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musicalchaos07 · 1 year

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Jancy Academic Rivals AU thoughts

Based on this post. I have spent all day thinking about it and here's what I have so far

1996 Maine

Robin is Nancy’s roommate

Argyle is Jonathan’s roommate (I personally love the idea that Argyle is secretly rich)

Steve is also Jonathan & Argyle's roommate but he's never home so Jonathan goes like 3 weeks before ever seeing him in their dorm

Nancy’s best subjects are Chemistry, English, and Polisci-Debate

Jonathan’s best subjects are English, Polisci-Debate, Art, and Latin

Jonathan is from Hawkins and was friendish with Nancy but moved to Montauk, NY when he was like 7 so Nancy doesn’t remember him

He remembers her bc of course he does

Nancy is class president because she’s top of the class and is in charge of touring students around campus

Nancy begged her parents to send her here at the age of like 13 and she’s been there since

Jonathan is just now transferring in as a junior and a scholarship student

Jonathan applied because he wants to go to The National School of Photography in France or the Rhode Island School of Design

While touring Jonathan Nancy makes an off comment about how that’s essentially a waste of an education and how she went to Paris over the summer

Jonathan is understandably annoyed because his assumptions that everyone at the school is going to be nothing but spoiled, pompous rich kids are proving true

He’s also annoyed she does not remember him at all (but never brings up that they sort of know each other bc awkward)

So he asks in a snippy way what she plans to do and she tells him she's going to go to Oxford to study Journalism and he asks how that’s any better

They are very much giving pretentious and just another suburban girl in their initial introductions

Jonathan resolves to attempt to ignore her as much as possible which is very difficult because he has a crush (He may think she's ambitious and overly competitive but she's also gorgeous and wasn't mean about him being a scholarship student)

Anyways one night while looking for somewhere to smoke Jonathan & Argyle find Nancy, Robin, and Steve breaking into the school pool for a late-night swim/hang out (Picture s1 pool scene minus the murder and st*ncy scene)

And naturally, our intrepid little art hoe takes photos

Nancy finds out and gets even madder at him because if anyone else found out she’d be in trouble and it could ruin her reputation

THEN as though all of that wasn’t enough Jonathan corrects Nancy’s Math error in class and she gets pissed

Because she’s right she's always right (except this time)

And Jonathan teasingly offers to tutor her if she needs it

Thus academic rivalry is born

Nancy is pissed because Jonathan’s Advanced Latin class counts as more credit. Jonathan is pissed because Nancy is so much better at Chemistry.

Nancy tries to transfer into Latin for the extra credit, and Jonathan tries to transfer out of Chemistry because he's better at Earth Sciences (Jonathan isn't successful and Nancy does transfer in but she's completely lost)

It gets to the point where the whole school knows that these two are just insane and trying to one-up each other

Their polisci-debate class is just the two of them arguing over various issues (not that they necessarily disagree but they both approach issues with different viewpoints i.e. gender v class in s3) while the class watches

And the sexual tension is BAD which Nancy knows and hates because she’s mad enough he can challenge her academically but then he’s also hot??? (Robin is unrelenting until Nancy finally admits to thinking that Jonathan is hot but Nancy insists nothing is going to happen)

Jonathan is lowkey-highkey dying inside from the tension but he’s thriving in teasing Nancy over academics (Argyle thinks he's crazy over this and can't figure out why they won't just do hanky panky)

Argyle and Robin end up bonding and forming the “Jonathan & Nancy just make out already club” which they definitely treat like a skull and crossbones-ish secret society

Steve is also an unwilling member

This leads to Jonathan & Nancy having to hang out more outside of class because of their roommates

This also leads to Nancy buying Jonathan a new lens for his camera ( I don’t think she’d get him a whole new camera) for his birthday (I HC his birthday as October 10th) and he feels guilty because it’s too nice of a gift

So to "pay her back" he makes a mixtape for her (Purely platonic he assures Argyle. Can you believe she doesn't know The Cure?) (He def puts Just Like Heaven & Friday I'm in Love on it though)

And maybe on Halloween Nancy and Jonathan end up at a party in the woods behind the school and maybe he lets her borrow his sweater because she’s cold

And maybe he walks her back to her dorm after this party because she’s been drinking a little (not like blacked out though) and there’s allegedly a bear in the woods (Jonathan might also be high and a little paranoid)

On the walk home, he finally reveals that they went to elementary together.

Plot Twist Nancy did remember him but she was still holding a grudge because he disappeared without saying goodbye

Jonathan then apologizes and makes a big deal about saying goodnight to her

She returns his sweater a couple days later and everyone starts gossiping about why she had it and Nancy retreats after this

But then it all comes to a head when their Polisci-Debate professor (Murray) assigns them to be partners on a research article (because he knows)

One minute they’re whisper-arguing in the library and then Jonathan kisses her

Nancy kisses him back

They are hot and heavy making out in the stacks until the librarian catches them

They have to talk their way out of detention

Then they go up to Nancy's room (because Robin is in Jonathan's with Steve & Argyle) and share a bed

They don’t tell anyone though (again Murray knows) because they don’t want to give them the satisfaction

They continue business as usual then one night over Thanksgiving break Robin, Argyle, and Steve catch them holding hands as they’re walking back from the woods and are like “busted”

Steve owes Robin money

They still continue the academic rivalry part though because Jonathan knows Nancy likes the competition and he’s happy to indulge her

They end up tying for the top of the class at the end of the semester effectively ending Nancy’s streak.

I am attempting to write this as a full fic but I cannot write fanfic to save my life so if someone wants to take this plot bunny be my guest (just tag me when you're done)

#I am attempting to write it but I feel like so far it's not great #we'll see #Somewhere in a cross between Anne of Green Gables Dead Poets Society The Secret History and an indie movie called Strike! is this #Did I change the time setting to the 90s purely based on Vibes and that Jonathan needs Nirvana? Yes Yes I did #Also because I think Nancy deserves to listen to The Cranberries #also because Dark Academia is the mid-90s in my brain I don't make the rules here #Do not ask me where Steve & Robin are from it's not hawkins maybe it's Chicago #In this fic they've had to go to the same boring rich people parties for years and that's why they're besties #Also I feel like they def stumble into a rabbit in the woods which gets Jonathan talking in the first place #And then he opens up about how much he misses his brother and Nancy says she has a brother the same age and Jonathan says I know and reveal #stranger things #jancy #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #academic rivals AU

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mrpenguinpants · 3 years

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Genshin: Roommate HCs [V1]

To be honest, I just wanted to ramble some more and let my brainworms take over. This is sorta late but Happy Valentine’s everyone! I was gonna post this earlier but this honestly took me a long time to write so I moved it to today.

Once again, this is 90% crack 10% content. Seriously, as much as I love writing this non-serious fics. Why do you people like this?

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Based off my ramblings with Keqing anon: Link

Genshin: Holding Hands [V1]

Genshin: When you’re cold [V1]

Genshin: University AU [V1]

Genshin: Royalty AU [V1]

[Masterlist]

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[taglist] <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@youaskedfurret @diaxfeliz @wintergreen-aix @kaechu @thegayrubberducky @lovelykittycatmeow @yuunoagivesmelife @dokidokisama @rokipersonal@minakohasmanyhusbandos @strwbrry-lia @tigerpriestess @yuu-yuukurotsuki @hanniejji @mikeysbike @unionwitch @musekala @sunnshiii @stanzastic @akaasea @xoneaboveallx @adoring-ghost @asheseiler @childelover @dilucsz @dai-tsukki-desu @thicmitten @nonniechan @htnicayh @genshins1mpact

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Diluc

What? Diluc has a roommate? Did you blackmail him in living with you? Is that even possible? Did you throw yourself in front of his car because you needed someone to pay for your student loans and the easiest way was to file a lawsuit? In this economy no one would blame you. Diluc seems like such the self-isolated character that would murder his roommate in cold blood but in reality, he act’s detached from the world because he forgot how to socialize and he’s desperately trying to cover it up without choking. That or he’s trying to learn how to astral project. If he could drink away the pain he would but instead he buys 20 packs of grape Kool-Aid and injects it into his veins.

Does not and will not ever have a normal sleeping schedule. You’ll wake up to him working, come back home to him working, and will sleep to him still working. His daily dose of Vitamin D is from the brightness of his screen rather than the sun and he’s filter feeding at this point. It’s concerning. He’s going to crumble and he’s bringing the world down with him. Through the power of tax evasion. But as soon as he needs to walk out into society, he pulls movie magic and looks like perfection. It’s both physically and mentally disgusting.

He’s actually is a really nice roommate to have just so long as you give him space. Great cook and knows to clean up after himself. Though he does have crash and burn days where’s he’s completely out of commission. You could set the entire apartment on fire and he would sleep through it. The entire two weeks are dedicated to zombie eye marathons and then he’ll suddenly collapse and sleep for 46 hours straight. When he wakes up from his hibernation he’s the most groggy and nonsensical person. His life blood is coffee because you keep hiding the 5 hour energy away from him because, you know, life is enjoyable and those cancer bottles will actually kill him.

“University sucks our money out of our bodies faster than our will to live.”

Beidou [Happy Birthday Queen 💕]

Despite her appearance, she’s actually really strong and it scares the piss out of you when you’re doing something or scrolling through your phone mindlessly and you suddenly get your spine re-arranged when she slaps you on the back to ask what you’re doing. Likewise, when she hoists you up and throws you over her shoulder so you come with her on her 3am convivence store raids for alcohol. It’s either you change now or else we’re walking out of the apartment in your t-shirt and no pants self. She can and will carry you under her arm that way. It’s both incredibly attractive and horrifying at the same time.

She’s really friendly and a great talker if you’re alright with her “I must hold you in my arms, fresh prince of bel air style”. It doesn’t matter if you’re taller than her, she’s doing it. She does however, get in a bit of trouble from her rowdiness and you often get noise complaints but Beidou just passes them off to Ningguang and everything is fixed. She has ovaries of steel when neighbors rather confront her personally and she’s ready to 1v1 in the parking lot. You’re trying to desperately hold onto her shirt to stop her from pile driving your neighbors for the third time this week but she’s too strong.

She’s constant party until we die attitude and suffers the hangover in the morning. It’s actually really funny to catch her in her hangover moods because whatever filter Beidou had, which is none, is gone. She really takes “cursing like a sailor” or the next level and the amount of creativity she comes up with is actually impressive. She can be a bit messy but she’s really likeable and always down to go anywhere with you as long as you’ll do the same. It’s a very ride together, we die together situation. You’re my best friend, you’re dying with me. I’ll see you in hell.

“Imma T pose over my dad and then crash the car into the parking garage.”

Kaeya

Kaeya on the surface seems like such a chill roommate. And he is for the most part. But he’s such an ass. Your things are his things, no questions asked. If you just bought a really nice sweater or you had leftover food, that’s his now. He’s innocent until proven guilty even if he’s literally holding your lunch. The pure amount of bullshit he can spit out to convince you that no, he did not pull the fire alarm because he wanted an excuse for not going to work, puts him on Shakespeare level. He’s also very pretty, way too pretty, sir can you share some of your genes?

But aside from that, he’s actually super dependable. You forgot something at home? Sure, he has nothing better to do so he can bring them for you. We’re missing eggs? No problem, he’s just by the store. You’re 95% sure that he just wants to be cheeky and make you thank him for 20 minutes before he actually hands you what you asked for. It’s better for you if you never tell him anything you’re afraid of because Kaeya has no social cues, or more like he throws them out the window, and he’s probably a psychopath.

He’s incredibly private of his room and things despite his attitude towards yours. You’re convinced he either has a secret lab or that’s where he’s storing the bodies. I was the good guy but due to unfortunate circumstances, I need to stab a bitch. But he’s a really good serious talker for those 3am, because everything happens at 3am, talks about life and the meaning of the universe. It absolutely wrecks your sleep schedule but some of the things you talk about are the most crackhead things like what’s the lowest amount of money someone would have to pay you to walk outside without clothes? It’s a legitimate question.

“Never before have I been so offended with something I 100% agree with.”

Jean

Okay, what world did you save in a past life to live with his absolutely wonderful woman? Mother Teresa take a load off, take a seat. You have nothing to worry about. She’ll bring home little treats back home and it’s the most wholesome thing ever?? Is this what love and affection feels like? We’ve been starved for so long. She says it’s not a big deal and anyone would do it BUT THE MOMENT SOMEONE BUYS FOOD FOR YOU. IT’S A MAGICAL MOMENT. They are forever stuck in your will until proven otherwise. An absolute ray of sunshine that must be protected.

She does get super busy so you don’t often see each other or get to hang out as much. She’s a bit of a workaholic but a lot more easier to talk her into taking a break. She’s also a pretty decent cook but she prefers baking and jesus christ, girl can you calm down? Be still my beating heart, I’ve been smitten. Has mother hen vibes that you’re not sure if she’s your roommate or if she adopted you into her family. It’s time to start a petition for the Jean protection squad. Given the opportunity, I would aggressively hold your hand.

She’s always open to whatever you want to do. Any recommendations or things that you like she will try out at least once despite her busy schedule. She’s lowkey lonely because work consumes her so any time you want to hang out or do something together, she jumps on it like she’s feral. She get’s a bit shy to ask if she can join in on your plans because she doesn’t want to bother you or intrude no matter how many times you tell her that’s okay, she still get’s a bit iffy about it. Please save this girl before she trips. In your arms. Platonically. Just kidding haha. Unless?

“I can’t wait to see you happy and not hating everyone again haha.”

Childe

First impressions of Childe were great, until he opened his mouth and you realized how much of a two brain cell child(e) he was. He has two braincells because they constantly have to 1v1 in his brain. He’s lived with a lot of siblings so he has no social awareness or concept of privacy that you’re lucky if you come home and he’s half-dressed. It doesn’t matter if you’re 2 weeks older than him, he’s going to call you 82 years old and why your bones aren’t being fossilized at this point. He’s such a little shit, this fucker licks the yogurt lid peel.

He get’s really restless when he’s stuck under house arrest, because apparently 1v1ing in the parking lot of a Wendy’s is illegal for some reason, so he makes dying whale noises until he get’s to go outside again. But he’s actually a really wholesome guy, probably because of his younger siblings, that he’ll sometimes get you something because you seemed down and it’s such whiplash? Who is this man and where did he come from? You’re starting to have a change of heart before he tells you that he got banned from the library for accidently punching the school’s computer. How you “accidently” punch something you have no idea but Childe always comes home with some sort of injury. Maybe he’s just incredibly clumsy. For your sanity, you’re going to go with that.

He’s actually so uncultured that it’s crippling. You can’t blame him too much considering his upbringing and it’s great that he’s so interested in learning new things but...child no...It makes you want to take your spine out of your ass and rip it like a Beyblade. Watching him take chopsticks and stab his food like it’s marshmallows makes you want to fall into a blackhole and let the chair consume you.

“I, too, fantasize about beating the living shit out of people.”

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Is this another tag yourself game cause I resonate with Diluc. I’m crying in insomnia. As much as I enjoy writing these fics I absolutely hate tagging them. I remember I used to have a tag anon but that was back when I wrote for bnha.

Valentine’s Day was fun tho. I had a drinking game with friends as we played league then ended it off with a movie night.

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blueprint-han · 4 years

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a musical encounter.

pairing: music major senior!han x music major junior!reader

genre: university (?? idk) au; fluff.

⇥ warnings: very terribly™ written by a person who has a -8.9 knowledge in music, also the singing parts are not very well described and this may seem incomplete because i’m trying to force teach myself to write short, but oh well 🤧 I wanna write a longer fic based on this in the future hhhhhhhh. me after writing this fic: wow i really clowned myself at “short fic” didn’t I 🤡 also not proofread so be mindful of errors and google autocorrect <//3

word count: 1.7 K 🤡

⇥ disclaimer: this writing does not aim to represent the activities of the real Han Jisung, nor does it represent JYPE in any form. Events are pure fiction. ♡

type: blurb drabble 😭 (why can I never write sh0rt hmph >:( )

network tag: @stayverse @districtninewriters @inkidz + @sunoo-luvs

part of: the url drabble game; requested by @missinghan :’’) (requests for this are closed now!)

!!; song y/n is imagined to sing here is ‘Freedom 90, the Pitch Perfect Version (of course, with pre added acappella). You may find the song here, if you wanna listen to it. hhhhhh this is based on my rusty research about music equipment (which may be wrong) so if this is not what it’s supposed to mean please go easy on me. 😂

↯ note: hhhhh okay so this one has no direct mention or relation to your url but I rather picked it up from your url ~vibes~ (since the only idea that was dropping into my head was making han go missing ufhurg) so I hope you don’t mind ! Hope you like it uwu 💓 Happy reading. <3 Again this will not compare to your writing queen, but I tried. 😔 ⇥ dawn.☀️

“Gosh, this is a music recording, not a date — what’s there to be scared about?” Your friend chided, setting up the mic and the filter as you panicked behind the glass. “You’re a music major! Isn’t this supposed to be what you do?”

“You’re saying that like you aren’t one, and you totally didn’t freak out two days ago, Sana.”

Sana huffed, shaking her head before moving to connect all the wires in place. “Yeah. but…” Her voice came out low when she crouched down to fix all the wires. “The nerves shake off eventually. You’ve nothing to worry. Did you hydrate?”

“I’ve been sipping on this water bottle for the past half an hour!” You sighed, walking inside the booth to stand next to your friend. “And what do you mean ‘shake off’ — you mean that time you ‘accidentally’ broke the headphones when you wear putting them on?” A bite of your lip to stifle your laugh, and Sana’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

“Wow, you’re gonna-” She slapped your arm after getting up. “-bring that up even though we had an agreement that we’re gonna keep it a secret?”

“Okay, ouch that hurts!” You chortled. “There’s no one here though, I still kept my promise.”

“Yeah right, in a rented schoolroom studio, with cameras everywhere.”

“They still wouldn’t be able to hear me, right?” You pointed out, bursting into a fit of giggles, nervousness be damned when Sana pouted in defeat.

“Fine, now help me set this up. Come onnnnn…” Your friend shook your arm violently to kick you out of your laughter. You shook your head, crouching over again to fix the wires while your friend set up all the equipment outside the booth.

“All set?”

“Yeah…” You took a deep breath fixing your dress up a bit before reaching your hand out, fitting the headphones snug over your ears. Your eyes caught on something black lying on the tables, and you pointed it out.

“Whose headphones are those?” You pointed out, and Sana looked to the direction. “Eh,” she brushed it off. “Probably the person who’d received this room to record before, they’ll take care of it.” You tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear, nodding. “Now come on, let’s start. We have to submit this tomorrow and I have a movie date, so it can’t get later than this.”

“Alright,” You chimed, clearing your throat once, twice before inhaling deeply. You were surely nervous before, but somehow singing always helped you disconnect from your surroundings, it was your escape — one of the main reason you’d chosen music technology in a heartbeat when you found out it was an option for your major.

“Ready? And, go.”

