#noah doesnt look like noah which is pissing me of too

[crunchyharold]

right lads and non-lads here r my initial thoughts and predictions for the new td cast

i have nearly no thoughts on this guy. seems like a cool dude. maybe a soundcloud rapper or some shit because he got that bling . i guess. might be an asshole possibly an early boot

friendly. i enjoy him. want to ruffle his hair

im doing this in order but i’ll put the hockey (?) bros together lmao. this one is also friendly but he looks kinda nervous to me maybe its just the upturned eyebrows but like. i think he has a Problem of some sort

with these guys i think they’re going to redo the katie and sadie thing but better. so like i think they’re gonna come in together and be like whoa whoa we’re best bros (im imagining a geoff and brody type relationship) and they’ll be put on separate teams and at first it’ll suck and they’ll be damnn i miss my bro :// but then they’ll slowly grow and develop as individual people (i think one will have a romantic plotline) which will only strengthen the bond they have with each other. either that or they’ll grow apart. i also think they’ll probably have a fight at some point.

the bleach and jewellery is giving token gay but the face is giving loser nerd with a squeaky voice. maybe both? i do think he’s gonna have an annoying voice though. honestly not a fan of him

she doesnt look too much like an egirl but she’s gotta be an egirl. probably makes tiktoks. probably cosplays. probably thinks she’s sooooo weird. i like the design but i also think im going to hate her. probably going to last until at least halfway because her design is too interesting to throw away immediately and leave us with Total Normie Island

I LOVE HER she’s so friendly looking she’s plus size while still being represented as pretty and feminine and also she looks like the lesbian flag. preppy but a teensy bit nerdy she’s probably a bit of a dork. if she’s a pre-merge elimination i will be FUMING

that being said. i wouldn’t be too surprised if she was secretly really mean and bitchy. i hope she doesnt because i love characters that are just nice for the sake of being nice but like if she’s pretending to be nice to manipulate people i wouldn’t be surprised

first off the bat if he’s a noah type (which he probably is given the facial expression) he’s probably going to last a while since noah got eliminated in island early and ended up being a fan favourite. appearance wise i cannot discern his vibe at all. i think he’s gonna have a vaguely nerdy hobby that he’s really pretentious and annoying about. dont think im gonna like him i think he’s gonna piss me off

immediate thought was this is the mom friend, something about the expression and the way her hands are folded neatly in her lap. also looks very friendly but something about the size of her eyes are throwing me off. i dont think they need to be that big. will probably last til halfway ish. idk how i feel about her

i have almost no thoughts about her. she could have any personality and i’d be like yeah sounds about right. the eyes are giving stoner. the rest of the expression is also kind of giving stoner. probably makes tiktoks. either an early boot or stays til nearly the end

he’s like a combination of lighting and ryan. think he’s gonna be a cool guy maybe a bit of a heartbreaker also im noticing right now that nearly everyone has earrings is that weird idk. people have pointed out he seems to be looking at soundcloud rapper guy maybe they gay. anyway yeah jock guy he looks a bit smug maybe he’s an asshole actually idk. no idea at all if i like him i do and also dont

nice guy friendly guy! either a finalist or part of a romance plotline. maybe gay? seems similar to mike in a way i can’t pinpoint. he’s one of my favourites but also i have no thoughts about him

she’s one of the most interesting looking but also kinda boring at the same time. like the hair and the beads goes off but the outfit does not. i really hope she isn’t a token black friend but the possibility is undeniably there. i think she’ll last quite a while like post-merge probably

she’s probably the most normal looking and for that reason she’s almost definitely a protag/love interest. the posture and expression seems to me like she grew up in a strict household and will slowly let loose over the course of the show. also a possibility she’s secretly very weird. 

as we can see total drama has not outgrown the yellow east asian characters. cringe. this one’s giving such heavy nonbinary vibes to me that i’m already using “they” in my head but like lets be real they would never do that this is a cis girl anyway she’s giving crusty vibes she probably lives in a sewer or something idk its something about the oversized coat and the shit colour coordination and the hat. quite friendly quite chill probably a bit weird. i enjoy.

dont talk to me.

also giving nonbinary vibes but maybe its the rat tail. hate the neck hate the face shape hopefully an early boot because i dont want to have to look at this more than necessary but knowing my luck he’ll be in the final 4. looks friendly but at what cost. also why do u have a drink. probably collects cans or some shit

very mixed feelings. on one hand i love her. the piercings the whole look im here for it. on the other hand how many mean jock girls do we need. maybe she isnt a jock idk but the outfit is giving me jock vibes. on the otherrr hand since eva had one personality trait (being mega fucking fuming) and jo had three personality traits (being mean and competitive and Not Like Other Girls) maybe we’ll get??? an actual well rounded character??? with a plotline and development??? come on give her feelings i dare u. probably final 4

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

i said before that they look quite bland and and i do still stand by that but that doesnt mean i hate them or anything. its just that total drama characters were always like The __ One and its understandable that theyd run out of stereotypes but it also means that half of these people blend together a bit, especially the guys. i rlly like most of the girls designs but the guys are just ,, some dudes yakno

also im autistic and i hate new things. theres that too

theyll grow on me probably they already have a little bit. ive never witnessed a new td season before so this will be interesting probably i think

#long post #very fuckem long post #but i havent seen anyone talk about them all individually yet #total drama #mine

[irl-dogboy]

noah is not the most.... athletically inclined..... so i think skating lessons may take longer than anticipated

#alenoah #td noah #td alejandro #alejandro burromuerto #total drama #tdi #dogboydraws #artists on tumblr #I DONT KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT ALEJANDROS OUTFIT IM KINDA IFFY ABOUT IT #literally the best i could come up with im so pissed #i like to think once he distances himself from his family he dresses a bit more casually #do i think he wore his og outfit to be like jose? yes. do i love his og outfit? also yes #idk ill think about it #noah doesnt look like noah which is pissing me of too #but idk if thats just because ive been staring at it for too long #im sure the helmet and alt outfit doesnt help much #idk #shoutout to the mfs that read my tags u guys r the real ogs #also yes perses post motivated me to do this #i was tempted to give him rollerblades because i freeskate in blades #but gotta keep it vaguely connected to source material praying emoji

[pynkhues]

Since you're a writer, I'm hoping you can shed some light on this. IMO the writers were chasing viewers in S2 and trying not to get canceled. Personally, I hate when writers toy with their audience, it means they don't have a clear picture of their characters and narrative. How do you feel about writers making it up as they go?

Ah, this post got really long, anon! Since you asked me as a writer, I’m answering as one (I hope you don’t mind! I also hope this doesnt come out as too Creative Writing 101 for people either. This is just lessons I’ve learned and use in my own practice, so I’m applying them here.) 

(Also I have drawn horrible diagrams on my very pink notebook paper - I am so sorry, haha)

So first thing’s first - no. I don’t think the writers were chasing viewers (at least not beyond the way any writer is wanting an audience), and I don’t think they were making it up as they go really, but I can understand why you would think that way! 

It won’t be a surprise to anyone that I love this show a lot, but coming from it as both a writer and editor - this show does have narrative problems, and the biggest ones, particularly in s2, are in execution, escalation and pacing. 

I think heading into the season they had certain character arcs they wanted to follow which married well with the story they wanted to tell. In particular, I actually think the writers have a very strong handle on the girls (I will say that I’ve had a few asks telling me Beth’s characterisation is all over the place, which I’m curious about, just because I personally find her very consistent, and when I’ve asked for clarification, I’ve never gotten any reply, so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

I mean, look at their s2 arcs on paper, right? 

Ruby tries to negotiate Stan’s lowered opinion of her after the reveal of what she’s done, then has to negotiate him telling her to turn Beth and Annie in. She manages the situation painfully but pulls them through and they’re close again as Ruby navigates the increasingly lower depths of their crime life. When Stan acts to save Beth for Ruby and is arrested, it only escalates – the case on him driving Ruby to extremes to try and save him, including robbing a Quick Cash and using counterfeit money to bribe a lawyer. On top of that, she’s being targeted by an FBI agent who’s after her best friend who she gives up and then saves and then who tries to sacrifice herself for them. Ruby finishes the season the most morally compromised she’s ever been.

Annie gets back together with her ex only to find out that he’s gotten his not-quite-separated-wife pregnant. She splits up with him, but is heartbroken and it’s only amplified by the fact that they’ve been given a job by their Crime Boss to murder a man who tried to rape her but who’s grandmother she has a relationship with. Her sister can’t kill him, and Annie doesn’t get the chance as MP beats her to it. Upon disposing of the body though she endures a whole lot of pain as a result of both her ex’s new family and knowing she’s robbed a woman of her own. Annie goes on a guilt tour – tells her son, helps Marion, helps Nancy only to eventually find an absolver of her guilt in Noah, who builds her up and tells her she’s more than what life has given her. She lets herself have it for a while, before realising he’s FBI and there to trap her, and Annie tries to use him only to realise she can’t, and she finishes the season in a lot more hurt than she started it.

Beth struggles with guilt after getting Dean shot, gets the job to kill Boomer from Rio, can’t do it, gets support and encouragement from him (in various states of animosity), but in the end doesn’t have to find out if she can do it because MP does it instead. She’s rewarded by Rio in a way she probably never has been by anyone, her husband further subjugates her, so she has sex with Rio, starts to entertain a future with him, but he undermines her, so she seizes control from him. They work together. Dean forces her to break up with him due to jealousy, she struggles, goes back, but Rio’s stung, so unhelpful, and they play a little cat and mouse before he bails then kidnaps her and she shoots him.

With the exception of that very last sentence, I think all of those are narratively really strong pathways to have explored. Like I said above though, the issue is in execution, escalation and pacing.

But to talk about those things, I think I probably need to talk about story. 

SO!

Stories have a shape.

Kurt Vonnegut talks extensively about this, and while he’ll talk about a few different types of story shapes, they really all boil down to this bad boy here:

Look at this guy.

