#like this guy is a professional content creator. none of this should be news? its all basically a laymans version of heres what's legal? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

steves-on-a-plane · 5 years

Text

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

Title: Can You Feel The Love Tonight? SONG FIC: Can You Feel the Love Tonight - The Lion King Words: 2579 (2393 without lyrics) Content Creator: @steves-on-a-plane Square Filled: Genre, song fic Rating: G Pairing: Bruce Banner x Reader Warnings/Triggers: none Summary: Reader is a SHIELD intern assigned to work in Tony & Bruce’s lab at the Avenger’s Tower. From the first day Bruce is especially kind to Reader and Tony begins to suspect they may have more than professional feelings for each other. Link: @brucebannerbingo

“I just want to say that I really appreciate you letting me work with you like this.” You thanked the respected scientists who greeted you in their shiny new lab. The lab was located on one of the lower levels of the just finished Avenger’s Tower. By lower you of course meant the fifteenth floor which was still taller than any building you had worked in previously. Tony Stark, who was to be one of your direct supervisors waved you off immediately with a dramatic flourish of his hand.

“Yeah, well Fury had an extra intern and we’ll need someone to fetch coffees for us now and then so.” Mr. Stark shrugged as if that was the end of the matter. He moved away from you to a nearby workstation.

“[Y/N], have you ever worked in a lab like this before?” Dr. Bruce Banner, your other supervisor asked you.

“Not unless you count the lab classes I had to take in college.” You confessed. The fact that you were entirely unqualified for your position, unpaid internship that it was, had not gone unnoticed by you. You had only hoped neither of your new bosses would mention it on the first day. You’d wanted, perhaps foolishly, to fool them for at least a week or two.

“It’s alright.” Dr. Banner smiled at you. “We told Fury we wouldn’t need someone with a scientific background. What did you study in college?”

“Oh uh…communications.” You mumbled, almost embarrassed at the floor. You felt you had to explain yourself. Sure, they hadn’t asked for an explanation, but you could tell by Mr. Stark’s face alone that they wanted to know how a communications major from a midlevel school had ended up working in their lab.

“There was an advertisement for internships with a government agency.” You told them. “For obvious reasons, SHIELD was very secretive about their interview process and honestly I thought I was signing up to run coffees around the FBI or CIA. But I thought a government internship might help me get an actual government job or if nothing else it would look good on my resume.”

“Well, we’re glad to have you on our team. Right, Tony?” Dr. Banner coached his friend.

“Sure. Welcome aboard, kid.” Tony nodded before swiveling his attention back to his work. “Banner, why don’t you have [Y/N] help you unpack the equipment in the corner. Maybe you can teach her what some of that stuff does.” Mr. Stark pointed to a far-off corner that was stacked high with shipping crates.

“What are you doing?” Bruce asked, already picking up a clipboard and walking towards the mountain of crates.

“Improvements to the suit.” Tony supplied shortly. You followed Bruce to the corner, and he explained that each shipping crate was marked with a number. The number corresponded with a piece of equipment listed on the clipboard in his hand. The most efficient way to unpack the boxes was to cross-reference the number on the case with Dr. Banner’s list. Then you’d know exactly what was in the cases and where to put it.

“Sounds like you’ve done this before.” You observed.

“I’ve worked for the government before.” Bruce confirmed. “And I’ve moved labs with them a few times. This’ll be the best way to make sure we didn’t lose anything in transportation either.”

“Has that happened before?” You asked.

“More times than you’d think.” He answered.

As you and Bruce set to work, Tony listened to you from across the room. He wasn’t used to sharing a lab space. He hadn’t done so since his days at MIT and hadn’t anticipated this new distraction. Thankfully he’d had the foresight to build himself a private lab a few floors up for the days when the distraction was too much to bear. You and Bruce continued chatting away while you worked. He asked about your family and you asked about his work. Tony rolled his eyes at the whole thing. He wondered how long he’d have to suffer before the two of you realized you have chemistry.

I can see what’s happening. [What?] And they don’t have a clue. [Who?] They’ll fall in love and here’s the bottom line, our trio’s down to two.

“Okay, it’s about that time.” You declared, looking up from your watch. It was another late night at the Avenger’s Tower. You didn’t mind late nights at the tower except for the fact that your bosses never seemed to eat. “Am I getting dinner orders or are you having caffeine for the third meal in a row?”

“Actually,” Tony swiveled around in his rolling chair. You’d begun to notice that Tony never missed an opportunity to zip around in his rolling chair. It was almost like he’d challenged himself to see how long he could stay in said chair. “I could go for some Shawarma. Big guy what do you say?”

“Hmm?” Bruce looked up from the centrifuge he’d been watching with anticipation.

“[Y/N] is taking dinner orders are you hungry?” Tony called across the room to him.

“Oh, whatever Tony’s having is fine.” Bruce assured.

“I’m on it.” You vowed. In your short time working in the lab you’d also learned that Dr. Banner didn’t like to make a fuss or cause a scene. He often went along with Tony’s opinion just because it made things easier. You also knew that he wouldn’t want to have shawarma again for the fourth time that week and that there was a Thai food place a few blocks away that he was always in the mood for. So armed with a Stark Industries credit card, you stepped out for a mission of your own.

