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separatist-apologist · 1 year

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Adding to the discord of how sjm handles deaths, another factor that make them “dumb” is that sjm always kills someone major at the ending of the book only to bring them back again with magic. Feyre dies TWICE, both in acotar and acosf. Rhysand dies and comes back. Amren dies and comes back. Like girl, why waste time killing them then?

And to me her worldbuilding ends up inconsistent because you have a way to bring people from the death, proven FOUR times already, but you don’t have a safe C sections for winged babies? (This one makes me mad ngl)

I have to just pretend the baby plot does not exist in order to keep going. I have kids, and I sometimes wonder if people truly appreciate the literal nightmare scenario that was presented.

I think for me, it's the constant brutalization of Feyre that feels uncomfortable. There was no reason Feyre had to go through it, and across every book, the consistent theme is Feyre's suffering, often caused by the men in her life who are never truly held accountable for their actions (both in narrative AND by the fandom).

I have long wondered SJM's personal beliefs because I think they do heavily influence the way she writes and the messages she imparts. The High Lords can resurrect people through the power of their combined friendship rings. And Amren tells us in ACOSF that the fae will fuck anything.

And no one has ever had to deal with a winged baby coming out of a narrow pelvis. I just- that plot line makes me feel sick. It turns me into an anti. Feyre didn't deserve it and between you and me, I am literally so fucking tired of the "ancient man who acts like a 17 year old high school drop out knows whats best for his child bride and therefore gets to make all the decisions for her regardless of her own autonomy/reasonable requests/wishes to not see him."

They ALL do it. Rhys is endlessly lying to Feyre (in order to keep secrets from the readers, but it gives the impression he does not respect her). Cassian gets to take Nesta on a nightmare hike because he knows what's best. Azriel gets to go around Elain and veto her decision to help find the trove even after she says she wants to do it/spare Nesta having to do it again.

And the fandom will do absolute backflips on why these men get to act like this. Why it's actually okay, that its mate behavior (kill me actually?), that they aren't invalidating their choices (they absolutely are, across the board) and its so deeply problematic to me. People will talk about the absolute girl power/boss bitch feminism of these books and then refuse to engage critically with the source material and ask "oh shit actually what are these books actually saying?"

These books are mid, full stop. It's absolutely fine to enjoy them, lord knows I do. But I do wish when we were having conversations about like, why Feyre couldn't have a safe pregnancy, it didn't devolve into "stans are fucking stupid" as if these books weren't intentionally written/edited/marketed and then produced. Like choices weren't made narratively, and what those choices are saying. In a society where a good portion of the US was stripped of their right to bodily autonomy, things like a man deciding his wife doesn't need to know the baby living inside her is going to kill her is too close to home for a lot of people.

I can't stay on topic today and I'm sorry. But that pregnancy plotline and the abuse of the women in the books bothers me a lot.

#sjm critical #haters book review technically?#feyre defense squad #actually archeron sister defense squad #its been a while since i tagged that #free these women from the men in the story #send those men to THERAPY

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hyunllx · 2 years

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Flopbb’s 2022 BBSIM Week 3

Disclaimer: So like a dumbass I was editing the sim week by week and the sim got mad and reset. So I rigged to get back to where week 2 left off. I saved the whole season this time jdhfkj

@ashlynbuggy bathroom-sand @bisexyasami @bitterjurorssavetheday @charlchen-moonves @chumchunom @julieeexcheeen @kemi-fucking-fakunle @lavenderkaty @leotheeworld @maxdoesbb pyrrheposts @skyhawkstragedy @whoblewboobear

Recap

Last week ended in chaos as the house erupted due to the lies of @whoblewboobear and bathroom-sand. Their target @maxdoesbb along with HOH @ashlynbuggy @lavenderkaty and @skyhawkstragedy exposed the lies to the rest of the house resulting in a massive fight that ended in bathroom-sand walking from the stress of the game. As always with a self-eviction, the eviction vote was cancelled. With that news, Julie instructs everyone to gather in the backyard for the next HOH competition.

Thursday

@leotheeworld manages to hang on the longest and wins this week’s Head of Household, good for him as his F2 was on the block last week with a target on his back as well.

@ashlynbuggy seeks to make amends with @bisexyasami after the HOH after putting her up on the block last week. There are no hard feelings as they both recognize that it was strictly a game move and nothing personal. They leave the conversation feeling closer and more comfortable with each other.

However, after hearing their conversation, @charlchen-moonves expresses annoyance in the DR as @ashlynbuggy also put her on the block but hasnt approached to make amends. She concludes they must have formed a deal or an alliance last week and are only just starting to hang out together more in public. She takes this information to her F2 @leotheeworld.

Friday

After a night of plotting together with @charlchen-moonves @leotheeworld gathers everyone into the kitchen for the nomination ceremony.

@leotheeworld begins his nominations speech by saying he respects competitors that are here to play the game like him. He points out @bitterjurorssavetheday has so far been coasting out of the spotlight and its time to step up and fight for your spot in this game. @bisexyasami however IS a good competitor, and that is indeed a threat to his game as he knows she is working in an opposing alliance.

Saturday

While picking players for the veto ceremony, @bitterjurorssavetheday manages to pull the HOH’s closest ally, @bisexyasami pulls @julieeexcheeen who is closely alligned with the first veto winner @skyhawkstragedy and @leotheeworld pulls former HOH winner @maxdoesbb. @bisexyasami is nervous about having to beat out both members of the public F2 deal that is targeting her, though she feels confident new ally @ashlynbuggy could convince her friend @maxdoesbb to use the veto on her if he were to win.

With a quickness @leotheeworld secures himself absolute power for the week, reinforcing his words at nominations that he a strong player and is here to compete.

Sunday

With such a simple veto set up the day before, Production doesnt take long to clean up the back yard and opens it up to the houseguests for the day. @leotheeworld is summoned to the DR and told to go upstairs to his HOH room. Upon entering the room, he sees a large question mark sign hung on what was previously believed to just be a production access door. He opens the letter waiting for him near the door and reads it aloud to the cameras, revealing the door will open Pandora’s Box, a twist long forgotten in the game of Big Brother. After several minutes of contemplating the best choice for his game, @leotheeworld chooses not to open the door, reasoning that its only Week 3 and the risk of unleashing a punishment on the house is too great when next week he will have no power.

As expected, @charlchen-moonves joins @leotheeworld later that evening to discus strategy. @charlchen-moonves is still interested in sending @bisexyasami home, which @leotheeworld agrees is the best decision, however, she starts to push for him to use the veto on @bitterjurorssavetheday and put up @ashlynbuggy in her place. @leotheeworld very much disagrees, saying the house will be more likely to get out the stronger player on the block, and putting up a former competition winner would not only make that more difficult, but would mean one of them is gunning for their alliance starting next week. @charlchen-moonves is focused on revenge for last week, insisting they can win the comps needed if they do end up on the block. After the first week exposing pyrrhepost’s comments to the house, she thought @leotheeworld would be on board for the dramatics. He’s clearly not.

@charlchen-moonves leaves the HOH room with a lingering sense of distrust.

Monday

As @leotheeworld gathers the houseguests in the living room for the veto ceremony, @bisexyasami says she recognizes he likely will not use it on a strong player but congratulates him for winning the power anyway. @bitterjurorssavetheday also congratulates him but says he should use the veto on her because if he truly thought she hadnt played much game yet, he should allow her the chance to prove him wrong.

@leotheeworld chooses not to use the veto, leaving the nominations the same.

After the veto ceremony, @charlchen-moonves confides in me about the betrayal of her former F2 member. We devise a plan to flip the vote and keep @bisexyasami as she will likely target @leotheeworld if she were to stay.

Tuesday

After working together last week @ashlynbuggy and @maxdoesbb continue to talk and spend time together. @ashlynbuggy comes to feel comfortable enough to tell him about her personal life back home, solidifying their friendship.

Thursday

Its finally Thursday again and Julie gathers the houseguests in the living room.In her speech @bisexyasami makes it clear if she stays she’ll be going after @leotheeworld and if he thinks hes such a strong player then clearly another strong player is needed to take him down. @bitterjurorssavetheday reiterates her veto speech, saying she should have another chance to prove she is playing the game and that theres more to being a strong player that putting a target on your back.

One by one the houseguests vote.

@bisexyasami 0 - 3 @bitterjurorssavetheday

@bisexyasami 2 - 5 @bitterjurorssavetheday

Julie announces to the houseguests that there is a tie, much to everyone’s surprise. @leotheeworld is instructed to stand and cast the final vote.

With a vote of 6-5, @bisexyasami you have been evicted from the BBSIM house.

#bb24 #bbsim #flopbbsim #grodner fuming when that door isnt opened jdhfkjdf

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gumnut-logic · 4 years

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Who do you save, John? (Bit 10c + The End)

Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 | Bit 4 | Bit 5a | Bit 5b | Bit 6 | Bit 7 | Bit 8 | Bit 9 | Bit 10a | Bit 10b | Bit 10c

Always end up rushed. Didn’t have a chance to edit the end so I’m likely to be swearing at it later. Sorry for the delay, muse crashed and burned on Friday. here’s hoping I’ve resuscitated it. 17,000 words. So much for the under 10K I estimated. Typical.

For @5hadow-alpha cos they wanted Shopping and a Tracy brother. They got more than one, and I got more than I expected.

-o-o-o-

The next time Alan woke, the room was full of golden family.

The sun was setting through the window, lighting up the room in shades of gold. His brothers were lit up as they clustered around Virgil’s bed.

They didn’t notice Alan, and it gave him the opportunity to both wake up fully and observe his family undetected.

He was feeling much better. His head was a lot clearer and he was calmer.

The reason why no one noticed his wakefulness was because Virgil was already awake.

His brother was smiling and poking fun at a sunlit Gordon near the end of his bed. Gordon appeared to be enjoying it. When the attention drifted away from him and whether or not he was allowed to film Virgil on drugs, the expression on his fish brother’s face was one of fondness and hope. His eyes barely left the prone man.

That fact could have been annoying from a little brother’s perspective, but Alan found himself doing the same thing.

Virgil, who had literally died in his arms, was supported by his bed, sitting up at an angle and talking quite animatedly. There was a healthy flush to his cheeks that hadn’t been there before.

John was standing calmly on the other side of the bed, the setting sun catching his hair from behind as it darted through the hospital window.

John had a habit of striking such a pose. It was unclear if he did it on purpose or was completely unaware of his surroundings in those moments.

Virgil had photographed him on multiple occasions for that exact reason, much to the astronaut’s annoyance.

Grandma stood beside him; her arms wrapped around his. That was an unusual sight. But then they had almost lost a brother and the threat had been to John.

That thought led into unpleasant directions so he brought it to a halt.

He could only see Scott’s back, but his brother was gesticulating, making a point about digging up Gordon’s baby videos and broadcasting them to the world if he didn’t behave.

As if Scott would ever do something like that.

Though, come to think of it, the threat at least wasn’t a bad idea. Alan had much less a solid reputation than Scott and could probably carry the threat enough to get some good ones out of his brother.