Sana hit a button, causing soft music to play through the headphones, a melody she’d carefully crafted over nights of 3 am coffee and many, many texts to you — most of them saying “I wanna sleeeepppppp waaaaa”. You’d obviously heard it before but you realised why it took her so long (nearly a week), because it was near perfection.

“Heaven knows I was just a young boy~”

The song went pretty smoothly on the most part, with Sana stopping you in between verses and and going over parts she wanted you to repeat, which you gladly complied. She was the senior, of course.

When it cam down to the last verse, about half an hour had passed — and you felt pretty good about it. your vocals were shining pretty well and blended with the music perfectly, which put you at ease.

“Okay, let’s finish this.” Sana said, focused on changing up the settings, before giving you a countdown, hitting play. You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath as you waited for the beat drop to end, leading to your high note. That again. went pretty well, along with the rest of the song, finishing it up with an exhale.

When you removed the headphones and got out of the booth — you met the eyes of someone you did not expect to see standing there.

“O-Oh, hello Han-ssi.” You bowed down in gratitude, overly surprised of his presence.

Han was, just like Sana, your senior. He was one of the best students in your academy — of course, scoring the highest grade in all of his tests. Many would say otherwise because of his tsundere nature, but you could tell that he had a burning passion for music under those eyes. You’d listened to his tracks in various events your university hosted — and safe to say you were in love with his music. He had a way of making his tracks sound so… real? And natural — the kind that you wouldn’t get bored of no matter how many times you heard it.

Han bowed back and mumbled a silent “hello~” back to you before extending hia hand past you to grab the headphones placed on the table. Ohhh, so that’s why they were familiar. You’d noticed them hanging around his neck multiple times on campus.

Once he’d chatted with Sana and you for a bit (more Sana than you) and bowed before he left, you grabbed Sana’s arm before pulling her towards yourself.

“How long was he here for?” You whispered, a pout on your face.

“Umm, I think throughout the last verse?” Sana shrugged.

“What?” Your shoulders slumped. “Didn’t he come to pick up his headphones?”

“Are you seriously getting flustered right now?” Your friend narrowed her eyes playfully, making a teasing noise as she pushed at your shoulder.

“Ah,” You rolled your eyes. “Stop being so teasing, I’m just a little shy of anyone else hearing my singing.” You flapped your hand to brush her statement away — before she could say something or point it out how evidently flustered you’d grown of the fact that your role model — the Han Jisung — had listened to your music.

“Well, you’re a music major, kid. Get used to it.”

And with that, Sana bid her goodbye to you, helping you wrap up the place before hopping down the stairs, earphones plugged into her ears as she hummed a tune all the way.

You silently stood in front of the elevator, playing with the hem of your sleeves as you waited for it to arrive. Curse at your studios for being on the last floor of the building, waiting for the elevator seemed like an eternity.

You also didn’t notice the random person that stood beside you. it was getting late anyways, the sun was almost close to setting by the time you were done, so it was only obvious that the remaining students would go home.

“So, you sing?” A very familiar sounding voice echoed in your ears, and you flipped your head to the side, once again meeting the eyes of someone you didn’t expect to meet right now.

And of course, if was Han Jisung.

Now that you weren’t freaking out (but you were close to), you could focus on him a little more properly, and you immediately noticed the headphones hanging around his neck, again. He had a large black hoodie on, his hands were shoved into his pockets and his hair was neatly combed and parted. If you had to describe him in three words, it’d be “messy but clean”.

“Oh, h-hello again.” You bowed.

“Hi!” He reciprocated your actions, looking at you. “My question?”

“W-what?” Your eyes widened as you fiddled with the edge of your shirt.

“You sing?”

“I-” You started. “I do, I’ve loved singing since I was six.”

“Oh.” Jisung nodded, letting his words trail of for a second. “You sing really well. I listened to that last part of the song — really well done.”

Tensing up, a smile tugged at your lips. “R-really?”

“Yeah,” Jisung chuckled. “You have a pretty voice, Y/N. And that’s a genuine compliment.”

“O-oh.” You felt yourself grow bashful of his presence all of a sudden, your cheeks feeling hot as the heat spread to your cheeks. “Thank you.” You mumbled, diverting your gaze from your eyes as you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “That’s so sweet of you to say.”

“I mean it.” The boy said, frowning. at the sight in front of him — your eyes drifting from place to place and the way you shifted from one foot to other — you seemed to be uncomfortable, but in reality you just didn’t know how to respond. “You okay?”

“A-ah, I am, it’s just.” Moving your hands around, you tried to put your thoughts into words, only to fail miserably, before you sighed and collected yourself. “I just really like your music a lot, and I…” You trailed off, rubbing at your shoulder. “Kinda look up to you, so hearing you say that, it just means a lot to me. Thank you”

The boy standing beside you beamed like sunshine at your response, gently poking at your shoulder as he eyes you mischievously.

“You look up to me, huh?” He giggled when you stumbled over your words, bringing a hand to rake through his hair. “You’re adorable, I’ll tell you that too.”

“Oh my god stop, do you want me to combust?” You laughed, the nervousness laced throughout your statement.

“Okay fine,” Jisung nodded, attaching his headphones to the audio jack of his phone, rummaging through his playlist. “You wanna come to my studio once?”

“What?” Your head snapped in his direction, eyes widening as you took in what he said, excitement filling your veins? Han Jisung’s studio? Seeing him make music in front of your eyes? Is this a fucking dream?

“I mean, only if you want to, of course. I was just asking because you seemed like you’d like to see my music making process. You don’t have to say yes though.”

“Oh gosh, no, I’d love to!” You yelped, stopping him in his tracks. He smiled gently, nodding at you as he scratched his chin in thought.

“So, tomorrow morning is fine?” He looked at you with almost, almost pleading eyes, and you felt like your heart melted into a puddle on the spot. He was cute.

You smiled, shyly nodding as you quickly went through your schedule in your head. “I can work with that.”

“See you tomorrow morning then.” The elevator chimed, the doors sliding open as the both of you got in, giggling at each other.

You couldn’t wait for tomorrow morning, that was for sure.

*silently puts on clown hat and leaves*

↯ note: 🕯️ ignore me this is just a small prayer that tumblr doesn’t make me battle the tags yet again 🕯️ may the tumblr gods be in my favor atleast this once ;-; 🕯️ �� dawn.☀️

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jupitermelichios · 3 years

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So we decided we wanted to watch a garbage-fire movie tonight, so we’re watching Divergent and just...

It’s impressive that even with the expectations I had, it somehow manages to be even more soulless than i was braced for. everything about it was so incredibly by-the-numbers it almost looped back around to being interesting, entirely by accident. the incredibly forgetable romance that i literally did forget was happening mulitple times (they have a single substantive conversation, then immediately have sex off screen, then the main character has a nightmare about the dude assaulting her, which is projected onto a tv screen for all her friends to watch, and then they’re just immediately so in love that she’d rather die than live without him. that sounds like an exageration but it’s not, she puts a gun to her own head and threatens to pull the trigger in order to get a +4 power of love charisma buff)

also you know how the hook is that people get assigned to gangs based on their personality type, but she’s special because she has more than one singular personality trait? the way that manifests is the ability to lucid dream. that’s it. that’s her special power. sometimes she also has a greater level of problem solving, but that’s entirely plot dependant, the only reliable power that divergents have is that they can all lucid dream. which is a pretty cool thing to be able to do, but it’s also just like a skill you can learn. apparently in the distopian future no one remembers that.

the thing the movie kept reminding me of was american evangelical prosperity gospel propaganda films, your ‘gods not dead’ and your ‘left behind’. those are generally bad in a very specific way, and they’re bad because the end goal of the film-makers is not to make a good movie, the fact that they’re making a movie at all is almost incidental to their goal. they’re making propaganda, and film just happens to be the medium which is delivering that propaganda. this had the same vibe, i’m assuming because the end-game here was money making and the fact that they were using a movie to do that was an entirely secondary consideration.

also i’m fascinated by the fact that it’s a ‘distopia’ purely in that it’s working with a muted colour palette with stark lighting, and then a handful of scenes are set in an Apple store (and the villain is a woman in a position of power who dresses like Conservative emma frost, because there’s always got to be one of those). there’s no actual distopia, they’ve just dressed the set to look like one. even the stupid faction system seems to be basically working and most people are fine with it.

It took me all of ten minutes of watching the movie to come up with a better premise as well. you keep the faction system, but then you have ‘divergents’ be a special elite class who run everything and then the big reveal is that actually everyone is divergent and no one fits into the boxes but the evil elites pretend they do becausre that makes it easier to enforce the class system. Like, that’s still soulless garbage with nothing of substance to say, but it’s at least thematically coherant garbage, and if anyone asks you can tell them it’s about the use of myers-briggs tests in job applications or the rise in beliefs in horoscopes, something like that. you could definitely fake-deep-ify that no problem. you don’t even really have to change the plot that much, 90% of it could stay the same, just with an actual coherant narrative.

that’s not entirely fair. with the exception of how the fuck abnegation relates to all of this, and how factionless people work (and why the hell the author chose ‘amnity’ for the farmers, instead of, say, diligence) the narrative is pretty coherant, it’s just garbage. soulless cash grabbing garbage.

i hated it intensly and i can’t wait to watch the other two tomorrow to find out how deep the stupid goes and whether they ever do anything meaningful with the lucid dream as a superpower concept.

#jupiter watches a thing #divergent bashing #i say bashing i consider this an entirely fair and accurate judgement #but i know the books at least do have fans #and i'm not here to yuck anyones yum

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shriekbackmusic · 4 years

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Collaborations #1 (’Shriekback are Seeing Other People’)

Well, collaboration is everything really innit? No man is an island, not even the ones who pretend they are. That’s what I reckon. Merging somebodys’ talents and energies with yours. What a thing. The very stuff of life.

Still, it can be a fractious business: politics will come into it. LIke: who’s in charge here? Who gets to say whether your bit is better than my bit? And how do we work that shit out? A microcosm of the world or what?

Undeterred, we seem to do it (collaborate) quite a lot. And these are some pretty successful tunes, I would say. Good for us. Bold and resolute Shriekback!

So there’s Hope, right?

(BA)

MART’S TRACKS:

DROP BY DROP Barker/Burridge

Taken from my Album" Water and Stone." Exploring my rolling Gtr and groove in 7 with the wonderfully talented musician cellist Emily Burridge.

Inspired by the miracle of water, its rhythm, its music, its journey, its myths, its poetry and beauty

FLYING SAUCER Barker/ Roedelius/Noah1

Lovely to have met and worked with the master of Ambience, Hans Joachim Roedelius for the Album Fibre.

Recorded up in the hills of Shropshire with George Taylor (Noah1) and Jez coed

This piece was inspired by my riff Im playing on the Hang Drum, hence the title "Flying Saucer"

GOLDEN MOON Barker/Young

Taken from my mini Album” Blue” Talitha Rise.

This was my first big endeavour into the musical spiritual world and collaboration with Jo beth young.

We are joined on the Riti by Juldeh Camara.

PILGRIM`S WAY Barker/Adams

My new project/collaboration still ongoing with the mighty talent of Justin Adams .

This first piece inspired by ancient walks.

This new whole album partly inspired by the writing of Robert Macfarlane "the old ways"

SANDLINES. Barker/ Adams

Second piece inspired the Ancient paths of the desert.

THE LAKE Barker/Young taken from the album" Abandoned Orchid House” Talitha Rise

Another collaboration with Jo beth Young and another piece in 7!

Intense, energetic and rich with riddles.

THE SELKIE. Barker / Pynn

Second Piece taken from my Album "Water and Stone”

Inspired by the Myths and stories of the Selkie. With the magical multi instrumentalist Nick Pynn on Violin.

CARL’S TRACKS:

Words Fail Me

with AMANDA KRAVIT

(Barratt/Marsh)

David Barratt and I were introduced to Amanda by John Mrvos, one of the A&R team at EastWest Atlantic in New York (Happyhead’s label) - she was his girlfriend and he wanted to get her recorded, basically, so we came up with this. Dave had done some kind of publishing deal that allowed him to sample the company catalogue, hence Ravi Shankar playing sitar all over it. Backing vocals by Bill Clift; some of the drums sound like Jim Kimberley, sampled from HH sessions (1992ish.)

The Longest Goodbye

with BILL CLIFT

(Clift/Marsh)

I’ve written loads with Bill under various banners, of course. This is a mid-90s demo recorded in Bill’s flat in Greenwich. BVs by Stella Clifford and Marilyn Gentle, bass (I think) by Gary Brady… not sure who did the wibbly organ. This song was later recorded by Bill’s band Fuzzbuddy, re-titled Killing Me Now - it’s just been re-released as part of their Complete Studio Recordings compilation.

THE PALACE DOGS

with GEOFF WOOLEY

I’ve collaborated with Geoff Woolley since Out On Blue Six, and in school bands even before that. These two tracks, from around 1995, are both built from sampled TV shows (and therefore subject to all sorts of potential copyright issues…).

Queen of Peoples’ Hearts

(Marsh/Woolley)

The self-styled QOPH’s Panorama special, cut up and pumped up with added Dario Argento and a spot of Jeremy Paxman. The Original is all-electronic; the Guitar Version has not only mine and Geoff’s rhythm bits but some wildfire lead from Steve Bolton (Atomic Rooster, Paul Young, The Who etc. and currently fronting the mighty Dead Man’s Corner). Take yer pick.

Crazy Dames

(Marsh/Woolley)

The main voice and piano on here are from a 1961 Twilight Zone episode called The Midnight Sun, in which the Earth is knocked out of orbit and is spiralling towards the Sun… it gets hot. Other vocals by Stella Clifford and Marilyn Gentle.

GASWERKS

The Ying Tong Song

(Milligan)

Basically the same format as The Palace Dogs with the addition of Bill Clift, whose idea it was to knock out a dance version of The Goons’, er, classic. Dig that crazy rhythm, indeed. We were told the novelty song market was a hard one to crack… by the singer of Black Lace, who should know, I suppose…

WOOLLEY/MARSH

The Girlfriends Of Dorian Gray

(Barratt/Marsh/Woolley)

David Barratt came up with the conceit of a modern Dorian Gray who preserves his youth (or immaturity) not by having a grotesquely ageing portrait in the attic but by having an ever-changing string of girlfriends who absorb the consequences of his many flaws and are discarded one after another. Dave sketched out the chorus and then proposed that he, I and Deni Bonet (NY-based violinist and writer that we’ve worked with on various projects) should write our own versions of the story, possibly with the idea of creating some kind of meta-version combining them all. That never happened, but I like the track Geoff and I came up with and the lyric is nice and tricksy - shades of Costello, maybe, if I say so myself.

You’re The Only One

(Marsh/Woolley)

A re-write of a Happyhead demo, switching New York electronica for some 90s Britpop vibes, it sounds like. Bit of a kinky ménage à trois scenario with reasonably loud guitars. Nice.

BARRY’S TRACKS

The Frances & Martine poems, with Hilda Sheehan (2014)

part 1: GLOW, GOOSE, CORN-REMOVER

part 2: COAT, ARM, KNOB OF BUTTER

I met Hilda Sheehan - through the (surprisingly vibey) Swindon poetry scene when I was stationed back there for 10 years in '04. She was often the star turn at their spoken word events and, I thought, had the mark of a real artist in that she came with her own self-contained world (’magical realist Northern UK kitchen sink’, if I had to describe it).

I thought it would be fun to 'set' (as they say) some of her poems to music and so I did. From Hilda's considerable oeuvre, I picked the Frances and Martine series - I liked F&M's mutually abrasive dependence - the key ingredient in any sitcom - and the succinct and sometimes brutal nature of each of their adventures.

Dame Hilda Sheehan

The Anaxaton6 EP with Mike Tournier (2013)

I first worked with Mike Tournier (Big Mike as opposed to Little Mike - these were Flukes' Contrasting Mikes at the time) as producer on their OTO album c.94. Techno outfit Fluke apparently liked them some Olde Shriekback (they had worked previously with Wendy and Sarah) and thought I might add something to the project.

It turned out that producing a techno band is every bit as awkward as you might imagine (there’s only one computer screen for a start) and we abandoned the collaboration after I'd failed to insert myself into Fluke's process in any useful way (sandwich run doesn't count).

Anyway, we stayed in touch and collaborated rather more successfully on a Fluke/Shriekback tune and performance for MTV.

It was the redoubtable Julian Nugent, Fluke's manager, who got in touch - in 2013 to suggest that Mike and I might like to try knocking up a tune together.

I liked the idea of this straightaway. Mike can produce huge, hi-torque productions and I had an idea of a songwriting approach which I though might complement this. The vocalist would be recognisably the bloke out of Shriekback but CG’d with florid new appendages. I fancied some mad-as-a-rat lyrics (Welcome to their secret sign: Boola Stack! Haunted Lego of the Mind! Boola Stack!) but the music would be slick and vivid and solidly crafted because that's always how Mike rolls. Thus you get something quite absurd being taken very seriously which is, to my mind, the best thing you can possibly have.

extract from the sleeve notes:

BONE MARAUDER tells of a pure love, painful engorgement and hog sorcery.

JUJUGRID (GO LIVE!) wrangles with hedonic guilt, ecclesiastical turpitude and leaves everything else the fuck alone.

BOOLA STACK! - There are so many things to say of Boola Stack that to ennumerate them insults us both.

NO FOOL BOLETUS... let's just be clear about this: you got nothing to hide, there's no need to worry. Be lucky.

Michaele don Turino and Bleary Android are the naked mortals chained to the husky obelisk of ANAXATON6

Anaxaton6 has some videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=anaxaton6

Mike Tournier

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inyuji · 4 years

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Drawn during my sick period. Caught the stronger cold, thankfully not the flu. Did I ever mention how much I love “Beastars” and can’t wait to watch it again when it hits U.S. Netflix. Because of the purely animal-based world, it brings up a lot of heavy topics that bleed heavily into the real world. So it really begged the question of seeing how my Darkwing OC Rei would fit in this universe.

I actually did have a story point for Rei getting sucked into a dimensional worm-hole that was unintentionally opened during a villain fight. Rei was closest to Gosalyn, who was close to being sucked into that wormhole. Being unable to fully pull Gosalyn out, she did the next desperate thing; switch places while throwing Gosalyn out of harm’s way. So far, I’d say this is the 4th or 5th dimension. Each dimension is either close enough to her original, or can potentially lead her closer. Darkwing and some colleagues are able to time and activate these “jumps” long enough to help Rei find her way home. Each jump is entirely random, due to difference in time.

