#(which cale has a hilarious relationship w/)

[yellowocaballero]

So fucking glad to see someone talk about SSS Class revival hunter 😭 I lived it so much and I feel like no one ever mentions it against more popular titles like ORV or even The Lout of the counts family, so I'm so glad to come here and see your amazing takes :>

Thank you for the ask which lets me talk about SSSCRH (the version I read was titled 'Suicide Hunter', which tbh I like more - no beating around the bush).

It's hard to draw an accurate comparison since I'm going off just the webtoon for SSSCRH, while I'm going off both the webtoon and the webnovel for ORV. And I love ORV, ORV is my media blorbo right now, it hydraulic presses my brain, I am writing ORV fanfic - it's, like, funner to enjoy. But SSSRH is just better. In the vast majority of ways it is is better. It's better than the holy trinity by a wide margin. TW talk of suicide obviously.

I can't believe I'm saying this but you need a basic understanding of Buddhism in order to understand SSSCRH. It's not about Gongja's suicides - he doesn't suicide from depression or lack of self-esteem. SSSCRH is about suffering in the Buddhist sense - dukkha. I don't want to make this an essay, so I might reblog this with more information, but extremely shortly:

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism is the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. You've heard that Buddhists say 'life is suffering'. To put it one way that doesn't require defining a lot of words: the cause of suffering is experiencing the world as we percieve it instead of how it truly is. Suffering isn't just being miserable and in pain, and life isn't suffering because life sucks and global warming exists and people voted for Trump. Life is suffering because we can experience beautiful and joyful moments in this world, but we do not exist in the moment of that happiness or place our ego/'self' between us and that happiness. Living in that moment, accepting the moment as it is unconditionally, is freedom from suffering. The Buddha tries to free people from suffering through teaching Buddhism.

"What does this have to do with the webnovel and manwha about a guy murdering himself thousands of times" it has everything to do with it. Because SSSCRH is about suffering, and it is about using suffering as a tool in order to experience a world unfiltered by ego and break down the artificial boundaries between human beings. Suffering in SSSCRH is not a bad thing. Gongja has the unique capability to (reincarnate.) experience a person's suffering in unity with them, which dissolves the delusion of separation between people and puts us in touch with the reality of oneness.

The Murim arc was fucking insane because Gongja pulls a Big Bodhisattva Move and walks through the suffering of the world in order to achieve full understanding of the human experience. He takes all of the suffering of the world into himself and is liberated. You can tell it's Buddhist because death was not presented as a bad thing - death was an aspect of a happy ending for the Heavenly Demon lady, because she was finishing her life according to her own joy, and because her teachings were passed on she did not truly die.

But the purpose of embracing suffering is to discover the ability to fully embrace life, and that's where Heavenly Demon's teachings were incomplete - as the ghost dude said, Gongja hasn't even experienced his own full life and the infinite capability for his own happiness. You can only feel the depths of sadness when you've felt the depths of happiness. Sadness deserves its place in the world and it can strengthen you, but so does happiness.

Gongja is attention-seeking, envious, and unbelievably petty. When he drills down into his own desires and why he wants the things he wants, you see that he has a very strong sense of justice and right and wrong - he realizes he doesn't want to be famous, he wants to be acknowledged, but on an even deeper level he is desperate for love and to be loved. Everything he does is to experience love, and as such he learns to love others. His love for the Flamey Asshole was purely parasocial and ego-filled, with no concern for who he was as a human. Throughout the manwha, he grows to care for people as they truly are and pierce through any delusions or misleading outward appearances. He has released all attachment to life and death, and as such does not fear death, and as such has taken a step on the road towards becoming a Boddhisatva who frees others from the cycle of samsara, and as a result has learned sick sword techniques and is sooo good at beating people up.

I think the only other thing I want to mention here because otherwise this is an essay: in almost every time loop/regression story, only the final regression matters. In stories with dungeon monsters and NPCs, only the humans matter. The regressor exists in a space where there are no consequences for their actions, so they act terribly and do whatever because none of it matters. In Groundhog Day Bill Murray acts like an asshole because he can. That's not the case here. Everything Gongja does matters. The NPCs are fake, but Gongja never treats them as anything less than real people who deserve life. Once he understands a person's life he never treats them as unimportant. No loop is thrown away and no person or life is disregarded. His choices matter, the way he treats others matters, and Gongja never treats anybody as if they don't matter except for himself.

