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tundrainafrica · 3 years

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Title: En Prise (2/18)

Summary:

Hange already had the innate analysis skills and the quick wittedness to excel in the classroom. Chess should have come easy for her. As she processed her fifth loss to the man in front of her, she started to understand that there was more to the game than meets the eye.

College AU! Levi is a little too good at chess and Hange gets roped into studying the game further.

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Link to other chapters: 1

Notes: Netflix has this new show out called “Queen’s Gambit” which makes chess look like I pretty good driver for a story. Attack on Titan has its fair amount of chess motifs as well and that’s when I knew a Chess AU has to exist somewhere in the fandom. With that, Levihan AU came into existence.

Hange found herself going on walks at the same time everyday when the air was a little cooler, the sunlight a little dimmer. She followed the same route she made on her first day. She never did enter the bar though, slightly conscious of the fact that she would be obligated to buy something if she did and at that point, she had no money to spare.

She settled for looking through the window as she walked, disappointed every time to find the same disappointing scene of empty chairs and an empty table on that one corner.

The first few days, she had attributed it to life. Maybe his day job just gets busy. No one can earn just playing chess.

A few days went by though, then the weekend, and he never did come back. Maybe he wasn’t a regular hustler? Maybe he was a dream? Hange quickly abandoned that last thought, her empty wallet attested to the existence of that boy.

She decided that the night before classes would be her deadline. That late afternoon, she allowed herself one long look at the window, long enough at least for the owner to come out.

"May I help you?"

"The chess player who sat at the table on the corner…" Hange did not have to say too much else.

"Ahh you’re talking about Levi. Sadly I can't say when he'd be back. He usually only comes back at the most once a month to play."

"So he's been doing this for a while?"

"Since he was much younger.” The man answered. He turned to Hange and sighed. “Look, He's a good kid. He pays for food and compensates any damages."

But he hustled me. Hange sensed the contempt she kept in her tone, as she asked the first few questions. He must have noticed it as well. It was apparent in the man's tone that he at least had some emotional attachment to the young boy.

"So this Levi guy… Would you know where I can find him?"

The owner shrugged. "Never told me. The kid doesn’t talk much."

He talks enough to hustle at least. Hange thought to herself. She could not help but remember that he had talked a fair amount for her to at least have been surprised at the bar owner’s comment. It was a particularly glaring fact since chess was a game which is supposed to be played in silence.

"Thank you. Will check back again next time then." Hänge was quick to turn around as she felt a wave of disappointment. She had no idea what type of face she was making at that moment but she bent her head down just in case.

"Do you really need the money?”

Hange looked back at the owner, the loss of her money once again painful.. “Excuse me?”

“The money he hustled from you, I mean.”

“Yes. I do.”

“Will you starve without the money?”

“No.”

“Then give the boy a break. That boy has gone to my bar long enough, something tells me that the games are all he has.”

En Prise

School was a good distraction.

The fact that chess was a part of her curriculum was the only thing that made it difficult for her to completely forget the man who had welcomed her her first night. One relieving yet somehow disappointing thing to note was her professor in PE seemed more interested in making them read up on openings and present them on screen.

Zoe, you'll be assigned the Pirc Modern.

She had expected at first to be playing and maybe reliving the frustration of losing again and again in blatantly winning positions. Studying opening theory turned out to be a respite for Hange and she found herself treating the game like any other subject.

Every night, she prepared for her lectures in chemistry, then biology, then statistics, always ending her days by opening an online chess database and replaying games on the modern opening.

Her days in her chess class would start with quizzes to identify common formations. Hange was surprised to find that most of them had names.

Every time they called out the openings and presented them on the board, Hange was brought back to the large shelf in the bookstore, with what could have been a hundred books about chess. As the students read out of index cards explaining the theories behind the first opening moves, Hange was made aware of the thousands of possibilities just by the first five moves.

Of course they would have books about these.

The first pawn moves. Where they place the knight. Where they place their bishops. Where they castle.

Every decision, every move mattered. Somehow, chess was starting to make her as excited as biology and chemistry did for so long.

The Pirc Modern opening is an opening for black as a reply to the king's pawn opening for white. It is characterized by an opening reply where black plays the pawn in front of their own queen one step forward, with plans of casting king's side with a fianchettoed bishop for added protection.

When she researched her own opening and saw it played out on the board, she could not help but think that that was one of the openings Levi had played against her that night. The thirst for some sort of conclusion at having lost so miserably to that particular opening she had to study came over her and she approached it like an opponent.

It was a relatively straight forward opening. All the first ten moves were booklines and even if white did change the move order, the game usually ended up with the same position. When Hange had played it herself, she had gone through what she had deemed most logical and had gone for the center early on. Her research introduced the possibility of something more aggressive, an idea to close the center, castle queenside with an idea of a pawn storm towards the king.

That was the idea she introduced during her own presentation.

"That's a great idea Zoe. May I remind you though that you only needed to discuss the first ten moves and the resulting position."

Hange looked up at the board she flashed on the screen, only to realize then that she had presented thirty moves all leading up to the rook exchange sacrifice on the h file and the inevitable mate.

"Oh really?" Hänge looked back at her classmates to see that most, if not everyone were all focused elsewhere, the most attentive being those staring blankly at the screen. "Thank you for listening then."

Hange packed up her laptop and made her way to her place at the side of the room.

"It looks like everyone has already presented their openings. Since we don't have much time anymore, just prepare for next week. We'll be playing actual games then."

"Nice one Zoe. At least we don't have to actually play yet."

Hange was packing her bag when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked back to see that the student had already passed her through the crowd of students. It was nothing new. Most students were usually in a hurry to get out since the physical education department where they had classes was a good ten minute walk away from most other classrooms.

Other students with no classes right after, probably just preferred not to be there and it was obvious. It was one of the easier classes which did not require much physical work nor did it require the difficult choice of whether to take a shower after class or be sweaty and stinky the whole day.

The opening presentations proved to be a pleasant surprise for most people as it turned out that most students did not have to actually think beyond making a presentation and reading off index cards to actually pass the class. It had been at least a month since the start of classes and even she had forgotten for a second that chess was mainly a game of war and not just a subject for research and analysis.

Hange guessed that most of the students at the most would play the openings they had to present about. Just in case, she prepared.

On the nights leading up to her next class, she had started to memorize the most common replies to each possible opening.

Those nights, she actually dreamt of the characteristic checkered board.

En Prise

"Zoe. I want to introduce you to someone."

In the midst of the bustle as students were assigned partners to play with, Hange was surprised and utterly confused to find that her name had not been on the list passed around. She had not completely processed the unexpected turn of events when her professor approached her about it. "Yes sir?"

"This is Moblit Berner. He'll be playing you today."

Hange looked up to see her professor and behind him, someone who looked to be a fellow student. Oddly enough, he was not among the faces Hange had gotten used to the past month she had been attending chess classes.

Chess is chess. Hange did not think too much of it. The pit in her stomach that made itself when she could not find her name on the list, disappeared soon after she lead her to the nearest board and placed a white pawn in front of her.

"You'll be playing white.” He looked up at her.” You can call me Moblit by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

Moblit started to tinker with the clock. "You've used a chess clock before I imagine."

“Actually… No.” Hange had played enough games online to know chess games were timed. That was the first time though she would be playing a timed one with someone right in front of her.

For a moment Moblit’s expression changed to that of utter surprise. “Let me set it up in front of you then.”

“We’ll be playing a rapid game. Twenty minutes with a five second increment for every move.” He positioned the clock to Hange’s left, angling it so she could watch as he scrolled through different options. “Meaning when you move, you get an extra five seconds.”

“You ready?” Moblit held out his hand for Hange to shake. That was only the second time she has ever played a live game. The last time Hange had played one was with Levi. Back then, there was no clock. Her opponent hadn’t even bothered to shake her hand. Hange found herself a little more pissed off at Levi’s audacity.

“Ready.”

Hange opened up with the king’s pawn. Moblit responded by moving his own king’s pawn one step forward.

The French Opening.

Hange had read a fair amount about it to know it was not played by aggressive players. Another familiar one opening Levi had played against her. He had quickly sacrificed a piece for a pawn though and that opening that generally transitions to peaceful middle game, quickly transitioned to an aggressive attack for Levi.

Moblit played by the book lines of the Tarrasch opening. Hange was aware of the quick mating attacks that could follow his more mild approach towards the position.

He castled kingside and Hange only had to look at her five miserable loses to Levi to see the potential for a mating attack. A few moves into the start of the middle when Moblit played his flank pawn forward, Hange saw an opening for a mating sacrifice.

It was like something possessed her for a split second. Hange took the pawn sticking out from the formation with her bishop. Hange only came to terms with the gravity of the sacrifice when she made eye contact with Moblit who did not look at all like he was taken by surprise at it. He took the bishop with his pawn.