“How did you know it was a fake detonator?” John’s voice cut across the conversation, his expression puzzled. The question came out of the blue, ever a sign that John’s mind worked on more than one track at a time.

Virgil blinked up at him. “I…I didn’t at first. It was a good replica of a T-325. But I noticed he was holding his hand strangely. The T-325 has a trigger rest here.” His brother held up a hand as if to sketch out the design in the air, only wince and withdraw the gesture.

Grandma frowned at him from the other side of the bed.

“Long story short…if you waved a T-325 around as much as he did, with that grip, chances are we would have blown up long before he had started his second rant. That one is a touchy model.” Virgil shifted awkwardly and Scott laid a hand on his arm.

“Well, I’m glad we had our expert on hand.”

Scott’s smile was reflected in Virgil’s eyes.

“Oh, ho, ho, look who’s awake!”

Trust Gordon to dob him in.

Suddenly all the eyes in the room were on Alan. His father and eldest brother spun, both faces lighting up when they realised Alan was awake.

Alan couldn’t help but grin back. “Hey.” His voice caught and he coughed.

Talk about ruining a moment. Scott was on him immediately, his dad not far behind.

“How are you feeling, Alan?”

He cleared his throat. “I’m good.” He reached out his uninjured arm and nudged his worried brother aside gently. “Virgil?”

Soft brown eyes caught his and his big brother smiled. “Hey, Allie.”

A hand landed on Alan’s leg and he looked up to find a pair of grey eyes peering down at him. Alan frowned. “Dad, you should sit down.”

“I’m fine, Allie. Are you comfortable?”

An arched eyebrow. “I’m good, honest.” And he was. There was definitely still something in his system. It was keeping him quite happy. Too much movement probably wasn’t on the cards yet, but to be honest, the sight of Virgil smiling at him was enough endorphins to keep him going for weeks.

He turned back to Virgil and soaked it in.

The smile turned to a grin and Alan flushed in embarrassment.

But those brown eyes were reassurance itself.

“Hmm, did you two want to be alone?”

“Shut up, Gordon.” It was sharp, but no less reassuring that Virgil could spin the familiar phrase off so easily.

Alan laughed. “Good to see you, Virg.”

Again with the smile. “Likewise.” Those eyes turned inwards for a second before fixating on him. “And thank you.”

The line ‘just doing my job’ climbed onto his lips, but he vetoed it. “Always, bro.”

The room was embarrassingly silent after that and the moment broke.

“Dad, I would rather you sat down.” Virgil was definitely feeling better.

“I can look after myself, son.” It was firm and a touch threatening if Virgil chose to push the point.

But his father took a seat.

Alan shifted position and his arm twinged. He must have shown it on his face, because Scott reached out and touched his shoulder. He looked up to find worried blue eyes staring down at him.

Apparently, he needed to repeat himself. “I’m okay, Scott.”

His brother grunted before letting go, grabbing his plastic chair and dumping himself in it.

The room fell silent.

Turquoise hit him from across the room as the sun dipped behind a cloud and the room chilled.

“So, who was that guy?” Anything to get the conversation moving.

For a second, he regretted the topic as Scott’s lips thinned, but he had to know and clearing the air wouldn’t hurt, would it?

It was John who answered, though. “Timothy was a rescue we were unable to attend. Eos pulled the records and what he said was true. He lost his family. Any other day and we would have been there, but the Tsunami Disaster had all our attention.” A pause. “I am sorry.”

Scott started at that. “Hey, it was not your fault.”

A copper eyebrow arched. “Really? Do you want me to list exactly where our forces were deployed at that moment? It was Day Three. Scott was en route to Tracy Island for refueling, Virgil, you were asleep. Gordon had dragged you to the bunk on Two. He had threatened to tie you down. You were all down for the count. His call was one of twenty-three we couldn’t respond to on that particular day.”

“Johnny-“ Gordon held out a hand.

It was almost snapped off. “Don’t call me Johnny.”

“John.” Their father’s voice managed to be both warning and worried at the same time.”

His astronaut brother didn’t back down. “This isn’t out of the ordinary. It happens every day. It is happening now. People are dying because we are not there.”

“We can’t save everyone.” His father’s voice was firm.

“I know that, Dad.” John’s expression was exasperation itself. “It doesn’t make it any easier.”

Silence fell again and all Alan could think of was how this whole thing had been aimed at John and how it had obviously reached its target despite Timothy not succeeding in his plan.

Something was burning in his brother. He could see it from here. John was tense and agitated.

It was likely the drugs, but Alan just wanted to climb out of bed and hug him.

“Well now, I think, you could all do with something to eat.” Grandma squeezed John’s arm and he looked down at her as if snapped from a dream. “Don’t look at me like that, young man. I know you haven’t been eating.”

“What?” Scott sat up straighter, his eyes narrowing in on his brother. “John?”

The astronaut rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever.” And Grandma was nudging him towards the door.

His father stood up and followed.

Scott eyed Alan a moment, but stayed seated.

As their grandmother and father herded John out the door, Gordon took the opportunity to steal the chair beside Scott.

“Is John okay?” The words fell from Alan’s mouth before he could think twice.

Scott sighed. “He will be.” There was a silent ‘I hope’ after that.

“Eh, he’s just pissed Eos got found out.”

Alan blinked. “What?”

“Gordon!”

“Just trying to lighten the atmosphere. Cool it, bro.”

Alan frowned. “What?”

“Eos electrocuted a guard with his own comms circuit.” Gordon was smirking.

“What? How?”

“Upped the signal power enough to arc through his baldric.”

Alan stared at his brother. “She hurt him?” He turned to Scott. “She can do that?” To us?

“Don’t worry, it is not happening again.”

“He deserved it.” Gordon snarled the words. “Betraying us for money. He’s lucky it was Eos and not Kayo.”

Scott tilted his head. “Kayo hasn’t finished with him yet.”

Alan’s eyes were bugging out. “Who? And why?”

Scott sighed just a little. “The guard outside the dressing room was an accomplice.”

“One of our own?”

“Yes.” That single word said so much. Kayo wasn’t the only person angry at such a betrayal. No doubt whoever it was would have to face the Commander at some point.

Alan had faced an angry Scott before. Not an experience for the faint hearted.

“And Eos was able to electrocute him with his comms?”

“Brains is working on it as we speak. It won’t happen again.”

Scott would never be entirely comfortable with Eos. Alan had to admit he had a few issues of his own having had to scoop up his astronaut brother as he lay dying in space, because of her.

A hand landed on his. “It won’t happen again.”

Alan swallowed. “Good.”

“Well, we’re lucky it happened this once. John found traces of an alien computer program in the z band network. Brains is having conniptions. This one security breach could have destroyed everything.”

“But it didn’t.” Virgil’s voice was quiet, but strong enough to stop the conversation. “We’re all safe. It’s over.” Brown eyes flickered in his direction.

The same brown eyes that had closed on Alan as his brother died in his arms.

Anger flared up. “So, this security breach let Timothy do what he wanted and Virgil died because of it.” Three pairs of eyes widened at Alan’s sharp tone. “How did this happen? How did he get past all our security checks? Kayo is pedantic to the point that I sometime wonder if I’ll be allowed access to anything. How did we not know?”

“Allie, it’s okay.” Again, Virgil’s voice was soft. “We’ll fix it.”

“You died, Virgil!”

“No, I didn’t.” Those eyes blinked slowly.

“You did!”

“Alan!”

And he found himself breathing fast and hard. Scott was holding him down. Gordon had a hand on his leg.

“Calm down, Allie.” Intense blue eyes caught his. “Virgil is safe. You are safe. We will fix this.”

Alan stared up at his big brother, soaking in the reassurance Scott was broadcasting. A deeper breath and he willed his heart rate to slow. He swallowed and managed the briefest of nods.

“The guy had money and resources. Kayo will, no doubt, rake our entire security force over hot coals. We will learn from this experience and it will not happen again.”

“It should not have happened in the first place.” Alan found his voice cold and as Scott flinched, he knew it had hit home.

“Allie…” Virgil looked half asleep and Alan realised that he probably was. “We’ll fix this.”

Alan pressed his lips together and glanced between all three of his brothers before once again fixating on Scott.

“We better.”

-o-o-o-

Jeff dragged John out of the hospital room with the full intention of cornering him. The fact his mother came with them was only an inconvenience.

“Mom, could you run ahead and dig up some menus from the cafeteria and perhaps let the nurses station know that the boys are awake?”

His mother eyed him and arched a silver eyebrow. “Certainly.” A flick of that gaze at his son before she turned and walked off.

No doubt he would be paying for that one later.

But first he wanted to speak to John.

“Walk with me?”

The astronaut frowned at him, but nodded once.

Jeff cursed being so slow, but he led his son down to the hospital garden. Security made itself known as Iz appeared from nowhere and he caught a glimpse of Leone not far off. Kayo was laying it on thick, but he couldn’t blame her.

The garden was a small one and this late in the day, quite dark and empty. Most patients had been hustled off to bed and their visitors went with them.

If Iz was seen to lock the door behind them and secure the green patch for them alone, Jeff wasn’t going to argue, just this once.

He found a bench under a large shrub that gave them some privacy and ushered John to sit down beside him as he lowered himself on to the seat.

“Dad, I’m okay.”

“That seems to be a theme in this family even when it is a blatant lie.”

That shut his boy up for a moment.

Jeff sighed. “John, when I sent you up there, I knew it was going to be hard. I am sorry.”

“No, Dad. I knew what I was getting into. This is not your fault.”

“Isn’t it? Aren’t I hailed the creator of International Rescue?” He tried hard to catch those turquoise eyes, but John refused to look at him.“Pfft. The media. What do they know?”

That got a reaction. Copper eyebrows arched and his son looked up. Jeff took every advantage.

“I may have taken the first steps, but it is you boys who have kept it all going. Lived it. You’ve lived it for ten years. That is four times as long as I have and, trust me, I have guilt for those numbers.”

“Dad-“

He held up a hand. “No. This is where you listen, John.”

Something flashed in those eyes and Jeff’s lips twisted in response. “I set you boys on this path and you have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. You have made both your mother and I ever so proud.”

John just stared at him, eyes a little wide.

“But there has been a cost. You carry scars that have me questioning every decision I ever made.” He swallowed, all of it suddenly threatening to overwhelm. He shifted in his seat. “John, I know you sit up there day in and day out with lives in your hands. I can see that every life lost has as much effect on you as it does your brothers and often even more so because you see more of them.”

Jeff paused and tilted his head. “What’s the average number?”

John blinked. “Excuse me?”

“How many lives are lost per day because we can’t respond?”

There was a flicker of the professional emergency responder and his son’s face fell calm. “Ten to fifteen. It varies. The number includes rescues that fail due to local authorities incapability, situations that become more severe than predicted on initial assessment and situations we can not attend simply because we do not have the resources.”

“And what do you tell these callers?”

“What I can.” John’s voice grew quiet. “We do our best, Dad.”

Little more than breath. “Exactly.” He held his son’s eyes and couldn’t help but see the young man he had once been during that cyclone all those years ago. That same youth and concern. That care for those he couldn’t help.

