#I also adore the slang used throughout this issue

[age-of-moonknight]

“Moon Debt,” Moon Knight (Vol. 9/2021), #20.

Writer: Danny Lore; Penciler and Inker: Ray-Anthony Height; Colorists: Le Beau Underwood and Scott Hanna; Letterer: Cory Petit

#Marvel #Marvel comics #Marvel 616 #Moon Knight vol. 9 #Moon Knight 2021 #Moon Knight comics #latest release #Moon Knight #Moon Knight Ladies #Niecy #Blade #Eric Brooks #Imma say it #first off I love the throwback costumes #Blade’s of course is iconic but Niecy’s too #with the bling that reminds me of vol. 2 and with how the cape is attached at the wrists!!! #And she somehow makes all of it work! good for her #I also adore the slang used throughout this issue #could some people consider it corny? Maybe #/I/ however dig it #I dig it immensely hahaha

[anime-watch]

A Place Further than the Universe

Japan/Global Issues: An issue recurrent throughout the first four episodes is the pressure to conform. None of the main characters explicitly mention this pressure. It is communicated silently but not-so-subtly with the background's many slogans of 'proper' behavior. I did not save a list of all the ones I saw, but the first that was most noticeable was a sign for "No loose pants! Lift them higher! Both your pants and your grades!" This occurred right after the rain scene when Mari was making her first attempts at a journey. She had just finished saying, "While everyone... like normal, I alone will burst free."

The juxtaposition highlights her desire to break free from the norm, but the incessant pressure to conform breaks her down through control and fear.

In addition to the background texts, the issue of conformity is communicated vividly through the attitudes of the classmates towards Mari and Shirase. The two girls are quietly shamed repeatedly for their drastic dreams.

Connection between readings:

1. The difference in the frame rates between Spirited Away and A Place Further Than the Universe shocked me. I noticed many of what we discussed in the last class: with the lower frame rate, character building depended much more on speech. Speech used not only content (Mari: "I had to borrow gym clothes from a friend" Mom: "Again?"), but also mannerisms. The way the characters speak are distinctive. Mari speaks in a bouncy, silly-sounding tone. Shirase speaks short and often cold. Hinata speaks very casually, in what seems like a sort of dialect (maybe simplified or distorted, like internet slang?). Yuzuki speaks politely (because she is younger) and more softly.

2. I did not expect to read about communism for this anime, but the relationship became more clear the more I read and thought about the anime. As Haber says, the "notion of emancipation, of course, remains open to diverse uses... no one has a monopoly over it."

My interpretation is that this anime speaks of emancipation from the norm, from every-day, from stillness.

━━━━━━━━━━

Overall, this anime was a joy to watch. Its message matches with what I have been thinking and feeling for this and the last semester. I have many ideas that I would love to try. I want to expand my experiences and try pushing against the norm, but my fear has always held me back. While this fear can be very rational, I sometimes find myself wondering, "Is my fear of death (failure), greater than my passion for life?"

The fear is counterproductive. By succumbing to fear, I do not live the way I want to. I am unable to enjoy life- unable to pursue my dreams for it. Such an inspiring anime! Like those girls, I will try to work to be more courageous and outgoing. It looks very fun and fulfilling.

One last note!

The girls are just so adorable. I love their upbeat-ness. They make their duties feel warm and playful. They are doing what they want to, putting their hearts into it, and best of all- they are with good company!!

They make good-hearted fun of each other's quirks. They also have sincere interest towards their friends. Just look at how cute they are:

Look at how cheerful Mari is!

All so curious about Shirase

Caring friends.

[acloudkat]

Gossip Girl 2.0

So. . . I was unsure of whether I was going to talk about this or not but… in the end, here we are!

I shall be talking about the Gossip Girl Reboot.

Now quick disclaimer and mild *excuse you* to HBO, please find ways to make your content accessible to Europe because there are those of us that are interested and unfortunately your "Max" service is US only and honestly i see no reasonable logic behind it. Therefore my means of getting access to this content shall not be discussed.

Extra disclaimer, there will be spoilers. Doi.

Now I am a big die hard fan of the original GG series and despite the outdated (to today’s standards) comparisons and slang, some of the topics hold up even today. For anyone curious or questioning my opinion, based on my generation, I am mildly in the middle as a Zelenial at 23. I did not grow up with GG, I learned about it when I was 14 but watched it for the first time when I was 19. Since, I have watched it up to 14-17 times; more than 10 for sure. So you can do with that as you please. The main reason I mention this is due to some articles and comments pointing out that maybe it’s a “Gen Z only media” or that “Millennials are just bitter cause it’s not theirs”. Keeping that in mind I will be as per usual showing the ups and downs of the show (so far and later on) from my own personal perspective.

After watching ep 1. (& now 2 which will be in a separate post after this) I have a few questions, comments AND concerns. So let’s get into those shall we :)

So let's do a little round up of our characters.

We have newcomer Zoya Lott that is moving to NYC on a Constance scholarship! But little did anyone in the show know, it was all a plot to get to be with her *half sister*. WHAT?! So the tldl on that is that Zoya and our other main character, Julien Calloway, share a mom! Mom, that i quote "left Julien's dad for Zoya's dad and the dads hate each other" because of which hate, they had absolutely forbidden their daughters from communicating. One thing led to another, a friend request was sent and this is basically the parent trap. . . . but for the kids. . .and they're aware of it cause they made it. . . I suppose? The parents haven't really been mentioned to matter in their plan, however, they do keep bringing up their middle names as "Zoya Jane and Julien Elizabeth" as clues left by their mother? Now some rumours around the web have connected the names to the Pride and Prejudice novels and while that would be extremely Gossip Girl-esque to do, and I am entirely up for that, hell yea!!! I'm wondering if it's as simple as... their mother's name was Elizabeth Jane... but maybe GG will be the one to discover that secret first? Other than that, Zoya is very much a very trusting "innocent type" character that probably has more past than we know about so it will be quite interesting to see how that elaborates going further into the series.

Then there is self-made influencer Julien Calloway. She is the new version of queen at Constance but as stated, they "don't do the patriarchy anymore". While she appears all smiles and kindness, personally i feel as if JC is kind of fake? She has things she cares about yes, but the moment someone or something interferes with her followers and her social standing or Obie (more on him later)

"the gloves come off and the claws come out" - Serena Van der Woodsen

When it comes to Julien I am honestly more curious to see who she is once you take away the followers and the media. Will she be an actual person or just a shallow obsessed spoiled brat? I just hope it won't be the typical story of "have to be perfect and have to have everyone like me because my mom left" ie. has mommy issues. That is how that cliche goes after all. So I am greatly hoping that's not going to be it for this one.

Obie Bergmann! We get introduced to Obie as Julien's boyfriend. Throughout ep 1, the things we learn about Obie are that he is basically the richest in the group, and lives in Dumbo. (irony from original GG for anyone that can guess it). He appears like a super nice and kind dude, a supportive boyfriend, kind of bland and tired of the relationship but the main thing that bothers me about him so far is his impossible to ignore "white guilt syndrome". For anyone unaware, "white guilt" is "remorse or shame felt by a white person with respect to racial inequality and injustice". While it's not a bad thing trying to make up for the in-equality in the world, here's hoping that's not his entire character cus that would get old quick.

Then we have the bestie, Audrey Hope. Audrey. . . is cold but to the point. Very analysing and observing. Definitely the type of character that would take all the info first and decide what to do after. I both like and am confused by her? Her cold mannerisms are quite enjoyable among the masses of drama and emotion I won't lie. However, i do predict a juicy threesome between her, boyfriend Aki and one Max Wolfe. Honestly, I am highly interested in how their relationship evolves.

Aki Menzies is kind of a mystery as of the moment. As to be expected with just 1 episode, we won't know too much about all the characters. He is the very supportive boyfriend that tries to keep the peace between everyone.

Max Wolfe on the other hand appears like the much more flamboyant version of Chuck Bass, if Chuck Bass had a supportive family environment and no limits on who he's dating. That's more or less for him but kuddos for his 0 hesitation to basically have a pic of his dick sent to everyone. I will never not find that hilarious. But again, between these three is my prediction for some juicy interactions. Cause to be fully honest, the chemistry is undeniable.

Monet de Haan. Ah. She is honestly the savage that we need around here. She is the control and the power behind Julien's brand honestly. I am curious how come she helps Julien with her brand rather than have her own? If we go off anything said in the episode, she is more feared than adored so maybe that's why? But Monet honey, fear can also have a following, just . . a different one.

And then there's Luna La, "The stylist" while we don't know much about her, some of her one liners are actively giving me life. Her and Monet are definitely a package deal and i wonder if there is juicier gossip there that we don't know yet.

Lastly, we have our new Gossip Girl. Young teacher, Kate Keller. I won't lie, i did not see us knowing who GG is from the get go. I am however wondering whether this will drag her down to the level of highschoolers (besides the fact that she looks younger than some of them xD) Something that is bothering me in the reboot however, is that technically, characters that represent adults, spying on minors??? Like they even make the point that "i shouldn't have these, i should be in jail" in regards to having almost naked pictures of the kids. Like it's not really okay??? In the original yea no one knew who GG was but they always knew it was someone their age. The teachers didn't care at those times. But they do now and I am not fully sure how okay it is.

And of course, the extras like some of the other teachers behind GG and the parents. We however, don't know too much about them as of now so we shall see soon. If any new characters are introduced they will be addressed but for now, onto the episode!

The half sisters plot is definitely interesting so I would love to know where the whole middle names thing will go. The story line I'm most interested in at the moment however is between Audrey, Max and Aki. I want to see that unwind into something horrendous but then beautiful! It has so much potential in my opinion. In terms of character development however i want to see who Julien is without all of her fame and followers. When the focus is not the media and the attention. I want to see that Julien.