That was not short. There is a lot more. The female characters are so good and so rich. From a craft perspective it is excellently paced and has a wonderful sense of set-up/payoff and balances tone and maintains a lot of momentum, which is really hard in a time loop story. You have to do a few very specific things to write OP characters well and SSSCRH does it very well. There's more to say from a craft perspective and it's hard to judge accurately from a webtoon but it's good. I was so strangely struck the entire time about how sincere and genuine it was, how it said what it said with no trace of irony of confusion, and I think that's what stuck with me the most.

TL;DR: SSS Class Revival Hunter is good for a lot of very normal reasons, such as excellent pacing and set-up/pay off and characters, but it's also so sincerely and genuinely Buddhist that it blew my tits clean off.

#sss class revival hunter #kim gongja #ssscrh #I s2g I rewrite these like three times to be as short as possible #I just knew I had to define some terms because if I say 'it's about suffering' and leave it at that #people aren't going to fully get it #its not intuitive from a western perspective #It's really hard to get the full meaning of SSSCRH if you have no familiarity with Buddhism #bc suffering (and delusion and nothingness and oneness) mean diff things in buddhism than in english #theres other buddhist stuff like responsibility to the whole and the community but this was long enough already #the few ppl talking about it have good takes but I think ppl miss how #kgj isnt depressed and he doesnt kill himself from self-sacrifice #he's not kdj or cale #he only truly commits suicide (throws his life away) once which was from part percieved worthlessness of his own life #and big part EXTREME FUCKING PETTINESS NEXT LVL PETTINESS INSANE PETTINESS #every other time he kills himself is from his EXTREME goal oriented behavior #as usual there seems to be a dialogue with the rest of its genre #specifically the extreme egocentrism and selfishness of its genre and other OP protags #(which cale has a hilarious relationship w/) #(ur doing amazing honey i know this upsets you) #my asks #and theres also a conversation with buddhism itself anyway #i love orv but this is so much better on so many levels and its being slept on smh #nobody is going to read this its way too long but you know. its not ABOUT you.

[madpicks]

New Post has been published on https://www.madpicks.com/sports/nhl/15-nhl-stars-you-didnt-know-had-famous-wives/

15 NHL Stars You Didn’t Know Had Famous Wives

Alexander Ovechkin: Married to Nastya Shubskaya

After dating for three years, Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin got engaged to his then-girlfriend, Russian tennis pro Maria Kirilenko, in December 2012. By July of 2014, the engagement was off, but Ovechkin wasn’t back on the market for long. He was engaged again, this time to Russian model and actress Nastya Shubskaya, in September the following year.

The two got married in a small wedding in Russia last summer, which sent both the Russian tabloids and the hockey community as a whole into a frenzy. And while Shubskaya is well-known for her modeling work, her parents are probably even more famous. Her mother, Vera Glagoleva is a film star who has appeared in 33 movies and has directed a handful of others, and her dad, Kirill Shubsky, is a prominent ship-builder, well known within the industry.

Sean Avery: Married to Hilary Rhoda

Apparently former NHL bad boy Sean Avery finally found a celebrity who could put up with him long enough to marry him, and her name is Hilary Rhoda, a dark-haired, knockout, 30-year-old supermodel from Maryland.

Perhaps best known for her work with Estee Lauder, Rhoda has made appearances in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issues from 2009 to 2011 and has also appeared in advertising for Abercrombie and Fitch, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Gap, Ralph Lauren and Victoria’s Secret, among others. She’s also been featured prominently on the covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Time and W.

Avery met the blue-eyed stunner at the opening party for a restaurant that he and some former teammates had invested in. At the time, she was dating NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez, but Avery was able to win her over, and the pair eventually married at the Parrish Art Museum on Long Island in October 2015.

Tomas Plekanec: Married to Lucie Vondrackova

You may not recognize her name on this side of the pond, but Lucie Vondrackova’s fawning fans in her native Czech Republic definitely do. Vondrackova is an uber-popular singer and actress over there and one of the most successful cultural icons in her country.

When she married star Canadiens forward and fellow Czech Republic compatriot Tomas Plekanec in June 2011, the couple dominated the Czech tabloids like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie used to in the U.S., so that sort-of gives you an idea of her social impact in their country.

Plekanec reportedly proposed to Vondrackova over a dinner in Montreal, and the couple was already expecting when she said yes. Nowadays, they live in Montreal with their two sons, Matyas and Adam.

Henrik Zetterberg: Married to Emma Andersson

Henrik Zetterberg met Swede Emma Andersson in 2007, and the couple basically became Swedish royalty when they wed in 2010 in what’s considered one of the largest and most expensive ceremonies in the country’s history.

Andersson first came onto the scene in 2001 when she appeared as a contestant on a Survivor-like show in Sweden called Expedition Robinson. A year after that, she started her singing career and released her first album, Who Am I, though it didn’t ever sell very well.