“What’s the average daily rescue count?”

John blinked. “Uh, it varies between ten and several hundred.”

It was Jeff’s turn to blink. “That many?”

John shrugged. “Well, the statistics were blown during the asteroid crisis with Fischler and the aurora generator was full of hypotheticals.” His son was frowning, his hands expressive.

Jeff grabbed them.

“If you had a choice, all over again, as to whether you would take this path or another, what would you choose?”

The frown he received was castigating. “Dad, that’s asking the ridiculous.”

“No, who do you save, John? Them or yourself.”

“That’s a stupid question. Of course, I, we, choose to save everyone we can. We do it every day, Dad.” His son looked offended.

“Even despite the cost?”

“Of course.” The offense turned to an expression questioning Jeff’s sanity.

“Why?”

“Because it is worth it, Dad. When someone calls for help, they have to know there is someone out there who will answer. That’s what I do, Dad. I’m The Voice Who Answers.”

Jeff couldn’t help but smile. His boys made him so proud. Worried, yes, but so, so proud. His own words from so many years ago, echoed back at him by the very son who enacted them on a daily basis. The son who sacrificed so much to be up there, apart from his family, apart from the world, just so he could do exactly that.

The Voice Who Answers didn’t even consider the question, a question.

Who do you save?

Everyone you can.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #Alan Tracy #Scott Tracy #Gordon Tracy #Jeff Tracy #Grandma Tracy #Sally Tracy #nuttys fandomversary

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moody-bloosh · 4 years

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Idol Group: La Squadra di Esecuzione

have some headcanons of what la squadra as an idol group would be like. i really really like kpop so this au is really very close to my heart. i had so much fun conceptualizing what kind of boy group la squadra would be, researching. this is a little self - indulgent but i hope you all please enjoy uwu. i also listened to the official soundtrack of part 5 to get a feel for what their ‘music’ would sound like and wow. i initially just gave it a cursory listening but i found myself replaying it over and over again. i recommend that everyone give the soundtrack a listen too bc its really good!!!

They’re one of the biggest boy groups out there, their fame is dampened only because Diavolo refuses to actually pay them any proper attention. Although their comebacks are few and far between, they supplement this with their insanely active social media presence.

Their YouTube channel mostly has vlogs of them, and they’re always promising their fans that they’ll release a new album soon. In line with this fans have trended, “Passione Let La Squadra Out of the Basement” to get Diavolo to let them have a comeback.

Their concept is usually the edgy bad boy type. Though, they’ve been trying to branch out to other genres since they don’t want to be type cast. Their recent, boyfriend concept was really popular!

They have super powerful and physically taxing dance moves. Each of their choreos must include at least an ab flash or hip thrust. It’s a crowd pleaser.

They debuted with the song, ‘assassination,’ which had a hard hip hop vibe to it. It was a relative success and their first album sold a lot of copies too!

The threat of disbanding was always on their heads since privately, you were aware that Diavolo didn’t particularly like them. Thankfully, the boys’ strong fanbase and insistent public demand always kept them far away from Diavolo’s threats. After all, he would be crazy to disband them, right? RIGHT?!

Well after a nasty court battle regarding their poor pay, the La Squadra managed to get out of their contract with Passione Entertainment. They established their own company where they still promote and do their thing. (They managed to keep their names!)

Recently they signed the popular idol duo they were close friends with in Passione Sorbet & Gelato. They regularly collaborate.

Because of the dating scandal Sorbet & Gelato were involved in, they were kicked out of Passione Ent. and for a while they did most of their promotions by themselves.

Risotto is the leader and is everyone’s bias. You scouted him yourself personally and convinced him to become an idol. He has a bit of a crush on you, but it’s not like he’ll ever confess.

As he continued to practice and train with the group, he found himself really getting into the idea of becoming an idol, as long as it was with the guys. He’s very protective and caring of his group, when they first started off and they’d get hate comments, he would report or delete them all so that his fellow members wouldn’t see it.

Everyone fawned over his mysterious image but then as the group started doing more vlogs, everyone started to find out that deep down he’s a sweetheart and he got more fans because of it.

Prosciutto proudly writes and produces most of the songs, sometimes, he lets Risotto or Melone help him. He’s the son of a big music producer so music has always been in his DNA or so he says.

He wrote the group’s debut song which was originally called, “call me daddy,” you vetoed his suggestion. You only chuckled as you watched him all blushy as he tried to explain himself to you.

You reassured him that it was a good song just that it didn’t sound like their song. You told him not to get too caught up in copying and following the trend, but rather to make their own unique sound. He took your advice to heart and after giving it a lot of careful thought, he came out with the debut song in about a week.

Pesci was the center for the soft boyfriend concept and his popularity really started to pick up from there! Since Passione Ent. practically locked them into the edgy concept, they weren’t allowed to experiment much.

You scouted him yourself and convinced him to become an idol. He joined the company when he was young, and mainly because he wanted to help provide for his family. Prosciutto basically raised hiim, taking him under his wing.

He used to be very insecure, he wasn’t super talented at dancing and singing but he worked his hardest everyday and you could see that. He started gaining a personal passion for music after their debut and he saw all the smiles and cheers their group got from the people. Especially when his family gave him a call and told him how proud they were of him.

He’s very sweet to his fans, his solo stans are very protective of him. He is their sweet baby boy and any antis that try to hate on him get ELIMINATED IMMEDIATELY.

He gets homesick very easy and sometimes he thinks that he doesn’t belong in the group but you are always there to console him and you remind him that you scouted him for a reason.

They don’t get to go to much variety shows but whenever they do go, Formaggio is king. He’s naturally charismatic and likable so variety shows are always begging him to guest. He usually likes to take some of the members with him if they’re available.

He’s also the king of fan interaction, there are always videos of him during fansigns holding hands with fans, male and female alike, looking at them intently and calling them sweet nicknames. He’s also the one in charge of hyping up the crowd during live performances.

The self-designated mood maker of the group. Whenever everyone is tired from a particularly harsh session of practice, he’s always there to cheer everyone up and to keep everyone from getting too stressed. Though with that on his shoulders, you’re always there to give him a headpat, “take care of yourself too, okay, Formaggio?”

Illuso livestreams himself doing dance practice videos and he interacts with the fans whenever he does so. If he’s feeling particularly cheeky, he’ll give fans a flash of his abs. As the lead dancer, he takes up the job of teaching new choreographies to the other members. He’s a little mean of a teacher but he knows when to joke around and when to be serious.

“Please show us your abs Illuso,” he reads aloud before chuckling. “As if~”

Illuso works himself extremely hard, sometimes you’ll catch him in the dance studio still dancing and practicing. When he catches you, he just gives you a smug smirk, “like what you see, manager?” To which you smile and nod as you hand him a towel and a water bottle, “of course, you always dance so well Illuso, just make sure not to work yourself too hard, okay?”

Melone has the sweetest dulcet tones; he does a lot of solo covers on the group’s YouTube channel, when he can he makes sure to try and rope some of the other guys in it.

Whenever the group is on tour, he’s in charge of posting a e s t h e t i c travel pictures, he also personally edits all of the group’s vlogs. He’s also super active on Twitter. His diligence in interacting with fans online has helped to get La Squadra as popular as it is.

Melone is the most fashion forward of the group. He was the first of them all to get a clothing brand deal and it shows. His ootds always trend amongst the fans and whatever outfit or piece of clothing he wears always sells out.

The final member that you had scouted yourself was Ghiaccio. He used to work at a frozen yogurt shop and when he served you your order, you took one good look at him and thought, “oh, I need to get this guy in an idol group, stat.”

He trained for the longest in Passione Ent. and he was starting to get antsy about whether or not he was going to debut or not. Of them all, he also has the most professional experience as he used to be a backup dancer for some of the senior groups like Unita Speciale.

He’s a little awkward with fan interaction, not really knowing what to do when he has tons of people telling him they love him. The fans find this side of him very endearing.

#la squadra #la squadra x reader #idol au #vento aureo #golden wind

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rennyforpresident · 4 years

Text

Renny’s BBSim: First Boots Week 8

Welcome back to Biiiiiiiiig Brother!

@ashleaevans @bathroom-sand @kaysarswhore @kayysarridha @kelleekim @lahallucinations @maxdoesbb @misshoh @music-obsessednerd @nerdphobic @nomwastaken @pawn2393 @phylisisley @remember-caltoru @rennyforpresident @shaolinbynature

Previously, the Double Eviction claimed both @remember-caltoru and @nomwastaken as its victims. With only 8 people left in the game, allies have to start turning on each other. Who will take the first shot?

After the double, alliances have DWINDLED

The Fearsome Four became the Fearsome Two last night, and the Block Destroyers lost their first number. But these alliances are only half the house; @kelleekim, @shaolinbynature, @phylisisley, and @ashleaevans still have a shot against the alliance!

The dreaded chicken wire competition! A few people fall out of things early, and just can’t keep up

@phylisisley in the DR: “I am LIVID that I can’t just win a fuckin comp! We’re at final 8! I mean, how do I keep losing??”

These three all have a good grip on this comp. Each of them are at 10 eggs each, when disaster strikes for one

@misshoh: “NOOOOOOOO, my egg!!”

@misshoh dropped her eleventh egg, essentially taking her out of the comp.

No matter what happens, someone will be HOH for the THIRD time (can someone else win a comp I’m tired of congratulating these two). Will @kaysarswhore win it for the Block Destroyers, or will @shaolinbynature win it for the Leftovers?

By an insanely close margin...

@shaolinbynature! You have won your THIRD HOH of the summer, securing your safety and earning the right to nominate two of your fellow houseguests for eviction!

Feeling defeated, the Block Destroyers all hug each other solemnly. On the other side of the yard, @ashleaevans happily hands the key to the HOH room to @shaolinbynature

@shaolinbynature in the DR: “This week, my one and only goal is to finally take OUT @kaysarswhore! She’s snuck by for TOO LONG, and I can’t have her making it any further.”

Late at night, the day before the nomination ceremony, @pawn2393, @ashleaevans, and @shaolinbynature are all in the HOH room.

@pawn2393: “Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but @kaysarswhore and @nerdphobic are the final 2 we have to worry about. I’m willing to work with you all because @kaysarswhore just doesn’t have my back. I’m on the bottom over there”

@ashleaevans: “I personally feel like we can trust you, so I’m happy to work with you.”

@shaolinbynature: “I feel like I’m getting some weird readings right now... are @ashleaevans and @pawn2393 working together? I mean, it’s great to get intel on the other side, but can I trust him?”

At the nomination ceremony, @shaolinbynature stands up to make her decision

@shaolinbynature: “I have decided to nominate you @kaysarswhore and you @nerdphobic. @kaysarswhore, you shouldn’t be surprised at this point. You’re the biggest threat in here, and @nerdphobic, you’re just guilty by association. I would wish you luck in the veto, but I really hope you don’t win so we can send you out the door. This ceremony is adjourned.”

@kaysarswhore in the DR: “I am so tired of being vilified by these people. I have been nothing but good to these people, and I’ve gotten nothing but targeted in return.”