In this dimension, Rei was found and taken in by Legosi’s grandfather. After hearing stories about his family, Rei decided to visit Legosi at school. This is recently after the events of season 1. Legosi is shocked about the temporary sibling, and panicking about how to go about baby-sitting a small, errant duck. For spoiler reasons, I’m not mentioning why he doesn’t talk to his grandpa, and warning you all that the last fourth jpeg is a major manga spoiler. Rei makes it known that she’s 13, not six, and that she’s less likely to cause a huge disruption in Legosi’s schedule. Legosi still prefers to keep Rei near him no matter what, since that’s what he thinks a big brother should do. Haru is amused and finds it sweet that he’s taking his big-brother role seriously. Rei allows this over-protective streak, sensing that Legosi is a raging storm of anxiety and insecurities. So she dedicates herself as his “therapy duck.” She benefits from shadowing him, since she can get more research on the society of this dimension, and she never says no to new knowledge.

One of the human dimensions she’s laid low in was from “Carole and Tuesday” anime. She became a fan of the music there. But she’s peeved that she can’t find an instrument her size. She doesn’t like the idea of asking Gosha for any string instrument, when he’s already bought her a flip-phone. Darkwing Prime dimension is most likely set in the 90s, so Flip-phones and smartphones are high-tech to her. She’s enjoying watching the drama club and hanging with Legosi’s dorm mates. Bill is tolerable, but she can sense he isn’t a bad tiger. Just a super-masculine meat-head. Rei prays to whatever deity or force that she doesn’t become as hormonal or angst-filled as the teenagers in this school. So far, only Legosi and Haru know that she’s an esper. Everyone thinks that Rei is just a weird duck with no sense of self-preservation, since she doesn’t cow in fear in the presence of bigger animals. Song she’s singing is “After the Fire” from “Carole and Tuesday.”

In each dimension, Rei’s body will adapt accordingly, but her esper powers are never going away, along with all of her other little quirks. So here she has to balance to having 5 fingers, but still having a duck body, that’s not quite like her original one. Every dimension has presented a different experience, so she’s started to undergo a changing phase. So she won’t be as super laidback and quiet about some things. Of course, seeing how this animal society is already on a tense tightrope, the onslaught of vibes would almost suffocate Rei at first. Then there’s the weird fact of how oddly heavy she is for a 13-year old duck. Her muscle mass practically outweighs whatever body fat she has, which explains her rather freakish strength. Downside is that she’s the odd duck that can’t swim. Mentioned in previous sketchdumps with Rei, Darkwing has strong suspicions that Rei is a mutant. Now, Rei is convinced that her 7 year amnesia is the result of a traumatic childhood being a genetic lab experiment. Of course, Rei has been careful of exposing her esper powers, but in this world, the occasional show of power is her only tool to get herself out of unfavorable situations. She’s not going to be openly freaking people out with esper powers and would prefer not to advertise that she’s an esper.

Now because I don’t want to spoil everyone of future 2nd or even 3rd season, be aware that the 4th image contains manga spoilers.

When Rei leapt into this dimension, she landed in the middle of the Dark Market, and had no idea how dangerous being a duck would be, once predators are looking to gang on you. While she could’ve dealt with this physically, the onslaught of vibes in her vicinity was enough to make her lash out in a more threatening, psychic manner. Once she was able to scare her way outside, she wandered aimlessly, and then bumped into Legosi’s grandfather, Gosha. Authorities had found Rei and immediately wanted to separate the herbivore orphan from a venomous reptile. Only for Rei to openly threaten them with her psychic powers to not get pulled back into an orphanage. The cops don’t want to deal with a potential monster and willingly let Rei stay with Gosha. Gosha doesn’t mind having to take care of her. He just wishes that Rei stop being openly threatening with sharp objects. He’s lost count of how many knives, cutters, or broken glass bottles he has confiscated. She takes high offense to the discrimination of venomous reptiles, when Gosha is just the sweetest Komodo dragon. Gosha just prefers NOT to give authorities a good excuse to put Rei into an orphanage, or worse, a lab. He still feels bad that Rei does nothing but watch tv or go to the library, not that Rei cares. She’s fine with this arrangement, not wanting to inconvenience Gosha. She gets a kick out of “Happy Happy Cooking” and other programs.

#beastars #bstanime #legosi #darkwing duck #darkwing duck oc #rei mallard #mandarin duck #gray wolf #gosha #crossover #inyuji

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vandorens-archive · 4 years

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ten questions tag | i was tagged by: @mshelleys, @emdrabbles, @pe-ersona, @evergrcen and @septemberliterature. thank you so much, and i’m so sorry i’m getting to this so late!

everything is under the cut!

@mshelleys

i. if you could change the genre of one of your wips, what would you change it to and how would the story/characters change?

So, trahison already features a ghost and a brief stay at a manor. have i considered turning it into a full fledged horror because of that? perhaps.

ii. do you think of your characters as actors playing a part in a movie or as people in history actually doing things that effect the future?

i think of them as actors playing in one long, crazy, unpredictable play.

iii. role swap your protagonist and antagonist but keep their personalities the same; how different would your story be?

honestly, not different at all, because when it comes to it, the subject of trahison’s antagonist (s) is pretty complex.

iv. are any of your characters based on you, family, friends, or someone else you know?

oh, absolutely. my characters range between self inserts, to characters i wish i was more like, to characters that are essentially walking, talking, breathing love letters to the people i care about.

v. how long have you had your main protagonist(s) of your wip(s)?

I’ve been working with marin, nate and ruby for years, long before they were even called that and were a part of a dystopian crime novel (don’t ask). antoine joined them soon after, followed a while later by beth and isadora, and miles was invented during the plotting stage.

vi. do you prefer to write chronologically or just make a bunch of scenes and order them after they’re written?

it depends on what i’m working on and how serious i am about it, but if we’re only talking about trahison, then chronologically!

vii. imagine the problem in your wip is sorted out, how would the protagonist recount the story to their children if they asked?

with a far away look in his eyes and an uncharacteristic fondness in his voice, marin would turn to his children, and tell them how extraordinary his friends were during his university years—their zeal, their inquisitiveness, and conveniently leaving out the uncomfortable loyalty they all had towards each other, until time and life’s commands separated them.

viii. favorite (non-spoilery) line(s) of your current wip(s)?

This small bit of description, albeit a little purple prose-y, is one that i’m very, very proud of.

“ The morning rain had made its grave in the dirt, the bittersweet smell—like exotic black tea—rising into the air. It was the night pluviophiles came to dance. If I think hard, I can still taste the ghost of the raindrops on my tongue and sense Beth’s radiating warmth beside me; its own ghost ” - trahison, chapter three

ix. if your wip was a movie, could you see it be done in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, or 2010s? why that decade in particular?

so, fun fact, i hadn’t decided when to set trahison (see: the big question mark in my plotting notebook) but i have recently made up my mind and decided to set it in the seventies! if it was a film, then i could see it being made in seventies france! very a la the dreamers.

x. are you able to just make up a story on the spot, or do you need help (plot generators or other outside influences)?

sometimes i’ll take the help of prompts or media, but otherwise i just come up with things on my own!

@emdrabbles

i. what do the names of your main characters mean? did you pick them for the meaning or another reason?

i picked the trahison characters’ names based on two things: how much it related to the character’s backstory or personality, and how pleasing it sounded out loud. here are the meanings of their names:

marin — of the sea

ruby — deep red; precious stone; behold a son

elizabeth — god is my oath

nathaniel — gift from god

antoine — priceless one; beyond praise

isadora — gift of Isis

ii. what book are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading the time machine by h.g wells!

iii. last sentence written?

“ When the end of the world comes — I’ll film it ” — copycat, or the one where i predict the future.

iv. who are some of your faceclaims?

i usually don’t use faceclaims, but if i had to choose:

marin van doren (trahison) — timor simakov

eloi hill (psychophantia) — maxence danet fauvel

cass parker (penny lane) — monica tomas

v. gimme some worldbuilding facts!!

alright, here’s one: in the world of psychophantia, not only is the magic system and your powers controlled by your morals, but so is your social ranking, your education, and any future you may have—to an extent.

vi. do you outline? if so, do you have a specific method?

i’m a plotter and only really work well with a solid outline, however, my outlines range from a series of messy, incoherent bullet points to meticulous scene-by-scene planning based around the three act structure. this post is my go to for plotting assistance!

vii. favourite author?

Like every tumblr user ever, i love donna tartt and maggie stiefvater, but i’m also a huge fan of f.scott fitzgerald, agatha christie and vera caspary!

viii. what is your oldest wip?

trahison! It went through many, many changes — from changes in genre to changes in character names, and there’s still a possibility that it could change even further.

ix. what is your favourite wip?

every wip i reblog under my #others. tag! You all are so damn talented!

x. where do you get your inspiration from?

everywhere around me! from conversations i have with people, from films and books i consume, from the music on the radio — i like that anything and everything can inspire me to create.

@pe-ersona

i. in one sentence, explain your current wip!

a group of secretive students attempt to become immortal, only to uncover the worst parts of themselves — and each other — as they do.

ii. was writing your main interest or did you have other interests?

although writing is my main interest (see: my social media bio on every platform ever), i also like to journal, sew, cook and make videos! my interests usually do have to do with the intention of creation.

iii. what’s your favorite genre to write? to read?

I love writing horror and mysteries. those are my favourite genres, but i also love reading a good contemporary romance!

iv. what is one goal you have for your wip this year? how’s that goal going?

to finish the first draft! so far, not so bad, though i do wish i could write more, but unfortunately, time constraints plus school restrict me from doing so.

v. how old is your wip? or when did you start writing your wip?

trahison is nearly three years old, but i only started writing the current version of it a year ago.

vii. what scene made you cry or laugh or both?

these lines made me laugh out loud the first time i wrote them:

“ Up the stairs stumbled Miles, my slovenly genius roommate. He grinned at the giggles and winked at the exasperated stares.

The gall of him!

I wanted to be him.

He managed to find his balance enough to reach our dorm. I immediately stepped back to let him in, and to make sure I was in no association with his uncomposed state. Nate gave a disapproving look at his back as he staggered in.

I took another step back, raised a pointed eyebrow, and closed the door ” — trahison, chapter three

vii. how many ocs does your wip have? who’s your favourite?

my main wip, trahison, has six main characters. out of the main six, my favourite has to be nathaniel. he is very much the epitome of pure, and sometimes i wonder how he ended up in the middle of such a dark plot.

vii. you have a brand new idea for a wip, what do you do?

brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm. scribble down whatever the hell pops up in my brain, attempt to link it together by a thin string of yarn, cross my fingers and hope for the best.

ix. you are having your first book-signing, where are you?

i’m in a small bookstore, nestled in a corner near the storage room. almost no one knows about this town, so the line is small but chatty, fans exchanging theories and analysing certain paragraphs. the sight of them makes me feel warm inside.

x. you have the ability to live in any book, publishing or not, what would it be?

would it be too cliche to say the harry potter universe? other than that, other worlds i would love to be a part of is the world in my novel penny lane, or in midst of a detective story.

@evergrcen / @septemberliterature

i. how did you come up with your wip’s title? what does it mean in relation to the story?

okay, so i discovered the word ‘trahison’ after hearing my french teacher say it, and immediately knew i had to use it for something. ‘trahison’ means betrayal or treason in french, which is one of the main themes in the novel.

ii. do you title your chapters? if so, what’s your favourite?

I don’t, but I would love to!!

iii. what’s a recent line you really like?

Not a very dramatic or noteworthy line, but here’s one from a poem i’m writing:

“ So the two of you get in the car, proceeding to have an argument with the radio ” — examples of easy solutions, or the one where the internet has no answers.

iv. are there any writing-related quotes you really like?

“i think a lot of art is trying to make someone love you” — keaton henson

v. do you have an idea for a cover design for your story?

A black background with serif text, that’s it. It’s simple. It’s mysterious. It’s the type of vibe I want to exude.

vi. what sort of au can you imagine your story being?

...dark academia au anyone?

just kidding. in all seriousness, though, i can see a royalty/political au for trahison, or a medieval fantasy au!

vii. which oc would be the most angry with you as the writer?

eloi. i really need to give that poor boy a break.

viii. if you had to tell the story from a different pov, which character would you choose?

ruby! she’s the token enigma of trahison, so i think her point of view would be very interesting to see.

ix. what would be your oc’s taste in music if they lived in our world?

OKAY let’s see:

marin — classic rock, so the who, queen, def leppard.etc

ruby — that one person who you’re pretty sure only listens to classical music, but is actually very attuned to modern day music. she would mostly listen to female singer-songwriters, so take lorde, marina, lana del rey, and other such artists.

beth — take one look at her playlist, and you’ll see that ninety five percent of it is mitski, while the other five percent is bedroom pop. she would like very tender, calm, cry to in bed music.

Antoine — same as marin, but add other modern day music artists with eclectic sounds, such as twenty one pilots, arctic monkeys, that sort of thing.

nathaniel — classical music, instrumentals, and film soundtracks make up his playlist. if it has sung words, he won’t listen to it. has little to no understanding of modern day music and is too scared to find out more about it.

isadora — 2000’s diva pop plays in the background of her life. rihanna is her go to whenever she gets to control the party. Don’t be surprised if ‘rich girl’ by gwen stefani starts playing in your head at the sight of her.

x. what’s one personal goal you want to achieve by the end of the story?

finishing it with pride!

#( FINALLY i've caught up with everything i've been tagged in ahhh )#games.#long post

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sharedfete · 4 years

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An Interview with Adam Rosdahl

N: Okay, so. My first question was going to be how long have you been brewing, home included. So outside of just professional brewing how long… when did you get started brewing and everything?

A: It’s about eleven years ago now, it might even be twelve. It’s hard to keep track of at this point but we started home brewing back in, it was right after… It was 2009. Yeah, that’s it. So it’s eleven years. Um it was because we were in the middle of that recession that was going on and my buddy got laid off from his job and we had just gotten into craft beer and we decided that we needed to keep drinking craft beer but we needed to make it cheaper. So we decided to give a shot at making it ourselves, and one thing led to another and we just kept making it and kept making it in bigger quantities and here we are.

J: Who was your friend?

A: Jared Rudy.

N: So with that, how many beers would you say, estimated, you have under your belt?

A: Um… tomorrow we are brewing batch 220 here. So including the seven years before we got to this point we had built three different systems. And so he had a system at his place, I had a system at my place, and so… I… We’ve got to be scratching the soft underbelly of 1,000 at this point.

N: That’s awesome.

A: We were brewing nonstop at 2 locations. So…

N: What’s your favorite beer that you’ve made? If it’s different from your favorite beer overall what would that be?

A: My favorite beer that we’ve made here is probably… it would probably have to be this Mexican lager that I’ve got in front of me because it’s… it really showcases your process and your knowledge of how to make beer. When you can make something this light with no off flavors, no problems, because in a big stout…. Barrel aged stout with a whole bunch of adjuncts and everything you can hide any number of off flavors in that but to brew something this light and this clean really showcases that you’re taking care of your water, you’re taking care of your process, you’re cleaning everything from start to finish.

J: So that’s what you mean by clean? Water…

A: Yes, so all of your water treatment, we have a reverse osmosis, we have carbon filter, and we do a water profile for every beer that we make so we have different chemistry based on what flavor we’re looking for, what calcium sulfite ratio we’re looking for which can eventuate hoppiness or maltiness or just balance and then how clean the end product we’re looking for needs to be.

J: Okay.

N: Would you say that’s your favorite beer overall or do you have another like craft beer that you are pretty fond of?

A: Another craft beer that I’m pretty fond of… um well it’s kind of in the same vein but over at blind tiger his Pils Vom Fass is insanely good. He’s been to Germany several times to learn how to make the most authentic German beer that he possibly can. He spares no expense. He doesn’t care if it’s efficient. He’s just making the most authentic German pilsner that he can and it shows. It’s very good.

J: Do you mind if we can give them a shout out?

A: Oh yeah, go for it!

J: That’s awesome.

N: Do you have any good tips for local home brewers or also local pro brewers?

A: Local home brewers, the biggest thing that you can do at home is once again take care of your water and take care of your fermentation temperature. Those are your… those are the two biggest things that you can do to improve your home brew, and those are typically neglected.

J: Why do you think is that?

A: Um temperature control and fermentation can be costly on the home scale. To buy a refrigerator and then a temperature controller for nothing other than to set a 5 gallon bucket in it for 5 days is… not everybody has the space, not everybody has funds to do that so that’s one big hang up. Water is just something that’s overlooked. A lot of people don’t think about that even though it’s 90% of your ingredients. So it really needs 90% of your attention and care in my opinion. So it can be done fairly easily, like when I home brewed I didn’t have a big enough pot and so I would freeze a gallon jug of distilled water and I would just boil at a lower volume and then to help cool my work down I would just cut the plastic off my gallon jug of distilled water and throw that in there and that’s nice clean water, at very similar to reverse osmosis water, and so that way once you do your water chemistry you just add that in at the end and it helps you cool and it helps you keep your beer nice and clean and helps you produce a better product really.

N: This was kind of touched on earlier but in case you wanted to go into any further detail on it, what specifically got you started in home brewing? Was it just pretty much just making it more cost effective?

A: That was kind of the… we were kind of fascinated by it and Jared especially had always been really interested in… we’d both been interested in cooking and you know making stuff for ourselves. I mean we’re drinking off of a table we made for ourselves.

J: Yeah that’s awesome.

A: That’s just kind of our nature. We want to be so involved in everything that we are using, consuming, and this was the next logical step. So we got into it and we had no idea how deep the rabbit hole went and uh we just kept going further and further and there’s, to be a brewer it can be as simple as a five gallon bot and some dry malt extract. Or it can be an entire lab doing yeast cell counts and measuring your parts per million of calcium in your water, it can be whatever you want it to be, and that’s why we enjoy it so much.

N: Speaking of the table we’re at. So this is designed like a shield a very heavily fits the Norsemen Viking vibe, what was the biggest draw to going that direction for the name and culture of the brewery?

A: Originally our plan was to be called Fat Back Brewing Company because Jared was big into rugby and he was on the backline and he was large. So, that was originally it and we drank quite a few beers at rugby games. So that was kind of our original vision but then when we found this building and we kind of settled on this is what we wanted to do, our… sense we have a giant event place upstairs our wives graciously pointed out that not a lot of brides want the word fat on their wedding invitation so we kind of had to sit down and rethink what we wanted to do and to help connect ourselves to North Topeka there was a Junior High, Norther Hills Junior High, and their mascot was the Norseman and they had closed down but we uh, we were bearded dudes and we enjoyed Norsemen and so that was kind of our thought process on that was to connect us to North Topeka and there’s no other Norseman Brewing Company in the US so we were able to trademark it as well which was a nice little cherry on top.

N: When people first come in here and they sit down and have a drink what are you hoping they take away either from just the drink alone or from the atmosphere of the location and everything?

A: We really want an immersive atmosphere that’s really focused on our brand as a whole, so that’s why we’ve got shields up, that’s why we’ve got these fun little flickery flame lights, and the stone and the cedar and then drinking horn tap handles and handmade ceramic challises for our founders and stuff like that. We just really want to make sure that we stay on our theme and execute our original vision, and really it all starts and ends with good beer. If they don’t remember anything about this place, I want them to remember that their beer was amazing. That’s… I mean… That’s what it’s all about. I want to be… That’s the one thing that we really want to be known for but then also hey this looks like a cool Viking drinking hall.

