#& especially european skill players

[girldewar]

when the poll ends do you mind sharing what you vs your friend thought the key hockey concept was? I'm so curious !

yes !! so skill play ended up winning, but if you combine the two categories of fighting and physical play, they add up to way more. this came up because i'm currently going through a whole emotional journey around violence in sport and the way personal choice, bodily autonomy, and the monolith of sports culture can overlap and conflict. that's not super important but i think more people should think about it because it's a really interesting and tough topic. anyway, i was talking to my friend from rural BC, and we were talking about violence/physicality as an inherent part of hockey or if there was a way to mitigate dangerous injury while still maintaining the spirit of hockey as a sport.

she was of the opinion that physical play, fighting, all of that were essential to hockey, and there was no way to play the same game without them. i'm still working on what my opinion is, but i'm finding that more and more i come down on the side of, hey, all of these injuries are unnecessary and there's no reason for hockey -- contact sport though it may be -- to be this dangerous and injurious. there's a lot of reasons i feel this way, but one of the biggest ones is that when i think of hockey -- when i think of the most important, joyous, exciting moments in hockey, moments that made me genuinely love this sport and the place it holds in my life -- i think almost entirely about skill play. what makes hockey worth watching for me is the speed, the skill, the insane passes and bad-angle goals. kirill kaprizov sidney crosby trick shot type shit. when those players have room to play, i love this sport like nothing else.

my friend, on the other hand, isn't wrong when she says that overall, the impression people have of hockey tends toward violence. even if they haven't thought about it enough to pass judgment, the vast majority of people think first of checks and fights.

the problem i have is that a lot of times, skill players are stifled by physical play. i like puck possession, but checking turns that into an almost irrelevant part of nhl hockey, and i like when superstars have space to do insane things, but if they're injured half the year because every fourth liner in the league pretty much has free reign to headhunt without the refs blowing the whistle, i don't get to see any of that. it's the same reason i'm annoyed with the way kirill's been treated in the league -- he's a phenomenal player who can do unparalleled things on the ice, but his production has been down because he got injured a couple seasons ago and hasn't had the space (or protection from further injuries, looking at you, dops) to heal it fully and get back to form. in what world is that the best that hockey can be? i'd rather every skill player gets long, obnoxious nhl careers than keep fistfights in a sport that really doesn't need them, but i'm aware i'm in the tiny minority there.

#also the reason fighting is such an institution is because the dops is shit and refs don't call dangerous plays against skill players #& especially european skill players #but You Know #& don't get me started on the whole enforcer cte thing which um. doesn't just go away because you 'got rid' of enforcers. now you just have #actual skilled players going and getting their lights punched out every week. im sure that's fine for them #sorry this sort of turned into me on my soapbox but what it comes down to is: i don't like physical play but i'm aware that the Zeitgeist #can't imagine hockey without it and that's just something i have to figure out how to feel about #ask #anon #also i think this comes from having my sports background mostly in performing arts #like sports are a performance you know. why wouldn't you try to present the best most beautiful version of your sport possible #long post

[wileys-russo]

like a dumb rom com II k.cooney-cross x catley!reader

like a dumb rom com II k.cooney-cross x catley!reader

you bopped your head along to the music which was blasting from the speaker on your bedside table, for once home alone and able to have it up as loud as you wanted.

your textbooks lay open and spread around you on your bed as you scrolled through a gruelingly long article on your laptop, sticky notes plastered all over your legs as you tried your hardest to retain what you were attempting to study.

you sighed looking at your calendar on the wall, another flurry of color coded sticky notes mapping our your schedule for the rest of the month. people could call you a lot of things but you were anything but disorganized, you simply couldn't be in order to juggle your studies and have a full time professional football career.

you'd loved football from the moment you were old enough to kick a ball, following quickly in your siblings footsteps as your poor parents lives quickly became encapsulated by all three of your routines.

different teams and matches to watch every weekend, travelling back and forward to games and tournaments, weeks full of multiple training's and commitments, food crumbs in cars where dinners and snacks were smashed in the back seat from destination a to b.

you almost felt like they deserved the peace and quiet of an empty house once you'd all moved out, your brother no longer playing having viewed it as more of a hobby than a career once he got older.

but no matter the driving and the games and the fees they were always your proudest supporters. especially when both you and your sister had made your national team debuts, first as junior matildas and then into the senior teams, you always following a few steps behind steph.

when she'd moved over to london to sign with arsenal and you'd stayed at melbourne victory you'd missed her, but you were confident that a little bit of distance in your football careers would be a good thing for the both of you to grow as players.

then a couple of years later after your olympic debut had come your own offers from overseas, european and super league teams alike all reaching out to your agent eager to offer you your first international professional contract.

it was overwhelming to look at sums and salaries and contracts you could have only ever dreamed of in your youth, your deadline to make a decision coming in hard and fast you weren't any closer to making the final call.

thats when your national team mates had stepped in and suddenly you were getting calls of encouragement and gentle attempts at persuading to join them at their various clubs once it started to leak out just who had made you offers.

the least gentle of all though was of course from your older sister, who all but chewed your ear off that you were even thinking about accepting any clubs beside the one she'd called her home for a couple of years now, caitlin and lydia both quick to back her up.

you'd been the most hesitant at arsenals offer and once you were honest with steph about your reasons why her approach softened significantly. she was fast to assure you that she'd had nothing to do with it at all and had only overheard the coaching staff discussing potential new signings that afternoon.

then came the assurance that she wanted you there with her, and that despite your own insecurities she'd never ever seen it as you copying her or riding her coat tails. her heart broke a little that you could be so dismissive of your own skills and talent that had lead to all of the multitude of offers in the first place.

knowing this was a decision that ultimately you needed to make, and with a quiet reminder from dean that the tighter she held on the further you'd pull away, she left you to make the call of your own accord, doing her very best to ignore the temptation to call you and check in daily about if you were any closer to pulling the trigger.

then a few days later came the video from melbourne victory, the signing post from arsenal and your own bitter sweet goodbye to your home country and the team you'd called family for the last three seasons.

at both your mum and sisters insistence you'd moved in with steph and dean so your sister could first hand make sure you were settling in, and so your mum could sleep at night knowing you had family looking out for you in a foreign country.

you'd settled in quickly and comfortably of course. just like steph you'd always been outgoing and bubbly, never shying away from making a new friend or striking up a conversation, and suddenly you were adopted right into the team as if you'd been there for years, your football family expanding.

back to present day and you were reveling in a rare night in to yourself, steph and dean having gone out for a nice meal together as you dedicated your evening to your studies.

it was peak exam season and mid wsl season which meant you were battling your way through, mostly on top of everything thanks to your calendar and onslaught of sticky notes.

but given your loud music what you failed to hear were the taps at your window over and over, too engrossed in your studies and mumbling along the lyrics to the 1975 song in your ear, a band both you and your sister harbored quite a shared love for.

steph had gotten you tickets for your twenty first birthday earlier this year and the next day at training both of you had been teased relentlessly for your distinct lack of voice from spending the evening screaming along to all of your favourite songs.

failing to hear the gentle taps at your window, you also missed the creak of it being thrown all the way open and the gentle thump of feet falling to your carpet.

