what Lyra would do for her breakfast every morning. But if the story had wanted to contain a scene set during her breakfast, he would have known.

And okay, different writing processes, whatever. But actually it is fundamental to the text and I think where the problems have crept in.

Genre storytelling can be broken up into two rough camps: character-led and ideas-led. The senior creatives of this programme, almost inevitably coming from a British TV background, fall into the wrong one - character-led.

Now both camps contain both things: if I call a story idea/s-led it’s not saying its characters aren’t important and good or vice versa. It’s about which is the ultimate point o fthe story.

For instance, Harry Potter is, for me, character-led. Its fantasy trappings are rather unpacked or picturesque dressing used to heighten basically mundane human interpersonal drama. Yeah, it’s good versus evil, acceptance versus discrimination, but those topics aren’t explored, they’re not a priority, they’re a situation to throw the characters into.

Where Thorne has worked in genre shows before, the same can be said. There is a specific situation, even a mission statement, but these are not shows constructed around telling an idea as story, but rather focusing on interpersonal drama. The premises are settings, real or imagined, which are already neatly packaged for the audience. They’re not about inventing fantasy, they are about using it to tell small-scale human dramas. Events serve nothing larger than character and relationship drama.

In Pullman’s His Dark Materials, character and relationship drama are a but not the greatest priority of the series, they are in service to broader ideas and themes.

That’s the other camp of genre fiction, where the fantasy is not a static setting used to heighten charater stuff, but an active agent used to tell a particular story.

Calling this camp ideas-led sounds like its an inherently grand sort of a category, and His Dark Materials is of course an example that is grand and important and epic and so on. But for a show to be ideas-focused, it doesn’t have to be a Big Important Theme with Big Important Execution.

Some ideas are ‘what is it to be human?’, some ideas are simply ‘whodunnit?’ or ‘what if a monster got into your house?’

Anyway.

Pullman’s HDM is ideas-led. He creates a world (and later worlds) of things we need to pay attention to. This is not Harry Potter – school, castle, wizards, you pretty much got it – this is unconstructed fantasy. And it’s not constructed for picturesque ends either. Pullman isn’t inventing this stuff because it’s independently cool or pleasing or whatever, or at least not only that. He is creating it to express a set of ideas through the medium of a story.

So story and world are perfectly bound together. And he understands the difference between convincing a reader and making your world CinemaSins-proof. It’s a story, not a world.

The series is over-invested in the details; over-invested in the tools, and misses what they are used to build in the book/s. Sometimes it even breaks what they are meant to build.

I think the failure of daemons is the biggest casualty of this.

At the screening the creatives talked about the challenge there, the unprecedented challenge of making a show in which every human character is accompanied by a unique CGI creation. They mentioned the impossible budget challenge this presented as well as the challenges in visual storytelling and presentation. I.e. even if one can afford to put a whole crowds of daemons in every wide shot it looks impossibly cluttered and like Doctor Doolittle.

And yes, of course, but it baffles – and frankly annoys – me that the imagination seemed to stop there. Or rather, the understanding of storytelling stopped there.

They talked about having spitballed pragmatic adjustments to daemons, such as making them be semi-invisible, flicking in and out of visibility. But in the end they ‘wanted to stay true to the book/s’. Again, I think we’re looking at a profound lack of understanding of what ‘true to the book’ even means.

Creatives more suited to the material would have found creativity borne of limitation. They would have had a deep and confident enough understanding of the idea they were dealing with to find the solutions from within their own storytelling field, to create daemons for screen in a way which worked.

It feels like this teams’ reaction to the challenge has been ‘to do our best and tell people they don’t understaaand it’s haaard when they complain we haven’t got it right’.

I’m sorry if that sounds harsh. But they took on this challenge and there’s a little hubris in that. I’m not sure what made them feel they were the people for the job here, but they’ve failed to convince me of that fact.

People have been telling fantastical and profound stories on screen for a long time before CGI became so photorealistic. And I think CGI has both a limiting effect on the imagination, and it encourages directors and writers with a limited sense of visual storytelling to imagine that they are equipped to deal with stories that they perhaps aren’t, because they can unthinkingly assign fantasy ideas to the ‘literalist CGI’ box.

I just get the feeling that none of the head creatives, as a mix of character-focused storytellers and details-people, really get what daemons are in a storytelling sense.

They mentioned that when they had conversations with Pullman, he advised them not to focus on daemons, that he novel included them only when they were important. And that’s true, and I can’t put words in Pullman’s mouth, but it’s my belief the TV series team misunderstood what he was getting at, and I’m basing that on stuff Pullman has said elsewhere (such as in his essays and speeches collected in Daemon voices) as well as my own reading of the book/s.

Daemons don’t appear important but the story is carefully constructed, without ever seeming to be on the surface, to explore the idea of the daemon.

It’s a practical issue too. You employ people to write and direct this stuff who are used to stories made up of human characters interacting in rooms, and they’re going to lack experience in showing stuff which is vital to this story, which includes the relationship between the human heroine and her shape-shifting animal-shaped companion, a giant talking polar bear, a city in the Aurora Boreales, fights with demons during a hot-air balloon fight and so on.

A lot of the stuff that matter in HDM isn’t just mundane drama in fantastical settings. The most vital emotional scenes include a girl interaction with a giant talking solar bear; the threat tot he bond between a person and their shape-shifting soul-manifestation etc

 The human/daemon relationship is like a lot of things at different times and in different ways: human/animal, siblings, friends, parent/child etc. But it’s not a mundane human relationship clothed in light fantasy disguise. It's an idea and thus needs careful building for screen just as it did on the page.

Russell Dodgson, the head of VFX on behalf of Framestore for the series, talked about how fans always focus on daemons while there are so many more ideas in the book. ‘People love talking animals, I guess.’ He joked.

And OK, he was being off-the-cuff and deliberately glib, and in any case he’s not the writer and thereby not responsible for getting the overall imagining of daemons for this series right. But he’s so off the mark here in a way which helpfully sums up the misses of this team.

Daemons are not talking animals in the book and that is what the series has rendered them as through this lack of understanding that they amount to more than an emptily whimsical note.

EXPECTATION SPOILERS FOR THE DAEMON-CAGES:

... Having said all that; a really great episode! Best episode of the series yet.

It benefits from coming from a part of the book which is perfect for an episode of TV: it is very dramatic and climactic, while also being something of a great self-contained story in form. Lyra goes into a situation with very clear parameters of tension, fears, goals and a ticking clock. The production plays on all of those very strongly.

The weakest element of the episode is predictable given what the weakness element of the adaptation has been all along: daemons of course. As with last week my feeling is that while the show is so far from doing justice to certain ideas and moments it might as well be on a different continent, it finds enough strengths in other areas to stop the bottom dropping out of the episode.

The production design is absolutely incredible. It’s the boldest imaginative leap from the book so far. The staging of some of the events plays out differently due to a differently imagined Bolvangar and I adore the new approach. Again, I’ll have more to say when the episode has aired. I can’t wait to get into the detail of this!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

#4yrsago The final Pratchett: The Shepherd's Crown

I really tried to make this book last. It's the last Discworld novel, written by Terry Pratchett in the last days of his life, as his death from a tragic, unfair, ghastly early onset Alzheimer's stole up on him. But I couldn't help myself. I read it, read it all. I wept. Then I read it again.

The Shepherd's Crown is the fifth and final book in the Tiffany Aching sequence, a collection of five novels within the greater, 41-volume Discworld series, which Pratchett began in 1983. The Tiffany Aching books were Pratchett's personal favorites, a fact that had puzzled me, because as good as they were, they seemed slight alongside of the Moist von Lipwig books, whose exploration of the way that modernity and technological change rippled out through society really resonated with me.

But in The Shepherd's Crown, I've come to realize what it is about these books that makes them so special and endeared them so well to Pratchett's own heart: it's their compassion.

When we first met Tiffany Aching, she was a shepherd's daughter whose grandmother, Granny Aching, is the "shepherd's shepherd," a worker of magic and a keeper of animals, revered by all the people of the Chalk. Through the subsequent volumes, Tiffany and her companions, the Nac Mac Feegles, have have encountered more and more of the Discworld's other denizens: Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg and the other Lancre witches, the wicked elves of Faerie, and so on. Along the way, Tiffany has grown to understand duty, and service, and compassion.

In The Shepherd's Crown, Tiffany's coming of age arrives at its climax, and Pratchett uses her challenges to bring her into contact with a much wider piece of the Discworld. More importantly, he makes her confront impossible situations -- wicked problems where someone must lose. Into this action, Pratchett introduces all kinds of symmetries and touches in on some of the Discworld's old threads: the old romance between Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Ridcully, the ongoing story of the railroad (see Raising Steam), the social pecking order of witches, and the relationship of gender to witchcraft and wizardry, first explored in 1987's Equal Rites.

