#not me reviving a dead meme to make a statement | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

marygaby25 · 3 years

Text

Warning: a lot of text

Okay. I know it took me a long time to post about this, but I wanted to organize my thoughts well. I don't like to be writing with my head hot, angry, disappointed, frustrated and sad. Waiting to not have those feelings I was never going to write this. With that cleared up let's talk about "What If?"

To say I wasn't expecting Sharon to be treated badly again would be lying. I was surprised that she showed up and relatively everything was fine (until she was killed obviously). I'm not going to lie it gave me hope, but what surprised me were the writer's words saying that he killed Sharon because he likes Steggy and that he wanted to give her a more grotesque death that Sharon had "Because Steve is Peggy's."

I will admit that I moved a little further away from the UCM series and its projects after "The Falcon and The Winter Soldier" Sharon was damaged and harmed again by making her a villain, the writer threw away the work that Emily had done saying that Sharon's moral code was too strong. Not to mention, Sharon has never and never been a villain at will (when she "killed" Steve in Civil War Sharon was under Faust's control) and the power broker is another character in the comics.

Again I walked away a bit more after watching the BlackWidow movie because we never saw that funeral that Nastasha deserved, just a grave with flowers left by people. We never got to see a funeral like Tony's or Yondu's, not even in her movie did they take the time to give her that moment.

I confess I was just reading the synopsis and watching summaries of the series. I watched the Zombie episode because a friend told me "you will be pleasantly surprised and heartbroken at the same time''. So I made the decision to give "What if?" a chance.

Everything was going well, more than well because I was watching Sharon (I almost died of happiness), I see Happy's death and Sharon apologizing and I got sad, but it was going more or less well.... Until I see how Okoye kills Sam, she apologizes to Bucky for killing him and the only thing she replies is something like she's not sad about it...

WTF!!!! The chapter is set between civil war and infinity war, Sam at that point had already risked his freedom and his life for Bucky. Bucky makes that comment so out of place, cold and ungrateful after Sam helped save him.

I keep watching because I thought it couldn't get any worse HA, HA, HA I'm such a fool for thinking that.

After a while I notice Sharon in the last car of the train, and what goes through my mind is, "Why is she alone in the last car if she only has Tony's glove and not the gun?". She heard the blow and immediately already knew the worst was yet to come, it was all downhill from there.

It is Steve who kills her. At the time I think it's kind of poetic because in the line of movies he took it upon himself to kill the idealistic and innocent Sharon Carter; by abandoning her the two years of fugitives and not looking for her. I guess watching deep movies like "The Shape of Water" and expecting that from Marvel was asking a lot.

Bucky kills Steve and apologizes, but Sam doesn't give him an ounce of grief for his death and Hope blows Sharon up from the inside. It was atrocious, but it's a zombie chapter my naive mind imagined there would be crueler and darker things. There was something just as dark if not darker which was Vision feeding off innocents to Wanda.

Let's continue watching the chapter and let's count how some characters died.

Well, Hope dies sacrificing herself I think it was a dignified death, it follows the death of Okoye who sacrifices herself for her king, I thought it was a normal thing because doremilages are supposed to fight for their kingdom and their king with their life. I hated that he said it was his fault for separating them, because no character objected when he gave the order, only Peter and in a joking tone. Follow up with the death of Kurt, Vision and Bucky. Simply Bucky's death this time for that action towards Sam, it didn't hurt.

The chapter ends with them with a possible cure and heading to wakanda where zombie thanos was waiting for them.

The bitterness that the chapter left me with was immense. The cruelest death and followed by joke was Sharon's, to the point that they minimized it and placed it to finish diverting Sharon's attention by exploiting everywhere the infected Hope scene. Sam's was the most blatant because it's not subliminal, it's direct with the words of "Bucky" saying he didn't care. I put Bucky in quotes because we all know it was the screenwriter, the Bucky we know in the MCU and comics wouldn't say that.

I thought I was paranoid suspecting Sharon's death was the cruelest and least taken seriously apropos...until I hear about the interview and realize how unprofessional the screenwriter is. What hypocrisy to say he loves Sharon on twitter after what he stated in the interview. I expected Matthew Chauncey to keep his word, not like a coward that when he gets caught he backs down seeing that he screwed up and we don't support him.

What happened in the series and in that interview is an example that the bad treatment of Sharon exists. It is not something invented by the fans, it is something on the part of the directors, writers and actors. I still don't forget Hayley Atwell's comment who said that peggy seeing that kiss in Civil War that Steve gave Sharon Peggy would revive, she would shoot Steve and Sharon would get beaten up.

I think Hayley,the writers and directors forgot that Peggy was happy with Daniel Sousa as far as we knew, even though in Agents of SHIELD they put Daniel with Quake.... It doesn't make sense, but as always they didn't want to let the series die and they tried hard to keep up with the ucm no matter that it would damage the plot of the series, which was what they should focus on (I don't know if the series is canon anymore because they even uploaded it to Disney plus).

the scriptwriters had never seen the series of agent Carter nor any of Peggy's comics (she doesn't have comics, but she has appearances) because she loves her niece, the little that comes out makes it clear. I'm not going to ask you to read all the comics either, just the most recent one where Agatha tells Steve a little more about the daughters of liberty and that possibly for Peggy Steve was just her first mission, maybe he's a good friend, for her and no more from there. Fun fact, at the end I didn't see Peggy angry trying to shoot them while they were sitting in the garden with Sharon and Steve for being together. Even when Steve found out she was alive he had no indication of leaving Sharon or getting romantically excited, rather he was walking around angry at Peggy , Sam and Bucky for not telling him about the risk to Sharon's life (Especially Peggy because it was more personal with her more than Sharon for killing the villain's husband. basically Sharon was kind of a target to somehow hurt Peggy). I imagine if they read it that comic or any other they would be frothing at the mouth.

I don't want to be pessimistic, but I saw "What if ?" and I doubt they will place Sharon as a Skrull, Mystique, mind control or give her a redemption. It's going to happen what happens with UCM villains, they'll kill her off. In fact, something tells me that they will try to make her crueler than the Red Skull to justify a horrible death. In case she's mystique or a Skull they'll probably say she's dead and won't even take the time to show it on screen.

Not only "What if?" made me lose hope "The Falcon and winter Soldier" too, remember I had posted that it looked like Sharon would be the Power Broker, but I doubted they would because she was another character in the comics. Well, hearing that statement in the interview anything is possible. By the way, I thank him for screwing Steve, since in the five years of the devastation he never helped Sam's family. I exclude Natasha from this as she was taking care of the avengers; Thor was depressed and didn't even know Sam; Tony had to take care of his family; Rhodey didn't know Sam well enough to know he had a family and Clint was in mourning.

Sorry for the language and clarify that I'm not throwing hate at Hayley, nor the directors and writers just showing that they didn't behave well neither with Sharon, nor with Emily

by the way, remember that meme I posted a while back about no character should be hated because of their shipp, I still hold that thought now more than ever. I think it fits perfectly with the screenwriter's behavior.

to those who made it this far thank you for reading my ramblings

#sharon carter #Agent 13 #what if?#marvel #Marvel Comics #sharoncarter #marvelgirl #mcu

23 notes · View notes

pi-creates · 4 years

Note

What do you think of the season 5 rumours? Do you like the concept?

No. Not at all. At least not in the way the leak presents it.

I personally don’t think the leak is real at this point because the way it is described makes it contradictory to previous statements made by Telltale/Skybound, but it also sounds like a terrible idea - and not just the plot, but from a marketing point of view as well. If it is real, then I’d love to be proven wrong... but I don’t like what I’ve read thus far.

