#whether or not he has the ability to speak. really good improv guys great job

[seilon]

as of the beginning of ep7 i think the best teamwork (and the funniest) ive seen between the boys and crystal has got to be, of all things, that time crystal had both of them throw a bunch of shit around and toss this edgy teenager into desks and stuff because he couldn’t see ghosts and just had to assume that crystal was a terrifying telekinetic force of nature. kind of beautiful really

[yuvon-writes-letters]

Hey guys :)

Maybe I'm going chronological for one time, so I can sort my thoughts easier.

Yeah, Goldie's much mire active than I would've thought, too. But they did all those things to keep me alive and kind of save, since we still don't know who they are exactly working against. (I mean, we don't know who Goldie exactly is either, but you get my point)

Honestly, I am pretty sure the TSB timeline is continuing, at least if my theory that Goldie just set me back in an alternate timeline is true. In this case I feel sorry for TSB, though..Extremely sorry. He still was 'my' Jake back then, even though he acted weird in the end (maybe was manipulated by entities). I mean, if what he wrote was true he went with authorities. And in the end..this could've been his downfall.

And yeah, maybe I'm not exactly safe, but I just have to go back. If I go, and if I lose my job, I have some things to sort out. And Jake luckily agreed with me that clearing up my desk isn't the worst thing I can do before leaving. We're still thinking about a location, which I could luckily deside myself. Max agreed on that. Even though he still has some doubts. (I mean, of course...His cousin opened the door with bruises all over her face.) He did promise to not ask any questions until I feel ready, though. That gives myself and Jake some time to figure that out.

And also, Jake is right! We have three Jakes and three smart people. YUVON. And of course Goldie, like you said Yu :) And some information about the previous timeline. (And that was it with being chronological)

So yeah, like I said, Max and I'll go. And I also think we can be pretty certain now that the message came from Goldie not the MWAF (which is relieving). I saw the messages and they didn't make Jake the bad guy. I honestly just don't think I can quote them yet. (They're too good, but I probably start daydreaming if I do) But they talk about Jake being an important part of my life and my heart and Max protecting me when he cannot. My dear cousin jumped to conclusions when he saw my bruised face. About Max' phone...I'll probably throw it in a river or something if he brings it with him. I told him not to, also because of Jake (he's not only worried about the MWAF apparently...He didn't exactly say it out loud, but I think it's pretty obvious) but he loves this device.

And I emphasize with you about the being kidnapped thing, you'll manage it, I know it :) And if I need to jump dimensions and box some sense into your Crow-Crew xD

No but for real, you can do that. I know it :)

Jake, find a good point in time to talk to her. But do it :)

Otherwise, I still think the 'underlying desire' theory is a possibility! But, like always in the moment, we could be wrong.

As for my stasis, I really do not wish to talk to more people who think I've been kidnapped. And I am a bit scared that could somehow lead to either them or me being in more danger again. But for now we have to wait.

I for now will pack some important things and paper & pens xD I don't want to leave y'all behind :P

Liska🐾🔥

[A screenshot is glued to the back of the letter and the quick sentence "Jake wants to talk to Jake" is written above]

Hello Jake, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am not quite sure in which way Liska will handle giving you my message, but she promised me to not read it for now.

I don't know whether she told you before or not, but as far as I am concerned she realised I am not only worried about the MWAF chasing her.

With me breaking out of this stasis I am sure that my followers aren't that far behind. And I know you can't do anything from where you are, but cross checking way to protect her doesn't seem to bad to me. Especially since we are similar but still fairly different from each other. At least it seems like that from what I have read.

For my part, I recently improved and updated Nym-OS which allows me access to Liskas whereabouts. If Yuvon should read this, she knows and agrees to it.

Still I am yet stuck on one little detail: I am trying to help Nym-OS in counterattacking. So, even though I am sure you already knoe this yourself, Nym-OS gets the ability to access location of the people attacking Liskas phone. I am almost done with that, so we are able to see a bit easier if and where people are that could be a danger.

Do you have any other ideas for ways I could help? Or even improve what I am doing momentarily. I wouldn't normally ask this since I know and trust my skills, but I think that this is fairly different from a 'normal situation'.

~ Jake

Lis,

Um. I don't know if you've seen the newest person to send in a letter, but we now have an issue.

Jessy, if you're reading this, I was sort of trying to avoid talking about this right away but I'm sort of trapped in a weird place, and Jake's here too because I'm a dumbass. I did not, so you know, let him read your letter or my reply. I figured you wouldn't want that. Sorry for dancing around the issue earlier :/ But at least you can get a good sample of the complete insanity we go through on the regular now!

Yeah... you're getting thrown into the deep end right now, aren't you. Sorry. There's no way to ease into this. You should probably either stop reading these entirely or start reading the letters from the beginning, so this will all at least make some sense. The first letter should start with the words "To whoever reads this," just so you know you get the right one.

Back to you, Lis. Yeah, I feel pretty bad for TSB Jake too. I honestly can't imagine being in his position right now.

Alright. So, you can choose the place. Great! There's way less chance of you being caught that way...

Tragedies just seem to be happening to all us Duskwood detectives, recently, don't they? Rai is chronically overworked and barely has time to sleep, I'm stuck in this hellhole and I've been forgotten by most everyone, you were shot, and poor Matt died and... well.

I never knew him, but I feel really bad for him :(

You could give Max half the truth. Tell him you have a stalker, and he's starting to get physical. Jake has been trying to help you get away from the asshole. It's not even a lie, just... not the full truth. Because. You know. The whole truth is completely fucking insane.

Writing to Jessy just put into perspective how insane everything is, I think. Gimme a sec.

Oh, fuck. My Jessy just texted me. Great timing.

Jeez that whole thing with me leaving myself out was just a joke XD If I knew you and Jake would take it so seriously, I'd never have said anything. I'll steer clear from now on.

Yeah, okay, definitely Goldie. That makes way more sense. I don't think you have to be quite so drastic as destroying the phone. Just get him to leave it at home for the trip.

Ahaha, thanks. I don't think that's necessary, though. Actually, seeing future!Jessy's perspective has caused a bit of a paradigm shift. I think I might need to reconsider what all to tell and not to tell the Crow Crew. I just sort of default to keeping things secret, now, but you've seen how well that worked for me with you and Rai, and with Jake.

Again, you probably should wait for them to contact you first, but you WILL need to talk to them when that happens. What you say to them and what you don't is up to you.

Pack a couple different pens XD We're all a bit long-winded.

That's all from me :)

(The handwriting changes to Jake's.) Hallo, Lis.

Yuvon refuses to tell me what precisely she means about Jessica. Was she somehow contacted by an alternate version of Jessica? If so, how?

I am glad it was Goldie who contacted Max. Yuvon's suggestion for an excuse seems a good one, as there are far less things to remember that way. You simply need to oversimplify everything.

I do not, unfortunately, entirely believe that Yuvon was joking when she made that comment, based on previous comments and her ongoing guilt. I can't understand sometimes why she feels the need to lie so much. It is difficult for me to read people, much less her.

I will speak to her eventually. Early tomorrow, perhaps, if nothing else rears its head. Yuvon looks tired, and I am also admittedly not at my peak. I sincerely hope she does not wake up as early as she does every single day. It may get somewhat taxing, what with the lack of coffee here.

I think that is all from me to you, Lis. If you would kindly find a way to send the next section to my counterpart without looking at it, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you :)

—Jake and Yuvon

Jake,

It is a pleasure to meet you as well, despite the unusual circumstances.

That our pursuers may be freed from the stasis is a logical conclusion. Seeing as the last known location I had on them in my universe was approximately five hundred miles from Duskwood, they will likely be some of the first to free themselves from the stasis. I do not believe I need to warn you that time is of the essence.

It seems as if I am a small distance ahead of you in the development of countermeasures, perhaps because I have had more linear time to develop them. If you are where I think you are at in the development, you likely have or will soon hit a bug you cannot pin down that makes the pinpointing mechanism simply refuse to work at all. Presuming your and my version of NYM-0S are similar enough, the issue should lie in the public bool set in line 132 of the third part of the targeting script, the script that decides what constitutes a target; you have it defaulted to "false" where it should default to "true".

As for additional countermeasures: I was attempting to work on a rudimentary automated system of pattern detection when I was brought here. Essentially, its function would be such that it would be able to triangulate using the locator features already installed to find a rough estimate of where their headquarters might be. However, I have not found any way thus far to eliminate outliers, and as such the feature is currently next to useless. I am no longer able to work on the code, but perhaps you will have more luck than I did.

That is all I can think of for the moment on that subject. However, I have an odd theory on what may be part of the reason we vary so. If you have a moment to spare, please answer me this:

When I was very young, back when Mother was still around, she took me to a doctor for odd behaviors. This included not looking people in the eyes, but there was a list. I was given a diagnosis; if you had the same experience, you should likely know which one.

Did you have this experience? If so, please prove it by stating what the diagnosis was.

Do not worry if you do not know what I am talking about; I would rather you did not guess. Simply state that you don't know. It will confirm my theory.

Good luck with your pursuers.

—Jake

(The letter tucks itself in the paper clip with the others.)

[akechicrimes]

Hey crimes, feel free to disregard this tangent but, do u ever feel like P5 inadvertently or otherwise implied Goro was right with his fake “vigilante justice operates outside and the law and thus must be brought to heel” opinion? What with the fact that the Yaldabaoth confrontation implies the thieves work perpetuated humanity’s sloth AND THEN after an entire game showing us the hundreds of people who were at the v least COMPLICIT in shido’s machinations, a system which is (1)

ohhhhh this one is fun!! this is a super neat question, ty for asking!!!

hmmmmmmmmm

im going to try and break this down into parts, partly because persona 5 is such a convoluted mess with its own lines of thinking, so tell me if i dont do it right. the issues are: (1) goro definitely did say that operating outside the law was bad just on principle that you shouldn’t operate outside the law, and (2) persona 5 did definitely go on to say that all of the phantom thieves’ operations outside the law didn’t come to anything in the first place anyway, because they were only targeting individuals instead of mass systemic corruption/their presence was enabling people to become more apathetic.

i think what persona 5 is trying to get at is that it’s not necessarily that acting outside the law is bad, but that, like you said, targeting only individuals doesn’t work as a tactic. so vigilante justice (e.g. batman style of taking down supervillains) cannot compare to societal reform through collective action.

when i say collective action, i mean that i think persona 5 is trying to point out that “systematic” corruption is really just a corruption of many, many, many individuals working in concert--and that “reform” could just be said to be the opposite, which is activism from many, many, many individuals working in concert.

obviously the ending cutscene where akira;s social link network gets together to protest his arrest is the best example of collective reform, but i think one of the things that i rly like about shido’s wide-spread conspiracy is that it does a rly good job of paralleling akira’s social link network, and pointing out that in the same way that shido’s conspiracy is a collective effort of many many many people that make up a “system,” akira’s widespread social link network creates the opposite effect of a collective effort of many many people that make up a force for change. 

which is why having the phantom thieves as a group itself just promotes more apathy--you get one group of people doing all the work for the rest of society, when if anything’s going to change, we need everyone on their feet.

which surprisingly correct, insofar as i’m aware. if society’s going to change in a substantial way, beyond just changing the hearts of a handful of abusers and letting the rest of the system remain untouched, everyone’s got to be involved. collective effort. do your part. wash your hands. stay indoors. don’t forget to vote. seriously, wash your fucking hands.

but when it comes to whether or not persona 5 says that you shouldn’t be acting outside the law... 

i think persona 5 really really really really really doesnt want to be caught promoting lawbreaking while also being You Should Break The Law: The JRPG.

part of this trouble, i think, is just because they need players to actually like the characters in the game, and therefore all the character have sympathetic reasons for breaking the law. because persona 5 has to sell marketable characters, too, persona 5 itself makes it pretty clear that people who operate “outside the law” are usually not evil dipshit criminals who love sin. the people in persona 5 who act outside the law are usually people who dont have enough power to operate inside the law in the first place. akira, the pt, and goro all seem to have resorted to what they did because they had no societal power at the start, wound up with a persona (aka fast and easy power source), and wouldnt have been able to do anything about their situation otherwise. characters who operate outside the law (like takemi with her vaguely illegal practice, or kawakami and her also vaguely illegal sex work, or iwai and his vaguely illegal gun business) are still supposed to be waifus you are sympathetic towards. 

(...i think i accidentally called iwai a waifu? hmm. on second thought, i’ll just leave that sentence as it is.)

and i really do have to point out that persona 5′s attitude of FUCK COPS is insanely strong. like. persona 5 HATES cops. and that doesn’t let up basically ever, at all, at any moment. for anything. persona 5 wants me to believe that makoto will become a good cop in the future, but if i wanted to find an existing good cop, i’d have to go all the way back to persona 4. like!! shit!! goro akechi is the closest thing we have to a good cop, and he has a pet guillotine for CEOs and his middle name is komaeda.

and that part of the big attitude with FUCK COPS is that it’s another way of morally exonerating the phantom thieves. i think... although the game ultimately concludes with “you should probably not break the law any more because the metaverse is gone,” it’s difficult to argue with the fact that persona 5 is a game in which it presents you with 10000000000000 reasons to break the law and feel Great about it.

(another tangent: i feel like one of the big undercurrents of persona 5, and especially the TV station, is that the phantom thieves are justified in their lawbreaking because the police aren’t doing their fucking job. like, someone’s got to keep people safe, and if the cops don’t like the phantom thieves, maybe they should get off their asses and actually get the criminals before the thieves do. akira literally was on live television and he was like ALL COPS ARE BAD and goro was like wow. anyone else think that was really sexy? @ the guy in the glasses in the back, call me later when you’ve leveled up your charm and knowledge.)

so atlus is in this place where they’ve pointed out that people break the law because they dont really have any other choice, and also persona 5 the game HATES cops, and also persona 5 the game cannot tell you that breaking the law is bad because it is literally A Game About Breaking The Law, but at the same time, they cant really go around promoting crime. from a doylist perspective i was 100% unsurprised that they came up with a fancy narrative reason to get rid of the metaverse and their change-of-heart abilities and just the phantom thieves in general, because all of those are a threat to the status quo. although the game might be right that relying on the phantom thieves to change society for the rest of the population makes the rest of the population lazy and apathetic, it’s pretty convenient that this means that the kids are now no longer able to break the law. so persona 5 really wants people to do things the kosher way, e.g. protesting and such. 

hhfmgmhfmghfmgfmghmfhgg. taking this all with a grain of salt, because again, i do think atlus is trying very hard to avoid saying that people should break the law:

i think atlus wants to say that it’s not necessarily acting outside the law that’s not right, but the fact that just loading the phantom thieves with a ton of power makes people apathetic, and changing the hearts of a few individuals is Not enough to get rid of something like shido’s conspiracy. so instead they say, you shouldn’t break the law because it’s not effective without collective reform. 

i think another thing that persona 5 wants us to believe is that for the most effective reform to be achieved, people both inside and outside the law/system have to be involved in the collective effort to improve society. 

e.g., toranosuke wants to be a man of the people--someone who speaks for the people who are outside of the diet, but toranosuke himself is someone inside the diet. sae’s the other good example; the phantom thieves protest akira’s arrest at the end of the game, but sae, as the insider in the justice system, has to be there to hear and work with them. and this might just be because i watched haru’s s link last night, but i feel like takakura is a really good example: haru pushes back against the company’s shitty policies with her “outsider’s” perspective (quoted because she’s technically the largest shareholder, she just hasnt ever been really involved in how the company is run), but takakura, as the company president and most powerful person at okumura foods, has to be there to hear her request and agree with her, and make company changes based on her requests. 

and it’s for this reason that persona 5 wants us to consider maybe lawbreaking isnt morally bad, just not effective.

i wish i could say that that’s more bad atlus writing, but it’s not. i’ve only really examined changing schools on an institutional level, but the best examples of institutional change in school administration have always been cases where the administration, parents, and community members all work together. in some cases, parents bring up requests for the school to accommodate their needs, and the administration listens and works with them. something something--everyone needs an advocate. the point of a lawyer is to advocate for you. the point of a politician/representative is to represent you and your interests. so on and so forth.

(and i also wish that it could be as simple as saying, “wow atlus said something right for once!” because that’s not true, either--acting outside the law can be outrageously effective. persona 5 trying to tell us that acting outside the law to get shit done isn’t effect smells like corporate trying to tell its workers that unionizing doesnt actually do anything.)

(and i also wish that persona 5 would have acknowledged that sometimes, it takes more than just an extremely moral person to change the world. take toranosuke, for example--i’m sure that if he gets elected, he’ll go out there and be a wonderful representative of the people, but at the same time, can’t we also simultaneously acknowledge that any politician who can make “politics” a career for profit will always be incentivized towards self-interest? in the same way that a military for profit will always be incentivized towards war?)

but insofar as whether or not persona 5 thinks that vigilante justice/acting outside the law is in and of itself morally bad--i’d say probably not. i think they want us to think that it’s not effective.

