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queen-ofsunflowers · 4 years

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Turnabout Persona: The Personas of SEES

I finished up my decisions for the Personas of the Ace Attorney version of SEES for my Turnabout Persona AU. I wanted to share them in order to get a second opinion. For those who don’t want to be spoiled, I’ll put them under a cut.

Please let me know opinions on this! This is harder than it looks, and any suggestions for these and future Personas would be helpful.

Just a heads up, though. There are three Personas that will carry over from canon into the AU for obvious reasons. Okay? Cool.

The following contains spoilers for both Turnabout Persona's version of events for both Persona 3 and Persona 5.

Now, in order of character Awakening (and reveal):

MIA FEY:

EURYDICE: Fool Arcana. Mia Fey’s Initial Persona, coming to her aid during the September Full Moon, but was lingering in her mind long before that. The nymph Orpheus was meant to marry before her untimely death. When he went to retrieve her from the Underworld, he lost her forever by breaking the one rule Hades gave him: he couldn’t look at her.

PERSEPHONE: Death Arcana. Mia Fey’s Ultimate Persona, technically evolving Eurydice when the Persona fuses with Thanatos in order to save the members of SEES from Nyx. Persephone is the wife of Hades and the Queen of the Underworld. After a deal was made with Demeter to save life, Persephone spends six months in the Underworld and six months on Earth

LANA SKYE:

HIPPLOYTA: Empress Arcana. Lana Skye’s Initial Persona. Lana first Awakened her Persona after following Angel, Jake and Diego into Tartarus in her final year of middle school, upon which she defeated a Shadow that had attacked them. However, due to an event two years prior to Mia’s arrival, Lana has not used her Persona and overcomes this during the October Full Moon Operation in order to help stop the Shadow controlling the monorail. Hipployta was Queen of the Amazons and the daughter of the god of war.

ISIS: Empress Arcana. Lana Skye’s Ultimate Persona. She evolved into this form following a message Lana found of her parents shortly before their deaths. She vowed to protect those she cared about, as well as her parents’ legacy. Isis is an Egyptian goddess worshipped in the Greco-Roman world and a patron of nature and magic. She is well-known for resurrecting her brother, Osiris, after his untimely death.

VESTA: Empress Arcana and Lana's third Awakened Persona. Isis converted into Shadow Lana following immense pressure from the police twisting and warping Lana's ideals. It is only due to the actions of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts two years later did Lana regain her Persona. However, due to her change in heart, a change in Persona had also come about, giving birth to Vesta. Vesta is the goddess of the hearth, home and family in Roman Mythology. She is rarely depicted in human form, however, instead being represented as a burning flame.

DIEGO ARMANDO:

ADONIS: Hanged Man Arcana. Diego Armando’s Initial Persona. It is unknown how he Awakened, but Adonis was officially revealed on a mission into Tartarus shortly after Diego was cleared to go back out into the field following an injury during the September Full Moon. Adonis was raised by both Persephone and Aphrodite, which caused the two goddesses to dispute over whom he stayed with. It was eventually decided that Adonis would stay with Persephone one third of the year, Aphrodite another third, and the final third would be with whomever he chose.

ZAGREUS: Hanged Man Arcana. Diego Armando’s Ultimate Persona. He evolves from Adonis following the death of a member of SEES, when Diego resolved to stop living in the past and focus on the future, facing every challenge that stood in his path. Zagreus was an Underworld god of rebirth, hunting and a few other things, originally equated with Dionysus. He was ultimately fused with the god in question.

NEIL MARSHALL:

MERLIN: Magician Arcana. Neil Marshall’s Persona. It is unknown how Neil Awakened, but this Persona is revealed during the November Full Moon operation, in which the User had summoned him to aid his allies and protect his friends. Merlin is a well-known wizard from Arthurian legend, serving as the king’s advisor. Merlin is also a strictly navigational Persona.

ANGEL STARR:

TITANIA: Lovers Arcana. Angel Starr’s Initial Persona. It is unknown how Angel Awakened Titania, but she first reveals the Persona after Neil rejoins SEES as it’s navigator. Titania is the queen of the fae and derived from a Shakespeare play rather than mythology and legend. She is a proud fairy whose power rivals that of her husband’s. Titania has some navigational ability, but it is not as strong as Merlin’s.

ISHTAR: Lovers Arcana. Angel Starr’s Ultimate Persona. She evolved following Angel’s resolve to protect those dear to her to keep them from falling in battle. Ishtar is a Babylonian goddess of fertility and love. Despite being a creator of life, she is known by the tile “Lady of Battles”, being known as a violent deity. Unlike Titania, Ishtar has more powerful navigational abilities.

AIGIS:

PALLADION: Chariot Arcana. Aigis’s Initial Persona.

ATHENA: Chariot Arcana. Aigis’s Ultimate Persona. Aigis’s Persona evolves into Athena following her desire and resolve to live, as well as to decide her own fate.

MISSILE:

CERBERUS: Strength Arcana. Missile’s Persona. Cerberus is the guardian of the Underworld’s gates.

JAKE MARSHALL:

ICARUS: Justice Arcana. Jake Marshall’s Initial Persona. It is unknown how he Awakened, but the shape Jake’s Persona initially took earned him the name of “SEES’ Guardian Angel” (mostly said by Diego). Icarus and his father attempted to escape from Crete on wings made of wax. However, Icarus flew too close to the sun, which caused the wings to melt. He fell into the sea, where he subsequently drowned.

PENDRAGON: Justice Arcana. Jake Marshall’s Ultimate Persona. Icarus took on this form a few weeks after Jake lost someone important, resolving to live life for them, as they would’ve wanted. Pendragon takes the form of King Arthur, with influence for the change being taken from Neil.

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velasnyx · 5 years

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Emaziska 007 AU Sequel: Vindicta Chapter 7

We watched Fran get to the car. She was absolutely stunned. “Did she find it?” Zak asked. “Yeah… she did,” I said, holding back a laugh. “Give me the binoculars. I gotta see this,” he said. “Just a second”. She walked over to the drivers side and just stared at it in utter disbelief. Oh man, I feel bad but it’s so fucking funny. I gave Zak the binoculars. He laughed. “Oh man, she is so disappointed. I feel bad cuz I just met her but I can’t help it,”he said. I watched as she got out of the car and realized we had actually given her the Aston Martin. Her look of disbelief had a positive meaning rather than a negative one. I smiled. There was a knock at the door. I walked over, gun in hand. “Who is it?” I asked. “It’s me”. It was Gavin. I opened the door. “Did 007 arrive?” he asked. “Didn’t you see her downstairs? She went looking for you,” I asked. He raised a brow in confusion. “No, I didn’t see her. Why was she looking for me?”.