[For anyone unfamiliar >here< is the leak I’m talking about. General warning for spoilers if any of that bothers you.]

The story proposed in the leak... I can’t see this going well if they think the right jumping off point is to piss on the core mechanics of the franchise it’s springing from. I already get a little testy about choice based games invalidating my decisions by pulling the “woops, doesn’t matter because it’s inevitable” card - but this is different. This is saying my choices are wrong and retconning my mistakes into the one true narrative.

There isn’t room for ambiguity on this one, unless all those memes about Kenny being boat god are far more literal than I thought - he’s dead in most games and not pulling a second Lazarus.

I just can’t fathom how someone would think this idea is good... if they are so desperate to bring two familiar characters together, pick one that is guaranteed to not be dead in people’s games. If we’re reviving people, then hell, why not bring back Lee since some of us didn’t shoot him and maybe he just passed out from the amputation some of us chose to give him. This already feels like fanfiction to me, so why not take that minority choice and make it the right one because reasons.

[To be clear, I don’t want this either, but it makes just as much sense as the Kenny choice and I’m feeling more than a little frustrated that Kenny is once again appearing in places I don’t want him to be. As far as I’m concerned, if he comes back again, the title “The Walking Dead” can only be a reference to the fact that Kenny Will Not Die.]

And the Javi thing? Ehh, I like Javi well enough, but the idea that he’s the last survivor of a Richmond battle or whatever rubs me the wrong way. Like I previously mentioned, invalidating my choices makes me testy. But since he’s supposed to be the leader by the end of ANF, him being the only survivor of the large group he’s supposed to be responsible for carries some awful implications that I don’t like.

Unless this is literally supposed to be a branching point for an entire new, diverging plot line starting at the end of s2, then it doesn’t work. And if they want to go down the alternate plot line route, fine. But it personally doesn’t appeal to me.

Look, I’d love to be proven wrong here. I’d love an expansion of the story with familiar characters - and a linear game wouldn’t be bad if they kept the narrative isolated from the core plot where our choices can be maintained. There’s so many ways that an idea like that could work, but not with the plot outline described in the leak.

But it just doesn’t sound real to me. I think the game developers are better than this.

It’s too niche to pull a genre switch that only really appeals to people familiar with the franchise - people who might not want to play something that drops choices and is combat/survival/horror heavy. It might fall into the lap of someone in the middle of the Venn diagram who loves both, but that’s a gamble that I don’t think developers would make again after Tales from the Borderlands didn’t meet sales expectations.

So if this is real (which I don’t believe)... I hope they know what they’re doing, because the initial impression hasn’t been good.

#twdg #twdg leaks #twdg talk

13 notes · View notes

creative-type · 6 years

Text

How Fullmetal Alchemist Integrates Theme and Character

In a world where everything is subjective and polarizing opinions are the norm, where anti-fans and trolls take ‘love to hate’ a little too far, and where any story popular enough to become a pop-culture phenomenon is almost guaranteed to have a small-but-vocal minority that can’t see what all the fuss is about, I have never once seen, read, or heard of anyone say that Fullmetal Alchemist is a bad story.

None.

I’m sure they exist, but during the course of its run Fullmetal Alchemist reached the rarefied air of being almost universally beloved within the manga/anime community and being critically acclaimed as a damn good story. This success is wholly deserved. Arakawa was able to do something that a lot of shonen mangaka can’t, and as a result Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the best plotted, tightly written manga I have ever read.

Others have and will write about the philosophy Arakawa presents, point out the incredible amount of research she was able to cram into her series, extrapolate on the world building better than I could, but today I want to talk about something I’ve not seen anyone else touch on, and that’s how she integrates her themes into her characterization in order to really drive the point she’s trying to make home.

So what’s the main theme of Fullmetal Alchemist? Luckily Arakawa tells us directly on the next to last page of the series.

So let’s pick this apart a little bit

There is nothing to be learned in a lesson without pain, because you can’t gain anything without losing something in exchange. But when you overcome that pain and make the lesson your own you will obtain an infallible, irreplaceable fullmetal heart.

Now since this is a comic we also have to take the image itself into account. None of the photos are of just one person. Even the dog managed to have puppies. So we can assume that the idea of community is also integral to what Arakawa’s trying to say here (I hesitate to say friendship, because, well, not all of these guys are friends, lol). Also, during Edward’s final showdown with Truth he states he’ll make due without his alchemy so long as he’s still got other people he can rely on

And Truth’s response is basically “Ding ding! You finally get it! Go claim your prize at the door, I never want to see your ugly mug again.”

(I don’t know Japanese, but I’m pretty sure that’s an accurate translation)

At its barest bones Fullmetal Alchemist is about overcoming past mistakes with the help of others. This is all fine and dandy, but without proper execution they just become empty words pasted onto the final pages in a halfhearted attempt at depth. I think most people know of stories about sacrificial love where there is neither meaningful sacrifice nor a healthy portrayal of love, or stories about overcoming overwhelming odds through the power of hard work and effort where every victory is handed over on a silver platter of asspulls and accelerated training arcs. It doesn’t matter how good something sounds if the execution sucks.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the characters of Fullmetal Achemist and the mistakes they’ve made.

Fullmetal Alchemist: A Series of Terrible People Trying to Become Less Terrible

So this one is super easy. We’re presented with our lovable protagonists’s first major screw up on chapter 1, page 1

Oh look, it’s that quote again. Golly gee willikers, it’s almost as if Awakara knew what story she wanted to tell and integrated the main theme from the very beginning.

It’s not terribly uncommon for a manga to make some sort of thesis statement during their first chapter, but from the (few) long-running serializations I’ve read, the longer a series runs the more muddled these things get as far as theme and narrative go. It’s one of the difficult things about trying to keep an audience engaged over a long period of time.

Fullmetal Alchemist is more tightly plotted than most shonen affairs, but there’s another thing that helps it keep from undercutting its own themes, and that’s that it lets its protagonists actually make terrible mistakes, and more importantly makes them suffer because of it.

The Elric’s attempt to resurrect their mother is never treated as anything but a horrible thing that never should have happened. Yes, the boys’s plight is sympathetic and the loss of their mother after their father abandoned the family was a tragedy, but they were told time and time again that human transformation was not only impossible, but forbidden

Of course the Elric brothers don’t listen, because otherwise there wouldn’t be a series. It cannot be overstated that they purposefully kept their plans secret. They didn’t tell Winry or Izumi or any one else that they were going to try to revive their mother. Perhaps they don’t feel like they can talk to anyone about their grief, but there’s also a definite hubris involved. Edward and Alphonse -- but especially Edward -- think they can accomplish something “adults” have found impossible.

Perhaps if they had talked to Izumi more she would have been able to guide them through their time of grief, but it goes back to one of the main themes of the series: Camaraderie, doing things together, trusting your friends, community as apposed to isolation. The Elric brothers lock themselves away to their father’s dark library and perform illegal experiments in their basement -- hidden from anyone who might try to stop them.

And they suffer for it.

(Keep in mind the word ignorant. We’ll be coming back to it later.)

This in and of itself is good, but this message is hammered home by the supporting cast, especially the characters from the military. Remember Roy Mustang, suave up-and-comer who wants to completely reform the government from the inside out for the betterment of the people?

Complicit in genocide

His number 2, all around team mom, and rescuer of cute puppies?

Complicit in genocide

Husband of the year and eternal winner of Best Dad Joke?

Complicit in genocide

Human teddy bear, series aesthete, and walking meme generator?

Complicit in genocide

The beloved small-town doctor?

Complicit in genocide and human experimentation

The grumpy curmudgeon with a hidden heart of gold?

Say it with me now, complicit in freaking genocide.

