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faithinchances · 8 months ago

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Hello hello! I’m just here to knock on your door because I saw your tags on the ‘Jamie’s post-s3 career path’ poll and I really enjoyed them! (And didn’t want to clog up the notes of someone else’s poll about it)

If you ever wanted to share more in detail about any of these options, I’d love to know more! I am also delighted by the concept of Jamie moving to Leverkusen and ending up under Xabi Alonso, but Barca and Liverpool also have my interest.

No rush or expectations on answering this whatsoever. Just if you ever do feel like sharing, I would love to hear more.

Hm. So Leverkeusen is the option I know the least about and Xabi Alonso is 100% of the reason I put that as an option; he started at Leverkeusen in 2022, which is also when s3 ends, which means they would arrive at the same time. Xabi himself is a midfield legend for Liverpool with a famously amazing first touch, and Jamie also has an amazing first touch.

I am very much hoping (delusionally) that Xabi will end up at Liverpool next year, I think that would be poetic and fun and he seems like a really good coach, but on the subject of Liverpool and coaches: Jurgen Klopp.

He's probably a bigger inspiration for Ted than Pep is.

Pep is a brilliant tactician, deeply passionate, absolutely nuts, always losing it on the sidelines, whereas Klopp at least once forced his team to celebrate losing a final, ie, forced them to celebrate getting to a final even if the result wasn't what they wanted. I just watched the TAA interview with Gary Neville, and he also apparently doesn't focus on winning or losing, just wants Liverpool to be the hardest team to beat because they work so hard. All very Ted.

Except that crucially, Klopp is ALSO a brilliant tactician (he's no Pep, but he's no slouch either), meaning that he's like Ted except competent, passionate, and outwardly caring (sorry Ted), thereby making him perfect for Jamie.

Liverpool also run a very high press that I think Jamie would enjoy, and being in Liverpool would get him closer to home (he could totally drive home for dinner, it's only about an hour) while still keeping some space, which I think he would appreciate. I can see Georgie being a little overbearing when Jamie's in a less needy mood. And, of course, Liverpool also typically make European competition and are regular title contenders.

Assuming he went there in 2022, he would also get a whole year under Jordan Henderson, who we can go ahead and consider being like Roy, except that he's less talented, a better captain, and actually from Sunderland (I've seen it hypothesized that Roy is a reskinned Hendo). And I want to know what would happen if he and Darwin were on the pitch together (Darwin was Liverpool's big signing that summer, realistically Jamie would replace him, but I don't care) (Darwin is notoriously chaotic, a striker with dubious talent in finishing, but also an extremely hard-worker and he takes more chances than most, so his low conversion rate is expected). Also I think Jamie would have a bit of a crush on VVD and that would be funny and cute.

The Barca route is also very fun, and not even because Messi (he had already left at this point). It's basically only possible if Jamie's Richmond contract was up at the end of s3, Barca could never afford our boy otherwise. I've heard it said that true fans of the sport of football will pick Barcelona to watch over any other team (provided theirs isn't playing), and Jamie is nothing if not a fan of football.

They were also at their height when Jamie was a young teenager, a time period when I think he would have had the most time to watch while having already developed an immense interest in it. He would have watched Messi, of course, but also Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets, who made up a midfield dynasty that I know no comparison for. They are all technically gifted, and two of those last three were still at Barca for the 22/23 season. Xavi coached the team, and Busi was captain.

And then also at this time, Barca were bringing up a new crop of very exciting youngsters, most notably Gavi and Pedri. Jamie is a few years older than them, but I think it would be fun for him to be a role model for a couple of ludicrously talented barely-adults. He would not know what to do with himself.

I also think Jamie is maybe better suited for football abroad? Like he's very salt of the earth, "I work hard, yeah," but he also has this incredible swagger. How to use my limited knowledge to explain this. Spanish football culture seems to be less humble? More flamboyant? Like English football is full of a bunch of guys who are Just Some Dude. Harry Kane, Gary Neville, and in TL, also Roy. Jordan Henderson is PEAK some dude energy. Spanish football invented the term "Galactico" for its superstars.

I just think Jamie would love doing a little dance with his teammates after scoring.

#ted lasso #the dark horse i didn't mention is arsenal #mostly because i like odegaard #and think he and jamie should get to play together #one child prodigy burned out by expectations (public)#the other child prodigy burned out by expectations (private)#also mikel arteta is city's former assistant coach #so he would already know jamie well #i just don't think jamie would want to stay in london #thank you for sending this!!#i started like hm I don't think i have articulate thoughts but boy i sure do have thoughts #articulate? maybe not

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unitedbydevils · 10 months ago

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Match Review: Manchester United 3-0 West Ham United

Eyyyy we did it everybody. We won a game by a strong margin AND kept a clean sheet.

Look at these three fuckers. Makes you proud to be a red. Also fucks you off that we've not been smashing teams left, right and centre, but this is a crucial hub to build around - for Erik or a successor.

United opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with some top striker work from Hojlund; dropping the shoulder, switching to his right foot, and banging home a classic CF goal. We saw scrappy versus Wolves, we've seen elegant in the Champions League, but we needed to see more of the instinctive number 9 - and that came out today.

If the first half was all about Rasmus, the second was all about Alejandro. Moving him to the right wing has been a masterstroke, in so much as he's not shit like Antony. Having TWO wings as a threat? Wow. Rashford has more time on the ball, more confidence to drive at defenders, and that encourages Garnacho to do the same. Unreal.

Garnacho scored a deflected shot in the 49th minute past substitute keeper Fabianski, before wrapping up the win in the 84th minute.

The result puts United back above the Hammers, but still on -1 goal difference - a damning figure for a team that wants to compete for titles and European competition. 31 goals is one lower than newly promoted Luton Town; a team battling relegation.

The win was also marred by a fresh injury setback for Lissandro Martinez, described by Erik Ten Hag as "doesn't look good". The Argentine went down clutching his knee after a battle with Coufal and attempted to play on - before collapsing to the floor again.

A large part of how United have regained control of possession and transitional speed has been through Lissandro Martinez, so a new injury could derail United's return to form before it gets started. The hope is that this week's assessments will report maybe a few weeks absent - rather than a season ending ligament injury. We wait in hope.

That leads us onto an argument for another day that actually United need a versatile LCB/RCB prospect in the summer (though one of each would be nice). I'm thinking Todibo joined by Branthwaite... we'll see. Money's not exactly loose at the minute for United. Plus, Harry Maguire played (mostly) well today, and has been back in (reasonable) form for the past couple of months.

Next up is a crucial match away at Villa Park, with a week to rest and prepare for United. Doing the double over the Villans wouldn't jump United above Emery's side, but it would close the gap on one of the many sides battling for top four. Given the title race seems to be a three-horse fight... United, Spurs, Villa are the odds-on sides to take fourth and scrape into the Champions League. Based on current form I'm picking Villa for that spot, so here's hoping even without Martinez, United can retain the composure and desire to turn the season around.

#manchester united #man u #man united #man utd #manchester reds #erik ten hag #marcus rashford #alejandro garnacho #rasmus højlund #kobbie mainoo #lissandro martinez #harry maguire

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myjunkisyuzuruhanyu · 2 years ago

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i love shoma as well (the most of all skaters even) but i think it's a bit harsh to harp on about how low level and not enjoyable europeans was for you. that's quite rude actually. those are smaller fed skaters who don't get the same funding or support. they still put themselves out there, train hard (and often times go to school or work as well) and EARNED to compete at the european championships. and i think you can find something enjoyable or impressive about every single one of them. maybe you didn't mean for it to come across that way, and I usually really value your views of fs, but this isn't it, sorry.

Maybe it's a bit harsh but...I dunno why I have to pretend to enjoy it? Joy is something personal, objectively ofc each skater has some abilities that you can enjoy, but they didn't come out much with performances like that. (ofc I don't expect Europeans to be the level of Worlds and I don't compare them to Shoma bc none is comparable to him at all atm, but if I see bad performances I miss Shoma more bc I enjoy to watch him)

Usually I am the last person to not enjoy low level competitions...I watched couple of them live...but there is a difference between low level and just a really bad overall men free skate in a lower level competition. This is not about not deserving to be there or their funding or them being from small feds, this is about ppl who are there not performing to the abilities they have. Look how basically no one got through with their planned content and hardly anyone received new personal or season bests usually that happens a lot especially at Europeans.