-

-

-

this is a slight tangent that kind of goes off the issue of whether or not persona 5 is concerned with whether or not breaking the law is moral or effective. i was going back through goro’s dialogue in the engine room--who knows if that’s going to be changed in royal--but i was trying to figure out exactly what the phantom thieves condemn him for. (fucking difficult as fuck considering how bizarre that dialogue was at places.) 

the first one is murder, which goro is unimpressed with (LMAO. KING). the second is that he operated outside the law, to which he replies that they did the same thing (valid). the third is that his form of justice was “selfish,” in that it only served his personal need for revenge. at that point, goro changes the subject--which is not really surprising, since goro admitted long before the engine room that his quest against shido was for his own personal satisfaction. 

that is to say, the phantom thieves can’t say that they don’t operate outside the law, because they do--however, if the phantom thieves can’t be legally exonerated, the phantom thieves are morally exonerated despite operating outside the law because they do it for the benefit of others. that’s actually not an incorrect statement from the phantom thieves, although i dont think they’re doing it for Society Writ Large. the phantom thieves in every single palace have taken on targets to help someone else: firstly ann and ryuji and shiho, then yusuke, then various shujin students being blackmailed by kaneshiro, etc, etc. i remember pretty distinctly that ann insists that she doesnt want to get involved with madarame just for drama or fame (whereas ryuji wants to pick a big target just for the sake of getting famous), but she agrees to get involved with madarame’s palace because she doesn’t want to leave yusuke to possibly kill himself like a previous student.

because the phantom thieves are not able to say that they haven’t operated outside the law in the same way that goro has, the dividing line between them is instead that the phantom thieves are doing so selflessly. but this is just an elaboration on the question of whether or not “is lawbreaking moral?” rather than necessarily “is lawbreaking effective?”

there’s an argument that nothing goro or the phantom thieves did was effective in the long run, and there’s an argument that sae is proof positive that working inside the system won’t be effective, either. 

anyway, unions are effective. so maybe we should agree to wash our hands and join a union.

[nimblermortal]

Some Further Old Guard Liveblogging

#OH MAN BOOKER'S SMIRK WHEN MERRICK REFUSES TO COME CLOSER TO ANDROMACHE#THAT IS THE SMIRK OF 'I see Yusuf headbutted you already'

#also also I cannot deal with Merrick's suits with hoodies on them#they're so terrible#what a fantastic piece of villain costuming I hate him for that alone

#OH MAN THAT POOR DOCTOR#STUCK IN A ROOM WITH FOUR BICKERING IMMORTALS#FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE#man if Nile hadn't come along her life woulda suuuuuuuucked#Nicoló was trying his best at that anyway#apparently Merrick Pharmaceuticals comes equipped with semi-automatic rifles but not gags

man their card readers work really well and fast. I am impressed. I have... not had this luck with card readers. They usually blink a few times and take a few tries. (Also, nobody uses card readers anymore? I’m not even in that critical of an industry and we have the beepy key fob things. That respond to badges.)

As Nile enters the lab... Yusuf: what the heck where did this come from Nicoló: eh? I do not know that this is a good turn of events Andy: breathlessly happy to see her Booker: oh how my sins have revisited me

It continues to bother me how Nile breaks into the lab and goes straight for the one who’s not immortal and who has the least ability to cope with the situation, given that she’s already injured; and then stands there and talks to her when she could be letting someone else loose to deal with the four shooters at the door that she just mentioned. Just. Free one hand on each of them and then get on to releasing all the bonds on your favorite!

Yeah, keep standing there with your motivational speeches and your NOT RELEASING PEOPLE WHO WILL ACTUALLY HELP YOU, I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN

Andy, who is not an absolute idiot, releases one of Nicoló’s arms as her first action and then moves on. Nicoló, who is also not an idiot, immediately rolls over and begins releasing the rest of himself, which is the SANE THING TO DO, NILE, YOU’RE AN IDIOT

Booker: No, you should just leave me here Andy: This is an intervention.

Andy, heading for the door: Let’s get this motherfucker Everyone else, aware she is now mortal: <suddenly falls in ahead of her and does not let her take point as she is prone to doing>

Andy’s labrys is such a prop weapon, it looks weirdly light and also fiberglass. I could be wrong! I don’t know about these things! but I think it’s a functional reproduction, not something she’s had for a while.

Andy is Mom Friend, looking after her little gang. Yusuf is Dad Friend, worrying too much.

Nile: Andy! It is I, meat shield! Nicoló: Oh, that’s a good idea.

You know, they really oughtn’t be speaking English in combat situations. This would be a great time to be using a dead language, effectively enabling you to say exactly where you’re going without your enemy understanding it. (Or Nile. But they’ve got Nile.)

“Shit! Jammed!” is where Nicoló needs to be there to mutter in baleful Ligurian about combat teams and palises.

They really shoulda killed that guy on the ground... nobody needs to know they  exist, or what they can do.

I should tell Hyacinth about the throw at 1:44.

Nile has such a nice face.

“I think you showed up when I lost my immortality” well you’re wrong. You been stabbed and healed since then. Also puts paid to my theory that it gave out when you said you were done and not interested in trying to help people anymore. It just is what it is; humans try to assign meaning and stories to thinks, but at the end of the day, it’s all quantum.

NILE IS SO SHORT BUT NICOLÓ IS THE ONE SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BACK SEAT (if anyone cares for fic: Yusuf has shotgun, Nicoló in the back seat middle, Andy is driving, Nile behind Yusuf and Booker behind Andy. Is there any advantage to this? None that I see. Except that Yusuf was in front so he had the opportunity to claim shotgun, and Booker is a filthy traitor who doesn’t deserve the front seat. Nile is new and I don’t know what Nicoló’s excuse is except that it’s easiest to reach the front seat from the middle of the back seat, and everyone assumes Andy will get to sit in the front, so this puts Nicoló in position to get hands on either of them as needed.)

I have no idea why we are expected to care about the pewter-topped bars at the pub they choose to go to.

“There’s not much to decide, it’s not like they can kill me.” Yusuf stares through the window as if he is contemplating exactly that; Booker can’t find an acceptable face to make back at him.

“You’re a good kid” is such a patronizing thing to say to someone, it really emphasizes both how young Nile is and how much younger she is than the rest of them. Also, I will never understand how Booker’s being a bad parent means no one should go see their family while they’re still alive.

Yeah, Yusuf is not satisfied with this arrangement, Nicoló considers it the right thing to do whether it is satisfying or not, and Nile hates hurting people.

Also, given that I headcanon that Andy is cursed to be an atheist surrounded by stubbornly faithful people, “Have a little faith, Book” is a great line. Like. Andy has made her position on religion clear, but at least Nicoló has at one point in his life been committed to religious ideals. The other two - well, I have my own thoughts about how Yusuf interacts with his faith, but it’s just hilarious if Booker is also stubbornly Catholic, for his own journey and so that Andy can be all, “Every time we get a new immortal I explain to them how we are cursed, there is no god, our existence is proof of the whims of the world triumphing over any sort of divine plan, and every time they just hold out! Nicoló is laughing at me!” and she tries doing this to Nile and none of the others are quite laughing out loud, but Nicoló has very expressive smirks, okay? And then you take that background and apply it to Booker saying he’ll never see her again and Andy choosing the last thing she says to him to be, “Have a little faith“ - this thing she has been denying, giving him this as a recognition, he’s spent all movie starving for her recognition as she just gives him tasks, so she recognizes him and this thing they don’t share but that she’s now offering value to, and hey, as long as he’s believing in illogic, he might as well have some in her, right? or in technology and medicine? it’s not all that important how it plays out, but for her to grant this concession to him is... magnanimous in a satisfying way, if you headcanon all of the aforesaid.

Aww, Yusuf is the unsatisfied one but he’s also the one who stays watching Booker for the longest. And he’s the only one who looks back.

:( the German is too blurred for me to read this passport, but I really want to see if there’s any justifying Yusuf being named Joseph Jones and nationality (?) Deutsch. But even if that’s so - which is conceivable - I want to know why both Hamburg and Frankfurt are on his passport. Mine doesn’t have any cities on it at all - but then again, I’ve had friends ask me to get my passport out just to demonstrate how funny American passports are. (Most countries are like “ah yes, we need blank pages to stamp visas and entries/exits on. The US of A goes, “what if our blank pages had dramatic pictures of the biomes of the continental US and inspirational quotes across the tops?” Make your own arguments about American exceptionalism, patriotism, conspicuous consumption...)

THEY WERE AT THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL GOOD FOR THEM also just a weird place for them to be, that incident was. So much a mistake. So much spontaneous. And it’s a weird time to be smuggling people across the wall (and very difficult to do, and. There are better things for immortal soldiers to do with their time at this point). So like. Good for them, I bet that was an endorphin surge, but weird that they were there.

Awwww, Nicoló’s little “I knew we were trying to do good, it is nice to have confirmation that it works sometimes” smirk

It’s a nice speech, Andy, but what you’re actually saying to Copley is, “Booker was our computer/intel guy and we kicked him out, so we need you to do his job and possibly train Nile in it”

I know by “ether” she means like. Internets. But. I love imagining them as just old sometimes, and not always keeping up with all the right things. And having her mean, “When we leave a footprint in the luminiferous aether” because she honestly still believes that light needs a medium to travel in and it’s just never come up as relevant to correct that assumption, she’s proud of being well-read in science a hundred years ago - well, that’s wonderful.

Aww, Copley got a Nicoló smirk. And I think Yusuf sensed it, though he could not possibly have seen it.

Aaaaand scene with Booker drunk and unhappy in Paris, so what else is new to Paris. Spray your glass all over public spaces, it’ll improve the general cleanliness of the surfaces. And Quynh is probably going to show up in Nile’s room shortly, I bet she’s just tired of dreaming of them. I... honestly don’t know that I like the idea of a sequel. Franchises leave a lot of room for making things worse. There’s a lot of open space in this movie, but that’s where I like to put my fanfiction.

[etudier-avec-bella]

Studying a Language with your Degree?

Life is all about balance, and as someone who is passionate about learning, I like to try and dabble in many different areas of interest as I can. My extracurricular activities are just as valuable to me as my academic studies, because I believe it’s important to have things in your life that are productive without feeling like hard work. Things we enjoy engaging in that help us to enrich our lives outside of our main education pathway.

Whilst I don’t think I’ve ever formally stated it on my blog, I actually study French alongside my Chemistry degree with my university’s languages scheme. You might be thinking ‘Bella, what are you doing? Isn’t studying Chemistry enough for you? You want to cause yourself extra stress by picking up a voluntary language module as well?’, and the short answer is… Yeah, I guess so.

But, I’m actually here to show why studying a language is a wonderful thing to do whilst you’re at university, and to show you how I keep up with French alongside my degree. On y a va!

Why study a language course alongside your university degree?

I could go on for a long time about the benefits of learning a language- so to save you the pain of my waffle-ish ramblings, here are the three main reasons I think it’s something worth considering:

It’ll be a highly valuable skill when applying for a job. Communication is a vital ability underpinning most, if not all, careers- especially moving up towards top positions within your chosen field. Speaking one language fluently is fine, but being able to speak multiple languages instantly makes you stand out from the crowd and offers you a much broader range of potential career pathways and opportunities.

Your brain will never take it in as well as it will now. Let’s face it, we’ll never have the same neurological elasticity we did as babies. But as young adults who spend most of our time occupied with reading, writing, and studying for our degree courses, our brains are much more likely to absorb and retain information than they will in five, ten, or fifty years’ time. The perfect opportunity to learn something new!

Because languages are beautiful. It’s about so much more than what you can see on the paper. You’re now privy to the origins of the things we say, and why we say them. The emotions that your mother tongue alone cannot capture. Being able to feel the meaning of a word, rather than just knowing it… Why wouldn’t you want to study something so wonderful?

How do I keep up with French alongside my Chemistry Degree?

So far, I haven’t found it too difficult trying to keep up with my language course by making good use of my independent study time. This term has been quite light in terms of lecture content and contact hours (~17-20 per week), so I took it as my chance to organise things and create a schedule for myself in order to ensure I stay on track with French for the rest of the year. It’s pretty easy to slip up and just ignore it if you aren’t strict with the extra work you do outside of class to solidify what you’re learning, so I’m thankful I came up with my system so early on.

Again, I’ll make this easy and state the main methods I like to use to study for French- these tips can apply to anyone studying any level of language qualification!

Quizlet: An absolute essential when it comes to committing vocabulary to memory! Quizlet recognises the language you’re learning and can read out the words you have typed onto the flashcards, allowing you to practise your ability to recall, spell, and write the word.

Doing your grammar: Yes, most people find it boring, but it’s a necessity if you want to speak fluently and with confidence. I would recommend buying/borrowing a grammar textbook for your level of study and doing extra exercises outside of your classes to help you better understand the concepts you’re learning.

Reading Comprehension: By exposing yourself to more written works in the language you’re studying, you’ll not only improve your ability to retain information, but also pick up lots of new vocabulary. So, read anything and everything you can. Books, blog posts, news articles,

Writing Practise: I like to consolidate the topics we cover over one term by writing a piece that includes as much of the vocabulary that we’ve covered. It’s an excellent chance to practise your spelling, recall your tenses, and make sure your grammar is as polished as it can be. It doesn’t have to be from your own perspective- I actually find writing articles/stories a lot better, as you get to practise more he/she/they/them conjugation, and it means you can talk about things you don’t have personal experiences with. Plus, it can be hard to talk about a topic that you feel pretty indifferent about…

Talk to yourself. Like a crazy person: It feels weird and uncomfortable at first, but it seriously does help improve your fluency and pronunciation. Whether if you just read a comprehension exercise out loud, or have a full-blown argument with yourself in the shower, it’s all good practise.

Yes, you have to put in hard work to see improvement, but there are actually some really fun, effective ways to improve your language abilities, too! Here are the ones that I find the most useful:

Podcasts/Music: It can be really tricky to find useful listening resources outside of the ones your teacher has access to, so a great way to get some practise in is by finding some music or a podcast in your language! For French specifically, I like Intermediate French Podcast by innerFrench. The guy who records them doesn’t translate what he says, but rather explains it in French so that anybody listening can understand regardless of their native language. Smart!

Put your chosen language’s subtitles on for your favourite TV shows: I can't tell you how much vocab I’ve learned from bingeing Glee with French subtitles. It’s a good way to quickly pick up new words, and a lot more enjoyable than just memorising them from your textbook. If you’re feeling brave, you could even change the spoken language of the show to the one you’re learning (if it’s available) and put on your native language subtitles for extra listening practise!

Find a penpal: Whether it’s writing a physical letter, or just sending a text to an online friend, speaking to someone in your new language will do absolute wonders for your writing and spelling abilities. Plus, making new friends is always fun, and proof that learning a new language brings people closer together!

Name the things in your immediate surroundings: This is a good one to do on the go, or when you’re stuck somewhere for a long time with nothing better to do. I find it’s an excellent way of procrastinating my other work, just sitting at mon bureau and noticing all of les stylos in ma trousse… Yeah, be careful with this one

I hope this has helped anyone considering learning a language in university, and maybe it even convinced some of you who weren’t thinking about it before to give it a go!

I’d like to add that you don’t have to sign up for a course if that isn’t an option (my department covers the cost for me because my degree includes a year abroad), and that you can do it just as successfully with any number of free resources available to you online.

Thank you for reading!

[masterthespianduchovny]

I believe Kendall is the most popular character in the series, but Roman is far more compelling in my opinion.

His emotional arc and burgeoning maturity is a compelling thing to watch, esp when you get glimpses as to why he is the way he is.

In the beginning, I wanted to root for Roman because he was a Culkin, and then Roman tore up the check and I was like, “Fuck this dude.” I mean, clearly, the character and not the actor.

But, in retrospect, that doesn’t seem like something Roman would do. Yes, it’s canonical that he did it, but it’s also canonical that he was wearing, presumably, a wedding band in that same ep that we’ll most likely never get answers for. My point is: the pilot ep is almost always the rough draft of characters going forward. This doesn’t erase his actions, but it just seems “out of character.”

With that being said, we see Roman going from a yes man to his father and caring about his own bottom line to genuinely assessing situations and giving his honest opinion. 

His journey to get there was strange, unusual, yet sweet.

Roman was sex obsessed, vulgar, and a fuck up. It was easy to assume that he’s this way because he’s spoiled when, in reality, he most likely suffered the worst of his father’s abuse and was punished for being “weaker.” The implied explanation behind Roman’s behavior is that Logan put his youngest son down in one way or another to uphold the hierarchy between him and Kendall. We see that Connor knows his place and doesn't challenge it, but Roman did and does.

Logan made it where Roman was self sabotaging and heavily insecure about himself and his abilities. 

I want to resist the urge of labeling Gerri as the catalyst behind Roman’s change, but I see no other significant factor beyond her. Roman has always wanted to prove himself to his dad and repeatedly failed because that’s how he was molded. But, something happened during the trip to Japan that made Roman and Gerri become closer. Even if it was unstated and imperceptible, there was a change that bonded them.

The Roy children are conditioned to want their dad’s approval, despite failing or it never being enough. Which is why Roman keeps trying.

But, things change with Gerri.

After getting business advice from the wrong person, he finally asks the right person. If it hadn’t been for Japan, would he had asked her? And what’s more noteworthy is: he takes her suggestion seriously. 

Back in season 1 episode 2, we see that Roman respects and admires Gerri’s skills at her job. 