Fran has a pretty good eye. I’m sure she would have found him. Where could he have been really? “Q called for you”. He nodded. “I’ll go call him back then”. “Might as well call L while you're at it too,” Zak said. I looked at him confused. Gavin went to his room. “L wants 007 watched,” Zak said. Now I'm completely lost. “Like you did on that mission from several months ago. That's why Kristoph is on this mission,” he added. “But I thought he's been here. He was our intelligence officer that we stationed here,” I said. “No. I was. I was stationed here to gather the intel we have now. L just told you that so neither one of you would suspect something. It's no secret that he's a perfectionist. He's the perfect person to keep her in line and according to L, you failed to do that”. “We completed that mission the best way we could. I didn't hear L complain,” I shot back. He raised his hands in defense. “Listen, I'm not saying that. I'm just telling you what she said. I don't think 007 needs to be watched. She more than capable of completing this mission. However, you don't think she's ready. Do you?” Zak said. I didn't know what to say. To be honest, I’m nervous if something happens. What if she can't properly defend herself? She's not in shape like she was. I don't care if she passed those test, she's not ready. She shouldn't be here. I can't risk losing her again. I can't go through that all over again. “I think there's too much risk in losing our best agent,” I said. He sighed. “What's life without a little risk? It makes us appreciate what we have, knowing we can lose it at any second. Especially when the stakes are high,” Zak said as he walked to the door. I nodded. “You have her now, Ema. Make every second count”. He left. I stood in the room alone, thinking about what he said.

I heard a knock at my door. “Not now, Zak”. “It's me,” Fran said. I got up and opened the door. “Enjoy the gift?” I asked. “So you were in on that little stunt?”. I flashed a devious smile. She chuckled. “How cruel. Anyway, I've got an interesting story to tell you,” Fran said, walking in. “Hm, knowing you, I'm not surprised”. I'm sure she's got quite a few interesting stories. She just got here, what could have possibly happened? She turned the chair at the table and sat down, crossing her leg over the other. She looked up at me. “Well, I have other ways of surprising but that's not important right now. I saw Swallow leaving. Something seemed off so I followed him. Turns out he was meeting with someone. I couldn't see who; they were hidden,” Fran said. “A partner maybe?”. Franziska shook her head. “No. He definitely has Swallow playing for him but it's by force. Apparently, if he doesn't cooperate they'll kill him and someone close to him”. So Swallow is being used. I'll have to talk to Lana. “Also, I met a woman in the lobby. Dahlia Hawthorne. We know anything about her?”. Dahlia Hawthorne. Nothing sticks out to me. Might just be a nobody. “I don't believe so”. She nodded. “You didn't find out anything else?” I asked. “Unfortunately not. To think I almost got myself killed”. She's only been here four hours and she has already managed to put herself in danger. Well, it's not like people like us can avoid it. She got up and walked to the door connecting our rooms. I rushed over and grabbed her hand. She stopped in the doorway and looked at me confused. “Yes?”. I didn't really know what I wanted to say. I don't think i wanted to say anything. “Is something wrong, dear?” she asked, looking a little worried. I looked down. “I…”. Say something, Ema. Tell her something. I looked back up at her. “I care about you. Y'know?” I said. She smiled. “Yes. I care about you too”. “Please, be more careful”. She was hesitant to oblige. I know our work is dangerous but even if it was an empty promise, hearing her say she will would put me at ease. “Alright, Ema,” she finally said. I flashed a faint smile.

She walked in. “You almost ready?” Ema asked. “Yes, just need to put on a tie,” I replied. I was having trouble with the bowtie. I had another fucking hallucination and it's making the simplest task difficult. Ema walked over to me. “Let me”. She started tying the bowtie. “If you know how to tie a tie then how come you don't wear them?” I asked. She chuckled. “I prefer a tits out sort of look”. I smiled. She finished and smiled at me. She cupped my cheek. “Very handsome”. “Thank you. You look rather dashing yourself,” I replied. She kissed my cheek. Someone knocked on the door. “You two ready?” Zak asked from the other side. “We better get going,” Ema said. I nodded in agreement and we executed the room. Zak stood in the hallway with another man. He was average height and had blonde hair. He wore a dark blue tux. “Finally! C'mon, let's get the show on the road,” Zak said. The other man turned to us. “007. What a pleasure to finally meet you. Kristoph Gavin,” he said, extending his hand. I shook it. “The feeling’s mutual. You've been very busy these past couple feeling. He chuckled. “You have no idea”. “Alright. Now that everyone's introduced let's get going. The game will start any minute now,” Zak said. We headed toward the elevator.

“Good luck, von Karma,” Zak said. “We'll be rooting for you, 007” Ema said. “Thanks”.

We all sat down at the table, ready to play. Swallow sat across from me. He stared at me. Does he know? “Are we ready?” the dealer asked. We nodded. “High card for dealer position”. We were each given a card. I got a six of clubs. We laid the cards face up on the table. “Mr. Galactica get's dealer position. Small blind is $5,000, Mr. Wellington. Big blind is $10,000, Ms. Miwa,” the dealer said. I saw Ms. Hawthorne coming to the table. She gave me a lingering look at she walked over to Swallow. “Good luck, darling,” she said. She kissed him and walked away. He shot me a cold stare. She's with Swallow. She must be the leverage they have over him. If he screws this up she's dead.

We watched from the bar. “I don't think we could have picked a better agent for this. She's got the best poker face I've ever seen. So hard to get a read on her,” Zak said. “what makes you so sure?” Gavin asked. Kristoph has never met Fran so I'm not surprised he isn't aware just how good of a agent she is. Though, not to brag or anything, having 00 status should be proof enough. “I played her when she got here. I've never been beaten before. Not even by you, Kristoph. She beat me easily. It was child's play. It's impossible to get a read on her. So much so that you wouldn't dare call her bluff,” Zak replied. “I think agent Skye would've been just as good. Probably even better. Let's remember that 008 is more physically and mentally adept right now,” Gavin said. “What exactly are you trying to say?” I asked. “She could barely shoot a still target. Her mind is broken. On top of that, she's an alcoholic. It's a wonder how she was cleared for field duty”. He has some guts saying that. He doesn't even know her. How could he judge whether or not she's capable? “I suggest you think before you speak, Kristoph,” I said. “Or what, Ms. Skye?”. “I've already thought of a hundred different ways I could kill you without getting a single person's attention. I have 00 status as well. Don't forget how I obtained that status,” I said. I took a sip of my martini. He scoffed and walked away. “Damn, Skye. You are Lana's sister,” Zak said.

“Ms. von Karma wins this round. Time for a break. Game continues in twenty minutes,” the dealer said. I got up and headed toward the other. Swallow stopped me. “I know,” he said. He knows I'm the MI6 agent. So much for keeping him in the dark. Time to act dumb. “You know…?”. “Don’t play stupid. My eyes and ears here told me about your confrontation with my wife. If stay away from my wife or I’ll kill you,” he said. I looked at him stunned. I truly was taken aback by his words. Would a man like him really kill me for simply talking to his wife. Seems if I so much as breathed the same air as her, he’d put a bullet in me. Swallow walked away. When he passed Ms. Hawthorne, they exchanged lingering cold stares.