That’s just looking at Armestrian military during the civil war. When the series jumps to the present day we see Scar has become a serial killer, while midway through the series Ling willingly becomes the vessel for an inhuman monster, nearly loosing his identity in the process. Hohenheim abandoned his family and was (unwittingly) complicit in a genocide of his own. In her grief Izumi tried to bring back her dead child via human transmutation, violating one of the fundamental laws of alchemy. The list goes on.

It is impossible to fully implement a theme of overcoming past mistakes without having characters be fully responsible for said mistakes. I feel like it’s a common trap to sacrifice likability for pathos. How easy would it have been to say that Ed and Al couldn’t be held responsible for their actions because they weren’t aware of the consequences, or had never been told that human transformation was forbidden? How easy would it have been to say that the military made Roy and Riza and the rest participate in the Ishvalan massacre?

Luckily the writing never goes this route. While the various characters might not fully understand the ultimate outcome of their choices they never have their agency stripped away by something outside of their control. Each and every character in the series thinks they’re doing the right thing by acting the way they do, which not only makes them feel human as characters but brings me neatly into my second point.

Overcoming Ignorance and Finding Truth

During the Ishvalan flashback we see both Roy and Riza give their initial reason for joining the military, citing their desire to protect others as one of their main motivations.

Edward and Alphonse were young children when their mother died, and their desire to bring her back stems from a child’s love. Izumi and Sig had struggled for years for a child, and the grief of losing a baby after longing for a family for so long led her to try to resurrect her child.

None of these desires are in and of themselves bad, but they stem from a place of ignorance. Attempting human transmutation was forbidden for a reason. The military ended up not being as altruistic as the young soldiers were led to believe. The world, which our main characters looked at as a simple, understandable thing, turned out to be complex, and hard, and unforgiving.

With their worldviews essentially shattered it would have been easy to give up or give in to the darkness that they had seen, but instead each main character decides to take full ownership of their mistakes and takes steps to correct them.

There are very few irredeemable bad guys in Fullmetal Alchemist, and it’s a series that ultimately has a very hopeful view on humanity. Because of this underlying philosophy people are not ruined or broken by their pasts, but rather learn from them.

This is the Truth that is presented. It’s not facts or book knowledge, which any alchemist capable of performing human transmutation would have in spades, but growth through life experience. Ed and Al see firsthand the evils alchemy can commit and strive to correct them. Roy and Riza stare down the barrel of the military machine and seek to dismantle it, even if it results in their own undoing. Ling learns to recognize the futility of his country’s current clan system and seeks to protect even the weakest of his people. It takes awhile, but Scar realizes that vengeance can only breed violence and strives to rebuild his people instead of the destruction of those who killed them in the first place.

None of these goals can be accomplished alone, building on the theme of camaraderie, but there’s also the side effect of preventing others from going down their path.

That is Fullmetal Alchemist in a nutshell. It’s a series about flawed people making horrible mistakes, overcoming them with the help of their friends and in turn preventing others going down that dark path of destruction. It’s not a smooth transition, and the lessons learned are full of pain, but in the end you’ll find your own Truth and come out the other side a better person. The rest is just gravy.

Although I will concede that having a main character who can turn his arm into a knife probably helps.

#Fullmetal Alchemist #Edward Elric #Alphonse Elric #creative-type analyzes #character analysis #Roy Mustang #Riza Hawkeye #Ling #character writing #Scar

2K notes · View notes

killscreencinema · 5 years

Text

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

youtube

Xenoblade Chronicles X, released by Monolith Soft “X”-clusively for the Wii U in 2015, takes place on an alien planet named Mira, where the last remnants of humanity have crash landed after Earth was decimated by a mysterious alien force known as the Ganglion. The human survivors live on in the form of “mimeosomes”, which are enhanced cyberorganic duplicates, which are being controlled remotely by their real bodies while in stasis in a massive vault known as the Lifehold.

You play as a freshly revived from stasis new recruit in an organization known as BLADE, whose mission statement, besides gathering resources and fending off hostile creatures for the residents of the fledgling city of New Los Angeles, is to find the Lifehold, which was lost during the crash landing, before it runs out of power, killing the rest of humankind in the process. The only problems is that BLADE is in a race to find the Lifehold against their old pals, the Ganglion, who are committed to finishing the extermination they started.

I normally don’t go into so much detail about a video game story, but goddamn if this one didn’t capture my imagination like no other video game in awhile, especially a J-RPG, with all of their tired tropes. In fact, while I greatly enjoyed the first game, Xenoblade Chronicles, I found the story to be disappointingly banal, especially from a studio like Monolith, who are known for complex plots since the days of ye olde PlayStation with Xenogears (when the creative team was working under Squaresoft). I love the idea of humans rebuilding civilization, with their main hub of New Los Angeles having the familiar California architecture juxtaposed against a strange, alien landscape. I love the idea of these people being trapped in cyber-organic bodies, which if killed, would merely trap their consciousness back in their real bodies in stasis. What a mind trip it would be for someone close to you to die, but if you’re able to find where their real body is tucked away, you might have a chance to bring them back for realsies! To the game’s credit, it deeply explores both the negative and positive psychological implications of such an existence, albeit in a melodramatic fashion one comes to expect from most anime (which J-RPGs are basically offshoots of). The characters are all well-rounded, with Elma, your commanding officer and all around badass bitch, being my favorite. I even love what Elma says whenever she levels up:

“Strength comes from experience. That’s true on any planet.”

Meanwhile, whenever my character leveled up she’d exclaim “MY GROWTH SPURT!!!” Which is... weird. I guess it’s better than your 13-year-old teammate, Lin, yelling that.

You’re well-advised to spend most of your time with Elma and Lin, getting them nice and strong. You can also choose fourth party member from a variety of characters you meet along the way. The longer you spend time with your team completing missions, the more your affinity grows with them. One you reach a certain affinity level, it opens a personal side-quest with each respective character, which are worth doing not only to further dive into the story, but for the “fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory”, as Indiana Jones would say.

While I can’t say enough things about the story, the gameplay is just as solid and immersive. It plays basically just like its spiritual predecessor, for it should be noted at this point that gameplay is the only thing is has in common with the first game as it does not continue the story. It’s almost like how Mega Man X *kinda* continues the story of the original Mega Man series, but with a darker, more sci-fi tone. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 are pure fantasy (with a lil bit of sci-fi), while Xenoblade Chronicles X is sci-fi fantasy all the way. It’s pretty much the J-RPG version of Mass Effect, but without all the sex.

The battle system is in real-time, with your various special moves set up in slots. You can unleash them at will, or wait for your comrades to request a specific move, which is optimal as it is one of very few ways to heal your party. Plus, those special attacks have to recharge, so you don’t want to be stuck with no specials while your party’s HP is in the red, and one of them is begging for a heal. Aw~kward! I do like how streamlined it feels as opposed to the kind of turn-based fighting I’m used to in J-RPGs, although it’s always stressful not being able to control the three other party members beyond issuing generic squad orders like “Concentrate your fire” or “assemble with me” or “GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE” before running from danger like King Arthur and his knights running from that bunny in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

You’ll be using that order a lot by the way as, similarly to the first game, low level enemies cohabit alongside extremely high level enemies all over the world maps. While most of the time the super strong monsters will ignore your existence, unless you pick a fight or bump into them, others might not have such a chill disposition and will prefer to trample you instead. Running into an area populated by high-level enemies can feel a lot like when you accidentally wander into a dangerous neighborhood. There’s nothing like looking for a rare item in a cave only to realize it’s full of enemies twice your level, so you carefully back away like the Homer Simpson meme:

You might think I’m complaining, but I actually really enjoyed this in both games, as it really makes it feel like a truly open world and having to tread softly or risk sudden annihilation from a level 80 tyrant you didn’t know was there makes it feel more like an adventure. That being said... it can also be incredibly infuriating when you’re flying around in your mech suit, which are called “Skells” in this game, and you innocently bump into a powerful bad guy only for him to promptly blow up your Skells, leaving you with a salvage cost in the MILLIONS. Yep, that’s when you normally “save scum” by loading up a previous save, but damned if they didn’t make it a pain in the ass what with the obscene loading times and all the fucking menu screens you have to press A through. While it’s true that players who are savvy about planting mining beacons in the most optimal way to earn money will have more credits than they know how to spend, you will trash your Skells a lot, and that shit adds up, especially when you’re trying to save for more powerful Skells or expensive equipment.

