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oldbutnotyetwise · 4 months

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This Old Guitar

This old guitar taught me to sing a love song

It showed me how to laugh, and how to cry.

It introduced me to some friends of mine

And brightened up some days,

And helped me make it through some lonely nights.

What a friend to have on a cold and lonely night.

John Denver wrote the above lyrics about a guitar he was given by his grandmother when he was an awkward and lonely twelve year old. One day it was stolen and years later he finally got this treasured guitar back, that night he wrote the song This Old Guitar. When John Denver died in 1997 he was cremated along with this same guitar and their ashes were spread over the Rocky Mountains.

I suspect I was like most young boys when I was growing up, we wanted to be Hollywood Actors or famous musicians or Police Officers (thank you Adam 12) and if you were Canadian, you of course wanted to play in the NHL

I quit playing hockey when I was around twelve years old when I suddenly had a nasty coach who was nothing more than a bully and took every ounce of joy out of the game for me. Although I did act in High School and performed in several Drama Festivals, Hollywood never came calling and I never went looking. I was more fortunate than most to achieve my dream of a career in Policing. That leaves my dream to be a famous musician.

I still remember the Christmas when I received my first guitar. I’m sure my parents thought it would just be a passing fancy. There is a picture of me holding it in front of the Christmas Tree, wide grin on my face, electric guitar with polished red wood and ivory inlays on the neck. Probably the best, certainly the most lasting gift my parents ever gave me, the gift of music. Although I can’t remember the name of my first guitar teacher I can still picture him, a tall thin man with a heavy accent who struggled to remain patient as I tortured that poor guitar.

In time I traded in that shiny red electric guitar in on my first, and only handmade Classical Guitar. I had no idea when I bought that guitar that it would be with me for the next fifty years or so.

My skills as a Classical Guitar player were mediocre at best, but the study of classical music did teach me how to be a guitar picker, someone who played with his thumb and fingers.

As far as fame and fortune goes regarding my musical career, I did play on a local TV Talent Show once singing and playing my guitar, a classmate had wandered into his living room and saw me playing on his TV, I think he may have been the only person who saw it. I also was in a Drama Festival once where I played my guitar during part of the play. There was of course my Rock Band playing Proud Mary in a Grade Eight Variety Show, when I think back now I can only imagine the parents cringing at the racket we were making while butchering a classic song. Oddly enough after all these performances there were no agents waiting by the stage doors to sign me to a record contract.

The only other playing in public I really did was at the weekly Folk Mass at my church. Some friends and I would play and when we could, we would slip in a pop song but only when we could somehow convince the priest it had some religious connection. We must have done okay because soon the Saturday Night Folk Mass was one of the best attended masses the church had.

Somehow as I emerged from the teen years my comfort about playing my guitar or singing in public slowly evaporated. My guitar and I then took up a more reclusive existence. Yes there were times when perhaps I went months or even years without playing, but somehow we always found our way back to each other.

When you play a guitar you develop calluses on the ends of the fingers on your left hand, and if you don’t play you lose those calluses and it hurts to play. As well the fingernails on your left hand are cropped close so you can easily and firmly press the strings hard against the frets to get clear tone. If you are a picker like I was then the fingernails on your right hand tend to be longer to assist you in plucking the strings, the sound from nylon strings is softer quieter when plucked with a finger, and louder and more distinct when plucked with a fingernail.

At one point I found myself living alone in a small one bedroom apartment with lots of time on my hands. My guitar and I got reacquainted then as I quietly played in the bedroom, so no one passing in the hall would hear me. My friend Suzanne lived a few blocks away and we began playing together, this small amateur duo who played just for the joy of playing. She has a wonderful voice and there were times when I would pause after a song and think to myself that we sounded pretty darn good. Not sure that we played before anyone other than our partners, but it didn’t matter, we were playing for ourselves.

Eventually we moved in different directions and I was back to playing on my own. We did get together occasionally but I had returned to being a solo player.

My guitar was like that friend most of us have, someone you don’t see or hear from for a long time but then you get together you just pick up where you left off. My guitar was never angry that I hadn’t visited for a long time, it was always glad for any time we spent together. Bringing it out of it’s hard case, tuning the strings to bring back it’s beautiful sound and then playing. Interesting isn’t it, you don’t work the guitar you play it, because playing the guitar is a joyful thing to do. Although the song you play may not sound perfect there is a good chance you will have played a few perfect notes, and maybe as you sang maybe once or twice your voice was actually in tune. My joy from playing the guitar comes from inside me, just me and a good friend having fun together.

Sometimes things happen that are out of our control, sometimes you have to make decisions that are hard for you, but are best for your friend. That time came for me and my guitar, my hands just don’t work like they once did and now playing the guitar only brought frustration and sadness. Now this is a handsome handmade guitar and I expect I could have sold it for a decent price, but it was also a dear friend so it wasn’t about the money, it was about finding my friend a good new home, somewhere where it would be well appreciated.

I sat it there by my front door and when my friend Suzanne came to visit I sent it home with her. She is the one who I played it the most with, and I know she will look after my friend well, maybe she will think of me from time to time while playing.

And to my old friend, thank you for always being there for me. For helping me through those awkward teenage years, for all the dark days and nights we struggled through together, and for all the joy you brought to me during our half century together.

#guitar #This Old Guitar #Old Friend

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queenlua · 1 year

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let's see about 5, 11, 12, 13 for the ask meme?

5. What game would you recommend to someone new to the series?

ugh this is so HARD because i don't think there's any game that's perfect for this...

if they're new to the series but have enjoyed at least a couple older video games at some point (and thus have some tolerance for a bit of gameplay cruft and GBA-era rough edges), i'd be really tempted to throw Sacred Stones at them. absolutely gorgeous sprites, good music, probably the most solid/focused/best-executed story in the series, fun support conversations, and very good gameplay whose only flaw is "it's kinda too easy." but it's satisfying and if someone likes everything about it but "too easy," then that's an easy problem to fix with subsequent games lol

i suspect Awakening is probably the objectively-better answer, though. first "modern"-feeling FE in terms of how streamlined and nice the mechanics feel, the depth/multiplicity of strategies, the storyline is weaker but still has definite highlights (especially when the kids show up), etc

Three Houses is a solid contender but the game is kind of bloated with extras that i think can make playing it feel like a bit of a drag; i know a lot of people who just kinda flaked out or gave up b/c of all the monastery stuff, and i wouldn't want someone's first FE to end that way

i do love the Tellius games but i wouldn't recommend them as starter games. the 3d sprites are kinda ugly and it definitely shows its age a bit in terms of gameplay cruft

11. A character that deserved better?

Edelgard, tbh. she's fantastic when the game isn't trying to make her all woobie/waifu/etc. wouldn't even take many changes to fix this one!

also Renning. i love what's on the page but he gets so little and shows up so late. give the dude some damn base conversations plz

also Meg. the game is so mean to her, goddamn.

12. A game that deserved better?

oh boy. the problem here is, if i finished playing an FE game, that means i liked it well enough over all, even if there's stuff i didn't like. like, i wish Awakening's storyline was stronger, but it definitely feels like it executed on exactly what it wanted to do, so i wouldn't say the game deserves better per se

so i guess i'll say the two FE games i tried and failed to play:

fe6: i ragequit on the map with the fucking reinforcements that move the same turn that they spawn. motherfuckers. why

fe14: i was already pretty "eh" on the story and then that one fucking "defend [x] turns" map (unhappy reunion iirc) took SO much finicky effort to survive that by the time i finished it i was like. ugh. i'm so tired. and then i put it down for a while and never picked it back up oops

13. What do you like most about Fire Emblem?

...god this is going to make me sound SO uncultured but, the support conversations, especially in the older games, are just so delightful. delightful in-and-of-themselves (especially when they would happen DIRECTLY ON THE BATTLEFIELD lmao), and also, were probably weirdly influential in how i thought about game writing / writing generally. conveyed a huge amount of personality & implied huge things about the world & in a relatively small space; and also refused to let anyone be just a rando soldier in your army; you can look back at short fiction i wrote in middle school and see how much i was striving to get that huge-cast-small-space-feel in that format. simple but effective approach

also it's nice to have a big-name game series that executes so well on story and gameplay, on average. i've played a lot of Final Fantasy and i love those games but. often the gameplay is just kinda mediocre/grind-y, right, and i'm forcing my way through for the story? could NOT be fire emblem lol

#airlock

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mauthings · 7 months

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More (Common) Lisp complaints

Because they are like those people selling financial freedom.