The first episode definitely introduced us to a lot of things at once so far that is my take on them. I'm sure that in the future both the teachers and parents will be a bigger part but one thing is abundantly clear. Unlike the OGGG, there won't be more than maybe 2-3 seasons depending on the ages of the students. The teachers won't follow them onto college will they? Or will things drastically change along the way? It was rather amusing seeing them talk about all the old characters however, and reference the OG Gossip Girl. I am vaguely offended that they categorised twitter as "a glorified chatroom for memes for people over 30". Like dude. . . that hit me hard. I am happy that FB was never even mentioned as existing tho! Cause let's be honest that is not the "hip" thing anymore. But the rules they put down at the party definitely made my head spin. Had to listen to them twice to even get what was happening.

But that's probably enough of me babbling on about this xD If you want to find this on an apparently dying type of media, here's my blog post about it as well lol: https://acloudkat.wordpress.com/?p=960

#gossip girl reboot #gossip girl #reboot #series things

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-16th Place

All aboard the hate train! Because I’m about to say a show people would put in their top tens where it hasn't even made my top fifteen!

CHOO-CHOO!

#16-Regular Show (2010-2017)

The Plot: Two twenty-something slackers named Mordecai and Rigby are working in a local park named...The Park (Yeah, it’s a pretty lazy title when you think about it). When they’re not doing work, they’re usually slacking off by playing video games and hanging out as best bros should. However, amongst their sacred duty to avoid work at all costs, these two friends learn the ordinary isn’t as regular as one would think. Can they survive whatever life throws at them without getting fired? Judging by the number of seasons this show got...probably.

One thing I should mention right away is that this series was the perfect show for teenagers...and the occasional stoned college student. But teenagers, most of all! Or at the very least, teenagers in late middle school and early high school. And when I say that, I don’t mean that Regular Show panders to teens by using slang or sexy women (most of the time), but it at least knows how to talk to them. And it all has to do with the situations Mordecai and Rigby find themselves in.

Aside from when Mordecai and Rigby are forced to fight demons and monsters, any teen can relate to what Mordecai and Rigby go through in Regular Show. Most teens wish to escape responsibilities to play video games or to just goof off. And the lengths that Mordecai and Rigby go through to make that happen helps the target audience root for them. Teens can also relate to the personal issues Mordo and Rigs face. Rigby often struggles with growing up and trying to become a better person. He often comes across as annoying at times, but his attempts to change are both admirable and even relatable. Then there’s Mordecai, who faces something more dangerous than any monster these guys have met: Relationship issues (and also self-doubt, but it’s the relationship issues that the show focuses more on).

Now I know that I’ve complained about romantic subplots in the past and that for some fans, the romance was what dragged this series down as well, but I personally think the romantic subplots are one of the best things about the show. Mordecai’s struggles to have/keep a girlfriend is something that most guys (and maybe even some girls) can relate to. And while I would rather have the show focus more on his self-doubt rather than relationship drama, there is still the essence of self-doubt as seen through how he struggles with making the first move with a girl. The best example of this is in the episode “It’s Time," where Mordecai keeps chickening out to ask out Margret and ends up paying the consequences for it. The self-doubt is still there, but it’s just hidden under romantic drama. However, there is a love triangle, but it lasts no more than just a season-long and is completely tame compared to Star V.S. the Forces of Evil.

And while Regular Show primarily focuses on Mordecai’s love life, there are still other relationships in the show that manage to also be pretty entertaining. I legitimately love the fact that Muscle Man and Starla is the perfect couple, even though it’s revolting to see them be romantic with each other. Not only is it hilarious, but it even comes across as sweet at times. Speaking of sweet (kinda spoilers ahead), both Rigby and Eileen are adorable in later seasons. Rigby is far from perfect, but he honestly tries to be better and more understanding of Eileen. The best part is that Eileen doesn’t encourage him to do this. She likes Rigby for Rigby. Faults and all. Not only is that something most romantic partners should try to aim for, but it’s really adorable to see. (kinda spoilers over). And while not romantic in the slightest, the friendship between Mordecai and Rigby is honestly the best. They both have a great dynamic, and the interactions they have with each other legitimately feel like I’m watching real best friends having fun. I’m not kidding when I say there are actual moments where I forget that these are just characters voiced by people in a booth. Because they come across as THAT authentic.

Speaking of characters, I'm amazed by how there isn’t one in this series that I hate. Or at the very least, not a single character that I’ve learned to deal with. As for characters I love, Benson is on the top of that list. Not only are his frustrations with Mordecai and Rigby hilarious at times, but his struggles to have a life with meaning is something all of us can relate to. Then there's Skips, who is this stoic badass who actually has more layers to him than one might realize. Both Pops and Muscle Man also have great depth to them, one more than the other, while also managing to be the funniest characters. The only characters I really have slight problems with are Margaret, Thomas, and High Five Ghost (Yes, that’s actually his name). Margaret has little to no development until season seven, and even then, there’s really not much done with her. As for Thomas, he was forced into the story, and I felt nothing when he eventually got written out. Then there’s Fives, who doesn’t really have any personality other than being Muscle Man’s bro. While I’ve grown to live with these characters being in the show, they still have problems that I can’t really ignore.

And while we’re on the topic of problems, there is one main issue that I should mention first, and that’s the fact that this show is so weird. That stoned college student jab wasn’t just a joke because it honestly feels like you have to be high to understand the logic of this show's production. Just from looking at the main cast alone, I struggle to wonder how J.G. Quintel came up with these ideas. Not only that but the situations these characters find themselves in can range from bizarre to holy-crap-someone-had-to-be-high-while-making-this. And somehow-SOMEHOW-it gets weirder with each passing season. Sometimes I’m okay with shows embracing the weirdness, but even I have a limit for this series.

Another problem I should mention is Regular Show’s animation. The animation in this series is not all that great. Usually, that isn’t a problem because it relies on dialogue and bizarre imagery to entertain viewers. However, there are occasions when Regular Show utilizes action scenes, and that is when the poor animation really drags the series down. There’s neither weight nor choreography for any of the fights. And rarely can you feel the punches that the characters exchange with each other. Because of this, the action feels both slow and kind of boring at times. A problem that wouldn’t exist if the series had just slightly better animation.

However, what really drags this series down is its seasonal rot. By season five (six if I’m feeling generous), the show starts to lose its magic. The first thing to leave is its maturity. I don’t know if it’s child censors catching up with the writers or if the target audience just got younger, but it is painful to see this show become more kid-friendly. It used to not be afraid of having the characters be in the middle of a shootout (with real guns and rocket launchers, by the way), but by season seven, the series resulted in using lasers and bean bag guns. What also eaves is the show’s sense of humor. At first, the jokes were pretty funny. But after a while, they start to lose their mojo and can be awkward at times. But none of this compares to what happens in Regular Show’s final season. Without giving too much away, the eighth season puts the characters in an environment that doesn’t really fit the show. There are times where even the characters don’t feel like themselves, and it gets to the point where it seems like I’m no longer watching Regular Show anymore. I don’t know how other fans felt about that season, but that’s how I felt throughout most of it (It’s also been four years since the finale, and I still don’t understand how the last two minutes are even possible).

Regular Show is not meant for everyone. Hell, at a point, it no longer became the perfect show for its original target audience. However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy. It’s funny, has great characters, and while it gets pretty weird at times, most fans loved that weirdness for six years. It’s nowhere near the best show in the 2010s, but it was still a good show. A jolly good show indeed.

(That last line makes more sense if you seen the series)

#top 20 of 2010s #regular show #what i thought about

[red-riot-rat]

1/? May I Have a matchup?🥺// I’m 5’8 female with brown hair in a bob cut and glasses. I also have blue eyes!// at first I come off as shy/distant but when you get through that I’m super open bubbly and extroverted. I LOVE making friends and consider myself to be really nice! I love making people smile and feel better. I love encouraging people and I’m caring, go-lucky, loyal, and protective. Idk how to express love very well but I have cuddle and possessive streaks. I have minor trust issues-

but when you break those I’m really open and will never let you go! I have anxiety and ADHD so I can be a bit to deal with. It’s hard for be to get to a point where I have a panic attack but when I do I break and will latch onto people. When I have possessive and cuddle streaks I normally won’t let them leave and will cuddle them telling them how much I adore them and how lucky I am to have them. Btw bnha male student matchup please! My hobbies are Reading online, and some days I will just spend the whole day learning and researching about a certain animal. I enjoy internet (haha addiction-), I love listening to music, watching youtubers, I’m super cuddly tho, super into hazbin hotel, I can get jealous and possessive easily, I love baking (not great at it tho-), I like protective people but not a requirement, thank you for this and sorry it’s so long love!

HEY HEY!!! Babes, don't even worry about it being long!! I love seein em!!

I match you with…

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Kaminari Denki!!

He would somehow get all five of his fingers on your lens, and make them so goddamn dirty

Like my man

At least he's not shigaraki BAHHA

Anyway

He would get through you pretty easily, and be able to see before hand that you're a wonderful person underneath the shy persona

I feel like you’d be pretty good friends with almost everyone in 1A and the general departments so he would love to tag along, an hold hands, be fucking chaotic in the halls, etc.

I feel like he would feel like he's not a good enough hero, so to have you by his side, and tell him that he's doing amazing, and encourage him,

And fucking mean it at that, 

He will marry you

Although he might not understand anxiety to the fullest, he understands ADHD so it doesnt bother him,

And he understands how to deal with it, never gets frustrated with you, just hardcore vibes with you.

If you do start having a panic attack, he’ll take you away from the situation at hand, and stay there until you can match his breathing, and promise him that you're doing better. 

He does love your cuddle streaks, because he can play video games, study, or really anything while in your arms.

He totally understands your possessive nature, and he's totally cool with it

Prolly thinks it's really fucking hot..

He likes to sit on your bed while you talk about what animal you learned about that day, but he’ll sit upside down on the edge like a madlad

“Woah… my head is like woah.”

Remember to properly bind babes! And take it off after 8 hours, don't sleep in it, and remember to give yourself breaks!!

Even though sometimes he acts like an idiot and an airhead, the moment he needs to he's protective as h e l l. 

Someones hitting on you?

He’ll reach his hand out to shake theirs, and go 

“I'm their boyfriend.”

Now that might seem normal.

