#yes: this is based on a clip from my ideal season 4

[tomwambsmilk]

would love more in depth reasoning for your tomgreg odds and maybe the betrayal plot line

So, with tomgreg, the main question for me is not "do I think, based on their characters and interactions, it's plausible for Tom and Greg to start a sexual or romantic relationship with each other?" (the answer to which is yes btw). The question is - how would tomgreg going canon contribute to the overall themes of the show and the established arcs which are coming to a close in season 4? And, even more importantly - what are the ways in which tomgreg going canon would undermine existing themes and arcs?

Ultimately, I think a canon tomgreg relationship starting in the final season would distract from and undermine a lot of the other themes of the show. There are several themes and ideas which are distinctly reflected in Tom and Greg's relationship, some of which lose potency if their relationship becomes overtly romantic. For instance, the point the show is trying to make about how a certain brand of hyper-sexual and sexually violent masculinity degrades men's relationships with each other gets a bit lost and downplayed if it turns out that the primary reason Tom behaves the way he does towards Greg is that he's secretly in love with him. It's possible to write the relationship in such a way where Tom's behaviour isn't undermined by that, but it would need to be handled very delicately and a lot of people would simply miss the point. If they had more than one season left, I'd probably give the arc a greater likelihood of happening because there's more room to develop and maneuver the relationship in a way that would more clearly preserve those themes, but as it is I don't think they have the runtime for that.

I'm also anticipating Tom and Greg's individual arcs to take the shape of a corruption arc, and I think that arc becomes less potent on Greg's part if a romantic or sexual attraction to Tom is driving his choices. Again, there's a way to write it with more nuance, but I'm not confident that the show has the remaining runtime to pull that off with grace.

Finally, I think Tom leaving Shiv for Greg holds less emotional weight than Tom and Shiv splitting and Tom not having any other readily available options. If Tom and Greg have a relationship, and his position at Waystar falls apart, Tom theoretically has a fallback in Greg. If he doesn't, though, the stakes become so much higher for him.

There are some ways in which tomgreg going canon might add to the show thematically, which is why I do think it is a possibility. Obviously, there's a commentary to be made on the right's response to homosexuality, especially in the context of the certain ideal of masculinity they uphold. There's also commentary to be made about both Tom and Greg as characters and the power dynamics at play, and possibly even about sexual misconduct in the workplace if they want to tie it into the cruise scandal. There are ways to write it that would add new throughlines to themes of Succession. Personally, I don't feel that what might be gained by adding it outweighs what would be lost by adding it. But, at the end of the day I'm not in the writers room, and they may have accounted for other things I haven't considered. So, the fact that it's possible and plausible is what gives it a 1:6 odds for me.

I'm assuming what you're referring to with the betrayal plotline is my long-standing theory that at the end of the show Tom will betray Greg, and he'll go to jail. I held to that really firmly for a long time, and.... I'm not quite ready to throw it away yet. I still think it's a strong possibility that would work thematically. But a lot of that hinged on Logan, specifically, and since I'm now strongly suspecting that Logan will die early in the second half of the season, and I suspect the Tom and Greg running through the newsroom clip is late-season (tied to the election), I'm not so sure. I think Tom betraying Greg is still a strong possibility, but not as strong as I thought it was before we got more info about season 4.

[ravenbrenna09]

4/11/16 for zoenne. All of them at the same time or all of the in separate, idc. So your magic

4. Shut-Up Kiss 11. Goofy Kiss 16. Nose Kiss

Zoë heard Senne before he entered her bedroom. 

Milan must’ve opened the door before she had even found the text that he was downstairs. Sander must’ve been with him because there was Milan teasing loudly about clingy boyfriends, Senne’s laugh, and Robbe’s muffled giggles. However, before she even got the chance to put away her physics notes, there was a shout of goodbye from Robbe and Milan was sliding in her doorway to tell her that he was going over to Jonathan’s for the evening—and, Zoë suspected, maybe the night if they ever got their act together.

Once Milan went down the hallway, talking as he went, Senne stepped into the room. He was dressed in his black denim jacket, a gray sweater, and a pair of blue jeans. Spotting her on the bed, Senne beamed brightly over at her before dropping his bag right inside the front door. As he moved towards her, Zoë quickly shifted her notes out of the way. “Someone’s hard at work,” he said, flopping in the now empty spot on her bed. 

Zoë smiled, shaking her head. She straightened her notes that she had taken from the bed. “Yeah,” she said, tucking them away in her bag. “After school, Robbe and I were studying Physics. Or, at least, we were until Milan stole him away from me.” Senne laughed, shaking his head, as Zoë placed her notes aside. “We’ve got a big test coming up this week and Milan decided that his will-they-won’t-they with Jonathan was more important than our test.” 

“Milan just needs to go for it. It’s obvious.” 

“That’s what I’ve been telling him,” Zoë said as Senne bunched up the gray blanket—their gray blanket—in his lap. “And what Robbe’s been telling him, but this might actually be the one time that Milan is nervous out of his mind about it.” 

Senne laughed. “It’s definitely a sight to see.”

“Mhmm,” Zoë said. She turned towards Senne, who raised his chin to look up with her. “You’ve been hanging out with Sander a lot recently,” she noted. 

A sly grin turned up on the corner of his mouth, as if he somehow could tell what she was thinking. “Yes,” he said. “That’s what you get taking me on a trip with high schoolers and one other college person. He talked about Amber sniping him and Robbe out of the couple’s room all weekend in favor or us or them. I talked about how he might possibly win her favor for at least one day. Then, the next thing I know, we’re swapping playlists and now we’re getting coffee once a week. He’s determined to make me try everything on the menu.”

Zoë smiled. “That’s so cute—and so Sander. I swear, whenever he’s over, he’s always drinking a new brand of coffee. I always knew the two of you were coffee lovers, but this is a turn of events that I never suspected.” She paused, glancing over at Senne. “Is Max and Luka jealous of their replacement?”

“Nah,” Senne said, shaking his head. “Max is too caught up with his new girlfriend and Luka has been busy with uni and partying his life away in Amsterdam.” 

"Well, I’m pleased that you and Sander are friends,” she said. Senne raised an eyebrow in question. “You’re important to me and so is Robbe. Even though he lives with his mama now, he still comes by once a week after school to eat dinner until curfew. And, Sander’s important to him. So, I’m just happy that you two are close is all.”

“Yeah?” Senne asked. 

“Yeah,” she said. She leaned over, propping herself up on her side to stare at him, and a small smile formed on her lips. “But, I will admit though... I do miss the days that I had you all to myself. Just you and me—not having to worry about best friends or roommates coming over unannounced.” 

“No matter what day it is, I think we are always going to have to worry about that. Especially considering Milan’s tendency to open any and all doors before knocking,” Senne said. Zoë chuckled, the memory of that afternoon flooding back to her—of Milan opening the door to find Zoë half on top of Senne with his hand halfway up her shirt, nearly on the verge of taking it off, and Zoë on the verge of letting him. "But, all you have to do is say the word and I’m all yours.” 

“Well, that isn’t entirely true,” she said. Senne’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and it takes all of Zoë’s willpower to not burst out laughing right there. “Like I said, you and Sander are quite close and you’ve been going out a lot.” 

“While it is true that we’ve been spending time together,” Senne said, wrapping their gray blanket around her shoulders. “Sander has nothing against you—just as I’m sure that you know that Robbe will always be above me in Sander’s mind. There’s no contest, Zoë.” 

“So, Sander will have to dye his hair again to have a chance then?” Senne laughed, shaking his head. His hands fisted at the gray blanket still wrapped around her and Zoë laughed with him. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you and I know he’s been talking about possibly dyeing his hair again for a while now. He keeps bugging me about my hair dresser. That’s it! He wants to impress you—��

Still consumed with his laughter, Senne pulled Zoë towards him, using the blanket around her shoulders for reference. She fell easily against his chest and their lips slotted together clumsily. They were still half-laughing and it was partially difficult to kiss doing so. Zoë pulled back a little to look at him and smiled involuntarily. Senne mirrored the smile back at her. 

Reaching up, Senne cradled the back of her head, running his hands through the strands of her hair, before pulling her back down against him. This time, the kiss was smoother with no laughter to interrupt them. Senne wrapped an arm around her waist, pushing them slightly up so he could lay her down against the mattress. Now wedged between the bed and Senne, Zoë slung one arm around his neck and dropped her other hand to his waist. 

Senne pulled back, their kiss breaking. Propping himself up on one arm, Senne stared down at her with half-hooded eyes that were staring at her with so much adoration that she almost wanted to turn away. But, she held his gaze, raising her chin up a little, as he ran a hand through her hair again—just because he could.

“You know,” Senne said, hovering. “If I had to choose between you and anyone else in the world, I would always choose you.” 

Despite the fact that she knew his words were true, Zoë couldn’t help the fact that her heart fluttered a bit, swelling in the instantaneous relief that his words caused. Even though she felt so secure with their relationship, her fears would occasionally creep into her mind, telling her that Senne would leave her or grow disinterested—leaving her behind like her parents. It was the strangest feeling in the world—when her head and her heart had conflicting ideologies; but when she talked about it with her therapist, she told Zoë that she was trying to protect herself—even though she knew that Senne would never hurt her. 

What she felt for Senne... she had never felt anything so intense before.

Smiling at him, Zoë lifted her head up. As if expecting it, Senne tilted his head to the side so their lips could slide together easier. But, at the last second, she tilted her head back and pressed a lingering kiss against the tip of his nose. Instantly, his nose scrunched up and he stared back at her with a small grin on his face. 

“I know,” she said, reaching up to cup his cheek. “Sometimes, I just like hearing you say it.”

Senne chuckled, twirling a strand of her hair around his finger. “Well, I’ll tell you as many times as you want me to tell you because you’re it, Zoë Loockx.” 

There was a heaviness that she didn’t expect; it wasn’t a bad feeling or one of impending doom—but it was an unexpected heaviness nonetheless. Zoë leaned closer, dropping her eyes to his lips briefly, and she could tell without looking that Senne did the same. She cradled his chin, tracing the skin with the pad of her finger before whispering, “You’re it for me too... Seppe de Smet.” 

The laugh was ripped out of Senne faster than she expected. Senne tossed his head back and rolled off Zoë, back into the spot on the bed that he had abandoned. The sight of him writhing in laughter, unable to control himself and clutching at his stomach, was enough to make Zoë follow him into laughter as well. They laughed until their stomachs hurt and the laughter died out, leaving only a peaceful silence between them. 

Senne smiled at her. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said. Zoë rolled on her side, close enough to press another kiss to his lips, and Senne kissed her back immediately. His hand returned to her hair, his fingers intertwining with the strands. He pulled her closer until Zoë was half on him again, one of her legs wedged between his two. His hand slid up her back, taking the fabric of her shirt with him.

It was just like that interrupted afternoon—except now, they didn’t have Milan to barge in unannounced with a cooking emergency. 

[inmyarmswrappedin]

How does SKAM build a LI?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and even gave speeches to my long suffering friends about the topic. Now that we know what happened to Josh to make him the way he is, I feel like I can finally post about the way SKAM built love interest characters. 

When it’s good, SKAM is a very tightly written show because every clip, and every storyline, advances the themes that make the main character vulnerable. I would call this their “shame” but DRUCK fans don’t like that term because the show is called “pressure” and not “shame”. In the end, whether a character’s issues are internal (”shame”) or external (”pressure”) is irrelevant to what I want to talk about, so let’s just call those themes a character’s vulnerability, shall we? 

How does SKAM make every storyline relate to the themes of the season and what makes a character vulnerable? Well, one way it does that is to make the love interest the personification of a character’s fears and issues.

To wit: In season 1, Eva is called out on having no opinions of their own. If you read @skamenglishsubs‘ culture and context posts, they have listed every instance in which this theme is portrayed by having Eva follow someone else’s opinion (I recommend you do this, because there are way more instances than I picked up on!). So, who is Jonas? Jonas is an extremely opinionated person who feels he’s not a follower at all. 

