#were they just trying to make mechanically strong teams with no regards to characterization...?

[oncillaphoenix]

i wonder why the game devs made the decision to give life orbs to some of the pkmn on N's season battle teams. that just seems like...jarringly out-of-character.

[ramblingguy54]

Sonic & Tails R: A Love Letter To Miles Tails Prower’s Characterization

     Warning: This will contain massive spoilers for the short radio play series of Sonic & Tails R. If you haven’t listened to the radio play yet on Youtube, I’d highly recommend any hardcore Sonic fan who hasn’t seen it check it out. It’s one Hell of a treat.

     For as far back as I can remember in my childhood, Tails’ story of trying to step outta Sonic’s shadow has been such a resonating one for myself. Even when I was a much younger kid playing my Dreamcast, during entries like Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, there was some idea lingering about why Tails just stood out more emotionally in his journey to grow beyond depending on Sonic all the time for help. Now here I am a young adult in my late twenties having such a deeper appreciation of this little two tailed genius kiddo because he’s got an important element that’s made him so beloved for good reason.

     In spite of his genius being a rival to that of Eggman’s high IQ and of course proving to surpass it plenty of times when scenarios boil down to being a high stakes battle, Miles Tails Prower beneath it all is still just like any one of us. We’re all trying to find our place in this world about what defines us for who we are as unique people. He wants to be more than just seen as someone who’s alongside Sonic The Hedgehog’s never say die attitude, but prove he’s plenty capable of standing on his own two feet to protect everything the kid holds dear to himself. Underdog stories, when they’re naturally executed very well, can reel me in so easily. They are very much my bread & butter trope I adore seeing.

     To no one’s surprise, the two Sonic Adventure’s iterations portrayal of Tails’ characterization are hands down some of my favorite writing for the two tailed fox, regarding what the 3D era has done toward him, development wise. It gave him more of an existential struggle to endure like, “What happens when Sonic isn’t around to help stop Eggman? What if I’m not strong enough to accomplish what he can?”, making Tails plight to be seen as an equal all the more endearing when stopping Eggman in his climatic battle against the Egg Walker in Station Square. This here is a great use of a timeless lesson you can apply in life that if you set you heart and mind on anything, there isn’t a thing you can’t accomplish on your own, which is why many fell in love with Sonic Adventure 1 & 2′s writing for Miles Tails Prower’s journey of independence.

     As someone who comes from a large family tree of relatives, I feel the weight of my existence on my shoulders at a number of points more than I’d care to count, admittedly. Seeing Tails struggle with his sense of purpose, in contrast to observing how much Sonic has accomplished with his carefree, yet deeply compassionate attitude, means the world to me in watching another trying to comprehend their value as a whole on how much they matter, overall. This is a big part of why my fondness for SA1 & 2′s quality has never wavered over these years, besides still obviously enjoying most of their game play mechanics. People can try to debate to their heart’s content on whether the Adventure games still hold up in their own eyes, but I’ll always respect them for how they tried to develop certain characters, such as Tails, Gamma, and Shadow The Hedgehog notably, to attempt expanding upon their characters, as well as world building.

     I won’t bother going into a rant about how Sonic’s recent 3D games have butchered Tails’ personality & relatable nature, due to the current writers in charge of handling the cast of characters. More or less, I greatly empathize toward the notion many have already stated about Tails being so cowardly and God forbid, looking at Lost World, downright severely mean spirited. Rather, I’m obviously writing this lengthy post to breakdown why Sonic & Tails R succeeds, where these certain 3D games have greatly faltered in exploring Tails’ emotional dilemmas as an insecure, yet still having the courage to prove himself, talented boy full of hidden potential he doesn’t quite realize, until his back is against the wall in life threatening situations.

“That day, I realized I couldn’t depend on you forever. Not that I can’t depend on you, but like, “What happens when Sonic isn’t here?”, you know?”

     Sonic & Tails R further delves into this fundamental rule of what has defined Tails in Sonic Adventure 1 & 2′s stories of events where Sonic wasn’t there to aid his best bud in taking down Eggman’s evil efforts for global domination, most importantly his fear of defending the Earth without his role model. Besides what I already stated in SA1′s events in Station where he stopped the Egg Walker, as well as the missile Eggman launched from detonating before their climatic battle, Tails watched Sonic blow up in ARK’s capsule presuming him to be dead after Sonic imparted how much faith he has in the kid’s abilities to be truly strong in the face of any foe. Sonic & Tails R manages to use fan service in a way that doesn’t feel like “pandering” for the sake of it, using this past canon material to do more of an in-depth study about Miles’ anxieties of existing without Sonic.

     Wouldn’t put it past them if EmuEmi & crew were using SA2′s Sonic death fake out scene in that space capsule to further add trauma to Tails’ psychological attachment to Sonic, as well as his insecurities of depending on him too much, to boot. While it’s never obviously outright stated in their radio play, I definitely believe they were factoring this element into adding dramatic exploration for why Tails is so self-conscious about the worst case scenario of permanently losing Sonic. Watching Sonic supposedly die put Tails into a deeper state of self-reflection, so I very much enjoyed how they went using these past events to create a thorough exploration about him learning just as it’s important to realize you need to stand up for yourself without using someone else as a crutch all the time, it’s doubly important to remember there’s nothing wrong about asking someone for help when you’re about to be down and out with little options left.

     Sonic & Tails R beautifully builds upon the foundation these two games’ stories left behind years ago, creating new damn great material to explore with the most iconic characters of this cast, Sonic & Tails brotherly dynamic. I’ve been praising Sonic & Tails R out the wazoo for how well it captured Tails underdog story of overcoming death defying odds, but it managed to remind me how simply adorable and outright wonderfully endearing their brotherly chemistry is as a whole. This is a big friendly reminder Sonic isn’t all about being cocky wise cracking character making meta jokes left and right, but he can be plenty capable of showing serious compassion to anyone he values as an ally and friend. This is no greater evident, than with him verbally lifting Tails up in his time of need when he’s self-depreciating his own significance. It can be seen in Episodes 2, 4, and 7 giving Tails motivational pieces of advice.

    Episode 2 In Adabat’s Cavern

-Sonic: Wasn’t it your radar that helped us find these Emerald shards in the first place? How could you be slowing us down when you’ve gotten us this far?

-Tails: But, I...

-Sonic: I could never make something like that. You’re the smartest person I know, Tails. One way or another, we’ll figure this out, count on it.

         Episode 4 In Holoska After Helping Silver Save The Chao

-Sonic: So, what was that back there? At the cave, in Adabat? -Tails: What do you mean? -Sonic: Frozen stiff. Confidence shot. It’s not like you. It was more than feeling like you were “slowing us down”, right?

        Episode 7 Inside The Egg Carrier 3

-Sonic: Let’s split up! I’ll distract them and you can go after the energy source. -Tails: You’re gonna take them on all by yourself!? Let me help, Sonic! -Sonic: No time for this, Tails. Stop overthinking and just go! If I can get their attention, I’ll take the heat off of you and that room you’re going to probably won’t have any security. Take this emerald and I’ll take the other one we have. It’ll lead me right to you after I beat these guys. -Tails: O-Okay... -Sonic: Hold on, Tails! Listen to me. Don’t stop moving and be careful. I’ll be fine and so will you!