“Are you feeding all of SHIELD on my dime?” Tony joked when you returned to the lab a half an hour later. Bruce silently rushed over to help when he noticed you struggling to carry the brown bags of Thai take out, shawarma and cold beverages.

“Not at all.” You assured Mr. Stark quickly. “I made sure to get you the shawarma you asked for.” You handed his one of the brown paper bags and a drink. “And I knew that Dr. Banner was probably sick of shawarma, so I went to that Thai place he likes.” You offered Bruce his own brown bag. He accepted the bag with a hint of hesitation.

“Oh, you didn’t have to go out of your way for me.” His cheeks reddened with guilt. “I would have just eaten what you guys were having.”

“I know.” You smiled. “But I wanted to do something special for you.”

“And what did you get for yourself?” Dr. Banner questioned. He noticed that the counter was now empty of food and drink options.

“Oh, I got…” You turned around and realized your mistake. You’d forgotten to buy yourself dinner. “Oh.”

“We can share.” Dr. Banner offered. “One of the reasons I like that Thai place so much is because they always over fill the cartons. I won’t take no for an answer.”

“It’s alright I’ll…” But as you looked into his soft inviting eyes and you found you couldn’t say no. Instead your helped yourself to one of the soda cans in the lab’s communal fridge and settled in next to Bruce. He slid a white cardboard container in your direction and offered you a smile.

The sweet caress of twilight. There’s magic in the air. And with all this romantic atmosphere, disasters in the air. Can you feel the love tonight, the peace the evening brings? The world for once in perfect harmony with all its living things.

You leaned against Tony’s very expensive bar. You didn’t dare claim one of the stools, they weren’t there for you. You held your drink apathetically. You’d been nursing it for over an hour now and it was getting warmer by the second. You looked down at the bar’s black marble countertop and traced one of the stone’s white veins with your finger.

You didn’t belong at this party and you knew it. Everyone else around you knew it. Mr. Stark was just being polite when he invited you. This party was supposed to be a get together for the Avengers and key members of SHIELD who’d helped the team successfully complete their latest mission. At the end of the day you were still just a lowly intern. You hadn’t earned the stripes to be at that party and you shouldn’t be there.

“[Y/N]?” A soft voice somehow managed to penetrate the booming bass Tony had cranking on the dance floor. You looked up from the marble countertop to see Bruce approaching you. “Are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m fine.” You nodded a little too enthusiastically. “I was just thinking about heading out.”

“Heading out? The party only started an hour ago.” He frowned at you. “Why would you want to leave?” You bit your lip, wondering if you dared tell Dr. Banner the truth.

“I don’t belong here.” You sighed.

“Let me fill you in a secret, [Y/N]. I don’t belong here either.” He confessed. “I was going to get some fresh air outside; would you like to join me?” You nodded and let him lead you to an expansive deck outside.

So many things to tell her, but how to make her see? The truth about my past? Impossible. She’d turn away from me.

“What did you mean when you said you don’t belong here?” You questioned him once you were alone. You leaned against the railing; glad Tony hadn’t opted to wrap his deck in glass walls like so many other New York condos.

“You first.” He smirked.

“Me?” You pointed at yourself as if the answer should be obvious. “I’m an intern! And everyone else here at this party? I mean director Fury’s in there and Captain America. That guy has muscles for days by the way. Sorry that’s unrelated, and Mr. Stark and you? I’m a nobody compared to the rest of you. I shouldn’t be here.”

“You’re not a nobody, [Y/N].” Dr. Banner disagreed. “Do you think that Director Fury just hands out SHIELD internships? You had to overcome an extensive interview process and his approval is not very easily gained. Tony doesn’t just let anyone into his labs either. Just the other day he sent you to retrieve something from his personal lab. I haven’t even been invited in there yet.”

“It was a screwdriver.” You reminded him. “It was not big deal.”

“It was a big deal for him. Just ask Pepper.” Bruce told you. “You know, this party is for everyone who helped make our last mission successful and if you weren’t working with us, well, Tony and I would die of starvation for one.” He chuckled, trying to make you laugh. You offered a half-hearted giggle. “But seriously, you help us more than you know and you’re a fast learner. You’re a great addition to the team.”

You got the sense that Bruce wanted to say more but stopped short to stare out at the city lights. You followed his gaze with your own eyes and watched the cars and buses zoom by on the streets below. New York City really comes alive at night. You mused before shifting your attention back to Bruce. His face was illuminated by the city and the rest of him was backlit by Tony’s party. The effect was a dazzling glow. You wished that you could blink and take a photo so that he could see himself through your eyes.

He’s holding back, he’s hiding, but what I can’t decide. Why won’t he be the king I know he is? The king I see inside?

“Alright, it’s your turn.” You announced, regrettably breaking the silence and the illusion of his romantic lighting along with it. “Why did you say you don’t belong?”

“Well you mentioned Steve.” Bruce said, rubbing the back of his neck. It was a habit you’d come to recognize as a nervous tick. “And how he has muscles for days? I mean, Thor’s a god! And-and when I stand next to the rest of the team…sometimes it’s hard to see how I measure up.”

“Are you kidding me?” You blinked at him, taken aback. “You’re amazing! Never mind the fact that you’re incredibly smart, you’re…you’re so nice!”