In season 2, Noora is afraid of opening herself to a boyfriend, both emotionally and sexually, because when she was 13 she had sex with a guy she thought she was in love with, who then dumped her as that was all he was interested in. Who is William? William is the school’s fuckboy who dumps girls after having sex with them, and doesn’t seem to care about the girls’ feelings, but rather is just interested in them advertising his sexual prowess via hoodies. 

In season 3, Isak’s strained relationship with his mom makes him believe that it’s impossible to have a functional relationship with a person who has a mental illness, because they’re not in touch with reality. Even has bipolar disorder.

And then, in possibly one of the most simplistic ways to perceive one’s own character, in season 4, Sana is a hijabi out to prove she can do everything a ~normal Norwegian party girl~ can do. Yousef is... not a Muslim, lol. (Note that the Yousef storyline was not originally planned by Julie Andem, and in fact came about because of feedback she received from Muslim fans that they wanted Sana to have a LI. Sana’s main storyline isn’t so much about her religion, but rather her furious desire to prove the haters wrong.)

In general, most of the SKAM remakes have not tried to reinvent the wheel, and have more or less stuck to these character profiles in order to build their own seasons. Most of the changes remake stans will point to when they talk about a remake season don’t really qualify as changes (under this definition) because they don’t change the conflict between the main and the LI. 

I was pretty interested in whether the remakes had picked up on this way to build a LI, and most particularly, how the remakes that have done original seasons built their LIs. Thoughts on these after the read more.

Out of all the seasons that remade SKAM’s four seasons, I would say there are only four that didn’t stick to the character profiles as outlined above. In my opinion, it’s these seasons:

Eva’s season in SKAM España changes this because Jorge is never set up as an opinionated person. He’s a good guy, for sure, a good friend to his friends like most Jonases, but you will never catch Jorge acting like his opinions are better than Eva’s. He never calls Eva out on not having opinions of her own. Their break up scene doesn’t deal with this, and most importantly, Eva could never get the upper hand in that last conversation like the other Evas have, because Jorge is the only Jonas to kiss Eva first.

Matteo’s season in DRUCK changes this because while Matteo is afraid that his mom won’t react well if he comes out to her, we have no idea what he thinks about having relationships with people with a mental illness, as a general rule. We don’t know because David doesn’t have a MI (that we know of). He is trans, and DRUCK wisely avoided making David’s gender identity the personification of Matteo’s issues (gvgvvh imagine how shit that would’ve been!!). Matteo and David’s major conflict is that Matteo has abandonment issues and David a tendency to peace out when things get hot.

Cris’ season in SKAM España changes this because Cris’ mom doesn’t have a mental illness. In fact, Cris doesn’t know much about MI in general. While Cris does have some internalized ableism, it comes from ignorance and buying into societal prejudices against MI, rather than personal experience. Cris’ vulnerability isn’t her ideas about MI. Her issue is that she has bought into the idea that she’s an unintelligent party girl who can’t ever be responsible or dependable.

Nora’s season in SKAM España both keeps and changes the conflicts as presented in SKAM. Nora fails to trust Alejandro because he’s a fuckboy who would have sex with girls and then mock them for getting their hopes up. But, unlike Noora, Nora’s issue is that her lack of trust in Alejandro throws her into the arms of the seemingly ideal boyfriend despite the red flags, whereas Noora’s lack of trust in William made her withhold sex. 

As you can see, all Sana seasons so far (Amira N.’s included) have kept the original conflict by having a non Muslim Yousef. Under this definition, Martino’s season in SKAM Italia isn’t a subversion, because while he does live with his mom, he doesn’t think he can have a functional relationship with her. Aside from Eva Vázquez, all of the Evas kissed their Jonas first. However, I should note that while SKAM Austin kept the Eva/Jonas conflict, they’re the only other SKAM that doesn’t open with Jonas’ essay. (Which I chalk up to facebook not wanting their show to open with a blatantly anti-capitalist speech lmao.) 

Now, how did the remakes with original seasons build their LIs?

Arthur’s season in SKAM France is an interesting example, because Baguettes picked up on the LI personifying the main’s vulnerability. If Arthur is vulnerable about his (lack of) hearing, Noée embraces it, takes pride on it and bases her identify around it. So far, this is exactly how SKAM/Julie Andem built her LIs. However, Arthur rejects Noée and mocks her language. Noée disappears after s5. Alexia has no hearing issues, or any disability.

Lola’s season in SKAM France similarly picks up on the concept. Since Lola is an addict, Maya’s father was one as well. However, this conflict isn’t really explored amidst the thousand other ideas that were thrown at the wall during this season. It’s fair to say Lola and Maya’s clips don’t develop the theme of addiction throughout the season. Unless you want to count Maya telling Lola that Lola is Maya’s addiction, I suppose. 

Kato’s season in wtFOCK (oh yes I’m going there) could be said to have picked up on the concept, although not in any real elegant way. Because of fan feedback for Moyo to get a season (which they declined to do for super valid reasons I’m sure), the team decided to have Moyo be the LI and worked backwards to build the main. It is similar to how SKAM approached Sana’s LI.  Moyo is a black guy, so Kato would be a racist! Genius!

Given these precedents, I was really curious what Nora’s season in DRUCK would do with their first 100% original love interest (so, not counting David). If they decided to go with SKAM’s standard way of building a LI, there were several possibilities. Nora’s mom has addiction issues, and this is a vulnerability of Nora’s. Would that mean that Josh would have substance issues? Or maybe his dad? His mom? Nora has a mental illness. Would that mean Josh would have issues around mental illness or therapy? Would he maybe have a mental illness himself? Nora was set up from the start as a liar. Would Josh be honest to a fault? And so on. 

In the end, it seems like DRUCK has taken the same approach they did with David. That is, Nora doesn’t have to accept something about Josh that she has preconceived ideas about (Noora, Isak, Sana), neither are Josh and Nora extremes in one character trait (Eva and Jonas). With this clip, it appears that their conflict is that Nora has a problem sharing her vulnerabilities (reminder: she didn’t come clean in English class out of a desire to be vulnerable, but to prove a point) and Josh has abandonment issues that make him prefer to try to change a person or even be hurt, rather than be left behind. 

DRUCK’s approach to building a LI in s5 (and probably beyond) might end up making the season less cohesive than SKAM seasons were. On the other hand, you can argue that the way SKAM built LIs could end up being too predictable (Isak is afraid of MI so Even has a MI, Sana is a Muslim so Yousef isn’t, Noora is afraid of being used for sex so William uses girls for sex, etc) and perhaps lowkey reductionist. And that’s without getting into the issues of making a character’s mental illness, religion, gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity or race, etc... the source of another character’s vulnerability (or “shame” or “pressure” if you will). This is particularly clear in the hands of lesser writers, as seen on wtFOCK and SKAM France. 

I will also get yelled at by @dusuessekartoffel if I fail to acknowledge that DRUCK is now doing original seasons and, though based on SKAM, should therefore become its own thing, develop LIs how they will, without taking SKAM as a model for anything. Iiiiii... think that DRUCK still owes a lot to SKAM even in this generation, and I kind of feel like the way SKAM built LIs is like the real time aspect of SKAM, something that is embedded into the very concept of the show and not something you can just discard when you buy the adaptation rights, but this is certainly up for debate.  

[whatsyourcolor]

Psycho-Pass 3 - Episode 8 review [SPOILERS]

After going through all the stages of grief yesterday, here are my thoughts on episode 8 of Psycho-Pass 3 and of this season overall if anyone cares to read. If you have been reading my other reviews, you have an idea of what this will be, so read at your own discretion. This last episode manifests the vision for the whole season and what they tried to accomplish and how they failed in doing so. I tried summarizing the episode, but got bored, considering the first 20 minutes or so are random clips thrown together with no coherent transitions between them, so I’ll just deal with the aspects that interest me. 

1. Kei breaking bad and the ills of tokenism

Mao confesses her “sins” to Kei which include a lukewarm sense of revenge and a lack of reasonable online practice (such as not trusting people online.) Her story is clumsily connected to the incident where a PSB inspector died and the other one was institutionalized. It would’ve been mildly interesting if Mao had been the active agent in informing Asuzawa of the investigation because of rightful anger at a perceived injustice, causing the death of someone in Division 1 (Irie, for example) and then having a redemption arc where she helps bring the sucker down. But no, we get the story of a coward who got involved with bad people, got scared, and hasn’t followed any of their instructions since, hoping that they’ll forget about her. 

So the writers have her telling this story to Kei, just so that they can justify his ambivalence later in the episode. What if, he too, could get what he wanted? So many ways to plant the seeds of this internal conflict that we now have to explain to ourselves because the writers didn’t have the time for it. Instead Kei frowns, grunts and punches so that we, the viewers, can see he’s upset. But where’s the chipping away at an inherent sense of morality and at his psyche to the point where he’s abating a congressman in his escape? What’s the switch?  Some people say it’s Maiko, even though just one episode before Kei was telling her that they should believe in Sibyl and that her hue will recover. So which is it? Does he trust the system or does he not? Why do we have to guess? Where was all this ambivalence throughout the season? The writers could’ve set up his internal conflict so much better, tie it with the corrupt ideals of the terrorists, show him tempted to go down that path. He’s the immigrant, he’s the one who can offer the point of view that’s so muddled and lazily written for the other immigrants.  

Time to start cooking meth, Kei. 

To add insult to injury, Kei becomes a Fox not because of a deliberate, motivated decision, but because, like Mao, he clicked the wrong link and now he owes them a favor. What if they hand’t spent the whole season demeaning the power of Sibyl, putting it in the background as an inconvenience, instead of a real system of control with real consequences (the, ummm, whole premise of Psycho-Pass)? Just how the whole terrorist plot was rationalized as a way to make Sibyl “pay for its crimes against immigrants,” even though we don’t see what actual crimes Sibyl committed, why it committed them, we don’t even know what Sibyl’s stance is in regards discrimination and xenophobia. Crap on a cracker, we don’t even know why Sibyl deemed that allowing immigrants in was a good idea. They could’ve set up Maiko and Kei as protagonists of this season, giving us their point of view as conflicted immigrants who survived war and famine, who have to dye their hair, answer “yes ma’am,” endure xenophobic insults and be powerless in order to keep each other. Have them lose each other, their own values, their own morality as power appears in the form of an invitation to be a fox and get back at the system. Have Maiko be deemed a latent criminal who’s beyond all recovery be the switch, but that would only work if Sibyl is still the big, bad guy and Bifrost appears as the preferable bad guy in the eyes of Kei.  Give us flashbacks of Maiko and Kei’s traumas together, show us why he’d make the decision to flip to have her back with him. A reason doesn't not equal a motivation. The latter suggest a process, an acquiring of a view through experience, a lie that the character believes or a truth that they hold. “Maiko’s been in jail for a day, so I accidentally became a fox” would be laughable (and believable) if one didn’t care an ounce for this show. 

It seems like the writers wanted the world of Psycho-Pass to be relevant to today’s issues and so they used the topic of immigration to signal that. It worked in the PP Movie (warlords, refugees, etc) because they had kept the same philosophical thread about human will, power and systems of authority since Season 1. The complexities of that dialogue are lost in this season. They wanted to make some characters neutral, such as Karina or Venerable Auma, or the sister or O’Bryan, have them pass as misunderstood or misjudged and have the whole conflict of immigration be a problem that could be resolved if all these people just got together and sang Kumbaya. 

2. Arata is Jesus and Asuzawa is a troll

When you need other characters to remind you of the importance of the protagonist or the villain, it’s perhaps because those characters are poorly written and can’t stand out on their own. When Toyohisa Senguji smokes from a pipe made from the bones of Rikako Oryo, you know the man is the most sinister psychopath that was spawned upon the earth. You don’t need anyone to tell you that. 