     Sonic & Tails R remembers the most crucial detail of their important relationship. One isn’t better than the other and needing to always rely upon that notion for helping one outta a jam, but instead showcases how they’re equals as a team/bros. Sonic may be super fast and strong, however Tails has his intelligence to analyze situations in a different angle Sonic wouldn’t necessarily consider, per say. Which isn’t to say Tails couldn’t put up a fight either, as we’ve seen in SA1 & SA2′s stories where he faced Eggman one on one with no outside help to best him at his own game of wits & strength.

     We get see the apex of this idea through Tails facing Eggman in his super improved mecha walker. Although Tails may get thrown for a loop here at first by Eggman, it’s his villainous speech about winners and losers in their world that ironically does the exact opposite of what he intended. Eggman wanted to crush Tails’ sense of self worth before finishing him off, but all it did was reignite the very lesson Sonic told him earlier before running to distract Eggman’s robotic minions. That said lesson of he’s more than capable of facing dangerous threats

-Eggman: Poor boy. We all have to learn this lesson, sooner or later. In every game there’s no one you can depend on. You’re all alone and you’re either a winner, or a loser. And as you know, loser’s lose all of their lives. Say goodbye, fox!

-Tails: You’re wrong! I can depend Sonic! I won’t let him down! I can’t because...Because he’s depending on me! And because of that I won’t lose to you!

     This radio play strikes a good balance in utilizing the grey moral area about depending on someone vs it being an unhealthy display of attachment derived from serious insecurity. Word’s can’t begin to describe how much I loved this moment to pieces because it’s oh so important for writing Tails’ characterization. If you’re going to tackle him being super self conscious about his reliance on Sonic, then you gotta remember why they are so close to one another to begin with. Sonic & Tails have an unbreakable connection, considering they’ve brought out their best qualities in themselves from being together as individuals. For Sonic, it’s his older brother compassion to Tails to bring him outta feeling melancholy. For Tails, the kid finally understands there isn’t anything wrong with depending on Sonic when he needs it most.

     After all, that’s what a real healthy friendship is all about. Whether you’re giving someone a dose of tough love, or simply a piece of motivational advice, it defines how much you truly care about someone, period. Sonic & Tails have this very same power from their bond, which is why new emeralds form from their compassionate friendship that hasn’t been shaken after all the years they’ve been together. Another detail worth noting is it adds to the lore in an impactful manner when Tikal expresses in Episode 8 about positive connections and thoughts from users of the Chaos Emeralds having a strong will & heart. Using the ideas they had for encapsulating Sonic & Tails’ dynamic to create new emeralds from their love for each other as brothers adds an emotional weight.

“So, Sonic’s not the only one who harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds? I can too!?”

“Yes, you have a strong heart! There is a power waiting to be unlocked within you, as well.”

          I’d always daydreamed about in my childhood seeing Super Sonic & Tails take down a threatening villain, whether it was Eggman or different powerful creature such as Chaos or the Biolizard. You can imagine how fucking giddy I was beyond belief to see this artwork of Episode 9′s cover for the radio play. Tails not only got to have another one on one with Eggman, but a team up with Super Sonic in his own respective Super form? Sign me the Hell up! Talk about an all you eat buffet of good writing for Tails’ journey reaching its climax. Getting to hear this play out, alongside the amazing song of Fly With Me, made it authentically feel like something straight outta if there were an installment of Sonic Adventure 3 being brought into reality, which certainly feels like it now.

     Episode 9 has so much awesome stuff with Sonic & Tails working together in their super forms. Particularly, my favorite scene is at the beginning when Sonic teaches Tails how to navigate his newly acquired speed in his respective Super form. My heart melted hearing Sonic help Tails through it all, while he was overjoyed about how fun this new form is for himself. Wholesome Sonic & Tails content is the perfect daily serotonin for me, easily. It’s an awesome fun fact to know they used a scrapped boss from Tails Tornado segment in SA1 for Eggman’s flying dragon three headed robot in their big final battle, once again using old canon material in a very effective manner to boost the quality of their fan made story.

     It’s been a real thrill to hear Mike Pollock play a straight forward serious Eggman making my day in more ways than one, considering that’s another thing I’ve been yearning for desperately besides Tails being a competent character again. His performance in Episode 9 when Eggman gave that speech about how long he’s been at odds with Sonic & Tails stubborn will power was simply excellent. The moment he told his mechanical dragon to crush them I got serious chills. That’s the Eggman I remember and grew up with. He could be a hammy villain sure, but Eggman wasn’t a doormat that could be swiftly beaten. Robotnik can be considered a serious threat in his own right and this radio play nailed it down to the very letter with how much he predicted their actions.

“Sonic, all I ever wanted to do was be like you. You’re not scared of anyone or anything. I could never be like that. At least, so I thought. I grew from that, but then I got so caught up in trying to prove it that thought it wasn’t okay to depend upon anyone, especially you. I just didn’t want to be that scared little kid in Station Square anymore, but now I understand. It’s okay to depend on your friends. It all means is that we’re stronger together, so the next time Eggman comes back and wants to start any trouble with you, or any of my friends. Emeralds or no emeralds, he’s gonna have to get past me and he won’t!”

Sonic By Episode 1′s End: Aww, yeah! Adventure, here we come!

Tails By Episode 10′s End: Aww, yeah! Adventure, here I come!

Turn your thoughts into power. Be all that you can be.

     The ending legit got me choked up because what of they decided to do for wrapping up Tails journey in a poetic fashion. Having Tails go off on his own separate journey to grow more independence pulled on my heart strings perfectly. Very much so, as I’m transitioning slowly, but surely, into gaining more freedom to go out into the outside world in my own life. Concluding the story, by Sonic & Tails holding onto the two Emeralds their bond had formed from positive energy, due to their powerful friendship, was so heartwarming. This is how you write an overview of what makes Sonic & Tails chemistry work so well as it does.

     Sonic & Tails R’s ending represents while some things never change, like Sonic and Tails bond for each other, it also shows there’s very much a necessity for people to grow, hence Tails’ whole solo journey in the epilogue. People can’t stay in the same place forever and will need go about finding their own path, even if it means saying “goodbye” periodically for a notable amount of time.

     It’s for these reasons I’ve listed in great explanation above throughout this detailed post cement Sonic & Tails R high on my list of favorite Sonic fan projects. They captured the magic of what made the Adventure games so beloved. Gonna be looking back on this passion project for many years to come. Everyone involved in this year long effort of a project dating all the way back Summer of 2020 ought to be immensely proud for how much their hard efforts paid off in the long run.

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts here! 

Hope you enjoyed. 

[curiocrab]

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS

I have seen plenty of hot takes and crummy opinions about this situation and I wanna talk about it.

HOW THEY ARE NOW: WHAT IS THIS?

