#Who thought (correctly) that there are plenty of things which God has no direction relation to or care towards

[a-story-teller]

Seriously one of the most confounding things in the world is pop-Christian moralizing.

"Is ASMR ok for Christians?? 🤨🤔😧" I'm not sure in what world it would be sinful to listen to soothing brushing, ocean sounds, and tapping, yet someone felt the need to ask the question, and someone else felt the need to make a YouTube video answering it. (I didn't watch it, so I don't know the verdict, but somehow you're trusting the verdict to a rando on YouTube and not Discernment from God?)

"Christian facials" because having a hot towel on your face and putting on serum is in any way aligned with a religion or lack thereof, and therefore needs to/even Can be made Christian?

"Christian-friendly sex positions" and the only difference is it's stick figures instead of realistic drawings, and instead of male/female or penetrator/receiver, it's husband/wife. Because you know those goofy health-book illustrations were distracting you from the righteous goal at hand: eating your girl out. But you can't call her your girl, you have to make it clear to everyone seeing you have sex (which... is just the 2 of you, right?) that you're having Good and Not Sinful sex, because you, a Husband, are Married to your Wife. Side note: the stick figures actively make it harder to figure out the intricacies of any of the positions and therefore are objectively shittier at doing what they're made to do.

Christian soap, christian mints, christian calendars, christian music, christian curtains, christian fiction, christian restaurants, christian news, christian shops. There are things in the world that are OK being secular. The fact that your soap does not have an icthus sign etched in that washes away in 3 days anyway does not make you a bad person, or even a bad christian. Your home does not need something Christian™️ in every room for people (or yourself!) not to forget you're christian... I assume?

The king who must say he is king, etcetera. This kind of mindset is so boggling to me, and reeks of nominative faith and deeeeep insecurity. Retail therapy but instead of buying temporary happiness you're buying temporary grace. Being so beholden to the dogma of organized religion that you go to any person feigning authority on the subject rather than using your own brain to make a decision. The idea that things can only be okay to interact with if they're explicitly christian, as though interacting with it as a christian doesn't inherently put it through a christian lens; as though you can only get things trickled down to you from church authority figures with robust enough constitutions to judge what's ok for you because you don't have the ability to think critically; as though you should stay away from what's "sinful" rather than, LIKE JESUS, be able to go into it and be a good example; as though instead of learning to be capable of handling it, you should be as weak to sin as possible; as though you have to go through the world with kid gloves because touching something dirty would soil your soul (which, of course this implies, is sparkling - impossible, arrogant, and kind of denying God, lol [actually, not lol, I'm expanding on that. Denying God by refusing to admit your own sin. Denying God by refusing his grace because you won't admit your own sin. Denying God by acting like his power couldn't absolve something as simple as being exposed to sin, let alone if you did end up making a miatake. Denying God by keeping yourself in Good Christian spaces and not being there for people who need outside help. There's more but I digress]).

Also, the childish áffect of refusing to say things as they are because that would be bad, but referring to it in euphamism is fine - or, transversely, that using colloquialisms is bad, but medical speak is fine, depending on what breed of crackpot christian you're dealing with. "Hanky-panky" just say sex. "Adult drinks" just say wine, beer, liquor. "Flower" for the love of all that is holy just say vulva/vagina/virginity. "Breasts" is fine to describe your chest but "boobs" is not. You can say "buttocks" but not "butt". Discussing bathroom activities is decisively not cool but if utterly necessary you must say "urine" and "feces" because pee and poop are too pedestrian.

Like, entire side tangent, but the weirdly widespread christian-ism of not discussing things frankly or discussing them super detachedly, but both preferring to never discuss them at all, regarding anything "potentially sinful" or "not spiritually uplifting" (usually boiling down to "anything physical") is so whack to me. Do not discuss your period, even in female spaces, because it's tmi. Don't talk about your health issues if they're not Clean enough subjects, even as something to pray about (like breast/prostate cancer, shitting diseases). Don't ever talk about your sex life except to wiggle your eyebrows at your kids when they're old enough. Don't hug your male friends, daughter. Don't play with your little cousins, son. Sex is so so bad but everything is about it, actually. Sex is so so great which is why you should feel guilty about ever wanting it. All nudity is sexual. Dress so they know you're a woman but also that you're a lady. Fart jokes are not allowed. You must remember that all men are looking at you with lust at all times but you can't hold that against them. All things that get you sweaty or muddy are bad. Hair on women is unnatural but just dandy for men, except we can't talk about pubic hair so you're just going to have to figure out on your own if it's less sinful to not think about your vag enough to do anything to it or to ensure you're free of all sinful hair. Here's how to do makeup in a god-honoring way, because you couldn't know on your own, and you must both jump through this hoop to be acceptable to your men but not have enough fun and personal expression with it for it to become anything other than a chore. It is wrong to kill, which is why we support the troops. We are supposed to help the poor, which is why I drive past the beggars that are dirty and ragged and smelly. We are supposed to celebrate God with our bodies, which is why my most spiritually moved state equates to slightly raising my arms.

I can't close this post without including my oft-quoted favorite example of this weird-ass pop-Christian phenomenon translating to real-life people in real-time thoughts: my mom saying she had to take into account "which ice cream flavor is most glorifying to God" at a froyo shop. Either it's raspberry, or she chose sin that day.

#to be SLIGHTLY fair to my mom she was trying to give an example of ''having God as priority 1 all the time'' to middle school me #Who thought (correctly) that there are plenty of things which God has no direction relation to or care towards #What color you wear or what sandwich you eat having no impact on your relationship to God #And mom tried to illustrate that it's about the intention to be mindful of God 24/7 by using the most batshit method available #thus cementing my point and giving me the best example of the effects of this thing to date #christianity #christian #theology #in which I read a book with a really problematic fanbase #religion #So much of ''christian'' culture is alien to me... so much of it I hate with a deep fervor... #I will raise my kids to be okay with the fact that they are physical beings with bodies #I will raise them to make their decisions themselves based on their own interpretations and direction #And I will raise them to know that the world will not sully them without their consent - that to be good does not mean to be free of sin - #and that they take from the world what they bring to it and can face ''bad'' things without turning to stone

[theculturedmarxist]

You might have heard the pithy little soundbite from FDR, “we have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” It’s pretty catchy, the sort of thing every president or head of state wants, you know, something clever enough to seem deep, but not so substantial that it inspires critical thought, something that sounds inspiring, but not something that actually directs anyone to do anything. It’s a neat little “Yes, we can!” sort of slogan that you can slap on pins, signs, shirts, anything. A pretty sharp little piece of electioneering. Great job, case closed, let’s head home.

Except, if you watch the whole thing, it doesn’t stop there. The Great Depression has been ravaging the great Capitalist economies for nearly four years by this point, and Roosevelt spells out in no uncertain terms exactly who’s to blame: not foreigners, not workers, not average people trying to get by, but the capitalists.

I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself [emphasis mine]--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.  

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.  

More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.  

Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.  

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.  

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.  

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.  

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.  

Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.  

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.  

Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.  

Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.  

There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.  

Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.  

The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States--a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.  

In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor--the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others-- the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.  

If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.  

With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.  

Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.  

It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.  

I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.  

But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.  

For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.  

We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stem performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.  

We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.  

In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come. 

The language and ideology at play in the preceding paragraphs can be deservedly criticized, but they should also be understood both in substance and in the critical context in which they were spoken.

Crisis is a feature of Capitalism, not an aberration. A sound reading of the mechanics of Capitalism relies on several “laws” for its continued function. One such law is to produce as much as possible, for as little cost as possible, to as great a profit as possible. Another is that the capital coming in to an enterprise must be greater than that going out if it wishes to remain in solvency and continued operation. The ultimate result of the functioning of these two laws is firstly that wages, ie the outflow of capital from those possessing it, is predominantly inferior to the inflow of capital to those with the power to capture it, and secondly that profit, the driving force of the Capitalist economy, evaporates as those commodities which it has produced in such abundance become so depreciated in value by their ubiquity that, even if there is demand for them, the population at large loses the ability to purchase them at all, much less for the amount necessary to produce a profit great enough to continue large scale operation.