Arata seems to have a destiny imprinted on him that he is special, or so we’re told. Sybil wants to integrate him, Mika wants him to stay a detective, the Bifrost is interested in him, his father appeared to be an important dude, yet I can’t think of a single thing he’s done that’s special or unique. He could’ve also have much more of an internal conflict, but we only get hints (yes, even in the last episode) that his dad was a complete prick. It’s never clear beyond “curiosity for humans” what his deal with Karina is and why he gives her a pass, to the point of snubbing Kei, even when Karina is a total hypocrite who fired her immigrant secretary. Yes, the one who threw herself in front of her kidnappers to protect her. 

It happened right after she donated her kidney to me, true, but she did always put too much sugar in my coffee. I can’t have someone like that in my team! 

With Asuzawa something similar happens. He’s called “clever” and “cunning” and we’re meant to believe it. He’s supposed to be deft, predicting the next bend of the road, being two steps ahead of everyone, but that takes time to write, so instead let’s make both the MWPSB and MOFA look incompetent and let’s have Asuzawa be called a “mastermind” just because. The whole mission to capture him is ridiculous. Asuzawa meets the congressman, says he’s going for smokes and never comes back. Kei meets him, helps him escape. Kogami and Ginoza let the pathfinders escape again. The only new revelation we have about him is that he’s an ex-enforcer who was tortured by Arata’s dad. According to Asuzawa’s secretary, Shindo senior used to manipulate people with his powers. 

Who you callin’ Spookie Boogie? I’m known in the commufield as Growly Grumpy. Credit to @azweidos​ 

3. Locking horns for incompetence

Finally the MOFA and the MWPSB meet to share intel on the Bifrost and they know as much as we know, but this meeting was needed because otherwise they couldn’t have inserted Kogami and Gino in the whole mission to tackle Asuzawa. Mika and Frederica are still competing to see which one of them is more obnoxious, while Asuzawa leaves through the front door of the building as if he hadn’t caused 95 of the 100 traffic accidents in Tokyo that year. 

Well, so much for carrying a gun! Not an obstacle for this octogenarian. 

4. In defense of criticism

There’s this general feeling nowadays that criticizing something means you’re spreading negativity, like we’re supposed to be part of a like-minded cult or a mental hive like Sibyl that’s perpetually content, even when given a mediocre product. The problem with this season is precisely that: it’s not bad. It’s perfectly mediocre. And it’s not because the old Division 1 isn’t there. It’s not because Akane is in jail (and we still don’t know why). It’s because they couldn’t deal with the elements that they themselves created for this season. The idea of the world of Psycho-Pass spreading is brilliant, the idea of an elite that’s exempt from Sibyl's judgement is brilliant, the idea of an outsider point of view is brilliant, but they overestimated their own abilities and underestimated their viewers. There’s only so much disbelief and rationale we can suspend before we realize they’re playing us like a fiddle. There’s only so much a villain can grin to hint at us that they knew what they were doing all along. 

Some argue that this is because the creators want to make Psycho-Pass into a franchise as if that means everything and anything is justified to the point of bastardizing the ideas of the show and reaching the point of absurdity where it parodies itself (you think I didn’t notice those Madeleines?) Is the hope of the creators to bury Psycho-Pass into the ground while they laugh their way to the bank? Why should I care about their money, or how much money they hope to make? I care about the end product and that’s what I base my judgement on. 

5. The Shinkane reunion 

See, the creators aren't dumb. They knew they had to bait us somehow because this season alone won’t stand. Not only that, but they know us so well they saved their budget to keep the best quality for this scene. I’ll just paste what I said about it yesterday.

I thought it was sweet how Akane backpedals against the door with a tinge of pleasure on her face, like she wants to hear his voice and feel that he’s on the other side. I loved the smiles they gave to each other and how he comforts her. I think it’s evident this is not the first time he visits her. 

It was lovely. It would’ve been lovelier if it had been tied to the overarching plot of this season, but that plot barely held itself together. So let’s bask on those few seconds we got until they bait us again to watch the 2020 movie. 

[evakuality]

You look good tonight: Communication in Druck s3 (part one)

Communication is one of the biggest themes of this season, and so me being me and liking to talk about stuff like this, I’m going to talk about it.  I’d like to take the opportunity now to say that I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of every decision made in the season or in how some of the things were handled, particularly in some of the later episodes.  Having said that, I’m working with what we were given and trying to give it the benefit of the doubt.  I am, also, ignoring the whatsapp messages for the most part.  If it’s not on screen, I’m probably not going to address it, though I will probably talk about the instagrams at some points because some of the communication does happen there even if that’s not the ideal forum for it to have happened.  Also, this got way more ridiculously long than even I expected (3k words for this one??? How???), so I decided to split it into sections of the season based on the type of communication (or in some cases noncommunication) that was happening.  That means we’ll get several of these with my thoughts on this subject.  With those disclaimers out of the way, let’s get to the subject at hand shall we?

Communication happens in two ways in this season: verbally and non verbally.  We tend to think of verbal communication as the best, most ideal form and I will argue that our characters are actually very good at this form in this season (certainly they are better than most of the hapless couples I tend to pay attention to; I like miscommunicating dumbasses a LOT).  But non verbal also plays a big role, and is just as important in this season and for these characters.  So let’s take a look at them, shall we?  Starting with episodes 1-4 (with some things dragged in from other episodes if they seem relevant at this point).

Matteo

Ah, Matteo.  Our main, and a closed off, alienated, isolated person at the start of the season.  He found it very hard to communicate, indeed often preferring to figure out what everyone else wants him to say and then saying it.  Sara in particular uses this, or maybe ‘uses’ isn’t the right word.  But she definitely has learned that to get Matteo to act, she should tell him what to do.  ‘Does that mean we’re together? [...] I think yes’ ‘Can you distract me now?’ ‘tell me you want to be with me’ etc etc.  Matteo complies too, willing to give over his agency here to other people.  He’s even willing to let other people (like Sara) speak over him, though in that case she’s the one who’s more invested in the flatshare being empty so they can be together.  Kiki goes one better; she ignores his clearly expressed ‘no’ to get what she wants (which is for him to host the party at his place after being thwarted the week before).  This group of people is so used to him not saying what he wants and not expressing his thoughts/needs etc that they have just started to do what they want without any real regard for him or what he actually says.

At this point, Matteo just doesn’t have the confidence in his own thoughts, wishes and desires to be willing to communicate his own wants and needs, or to fight for them when they’re shut down.  It’s not that he can’t do it, more that he chooses not to.  We can see this, too, with David to start with.  Matteo has learned to go with the flow of what other people want and so he’s a little floored when David doesn’t follow the script.  What do you mean you won’t tell me if I can make a wish?  What do you mean I should know because it’s my eyelash?  And as a fandom we do tend to focus our attention here, because it really is such a difference with how we see other people acting with Matteo, but we don’t pay as much attention to the start of this interaction where Matteo is the proactive one, the one who draws David after him, who asks for a name first.  Before they even get to the point with the eyelash, Matteo is more open and more willing to reach out, and when they meet on the bus it’s Matteo who first makes contact and approaches David (before he goes suddenly shy and stare-y, but hey, baby steps).  These advances may be small but in context of the way he is with everyone else, they’re significant.  Interestingly, the other person he’s relatively okay with being a little more proactive and open in communicating with, even early on, is Amira.

The big problem with communication for Matteo at the start of the season, I think, is that most people around him don’t pay much attention to the nonverbal.  Sara, for example, hears his words (the ones she’s been feeding him) and believes things are fine, for a while at least.  Part of this, of course, is because she wants to believe in it herself; she wants the boyfriend and the happy life, wants to forget what else is going on for her with her family and everything.  But part of it is that she’s just not picking up on his cues and his discomfort.  For example, she doesn’t notice his unwillingness to dance with her in the first clip, pulling him into her and not noticing he wanted to get away and in fact does so, going to his original destination (the bathroom and his friends) as soon as he can.  

To us as an audience his feelings are clear, but that’s at least in part because we get to see his face, and many of his interactions where his discomfort is on display are times when he can hide his face and keep his real thoughts away from the people he’s with.  Often this is nonverbal, but he also lies at times - when the boys leave the bathroom, for example, he says he’s going to finish smoking.  It gets them off his back and makes them leave, but it’s not what he’s really doing.  In Sara’s case it’s even more glaring because we see him systematically ignore her messages or say stuff we can see he doesn’t mean, but she still really only listens to his words (‘sorry, I meant to text you back’), even when she’s upset and suspicious about it.  She doesn’t notice what he’s really saying.  When she’s angry or upset, she believes his words rather than his body language and actions to make herself feel better.  This means that when he finally actually says what he thinks (‘yeah okay I didn’t want you to come’ ‘you had to start whining’) she’s shocked.  She has noticed that he hasn’t been fully engaged with her, but she didn’t expect him to push back like this.  Rather, I think, she expected more platitudes that she could live with.  Words that let her believe what she wanted to believe.

Something similar happens with Mia and others.  He hides his real feelings about Sara, saying (again) what he thinks people want to hear rather than what he really feels, and while his actions scream out what he means they take his words at face value.  He also has his easy go-to message to get out of difficult situations (‘it’s stressful with my family’) and while this is true it’s not the entire truth, usually.  But it generates sympathy and gets people off his back so he doesn’t have to be real.  Of course, often when he tries to say his real feelings he gets shut down because he’s talking in a way that’s not ideal (sometimes even offensive).  Times like the ‘why does he have to be so gay’ conversation, and his attempt at saying what he means, with the dancing girls or the ‘I’m not gay gay’ conversation with Hans, or the ‘why do you believe in religion’ conversation with Amira - notice these are all times he’s trying to talk about being gay which is clearly important to him, enough so that he’ll break his own rules about trying to express himself.  So it’s no wonder that he doesn’t pursue these conversations with people very often.  It’s not fun for him, or productive, so easy platitudes or obfuscations are better for him.

The difference with David, even early on, is that he does pick up on the nonverbal cues.  He notices Matteo pulling back when he shuts down the eyelash thing and reopens the lines of communication.  In turn, this gives Matteo the confidence to keep communicating with him.  He’s not totally good at it yet (think the terribly awkward meetings in the school corridors and the bus), but he’s willing to make repeated attempts even while it’s uncomfortable.  It’s quite a difference to the way he still acts with his own friends, isolating himself from their conversations and sidelining himself.  They barely notice how checked out of their chatter he is, either.  We don’t tend to see him during these times reaching out to them, but he is shown many times to make his way towards David and to open up conversations with him. Even in their first actual conversation, even after he’s been shut down over the eyelash etc, Matteo is still willing to open up and be a little vulnerable.  I doubt too many people get to hear about his desire to just get in a car and drive away and yet here he is telling this boy he effectively just met all about it.  That, of course, extends into their second hang out when he talks about his fears about the future etc.  The way they get each other on that nonverbal level, I think, allows him to be more open and communicative verbally.  He’s willing, for example, after this to boldly go to David and ask him specifically to come to his party, at least partly because he knows he’s not going to be shut down in the same way that so many other people in his life do.

This is presumably what allows Matteo to be so open with David, and so clear in his comments.  David tells him he looks good, and his response isn’t to push it away or ignore; it’s to bond further.  To basically say, ‘actually I’m totally fucked up right now,’ and have that understood (to the point that David literally shifts position into an ‘I’m listening’ one to encourage more from Matteo).  And then further clarifying it with ‘I didn’t know you had a girlfriend’ (ie, ‘you’re part of what’s fucking me up’) and the nonverbal, absolutely clear and evident relief when he’s told Laura isn’t a girlfriend.  It’s no wonder that David is able to overcome whatever hesitations he might have here and go in for a kiss.  Matteo has been very clear and obvious in this whole scene.  What’s most interesting, though, is that this comes after Matteo’s been at his most vulnerable so far.  He’s freaked out, isolated himself, ignored his friends, running away from any communication and therefore connection with them, and yet he’s willing to be this clear and communicative with David, who is just as clear himself.  Neither one is unsure where the other stands at this point.  We keep on seeing this direct messaging to David from Matteo, as well.  ‘I’d like some cheese toast again sometime’ ‘want to hang out next week?’ He’s not exactly being unclear about what he wants.