These are some new “hip” “hello-fellow-kids” teen superheroes by Marvel. ““Safespace”” (who i’ll call “Pink” for now) is a “big, burly, sort of stereotypical jock” as described by their official bio and can create force fields for anyone but himself. ““Snowflake”” (who i’ll call “Blue” for now) is non-binary and can create ice shuriken. From the bio, we know that their story will be them dealing with the social issues surrounding the non binary community.

This would be good IF that wasn’t the only characterization they had. Instead, Blue and Pink are described in their bio as being obnoxious social geniuses, “hyper aware of modern culture and optics”, and just for extra “rEliaBiLITy”, as quoted from their official bio, “They’re probably streaming this.” They feel like what older people think is cool with the kids, like a PSA mascot who punches drug addiction in the face and flies away with his catchphrase “Don’t do drugs, Fam!” or “Drugs are NOT LIT, ok boomer?”

Correct me if i’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure nobody would want the only major representatives of their community in an otherwise oppressive and excessively masculine field to be unlikable douche bags. Why can’t they just be normal, maybe even (heavens forbid) LIKABLE characters with real human emotions and experiences?

We don’t have much more than their bio’s to draw from but we do have a picture and you know what they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

THIS is OFFICIAL ART from the OFFICIAL WEBSITE!

WTH!?

Correct me if i’m wrong, but THIS looks like a weak, frail, surprisingly feminine non-binary person turning to their strong, confident, masculine partner for comfort and protection because they’re too weak to face their own problems. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the nature of safe spaces is not to patronize and baby people but to support and encourage.

This is ENTIRELY CONTRARY to the message Marvel is trying to put forth! If they’re trying to support and display the community as strong and worthy of recognition, THIS is not doing that AT ALL! What’s gonna happen is comic readers uneducated in this field will see this character, hate them because they’re unlikable, and see non-binary people as weak and in need of a masculine pillar of protection.

This is HORRIBLE representation.

I would like to propose what they COULD have done and maybe, still can be done to save these characters.

FIXING THEM: PHYSICALLY

I have seen many videos critiquing and bashing these characters and I found them to be … misguided (I won’t name names). People have expressed dissatisfaction with their powers and designs, comparing them to other marvel heroes.

This is unfair. these characters are just kids. they don’t have to have Hulk or even spider man level power. They are crime fighting teens, working the small time, not universe-devouring god-killers. I think these limited powers are cool and interesting. They necessitate creative and interesting combat and problem solving.

In action it could be like this, Blue is agile and mainly on offense, dealing tons of damage and applying pressure, hardly worrying about defense. This is because Pink runs alongside them, keeping up and fending for himself as he casts barriers for Blue when necessary based off their psychic synchronization.

Alternatively, Pink could be on the offense while Blue darts around, getting in the enemies way so that Pink could cast a barrier over Blue. It would effectively be an agile shield orbiting and protecting Pink who deals massive damage without much concern in regards to defense. Blue could keep up some pressure and add chip damage from behind the barrier with their shuriken.

Their design on the other hand, is honestly dumb

They’ve got soft, boring silhouettes that are far too similar. The skin tight clothes are classic marvel style but are super outdated and honestly the worst. The matching hair is dumb and stupid.

I have seen some alternate designs by other more talented artists. Unfortunately, some of them are horrible and betray the characters and their overall message.

It’s very well made and the artist is super talented, but it plays into the hyper sexual old Marvel comics and makes Blue ultra feminine, something i’m sure the original artist and writer where desperate not to do, instead making Blue into an amorphous lump.

I have made my own redesign that I hope is closer to the writer and artist’s vision.

I gave them stark contrast and distinguished silhouettes. I tried hard to give the two of them more personality. Hopefully, you can all agree that it’s better than the original.

That was pretty simple, but now, I’ve got to do something about their douchbagieness

FIXING THEM: CHARACTER-WISE

To begin, let’s get better names. I saw some awesome new names from SpyV on youtube in their video “Redesigning “Snowflake” and “Safespace” | Marvel’s New Warriors Blunder”. The names they used were “Hail” for “Snowflake” and “Haven” for “Safespace”.

Now for their story. I don’t want them to feel like hokey PSA mascots, spouting slogans to the youth like “Be nice” or “Don’t be homophobic”. I want them to be actual people and characters.

These two are students at highschool. (grade 11/12) Haven is a crowd pleasing jock, valued for his physical ability and his participation on the football team. Though not exceptional, his stature and teamwork skills make him an invaluable asset that everyone loves out of necessity more than anything else.

Hail is as witty, snappy, confident person who stands up for their immediate friend group and the LGBT+ community in their school. They are still subject to the social conflicts and abuse that arise due to being non-binary in the socially harsh highschool environment. Due to the constant micro-aggression, Hail has grown abrasive and unapproachable as a self defense mechanism. The only person they can be genuine with is their brother, Haven.

These two share a psychic bond that allows a deep level of emotional sympathy between the two. Hail vents to Haven and relies on his emotional support. Haven tries his best to help but Hail’s circumstance is so different from his own that he can’t do much more than listen and accept Hail for who they are. Haven provides a safe space where Hail can be genuine, recuperate, and process their emotions during the tumultuous time that is highschool.

Hail is supported by Haven’s acceptance rather than his confidence and masculinity. Haven never white-knights for Hail and tries to solves their problems for them but, rather, provides support, acceptance, and encouragement, allowing Hail to fight their own battles.

Maybe, later on in their arc -  hear me out here - Haven discovers that he is gay and is thus ostracized by his peers at school and their roles are reversed. Hail must be a supportive and encouraging figure for Haven as his world changes around him.

In regards to their super hero team, perhaps someone in the team could act as a foil to Hail, being maybe not so subtly anti-LGBT+.(*cough*cough-screentime-cough*cough*) Maybe Haven is gay for one of the other members (B negative maybe?) and the feeling arn’t mutual and it’s kinda awkward but that’s the whole point. Sometimes, a crush is just a crush and it’s not meant to be and that’s part of growing up.

In the end, they both graduate and realize that all the drama from their school days is gone. They realize how big the world is and move forward, forging a better world.

CONCLUSION

I really hope that those comics arn’t absolute garbage and the LGBT+ community can get some decent representation. Correct me for anything weird or inaccurate I said. Please don’t obliterate the writers or the artists. Thanks for reading.

[eiffel65blog]

EIFFEL 65's Interview   (may2001)

1. The second album of E 65, “CONTACT”, is gonna coming out. Could you please anticipate us something about the musical style of this new work?  In which direction have you tried to go?

  M. “Contact!” is an album which combines all the concepts of the last album “Europop” to all the things we’ve learnt in the last 2 years travelling around the world. Mainly the direction is the same : complete melodic songs, dance grooves, 80’s inspirations and electronic sounds,vocoders  and atmospheres.

This time what I can say is that the styles of each single track are more different, so the general sounds is more various than in "Europop".

J: Contact for us is a musical move towards the different musical styles we have always loved. In fact, differently from the first album, there are tracks that recall the House Dance Music style and a greater research towards electronic sounds. There are surely more tracks than the first one, 13 in Europop and 17 in Contact. In a Phrase “Our Small Musical Growth”.