Lisp feels so irrelevant in game dev (desktop, non-mobile). C++ dominates this field. Flash successors plenty abound. XNA alternatives all around. Even Java is there. But where is Lisp?

Naughty Dogs

FF7

Kandria

...?

Let's be honest. These are not success stories. These list feels more like they use Lisp because they are extremely familiar with it. The fact that Naughty Dogs used Lisp doesn't mean Lisp is viable - it just means they have built extensive tooling around it; it is their secret sauce, and they will not share it (it is their rice bowl after all). No games or companies (on the Sony platform) before or after them used Lisp in a major way. It is probably not practical.

And furthermore, with the explosion of indie gaming some time ago, no notable Lisp games was released. Lisp is supposed to be the secret weapon for single developers or small teams - yet I see none of it.

On performance, it is said that Lisp can be 1.5-3x performance of C, and there are even claims that it can go faster than C because the compiler + runtime are included. Now, on the "faster than C part", it's quite hard to believe, when Java with tons of engineering work, finds it quite hard to be on par with C.

Now, that being said, I present my pet peeves.

Lisps might need a lot of effort to reach "close-to-C" speed. Java can have moderately decent programmers with low to moderate effort, and produce "close-to-C" speed. That is the true achievement of Java in my opinion. I don't have to be damn fucking smart or spend a lot of time to achieve great performance, memory safety, easy-to-read code, and more, with just higher memory usage. And these days, I suspect it is even lower than SBCL if you limit memory and use parallel GC. That is a feat that is hard to beat.

What about C++? Lisp can reach "close-to-C" speed. There are claims that Lisps can beat C in speed because of compiler + runtime. Those are only claims. C++ has already beat C in performance, with zero overhead, using a poor mans macro (C++ template) https://stackoverflow.com/a/18004168.

On to the word "tooling", Lisp developers consider tooling as the ability to extend the language, create constructs that are simply not possible in other languages. In the rest of the world, tooling means... tooling.

Like the macro LOOP. If this is tooling, then it is a fucking monstrosity. We all have limited mental capacity. If my program is going to have multiple LOOP-like mental usage, well.. fuck me.

Toolings are like.. IDEs. And sometimes they are so damn good it is not even funny. But the most important thing they do is to reduce your mental load, by being as smart as possible. Tooling does the work, you do the coding. I sometimes wonder if IDE users realize you can do 99.9% of the same things with... | Hacker News (ycombinator.com)

And since I like Java, I will just say some things. Java the language is hilariously weak compared to Lisp, but the runtime, ecosystem, tooling, everything far outshines current Lisps. And the Java language are clearly designed by level-headed geniuses - at least they never claim that Java is the best full stop. Well, I consider them geniuses when I read Brian Goetz, Aleksey Shipilëv, or Ron Pressler when it comes to Java.

And while there is a saying that Java needs a state-of-the-art GC because of all the garbage it produces.. well it is also because of this GC that you can have highly performant code with mediocre code, that won't blow your memory.

The funny thing is that from a purely technological point of view, Java (even th... | Hacker News (ycombinator.com)

JVM Anatomy Quark #11: Moving GC and Locality (shipilev.net)

Java is better than C++ for high speed trading systems | Hacker News (ycombinator.com)

A few more links to show why I feel these people are so delusional. If only they were more pragmatic

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37458188

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35006777 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35006777&p=2, search for lisp

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37308747 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37308747&p=2, search for lisp

#code #common lisp #lisp

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pudding-parade · 1 year

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Unpopular movie opinions!

Just for a bit of fun. Because I'm a contrarian, you see.

1) The first Star Wars movie is meh.

2) I liked the recent Cats movie.

Elaboration behind the cut, if anyone cares.

1) Star Wars: I saw the first Star Wars on opening day with my dad, a fellow sci-fi nerd. I had just turned 13 a couple of weeks before. Our mutual conclusion: The special effects were amazing, but everything else left much to be desired. It's a tired and predictable story, and most of the acting is mediocre. For both of us, the only bright spot was Princess Leia. (And I loved R2D2, though my dad wasn't a fan.) At the time, it was unusual in sci-fi movies to have a lead female character who wasn't just a damsel-in-distress and/or nothing but a love interest. But, other than the effects and Leia: Eh. Granted we were both huge Star Trek fans, so there's some bias there. LOL

All that said, I will say two things for Star Wars.

First, it opened the door for the Star Trek movies, given that its success proved to the film studios that there was a market for big-budget sci-fi movies. In that sense, it changed Hollywood forever because big-budget, effects-heavy sci-fi became a whole genre unto itself, for better or worse. And, since I was involved with all of the Star Trek movies from Star Trek VI onward, including the JJ Abrams ones (as a musician and occasional arranger)…Hey, ultimately Star Wars gave me jobs, so I should be grateful for that. LOL

Second, one of my favorite TV shows as a young (and hormonal) teen was the original Battlestar Galactica, which was also made possible by the success of Star Wars. It's still a show that I re-watch from time to time, though mostly nowadays because the fact that it's "Mormons in Space" amuses the hell out of me. (Its creator, Glen Larson, was a devout Mormon and a lot of Mormon theology is included in the show; it's especially noticeable in the pilot.) Plus, its late-70s camp is just awesome to behold. LOL

2) Cats: OK, so there's bias here, too. I am a huge fan of the Broadway show. I lived in NYC when it opened there, and I lost count of the number of times I saw it, but I know it's a number larger than 30. I first went to see it because I love the book of poetry by T.S Eliot that it's based on. I had some of those poems memorized before I could read because I was always having people read them to me. (Especially Of the Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles, which was my favorite.) I couldn't imagine how they'd turn the book into a show and, really...they didn't. They just set the poems to music and created dance numbers as well as a flimsy reason why it was all happening. And yet, I loved it. I loved the choreography, the set, the costumes, the music, the audience interaction, everything. The show became my "comfort food," so to speak. When I was particularly down -- which was often, at the time -- I'd go see the show and it would help a little bit.

Now, the movie isn't really the show at all, and there are things about it that I definitely don't like. BUT! I still like it overall. I suspect that if there is a Cats fandom, then most of them hate it. But I like it. Maybe it's just nostalgia, like seeing an old friend you haven't seen in years and noting how much they've changed and not always for the better, but you still love them anyway because they're still your old friend. Yeah. That's how I feel about the Cats movie.

#non sims

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synergysilhouette · 1 year

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Dragon Ball (Comic Book AU)

Currently brainstorming an AU where Dragon Ball was an American comic book series created in 1955, with certain changes and fan response. I'm presently brainstorming Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super since I'm most familiar with those series:

1980s: Everyone raves about the beginning of Goku's adult era, particularly with the world-building and his origins (though I do prefer recent retcons). This decade's comic covered the Saiyan Saga and Freiza arcs.

1990s: I always hear that this was the golden age for the property, as it had the Cell saga. In particular, the 90s run received critical acclaim for introducing the future version of Trunks Briefs as well as giving Gohan more of the spotlight, with some rumors saying that he would take up the role of "Kakarot" in place of Goku. Then they dropped the ball and threw Gohan to the back burner because writer Isaac Martinez couldn't see Gohan abandoning "his dream" of being a scholar and let Goku take the focus once more. I really hated that, and I hated how Future Trunks and Android 18 were hypersexualized from this period on. They've lightened up a bit on it now, but still (I did like how 18 eventually dyed her hair blonde and everyone compared her and her brother to X-Men's Emma Frost and Shinobi Shaw). Plus I think that the "Cooler" and "Bojack" arcs are pretty overlooked.

