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memorylang · 4 years

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Pets! Pronunciation, Saints and Souls | #12 | November 2019

I was helping the Buddhist monks understand the English alphabet one Friday, when I found they had trouble hearing me teach the sounds /ch/ and /j/. These two sounds are and have always been two I’ve struggled with since birth. Finally, I just chalked on the board, /ch/ = /ч/ and /j/ = /ж/. So, those who understood explained it in Mongolian to the others. My speech problems go way back.

I often say, I struggled with my native language too, when my Mongolian students struggle to speak English. Today, I return you to my childhood to share how personal English pronunciation problems affect my teaching today (plus stories about pets).

While a Peace Corps Volunteer, I’ve watched over both a kitten and a puppy, too. They made me reflect on life. And November begins with Allhallowtide. So I’ll wrap up today’s stories living my first full triduum to the dead.

The Challenging Child

Growing up, I fumed when siblings and especially Father kept telling me to, “Stop mumbling.” I never intended to sound inarticulate. My words just came out that way.

After graduating high school, while packing to move from home to university, my eye caught my kindergarten teacher’s file on me. I flipped through it. Astonishingly, the teacher’s notes described month after month her concerns that I seemed slow to make friends, seldom spoke and sounded hardly audible when I did. I never realized kindergarten-me troubled her.

While in Catholic elementary school, a friend and I maybe a few times per month attended a separate speech class from our classmates. Among our activities there, we sometimes played “Uno” and “Go Fish”—games I now adapt to teach English here in Mongolia (though “uno” is a Spanish word, hehe).

Before the first of those years of sessions began, my entire class underwent phonics testing. I’ll never forget this particular moment. The tester raised cards with a picture and asked me to name objects. I saw a small box with a screen and button grid. “Cell-a-phone,” I spoke with certainty.

I felt frustrated, then, when the card-holder asked me to repeat, insisting I was wrong. Finally, I said “cell phone” as she said, not, “cell-a-phone.” But I didn’t understand. Later, I later, that phonics person was correct. So I felt betrayed by my mother, who taught me wrong.

Mother read aloud to me, while I was in kindergarten and first grade. She sometimes pronounced words differently than I heard at school. I felt grumpy wondering, who could I trust? Elementary school or Mom?

As I later learned in high school and came to understand after Mother’s death, her career as an English professor let her to immigrate to America from China. So, teaching English surely mattered to her personally. She taught her second language to me to learn my first.

My Pronunciation Improved

From late middle school into high school, I wore braces. I realized my speaking problems associated with my teeth. After braces, sounds like /s/ and /th/ became easier. I recalled that elementary school tutor had drilled me on those sounds, plus /sh/, /ch/ and /j/.

At university, while singing four years in choir, I learned to articulate to help convey emotion in music. Similarly, I realized articulation helped convey emotion in speeches to bring clarity. These took vocal warm-ups, as we did in my senior storytelling course.

But, in China last summer, I learned my Chinese pronunciation was terrible. I started new regimens, like using only audio recordings to communicate instead of writing messages. I also learned to listen for exactly the right sounds. And despite my poor tonal pronunciation, instructors commended my listening. I could transcribe the right pīnyīn, for even unfamiliar words.

As a Chinese instructor now, though I, too, at times struggle to pronounce words from memory, I can recognize almost at once when I hear an off sound. For, I know how it should sound. My Chinese-instructing colleagues even notice I speak alright. I’ve come a long way.

Instructing English With Compassion

These memories lead to why, when I teach pronunciation, I give the benefit of the doubt that students aren’t trying to mumble, even when they seem to. I focus on asking students to speak louder and move their lips more. I focus on visual articulation, too, so I can see how they form sounds.

One of my university colleagues specializes in pronunciation and amazes me by how well she knows the phonetic alphabet. When I clarify pronunciations for her, she notes in phonetic letters. We bleat about English’s inconsistent phonetics sometimes, haha.

Yet, learning phonetics helps me plenty. When I catch multiple students speaking the same error, I write a series of words to course-correct. For examples, to drill, “brown,” I might write, “crown, round, down.” Or, to drill, “orange,” I might write, “or, door, floor.” I link troublesome vowels to familiar ones.

Curiously, the Mongolian language lacks the /ə/ sound, one I often spell as “uh.” I first noticed the missing sound while teaching Chinese, when my students struggled to pronounce the most basic question, “什么？(Shénme?).” It has /ə/ (or /uh/) in its second character. Thus, students misprounounced “么 /muh/” as /meh/, instead. This Mongolian lack of /ə/ makes authentic pronunciation of basic English words like articles “the” and “a” challenging.

Still, my fixation on pronunciation has its fun. Apparently this trickles into my Mongolian! Lately, I find my students gleefully giggle with amazement when, as we might be walking and chatting together, they hear me slip briefly into Mongolian to say passing pleasantries to employees or locals I know speak no English. My students often insist I sound authentic and beautiful. And I assume there’s hyperbole in those. But my colleagues, too, have said I’ve improved. They’ve no doubt I’ll speak wonderfully by this time next year. More on this at the end.

Pets! Kitten and Puppy

During my Peace Corps service I watched in the capital, Ерөө /Yeröö/, the kitten of one Volunteer, and in my current city, Azzy, the puppy of another. I saw myself in those pets.

I mentioned we Peace Corps Volunteers played, “The Shining,” for Halloween. As the film began, we Volunteers exchanged smirks when the mountain lodge’s owner explained concerns about fears of isolation during the harsh, trying winters. We sat through such talks about choosing to serve in Mongolia. But the film’s symbolism, about confronting our psyches in the mirror of isolation, felt fitting to me.

Many Mongolians fear dogs. Dogs are protectors not companions, for many. In the States, even my mother feared dogs. In fact, we had two pet dogs. I feared them a bit, too. When my parents went walking with my siblings and I, neighbors’ dogs would run up beside the road and yap at us. But Dad would always laugh and yap back, teasing Mom about how they just wanted to play. I remembered those walks even throughout college, when I strolled neighborhoods and heard barking. They gave me peace. And whenever I visited friends’ houses, their dogs most always loved me for reasons I never knew.

Azzy the puppy he would weave around my legs or leap up and cling to me momentarily, when I visited to feed him. He seemed so lonely without me. Then he would hop down, zoom around at my feet and scamper to a corner of the room. He freaked out over the simplest things, too, haha. But one morning, after his owner had come back, while I was walking into the city, Azzy zoomed to me and accompanied me from the area where we live, all the way downtown. I felt surprised, though I appreciative.

Ерөө the kitten had fun darting about our hotel room, zooming with wide eyes at light speed to achieve nothing particular. And she would flick her paws at the jingling toy I dangled, while she lept from table to chair. And, when I was journaling a little, Ерөө would hop on the bed, then leap to the desk and plop on my arm. I would pick the kitten up by her middle and set her on the floor, then she would zoom back to me again. I loved her energy, even if she seemed a little too hyper, hehe.

The pets were ecstatic for me to visit. I considered my own longings for companionship. But pets are relationships that take responsibility. And I’m hardly certain I could commit. Still, maybe because I accept others, they come. Maybe that’s all there is to it. They don’t just want love. They want to love. How sweet.

I’m glad our Peace Corps Mongolia director allows pets. They let my energetic soul see itself in the crazy creatures. Such joys, even for the effort!

All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days

The second and third day after Hallowe’en, in the Catholic tradition, celebrate first, “All Hallows,” the Saints and holy ones, living and had lived. Then we celebrate, “All Souls,” all who have passed away. The triduum has always been difficult for me the past three years, since they inevitably return to mind my loneliness since Mom’s death.

But this year was kind, for people asked me how I was doing when they greeted me. I also remembered to pray for my friends who’d lost close family. In my suffering, I remember my chance to heal others. At Mass on the last day, while others lit incense sticks for relatives, I lit one for Mother. I burned my finger. But I liked the sting. It reminded me I live. Hearing the readings of how we’re always surrounded by the saints and how the teachings assure that none of us can compare this life to the next, I felt consoled, these holy days. By the end, I’d attended Mass five days in a row! Woah.

Nowadays’ Love

I like the compliments from colleagues, students and friends that my Mongolian pronunciation’s rather good. And I know it can still be better. But they gives me great hope. My students can improve, as I have.

In our Toastmasters Club, I’ve been assigned weekly as Grammarian, tasked with correcting pronunciation for all speakers. They’re so grateful I come, and I’m so glad to help.

I recently spoke on the topic of how I chose this English teaching profession, while chatting with my senior students to prepare them for their TOEFL exams.

I recounted how Mother was an English professor and her parents were both secondary school Chinese language teachers. And it struck me how I teach both English and Chinese at both university and secondary school levels. I teach everything those two generations before me had done.

Whether children from Номгон, adults from our community speaking clubs, or new friends from the orphanage, I love the little messages I get from locals striving to improve their English. And, sometimes, those many Mongolians striving in their English remind me of Mom. She always strove. Even before I became an English instructor like her, I helped her. Maybe that’s why I aid anyone trying in English, always. They’re her.

Up Next: Thanksgiving and the Orphanage

I am extremely excited to share with you my next story, for it’s about the orphanage. I adore its community. Our children and teachers touch my soul.

As for the puppy, it’ll be a shame to say goodbye when he moves to the capital by Thanksgiving. But perhaps I’ll see him again when I visit the city sometimes!

Meanwhile, check my Instagram at memoryLang and Facebook for this year’s Thanksgiving novena of photos and memories bridging my summer life to today’s.

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

#winter #thanksgiving #Halloween #memoryLang #university #Chinese #teacher #English #student #Catholic #gratitude #story #memoir #Mongolia #Peace Corps #love #holiday #pet #cat #dog

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unavenged-robin · 7 years

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I absolutely adore your DamiJon work and couldn't help but wonder if you're up for an angsty fic where Dami and Jon are on a mission together but a mishap happened and it looked like Damian died to save Jon. Jon was devastated because he was actually planning to confess/propose to Dami after that. Though Dami is not actually dead. Would have been more heartbreaking if the song You're my sunshine was playing at the back

First of all, thank you very much! :D I played a bit with the prompt and I ended up with a very long, very mushy story. I hope it’s something similar to what you were expecting :D Jon’s 16 here and Damian’s 19 and they’re both huge dorks.

Read on AO3

It’s a long, boring, frustrating mission. And Jon knows Damian’s hating it as much as he is, even if Robin’s never going to admit it out loud because he was the one who choose it, so complaining about it now in Damian’s brain would be like admitting to a mistake, and of course mistakes are a thing that only happens to others.

Jon sighs and flies around the decrepit building one more time, monitoring Damian’s position with his x-ray vision. Once established that the place was empty, Jon had let Damian explore the inside of the building by himself as a punishment for his pride, but now he’s getting bored with the wait.

From the outside the building is shabby just as much as its surroundings, and doesn’t reflect Jon’s expectations of a cool criminal lair at all. Then again, the guy to whom it belongs to is equally, if not more lame.

For a start, he calls himself the Travelling Thief, which is already flimsy enough on its own, in Jon’s humble opinion. Add to it a flashy glittery costume, a monocle and a top hat, and you have the most embarrassing Arsène Lupin copycat Jon’s ever seen in his life.

Worst thing is they’ve been chasing after this guy for almost three weeks now and discovering his hideout is their biggest accomplishment so far, even if Jon can’t begin to phantom how a loser like that had managed to play them for so long. And yet, here they are.

“I found the stolen goods”, Damian says over the comm - which are completely useless to someone with Jon’s powers, but Superman himself has told him not to bother with the Bats because there’s just no way to win some arguments with them.

“Any trace of your friend?”, Jon asks, lazily flying around to scan the neighborhood. There isn’t much to see there either, only abandoned warehouses and a playground that has probably seen his last child before Jon was even born.

“He’s not my friend”, Damian snaps at him. “He’s our case.”

“Whatever, Batboy.”

Damian grumbles some insults of choice, and then there is silence for a few minutes.

“Damn.”

Jon stops in midair and locates Damian again. He’s in the basement now, where the real headquarters of the Travelling Thief are supposed to be.

“Something wrong?”

“Silent alarm. Just activated it”, Damian explains through gritted teeth. “No way he’s coming back here now. We have to find another place to ambush him.”

“Great”, Jon sighs. “I’m going to get married and we will still be chasing after this guy, I know it. I’ll just go ahead and tell my mom to save a piece of cake for him. He’ll be a part of the family at that point.”

“Stop whining”, Damian snarls. “There are a lot of his preparatory files here, if we study them they’ll give us everything we need to catch him.”

That’s even worse news for Jon, and he groans internally.

“…are you telling me that this is how we are going to spend our weekend?”

Damian haughtily scoffs at him.

“Right, because you had better plans for it anyway.”

“As a matter of fact I have”, Jon retorts, glancing down at his phone as it starts beeping. Talk about timing, he thinks with a smile. “But since you obviously don’t, I suppose you can finish this one on your own? You know, call the police, make a copy of the files before they arrive and all of that? ‘Cause I’ve got a friend to meet.”

“Of course, I would never want to keep you from your social life, Kent”, Damian answers, sarcasm heavy in his voice. “I mean, it’s already lacking as it is.”

Jon rolls his eyes and simply ignores the bait. It’s a weak one anyway, compared to all the creative insults Damian’s thrown his way over the years.

“Sweet!”, he says instead, voice filled with not-so-fake cheerfulness. “See you later, Robin!”

“Whatever, Jonny boy.”

The last things he hears before sprinting towards the sky are Damian’s heavy sigh and the rustle of papers while he starts looking through the files.

He gets the call one hour later, while he’s in Metropolis, slurping down an ice cream and laughing with a bunch of school friends. He’s happy because his plans for the weekend are great and he just can’t wait to put them into practice.

Then his cellphone starts ringing and his father’s number comes up on the screen.

“Hey dad!”, Jon greets him, still in the middle of a laugh.

“Jonathan.”

That one word is enough to freeze Jon on his feet. He knows that tone, he knows that voice. Something’s wrong.

Really, really wrong.

The conversation lasts less than a minute, and Jon doesn’t understand his father’s words right away, but Clark says Damian and accident and you need to come back right now, so Jon runs and then he jumps and then he flies, and the whole time he feels like every inch of his insides is padded with cotton, and the only two words he can think about are Damian and accident. Damian. Accident.

Accident.

Damian.

There’s nothing left of the building he and Damian were checking out a little more than one hour ago.

Not even debris under which they can dig. There’s nothing.

Jon stands in midair, clouds of dust and ashes swirling his cape around him as he stares down at the giant, big, black hole on the ground without understanding.

“The explosion wiped out the whole area”, his father explains. “We don’t know what provoked it or where Robin was when it happened but-”

Superman is not talking to him. He’s talking to Damian’s family. Jon’s pretty sure none of them has yet noticed him hovering above them, which is surprising, but not really, because if they’re all here it means that they’re assuming the worst, and the worst is-

Jon lands a few feet from them, and still no one acknowledges him.

Batman is silent. So very silent. Nightwing’s yelling. Red Hood’s yelling too. Jon doesn’t understand if they’re yelling at each other or at someone else. Red Robin is silent too, but now he’s looking right at Jon with an intensity that even the cowl can’t hide. Again, Jon doesn’t understand.

So he approaches them, walking on wobbly feet.

“Where is Damian?”, he asks, and he realizes there’s anger in his voice only after the words roll out of his mouth. But he’s angry, yes. Because it’s ridiculous for them to be all here. If Damian’s injured someone should be with him. Who cares about the Travelling Thief, about their mission or the burned things? He knows that the bats are one big, freaky, emotionally stunted lot, but he also knows that underneath all of that they care, so why are they all here? Why did they leave Damian alone?

“Where is Damian?”, he asks again, louder and angrier, and everybody finally turn towards him.

There’s something on their faces. Under their masks. Jon recognizes it as he recognized his father’s urgence when he called his name over the phone.

And still, he doesn’t understand.

Refuses to.

But his scream broke the spell, and now everyone’s moving, reacting, ready to answer his question. Red Robin is the first to speak.

“Where is Damian?”, Tim repeats, voice half choked by a growl.

Jon focusses on him and Tim looks back with burning eyes, and Jon finally figures out the emotion behind his glare. It’s hatred. Pure and simple. And this much, at least, he can understand. Because it’s nothing new. Because he knows that Tim looks at him, looks at Superboy and doesn’t see Jon. He sees Kon. He sees his absence.

“Where is Damian? Where the hell were you!”, Tim yells, taking a step towards him. “Why weren’t you with him? You were supposed to protect him!”

And Jon’s never thought of himself as Damian’s protector before, not really, but again, he understands what Tim means. If he’d been with Damian, he would’ve shielded him with his body. This entire thing would’ve been solved with a burned shirt and maybe a few cuts instead of… this.

Jon feels sick.

“Where the hell were you?”, Tim asks again, almost but not quite yelling, cold rage dripping from his every word, and then Batman reaches out and grabs him by his shoulder, pulling him back.

“Enough”, Bruce growls.

It is enough, Jon realizes as he falls on his knees. It is enough for his brain to click and provide an answer to his question. He tastes the acid flavor of vomit in the back of his throat for the first time in years, before buckling forwards and spill the inside of his stomach on the ground, splattering both Batman’s and Red Robin’s boots with what used to be a double vanilla and chocolate ice cream mixed up with the remains of his last lunch.

He’s not sure about what time it is when he finds himself stumbling along the corridors of the Watchtower. He’s exhausted, though. They’ve been interrogating him for hours - and of course they were as gentle as they could’ve been, and they never called it an interrogation in the first place, but things are what they are, and as gentle as Bruce Wayne can try to be, he is the goddamn Batman, and at some point Jon broke up and started to cry, and from that moment on he doesn’t really remember much.

He’s sure he’s given them everything he knew about the Travelling Thief, but Damian had all the files about the case and Damian is-

Well.

He keeps walking for another undefined amount of time, until he turns a corner and unexpectedly finds Tim sitting cross-legged against a wall, unfocused eyes looking out the panoramic windows.

He’s still wearing his costume, but his domino lies forgotten at his feet, alongside his bo staff. He’s bathed in a deep red halo, and it takes Jon a moment to figure out it’s the sunset light covering him with a sanguine layer, and not some freaky figment of his own imagination drowning everything in blood.

Tim notices him but doesn’t say anything, so Jon walks towards him with heavy steps, then he stops, reaches into the front pocket of his jeans and drops two tickets into his lap. Tim blinks up at him, then he glances down at the tickets and picks them up to examine them closer.

“I went to get these”, Jon starts explaining, voice soft and careful, refusing to look at anywhere else than the floor. “There’s a concert this saturday, it’s a band Damian and I like a lot. It went sold out before I even realized they were in town, but a kid at my school managed to snatch a couple of tickets and agreed to give them to me, but I had to hurry, you know? Because there were other people who wanted ‘em and I… what I wanted was to ask Damian… I thought it could be…”

Tim’s laugh interrupts his rambling. Surprised, startled out of a justification he doesn’t even know if he should try to give, Jon looks up at him with a quizzical glare, but Tim just keeps laughing, and it’s a wet, pained, humorless laugh.

He only stops when he realizes Jon’s staring at him, then he sniffles and looks at him with a smile so sad it looks like his face is breaking.

“Two days ago Damian asked me to find him a couple of tickets for the same concert”, Tim explains. “And, I suspect, for the same reason.”

“Oh”, Jon says. And then, before he has even the time to ponder on why the hell he should care about the answer, he asks: “And did you get them?”