By the way, I don’t want to understate how fucking cool it is that you get a giant mech robot to ride in halfway through the game. I was already onboard with Xenoblade Chronicle X before that happened, so adding a giant mech robot to the mix is like discovering for the first time how freaking delicious Fritos are in chili. Like... I love chili, but I had not idea it could be improved THIS much with Fritos! And just as the initial buzz of getting a Skell starts to wear off, YOU GET A FLIGHT MODULE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO FLY ALL OVER THE MAP WITH IMPUNITY! Hey, you like chili and Fritos? Howz about a blow job too? I mean, you’ll have to listen to an irritatingly catchy J-pop song while you’re getting the blow job, but still awesome!

Which finally brings us to the music. Holy shit. The music is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, who did the music for the anime series Attack on Titan. There are lots of great tracks for the game... well except for both the day and night themes for NLA, which will get stuck in your head so much you’ll scream into your pillow while trying to sleep at night (meanwhile in your brain you keep hearing, “Uh, yeah, uh, yeah, oh oh oh”). Even the worst track is forgivable if only because the main theme to game, innocously titled “Theme X”, is one of the most goddamn beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard in a game in years. Listen and let the goosebumps wash over you:

youtube

It’s obvious I love the game, but there are negatives too. For one, I didn’t finish the game, because HOLY HELL are the final bosses difficult. Firstly, any hope that you have of beating them is with your Skells, so should they get wrecked somewhere along the way, there’s no way to bring them back, so you’re SOLAMWF (or “Shit out luck and mighty well fucked” as George Carlin coined). If you saved before the fight, your heard was in the right place, but guess what? You’re fucking trapped. You can’t leave to buy a stronger Skell or level grind. It’s a goddamn dead end, emphasis on the word “dead”. Fortunately, being a seasoned RPG player, when Elma asked me not only once, but TWICE, if I was ABSOLUTELY sure I’m ready to enter the Lifehold, I got the subtext and didn’t save once inside. However, stupidly, I did save after accepting the final mission, which effectively locks out the affinity missions, which can be much less redundant way to level grind than doing the “Basic Missions” (which consists of tasks like fetch quests and monster bounties). I tried like hell to grind to level 50 and save up enough credits to buy a level 50 Skell (which were the minimum recommendations for evening the odds against the boss), but I still couldn’t beat him.

So out of frustration and boredom, I rage quit the game and moved on to something that will hopefully be a lot less strenuous... Bloodborne (wah-waaaaaah). I like Xenoblade enough that I’ll return to it and continue grinding away until I eventually beat it.

So yeah... Xenoblade Chronicles X is pretty fucking great. I would cautiously nominate it as the best RPG you’ll play on the Wii U (below Breath of the Wild of course).

#xenoblade chronicles x #Monolith Soft #jrpg #wiiu #nintendo #rpg #role playing games #scifi #skells #video games #xeno #anime

6 notes · View notes

mmymoon · 6 years

Text

So there’s a goth meme from several years past that @spookyloop revived, so why not.

Intro:

Name? Mmy

Star sign? Capricorn

Height? 180 cm/5′ 9′’

Nationality? American

Things you post? Aesthetic things, memes, and rambling responses to friends, I think. I would probably just be an aesthetic blog if my personality didn’t ruin it, ohohohoho...

Favourite artists/bands? Goth/darkwave bands...? Ego Likeness and Hannah Fury are my favorite ones both musically and as people. I’m a club organizer type of person so the fact I like listening to All Your Favorite Club Hits On Endless Repeat after twenty-odd years helps. I just did an all-female-fronted (and largely all female musician) set recently that I was proud of. Army of Lovers probably says the most about me as a person. Oh, and Marina and the Diamonds.

Favourite movies/TV shows? Right now, Grey’s Anatomy, Queer Eye, and the modern sitcom renaissance that’s happening because I love sitcoms. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Twin Peaks forever. (Black Mirror for an edgyyyy answer; I wanted to like the Philip K. Dick one but the bad false eyelashes on all the lead females was so distracting I couldn’t focus, costuming matterrrrs and overly long eyelashes are going to look like overly big shoulderpads in ten years) In terms of movies, I like both hardcore surrealism (Solaris, Boxing Helena) and fun cheesy things (Zoolander, Muppet Treasure Island) and action movies as a genre (Fury Road was great!). I had a lot of film classes in undergrad, plus we have the Library of Congress’ film campus and get to watch a lot of interesting silent, so it really depends on the genre and mood.

Follower count? I think over 600 woooooo big monsters, big prizes

Simple Questions:

What is your favorite candle scent? LED, I wish they’d make some Alexa compatible ones so I could live out my Phantom of the Opera sewer decor fantasies

Do you have a favorite book? Alice Walker’s entire body of work. (The Last Unicorn for the nerd stuff, although reading a lot of Piers Anthony and Pratchett growing up probably says more about me as a person. Read a lot of Erma Bombeck, too, come to think of it. Sure, I read and enjoyed all that Russian literature as a moody teen, but I also liked ALL THE JOKES. Which is why I like Philip K. Dick, although the comedy is never preserved in film adaptation and I can whine about it like the critical snob I truly am.)

Are you a tea or coffee person? Yes, keep it coming. I am pan-beverage and constantly need to hydrate and and require at least two drinks on my person at all times.

What is your favorite brand and color of lipstick? Beauty Bakerie whatever the dark purple is, although I’m getting into the Sephora brand “lip stain” (actually longwear) wines and dark purples which I think are just numbers. Shout out to the NYX “Transylvania” and Max Factor “Frivolous” I used to wear for their good names.

What is your favorite perfume/cologne? Pure rose absolute, which, judging by everyone’s reaction, makes me smell like a Riyoko Ikeda illustration. (I’m allergic to most commercial scents, but rose absolute does not fail me!)

Do you have a celebrity crush? Usually the perky girl character, Leisha Hailey (OG teenage crush just got better through the years), Jameela Jamil, probably a bunch of people I can’t think of right now

If you had to give up the color black, what color would you choose instead? Leopard print and hot pink

If you could change your name to a stereotypical 90s/2000s gothy name, what would it be? I grew up in a hippie area so I know far too many kids legitimately named a lot of those things. I always liked the names Violent and Prudence, though, if I was going to do a fake name.

What are your top three tips for surviving hot weather while black clad? Just wear natural fibers, you’ll be fine and your skin will thank you anyway. I’m already drinking two drinks anyway, so.

What song will always make you happy (doesn’t have to be a goth band)? Bjork - All Is Full of Love

Are you active in the arts (ex. Play an instrument, paint, write, etc)? I GUESS

If you had a teacup or mug made inscribed just for you, what would you have it say? I have a wholesale account for those black rose ones! I like plain black cauldron mugs the best for real usage and solid black china teacups with floral interior prints.