With David, too, Matteo is very good at following up on things.  Taking him the beanie so he can talk to him, answering the ‘buongiorno’ message with ‘cool that you came’ -- he’s not shy in letting David know he cares, thinks about him and enjoys spending time with him.  It’s interesting here that his reaching out to David by message again (after David fails to reply) is contrasted heavily with Alex’s behaviour in not telling Mia he’s going to London.  There’s a lot of messaging around communication happening here.  David is not communicating at all and neither is Alex, both things shown as uncomfortable for the person it’s happening to (or not happening to).  But Matteo is reaching out and trying to communicate whereas Mia has been seen shouting at Alex and, while she is communicating here, it’s not to him.  It’s to her friends.  We’re being given a clear message on how to do things at this point (hint: it’s to be like Matteo) but interestingly later on this is shown to not be good (when Matteo goes to David’s house after getting the ‘going too fast’ message).  So, communication and reaching out, trying to connect is good but sometimes it can have the opposite effect to what we might want.  However, having said that, the genuine, steady reaching out that Matteo does in the later episodes is shown to be exactly the right thing to do (voice messages, etc, showing he’s thinking of David but not getting into his face).  So maybe the message is ‘reach out but don’t push too hard’?

Mateo is also very open and effusive with compliments for David.  He has no hesitation in telling him literally how great he thinks he is.  This starts very early on (‘you’re a genius’ ‘you’re talented’) and goes right through the season (‘you’re so cool and you don’t even realise it’ etc).  Matteo may be one to hide a lot from his friends, but he’s not at all shy in letting David know exactly what he thinks of him.  I know we all made a bit of fun of him for telling everyone else how beautiful things were with David and not David, but in reality he did say it a lot, though maybe not in so many words til later.  It’s interesting, too, that in that hangout at his home he specifically references the bird David posted on his instagram for compliments; he recognises that this is one David must be particularly connected to, and again he’s specific about what he likes about it.  It’s not just a bare minimum communication, it’s a genuine connection he’s making.  David pushes it off with the collage comment, but it still works to establish a connection and trust between them.  It makes a lot of sense that it is this connection that Matteo describes as beautiful when he’s talking to Jonas.  This really is where they started to build on the communication lines they lay down earlier.

David

David is an interesting character, particularly in hindsight.  He starts just as closed off as Matteo though he does it in a different way, and of course we don’t get to see inside his head in the same way.  He’s friendly and engaged with the people around them, but he still seems reserved and like he keeps people at a distance.  He talks to Matteo at the start, but he hides his messages behind jokes and misdirections.  ‘I killed someone and had to move’ ‘then direct to Detroit’ etc etc.  These all reflect something about who he is, but he never actually says it at this point.  It’s interesting at this point to note that he already shares his favourite movie with Matteo, indirectly, in the very first conversation.  Then of course, as people point out a lot, he’s very open when he visits Matteo’s house.  He shares his art journal, which as we know has some very personal stuff in it, and while he’s clearly a little nervous about it he’s not anxious and is mostly relaxed.  He finds the question about favourite movie difficult, but rather than reeling off something flippant, he specifies one that means something to him and Matteo seems to recognise this when he responds to it.  It really hasn’t taken long before they are this willing to be open and vulnerable with each other.  A lot of this is nonverbal, of course, but it’s also reflected in the verbal.  He’s clear that ‘nope, those pages are private’ and while Matteo kind of jokes about it, he also leaves those pages alone after that, showing that he can be trusted with boundaries as well.  So it’s not a surprise that they are both willing to approach each other and take risks because they’ve both managed to communicate already that they are safe with each other and seen by each other.  

David is also good at telling Matteo what he thinks of him, and in this way they’re a good pair.  They both compliment each other regularly (eg when he says how cool setting up the Nintendo emulator is, or ‘it was cool with you’ or the ‘you look good today’ stuff), and they’re both pretty unashamed of it.  David tends to push compliments away a bit more (his attempt to negate the validity of ‘you’ve got talent’), but he’s still very happy to give them out.  He’s also very careful and considerate of the things Matteo tells him, he pays a lot of attention to everything.  When Matteo says he got in trouble for leaving the kitchen messy (as a way of trying to prolong the conversation and build the connection rather than as a criticism), David remembers and takes it on himself to clean up next time he’s in a position to do so.  

David’s nonverbal cues are pretty clear in other ways as well.  Even though Leonie is his friend from PE, and he clearly gets on well with her, he still has more awkwardness when she’s around and wants to remove himself from the situation far more quickly than when it’s just the (really!!!) awkward mostly-silences spent staring at Matteo.  The way he settles around Matteo shows this too.  From the way he moves to show he’s listening and interested at the end of episode 3 to the way he drives the conversation at the end of episode 4, David reads and responds to Matteo’s cues and feeds back his own.  His body language is quiet and supportive throughout, despite his awkwardness and nerves, and so they work together to get to the point where they know what’s happening and it’s just a matter of how they kiss rather than if they will.  

So David feeds out cues to Matteo who picks up on them and engages with them but doesn’t use words to do so because he doesn’t need to.  ‘We’re under water’ (swimming motions), ‘’I won’ (chastened but fond), ‘I bet I can hold my breath longer than you’ (mirrored sucking in of breath).  The verbal and nonverbal work perfectly together here to bring them to where they feel they’re meant to be, and it’s actually easy for both of them to take this plunge because they both know, both after the previous week and after the little dance they’re doing around each other here, where they stand and what they want.  The communication between them is really clear by this point.

In fact, the one time communicating between our two mains is not clear during these episodes is when David cuts and runs with no messages, and the way he tries to come back from it (the same sort of ‘yeah sorry, had to do something’ excuses Matteo uses on Sara).  He has reasons for this, of course, but it’s a clear difference in the way he and Matteo react to the build up of connection between them.  Matteo welcomes it, pursues it, whereas David is scared by it and retreats from it, often inelegantly and sometimes harshly.  And that difference between them is what really drives communication (or lack of?) in the next section of the season, which I will deal with next time.

Part two now available here: Make a clear statement, straight up: Communication in Druck s3 (part two)

[emsartwork]

1. Aterix is my fan transformation based on the third gift of destiny in season 4! like it never made sense to me that the gift of wisdom gives you sophix, the gift of heart gives you lovix, but the “black gift” is used more like a magic object on someone else as opposed to increasing a persons magic in a specific way??? I’ll be designing and explaining more about those soon @mariloki4 2. The faunix designs are here, and i haven’t done their animals designs yet! 3. So in my version, guardian fairy is more of a title given to alfea enchantix graduates, they don’t really have any responsibilities to their planet or anything lol  @elf-from-the-ashes 4. hoo boy, like just from scratch visually with the plot the same??? probably not too different from what i draw now since i like to have the characters all look different, but again, if i have no starting point to jump off from i have no idea what decisions i would end up making haha 5. Thank you! and yes! I am planning on getting to world of winx and the season extras soon here. 6. lol right?? every transformation i try to do seomthign different with tecna’s hair cus she deserves it but sometimes its hard (also i am ALWAYS tempted to just cut the other girls’ hair like YOU get a pixie cut and YOU get a pixie cut EVERYBODY’S getting a pixie cut)  @theoretical-artist 7.  I drew daphne and diaspro here! i am gonna take another stab at diaspro soon tho, i don’t like what i did before 8. I don’t know that i have one? like whatever one im currently watching i get used to the voices eventually. Musa’s voice change in season 3 (idk which dub) is the only one that consistently bothers me 9. Sure! the hair color change is because i was trying to make her look less like a terrible clip art witch on crappy halloween decor lol. here are some other hcs! She likes to knit. She has sensitive skin and breaks out easily. She regrets what happened with Valtor, like she knows he needed to be stopped but wishes she could have saved him(this is primarily why she cuts the trix so much slack before expelling them) She’s a mix of a lot of different ethnicities(solarian, melodian, and zenithian are the strongest) and was born on Magix. 

10. Domino: Scotland/Ireland/tiny bit of China Solaria: Egypt/Greece/Italy Lynphea: Spain/Mexico/India/Persia Andros: Hawaii/Indonesia/Philipines/Afghanistan/ and weirdly a little bit of Canada towards the poles. Melody: Japan/China/tiny bit of Korea Zenith: Russia/Mongolia Eraklyon: England/France/Germany/Colombia Vaonaa: Australia/the USA if the pilgrims never happened Zhen: Mongolia/Korea Koyu: Turkey? this planet is a little fuzzy culture wise and the environment isn’t anything we have on earth.

11.  Domino: 2 Solaria: it varies. Lynphea: 1 Andros: 2 Melody: 3 Zenith: 4 Eraklyon: 2 Vaonaa: 2 Zhen: 1 Koyu: 3

12. these are gonna be a little sarcastic because of who i am as a person im sorry @beevolution Domino: Hi we’re not dead and we have some really great mountain resorts please help us rebuild our economy Solaria: Sunshine all the time! The latest fashions! Don’t get lost in the desert because you will never be found! Lynphea: If you want a relaxing cottage retreat in a meadow come here, if you want a DEATH DEFYING TOUR THROUGH THE MOST WILD TERRITORY OF THE MAGIX DIMENSION also come here. Andros: You like the ocean? you’ll like it here. You don’t like the ocean? fuck off. Melody: CONCERTS! LIVE SHOWS! LIVE TAPINGS! PERFORMING ARTS!!!!!!!!!  Zenith: Technological wonderland, probably have theme parks about technology. nerds.  Eraklyon: Wanna buy jewelry and not talk to people? this is the planet for you. Vaonaa: Wanna buy fabric and talk to a lot of people? this planet is for you. Zhen: *Communication and transport to ZHEN is currently unavailable. Please hang up and try again.* Koyu: bitch why tf would you come here our atmosphere is posion. I guess we have pretty lights and stones???

13. oh gosh i don’t know..... Im really bad at celebrities. I love gillian anderson’s voice, but she would probably voice one of the adults not one of the girls. I like zendaya, lana condor, aubrey plaza, and steaphanie beatriz too. but like. They’re all 22 and over. Ideally the actresses (voice or otherwise) would be 16-20 age wise.  14. @powerpuffninja934​ the wings can move a little! as long as the fairy isn’t trying to fly with the chronix wings they can move slowly. 15. Thank you! and that would be really fun! 16. I mean the short answer is yeah, they would. Fairy transformations are basically cheat codes. fairy magic is “earned” through little effort or practice on the part of the fairy its like a grenade, its powerful and wide range, but can cause unintentional damage. Anybody can throw a grenade, and there are different type of grenades for different purposed(flash, smoke, incendiary) but all of them can hurt innocent bystanders if not used correctly. Witch magic, and most of the masculine magic systems, is like a sniper rifle, it can take years and a lot of practice to gain a mastery of the tool, but has less risk of unintentional damage. if fairies had worse PR and weren’t thought of as “good” (compared to the witches PR being aligned with the ancestrals and “bad”) fairy transformations probably wouldn’t be allowed on the grounds that its unsafe and unnatural. @lowko​  17. So magic is like a type of radiation/energy. Core Magic is like the electrical impulses that run the human body, its normal, safe, and part of the body. Natural Magic is like sunshine, its normal, safe(in low doses), and necessary. Ethereal magic is like a nuclear bomb. Its insanely powerful, targeted, and created/manipulated by the ethereal fairies usually for a specific purpose. Wild magic is like a cross between a freshwater spring and a natural radiation/electricity source(lightning?) its normal and part of the environment, but its dangerous and unpredictable. it also only effects a small area around it.  Wild and natural magics work in tandem in the same areas. Natural sources are stable enough to link magic to(the resulting transformation is called danix), but wild magic is not. Natural sources can become/ be replaced by wild magic when the natural source is polluted, cursed, or threatened by a natural disaster. Its theorized that wild and natural magics have a limited level of consciousness, and when a natural source retreats, the wild magic takes over the sources mouth in an attempt to let the environment heal and ward off any threats. Wild magic sources can stabilize and be replaced by natural sources, but its less common. Bloom and Stella are linked to the dragon flame, and the second sun of solaria, which is where their titles come from, but the other girls aren’t linked to anything in specific and their titles are mostly personal preference. Hopefully this makes sense??? I’ll probably do a masterpost on how my magic system works here soon. 18. Yeah so i never really had a problem with the age gap because most of my friends growing up were 2-3 years younger/older than me. Also in my version Alfea is a legit college, so the average freshman age is like... 18/19? but you could technically attend whenever. 19. I love magix winx, harmonix, and bloomix! for least favorite.... butterflix................ and mythix........................... and sirenix.......(tho i do love the sirenix transformation sequence)

[nat-20s]

Top 5 Breakdowns over David Tennant- any fandom/show/ play you've seen? I really liked the dw one you did, just hoping you could expand over/ include other things he's been in.