Hange froze. Was it the wrong move?

It was like all the variations which Hange had thought up just a few seconds ago disappeared from her head. She was blank. She tried to push herself to think beyond that. She desperately looked up at her opponent, for inspiration, something random, unexpected to break the block that materialized in her thinking space.

Moblit’s face was unreadable. His movements were slow, careful. Although Hange recalled a slight tremble in his hands when took her bishop, with the way he looked at the board, Hange could not help but even doubt her own memory.

She looked back down at the board, trying instead to focus on what her next plan would be. Too taken aback and frustrated by her own impulsive decision though, Hange was frozen on the spot.

Her mind had become a blank slate. And that blank slate was what led to a losing end game. When the smoke had cleared, Hange was a clear two pieces down with little to no compensation.

Hange raised one out her hand in surrender. “Thank you for the game.” Hange said.

Moblit’s eyes were wide in surprise as he took Hange’s hand. “You’re resiging?”

“There’s no way I could win now.”

“The attack was amazing. To be honest, I was a few moves until mate. It looked like you just held back at that last part. If you just brought your knight into the attack. I would have had no way to defend it.”

By the time Moblit had mentioned that last part, the pieces were close to fixed and Hange could not imagine their last position for the life of her. The embarrassment and frustration at having frozen on the spot and having lost so miserably, had her wanting to forget it at that moment. In truth, she knew would have wanted to analyze it in time. The researcher inside her was scolding her for having given up a good opportunity to learn and discover.

That only left Hange more frustrated at the recent developments. Hange pushed aside her chair and grabbed her bag more roughly than she had intended. She actually felt bad for Moblit who had jumped at her movements.

She peeked at her phone. Ten minutes before class is over. “Just tell coach what happened.” Hange said as she walked out.

She had already exited the building and was already strategizing the fastest way to the library where she could prepare for her next class. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see Moblit.

“What do you want?” Hange asked.

“Do you know why your professor made us play?”

“Are you his friend or something?” Hange gave Moblit a onceover. She did not recognize him as a classmate at all.

“I’m part of the chess team actually and we need to recruit an extra player so I asked your professor for help. He said you’d be the best one there. And you play pretty well, so you might be interested.”

“I’ve never played competitively in my life. You’re better off finding someone else.”

“I think you’re good.” Moblit paused for a moment. “Okay not good good, but good enough to hold your own against seasoned players at least. Just give the team a chance.”

“And how many times a week do you train?” Hange asked, an attempt at proving her inability to commit more than anything else.

“Four times a week.”

Hange thought back to the amount of classes she had, the research she wanted to undertake. “Would I even have time for this.”

“Athletes don’t have to take PE classes so that’s one class off your plate.” Moblit suggested weakly.

That proposition was far from weak in Hange’s eyes though.

En Prise

The chessroom was a small room hidden along the hallways that snaked through the sides of their basketball courts which connected the locker rooms to the stadium. For prestigious universities, with famous basketball teams that expected hoards of fans every season, the gyms were large enough to at least house those confusing mazes of hallways. In fact, Hange soon realized as she followed Moblit through the hallways that she would have never found it through directions alone. Someone really had to guide her through the first time.

From the entrance of the basketball court, the only way to get there was the narrow hallway that opened up from a doorway she could have mistaken for a janitor's closet.

To her surprise though, the narrow and dark hallways came with echoes of clicks and clacks. As she walked through, the clicks only got louder. Moblit did not look at all bothered by that sound. As Hange followed him into the room at the end of the hallway, she was quick to understand why.

The room was notably spacy when compared to the narrow hallway she had just gone through a while ago. To the corner of the room were four players, three boys and one girl, playing what looked like speed cheese. The source of the clicks, from their quick taps on the clock. The source of the clacks, the sound of pieces hitting the mat spread out on the table.

One particularly large clack rang out as one of the boys in the closer boards slammed his king on the board. "We're playing again!"

"You lost three games in a row already. Just stop trying to sacrifice pieces so recklessly. You're not Levi."

Levi…

"So this is our chessroom." Moblit said as he guided her in. "And this is our team."

That name was pushed to the back of her mind as Moblit brought her to the table to introduce her to every one of them. Their names went into one ear and out the other though, that one mention of Levi was fighting for control in her mind.

"You mentioned a Levi?"

"Why? You wanna play him?" The blonde answered, looking particularly annoyed at the mention of that name. "Why don’t you play one of us first?."

"Actually, I have no plans of playing---."

"In fact, I've been practicing Levi's opening lines---" The blonde ended up biting his tongue as the girl next to him pushed him away.

"Sorry for the rude introduction from Oluo over here. My name is Petra. " The girl said.

"She's our new recruit." Moblit answered.

"So you finally found a replacement." The blond man on the other side stood up and walked toward Hange. "Nice to meet you. Name's Eld."

"Wait what… replacement?"

"Gunther here can't play the season because of grades so we had Moblit try to find us a quick replacement. You have experience playing competitive chess?"

"Online?" Hange suggested.

"You got someone here with no experience playing competitive chess and her first day you bring her is when we have a simulation match with Levi. You might end up having to look for a new recruit after today." The man who had bitten his tongue a while ago looked like he had quickly recovered enough to at least laugh at Hange without wincing. "Have you at least prepared mentally to get your ass beaten by him?"

Levi… "I feel like I've gotten my ass beaten by this person you're talking about already." Hange replied. There were only so many Levis in the vicinity who play good chess right?

En Prise

Levi had a disinterested look about him which made Hange wonder what went through his head half the time. She could not help but note that that was probably why he played chess so well.

She could never tell if he was taken by surprise. When Levi entered the chess room and made eye contact with her, Hange had to focus most if not all her energy into placating that flash of recognition and softening that boiling feeling inside her. Was it anger? Or was it excitement?

Either way, it manifested as frustration at seeing the Levi's poker face. Did he recognize her?

“This is Hange Zoe. She’ll be joining our team from today.”

"You owe me money!" Hänge said, louder than she had intended. From her peripherals, she could see Petra jumping in surprise.

"I don't remember owing anyone any money." Levi replied, his tone as disinterested as his face.

"You hustled me." Hange accused.

"I don't hustle people." Levi said calmly.

"This guy is your teammate? This guy plays competitive chess? He hangs out in bars and hustles random people over chess games.” Hange challenged. “And you get this dirty guy to represent our school?

Petra looked uncomfortable. As Hange scanned their faces, she could see they all were looking for something else to focus on.

“Erwin asked me to play all of you today since he can’t make it to training.” Levi turned to Hange. “ WIll you be joining us today?” He had said it so politely and calmly yet had completely ignored her accusation only a second ago. That was enough to get Hange’s blood boiling.

“She’s our new recruit. I think it would be a good experience if she plays too.” It was Moblit who had answered for her.”

“Wait, play with this dirty man? He might steal my money again.” Hange protested.

Levi sighed. “Zoe, let’s make a deal then, if you beat me here, I’ll give you back the money you bet. How does 500 dollars sound?” So he did recognize her.

500 dollars. That was more than what she had lost for sure. “There must be some catch to this.”

Levi shrugged. “Just stop with these accusations so we don’t waste anymore time. Erwin’s gonna get angry if we don’t finish the game today.”

Hange could only watch as Levi and the other players pulled out a long table from the side and set up chess boards and placed the chess clocks on the table.

Hange sat next to Petra. The latter grabbed the chess clock from Hange’s left side and set it up. “55 minutes with a 10 second increment”

“Everyone has to play their best opening for white. Erwin’s orders.”

“It’s not like you’re actually gonna play a bookline anyway so what’s the point.” Oluo commented.

Everyone ignored him.

Hange watched from her seat as Levi walked through all the tables. From her place she could see that Eld had moved already. What move he was playing, she could not tell. Levi quickly replied to Eld’s first move.

Beside her, Hange could see Petra had played her queen’s pawn forward.

“You have more than enough of an advantage to beat me Zoe. I’m playing five people and you have nothing to lose.” Levi said as he arrived in front of Hange’s board. “Make your move.”

Hange pushed her king’s pawn forward.

Levi stared for a second and raised one eyebrow. A disinterested and judgemental look plastered on his face. Hange could not help but doubt her opening. Is there something wrong with e4?

Levi replied with b5, the pawn in front of his knight. Hange had never seen that in her life but what she managed to a see a few seconds later was the clear line from bishop to pawn.

She could take it and develop her bishop at the same time. She had read it before. Focus on developing pieces at the opening stages.

Was the pawn free though? One thing Hange had learned from losing to Levi multiple times though was that Levi could easily turn a piece down position into an attack for himself.

“Hurry up and move Zoe. You’re the only one still in the opening.” Hange jumped to see Levi standing in front of her.