“So, Dahlia is Swallow's wife. Turns out she could be important,” Ema said. I hummed in agreement. “Maybe we could get some information out of her,” Zak said. “How on earth would we do that? The minute we mention anything, it'll scare her off,” Kristoph said. He's right. Her life is at risk. If one of us interferes, she could be killed. That wouldn't do us any good. “007, she taken quite a like to you. Work your magic on her,” Ema said. I looked at her, stunned. “You want me to flirt with another man's woman. He just threatened me. He could have me killed for that,” I responded. “Oh, please. When has that ever stopped you before?” Ema shot back. I didn't have a comeback. Honestly, I would feel bad. Ema's right here. “007, if we could get important intel from her then you need to do this. Don't sweat it. You're smooth and women love you. I know it, you know, most of the women at HQ know it. You got this,” Zak said. I was still unsure. “Come with me for a second,” Ema said, pulling me to the side. “Listen, I know why you're holding back on this. Don't worry about me...about us. There's no us to worry about,” Ema said. There's no us? What do you mean there's no us? She must be bloody joking. “What do you mean?” I asked. “C'mon, Fran. Don't pretend. We… we can act like a couple all we want but it won't happen,” she said. What the fuck is she talking about? Is she serious. She couldn't even look me in the fucking eye when she said that. I can't believe this. “Alright, fine,” I said. “Seriously? I was expecting you to fight me on this,” she joked. I glared at her. “I don't participate in fights that aren't worth it,” I said coldly. I walked away before she could say anything else.

“I think you should go with 008's plan. And don't feel guilty,” Gavin said. “What do mean?”. “You two are not very inconspicuous. If you want my opinion on it, don't make it anything more than sex. It won't work well in the workplace,” he answered. I grabbed him by his jacket. “I don't think this is the right place to act like a animal, 007”. I pushed him away and went over to Ms. Hawthorne. “Ms. von Karma. I must say, I'm impressed,” she said. “You were watching?”. She nodded. “I didn't expect you to play as good as you look”. She's quite a flirt herself. “It's one of many skills I possess,” I responded. She flashed a sly grin. “Hm. I look forward to seeing your other skills”. Her fingers traced over my chest. “I look forward to showing you,” I responded. “You're not worried about my husband? I could tell he gave you trouble,” Ms. Hawthorne said. “Well, he did say something about killing me if I didn't stay away from you”. She laughed. “He won't do anything. Doug's too much of coward,” Ms. Hawthorne replied. He doesn't seem like the violent type. Ms. Hawthorne herself could kick his ass. “I can't stand cowardly men”. I raised a brow. “Then why be with him?” I asked. She smiled sweetly. “Well, he cares for me,” she said. “And you'd still cheat on him, knowing he cares for you?”. Ms. Hawthorne chuckled. “You ask a lot of questions”. I shrugged. She took a sip of her champagne. “He takes care of me but my particular needs are left unsatisfied”. “Well, we'll have to fix that won't we?”.

#emaziska #franziska von karma #ema skye #emaziska au #ace attorney au #emaziska 007 au

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hellodelicatebouquettidalwave · 6 years

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations The Stolen Turnabout Review

Maya and Pearl are very excited to tour the upcoming “Treasures of Kurain” exhibit, featuring heirlooms from their hometown. The fun is short lived when the urn said to contain the soul of the Kurain Channeling School, first seen in Reunion, and Turnabout, is stolen. The culprit is Mask DeMasque, a phantom thief who sent a calling card prior to the crime. But why would Mask DeMasque turn himself in? And, Ron DeLite doesn’t exactly seem like a master thief. There’s much more to this case than meets the eye.

It’s actually rather refreshing to not be involved in a murder trial for the first half of The Stolen Turnabout. Ron is quirky and amusing without ever being annoying; his relationship with his wife is unique to say the least. Desiree does truly care about Ron, and the story of how they met is touching. But, she definitely needs to do some self-reflection on that shopping habit of her’s. It has caused a massive amount of trouble, more than I think she realizes. (And, someone please confiscate her license!It scares me to just hear what a crazy driver she is.)

The culprit...as issues. Luke Atmey has the need to be the center of attention. (Try saying his name aloud.) Most fans are sympathetic towards him, at least to some extent, as his Japanese name means something like “I just want love.” Maybe he’s not so narcissistic after all. Luke’s plan to avoid being charged with the murder is actually quite clever; props to Ron for coming up with the same plan.

The best aspect of this case has to be seeing Adrian Andrews looking so happy. She’s served her sentence for tampering with the crime scene in Farewell, My Turnabout and has a new job she seems to enjoy. This was a brilliant move on the part of the developers-next to Lana Skye, I can’t think of another witness who tugs at the heartstrings the same way. While her epilogue in the previous entry implied she was going to be alright, it is more meaningful to see Adrian being strong and independent.

My other favorite recurring character in The Stolen Turnabout is Pearl. We get some context for why she’s so determined to see Maya and Phoenix as a couple. They’re her parent figures, and Pearl hasn’t had both her mother and father in her life before. I don’t blame her father for leaving someone like Morgan, but who could just abandon precious Pearly? It’s sad to think this is common enough that Maya considers it normal within their family and social circle in the village.

We also get the introduction of a new problem, known simply as Godot. He’s an enigma at this point, wearing a mask and bearing a grudge against Phoenix for some reason. Masks and why they’re worn seems to be a theme with this case in particular. Godot also provides us with his smooth jazz theme, Fragrance of Dark Coffee. Speaking of coffee, only a character in a video game could consume that much caffeine. Or, maybe it’s mostly decaf. The two other themes we have in this case, Luke Atmey~ I Just Want Love and Mask DeMasque~ Please Listen!, are both excellent. I suspect they’re intentionally similar, like a piece with a different arrangement and tempo.

Next we will be entering the world of loan sharks and...a fake Phoenix?! It’s time to serve up a Recipe for Turnabout.

#phoenix wright #ace attorney #trials and tribulations #gaming #video games

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plumbobpost · 6 years

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Fan(fic) Friday: Spotlight on Peni Griffin

Sul sul!

Today, I have a special treat for you guys. I had the chance to ask the very delightful @penig a few questions about Widespot and The Sims in general. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her work, she has created two widely popular hoods for The Sims 2: Land Grant University and the aforementioned Widespot. It’s longer than usual, and Peni expressed the concern that it would needed to be edited down, but in all honesty, her responses were such a wealth of information, deleting any of it seemed wrong.

I’ll stop teasing you, and let Peni speak for herself:

What inspired you to create Widespot?

“I’m always in story creation mode. This has been a large part of the appeal of The Sims 2 for me, as it allows me to tell a particular kind of story that I will never, ever be able to write for publication, and have always wanted to: the story of a community in which we see every character as the hero of her own story, and how all the stories intertwine (often without the protagonists recognizing it) and affect each other as they all go about their business.”

“At the time I started Widespot, I was in a situation in which my normal professional outlets were not available to me. You will excuse me from going into detail on the subject, which can be summed up as Health Crap. For our purposes, the important thing was that I needed a project, I couldn’t work on a book, I had been thinking for some time about the potential of my favorite game as a storytelling medium, and enough discussion of the matter had been generated over at MTS that I found/was directed to the late lamented Mootilda’s thread on creating a clean, safe, populated neighborhood for sharing. ( http://modthesims.info/t/455403)”

“I actually went into some detail about the process on my writing blog at the time.”