What is your number one non-gothy hobby? Subculture has taught me that the Venn Diagrams of hobbies overlap too much for this to be a real question. GARDENING IS FULL OF GOTHS. DOLLS ARE FULL OF GOTHS. PLENTY OF GOTHS ALSO LIKE READING ABOUT RANDOM LEGAL AND TAX CODES.

Thought Provokers:

If you could be a supernatural creature, what would it be and why? Maenad, the literal party bully

What horror monster-based super power would you have? Maenads have a pretty definited skillset, but like... I feel like most horror monsters have fairly broad ill-defined ones. Seems like John Carpenter’s The Thing is kind of overpowered.

Do you feel confident or comfortable interacting with other Goths or gothy people (online or irl)? Why or why not? HELLO NEW PEOPLE, YOU LOOK VAGUELY AWKWARD SO MIGHT NEED TO BE FRIENDS WITH US; COME TO ALL MY FRIENDS’ EVENTS IF MY FRIENDS’ EVENTS ARE NOT LOCAL TO YOU I CAN HELP YOU FIND OUT WHICH CLUBS ARE CONVENTIONS ARE AND MIGHT INTEREST YOU SO ANYWAY LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME PEOPLE

Which is more important for a look: Great hair or great makeup? Probably make-up, but overall effect is always most important in truly great aesthetic~

Is there something you wish there was more of in your subculture? Accountability, although I’m proud of those of us who are always working on that. (The secret matriarchy is watching.)

Care to share an embarrassing story related to your “darkliness“? No one told me I was Far Too Tall to be wearing Lip Service miniskirts

How are you at DIY? aaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahah; let me tell you about various epoxies

Quickly describe your ideal wedding. One where I am not expected to attend, or barring that, they have an open bar and friends with quick wits and quiet voices.

Confessional (aka True or False):

I love watching cheesy romance films. Eh -- I love cheesy COMEDIES, so there’s some overlap, but eh.

I ALWAYS remember to wash off my makeup at night VERY TRUE. I always wash my face, comb out my hair, brush my teeth, and moisturize. EVERY NIGHT. NO MATTER HOW LATE IT IS AND EXHAUSTED I AM.

I sleep with plushies. True, if I haven’t kicked them off of the bed by accident.

I wear non-black pajamas most nights. False, I don’t own anything that isn’t black. (Night-time is for novelty tee shirts and threadbare Old Navy Halloween prints, or else long flowy black night-dresses.)

I still listen to a boy band that had disbanded years ago. Sure, I listen to [insert name of some synthpop band as a joke]

I think Andrew Eldritch is overrated. False, I feel like he gets rated pretty fairly.

I don’t like vampires. False. I mean, I find other aspects of folklore more interesting academically, but I feel like vampire aesthetic is pretty crucial to gothdom in general. Also, there’s some great chronic illness metaphor in there.

I don’t like clubs. THE MOST FALSE STATEMENT EVER TO APPLY TO MY PERSON -- ALSO HELLO WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME TO AN EVENT? Y’ALL NEED REAL LIFE FRIENDS AND I CAN HELP MAKE THAT HAPPEN FOR YOU, LET ME JUST GOOGLE YOUR AREA AND CONTACT THE ELDERS TO LOOK AFTER YOU--

I’m dating a goth/darkly-inclined person. I think I talk about death and various cool diseases/medical problems too much for non-goths (taking a broad view and including lolitas and broader subcultural people). It privately irritates me when people put a burden of expecting women to content themselves with inferior aesthetics while everyone wants a “goth gf” or whatnot. (Yes, rarely it’s vice versa, but the societal burden of beautywork, even subcultural, is on women.)

I don’t enjoy graveyards. False! I love them.

Blood makes me queasy. False, high risk behaviour and bad financial decisions are pretty much the only things that make me queasy (also allergens).

I’d sooner faint than pet a spider. False, done that a bunch. I’m not afraid of any creatures that aren’t poisonous or infectious really. (Bats are amazing and beautiful but pretty likely to be rabies carriers, so goths should not pet them. I used to preserve dead ones I found and that was a Bad Idea, but such is the folly of youth.)

I don’t like haunted houses. Eh -- I mean, it’s a gig. I don’t get off on the occult to the extent a lot of goths do, but I suppose it depends on if one means Haunted Houses (the theatrical experience) or haunted houses (the overwrought local ghost stories experience).

I still browse Hot Topic’s clearance racks. True; I hadn’t been to one in years but my friend and I just went and I totally did, although I remain Entirely Too Tall For Those Miniskirts. But I got my first Demonias from HT clearance, precious memories.

I’ve never read Dracula. False.

I think “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is a long and boring song. False! Blasphemy!

#goth tag #gothgoth #whatever this is #I am both a huge cliche and also really obnoxiously brash for a goth #but some of it is really organizer kindred #to the manner/manor born #also a favorite television series but very long ago

6 notes · View notes

austinhuang0131 · 6 years

Text

My critical analysis on Mawaru Penguindrum. Unbelievable.

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILER. Read at your own risk.

(January 7, 2018: This remains a Work in Progress.)

nice title and warning

Within 2 days (Yes), I watched another Madoka-level depressive anime. Good job. Why am I keep watching this kind of anime? What is pushing me to the cliff of depression? It's not like I'm that kind of person And, in fact, I am quite savage, online and offline, check my post history, but I just keep going to this kind of shit. So...Listen, you lowlifes, who will never amount to anything! Obtain the Penguin Drum! This is nonsense. I get what the author trying to say, but this is still nonsense.

First time writing an analysis. Probably amateur as hell.

Initiative

This Linux meme I saw on a trash website.

dailymotion

So I went to search for its raw sauce source, which leads to me watching this. I thought it was some good entertaining shit, but turns out it’s another Madoka-level calice.

The main theme, core idea, whatever.

Three parts.

Fate

First of all, let’s compare the statements that the characters made. The apple girl said:

I love the word "fate". Because, you know how they talk about "fated encounters"? A single encounter can completely change your life. Such special encounters are not just coincidences. They're definitely... fate. Of course, life is not all happy encounters. There are many painful, sad moments. But this is what I think: sad and painful things definitely happen for a reason. Nothing in this world is pointless.

And that was episode 2. In contrast, Shouma said:

I hate the word "fate." Birth, encounters, partings, success and failures, fortune and misfortunes in life. If our lives are already set in stone by fate, then why are we even born? There are those born to wealthy families, those born to beautiful mothers, and those born into the middle of war or poverty. If that's all caused by fate, then God is incredibly unfair and cruel. Because, ever since that day, none of us had a future and the only certain thing was that we wouldn't amount to anything...

And that was episode 1. The end proved them both right. Nice catch. But they’re too extreme. And animes are always featuring extreme situations so that they can be animes, right? That’s why I don’t take animes as lessons. They’re not something we will encounter.

What I believe is: You might love it, or hate it, but such concept of “fate” is a suggested course. It should not be taken as the truth set in stone (Shouma), or surprises that jump out randomly (Ringo), but rather a neutral advice. You can follow it, or you can break it, depending on the situation, which can bring positive and/or negative consequences, known as “taking risks”. Such “fate”, as a suggested course, is fitted to everyone individually. Let’s break this down.

Such concept of “fate” is a suggested course.

By “suggested” I didn’t mean it’s necessarily good. It is rather close to being balanced, which is what the world has been turning about: Positive and negative connect to each other, spread across the whole lifespan of “fate”.

...but rather a neutral advice.

Following such “fate” makes you what a balanced world (which is neutral, at least it should be) want you to be.

You can follow it, or you can break it, depending on the situation.