Oh anon you are QUITE the enabler thank you.

So this is like half actual breakdown list and half just like David Tennant recommendations in general because I love that funky little scot.

+1. This isn’t going on the official list because I already did the previous list you mentioned (i’m glad you liked it, btw!!!) but yeah. Doctor Who. He plays the doctor in a very fuckin uhh mercutial way (he plays a lot of characters that way and I am 100% enamored by it every fuckin time he just does it SO WELL AUGH) and like highs were so high and the lows were so low and he was so FURIOUS AND CRUEL but also so GENTLE AND KIND and like oof!! The multifacetedness bitch!!!! That’s what it’s all about babey!!!

5. Good omens. I mean, duh. There was no fucking way I was gonna survive good omens. Like, honestly, even without miss tennant I wouldn’t have survived it because HA HA HA HA H O L Y SHIT MY FAVORITE BOOK FOR THE LAST DECADE WAS GETTING AN ACTUAL SCREEN ADAPTATION I GENUINELY DID NOT THINK WE WOULD EVER BE HERE THIS SHIT IS LIT. but then but THEN it was like. The way that he portrayed crowley definitely fit into a particular niche that david tennant KILLS. Like god okay I could spend an whole fucking essay on this point so I’m gonna distill this down to just. THE moment that I was like “okay okay okay okay fuck I’m GOING THROUGH IT” was when his voice cracks as he tells aziraphale that he lost his best friend because like in context OOF and out of context I have been Pavlovian trained for the past decade to Utterly Lose My Shit when David Tennant is like this close to crying and he expresses that with his whole body THE ASSHOLE! LET ME REST. I THOUGHT I WAS OVER THIS MISTER!!

4. The Escape Artist. Lesser known (I think?), but a VERY GOOD miniseries! The tone is much darker, and he’s a much more serious character. Similar vibes, role wise, to broadchurch. I’m not sure how much rewatch value it has but watching it for the first time had me like MISSION STATUS: SICK!!!! It’s like a cat and mouse mystery and like. I’m not gonna go to in depth into the story because I think it’s more enjoyable to go into it not knowing much and too me it was one of those things that took like 3 hours to watch all of and a full week or two to like. Process. Also I’m not usually one for drama and I was ABOUT it so I would recommend!!!

3. JESSICA JONES (season 1). Holy FUCK dude. Definitely his darkest and most evil role, and the subject matter is VERY heavy and I definitely would NOT recommend it for everyone because it could be, how you say, triggering as fuck or even just because it is incredibly dark and that might not be your thing. Funnily enough, it’s DEFINITELY not my thing, personally, I tend to avoid narratives about sexual assault because so many of them are, uh, ya know, bad, but Jessica Jones season 1 really is done FANTASTICALLY! The David Tennant breakdown was just a level of cognitive dissonance because I had never seen him play like a VILLAIN villain. I mean, yeah, he was Barty Crouch Jr., but that was for like 30 seconds and while the dude was creepy there was a layer of campy over the topness that is present in most fun fantasy franchises. I remember when he was cast as the purple man me and my parents were like. Yeah he’ll obviously crush the role because he’s talented but in the back of our minds we’ll probably still be thinking of like the doctor and I wonder if we can fully accept him playing the role. Yeah there was fucking NONE OF THAT. When he played Purple Man I never ONCE thought of his other roles and I didn’t even, like, think of David Tennant, ya know. I was just like oh shit this man is evil and terrifying and I want him dead! Please die!!! And yes, I know that that’s how acting works or whatever but also ACTING ya know!!! Of any of the roles on this list this one definitely made me be the most like SHE HAS THE RANGE because I really think it highlights how INCREDIBLY GOOD at his job he is!!! I have not ever rewatched Jessica Jones season 1 though because while it is honestly like a triumph of television it is also A Lot to deal with and I am very rarely in the kind of mindset where I’m able to watch it. But yeah. David Tennant knows what the fuck he’s doing and it is very good.

2. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING BABEY. Literally I knew nothing about the play or why I should care but the promo material was like. Catherine Tate and David Tennant are costars again and I was like OKAY SIGN ME THE FUCK UP HELL YEAH HELL YEAH HELL YEAH. For real I think on screen chemistry Catherine Tate and David Tennant are one of if not just straight up my favorite duo of all time. They are just so DELIGHTFUL and ENCHANTING and BEWITCHING and basically I want them to costar in everything ever. @azirafeathers was like “sherlock holmes adaptation where she’s sherlock and he’s watson” and I haven’t stopped thinking about that since!!! I would give my left thumb or at least like a solid $60 to see that. Like PLEASE it would be PERFECT. I LOVE THEM. And god this production of much ado is definitely like. “Here’s Benedick and Beatrice. They’re two chaotic dumbass bisexuals that are like fives on the kinsey scale and they fall in love much to their surprise” and it’s TERRIFIC. That’s exactly what I like to see. Like it’s set in the 80s and the set design? The visual gags? The costumes? The soundtrack? THE PHYSICAL COMEDY? It all SLAPS. David Tennant really balances “fun and funky slut” and “utterly PINING idiot” so fucking well. I have said it before and I will say it again David Tennant peaks when Catherine Tate is being mean to him. Also really iconic to give him the role that is like the only man in the play that is (after a bit) CHUGGING his respect women juice. I mean LOOK at this utter buffoon.

I’m in love. This play made me a proud morosexual. Plus it’s all FREE ON YOUTUBE THE NEXT TIME YOU HAVE THREE HOURS AND WANT TO HAVE A GOOD FUCKIN TIME GO WATCH MUCH ADO!!

1. H A M L E T. So imagine that you’re 14 and it’s 3 am and you’re casually watching David Tennant’s hamlet on youtube or at least the parts they put up and you’re painting stars on your ceiling with glow in the dark paint and it makes you realize that you have an excess of black bile and a melancholic temperment and you’ll understand why, while this might not be my all time favorite david tennant role (though it definitely is high up on the list) , this is absolutely my number one David Tennant Related Breakdown. Hoo boy. This probably doesn’t come as a shock to literally anybody that knows me irl bc I Will Not shut up about Hamlet and it is this productions fault. Different people will respond differently too it, and I’m definitely 1000% biased because a: I love him and b: it was the first production I ever watched and it’s what got me On My Bullshit, but this production honestly makes me like. Get Hamlet. Or not get hamlet, personally, as a character, we’re never meant to fully understand him honestly, but it made me understand the ALLURE of the play. I watched it and I was like oh. Yeah. Okay. I can see why people have been obsessed with this for 400 years. I know why it’s considered one of the greatest roles and one of the greatest plays of all time. And I went absolutely feral for it. It solidified Horatio permanently as one of my all time favorite characters in anything ever. David Tennant has this tendency to put manic and desperate energy into the characters that he plays, and that of course works extremely well for hamlet. Plus, like, he plays characters that are drowning, that need the assistance and kindness of love to try and float, and even with that might not be able to keep their heads above water, and the characters that are opposite him are basically always wonderful. Because I am deeply deeply predictable, the core dynamic of Hamlet and Horatio’s relationship is probably like THE most appealing and interesting and important aspect of the play to me, and Peter de Jersey (who is absolutely INCREDIBLE in this production) and David Tennant pull it of breathtakingly beautifully. Every time I watch this I have to lie down for a while. Every time I THINK about this I have to lie down for awhile. So, yeah, number one David Tennant based breakdown is over his hamlet.

Honorable mentions

this gifset-I have not seen what this is actually from but it made me have a conniption. I’m in love with her. She’s my idealized self. I don’t know what to do with myself. I spent 5 hours looking at this now. What the fuck. 

The Decoy Bride- I didn’t have a breakdown over it BUT it is a recommendation. Very silly rom com, very much a comfort movie like music and lyrics or singing in the rain for me. Great for sleep overs or rainy sunday afternoons. 

Richard II- I haven’t seen it but based on one (1) clip and some stills I would be lost in the sauce for a week after a viewing. 

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger- watch nativity 2 danger in the manger. 

Fright Night- jesus fucking CHRIST mister tennant went full slut

Casanova- Mister Tennant Goes Full Slut part 2- has blue colored contacts and it’s weird

[madrivervalleyicelandics]

Note:  click through the photos and gifs above to read the captions.

I’ve been promising for ages now that I’d make a post about the hoofcare changes we’ve made to our program in 2017, and now that the days are getting shorter I’ve had a bit more downtime to actually do it!  So here goes - it is long and I struggled with how to organize it, hopefully those of you who were interested don’t mind wading through all of this information :P

Over the past year I have transitioned every horse in my care out of metal shoes.  This was a decision that we made based on research demonstrating that the conclusiveness of metal shoes is harmful to equine joints in the longterm.  

Since making the switch, I have noticed a drastic positive change in my horses.  Some of the back tightness and stiffness in some of the horses, which I had long accommodated to saddle fit issues and had been working with a saddle fitter to fix, suddenly cleared up - every single horse’s back improved this year, with softer and better developed muscles - the good ones got better, and the ones with some issues got significantly better.  I believe that chiropractic/bodywork care is not an “extra” cost but a necessary part of maintaining equine athletes, as this is the only domesticated animal that we SIT ON and expect to perform, so I continue to have my vet check my horses regularly and work with me to determine each horse’s training program.  However, since making the switch out of metal shoes, my vet hasn’t had as much to adjust when he checks the horses.  This is the most marked change, and it’s not one that I expected.  It’s been dramatic enough that I am completely sold on going metal-free.

Another change that I have noticed is improved balance and posture (this, of course, ties into the back softness) in a way that has improved clarity of gait.  There is often this idea that horses which are pacey will be better with longer hooves and heavier shoes - this belief is the reason why we have so many shoeing regulations in our sport, to prevent people from cheating or compromising equine welfare to achieve higher scores.  However, paceyness and trottiness are both body issues - exaggerating hoof angles or shoe weight does not fix the root of the problem.  Fixing the balance of the hoof, rolling back the toe, and making the horse more comfortable through their backs and muscles has trickled down into the gaits - now, on shorter toes and composite shoes or hoof boots (which are LIGHTER than the metal shoes that most of us use in this sport), horses that had a tendency towards paceyness and trottiness have become much more supple and balanced.  Now, of course, this is along with a careful foundational dressage program and fitness program, so I’m not saying that you can throw composite shoes on your horse and all of his training issues and chronic back issues will magically be fixed - but for a horses already in a solid, compassionate program, this change has given them a serious boost.