2000s: The 2000s was probably a huge amount of turmoil for the series. When writer Dan Golder was brought on for the series, he was a big fan of the 1980s eras where Goku was the main star, and felt that by having him being a good father made the series "boring." As such, he created what some fans call the "bad dad" era, where Goku was a hero first and foremost, featuring his family very little, if at all. The weird part about it was that subsequent writers not only followed his lead, but also featured other characters as good parents (ie Krillin and Vegeta), almost as if to highlight the fact that being a bad parent made you a better hero. Needless to say, fans were NOT pleased, and they had toned it down a bit by the time the Majin Buu era came along, but the writing seemed to suffer the same curse as the Cell Saga when it came to Gohan, hyping him up only to put him down. The label did try to salvage this by giving him the identity of Saiyaman (inspired by the Ginyu force, who at this point were retconned as gay/bi men, if I recall correctly; I think the Saiyan race as a whole was almost retconned as bi as well, but that idea was cancelled) and a short-lived spinoff series, but the costume wasn't super inspired and the series felt more like a parody than an actual attempt at making Gohan the breakout star he was meant to be. Outside of the main series, several AU comics did well (one of them concerning Future Trunks; the GT series also gained some followers), but the main series had few blips of greatness during the 2000s.

2010s: By 2015, the series had kind of settled into the station of mediocrity, and it wasn't until Masako Nozawa came onto the scene that the series went into a more critically and financially successful direction, taking inspiration from previous Dragon Ball Arcs over the decades in order to appease new and longtime fans. It was during this time that Gohan took more focus again, though in a much more serious direction that rivaled Goku's successful runs. Androids 17 and 18 were featured more in the series, with Nozawa having them address each other by their birth names (as had been previously confirmed in the 1980s), and their backstories being fleshed out more. Broly was made canon in the main universe, and Future Trunks returned to the present for another story arc. Vegeta also rose to prominence, with some fans suspecting that Goku would soon die and Vegeta would take Goku's mantle. Along with this, alternate universes were addressed in the "Universe Survival" saga, leading to speculation that another AU comic would be made, focusing on Frost and/or the three saiyans.

P.S. Even though this is designed as being made by an American comic publisher, I'm unsure if Goku's home would be in America or westernized Japan; either way, the Japanese influence and cultural aspects are a lot less tokenized by the 21st century. Plus I own NONE of this art.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #dragon ball super #Vegeta #Gohan #Goku #Trunks #saiyan

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sportsminorityreport · 1 day

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"Peek around the Corner" suggests PAC-2 expansion may be coming soon.

So for those living under a rock for the last two years, Greg Flugar's You tube channel "Peek Around the Corner" is the best source for realignment discussions today. He broke the story on USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and has been right on almost every realignment move since then.

I have tracked and written about sport conference realignment since the last days of the Southwest Conference and I can tell you his run over the last 2 years is amazing. Really unprecedented and unlikely to ever be matched again. No one else has ever figured out what positions you should talk to get the right information on realignment. Flugar's figured it out and built a network of those guys. What he is doing is next level.

He is now talking about Pac2 expansion stories being imminent, although no new school is currently committed to join yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZZFZ37Kz6g&t=1s

I would encourage Cougar and Beaver fans to check out his report. (Warning, he babbles on about other crap for the first 52 minutes.)

I have been advocating the PAC2 build a conference for quite a while. It now seems like we have a pretty good idea of the plan they chose. It is a little ham-fisted and leaves a ton of available meat uneaten (could be A LOT richer), but when I look at it I see a solid plan that could come together very quickly that a risk-averse leadership would put together.

So lets get started talking about it.

The plan

Buy out the 6 MWC schools with the greatest current media valuations using the PAC treasure trove: Boise State, Air Force Academy, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and UNLV. All 6 schools are likely willing co-conspirators as their media payouts will go up and might actually double and they don't have to do a thing.

That immediately gets the conference to 8 schools and solves their conference problems.

Follow that by a raid of specifically the Texas schools (UTSA, N. Texas, and Rice) in the AAC as well as Tulane, Memphis, and Navy. These schools would move to a better home for the two revenue sports and would also likely see raises.

I think it is quite viable. Props to the PAC 2.

Valuation, the engine that makes this possible.

What is the value of the new Pac? Well. I think we can pretty much guess at it. The PAC1-12-2's hired media evaluators advised the conference that "FAIR MARKET VALUE" of the PAC 12-2 was about $34M per school. Then the conference asked ESPN for $50M each --- pissing off ESPN and leading the "sports leader" to lowball the conference throughout the rest of the negotiation and even pull out of a last-minute offer when Colorado left.

Apple lowballed the PAC because for most of the negotiation period, the were no serious linear providers competing. Many Pac schools were looking at $25M per school as an amount they would tolerate to stay. Apple was going to guarantee something like $23M per school, so I think logically you can say that $27-34M was the general fair market valuation of the PAC-12-2 schools.

Now 6 of those schools are making $32M or more in their new conference homes.

Now obviously the 2 schools no one wanted in the power conferences were WSU and OSU. So you'd have to expect their valuation to be something between the best conference in the non-power ranks --- the AAC (~$9-10M) --- and maybe $25M.

Neither school has really built the kind of basketball support they should have and their football attendance averages were among the worst in the PAC, so pressed I would suspect OSU may be valued at about $20M and WSU at around $13M.

Now let's talk about the MWC. It is a 10/11 conference that is paid on the non-power conference scale. If memory serves they make about $6.5M per school, so the media money pool is about $70M.

The MWC is generally 3 layers of mediocrity although the MWC has a media king --- Boise State. BSU is good in football/solid in BB and has a national fanbase due to their stellar play 10-20 years ago capturing a generation of nationwide fans.

In the first tier of mediocrity, you have schools with definite TV value. After Boise State, you have #2 San Diego State (good FB, great BB in a top 30 DMA), #3 Colorado State (solid football/BB in a top 20 DMA), #4 Fresno State (good FB with great support, mediocre basketball in a forgettable DMA), and #5 Air Force (decent FB, very, very strong national brand).

Arguably, UNLV, Utah State, New Mexico, and Nevada are the next tier. Mediocre football schools with solid basketball programs which are pretty much in a down period across the board. UNLV is liked more than it should be by media companies who still remember the Jerry Tarkanian years but their fan support just sucks.

Then you have the bottom tier. Wyoming is OK in the revenue sports but their fan support is tiny and they are the conference's 2nd team in the Denver DMA. San Jose State has a strong media market but they have some of the weakest programs in the MWC. Their fan support is not valued highly. Hawaii is a football-only member of the MWC and is undergoing a very painful stadium problem that will likely leave a far weaker program than what existed before.

I am not going to go into great detail with this. Let's start at the $70M. Now the value of the MWC schools is discounted because like the Pac-12, they lack markets and footprint population. There is a low ceiling there.

Let's say that the top 5 are collectively worth $40M of your $70M, or basically $8M each. The next tier of 4 may be currently valued at $20M or $5M each. Finally the last 2.5 schools combine to generate the last $10 M, so they maybe are worth $2-4M each to the networks.

I think these premises are reasonable enough.

Now the implications of Flugar's report is that the initial gambit for the new Pac is to add the MWC's top 5 plus UNLV. Now Assuming the networks overpay for UNLV by a million --- reasonable premise --- you are looking at adding their $46M valuation to the Pac-2's $33M.

Now in general, the PAC-2's value is obviously going to be lessened much more by playing Boise State instead of Washington, but the MWC 6 would be enhanced a little by playing Oregon State rather than Wyoming.

We are just working for a quick and dirty breakdown so we are just going to drop the total valuation of $79M to $76M for the initial 8 schools, or roughly $9.5M per school.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Assuming that ballpark is about right, that puts the new Pac essentially on a financial par with the ACC. This means that considering the PAC is no longer a financial issue. It is about "Which conference would house my revenue sports better, the AAC or the PAC?"

The answer is the PAC.

Flugar had suggested that Navy and Tulane were working in unison for some reason as the next most likely to join. Navy I get. That puts Navy and Air Force in the same conference… something they have wanted for a long time, but have been unable to convince Colorado State to move with Air Force to the AAC.