What a beautiful thing.

He’s a story.

It doesn’t matter if you’re reading Dr Seuss or Charles Dickens, when you read a story – when you strip away its words and its characters and its settings – this is what it looks like.

Or, well.

Not quite.

Really, it’s this guy:

But we’ll talk about him in a sec.

Right now, let’s talk about that first little inch: 

The Beginning

The fact that stories have a beginning is not a surprise to anyone. Stories need them. In some ways, they’re the most important part of your story. After all, the job of the beginning is to set up the world your protagonist is about to leave behind. That is essential in grounding a reader / viewer – orienting them to the world that they’re in, and getting them invested in the story you’re about to tell, if not the protagonist.

Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones are all excellent example of this (and frequently used in teaching) because in each of these cases it’s literal. Frodo leaves Bag End, Harry leave Privet Drive, Luke leaves Tatooine, the Starks leave Winterfell. There is a literal departure from the world before the crux of the story, and that departure is what signifies the start of the ‘hero journey’ aka the main part of your narrative.

Of course, it’s not always literal – in fact, it’s usually not. Usually that world is symbolic – it’s the single, uncertain world before the Bingley’s buy the house next door in Pride and Prejudice or the dry domestic sphere of Breaking Bad before Walt decides to make meth. It’s a marked shift, whether that’s internal or external.

In Good Girls, it’s internal.

The beginning is actually pretty perfect. The world it sets up that we’re about to (try to) depart is one of struggle and invisibility.

Beth’s in a loveless marriage promptly discovering that her husband is not only cheating but about to leave them destitute, Ruby’s getting ignored by the healthcare system and can’t afford to pay for her daughter’s wellbeing, and Annie is in a dead end job about to lose custody of her child.

Writing-wise – as a beginning, I honestly think 1.01 is close to perfect.

It sets up who these characters are, their personal conflicts, and the story world they share together, and the worlds they have on their own i.e. Ruby at the hospital and the diner, Annie at Fine and Frugal, Beth with Dean and Boland Motors.

Then:

BOOM

Inciting Incident.

The inciting incident is also often called The Point of No Return.

When I’m teaching, I personally like to call it the “You’re a wizard!” moment.

It’s when something happens that means everything set up in the beginning will be changed forever. It’s Romeo meeting Juliet, it’s Katniss volunteering for Prim, it’s Frodo deciding to take the ring to Mordor, it’s Jaimie pushing a child out a window, it’s Beth – deciding to take her little sister’s joke seriously and rob a grocery store.

(Again, I like to use Harry Potter because it’s literal – there is no return for Harry after hearing Hagrid tell him he’s a wizard. Everything is changed forever).

Inciting incidents are probably the most singularly important narrative moment, because they’re what everything else tumbles out of. Pretty much everything that happens in the story should be a direct or indirect result of the inciting incident. The inciting incident is ultimately the key of the story and what should unlock the overall arc.

When it comes to a series – whether that be a TV series, movie series or book series, each individual instalment (see: season of a show) should have its own inciting incident which – preferably – builds off the one established in the first instalment.

The Hunger Games does this really well. Katniss and Peeta being brought back into the games in Catching Fire is both an imitation inciting incident which allows the author to explore the story world further in an exciting way, and also an inciting incident that’s directly borne out of the first book / film – aka Katniss pissed enough people off during the first games that they’re going to try and kill her for real this time, which in turn gives us the opportunity to explore Katniss’ trauma, the ramifications of her actions in the first book on the broader story world, and to generate a new, compelling chapter based off of both.

Good Girls has a terrific inciting incident in s1 – which is Beth realising she’s about to lose everything.

That is our narrative point of no return.

And it works on a lot of levels – it establishes Beth as the driving engine of the story, fuelled by the chorus motivations of Annie and Ruby, rounding off both their collective and individual stakes, it sets us up for a strong narrative spine and solid characterisations.

Good Girls actually also has a terrific inciting incident in s2, which operates strongly on its own while also building firmly off the character arcs of s1.

The s2 inciting incident is Rio showing up on that park bench with Marcus, a gun and an order.

The story pivots here – giving Rio a lot of narrative thrust (get your minds out of the gutter kids), and making him a sort of secondary story engine. The core engine is still Beth, but her life is different now. She’s been traumatised and she’s exhausted, but Rio revealing his son to the girls (and tying their motivations up together in a neat little package) while forcing her to act, re-establishes her as the person who’s decisions are going to be the driving force of the narrative.

Ruby and Annie are, of course, story engines in their own right too, but they fall into line behind Beth usually, and their narrative push is actually usually away from the story throughline, but we’ll talk about that in a sec.

Rising Tension / The Middle

Okay, this is where things get a little tricky.

Do you remember this guy?

When we talk about stories, rising tension / the middle is the big guy. It’s the bulk of your narrative. It’s Where Things Happen. It’s where all the ugly stuff set up in your beginning and exploded by your inciting incident just - - grows a life of it’s own.

Or - -

Well.

Maybe not.

Forget about this guy.

Rising tension is this:

Rising tension is a series of ‘mini climaxes’ on the way to the main climax that raises the stakes, lets you know characters better, and pushes your characters onwards to the main climax.

Each of these little climaxes should be followed by a ‘narrative rest’. (that’s the dip after each spike)

Which - - I don’t know, might sound weird? I know when I started writing I was like ?? but it’s true! The closer you get to a big narrative climax, the more important rests are! Rests are – I personally think – one of the most important components of storytelling, because they re-ground an audience, remind them of what’s at stake, before thrusting everyone back into danger.

Again, Harry Potter is a gift in this sense because this is all really clearly paced out. Think about the first instalment – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry and Ron save Hermione and Ron from the troll!!!

Then they become friends and enjoy school and quidditch.

Harry loses control of his broom during a quidditch game!!!!

He’s okay and then it’s Christmas and Harry gets the invisibility cloak and feels connected to his parents for perhaps the first time in his life.

Harry, Hermione and Ron go through the trapdoor to get the philosopher’s stone!!!

And - - okay, you get the point.

Each mini climax ups the stakes, but we feel those stakes upped because of the time we spend with characters during the ‘narrative rest’. For instance, while Harry and Ron saving Hermione from the troll might have sparked an interest in her, it’s the narrative rest scenes between that and her setting Snape on fire during the quidditch game that makes us invest in her as a character. 

This is where things get a bit hairy with Good Girls. Good Girls does a tremendous job of giving us both great climaxes and wonderful moments of narrative rest. The issue, for me at least, is that it’s not always the best at balancing them. When I talk about escalation and pacing, this is a big part of what I mean.

Remember how I said this was the shape of a story?

Well, I think Good Girls s2 looked more like this:

We had a lot of solid movement in the first half of the season that sort of flattened out into a lower stakes, more meandering middle (which gave us 2.08 through 2.12). Which - -

Look.

The story changed gear, and it didn’t work.  

Think of it this way:

2.01 – mostly character-based fallout from s1 + inciting incident of Rio handing them the gun

2.02 – almost entirely rising tension culminating with the girls bribing Boomer and Beth lying to Rio

2.03 – which thrusts us straight back into rising tension with the girls trying to kill Boomer and ‘succeeding’ via Mary Pat

2.04 – which gives us a very satisfying narrative rest as we explore Rio and Beth’s relationship outside of an overall narrative thrust – he gives her a key, she shies away from him, only to fall entirely back into him culminating in sex which itself brings about a new climax (no pun intended!) in the scene with Beth, Rio and Dean at the dealership. It’s also a strong character episode in closing certain plot threads – ending Annie and Greg’s relationship + ending Ruby lying to Stan about what they’re doing – while establishing major new threads – i.e. really colliding Turner and Mary Pat.

2.05 – and after the rest, we’re back to almost entirely satisfying rising tension! Building off of the threat of finding Boomer’s body and the new tensions that Rio and Beth’s intimacy brings.

2.06 – a mix episode! Very much building to the strong climax of Beth seizing power, but also an episode that plays around with character, has a lot of strong ‘rest’ moments i.e. the girls sorting pills and talking which gives us a lot of information as to state of minds, etc.

2.07 – again, very strong mixed episode which is focused on one single, extreme climax – Jane being missing, but building a very character-centric episode around it. Also introduces Noah though? Which is a mistake. He should have been introduced - I think, in 2.05, but that feels like a whole other post.

2.08 – narratively speaking the same as 2.07 in the sense of a single climax (the girls failing to get the money back / the Beth-Ruby confrontation), but has the added bonus of flashbacks.

2.09 – we have a slight narrative thrust with the robbery of the Quick Cash but it proves very quickly to be low stakes. This is an alllll emotional stakes episode, which means narrative tension is slowing.  

2.10 – again, a character-focused, narrative rest episode devoted to Beth struggling with getting square. A few small climaxes – Annie and Ruby in Canada and Turner at the dealership being the big ones, but both quickly prove toothless. The heft / strength of the episode again is in character moments, not narrative thrust. Again - slowing it down. 

2.11 – oh, what do we have here? Another character-focused, narrative rest episode? I love this episode – it’s one of my favourites of the show, but it’s intensely character focused. Very much centred in waving away the smoke around both Noah and Rio for Annie and Beth respectively. No dramatic climaxes. Slowing the story down even further. 

2.12 – another narrative rest episode. A lot of slow exposition of Mary Pat and Jeff, which is good to know, but I’d argue placed badly in the season. This season’s already been slowing down despite the narrative timeline tightening, but this episode only further pushes on the brakes for Dean’s new job, Beth and Dean’s divorce, Beth and Rio’s break up. Two very small climaxes - the lawyer telling Ruby he knows about the money and the Boomer reveal but - in the context of the season - actually pretty low stakes. Again. Slowing down the narrative. 

2.13 – A BIG CLIMAX EPISODE WHAT IS GOING ON???