Finally, I’ve noticed that the horses seem a little more confident and cheerful working out of metal shoes, although they were already confident and cheerful - again, it’s like the change has given them a boost.  They’ve got more cushion when their hoof hits the ground, and it’s something they reacted to immediately in a positive way.  The first time I rode each horse in the composite shoes or hoof boots, I was amazed by how different the horses felt - in a good way!  It’s a bit like riding on air, and it’s a more secure feeling because the hooves don’t slide when they hit the ground.  

So, now that I’ve opened with the benefits I’ve seen in my horses since making this change, I’ll get into the details of what I’m using, why I’m using it, etc.  

First, some background information:

Last year, myself, Amy Goddard, and Kathy Sierra submitted a proposal to the USIHC Board (before I was elected to the BOD) requesting that composite shoes and hoof boots be allowed in sport competition.  We made this proposal in response to new (and even some older) research that demonstrates that non-metal hoof protection reduced concussion on our horses’ joints, and improves their chances at soundness and good longevity.  I had kept my horses in metal shoes for many years and had not suffered serious ill effects from it as some have (no early onset arthritis, tendon issues, hoof ailments, etc.), I think because of my focus on conditioning and strong foundational dressage work - however, I made a promise to myself and my horses that I will always be open-minded to new findings, and that I will change my ways when I see that something else may be better for my animals’ welfare.  The proposal was sent on to FEIF, the international governing body for Icelandic sport, where it was approved on an experimental period for the 2017 show season.  Almost immediately, I sought out to find a farrier that could help me transition my horses over to nonmetal hoof protection.

My search led me to Common Ground Hoofcare.  Annie and Jeremiah are EXTREMELY qualified professionals who are 100% focused on equine welfare.  They’ve dedicated themselves to a never-ending quest to further their knowledge and improve their craft, and as a result they are very open-minded and educated.  Their approach produces sound, comfortable athletes and their methods are backed up by the best and most current research we have available.  As new information becomes available, they adapt their practices to include it.  These are the kind of equestrian professionals that I like to work with.  

Best of all, THEY TRAVEL!  They can probably come to you!  They travel around the Midwest, Kentucky, etc. to offer their services and are willing to expand their territory, although they prefer to stick mainly to the East Coast.  They’re also able to recommend other trimmers and farriers that they respect, if they can’t cover your area.  I repeat, THEY CAN COME TO YOU, OR HELP YOU FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN.

The shoes approved by FEIF included the Duplo composite shoe, and the Easyboot glove and Easyboot Epic.  I chose to shoe my competition horses (and one of my boarders also chose to shoe her horse) in Duplos, straight-nailed on as opposed to glue although glueing them on is also an option (nails were my personal choice in this case).  For my other horses - our lesson horses and horses in training - we decided to leave the horses barefoot and work them in the Easyboot Epics.  Since then, I have experimented with glueing on the Duplos, and with Epona Shoes.  Below I’ll write about my experiences with composite shoes and hoof boots, broken down into the questions that people have most frequently been asking me:

Duplo Composite Shoes

The Duplo shoes are a composite shoe, made of a kind of bouncy, plastic-y material with a metal core.  As I said above, they can be glued or straight-nailed on, or a combination of glue and nails.  They come in a variety that has side-clips, and a variety that does not.  We have been using the variety that does not have side clips.

The Duplo shoes have been absolutely fantastic for the kind of riding I do with my Icelandic competition horses.  I cross-train with distance riding, and my competition horses do a 15 mile ride once per week mainly on tough, hilly, hard-packed dirt roads.  Additionally, we usually do 1-2 days per week of dressage work in the arena, one day of work per week without a rider (longeing/in-hand or ponying on the roads and trails), but the bulk of our training is conducted on the dirt roads.  I put serious miles on my horses, but take the time to condition them carefully and work them correctly using a strong foundation of classical dressage.  The Duplo shoes have been an improvement over metal shoes in every single way, for every facet of what I do with my horses.  Below are some of the things I have been asked about:

Resets - How do they hold up when you’re riding at speed on those abrasive roads the way we Icelandic riders so often like to do?  I’ll put it this way - I think I can count on one hand the amount of time my Vigri and I have gotten a reset out of a pair of metal shoes.  We ride a LOT and usually our metal shoes are useless after one 4-5 week cycle.  We have been getting at least one and sometimes TWO resets out of the Duplos.  TWO!  Because they don’t slide when they make contact with the ground the way metal shoes do, they hold up unbelievably well, even with very tough riding.

Are they slippery on grass?  NO!  Much less slippery than metal shoes!  Vigri and Spönn were both shod in Duplos when they won blue ribbons at a hunter pace this summer at GMHA, and that hunter pace was mostly on grass footing. If anything, they’re grippier than metal shoes!

Gaits - Do the Duplo shoes negatively impact the gaits (tölt and pace)?  Not for me - however because I am focused on postural rehabilitation and dressage, I do not use hoof length or shoeing tricks to enhance or patch up holes in my horse’s gaits.  So I was not concerned that the shoes would mess up their gaits.  With good dressage and a proper trim, this shouldn’t be an issue at all, regardless of whether horses are barefoot, in hoof boots, shod in composites, or shod in metal.  Gaits should come from the body, not the feet.  See above, photos of Spönn pacing in her Duplos and Vigri competing in his.  

Heelboots - can they be used with these shoes?  Yes they can!  There is a part of the shoe that covers the frog, however because the shoe is flexible it is easy to get the little triangle of the heelboot into that space if you want to use heelboots for protection.

Trim cycles - is there any difference with the Duplos?  Yes, in that the Duplo shoe is going to maintain its shape and not warp with the hoof the way a metal shoe will, this does mean that horses ought to be kept to a 4 week cycle.  Which is really the ideal schedule for a shod horse anyway - going longer results in excessive hoof length that can put strain on the tendons, ligaments, and joints.

Can they be studded for winter use?  YES, and Duplo even makes a studded variety!  I can’t wait to try them out this winter!!

What about Epona shoes?  I like Epona shoes fine, but not for a humid climate.  The Duplos have these bumpy, grippy patches that keep them from sliding around on the hoof.  I have tried Epona shoes on a horse here and because of the way the hoof was expanding and contracting in the humidity, and the slippery material of the shoe, the shoe ended up moving around too much and breaking up the nail holes.  I also did find the Epona shoes to be slippery on grass and on the dirt roads.  In my opinion based on my experience, the Duplo is the better choice for our climate here in the Northeast and for our terrain in the mountains of Vermont, and for the level/amount of riding I do.

Benefits - have you noticed any benefits in the 6+ months you have been using these shoes?  YES, I absolutely have.  I have been able to cut my chiropractic/bodywork bills for my horses in half.  Their muscles, backs, and joints are just happier!  I’m getting better relaxation and freedom in my horse’s movements.  At the recent competition in Kentucky (where I did have to reshoe my horses in metal just before the show because FEIF’s experimental allowance period ended in September), Dr. Gloria Verrecchio said that my Vigri was in the best shape she’d ever felt him in.  She has been giving him bodywork tuneups after the long trailer ride to Kentucky for three years now, and this year he was much softer and better developed - I attribute some of that to the Duplo shoes, as they’ve reduced concussion and stress on his joints and allowed him to relax and develop his muscles better.  I’m getting improved movement from all of my horses, who seem more comfortable and more willing to offer me a little something extra.  Spönn paces better in her Duplos than she does in metal shoes.  Overall I am highly impressed with the Duplo shoes, and the way they make my horses feel.  I hope that they get approved longterm by FEIF so that I never have to compete in metal again!

EasyBoot Epics

I resisted hoof boots for a long time because I thought they looked clunky, I worried they would fall off or mess up my horse’s gaits, etc.  The EasyBoot Epics have dispelled all of my concerns.  They are fabulous.  They are essentially the same thing as the EasyBoot Glove, except that they use a cable to close whereas on the Glove, you hammer them on or sometimes people even glue them on.  I like the EasyBoot Epics because they allow my horses to live barefoot when they aren’t working, which is the healthiest thing for a horse with healthy hooves.  Living bare allows the hoof to expand and contract as it should, and allows us to keep the horse in a very balanced trim without having to attach something to the bottom of the hoof.  The Epics fit snuggly - before I ride I clean out my horse’s hooves, and slip the Epics over their hooves.  Sometimes, they do need a knock with a mallet because you do want them to fit snuggly.  Then you just velcro the gator and snap down the cable, and you’re good to go.  Here are some of the questions I’ve received about the Easyboot Epics:

Do they change the horse’s gaits/way of going?  This was my biggest concern.  And the answer is yes - in every single one of my horses, they have improved their gaits.  I think this is because they make the horse more comfortable and confident than they are in metal shoes.  Horses with a tendency to get a bit pacey or trotty both began to offer clearer tölt.  Again with these boots, the horse’s just aren’t needing the chiropractic or bodywork they once needed.  

Can you use them only in front?  Yes you can, but that may change the balance of your horse, because then their front feet will weigh more.  For Icelandic competition, you must have them on both the fronts and backs if you are using them.

Do they stay on?  If they fit, yes - but there is a small catch.  Your horse’s boot size may change throughout a trim cycle!  That took me a little while to figure out.  Particularly on the front hooves, after a fresh trim my horses are often a size smaller than they are towards the end of the cycle.  So if your horse measures a 0 after a trim, you might want to buy a set of 1s as well to use towards the end of the cycle.  I have had boots come off when they were fitted to my horses at the end of a cycle, and I put them on after a fresh trim.  Also, if the boots get very wet, they’re more likely to come off when you’re going fast in canter or fast tempo tölt or pace, if they are even a little bit too big.  But as long as they are the correct size, you will not have problems.

How long do they last?  My farriers told me that if I’m riding regularly, to expect about 3 months from each boot.  So far that has been pretty spot on, except for horses in lighter training.  Eventually, just like shoes, they do wear out.

Does the gator rub the pasterns?  Not on any one of my horses and we have done a fair amount of distance riding using these, through water crossings and mud etc. with no issues.

Are they hard to put on?  They can be hard to put on in the beginning when they are brand new.  But they quickly get easier to put on.  There is also a learning curve, in the beginning its a bit awkward, but now I can put them on all of my horses very quickly, in about 2 minutes to get them on all 4 hooves.

Do the horses like them?  They seem to.  We only had one horse walk a bit funny when they were first put on, but she quickly adjusted.  None of the horses have acted displeased with the boots and all have improved in them so I would say that the horses do like them.

If anyone has any further questions about my experiences with composite shoes or hoof boots in this past year, feel free to ask!  It is my hope that these shoes will get approved by FEIF to be permanently included as acceptable shoeing for Icelandic sport, but even if they don’t get approved, I can say without a doubt that my horses will be wearing composites or hoof boots from now on.  If I must put metal on them for shows, I will do what I did for the KY show and shoe them in metal just before the show and pull shoes immediately after, but I hope that FEIF will see that there is no reason to ban composite shoes and hoof boots from competition, and that allowing them is a great step for equine welfare.

EDIT, November 18, 2017:

We have now studded both the Easyboot Epics and the Duplo shoes for winter use, and I have ridden in both in all gaits including canter on the icy roads and in the snowy ring.  I am very pleased with how both are working, although I am finding the Duplos slightly more stable.  I would say based on my observations so far that having the Easyboot Epics fit PERFECTLY becomes especially important when using them in winter like this, because as the boot bites into the ground, if its moving around at all on the hoof that will surely be an issue.  Ours are fitted well and have been working out nicely.  Below are two photos of a studded Duplo shoe (attached to the hoof with both glue and nails - fewer nails than would be used without glue), and one photo of a studded Easyboot Epic.

I am thrilled that I will be able to use these all winter long!!

[flauntpage]

Laying the Smacketh Down – Observations from Sixers 149, Timberwolves 107

Fans viciously booed Jerryd Bayless as Corey Brewer and Amir Johnson swung the ball around on the other end of the floor with the Sixers up 40. It’s not exactly how I pictured the Robert Covington and Dario Saric return game playing out.