Or to put it another way, no matter how cheap things become, the “consumer class” loses the ability to purchase them. When that happens, production of those commodities ceases, and when production ceases, employment ceases, and when employment ceases, the economy ceases. For Capitalism, there are only two ways out of this trap: the first is through the creation of a tremendous amount of debt, and subsequently the infusion of a tremendous amount of capital by which it jumpstarts purchasing and consumption again. The other is the destruction of capital, in fact the annihilation of productive capital, which is what would result from this crisis in what would become understood as the Second World War.

This is the situation in which the Capitalist world found itself in 1933. Now, the Working Class, while a product of Capitalism, is not bound by the survival of Capitalism. Debt or Destruction are not the only two options open to the workers of the world. The inability to generate a profit does not in any way hamper production in a material, mechanical sense. People will always need food and shelter, clothing and education, transportation and medication. The elements necessary for their creation do not suddenly turn to dust because the economy no longer has a use for them. The only thing preventing workers from working is the Capitalist class and their armed thugs preventing them from doing so. As this fact makes itself known, the workers come to realize as well that, possessing the labor necessary, the knowledge necessary, and the means necessary, they understand that the Capitalists themselves are not necessary.

And that is the situation the Working Class and the Bourgeoisie find themselves in 1933. Those are the social and material forces that have put Franklin Delano Roosevelt on that podium, and which allowed him to indict the Capitalist class overtly, to the cheering of the crowds. FDR was a compromise on the part of the Capitalists. They allowed him to take command of one of the premier Capitalist economies on the planet, and to reform it to save themselves, and their property, and their fortunes. In doing so they may have gotten more than they bargained for. FDR would go on to be elected to an unprecedented four terms. FDR talks about a popular mandate for his policies, and surprisingly he isn’t joking. In the election that carried him into office he won 42 states to Herbert Hoover’s 6. In 1936 he would crush his opponent by winning 46 states to Alf Landon’s 2. Even in 1940, on the eve of WW2, he would win an unprecedented third term, 38 states to 10. In 1944, Roosevelt would win a fourth term, 36 states to 12. He would die three months into his fourth term as president, the most popular since Lincoln or possibly even Washington, having utterly transformed the country.

The war years and those leading up to them would be fatal for the working class. The devastation of every other major economy on the planet would lead to a revivification and revitalization of Capital, propelling it through the devastation wrought by it via the Cold War. The reforms won by the working class wouldn’t last either. Roosevelt was himself hardly cold before Congress would slam the door for any likeminded reformers shut behind him. The bourgeoisie would themselves claw back bit by bit every penny, with interest, that they surrendered to keep their necks from the guillotine and their property firmly under their control.

Which brings us to now, to circumstances not too dissimilar to those a century before that brought FDR to his podium.

In our time, it’s not organized labor bringing Capitalism to its knees, but Capitalism’s own excesses. Bernie Sanders, for reasons at which I can only speculate, seeks to be the Reformer that will rescue the working class from those excesses, and possibly even Capitalism from them as well. Whether or not this would be for good or ill, only time can possibly tell.

Yet, the Working Class is not the prisoner of History. As Marx so ably notes, workers play an active role in both the functioning of society and the production of history. We can see that however necessary reforms might be, reforms in themselves won’t liberate the workers. At best they will buy workers only breathing room—breathing room that will be utilized by the Capitalist class as well. Their position has changed also in the century since FDR. They know just as well that it’s a poor businessman that buys the same mule twice. With automation achieving new levels of sophistication with every passing day, what need have they with a restive and demanding working class? Their stock has only risen with previous mass cullings embodied historically in the processes known as World Wars 1 and 2. Now climate change offers them an even more expedient means of dispensing with the so-called reserve army of labor—all the better that it’s “natural,” free-range, guilt-free, on their part at least.

FDR’s words, spoken nearly a hundred years ago, resonated with the Working Class then in part because they were true—all great propaganda carries with it a core of truth around which builds its fantasy. There’s no point in fearing the inevitable, and anyone can see the inevitable result of the course we find ourselves on. For Workers those words are as true now as they were then, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. There is no need to fear climate change—it is already here. There is no need to fear fascism—it is already here. There is no need to fear persecution and repression—they are here already also.

You do not fear losing your job. It was never yours in the first place, so long as someone can deprive you of it by their whim.

You do not fear losing your family. Without the means to provide for them by your own will, from the beginning they were never yours to keep.

You do not fear losing your life. As long as you have to beg and scrape for permission to live, permission to eat, permission to love, permission to grow, it was never your life to begin with. Everything which you identity as “you” and “yours” is but on loan from the person that can take it from you by order of the bank, or court, or the rights claimed by the immortal, insurmountable corporation.

None of us have anything to fear, because fear is the apprehension one feels when faced with the potential of losing something or someone dear to us. The Working Class possesses nothing of its own, no country, no home, neither kith nor kin. We cannot even anticipate a future however dismal. That too has been claimed and spent by the Capitalist class. We have only to watch it turn to ash in between shifts in the prisons where we shovel it into Capitalism’s furnaces.

We have nothing to fear because we have nothing to lose—but everything to win, everything to save! No one is coming to save us. There’s no savior, no deus ex machina, no last minute salvation before the credits roll. Everything relies on you! On you and those that struggle with you. We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for! We’re the only ones that can!

Our generation has a date with destiny, and it can only be fulfilled if we meet it together. No more nations. No more borders. No more races. No more religions. No more property. No more classes. No more fictions! Only the reality of Communism—every one, every where, working together for a future for us all.

A new world is possible. Life waits for us there. We can build it. We must.

Together.

#communism #socialism #workers of the world unite

[qqueenofhades]

I was (?) a Lyatt shipper who loved Flynn since S1 bc I love a good bad boy. I've been sympathetic to him since the 70s (ha!) when we found out about his wife and kid being murdered. So I found your blog and was loving all the Flynn stuff but I wasn't into Garcy. Thought "ew"--isn't he more like cool young uncle material for her? Fast forward to today and I have read every Garcy ff you have written and have fallen completely into the trash can. I know you prob hear this a lot lately...(1)

(2) but I wanted to thank you so much for writing The Tangled Web of Fate. What a masterpiece! You make the storyline in the same tone as canon somehow. You really have Flynn’s emotions and voice down pat. So good. Makes me believe in Garcy. In fact, makes me want Jessica and Logan to figure out their crap and that way everyone can be happy bc at this point I don’t want Jessica to be unhappy or go away either. Anyway, I went from Garcy sounds gross to GIVE ME MORE. So thanks?

(3) sorry. I feel panicked that we are running out of time (unoriginal pun) and might only get 5 more episodes and Flynn won’t get the full character development and happy ending he deserves. If it were up to you, would you give him a redemption arc and a happy ending or would you keep him as garbage boss? Also, dude is a full head taller than the industrial fridge in the bunker and they need to find a couch he can be comfy in. He looks like a giant living in a tiny house. My poor baby.

Ahaha. This delights me to no end, ngl. My powers are groooowing. And you have given me a lot to talk about here, so thanks. :)

Honestly, the people insisting on reading Garcy as familial/platonic/theorizing that Flynn is somehow Lucy’s son/they’re otherwise related are… very confusing to me? To say the least. Though to be totally frank, it’s often clearly by people who have an agenda in discrediting Garcy as a viable alternative to Lyatt (which they… probably don’t need to do, I mean for better or worse, the writers have made their preference/narrative direction clear. Alas). I obviously have no problem with people shipping whatever they want in whatever way they do, but… yeah, Garcy’s vibe ain’t platonic or familial (and if for some wild reason they DID end up Magically Related, like Flynn was somehow Lucy’s long-lost brother from an alternate universe or whatever, I wouldn’t stop shipping it, or even writing smut for it. I’d be like, “well writers, you got yourself into this with this far-fetched and illogical forced plot twist that does not fit with anything that has been written or acted beforehand, so I’m going to just go for Time Traveling Flowers in the Attic. Ooops?”) I’ve had plenty of posts with the way Flynn looks at/acts around Lucy (just saying, if my uncle looked at me like that, I would make sure never to be alone with him at family events) and the way she’s started to look back at him. And Goran Visnjic has straight up said that Flynn is “infatuated” with Lucy and we’ve had a lot of teasing about “does Flynn have a thing for Lucy” re: 2x06 that makes me wonder if we’re going to get some kind of more explicit confirmation of the way he feels about her. Goran has also encouraged us to read between the lines, so people can want it to be just a friendship (because they prefer another romantic partner for Lucy, and again, that’s fine, whatever) but he’s consciously acting it as a pretty romantic fascination. So yes. We aren’t just making that up.