What I’m saying in this is that the pacing in the back half of the season was, to me at least, fundamentally off. They hadn’t steered a strong enough narrative spine to take us through the season, and got heavily invested in character moments and not-entirely-thought-out-fallout in the back half of the season – it didn’t understand it’s own narrative thrust well enough to get us through. It also established a certain pacing with us in the first half of the season and shifted gears halfway through.

You can’t have your first three or six episodes be high-stakes-high-action, and then make the back end of your season same-stakes-low-action and top it all off with an explosive, poorly built-up finale in the way that they did.

There wasn’t enough thrust to push us through to the scene in Rio’s loft – neither narratively or in a character sense, and as a result, those last few episodes fall apart. Even beyond that though, the season escalated quickly then - - didn’t really know what to do with those escalations? It plateaued, which is indicative of bad pacing across the season. 

I actually do think it’d be a relatively easy fix? I’d bring the Noah arc forwards and actually fiddle with the Beth and Rio break ups - get one even closer the tinale and make it more painful. Make it a climax in itself. 

But anyway, haha: 

The Resolution

All stories have a resolution too of course.

The resolution can be 30 seconds or 30 minutes – it’s a time to tie up loose ends and to reassure your audience that the journey they’ve been on is worthwhile.

(After all – you’ll notice the story diagram is not symmetrical – we never finish where we began).

I’m not going to talk too much about resolutions because at the end of the day – resolutions should fall fairly naturally out of your beginning, your inciting incident, your rising tension. It should tumble out like the double wedding at the end of Pride and Prejudice, but I will say that the s2 resolution was...err, not good. In no small part because it didn’t fall out of what we’d been told all season. They’d established a certain throughline and then taken it back, and that was nagl to be honest. 

On the plus side though - it wasn’t a finale, so I have my fingers crossed they can fix it!

But yes, back to your ask, anon. 

No, I don’t think that the writers were pandering. I think they went in with a sketched outline and that they probably got lost in the back end of the season and weren’t quite sure how to drum up the final act, which meant that final act didn’t work.

Ah, this post got so long! I hope it wasn’t boring or too self-indulgent or silly, and that you got something out of it! I am, of course, always happy to answer writing questions, and I hope you liked reading my story ramblings ;-) 

#writing posts #gg season 2 #welcome to my ama

[ree-duh]

I just watched After™ and it was bad so here's a run through so no one else has to suffer:

Okay so it opens with the main girl tessa going to her new college dorm with her mom and Noah. Noah is her boyfriend but they look related so the opening is a little weird when they kiss without introduction

They get to the dorm and see the bad girl™ that is gonna be her roommate. The girl is fine and friendly but the mom is pissed cause she doesn't want her precious girl to be corrupted by the slutty bad girls at the college and I say slutty cause in the books that's what Tessa says all the time

Tessa dresses like a Mormon on her first day of class,,, like literally girl wore the shit Bella was supposed to wear when she first met the Cullens,,, like a long ass skirt for no reason

Now we're getting into meeting the one D boys so here's a handy little screenshot to show the corresponding characters

On her first day tessa the dork ass loser shows up hella early to the class and meets Landon Liam and they become friends I guess but like this movie has like no development so we don't really see them becoming friends

An important thing to note is that Landon is black okay that's important because this movie had the audacity to pull a spiderman homecoming

Okay moving on tessa gets peer pressured into going to a party to like hang out with her roommates friends

Here we meet Hardin or otherwise known as the biggest asshole you'll ever see, molly who will be a slutty romantic rival for tessa the pure virgin and Zed

Zed is white in this??? Or atleast I think he is??? and I have no idea why??? Also he wears really slutty clothes and it's a weird detail

They play truth or dare and the find out tessa is a virgin and then she's dared to kiss hardin and it's all weird and stilted and bad because Hardin looks and talks like a serial killer

The next day Hardin shows up in tessas class and gives bad hot takes about how Elizabeth in pride and prejudice was throwing herself at darcy because she wants something interesting to happen in her boring life and it's all just a thinly veiled metaphor for him and tessa

Tessa finds out landons mom is engaged to Hardins dad and that Hardin is mad about it

Tessa gets talked into going to the middle of the woods with Hardin and it's so creepy like,,,, he's genuinely scary so I didn't want him taking her to a secluded location bUT it turns out it's a lake and it's his spot™

Dude just strips and dives into the lake and talks tessa into doing it too but she wears his shirt over her underwear so she's modest or whatever

Then they are about to leave and homeboy like,,, starts moving his hand down her stomach and it's uncountable beCAUSE you remember tessa HAS A BOYFRIEND

After getting dressed they go to a bar and Zed and molly meet up with them and it's all awkward cause Hardin basically tells her to leave and THEN TELLS HER HE DOESNT DATE EVEN THO WE KNOW SOMETHING IS UP

Fast forward because this movie is boring Noah visits tessa and he's sleeping in her dorm with her until tessa gets a call from Landon saying he needs help,,,

So she leaves her sleeping boyfriend to help ,,, and what was it he needed help with you ask??? Well Hardin got drunk which was something he said he doesn't do due to his tragic past and he's like just wreckin shit in his house

Him and Tessa end up doing stuff but don't go all the way but it's still like waaaay more than anything she did with her boyfriend,,, you know the one she ditched in the middle of the night,,, well he sees her the next morning and like leaves her because he deserves better honestly

Imma skip some stuff cause it's just boring ass montages

So you know how I said Landon was important well,,, his mom and hardins dads wedding reception is going on and Hardin invites Tessa

So this reception is going on and we finally meet landons mom and like,,, she's white and I just didn't see that coming and I don't know why it's just like in homecoming except this bit is worthless

Hardins dad tells Tessa about some publication place that'd be interested in working with her

Oh and Hardin says this bit about how his dad used to be a drunk piece of shit and Tessa was like but at least he's trying and Hardin is like but that doesn't mean I should forget that he wronged me and it's like hmmmmm,,,, let's put a pin in it

After that whole thing they're both comfortable with each other but then Tessas mom just busts in on Tessa and Hardin making out in her dorm and it's like,,,, how did you get in there???

And she tells Tessa to leave that bad boy™ or else she'll be cut off,,,

So tessas homeless now,,, but don't worry out bad boy got them an apartment that both of them will live in and for a moment it's all fun and games and tessa even feels comfortable enough to sleep with him

BUT THEN

Hardin starts acting shady and he like starts avoiding her and she thinks he's cheating on her with molly cause he was texting her about telling Tessa something

So Tessa being Tessa she tries finding out what's going on and she finds molly and it all comes out because turns out Hardin

DUN DUN DUUUUUUU

Only persuade Tessa original as part of a dare to prove he could take her virginity

In the books he keeps the sheets that they did it on and the c*nd*m as proof and in the books Zed was supposed to be part of the dare too but legit he got no screen time so they could really do that in this

Tessa runs out and she goes back home to tell her mom she was right and to apologise to Noah and then she goes to get a job at a publishing place or smthn

On the final assignment for her Lit class the teacher gives her Hardins assignment and is like uhh I think this was meant for you and it's like,,,??? You can't just do that???? And it turns out to be like a love letter to Tessa and it's all awful cause he's a terrible person

#ri✨talks #after #after movie #hardin scott #harry styles #i think thats everything

[the-kipsabian]

OkAY I LOOKED AT THEM SO IM JUST GONNA ASK FOR ANYTHING ABOUT THESE BABIES SINCE OHMYGOD EVERYONE IS SO AMAZING AND I COULDNT PICK THEM ALL: I wanna know some headcanons/facts/details about Noah, Raen, Isaiah and Nerita!! Random bunch but I just love their designs and I shall request more but I don’t wanna spam ya so p l e a s e tell me about these babies if you can!! 💕🌸💕🌸💕🌸💕

AAAAA THAKN YOU FOR THESE ily

noah is a soft boi tho. hes pretty much always tired and hes shy as heckaroo, which often makes it harder for him to come along with others. he tends to (and to some degree likes it too) become invisible when theres a lot of people around, and doesnt draw attention to himself pretty much at all, if thats in any way possible for him in the situation. most often you’d see him pulling his tail close to his body, trying to make himself even smaller than he already is

raen is a big sweetie! shes a shapeshifter who can shift into a deer and vice versa, tho even in human form her antlers are always visible! shes studying to become a botanist and loves flowers and forests and all things green pretty much. she might come across as really shy at first, but when she gets used to the people around her (and she does that quite fast too!), she laughs and smiles a lot and can get very loud, but tbh most people just think its adorable cause her laugh is just so pure and sing song-y. also she loves pastel colors a LOT ~

isaiah is a demon boy! hes a newer one to my group so i dont have much together for him yet (and looking at it now i might chance the group hes involved in a story with too hmm), but hes a demon that loves all kind of mischievous pranks and just messing around with people a lot. he has nothing short of a hot temper and if someone pisses him off even slightly, he will let them feel it. if its something more serious, he will get physical, but if its something smaller and he just gets ticked off, he’ll pull a pack of shitty pranks on you to put you back into your place. also he doesnt listen to his elder demons cause hes a dick like that lol

aaaand nerita! your super friendly neighborhood bartender/karaoke host! she loves singing, and can get very competitive about it too, so if the bar shes working at is having a karaoke contest for the night, shes more than likely to slip in a couple of songs on her own too cause she just needs that spotlight to be on her at least once a night. she loves flashy lights and loud music and is. probably also at least somewhat skilled dancer, having spent most of her life in clubs with various activities tbh

#oc: nerita #oc: isaiah #oc: raen #oc: noah #aaaaaa thank you so much for asking! <3 #all my soft smol beans ahhhh thank u for letting me yell <33 #shinrijeu #thank you for asking! <3

[vanishcd]

6.17 liveblog under the cut

(I actually mostly liked this episode. And then the last 5 minutes fucked it up)

yeah honestly skipping past the j.ethan scenes i literally dont fucking care

-

SCOTTS LISTENING TO MELISSA SURGERY

BABY NO PLEASE DONT DO THAT TO YOURSELF

-

scott and malia </3

-

SCOTT AND MELISSA </3

-

yup I already gotta pause it cause im crying

-

MELISSA, RAF, LYDIA, AND MASON

HEY SCUM

3 OUT OF 4 PEOPLE YOU FUCKING SHOT WERE HUMAN

GO TO HELL 

-

DO NOT

HURT

THE PEOPLE

SCOTT LOVES

YOU REALLY THINK THATS A GOOD PLAN

YEAH HE’LL COME AT YOU

PISSED AND READY TO DEFEND EVERYONE

AND HE’LL FUCKING WIN

YOU’RE ABOUT TO LOSE THIS WAR GERARD AND I HOPE YOU GET TO LIVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE KNOWING YOU CANT FUCKING BEAT SCOTT AND HIS PACK

I HOPE GERARD LIVES JUST SO HE CAN FUCKING SUFFER, BECAUSE DYING IN THIS WOULD BE TOO DAMN NOBLE IN HIS PERPECTIVE

-

Scott talking to Deucalion is

he’s giving off calm, powerful alpha vibes and I love it

-

“Whats gonna stop me from slashing your throat? --...How’d you do that?”

