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courage-a-word-of-justice · 3 years

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Maou-jou 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Idolish7 s2 10 - 15 (FINAL) | SLS 2

I’ve been holding off new seasonals because of other things, but after I post this I’ll have enough time to get around to them. That’s why I can’t guarantee winter 2021 seasonal tags on this post...maybe the next one will have them...

Maou-jou 9

…it seems shopping channels even are the same in the demon world.

Now even the demons have quests! (The frame is different to the princess’s, though.)

Oh! The quest failed.

Neo Alraune: in flower language, “the 2nd coming of happiness”. The worry from a little while ago was, “I’m worried about my brother.” The worry from recently: “I didn’t think about being happy that the princess didn’t kill my brother.”

The penguin demons are pretty cute!

Don’t you know how parents forbid children from sleeping until they finish all their homework? Must be something like that.

Yoku ganbarimashita! – Syalis worked hard!

LOL, mental age: 3. Poseidon likes cute things…I can’t read a lot of this…the hardsubs cover the JPN text.

They…both succeeded! (…LOL?)

Maou-jou 10

Owarinocity = Endopolis. It’s a good equivalent, if I do say so myself.

…oh yeah. What happened to Alraune? Update: There she is!

Also, that blonde guy in the infomercials doesn’t look too bad…*makes chef’s kiss gesture with one hand* Nice.

I wonder, was Twilight once human…?

LOL, there’s a goat symbol on the cleric’s pyjamas. Also “first time”, LOL.

I think they were playing shiritori at one point.

Hanamaru saikou yoku dekimashita!

Maou-jou 11

…How does one “sleep cheerfully”, anyway?

I think I saw Twilight drop something…some kind of paper…

Aw, Twilight blushing is kinda cute!

LOL, 70s shoujo style. Also, “It cannot be!”

Whoa, she cancelled it?!

I read up on this series on TV Tropes…and apparently the Demon King captured the Princess in her sleep.

Kagemusha? Like a ninja or something?

Apparently the Demon Cleric is much older than he looks.

Ooh! Hypnos is back!

A-whatsit really is abysmal levels of stupid!!! (LOL)

Maou-jou 12 (FINAL)

Who’s that one tiny guy occupying one of the Ten Kings’ seats?

*watching after Christmas, about a week after the anime finished* This is not seasonally appropriate!

…*thinks for a second, then spits* That’s the 2nd Nemu in the fall 2020 season!!!

Ooh, the head paladin doesn’t look that bad, either.

“…is it good to be…”

“…has seized the princess!”

“…that demon king is rather cute.” – See? Someone agrees with me.

Anyways, that was a fun series. See you soon!

Idolish7 s2 10

…Back at it after so long…(I can’t help it though – Crunchyroll, per month, is about double the local Funimation sublicensor’s fees, and for much less content that’s worth my money to boot!)

I’ve always thought Momo was like Sasara (HypMic), so seeing him anguished hurts me in the kokoro too…

I know Banri was involved with Re:vale somehow…this must be it.

…Male idols are also popular among men? Is this why there are 8 (!!!) idol anime in winter 2021 alone…? (Also, that’s why HypMic became popular? Multidemographic appeal crossed over with obvious merchandising opportunities?)

It’s kind of scary how Momo stepped the formality towards Yuki like that (to -san).

I guess in his heart Momo still reveres Yuki, some way or another.

The rakugo curtain really sold the moment that they (current Re:vale) were acting like an old married couple.

Yay! Silver Sky is such a cool song! Of course I recognised the intro when it came on.

…I see. The elder Kujo is entrusting his dream to Tenn, so that’s why he banned Aya from seeing Tamaki. However, it’s hard to know what to feel when Aya speaks in the vaguest terms possible.

I think that was a special ending for only this episode. I don’t know what its name is, but I guess I might recognise it on Spotify one day.

Idolish7 s2 11

LOL, Nagi’s reaction.

Considering the ‘rona is getting worse outside our very windows as we speak (type?), I think it’s correct to be concerned about your future right now.

Looking at these narrow streets reminds me of going to eat hotpot at the end of my Japan trip…only Japanese streets look like that, I think. Hong Kong’s streets are more crowded than that and America likes their suburbia.

Of course, when you say hajimemashite (nice to meet you), someone’s gotta say it back, hence the reply.

Considering there are people all over the world watching the Idolish7 anime, I would say you are telling the world about I7, Riku.

Oh! Restart Pointer! There was an MV for that one…I think it was around the time Idolish7’s MVs started getting better.

So this is the context around the new outfits! Cool!

There have been way too many puns about “idol” being…y’know, “ai (love) doll” and stuff like that…

I have one Twitter person who I follow (DejiNyucu, part of the creative team for Autumn’s Journey) because I don’t get much I7 content and they keep mentioning this “Haruki” person…and suddenly a “Haruki the Betrayer” showed up in the graffiti…they might be the same person, I think. Not Deji, but Haruki. Update: Sakura Haruki, perhaps…?

Sougo’s such a bad liar…

Sometimes, the best way to deal with things is to be direct…(I’m not very good at that, I naturally talk in a very roundabout sort of way.)

Sougo with long hair like Yuki would be really pretty… (<- has an obvious thing for guys with long hair)

Idolish7 s2 12

Nagi’s stupid accent is generally what he’s best remembered for (for me), so seeing him speak normally, and do a press conference on top of that, is…impressive.

A kabedon on top of all this! Whoa!

Shibuya 109 parody…? (I’ve seen that once or twice – parodying that means people know their stuff about Shibuya.)

I think the “it’s overflowing!” is referring to the hype in the “room”.

…this dejected Momo is worrying…(well, he is worrying and I am worrying about him.)

Oh, I see. The person responsible typed the letter so that they couldn’t be traced back. Kind of like those old movies where the culprit would cut letters out of newspapers to make threat mail, but…with even less traces than that, because cutting letters out leaves evidence.

…wow, it took a while for this ep. to have an intro…

…LOL, I just spotted Kenjiro Tsuda cited as the “fake Zero”, meaning the real one might never show up this season.

There’s something really stupid and infectious about these managers’ enthusiasm for drinking energy drinks. It puts a goofy smile on my face.

Is Musubi Tsumugi’s mother…? Update: Yes, she is.

…Wait, so the Chiba Shizuo guy is actually important?!

Idolish7 s2 13

Whenever someone says “by the way”, it means they’re changing the subject. I hate to state to obvious, but Sougo is clearly deflecting the topic of conversation from being about him.

I wonder if this guy (Haw9) is the actual Zero graffiti vandal…?

Hmph, I didn’t realise Tenn doesn’t refer to Kujo-san as his father, but…like that (“Kujo-san”) instead.

Oh hey! These are shots from Vibrato!

Most dramas can be solved with the power of Good Communication. That includes this one.

I feel like “he has a dark side” describes both Tenn and Kujo-san.

“Everyone, remember to wash your hands and gargle thoroughly.” – This is always a good thing to remember in the time of ‘rona. Reminds me of Jakurai’s line in ARB (<- this game started just after the ‘rona came down).

What did Sougo go to uni for (what specialisation)?

Idolish7 s2 14

I just realised Banri calls Momo -kun. Hmm…

Denki = electricity, LOL.

I feel like Tenn is basically Ramuda, give or take actual pink hair…guys in musical groups with pre-existing angst that they become the “centre” of. The fact Fling Posse have Saito Soma and so do Trigger strengthens the connection.

I would watch the heck out of a musical like that! Make it come true, Idolish7! (Also, today is I7 day! I’m not much of an I7 fan outside the anime, but…that’s cool!)

That shot of them jumping! I remember seeing it on the official site before!

Idolish7 s2 15 (FINAL)

There you go! I was wondering where Banri’s injury was – that was the only bit that didn’t add up for him to be Yuki’s old partner.

Hmm…Momo is 4 years younger than Yuki but 2 years younger than Banri…

This episode has a real concert vibe to it, to the point where I got startled by how loud the yell was at one point. (Even if it is mostly stills.)

LOL, lookit Okazaki!

Apparently, if you’re a hako oshi, you like all the members of a group. Someone with a green light and a pink light likes both members of Re:vale.

LOL, Usagi for Asahi beer.

…I forgot Nagi is 19.

…Ooh, I think that’s the kid from ZOOL. No wonder they needed a season 3!

That’s all. See you next time!

SLS 2

“fine and upstanding person” – That’s…hard to believe, Hayato.

I wonder how many bois Toboso designed for SLS…?

…The episode title is actually “Blank”. Not “Break”.

One of the guys’ shirts says moteki on it. That’s a period in one’s life where one enjoys more romantic attention than usual, literally “popularity season”.

The subs missed an I, so initially I knew Kiriyama’s name as “Kiryama”.

There are meant to be 2 wings, right…?

“He who controls information controls everything, right?” – For once, I’m surprised Hayato is right (and not just in that smug way of his).

“…I’m being treated like a manager.” – But Hayato is a manager! (In a sense.)

The plait guy jumps to nicknames really fast…also, why do I get the feeling Maeshima will lose the key?

I hate to say this Maeshima, but I side with your childhood friend (Kiriyama) here. As much as the anime wants me to back you, I’m watching for everyone else at this point.

That blocky building looks pretty cool. I think Zel (Archi-Anime) would like it.

Sasugai’s setup looks pretty cool, including his chair.

…hmm, Maeshima’s like me in a sense. I learn best by copying others, but memory is my best asset. If I don’t regularly train the fundamentals, I suck at everything. That said, I don’t have an eidetic memory. Also, I didn’t quite figure out Ken = Ken(sei Maeshima) until I watched long enough to connect the dots.

LOL, Derry’s. (<- reminded of a word for “butt” <- derriere)

Well, the guy’s (Souta…?) shirt does say moteki…

Kiriyama kinda looks like Jyuto (HypMic), come to think of it…Right down to his angry streak (although Jyuto has a reputation to keep as a “cool dude”, while Kiriyama is more of a Manza (Boueibu HK) and he’s more angry than he looks).

…This ED is nothing special.

…Hmm? Is that a small Terauchi and Maeshima…?

I think I’m sold for now, but I’m rooting for the other team, not Maeshima’s…not yet, anyways.

#simulcast commentary #skate-leading☆stars #idolish7 #Idolish7 Second Beat!#Maou-jou de Oyasumi #sleepy princess in the demon castle #Chesarka watches I7 #Chesarka watches Maou-jou

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headlesssamurai · 5 years

Note

Has everyone asked you about Jupiter Ascending?

@godzillaapproved

Yo, I ought to apologize to you for taking hella long to properly respond to this. It’s holiday season over thisaway, sure, but I ain’t nearly vain enough to assume just anybody gets why that can suck up a dude’s time. Reckon I’m sure there’s tons of national celebrations all over the world I’d never know about otherwise. Bah, I say! Going out and socializing is one of the few things more overrated than all those shitty Apple products. But yeh, in my case it was less the celebratory spirit of holiday festivities and more a sudden spike in workload, so my mental energy was roughed up by that, plus I was doing a new workout at the same time. Thus, whatever free time I had left was spent obsessively hammering away at the Steam sale items I’d recently bought. It’s like a coping mechanism. Well, that and cheap wine anyhow.

Regardless, regardless—holy shit what an obnoxious fucking way for me to open this up—this Ask of yours came at an unusually coincidental time. A friend and I have been meeting up every weekend to watch like semi-recent crappy movies just as a way to enjoy a bad drink and a good laugh. She likes to laugh, and I like to drink, so it works out. After working our way through every Transformers film by Michael Bay, then Cameron’s Avatar, Terminator: Genisys, The Amazing Spider-mans, Spielberg’s Crystal Skull, Ready Player One, and some of the more abysmal DC films, our last escapade into nonsense was the estimably hilarious Gods of Egypt, which reminded me of one of those excremental quicktime-event video games. You know, like Detroit Becomes Human or some shit like that (Oh wait, is it Detroit Coming of the Humans? Meh).