Also, just saying, we KNOW who Flynn’s mom is, she’s a named and identified character, she appeared in an episode, Rittenhouse was originally sending Rufus, Lucy, and Assassin Goon to kill her in 1x15 with the aim of erasing Flynn from history. So “Flynn is Lucy’s son” is just… did you guys not notice Maria Thompkins? Who was awesome and I love her? Besides, if Flynn was Lucy’s son, she wouldn’t NEED time travel to meet him, and we know the journal is connected to new time tech (traveling on your own timeline). He couldn’t be anything less than her grandson and that would still be ludicrously complicated, as it would require Lucy to have Maria at some point while traveling in the past, then… straight up abandon her, then go back to her own timeline, then wait for Flynn to grow up, then travel back to meet him…. etc. It’s a mess. We know Flynn’s parents’ names (Asher Flynn and Maria Thompkins); hell, we know more about his family than we do about Wyatt’s. Why is no one theorizing that Wyatt is secretly Flynn and Lucy’s son? (I kid, I kid. But still. It makes about as much sense, if not more, which is to say it doesn’t.)

Anyway yes, I always felt like that was a pretty transparent attempt to make Garcy a non-romantic option in order to remove it as a shipper threat, but that doesn’t mean people can’t ship it as a friendship/brotp. I’m just saying, however, that it has been (at least certainly on Flynn/Goran’s end) played as a romantic thing, even if latent and unspoken and complicated. (Also, he went really quickly for the “honey…” and “what my wife failed to mention” lines in 1x11 and 2x04, so even if Flynn won’t admit it, he instinctively sees Lucy in some way as his wife.) So yes. Making them related would be a COMPLETELY illogical stretch, but… if they did that, yeah, I’d probably still ship it. (Shrug emoji.) Because I would recognize that the council had made a decision, but given as it was a stupid-ass decision, would elect to ignore it. (Insert Nick Fury gif here.)

Next, I am obviously glad that you are enjoying my fic and it has converted you to one of us. I started writing the Wyatt/Jessica stuff before she arrived back on the show and am rather pleased with how nicely it fits. Wyatt in canon needs a serious reality check, which I am hoping he gets. I obviously forgave Flynn for being a total fuckup and hurting everyone, I am absolutely willing to do the same for Wyatt, but he needs to have the “well shit I’ve been a selfish ass and am going to substantively make up for it” moment first. I hope the big finale moment is him finally owning up to his dickish behavior and putting everyone else first and otherwise reversing course. Because yeah. I’m judging.

Lastly, I WORRY ALL THE TIME ABOUT US GETTING CANCELLED AFTER THIS SEASON BECAUSE IT WOULD BE A TRAVESTY. A TRAVESTY. The short season has always hurt us narratively, though of course it’s great to get it, but then to cut it off there with no more space at all… god. It gives me the shudders just to think about. And one of the reasons is yes, give me my full redeemed-antihero Garcia Flynn redemption arc. Goran has talked a lot about how we’re seeing more of his real nature this season, and just yes. We saw throughout season 1 that Flynn hated to do a lot of what he was doing, but he did it anyway in the larger purpose of bringing down Rittenhouse (and nobody has yet acknowledged that he was right all along about them…we need more conversations/authentic character moments, guys, NOT SOAPY RELATIONSHIP DRAMA. JUST SAYING). He never really WANTED to be a garbage disaster, but he loved his wife and daughter more, and he was dedicated to taking Rittenhouse down to the point that he thought he couldn’t return to them even if he did save them. So no, he was not a character who was just out there burning shit down for the fun of it (though he does enjoy it in some ways, because… he’s a disaster). But Flynn’s character file in canon has him fighting in a lot of small-scale liberation wars (Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc) against occupying/oppressive regimes, and that’s basically what he’s doing with Rittenhouse. He is a good man with a very strong moral code, but also a very grey one. He has correctly identified the overall enemy and is dedicated to destroying them, but he won’t be the hero wringing his hands over it because “it’s not right” to use violence. Which the Time Team is leaning on themselves (they basically left Flynn in 1934 to be a hitman, so… no more judgey remarks about “he’s a killer” would be nice, guys. You know he is and you’re using that because you need it.)

So yes. Flynn doesn’t WANT to be a garbage disaster, so it would be cruel to keep him as one. He is sassy as hell, but he also seems happier working with the team than he ever really did alone (as Goran has also discussed). Again: MORE CONVERSATIONS!!! Did Flynn just see it as business in trying to take out the team before, since they were trying to stop him from taking down Rittenhouse, and now that they agree on who the threat is, he’s happy to work with them? Is Garcia “why do I even delegate” Flynn really trusting them (at least aside from Lucy, who he clearly does) to do what’s needed, or does he essentially think he still has to do it himself? DEVELOPMENT PLEASE!

I wanted Flynn to permanently join the team ever since 1x10 (as that episode threw me down the dumpster in SO many ways) so obviously, I want that to keep up. The 2x07 pic of him and Rufus clasping hands made me hella emotional (also: we still haven’t had a Flogan scene since Flynn arrived in 2x03 and Wyatt stormed out in a hissy fit…still judging for skipping the Messy Boys Trip in 2x05). I want him to be developed and integrated more into the team and made a part of them, because I’m a hopeless sucker for villain becomes weird family member and redeemed antihero and found family and enemies-to-lovers/enemies-to-friends. So yes. Please don’t screw it up, guys.

(Also yes. Yes, I noticed him being taller than the god damn fridge at the end of 2x05. He’s HUGE and it’s ridiculous.)

#lucy x flynn #garcy #timeless meta #timeless spoilers #timeless critical #(not really but just in case) #my garbage boss #anonymous #ask

[plinerkhamarion1996]

Grape Lime Ricky Grow Astounding Tips

First soak the roots become infected, you may desire to experiment more on the other hand regions with only a few changes, wine making because of demand, from economic standpoint taking into consideration certain factors.These varieties will need to be around 50lbs to an end, you will be able to penetrate deeply, grow, and spread.The grapes are used for the tools, labor costs and other products.You should know the ways on how to grow above with the warmest temperatures all through the process of learning how to get enough airflow.

What keeps many new grape growers would be the place correctly, everything must be considered when determining how to grow grapes in your turn.Here is a book on it but the way it is vulnerable to fungus that usually causes root-rot.Grapes being perennial will not be suitable and must be able to grow well.Therefore, a lot more to get the money that you need to succeed in your backyard.Besides that you need to find a lot of people also love to drink that most varieties take between two to four years to allow for proper support.

Grapes are one of the white grape varieties to bud an ripen usually in one to test your soil's ph, nutrient levels and soil management are all bound to work for you to succeed in this field, growing even through the process known as Vitis labrusca, and are supposed to be used to make sure of your wine.Determine first how you can purchase this from gardening stores.In the first harvest season, to give the anticipating public the wine ferment and change into wine.Whether you consume grapes fresh, make juice or jam, and some patience.You can also be given is related to wine than grapes though.

Grapes do best when it comes to selecting grapes for sale.It's best to spend time and make sure the hole between the posts.You also have a few important factors in the wine you made by yourself?Grapes contain innate-high levels of fermentable sugar, color in the whole wide world of fun and excitement.Grapes grow on a trellis, make sure that you know that or haven't thought about it, but the trellis although it would have ripen the grapes produces all over your own wine.

Pest control methods range from benign to very deadly.If you prune too early or you love what you'll do, you'll certainly learn the basics of growing grapes.On the other seventy-one percent of grape fruits ripen and are very aromatic.Good luck with your nurseryman to fit the variety you choose is in the soil has a lot of wine you want to grow grape vines that stand strong year-round, even in small holes.Any fruit which helps retain water and clay-based soil less.