( https://penigriffin.blogspot.com/2013/02/so-you-want-to-share.html )

Did you take inspiration from the Maxis neighborhoods?

“To a certain extent, yes. I decided that what I wanted to create was a neighborhood that would feel and play as if it had shipped with the game, but with less mess. No dead people without full character data, no memories that outright contradict each other, no hints in the bios that can’t be fully explored in the game.”

In your neighborhood, you included different story elements for each family that interconnect. What is your process in developing this story?

“Somewhere around here, I have the notebook in which I first started working it out, but I’d have to dig to find it. I remember starting with the admonition to myself to keep it simple, as your first attempt at publishing in a medium should be simple - you have enough to do mastering the new medium without trying to make something complicated with it. I knew my genre was soap opera, and though I’ve never been much of a soap watcher, my mother and husband are, so that set my parameters. I listed the tools at my disposal - the five base game aspirations, the jealousy mechanics, and the generational play. The question I asked myself at the start of the process was: “How do I create the most Drama for the least amount of effort?”

“Probably the notion of having five aspiration-themed households came almost at once, possibly as I started making name lists. I wanted to give elders a big role, because I had noticed that a lot of people thought elders were “boring,” and I knew they were wrong! I’ve always felt that Maxis missed a big trick by not having a Scheming Matriarch in Pleasantview. I wanted to shake up some stereotypes and have sims who didn’t obviously “belong” in their aspirations - shy Romance sims, outgoing Knowledge sims, lazy Fortune sims. I wanted all the households intimately connected to each other, which meant that for simplicity’s sake the story (story being defined as “person with a problem”) should center around one particular event that triggered events in all the households, a cascade of consequence. At which point I wrote down “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife,” and decided that the wealthy Mann family coming to town with a highly marriageable son and a Dark Secret was a good place to start.”

“That turned out not to be the trigger, but you have to start somewhere.”

Aside from your official captions, how did you set out to convey plot to those who play Widespot?

“I tried to take pictures of enough key moments that the players could inspect the albums for clues. By playing out the development I had ensured that some important information already existed in the memories and relationship panels, but I also went in and inserted memories that seemed to me significant. I had specific meanings in mind when I gave Mary memories of potty-training her younger siblings that extend all the way back to teenhood and manipulated some of her relationship scores with the testing cheats, but I wanted the players to be free to interpret those memories and relationships according to their own ideas, so I tried to background my own opinions as much as possible.”

“The plot, after all, is the players’ job, not mine!”

As far as literal world building goes, how did you factor in your characters’ surroundings to both their plotlines and their characterization?

“The smallness of the town, necessitated by the decision to keep things as simple as possible, gave me the starting point and the town’s name - it’s just a wide spot in the road, hardly a town at all. Rural areas have a certain vibe; certain types of people grow up there, and certain kinds of people wind up there, so this was on my mind as I designed the characters, built their homes, and decided what order they should be created in CAS and moved in. Each house has a history, not all of which is necessarily made explicit to the player, and some of which really, really made me long for something more than BG Maxis content! But I think most people get that the Land cabin was built piecemeal over time, that a lot of Skye’s house was DIY, that the Beech house is Daytona’s house and the rest of her family just lives there, etc. Skye only got educational toys for his kids, but the Lands have a teddy and a dollhouse as well. The Mann’s house is the only one with a fence, and Rich ensures his privacy with stained glass windows in certain rooms. He also has that ominous closet full of aspiration rewards. (I hate that I couldn’t get him a counterfeiting machine - he clearly needs one.)”

“Some details were dictated by the game mechanics. Penny needed a double bed to get pregnant in, but there’s no particular reason for one to exist on her lot; so the heck with it, everybody in that house gets a double bed and I don’t even try to explain it. The lowest-numbered playable in the hood is always the telescope slapper, so I had to create the Mann family first in order for the guy with the Dark Secret to be the one who was incensed at the possibility of being spied on. But who would beard Rich in his own den when he, Lana, or Junior used the telescope in the daytime? That would be the local cop, wouldn’t it? This is why the Land house (with the nubile Land daughters) is right behind the Mann house and the Mann telescope is pointed straight at it. I also used the house to train the Manns - especially Junior - into wanting to buy things by furnishing it minimally to start with, and then adding items as wants were rolled for expensive artwork, games, etc.”

“When I gave characters their starting skill points, I assigned them partly at random, partly according to the implied backstory and role, and partly according to what would be possible in the game. If logic or a random roll indicated that someone in a household had a skill, I made sure that suitable skilling items existed in that household. Woody has an easel because it’s a solitary tool for gaining creativity points; the other families have the more sociable piano. Neither family is much concerned about the impression they make on the outside world, so they are not oversupplied with mirrors, unlike the other families, where Charisma matters.”

“This all works back and forth; the character or situation requires something in the setting, and then I realize that having this thing here means that I also need this and that means I should improve the relationship between these two characters, or whatever. My first and best playtester insisted to me that Goldie needed a teddy bear, and made a good case for it based on Goldie’s characterization, both in the bios and as played; and she was right, so I added it almost at the last minute. (Which is why, so often, the first thing Rhett does it pick it up and try to talk to someone through it.)”

“One thing that I was aware of during development, but am a little reluctant to discuss, is the possible implications for the setting of the racial makeup of the neighborhood. At the time I was born, in the state where I was born, the Land and Beech marriages would have been illegal; and I had that in mind when I mentioned familial disapproval in the Land bios. Some people pick that up and run with it, most people ignore it. Most people look at the Hart’s Spanish-style house and decide (despite the name) that the family has a Mediterranean or Mexican background, but others have decided that Valentine is black/white biracial and all the Spanish influence comes from Angel. I have no desire to dictate anybody’s interpretation or play style, but I do want to enable as many interpretations and play styles as possible, and this variety is an indication of success to me.”

In a lot of ways, fans have come to regard Widespot as highly as they regard the original three Maxis neighborhoods. Did you envision the neighborhood being this popular?

“I beat my “expectations” about the reception of any particular work to death years ago. While I was building Widespot, I told myself that if the only person who liked it was Aegagropilon (my first playtester), that would be good enough and anybody else’s approval would be gravy. Well, Aegagropilon loved it; and I’ve lapped up quite a bit of gravy since then. I don’t have much of a grasp of how popular it actually is, and that’s not the important thing. The important thing is that I know some people are playing it, and enjoying it, and using it in different ways. How many there are, and how it stacks up next to the many other (and in some cases far more sophisticated) fan made hoods out there, is out of my hands. I’m better off not dwelling on that.”

How did Widespot evolve after you started? Were there any massive deviations from your original plan?

“Development was an alternating process of playing (including building, character design, and actual play) and working things out on paper in illegible notes, which is always how I work. I haven’t properly thought anything till I’ve written it down, but I’m a “pantser” rather than a “plotter” - i.e. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants when creating. Too much planning kills the story for me. So once all the preliminary work had been set up, and the broad strokes of the storyline determined, the rest was done directly in the game, with a little help from the testing cheats, Tombstone of Life and Death, and so on.”