“Yes”, Tim’s smile breaks with a sob, and then there are tears on his face, and Jon’s cheeks feel pretty wet too. “Of course I did. Gave him hell for it, though.”

The last sentence is more out of Jon’s interpretation than anything, because Tim’s crying too hard now to be intelligible. It doesn’t really matter anyway.

Jon slumps down on the ground beside him, and thinks about how Tim is the closest link he’s ever had to Kon, this amazing older brother he never got to meet. He wonders if Tim knows. Jon’s not sure he’ll ever care enough to tell him.

Right now he throws his arms around Tim’s neck, presses his face into Tim’s shoulder and cries as hard as he knows how, all of it while he pretends it’s his dead brother hugging him back instead of the very alive brother of his probably dead boyfriend.

No one uses the word dead.

Missing is how people refer to Damian in the following days, and Jon has a feeling that if anybody fucked up and accidentally used the word dead instead, they’d find themselves at the short end of one of the Bats’ temper.

No one uses the word boyfriend either, not to define Damian’s relationship to Jon when they talk about them. Which is kind of fair, since neither Damian or Jon ever got to use that word before. It’s all syntax anyway. Who cares.

To Jon is inconsequential.

He doesn’t speak of Damian at all.

He wakes up in the middle of the night to the almost forgotten but still familiar sounds of the countryside.

When he said he wanted to move back to their old house in Hamilton for a few days, his parents had begged him not to, but they didn’t really do anything to actually stop him from doing it anyway, probably because they understood more than anybody else the need of solitude for someone like him in a situation like this.

So his father had hugged his mother tight to his side and they both had kissed him on the forehead before letting him go. Jon was grateful to both of them.

He misses them now, while he lies in the dark of their old bedroom, but at the same time he’s glad to be alone, to not have to share his anger and his night terrors with anyone.

He gets up from the bed to open the window and let the cold air freeze the sweat running down his back, let it cool down his flushed face.

Outside only dark meadows already wet with dew, the rich smell of the earth in the summer, and a black sheet of sky dotted with stars.

He’s grown to love Metropolis for its own beauty, but nothing, nothing, can compare with this in eyes.

“Because this is home, Jonathan”, his father had said long time ago, when Jon was still heartbroken about the moving. “There’s never going to be something as beautiful as this is for you right now, and that’s okay. It’s good to have something beautiful to come back to.”

He was right, of course. Home is a beautiful thing. Even without your parents, and all your animals, and the smell of apple pie in the kitchen, and a once-upon-a-time little bat hanging upside down from the highest branch of the chestnut tree outside your bedroom. Home is good even when your head is empty of thoughts and your heart is heavy with regrets and you have run out of tears. Home is always home.

So Jon sits on the windowsill, bare feet dangling in the night, nose up to look at the stars, and he enjoys the emotions of feeling at home for a while.

It’s while he’s looking at the sky that he realizes: today is saturday. Today is the night of the concert.

Right now, in another universe, he’s standing in a large crowd, singing and jumping on his feet, Damian’s fingers wrapped around his own. They are both covered in sweat, and Damian’s pretending to be annoyed by all the people around them and complaining that the music’s too loud, but his lips taste of salt and illicit beer when Jon kisses him, and he’s smiling, he’s happy, they’re happy, and they have four tickets instead of two, since they were both too stubborn to ask first, so maybe Tim and Kon are with them, because why the hell not, honestly?

If there’s another universe, then let it be better than this one, let it be without mourning, without heartaches, without mistakes. Let it be without things left unsaid, without cowardice in the smallest things, without regrets. If there’s another universe, one that you can only see at night with closed eyes, then what the hell, let it be perfect.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Do you have food? Clean clothes? Toothpaste?”

Jon smiles into his pillow.

“Yes, mom, I promise I’m fine.”

He’s not fine, obviously. But Lois knows that. She’s just fussing a little bit without pushing too hard, just to remind Jon that she’s there, always.

“Bruce’s still looking”, she informs him gently. “So is your dad.”

Jon doesn’t say anything. Lois promptly cover the silence with news from his school. She’s not fretting about it because it will be over in less than a week anyway, and he’s not missing out on anything important, but Jon thinks she’s also trying to keep him grounded, to tell him without using those exact words that life goes on.

And Jon wants to say that he knows that. That he just wants to forget it for a little while.

Bruce’s still looking. So is your dad.

It’s been only three days.

Already three days.

After he closes the call he rolls on his side and goes right back to sleep.

He feels it coming, even in his sleep.

But it’s just that: a feeling, and Jon’s just too tired to actually care enough to get out of the bed.

The thing, however, doesn’t leave him much of a choice when it decides to come crashing down right into the living room’s windows. The sound of breaking glass is almost deafening in the silence of the night, and Jon’s on his feet before he even realizes to be awake.

Also, he knows he’s seen too many bad movies when he finds himself instinctively looking around the room for a baseball bat to wield against the intruders.

What the hell, Jonny boy, a voice that is not his own swears in his mind.

“What the hell indeed”, Jon mutters.

He doesn’t really need the lights more than he needs a baseball bat, but he turns them on anyway when he reaches the hallway. Whoever it is, be it a thief or a wandering animal, Jon doesn’t want to startle them, or give away too much about himself either, since he’s not wearing his costume. A nice growl should be enough to scare away anything or anyone in there anyway. Or so he thinks.

At first, it doesn’t make sense, maybe because he takes everything in in one instant: the crunching of the glass under his bare feet, the burning smell of something on fire, the cold wind coming in through the broken windows, the green glowing of a weird looking bike crashed into his couch, the two tangled figures in the middle of the room, the glimpses of red and purple under a black blanket, heavy breathing and two erratic heartbeats.

Then there is a short, choked moan, and one of the figures moves, propping themselves up on one elbow. The black and gold cape slips away and of course Jon already knew, he knew since the moment he heard his heartbeat, recognized it right away while he was still coming down the stairs because how could he not recognize it after all these years?, and yet his brain refused to formulate the thought, to lift the heavy fog of his mourning and allow him the hope, refused him the sheer reality of what he’s seeing right now until Damian raises his head and a green eye settles on Jon from behind the broken lens of his domino mask.

And he… smiles. He’s covered in blood and looks like he’s been dragged through hell and back, and yet, Damian looks at Jon and he smiles.

“Hey, Jonny boy.”

His voice is soft and scratchy and tired, but still somewhat amused, and Jon is at his side in less than an instant, pushing away the second figure from his back and barely realizing that it’s no other than their lame Traveling Thief, unconscious and showcasing a couple of bruises the size of Damian’s fists, but otherwise untouched. For now.

“Damian”, Jon allows himself to call his name while he helps him rolling on his back. His hands are shaking, his head is full of cotton again, and he doesn’t even have the time to realize he should be happy, because Damian is alive and here and alive, but Damian also doesn’t look good at all, and Jon needs to do something right now, and at the same time he’s thinking how and you bastard, and he doesn’t know what to do. “Just- just stay put, I’ll call my dad, our dads, or, or the hospital, I can carry you to the hospital right now, I can-”

A gloved hand encircles his wrist, but Jon barely feels the ruined rubber scratching against his skin. It’s the way Damian’s looking at him that makes him snap out of his ramblings.

“Don’t.”

Jon blinks, shifts on his knees and leans a little more towards Damian. His own heartbeat is frantic, compared to Damian’s slower one. It should be the other way around, Jon thinks, he should be the calm, collected one, he should be the one handling the situation better.

“Don’t what?”, he asks, and he feels stupid. He should just snatch Damian up and fly back to Gotham, he should scream for his father and he would be here in less than a minute, and he would know what to do, but Damian is here, Damian is alive, and his brain is still processing that information.

“Don’t call anyone. I’m fine, I’m-”, Damian coughs, and his face twists in pain and exhaustion. “I just need rest. Please. Don’t call anyone.”

Rest doesn’t fix cuts and dislocated shoulders on its own, that Jon knows of. But he looks over and over again and doesn’t find anything worse on Damian, nothing life-threatening, only dried off blood and little scratches.

He shifts again, and settles Damian’s head on his lap, brushing sweaty strands of hair out of his eyes.

How, Jon wants to ask. How are you here, why did it take so much for you to come back, where were you all this time.

(Where the hell were you?, Tim screams again into his mind, but now it’s not the moment for that.)

“They all believe you’re dead”, he tells him instead, because he has this funny feeling that Damian’s not understanding how serious this situation is. “Your father, your brothers, I can’t- Damian please, I need to call them, they need to know.”

The sound Damian makes in response is very similar to a scoff, but Jon can’t be sure of it. What he’s sure of, is that Damian’s relaxing into his arms, his expression softened, his eyelids already half-closed.

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”, Jon repeats with a frown.

“Please?”

That’s always a weird word coming from Damian’s mouth. But it’s not the please, it’s the question mark at the end that really pulls at Jon’s heart. Because it sounds like begging, and Damian doesn’t beg. Ever.

“Okay”, he agrees mechanically. “Okay. Tomorrow.”

Batman is going to break his killing rule only for him, but okay. Because Damian asked. That’s what it matters right now. Damian is here, Damian is alive, and Damian is asking him for a favor that’s probably going to get Jon killed in at least four different ways by four different people, but okay. Tomorrow. Because apparently there’s going to be a tomorrow with Damian in it. Jon smiles.

Satisfied with his capitulation, Damian smiles back before his lashes flutter again and he starts falling down into a heavy slumber.

His face is covered in dust and sweat and blood crusts, his lips are dry and split, and yet that smile, as brief and tired and mocking as it is, still manages to be the most beautiful thing Jon’s ever seen. And that’s probably why he doesn’t even have the presence of mind to get angry at him like he maybe should. Instead he just tangles his fingers in Damian’s hair, presses their foreheads together, and keeps smiling.

The thought of moving Damian into a bed only occurs to him after half an hour or so, and only because he feels someone moving behind him. Incidentally, that’s also when Jon remembers that he and Damian are not alone in the room.

Careful not to disturb Damian, who’s still lying on the floor with his head settled on Jon’s lap, he turns towards the second figure and quickly assesses his conditions again. Everything considered, their thief is even in better shape than Damian is, which is not necessarily good for him at this point.

“If you are smart and you care about your well-being, then you’re going to be very quiet”, Jon says under his breath, as the man starts regain consciousness. “Try to run, try to attack us, and I’ll get mad. Very mad. You understand?”

Since the only two sources of light are the lamps in the hallway and the glowing bike currently crashed into his couch, the room is still dark enough for human eyes to be only barely able of distinguishing shapes from the shadows, so the man immediately turns towards them but he makes the mistake of not answering right away.

Jon’s eyes glow red and a hole the size of a finger appears just an inch to the right from the thief’s head.

“Do you understand?”, Jon repeats again.

This time the man is quick at nodding back.

“I’ll take him upstairs”, Jon explains without breaking eye contact, arms curling protectively around Damian’s body. “If you move even one finger, I’ll know. I’ll come back and I’ll hurt you.”

And despite Damian’s teasing, Jon’s apparently decent enough too at intimidating people, since the man looks like he’d stop breathing too, if he only could. Which is great. Because Jon means every word he’s just said.

“Good.”

Jon looks back at Damian’s face and sighs, knowing that he’s gonna pay for it one way or the other. Still, he moves one hand behind Damian’s back, the other under his knees, and he cradles Robin’s still form against his chest while he stands up.

Damian mutters something under his breath, but he doesn’t wake up, and out of some only-god-knows-for-how-long forgotten instinct, he mechanically moves to hook an arm around his neck, shifting until his face is pressed against Jon’s throat, so close that he can feel his breath warming up his cheek.

You were supposed to protect him, Tim had said, and it had taken Jon by surprise. Maybe because Damian had always been the oldest, the most confident, the one that usually knew (or was very good at pretending to know) what needed to be done to get them out of trouble, but whatever the reason, Jon had - stupidly enough - never thought of their partnership in terms of protecting one another. Helping, sure, supporting, of course, looking out for each other was such a given it never really needed to be spoken of, but protecting? It sounded weird back then.

But right now, while he climbs up the stairs to carry Damian into his bedroom, it also sounds very right.

Jon doesn’t know his way around the Robin’s suit very well, so he only removes the broken domino and the gauntlets before start working on Damian’s boots. It takes him ten minutes straight to undo the shoe laces alone, and then some time more to slip them off Damian’s feet. He has no idea on how Damian manages to change into his costume so fast when he has these traps to deal with on a daily basis.

Robin’s utility belt zaps him when Jon tries to untie it. Having run out of patience, he laser-eyes it back in retaliation. The entire costume is probably going into the trash anyway, so he doesn’t feel too guilty about it. And if Damian has his own opinion about it, he doesn’t let Jon know, just grunts and shifts a little more on his left side, lifting up some weight from his damaged shoulder.

Right, there’s also that.

With a heavy sigh, Jon sits on the bed next to Damian and cups both sides of his shoulder with his hands, locking his fingers just above it. He’s done it dozens of times by now, and Damian’s definitely had worse in his life, still he frowns and grits his teeth in sympathy when he pushes his palms together and settles the bone back into its socket with a loud pop.

As expected Damian jolts awake with a gasp, and his eyes snap open as he instinctively starts looking around for his attacker.

“Sssh, Damian it’s okay, it’s just me, don’t move”, Jon urges him, hands pushing lightly against his chest to keep him down on the bed.

Damian’s eyes flutter and he gives him a confused look.

“Jon?”

“Yeah”, Jon confirms, then he slips him some painkillers and a sip of water to swallow it down before Damian has the time to completely wake up and start complaining about not needing any drugs.

Truth to be told, even in his dizzy state of mind, Damian does manage to give him a dirty glare for his troubles, but he must also be quite tired of playing the superhero for the night, because he leaves it just at that.

He doesn’t even protest when Jon settles him more comfortably against the pillow. He just looks around the room with a confused stare.

“Where-”

“My old house in Hamilton”, Jon answers promptly. “You crashed through my window a little more than an hour ago, don’t you remember?”

“Hmn”, Damian answers non-committally. Then his hands twitch and he tries to push himself up again.

“Nope”, Jon says, keeping him easily pinned down.

“The Traveling Thief-”

“He’s downstairs and not going anywhere. Is that really your first concern?”, Jon asks, and he’d like to say he’s incredulous, but the truth is he knows his partner good enough not to be surprised in the slightest, not even about the almost offended look Damian gives him in response.

“I got him. Held on him for- what time is it?”

“Around midnight, I think”, and then, because he’s not sure if Damian’s been keeping up with the time at all, he adds: “It’s Sunday, by the way. Well, Monday, by now.”

And finally, finally, Damian seems to pause and actually try to focus on the matter at hand.

“I was gone almost five days?”, he asks, not bothering to hide his surprise.

Jon’s fingers dig a little bit harder into Damian’s skin as he bites his bottom lip.

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

That’s all you have to say?, Jon wants to ask, but to be honest, he probably wouldn’t know what to say either if their role were reversed. Also it’s quite obvious that Damian’s not totally in his right mind yet - the painkillers mustn’t be helping in the slightest about that - and Jon really, really wants to go easy on him, but.

“Damian?”

“Mh?”

“How did you survive it?”, he asks, because he has to. “The explosion, I mean. Do you remember that?”

Damian blinks hazy, half-lidded eyes, then he clicks his tongue in what looks like equal parts anger and shame.

“Tripped on a booby-trapped wire”, he scoffs. “Stupid.”

Jon shakes his head.

“It wasn’t stupid.”

“Was too. I made one mistake after another. Activated both an alarm and a trap, like the worst amateur. Didn’t even noticed-”

“You didn’t make a mistake”, Jon interrupts him and Damian looks at him with a frown.

“I just told you I made several. I’m not-”

“I should’ve been there!”, Jon yells, cutting him off. “That was the only mistake! I should’ve been there with you!”

The high pitch of his voice makes the room ring around them. Damian’s eyes widen in bewilderment, and Jon immediately regrets his outburst. But the words had been stuck in his throat for so long, and hearing Damian accusing himself was just too much for him to keep them under control any longer.

“I’m sorry”, the words keep rolling out of his mouth and Jon just lets them. “It was my fault and I’m sorry. We thought you were dead, your family and my dad, and I just, I just should’ve been there to protect you and I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. But now you’re back and I- and I-”

And then, without meaning it in the slightest, he starts crying again. Because apparently he can’t do anything else these days. The most powerful boy on Earth, and all he can do is shake with sobs and bawl his eyes out. What a failure.

“Jon…”

Damian has really no idea on what to say, Jon knows that. Which is okay, because there’s nothing Jon really wants to listen to, right now. So he bows his head against Damian’s chest and tries to limit the sobs the best he can.

It’s weird, being so happy and so desperate at the same time. It gets even weirder when the palm of Damian’s hand hesitantly brushes against the crown of his head, fingers digging gently into Jon’s hair. And Jon may not feel comfortable with playing the protector in their relationship, but Damian sure as hell feels even less comfortable with being the comforting one. Which he shouldn’t be anyway, because once again Jon’s been selfish and letting him take care of the situation when it should be him the strong one right now. Useless, he’s useless.

But the strangest thing in all of this is that Damian doesn’t complain, doesn’t tell him to man up and stop acting like a baby, he just keeps… petting him. Like he would do with Titus, probably. The thought makes Jon laugh and he shakes harder against Damian’s chest, sobs and barks of laughter mixed up together into one wet, pathetic, childish mess.

“He was there, by the way”, Damian continues after a moment, voice soft and uncertain, because apparently he’s unwilling to let Jon’s sobs be the loudest sound in the room. Jon’s okay with that. “The Traveling Thief. Appeared the moment I activated the silent alarm. The glowing bicycle - it’s called the Garimard by the way, can you believe it? - that’s why we couldn’t catch him. The engine has a technology based on particles acceleration, so it travels almost at light speed. That’s also how I avoided blowing up, to answer your question. I grabbed onto it once I realized he’d set up a self-destruction device in the basement. He wasn’t too happy about it.”

Still in the middle of his breakdown, Jon chokes back a sob and snorts weakly into the fabric of the Robin’s costume.

“Can’t say I’m sorry for him.”

“Me neither”, Damian agrees. “Is he still downstairs by the way?”

“Yup”, Jon confirms with a sniff full of vindictive pleasure. “I told you, he will not move.”

Damian nods, then he continues his recount like he would with a patrol’s report at the end of a difficult night. “I knocked him out after the explosion pushed us away, then I tried putting some coordinates into the drive system, but it must’ve been damaged by the fire because after the first jump we kept ending up in the strangest places.”

It takes Jon a few second to elaborate what Damian’s just said.

“For five days? You kept jumping around the world for five days without stopping once?”, he asks, raising his head to look at him, and he’s so taken aback from the idea to stop crying at once. “Forget the explosion, how did you survive that?”

“With my superior training, of course”, Damian answers, and he’s only half sarcastic about it, of course. “Also, time was… weird. I think it worked differently on that thing. I couldn’t really feel it, if that makes sense.”

“Not really”, Jon answers honestly. He dries his face with the back of his hand, then slips an arm over Damian’s chest and rests his cheek on it. “How did you end up here anyway?”

Damian shrugs under him, then he yawns, and his eyes begin to close again.

“For the most of the time I was busy with trying to prevent the lame thief and myself from falling down the bike, but I also kept putting into the system various coordinates of places I knew. I guess for some reason these ones actually stuck.”

“For some reason”, Jon repeats.

“Mh.”