Yet play out in that way it did, as Yoda would say. The Sixers were clubbing the Timberwolves so badly that fans needed something to entertain themselves, and booing Bayless was the entertainment.

149 is the most points scored by the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center, ever. Sixers PR dug up the statistic and found that you’d have to go all the way back to 1990 to find the last time the team scored 149 in a game. Charles Barkley had 38 and 13 in a March 30th win against the Nuggets.

Also worth mentioning is that last night’s 21 made three-pointers ended up being a franchise record while 40 assists and a 59.8 field goal percentage were both season highs.

So yeah, they played pretty well, and it’s a great way to enter the toughest stretch of their schedule, a hellish murderer’s row of 11 playoff teams over the next 12 games. We’re gonna see if this team really has it or not, since the cupcake portion of the schedule is mercifully over.

Mixing and matching

The only new or interesting wrinkle from last night was a bit of a tweak in Brett Brown’s rotation. We saw Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid on the floor together while Ben Simmons and JJ Redick were on the bench.

That’s happened rarely this season. Brett typically prefers to play Simmons and Butler in lineups together while Embiid sits. Last night some of that re-jiggering resulted in different looks that included Wilson Chandler at small forward, where he played a large portion of his minutes with the Nuggets and Knicks.

Brown:

We are at a stage where we need to find some level of being solid and some level of experiment. And I think that to pair Joel and to pair Jimmy is always been of interest, trying to break up a little bit the Joel and JJ thing and to move Wilson to a wing has always been of interest. And so in this middle third to try things, as things become a little bit up in the air, especially the last few games, we decided to just move full forward with that.

…

You see Wilson at a three and Jonah at a five and pairing Joel and Jimmy. Because I think when you look down deep, on my mind is always ‘what’s coming?’ What’s coming? It’s playoff basketball. Those two guys will be featured a lot. Last year it was Joel and JJ a lot and it will still happen. But at the end of the day I really think that those two, Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler, will be featured in more prominent ways, maybe than any pairing.

Right. Good answer. Playoff basketball is star driven, half court basketball.

Here are a couple of offensive possessions from those Jimmy/Joel late 2nd quarter minutes, a lineup that also featured T.J. McConnell at point, Landry Shamet at shooting guard, and Mike Muscala at power forward:

Clip 1, they run Jimmy through some staggered screens, that sort of pseudo-Allen Iverson cut. There’s defensive confusion from Minnesota, resulting in a mismatch Joel, who tries an elbow jumper over Dario Saric.

Same thing in clip 2, except Butler gets the ball and hits a really tough turnaround jumper. Those Iverson cuts, which are more or less flares to the opposite wing, are a good way to get Jimmy some iso looks, though Joel is then sort of standing out on the perimeter.

Then in clip 3 it’s just Butler/Embiid two-man game, with Jimmy taking a rare catch and shoot three-pointer off a dribble hand-off.

That’s all good stuff. Experiment now. Figure it out. Mix and match. Of course they need to compile wins, so you don’t want to stray too far from your base, but Brett Brown’s goal in the next three months is to get his stars working together as smoothly as possible, and when you can do some of that tinkering during an easy win, it’s the most ideal situation you can find yourself in.

For what it’s worth, the Sixers current starting lineup is a +69 in 232 minutes on the floor together with a 112.7 offensive rating and 98.6 defensive rating. That’s a +14.1 net. For all of the talk about the base motion and team chemistry and whatever, that unit is performing extremely well on the offensive end of the floor. And for comparison, the five-man group of Redick, Embiid, Simmons, Saric, and Covington played 106 minutes this season while putting up a -0.4 net rating. Swap in Markelle Fultz for Redick and it’s a -1.4 net rating over 65 total minutes. So it’s just more confirmation that yes, the Sixers are better with Butler, but they’re also top-heavy with little depth beyond the starting five.

When you break it down into two-man groupings, Butler has spent 726 minutes on the floor with Ben Simmons but only 469 minutes with Joel Embiid. Both lineups have a +4.6 net rating. I think the reason for the disparity there is that Brett Brown, #1, likes to stagger Embiid and Simmons so that one of those guys is always on the court, but, #2, separating Jimmy and Joel outside of the starting five theoretically allows each one to get more touches and take more shots during other portions of the game.

In this case, as you saw last night, he put them together more often without Simmons and Redick on the floor, and that gives us a good chunk of data, a starting point to finding out whether these lineups can be viable moving forward.

A few good seconds with Wilson Chandler

Wilson Chandler doesn’t do much media. He’s a nice guy, but doesn’t usually have too much to say.

We got a rare podium appearance from him last night, and while the takeaway was Joel Embiid jokingly interrupting him, Chandler did answer a couple of questions:

Crossing Broad: How do you think you’ve been playing recently and how are you fitting into this system?

Chandler: It’s been a tough process for me but I think I’m starting to figure it out.

Crossing Broad: How so?

Chandler: Just playing off Jo and Ben, where to be aggressive and where to find shots.

Crossing Broad: Is it difficult or unique to be playing with four high-usage guys who like to have the ball and need to take shots?

Chandler: Yeah, just unique.

The end.

Maybe we can get him off to the side at some point in the near future. He’s a veteran guy, he’s played a lot of basketball and seen a lot of things. It would be good to pick his brain and get his take on how the offense is working, how the stars are clicking, and what he’s seeing on defense. He played well last night, putting up 14, 5, and 4 on 5-7 shooting while going 4-6 from behind the arc. That’s really all that needs to be asked of him at this point: play defense, grab some boards, be a glue guy on offense, etc. Brett played him a bit as a small forward last night, which is where you saw him log a ton of minutes in New York and Denver over the course of his career. You’d have to go back over several hundred games, but I’m pretty sure Chandler has played more small forward than power forward during his years in the NBA.

Other notes:

Marc Zumoff was the pre-game bell ringer. Marc is currently in his 25th season as the play-by-play announcer

Per Sixers PR via Basketball Reference: Philadelphia now has a league-best seven games this season with at least 50 rebounds and 30 assists. This was the first time an NBA team had 50-40 game in regulation this season. The last team to produce such a game was Atlanta on Nov. 15, 2017

Also: The 40 assists, an NBA season-high in regulation, are the most Philadelphia has recorded in regulation since they had 45 on Dec. 7, 1988 

RE: Bayless, I ran a poll asking whether his booing was fair or not. The results are around 50/50 so far:

Poll: is the booing of Jerryd Bayless fair?

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) January 16, 2019

I do kind of wonder why Bayless was the target of fan ire. I think it’s two things. First, he’s a product of the unpopular Bryan Colangelo era. Second, his body language was sort of “meh” when he was here. I think the fans picked up on that. I know he was injured during his first year, then he didn’t play a lot in his second year, but he never said anything or did anything to really sell the fan base on his mentality or motivation. He always looked disinterested, in my opinion.

Here was the tribute video the Sixers showed for Covington (injured, didn’t play), Saric, and Bayless:

We thank Dario, Covington, and Bayless for all the memories. Once a 76er, always a 76er

#RoCo #TheHomie pic.twitter.com/kPBkM9IL9p

— Sixers Nation (28-16) (@PHLSixersNation) January 16, 2019

Dario started 4-4 last night and finished 5-9 for 11 points while adding 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

  The post Laying the Smacketh Down – Observations from Sixers 149, Timberwolves 107 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

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Winter Training 2017 (Part 1 Of 4) – Aaron Buggle

A successful start to your winter training starts before you finish your current season. Experience from over 10 long and arduous winters has taught me the importance of forward planning, setting goals and organizing my winter before it even begins.

Not doing this and beginning your winter without a plan, is the start of what’s been dubbed as ‘ the headless chicken phenomenon’.

In other words riding around aimlessly and leaving a whole heap of adaptations on the table in the process. There is a process of planning and organization that makes your winter far more beneficial in terms of cost benefit.

You see when you make solid plans you’ve given a rider something to aim for; something to challenge his skills against; something to measure his progress with, and something that gives purpose to his investment of effort, time and money.

All this by making a simple plan.

Before You End Your Season

You need to have your winter break scheduled; yes you need those dates nailed down in my opinion.

Too bad if you’re reading this too late!

I always take two weeks (personal preference) in October that is followed by some cross training for another 2 weeks and normal practice resumes on November 1st.

A mistake a lot riders make is that they start organizing everything after their couple of weeks rest and then it turns into a month or more of faffing about trying to get started when in fact, you’re ready to get going.

Make It A Proper Rest!

Your time off the bike should be physical and psychological down time –at least it shouldn’t have any cycling related stressors. This period off the bike will differ greatly depending on the rider and the season they’ve endured.

But the thing is there’s quite a bit to consider when you kick off your winter training.

Pretty quickly this stuff can get on top of you and it’s easy to get a bit stressed out, that’s why I suggest starting before you take your winter break.

I’ve my winter bike booked into the shop for its service, I’ll book a performance test for the first month back riding so I have my baseline. There’s also nutrition and strength and conditioning to consider – perhaps they’re the stone unturned for you and you want to try implementing them this year.

Well, the start of the winter is the time to do it.

That’s all before you even start making new goals for next year and most importantly before you start periodising and planning the training you’ll need to do to take you there.

If you get as much of this stuff organized as you can before your break, believe me, you’ll be more relaxed, and as a result  your transition back into training will be all the more smoother.

It also means your time off the bike is a proper physical and psychological rest – the whole idea of the winter break in the first place.

Making a Plan & Setting Targets

What is it that your winter training is aiming to improve?

What events are you aiming for?

What is your bull’s-eye?

When should you peak?

What is the best sequence of training to get you in the best shape of your life for that key event?

The answers to these questions are crucial to answer before you even clip in and start your winter training.

Most riders don’t reap the rewards of a good winter because they don’t know what it is they are trying to improve – this needs to be clearly set out every time you go out on a winter ride.

The dividing up of these periods is referred to as ‘periodisation’.

Starting Point

I’d start this whole process by accessing the season that’s just passed when it’s fresh in your mind.

What worked?

What didn’t?

Did your training methods have the desired effect?

What factors limited your performance in events?

Be specific, was it that you just couldn’t finish well, was it your endurance or perhaps it was those short steep hills?

Get it all down on paper and for god sake if you didn’t improve following last winters efforts don’t do the same thing again – that’s insane.

The next step is to identify your goals for next season.

I’ve made balls of this for many years – picking goals that seemed like the right ones to choose on paper…

It’s super important to pick events that really ignite something within.

That said picking out events from the calendar is only the crust of goal setting.

This is where the real coaching begins. The fitness variables that need to be trained to elicit the adaptations required to take you to your goal need to be systematically planned into your programme – not trained by chance!

This is what’s known within coaching circles as ‘periodization’.

Periodisation

In coaching we sometimes refer to the annual cycle of the year as the ‘macro training cycle’, and the different phases of training within the periodisation plan as ‘meso training cycles’.

These will normally be a preparation phase, a base phase, a build phase, a specific phase, a race phase and a taper phase.

Within each of these phases we adjust the zonal training load to stimulate the different physiological systems in the best combination and sequence.

The structure of the plan will depend on the physiological demands of your particular event and the timing.

For example, the annual periodisation plan would differ greatly between a rider aiming for a January cyclocross championship, a time-triallist aiming for a June 10-mile TT championship, and a sportive rider working towards a top performance at the Etape du Tour in July.

However, the principles will be the same for each and planning should work backwards from your particular goals.

It is not possible for us to maintain optimum shape all year round, so we must aim to hit peak performance levels at pre-determined times.

If you are aiming for performance it is vital to understand that you can’t stay in top shape for very long periods – you have to ‘peak’ to reach your optimum fitness.

However, that peak can only be short lived, and you can only achieve it two or three times per year. The reason for this is that your body just wouldn’t stand up to the training stress which the peaking involves.

It is not an accident that Chris Froome arrives at the Tour de France in the very best shape.