Hange looked to her clock. 30 minutes. She’d been thinking for at least 30 minutes. Or at least trying to think. Her mind was still blank.

“Do you still want your money back?”

That was the provocation Hange needed. She took the pawn with her bishop.

Levi quickly replied by placing his bishop on the square where the pawn was only a second ago.

The clock was ticking for Hange again. Develop your pieces. Hange played Nc3, a normal developing move to defend the pawn. Levi quickly played f5. The past few moves Levi had not left her board and as Hange looked to the others, she could see they were all deep into middlegame positions.

She looked back at the position in front of her. Another free pawn.

“Don’t you have other boards to play?”

“One less board to play if I finish one now.”

Hange took the pawn on f5.

“I’ll teach you how to win a game a rook up.” It took Hange a few minutes to notice it. After Levi had moved his bishop to the take the pawn on her right wing, at the same time threatening to take the rook, he walked away, leaving Hange with the problem of how to save a trapped rook and the futile loss that came with it. It also gave Hange enough time to reflect, to ponder on the fact that Levi had alluded to one of their games only a week ago. Levi had been down a rook for most of one game yet managed to win.

Hange developed her knight in front of the king, having completely given up on defending the rook. From then on, she had focused on simple development. That was what Levi had done after all, when he was a rook down.

“You gave up pretty fast.” Levi commented only a few moves later.

“I’m still playing.” Hange said. The pieces were all set up but Levi was a clear rook up. From then on, Levi had not left her table in the simulation match. Levi’s material advantage only increasing from that point. The same pattern, it was definitely not as slow as it had been back in the bar when Hange was always a piece up. The advancement of Levi’s forces on the board were rapid

She found herself spending a few seconds looking at the board of Petra to see the material advantage was equal.

She couldn’t even do that much. Hange found herself playing faster and faster. It could have been from frustration or from the desire to have that humiliation end. Levi only entertained that in her as he matched her speed.

“It’s good manners to resign when you’re losing Zoe.”

Hange did not even have time to organize her forces. A black knight had planted itself in the middle of the board and the black queen was staring down at her uncastled white king.

Hange did not need to look up to feel it. Everyone’s eyes were on her and Hange chose to wait. Eventually, Levi walked away from the board and she could hear the clack and the click as he moved the pieces and pressed the clock. Then more footsteps then the clack and the click again.

Levi never did go back to her board. He didn’t need too. Hange only had to look at the clock next to her to know the game would be over soon.

“Resign.” It was Petra who resigned soon after her clock hit zero. Oluo resigned a few minutes after.

When Hange finally looked up, she could see Moblit, Oluo and Petra gathered around the board between Eld and Levi. Eld had his hands to his head while Levi just stood waiting, looking as disinterested and uninvested as he always did.

From her angle, she could not see what had happened on the board, but as she heard the sound of a piece slamming into the board, soon followed by Eld standing up, she knew it was over. Levi had beaten all of them in a sweep.

“It’s getting late.”

Petra and Oluo had gathered up their pieces into the middle of the chess mats while Moblit and Eld

“Just keep a record of your games. Erwin will look through them.”

“Record?” Hange only noticed then, that there papers on top of the board as well.

“I forgot to tell you... I’m sure Erwin won’t mind if you didn’t have one, it’s your first day after all.” Moblit said, his tone apologetic.

“I’ll help her replay the game. You three can go ahead.”

Soon, it was just the two of them in the room.

“Do you even know how to record games?”

“I learned in PE class but it gets confusing.”

“I’ll write it down for you to save you time.” Levi said as he set up a board in front of her. He soon replayed the game one by one, pausing to write on the board every few moves, not even bothering to ask her if he had recalled it correctly.

He had set up on the board the moment his bishop took her rook. He replayed her next move when she had developed the knight in front of her king, making sure to tap the piece multiple times on the board before writing it down. The face he made as he did that, only clued Hange in to the fact that it was probably the wrong move. “You gave up too easily.” Levi commented

“I was a rook down.”

“If we switched boards I could have won this position.” Levi said as he continued to play quickly through it. He stopped at one familiar position, having opened a clear path for the knight to plant itself on the middle of the board. “The game is already lost at this point. There’s no need to analyze it.” Levi explained. He wrote out the last few moves on the paper, not bothering to play them out.

“You didn’t need to point it out.” Hange said as she watched Levi push the pieces towards the middle of the board. “Thank you for doing it though.” The words were difficult to say. Hange only found the strength to say it as Levi returned the board to the box on the side of the room.

“It just bothers me. For someone who is so willing to play ten games in a row, you give up too easily on the board.” Levi shrugged. “At least, I got some money out of it.”

“So you admit you were hustling me.”

“You were winning in all your games. You just managed to fuck up in the middle and lost some money, that’s all there is to it.”

#levihan #levi ackerman #hange zoe #levi x hange

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jesuisserieux · 3 years

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Ask Game! Yay!

@p-trichor tagged me. Thank you! I’m delighted :) This was tagged to my main but I’m trying to be more active hear so I’m interpreting it to this blog. Hope that’s ok!

tag game rules: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better !!!

1. Name/Nickname: E? Or El? but not many people use those

2. Gender: genderfluid!!! they/them for my memory’s sake, but it’s up in the air at any moment babee

3. Star sign: taurus? Idk astrology but I was born in May

4. Height: 5’8″ and I have been that way since middle school

5. Time: right now? 10:39 pm

6. Birthday: May 7!

7. Favourite Bands: oh fuck ok ummmm Vulfpeck, The Amazing Devil, Chromeo, Abba tbh, Fat Night, The Lumineers, The Longest Johns

8. Favourite solo artist: Janelle Monae!!!!! Hozier, Lianne La Havas, Anais Mitchell, Lizzo, Blossom Caldarone

9. Song stuck in my head: that fucking tik tok song that guy made out of facebook drama that starts like “ good evening, is this available?”

10. Last movie: Christmas Cupid. My roommates and I decided to hate watch it for New Years and we didn’t even get like a third through it. It is TRULY terrible. Although it features Ashely Johnson of Critical Role fame, who is trying her best.

11. Last Show: Critical Role bc I’m a NERD. Also I’m watching The Queens Gambit right now

12. when did I create this blog: Like a few days ago. I got sucked back into les mis via quarantine and i have let it consume me. I’ve had my main since I was a freshman in highschool tho so yikes

13. What do I post: my headcanons? Hopefully someday my actual fics? And I reblog other people’s stellar content

14. Last thing I googled: “Telesilla fragments” which makes me sound MUCH cooler than I am. Seriously though, look her up, she’s another female poet who was living it up in antiquity

15. Do I get asks: no but this blog has also been in existence for a week

16. Why i chose my url: bc I think I’m funny. I relate some to Enjolras as a character and so I felt clever for switching up the classic “be serious,” and “I am wild” but in French hon hon hon

17. How many blogs i follow: 1575. I have been on here a LONG time

18. How many followers i have: this blog? 5 lmao

19. Average hours of sleep: 6-8. It would be more if I didn’t procrastinate on going to bed like a weirdo

20. Lucky number: 3! It is my favorite! Also I have synesthesia and its pink :)

21. Instruments : I can still play decent easy piano music and I’m a singer!

22. What I'm wearing: black harem pants (I think that’s the name?) wacky patterned teal socks, and a very large sort of ragged gray swear shirt that my uncle gave me for free

23. Dream job: ACTING! It’s what i’m in school for. Some version of theater where I get to act but also directly affect change and improve the lives of communities where I perform

24. Dream trip: Prague! The Jewish side of my family is from there and I’ve always wanted to see it

25. Last book I read: For class I read the Aeschylus play The Seven Against Thebes which is super interesting, and hilariously enough, the last thing I read for pleasure was Les Mis although I haven’t finished it yet

26. Favourite food: It’s gotta be pasta. Or kheer. They’re tied actually.

27. Nationality: American? But I’m not very patriotic. My family is from lover Europe and I’m partially Ashkenazi

28. Favourite song: Changes every day. Right now, I have to go with Jackboot Jump by Hozier

29. Top three fictional universes: I love the Raven Cycle universe, although it’s basically just Appalachia, which is where I’m from. But like- Appalachia with MAGIC. The Folk of the Air universe from Holly Black’s books! And the multiverse from A Wrinkle in Time!

30. What is something you like about yourself? : I’m a very empathetic person. I think I come off as sort of stoic because I’m still sort of figuring out how to use social cues and the like, but I care really deeply about people and I try to see good in everyone. Not that I don’t also acknowledge and stand against bad people, I just try and have a little empathy, even if I am actively working against them. I think a little empathy is good as long as it doesn’t blind me to people being shitty!

