#uhhhh don't flop challenge

[ofliterarynature]

2, 4, 17 and 20 for the book asks :)

Thank you!

2. Did you reread anything? What? ooh, a lot more than I thought! Murderbot, My Volcano, and The Scorpio Races were all definitely at the top of the "worth it" list. The big flop for me was VE Schwab's Shades of Magic series, I'm so sad!!!

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year? I think Diana Wynne Jones and KJ Charles would be the closest, I actually started reading them both last year but went through enough of their backlist this year to say I really like their work! I didn't read broadly enough from anyone else's work this year, but I think Martha Wells is one to watch.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were? The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins! I think I psyched myself out a little bit to be honest lol, I'm behind on my classics challenge and was like BUT WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE IT AND I'M MISERABLE!!! But epistolary detective novel from 1868? Surprisingly good, I had an excellent time!

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations? Thank god past me did the work because my mind went completely blank, my answer to this exact question back in January was "the new Murderbot book, Translation State by Ann Leckie, the Strange and Stubborn Endurance sequel, and whatever Victoria Goddard decides she’s going to write next." I'm currently reading System Collapse (good), Translation State was a delight, the sequel JUST came out and I won't get to it until next year, and I uhhhh still have not read the only Victoria novel that came out this year. In the spring. Oops? But I trust it will be good.

#asks #ask games #books #booklr #bec posts #murderbot #my volcano #the scorpio races #the moonstone #translation state #a strange and stubborn endurance #wrap up 2023

[survivor-north-sea]

episode twelve: "she’s biting at the bit to make a 'big' move" - Raffy

Tyler Frazier

The fact Trinica was able to single handily unify THIS group of people is probably the most impressive thing I’ve seen all game

Trinica

Arvin!! King of the Serve, of the Self-Vote!!!! RIP, you will be missed.

So, getting down to business now. I've been thinking about it, and if it's me, Jinx, and Toni at FTC, the votes play out like this:

Toni: Tyler, JayJay, Champ, Esteban Jinx: Raffy maybe Me: AJ, Bethany, Hairie, Arvin

Which is uhhhh not good. So I need to really really really consider whether taking Toni is my best bet here.

I think my ideal vote order is: Raffy/AJ (whoever doesn't win immunity), JayJay, Champ, Tyler.

AJ

Well Arvin is gone. Can't believe he self voted. I'm just glad I can sleep in tomorrow

Trinica

I had to pretend Jay let me save the fake disadvantage I have because of the bracket-style challenge, and I doubt AJ and Toni will believe that.

AJ asked me if I was the one who brought up her name for the vote because JayJay said I did, and then she said that Toni has been complaining that I haven't gotten my hands dirty. This sounds like such an un-Toni thing to say because she knows how much I've been lying (though she is upset about having voted for JayJay which is silly because JayJay doesn't know she voted for her). I think AJ is trying to make sure I don't have any outside alliances...that, or she's trying to get me to turn on people and be paranoid to vote me out.

Raffy

My alliance voted for Arvin yesterday because they just didn’t trust him like that since they viewed him as flip floppy. I didn’t really see him the same, but I guess they just wanted to stop relying on him.

In this round, I’m going to try to win immunity again and vote out JayJay. I think it’s her time to go. I’ve been sharing idol information with my alliance, but they don’t seem to want to be giving any back. Oh well. I tried. At least I got this diving gear to check out the ship finally. I don’t particularly feel like I need to find the idol, but it would be nice if I did. If it’s in the shop, then I definitely need to win some immunities to be able to purchase it. The coin economy is very low.

I don’t know if AJ will flip on us soon or not. It feels like she will. Like she’s biting at the bit to make a “big” move. I hope she realizes the moment she betrays the alliance is the moment she will get voted out next. I have faith that she’ll stick with us, but we shall see. With FTC becoming closer, people are going to want to fill in their resumes. And I’m probably a big person to add to that.

Trinica

I FOUND ANOTHER IDOL!!! Iconic, showstopping, groundbreaking, etc etc. I actually just bought this one using AJ's money, which is very funny to me. I went back to the market as planned and got the golden scissors, truly expecting a "Steal a Vote" advantage or something, and it was a FREAKING IDOL. My decision to get an advantage yesterday instead of going straight to the market is stressing me out in hindsight, but thankfully I don't think many people have a lot of coins.

I lied to AJ because she thought I was going to the barn today, so I had to make up some BS about what I found in the barn, which I'm sensing in my gut she didn't believe, but I'm so close to the end that I can afford to be a little sloppier with my lies. Especially when I know AJ is lying to me about several things as well. I did tell Toni that I lied to AJ about my idol hunt today (though I didn't tell her why) and asked her to corroborate that lie, so hopefully she actually does. But I think Toni is getting a little suspicious of me at this point, too.