"jesus christ babe are you deaf?" you certainly heard that.

you let out a strangled scream at the sudden unexpected voice, spinning around and falling backwards off your bed, hitting the floor with a loud groan as your girlfriends eyes widened and she hurried to help you up.

"what the fuck is wrong with you? why the fuck would you do that?" you shouted angrily after she helped you up, pushing harshly at her chest and sending her stumbling as she just caught her footing.

"i was tossing rocks at your window and you ignored me, i thought you might have been asleep!" kyra defended holding her hands up as you went at her again but thought better of it, your heart beat starting to gently slow down as you recovered from your shock.

"so your reaction to me being asleep was to..break in?" you scoffed, smacking her leg as she whined and pulled a face, mumbling how she was just trying to be romantic.

"why didn't you just message me or come to the front door? i'm home alone you idiot i thought you were a murderer or something!" you shot her an unimpressed glare as the girl gave you a sheepish smile.

"i thought it would be more romantic this way! like those dumb rom coms we love." she pouted and from that moment you could no longer be properly mad at her.

"just lucky you live a few feet off the ground, bit worried i'd fall and break my neck if i had to scale a drain pipe to get to your window." the midfielder grinned as you couldn't help but bite back a small smile at her adorable dimples.

"next time warn me ky instead of giving me a heart attack. i could have hurt you!" you warned, making the girl send you an amused smile, taking a seat on the corner of your bed as you started to tidy up your mess of study materials on the bed.

"and how exactly would you have done that babe? hit me with a book? stabbed me with a pencil? assaulted me with your tiny little baby hands." the girl grinned teasingly, poking at you as you smacked her away with a huff.

"they are not tiny! they're normal sized and they're barely smaller than yours." you glared at her, standing to move your books and laptop over to the desk you should have been studying at in the first place.

"helloo!" the girl sung out, suddenly stood in front of you as you turned, arms now free she wasted no time pulling you into a hug, your chins resting on one anothers shoulders as you relished in the feel of your skin finally in contact with hers.

"i missed you today." you sighed having had to take the day off training to complete an exam, though you were studying online you still needed to go into the distance education office to take your exams which was located in camden.

"missed you more book worm." you might have rolled your eyes but really it was the cheeky comments and consistent flirty banter between the two of you that had caused you to fall for her alluringly mischievous charm in the first place.

having kissed on a night out when you both played for melbourne victory you'd danced around your feelings for far too long, mutually chalking it up to a drunk mistake.

but it seemed you just couldn't keep away from one another and with each moment apart the two of you either on the phone or texting, a few more sober kisses shared now, you'd made it official during prep camp for the world cup, over the moon to both be selected in the final squad.

a few of your close friends knew not long after you'd made it official, having been by both of your sides during the in denial but hopelessly pining over one another stage.

you were quick to tell ellie who was always your roommate on national duties, the blonde practically tackling you to the floor with a sigh of relief she no longer needed to watch the 'slow lovesick burn'.

then kyra of course told her own little football family, charlie first and then katrina who'd given you both a shovel talk about the importance of treating one another with respect and how she wouldn't hesitate to smack either of you into line.

but beyond that you kept it mostly to yourselves, the two of you had always been close so no one thought much of how touchy and affectionate you were, having been that way long before you were anything more than friends no one thought differently.

then when kyra had joined arsenal after the world cup everything seemed to fall into place, the two of you finally able to give your relationship a proper go without hours of time difference and thousands of kilometers of distance between you to be a barrier anymore.

there was just one glaringly unspoken issue and that was that both of you were far too terrified to make your relationship common knowledge, which really was only because you were even more terrified of what your older sisters reaction might be.

a few of the arsenal girls like teyah and gio who you'd been close with since your signing had caught on quite quickly, but promised to keep it hushed.

being on the younger side of the squad had meant you'd gained a whole handful of older sisters alongside steph and again it hadn't taken long before again they'd picked up on your change in mood now kyra was around, but most had kept their observations to themselves.

unlike leah who cornered you after training, your vice captain getting the truth out of you in record time with a stern look and a few well worded questions, and of course she couldn't keep the information away from lia or beth.

so as the list of your team mates who knew the truth about you and kyra grew, so did your plaguing anxieties that someone would slip up and alert steph.

despite knowing you easily the best out of everyone it amazed you that somehow she herself hadn't caught on, you and kyra having made a few clumsy mistakes where she could have easily put the pieces together.

after your first major argument with kyra over something so stupid you could hardly remember what it was even about, you'd turned up on caitlins front door step with tear stained cheeks both for comfort and some advice knowing there wasn't a chance you could speak with steph who was always your go to person.

you knew you needed to come clean and the longer you put it off the more strain it put on your relationship with kyra and the worse you worried for steph's reaction given how long you'd kept her in the dark for.

"i really should study for another hour ky." you hummed, reaching out for your laptop as kyra tutted, moving you away from your desk with her body still wrapped around yours. "lets go look at your schedule babe." she ordered as you moved toward your calendar.

"kyra!" you exclaimed in surprise, seeing a few new sticky notes replace your old ones. "oh look, give kyra a cuddle? check." she wiggled her body against yours where it clung to the back of you making you smile.

"give kyra a kiss." she craned her head around and pressed her lips sweetly to yours as you shook your head but gave in, indulging her for a moment. "what's next? study? mmm don't see that on here for tonight." kyra hummed, finger reaching out to trail down your new list as you sighed.

"when did you even change this? you've been here for like five seconds." you laughed in disbelief at how fast she could be. "i didn't change anything!" she gasped in mock offence.

"oh look! watch movies and make kyra her favourite snack. guess we have to do that then babe, you do live by your schedule!" kyra grinned cheekily, letting go of you and making a beeline for your door, holding out her hand expectantly.

"you are unbelievably sneaky sometimes cooney cross." you smiled, crossing your arms and staring her down. "who, me? never!" she beamed, wiggling her fingers for you to take her hand as you did so with a dramatic sigh as if it was a chore, causing her to attack your face with kisses and pull you out of your room.

having followed through with your 'schedule' you'd made both of your favourite snacks and settled into the living room to watch a movie, kyra's choice of course given you knew if she wasn't into the movie there wasn't a chance she'd sit still through it.

"hey where's calvy?" your girlfriend realised suddenly, pulling her head out of your lap and looking around with a frown. "its taken you this long to realise he isn't here? he's normally jumping on you in seconds ky!" you laughed as kyra rolled her eyes.

"he's with steph and dean they found some dog friendly outdoor bistro they could take him with them for dinner, you know what steph's like with her son." you smiled in amusement, the four legged canine loved and looked at more like your nephew than a dog.

"aw and they left you here all alone." kyra cooed, reaching up to squish your cheeks as her head settled back in its previous place in your lap. "please! its a rare blessing." you mumbled as well as you could given the way your face was being poked and pulled at by the brunette.