G:Talking about the “style” of the album we tried, as we did with “EUROPOP”, to find a compromise between POP and DANCE…We think in fact that our style could be considered as the result of the  melodic tradition (tipical of the Italian music), mixed with the electronic sounds that we got from  the 80’s (Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk,...).Actually, talking about “dance music”, things are very different then 20 years ago, and the tendence and the sounds are changing very very fast, even from one year to another, and of course they modify a little bit the direction of the works.. .That’s the main reason why, I suppose, you could find some differences in the direction of the new album, especially in the arrangements..

2. There is a theme to this album? Do the songs all relate to something that’s happened in your life?

M: There's not only one theme in this album. The common intention and the important thing for us regarding the lyrics of our songs is always to give a positive message or express a concept in which we trust, that makes the people think about it. Surely that reflects what we learn,think or feel in our private and professional life.

J. Some of the lyrics of our songs are inspired by our personal experiences. In general they reflect our view of the world and how we try to live our lives.  

3. Do you think that your fans will be surprised while listening to the new tra cks?

M: I think so . First of all for the number of the tracks: they are 17. And second because they can find new arrangements, new lirycs, new sounds and also new way to use the voice.

G: I don’t know if they will, Working at the new album we always tried to do something not to disappoint the fans who liked the first..But I think that the worst thing we could have done is an album “clone” of the first… I mean, if I were a fan I wouldn’t be fond of the songs in themselves, but of the artist and  of its style and capacity of making music. After that I think that every artist need some changes in his productions,step by step, because the creation is not a mechanical process, and it’s the result of  many factors around him.

4. When you compare “EUROPOP” and “CONTACT”, how do you thing you’ve grown musically?

M: As I answered before "Contact!" is more complete and more various regarding : number of the tracks selected, number of the people involved on the productions, new and very different styles, sounds and arrangements. About the lyrics I would say that they remark the band’s grouth.

J: I can surely say that there is a greater sound research in sounds and composition. We are introducing a different view to our music and a brighter feeling is what we get from listening to it. Our bet is still up “To be innovative sometimes you have to risk it all”

5. Have you still used the particular sound of “VOCODER” on Jeffrey Jey’s voice?

M: Yes , we did it. And in many new different ways.

J: Sure! And that has followed the evolution too. A new blend to the sounds used to Drive the Vocoder and a Mix of Clean Vox and Vocoder has given some tracks a Different flavour.

G: Yes, the vocoder on the Jeffrey’s voice is one of the things that characterize our style, even if, this time in some songs we tried to use the vocoder in different ways, creating new effects…

6. What musical instruments do you use for realizing your songs?

M: We have a sort of a futuristic studios with only a PC with audio cards , a masterkeyboard to pilot all the sounds and 2 monitors. We are the testimonials and betatesters of Creamware which provides to all the audio cards (Pulsar, Pulsar2 and Scope) , virtual synthesizers , effects and softwares we use.

And also we are the testimonials and betatesters of E-Magic regarding the sequencering software (Notator Logic Audio).

J: Mostly the synths coming out of our computer. It starts out in different ways but a big hand is given to the feeling by the chosen sounds. Very important most of all during the vocal sessions since that this is what inspires the vocal expression.

G: What we use for composing is basically a computer, and all the sounds come from sound cards inside the PC…in fact the technology is helping us very very much, and we try to take the most of this evolution day by day!!

7. Do you think that electronic music can transmit emotions and feelings as music played by real instruments or “orchestra” do?

M: Absolutely ! It doesn't matter what you use to make music , the only important thing is if you like it , if you feel something listen to it, and for us if we have fun making it.

The electronic mucis was born many years ago and is still (and always more) at the top of the charts and appreciated by the people.It wouldn't be so if it was something that the people consider fake or without feelings.

J: sure it can! I find that synths can often create feeling that you would find in a mixture of Classical instruments. Besides that, they are extremely futuristic and Magical.

G: talking about the feeling we get from music and every other art form, it really doesn’t matter how and where it comes from but the only question is: do we like it?

8. In some songs of your first album, “EUROPOP” it seems that there is an influence of Depeche Mode style. Do you confirm it? If so, do you feel near to the ’80 music!!?

M: Yes we do. We consider Depeche Mode one of the best reference bands for who like us has a big passion for the electronic music.

We are 27,27 and 30 years old, that means that we were teen-agers during the 80's.

And that's the best period to discover your musical passions.That's probably the most important reason why we feel really into the 80's melodies and arrangements.

J: Absolutely! We were kids in the 80’s and we’ve grown up listening to Depeche Mode and all the Great bands of the 80’s. We can surely say that, even if not completely, there is a great 80’s music influence.

G: Yes, of course we took inspiration more than once from the 80’s sounds because I think is the music we grew up with, and Depeche Mode are one of our favorite bands of those years.

9. Usually, do you write and compose music together? Do you think there is a real union between the musical trends of Maury, Jeffrey and Gabry?  Or maybe your different backgrounds are the secret to write music which sounds so innovative!?

M: Our personal musical tastes have in common many things but at the same time they are differents.Also our backgrounds. And that helps us a lot, because it makes our sounds various and different comparing to the other productions.

J: We normally write music together and it’s obvious that our different musical backgrounds put a vibe to all the Eiffel 65 work. Maury with his pop and Classical Music background, Gabry with his DJ power for the Tracks and Jeffrey for his Pop and Hip hop style. All in one flavour. Very important to mention is that Eiffel 65 has a great support production team, Bliss Co. A great family and supportive as a mother would be.

10. And what about the typical piano sound of “BLUE”? Have you maintained it in some songs of the new album?

M: The strong presence of the piano in Europop is probably my fault. I started to take classic piano lessons when I was 5 , and for 9 years. So it's normal for me to put it on a song , and often it's my way to compose new melodies. But in "Contact!" we haven't used it so much, just only in a few tracks.

J: Some cases yes but in other tracks we’ve started using it in a different way too.

G: The “typical” piano sound of Blue…as the question already says, was part of the arrangement of the old album, and we choose to find something different for the new songs, but we still have inside the new album a couple of songs like that.

11. We heard there are some house tracks on ”CONTACT!”. Do you think that the atmosphere of house music can be near to the world (musical and not only) of EIFFEL 65?

M: Why not? Everything that refers to the electronic music, that makes you dance and sing at the same time , sounds innovative and that we like could always be part of the Eiffel 65 world .Anyway the new generation of house is based on the electronic sounds and the use of the past musical samples which are things that we like to use too.Daft Punk are teachers of this, and we like the Daft Punk style. It doesn't matter if the results sounds more house or tekno or pop.We like music at 360° !

J: It all depends on how this things blends with the production. It’s true that there are house tracks but they are blended with the Eiffel 65 Style. So at the end of it all it fits in.

G: I don’t think you could really find any pure “House track”, or “Underground track”, or “Tekno track”, or ”Pop track” inside the album “Contact”. But you can surely find an atmosphere that is the result of many influences due to the evolution of the musical tendence of the last years...We let the people find a definition for the music they want to listen to…

12. EIFFEL 65 lyrics talks about people and life, and have also touched arguments and themes of social importance. The contents of “CONTACT” are different? More or less deep?