Amazing

-

SO DEUCALION’S AN AIRBENDER NOW

-

Scott looking on with arms crossed like “this cant end well”, I love it

-

“buhgwah”

-

wow malia. yikes

-

“You might need to lower your standards for allies” “...Thought I was”

THAT EYE ROLL THO

SCOTT MCCALLS SASS IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD STILES AND I ARE SO PROUD

-

skip!

-

“You think we’re all killers? Maybe we should be!”

LIAM NO

-

FINALLY Someone calls Theo out

-

“Might wanna remember what Scott’s goal has been all along. Keep people alive”

Theo has a point, which proves that hes not redeemed nor good and is his same old manipulative self because that deflect-with-the-truth crap is the same shit he did to the pack in s5

(I love this btw. Theo manipulating and sidestepping and playing sides so he doesnt get hurt is super great)

-

Stilinski’s interrogating/intimidation skills

Im impressed

the apple doesnt fall far from the tree, Stiles would do this exact kind of thing for interrogation

-

ok

Monroe’s straight up stupid

to take the info Stilinski gave her

and instead of going “Its Gerards fault i got hurt?” or even just being on the fence

she sticks to

its your fault because you didnt protect me”

like bitch he just told you WHY

youre stupid and just like Gerard you THINK youre so smart and educated and a mastermind

and Scott McCall is going to take you down

-

HE LIED BECAUSE IF PEOPLE KNEW THE TRUTH THEYD FREAK

KINDA LIKE WHAT YOURE DOING RN

-

“Youre an ineffective sheriff making wrong choices”

I WILL FUCKING END TAMARA MONROE MYSELF

-

...so can I make a Silent Hill joke yet with the icy hospital oooooor

-

why is her hospital gown all wonky tho

-

Scott ripping the gun out of that guys hands and throwing him against the wall

was hot

-

“no one makes it through a war with clean hands!”

I mean, he’s made it against plenty of others

-

“this is my station now”

bitch what the fuck

-

GET AWAY FROM STILINSKI

AND SOMEONE CALL STILES BECAUSE HES PISSED

-

“I never said Gerard wouldnt beat me. I said he wouldnt beat Scott”

THATS WHAT LOYALTY LOOKS LIKE

STANDING APPLAUSE FOR NOAH STILINSKI

-

first thought

orange and blue

-

“I dont want your stupid car”

I CANT TELL IF THAT WAS FUNNY OR SAD, ITS BOTH, HELP

-

how are there so many packs in BH they dont know about? You’d think Argent at least wuld have mentioned them...

exactly how big is BH to be holding all these supernaturals anyway? Seriously

-

calling it now, Monroe is the other half

-

LYDIA

-

“Why are there two of these bodies” “Because the Anuk-Ite has two faces”

okay. backup. what? how does that logic follow?

-

its fucking Monroe

-

ok

I know a lot of stydias ranting about how we got ripped off because Its Okay “was supposed to be a stydia song” and to that I say “this is why you dont speculate on every little thing”

BUT

as much as I ship s.colia, as much as I love how theyve developed

WE DO NOT. NEED. A FALLING IN LOVE MONTAGE. MOSTLY WITH MOMENTS. WE’VE JUST SEEN THIS SEASON.

Meanwhile S.tydias going to get NOTHING after getting together after 6 seasons and then being dropped off the map with few mentions

this SHOULD be a s.tydia scene

because s.colia do not need this scene

fro a pure storytelling aspect it doesnt belong

and from a viewer-hoping-for-both-ships its a slap in the face

just. no.

-

also. that felt weirdly like the s.cira kiss with the montage. :\ again, writers ripping off previous seasons.....

-

aaaaand I dont care

okay bye

#ooc #liveblog

[midsummerreads-archive]

Author & Event Spotlight

The Event: Nemesis Book Launch

Where: Barnes and Noble at the Arboretum, Charlotte NC When: Tuesday, March 21 Who: Brendan Reichs and Renée Ahdieh

This was by far one of the most original panel discussions I’ve ever attended for a book launch, and it might be one of my favorites!  Brendan came prepared with a list of random questions for him and Renée to start off the event.  Those in attendance were treated to a lively conversation where we learned that Brendan’s least favorite word is Pamphlet and Renée’s is one that rhymes with “oist,” although I think everyone dislikes that word (not just you, Brad!).  Both authors told about their Hogwarts houses, Brendan apparently tried to rig the quiz to get Gryffindor, but still ended up a Ravenclaw (Yaaaaas!) with an Eagle Owl patronus (#Same).  Renée is a proud Slytherin, who used to lie about being a Gryffindor, apparently a very Slytherin thing to do and the patronus of a rat, which she is fine with because Ratatouille.

My favorite part of this part was that after asking the audience to choose a number between 1 and 50, they took turns reading a small snippet from each other’s newest releases to the crowd. Someone hollered out 23, so I got this part on video for everyone! They then followed up with a brief summary of their inspiration for these books and what they are about. You can definitely tell these two are good friends and are hilarious together.

After asking each other a few rounds of questions about their books, Brendan was equipped with a Polar Express Conductors hat full of random rapid fire questions for himself and Renée, and coincidentally, those of us in the front row. Some of these conductor questions included Magic Wand or Light Saber, Hogwarts Headmaster or Starfleet Captian, Ghost or Ghostbuster, Prehistoric Times or the year 3010, and on and on.  It was pretty fun and I think it allowed the audience to feel more engaged, although I’m a bit partial since I was able to do the participating.

Brendan and Renée then signed books for the crowd (and there was an impressive one!).  Check out more photos below sprinkled between my interview with the star of the evening, Brendan Reichs!

Midsummer Reads (MSNR): Thanks so much for sitting down with me, are you excited?

Brendan Reichs (BR): I’ve very excited, tonight is the first night I’ve ever done a book event for Nemesis, so it’s a big deal.

MSNR: Yes! And it’s in your hometown.

BR: It is, it’s fun to do it at home. It’s actually a little nerve wracking to do it at home just because you know a lot of people in the audience, so it’s not like having that distance you have with a normal crowd, but it’ll be great.

MSNR: Are a lot of people you know coming?

BR: Uh, they better.

MSNR: That’s how I would be; Uh, I’d better see you or someone’s going to get hurt.

BR: I’m taking names.

MSNR: So this book is super complex.

BR: It is.

MSNR: I was reading it and I was like, SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING. Could you describe it in one sentence to a reader?

BR: I actually try. That’s why it was so hard to actually sell the idea because trying to describe it was too crazy to get it into one sentence. Basically…

MSNR (interrupting because I’m rude): You can describe it in a run-on sentence

BR: I would describe Nemesis as Min is a girl at 16 years old and every two years on her birthday she is murdered by the same person except she doesnt die like a normal person, instead she wakes up about a half a mile away without a scratch on her every single time. So on her 16th birthday after she’s been murdered for the 5th time she’s finally had enough and decides she needs to figure this out.  No one is really paying attention to her because there’s this world wide calamity going on where there’s an asteroid heading towards the planet and no one knows when it’s going to hit. And there’s this bit national/international human existence story going on. So there’s very little attention being paid to the trials of a teenager in Idaho.

MSNR (Interrupting, again, because I’m the worst): Right, because no one pays attention to teenagers.

BR: Right, exactly. And there’s another character, and this book has been fun because it’s the first time I’ve written a male point of view in my career, so Noah is having the same things happen to him except that he’s a little bit less stable than Min.  He’s a – kind of one of those guys that on the outside he – he’s a rich kid and she’s a poor kid – he’s trying to keep everything together but really he is a mess. Because he’s been having the same thing happen to him but he doesn’t trust himself to know that it’s even real. So these two things are happening and they eventually decide and they start to investigate that everyone around them starts to be suddenly implicated and you can’t trust anyone. And they find out that they might be at the center of a vast government conspiracy that may implicate all life on Earth.

MSNR: That is a big run on sentence. I’m okay with it.

BR: Yes, it is.

MSNR: So when I was reading it, I found it to be kind of a commentary on human emotion and the way that human nature really plays into the certain aspects of the two characters, specifically, and how they react to this outside force that’s coming onto them.  Very much like Lord of the Flies, like, they are put in this situation, how are they going to react?

BR: That is an essential influence, and I think the publisher likes to use the tagline of “Orphan Black meets Lord of the Flies,” which is an interesting combination, but there’s no good parallel anyway. But that’s what you want and I appreciate that you say that, because you want the story to be about the characters. Ultimately there’s a lot of plot going on in this book and if you stick with it it will all unwind itself, but it winds up pretty heavily at the beginning where you’re not really supposed to know what the hell is going on for a large portion of the book, and then it’s really good that it’s supposed to be centered on the characters because ultimately that’s where every story either fails or survives is on how good the characters are, because the best plot in the world doesn’t survive if you don’t care what happens. So I spent a lot of time trying to put the characters together, I hate the term strong female protagonist because that implies that your female antagonist has to be masculine or different in a way, you know, I just like to think of her as a strong person, and it shouldn’t be noteworthy that she is female, and it was interesting to get to write a male character’s perspective, although I’ve not read the entire breadth of YA, but I’d never read a YA where the male lead was basically kind of a mess.