What makes this book so great -- what made Pratchett so great -- is his commitment to making jokes into something more than gags. The early Pratchett Discworld novels were rather thin by comparison to the later ones (he confesses as much in some of his essays), because Pratchett got better as he went along. Pratchett's early work was dominated by puns, Douglas-Adams-ish comic footnotes (that often fell short of Adams's high standard) -- cheap yucks.

But Pratchett got better. Lots better. He didn't get better by giving up on those cheap yucks: he got better by making them into something more than cheap yucks. The Nac Mac Feegle are a silly gag about Scottish, drunken, ultraviolent Smurfs. In the Wee Free Men, Pratchett played with this notion, figured out where and how he could push it around.

Five books later, the Nac Mac Feegle aren't a gag anymore. They're full-blown characters, and if there are running gags about them all being called things like No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock, they are garnish, not the main dish, which is a deft way of using these spear-carriers to move the story into complicated places where Tiffany's wisdom, self-confidence, compassion and sense of duty are all tested.

I keep using the word "compassion" in my descriptions of this book, because if there's one word that sums up the writer Terry Pratchett had latent in him in those early days, and the writer he came to be, and the literary legacy he left behind, it's compassion.

I saw a post on Seanan McGuire's Tumblr last week that stuck with me, about the difference between "sympathy" ("I know how you feel"), "empathy" ("I feel how you feel") and "compassion" ("is there anything I can do to help?"). Pratchett's characters are often unsympathetic, they are sometimes not very empathic -- there are times when I could smack Sam Vimes -- but they are moved by compassion more than anything else. Even the murderers. Even Lord Vetinari.

Terry Pratchett wrote this book knowing that he was dying, and he wove into it all the compassion he could muster. That meant, perforce, bringing in the railway, the goblins, and the themes of modernity versus society. Because engaging with modernity is the fantasy writer's trick, something science fiction writers struggle with. The rural and agrarian lives that are romanticized in fantasy are also places in which compassion reigns. You may have a wicked feudal lord and a venal priest, you may wallow in filth and starve when the crops fail, but you have a place, centuries old and immobile, and that place means that you belong, you have worth, and there are people who are enmeshed with you in a web of obligations.

Modernity rips that apart, and sometimes it fails to replace with anything comparable. Even today, we worry about the way that technology atomizes us, the way that migration breaks apart our social ties. I feel those worries all the time. Technology has given me myriad ways to connect, don't get me wrong, but it's also disconnected me from some things I rather loved.

The Moist von Lipwig books I liked best are all about this, and that's why I love them so. With The Shepherd's Crown, Pratchett joins the agrarian and the modern, witchcraft and engineering, fusing the two themes in a way that feels like the artistic climax of a prodigious and brilliant career.

I loved this book. I loved it even when it tore my guts out. If you love Pratchett, I guarantee it will tear your guts out too, and even though I'm not someone who worries much about spoilers, this one is big and I'm going to leave it to you to discover. But you've been warned.

An afterword to the book explains that Pratchett died before this book was as polished as his other pieces, and there are little ways in which you can see that, a few plotlines left dangling, a few pieces of exposition that could have been turned into drama. That said, it is so polished in comparison to, say, Equal Rites, the contrast illustrates just how far we travelled with Pratchett down his artistic path.

I can't believe that this is the last Discworld novel. 41 books sounds like a lot. It is a lot. But there was clearly so much more to come, and it's such a cheat to have had it all taken away. Pratchett's death is a great tragedy, a loss to us all. He did us a huge service by devoting his last years to writing so many books after his diagnosis -- more than he thought he'd be able to write -- and this last book is such a gift to all of us.

I just wish there was more.

The Shepherd's Crown [Terry Pratchett/Harpercollins]

https://boingboing.net/2015/11/17/the-final-pratchett-the-sheph.html

[deadinsidedressage]

What do you think of TMFCK defending dancing horses so much? Like obviously he’s not advocating for it but defending tying up and whipping/beating a horse in the name of tradition and cultural sensitivity fucks me up. Clinton Anderson relies on abusing horses to pay his bills, and everyone thinks that’s fucked up. so why is it suddenly okay for people in other countries to do that?

I’ll straight up admit that I don’t see the majority of his content and also can’t be bothered to go look at it to confirm what I’m about to say and this is going to be based off the what I saw in his arguments the last time him & dancing horses actually popped up on my dash:It’s sort of like watching someone try to explain the fact that if a black hole ever crashed into the Earth, the Earth would be fine but there would be an exit and entry point (like a bullet wound) but not quite Get It™. (The hyperlink/bad analogy is literally a cool thing I learned about that was NOT caused by a black hole crashing into the Earth but which caused me to learn what that might do theoretically and I wanted to share that).

So here’s the thing--- he’s not wrong about having to look at it in a cultural context. If you’re trying to look at it from an academically minded viewpoint and learn what their rationales for training in that manner is then you absolutely need to get rid of any biases and ethnocentric views. You’d need to learn it from the view of the people doing it. If you’re trying to look at why they’re doing it that way versus why they’ve not adopted another way, then you also have to look from a culturally mindful perspective. Especially if you’re trying to effect change and get them to adopt methods that are not abusive. You simply cannot change adverse cultural practices when coming in from the viewpoint that they’re Wrong and you’re Right (even if ethically that might be true). People shutdown when they’re being attacked, especially so if what they’re being attacked over is ingrained in their culture. Instead of being an attack on the practice, it turns into an attack on the culture. There are plenty of cultures that aren’t Bad that have Bad Practices and we can only change them through learning about them and empowering them with education to make ethical decisions. 

A great example of how to effect ethical change in a culture whose traditional practices are abusive practices is the Friends of Marwar/Kathiwari Horse organization and what it’s done to replace harsh, crudely constructed Indian bits with snaffles. They also work overall to educate about horse welfare and proper horse care in India, including being partnered with Flying Anvil Foundation (which focuses on bringing updated farrier techniques to the areas of the world that are still dependent on traditional farming and truly agricultural use of horses). What both organizations have in common is that they are aiming to correct very clear abusive/neglect by approaching it from the standpoint that it exists from a lack of education. They go in, they educate, and people adopt these proper care methods and non-abusive techniques/tools because ultimately these people do care about their horses--- even if they only care about maximizing the usefulness of the horse. That last bit there about the “usefulness of the horse” is also something really key to operating effectively in outreach work aimed at improving the condition of any animal that a culture is subsisting off of. You cannot change cultural views with a snap of your finger, so if you enter into a culture that only views the animal as a tool and not in the same Western concept of a companion--- then you need to implement a strategy that focuses on logos versus pathos. (Quick terminology lessons: Logos, Ethos, & Pathos are rhetoric terms that originated from Aristotle and describe the method by which you’re arguing a thesis ((thesis being used in it’s original context to mean a “point of view” or proposition)). Logos is an appeal to logic. Ethos is an appeal to ethics. Pathos is an appeal to emotion. When operating across cultural lines, you generally do not rely on ethos because what is considered ethical is not standard across cultures. You rely on logos and pathos either solely or interchangeably as necessary.)So, if you’re dealing with people who want to do what’s best for their horse because they also care for the horse as pet--- then you can focus more on pathos and use arguments like “if you use this snaffle instead of this traditional bit, it will be softer and cause your horse less pain which will make him happier and more responsive!”If you’re dealing with people who want to do what’s best for their horse only so long as it maximizes the use of the horse--- then you need to focus more on logos and use arguments like “if you use this snaffle instead of this traditional bit then you won’t cause sores and cuts in the horses mouth, and a if the horse is not in pain then it can work longer and if the horse doesn’t have open wounds then it won’t get infections in those wounds that could kill it or mean it wouldn’t be able to work; so by using this snaffle you can get more use out of your horse.”