As luck would have it, like, the day before you asked me about it, the next film at which I suggested we take a crack was the Wachowskis’ own Jupiter Ascending, which my friend had not seen at that time. Nor had I, since first viewing it in theaters.

>>SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU CARE ENOUGH TO, UH… YOU KNOW, CARE

I was intrigued to give this movie another go. It’s struck me that I’ve got an odd streak of pleasantly enjoying movies a lot of people can’t seem to stand, or which some people even hate with utter vileness on the verge of hunting down the producers with a roll of duct tape, power tools, jugs of petrol, and a matchbook. I’ve enjoyed, for instance, Hardcore Henry, Elysium, and Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion, all of which not one person I know in real life could offer a single word of kindness. After my first viewing of Jupiter Ascending, I was left to consider whether or not it was the sort of movie I should enjoy and allow others to hate and disparage, or if it just wasn’t that good. I recalled leaving the theater with a sort of “Hm” sound, and not much else. But given my history with rooting for an underdog, was I wrong? Is this movie actually good, or cool in some way? I couldn’t defy the sensation that I’d missed something.

The answer, it seems, is more complex than a simple yes or no. Then again, as Mason and Goat Han Solo often remind us, “there’s no nuance on the internet”, so even my assertion there about complexity may be in gross error.

For the unfamiliar, Jupiter Ascending is a science fiction tale with vibes of less-cliché aesthetic choices for its visuals, some cool references to UFO conspiracy theories, and aims at a more expansive universe that would no doubt have been further explored in sequels had this film been better received by audiences and critics. I’ll say outright, it’s a disappointment to me that we weren’t given the chance to see more films in this mythology, because there’s some really cool stuff going on in this weird, imaginative universe. The story centers upon the character of Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), an average working-class young woman in Chicago who is shocked to discover not only that aliens exist but that she happens to be the reincarnation of a galaxy owning empress, which entitles Jupiter to ownership of a large portion of the cosmos, the least part of which is Earth itself. But as the Aussies say, something’s a bit suss about the whole affair, and the wondrous glamour of this technologically advanced universe is concurrently party to a dark truth.

An immediately intriguing element of Jupiter Ascending is its attempt to set-up something which, while perhaps greatly inspired by a few other fictional works, is an original property, not a sequel, reboot, adaptation of an existing work, nor a spiritual successor to something else. Rather than merely being intrigued by this fact, I also respect it, because high-concept science fiction films aren’t something a studio likes to go for unless they have a preexisting audience, like adaptations of a book series or something. So it’s always bold when someone can cobble together the resources to really take a chance on something like this, even if it isn’t well received. After all that’s how films like The Matrix, The Terminator, Ridley Scott’s Alien, George Lucas’ Star Wars, and John McTiernan’s Predator come to be in the first place. Another example, I didn’t quite enjoy The Last Witch Hunter, but I recall respecting that film’s risk in its attempt at a new property for similar reasons.

Irrespective of your own personal tastes as a moviegoer and consumer of science fiction, it can’t be denied that the Wachowski’s are measurably talented filmmakers. Their doubtless skill at framing shots, blending effects with reality to present an integrated experience, and choreographing action sequences with such lethal precision it’s always incredible to watch; all of these things can’t be argued, and this attentiveness for the craft is all very present in Jupiter Ascending. Toward the beginning of the movie, there’s an aerial chase sequence that promptly accelerates into one of the most engaging, gripping action sequences in memory, heavily fantastical sci-fi elements intermixed with almost Fast and the Furious levels of insanity. The sense of gripping speed alone as two characters cling to the outer hull of a spacecraft was helplessly intense and left me quite keen to see what else the movie had to offer further down the line.

Additionally we have some awesome art design and stylistic choices regarding the look of this sci-fi universe, both the appearance of aliens and the design of their technology was familiar and unique at the same time. There are beings referred to as “Splices” which are intermixes of humans and various animals, giving some people bestial characteristics which are just weird enough to be cool to me without verging over the edge into absurd territory. There are cybernetic enhancements, gravity boots, phalanx style energy shields, neural synthetic wings, motherfucking jet-bikes of course and, though I never would have dreamed, motherfucking lizardmen! That blew me away, dude. Others may think it’s stupid, but lizardmen are one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy creatures of all time, and they look so badass in this movie it was unbelievably awesome to realize I was actually seeing a proper lizardfolk on screen. With lizardmen and jet-bikes, Jupiter Ascending quickly marks two-out-of-five on my Generally Awesome Things I Like To See In Science Fiction list. It’s a real list, in my head, I swear.

The starship designs were inspired by art deco architecture in cities like Chicago, lending Jupiter’s cosmos a feeling more of Herbert’s Dune-iverse than something like Star Trek, which I appreciated since we don’t see that type of style quite as much. Top all that off with a fantastic score from Michael Giacchino and you’ve got some great tools to tell an awesome story.

So the thing is, it’s not just skin deep either, while the film does lean heavily on its visuals and action set-pieces, this is a genuinely interesting universe. Michael Bay’s Transformers, for instance, also has cool visuals, some passable action scenes, and dazzling special effects, but is it interesting? The answer is no. Because Bay’s movies, while briefly entertaining, are ultimately hollow. There aren’t any subdermal layers beneath the facade of spectacle. But in Jupiter Aescending there’s clearly something else going on, the touch of true filmmakers for one, yet also the potential for so much more. The groundwork, the craftsmanship and attentiveness is all here. It’s really what they choose to do, or not do, with that potential which ends up disappointing. Not, as in the case of Bay’s movies, the utter lack of potential for greatness from the start.

Though some fandom-card carrying ideologues may acerbically disagree, an acceptably comparable film whose potential for greatness was also mostly wasted for middle-of-the-road mediocrity is the recent Solo: A Star Wars Story, by Disney Interactive– I mean, by Disney behind the appropriated guise of Lucasfilm. Whatever else you think of that film, and while I agree from a mythological standpoint its very existence was in extremely poor taste, the talent, the production value, the mark of the craft was there. None of this was, however, capitalized upon to create anything truly profound. Jupiter Ascending’s unfortunate drawbacks are of a similar form.

I’d like to state emphatically however, I’m not trying to punish the film nor act as its apologist. Reckon I always end up saying this, but I am really just some dude. Sure, I read a lot of books and stuff, but that doesn’t appoint me some grand authority on the subject of fiction. These thoughts I try to convey in my write-ups are meant merely as opinions, framed in the form of investigating the quality of a film or game or whatever. To that end, I’m compelled to side with most folks in that, whatever else its got going for it, there’s some major deficiency holding back Jupiter Ascending from rising to a higher form of entertainment. So if the production values are high, where’s the casus belli all the angry critics are seeing here?

To puzzle that out, we ought first to determine by what criterion a truly good story is shaped. In that regard it’s likely the wisest to begin by reckoning what sort of story we’re dealing with here. Most people are wont to jump straight to the whole Hero’s Journey every dickhead YouTube reviewer read about in some sparknotes book while using the shitter at Barnes & Noble. But Joseph Campbell’s mimetic architecture isn’t the only sort of story that exists, not even in science fiction. Consider, for instance, anything written by H.P. Lovecraft, Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain, Kubrick and Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin, Philip K. Dick’s various works, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Stanisław Lem’s Solaris, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, or Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. These stories, while very sci-fi in their scope and measure, are far more introspective, and very contemplative when contrasted against fiction of the more traditional heroic adventure genre. Hell, even Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers while appearing a mindless war movie on its surface is fundamentally a cautionary allegory. While conquering adversity is certainly a theme of its own within each of these stories, the breadth of that adversity’s effect on the narrative varies wildly, as well as the nature of adversity each character must face. Other heavier components, like displacement, post-humanism, philosophical allegory, are also usually present in such stories.

All of this likely seems a bit excessive to point out, but I promise it’ll get relevant later. But, uh… yeh. The next time some liberal arts asshat tries to tell you there’s only one real way a story can go, you can be safely justified in telling them to get bent. I mean read, yeh, tell them to read more shit, and watch more movies. That’d probably be more productive. But also tell them to get bent, the fuckers.

There can also, however, be stories that blend styles. The 2004 rebrand of Battlestar Galactica incorporates several philosophical elements, self-reflective, and meditative thematic ideas into its narrative of what would otherwise be a fairly standard science fiction conflict in outer space. The Wachowskis’ own The Matrix is a perfect example of a classic hero’s journey which also incorporates introspective themes into its lore, plot, and mythology, wherein the internal conflict of the protagonist is just as important as whatever external adversity he is meant to overcome. Where Battlestar Galactica 2004 uses its thematic material to craft a sci-fi adventure story, The Matrix uses a sci-fi adventure story to explore its thematic material. Seen in that light, I think the Wachowskis wanted Jupiter Ascending to have similar weight to its narrative, but they ended up recycling a sort of “human harvest” idea already seen in The Matrix (and arguably done in a more engaging way).

Jupiter Jones herself is a catalyst for an inter-familial conflict within a wealthy interstellar hierarchy. Though alien races do exist, the most dangerous aliens happen to be humans themselves, extraterrestrial humans of course. In Jupiter’s universe, it turns out that the wealthy and powerful have the ability to live forever (an idea also explored in the Neftlix adaptation Altered Carbon), but only by seeding countless worlds with humans, then harvesting these humans like crops and breaking these millions of people down into a sort of primordial youth serum by which the lives of the affluent may be extended.

Advanced genetics in Jupiter’s universe are the highest form of technology, and it is stated in all the cosmos the most sought-after resource is time. This is the reason these advanced humans out among the stars are able to splice human and animal genes, essentially creating entirely new races, and the reason why Jupiter herself is seen as a reincarnation of a woman who once owned countless stars and planets. Genes, to the wealthy and powerful, have a near spiritual significance. Jupiter is referred to as a Recurrence, a person who is long dead but whose gene-print inconceivably reappears in someone who is born centuries or even millennia later. This is seen as a near miracle, and thus is recognized by interstellar law as a legitimate reincarnation, giving this new person the same rights and privileges, and inheriting all the property previously held by the deceased person whose gene print they share.

And that’s where the conflict comes up. Jupiter is sought out by three siblings of the Abrasax family, one of the most elite and powerful families in the universe, of which she is the reincarnation of their mother and thus entitled to re-inherit all of their resources and capital which they currently control. The kids are Kalique (Tuppence Middleton), the well-to-do, but compassionate one, Titus (Douglas Booth), the more two-faced of the three who acts innocent but is clever as a viper, and Balem (Eddie Redmayne), the stereotypical villain of the piece who seems to have nervous ticks and an inability to raise his voice above a certain octave except in times of extreme stress. Of course, since Jupiter’s now meant to control everything they currently own, none of the three Abrasax kids can be fully trusted. Jupiter doesn’t have to face these three one-percenters alone however. She is accompanied by Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) an ex-soldier and wolf-splice, known as a Lycantant, who is hired by Titus to safely retrieve Jupiter from Earth before his siblings can get to her. Caine’s former commanding officer, a bee-splice known as Stinger (Sean Bean) also appears from time to time, as well as officers of the Aegis, an interstellar law enforcement agency.

If you are having a hard time following the characters here, it’s probably because there just isn’t much to any of the characters other than what I’ve already written about them. And therein lies the primary flaw with this film. The characters aren’t interesting, and the greater tragedy is that the characters are written to be uninteresting. Where a ton of care and attention went into crafting the look, feel and depth of the wider universe acting as the story’s setting, the characters within this story are criminally underwritten.

Earlier, I went to great lengths to illustrate the wealth of variety throughout genres of science fiction, just how many different types of stories we might get within this narrative framework. The purpose of explaining all of that to such a degree was meant to show you that not everything has to follow the same narrative flow. Sometimes stories can be more abstract, less character driven, less action heavy. In that regard, a story exemplar like Blade Runner doesn’t really need to have strongly written characters because the interpersonal aspects of its journey are less important than its atmospheric setting and stylistic momentum. The gravitas comes from a different place than in stories which are more character driven.