“I knew I needed to wind up with a baby for every adult woman, but I didn’t always know who specifically would be the father of each baby until I saw how characters interacted. I knew one of the households would have a ghost, but for awhile I thought it might be Lana. I assumed Candy would have two lovers but I thought one of them would be Hamilton until she informed me otherwise. As mentioned earlier, I thought the Manns would be the central, triggering household rather than the Harts. I had no plans for the teens or children at all, and they took care of their own storylines”.

On a different note, what was your inspiration for the dynamic between the Harts and the rest of Widespot’s inhabitants? How did you develop the idea for these entanglements?

“As a family of Romance sims, their job was to wreak havoc. And boy, howdy, did they! But only after I realized Angel had to be the town ghost. The family ran much too smoothly when she was in charge - she and Valentine constantly smooching it up, Rhett being Mama’s boy, Candy being Goldie’s social support. Kill Angel, and everybody falls apart and starts making bad decisions. I designed Valentine as a Dirty Old Man; but he refused to be only that. I designed Rhett as a heartless jerk, and he can be that - but he’s also the only one of the immature Mama’s boys in the hood who has lost his Mama. I designed Candy as a golddigger, and yeah, she is - but she also made friends with Daytona and Goldie without any prompting from me, and she put herself in the middle of what turned out to be the hardest knot to untie in the whole hood, the Mann Triangle.”

“And Goldie - well, Goldie was a darling who autonomously put the rest of her family ahead of herself repeatedly, could never finish her homework, and never once brought anyone home from school or came home with anyone else.”

“TL;DR: I didn’t develop the Harts. They did.”

You’ve been very active on both Mod the Sims and Tumblr for a while now. How has The Sims community evolved since you first got involved? Why do you think there is still such a strong following of the series?

“It’s hard for me to speak to how it’s evolved, since I was never part of the Age of LJ and only started playing Sims 2 since after Sims 3 was already out. Also, having been on the fringes of a lot of subcultures in my life, I have become adept at keeping away from the stuff that stresses me out. So I’ve never hung out at SimSecret. I block tags on tumblr. I avoid anything smacking of edition wars, don’t allow anonymous communication, and back out of controversies as fast as I can - with an apology if necessary, because face it, everybody’s a jerk on the internet sometimes, and the most you can hope for is to not be one any more often than you can help.”

“So I have no idea how the Sims community as a whole is going on, and I only have a limited knowledge of the portion of the Sims 2 fandom that hangs around specifically at MTS and attracts my attention on Tumblr (often by tagging Widespot). Within this limited sphere, I have noticed a few changes. I used to see it assumed as common consensus that all Maxis premades were “ugly” and that “ugly” is a bad thing; moreover, that certain sims - Goopy Gilscarbo and Sandy Bruty in particular - are more “ugly” than most and are to be avoided at all costs. Now people are shipping Goopy and Sandy (that’s largely @holleyberry’s doing, I believe) and embracing the cartooniness of sims with enthusiasm.”

“On older websites I often see “realistic” (i.e., modeled on airbrushed photos in fashion magazines) sims that, as far as I can tell, are identical to each other and to the ones on the other old websites they link to. With current websites, however, I can not only tell the sims from each other, I can tell Person A’s versions of the premades from Person B’s at a glance. This is especially marked on tumblr, where I often know who originally posted the pics I’m looking at regardless of the attached avatar.”

“And there has been such a flowering of creativity in so many directions in the last eight years it’s overwhelming, though I don’t know how that compares to the days before I started participating. I like to think of Widespot as the vanguard of a Golden Age of hood-sharing. Nobody moans about the lack of clean fan made neighborhoods anymore; they’re agonizing over whether to play Europa or Widespot or Emerald Heights or Polgannon. And suddenly people are making new face sliders. Neighborhood deco lights up at night now. There’s mods for parking on the street, taking toddlers and pets on vacation, hunting, foraging, beekeeping, on and on and on.”

“I think the main difference between now and eight years ago is, that people were defensive about still playing Sims 2, and a general air of playing a “dying game” hung over us all. Now we are joyous and defiant and declaring that Our Game is the Best and Will Never Die.”

“Or maybe that’s just the people I self-select to see. How would I know?”

As a writer by trade, did you find many similarities between creating Widespot and writing a novel?

“My experience has always been that there’s an underlying unity among all kinds of creation, and in particular that storytelling is storytelling, whether it’s the language of text, sound, line and color, or whatever. My writing habits and skills translated seamlessly into the medium of the game. The chief difference, once you factor out technical matters, is that in most forms of storytelling, you need to provide a discrete unit of Story and give the reader the pleasures of closure and narrative structure, pruning out everything that disrupts that weakens the sense of completeness.”

“When making a sims neighborhood, though, you need to be as open-ended as possible, and you need to discern the optimum moment to turn the hood over to the player, while it’s still bristling with plot hooks and unresolved situations. You don’t need, as I did, to deliberately choose the moment at which a bunch of hard choices must be made immediately; but you need to put the player into a situation in which the choices he makes will matter and shape how the neighborhood develops from that point.”

You often play neighborhoods like Pleasantview and Strangetown. Do you prefer playing your own sims or those created by Maxis?

“That’s like asking if I prefer to read Diana Wynne Jones or Megan Whelan Turner. (And if you aren’t familiar with those authors, boy do you have some great reading ahead of you!) The answer is “both.” I enjoy playing characters I’m engaged with, regardless of who made them. Sometimes I wonder what’s going on with Vidcund and want to play Strangetown; sometimes I want to reconnect with the sims in Drama Acres, my personal custom neighborhood; sometimes I want to play with some of my own plot hooks from Widespot. It’s all good.”

If you had to pick between Widespot and Land Grant University, which would you choose?

“I’d attach LGU to Widespot and play them both. I don’t do either/or choices.”

(She just defeated the Kobayashi Maru.)

Do you intend on creating more neighborhoods?

“I actually have three on hand right now: a downtown called Bigg City (an empty version of which is available on SFS http://simfileshare.net/download/207580/ ); a Seasons/Pets neighborhood I call Knotthole County; and an AL neighborhood called Port Cochere. The populated Bigg City got real complicated, real fast and when Health Crap is in a certain state I can’t work on it. Knotthole County is almost completely built but got interrupted while I was designing the characters; and Port Cochere is an SC4 map and a bunch of illegible notes. And at the moment I can’t work on any of them because I need two disk drives in order to use AGS, and one of them has gone wonky. However, I should be able to replace that soon, and then - well, maybe I’ll finally get that last week of work done on Bigg City. Or maybe I’ll decide (again) that if I’m organized enough to work on that, I should seize the moment and get queries out instead.”

Your content is themed around The Sims 2; have you played other titles in the series?, If so, which installment in The Sims is your favorite to play? For storytelling? For building? For creating sims?

“I’m a late adopter by nature. I started with the original The Sims and played it till I felt I didn’t have anything more to discover in it, at which time I started looking into the Sims 2, assuming that I’d eventually plumb its depths, too, and move on to Sims 3 about the time Sims 4 came along. Then I discovered that Sims 2’s depths are unplumbable, and that it was the perfect vehicle for that all-community storytelling I’d always longed to do.”