Interestingly enough, Roman wants her in the room during a business dealing, which is a stark contrast to his vehemence of Frank being his babysitter. IMO, Frank most likely made it very known that he looked down on Roman and probably gleefully reported Roman’s mistakes and fuck ups to Logan. Although he didn't have many dealings with Gerri before season 2, she sasses Roman back, but treated him like an adult; albeit, a very spoiled one, but she did humor him, take him seriously, and keeps whatever mistakes he made between them.  

The thing that really spurs Roman’s maturity and self awareness into motion is Gerri checking on him. How often do we see people check on Roman’s emotional well being? Or touch base with him? But, Gerri does and Roman asks her what he needs to do to be taken seriously.

He wouldn’t had ever asked Frank that. And Frank would’ve given him some smart ass reply if he did.

But, Gerri gives him practical advice and is open to being the person Roman leans on. She gives him great, but obvious advice that benefits him in the long run. Her advice also addresses Roman’s glaring flaws of not having practical experience, training, or knowledge surrounding running a business.

Gerri is the first person that Roman allowed himself to be completely vulnerable regarding his insecurities and desire for his father’s approval who made him feel safe and validated. She didn’t give a smart ass reply or justify why his father didn’t trust him, she advised him to do things that will get Logan to trust Roman.

And this is important because Gerri goes from, Gerri Kellman, job good-doer to, Gerri, someone Roman can confide in about professional issues.

After that, we see Roman calling and telling her about every little thing. He sees her as a mentor, but also a friend and someone who isn’t going to judge him.

And maybe this is where the change truly starts. Perhaps, the rocket incident is still on his mind, but having Gerri being a soundboard and help guide his career, Roman can finally begin to grow into his own. This is further underscored when their relationship crossing into a sexual boundary. Roman reveals this incredibly intimate part of him and Gerri doesn’t judge him; she doesn’t make him feel bad about; she inherently understands his need. What interesting about the second “conference call” scene is that Roman is fully prepared to leave and apologizes before realizing that Gerri is in character. And then, he goes into character instantly.

After their first conference call, he’s awkward around her. With their second, he’s his normal self and cracking jokes and telling the truth because it sounds like a lie.

Since this was around the time Roman found out that Shiv was the heavy favorite for the next CEO, he’s down, but is also showing self awareness. He hasn’t reverted back to his old self. Gerri has to beg him to talk to Eduard, but she basically informs him: I went to bat for you, despite your father wanting Tom. I find it noteworthy that he describes her suggestion as “make up sex” and her “grinding against him” to apologize for the Shiv thing. He’s allowing himself to be upset with her in that moment like normal people do opposed to the repressing his true feeling like he does with his family. Whether Gerri revealing that she suggested him to his dad meant something in that moment, it definitely meant something going forth. I believe after this we get an increase of “Gerri says”, Gerri thinks”, and “Gerri cares...”

Gerri is the only one who has consistently taken Roman seriously, was a resource for him to improve his business skills, and allowed him to be vulnerable without making him feel bad about it. 

That, in turn, made Roman take himself seriously as a person even when it came to offering a suggestion that continued to threaten Waystar as they knew it.

It takes a lot of maturity and self awareness to say, “hey, this is an important deal for us; I may not be the guy for this”, despite you knowing what this opportunity could mean for you. And Logan’s decision to keep the course with Roman wooing Eduard has everything to do with Gerri’s faith in him. Would Logan care that Roman was good with people, if Gerri hadn’t pushed for him, stressed that the panel went well, or the other things she’s done? Gerri constantly put Roman in a position to succeed, which fed him confidence and allowed it grow in a healthy way. This is highlighted times a million when he tells his dad to reject the offer after him kidnapping.

But, we also have his interpersonal relationships with his family members.

Roman asked his father if he was doing well and had someone to talk to about Marcia. He was truly concerned about his father’s emotional well being. Roman wasn’t just content with, “You good?” No, he also wanted to see if his dad had a support system to deal with his marriage falling apart. This is not the Roman of season 1, that’s for sure. On the yacht when he asked Kendall and Shiv if they could have a normal conversation if they came out of the situation, he WAS the only mature one in the discussion. I know they were having funny, but it did appear that Kendall and Shiv have difficulty having normal, healthy, and productive conversations with one another. They’re so used to competing, undercutting each other, and looking for an angle. They don’t fully trust each other.

Roman wants to know that his loved ones are doing okay and connect to and with them, but ironically enough, he is the only one having a healthy “relationship.” His needs are being met.

For him to trust Gerri the way he does to not only 1. Propose a business team up, but 2. Defend her at the blood sacrifice, speaks volumes.

It shows that he has come a long way from the asshole who ripped up the check in front of the kid and the guy who washed his hand and pretended a rocket didn’t explode. 

This also makes Roman dangerous, but in a good way. Kendall has always had the advantage over Roman because he knew the business and how to speak in business terms. But, with Roman working through his issues and actually putting in the work, Roman could give Kendall an actual run for his money. I've said this before, Roman is a killer. But, he lacked the confidence and knowledge to be useful. With Gerri’s guidance and his ever growing confidence and skill, Roman is growing into a better successor in reality, esp because I think he has better negotiating and people skills. 

[curieminery96]

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[periodicreviews]

Uncharted 1-3

With the release of the Uncharted trilogy for free, I decided to finally make my way through them. When I bought my PS4 in 2017, it came with a copy of Uncharted 4 that I’ve left untouched until now. I go into specifics for Uncharted 1-3, then talk a little about the series as a whole.

  Uncharted 1

My biggest complaint with this game was the platforming. It was not only tough to figure out which ledges were “grabbable” but even after my 9 hours in the game, I couldn’t accurately judge distances.

Some ledges appear to be close enough, but there’s actually a different side path the developers want you to take. Drake as a character seems to have a variable jump distance depending on if the game detects you are trying to land on a grabbable ledge.

If you jump too soon or at the wrong angle, you’ll execute a short “hop” and fall to your death. I haven’t done any digging on whether such a system exists, that’s just what it appears like.

I died over and over on one of the later levels where there is a series of platforms in the rafters of a church. I just kept misjudging distances and jumping too early.

My primary cause of death had to have been just been falling as opposed to any enemy NPC.

As I say that, I’m reminded of one particular shootout in a courtyard. At the time I remember being really frustrated that being in cover didn’t mean that you were safe from bullets. There was so much gunfire that I couldn’t get anywhere near the people who were shooting at me especially with the number of grenades they were shooting at me. It was tough to have to unlearn everything I know about cover from Gears of War, where you are safe if you don’t peek out from people shooting towards you.

 Uncharted 2

Uncharted 2 in some ways felt like a step back and a step forward.

The remastering team on U1 maybe did too good of a job because I felt the eyes of the characters in U2 felt a lot more lifeless.

The step forward was obviously in the improved platforming. I had less and less trouble judging distances. I can’t tell if that’s just because I had 9 hours of practice from the previous game, but I feel like the system judging character movement was also greatly improved.

I died 10 or more times in a single sequence when a helicopter is firing missiles at a building. The building begins to tip over and collapse and you are supposed to jump through a window on a neighboring building to escape.

Fail to jump and you die. Jump at the wrong angle, and you fall between the collapsing building and are crushed. Before I realized I was supposed to go through the window, I thought I was supposed to grab onto the ledge of the neighboring building.

Right after you jump at the exact spot, Drake says “Jump”. But for me, this audio cue always came after I was supposed to jump. I’m not sure if they intended that audio cue to be the cue for the user or not.

This particular scene is a symptom of the root problem in my opinion of the game trying to be too cinematic. I say that, even as a fan of Quantic Dream games. I know there’s a very fine line between cinematic and game. Go too far and you can confuse the player on when they are required to interact and/or make it feel like their actions have no impact. Uncharted 2 had a few such sequences for me. I never wanted to see another train by the end of it.

 Uncharted 3

The beginning of the game had me a little worried about the collision detection. It might have just been a side effect of playing with a smaller character model and the collision requirements being slightly different than the regular sized character. There were a few moments when I would get stuck in the chase sequence on corners or edges of geometry.

U3 also put a lot more importance on the melee combat system. I personally prefer to stick with the gunplay but for certain enemies like the shotgun/bulletproof vest guy and the giant brawler types, it felt like a requirement to engage them melee combat. The ability to return grenades and dropdown on enemies in silent takedowns was a welcome addition though.

I really hated the “drug trip” levels. It was very uncomfortable to look at the screen as it distorts and I started to panic during the first level because I was worried I was going in circles and causing this level to last longer than it should. Though to the developers’ credit, that’s really the point of these sequences.

There was one segment I was intent on getting through on all stealth as you infiltrate the airport to stowaway on the cargo plane to the desert. Two enemies at the end guard a door and you can’t shoot either without triggering the “alert”. You had to catch their attention, one at a time, to lure them away from the door and take them out. I really wished I could use the rock mechanic from Horizon Zero Dawn to even get them to spread out on a patrol as they searched for the noise. Ultimately, I was able to remain in the shadows enough to grab their attention but not to fully alert them.

General

I think story-wise, I enjoyed the first game the most, despite it being a little cliché that the Nazis appeared. But gameplay-wise, I probably prefer U2. I enjoyed Elena being presented as someone who didn’t have to rely on Drake to save her. The scene where Elena breaks Drake out of jail in particular was well executed and it was fun to watch these actors perform it.

In U2, although realistic that there would be some animosity between Chloe and Elena, I wished the two could be there as part of a team, not just as two sides of the love triangle. Thankfully they do warm up to each other.

In U2 and U3, characters ask Drake “what’s the point?” and I felt like Drake never successfully answered that. In U1, the driving motivation is rescuing Sully and Elena, then later on it’s in preventing the destructive power from leaving the island. In U2, despite Elena being on death’s doorstep, Drake still decides to face Lazarevic. In U3, especially after getting the warning that Francis Drake himself is alleged to have written. Drake wants to continue on. I guess that just speaks to who he is as a character but the 2nd and 3rd games lost me in that regard as to knowing when to quit. To be fair, he did want to quit in U2 until Schafer convinced him otherwise with the power of the Cintamani stone.

Music

Given Uncharted’s inclusion on stuff like Video Games Live, I expected there to be more to the soundtrack. The main theme is notable but unfortunately that’s the only track that stands out. There are no bad tracks so to speak, but nothing that made me want to listen to it again.

 Hints

The hint system was hit and miss at times. I imagine they did a lot of testing to figure out what’s the average time it takes for someone to figure out a particular puzzle and then use that time for how long it takes for the hint to appear. Frequently, the hint would appear when I was already well on my way to finishing the puzzle or when I had just figured it out.

Sometimes the hints would take the form of pressing up on the D-pad and that’s great because I have the option to not press it. It was frustrating when character dialog would tell me what to do instead of letting me figure it out. I know I could’ve turned off the hints in the menu, but I think that would have only worked for the D-pad. It would’ve been nice if that extra character dialog wouldn’t give it all away or could be triggered optionally by the D-pad.

Take a break

It’s probably my fault for trying to rush through these games. But I couldn’t help but notice how high the body count is as you kill non-descript enemy after non-descript enemy. In the first game, they’re just trying to find El Dorado and yet these people are throwing their lives away. In U2, it’s maybe a little more believable because Lazarevic is a warlord basically. And in U3, I guess it’s also believable that this secret society has vast sums of money and influence. Everyone has a price as they say.

At times, I just felt fatigued at having to mow through a whole other squadron of enemies. I know that sounds strange from someone who has played his fair share of Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War, where there are no puzzles or exploration, it’s just killing.

In two of those, you’re fighting aliens or “monsters”. I wonder if I played through the 3 Call of Duty Modern Warfare games back to back, would I feel the same way about them? Or maybe it’s merely because Uncharted is not sold to me as being a soldier on a battlefield, you’re just a treasure hunter against mercenaries hired by some rich guy who are just looking for a paycheck (though to be fair, that’s many soldiers as well). Maybe it’s just my personal tastes changing over the years.

This endless warzone type combat also made me yearn for one or two scene where Drake takes it easy. Even just like stopping to eat or sleep would’ve been good. The puzzle and vehicle sections are there to break up the standard run and gun action but I just feel like as a person, it would feel more realistic to see Drake take a nap some time.

Granted, Uncharted is not necessarily aiming for realism. Chances are very low that any person would be able to climb up a train car as it teeters on the edge of a cliff in Tibet. Or escape from a collapsing building that has been shot with rockets from a helicopter gunship. Or survive days walking through the Rub' al Khali with no water and still have the stamina to survive waves of troops in a gun battle. And keep doing it all over and over again.

He does take 1 nap in Uncharted 3 for like 3 hours and I welcomed every second of it. Uncharted 2 opens at a bar where he takes several sips of a drink and of course he takes several sips of the poisoned water in Uncharted 3. But in excluding all of these normal human activities, Drake feels less and less like a human and more like a god.

 I feel like maybe I’m missing something that all of these 10/10 and 9/10 reviewers saw. Part of that is probably the time that has passed. I started with The Last of Us and moved on to other games, like Death Stranding, that have built upon the motion capture acting format. Part of it is probably due to me trying to beat these games too quickly, especially when it comes to 2 and 3. I feel like as a whole they are more an 8/10.

I’ve since moved on to Uncharted 4 and so far it feels like a very different game, which I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing yet.

[screamingatanemptyroom]

Erin/Gerald Arc 2 Part 18

Getting close to the end of Arc 2! Finishing up the competition today, there will be one part after this to wrap things up. Erin gets to fight with someone she’s fought before. 

Master post linked here. 

“Would you like to tell me exactly what in the world you fools were thinking?!!”

Aunt Elsinore was smiling, but no one in the group was fooled. After looking around desperately for someone else to be the one to talk, Erin swallowed uncomfortably and cleared her throat, trying to explain.

“We- We were trying to protect the country…”

“Oh. That’s great.” Elsinore leaned forward, her smile never wavering. “And why, pray tell, did you not leave that to the army of this country? You know, the one’s whose job it is to do that?!!”

Gerald grabbed Erin’s hand in support. “It wasn’t that simple. Sionelle had diverted the nation’s armed forces to the capital with these terrorist attacks, and struck a weak point in my country’s border. They would have never been able to get there in time to react.”

“So instead you all decided to simply take on an army by yourselves…”

“I thought…” Erin ran her hand through her hair, hesitating. “I thought my father might be there, in which case no amount of soldiers would have been enough to help me.”

“…” Elsinore’s smile faded. “Can Erin and I be alone?”

Erin shook her head. “I explained to them everything on the way back. You can speak in front of them.”

“You trust them?” Her voice was incredulous.

“Yes.”

“Yeah, we don’t get it either.” Frederick butted in. “But don’t worry, we’ve got her back.”

“You want me to speak freely in front of them? Fine.” 

Elsinore’s voice grew cold. “You’re a fool, Erin. You could have ruined everything. We have spent YEARS planning this, you stupid girl! Years of preparation, since you were thirteen, all for our revenge. What have you suffered for all these years if not for the chance to strike at your father?!”

“I didn’t…”

“You didn’t think, that’s what you didn’t do. You revealed your powers in such a public way! What if he realizes how strong you are? We lose the advantage of surprise.” She shook her head. “You risked everything for this country, that’s not even your home.”

“It’s Gerald’s home.” Erin met her gaze without flinching.

“… Not that I’m not loving the family drama here. But why is surprise so important?” Frederick spread out his hands, looking confused. “I just saw Erin take down an ARMY. Without breaking a sweat. She has to be the most powerful person in the world. Why are you guys so scared of one man?”

Elsinore’s gaze was haunted, as was Erin’s. “You say that only because you have never seen that man in action. I will give you this warning once, because you are Erin’s friend: NEVER underestimate him. He will kill you, and everyone you love, before you even knew he was there.”

“He’s level 5 in three different abilities, level 4 in two more.” Erin spoke quietly, staring down at her hands. “But he also has years of experience, he’s able to bring out his powers to the absolute limit. My only chance is to catch him by surprise.”

“…” An uncomfortable silence fell on the group as they all considered the implications of those words.

Knock. Knock.

Everyone startled, looked up at the door, hands moving towards weapons. Shaking his head, Gerald cautiously opened it, smiling in recognition.

“Hi there.”

Several servants stepped into the room, carrying platters of food. The one in front, a serious looking gentleman, bowed and said:

“We’ve brought some food for the St. Julienne’s Academy team, as you missed the dinner in the main dining hall.”

Gerald nodded. “Thank you, you can set it down there.”

They did as instructed and as a group turned to leave. One, a younger woman, hesitated and looked at the group with a solemn look. “Even though you lost badly today, we’re still cheering for you for the competition tomorrow.” Glancing briefly at Gerald and blushing, she then turned and left the room.

“Looks you have a fan.” Frederick teased, sitting down and grabbing a plate of food.

Gerald shrugged. “She’s free to cheer for our team if she wants.”

“That’s not what i…” Frederick was interrupted by Olivia, who stretched her hand out, shaking her head.

“Don’t bother. His brain is too occupied with Erin to understand teasing.”

“Takes all the fun out of it!”

“Tell me about it.”

The group settled down, grabbing food and starting to eat.

“By the way, when that girl said we ‘lost badly’ today…?” Erin paused in her meal, thinking. “Didn’t they just forfeit us when we didn’t show up?”

Elsinore shrugged. “Unlike some people, I considered the implications of your team not showing up to the competition. Especially important when I know now that you were off fighting a war…” She sighed loudly. “I figured you all were up to something though, and I didn’t want someone realizing that your team was gone at the same time and putting two and two together.”