*at this point, shady editing shows all the shady things @kaysarswhore has done throughout the season to prove that she has not, in fact, been nothing but good*

@nerdphobic in the DR: “I am just hoping that the veto doesn’t get used by anyone but me. I’m staying here no matter what, and my best shot at staying is against @kaysarswhore. I love you girl, but I will cut you if it means I win half a million.”

It looks like the veto drawings are not in the Block Destroyers’ favor. @shaolinbynature draws @pawn2393, and says later in the DR, “This is his chance to prove which side he wants to be on.” @kaysarswhore and @nerdphobic both pick people from the other side of the house, and know that when push comes to shove, they’re the only ones they can rely on.

In this elimination style competition, two people will go head to head to beat each other’s scores. By random draw, @kelleekim is up first! He challenges @kaysarswhore, and with a score of 7 to 5

@nerdphobic is up next, and chooses to take on @shaolinbynature. Both do a good job, but with a score of 8 to 7,

Next up to choose is @pawn2393. Here is the moment of truth. Who will he pick to go up against, and which side of the house will @pawn2393 choose to work with moving forward.

@pawn2393: “I choose, uh, I choose...”

@pawn2393: “I choose to go up against @kaysarswhore.”

Live footage of @kaysarswhore and @nerdphobic‘s reaction

The two face off, but after an intense round, @pawn2393 just can’t beat her

Unfortunately for @kaysarswhore, she’s the next person to choose and doesn’t get a break. She picks @shaolinbynature, and with a score of 9-7

That means it’s down to the showmance, @phylisisley and @shaolinbynature. As soon as she’s eliminated, @kaysarswhore goes over to the losers bench and sits in angry silence until the end of the comp.

The last round is just the two remaining houseguests having fun, not caring who wins. But in a surprise twist, the person walking away with the veto is...

@phylisisley! Congratulations, you have won the Power of Veto!

The Leftovers celebrate, and the Block Destroyers (minus @pawn2393) are looking crestfallen, to say the least.

But @kaysarswhore isn’t going down without a fight. That much is for damn sure. The next night, @kaysarswhore gathers both @phylisisley and @shaolinbynature in the HOH room to make her pitch.

@kaysarswhore: “Listen. This game? Finished. I’m willing to spill the details of everyone’s games right here right now. @pawn2393 and @ashleaevans have a little flirtmance thing going on that they’re never going to break. They think they’re slick and that no one knows, but I figured it out a long time ago. @misshoh and @kelleekim have a secret deal that I overheard them talk about a few weeks ago. They’ve both been throwing comp after comp because they’ve never been nominated and never even been targeted. The only person in this house who hasn’t been sneaky and underhanded is @nerdphobic, and yeah, he’s loyal to me, and I’m loyal to him, but I promise you, if you flip this script and keep me here, you’ll have the numbers for sure going forward. The four of us, will definitely take on @kelleekim, @ashleaevans, @pawn2393, and @misshoh. They don’t have a shot in hell at winning a comp.”

Stunned, it takes a second for anyone to respond.

@shaolinbynature: “And what guarantee do we have from you that you’ll be true to your word? You’ve burned us both before, how can we trust you now?”

@kaysarswhore: “I can’t give you anything other than my word. But it’d be stupid of me to lie to your faces like this when we’re already in jury.”

The conversation continues for another hour, and @kaysarswhore gives their heated and passionate campaign. The next day, @shaolinbynature confronts @ashleaevans about his secret relationship with @pawn2393.

@ashleaevans: “What?!?! No! Do you think @pawn2393 is stupid enough to jeopardize his alliance weeks ago? Do you think I’m stupid enough to jeopardize my position in the house?

His response was defensive, but really convincing. It made way more sense than @kaysarswhore‘s argument.

The time for the veto ceremony has come. @phylisisley stands and delivers her speech.

@phylisisley: “Hey folks. I just want to say that I am very very happy to have finally won my first competition, and it has been very, um, enlightening to see what people will tell you when you have power. People’s true sides have come out, and I think it’s time for us to stop playing pretend and start playing Big Brother. That being said, I have decided...

Live footage of me seeing the sim tell me this happened and wondering how the FUCK I’m supposed to justify that

@shaolinbynature: “Since one of my nominees were vetoed, I must now name a replacement nominee. It has come to my attention that some of us haven’t been playing as hard as others. I don’t want someone like that to win this game, so unfortunately...

@misshoh in the DR: “I can’t fucking believe it. What the fuck did @kaysarswhore tell them to convince them to use the veto on her? I thought I had this game in the bag, and now here I am on the block. *breaks down and cries*”

With noms locked, the house is left to their own devices for the rest of the week.

Feeling dejected that his final 2 with @misshoh is exposed and his ally is probably going home this week, @kelleekim chooses to spend lots of time with her before Thursday

@misshoh: “If I go this week, I’m rooting for you. All the way. That jury is all gonna be voting for you to win because I’m gonna tell them to.”

The two of them lament their friendship, and resolve to get to work on getting the votes for @misshoh to stay.

In other news, @phylisisley is having a tough time figuring out how to cope with the game-changing decision she made.

@phylisisley spends the night in the HOH room being consoled by @shaolinbynature.

@shaolinbynature: “We did what we had to do. We’re playing this game. If she betrays us, we know she lost this game, she’s not getting a single jury vote for being such a fake.”

@phylisisley: “But we had people depending on us! I just feel bad.”

The two comfort each other for a few hours, and when they next wake up, it’s

EVICTION DAY

Julie Arisa: “Hey houseguests! It’s me Arisa!”

The houseguests all look extremely confused, because the woman before them is definitely Julie Chen.

Julie Arisa: “Why do you all look so concerned? It’s just me!”

Then, the real Arisa runs on stage looking extremely disheveled and yells, “Take her down boys!”

Julie is once again dragged offstage screaming, “I’ll get you Arisa, I’ll get you and BB will be MINE again! Grodner is on her way and she won’t put up with this!”

Arisa: “Well houseguests, I’ve been through a lot today, so let’s do this eviction thing. Get to it folks.”

@misshoh: “Just to let you all know, if you go to the end with @kaysarswhore, you’re a fool. I’m done with her, and I’ll never protect her in this game again. @shaolinbynature and @phylisisley, both of you got played this week. If I am on jury, neither of you will get my vote. That’s all!”

@nerdphobic: “All I can say is that I hope you keep me here! Peace and love to you all!”

Arisa: “Thanks for keeping it short folks! Now let’s voteeeeeeee”

@phylisisley votes out @misshoh. This blindside would be meaningless otherwise.

@kelleekim votes out @nerdphobic. He knows that @nerdphobic will go wherever @kaysarswhore does, so taking him out is his best bet.

@ashleaevans votes the same way for the same reason. The house has to pick a side, and this is the side he has to pick.

Now this one is a surprise! @pawn2393 goes into the DR and says, “I’ve learned this week to trust in the Block Destroyers. It looks like you haven’t learned that yet.”

The vote is tied. Two votes for @misshoh and two votes for @nerdphobic. Who will @kaysarswhore vote out? Will she honor her deal with @shaolinbynature and @phylisisley? Or will she defect back to the Block Destroyers?

@kaysarswhore votes out @nerdphobic in a SHOCKING twist.

@kaysarswhore: “The Block Destroyers are done. This is an individual game, and my plan is to cause as much chaos as possible. Sorry, but this is my best bet at making it further.”

Arisa: “When I reveal the name of the evicted houseguest, they will have one minute to gather their belongings, and exit the Big Brother house.”

Arisa: “Come on out, @nerdphobic!”

Arisa: “What happened?? How did you end up going home this week?”

@nerdphobic: “I blame @pawn2393 100%! @kaysarswhore told me how tight he was with @ashleaevans, and he’s the only one I can imagine flipping on the Block Destroyers like that. If he makes it to the end, he’s finished.”

Arisa: “It sounds like there’s some hard feelings! Do you think people are gonna start playing harder than ever now?”

@nerdphobic: “I can’t imagine things NOT heating up after this. I have no idea who’s going next, I just hope that it’s someone I don’t like leaving soon! *audience laughter*”

Arisa: “Thank you so much for playing, and we’ll see you soon on finale night where you will help crown a winner.

Only four more weeks until finale night! Who’s the next one out? For now, from outside the Big Brother house, I’m Arisa Cox, and remember, someone is aaaaaaaaalways watching!”

Okay writing this episode was IMPOSSIBLE I literally had no idea what the fuck y’all were doing but I LIVED! Sorry to @nerdphobic but we still stan!!

#bb22 #bbsim #bbsim first boots

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jessicafurseth · 3 years

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Reading List, Like Water Feeling Its Way Over An Edge double edition.

Fucking in Cornwall, by Ella Frears

The rain is thick and there’s half a rainbow over the damp beach; just put your hand up my top. I’ve walked around that local museum a hundred times and I’ve decided that the tiny, stuffed dog labelled: the smallest dog in the world, is a fake. Kiss me in a pasty shop with all the ovens on. I’ve held a warm, new egg on a farm and thought about fucking. I’ve held a tiny green crab in the palm of my hand. I’ve pulled my sleeve over my fingers and picked a nettle and held it to a boy’s throat like a sword. Unlace my shoes in that alley and lift me gently onto the bins. The bright morning sun is coming and coming and the holiday children have their yellow buckets ready. Do you remember what it felt like to dig a hole all day with a tiny spade just to watch it fill with sea? I want it like that – like water feeling its way over an edge. Like two bright-red anemones in a rock-pool, tentacles waving ecstatically. Like the gorse has caught fire across the moors and you are the ghost of a fisherman, who always hated land.