“The more I learn about the later iterations, the more certain I am that I will never play them. I’m sure they’re fun in their own ways, and I certainly don’t look down on anyone who chooses to play them; but I don’t like the way they look, I don’t like the lack of a storytelling tool, and most of all, the mechanics and structure of the game don’t enable my style of neighborhood play. The Sims series consists of four distinct games with four distinct sets of strengths and weaknesses; and the first two are the only ones I feel any call to play.”

Lastly, why do you still continue to play The Sims? Do you feel that the games provide a positive creative outlet?

“It still gives me pleasure. And I still have Health Crap and need projects, and have a computer that will play it. The Sims 2 is as much a part of my life as reading and playing tabletop RPGs and board games with my friends. So why would I stop?”

“The game is a positive creative outlet - it has nothing to do with my feelings on the subject. One of the most rewarding things about having made Widespot and LGU is seeing people use them as springboards for developing and experimenting with their own creative capacities. Also, a lot of simmers are deliberately using the game to control or relieve some condition or other. Depression, OCD, chronic pain from which they need distraction - I’m not the only one with Health Crap, and I am honored whenever anyone uses something I made to deal with theirs.”

“They could have done these things without me, of course - but they didn’t. They used something I made for their own benefit, and I can feel good about that.”

Any parting comments, teasers, spoilers, public service announcements, etc.?

“One of the core concepts by which I live my life is that creativity is the quality that defines humanity best, and that it is the birthright of every single one of us. But we’ve been educated to think that it’s something special and separate, accessible only to certain special “talented” people; and brainwashed to think that personal creativity that can’t be monetized is a trivial use of time. On the contrary, creativity is to a large extent what time is for. Whether it’s a book, or a game, or a prom dress, the process of making is fulfilling and enriching, and sharing what we make is nourishing to us and to those we share with. So whatever your medium is, whatever resources are available to you, whatever ideas are quickening in your brain and hands - go for it.”

“It is not a silly waste of time.”

To those of you who haven’t played Widespot, go check it out; you won’t regret it. Thanks again to Peni Griffin for allowing me to pick her brain, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it. I certainly found a new favorite word in “pantser.”

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to visit my ask box. If you are interested, give Plumbob Post a follow, and reblog for anyone else who you think would enjoy this blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts!

Dag dag!

#the sims #the sims 2 #fanfic friday #widespot #peni griffin

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aceattorneynotquiteanon · 6 years

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Capcom vs Bio Parents

Parenting situation completely unknown (to eliminate huge cast, characters only listed here if they have been seen as a child):

Phoenix Wright (pair of feet seen in his house in anime)

Larry Butz (“folks” are mentioned in anime)

Cody Hackins

Penny Nichols

Kristoph and Klavier Gavin

Only mom known:

Mia and Maya Fey

Pearl Fey

Only dad known:

Miles Edgeworth

Regina Berry

Maximillion Galactica/Billy Bob Jones (”father in debt”, unnamed)

Valerie Hawthorne (unnamed)

Kay Faraday

Lance Amano

Shi-Long Lang

Horace Knightley

Simon Keyes

Thalassa Gramarye

Guy Eldoon (unnamed)

Vera Misham

Both parents known:

Ema and Lana Skye (parents died in car accident, unnamed)

Franziska von Karma ("My wife’s cooking rivals a world class chef’s!”, mother unnamed)

Ken and Sean Dingling (abandoned, parents unnamed)

Iris and Dahlia Hawthorne (father unnamed)

Lauren Paups (mother unnamed)

Sebastian Debeste (mother unnamed, implied to have been “disappeared” by Blaise)

Katie Hall (abandoned, parents unnamed)

John Marsh

Apollo Justice

Trucy Wright

Wocky Kitaki

Machi Tobaye (orphan, parents unnamed)

Vera Misham (mother unnamed, said to have left Drew Misham)

Other:

Viola Cadaverini (granddaughter of Bruto Cadaverini, parents unknown)

Karin Jenson (granddaughter of Bonnie Young, parents unknown)

Notes: I’m only aware of characters from the original trilogy, both Investigations games, and Apollo Justice

Known vs Unknown: A character counts as unknown if they could conceivably be dead OR just not in the child’s life anymore (such as through divorce) OR, in some cases, could still be a part of the family and were just never mentioned. Character must exist in a sort of limbo to be unknown.

“Known” only requires confirmation that a character at least once existed.

#i did this to calm my anxiety #might as well post it #ace attorney #ace if ur reading this #this is NOT a muse to-do list!!!!!!

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the-dad-emporium · 5 years

Photo

here’s my top 42 albums as of summer 2019. More detailed runthrough underneath the Read More. things in each grouping on the chart aren’t in any order but the largest group at the top are my favorite

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play (Symphonic Metal) Old Gray - An Autobiography (Emo) Turisas - The Varangian Way (Symphonic Folk Metal) Mastodon - Crack the Skye (Progressive Sludge Metal) Death Grips - The Powers That B (Experimental Hip-hop, Punk Rap) Mastodon - Leviathan (Sludge Metal) ROME - Die Aesthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit (Neofolk, Martial Industrial) Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, m.A.A.d City (Conscious Hip-hop) System of a Down - System of a Down (Nu Metal) Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Hip-hop)

ROME - Flowers from Exile (Neofolk) The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud - Amara Tanta Tyri (Industrial, Neofolk, Darkwave) My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (Alternative Rock) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Indie Rock) Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns (Electronic Rock) Dalriada - Igeret (Power Folk Metal) Unto Ashes - Empty into White (Neofolk, Neoclassical Darkwave) Nature and Organisation - Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude (Neofolk) Choking Victim - No Gods, No Managers (Ska Punk, Rock Steady) Mastodon - Blood Mountain (Progressive Sludge Metal) Panic! at the Disco - A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (Dark Cabaret, Pop Punk) Baroness - The Blue Album (Sludge Metal)

Tyr - Erik the Red (Progressive Metal) Coldplay - Viva la Vida! or Death and All his Friends (Art Pop) IANVA - Italia: Ultimo Atto (Cabaret Neofolk) System of a Down - Toxicity (Nu-metal) Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God (Melodic Death Metal) Death Grips - The Money Store (Experimental Hip Hop) Rhapsody of Fire - Triumph or Agony (Symphonic Power Metal) Koenjihyakkei - The Hundred Sights of Koenji (Art Rock) Orphaned Land - The Neverending Way of ORwarriOR - (Progressive Folk Metal) Wilderun - Sleep at the Edge of the Earth (Symphonic Folk Metal) Turisas - Stand Up and Fight (Symphonic Folk Metal) The Decemberists - The Crane Wife (Indie Folk) Nightwish - Once (Syphonic Metal) Supercommuter - Products of Science! (’Chip-hop’) Andrew Jackson Jihad - Knife Man (Folk Punk) MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS - WORLD IS YOURS (Post Rock) Backworld - Anthems from the Pleasure Park (Neofolk) Cerce - Self Titled (Power Violence) Blank Banshee - Blank Banshee 0 (Vaporwave) Lana Del Rey - Born to Die (Chamber Pop)

#personal #me #tunes

0 notes

yuktuts · 2 years

Text

personal hit list: people who make lana's jacket have a boob window/ give her massive tits for no reason.