M: Regarding the lyrics of "Contacts!" I'm very satisfied and proud. And I thank you Jeffrey for this, because he always understand what we're looking for, and he's really able to write and sing in a very good way and always with an original style.  The lyrics of this album touch different themes but always regarding life and people. Sometimes they are more direct, other times more deep but always interesting.

J: More or less the same concept but expanding to other facts of life and mainly about our passion for computers and Technology. The line of truth are the facts of our lives.

G: When we compose a new song we really don’t want to “change the world” with its meaning, we choose an argument and try to give our point of wiew, maybe using metaphors like a “colour” to describe a “lifestyle” ecc… We always try to give positive message to the people, because listening to the music is fun, and the world is already full of negatives thing…

13. Do you really feel “LUCKY”? Tell us something us about the new single!

M: How could I say that we are not lucky after all that happened in the last 2 years? We consider "Lucky" as one of the most shining songs of the new album. And absolultely the best one for the summer release. The strangest thing is that it was born in the last 5 hours before we put down the definitive track list for the album, and we've already had other 31 songs to choose from! There's somebody who says that “the easy comers are the best goers”!. Maybe he's right.

J: When we compose a new song we really don’t want to “change the world” with its meaning, we choose an argument and try to give our point of wiew, maybe using metaphors like a “colour” to describe a “lifestyle” ecc…

We always try to give positive message to the people, because listening to the music is fun, and the world is already full of negatives thing…

G: That’s for sure..We’re lucky because we do what we like to do in our lives, because we have many fans that appreciate our work and this is the biggest satisfaction you could ever have..Talking about the single i will tell you in a few months if it’ll be so lucky too.. We hope so!!

14. Do you still use your “playstation”? What do you think about the way that  young people live today? Do you think that the huge presence of internet, videogames, and all that technology can have a bad or good influences on the new generations?

M: I don't have so much time to use the playstation anymore but I still love it. I think that the young people today for many things are more luckier than we were in the past. There are a lot of interesting things that we didn't see at the same age. One of these is the high technology. Especially regarding internet and videogames. I don't believe that technology could represent a danger or have a bad influence. Not if it's used with intelligence and without excess. I believe that the war has a bad influence , the drugs has a bad influence. Instead of it I believe that Internet is a good way to start to communicate with the rest of the world, and videogames are just one way of having fun and sometimes to stimulate the brain, which is useful and not dangerous.

J: Not at all! We still use Playstation, when we have the time to, and the influence that technology has on the new generations today is showing it’s benefits in many ways. Thanks to internet the world is slowly becoming one big community and the opportunities that musicians has today are 100 times greater than the ones they had 10 years ago. More and easier exposition, More and faster tools. The only things is that you have to remember that a machine can’t be a man.

15. During the last 2 years, you reached the top of the charts all over the world. Do you feel that success changed something in your life style, and in  relations with your friends?

M: The things that have changed in my life are: the people recognize me also far from my neighborhood , my professional satisfaction , I travel a lot and …of course… my bank account.

The friends I have are always the same I had 15 years ago.They are happy for me because they know exactly my past and all the sacrifices I went through to make this dream come true. Our relations are always stronger than before.

J: Honestly very few are the things that have changed thanks to success. Maybe we can say that we have a couple of bucks more than we had before and that it’s a pleasure to give autographs to our fans but in the everyday life it’s all pretty much the same, most of all with our friends and family.

G: How couldn’t have my life changed …When you get such a big succes many things are going to change, it depends on you, taking the advantage of it and keeping intact what is really important for you in your life…like for example your family, friends, health…

This succes surely gave us the opportunity to travel all around the world, to see new places, to meet new people,new cultures, to learn many things from all that, especially for our job as producers..because you never know how things really are , if you don’t see them whit your own eyes, if you don’t feel them with on your own skin..

16. You are gonna have a big tour around the world. Do you miss your home when you are 10.000 km far of it?

M: It's the only bad thing of being famous. Yes I miss my private life , my family ,my home,my friends , my 2 dogs , my cat and also my studio.

J: You bet we do! This is surely one of the so called turn about being famous. The world is one hell of a beautiful place but there’s no place like home!

17. What do you like of being the “idols” of so many fans around the world? And what you don’t like of being so famous?

M: I don't know what it means being an idol because I feel to be the same person than I was before success. That's probably because I've always been a fan of the Music, instead of being a real fan of one artist or a band. I like some artist more than others but I love the songs, the music! It doesn't matter where they come from.

If I should say what I like of being an "idol" for somebody I think I could answer that: it's grateful, it makes me realize that I'm doing a good job and most of all that makes me deeply understand that only the people have the power to make you become a star, nothing else, so I do not have to forget it, ever. We love the fans and we use to spend as much time as we can with them. There's only one thing that I don't like so much of being famous : sometimes you have to spend too much time travelling far from where you live and from the people you love.

But mainly being famous is good and it guarantees you a lot of respect, even if it's only for a short time.

J: The nice thing of being famous, besides the gratification of living thanks to music, is that you have the chance to give an example and with this probably teach something to your fans.

G: That’s amazing… I often keep on seeing those images, when i go to bed, all those people screaming and shouting during the concerts, all those children shaking your hands and asking autographs..it’s a strange situation, sometimes you feel happy,sometimes invincible, but the biggest fear inside you is always a question: “Will I be able not to disappoint them?”…And we have to thanks each one of them for their devotion and for making us what we are..

18. What is the craziest thing a fan has done for you?

M: I remember that one time a girl during a live show was 100% painted of Blue,also the teeth. And there are 2 girls that sometimes come in our studios in Turin from England only to stay 2 hours with us.

J: The craziest thing a fan has done that I can remember is to come all the way over to Turin to bring me a great Doll of me. Boy that was a surprise.

19. Last year you did concerts all over the world including U.S.A., EUROPE and RUSSIA, and you always did live performances. Have you learned something about the  importance of music for people? Do you think that music can be useful for teaching something to the new generations?

M: Absolutely. It has always been so. Music is communication, it can be useful or dangerous as all the communications instruments are. That's why it has to be used in the right way.

We write our lyrics always giving a positive message. And our live show is conceived to be a party where the people communicate and have fun.

J: Concerts for us have been a great way to understand people all over the world and see how people expect you to be and how surprised they can get seeing you on stage (most of all in USA). I can say that Eiffel 65 concerts has been a great way for us to teach people what an Electronic music concert can do and for Eiffel to learn to fit the peoples needs world wide.

20. When you are on stage, do you feel the emotions of people listening? Do you believe in the magic of music?

M: If you don't feel the feelings of the people on stage you have an iceberg instead of a heart.

And if I wouldn't believe in the magic of the music I wouldn't be here to answer your questions because I wouldn't deserve it and I also wouldn't be able to do it.

J: I’m sure that we wouldn’t be where we are today if we didn’t believe in this magic called music. It’s always a different emotion to be on stage and sometimes it’s really hard to be up there!!