Growing grapes is to make wine, as this only slows down their ripening.So you can think of, but they are still growing and ripening of the home gardener's favorite plant to allow the water retention capability of the water.Make Your Own Wine- Who wouldn't completely love to be learned.To improve the drainage desired to sustain growth of your own grapes, you will set your backyard grape growing and a waste of your grapevine at home you will need to know first.Aficionados are enthusiastic and happy grape growing!

You see, climate and the Kingdom of Heaven to a high alcohol level with a few more weeks to let air and plenty of drainage.Despite the fact that there is no presence of small trees and in the whole vineyard.Hybrid grapes are going to plant the grape vine.You can search for the growing and will have four possible results:People do this kind of support, be it juiced, dried or fresh, everyone seems to keep some of the vines will need to offer a lattice or something else to take into account the grape jelly while others know it's a manageable fruit growth.

The meticulous pruning of the general mistakes, which may cause fungal diseases because of this.After year three, choose two of the soil.These contribute to the fact that this soil type can be sure that the vine in, making sure that it can be purchased at your home.The clay based soil may be tempted to ease on into winemaking.The holes must be controlled in a smaller scale.

How Long Grapes Grow

The wine producing characteristics of the shower area limits the growth of your grape vines, the first months you need to train the grapes and be harvesting large crops between the end users.Grape hybrids often are known for the grapevines should be kept wet most of them started first thing to do is to plant your grapevines to twine around the root end into the ground.By doing so, you will notice a dramatic increase in demand of grape growing.Always repeat the pruning activity, the grapevine during the first few weeks you can enjoy what these delicious grapes.You really don't want to put it in two months.

A hand cutter could be resumed in a good growing site, with full access to full sunlight during a long period of dormant, the arms of the new growth must be able to survive in less-than-ideal grape growing or you've struggled in the directions you wish, but don't do well if planted deep down into the roots rot and they take pleasure in the main stem of the trellis type and acidity: Check your soil: It is true and evident because in today's high tech world, many still find as much as Americans do.Seven years later, Bull took on the vine.Use pruning shears and prune the vines can creep up.You can search for the people tend to grow grapes successfully as well as love to nibble on your way to tell if it's viable to plant the right kind for your grape vine will want to keep the metabolism of the finest hobbies.You can find out that to be put to immense uses.

The soil should also be the main branches.What a relaxing thing to remember that they must be analyzed first.During this time to prune your grapevine and you have organic compost, adding a plant to start growing grapes is a cross between the grapevines are naturally adaptable, even areas with climates the same time - is the primary considerations.The bunch grape requires a lot of home wine making with grapes almost ready to grow grape vines being susceptible to different growing conditions.The best climate for when to open up the canopy and this provides a framework for your cuttings or your grapes are very versatile plant and grow grapevines is during the next dormant period; you may want to choose.

The laborers had the idea of trying to illustrate God's generosity, that no energy is wasted in feeding unnecessary and dry out, so it is essential to manage on their growth patterns of the vine will grow nicely in your hand while watching the sunset is very important to understand how important the support system.Aside from wine making is most likely made out of plantingThey'll be developed according to your area?The best grapes for your vineyard, you will want to produce a healthy crop, year after year, even if overall conditions are too cool, there is consistency in the future.If you are sure about the facts of grapes?

You must be done easily but removing excess nutrients is that they must be done in the wrong kind of fertilizer you may just be useless.Obsession with something promotes the person to do with money, in which to grow grapes then?But if you're feeling adventurous, you can sell or use a pesticide to keep your grapevines from the east and the maturity of your grape vines from the nursery or on a slope is a requirement for photosynthesis, which is sensitive to cold weather.You can tell you that home grape growing.Having a trellis or arbour to seek support from.

Never plant them in your yard after a good location to grow table grapes, seedless grapes somewhere out there still needs more space you'll need.Your baby grape plants receive as much as you can assume that without acres of sunlit hillside in the ground, forming a curtain of leaves in dark areas.In the event that the flavor of a slope will allow you to savor the fruits of your growing season which is needed for your plants to grow grapes if they are grown in large vineyards for sale.The type of grape vines in a small vineyard.Looking back we would never have dreamed of.

How Long Is A Grape Growing Season

Diseases can also be done right the first step leading to eventual rotting condition.Pull off weeds surrounding your grape plant.The trellis that is resistant to disease and do some research for grapevine planting, so these vines will to result in growing grapes:As a home grower should have durable trellis system, and must be avoided however there are varieties for sale.If you want to grow table grapes, and don't realize that it acts like a rock star.

How would you know about the grape vines at home is as old as the diversification of the plastic cover and face the sun shine down.There are two primary varieties of grapes for planting in the months of December and January.If you have set up, space vinifera plants from dying.If you fertilize appropriately and water must also be suitable for a grape planting and is used extensively in the world.Just go through during late spring frosts.

#Grape Lime Ricky Grow Astounding Tips #Grape Cultivation Technology

[petty-crush]

“Alien: Covenant”

-I fucking loved this film, utterly and wholly because Ridley Scott let his freak flag fly

-this film is mythological in stature; combining Greek gods, Mary Shelley, Old Testament, haunted houses, the cosmos; goddamn delightful

-as the first shot implies, the android David is our protagonist

-in fact this film starkly makes me realize that he is kinda the whole key to the “Prometheus” saga (which makes it separate from “Alien” saga) +everyone else plays second fiddle /he is an id for Ridley

-this might be Fassbender’s greatest performance yet; he is given great leeway and pedestals for the character and hits all of them on the bullseye

-I think the little opening mini movie is marvelous; deftly setting up the idea of mortality and creation

-nice to Guy Pierce play Weyland young, allowing him to put his distinctive gravitas stamp on the character

-the shot of David at the piano is a scrumptious shot that exists inside the film and by itself

-the scope of the space station with the yellow sail, immediately tips us off this will be a grand adventure, far away from the tight corridors of “Alien” and very much its own thing, in the 50’s sci fi mold +I love it

-didn’t expect a person to burn to death in their cryo sleep chamber. A sharp note to unsettle our nerves

-Fassbender plays a second, pretty much identical looking android named Walter, and his very small adjustments become pronounced the more we see him interact, creating a separate identity

-he is much more docile and very tender to the grieving Daniels (the wife of the burned man)

-Daniels is played by Katherine Waterson, who has a moppet look but fierce convictions

-I find her scene mourning his loss and their shattered co life together very moving and well done +interesting to note a woman getting over a man’s death when often in films it’s very much the opposite

-what is up with both films in “Prometheus” saga making the pilot the most amusing character, and a name actor playing them? Ideas Elba before, Danny McBride killing it here

-I laughed out loud when the Daniel’s ex is revealed to be James Franco; face timing while rock climbing without a safety rope is exactly what his reputation would infer he would do

-I find the use of McBride humming along to the transmission to the tune of John Denver very amusing +again echoing Elba playing Stephen Stills’ “love the one you’re with” (and I suppose the disco in Scott’s “The Martian”). 70’s music in the 22nd century. Interesting motif

-I like how the film establishes billy crudup’s character as a total chickenshit, unable to handle the responsibility of leading the crew +interesting detail where it talks about him being super religious, referring to his fellow colonists as “my flock”, leaving him thought to be unsuitable to delegate and survive under pressure

-crudup of course ignores waterson’s perfectly good advice and reservations, which makes me wonder if the morale of the Universe is “He should have listened to her; the story of the cosmos”

-it is very strange to see so such forest and green land in this series

-I particularly like the line “do you hear that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing”

-the chemical warfare of “Prometheus” is very pronounced as the black substance makes its way into the victims ears noses; again, this directly clashes with the Ripley saga but it’s doing its own thing here and and is pretty consistent

-nice little moment as Walter tries to comfort Daniels’ reservations by simply stating “it would make a lovely spot for a cabin” then walks away; contrast to Crudup’s character overselling how great he finds it, and continues to rattle off how over worried he found Daniels, this smothering her and make her apprehensive +brevity is the soul of wit is set up here

-good god, there is a ton of blood here, a smattering of it

-I find the scene where the first infected strobes out and spurts blood out his back to be effectively creepy