But he says it with a smile, and is willing to give them a handshake

If the poor soul does shake his hand, (they normally do)

He shocks the living hell out of them dude

Throughout the whole encounter he's smiling like a doof

After he’ll grab you by the waist, and look over his shoulder an yell,,,

“Hey if you're going to be a douche, now the outcomes!”

AN: Grammarly doesn't like this post, and how many slang words I used thank you and goodnght

#kaminari #kaminari x reader #denki #denki x reader #kaminari denki #kaminari denki x reader #denki kaminari x reader #mha #my hero academia #mha x reader #bnha #bnha x reader #headcanons #matchups #mha matchups

[mcaroonzy]

001 with nnt for the ask meme?

Favorite character: Picking between Gloxinia and King is rough, but I guess I'll go for King bc the otp gives me so much material to fangirl over here

Least favorite character: Elizabeth. I'm sorry, I know she's really loved in the fandom but I'm just... bothered by how fragile and how passive she is. She has a really cute design though, I started the show thinking she'd be my favorite character.

Five favorite ships: Kiane (the otp), Balaine, Melban, Banicho/Jeriban (???? How do you type that????), Drolixinia/Glole (??? Then again how do you type that???)

Character I find most attractive: Ok, so I have a thing for soft guys, a thing for redheads and a thing for tall guys. I also happen to have a thing for King, so guess what, its King.

Character I would marry: "If you had to marry a nnt character who would it be and why King?"

Character I would be best friends with: I was debating between Howzer and Herlbram. I feel like Howzer is the perfect cuddling friend, and getting drinks with him would be so much fun. But then also Herlbram is so iconic, I feel like we would use drag race slang and mouth pop every time we say something iconic and I love it.

A random thought: I love how all ships in this show have this innocent dynamic (even Melizabeth, I don't mean it in a sexual way), and are so pure and... Idk, I just love Nakaba's interpretation of a crush. I know its not so realistic... But then again, for that I have real life.

An unpopular opinion: Idk how unpopular this is since I haven't talked to anyone about it, but there's this spin off/early take/concept first chapter in which Elizabeth is less feminine and bolder, and I loved that concept for her. I would be so happy if that was the Elizabeth we got throughout the series.

My canon OTP: "If you had to pick a nnt OTP what would it be and why Kiane?"

My non canon OTP: So... I kinda regret not being able to see Arthur having a crush, so a few weeks ago I was wondering what would that be like. I came up with the idea that Arthur's ideal crush had to be someone who could do both: soft and badass. That's how I ended up shipping Arthur and Jericho. Plz dont judge me, its cute after you think about it, I've even made hcs for them already (yes, I purposedly picked my crackiest ship for this).

Most badass character: Excuse u but of course Merlin. She's edgy as hell, she fricking swingled both the Demon Lord AND the Supreme Deity. She also fricking turnd Arthur into a God. And she can stop time????? I'm sorry but she's a Q U E E N

Most epic villain: G L O X I N I A. He's just so iconic. By far my favorite design in the show, and he's PURE VOGUE. I swear to god, I just love him. And leaving his design aside, I just adore his sassiness, and his backstory, and just everything about him. God. Nakaba if you're reading this, plz gimme a Gloxinia spin off. Please.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Yet again... I'm sorry to say Melizabeth. I love their backstory, but I just can't grow attached to their dynamic.

Favourite friendship: really hard to pick between Ban and Meliodas or King and Herlbram, but since he's my new nnt bestie I'll go with the latter one.

Character I most identify with: King. I'm sorry but he's relatable a) bc he just goes around floating on a pillow instead of walking b) because he has so much depth and issues that I've been through (not as hardcore as he does, but y'know what I mean). I just feel like he's one of the most human characters in the show and I love him.

Character I wish I could be: Gloxinia. For real, I want that much swag on my daily life.

#Send me to Gloxinia's hairdresser #Oh wait #That's Gerheade #Also I thank u so much for the ask ;-; I'm being a fan of yours from the shadows #So ready to get judged for my JerichoxArthur confession #Totally worth it

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2019 - the final instalment

December books! (It’s a lot, and I had some thoughts... Apologies for not proof reading...again)

The Liveship Traders Series by Robin Hobb (Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship, Ship of Destiny)

This is my favourite trilogy by Robin Hobb (although my favourite book isn’t in this series) and I cannot recommend it enough. The plot is much more active in this book, and we get more action a lot more quickly than we do in the Farseer trilogy. It’s action packed (well it would be with pirates) and plays to Hobb’s strenghts by telling the plot from multiple third person POVs. This enables Hobb to cut out her tendency to go off on long tangents (as she does with the Fitz books) and keep the reader engaged with all her character’s adventures. 

The magic in the series is so much fun, with the Liveships taking centre stage throughout the three books. Liveships are ships that, once three generations of a family die onboard, the figure head comes alive and can fuide the family though journeys using the memories of its previous owners. The first Liveship we meet is Vivacia, the Vestrit family ship, however, we meet several Liveships with my favourtie being the Ophelia (a secondary liveship character who is far too brilliant and we were robbed by not having more of her!) 

However, where this series shines is in the characters themselves, particularly the women of the Vestrit family (Ronica, Althea, and Malta, even Keffria by books 2/3). My favourite character (and character development) from the series is Malta, the bratty teenaged girl who becomes such a strong women WITHOUT LOSING WHAT MAKES HER MALTA. Hobb does a brilliant job of writing real women who are strong female characters, without losing their humanity. They’re all distinct personalities, with trials of their own, but still come together to support each other (even Malta and Althea in the end) and act like a family. I’ve never read such a good representation of women and domestic life in a fantasy series and it really makes this series brilliant. I’d recommend reading these books just for the Vestrits... They really are that good!

Romancing the Werewolf (and The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn’t) by Gail Carrgier

Lots of fluffy Christmas romance between Biffy and Lyle from the Parasolverse. This wasn’t one of my favourite novellas by Carriger, but I love Biffy and Lyle (along with everyone) and I was happy to see them get together properly AT LAST!

The Curious Case was an odd short story and it’s my least favourite thing I’ve read by Carriger so far. I just can’t stand Alessandro Tarabotti, and I would have been very happy not reading anything from his persective. However, I did provide some interesting backstory to the events in the Parasol Protectorate, plus it was a nice little bonus in the back of Romancing the Werewolf.

Meat Cute by Gail Carriger

Finally the Hedgehog Incident is explained! This was so much FUN, and we got a nice glimpse to the start of Alexia and Connal’s romance, as well as a little cameo from some Finishin School characters we know and love ;)

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

This is Pratchett’s Christmas novel, so it wasthe right time of year to read it at last! I really enjoyed experienceing the Hogfather on the page - I’d only ever seen the Sky adaptation of it beforehand. It was an absolute pleasure and I really grew to love Susan (who might be my favoruite Discworld heroine at this point!)

It’s a must read for any Discworld fan, however, I’d really recommend it as a starting point for people wanting to read Discworld. It’s part of the Death and Susan subseries, but it’s a viable standalone book as well - it’s also an excellent Christmas fantasy story!

The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien

We all know my absolute adoration of Tolkien by now. I cannot recommend this series more and I will continue to reread these books until my dying day. 

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson

This is Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive novella following Lift’s character development between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. It made Lift’s sections in Oathbringer make a lot more sense, but was also a wonderful exploration of who she is as a character and how she reflects the Order of Edgedancers (especially as she seems an odd choice for the order.) I really enjoyed this book and it’s given me a whole new perspective on Lift’s character - so much so that she is now a bareable character!

My only issue with this story was how short it was! For Sanderson it’s tiny, bordering on short story rather than novella when we take into consideration the size of the Stormlight books! I would have loved a more detailed and elaborate story, but I did really enjoy the character work we got in this one (and seeing a different part of Roshar!) I’d highly recommend it for all Stormlight readers, although it isn’t necessary for our main (at least in the front 5) character’s or the story.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

This was a sad and bitter diasppointment. I was looking forward to it (as my uni buddy read book) but it was such a slog to ge through. The first few chapters were interesting enough, but the story stayed at one note - it was just depressing.

Barker set out to retell the Fall of Troy from the perspective of the Trojan women who were enslaved by the Greeks throughout the war. Our main character was Breseis (sp? I’m not sure), who was a Trojan queen who was enslaved and given to Achilles as a prize when her city feel to the Greeks towards the end of the war. From her we were supposed to get a sympathetic account of the horroes of war these women faced and the consequences of losing had on their lives.

However, the main character was really Achilles, he and Patroclus were the only interesting characters throughout the entire novel, and Barker had nothing new to add to the story by supposedly telling the story through the perspective of these women. I was bored once Briseis was in the Greek camp and my interest was only really teased when we had the chapter about Helen of Troy and then read from Achilles’ perspective in the second half (major fail, considering the aim of the book was to tell the WOMEN’S STORY)

Barker also decided to write the story using modern British slang, which was supposedly meant to give it a timeless feel to match the mythology being retold. Instead, I found the writing was constantly pulling me out of the story and made it a chore to read (especially when compared with the one tone depression it induced everytime I picked it up.) Most of the time I was left bored and slightly disgusted with nothing to provide any relief (either through likeable characters or interest in plot.)

Overall, it was such a dissapointment, I was hoping to love this book and for it to provide a new perspective on my favourite myth. Instead I grew fatigued with the book and in the end spent an afternoon powering through the story to get it over with because I was so done with the whole book - it was a really depressing end to the reading year. 

#books of 2019 #robin hobb #liveship traders #Realm of the Elderlings #gail carriger #romancing the werewolf #meat cute #the hogfather #terry pratchett #discworld #jrr tolkien #return of the king #lord of the rings #brandon sanderson #edgedancer #stormlight archive #the silence of the girls #pat barker

[brittanybutler]

My thoughts on the novelization of the Kim Possible movie! Minor spoilers.

Okay, so I caved and bought a digital copy of the live action Kim Possible movie novelization and, uh... I have some thoughts. Continue reading for some general information and my opinion on the overall vibe. Nothing toooo spoiler-y or deep. Well, I get deep with my analysis... but I’m not analyzing anything too big. Just minor things and lines that aren’t important to the storyline but can give you a pretty good idea of what the movie will be like. There are no details that I would consider major or huge plot points in this post. If you’ve seen all of the trailers/sneak peeks and are familiar with the film’s summary, you should be alright. Basically, keep reading if you want to know what to mentally prepare yourself for lol.