(Literally this whole time I’m nodding my head and agreeing, because Brendan has taken over the interview **in a good way**) 

BR (continued): So i thought that would be fun because that’s normally assigned to a female character, so you get to overcome their internal difficulties, which can be boring, but what if this is a 15 to 16 year old boy who is putting the good face out there but doesn’t really have an idea of what he is doing with his life. I mean what is happening to him and stuff. So that was the motivation for that. If you like the characters then that’s exactly what I’m about.

MSNR: I actually assigned them songs: Um, I put Min as being very much like Titanium by David Guetta and Sia.

BR: That’s very good.

MSNR: And then I put Noah as more of the Bleachers, I don’t know if you’ve heard of them, um, Jack Antonoff, and it’s called I Wanna Get Better. It’s about mental health and screaming at himself “I wanna get better,” I want to be better than this, and that’s kind of exactly how I see Noah.

BR: Somewhere in the blogosphere (*waves* hey everyone!) there’s a, and I believe it’s for YA Highway, I’d have to look it up, but I did make two playlists. On the Min Playlist, the first song is a Halsey song, because when I listened to her album that just clicked to me, I was like, this is that kind of angry but not a pushover type vibe that I was getting. Like she was pissed off and isolated, but she’s also not asking for favors.

MSNR: Which I really like. Because sometimes girls are perceived as being, you know, weak and asking for help a lot. At least in the South, which is what I grew up with.

BR: And there’s some great YA being written right now with female lead characters, so this is in no way sort of any genre defining effort, just that in the beginning the came fully formed to me, and that she would be isolated and damaged by what had happened to her, but NEVER broken by it. Just that she’s a fighter and she stays that way even though it does have it’s affects. YOu know she acts like she has no friends..

MSNR: Awe, but I like Tack though. Even though he never knows when to shut up.

BR: No, he doesn’t And Tack is sort of my character, and every one of my books that I write, there’s basically one character that’s sort of me talking through the book, you know what I would say in each situation, because I’m kind of a smart ass that doesn’t know when to be quiet either, and that’s sort of Tack in this book.  He’s basically saying the things that I would be saying when I shouldn’t be, you know, running my mouth.

MSNR: Honestly there’s a little bit of all of us in Tack, probably, especially when we were teenagers and never knowing quite when to be quiet.

THIS IS THE SPOT WHERE WE TALK ABOUT SPOILERY THINGS. 

PROMISED BRENDAN IT WOULD BE OFF THE RECORD *SINGS* LALALALALALA

BR: This was the last piece that fell into place for the book. I’m a big planner and when you write books like this that are so plot oriented they have to make sense and you have to keep track of what’s happening.

Matchy-matchy!

MSNR: So let’s just refer to it as “The Twist,” so where you plotting the book and then “the twist,” fell in or you were influenced by outside research?

BR: Most of the time the best ideas that come to me when I’m writing come to me about 2/3rds of the way through the first draft. This is when I’ve been living with the idea for about two months, and I’ll wake up one day, and typically in the shower, it will come to me and will have connected overnight. And this was one of the last pieces to come in and it was really three book ideas that all really came together in this crazy boo, which is why it’s so overbaked in terms of that there’s so much in it and because I had all this stuff and I managed to slot it all in together.

MSNR: I know, but I like that it has so much in it because it keeps you on your toes. I literally had to put it down to go to sleep, and I was so concerned about trying to figure out what was happening!

BR: And this is the stuff that I like to read…

Renée Ahdieh (RA)  shows up being adorable: Totally crashing!

MSNR: Hi, how are you!

RA: Good, how are you?

MSNR: Good!

RA (to BR): What’s up, how are you feeling?

BR: Good, good.

MSNR: This is weird, but you smell really good. (I still think this is weird but I had to keep this in haha)

BR: She always smells good, it’s a signature.

RA (wanders away, being fabulous): *laughing at us* I do like that.

MSNR: So, I’m not going to lie. The guy in the black suit? I totally pictured him as Agent Smith from the Matrix the whole time, and maybe that’s because I grew up with the Matrix, but yeah.

BR: No, that’s fair. And for our generation it would be an Agent Smith type- I mean- for me he looks a little different. Although for me, and this is probably not something I should admit to an audience, but I find the way the character looks, and in the book I’m consistent in the way the character looks but in my head that’s never how the character looks.  it’s just a weird dissonance that no one’s ever called out before because no one knows what things look like in my head.

MSNR: In my head he looked like Agent Smith.

BR: Right, for me he’s more of a Guy Pierce, but yeah you know it’s like a flat hair, flat face individual. And I just finished drafting the second draft of the sequel…

MSNR: So we are going to learn more about the project?

BR: It gets darker and deeper and a lot of the Lord of the Flies aspects are really going to come to the fore, because one of the questions I was dealing with was, the main premise, which was that I wanted to fight the finality of death, and what if death was not final; but not in like a zombie way or a ghost way or a resurrection way, but legitimately if it just didn’t work. Like, you died but you didn’t.

MSNR: As long as Tack isn’t Piggy the whole time.

BR: Right. Well, there’s a lot of, and you know I read Lord of the Flies, and you realize only two people die in that.

MSNR: Yes, but you get it.

BR: But they played it and it’s so beautifully written and you get their dissent. And with my book, I’m hoping to get that same thing, but also that a lot of people die. Because you know with Min’s experience in this book, death has not been permanent and that is such a central question. How would you deal with that? How do you deal with the idea that something that you know should be the end of something isnt? And you can’t really control it?

MSNR: I think the last question I have for you, because I don’t want to keep you too long, is that why you decided to do it on their birthdays, and you know not on…

BR: That is a question that will be revealed, and there’s a lot of little detail strings that are still out there and that’s because you don’t really know at the end of Nemesis, what is next. This book leads you to a point, but it doesn’t take you past that.  And a careful reader would ask themselves, “wait, why was this happening,” but I haven’t gotten to that yet.  That’s a great answer. You know if I didn’t answer it, “Oh, it’s in book 2!” And then I’m like, will you write that down and send it to me? Just in case I made a mistake.

MSNR: When can we expect book two?

BR: Uh, it should be a year. I mean I’m putting in the drafts now so I expect roughly the same time next year.  You know, we don’t have much say. I really like Spring releases, which you never know, but I assume it would be next spring.

MSNR: Well, thank you so much for talking with me!

BR: No, thank you so much.

MSNR: It was so good to meet you in person!

BR: Good to meet you too, and I’ll see you..

MSNR: Yep, you’ll see me in a few minutes!

  A huge and special thanks to Brendan Reichs, Penguin Teen, and Renée Ahdieh for the event on March 21.

Nemesis is available NOW! Go pick up a copy.

    Author & Event Spotlight was originally published on A Midsummer Night's Read

#Author Interview #Author Spotlight #Blog Tour #Book Review #Bookish #Brendan Reichs #Flame in the Mist #Jessica Lee #NC Authors #Nemesis #Penguin Teen #Renee Ahdieh #YA Lit #Young Adult #midsummer reads #young adult #ya lit #i read ya #i love ya #book blogger #booklr #bookstagram #bookish #bibliophile #jessica lee #lyvie

[survivorelara]

Episode #8: “These horny ass giraffes” - Drew H.

Well, I'm a big flopping mess, I fell asleep and failed to vote. ADDITIONALLY, Dani was the one sent home, which nobody even told me was gonna be a thing. Like Loris mildly mentioned it to me, but I didn't take that to mean that 3/4 of the merge was gonna vote Dani out.

I realize that John and Dani didn't even vote Ci'ere which was supposedly the plan, so it's good to know that John is someone I can really rely on... NOT.

I'm more frustrated with myself though because I should be capable of more than I was. I'm feeling on the outs though, because I don't even know where the Roxy votes came from.

This game is a fucking mess for me.

https://youtu.be/0k5pTCBa_1M

"heuse1acToday at 10:42 PM No idea! The fact that john was put in the mix is really interesting though bc he easily could've just jumped the alliance i accidentally screenshotted a million years ago So that makes me think loris might be a part of that conversation bc he's the only one who would like have that mindset of including john bc he saw the flip firsthand And we all definitely used that joint tribal and the lie as a talking point so it'd be easy enough to say we still have emotions about it, even without proof That's just my read on it tho, i have no proof. But if it was him, that would explain why you were targeted of the 4 of us bc he really does seem to have something against you asdfghjkl"

why does this sound so fishy to me like he is hard core tunneling Loris. Makes me super sus nnn

"DrachusToday at 12:05 AM god If we go f2 somehow We'll be the most hated f2 I can't wait "

ok i love you drachus but fuck he totally plans to drag me as a gaot doesnt he lol

Okay, operation get Roxy to blame Loris for the target last night is in full effect. Do I think he's the one who actually put Roxy's name out there by spreading stories that she was targeting Ci'ere? Eh maybe, leaning probably not. But Roxy has it in her mind that Loris has a vendetta against her, and there is JUST BARELY enough loose strings to thread together into a convincing enough forgery. Loris being targeted eventually is needed because of how close he is with Andrea and how much I'm sure he will never give up resenting the fact that he prob would've been next on swapped Auva. And end of the day, if we fail, Roxy is the one who leaves and that opens a lot of doors for me that a "leaked alliance" is holding firmly closed.

I took a goodnight's rest before really pursuing making this confessional. Not getting rid of Sam earlier in this game was the biggest mistake of every player in this merge. I love Samuel to death, probably my favorite straight male ever (sorry Jack and Seamus), but the boy really woke up during the last 24 hours of this game.