I don't expect skaters with different training conditions to be able to do what skaters with perfect training conditions can do in the level of jumps etc but there are skaters with perfect training conditions Morisi Kvitelashvili, Daniel Grassl (no matter what is happening around him atm his training conditions are good), Gabriele Frangipani (who had a good start but fell apart, I really like that guy usually but as mistakes kept happening the performance was gone too) or even skaters who maybe not have perfect circumstances in everything, but still have fairly well support like Nikita Starostin who I usually enjoy very much just was not enjoyable to watch....or did you really enjoy Samoilov who completely bombed??? It's not enjoyable at all to see someone close to giving up right there on the ice and you can't excuse it with maybe not perfect training conditions, you judge what is on the ice. In the men free skate skaters didn't perform to their abilities aside from the top 5, but even there they made couple mistakes. It's normal to not skate clean, so that's really not about it and I can still enjoy them...but the overall performance level of the men free skate was bad. The training conditions have influence for sure on the abilties of each skater, but on the ice all that matters is what you show there and this was simply not a performance level to enjoy for me overall. There were still indeed skaters I enjoyed, that's also a reason I watch the whole competition so...

Let's list some skaters I liked at the men free apart from the top 5:

Andreas Nordeback (bc you could see the future potential and I am happy he was 9th place so Nikolaj Majorow can also compete next time together with Andreas)

Mihhail Selevko (bc this was a solid skate and he can actually emote to an audience, still room for growth but well, also happy that he got a 2nd spot for Estonia by finsihing 8th)

Valter Virtanen (bc he is admirable at 35 years old to still skate, being a doctor irl, and he had only one tiny mistake in his free skate)

If you think I was harsh you should have listened to German commentator Daniel Weiss...or the person he mentioned to have messaged him that this level feels like "Kreisliga" vs "Bundesliga" 😅

If you value my view on fs (thanks for that dunno if that is deserved as I simply tell my opinion) you should know that I am honestly sharing my feelings about skaters and their performances. Some of it may be perceived as nice, some of it can be perceived as harsh. But it can always be perceived as honest.

#euros 2023 #Every elite skater is admirable for sure but it doesn't mean i will like each and every performance just bc they work hard #Ofc they work hard and i can't do any of it but it doesn't mean i enjoy all of them all the time #replies #Currently watching ladies

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its-elvie-innit · 8 months ago

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I actually told this to my 16 now 17 year old coworker when the topic came up recently, but as someone who is just out of high school high school IS genuinely one of the most interesting settings for Doing Things you can possibly interact with. I think that's why so many stories are set there.

Don't get me wrong, high-school is NOT the most interesting thing you will ever do. But it is a pre-built similar universe that almost EVERYONE in American, Canadian, and (the equivalents in English speaking countries ) European world has gone through.

Everyone reasonably knows each other, it's an isolated community that interacts with other isolated communities (other high schools) that hosts community events regularly (things that could be classified as clubs, competitions, pep rallies and concerts. Even events that involve the larger, more general community like elections being hosted during the day)

Everyone's experiencing a lot of things for the first time. Everyone's growing and changing with their interests at a rate that is much easier to track than in real, grown-up life. Everyone has free time. Most of the people who go to school live right next to the school or within 10 minutes of it when you're in a populated area. That means the people who go to school have easy access to each other unless you're out-of-district. There's a TON of different pre-built meetings, events, conflicts, that you have basically written for you already in your head, because a lot of people have probably done those things already!!!

Speaking of quote un quote "pre-built", you have so much of the story written for you that you can mix and match. A built-in ending for a relationship, hopeful, ambiguous, sad, happy? That's graduation. A climax of events? Prom. What if you have a platonic story, well, let's think of haikyuu here, volleyball game at the end of the season. This can be applicable for SO many stories and all of them are very clear cut in how you write them, which not only allows for an easy plot but also plenty of subversion. People go through a lot in high school. It's kind of a thing.

If you're going for the stereotype, too, you get the added bonus of appealing to a YA audience by giving them cliques. In a huge amount of YA fiction, you have a bunch of little clubs the reader can put themselves in. Harry Potter has the houses, Divergent had..whatever they were doing, the Hunger Games had the districts, Warrior Cats had the clans, Percy Jackson had the godly parents. If there's one thing people love, it's self-identifying as a unique little group, ESPECIALLY teenagers who are looking for a sense of identity.

You also, like, can't get out of school. Even people who skip still go sometimes. If they don't, that's another plot line, isn't it? This forced attendance is literally the EASIEST WAY to make conflict happen. In the real world you would have to have someone, I don't know, bump into an ex or a love interest in a grocery store, multiple times, or into a potential friend or enemy in a way that would allow them into the main plot line which is really hard to do because real people don't normally invite strangers into their book club on an everyday basis. In high school, the ex is in your math class. The book club was posted on a cork board in lunch. The love interest is your lab partner. Almost all popular tropes are insular. Coffee shop au, flower and tattoo, even university aus, which almost ALWAYS involve at least one character in the dorms. That's for a reason.

On an off note, being teenagers allows your mcs to be stupid in a way that wouldn't be acceptable for an adult who has to work and pay taxes. People want their characters to be stupid sometimes. It makes it way easier to make the obvious stuff happen.

It might feel weird to be left out of so much media as someone who's grown out of the stage where you think being a highschooler is cool and interesting, but that's okay. All you have to do is remember that you don't have to do calculus anymore, and they do.

Part of getting older is realizing how absolutely insane it is that basically every form of media is constantly trying to convince us that the most interesting moments of the lived human experience are happening in HIGH SCHOOL…… girl who gives a flying fuck what 16 year olds are doing.

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yuzu-all-the-way · 2 years ago

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My Journey with Yuzu

First of all, this post is a VERY long post. It's going to be quite personal, so feel free to skip it if you don't feel like reading everything. Essentially, this is my journey - from first hearing about Yuzu, to actually discovering him and becoming his fan. I also share some thoughts about what comes next in this journey.

2018 PyeongChang Olympics

I was in university working on a project when I heard news that the Olympics were about to start. I have been watching figure skating on-and-off as I child, but had never actually followed a full skating season nor watched an entire competition. PyC was my opportunity. Also, I was not familiar with the skaters, since I hadn't watched competitions since around 2014-2015.

Unfortunately, because of my tight schedule and limited resources at the time, I was unable to find a live stream of the Olympics and I gave up trying to watch.

About a few months later, maybe Summer 2018, I got a recommended ice dance video (I have no clue why or how the YT algorithm suggested me that). It was from a practice session, I don't remember whose, I just remember clicking on it because I thought "figure skating, cool".

The next recommended video was the gold-winning performance from the men's discipline - of course I watched it and loved it. Yep, that was the first time I saw Yuzuru Hanyu, his PyC SEIMEI. But then something came up and I had to get off YT and completely forgot about him.

Spring 2019 (I think)

Fast forward a year and I'm on Pinterest looking up who-knows-what. And this photo appears.

I was in awe. He looked so strong, determined, broody, he looked like he was solving an equation in his head. Because of the all-black attire, I completely missed the fact that he was wearing skates and thought he was a model or something. Never tried to find out his name.

2020-2021

Then COVID hit. Life was put on pause. More fast forwarding. I watched the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and before the opening ceremony, I saw some talk that Yuzuru Hanyu was going to show up as the final torch bearer (speculation, more likely). Who is Yuzuru Hanyu? I looked him on Google.

This photo was the second that showed up in the search results.

It was quite the contrast compared to his first photo in which he was holding up a medal (later I found out it was a photo from the JNats 2020 victory ceremony).

So I went back to YT and saw that I had watched his PyC free skate. So I decided to watch his short program, too.