However, if a story does want to give us something more conventional, then it’s extremely important that the characters are strongly defined, well established and, even if not likable, at the very least interesting. Though a bit out of this wheelhouse, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is notorious for featuring a dramatis personae of terribly vain, horrible sociopaths, but many of these characters are still written in a way that makes them interesting. Jupiter Ascending fashions itself as an epic space opera, a stylized adventure journey which goes from scrubbing toilets in Irving Park to rocketing through a wider spectacular galaxy. Within that story structure, the characters need to be given their proper attention, especially the protagonist. Only, this is not the case with this movie. In fact in Jupiter Ascending, the characters almost appear as afterthoughts, which is most unfortunate.

Despite being the protagonist’s love interest, Caine seems to have been given the most depth, as a literal lone-wolf personality, an orphan of a sort, a former soldier disgraced for an act of savagery, who longs to regain his military status as a Skyjacker, and was sprung from a prison called Deadland to rescue Jupiter from the clutches of filthy rich egomaniacs, a class of people he seems to utterly despise. Yet even Caine’s various portions of characterization are never fully explored, and he mostly serves as a vehicle to come dashing in and pluck Jupiter out of trouble over and over again. Secondary characters, other than Stinger (more on him later), are hardly there other than to function as a taxi service or exposition dump where appropriate, which is a shame since some of them have a great look but nothing else going on in the writing department to make them memorable. The Abrasax siblings are basically three different flavors of the same smug Soylent privilege, though Kalique seems to exist only to explain things for the benefit of the audience, and Balem seems to be accidentally memorable thanks to Eddie Redmayne’s unusual performance. Titus has some cool psychotic vibes with his underhanded motivations, slippery silver tongued bastard that he is, but even his role as the trickster doesn’t get its due in the end.

Stinger, Caine’s former commanding officer who is now an Aegis Marshal, is also written slightly deeper than even the Abrasax siblings. He took the fall for Caine’s misstep in the military, so he also lost his wings and was disgraced for it. Despite this, he is willing to help Caine and Jupiter throughout the story, and though begrudged he seems genuinely good at heart. Stinger’s point of interest however comes from his traits as a Splice between human and bee DNA. Yes, this leads to a funny line of dialogue, but there are some great examples of show-don’t-tell with Stinger, in that having bee instincts he seems superhumanly able to anticipate motion and react to it ridiculously quickly compared to most people. This ability gives him an edge in everything from fistfights to navigating massive fields of hunter-killer mines. This is hardly important to the plot, but I thought it was cool since it’s never stated outright, just displayed through his actions. Another example of a great idea that’s mostly left adrift.

Jupiter herself starts out as a typical protagonist for a Hero’s Journey. She’s a Jewish Russian immigrant who leads an unglamorous life cleaning bathrooms and tidying fancy homes for her family’s housekeeping service, apparently has bad luck with romance, and hardly ever has time to really do anything she enjoys. Typically, once these elements are presented, there will also be a revelation of something more intimate about the protagonist, her dreams and ambitions, something she longs to one day achieve, her hobbies or personality, perhaps a personal drawback or fear she wishes to overcome. But the most we get about Jupiter is that she wants to buy back a telescope which was once stolen from her astronomer father by the same thieves who murdered him (which we see early in the movie in an awkwardly directed scene). It’s not made clear if Jupiter herself has a genuine interest in astronomy, nor even what any of her interests happen to be.

This becomes a recurring problem throughout the film. Since no real internal conflict or personality of any kind is established for Jupiter, she isn’t led through any personal journey or self-exploration, nor anything which allows her to grow or evolve as the narrative opens up and accelerates. She’s basically just along for the ride, one of those wrong place wrong time sort of things. Her journey is entirely surface level, external forces dragging her around the stars without her having any real say in the matter nor agency of her own. She as very little idea of what she wants or who she is, from what we can tell, because we have no idea of those things either. Mila Kunis does a fine job with the material she’s given, but the material just isn’t much to run with, and if there is a drawback to her performance as an actress I promise in this case the fault is not with her.

The terrible lack of characterization hurts everything in the movie from its ethical conceits, plot momentum, all the way up to the romance subplot which only feels forced and lacking chemistry because the two leads aren’t properly written. They could have had chemistry, but its difficult for archetypes to interact without endowing them with personality. It’s a fundamental flaw from which all other flaws of the film stem because the personality, the character of the protagonist in this type of story is a fundamental element from which many other elements of the story stem.

Even towards the end, when Jupiter is forced into dangerous heroics and aggressive bravery it doesn’t feel like much of anything because for all we know she was brave all along, or maybe she wasn’t. We’re never given the chance to find out. Her larger moment of heroism comes not in a violent action of conquering the badguy (though she does beat him with a pipe later... in self-defense of course), but in refusing to compromise to Balem’s ultimatum, either resign her ownership of Earth or allow Balem to murder her family. It’s interesting to note that instead of rocking up and blowing his head off with a blaster, she just tells him to get fucked, which is a cool idea, non-violent protagonists are few and far between. Though the climax would have been far more satisfying had we gotten to know Jupiter much better before she gets to this point. Ultimately, the lack of strong characters make the progression of the movie feel awkward, and the denouement seems to come out of nowhere. It’s really too bad, since many facets of this film’s setup seemed to bear promise, and it’s more tragic than infuriating, leaving an audience with a countenance more in sorrow than in anger.

Like Jupiter herself, thematic elements are also only half-explored. The idea that genetics have advanced to such a point that life-regeneration has become a reality within this star-spanning civilization (albeit a reality exclusively available to the filthy, insanely wealthy) is an interesting idea, and there’s a lot of potential for the ethical quandaries related to that sort of technology, and what makes it possible. Yet little of this is given attention beyond the horror of Jupiter discovering the Abrasax family regularly kills billions of people for longevity and profit. Is their life-extending operation the only one out there? Or is it an industry? Are there black market dealers who develop and trade their own youth serum off the books? It’s all kind of muddy and little of it is given any explanation or nuance.

As we’ve established, Campbell’s hero’s journey isn’t the only way to go about a sci-fi story, but in Jupiter Ascending it’s like half-started without any of the follow-through, and the characters which should be the heart of the story are greatly lacking any depth. The film’s been compared to a Disney-style princess story, and even references Cinderella at one point, though it does seem to be aiming higher than this. Yet, the lackluster character writing and flat dialogue all make the story somewhat impotent, whatever its aim, leaving the movie looking like a majestically beautiful gild-feathered eagle, which just happens to be blind. Fun to look at, but has absolutely no idea where it’s going. I can’t articulate enough what a shame this all is, since there really are some cool ideas and sci-fi content here. I truly wish, as a sci-fi enthusiast, that Jupiter was truly able to ascend.

I’d recommend it as a fun romp through an intriguing galaxy, but it’s more useful as an example of how to get everything right with a movie, everything other than the thing that really holds it all together: a well-written protagonist. Still, I’m no intersectionalist, but it’s nice to see the girl get the guy at the end of the story, the way guy protagonists get to get the girl at the end of all their stories. That was a pleasant feeling, even if it wasn’t quite earned with everything come before it. Plus, you know; lizardmen, and jet-bikes. The Wachowskis are generally great at what they do though, just maybe have a tough time channeling it. Here’s hoping they can get back to us with something truly badass in future because the level of commitment to the craft seen in this movie is extraordinary, even if the reach exceeds the grasp in this particular case.

侍 headless

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dahlthir-blog · 7 years

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➜ Leviathan has been accepted!

Welcome to Dahlthir, Reid! Your application for Leviathan has been approved. You’ll have 5 days to turn in your blog to the masterlist. If you need more time, you can send us a message!

The character portion of the application can be found under the cut. I’m crying! Leviathan’s background reads so well as its own independent tale. The way you inserted information in, describing the different lore behind Leviathans, really complimented the rest of the writing! Squall sounds so cool, too! I yell!! I love the parts of the world you’ve made aaaa!!

( CHARACTER SECTION )

Other Characters: –

Faceclaim(s) & Series: Hans Christian Anderson | Fate Series

Character Name: Leviathan Housing: Personal housing Age: 500.

Level: 5

Appearance:

Leviathan is a sea serpent who retains the form of a 13 year old boy. His human body is fragile but lithe. He has azure colored hair and celtic blue eyes. Up close, his eyes appear to glister in the same way as a certain peaceful sea he once settled in years ago. When he’s touched by water, shimmering pale blue scales will replace only the wet human skin. It is, unfortunately, something Leviathan can’t control. But at the very least, no matter how many scales spread across his human flesh, being touched by water won’t revert him back to his true form unless he wishes to. His true form is snake-like and at length, over 65 feet long. His scales, which dare one call pretty, are unique as they appear pale blue but reflect other shades of blue at different angles. His naturally shimmering scales make it seem like his body is surrounded by a thin layer of white light.

Are they a part of the Adventurer’s Guild? (Recruit or Full Member): No —- How long have they been part of the Guild: –

Warnings: brief mention of death by drowning

Personality:

( + ) deep thinker ( + ) sympathetic ( + ) courteous

( + / - ) curious

( - ) perfectionist ( - ) self-limiting ( - ) lazy

Background:

‘The storm never stops. The winds ruthlessly rock your ship back and forth in the same spot, never letting you move on as it chips away from your ship. And even if you domanage to pull away, you’ll either get caught by the endless number of whirlpools or eaten by Squall’s boss.

The Kraken’

–So goes the rumor of the treacherous and merciless ocean, Squall.

It’s a story which gives the cowardly a good scare and a dream to the young and the bold adventurers of the sea. But only the seasoned adventurers know that the tale doesn’t end there. Beneath the raging stormy waters of Squall, and even further below the abysmal sea where the Kraken’s den most certainly lies, dwells the sea serpents.

The discovery of the sea serpents in Squall happened by chance. A large ship captained by a man and his wife decide to put themselves to the test, to be the first to venture through Squall and it’s harsh endless storms and field of whirlpools and all other vicious perils crafted by the waters. The captains and their crew were famous for overcoming challenges like this, having returned two months prior from a deadly trip to a cursed island with a large heap of treasure after solving the island’s greatest riddle behind its curse. And after hearing about Squall, they wanted to ‘solve’ it as well by figuring out a way to cross its waters. The beginning of their journey past Squall was rough, but soon enough the unbeatable challengers were bearing with the storm with ease and had overcome the winds that pulled their ship into it’s own rhythm after a few days. With the winds conquered, the challengers ship turned left and right and around the whirlpools. Not once did the infamous Kraken appear. It seemed like an easy win at that point. Could the story of Squall be nothing else but an exaggerated tale once told by inexperienced adventurers? As the crew merrily celebrated an early victory, the captains couldn’t bring themselves to believe all was truly over in this adventure of theirs. It couldn’t have been, not when the two of them knew fully well that the adventures they chose together were always more dangerous and thrilling than this. And then he appeared. No one could believe what they saw but there was no denying the large beast who had risen from the sea right by the port of their ship and dove back into the waters from the starboard. Yes, denying the sight of the large and endlessly long body arched right above their ship would’ve been impossible for any crew member that survived afterward. Petrified by the beast, no one noticed the second and third beast appear until the third beast actively struck their ship. The ship rocked dangerously as large tentacles grasped the vessel by its main deck and began to crush it in its hold. Of the three beasts that’d appeared, two were the same but this one had been the Kraken finally making its long expected appearance. With its appearance, the ship didn’t even last for 5 minutes and there was no hope for the crew members anymore. It is said they were all immediately swallowed up by the sea and drowned.

Except for two. The captains lived on only because as they fell into the water together hand in hand, they were swept up by the claws of the first beast. It was then that the two of them fainted as they could hardly keep up with the events they and their crew had been dragged into. But the last thing one of the two noticed before they went unconscious was the beautiful pale blue scales of the large snake-like beast. She whispered the name ‘Leviathan’ and closed her eyes.