Gerald winced, pausing as he reached for piece of bread. “Good point.”

“Yeah, didn’t think of that, when you were off chasing your foolish girlfriend, did you, boy?” Elsinore snorted. “So I created an illusion of your team hiding in the woods the entire competition. When they couldn’t avoid a fight, I made them surrender. You got last place, but at least most people shouldn’t realize the truth.”

Erin hung her head. “Thanks.”

“What are aunts for?”

Frederick raised his hand. “Can I adopt you as my aunt? You seem like a cool, powerful person to have around.”

Elsinore lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t remember having a sarcastic little asshole like you as a nephew.”

“Don’t lie, you love me!”

Elsinore rolled her eyes and sighed to the heavens. “…Anyways… interestingly enough, Gerald’s performance in tomorrow’s individual magic fight competition will determine whether or not we win.”

Erin was shocked. “Really? We still have a chance?”

“The scores are currently us and the Sionelle military academy tied at 7 points, Royal academy at 6 points, and Merion at 4.”

Matthias spoke up, still staring down at his plate, his quiet voice surprising the room. He typically stayed silent in the background. “Why is Gerald the one participating?”

Frederick nodded. “Yeah! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with the pasty stalker! Erin can take down a freaking army! I think she’s the best choice to fight the military academy guys.”

“Thanks guys.” Erin grinned, setting down the half eaten sandwich and lifting a silver amulet from around her neck. “But I’m back to being restricted, and even if I’ve improved in magical combat, I’d rather not stand out too much in front of my father abilities-wise.”

“Fair, but what about…”

CRASH!

The room went silent. Gerald, his face pale, had stood up, and shoved all of the plates off the table shattering them on the floor.

“Don’t eat anymore!” He looked around, his eyes panicked, grabbing the food from the plate on Erin’s lap and throwing it at well.

“Gerald… what?”

“It’s poisoned.” He whispered his response, but it was as if he had shouted it into the stunned silence.

“How…?”

“Everyone’s abilities are now at level one.” He shook his head, angry. “I should have known sooner.”

Olivia winced, dumping her plate from her lap. “Is there a poison that can even do that?”

“It’s rare.” Gerald’s eyes were angry. “The Royal family has access to it.” He started moving towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To talk to the servants who delivered the food.” Gerald kept walking. “and track down the source of all this.”

Frederick followed. “I’m coming too.”

“I don’t need you.”

“Yes you do. You’re much too nice.”

With that, the two boys disappeared out of the room, leaving the group to stare at each other in stunned silence.

They returned after a few hours, their faces grim.

Gerald sat next to Erin, leaning forward and holding his head in his hands with a sigh.

“Richard.”

“I know, shocking right?” Frederick sank into a chair as well, clearly exhausted. “The evil traitor younger brother was behind it. Who would have guessed.”

“We should have denounced him as a traitor as soon as we returned.” Erin gently rubbed Gerald’s back, looking at him with a concerned expression.

“I thought about it, but I was hoping to have proof before going to my parents…” Gerald shook his head sadly. “Fortunately, he was getting desperate with this one. He sent poisoned food to both us and the Sionelle Military Academy team.”

“Did they…?”

“They didn’t touch it.” Frederick laughed ruefully. “Apparently they’ve only eaten their own rations since they’ve been here. Suspicious bastards.”

“Wish we’d been less trusting.” Erin looked over at Frederick, curious. “So he was desperate?”

“Yeah, he bribed the servants into bringing the food he had poisoned to us. Didn’t cover his tracks well at all.” He snorted. “Apparently didn’t even consider the fact that servants might betray him, despite taking the money.”

“How’d you get them to talk?”

Gerald’s face turned pale. “Don’t ask.”

Frederick laughed softly, but didn’t comment further.

“So, Richard has been caught?”

“Caught and punished, the whole Royal Academy team is disqualified.”

“Are they going to cancel or delay the final event?” Olivia’s voice was hopeful, but her smile quickly fell off as Gerald shook his head.

“The ships leave the day after tomorrow. The poison lasts for 24 hrs. There’s just no time.”

“So… the military academy wins then? Even if the Merion Academy beats them, they don’t have enough points to win the whole competition!”

“But… weren’t they involved in the whole invading the country thing?” Erin shook her head in disbelief.

Gerald looked angry. “Even with our testimonies and those of the men from the fort that Olivia saved, the incoming troops never identified themselves as Sionelle soldiers, and were not wearing their country’s uniforms. Their diplomat is insisting that those invading troops were unrelated mercenaries. Besides,” He gave a half-hearted grin. “Even if we could prove it was Sionelle that invaded, it doesn’t mean the military academy was involved.”

“So they win?”

“I’m afraid so…”

A solemn silence settled over the room.

“Wait!” Matthias stood up suddenly, a strange expression on his face. “This poison temporarily drops your level to level one, correct?”

Gerald nodded. “Yes.”

“What about people who were already restricted before they took it?”

“…”

Frederick’s eyes widened. “Ice boy might have a point!” He turned to Erin. “Take off your amulet!”

Nodding thoughtfully, Erin slipped the amulet off her neck, dropping it onto the table.

“…”

Gerald grinned. “You’re at level 3 now.”

“Level 3?” Erin looked over at Elsinore. “Think it will be enough?”

“Hmph! They think they poisoning us is enough to keep us down?”

Elsinore’s grin was vicious.

“Tear them apart, Erin.”

 The next morning, Erin stood out by the arena floor, nervously waiting for her fight to start. Frederick and Gerald stood on either side of her, keeping an eye out to make sure no one else interfered prior to the actual event.

 “Well, it’s official. Merion Academy bowed out of the fight.” Gerald placed a hesitant arm around Erin’s shoulders, trying to comfort her.

“What? Why?”

“No matter if they won or not, they couldn’t score higher than either our team or the military academy. So this competition is only going to consist of one fight.”

“At least that’s simple enough.” Erin looked up just in time to see the military academy students file in on their side of the Arena, followed by her father. One of the students stepped forward, stretching, obviously preparing to be her opponent in the fight. Recognizing him, Erin groaned.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Walter.”

Frederick raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“He’s a military academy student. One of my father’s prodigies. We’ve fought before… it didn’t end so well for me.”

“I hate to keep bringing this up, but once again… didn’t you just defeat an entire army?” Frederick chuckled. “Why is one student such a big deal?”

“My abilities are restricted, remember? Plus he’s very powerful, at least a level 4 water, wind and physical enhancement ability, plus a mental reinforcement variant that allows him to ignore pain.”

Gerald looked over at Frederick with a quizzical expression. “Besides, when you faced him in the physical competition, you surrendered immediately!”

Frederick rolled his eyes. “It was obviously a strategy.”

“To do what? Obviously not to win.”

“To live.” Thinking about this, he patted Erin on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

With that, both contestants were called to the center of the ring. Walter recognized her with a smile. The expression was excited, predatory. He remained silent, as he always had in front of her.

Erin restrained her fear, pushing away the memory of her ribs cracking underneath his attacks and watched him carefully. Slowly, the world around them faded, as she focused not on the crowds, not the competition, but the fight in front of her. Previously, he had been fast, strong, and never hesitated no matter what damage she inflicted on him. Standing before her dangerous opponent, Erin smiled.

She was going to win.

She kept the memory of their previous fight carefully in the back of her mind. Remembering the pain, the anger, the frustration. Her father’s smile as he told her that she was useless except to be engaged to the man of his choosing. A rage slowly built within her, but she kept it beneath the surface, controlled. It was going to be her tool, her secret weapon.

The official stood between them, laying out the rules. All magic allowed. No lethal attacks. Waving his hand, the fight was begun.

The two circled around each other carefully, watching each movement. She remembered his ruthlessness in his attacks last time, how his expression never wavered no matter how much she hurt him, and her smile grew cold.

Walter lost patience first.

Activating physical enhancement and wind spells, he crossed the distance between them in an instant. He reached out, intending to grab her arm, to twist it behind her as he had last time.

But Erin was ready. Instead of ducking below, she moved forward, activating her own magic to try match his speed. Jumping over his outstretched arm, she kicked him in the face with all her might. She felt his nose crumple beneath her boot, his whole body thrown to the ground with the force of her blow.

Walter stood up, blood streaming from his nostrils, but for the first time since Erin met him, he wasn’t smiling.

His eyes were wide, panicked, as a hand reached up to cup his nose. He stared at the blood incredulously, as if confused.

Erin didn’t take the lapse in attention for granted. She set herself on fire, leaning forward to tackle him as she increased the flames intensity to the extent of her restrained magic. His skin blistered beneath her burning hands, and he threw himself backwards, coating himself with water with a shriek of pain.

The earth beneath him cracked with her magic, and already off balance, he tripped, falling to the ground. Before he could recover, Erin leapt forward, landing with a crunch on his left ankle. He screamed with pain, reaching for her, but before he could, wind magic sealed his lungs. She grasped him with a burning hand, seeing the pain and fear in his eyes, and said one word:

“Yield.”

“…” He hesitated, stubborn, but the magical flames licked at his skin, charring it, and finally he could stand it no longer. He nodded silently, and tapped out.

Hatred filled his eyes, but Erin simply smiled and walked away, nodding to the cheers of the crowd that filled the arena.

In the end, despite his power, it had been all too easy to defeat him. After all, he relied on the strength of his variant mental reinforcement magic, his inability to feel pain.

And feeding her powers with her rage, she had used illusion magic to trick his mind into remembering just what pain felt like.

After that, he never stood a chance.

She grinned at the crowd, raising her hand in a victorious gesture and looked around. Gerald and Frederick were high fiving eachother, looking pleased. Olivia and Matthias were jumping up and down, screaming excitedly. Even Catherine and Maddie were there cheering her on, their own voices contributing to the din. But all the noise, all the excitement, faded into nothing as she looked across the arena at an all too familiar face who was quietly studying her.

Her father.

He didn’t look angry, despite the defeat of his prodigy. Didn’t look confused, upset, or even disappointed.

He was smiling.

[dukeofriven]

‘The AfD declares autistic climate activist to be “mentally challenged” and firms-up its campaign platform around the idea of publicly ridiculing a teenager.’ Throw their pathetic fear of a teen back in their faces. Mock them at every opportunity. Smear their faces in their own shit until they can’t breathe without opening their mouths to swallow it. Remind them always that they are small and weak and frightened by a 15 year old - jeer them, giggle in their presence them, howl with laughter every time they try and pass their crayon scrawl as policy.  Make their every waking second a taunting Mean Girls hell in which they can never be free of the knowledge that everyone knows they’re nothing but a pathetic joke. And every time they try and draw strength from that, to try and don the mantle of the oppressed underdog, punch them in the nose and remind them that their bodies are as fragile as their egos and their ideas. Push them down again and again and again. Whisper in their ear that their Nazis forebears used to get treated like this - until one day they found the courage to stand up for themselves and their beliefs and fight. And then they lost. And then we killed them. And then we displayed their bloated corpses for all the world to jeer. And then we destroyed everything they had built and they were powerless to stop us because these failed, pathetic losers put their faith in beliefs that were wrong. Demonstrably false. Literally untrue. The Reich to last a thousand years never grew old enough to get a driver’s license. The Nazis who were humiliated in the Beer Hall Putsch vowed that from that day forward no one would ever treat them like that again. But we did. Because they’re losers who fail. These are people whose ideology gives them cover for advocating some of the most heinous acts this earth has ever seen. The alt-right, whether they openly identify as Nazis or not, are Nazis, and are in accord with the exact same belief system that advocated for genocide, racial supremacy, patriarchy, antiquated conservatism, and other such debunked delusions even if they distance themselves from the Nazi label. When someone’s ideology gives them cover for being a piece of shit like that then you should oblige and treat them as such. Drag them into the nearest restroom and give them a couple swirlies -shit belongs in the toilet, after all. Alright. Despite my bellicose rhetoric above I am a pacifist at heart - violence ultimately begets more violence. So don’t let them drown. Don’t break any bones. Don’t go pulling off fingers the way you might the wings of a tiny, helpless, pathetic, utterly incapable-of-fighting-back mosquito before carelessly squashing it with the tip of the nail on your pinkie finger. Even though you could. Easily. It would not be hard.

But there’s a difference between perpetuating a cycle of violence by starting a blood feud or spending decades abusing someone emotionally and physically and dragging someone who said “you’re a weak effeminate pansy degenerate who wouldn't exist in our pure society and its not hate speech to want a country for white straight men and women with shared moral values” into a park bathroom and demonstrating certain inaccuracies of that argument by clamming their heads into the urinal and forcing them to eat a urinal cake. It’s not the most intellectually robust rebuttal, but you could rephrase “you’re a weak effeminate pansy degenerate who wouldn't exist in our pure society” as “you’re a stinky doo doo head who sucks and when I grow up I’m gonna be strong enough to throw you into space.” They’re functionally identical in terms of tone, content, self-aggrandizement, and mental acuity. There is no intellectually appropriate response to that kind of infantile argument - these are not intelligent people. I don’t mean ‘lacking in formal education.’ I mean they’re stupid. ‘Burn the blankets to warm the bed’ stupid. Leibowitzian ‘Proud To Be A Cretin’ stupid. ‘Smart Men Stay Ignorant; Leaning’s For Libs’ stupid. Their positions should not be treated as intellectually valid out of a misguided belief that a good intellectual should be open-minded to every idea every time it’s proposed. Sure, absolute-free-speech defenders always willing to normalize Nazi “discourse”, I’ll concede that the world-is-flat guy might have had a right to explain what his beliefs were. In 5000 BC, When nobody had heard them before and we didn’t know what he was going to say. Eight thousand years later, though, indulging his ancestor who’s just going to repeat the same points that were wrong eight millennia ago is lunacy.

A good intellectual knowns when something isn’t worth their time and acts accordingly. Sometimes this means not letting someone fill the air with hate speech out of slavish obligation to letter of freedom of expression instead of its spirit (when someone is granted the freedom to debate the idea that everyone who disagrees with them should be purged, you only harm freedom, not celebrate it.) Sometimes this means force-feeding an advocate of genocide a tasty lunchtime treat of urine and quaternary ammonium compounds while cheerfully wondering aloud what might happen if there’s still unswallowed cake in their mouth and you need to resolve certain biological necessities.