No, I still wasn't invested or interested in him. The summer Olys were starting, I was trying to keep up with several sports and my sleep schedule was a mess.

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

I didn't want to miss the figure skating like I did back in 2018. So I got a subscription to watch the Olympics. I decided to get as informed as possible since I had already watched in 2022 the Europeans and Four Continents, too. So I joined figure skating reddit.

On there, before the team event of the Olys, I saw a bingo card and one box features "Yuzu shows up and does the FS". Who is Yuzu?!

That was my downfall. I know him, I've seen his previous Olympics programs. I decided to check his career achievements page - I was impressed then I wanted to know more about him.

I fell down and hard - in about 2 weeks I gathered so much information about him and binged almost half of his programs (every competition in chronological order), if not more.

I was rooting for him so hard, I read about his quest for the 4A, I saw his JNats 2021 Ten to Chi to and his first attempt at incorporating the 4A in a complete program. I was completely mesmerized by his resolve. Of course I found Planet Hanyu and started watching his interviews as well.

By the time the short program competitions rolled around, I was already Yuzu's fan with quite a lot of knowledge of his hardships and achievements. I also was aware of how bad the sport was becoming.

I am so glad I got to see Yuzu's SP, FS and gala live on TV. I was awake at 3-4 am just to watch him - my heart broke both during the SP and FS. But I knew I had seen something amazing, I had seen history made. I saw his Beijing practices, and his programs' medley - I knew I wanted to see him in person one day.

It's very hard to express exactly what I feel when I watch Yuzu skate, but it's like I'm transported to another world. I wanted so much more. And then the news about him participating at FaOI came. I watched those broadcasts with so much happiness.

I made plans to go to GPF Torino for the up-coming season. Plans which got shredded the moment Yuzu announced that he's going to continue skating as a pro athlete.

In retrospect, I got the compressed version of Yuzu's career - ups and downs - and that's what makes me happy. I saw his LAST competition - all of it, I'm happy for that. I'm sorry I did not see him podium, but that's another story.

I will continue re-watching his competitive programs, his galas, I will continue supporting him and finding every piece of media that features him.

I will do my best to one day attend one of his future ice shows, be it in Japan or another place.

I haven't known him for a long time, but he's made a great impression on me.

I finished reading his autobiographies on the night between 18th and 19th July. I learnt so much more about him. The next day, he left competitive skating.

Now I'm here, waiting for news about his future plans and what he's going to come up with. I am looking forward to his new programs. Yuzuru Hanyu's skating is still happening, on his own terms - that's what I care about.

#yuzuru hanyu #text #long post #rant #personal

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edie-baby · 3 years ago

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Les Fleurs du Mal Chapter 1| Pierre Gasly

Summary: Sava Dvorakova had big dreams for Formula One. An opportunity of a lifetime comes around, so she takes it and runs. She proved just about everyone wrong, and is awarded a very controversial seat on the F1 grid. There’s smiles and grins, hugs and kisses, love and laughter. There’s tears and sobs, fights and break ups. There’s evil where you least expect it, hidden in the garden of eden. The Flowers of Evil.

Warnings: a lot of swearing, shitty parents (they’re a recurring theme), sexism, i ignored a lot of actual f1 rules because i couldn’t be bothered writing it into the story tbh, yuki is fcking adorable, a lot of smut eventually, like a lot.

There were hundreds, thousands, maybe even a million girls who have dreamed of making it into Formula One. It is the pinnacle of motorsport, the highest calibre and the most competitive of its many engine-based counterparts. Many women over the years have tried to make their way into the sport, but as each season becomes more competitive, it seems as though the women of motorsport keep slipping through the cracks. Perhaps it’s a timing thing - they weren’t in the right place at the right time - or perhaps it’s a sexism thing, or maybe the female drivers just simply are not at the same level that a lot of the men are at.

Sava Dvorakova feared being one of those women. One that would try their hardest, but were still unable to make their mark on a sport they had very clear passion for. The seventeen year old had been karting since her fifth birthday, progressing through the levels the Czech Republic had to offer before she moved onto European championships. Nearly every weekend of the year, Sava was in her kart, racing against boys three years her senior and thrashing them each time. However, she didn’t get the opportunity to progress into single-seaters for many years.

It was September 2020, just like any other race weekend when it happened, Sava piled into her kart as the marshalling for her heat was called. Her uncle patted the top of her helmet for good luck, a tradition the two had kept for about twelve years at this point, and she made it out onto her starting place - pole position as usual. Sava pulled clean moves the entire race, defended her position without being reckless or desperate, and had perfect pace. As she pulled back into the pits under her team’s marquee, she spotted her uncle speaking with an older man in a button up and slacks, something quite odd for a normal karting weekend. Sava hopped out, practically ripping her helmet and balaclava off as her footsteps increased in pace to get to her uncle. He scooped her up into a hug, spinning the girl a few times and congratulating her on another victory for the season.

“Bunny, this is Doctor Helmut Marko, he’s the director of Red Bull Racing. He’d like to speak with you about a driving opportunity.” Sebastian, her uncle, stated clearly, his excitement spilling into his eyes as he stared at his seventeen year old niece. Her dyed-pink hair sat matted to her forehead, the majority of it spun into Dutch braids down her back that would be tucked into the back of her race suit before the next race, her cheeks were flushed red, and her bottom lip was cracked in places from how much the Czech nibbled on it on and off track. Sebastian almost laughed at the situation she had ended up in.

“Dr Marko, it’s lovely to meet you. I have an hour until my next heat, so if you would like to speak urgently, there is a small cafe about a hundred metres from the track. If you’d like less of a time constraint, I will be completely free after 4pm today.” Sava told the man in front of her, Czech accent so thick the Austrian could barely understand her.

“It should only take about 10 minutes, so if you’d like, I can buy you and your uncle a coffee at the cafe while we speak.” Dr Marko offered. Sava nodded calmly, her uncle much more vocal about his excitement. Sava excused herself to change into less sweaty clothes, returning in a halter-neck singlet and a pair of ripped skinny jeans. Her trusty combat boots stepped over all of the tools, debris, and shit that was scattered around the pits as she made it back to the two men.

“So, Sava, what is your goal in karting?” Dr Marko began almost immediately after the trio had sat down in the cafe.

“To make it into formula one and win multiple world championships.” Sava responded confidently, barely a second between the question and her reply as it was something she had thought about for a very long time.

“So why aren’t you already driving in single seaters?” Dr Marko questioned further, and from the corner of her eye, Sava could see her uncle tense up.

“Because no one’s willing to give me a chance in the big leagues because they know I’ll do a lot better than half the boys on the grid.” The seventeen year old replied. Helmut seemed impressed with the rapid fire, confidence laden responses he was receiving.

“Well, I’m willing to. Jehan Daruvala, a Red Bull junior currently driving for Carlin in formula two is unable to attend the last three races of the season because of health issues. I want you to take his seat for those races, and if you’re as good in a single seater as you are in that kart, I’ll make sure you have a seat for next year.” Helmut laid out, and Sebastian audibly choked. Sava smirked at her uncle’s reaction, and stared into the eyes of the man offering her a fast track to her dreams.

“I’d love to. When and where is the next race?” Sava chuckled, her uncle’s recovery from his choking fit was slow, and Helmut looked on in amusement. He had seen many similar reactions from the drivers he was propositioning, but it seemed as though this duo had reversed the normal roles.

“The weekend begins on Thursday in Italy. You’ll be racing in Mugello.” Helmut told the pair dryly. Sebastian began coughing once again, Sava simply rubbing his back soothingly while she nodded.

“I’ll need to make arrangements with my school, but I presume you’ll make travel and accommodation arrangements from Prague to Mugello?” Sava continued her calm conversation, though she could feel her natural bubbliness and excitement ready to burst through.

“Yes. There will be a Carlin race suit and boots in Mugello when you arrive, as well as a helmet and teamwear. You’ll have a personal assistant for the time you’re in Jehan’s seat, to keep up with the media and to navigate the paddock. I’ll have all of the relevant information forwarded to you tonight, and there will be a contract for you to sign upon your arrival in Italy.”