J: No it does honestly!

A: It’s super fun to hang out. Big open space that you can meet people and enjoy some beer together.

J: What is your favorite grain?

A: My favorite grain… oh… that kind of changes on a monthly basis.

J: Is it seasonal?

A: It kind of is seasonal. I’ll give you two. My two favorite at the moment are Pure Idaho which is a new pilsner malt out of Idaho and it’s super clean and tastes amazing and doesn’t have quite as much grainy sweetness that most pilsners do and so it’s just a lot easier to deal with. It’s in here.

J: Okay!

A: And then when you’re going in the winter months or you’re going for a stronger beer I really love Simpsons Double Roasted Crystal Malt. It has just a great sweetness, a great caramelly to it that just you can really layer in amazing flavors into something. You don’t want to use a ton of it but it can really help you layer in a ton of really great flavors into like a… we use it on our Wee Heavy, And to be able to taste anything in a 10% beer is a good thing and you can pick that out and that’s why I enjoy that, it’s got a big hearty flavor that goes well in deep amber type beers.

J: Why do you think that grain tastes like that? Is it the dirt, or it’s region, is it…

A: The region has to do with that, the terroir of it has a lot to do with it, but then also the malting and roasting process is huge in that. There’s a hundred different ways to malt something. Like the Germans like floor malting where they spread it out super thin on the floor and let it malt on the floor. There’s places that do it in much large quantities where it’s several feet deep.

J: Do you think that as a consumer would I ever find the same beer ever again?

A: No. Absolutely not.

J: Okay.

A: I could give one hundred different brewers this exact recipe and you’re going to get one hundred different beers. Between just what’s hanging out in your air, just your system, your brewing technique… I can give it to another person to brew it on my system and it’s still going to be different.

J: That’s what I wanted to know…

A: It might be hard to tell for… some people have discerning pallets than others, I don’t have the best pallet in the world by far but I know my babies. So it’s just yeah it’s just something where it’s technique, timing, system, water… I mean the water that comes out of my faucets is different from the water that comes out of the water in South Topeka and unless you’re testing your water daily and adjusting your chemical makeup of it daily might not even be able to produce the same thing here.

J: No but that’s good because that makes you unique. That’s what I want it to be. Every brewery is unique as a person as an establishment because whatever you produce you’re not going to find it. Somebody else might want to do the same thing but you’re never going to get there because it’s just very different so… yeah… awesome!

N: I think that pretty much concludes what I had unless you have anything else you want to throw in there, questions or anything. Or for you if you have an statements you want to throw out there.

J: If you want to give any shout outs to different brewers um, specific names or just establishments just so like they can know that it’s a community. You know like just how you guys have these meetings and just know that every bodies getting along. It’s better like that honestly people think that restaurants and everything is just a competition but if we work together it would be way better. Way better.

N: Speaking though just a final like add onto that, when do you hold those home brew meetings and how does one get involved with joining?

A: For home brew meetings it’s insanely easy to join. You show up and drink.

N: There’s no like bring your own beer or cover charge or anything?

A: No. You’re encouraged to bring your home brew. It’s the second Wednesday of every month and we have it here. At the moment I’m not certain how much longer that’s going to continue once we get our restaurant off the ground that might be difficult to manage but we will do what we can to make sure that… the home brew meeting will still be somewhere every second Wednesday of the month and we are going to do our best to help facilitate it. You just show up and talk to people and drink and they do all sorts of fun stuff. They give out grain and that’s one thing that they’ll do, they’ll have twelve different brewers brew the exact same recipe with twelve different base grains and have everybody bring it in and see what these different base grains taste like. That’s how you learn and it’s a lot of fun so they do a really good job and it’s a good thing to be a part of.

J: That’s awesome. I like that a lot. It shows how you’re willing to expand your mind and your learning too because you’re just not very anal on certain things. Like this is the way I’m going to do it, this is the way I’m going to do it. You’re willing to learn and honestly I think in this kind of industry… in the food and bartending industry and beer everybody has to learn.

A: Yeah you can’t ever be done learning ever. That’s not good.

J: No and you always learn more and more and more and more and I appreciate that and just hearing that out. It’s very great.

A: That’s a big influence on us. Big mentor to us has been John Dean over at Blind Tiger. He’s been brewing in Topeka for over 25 years.

J: So is that who you would want to feature?

A: Yeah. Oh for sure. He’s had a huge impact and he’s been incredibly helpful and continues to be so. I couldn’t be where I’m at right now without him for sure. We meet with all the other breweries in town once a month and talk about upcoming festivals, talk about “hey this blew up on me.” It’s really hard with your non-brewing industry friends, it’s really hard to complain about your day.

J: Oh yeah!

A: Because they’re like “you made beer today how terrible could that be?”

J: I used to feel like that with him… I would see him cook and be like “what are you…? You just poor in grain!” But then he would spend so much time there and tell me what he would be doing and I was like this is your thing.

N: There was a lot of cleaning behind the scenes.

J: It’s just like the same thing with me.

A: We’re glorified janitors.

N: A lot of heavy lifting too.

A: A lot of heavy lifting. It just… and so to complain to about that to somebody who has an office job or construction work. Like “he made beer” and it’s like…

J: We’re not drinking any of it right now!

A: It wasn’t all joy and roses. It’s a lot of hard work and things break daily and you know it’s just uh… so it’s important to have that network of other professional brewers around you that you can go vent to, go bounce ideas off of. Even just as much as on your pump cart putting a t with the sample valves so that you can burp it so that you don’t get air locked on your pump. This is something that might not occur to you and just whining about it to your friends…

J: But you know it! But you guys know it!

N: I follow a lot of brewing hashtags on Instagram and stuff and I’m constantly finding like “oh I’m going to use that now!”

A: Oh yeah! On social media daily it’s like “ah yeah, I’m doing that! That’s going to save me an hour a week.”

N: “Why didn’t I think of this sooner!”

A: “This should have occurred to me…” but it’s just this has been going on… brewing’s been happening for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. Like you say, you’re never done learning and there’s something that can help you out constantly. Here there and everywhere. And so to not associate with other people that have been doing it forever and to not try and learn things from other people is just ridiculous. You’re making your life harder than it needs to be.

J: That sounds good. I like that a lot.

A: But yeah… and we kind of… we touched on the what should local home brewers do, we kind of skipped over what should local professionals do.

N: Oh yeah.

J: Yes!

A: Make good beer!

J: What do you consider good beer? Like I know for me personally it’s more high ABV, what would you consider? Because you’re a brewer. You know for me it’s just more about I just want one beer, feel the buzz, tasted really good, and that’s it. But what would you consider a really good beer would be?

A: Clean, technically precise beer that is not rushed and equipment that has been cleaned and sanitized properly. No off flavors. It’s like if you would go and eat somebodies scallop and they overcooked the living bejesus out of it. And you’re like, it’s still a scallop, it’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s just like a needle in your brain that’s like please don’t do that. So it just, to me, beer tastes good, the lightest stuff in the world, the darkest stuff in the world, sour, malty, hoppy, whatever… as long as it’s clean and produced correctly. There’s 100 different ways you can make terrible beer every hour in there and so to pay attention to the details, to do things correctly, and to never stop learning about better ways to do things. That’s what people need to be doing because we’re all in this together, if somebody is throwing out bad reviews about some Topeka brewery then that’s a black mark on all of us, we got to… we want to be a beer destination. We want to be a craft beer destination. Nobody goes to a town because they have one good brewery.

J: And do you agree that everybody needs to work together?

A: Oh yeah, and we will continue to do so as much as we are able to.

J: Exactly! I don’t think everybody knows that.

A: It’s not a thing that’s….

J: I don’t think everybody knows how you guys really work together to heal problems. Cause that really inspired me even for the kitchen and bar. To have a bunch of bartenders coming together and talk about the problems in their restaurants, you know? Because everybody has an issue and you might not think it’s an issue but this person finds the answer for that issue, you just didn’t know about it. You know? That’s what I’m saying. Expanding your mind, it’s really good. And learning from somebody else. And what you guys are doing here, I think it’s really great. You know?

A: And as craft beer, we’re only 12% of the nationwide beer sales. The big three are the rest of it. So fighting amongst ourselves is ridiculous.

J: So you have to work together.

A: We have to work together just to survive let alone you know just continuing to improve our craft. We have to work together to still be here and still make amazing things. So to fight against ourselves is ridiculous. It doesn’t help anybody except for the other 88%.

#NoTo #Norseman Brewing #Craft Beer #Topeka #Kansas

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tydy-the-megnet · 5 years

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Let's Watch Captain Marvel

Alrighty. It's definitely late, but I finally got the DVD. So, I'm watching Captain Marvel.

I've decided to make this post about it, which I will write as I go, because I've seen a lot of discussion about the movie without actually hearing about what happens in it... so uh... yeah. Here are my thoughts as I think them:

Brie Larson looks good with long hair. Also, is Carol bleeding blue...? I want to know what that's about and if it's important

Movie is said to take place in the 90s. Space still already has flying cars. I guess Star Wars wasn't not accurate

Listen Sensei dude, if there is one thing I've learned from anime, emotions only make you stronger.

"You gave me these" *shakes fists* is that literal? Like did Mr Sensei really give her fists or is that referring to her powers...? I know nothing of Captain Marvel

He's talking about controlling impulses again. He clearly hasn't seen any anime

The Skrull are the shapeshifters yeah?

... amnesia...?

Now the supreme intelligence (god ai???) Is also talking about controlling her emotions. I still don't buy it.

Mission time. Digging the banter

"I laugh on the inside. I'm not doing that now."

Hm, not sure how I feel about the helmet thing

Hard light scuba gear? That's cool

I'm digging the kinda star wars vibe

Captain listen to your CO but also dont listen to him at all

Yeah the skrull are the shapeshifters everything makes sense now

Wait is her name Veers? Or is that what she's called just because she doesn't remember who she is?

AIR FORCE YEAH

GO KARTS YEAH

GO KART NO

More of this "too emotional" stuff?

Goose!

Digging the whole mental probe thing.

*Tries percussive maintain on a person*

"I dont know any Dr Larson"

So that had me confused bc I was like "Wasnt her name Danvers?" But Larson is the actress and I guess that's just a character????

Do I have the two backwards?

Skrull: *snarls*

Captain: *snarls back*

I like her

She fights like an anime character while everyone else is an 80s sci-fi movie

Get the boots!!!

And touchdown! Planet C-53! Locally known as Earth!

I guess Captain Marvel could be called a blockbuster hit in-universe and out huh?

I'm hilarious

Honey in basically in the space-boonies now you got no service here lol

This poor confused security guard lol

She called across the galaxy on a pay phone...? Yeah okay cool cool

"[C-53]'s a real shithole" yeah give it 30 years or so it gets worse

Okay why do people not like Captain Marvel?

She's like a mix of Tony, Thor, and Steve

Is that... Coulson? Young Coulson!?

YOUNG FURY!

I don't think that was young Coulson after all...

Or is it?

Idek

TRAIN FIGHT

Why are these bystanders trying to stop Veers(?) from fighting this obviously not normal old lady?

What kinda old lady can flip like that?

TRAIN FIGHT 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

oh it was Young Coulson!

Poor Coulson

Damn, Nick

*uses AltaVista*

So it's later 90s. Got it.

Lmao dial-up

I guess they're in california?

Lmao dial-up

Ah so this is the motorcycle scene I've heard about. Apparently they cut the part where she nearly breaks the guy's fingers? Disappointing.

The skrull aren't carbon-based life forms that's so cool!

Not on the periodic table...? Let's see, in the 90s... I guess stuff like rutherfordium and onward wouldn't be on there. Uh, maybe technetium? There might be a couple others but for the most part chemistry was advanced enough.

Unless it's something beyond like 118. Which is weird to think about but whatever I should stop thinking about it

Except elements like that would have to be in group 14 yeah?

Biology isnt exactly my forte but

Okay perhaps it's what we now know as flerovium?

The elements in the carbon group should react similarly enough to be the foundation of an entire life form

That's why silicon is used for synthetic stuff a lot right?

And tin

I'm getting off track the movie has been paused for a few minutes now

I'm just going to assume they are flerovium-based life forms

Oh shit they're in SHIELD

So Pegasus is a flight team, or an AF division, or....?

"I don't know if this guy is really human. I'd better ask a bunch of questions to which I don't know the answer."

A skrull could be saying random words and it would totally work

"If toast is cut diagonally I can't easy it."

Why the heck not??????

"That was a photon blast" is that what that is? Awesome

I want Peter to meet her. I think he'd have a new contender for favorite

"A skrull can't do that. " how is he supposed to know that?

Young and slightly less suspicious Fury??

"Noble warrior heroes"

J O S E P H

NASA and USAF. Sweet.

"State-of-the-art two-way pager"

Ah the old tape-and-fingerprint trick. Haven't seen that since the 90s--oh

GOOSE

Fury meeting Goose is the purest scene in marvel

"you sat there and watched me play with tape?" Lmao

"Shes kookoo" "Kree glyphs" ":O"

Veers was the pilot

I still don't know her sensei's name

"Excellent work, Nicholas" ":O"

LARSON WAS MAR-VELL!??!!!?!

(I know who Mar-Vell is!)

Okay okay okay

More of this "dont emotion" garbage. Listen Veers, DON'T listen

FURY FIGHT SCENE

COULSON NO

COULSON YES

"You know how to fly this thing?" "Uh" "it's a yes or no question"

GOOSE

They're going to LA

(Louisiana not Los Angeles)

Cool

Why do people not like this this is great!

She's got the worst part of Thor, but the best part of Tony and Steve!

RONIN!?!??!??!?!!?!??!?!?!??!??!:0!?!?!

AUNTIE CAROL?!?!?

(So it IS Carol Danvers. Which means Larson isn't her mother. Which makes since because she's actually Mar-Vell. Who's... well, not the mother.)

The Good Lady Ms. Captain Carol Marvel "I-Can-Boil-Tea-With-My-Bare-Hands-Which-Shoot-Lasers-Too" Danvers Ma'am

"You're jacket. Mom doesn't let me wear it anymore after I spilled ketchup on it."

I dont know this kid's name but I really really like her.

"Call me young lady again and I'll put my foot in a place it's not supposed to be."

... that one is more clever with context but whatever

"Am I supposed to guess where that is?" "Your ass"

Monika. That's the kid's name. She's great.

Ah, more ancient relics they call "tech" lol

FLY TIME

Do a barrel roll

She did a barrel roll!

"Your blood is uhhh blue" "yeah but how's my hair"

Ah, "Vers" bc they assumed that was her name. Interesting.

Also I want to get super power by blowing something up that's way cooler than being bitten by a stupid spider

Is she human? Is she not? I've no clue

The skrull are the good guys. Things are starting to make sense again.

... maybe I should've pushed to watch this before far from home.

... huh.

... is she human?

Okay so I'm still a little confused but I think I got it.

Though I won't say I dont want something else to blow up

"Those aren't coordinates they're orbital vectors." "It's basic physics." "Couldnt you figure that out? You're my science guy."

"I just think you should consider what kind of example you're setting for your daughter." That's it. That's the best line in the whole movie. Time to go.

Her suit can change colors on a whim!?!

That's awesome

I DIG THE NEW LOOK

I mean I saw it in Endgame but

"How do I look?" "Fresh" lmao 90s

RONIN NO

GOOSE YES

"What's a cat?" xD

"Why would I turn into a filing cabinet?"

Space lab. Cool.

Is that the tesseract??

THAT'S THE TESSERACT

She can pick it up!!

Does that mean she could've wielded the Infinity Gauntlet??????

Pinball lmao

968700!?!???!??!!?!!??!?!???!??!?!??!?!?!?

HOLY FLERKEN SHIP

GOOSE

YES CAROL

GET EMOTIONED

KICK HIS BUTT

GOOSE NOOOO

Those bastards

"Only human" HEY I RESENT THAT

THE FACT THAT YOUR HUMAN FILLS YOU WITH DETERMINATION

GOOD LADY MISS CAPTAIN CAROL MARVEL DANVERS MISS AWESOME MA'AM SENPAI SAMA

SHE'S A SUPER SAIYAN

PURE OF HEART AND AWAKENED BY FURY

(I'm still hilarious)

GOOSE DID THE THING

This is awesome why dont more people love it???

"Good kitty"

This very quickly went from Star Wars to Dragon Ball and I am loving it

She really is an anime character

Did she? Is that? Nerf gun?

Okay Carol isnt that much god mode there was just a nerd gun on the floor okay cool yeah sure

"Just like Havana" TALOS YOU BEAUTIFUL--

Remember how captain america jumped to the outside of a plane and fought through it? Yeah CM just did that in SPACE take that Steve

Still dont know how I feel about the helmet thing though

JUST LIKE BEGGAR'S CANYON BACK HOME

RONIN

Yeah, those are explosions

Ronin: O_O

Ronin: .... yeah bye

"I have nothing to prove to you."

HECK YEAH. GO CAROL. LASER HIS BUTT.

Fury lost his eye! GOOSE HE TRUSTED YOU

*thinks back to that moment in Winter Soldier*

"You were Solar and the SHIELD agent?" Omg Carol yes keep up

Fury SINGS?!?!

So like, are her powers just straight up energy manipulation? Because that's pretty cool. Really versatile, too

The way she started the engine makes it seem so

And then she just,,,,,, flies away. Into the night. Like stardust in the wind.

Dig the jacket, though

"The Protector Initiative"

It begins......

"Is it true? The Kree burned your eye out because you refused to give them the tesseract?" "I will neither confirm nor deny the facts of that story"

Lmao Fury

"CAPT CAROL "AVENGER" DANVERS"

"The Avenger Initiative"

It didnt actually show it but we know

Also, dig the music

Aaand now we see, 20ish years later, the snappening

"I wanna know who's on the other end of that thing"

First of all I love that they dont call it a pager because it's 2018 wtf is a pager amirite?

Second, I love how Carol is just there. Great reveal. 1007391861604016/10

"Where's Fury?" D:

Better question, where is Goose???

*one roll of credits later*

Oh! :D

Lmao the tesseract

God this movie is amazing

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octopusunoreverse · 4 years

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Book covers from around the world

Not all book publishing company's around the world are going to have different views on what is going to be rational for their audiences, as different contraries have different cultures referring to the media they consume, the religion they follows and the laws that the country, this can also boil down to the censorship rules they have as well.

If I was to look at a popular set of books such as ‘Harry Potter’ that is a wildly loved over the world, and due to these different publishing companies and there thought progress.

Indonesia

Overview Indonesia book cover is honestly so beautiful and intrigue, the composition flows together so well, the use of colour light purple/lavender and the orange used for the font makes it stand out while not drawing the eyes to far from the detail illustrations, the illustration itself tells you so much info without actually giving to much away to a first time reader. this extends to the back cover, even though it is a pastels down edit with less opacity it works so much better than if it was just a pure flat colour background with the blurb over the top, were as with this one the lower opacity flows better with the rest of the book and and it docent attract from the blurb.and the next thing was the type that was used was the same as the original but the colour dose stand out well against the purple used, that being said they are complementary colours. this book cover I could tell that the heavy illustration on this book would be directed at children but the high level of the art done on this cover that I think this would work so well for all ages.