It’s comfortable where he is, Jon realizes. Well, not for his back, or his legs, and definitely not for his neck, but he feels good anyway, with his head on Damian’s chest and Damian’s hand between his hair. So he closes his eyes too and listens to Damian’s breath. He promises himself that once it evens out he’s gonna go downstair to have a chat with their- well, their hostage at this point, and then he will debate with himself if is really smart to keep the Batman in the dark about the return of his son for an entire night.

He falls asleep on top of Damian without even realizing it.

He sleeps until dawn, and he knows where and next to who he is the same instant he regains consciousness, and still his first instinct is to raise his head and look around to make sure that it wasn’t a dream, that Damian’s really here.

He finds him still in deep sleep, lying on the bed just next to him, his features completely relaxed for once, to the point he’s even drooling a little. The drugs and the five days exhaustion have definitely got the best of him, which is a good thing in Jon’s book, since in the daylight Damian looks a lot worse than he thought the night before.

It’s still fine, though. Damian’s alive, and that’s what really matters.

Jon gets out of the bed and for the first time in five days there isn’t the burden of a devastating grief weighing down on his chest. He can breathe just fine. For a moment it’s really confusing. Then he looks down at Damian and decides that the emotional mess can wait. Breakfast first.

It’s way past lunch time when Damian makes his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Jon’s okay with it. He’s spent the entire morning sitting on the porch, waiting, rethinking the last night as well as the last week in general, with the Traveling Thief, now tied to a rocking chair, awkwardly trying to keep him company. It was surreal.

Damian appears in the doorway smelling like Jon’s shampoo, hair still wet from a long and well deserved shower, and he gives them both an amused glare but doesn’t comment further.

So there’s this weird silence between all of them, and Jon looks at Damian while he clears his throat, struggling to find something to say, and he wonders if despite the drugs and the tiredness Damian’s remembering the night before too, if he’s embarrassed for it on Jon’s behalf. But if that was the case, he’d be coming up with a new insulting nickname at this point.

“Hey, Jonny boy”, Damian says instead after a few more moments, because apparently that’s the best he can do. But Jon shakes his head as he gets up on his feet and walks towards him.

“Nope”, he says. “Not this time.”

So he reaches out and he engulfs Damian in a hug almost strong enough to crush him. To his credit, Damian seemed to be already resigned for something like this to happen and he obviously braced himself in advance for it.

“Ribs”, Damian warns him anyway, but at the same time he wraps his arms around Jon with almost the same eagerness, if not with the same strength.

And it’s not the first hug they’ve ever shared, but there is some kind of awareness now in their touch, something that’s been there for some time now, but that was never acknowledged before. And Jon is tired too, happy and relieved, but so, so tired, and he’s not really thinking straight while he buries his face into Damian’s shoulder and sags into the embrace, welcoming the warmth in his stomach even as he feels the flush rising up to his face.

“I love you”, he whispers then into Damian’s neck.

And it wasn’t supposed to go like this. Before those words there should’ve been a first date, to see if things really worked out under that perspective, and then a second and a third and a fourth, and at least a kiss, maybe some touching, definitely more time spent together, a few tries, some good thinking, some doubts on the where and when to say something so important for the first time. No, it wasn’t supposed to come out of his mouth on its own, in the middle of an empty kitchen, with a lame thief as a witness, and seemingly so out of the blue.

And yet, even in forced retrospect, all those preparations sound like bullshit anyway. Because Jon knows already that he loves Damian, and the dates, the physical touches, the time, none of that would add anything to it. He loves him right now, he’ll love him tomorrow and for the times to come, so why hide it behind a maybe or a let’s see what happens?

And he’s not really waiting for an answer either, or a reaction, but he braces himself for it anyway when he feels Damian shifting his weight on his feet, and then his arms tightening around him.

“That’s not very smart of you”, Damian comments. Which is not a I love you too, but neither a what the hell, so Jon laughs against Damian’s neck and considers it a win because at least Damian knows, has probably known for some time too, the same way Jon knew, and that’s enough, at least for now.

It feels natural then, it feels just right, to pull himself back a bit to meet Damian’s eyes. It feels good to kiss him, to move one hand to the back of his head and the other around his waist to press their bodies closer together, hot skin against hot skin, tastes of blood and toothpaste on the tips of their tongues.

When Damian pulls back is only because he’s short of breath, and even then he doesn’t back off the whole way, but leans down to press his forehead against Jon’s, lips still brushing against the corner of Jon’s mouth.

“The lowlife is watching”, Damian whispers then, and he’s smiling, and Jon has to laugh because of course, why did he even bothered with imagining a normal first date for the two of them.

“Who cares”, he answers, still laughing. “Let him watch.”

#yorulun #damian wayne #jon kent #supersons #damijon #the Travelling Thief definitely gets an invite to their wedding #He can't partecipate because he's in prison and what not #but it was a lovely thought anyway #my fic #shari writes

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Children of Morta Review: A Beautiful But Tedious Action Roguelike

Children of Morta will probably get some substantive updates in the coming months, but it currently pales in comparison to other action roguelikes and won’t hold most gamers’ attention for too long.

Crowd-funding and pixel-art-led games go hand in hand. Platforms like Kickstarter have introduced fans to wildly ambitious, gorgeous creations unrelated to publisher interest, and we have a bevvy of modern-day treasures as a result: games like Moon Hunters, Songbringer, Hyper Light Drifter, and Wizard of Legend. The latter is probably the most fit comparison point for the new family tree action roguelike Children of Morta; both will see deployment on the Nintendo Switch, both invoke the rhythm of repeat playthroughs to unlock content, and both are obviously amateur projects by budding developers. Children of Morta is certainly worth a look, but the amount of key mechanics and concepts that the game gets wrong grants it a considerable distance from greatness. Future patches (including a promised online co-op feature) may shrink that distance, but it’s a hesitant recommendation as it is.

The building blocks are there, though. As an action roguelike with a pronounced emphasis on narrative (in itself a rare and worthy ambition), Children of Morta quickly introduces players to the Bergsons, a multi-generational family of protectorate forest-dwellers overlooking their dominion. If you saw where the Bergsons lived you might feel a similar pang of ownership, as the cliffside manor on this otherworldly terrain presents a spectacular view. Sometimes the game looks eerie and uncanny but other times it feels cozy, intimate, and familiar, like cutscenes where the Bergsons eat dinner together around the table. In an understated but inspired decision, the manor itself functions as a menu screen in between forays into danger, where the uncle’s workshop lets you upgrade family member abilities, and Grandma Margaret’s library adjusts drop rates and other affairs. You can also just watch family members pacing in their rooms and gain entry to their thoughts, which usually amounts to a few different lines at different points in the game.

Related: Astral Chain Review - Another PlatinumGames Classic

So far, so good, but it should be mentioned here that Children of Morta goes the “one-omniscient-narrator-and-no-other-voice-actors-at-all” route, a strained creative choice that does get in the way of immersion in the plot tale. The narrator himself is decent, but also a little too precious and predictable, sounding like anyone you might hear reading the title card text from an old fantasy film. The intention seems to be for this narrative to be presented as a storybook, but it’s something we’ve seen a lot in film and video games before, and feels too cliché for the game’s clear attempt at innovation in the genre. The family members are all recognizable archetypes — all-knowing grandmother, handyman uncle, hot-headed younger sibling, etc. — but the brevity of the game prevents significant investment in any one of them, one point among many which compromises the game's thesis.

The gameplay is definitely exciting at first blush. At various points throughout the initial stages, you’ll gain access to additional Bergsons to choose from at the start of a dungeon run. The pater familias John carries a sword and shield and, like his kinfolk, additional abilities will emerge through XP upgrades, where each button on the controller will eventually be used in combat (XP points and ability unlocks are always permanent). He can swing a sword, bring up his shield to block damage, and call down a rain of ghostly swords. Conversely, Linda is an archer, with her abilities requiring safe distance from any opponents. The youngest daughter Lucy is a diminutive spellcaster, shooting fireballs and calling up cyclones to tangle up enemies.

Occasionally, family members get afflicted with slight debuffs which will push you to use others at certain times, though none of this ever seemed to work as expected (90% of the time, despite any in-game alerts stating otherwise, all family members were functioning perfectly at the start of a run). Additionally, the different family member classes seem to beg for co-op gameplay, an easy enough option for friends on the couch. Otherwise, online co-op is promised to release soon, and may very well improve direct elements of the basic game as a result. The main tank-oriented family member unlocked at approximately 1/3rd into the game is more or less unplayable alone, which hints at this co-op intention, but will clearly frustrate people who want to play Children of Morta on their own. Playing on controller you’ll also realize that Linda is virtually unusable, since the right analog stick coordinates the direction of her shots, but one of her abilities can’t be activated effectively unless you bring out the mouse and keyboard. Aside from this character, though, the game feels like it was built for a controller.

Still, that detail is one of many hinting at the semi-finished state of the game. Regardless of the years spent in development, Children of Morta is very rough around the edges in a numerous ways. The few enemies that pop up in the different biomes are simplistic and unsatisfying to fight, with occasional elites revealed that have one or two additions to their move-sets. In a diverse game like Risk of Rain, these mostly mindless mobs would be easy enough to forgive, but Children of Morta has no comparable item and upgrade variety, a key component of action roguelikes that is interrupted on two separate fronts. First of all, most upgrades you’ll run into are completely dull, adding a tiny increase to critical hit or dodge percentage or something of the like, slight boosts to aspects that have little to do with combat feel. Secondly, each run consists of a single biome and abruptly ends, as players are yanked back to the Bergson home after completing a given area’s one to four stages, so there’s no real overpowered or underpowered potential in any given playthrough. For an action roguelike game this seems completely nonsensical, and makes each run feel inconsequential and bland.

Randomization within these biomes is minimal, too, with a very small assortment of chance rooms subject to the RNG. Yes, there are occasional story-focused rooms which will appear the first few times you attempt a level, but even these usually have no lasting affect on the way you play or experience the game; an early encounter sees the Bergsons taking in a baby wolf, which promises some actual change to how the game is played. Maybe the wolf becomes a familiar, or unlocks a special ability back at the home? Sadly, similar to other encounters, this wolf has no effect on the game whatsoever, aside from a new sprite lazing around the house that cannot be interacted with at all.

The expectations and disappointments persist throughout, making it somewhat clear that corners (and content) was cut prior to release. Other details, like characters who have died showing up in later cutscenes or on-screen text misread by the narrator, only hammer that point home further. Early levels imply real engagement, immersion, and randomization potential, but running through the game will only take most players ten hours or less, and they will find that they’ve been repeating the same actions over and over with little in the way of meaningful surprises between levels. Even most bosses have minimal attacks, and the majority may be bested on a first attempt, which seems outlandish for a game which expects multiple playthroughs and doesn’t present any special drops or benefits from boss kills — which, admittedly, would be pointless, since you're always sent back to the manor after they’ve been defeated.

Years ago, Children of Morta might have been seen as an ambitious and mostly acceptable action roguelike. These days, with so many other viable options available, the content of the game seems withered and its attention misguided, with an ultimately clumsy but well-meaning narrative that meanders and stumbles throughout. The graphics never falter, though, making the whole of it feel like a very strong proof-of-concept that stumbled on its way to final release. As with most things, Children of Morta will probably get some substantive updates in the coming months, but it currently pales in comparison to other action roguelikes and won’t hold most gamers’ attention for too long.

More: Children Of Morta Is A Narrative-Heavy Co-Op Action Game (Preview)

Children of Morta releases Tuesday on PC, with a Nintendo Switch release planned for October. A digital copy was provided to Screen Rant for purposes of review.

source https://screenrant.com/children-of-morta-review/

#screenrant

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marytagus · 7 years

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Olicity- Clashing Parallels (Part 2)

Note: I joined some wonderful people in CampNanoWriMo in April. The story didn’t follow as well as I would like but I reached my goal and I manage to tell the story as I intended from the start. Hope you all like it.

Summary: Oliver Queen, the recently returned from the dead rich playboy, and Felicity Smoak, newly arrived at Starling City, find themselves unknowingly living parallel lives. What happens when parallels clash together...

They had done it. Verdant was Club of their own, every detail thought taking advantage of the knowledge both Oliver and Tommy had earned through years of clubbing and nightlife. Everything from the DJ to the bedroom upstairs was a joint decision but there was a detail Tommy was totally unaware of. Verdant was nothing more than a cover-up and an excuse. A cover up to his base of operations as city protector in the basement and an excuse to all the nights he had been missing from home.

“Ollie, you won’t believe the queue outside.”

Tommy was the happiest Oliver had ever seen him. For the first time in both their lives they were building something together. No matter how much Verdant was needed as a cover up to his other activities Oliver was happy to see Tommy so excited.

“It’s a great Club. With great owners.”

“You said it.”

Tommy checks the watch and his smile doubles.

“It’s time.”

They watch as the doors open and people begin pouring in. The music pumping giving rhythm to the lights. It doesn’t take more than half an hour for the space to be crowded. It’s then they move up to the small stage and address the crowd.

“Welcome.”

It’s Oliver that welcomes everyone struggling to get over the sound of people cheering.

“Welcome to Verdant. A first night the all city will remember.” He makes a pause that could be considered dramatic if one didn’t know Oliver enough; he was taking in the crowd amazed by how little excited he felt of being back into this life. But a glimpse to Tommy and his own feelings were sponged and he couldn’t help but smile “ Let’s party.”

The last word was pure happiness to which everyone reacted as the DJ starts the music up again.

Tommy and Oliver split up to receive the compliments from the various friends and acquaintances. Most of the faces are familiar but older than he recalled, a fact he was getting used to.

“Big crowd.”

Diggle had come rescuing him from a particular clinging woman.

“It’s a success.”

“At least half of QC is here.”

Oliver finds himself searching the room. It takes him a moment to understand what he’s searching for, and the conclusion surprises him.

All IT department seems to be there enjoying themselves and the free drink that came with the invitation he and Tommy had distributed through QC and Merlyn Global, but not her. He was surprised by his own curiosity about a woman who clearly had no idea he even existed. And then maybe that was exactly what set her apart. But she wasn’t there.

“Something the matter?”

“Any news from Lyla?”

“I should ask you that.”

Diggle was still a bit uncomfortable by the fact Oliver and Lyla were in touch when he didn’t even knew if his ex-wife was alive or dead.

“And my search is going nowhere.”

“You have all the IT department here. You could ask one of the women, they look eager to meet you.”

Oliver looks back to the group. There are some provocative looks, none he would follow up on.

“Not mutual…”

Diggle smiled. In the time that they underwent the building of Verdant he had come to understand a bit more of this man, a man that wasn’t anything people thought he was.

“Lyla will get something. She never fails.” Diggle couldn’t help being protective and true to Lyla.

“These kind of… “people” are the more challenging to me. I can’t tackle them, I can’t even see them as they keep themselves on the shadow, working far away from any trouble.”

“You will get him.”

He would, that he was sure of but would it be too late?

Wrapped in a blanket Felicity was chatting away with an old acquaintance on the Web. It had been months since they talked on line they had tackle one or two systems together and she was no hacker but she knew how systems worked and Real life things and connections that were mysteries to Felicity. She had offered her invitation to Verdant opening thinking she would make good use of it, and now here she was, online.

“Didn’t you go to V?”

“Can’t. A close friend is in a bit of a hard spot and I’m helping him.”

“If anyone can it’s you.”

“Not this time. He needs to find someone. Someone on the web.”

“Someone you don’t know?”

“Never crossed paths with that handle.”

“Maybe I have.”

“Maybe. Kojo Sledgehammer.”

It was just an illusion, Felicity knew it was, but somehow it looked like the letters on the name were brighter than the rest.

Her fingers stopped short of the keypad.

“Why?”

“You know it?”

“What did she do?”

“Not at liberty to give that information.”

“Okay.”

She was use to secrets, everyone had them, even her.

“But if you know her you can help us.”

“I won’t betray her confidence in me.”

“She’s dangerous.”

Felicity figured as much.

“I’m staying away.”

“To more than yourself.”

Felicity felt a cold seeping in. She feared as much but she wasn’t sure. Come to think of it a line of text from an unknown handle on the screen wasn’t much of a proof. A new message comes through.

“I understand you need proof. Would you meet me In Real Life?”

Felicity knew someday this question would come and she had already considered how to phrase her refusal. But the words didn’t come out and a minute passed. A new message shines on the screen.

“Some place public.”

Things got better but Felicity was still a bit weary of meeting people she didn’t really know. No matter where or how many people were around.

“I don’t feel comfortable doing that.”

“Please, he’s really in trouble and a great friend of mine. You pick the time and place.”

She still wasn’t comfortable and she desperately wanted to say no but as she recalled what the woman on the other side had done for her these last months she knew she couldn’t.

“Meet me at V. Midnight.”

There all her colleagues from work would be close enough even if they hardly know her they would be there close enough for her to at least feel safe.

“We’ll be there.”

Felicity closes the laptop already weary of what she agreed on. The fact she had picked the busiest Club in town gave her some reassurance still she felt uneasy as she dress one of the dresses her mother had made her bought. Felicity smile at herself in the mirror, she usually didn’t wear dresses but she knew how good she looked on them. This one was especially fitting and as bright red as her favorite lipstick.

With a long black coat she took the train to The Glades. All she had heard about the area was not comforting. It was the unsafe part of Starling and everyone had warn her not to go there, but things were different, the street outside had people dress in party clothes and moving on to an invisible point. Engulfed by the stream of people it didn’t take long for her to see the bright green of Verdant sign. The queue was long and she waited her turn always looking out for her friend.

“Good evening, Ms.”

The small print on her hand was invisible to her eyes but not to the blue light.

“Thank you.”

Inside the world was reduced to sound. The music dominated every conversation. She admires how people could talk in here. She was use to the Las Vegas Casinos low energetic sounds of the machines and coins, this was over powering to the extreme.

Felicity checks her phone. No messages. She sent one herself, giving a general run down of her appearance.

“May I take your coat?”

“Thank you.”

Still attentive to her phone Felicity took her coat and got a chip back. The silence of the phone made her weary, it was past Midnight already, where could she be?

Diggle look was enough to Oliver to get close.

“Lyla sent a message. Blond, glasses, red dress, expecting company by midnight.”

How could something so detailed be so unhelpful. Verdant was filled with women; it was almost an impossible task to find a specific one. And she must be inside already.

“It’s after midnight.”

“Then we should probably add anxious and… checking her phone repeatedly.”

Oliver follows Diggle’s look to check the person he’s watching. Still up stairs the world didn’t exist around her, only her phone existed.

“I’m guessing that’s her.”

Diggle is probably guessing right as her eagerness looking over the all Club grows in anxiousness.

“Go, Oliver and be your wonderful self.”

“Not a magician, John.”

“Tell that to that girl in pink. She looks quite smitten.”

Oliver check’s the woman Diggle mentioned, lingering on the high table to his left, and smiles, it would be an interesting way to pass a few hours. But his eyes go back to the issue at hand as the woman green eyes focus on him before moving away. Like struck by a lighting Oliver feels the sting of her inquiring eyes

“Sh*t…”

Oliver wants to evert his eyes away as much as he wants to see her eyes again, he wants to feel it again.

“What?”

“I know her.”

“Exgirlfriend?”

“She works at QC. IT Department.”

“That will make things easier.”

“She doesn’t even notices I exist.”

“Really?”

Diggle looks back to the woman.

“Want me to go?”

“No.”