"shut up and watch your silly kids movie." you wrenched her hands away from your face and placed them by her sides before tangling yours in her hair again, massaging her scalp gently as she sighed contentedly, tucking one of her hands up your top to rest dormant on your abs, determined to have at least some of her skin on yours at all times.

"it is not a kids movie. it's a comedy film!" kyra defended, eyes glued to the screen as you only hummed with an amused smile, melting into the sofa cushions wrapped up in your little bubble of comfort.

it wasn't long until both your attention spans wavered and you found your lips locked with kyra's, both your hands roaming one anothers bodies. the air was filled with your giggles and sweet nothings as you once again fell head over heels for the girls effortless charm, throwing your head back with a laugh at a particularly cheesy pick up line mumbled into your neck.

that giddy little love bubble burst the moment you heard the jingle of keys and australian accents which didn't belong to you or kyra invading the space, and the pitter patter of paws hurtling toward you as you both quickly broke apart.

you'd just settled with a decent gap between you as calvin arrived, launching himself on top of you with a few licks hello, jumping across to greet kyra before dean called him away.

"oh hi ky!" steph greeted with a warm smile as she appeared next, kyra quick to her feet to hug her hello. "see kyra hugs me hello. she's got manners!" your sister teased as you blew her a sarcastic kiss, unmoving from your position on the couch.

"i see you every day stephanie i hardly feel the need to hug you hello when you've been gone a few hours!" you laughed with a roll of your eyes. "i've technically not seen you all day." she countered, taking a seat in between you and kyra.

"how did your exam go peanut?" the defender questioned with a concerned look, not having spoke with you since you'd left for camden this morning a nervous wreck.

"steph what have i said about calling me that!" you ignored her question with an annoyed groan, throwing your head back and shooting kyra a glare over your sisters shoulder as she laughed at your expense.

"that you hate it and not to call you it but i will always call you it because you're my little peanut!" the blonde cooed, pinching your cheeks and shaking your head side to side, with almost eight years between you she'd always babied you in a sense and though sometimes it was welcomed most of the times you despised it.

"i wish i was adopted." you grimaced, smacking her hands away with a roll of your eyes. "not too late. i'm sure we can find a nice family willing to take in a moody twenty one year old who can't cook, can't clean, whinges and moans about everything, doesn't do her own laundry, eats her salary in groceries-" steph started to list things off on her fingers as your eyes widened and you kicked her.

"none of that is true!" you scoffed with a scowl, once again sending your girlfriend an unimpressed glare as she clutched at her stomach with laughter. "see even your best mate agrees, you're a grub!" steph ruffled your hair and stood to her feet.

"i'm a grub? have you met the six foot three toddler we live with?" you pointed toward the kitchen, referencing your sisters fiance and soon to be brother in law.

"oi! don't throw me under the bus to cover your own ass." dean yelled back, the two of you always having gotten on like a house on fire which was one of the many reasons steph was so in love with him.

"did you drive here ky?" the older catley questioned with an amused smile, kyra getting the unsung hint it was time to head home as you sent her a look to assure she could stay, but there wasn't a use.

"yeah, i'll head off now." the midfielder smiled warmly, again hugging your sister as you were quick to your feet now to walk her out, kyra yelling goodbye to dean before you both stepped out the front door.

"do you want a lift tomorrow? we could get brekky and a coffee?" you offered hopefully, the two of you lingering just out of sight, kyra eagerly agreeing already looking forward to getting you alone for even just a half an hour.

"coast?" the brunette questioned as you peered subtly around the corner, not seeing either steph or dean in the kitchen through the window. "clear." you grinned, barely able to get the word out before her lips were on yours and your back was pressed against the cool brick of the side of the house.

"okay okay, easy tiger!" you laughed quietly, pulling away as her tongue slipped into your mouth, well aware that the two of you could be caught at any moment. "few more." kyra smiled cheekily, pecking your lips repeatedly as her hands gripped your hips.

"i'll get you round nine?" your hands settled on her cheeks, thumbs stroking her jawline, training not starting until eleven thirty given tomorrow was a double session. "make it eight and we can smooch for an hour? teyah has early rehab." kyra countered with a charming grin as you nodded your agreement.

"i hate when you say smooch." you laughed against her lips, kissing her one final time before pushing her off, knowing the longer you hung about outside the larger the chance grew steph would come to check what was going on.

"which is exactly why i say it. goodnight lover!" the girl bowed to you making you gag. "i hate that more! goodnight you dickhead. text me when you get home yeah?" you frowned, kyra quick to promise you she would before she dissapeared into the night.

returning inside you weren't surprised to find your sister and her fiance curled up together on the sofa, not dissimilarly to how you and kyra had been prior to their arrival, calvin asleep in his bed on the floor.

"you gonna watch with us?" steph craned her head back to look at you, i'm a celebrity loaded on the television. "are the two of you going to make out like horny teenagers?" you questioned, knowing exactly how they could be after their little date nights.

"probably." dean grinned in response as you gagged and steph hit him lightly with a smile. "hey you never answered me before! how did your exam go chicken?" steph called out before you could leave, again an eye roll greeting her choice of nickname.

"good i think? i finished before the timer and i remembered most of my arguments. one more and i'm done! then a five week fucking break." you moaned happily, stretching your hands behind your head.

"excuse me are those mine?" your sisters eyes narrowed, pointing to the peter alexander pyjama shorts you currently had on. "noo." you smiled guiltily, grateful she couldn't see you also had on the matching shirt beneath your hoodie.

"you are such a menace." steph sighed with a shake of her head, normally she'd be on top of you in seconds demanding you give back whatever you'd stolen, but knowing she'd actually worn one of your favourite pair of trainers out to dinner and you hadn't yet noticed she decided against that course of action.

"love you steffy!" you grinned, dipping off to the kitchen to fill your water bottle, pulling a face of horror as you returned to find the two of them attempting to eat one anothers face.

"god can you at least wait until i've left the room?" you gagged in disgust as they pulled apart. "can you hurry?" steph smirked making you pull another face and whistle for calvin to follow you.

"no leave him!" your sister attempted but the fluff ball was already padding happily after you toward your room. "i'm saving him years of therapy from having to watch his parents go at it. goodnight sickos!" you saluted sarcastically, your door closing with a thud as calvin made himself comfortable on the end of your bed.

doing your nightly routine you returned to bed with your skin soft and your teeth brushed, smiling at the text from kyra that she was home safe, clicking the facetime icon beside her contact, the two of you normally falling asleep together.

you smiled happily as she accepted, propping her phone up as she brushed her teeth and the two of you chattered away, blissfully unaware of what was to greet you in the week to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

part two

#kyra cooney cross x reader #woso x reader #woso blurbs #woso fanfics #woso imagine #kyra cooney cross #woso

[thenhlteaissuperhot]

What are your good and bad surprises in the league so far?