[Image]

*** Some stories about how the lockdown is going [TL;DR not well]

This is the "Third Quarter" of the pandemic and what we are experiencing is normal - just ask antarctic researchers, space travel scientists and submarine officers [Tara Law, Time]

"You can’t govern the people you live with in a series of edicts. ... But I have reached the point of 2021 when that’s all I want to do. There’s a suite of feelings and thoughts occurring in the house that I want a complete veto over because everyone is irritating the hell out of me." [Zoe Williams, The Guardian]

"It’s not a pleasure, but it’s the best we’ve got, all of us walking in place until we have somewhere to walk to." I'm sick of walking around [Monica Heisey, The Guardian}

"I’ll read a page of my book before migrating over to Instagram, losing myself in its emptiness for half an hour before I even realize what I’m doing. During work, I’ll write two sentences of a draft, then click new tab and type in Twitter.com. Others spend hours with their eyes glazed over as they flick through TikTok, disappear down YouTube rabbit holes, or sit down at their computers, only to blink and realize they’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla for five hours straight." What the pandemic is doing to our attention spans [Angela Lashbrook, Debugger at Medium]

The case for bringing back the nervous breakdown, or, why it should be easier to admit that it's just a bit too much [Jerry Useem, The Atlantic]

"It’s not just the multitasking that makes us feel muddled. It’s also the stress. Chronically high levels of the hormone cortisol, which is associated with stress, can lead to memory impairments in healthy adults." Why the pandemic has made it feel like your brain is broken [Jessica Grose, The New York Times]

"Ten months into the pandemic, I know the rhythms of the courier networks better than I know my menstrual cycle. Royal Mail in the morning; DPD and Hermes in the afternoon. Amazon comes any time, including late at night. DPD couriers insist on taking a photo of you with the package, mortifyingly. I wonder where these photos go: me in a food-stained tracksuit, dirty-haired, holding an armful of packages I can’t remember ordering with an abashed smile. I pray they never see the light of day." [Sirin Kale, The Guardian]

It's ok to complain about how much we have lost to this pandemic. [Sarah Manavis, The New Statesman]

*** Some stories that are still about the pandemic, but a bit more uplifting

"I think that we map memories onto places—even more, that our memories live inside places. I remember last year visiting the library in Saratoga that I used to go to in high school, which I hadn’t been to since then. It turned out that I only remembered half of it, and when I walked into the (previously) un-remembered half, all of these other memories flooded back with it. Or more generally, when I look across the bay at San Francisco, I feel like I’m looking at my 20s. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always scoffed at the idea of uploading one’s brain, because my memories are all scattered across the landscape, and I have to travel across it to re-encounter them." Jenny Odell [Ross Simonini, The Believer]

"During lockdown, I've found solace in online recipe comments" - this embodies the only type of corona coverage I'm interested in at this point [Sophie Haigeny, The Guardian]

Maps of our personal covid worlds [Laura Bliss and Jessica Martin, Bloomberg CityLab]

I miss restaurants so damn much and most of all, I miss taking them for granted. [Rachel Sugar, Grub Street]

Finding peace in an unexpected corner of the internet: Nun Twitter [Sirin Kale, The Guardian]

They no longer make VHS tapes, and the nostalgia market is booming [Hannah Selinger, The New York Times]

"Why did I ever believe that a teenage girl could hold all the power?" Tavi Gevinson on Britney Spears, and on all of us [The Cut]

"Street View-hopping resonates with the oft-stated desire to see the world as it really is, or to get “off the beaten path,” which turns out to be mostly miles of road and trees and sky. At a time when we have been staring out windows at the same stretch of street, and taking the same drives to the same grocery stores, it can be cathartic to get dropped on another patch of road—somewhere else, but not so different after all." On browsing Google Street View during the pandemic [Sophie Haigeny, The New Yorker]

Even before the pandemic, American culture was embracing numbness as an antidote for the overload of digital capitalism. [Kyle Chayka, The New York Times]

#reading list

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 5 years

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I don't know how much this adds to the discussion regarding Animorphs being children's lit, but I think it's important to keep in mind that kids' books can get away with heavier themes than kids' shows tend to, so if someone's coming into the discussion with the framework of "for children" they may need to keep in mind that as a book it can cover more ground than a tv show that grownups just have to glance at to decide if it's "too much" for their kiddos (whether it is too much or not).

This definitely adds to the discussion of Animorphs as children’s lit! I think you’re hitting the nail right on the head. Many people don’t realize this (I didn’t realize this until I was in college and had a class on the subject) but television shows have to justify themselves to a metric shitton of people before they’re allowed to go on the air. Books only have to justify themselves to a moderate-sized committee, if that.

People who have the power to veto content on TV shows include (but are not limited to): individual writers who have a particular idea, head writers who don’t like the idea, script editors who might take it out, directors who refuse to film what they don’t like, videographers or artists who add their own creative vision to ideas, visual effects teams who can cut things based on budget, voice actors who can protest decisions they don’t like, episode editors who might take an idea out, producers who won’t back anything that might cause controversy, studio executives who can pull content that’s not “on brand,” national network crews that can decide not to air certain content, local network crews that can also decide not to air certain content, and future “backers” who might decide not to invest in a show based on its content.

People who have the power to veto content in books include: the author with the idea, the agent who publicizes it, the editor who polishes it, and the publishing agent who sells the idea. At most.

Nowadays, one can self-publish one’s own work with ZERO outside input, or else very little. The Martian was read by exactly two (2!) people before Andy Weir put it on the internet, and it became an international bestseller. It would be possible to make a self-published TV show with that little outside input… but most platforms wouldn’t promote it, and would probably take it down if it got hate-reported or had content violations. Not only that, but (as Cates pointed out) books get edited as content that has already been written, in a story that already exists. Shows get edited in the context of deciding whether it’s worth the trouble to write an idea that’s still hypothetical.

Television is ultra-conservative (in the sense of never rocking any boats in any direction) because it has to please hundreds of people with creative input and to justify its multi-million-dollar budgets. Books can reach the minimum production value necessary to be good with the influence of one person (okay, lbr, two people) and fifty bucks for printing or web-hosting fees. That’s the reason that only 42% of non-animated roles and 39% of animated roles go to women on TV, including only 12% of non-animated roles and 4% of animated roles going to women of color. By contrast, 63% of children’s lit on The Atlantic’s bestsellers list is written by women, about female protagonists; that’s not counting books by men about female protagonists. (They didn’t collect data on authors’ ethnicity; if anyone has this stat, HMU.)

It’s the reason that Arthur just made national news THIS FUCKING YEAR by depicting a same-sex (traditional) (Christian-coded) wedding ceremony, one that local networks in Alabama chose not to air. Meanwhile, in 2015 Cates presented a conference paper about the history of kids’ picture books with queer protagonists, a history that goes back to 1981 (Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin) and covers such mainstream 1990s series as Bruce Coville’s Magic Shop and Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants. We see the importance of the lack of gatekeepers: for instance, the author of Heather Has Two Mommies struggled to get a mainstream children’s press to pick up her book, so she went to a lesbian publisher, which ended up creating an entirely new branch for children’s books. (Apparently there were entire publishing houses just for lesbian books in 1987? The more you know.) One other interesting case study for queer content is Gore Vidal: in 1948 he published what would today be classified as a YA gay romance novel (The City and the Pillar) but in 1959 he had to “code” and hide the queer content in the Hollywood film (Ben-Hur) that he also wrote. Television to this day uses queer-coding in lieu of actual romance, especially when it’s kids’ TV (see: Legend of Korra or Adventure Time), while children’s literature has already made the push all the way into demanding that the queer romances in Grasshopper Jungle and Geography Club be more intersectional.

To be clear, it’s not like children’s books have carte blanche in this regard — Applegate and Grant have both apologized for having to code Mertil and Gafinilan rather than just marrying them off, and have expressed regret over not getting to write an openly bisexual Marco or openly trans Tobias. But kids’ books can still fly under the radar of the wowsers in a way that kids’ shows often cannot.

Anyway. Queer representation is obviously just one of a plethora of issues that get very different treatment in children’s books vs. children’s shows. There are plenty of others. Children’s shows can depict violence, but have to treat it as silly or inconsequential and avoid showing blood. (Because that’s a great way to teach kids about not harming others!!!) Children’s books can have as much blood — and, apparently, as many spilled entrails — as they would like, as long as those things don’t happen in the first couple of pages or make the cover summary. Neal Shusterman is responsible for some of the most cringe-inducingly silly AniTV episodes, and also some of the most brutally unflinching works of children’s literature I’ve ever read. American screen media are no longer subject to the Hays Code, but its marks still remain. American literature has pretty much always been the Wild West, and with the advent of online self-publishing, the west is getting wilder.

Don’t judge a book by its movie. And don’t judge a book by its show. AniTV is tame and silly, treating its violence as inconsequential and its characters’ mental health struggles as harmlessly or innocent. Animorphs has the courage to show that when you shoot a man he doesn’t just silently fall over and disappear but bleeds and screams and dies, that being a victim or a perpetrator of such violence can leave even “innocent kids” fighting for their lives against PTSD and depression. It has the courage… but it also has the freedom to do so. That’s an extremely important distinction that should not be overlooked.

#animorphs #anitv #children's literature #lit crit #television #censorship #animorphs meta #meta meta #long post #mental health #violence mention #homophobia mention #q word #queer representation #lgbtqia #old man yells at cloud #anonymous #asks

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fandomluver-101 · 4 years

Text

Sweet Elite Chapter 8

So I have finally finished playing the last chapter! You would think I’d hate playing a game where I’m in school when IRL college is kicking my ass, but to each their own, LOL.

Anyways, I finished playing it and though I found it enjoyable, I’m not all that sure I truly enjoyed it. I normally don’t make my own reviews of the game and just leave comments on ones posted by others, but I decided to post it because why not!

If you’re interested in a spoiler filled review, just click that “keep reading” below ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

First off, I like to write my little fanfics for my enjoyment (I’ve never posted any of them, but I have them in existence via USB lol). I’m probably gonna reference what I’ve written for Tadashi’s arc for comparison, so don’t try looking for them!

When I play Sweet Elite, I also like to record my screen so I can keep track of my choices (and compare what happens to what I wrote). A single playthrough for the first time and this is the longest I’ve spent on a chapter, a whole 2 hours and a half! Not a bad thing of course considering it was a major arc and expected to be on the longer side. But I feel like for the length, I didn’t get much Love Interest interactions because you’re forced to spend fairly equal amount of time with everyone (I played on my Tadashi account first since I had the most AP on that one).

I shall start with things I liked about the chapter, which wasn’t much to be honest?

1 - Tadashi not knowing what the Grammy’s was is hilarious to me (and also kinda sad because that kinda shows how much of a childhood he lacked since the average person would at least know the name!). That whole interaction was nice to see since it showed TadAxel having a non-arguing conversation, but the “Granny’s” was a major highlight.

2 - Neha hinting once again that she might be a scholarship student (because mentioning that scholarship students don’t have to advertise that they’re one is a major thing to introduce and not expect me to run with). And I interpreted how she responded to Karolina supporting Tadashi despite the scandal more of her being a bit jealous because I can only imagine how she’d react if Neha actually is a scholarship student (though Tadashi becoming one himself might soften Karolina up into accepting that your parents’ money doesn’t make you almighty).

3 - Ellie just being Ellie. Lordy she’s adorably terrifying and those are the best short friends to have because they keep you on your toes (and are totally down to hunting for the obscure or raiding Area 451).

4 - Tyler basically being how I felt playing as Scholar because the whole “I’m not doing shit while everyone else is offering something major in their super-awesome ways” was easy to recognize with.

So my first complaint is the convoluted plan to get Tadashi proven innocent/uninvolved in Hiroshi’s yakuza crap. I get the whole lie to the dad to make him think he’s on his side thing since it would get him half of his money back. But what I envisioned in my head and wrote down centered around my Scholar recording the conversation between Tadashi and his dad (which Tadashi did himself, which still makes it a viable plot-point) and them using the script/email from the lawyer and the bank statements of his dad taking all of his money to show him as a victim?

The video idea wasn’t bad and was also something I wrote for my BCP Scholar fanfiction (she’s marketing and PR with her own little company managing social media accounts, so the idea and image control was her main addition to help out). So I don’t know if I’m just being my biased ass self and preferring my solution (release the proof of blackmail, show Tadashi is a victim, have Tegan hack Nakano Corp.’s CCTV/security footage to get timestamps of Tadashi not being present for mafia meetings, have him testify against his father).