Sweden

Overview Sweden’s book cover is whimsical, the image involves a lot of colour and depictions of magic, people and items that are in the movies, the illustration docent allude that strongly to the event that happen in the movie as much and mostly shows of the amazing illustration done, the colours are so bright and eye catching the main protagonist Harry is clearly seen in the foreground, the artist put a lot more energy onto doing this as the background fades off into the background (perspective) though i do think that adds to the idea that the story has yet to begin and there is a adventure that they will have to follow, and the next thing was the type that was used was the same as the original but the artists used white stands out against very well against the very colourful book cover, the amount of magical element of the entire illustration I can tell right away that this is fall children of all ages, I personal would buy this myself.

United Kingdom

Overview the United Kingdom new book covers show the word the book creates in more detail with the illustration, the illustration is from the scene where they arrive to Hogwarts, they did a well job at using the light in the background bringing forth the building of Hogwarts and the characters in the foreground, I personally enjoy the fact that they changed the original text which is nice because having looked at all these different book coves from around the world and lots of them use original title, so this was nice, plus I like how it fells a lot more modern and works a lot better for this book cover, I can tell straight away that this version of the UK books are directed towards children right way.

Denmark

Overview Denmark is very realistic with the design, it looks like it could of been painted in oil paint, I think the realism in this book cover itself ruins the magic the story tends to carry, I can defiantly tell this was directed more towards the older audience with the chosen style, but the depiction of the chess set peaces beautify express one of the scenes from the book where Ron and harry use the giant chess peaces in a challenge in Hogwarts dungeon, this ones type gives me very much 90′s vibe and its the most redeeming quality of this plain book cover, this book cover decently gives me the idea that its pointed towards a older audience.

Japan

Overview Japan’s book cover is very interesting, it feels personal to japans own culture and view of the supernatural/magic. the use of pastels, reminds me of childhood drawings, the colours show both the magical wonder and the danger that emanates related from the story, everything hidden in shadows, aluminised only by the moon reflecting on the lake, with japans type they used the trade mark type but other than that and the English title at the top, but they use some quite normal type of the Japanese symbols/language. I honestly can't tell what age range I'm assumed its for a child the entire book covers format is kinda confusing to me.

The United States of America

Overview I personally think that the USA is quite boring, don't get me wrong the colours intriguing to a child and the imagery especial intriguing to boys, but it dose depicted the title of the book it depicts the chamber of secrets, and snakes and the phoenix, and seeing this I think its honestly a boring and plain presentation of a book that contains so much more. also on the artistic view of it I dont like how everything looks to soft around the edges of it; it looks like it would just slip off the page, its just too fuzzy for me to particularly focus on any of it; thought this I most likely due to the artist of the covers preferred medium probably being something that has a chalky look to it obviously a hand based medium, possibly chalk, oil pastels or just plain colour pencils. overall I can defiant see that this was a safe chose for a book directed at children.

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resonanteye · 4 years

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via https://is.gd/IEusfG

horror movie talk with LFR

My friend Lucy F. R. has really great taste in movies.

I don’t say that lightly. You all know (if you’ve been reading me a while) how fussy I am about horror/weirdshit and how many movies I’ve watched. It’s my actual hobby, unrelated to anything else I do, purely for enjoyment. It’s hard for me to find people to talk about movies with, really- my uncle, who first introduced me to horror movies, and weird cinema, and one or two friends. So I’m really happy to have a conversation here about movies with someone.

Sal doesn’t take any shit from no man. (Beyond the Valley of the Ultravixens)

(R: me, L:them)

R: you’re on a grimy southern/grind horror kick right now. But what genre do you like best? What feeling are you after?

LFR: Horror is my favorite genre, I just get very into specific branches. I always want to end up saying to myself “this is a GOOD movie”.

R: What’s the best of the batch you’ve been into recently?

LFR:The Dunwich Horror (the 70’s one), Ghost Galleon, House By The Cemetery, Werewolves On Wheels, and Tourist Trap.

R: Tell me about Werewolves on Wheels. I just watched Dog Soldiers again, and I’ve been on a werewolf kick.

(Swamp Water)

LFR: Wait, you haven’t seen it? It’s about a small biker gang that are on their way to the desert and come across a monastery that they think is abandoned but come to find out it’s not and a mysterious cult interacts with them. The cult takes one of the biker girls and puts her in a ritual. The bikers take her back from them and go back on the road, but don’t know that ~one~ of them is now a werewolf at night.

R: People reading might not have seen it. I usually try to explain a little when I start talking about stuff, especially the lists I make.

I feel like this could turn into a list?

I saw a short film recently also with a werewolf- soldiers are in WWII, surrounded by Nazis in an old police station. There’s a woman in a cell that’s locked herself in and they get stuck in there with her. She’s a werewolf and they turn so they can beat the Nazis.

I feel like- the older werewolf stuff, I think 60s to early 80s, a lot of it was hippie panic. Manson references.

I felt like Werewolves on Wheels is also backlash on feminism, like a lot of gory stuff from that time.

LFR: It felt like a backlash on feminism and hippies.

(Vamp)

R: with werewolves and vampires there’s the whole homophobic/transphobic thing too. “secret monsters” and all that.

what movies would you compare it to? what’s close to it, in feeling?

LFR: In feeling as in how it made me feel while watching it for the first time: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, House Of 1,000 Corpses, Ghost Galleon. I just know it’s a movie that I’ll recommend to everyone and watch over and over.

Aesthetics and mood-wise: Warriors, Clockwork Orange, Hammer Film movies.

R:yeah it’s got that grit to it. easy rider/warriors. I actually haven’t seen Ghost Galleon. Rip it up for me a little.

LFR: Oh man, so

I get really into bands and for the past few years I always look up what my favorite band member’s favorite movies are, or movies that feel like the music genre. So recently I’ve just been super into doom and stoner metal, naturally I’ve been listening to a lot of Electric Wizard. I asked a bunch of doom metal fb groups “what’s the most doom metal movie you’ve seen” and eventually I somehow found Ghost Galleon. It’s a movie that is not good. Very low budget. Like Ed Wood status. But it’s REALLY good.

These swim suit models go out on a shoot and stumble across a ship that should not be afloat still and is completely abandoned. They get stuck on the ship so friends come looking for them. But the ship’s crew is a satanic cult and they come alive and, to keep from spoiling, all hell breaks loose. And it’s THE most doom metal movie you will ever watch. It has it all- mood, aesthetic, and story wise.

R:so bad, it’s incredible. sounds perfect.

LFR: it’s on prime.

R: FUCK YEAH

you guys are always using my prime and my Netflix and my Hulu. you think this is a costume? this is a way of life

R:when I started watching musician friends’ recommendations I ended up discovering Green Room.

The last time before that, it was Pighunt, which is to this day one of my favorite movies.

LFR: You told me to watch that one years ago. I recommend it to basically anyone who will listen to me.

R:it’s like the least sexist least racist southern-USA monster movie ever made.

LFR:Les Claypool’s roll in that has forever changed how I see him. When I saw Primus all I could see him as was a hillbilly preacher.

R: yep completely.

let’s talk about art horror. the weird shit. seen anything good there lately?

(The Horde)

LFR:The Girl On The Third Floor. It was weird and a little comical, but I enjoyed it. I Am The Pretty Thing Living In The House is REALLY good but it’s a little weird and a major slow burn. And, Society, but that’s more body horror than art house horror.

R:Society is a classic. Body horror and class war. So amazing. I thought I am the pretty thing was a lot of fluff- I understand the drive to slow-burn right now, it’s nostalgic. But I think it’s one of the movies where they went too far into the slow burn.

If I’m going to wait 90 minutes, that girl better taste some damn butter. You know?

LFR: I can see why but I also saw it as more of a classic gothic horror story so the pace didn’t bother me too much.

R:I kind of got tired of Gothic horror at some point. The slow burn. I think I was too interested in French and Korean extreme and gore for a minute.

LFR: I’m a sucker for gothic horror and black and white universal monsters.

R:I liked Late Phases- that kind of straddled the line for me really well. Which brings us back to werewolves, strangely enough.

I have been seeing more elderly characters in movies, which I like a lot.

LFR: I love creepy old women and demonic children in films. I feel like The Visit sparked people’s interest in elderly characters in horror.

R: yes! I agree. I really like variety- diversity. ” 5 teenagers on a road trip ” movies… it gets tiring. Bland.

not to mention that there’s actually Black people and elderly women in movies now.

LFR: Road trip gone wrong horror is good but, you gotta do it right.

R:tell me about one that you think gets it right.

LFR: The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It paved the way.

R: it did pave the way. that there were pockets of deep weird hate in this country- I think the suburbs were really shocked by it. but if you grew up in bumfuck nowhere it was less shocking.

I think Dead End is the ultimate “road trip gone wrong” movie. Urban legend plot, Ray Wise, Lin Shaye. Just incredible pacing.

LFR: I haven’t seen that one, I’ll have to watch it.

R:oh, you’re going to love it.

I feel like the Hills Have Eyes deserves a mention here. though it’s more a “trapped on purpose” movie than a road trip.

LFR: That’s a “vacation gone wrong” horror movie, and it’s definitely one of the best ones. Vacation and road trip movies are two different branches of a genre to me.

R:I think of them as “wrong turn” vs “bad directions”. like they stumbled into trouble is one genre. they were purposely hunted/trapped, is another.

LFR:Yes, exactly!

R: like a vacation movie that’s a trap- hills have eyes a vacation movie that’s an accident- Jurassic Park

Texas chainsaw massacre is both a road trip and a vacation, an accident and a trap.

tell me about a movie that’s got a plot hole, or has kept you thinking afterward, lately. for me it’s been resolution/the endless, and residue. residue in particular. how do they keep that book? why such a dumb ending? resolution/endless bugs me and I have to watch it again- time loops force me to do math, and I end up a little obsessed with figuring out timelines.

(Requiem for a Vampire)

LFR:Horror wise, 3 From Hell. I keep thinking about how different of a movie it originally was going to be. But also, still, HOW did they survive the shoot out from Devil’s Rejects just… miraculously??? And how come this new Firefly brother was never mentioned previously whatsoever??

R:OMG yes. I couldn’t. I got too wrapped up in plot holes to enjoy it!

LFR:I still enjoyed it for what it was but yeah, I was like WAIT WHAT??? every ten minutes.

R:what about not-horror?

LFR: Picnic At Hanging Rock.

We’ve come for the crites.

R: oh yeah. that’s the kind of movie you think hard about the rest of the day. what’s your theory on the ending?

man I just went to find a photo from it and they made a show? what the hell.

have you seen The Fields? It’s set where I grew up, it’s got…a vibe. Stuck with me.

LFR: Honestly? I can’t come up with a theory on what happened. It just really feels like they simply vanished.

I haven’t seen it. Tell me about it.

(The Fields)

R: There’s a menacing thing in the cornfields. A kid has shitty parents and is sent to stay with family. The farm is in the middle of all cornfields… there’s an abandoned little amusement park that lures him. It’s based on an actual place- a tiny amusement park that flooded and was shut down. it’s still there abandoned, right next to the town I grew up in!

cornfields are extremely creepy. it’s so easy to get lost in them.

The main characters- it’s got all the bad mountain people shit going on, abuse, drinking, violence, and then more because of the presence in the fields. pretty good stuff.

not a slow burn. a medium burn.

LFR:I’m definitely watching it

R: you’ll like it. big Jughead mood.

(and then I got tired and they I think did too, so that’s all for today)

I hope I get to do this again soon: I fuckin LOVE to talk horror.

Not your baby.

If you want to support LFR in some way, wear a mask, stay the fuck home, support BLM and trans rights, and get your government reps to continue unemployment payments for gig AND other workers. Seriously.

#halloween #horror #horror art #horror movies #interview with the artist #morbid art #movie reviews #weird #deep thoughts #journal #learning #love #macabre #posts with lists in them #reviews #true stories

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rememberthattime · 5 years

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Chapter 46. Australian Bucket List

Australia is a big country. You wouldn’t guess by its population, but geographically speaking, it’s the sixth biggest country in the world. SIXTH! It’s basically the size of the lower 48 US states.

Now, what comes with geographic vastness? Rednecks. Nooo-Wait, actually yes. But also diverse ecosystems. Think of the US: Washington forests are nothing like the plains of Iowa or swamps of Louisiana.

Now, in our 14 months down unda, Chelsay and I have visited several unique Aussie ecosystems, but have mostly grown accustomed to Manly’s: “80 & sunny”. If Australia is the size of the lower 48 though, there are countless climates & terrains waiting to be explored.

So, for our 10-day Easter trip, Chelsay and I teamed up with our Manly fam Pete & Megan to see how many different Aussie ecosystems (and related footwear requirements) we could find.

Part 1: Sandals

The first stop in our Grand Aussie Tour was Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. This place is pure relaxation… but it’s also classy so you can’t just walk around barefoot.

Instead of cars, visitors buzz around the small island in golf carts like they’re in some Florida retirement community. Actually, Hamilton Island kind of reminds me of a picturesque island in the Keys. The Whitsundays are too manicured to be exactly like Florida, but if you catch Key West in the right light, it might resemble Hamilton Island’s palm-lined beaches, small community feel, and charming boutique (singular, as everything on this tiny island is).

The Whitsundays aren’t known for “being like Key West” though... They’re known for turquoise waters and bleached white beaches. Like, the best bleached white beaches in the world. And the best of the best bleached white beaches is Whitehaven, consistently ranked among the prettiest places in Australia. What makes it so great? One, it’s a beach – people love beaches. Two, its 4.5 miles of silica-infused white sand, bumping right against the bright blue Whitsunday waters. If that isn’t enough, on its northern end, the bright beach yields to tidal inflows forming Hill Inlet, where the white sand and turquoise waters fuse to form colors you’d only imagine on canvas.

Hill Inlet is more than a painting though, and the best way to see it is from above: *Aussie accent* choppaaa’.

It was Chelsay and I’s first time in a helicopter, so even the flight itself was fun. Surrounded by windows, we had unobstructed views for the heli’s bizarre maneuverers: vertical take-off, hovering without moving, side-to-side rotations… and of course the escaping-villain-feeling when the pilot accelerates and the nose of the helicopter dips forward.

Our pilot quickly passed Chelsay as the coolest person I knew, so I flooded him with questions.

Mike: “Have you seen the latest Mission Impossible – can you do a chopper flip like Tom Cruise??”

Pilot: “No.”

Mike: “Well can you do barrel rolls??”

Pilot: “No.”

Mike: “Have you flown anyone famous??”

Pilot: “Oprah flew with us once.”

Chelsay chimes in: Oprah voice* “We’re FLY-INNNGGGG!”

…Chelsay has retaken her coolest person title.

Back to the flight. Our itinerary had us flying 20 minutes from Hamilton Island to Whitehaven Beach, landing on the beach, kicking it for an hour, then returning to Hamilton Island. Bad news though: the weather during our first leg was dreadful. Dense grey clouds and a sheet of rain meant we couldn’t see anything… Not the pristine beach, not the bright blue water, not the Hill Inlet. Plus the pilot wouldn’t do a barrel roll.

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The rain actually yielded a bit as we landed on Whitehaven, so the pilot pulled out a picnic basket: fruits, cheeses, and two bottles of champagne. Now, on one hand, it was 9:30 am. But on the other, we’d just taken a private helicopter to a secluded beach. Morning champagne must be protocol for rich people vacations… along with bathrobes and hotel rooms with HBO.

Luckily the clouds soon parted and we took advantage, playing around in the sun, silica sand, blue skies, and warm water.

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On the flight back, we were treated to the tidal fusion of Hill Inlet and the gleaming turquoise coastlines of the Whitsundays. Still no barrel rolls though.

The remainder of our time in Hamilton Island was spent relaxing. These few days took on a quiet, tranquil routine: slow starts with coffee on our back patio, homemade lunches (the best of which were our steak, egg, & tater breakfast burritos), cocktails starting at noon, and maybe a leisurely afternoon activity (hill-top hikes, critter catching, or throwing rocks into puddles so that we could capture the splash in slow-mo). Read those activities again, and then consider they came after the midday cocktails. Makes sense.

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We’d wrap up each peaceful day with colorful sunsets from One Tree Hill, before breaking out the board games: the newlyweds game, Bananagrams, and our homemade version of Pictionary. How do you draw koala chlamydia?

As the first stop in our 10-day tour, the Whitsundays were meant to be a transitional limbo between the mental mindsets of work & play. Before heading to the really extreme Aussie ecosystems, these couple days in Hamilton Island gave us all a chance to exhale.

Part 2: Flippers

After flip-flop friendly Hamilton Island, our Manly fam was heading north for a few days on the Great Barrier Reef. Although the Whitsundays also border the GBR, remote “Far North Queensland” offers more pristine diving.

We had an extra day before our live-aboard departed from Cairns, so we decided to roadtrip up from Hamilton Island. On a map, this doesn’t look too far… They’re both in North Queensland and have easy access to the GBR, right? No. This is Australia. It’s a 7.5 hour drive.

This is actually a really impressive gauge for how big the GBR is: we drove 7.5 hours along the coast and didn’t leave the reef. Anyway, the drive wasn’t a problem for us: we were more than content with the West Cork murder podcast, beautiful sugar cane plantation views, and a brief stop at the Cardwell natural pools.

Flipper-based activities began the next day. Our overnight liveaboard gave us six dives in 24 hours, all further offshore than any day-trip could venture. This is the beauty of a liveaboard: the boat is always moving, so you aren’t anchored to nearshore dive sites. In fact, our liveaboard was so far out, it didn’t even come into the Cairns’ port: you have to bum a “taxi” ride via day-tripper boats.

The ride with the day-trippers was an experience in itself. Joining a liveaboard means you’re probably pretty ocean savvy: you’re committing to a bed that rocks back-and-forth with the waves all night. On the other hand, the day-trip boat is for those with less experience seeking a taste of sea life… Unfortunately for many first-timers, that taste was barf.

It was chaos. Imagine the Battle of Winterfell scene where the living are swarmed by the Army of the Dead… Pete, Megan, Chelsay and I were the living. One of us was Brienne with her back against the wall. One of us was Greyworm, white-faced zombies crawling all over our legs. I was Sam: in the corner, crying among the chaos. While the boat’s crew bravely carried on explaining how to put a snorkel mask on (seriously!… the mask is shaped like a face!), roughly 10% of the passengers were throwing up off the stern. One guy didn’t even make it to the back and just threw up in a towel. I tried to escape the carnage in the boat’s bathroom – as I was in there though, some guy ripped open the lock in sheer panic. God bless the crew who probably deal with this every single day.