—–

What lies beyond Squall is a sea where the waves are gentle and as the sun rises and falls, the waters look as though they are sparkling. If Squall is treacherous and ugly then this could be called wondrous and beautiful.

When the woman finally regained consciousness, she found her and her husband stranded on a large rock in the middle of the beautiful sea, and almost fainted once more at the sight of the large beast in front of them. The woman gasped the name, ‘Leviathan’, once more and as if she believed ‘Leviathan’ would speak back to her, she carefully asked the beast ‘Is that who you are?’.

Leviathan. A sea serpent, sometimes referred to as a wingless dragon, that ruled the sea unlike the winged dragons who ruled the skies. Many knew Leviathan as a sea creature who caused destruction wherever it appeared but because no one has ever seen such a beast before, they all believed the creature’s existence was a myth.

Yet the awestruck woman called this beast ‘Leviathan’ not because she believed in the infamous story, but because she was aware of a different story of Leviathan that very few knew.

Leviathan. A sea serpent with beautiful scales, so pale at first glance but so beautiful up close when your eyes could see each scale reflect a different shade of the ocean’s color. It was as though Leviathan was the entity of all the different seas in the world. The graceful beast would bring about great fortune, perhaps even the blessing of the sea, wherever it appeared.

Unfortunately, the woman received no answer. Instead the sea serpent peered at her and then dove back into the water. Later on, her husband would stir awake and the woman would tell him of what she saw. The two would come to the decision that in order to respect the fortune Leviathan had graced upon them, their journey at sea would end here. They would tell only trusted adventurers of the beasts they saw, but only few would know one of the beasts had been called ‘Leviathan’.

—–

Leviathan?

The nameless wingless beast who understood human dialect was confused.

Who is Leviathan? It couldn’t have been him, a nameless sea serpent.

The wingless beast who had no method of responding to the human retreated into the foreign waters.

—–

The beast without a name recalled the events that’d taken place. An exchange gone wrong. A responsibility he didn’t want being shoved into his direction. ‘The clan needs a new leader’, they’d said, but what’s a nameless serpent like him to do about that? Shouldn’t they elect a serpent with more status? –Of course not. To the sea serpents, names and status were already too much of a burden. What sea serpent with a name and status would want to direct a bunch of other sea serpents? A sea serpent with a name and status couldn’t be bothered. So why then do the sea serpent even need a leader? Order. Because of order. The sea serpents were strange creatures that needed to believe a system existed between each of them. Yet the ones with a name couldn’t be bothered to take that responsibility themselves for some reason.

So the duties were turned down by many for the same exact reason until finally, the wingless beast was asked. He declined at first but because he was nameless and the sea serpents were growing antsy, they attempted to force the responsibilities onto him anyway. But before any sort of ritual could begin, the wingless beast fled, awakening the Kraken as he was chased by but one single sea serpent ( what lazy creatures the sea serpents were ). He didn’t know why he plucked the two humans and took off. Perhaps it was because despite how desperate he was to escape, he pitied the humans who had to suffer. Whatever reason it was, it mattered little to him for the next mere 13 years of dwelling deep below the foreign sea that calmed his nerves.

—–

Eventually, the wingless beast grew tired of dwelling on the ocean floor of this beautiful sea. He remembered the sky he saw 13 years ago. How marvelous it’d been! He had to see it again. Surely it would be fine. Feeling courageous ( as if any sea serpent would come looking for him, right? ), the sea serpent swam up with little concern of where he would rise from so long as he was able to see that magnificent blue sky again.

When the beast had risen up to see the sky, he heard the sound of a gasp and a name. ‘Leviathan’, the human child said in awe. The beast quickly turned to face the human child who looked up at him with fascination. That name again. Why is a nameless serpent like him being called such a mystifying name by yet another human? Would he know if he asked? He can’t the way he is now. The serpent’s jaw opened. Words. A voice. He desired those more than anything else at that moment. But could it be granted to a nameless wingless beast? He’d seen named sea serpents grow bored and decide they would venture the lands with the humans but never before had a nameless done the same.

He grew frustrated. He had to try it anyway.

‘A voice. A body. Give it to me.’ The serpent ceased any useless thoughts as he tried to fulfill his desire to speak the same way as this human child. To stand the same way as this human child.

The sea serpent succeeded, and his ethereal snake-like body was transformed into that of young boy who looked as though he was the entity of the sea with his blue hair and eyes, and arms and legs marked with scales that seemed to reflect many different shades of blue. The human child continued to stare in awe at what he’d seen. But the moment hardly lasted and what happened right after was almost comical: the human had suddenly looked away, embarrassed, while the naked serpent found that they could hardly stand on their own two human legs and toppled over with a yelp.

Seeing the serpent fall onto his knees, the human child seemed to have forgotten about their embarrassment and knelt down quickly by the serpent’s side. Hesitantly, they put a hand on the serpent’s now human shoulder. They asked the serpent if they were okay, and once more they referred to the serpent by the name ‘Leviathan’.

The serpent was frustrated again – he couldn’t stand properly and this human had called him Leviathan yet another time. “I do not have a name.” The sea serpent snapped. His first words. “Yes you do,” the boy carefully replied “you’re name is Leviathan.”

—–

The human child ended up having to carry the sea serpent back with him to his ‘summer home’ ( the wingless beast hadn’t the slightest idea why humans lived in more than one home ). The human chatted away, hardly leaving any room for the wingless beast to feel at least a little embarrassed about having to be carried.

“I can’t believe I’m meeting Leviathan! You’re scales are so pretty! Just like the story my mom told me! Oh but it looks like they’re fading away. Is that supposed to happen? Do you need to be in water? Wouldn’t that make you like a… a mermaid! But without the tail!”

No. No actually everything coming out of this child’s mouth was embarrassing to hear.

When the two arrived, the serpent was a little startled to see that the human child’s parents were the very same humans the sea serpent had ‘saved’ on a whim 13 years ago. But he just barely catches the shocked expression on the two humans faces because he was too busy struggling out of the child’s grasp after he heard the child say “Mom look I found Leviathan! I’m gonna go dump him in the tub first and then I’ll tell you what happened!”. ( Being dropped in a tub full of water wasn’t a very fun experience. )

Afterward, when the child felt he had shared enough to his parents who readily believed everything he saw based on the mother’s own experience, the humans went to go see the sea serpent still left (locked) in the bathroom. What they saw was the sea serpent’s human body covered head to toe in those wondrous scales. The boy was the only one who readily approached the sea serpent, enchanted once more with those scales of all blue. The boy introduced himself and his family right there – the boy’s name was Squall, the father’s was Hector, the mother’s was Joan, and Squall happily added “And you are Leviathan!”

Squall was… Persistent. He would always stay by the sea serpent’s side and talk for a long time, whether the serpent was stuck in the bathroom or sitting somewhere with his feet submerged in a bucket of water. For some reason, Squall thought the sea serpent needed to constantly be in water. The wingless beast thought it was a bit of a pain.

“Stop. It’s fine. I don’t need water all the time when I’m like this. Just what do you take me for? A fish?”

The boy almost dropped the bucket of water he was holding. He looked at the serpent with pure joy and blurted out, “That’s– That’s the second thing you’ve ever said to me!”

And from then on, Squall began to ask the sea serpent questions, hoping to hear the sea serpent’s voice again and again.

“Where did you come from?” “How come you can turn human? And you look like you’re my age! But shorter. Sorry, sorry, don’t get mad– But hey, does that mean you’re gonna get older?” “Leviathan, has anyone ever told you you’re scales are pretty? Huh? What’s wrong? Hey, why are you hiding? It’s true!”

But there was one question that stuck out the most.

“Leviathan, don’t you ever want to go back to the sea? Wait that came out wrong– Hey, wait, don’t look like that. I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted to ask. How come you’ve stuck around for so long? Summer’s already almost over.”

Why did the serpent stick around in this human form of his? Originally, the serpent meant to ask Squall why he called him ‘Leviathan’, but instead the serpent’s gotten all caught up in this boy’s pace so much that he responded to the name ‘Leviathan’ without any hesitation or confusion as if it were truly his own. But that isn’t right. A nameless beast just doesn’t getused to being called a name. It had to be bestowed onto him.

“I don’t have a name, you know.”

“You don’t have a… Yes you do. It’s Leviathan, isn’t it?”

That answer again. How frustrating.

“Then, where did the name ‘Leviathan’ come from?”

“A story. It’s about a sea serpent with scales just like yours.”

“And so you thought I was Leviathan just because of that?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, you really do match up with the story.”

“Ridiculous. That story doesn’t have anything to do with me. I don’t have a name.”

“You’re saying that again? Fine then how about this– If you really aren’t Leviathan, then why don’t you become Leviathan? It should be easy.”

“…”

“From now on, you’re name is ‘Leviathan’. Now you can’t say you don’t have a name anymore”

What a simple child, but for some reason ‘Leviathan’ didn’t mind that.

And so Leviathan continued to live with this human family even after summer passed. Every once in a while, Leviathan went to the sea but never for very long. Nonetheless, sightings of his presence spread, and if anyone knew his name was Leviathan, it was because of Squall who spread the kinder ‘story of Leviathan’ he faithfully believed in since childhood.

Roughly 5 years later, Squall and Leviathan part ways with Joan and Hector, and move together in Dahltir. Leviathan sometimes disappears from town to visit the sea whenever Squall (that adventure loving fool who decided to join the guild) takes on a quest, but it wouldn’t be unusual to find Leviathan in Antheia’s Spring or wandering around the outskirts of town.

General Powers/Abilities/Unusual Traits Description:

No longer a nameless sea serpent, the water faithfully acts to his bidding when he is in his true form. He can manipulate torrents of water, disrupt the ocean waves and cause whirlpools and unforgiving tsunamis, and even raise the sea to create his own chamber of water should he ever need to rise from the water. Though wingless, he can levitate and take to the skies for a while but he only ever does so if the sea waits for him directly below.

In his human form, he can beckon any traces of nearby sources of water and manipulate them however he wishes to. When he’s bored, he likes to levitate a short thin stream of water and spin it around lazily with his finger.

Specific Powers/Abilities/Traits of Note

He can use water to heal wounds

Can purify water with a mere touch

His human form can breathe under water

Extra:

Leviathan has been in his human form for about 5 years but still has the body of a 13 year old. Apparently, his body ages at an extremely slow pace.

#dahl acceptance #leviathan

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theonyxpath · 7 years

Link

Michael Gaydos art for the Prince’s Gambit card game

TLDR:

Myself and a whole bunch of Onyx Path folks just got back from the 2017 MidWinter convention. Why you should care: We had a great time there, which helps us get recharged to tackle the many projects were working on) and had some business meetings that may pay off this year, as well as demoing upcoming games, and meeting and answering questions with a lot of attendees (both current fans and those who we hope will be).

Also among those we chatted with were possible freelance creators who will help us continue to create these great projects and might even help us drive a few projects forward faster.

And Now, On With the Show:

Thursday most of us flew in, got settled at the hotel, and before we could blink it was time for the annual Onyx Path dinner at Mader’s. This medieval decorated German restaurant was White Wolf‘s special place to eat back in the day, so I love introducing our Onyx Path crew to its bounty of boots of beer, salty bread, and genuine German cuisine.

Neall Raemonn Price, noted Scion developer, seated next to his wife Aimee, loves his boot of beer.

Meredith Gerber has a much smaller stein…

…while Mike Hollywood Tomasek challenges Neall as to who can finish their boot first, and Monica Valentinelli, HtV2nd developer, looks on in amusement.

Mighty Matt McElroy, Michelle Webb, her husband, and Rose Bailey look on in sheer awe as Mike and Neall compete.