Diggle had to smile at the sudden rush that made Oliver move towards the woman.

He got close to her. For the first time Oliver had no clue how to approach a woman. There was nothing in this woman that he could use to start a conversation. She was nothing like any women he had ever come across. Around the room there was pretty much just one kind, one hi and they would immediately be interested in talking to him and probably even more. She clearly wasn’t like that but for lack of a better line he kept it simple

“Hi.”

Her weary eyes were beautiful and once focused they shined with glee and Oliver lost his train of thought.

“Oh! Hello.”

Nothing had prepared him for her smile. Sunshine that not even his darkness could shade him from.

“I’m Oliver Queen.”

“I know.”

Her eyes got back to checking the phone and searching the room, before coming back to him.

“She’s not coming.”

Her mood immediately changed to weary. Oliver felt the full power of her bright eyes on his this time more pressing and demanding than before.

“I needed to talk to you.”

The realization hit but a moment after he uttered the words.

“You brought me here?”

The shock was slowly turning to anger.

“A friend of yours is dangerous.”

“And you deceive me into coming here.”

She was angry he could tell but she kept her composure.

“Not really. A mutual friend did that.”

“Mutual friend… Okay. So you are the one needing help in finding… someone on the web.”

It was his turn to be surprised. How much did she know.

“Yes.”

“I crossed paths with her once. It was a onetime thing. It will never happen again.”

“So you do know the name.”

“The name yes. The person no.”

“I need to locate that person.”

“Why?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I got that. But that doesn’t answer my question, Mr. Queen?”

Oliver had no plan on telling her the truth.

“Whoever it is took a file from my computer. I want it back.”

For a moment she just looked at him like she was pondering believing him or not but when Oliver thought she was about to call him on his cover up her expression changed, she didn’t care he was lying he figured.

“I don’t know who that person is.”

“Can you find out?”

She just nods.

“Need anything else, Mr. Queen?”

“No.”

“I’ll leave now then.”

“Leave?”

He wanted her to stay.

“I have no business here, not anymore.”

“You can have a drink and enjoy yourself.”

Her smile soften

“Not that kind of woman, Mr. Queen.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have fun, Mr. Queen. Congratulations on your success.”

Oliver stands there looking as Felicity takes her coat and leaves Verdant.

“So?”

Diggle approached him without notice.

“She knows the handle.”

“Will she help?”

“I think so.”

“Let’s hope she does. And fast. I’ll update Lyla.”

Felicity welcomed the cold breeze; it counteracted the burning feeling in her face. She was lured into some scheme, lured for months.

It wasn’t surprising that when she got home and tried to reach their “mutual friend”, that “friend” had vanished from the Web and, if it weren’t for her own registries, it would be hard to prove the person ever existed.

Kojo Sledgehammer had exchanged with her one favor, once. Felicity knew she was shady, at best, but she fail to see the reason of all this commotion about it. And Mr. Queen opening gambit was a lie. She get it, he didn’t trust her, as far as he knew she was Kojo’s friend and in on it with her but no breaches from Kojo had been reported at QC, which included Mr. Queen laptop.

Nevertheless Kojo was doing something, something she had used Felicity’s help on. As far as Felicity understanding went she had the responsibility to at least find out what Kojo had gotten out from NSA that night. And that was a real problem. Her previous way in was now closed and she had no way to track Kojo access to NSA data without getting in.

Saturday and Sunday went by. A sleep deprived Felicity dragged herself out of bed by Monday morning with a heavy heart. Kojo had access files on Starling City security procedures, high level security procedures. As bad as things could be it couldn’t be worse.

“You look tired.”

Alena was back in her private booth.

“Had a bad night, that’s all.”

“I thought I saw you at Verdant Friday.”

Through the haze Felicity struggled to focus her attention on Alena. The girl was tenacious and attentive. She would go a long way if she stopped focusing on Felicity’s business and started to focus on her own.

“I was there briefly. It’s not the kind of place I enjoy.”

“Yeah, I could see that.”

The knowing smile threw Felicity on a loop. What was the woman supposing it happen? As Felicity thought of some come back to ease up things she found there was no possible answer that would prevent Alena from making further assumptions. Felicity remain silent.

“I saw you talking to Oliver Queen.”

“You did.”

No point in denying it.

“You two looked quite engaged.”

“Not in the slightest.”

Alena can hardly cover her disappointment. She wanted gossip, she was getting none.

“That’s a shame.”

She still had hopes for more. That was clear in her sparkling eyes. It was getting tiresome and Felicity had work to do.

“I need to get back to work.”

“Sure, sure.”

Felicity starts typing while pretending to focus on the screen when in fact she follows Alena as she leaves whit a smile dancing on her lips. That smile makes Felicity uneasy and QC system firewalls are a blessing has she immerses herself in checking for any intrusion.

Things are quiet though and Felicity takes the opportunity to check the logs on previous attacks and make sure Kojo was not involved in any of them. Surprisingly, she finds exactly the opposite, traces of Kojo’s code in the first attack Felicity rebutted.

It’s a faint trace, at first Felicity thinks it’s someone else but then she beings to see a pattern. It’s clever the way Kojo masqueraded herself by changing her code in a way that it takes an extra attentive human eye to spot the similarities. But there’s no doubt in Felicity’s mind. Mr. Queen may have lie about Kojo taking a file from his laptop but the woman is trying to get in. The target is not Oliver Queen, though, he’s just a way in, she’s trying to get into whatever data Walter wants protected. An action that makes Mr. Queen motivations take a backseat.

It’s in the comfort of her own home that Felicity send’s Kojo Sledgehammer a message. In the hacker world it’s not normal to cross paths like this. Not like this. She had just helped Kojo in an incursion and just a few hours later Kojo was attacking the system she was protecting. It was too strange of a coincidence. One Felicity didn’t believe in.

“Why are you after QC?”

The message lingered for the longest time, but it wasn’t rejected. Felicity moved on to other ways she could track Kojo hitting dead end after dead end.

“It’s not a good company.”

The message light up the screen.

“What do you mean?”

“People need to be protected.”

Not every area QC acted on was philanthropic, of course it wasn’t, but as far as Felicity could see, and she saw a lot, QC was not evil. Not in the slightest.

“From QC?”

“I know you work for them.”

Felicity felt a cold chill. She knew who she was. Has she reined the shot of fear, anger stepped in to fill the void.

“Then you understand I will have to stop you.”

The silence lingered for a beat and then the disconnected message was the only thing showing. And in that moment Felicity wonders if Mr. Queen isn’t right. Kojo has plans, plans that involved QC, plans she must stop.

It was with a surprise look that the guard let her pass that morning. She couldn’t sleep, not while Kojo could be attacking QC systems while her eyes were closed. Everything was silence and peaceful inside de Department, nothing stood out, no alarm was lighting the screen and she breathed easier. Still it took her checking all QC defenses to rest easy.

Kojo was a skilled hacker, and yet she needed help before, to get inside NSA, chances were she wouldn’t tackle QC alone, not anymore, not after Kojo knew she was going to stop her. There were many hackers capable enough to try and slip in unnoticed to her, they existed are they were eager to have a win over her, a fact Felicity was fully aware of. The only advantage Felicity had was that she knew the target. Kojo wanted Mr. Steele files. She worked on the system security measures, losing track of time.

It’s Alena sitting in front of her that snaps her out of the coding.

“Oh, hello.”

“I figured…”

“What?”

“You didn’t listen to a word I said.”

No point on denying it.

“Sorry. I was busy.”

“I’ve noticed.”

Alena smiles warningly.

“Boyfriend?”

Felicity understood now the motive for the smile. And smiled back.

“Work.”

“No intruder has been reported today.”

Felicity looked at the woman in front of her. For a moment she doubted she was in the business of protecting systems.

“That’s is why we can work.”

In Alena’s eyes there wasn’t confusion or surprise at the answer.

“I know. I was just working myself. But now it’s time to go home. And I came by to check if you needed anything.”

If there was anything else in the woman’s mind she kept it hidden but the behavior was unusual enough to have Felicity doubt her motives.

“No, thank you.”

“See you tomorrow then.”

Felicity looks at her until she’s gone and then focus back on the task at hand. Tracking Kojo Sledgehammer.

There wasn’t any doubt in her mind that she was dangerous, not anymore. The thread was thin but with the power of QC technology Felicity managed to trace the intrusion to a building in The Glades. A coffee shop.

Decidedly Felicity takes her bag and her laptop and walks out of QC, heading to the coffee shop. She has no illusions, chances are the woman isn’t there but then again maybe she is.

The Glades are exactly like everyone told her. Dark uncared apartment blocks, people in the streets look beat down, with exception of some cocky little group of young men gathering outside a pub. As she walks pass she notices the way they measure her with their eyes. Felicity holds her bag closer, it’s heavy enough to do some damage if wheeled correctly. But it’s not necessary. They didn’t found her interesting enough she guessed from the mocking snickers.

For a moment Felicity wishes for the night, at night the streets would be filled with Verdant’s customers and police force in accordance to the high level of Mr. Queen’s friends; at present the more she walks into the small street where the coffee shop is located the more she felt increasingly crept out. Suddenly this didn’t feel like a good idea.

Fighting her instinct to turn back and move away, Felicity takes a deep breath and opens the coffee shop door stepping in.

It’s a surprisingly welcoming sight. The buzz of the laptops mixed with the sounds of the coffee machine and the smell of coffee that saturates the air of the lighted colored shop felt like home. Everywhere she looked was a soul not unlike her own. Fast fingers over keyboards, eyes locked on screens, happy unaware people, just like she knew she was when she was immerse in her own coding.

Walking up to the counter she asks for a coffee. It’s tasty and strong, just like she needed after the long restless nights. Taking a seat Felicity pulls her own tablet and mingles; to anyone she’s now invisible while she locks in to every face.

Carefully she tracks the server requests to find any familiar movements. None comes and she’s starting to understand that this was useless when someone sits across from her.

“Hi.”

As their eyes lock Felicity understands her mistake. She underestimated her opponent.

The small gang of tugs had been smoothly taken care of. The Glades were getting increasingly safer but Oliver didn’t have any illusions, his actions as Vigilante by night were helped by the new people pouring in to enjoy themselves on the new flourishing businesses that came in the wake of Verdant.

The Glades streets, once empty and dark, were now busy and lit. But not all. As Vigilante those were the ones that he was more attentive. The tugs were already delivered to SCPD and everything was quiet enough for Oliver to consider going back to the Lair, with that in mind he almost misses it.

The two women walk close to each other, not unusual, but one of the figures is familiar, yet different. Moving closer, from shadow to shadow, he recognizes her.

“See, Felicity. You are good. And smart.”

Felicity is quiet. Her eyes searching aimlessly are Oliver’s warning sign.

“When I was in college I followed your work. That virus… that virus was genius.”

Felicity’s eyes turn more frantic.

“You have it don’t you?”

Felicity doesn’t answer.

“Sure you do. That was perfection. The kind of perfection we save. But we will get to that, first I need access to those files. You are good, Felicity, unstoppable too.”

Felicity was getting increasingly uneasy.

“Where are we going?”

Felicity managed to keep her voice steady only a small tinge of strain made her distress noticeable.

“You’ll see.”

From the top of the nearby building Oliver knew, he had to move fast.

She wanted to run but Alena was holding her arm so hard it hurt. Alena dodge every inquiry about where she was taking her. No place good was the only thing in Felicity’s mind. Her eyes searched for some help but even the kids that were causing trouble before had vanished.

“Let her go.”

The only thing Felicity saw was the tip of the arrow pointed directly at her. The figure holding the bow took a moment for her to take in. Alena didn’t look frighten after the first moment of shock.

“We are just strolling.”

Alena voice sounds almost giddy. The only thought in Felicity’s mind is to keep the Vigilante there and get rid of Alena.

“Then let go of my arm.”

Felicity feels Alena’s fingers loosen but not enough, not yet.

“Let her go. NOW.”

The figure steps closer and Alena pulls Felicity’s arm back as she tries to retreat, Felicity doesn’t budge and Alena looseness enough for her to pull her arm lose and run. Only to be caught by another hand and feel her feats lose contact with the ground.

A scream almost leaves her lips but she’s back on solid ground before its release. The Vigilante releases his grasp on her. In a state of confusion Felicity can’t stop looking at his eyes, even covered by darkness they hold brightness, a spark that fells out of place.

As fast has he arrived the Vigilante leaves. Felicity follows his retreat until the dark green of his suit blends into the dark sky. It takes her a moment to register where she is. The ally isn’t lit but it’s not as dark as she would expect, a detail answered as soon as she turns around and finds herself looking on the entrance to the Train Station. The relief of knowing herself out of harm’s way almost obliterates the question of how did the Vigilante knew she took the train. But taking the train home was the last thing on her mind, she had another stop to make.

After dropping Felicity safe Oliver had gone back but the woman that was holding her had already vanished. It was time to call it a night and she welcomed the sight of Diggle.

“What happen?”

Oliver set the bow down.

“Someone was holding Ms. Smoak.”

“Is she okay?”

“I dropped her off near the train station.”

“Was it…”

Oliver nods while pulling the quiver next to the bow.

“I’m almost sure. I went back but the woman was gone.”

“She’s in danger, Oliver.”

His eyes focused on the arrows but his mind was following Diggle’s train of thought. She was, and he had brought her into it. His responsibility.

“We’ll protect her.”

“You need to talk to her, Oliver.”

And tell her what? Clearly just telling her how dangerous Kojo was hadn’t stopped her, still… with a sigh Oliver confirms it.

“I know.”

He walks pass Diggle going to take off the Arrow suit just as his phone rings.

“Tommy.”

“There’s a woman here searching for you.”

The heavy sigh is impossible to miss on the other end of the line

“Can’t you handle it?”

“Not this one.”

Felicity was too nervous to experience the awkwardness she was supposed to feel. Her work clothes weren’t the least bit fitting to the posh elegant party clients that surrounded her. She was sure the guy at the door only had allow her in because of her bewilder look.

“Ms. Smoak?”

“Mr. Queen, sorry to bother you.”

“Oliver. Call me Oliver.”

“Felicity.”

“It’s no bother, Felicity. I needed to talk to you to.”

“It’s too crowed here. Is there access to the basement from here?”

“How did you…”

A woman came in cutting their talk while walking to the bar. Felicity knew the move, unseen by her Oliver was getting hit on.

Oliver’s eyes keep on the woman as he answers her.

“Out the back. There’s a door. I’ll be right down.”

The door is easy enough to find. The code is simple enough to break and the stairs are noisy at best but the space at the bottom is welcoming.

“Hello.”

The man would be scary if it weren’t for the smile that extended from his lips to his eyes.

“Hi. I’m Felicity.”

“John.”

The chair in front of the computer’s screen is empty and Felicity takes it while Diggle smile increases.

“I need to find someone.”

“Oh… who? Kojo?”

The fast typing pauses for a moment.

“You know about that?”

“She’s dangerous to more than just you.”

The typing proceeds.

“Oliver’s detail level was null.”

Diggle can see she didn’t like being handed just half the truth.

“Where is Oliver?”

“He found someone interesting up there.”

If Oliver had heard Felicity he would strongly disagree.

“What are you doing here?”

“You are not moving fast enough, Mr. Queen.”

Amanda sipped her drink while Oliver noticed the agents posted around Verdant. A power play he knew fully well.

“Maybe you should have your men take care of it.”

“I have Mr. Queen. That’s why we are here.”

The double meaning wasn’t unnoticed. The threat was veiled but clear.

“I’m taking care of it.”

“Don’t take too long.”

Following Amanda the agents leave but the warning is still very much present.

As he starts going down the stairs the sound of Felicity’s fast fingers over the keyboard caught him off guard.

“What are you doing?”

“Accessing QC system.”

“From here? You can’t do that.”

“I’m already in.”

“How? This system is not prepared to do that.”

Felicity stops and Oliver welcomes the silence.

“Who told you that?”

“That wasn’t what I planned for it to do.”

“Well glad you didn’t program it then.”

“How did you know I didn’t?”

The mocking smile bothers him somewhat, her following words don’t help

“Besides the obvious. You couldn’t have because I did that.”

The shock overwhelms the two men.

“You work for ARGUS?”

“Is that what it’s called? I had no idea. I get tasks I execute them.”

“Oliver, she has no idea she’s an ARGUS asset.”

“What’s ARGUS?”

The two men exchange looks.

“Tell me.”

“The organization that wants me to take down Kojo Sledgehammer.”

Felicity ponders for a moment. Clearly the subject ARGUS is unsavory for both men. No matter, Felicity considers, she can do the research herself, now that she knows what to search for.

“Then you’re in luck. I know who she is.”

“The woman that attacked you?”

“How did you…”

Only now she takes in her surroundings, the bow lying on the nearby table.

“Oh… I guess thank you is in order.”

“Why were you there, Felicity?”

“I found a clue.”

“You should have called me.”

“It was such a small detail. I figured it would hurt if I followed it.”

“But it almost did.”

“I never expected her to be so close.”

“How close?”

“QC IT Department close.”

“WHAT?”

“It’s Alena. She’s Kojo.”

“Who’s Alena?”

Felicity calls their attention to the screen now showing Alena’s HR file including picture.

“She took my desk. I don’t know how much damage she has already done. With employee clearance she can access a lot of things and no alarm will react. She has clearance.”

“But she wanted something from you, Felicity.”

“She mention some files.”

“What files?”

“ I figured it was Mr. Steele’s files. I don’t know what’s in them but protecting them is my job.”

Oliver’s phone rings cutting the conversation.

“I’m coming.”

Oliver exchanges a look with Diggle.

“Tommy needs me up there. It’s late. You should go home, Felicity.”

“I’ll take you.” Diggle puts his jacket on before Felicity can refuse.

The IT department is buzzing but the silence installs the moment he walks in. Oliver’s eyes go straight to her desk but there’s a brunet there now. He remembers her photo from the night before, Alena. Felicity must be inside a private now, he heard Walter answer Finn when Finn raised some issues over her fast promotion. He still didn’t quite knew why he was here searching for her, Diggle had left her safely at home and stayed until all lights were out and everything was quiet. But Oliver needed to be sure.

Has he walks close to her desk he’s amazed yet again by the power everyone woman has to transform themselves. It’s hard to reconcile the elegant woman from Friday night with the practical woman chewing a red pen and focusing on the computer screen so hard Oliver can’t understand how the thing stays intact when he wouldn’t.

He stands there for a few moments unnoticed, wondering how much time it will take her to notice him there. Finally he does understand it will take far too long.

“Hi.”

Her eyes leave the screen but they don’t focus on him, for a moment he wonders where she is, what she’s seeing. But then she smiles and she’s there with him and he feels absurdly happy about it.

“I know what she’s trying to access.”

Oliver puzzles on what she’s talking about for a moment

“Kojo. What does she want. Her target is the spinal chip.”

Oliver recalls the brief about the progress of that project. Walter saw the financial potential but wanted it at the minimal price in order to be accessible to everyone. A plan Oliver agreed on.

“Has she attacked already?”

“She won’t get through. I’ll make sure of that.”

Felicity glimpsed outside.

“Felicity, does she have accomplices?”

“I don’t know. She may have. I tried to make some contacts but I don’t know everyone out there.”

This is not good.

“Felicity you talked to other people about this?”

Felicity smiled

“My friends are in here” she points to the computer “Not out there.”

Somehow that didn’t ease Oliver concern.