“Nice. Well at least I’ve got that going for me.” He laughed and looked back down at the city.

“No! I mean, nice isn’t the right word because you’re more than that.” You struggled to explain yourself. “I mean that your kind. You put other people first. The first day that we worked together, you went out of your way to make sure I felt welcomed. You always at least try to make sure that the three of us get enough sleep. You care about us all as people first. In my mind that makes you more than worthy to stand with Captain Muscles and the god of thunder.”

“That’s kind of you to say but…”

“But nothing. Didn’t you ever watch Captain Planet? Heart was always the strongest power in the end. Sure the other kids had fire and wind, but Ma-Ti had heart. That’s what you’ve got, Dr. Banner.”

“This is suddenly starting to feel like a pep talk from a sports movie.” He laughed again. “But you know, having a heart doesn’t mean anything if you have no one to share it with.”

Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings? The world for once in perfect harmony with all it’s living things.

“It’s a nice night.” You commented. “Good gentle breeze, not too hot.”

“Would you like to dance?” He asked you suddenly. You looked back into Tony’s penthouse with uncertainty. “We don’t have to go back in there.” He promised. “Not to dance anyway.”

“It would be my pleasure.” You smiled. You stepped closer to Bruce and allowed him to place his hands on your waist. You placed your own hands on his shoulders and let him guide you along on the patio. “I have to admit that slow dancing to house music with my boss was not how I saw this night progressing.”

“Trust me, this wasn’t where I saw the night going either. Not that it’s bad.” He assured you. “I’d gladly take dancing with you over schmoozing with Director Fury.”

Can you feel the love tonight? You needn’t look too far. Stealing through the night’s uncertainties, Love is where they are.

“Say is that Banner out there dancing with my intern?” Tony elbowed Steve. The billionaire had taken a break from dancing to get a drink at the bar when he noticed the two of you out on the patio.

“She’s not your intern, Stark.” Steve commented, sipping from his own drink. “She’s a SHIELD intern and she doesn’t belong to anyone. Let them have their dance, who knows when they’ll have the chance again.”

“You know,” Tony groaned, pouring himself another drink. “You are not nearly as fun as your collectable baseball cards suggest.” He walked away from the wistful Captain, not willing to let him bring down the mood. Tony continued to watch you and Bruce having a good time together out on the patio. You were the first person he’d seen that could make Bruce really smile.

And if he falls in love tonight, it can be assumed, his carefree days with us are history. In short our pal is doomed.

#BruceBannerBingo2019 #BruceBannerBingo19!#Bruce Banner #Bruce Banner x Reader #Bruce Banner Reader Insert #Bruce Banner Fan Fiction #Bruce Banner FF #Bruce Banner Fan Fic #Dr. Bruce Banner

53 notes · View notes

fantasyfandommaiden · 5 years

Text

ML Counsellor Au: Alya’s Session

“I honestly don’t remember much. I was just so angry and frustrated about the whole situation.” Alya said softly, holding a cup of warm tea between her hands.

The school Counselor, Mlle Carmine Regal, let out a soft hum in response, sipping her at her own mug of tea, todays blend was chai and cinnamon. “I heard about what happened from Mr. Damocles, it was blown far out of proportion, and as you know the suspension is no longer in place.”

“Yeah, that’s good, my parents would have freaked if that had actually happened, I mean, I hadn’t even done anything wrong.” Alya stated, to which Carmine raised an eyebrow, giving Alya the infamous ‘really?’ look.

“Alya, I will remind you that you attempted to break into another students locker to take pictures of its contents. That’s an invasion of privacy, as well as attempting to break and enter. The only people that are allowed to enter a locker without the students permission is the staff.”

“But I saw her with a Ladybug Yo-Yo. I’m the creator of the Ladyblog, it’s my duty to figure out Ladybug’s secret identity and follow any lead.” Alya stages defiantly “It just turned out this lead was wrong, thank god. Could you picture Chloe as Ladybug?”

“Alya, I could have told you there was no way Chloe could have been Ladybug. Besides for the fact that Chloe and Ladybug look nothing alike, even if some sort of glamour is involved ton keep Ladybug’s identity a secret, the simple fact that during the Stoneheart incident it was Ladybug who saved Chloe from becoming a smear of blood and gore across the pavement proves that Chloe can’t be Ladybug.” Carmine stated Ina matter of fact tone, the girl before her grimacing from the mental imagery before realizing what the Counselor has said.

“Oh yeah. I forgot about that...” Alya said softly, blushing slightly. It was a rookie mistake, as well as a lapse in logic.

“Alya, why are you so obsessed with finding out Ladybug’s identity? You have to know that it’s not safe for you or Ladybug if you reveal it.”

“Because it’s what the world wants to know! And as a journalist it is my duty to reveal the truth. Besides, it almost always works out in the comic books.”

Carmine had to stop herself from face palming and constantly reminded herself that Alya was still only 14 years old.

“Alya, I will remind you that in the comic books, it is the hero’s with nothing to loose who reveal their identity to the world and the smart hero’s who only reveal it to the most trusted friends and family.” Carmine told her in a blunt tone “If Ladybug doesn’t want to reveal her identity, than we as the people should be respecting that” Carmine stated “I understand what it is like the be curious, but if you like Ladybug as much as you claim to, you should respect her wishes.”