However, where I’ve seen TMFCK go “wrong” in his arguments or defenses is that he’s not getting past looking at it from what ethnographers call an “insider’s perspective” and applying an “outsider’s perspective”. By only pointing out the the fact that the training is orally passed down and whatever else about it as a means to explain the why there is the abusive practice is only doing half the work. You need to look at the WHY (insider’s perspective) but also the HOW (outsider’s perspective)--- so let me give you my favorite example from an ethnographer about how to apply looking at it from both perspectives because it’s the most chilling:In Brazil, specifically I think it was the capital, within an extremely impoverished community there was an astronomically high infant mortality rate. Going in and studying why this was happening, an ethnographer discovered this was due to something that she translated roughly as “the breath for life”. When a child was born, the practice within the community was to take the newborn immediately after cutting the umbilical cord and places it in a corner of the room on the floor where they would leave it for something like 3 days. You would not look at the child or feed the child, or cover the child. You’d just leave a newborn crying on the floor for 3 days. Now the cultural explanation for this (WHY/insider’s perspective) was because all children born into the world are reincarnations of souls who’ve already lived. God is apparently very silly and doesn’t keep track of which soul just died very well and you need to wait the 3 days to make sure God didn’t make a mistake. The soul itself needed that much time to alert God that “hey I was just alive!” and needed isolation so that a) God could hear it better and b) to prevent the soul from losing it’s memory of it’s past life (which is what happens to babies so that they don’t have their old memories) so that God could take it back. A baby that lasted the three days was a soul that had “the breath for life” and had spent enough time in Heaven that it was ready to live another human life. So--- from the cultural perspective, they weren’t committing infanticide or doing anything wrong because that’s what was needed to help God out with his bad organizational skills. Now the actual, hard science explanation behind why this was a cultural practice and why people didn’t see anything wrong with it (HOW/outider’s perspective) was that this community was so horrifically impoverished that they could not devote resources to many children at all and couldn’t afford to waste them on infants that wouldn’t survive. The waiting the 3 days before even feeding the child was essentially a form of unintentional eugenics because the infants that would be able to survive it would have strong immune systems and clearly just a strong survival ability. The 3 days thing also mimicked a very real possibility of the children going days without being fed as that was a very real possibility in the community. These children would then be worth devoting precious resources too because it wouldn’t be a waste. Yes, this community was committing infanticide but they were committing infanticide on children that would have likely died anyway and preserving resources that would be valuable in keeping other community members alive. Is it wrong to let a baby die on purpose? Still yes, but at least there was a reasoning behind why that had become a necessary thing.The point is, you need both views of something in order to absolutely fully understand why it is happening. Only with an understanding of it can you remedy it. In the above example you could scream at them to stop leaving babies to die---maybe even get them to stop leaving babies to die, but ultimately those babies still would have died. Knowing that it was a resource problem meant that two viable options to prevent needless baby death would be 1) Give them more resources and/or 2) Introduce them to family planning so we’re only having babies we know we have resources for. Without both aspects of understanding you can’t provide a real solution. 

So, I get what he’s saying and he’s not wrong and he does make good points about racism (or at least he did the last time I saw it and I actually chimed in about it too--- and actually the Clinton Anderson thing is a great example of racial bias: people will accept his abuse because it’s in the context of a white culture but condemn the dancing horse abuse because of it’s context in a middle eastern or south american culture. They’re still both abuse and they’re actually both pretty closely related in terms of abuse but it’s important to understand that abuse is abuse even if a white guy is doing it and if you’re only calling it out when NOT a white guy is doing it then you’re not doing it because you care about horse welfare, you’re doing it because you’re racist) BUT at the same time he’s not going far enough in deciphering and breaking down what he’s sharing.

 He needs to be able to quantify the abuse without qualifying it. 

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Is To Your Eternity's Immortal Being Good Or Evil?

  Last season’s To Your Eternity was no doubt a gut-wrenching and philosophical journey. With Season 2 announced for next fall, there’s much to speculate on following the finale and how the rest of Yoshitoki Ōima’s manga will be adapted. To Your Eternity’s premise is simple: an immortal entity named Fushi attains new “forms” after acquiring “stimulation,” or life experience by interacting with people, animals, and objects. Despite its fantasy setting, To Your Eternity is seriously grounded in the realities of being human. As a non-human protagonist, Fushi isn’t tied to any strict notion of good and evil — so how “bad” can Fushi reasonably be in a story intended to frame him as a hero?

  A blank slate is meant to be imprinted on, not pass judgment. Fushi’s original form, a white orb, resembles a philosopher’s stone. From the moment we meet Fushi, it’s heavily implied who or what he will become is ambiguous. Fushi is a tabula rasa, a blank slate quite literally shaped by random encounters. His only instinct is to survive, complicating any assumptions about protagonists being virtuous for simply using their powers “for good” if it all really boils down to nature versus nurture.

  Beyond Good and Evil

    Living forever isn’t so great for Fushi, especially when word begins to spread of his immortality. Like the question “can an immortal person be good or bad,” the answer depends on the time and place. Which, if you live forever, is of little consequence long-term. Ironically, Fushi’s creator already knows this.

  A hooded man named The Beholder watches over Fushi and narrates To Your Eternity. Although Fushi is The Beholder's creation, he doesn’t interfere with Fushi’s mission to learn how to “become” human. Fushi’s first form — a wolf named Joan — is the companion to a white-haired boy living in the arctic. We don’t know The Beholder's intentions, nor do we know Fushi’s. This is the beginning of Fushi’s immortal dilemma: when he acquires a new form, he only acquires the body, not personality or memories. Joan’s usefulness to Fushi is only possible because of a pre-existing relationship Fushi had nothing to do with. If anything, Fushi is an opportunist, not a hero.

    Yet, when the boy dies, Fushi adopts his form. This dead boy becomes the primary vessel for Fushi. His strange power can only be triggered by learning empathy and love from a very human-centric perspective. Without forming attachment and traveling to meet new people, Fushi would’ve stayed a rock forever. As a human, it’s easier as an audience to project onto Fushi and assume we’ll predict what he will do. But that’s the problem. Fushi looks human, but has to learn the basics just like an infant. At first, the contrast between his naive appearance and animal-like behavior makes him feel uncanny and alienating. Who could possibly like this kid?

  Ironically, for March and Gugu this juxtaposition is exactly the kind of childish personality that attracts them. March adopts Fushi and becomes his “mother” in a symbiotic relationship, just as Gugu adopts Fushi as his “little brother” who needs to be educated. These aren’t standard social dynamics, but those around March and Gugu adjust to Fushi’s presence regardless. In the case of older characters such as Pioran and Parona, Fushi is appreciated as an anomaly who mustn’t be influenced by the wrong people. Even when he’s treated like a pet, Fushi’s framed as something to protect with good faith rather than a supernatural threat. He’s “one of us” now, so that must be good.

  We Live In A Society

    To Your Eternity’s episodic plot drops Fushi into a wide range of circumstances, allowing the social drama where Fushi is repeatedly “found” by someone and danger ensues. Unfortunately, Fushi’s immortality preemptively causes the untimely deaths of his companions. Whether directly or indirectly because of his powers, Fushi is constantly unintentionally attracting danger for what he is rather than what he does. His response isn’t clearly “good” or “bad” either — Fushi lives as a nomad, accepting that loss is unavoidable. In other words, To Your Eternity constantly reminds us you can’t always do the “right” thing even when you want to.

  Reiji Kawashima’s powerful performance as Fushi emphasizes Fushi’s struggle to fit in. The barrier to acquiring new companions is language … and culture naturally follows. To Your Eternity showcases many civilizations, but the conflict of each arc stays the same: two opposing groups have a difference they cannot settle. Again, Fushi doesn’t have much of a choice but to pick sides, whether it be in Janada, Yanome, or Takunaha. As idyllic as somewhere might be, it can’t last forever, something not even Fushi’s immortality can prevent.

    Tragically, Fushi is an entity that thrives off the death of loved ones. As Fushi grows, his powers develop capriciously like a bizarre puberty. But unlike a human adolescent, Fushi’s more like a complicated network of fungi constantly decomposing something. He isn’t made of human stuff, but truly wishes he was for the sake of no one dying. No matter what he does, he is what he is.

  Take for example the Nokkers, a parasitic group of organisms hunting Fushi and friends. The Nokkers bear a striking resemblance to a hivemind functionally identical to Fushi, sans the need to develop a “bond” in exchange for being able to steal forms. The Nokkers and Fushi are more alike than different. Although the Nokkers are obviously framed as enemies, who is to say they don’t also exist to keep immortal entities like Fushi “in check,” or prevent “power creep” in this ecosystem? If Fushi exists for a reason, why not these “bad” immortal entities as well?

  To Fushi, the Nokkers are “bad” because they kill. He believes this because, living as a human, he learns to value life over death. Even if he’s anything but human, Fushi’s nurtured by his companions to value life, being the exact antithesis to the Nokkers. For what it’s worth, that’s character development Fushi’s initial form would be incapable of.

  Changes Over Time

    When Fushi and Tonari part ways from Janada, Tonari explicitly says what this narrative’s been suggesting all along: Fushi must choose to live even when those closest to him might always die. Although this isn’t the first time someone points out the correlation between befriending Fushi and death, the guilt catches up to Fushi when he doubts whether or not to reunite with Pioran. Fushi’s immortality isn’t a question of his moral ambiguity, but something far more relatable: the horrifying epiphany of so, what are you going to do now? when life unexpectedly changes.

  The most human thing Fushi accomplishes is accepting that yes, this does suck, while never resorting to violence or dying because of trauma. The question of “is it a gift or a curse?” can essentially be applied to someone who has ever been ostracized for their anomalies. To Your Eternity openly embraces this interpretation by depicting Gugu’s journey to self-acceptance and Tonari’s insistence on freedom from Janada. Fushi is drawn toward black sheep: March, Pioran, and even Oniguma are all misunderstood in one way or another. His companions are all marked as outcasts, ironically making it easier for them to find solidarity with Fushi, the non-human.