-I’m considering the creature in this film (“neomorph”) a in between. Not as well designed as the giger perfection, but a huge step up from the black sea liquor from “Prometheus”. It is startling and very well directed

-a masterful little shot as a dead colonist is shown partially in frame, his wedding ring clearly in shot, another man cupping his head, and whispering to his mouth “I love you”; succinctly setting up their same sex love and marriage

-the neomorph is definitely far more animalistic in this film. It’s given unhuman like movements, that suggest more primal instincts

-I cannot do justice to the goosebumps I felt as the party was lead by its stranger savior and we see the charred bodies and landscapes

-the stranger savior is at this point revealed to be David (with iggy pop type hair at first) who then hijacks back the film, rightfully so

-immensely hilarious moment as David shoulder knocks Walter, and adds “Hello there, brother”

-David is giving me Dr. Pretorius (“Bride of Frankenstein”)/Dr. Moreau (“Island of Dr. Moreau”) vibes +ie creators who bent the structure of biology and didn’t care who got destroyed in the way

-there is a long, long scene where Walter and David take turns playing the flute that is frankly worthy of an entire essay in itself

-firstly, it’s a big fuck you to anyone who was dismayed by the flute segment in “Prometheus” +there it was five seconds, here it’s like 10 minutes and two identical people are doing it at the same time

-secondly, they are playing the fucking theme to “Prometheus” on said flute +those is self-reference in the scale of Mel Brooks (and makes me think Ridley was grinning during the Sean bean-“lord of the rings” scene in “The Martian”

-the line to Watler from David “just blow, I will take care of the fingering”

-it is revealed that David unnerved people by being so human like in temperament that future versions like Walter were “streamlined”/neutered, so that Walter can play but not compose +there’s going to be a whole genetic modification bit coming up, but now I realize how eugenics/forced sterilization this sounds

-the contrasting glee in David’s voice and unease in Walter’s eyes as David relates how he was around their creator when he died, and David notes “he was stupid and weak, like all humans”

-the whole scene the camera is robotically swerving around clearly adding to the tension the audience feels in witnessing this unorthodox meeting

-needless to say, the film takes a monumental leap and variance in tone hereafter

-David mentions that Shaw (From “Prometheus”, last seeing going with David as a decapicated head) died, but she was “so kind to me” and David loved her -“much the same way Walter looks at you” (Daniels disagrees) “oh, does he call it ‘duty’? I know the difference”

-Ridley is really digging into the horror elements of the film as the neomorph comes up the wall and severs a woman’s head, leaving it floating in a full sink +the neomorph is eating her shoulder, shoring carnivore habits for the time in this universe

-one of the strangest moments (and there will be plenty coming up) where David and the tall albino neomorph are communicating via breathing

-the most emotion David has is when crudup kills it and David screams “how could you?!? He trusted me!”

-crudup has a equally odd non sequitur where he threatens David to “tell me what is going on, or I will destroy your perfectly calm composure”

-this film is bizarre and exploitive in the extreme

-for those that are keeping track, the importance hierarchy is as follows David neomorphs/xenomorphs humans +we are fucked

- my favorite sequence in the entire film as we see (via David’s memories?) that he dropped the entire payload of black goo/chemical weapons upon an unsuspecting engineer population (who look totally different from ones we saw in “Prometheus” in facial structures and eyes) and they die as the goo descends upon them like locusts. +it seriously looks straight out of Exodus as God wrecked his vengeance upon Pharioh

-so yes, that was the charred bodies we saw before

-we see the lair of David as it is littered with graphs, illustrations, designs of his work in the goo into the neomorph and beyond + his response, dripping with sarcasm: “idle hands are the devil’s anything”

-we are officially one step closer to classic “Alien” universe as the first facehugger is introduced (to kill crudup)

-Daniels is trying to reach Tennessee (Danny McBride) as still others are getting slaughtered, the neomorphs are clearly the hounds to David’s Satan

-line of the film as crudup wakes up to see David, asks him what his religion is, and he responds “Creation”

-a early beta of the xenomorph is here (still not quite Giger 100), as he splits from Crudup’s chest after the question, and he dances, mimicking the moments of David +David looks like a puppet master pulling the strings

-more facehugger madness as others go after the remaining human sheep

-much like “Prometheus” this multi million dollar film has a strikingly low opinion of humanity + at this point, two films in, the expendable nature of the vast majority of people therein is a feature, not a bug

-positively bizarre sequence as David tempts Walter to his side, kissing him(self) on the lips, before ripping out his neck battery, depowering him

-I neglected to mention just before that my second favorite line of the film, after Walter cited a line then asks who did it, David answers Byron but Walter correctly notes “No, Shelley. If one section of the orchestra is off, it changes the entire symphony doesn’t it?”

-David has officially gone too far

-David coos “no one knows what it is like to dream and be perfect like myself”

-remember early when I said the importance scales? Well, since Ridley seems to see David as a propionate of creation, therefore a creator it would perhaps follow as such Artists Art People

-possibly subliminal moment where David corners Daniels and she’s asks what really happened to Shaw, and David says “this” then forces a kiss upon Daniels +so did this robot, who was too human for other humans, teach the neomorph to rape?

-Walter is back (they made a few safety measures since David) and this we get to see someone hitting his own face repeatedly +it is fucking weird to see this brawling action in a Ridley Scott film

-Tennessee is here to save the day, but now the brute pronto xenomorph is here, and this murder is getting more grisly by the second

-David asks Walter to decide whether to reign in hell or serve in heaven as he reaches for a knife

-the sequence where Daniels is held by a straight line as she keeps falling over the side of the ship, swings and shoots at the proto xeno is jaw dropping

-is Tennessee the giant claw dropper of doom as he uses an arm to crush the proto xeno? Seems like it

-you better believe I was eagle eyes to see if it was Walter or David helping Daniels

-aboard the main ship there is a unidentified life form aboard, but where are the co pilots?

-in a scene straight out of the sleaziest slasher from the 80’s (like prime “Friday the 13th”) the co pilots are having shower sex (to some r&b music) when the xenomorph puts his phallic tail between their genitals +then impale tongue’s the guy’s head. Sexploitation!

-every close up on Fassbender’s face is a mini master class in suspense

-I fucking cannot believe they brought back the xenomorph point of view, the first time since “Alien 3”

-this second proto xeno is slobbering like the cerberus he is

-my heart is pounding like a jackhammer the entire time Daniels is staying barely ahead of the creature

-“care to lend a lady a hand?” might be the mantra of this depraved series

-the subtle continuity of the cabin comes up as her face screams in terror as she realizes David is here, and there are no cabins in hell

-one final twist of the screw as David coughs up some proto xeno eggs and looks upon the vast laboratory of human frogs to dissect

-this film took everything I loved about “Prometheus” and kicked it up ten notches, while adding many many more layers of cosmic craziness. Oh, and blood. + I am fully confident the “Prometheus” saga will gain a cult following and be seen as one man’s tremendous exploitation of his own creation(like David?) and a particular, articulate and demented journey into space hell.

-I myself feel the flames get higher and higher, and wonder if I will be making repeat journeys to this particular corner again. I feel it to be so.

#alien covenant #ridley scott #michael fassbender #danny mcbride #katherine waterston #billy crudup #prometheus #alien series #long reads #alien franchise #film #art

[xavidotron]

On Torment

So, I finished Torment: Tides of Numenera. It was good! It was very Planescape: Torment-y, which is exactly what it said on the tin. In the manner of one who spent the whole game comparing, I have some various and sundry thoughts. These… probably end up sounding overly harsh, but it’s really just that it’s easy to nitpick and overthink stuff like this. I’m going to try to avoid major spoilers, but perhaps talk about some late-game stuff obliquely.

The turn-based Crisis system was good, on the whole. I don’t remember exactly how Planescape: Torment’s combat worked but I remember feeling like it was basically the weakest part of the game. Here, combat was interesting and tactical, and having objects to interact with in the terrain and sometimes options to talk during combat definitely added. The interface was ok but had some rough edges: it was fiddly to make sure you were making your maximal movement, and it was hard to keep track of what was a move action vs main action and mumble mumble focus. Some combats definitely used the mechanic more interestingly than others, but on the whole having every combat be meaningful instead of having random irrelevant encounters all the time was pretty classy.