Tulane…. Hmmm… I don't see the specific connection to Navy, but I think I get why they might be ahead of Memphis and the Texas 3. Tulane profits recruiting-wise from being in a conference with access to the 3 largest DMAs in Texas. Tulane has been good in football recently. Tulane might be creeping out the door to try and pull that foursome with them and guarantee Tulane has a slot in the new PAC. That may have been guaranteed to them if they lead.

So then you have 4 central schools --- UTSA, Rice, Memphis, and North Texas which have apparently been given a pitch from the PAC-2 and are likely cautiously listening to see how the PAC8 are valued.

Now I want to be clear, if the PAC 8 values out at peer status, it is HIGHLY likely those 4 schools will move west. Now if this occurs, the new Pac will be able to do something the old PAC with it's academic snobbiness could not --- they will have paired Texas media markets with the markets of the West.

This is something that a lot of media folk had been telling the PAC would save them, but the PAC never did it. It is opening up 11 AM Eastern games. It is making the PAC directly relevant in 3 time zones and tangentially relevant all across the US.

In simple terms, adding Texas gives people on the West Coast a reason to watch Texas Football and people in Texas a reason to watch West Coast football.

I am pretty sure that will push up the per team payouts to $12-14M, which makes it worthwhile to everyone.

So is this your new PAC-14?

What would this cost OSU and WSU?

It is all laid out here.

It would seem like it is going to cost $67.5M for 6 MWC schools assuming each school pays their personal $5M+ exit fee, which should be doable given their likely raises in media payouts.

And this may end up essentially costing the PAC 2 …. possibly as little as $24.5M each for WSU and OSU.

$24.5M each? Why so cheap?

The PAC 2 was already on the hook to the MWC for $18M for scheduling alliances. It is possible that if they might not owe that if they add the 6. I don't know... and really when you are sitting on $222M in PAC money, the difference between $49M and $67M to have a good conference home is not that significant.

Should WSU and OSU pursue this?

Yes. Absolutely.

But wait!!! Now, is this worth pursuing with ACC membership possibly becoming available? Well, Flugar says that OSU and WSU are structuring this so if that if an ACC offer comes in they can just bail on the new PAC.

That sounds crazy that teams joining them would be OK with that, but if you peel back the onion it makes sense.

OSU and WSU are using their PAC windfall money to buy the best programs out of the MWC and drop them into a more lucrative home. Regardless of whether the PAC 2 are there or not, the new PAC is still going to pay those schools 50% to roughly double their current annual tv rate.

The central schools would likely reach similar conclusions. The American is kind of a haphazardly slapped-together conference, much like the CUSA that they raided was. This PAC is a much stronger home for their revenue sports even without OSU and WSU.

Will the pac2 be part of a western ACC division?

My gut is screaming no, but a lot of media people are saying "maybe" including now Flugar, a real realignment follower with strong ties. who mentioned it as a possibility. I am not going to lie. I hate that I even have to discuss it as a possibility.

The ACC has continuously snubbed West Virginia, a similar academic school with much, much more valuable program than either WSU or OSU and a much larger fan base in both revenue sports.

Is it possible that an ACC could decide after being gutted and told by ESPN that their payouts are going down say $5-20M per school, that they might decide, "Hey, you know what would make this even better? How about a fat bill for annual trips to the Pacific Northwest in all sports?"

I think WSU and OSU are wise not to count on that. If it shows up, you are building exit clauses. That's probably the right level of consideration for it.

Build a conference that works for you and don't look back. The difference in pay between what this conference would pay you and what a gutted ACC on ESPN's back side might get is a wash and the travel is much better here.

Is this a good plan?

Yes. They have extracted a very, very manageable deal out of MWC commissioner Naverez.

Are there things I would do differently?

Yes. A lot of them, but this is an EXCELLENT frame.

I hate Boise State as a potential member because they are a horrible conference mate. But..... The Leadership at the PAC 2 has done a terrific job planning this out on the MWC side and has left Boise State where they kind of have to go along with the terms and they won't have an American with equal payouts to play off for a better deal. It kind of makes them behave like a decent, honorable conference mate.

SDSU and CSU are worth spending the money to acquire.

Air Force is also worth buying out of the MWC. Think about how many Americans have served in the Air Force or have a family member in the Air Force. That is a huge fan base. And there is every reason to expect if you get Air Force you also get Navy which is also a huge fan base and that you might end up getting Army football in a few years, completing Mike Aresco's long desired trifecta.

It's Fresno State and UNLV where I have problems with this plan. I would argue for Hawaii and UNM instead, even though they are horrible football values today. I think they would cost the PAC 8 stage about $6M in total valuation putting your totals in the $8.5M range. would that skunk your ability to add AAC teams? I don't think so.

Why? Because I firmly believe that within 5 years Notre Dame will carry Stanford into the Big Ten. When that happens Cal will be the only ACC school west of Dallas. If you handle this right you could easily have the perfect home to absorb Cal. Cal would rather be in a home with Hawaii and UNM --- two state flagship schools that do research than Fresno State and UNLV.

Plus I think UNM projects FAR, FAR better in this 14-team layout than UNLV. I can see UNM leveraging Texas recruiting and dominating in basketball and becoming an annual bowl team in football. I am talking about having success like they have never had before because they have NEVER had a good conference footprint. Having that kind of BB program --- paired with Memphis in an eastern division --- interacting with the three Texas schools could jump-start basketball at your Texas schools. UNM makes sense.

I see pretty much the same UNLV as exists today, but weaker and weaker in football as they lose football ticket revenue to the Raiders. They are already an afterthought in basketball. I think that is just a bad add, but I recognize the networks would push them and pay a relative premium for them and that may be something OSU and WSU believe they would need to get the AAC schools.

Fresno State would be an admitted competitive loss. They support football like champions and I hate pooping on their addition, but you KNOW Cal is not going to want to be in the same conference as Fresno State. And their media valuation cannot be that high.

Hawaii on the other hand is a super liberal state (cal friendly), they do a ton of research, they HAD a pretty decent football fanbase, draw acceptably in basketball, and they are a gateway to recruits and students from Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. That is money in your coffers. More to the point, that is all Cal-friendly stuff. Trips to Hawaii are a recruiting tool. Given the footprint of the Western division, the costs would be bearable. A lot of Hawaiian and Samoan talent fed the old Pac-12 schools and now could be easily harvested by OSU and WSU at the cost of their "big brother" universities... Hawaii is like UNM... a forgettable school in a weak conference, an immensely strangely valuable school in a stronger conference. And specifically could help OSU and WSU in recruiting.

With money to recruit California, New Zealand, and Australia, Hawaii would be above average in football in this conference. Probably Fresno State level on the field.

But I would understand if the PAC 2 saw Hawaii as a "future add" candidate with their current stadium issues. (Build a 40K stadium state of Hawaii!). There are a lot of options with those last two spots that you can pull off spending less and getting better results.

So I would argue in general to build "pro-Cal". I anticipate when Stanford and Notre Dame bail on Cal, Cal will be working hard to get into the Big 12 but will probably have a vote problem. A Cal-friendly Pac would land them, I think, and that would push the new pac into a higher level.

I am going to stop here, but there are other things that could be done to add millions to their conference coffers annually, but great start Pac 2!!!

#osu beavers #washington state #new mexico lobos #uh manoa #colorado state #memphis #tulane university #utsa roadrunners

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wanderlandgracie · 10 months

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PARIS

Ah, Paris. The city of love, the city of lights, and the city of sometimes being rude to foreigners when they don't understand your language. Being the first of many places where a language barrier was present, Paris was rough for me. Subsequently, it was the place where I started having to ask God to let me see people the way He does so I wouldn't go to jail or have a breakdown every time someone yelled or got upset at me. Despite all this, select parts of Paris were beautiful. I will be talking about said parts.

If you are human, the Eiffel Tower is the first thing you think about when you think about Paris. Its big, and metal, and is fairly pretty when it is lit up at night. On March 31st of 1889, the 1083 ft tower was finished. After two years of working on it, it was finished just in time for the 1889 World Fair, at which it received over two million visitors. Today, it is a wildly popular tourist destination, almost entirely due to its iconic nature, though I suspect some of the intrigue is to do with the small cafe underneath the tower.