“Then I’ll see you there, sir. I best be on my way, I’ll need time to change back into my race suit before my heat is called in about half an hour. It was lovely to meet you, and I look forward to meeting and exceeding your expectations.” Sava concluded, standing up to give her new boss a handshake before she turned on her heels and practically sprinted out of the cafe. She speed walked back to the track and into the changing rooms before letting out the ear splitting squeal she had been holding in since she won her race forty five minutes ago.

It was easy enough to sort out her absence with her school, as there were no assessments due and Sava was already miles ahead of the rest of her peers, so her teachers had no qualms with letting their champion out to represent the country.

The issue however, was with her parents. Her father, a man she had been emancipated from for over a year, decided he would give her grief for throwing away her education to take someone’s spot for a few weeks before they would inevitably drop her once they realised how bad she was. Her mother wasn’t much better. As her legal guardian, she technically did have the right to stop her daughter from going into the F2 seat, but after a gruelling discussion and many threats from Sava to emancipate from her mother as well, she conceded.

So, on a very sunny, very early Thursday morning in September, Sava hopped onto a plane with an overnight bag to begin catching her dreams. Unfortunately, Sebastian had work during the week, but would be flying out to Italy on Friday night to watch his niece’s races on Saturday and Sunday. But, Sava arrived in Italy as bubbly and excitable as ever. Her pink hair was split into her iconic high pigtails, a white crop top, and pastel pink pleated skirt and trusted combat boots covered her form, black duffel bag thrown over her shoulder with some clothes for the weekend, and all of her travel documents. The PA standing with her name printed on a sign was very confused when a very small, very pink teenage girl bumbled over to her and said ‘Hi, I’m Sava. But everyone calls me Bunny’.

“I’m sorry, I expected someone a little more gritty.” The twenty-something woman spoke, her blonde hair in a high ponytail with a Carlin shirt and dark wash jeans. Sava guessed the PA expected someone who looked more like herself.

“It’s okay, I get that a lot. Most people don’t recognise me out of my race suit, so I definitely don’t expect someone who’s never seen me to anticipate my looks. What’s your name?” Sava’s Czech accent, combined with her hyperactivity meant she talked extremely fast, and often it was all nonsense, and she simply spoke for the sake of speaking. The PA took a few seconds to process the words Sava had spoken before finally replying with a simple ‘Amelia’. The two made it to the car that was waiting and travelled to the track in silence, Sava taking in the sights, and Amelia tapping away at her phone. When they got out, Amelia handed Sava a paddock pass, explaining the importance of it and demonstrating how to use it at the gates. They walked through to the Carlin garage, one half working away excitedly, while the other side seemed rather dead.

“Everyone, can I have your attention please? This is Sava Dvorakova, she’s our reserve driver for the rest of the season. Make her comfortable, and make sure she feels welcome!” Amelia yelled, very quickly causing silence to spread over the entire garage.

“Hi! I’m Sava, but most people call me Bunny, so feel free to do either! Or if you’d like, Dvorakova works just as well, but it’s a bit of a mouthful so I understand if you mispronounce it. I’ll also probably respond to ‘hey you’ so anything works. I’m really looking forward to working with you all and giving you some good results this weekend!” Sava giggled at the end, her fists clenched in front of her chest as she gave a small cheer with her hands and the entire garage remained silent for a few moments before breaking out into whispers, their eyes trailing over the teenager’s body. The anxiety in Sava’s belly bubbled, and she began playing with her hands until she was approached by a boy who was a little taller than her with a friendly smile on his face.

“Hi, I’m Yuki. I drive the other Carlin. It’s nice to meet you Bunny.” Yuki introduced with a smile and fist bump. He was unbelievably pleased to meet a driver who was smaller than him, though he supposed that her being a girl wouldn’t ease all of the teasing he got from other drivers on the grid. The two chatted about their background in racing, and Yuki gave Sava a few pointers on handling the car she was about to drive for the first time ever.

“Sava, I have all of your race gear to try on, and later on you’ll need to do a seat fitting as the mechanics are just going to modify one of Yuki’s seats since you two are similar height.” Amelia stated, breaking up the conversation between the two youngsters. Sava apologised to her new friend before practically skipping behind Amelia. She received a few weird looks from others in the paddock, including a few F1 drivers she recognised from TV and her Instagram feed. She wasn’t sure why they were in this paddock, but supposed a few of the younger guys had only recently come out of F2.

When she got into a Carlin motorhome, race overalls and her flame-retardant undersuit were thrust into her hands by Amelia, and then pointed toward a tiny bathroom within the motorhome while the PA continued scrolling through emails, updating social media, and answering calls. Sava pulled the suits on excitedly, and though it was a bit tight in the hips, thighs and chest, she thought it looked pretty damn good.

“So, I think this was definitely made for a guy with less boobs and smaller hips, but the fit is still really good.” Sava joked to Amelia when she stepped out, only to see Helmut Marko standing alongside her new assistant. She went red instantly, her shoulders tensing and sliding up toward her head.

“Yes, well, we can certainly fix that before the next race, but right now, I believe you’re needed for fittings in the garage, so throw on your helmet and get down there.” Helmut ordered. Sava quickly snatched up her balaclava and helmet, threading the two onto her arm as she began undoing the pigtails to braid them on her way back to the Carlin garage while Amelia and Helmut stayed behind to talk.

If Sava thought she was getting weird looks on her way to the motorhome, she was getting even weirder ones on the way back from it. From what she could tell, it seemed more like mechanics, engineers and other personnel from other teams and she couldn’t see any drivers she recognised before she slipped into the Carlin garage, one braid half finished, and her helmet banging against her head every time she moved her arm. Yuki laughed at her struggles, ambling over to thread the helmet and balaclava off her arm while she held the half finished braid precariously. Sava thanked him with a quick smile and continued braiding, her tongue occasionally poking out the side of her mouth in concentration. One she was finished, and the long braids were tucked into the back of her suit, she pulled on the balaclava and helmet in record speed, and then was ushered into the F2 car to begin the tedious process of trying and changing one of Yuki’s seats to suit her height and posture.

After about an hour of fiddling, she was allowed to take the helmet off, and was beginning to doze off in the cockpit while a few of the employees debated different ways of measuring and fixing the seat nearby. Amelia came into the garage to find the new driver fully asleep in her car with everyone still talking around her. She took a photo and uploaded it to Carlin’s Instagram story, tagging the driver and writing a quick word about the reserve driver they hadn’t officially announced yet. She giggled slightly, and when two of the mechanics came back over to lift the seat out of the car, they accidentally lifted the driver out with it. Amelia took more photos of the seventeen year old comfortably in her race suit, curled in her seat while two mechanics held the entire ensemble up above the car.

Suffice to say, Carlin’s Instragram was flooded with adoring new fans, angered stans, and a few cheeky formula one drivers on private accounts.

#pierre gasly #Pierre Gasly fanfic #Pierre Gasly imagine #Pierre Gasly x reader #formula one #formula 1 #f1 #f1 fanfic #Daniel Ricciardo is a lad #there's some lando flirting #I couldn't help myself #gasly #pg10 #call me eden

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cadopan · 3 years ago

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In all seriousness though, Barca's results in the league this season are insane. It must actually be weird for the players. Isn't it like, almost too easy for them? And couldn't it work against them in the long run, to not be challenged enough?

I rarely ever watch the Spanish league games so I have a hard time figuring out its general level. Real Madrid did good in CL, but they're not performing that well in the league this season (yet they're arguably the ones that made it the most difficult for Barca this season). Are Barca just _that_ above everybody else (they kinda are), or is the level generally lower in Spain?

Come to think of it, the situation is not that different in France, with Lyon and PSG also getting high numbers results almost constantly. It's really a bit sad, those huge gaps in woso. I'm not very familiar with the Europa cup, but wouldn't it do good to also have one in woso?

Anyway this is all over the place I'm sorry, it's late and I'm just sleepily rambling 😅😴

Yeah, I read some news that Barca could statistically already win the league by mid-March (for context: their season ends a whole 2 months later in May lol 😅)

It does seem like sometimes they're just having a practice out there after the first few goals, but they've barely faltered (even against the arguably higher levels of opposition in the UWCL) so I don't think the lack of challenge is affecting them so far.