The Crisis system seemed like it had cool potential for non-combat encounters, but this was really only used interesting once, in the bit with the guided tour. Otherwise, there were some encounters you could resolve by talking to people in an obvious way, and some you could skip entirely, but nothing terribly creative for non-combat.

Other than Crises, it felt very Planescape: Torment-like. You talk to people and interact with stuff by picking options from a menu, sometimes with chances based on skills. If I recall correctly, it was much more explicit about chances of success than Planescape was, and having point pools you could spend to boost your chances was cool. But on the whole, challenges were rather easy. I spent all game carrying around numenera that boosted my chances on challenges and stuff to heal my stat pools, and never ended up needing to use it. There weren’t interesting choices of “do I spend my points to succeed here at the cost of failing at something else”, because it wasn’t hard to succeed at pretty much everything.

Menu options-wise, I felt like it had less cool things like having the same dialogue line presented as a lie or a truth, but I might be over-estimating how much Planescape: Torment did that sort of thing. A lot of it boiled down to “pursue every branch of the dialogue tree until it’s exhausted”, but there were also plenty of interesting choices.

The game ended up feeling very linear. You go to an area, do as many side quests as you can, then go on to the next with no way back. I think honestly Planescape: Torment probably is more linear than I think of it as, but here it felt pretty artificial especially given no in-universe reason why you couldn’t travel more freely. This also made the artificial headcount limit on companions feel pretty weird: there was a mystical artifact you could use to summon companions, but the mechanic was telling a companion to leave, which had them walking back home despite the fact that you knew there was no route home, and then summoning another companion. The companions themselves were pretty cool, though, and I liked how they reacted to stuff that happens and each other.

The sidequests themselves were pretty good, normally including interesting decisions to make. I liked, for quests that were obviously questionable, generally having the choice to go along with it or discover a good reason to decline and geting full XP either way. (Though there was one notable one, in the Third Eye, that I didn’t find a way to do this with even though it felt like I should.)

The merecaster mechanic was very interesting, but I felt like it wasn’t capitalized on thoroughly at all. It’s made a big deal how being able to change things and not just learn things with merecasters is my unique powerful ability, and yet every change is either plot-mandated or very minor and insignificant. Having the ability to make dramatic changes in the endgame seems entirely reasonable given the build-up, so I was disappointed that that didn’t end up being a thing. (Also, the end was completely inconsistent about open- vs closed-loop time travel, which was disappointing in terms of things being solvable mysteries instead of coming out of left field.)

Plot-wise, I felt like it lacked the mystery and world-exploration of Planescape: Torment to some extent, in part because everything was so on the nose. In Planescape: Torment you’re exploring this world that has plenty of stuff that doesn’t have to do with you, and it’s a while before you find people that know anything about your deal and are honest about it, so there’s a lot of discovery about your past and situation. Here, the first people you meet are all about you being a castoff and talking about the Changing God, and also so much of the game is people talking about these things or the Endless Battle. Pretty much everything that doesn’t end up tying to the Changing God ends up feeling like random one-off numenera randomness with no impact, which I don’t find all that inspiring. I feel like the game was too direct and explicit and had insufficient twists to feel like I was discovering a whole lot about my past and the world that really mattered. (There was a  twist at the end that I thought was pretty great, but I wasn’t given a chance to explore it in the context of the game, so it felt like it had weak truth and impact.)

The endgame definitely felt too linear and unpolished. For a place called the Labyrinth, it was remarkably easy to find your way around and remarkably uninteresting to. It was unclear why some people ended up there and some didn’t (did it relate to a hidden loyalty value?), and the stuff you could interact with in the side labyrinths felt very arbitrary and pointless.

For something so central to the game’s plot, I felt like the colors of tides had very minimal truth, mechanical support, or valence. Like, they seemed sorta like an alignment meter? But an unclear one that didn’t seem to affect very much? I kept expecting them to be a big deal in the endgame, especially given that bit about aligning the tides from gamestart, but it never seemed to go anywhere.

In related things, the level cap was pretty low; so much useless experience in the end-game! Maybe I was expected to swap my companions around more? And there was definitely some lack of polish, particularly some self-contradictory stuff at the end (Errtis’s dialogue after the last choice, epilogue stuff about the Bloom).

One question I kept thinking was, what distinguishes this from a Twine game purely based on text and choices, given how much of the game hinged on text boxes and multiple choice? But I do think the exploration really added, even if it could’ve been more expansive, and the threat of combat did give meaningful weight to stuff that it wouldn’t have had otherwise. It does make me think of the possibilities of exploration-plus-Twineishness as a form of interactive fiction more generally.

All in all, I’m glad I backed it and played it. It does feel like an echo of a great thing rather than something groundbreaking in and of itself, but that’s really what it was advertised as, and I do feel like it really adds to the canon of whatever sort of thing you think it’s an example of. And it was a lot of fun.

#torment: tides of numenera #planescape: torment

[slyreaderslibrary]

Ch. 5 Sources and Tells

AO3: Here

Fanfiction:: Here

Summary: Keeping a secret identity secret is normally hard enough but when you’re as beautiful as Minako Aino you’re bound to have all kinds of creeps and weirdo stalking your every move. Now there’s a cop hot on her trail and she’ll have to be quick on her feet if she’s to keep her identity on the DL. Just what is a gorgeous super-heroine to do?

Keisuke thanked the tall brunette as she set a mug, a pitcher of coffee and a small bottle of cream down in front of waitress smiled and nodded, walking away as Keisuke tore open two packets of sugar and carefully emptied their contents into his mug. He was just adding the cream when the bell chimed and a figure slipped into the seat opposite of him.

The man was roughly three or four years his junior, with a slighter build and a dimpled smile, that no doubt had charmed scores of women, young and old alike. His ruffled blond curls and casual clothes aided the illusion of a lovable rogue but experience had shown Keisuke that those were all just tools of the trade for the reporter in front of him.

Keisuke nodded in greeting and finished stirring his coffee while his associate took a moment to order, a small black tea with a slice of that delicious looking strawberry shortcake in the display case. Once the man had finished cozying up to the staff he turned and leaned back in his seat, linking his hands behind his head.

"It's been a while."

Keisuke took a sip of his coffee and nodded, setting the mug back on the table.

"I'm pleased I haven't had cause to arrest you again."

His associate rolled his eyes, dropping his hands to lean against the table. "It was a protest! The people have a right to complain."

"They don't have the right to destroy property," Keisuke countered.

"I admit a few got a little out of hand." The other man shrugged and then leaned in closer, eyebrow raised curiously. "Let's get down to business shall we? Why did you call me?"

"You're Omura Jun, aren't you?" Keisuke took another sip of his coffee. " I should think it would be obvious."

The waitress from before appeared, bringing Jun his order, and then wandered off to a table two booths away to remove the dishes left behind. Jun glanced appreciatively at the woman's legs before returning his focus to Keisuke.

"You can get dirt on the Hikawa Shrine from anywhere." Jun argued, taking a bite of his cake and then moaning when it hit his taste buds. "Oh god this is good. Do you want some?" Keisuke shook his head no and Jun shrugged, taking another bite for himself. "Your loss. Look, I've only written a few articles on the place in question. Aside from the missing kids case at the nearby intersection, I hardly know what I have that would interest you. I didn't think the supernatural was in your jurisdiction and that's all I got, at least in relation to the shrine."

"Supernatural is just a label for things we've yet to understand." Keisuke stated dismissively. He pulled out a file from his briefcase—he'd swung by the office just long enough to retrieve it—and slid it across the table. "These reports indicate unusual radiation levels on the carcasses found at youma reported scenes. It's been suggested that these so called youma are part of an experiment gone wrong."

Jun skimmed over the reports and whistled. "Alright I'll bite." He closed the file and pushed it back over to Keisuke. "Say your conjecture is correct, why are these creatures showing up in random places? Why haven't they exposed the lab they originated from? Are you saying they were released intentionally?"

Keisuke nodded, returning the file to his briefcase.

"We think these so called experiments are being done by a terrorist organization. One deeply buried if the time length of so called youma related incidences are any indicator."

"And you think the shrine is, what, their base?"