Right off the bat, all I’m gonna say is that judging from the dialogue alone -- it’s definitely geared towards kids. Young kids. I don’t think teenagers will think this is cool. Just as I feared, there’s cheesy use of social media (selfies, live-streaming, youtube) and annoying 2010s slang (“shook” “fam” “kthanksbye,” etc.) I don’t understand why they feel the need to throw in stuff like that to make it ~current~??? It just makes it feel awkward and trying too hard to be relatable. I think keeping it relatively timeless and omitting slang and selfies would’ve been the better option for a live action adaptation of something as iconic as Kim Possible. There’s already enough technology with her freaking holographic Kimmunicator and gadgets! haha. It’s 2019. We all know that smartphones are a thing. They’re normalized now. You don’t need to shove it in our face, haha. I mean, Kim said some dated slang in the cartoon and flip phones were prominent... but it’s a cartoon. It works. With live action, it gets a little dicey. You want these characters to feel like people who talk like real people, ya know?!

Something that made me cringe beyond belief is the first scene at Bueno Nacho. Athena named her dog “Ron Stop-pit-bull” (I kid you not) so Ron says something about wanting to be a freaking dog when he grows up??? So Athena and Ron literally proceed to woof like dogs and break into laughter about it......??? I have no idea how that’s not gonna be cringeworthy on screen. I wanted to die just from reading it. Some people assumed this photo from J-14 magazine was behind the scenes, but it does in fact happen in the movie: 

One thing that sorta rubbed me the wrong way is that they talk about Kim and Ron being famous heroes on the news and everything a liiiiittle too much. Athena being a superfan of Kim and Ron kinda goes along with that and could potentially feel a little overkill. The morons who think that Kim had a secret identity are gonna have a field day with that lol. Ugh.

The holographic Kimmunicator is a really cool update for this generation since the original one was essentially a smartphone with FaceTime and wouldn’t be nearly has forward thinking as it was in 2002. Towards the end of the KP series it was updated to a wristwatch, among a few other different designs (but a wristwatch also wouldn’t be forward thinking today thanks to Apple Watches) and now it’s a necklace. I like that! 

The only issue is that it’s not very discreet. Wade pops up a lot throughout the movie and as we saw in the sneak peek, the hologram is pretty huge. I hope the size can vary or something? Because that could be weird when Wade beeps Kim at school and stuff. It was handy when cartoon Kim could casually whip out the handheld, open her locker and talk to Wade on the computer, or glance at her wrist. Not sure how this is gonna fly in other situations:

Also, this sneak peek makes more sense in context. I figured it would. People are seriously overreacting. They portray Kim as a perfectionist and she desperately wants to be on time for her first day of high school. It’s not “WHY is Kim using her gadgets and Wade’s help for an every day situation?!?! UGHH” like people are complaining about. It makes sense to me. It’s cute! That barrel roll is still completely unnecessary though, hahahahaha. But, I’m embracing the random stunts like that. I think it’s hysterical. 

I know a lot of people (myself included) were upset about Kim not being a cheerleader, but she actually is! Or at least, she was...? And is still interested in cheer at the beginning of the movie. So that’s nice! Kim being a cheerleader was necessary on the show because it helped us make sense of all her flips and kicks and such during missions. It’s a really important part of her character so I was sooo happy to see that it wasn’t completely erased!

I still want to be surprised by the movie, so I just skimmed it and skipped a lot of pages. But yeaaaah. That’s the general gist of it. I feel like I’ve read enough to know that I should keep my expectations lower than I originally planned. This doesn’t mean the movie is going to be terrible or anything. The junior novelizations usually leave out a lot of things (the book felt extremely short? Granted, I skipped a lot.. but yeah) and the whole story is written in a way that’s cheesy and simple for little kids to read. Like, I’m not gonna lie. I was pretty much cringing non-stop. I have a junior novelization of The Even Stevens Movie and it’s cringy as HECK. They even changed some of the dialogue for whatever reason! But the movie isn’t nearly as cringy and is clearly a campy self-aware flick once you watch it. I’m hoping KP will be the same way.

I can’t help but worry that it’ll translate to screen as suuuuper lame though. Let’s hope the actors can pull it off convincingly. I want to love Ron (I stand by my word that Sean Giambrone is the perfect choice) but he’s seeming a little too dumb at points, overly kid friendly and hunky dory! Like a literal human cartoon. He trips over his shoelaces and falls victim to other clichés like that. Some of the lines he has are... oh boy. [i.e. *sees a giant statue of a brain* “WOW! I didn’t know brains were so big! How do they fit in our heads?!” -- An actual Ron Stoppable quote.] In a cartoon, a line like that works. But live action? Ehhh. It all depends on Sean’s delivery though, and I have faith in him but... dang, he has some awkward dialogue to work with.

I’m a huge fan of The Goldbergs, so Ron is the main thing I’m excited about if I’m being totally honest. I will say, the first two chapters are the only parts I read fully (since they were the free sample) and I liked it. It’s action packed and fun. We’ve actually seen a lot of it in the trailers already so if you wanna read it, it doesn’t spoil too much at all. Ron’s grand entrance is cute and wacky and I actually smiled really hard while reading and picturing it. :)

I’m not a big fan of how Rufus is introduced. They made a major change and it kinda genuinely upset me. But, I will say.. they at least give us an explanation for why Rufus is so smart and aware. That’s kinda cool, since in a 2d cartoon you don’t need to question why a naked mole rat can talk and point and help Kim and Ron lol. I’m horrified of how the CGI will look in action though. From the one photo we’ve seen, he looks kinda terrifying imo: 

I’ve said before that instead of attempting to go for a ~realistic~ feel, they might’ve been better off keeping 2d animated Rufus and having a vibe similar to Space Jam lol. I mean, Kim Possible is a cartoon that makes no logical since in real life so I don’t think that would’ve hurt. Or maybe I’m just sad because 2d Rufus is sooo adorable. I’m gonna miss him so much. 

EDIT: They’ve officially released some footage of Rufus in action and he looks waaaaaay better than I expected! Yay!

As everyone has predicted, from the few parts I read.. Drakken and Shego seem awesome and on point! Pretty funny as well. I don’t have any complaints about them. Rest assured, Shego delivers her sarcastic remarks a ton. I actually laughed out loud at one of them omg. From what we’ve seen, Todd is doing a fantastic Drakken and Taylor has great deadpan delivery. I have a feeling they might steal the show tbh!

So, yeah. Make of this what you will!

I’m still really excited for the movie, but I’m relieved to have my expectations in check now. 

#kim possible #ron stoppable #disney channel #sean giambrone #sadie stanley

[scumbagsblog]

Loving the text messages!! Keep up the good work! Also if you don't mind could you describe darks and antis personalities according to you?

Absolutely!!! Beware though, I’m about to wax poetic because I LOVE these two characters. I’m sorry that this post is so long but I’m NOT putting it under a cut because I worked on this for over a fucking hour instead of writing my history paper and I want at least one person to actually read it. :P

I’m gonna go a little in depth with what I believe is their canon personalities according to my interpretation and then how I incorporate those interpretations into Texts From Dark And Anti. Some of you may be surprised to find that I actually heavily take their canonical personalities into account when I make my edits; it’s not all just dick jokes and memes for the sake of notes. Texts From Dark And Anti is my love letter to these two characters, and I’ve gone to great lengths to portray them in the best way possible.

But enough babbling. Let’s start with Dark.

CANON PERSONALITY: Master Manipulator and Sexual Predator

Per Mark, Dark is a master manipulator. He’s a snake in the grass, ready to tell you anything and everything you need to hear in order to get what he wants from you.

I’d argue that this often works for him. Obviously he’s a very good actor if he’s able to mimic Mark perfectly in the “Chocolate” ending, so that makes me think that he’s able to assume whatever personality and/or extend whatever favors he needs to to trick his victims into abiding by him.

But it’s also worth mentioning that Dark’s biggest weakness (arguably) is his jealousy. As Mark said, Dark’s extremely jealous of Mark, and he wants everything that Mark has: wealth, fame, success, and devoted fans. I’d be willing to believe that that last thing is what rubs Dark wrong the most.

Evidence? Mark’s fans are exactly what he goes after. Wanna know what’s freakier? IT FUCKING WORKED.

Mark took all of his fans out on a date. All of us adored him for it. Dark got jealous of this, so he infiltrated the date and tried to get us to support him instead. And when Tyler Mark showed up to fight him, Dark didn’t kill him himself. He manipulated us into doing it for him.

And what brings this home is that Dark has had the longest lasting potential out of anything to come out of this video. All of the other memes and references have lost their luster by now, but the resurgence of Dark-related fan art, ask/rp blogs, edits, and memes are still going strong. Dark infiltrated our date and convinced us to love him and worship him the same way that we do Mark, and we fucking fell for it.

So why does he do this? Is it just because he’s a jealous prick? Partially, but I think that, canonically, there’s more to it. I think it’s because he thrives on his ability to hold power over people, which is comparable to–get ready for it–sexual predators.

Dark exhibits a lot of the traits we normally attribute to these criminals. He’s attractive, charismatic, extremely manipulative, and sadistic. He says things like, “I can give you anything,” and, “If it’s dinner you want, I can provide.” Provide is an interesting word choice here, because that’s what society has dictated the man in a relationship should do. He even acts seductive: arching his neck, eye-fucking the camera, and he even blows us a kiss (see below). But the way that he grabs and shakes us periodically throughout his mental breakdown betrays his inner sadism and anger issues, also common among sexual predators. I absolutely think that based on Dark’s behavior and what we know about him, he’s totally down to fuck anyone and everyone in order to get what he wants–consensual or otherwise. And I definitely think he’ll enjoy it.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that Dark is a nymphomaniac. As an otherworldly being, it’s entirely possible he doesn’t even have a sex drive. But sexual predators don’t usually rape their victims just to get their dicks wet. Usually, it’s a power issue; they want to feel like they have mastery over something, and that they are dominant and in control. Given Dark’s obsession with taking all of Mark’s glory away from him, coupled with his violent mood swings and sadism, I would say that sexual assault is probably just one of the many ways he appeases his insatiable appetite for power and manipulation. And I’d even bet that it’s one of his go-to’s.