“Kojo is dangerous and she tried to take you. That was not in there it was out here.”

Too close. The women being on the next room was far from comforting.

“Did you check her address.”

Oliver nods. The night before after Verdant closed and while Diggle made sure Felicity was safe he had checked the address in Alena’s HR file. Unsurprisingly it wasn’t an apartment building but a warehouse. A warehouse he fully intended to check that night.

“Need to go back, though.”

“Tonight? I’m going with you.”

“No you’re not. I work alone.”

“You will find me very helpful. I can access cameras and see if it’s safe.”

“From the Lair.”

“Lair?...”

“Basement.”

“Oh.” Her lips open in a smile “From the Lair.”

There she would be safe, with Diggle.

That night, while the DJ starts the music pumping and filling Verdant. Down the basement Felicity checks the cameras from the warehouse.

Alena is there but not only her. The place is packed and looks exactly like the Tech Lab on MIT. Young man and women are working, focusing on their computer screens. And Felicity knew exactly what was going on.

“Who are they?”

“Hackers. We found a group of hackers.”

“Don’t they usually work alone?”

A misconception but not all that far off from reality.

“Not really. We work in groups often but usually we don’t get working together like this.”

“How does that work?”

“We work together over the net. Everyone at his own place.”

“I’m here.”

Oliver is at the Warehouse.

“There’s a back entrance. Looks clear.”

The image of Oliver’s entering the warehouse shows up.

“The warehouse plan has an inner room, isolated. The servers must be in there.”

With care and with Felicity overwatch Oliver manages to reach the room and set the charges inside. The exit is simpler only because he already knows the way but the pressing urgency of the ticking clock makes him rush.

Felicity watches the blast with mixed feelings. The demise of any system specially one the level she knew Alena could pull made her sad but being rid of the woman was too much of a relief.

It’s early in the day when Felicity arrives QC. The IT Department is empty, or so she thought. Alena is sitting on the chair next to Felicity’s desk.

“You know what you’ve done?”

Felicity sits in her chair. She won’t lie but she will not admit it out loud neither.

“You know what you destroyed?”

“What did you think would happen, Alena? That’s not the way.”

“What do you know about doing what I do? You just help them. You just make our work harder.”

“You’re a criminal, Alena.”

“So are you, Felicity.”

“Technically, maybe. But I never take advantage of what I do. I help making the World safer.”

“You don’t understand.”

“I don’t want to.”

Alena gets up.

“And that’s the real shame. Goodbye, Felicity.”

“Goodbye, Alena.”

She was gone. Starling was safe, Oliver was safe, she was safe.

Verdant was dark and empty. Morning was the quietest part of the day. The message on his phone wasn’t unexpected, as it was the fact the women was already at his side when Oliver noticed Amanda.

“It’s done.”

“Kojo Sledgehammer moved on. To start from scratch. Well done, Mr. Queen. Please extend the compliments to your new team member, Ms. Smoak.”

Oliver knows it’s a trick. A trick Amanda uses often to show she knows everything.

Felicity is not a Team member. He works alone.

But walking into the Lair that night and finding Felicity there makes Amanda’s words ring true. He needs her. The team needs her skills.

“Oliver. How did it go?”

“As expected.”

Oliver sits looking at her searching for some unfathomable threat he knows she will find sooner or later and he will chase sooner rather than later.

“Felicity, would you consider staying?”

@vaelisamaza || @hope-for-olicity|| @tdgal1|| @bindy417|| @supersillyanddorky06|| @emmaamelia95|| @coal000|| @miriam1779|| @felicityollies|| @taurusclh|| @jules85|| @scu11y22 || @quant-um-fizzx|| @memcjo|| @dmichellewrites|| @bringbackianto|| @mogirl97|| @laurabelle2930 || @oli-feli|| @oliverfel4|| @mel-loves-all|| @spaztronautwriter|| @cruzrogue|| @bekaoperetta|| @cndyprfumegirl || @charlinert || @almondblossomme|| @oliverdant|| @felicitys|| @fadinglands|| @nalla-madness|| @geniewithwifi|| @hisbabygirl18love|| @kathrynelizabeth89|| @smoakandarrow|| @smkkbert|| @yet-i-remain-quiet|| @just-arrow|| @kajunblueyes|| @clokiko|| @pharmalen|| @readerkas|| @maaaaaaarts|| @mariel-olandag|| @marianamurias|| @marniforolicity|| @aichaaa12|| @arrowolicity88|| @jaspertown|| @malafle|| @cinfos|| @sadfangirl05|| @wherethereissmoak

#olicity #olicity fanfiction #my fanfics #camp nano april 2017

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tech-battery · 4 years

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Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE 240Hz Portable Monitor Review: Expensive Innovation

Having a portable monitor is a lifesaver. Whether your laptop’s screen just doesn't give you enough space or you’re looking for something to connect to a smartphone or tablet, having an extra screen can instantly boost your productivity. But what if that lightweight screen wasn’t all business? What if it had a fun side too?

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is just that, bringing a pro-level 240 Hz refresh rate to a portable screen for the first time. The 17.3-inch monitor (DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB Type-C or HDMI) delivered most of what I wanted and needed for both work and gaming and made its mark as a one-of-a-kind product. But that innovation comes at a $500 price tag that leaves us wondering if you’re better off just buying one of the best gaming monitors instead.

Design of Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

With speedy specs, there’s no doubt that the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is for gamers, but with portable monitors offering little space to work with, gamer aesthetics are only embodied by a pair of watchful eyes that are the Asus ROG logo. With black the dominating color, the overall look here is pretty mute, but Asus found subtle ways to include premium touches.

With its subtle placement, smooth feel and silver look, the Asus ROG logo actually looks good in a bottom bezel that also manages to fit in two 1W front-firing speakers without taking up too much room. The back of the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is its fanciest looking part. A diagonal line starkly divides two contrasting brushed finishes that makes one half look darker than the other. Here lies another ROG eye that glows when the monitor’s on. I’m not usually a fan of massive branding, but when the logo looks this good and gives out a vibe this creepy, I can’t help but appreciate it.

The 17.3-inch Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE will naturally take up more desk space than the 15.6-inch MSI Optix MAG161V (15.7 x 9.9 x 0.4 inches for the Asus versus 14.05 x 8.94 x 0.43 inches with the MSI), but it’s still comparably thin and even thinner than the Lenovo ThinkVision M14 (12.7 x 8.2-8.7 x 3.8 inches). However, with its larger size, the Asus is also heavier than those non-gaming portable displays (2.3 pounds versus the MSI’s 2 pounds and the Lenovo’s 1.3 pounds). But if you want larger screen size, which is handy for immersing yourself in the game as much as possible, the extra screen real estate will be worth the extra pound, and pixel density is still fantastic at 127.3 pixels per inch.

A small way the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE starts earning its price tag is through versatile connectivity options. If you have a laptop or desktop with a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode, you can connect to the monitor that way. If your computer's USB-C port can charge other devices, you can even use the ROG Strix XG17AHPE without ever having to worry about it running out of battery. Through USB-C, the monitor can receive up to 12V at 2A (with USB Power Delivery 3.0). With my laptop’s Thunderbolt port, I was able to use the ROG Strix XG17AHPE with a single (included) USB-C to USB-C cable for hours without its battery life ever dropping. USB-C also serves to connect tablets and smartphones, including a Samsung Galaxy S10 I connected to it effortlessly.

Either of the two USB-C ports can power the monitor, so if none of your system’s ports can’t do that, you can use one to connect to your device and the other to supply it power. The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE comes with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, which plugs into an included power brick. That adapter also means the monitor can connect to your system’s USB-A port and receive power.

In addition to USB-C or USB-A, you also have the option to connect to a device’s HDMI port via a MicroHDMI to HDMI cable. This opens up possibilities in the world of Raspberry Pi, gaming consoles and even cameras. If you use HDMI, it’ll either run on battery (see the Battery Life section) or you could simultaneously give the monitor power through a USB-C cable. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for plugging in your best gaming headset.

The panel’s left side holds all the ports and controls. Controls come in the form of a power button located higher than the rest of the inputs and lights up when on or charging, plus three additional buttons. They’re all pretty shallow but worked on the first try.

Origami Stand on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

Like with many portable monitors, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE uses an origami-style stand that you must fold a certain way to prop up the monitor. It felt a little more intuitive to fold than the one found on the Optix MAG161V, and the Asus has a magnetic hard bit that secures under the bottom bezel for added stability. But the stand was still a pain in the butt.

The origami stand does allow for different levels of back tilt, but I sometimes wished I could get the monitor closer to 90 degrees to better line it up with a connected laptop. If my table started shaking due to aggressive typing, I’d notice the XG17AHPE wobbling too. But the monitor never came crashing down, even if I slid it across my desk (putting pressure on the top bezel was a different story though).

In portrait mode, the stand never failed me, but I felt nervous the whole time. The stand just doesn’t provide enough of a foundation for me to feel safe using it that way long-term or with a wobbly table. But I have to admit that having this much vertical screen space is fantastic for reading and something missed with the vast majority of laptops.

We wish more monitors would employ a reliable and sturdy kickstand like Lenovo does with the ThinkVision M14, which has not one, but two built-in stands. Portable monitors are just too delicate and, in the XG17AHPE’s case, expensive to bet it all on thin, bendy stand-sleeves. The monitor will eventually be available as a different SKU (XG17AHP) with a tripod stand, (plus the same sleeve and a bag), but that ups the monitor’s price to $600.

As bad as this thing is as a stand, it’s even worse as a protective case. While the cover makes a debatably safe stand, it’s an undeniably flawed protector that leaves the sides and back of the monitor exposed. Since this monitor’s meant for traveling, we expected Asus to provide a sleeve that covered all bases without easily sliding off.

Gaming Performance of Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

A 240 Hz monitor opens up a world of potential for first-person shooters and other eSports. While even the best graphics cards for gamers can’t always push AAA titles at a frame rate of 240 frames per second (fps) and high settings, eSports games look extra smooth at 240 fps with low latency and the elimination of disastrous distractions, like ghosting. The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE's FreeSync fights off screen tearing, which happens when your GPU’s frame rate doesn’t match up with the display’s refresh rate, but that only works with AMD graphics cards.

Unfortunately, with New York City in lockdown we couldn’t use our lag tester on the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE; however, I put it through its Overwatch paces, paired to a gaming laptop running an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 mobile GPU. I used the monitor’s out-of-the box settings, so overdrive was set to Level 3.

As I played Overwatch for a few hours, I didn’t notice any input delay with the monitor with the game set to run at 1920 x 1080 at 240 Hz, but with a GTX 1060 GPU, I was only able to hit a frame rate of about 63-85 fps. To maximize the screen’s potential, I’d need a more-powerful GPU that can push out 240 fps with this game.

Still, images on the ROG Strix XG17AHPE appeared smooth, even during Sigma’s most intense and fastest moments of battles or when enemies filled the screen. Trotting around felt very smooth and realistic. Ocean waves in the distance moved smoothly without stuttering. I’m used to gaming on a 17.3-inch 144 Hz screen, so I didn’t notice a grand improvement in quality when graduating to a 17.3-inch 240 Hz display. But if you’re moving from a standard 60 Hz screen, your experience may differ.

On-Screen Display, Calibration on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE's on-screen display (OSD) is surprisingly navigable for a portable monitor settings menu. Pressing the menu button on the side brings up icons on the display that align with the corresponding buttons for activating. This makes it easy to know where the buttons for scrolling, selecting and back are. It’s no joystick, but the pop-ups are large and proved helpful in navigation.

Asus also surprised me with a large number of calibration options on the ROG Strix XG17AHPE. The Gaming menu features overdrive (five levels of overdrive, plus off), an option for toggling FreeSync and the GamePlus menu, which has a crosshair, timer, FPS counter and display alignment. In the GameVisual section, you can pick from eight image modes. Racing is the default, but there’s also Scenery, Cinema, RTS/RPG, FPS, sRGB, MOBA and User. The Gaming section also has Shadow Boost, which, according to Asus, “clarifies dark areas of the game without overexposing brighter areas” with three levels, including 0, the default.

The Image section of the ROG Strix XG17AHPE's OSD provides control over things like brightness, contrast and the blue light filter, depending on the mode selected. Meanwhile, the Color menu has options for Color Temp (cool, normal, warm, or user with red, green and blue sliders from 0-100%), Gamma (2.2, the logic default, or 1.8 or 2.5) and Saturation.

Other menu sections include Power, Input Select (HDMI or USB Type-C), My Favorite, for shortcuts and customized settings and System Setup, with standards like language, volume, key lock, OSD setup and reset. There’s also an Auto Rotation feature, but to use it you must download Asus’ DisplayWidget software.

Image Quality on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

We did our testing with out-of-the box image settings, so the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE was in Racing Mode with contrast set to 80 and the blue light filter and Shadow Boost off.

The ROG Strix XG17AHPE worked great as my general second display with plenty of brightness. Even when I was facing a sunny window, the screen was bright enough for productivity use at 50% max brightness, and games were playable at this setting, albeit more dull.

Word documents were luminous enough to edit while looking at the monitor head on, and when I turned it perpendicular from me, I could still view documents and games, but with just a touch of reflection in the further third of the screen. When I boosted brightness up to 100%, that reflection was barely noticeable. Additionally, with the screen completely flat, I could comfortably view documents and movies, only sacrificing a small amount of brightness. Credit is due to Asus’ use of IPS, a panel tech known for strong viewing angles.

Overwatch, a particularly colorful game, looked properly saturated on the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE, and dark colors were distinct. Different shades of dark green topiaries and a yellow sunflower were apparent in shadowed corners. Colors on the movie Mission: Impossible Fallout were also strong, from green poplars that looked exuberant and vivid as Ethan and Ilsa walked past them, to differing shades of gold and rust in a club scene. Even the secretly olive green in Ilsa’s jacket was discernible on the ROG Strix XG17AHPE.

The ROG Strix XG17AHPE proved pleasantly bright in our testing but fell short of Asus’ 300-nit max brightness claim. Still, 285.6 nits is plenty and still brighter than the next runner up by 117.2 nits, as well as the average of the comparison group by 81.6 nits.

Asus claims that the ROG Strix XG17AHPE covers 100% of the sRGB color space, but our review unit actually surpassed that slightly. Colors on the Asus should look more saturated than those on the MAG161V or the 15.6-inch Asus ZenScreen MB16AC. The Lenovo fell behind the XG17AHPE by 11.5%. When it came to the wider DCI-P3 space, the XG17AHPE hit an impressive 77.5% coverage, significantly better than what MSI’s MAG161V or Asus’ MB16AC can do here.

Battery Life on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE runs on a 7,800mAh battery. If you have a USB-C or USB-A port with Power Delivery 3.0 support, it can provide the monitor enough power to save you from having to get a charger. When I used it with a Thunderbolt port, battery life never fell below 100%, and when I used it with a supporting USB-A port for 7 hours at max brightness, the battery life only dropped to 97%.

But if your device doesn’t have a Power Delivery port, the monitor will be running off battery power. With the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE running at 240 Hz and using the speakers at max volume, it lasted about 2 hours at 80% brightness. At 100% brightness and without using the speakers, it lasted about 3 hours and 30 minutes.

At 60 Hz, the display uses less battery power. With brightness maxed out, but rarely using the speakers, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE lasted 3 hours. When I used the XG17AHPE at 50% brightness at this refresh rate, the portable monitor lasted about 4.5 hours.

Asus claims that the ROG Strix XG17AHPE can get enough juice to game for 2 hours at the max 240 Hz refresh rate with an hour of charging.

Audio on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

It’s not the primary reason people buy portable monitors, but the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE's two 1W stereo speakers are shockingly loud and might outblast a connected phone, tablet or disappointing laptop speakers. The ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s speakers were especially handy when I played emulated N64 games off a Raspberry Pi, which, of course, doesn’t include speakers, as would also be the case if you connected the XG17AHPE to a gaming console.

Because the speakers on my laptop are particularly bad, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE's speakers were actually an upgrade when I played Overwatch. With front-firing speakers, audio from the monitor never sounded muffled. During battle, I could make out the differences in sound effects from various weapons and still clearly hear characters' voices and even that of my teammate, who wished something bad would happen to me in real life (I hope you live a long life, pal!). Overall, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE provided fuller sound, even allowing me to hear wind blowing in the background during a quiet training session that I couldn’t hear when I toggled audio back to my lackluster laptop speakers.

Hearing Mission: Impossible Fallout was also easy, even with the windows in my Brooklyn apartment open. Ethan and Ilsa’s whisperings were hard to make out, but gunshots were booming, and I could even follow the echo of Luther’s pained voice traveling down a tunnel.

You can also plug a pair of cans into the display’s 3.5mm headphone jack, which uses an integrated ESS ES9118 digital-to-analogue (DAC) converter. For audiophiles, the SoC drives 24-bit, 192 kHz lossless playback that Asus promises delivers “unprecedented dynamic range and ultra-low distortion.”

Bottom Line

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is an amazing portable monitor for gamers with the need for it. Nothing can compete for pairing with a good graphics card or gaming console or just packing up for a LAN party, thanks to its thin build and 2.3-pound weight. And with great viewing angles, it’s also a great second screen for work.

But $500 is a steep price to pay for a portable monitor considering that some of the best full-sized PC gaming monitors are available for less. 240 Hz monitors are so speedy that they’re in their own category, but our favorite 240 Hz desktop monitor right now is the Samsung 27-inch CRG5, which as of this writing is a mere $400. Looking around online, I also found a 27-inch LG 240 Hz monitor for pre-order at $279 and a 240 Hz Acer 25-inch available now for $300. At $500, then, the XG17AHPE isn’t for gamers seeking an inexpensive way to add a 240 Hz display to their setup.

Therefore, this monitor’s best audience is those who need a monitor they can easily pick up. If you travel a lot, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE will make sure you’re never stuck gaming on a lackluster screen or, even worse, not gaming at all.

If you’re just looking for a quality portable display, the Lenovo Thinkvision M14 isn’t fit for gaming, but is half the price ($250) and has a built-in kickstand rather than an annoying origami stand. That said, you can’t get this level of color saturation from Lenovo’s monitor. And the ROG Strix XG17AHPE's port selection brings valuable versatility, including console gaming, connecting to a Raspberry Pi and getting power and data from one cable.

If you need a gaming monitor that can move with you while delivering very high refresh rates, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is a premium option, but it’s also the only option we know of.

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anneedmonsonus · 5 years

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Spring Cleaning Tips with Max Kater – and WIN an Epic Murchison-Hume Prize Pack!

If you’re like most people, the very mention of the words “spring cleaning” makes you want to dive under the covers and hope for six more weeks of winter. Decluttering, doing a deep clean of your whole house, knocking off all those cobwebs to get your outdoor area ready for the warmer weather… we all know spring cleaning is a great idea, a fresh start to welcome the warmer weather (and discover horrible half-eaten apples left under the sofa by the baby, as I did the other day) but getting it done isn’t always so fun. However, you CAN make spring cleaning much more bearable, and today I’m sharing the tips of none other than green cleaning products expert and Murchison-Hume founder and CEO, Max Kater, a mother of two.

A little Murchison-Hume in our laundry.

Murchison-Hume CEO Max Kater.

When I think of Max Kater, I have in mind the ‘original’ green cleaning products mastermind. She was onto this stuff LONG before most people were even aware that a ton of commercial cleaning products can have chemical nasties in them. She actually started Murchison-Hume when she realised that her youngest son had inherited her allergic sensitivities to common cleaning and bath products. His skin would react even to the products on the market that were labelled “eco-friendly”.