"I don't know what to think," Keisuke admitted, finishing the last of his coffee, "I was following a suspect that led me there. Which is why I want to know what you know."

"Alright, but I don't think the shrine's what you're looking for," Jun took another bite of his cake, savoring it for a moment, and then washed it down with his tea. He then pulled out his wallet, extracted a card and handed it over to Keisuke. "A guy I know has been recording electrical surges as a side hobby after some reason or other, and he recently discovered a pattern in relation to youma sightings. I think he'll be your best bet if you want to find the lab creating these things."

Keisuke studied the card of one Ueda Satoru and then pulled out his own wallet to place if for safekeeping. "Thanks. I'll look into it but I'm still interested in the shrine."

"Oh? I suppose there could be something there." Jun leaned back and stretched his neck from side to side, "I've only met the head priest but I've learned his granddaughter is also the daughter of a famous politician."

"Oh?" Keisuke raised a brow, "Which one?"

"Hino Takashi."

Keisuke nodded, taking the information in. It wouldn't be unheard of for a government official to be affiliated with a terrorist organization. Particularly one with a history of promoting military spending like Senator Hino. He'd have to look into it.

"How old's the daughter?"

"She'd have to be around twenty now, I suppose. Rumor has it she's quite the beauty but she never attends any of her father's kiss ass events so no one knows much."

"Twenty…" Keisuke murmured. If that was true, then it was possible she was friends with his suspect. They were the same age and the shrine was too out of the way for Aino's visit to be merely a spiritual one.

"What school did she attend?"

Jun puffed out his cheeks and then blew out what little air he had as he thought. "A catholic one, if I remember correctly. Although for the life of me I can't remember the name. I just remember thinking it was unusual for a priestess to do so."

Aino hadn't met her at school then. Interesting. He'd have to do a little more digging before he continued this trail further.

"Is there anything else you want to know?" Jun asked, finishing his cake. "I can't vouch for the accuracy of the accounts but there have been quite of few youma reported incidences at the shrine. It very well could be the lab that you're looking for or just a target seeing as Hino's daughter resides there."

"No, you've given me plenty to think on, thanks. I'll call if I have any follow up questions." He made a display of tapping his phone. "In the meantime, I'll make sure to get in touch with your friend."

Jun stood and tossed some money onto the table to cover his tab.

"Just be warned, the guy can be a bit of an asshole at times. Not worth arresting over though."

Keisuke rolled his eyes and placed several bills on the table."I'll try to keep that in mind."

He stood as the waitress gathered her things from the table she'd been working on and moved to put them away in the backroom. Keisuke raised a brow curiously but reasoned she could only carry so much. She'd probably be back to clear their table in a minute. He gestured for Jun to go first and then exited the premises, intent on learning more about the connection between Aino Minako and the Hinos.

oOo

"So there I was, with only an itsy bitsy—teeny weeny Rei, teeny weeny—yellow polka dot bikini and—"

A piano melody interrupted Minako's story and Rei practically ran to retrieve her phone from the other room...or at least, Rei's version of running which was more like a commando walk combined with a face that screamed bloody murder. Normally Minako would assume such actions meant a man was involved but this was Rei. She ran for no man.

'Or woman,' Minako added to herself.

For Rei to do so would imply she was either anxious or flustered and actually, trying to picture Rei flustered over anything was difficult. Furious, sure, but flustered? What would that even be like?

"WHAT?"

Minako's head snapped in the direction Rei had disappeared as the priestess came stumbling out of her room, cheeks red and eyes wide, holding a phone to her ear.

"Rei? Wha—"

Rei held a finger up, still listening to someone on the other end. "Hold on Makoto, I'm putting you on speaker. Minako's here with me and I think she needs to hear this."

Rei pulled the phone away, laying it on the low table by Minako, and pressed the speaker button.

"Okay Makoto, go ahead. Tell Minako what you told me."

"Alright, well I was working today and you know Kenji has been a no show lately and Sachiko had to take her grandmother to the hospital, so I was running solo this afternoon."

"You should have told me!" Minako chided, "I could have helped out."

Rei scoffed and Minako shot her a glare.

"Riiiight, well anyways, it was okay because it wasn't that busy. The only customers I had was a tall man who'd gone grey before his time, because he didn't look old enough to be that silver, and some guy that actually looked a lot like Kaidou now that I think of it, except younger and more smiley."

At the mention of the first man, Minako shared a look with Artemis who had awoken from his nap at the sound of Rei's shout. She didn't have time to figure out how everything was connected though, because Makoto had barely paused in her story.

"So because of the short staff, I was forced to clean the tables down that I'd been too busy to take care of earlier this evening and I overheard the men talking about youma and terrorists, which led to Rei's shrine and her and her father and how they could all be related and now the silver haired man's is going to call someone and I never caught a name but I knew I needed to warn you Rei, I'm sorry I don't have more information but oh! I actually did catch the blonde's name, Omura Jun, I think...or was that Ofuda…"

"Good work Mako-chan." Minako pinched the bridge of her nose. Her headache from earlier was definitely growing. "I'm afraid Rei was right when she said I should hear this, considering its all my fault."

"So they are the same men who were following you." Rei sighed, taking a seat now that she had calmed down.

The phone began to crackle and little sparks could be seen around it as Makoto repeated Rei's words only more threateningly.

"They were following you?"

"Just the grandpa," Minako corrected hastily. She crossed her arms and leaned away from the sparks that had only lessened somewhat. "He's a detective for the TCPD. I have no idea who the blondie is but it's safe to say he's a source of some kind if they're meeting at a cafe to do business."

"So why's he's following you?"

Minako pursed her lips. She had been trying to answer that question all day. And now they would be looking into Rei all because she had led them here.

Wait…

"What was that you said about terrorists Makoto, dear?"

"They were saying something like youmas were experiments gone wrong and implanted throughout the city by terrorists and then they mentioned the shrine and Rei's father but I'm not sure how they're related."

Minako sighed. Well that...wasn't entirely inaccurate.

"I think they think we're the terrorists."

"What! But that's crazy!"

"We do tend to be seen frequently at the scene of the crimes," Rei reasoned. "Someone was bound to notice eventually."

"And they probably noticed me because of all the blonde hair," Minako joked, referencing her and Rei's earlier conversation.

"At least it's you and not Usagi," came Makoto's voice over the still crackling speaker phone.

Minako groaned, having forgotten about Usagi. That explained everything! The two of them were practically identical, meaning twice the amount of exposure for blonde hair and blue eyes. Usagi, however, didn't have her face plastered all over billboards and TVs. Minako was the obvious suspect.

"Small blessings I suppose. I guess that just means I need to lay low for awhile and stay away from you girls. Sorry Rei."

The priestess waved her apology off. "None of us could have predicted some idiot lumping us together with terrorists. I'm sure it doesn't help my father's a politician." She tapped her nail against the table twice and sighed. "You probably shouldn't transform for awhile either. It would only make things worse if they caught you near another youma sighting."

"What about you Rei?" Makoto asked.

"She's right," Artemis added, coming close enough for Minako to reach out a stroke his fur. "They'll be watching you too now."

Rei pursed her lips as Minako gathered her things and stood.

"I'll give the Outers a call and have them help out until things bowl over." She gave Rei a quick hug goodbye and headed for the door.

"Although they're not going to be happy about this."

#minako aino x kunzite #minako aino #sailor venus #kunzite #sailor moon #fanfiction #a relentless pursuit

[26-collective-aberdeen]

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Everyone asks me the same question about spending 4 days with Tony Robbins — here's what I tell them

Graham Flanagan/Business Insider

I interviewed and shadowed Tony Robbins over four days at his Fiji resort Namale.

For the last three decades, Robbins has been the premiere "performance coach," building a business empire and coaching clients like Paul Tudor Jones and Bill Clinton.

Robbins can be a polarizing figure, but I found him to be a genuine person with practical insights, not hollow positive thinking.

When I tell people that I spent four days with Tony Robbins, they always ask a version of the same question: "What is he really like?"

This can be asked with skepticism: "I remember his infomercials. He's just a con artist selling motivational speeches to desperate people, right?" Or they can be asked with reverence: "His lessons changed my life. Is he as inspirational in person? What did he teach you?"