I'm pretty much with you on the Spanish league. I try to watch Barca as often as I can bc I just love watching them play even it's to toy with minnows, but the Primera Division isn't as accessible to find streams for so that kinda sucks. Real is a good team as well. I watched them when they probably gave Barca the toughest test of the season (more than any team in the UWCL lol) as Barca struggled in the recent Supercopa semifinal and Alexia had to swoop in to nick it late in the game.

The rest below was too long so I put it under the cut:

Also true about the big gaps between the top one or two teams and the rest of the pack in other European leagues. It’s unfortunate, but I think it’s just an inevitable circumstance of where the woso game at this point in terms of growth. Globally there have been only a few clubs at the top that put in significant investment in their women’s teams, and all the best players naturally want to be there. As more clubs are doing this now, we’ll probably see the playing field level out over the next few years as the good players spread out a bit more.

Mostly what brings about the "farmers league" claims and sorta messy discussions. In terms of leagues outside the WSL, I'd say the competitiveness within the league itself (strength of their flagship teams like Lyon/Barca being irrelevant here) would be: Frauen Bundesliga first, followed by D1 Arkema, then Primera Iberdrola.

Funny you mentioned the Europa Cup/League, someone’s actually brought it up before and this was my answer :) I’d totally love to see a team like Man United play Frankfurt or something, would be such an interesting matchup.

Anyway, phew that was long. No worries about the rambling, I took my time to answer too since there were quite a number of questions in there haha. Hope this was helpful!

#answers #fcb femeni #real madrid femenino #barca femeni #primera iberdrola #farmers league discussion #europa league #woso #women's football #futfem #uwcl #my takes #anon takes

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rachelbethhines · 4 years ago

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Day of the Animals

While perhaps not my favorite episode this season, Day of the Animals is easily the best written story of season three. Even so, it still has problems due to the third season’s poor approach to characterization.

Summary: Rapunzel, Varian, Angry and Red are returning stolen loot that the two girls had stolen years ago. They are accompanied by Max, Pascal, Ruddiger and Hamuel who all cannot stop quarreling with each other (or in Hamuel's case, just being useless). While messing with a sea shell pendant, it magically transports the humans into it, leaving the animals to fight over it. A minor thug named Dwayne, steals the pendant forcing the animals to work together to retrieve it.

So Why is a Polynesian Inspired Kingdom Within Riding Distance of a Northern European Country?

If you’ll remember my review of Beginnings, Neserdina’s princesses were wearing Polynesian garb and dancing the Hula when prepping for the competition. Now I’ve already went into length as to why that’s not good representation, but in addition to that it’s also just plain dumb. You can’t just transport one ethic group and dump them into another part of the world because it’s convenient for you. You don’t earn any brownie points for doing that. Especially when your fantasy world is still based off of our own historical earth.

To make things even more confusing, we actually saw Neserdina way back in season one in Way of the Willow. It’s where Willow bought the gremlin knock-off.

That is an island. How the heck do you get to a volcanic island riding in a horse and cart? And don't tell me they’re riding to a port, because Corona is a port city already. They could have gotten there by boat. It’s also can’t be too far away from Corona’s borders if Angry and Red were able to get there on foot during their year long travels.

The only explanation is that the entirety of the Tangled crew doesn’t understand geography, and this won’t be the last example in the show to back up that statement.

So Why Is Rapunzel Here?

We get explanations for why everyone is on this road trip, except for the main character herself. Red and Angry are trying to return some stolen loot. Varian is wanting to pick up rare alchemy supplies at the market and was invited along because Raps hopes it’ll be a chance for Ruddiger and Max to get know one another better.

But why on earth does Rapunzel feel the need to come on this trip herself? Doesn’t she have a kingdom to run? While I’m sure Eugene is more than capable of handling things, this doesn’t reflect well upon the writers supposed plan of making Rapunzel appear more responsible.

Literally any other adult could have come along on this trip. This wasn’t something Rapunzel needed to waste time on. Lance especially would have been more appropriate here as he’s the one who’s suppose to eventually adopt Angry and Red. And the sad thing is, all they had to do was give Rapunzel a line about needing to attend some sort of diplomatic business in Neserdina. That’s it.

In a show that’s supposed to be all about Rapunzel; Rapunzel sure doesn’t have a whole lot of reasons to exist in the majority of the episodes.

Lack of Worldbuilding Strikes Again

At this point I’m kind of numb to the whole “magical thing just exists for no adequately explained reason” and so I’m not as upset as some people are about the shell necklace. But it’s still not good writing.

Why does this thing exist? How did come to be cursed? How did it get mixed in with their stuff? What activated the magic and why did it only effect the human’s even though the animals were closer to it?

Just something show. Anything. You bothered to give use rules for how this thing works and even stuck to them this time, but you can’t just make the last leg of the trip and give us some exposition?

Yeah, okay.

So Where Exactly Are We in Relation to Corona?

We can see Pittsford and Ivangarr on the road sign and we have to be in riding distance to Neserdina from Corona, but like are we in Corona still? Are we in Koto, which is Corona’s nearest neighbor to the east according to season three. Are we in some no-man’s-land where none of the kingdoms have control, or are we already in Neserdina itself?

The series gives us no sense of direction nor any firm placement for Corona within it’s world. I only know it is a Northern European country because Corona itself is a peninsula with a north sea, uses French, English, and German fashion/customs, and Rapunzel is a Germanic fairy tale. But like those clues are thrown into a blender and contradicted several times over, on top of never being told where it’s closest kingdoms actually lie.

All of this matters when traveling and exploring the wider world are big themes of your show. You need more solid and consistent world building than this. It also impacts how much authority and control your main character has within the episode itself if she range of political power is limited to one area. So like we need to know where the heroes stand here.

(FYI I personally headcannon Corona as former Prussia which was once part of Germany and it’s alliance of smaller kingdoms. It’s also a peninsula next to the Curonian Spit)

This Is Not Progress

Okay so the idea here, is that the show is implying that Rapunzel is trying to improve Corona’s justice system over Frederic’s previously inhumane crack down on crime. However, this is terribly executed.

For starters the show has never called Frederic nor Rapunzel out for their previous misbehavior. You can not change any system for the better without acknowledging the flaws within said system first. Therefore this comes right out of nowhere and doesn’t stick around long enough to stay within the viewers minds for later.

Secondly, Rapunzel is incredibly fickle about who she does and doesn’t set free. The Saporians were still in the dungeons last time we saw them, Caine was shipped off to the prison island and left to die there as far as we know, and the Stabbingtons are shown shackled together in the wedding short even though they supposedly changed their ways and befriended Eugene again.

Meanwhile Dwayne and Stalyan are free to go their marry way and continue their life of crime, Varian is only released from his overly harsh punishment because he kissed Rapunzel’s ass not because it was wrong to imprison him in the first place, and later Cassandra gets away scot free because she’s Rapunzel’s bestie even though she committed the worst crimes out of everyone in the show and for very little reason.

That’s not justice. That’s not compassion. That’s not progressive reform. It’s just nepotism, and it’s every bit as corrupt as Frederic’s classism and totalitarianism.

Just because Rapunzel is “nice” it doesn’t mean that she is kind. Real reform has to treat everyone with equality and have a set of base standards that are beyond one person’s personal judgment. She is still a dictator and an abuser even if she lets the occasional person go free on a whim.

Finally, Rapunzel’s methods are just downright ineffective. Dwyane may not be a threat to our heroes, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a threat to other people. He’s not actually sorry about trying to rob people at knife point and he fully plans on continuing being a thief after feeding Rapunzel the lines she wants to hear.

Furthermore, we don’t know if this course of action is born out of malice or desperate need. He half heartily comments about finding ‘an honest job” but can he even do that? Is it even a realistic option for him? The series has been weaving this class inequality theme through out it’s past three seasons and directly connecting that to Corona’s crime rate.