The crux came when Max pulled Charlie out of the bath she had just cleaned one day – his poor skin was red from the waist down, exactly on the water line. Max vowed to find a safe, plant-based cleaning product that worked, and when she didn’t, she decided to make her own!

Like many people who start a hugely successful business, it all began when Max saw a niche, and since its conception in 2011, Murchison-Hume is a massive company with an library of incredible safe, plant-based products, and they’ve expanded to the U.S, where Max and her family are now based.

If you follow my Instagram or have even just seen a few of our room makeovers on this blog; you might have picked up on my love for Murchison-Hume’s very pretty amber-tinted bottles. These are cleaning and beauty products that look so nice you actually don’t mind leaving their iconic brown bottles out on display – they make your room look better!

Picture by @caro_kmartin.

You want Paw Patrol? You know the drill.

But better yet their products actually work, and they smell good enough to drink (but don’t, even though they’re made from non-toxic ingredients). Our laundry cupboard is full of Murchison-Hume products, and even our four-year-old son uses them – he loves to wipe down the benchtops and cupboards for me with his rag and the Counter Intelligence Spray. And because the products are non-toxic, I feel a little less guilty about the child slavery being practised in this house. (I’m KIDDING. I never felt guilty in the first place). But seriously, I think it’s good to try to get kids involved with chores when they’re little, and he loves that I let him use a specific ‘grown-up’ cleaning product. (We have a rule in my house – he is sometimes allowed to have screen time while the baby has her nap, but he has to clean up first – it’s a win-win!)

I have also always liked the Murchsion Hume company ethos. Their products are 100% cruelty-free, palm oil free (you can read about their ingredients on their site – they’re very transparent – and their containers are made from glass and recyclable PET plastic, with many products designed to be refilled and reused. The products make nice gift ideas. And the MH team are really nice people to boot! I’m a fan.

So, back to spring cleaning. “A good seasonal deep clean and clear-out gives back in countless ways that actually make your life better,” says Max. “But the hardest part is knowing where to start.” So today she’s sharing her easy-to-follow tips to help you navigate your seasonal cull and clean. “You can get it all done without getting overwhelmed and at the end you’ll be rewarded with a happier, healthier and more stress-free home,” she says.

AND if you need the perfect dose of motivation, Murchison-Hume are very generously giving one lucky House Nerd the most epic spring cleaning prize pack!

You can score every single MH product pictured here – make sure you check it out at the end of the post. I can guarantee that even the most reluctant cleaner won’t mind doing some cleaning when it’s with products that smell as amazing as these!

TIPS FOR EASY SPRING CLEANING – FROM MURCHISON-HUME CEO MAX KATER

1. Step one. Get your cleaning kit together. Everyone knows that a job is easier when you have the right tools. We recommend our Clean Starter Kit plus some specialty cleaners for furniture and stainless steel. A few good brushes, mops and lint-free cleaning cloths will help too.

Try and keep everything together in an organised cleaning caddy. You might like to make it easy on yourself by keeping a small one under every sink, so you can easily maintain it and don’t have to lug one around all the time. (Murchison-Hume also have these great bamboo caddies – I have one under my laundry sink – Maya).

2. Now. Let’s set the mood. We highly recommend cleaning to music. It just makes everything more fun and feel less like hard work!

Photo by Amy Bartlam. Design by Jennifer Muirhead Interiors.

3. Tackle the big jobs first, that means windows. The thing about windows is that you don’t really see them…you feel them. Once they are done, everything looks brighter, more cheerful and just…better. If possible, choose a cloudy day (or early morning) to tackle the windows, as a hot sun can dry them faster than you can, leaving those nasty streaks. Once you are inside you can take it room by room.

4. Work from top to bottom. Start with a general tidy up. Open the windows. Even if it’s chilly outside, all rooms benefit from a blast of fresh air! Bang cushions together and drag them outside if it’s sunny. Vacuum under the sofas and move things around. It’s amazing where dust can accumulate! You should be good and warm by now.

5. Dusting down: Once the cushions have had a good vacuum and airing, spritz all the surfaces with our Furniture & Upholstery Cleaner and wipe them down with a clean, lint-free towel.

After dusting, it’s time to strip the beds completely bare and let the mattresses and pillows breathe a bit. You can use our furniture cleaner on them too, just let air dry before making them again. It’s a good idea to have at least two of everything for each bed (including mattress & pillow protectors) so there is always one set ready for service while the other is being laundered.

6. Scrub your surfaces. The kitchen and bathrooms will be your biggest challenge (but also your biggest pay-off area). Start by removing all of the towels and throwing them in the laundry. Carefully remove everything off the counters and give them all a good scrub.

7. De-clutter. If like us you have zero patience for trying to find something you need, your favourite seasonal activity will be re-organising the drawers & cupboards. Throw out all the half-empty shampoo bottles and out of date medications.

Check the junk and utility drawers and toss out dried up pens, used batteries and all of the assorted stuff that’s clogging your life.

Finish with the mirrors and stainless surfaces. Once your reflective surfaces are good and gleaming, you are nearly done. (The Murchison Hume team – and I – loved the Marie Kondo show Tidying Up on Netflix – make sure you check it out if you’re after some decluttering motivation! You won’t be able to help yourself).

From @donnaguylerdesign.

8. Do the floors last. Dirty floors, like dirty windows aren’t immediately obvious, but you really do feel the difference when they are clean! For the best results, you’ll want to sweep or vacuum first before mopping.

Please don’t make the rookie mistake of boxing yourself into a corner. Clear the floor as much as possible by removing small furniture, trashcans, and rugs before you start. Work from the farthest corner to your exit.

We don’t even bother with a traditional sponge mops anymore. A good floor cleaner in a trigger spray mop is much easier and faster than traditional mopping.

Make yourself a hot cup of tea and leave it just outside the room you are working in. You’ll be done before it cools.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

9. Stand back and admire your handiwork. Reward yourself with a nice hot bath or shower and your skin will be glowing from your exertions!

Now that you’re done, the house will be clean and fresh and so much more comfortable. Happy Spring!

WIN! The Ulimate Murchison-Hume Spring Cleaning Prize Pack

To get one lucky House Nerd in a spring cleaning mood, Murchison Hume are kindly giving away the most amazing army of their cleaning products. One lucky nerd will score all of these beautiful products for their home.

Win all the products pictured here!

Classic Six Set

• Bamboo Caddy (RRP $30) • 500ml Boys’ Bathroom Cleaner (Original Fig – RRP $14) • 500ml Premium Glass & Mirror Polish (Original Fig – RRP $14) • 500ml Spit & Polish Stainless Steel Cleaner (Original Fig – RRP $14) • 500ml Everyday Furniture & Upholstery Cleaner (Original Fig – RRP $14) • 500ml Counter Intelligence All-Surface Spray (Original Fig – RRP $14) • 500ml Effortless Floor Cleaner (Original Fig – RRP $14)

For The Kitchen

• Porcelain Tray (RRP $20) • Signature Amber Glass Bottle Heirloom Dish Soap (Australian White Grapefruit – RRP $40) �� Superlative Hand Soap (Japanese Quince – RRP $20) • Velvet Glove Hand Cream (Japanese Quince – RRP $25)

For The Laundry

• Porcelain Tray (RRP $20) • Everything Laundry Soap (Basil | Mandarin | Kale – $RRP $25) • Garment Groom (Australian White Grapefruit – RRP $14) • Porcelain Laundry Cup (RRP $15)

You can enter in one of three easy ways:

If you’re entering on Instagram:

Follow House Nerd @housenerd and Murchison-Hume @murchisonhume and tag a friend for entry. One friend, one entry, five friends, five entries… you get the idea.

If you’re entering on Facebook:

Follow House Nerd @housenerd and Murchison-Hume @murchisonhume and tag a friend for entry. One friend, one entry, five friends, five entries.

OR just leave a comment with your own cleaning or decluttering tip on this blog post with your full name (and don’t forget to include your email address, which stays private).

Winner drawn Friday 18th October and notified by email. Entry open to residents of Australian only. Good luck! Maya x

The post Spring Cleaning Tips with Max Kater – and WIN an Epic Murchison-Hume Prize Pack! appeared first on House Nerd.

from Home Improvement https://house-nerd.com/2019/10/06/spring-cleaning-murchison-hume-win/

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robertkstone · 5 years

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2018 Subaru Crosstrek Long-Term Verdict: Still a Solid CUV After One Year?

Driving back from a day of off-roading at Hungry Valley, I detoured through some canyon roads near Malibu. Still feeling the adrenaline from the 4×4 practice area of the park, I pushed the little Subie harder than ever. Tires were squealing, and my heart was racing. This might sound crazy, but the lifted hatchback can be flogged through corners harder than most small-crossover competitors before the all-season tires raise the white flag. Back on the highway, I couldn’t help but think how multitalented the Crosstrek is.

After a year in a 2018 Crosstrek, we can confirm that the MotorTrend favorite doesn’t just cover the basics better than most. It’s also great at extracurricular activities. Around town, the Crosstrek rides very well, soaking up bumps, dips, and imperfections like a premium vehicle and with almost zero rattling. On a horribly rough freeway on-ramp near our office, many other vehicles bounce around, emitting jingles and jangles while the steering wheel shakes side to side. Not in the Crosstrek, which irons out the ramp without any steering wheel drama. Much of this has to do with its very solid chassis. I intentionally hit bumps and dips when I test cars, and the Crosstrek barely noticed. With its 8.7 inches of ground clearance, I never worried about bottoming out on dips.

The comfortable ride continues off the asphalt. Bumps, ruts, and rocks are nicely absorbed by the Stablex dampers. At one point in Hungry Valley, I found myself driving down a dirt road at 40 mph as if I was in some kind of Baja desert race. A quick twist of the steering wheel induced a fun and controlled slide. As I discovered in my off-roading adventure, mud, sand, rocks, and ruts didn’t stop the Crosstrek. And although most owners will keep it on asphalt, it should be nice to know that this little thing off-roads better than most expect.

I wasn’t able to off-road in the snow, but the Crosstrek’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system with X-Mode should make easy work of it. Driving in the rain was actually lots of fun thanks to the loads of traction. For kicks, I would pull away from a stoplight very quickly without any wheel spin, leaving all others far behind me. In the event of having to make a quick turn on a busy street with speeding cars, have no fear, as breaking traction even in the rain is difficult.

Considering the Crosstrek’s competitive set, the spacious cabin is styled well and has many quality parts that sometimes make you forget you’re in Subaru’s cheapest crossover. The orange stitching on the seats and steering wheel pop, there are plenty of textured and soft-touch surfaces, the blinker and wiper stalks don’t feel flimsy, and most buttons and switches feel good. The rearview camera has sharp resolution, but I wish the 6.5-inch touchscreen was a little larger. (An 8.0-inch screen is available on Limited and hybrid models; our tester was a midlevel Premium.) My favorite interior component is something you constantly touch, the steering wheel. The grips are large, the leather feels good, the paddle shifters are easily flickable, and it looks good. But the best part is actually the feel. When I review other cars, it’s rare for one to have better steering feel. The Crosstrek’s is almost perfectly weighted and very precise, with a decent amount of feedback (rare for the segment), and its quick ratio is fun when pushing it. This is something the Crosstrek doesn’t need, but it’s refreshing to see in a crossover. It’s also one of the reasons why the Subie handles so well.

Plenty of staffers used the Subaru for long trips, and for good reason. Besides the comfort level, the Crosstrek has a large 16.6-gallon tank and delivers 33 mpg on the highway with the CVT. The rear seats are roomy, and the cargo area should be large enough for most. Apple CarPlay (or Android Auto) keeps passengers entertained, and if there is an emergency, simply hit the SOS call button near the map lights. Additionally, even though visibility is good, the added assistance of the large yellow warning light of the blind-spot monitoring system will help keep things safe. If your trip is in the mountains, engine braking is surprisingly strong, and the paddle shifters are responsive.

But like any vehicle, there are plenty of ways to improve the little Subaru. In my third update I complained about its nonlinear acceleration, lack of a proximity key with push-start ignition for the price (the feature becomes standard on the higher Limited trim), and door locks that don’t automatically lock or unlock (even when you drive away). Another thing about those door locks: When locked, pulling the handle won’t open the door like in many vehicles; you have to press the unlock button or manually unlock it. Getting out of a modern-day car shouldn’t require an extra step, and it could slow you down in case of an emergency.

I was always surprised with how many people complimented our Crosstrek’s exterior color.

I addressed the Crosstrek’s just-adequate acceleration in my track-day update. Speaking of acceleration, when driving the Crosstrek hard, the CVT engages what feels like a temporary Sport mode (an official Sport mode doesn’t exist) by becoming extra responsive. This is fine when having fun, but it can be annoying when you aren’t. For example, if you apply a lot of throttle to beat traffic, be careful when you press the gas again; even a light application will result in a jerk because the transmission still thinks you want to go fast.

As much as I like the interior for the price point, I see room for improvement. The instrument cluster and small display screen look cheap and old, and so does the small upper center display screen. But those can be upgraded with the Limited or hybrid trims. The steering wheel column cover looks like a piece of construction paper, the heated seat switches and X-Mode buttons aren’t up to par, and the center stack looks plain. I‘m a big fan of quality-feeling shifters, like the Limited and hybrid models have. Our Premium trim tester’s sounds and feels clunky. Additionally, I wish the USB ports were front facing, rear HVAC vents should be available, and more interior color is needed—the cabin is too dark. Lastly, the infotainment system is easy to use, and Apple CarPlay connects quickly, though it needs to react quicker to your inputs. There’s a significant delay between your finger touching the screen and the system responding.

The Crosstrek proved to be reliable during our 13 months and 20,939 miles in it. We took it into the dealership three times for scheduled maintenance (7,500-mile intervals) and replaced a tire due to a slow leak from a gash in the sidewall. During one of the dealership visits, a recall for the stereo head unit was completed free of charge, but I never noticed any connectivity issues. The maintenance visits totaled $281.85, and the new tires cost $248.91. We averaged 25.9 mpg, a bit below the 2018 Crosstrek’s 27/33 mpg city/highway EPA ratings but within the 24.5/35.1 mpg results from our EQUA Real MPG testing. Our former long-term Jeep Renegade cost us $67.35 in scheduled maintenance, but that was with half the miles; had the Renegade been driven a comparable 20,000 miles, its maintenance visits still would have been $100 or more below the Crosstrek. Our long-term Honda HR-V ($149.29 for two service visits over 20,348 miles) was also cheaper to maintain. A 2016 Mazda CX-3 tester ($534.34 over 35,386 miles and four service visits) was also cheaper to maintain per mile.

With a bit more power and some interior upgrades, the Subaru Crosstrek would be damn near perfect for a crossover. Despite its shortcomings, we’re sorry to see the Crosstrek leave our long-term fleet.

Read more about our 2018 Subaru Crosstrek:

Arrival

Update 1: The Subaru Comfortable

Update 2: Crosstrek Track Day

Update 3: It’s Time to Grumble

Update 4: Hitting the Mountain

Update 5: Off-Road Cred Confirmed

Update 6: EyeSight or Not?

Our Car SERVICE LIFE 13 mo / 20,939 mi BASE PRICE $23,510 OPTIONS Option Package 12 ($1,400: Power moonroof, blind spot dectection with rear cross traffic alert, lane change assist); Continuously variable transmission ($1,000), audio upgrade kit ($499), crossbar set ($201), rear bumper cover ($113), rear seat back protector ($95), all-weather mats ($81) PRICE AS TESTED $26,899 AVG ECON/CO2 25.9 mpg / 0.75 lb/mi PROBLEM AREAS None MAINTENANCE COST 281.85 (3- oil change, rotation, inspection; 1- cabin air filter) NORMAL-WEAR COST $0 3-YEAR RESIDUAL VALUE* $22,400 (83%) RECALLS None *IntelliChoice data; assumes 42,000 miles at the end of 3-years

2018 Subaru Crosstrek 2.0i Premium POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD ENGINE TYPE Flat-4, alum block/heads VALVETRAIN DOHC, 4 valves/cyl DISPLACEMENT 121.7 cu in/1,995 cc COMPRESSION RATIO 12.5:1 POWER (SAE NET) 152 hp @ 6,000 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 145 lb-ft @ 4,000 rpm REDLINE 6,250 rpm WEIGHT TO POWER 21.2 lb/hp TRANSMISSION Cont variable auto AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO 3.90:1/2.17:1 SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR Struts, coil springs, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar STEERING RATIO 13.0:1 TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK 2.6 BRAKES, F; R 11.6-in vented disc; 10.8-in disc, ABS WHEELS 7.0 x 17-in cast aluminum TIRES 225/60R17 98H (M+S) Yokohama Geolandar G91 DIMENSIONS WHEELBASE 104.9 in TRACK, F/R 61.0/61.2 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 175.8 x 71.0 x 62.6 in GROUND CLEARANCE 8.7 in APPRCH/DEPART ANGLE 18.0/29.0 deg TURNING CIRCLE 35.4 ft CURB WEIGHT 3,225 lb WEIGHT DIST, F/R 59/41% TOWING CAPACITY 1,500 lb SEATING CAPACITY 5 HEADROOM, F/R 37.6/37.8 in LEGROOM, F/R 43.1/36.5 in SHOULDER ROOM, F/R 56.7/55.6 in CARGO VOLUME, BEH F/R 55.3/20.8 cu ft TEST DATA 43.1/36.5 in ACCELERATION TO MPH 0-30 3.4 sec 0-40 5.0 0-50 6.8 0-60 9.0 0-70 11.7 0-80 15.4 PASSING, 45-65 MPH 4.4 QUARTER MILE 16.9 sec @ 83.4 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 120 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.81 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 27.3 sec @ 0.62 g (avg) TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH 1,550 rpm CONSUMER INFO BASE PRICE $23,510 PRICE AS TESTED $26,899 STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL Yes/Yes AIRBAGS 7: Dual front, front side, f/r curtain, driver knee BASIC WARRANTY 3 yrs/36,000 miles POWERTRAIN WARRANTY 5 yrs/60,000 miles ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE 3 yrs/36,000 miles FUEL CAPACITY 16.6 gal REAL MPG, CITY/HWY/COMB 24.5/35.1/28.3 mpg EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON 27/33/29 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 125/102 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 0.66 lb/mile RECOMMENDED FUEL Unleaded regular

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infotainmentplus-blog · 6 years