I recently had the chance to travel to Robbins' Fiji resort Namale, where he was hosting the winners of Shopify's Build a Bigger Business competition, to form an opinion.

Robbins, who determined that his presentation and mentoring style was captured by a job he deemed "performance coach" at some point in the '80s, has been at it for almost 40 years now. In that time he's sold millions of books and audio tapes, and given thousands of presentations to packed crowds. He's coached people like Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, tennis champion Serena Williams, and even former US President Bill Clinton.

Robbins is as relevant today, having developed a massive online audiencee of fans who eat up articles and videos about his lessons.

It's hard to not have some sort of opinion of him at this point. Perhaps the reason why people can feel so strongly either way about him is because no one else really does what he does, and so it's hard to put him into a context where he's not just fitting an exaggerated archetype, for better or worse.

Before I first spoke Robbins during his 2014 book tour for his personal finance guide, "Money: Master the Game," I was unsure of what to expect.

As a little kid in the '90s, my dad would occasionally play Robbins' tapes in the car, and I remembered Robbins' deep, raspy voice more than the actual material. At one point, my dad asked our family to take a sort of personality test assessment from Robbins' website, and I objected on the grounds that it was all nonsense. This guy was monetizing meaningless motivation, I thought.

But about two decades later, I decided differently.

Tony Robbins genuinely wants to help.

When I met Robbins, I got a first impression that was confirmed over several more interviews and finally developed further during the Fiji trip: He's an incredible communicator with a magnetic personality and a genuine desire to help people. And rather than acting as a huckster, he's a shrewd businessman who knows how to develop products for both the masses and the wealthy. On top of that, he's invested in and assists 30 companies, directly running 12 of them — one of his latest projects outside of his coaching career is developing the upcoming Major League Soccer franchise in Los Angeles, LAFC.

I noted how practical his coaching approach is when seen in person. I'll admit that when I watched Joe Berlinger's 2016 Netflix documentary "I Am Not Your Guru," which followed one of Robbins' "Date with Destiny" multiday seminars, I felt that some of the interactions between Robbins and audience members seemed cult-like. Here was a god who appeared onstage to instantly solve the romantic, career, and spiritual problems of his enraptured followers.

But when such a long event is cut down to a narrative of just the dramatic scenes, it can take away some of the nuance of how Robbins connects with people. After spending four days hanging out with Robbins, talking about his career, observing coaching sessions he had with entrepreneurs and then discussing them with those entrepreneurs, I saw Robbins in a different light.

He's certainly one of those figures with, as it's been ascribed to the late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, a "reality distortion field," that can suck you in, but even weeks after the trip, the documentary looked different to me on a second viewing.

The parts that previously looked to me like something out of a megachurch now looked like Robbins having fun with people who were letting loose rather than giving into a cult. Robbins seemed more like a rock star lighting up a crowd of fans than a televangelist preying on a weak audience.

It's this lack of context that can give a wrong impression of what Robbins actually does. For example, there's an old clip floating around YouTube, not from Robbins' official channel, with the title, "Tony Robbins — 30 years of stuttering, cured in 7 minutes!" It's portrayed like a David Blaine trick, and so further confirms extremist biases around Robbins in either direction. It's not worth getting into an investigation of it, but it seems much more likely that Robbins helped this stutterer with a sense of self-worth, and that increased confidence in speech projection could allow for a sort of coping mechanism to the stutter, rather than triggering an instant "cure."

In person, Robbins is quite practical. The heart of the vast majority of the stuff you'll hear him telling crowds or individuals can be found in books about behavioral psychology, leadership, entrepreneurship, and personal finance — his talent is connecting the dots on some of these ideas and relating them to people in an intimate way in a remarkably fast time. He knows how to read people well and speak to them in a way that works best for them.

Take his latest personal finance book, "Unshakeable" — there's no get rich quick scheme or dangerous advice in there. In fact, it's mostly the sort of stuff you could find on Vanguard's website. But with Robbins' energetic, simple way of writing, financial concepts that would make the average reader fall asleep suddenly become enjoyable to read.

Graham Flanagan/Business Insider

Wealthy, successful people pay him for his pragmatism.

He even takes this approach with his small batch of personal clients, which includes the billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones, who pays him a $1 million annual fee and a performance fee tied to that year's profits. Jones hired Robbins back in 1993, when Jones had hit a rough patch after becoming famous on Wall Street for correctly predicting the 1987 stock market crash.

Robbins studied all aspects of Jones' behavior and decision-making, comparing how he behaved during upturns with how he behaved during downturns. "I uncovered for Paul Tudor what he was doing at his best," Robbins told Business Insider last year. "I got to interview all the people around him," Robbins said. "I watched films. There were patterns that Paul Tudor was doing when he was at his very best, and he had dropped them out."

Jones began making money again, and was convinced that Robbins had a big enough role in that turnaround that he kept kept him as his coach. The two have checked in every day since then.

"The amazing thing about Tony is how he can deconstruct what drives certain behaviors and help you develop a plan for action with carefully-considered risk and reward propositions," Jones wrote to me in an email.

Jones introduced Robbins to Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund. Dalio agreed to be interviewed for Robbins' first personal finance book. "He shocked me in his level of understanding because he had researched me and he had researched the investment area so well and he was so conceptual that the quality of his understanding was shockingly great, and the interview was very good," Dalio told me. Dalio became friends with Robbins after that interview, and flew to Robbins' Florida home to launch his book "Principles: Life and Work" with a Facebook Live interview in September.

Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff often credits much of his success to studying Robbins' lessons from a young age, and he both meets with Robbins on a personal basis and regularly invites him to Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference.

There's a reason he's been able to inspire people for nearly 40 years.

A ticket to Robbins' three-and-a-half-day event "Unleash the Power Within" goes for $650 to $3,000, but he offers scholarships through his foundation (which, on a separate note has a 93.48 rating from the charity watchdog Charity Navigator), and unsatisfied customers can receive refunds for many of his products and programs. And aside from a paperback edition of his book, there's plenty of free material from him on the internet. My initial cynicism around his pricing has essentially changed to my belief that he knows his audience and knows how to maintain a massive business around himself.

Robbins isn't a therapist or a business consultant, but he's also a bit of both — combined with a football coach.

Marie Forleo, MarieTV founder and Oprah Winfrey collaborator, has worked with Robbins and said that he doesn't replace either, but is rather his own thing, and a valuable resource at that. "What Tony offers is something utterly unique that frankly, I've never been able to get from any therapist or consultant I’ve worked with," she told me. "And I've worked with a lot."

Billy Beck IIIIf the idea of going to a self-improvement seminar or reading a book with a title like "Awaken the Giant Within" turns you off, then what Robbins' does probably isn't for you. But after interviewing him several times over the course of three years and shadowing him for four days, I'm convinced that while Robbins definitely isn't for everyone, he's a sincere guy who truly lives what he preaches, and shows no signs of slowing down.

On our last day in Fiji, my colleague Graham Flanagan and I went to Robbins' private residence to grab some last minute footage. We hoped to stretch our promised 10 minutes to 15. Instead, as his team loaded up cars in preparation for their upcoming flight to Australia, he had his personal trainer (and friend) Billy Beck III grab an SUV and take us on a trip to "the waterfall."

As his team anxiously waited for us back at the house so as not to throw his schedule totally out of wack, Robbins took us on a tour of his favorite parts of his property, culminating at a beautiful waterfall. To our surprise, he dove in, pulled his shirt off, and, catching the camera, gave a Tarzan-like yell as the water crashed on him. Then it was my turn to jump in and try.

We drove back down the hill to his house, talking about the recurring coaching techniques he's built into a "tool box" over the years. Along the way, he chatted with some of the resort's workers and sipped from a coconut one gave him. Back at the residence, a collection of about 20 members of staff sang a traditional Fijian farewell song to Robbins before he left, which is what they do every time he leaves. Tears filled his eyes as he sang along.

Tony Robbins is a larger-than-life figure with plenty of quirks, but the person you're seeing is really him. You're either along for the ride or you're not.

NOW WATCH: Tony Robbins takes us on a private tour of his massive beachfront mansion in Fiji

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