Eugene had a hard time finding a job during season one directly due to his past record, remember? A life of crime he was forced to lead in order to survive, and he’s the Prince Consort! What chance does Dwayne have? Did Rapunzel even try to help him find work or did she just wag her finger at him and told him “Now, now, stealing’s not nice.”

The show wants to act like Rapunzel is this progressive reformer but then they turn her into a Republican instead. That’s not me being sarcastic either, this approach to criminal justice is the foundation of conservative belief and has been for centuries. The right are not interested in why people commit crime. They don’t care about addressing the fundamental problems in society that lead people to break the law. Let alone bother to analyze why those laws exist in the first place. Instead they resort to doublethink and survivor bias to either write off those that fall through the cracks or make excuses for why their policies repeatedly fail, often ignoring the fact that things aren’t actually working for whole swathes of people who aren’t themselves.

Tangled the Series is far too simplistic and childish in it’s approach to deeper subjects like this to enforce the messages it supposedly wants to enforce. Rapunzel herself relies on magical thinking, double standards, and personal bias to see her through every and any problem and the show just rewards her for it rather than challenging her to grow and in doing so winds up supporting people like her in their authoritarian ideas, whether that was the writers’ intentions or not.

In short, Rapunzel shows no interest in putting in the real work it would take to implement genuine restorative justice. She doesn't honestly care about Dwyane or his victims. She’s just posturing here for the sake of her self image.

You’re Not In Any Position to Talk Rapunzel

Speaking of Rapunzel being a hypocrite.... The entirety of season three’s main conflict is her having a petty bitch fight with her supposed best friend and needlessly dragging everyone else into it.

In fact that’s the whole show. Rapunzel repeatedly failing to get along with other people because she’s deep down a shitty person despite the veneer of ‘friendliness’ she slaps on to hide it. Having her just say she knows better does nothing to convince me that she’s actually learned anything. You have to show that she’s learned it first, and that requires acknowledging her own wrong doings.

Varian’s face here just tells it all. Rapunzel is full of shit and no one in the show knows it better than him. Why are they even friends again? Why should we trust her with the three kids she neglected more than once? Why should any of these people take what she says seriously?

Well This is Contradictory

Also, since we brought up double standards, here’s Varian undermining that whole “jail is bad” thing Rapunzel is trying to push with Dwayne and later with Cass. Not only is the show under cutting it’s themes for a joke, but it just reinforces the abuse Varian received. He’s now bought into Frederic’s stupid beliefs and winds up reinforcing to the audience that that his ‘reform’ was due to his past imprisonment.

As an adult watching this series, Varian’s supposed redemption continues to increasingly look like a victim complying with their past abuser out of fear of further harm rather than anyone genuinely learning to be better.

Can We Please Stop Infantilizing the 16 Year Old

As if to deflect from Varian’s past mistreatment and continuing parentification, the show then goes on to showcase the opposite extreme whenever possible. I know it’s hard to tell just from these few screen shots alone, but over the course of season three Varian is spoken down too and treated condescendingly by the rest of the cast, and by Rapunzel in particular, even as he enters his later teens/early adulthood.

Some of this is just to due to Rapunzel being her usual holier than thou self, but there’s also times, like here, where Varian is lumped together with the actual children of the show, even though he’s 6 to 8 years their senior.

In fact out of everyone Rapunzel interacts with, Varian’s actually the closest to her in both age and development. Queen for a Day forced the two of them into a power imbalance due to a mixture of classism and society’s ongoing unhealthy (and often artificial) divide between younger and older teens, but as we get further and further away from that point in time and as Varian nears the same age Rapunzel started out as, that imbalance becomes less and less relevant.

Look at how this scene is framed, He’s standing between Angry and Red and is placed lower than them to make it look like he’s one of them. He’s not.

Varian may still look 12 with his big old eyes and short stature, but seeing as how we’re past Hearts Day, he’s actually close to being 17, if he isn’t already. The timeline gets even wonkier after The King and Queen of Hearts, but trust me, we’re close to being two years past Queen for a Day, if not more so.

Varian, for all counts, should be Rapunzel’s equal by now in terms of story. Not only is he closest in age to her, but he’s also the only other person going through a coming of age arc. And of the two, Varian’s the one who has actually learned and grown as a person. He has more real world experience than Rapunzel ever will and knows how to implement that experience. (He’s also the more mature, but that’s more of a failure to write Rapunzel competently than a reflection of his capabilities.)

No matter how you slice it, Varian shouldn’t be taking orders or advice from Rapunzel; no one should be, really; and he most certainly shouldn’t put up with her condescension. Rapunzel is not his nor anybody else’s mother. She’s not even a big sister like figure, and at no point should be treated as the leader of anything or anyone.

Rapunzel is a Poor Man’s Rose Quartz

I typically try not to draw too many comparisons between Tangled and other shows outside of the occasional parallel, as a show should be able to stand on it’s own for good or for bad, but it’s hard not to discuss the series without also discussing Steven Universe in some way.

Steven Universe is this generation’s Batman the Animated Series or Scooby Doo. It’s the game changer that everybody else is trying to copy in some manner. Chris desperately wants Tangled the Series to be the next Steven Universe, right down to how the show is structured, paced, and what themes are presented. But unfortunately Chris has no idea why Steven Universe works the way it does.

For starters SU adjusted it’s pacing as it went along, smoothing out its rougher edges while Tangled doubled down on its filler. SU had a planned arc from the get go and stuck to it, so that by the time the twists came they made sense. SU kept it’s focus on Steven purposefully so that the story unfolded from his view point while making to sure to acknowledge the importance of other characters around him and their conflicts. It didn’t make him infallible nor shove aside everyone else’s arcs.

But most importantly, Steven Universe was written by a bisexual nonbinary person who set out to make a show for people in the queer community like themselves. Meanwhile, as a middle aged white man, Chis hasn’t a damn clue about his primary audience and has shown no interest in connecting with them.

This isn’t to say that Steven Universe is a perfect show. No show is beyond criticism. Nor is this to say that straight white cis men can’t write; many of them do and can portray characters unlike themselves competently enough. But if you’re completely disinterested in other points of view than you can’t be a good writer of fictional stories, that’s just a fact. Because in order to understand proper characterization you need to acknowledge that not every character ever will be like you and that even you’re main heroes will hold beliefs and experiences different from yourself. Otherwise there is no genuine conflict to build off of. Either no one will disagree with each other or the conflict will come across as flat and forced, complete with lopsided bias.

Therefore, in the end, Rapunzel winds up being less of a Steven and more of a Rose Quartz/Pink Dimond. Both are spoiled princesses/co-rulers of a kingdom that mistreats it’s people and anyone outside of it, who rebelled against their guardians, supposedly out of a sense of justice, but really for themselves and their own freedom, only to make things even worse for everyone. On top of that they both accidently harmed their friends, freindzone their best friend while also bossing them around, are condescending to their love interests, is controlling of people who trust them, and throws temper tantrums when they don’t get what they want, oh and neglected someone for an inhumane amount of time.

Even then, Rapunzel winds up being the worst of the two.

The whole point behind Rose was that she is someone whom the main characters place upon a pedestal and as the series went along slowly had the scales fall from their eyes and learned to view her for who she really was flaws and all. By the end, in Future, she is even metaphorically removed from her pedestal when Steven removes her picture from the wall.

Rose also grows as a character, unlike Rapunzel. Her story is deliberately being told to us backwards. The awful person she was in the past was no longer who she was by the time of her death. True she was still flawed, and the consequences of her actions continued on even after her demise, but she actually tried to be a better person. She got called out for her behavior, she wasn’t excused for actions even when the show explained why she did what she did, and she stopped doing harmful actions whenever she realized that they hurt someone.

Greg was allowed to stand up to her and show how she was wrong, and she respected him for it and later fell in love with him because of it. She tried to better control her temper when she wound up hurting her friend. Her failed revolution and her mistreatment of Spinel was actually born from a misguided desire to help, rather than outright selfishness.