21. You will surely remain in the history of music, thanks to the results obtained with your song “BLUE”. In your opinion, what’s amazing in this song? Why this incredible success?

M: Thank you for this compliment, even if it sounds a little bit too exagerated. "Blue" is a combination of many lucky things and a big passion for music. Anyway I think that it's a good pop song into an innovative dance groove; you can sing it as you can dance it. The lyrics talk about a lifestyle, so something that could represent everybody without any prejudice. And the video is original and interesting because it puts us in a virtual world like in a videogame.

But the best thing is that we composed this song only with the intention of having fun, without hunting for a hit, only following our instinct.

J: Wow. I can surely say that the Chorus of Blue is its strong part. The way this chorus has worked it’s way into people’s hearts and minds has made it the hit it is today. There are also other lucky factors that have made this a curious song; for example the title “Blue” has many Different Meaning all around the world, in English it means sad, in Italian it’s a colour, in German it means Drunk and in Russian it means Gay. The video, our look and all the rest have put more flavour to the hit itself.

22. Have you ever done Pop music? Even if your songs sounds like dance-pop, have you ever thought about the possibility of  doing some R & B or Rock songs?

M: I believe that our style is always pop, you can dance to it but there's always a pop song at the top of it. R&B and Rock are based on different things comparing to what is our ordinary world. But the inspiration comes from everything, sometimes also from styles so far from ours. For example during the last tour in the USA, we were used to play in big festivals with artists like BonJovi, Sugar Ray , Lenny Kravits, Destiny's Child and Sisqo.

We've learnt a lot from them, especially from the way of entertaining people during a live show.We don't wanna put a limit to our way of making music, but we have a strong influence from the electronic music we were born with, so we would hardly change it with something else, especially if it's too far from our musical roots.

J: Not yet although some Hip Hop influences have shown up in tracks like “Living in a Bubble” and if we ever will come up with this it will always be mixed with the Eiffel 65 musical concept.

23. Recently, you have received a nomination for the GRAMMY AWARDS 2001, as Best Dance Group. Being There, has been something like realizing a dream, or do you prefere other aspects of your work?

M: Being nominated for the Grammy Awards is one of the best "material" things that could happen to an artist. It's absolutely a dream that becomes true. But it's not what we're working for.In fact we haven't been there because we were too busy composing the songs for the new album. And that's abolutely what I prefer.

J: Making the music itself is surely the best part of it all but the Grammys and the Awards are great to receive but after the music the fans are our smile.

24. Do you still use your “Playstation”? What do you think about the way that  young people live today? Do you think that the huge presence of internet, videogames, and all that technology can have a bad or good influences on the new generations?

M: I don't have so much time to use the playstation anymore but I still love it. I think that the young people today for many things are more luckier than we were in the past. There are a lot of interesting things that we didn't see at the same age. One of these is the high technology. Especially regarding internet and videogames. I don't believe that technology could represent a danger or have a bad influence. Not if it's used with intelligence and without excess. I believe that the war has a bad influence , the drugs has a bad influence. Instead of it I believe that Internet is a good way to start to communicate with the rest of the world, and videogames are just one way of having fun and sometimes to stimulate the brain, which is useful and not dangerous.

J: Not at all! We still use Playstation, when we have the time to, and the influence that technology has on the new generations today is showing it’s benefits in many ways. Thanks to internet the world is slowly becoming one big community and the opportunities that musicians has today are 100 times greater than the ones they had 10 years ago. More and easier exposition, More and faster tools. The only things is that you have to remember that a machine can’t be a man.

25. Have you got some projects for the future? Maybe writing an autobiografy?

M: The first project is always composing music, but I love writing, and why not an autobiography?

It could be possible.

J: Pretty hard to say today, for sure we are not thinking so far ahead, the future is today and every minute you make of it.

26. And if someone proposes you a movie about you??

M: I've never thought about me as an actor, so I could try but without any ambitions , only for having fun and try new sensations. Anyway I think that to tinterpretate yourself is less difficult than interpretate somebody else, at least you don't have to learn anything that you don't know yet. Jokes apart I don't know how I could be interesting as an actor, but I believe that the Eiffel 65 story could be very interesting, and it could be titled: "When a dream becomes true…..!" ..not really original but 100% true.

J: I don’t think there is such an interesting story to make a movie of it but who knows, we could be LUCKY!

[ibloggingkits-blog]

New Post has been published on Blogging kits

New Post has been published on https://bloggingkits.org/higher-schooling-low-regulation/

Higher schooling, low regulation

The College Grants Commission (UGC) notification, that Better educational institutions once decided on for being advanced into international-elegance universities, will be freed of regulatory clutches, is a public admission that regulation is a chief stumbling block in selling excellence in training. The concept is further strengthened by means of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) transferring to noticeably reduce its involvement within the charter of the IIM board and the choice and appointment of their chairperson and directors. Disquieting as those may also sound in view of the lengthy-held notion that Higher training is just too important to be left to the vagaries of market forces, and that guidelines are imagined to set norms and requirements to make sure first-rate and promote excellence, the harsh realities at the ground go away one without an alternative but to concur with this method.

Higher Schooling

Time bears this out. The first three universities in modern India had been mounted in 1857, whereas The primary regulator of Better education, the UGC, took place handiest in 1956, even though a free coordination mechanism, the Inter-University Board (IUB), a precursor to the existing Association of Indian Universities (AIU), had come into life in 1925. For this reason, within the first section spanning over seven decades, Better schooling in India grew on its personal, in self-regulatory surroundings.

This era noticed the establishment of 23 universities, all of these regarded as higher institutions, so much so that 13 of them (or 57 in keeping with cent) are indexed inside the pinnacle one hundred universities inside the MHRD-led Countrywide Institutional Rating Framework (NIRF) list. The second one phase that started out with the formation of the IUB lasted for three many years, in the course of which universities endured to function as self-sufficient bodies, with a unfastened coordination and session mechanism to manual them. at some point of This period, 37 universities had been hooked up within u. S . — of which as many as 15 (41 per cent) are nowadays ranked within the NIRF listing of the top a hundred.

Higher Thesaurus

The third section started with Parliament enacting a law to set up the College Offers Commission (UGC) as a self-reliant frame, to resource and advocate the government on Better education policy and financing, and to coordinate and maintain standards in Better education. Armed with statutory powers to prescribe requirements, the UGC, as a sole regulator, went on to turn out to be the final word on all components of University existence; it used its financing characteristic as a strong lever to curtail the powers of universities to take their own decisions.

In the course of this 36 12 months-period, the wide variety of universities grew rapidly to 150 — however simplest a fourth of them nowadays find a place within the NIRF listing of the top a hundred universities. The modern-day and fourth segment began in 1992, with the establishment of a sequence of new regulators just like the All India Council for Technical training (AICTE), National Council for Trainer schooling (NCTE), and so forth., and with the empowerment of current professional our bodies like the Clinical Council of India (MCI), the Council of Architecture (CoA), the Bar Council of India (BCI), and so on., to regulate Higher training falling below their professional domains. The segment is characterized by means of an excessive law of Better education by means of multiple regulators. This era additionally witnessed galloping growth in public and personal universities; 589 universities were set up considering 1992 — a mere 6 per cent were top enough to discover an area inside the pinnacle one hundred lists.