I did use my advantage for Boggle today, so here's hoping I don't flop under the pressure and can actually pull out immunity today. If I can, I'll make it to final 7 (!!!) and then will have at least two more spots I can move up. It'll be tricky figuring out when to use these idols since as soon as I use them, everyone I'm aligned with will know I've been keeping things from them, but I'll figure it out. I just need to avoid going out like James with two in my pocket ;__;

Tyler Frazier

Apparently Jayjay went off on Trinica so I don’t think Raffy is leaving rn and I’m sure Trinica and Toni will be voting out Jayjay and waiting another round to flip. If they even mean it when they say they wanna work with us

Trinica

I asked Toni to verify my story about the barn idol hunt to AJ and she absolutely did not do that. It sounds like AJ believes me for some reason, but Toni is playing a middle of the road game, and she needs to go. The only issue would be convincing everyone else of that. What if F3 was Raffy and Jinx instead? If Jinx knew Raffy was safe, maybe she'd be more willing to vote out Toni...

Toni

Theme: Bad Info

Hello World!

It's been a while since I started a confession like that. This is an indication I'm starting to enjoy the game again. Main thing to report since last time is I used the length of this challenge as way to decompress from the game and I've enjoyed doing that. I told AJ I would throw the challenge so she had a chance of winning so that gave me the chance to take the rest of yesterday and today off which I absolutely did.

We've started to hunt together but I've started to notice multiple people giving bad info so I guess if you can't beat them join them? I've also been vague about my idol hunt activities in order to create some mystery around whether or not I have an Idol. There 2 reasons someone may not Idol hunt right... 1. They've already secured an Idol or 2. They have no interest or time to do so and are focusing on the main game. Which one am I?

I have stopped communication with JayJay completely because she's a wizard with words and I'm only talking to Tyler and Champ when they message me first. I think that's what's best right now in order to stay more under the radar. I'm trusting that my alliance has my back and that I've built up enough trust to continue in the game.

Alright that's it.

I'm interested to see what happens this round seeing as our target is a high profile one.

Bye!

AJ

I absolutely can not believe the fucking idol was found. The worst part is that I literally just finished formatting our idol hunt documents to figure out where we've not yet searched. I can only hope we eliminate the person who has the idol so idol hunt opens up again. I just want to find one :((

Trinica

So to keep track, today:

- Convinced AJ Toni was lying about her idol hunt in the barn to save my own ass for lying. - Toni admitted to lying even though she was TELLING THE TRUTH in our shipwreck alliance chat with AJ. - Took a chance on trusting Raffy's idol hunt intel and got another 10% AD in case I wasted mine on Boggle, which apparently I'm at least okay at - Convinced AJ to use her yes/no knowledge is power advantage on Raffy - Convinced AJ that since Raffy doesn't have an idol, Jinx must - Reestablished a connection with Toni by calling her and being up-front about AJ telling me Toni's frustrated at me not getting my hands dirty, thus redirecting distrust back at AJ.

I went to bed yesterday feeling like I wasn't in the best place for this tribal but now? Feeling on top of the world babyyyyy!

Tyler Frazier

Im already being told to vote Raffy. This could be the end of the line for me 💔

AJ

Well Jinx won. It'll be risky telling her the vote but I do think to inspire trust we'll need to. Praying we can actually pull off a blindside.

Trinica

I THOUGHT I HAD THIS CHALLENGE IN THE BAG NOOOOOOOO!!!!! Lost due to a series of typos, RIP me. But I'm glad Jinx won, as long as it wasn't Raffy/JayJay. I was considering playing an idol if i lost yesterday, but I'm feeling like I'm in such a good place that there's no need.

AJ

Gonna try and confess each time this link gets sent. I'm so proud of Jinx for winning, she really pulled this one off and it seems like smth she has fun with!

Tyler Frazier

Well hopefully Raffy is the actual plan cause that’s all I have to grab onto. I don’t really have much say in the way things go and I’m basically a goat

Jayjay

This challenge was pretty tough considering I’ve never played this game nor am I good at any word games lol. So I got further in it then I expected which was nice but I knew it was gonna be difficult to beat AJ, Trinica, or Jinx because they all seem like very intelligent individuals. I gave it my all but of course I didn’t win immunity so I’m just worried about my name being a vote for tomorrows tribal. I’d like to put a lot of trust in the alliance I have right now and they seem to want one of the other people like Aj or Raffy out before me which would make sense since I’m not much of a threat compared to them and how strong they are in challenges. So far I feel like Raffy will be the vote for us to go with which I’d be all for considering he’s been hunting me down since Esteban has left lol. I feel pretty confident that I won’t be going home however if an idol is played… I think I’m pretty much screwed 🤷🏼‍♀️

Tyler Frazier

O M G I am in an actual alliance I think. Idk hopefully it makes it past one vote. I still think Trinica is winning the season but like I really don't have the power to do anything about it. My game is pretty bad, I dont think I can win at all. I just wanna make ftc so I can go three games in a row without being voted out. My flop era is not serving.