Alya remained quiet for several moments, thinking it over, however her expression remained stubborned, clearly not liking the idea of abandoning the very foundation that her blog was founded on.

“I’m more upset that I let the bad guy get under my skin.” Alya muttered darkly, Changing the subject rather quickly causing Carmine to raise a brow slightly.

“Unfortunately, with a terrorist on the loose who preys on negative emotions, it’s hard to not let him get under your skin.” She stated simply but Alya shook her head.

“No, well I mean, yeah that was awful, but I meant Chloe. She’s the real bad guy in this situation.” Alya stated looking at Carmine “She’s a bully, and the absolute worst. She causes so many Akuma’s to happen, and acts like she’s all that but she’s not.”

Carmine blinked slowly, staring straight at Alya, a sinking feeling beginning to forum in her gut.

“So, correct me if I am wrong Alya, but are you saying that Chloe, who I have yet to meet and have only heard second hands account of, is as bad as an active terrorist?”

“Well not to the same degree but she is the worst.” Alya stated off handedly, sipping her tea.

“Could you name some virtues that Chloe has?” Carmine asked, leaning forward.

“She has none.” Alya stated as if it was fact “She’s a spoiled brat who abused her power just because she’s the mayors daughter.”

Carmine looked at Alya, letting out a soft hum in acknowledgement “I see... this could be troubling.” She murmured more to herself than anyone else. She brought out her pen and orange piece of paper, beginning to write out the usual ‘approval’ note she wrote for the akuma victims, than began to write a new note on a plain white piece of paper.

“Well Alya, from our session I can see that you do regret being akumatized at the very least. However, please bare in mind that some secrets and truths are meant to remain hidden.” Carmine said, and she saw as Alya stopped herself from rolling her eyes at the thought.

“All truths should be revealed.”

“I’m sure the people in witness protection wouldn’t agree with you. Or police officers who are under cover, or doctors with doctor patient confidentiality. Or grandmothers who work tirelessly to knit their grandchildren sweaters only for said grandchild to say they hate it.” Carmine stated bluntly, finishing the second note and handing both to Alya.

“Hand those both to Mlle Bustier, the orange one is your approval to return to class, the white one is for her personally, kindly don’t read it.” She said, seeing how the girl was about to open it but quickly stopped “All it says is that I need to speak with her when she is available.”

“... okay Mlle Regal.” Alya said as she stood up “See you around.”

As Alya closed the door, Carmine wrote some notes in Alya’s file in her neat cursive writing.

- justice seeking

- Loves the chase

- Adrenaline junkie????

- Very strong morals

- Shows signs of black and white thinking (splitting) discuss with Bustier, could just be due to immaturity

She stopped writing and closed the file, letting out a soft sigh as she rubbed her temples.

Black and white thinking, or splitting as it was more commonly referred to, was when someone could not bring themselves to think of the positive and negative qualities of a person or themselves, it was a common defence mechanism.

If Alya did have a minor version of splitting, which she was beginning to suspect, that could be dangerous for her in the long run, in both personal relations as well as professional. Those with splitting often had difficulty with getting along with those who didn’t follow their values to a tee and would denounce anyone who disagreed or showed a vice that disagreed with them. They were also known to make exceptions for themselves to make them feel like the better person.

Than again, Alya could just be a lawful good type of person, with a set of values that relied heavily on the truth and exposing it, and would get tunnel vision with getting her goal. which was also likely, Carmine wouldn’t know for sure until she spoke with she spoke with Caline Bustier, but after thinking it over, it was seeming more likely that Alya would be a lawful good person who just saw the world on black and white, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.

All She hoped for was that Alya would take what she said to heart, but she had a feeling it would take a hard blow of a lesson for the girl to truly learn that some secrets aren’t meant to be shared.

#ladybug #ladybug au #ml au #counselor au #miraculous ladybug #counsellor au

74 notes · View notes

youarenotthewalrus · 6 years

Link

this article is dumb, i shouldn’t be hate-reading and you shouldn’t either but here we are so let’s do this:

We begin with a description of a platformer doing something clever and metatextual at the end. Followed by;

What this means is that the game stands in stark contrast to an industry whose products, historically speaking, rely on hijacking the reptile brains of hormone-crazed teenaged boys. In short, the history of videogames is the history of the glorification of violence.

Ah yes, who can forget such bloodthirsty products of the military-industrial complex as Pong, Tetris, Pacman or Zork?

We can debate what constitutes the first videogame, and whether it’s fair to attribute the invention of videogames to the military,

Given the contentiousness of that assertion, I should certainly hope so!

but what’s undeniable is that military engineers—ever ready to coopt, conspire with, or commission innovation from the private sector (e.g., the splitting of the atom, the invention of I.Q.)—more or less immediately recognized that videogames could be employed as a cheap substitute for teaching soldiers how to do everything from fly a plane to take out a sniper.

Kinda reductive to reduce the history of video games to FPSes in general and America’s Army in particular, doncha think?

Anyway, then we get some more waffle about how first-person shooters video games are training us to kill, before we get to the real question: given that this platformer he just finished playing did something a little artsy, can video games be art even despite the fact that were originally works of military propaganda intended to inure potential military recruits to violence? And more importantly, given that this guy seems to think the history of video games began with first person shooters, is he really qualified to answer this question?