Rose Quratz/Pink Dimond is a brilliant fucking character. You may not like her, but you can’t deny that she is one of the most complex figures in children’s media to ever be created. She is real, nuanced, and multifaceted. He role within the story is complicated, messy, and intricate. She is the most well rounded female character I’ve ever seen and she is what I had hoped Rapunzel would be when I first watched season one, only even more so as the actual focus.

I want women in cartoons to be people!

But Rapunzel fails at every turn to follow through with this promise. She is not a deep complex character. She’s not a flawed and complicated heroine. She’s a blank canvas in which the creator can shove his creepy ass views upon. She is never taken off her pedestal, she’s never allowed to be wrong, and she is forced to spout the the creator’s personal bias against other characters.

Rapunzel isn’t a person. She had the chance to be one, but then was reduced to .. to this. As a woman, the treatment of Rapunzel and Cassandra in this show is just flat out insulting.

So What Is the Difference Between Angry and Red Now?

I’m all for character growth, but at this point Angry and Red are just interchangeable. Anything that made them uniquely them has been lost, and they’re now just fulfilling the generic rambunctious little kid trope. Red becoming more assertive shouldn’t mean she stops being an introvert altogether; that’s not how that works. While Angry shouldn’t lose her temper completely just because she’s wiling to open up more.

So Why Dwayne?

I like Dwayne as a character and in truth I don’t mind his existence here, and unlike that werewolf hunter last time he at least was established in a pervious season. But this is still time that could have went to a more important antagonist.

Also notice that Dwyane gets a villain song, but not Lady Caine or Zhan Tiri. Just saying.

Rapunzel Has Not Earned the Role of the Wise Sage and Mentor

Rapunzel has never learned to listen to others. Ever.

On it’s own this might have been a good speech, but when taken in context of the wider story it just makes Rapunzel look like an ass.

A year traveling does not make Rapunzel suddenly all knowing. She is not wiser nor more experienced than anyone else in this scene. She’s also a crappy leader and big fat hypocrite.

Even when she’s technically right, as seen here, she’s still in the wrong because she never follows through and acts upon her own advice; making this whole story pointless in the grand scheme of things.

And that’s the core problem with season three. Rapunzel is shoved into a role she is not designed for and the whole premise of the series runs right off the rails. You’re main heroine in a coming of age story can not inhabit the mentor role. She can not simultaneously learn and grow and be always right while instructing everyone else.

All through out season three Rapunzel is either rendered completely useless in her own damn series, or she utterly fails to fulfill any sort of narrative promise laid out for her while she infuriatingly hijacks the story from more interesting and dynamic characters.

Behold The Only Reason Why Varian was Included in the Episode

Speaking of hijacking things, Rapunzel of course has to get the idea to save everybody, even though what she thinks of isn’t anything special. It’s not derived from her character as an individual nor from all that experience she supposedly has. It’s literally an idea anyone could have come up with and the show just hands it to her in order to justify her exitance.

Meanwhile the character who actually is useful to the plot is sidelined and reduced to just a plot device. And not just here, Varian is rendered practically pointless in all but two episodes in season three, even in episodes that he actually should have more impact in, like the season opener and series finale.

Good writing treats characters as equally contributing to the plot in ways that complements who these characters are.

Ok I’ll Admit That This Line Is Funny

Look, I know this whole review series is about pointing out the negative, and I stand by my opinion that Tangled the Series is one of the worst written shows I’ve ever seen, but I want to make one thing clear.... I do not hate the show. If I hated the show I would not waste my time reviewing it.

Yes the over all writing is shit, but there are a lot of good things to be found in the series beyond just the crap story arc. The humor is usually solid, the animation is gorgeous, the music is a delight, and the majority of the characters are likable even though they don’t develop in the ways that they should. There’s a lot of talent that went into this show and there’s a lot of potential to be had in it’s set up and lore.

Being critical or negative about the aspects of something doesn’t mean you dislike it, or that you’re not a real fan, or that you’re just a ‘hater’, and I actually find TTS to be fascinating because it’s such a mess. I write reviews because they’re fun and because I genuinely think there is something to be learned from Tangled’s mistakes.

So Why Do We Cut Back to Rapunzel Here and Not Varian?

This is such an odd framing choice. Varian is the one who is talking and reacting to what’s happening. It’s his pet that’s in trouble and therefore he carries the emotional weight of the scene, and yet it’s Rapunzel’s shocked face we focus on? Why? What’s the point of that? She has no business being the center focus here. The action does not involve her.

If you wanted to include her for a later set up then why not have both her and Varian present in this shot? Usually I can at least count on the story boarders to frame things better than this, but they really missed the mark here. Unless Chris is just that stupid and petty that he over ruled them and forced Varian out of the scene, but that seems like a pointless fight to pick, even for him.

See This is How you Fulfill a Narrative Promise

The conflict between Ruddiger and Max was set up in season one with What the Hair, then it was reiterated a few episodes ago during The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne, and then it was reintroduced in this episode along with a stated lesson about working together that they needed to learn. By they end of the episode, guess what, they’ve learned to work together. That is how you properly set up and resolve a conflict.

It’s clear from this that the writers of Tangled the Series know the basic tenants of writing and how to fulfill narrative promises. So the fact that they don’t follow through with this in the majority of the show’s episodes and ongoing story arcs just baffles me.

Is it negligence? Is it hubris? Is it incompetent management and editorial mandates? Is it just one asshole ruining everything or is this a failure in the writers room as a whole?

I just don’t understand what the fuck went wrong here. There’s no reason for why the show got as bad as it did. How does the most acclaimed animation company in the world put out such amateurish tripe?

Just... wow.

Now you know why I’m mesmerized by this show. It is a mystery to be solved, like trying to figure out how the crew on the Titanic fucked up so badly or why Hindenburg blew up. You just can’t look away.

Conclusion

Like I said at the start, structurally speaking this is the strongest episode of the season. I personally enjoy Lost Treasure a little more, just because Rapunzel annoys me less in that, but it’s not a bad story. However when you’re best episode in your final season is filler, then you know you’re in trouble.

If you like my reviews and want to support my writing endeavors you can drop a tip in my kofi https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#tangled #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure

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thepotentialof2007 · 3 years ago

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European Le Mans Stories - The Champions

R: I'm Robert Kubica, I'm from Poland, I look bit older than I am actually. I'm 25 but I look probably like, 26

L: I'm Louis Delétraz, I'm 24, and I'm the teammate of those two beautiful gents

Y: Hi guys, It's Yifei, part of team WRT, teammate of Louis and Robert.

R: How old are you?! Did you say??

Y: 21

R: Enh, young, young... only 5 years younger than me.

Louis and Robert: Heh heh heh

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Full transcript of Team WRT Car #41′s answering questions about their season and Le Mans below the cut.

If you are not also watching or listening to the video, you will have to use your imagination to add the near constant laughter and audible grins because all the [giggles/smiles/teases/makes funny noise] asides were getting intrusive. 😜

L [reading card]: Describe the first time you talked about the ELMS project.. I think it was in Badour, in Belgium, yeah?

Y: It was in the nice factory of WRT

L: First reaction [to Robert as teammate]: very disappointed, no [laughs], no it was good news, for sure, big name and experienced

R: [chuckling offscreen, makes doubting comment]

L: Nooo! I mean it, so for me it was good news. And you never know before starting, the result but, good year so far.

Y: And we know it will be watched, thanks to his popularity around the world

R: So you have more followers thanks to me! [guffaws] But actually I am not social, so I could not support you with a lot of follows.

L [reading from card again]: What was your first time in endurance racing and with LMP2? [gestures to Robert]

R: Actually first time LMP2 I drove was testing for Dallara in 2015? 16? something like this. But I did one day in Monza. But yeah first race was in Daytona [Dec 2020 where the car broke down before he drove], the first ELMS was in Barcelona this year. As I am young [gestures to emphasize he's keeping up the bit] not a lot of experience.

L: You're a rookie this year. And you, Yifei?

Y: First time would be earlier this year in Asian Le Mans in Dubai, had my first time in a car and first race there. Lucky, and fortunately, we managed to win. I managed to win my outright first championship in sports car and LMP2. Next good thing that happened is managed to team up with Louis and Robert for the ELMS season.