Lamentably, the complex regulatory paraphernalia operating extra time to set standards in Better schooling, and to check out in order to ensure adherence through Better academic establishments, has simplest verified counter-efficient. It has now not simplest obviously didn’t promote excellence, it has even failed to test the fast and unabated increase of a huge quantity of grossly unequipped, mediocre Higher educational institutions.

Manifestly, the absence of regulators did no longer necessarily destroy the colleges, however most importantly, too near a monitoring and micro-control machine through one or many regulators has not necessarily helped universities enhance their performance.

Lest the above conclusion is challenged on the floor that the older an institution receives, the better endowed it becomes in phrases of funds, centers, and faculty, and therefore, it is age, now not regulation, that topics, two extra bits of evidence become eminent. The primary one, as supplied in Desk 2, speaks for itself. The truth that a significantly larger proportion of the IIMs (forty-five percent), IITs (sixty-nine according to cent and IISERs (fifty-seven according to cent) discover place inside the pinnacle one hundred listing, as compared to the ridiculously low share inside the case of Critical (24 according to cent), Deemed (20 according to cent), State (6 consistent with cent) and personal (2 per cent) universities, truly proves that institutions out of doors the purview of distinguished regulators are, any day, higher off than the ones under their direct command.

Free Online Schooling

The second little bit of evidence is all of the more ubiquitous. Not one of the 16 Primary universities set up in 2009 and onward find a point out in the pinnacle one hundred list of universities. In comparison, as a minimum three of the IIMs and three of the IITs mounted in 2009 or after were able to make it to the pinnacle a hundred list of the overall Higher academic establishments. Further, four of the IISERs and one NIPER mounted in 2006 or after have made it to the coveted list. Such proof is more than a aa003e33992aa1e42449a037e2560bf2 for regulators in Better education, dealing with urgent existential demanding situations. Whilst nobody doubts their intentions or credibility, their method is simply not operating. The regulators need reform — and these reforms need to return from within.

Demanding situations and Possibilities inside the Context of Internationalization of Higher education The world Financial institution’s 1991 ‘international Development File’ has made a totally thrilling commentary that the scientific and technological development and enhanced productivity in any nation have a close link with funding in human capital in addition to the first-rate of the economic surroundings. scientific and technological talents are, however, unevenly allotted within the international and are related with the schooling machine in a country.

The twenty-first century has visible quite massive modifications in Better schooling systems each in phrases of the complexity of the systems and also in phrases of its application for converting schooling into an effective device for social and monetary adjustments. a very exciting courting is rising amongst education, information, conversion of knowledge into suitable entities from an alternate point of view, wealth and economic system.

Internationalization of education includes the policies and practices undertaken by instructional structures and institutions and even individuals-to cope with the worldwide academic environment. The motivations for internationalization consist of industrial benefit, information and language acquisition, enhancing the curriculum with the global content material, and many others. Particular projects together with department campuses, go-border collaborative arrangements, applications for global college students, establishing English-medium applications and tiers, and others have been positioned into vicinity as a part of internationalization. Efforts to screen international initiatives and ensure fine are necessary to the international Better education surroundings.

The Higher training machine internationally has witnessed extra exciting revolutions. The first is attached to the arrival and use of computer systems in coaching and mastering, as well as research and The second, is related to communication revolution. these days, schooling transcends throughout the geographical barriers. Except, the structure and context of educational paintings also have passed through an extremely good change. Student range and the executive and pedagogical needs of recent modes of curricula delivery symbolize the educational’s regular running surroundings.

The accomplishment of any instructional trade is related to the readiness of instructors to put in force new techniques and revolutionary practices. the existing paper is an try and apprehends the role of the instructors in the internationalization of Higher training in India. The focus of the prevailing paper is to be acquainted with the challenges and Possibilities for college in the context of internationalization of Higher education and their inclination to confirm the change.

A growing range of papers and research report the numerous methods wherein the University experience of college students, instructional and administrative team of workers has been greatly transformed [Chandler & Clark 2001, Deem 2001]. Student diversity and the administrative and pedagogical demands of new models of curricula delivery characterize the instructional’s normal working environment. Identities, as teachers are underneath constant project as an academic group of workers, tackle more than one and often conflicting roles as experts, researchers, teachers, counselors and global marketers. Aid for lecturers involved in international activities is scarce and the Relevant strategic manipulate of resources with its needs for flexibility compromises the best of educational life.

A qualitative take a look at examines the role of international enjoy inside the transformative studying of girl educators as it pertains to expert Improvement in a Better education context. It additionally investigates how the gaining knowledge of productions of these studies was transferred to the members’ home us of a. Nine American girl college and directors who labored at universities in Arab countries within the Gulf area participated on this have a look at.

The results advocate that the transformative gaining knowledge of-of the lady educators became reflected in three topics: changes in private and expert attitudes, experiencing a new study room environment that protected distinct college students’ gaining knowledge of style and unexpected lecture room behavior and broadening of individuals’ international views. Any other take a look at sought to assess how and why a few Higher education establishments have answered to components of globalization and, specifically how organizational subculture influences universities’ responses to globalization. Using a predominantly qualitative, blended-methods approach, empirical studies changed into used to discover the impact of globalization at 4 Canadian universities. A more than one, case-examine technique changed into used to acquire a depth of know-how to set up the colleges’ subculture, institutional strategies, and practices in reaction to globalization.

[lazybarbarians]

Moving Target by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry

Ragnell: This week we read Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure. It’s the YA novel for the new Star Wars canon set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, a companion to last week’s selection actually, and actually has ½ the same authors.

The story takes place a few months after ESB, when the ship Leia’s riding on gets attacked. This sets up the background, which is that she and luke have been identified as symbols for the Alliance and are being moved around secretly and separately because they are massive targets. The entire Alliance has split into small cells that never stay in one place very long since the Hoth attack.

Leia’s being doing recruitment and diplomatic visits. She gets called to see the rest of Alliance High Command and finds out there’s a new Death Star being built, and the Alliance needs to gather the fleet and plan an attack before construction is complete, but they need to avoid Imperial attention. To that end, Leia volunteers to act as a decoy and draw Imperial attention away from the gathering by posting a fake recruitment mission and just basically being a moving target.

During this she speaks to Luke and Mon Mothma, which are very sweet scenes in which both characters try to convince her that it's perfectly acceptable to put aside her sense of duty to rescue Han. (Han’s rescue is not something the Alliance can afford to do, but no one’s objecting to a small volunteer force.)

After that she collects her team of dupes, a naive idealistic comm specialist named Kidi, a literal-minded mechanic named Antrot, the pilot Nien Nunb (Lando’s co-pilot during the RotJ Death Star run), and a commando named Lokmarcha, Lok for short. Lok is assigned by one of the Interchangeable Disposable Alliance Generals You Will Never See Outside This Story as a bodyguard for Leia, which she understands but is annoyed at. Only Leia and Lok know the mission is a decoy, the others are fairly earnest and a source of guilt for Leia.