Two points. First of all, only you can change your fate, not a fucking diary, which succeeded in transferring fate after a high price was paid. Second of all, I said depending on the situation, which means that there are certain moments in your life that you have no other options (Will describe later).

Such “fate”, as a suggested course, is fitted to everyone individually.

To balance out the society, positive and negative elements coexist.

Survival Strategy

This world is corrupt. It's all about winning and losing. Who is ranked above and below you. The profitable and unprofitable. The accepted and unaccepted. The chosen and unchosen. They never try to give... All they care about is taking! What a miserable world we live in. A world ruled by those who will never amount to anything. This is already a Frozen World. But fortunately for us, the Flame of Hope is still burning strong. The holy flame. Tomorrow, we will cleanse the world with that flame. Now's the time to take back... The beautiful world where the mankind only need true things to survive! This is our Survival Strategy!

“They never try to give... All they care about is taking!” Isn’t that communism you want? Soviet anthem plays So this is a commie anime then. Woah. The author is just too sophisticated. I never expected to see such an accurate portrayal of communism in a fucking anime!

Jokes aside. Needed or unneeded won’t exist if people’s direct benefit In the anime, such goal is portrayed by a terrorist group, which sucks. I think this goal is perfect: It is something I would definitely agree on, given the stories of the kids’ families in the anime...aside from the method to establish it: Trying to establish an equal society by a massacre against the innocent creates way more inequality. But the problem is, communism is always established using bloody methods (Just two famous examples. There’s more...Plus they didn’t establish true communism later on.) which makes any peaceful solution impossible. After all, you can’t change the whole society: Once you take the benefit, you wouldn’t share it.

Cycle

This picture generally illustrated the flow of “apple” (= Penguindrum = Fruit of fate) throughout the timeline, showing the cycle of fate. This is a representation of "true things” (= Equality) presented in the previous section.

But why killing Himari to teach them a lesson? If they’re living happily, and they accept each other as family members while none of the three siblings are biological, in what perspective does killing her necessary? Of course, you can say, “Fate.” But that makes a loophole because now we can say, “Everything is connected by fate”. Here comes dialectical materialism, a theoretical base of communism which proved this anime to be commie again. They believe that...

A thing will go back to its original form after being reversed twice.

Everything is created by conflicts.

Such ideology is dangerous, as it’s a loophole proving itself right. And that makes communism dangerous.

Plot

I guess it’s very clear: Pretty entertaining in the beginning, depressive in the end. Personally, I believe the distribution of both parts in Penguindrum is more balanced than Madoka.

But this makes no sense.

First of all, why would Ringo want to imitate her dead sister? She’s dead already, so she won’t change. Tabuki is 16 years older, and he will change drastically. Why would you follow a guide written 16 years apart? Materialism again? “If my mind become alike to Momoka’s, I’ll become Momoka herself, because materialists believe that minds are composed of matters.” No, no, no!

Summarizing the end of the story, it’ll be: Reviving one should-be-dead girl at the cost of erasing two boys completely from the earth, plus giving a girl some burn, and 2 women + 1 man depression. In any way, I believe that the princess of crystal (the hat, in short) should be directly responsible for the result of 2 dead 4 injuries. That’s first-degree murder. Even if the two brothers agreed to take their lives to save Himari, that’s still murder. Even if their parents are terrorists and the fate said their kids have to be punished, that’s still murder (Committed by whoever executed the fate). Even if the scorpion burning on Ringo got transferred to Shouma, that’s still attempted murder on Ringo. BEGONE THOT! She should be cursed and Himari should die gracefully. In fact, Himari already realized that her disease can’t be cured, so she even prayed to “return the present of life”, which is a pretty ungraceful death. So here comes the problem:

Why’d the princess revive Himari?

“Obtain the Penguindrum”, which is the fruit of fate (apple), revealed in the end. We already analyzed the “cycle“. Or maybe she (As a part of Momoka, revealed in Episode 23, or the worse part as written here) just wants to murder the guys?

Characters

Well...I don’t think I should analyse each characters separately.

#anime #analysis #mawaru penguindrum #communism #survival strategy #weebshit #weeb #weeb trash #philosophy #marxism #materialism

3 notes · View notes

mirroredtranslations · 7 years

Text

Shinobu Mustard - Chapter 35

A six-hundred-year reunion, after a fashion.

Shinobumonogatari – Nisioisin p. 192-198

Although we had chosen the Kanbaru home for our location, cleaning up my junior's catastrophically disordered room by sunset would be an impossible task; however, as much as I'd been told I could use the house however I wanted, it wouldn’t do to trespass on her grandma and grandpa's territory either. As such, we decided to use the Japanese mansion's garden for the resurrection of Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicide-Master.

Much like in Ryouan-ji, it was a rock garden.(1)

Well, it might have been a last resort, but viewing the mansion from the outside rather than the inside seemed to better convey its castle-like quality.

Yesterday, it felt like I ran out of time and night had fallen before I finished what I was doing; however, today I'd done everything I had to—if I must say, I'd ran out of material—before nightfall.

Now then, what's going to happen?

“Sorry for the wait. Shall we begin?”

The sun had gone down about halfway when Gaen-san appeared, bottle in hand. Greeting her were myself, Shinobu, who'd woken up early and crawled out of my shadow, Hachikuji, our observer, and the supine Suicide-Master—I couldn't stand making a bound girl lie down on bare ground, so I'd spread out a rush mat (which I found in Kanbaru's room; why on earth would she have something like that?).

The actors were all present.

The show must go on.

“Just in case, I erected a barrier around the circumference of the mansion, so even if a battle breaks out it'll be fine.”

“That's just the case I'd like to avoid... So, Gaen-san. What is that bottle for?”

“This is more or less within my scope as a specialist too. Wine would be better for a vampire, but in the Japanese style, this is sacred sake for a demon.”

Well, I suppose crosses and holy water wouldn't quite do in a Japanese mansion where a shrine goddess is present... her behavior might suggest she'd come to a midnight drinking party, but it was quite right for where we were.

“If only you'd worn the full formal dress too...”

“Did you want to see me in shrine maiden clothes, Koyomin? Unfortunately, I don't take formalities and ceremonies as seriously as Meme does. I'm both a pacifist and a rationalist.”

Now that I think about it, that middle-aged Hawaiian shirt guy may have seemed careless, but actually, he could be persistent about arrangements and whatnot to the point of illogicality... And looking closely at Gaen-san's bottle, it seemed to be cheap stuff she'd bought at a discount store... It must be rather difficult to call it sacred sake.

Doing what's difficult is the Gaen way, huh.

“Really, I never thought I'd enter the house that rejected the sister I'm so proud of—karma goes around and around.”

Speaking as if she were amused, Gaen-san casually upended the bottle and poured it over the length of the white-clothed girl's body.

It seemed less like an occult ceremony and more like a “magic kettle” from rugby.(2)

Thank goodness; judging from her composed behavior, it appeared as though Gaen-san had safely broken free of the sordid quagmire of high school girls.

“Ooh. White clothing getting wet and sticking tightly around a girl's body, seems kind of erotic, doesn't it?”

You wouldn't think Hachikuji much of a goddess from that statement—let me just say, I hadn't touched on it (double meaning) out of kindness, but when she was bathing in a waterfall for a joke yesterday, she looked the same way.

Setting that aside.

“Hey, Shinobu-sama.”

“...... Huh? Oh, you mean me, my master?”

She's not getting into her role at all, is she.

Her servile disposition has become rather deeply ingrained.

“I mean, my servant. What is it?”

“Even if you correct it immediately... Well, anyway. Shinobu-sama. My master. Might I be so bold as to inquire something of you?”

“If that's the quality of acting you take to the real performance, it'll be your fault if we get found out, you know?”