The first mistake we ever made with the alt-right was to leave the whoopee cushion at home, when we should have attended their every rally with an armful and play them constantly every time they tried to speak. “There’s nothing wrong with saying I’m pr-THPPTPHTPHPHHPH proud to be THPPTPHTPHPHHPH be white and to stand up for THPPTPHTPHPHHPH the achieveTHPPTPHTPHPHHPHments of the whitTHPPTPHTPHPHHPH of the whTHPPTPHTPHPHHPH white THPPTPHTPHPHHPH white raTPHRRURURURPHH-P-P-P- whiP-P-P-P whP-P-P whiteP-P-P-P WHITE RACTRRHPRPRP-P-P ... ... ... *cough* ... ... WHITE POWFFFFWWWPWPPRPRPRPRPRPRSQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAKTRRRHHPPPP-PPP-RPPP-PPP-P-P-P-PLIPPPP-THRP plip! We should attend their rallies and events with boxes of red noses, rainbow wigs, and buckets of greasepaint and throw ourselves upon them until we’ve forced them into wearing their true colours. Remember: every SS officer who looked so forbidding in their tailored uniform stank of their own disgusting sweat because all that blackened leather couldn’t breathe and every SS trooper standing in that imposing formation was broiling in their own filth. Nothing but bozos in fetish gear. The vaunted Wehrmacht had their uniforms rot off their bodies in the snows of Stalingrad as they had to strip the dead for scraps and rags, freezing to death, starving to death, because Hitler - the great genius who personally involved himself with the running of his forces almost to a tactical level - he didn’t think they needed to be resupplied. The Nazis lost. The Nazis lost so badly their monuments were ground into dust, their leaders bodies destroyed or abandoned in the mud, the dreams of Germania proven nothing but a dusty model in a museum devoted to cursing the Nazi’s memory. Nothing but a shrine to hubris and grossly over-estimating your own abilities. The legacy of the Nazis is humiliation, shame, and utter fucking failure. Neo-Nazis, this ‘new’ alt-right whose philosophies are all old, have as their heroes men who did nothing but fail, who achieved nothing but to have their life’s work expunged, debased, destroyed, and condemned by the world not just in their time but for generations after. Not misunderstood geniuses but understood buffoons. Never, ever, let them forget this - and never, ever let them try to turn it into a virtue. No ‘we shall rise again’ narratives. No abyss-to-transformation in some bullshit Cambellian hero’s journey. Their past was not a defeat to inspire them to future victory. They are not the underprivileged hurdle jumper who against all odds and obstacles wins gold at the Olympics, they’re the guy on your track team who once pushed so hard on a door marked pull that he fell through the glass and had to get ten stitches, the guy who got so drunk at an out-of-town meet that he shat his bed at the hotel and tried to hide the dirty sheets in his bags and stunk-up the bus ride home until Coach found out and chewed him out in front of the entire team for being the biggest fucking tool in the whole wide world. Not the guy who was a loner in high school but who found like-minded friends in college, started a cool band where they sang about their sucky pasts, and wound-up a rich and famous with legions of adoring fans. Nah, they’re the guy who was a loner in high school, and in college, and in the job at the napkin distribution company, the guy who retired without a party, spent weeks at a time with no one to talk to, and ultimately died alone - not because he was socially awkward or shy or struggled to communicate, but because he was really unpleasant to be around and even those virtuous folk who try and make sure that nobody is lonely gave up on him because he was such a nasty, loathsome, turd of a human being whose only impact on the world was that he improved it by leaving it. That’s the past of the Nazis. That, too, is their future. Never let them forget this. Their past should embarrass them. Mortify them. There’s is the ideology of pathetic losers. When you march against them, raise high above your heads images of Nazi Germany - not rigid columns of well-armed soldiers or shining tanks rolling off the lines, but the images of their ineptitude. The shuffling columns of defeated, broken men. Their burnt tanks, their downed planes, their sunken ships, their pulverized cities, and all the equipment abandoned in panicked withdrawals or through sheer bureaucratic incompetence. Show images of Jews defiant, the simple act of their still drawing breath spit in the eye of those who thought to see them erased. Humiliate the Nazis again and again and again. They. Failed. The Jews endured, survived, flourished - won. The conquered nations of Europe rebuilt their cultural wonders and their ruined homes and brought back their stolen treasures. They won. The disposed Roma preserved their ways of life despite the will of an entire conquering empire set against them. They won too. The queer communities persecuted for their ‘deviancy’ not only survived they reshaped the post-war world into a place that could no longer sideline them in history. Another victory. The Nazis lost. The Nazi’s failed so completely that they lost not only the territory they had tried to gain but their own nation lay shattered at their feet - politically, socially, economically, spiritually. The Great and Powerful Nazi Party so failed its own people that Germany was sundered into West Germany, East Germany, and Eastern Prussia, promptly swallowed whole by the Societs - the trauma from that lingers generations on. The Nazis not only failed to achieve any of their goals - they failed in the promise made by any such ideology: in joining us we will protect you. They did not just fail to make Germany greater, they literally destroyed it, and left it in pieces. So when you march against the alt-right, these neo-Nazis, Hoist photos of the bloated corpses of the hanged at Nuremberg - their swollen faces distorted in death. Chant the cry “Morons, Not Martyrs!” Remind every alt-right shit-eating soul that they were nothing, are nothing, will always be nothing but failures, losers, and followers of stupid, incompetent, incapable fools. They were, are, shall always, can only ever be wrong. “These are your role models? This is your dream? Failures! Failures! Failures!” “Be A Nazi To Lose It All” Do not, for a single solitary second, treat their ideas as grown-up. Do not, for a moment, give them the cover of adulthood, maturity, or sober discourse. Do not, for one second of time, treat them with respect so long as they seek to hold power over you, to be feared by you, to be thought of as an enemy and not something foul but forgettable to be scrapped off your shoe. Never give them an inch of fear to feed their starving egos. The man who said that rocks were soft as butter and as edible as custard would be given no weight as a person of substantive ideas - Nazis deserve the same derision.  And do not allow them a moment of privacy to brood on the indignities you heap upon them, to be like a teen sulking in their bedroom crafting fantasies about how one day they’ll be proven right and everyone will be sorry. Drag them out into the light again and again and again, give them no moment of peace, allow no instant of time to pass when you are not holding images of their ideology’s worthlessness and failure above their heads. No hiding. No sulking. No second to plot or brood or dream. Stake them to the earth, keep them forever in the light, and pummel them with pie until even they can not deny that they are nothing but clowns worthy only of mockery, ridicule, and endless savage laughter.

[yooiyasaa]

TOKIO no Oshigoto! Vol. 91 *scans (c) yoshiko_mama*

Limited-Time Special Project — Let’s hear from big brother TOKIO

This time, Taichi-san’s “favorite member” Iwamoto Hikaru (Snow Man) makes his appearance! This conversation was inside of one of the waiting rooms in Tokyo-Nissay Theatre. Actually, this was the time Taichi-san went to watch the stage play, “Shounentachi, Soshite, Sore Kara…”, starring SixTONES and Snow Man, which ran until September (it’s also the day Taichi uploaded 2-shots on his TAHICHI Blog).

Now that Taichi-san’s earnest wish for an interview has come true, what does he want to convey to Iwamoto-kun? While there’s a peaceful atmosphere between the two, it’s definitely inevitable to be struck by their passionate feelings!

— about 4 performances’ worth of energy

Before the conversation begins, “if things go wrong, is it okay if I call Snow Man’s last weapon - Fukazawa Tatsuya?", said Iwamoto-kun with half-serious eyes.  Despite the nervousness, however, Taichi-san’s gentle lead made the talk exciting.

Moreover, speaking of “Shounentachi”, Taichi-san gave a specific advice. “It would be better to express the last line more slowly with  an 'I want to convey this' feeling.” Iwamoto-kun also seriously replied, “I will immediately adjust it”. After the talk, Taichi-san left with a satisfied smile, commenting, “it’s like I’ve used up 4 performances worth of energy”. May the feelings Taichi-san conveyed becomes a magic word and illuminates the future of these guys.

Kokubun💙 : thank you for giving your time even though you’re in the middle of your stage play.

Iwamoto💛: no, no, no! Likewise, thank you very much!

Kokubun💙: It’s the first time we’ll have a proper talk, right. Although we met once to interview you during your practice (for Vivit).

Iwamoto💛: Yes, I agree.

Kokubun💙: The atmosphere when you’re in rehearsal hall is really different from the atmosphere on stage, ne. I was really shocked when I saw “Johnny’s Happy New Year IsLAND”. I uttered “I’ve found my favorite member” on my radio instinctively.

Iwamoto💛: I was able to hear that.

Kokubun💙: Really!?

Iwamoto💛:  I was like, “Yeess!!” (laughs) But why did Taichi-kun pick me among the many Jrs. out there?

Kokubun💙: With regard to “IsLAND”, it’s been ages since I last went to watch a stage play by Johnny-san. A part of me has this feeling that it’s a Juniors’ stage play but when I actually saw it, I thought, “they are this good!?”, it really surprised me. And even among them, Iwamoto-kun knows his way of presenting. I felt like you study things like "doing it this way for a group looks attractive", and that you are constantly pursuing for that. And also, your take on the rhythm is a bit different from those around you. Like you take it from behind. I’m talking about sense but, regardless whether it’s dancing or playing musical instruments, taking the rhythm from behind is cooler.

Iwamoto💛: thank you very much…!

Kokubun💙: are you conscious about rhythm after all?

Iwamoto💛: I usually choreograph for the group including the song during Shounentachi’s SHOW TIME. And when I’m thinking, I put in mind the members’ way of dancing and I also study foreign artists’ dance rhythm. And then on top of that, I’ll apply them thinking, “I wonder if it would feel better for this person to do this”.

Kokubun💙: I see~ I guess after all, it’s because you usually watch various dancers and absorb them that you could be like that. That’s amazing. For us TOKIO, there were so many parts of us that developed after debuting. But there’s a group that is already well-established even before debuting. So I think the next thing this group needs is experience. I think that over the next ten years, when Snow Man’s performance has been even more polished, you’ll become a dangerous group. Thinking about it makes me excited..... is it okay for me to praise you this much (laughs).

Iwamoto💛: Ahahaha! But it makes me reaaaally happy!

Kokubun💙: You know, even about “Shounentachi”, I've already talked about this in everyone’s dressing room a while ago but, the resolution you all have is way different from that of my generation. And it is exactly because that resolution is conveyed that made me feel good while watching. Everyone has that greediness, ne.

Iwamoto💛: Yes. After all, we have this feeling that we won’t get any chances unless we have special skills like “I can do this more than anyone else”. So everyday, we put efforts to improve on something.

Kokubun💙: It’s exactly because you have so many frustrating feelings that you can say that. That’s really cool, you know. And it's alright to show that even on places, in a sense, "traditional", directed by Johnny-san. I was actually told by someone who has always been taking care of me in my newscasting job, “Taichi-san, I suggest you watch the stageplay by Johnny-san. Young men who are currently popular are facing other young men from their own generation, and their performances convey war. There’s no entertainment as beautiful as that.” And it indeed was. Even in the field of journalism, there are people who think so, you know. That’s why I think, it’s truly a rewarding thing to be in the position to do that, and at the same time, it comes with responsibility.

Iwamoto💛: Yes…!

Kokubun💙: Sorry, I suddenly started talking seriously (laughs).

Iwamoto💛: No, no, I don’t mind!!

Kokubun: It’s because I thought, “among the juniors, Snow Man and SixTONES in particular are the groups that inherited Johnny-san’s production.”

Iwamoto💛: Snow Man has the longest history among all the groups so our, should I call it potential, or things that our seniors have taught us up to now, we have this consciousness that we have to teach all that we have inherited to the younger ones.

Kokubun💙: How about things that you want to challenge from now on?

Iwamoto💛: Uhm, I’m thinking that I would like to try performing abroad. I’m fascinated by the idea of being able to move people through dancing or expressions even without using words. I wish I could move someone through my own dancing in various places not limited to Japan.

Kokubun💙: Then, it’s really a good thing that you can deliver your videos on YouTube right now. People all over the world can watch.

Iwamoto💛: Yes.

Kokubun💙: Sometimes, I also watch your videos.

Iwamoto💛: Eehh, is that so!?

Kokubun: Yep. I also just recently had a talk with Tackey (Takizawa Hideaki). I said, “even just a little, isn’t there a better way of using YouTube?”

Iwamoto💛: Eeehh!?

Kokubun💙: The videos you have uploaded so far are a bit long and are directed towards fans, right. Of course, I think that’s important and necessary, but I was thinking, isn’t there a way to make people other than them watch your videos? For example, within 1-2 months, there will be one time where you put a 2-minute video showing a particular dance angle. Then have a creator from the same generation as you to direct it. That way, you’ll definitely be able to make something that we, the older generations, can’t. And I think it’ll spread easily, and there’ll be rumors like, “who are those guys who perform so well!?”, “they’re Johnny’s?”. There hasn’t been anything like that up until now, so aren’t that the coolest? And I’m thinking that maybe, it’s you guys who have the ability to do that kind of performance.

Iwamoto💛: Taichi-kun, please direct that!

Kokubun💙: Actually, I have said that too. “Let me do it just once!”

Iwamoto💛: Eehh~!

Kokubun💙: I also have been telling the YouTube staffs, “since it’s not like all of them have a pin mic, sometimes their voices echo and it sounds unclear, it’s such a waste so it’s better to look for places where the sound won’t break.”

Iwamoto💛: Is that so!? It’s my first time hearing about this so I’m really surprised (laughs). Please, by all means, direct us!!

Kokubun: but after all, that’s being presumptuous.

Iwamoto💛: no, not at all! not at all!

Kokubun💙: Even without saying that I’ll direct, just like what Iwamoto-kun said a while ago, there’s a part of me that thinks it’ll be good if my juniors could get something from my experiences. What I’ve become might be of a different genre, but I think there are definitely things that I could convey. And if, with that, you all are able to go to a new stage, it will make me happy as your senior. But of course, you should also continue things that have been our "tradition"! That’s important. And above that, it’ll be good if you can go to the outside world more and more from now on.

Iwamoto💛: actually, from the end of October, Watanabe (Shota), Abe (Ryohei) and I, 3 members from Snow Man, will star on our first external stageplay.

Kokubun💙: Eeh!? That’s great!!

Iwamoto💛: This would give us a chance to see just how much our dancing and performance skills could get across, and even if they don't, it’ll become an experience. So no matter how I think about it, this is really a chance for us.

Kokubun💙: that’s right. And I believe that you won’t understand where you stand unless you experience it firsthand, with your skin. And after that, by the time you come back, I believe something would change in you. A while ago in the dressing room, Jesse-kun also said, “I want to be seen by more people”. Is CD debut one of your goals, after all?

Iwamoto💛: I never thought of that as the goal, but I do think that we need to stand there first or else we won’t be able to fight in front. We have been receiving so many jobs to be grateful for, but I also have some classmates who are already starring in movies; becoming actors who are able to lead. Even if I feel like, “look at us now”, in the end, I feel like I’m just still on the underground, and it somehow makes me feel down….

Kokubun💙: I see. That’s an honest opinion. Indeed, if you have classmates like that, it’ll make you impatient and frustrated. But you know, the way I see it, being on the underground for a long time means something amazing is being nurtured, that’s why I think there’s no need to worry about that. I'm very sure that somewhere, a chance will come!

Iwamoto💛: Do you think we’ll have?

Kokubun💙: you will! Even when TOKIO debuted, we didn’t sell at all. We tried to keep a cool outward appearance saying, “it’s because we’re doing rock [songs]~”, but deep inside, we were very frustrated. And at that time, V6 and KinKi Kids debuted and immediately ranked no. 1. But for us, it took more than 5 years before we could reach the no. 1 spot. I understand your frustrations but there’s no need to panic. Your time will definitely come with a bang!

Iwamoto💛: Yes…! Hearing it from someone who had an experience, I could really feel the weight of your comment. It’s not a magic word, but being told by Taichi-kun that “there’s a chance” really increased my motivation…! I will do my best!!

Kokubun💙: You’re such a good kid. The next time I feel down, I’ll give you a call.

Iwamoto💛: isn’t it the other way around!? (laughs)

Kokubun💙: I want to be praised by others.

Iwamoto💛: if you’re fine with me, then (laughs)

Kokubun💙: wait, let’s exchange contact details for real.

Iwamoto💛: Sure! Please!

[nellpire]

Nell official 2018 photobook - Q&A (translation)

Nell

Q: Do you have a goal or a dream, something you want to accomplish under Nell’s name? Jongwan: My goal for the moment is to make the next full album great, and my dream is to maintain my passion for a long time. Jaekyung: I don’t have a dream in particular. If I can keep making good music with the members like right now, I don’t need anything else. All I want is to be more pleased with our future music, in many ways. Junghoon: As it’s always been, my goal is to improve our music, improve our performances. Jaewon: To record a full album at Abbey Road studios in England.

Q: What are your wishes for your 20th year as a band? Jongwan: That it’ll be a better year than this year Jaekyung: A year when our new album is more than satisfactory both to the fans and us members Junghoon: It’ll be a year when our next full album might(?) be out, so I hope it’ll be a musically richer year, and also that we can communicate with our fans more than before. Jaewon: A peaceful year.

Q: What message do you want to deliver through your music? Jongwan: More than a specific message, we hope that we can all mature and be purified together through our music, and that the listeners feel that, too. Jaekyung: I hope everyone will feel it in their own way. Junghoon: I hope our music can become at least a tiny bit of comfort to those who are going through a difficult time, and that it makes this time a little more beautiful for those who are already happy. Jaewon: The spectrum of human emotions, inspiration

Q: What is Space Bohemian to Nell? Jongwan: In progress Jaekyung: Nell’s home. An endless musical space. Junghoon: An unexpectedly cozy nest, and as a CEO(?) I lack a lot but I will work hard to make sure it doesn’t crumble. Jaewon: A 3 year old kid.

Q: What does your annual Christmas concert mean to you? Jongwan: The performance that allows us to attempt the most new things, the performance that’s the hardest to prepare for Jaekyung: A great party to finish off the year with people who like us. Junghoon: First of all it’s Jongwan’s birthday, and it has become a way to end the year and a starting point to prepare for the next. I think I’d be proud beyond measure if “Christmas in Nell’s Room” keeps going for a long time. Jaewon: The feeling of sorting out the past year.

Q: What would you pick as the album and song you’re the most pleased with? Jongwan: I don’t know about the album, and for the song it’s Slip Away right now. But I think it changes a lot. Jaekyung: Slip Away from the album Slip Away. Junghoon: You probably can’t be 100% satisfied with everything, but I think generally I’m pleased with everything. If I’m to pick from those, the album Healing Process comes to mind. I remember feeling proud of how it turned out soundistically and emotionally. As for a song, I’ll pick The Day Before. Jaewon: Slip Away, The Day Before.

Q: How do you wish Nell to be remembered in the future? Jongwan: More than ‘how’, I hope we’ll be remembered for a long time. Jaekyung: As a band who made timeless music. As a band who you’ll listen to when you want to reminisce about a specific time in your life. Junghoon: I think being remembered in any way as long as it’s not negative is something to be thankful for.  Jaewon: As 4 close friends who worked hard to make music.

Q: Please leave a few words of thanks to someone you met during the years you spent promoting as Nell. Jongwan: If it’s a message of thanks, then it has to be towards Simz this year. “Thank you, No Simji”. Jaekyung: Thanks. Junghoon: Looking back on the times we’ve gone drinking together, I feel like that’s been what has helped me not to collapse during the times I’ve been exhausted. I ask you to continue to be here with me, and I hope I can do the same for you. Thank you. Jaewon: Go Hyeonjeong, our sound engineering hyung, I’m always thankful to you for being with us.

Q: Let’s say the first song you hear on January first will determine the mood for the rest of the year. Which song would you play? Jongwan: What comes to mind right now is Coldplay - In My Place. The full-band intro sound is still great no matter how many times I’ve heard it. Jaekyung: Pink Floyd - High Hopes. I hope you’ll listen both to the music and the lyrics. Junghoon - As one says (Yoo Jaesuk & Lee Juk) Jaewon: Pat Metheny with Charlie Haden - Cinema Paradiso. I feel at peace when I hear this song.