Then we get some pointless side chatter over the claim that games are good for your brain, followed by the charge that games are addictive--despite the explicit comparison made to gambling (at “your local Native American casino,” no less), there is no discussion of lootboxes or microtransactions whatsoever, suggesting the author is not aware of specific steps which are taken to make games addictive and is just invoking vague notions of all games being addictive. None of this ever comes up again, and we promptly move back to talking about the actual game.

More specifically, Inside is what’s known as a “2D side-scroller”—meaning that you observe your figure mostly in profile in the center of your screen while a background landscape scrolling right-to-left gives the illusion of left-to-right forward motion.

Somehow, the use of the term “2D side-scroller” in quotes does not make me feel that this fellow is sufficiently familiar with video games to assess whether or not they can be art, as does the fact that he reckons that the platformer he is playing hearkens back to a 1981 shoot-em-up he remembers from his teens, which makes his apparent conviction that video games originated as first person shooters all the more baffling.

And while the world of videogames has already become a “spectator sport,” I’m unaware of any instance of the record of a videogame player’s performance becoming intellectual property, as it has in the world of chess, and in a whole array of sports. True, gamers go “professional” by attracting followers on the internet and earning ad revenue, but their play itself is not copyrighted. Games might wind up in museums (worldwide, there are at least seventeen museums dedicated to videogames), but bracketed moments of the play of particular games have not yet become value-able as art.

I invite the author to start selling unauthorized DVDs of clips from popular Twitch streamers and gaming YouTubers and see how long their lawyers allow him to entertain the notion that Let’s Plays do not constitute intellectual property.

the 2D side-scroller and its pitbull of a cousin, the first-person shooter,

???

The rest of the section is pretty unremarkable, so we move onto him complaining about lousy movie critique, then lousy video game critique, then explaining the concept of Easter eggs, then video game puzzles:

The puzzles of Limbo and Inside are more ambitious than the puzzles of most games in that their solutions often require the player to wait, or to exhibit what in psychology and education circles is known as divergent thought—for example, a corpse is a corpse, but it is also potentially a deadweight that can be used to spring a boobytrap.

Making the player wait or use an unusual object as a weight doesn’t strike me as particularly devilishly clever.

Then we get this jewel of a paragraph:

Nevertheless, puzzles themselves stand as an obstacle blocking the path of videogames’ journey from game to art. For while I might willingly suspend my disbelief long enough to accept that a boy has been tasked with jogging exhaustedly through a factory that churns out invincible blob creatures, I will find that willingness strained when I am also confronted with confounding puzzles placed in my path for no good reason. Videogames, in other words, ignore the basic tenets of internal consistency—in order to keep playing, you must suspend your disbelief, and then suspend it again, and again, and again, which means that in order to play and enjoy videogames you must also suspend the kind of critical judgment that is normally associated with art.

You heard it here, folks, accepting weird gameplay conceits means you can’t critically analyze a game.

Similarly, Easter eggs appeal only on the level of geek fetish—which is more or less the opposite of critical appreciation—and it is for this reason that I won’t address the puzzles and Easter eggs in Inside, even though they eventually lead to what some have concluded is the game’s “hidden meaning.” And this is the problem of videogames in a nutshell, because meaning in work of art is no more hidden from its beholder than the summit of a mountain is hidden from the mountain climber.

Sounds to me more like the problem is that he’s ignoring what the game itself is telling him about its plot and themes because it’s doing it in a way he finds aesthetically displeasing. I don’t know much about critical analysis but I feel like that’s not really how you should be doing it.

We then get a description of the plots of Limbo and Inside, including a decent bit of analysis marred by a bit of “murder simulator”-ism.

This is worth noting because prior to this moment the violence the boy has inflicted, either in Limbo or Inside, has been indirect—really an act of self-defense—but now the game is threatening to creep back into the usual videogame mode of affectless murder. You are given a choice: slip backward toward the wantonly horrific likes of Grand Theft Auto (1997) and Postal 2 (2003) [3] , or pause a moment and then continue on in a macabre but not morally bankrupt pursuit narrative. In this way, the player is implicated in a wryly disjointed bit of commentary on the history of gaming itself.

I mean this entirely sincerely: someone should get this guy a copy of Undertale. I think he’d enjoy it, if he could get past the idea of having to accept JRPG conventions.

Sadly, video game still aren’t art because he can list a bunch of movies that had vaguely similar elements:

From there, it’s not hard to find antecedents for Inside in both literature and film—it’s a little bit Soylent Green, a little bit Logan’s Run, a little bit The Island of Dr. Moreau, and more than a little bit Frankenstein. The imagery starts to seem familiar, too, with milieus lifted from E.T., Alien, and The Poseidon Adventure. But all this allusive flotsam becomes a bit of a disappointment, as eventually you become hard pressed to find anything in Inside that you haven’t seen inside something else.

Ezra Pound demanded that artists “make it new,” and Marcel Proust insisted that a writer is someone who invents a voice as unique as his or her fingerprint, but Inside isn’t even really trying to tell a story that hasn’t been told before. That’s a problem. Art cannot be made up wholly of references to other art. Star Wars, for example, does not come close to art because at its core it is nothing more than a pre-fab mash-up of archetypes mail-ordered from the IKEA superstore of Joseph Campbell.