She appeared on an all-star version of “Expedition Robinson” in 2003 and won it, which helped her land later gigs as a TV show host, but she then ended up moving to the U.S. to be with Zetterberg, and the couple now lives in Detroit with their son, Love.

Brandon Prust: Engaged to Maripier Morin

French TV personality Maripier Morin caught the eye of former NHL winger Brandon Prust during his time in New York with the Rangers. They turned into a Quebec power couple later when Prust was traded to the Canadiens, allowing them to spend more time together, before he eventually asked her to marry him.

Making her television debut in 2006 on Canadian reality show Double Occupancy, Morin has appeared on several shows and has since built up quite the following in Quebec.

Most notably, she has been a mainstay on the W Network’s reality show Hockey Wives, where she bears all on her relationship with Prust and the challenges of maintaining a long-distance relationship as he follows his career around the world.

Prust and Morin got engaged in Italy in 2015, and nuptials are reportedly coming soon.

Bret Hedican: Married to Kristi Yamaguchi

Bret Hedican’s Team USA lost to Czechoslovakia in the bronze medal game of the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, but Hedican went home a winner anyways.

Those Games were the place not only where Hedican met his eventual wife, decorated U.S. figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, but also the place in which Yamaguchi became a household name in America.

Yamaguchi won Olympic gold in the women’s singles figure skating that year, capping off an amateur career in style before turning pro and joining Stars on Ice while also touring on the pro circuit.

Hedican and Yamaguchi eventually got married in 2000 while Hedican was playing for the Panthers. Nowadays, they live with their two daughters in northern California and oftentimes work together on charities and other public events.

Evgeni Malkin: Married to Anna Kasterova

Evgeni Malkin himself actually alluded to his laissez-faire approach to marriage in favor of kids, but he eventually legally wed the beautiful fellow Russian Anna Kasterova last year, just days before they welcomed their first child, Nikita.

Born in Moscow, Kasterova is a 32-year-old Russian television personality. She graduated from Moscow State pedagogical University with a degree in psychology and got her start in TV at 22. She has worked for a number of different channels, among them BBC News and other entertainment programs.

After dating for two years, the couple got engaged in November of 2015 and applied for a marriage license in Pennsylvania last May. No word yet on the actual ceremony for these two, but then again, they’re a fairly private couple.

Valeri Bure: Married to Candace Cameron

Former NHL All-Star and brother to “Russian Rocket” Pavel Bure, Valeri Bure married Full House actress Candace Cameron, who played DJ Tanner on the popular ‘90s TV show, in June of 1996 as a young 22-year-old following his rookie NHL season with the Montreal Canadiens. They were introduced at a charity hockey game by one of Cameron’s then-co-stars, Dave Coulier, who was playing in the event alongside Bure.

After her stint on Full House, Cameron starred in family comedy Make it or Break it and made appearances on other shows like Cybill, Boy Meets World, That’s So Raven, Dancing with the Stars, and Fuller House, among others.

Bure and Cameron now operate a Napa Valley winery called Bure Family Wines and have three children together.

Brooks Laich: Engaged to Julianne Hough

Smoking hot dancer, country music star and actress Julianne Hough is officially the arm-candy of former Washington Capital and current AHL Toronto Marlies forward Brooks Laich. Now that’s a good-looking couple.

Hough’s celebrity began to rise when she was became a pro dancer on Dancing with the Stars in the mid-2000s. She then rose to country music fame with her self-titled debut album in 2007, which featured the popular single “That Song in my Head” and has since won multiple awards for her music.

Her acting accolades include appearances in the films Burlesque, Footloose, Rock of Ages and Safe Haven, and she’s made several appearances in television roles as well.

Laich and Hough bean dating in 2014 after Hough broke it off with Ryan Seacrest, and they got engaged in August of the following year. They were supposed to get married last summer, but they postponed the ceremony, citing relationship issues. It sounds like things are back on track for this summer, though, so stay tuned.

Sheldon Souray: Married to Barbie Blank

Former NHLer and 2004 hardest-shot winner Sheldon Souray walked down the aisle with model and former WWE Diva Barbie Blank (or should we call her by her ring name, Kelly Kelly?) just last year in a “fairytale” wedding in Cabo. The location had meaning; it’s where they took their first trip together when they started dating.

Blank’s background was in gymnastics and cheerleading, and she studied broadcast journalism with hopes of becoming a TV anchor in her professional career. She ended up signing with WWE in 2006 and debuted in the ECW later that year as “Kelly Kelly,” performing as a salacious exhibitionist.