It'll be both of our faults, I think.

However, there was no time for a quip, so I continued.

“I haven't thought about it too deeply until now, but... What's it like to live for six hundred years?”

“Hmm?”

“I mean, if I may be permitted to speak for myself, thinking back on this past year alone, I feel as though I've changed.”

“Speak normally. I have no idea what you're talking about.”

Hmm.

I had no idea what I was talking about either.

“While you're living, your opinions change, your feelings change, you realize your mistakes, and you learn the truth, right? I won't make friends, because my strength as a human would decrease—when I used to say things like that, I truly believed them, and I don't think I could have believed that I'd be able to make friends normally when I went to college.”

That's just in one year.

If it were six hundred years... How would it feel to look back on your past, then, I'd suddenly wondered.

“Even speaking normally I have no idea what you're talking about. After all, the past that I can't fully remember, I throw away.”

Because she couldn't fully remember it, or because she didn't want to remember it? Or maybe she doesn't remember even that.

Well, alright. I'd just tried to find something to say at the last minute; once again, even I had no idea what I was talking about.

Do I want to tell her that there's no need to make the same decision that she did six hundred years ago just because it's their first time meeting for six hundred years? But, if Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade was on the verge of death in an alley, would I present my neck to her the same way I had a year ago?

“Before oddities are immortal, they're constant, universal. They're not always changing like humans are.”

“In that case, I'll ask you again what I asked you that spring break. Shinobu, what are humans to you?”

When Shinobu Oshino was not yet Shinobu Oshino and still Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, she had answered the question without a second thought.

That they were “food”.

But that's not correct for the present Shinobu.

It may be obvious that's because she's been sealed away, but even bearing that in mind, it still wouldn't be correct.

But her answer would have to wait—as if aiming for a moment when Shinobu was taken by surprise and had fallen silent, Gaen-san began chanting what sounded like a magic spell that had taken the world by storm several decades previously:

“O devourer, o imbiber, o lurker! The sacred sun has set; now is the time to tear off your coffin-lid and be revived! Boil the flesh in blood, and stir it up with bone!”

It seemed like a joke, but I suppose it was serious.

“Come, alongside the night! Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicide-Master!”

Finally, showing she was aware of how clichéd the incantation sounded, she added, “Or something like that.” However, at that moment, drenched in cheap sake, the girl's supine body radiated a golden color—or so I thought.

It was my imagination. A misunderstanding.

Actually, having slumbered as if dead, she had suddenly opened her eyes wide—the blindfold had popped off, revealing two eyes the same golden color as her hair, and it felt as though they were emitting light.

Until now, Madam Suicide-Master's face had seemed expressionless, in the vein of Ononoki-chan, but that cleared up when her eyes opened.

They were both blond-haired and golden-eyed, but she felt considerably different from Shinobu.

The sake that was sprinkled on her instantly evaporated—the hand- and foot-cuffs, and even the sash from her white clothing, popped off like the blindfold had.

From a distance, I couldn't tell whether Gaen-san had dispelled the seal or whether the girl herself had dispelled the seal—but since my impression leaned toward the latter, I couldn't help but think, How could you call this “weakened”?

Just when I'd started to feel regretful for my rash acts of medical treatment which had made me recall that spring break, and thinking that maybe we should have left her as a mummy, the girl's face turned toward me.

Lying down, she rotated just her neck toward me—no.

Those golden eyes weren't focusing on me, but rather the other girl in this garden, the one standing on my shadow.

The instant she'd awoken, this ancient vampire had sensed her former minion.

Then.

“Ha.”

And.

“Ha.” “Ha.”

And.

“Ha.” “Ha.” “Ha.”

And.

“Ha! Ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Sprawled on the ground, from the absolute lowest position, her laugh rang out louder than I could have imagined.

Receiving that loud laughter, Shinobu bore vivid witness to her old master's revival.

“Ha.”

And.

“Ha.” “Ha.”

And.

“Ha.” “Ha.” “Ha.”

And.

“Ha! Ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

She returned the laugh.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

If a barrier hadn't been put up, their loud exchange of laughter would surely have disturbed the neighborhood—their laughter at each other was as loud as audio feedback from two microphones. I wonder how long it went on for.

As long as six hundred years, or a thousand years.

Could it have gone on forever?

What brought an end to their explosion of laughter, so audacious as to make it seem like me and Gaen-san and Hachikuji weren't even there, was a brief comment from the girl lying down.

“Somehow or other, it seems I died again.”

Hearing that, Shinobu shrugged her shoulders, and said:

“We've both grown old, haven't we.”

The two girls reunited for the first time in six hundred years.

Footnotes: (1) Ryouan-ji is a Zen temple located in Kyoto. (2) Apparently, this refers to rugby athletes using a “magic kettle” to wake up teammates who have been tackled and concussed or something.

#shinobumonogatari #shinobu mustard #monogatari #translation

44 notes · View notes

vrtgerard575-blog · 7 years

Text

Valuable Benefits From Having Steering Trainings.

The United States has actually needed its youngsters to become informed given that the very early times of the nation. In the meantime, as you removal deeper into a globe quite different coming from that of your good friends, you will definitely discover this increasingly complicated to recognize as well as connect to their adventures (view Factor 63 ). Besides all of its own other prices, graduate school could cost you your good friends, and also is actually a higher cost than you might presume. I was as loathsome as they came back in college as well as could not hang around to become away from the entire circumstance, presuming the social activities and also very same regulations really did not be applicable away from institution. If Edison were actually a child today, his parents would certainly possess possessed their lawyers knocking down the school board doors along with a bias satisfy. My label is actually Philip Harrison such fantastic statement from a real powerful spell caster who aid me to recover my center break and provide me from a horrible health issues that practically take my lifestyle Dr Idialu he revive my ex-spouse girl which I intend to marry to in 2 week plus that left me for yet another guy over given that a year. I am actually 13 years old however like i mentioned i have possessed 6 partners as well as possess no self-confidence yet can not anybody aid me considering that I just like a female at my school as well as I know she has seen at least 8 from my pals yet if there is anybody available that can easily assist me simply ASSISTANCE ME! I required a college for my oldest boy that had actually been homeschooled by specialists, Kauf-Wert.De since USA social as well as private universities had neglected him. You will certainly additionally gain credibility throughout the university for being actually a friend as well as other people will intend to dangle along with you and your checklist of close friends will certainly expand and grow. The hashtag meme Recover Our Women" was actually an action to the kidnapping, rape, as well as selling off as slaves or even partners from virtually 300 Nigerian schoolgirls, drawn from their school dormitory in the dead of night on April 14, 2014, by a renegade militia group. While this is true that in 1998 regarding 41 per-cent from university student were actually much older compared to 25, it is actually additionally correct that 57 percent( 4) of these pupils prefer they had returned to institution quicker. Maybe I could use textile adhesive instead of stitching this. This would be much a lot faster, and maybe I'll locate her some water faucet footwears to go along with the hair and also the dress. A Hand Bay, Fla, high school trainee bring a Trump initiative sign was punched in the face through yet another trainee during the course of physical education, local area media mentioned. Everything regarding the area and also the plan were actually poor and incorrect for me, and also I am truly grateful for my Private Eye in my rotation for paying a LOT of gunk regarding the plan.

The kindness from the excellent pupils in RI, their readiness to portion and also the fantastic education and learning that makes certain that children are not simply first-rate scholastics but also mens from honour all ensured me that I carried out the best feature of my child's choice from college.

0 notes

russellthornton · 7 years

Text

Texting Before the First Date: A Complete Guide to Doing It Right

So, the day, time, and place are all booked? You’ve got a week to go until the first date, should you be texting before the first date?