Our taxi eventually arrived at the liveaboard and Pete, Megan, Chelsay, and I disembarked as quickly as possible. The liveaboard’s vibe couldn’t have been more juxtaposed: in the large, wood-clad foyer, other visitors were lounging on leather couches, enjoying tea, coffee, and fruit, and comparing different sea life they’d seen that day.

We weren’t on the liveaboard to mingle though, so we geared up and were 30 feet under in no time. Rather than write dive-by-dive, I’ll speak broadly across our six dives.

The sea life was vibrant and abundant: bright pink, electric blue, lime green, highlighter yellow. And that could be just ONE fish. Chelsay compared it to wearing those 90s Starter jackets.

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The reef was also in better shape than I expected. Although we’d intentionally visited well-preserved sites in Far North Queensland, I’d still heard discouraging reviews. Maybe this set lower expectations, but we found packed gardens of hard and soft coral, thriving fish communities, and reef structures larger than any we’d seen in the Maldives or Indonesia.

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Chelsay and I also did our first night dive. I didn’t take a video (you wouldn’t be able to see anything), but it was a bizarre experience. 20 feet under the surface, you’re surrounded by pitch black. Your body is moving forward, but you have no bearing of direction: am I swimming up or down? Left or right? Towards safety or into a shark?

Diving already feels like floating through space, but completely void of light, the experience is even more extra-terrestrial. We used flashlights sparingly, which illuminated some strange nocturnal sea life: a crown of thorns starfish, a giant five-foot potato cod, several moray eels, and a venomous lionfish. At one point, the instructor gathered Pete, Megan, Chelsay, and I in a circle and had us turn off our flashlights. She then swiped her hands toward the middle of the circle and, through the pitch black, blue specks floated through the void. Bioluminescent plankton had been illuminated by her movement.

This bioluminescent plankton was probably the most bizarre sea creature we saw, but it certainly had contenders. In our day-dives, we also saw a color-changing octopus, a flying feather starfish, a flat flounder (whose eyes can migrate from one side of their face to the other), several 5+ foot reef sharks, moray eels, giant clams, and a HUMAN-SIZED BARRACUDA! These fish probably had similar reviews of the four bizarre humans they saw:

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To wrap up this flipper-based section, I’d like to reiterate that we were 30 feet underwater for 6 hours in a 24 hour period. That’s a lot of time in a different world, but also a lot of time plodding a heavy metal tank along the bottom of the ocean… Based on the GBR’s vibrant colors and scale, unmatched anywhere else on Earth, I wish we could’ve been down there longer.

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Part 3: Shoes

Now comes the portion of the trip where we had to wear shoes, a real bummer until you consider the exciting destination: Daintree Rainforest.

Daintree is the oldest rainforest in the world, formed during the JURASSIC period 180 million years ago. Wait, WHAT!? Just read that sentence again. Dinosaurs first appeared ~220 million years ago, and went extinct 60 million years ago. For reference, the Amazon is only 50 million years old. That means Daintree saw the entire rise and fall of the DINOSAUR SPECIES, while the Amazon slept in & missed the whole thing.

Back to present day. The entrance to the park is a short ferry across the Daintree River. Let me paint a picture for you: here we are, four homo sapiens sitting on one-side of the prehistoric Daintree River, waiting for a ferry to take us into the National Park. I can’t even comprehend the scale of Earth’s history that stared back across that river. At some point in this forest’s life, a stegosaurus drank from this same water way. Meanwhile, I’m sitting in a Mitsubishi ASX, streaming the West Cork murder podcast from my iPhone. That stegosaurus was 60 million years too early to see a human, let alone our species’ invention of commerce, capitalism, the wheel, automobiles, satellites, the murder mystery genre, microchips, gorilla glass and every other advancement that made my existential reflection possible. This time scale is impossible to grasp, but the thought of a stegosaurus popping out onto the road felt like a real possibility in this prehistoric jungle.

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Moving on, I’d say our main activity while in Daintree was sweating. It wasn’t that hot (around 80), but the humidity had to be at 10,000%. We went on two different hikes and I was drenched no more than 10 steps in.

Our two hikes were Mossman Gorge and Jindalba, with the latter being a true jungle bush walk. Mossman was nice, and included some of the strangest vegetation I’d seen: massive buttress roots and vines so heavy that they choke the trees from which they hang.

That said, Mossman was pretty touristy (gift store, crowded parking lot, boardwalks), but Jindalba felt far more natural. We genuinely had to brace buttressed roots for grip along the red jungle floor, all the while on the lookout for massive bugs, leaches, wild pigs, and cassowaries.

Beyond the whole “age thing”, Daintree’s other unique trait is that it bumps directly against the Great Barrier Reef. Underwater and overwater jungles side-by-side. Our best views of the reef meeting the rainforest came at Cape Tribulation, where we used Pete & Megan’s drone to take in the stark blend of green treetops, white sand, and turquoise waters. When you look at the below picture, just remember how many bugs there are in the dense green part.

With the unique mix of rainforest vegetation and saltwater nutrients, Cape Trib also hosts several mangrove forests, where Daintree’s oldest living tenants call home: crocodiles. These salt water residents can grow up to 15 feet long, and have been roaming Daintree for its entire existence (again, 180 million years). Let me take a quick pause: I’m writing about Day 6 of our 10-day trip, and to this point, I’d only seen 1 or 2 crocs in my life – they were in zoos. Over the next 3.5 days though, I’d see at least 100.

That’s jumping ahead though. Our next stop in Daintree was Emmagen Creek. After Cape Trib, we were debating whether we should just head back to Port Douglas for dinner… and a shower. We were REALLY sweaty, but it was also only 3:00, so we guilted ourselves into one more walk. We’d read about the Emmagen Creek hike, but there just wasn’t much information available. For reference, this is probably the internet’s longest article about Daintree.

We traversed an unsealed road to the trailhead, and packed for the unknown: plenty of water, bug spray, sunscreen, and bathing suits just in case. With numerous croc warnings, we didn’t expect to swim, but there’s no harm in bringing suits.

We started down the trail, again without much information where we were going, and quickly realized the trail wasn’t as long as we expected. After just 10 minutes, we hit Emmagen Creek. There was a long rope swing hanging from the tree, and we arrived just as someone was Tarzan swinging into the creek. Shouldn’t we worry about crocs? There were other people hanging downstream, so I guess they’d be easier prey.

After hiking through 10,000% humidity, cooling off in the creek was the perfect way to end the day, and a welcome surprise given how little we knew about the hike. We played around on the rope swing: Chelsay did some cannonballs, Megan showed Olympic-level steeze, and I… took a different approach.

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We’d leave for our fourth Aussie ecosystem the next day, but not before stopping at Hartley’s Crocodile Farm to learn about Australia’s deadliest animal. Our guide had been doing croc shows for 30 years, and therefore quickly replaced Chelsay as the coolest person I know.

Some highlights from his show:

Aussie crocs have the strongest bite ever recorded – 3700 lbs/sq inch, compared to a lion’s bite of 1000 or a human’s bite of 150.

Australia’s most poisonous snake is an inland taipan – one drop of its venom could kill 250,000 mice or 100 humans.

Cassowaries are just velociraptors with feathers, and I'm glad we didn't see one in the wild.

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I’m glad we learned all this after our day in wild Daintree.

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Part 4: More shoes

Hartley’s taught us about Australia’s crocs, snakes, and spiders… And now I’ll never where sandals in Australia. That’s especially true in our next destination: Kakadu National Park.

At this point in our Aussie adventure, we’d visited some of the prettiest beaches in the world, the oldest rainforest ever, and the largest organic structure on Earth... Yet somehow, Kakadu might be the most impressive of the bunch.

It’s a land before time. I realize Daintree is much older, but Kakadu felt truly pre-historic. It’s half the size of Switzerland yet somehow only has two hotels, four gas stations, and two paved roads – the rest is just red dirt tracks! Only about 500 people live in the park (mostly Aboriginal), and they’re outnumbered 20:1 by crocodiles! Also, literally NO ONE I know has been there. Not even the Aussies. Maybe because the closest town is Darwin, a city closer to Malaysia than it is to Sydney.

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Kakadu really is unspoiled. Just pure, perfect, and pristine nature. That isn’t to say it’s untouched though. Aboriginal people have called Kakadu home for nearly 65,000 years... They just haven’t screwed it up. Kakadu’s Aboriginal residents live by the laws of nature, looking for subtle signs in their surroundings to guide their daily, seasonal, and annual activities.

A perfect example is their land management techniques. In 2018, California experienced devastating wildfires that resulted in $3.5 billion in damages. Forest fires spark a number of ways, but they’re really fuelled when the fire catches dead brush – then they become uncontrollable. To avoid the same destruction this year, the state has taken extensive measures to clean out brush before the upcoming dry season, including dispatching brush-eating goats. This is 2019… and the big solution is goats.

Aboriginal people have had this under control for thousands of years! And it all comes from listening to the seasons. In Kakadu’s Aboriginal calendar, there are six seasons. We happened to visit during the dopest season: Banggereng. Banggereng (known by Aboriginals as Knock Em Down season) is like spring: it’s at the tail-end of Kakadu’s wet season, when up to a third of the park is flooded in 3 feet of water, but it’s not quite dry season, where wildfires become a risk. That makes it the perfect time for controlled burns to clean out the brush and avoid larger, less controllable fires during dry season. The crafty Aboriginal people didn’t need goats… They just paid attention to the season and acted accordingly.

I took an important lesson from this lifestyle. Aborginal people have lived off of and through the land for 65,000 years. By my brief observations, they didn’t have video games, or Instagram, or many other modern complications. A lot of the people I saw didn’t even have shoes! And yet, their needs were met. They were content, and smiling, and happy.

Now, I’m happy almost all the time, but there will always be things that frustrate me: traffic, work, the wifi signal dropping. Seeing the Aboriginal people’s much simpler lifestyle, but equal happiness, gave me perspective. Miles and miles away from any wifi signals, there were much simpler connections available.

That was a great pun, but I’ve digressed. I’ve written an entire page about Kakadu and not a single word was about what we did there.

We arrived in Kakadu in the late afternoon, and our first activity was a two-hour sunset cruise through the Yellow Water Billabong. If there is one place that inspired the past 600 words about my love of Kakadu, it’s Yellow Water. Our cruise guide’s family has lived in Kakadu for generations, and she used her knowledge of the billabong to show us the abundance of life it supports:

The jacana or “Jesus bird”, who walks on water by lightly hopping from lotus to lotus. Fun fact: they also hide their chicks in their feathers. Chelsay got a shot of one family snuggled up.

The black-necked stork

White bellied sea eagle

Hella saltwater crocs, sneakily poking their eyes above water, or showing their teeth to intimidate the boat

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The scene was just incredible – so natural. Green grass filled the flood plains, ripples from the Jesus birds dotted the blue water, and the blazing red sun set under the horizon. Our guide’s commentary significantly enhanced the experience, as we learned how her family adapts to Kakadu’s divergent seasons and lives from the land. Because our sunset tour was around dinner time, her take on “living from the land” seemed especially food-focused: our guide would point at a bird or plant, then just talk about how she eats it – “We bop it on the head, stick in a ground oven, and let it cook.”

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Needless to say, we loved the billabong tour, and actually did the exact same tour the next morning for sunrise.

After touring a croc-infested creek, it only made sense to visit one of Kakadu’s most famous swimming holes: Gunlom. Obviously we’d done our research to make sure they were croc-free, but to quote the guy sitting next to me on the Darwin flight: “It’s not the crocs you see that get ya.”

Actually, before talking about Gunlom, I’ll quickly mention how lucky we’d timed our trip. Earlier, I wrote that we visited Kakadu during Bangarreng, the transitional period between wet & dry season. As previously stated, Bangerrang the dopest time of year, but it does come with some risks. As wet-season flood waters recede from the vast plains, roads slowly open and croc-inspections begin. There are 10,000 crocs in Kakadu and its half the size of Switzerland, so it takes the rangers a bit of time to give the All-Clear. I checked the park website and found Gunlom’s average opening was mid-May, but we were travelling at the end of April.

Lucky for us, it was an especially mild wet season, which meant Gunlom opened just in time. Pete, Megan, Chelsay, and I would be the Guinea pigs testing the water. Joking, the park rangers don’t mess around. There’s actually a TV show that follows Kakadu’s rangers around – like the Aussie version of Cops. “Bad crocs, bad crocs, whatcha gonna do?”

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The Gunlom Pools are nearly as famous as the park’s croc-fighting cops, and were featured in Crocodile Dundee (which only emphasizes how ‘Straya they are).

The pools sit above Gunlom Waterfall, and the views from the top were just stunning. A slow-moving creek tumbling between tiered pools, red stone walls sharply descending into the deep dark water, all with elevated views over the surrounding plains.

It was 95 degrees out, but our group stayed comfortable in the cool water. Things felt easy going here. Gunlom didn’t have an epic or ethereal feel – it was just an ideal natural setting to casually kick it: we had a bottle of wine with us, we were splashing around, just taking in the views. I’d consider living in this remote speck of Australia, forced to “bop” things on the head for food, just to relax in the Gunlom pools whenever I wanted (...and let my legs weirdly float up - see picture below).

Gunlom is in the south-western end of Kakadu, and our accommodation that night was way up in the north-eastern tip. To break up this big drive, we made a pit stop at Nourlangie Rock, one of many Aboriginal rock art sites in the park. These paintings document Aboriginal legends (e.g. the Lighting God, who brings the floods preceding Bangerrang) and life in the region over the past 20,000 YEARS. I might be misinterpreting the drawings, but it looks like they liked to party.

It was getting close to sunset, and I’m basic, so we visited nearby Nawurlandja Lookout to enjoy Kakadu’s natural nightly show. After a short hike, we perched ourselves atop a rocky outcrop, and quietly took in the kaleidoscope of colours changing above the Anbangbang floodplains. The cliffs of empty Arnhem Land glowed red in the distance, while Chelsay went all Annie Lebowitz with the camera.

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The next day was the last of our trip. We started with a morning hike to Mirai Lookout, before our long trip back to Darwin. With plenty of daylight left, we decided to stop in Litchfield National Park on the way up.

Litchfield is like Kakadu (swimming holes, crocs, etc), but a bit smaller & closer to Darwin. That said, it still has some stunning waterfalls, as we stopped at Wangi, Florence, and Tolmer Falls. While cooling off in our 17th swimming hole of the trip, Chelsay impressed some young’ns with her back flip abilities -- ”Still got it”. Later in Litchfield, our Manly fam also “captured” a few new Aussie Pokemon: two dingos and a water monitor.

Whew – made it! That was our 10-day Aussie adventure. This was a long post too: 4500 words.

I’m thinking about how to pull this all together, and I keep coming back to the fact that Chelsay and I are nearing the tail-end of our time in Australia. Plans are afoot & moves are being made, but I’ll save all this for a later post.

That just means this could be our last big Aussie escapade, and if so, it was a bucket-list adventure fitting for our final trip: four iconic Australian geographies, four distinct ecosystems, and a range of related footwear requirements. If this was our last adventure Down Unda, we went out with a bang(errang).

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courteneyf98 · 5 years

Photo

25/03/19

Project Title: Unbiased

Visual Research

(Reflect on the subject matter of the photograph and specify the material you used in developing your idea)

At the start of the unit, we all discussed in a group our individual ideas and proposal in order to see which of ours is the best option and what our likes and dislikes are towards our objectives. After consideration, we chose Kamille’s idea which was an image inspired by the movie Trainspotting. We decided this because we thought it was one of the more interesting and intriguing options from the selection, as many of the choices were ones which I had encountered before. This image included the use of drugs in this scenario and it is surrounded by the drug use of heroin. We wanted to create a relationship between the two models as they both take the drug and both feeling dazed and high from it. Additionally, the relationship between the two have to be strong as they have a connection between the two but individually lost in life. The colour palette would be warmer tones, brown for comfort, cooler tones: yellow and green/blue for more intense colour. This is simple but effective.

Aims, Objectives, Concept

(How and to what extent have you achieved the aims and objectives of the image? Describe the main concept driving the image)

The main inspiration is photography from the movie Trainspotting. This is the most ubiquitous films ever made due to its high demand for alluring aesthetic and thematic grunge. It is perpetuated by the ‘too cool’ aesthetic as it glamorises heroin use and drug culture. As a viewer, the visual and political legacy from this film is the life of a bunch of hopeless junkies & focuses on the nature of addiction. The main character lists that all younger generations have aspirations to have all factors in life such as a sturdy job, career, good health, materialistic things, however within this group this is not the case at all as they are out of the ordinary.

Much of the photography reflects a documentary vibe while the content plays with surrealism. The audience has a sense that photography portrays the main character understanding of the world whilst he is in under the influence of drugs. Our main aims and objectives were to convey graphics realism and wanted to create an overdose scene, such as the close up of needles to portray how injection works (a belt around the arm as a prop to get a realistic factor) whilst the models in our shot have an expressive emotion and look like they are having a surreal daydream. This theme extends to the way perceptions can be at odds with reality because taking drugs is not the norm thing to do and are judged purely on one aspect that can ruin your persona. The characters reality is not often considered by most people’s perceptions.

As a group, we had to achieve the aims and objectives of the story behind the film and articulate it through the use of props, set up, lighting and models. I think that we did achieve this, however, an improvement would be the styling options for the model due to the fact that the aesthetic for the film is based on fashion such as pre-90s grunge. We could have styled the models in cropped or stained t-shirts & the original model was very skinny so it would have exposed that and have a lot of old-school denim in the shots to make it have that 90’s factor in our shots. But in some cases, our final image could suggest this generation (present day) of Trainspotting as our generation is more streetwear style now and have more of a laid-back look. However, after our models let us down we had to use individuals in the group (me and Kylion) as the subjects.

Production

(Please state clearly your role in the research, planning, and production of your group photograph)

Throughout production, I think that as a group we didn't have a set of roles that we’re giving out as we all treated the roles equally and helped one another out. In terms of research, we all individually brought our own ideas to the table but chose to use Kamille’s idea to use for this project. After this, for my own benefit, I began researching the film Trainspotting by watching the film and started to analyse the whole aspects of the movie and how we can impact that on our final photo.

In terms of planning, we made a group chat on WhatsApp in order to book studios and talk to one another about the idea. We planned as a group what we needed for our sets such as props, costumes, lighting, setting, and models. Our setting was our main priority as we wanted to look for a set-up that has a “crack den” aspect to it, I suggested we went to Brixton as I went there for a day out and thought it would be perfect for our setting. The only problem was there were no plug sockets for us to use our lighting kit which was a negative impact. This led us to use studio 4 at the University as we liked the black rusty wall with the poles.

A negative aspect about our group was we always needed a model and as a group, we are shy individuals so I always had to step in and be the main subject. This was a disadvantage for me as I wanted to always get involved with the lighting and shooting aspect but because I was always behind the camera, I lacked skills in this at the start. But towards the end I gradually, set up the lighting, always giving out suggestions and advice to the group and eventually using the camera to take pictures.