None of what was shown in the video could have really proven any sort of innocence to be honest. Tadashi could’ve easily pulled whatever texts and emails he wanted, so unless he showed the one from the lawyer essentially extorting him to testify in his father’s favor, I don’t see how that on its own would have helped with anything.

Adding the recording to the beginning of the video during editing would have been something to warrant all the positive response to the video. I know the recording is used to try and force Nakahoe Senior into giving Tadashi the rest of his money, but it was also the only logical way to prove Tadashi was without a doubt a victim too (and Tegan could easily get the money back himself or there could have been something about the mom, which I’m gonna talk about later in this post).

IRL, people would point out that Tadashi could easily be lying through his teeth about not being involved. So that’s kind of a plot-hole since getting the public to see Tadashi in a positive light is important to getting the school board to let him stay (which was incredibly dumb to me because are you really gonna tell me there aren’t students at the school with openly corrupt/mafia/mob/gangster parents using dirty money to keep their children in attendance???) (yes, Jack, I’m talking about your ass).

I could understand forcing him to step down as student body president since Arlington has the position kinda Anime styled where the president is the face of the school and has an absurd amount of responsibility and power (as proven by Ellie’s story of the previous president and the fact that Tadashi can veto someone getting academic amnesty). Them removing him from office was something I expected (though my fanfic had him helping pick a replacement for the rest of the year since that’s how it was done at my old private school). But not wanting him to attend school even though his family could easily pay for his tuition was very out there to me. I suppose having someone with a negative reputation could reflect badly on a top school, but I’m pretty sure private schools need justifications to expel someone and expelling them based on their parents actions seems very illegal to me.

But anyways, the super computer plot to hack Nakahoe Senior’s information was also very weird to me. I justified it by telling myself Scholar is in a school of super rich, super intelligent teenagers, so maybe the most simple approach doesn’t come to mind (I know first hand that smart people have a tendency to overlook the simple solutions without meaning to). It makes sense to make their own computer to not be traced overall, but the purpose it was needed for didn’t make much sense in the grand scheme of things (because they didn’t really use the information they found, so what was the point of finding it other than being a hundred percent sure on Hiroshi being corrupt?).

And then while I was playing and listening to my commentary, I again was reminded about how confused I was that calling Hiroshi in jail and keeping him on the line long enough to trace the transaction was necessary? Because I don’t think that’s how that works? If it was to track his location, then maybe, but I don’t think Tegan would need Tadashi to keep Hiroshi on the line to trace a bank transaction or get into Hiroshi’s accounts (but that’s me being nitpicky I think).

Then what they found, IE the gibberish in the calendar descrambling to “Yakuza” was a major asspull while I was playing. I wondered why Nakahoe Senior, AKA the Inglorious Bastard and Chessmaster of the arc, would make it so obvious? Let alone actually put that in his planer... If there was a meeting every Friday evening, I figured introducing this would at least lead to something where Tegan finds a way to prove Tadashi wasn’t present or active even phone call wise because he could get the call logs too. Yeah, the emails are important, but wouldn’t footage or flights be better at proving he wasn’t there?

Then Tadashi’s mother, who was never truly introduced, but teased really. It was set up in a way that my fanfic had Nakahoe Senior threatening to setup Tadashi for the fall if she didn’t convince him to testify in Hiroshi’s favor because Alistair mentions how protective she normally is of Tadashi and even Tadashi says that his mom was frantic over the phone. So I don’t know, I was hoping for something with her since she was brought up.

But my major complaint about the story was that Scholar has little influence on what goes on. At first, I thought there would be options based on your Department and maybe your choices during the Department Competition (you pick your concentration during the presentation). Essentially, I was expecting to be asked to pick a task I would do best in (in this playthrough’s case, I expected to be able to help with PR because for the competition, I picked Sociology which is essential in marketing research).

I also expected something similar for others. Business would get to come up with a marketing and PR scheme, utilizing Axel, Karolina, and Neha. Performing Arts or Fine Arts would get to help edit and fine tune the video or make a smear campagne against Nakahoe Senior with Tyler and Raquel. Pure and Applied would get to code with Tegan or build with Ellie. Health Sciences (or any department because you’re Arlington’s Sweetheart) would get to work with Alistair (who knows Tadashi best) and Claire to make Tadashi’s script and showcase him to the world as a victim (which he really is in this situation).

But that didn’t happen. The only things Scholar really does is buy computer parts and talk to Claire and ask her to help Tadashi (and suggest Tadashi ask Neha for help too). Which was a major asspull because during that section before where the group is talking about who should help him write something from the heart, I was expecting (and super hyped for) Scholar to finally have the chance to be useful. They weren’t, not even for Tadashi’s campaigning since all that they did was talk to a few students (which I know is good for campaigning, but not really helpful in the grand scheme of things) (especially because by default, Scholar isn’t good at these things even if you’re in a department that’s necessary). I got really happy thinking Scholar would do anything that justifies them being involved as “human resources.”

Then being thanked for not really do anything but being the spectator and emotional support friend kinda bothered me. I’m all for that and sometimes you just need that one friend that’s good at being a support unit (AKA the mom). But even though Tadashi says that Scholar was his main inspiration to defy his parents, that’s not really helping him do that?

How was Scholar instrumental to anything going on? “Waste a couple hours finding pieces for a super computer, something anyone could search for because you can’t code or build things even if you’re in Pure and Applied,” “Go ask Claire to help Tadashi write his speech only for Tadashi to appear and ask her to himself because she would, by default, help anyways and you’re not good at writing a heartfelt speech (which Scholar technically isn’t, but should be if there were more options or at least acknowledged in this situation because why bring up the whole Arlington Sweetheart thing?),” “Get some rest, you deserve it even though you did absolutely nothing beside deliver the computer parts and suggest asking Neha to help.”

To be honest, Scholar may not be as static/pre-determined as most otome games, but Scholar doesn’t have much variety that actually impacts the story. What you’re good and bad at is already determined (like the essay and presentation; you’re automatically not good at it even if you’re Performing Arts or BCP and interested in things that, you know, require being able to give a good presentation).

I would prefer waiting longer to have more meaningful options than getting something quicker and not really being able to do much. Like during the competition where we eavesdrop on people and see the story unfold, that’s what this chapter pretty much was for me.

#Sweet Elite #SE #Sweet Elite Game #SE Game #sweet elite chapter 8 #se chapter 8 #Sweet Elite 8 #SE 8

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timeagainreviews · 5 years

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A Loch back at a Zygon Era

Hello friends! I've had quite the week! Monday was my birthday, so my boyfriend and I took a road trip around Scotland. We saw lots of things from the Beatrix Potter Garden in Birnam, to the Cave of Caerbannog from Monty Python, to the Devil's Pulpit in Dumgoyne. But our main destination was Loch Ness! We settled into our hotel by watching "Terror of the Zygons," which seemed appropriate considering our surroundings. Naturally, I decided to review it here. Before I do, however, I would like to thank all of you who have been liking and reblogging my stuff lately. It means a lot to know I'm connecting with people. Thank you for your support!

On the surface, "Terror of the Zygons," appears to be just like any other serial of its era. However, if you do a bit of digging, you'll discover that there are some interesting facts about its production. Did you know that there was a sort of "real-world," tie in with the story? No, I don't mean Nessie. Think closer to Mickey Mouse. In 1975, Tom Baker played the Doctor for the August "Disney Time," bank holiday special. After introducing several clips from Disney films, he is called away by the Brigadier to the events of Terror of the Zygons. I can't help but wish this information was known to me before writing my Doctor Who and Disney article! You can watch the clips on youtube. They feature Tom being suitably bizarre.

Along with having an unusual prequel, the story also had a deleted scene from the beginning which was later colourised by YouTuber "babelcolour," for the DVD release. This edited version is the one I rewatched for today's review. The scene begins with the TARDIS materialising invisibly. The Doctor walks out from nothingness, wearing a matching tartan tam and scarf, replacing his usual fedora and scarf. Not far behind are Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan wearing said hat and scarf respectively. There's something rather humorous about the Doctor using his companions as human hat racks. Considering Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's name, it seems appropriate that the Doctor is sporting the Royal Stewart tartan. I can't help but wonder if the costume department did this on purpose. After rematerialising the TARDIS to "fix," it back to it's usual broken police box state, the three continue their journey to answer the Brigadier's Disney Time summons. It seems an oil rig off the coast of Scotland has crashed into the sea just shortly after having lost radio contact.

After hitching a ride from the eccentric Duke of Forgill, the three meet up with a kilted Brigadier in a small Scottish inn where the landlord, Angus, plays bagpipes ad nauseam. They're really driving the Scottish shit home, which makes sense when you consider they filmed the episode in Sussex. Also gathered at the inn are Sergeant Benton, various UNIT soldiers, and a man from the oil company named Huckle. The Duke has some curt words with Huckle, informing him that any crewmen found on his land will be shot. After leaving in a huff, we see one of these crewmen wash ashore, seemingly alive. Over the past month, three different rigs have all met their demise. The gang splits up Scooby-Doo style. Dr Harry goes off to check on the injured crewmen, while Sarah stays behind to get the scoop from the locals. And the Doctor goes off to be the Doctor.

Back at the inn, Sarah mentions the odd nature of the Duke to Angus who promptly defends the duke as a good man. However, even he has to admit that the Duke has been acting strangely since the oil companies came. After letting go most of his servants, the only real bit of interaction he's had lately was gifting the inn with a goofy looking stag head. Nowadays the Duke keeps mostly to himself at Forgill Castle. The surrounding area of Tulloch Moor seems steeped in mystery. People go missing as the mist comes in, Angus tells Sarah as they're being spied upon from a distance. Eavesdropping in on the conversation over a veiny, bio-mechanical screen, an unknown figure watches from the shadows.

While driving alone, Harry spots the washed-up man from the rig and jumps out to help him. Believing him to be yet another trespasser, a beardy fellow by the name of Caber shoots the survivor and wings Harry across his brow, rendering him unconscious. Back in the bio-mechanical ship, alien villains twist and caress a fleshy panel in the weirdest form of nipple play ever seen on Doctor Who, causing the destruction of another oil rig near Ben Nevis. While trying to decipher the signal that has been jamming the oil rigs' radios, the Doctor learns of Harry's brush with death.

After checking on Harry, the Doctor goes out to inspect the oil rig wreckage where he discovers strange holes in the foundation. After taking a cast of the holes with plaster of Paris, the cast reveals what looks like the shape of an impossibly large sharp tooth. During a call with the Doctor, Sarah is attacked by the previously seen alien hand, which belongs to none other than a fearsome Zygon! I've always loved their design, especially in this scene. Something about the shape of its mouth is particularly disturbing. I was slightly disappointed about the redesign from the new series. I'm a big fan of the Zygon cat nose. I almost named one of my cats Zygon due to his dark orange fur and similar nose shape, but my partner at the time vetoed that idea. I named him Rory instead.