Q: What song do you want played at your funeral? Jongwan: The Day Before. Jaekyung: M83 - Farewell / Good bye Junghoon: I haven’t written it yet. Jaewon: The Day Before.

Q: When you listen to music, what do you hear first and consider the most important? The atmosphere, vibe, vocals, lyrics, band sound or other? Jongwan: Since every ingredient including vocals, lyrics and band sound combined is what makes the atmosphere and feeling, I say it’s all of them. You don’t listen to music with your head, so we like music that touches our heart somehow. Jaekyung: Stimuli, inspiration  Junghoon: I don’t think any part is less important. If any single element doesn’t match with me, I won’t feel the song. Back in my teens I listened to a lot of foreign bands but I can’t speak English so lyrics weren’t that important to me, but these days I consider lyrics to be the most important. Jaewon: The general feel of the song

Q: What’s the driving force that compels you to make music? Jongwan: Music itself. Jaekyung: The pleasure and solace that comes from making or listening to music. Junghoon: It changes a lot, but it has to be the fans. I don’t think music that no one listens to would mean that much to me. Jaewon: Fun

Q: Relay compliment time! Jongwan - Jaekyung - Junghoon - Jaewon - Jongwan, tell us something you want to compliment or emulate from the next member. Jongwan: Jaekyung - Jaekyung is kind. Yashashii guy. Jaekyung: Junghoon - his strength and sincerity that doesn’t let it show when he’s having a hard time. Junghoon: Jaewon - First of all, he’s the kindest in our team. He has many human sides and he’s the most sociable among us members. I think that’s why he has the most friends. He’s the least talkative, but with the spare jokes he throws he’s the funniest, too. And he’s handsome. Jaewon: Jongwan - his passion for music.

Q: How do you feel about the last year in your thirties? Jongwan: I’m still 37 as I’m writing this.  Jaekyung: Great. Junghoon: Nothing much has changed as of right now. But I do feel like I should treasure and spend my time more wisely from now on. Jaewon: I’m looking forward to next year

Q: What are some of your SBSHs (Small But Sincere Happiness)? Jongwan: Eating a fresh salad with a delicious mushroom pasta. Jaekyung: Eating probiotics in the morning.  Junghoon: Conversations with friends. Meals with family. Watching movies. Getting immersed in games. etc etc, there’s a lot. Jaewon: The way home after a day of hard work

Q: I’m curious about the epitaph you want on your tombstones! Jongwan: That’s too difficult -- but I do wonder why that matters for a person who has already passed. Jaekyung: ‘What are you looking at?’ Junghoon: I don’t want to think about that yet. Jaewon: Love and peace.

Q: What do you think is the most desirable trait? Jongwan: Being passionate for something or someone. Jaekyung: People who cherish people. Junghoon: People who look weak and sloppy normally but become stronger and wiser than anyone else when it really matters. I guess that’s like a manga character. Jaewon: People who don’t do bad things.

Q: What’s something that gives you strength if you so much as think of it? Jongwan: Travel Jaekyung: The performances we make with the fans Junghoon: My people Jaewon: Friends

Q: If you were to released rearranged songs, which would you like to try your hand at the most? Jongwan: There’s none that comes to mind right now, but I do want to try Sunggyu’s Kontrol in a quieter mood. Jaekyung: Travis - Luv Junghoon: Byun Jinsub - You to Me Again Jaewon: Nirvana - Come as you are

Q: What’s the most attractive to you: When the other person has the same values as you vs when they’re different? Jongwan: When they’re the same Jaekyung: Whether they were the same or different initially, I’m attracted to instances when they can change my beliefs. And times when we want the same things yet have different beliefs.  Junghoon: Both Jaewon: When they’re the same.

Jongwan

Q: What’s the greatest realization you’ve come to this year?  “Let’s work hard to do our job”

Q: Please pick one movie and one book from this year! If I’m to pick a movie that made me think a lot rather than a movie from this year, then “the killing of a sacred deer”. As for the book, “Twinkle Twinkle” by Kaori Ekuni lingers in my mind because it made me feel very different things from the first time I read it.

Q: Which of your songs do you feel visualizes the sound the best? Tinnitus

Q: When you’re consuming media that links music and visuals together (like music videos and movies), what do you think is the most important part? Do you have any interest in composing movie scores? How well it expresses the point. For example, I think the music video has to deepen the message the music wants to get across, and oppositely for movies, the music has to deepen what the movie wants to express. I’m always interested in working on film scores.

Q: Among the songs you’ve written, which one could you never write again even if you wanted to? The Day Before

Q: What instrument that you’ve never tried your hand at would you like to learn the most? Harp and cello

Q: If -- just IF -- you were to hold your last concert as Nell, which song would you want to finish off with? 12 Seconds

Q: How would you rate our fanchanting abilities? Excellent.

Q: Are you aware of how cute you are? How would you rank the members’ cuteness? I don’t want to know. And I’m not sure about the ranking, but Jaekyung has the most moments of cuteness.

Q: What’s the reason for your use of the expression ‘to get to meet’ instead of ‘to meet’? (t/n: this question refers to the verb ‘만나지다 (mannajida)’ vs ‘만나다 (mannada)’. 만나다 means simply “to meet”, but Jongwan often uses 만나지다 in his lyrics instead. the addition of the ‘지’ implies that the two people who met didn’t do so by their own choice, but that it’s something that just happened to them. you can see this, for example in Afterglow, Island and Sing For Me.) I suppose that’s because I tend to believe in some version of fate, looking at the probability of things. How small is the probability of me meeting the people I have in my life when there are so many people on this earth? I often think that these things happen regardless of my will.

Q: What ‘existence’, ‘source’ or ‘thought’ inspires you recently? Myself, both in a positive and negative sense.

Q: What would you do if someone stole the journal in which you keep all your memos and requested 100,000,000 won to return it? I guess I should report them?

Q: What’s something you feel you are the greatest at in the entire world? Nothing.

Q: Though there’s nothing that Kim Expert can’t do, what’s something you think you’re absolutely terrible at? (Minus driving) Everything other than what I’m good at.

Q: The legendary Thank You performance… have you ever rewatched it? (t/n: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfVmHDnZnoE) Never.

Q: What do you like to drink and snack on when you’re in a good mood? For good moods, soju. I don’t think the snacks matter that much.

Q: What are the pros and cons of having your birthday on Christmas eve? The bad side is having my birthday the day before the most famous person on earth. The good side-- uhm… getting to perform?

Q: What’s the meaning of your signature “shh” pose? There’s no meaning to it, the reason I do it is because it’s comfortable to have a go-to pose at photoshoots.

Q: Fans think your personality has become a lot milder, but what do you think? Everyone is free to have their own opinion.

Q: What is winter to you? Grey mixed with blue

Jaekyung

Q: What was your greatest expense this year? The new Space Bohemian office that we finished by the end of the year.

Q: The over-all song aside, on which song are you the most pleased with your guitar performance? Farewell

Q: What’s the first song you ever attempted to play? Metallica - Enter Sandman

Q: Do you have plans to play the keyboards again at a future performance? Of course.

Q: Other than the guitar, photography and Japanese studies, what are you focusing on recently? International relations

Q: What smell of perfume and/or body lotion to you like and/or use? Artisan

Q: If you had a younger sister and you absolutely had to set her up with one of the members, who would you pick and why? I’d be 100% opposed to it ^^

Q: What was Jaekyung’s favorite karaoke song in his school days? 이젠 안녕, 더 늦기전에, 우리 앞에 생이 끝나갈 때

Q: It’s such a pity that you don’t talk much during concerts, do you have any plans to change that? I do.

Q: You’re known to have a lot of fear, but what’s something that makes you think “at least I’m not scared of this!”? Nothing. I’m scared of everything in this life

Q: You’re very tall and you have such pretty dimples, but if you were given this choice: eating cucumbers or cutting your height down to 165cm + losing your dimples, what would you pick? I think I’ll throw up

Q: What’s your favorite hamburger these days? What joint and what menu? I don’t need recent burgers. Tradition is important. It’s Big Mac

Q: Bottled vs canned beer Canned

Q: Would you accept a request for you to go out to the finale of Paris fashion week wearing your fan pattern t-shirt? I’d decide based on the fee.

(t/n:

Fans are still mocking him for this look.)

Q: What’s something you wish people would stop saying to you? As long as they keep their manners, anything is fine.

Q: A word you use often? “First of all’

Q: How many selfies do you take before you upload one? 250!

Q: Any plans to open a selfie exhibition? Yes.

Q: If you were to live in Kim Jongwan’s body for one day, what would you do? Play baseball.

Q: The time to escape Lee Jenkyung is one year closer now, how do you feel? (t/n: Jaekyung has promised to sing at a Nell concert once he’s in his 40s. The name ‘Lee Jenkyung’ comes from the Pia members after Jaekyung started singing the song 기억의 습작 by 전람회 at their Newton’s Apple concert -- the song starts with the word 이제… (ije = now), which sounds like the 이재 (ijae) of 이재경, Lee Jaekyung.) Pitapat

Junghoon

Q: What’s the most memorable movie or drama you’ve watched this year, and why? ‘Searching’ felt new and fresh.

Q: Which purchase were you the most pleased with this year? Ipad pro 10.5

Q: I’m curious about your camera equipment Sony Rx100-M4, Leica X1 (currently broken), Ricoh GR1S (currently broken), LOMO instant automat polaroid camera

Q: What’s your favorite bread? Ah… Sweet red bean paste bread comes to mind right now.

Q: Do you use scented candles? If so, which scent do you prefer? I prefer to use a diffuser over candles. Because you have to keep lighting the candles and putting them out again.

Q: What games would you recommend for a newbie? (Switch or playstation doesn’t matter) The Last of Us, Legend of Zelda

Q: What’s the reason you adopted a cat? No special reason.

Q: If you were to open an exhibition, what would you like your debut work to be about? Moments from our performance

Q: What are horn rimmed glasses to you? The face.

Q: What’s your secret to becoming more and more of an eloquent speaker? Trying, of course. I still lack a lot.

Q: What is it that you ultimately want to achieve through youtube? Ad revenue or band promotion? Or ad revenue through band promotions? Of course there’s the promotions, and though it’s still far away there could be ad revenue at some point, too. But ultimately I think it’s about a sense of accomplishment through something other than music, or another type of accomplishment through music.

Q: Do you have any thoughts of creating your own music video or behind the scenes clips? I’m not at the level to think about things like that… But I do want to create videos every now and again as a hobby.

Q: What song do you enjoy singing the backup vocals for the most? The rearranged version of Cure.

Q: During one of your streams you said that seeing the fans gives you strength (^^), so what would you like to say to the fans? Gain strength from looking at me. … I’m sorry.

Q: What’s a special right you have as the CEO? Stress.. invaluable business and pressure

Q: Other than yourself, who do you think would be fit to be the CEO? Kim Jongwan

Q: At Jang Yunju’s rooftop radio in 2014 you said that Nell had been together for fifteen years but you still hadn’t seen Jaekyung naked. Have you still(!) not seen it? Nope, I still haven’t.

Q: What’s something you’d like to accomplish for yourself and not as Lee Junghoon, bassist of Nell, or Lee Junghoon, CEO of Space Bohemian? I’d like to go travelling to watch soccer in England or Spain and attend a lot of great performances. Also, studying English.

Q: For your next collaboration with other artists, what kind of thoughts do you wish they’d have about your work? I like so many artists, so as long as we match it doesn’t matter much to me what they think.

Q: What’s the most surprising slang you’ve learned recently? Honkono (t/n: going alone to a coin karaoke joint), ilko (t/n: pretending not to be a fan). They aren’t that surprising, but I’d never have guessed the meanings unless someone taught me.

Jaewon

Q: Out of all the pictures you’ve drawn this year, which was your favorite? The drawing for our Nell’s Room coloring event. I bow my head in thanks to all those who participated.

Q: I’m curious about the backstory, profile and all things Esby! (Please tell us the reason why they’re called Esby and what the Korean pronunciation is -- isby vs esby.) I took the initials from Space Bohemian (S.B) to make Esby. I drew it because I thought it’d be nice if there was a character with a calm personality who anyone can draw easily. I guess you could say that Esby is a free character who isn’t bound to any expression, gender, size or space.

Q: What’s your favorite drum stick? I have no specific favorite but I use Vic Firth drum sticks the most.

Q: From the crowd’s perspective there are times when we can’t see the drums very well, but how do you experience the crowd from a performer’s perspective? It’s an overwhelming experience when the crowd’s energy becomes one with ours.

Q: Which song do you think is the most fun to play? Ocean of Light

Q: What equipment did you use the most during the recording of the latest acoustic album? C&C drum set and A&F snares

Q: What was your honest first impression of Junghoon? Kind and pure personality. Wore fancy, colorful hiphop style clothes.

Q: Who among the members do you feel is truly weird and why? They’re all weird, but Jaekyung is seriously strange. He’s lost his mind.

Q: What do you prioritize between love and peace, and why? Love. Would the world exist without it?

Q: Recommend to us your favorite night snack please! Ddeokbokki

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Midas touch

Q: What’s a bad habit you’d like to get rid of? Procrastination

Q: The longest time you’ve spent walking? Nine hours

Q: The best reaction you’ve gotten to a meal you’ve cooked? Most of them are not great

Q: The newest photo in your phone? A picture from a Japanese airport

Q: Why did you get your tattoos? Because I was bored

Q: What does the Vain Hope MV recording mean to you? It felt like going on a trip on my own. We’d just finished a rock festival so the others were enjoying themselves which made me feel even more alone

Q: If you were to stand on stage as Jung Jaewon band again, what’s a song you’d want to perform, and perhaps some stage equipment that would go well with it? Maybe because the movie Bohemian Rhapsody is becoming so popular these days, I’d like to play a Queen song. I’m not sure about equipment but I’d like to dress up properly once.

Q: Be honest, have you ever worked harder to prepare your stage as Jung Jaewon band than the rest of your concert? No. I think it’s more fun the more impromptu it is.

Q: What do you pay the most attention to when standing on stage as Jung Jaewon Band’s main vocalist? How to make it as funny as possible kkkkk

Feel free to use, but please credit Nellpire.

[jmhwritesstuff]

Get to know the writer tag

Tagged by @somethingwriterly ! (Loved your Jeff Goldblum answer!)

1. It’s the end of the world, or something like it. You need to burn books to stay warm. Which book off of your shelf burns first?

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. I’ve tried so hard to get into her books, and I just can’t. So this one has been sitting on my shelf for a long time; a bookmark never makes it past the first few pages. On to the fire it goes.

2. If your writing could convey a message that you, a dear reader, or the world need desperately hear, what message would you most wish to convey?

I have no idea. I think thousands of books convey so many messages that people latch on to all the time. War is not the answer or war has dire consequences; love is not everything or you don’t need to be in a relationship to be happy; you’re not the only outsider or you’re never truly alone; if your family sucks then find your tribe. The thing about messages in books is that they can be incredibly subjective to individual readers, and can heavily depend on what a person is currently going through. I could try to convey a strong message that will last forever, but it will only be relevant as long as the reader can relate, and they won’t relate to it forever.

3. Has an OC ever said something that surprised you? Whether it be a nugget of wisdom or a fact you didn’t know you knew or something that made you feel emotional?

Off the top of my head: I have a side character in my current WIP who says that art outlasts us, so even though it can be beautiful, what is it worth if no one is around to see it? And that really got me thinking. I also planned to have my MC be very empathetic and somewhat emotional, and then suddenly she was hard hearted and bitter in everything she said (and I like it better that way).

4. Do you collect things writing or reading related? Funko Pop figures? Notebooks? Bookmarks? Pens? Plushies? Snacks for designated reading and or writing time and so on?

I’ve discovered that a lot of writers enjoy collecting notebooks and never write in them - I am one of those writers. I’ve also gathered a nice collection of bookmarks from bookdepository that come with every order. Non-writing/reading related things are dinosaur ... things - like plushies, figurines, keyrings, ring holders. In truth, I used to be a bit of a hoarder, but I had a weird detachment from sentimentality a few years ago and now I don’t really collect stuff anymore. 

5. A celebrity author you admire reads a book you’ve published, speaking words of praise that will appear on the cover of your book’s next print. Hooray. Now they’ve written a new book, which you’ve read, however it was not your cup of tea. Their publisher potentially wants to use a blurb from you about it. Do you tell the truth, or manufacture polite praise?

I would probably just manufacture something. Make it an objective blurb rather than personal views on the story. 

6. A magic spell befalls you. You are sucked into one of your WIPs/short stories/etc. The only way to break the spell is to convince at least three OCs that you are their creator and the creator of their world. Which OCs would most likely believe you? Which would laugh in your face? What would you do or say to convince them?

Probably none of them? Like ... Brandt is a little naive so he may join my cause, but ... beyond telling them I know everything about them and what has happened and what is going to happen ... I think I’d just get thrown in a cell!

7. You’re stuck having one of your original villains over for dinner. How does it go?

Awkward. These guys would probably talk shit about my cooking while staring me down, and if they don’t kill me just for sport they most certainly wouldn’t stick around for long. 