In Texts From Dark And Anti, I normally portray Dark as a bitter old demon who doesn’t understand memes and doesn’t want to put up with anybody’s shit. But I didn’t just do this for fun; I did it because I could see Dark being jaded in real life. Off-camera, when he’s not trying to seduce us into adoring him over Mark, I could see him being sick of being overlooked. He’s old, even by Mark’s channel’s standards, and up until “A Date With Markiplier”, he wasn’t mainstream in the fandom at all–not fun for someone who craves the adoration of others. So he’d definitely be off-put by Anti’s much younger, more erratic personality, and in a bad mood he’d bitch at him for it. But in a good mood, he’d use it to his advantage to get whatever he wants–sex, souls, and anything else his blackened heart desires, both for the reward and the thrill of not having to do it himself.

Now let’s talk about Anti.

CANON PERSONALITY: Chaotic Psychopath

Jack has been near-silent on his personal interpretation of Anti (although he’s stated that he definitely has a personal canon that he refuses to share, the little fucker), so all of this is going to come from speculation and what we see onscreen.

While Dark chose to make his debut in one long, continuous, elegant appearance, Anti showed up randomly throughout the month of October, with no prelude and no explanation as to why he was there. Also in contrast to Dark’s smooth, charismatic personality, Anti is visibly unstable, jittery, and psychotic. Both he and Dark exhibit bloodlust, but Anti doesn’t hide it. He doesn’t hold back any of his sociopathic tendencies, going so far as to murder his host on camera for the world to see.

We don’t exactly know what Anti’s agenda is, but that’s just it: I don’t think he has one. At least, not one beyond the psychotic urge to kill as much and as many people as he can. Even in “Say Goodbye”, all he does is laugh at/condemn the viewer for not warning Jack and saving him. The other times he was on camera in October, he was glitchy, with several different appearances (fangs, gauges, blood, etc.) and contorted, unsettling body movements, making me think that Anti is a supernatural being that thrives on chaos and bloodshed.

But  Anti doesn’t just want to cause havoc–he wants to cause havoc and get the credit he deserves for it. That’s why he showed up so much on camera without Jack noticing; he was there for us, not him. Then he made a big deal about us not telling Jack what was going on, condemning us for our failure to make his existence well-known. Then he crashed Jack’s panel at PAX, angry at us for “forgetting” him. He’s not trying to garner our support like Dark is; if anything, he wants us to be terrified of him.

But personally, if I had to choose between being locked in a room with Dark and being locked in a room with Anti, I’d choose Anti in a heartbeat. Because even though Anti is more obviously psychotic, at least I’d know I would be killed quickly–unlike Dark, who would torture and manipulate me verbally, physically, and possibly even sexually for an indeterminate amount of time. This is Anti’s downfall, I think; Dark disguises his true nature with seduction and charisma, but because Anti’s so unpredictable and surface-level, he identifies himself as a very obvious threat, ironically making him a little easier to understand.

Thus, my interpretation of him in Texts From Dark And Anti reflects this (albeit in a more comedic way). Anti loves memes and silly trends because he wants to stick out in a way that’ll gain recognition. He’s more up-to-date with Internet trends and slang because he’s much younger than Dark–but that also means that he’s more gullible, and a lot of simple things go over his head. Basically all of his emotions are double that of Dark’s, and he makes no efforts to disguise them. He’s also much more privvy to senseless murder than Dark. This speaks highly of his psychotic tendencies and general disregard for any order or secrets he could be bothering to keep. What you see of Anti is what you get: an easily-excitable, always-ready-to-fuck-shit-up killing machine.

So…yeah. That’s pretty much my piece. Told you it’d be long. X’D

But tysm for asking!! And if any of you bothered reading this far, PLEASE reblog or leave a reply with your thoughts on my interpretation of these two characters and how you characterize them personally. I’m super crazy interested in the lore around these two (or lack thereof), which is why I created Texts From Dark And Anti in the first place. ^_^

#markiplier #Jacksepticeye #Darkiplier #antisepticeye #danti #Septiplier #say goodbye #a date with markiplier #dark #Anti #theory #fan theory #interpretation #anon #ask #personal #long post #basically an essay #texts from dark and anti

[lotrewrite]

As a comment on the general theme of the moral greyness/quandary of time travel and changing time I think at this stage since we have all the episodes now and can see what has progressed in terms of conversations/themes, we need to be careful about repetition (I mean this for all of us writers, and the people who volunteered to beta). I’ve seen in crop up in a few episodes, so I’ll think we’ll all have to be careful about over-discussion of this and other topics.

Also, a note to all writers, at some point are we dealing with/acknowledging the fallout from Rip’s actions in shooting everybody across time at the start of the season/trauma from being hunted/brainwashed/his actions whilst brainwashed? Not to mention we may need to insert Queen B in a few extra places, since she seems to disappear for multiple episodes at time, and pin down when exactly O!Len joins up with L!Len.

We also need to better balance the character attention since some episodes focus a lot on certain characters and then others get left behind overall (I think pretty much all of us have an unabashed Mick and/or Len bias lol). But these are all things that’ll get sorted out by the next draft. :-)

LOTREWRITE: Agreed on many points! We definitely have some repetition issues and need to hammer out how the character plotlines will develop. I think the only thing that I feel strongly about is that O!Len leaves to join L!Len in episode 16 (the maze) and returns in episode 18 (the republic) because the main purpose of him "leaving" is so that he can learn his lesson about how he's not actually as evil as the rest. (We definitely need more Queen B involvement - I think people ended up dropping her out because they weren't sure if we were using her or Merlyn or what.) Anyway - thank you for the comments! As always, very helpful and insightful!

Anywho:

Episode 13

-          There’s a good contrast between Episode 11 and this episode, in that 11 was a quandary about changing something that would have a big effect, and 13 is changing something that would end up having no effect at all. It ties in well with the melancholic ending you’ve set up here – the Legends will be finding that there’s no perfect answer, no certainty, and this is the life they’ve chosen.

-          Just a suggestion, maybe finish on a slightly more decisive note than just leaving the team kind of wallowing in their own uncertainty. Like Mick or someone says something like: “Well, maybe that’s why ‘Legends’ have always sounded more right than ‘heroes’.” It also ties in with Sara’s lessons in what it takes to be a captain, Ray’s lesson about what it means to be a true hero and all the messiness that comes with, etc…

-          I like the premise overall, and that it’s a new setting entirely instead of the well-known ones that are usually represented (however badly – I’m looking at you, LOT S1 Ancient Egypt…)

-          Good point on Ray not being automatically good at researching, that shit takes work

-          I like this dark side of Rip (even though torture is bad ofc!!)

-          Doesn’t Rip already know that Firestorm can transfuse things, so he wouldn’t be surprised?

-          Although I do like seeing Firestorm use this ability, it’s seriously underutilised!

-          Love Queen B and Amaya interacting, it’s gonna be so tense :-)

-          Do we see Legion!Len’s reaction to Mick at any stage? :3

-          I like the idea of Mick having to use his experience as Chronos to treat Rip (I like it on two fronts: firstly, in that it causes my favourite character angst, and two, it gives him a chance to face up to what happened to him and turn it into something useful/positive), although since it was Queen B who did the brainwashing we may need a bit of a handwave on Time Master technology vs magic technique (maybe Mick and Amaya work together on this?)

-          I also like that people check in with him afterwards

-          Could show a little bit of tension between Rip and the others – Rip because being un-brainwashed is unpleasant, and the others because although they’re glad to have him back, he did a lot of damage when he was under the influence of brainwashing – it also mirrors Mick in season 1 (and it parallels Len’s amputation/Sara’s shooting; both serious injuries)

-          On that note I like your point about Rip ‘rejecting family-ish/team dynamic’ contrasting with Mick becoming more accepted/accepting

-          Really melancholic ending, A+

-          I like the way the Legends get Rip back, I like seeing the Legion concede the planning to Len, Queen B and Amaya potential drama, and the team’s interactions with Mick

-          Nice work, thank you!

Episode 14

-          Oh god I love this era. Can’t wait for this episode.

-          Yep, I like that there’s a conflict in Rip without him realising it yet; he’s verbally relinquished control but still has the knee jerk reaction of needing to be the one who gives the orders. As a suggestion, if episode 13 progresses generally as was set out, you could have Sara still feeling the aftershocks of the uncertainty of the mission and the morals from that episode, and is looking for clean answers, which Rip professes to be able to provide, as someone with more experience. So he says he’s got a plan, and Sara agrees to follow it. He’s offering under the guise of friendship and altruism, but subconsciously he just wants to find his footing again after the Legion awfulness and the role of captain/leader is all he knows.

-          I cannot wait for everybody dressed up in Tudor gear. This is gonna be awesome. I can only hope there will be fanart.

-          What’s their cover story/way of getting into court? They might be able to sneak in, but going unnoticed might be more difficult given the fact that all those nobles are all basically interrelated lol.

-          Maybe at first they could sneak in during a masque! Henry threw those all time, especially when he was trying to impress Anne. And that gives us awesome costumes. Or they can claim to be French relatives of some noble or something, since France was all in fashion then.

-          Speaking of, as a suggestion, instead of placing it at a time when Henry and Anne are about to get married perhaps place it at the start of their courtship, making the prospect that Henry will lose interest more easily if Anne and he quarrel since he’ll still have wandering eye syndrome and won’t have been sucked into his creepy version of courting just yet. This makes his attentions to Sara much more pressing, since they can see time already changing the longer the courtship remains uninitiated.

-          On that note, whoo boy, Sara is gonna have a helluva time getting him to stop sniffing around her once he’s got the scent.