There are, of course, significantly more examples than this, but I don't want this to be a long-ass post so I will just point out my personal highlights of highlights - naturally, they are quite Czech-centered since that's my main interest:

GOOD

The Bruins - obviously.

To be honest, I was slightly anxious about their fate from now on since losing two elite centers like Bergeron and Krejci at the same time, and also guys like Orlov and Bertuzzi, does leave you quite vulnerable, especially after a crushing first-round exit like they have experienced, but they have honestly been rocking it so far and I love it for them.

The Poitras kid, Zacha stepping up his game and delivering as the first center, Pasta showcasing that he very much belongs in the top 10 of the league, Swaymay with Ullmark being the best goaltending duo in the entire league, Marchand giving slays left red right as a captain, the defense being solid...

Filip Hronek in Vancouver

The Hughes-Hronek defensive pairing is among the best right now, they have clicked extremely well with each other, Filip is getting extreme ice time, and I am glad that at least someone from the former Red Wings is thriving in their new home

Quinn is literally leading the defensemen in points and Filip is 4th, which is insane, considering he has never been viewed as a top defenseman among Czechs

Anaheim and Arizona

They still won't make the playoffs, we all know that so let's not be delusional here, but they are finally getting genuinely fun to watch and showing us the immense potential they have.

Logan Cooley is doing great for a rookie in Arizona, has eight points already... - imagine what Bedard would be able to showcase if he had at least a slightly decent team around him

Lukas Dostal in Anaheim's net...

Jack Hughes and Elias Pettersson - for obvious reasons, just look at the stats

BAD

Edmonton

Honestly, has someone told them that having Leon and Connor on the team doesn't mean you don't have to invest in the defense and goaltending because I feel like they genuinely don't know that

Is it really that hard to look around and fetch at least a solid goaltender? They are the complete opposite of Boston right now in terms of the net - sorry not sorry, but they don't have a single goaltender they could truly rely on, both of them are equally struggling and the awful defense is certainly not helping them. Just go look in the European leagues, there are a ton of outstanding goalies who would be eager to play in the NHL if you gave them the chance

Imagine how sore Leon's shoulders must be right now from carrying the team - you can't depend on one elite player to drag you through the mess, you yourself are responsible for, you have to have some sort of backup when one of your stars gets injured

Jonathan Huberdeau

You gotta feel for Calgary right now - signing this guy to an 8-year, $84,000,000 contract and him scoring two goals for you in ten games played...

Jakub Vrana

I was genuinely hoping that St.Louis would be the right destination for him in terms of them giving him the space and ice time to showcase his skills and solidify his position on that roster, but instead, it's the third team that makes him a healthy scratch

I know that there is a lot of pressure there for the team to perform so it might not be entirely Jakub's fault, however, this really is his last chance to stay in the league and currently, he is not delivering the results needed for him to be given another contract

Dominik Kubalik

Watching him at the Worlds where he was single-handedly leading the points of the Czech team and scoring basically every single game at least once, I did have great expectations of him, but so far, he has scored only two goals in Ottawa.

I am not that knowledgeable about the Senators - frankly, the only piece of information I know is that Tkachuk, Stützle, and Giroux are there and that Ryan Reynolds wanted to buy the team before he invested in yet another trash called Alpine in Formula One, but knowing Kubalik, his problem probably is the lack of ice time and competent linemates, which I am not sure is going to improve any time soon

Genuinely hurts to see another former Red Wing struggling

#nhl #nhl players #ice hockey #boston bruins #arizona coyotes #anaheim ducks #filip hronek #dominik kubalik #jakub vrana #jonathan huberdeau #edmonton oilers #leon draisaitl #logan cooley #lukas dostal

[ghostofacrow]

Gubat Banwa solo campaign journal

My tabletop regulars are too busy to fit another campaign in (especially another complex tactics game) so I'm going to try Gubat Banwa alone first. This is both going to be a campaign journal and me documenting my process of going through the book and learning the rules and the world for the first* time. I'm also not very familiar with the cultural background, and a good chunk of what I do know actually comes from following the Gubat Banwa team on social media so I'm exited to dwell more into the lore too.

*I've read an older version of the rulebook, but I've never played it before so most of it hasn't stuck in my memory. So, let's make some characters! I have a few ideas already from looking over the disciplines and thinking about which ones I'd like to play, but I'll make one character using the random tables first. Interestingly, the book makes you roll for your parent's folk and background first, and I like this. It already starts you out with some family connections, even if your parents aren't very detailed, and it's a cool way to use random tables to generate a seed of an idea while still leaving the final choice up to player.

So let's see what we get:

Father: Kawayanon (Bamboofolk), Virbanweño, State Kawal

Mother: Laksaman (Monkeyfolk), Gatusanon, Peasant

Folk has no gameplay benefits and the book encourages to treat them inspirations and not hard classifications, but I think I'll stick with the monkeyfolk I got here. I tossed a coin to decide between the two parent cultures and landed on the Virbanwa Lakanate. Each of the great cultures has a dozen pages dedicated to them, which is good, but also means I've only skimmed these so far - if I can't use the information right away, I won't remember it, so going through them one at a time lets me memorize things better. This is also why I started with the randomized character. Be right back.

The Lakanate section is interesting because they're the faction most directly touched by the invasion of the Pale Kings, they adopted their religion of not!Christianity and parts of their culture, becoming mercantilist and imperialist. Since this is what sets them apart from the other cultures, their background section mostly focuses on the european influence. Not!Christianity doesn't entirely do their faith justice, the descriptions here are very vivid and unique, but I'm trying to keep this short and not just recap the book. Here's an excerpt of what the descriptions are like, from the section about the Pinakalakan, the highest ruler of the Lakanate:

What's more, my dad is a cop it turns out. The State Kawal are enforcers of...well, the state, Kawal seems to mean something like Guard based on how it's used in the rest of the book (it's also the name of a Rajanate discipline). Google translates it as soldier, so my guess was close enough. I didn't plan to start out with a child of imperialist police but this actually works well with one of the other character ideas I had (more on that later).

There's a few more things we need to roll for. Homeland first, I got Provincial, which means I speak Virbanweno and get a worthless item, yey! There are also some skill bonuses, I'll add all those up once I move on to filling in the character sheet. The next roll is social class and I'll skip this one and just pick Middle Class because it makes the most sense with my father. The final roll in the culture section is for keepsakes, I get prayer candles and a leather longcoat.

I'm enjoying the character creation process so far, for a character I had no plans for I already got a lot of ideas from this, but it involves a lot of going back and forth in the book, especially if you follow the order step by step. After rolling for your parents professions on the tables of two different cultures, you then have to pick yours, which could be one of those two or a third one, you go to the life events section, then back to the culture section to get keepsakes and your own profession, then back to the life events. It does make the most logical sense to go through it chronologically like this, but I just rolled for the keepsakes earlier since I was already on the page.

On to the life events:

First life event: You always see a boar in the edges of the forest because your refused to kill one once for consumption.

Second life event: You were part of a different warband. You no longer fight together. One of them has died.