Research Methods

(What methods did you use to research this work and how did this research inform the final photograph)

Consequently, Trainspotting has been discussed as our research method as this is our inspiration. However, I already understood the idea around drugs due to the fact being at halls in university I am constantly around this generation of drug use and how this can affect people. I see people’s faces change and see how they cope with life using substances. They are normally out of it in terms of being quiet, anxious and paranoid which I wanted to attach this emotion in the shoot. Every day, you see on social media at least one person under the influence so I think with the younger generation we know how people react and how their life is portrayed as.

References

The references that we used were very important because we were inspired by photography from Trainspotting. So, by engaging and watching the film was an advantage because as a photographer, I fully grasped what idea we were going for. The whole film was evolved around the nature of addiction, whether one can be faulted for behaviors which can be driven by addiction, the source that addiction might be and the relief to break free from an addiction. They have terrible living conditions as they will endure in as long as they remain addicted. I think that we portrayed this in our photo due to the fact that the bed was on the floor without a bed frame, little use of blankets/duvet, everything being on the floor and being so unorganised.

As well as this, we wanted to make the relationship with the two subjects feel unconnected but connected at the same time. Unconnected in the sense of the lack of friendship they both have as during the movie the main character is friends with the wrong people. His friends use him and each other for their own means and don’t really care about each individual well-being. Their friendships are all toxic which is something that we analysed and wanted to gain. On the other hand, being in a sense of connection because they both have taken heroin so they are both feeling dazed by the drug. Our title is called “Unbiased” this synonym is to not be affected or influenced by someone’s beliefs or opinions.

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davidmann95 · 7 years

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The Nightwing Problem

I mentioned this the other day in passing, but I’ve got more thoughts on the subject: I’m no longer convinced Dick Grayson as Nightwing is a good idea, damn cool as that costume may be.

I was convinced. Tim Seeley, Javier Fernandez and their collaborators really knocked it out of the park with the introductory volume of the new Nightwing book spinning out of Grayson; it combined the best of the world-trotting vibe from that with the acid-tinged death trap gimmicks of Morrison’s time with Dick as Fun Batman, and while I don’t think that’s incompatible with just making him Batman again, it’s still different enough from the regular model that it’s reasonable to distinguish it with a whole other identity. If you were able to entirely divorce him from what Nightwing has meant up to this point, and really grab by the horns what Grayson and that first arc of the new book set up for him - the dashing globetrotting super-adventurer who can journey into morally murikier territory than Batman himself, because he’s not vulnerable in the same ways Bruce is vulnerable - I think it could’ve worked. It might’ve still had some issues that I’ll get into, but it could’ve worked in spite of them.

But you can’t really do that; Nightwing had over a hundred and fifty issues to himself in that name before this came along. And as we were just reminded when Seeley journeyed into more familiar territory (I’m pretty convinced the first arc of Nightwing was at least in part really a reconfigured version of what would have been an arc of Grayson), the name doesn’t actually come with much other than baggage at this point.

To be clear: the recent Blüdhaven story by Seeley, Marcus To and company was by no means a bad set of comics. Nightwing is still one of the most underrated, purely entertaining superhero books out there right now, and I’m tremendously looking forward to the upcoming Nightwing Must Die pitting him against an army of his greatest enemies, from the Talon to Pyg to fucking Deathwing. I also know bringing him back to his iconic city was Geoff Johns’ idea that Seeley had to implement, as I expect was bringing back his old ‘rogues gallery’. But it’s still an arc - hot on the heels of an opening titled Better Than Batman - built almost entirely around reaffirming his status as a third-tier offshoot of the actual brand of importance. It’s literally him teaming up with the villains who couldn’t hack it in Gotham, and it draws a clear line between him and them as being in similar positions. I dig setting up his new haunt as the Vegas to Gotham’s New York/Chicago, but even that can’t erase the vague feeling that the characters’ had the keys to his nice shiny new car snatched out of his hands, and now he has to go back to the busted-ass old model his dad loaned him.

I get the impulse to hand him his own city - it gives a stable environment, obvious opportunities for building up a supporting cast, and a base to head back to even if he regularly goes globe-trotting - but as presented, Blüdhaven has always been Gotham-lite. Even now that it’s more pointedly distinguishing itself, it’s still a shadowy city of corrupt cops where Gotham crooks wander around. All elements that could work, but again, it’s straight-up established that the ex-villains here, the people it’s leaning into the nostalgia of Dick having once counted as arch-enemies...were the no-hopers who weren’t cool enough to be worth Batman’s time. Complete with Dick solving a stock Batman-style Whodunnit? hinging on one of the most iconically awful Batman villains in Orca the Whale Woman, and flirting with a morally ambiguous acrobatic lady supervillain. If Batman and Robin established Dick can work as an A-list superhero, and the last few years of Grayson and the beginning of Nightwing demonstrated a valid and fascinating new direction for him to be spun off into, this arc felt like it was reestablishing that whoa there son, don’t be getting too big for your britches now, you’re still Officially Worse Batman. Whatever you think of the stories themselves, that’s how Nightwing has been known for over 20 years, and that’s a narrative gravity I’m not sure he can escape as long as he has that name.

And even if he could, Nightwing isn’t his main identity anyway. The entirety of pop culture can chime in on that.

Not by a mile am I suggesting he should go back to being Robin (though Arkham Knight presenting an adult Robin working alongside Batman in Tim Drake has some interesting possibilities), but it’s more than just cultural weight that keeps that as his biggest identity, even in the comics. The thing is, Nightwing as a name doesn’t mean anything. Yes, I know Superman came up with it, and that these days there’s a connection with the Court of Owls, but those are purely abstract. There was some recent thing where he said “yeah, people think I call myself Nightwing because I’m like Batman, a flying thing at night, but really it’s because of Superman’s suggestion regarding a Kryptonian fairy tale”, but citing the nerd trivia explanation can’t change that the first explanation is clearly the actual reason he’s named that. That’s all there is to it; it’s a cool-sounding name. Robin on the other hand is an obvious pairing with Batman as a brighter flying creature, and if you think of it in the context of heroism you get the obvious connection to Robin Hood. And if you want to talk about him as an equal-but-opposite contrast to Batman’s Zorro figure, comparing him to a charming hero to the people so upbeat they called his partners his Merry Men goes a long way. Hell, Dick sure knew that, given Robin’s the title he picked as a crimefighter, Nightwing being a years-distant second choice. Robin is just plain a better name and identity, as evidenced by the fact that DC’s made at least 4 others of note to fill the void...Richard left behind. Nightwing again has a cool costume, but it can never be his iconic identity in even a best-case scenario; he’s not even Batman’s partner anymore, he’s just the off-brand. Short of showing up in a massively popular and acclaimed movie with virtually none of the elements that have established him over the years as a lesser Batman figure, I’m sincerely skeptical that any amount of momentum could change that forever. In a popular sense, it’s all he’s got.

What would I do then, unless that theoretical movie comes along? I say make him co-Batman again, and totally not just because my favorite writer did that within a year of me starting to collect comics. You can still do all the fun stuff Nightwing offers with him; he can have his own city if you really want, he can smile and go on fun adventures as Fun Batman now that Bruce doesn’t do that, you could even redesign his costume to be more in line with his sleeker Nightwing look while still being recognizably Batman. He gets A-list talent by default. DC sustained two Batmen for a year as equals, so it’s certainly possible. It’s simpler to explain too - when someone asks “Wait, what happened to the first Robin?”, “Well, now he’s Batman too, and Batman’s son is his Robin” works a lot better than “He calls himself Nightwing now and is his own minor superhero. Do you remember him as an occasional guest-star from the 90s TV show? No, he was Robin for that first part, the second part. Yes, there was a second part. No, he’s not on the Teen Titans anymore either. Anyway, he protects another city that’s basically shittier Gotham where he fights a bunch of crappy villains.”

Most of all though, Dick thrives in situations that threaten to undermine him. With his and Bruce’s relationship threatening to fall apart, wondering if he can cut it as Robin after Two-Face beats him, worrying about whether he can escape the ‘shadow of the bat’, trying to hold onto his morals as an agent of SPYRAL, struggling to reform Damian, even being trapped as Slade’s apprentice. He works when forces threaten his sense of stability, and he as a fundamentally upbeat guy naturally finds having to be Batman - plus all the attendant baggage besides - the ultimate destabilizing force, far more so than basically still comfortably being Robin into adulthood. It’s a perpetual conflict generator that still allows him to do his own thing as a fun character while also positioning him as a major player - the most major player possible. And given Anthony Mackie or Sebastian Stan are probably going to become a new Captain America onscreen in the next few years, I think the public at large is going to be primed to accept the idea of there being multiple Batmen of reasonably equal importance far more easily than they could be swayed to care about the guy whose main popular trait is not being Batman.

#Nightwing #Dick Grayson #Robin #Batman #Tim Seeley #Javier Fernandez #Marcus To #Opinion

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abjectionproductions-blog · 7 years

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An Interview with Interregnum

Could you introduce the group? Who you are and what you do in Interregnum?

Gregory: The idea for the project has been evolving for around two years. Joshua and I met through Tumblr, when he submitted a collection of short stories to Cutlines Press (I was acting as co-editor). It turned out that we shared so many interests, from music and literature to occultism, that we began working on a publication that came out last December, a literary collection called Collapsed Cartographies. [http://www.cutlinespress.com/category/e-book/] Other authors and artists contributed, and Joshua and I recorded an album to go along with the literary material. [https://collapsedcartographies.bandcamp.com/album/collapsed-cartogrophies]. In the group I do vocals, synth, harmonium, stick dulcimer, bells, rattles, field recordings and samples, etc…

Joshua: Hello, there. My name is Josh. I play things in Interregnum, I suppose. I sample stuff as well. Gregory and I kind of play everything. I don’t think we have set roles in the project. He plays the harmonium. I can’t play that. Or, at least I don’t own one. It’s my favorite part of our sound, though.

What's the origin of the project? Why the name Interregnum?

Gregory: As I said, we began with a pretty ambitious literary collaboration, and that has grown into Interregnum as a specific musical outlet. The word “interregnum” means an interval or pause, and especially a period between reigns, of governmental transition. I first encountered the word around a year ago, and have found it increasingly useful in terms of political analysis. I think that, globally, we are definitely in a disorienting situation, where the coordinates of the 20th century (the Cold War, for example), are no longer adequate. I came of age during the era of the Bush administration in the U.S, which was a time when it looked like the U.S. was going to be able to set the agenda for the world, on the heels of the 90s boom, and so on. Now—after the global financial crisis, the failure of U.S. imperial policy (reminiscent of the decline of Soviet power, e.g., in their inability to control Afghanistan) all the ideas even of the Bush era seem totally inadequate. So many big projects and visions have failed, whether we are talking about U.S. imperial “democracy,” 20th century socialism, or even the new age movement – the whole millennial atmosphere of the turn of the century is dispersing. We’ve had record temperatures worldwide every month for almost a year. I mean, I saw spring flowers blooming in the middle of winter here in Louisiana in 2015. I am interested in exploring these zones of in-betweenness musically.

Joshua: Gregory and I actually met through the kind of transgressive literature scene. He published a few short stories of mine. We still connect on that level I think. I’m working as a kind of third creative mind on his novel The Ugly Spirit, which is fucking great, by the way. I’m the E.K. to his Edmund Spenser. We started making music together to soundtrack the publication and we just clicked. We both have hands in the same kind of experimental sound.

Why the choice of Scandinavian mythology as a concept for the Wolf Age album?

Gregory: I don’t have an exact answer of why we decided to focus here. I have worked with Odin and the runes in the past. The mythology is something that comes up periodically in my life. After working on Collapsed Cartographies, Joshua and I were talking about a possible EP centered around Norse mythology. I suppose I’ve always been drawn to the apocalyptic current in northern mythology (i.e. with the idea of Ragnarok), and that seems like a fitting motif for the times, given that we are in some kind of interregnum.

Joshua: Gregory contacted me regarding putting together a project based on Norse Mythology. We both have a complicated relationship with the occult. I think our concept for the album, the lack of gender binary in Norse folklore, has a good academic basis and also might stop neo-fascist, dude-bro Asatru types from listening to our music, which is good.

During the creative process of the album there was some sort of material (musical, literary, artistic, etc.) or personal experience that influenced your way of work?

Gregory: At a highly abstract level, the mood suggested by this corresponded with a number of things happening in my life at the time. My grandmother was dying and I was also coming out of a period of pharmaceutical drug addiction, so I was in a dark and foreboding mood, but also being forced to start over on various levels. Joshua began sending me skeletal tracks with titles referring to specific episodes in the Poetic Edda. From there I added vocals or whatever else I felt inspired to add. In retrospect, I think that I benefitted by being prompted to create around mythic themes, which drew me away from the purely close-up view of my own life. In everything I did, I tried to maintain a certain fidelity to the stories in the Edda.

Joshua: This was recorded during a period of immense, but painful personal growth for me. Lots of stuff changed while we were making this. As far as artistic influences, a lot of David Bowie. Old gay pornography. Death in June. Metro Boomin. The devil, perhaps.

Could you describe the process of recording?

Gregory: We did everything remotely. Joshua would send me a base track, or I would send him one. He would add something. I would add something. I think we both gravitated toward a combination of improvisational, noisy approaches, with a structured style of song writing. I definitely wanted to have choruses, verses, and all of that sort of thing, but also a tendency for that coherence to dissolve, and then come back together.

Joshua: We recorded our parts separately and then emailed them to each other. Postal Service style.

Wolf Age possesses a strong ritualist vibe. Is there some sort of proceeding to fully appreciate the music as a listener?

Gregory: My approach to music reflects my life-long interest in the occult. I haven’t made any music specifically for rituals, but the music is, as you say, ritualistic. I do hope that listeners will have some interesting experience with the music. The tracks on this album refer to a mythic temporality, as does ritual. I would like for listeners to have a sense of being transported outside of our mundane sense of being in the world.

Joshua: Not for me. Take from it what you will.

The album is going to be released in cassette, could you comment briefly about that and why this media was chosen?

Gregory: We both have a strong interest in analog musical instruments. We use analog synth, drum machine, etc. I’m a good decade older than Joshua (30), so I have a certain nostalgic interest in these formats. The first album I ever bought was on tape, and my earliest sound experiments were with tape recorders. On a very pervasive level, this continuing interest is related to my long-term engagement with the work of William S. Burroughs, and the tape recorder-fueled influence that he had on a certain moment in time, particularly in the U.K. My primary touchstones, musically, are Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Current 93, and that whole occult musical scene…I see myself as continuing Burroughs’ research, as it were, to the point where I’ve literally done magical work to be in contact with Burroughs from beyond the grave. Also there seems to be a cassette revival going on now, like what has been happening with vinyl. I am interested in being part of that, precisely because it doesn’t seem to be purely backwards-looking. In fact, through the establishment of networks, particularly online, the cassette revival is intertwined with a lot of musical innovation. I like what Croatian Amor is doing, for example. There are so many new cassette releases at the moment.

Joshua: It’s just the classic underground music format. I love the scale of it. I love that it can be manipulated and destroyed and reshaped.

Do you see any relationships between the religious traditions of New Orleans and the ones practiced by the old Scandinavians?

Gregory: That’s an interesting question. In short, yes.

There has always been a lot going on in Louisiana. On the one hand, it is certainly a U.S. city, but it is also part of the Caribbean—in many respects the northern limit of the Caribbean. Many of the forces that have operated in Latin America have also been present here, so we have this kind of imported Mediterranean/pan-Latin/Catholic thing going on. For instance, I grew up outside of New Orleans in a rural, Sicilian ethnic community, embedded in a majority black town. It’s an odd experience of race and culture, considering, say, the historical composition of the Midwestern U.S. Another part of my family is from a Canary Island immigrant community, here. So I grew up around official Catholicism as well as folk Catholicism. The latter involved many essentially magical practices and orientations. Now, living in New Orleans, I see the ways that Hoodoo is still alive here, along with growing practices of Santeria, Mexican curanderismo, the Santa Muerte cult, etc. I’ve practiced Golden Dawn-style ceremonial magic for a long time as well. I feel very close to that, but there is something missing in that sort of practice, namely the veneration of ancestors and things like that, as I see in folk Catholic practices. I suspect that there are similarities between these kinds of approaches and how northern Europeans, in a shamanic culture, would have related to reality. I have more understanding of the contemporary traditions I just mentioned, whereas northern paganism is a reconstruction, except in the sense in which it survived and came down through fairy tales, folk songs, and so on. In that regard, we’re left speculating based on textual evidence and our own spiritual experimentation. Freya Aswynn has said that she sees similarities between northern paganism and West African diaspora religion. Something to think about.

Joshua: I’m actually not from New Orleans. I’ve been there a few times, though. Last time I ended up drinking absinthe with Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys. Wild.

In your opinion, what type of role does paganism exert in our contemporary society?

Gregory: Modernity brought about a radical de-centering, so that the Christian God is no longer at the center of social life in western civilization, or whatever we want to call it. Global capitalism has created a situation where extreme mixing of cultures is an accomplished fact. I don’t see any potential in resisting that mixing; we have already lost the ground of former identities, such that they ever existed. In some respects, maybe this is like a hyper-driven version of what happened in late antiquity, where Egyptian and Greek religious practices blended together, and Hermeticism and strange Gnostic cults flourished amid wild experimentation…This was brought about by the existence of a cosmopolitan empire that foreshadowed capitalist globalization. Gods abounded. This was the death of an old world but also a time of great creation.

Joshua: Paganism IS our society. Everything humans will ever do that is not directly related to our baseline survival implies faith and implies symbolism and implies archetypal thinking.

Any message to your listeners?

Gregory: If you’re out there, I want to connect with you! I want to find others who have the same deep longings that are driving me create art and think about the world, even in the face of the major disasters that are unfolding around us.

Joshua: Don’t ask permission.

Follow @interregnum-music, @abjectionproductions

Facebook/Bandcamp

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thegeeklee · 7 years

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The Best Upcoming Games of 2017

2016 was a great year for games, and 2017 is shaping up to be a good year as well (and there might even be some surprise releases we haven’t event heard of yet). Here’s my 20 of the games I’m most looking forward to in 2017, potentially in chronological order. And yes… they’re mostly adventure games…

Quarter 1 2017

Night In The Woods – 22nd February 2017 (PC)

I was lucky enough to visit to check out an indie game exhibition at the EMP Museum in Seattle a couple of years ago. I played a demo of Night In The Woods there, not even realising that it hadn’t come out yet (nor that it wouldn’t come out for another 2 years from then). You wouldn’t have known because it was looking as slick then as it is now. It’s 2D sidescrolling adventure game focused on narrative. A cat known as Mae returns home from College to her home town of Possum Springs and thus begins the journey of life. It’s got a bizzare, slightly hipster vibe and morbid humour to it. It’s quite unique. If you want to get a taste of it, you can try out for free two prologue demos (Longest Night and Lost Constellation) here: https://finji.itch.io/

Paradigm - Early 2017 (PC, MAC)

While we’ve seen a lot of point n click remasters of classic Lucasfilm games, and a heap of Telltale’s evolution of the genre, we’ve not had many games that have truly evoked the spirit of those classic 90’s adventure games. Enter Paradigm.