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Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems and how to fix them Samsung is upping its flagship game, kicking off 2018 with what many would consider two of the best Android smartphones out there. The company’s latest high-end offerings further refine the already great features of their predecessors, taking elements like the design, display, performance, and photography to a whole new level. However, as good as these devices are, there are unfortunately still a few Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems users have to contend with. Related coverage: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus review Best Samsung Galaxy S9 cases Here is a roundup of some of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems we’re aware of, along with potential solutions on how to fix them! Disclaimer: Not every Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus will have these issues. In fact, it is more than likely you won’t come across of any of these problems at all. Problem #1 – Display issues A slew of display issues have cropped up with these devices. They are some of the most common Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems out there. Black crush issue Quite a few users have reported a problem where the display has difficulty revealing details in darker areas of videos, showing blocks of black or pixelated images instead. This issue is mostly seen with the larger Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and at low brightness levels. Potential solutions: Luckily, a software fix should resolve this issue and will hopefully be rolled out soon. Until then, a temporary fix is available by using an app called Screen Balance, which gives you complete control over features like white balance, tint, color filters, and brightness. You can download the app from the Google Play Store here. Screen brightness automatically adjusts and becomes too dim Some users have reported that when they unlock the device at night or in a dark environment, the screen automatically becomes dimmer, even though settings like Auto Brightness and Blue Light mode (Night mode) are disabled. Potential solutions: This problem seems to happen to users who have restored the settings and apps from a previous device which had Night mode enabled. Unfortunately, the only way to fix this issue, for now, is to perform a Factory Reset (you can find the instructions on how to do so below). During the setup process, make sure to uncheck “Restore system settings.” You will still be able to restore your apps as you did before. The display appears to have a yellow tint A few users have reported seeing a yellow tint on the screen. Potential solutions: You can try changing the color balance by going to Settings > Display > Color Mode and manually adjusting the RGB spectrum until the screen looks better. If that doesn’t help and the issue persists, the only option may be to pick up a replacement. Dead zone on the screen One of the more widely discussed Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 problems so far has been the dead zone on the screen that some users have found. An entire section of the display seems to be unresponsive. Potential solutions: First, check whether you do have a dead zone on the screen or not. Open the Dialer and call *#0*# to launch the hardware diagnostics page. Open the Touch option. Now, swipe your finger across all sections of the screen to check whether an area is unresponsive. If it is, this makes you eligible for a replacement from Samsung. In case there isn’t a dead zone, the issue may be related to touch sensitivity, particularly if you have a screen protector in place. Go to the Settings menu and open Advanced Features. Scroll down, find Touch Sensitivity, and enable it. Problem #2 – Keyboard not working Some users have found that the keyboard doesn’t open as expected when trying to enter your PIN or password to unlock the phone. Potential solutions: Many assume this could be because of the dead zone problem mentioned above. The solution is actually a lot simpler and basically involves enabling a setting that should have been activated by default. Go to Settings > Apps and open the Advanced Settings menu by tapping on the three vertical dots at the top right corner. Tap on Show System Settings and scroll down to Samsung Keyboard. Scroll down to Advanced Settings and grant the permission for “Apps that can appear on top.” This should fix the problem. The permission should be allowed by default, but may not be in this case. This permission is required even if you install a third-party keyboard. Problem #3 – Video stutter when recording video in 4K Many users have come across dropped frames and lag or stutter when recording video in 4K. The dropped frames show up in the video playback as well. Potential solutions: This stutter could be because of a slow microSD card. Make sure the microSD card you have allows for a minimum write speed of 30MBps to ensure the recording quality doesn’t suffer. Some users have found that disabling electronic image stabilization (EIS) seems to solve the problem. Go to the Camera app and open the Settings menu, where you can disable EIS. You should also enable HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding). Since the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus optical image stabilization (OIS), disabling EIS shouldn’t have too much of a negative impact. That said, a software fix should hopefully be available in an upcoming update. Problem #4 – Notification LED not working as expected Many users have found that the notification LED doesn’t work as expected. Apps like Whatsapp let you choose unique colors for private and group messages, the LED doesn’t reflect this setting. In some cases, the notification LED shows a standard color regardless of whether you have set up different colors for individual apps. This seems to be one of the more common Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems that users have faced. Potential solutions: In the case of Whatsapp, go to Settings > Apps and scroll down to Whatsapp. In the Memory section, tap on Clear Cache. Then launch Whatsapp, open the settings menu, and set the LED color to None. Finally, go to Settings (phone settings) > Display, disable the LED indicator and enable it again. Go back to Whatsapp and set the LED color to the one you want and everything should work as expected. As far as other apps are concerned, you may have to use a third-party app like Light Flow until a permanent fix is available from Samsung. The Pro version of the app can be found here, but some users have suggested Light Flow Legacy seems to work better with Samsung devices. You can find this version of the app here. Problem #5 – Edge lighting not working as expected A lot of users have come across a variety of issues with edge lighting. For some, it doesn’t work when the screen is off. For others, Edge lighting seems to work only for the stock SMS app and nothing else. Potential solutions: Some users have found enabling “pop up notifications” for apps like Whatsapp and Snapchat results in Edge lighting working when the screen is off as well. For some, the problem seems to be because they have turned off Animation Duration Scale in the Developer Options section in the Settings menu, which is done to improve performance. All you have to do is set this to 0.5x, and Edge lighting works. You can try downloading the Edge Lighting app from the Google Play Store here. This app lets you set customized colors for different apps and makes the edge lighting feature work even when the screen is off. However, the results have been mixed. The app has worked perfectly for some users. Others have had issues. Since this is a paid app, that is something to keep in mind before you decide to download it. Problem #6 – Call recording not working Users have found that call recording doesn’t work anymore, with only one side of the conversation being recorded. This happens regardless of which call recording app you use. This issue affects only the version of the phones powered by the Samsung Exynos processor and not the one with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. Unfortunately, there is no solution or workaround available for this one. Call recording is blocked on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus in most markets to comply with Google’s security policies and local laws. Some app developers have managed a workaround that allows for one side of the call to be recorded, but that is as far as it will go. Users who depend on call recording may find this one to be one of the biggest Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems around. Problem #7 – Connectivity issues Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues commonly pop up when you pick up a new smartphone, and there have been reports of Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems with connectivity as well. Wi-Fi issues Turn the device and the router off for at least ten seconds, then turn them back and retry the connection. Go to Settings > Power saving and ensure this option is turned off. Use the Wi-Fi Analyzer to check how crowded your channel is, and switch to a better option. Forget the Wi-Fi connection by going to Settings > Wi-Fi and long tapping the connection you want, then selecting “Forget”. Re-enter the details and try again. Make sure the router firmware is up to date. Make sure the applications and software on the device are up to date. Go to Wi-Fi > Settings > Advanced and make a note of your device MAC address, then make sure it is allowed access in the router’s MAC filter. Some users have found disabling the Hotspot 2.0 feature seems to fix a lot of issues with Wi-Fi. Bluetooth issues Check the manufacturer’s manual for the device and the car and reset your connections. Ensure you are not missing a vital part of the connection process. Go to Settings > Bluetooth and ensure nothing needs changing Go to Settings > Bluetooth and delete all prior pairings and try setting them up again from scratch. Problem #8 – Problems where the only option is to wait for a software update There are some Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems where there aren’t any solutions available yet, and the only option, for now, is to wait for an official software fix from Samsung or the creator of the app facing or causing issues. HDR video playback issue: Users have come across a very choppy video playback experience when attempting to watch HDR videos (1440p HDR 60) on Youtube. Notification volume too low: Many users have found the volume of notification alerts are extremely low. This is likely a software issue and will hopefully be fixed in a future update. Call drops: One of the seemingly major Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus problems is with regards to call drops or silent patches when on a call. Quite a few users have come across this issue and it doesn’t seem to be a problem with the SIM card or cellular network connectivity. Samsung has included call stability improvements with the last couple of updates. While things have improved for some users, it hasn’t completely gone away yet. Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus guides – soft reset, hard reset, boot into Safe Mode, wipe cache partition Soft Reset Press and hold the power button and volume down key simultaneously for about 10 seconds until the device powers off. This works when the screen is unresponsive. Hard Reset With the device turned off, press and hold the volume up key, Bixby button, and power button simultaneously. When the Samsung logo appears, release the power button, but continue to hold the volume up and Bixby buttons. When the Android system recovery screen appears, release all buttons. Use the volume down button to toggle the selection to “wipe data/factory reset,” then press the power button to accept it. Use the volume down button to toggle the selection to “Yes — delete all user data,” then press the power button. Wait for the reset to finish. You will eventually be prompted to “Reboot system now.” Press the power button to continue. If the phone is on, go to Settings > Backup & reset > Reset device > Erase Everything. Wipe cache partition With the device turned off, press and hold the volume up key, Bixby button, and power button simultaneously. When the Samsung logo appears, release the power button, but continue to hold the volume up and home buttons. When the Android system recovery screen appears, release all buttons. Use the volume down button to toggle the selection to “wipe cache partition,” then press the power button to accept it. When the previous menu returns, go up and select “Reboot system now.” Boot in Safe Mode When the device is turned off, turn the device on again and press and hold the volume down button until a “Safe Mode” button shows up. Tap that button to boot your device in Safe Mode. Don’t let this list of issues deter you from buying these fantastic smartphones. A lot of the problems are software related, and will hopefully be addressed in upcoming updates. If you have come across any other Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 problems, let us know in the comments section below. We’ll do our best to find a workaround for you. , via Android Authority http://bit.ly/2HGiGPW

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technato · 6 years

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This AI Hunts Poachers

The elephant’s new protector is PAWS, a machine-⁠learning and game-theory system that predicts where poachers are likely to strike

Illustration: MCKIBILLO

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Illustration: MCKIBILLO

Every year, poachers kill about 27,000 African elephants—an astounding 8 percent of the population. If current trends continue, these magnificent animals could be gone within a decade.

The solution, of course, is to stop poachers before they strike, but how to do that has long confounded authorities. In protected areas like wildlife preserves, elephants and other endangered animals may roam far and wide, while rangers can patrol only a small area at any time. “It’s a two-part problem,” explains Milind Tambe, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. “Can you predict where poaching will happen? And can you [target] your patrols so that they’re unpredictable, so that the poachers don’t know the rangers are coming?”

To solve both parts of the problem, Tambe and his team created an artificial-intelligence system called PAWS, which stands for Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security. A machine-learning algorithm uses data from past patrols to predict where poaching is likely to occur in the future. And a game-theory model helps generate randomized, unpredictable patrol routes. The system has been field-tested in Uganda and Malaysia with good results, and in 2018 its use will expand to China and Cambodia. In addition, Tambe says, the PAWS system could soon be integrated into an existing tracking tool called SMART, which wildlife conservation agencies have deployed at most sites worldwide to collect and manage patrol data.

In a one-month trial with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park, rangers patrolled two areas that they rarely visited but that PAWS indicated had a high probability of poaching. Much to the rangers’ surprise, they found numerous snares and other signs of illegal activity. A later 8-month trial looked at the entire park. Again, the patrols verified the model’s predictions: In the high-probability areas, they found about 10 times as much poaching as in the low-probability areas. A new trial in Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park is checking whether PAWS will work equally well in a different location.

Video: A.J.Plumptre/Wildlife Conservation Society

Andrew Plumptre, director of science for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Africa program, is collaborating with Tambe’s group on the Uganda field trials. He says that on normal patrols, rangers enter data about what they’re seeing, using a smartphone app called Cybertracker. About once a month, that data gets uploaded to SMART. “You’re able to map where patrols have searched, where they found snares and carcasses of elephants and whatever,” says Plumptre. “But there’s nothing proactive about it. Ranger patrols alone aren’t sufficient to stop poaching.” He’s hoping that PAWS’s predictive abilities will make those patrols as efficient and effective as possible.

The PAWS system grew out of work Tambe and his students started doing more than a decade ago for port, airport, and airline security. The U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have all deployed AI systems developed by Tambe’s group. And he cofounded Avata Intelligence, in Venice, Calif., to commercialize this research.

About six or seven years ago, Tambe was at a World Bank meeting and saw a talk on the dire plight of tigers, fewer than 4,000 of which survive in the wild. “I guess I’d heard about such things, but I never appreciated the scope of the problem. I suddenly realized the potential of AI to help,” Tambe says. He quickly got in touch with conservation groups.

Fei Fang, a former student of Tambe’s who is now an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon, had worked on a Coast Guard system to protect the Staten Island Ferry, in New York City, before turning to PAWS. The two scenarios are similar, she notes. “There is a defender, which is the wildlife ranger or the Coast Guard, and there is an attacker, which is a poacher or a terrorist, and they’re interacting with each other in a way that you’re trying to predict.”

Photo: Yongchao Jing

Predictive Patrols: Fei Fang, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon, shows off a tiger snare discovered in a wildlife preserve in northeast China. Fang and Milind Tambe of the University of Southern California developed a machine-learning algorithm to predict where poachers are most active.

For the PAWS team, the field trials drove home an important reality of wilderness policing: The world is not flat. When the team began working in Malaysia, Fang says, they didn’t factor in the densely forested, mountainous terrain. “In our first model, we took a map, divided the whole area into grid cells, drew a line on the grid, and said, ‘Patrollers, please follow this line,’ ” she recalls. “We’d have Skype calls with them, and they’d tell us: ‘No, no, no, this is not going to work.’ We didn��t understand.”

Only when the PAWS team visited the Malaysian reserve did they get it. “We walked the route with the rangers, and it took us about 8 hours to go a couple miles,” Fang says. A subsequent refinement of PAWS takes into account geographical features that are easy to walk on, like ridge lines, streambeds, and old logging trails. “We built a virtual street map for the conservation area and then plotted routes based on the map.” Patrollers following the new routes found “all kinds of signs of animal and human activity,” Fang says.

At press time, Fang was in the midst of a three-month field trial of PAWS in northeast China with the World Wildlife Fund, where the animal of greatest concern is the Siberian tiger. Fang says one enhancement they’re working on is to help rangers make decisions while on patrol. “They may see footprints and tree marks, which indicate the direction the poachers are heading,” she says. “And they need to decide, Should I chase the poachers? What is the best strategy for changing plans if they see new information?”

Tambe and Fang are also collaborating with a wildlife conservation service called Air Shepherd, which uses drones equipped with infrared cameras to search for poachers at night. Their AI-based video-analysis system is automating what is otherwise a tedious and difficult task for humans: reviewing hours and hours of grainy black-and-white footage and then alerting rangers when illegal activity is detected.

The next step for PAWS is to make it available to other NGOs, ideally by integrating the algorithm into existing tools, like Cybertracker and the SMART system. “We’re probably never going to completely stop poaching,” says Plumptre. “But we can get it down to a lower level, so that populations don’t decline.”

AI is usually applied to problems of modern technology, Tambe notes, but this work is different. “We’re using AI to save the natural world—these stunning landscapes and animals that we hope won’t disappear,” he says. “These are important treasures.”

This AI Hunts Poachers syndicated from http://ift.tt/2Bq2FuP

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edytheruggiero4-blog · 6 years

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The Coraline Activity Plot Enlarges.

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But this is actually nevertheless a powerful puzzle/strategy title - and also if you've consistently intended to whack a protector with a bar from detergent in a belt, The Escapists is actually the ready you. The warm degree stayed intense throughout, as well as this book is actually better gone through in the personal privacy of your residence if you capture my drift. That's far from specific now, but it resembles a genuine opportunity that our company could be seeing the yield from Nymeria when period 7 gets there. Death tracked the passages in the final incident from Video game from Thrones period five. Players that would like to check out a brand-new sporting activity or even get in the activity without committing to a full time are actually encouraged in order to get on the belows checklists for as several sporting activities as well as evenings as they select. About Blog site - American Quilting is actually a pleasant bedspread shop located in Orem, UT that possesses a vast assortment from excellent quality making quilts cloths, classes, ideas, and sets. Educators have actually located that activities not just engage students, yet they likewise inspire discovering. Unique Gameplay - The activity integrates a variety from gameplay styles, including survival, stealth, melee and ranged fight, expedition, as well as much more. I'm not one of the screaming/crying fangirls of this thing, however that was an actually great little manual. Potential Updates: This area is actually reserved for future updates like Episode 5 screenshots and the Incident 5 launch trailer. Moreover, while opportunity I have actually seen to my discouragement that, when sizable crews are involved, there also surface jealousies, favouritism as well as national politics in the game. Documented by the Guinness Planet Records, Runescape is taken into consideration the planet's very most well-liked free of cost MMORPG, along with over 200 million enrolled players, and also one of the most regularly upgraded game. The Mobile App Trends Series is sustained through Sourcebits, a leading programmer of applications and games for all primary mobile platforms. Way too many video game producers and also executives do not participate in, recognize, and even like activities.

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amzinsidersofficalblog-blog · 7 years

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How to Protect Your Amazon Reputation

The Amazon Kindle cover that comes with the digital studying device is rather insufficient with some things that can annoy someone who's simply spent a a number of hundred dollars on a excessive-high quality piece of electronics. The original Kindle cover had even more problems, but the latest incarnation, still leaves some issues that the Kindle owner might discover annoying.

The most common grievance with the duvet that comes with the Kindle, is the way in which that it keeps the eBook reader in place. While it has two slots, which you can slip your eBook reader into, there is a tendency for it to slide out, and if you're not cautious, it could hit the floor. As we know with all electronics, this isn't a great circumstance. Many workarounds involving Velcro in strategic locations have been urged to keep the Kindle in a single place when an individual is studying.

There have additionally been quite a lot of superb aftermarket firms offering stylish, excessive-high quality solutions to the Kindle cowl quagmire. Three greater high quality brands are Strangedog, Stylzworld and Noreveusa

Amazon also has a brand new cowl popping out at the end of the November called the M-edge cowl, which is far anticipated. There are 12 completely different fashions which are real leather-based in various colors and suitable with an e-Luminator e-book light. If you personal a Kindle, you will immediately acknowledge how a e-book mild that connects and would not wobble is an effective funding to your Electronic Studying Machine. There are additionally non-leather-based "Leisure Jackets" that sell for much less, but on the whole the M-edge is a luxurious addition to the Kindle cowl area.

Strangedog

Strangedog provides handmade covers that are both stunning and custom. He solely makes a pair in every model and every may be very effectively crafted and sturdy. He provides the Velcro choice to carry the Kindle in place, and can even take material from the customer with a purpose to make a canopy to spec. There's a waiting interval as he only makes a restricted number of these per week. Strangedog take pride in his hand made covers, and the level of craftsmanship is great. In this plug-n-play world, Strangedog is a one among a sort vendor who prides his work over mass manufacturing.

Stylzworld

Stylzworld presents a canopy that is manufactured from distinctive cognac brown leather with a glowing design on the inside. It's real leather-based, tri-fold cowl that has cutouts for credit score, business and reminiscence playing cards in addition to other varieties of paperwork. It has an progressive holding system as well as a cutout within the back for the on/off buttons. You'll have to contact them in the event you dwell within the United States as they're at the moment looking for distributors and are primarily situated in Europe.

Noreveusa

A standard leather-based case/cover is obtainable from Noreveusa and is available in 3 colors. It has a clasp that closes and holds the Kindle regular. It has the same issues introduced with the original Kindle, although the clasp and leather-based make it a nice Kindle cowl to think about.

Amazon gives a couple of completely different instances that will protect your Kindle if a canopy isn't what you're looking for. These different options embrace a Neoprene Sleeve Case with a screen protector, a journey package that includes a leather case and travel guide light, and a black neoprene case that's good for travel. Nevertheless in keeping with the phrase in the Kindle discussion board, it seems that most individuals are ready on the M-edge genuine leather government case as the most effective purchase in Kindle covers for Christmas.

One of the most sought-after gadgets on the market at present is undoubtedly the Amazon Kindle. This little gadget permits you to obtain and skim 1000's of books on the go. The Kindle's eInk expertise permits you to learn even within the sunlight with none glare as is normal with other screens. All this for a bargain at $135.

The Kindle is a popular product. Customers can obtain books and retailer them on the Kindle and browse it at their leisure. The Kindle barely weighs anything and does not pressure the eyes. Many purist book lovers who had been hesitant about moving to the Kindle are very comfortable converts immediately. The fee matches inside the funds of a median client too. So all in all, it is a very successful product.