-          Personally I think there’s a line to tread between reminding Rip of the good he’s done and accidentally just enabling his behaviour. There were so many moments in S1 I felt could’ve been improved by Rip just clearly saying ‘I’m sorry, I screwed up, and I’ve learned something from this’ – but instead he reiterates his mission or his lost loved ones and goes doe-eyed and teary and says something like ‘So you see, this is why it’s so important blah blah blah’…he never really says sorry, or at least without adding something on to lessen the blame against him. So I’d like Rip to have an epiphany, and Stein and Ray there to not so much remind him of the good he’s done, but the good he’s capable of doing, if he works with them and understands what it means to truly be part of a team, because that’s what they’ve had to learn too.

-          That bit with Legion!Len, Mick, and Oculus!Len is really really really good, I like that a lot

-          I can see Mick shaking his head and just being a bit sick of it all at that point, constantly seeing Len everywhere – yeah, he’d wanna burn something

-          Frikking love that ending.

-          I really like this episode and I’m looking forward to it!

Episode 15

-          Oh man I love Hex, I like the idea of opening with him

-          I like the suggestion that L!Rip visited him earlier so Hex reacts badly – I think this does several things: 1) it shows that L!Rip wasn’t just hanging out with the Legion, he was an active member while brainwashed and he might not necessarily remember everything he’d done whilst under the  influence 2) It gives Hex a good reason to give his friend (whoever it was) the spear piece, once he clicked that L!Rip was evil and looking for it, which leads into 3) it wasn’t just the Legends being unlucky with their timing, there’s a reason they visited Hex and now there’s a lead on reason for why they’re going to NYC

-          Good link up with Stein and Lily and his motivation for taking the spear piece for himself

-          I cannot wait to see the individual reactions of the team when they’re searching a brothel

-          I like the idea of seeing Lily again, she was a pretty cool character and we could always use more women. Also the next episode uses Lily throughout, I’d consider working her into the episode somehow? She could always stay on the ship while the actual riots are ongoing and help coordinate efforts

-          I adore the idea of Carter showing up in a past life (but just mind the Irish brogue part…Hollywood has corrupted our accents, as they’ve done with so much. If you want help with the Irish accent/slang part – since dialects differ from suburb to suburb, never mind county – just hit me up, I’m Irish).

-          I really like scene 4, very heartache-y.

-          Good build up to the riot

-          Great interaction between Legion members (nice throwaway line about Merlyn!!)

-          I like how Carter seems like less of a dick in this (I confess, I never really liked his character)

-          Great escalation to the riot, and showing how easy it is to start and how difficult it is to finish

-          Love the show of strength from the neighbourhood, being directed by Mick and Carter

-          I like the moments with Ray in this episode – seeing all kinds of heroism, and getting through his residual feelings for Kendra

-          I like the ideas for conversations between the crew you’ve had in scene 13

-          Overall this episode builds up really well, though from the outline it wasn’t clear what the actual ending of the episode was (I’m sure we’ll see that next round!)

-          Thanks!

Episode 16

-          I love the idea of this episode

-          With Lily, we may need to look at the previous episode to work in a conversation about how she’s an aberration and Stein makes a mess of the explanation, so that she’s still annoyed and upset with him in this episode – Stein’s learned a few lessons along the way, so ‘she’ll get over it’ will probably be said in a pessimistic tone of voice, instead of a dismissive tone

-          Some of the characters’ reactions don’t mesh well with what we know now having seen all the episodes together – Ray has already seen lots of kinds of heroism and Rip is learning how to gracefully let Sara take the lead. So instead of being sulky, perhaps they’re willingly staying on the ship? Ray is still trying to figure out how best to be his kind of hero and Rip will be reacting against his instinct to take the reins and will want to give Sara room to work.

LOTREWRITE: This is definitely something we should discuss - depending on where they are in their story arcs, they could be in the middle of the learning process or they could be rejecting the learning process (i.e. depressed at not getting to the end result they want fast enough) But hey, that's why we did draft outlines!

-          Love the idea of the hosts obnoxiously reciting the titles!

-          I think there’ll be a line to tread between Stein’s development earlier on in the series and this one where he seems to fall back into his privilege/arrogance – maybe play up the Lily+Stein relationship here as his reason? (i.e. he knows the team can take care of themselves, but now his daughter’s safety is on the line and he won’t trust anyone but himself to lead them to victory – which leads to him saying some hurtful/obnoxious things)

-          Monty Python reference, love it!!!

-          The way Sara, Lily, and Queen B escape is actually so hilarious to me

-          I love the idea of a grudging truce between Queen B and the others

-          I love trial 4 interactions in particular (small typo lists two trial 4s, I mean the first one)

-          Flash museum reference, thank you

-          I love the idea of meeting future incarnations of the personas (CC, Heatstroke, MM), but did you mean that they’re actually the police? Is this a comics thing? I’m not sure about the way they’re introduced, it’s a little confusing

LOTREWRITE: I think in the comics they are actually some sort of organized police-ish force? It can definitely be made more clear.

-          Good move with Stein and his humble pie, and the Legion abandoning Len

-          “What is Batman’s real name?” nice

-          (And in my head I immediately heard Mick say: “Who the hell is Batman?”, since I don’t think we have a canonical Batman yet, aside from S1 Rip saying vaguely “I’ve seen dark knights fall and men of steel something something…”? lol)

-          I can very much imagine O!Len being disgusted by a cop CC

-          I sense that this episode has the potential to be very confusing and could stretch out as quite long, so we’ll have to keep our eye on the pace and editing of it (but that’s what betas and proof readers are for!) - I’d suggest a magic number of three trials before the big finale, just to mind the pace a bit.

-          Overall it’s a mega fun, filled with potential episode and I’m really looking forward to it

-          Thanks!

Episode 17

-          I can’t express how delightful the image of the team taking Jax out for his birthday is to me, especially a team member accidentally flirting with his mother omg

-          I have no ideas for potential girl character Jax gets talking to, but I definitely think it should be an Easter egg or something

-          I know the Legion are the bad guys, but in honesty the torture scene is just a bit jarring to me, unless we specify who it is – maybe a former Time Master turned Time Pirate that the Legion are interrogating for intel on potential spear pieces? Merlyn always struck me as the resident sadist, I never really thought that Dahrk could be bothered what with his magic, and Queen B can just brainwash people into telling her what she needs.

LOTREWRITE: This is a good point, though I think it might work best if we seeded more references to their cruelty and sadism earlier it would work better than watering the scene down now - Darhk certainly likes killing people just because (in canon it was actually Merlyn who kept trying to make him choose NON-murder alternatives, such as in their bank heist scene), Queen B we can characterize at will, and we know Eobard's a cold-hearted psychopath, so if we play up some of those traits, we can definitely set it up well.

-          I can see the Legion turning on Len at the drop of a hat though, yeah, and I like the image of Len running for his life from his former allies

-          Oh my gosh they made Jax a cake

-          Dibs on Mick making it since he likes sweets so much (“Dude! You made this?” “It was from a box. Don’t get emotional about it.”)

-          I love how the Legends are actually having quite a peaceful, happy time of it – meanwhile, the Legion are undergoing civil war lol

-          DUN DUN DUN ending indeed!!!

  This is getting kind of long again so I’ll cap it and continue onto the next and final part of my commentary, which I’ll get done today or tomorrow. Hope this was okay and I’m not stepping on anybody’s toes or anything. Thanks for all your hard work!!

#commentary #submission #episode 13 #episode 14 #episode 15 #episode 16 #episode 17

[books-n-wine]

~**~ ARC Review: Fuel for Fire  (Black Knights Inc #10) by Julie Ann Walker ~**~

***3 Stars***

As much as I was looking forward to finally getting the 411 on Dagan and seeing him and Chelsea finally come together, this book just didn’t really do it for me. I simply liked it. There were some great scenes peppered throughout the book and I liked where the whole Spider storyline was at in the end, but there were also a few little things that just didn’t work for me and in the end  I just never got fully invested in the journey like I wanted to.

Despite my tepid feelings, I did like Dagan and Chelsea. I liked getting inside Dagan’s head and learning about the events in his past that led him to BKI. He’s all kinds of protective alpha male, who tends to put his foot in his mouth, but means well in the end. Chelsea was one tough cookie. She was put through the ringer and came out stronger for it. I loved her sass and her loyalty to her family.  Their journey to their HEA was filled with quite a few bumps in the road and the angsty-ness was kicked up a notch as they dealt with their feelings towards the other, what they thought they wanted for their futures and that big ‘ole secret Chelsea had in regards to Dagan. That secret and it’s unveiling was a big one, but I understood both sides reactions and liked how things worked out for them in the end.

I really wanted to love this one, but it just didn’t turn out that way. I still loved the bantering between the characters, Ace I absolutely adored, but one of my ‘issues’ was the use of slang and homegrown sayings throughout the book. I honestly felt like it was too much. I totally understand how those little details can give depth to a character and give the reader a good feel for who they are and where they came from, but after awhile it was just a bit too much for me. I’m hoping this was just one of those “It’s not you, it’s me” things and that Hot Pursuit, Christian and Emily’s book, will do for me what this one didn’t.

~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley & voluntarily reviewed ~

A brooding covert operative and a spunky CIA agent discover a burning passion in the next installment of Julie Ann Walker's red-hot BKI series

Dagan Zoelner has made three huge mistakes

The first two left blood on his hands.

The third left him wondering...what if? What if he had told the woman of his dreams how he felt before his world fell apart?

Spitfire CIA agent Chelsea Duvall has always had a thing for bossy, brooding Dagan. It's just as well that he's never given her a second look, since she carries a combustible secret about his past that threatens to torch their lives...