So what we can gather from here is that our character hesitated to kill an animal, and had a fallout with the warband they were originally with. I have to pick or roll for my own profession now, and with all of this in mind, I think my character originally following in their father's footsteps and then deserting during the second life event makes the most sense. This makes the boar event foreshadowing too, [name pending] was always kindhearted so seeing the colonial violence of their warband firsthand made them leave.

Third life event: A traveling blacksmith named Iko with their prentice came by once and made toys for everyone. He gave you an axe, and you’re indebted to him because of it.

Interesting! Don't know what to make of this one honestly, maybe Iko will show up at some point. Now we have to roll/pick a faith but because of the backstory we just established, I'm going to say that they follow the Lakanate's monotheistic religion. The book says you should decide how your Kadungganan reckons with their belief, but given this backstory, I think it works better if they started faltering around the same time they deserted and haven't found a real answer yet. Maybe they'll convert, maybe they'll renew their faith or become an atheist, I like keeping this open ended for now. Finally some free skill points to assign and to recap the character sheet now looks like this

This was honestly a lot and took a while for only doing backstory choices so far but I enjoyed the process a lot, the random tables are really good. Originally I wanted to make 3-4 characters and use the random tables only for the first one, but they are definitively a really good aid. One of the character ideas I had I really want to use now because there will be some fun (for me, not them) drama between them and our unnamed Laksaman here, but I might go the random route for the third one. I also like how the skill points turned out here - the low stats in all the Wisefolk skills and the low Resolve fits nicely with a character who is in the process of questioning their upbringing and hasn't decided on their new place in the world yet.

Discipline next! Kawal is an obvious choice here since that's also their profession, but I think it's a good pick for a few other reasons as well. Kawal is, according to the book, easy to play, and it seems like a good idea to not pick too many complex classes for a game where I'll have to learn all of them at once, from scratch, alone. The Lakanate's disciplines are more complicated by comparison, and I'd like them to be a defensive character, and the Lakanate's Sentinel discipline is. well. they're called Murderglaves. I guess I could make Cecil Final Fantasy IV but I'm not feeling the vibe. Also, the Kawal are a Gatusan discipline, so the discipline choice can tie into their mother's heritage, which hasn't really been relevant at all so far. We're legend 0 so the tactical combat portion of the character sheet really just involves a lot of copying from the rulebook which I'll do later (I don't have a lot of time left rn and I'd rather finish the rest of the decision making before I have to leave). I pick Dranreb Reyes from the provided list of names, he/him pronouns. Conviction is a bit harder to define for a character where I've just leaned hard into them not knowing what their goal is, but I wrote down "Do no harm and let no harm be done". Maybe I'll come up with a better name for it later.

Passions require a bit more thought again, I settled on "All violence must be a last resort. I will find a place to belong. Food is good, feeding others is better." The first one is taken from the list of examples in the book, the second is from the backstory, the third is me deciding that Dranreb is a very passionate cook. He tries to be humble about it, but he does take a lot of pride in any compliments his cooking gets. I still need to do the Rasi/Star Sigils but I'm really out of time now. The Complications I'll do after making the other characters, which will hopefully go a lot quicker.

I like the character I made so far here. I don't think I'll go over the whole process for the others, and after seeing how long this took, I'll only make 2 more for now before setting up the first scenes. idk how quickly I'll update this or if anyone is even interested in reading me stumble through the Sword Isles, but I'm hyped to keep going once I have time.

#ttrpg #gubat banwa #crow plays gubat banwa

[tooneys-russo]

Do you write for Chloe kelly

Also Lauren hemp need more fics of them and loved the deyna one definitely need more fics of her

Hi Anon!

I have written a little something for Chloe Kelly, let me know if you like it and I can maybe write a part 2. I will get started on a Lauren Hemp one too

The Crossover We Needed

Women’s sport in England had been gaining traction and with both rugby and football becoming more and more popular the top players had become a perfect marketing option. Ridley was the Captain and the scrum half of the England rugby 7’s team, she had been asked to feature in an interview with one of the Lionesses. Chloe Kelly was incredibly excited to be the face of the Lionesses for this interview, she had seen the England 7’s team take home their very own European Championship, she was in the stands cheering them on with her family. But she couldn’t make it obvious to the girl that she was going to meet.

Chloe showed up in her Lionesses training gear, she looked over to see a 5ft10in brunette with dimples and green eyes standing there wearing a red tank top showing off her biceps and blue running shorts that exposed her toned legs. Chloe’s eyes raked over the girl as she walked over, Ridley looked over at Chloe and quickly checked her out, very impressed by the smaller girl’s muscle tone. “Hey I’m Ridley.” The taller girl held out her hand to shake Chloe’s. “Hi, I’m Chloe.” They shook hands, trying to pull away at the socially appropriate time. They stood next to each other as they were given a brief of how the day was going to go. Firstly they would do an interview together then do skills for each of the sports to see who would win the overall challenge. 

They sat across from each other as the producer handed them a stack of questions, Chloe read hers out first. “What football team did you follow as a kid?” Chloe looked up at the other girl’s face. “Um, I go for Manchester United actually.” Ridley let out a laugh and looked at the girl across from her. “Oh so you are a red?” Chloe raised her eyebrow. “Through and through.” Ridley had a small smirk. “Gross.” Chloe pretended to gag, Ridley laughed at her reaction. “Hey, at least I follow football. I was at Wembley when you scored that banger in the Euros, saw the celebration and everything.” Ridley smiled proudly. “Nothing better than someone with some appreciation for the world game.” Chloe smiled softly.

Riley was up next to ask a question. “Do you follow any rugby teams?” Chloe thought for a moment and smirked. “Saracens. They are my local team from when I was growing up. Pretty sure they are top of the ladder in the women’s too.” Ridley rolled her eyes. “We are one point behind with a game in hand. We could be top of the ladder after next weekend.” Ridley replied quickly. “Oh so Gloucester-Hartpury is going to win the league?” Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. “We certainly could. When we do you have to come present the trophy I think while wearing one of our jerseys.” Ridley laughed.

“What is your favourite memory?” Chloe looked at Ridley intently. “Probably winning the European Championship in the Sevens for England. It was the first time I captained the country and being able to lead us to win was phenomenal. You?” Ridley smiled fondly at the memory. “Mine would definitely be the Euros win. Being able to score a goal that won us the whole thing was crazy, the most incredible thing I have ever done.” Chloe smiled wide. “One of the best sporting moments for the country I would say.” Ridley looked at the blonde across from her. “I think your Euros win was just as special, especially scoring two tries.” Chloe said softly. “You watched?” Ridley leant in slightly waiting for the answer. “Yeah, my family loves rugby almost as much as they love football. We all went to watch England completely dominate. Even better that it was a home tournament too.” Chloe relaxed as their conversation continued.