8. Has writing benefited you, brought relief, or improved your life in any way?

I once wrote an almost-novel that helped me process grief when I was 16-17, and I’ve written a lot of short stories that allowed me to explore issues I was dealing with personally. After a long and soul-crushing relationship, I went to university to study writing, and now my writing is better, I learnt a lot about different mediums, I had my first story published, and I got a job writing walkthroughs for video games. I’m by no means financially stable, or close to publishing a novel, but I’m grateful to writing for helping me deal with stuff and potentially opening doors in the future. I think I’d have been screwed otherwise.

9. You discover that whatever you write about comes to pass/becomes reality. Newly aware of this strange ability and after writing about winning some money, what’s the second thing you write about?

A better, fully working, permanent system for helping homeless people no longer be homeless. It bothers me that there isn’t one. If I were smart enough to figure it out, I’d write about that.

10. For whatever reason you’re forced into using a pen name. It can be as modest, or outlandish and eccentric as you wish; what name do you choose?

I used to want a pen name when I was younger. First name was Ruby, but I can’t remember the last name. Now I have this backup name: Billy Winchester. And not even because I want it, or love it, I just ... I took this name generator thing a long time ago that combined a pet’s name with an address, and that’s what I got. I even used it for a character in a story once. It’s just stuck with me over the years.

Alright, I’m gonna steal a couple questions from others as well as write my own, so ...

My questions ...

1. Has writing benefited you, brought relief, or improved your life in any way?

2. If your novel was adapted, who would be your dream cast for your OC(s)?

3. Who is an actor you like and consider good, but is always in bad movies?

4. On the other hand, who is an actor you consider bad, but is always in great movies?

5. What do you like the most about your OC(s)?

6. What do you dislike the most about your OC(s)?

7. What do you consider your greatest weakness in writing? What about your greatest strength?

8. What is your dream novel that you wish you could write?

9. If you’ve been writing for a long time, do you keep everything you have ever written? Or have you dumped old works in the trash? Why?

10. What is your favourite thing you’ve ever written, even if it will never see the light of day?

I’ll just tag a few people, you don’t have to do this of course!

@missvalerietanner @katywritesbooks @bookishdiplodocus @ryan-writes-fiction @maramahan @merigreenleaf @writebruh @bethanywritesbooks AND EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWS ME, HONESTLY.

[tactileconsensus]

I love writing, but my writing process involves a lot of procrastination because 1) I’m lazy, 2) I tend to ramble, and 3) I’m not actually that creative lmao

Regardless!! Kurtox’s academy life is extremely important to his character, and it’s also a thing that i’m really proud of. For the longest time, I’ve been meaning to write about this to explain everything... Looks like i finally did it! It’s all under a readmore because I know it’ll get long and I don’t want to clog your dash

TL;DR - Super smart, super charming Kurtox Galwes is a legislacerator in training who hates law and has no friends. We’re all very sad about this but, y’know, it’s not like he made things easier so we get to be a little less sad about this whole ‘loneliness’ thing he’s got going on.

For those who might not know Kurtox’s character very well (probably due to the considerable lack of plotting and headcanon-ing on my part), Kurtox is a dude who got himself into a prestigious legislacerator academy because he thought it was the “right” thing to do as a teal blood, since the best legislacerators tend to come from his caste. He was also encouraged by his lusus. Probably. 

"Birdad” fell into a deep slumber shortly after the two finished building their hive. Kurtox, who is creative and really good with science, has actually managed to keep him alive through medicine of his own creation, but he still doesn’t know why this happened. He doesn’t know whether his dad will ever wake up either. Dad could die at any moment and Kurtox struggles with this.

Living without a lusus and friends (we will get to that part soon) can be lonely; thankfully, Birdad can sometimes communicate with Kurtox telepathically, though he only seems to do it for important situations as it does seem to take a tool on his already poor health. One day, while wondering if legislaceration was the right path for him, his lusus came to him and encouraged him to join the academy. Well, at least that’s what Kurtox assumed he meant. His lusus always speaks in riddles, after all, so it can be hard to tell what he wants. The point is, his lusus tempted his health to provide insight on this issue. Naturally, Kurtox valued what he understood from it.

And so, Kurtox started his adventure. He didn’t know much about law, and his true passion in life has always been science, but Kurtox likes learning new things and he was convinced this was the right thing to do. 

These academies start training young trolls (6 sweeps and up) who get in through suggestions or a series of tests. Kurtox was tested and passed with flying colors, being admitted to Ykrat Academy of Legislaceration.

He got into it wanting to be the best, mostly for reasons of pride. While Kurtox managed to ace whatever the academy threw his way, it didn’t even take him 1 whole “human year” to realize he really hated law and law school. He had to memorize theory, watch a bunch of grown ups work, and do their paperwork. Go to sleep, wake up, repeat! Maybe even spend the weekend doing this really troublesome essay that is almost entirely a work of research and compilation and doesn’t actually require you to think about the subject at all. Classes were repetitive and time consuming. The bounty hunting aspect of the job didn’t interest him either. Kurtox started to care less and less about his duties as a legislacerator in training, already thinking about dropping out. 

Naturally, his grades started to suffer. His teachers were infuriated. It’s common for the best of the best to be recruited as soon as they finish the course (it’s why the students of the academy are so competitive), and it’s all because of the teachers. In what may or may not be a series of shady arrangements, the teachers make deals with highly ranked professionals, or negotiate to have the graduates for themselves. Kurtox’s teachers already had plans and expectations for him. They would never allow him to be anything but excellent. The meaner ones even threatened him with the possibility of culling, since many of them negotiate with highbloods. A young Kurtox (who, to this day, is extremely afraid of death) was intimidated into staying and excelling, despite his complete lack of passion. Having to wake up everyday to sit in a class you hate, only to have another you hate even more after that one... It’s hard being a kid and growing up. It's hard and nobody understands.

Kurtox is really easy to befriend, okay? He’s fun and charismatic. When school started and he got to meet his classmates for the first time, he quickly became friends with pretty much all of them. Everyone was smart and witty in their own unique way, so even if they knew they would be each other’s competition in the future, it felt like they were all starting on even ground, all of them evenly matched, which is a healthy way to establish friendly rivalries.

Sadly, tests, essays and assignments eventually started happening, grades coming shortly after. Kurtox wasn't just excelling in one or two things, he seemed to always find himself at the top no matter what. His colleagues didn’t know how to react. Most wanted to feel happy for their friend, to be supportive of his achievements, but Kurtox was frankly heartbreaking to watch. The problem wasn’t just that he was getting ridiculously good grades; it was that, despite all their ambition and hard work, they still never managed to beat someone who obviously lacked the passion they had. He made it seem so easy too! 

Kurtox could feel the tension build between him and his friends. Slowly, as the sweeps passed, their conversations consisted of more and more bickering disguised as innocent teasing. Imagine a bunch of teenage lawyer-wannabes trying to outsmart the smart kid out of spite, with the smart kid talking back because he’s also an idiot and doesn’t like to stay quiet. Yeah, that.

Growing tired of having his motives and abilities constantly questioned and teased by the people who were supposed to be his friends, Kurtox got increasingly more direct with his replies, still playing along with a fake friendly demeanor but knowing just what to say to sting the other troll into silence. In the rare cases it got someone angry or aggressive, he’d still call it a ‘win’, since he looked like the better troll to an unknowing audience. This led to a few black relationships that went nowhere (more on that later... hopefully), as it made his friends want to pay Kurtox back in his own coin.

While Kurtox’s friends created the rift that ultimately separated them, it’s worth mentioning that Kurtox made matters worse. He never once tried to understand or be patient. He never went out of his way to help them improve. He assumed they were just jealous of him and unwilling to work hard, and he never refused to talk back, simply because he’s that prideful. Kurtox can say whatever he wants about his class but it’s obvious that he can be just as chatty and insufferable as them.

The friends he’d made in his class were no more, and he couldn’t get along with trolls from other classes either. Rumors about him had spread around the academy, as it tends to happen to anyone who stands out from the rest for whatever reason. 

Most people don’t actually care about what’s being said about him, only indulging in the gossip because talking shit about others is fun. When the concept of 'the ideal student' is just some random guy who might not even be all that great, it's easy to dismiss it. This, however, doesn’t mean that those people don’t act strangely around him. Kurtox tends to approach others in a charming & flirty way; he’s heard “do you think you’re that interesting just because others gossip about you?” quite a bit, and it became boring after a while. Included in this group are those smarter ones that hear someone’s a rude fuck and stay away just in case.

Some others value the gossip, choosing to believe he’s a terrible guy who happens to be a genius. Whenever he meets someone like this, they usually speak like they’re expecting the self-important asshole to make an appearance, which isn’t exactly a great starting point to a relationship. 

Once, a pretty girl approached him with no cares for the negative gossip going around, and the two got on marvelously. This eventually led to a red romance that also ended poorly (i’m also leaving this for later... hopefully... I will say her name was Coruna, tho).

After all those failed attempts at getting along with trolls from other classes, he pretty much stopped seeking their company, at least seriously. Currently, Kurtox does have a few decent relationships with trolls from other years. Still, while he manages to have civil conversations with them, he seems to keep them at a distance so they don’t get to hurt him like his first friends did.

Kurtox has accepted that there’s very little about the academy that he doesn’t dislike.

Well. At least the canteen ladies are nice and cook well.

I THINK THAT’S IT??? fuuuck this got long. If you got this far I’m just... Amazed? And touched. Hopefully I’ll manage to make these more interesting instead of hitting y’all with the info dump. I’ll try, at least! :’)

[frontproofmedia]