Ok! As previously stated this blog only has five followers! So I’m just gonna tag y’all, thanks team! Obviously if this is not your thing, no offense will be taken if you don’t continue the game. But hi! Nice to meet you!

@cumbercookiebatchs @philtatos-achaion @quillsand @sucharethetimes @your-angle-of-music

#ask game #about me

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cinema-tv-etc · 3 years

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TV Show Review: The Queen’s Gambit

🎬 It’s More Than Just Chess

The Queen’s Gambit tells the story of Beth. A nine year-old orphan who is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she’s competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting.

A Sneak Peek Into “The Queen’s Gambit”

At the age of nine, Beth Harmon is all alone. Her mother had just died in a car accident and she is now an orphan. It’s not like she had a very close relationship with her mother, it was the opposite actually. Ever since she was little, Beth has always been a quiet kid. No matter how much her mother yelled or screamed or panicked, Beth would always just calmly stare and said nothing.

Even on the day she was brought to the orphanage, she didn’t shed a tear. One would suppose, in a way, Beth has gotten used to being alone and maybe even prefer her own company to anyone else’s. In the orphanage, kids were given 2 pills every day. One red pill, and one green pill. The red pills were said to be vitamins, to keep the kids strong and healthy. The green pills, on the other hand, were called Xanzolam, which are usually prescribed for women with anxiety and insomnia. In the orphanage, it was given to the kids as tranquilizers to keep them calm and sedated.

She didn’t really care for the green pills until one day when she was in the basement where she stumbled onto a janitor called Mr. Shaibel playing chess all by himself. The sleek design of the board as well as all the pieces fascinated her, and she asked for him to teach her how to play. Upon hearing that, Mr. Shaibel’s reply to her was, “Girls don’t play chess.”

Beth was upset. She has never been this fascinated with something before, and yet now that her attention has been captured by the game of chess, Mr. Shaibel refused to teach her. Despite the refusal, however, Beth did not give up easily. She watched Mr. Shaibel’s gameplay, read books to grasp a deeper understanding of how chess works. And at night––this is where the green pill comes in handy––she would pop in a green pill and the chess pieces would start appearing on the ceiling as if they were magic.

And thus, she practiced in her head.

After a few nights of this and Beth’s persistence in wanting to learn chess, Mr. Shaibel eventually caved and decided to mentor her. To his surprise, Beth––for a girl who has never played chess ever before––held up quite well against himself. Mr. Shaibel was sure that she had never played this game before, but yet, she was able to play so well. So he asked her, “How did you know how to play chess?”

“I practiced, in my head.” Was Beth’s nonchalant reply.

This continued for a while, Beth would finish her school work and tests early, then she would go down to the basement to practice chess with Mr. Shaibel. It took her a while, but eventually, Mr. Shaibel who started off as her mentor wasn’t even able to beat her anymore. Mr. Shaibel surprised by her abilities, so much so that he invited a high school chess teacher to try to beat her. And even then, Beth effortlessly beat him without much thought.

As her obsession with chess grew, her dependence on the green pill did as well. Before when Beth would just take one green pill a day, now she would save up a few days worth of green pills and down them all at once. These days, she could no longer function without it. The green pills are the only way she was able to imagine the chessboard on the ceiling and practice in her head while everyone was asleep. Beth has become addicted to Xanzolam despite all the warnings that her friend gave her about the green pill.

And just when Beth was spearing through her young life getting better and better in chess, the state passes a law forbidding giving tranquilizers to children. Upon hearing that, Beth’s whole world comes crashing down.

What is she going to do now without those magical green pills?

3 Words to Describe This Show

BRILLIANT, GRIPPING, UNIQUE

Review

Ever since I subscribed to Netflix, I have watched so many more shows than I ever would otherwise. From the good ones to the mediocre ones and to the great ones. I mean, I can’t say that I’ve already watched all the shows there is on Netflix––because your girl doesn’t have the eye power for that––but I can say that I have binged a good handful of them and to be really, truly honest, The Queen’s Gambit is pretty up there when it comes to great shows.

Actually, I would even go as far as to say that The Queen’s Gambit might just be the best tv show that I’ve watched in 2020. From the cinematography to the actress and the aesthetic, everything was just so well done. Even now, a few weeks after I’ve finished bingeing it all in one go, I still sometimes go back just to stare at Anya Taylor Joy’s face. Honest to god that woman is absolutely gorgeous.

BETH HARMON AND SOMETHING ABOUT SMART GIRLS

This is something that just started developing in the past few years, but as I grow older, it feels like I am prioritizing more on brains than looks. 5 years ago I was all for that bad boy let-me-fix-you-but-i-wont-bring-you-home-to-momma type guys, but these days, it’s all the brains for me.

Maybe I am just evolving more and more into a zombie….

Me turning into a zombie aside (please love me still), while I was first pulled into the show because of Beth’s looks, it was her smarts that pulled me in and made me stay. There is something so endearing yet awe-inspiring about her way of moving through life. Despite the era that The Queen’s Gambit was set in, with chess being something that usually only men participate actively in, Beth knocked down all those stereotypes without batting an eye. What’s even cooler is that she wasn’t even trying to be a feminist or to stick one out for the girls.

Beth just loved chess, and she pursued it with all her might. It wasn’t that she was trying to show all those men that women can also play chess if she’d like, but it’s just she just didn’t care. Beth couldn’t understand why everyone was so surprised at the fact that she enjoyed and was good at playing chess. For her, it was just something that she loved and took great pride in. The way she looked at the world was for the most part very innocent, and something about that made me want to roll her up into a burrito and protect her forever.

IT’S MORE THAN JUST CHESS

A lot of people might be put off by the trailer, or by the synopsis when they see that this show is all about chess. Well, take it from someone who binged this show all in one go in a day: yes…and no.

Yes to the fact that The Queen’s Gambit is indeed a show about chess. However, it was also more than that. It tackles the topic of mental health, friendship, romantic relationships, addiction. Really, this show is deeper than what they show you in the trailer.

With Beth Harmon being a chess prodigy and whatnot it is understandable that there will be a lot of chess play going on, despite that, the show managed to make it in a way that it’s not boring nor repetitive. And this is coming from someone who detests chess from when she was little. I understand no chess whatsoever yet I have no problem following along with the storyline.

Trust me, The Queen’s Gambit is more than just chess.

DEPRESSION, LONELINESS, AND OTHER DRUGS

The Queen’s Gambit follows Beth from when she was nine years old through all her transitions into being an adult. Her despairs, her proudest moments, the people that come and goes. The viewers get to see all of that. Beth when she’s happy, Beth when she’s angry…her tears, her drunk, her crazy.

I love how Beth’s mental issues are depicted in The Queen’s Gambit. It’s like one of those people who seems to have it all on the outside, but on the inside, they were all broken in pieces. Maybe how Beth handled stress and how she always strives for nothing but perfection struck a chord in me, or maybe it was something else. I don’t really know for sure, all I know is that I really appreciate how they portrayed mental issues and drug addiction in this show.

While watching Beth go through all her mental breakdowns or her non-stop drinking blender, it never once struck me as something that is…odd. It was as if all of the emotions that she went through are all just part of life––of dealing with her emotions and growing up. It wasn’t portrayed as some sort of taboo, even among her friends. They sympathize with her, they were kind and understanding yet also firm with Beth. I don’t know, maybe this part of the review doesn’t make sense at all, but I just really appreciate that The Queen’s Gambit portrayed periods of depression or anxiety as something that people go through in life, instead of something that needs to be hospitalized. You feel me?

ROMANCE IS…KINDA IN THE AIR?

Another thing I love about The Queen’s Gambit: there is no pressure for Beth to date. Sure, she has pursuers who come to try their luck, and Beth herself also was attracted to some characters in the show, but there was never an underlying pressure from her stepmom or friends to push her to date. Which, thinking of when this show was set in––the year 1958––was quite surprising, at least for me.

While in this show Beth was never in a relationship for long, she never lacks male attention. Which makes sense given how gorgeous she is. However thinking how in the 50s and 60s where women are mainly housewives and listen to their husbands, it’s really refreshing to see Beth conquering the world one chess play at a time. Not only that, in the show, she became so well known for her ruthless chess play that men were intimidated by her. Which I can only imagine is not something you see often in the 50s and 60s.

Needless to say, The Queen’s Gambit’s takes on how Beth approaches sex and romantic relationship as a whole is very refreshing. Especially when you take the era into mind.

The Verdict

If you haven’t watched this The Queen’s Gambit, you have to. No, seriously, you need to. If you follow this blog long enough, you already know that your girl rarely ever get so gung-ho about tv shows. Books yes, every now and then. But tv shows? Almost never.