Not only he successfully convinced everyone to vote his way, he temporarily bridged the feud between Ci'ere and Dani for a brief moment to get the numbers and all of the votes turned for Dani. He claims that he didn't know that Ci'ere will call myself, Drew H., Roxy and John out- but after that joint tribal- anyone who had any part with the old Zosma tribe is treacherous.

Where does this confessional lead? Well I tell you, Sam perfected the under-the-radar strategy during the premerge portion of this game AND got everyone to vote his way just so that he can get revenge for her bitchy attitude. I literally have to give any and all credit to that boy for that last round because that was pure genius because it got my Auvas and John to be EXTREMELY more pissed off at Ciere while he is controlling that emotional mess by the strings. Amazing. But it is time to plot his demise.

Everyone in this game is damned fake and transparent it makes me sick. I'm tired of people trying to pass off not being aligned with others when it's painfully obvious.

Drew H. tried to pass off him and Roxy being a 1 time thing... despite voting together the entire game so far.

Loris was briefly entertaining the idea of voting Ci'ere though he was obvious about reservations... 1 tribal later, Ci'ere is using an idol. (Though he didn't get any votes so it's whatever.) Now Loris is saying we need Ci'ere to stay. Which is whatever I guess, but to me it's like ok you two are clearly a F2 or something, there is more to this than I'm being told.

John, didn't even vote Ci'ere when it was his idea, but he hasn't told me anything about the past tribal which is beyond infuriating.

I feel like I'm floating, in the middle of the ocean without a raft, and I can swim and float for a little while, but it feels like the sharks are coming from somewhere no matter how I disguise myself in the water.

Noah fence but I wanted to get kori out since they’re so good at comps but now we might never get the chance :shrugs:

I don’t think anyone hates me so I think I should be good this vote ?? Watch me catch this blindside

i'm actually so mad right now, I knew one of those two had the idol... and ci'ere said he found it on his very first guess with 39. BITCH 39 WAS LITERALLY MY 2ND GUESS, HOW DOES HE GET THAT LUCKY IM SO SAD I WANTED THAT IDOL :(

Aye, Won a challenge, let's gooooo! Lol, thankfully there was a score reasonably close to mine, so I didn't look like I utterly destroyed the challenge.

I also got that idol clue, which I mean eliminated a ton of possibilities. Though it'll be hard to sus out which Non-American astronaut it is. (I'm hoping a future idol clue is that the astronaut isn't Russian so as to eliminate a ton more options.)

I think I'm gonna try for a Dylan boot, because the guy and I almost never talk, he won the last challenge so he's clearly capable in some regards, and he's on OG Auva, and if original tribe lines come up, that'd put us at 5v3v2, though I'm not banking on those lines given the way Loris, and John both act.

Ok so before the last tribal, I thought people would be wanting to vote for Ci'ere. Then later Ci'ere starts going off in the tribe chat saying to vote for Roxy because she has an alliance with the Drews and myself. And in his tribal question he basically calls me out saying tribal lines have already been crossed because of the fact that I voted against Revati the round before. BOI you weren't even there so stfu?? Yes there is an alliance but there has legit been no game talk in it, Roxy just made it to ensure I would vote with them, which I was going to in order to get Zach out anyway. I went to a few people to reiterate that fact. I wanted Ci'ere to leave before but now it'd be in his best interest to not speak to me.

Kori won immunity and I fell asleep early because I was tired afff. I wake up, seeing that Kori has apparently gone to all of Revati targeting Dylan. He knows that I really want to target Ci'ere, especially now that he doesn't have immunity, and that I want to work with Dylan. The problem I have with my Revati tribe is that I don't feel too much trust with them as of now. Emma doesn't talk to me, Loris doesn't as much anymore, Kori can be very controlling, and I don't know fully where I stand with Andrea. I will most likely not be voting Dylan out tonight, and if Kori really wants to go to final 2 with me he should respect that. Ci'ere would be my ideal vote tonight but if nobody is going to vote him out, I may end up voting for Emma because if anything I know I've got Drew H. Either way, I think at this point my messiness meter is through the roof so hopefully nothing comes back to bite me in the ass woooo

Andrea telling me that she’s not voting for Emma and that she also doesn’t know who to vote for. I love people indirectly telling me that they’re voting me out

I’m confessing so much but that’s only because I feel like I’m going home today and I need to make a lasting impression so I can win fan favorite 💅🏻💅🏻

Anyway I think I have the votes to stay but if an idol gets played then I’m going home for sure

The original revati idol was never played so I don’t trust this vote at all tbh

Hopefully this isn’t my last confession but if it is then goodbye xoxo

Emma has the idol and loris has the advantage. I am LIVIN I decided to just be honest to everyone and ya we shall see how it goes I still don’t think I can win and Emma told lORIS about to he alliance which is concerning but um idk ok we shall see

Well, it seems likely that John and I will be separating in the near future, he just isn't open to me like he was at the beginning of the game, and I just don't know if I can work with him.

None of my thoughts or ideas seem to gel with him, and it just doesn't seem to be working out.

If people are telling the truth than it should be Dylan going, from there ideally we vote out Drew H, who is a reasonable threat and it ideally throws that whole alliance into chaos.

From there I think I'd want Ci'ere gone, and after that maybe Loris? But we'll see how things go, immunity wins and other events are likely to shakeup the game, to which I'll have to be flexible, so I don't wanna start overplanning just for everything to be thrown out of wack.

yeah so this vote is clearly a Dylan or emma going home scenario. personally im voting Dylan mainly because we have no relationship at all game wise, and emma seems dead loyal to loris and me kinda, which is way more valuable to me than a guy the auva's wanna try and use as a "number." plus, people seem to think emma is kori's free number, which may be true but he was the one pushing for the Dylan vote, which will only turn him into a more visible character which I need in my life right now. yeah after last vote I definitely need to sit back and let other people drive, but I'm all for someone I know im not gonna work with going home this round. I know the drew's wanted emma gone, but I told them straight up I was probably voting Dylan since we have no relationship, but that next vote a green has to go and they seem all for it. so hopefully this is setting me up for a nice ride the next few votes? let's hope oh god inb4 I die next round before single digits ima kms

ALSO SUCK IT DANI MAN YOU THOOOOOOOUGHT I WAS LEAVING THIS ROUND HA BIHHHHH YOU CLUELESS SEE YOU AT FTC!!

man oh man ciere, you really trying it huh. over here threatening my man drew T that he'll be next to go if he doesn't vote emma? that also means ill be in the crosshairs too? nah bruh, we aint having any of it. Dylan is leaving this vote then guess what, you're gonna be blindsided, and oh my god I cant wait to see that happen. should've stuck with me, smh

ciere is REEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYY trying to take control of this vote and get emma out, bruh if that aint obvious idk what is, esp when he hasn't included me in it. why is he here and not toby.... :(

https://youtu.be/H3vuhKG9APE

ok so I swear I wrote this already but woooo Emma has idol I have legacy Andrea is a queen iconic trio I also have a deal to go to the end with Sam ??? Oops. At this point I just feel valued but it’s probably because they realise I’m useless and will not be able to write a speech at FTC and also I’ll just get fucked over because it’s live.... oh well. 5 more tribals to go!! well four but I’m writing this in the future

All my ladies pop your kitty like this, Shake ya body don’t stop don’t miss all mah ladies pop ya kitty like this justto it do it do it do it now do it good luck that kitty just like you should

Dylan is voted out 8-3. 

#episode #flyinghigh

[survivornavarino]

Episode #12: I Don't Want To Jump Ship, but I Might Not Have A Choice -Mitch

"White Flag" - Dido I know you think that I shouldn't still love you, Or tell you that. But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it Where's the sense in that? I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder Or return to where we were But I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be I know I left too much mess and destruction To come back again And I caused nothing but trouble I understand if you can't talk to me again And if you live by the rules of "it's over" Then I'm sure that that makes sense I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be And when we meet Which I'm sure we will All that was there Will be there still I'll let it pass And hold my tongue And you will think That I've moved on.... I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be

im so happy furbies have big fluffy ears so they were able to hear me praying that i wouldn't get rocked out with 2 idols on my birthday. furbies 4 ever <3

So Mo gets rocked out and the universe cries a little bit. I am now alone without someone to trust entirely; Autumn is in a precarious position and Shoib turned on us and is now immune. I love Rebecka and I think I'll stick with her, but in the long run, I don't think either of us are smart thinkers. Eddie is in a weird middle spot for me, I don't trust him fully, but now I feel as though we're lumped together by circumstance. Julia is crazy as usual, and her and Eddie keep butting heads, which is something I want to capitalize on in the future. Meanwhile I hope I'm building a slight rapport with the fans. I'm hoping Jake and I can bond over Nintendo, Heather and I can bond over how not cracked we are, and Trixie... I dunno, maybe I'll draw her a furby. Let's see if I can make it past final 7, or ever final 9. With Shoib immune I imagine he's going to go after Autumn; I might have to join him if he's got the numbers, which... he does. I'm now realizing one of those 5 has an idol, because someone on our side absolutely would have played it on Autumn. Fuck dude. I don't want to jump ship but I might not have a choice.