Dearest reader, if one is looking for a pure, raw, emotional experience that will lead to joyful attachment to a physical place, than look no further than the Louvre. With its ever winding hallways and glorious marble staircases, all hidden underneath those iconic glass pyramids, the Louvre has been genuinely beloved since its public opening in 1793. Housed in the Louvre are over 380,000 objects and displays, and over 35,000 paintings, all of which are separated into 8 curatorial sections. That is a lot of art. This being said, one could not possibly experience it all meaningfully in one afternoon. So I chose to focus on the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities, as they are the ones I know the most about. Growing up, I was obsessed with Greek myths, so as a result I knew almost every reference to the greek myths in the sculptures. It was truly an otherworldly experience. It felt like such a raw, emotional experience. It was like falling in love; there was such a natural attachment to it, unlike anything I had ever felt, and it was magnificent. I saw The Creator reflected in art made by human hands, His great works beautifully attempted by our best artists and sculptors in such a way that those who look can see the fingerprints of God in the art. It was truly beautiful. Also, this Museum is the most viewed museum in the world, with pre-pandemic levels at 7.8 million visitors in 2019. The Louvre is truly an iconic and ethereal experience that you cannot find anywhere else.

The final place we visited in Paris was Versailles, the luxurious gilded palace of King Louis XIV, surrounded by sprawling green and a small ocean's worth of ponds and lakes. Personally, this was a mediocre place to me, despite my initial excitement for it. I do believe that day I was either exhausted or apathetic, so my opinion at the time was not great. Going back and looking at the pictures I took, however, I am awed by the spectacular beauty of the place. While it may not be nearly as iconic as the Louvre's glass pyramid, or the Eiffel Tower, Versailles is nothing to cough at. With over 15 million visitors each year, which is certainly more than the Louvre, it is obviously a widely popular and culturally significant. It really stands out how much more people value sparkly shiny things, like the gilded Versaille estates, as opposed to the quiet, intricate beauty that the Louvre proposes. I will never be one of those people. Gold is pretty, it is not everything. Gold does not tell stories.

Overall, Paris was not my favorite place we visited, it was actually my least favorite. I did wildly enjoy the Louvre, which does not affect my rating of Paris, as I cannot possibly associate my favorite place with France. Sorry to the french, but you were rude to me and kind of ruined my whole experience.

#france #paris #studyabroad #art #Louvre #eiffeltower #study #student #travel #trains #spotify

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crazybigredlove · 1 year

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4th September 2013

Oh Pete. Miranda pulled me aside at work yesterday.

Gulp. I would've told you yesterday but I was completely consumed with self-pity after that phone call from the ginger King Kong.

Tried not to nervous vomit my lunch on her when with a sympathetic look she took me by my forearm down the hallway towards her office, all the while the unmistakable feeling that something bad might be about to happen began to well from deep inside.

Sitting in her little office she folded her hands and looked over at me with such a caring, maternal expression that I knew it could only be bad news. Had there been anyone in the company that I cared dearly for (obviously with the exception of Michael, but had been talking to him only seconds before so knew that he was okay) I would have feared she was about to tell me that someone had passed on. As it was, I was starting to suspect that maybe my own doctor had asked her to deliver some tragic, terminal diagnosis.

Turns out she is increasingly concerned by my mediocre performance of late. It has not gone unnoticed that I have missed the last three deadlines, and while all three pieces were eventually turned in, each was well below the usual standard.

Honestly, it just seemed a little harsh for her to keep kicking me like this. How many times have we had this talk now?

Of course, I start to shift uneasily in the seat. Sweating in that gross way that I do when I'm nervous, I'm practically sticking to the chair. This is it. Going to get fired. I will lose my job and be forced to turn to prostitution in order to keep Buffy in the manner in which he has become accustomed.

Or worse, I’ll have to start touring him in dog shows to make money. I would rather prostitution.

Just as I'm about to pass out from anxiety and lack of oxygen in the room, she suggests to me that she is aware that things haven't been great in my private life and perhaps I should take a week or two of annual leave to sort my head out so that I can come back refreshed and ready to tackle the world.

Oh sweet baby, Jesus. Thank you.

Now, safe in the knowledge that Buffy and I are not homeless as yet, I am actually quite excited about the prospect of spending some time during those two weeks weighing up my career options. No doubt Christopher will tell me to write a novel, but I'm not sure that's ever been done before. An entire manuscript in two weeks? This is one of those times when self-belief can only get you so far... Then again, I am completely broke and can neither afford to go away nor leave the house for even short periods. Staying at home writing is actually my most feasible option. And watching movies. Probably mostly watching movies. Having romantic fantasies of writing in all different cafes across the city and eventually finding the one that will inspire me to write a hit novel in the manner of JK Rowling. Aiming high, yes, but what is the point in having dreams and goals if achieving them doesn't take you to a level higher than the funk you're in?

It sort of brought home how tough things have been lately. Those fine-tuned coping mechanisms I thought I had in place are clearly failing if Miranda is onto me. As surprising as it was that she's helping me out like this, it was a bit unsettling that she kept squeezing my hands and looking at me like, well, like people used to look at you when you first got sick. It's pretty obvious that she thinks I'm completely insane. It was nice to hear her say that she appreciates my work though and that the fitness section wouldn't be the same without me. She also said that she feels perhaps lately they haven't been challenging me enough, and if when I get back I am doing better she will give me some features to write, but without the extra demands.

Never has a near breakdown been more rewarding.

Rather than celebrating the start of a two-week vacation from the comfort of my couch wearing yoga pants, I had dinner with Jamie instead. Insistent as she was that I drink copious amounts of wine with her, I couldn't possibly say no or I'd be that rude guest, so I'm writing this from her spare room relying heavily on the autocorrect function in my email and apologise profusely if certain words or sentences are nonsensical. We went full pathetic and watched How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days. Pointed out to her the ridiculousness of watching that movie given that I practically have a Masters degree in how to lose men in far less time than that. Sympathetic as her eyes were at first, the wine flowed and they made a definite transition to pitying. Relax, she wasn't so saddened by the state of my life that she was discouraged from talking incessantly about Holly's fast-looming wedding.

"Seven." I cut her off and squint at the wedding picture hanging on the wall. "Seven what?" She eyes me quizzically. "Seven days," I state matter-of-factly.

"For what?" "Seven days was the length of my shortest relationship." "No! Really?" "Yup. Seven days. Although if you count Big Red it's less than twenty-four hours. He asked me to be his girlfriend and the next time I heard from him was like a fortnight later when he was telling me he had a new girlfriend, so I feel like maybe that was a pseudo-relationship and shouldn't count. If that one doesn't count then it's seven days." "Wow. I mean I knew things didn't always work out for you, but that is just cruel." "Yeah," I try to hide a hiccup. "He turned out to be more of a jerk than he let on. I think that's the unfair bit. They shouldn't be allowed to hide it. They should just have to be open at the start. Like, 'Hey I'm a jerk. Don't date me.' Why don't they ever say that?" "It would make it significantly harder to get laid."

"That's right. And all they care about is getting laid. See. Jerks." "Liv, you knew he was bad news. You knew it from the start. Right now I think you're only holding on so tightly because you realise you want a committed relationship, you want your life to move to the next phase, and you're scared you won't find someone to do that with. It's okay, sweetie. Lots of people in your situation feel that way. No one ever thinks they're going to be the one who is in their thirties and single. Now hand me those ribbons would you? I want to put bows on the envelopes. Did you think the silver and blue theme like the invites or the usual penis theme on the night?"

Is it clear to you now why I'm drunk? I'm refusing to be lured into bridal shower talk. Especially when it is penis-themed bridal shower talk.