We were also joined by freelance writer and developer Danielle Harper and friends, and writer (and the man who keeps our booth running) Bill Bodden was just to my left at our table, so was unfortunately cut from these pics. Neall left early and heroically to run a Scion 2e demo game. I should also note that The Legend Dave Martin and the Wrecking Crew were already running a variety of Onyx Path games (although I forgot to take any pics when I visited them.)

Thursday night was mostly carousing in the hotel at the Monarch Lounge as attendees showed up and were loudly greeted. There’s a very welcoming feeling as old friends are met again, and you wind up meeting new folks that somehow you missed the last few years.

Here’s an illustration interlude by Brian LeBlanc for Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition

Friday, we got the booth together, had great sales, and then it was time for Mighty Matt McElroy’s Pentex Retreat LARP.

The Onyx Path booth before opening.

And a booth action shot by Meredith Gerber

A bird got into the vendor room and stayed there through the con. An omen of what, though?

The Pentex Retreat LARP as Werewolf’s Pentex employees mix and mingle and do corporate team-building exercises before things heated up.

Near the end as the many underlying plots came together. Eddy Webb was whacked by an ambitious corporate ladder climber, and the Orpheus group had record enrollments.

This was a one-shot using very simple rules that relied on playing your role. I was there as Black Dog Game Factory CEO, Ron Thompson, and I survived the entire thing by doing an exaggerated version of myself and one-time WW CEO Mike Tinney. There have been a lot of calls from players for Matt to run it again next year, which we’re taking as a good sign that great fun was had.

Friday night, after a lovely dinner at the steak house in the hotel, Eddy Webb ran a “friends&family” playtest for Monarchies of Mau, the cat focused follow-up and connected game to Pugmire. This went very well, although we were all rolling abysmally, and ultimately my Wanderer(Monk) cat, Halo von Siberian, did succeed in a Disadvantaged leap to kick one of the White Rats off of a roof in the adventure’s climax.

At the same time Rose Bailey was running a Cavaliers of Mars demo that I hear was filled with swashbuckling fun.

We all met up again in the Monarch to share our stories and fire Neall.

Illustration interlude by Shen Fei of the Pointer splat for Pugmire

Saturday was our busiest day for activities, starting with an interview alongside Eddy that I hope to have a link to sometime soon, and a very productive if fast lunch with Rose and Matt as we discussed potential new projects and further ways to improve how we work with developers and writers. We would have done this by Skype anyway, but there were a few things that needed saying in person.

Then we began our day in the Oak Boardroom, a cool meeting room we were able to use for the rest of Saturday. First was the first-ever playtest of a secret card game project for Pugmire that Eddy has been working on. Even I had never seen the components and how it actually played. Here are a few uncredited, because it is secret, pics of the play with the prototypes:

Next was our Onyx Path Q&A, which was packed. We provided some “refreshments” and the more intimate room setting was really much more enjoyable, for me at least, than the classic front table and audience format at lot of panels use. Would do again.

We, the dark council, have brought you all here today…

Thanks to everybody who sat in and threw your great questions at us.

Finally, I sat in on the first half of the official Monarchies of Mau playtest, and these folks really got into their Cat characters. A really great sign. I also heard that the Halo in this session also kicked a Rat off the roof. Hmm, must be something about that character.

Finally on Saturday, a rare selfie by me of Neall, Danielle, Maria Cambone, one of our friends from By Night Studios who helped edit their very beautiful and big new Werewolf: the Apocalypse for Live Action play, and yours truly, after Maria managed to get the attention of the bartenders and got us drinks. She’s a lifesaver.

Thought I had gotten back to my room at a reasonable hour, but then folks started dropping by, so we talked about life, the universe, and everything for a couple more hours.

Sunday, briefly, was standing in line for twenty minutes at Starbucks because also in the hotel were several HS girl’s volleyball teams and every single one of them needed whatever drink had the most tooth rotting combination of syrups, and then getting my Chai Latte in time to meet with Matt and several other folks from other companies as strategic alliances were proposed. We shall see if anything happens this year with those things, and then it was check-out and airport and buh-bye.

I also finally got to chat a bit with another long-timer, John Wick, after more than a decade of not seeing the guy. We had promised to say hi at last year’s GenCon and that never worked out because at the bigger cons we’re all just so freaking busy. Which is another great thing about MidWinter.

Overall, this was a very successful MidWinter con for us, with tons of input from playtesters to go over, game and other proposals to review, and many friendships renewed.

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

We’re exploring card game Kickstarters, packaging, and components, for Prince’s Gambit. Justin, Eddy, a crack team of players, and our talented videographers have finished shooting the KS videos in Atlanta and are assembling edits even as you read this. Things look good, and we are all for starting the KS in late January so long as the process of pulling the KS together cooperates. If so, then Monarchies of Mau KS would be next, after Gambit.

ON SALE!

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://ift.tt/1ZlTT6z

The cards are alive! Conditionally. This Weds. the Advance PDF version of the Promethean 2nd Edition Condition Cards goes on sale at DTRPG!

It is now the preordained time for Dawn of Heresies, the Mummy: the Curse novel written by internationally renowned author Brian Hodge to arise! Both PDF/electronic and physical book PoD versions are now available on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2iEP9dW

Open the V20 Dark Ages: Tome of Secrets now on DTRPG! Both PDF and physical book PoD versions are now available! http://ift.tt/2i1XOXd

The Tome of Secrets is a treatment of numerous topics about Cainites and stranger things in the Dark Medieval World. It’s about peeling back the curtain, and digging a little deeper. Inside, you’ll find:

• Expanded treatment of Assamite Sorcery, Koldunic Sorcery, Necromancy, and Setite Sorcery

• A look at Cainite knightly orders, faith movements, and even human witchcraft

• Letters and diaries from all over the Dark Medieval World

Travel with us all the way to the Red Planet for the Cavaliers of Mars Jumpstart: A Festival of Blades, available in PDF and PoD on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2biWBpR

Live, fight, and love on Mars, a world of red death and strange mystery, a world of savagery and romance.

Includes:

A complete adventure set in one of dying Mars’ greatest remaining cities.

The innovative DEIMOS rules, for high-flying, swashbuckling adventure.

Four pre-generated player characters, ready to get into the heart of the action.

The Advance PDF for Reap the Whirlwind, the Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition Jumpstart swirls into being on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2i1WPpD

You are a vampire, a junkie. Every night, you beg and you borrow and you steal just a little more life, just a few more sweet moments. But there’s a guy at the top. The Prince. He’s got everything. The money, the secrets, the blood.

Tonight, you’re going to take it from him. Tomorrow, there’ll be hell to pay.

This updated edition of Reap the Whirlwind features revisions to match the core rulebook for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition. Text edits and rules clarifications have also been updated.

Reap the Whirlwind Revised includes:

Rules for creating and playing vampires in the Chronicles of Darkness

The first two levels of every clan Discipline, the dark powers of the dead

A complete adventure by noted horror author Chuck Wendig

This new revised Reap the Whirlwind Revised includes an updated booklet, 7 condition cards, and the interactive Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition character sheet.

The Locker is open; the Chronicles of Darkness: Hurt Locker, that is! The Advance PDF is now available on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2gbM9me

Hurt Locker features:

Treatment of violence in the Chronicles of Darkness. Lasting trauma, scene framing, and other tools for making your stories hurt.

Many new player options, including Merits, supernatural knacks, and even new character types like psychic vampires and sleeper cell soldiers.

Expanded equipment and equipment rules.

Hurt Locker requires the Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook or any other standalone Chronicles of Darkness rulebook such as Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, or Beast: The Primordial to use.

Discover the long-awaited Secrets of the Covenants for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition as we unearth the Advance PDF now on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2gbQjus

This book includes:

A variety of stories from each of the covenants, all told in their own words.

Never-before revealed secrets, like the fate of the Prince of New Orleans.

New blood sorcery, oaths, and other hidden powers of the covenants.

We have now added a B&W PoD version of the Endless Ages Vampire Anthology to the existing full color PDF and PoD choices! Celebrating 25 years of personal horror, the eighteen stories in Endless Ages range in style and aesthetics from the very first edition of Vampire released in 1991, all the way to the latest books put out for the 20th Anniversary Edition. http://ift.tt/2dL7Gkt

Seek the Cainite Conspiracies, the fiction anthology for V20 Dark Ages, in PDF and PoD physical book formats! http://ift.tt/2fMksQQ

This collection of short stories features tales by Vampire developers such as Justin Achilli, Eddy Webb, David A. Hill, Jr., and Neall Raemonn Price along with award-winning horror authors including Maurice Broaddus, Catherine Lundoff, and Richard Dansky.

Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition comes to life in both PDF and PoD physical book versions NOW on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2aUBEnc

You are a pilgrim now, one of the Created. You rose to life from dead flesh or inert matter, under the ministrations of one of your own, or a mad scientist, or perhaps just the power of the Divine Fire. You wander the world, sometimes alone, sometimes in the blessed company of your own kind, driven by memories of events and facts you never knew, all in the service of one Great Work…

…to be human.

Humans don’t make it easy, though. The Divine Fire that animates you burns too bright, blinds people, and scorches the land if you linger too long. It masks your disfigurements and makes you appear human, but that mask slips and people see your hideous, true form. The Pilgrimage is a long, difficult road, but it is yours, and you know, somehow, that the salvation of the New Dawn waits at the end.

This book contains:

The complete guide to playing a Promethean in the Chronicles of Darkness

Reimagined Lineages and Refinements, and a redesigned system for Transmutations

A more detailed approached to the Pilgrimage that presents players with more control over their characters’ path

New challenges on the road to humanity, including deranged, greedy alchemists

CONVENTIONS!

Discussing GenCon plans. Every chance the booth will actually be 20′ x 30′ this year.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Cookbook (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

CtD C20 Jumpstart (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Pugmire Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

Monarchies of Mau Early Access (Pugmire)

Redlines

Scion: Origins (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

VtR Half-Damned (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

BtP Beast Player’s Guide (Beast: the Primordial)

Book of Freeholds (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Development

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

SL Dagger of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Dagger of Spiragos (5e– Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

W20 Song of Unmaking novel (Bridges) (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

BtP Building a Legend (Beast: the Primordial)

CtD C20 Anthology (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Editing:

Cavaliers of Mars

VtR A Thousand Years of Night (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Stretch Goal Content)

Post-Editing Development:

CtL fiction anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Dark Eras Companion

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary

C20

M20 Book of Secrets – AD’d

W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook

V20 Dark Ages Companion

Mortal Remains – Beast – AD’d

EX3 Tomb of Dreams Jumpstart – Continuing to get sketches and seeing first color comps.

Dagger of Spiragos – Putting together the art buy.

Marketing Stuff

Banner and Slider Updates – Working on new stuff for Hurt Locker, Secrets of the Covenants, and Scarred Lands.

In Layout

Necropolis Rio

Promethean 2 Condition Cards

V20 Lore of the Bloodlines

Prince’s Gambit – Kickstarter Prep.

Pugmire

Wise and the Wicked 5e – Starting on it sometime this week.

Proofing At Press

Ex 3 Screen – Finished at the Printer.

Ex 3 core book – From RichT: manufacturing continues. Gilding finished at last, now on to binding.

Beast Condition Cards – Getting physical cards uploaded.

CofD Hurt Locker – Waiting for errata to make PoD.

Secrets of the Covenants – Waiting for errata to make PoD.

Revised Reap The Whirlwind Jumpstart – PoD proof ordered.

Beckett Screen – At Printer.

W20 Shattered Dreams – Deluxe Edition at press.

Shattered Dreams Screen – At Printer.

Dark Eras: Ends of Empire – PoD proof ordered.

Dark Eras: The Sundered World – PoD proof ordered.

Promethean 2nd Condition Cards – Advance PDF going on sale this this Wednesday.

Beast Conquering Heroes – Advance PDF now on sale at DTRPG, gathering errata.