Joshua Buatsi Stops Ricards Bolotniks In World Title Eliminator

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Published: August 15, 2021

12 x 3 mins WBA Light-Heavyweight World Title Eliminator JOSHUA BUATSI WTKO11 (2:08) v RICARDS BOLOTNIKS (Croydon, England) (Riga, Latvia) Joshua Buatsi continued his march towards a World Title shot with a stunning 11th round knockout win over Ricards Bolotniks in their WBA Light-Heavyweight World Title Eliminator on the third and final week of Matchroom Fight Camp in Brentwood, Essex live worldwide on DAZN. Last year’s MTK Global Golden Contract winner represented the biggest test of Buatsi’s career, but the Croydon man passed the test impressively as he maintained his unbeaten record, progressing to 15-0 (13 KOs). “Most importantly I have to thank God for the victory, different fighters have different things that work for them, I made it clear to you lot that that’s what works for me," Buatsi told DAZN. "In my changing room I don’t need to hear anything, don’t tell me what I did in camp, tell me Josh is written in the bible. That’s what gears me up when I walk down there, what’s written in the bible. “I’m grateful man, Bolotniks big credit to him he pushed me. I think he said Josh hasn’t been past seven rounds before so after seven we’ll see. I was there until 11 and landed a good shot. I worked every round, but I want to congratulate him – he’s a good champion. “When I sat down, I said, 'Buatsi who told you to empty the tank, you’ve got six left?' but I’ve worked hard. You see in camp the sparring is hard man, big credit to my sparring partners they know who they are. I do a hard six run then a fresh one gets in so into the second half I said I’ve been here: I’ve done it before I’ve been here many times in camp. “I’ve got a great team, I’ve got a promoter that believes in me, he’s been pushing for fights like this because he knows I can do it. Tonight, I went out there and showed people I can do it, we just build from here. “We all make sacrifices, I don’t want to single myself out, everyone sacrifices to be where they want to be in life. For me, yeah, I sacrificed, I’m always away from my family and I truly miss them but most importantly I want to get to the top. I feel like I’m in the right team with the right people, I’ve got a great promoter who gives me the opportunities I need. I’ll keep sacrificing.” 10 x 3 mins International Lightweight Contest JOE CORDINA WKO1 (0:53) v JOSHUAH HERNANDEZ (Cardiff, Wales) (Chicago, USA) Joe Cordina blew away Chicago's Joshuah Hernandez inside the opening round to progress to 13-0 (8 KOs) and continue his pursuit of a World Title opportunity. 'The Welsh Wizard' was intent on causing damage from the opening bell, landing hurtful shots early on before dropping Hernandez with a stunning right hand that he never recovered from. “Chris Colbert went eight rounds with Hernandez and what I watched of it, it was quite a tough fight for him," Cordina told Matchroom. "I watched that fight and a couple others of Hernadez and me and Tony came up with a game plan. We were going through in the changing rooms, and it came off a peach. “I had to prove a point, I said in an interview earlier in the week that I don’t take criticism from people I wouldn’t go to for advice. I don’t really value many people’s opinions so yeah, it’s one of those things, you’re going to get people criticizing and it’s whether you take it onboard or not. A lot of people didn’t take into consideration that I’d been out the ring for 16 months, had an operation of my hand, we proved the point tonight and got him out of there early on. “I always look to just get the win, box, if the knockout is there, I’ll take it. As soon as he threw his first jab, I knew he wasn’t going to catch me with that, my sharpness of feet and head movement would get me out of trouble. I started putting my lead hand downstairs and whipping the right hand over the top and I caught him the first time, I knew he was a little bit wobbly. I didn’t want to rush in and try and get him out of there straight away, I knew if I could catch him twice with it there’s going to be a third time and I did exactly that. We got him out of there in great fashion. “I was watching Fight Camp last year and there was no crowd, but even when there wasn’t a crowd it felt like there was a massive atmosphere. When I saw the first Fight Camp week at home, I thought, 'oh my god I’m fighting there in two weeks, it’s going to be amazing'. I’m glad that I’m able to tick it of my list now. “Eddie watched me in York Hall in 2009 and said, 'you’re going to be a World Champion'. It’s nice to hear that but I’ve got to keep improving, keep pushing on and proving him right. I know I’ve got the ability to be a World Champion very soon, but I’ve just got to keep winning. I’ve got the ability to mix it with any of them, it’s just about taking those steps up the ladder to become a World Champion and that’s what I plan on doing. Maybe have two weeks at home, go back to the gym and see what I want to do with Tony. “I know people say it but if you speak to my S&C coach and Tony this was probably one of the best camps I’ve ever had. That’s with the boxing, plus my S&C, everything just came together. Don’t get me wrong I had to be at home for my new-born son but everything’s coming together now. I’m glad I got the win tonight in great fashion and now it’s time to build on it.” 10 x 3 mins WBO Global Welterweight Title MICHAEL MCKINSON WUD10 (99-91, 99-91, 98-92) v PRZEMYSLAW RUNOWSKI (Portsmouth, England) (Slupsk, Poland) Michael McKinson avoided a potential banana skin in Przemyslaw Runowski as he outpointed the brave Pole after ten rounds of skilful boxing from the Portsmouth man. 'The Problem', now 21-0 (2 KOs), dominated on the cards to maintain his unbeaten record and retain his WBO Global Welterweight Title. “I’m happy, that was easier than I thought it would be, I didn’t really get out of first gear,” McKinson told Matchroom. “I visibly hurt him a few times, but I boxed to instructions and got the win. To be fair I didn’t think he won a round against me, but he was a tough guy. Him and his team were very confident beforehand, I liked the energy they brought all week, but I just had to show I was a level above, and I was a few levels above – I’m happy. “They keep giving me harder opposition, they keep telling me it’s a step up and I’m making it look easier and easier. What people forget is I’m learning every day on the job as well; I’m developing and who knows where I can be in a year or twos time. I’m in a position where a lot of boxers dream of being in, all I can do it stay focused, keep learning and keep working my way to the top. “First time on the A side you know, not many people can say they’ve boxed in Gibraltar and not many people can say they’ve boxed in Eddie’s back garden and done both this year. I can’t moan or complain, I’m really happy and blessed. “2021 and my career has just started, 21-0 and making it look easy. I really want to keep stepping up, keep challenging myself, keep having more and more tests. I’m still learning but I’m learning quick and finding it easy now. I want opponents that will make me step through the gears, a few times I hurt him there like I can punch, I don’t need to, I boxed to instructions. I didn’t really get out of first gear. “I believe I’m the best 147 pounder in the country. I like Conor, I get on well with him, but if he can’t get them two guys the Brooks or the Khans, I’m always here. I’ll fight whoever they give me, I’ve never turned down a fight and that’s a fact – I don’t plan on turning down fights. I really do believe in myself, and I believe in my development as well. I’m going to be going to the top I promise you. “I’m really happy for Liam Taylor because he never really gets a fair ranking and he’s a good fighter so I’m happy he’s got that opportunity. I’m not far behind, I’d like the winner, but I’ll fight whoever makes sense and whoever my management team want to get me next – the answer is always yes. That guy there I just beat took Josh Taylor to points on short notice, he had a full camp against me, his team were so confident talking to me in the hotel. “Like I said, I make their confidence fade round by round, they don’t call me ‘The Problem’ for no reason. I will carry on being a problem as I step through the levels as the opposition gets better, trust me. “Josh Kelly has got a lot of ability, he’s a skilful fighter, I like Josh – even after the Avanesyan defeat I still think he’s a top fighter. Florian Marku talks a lot doesn’t he, he didn’t know who I was a few months ago on social media on an interview, he said he didn’t know who I was. At least they’re talking about me now, let him prove himself because I don’t think he’s proved himself at a decent level yet, not saying he’s not a good fighter, but he does need to prove himself as a fighter to be respected. Good luck to all of them, I wish nothing but the best for all my rivals, you know I’m here and I’ll fight anybody. “Even when we go back to proper arenas and stuff, wait till we get hundreds and hundreds of Portsmouth fans loud and proud. I’ve got great support and it’s always growing; I know there’s a lot of people that didn’t come today but when they’re allowed everyone will see the Portsmouth fans.” 6 x 3 mins International Super-Bantamweight Contest HOPEY PRICE WPTS6 (58-55) v CLAUDIO GRANDE (Leeds, England) (Massa, Italy) Hopey Price continued his ring education with a solid six round points win over Claudio Grande. The 21-year-old from Leeds was in control throughout and his dominance showed in the final round when he floored the Italian with the last punch of the fight. Grande made it to his feet but was defeated 58-55 on the referee's card. Price's fifth win in the pro ranks sets up a showdown with Leeds rival Zahid Hussain (16-1, 2 KOs) on the huge Mauricio Lara vs. Josh Warrington 2 show at the Emerald Headingley Stadium on September 4. “It was a good performance, considering I had six months outside the ring, which for a young prospect like me isn’t ideal,” Price told Matchroom. “You can spar as much as you want but it’s not the same feeling as when you’re under the lights. Now looking forward, I’ve got Leeds in three weeks, that’s put me in very good stead – you’ll see the best of me in three weeks’ time. “I remember Dave [Coldwell] shouting at me finish strong, finish strong, and he was just coming in – what we’ve been working on in the gym – I felt like I was catching him with that shot all fight and he just walked onto it lovely at the end and he was gone. “I’m not fighting these journeyman and people with losing records, that’s a proper fight, he’s 5-0, three knockouts, I’m sure he wanted to be a star over there in Italy. He was coming to win and was defeated, I put a stop to that and gave him his first loss. “You began to see it, it’s been coming slowly but surely, now over the next year or so you’ll see the best of me. “I feel like I’m developing more as a fighter under Dave and more as a man – big thanks to Danny Wilson at Boxing Science, he’s making me a lot stronger, and I think you saw it there in the last ten seconds. I’m not just a young kid that people can walk through. “I want to go right to the top. I don’t want to be a World Champion; I want to be a pound-for-pound star and Dave’s the man to take me there. I’ll keep listening, learning, developing and I promise you I will get there one day. “I think fighting in Leeds on September 4 shows the confidence and ability – and the confidence my team has in me – to take a fight like that three weeks before and coming through with flying colours, no injuries. I’m ready to go in my hometown in front of 20,00 fans, I’ll steal the show there 100%. “I’m ready for Zahid Hussain, 100%, I was ready for it back in September and the magic man didn’t turn up. So, we’ll see this time if he comes and if he does, I promise Hopey Price will come out the victor. “I said it from my second pro fight, I believe there are levels to boxing and my boxing brain is one of the best in Britain. I believe I’m levels above Zahid Hussain.” 10 x 3 mins vacant WBC International Bantamweight Title KASH FAROOQ WUD10 (100-90, 100-90, 100-91) v LUIS GERARDO CASTILLO (Glasgow, Scotland) (Jiqulipilco, Mexico) Kash Farooq showed off his wide repertoire of skills to get the better of Luis Gerardo Castillo and pick up the vacant WBC International Bantamweight Title. The Mexican fighter never stopped coming forward but he had no answer for Farooq's frequent bursts. Scores from the ringside judges were 100-90 x 2, and 100-91. “I boxed to the game plan, that was it, you want to get in there and always entertain but I followed the game plan that was it," Farooq told Matchroom. "I listened to my trainer, and he just told me to box, you couldn’t get any footage of him, so I didn’t know what he was about, I adapted on the night and did what I had to do. “I showed tonight the other side of me that can box as well. He’s not world class but it’s a different side of my boxing that I showed, he was tough and game. We didn’t know what we were up against. “If you let anybody hit you, they can punch, he had a bit of sting to his punches, but the name of the game is hit and don’t get hit and that’s what I did in this fight. “He [Gerardo] can’t speak and can’t hear so it’s something different, people were saying he’s come to win, and this was going to change his life, these types of boys want to win but he was up against me so – I wanted to win as much as he did. “These boys are coming from nothing, some of them grew up in poverty and it’s a different lifestyle in Mexico – they fight for a living to make their lives better. It’s either me or him and it wasn’t going to be me today. “It was another learning fight for me, and I’ll progress again, it’s something I picked up – for me it’s just about developing and getting better. This is just another clinical performance by me. “My job is just to fight, and they tell me what route they’re going to go through. If I had a choice I’d fight [McGregor] but it’s down to them and they’ll make the right decision for me. “He wants to fight just like I do but he’s got managers telling him what the best options are like I do as well. The next few weeks my managers are going to sit down with Eddie and discuss what the best options are and what route to go down – if it’s that one next then I’m more than happy to take it. “It is a big fight for Scotland, me and Lee can sell out the SSE Hydro, if it’s the right time and it has a good build me, we can do it. It’s just me and him boxing each other. “For me I’ll take a few days off but it’s back to training. When I’ll really take some time off is when I call it a day and retire. Now I’ve still got levels to progress, go back to the gym and work on things, it’s a lifestyle in boxing and it a short career, you don’t know when retirement is coming. For me I’m going to put everything into boxing for the next few years of my life.” 10 x 3 mins vacant WBA Continental Featherweight Title RAYMOND FORD WTKO3 (0:39) v REECE BELLOTTI (New Jersey, USA) (Watford, England) Raymond Ford earned his first title in the pro ranks by stopping Reece Bellotti in three rounds to capture the vacant WBA Continental Featherweight crown. The New Jersey youngster promised to steal the show ahead of his second fight in the UK and went some way to backing up his pre fight prediction by turning in a savage performance. The 22-year-old demonstrated why he is regarded as one of the hottest prospects in US boxing as he took out Watford's Bellotti with a quality attack in the third. “In the third round I was going to start to box and slow it down because I was throwing too many fast, hard shots to hurt him early,” Ford told Matchroom. “My team told me to settle down because we had ten rounds to go and then he came on and ran into the shot. I knew if I didn’t get him out of there when I had him hurt, he was just going to be a tough guy and keep coming forward. When I hit my shot, I had to get him out of there. “It feels great, one of my dreams that came true, the real dream and goal is to get to these World Championship titles. “I knew that he [Bellotti] was kind of the bully and everything so I wanted to beat the bully in the fight. I heard a lot about his power, guys saying his power was up there at the top, I just wanted to show I can be a bigger bully and that’s what I did. “I said yesterday that I was going to handle the pressure. I was just starting to warm up and settle in but the more the fight would have went, the more you would have seen me relaxed and be sharper. I was getting hit by some dumb shots but that was because I was warming up and getting a feel of everything – being back after five months. “I love it in the UK, all week people have been showing me love so I want to come back and fight here again. I want to be one the greatest to ever do it, not just in my division, I just want to be the best and go down as a legend. “It’s important to be patient but I feel like I have the skills and I was blessed with the talents I have where I can fight these top guys at a young age. I want to keep stepping up and get these tougher fights.” 8 x 3 mins International Lightweight Contest ZELFA BARRETT WRTD4 v VIOREL SIMION (Manchester, England) (Lehliu Gară, Romania) Zelfa Barrett stopped Romania's Viorel Simion in four rounds to potentially set up a rematch with Kiko Martinez later this year. The Manchester man dominated from the opening bell, forcing Simion back with hurtful shots that were landing at will. “It was good to get back out there, a long layoff since February, an active fighter is a god fighter,” Barrett told Matchroom. “As you guys know, my mum passed away in June, so we’ve had a lot going on. I wanted to just go in there and tear him apart, professionally, but they put the reigns on me. Sometimes I was eager to go and wanted to unload on him, but my uncle is the greatest coach, I just listened to what he was saying. He was taking punishment and he didn’t continue the fight. I was putting more pressure on and letting my hands go. “It’s a thing of believing in yourself, I know I’ve got the punch power and when you hit correct it hurts anybody. We were working on it with the body pad before we came out and the shots just landed, and he went down. The right body shot would hurt any man, so it was about following what I’ve been practicing in the changing rooms – good performance after a long layoff. “There are some good fighters on this card, I believe I’m one of the best fighters in Britain aside your World Champions, I believe it and I believe in myself otherwise I wouldn’t be here. That fight had to finish like that, if it went 8 rounds, I’d have to be questioning myself as a fighter that’s going to be world champion. “He wasn’t able to continue, he quit, no disrespect to him but he quit. Making a man quit is better than any knockout because his brain hasn’t shut down, the ref hasn’t jumped in, he’s physically quit. Good little fight, good little stoppage. “I’m doing it for myself because I want to be a successful man, that’s all I want to be, believe in God and God will make that happen. I’ve got more motivation, my beautiful daughter Amelia and my beautiful mum on me, my brother, and my cousin Wayne, I’ve got three angels watching me. Onto the next one now and thanks to everyone for watching. “It was better than nothing, I would love to be on about 8 o’clock just looking out, it just brings something out of a fighter that you didn’t think you had. I don’t know, I just love it, you can’t buy that, that feeling that you get, that’s when I’ve had my best performances when there are crowds, and I can feel their energy. “I’d love that fight [Kiko] in Manchester, I respect Kiko as a person, he’s a cool guy. He believed he won, I know I won, the judges thought I won. We can run it again because I want to, not because anyone else wants to, but because I want to. We can run that again and I’ll look good doing it. “I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing, don’t get me wrong the European Titles out there I’d love to get, because you know you’re ready for that jump. We can’t cherry pick, Eddie’s a man who gives you opportunities and you’ve got to be ready. I’d love a shot at the European, but now I’m just going to rest, spend time with my beautiful daughter. Daddy’s a champ and I’m her champ, on to the next.”

(Featured Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

[junker-town]

Giants add explosive WR Jaylen Waddle at pick No. 11

Kirthmon F. Dozier via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Wide receiver isn’t a pressing need for the Giants, but with the way this board fell, he was too good for Big Blue View to pass up.

With the 11th overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected an undersized and not-terribly-productive, yet explosively athletic, wide receiver out of the SEC.

The Giants were widely expected to use the 11th overall pick on offensive tackle turned guard Zack Martin or athletic tight end Eric Ebron — with undersized defensive tackle Aaron Donald a distant and not terribly popular third choice. Instead, the Giants drafted 5’11, 193-pound wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. out of LSU at 11th overall, much to the consternation of old school Giants fans.

So why do I bring up ancient history like that? Because seven years later, the Giants find themselves in almost the same spot. Coming off of a season full of disappointing offensive play, the Giants are once again drafting at 11th overall. And they could find themselves picking between an interior offensive lineman and an explosive, yet undersized receiver from the SEC.

Depending on how the first 10 picks of the 2021 NFL Draft go, the Giants could find themselves picking between Northwestern offensive lineman Rashawn Slater and Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

Could history repeat itself? It does here, at least a bit, with Ed Valentine’s pick of Waddle on behalf of Big Blue View.

From Ed:

After signing Kenny Golladay as a free agent, the Giants don’t “need” to select a wide receiver in this spot. What they really need is a player who make an impact from Day 1, whether it be as an edge rusher, starting offensive lineman, wide receiver, linebacker, tight end or whatever.

The most obvious impact player on the board is Waddle, and I don’t believe it’s overkill to draft a receiver here. If linebacker Micah Parsons or offensive lineman Rashawn Slater were on the board I might go in a different direction here, but I’m not hesitating to grab Waddle. And I’m not unhappy about it at all.

Waddle walks in the door as the second-best wide receiver on the Giants (sorry, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton). In my eyes, he immediately makes the Giants group of pass catchers one of the best in the league.

Waddle is a game-breaker with elite speed, but he’s not just a speed guy. He route-running is more nuanced that many realize. Plus, he has elite punt, and maybe kickoff, return skills.

I see DeSean Jackson — maybe without the attitude — when I watch Waddle. I will sign up for that.

Strengths

Most of Jaylen Waddle’s strengths as a receiver are apparent on tape — in fact, they leap right off the field — but he also has some other more subtle traits and skills which go into making him such a highly regarded prospect.

We’ll start with the most obvious, which is his elite, explosive athleticism. Waddle is not only fast, but he is truly explosive, able to go from a standstill to outrunning the opposing defense in a couple strides. Likewise, he has great quickness and agility, with the ability to change direction suddenly and make defenders miss in a phone booth.

That acceleration, long speed, and explosive lower body make Waddle a threat at all areas of the field. His long speed and explosiveness allow him to stretch the field vertically, forcing defenses to respect the threat of the deep pass. His quickness and agility allow him to cut sharply and uncover on quick-hitting routes like stick routes or slants, or maximize run-after-catch opportunities like on mesh concepts.

While Waddle isn��t as highly regarded as his teammate DeVonta Smith when it comes to route running, he is a deceptively savvy technician. He shows a variety of release strategies at the start of his route, both exploding off the line and using a slight stutter to disrupt defenders timing. He also does a good job of varying the tempo of his routes to change angles and disrupt timing as well. Likewise, he uses subtle misdirection with his body language and presses his routes vertically to keep cornerbacks from breaking with him quick timing routes.

Waddle was used all over Alabama’s offense, running routes from out wide as well as in the slot, motioning between alignments in the pre-snap phase, and even lining up in the backfield. That kind of versatility would give his future offensive coordinator a variety of ways to fit him into the offense or create favorable match-ups.

Waddle is undersized for an NFL receiver, but his leaping ability and willingness to extend and pluck the ball out of the air away from his frame let him expand his catch radius and play much bigger than he measures. Waddle may only be 5’10, but he plays like a much larger receiver, with the ability to high point the ball and win in contested catch situations.

And perhaps the least talked about aspect of his game is his impressive competitive toughness. Not only is Waddle aggressive at the catch point and perfectly willing to extend to make difficult catches over the middle, but he doesn’t throttle down at all when he isn’t involved in the play. He still explodes off the line and works to sell his routes on running plays, even if it only draws one defender away from the tackle box. Likewise, he is a willing blocker who steps up and engages bigger defenders with good leverage and technique. It’s those little things that can help an offense turn a modest gain into a big play — and catch the eye of coaches watching his tape.

Weaknesses

Waddles’s weaknesses are pretty apparent as well, with his size and health concerns foremost among them.

That ankle injury was significant, and it cost him most of a year’s worth of development and there might also be concerns as to whether there was any lasting damage. But more generally, his size could present problems in the NFL. Most defensive backs he faces will likely be larger than him, and his long term durability could be in question.

His ankle injury returning the opening kickoff of Alabama’s Week 5 matchup against Tennessee should probably be considered a freak accident. However, his stature could lead to increased injury concerns as his skill set and likely usage will probably mean quite a few reps going over the middle. While there is no such thing as enough “body armor” to withstand the pounding at the NFL level, Waddle will likely be at a size advantage in most collisions at the pro level.

Teams and coaches could also have concerns as to his ability to deal with press coverage on a regular basis. Waddle flashed the ability to clear press coverage with his hands on tape, but he didn’t face it often enough to establish a clear track record. Alabama frequently played him off the line of scrimmage or hid him in stack formations, preventing defenders from getting their hands on him at the start of his route. Sitting here (and not in the Alabama meeting rooms) we can’t know whether it was an artifact of Alabama’s offense or a concession to a limitation in Waddle’s game. Their offense did make an effort to scheme free releases and separation for all of their receivers, but it is still something to be aware of with regards to Waddle. Particularly since there will be defensive backs against whom he will have to win with athleticism and technique.

Speaking of technique, there is room for improvement in Waddle’s route running. He is a fine route runner overall, but he can be prone to rounding his routes some, as well as occasionally taking a few too many steps on sharp breaks. Becoming more of a technician in his route running will only make him that much more dangerous a receiver.

Final Thoughts

Is Jaylen Waddle the perfect, ideal pick for the New York Giants at 11th overall? Probably not — for my money that would be Penei Sewell or Ja’Marr Chase — but between the Giants’ moves in free agency and how the draft board shook out here, there are a few ways the Giants could go and improve their team over the next five years.

I am a big advocate of taking “best player available” in the draft, even if it feels like a luxury pick at the time. Giants fans have seen entire position groups wiped out in short order by injury, and “luxury picks” turn into “vital pieces” in a heartbeat. The Giants made Kenny Golladay one of the highest paid receivers in the NFL (he’ll be averaging $21 million per year from 2022 to 2024), but he still only has one complete season under his belt. They are only one rolled ankle or pulled hamstring away from being right back where they were the last two seasons.

I’m also an advocate for reserving premium resources (ie: high first-round picks) for premium positions (EDGE, cornerback, offensive tackle, and wide receiver). Those positions have the highest price tag in free agency, so locking up players on rookie deals at those positions makes sense.

Waddle would give the Giants an element of explosiveness their offense has lacked for a few years now, both with his ability to blow the top off a defense and be a run-after-catch threat on underneath passes. That not only forces defenses to play smaller, faster personnel groupings, but also take defenders out of the tackle box — both of which makes Saquon Barkley’s life easier.

So while Waddle might not be perfect, and might even seem like a bit of a luxury for the Giants, he could be a valuable player and a big boost for one of the league’s most anemic offenses in 2020.

Top prospects remaining:

Kwity Paye, EDGE, Michigan

Christian Darrisaw, OT, Virginia Tech

DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama

Alijah Vera-Tucker, OL, USC

Jaelan Phillips, EDGE, Miami