Raffy

The plan with my alliance is to all vote for Champ, but make it seem like we’re voting for JayJay. This is because we are terrified of an idol being played since we have no idea who has them. Trinica and Toni are playing double agents as they are currently in an alliance with JayJay, Tyler, and Champ. They are definitely in the best positions right now. Im definitely nervous since I know that the other side is coming for me. Honestly? I feel it in the air that I’m getting voted out (either by being idoled out or being betrayed). I won’t be too upset with either scenario. I’ve gotten a lot farther than I thought I would in this game. And I’ve accomplished most of what I set out to do. If I do get voted out, I’m hoping for Trinica to pull out the win the most. She definitely deserves it and she is my queen!

Jinx

https://voca.ro/18BBmlHpVe1n

round ?? jinxcast. “it’s never too late to step your pussy up in survivor”

ft a weird my immortal moment

AJ

I think tonight's vote is one I'm the most worried about. Jinx is such a wild card, but I'm praying she'll keep the plan a secret if we tell her to in the name of pink venom. Realistically there is no long game for her without us, so I'm hoping she'll realize that and stay with the gang.

Trinica

Jinx and Toni want AJ out a lot earlier than I wanted AJ out. I really did try to dissuade them but Jinx is so adamant about keeping Raffy, and with me telling Toni that AJ wants to target her, I think I sealed her fate.

There are options, of course. I could idol AJ. But I don't think it makes sense for my game. It would cement our trust, but I do want her out at some point, so I suppose it may as well be now. But I do feel terrible about it.

AJ

I'm so fucking worried about tonight's vote since I've been informed my name is being written down as a split. I can only hope tonight goes as planned, but hey ponderosa is a vibe.

Raffy

Trinica and Toni started an alliance with Jinx and me. Apparently, AJ has turned her back on me and it’s us four against the world. According to Trinica, AJ wants to bring Trinica and Tyler to the end. I mean I would vote for Trinica in a heartbeat in that scenario, but I think AJ actually wants to bring Champ and Tyler to the end and take the big threats out. Where’s the flavor? It’s a shame because I did want to be loyal to AJ but you should never trust someone who reminds you of Els. In any case, I’m going to vote AJ out now. I do suspect she has an idol. The alliance is doing the same. Now we’re 4 vs. 3 in Final 7. Hopefully AJ has an idol that they aren’t using and we can send her packing. I’m just nervous now because my game is relying on incorrect idol plays. Never a good place to be.

Toni

Theme: Troninx Forever

Firstly, I want to say how grateful I am for Trinica and Jinx in this game we have been aligned since the very first week of the game and have held on strong together even through some really big misunderstanding and attempts to separate us. We talk to each other so honestly too and are level headed enough to hear each other out.

This tribal will determine the course of the rest of our game. It's a really important one but I've been asked to save my extra vote. Luckily there are several contingencies in place so fingers crossed we actually manage to pull off an AJ blindside.

I do actually love AJ she feels like she's my child lol but also the boss of me :'). I think she underestimated how strong of a bond Trinica and I had. I think she's underestimated how good of a game Trinica is playing. Troninx Forever!

I'm Out! (Y)

Champ

Still in this game with no a single vote casted against me so that’s impressive! If I stay in I really want to win this next challenge and gain a resume!

AJ

Right before tribal, hoping this all goes well.

[gothicprep]

Only kind of related (sorry), but what did you think of Don't Fuck with Cats?

Don't Fuck with Cats was one of the other pieces of media I intended to analyze for Presently Shelved Social Media True Crime Analysis. i may or may not get around to releasing that eventually, but the thesis of the project changed a ton since i initially embarked on it, and i needed to shove it into a dark room for a bit in order to re-evaluate my direction there.

luckily i can open my research document and give a thorough answer to this

the one thing that really stuck out to me about that series was that the group members likely bullied some guy who was trolling into suicide, and within the narrative, this was treated like an afterthought. i also dug up a 2014 rolling stone article about the social media sleuths that was published around the time luka magnotta was sent to trial, which stated that a lot of them were channers. and i basically spat my drink all over myself, because an ethics lesson from those people is like smokey the bear asking you who can prevent forest fires with a blunt in one hand and a tank of gas in the other.

but, like, what i found when i was researching it further was that SM sleuths really flip-flopped a lot when it boiled down to being honest about their intentions. deanna thompson in the first episode mentions that she was spurred to get involved because "there's prices to pay. there's consequences for your actions" but in later interviews after the publication of the series, she says shit like "if someone had conducted a wellness check, things could have gone much differently :'("

in the same article, she mentions that she's frustrated with the justice system, but her actions suggest she means "due process" when she says "justice system," because she still defers back to police as the ultimate protectors from evil. like, a wellness check could have prevented this, not medicine and therapy for a man with a documented history of schizophrenia, who wasn't receiving adequate care. are you sure about that?

so basically cats has two functions: 1) put a civilian face on retributive justice, so you avoid the ethical atrocity of portraying revenge-hungry cops via an avatar of average people who largely Agree with that punisher-style approach. 2) do absolutely nothing to challenge the status quo. justice is punishment, not rehabilitation, not prevention

people like to dance around this assessment if you ask them about it, but they betray their own secrets constantly.

so, uhhhh, in other words, i didn't like it lmfao