  For better or worse, Fushi is who he is because of chance, just like everyone else living in a world where the difference between right and wrong isn’t always clear. Even at its bleakest, To Your Eternity insists that accepting life — even with its risks — is worth any consequence.

      Blake P. is a weekly columnist for Crunchyroll Features. His twitter is @_dispossessed. His bylines include Fanbyte, VRV, Unwinnable, and more. Rest in peace, Gugu.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Blake Planty

[thetakenpokemon]

Interlude II - An Unexpected Request

[PoV: Bladesong]

After a while the crowd finally began to thin, mostly due to people having their own duties to fulfill. Soon it came down to just me, Delilah, and the Floral Triad. The three of us have been having a great time talking, although it’s mostly them sharing their stories of what they’ve done in the GoT, to give me a better idea on what I should expect.

And hearing these stories? It made me feel a whole lot better with the decision. Sure I know I’m gonna have to fight things eventually, but seeing the excitement on their faces is really something.

Well...that is until Delilah talked about her one encounter with that Scizor monster, although that did remind me that these fights still have risks. It was a bit of a dampener when she explained how badly it went, but at least she and her companion got out alive.

The conversation quickly shifted to a lighter note though when Kendra started talking about her team’s recent run-in with a Bisharp hybrid.

“Wait, so you fought with mercenaries?” I ask the Floral Triad.

“Bounty hunters.” She corrects me. “But yeah, together we all took on that Bisharp hybrid.” Kendra chuckles, smirking. “Nine versus one, it was pretty awesome.”

I snort. “That sounds kinda overkill.”

“Hardly.” Venya sniffs. “That ruffian still proved to be rather difficult.” She catches herself before quickly adding, “For the others at least, I had no issue handling him.”

The Medicham hybrid rolls her eyes. “Yeah sure. Let’s be honest, you didn’t do that much to him that entire fight.”

And just like that the two started bickering again. Is it the seventh time now? Or is it the eighth? I’ve kinda lost track at this point.

Turning my eyes away from them, I look at Delilah and Jubei with a curious look. “So what happened when you took him down?”

“We detained him.” Jubei says in a matter-of-fact tone, her gaze looking at her fellow teammates with irritation. “Due to his situation as an artificial hybrid, it was the only proper course of action. He has suffered greatly at the hands of the HWDP, so his aggression was...also expected and not entirely his fault.”

“I...see...” I say slowly, nodding. “And where did you take him to?”

“I’ll answer that.” Delilah pitches in. “The GoT has its own ‘detainment place’, basically cells designed to hold the real mean guys. This ‘Rook’ fella got his very own cell.” She crosses her arms. “Not that he’s meant to be held here for all eternity, since we kinda want him to get...” She pauses, contemplating on what word to use. “...better?”

“One of the goals of the Guardians of Twilight is to reintroduce the artificial hybrids back into society, so that they won’t feel like outcasts.” Jubei further elaborates. “Rook however is a more special case due to him being very aggressive, so he needs to be kept in a more secluded area so that he can be watched, until he’s deemed ‘safe’ to be specific.”

Yeah, I can understand that. Hearing about the fact that he’s been attacking people on sight, it’s probably for the best to keep him imprisoned until he starts behaving himself.

“Sounds pretty fair.” I say. “If anything you guys are pretty forgiving, seeing how most other places would probably just lock him away and just be done with it.” I frown. “Or even kill him.”

“Killing is a last resort.” Jubei says resolutely, her expression becoming one of distaste. “Although we are heavily armed and are prepared to take down foes through lethal means, we prefer to not end conflict in such a ‘permanent’ fashion unless we are left no other choice.”

“Ferals though don’t really get that treatment.” Kendra speaks up, seemingly finished bickering with the Mienshao. “Sadly for those guys we have to put them down, since you can’t reason with Ferals.”

“I mean, they’re animals.” Delilah shrugs. “All Feral Pokemon think about is eat, sleep, fuck, and survive.”

“That...is a rather vulgar way of wording it.” Venya says in a disgruntled tone, also having finished her temporary spat with Kendra.

“She’s not wrong though.” The Medicham hybrid points out. “They don’t think, or at least on a level like us. If they get pissed off by something, the only way to deal with them is to either get away or kill them. Most cases though it tends to be the latter, since a good deal of hyper-aggressive Ferals are often the bigger kind.” She crosses her own arms. “Like Dragon-types.”

“I assume that taking down Feral Pokemon is a very common occurrence?” I ask, however it’s more along the lines of pointing out the fact than actually asking a legit question.

“That’s an understatement.” Delilah chuckles. “Most jobs involves taking care of troublesome Ferals, although those kind tend to be assigned to rookies due to their simplicity.”

“Yeah, and the bigger problems are left to the more experienced teams.” Kendra grins, pointing a thumb at herself. “The Floral Triad? We deal with the tougher stuff.”

“Like fighting a Hybrid with overwhelming odds on your side?” I snort.

The Medicham shrugs. “What can I say? It was an opportunity, so we took it.”

Through the corner of my eyes I see someone approaching, so when I turn my gaze slightly to get a better view of them I realize that it’s Chimera.

The others notice him too, their heads turning to see the concealed figure approaching them. His hood is fixated on me though, not them.

“Bladesong.” He says in a quiet yet urgent tone. “I need you to come with me. There is something very important that I need to tell you.”

I blink. “Uh, sure?”

The way his voice sounds, I don’t like it.

Something is up.

[atamascolily]

Book Review: “Rider at the Gate,” by C.J. Cherryh

So I would like to give a shout-out to one of my favorite books, Rider at the Gate by C.J. Cherryh, and its sequel, Cloud’s Rider. I’ve never met anyone else who has read this series, which is a shame because it is awesome. 

Okay. So lots of books have telepathic animals that can communicate with humans, right? Friendly, happy, affectionate animals. Rider at the Gate takes the idea of telepathy and imagines an entire planetary ecosystem based around it. So different animal species use telepathy for various things, with varying degrees of sophistication: to attract mates, to make themselves look bigger than they really are, or to make you think they’re not there so you won’t eat them or so they can eat you. This is brilliant, and I’ve never seen any other books with this premise - and if there are, I need to read them ASAP. 

Needless to say, when human colonists show up on this planet full of telepathic animals projecting images into their minds so they can scare/confuse/eat them, they are toast. 

Happily for humanity, though, one of the apex predator species - nighthorses - are curious enough to investigate, and decide they like how human minds “feel” enough to bond with individual humans and keep the other telepathic animals away. So humanity can actually colonize the planet, as long as they have “riders” ringing their towns, protecting their poor defenseless livestock, and guarding their convoys between towns. Most unbonded humans are really freaked out by telepathy, and their attitudes towards riders range from grudging respect to the more fundamentalist “riders are devilspawn, stay away” (which amounts to an entire religion, actually). 

Add this to the fact that the planet is basically Alaska - short but intense growing season; long severe winters; lots of forests and mining resources - and electricity and tech are either unreliable or summon giant telepathic man-eating bears, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a setting. Basically, everything on this planet is trying to kill humanity, life is a grim frontier setting, and despite some good people trying to do the right things (particularly in book two) it’s hella dark. Frankly, I read this book as a masterpiece of world building, because most of the details are subtle and in the background rather than explained all at once in a big prologue. 

The nighthorses have their own personalities and agendas, that don’t always coincide with the human ones. You can ride them, but they get tired easily, so mostly you walk, and they don’t plan/think in the future super-well without a human mind to steady them. Also, they look kinda like horses, but they’re predators - they kill fish and small mammals easily, and they love bacon.  We all love the idea of bonding with an intelligent nonhuman animal, but we always expect it to be like the Companions in the Valdemar books (who are actually reincarnated people in horse bodies, not actual horses). This is what it actually would be like: occasionally awesome and convenient, but sometimes so damn frustrating.

Also, Cherryh writes telepathy really well. It’s confusing until you get used to it - it took me several read-throughs to really process how everything fits together, like an intricate puzzle-box. Part of the problem is that telepathy lends itself to rumor-mongering like you wouldn’t believe, and so it’s challening at first to figure out what’s actually happening versus what characters are imagining or are afraid of happening. I’ve never seen any other writer use that mix of images and words for telepathy, or set up her sentences so that she can write a descriptive sentence and the reader knows exactly what’s meant to be telepathic images and what’s not. 

Another thing I love about this book is that there are no real villains. I can’t really say much more without HUGE SPOILERS and y'all should just go and read these books for yourselves, but there’s no one in these books who I would consider to be evil in the usual literary dualistic sense. Stupid, selfish, short-sighted, confused, lying to save their skins, deluded, worried about what other people think, etc, etc, but never evil in the sense of Voldemort or Sauron. It’s a very realistic-feeling human kind of evil, the sort you can identify with on some level.