Covers for Your Kindle

Thus, it's essential to shield your Kindle and hold it in the absolute best form. You can do so by shopping for a Kindle cover on your gadget. It is a useful wallet that the Kindle fits proper into. Excellent for when you are travelling. And it will preserve your Kindle protected from harm even in the event you happen to drop it.

The Kindle has not been on the market very long. So its resale worth remains to be fairly high. It's best to thus be very cautious and do the whole lot in your power to guard your funding. There are numerous circumstances and covers out there so it should not be onerous for you to discover one to your liking. If you did not get a canopy once you initially purchased your Kindle, no worries. You should buy one from the Internet for a very affordable price. Do not await an incident to occur earlier than you are taking steps to maintain your Kindle safe from harm. It will likely be somewhat too late at that point.

It is no shock then that individuals need covers for their Kindles, not only for protection however for the aesthetic aspect as properly. Putting your Kindle in a bag and not using a cowl could cause scratches on the display. When you occur to drop it, it'd break or get damaged indirectly. Seeing the market potential for these covers, producers have jumped on the bandwagon and you will thus discover covers simply with a simple net search. The preferred covers are fabricated from leather. These covers are sturdy and will protect your Kindle very properly.

Having your guide on Amazon is a really exciting prospect. You can inform all your mates "you should buy my ebook on Amazon." However what about all of the people who do not know you and who're on Amazon on the lookout for books to purchase?

Revealed and self-published authors can optimize their publicity on Amazon because of many author-friendly options. And if you don't know about these opportunities, you're missing out on free e-book advertising sources.

In this article we'll be taking a look at optimizing your profile on Amazon. (One word of caution: It is vitally tough to attach with a real particular person on Amazon regarding writer activities, so you could encounter issues that you're unable to resolve.)

Step 1: Have your individual account on Amazon. Sounds fundamental but it is essential. All this requires is buying one product on Amazon with a bank card in your title. (If you share an account together with your spouse or household, arrange a separate account.)

Step 2: Sign-in to your account. You may see on the prime left-hand nook of your laptop display the phrases "Whats up, Your Name." Right beneath that click on on "Your Name's Amazon.com." Then slide your eyes over to the appropriate and look underneath the purchasing cart icon and to the left and you'll see "Your Profile." (Be sure you're wearing your glasses because the wording is small.) Click on on this.

Step three: Now you're at your profile, which each particular person with an account on Amazon has. But this is definitely an writer-alternative page. And, yes, there are privacy controls here too (as on Facebook) so you'll be able to choose which data is seen by whom. Click on on the button within the prime right-hand corner that sees "Edit Profile." (You will once more be asked to signal-in as extra protection that different people aren't editing your Amazon profile.)

Step 4: Start filling out the bio information. For an author, crucial line will be the "Title" because that is the title that will seem on any evaluations and other actions you do on Amazon. Make it possible for this is similar title as used to your ebook. For instance, your bank card (used to set up your Amazon account) might solely have a first and last title. However if you use three names in your creator identification, put all three names right here.

(And you'll want to upload a photo - people wish to know what the author seems like. Should you're on social media platforms similar to Facebook and Twitter, it's a good idea to use the identical photograph across all platforms to extend your recognition factor.)

Step 5: Do share private data with which you're comfortable on this profile. Readers wish to know about an author - sharing data provides a extra three-dimensional feeling to who you might be. And embrace the URL of your guide's web site you probably have one.

Step 6: Go through the process of getting your own books accepted to your Amazon bibliography. This requires an outdoor representative to confirm to Amazon that you're indeed you.

Step 7: You probably have a weblog, have your blog posts routinely feed into your profile. (Fastidiously learn the "Add RSS Feeds" info.)

Step 8: Advocate tags on your guide. And write transient causes for each tag as to why that tag is acceptable for this book. These tags must then be accredited by Amazon.

Step 9: Check the privateness settings you may have used on each of the weather of your profile. Hijackers on Your Amazon You may choose to have completely different settings on several types of info.

BONUS STEP: Just be sure you or your publisher have requested the "Look Inside" the e-book function. This characteristic is NOT computerized. You need potential guide patrons to be able to look inside the e book as they could at a bookstore.

The first step to protecting your Twitter fame is to watch out what you retweet. For example, you see a tweet with a headline that sounds so worthwhile to share with your followers that you are tempted to easily retweet with out even clicking by means of to look at the put up or article.

Okay, it's possible you'll not have time to learn the put up or article now. But it's essential to click by way of to make certain that the article is actually about what has been tweeted and never, in fact, a gross sales web page for some product that you do not want to appear to be selling.

Or as an instance you learn a tweet with valuable information without a link. However you do not recognize the individual tweeting (you can't recognize every follower as soon as your followers get to a certain point).

Click on on the individual's Twitter username to take a look at the individual. You wish to make certain that you're not retweeting an individual whose Twitter profile is - how ought to I say this? - lower than well mannered.

The best way to defend your Twitter fame from hackers

Now we come to the actual problem with protecting your repute on Twitter. You can do the whole lot right in your individual account and nonetheless be hacked.

Your profile info may be scraped:

Because of this all the info in your profile (except the recent hyperlink) - including your actual name - is utilized by someone else with his/her Twitter username.

In different words, the person is impersonating you and placing his/her sizzling hyperlink rather than yours.

This occurred to me, and I learned about it when I bought an e mail notification that I was following myself on Twitter.

Fortunately the replaced scorching link was to a page on Amazon and to not whatever, though I admit I used to be so shocked I forgot to note what sort of e book on Amazon the hyperlink went to.

What to do in this case? First I blocked the particular person's username. Then I hunted round Twitter until I finally found Twitter's impersonation coverage, and I followed the steps for submitting a ticket to Twitter asking for help.

But to cover my bases, I also tweeted for help. And somebody was form sufficient to tweet that I ought to tweet @spam, which I did. And, luckily, within minutes the impersonator account was suspended.

Then there's hacking to take over your account and ship out emails to your followers as if from you:

This happens typically on Twitter. The tip-off is usually getting a reply tweet, and the tweet says one thing much like "Is that this a photo of you?" with a hyperlink.

Now I don't know what occurs while you click on that hyperlink, because I don't. What I do as a substitute is click on on the individual's Twitter username and see if he/she has not too long ago tweeted an apology for somebody having hacked his/her site.

If I do not see any such tweets, I'll ship a DM if the individual is following me. If not, I will politely tweet a public reply to the particular person saying something corresponding to: Your Twitter account appears to have been hacked because I got a tweet from you that you in all probability didn't ship.

Often I get a reply tweet thanking me for this info and saying that the person is taking care of the issue:

? The first thing to do is change your password.

? The second factor is to tweet a public apology to folks about the bogus tweet and stating you've got taken care of the issue.

? The third factor to do is to "pay it forward" by warning anyone else whose Twitter account you discover has been hacked.

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chrismaverickdotcom · 7 years

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Leaping Over the Low Bar (with inches to spare): a Wonder Woman Review (no spoilers)

I’ve had a strange relationship with the build up for Wonder Woman. I remember when they announced it was on the docket for the DCEU several years ago. There seemed to be no real plan other than “get a female super hero movie out before Marvel does” and that’s never a great way to start. This was during a time when Marvel Studios execs were saying “we know you want a Black Widow movie, but that’s complicated…” and fans were responding with “fuck you, it’s not complicated. You have the character, and you have ScarJo, put her in a fucking movie.” Then DC announced “yeah, well we have the character and we have Gal Gadot, we’re making a fucking Wonder Woman movie. And we’ll even get a woman to direct it. Hey, Patty Jenkins! You’re a woman, right? Great! We’re going to revolutionize the genre, fuck Marvel!”

I was actually slightly on the complicated side. Not because I didn’t want a Wonder Woman movie. I did. And not because it’s hard to just put someone in a fucking movie. But because I was afraid that they would just… put someone in a fucking movie and call it done. And then it would be a disaster. I like Wonder Woman. I wanted a Wonder Woman movie, a lot! But I was willing to live in a world with no Wonder Woman movie rather than having a bad one… or even a mediocre one. Because mediocre wouldn’t be good enough. And when that movie utterly critically failed the lesson would be “Ugh, superhero movies with girls in them don’t work! No chick movies like this ever again!” and it would kill the franchise for at least 15 years. See Ghostbusters(2016). Even though people are acting like this sis the first movie starring a superheroine, it’s not. There’s been Supergirl, Catwoman, Barb Wire and Elektra. This movie was unequivocally better than any of these (including Ghostbusters). That’s not really hard. All of them were horrible. Ok, maybe Barb Wire didn’t suck. Actually. Barb Wire is way better than most people give it credit for. But this is still probably better than that.

Yes, we now officially no longer live in a world where there has never been a Wonder Woman movie!!!

Actually, we technically lived in that world before. There was a Wonder Woman movie back in 1974, only it was made for TV and I’m the only person on the planet who actually remembers it, except for maybe Cathy Lee Crosby who starred in it. Honestly, at this point I’m not convinced that Cathy Lee Crosby remembers that she was the original Wonder Woman. In fact, I just looked at her website… and she doesn’t. It’s not listed on her filmography page. She literally seems to think it’s more important that she list separate entries for the TV show That’s Incredible! and the That’s Incredible! reunion specials than it is to acknowledge that she was the first feature length Wonder Woman. It wasn’t good. The new movie was definitely better than that.

And Cathy Lee wasn’t even the first on-screen Wonder Woman. There’s also a five-minute pilot for a Wonder Woman tv series from 1967 by the producers of the original Batman tv series. It’s called Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince? and it stars Ellie Wood Walker as Diana Prince, a 27-million-year old single girl living with her mother in the big city. Her mother constantly harps on her about her inability to find a man. This takes up a good three minutes of the plot until a sudden emergency means that Diana has to change into her alter-ego Wonder Woman, narcissistic superheroine addicted to her own reflection which she delusionally sees as more attractive than she really is. The reflection is played by Linda Harrison, a different actress… And there’s a good solid minute of Walker making “OMG, I’m so hot” fish lips into the mirror as Harrison mimics her. Though honestly, they’re both about equally attractive and not even obviously different people so the joke is kinda lost. Why is it only five minutes? Because four minutes in, the producers realized “what the fuck are we doing?” and pulled the plug on this trainwreck. Anyway, the new movie is sure-as-shit better than that! (but you know, if you’ve never seen, definitely go watch it on the Youtubes.)

And of course there’s the old Lynda Carter series from the 1970s. Arguably, this film was better than that. I think this is actually probably better than that in a technical sense as well. In many ways, that show feels very much “of it’s era,” but it holds up surprisingly well. It “looks” dated and clearly suffers from budget and technology issues, but the storylines of it are kind of engaging and fun, and you can sort of feel it’s cultural relevance as an artifact of mid-century feminist approaches to television. It feels innovative. It feels important. And it was. The 1975 Wonder Woman series (along with contemporary shows action heroine shows like Bionic Woman, Police Woman and Charlie’s Angels) fundamentally changed the ways that women could be portrayed in genre media. No the shows weren’t perfect. Yes, there’s a fair amount of camp to them when viewed through the eyes of a 21st century fan. Yes, they all heavily lean on the male gaze and rely on the fact that it’s just as important that the heroine wear a skimpy outfit and look good flipping her hair in slow motion as it is that she be a competent crime fighter (if not more so). BUT, they did allow her to be a *COMPETENT* crime fighter. This is very much highlighted by comparing it to the Walker pilot from only a few years earlier. Even with the joke and the camp and the sex appeal, they were able to present an image that the female lead could be a heroine in her own right that didn’t necessarily need saving. She could drive the plot, without the assistance of a male protector, something that couldn’t be said about even progressive similar shows with female heroes of the sixties like The Avengers and The Mod Squad. The Lynda Carter series made Wonder Woman (and by extension, female leads) viable as a lead protagonist in an action role.

That was what this film was shooting to accomplish. It wanted to be that stake in the sand that could forever change how we look at women on screen. It really wanted that, but it didn’t quite get there. Yes, as I said, it was probably technically better than the Carter series (though less fun). It also manages to be important because of what it stands for. But it wasn’t quite as remarkable as it wanted to be.

But it didn’t need to be.

When I was doing the Wonder Woman roundtable at PCA/ACA a few weeks ago, someone in the audience asked us if we were looking forward to the new movie. I said I was cautiously optimistic. I wanted to like it. I wanted to like it a lot, and the buzz around the picture had been pretty good. But I was trying to not get to excited because the buzz was also pretty strong around Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad and those turned out to be… is it fair to say “disappointing?” Can I say that without too much fanboy nerdrage? I actually even liked Suicide Squad… I think it’s fun. Fuck it! BvS is a total abomination. Sure it made money, but it was craptastic and fanboys be damned, it’s just a shitty movie. But the singular best part of the movie is the ten to fifteen minutes that Gal Gadot has on screen as Wonder Woman. In order to be a success this movie didn’t need to be Citizen Kane. It didn’t even need to be the 1975 Wonder Woman. It just needed to extend Gadot’s fifteen minutes into a feature and somehow not manage to utterly suck. And it undoubtedly did better than that.

It is certainly, without a doubt, the best film in the DCEU franchise so far. Of course, that’s not actually all that high praise, because it’s only film number three.* But it’s solid, and I can’t actually say that about the last two. Suicide Squad may be more fun… but this is a better movie. BvS will probably end up making more money. This is a better movie. There’s a lot of good going on here. Gadot continues to make the character engaging. The bulk of this film takes place during WWI rather than modern day as her previous outing, and she did an amazing job of making the character seem younger and more naive. In BvS, Gadot played Diana as a grizzled veteran who sick of the darkness of the world. This Wonder Woman is more innocent and excited and full of… wonder. Even though we don’t see the intervening times between the end of WWI and her appearance in 2016, you feel as though there has been time for her develop and change over the course of the 20th century. Robin Wright also does a great job in a supporting role as Diana’s aunt Antiope. In fact, as far as Strong Female Characters™go, I was heavily invested in Antiope’s arc and watching her develop more than anyone else including Diana. Everyone else is… fine. The rest of the cast isn’t amazing; they don’t stand out. But none of them really stink or drag the film down either.

It’s not perfect film. I’m usually not really one to critique the special effects of a film one way or the other. As long as they get the job done and I don’t notice them, I’m happy. In this case however, a lot of the CGI (especially but not limited to the magic lasso) was actively bad. I was constantly aware that certain things were fake and that took me out of the movie. This was upsetting because I know they have the technology to do better. In fact, this was one of the few areas where I felt BvS outshines Wonder Woman. In fact, some shots were below the standards I expect out of their far cheaper CW Arrowverse. In 2017, I’m just aware that they can do better and I couldn’t not notice. As a side note, it’s not really part of THIS film, but there was a trailer for the Justice League movie at the beginning (before the film started instead of embedded in the middle like BvS did… ugh). Cyborg looks AWFUL. Like really really really bad. Again, it’s 2017. Say what you will about the Transformers movies, but at least they’ve proven that it’s possible to CGI a robot into a scene and make it look like it’s really there. Instead it looks like something every so slightly more advanced than Jason and the Argonauts, and while there was nothing quite that bad in this film, some effects looked like maybe they were pretty artificial (I’m not naming them because of spoilers).

There were also some writing choices that I questioned. While I liked the naiveté that Gadot gives Diana, it was at times a little too much. Particularly towards the end of the film, I felt like it takes her too long to catch on to the twist. There is a difference between naive and stupid… and it gets to a point where once the audience has picked up on the cues and she hasn’t it kind of makes her seem like a bit of a dumbass. This probably could have been fixed with tighter editing. Which is also a problem. At two hours and twenty-one minutes, the film is maybe 20-30 minutes too long. It feels like it drags in places. I especially wonder if children will sit through it. There was a lot of story packed into it, and not all of it is equally engaging. Like many modern summer blockbusters, this film was clearly being rewritten by committee as the shooting and reshooting was going on. At times it feels like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. A nice thing about the superhero genre is that it lends it self very well to genre hybridization. But here, things got somewhat disjoint and schizophrenic. The film begins as a superhero origin in the first act, before kind of organically turning to a war picture for much of the second. The war film is more engaging than the origin story (other than, as previously mentioned Wright’s Antiope), but then it sort of inexplicably picks up a lot of tropes of a swords and sandals flick for the final act. This comes out of nowhere. It feels like it was supposed to be a through line from the first act, but it really just… isn’t. Several characters sort of enter and leave the narrative with no real point or explanation. It’s clear that there’s probably a lot on the cutting room floor that could turn this into a three and a half hour directors cut. But unlike BvS, it doesn’t NEED to be. Even though there are clear issues with editing and disappearing storylines, the story feels complete. There’s a beginning, middle and and an end, and even with the holes, you can see how the characters got from point A to point C.

At the same time, the film seems to realize the importance of what it is trying to do and so it has a bit of an aspect of trying to be all things to all people. It wants to be a strong feminist message while still being mainstream marketable. It wants to present a strong and meaty role for Gadot while still being an exciting action fest. It wants to respond to the criticism of the other DCEU films being too dark and grim and still be serious. It wants to make sure there’s action set pieces to entertain the fans but still have a storyline. It wants to have enough easter eggs in it for the geeks while still being a standalone movie. It wants to be accessible for kids and yet intelligent for adults. And it’s still for the ladies, so it needs a love story… except we want to be progressive so lets toss in some allusions to the fact that all Amazons are lesbians… but not too much because we don’t want to scare off the squares! It tried to do a lot and it all feels kind of schizophrenic.

None of these problems are egregious enough to make the film unenjoyable. It’s quite fun. But as I was watching it, I kept thinking to myself “how the hell do I rate or review this?” I very much want to judge it on it’s own merit… as though I am unaware of the past iterations of the character or the cultural moment that it exists in. But that doesn’t seem fair in this case. Because as a movie, it’s ok. A solid 3 out of 5 stars. BUT, it’s impossible to divorce this film in that way. Because a big part of the story of Wonder Woman, both for this film and as a character overall, is her status as a feminist icon in the cultural moments in which she exists. That has always been her purpose and that is her purpose here. So when I take that into account, it makes me view the movie with different eyes. But it also makes me more aware of other films in this cultural moment that are attempting to do the same thing. Most notably, the last two Star Wars movies. I gave Force Awakens a 3 and Rogue One a 3.5. And while I think I actually enjoyed Force Awakens more than I enjoyed this, I recognize that objectively, as films that are trying to do what these films are trying to do, this stands right in between them.

Will it be the film that everyone looks back on in 20 years and says “this changed everything?” No… it’s just not going to be. There are too many others, many of which will feature women and chances are one has to be better than this… especially with less pressure on it. But it doesn’t suck. And given what it has had to compete with… that’s a high accomplishment.

★★★¼☆ (3.25 out of 5 stars)

*Author’s Note: As Mark Seely reminded me in the comments, this is actually film number FOUR in the the DCEU franchise. Not three. I had forgotten Man of Steel. This does not change the substance of my review at all though, and if nothing else pretty much gives you my opinion on Man of Steel.

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Leaping Over the Low Bar (with inches to spare): a Wonder Woman Review (no spoilers) was originally published on ChrisMaverick dotcom

#Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice #cathy lee crosby #Chris Pine #DC Comics #DC Extended Universe #DCEU #Ellie Wood Walker #feminism #film #Gal Gadot #Linda Harrison #lynda carter #movies #Patty Jenkins #reviews #Robin Wright #Warner Bros.#wonder woman #Wonder Woman (2017 film)

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