There was some casual flirting during the whole interview with both of the girls promising to catch up again the following week when they had a lunch event for England’s sporting elite. Chloe laughed at Ridley’s jokes and gently touched her arm, Ridley tried to hold back the massive grin and blush that was making its way up her neck to her face. Ridley returned the favour of making the other girl blush when she ran her fingers through her hair making her biceps flex, Chloe’s eyes locked on the muscle straining against the rugby player’s shirt. 

Once the interview portion was over they headed out to the field, on their way their conversation continued as did the flirting. Chloe gently bumped into Ridley when the taller girl teased her about the way she took penalties and the time she got hit in the face by Katie McCabe at a throw-in. “Oh my god shut up! I saw you get absolutely destroyed by the New Zealand Captain last year, you seemed too busy looking at some of the other girls.” Chloe laughed and this time it was Ridley’s turn to bump into Chloe. “Hey what can I say? Blondes seem to be my weakness.” She winked at the striker next to her as they got to the challenges.

The first game was a rugby passing drill, there were four targets lined up with four balls across from them, Chloe grabbed one of the balls and threw it to Ridley who caught it easily. “We should make this interesting. Want to make a bet?” Ridley looked at the blonde. “Sure. When I win, you have to give me your training shirt. If you somehow win, I will give you my shirt.” Chloe said confidently the two shook it and they both smirked at one another. Chloe tried to throw the first ball into the target and missed completely, she let out a groan and pouted after she missed the second one. Ridley smiled and handed Chloe another ball. “Just relax, try twisting your shoulders more rather than your hips. Nice and tight core.” Chloe listened closely and did what the girl was saying, she hit the target right in the centre on the last two shots. She jumped into the rugby player’s arms who spun her around cheering. “We might just be able to convert you into a rugby player.” The two laughed together and Chloe smacked Ridley’s arm gently. 

When it was Ridley’s turn Chloe just stared as the ball was thrown with minimal effort into the targets. Each movement had been practiced a million times and it definitely looked like it, the muscles flexed in her arms and Chloe was unable to do anything but watch. There was part of her that would have loved to know what else those muscles would be able to do to her, maybe even how they would go lifting her up and throwing her down on a bed. “Four from four, easy as you like.” Ridley’s voice snapped Chloe out of her trance. “Okay, show off. Now its time for football.”

The two walked over to four footballs set up for a crossbar challenge. “Let’s see how you go superstar.” Chloe smirked and stepped back for Ridley. The brunette looked at the crossbar then back at the footballs. “Oh man, haven’t kicked a ball in ages. Promise you won’t laugh.” Chloe nodded and motioned to the balls. “I promise. Now show me how to do it.” Ridley took a deep breath as she lined up for her first kick, it wasn’t the best but she was close to hitting the bar, she groaned and threw her head back setting up for the next ball. Her next two kicks were unsuccessful making the girl frustrated, on her last kick she glanced the crossbar and fist pumped. “Finally!” Ridley cheered and turned to the blonde who jumped on her in celebration. As Ridley put her down Chloe bit her lip as she stepped back. “Sorry just got swept up into it.” The striker said softly. “Don’t be.” Ridley stood back for Chloe’s turn. The striker made it look easy, she hit the ball so sweetly that it was hard for Riley not to stare at the girl in front of her. “Wow.” She said out loud as Chloe hit three of the four balls against the crossbar. “Now that was impressive. I think you win, you got more in rugby than I did in football. You easily win.” Ridley held out her hand which Chloe immediately shook. “Good game.” The two laughed as the video cut. 

They walked towards the changerooms to get into more casual clothes for the rest of the day. Ridley had no sooner walked in and her shirt was off exposing her abs and toned back along with her perfect arms. Chloe stared obscenely at the girl in front of her, she forgot to listen as Ridley held out her shirt to Chloe. “A bets a bet.” Chloe took the shirt from the scrum-half and swallowed hard. “Congratulations.” Ridley smirked knowing that the girl was struggling to focus. “Th-thanks.” Chloe finally choked out, Ridley pulled off her shorts and grabbed her jeans, sliding them on right in front of Chloe who was almost drooling. Ridley pulled on her oversized acid washed black shirt and a beanie. “You okay there Chloe?” Ridley walked closer to Chloe who was still standing in the middle of the room. “Yeah. Sorry. Just got distracted.” Chloe looked up at the taller girl. “By me?” Ridley moved a piece of hair from Chloe’s face as their eyes locked. “Maybe.” Chloe said and leant in to kiss Ridley, the rugby player closed the gap as their lips finally touched. Ridley wrapped her arms around Chloe’s waist and lifted her up as they kissed, she leant her against the locker door and deepened the kiss. The build up of tension during the day finally leading up to them getting what they wanted. Their makeout session was cut short by Chloe’s phone ringing, her agent was on the other end wanting to know if she was almost ready to leave, Ridley tried to distract her during the call kissing along the blonde’s neck. Chloe blushed and pushed Ridley away as the call ended. “You are a bad influence.” Chloe gently kissed Ridley and took off her shirt, it was the scrum-half’s turn to stare at Chloe as she got changed. Chloe put on a white crop top with some blue jeans. “I guess I will see you next week?” Chloe looked down, Ridley handed her a phone. “Can I maybe get your number?” Ridley asked somewhat nervously. Chloe smiled wide and put her number in Ridley phone, locking eyes as she handed it back. “I will see you next week.” Chloe kissed her cheek gently as she left. 

Over the week the two were texting most of the day, sending some pictures of what they were up to during the day. The day of the sport lunch Ridley took her time getting ready, putting on a navy blue suit with no shirt underneath relying on the jacket to stay where it was so she didn’t flash everyone around. Ridley walked into the large function room, looking around for anyone familiar. Chloe spotted the rugby player immediately, she walked over and touched her lower back. “Hi.” She said softly, making Ridley turn around. “Holy shit.” Ridley blurted out as she saw Chloe in a low cut red dress that finished above her knee, Ridley’s eyes stopped right at the striker’s chest. “Eyes are up here Ridley.” Chloe stepped closer and lifted Ridley’s chin so they were looking in each other’s eyes. “You look phenomenal yourself.” Chloe tugged gently at Ridley’s suit jacket covering what Chloe wanted to see. “Thank you gorgeous.” Ridley kissed Chloe’s cheek and put her hand on her lower back. “Are we sitting together?” Ridley asked as she looked around. “No sorry, I am on the football table and I think you are with rugby. Come see me after?” Chloe grabbed Ridley’s hand, getting her focus back. “Yeah I will come get you.” Ridley kissed Chloe’s hand as they both walked over to their tables. 