Ever since I finished watching The Queen’s Gambit, I have recommended it to nearly everyone I know that has ears attached to their heads. I seriously cannot recommend this show enough. Even if you don’t think you’ll enjoy it, just give it a 30-minute trial. If it didn’t catch your interest after that, you can drop it entirely. However, if you ended up bingeing it in under a day as I did, your girl expects a kiss on the cheek and a chocolate ice cream.

Not to mention, even if the show was just kind of bleh for you, wouldn’t you watch just for Anya Taylor’s doe eyes and gorgeous cheekbones? Because I damn well know I would. *wink*

https://literaturesandmovies.com/2020/11/06/tv-show-review-the-queens-gambit-its-more-than-just-chess/

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25 Things You Missed In Queen's Gambit

https://youtu.be/fDr0uKFkwpw

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Creating The Queen’s Gambit | Netflix

https://youtu.be/LzDhpEInMIg

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Creating The Queen’s Gambit | Netflix

https://youtu.be/CDrieqwSdgI

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#Queen’s Gambit #TV Show Review #Netflix

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distant-rose · 4 years

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And if you're up for yet another gratuitous ask, do you have a favourite oc? What do you love best about them?

I know this was meant to be a simple question, but it’s not. I’ve been making original characters since...birth really. I know there’s like many a couple thousand of them running around in my head and they’re all difficult and wonderful. Like the amount of universes I have...un-fucking-real. To be honest, like my OUAT and Marvel universes are really just two out of like million prjects I’ve been working on. So, I have like an infinite number of characters I hold dear.

With that being said, it really depends on the mood and what kind of love favorite are you asking? Because there’s also sorts of ways to answer that question.

Like who is the most aspirational one to me? Jim Hawkins, hands down, has the patience and understanding of a saint while being so stern and sensible about who he is and what he does. I love Jim. He’s the fucking hands down one of the more fascinating cooler characters I have for LP verse and I regret not writing him more.

Who is the most fun/favorite to cause pain? God, I wanna say the most fun to cause pain is probably a tie between Beth Jones and Wes Jones because they’re both absolute shits and most of the time they get what’s coming for them and honestly, their solutions to pain make for interesting storylines. They’re so viseral in their reactions to things that they’re incredibly fun to put in painful situations.

Who would I want to be friends with? @justanotherwannabeclassic and mine’s character for Marvel - Sylvie LeBeau, who is the youngest child of Rogue and Gambit in that universe. She’s incredibly sweet and I don’t think has a mean bone in her body, which gets her into a lot of trouble. She’s blind but has the ability to see into the past and future when she touches things. So, I feel like just being her old things would be interesting to hear what happened with them. Also, she’s an artsy gal so I feel like it would be fun to just chill and make pottery together.

Which character do I want to protect the most? Again, another character from Shea and mine’s Marvel AU, Olivier LeBeau, who is based off his canon counterpart in X-Men: The End. We gave him his mom and kept the family together, but we kept the trauma from Sinister and kept him in charge of the newest X-team. This guy can’t catch a break really. He weathers it all, but to say he goes through a series of unfortunate events is an understatement. He had him struggle with his mutation, go through a five-year angst fest with his love interest, nearly lose two of his younger sisters, lost six members of his team on a mission, his fiancee gets taken, etc, etc. As I stated to Shea, “he’s never gotten anything handed to him without being shot six times.” We put him through the wringer but he gets a happy ending and a lot of street cred. #WorthIt

send me asks about my writing process, wip/fics, or headcanons today

#asks #answered #katie-dub #fanfic friday #fanfic friday meme #meme bullshit

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lydiaandarry · 5 years

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{How To Dress Similarly To Your Favorite Cartoon Characters (Using Five Examples!)}

Hello there!

My name is Arabella but you can call me Arry, if it’s easier. I don’t know about you but I basically grew up on cartoons. I watched Cartoon Network all day and I used to get so much inspiration from cartoon characters that probably followed me into my older years. Personality and fashion-wise. Have you ever wanted to dress similar to one of your favorite cartoon characters yet not wanting to look like a cosplay or costume? Well, you’ve come to the right gal because that is exactly what I am going to be helping you with but before I get onto the five examples, we must go over some basic knowledge. Fashion can say a lot about a character, especially in cartoons where the clothes rarely change. It has to be iconic yet true to the personality being demonstrated in some sense. Five things go into analyzing and copying a cartoon characters style: 1) Color Palette 2) Aesthetic 3) Overall Impression 4) Fashion Items 5) How It Shapes Their Personality? These are five things we are going to keep in mind during our five examples. Let’s invade this topic.

(Daria Morgendorffer)

Ah yes, Daria Morgendorffer. My sarcastic twin. I started with Daria because this character is one of the more easier ones to analyze and recreate. In fact, it has been quite common for fangirls of the television show to recreate Daria and Jane’s styles but I wanted to do Daria’s over Jane’s because I relate to Daria more. Starting with the first thing to think about when recreating a style of any cartoon character, color palette. A color palette is quite important especially when it comes to cartoon characters because these colors can be forever associated with this character. It’s like, if you see someone who usually wears all black with hints of red. That is a color palette, it’s something that you can associate with them subconsciously. Daria’s color palette includes green, yellow, black and brown if you include her hair. Now, you can become simple and see it just like that. Green, yellow, black and brown. But if you want to complicate it a bit and be more precise. Then her color palette would be dark greens (olives, forests, and dartmouth green). Dark yellow similar to mustard or occasionally an orange yellow. Chestnut brown or a reddish brown. You can limit your options to specific colors that will be more precise. The second thing to consider is her aesthetic, now Daria has a very laid-back aesthetic. Her whole running gag in the show is about how Daria doesn’t fall down to society’s standards when it comes to beauty as she doesn’t smile (unless there’s a special moment) and she doesn’t take as much time in her outfits as her younger and more popular sister, Quinn. Daria is very minimalistic as she isn’t one to horde a lot of clothing. She doesn’t wear makeup. Her aesthetic is being natural and effortless. The third thing to consider is the overall impression of their clothes to the world around them. Now this may seem odd but this is worth consideration because it depends on how you want to be taken. As people judge upon appearances and your clothes can say a lot about you. Daria’s fashion choices are usually attacked by her parents who think she could do a bit more effort and Quinn seeing her as outdated yet Daria doesn’t get a lot of criticism. Nor does she really face any backlash on how she dresses. It makes people not really want to be around her but she isn’t hated nor scorned. It’s a pretty simple style that is just there. The fourth thing to consider is fashion items, unless you are planning on copying Daria’s style piece by piece. It is great to really observe it and take pieces of it that may fit into her character yet is good for everyday use and not a cosplay. Remember, it’s all about inspiration. With Daria, I recommend oversized (possibly fit and flare) jackets or oversized, buttoned up cardigans. For tops, sweaters, short-sleeved mock necks, and graphic tee shirt dresses. For bottoms, mini skater skirts, skinny jeans, and culottes. For shoes, never forget the Doc Martens or chunky boots similar. And last but not least, the fifth thing to consider is how does her clothes shape her personality? The best way to answer this question is to look into Daria’s personality deeper, she doesn’t really care about small things and sees the world through different eyes. With this, she has priorities and standards, herself. Fashion is a lower priority compared to her wanting to make the right choice and choosing the right career. It’s a way to present herself but doesn’t make her stand out too much as she prefers to be known for her brains than her fashion. The clothes do not wear Daria, Daria wears the clothes. It’s just her.

(Rogue)