Paradigm is a surreal point-and-click adventure game set in the strange and post apocalyptic world of Krusz; a land inspired by a mix of Eastern Europe and the 70’s and 80’s. You play as the unattractive yet over-confident mutated Paradigm; who must prevail through inconvenient trials to overcome the insecure yet tyrannical sloth antagonist, Olof!

Paradigm has been developed by Jacob Janerka, whom I don’t personally know (though have had a couple of chats with), but is based in the same city as me, Perth, Western Australia. The detail of the art is awesome. The game was originally supposed to be released in January 2017, but got delayed. Going by what’s left to complete the game, I think there’s a good chance of a quarter 1 release for this game. I’m just surprised this game hasn’t been picked up by Double Fine Presents or Devolver for distribution. You can try out a free demo here: http://www.paradigmadventure.com/

Thimbleweed Park - Early 2017 (PC, MAC, XB1, iOS, Android)

If Paradigm takes us back to the style of classic 90’s point n click adventures, Thimbleweed Park authentically takes us back to the 80’s. And whom better to take us there than the legendary Ron Gilbert, one of the Lucasfilm originals, responsible for iconic games such as Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island.

A body has been found in the river, bloated and pixelated from the decay of a death come too soon. Agents Ray and Reyes arrive and are immediately suspicious of each other’s intentions. A cursed clown, a disinherited game designer, and the ghost of pillow salesmen join the story and add their own complications. Play and switch between all five characters as you explore the vast, strange, and manipulative world of Thimbleweed Park while unravelling a dark and humorous neo-noir mystery.

Thimbleweed Park perfectly evokes the style of Maniac Mansion, but with update amazing looking pixel graphics, with some really nice lighting effects that really give it a feel of a cross between the X-Files and Twin Peaks. While still no confirmed date, I think it’s pretty safe to say this will come out first quarter. The biggest challenge for me is deciding whether to play it on PC or iOS.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole - Early 2017 (PC, PS4, XB1)

South Park is a TV show I’ve watch since the first season came out, but it’s only been in more recent years that I’ve realised it’s true brilliance as the show has got more political over the years (while never picking a side, instead making fun of all sides). What puzzled me was why the South Park: The Stick of Truth game flew under the radar for me. I don’t think I even got it on release day. It may have been not until it was like half price that I grabbed it. What a mistake that was, because it was a perfect recreation of the show. It was literally like you were controlling the cartoon. All the humour and characters were there and it also done well with parodying the RPG genre.

While Stick of Truth had Cartman and the gang dressing up as fantasy characters, The Fractured But Whole has the kids of South Park switch it up by dressing up as Superheros instead. This will be a day one purchase for me this time round. Trey and Matt return, being heavily involved in the production of the game. It’s looking as slick as the last game, while aiming to improving the depth of the combat. It was originally supposed to come out early December 2016, it’s now aiming for “Early 2017”, so expect this in quarter 1, possibly early March 2017.

Mass Effect Andromeda - 21st March 2017 (PC, PS4, XB1)

Mass Effect is one of my favourite game series of all time. As such, Mass Effect Andromeda should be my most anticipated game of 2017. Yet I’m cautious to get too excited about it. Perhaps it’s because some of the key team members behind the original triology are no longer involved in the production of the game. Perhaps it’s the fact the new characters aren’t looking the greatest, and will struggle to meet the lofty heights set by the original cast. Will choice actually really matter this time round?

Still it’s still gonna be a Mass Effect game, and even if turns out to not live up to the original trilogy’s standards, it will still be a decent game. It may also improve on the previous games in some areas. I’d be happy if Mass Effect had no combat at all, so Andromeda’s focus on semi open world exploration should hopefully take away some of it’s combat focus.

Mass Effect Andromeda is set 600 years after the original trilogy, seeing human kind searching for new planets to setup shop in a new galaxy. We will be the aliens. We will be the invaders. It should make for some interesting galactic politics. Despite my concerns this is a day 1 purchase for me, and no doubt will consume me as explore every section of it’s galaxy within the main game and likely DLC (though no season pass has been announced). If they do this right, it’s an early contender for game of the year for me.

Tokyo 42 – Early 2017 (PC)

Tokyo 42 is described as the lovechild of Syndicate and GTA 1. Set in a future Tokyo, the game will see you become an assassin and uncover a dark conspiracy that will affect everyone. With open-world single player and competitive multiplayer, you will buy and use a host of weapons and tools to approach the many challenges of this beautiful little world.

This is a game that is pretty much selling me purely on art style. The Japanese influenced isometric graphics sucker me in. Unfortunately it would likely end up on my pile of shame of games I haven’t gotten around to playing much like the spiritual successor to Syndicate, Satellite Reign. As such it’s def on my radar for this year, but probably not a day 1 purchase.

Quarter 2 2017

Little Nightmares - 28th April 2017 (PC, PS4, XB1)

Little Nightmares is the only game from here on that has a confirmed release date. Looking like something straight out of Tim Burton’s mind, it also reminds me of this stop animation movie about Tom Thumb that came out in the 90s.

This game is set to be like a dark version of Little Big Planet, or a brighter version of Limbo. Hopefully it plays as well as it looks. It’s got triple A game style, with an indie game price (only $20USD), so this is going to be one I’ll certainly give the benefit of the doubt and try out close to launch if Mass Effect or some other game isn’t still consuming my life.

Tacoma - Q2 2017 (PC, MAC, XB1)

Tacoma is the long awaited second game from the developers of Gone Home, a game that really changed my gaming life. Along with Dear Esther, essentially birthed the genre of FPX (First Person Explorers), or the more derogatory term of Walking Simulators. What these games did was strip away the combat elements of First Person Shooters like Bioshock and just create a game focus on world and narrative building. To some sections of the gaming community, gameplay to them means shooting things, so to these types of gamers, Gone Home wasn’t even a game. But to more mature gamers, this was exactly the sort of game they’ve been waiting and really inspired me to want to get into indie game development.

Gone Home was set in ordinary American home. Tacoma takes things in an opposite direction to an abandoned space station. This should be one of my most anticipated titles. A FPX set in space from Fullbright? Sign me up! But I am a bit cautious and I’ll tell you why. Because most FPX games are developed by small indie studios, the way they get away with it is by not physically seeing characters in the game. Unfortunately Tacoma takes the path of having avatars play back memory like sequences not too dissimilar to Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. I hope this pays off, but I am a bit sceptical about it. Still just out of respect for the brilliance of Gone Home, this is definitely a day one purchase for me.

Sometimes Always Monsters - TBC 2017 (PC)

How can a game made in RPG Maker be possibly my most anticipated game of 2017? Because it was possibly my most anticipated game of 2016! Let me tell you why. I watched a review of the original game Always Sometimes Monsters. The reviewers seemed to be deeply affected by the game. I couldn’t see how this low res, generic looking JRPG style game could be any good. Yet when I saw it for cheap enough, I decided to give it a spin. I’m so glad I did, as it’s one of my favourite games of all time, and find myself regularly discussing it with others.

The reason being is choice. Many may have been disappointed to find their choices in the Mass Effect trilogy has little effect on the ending of the series. What Always Sometimes Monsters didn’t have in the graphics department, it certainly made up in having possibly the best choice/consequence mechanics I’ve ever played in a game. Think of Grand Theft Auto if it was presented as a pixel art American version of a JRPG with no combat. Instead you are constantly presented life choices in the game where by there rarely ever is a right answer, and all choices can lead to perceived negative outcomes. It’s just like real life!

Sometimes Always Monsters continues this journey. In fact if you’ve played the original game you can use your save file and continue on with the same character in the sequel with all your choices you made affecting the future game. It’s got an improved art style this time round that I’m really digging. It was supposed to come out in 2016, but didn’t quite make it. There’s no solid release date, so I’m chucking this in the quarter 2 section. If you don’t believe me how great this game is (and it won’t be for everyone), pick up the original game and try out it. It’s regularly on sale for a couple of dollars. If you dig it, you’ll want to play it through anyways so you can continue the story on in the second game.

Knights and Bikes – Q2 2017 (PC, MAC, PS4)

Kinghts and Bikes is a co-op adventure about childhood, inspired by The Goonies, Secret of Mana & Earthbound, from developers on Tearaway, LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet & Clank. If it’s hipster style doesn’t grate me, the innocent nature of this game could very well be infectious, much like a non-dark version of Stranger Things. Secret of Mana is one of my favourite games of all time, and Little Big Planet was always an undeniable polished game series, so there is great potential here. I’m interested in the fact it has co-op (much like Secret of Mana), so hopefully I can convince someone to jump on the couch and play this through with me.

It was recently picked up to be published by Double Fine Presents, which is perfect, considering it’s similarities to Broken Age and Costume Quest. It doesn’t have a set release date but I’m estimate a late quarter 2 arrival.

Cuphead - TBC 2017 (PC, XB1)

Cuphead has been popping up and grabbing people’s attention every now and the past few reason, and for good reason. It’s art style is authentic interpretation of classic early animation (think Disney’ Steam Boat Willy) style. The way this game is looks and moves is astounding.

My only concern is this bullet-hell game supposedly has a brutally hard difficulty level. That does not bode well for people who suck at games, but it’s certainly not gonna stop me trying. It’s painstakingly hand drawn, which gives good reason why it’s been delayed so much. With a whole 11 months more to release it within, it will surely come out this year finally. I’m predicting a release before July.

Quarter 3 2017

Full Throttle Remastered – TBC 2017 (PC, PS4, VITA)

I’ve spoken about Paradigm and Thimbleweed Park which both pay tribute to different eras of Lucasfilm point n click adventures. Well here’s a remaster of a classic Lucasfilm game that I’m looking forward to finally playing. Full Throttle by Tim Schafer is being remastered by his studio Double Fine much like Day of The Tentacle and Grim Fandango. I haven’t played Full Throttle before, but I always remember it’s distinct cartoon style back in 90’s gaming magazines. This finally be my chance to play it. You can play it in it’s classic pixel style, or the new remastered the graphics. The remastered graphics just looked like a smoothed out widescreen version of the original, much like the Day of Tentacle remaster, so I think I’ll play this in the remastered mode. There’s no set date other than 2017, so I’m estimating an early quarter 3 release date at this stage.

Wonder Boy 3 - TBC 2017 (PC, Consoles)

The classic Sega Master System sidescrolling adventure game, Wonder Boy 2 and 3, are some of my favourite games of all time. I like them so much, I’m tempted to make a game myself in the style of it. Well recently two indie devs bet me two it and announced two Wonder Boy inspired games, both likely to release in 2017. Wonder Boy 3 will be re-skin/re-master of the original Wonder Boy 3. I never owned Wonder Boy 3 as a kid. A friend had, but I only every got the occasional go of it. I now own it as part of my retro game collection, but perhaps this remaster will be the way I play it through from start to finish. I think I prefer the original art style, as this remaster has a very “flash” art style to it, that I’m rarely too keen on, but I will certainly give it a go, based purely on my devotion to Wonder Boy.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - TBC 2017 (PC, PS4, XB1, Switch)

The other Wonder Boy inspired game is not a remaster, but more so a spiritual successor. After a few different incarnations, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom does come across as a modern version of Wonder Boy. It unfortunately has a similar “flash” style of art work to it much like the Wonder Boy remaster, but perhaps there’s no other way to approach it without a total pixel art throw back. Whether this can live up the legend of Wonder Boy games, or if it will turn out to be a cheap copy is remained to be seen (Mighty No.9 reportedly didn’t no do well recapturing the magic of Mega Man). Alas, much like the Wonder Boy 3 remaster, I will be grabbing it anyways.

Memories of a Broken Dimension – TBC 2017 (PC)

You dredge the satellite transmission. Awash in static, harsh structures emerge. Trace a guide line through crushing atmosphere; phantom signals lead to encoded relics. Exhumed from a frozen void, fragmented ruins assemble. But when the stream thaws, no system can handle this overflow...

That’s the description of Memories of a Broken Dimension. If you haven’t guessed already it’s going to be a very dark, abstract experimental game. It’s visually right up my alley, feeling like a music video to my favourite music. I haven’t played it yet but there’s a free early prototype available at https://xra.itch.io/memory-of-a-broken-dimension . I’m not sure what to expect with this game, but perhaps it will turn out to be one the surprise life changing games of 2017. We shall see…

Overland – TBC 2017 (PC, MAC)

Overland is a squad-based survival strategy game with procedurally generated levels set in post-apocalyptic North America. Every random level is full of close calls and hard choices. Manage allies, fuel supplies, medkits and weapons by making the right choices on the procedural roadmaps.

The art style for this game has certainly grabbed me, and the premise sounds interesting. It could have a lot of replayability to it. My issue is I really want to play this on a touch screen like a phone or tablet. Alas only PC has been announced as a platform. Much like Tokyo 42, I’m not sure I’d actually play it on PC, so I may sit it out for a while an hope for a mobile port in the future. If you are keen for it now though, you can purchase an early access version of the game at http://overland-game.com/

Quarter 4 2017

Red Dead Redemption 2 - Q3/Q4 2017 (PS4, XB1)

Quarter 4 is usually the time of the year the big Triple A titles fight out for the Christmas dollar, and I expect this year to be no different. Red Dead Redemption 2 was announced last year, with not much information to go by. It’s hard to know if John Marston will feature in it. One thing that is hinted at though is that likely after the success of GTA Online, there will be a strong multiplayer component to the game. Red Dead Redemption was undoubtedly Rockstar at it usual impeccable level.

I didn’t get into it so much due to be not being into Western/Period piece settings. However I can not deny the quality of this world building and have no doubt that RDR2 will end up on many gamer’s game of the year lists. Essentially, if Rockstar makes something, I’m gonna get it. It’s that simple. No firm release date yet, but I’m going to assume a November launch.

Uncharted The Lost Legacy - TBC 2017 (PS4)

Speaking of the other giants of world building, if Rockstar are the kings of open world games, then Naughty Dog are certainly the kings of Action Adventure games. Uncharted 4 was a great game that made my top ten of 2016. What likely started out as a DLC for Uncharted 4, The Lost Legacy has evolved into a full stand alone game featuring Chloe and Nadine from the Uncharted series as the protagonists. The announcement trailer had a much darker feel to it than the usual Uncharted series, while still being identifiable as part of that world. We’re not talking The Last of Us dark, but whether the whole game has this darker tone or not for the whole, or if it was just this particular scene, we shall wait and see.

One of my criticisms of Uncharted games is it often felt like it dragged on an extra 5-10 hours longer than it should have, often filling it up and stopping progress with waves of generic military goons. The Lost Legacy is meant to be somewhat in between the length of The Last of Us Left Behind DLC (approx. 3 hours) and the full Uncharted 4 game (approx. 17 hours). This should see The Lost Legacy clock in around 10 hours which could be the perfect length, which certainly makes me look forward to diving into this game. When that will be, I dunno, but I’m guessing in the second half of the year sometime.

Cyberpunk 2077 – TBC (PC, PS4, XB1)

While I do own The Witcher 3 (it came free with my graphics card), I’ve never played a Witcher game. Not because I don’t think it would be a good game, but when I’m prioritising my game playing time, I have to pick games in settings I’m interested in. I’m not really interested in fantasy settings (hence only 3 hours in Skyrim on my belt compared to my 120 hours in Fallout 4). My favourite settings are based in the future, whether it be set in a dystopian nuclear wasteland (Fallout 4), a shiny galactic universe (Mass Effect) or dirty grimey cyberpunk world (Shadowrun). Cyberpunk you say? Yes the neon drenched, acid rain, neo noir blade runner esque worlds are my favourite worlds of all regardless of the medium.

The Witcher 3 is so acclaimed by critics and fans alike, I constantly feel like I’m missing out. When CD Projekt Red announced it was making a Cyberpunk 2077, I realised I will finally get the chance to experience their quality game making. While I have had no association with the original Cyberpunk 2077 license, if the Witcher is really is “that good”, then applying that team to a cyberpunk game could very well end up in my favourite games of all time list.

Still we know very little about the game, other than it will have a multiplayer component (which is exciting). The game was first announced 4 years ago, with a concept art trailer released in January 2013 show and telling very little. We’ve literally heard or seen nothing since. The developer has said it wasn’t going to talk about it any more until after Witcher 3 was done. The Witcher 3 and all of it’s DLC is now doubt, so expect a big announcement at E3 later this year. Hopefully it will be a Fallout 4 style announcement that tells us it’s coming out in November, but there is very much the chance we won’t see it until 2018. At the very least we should at least know and see more of the game this year.

Squadron 42 (Star Citizen) – TBC 2042 (PC)

I am a veteran backer of Star Citizen from early 2013. I religiously followed the development of this game for the first year or two. It wasn’t until I saw them miss the original release date of November 2014, and just about every other single deadline they’ve set since, that I’ve noticed the cracks. I now have little faith in the game ever being completed despite the over $142 million in crowd funding (more than most Triple A titles). I’ve resigned myself to the fact my money has probably been thrown in a buggy tech demo equivalent of a fire. While Star Citizen is to be a MMO, it has a single player campaign called Squadron 42. Oh how I wish they had just made Squadron 42 first with a limited scope, and then later built a MMO based on that. We could have very well had a game by now, over 5 years since Chris Roberts original prototype. Instead we have 2 games with a never ending scope creep which will never be reigned due to the cult like obsessive white knight fans that destroy any discussion of constructive criticism of the game to defend how many 1000s of dollars they’ve spent on concept images of spaceships (which kinda defeats the point of crowd funding a game).

Unfortunately despite all of it’s money, nearly 6x the amount the developer CIG said it needed to “fully fund” the development of the game, the lack of progress see the very likely scenario that they will run out of money before the game is complete, with likely lawsuits to follow. Still I hope CIG prove me wrong, because I do want to play this game one day, but when that day will be, and whether when that day comes, if the game even ends up being any good are another matter altogether. Squadron 42 does feature a big cast such as Mark Hamil and Gillian Anderson, but what little they’ve shown of it (we haven’t see anything from it for about 6 months), it’s not been very impressive, in particular a military speech scene was quite cheesy. The list of problems with Star Citizen could fill a whole blog post of it’s own. Squadron 42 has missed many release deadlines, so if at least the first chapter of it doesn’t release this year, even the most blindly devoted fans of this game will surely have to see the end is nigh. Let’s hope CIG get their act together, and pay back the people who put so much faith in them.

Some Surprise Indie or Triple A title

Finally, there will surely be a surprise game we don’t even know about yet that will blow people away. Whether it will be a surprise last minute launch announcement like Fallout 4 (maybe Half Life 3?) or the next break away indie hit like Stardew Valley. There’s a lot of games to look forward to this year, but perhaps our favourite games will be ones yet to be expecting.

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