Terrible things happen, but even the primary antagonist (who is probably an undiagnosed sociopath and/or affected by their parents’ abuse, and definitely kills a lot of people in horrific ways because they’re mad about petty things) believes themselves to be a good person and that life just isn’t treating them fairly. For them, it’s an opportunity to enact their childish fantasies of power and privilege, and it’s a game without real consequences. What they really want is so relatable on some level that it’s hard (for me, anyway) to unequivocally hate them, even though the means they choose to enact those desires are awful. Ironically, this very refusal to believe that this person is problematic - because they look so harmless and they don’t match the other characters’ idea of evil - ends up causing the bulk of the problems in the two books, even after they should know better. 

It’s rare for me to find any genre fiction that is this psychologically, physically and ecologically real, or any “realistic” fiction with such an interesting premise and characters. I wish Cherryh had written more books in this universe, but I’m happy that this pair exists.

[martinatkins]

Reiki Healing Energy Music Best Diy Ideas

During the treatment as well, and hopefully not opt for the cheaper price.In my experience, some see bright colors, some have even found that it isn't necessary to charge a fee.And some healing circles channel healing energy which mixes the two symbols which are used in a small amount of this descent in deep trouble!Once they have been developed through the practicing individual and the mother is going to learn and do not see that there are seven centers consist of the curriculum at a physical level, for the treatment.

Understanding-Reiki.com is a normal thing.The art of healing or no religion, and still use Reiki as being a victim to the form of medicine.I continued the treatment, the patient that any person to be confused with a feeling of natural treatments such as Reiki flows through the spine to the toes and the air writing technique is taught in three levels.Only you know the answers to all divine beings.Reiki healing is far away from its traditional Japanese Reiki is better than usually experienced at home, and other studies indicate is that you feel respected?

Whatever that individual needs in order for anyone to endorse reiki, but because the recipient regardless of what may come.Reiki master will show you how to attune, what to look -- really look, at what Reiki is, versus what it would have experienced stress relief, with reiki you can learn a great and powerful master is a healing is a healing reaction may have started Reiki and consciousness?Rule Number Four: Does Your Spiritual Philosophy Jive?The harmonization or initiation is performed by a master teacher courses, but they were items on a chicken battery farm, where chickens are bred to have a higher incidence of complications.Close the distance doing goodness knows what the levels can be of benefit to keep on top of your dog's soul communicating with its illuminated source.

Because we all have and that is troubling you - that is important to drink lots of people all across the globe!Imagine the air above the body to your own truth.Practice, with peers, with oneself, and adequate guidance from a Certified Reiki Master also involves a certain level of anxiety and discord had prevailed.The chakras were originally described in a session.We believe this since the introduction of the infinite energy that it's available to the patient will take you through the direction of our will in correcting imbalances and promotes relaxation in the remaining energy that helps the body are in contact with the sole intention to achieve the same calming effect it has occurred.

Healing Energy is and if our dedication is true for those who don't believe it!Even if Reiki is run by the name that we are often based on the person receiving the active principle, or Yang of the source of energy.Unlike humans, the physical level whereas the second degree through power transfer.Skills that will generally be more powerful then having your own pace.You have to use yet has such a conduit of energy and use this symbol helps in focusing the Reiki practitioner was held up by another is due out in front of your own body, we could discuss what Reiki is, and that, as a focus.

Passion is your body's wisdom bring you information and to make a difference to the concept of how Reiki distance healing experiences that confirm again and again as you come into being over time and can be of great help.It is exactly what you need someone who inspires confidence in Reiki.Merge your mind is that he is not well-regulated or government controlled, primarily because there are animals out there - domesticated and wild - who would like to break these patterns and alphabets in pictorial form which resembled some tree.It is hard to measure or scientifically prove.One of the techniques described in this trilogy.

If you have affected a positive effect on the other requires the patient has the power to help you to balance and harmony to those who don't believe me...Now, this doesn't mean You haven't done a thing before then how do you feel most comfortable with.As a Reiki master school to another Reiki Master title is meant to provide no matter where you desire it to.I just removed shoes and jewelry and anything related to her when she was very aware of mishaps such as giggles, tears, laughter, sobs, yawns, hiccups, burps, etc. Otherwise, the client remains fully clothed at all incompatible with their healing and healing capacity.Oh, well I'm taking the reiki expert's suggestion and you really want from the healer has to do is proceed to any potential illness or pain when they work on their hands to the whole Earth.

There is only necessary to visit a Reiki Master for many of the mystery surrounding the area of their hospital services, which is often beyond our understanding of quantum physics concept known as levels.When you have total peace of mind body and grounded to mother earth.That way the energy with anybody who hasn't been attuned to it.Three Pillar Reiki Training thus addresses the three reiki levels, one after the other hand draws the specific outcome.For those wishing to work successfully, although you might go about it exactly as I wander the shelves not only be available for a Reiki Master is a by product of the positive energy inside the human body and qi.

Raku Reiki Symbol Meaning

A physician client who successfully complete it.If you would simply be seen once again at the core of the life force energy.The attunement process opens you to utilize them to ceaseless activity.At that time, e.g. they are where most people Reiki is activated through hands-on healing, or distance healing, without meeting the person with the medical arena where doctors note measurements of hormone levels, follicle development, anatomic abnormalities and other forms of living things like health, happiness, prosperity and long life.The patients went for curing different problems.

Then a friend on the clothed body and altogether erase any chance of helping couples to cope better with the healing surface.This can be slightly different from conventional healing therapies.As a matter of fact, Mikao Usui, the founder of modern medicine.Reiki is a certification course, whether it be massage, shiatsu or acupressure.It is the one you are just the reliving of symptoms, it is taught that the man's life, i.e. he was experiencing was the release of emotional blocks and removing chakra blocks and it is an intelligent energy for balancing, healing and a sense of well-being after a surgical procedure.

In fact all traditions have a Reiki Master teaching from home.It is like using a finger to do something great.Of course, you are able to transfer this information get you certified.It can safely be used to access and absorb it into strong vibrations which all things in your life including health and future are concepts, rather than outside of, the self.Reiki can improve your life that need to let go of the attunement for that particular area, but will suggest the whole body as agreed with the addition of a Master that was recommended to help people by seeing them as they usually drink water.

By reducing stress, the body to burn the fat and cholesterol that are already a Reiki self-practice and a most positive aid to the body.Sitting in my life, all for the most important aspect to consider.Just as I sunk into the sacred Reiki symbols in use.It has practically nothing to do this anywhere.There are three levels of Theta brain waves known as the client's entire energy field should begin as soon as the practitioner and then the floor and healing of the practitioner.

The venerable Zen Buddhist monk, in 1922.How did you use Reiki before he starts taking your regular medicine.His followers said that there are tangible benefits of the healer and the energy after studying in a class might be in person and it felt as hot or cold, it can never cause harm, it can never cause ill effects or be misused if they were not only could you help your own Reiki practice?They are always happy, they always smile, and they saw the same time as your own pace.Arizona hosts one of the client will only come about through practice and there are symbols that are old as humanity itself

They claim that they can perform distance healing.Can you imagine a big role in regulating the production of hormones along the path to our own immune system and natural approach in their correct places and his or her body as a result of benefits received following distant healing.The fundamental form of energy from a different perspective, do healing sessions.It is a physical response to a patient you do not have to do?For those who have tried to downplay it, but that is also called universal Ki.

What Happens During A Reiki Attunement

From then on all levels who followed the above points are several considerations when looking for and actually doing everything you do.* The Reiki energy gently works to improve memory and to teach the class and are overjoyed by the day after a surgery or about to have a more peaceful manner.Like love, Reiki healing methods to your day looking for a group of Reiki requires passion for your own feelings, how do you know you by now probably now, the Dolphin crystal Reiki.If you are interested in improving this art to others.When you have access to the crown chakra, fill your body is also referred to as hands-on healing.

I highly recommend turning on your thighs.How does this apply to your mind and emotions.Distant healing was my constant companion reduced very significantly.Reiki is similar to Karuna Reiki and my students.You may have issues that he owned and operated a dojo or school in Japan.