I mean... why can’t art be composed solely of references to other art? Why can the whole not be more than the sum of its parts? If I take a picture of the Mona Lisa and photoshop a photo of a can of soup over her head, the resulting work is distinct from either of the originals, even though I provided no original content except the idea of sticking the two together.

Put another way, Inside could only have been designed by someone who hasn’t read Roland Barthes’s “The Death of the Author,” and hasn’t read Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” and hasn’t read T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent”—someone who hasn’t, in other words, engaged theoretically with what art is. And that, in turn, leads to the simple conclusion that on the level of its plot Inside is not trying to do what art does.

Good god this guy is snobbish.

Second, there’s still the meta-twist to consider: perhaps Inside is a game with both a text and a subtext. And perhaps a subtext can help the videogame industry evolve beyond the hyperviolence that is its womb and its crutch.

“Hyperviolent” is not exactly how I would describe Breakout or Super Mario Bros. Anyway, he then ponders the potential meaning of the evil scientists at the end of the game being stand-ins for the developers, and comes to the conclusion that...

The problem of games today is that their creators have not imagined any purpose for them greater than fun. There are exceptions to this, of course, but for the most part games equate escape with distraction—to be distracted is to be entertained, and it is good to be entertained.

Unlike the rest of popular media, of course.

The obligation of art, as Henry James described it, is to be interesting, and if you’re paying attention, that is to say, if you’re trying for more than distraction, then Inside begins to be interesting with its name, which stands in stark contrast to games like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

I too enjoy criticizing games for being superficial based on their titles.

Then we get some final analysis, a quote from a Raymond Carver short story I read in high school and remember mostly as something my friends in English class found homoerotic subtext in, and the claim that the goal of art is a feeling of transcendental bliss:

The much remarked-upon narrator of Raymond Carver’s classic short story, “Cathedral,” experiences such a moment as the story climaxes with a blind man helping him draw a church. “My eyes were still closed,” the narrator says. “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.”

At its most ambitious, Inside aspires to a similar feeling. Escape in art that is not transcendence is cheap, and if you can climb beyond the foolish puzzles and the Easter eggs and the hidden meanings, you can feel, for a moment, that you are not alone on your sofa with your phone, playing a game; rather, you are somewhere else—somewhere grassy, bathed in warmth by a ray of sunlight falling from above.

And that’s nice and all but it feels like he didn’t really lead up to it.

Anyway, I spent way too much time picking through this but here we go. Final rating: 2/10, the next time you want to know if video games are art yet ask someone who actually plays them.

#idle musings #long post

1 note · View note

fashiontrendin-blog · 6 years

Text

It's Time To Welcome Katherine Heigl's Comeback

http://fashion-trendin.com/its-time-to-welcome-katherine-heigls-comeback/

It's Time To Welcome Katherine Heigl's Comeback

A little over 10 years ago, Katherine Heigl was at the height of her career. The then-28-year-old actress had just starred in Judd Apatow’s big bro-com “Knocked Up,” and earned an Emmy for her Shonda Rhimes-certified role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on “Grey’s Anatomy,” when she was cast as the lead in “27 Dresses.”

She was a bona fide Hollywood star, who could reel in not only viewers but paychecks upward of $6 million.

That is, until we tossed her like a watermelon off a roof.

Here’s how her public approval rating plummeted: Heigl was widely expected to nab another Emmy nod before she removed her name from award consideration in 2008, explaining in a statement widely circulated by the press that she didn’t believe her role in “Grey’s” Season 4 warranted praise.

“I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention,” she confessed. “In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.”

The statement caused an uproar among “Grey’s” fans, as well as the cast and crew of the show, who read it as an insult to now-primetime TV matriarch Rhimes. The showrunner herself was taken aback, and in 2012, two years after Heigl exited “Grey’s” to “focus on family,” she hinted that the attitude revealed in Heigl’s Emmys statement had led, in part, to her departure from the show.

“On some level it stung and on some level I was not surprised,” Rhimes told Oprah Winfrey of Heigl’s 2008 statement. “When people show you who they are, believe them. I carry that [mantra] with me a lot. It has served me well.”

Rhimes continued to reference the actress over the years, telling The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, for instance, that “there are no Heigls” on the set of “Scandal.”

“I don’t put up with bullshit or nasty people,” she said of her “no assholes policy” in terms of hiring for production company Shondaland. “I don’t have time for it.”

For Heigl, the fallout was ongoing.

A few months before Rhimes ballyhooed her new “no Heigls” set life, TV Guide ran an article entitled “Katherine Heigl: My Career Betrayed Me.” Its first line effectively summarized pop culture’s feelings toward the collapsed star: “Katherine Heigl is continuing her campaign to get back in our good graces by throwing herself yet another pity party.”

The story’s headline was a slight manipulation of a comment Heigl made in an interview with Marie Claire, which read:

″This thing that was my best friend for a long time suddenly turned on me,” she said of the notorious Hollywood machine. “And I didn’t expect it. I was taken by surprise and angry at it for betraying me.”