Along the way, she got into various feuds and won her first Divas championship in 2011. She has also appeared in music videos, TV shows and magazine spreads and currently stars on reality TV show WAGS.

Souray himself retired from hockey in 2013 before the pair got engaged the next year.

Wayne Gretzky: Married to Janet Jones

I don’t know if Wayne Gretzky was the first superstar athlete to marry a supermodel, but he definitely set the bar for guys like Tom Brady to follow later.

Gretzky and Janet Jones first met in 1983 when they were both 22 and engaged to other people. They met again four years later at an L.A. Lakers game when both were single again, started dating, and were engaged within six months.

Prior to that point, Jones had a resume with both modeling and acting jobs, appearing in several movies like Flamingo Kid, A Chorus Line, and Police Academy V. She also appeared in Playboy in 1987, so you can understand The Great One’s attraction.

They wed in Edmonton in July of 1988 in what was dubbed “Canada’s Royal Wedding,” and she shortly thereafter put her career on hold to raise their kids while Gretzky did his thing in the NHL.

Cale Hulse: Married to Gena Lee Nolin

I’m sure you remember former NHL defenseman Cale Hulse’s wife, Gena Lee Nolin. She was the busty blonde who starred as Neely Capshaw in the television series Baywatch alongside David Hasselhoff for a few years in the ‘90s.

After that, she used her assets to do some modeling, appearing in Maxim, Stuff, Playboy and FHM, as well as various other TV projects, including her own show, “Sheena,” between 2000 and 2002.

Previously married to Greg Fahlman, Nolin divorced him in 2001 and married Hulse in Phoenix three years later in 2004, during the lockout-cancelled 2004-05 NHL season. These days, they live in Phoenix, where Hulse works in the front office for the Arizona Coyotes, the team he played for in 2003-04, while Nolin continues acting part time, most recently in Sharknado 4.

Ryan Miller: Married to Noureen DeWulf

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller married Indian-American stunner Noureen DeWulf over Labor Day Weekend in 2011 while Miller was playing for the Buffalo Sabres, immediately and forever raising the bar for future hockey WAGs with her red-hot, exotic beauty.

You probably know DeWulf best for her acting role alongside Charlie Sheen on the FX comedy Anger Management, as well as her film projects West Bank Story, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and The Back-up Plan.

She was born in New York but grew up in Georgia before attending Boston University, and her other works include drool-inducing appearances in Maxim, Nylon Magazine and Playboy, as well as her recent role on reality show Hockey Wives on the W Network.

The couple now has one child together and lives in Vancouver during the season.

Dion Phaneuf: Married to Elisha Cuthbert

Is Dion Phaneuf the luckiest guy on this list, or what? He somehow managed to put a ring on blazingly hot actress Elisha Cuthbert, making basically every single male in North America, including the aforementioned Sean Avery, very jealous.

After Cuthbert and Avery broke up from their previous relationship, Phaneuf stepped into the picture in 2008, and they pair began dating amid controversy surrounding Avery’s nasty comments. Nonetheless, they trudged forward and got engaged four years later before marrying in July of 2013 on Prince Edward Island.

Cuthbert is a Canadian actress and model from Calgary and had her first hit role playing Kim Bauer on the TV series 24. She has also had roles in films Old School, The Girl Next Door, and House of Wax, as well as on TV as the quirky, cute Alex in Happy Endings, which aired on ABC.

Phaneuf, a three-time All-Star and former first-rounder, is currently in his second season with the playoff-bound Senators and will look to win his first Cup with his lovely, hockey-loving wife undoubtedly watching from the stands.

Mike Fisher: Married to Carrie Underwood

And finally, we have the ultimate NHL power couple. Carrie Underwood is a country-music superstar at the top of her industry, and Mike Fisher is the captain of the hometown Nashville Predators. Together they are perhaps the best-looking, most successful couple on this list.

Underwood got her start in music when she won the fourth season of reality singing talent show American Idol in 2005, and the rest is history. She’s not only a beautiful, popular and prominent star on the country-music scene, she’s also one of the most successful artists of any musical genre, period.

She’s sold more than 65 million records, won numerous awards and is commonly referred to as country music’s reigning queen. I could go on and on about Underwood, but you probably need to get on with your life, so here are the deets on their nuptials.

Fisher and Underwood met at one of her concerts in 2008, and they got engaged the following December. They got married at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia during the summer of 2010, and they have one son together.

Underwood is commonly sighted at Bridgestone arena when her hubby’s team plays at home, and she’s reportedly become quite the hockey fan.

Well, I’d sure hope so.

[td_smart_list_end]

#NHL