During the lunch, Ridley kept looking over at Chloe, causing some of her teammates to give her some light teasing as she stared at the blonde. Chloe received the same treatment as she glanced over at the brunette. “Who is that?” Georgia asked, motioning to Ridley. “That is Ridley, she is the captain of the England rugby team.” Chloe couldn’t help but blush as she mentioned the girl. “Well, she is certainly interested in you Chloe. She’s very pretty.” Georgia smirked, Chloe snapped at Georgia. “Yeah I know she is. Stop looking over at her.” Chloe turned back to look over at Ridley, who was looking back at her slightly concerned. Chloe gave a small smile and walked towards the bathroom, Ridley rushed to follow behind her. As soon as they were in the bathroom Ridley grabbed Chloe’s hand. “Hey you okay?” Chloe nodded and kept looking down. “Georgia said you were pretty and I just kind of cracked it.” Ridley blushed and put her hands on Chloe’s hips. “I am only looking at you.” Ridley leant in and kissed Chloe gently, leading her against the sink, the blonde wrapped her arms around Ridley’s neck and pulled her as close as possible. “After this, come around to my place its only ten minutes away. We can hang out and I will make you dinner.” Ridley offered softly. “A date?” Chloe asked hopefully. “Yes of course. I wanted to ask you out last week but didn’t want you to think I was going too fast.” Ridley blushed. “What after we made out?” Chloe laughed and Ridley blushed more. “Maybe.” Chloe kissed Ridley again and smiled. “As soon as this thing finishes, I am dragging you out of here.” Chloe smiled looking at the taller girl. “We should go back to our tables before people thing we are having sex in here.” Ridley said softly and they begrudgingly rejoined their tables.

#chloe kelly #woso #woso community #woso fanfiction #woso fanfics

[herrlindemann]

Rock Sound, 2005 - Interview with Till and Schneider

Anyone who’s witnessed Rammstein’s pyrotastic live show will know they aren’t a band to do things by halves. So maybe rock sound shouldn’t be surprised by the surreal trail of events that unfolds during the press day for new album ‘Rosenrot’. Arriving in Paris with some vague instructions to head to the Place de la Bastille and find a double-decker bus, it all fells worryingly like the plot from a bad James Bond film. Luckily, any fears about being unable to follow such a cryptic lead are calmed on spotting a bright red London bus which, in case it wasn’t given away by its conspicuous geographical location, is helpfully plastered with Rammstein album artwork. Today the bus will were a dual purpose; both transporting us to a top secret interview site and acting as a pretty ingenious promotional tool, as we drive through the city past several turned heads and dropped jaws. 

Onboard, journalists from various European countries are initiated into an album listening session that’s shrouded in MI5-style secrecy. After signing a contract, each writer receives a sealed and numbered personal CD player containing a preview version of ‘Rosenrot’. Suffice to say, those who dare to break the seal and peek inside do so on pain of death. Well, probably. And it doesn’t end there. 

Arriving at the interview venue — a boat moored on the bank of the River Seine — it seems Rammstein are intent on having us experience as many branches of the Parisian transport system as possible. It all ensures that the press are suitably bewildered, as well as just a little excited, when the time arrives to interview bands members Till Lindemann and Christoph Schneider. Really, you wouldn’t think it could get much weirder. But it does.

Both Lindemann and Schneider appear oddly indifferent to the day’s set-up, as if they’re old hands at sending journalists into a state of confusion before meeting them. Not that frontman Till really needs to try; he’s already knocked us hacks for six by granting several rare interviews this afternoon, and in person he looks every bit as imposing as his on stage characters. Thankfully though, he’s infinitely more good-humoured, and a listen to ‘Rosenrot’ reveals his increasing skill in channelling that quality into the songs.

The band’s fifth studio album continues to develop several of the themes from ‘Reise, Reise’ — namely the exchange of strict marching rhythms for dynamic rock riffs (‘Rosenrot’, ‘Zerstören’), and a new-fund affinity for ballads (‘Feuer & Wasser, ‘Ein Lied’). Yet it also comes with a few major surprises, most noticeably ‘a party anthem about driving into a brothel’, titled ‘Te Quiero Puta’. As if diverting from their trademark sound with cartoon noises and mariachi instrumentation in this effort weren’t enough, the biggest shock comes from Till, who switches his usually foreboding vocals into Spanish to hilarious effect.

Schneider picks up the story: « Till could never find good lyrics for that song, » he recalls. « It was a bit sad because we always liked it very much music-wise. Then he came up with this Spanish, which I absolutely didn’t like, especially with all the trumpets. But sometimes you have to get used to ideas that you don’t find so cool, because they might have a little potential. »

Consequently, ‘Te Quiero Puta’ is one of the best songs Rammstein have written, not just because it shatters every preconception they’ve built up with previous albums, but also because it’s executed so well. Maybe that’s down to the fact that when Rammstein go off on a creative tangent, they aren’t driven by a need for attention, but by genuine curiosity. Indeed, while ‘Te Quiero Puta’ was inspired by a love of Spanish culture that Till developed while exploring Costa Rica, ‘Mann gegen Mann’ was born from an equally eye-opening experience.

The singer explains: « That’s a pro-homosexual song. It’s based on an experience I had when we went out in Berlin with another band that had two gay members. We went to a gay bard and I was just impressed by how fast they made contact with other men, how there was little bit of communication and then they went home together. I thought it was quite enviable, especially when you compare it to what happens between a man and a woman and all the ritualistic behavior. They just had a one-night stand and nothing more. I thought there was something poetic about that. »

There’s nothing all that unusual about Rammstein dealing in potentially controversial subject matter, as the gory inspiration for ‘Mein teil’ showed. Even so, it’s hard to escape the impression that ‘Rosenrot’ is their most experimental album to date.

According to the band, that probably has something to do with they way in which it came together. The release of ‘Rosenrot’ comes just a year after ‘Reise, Reise’, meaning a significant change to their normal working cycle.

« We’ve never released another album so quickly," says Till. « Usually there’s the album release in summer or early autumn, then we tour through autumn, winter and spring and then go into working on the next release in the autumn. But after making ‘Reise, Reise’ we had four songs left which hadn’t fitted in with the rest of the album. So we decided then that we would make another CD straight after ‘Reise, Reise’ so that we could use them. »

Although they could have released the songs as an EP, there was another obstacle to overcome. During the making of ‘Reise, Reise’, Rammstein decided they would take a six-month « creative break » when they eventually came off the road in 2005. That meant either leaving fans with a long wait before another album arrived, or working incredibly hard to extend those four songs into a full release before disappearing. With Schneider stressing that the leftover tracks were « good songs, not just B-sides », they took the latter option and began work on ‘Rosenrot’ under what he describes as « a lot of pressure due to the time constraints ». 

But with both ‘Te Quiero Puta’ and ‘Mann gegen Mann’ among the new songs penned in that period, it was evidently also a positive time creatively.

« The songs are from two different periods so I think that makes the album a bit outstanding, » comments Schneider. « It’s not like the last two Rammstein albums, but it’s a good album. »

It turned out so well, in fact, that they changed their original plan to call it ‘Reise, Reise Vol. 2’ and graced it with its own title. That title continues their fascination with dark fairytales, echoing both an old story by the Brothers Grimm and a story that Till recalls about « a girl who sees a red flower on the mountainside and tells her lover. He tries to get it for her but he dies ». Nonetheless, the album as a whole also marks the end of an era for Rammstein.