TODAY’S REASON TO DRINK: Pelt of the werewolf that bit ya.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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paradoxicalca · 5 years

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r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 3: Feeling Blue Edition

/r/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Oct 14, 2019 - Oct 20, 2019Thank YouThank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.RankersSpoilerOrganizersSpoilerVisualizationThe visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /r/hockey opinion.It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it hereProcessHow does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /r/hockey!Rankings (28/31 Rankers Reporting)Ranking (avg)TeamDeltaOverall RecordRecord This WeekComments1 (1.52)Colorado Avalanche-7-0-13-0-1Avs are strange they are winning, but at the same time they are very sloppy with many issues. The giveaways are sometimes out of control and the defense is often scattered. The Power Play is bad right now very stationary missing Barrie hurts. The first line looks normal which is unusual for a line that is typically so dominant. On the positive this team is a collective unit and its depth is showing up. The stars are flashing at different times and different lines are breaking through each night. Whether Kadri, Burakovsky, or Jost players are replacing the top lines dominance. The top line is still a sleeping giant and I worry for the rest of the league when it wakes up. Calder update: not a great week for Makar which is saying something still multiple assists on the week and 7 points in 8 games so far.2 (3.86)Edmonton Oilers37-1-12-1-13 (4.07)Buffalo Sabres27-1-13-1-0Its obvious that the west coast style of hockey was a shock to us, but we still managed to pull off 4/6 points for the trip. Victor Olofsson has cooled off a bit along with the powerplay, but our 5 on 5 play has been exceptional to compensate. Rasmus Dahlin is now second on the team in scoring to Eichel and second in PIMs to Kyle Okposo, who along with the Roaring 20's line has looked fantastic. We can't continue this pace forever, but I can dream right?4 (5.07)Boston Bruins-25-1-21-0-2The Bruins started off strong this week with a big win against the Ducks and Pasta scoring 4 goals! The rest of week had middling results with a shootout loss to the Bolts and an OTL to the Leafs. The Bruins still struggle to score 5v5 against the Bolts with all 3 goals coming on the PP. More secondary scoring is starting to show up on the scoresheet which helps but not at the level the team would like. The Bruins need more than the first line putting up points.5 (6.41)Carolina Hurricanes-36-3-01-2-06 (6.69)Vegas Golden Knights-6-3-02-1-0The Golden Knights are boasting one of the league's best special teams. Cody Glass's addition on the top unit has added an extra dimension to it allowing them to score on 30% of their power play chances. The penalty kill has only allowed two goals while scoring 4 short handed. Marc-Andre Fleury has been lights out lately playing like a Vezina candidate. But you have to ask the question if the Golden Knights are playing Fleury too much having him play all but one period in the season.7 (7.79)Anaheim Ducks36-3-02-2-0Ducks are living on the edge. Finishing problems have not been solved but Rakell looks night and day better than last season. Current team mood(not including Calgary): https://ift.tt/33urMd4 With wins over Buffalo and Carolina, the ducks look to shock teams thinking they can pull 4 points from a socal swing. Also does anyone have a power play goal for sale?8 (7.83)Washington Capitals-6-2-23-1-0Holtby has been much improved these last couple of games. Which is great news for Caps fans and bad news for everyone else. I think he may have realized his payday is coming up and he needs to get his numbers back to 2016-17 year. Although I would be okay with him repeating his playoff numbers from 17-18.9 (8.66)Pittsburgh Penguins56-3-02-1-0Despite having the most extensive injury list to start the season the boys are still playing at an elite level and winning games against tough opponents. Even in a loss against Vegas that game was kept close until very late but the Flower is going to do what he does best.10 (9.03)Toronto Maple Leafs-15-3-12-1-011 (12.21)Tampa Bay Lightning-4-3-12-1-0I really don't know what to make of this team yet. D has looked solid, and the PK hasn't been terrible (just need to win more faceoffs). The offense seemed to pick it up a little more, generating 46 shots against Colorado. The powerplay however, has looked awful, dropping from 28% last season to 16% this season.12 (13.86)Nashville Predators-4-3-11-1-1Well, the good news is the Preds found their missing PP. The bad news is now we need to start putting up flyers for their PK.13 (15.03)New York Islanders75-3-03-0-0Isles look to be getting into a groove now. Goaltending is solid and Mat Barzal is showing off his scoring while Nelson follows his regular Brocktober schedule. Wahlstrom being called up is very exciting with him showing some great skills, despite not getting his first goal yet. Next week's roster moves will be interesting, with Eberle hopefully returning to health and Dobson riding watching from upstairs lats couple of games.14 (15.03)Montreal Canadiens44-3-22-2-015 (15.21)St. Louis Blues-83-2-30-1-2This team is still hungover. Good play from some players but not really cohesive yet. Still early in the season though.16 (15.59)Calgary Flames-5-4-13-1-0A 3-1 week was the bounce back that the Flames needed, however an abysmal effort leading to a 4-1 loss against LA leaves fans wondering what kind of team the Flames are this year.17 (15.83)Arizona Coyotes54-2-13-0-0While the Coyotes have had one of the top D-groups in the league since last season, offense has finally started clicking for the Desert Dogs. The Coyotes have taken 9 of the last 10 available points, scoring 4.6 gpg over the previous week, and only allowing 2 gpg. The PP has heated up to over 30% in this time frame, and Darcy Kuemper set a franchise record for most consecutive games allowing 2 of fewer goals. Kuemper has not allowed more than 2 goals against now since March.18 (16.1)Vancouver Canucks55-3-03-1-0I suppose I should say something I'm thankful for this year, but as a true Canucks fan I'd rather just be an entitled little egg eater and not give thanks for anything. This team is pretty good, but what I really deserve this year is a Stanley Cup win, or maybe the first overall draft pick if we miss the playoffs. Ideally, the Canucks will win both, otherwise it's time to #firebenning. Anyway, The Canucks turned around their early season slide with a very convincing win at home vs. the Kings and a less-convincing shootout win vs. the Flyers. The top line continues to be somewhat stifled, but that's okay because there are now various interesting players to watch on this team. Miller and Hughes have both come exactly as-advertised, Markstorm is tight, and Pearson appears intent on revitalizing his career. Myers is big, and while I don't know how his play will end up on statlines, he is very fun to watch.19 (17)Winnipeg Jets-65-5-01-2-0Tough, week was tough. Last week saw us win 3 in a row, this week saw us lose 3 in a row. The truth is we're probably somewhere in the middle of that. No one is doubting this teams offensive depth or skill level, The defense continues to leave much to be desired. Rumblings of Buff's return continue to give us this false sense of hope about the season. The tenders have been decent, through this tough stretch. Not alot to say at this point. The forward core is good enough to score on anyone, but if they run into a hot goalie, like they did vs the Isles they are going to lose. Frustration isn't the correct word, I'd say it's more of a malais. Also, they failed to sell out a game for the first time in 2.0 history, I understand it was vs the Gila River Coyotes on a Tuesday while there was snow on the ground on October 15th, but still, not a great sign.20 (20.34)Florida Panthers13-2-32-0-1Can the Panthers end a game in regulation? Can the Panthers hold on to a lead? No and no. But they managed to win against Nashville without Barkov, pretty good.21 (21.79)Columbus Blue Jackets33-3-21-0-2Three solid performances this week, but both overtime losses were games that were very winnable. Poor power play performance continues to plague the Jackets and this year the penalty kill seems to be having issues too. Cam Atkinson is on the right wing side on the PP and it doesn't seem to be working. Outside of special teams, though, the young Jackets team has looked pretty good at driving the game though puck possession. There were multiple shifts vs Chicago that were a minute plus of sustained pressure and chances in 5 on 5 situations. Only issue here is burying chances which should eventually happen if this play keeps up. Two tough opponents this week should be a good test. Expect to see Elvis get his first win soon!22 (22.86)Philadelphia Flyers-52-3-10-3-0Thanks to the backup ranker, I'm a student who is working as well so sometimes time escapes me. Thanks again for covering last week. That being said, the flyers made me sad and I want them to not suck. Oilers hurt our Goodboye(tm) Hart, we lost to the flames who I feel we should have at least been able to take to overtime, and I dont want to talk about the stars game. Lets just hope that we do that hockey thing better this week.23 (23.48)New York Rangers-82-4-00-3-0This team's starting to look a little more as I expected. Actually a little worse than I figured. It may have been due to the schedule, but holy shit was this a painful week. There were only about 20 minutes of hockey that I was hyped about this week and that was the third period against the Canucks. Defense needs to be addressed and the forward lines need to be sorted out. Andersson still deserves more minutes and Kakko should get time with the first line and possibly even the first power play unit. Hopefully this upcoming week gets better.24 (23.52)San Jose Sharks33-5-01-1-0Much better week for the Sharks. The rookies are starting to look more comfortable, and everything is starting to fall into place. The team is starting to regain confidence and everyone's playing much better than the first week.25 (23.62)Chicago Blackhawks32-3-12-1-0Kirby Dach made his NHL debut last night. The 3rd line of Saad-Kampf-Kubalik has been the most consistent, and arguably our best line so far. They have a 60.75 CF% and 67.90 FF% at even strength, and the team has a 46.54 CF% and 42.91 FF% when none of them are on the ice. The Hawks are a much more physical team, averaging 31.3 hits/game, up from 16.5 last season. But are hurt by poor special teams: they are 3 for 18 on the PP (16.7%) and 12 for 18 on the PK (66.7%).26 (23.79)Los Angeles Kings-13-5-01-2-0no bueno for the kings this week, Drew Doughty may have exerted dominance in his love-hate relationship with Matthew Tchakuk. along with a flying Mark Giordano superman appearance. The Kings look poised for mediocrity or worse again.27 (23.86)Detroit Red Wings-83-5-00-3-0We expected regression to hit at some point, things took a turn for the worse as they went 0-3 getting killed by VAN/CGY. The “veterans” seem to be hindering development. Dropping Bertuzzi from the top line to create “balanced” scoring was unnecessary by Blashill as no increased production came from Athanasiou along with decreases in Larkin/Mantha hot start. Most teams in the league load up a top line(COL/BOS) or have players to spread out(VGK/STL). Detroit is definitely not the latter and having Darren Helm on the top line kill many opportunities for Larkin/Mantha. Defense is still lackluster outside of Hronek and the Goaltending is still hard to evaluate since the defense is playing so poor. However I still maintain that Howard and Bernier do well enough to keep the WIngs in games. Their loss against EDM was a good step forward as Bertuzzi rejoined the top line near the end of the game and they were able to keep the EDM studs from running up the score.28 (27.59)New Jersey Devils22-4-22-1-0WE DID THE THING! It may have taken us longer than everyone else but we did it and against the Rags, making it all the sweeter. Predictably, the rampant calling for Hynes' head in the sub and GDTs have largely subsided, though he is still very much on the hot seat. Hughes got his first goal of hopefully many against his brother's team, and it ended up being the GW and only goal. The team as a whole seems much more cohesive and the pieces are starting to fall into place. And in possibly the best news of the week, we signed Nico long term, 7 years 7.25 AAV with a MNTC. Having Nico signed until 2027 is a relief knowing exactly how much a high talent player will be making before the offseason hits.29 (28.24)Dallas Stars-32-7-11-3-0If you're panicking this week, I don't blame you. I am, too. Things went almost as bad as they could have. The negatives are many. We're all aware of them, so let's try to be optimistic. What went right this week? Hintz and Heiskanen continue to deliver. Bishop showed he can still stand on his head for a win. Perry and Gurianov look promising. Can we take our successes against Philly and triumph against the Senators tonight? Can we use this win to build momentum and get key players back to playing elite hockey? Lets hope... otherwise, it's going to get messy, and you'd have to imagine that drastic changes are on the table.30 (29.97)Ottawa Senators-11-5-10-2-1An incredibly boring loss against the Minnesota Mild this week pointed the Sens' tank back in the right direction this week. Despite an incredible performance from Nilsson in Las Vegas and finally recording a goal on the powerplay, the team managed no wins and only a single point over the course of this week - exactly the kind of performance they want to continue if they wish to remain at 31st in the standings for the best possible shot at 1st overall pick in the 2020 draft. The only concerning part about this week is in Chabot, Tkachuk, White, and Zaitsev all clearly looking frustrated by the team's struggles; It will be a test of new coach DJ Smith and the "veteran presence" guys that Dorion brought in to keep locker room morale up in this tough rebuild year.31 (30.14)Minnesota Wild-2-6-02-2-0This blurb requires more effort than the Minnesota Wild have shown so far this season. Were it not for a dumpster fire of a matinee game against Ottawa, Minny would still be looking for their first win of the season going into Sunday's tilt against Montreal. 8 games in and Brad Hunt is the leading the team in points. Seems pretty fitting as the rest of the team is playing like total Hunts (unfortunate that one important key on my keyboard is broken). r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 3: Feeling Blue Edition Source