"I mean, I knew. I wrote a list. But I didn't really know. How can you ever really know that?" Jamie's tongue pokes out the side of her mouth as she drunkenly tries to paste a ribbon on an envelope and it was impossible to tell whether she was even listening. "I think it was the point about his maturity level that should've made the argument to not date him beyond refute. With a quizzical expression Jamie looked up. "Why are you still thinking about him? He has a girlfriend and he spends his time calling you and trying to make you cry. That guy is bad news. Such bad news. You have got to get rid of him."

She's right. Of course she's right. And I have. I think. Until the next time he calls anyway. I'd block him but then I wouldn't know if he called or not and the fact that I need to know tells me I may not have completely grasped how people act when they are over someone.

"Yeah. I will. Find me a Franco. That would make it easier."

"This probably isn't the time to point out to you that it's unlikely you'll be marrying a Hollywood heartthrob." "Feed my cookies, tell me I'm pretty, and let me have my fantasies."

"Here. Have a cookie." She reaches out with a plate and a smile. "You already know you're pretty. If you want to marry a famous actor I will even got ordained so I can be the celebrant for you." "See, I knew you could be supportive."

"Now no more cookies or you'll get fat." Supportive only goes so far apparently.

Liv x

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synthaphone · 5 years

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watching retro gaming videos and really wishing i could play any of my old favorites on my current laptop

#unfortunately a lot of childhood favorites were for the PC #and like 70% of them were free demos for actual Popcap or WildTangent games #and the ones that were for mac are so goddamn old that i have no idea how i'd get them to run #or where i'd find them #also i suspect most of THOSE were mediocre #there's a surprising number of wildtangent games still for sale online but they're pc only #bounce symphony.... gonna watch someone on youtube play it and try to experience it again vicariously #there was some matching game with a miner and gems that i want to see if i can't find also #i played a lot of Blasterball too; which i think was playable online back in 2011 or so but i dunno if it is anymore

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fic-dumpster · 3 years

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The dead can give life

Characters: Ghost!Baji, Reader(Y/N), Bonten, Toman | 1257 words

Warnings: manga spoilers, mentions of death, spirits, supernatural stuff, violence, grammar mistakes, idk mediocre writing. There is not a pairing yet… there won’t be… :P idk… ta-da? Trick or treat?

“Could you please go home? Heaven? Hell! For all I care,” he noticed that you could see him, so he had followed after you.

“Nop.” the long-haired boy with pointy canines paid you no mind.

“Look, not because I am the only person who can see you-“ you began to say

“Yes, actually, that’s the only reason.” he contradicted your unfinished statement.

“Okay, okay. Then what’s your name?” you finally gave up.

“Baji,” he answered.

“Okay, Baji. How did you die?” You inquired as you lifted an eyebrow.

“It’s a long story…” he sighed, looking at the black uniform he’s wearing.

“I have time.” you saw a flash of sadness pass through his eyes, so you decided to lend an ear.

The capability of seeing dead people has always been part of you. Now with more than 20 years on your shoulders, a thing that is horrifying for some became common to you. With time you learned that ignoring those spirits was for the best. Except for that demon child of a ghost you met once upon a time on a Halloween eve.

Oh, how you didn’t suspect that this Baji Keisuke character would give your life a new meaning.

You’ve met this… almost friendly ghost of a 14-year-old boy. You say almost because he tends to be kind of aggressive, most of the time. It was October 31st, 2017, when you first met Baji. He seemed somewhat... lost? Maybe that's why he followed you.

Baji, he said his name was, told you about his life when he was alive. You listened to the fights he won and the very unusual adventures he shared with his friends. You also heard his regrets and, finally, how he died by his own hand. ‘A very tragic ending for such a colorful life,’ you thought.

You took pity for the boy and suggested what most souls sought. Closure. You offered to write letters for those he wished to communicate something or say goodbye appropriately. You said a letter because talking to people wasn't your forte. After a while, he accepted.

“You look like a demon today and every day,” you grumbled. Baji, the ghost, you might add, pulled your covers for the fifth time this morning.

“And you like a crazy woman, now hurry up! We have a lot of places to go.” this is the most excited you’ve seen the ghost boy.

“Yah! Okay! Go and wait in the kitchen; I need to change.” sushing Baji out, you heard him murmur about you being a grumpy old lady. Rolling your eyes, you walked towards your closet.

It's been a month since you've met Baji, and he was a handful. It took you a month to write the seven letters he needed. And that leads you to today, the big day of deliveries. Seeing that most letters had a name and address, you could easily mail them, except for one, but Baji insisted on delivering them with you.

As you walked towards your first delivery, you remembered a conversation with your ghost friends. It happened a couple of days after meeting him.

Baji asked how you had so much time in your hands to help a dead boy. He kept questioning you about family, friends, and even pets. But your answer didn’t seem to be of his liking. You explained how everyone in your family thought you were sick in the head and how because of your ghost-seeing tendencies, you never had friends. Baji apologized for asking, but you really didn’t mind. It was your reality.

A hand waving in front of your face woke you up from your memories. “Y/N, let's check one more time. I'm kind of anxious,” confessed Baji.

“Okay,” you said as you pulled the letters from your bag. “But be fast, please. This is not a good place, gang territory and all that,” you huffed.

You read the names out loud so Baji could see that every letter was there. “Pah-chin, Mitsuya, Draken, Chifuyu, Kazutora, Takemichi, and Manjiro,” you finished.

A sudden commotion made both of you turn towards the sound of people murmuring and flashes of cameras. At first, you couldn't focus. The waves of a feeling of demise hit your body, and as you blinked, the image in front of you cleared up.

A sea of the dead.

“Y/N! That's Mikey,” you gave Baji a weird look, “I mean Manjiro! The one with the tattoo on his nape and short white hair.” he pointed towards the men in suits that were leaving a club called FNN.

The mass of spirits seemed to follow after this Mikey or Manjiro and his men.

“Are you sure? That doesn't look like a Manjiro to me,” you said, scared of the energy that surrounded those men. You saw countless spirits following the group, and that was never a good sign in your book.

“How would you know?” He threw you a confused side glance, “Let's go now! Just give it to him, and we continue on our way,” Baji was excited since you never found Sano Manjiro’s address or any information about him, and he thought he would have to make you ask Draken or anyone and then wait last to see him. “Go!”

“Okay! I’m going!” you walked towards the group. Were you afraid? Yes. Did you know what you were doing? Hell no.

Trying to avoid eye contact with the souls surrounding the group of men, you made it to the man in flip flops that, according to Baji, was Sano Manjiro. You don't know how none noticed you, yet you slid your way between tall and big bodies towards him.

“Hi! Sano Manjiro, right? This is for you!” you squicked at the intimidating flip-flop-wearing man as you bowed and extended your hands with the letter in between them. “Baji Keisuke ordered me to!” and then, as soon as you felt he touched the envelope, you ran for your life.

You ran and ran, hoping that Baji saw you bolt out of there and had decided to follow you. Something in you told you to go; it screamed danger, and with your experience, that voice was never wrong.

“Y/N?!? Are you okay? What happened?” Baji appeared, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” you abruptly stopped at his poor attempt of lightening the mood.

“Very funny,” you sarcastically responded, “Baji, your friend must be crazy! Didn't you see the amount of death that surrounds him?” just remembering the feeling sent shivers down your spine.

“So we continue?” he blatantly ignored your concerns. How does a ghost ignore other ghosts?

You gave a no for an answer, explaining that the more contact you had with spirits, the more exhausted you felt. And today, you ran twice through an army of lost souls. Now it makes sense to him why you always nap so much. He understood your situation. Pah-chin, Mitsuya, Draken, Chifuyu, Kazutora, and Takemichi can wait.

Still, there was something else bothering you. Like... The alarms in your head didn't turn off. On the contrary, they screamed even louder.

“Boss, we have her address and a background chek.” a man with scars in the corners of his lips spoke. “No history or contact with Baji Keisuke,”

“How should we proceed?” A man with a single red eye and a scar in the corner of the other asked.

“Bring her here,” Mikey said before munching on a heart-shaped Manju.