After discovering both Harry and Sarah missing, the Doctor discovers Sarah in a decompression room for divers, the door slightly ajar. I was annoyed by the fact that the Doctor fell for such an obvious trap, but it also led to an intriguing sequence. Harry's nurse, Sister Lamont, closes the heavy door behind the Doctor and seals it shut for decompression. Running out of air, the Doctor hypnotises Sarah and enters into a trance to conserve air. I'm a big fan of any time the Doctor acts like a bit of a mystic. I'm a meditator myself, so it's cool to see the Doctor tap into the innate powers of thought control. One of the side effects of certain meditations is a slowing of breathing. It was nice that the scene doesn't overly explain this. It allows Tom the chance to really play up his weird alien charm as his eyes roll back and he howls toward the ceiling. Moments like these are why I love Tom Baker so much. He's not afraid of being utterly bizarre.

It's around this time we begin to learn a little about the Zygons. Having taken Harry to their ship, their leader, Broton, tells him a bit about their history. After they crash-landed centuries ago they awaited rescue while subsiding on the lactic fluid of their giant Nessie-like cyborg pet known as the Skarasen. That's correct, you did not misread that- they feed off of cyborg breast milk. Only with a show like Doctor Who can you get a sentence like that. You've kind of got to love that. After discovering their planet was destroyed by a cosmic event, they redirected their efforts toward getting their suckers on Earth. The Skarasen is to be the form of Earth's destructor, as no human weapon could hope to penetrate its augmented skin. In order to move their plan into motion, the Zygons gas the village, knocking the Brigadier and the UNIT soldiers out cold, thus allowing them to move in secret. Luckily for the Doctor and Sarah, Sergeant Benton was on the lookout for them where he saves them from death by asphyxiation.

After coming to, Huckle gives the Doctor a bio-emitter that attracts the Skarasen, which he found among the wreckage of the rig. Having bugged the inn, the Zygons reveal to Harry that they use the psychic imprint of humans in order to mimic their form. He sees the likes of Sister Lamont, Caber, and the Duke, stored in hibernation chambers, maintaining a link to their Zygon counterparts. They use Harry's form to slip back to the inn where they may fetch the emitter. But he is intercepted by Sarah who is concerned by his odd behaviour. She chases him into a barn where they scuffle in a manner that had me weirdly thinking of “Super Vixens.” Russ Meyer's Doctor Who is not something I ever expected to imagine. After a bit of trouble, Zygon Harry falls from a hayloft onto his own pitchfork, killing him instantly and revealing himself to Sarah as a Zygon. However, the crafty Zygons completely evaporate his remains to hide any evidence. I wondered why they didn't just do the same thing to the emitter in the first place, but I guess the answer is "it doesn't do that." Ok, sure, whatever. Now free from his psychic link with the Zygon, Harry is able to sneak about on their ship unabated.

After realising the Zygons were working from the shadows, the Doctor assumes they must have bugged the inn somewhere, so the lads go about searching the place from top to bottom. I love Angus' indignant response to the idea that his inn might have actual bugs. Angus Lennie's performance as Angus is a true highlight in the story. Afraid of the humans discovering that the goofy stag head must be the bug, the Zygons decide to send the Skarasen to rid themselves of these tiresome humans. After figuring out the secret of the emitter, the Doctor draws the Skarasen away from the village only to find it has fused itself to his hand. But Harry's meddling with the ship's systems allows the Doctor the ability to toss the emitter in the path of the Skarasen, destroying it in the process.

The Doctor and friends meet up and go to Forgill Castle to ask permission to drop depth charges into Loch Ness, the source of the signal. Their hope is to draw the Zygons out. Meanwhile, the Sister Lamont Zygon goes to fetch the stag head and fights with Angus in the process, killing him. It's a sad ending for one of the more likeable characters, but it's also kind of wonderful in its simplicity. I never quite understood why the Zygons needed to turn people into electric balls of something I might pull out of my hairbrush, as they did in "The Zygon Invasion." If anything, I much prefer the updates they received in Mark Morris' "The Bodysnatchers." Using venom from their suckers matches their physiology far better than superpowers. Morris really fleshed out the Zygons in a way I wish the show would. Seeing them in their initial incarnation using brute force seems far more practical to me. I think sometimes, more is less.

After discovering a way into the Zygon ship, they save Harry, but the Zygons flee with the Doctor still onboard. The Doctor gets a wonderful opportunity to match wits with Broton in a speech that includes my all-time favourite Fourth Doctor line- "You can't rule the world in hiding. You've got to come out on to the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle." Evidently, that line was ad-libbed by Tom Baker, only further solidifying my love for the man. He makes a good point though, the Zygons have mostly been working from the shadows, in secret. The Zygons fly away, masking their trail from UNIT, still hiding. I must admit, it's not abundantly clear what their plan actually is. Sure they intend to use the Skarasen against earth's weapons, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of explanation as to how the oil rigs play into everything. There's mention of turning the Earth into something more habitable for Zygons, but I'm honestly not sure. I asked my boyfriend what his impression was, and he couldn't quite figure it out either.

There's a lot of what happens at this point in the story that seems like happenstance. The UNIT crew and Sarah end up going to London, which also happens to be where the Zygons have set their next target. They plan to swim the Skarasen up the Thames to wreak havoc on Westminster Abbey. In my review for "Castrovalva," I mentioned how the Fourth Doctor's super-heroics were oftentimes overstated, and what comes next is nothing shy of extraordinary. After rigging some ventricle type wiring from within his cell, the Doctor uses his own body to complete the circuit, allowing UNIT to see past the Zygon's scramblers and pinpoint their location. I loved that it was Benton that did this, by the way. This was twice in one story where Benton got to play hero. They pinpoint the ship's location to be a disused quarry, which made me ugly cackle. Classic Doctor Who used quarries so often to make up an alien planet, that the idea of them saying "This actually is a quarry," seemed almost cheeky. Broton, thinking the Doctor has died, uses his Duke disguise once more to go plant another emitter in Westminster. After releasing the human captives aboard the Zygon ship, the Doctor sounds an alarm and sets off the self destruct killing the remaining Zygons onboard. Yay, murder!

The UNIT soldiers dispatch Broton after a fumbling fight scene between him, Harry, and Sarah. All the while, the Skarasen is working its way up the Thames. It's a brilliant little bit of puppetry mixed with stop motion animation that I found completely charming. Even if it does look a bit naff, it's effective enough to be a suitable set piece to end such an episode. It's very much within the tone of the story to have the Loch Ness monster stomping through London. The Doctor manages to trace the emitter and toss it into the open jaws of the Skarasen. It nom nom noms the emitter into nothingness, causing it to lose all interest in the Abbey. The Doctor casually supposes that it will most likely return to its home of Loch Ness. I loved that the show kept the Loch Ness mystery intact. After all is said and done, "Nessie," may still be out there. It wouldn't have felt right killing off a beloved cryptid that brings so much wonder to many. Such feelings of wonder are what Doctor Who thrives upon. Sadly, while we got to keep Nessie, we say goodbye to some regulars. This marks the last regular appearance of both the Brigadier and Harry. With the Doctor no longer relegated to the Earth, UNIT begins to play a much smaller role in the story. And Harry, now back in London, hasn't a lot of need to continue travelling with the Doctor. It's an almost unceremonious end of an era for Doctor Who.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story. While I feel like it somewhat falls apart in the final act, the mystery and intrigue in the first few episodes really draw you in. Even my boyfriend, who is a casual fan, was drawn in by the atmosphere. You can see the beginnings of what was to become the more horror-themed stories such as "The Talons of Weng-Chiang," or "The Horror of Fang Rock." The Zygons are, for me at least, a classic baddie. They may not be as popular or iconic as the Daleks or Cybermen, but I think they work as their own kind of threat. Bringing them back has also proven to be successful. The Big Finish audio "The Zygon Who Fell to Earth," is well worth a listen. There's a lot of care put into this story that I think makes it stand out from others. Geoffrey Burgon's beautifully haunting music was a nice change of pace from Dudley Simpson's usual work. The track "A Landing in Scotland," is particularly memorable. The Zygon ship interior being organic was a unique touch that we rarely see in Doctor Who, save for maybe "The Claws of Axos," and the model work was also pretty damn charming. Having recently been to both Loch Ness and Ben Nevis, it really added something to the experience as well. There is a surprisingly low amount of episodes that take place in Scotland, which is unfortunate. If there's anything this trip has taught me, is that Scotland has a lot to offer. There are so many peaks and valleys covered with lush greenery and deep dark waters. It's easy to imagine that somewhere, something is lurking down below. Hats off to Robert Banks Stewart and Robert Holmes for seeing this potential, and turning out something magical.

#doctor who #fourth doctor #tom baker #sarah jane smith #elisabeth sladen #nicholas courtney #BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART #zygons #harry sullivan #ian marter #Time and Time Again #tardis #bbc #loch ness #nessie #loch ness monster #skarasen #terror of the zygons

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deltahalo241 · 6 years

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Halo 3 Review

Halo 3 is probably the most popular game in the long running Halo Franchise. It was a system seller for the Xbox 360 and for many people, it was their gateway into the series. So while Halo 3 has managed to craft this legendary status around itself. Does it live up to it? And, looking back over 10 years since its launch, has it held up compared to modern games. These are the questions I intend to answer as I take a look back at the heavy hitting title of 2007 and give my honest opinions of it.

Starting with the story, we have to talk about the fact that Halo 2 was originally going to be the end of the franchise, and that Halo 3 only came about because Bungie set their sights too high and had to end Halo 2 on a cliffhanger. Because of this, Halo 3 has to both tell its own story, as well as finishing off Halo 2's. Halo 3 is comprised of 10 missions, though one is just a cutscene and doesn't really count. So all in all there are 9 missions in the game, making it somewhat shorter than Halo 2. The big issue for me when it comes to Halo 3's campaign is the pacing, or lack of it. The story goes nowhere for 6 out of the 9 missions, preferring to faff about on Earth. These 6 missions are what I believe to be the way Bungie were going to finish Halo 2, or how they were retro-actively ending Halo 2 at least. Specifically Mission 5 is where I believe the ending for Halo 2 would have been. Mission 6 has lots of problems of its own that need to be brought up. To sum it up, in Mission 6, the Flood arrives at Earth on an infected Covenant Battle-cruiser. Long time fans of the Halo series will know the Flood as the all consuming parasite responsible for wiping out the Forerunners, and who took over High Charity (The Covenants Holy City) at the end of Halo 2. So this is a pretty big deal. On board the Flood infested ship, Master Chief finds a message from Cortana talking about the Ark, this is the beginning of the issues. Cortana didn't know about the Ark, she wasn't with Johnson and Miranda when 343 Guilty Spark revealed its existence to them, so how could she have found out about it? One option could be that she took it from the database of Installation 04, but if so why didn't she tell anyone about it? It would seem like a pretty big deal to me, especially when there's a portal to it on Earth that she seems to know about as well. Secondly, how did she even get the message on the ship in the first place? She was on High Charity, the message is on a physical storage device. Did she create it and put it on the back of a Flood to carry into the vessel? And when & how did she record it without the Gravemind knowing? She was being interrogated by him after all and we know how it can corrupt AIs. The threat at the start of the mission, the Flood is also dispatched by the Covenant at the end, meaning the stakes for Earth are pretty much over. The Covenant have left and the Flood on the planet are dead. This mission also introduces us to a new plot point. According to Cortana, there's a way to stop the Flood for good at the Ark, without having to fire the remaining Halo rings, a Forerunner weapon that perhaps, wasn't finished in time to save them, but could save us. Unfortunatly, Halo 3 immediatley drops this plot point, making the entirety of mission 6, pointless. The plot point leads no-where and the threat introduced at the start of the level, is gone by the end of it. It feels like the remainder of some earlier draft of the story, one that I would have liked to see for sure.