#why.#talk tag #thinkinging ab my love my life my wife (lana skye)#she is sooo. yk?

0 notes

imaginationworldstellacarrier · 7 years

Text

Online Amazon Reviews Posted by Tuesday March 21, 2017 written by Stella Carrier (images and text from Amazon.com

shoes for crews review

www.shoesforcrews.com

Falcon

547 Reviews

Men's, Black

Style# 6007

These Falcon shoes that are a size 9.5 Wide in Men’s were actually my second purchase when I bought these on February 17, 2017. This was because I had ordered some Panther II shoes on October 9, 2016 that were not as comfortable. The positives to these Falcon shoes are that they are a definite improvement from the previous shoes that I ordered. Additionally, I currently am blessed to work at a University food service job that has quality work conditions yet also requires good non-stick shoes due to the fact that some of the floors can get a little slippery due to the high demand of food required to be served from the high volume of customers that sometimes come in during the week .These Falcon shoes do the job of helping to keep me slip-free when I take food back to the serving station that I work at andor haul dishes back to the dishroom (where it can sometimes get slippery despite best intentions). These Falcon tennis shoes stay comfortable for my feet both during my work shift and during the timeframe that I wear them walking to and from work.

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Some of the images that are shown for a person to draw; Leaning Tower (Pisa Italy), Big Ben (London England), Transamerica Building (San Francisco USA), Rheims Cathedral (Rheims, France), Chalet (Switzerland), Pagoda (China),Georgian House (New Hampshire U.S.A.), House, 1621 (Kent, England),Log Cabin, and more. Comment | Permalink How To Draw Cars - Step By Step Price: $9.99 Whether You Want To Draw Just For Fun or Other Ideas, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: How To Draw Cars - Step By Step (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of How To Draw Cars - Step By Step by Tim Rugendyke and Lukas Niklasson has details on both the materials and type of images to draw. For instance, ballpoint pens, clutch pencils, and colored pencils are some of the materials that are listed as good mediums for the drawings. 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Comment | Permalink The Ghost Writer DVD Price: $2.99 A Job That Is More Than It Appears, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: The Ghost Writer (Amazon Video)I unintentionally discovered this the Ghostwriter film at a Family Dollar store near where my husband and I reside but the dvd did not play properly once I got past the movie credits that were Letters to Juliet and Remember Me. As a result, I took a chance and bought this movie via Amazon video yet I am glad to have done so. The positives of the Ghostwriter film; As an aspiring writer it was fascinating to catch a glimpse into how the world of ghostwriting worked when the character of The Ghost (Ewan McGregor) is in talks for his next assignment with former British Prime Minister Adam Peter Bennett Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan). 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Public Reviews Written by You Show: Most recent reviews Most recent comments Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-20 Creative Visualization for Writers: An Interactive Guide for Bringing Your Book Ideas and Your Writing Career to Life by Nina Amir Edition: Paperback Price: $14.05 43 used & new from $8.31 Author Mindset Guide, March 21, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Creative Visualization for Writers: An Interactive Guide for Bringing Your Book Ideas and Your Writing Career to Life (Paperback)I start this review by making it clear that I am reviewing Creative Visualization by Nina Amir as an amateur reviewer who has a passion for writing. I found out about this book after I had seen it featured in a Writer’s Digest magazine article. Some of the following fun tidbits included in this book;Creating a writing schedule to stick to through Monday to Sunday with included time log with an accompanying exercise for focusing on the time blog to write (pages 56-57), a goal template sheet to use for writing objectives (pages 91-94) etc. Last, but not least, there are affirmations for a writer to encourage themselves such as: I’m a positive, joyous, and passionate person. I know I am good enough, have enough, and am enough to succeed. (pages 198-199). Of course, there is so much more in this book. I admit that for my dream and intent to be a writer also has to do with spiritual reasons. For instance, I notice that the more I write regardless of any positive andor challenging attention/judgement that I face the more I am able to be more in touch with both my rational thoughts as well as my intuition. Additionally, I have noticed that many of my dreams have taken on an increased spiritual andor mystical qualities the more that I write. I am blessed to have a job that allows me to take time off for spring break this week. As a result, this is going to give me an important headstart on reflecting on my writing goals for the rest of my current lifetime. Comment | Permalink Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books: Creative Mentor, Book 1 Offered by Audible, Inc. (US) Tale Writing In Mentor/Audio Form, March 21, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books: Creative Mentor, Book 1 (Audible Audio Edition)This audible version of Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books: Creative Mentor, Book by Justin Sloan and Thomas Block uses information shared from different authors for people who have a passion for storytelling. Details are shared on seeing the structure of a favorite story can help in story creation. One of the writers that is interviewed is credited with such movies as Help For The Holidays, Cupid’s Bed & Breakfast, the script for the Extracurricular Activities film etc. There is advice shared to aspiring writers/writers to also use favorite movies/scripts for writing inspiration. Another interview out of the multiple interviews available on this audible version features Chris Jalufka is a former scriptwriter and has worked in the film and advertising industries. Comment | Permalink Improve Writing: How To Improve Your Writing Tonight! - 10 Simple Yet Powerful Techniques To Quickly Enhance Your Creative Writing Skills And Productivity! ... Hypnosis, Visualization, Concentration) Price: $2.99 Writing Enhancement Goals, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Improve Writing: How To Improve Your Writing Tonight! - 10 Simple Yet Powerful Techniques To Quickly Enhance Your Creative Writing Skills And Productivity! ... Hypnosis, Visualization, Concentration) (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of Improve Writing: How To Improve Your Writing Tonight! - 10 Simple Yet Powerful Techniques To Quickly Enhance Your Creative Writing Skills And Productivity! ... Hypnosis, Visualization, Concentration) by Mick McPherson caught my attention due to my intent and determination to improve my writing. Ideas such as starting with the title and strive to finish the research beforehand are discussed. Visualization techniques for improved writing are also shared. Comment | Permalink 99 Perseverance Success Stories: Encouragement for Success in Every Walk of Life Price: $3.99 Triumph Success Stories, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: 99 Perseverance Success Stories: Encouragement for Success in Every Walk of Life (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of 99 Perseverance Success Stories: Encouragement for Success in Every Walk of Life by Michael Stawicki and Jeannie Ingraham contain achievement outcome stories of people who persisted in their dreams. Some of the well-known stories in this exalting kindlebook; Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling, Emily Blunt, Alan Rickman. There is also a happy outcome story in this kindlebook of a woman named Inas Khammi who immigrated from Iraq to San Diego, California. Her family was part of a religious minority group (listed as Chaldean Catholic) that was listed to have been heavily persecuted before fleeing for the U.S. She was given 345 dollars for her first eight months in the U.S. but she was determined to be more self-reliant. Eventually, a caseworker helped her with getting connected to another counselor who helped her with starting a childcare business. Eventually, she succeeded in making $6,000 a month. There was also a motivational example of the writer in the kindlebook who had to persist rejection from multiple places for nearly 10 years before their work was accepted for publication. This inspired me to make sure to create and finish a story as a writer that I would be willing to submit for at least 9-10 years or longer if necessary. Comment | Permalink Writing Through Revelations, Visions and Dreams Price: $9.99 Stella Pope Duarte’s Journey As It Dovetails With Her Writing, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Writing