#baji keisuke #ghost!baji #bonten x reader #toman #Halloween came earlier this year #mikey #sano manjiro #sanzu haruchiyo #kakucho hitto #draken ryuguji ken #platonic #tokyo revengers fluff #angst #manga #tokyorev #omificstags

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tenebrius-excellium · 2 years

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How To Twist A Dragon’s Tale Reaction Part 2

- LOVE the part where Hiccup sits with Old Wrinkly in his hole and wonders how he’s gonna have a conversation with someone who has taken a vow of silence... and watching the beautiful realization dawn on him that he doesn’t really need an answer from his Grandfather, he just needed to talk his thoughts out to someone and presto, he came up with a solution to the problem himself

- The Meeting Of The Thing is just a huge, uncoordinated football game but hey, “democracy” huh. LOVE the message to kids that even adults’ clubs can feel like kindergarten and they haven’t got it all figured out when voting for a strategy

- this book had. too. much. singing. Oh deeeear. I highly suspect it would have been better experiencing it in written form than listening to David Tennant. My guy overdid it juuust a little bit this time.

- Hiccup choosing to break out in song as he was about to be butchered, that just doesn’t sit right with me. I know it can be a very strong move to have a character do this, but Hiccup...just...doesn’t strike me as the type. Thoughts?

- Also the names. Why don’t the dragons have names anymore. I was dying to find out the Windwalker’s and the white dragon’s name but they haven’t any!?

- Ok but anyway, the battle on top of the erupting volcano has so many Race To The Edge Season 4 vibes and I’m loving it!!! AAAAAhhhhhh....just... the Alvin = Viggo references, the whole “holding someone hostage while the earth is breaking away beneath your feet” thing, and the Firestone being the books’ equivalent to the Dragon Eye... those memories are EVERYTHING to me.

- Now I wish they had used something like this canonically in the movies!

- Also the Fire dragon = Inspiration for the Monstrous Nightmare???

- HICCUP SURFING THE LAVA ON THE WINDWALKER’S BACK AAAAHHH WOW; NOW THAT WAS THE MOST EPIC MOMENT OF ALL

- TOOTHLESS IS FINALLY BRAVE AND HEROIC YASS BOIII YOU ROCK AND I’M SO PROUD OF THE ANNOYING LITTLE GREMLIN DRAGON

- Humongous was irritating as heck tbh and I hope he will never be seen again... sorry... Remember One-Eye? He was much more entertaining. But perhaps that’s the entire point of Humongously Hotshot The Hero. To be undesirable as hero material because being a hero should not mean “perfection”.

- If I’m entirely honest, Valhallarama’s fate at the end touched me more than the entire rest of the book. It was a very good ending to an otherwise...mediocre story. I think this is the first book that I effectively disliked. The first three were fresh and creative with a few stunning, truly wonderful surprises, Book 4 was BRILLIANT, it wound its way right into my heart... and now... this. Uh. Nope. Humongous and David Tennant’s singing are what blew this for me. Hey, I hope the next one will be better! :)

#how to twist a dragon's tale #reddie's liveblog

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heretherebedork · 2 years

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I'm not even watching Gen Y for enjoyment anymore. I watch every week to see how deranged the plot gets. I honestly feel like this show is it's own breed. Most poor quality BL's are suffering from a lower budget or actors that are really new or bad writing that leaves plot holes or weird dialogue. And I feel that somehow Gen Y has invented a new type of unhinged plot development. The actors are fine, their budget is fine, and we know they do have some ability to write. And yet they actively choose to do...this.

Eh, actors are a wobbly hand from me. Thanu and Yu's actors are just... not good. They're mediocre, have bad enough chemistry that I noticed and kiss like two kids in an elementary school play from the early 90s.

Everyone else is good.

The plot is just... it's not even unhinged. Like, unhinged would be INTERESTING.

They just seem to have enough plot for about five episodes but decided to make 12 anyway because, you know... shows are 12 episodes long?

But their writing... as @absolutebl would say, they can adapt but they cannot create. And I know that Gen Y was an adaption but I believe Gen Y 2 is an attempt at continuing the story beyond what's been already written and is thus kind of being created on the fly.

And it's not working out well for them.

The budget is great, most of the actors are good, their ability to write is questionable... but they could still have done so much better than they did.

I also suspect that they went HARD on the marketing of Yu and Thanu and... that's just not working for most of us.

Honestly, if we cut out Yu and Thanu... I wouldn't mind the show at all. They're the problem child here. The rest I can handle without an issue. Even the stupid fake-LDR with Mark and Kit. Everything I can handle with Yu and Thanu and 40 minutes of wooden boards staring at each other.

But this is the first episode that I truly didn't get enough enjoyment out of to feel like it's worthwhile. This was just disappointing and boring and pointless.

I mean, except for the costumes. Those were A+. More boys in make up and fantasy ears and leather jackets, please!

#gen y 2 #gen y season 2 #gen y 2 the series #thai drama #thai series #yeah this one was just bad

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letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 3 years

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Why does everyone hate the Dear Evan Hansen movie so much? I thought the Broadway show was like beloved??

Hello nonny dear! This got long because I am incapable of shutting up so this is below the cut.

So, quick disclaimer: I am not a fan of DEH as a musical. I never liked it, for a few reasons, the main one being a personal preference - I simply don't like stories where the entire plot is based on a person lying to people. It really, really stresses me out (it's why I can't watch a lot of comedies). I think part of it is being autistic - I don't understand why the person lied. You can try explaining it to me, I just won't understand. It doesn't compute in my brain. In related news, I tend to be a bad liar and also extremely blunt. So!

DEH as a musical was loved by a lot of people, specifically young people. I actually noticed a very similar trend with DEH that I did with RENT, which is a musical from my generation that is beloved by people my age but by older people not so much. RENT, like DEH, speaks to the opinions, viewpoints, and issues of younger people. RENT is full of youthful anger at an unfair system, at feeling powerless, at not being listened to, and it also speaks to that youthful love of rebellion and art for art's sake. DEH, on the other hand, speaks to young people's struggles to fit in, with feeling alone, with depression, and so on.

As pointed out in one of the reviews, part of why people liked DEH was that the character was so young. The fact that he was in high school was what sold the story. Who hasn't, in a mixture of awkwardness, good intentions, and desire to be valuable, done a questionable or even wrong thing? Who hasn't done something they thought was small, like a white lie, only to have that thing spiral out of control? Kids (and teenagers are kids, God bless you all, I say that with the most sincere and deep affection) do that shit all the time.

However, it's not as endearing in adults. Adults, you see, theoretically understand better the consequences of their actions, the far-reaching ramifications, and are just generally (supposedly) on top of their shit.

To watch an adult (and the main actor playing the title character is completely 100% an adult now) make the same mistakes as a teenager is not endearing. It's annoying. Because your brain RECOGNIZES he's an adult. This is actually why people have discussed the problems with casting 30-somethings as teenagers in TV shows, because we see those 30-somethings in very adult situations (I don't mean that in a "protect the children!" way) but also behaving like, well, teenagers? And so it creates a weird dichotomy in your head and it is literally confusing your brain.

So you have an adult that your brain knows is an adult, behaving like a child, and that is annoying to you. It's not endearing. It's bothersome.

Another reason is that DEH is no longer hot off the presses. Give any popular piece of work time, and you'll start to see the imperfections (although online culture take this way too far and will rip any piece of media to pieces for not being flawless and perfect). A lot of people, again, especially young people (everyone I know who loved DEH was in high school or just starting college) connected with the characters and were grateful to have a story that was front and center about mental health issues. But now, time has passed. The initial rush of emotion connected to DEH is over, and people are able to view it with a more disconnected and therefore more critical eye.

I think, also, DEH fell into the trap that Prom did - Prom was not a perfect musical, and I think if I'd seen it on stage I would've thought of it as cute, sweet, and a bit forgettable. But the director made a LOT of mistakes in filming, such as in casting choices (James Corden please sit down) and in cinematography (he ruined dance numbers by zooming in on people's faces instead of zooming out and letting us watch them dance). I suspect DEH suffers from similar issues, since people often struggle to translate musical theatre to film.