At this point, Heigl’s career certainly looked different. Although she starred in a handful of film projects from 2010 to 2014, none of them took off the way she’d hoped. Heigl returned to TV in “State of Affairs,” which was canceled by NBC in 2015 after 13 episodes, and then tried with CBS’ “Doubt” in 2017, only to be shortly out of a job once again. The 2017 drama thriller “Unforgettable” gave her a bit of a boost with her role as a jealous, murderous ex-wife (that perhaps capitalized on audiences’ willingness to see her as a villain). But nothing rose to the levels of her 2008 fame.

Earlier this summer, I reached out to Heigl’s team to chat about her return to TV ― as a series regular in Season 8 of USA Network’s “Suits.” The move has “attempted comeback” written all over it.

However, the actress’ representative was “skeptical” of my solicitation, and her manager never returned my requests for an interview. If they were wary of my intentions, maybe that caution was warranted.

Heigl has been asked to rehash her past indiscretion time and time again. In interview after interview, she’s denied her reputation for “diva-like behavior.”

“I’m not a rude person. I’m not an unkind or mean person. I would never go out of my way or consciously try to hurt anyone’s feelings or make them feel bad or uncomfortable or not be professional, not do my job. I like my job. But I will continue to stand up for myself and I’m never going to stop standing up for my right to be heard, my right to be treated respectfully and professionally in return, my right to draw boundaries,” she told Meredith Vieira in 2014. “I am a strong woman, and I’m not going to apologize for that.”

She did apologize. In a 2016 interview with Howard Stern, Heigl recalled an mea culpa she made to Rhimes shortly after the Emmys statement.

“I went in because I was really embarrassed. So I went in to [see] Shonda and said, ‘I’m so sorry. That wasn’t cool. I should not have said that.’ And I shouldn’t have said anything publicly. But at the time, I didn’t think anybody would notice … I just quietly didn’t submit and then it became a story, and I felt I was obligated to make my statement, and [I should have just said], ‘Shut up, Katie.’”

Today, while entertainment junkies cheer on the women leading Time’s Up and wage gap-related discussions that probe Hollywood’s ugly gender imbalance, Heigl’s legacy remains in limbo. Fans are still suspect, even as “Grey’s” co-star Ellen Pompeo continues to earn back pats for her commendable fight for a $20 million paycheck.

The parallel ― between Pompeo’s unabashed battle for high-rise compensation and Heigl’s highly publicized desire for a meatier role ― isn’t perfect. But there are similarities between the two overt campaigns; both Pompeo and Heigl wanted more, and they deigned to ask for it.

Jeff Kravitz via Getty Images

Katherine Heigl, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow, director/writer/producer of “Knocked Up.”

Heigl shared another unfavorable opinion in 2008. Remember that one?

“It was a little sexist,” she told Vanity Fair of Apatow’s “Knocked Up.” “It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.”

A generous reading of that quote in 2018 positions Heigl as ahead of her time, pleading for Hollywood to portray women as something other than “bitches” or moms or ingénues. A woman in entertainment fighting for better scripts? Hell yes.

Back in 2013, Grantland speculated that a Heigl comeback would take a specific form: “a guest arc on a sitcom, with a few well-placed interviews about what a ‘good experience’ it was for everyone.” On “Suits,” Heigl fills a void left by actress-turned-Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, playing lawyer Samantha Wheeler, whom Heigl says fits right in with the rest of creator Aaron Korsh’s fictional firm.

“They’re really just confident and comfortable in their own skin,” Heigl told TVLine. “They have flaws, and they have insecurities, for sure, but they’re not afraid to push boundaries. They’re not afraid to push back.”

What’s interesting is, she got the job by asking for it. The now-39-year-old mother of three, who traded in Los Angeles for life on a ranch in Utah, reportedly reached out to Korsh about general collaboration possibilities before flat-out asking if he needed “a tall blonde” for “Suits” Season 8. And voila, she was in.

There’s privilege baked into that request. (Hollywood is rarely not looking for “a tall blonde.” Would, say, Mo’Nique have experienced such a serendipitous opportunity had she asked outright for a role?) But there’s an admirable hubris in it, too.

Comments and career points can be cast and recast to fit convenient narratives that only tell part of the story. Heigl’s string of lackluster TV appearances and rom-com stints, coupled with her rumored “not a team player” status, can either be a signifier of her subpar acting abilities and professionalism, or a reflection of the exclusively crappy material she’s offered ― until she asks for something better. Or maybe reality rests somewhere in between.

Either way, Heigl is coming back. Will you welcome her?

0 notes

addcrazy-blog · 7 years

Text

New Post has been published on Add Crazy

New Post has been published on https://addcrazy.com/my-wordpress-website-has-been-hacked-help/

My WordPress Website Has Been Hacked! Help!

Recently our internet site became hacked and defaced. We should have been on alert as the Google Webmaster internet site despatched us a message to update our WordPress Site to the ultra-modern model, that is the first time they sent us a warning in all the years we were registered with them. That on my own must have been sufficient to get us to do some thing, but regrettably, we had different matters on the time table and didn’t get round to it. Terrible pass.

We had been hacked and most probably you were hacked by a script, an automatic job cycling through net addresses to peer in the event that they have a vulnerable model of WordPress, if they find one they normally deface the final publish or two with the necessary “You have been hacked via Scr1ptK1ddy” message. While to start with shocking, it is not too difficult to recover from this defacement.