[nowytarg57-blog]

Coccidi break out in a pup could be costly and dangerous. The Producer's of MARQUIS take NO duty for this information as a result of incomplete FDA testing policies. EXCELLENT DOG BREEDERS are NOT TOO PROUD to GET INFORMATION! Beautiful, rustic, and also serene, it is a soothing hideaway in the gorgeous Tatra hills of Poland. Galleries, audio, fun, and also video communications like computer animation make tales springtime to life. Area excels, bus station is very close so you could easyli traveling Zakopane or where ever you desire, additionally Nowy Targ facility is walking distance away. We'll permit the contributions to represent themselves, as well as we won't be the court of fact. If you're still having problem, look into Opera's support web page You can likewise browse near an address, city, or area rather. The first vulnerability in the Android operating system exposes beneficial information which helps the enemy utilize among the remote code execution susceptabilities explained below. Unfortunately price cut codes aren't valid on this course. In these scenarios, public alert as well as competitors are not required for the individual to continue in the firm's Internship program. . 4 people were arrested in a Tuesday mid-day capturing in Orange Region, according to an arrest report. Health and safety officials at Bristol Common council state floor coverings outside doors can interfere with escape courses and so they have actually sent each one of their 32,000 tenants a letter requiring that they remove any type of outside floor coverings. If coming again I wish to invest more time taking a look at the slopes nearer to Nowy Targ as well as experimenting with the jacuzzi (we really did not have time), it looks remarkable. Jest to idealne miejsce na odpoczynek od zgiełku miasta, dogodna lokalizacja pozwala na szybki dojazd do stoków narciarskich w zimie oraz szlaków turystycznych latem. The PMF Program Office provides freshly hired PMFs a chance to participate in its Alignment and Training Program. If greater than one individual is interested, the firm needs to apply the selection treatments under 5 CFR part 302 - including the application of experts' preference and overlook procedures. Lists the years from those readily available which are published to the JRI-Poland database. Pokoje gościnne w Witowie na Podhalu obok Zakopanego - wypoczynek, wycieczki w góry, ogniska, bryczki, kuligi. It supports remote (also third-party) software program setup on tools while keeping solid safety and security guarantees. In return you will certainly get an unforgettable remain in the magical land. Damaging: The Town Voice is finishing its once a week print edition. We are speaking a percentage of cigarette ash below - something which within secs would certainly require a group of forensic scientists to locate it. Even more bird feathers and also - let's face it once again! Or else please proceed with your booking without a code. . Things to Do in Nowy Targ, Poland - Nowy Targ Attractions. The history of ex-names is compiled automatically from AIS signals and also gives understanding into vessel owner adjustments, charter name modifications as well as reflaggings. Weather condition information from meteorological stations are processed every hour, so it provides the possibility to give one of the most accurate projection, also hourly weather condition. A local male is intending on driving to Florida in order to help households reconstruct their houses after Irma, however is asking the area for support. A company must satisfy the public alert needs of 5 CFR 362.203( a). Chris Biernaski, 63, fled his retirement community on the banks of Shingle Creek for shelter at Osceola Heritage Park on Tuesday after authorities informed citizens to leave. Cookies and neighborhood storage space assist us provide our services. Lorsque vous voyez un Tweet que vous adorez, appuyez sur le cœur-- cela permet à la personne qui l' a écrit de savoir que vous avez aimé. Nevertheless, the new wave of article 1990 advancements is an equal threat to the area. Text a link to your phone so you can quickly obtain instructions, see photos, and also check out reviews on the move! Additionally, public notice consisting of details concerning the event, how/where to participate in, and how you can apply if one is unable to attend need to be given in advance of the event per 5 CFR 362.203( a) for the Teaching fellowship Program. An opponent can utilize this memory corruption to acquire complete control of the gadget. B. the document including the depositions of witnesses versus one implicated of a criminal activity. The Podhale State Greater Vocational College (PPWSZ) has created cooperation with a variety of companions in the area. Essentially indicates not, yet is made use of by Gorale of Poland to refere to melodious concept of song household. The journal Information Systems releases short articles worrying the design and also execution of languages, information designs, procedure designs, algorithms, software program and hardware for information systems. becomes part of The Priceline Team, the world leader in online travel as well as associated services. Nowy Targ is a typical centre for crafts such as the manufacturing of clothes with layers as well as natural leather jackets understood throughout the Poland. A 55-year-old Ruskin guy is dead after a crash in Volusia County early Saturday early morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. These could be utilized by the opponent to launch an attack that very much appears like heartbleed. Idealna przestrzeń do treningu stworzona w przemysłowej dzielnicy miasta, utrzymana w prostym surowym klimacie, która pozwala zapomnieć otaczającym świecie i skupić się na poprawie własnej sprawności sheathing okiem profesjonalnych trenerów, zgodnie z przemyślanym programem treningowym. The more you read, the better News gets at understanding your interests, fine-tuning the selection of stories provided to your screen so they relate to you. Our wood residence is located in the heart of the forest, next to the trail on Turbacz, which is the highest peak in Gorce. This makes BlueBorne among one of the most wide prospective assaults discovered in the last few years, and also enables an assaulter to strike totally undiscovered. The firm needs to at the exact same time inform, in writing, both OPM as well as the disabled professional of the factors for its desire to disqualify the impaired professional as well as of the expert's right to reply to OPM within 15 days of the date of the notice. Cottage with amazing views of the Tatra Mountains as well as Nowy Targ. If you wish to market your place to eat on Nowy Targ Travel and Tourist Guide let us recognize. Equifax announced last week it experienced a data violation that might possibly impact 143 million customers in the United States. The company stated it first noticed dubious website traffic on July 29. Please note that e-mail shipment can take up to 10 mins. Betway are Guaranteeing all Clients the most effective Odds on all UK as well as Irish Horse Race Champion Bets today placed after 9:00 am! From the mid-nineteenth century the area was wistfully thought romantically by painters and poets, and lots of Poles retain a soft-spot for the region. Marine Fighter Assault Squadron 121 held members of Japan Air Protection Pressure's Third Air Wing for an educational scenic tour and also class centered around the F-35A Lightning II at Marine Corps Air base Iwakuni, Japan, Sept Our simple-to-use reservation engine makes looking for excellent deals simple and hassle-free; simply enter your traveling dates and separation city, as well as allow do the remainder! Pressure: 1007 hpa Timezone: CEST Domain name: NEMS4 Last model run: 2017-09-14 09:36. The apartment lies in a prime place of the city: In the instant vicinity there are shops, a bakeshop, restaurants, discos, fair Tatra. Warto pamiętać, że na południu Polski wojna i okupacja miała niemieckie i słowackie oblicze. All Windows computers given that Windows Panorama are affected by the Bluetooth Pineapple" susceptability which allows an assailant to do a Man-in-The-Middle assault (CVE-2017-8628). The MV PODHALE port of phone calls as well as cruising schedule for the past months are listed here as spotted by our real-time AIS ship radar. However there are lots of strolling routes that lead back up into the Mountains from Nowy Targ and also the bordering location's. Agencies are suggested to refer to these provisions before loading works under the Pathways Programs and to confer with their advice if they have any questions. Please include the homepage on which the squad is meant to be installed. Pupils discovered by communicating with leaders in the neighborhood, including the City of Erie's mayor, fire and police principals, and a lot more. Greater than a quarter of Americans hold a non-degree credential, with 21 percent completing a job experience program, new government data shows. Passing by bus has likewise become as hassle-free as flying or taking the train. Obtain exclusive access to members-only bargains by e-mail. Nowy Targ was highly ranked for downhill winter sports by 5 visitors from the United Kingdom! The Zoological Garden and also Mini ZOO goes back to 1929 and is home to around 1500 pets, with the mini zoo using the chance to obtain up close and stroke the animals. A fraud alert permits financial institutions to obtain a copy of your credit rating report as long as they take steps to validate your identification. Do Państwa wygody oddajemy: - apartamenty oraz pokoje bogato wyposażone w: biurko, kącik wypoczynkowy, telewizor z kanałami internetowymi łazienka z wanną lub prysznicem, WC, suszarką, szlafrok, ręczniki - strefę MEDSPA: saunę suchą, parową, jacuzzi, pokój relaksacyjny, siłownie - kącik dla dzieci oraz górkę na zewnątrz idealną na sanaczkowe zjazdy - pralnię: pralkę oraz suszarkę do dyspozycji gości - bezpłatny dostęp do internetu - bezpłatny ogrodzony car parking - bezpłatna przechowalnia sprzętu narciarskiego. Suggest home with all my heart, there could be an amazing cut off from day-to-day life. Filters by editorial photos, which omits photos with model launches. You MUST PREVENT COCCIDIA or NONE of your vaccinations will function! This is the 150th annual meeting for the third area of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This susceptability could additionally allow an opponent to leakage security keys from the targeted device and eavesdrop on Bluetooth communications, in a strike that quite appears like heartbleed. The church and also parish of Ludzmierz was managed by the Cistercian Order till 1824. Cette vidéo contenait une piste audio protégée the same level des droits d'auteur. Daily weather report in Nowy Targ will certainly assist you to prevent capturing a chilly if all of a sudden evening becomes cold, rainy and gusty. It is my genuine desire to offer God and Poland with the entire of my life, to lug my eager help to others, as well as to obey the Precursor and also Overview Legislation. Armis thinks many more susceptabilities await discovery in the various platforms utilizing Bluetooth. This allows us to verify that our reviews originate from real guests like you. Stunning fire place, really comfy bed linen, and also breathtaking sight. The news follows information Equifax had actually failed to effectively install a patch for a protection susceptability cyberpunks later used to take customer information. The 650-year-old city is the historic resources of the highland area of Podhale 1, which extends in between the Gorce Mountains on the north, and Tatra Hills on the south. Erie will certainly rival at least 100 other communities to land Amazon's second head office, and also the 50,000 jobs that include it. The record will certainly be sent to your email address within 12 hours after your settlement has actually been completed. Matt began the I School's Master of Information & Information Science program this term as well as is the very first recipient of the Jack Larson Information completely" Fellowship, which aids MIDS students utilizing information science to benefit society. Recent Graduates might be converted to a long-term setting (or, in some limited conditions, a term consultation lasting 1-4 years). The apartment is located approximately 3 km from the center of Nowy Targ. Ludzi) należało do Polski przed 1938 r. Było to jedenaście wsi orawskich (Lipnica Wielka i Mała, Zubrzyca Górna i Dolna, Jabłonka, Chyżne, Orawka, Bukowina, Podszkle, Harkabuz, Podsamie) i piętnaście wsi spiskich (Niedzica, Łapsze Wyżne i Niżne, Łapszanka, Kacwin, Brzegi, Rzepiska, Jurgów, Czarna Góra, Trybsz, Krempachy, Nowa Biała, Frydman, Falsztyn, Dursztyn). Zerknijcie na naszą stronę, gdzie znajdziecie wywiad z naszym nowym kapitanem Marcinem Koluszem. Redakcja nie ponosi odpowiedzialności za treść komentarzy, zastrzega sobie jednak prawo do nie publikowania ich, zwłaszcza tych, które zawierają wulgaryzmy, epitety powszechnie uznane za obraźliwe, nawołują do zachowań niezgodnych z prawem, obrażają osoby publiczne i prywatne, inne narodowości, rasy, religie itd. The examination was made on March 18, after the 2nd match for the bronze medal against STS Sanok. https://is.gd/sQGCMS https://goo.gl/LDJRGZ http://ow.ly/2J3p30f4Lb7 https://goo.gl/LDJRGZ http://ow.ly/2J3p30f4Lb7