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somedaypast-thesunset · 6 years

Text

so i really think i am done now.

like im weirdly overwhelmingly speechless but yet have so many thoughts and feelings but none of them of extreme anxiety.

he tells me he went to drop in group therapy today and that hes going to go to rehab after he takes care of me for a month and maybe he’ll be better for spring.

i’m like .........................................

oh. o.ka..y. i just spent weeks - literally weeks - being dragged along by him with phone calls and questions and requests and he saw me invest my energy and time and that i was becoming like excited for this prospect. yesterday i was being told i would make him homecooked meals and take care of his dog. like i was fed everything and boom “maybe, i don’t know, we’ll see”.

and i didnt know how to react because on one hand im like okay cool good job trying something new i hope this gives u something ur looking for and helps the situation. on the other im like wow you literally have zero care about me and even if youre sick and thats the excuse behind this back and forth - you dont care about me. is it the sickness that makes you not care or you yourself? and am i sticking around to find out on the hopes that rehab makes this better? like your complete constant inability to give any respect to another person. its not like im thinking he has to go through with the original plans or else but its like not one time did he mention hey thanks for working on this i appreciate that youre doing this with me and you put time into it and i really want to be on my top game and i know this kind of puts a bump in the road but im hoping that itll be worthwhile at the end of it because we’re on the right track but i am not.

it was just im doing this and this. cool.

u know he cant consider other ppl right he has to only consider himself and how to make himself better while completely neglecting the massive damage he is currently doing around him but its okay because hes going to rehab and if i believe in this opportunity i wont be bothered by a bump in the road.

yes i absolutely think my life story should be tramping across canada i guess by myself now to be with a guy fresh out of rehab. so fuck me right. and im just like.. sooooooooooo.... many emotions. im angry and bitter and sad and heartbroken and i dont know what to be. i dont know whats the “right” path for ME to take. because fuck anyone else fuck it all - whats the right path for me. do i want to be angry? do i want to cry?

except i already knew how this went because i did it before the summer about this fucking trip so its like u must think im literally retarded. if i complained at all in anyway i was an asshole for not supporting his want to go to rehab. i didnt want him to get better. and there was no way to explain that he was just completely neglecting the damage he caused and was causing at this very moment regardless of his positive decision because nothing about making the ecision to go to rehab is that positive. its only positive because youre “getting better” otherwise youre going because you suck right now. thats not a positive decision. it is AFTER fucking rehab. but im not even on this level with him you know. im not saying any of this. i just know that if i say even one single thing about it, im an asshole even though its presented to me by an asshole.

so i told him that i wanted to go and be sad and i talked to him later. he asked me why i was sad and really pressed on the issue and i told him it dint matter and i would prefer to just go but again he pressed and i felt anxious like either i flat out accepted what happened right now and just live my life in whatever new way i was required to in his shadow or tell him that i felt uncomfortable and sad and that he was just going to come for a month and go away again and that didnt make me feel good.

and thus - well he was doing this positive thing and he wanted to feel better and not feel like he wanted to die everyday and you know i had this opportunity where i was too and i had problems i wasnt working on and it doesnt make him feel goo to have to deal with the stress of me being upset about his decision.

and i was just so frustrated. like after two fucking years you still do not get it at all. like omg i could quit smoking everything tomorrow and still feel like absolute garbage and want to di ei could have a great job an still feel like garbage and want to ie because my BIGGEST MOST OVERWHELMING FEELING I HAVE NEVER NOT SHAKEN IN MY DAILY FUCKING BEING is loneliness. and its not like im forcing him to mae me not lonely. but when you offer this stupid dream world where im not going to be lonely, when you put on a mask to parade around and “care for me” after surgery but disappear promptly after its like do you not understand its literally more painful for me in my life to live with loneliness than anything this cyst does to me. anything. i could live with it for a year and it would be less worse than the all consuming depression of loneliness. and by feeling so lonely ive struggled with finding a purpose. and like i have friend(s). i have one very good friend ive had for two years that i really really connect with and really really respect and weve fought but its totally okay and when i feel really alone i honestly think of her maybe first and foremost because i genuinely feel loved by this person. i really really think they would do the most for me and in return i try to do the very most for them. and weve supported major life crisis with each other. we’ve really emapthized and like wanted nothing but the best for each other and like cried with each other and this person is truly an example of why it might be worth giving people more chances.

but i experience such an isolating loneliness and my personal battle because life has decided i will and have experienced this is that i need to embrace being alone because of all the people who have hurt me. i am not prepared in any form to vouch for someone being okay. ive made so many excuses for shitty people and shitty behavior that deeply reflects and scarred my soul so fucking bad. im soooo tired of making excuses for shitty people. im really tired.

i try to bring up that he had fed me all this crap and he bounced between saying “i knew it wasnt true” that he was “pretending to be normal” and that he was still buying the land and he didnt understand why this was such a problem for me because “nothing changed” and finally that he was “sorry” and kept asking me what i wanted or what i wanted him to say and its so disgusting to put the victim in a position where they have to teach you what it is you did wrong when its so fucking obvious that you lied.

and so i thought about it briefly after hanging up and once again - dont get surgery. i was so uncomfortable now. i was like downtrodden and disrespected and nothing of what he said gave me confidence in fucking anything so i had a choice of pretending like it was all totally okay and watching him leave at the end or being upset about it and getting the bare minimum care from someone who kept filling my head with ideas that were never going to actually happen. so now im like vulnerable and have to experience this person no matter what and like i dont even want to talk to him now. im so shocked. lke the full weight of what he just did has not even set in fully but i know that its so fucking heavy it just changed my soul and like the minions are working overtime to figure out how to put this shit back together because i cannot even believe the level of how he trie to sell me on this shit and have zero fucking compassion towards the idea that he once again had to take a new path alone and “couldnt consider me anymore” but “nothing had changed”. dont be upset.

hes going to rehab.

and like im sorry i dont really believe in the recovery of this person other than the symbolic “i went to rehab” because he smokes weed. he refuses - flat out fucking refuses to see what actual fucing hurt he caused people and hes the only person who can work on these things and in no fucking way what so ever do i believe weed has any part of what hes doing. i really dont. if i can be proven wrong in the end ill take it back in respect but fuck him anyways because if a heroin addict shot me in the leg he still shot me in the fucking leg. forgive but im not forgetting.

like the shit he has made me do and go through is abysmal and hes never ever going to admit to anyone that he did these things to me so at no point is anyone going to turn to him and say uhm u did fucking what. so wheres my bonus in all of this when / if it all comes back in the spring and hes ready to go because omg guys he went to rehab and now hes enlightened and sober and better than all of us and still the giant piece of shit to me hes always been. and now more so because i still smoke weed and god u know im a real drug addict.

i told him i was uncomfortable with getting surgery knowing i would essentially be stuck with him for this time and right now i was just really uncomfortable and upset. he said that was fine but he was offering to “fulfill his obligation” of caring for me and he still loved me and if i only wanted him to come make meals and change my banages an leave then he would.

and its like man no. at this moment right now. right fucking now i am full realization that this is super abusive even if youre sick. even if youre sick. because i know this. i did this. and i did this very similarly u know like this woman loved me. she loved me and she cared for me but lke there was alot of things i id wrong like i was lazy and ungrateful and spoiled and a bitch but she cared for me and especially - ESPECIALLY if i was “sick” she really “cared for me” and that cleared her record. everytime i was sick - well u know she did this and this for u. but like she was killing me EVERY OTHER FUCKING DAY and all of this - al of this my whole life with this crazy woman was because she was sick. she was sick and this happened. and he was sick and this happened but like no matter the sickness this fucing HAPPENED. you damaged another persons soul like omg do u think u can get away with punching one of ur kids and going to mental ward one time and never ever have it brought up again no u damaged that kid and ur whole fucking family forever cuz ur sick.

so ur saying before you go to rehab you will come back and care for the person that you have to “have no concern over” thereafter and that person can have literally no fucking emotion like youre a fucking home care nurse they never met before. like omg. are you for real. am i dead? why am i crazy because i think this is uncomfortable, stressful and awkward for the legitimately physically ill person.

he says i can decide what i want, its my body but hes still offering to care for me and he doesnt want to play games because he was fine to take care of me and get surgery before he brought this up and i had already done this before and its like man why are you gaslighting me making me thinking my feelings about this are a manipulation tactic against you when its a legitimate fucking concern for my own well being and why is it insinuatingly so offensive that i switch to concern primarily for myelf when someone says theyre also doing the same thing. thats what makes you the most sick. and no one will ever reall see this. and its like when i realized i would never get anything back from my sick father and 10 years of caring for him and its just like damn. no one - no one will ever fully know what you did and thats how you actually won in all of this. even if i go out there and i say well he did this and this you already diminished my reputation of being like a logical level headed person in relationships and now i look fucing insane especially the embarassment of sticking around.

like i cant even explain all the ways it oesnt feel right to get this surgery. ive had nightmares of dieing and its a nothing surgery. like maybe the anasthetics kill me or something. i have a surprise heart attack from my years of smoking. and if that doesnt happen then im here with him and like i dont even want ot look up what the surgery is because im 50% still in hope that like ill jump right up and be cool and like have no problem taking care of myself and i overestimated how much care iw ould need and its all good. best case scenario. then 50% im like okay if the cyst is as bad as it was and theyre cutting out a whole chunk of flesh and stitching it my likely best case scenario is moderate swelling and pain, moderate body movement and anxiety over a fucking wound thats so deep and like ive never had such a deep wound before and in this area i cant even bend with a cyst and its stitched what if i bent and it ripped like fair enough i could ask many of these questions of my personal anxieties with a doctor. and maybe what really happens is a bit of both and i struggle with feeding and bathing myself and my biggest concern is the set of stairs to the apartment and living in disgusting filthy room.

so now im dealing with maybe a home care nurse level of care. im made some food. my bandage is changed and im left to fend for everything else even though there could be some limited mobility and stairs and just like.. not really being able to do anything strenuous and i imagine not alot of sitting and like this all sucks and now im watching the person i looked forward to the most feed me the bare minmum and leave. or he stays and is of more help and i fall into the same bullshit again. maybe he feeds me over and over these romantic bullshit lines like once i get out of rehab wel do this and this and blah blah blah because hes still fucking sick and theres no controlling what he will actually do so what he demonstrated is that hes unstable an i have no been freshly duped by him and i dont feel mentally strong enough to take the rollercoaster with him in any way shape or form.

as he was repeating some shit about needing to respect him getting care for himself, my phone died and i took a deep breath and put it dow and was kind of thankful that the fates of technology decided this for me because i was really really super done. i know hes serious about going and i know hes serious about having no concern for me because hes already done all of these things so everythhing that happens is tainted to yeah hes right - “i knew all along” that he was a lieing piece of shit and i was wasting my time.