I decided to go for something a bit more tricky next character and what’s more trickier than a comic book character who has been around since the 80’s? That’s right, you called it. Rogue from the X-Men. My Superhero twin. Brown hair, green eyes and all. It is no lie that recreating Rogue’s style would be great in those cold winters where I always dress wrong and is freezing my arse off. And since it is February, I thought why not include her. Although I will add some cooler alternatives if you live somewhere where it isn’t snowing. Comic Book Characters are fun to recreate their style because you can kind of cosplay yet it’s not cosplaying. I also love seeing fanart of people who draw comic book characters in casual clothes. It’s amazing to see that. I recommend looking at those fanart drawings if you are having a hard time. Rogue’s color palette includes green, yellow, brown, black and white. Now the colors kind of depend on what Rogue you are going for as 90’s Animated Rogue had a completely different vibe from X-Men Evolution Rogue. But I recommend going for similar greens (possibly ones similar used for Daria) for both vibe, yet feel free to go darker for X-Men Evolution Rogue. You can also try to incorporate yellow into X-Men Evolution Rogue’s vibe if you wish to but if not, get rid of it completely. Rogue’s aesthetic is hard to detect since she is a comic book character who has been in two very different cartoons but it is okay if you cannot detect an aesthetic with a character. I feel like X-Men Evolution Rogue fits into the more edgy, even potentially Goth aesthetic while 90’s Rogue is more sporty and slightly punk. It’s hard to detect because unlike X-Men Evolution Rogue, Rogue is rarely seen out of costume in the 90’s show. Similar to Daria, Rogue’s outfits don’t really leave an overall impression in the world she is living in as being a mutant is much more likely to give you backlash in her world. I think the only thing I can really get from Rogue is that her style is more likely to get you a sexy, devil-eyed hunk who speaks with French accent and is named Gambit. And who doesn’t want a Gambit? Now onto the fun part, choosing out similar fashion items. For 90’s Rogue, I recommend for jackets, they end at the waist and is faux leather (this is where you can add the brown). For tops, fitted sweaters, tee shirt dresses and mock necks. For bottoms, sporty shorts and fitted jeans and for shoes, sneakers and knee high boots. Don’t forget a fabulous headband. For X-Men Evolution Rogue, I recommend a longer dark jacket (maybe a denim jacket as well). For tops, fitted shirts, mock-necks, sheer tops with a cropped cami underneath, band tee shirts. With bottoms, ripped jeans with perhaps fishnets underneath, leather skirts, leather shorts. And for shoes, Mary-Janes or Doc Martens. Other than that, they go hand to hand with gloves, circle sunglasses, knee high socks. It is all about how you feel as the character. I mean, Rogue’s style basically shapes her personality as being reserved and not wanting to be touched. She wears a lot of layers and keeps covered yet keeps it fitted and sexy. She also has an edge that is shown a lot through her comic book appearances. Rogue’s style shows that you can be completely covered up and still be a babe. That you don’t have to show a lot of skin to be sexy but I mean she can’t show a lot of skin to be sexy because one touch and someone may die. But, if you don’t feel comfortable showing a lot of skin then Rogue is the rad gal for you.

(Velma Dinkley)

Okay, now let’s say that you aren’t a loner or the sort of edgy type. I see you. Velma Dinkley has been one of my favorite characters since I was a young girl. She showed that you could be intelligent and be an equal to the leader. She had brains and was witty as hell. Now I may have grown up to be a bit more like Daphne in terms of fashion-mindset and clumsiness. My Velma comes out every once and then. Yet her colors are a bit harder to incorporate (wink, wink) into everyday basis because her color palette is red, orange and black if you include her glasses. I don’t see a lot of people wearing orange and red but it’s not that bad of a color combination. It mostly depends on what fashion item you are having red or orange in your outfit. If you are being precise, Velma’s color palette is a medium orange (slightly burnt at times) and crimson red. Like a cherry red, not too dark but not too light either. And with the glasses adding some black into her color palette, you can find ways to split the two with some basic black items in there as well, if it would make you more comfortable. Velma’s aesthetic is a nerd, she’s the bookworm, the brain of the group. She’s a nerd. Which ties into a lot of her aesthetic and how you can help it fit more together. Her aesthetic actually comes in handy because she’s very analytical and organized, meaning her clothes are probably going to be more neat and practical. Velma’s overall impression of her clothing by the world around her has changed throughout the years. It is rarely touched on until like the 2000’s where in the first two live action films, Velma is noted as being the less pretty out of the two of her and Daphne. Daphne continuously gives her advice on clothes or even once goes, “It’s never too late to learn how to use makeup”. And when Fred gets defensive when Velma notes how he has always somewhat favored Daphne over her, he goes, “Dorky chicks like you turn me on too!”. Noting how Velma is seen as poorly dressed. This mostly gives Velma’s character some depth as in the 2004 film “Monsters Unleashed”, when Velma develops a crush on museum owner Patrick Wisely, she becomes shy and scared of intimacy. Daphne’s solution to this is to give Velma a makeover that results in her feeling more uncomfortable and less sexy as it is more like Daphne than Velma. This scene is recreated in the 2008 film Mystery Begins where the Gang goes undercover in high school with different looks and Velma is yet again the uncomfortable sexy girl. Yet this never breaks Velma’s spirit and she always goes back to her natural look. For fashion items, Velma is a bit more simple as you can basically wear almost anything as long as it fits into her aesthetic and color-palette. For jackets, I recommend wearing fitted long jackets or maybe blazers if you feel more comfortable with a more professional, sleek look. Cardigans that are buttoned-up will also be an amazing choice for Velma. For tops, knitted sweaters, short-sleeved mock necks, mock knock sweatshirts, collared shirts. For bottoms, mini skirts, high-waisted flared jeans and potential overalls. For accessories, berets would be nice, knee high socks, and gloves. And for shoes, mary-janes or sneakers like Converse and Vans. How does Velma’s fashion shape her personality? Well, as talked about earlier, Velma has never felt the need to change or be someone she’s not. She is very comfortable in her own skin and her clothes. It shows that Velma can be comfortable and practical while holding an important part in the group. Her style shows never to judge someone by their clothing as there is always something more underneath.

(Sibella Count)

Yes, another Scooby Doo character, forgive me. Sibella Count is a female character in the Scooby Doo film “Ghoul School”. Now let’s say that the character you want to recreate fashion off of is a lesser known, underdeveloped character who has only appeared in one film. Like Sibella. Well, then you have a lot of options! It is always good to take a character and remember the five things to consider. Sibella’s color palette is very diverse with a wide range of purples, reds, and some blues. You can throw some pinks in there if they have purple hues. Like a berry pink. Her aesthetic is the fact that she is Dracula’s daughter and a vampire so you can really play up the spook factor here yet keeping it sweet. You can also go very vintage with Sibella ranging from the 60’s to the 80’s as her style can be formatted into multiple different eras. Even the 50’s could be an option. Don’t forget that Sibella is also athletic so 50’s workout inspiration (as seen on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) would be great for Sibella if you do not like the sporty trends of the 80’s. As she is a volleyball player and dancer. The overall impression of Sibella’s clothing is mostly outsiders feeling that she is weird. Shaggy and Scooby are terrified of her at first because she’s obviously a vampire and they fear anything that’s not human. And the Calloway Cadets see her as weird and off-putting. Yet she usually wins people over with her kind-heart and outgoing personality. Fashion items are the trickiest for characters like this because she is only seen in two outfits and one is for exercise so I am going to give you a mixture of both. For jackets, I recommend knee length jackets that can hug in at the waist for shape if needed. For tops, long-sleeved mock necks, short sleeved mock-necks, crop tops, v-shaped tops with bell-sleeves. For dresses, I recommend a-lines with bell-sleeves or even ankle length, body hugging dresses similar to those who would be worn by Morticia Addams or Vampira and for more casual wear, pinafores would be also be a great option. And perhaps a short-sleeved, v-shaped dress. For bottoms, cotton high-waisted shorts, sporty shorts, mini skirts. For accessories, anything red basically, red headbands, red belts, red scarves around the neck, a red bat backpack or satchel would be nice. Anything with bats would be great for Sibella. Knee high socks. For shoes, red mary-janes, red knee high boots, red sneakers. For that pop of glam. How does Sibella’s fashion shape her personality? Well, it’s very vampy which she is as she is the daughter of Dracula. It is also mature which fits Sibella as she is usually shown as being more mature out of the group and she is very confident. She’s another case of “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Sibella is unfortunately underdeveloped in personality due to only one appearance but this allows you to just have fun with it.

(Poison Ivy)

And last but not least, Poison Ivy. Probably the hardest character to recreate clothing from as she is rarely seen actual clothing which is why color palettes are so important. This is also why I chose Poison Ivy over Harley Quinn due to her complexity of choosing fashion items that will recreate her style (although Birds of Prey have shown that they cannot dress Harley Quinn despite this). Let’s not waste any time and get onto this. Poison Ivy’s color palette is red, green, and black. Her color palette isn’t really the hardest thing about her, it’s more so her overall aesthetic and impression. Poison Ivy can fit into two major aesthetics, the glam of the 50’s/60’s. And the hippie era of the 70’s. 50’s/60’s can give you the much-needed shape and sexiness yet still keeping it classy while the 70’s can have you reveal more skin and be more flower-child like. I will be choosing fashion items for both aesthetics. The overall impression to Poison Ivy by the world is that she is well-dressed, sexy woman who has confidence and a lot of power. She is a very devious Batman villain who will do anything to rescue plants and sees herself as mother nature. This is a great way to incorporate flowers into your outfits. With Poison Ivy, it’s all about the shape. Onto fashion items. For the 50’s/60’s aesthetic, I recommend fitted jackets with straight jackets that end meet right at the hips to hug them. I also recommend that they have a V-Shaped opening. Cardigans are also great for this and do fit the time era. For tops, I recommend mock-neck tops that are fitted, bodysuits, fitted long-sleeved tops, these could all be one solid color or even have some patterns into them (stripes would be good). For bottoms, mini-skirts, knee length skirts, high-waisted shorts, and fitted trousers. For accessories, glasses would be cute if you wear them, sunglasses, berets, gloves, knee high socks and a bit of flowers in jacket pockets. For shoes, high-heels, knee high boots, and mary-janes will be fitting but you can always walk around the house barefooted. An odd suggestion for me is that I think you can really play around with lingerie when dressing like Poison Ivy, even if you’re single. Wear it for you. It will perhaps make you feel more confident and sexy. For 70’s, Jackets will probably be a bit more oversized and not as form-fitting. For tops, crop-tops, fitted sweaters, mock-necks, tied tops, cropped camis. For bottoms, high-waisted shorts, fitted skirts, flared skirts, bell-bottoms. For accessories, scarves in hair, flowers in hair, scarves around neck, knee high socks, floppy-hats. For shoes, platform heels or barefooted. And hell, if you want to be entirely 70’s, just go nude and paint flowers on your body. That’s very Ivy like. How does her clothes shape her personality? Ivy is very confident and independent and chic, with a dangerous layer. Her clothes show off that confidence and fierceness. It’s all about the shape, no matter how you want to dress it. And the hints of red will be great as red nail polish or red lipstick. She’s a very sexy character and her clothes show off that, even if she didn’t have her alluring abilities. She’s a great, powerful female character. And I am sure you will feel comfortable dressing up as her.