As so much time is spent at Earth, it means by the time the game actually gets to the Ark, there's only 4 missions left in the campaign. This doesn't give you a lot of time to really explore the ark, like you could explore the ring in Halo CE. 2 missions in on the Ark and the Prophet of Truth is dead, killed in a cutscene like the Prophet of Mercy before him. This is so that the game can say 'Aha! The Gravemind is actually the true villain!' as he betrays you just after helping you reach Truth. The trouble is the game only has 2 missions left at this point, and in only one of them do you actually interact with the Gravemind to any large degree. His betrayal is also somewhat odd, his tentacles raise up above Master Chief and the Arbiter as he talks about how he's going to kill everything, then fails to grab a slow moving Pelican Dropship as it escapes, only succeding at knocking Arby and Chief off of it before having his tentacles retreat and sending waves of combat forms to attack you, basically it builds up a boss fight and then nothing happens, you just trudge back through the same hallway you fought through not 5 minutes earlier, only now you're fighting the Flood. The mission after that has you delve into the Flood nest in order to retrieve Cortana. The mission itself looks great, the flood biomass over the walls really gives you an idea of what could happen if the flood gets loose. The level layout is extremely confusing and you may find yourself dying a lot as there are constantly spawning enemies including many Flood Pureforms, alongside the confusing layout, you may find it to be an exercise in frustration. This level also serves to rob the Flood of some of their menace. Looking at it lore wise, Master Chief just walked into the belly of the beast, grabbed his holographic friend had a quick chat with her and then strolled back out again. The Flood don't even seem to do anything to stop the damaged pelican he escapes on from leaving. It makes them seem incompetant. The final mission of the game has you heading to a Halo Ring, the intent being to fire it to kill the Flood infestation. This actually conflicts with what we were told in Halo CE, that the Halos don't kill the Flood, they kill its food and let it starve to death. You fight through more Combat Forms and the gravemind taunts you a little, then you get to the final chamber. Guilty Spark informs us that the ring isn't ready to fire, and that it'll take a few more days before it's ready. When Johnson informs him that they don't have that much time, Spark goes rampant and kills him, this had been foreshadowed earlier when Spark zapped a marine who wanted to check out his internals, to make sure he was functioning right, but anyone who had played from Halo CE could probably see this betrayal coming a mile off. You then have to go through an easy and boring boss fight against Guilty Spark before you can finally activate the Halo ring, as the ring is unfinished it starts falling apart, destroying itself and dealing massive damage to the Ark. Which conveniantly solves that plot hole of the Rings only killing the Floods food. This leads to the final section of the game, a Warthog run similar to the one from Combat Evolved, though not as fun. And then the campaign ends. It's a bit sudden, and they of course tease that the franchise will be continued in the future (Which it was, with Halo 4)

Now that I've finished talking about the single player, I can move onto the multiplayer. This is what most people will remember when it comes to Halo 3, as it had a massive online community back when it was released. Halo 3 offered a good range of game-modes for the player to enjoy and a wide range of maps to play on, though you may find people vetoing maps until they get the ones they want, which means you'll find yourself playing on Valhalla or Guardian a lot for instance. The weapon sandbox has been expanded from Halo 2, now new Brute weapons are in the mix as well. Unfortunatly, there's not much reason to use them. There's not a lot that sets the Spiker apart from the SMG for instance, or the Mauler from the Shotgun. The Gravity Hammer is a fun new power weapon that rivals the Energy Sword and I think it's an excellent addition to the game. Two new grenade types have been added as well, the Fire-bomb grenade and the Spike Grenade. The Fire-bomb is what it says on the tin, an incendiary grenade that burns the person it hits to death. The Spike Grenade is similar in some ways to the Plasma Grenade, it sticks onto a vehicles or surface and explodes, the difference being that the Spike Grenade is somewhat directional. Like the Fire-bomb, it's a one hit kill. Some new vehicles have also been added to the mix. The UNSC gets the Hornet VTOL and the Mongoose ATV. The Covenant lose the Spectre from Halo 2, but gain the Brute Chopper and Prowler. The Chopper is the Brute equivelant to the Ghost, only has the special ability of being able to destroy light vehicles by ramming into them whilst boosting, which is usefel in game-modes like Capture the Flag, if the enemy team is escaping with the flag in a Warthog. The Prowler on the other hand is pretty much just the Spectre, but with a Brute theme. It has a single turret on the front, rather than the rear and two side skirts for passengers to hold on. Aside from that, there's nothing else unique about it, as I said; it's a Spectre with a Brute skin. Halo 3 was also popular for Major League Gaming at first. Though there were some noticable problems for those ultra competitve players. Halo 3's netcode was a little poor, this made blood-shots (Shots that hit the enemy from your perspective, but don't register in the game, and so do no damage) rather common, which annoyed a lot of competitive players. Halo 3 also did not utilize hitscan like the previous games in the series had, rather players had to lead shots if they wanted them to land. This took a bit of getting used to for a lot of veteren players. The Battle Rifle also had some poor weapon spread as it would seem as though one shot was always going to miss, unless you were right in your enemies face. The Assault Rifle also felt a little weak as well. This may in part be due to the sound design used on the weapons, which I felt was a little sub-par in a lot of ways. Another new feature that was added in Halo 3 was Forge mode, that let people edit maps by adding in new weapons of vehicles or items and the like wherever they wanted. The mode was a bit simplistic but I won't count that against the game here as it was the first instance of the feature and what players did with it far exceeded their expectations.

Overall I'd say Halo 3 is a pretty solid game, despite what may appear as my hatred for it, I do actually like the game. But its multiplayer far outdoes its campaign. Halo 3 is an old game now, going on 11 years old. You'll find the population for online is rather low, struggling to get above 2000 people at the best of times. This is compounded by the fact the player base is split across the Master Chief collection, Halo 3 on Xbox One backwards compatibility and those still playing the game on the Xbox 360. There are some issues with the multiplayer netcode, but if you're just playing casually, then you probably won't notice too many issues. While the weapon sandbox is a little dull, it's not too bad and there's a nice variety between the weapons. The campaigns story is quite bad but you'll probably have a lot of fun with the missions themselves, the scarab fights are quite fun (even if they make the scarab feel like a bit of a pathetic miniboss) and the settings are somewhat diverse. Halo 3 is available on the Xbox 360, as a backwards compatible title on the Xbox One and is also in the Masterchief Collection. If you would like to purchase a copy, then follow the link below:

Halo 3 - Xbox 360

#bungie #microsoft #xbox 360 #review #game review #halo #halo 3

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janepwilliams87 · 4 years

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Biden says ‘I know a lot of weed smokers’ (Newsletter: May 25, 2020)

Marijuana banking has 50-50 Senate shot, sponsor says; NY gov believes legal cannabis can pass; OK gov’s delivery veto stands

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https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said “I know a lot of weed smokers” to justify his ongoing opposition to marijuana legalization. Lead marijuana banking bill sponsor Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) says there’s a “50–50” chance its language will pass the Senate as part of coronavirus legislation. The House included it in a COVID bill earlier this month, but Republicans have largely slammed the move. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said “I believe we will” legalize marijuana. Lawmakers will reportedly reconvene this week, though it’s unclear if cannabis will be on the agenda before the end of the 2020 session. Oklahoma lawmakers declined to override Gov. Kevin Stitt’s (R) veto of a bill that would have authorized medical marijuana delivery services and allowed out-of-state patients to register with the program. The bill passed earlier this month with huge margins. / FEDERAL President Trump retweeted a post with an image of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany edited to make it look like she is smoking a joint. Federal prosecutors charged a Calexico City, California city councilman and another official with allegedly accepting bribes from an undercover FBI agent who they believed represented investors seeking to open a cannabis dispensary. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said in a Senate floor speech that the House coronavirus bill “mentions cannabis more times than it mentions doctors, hospitals, and nurses combined. It is an interesting tribute, if you ask me.” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said the House coronavirus bill’s marijuana provisions are “crazy stuff.” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) tweeted, “House Dems refuse lead. But it’s never been about leading, it’s about power. Americans and American business need help, instead House Dems pushes a bill that mentions cannabis more than jobs…” Colorado Democratic Senate candidate John Hickenlooper, a former governor, tweeted, “Yes, I support decriminalizing & descheduling marijuana. Colorado set the gold standard, and I’m eager to work with you and Colorado’s cannabis industry and entrepreneurs to get this done in Washington.” Florida Democratic congressional candidate Jen Perelman tweeted, “I support: decriminalization & legalization of marijuana. eliminating for-profit prisons. My opponent, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, does not.” / STATES Utah’s treasurer joined the state attorney general in calling on Congress to pass marijuana banking legislation. The Illinois Senate approved bills amending marijuana regulations. Rhode Island regulators sent a bulletin about the use of hemp and hemp-derived CBD in the state’s medical cannabis program. Guam regulators will meet to work on marijuana regulations in early June. The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission Policy Committee will meet to discuss draft regulations this week. Here’s a look at pending Colorado marijuana reform legislation. Two Pennsylvania Republican senators said they expect marijuana legalization to be up for discussion as a revenue measure to help fix the coronavirus outbreak’s economic damage. The Texas Law Library posted a FAQ about the legality of CBD oil. — Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,500 cannabis bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. —

/ LOCAL Denver, Colorado officials posted materials for a Marijuana Licensing Work Group meeting on Tuesday. / INTERNATIONAL Colombia’s ministry of justice approved the export of two million cannabis seeds. / SCIENCE & HEALTH A study of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s marijuana decriminalization ordinance found that the policy “significantly reduced the risk of marijuana arrests overall,” “absolute/relative racial disparities decreased for possession-based arrests” and “relative racial disparities increased for sales/manufacturing-based arrests. A driving study found that “after smoking cannabis, overall mean speed was reduced,” that “no effects of therapeutic cannabis were found on straightaway mean speed or straightaway lateral control for either condition (standard or cognitive load) or on brake latency” and “after smoking therapeutic cannabis in the lab, changes in speed and lateral control were negatively correlated with the amount of cannabis smoked per day.” / ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS The New York Times examined how CBD became a phenomenon. / BUSINESS Massachusetts recreational marijuana retailers say consumers can expect a different shopping experience when they reopen from a coronavirus closure on Monday. Florida medical cannabis sales surged last week. Politico looks at the rise and fall of MedMen. / CULTURE Model Kathy Ireland tweeted, “So much good could be done in the food and nutrition space with CBD additives. Make sure to subscribe to get Marijuana Moment’s daily dispatch in your inbox.

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