R: So you see, you see he is double champion.

L: The only one

R: And imagine we finished Le Mans: triple

L: Triple crown

R: Triple crown, pom pom pom.

L [reading card]: How is the relationship between us and do you see each other outside of the track, any activities?

R: So I start because actually I say to him to Louis on the way - I have to do chauffeur - I say it's good we have not so many races because I will not support you more than this. [Louis laughs] Yeah, I told you this yesterday. So no, apart from joking, no it is nice, we don't see often outside of track because especially if we have all our duties we try to meet for some cycling which didn't work of course I'm working also with Alfa Romeo F1 so it's quite a lot of things going on through the year apart from ELMS and let's say the LMP2 campaign

[Transcriber’s note: OMG thank you video editor for cutting at this point because IDK where this "sentence" of Robert's was headed but it wasn't going to arrive any time soon.]

Y: Yeah, I think also we wanted to meet each other but with COVID it's not the easiest but we had said we'd maybe do some karting later on after the season

L: I don't think I have much to add to this I think [Thank you, Louis!] but I am lucky enough that I have a good chauffeur sometimes to pick me up in the airport. [Looking toward Robert] Very good chauffeur, quality; I don't tip well, I have to say.

L [reading card]: Is there competition between us and do we compare performance and lap time?

Y: Obviously.

R: Yeah? [makes a couple of incomplete self deprecating jokes]

Y: I think it's the instinct of all racing drivers to be competitive. But it's also good that we try to push each other to improve and to find performance for the team. At the end it's a combination of all our three that creates a good result.

L: No, competition within the team itself is not like there is no - no I agree with you - we are not fighting for anything we all understand each other quite well but for sure you always look what lap time the other does but it's not the criteria of a line up. I think that's what can make us strong sometimes that we know how to raise the hand up and say today is not my day.

L [reading card]: How did it feel to clinch the ELMS victory on the home soil? Did you expect to win it with one round to spare?

R: I think it's nice to win in Spa, especially that it was the first weekend after let's say a quite disappointing Le Mans for us. So it takes sometimes a while and I think it looks much easier from the outside than it actually goes from inside, no?

L: I totally agree. It was for sure a lot of work. Obviously we didn't expect it in Spa. We didn't come there with big margin and we played our game and did well so it was not expected.

Y: Yeah a bit of luck on our side at Spa but that luck was missing at other races so let's say it played out fairly in the end.

L [reading from card]: Two months later how do you reflect on Le Mans? Do you see the ELMS title as revenge? ... Who wants to start?

Y: I think maybe me because I was in the car at the time [that #41 died on the last lap while leading the LMP2 category of the 24h Le Mans]

R [laughing]: but probably it was easier for you

Y: probably was easier for me actually. Yeah it was obviously very disappointing. We cannot really believe but motorsport is cruel. What's good is we knew we had the potential to win, we knew we had the speed, and we have shown to everyone watching race from around the world that yeah, we were the one. Sadly it didn't happen but we just cleared our mind and still had the championship to finish: ELMS. We managed to do a good race and clinch the title at the end.

L: I wouldn't call it revenge winning ELMS. I think we had our other target but for sure Le Mans was... hard. It was hard, very hard, and to be honest I still sometimes think at night like how the hell can this happen in the last lap of such a race after 24 hours and 58 minutes. It's quite, yeah. But it happened.

R: Now we enjoy a nice sunset.

L: Now we have the good view and we are champions.

R: I don't know your feeling okay but for me it was, I did lose some races in the last lap already in the past, actually a win also, but it was not so hard because it was a championship so you know in two weeks time you have another race. And out of 10 weekends, one race you can lose. Especially when there is double race. But Le Mans is once a year and you know you have to wait another 12 months and probably or hopefully yes but it will be very hard that you can win it - okay there was many people who won it for many, many years in a row but - it's not that it's happening every day, this opportunity.

L [from card]: Favourite moment of 2021 season? ELMS. Barcelona, for me.

R: Yeah, probably Barcelona.

L: I agree with this. For me Barcelona was strong because it was a lot of hard work and were adopting big doubts before the race. You never know the first time, also for us we were not an experienced lineup in endurance and in the end to end up with a win like this in this way was very strong.

L [from card]: Could you tell us about your plans for 2022?

R: Well this is not a hard one; this is a boring one. Well I think all of us, I think every driver has a wish or a list where potentially he can end up or potential plans but it's not depending 100 percent from ourselves. I talk for you because I think we are in the same boat.

L and Y: Copy paste.

R: Thank you very much we would like to thank everyone for support from all over the world - especially from Poland, China, and Switzerland. Everyone will now say a couple of words in our own language.

L: Merci beaucoup

Y: Xiè xie

R: [Some sentences in Polish] Thank you

#robert kubica #louis deletraz #yifei ye #elms #2021 #champions #teammates #wrt #lmp2 #endurance racing #24 hours of le mans #smiles

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moonawrites · 4 years ago

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wait holy shit i understand nothing about football, but what's happened?

I'll try to summarize in brief terms! Basically, the current structure of European club football is like this: Every country has a domestic league with a promotion/relegation system. For example, the English Premier League, La Liga in Spain, Serie A in Italy etc. are the top flight of football in those countries. It's a pyramid system with multiple flights, there are 2nd tier leagues whose best teams get promoted up to the top league, and the bottom teams from the top league get relegated to the next tier down every season and so on. Each league plays for their own domestic league title and domestic cup. The clubs in the top tier leagues also compete to participate in the UEFA Champion's League (UCL) which is a European knock out style competition where all the top clubs from each country compete to be the European champions, it's a huge deal. Basically depending on the quality of the league they can send a certain number of clubs to the UCL, so for example the top 4 Premier League and La Liga teams qualify. There's another competition called the Europa League for the next teams down as well. Theoretically this means even the smallest clubs have the opportunity to compete at the highest level, and the top teams can never get complacent because they're not guaranteed to play. A bad season where a top team finishes 5th means that year they don't play in the UCL. A small team can work their way up the pyramid to the highest tier and then work on qualifying for UCL/UEL. It's not a perfect system obviously and there have been a lot of issues, there's so much corruption, and reform was needed (and being worked on).

A couple of days ago though, 12 of the top clubs in Europe announced a breakaway Super League, where the best clubs in Europe would regularly compete with each other. It would replace the Champion's League. The 15 founding clubs would always be guaranteed to play (even though some have not even been able to qualify for UCL regularly in recent years) and there would be 5 spots for other teams from all of Europe. The idea is this would create excitement about football again and provide more competitive matches between the best clubs. The sort of exciting matches we all wait for to see at the UCL, we would just get to see every week and it would eliminate "less exciting" games. But the idea got pretty immediate backlash. At the end of the day it's clearly all about the biggest clubs making more money. They'd play more "big" games between big teams with big stars in big stadiums around the world and get big sponsors. The teams would win big money. It eliminates competition and pressure, it compromises the integrity of the sport, it fucks over football fans and players, it would destroy smaller clubs who would never have a hope of competing at the top level. It's just all a mess. And like, imo, if we see those games every week it would not hold any of the excitement of a Real Madrid vs Liverpool UCL final anyways. It's all just glorified friendlies between the richest clubs. Obviously none of the managers or players were consulted even though they're the ones who play the sport, it's all the club owners and presidents whose only motivation is greed. But even now a lot of the clubs involved are having second thoughts because of the backlash apparently, and some reportedly were more pressured into participating for fear of being left behind than actually wanting to join. Chelsea reportedly pulled out first and a lot of teams seem to want to follow. So we'll see how it goes. But if this does end up going through it would completely disrupt the system of football in Europe right now. There's talks from UEFA and FIFA (the European and global football associations/governing bodies) that teams could be banned from all domestic and European competitions for participating and players could be banned from international competitions with their national teams (so like, the Euros and the World Cup). It's all a nasty mess.

#i hope this made sense???#ask #anon

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ireadyabooks · 4 years ago

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