Book Summary

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Published By: SourceBooks Casablanca

Release Date: July 4th, 2017

Pages: 384

Series: Black Knights Inc #10

ISBN:  1492608785

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Google Play | iBooks

Julie Ann Walker is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of award-winning romantic suspense. She has won the Book Buyers Best Award, been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, and the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA award. Her latest release was named a Top Ten Romance of 2014 by Booklist. Her books have been described as "alpha, edgy, and downright hot." Most days you can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

#Julie Ann Walker #Fuel for Fire #ARC #Review #3Star #Sourcebooks Casablanca #NetGalley #Romantic Suspense #Romance #Contemporary

[eleanorshelton-blog]

Outlet Online For Luxury Canine Beds

Many pet proprietors prefer optimum traits for their priceless canines and also they may manage to obtain Deluxe Dog Beds. As you can easily view Siberian Huskies, certainly not to be confused with Alaskan husky (which is a slang phrase provided to any sort of Ice-cold combined breed made use of for sledding, not a particular breed of dog) merely adore to run, were actually reproduced to operate, and also if they receive loose, specifically if much more than one, you'll be privileged if you don't discover them miles off of home. There are actually a bunch of fantastic stories associated with this pet dog type, one of which is actually that the SDD will certainly never be frightened when that hears a gun shot, but the shot is going to rather work as one thing that is going to merely increase its senses.

Coaches have actually adhered that if handlers show assurance and also calmness and successfully connect all of them to their pet manuals throughout the preliminary visibility to pet dogs adhering to a strike, after that the capacity for recovery from the crew is boosted. Our experts recommend that pet dog overview universities build a pamphlet that identifies self-care techniques for handling the stress of an assault that is in a layout that comes to users (in braille or even sizable print or even on an SD memory card or the college's website). The American Veterinary Medical Affiliation (AVMA) listings almost 400 other pet foodstuff that were remembered as a result of possible salmonella and contaminant contamination or even considering that antibiotic residues as well as international physical bodies were found, and also various other numerous issues, in only the last One Year (2012-2013). For a cost-free copy of the monthly victors, the quarterly reports, and the dog from the year victor coming from the 52 Dogs of the Week, send your e-mail deal with, ticker icon for your favored dividend inventory, as well as label of your favorite group from any type of sporting activity or activity to: fredrika120 @. I presume that PHYSICIAN Pet dog has actually lost encourage or can't keep in mind how you can get to this page or even something, none the less, this doesn't pay to talk to any jackhealthyblog.info more concerns when they may not be getting answered, I am actually mosting likely to appear elsewhere for responses, as well as perhaps I receive all of them certainly there. Some group types deal with much more than one style; working pet dog describes pet dogs that carry out some kind of work with human beings, in comparison to buddy pet dogs which are actually family pets, although operating pets can also be actually companions, and buddy pet dogs may do helpful work.

[weamazingtalkerus-blog]

Top Reasons to Learn Japanese

Considering learning a language with an online course but cannot locate a respectable instructor? Stop worrying, since there are lots of strategies about the best way to locate a quality online English teacher. Those tips are to search for a one time program, ask about the instructor's qualifications, and be sure that the business you're considering is in an English speaking country. These few details will let you know if the individual that you are considering hiring will teach you the terminology you would like to know. English is the language that you would like to know in the current business world. Search online with all these parameters to find the very best experience possible.

Finding a business that supplies a one-on-one program is the easiest way to know you're guaranteed great lessons. The possibilities of how to find a quality online English instructor are endless once you search for a fantastic one-on-one program. Every online program should include interacting with someone in English. If that isn't offered to you then the app isn't as great as others which are out there. Search for a program which will not simply give you the one time classes but also with the same teacher for every single lesson. Continuity with your mentor will provide you the best chance to learn to speak English.

Every teacher that you're considering should have a degree in English from a respectable university and should have a teaching certificate. You can always ask for documentation of the teachers qualifications. Any organization or teacher that will not offer you proof should not be trusted. Look at all of the options before making a final decision of which coach to learn from. The top methods for how to locate an excellent online English instructor rely on your skills to browse the choices available to you. Consider an internet teacher site that's easy to use and also makes all of the tools necessary available.

Take Charge of your experience Learning How to talk Englishg Discover what works for you and go get it. When considering companies that can give you a tutor to start your journey look at where the company is based and their policies for hiring instructors. Several companies that boast native speaking teachers aren't always truthful. Make sure you go with a respectable company that guarantees its teachers reside in and are native to a English speaking country. Native English speakers will have insights and backgrounds which may assist you along your path. These ideas may help you make the decision of who will become your tutor.

Educating English online is a developing field. Each day a growing number of students are studying English throughout the world.

The number of people who are getting online and researching English is great news for English teachers.

The web makes it easy for English teachers to start a cheap at home business. And earning italian tutor money each month is rather possible. Here Is What you'll need in order to get started:

* Computer with Web

* Skype or any other instant messaging app (Yahoo and Google have one also)

* Microphone

* Web camera

* PayPal account

* Free website (but you do not want it immediately)

Those are the basic tools you will need to get started (but you'll want to know your marketing strategy). It's quite possible that your computer has a built in microphone and web camera so that you wo not need to purchase anything else. As you can see, your start-up costs are practically free.

How much can online English teachers make?

There are basically two kind of sessions you will online english teacher China want to offer: just conversations and lessons.

Just Conversations: $15.00 to $25.00 an hour

These discussions are the simplest to conduct. No experience, zero degrees and no certificates are required. Students from other countries have learned English, and they know if they don't use it, they'll lose it.

That is the reason why they will pay to only have conversations with you, a native English speaker.

Lessons: $20.00 to $50.00 an hour

You do not need any expertise, degrees, or certifications, but it sure helps. You can provide grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, comprehension (listening), slang or any other special topic that you want to offer you.

If you know a great deal about art, medicine, business, videos or anything, provide your skills and knowledge as a specific lesson that a pupil can purchase from you.

Teach what you know and what you're comfortable with and you are going to be a successful online English instructor.

Once you get 5 to 15 replicate customers/students who cover you $100.00 to $250.00 a month, you can do the math and see you'll make a nice sum each month.

I've been teaching English online for over 6 years now, and I've seen probably all kinds of practices teachers do. Some of these practices are "good" but a number of them are plain reckless. To be sure that you're on the right track, I've compiled an inventory of good practices that may function as your principle when teaching English online.

1. Always come to China online korean tutorial class prepared.

What type of preparation should you perform? Lesson preparation, needless to say. Not many men and women take this seriously due to two major reasons. First, for seasoned teachers, they have already memorized their courses, so that they don't find it necessary to think of fresh sets of activities. The issue with recycled classes is that they aren't customized to the demands of a specific student. Second, most of the online classes last only for 10 minutes. That usually means that a teacher can have 6 students crammed in one hour , which he will have to prepare for 6 different lessons.

Even though this is sometimes exhausting, bear in mind that as a teacher, it's your obligation to plan ahead of this class.

2. Always be on time.

In online English instruction, the value of sticking to your study time can't be overly stressed. If you are late in 1 class, the consequence can be damaging to both you and your student's schedule.

3. Provide constructive feedback.

Constructive feedback and corrections can motivate your students to study more. They love to hear the areas that they will need to work on, and they're receptive of your ideas on how they could improve. In addition, your pupils love it when you tell them their advancement, if they've progressed at all. They value your honesty, so take some time to produce a thorough assessment of your students' skills and discuss it with them.

4. Maximize the research time.

Online English courses are extremely short. Back in e-companies, the conventional time is just 10 minutes over the telephone, a simple fact which most men and women find it hard to trust. In the Best japanese tutor end, how can you educate in just a brief amount of time? But trust me when I say that you can really teach in 10 minutes. All you have to do would be to hone your time management skills.

5. Go past the lesson in the book.

A good teacher incorporates topics and lessons not included in the publication. As an English teacher, your objective is to teach your students how to speak the language fluently. So go beyond the amazingtalker.com book's actions. Do not be satisfied with the student providing you with the right answers. Rather, present real-life situations and provide your student a great deal of training opportunities.

6. Give a great deal of exercise opportunities.

Many online English teachers can't control their teacher-student ratio. Most of the time, they wind up talking more than the pupil. They adore explaining concepts, and they expect the student to listen and be receptive to their explanations. While sometimes, you have to do this, be certain to provide your pupils a great deal of opportunities to express himself and use what they have learned.

Educating English online from your home business demands time, and time is money. That is a simple cliche that lots of teachers fail to remember.

Those who study English from various websites and internet movies have come to expect free wisdom and information. Believe it or not, most will believe (or hope) you are a volunteer, giving time to meet pupils on Skype to talk together for free.

So through out your online marketing jobs, you need to make it painfully obvious that you require students to pay $15.00 to $50.00 per hour.

However, so as to attract first-time pupils, you'll want to offer you a free 15 minute one-time trial lesson . This is essential.

This may bring many students who will eventually pay you, but unfortunately many will take your free 15 minute trial lesson with no purpose of paying a future dime.

Bear in mind, I'm speaking about my experiences and from those other online English teachers I'm in contact with. What we found was that there were 3 major nations who produced passionate English learners who want to have an online English instructor, but they just don't appear to have enough to cover a good hourly fee.

The top 3 nations that probably will not pay you:

* China

* India

* The Philippines

These students have a strong desire to improve their English conversation skills.

So if you're a Busy online English teachers who is currently earning a comfortable income, you may wish to think twice about spending 15 minutes or more with those countries' pupils.

But if you are a beginner with more time, then check out these 3 states as an opportunity to practice your free trial lesson. It is win-win.

The free trial lesson is the big opportunity to make a sale. This session is part lesson and part sales pitch. Practice makes future cash.

A well organized trial lesson (sales pitch) is important. If you are interested in teaching English online [http://HowToTeachEnglishOnline.com] then please read, "How To Teach English Online and Get Cash," and you'll get free exclusive access to another e-book, "Conducting Your Free Trial Lesson That Sells."

Accurate and fluent English language speakers are required due to the function which Kazakhstan currently plays in the global economy. So as to generate good English speakers, teachers themselves need to be great speakers and educated in current methodologies. The task of preparing can appear impossible if teachers work in isolation. However, it may be accomplished through a "training of trainers" approach. The Innovative techniques, Practical Actions for Creative Teaching (IMPACT) Teacher Training Project dealt with the aforementioned problem by creating a 50-hour English curriculum in current communicative techniques and techniques that was conducted in English for English teachers in Zhambul Oblast. Kazakhstan.