It's oddly easier to suspend your disbelief when watching something on stage than watching it on film. In film, we have special effects, we have so much realism, we can make everything come alive, and so people have higher standards for it than in theatre where we all tacitly acknowledge that this isn't real but we're all here for a good time. The Lion King uses puppetry and large masks liberally. Avenue Q has hand puppets. Come From Away has actors in multiple roles, switching up using only minimal costume changes like hats or vests. Cats has no fuckin' plot whatsoever. But it's a lot harder to accept in film someone just belting out into song, so you have to find ways around that.

Chicago did a really great job by framing all musical numbers like you were in a cabaret show, firmly putting you in a dreamscape of the heads of the characters. They're not really singing, this is what they feel in their minds. In the Heights had a framing device where he's telling the story to kids and had the main character cheekily address the camera, breaking the fourth wall almost immediately. Cabaret swung hard the other way and was completely diegetic.

DEH, I suspect, did not put in the ground work to help you suspend your disbelief, which just made the flaws that much stronger. I always thought the songs in DEH are mediocre, and it seems film critics agree with me. And when the rest of the musical is going wrong (songs, casting, camera shots, etc) it makes it easier to see the glaring flaw which is the fact that the title character exploits someone's suicide for his own gain. He doesn't just lie (at least not in the film) - he creates fake email exchanges between himself and the dead teenager to fabricate the lie and sell it, so that he can get the love and sympathy he craves.

Not exactly a likable person, even a teenager, but especially when the teenager is played by a 30-something who looks it. The other characters are just as flat, and the musical makes a (sort of) villain of the one character who's genuinely being selfless.

Finally, a film can include details, thanks to camera shots, that a musical on stage can't. There's a scene in the film that I can't recall being in the musical (I could be wrong!) where the title character looks up the dead teen's favorite books list in the yearbook. The books are so stereotypical "suicidal teens read this" that I could vomit. Little things like that take a flawed story and push it into the realm of insulting.

Now, I admit, I am biased. I do not like this musical and have not for some time. I'm forever angry that it won Tony awards when Bandstand should have instead. I feel Bandstand handled mental health issues (ranging from PTSD to alcoholism to grief to depression) in a much better and more nuanced way. It didn't show one teenager exploiting another (dead) teenager for social clout. The songs were highly original and inspired, and of a jazzy 40s style we don't often see anymore but still felt fresh and connecting to a 21st century audience. Listening to DEH on the other hand I think, "well I've heard this all a million times before."

I also didn't like how it handled mental health, and I found the main character completely unsympathetic and manipulating. The fact that he was a straight white boy made it all worse. I am sick and fucking tired of stories about straight white boys fucking up, being apathetic and mediocre, and still earning sympathy and second chances from both other characters and the audience. I personally feel that all the bad reviews about the DEH movie are a long time coming and I am feeling extremely vindicated right now, since people are finally agreeing with me that this musical does not deserve the praise it initially received.

But! That is my own personal opinion. I hope that, if you or anyone else did like the musical, or are confused, you will note my previous thoughts about why the film is not being as well received. Translating musicals to film is hard, and this film made several blunders that both added to and enhanced earlier flaws in the musical.

#mads answers things #I hope I was able to explain why people aren't liking the film #while keeping my grudge/biases mostly out of it #my extra-petty opinion is that it's a crappy musical and people are finally realizing it #but I hope my answer showed some kinder and more technical reasons why there might be a dichotomy here

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priestessamy · 2 years

Text

I... wanna talk about the live-action Cowboy Bebop at some length, and obviously there are gonna be spoilers

But for people who just want my opinions at a glance before hitting the Read More, I'll just say that it's greatest sin is that it's mediocre. There seems to have been love put into the effort, which just makes it more tragic.

It was a tall order from the start to adapt a beloved story in a medium well-known for never quite nailing it.

Let's start off with the good stuff, because I wanna be fair. At times, they very clearly tried to course correct for some of the OG story's elements that were... of its time. Women are given a bigger role. Queerness is an inherent part of the world and not treated as a big deal or a taboo. Those are things worth addressing when you're trying to adapt something. Faye hooking up with that hot mechanic lady was a good attempt, but it mostly felt like pandering to me. I liked that the MC at Anna's was either nonbinary or at least GNC or whatever (though they were, y'know, skinny and attractive and all that boring stuff).

Most of the actors were doing their best with the material (but I'll be addressing some uhhh... issues in a sec). John Cho was a solid Spike, the guy playing Jet was cool, and Faye's character was often pretty entertaining.

Um. So now the other stuff.

I think the biggest issue starts with the fact that the episodes are an hour, not 30 minutes. This forces the writers to take simple, interesting stories and stretching them out with filler material. Stray Dog Strut is a perfect example, because it's no longer "we're trying to catch this bounty while dealing with a weird special dog". There has to be all this nonsense with wealthy peoples' pets getting stolen, and the bounty being the one to steal all of them, and he's got some weird dog abuse hideout by the atmo farms and... It's all just so unnecessary.

And then there's the western focus on over-arching stories that was way less important in a show like the original Bebop. The anime was often rambling, focused on the protags just trying to get by. So some of that filler I mentioned was occupied by all the stuff with the Syndicate. And since Vicious was the only other person in the anime to be associated with the Syndicate, he gets to go bumbling around with all this crime family drama that wasn't really necessary (or interesting).

Being live action, it was also hampered by the limitations of practical effects and CGI. Characters doing things from within their ships becomes so much harder because you're likely green-screening in stuff and inherently making it look unreal. The uncanny valley is a harsh mistress.

I applaud the attempt to make changes, but more often than not they felt like they did nothing of value, or worse they were distracting or made the story actively less good. Jet having a daughter that constantly came up and he would go to visit her and have awkward moments with his wife... It could have been good, but it was just... nothing. It felt like space!Terry Jeffords constantly talking about Cagney and Lacy or whatever.

I also can't understand why they put the story so wildly out of order. Like LeFou showed up so goddamn early and that's supposed to be like a late moment in the show. And I feel like he was only brought in to be an iconic hook for fans of the original. And they didn't even give him his dumb-ass balloon suit in, I assume, an effort to give his character more gravitas??

But ultimately my biggest complain goes back to Vicious and Julia. They kept showing up, and I kept going "um why??" It might have at least been interesting if Vicious had been more stoic and brooding, or if Julia had more to do instead of just getting a zero hour 180 where she goes "surprise I wanna run the Syndicate now, haha I'm the bad lady girlboss".

I suspect that some of that may come down to their actors. As I said to my friends, the guy playing Vicious chews so much scenery he's gonna need goddamn dentures. There's nothing terrifying about him, he's just this bug-eyed, giant-chinned wackadoo who likes to do a murder on people.

And jesus, Julia. They clearly wanted to give another major female character a bigger presence and arc. But she spends 99% of the show just hanging around Vicious and showing only a minimum of agency - see the scene where she chooses to sing of her own volition so someone will do something for them. She even gets to shoot Vicious during the church showdown - cool! And then she wants Spike to help her run the Syndicate - excuse me? And the actress plays her so vacant, a Spirit Halloween store is gonna move into her next September!

The church showdown suffers a lot from the extended runtime too. Yeah, Faye is no longer damseled during that arc, so instead they damsel Jet's daughter? God, there's so many details I wanna address, but that would require me to watch it again!

Finally, we have to talk about Ed. I got a little nervous when Ed played some kind of background character feeding leads to Jet, which was... a choice, I guess. And then they show up for a stinger on the very last episode and... I never use this word because it's so abused. But it was cringe. It was so bad. It was a little kid doing a silly voice dressed in a thrift store cosplay with a bad, bad wig. Like they were only on screen for maybe thirty seconds and it hurt so bad to see. I don't think I can possibly watch the second season if I have to deal with that for longer than a short scene, y'know?

So... God, yeah. It's a real 'two steps forward, three steps back' situation. They tried, and they failed, and that's the greatest tragedy of the whole damn thing.

#cowboy bebop #cowboy bebop netflix #i know a lot of people enjoyed it #and maybe this will cause them to rewatch the anime #and see that maybe this new version is too flawed #there's so much i didnt even get to either #but this sums up enough

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