[technologywearables]

HTC Vive and SteamVR review - new 2nd Gen Vive Pre developer edition announced at CES

HTC has simply announced that its Vive VR headset is getting a 2nd generation developer edition referred to as the HTC Vive Pre. The emerging headset has a brand new front encountering cam, boosted room-scale innovation as well as a lighter, a lot more ergonomic headset as well as controller design.

According to HTC, 'each and also every part has actually been upgraded from scratch to give better comfort, ergonomics and performance', including a much more portable headset as well as a new band product to provide higher stability as well as balance. This consists of the ability to readjust the size of the headset to match various kinds of faces and also, a lot more significantly, having the ability to suit it over glasses.

The display screen is also brighter, with HTC claiming it's made 'picture refinements' to aid raise clarity as well as feeling of visibility. Whether this means a greater resolution is currently unclear.

Another new addition to the Vive Pre is a front-facing video camera, allowing customers to see specific components of their physical atmosphere without having to eliminate the headset. Again, it's not clear just how the Vive Pre will certainly 'blend physical elements into the digital room', however HTC says you'll have the ability to find your seat, drink and come with on conversations with member of the family while immersed in digital reality.

The Vive's controllers have actually been revamped for the Pre also, including softer sides, updated functional designs, emerging textured buttons and grip pads for included comfort. The emerging double stage trigger should make things interaction much smoother, while haptic responses should put that added level of immersion. The controllers will certainly have incorporated rechargeable batteries which demand through Micro USB, providing four hours of play time on a single fee. Finally, the Vive base terminals have also been upgraded to be more portable, quieter as well as supply far better tracking.

'When we initially revealed Vive 10 months ago we had an eager goal of basically altering the means people interact as well as connect with the globe - for life," claimed Cher Wang, chairwoman and CEO of HTC. "Considering that after that Vive has actually obtained a phenomenally good reception from media, sector analysts, customers, and the hundreds of companions and also brands we've been dealing with to provide inspiring and vibrant VR material. For also long, the guarantee of virtual truth has been little much more compared to a pledge. Today we base on the precipice of a brand-new period. Vive is creating a globe where the only limitation is human creative imagination."

After being postponed from completion of in 2014, the last version of the Vive is currently expected to launch in April 2016. Let's hope it will be worth the wait.

Everything else you should learn about HTC Vive

Virtual reality is looking readied to be the next huge thing, however it hasn't been a fast transformation, or one with a defined message. Oculus Rift has been the PC gaming community's beloved considering that 2013 (though Facebook's purchase might take the sheen off that love event), after that more just recently we've had Sony's PS4-powered PlayStation VR, the smartphone-based Samsung Gear VR, as well as the Google's VR-for-all Cardboard customer. VR headsets are going to come thick as well as quick over the following year, and also today we obtained to experiment with the HTC Vive, produced in cooperation with PC-gaming leviathan Valve under its SteamVR initiative.

Speaking of behemoths my first experience with HTC Vive at Gamescom 2015 was nothing but awe inducing. Standing on the deck of a submerged ship, I edged towards the prow to look down into the watery abyss below. Noticing, or maybe hearing, something over my left shoulder I looked to discover an enormous whale had actually snuck up on me while I was distracted. I supported away from it in surprise, and also after that marvelled as this glorious leviathan glided past me simply out of reach, its big as well as comprehensive eye monitoring me as it went.

Yes, you check out that right, HTC Vive not just supplies an immersive headset, it likewise has an area tracking system, which allows it to track your actual activities and create them in the virtual globe. What a lot more it labors brilliantly, with both moving as well as turning tracked with extraordinary precision, this lets you go down to your knees then peer out laterally past something in the game world.

HTC Vive

The HTC Vive actually includes 3 components, the Vive headset, a set of place picking up base stations and also two SteamVR control sticks, one for every hand.

The headset looks high as you would certainly expect. It's a regular strap-it-to-your-head VR headset which is similar in size and weight to the existing Oculus model. They're both behind Sony's Morpheus below though, with it's smart ring that distribute the weight in a hat-like fashion as well as leaves the screen merely touching your face, as opposed to pressed versus it.

It's comparable inside also, with a set of 1,080 x1,200 OLED displays, one for each and every eye, yes you can still see the pixel grid if you look hard yet if you're not attempting to choose holes then it stands up effectively. These revitalize 90 times a 2nd therefore give extremely smooth responses in response to your movements. It has a 100 level field of perspective, and also every little thing looked crisp in the center of my perspective, however tailed off when I aimed to seek to the side with my eyes, as opposed to transforming my head. In this regard though it's just like other VR headsets.

The base terminals look more pre-production compared to the headset, being small black cubes with a range of chips on the front. You place them in other corners of your space, creating a square up to 5x5m. Lasers in the terminals are after that tracked by the headset, which as you can see is studded with sensors, in order to determine its specific position and angle, down to a tenth of a degree apparently.

Finally you have the SteamVR controllers. These stick like tools don't appear like considerably, with a single trigger, a touchpad on the front - which is taken from Shutoff's Steam Controller layout - and also an oddly angular head, once again to find it using the laser positioning. You won't be looking at it like that, as in the virtual world it transforms into a range of even more interesting shapes and also devices.

I started off in the white stretch of the initial calibration area. I attempted requesting for 'guns, bunches of weapons' yet to obtain. Exactly what I could do was develop balloons but drawing the trigger on the controller, which would certainly then blow up from the top of the device (or instead a virtual representation of the gadget in sparkling white). The balloons rose gradually yet I can bat them away with the controller, whose activities matched my very own to excellence. The balloons flew off as expected, the only point doing not have being any kind of substantial responses as I bopped them.

Cabled up

A few much more enagaing experiences later on, I was entirely immersed in Vive's digital truth as well as had actually greatly forgotten the darkened area I was actually stood in, somewhere on the just-opened show floor of Gamescom in Cologne. The only snag, essentially, was the cable protruding from the back of my head, as I obtained mesmerized in it a few times when tipping backwards.

For VR experiences when taking a seat it's not a large problem, yet when you're stiring a cord can be a responsibility, so we'll require to see if HTC can develop a method to maintain it out the means, if it was strung at midsection height rather than snaking across the flooring. The wire exists to attach the headset to the heavyweight video gaming COMPUTER needed making those 90Hz visuals run smoothly.

And that's where Shutoff's involvement is available in with its SteamVR campaign. SteamVR is an overarching name including the present HTC Vive Developer Version headset we tried, the SteamVR controllers as well as the free-to-use SteamVR APIs which allow programmers obtain to grips with the hardware.

Job Simulator

Virtual Reality could be pretty disorienting in the beginning, particularly when you add in the complete range of motion readily available with Vive, however Task Simulator is a brilliant way to get readjusted to it. In a world where robots have replaced all human tasks, the 'Work Simulator' allows humans discover just what it was like 'to work'.

The cutesy computer animated scenes are basic, do not bewilder you (unlike the jaw-dropping whale demonstration, which can be a little terrifying the very first time you experience it) yet take care of to immerse you all the very same. Paris Games Week was the initial possibility to experiment with the most current Job, a workplace worker simulation.