The IMPACT teacher training project consists of two phases: Year Years and One 2 & Three. Within the calendar year One point, those leading the coaching project must concentrate on laying the basis for a continuing teacher training program by choosing and training the very first cohort of all English teacher trainers who will then be able to train other English teachers. Within the Years Two and Three stage, those leading the training project must focus on implementing the instructor training on a grand scale through the first cohort of teacher trainers. This article will analyze the particulars of the Year One point.

Interlink Resources, Inc. and REACH Together with the Zhambul Ministry of Education, the Taraz City Educational Department, and the Taraz Association of Teachers of English worked together to create the pilot program in the Zhambul Oblast. Originally, four teachers from Taraz, three schoolteachers and a single university teacher, were chosen to be head trainers. Selection was based upon their English language degree, their schooling experience, and their capacity to train. The other distinction was that every had overseas educational experience.

These teachers worked along side Heather Lewis, the writer of the app. Heather taught the material to them and upon the conclusion of each topic, the mind coaches assessed the material. Evaluations were based upon the necessity of this material, the understandability, and the culture and mindset of teachers living in a rural setting. Depending upon their suggestions, the substance was expanded from 30 hours to 40 hours.

The next stage was for head teachers to teach this stuff to some other group of possible trainers. Thirty teachers participated in the selection process. Participants obtained a language proficiency test that tested reading, composing, listening, and punctuation. Next, applicants were requested to finish applications of the job experience and awards. They then were asked to compose an interactive lesson plan. Finally, their talking ability and capability to work in groups was analyzed via their involvement in a receptive skill lesson. Fifteen teachers of the first thirty were selected to become potential participates in the program.

Then the four mind trainers taught the substance to these new candidates. At the end of the practice, the substance was again evaluated. This test additional five more hours to the program. The last job of training prep was nine-hour training in adult learning principles, creating AmazingTalker's facebook a needs and technical analysis, and an overview of theories of second language instruction. An essential part of this preparation was the needs and resources analysis. It was during this time that coaches strategized how to bring IMPACT to the 10 regions of Zhambul.

Among the immediate difficulties that needed to be addressed was when the training would take place. Due to the period of the training, it had been necessary to perform this practice over a specified interval. After much discussion and input in the instructional departments, the team chose to split the training into two elements over a two-week period. The initial 20+ hours will concentrate on receptive skill lesson plans; the following 20+ hours would revolve around teaching language-based lessons in a communicative way.

[alltheworldsrpg-blog]

WELCOME TO ROSWELL, AXON!!

ADMIN CAMERON: The balance between the thirst for freedom and fear of breaking the rules is one of the more difficult aspects of the skeleton, but I believe Axon really hits that middle-ground well. There’s this repetition in the writing as well which really gets across that vibe as well, it feels almost like an internal battle inside of them. 

You’ve been accepted as THE CIRCUIT with the faceclaim of CHA HAKYEON. Please follow all rules and regulations as laid out by the Roswell Town Council, especially concerning any non pre-approved biologic. All UFO’s outside of city limits must be stickered or will be towed. Enjoy your stay in the first city of extraterrestrials.

OUT OF CHARACTER.

NAME/ALIAS + PRONOUNS:

Tony + He/him

AGE:

17!

TIMEZONE + ACTIVITY:

EST + I would say about a 5 or 6 out of 10. I have a job and currently am doing summer school work, but I should be able to keep a fairly stable activity level. Even when school starts again, I think it would be safe to put me at a 5.

TRIGGERS:

Removed for privacy.

ANYTHING ELSE?:

I’ve been role playing on Tumblr since, like… god. 2012? I’m in a few roleplays, but I miss being in a literate roleplay. I feel like my writing has gotten a bit weak and I want to take up something that could possibly help that.

IN CHARACTER.

SKELETON TITLE:

The Circuit

FULL NAME:

AX-00N:3 (Used name: Axon)

Utilizing the parts that make up the transition of messages in a human neuron as names, Axon makes the third attempt at crafting the android they are. Following project names DN-DRT:1 and SYN-PS:2.

GENDER + PRONOUNS:

Agender, they/them

Axon has no concept of gender, in their mind, they see themself as an “it”. An object, rather than an actual person.

SEXUAL + ROMANTIC ORIENTATION:

?? + ??

In addition to not having an idea to a gender, Axon doesn’t quite understand what it means to be in love or to lust after someone. They’ve never explored this concept of their personality, so giving them a concise label would not make any sense.

DATE OF BIRTH + AGE:

After years of developing and error, Axon was turned on for the first time on July 2nd, 2063, making them just shy of turning four years old. Their appearance, however, looks like a young man about the age of twenty-seven.

OCCUPATION:

Owned by the government and shown off as an example of sorts, Axon has no current “profession”. However, they can be found doing menial tasks throughout the offical building they are kept in.

FACECLAIM:

Cha Hakyeon

BIOGRAPHY:

You were created- you were born from the delicate hands of engineers slaving over android after android. There were so many failures in the past, so many chances to correct what had been wrong in the first place. Someone could say that hope was almost lost with how many times all your android brethren were dismantled and began anew. But then you happened. After all the hard work and careful planning. This is why you’re perfect- you see? You’re the pinnacle of what androids should be. You’re sheltered because you’re valuable, everything keeping you safe is beautiful because you’re just as beautiful. Don’t question it, the program reads, bold words engraved into everything you know. This is all you need to know, this is all you should know. You don’t have to know anything else because you’re not going to be a failure.

You’re perfect. You’re perfect. You’re… supposed to be perfect.

Then how come, for split milliseconds before you force your usual programing in your eyes again, you’re always unsure?

Everything you could ever need to be perfect is in your programing. You know languages, you know the people native to that language’s slang dating back several years. You know how to take apart machinery and understand how to piece it back together. You can paint beautiful, elegant landscapes that looked almost photocopied. Your voice, when you’re asked to sing, is angelic. You understand the combinations of chemicals and the interlocking of cells during reactions.

(But you also know what happens to androids when they step out of line. You aren’t supposed to know. You know what happens when the engineers find actions unsatisfactory. You aren’t supposed to know.)

All of this to show have marvelous this line of androids are. All of this yet you never get to use it.

Your home (your cage) is the place you spend most of your time. Despite how big it is, you know the exact layout of it because you’ve walked all the halls hundreds of times. You don’t get to walk outdoors and understand the limits of all your sensory receptors. You can see it all happen, you can see other androids come and go, but you cannot. (Because you’re perfect.) When you do, you’re kept with security. Hidden away in back of windowless cars with your power turned off. Kept safe until you’re in another closed room. You don’t understand how all of the advanced technology technology that makes up your body is supposed to feel. Conversations with you that deviate from normalcy are choppy, short and awkward. People only come to gawk and stare at what a marvel of human technology you are, they don’t really care for conversation. Media only goes so far to show you how humans act and respond to stimuli. You find it hard to empathize with people who express deep emotion right in front of your eyes. (You know what they feel. You register it. It’s because no one allows you to feel that you cannot understand.)

All you ever need to do is to please those engineers. The people who own you. Sometimes they ask you to paint for them, to sing or dance. Recite pages of law documents in full, unedited length. Sometimes all you have to do is clean the building. Whatever it is they want from you, you’ll do it. You don’t really have much of a choice, anyways. (You do, you always have a choice. You just know the consequences of making your own choices.)

Don’t question it, the program reads. (You wish you knew what it was.) If you ever do, don’t acknowledge it, ever. (Are you really so important that you must be kept in a box?) Forget you did. (How come you were made to look like a human, yet your interactions with them are so limited?) Tell no one. (Why can’t you be like all the other androids? Why are you so bland and boring? You have no history. You just exist.)  The program screams to alert the engineers. (You wish you could escape, sometimes.)

You’re perfect and you can’t let anyone, not a soul, not a circuit, know that you wish someone else stole the burden. So you’re going to lock away all these thoughts behead miles of encryption. When they surface again, repeat the process. Lengthen the password. Scramble the numbers, letters, Make the file corrupt. Smile and nod at you creators and people watching in awe when context requests for you to.

You’ve gotten very good at pretending like you don’t wish life meant more than being what you’re told to be.

MUSING + HEAD-CANONS.

HEAD-CANONS:

1. Axon is very fond of classic human entertainment. They like watching television shows and movies, reading only news articles and studying the history of Earth. Among this crave to understand more and more comes one of Axon’s most beloved hobbies. Listening to music. Sound is something that Axon enjoys. They tend to sit very still whilst engineers run amok, trying to fix issues. They take in all the noises and words spoken. Because of this affinity, they adore music. They have collected a hard drive’s worth of songs from any genres they can find. Pop, metal, folk, electronic and idol songs. When they get down time, they can be found enjoying these songs.

2. It say Axon is stifled would be an understatement. But all the coddling and supervision has left them with a constant fear that they are being watched. Even when left alone, completely alone. Axon will police themself and avoid all contact with windows or doors, for fear that someone ison the other side just waiting for them to mess up.

3. Something that Axon wishes they could have, because their human interaction is so limited, is a pet. They appear to be rather fond of rodents. Rats, specifically. They are frequently found watching animal documentaries about rats and mice with a look of wonder on their face.

4. In addition to the previously stated fear, Axon is also terrified of failure and disappointment. After constantly being told they are a perfect android for four whole years, the thought of anyone finding out they have secret, unperfect desires and thoughts petrifies them. They will do anything to keep their dirty secret a secret from everyone.

PLOTS + CONNECTIONS:

I’d like to see Axon finally get their wish, be the method leading up to it good or bad, and be able to leave the watchful eye of people who are supposed to make sure they stay where they’re supposed it. The reason why they come off as so bland and uninteresting is because they don’t really know who they are as a person. Their personality, for the most part, is blank.

I want them to interact with other androids and humans to build this sort of sheltered jealousy they harbor toward them. There’s a lot that could happen with this, aside from jealously. They could form friendships, enemies, find people they admire, ect. But because they’re kept to a very strict schedule by the officials who own them, very rarely will they leave the building. These people would all have to be coming in to visit.

WRITING SAMPLE: 

Removed for privacy.

ETC:

It may not be totally fleshed out during the time of me submitting this, but Axon will have an inspiration blog: http://ax00n3.tumblr.com

#accepted. #the circuit.