With this in mind you should ideally target two or three ‘A-priority’ goals during the course of the competitive season, separated perhaps by four to six weeks. You can also include ‘B-priority’ events which are important for the athlete but which can serve as strategic importance in your build-up to key events.

Anyway I hope this has put a light under your arse in reference to planning your winter.

It should be the first step in anything you are willing to give so much of your time to!

Otherwise it’s like an archer with no target…  you need to put the right plan and target in place if he’s going to hit the bull’s-eye!

Aaron Buggle

[yahoo-roto-arcade-blog]

NL Tout recap: Seager, Schwarber, Arenado and the abandonment of a plan

Corey Seager, a foundational asset in fantasy. (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images)

As a general rule, here’s the way these fantasy draft recaps are supposed to flow: First, the author describes a meticulously planned pre-draft strategy — perhaps branding it with a memorable acronym — then they detail the flawless execution of their approach in a recent league. And in conclusion, the expert offers a declaration of cautious confidence, inviting praise from readers.

It’s a classic fantasy chestnut.

[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball | 2017 Player Rankings]

Today, I’d love nothing more than to slap together exactly that sort of review of my N.L. Tout Wars experience, except, um … I did not demonstrate great strategy discipline at Tout. Not at all. I veered away from my pre-auction plan as if it was radioactive — as if it was a betting tip from Brad Evans.

At 9:45 am, I entered the auction room intending to avoid the $25-and-over hitters and to spend at least 40 percent of my $260 budget on pitching. By 10:30, I had dropped $36 on Nolan Arenado. An hour later, I threw $29 at Corey Seager. At that point, I’d spent $109 on four bats and my pre-auction plan was cooked.

But here’s the thing with auctions: The most important principle by far is to acquire players at or below your prices, and to accumulate as much total value as possible. Ideally, you end up spending your $260 budget on a collection of players that you value at, say, $290 (or more). It’s fine to have a thoughtfully crafted plan, but it’s also important to recognize that the room may not accommodate you.

At Tout, when Clayton Kershaw went for $45 and Carlos Martinez for $26 and Gerritt Cole for $22, it became fairly clear that I wouldn’t land many upper-tier pitchers at my preferred prices. Thus, my money went elsewhere and the script was torched. So it goes.

Honestly, I have no idea what I could have been glaring at with such intensity. It’s like I’m trying to melt Tristan Cockcroft. (@ToutWars)

You can find full Tout auction results right here. Again, I’m involved in the N.L.-only league, so if you’re accustomed to playing mixed formats, you will absolutely hate every roster on the spreadsheet. It’s a 12-person group featuring 11 experts, plus Grey Albright of Razzball. (That’s a joke. Grey is a delight, a shrewd fantasy professional. Unstable, yes, but shrewd. A pageant of a man.) Our reigning champ is Todd Zola, an absolute legend. Tout Wars is a two-catcher league with 23 active roster spots, using OBP in place of batting average. We have a few additional non-Yahoo quirks in play, including a swing position that can be occupied by a hitter or pitcher. These are the full rules, for those interested. The N.L. auction went down on Sunday, March 26 at Rock & Reilly’s NYC, an excellent mega-pub and home to FNTSY Sports Network.

Here’s a look at the team I assembled, which is not at all the squad I’d intended to buy…

Bats C Matt Wieters WAS, $9 C Nick Hundley SF, $1 1B Travis Shaw MIL (also 3B), $9 3B Nolan Arenado COL, $36 CI Matt Adams STL, $4 2B Ryan Schimpf SD, $9 SS Corey Seager LAD, $29 MI Jose Peraza CIN (OF), $20 OF Kyle Schwarber CHC, $24

OK, let’s pause briefly to appreciate that $24 price on Schwarber, a top-of-the-order hitter with weapons-grade power.

When the #ToutWars room only makes you pay like 60 cents per HR for Schwarbs pic.twitter.com/96iqdeH9As

— Andy Behrens (@andybehrens) March 27, 2017

I truly love him, with my whole heart. If you don’t have any Schwarber shares in your portfolio, I would advise you to keep signing up for leagues until you land him.

Moving on…

OF Dexter Fowler STL, $20 OF Hernan Perez MIL (3B), $10 OF Alex Dickerson SD, $4 UT Chase Utley LAD, $1 BN Tommy La Stella CHC (3B) BN Jesse Winker CIN (OF) BN Brett Lawrie FA (2B)

Arenado is of course a category leader, having topped the league in both home runs and RBIs in each of the past two seasons. He reached base at a .362 clip last year while appearing in 160 games, and he’s still just 25 years old. Third base is a minefield in the N.L. in the lower tiers, so I’m happy to build around him. Similarly, Seager is miles ahead of the standard-issue N.L. shortstop, arguably in a tier of his own in this format.

I’ve already given you my pitch for Peraza and Perez, a pair of burners who should allow this team to compete in steals. Schimpf hit 20 bombs in just half a season for San Diego last year after slashing a ridiculous .355/.432/.729 in the PCL. He’s been a willing walker throughout his pro career, which gives him a value boost in OBP leagues.

Among the hitters I’d hoped to land but didn’t, the biggest regrets are Hunter Renfroe ($9), Roman Quinn ($3), Albert Almora ($6) and Keon Broxton ($19). If I’d managed to stick to the original plan, that might have been my outfield. Alas.

My pitching staff came in well under budget, by roughly $20…

Arms P Stephen Strasburg WAS, $22 P Kenley Jansen LAD, $22 P Matt Moore SF, $12 P Vincent Velasquez PHI, $12 P Fernando Rodney ARI, $8 P Blake Treinen WAS, $2 P Adam Conley MIA, $2 P Bartolo Colon ATL, $2 P Jimmy Nelson MIL, $1 P Hunter Strickland SF, $1 BN Josh Hader MIL

Stephen Strasburg, fragile fantasy ace. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Washington Nationals/Getty Images)

This group is so loaded with injury risk that you can tear a flexor tendon just looking at the names. By the end of May, I could be down to Bartolo, Fernando, Kenley and seven middle-relievers. It’s a concern. But as we’ve discussed before, I’m much more comfortable owning Strasburg in a rotisserie format like Tout, where his April innings count the same as those pitched in September. If he can simply reach 175-or-so IP and maintain his career ratios, he’ll earn $22. And if he somehow reaches Dalton Del Don’s blue-sky forecast, it’s a massive win. Here’s hoping. Strasburg is healthy at the moment, which counts for somethin’.

Saves shouldn’t be an issue for this team and, if Treinen can grab the ninth inning role in Washington (currently undecided), I’ll have a surplus from which to deal. In Tout, if you don’t buy your saves in March, you end up hemorrhaging FAAB resources throughout the season, speculating on lousy relievers. I’ve been there and have no interest in going back.

If Hader can force his way into Milwaukee’s dreadful rotation by June, that would certainly help my staff in no small way. Hader had a terrific spring, and the lefty struck out 161 batters in just 126.0 innings last year in the high minors. He’s a prospect of interest, worth monitoring in any format.

Ultimately, I was not unhappy with this year’s auction haul, despite scrapping my spending plan inside the first hour. I can’t really complain about any roster that includes this guy. Feel free to file plaudits or condemnation in comments. If you see a price you like or loathe, call it out. We’re workshopping my roster here, and no piece of thoughtful feedback will be refused.

—

Follow the Yahoo crew on Twitter: Andy Behrens, Dalton Del Don, Brad Evans, Brandon Funston, Liz Loza and Scott Pianowski

[tentacurls59-blog]

Hi everyone! Welcome back! :D Today let’s talk about smooth spiral curls! The first pictures are my current styling products. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Alterna! (As you can tell!)

After washing my hair I apply the products to soaking wet hair, upside down. Yes. UPSIDE DOWN. Silly? Maybe. Great root volume and curls? Very likely! :)

I washed my hair yesterday, after 4 glorious days with a blow out, then conditioned. Nothing fancy, no scalp exfoliation since my head was super clean from the shampooing Chrissy (my stylist) gave it. I used my favourite Shea Moisture shampoo and conditioners- Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen, Grow & Restore Shampoo ($10.99 for 16.3ozs, Shea Moisture website) & Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Shine conditioner ($6.99 for 80zs, Shea Moisture website). After I condition my hair and detangle it I flip my head upside down and comb it for max root volume. I then clip my hair up high, flip my head back over and finish my shower routine. When it’s time to rinse my hair out I tip my head back over and unclip, rinsing it upside down. I usually leave a little conditioner in it, for good measure! My curls just DRINK the moisture up! FROM HERE ON OUT MY HAIR IS LEFT UPSIDE UNLESS PLOPPED!

Then, keeping my head upside, hair soaking wet, I apply my products. First I apply my Alterna Caviar Clinical Daily Root & Scalp Stimulator ($36.00 for 4ozs, Sephora). This is a great product to encourage root lift! My hair is so heavy that it can sometimes get flat around my crown. Coupled with rinsing upside down, plopping, and diffusing upside down this MAJORLY helps. Plus it gives a nice bit of texture to the roots while promoting scalp health! Now, my hair is far from thin but if you had thin hair this would be an ideal product for you! It helps maintain the scalp’s integrity and gives you some lift! It’s a great product, really. I’ll be repurchasing it when I run out! I use 7 pumps allover my scalp and then massage it in with the pads of my fingers, in small circles to really work it in. I wash my hair every 4 days, maybe 5, and even with that usage I’ve noticed my scalp improve. Even in the dead of winter my scalp is health and flake free! No dry scalp here! :D Then comes my leave in, CAVIAR CC Cream for Hair 10-in-1 Complete Correction, ($25.00 for 2.5 ounces, Sephora). This is an AMAZING product for curls! From Sephora’s website: “CAVIAR CC Cream or “complete correction” cream is a luxe leave-in product that perfects hair in 10 different ways. It provides moisture, shine, smoothness, softness, anti-breakage, heat protection, light hold, UV protection, manageability, and strength—everything your hair needs to look absolutely beautiful, healthy, and flawless. This 10-in-one hair primer can be used alone or as a base for the layering of other styling products.” It is a game changer. It’s one product I will keep repurchasing over and over again. It has a SUPER light hold so I do have to use a gel with it but the moisture it delivers and the strength it provides is noticeable! Next comes the VERY FIRST Alterna product I ever used, the one that got me hooked on their brand. I’ve been using this dry oil spray now for almost 6 years. It is AMAZING. The absolutely WEIGHTLESS shine it gives, the thermal protection!!! I am addicted to this product! Alterna Bamboo Smooth Kendi Oil Dry Oil Mist, ($25.00 for 4.2ozs, Sephora.) Lastly is one of my favourite hair gels for the cold weather season, Devacurl’s Ultra Defining Gel, ($44.00 for 32ozs, Sephora). It has a nice, firmhold without being sticky. Now,if you’ve never used it and decide to give it a try here’s a tip- it dries kinda crunchy, but that’s purposefully done. You’re supposed to scrunch dry hair to “break the gel cast” and reveal soft, fluffy, voluminous curls! I don’t find this to be the best gel for high humidity, hence why it’s my favourite cold weather/low humidity gel. :) My all time favourite gel for hot/humid weather will always be Ouidad Climate Control® Heat & Humidity Gel, ($70.00 for 33.8ozs, Sephora). It’s expensive but you only need the tiniest bit. It’s got a very watery feel but don’t let that fool you, it’s the SINGLE BEST FRIZZ CONTROL GEL EVER. Then I plop my hair for 20-30 minutes. When I plop my hair it keeps my hair in that “upside down” position while setting the curls and absorbing a good amount of the excess water and products in my hair. I use an old cotton t-shirt that belonged to my husband and I stole, lol! Not that he minds, it’s just a white cotton undershirt. Once that’s done I let it down carefully, my head upside down, and diffuse on medium. It takes me about 45 minutes to diffuse my hair but the results are worth for special events! :D And that’s it! What’s your favourite hair product? Do you have a holy grail product you want to share? Let me know! Until next time! Don’t forget to moisturize! <3