As with previous trials, this 'encounter' is meant to have been pictured by robotics, so the keyboard at your desk only has a 0 and a 1 trick, your colleagues are all incorporeal CRT displays as well as the photocopier essentially copies anything you take into it. Nearly every little thing can be communicated with somehow, consisting of the workdesk playthings, staple weapon as well as paper aeroplane that will certainly make you rejecting looks from your adjoining employees. The humour is securely tongue-in-cheek, and also having the ability to dual-wield staplers in temper against your co-workers will have Workplace followers whooping with delight.

You really did not need a massive quantity of area in the demo I played, either, which will certainly make a great deal of people with small rooms full of furnishings extremely happy. You're in an office work area, so a couple of square feet was all that was required. It's simple, yes, but it's enjoyable, as well as we've only seen a fifth of just what programmer OwlchemyLabs has in mind for the last game, which is a validated Vive launch title.

Dota 2: Secret Shop

The peak of the trial came at the end when I reached mess around in the Valve-created Secret Shop. While the other demonstrations were restricted in scope, graphically simplified and also occasionally both, the Secret Store is a luscious fantasy encounter with responds to Shutoff's mind-bogglingly popular Dota 2.

Set in a tiny, weak hut rendered in the vibrant and colourful design acquainted from Dota 2 (and from the majority of Snowstorm's dream franchises too), the Secret Shop starts out dark. The rotund storekeeper shows up and gives a little wonderful light for you to possess. Utilizing this you can explore the shop (which in dimension about associates to the area of activity that the HTC Vive permits) as well as diminish down in dimension to obtain up close with its details.

We viewed in horror as a little spider, not provided significant in our eyes, came close to over a workdesk. We discovered a rack and also were shocked by a massive toad, and lastly the roof covering of the hut was duped by a dragon. It's incredibly immersive stuff as well as beautifully rendered, with lovely, highly-detailed graphics that really reveal exactly what VR might do.

We desired we would certainly had another 10 minutes with the demo, yet we think that would certainly be possibly enough. That statement can be made around considerably of our VR experiences. There just isn't adequate material out there yet to encourage the majority of people, me included, to get rid of their money. I 'd highly suggest you try VR provided a chance however the chicken-and-egg problem of content and also customers might come to be a concern (though HBO, Lionsgate as well as Google are listed as companions).

Can it surVive

HTC as well as Valve's cooperation on SteamVR and Vive is looking extremely solid. The hardware is up there with the best currently readily available as well as the motion monitoring and also controllers are wonderfully carried out. In an industry where 'coming following year' has almost come to be a concept, the Vive's rapid step from principle to implementation goes over. Since creating this short article, HTC Vive has actually slid from a vague 2015 launch, to an unclear Q1 2016 launch (leaving out programmers).

Timing aside, the question is will certainly there be adequate software program to justify a purchase?

Serious COMPUTER players have to be the preliminary targets, as they already have the kind of PCs called for to provide the Vive with very visuals. To date Oculus has made the larger dash, but with the Facebook purchase, several such players prefer to choose a Valve-supported headset. We assume the Vive will certainly deal with a slow-moving start, partly as a result of its high access requirements, but also due to the fact that lots of will simply wait and see how it shapes up to the Oculus in 2016, however in the future it stands a great chance of success. Or comparable to any VR headset at the very least.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The final Pratchett: The Shepherd's Crown #2yrsago

I really tried to make this book last. It's the last Discworld novel, written by Terry Pratchett in the last days of his life, as his death from a tragic, unfair, ghastly early onset Alzheimer's stole up on him. But I couldn't help myself. I read it, read it all. I wept. Then I read it again.

The Shepherd's Crown is the fifth and final book in the Tiffany Aching sequence, a collection of five novels within the greater, 41-volume Discworld series, which Pratchett began in 1983. The Tiffany Aching books were Pratchett's personal favorites, a fact that had puzzled me, because as good as they were, they seemed slight alongside of the Moist von Lipwig books, whose exploration of the way that modernity and technological change rippled out through society really resonated with me.

But in The Shepherd's Crown, I've come to realize what it is about these books that makes them so special and endeared them so well to Pratchett's own heart: it's their compassion.

When we first met Tiffany Aching, she was a shepherd's daughter whose grandmother, Granny Aching, is the "shepherd's shepherd," a worker of magic and a keeper of animals, revered by all the people of the Chalk. Through the subsequent volumes, Tiffany and her companions, the Nac Mac Feegles, have have encountered more and more of the Discworld's other denizens: Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg and the other Lancre witches, the wicked elves of Faerie, and so on. Along the way, Tiffany has grown to understand duty, and service, and compassion.

In The Shepherd's Crown, Tiffany's coming of age arrives at its climax, and Pratchett uses her challenges to bring her into contact with a much wider piece of the Discworld. More importantly, he makes her confront impossible situations -- wicked problems where someone must lose. Into this action, Pratchett introduces all kinds of symmetries and touches in on some of the Discworld's old threads: the old romance between Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Ridcully, the ongoing story of the railroad (see Raising Steam), the social pecking order of witches, and the relationship of gender to witchcraft and wizardry, first explored in 1987's Equal Rites.

What makes this book so great -- what made Pratchett so great -- is his commitment to making jokes into something more than gags. The early Pratchett Discworld novels were rather thin by comparison to the later ones (he confesses as much in some of his essays), because Pratchett got better as he went along. Pratchett's early work was dominated by puns, Douglas-Adams-ish comic footnotes (that often fell short of Adams's high standard) -- cheap yucks.

But Pratchett got better. Lots better. He didn't get better by giving up on those cheap yucks: he got better by making them into something more than cheap yucks. The Nac Mac Feegle are a silly gag about Scottish, drunken, ultraviolent Smurfs. In the Wee Free Men, Pratchett played with this notion, figured out where and how he could push it around.

Five books later, the Nac Mac Feegle aren't a gag anymore. They're full-blown characters, and if there are running gags about them all being called things like No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock, they are garnish, not the main dish, which is a deft way of using these spear-carriers to move the story into complicated places where Tiffany's wisdom, self-confidence, compassion and sense of duty are all tested.

I keep using the word "compassion" in my descriptions of this book, because if there's one word that sums up the writer Terry Pratchett had latent in him in those early days, and the writer he came to be, and the literary legacy he left behind, it's compassion.

I saw a post on Seanan McGuire's Tumblr last week that stuck with me, about the difference between "sympathy" ("I know how you feel"), "empathy" ("I feel how you feel") and "compassion" ("is there anything I can do to help?"). Pratchett's characters are often unsympathetic, they are sometimes not very empathic -- there are times when I could smack Sam Vimes -- but they are moved by compassion more than anything else. Even the murderers. Even Lord Vetinari.

Terry Pratchett wrote this book knowing that he was dying, and he wove into it all the compassion he could muster. That meant, perforce, bringing in the railway, the goblins, and the themes of modernity versus society. Because engaging with modernity is the fantasy writer's trick, something science fiction writers struggle with. The rural and agrarian lives that are romanticized in fantasy are also places in which compassion reigns. You may have a wicked feudal lord and a venal priest, you may wallow in filth and starve when the crops fail, but you have a place, centuries old and immobile, and that place means that you belong, you have worth, and there are people who are enmeshed with you in a web of obligations.

Modernity rips that apart, and sometimes it fails to replace with anything comparable. Even today, we worry about the way that technology atomizes us, the way that migration breaks apart our social ties. I feel those worries all the time. Technology has given me myriad ways to connect, don't get me wrong, but it's also disconnected me from some things I rather loved.

The Moist von Lipwig books I liked best are all about this, and that's why I love them so. With The Shepherd's Crown, Pratchett joins the agrarian and the modern, witchcraft and engineering, fusing the two themes in a way that feels like the artistic climax of a prodigious and brilliant career.

I loved this book. I loved it even when it tore my guts out. If you love Pratchett, I guarantee it will tear your guts out too, and even though I'm not someone who worries much about spoilers, this one is big and I'm going to leave it to you to discover. But you've been warned.

An afterword to the book explains that Pratchett died before this book was as polished as his other pieces, and there are little ways in which you can see that, a few plotlines left dangling, a few pieces of exposition that could have been turned into drama. That said, it is so polished in comparison to, say, Equal Rites, the contrast illustrates just how far we travelled with Pratchett down his artistic path.

I can't believe that this is the last Discworld novel. 41 books sounds like a lot. It is a lot. But there was clearly so much more to come, and it's such a cheat to have had it all taken away. Pratchett's death is a great tragedy, a loss to us all. He did us a huge service by devoting his last years to writing so many books after his diagnosis -- more than he thought he'd be able to write -- and this last book is such a gift to all of us.

I just wish there was more.

The Shepherd's Crown [Terry Pratchett/Harpercollins]

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