Through Revelations, Visions and Dreams (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of Writing Through Revelations, Visions and Dreams by Stella Pope Duarte tells of a woman’s journey as a writer and how both her life and dreams have played a significant part in her journey as a writer. Stella Pope Duarte also shares of her journey juggling her family life with her career life working in academia. The story that truly touched me was when she mentioned about an elevator dream that she had in relation theprogression/spiritual evolution occurring in her life. Reading about her elevator dream helped me further understand some of the mystical dreams that I have been having. Comment | Permalink Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives Price: $5.95 Being Ok With Being Unique, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives by Jacob Nordby is a condescending-free and therapeutic guide to get if you are still in the process of embracing your uniqueness but you know that you must surrender the preference to fit in with the majority in your external environment. There is a section where he lists a multiple number of the well-liked andor famous celebrities who would be labeled creative yet different. He also quotes a very true yet also encouraging chapter for writers that pertains to Hemingway writing that it is important to be ready to write frequently without applause. Nordby mentions about hearing the calling of your soul, which I am in the process of working out. He also shares what happened when he met with a person who had attended one of his creative unbootcamps (which he lists to be an introductory class for aspiring writers). Comment | Permalink Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills Offered by Audible, Inc. (US) Encouraging For Various Goals, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills (Audible Audio Edition)This audiobook from audible of Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills by S.J. Scott,Greg Zarcone, and Oldtown Publishing packed an abundance of informative content in the span of just three hours and two minutes. I confess that I actually know and I’m very aware (both logically and intuitively) what I want out of my life in various areas. As a result, I am aware that my passion of writing is going to indirectly help in these various areas. However, I am still elated to have come across getting both the kindlebook and audible version of Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills because of the various resources mentioned. I know that in addition to knowing what I want that I must knock andor go through the right/appropriate doors (metaphorically speaking)and this audible/audiobook gives me an outside the box way of doing so. There are details involved in uncovering the best classes and free resources to uncover in this goal (for example Lynda.com and massive open online courses for the classes, podcasts, joining groups related to the goal). I admit that the only caveat is making sure to consistently schedule in time for my goal and work it around my job that I am blessed to have. For instance, I did find some writing groups online that are close to where my husband and I currently reside through meetup.com (including even one of my facebook friends that are in one of the meetup groups pertaining to writing), However, I know that it is up to me to creatively find one that fits around my employment schedule andor decide to just join an online writing group. Additionally, my goal and intent to improve my writing is not just about becoming a published author but for other reasons I prefer to avoid disclosing for now but have to do with both practical (i.e. the way I express myself online, writing improvement when I enroll in future online courses etc.)and outside the box reasons. As a result, I understand how important is for me to listen to the audible again within the next 24 hours or less to digest the abundance of resources recommended in this guide. I like that there are even mentorship and coaching type of resources for if a person wants to turn to a mentor andor a type of life coach for advice related to their goal/endeavor. Comment | Permalink Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race Offered by Audible, Inc. (US) Radiant Audio, March 20, 2017 This review is from: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race (Audible Audio Edition)The audible version of Hidden Figures (showing the images of celebrities Taraji P. Henson,Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer) caught my attention after I saw it featured online on a website that I was on. I decided to take a chance on it to broaden my mind. I am glad to have taken a chance on the audio despite the not so cheap price. One reason; the narrator shares one of the stories where one of the women admitted to have grown up in Hampton Virginia around successful role models who worked an accomplished living in field of education andor the federal government (NASA, National Advisory for Air Committee, mention of the Langley base in Virginia andor the sciences etc.) . This positively shaped her worldview on what was possible. Many of the women who applied at Langley were mentioned to come from accomplished employment backgrounds in education as well as having mathematical talents. There was mentioned that Langley employed multiple women in the field of computers. One of the women, Dorothy Vaughan is mentioned to have worked as a math teacher in Farmville, Virginia. Dorothy Vaughan’s in- laws were considered part of the financial upper-class in the area and mentioned to own a barbershop, a pool hall, and a service station. Their (Vaughan’s in-laws) activities made headlines at times through such media as what was mentioned in the audible version the Norfolk Journal and Guide. However, Vaughan was mentioned to be a modest person and aimed to carefully balance her family life with her career life. Vaughan’s academic accomplishments resulted in her becoming a valedictorian of her high school and attaining a full ride scholarship to Wilberforce University. The audio discussed that Vaughan performed so well to the point that one of the professors recommended her for a graduate program in Howard University. However, economic conditions after her graduation at Wilberforce University influenced Vaughan to hang up her graduate school dreams and pursue a career in teaching instead. She worked as a waitress at a hotel in Richmond Virginia until 1931 when she eventually moved on to her teaching job in Farmville Virginia. The audio shared that around this time Vaughan attracted the romantic attention of one of the area’s most eligible bachelors in Farmville Virginia. Of course, there are much more informative details in this audio. The Hidden Figures audible version by Margot Lee Shetterly, Robin Miles, and Harper Audio is a worthwhile purchase for people of various backgrounds (racial, socio-economic etc.) because of the theme of achieving success despite coming from a challenging environment/background as well as the abundance of historical information. I admit that I do not discuss my own full/paternal background not out of shame but more out of only knowing/being certain of my late biological mother and some of her background as well as showing some respect for both my adoptive father who is still alive and my late adoptive mother. Comment | Permalink The Writer's Block Myth: A Guide To Get Past Stuck & Experience Lasting Creative Freedom Price: $2.99 Path To Originality, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: The Writer's Block Myth: A Guide To Get Past Stuck & Experience Lasting Creative Freedom (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of The Writer's Block Myth: A Guide To Get Past Stuck & Experience Lasting Creative Freedom by Heloise Jones is a helpful kindlebook on ways to tap into innovation for writing. For instance, Jones includes the following in her chapter titled 7 Greenlights For Success a.k.a. The Writer’s Permission Slips; read voraciously,changing scenery such as taking a new route andor going on a retreat,carving out time for your writing as time for yourself, envisioning your best creative life, making an evidence journal etc. Comment | Permalink I Think We're Alone Now Price: $1.29 Delightful 80’s Pop/Dance Tune, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: I Think We're Alone Now (MP3 Music)I admit that this song I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany played in one of my sleeptime dreams less than 18 hours ago. However, I remember also first enjoying this pop song when I was 7 years old (around the time I also got into Heaven On Earth by Belinda Carlisle) and I had even bought a cassette tape of Tiffany’s music around the time I was between 15-17 years old. Anyhow, I like this song I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany because of the light-hearted and summer like vibe of this song that is an elegant blend of an 80’s pop/dance mashup.

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