Wow. Not my ideal choice of going home, but I'll take it. I can't believe we went to rocks. O my Lawd

I love getting nine votes but surviving, losing an ally via rocks, and then losing immunity by a milisecond in the span of 90 minutes https://i.imgur.com/sSWMk6p.gif I feel awful not gonna lie. Mo died so that I could live and I feel so fucking guilty. He deserved better and that level of loyalty is priceless. The way Eddie, MItch, Rebecka, and Mo had my back just now is not only unforgettable but like a deed that I have no clue how to repay. Part of me wishes I had done things differently and the other part is like nah that was so fucking iconic. Julia and Heather are gonna get what's coming to them so like it's fine. Jake is Jake Idk what else to say- I probably shouldn't have gunned for Jake to my real allies but like I don't regret gunning for Jake to my real allies hahaha. Also Shoib can choke for doing Mitch and I dirty like that. The good news is Trixie and I are gonna call tomorrow and I pray that Trixie will see the light. Also Jake and I are hashing it out?? But Idk they all just wrote my name down so watch me still enter jury tomorrow whew. It ain't over though https://images.hellogiggles.com/uploads/2016/09/21054932/eleven.gif

Jeeeezzzz what a round! I went from wanting Julia out to working with her to target Autumn. Honestly I don’t think Autumn ever really wanted to go for Julia this round so i’m surprised Julia believed it but it’s good bc the witches coven are my true home. Eddie lied to me before the vote and tried to get me to vote out Julia saying he wanted to vote her over Autumn and I disagreed and i’m so glad that I did because he lied and they voted Shoib. going to rocks was super scary cus i had no idea what would happen but i knew it was best to take the risk cus i ain’t no pussy bitch. it all worked out perfectly with Mo getting rocked out and he deserved it for being FAKE. now it’s the final 9 and autumn wants me to work with her again but no thanks girl it’s done. 

I drew a Furby to stay alive in this game. I'm trying to bond more with the fans to make it so I'm SO likeable that they won't ever be willing to make a target out of me (: It's going to backfire horrendously, I just know it but I just want to try stuff. I'm desperate after Mo left. http://prntscr.com/iotah2 If this doesn't prove that I want to be in the game, I don't know what will

https://youtu.be/u2hZkETEwBY

Ok so yet again being a comp flop so Shoib won, but like the fans are all working together now??? I still would rather take Julia to the end since she pissed off everyone and I love her. I have to try and make a move this round now. Ill get back to you on how that goes

Jake told me the vote is Mitch but I reallt think that is stupid. Noah fence

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QvJS7Fm5II4

Sooooo aside from my obvious fear of being voted, im afraid of who is gonna vote me. I think I can trust jake and trixie obviously. But aside from this, I am weary of heather all the sudden? She dosen't really wanna vote mitch. But she said she still got my back, so we are just gonna have to see at this point. 

the king is safe, nothing to fear, I don't care who goes home I just need to focus and go back under the radar. I want Autumn out because I think she is a big threat but will keep her around for now if that's what people want. Everyone rn seems to be down on voting Mitch. Also love my supporters going to rocks for me.

I'm almost certain Jake has the idol. Trixie only knew of the idol page and not the advantage page, so I don't think she would have known to keep looking... Heather says she doesn't have it, and I don't think Julia is... equipped to find it. Shoib also lives in the UK so I can only guess he was asleep when we merged. I have to play around Jake now... Not something I'm a fan of. I'm going to have to split votes or something to get him out, but I can't do it now, I'm too vulnerable. Heather and I are getting along and talking game. Jake and I are talking, not game. Trixie and I are starting to talk. I briefly talked to Julia, but did anything deep come out of it? eh Shoib says he doesn't want to come after Autumn and I, which I believe. But he also wants to vote out one of Eddie or Rebecka, and my DAUGHTER is NOT going ANYWHERE So Eddie might die. Julia might die. Whom knows

This little torch of mine, I'm gonna let it shine! This little torch of autumns, I'm gonna let it shine!! This little torch of mitchs, I'm gonna let it shine!!! This little torch of eddies, I'm gonna let it shine!!!! LET EM SHINE LET EM SHINE DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL N TROUBLE PLS VOTE JULIA OUT AND NOT MY CREW THANK U ALL GOODTNIGHT!!!!!

So I'm trying to stick with the people who voted Autumn last round to take out another person on the other side. I am fine with Autumn/Rebecka/Mitch going. But we originally had the plan to throw our votes on Mitch and say it's Autumn, but Shoib wanted to flip it on Rebecka which I'm fine with too. Eddie and Autumn have been trying to get me to flip on Julia but I'm not voting her. Eddie is telling me stuff about Shoib and he seems messy as fuck tbh. I want to target him next round if Rebecka goes.

im shaking idk if jake is voting julia but it doesnt seem like he is and if he isnt im highkey FUCKED. Anyway.

#TurnUpTheHeat #confessionals

[viralhottopics]

The Far-Out Summit Where Geniuses Learn to Build Starships

To get to the spaceship convention I have to go to Chattanooga. To a former train depot once called Terminal Station, a beaux-arts building downtown, which was built in a time when trains were the apex of industrythe smartest, fastest, most high-tech way to move through spaceand when stations were elegant ports of call. It has a soaring dome, and the bathrooms are naturally lit through stained glass.

Terminal Station closed in 1970, not quite a year after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. The building reopened in 1973, four months after the Apollo program ended, as the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. The new owners put a neon train on the roof, the concourse beneath the freestanding dome became a lobby, and the baggage room became a dining hall. Passenger cars were moored to the rails and refurbished as luxury suites. The iron horse engine became a thing for guests to climb aboard forselfies. The outbuildings and rail yards sprouteda gift shop, a pizza parlor, a comedy club, an indoor jungle-themed swimming pool, and an outdoor doughnut-shaped swimming pool, among other things.

Chattanooga is not quite the regional transportation hub it was in the latter golden age of rail travel, and in fact these days is kind of a pain in the ass to get to. So after 12hours of planes, delays, and courtesy shuttles, I drop my baggage in my room and go looking for a drink.

Philip Lubin, a UC Santa Barbara physicist, begins his plenary talkRoadmap to Interstellar Flightby announcing that he rarely goes to these kinds of conferences because they are too far on the imaginary axis for me. But Lubin has a plan for launching vehicles from Earth that would reach Alpha Centauri not in 30,000 years but in 20.

Heres what you need: an orbital laser, a small satellite equipped with a square meter of reflective sail, and the sun. Superefficient solar panels power the laser, which can fire the equivalent of about one-eighth the amount of electricity the US consumes each year. That dense stream of photons creates enough pressure against the sail to accelerate the craft to 100 million miles per hourone fifth the speed of light.

Which at first sounds pretty bullshitty. Laser sails? But nobody in this lecture hall full of no-bullshitters snorts. So keep listening: A single photon exerts an infinitesimal amount of force. Cant get much much delta-vee from that. But a lot of photons pushing against a very tiny spacecraft? That will give you a whole hell of a lot of delta-freaking-vee. Which is why Lubin spends a lot of his stage time talking about Moores law, the exponential rate at which computers get simultaneously faster and cheaper over time. His plan requires fully functioning satellitesprocessors, camera, nav, comms, and even a tiny propulsion unit for course adjustmentsweighing less than a gram.

Oh, and a really big laser. Throttling a wafersat up to 100 million miles per hour will take a 100-gigawatt laser array. Or, for the no-bullshit, build-it-with-todays-technologyby strapping together 100 million 1-kilowatt lasers.

The plan has technical hurdles. During the Q&A after the talk, astrophysicist (and third TVIW cofounder) Greg Matloff raises objections about how the Doppler effect will sap photons propulsive force. But for the most part, the plan uses existing or close-enough technology and is therefore very non-bullshit until you start talking price.

A 1-kilowatt laser retails for about $70. Even if you get the bulk discount for buying 100 million of them, you still have to put them in orbit. Current launch rate is about $3,000 a pound. Also, the solar panels that will power the thing are very expensive (and heavy). The whole apparatus could be anywhere from three to 10 square miles across. For comparison, the International Space Station is slightly bigger than a football field.

Lubins talk pisses off a lot of people. Hes up there onstage, basically telling them their ideas for fusion, matter-antimatter, and whatever else are too expensive, too slow, and too imaginary for interstellar travel in this lifetime. Oh, also, dont bother building a worldship or whatever, because the human body is 99 percent wasted mass. Sorry.

Philip Lubin (left) discusses beamed energy propulsion during aworking track following his plenary speech about beamed energy propulsion. Joey O’Loughlin

But then, a little more than a month after the TVIW talk, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner announces that he plans to seed Lubins idea with $100 million. Thats not Apollo money$200 billion in 2016 dollarsbut Milner also scales back some of Lubins ideas. (He grounds the laser, eliminating a lot of the launch costs). Milner tells me he expects the $100 million will buy the project a proof-of-concept. The complete 100-million-mph mission to Alpha Centauri will likely cost between $5 billion (one Large Hadron Collider) and $10 billion (A James Webb Space Telescopeplus two New Horizons).

If you want to send people to space, propulsion is the least of your problems. It’s not as hard as food, water, and not catching space madness.

Again, that is for a mission with no people. The price tag for a crewed mission to the stars is Apollo squared. Maybe even cubed. Who knows. But despite Lubins ambivalence toward crewed interstellar flight and Milners low investment relative to the goal, this proof-of-concept pushes the humans a little bit closer toward being an interstellar species.

And if you are talking about people, propulsion is probably the easiest problem to solve, spacewise. Even if your sub-bullshit interstellar engine runs on nuclear fusion (which no one knows how to build) fueled by helium-3 from Jupiters atmosphere (which no one knows how to harvest), learning how to create such a thing is still not as hard as feeding, hydrating, protecting from radiation, keeping sane, and otherwise keeping healthy multiple generations of human beings. But thats what you have to do if youre using a sub-bullshit engine to go to another star.

Amodel worldship discussed at TVIW would carry about 10,000 people.Michel Lamontagne

The Worldship

Imagine a rod over 9 miles long, maybe a quarter-mile wide. Now put 12 rings around it, each 3miles in diameter, attached to the central rod with spokes. Spin the wheels to simulate gravity. Thats a generation ship, designed to spend hundreds or thousands of years traveling between star systems. A worldship.

Theres a picture of that one taped to awall ina meeting room at the Chattanooga Choo Choos convention center. The room is temporary headquarters for the Worldship Working Track, an effort to add a little bit of variety to TVIWs propulsion-heavy diet. The dozen and a half worldshippers are split into two subgroups, each gathered around their own round banquet tables covered with laptops, spiral notebooks, elbows, and soda cans.