Texting before the first date can be tricky or helpful, depending on how you play it. I would probably need more than two hands to count on my fingers the number of times I’ve agreed on a date, but leading up to it either:

– She’s had a change of plans. – Cancelled at the last minute. – Or even worse, totally forgotten about the date.

The first date is a slippery affair. It can also be counterintuitive–playing it too ‘by the books’ when you’re texting makes the other person think they’ve won you over and there’s no challenge. But if you don’t text at all, they might assume you’re not serious about meeting.

I’ve even had it when a day and time goes by without either of us acknowledging it because I totally forgot. That’s pretty bad. Other times, we both maintained a text conversation that builds a cool excitement in the days leading up to the first date. The date itself then feels like a climax, rather than reviving the dead.

Have you over-planned the first date?

I try not to set formal dates at all, rather I build up conversation and banter, letting a meeting emerge from my weekly patterns or from hers. This way our time together feels less predictable. It presents an opportunity for us both to get value, rather than me having a desperate desire to close a deal.

I’m never the used car salesman… This goes for both men and women. However, it’s usually the guy chasing the girl more, so usually it’s the guy who needs to crank the brakes a little to show that he has quality options. [Read: How to text someone when you want to make the first move]

Texting before the first date when it’s scheduled

Sometimes you both have busy lives. So scheduling a time in advance really is the sensible way to go about it. Even though it’s not my first option, I’ve had many cool first dates that I planned a week ahead or even more on rare occasions. Here are some of the ways I text leading up to the date

#1 Not going into detail. She may be a little hesitant or nervous about meeting the first time. So I don’t want to give her feeling that the first date will be a regimented affair or that she must follow some extravagant plan.

Instead, I keep it light. This goes for both the girl and the guy. The mood I go for is ‘Who knows what will happen? This is just a chill cool meeting, not an official date.’

Example:

Her: ‘So, where r we going?’ Me: ‘Let’s meet at clapham common station. We’ll grab a quick drink and throw straws at people.’ Her: ‘Ok sounds cool I used to do athletics… see you Thurs.’ [Read: 30 fun first date ideas that will leave them wanting so much more]

#2 Not texting much. The previous example illustrates this rule too. I go short and sweet. And once the logistics are set, the way I view it is that the more I text a girl before a first date, the more I feel as if I try to keep her committed to it. This is not always true, but it’s a general rule of thumb.

She’s already going to meet me in person; I don’t want to hound her. I want her thinking about me during the week and about meeting this busy, fun, mysterious guy. I might message something completely non-date related or fun: a meme, some observation. [Read: 20 flirty ways to text your crush and keep them interested]

#3 Not checking in on her. I won’t ask her questions like ‘how you doing this morning?’ because that just seems too personal before a first date. I usually avoid questions at this point altogether. I might just make a statement here or there.

After the first date has been arranged, I tell her to save the date in the calendar so that she doesn’t forget.

I might say something silly like ‘I’m a lady so don’t stand me up ;)’ or ‘If one of us is late drinks are on them.’ It sort of stresses a boundary, because I value my time. Then I just assume she’s handled her own s***.

#4 Not sexualizing. Girls, if you don’t want a one-dimensional fling, then it’s probably best not to suggest you’re sexually keen. But it is a good test in some ways. As a guy, unless she’s giving crazy sexual signals I won’t be sexual over text before the first date. For me, that’s a bad idea—like stepping into a bear trap. [Read: 18 things a girl does that makes a guy think she’s an easy lay]

Of course, I am a guy, but once she thinks she’s figured out that single one intention she might ignore my other dimensions, or have second thoughts about meeting up.

So I play it smoother, more like a gentleman, and let her imagine what could happen. Gentlemen know how to play it smooth, even if you both do want to get it on swiftly. [Read: How to get lucky on the first date: 15 secrets to get laid]

#5 Indirectly texting an hour before. Examples:

– ‘Hey running like 15 minutes late sorry.’ *I’m usually fashionably late* – ‘Hey, I’ll meet you outside of the entrance next to McDonald’s. Catch you soon.’

These indirect messages an hour before remind her of the date in case she lost track of time. If there’s no reply, or if I want to be more direct, I’ll say: ‘How are you doing for time? If you’re too early someone will prob try to take you on a pre-date.’ [Read: How to avoid getting stood up on a date]

#6 Tell 30-40% or less. Sometimes girls flood guys with a slew of questions before the first date, as if trying to get a read on their very soul. Or a guy gives away too much about who he is—which is probably more common.

I think this is a bad idea for a couple of reasons. Firstly, even my closest friends and family have a difficult time at working me out at times. So that’s why I never fall for this trap.

Although she’s asking me to tell her everything about me, she doesn’t really want to know—even if she thinks she does. Plus, if we have great chemistry over text together it just becomes too much.

It builds up too much of an image of who we both are before even speaking face to face, and it’s bound to be too much to live up to.

Instead, I’ll tell her like 30-40% about me so that feel she doesn’t get anxious that I’m too much of a stranger. Just enough for her to feel comfortable that I’m a cool guy that she wants to hang out with, and so that it feels right for both of us to meet up and chat. [Read: 7 stages of first date panic and how to quell them]

#7 Not psychoanalyzing the person over text. If they seem reasonably normal and there’s no major warning signs, then I won’t make a call on whether our personalities suit. I think for women it’s more important to do some digging just so that they feel safe with the person *and obviously meet somewhere public.

But it’s hard to get a read on who someone is even in person. Doing so over text is an exercise in disappointment I think. The same goes for if I try to tell her who I am over text.

It’s a strange experience to have a massive profile built up about someone before the first date. Not knowing too much beforehand, let’s the date become an exploratory experience.

#8 Not fronting personality. When I’ve tried to show my cleverness or some strong aspect of my personality through text before the first date, it’s been like pretty much setting myself up to have to act a role on the date itself.

I write professionally, so I turn a half-decent phrase or create convincing imagery, but I prefer not to try too hard to impress over text, so that when we see each other in person she can be pleasantly surprised by my sense of humor, confidence, worldliness, and so on.

I make a chilled first impression over text and then know I can go in chilled on the first date without confusing her, and slowly crank it up. [Read: How to subtly flirt with a girl: The art of subtle seduction]

#9 Not replying with longer messages. This one goes without saying unless you deliver some important logistical information. Imagine the scene below:

Him: Cool, looking forward 🙂

Her: Looking forward to meeting too! This will be fun. I haven’t been to Clapham before, but I heard it’s got great bar life and is pretty suave. Hope I won’t be disappointed! 🙂

Him: Yeah, it’s great, not sure about the suave bit LOL 😉

Her: Haha, I hope you’re right. The only bar I’ve been to in south London is one in Brixton, which was interesting. LOL, Clapham isn’t suave? Well, okay… I guess I’ll have to be careful then.

Sending long text messages to someone before you know them well can be a sign of large-scale naivety to social norms, which might in turn indicate low intelligence or desperation. Any guy who looks for quality makes a note of that, so keeping it reciprocal maintains a feeling of suspense and challenge. [Read: How long should a first date last? Your guide to timing it right]

Texting before the first date is like the formalities before a courtly dance. Being overeager makes the other person think you’re likely to trip over your own feet. But a brief nod and smile tells them you’re a confident mover. When your turn to pair up eventually comes, you’ll get to find out how well you move together.

[Read: The texting and follow-up guide after a great first date]

The next time you’re confused about texting before the first date or wondering what you need to text, just follow this guide. You’ll never, ever go wrong!

The post Texting Before the First Date: A Complete Guide to Doing It Right is the original content of LovePanky - Your Guide to Better Love and Relationships.

0 notes