WordPress is essentially made up of four important additives, the WordPress documents, your WordPress Subject, WordPress Plugins and your content material. In the first step you’ll up to date to the ultra-modern version of the WordPress files, so that you don’t get hacked once more, step two you’ll get better your content to the version it became earlier than your website was defaced, step three you’ll update your plugins to ensure persevered capability with the ultra-modern model of WordPress and step four you will check your Theme hasn’t been tampered with. If you follow the stairs underneath you must be able to quick get over the hack and guard yourself against destiny attacks.

Step 1 – replace your WordPress software program As soon as WordPress gets hacked the phrase get out quite quickly and patches that plug the vulnerability are created to prevent the hacks, so it’s miles important you replace your WordPress to the latest model, before doing anything else.

In case you log in as an Admin you will be able to visit your dashboard and check the “At a look” phase with a purpose to tell you your current version of WordPress. You could see from the image beneath You could see we’re currently walking WordPress four.7.2. In case you are jogging WordPress four.7.zero or WordPress 4.7.1, that’s Terrible, they have vulnerabilities, improve now.

I wouldn’t worry an excessive amount of approximately the backup if the Web page has already been hacked, the purpose you’ll simply be backing up the hacked Web site, but whatever works for you. Step 2 – get better-Hacked content material

As soon as you have been hacked they may deface your Web site, changing your content material with a there own message. If it’s miles script kiddies, they will probably alternate the final publish or the front page. Fortunately, WordPress has model control on content. Which means we can pass returned to a preceding version, i.E the non-hacked model, of the content material. Your content material/posts are stored in a database, so If you make an exchange, or the Terrible guys make a trade, the database just maintains a duplicate of the alternate in case you need to revert lower back to the vintage model. First, you want to work out what content material has been modified, to do that click on the “Posts” Menu and pick “All Posts”.

You need to see a listing of all your posts, with columns for the Title, Creator, Classes, Tags, Feedback, and Date. The crucial column here is the Date column, by click on the column heading You may see the posts with the present day modifications at the pinnacle of the listing. That manner You may pick out posts that have Lately been modified, you already know, changed by using the Bad guys.

In case you click on the post Title and scroll all the way to the bottom of the post you may see a sectioned called “Revisions”, this is each revision or model of your submit.

7 Methods to Enhance Your WordPress Website online in 2016

content Management Device WordPress has made each online business greater a hit because of its ease of use. This Cm is straightforward and handy to navigate for audiences which can be up to date with none trouble or effort. 2016 has given you many thrilling capabilities of WordPress. If you are willing to Enhance your WordPress Website online, then following this text could make a while useful.

comply with those Approaches to Enhance your WordPress Web page in 2016

1. Cell view

maximum of the site visitors experiences cozy to browse the website from the Cellular device in their hand. This suggests websites gains maximum site visitors from Cellular devices. A few websites might have an extreme problem Whilst exploring from the Cellular device which might be disregarded. maximum of the time developers concentrates extra on desktop ignoring the Cell device absolutely. Hence, In case you are an online business owner then make sure your Site is fully responsive and can work properly on various Cell gadgets.

2. Lower the web page size

You want to make your Site and the internet page with heavy pictures might make your Web site gradual which takes your traffic away from your website. So, make sure you Decrease the web page length and broaden a very good user experience in your visitors.

three. Compare Meta Information properly

Make some time to go through and replace every and web page Title collectively with Some descriptions. Do not forget, which include a relevant keyword and outline collectively with a cell phone number, cope with or offerings are very crucial. Moreover, you need to take in touch info and additionally the call of the city While indicating the nearby enterprise. Checking and evaluating the WordPress Site absolutely can be a sensible idea.

4. Normal replace of WordPress software program

As all of us understand WordPress is open supply which shows out-of-date vulnerabilities are on the whole identified and may be honestly demoralized. Employing the most up-to-date version or version of WordPress is essential to expand a secure setup. Whilst updating the WordPress Web site, make certain you have got sponsored up all the Statistics and statistics. Despite the fact that an Everyday update of the WordPress website is important, there may get up Some problem Whilst you update WordPress files impulsively which might result to broken feature everywhere in the Web page.

5. Hold all of the plugins up to date

Keeping the plugins up to date is vital for keeping the WordPress installation. Now we’re inside the year of 2016 and it is going to be clever to update the plugins available. Additionally, it’s miles necessary to protect and keep every and each amendment in result to plugins. As a result, You may additionally get A few advice A few professional to make certain the WordPress website works nicely in the upcoming days as nicely.

6. Refresh and replace content material

make certain the content material you update on the WordPress Website is out of blunders. check for spelling, grammatical mistakes and extra mistakes, If you located, correct it as soon as possible. Simply, be particular with the content by using putting comprehensive details concerning the products and services that your employer holds. Hold in thoughts; search engines like google and yahoo want the contents which are expressive and specific.

7. Delete old subject matters

most of the antique issues encompass vulnerability, which may additionally create a incredible difficulty within the future. So, it’s miles better to remove them While installing the WordPress. Those vintage and unused themes can also trouble your side making it slow. Thus, ensure you delete old issues and make your Website online higher.

https://addcrazy.com/

0 notes