Okay, that was five examples used on how to dress similarly or inspired by your favorite cartoon characters. I really hope that you enjoyed the post and if you did, feel free to follow our blog. I post a blog post on every Wednesday and Saturday. Also feel free to like and reblog! And remember fashion is all about having fun and trying new things, it shouldn’t be stressful. I’ll see you on Saturday. Peace out!

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bringinbackpod · 3 years

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Interview with Jude Cole

We had the pleasure of interviewing Jude Cole over Zoom video! JUDE COLE is a simple but driven man. Throughout his long and storied career, he’s worn many a creative hat, whether it be as a singer, songwriter, guitarist/sideman, film composer, producer, manager or even a stint as music critic and interviewer to acts like The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, Bob Seger and dozens of other superstars. His first love, songwriting, remains steadfast and true, which is why he's releasing his first new music in 21 years. “I never wanted to bookmark myself,” he explains. “I really do enjoy creating new music, and I don’t care to look back all that much. I have the Gold and Platinum records in my tank, but I don’t hang them on the walls. I don’t always like to look at past achievements — I prefer right now and a little of what’s next. I spent the last 22 years managing artists like Jason Wade and Lifehouse and being a very behind-the-scenes writer, producer and manager. For me, these two new solo projects allow me to do what I’ve always done creatively, but with a new ability to actually stand back and appreciate it.” To that end, he’s most definitively moved the artistic needle forward with the contents of his two most recent solo releases. COUP DE MAIN shines the spotlight on COLE originals that showcase his multi-genre mastery, while COOLERATOR brings a modern-day retro-cool vibe to a score of doo-wop favorites both classic and under-served. COUP DE MAIN encompasses a variety of styles, from the opening mid-tempo gambit of “Taking Away My Home” to the acoustic and ethereal lament of “Only Far Away” to the progressive swing of “Wax Wings.” COLE displays some formidable forward-leaning, atomically inspired chops on “The Dark,” which soars into the heart of the stratosphere with a generous cosmic assist from acclaimed fellow producer/artist, Patrick Leonard. “We’ve been friends and very close neighbors for a long time, and he would literally walk his small synth down to my studio and plug in,” details COLE. “He did all the synth work on this song, and I think it’s one of the reasons it sounds the way it does. Patrick knew that’s what I was going for — and since he even produced Pink Floyd, he nailed it. He’s a wonderful, wonderful musician. I can’t say enough about him.” Not only that, but Lifehouse drummer Ricky Woolstenhulme, Jr. gave COLE and Leonard all the space they needed on “The Dark” to really stretch things out. “I asked Ricky to listen to some specific Pink Floyd records,” he reveals. “I mean, Nick Mason plays everything so painfully simple. He allows all the moving parts to do their job because he’s not in the way. Rick took all that to heart. He gave us a consistent bed of ride cymbal, kick and snare, topped with a few timeless drum fills. It really was fun to emulate that ’70s sound.” “They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale The Coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale But when Pierre found work the little money comin’ worked out well C’est La Vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell” -Chuck Berry Meanwhile, over on another sonic fulcrum, COLE gets to celebrate his pure doo-wop jones on the aforementioned COOLERATOR. Bear witness to his loving take on The Charts’ rare gem “Deserie” (“one of the most beautiful doo-wop songs ever”), the twangy Chuck Berry/Rockpile vibes of “Dear Dad,” and the horn-supported rock & stroll of Guitar Slim’s “It Hurts to Love Someone (When They Don’t Love You).” This collection has been a long time coming. “COOLERATOR is a piece of work that’s been over ten years in the making — and it’s not any sort of epic work you would think would take me ten years,” he says with a hearty laugh. “It was really just a pet project in between a lot of other hats, inspired by the true heart and soul of ’50s and ’60s doo-wop music.” The overall intention for COOLERATOR was to keep it simple and look for the right performance, “I always wondered how they made those records and why are they so soulful… why they’re so moving. When you hear about ’50s music, it’s often bobby socks and malt shops. I know that’s part of the Americana culture, but it doesn’t really reflect the groups that were singing on the street corners.” The fact is, JUDE COLE is a career artist who’s always looking at the next creative signpost up ahead, with nary a glance back in his rearview mirror. And with Chuck Berry as his COOLERATOR guide and inspiration, C’est la vie —it goes to show you never can tell how blues, rock, rhythm, and jazz will all come together to join him on whatever artistic roads he plans to travel down next. We want to hear from you! Please email [email protected]. www.BringinitBackwards.com #podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #JudeCole #zoom Listen & Subscribe to BiB Follow our podcast on Instagram and Twitter! source https://www.spreaker.com/user/14706194/interview-with-jude-cole

#podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #music #aspn #americansongwriter #americansongwriterpodcastnetwor

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itsbenedict · 7 years

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OH RIGHT YEAH I FINISHED PERSONA 5 ON SUNDAY

first i’m gonna say stuff that isn’t spoilers, and then after i’m done with that i’ll put spoilers under a cut. (at least, plot spoilers- there’s going to be details on the game in general, so if you haven’t played it yet and want to go in blind, hurry and scroll past this)

It’s good. It’s really very very good and improves on previous Persona games in... I think every possible dimension, except for how in this one every single female social link is romanceable, including the adults, including your teacher, um, hey??? Don’t???

Using personas as shadows was a really good move- the masked shadow designs from Persona 3 really fit that game’s aesthetic and had a whole unified design language, but they were sort of out of place in Persona 4 and would have been very out of place in P5. It was a savvy move both from a saving-on-art perspective, and from an aesthetic perspective- they were free to pick and choose from their huge library of persona designs to populate the palaces with thematically appropriate bad dudes. And, of course, as a fan of the series, it was fun going up against personas I’d used in previous games as enemies, and applying that knowledge to get an edge in combat.

The social stats system, where you have to grind up smarts and courage and charm and stuff in order to unlock things? Still terrible. Still a huge drag on the pacing and the game would have been way better without it. Hated it. But, it was slightly better than in P4, because social link activities often give you points in your social stats in addition to s.link points, so you don’t always have to choose between one or the other. Not that having the system at all wasn’t still bullshit, but it was ameliorated by some smart design decisions.

Speaking of social links- every single link, this time around, provides mechanical bonuses as you rank up. It’s not just a matter of, okay, I get an extra level on personas of this arcana- investing in social links provides a huge array of quality-of-life improvements. Getting extra time in the day, unlocking special moves in combat, letting you rearrange your party on the fly, improving your stealth in dungeons... it’s not just your immediate party members who are empowered by s.links.

Your crew is constantly having conversations in a group chat on your phone, and it really does a lot to make you feel connected to them- you have whole-group interactions on a daily basis, without having to meet up in person or have plot contrivances to justify it. That little touch (I say “little”, but it’s a big undertaking in terms of volume of writing) did a lot to make me care about the team as a whole.

EVERY PART OF THE GAME IS STYLISH AS FUCK AND THE MUSIC IS GREAT AND IT LOOKS AMAZING AND I WAS CONSTANTLY SUPER PSYCHED ALL THE TIME, THE HYPE IN THAT AREA WAS NOT A LIE, THAT’S ALL I NEED TO SAY ON THE MATTER

In general, it kind of made a show of departing from previous Personas, while really sticking pretty close to the formula overall. The main improvements were in the dungeon-crawling stuff- fixed-layout palaces with loads of cool setpieces and puzzles, stealth mechanics that made sneaking up on enemies engaging (except when the dang hiding spots restricted your camera for absolutely no good reason, dammit, i can literally reach out and touch this shadow’s toe and i can’t lock onto it from here??? fuck off), and cool faux-platforming sections.

anyway, PLOT SPOILERS (spoilers: the plot is good):

So, dang. The big thing that bugged me about Persona 4′s plot was “hey, so, you could at any time just go to the police, show them that you can go into TVs, and explain using the easily demonstrated evidence that the killer is using the magic TV world to do murders”. It made zero sense- particularly because the protagonist was living with a senior police detective. The usual “oh, they’ll never believe us” angle is nonsense in the face of how you can totally prove it no problem.