They set up beacons using old encryption codes Leia knows the empire cracked at 3 different locations. The first one involves climbing up a chimney, the second meeting cool pirates, and the third a farmer matriarch who says she’s just gonna tell the Empire to go fly a kite as soon as they’re done setting this stuff up. Both the first and second meeting points get a very fast visit from a very bland villainess who has a Star Destroyer. Why she gets a Star Destroyer I don’t know. The third involves Leia breaking the truth to her whole team and helping the matriarch defend against the Imperials. Then she goes to the fake meeting point to warn away the recruits, and gets captured.

They come up with some plan to blow up the ship, but instead Lok dies in a grisly manner because he has a suicide EMP device in his chest, Leia stealing the bland villainess’s clothes and Antrot dies blowing up the ship so they can escape the Star destroyer. The recruits attack the thing to help them, Leia, Kidi and Nien survive and Leia calls Luke who tells her that they’re ready to start the third movie.

Oh, and Kidi and Lok got together so Kidi can be sad about Lok’s death and Leia can connect the whole thing to Han but there’s barely any page time spent on it.

So, this book is annoying to me because it could be a lot better than it is. And it has some good parts, mainly Leia’s characterization, and the scenes with Mon Mothma, Luke, and Nien. A few here and there during the mission too. But it falls short for two reasons for me.

First, it starts off implying that Leia and Luke have been traveling on different ships and not really doing much for the better part of the year while Han is gone. I don’t like that, it seems wasteful. This is prime twin-teamup time, and there should be room left for stories where they do even if this particular one is a Leia solo story. But it seems to position itself to account for most of the year, and while the interaction with Luke is wonderful the wistfulness implies that she just hasn’t been able to see him much since Bespin and I hate that. So right away, the book loses some points for me.

The second problem is that Leia is presented as needing a specific character arc in this. In ESB, we saw her open herself up to romantic love. We didn’t see her learn to put aside her sense of duty, a core concept of the character since her first appearance, to allow herself that time. And the writers have the best idea, they present this perfectly in the early scenes with Luke and Mon Mothma. We see Leia’s pessimism and cynicism contrasted against Luke’s faith. Then we get Mon Mothma pulling Leia aside to tell her it’s OKAY to want a life for herself, it’s okay to pull back from her duties to work to get that. So Leia starts out the book thinking it’s selfish to have romance and she won’t be able to have Han back anyway.

Over the course of the mission, she changes her mind. Which is the problem. There’s really not a lot in the mission driving this lesson home. The four parts of the mission itself never really give Leia reason to reflect on Han. She reflects on her time in the Death Star, and balances whether the ends justify the means but there’s not a lot to remind her what she’s lost. Instead it lets her get her mind completely off of Han while she’s working.

The background romance between Kidi and Lok reminds her of herself and Han when they catch them kissing, but there’s not a lot of groundwork laid during the bickering and honestly not a lot of parallels between either character and Han, or really either character and Leia. Lok’s death should underscore this lesson too, but we never see how Leia connects the dots. Really, the only character on the entire crew who reminds us of Han is Nien Nunb, who’s a little roguish and a source of humor, while the others are all aspects we see in Luke -- an innocent technician, a young idealist, and a badass commando who’s willing to sacrifice himself to give everyone else a shot.

It would’ve been better to shape the mission around something that drives home Leia’s central character arc, rather than have it be work that takes her mind off her problems with a brief interlude of two people with a situation that vaguely resembles her. Maybe more use of the one character with traits in common with Han, I know they can't kill Nien but they could have made Leia fear for him more. Instead we got a quick death for a character in a romance as a cheat to a lesson, and I know both Castellucci and Fry can write better than this.

Kalinara: I didn’t find the book quite as annoying as you did. But I do agree that there were a lot of missed opportunities.

The best part of the book were the canon characters, honestly. As you mentioned, the dynamic between Luke and Leia was lovely. Their scenes together shined. I also really liked the way Mon Mothma was used. She was a welcome maternal figure, one who wasn’t afraid to talk to Leia about her losses and encourage her to find happiness where she could.

The biggest problem for me was that it feels like this book basically shunts Leia to the side of any meaningful plot during this time period. I mean, Lando and Chewbacca are looking for Han. Luke is doing...Jedi stuff. Leia’s part of a distraction mission to hide the rebels’ true plans regarding the Second Death Star. A mission that we know is pointless, since the Second Death Star was a trap anyway.

Leia has strong, appealing characterization, but the characters that she’s stuck bouncing off of are basically stock placefillers. Kidi is the sweet ultra-liberal, tree-hugging stereotype girl, Lok is the frowning by the book military guy, the third dude, Antrot? Is basically whiny nerd comic relief so forgettable that I’m still not sure I got his name right.

Leia never has an opportunity to really connect to any of these characters, and there’s really no reason given that she should. The only one she has any sort of real connection with is Lok, and she does shine there, as she manages to smoothly assert her authority while still respecting his concerns.

I think it stands out to me because one of the best parts of the first (or maybe second) chapter was Leia musing about how her life in the Rebellion hadn’t given her the opportunity for friendship. Luke, Han, Chewie, the Droids, they were the first time she really was able to connect to people on that level. I expected that to mean something with these new characters. I expected to see Leia make friends. But it never really happened.

It’s not just a matter of these characters being OCs, because authors in both the Expanded Universe and the new canon have managed to introduce OC friends for Leia that worked very well. Winter was a staple in the old canon. And Ransolm Casterfo, for all the complications there, had a very vivid connection to Leia in Bloodlines. So it is absolutely doable. But it didn’t happen here.

Lok came closest, but he was still more archetype than man. Kidi and Antrot were too young and wide-eyed. Which is a bit weird to say, considering how Leia latched onto Luke. But Luke was a kid who rescued her and was never in her direct command, so there’s a subtle difference there. She and Luke and Han were equals in an emotional sense, and these kids are not.

Nien Nunb comes closest. He’s definitely the most vivid of the characters (I admit, I think of him almost as an original character because it took me ages to remember who he was. I fail Star Wars forever). And he and Leia do interact a lot more like friends, but there isn’t much chance to explore that relationship dynamic either. He always seems to miss the fun chimney climbing adventures, only to rejoin them again later.

I think maybe the problem is that the authors were trying too hard for the romantic parallel, which meant we wasted way too much time watching Kidi and Lok play Ollie and Hal on a road trip, rather than seeing Leia’s relationship develop with either character. They should have gone for a friendship parallel instead. Because that’s the thing, Han was Leia’s friend long before he was her love. And Leia isn’t just neglecting her feelings for Han during this time period, she’s also letting duty get in the way of being with Luke. (In that sense, I actually liked that they hadn’t interacted much during this time period. I think it fits with Leia’s theme.) She needs to learn that she can be selfish, so to speak, and value her friends, and be able to find happiness with them. Both the friend she loves romantically, and the friend that she doesn’t.

And honestly, I thought Lok’s death was rather disturbing for a YA novel. Maybe I’m just an old fuddy-duddy, but that was a bit much.