and it bothers me that like on paper im like real shit luck in life, been through so much, have very little in posessions, no family and this person was like oh hey we’ll go do this and this and frolic through the land and its like do you even comprehend the weight of what you just did to this person. and to turn around and say make a way for yourself like im piggybacking off of you? omg.

theres like a top 5 worst people ive ever personally known. my mother almost always tops the list for pure longevity. i have an ex friend who turned so vicious it like fucked us both up in the long run and im bitter about it. my most recent friend would maybe me number 5, maybe in running with my alcoholic friend because besides being nice theyre terrible people. but in this list, possibly #2 has to be him. he is worse than my ex because my ex’s “sickness” was being dumb as fuck and hes like.. hes just dumb. hes not terrible hes just really dumb and like not a good person to be around and even though i got him arrested im not ure he would be top 5. he was just so dumb that im not like traumatize by him im just like man thats on me. thats rly rly on me. but this guy --- im not so fucking retared im just running back to a piece of shit to be shit on with zero fucking bonus to my life. this person has to actively participate in making me want to come back by actions and words. im not stuck with him at all. no money ties. i dont live with him. why woud i go back unless he was gving me something i wanted?

but he was never going to give me anything i truly wanted. and its my fault for sticking around. he told me all of this so i shouldve known even though “we’re going to have a sugar shack, we’re going to have a dog” - and just this mention of the word “we” was soooooooooooo fucking nice to me you have no idea. this really like.. stuck in my head and made me feel a tiny comfort like wow theres a we. i’m not just an i. i’m finally a we.

does he care? no he doesnt fucking care. hes sick. hes going to rehab.

the bestthing he could do is leave me alone. thats truly the very best option. my trust is broken. like nothing he says to me from this point on is believable or true or leads to anything substantial. i should put no weight at all on anything he says which makes any conversation with him totally useless. because even if our convo is political i dont believe thats what he believes anymore. maybe tomorrow he believes something else.

and if you love me. if you actually fucking love me you dont “love me to death”. thats not it. true love of me is an actual understanding of who i am and what ive been through, to really deeply respect where ive come from just lke i have to respect everyones living family my story should be equally respected and taken seriously and not toyed with. thats showing me a true love and if you cannot do this you need to step away and honestly man. its not like a step away for awhile and we’ll see like people are like wow ur so black and white but why am i fucking with a future you when both present and past blew it? there is no evidence to even back up future you and by the time future you outweighs all of this karmically, who the fuck cares that we ever knew each other its like some kid i sat beside in a classroom. like cool bro ur still alive wow nice. i never want to deal with him or anyting about him again. he made me carry so much of his weight he refuses to see it and i didnt need any of this in my life and i didnt ask for him to do any of this in my life. but i shouldve walked away sooooo long ago. i can reprimand myself fo this. but i also know im on my process and this is part of it. this is three years out. im not even homeless or fucked up im just like super sad about all of it.

he had this speech about how i had to get the surgery before because we had to be ready for spring. so he had intertwined this surgery with this proposed future and i had to do it to be prepared and show him im serious and now im like bro if i get one in 3 months who cares ill just go to the hospital again. this is an option. they never said i would die if i idnt get it. its just a like.. quality of life surgery. and my quality of life is shit anyways this surgery and these cysts mean nothing to me and having to go through all of this man.. at one point he had literally said “if you dont get surgery because of me then thats how itll have to be”

so you stepped on other people, you hurt other people and if they dont do a thing to better themselves because they have to deal with you “then so be it”? im going to ~rehab~.

i havent turned my phone back on for a few hours i guess and i really dont want to. he wont have done anything differnt, ill have gotten no messages but i dont know. i just.. i want to forget all of this. him, the surgery. just continue to hobbit for the month or something and “figure something out”.

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caredogstips · 7 years

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No more monkey business: why primates should never be domesticateds

About 4,500 primates are in private hands in the UK many of them tolerating poor conditions. Is it duration for a prohibit?

Primate owner Laura was searching the internet adverts for monkeys she could try to recovery when she recognized one from a humanity in the Cotswolds who was clearly seeing caring for two common marmosets extremely difficult. This is a common trouble: primates are wild swine and keeping them is complex, expensive and demanding.

She contacted the man and agreed to collect the two adult monkeys one male and one female. They had been kept in a tiny molted in his garden and were in a horrid surrounding. Hed fed them almost entirely on porridge, babe meat and fish thumbs. When I asked if he had given them any return or vegetables, he is recalled that hed occasionally fed them grapes. Neither monkey had ever been viewed by a vet. The male had severe dental problems and his tail was a mixture of matted “hairs-breadth” and bald-headed patches.

Like many of us, Laura( not her real identify) grew up fascinated and enthralled by apes, and although she had never intended to keep primates, she found herself rescuing the two marmosets. She soon realised that the female was pregnant and, two week ago, twin males were born. Soon after, the adult male was booked in for surgery to give his posterior and teeth. While the marmoset was under anaesthetic, the veterinary been observed that his tiny form was riddled with metabolic bone canker caused by good nutrition and inadequate illuminate. Unhappily the male died during the operation though, with his twisted bones and torso bloated by gas, it seemed a slight boon when his centre eventually stopped.

A common marmoset in the Atlantic rainforest, Brazil. Photograph: Alamy

This sad story doesnt stop there. Before he was dead, hed “ve managed” get the female pregnant again and soon another three minuscule males were born. Laura then rescued another adult male( this time from Luton ), and what had started out as a single pair now turned into their own families of seven with the new male acting as a surrogate father.

They all now live in at her family home in Lincolnshire in a specially made enclosure with specialist heating, specific lighting, indoor and outdoor lopes and an ever-changing regiman of feeding and behavioural enrichment. A contraceptive embed has ensured no more little monkeys have since arrived on the situation and now, ultimately, both the monkeys and keeper are happy.

But Laura admits that primates make awful domesticateds: They urinate on everything to label their territory and stink abysmally; they need constant care and easily rate millions of pounds every year to hinder. Parties have this idea that they can touch and cuddle them but I never touch mine as theyre not tame. If I did, Id expect to be burn. Even with my most tighten swine, I wouldnt dream of it as it would stress him out too much. Its such a greedy happen to have them as pets. Get a puppy or have a child simply dont get a monkey!

Welcome to the world of primate ownership: the legal orientation is complex, the moralities troublesome, and even the owners themselves have conflicted perceives about obstructing monkeys at home. Id tried contacting several other primate owneds but, with this one exception , none would speak to me. I got a sense that they knew it was wrong at some level and were uncomfortable talking about it.

I am a primatologist and have worked with chimps in Africa, orangutans in Indonesia and dark-green monkeys in the Caribbean. I enjoy primates and have dedicated years to cooperating with them, but there is not a chance I would want one as a pet.

Squirrel apes are on the dangerous swine directory. Photograph: Alamy

But there are people who want to an estimated 4,500 primates( which covers apes, monkeys and lemurs, bushbabies and lorises) are privately owned in the UK. While some of these are owned by trained experts and represent specialist breed groups, the great majority are babies, living in peoples homes. Often owned by individuals with good-for-nothing more than good goals and the foolish are looking forward to own a cool pet, it is clear that there are very few privately owned captive primates in the UK in such a luck statu as the ones Laura rescued.

Dr Sharon Redrobe a veterinary surgeon and the CEO of Twycross Zoo, Warwicks knows first-hand just how hard primate husbandry is. By explanation, a domesticated is an animal we touch and play with in our the house and in no way is it in a primates best interest to be constantly touched and played with by parties. They require their own social groups, are extremely hard to care for and often grow up to be aggressive and hopeless to restrict. Owneds then take them to a veterinary, expecting them to be magically fastened. Theyre wild animals and, in that respect , no different to tigers. You wouldnt stop a tiger at home, so dont deter a monkey.

Redrobe is speedy to point out that in the past hindering domesticated primates was far more socially acceptable and that situates such as Twycross are really founded by people who liked to keep pet monkeys themselves, but she adds hours have moved on.

The world has changed enormously since the 1950 s and 60 s. We didnt know any better then; now we do. If “youve been” affection monkeys, let them be monkeys. Perhaps used to help by sponsoring one in a zoo or sanctuary.

Despite such involved charge motivations, high welfare concerns and the serious gambles associated with the spread of certain illness between people and non-human primates, it is still legal to maintain primates as babies in the UK regardless of how endangered they are or how dangerous they may be.

The care of primates is covered by the Animal Welfare Act of 2006 and Defras Code of Practice for the Welfare of Privately Kept Primates( the primate code) of 2010. The play, which states that animal owners must thwart wasteful bear and must take all reasonable steps to meet their swine motives, is hard to enforce as most domesticated primates in the UK are kept in secret.

The young capuchin monkey that German permissions confiscated from Justin Bieber in 2013. Photograph: Christof Stache/ AFP

The primate system is primarily to explain the welfare and administration needs of the swine and an infringement of its provisions is not actually an offence though it could be used as evidence in tribunal in animal welfare cases. The code, which applies to everything from gorillas to lemurs, is further faded as it is subject to broad-minded reading specified group are not covered in any real detail.

The maintaining of some primate species, such as capuchins, is thankfully restricted for the purposes of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act( 1976 ), but many, including marmosets are not listed. A 2014 RSPCA report found that 81% of pet primates in the UK belonged to the marmoset group originally from South America.

Other primates, such as cotton-top tamarins, are critically endangered and shall be given the highest level of legal protection from international trade.

With little awareness circumventing laws and a general lack of consequences for those failing to comply with regulations, many feel that the laws and regulations should change and that a complete ban on the obstructing of baby primates in the UK should be introduced.

Rachel Hevesi, the director of Wild Futures, a primate sanctuary in Looe, Cornwall, knows all too well just how weak the current legislation is. Weve had over 150 primates come to us over the years and, without exception, every single one has had physical or psychological difficulties or, in many cases, both, she says.

Hervesi wants to see a full forbidding on impeding primates as babies and reads success lying in a positive index style of legislation, where any specific primate species allowed to be kept as pets would be registered. With no species being proposed as being suitable, this blanket, prohibition-type constitution means that there would be little room for misconception. Such legislation is already present in Belgium and several other European countries and has led to not only a reduction in the overall number of primates being saved as babies, but too to an increase in members of the community reporting unauthorized pet owners.

Primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall. Image: Diana Sanchez/ AFP

Hevesi is hopeful that the British government will bring a ban into force in the near future. When the primate code was introduced in 2010, it was agreed that the government would review its success after a five-year interval. Defra failed to hold that review in 2015, but had now been promised to reassess the legislation this year.

Key stakeholders including the Primate Society of Great Britain, the RSPCA, the British Veterinary Association, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums( Biaza ), Born Free and Four Paws all support a ban on domesticated primates and are collecting exhibit and data for the government review.

Hevesi says: The swap relies on the ignorance of the buyer and the desire of the breeders. Weve never met a custodian who has purposely set out to harm their primate pet; its a lack of awareness and skills.

The image of primates as inventive and interactive little human-like swine that can live alongside and play with us may seem request and a recent batch of unthinking celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Beyonc and the Kardashians posing with primates has only added to the problem but without exception, every expert, academic, welfare officer and zoo custodian been agreed that primates are utterly unwarranted as pets.

Whereas hounds and felines have been specially engendered for generations as domesticateds to a time where we have selected specific behavioural and physical peculiarities that become them perfect attendants most primates multiplied as domesticateds are only research results of two or three generations in captivity and are, in most respects, still wild and untamed animals.

Renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr Jane Goodallhas worked with wild and captive primates for decades and knows them better than anyone. Every primate are part of an environment that is as close to a wild decided as is practicable. They are beautiful and intelligent animals, but highly complex with very specific needs. They simply do not belong in our homes as pets.

With such strong opposition to the UK primate pet trade, it is hoped that a censor can soon be drafted and introduced to protect the requirements and welfare of these highly intelligent, though difficult to keep, wild animals.