Persona 5 neatly sidesteps this by putting the protagonist on probation, and making the core group a bunch of Phantom Thieves, and oh shit yeah actually making the cops the bad guys- so of course you keep all this stuff secret and don’t just let the authorities sort it out. YOU WOULD GO TO JAIL. (In fact, you do go to jail, as the flashback framing device points out early on.)

And speaking of this framing device: holy shit the clever plan for how you get out of that situation is genius. When the protagonist gets shot directly in the head and the bad guy checks the head wound to confirm that he is in fact dead? That looks pretty damn final until you remember that hey, realistic fake people are totally a thing and have been substantially involved in the plot this whole time, and of course if the police believe you’re in a cell then there’ll be a cognitive duplicate of you in the police’s cognition. There were so many layers to that plan that, in retrospect, didn’t seem like unrealistically risky gambits. No shit, it worked perfectly! It was a really fucking clever plan!

I’ll be honest: I didn’t exactly see Akechi coming. At first I saw him coming- like, okay, who’s going to be the traitor? We know there’s a traitor- I wonder if it’s the guy who we know works for the police, and has been trying to capture us? It was way too obvious, and so- while I kept him as my first guess, in acknowledgment of that obviousness, I was ready to pounce on any alternative explanation. (My secondary hypothesis was that I hadn’t been betrayed at all, and that the cell was in the Metaverse and the whole thing was a fiendishly elaborate setup. So, in a way, I was double right? While being, in fact, completely wrong.)

I caught the pancakes thing, but I didn’t put two and two together with his explanation- I knew he had to already be a persona user because of it, but when he confessed “I’m actually already a persona user”, I didn’t think too closely about the timeframe he presented- his claim that it had been recently, during our Okumura Foods heist. Or- well, I sort of considered that, but wrote it off as “maybe he misheard “cakes” as “pancakes” the same way Ann originally misheard “pancakes” as “cakes”. His thing on TV where everyone was blaming the Phantom Thieves, but he was like “actually, I think it might be someone else” threw me off the scent entirely.

(i also suspected Mishima, at least until i got further into his social link and he became less of a disaster area)

The Igor twist fucking ruled super hard. I thought it was kind of eerie that they introduced “Shadows are Personas, and they talk like people do, and are alive” at the same time as “hey, let’s do fusion with GRUESOME EXECUTIONS”, and I did think “wow, this doesn’t sound like how Igor should sound at ALL, but I guess I’m going to have to get used to it.” That said- I get that it would have taxed the art budget, but they really should have phased out the guillotines and gone back to the tarot card stuff once Lavenza and real!Igor came back into play. It was weird that they had the open door, but put an invisible wall in front of it, too- like, I guess they planned to revamp the Velvet room after that twist, but ran out of time?

The final fight was kind of eh. Big marathon against a god with multiple limbs and a lot of health, and then he kills you but your social links give you strength and your persona turns into a bigger cooler persona (although and you win the fight good. Kinda boilerplate Persona final boss there- but not as disappointing as I assumed the final boss was going to be, because with Igor I ♪ never saw it comiiiiiing ♪ and thought Shido was the big bad, which would’ve been kind of anticlimactic. The whole bone bridges full of angels situation in the leadup, though, was pretty damn rad.

Let’s see what else. Sojiro Sakura is best dad, Hifumi Togo is best girl, Morgana is best cat, Akechi’s little foot dance thingy after all-out attacks is more adorable than he deserves to be, and Becky Kawakami deserves a god damn vacation.

I’ll probs have more P5 opinions to say later?? It was a VERY VERY good game that I liked a lot, tenouttaten.

#persona 5 #persona 5 spoilers #p5 tag #p5 spoilers

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jonathanraychapman · 7 years

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X-Men Evolution Review - 3.5/5

This is a series that came out from 2000 to 2003 (gosh we're getting old now, huh?) on Kids' WB. It had four seasons - which might hint at it having been a success (seriously that's remarkable for a kids cartoon on this sort of subject matter). If you told me the premise - taking the X-Men and making them younger - I would have groaned aloud. On paper (to me) it seems like a bad idea. After all, the fact the X-Men were college-aged was kind of the perfect balance that made the comic series so great to begin with. But they managed to pull it off in this show quite well.

That's not to say it's all great stuff here.. not all of it was. While I really liked the introduction of X-23 and Gambit later on, there were other X-Men staples (is X-23 a staple now?) that just didn't seem to click for me. Even though I'm complaining (or about to) about the treatment - I think all in all the creators did a great job balancing things for their target audience. Seriously, this show tried to do a lot and, while it didn’t really accomplish all goals, it does a decent job (more on that later).

While we're discussing characters, It was a little weird having Logan and a handful of others be the adults while Jean and Cyclops were basically kids. This completely changed the dynamics of their interactions (and it would have been really awkward for Logan to have a love-triangle with Jean for example). But the show had to have some adults for dramatic tension I suppose (such as Storm's now-nephew Spyke running away and joining the Morlocks).

The show was really geared towards the teen audience, so the Mystique/Rogue and Magneto/Scarlet Witch story-lines were really hammed up for mommy/daddy issues (which got a little old, but I was 20 when this came out so it probably didn’t resonate with me as much as the younger crowd).

I mean parent/child issues happen to some extent in the comics so it's not out of place really, but it got a little old. I guess the part the series jumped the shark a little was how Rogue interacted with Kurt and their mother in the later seasons (I’d discuss it more but don’t want a spoiler). Some of it was canon and some of it was a little bizarre. The Rogue story-line was saved for me by that awesome Gambit episode.

There were certainly various character treatments I liked. Scarlet Witch really benefited from the dark/goth look and teen angst (I mean it was really done perfectly in my opinion). Toad, while mostly comic-relief, was a lot cooler in the cartoon than on the comic pages (at least what I've read of him). I also really liked how Blob was more useful as a big strongman and Avalanche was almost a respectable super-hero/villain (although the episodes seemed to have been skewed situation-wise to make that happen). Mystique was damned cool as ever - as was some of the guest villains (like Omega Red). Boom Boom was adorable and I was really happy whenever she showed up.

The Brotherhood were written to be kind of petty without Magneto. That was kind of their deal and I get that. But did Quicksilver have to be such a mindless jerk? Most of the other characters had pretty believable motivations. When it comes to Quicksilver and Toad, it seemed like their motivation was that they were petty criminals. And I just never though Quicksilver was slow-witted (see what I did there?). Compare to Avalanche - who actually was a pretty believable character.

First season gets a pass because I was riding that nostalgia train the whole time. And usually series like these have to play catch-up to get to the good stories anyways.

Second and third seasons were decent, but not very memorable (we did get Jubilee finally). I guess this is where the show really existed for me mentally. It was a slice-of-life style show with the mutants as kids.. maybe a life-lesson here and there for the kids to be tossed in with guest appearances from X-Men characters. Rinse and repeat. I could have enjoyed the show without some big story arc (and it seems like they had to try and hit the highlights - like the Trask/Sentinel program - but never really committed to actually giving it time). But they had to go there with the Apocalypse story-line (why not Mr Sinister or something smaller-scale?). Honestly I was kind of glad that the Trask stuff ended - as I really felt that bogged down the 90′s Fox show too much.

I can't say I was really happy with the fourth season - as they started by bringing in Apocalypse toward the end of season 3 (which was exciting but it would have been better as a tease rather than them going for it in a half-assed way). The writers tried to resolve the very ambitious story-line with about a third of the episodes (way too few). First of all, that story-line deserves more than this send-up and the way they wrote it was that basically everyone just left Apocalypse alone for half the season and all of a sudden resumed the story. It was a little ridiculous. I'd have preferred that they just focused on Bayville for the last season and left that one alone. I guess it gave a good excuse for everyone to join forces (which I’m sure was the point), but it just came off as weak - especially the season finale.

So, in the end, could I recommend this to anyone? Sure. It’s a very-entertaining series - especially if you’re an X-Men fan. And it’s not overly for kids, but it is geared toward them more than the 90′s show was. But here’s the thing that most of the creators of these shows don’t realize: the 90′s show was just fine for 12-14-year-old me. I got the concepts. It felt relevant.. as just good old sci-fi instead of teen-specific sci-fi.

#x-men evolution #cartoon series review #X-men

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