On a large, easeled, tearaway pad in the middle of the room, somebody on the worldship team has drawn a color-coded cross section of the rings. From outside in: a one-meter-thick structural shell; three meters of two-phase water to shield against radiation; varying thicknesses of substrate, rock, and soil; 500-meter air gap; clear ceiling; and about 2 kilometers of vacuum between the ceiling and central hub.

The worldship rings could replicate any Earthly climate by adjustingheat and precipitation.Michel Lamontagne

The climate subgroup of worldshippers ishuddled over a single laptop, working on the rain problem. A French-Canadian engineer named Michel Lamontagne tells me planet Earth has the best plumbing system in the universe. Solar energy heats moisture, moisture rises, cools, condenses, falls, wash, rinse, repeat. Figuring out the thermodynamics of cloud formation is a pain in the ass, but way more reliable in the long run. No pipes to clog, filters to foul, screws to strip, vents to dent, valves to rust. Maintenance is not just a hassle; any mission-critical system with an abundance of moving parts is bound to failcriticallyat some stage of a multigenerational interstellar mission. Plus, rain helps keep the dust down.

Worldship passengers: cockroaches, dogs, Maine coon cats, rats, crickets, and tarantulas. But nothing from Australia. Everything there wants to kill you.

How much energy does moist ground need for evaporation to occur? On Earth, insolation is about 1200 watts per square meter, Lamontagne says.

Actually, 164 watts per square meter is the day/night average for Earths energy, says Geoffrey Landis, a NASA physicist (and science fiction writer).

Wait, Landis says. Actually, the Earths surface is convex, so it doesnt absorb as much heat. The worldships rings will be concave, meaning energy absorption will be a lot higher. So for now, they figure, 240 watts per square meter.

The subgroup around the other table is figuring out life: flora, fauna, and the nutrient cycles that sustain them. This group is more crowded, but quieter. Three are working out the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous cycles. Each of the remaining has been assigned a batch of plants and animals by an evolutionary biologist from Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital named Cassidy Cobbs. She is the groups Noah.

Mosquitoes, no; cockroaches, yes. Wolves, no; dogs, yes. Rats, crickets, tarantulas: yes, yes, yes. Except no tarantulas from Australia. In fact, most of Australia is right out, doomed to remain Earthbound with everything else too venomous, fanged, large, or aggressive. The top predator is a Maine Coon cat, Cobbs says. Crops are exactly what you would expect: grains, legumes, tubers, brassicas, lettuces, and nightshades.

I peek over Cobbs shoulder at her master list and freak out a little bit. It includes neither cacao nor coffee plants. Who the hell would want to jump on a spaceship without coffee and chocolate? Later, in the hospitality suite, I corner one of Cobbs team members and ask her: What the hell?

We discussed both crops, Ashleigh Hughes, a high school student, assures me. Both plants could grow along a rings elevated ridges, so long as that ring has a tropical climate.

High school student and TVIW attendee Ashleigh Hughes works out the ecological requirements for various plants and animals in the worldship. Joey O’Loughlin

The table next to the biology group is unpeopled, covered with backpacks, open laptops, and a few books. Includinga copy of Kim Stanley Robinsons novel Aurora. Which I find a little bit surprising, given (no spoilers) Robinsons book about a worldship trip to the Tau Ceti system portrays interstellar missions as dismal and doomed.

Science fiction and space culture enjoy a mutualistic relationship. During presentations, speakers often preface digressions with phases like This next bit would be a cool idea for any science fiction writers in the audience to play with Every physicist, engineer, and enthusiast I spoke to said their career had been, and still is, inspired by books, TV shows, movies, comics about space travel. The physicist Les Johnson, who MCd the talks, is deputy director of NASAs Advanced Concepts Office, principal investigator of a solar-sailed probe set to explore an asteroid in 2018, and, yes, a sci-fi writer. He told me science fiction is part escapism, part aspiration, and part inspiration, bringing broader acceptance to the dream of exploring the stars. Preach.

(I should add that not everybody agrees with this notion of science fiction as an aspirational genre. My editor sees science fiction as primarily a fantastical lens for writers to comment on contemporary society. I posed this alternative hypothesis to science fiction author Jack McDevitt, who counterposited that my editor must have been an English major.)

The Bernal Sphere is a spaceship design with a spherical living area. Population: 10,000. NASA Ames Research Center

It will cost how much?

One night I asked a table full of engineers if they could foresee an inflection point when the relatively flat line of space funding would start arcing into a trajectory that could fund human interstellar flight. This group, which earlier had been holding a graduate-level discussion on the combustive properties of superchilled rocket fuel, basically shrugged. Maybe if there was an impending asteroid strike?

Finally, a retired nuclear engineer sitting across the table uncrossed his arms and growled. Let us make the assumption that we do go into space and build a habitat. If you go back in time from that point and look at a line leading back to the present, we are currently so close to zero that they wont know where to start the graph, he says. $20 billion, $50 billion a year is so far down the graph that its almost in the noise. We have to somehow generate ourselves off the zero point.

No one knows what it’ll take to convince human beings to pay for space.

Robert Kennedy III has thought a lot about this inflection point. He says it will come from a societal change, when a critical mass of people commit themselves to a sustained, multigeneration, self-perpetuating institution committed to the cause. Something like the Catholic Church, or maybe because this is an engineering problem, the Dutch dike builders.

Robert Kennedy III.Joey O’Loughlin

Kennedy III was born in Staten Island and spent his college years in California preparing for the Cold War to become a hot war (he still carries a nuclear effects calculator in his right breast pocket). After stints building robots that work in nuclear reactors, writing computer code, and advising the US House of Representatives on space, he wound up in Oak Ridge, where he consults large renewable energy projectslike an Ethiopian geothermal tap. He also owns a business that publishes media on Russian space technology.

One of Kennedy IIIs coauthored geoengineering ideasa brute-force fix to global warming that involves installing a gigantic shade at the Lagrange point between Earth and the sungot him an invitation to the the International Association of Astronautics Symposium of Realistic Near-Term Advanced Scientific Space Missions. Doesnt matter; point is, it was a conference in the Italian Alps. The crowd loved the presentation and especially applauded the plans practicality. (Practicality among engineers typically refers to the soundness of the underlying engineering, not cost or logistics).

After his talk, Kennedy III was standing on a hotel balcony with Les Johnson and astrophysicist Greg Matloff from the New York City College of Technology. They hit upon this idea of a practical, grounded space community based in the Tennessee Valley, and scheduled the first meeting. They have been meeting every 18 months or so since. The group takes the practicality thing seriously and submits its projects (such as the worldship) to peer-reviewed publications like the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.

So they do not become a ghetto of insular rocket dweebs, Kennedy III tries to invite younger people, and people from other disciplinesbiologists, chemists, philosophers. Various subcultures who want to get into space, they might do some original thinking on their own, but then what? Whats their next step? Kennedy III says. If you want to actually do something you have to generate a consensus.

One very early morning, or night, or, whatever, it is 2 am in the hospitality suite and Kennedy III is trying to explain the origins of TVIW over the sound of two guys playing space-themed country songs on acoustic guitar (Shes Nothing But Trouble, Shes Just Like Tea-Teb”). Anyway, space culture can be sectarian, or it has been in the past, says Kennedy III. Just about every space group from the 1960s onward has been reaching for the heavens. Their ideologies might have differed. Like, space should be free from the government, so lets cut NASA out of the deal. Or, space should be for whoever can get there first, so lets help out the Soviets. Or, space should be for those who deserve it, so lets build a Randian refuge up in Lagrange Point 5. The groups form and schism, and never really get anywhere. TVIW is trying to stay outside all of that. They just want to go to space.

Two members of the space solar power working track discuss a timetable for launching an interstellar probe.Joey O’Loughlin

No-Go for Liftoff

The evening of the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshops opening reception, attendees gather around a projection TV in the corner of a hotel party hall to watch a SpaceX launch livestream.

Customary silence at the one minute mark, then the 10-second countdown, and then the top-down camera angle shows a series of fiery bursts. Before I can begin holding my breath for liftoff, a space enthusiast in the back of the room named Lorraine Glenn pipes up.That doesnt look good. That does not look good. Thats three in a row,” and the room collectively sighs. The chatter comes back up, and even as I am still thinking this launch looks promising, the guy next to me explains that the launch is cancelled, probably because SpaceX couldnt get their oxygen chilled properly. But he cant be sure, so dont quote him on the record.

Except he was right. No-go for liftoff. Problem with the liquid oxygen. Space: still hard.

Les Johnson giving opening remarks at TVIW. Joey O’Loughlin

And the next morning I am up by 7 am and eat a mountain of Southern breakfast and hustle to the big lecture hall for the 8 am opening remarks. Johnsongets up onstage and gives his customary disclaimer. Yes, he is an employee of NASA, but today he is here as a private citizen and space enthusiast who took vacation from his job to attend.

He stands in behind a podium decorated with the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop star-and-rocket swoosh logo and gives a shout out to the Valley Conservancy of Huntsville, Alabama, whose performance of the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop orchestral theme music had been playing just before he took the stage.

Then he thanks the volunteers and points out that even they did not get a free ride to the TVIW, because this is a labor of love. Peoples chairs squeak because they are nodding along or maybe just reaching for their coffee mugs, but either way Johnson is on message. This is a room of people dedicated to a better future for our species and our planet, and he is so proud to be a part of what is contributing to that. It is all a part of the bigger goal: to be, simply, a footnote.

That is all most of these people want, really. Forget even being retconned into the decor like the trains next door. They just want to be in the references, a TVIW journal article buried in the citations of a boring history of a human colony on a distant planet, circling a distant star. Someday.

Multiple two-cylinder colonies aimed toward the sun. Population: over a million. NASA Ames Research Center

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from The Far-Out Summit Where Geniuses Learn to Build Starships

#The Far-Out Summit Where Geniuses Learn to Build Starships