« For me, this is the closing of a chapter for the band, » says Schneider. « Everybody needs a break, they need a bit of distance from this band and time to look forward and ask, ‘Where am I?’ And, ‘What do I want to do?’ We need to find other ways of being inspired. »

Consequently, there will be no tour to support the release of ‘Rosenrot’, as the sextet head their separate ways to recharge and reflect. After more than 10 years of following the same work schedule, the members of Rammstein are looking forward to spending time with family, travelling, and having the chance to recover from an exhausting promotional itinerary. They initially discovered the benefits of taking time out while making ‘Reise, Reise’ — when tensions carried over from previous album ‘Matter’ came to a head and forced them to put work on hold. As Schneider states, it’s vital to the « balance of democracy » within the band that they get away from each other now and again.

However, with this personal time now coming at the expense of a new live spectacular, are they concerned that ‘Rosenrot’ won’t get the exposure it deserves?

« Maybe that will affect something, » allows the drummer. « But we’ve been on tour for almost a year now and we’re tired. Of course our live show is a big part of our promotion, but what can you do? You can’t keep on at the same pace, running and running like a hamster on a wheel. »

A much-needed holiday? The end of an era? You might wonder if ‘Rosenrot’ is shaping up to be Rammstein’s parting shot…

« I have a good feeling, » begins Schneider. « I think Rammstein has the potential to continue. But after 11 or so years you have to be careful. It’s easy to over-do it, for it to get boring and for you not to reach your potential anymore. We’ll see. If it doesn’t happen anymore I’ll do something else. »

Thankfully, Till is more assured about future plans, insisting Rammstein will start work on another album and tour after their break. What’s more, the excited singer suggests we can expect an even greater visual extravaganza on their return — if he gets his way.

« Personally, I’d just sing two songs and then have two hours of pyro! » he laughs.

There’s no doubt it’ll be worth the wait.

#rammstein #till lindemann #christoph schneider #interview #*scans #2005 #*

[thommi-tomate]

Holger Badstuber Column

Hello football fans!

Very importantly, I'm not criticizing the individual skills of the players. Some of them are outstanding, and my footballing heart soars when I see the potential of Florian Wirtz or Jamal Musiala. For me, it's much more about the community as a team. I miss a rebellion, the culture of winning. There's also a lack of playful structure and it annoys me that we haven't made any progress despite the change of coach from Hansi Flick to Julian Nagelsmann. There is no sign of Nagelsmann's influence.

By the way, hats off to the performance and development of Austria with Ralf Rangnick at this point. The performance was mature, the style of play clear and the victory well deserved.

"Superfluous rotation and questionable experiments"

In 2023, the DFB team was supposed to strengthen its defense. After conceding a total of 22 goals in eleven international matches, this is not surprising. As a coach, Nagelsmann stands for many things, but never for acting without risk. On the contrary: unnecessary rotation and questionable experiments have prevented trust from growing between the players. But that is fundamentally important - especially in the final line of defense. Once again, the wrong mechanisms were set in motion.

Nagelsmann has also missed the opportunity to form a team core. He won't be able to change much now, the next international matches will follow in March, by which time every player will already be focused on the decisive final phase of the season at the club.

Far from favorites

Black, red and gold once stood for quality, strength, the will to win and fighting spirit. At the end of this disappointing international year 2023 - with the defeats against Turkey and Austria as the negative highlight - I have to say that the paint is finally off: The paint is finally off, nothing shines anymore. All I see is average, mediocrity. The future? Predominantly black. We have created a generation of players in Germany who are making themselves comfortable with the DFB. International matches are just a number on your business card and obviously nothing worth tearing yourself apart for.

We can only hope that the home European Championship will be a football festival. Ideally, this will create a kind of euphoria within the national team. Above all, we need hungry players, because without hard work it will be impossible to get through the group stage. That should be the primary goal. Let's not kid ourselves, this DFB generation is far removed from the favorites.

The road to improvement will be a long process. The European Championship can be an opportunity to show the fans that things are moving in the right direction again. Because as much as I've just got used to the fact that the German national team is only mediocre in football, I definitely don't like it.

See you soon

Your Holger

#holger badstuber #holger badstuber columm #german nt

[inejschumacher]

Why is there no Turkey in the Asian Cup? I know that the national team of that country is strong? Or am i wrong?

I’m not Turkish myself but I did ask my friend who is and this is what she said!

You are correct, it is a strong team, but mainly it’s the financial, exposure and political reasons.

UEFA pays a LOT more than AFC by the millions, so the Turkish National team gets better sponsors and more money for their overall spending like salaries and well-kept stadiums, which also prevents players from choosing to play for other national teams.

It also brings more exposure to Turkish clubs and players, so they get signed by larger, more beneficial teams in Europe. Arda Güler with Real Madrid is a great example as it shows sponsors and international audiences that Turkey has a bright future with their youngsters, bringing interest and money.

Especially when they can showcase their skills against stronger competition! Turkey absolutely can win the Asian Cup and Asian Champions League, but that wouldn’t really show how skilled their team is as most Asian teams aren’t at the European level yet (but that’s definitely changing!)

Politically, Turkey has stronger ties with European nations both in general and in football, especially being in UEFA since 1962, so for them it’s easier to continue being in European football rather than upend everything and risk loss of money, players, and sponsors.

Geographically, it’s easier to travel to European countries for competitions rather than Asia, despite most of Turkey being located in it.

Hope this helps! My friend and I both find it a bit strange but this is the current reality.

#turkey #football #arda güler #answered asks

[professionalpuckbunny]

The has-a-brother-in-the-SHL anon here - gonna keep the introduction short and lovely, my brother fulfilled your wish of answering the fascinating questions everyone has regarding the hockey dating culture with brutal honesty and greets all of you nosy Tumblr gossipers.

Keep in mind that the answers are also influenced by me throwing my two cents into the discussion cause the answers my brother gave me would hardly be understandable enough if written here without any further context and explanation. If you thought that my showering answer was a long-ass essay, buckle up, cause I feel like I have just written the continuation of Ice and Fire.

"Why the hockey players choose blonde wannabe influencer girls in like 99% of cases?" Culture of the country and league you play in, peer and role model pressure, accessibility, and convenience - those are probably the words that would sum up everything I have been told in the vague answers, my brother gave me.

I frankly didn't expect him to struggle with this question that much, but when I tell you he was sweating a coherent answer out of himself for good thirty minutes as if I have asked him some deep philosophical question about the meaning of life, especially when questioned why he himself has never dated a girl that wouldn't be blonde in those twenty years of his life, I mean it.

Some may be confused by what the culture of the country and the particular league has to do with the players dating blonde girls only, but if you look outside of the NHL, and other north American and Nordic leagues, the blonde WAGs' dominance isn't actually that prevalent in hockey. It really isn't just a coincidence that most of the Russian players and many Czech ones in the NHL date brunettes, cause if you look at the KHL or ELH, the WAGs there aren't by far as monotonous looks-wise as they are in the previously mentioned leagues.

Applying this to the SHL (and consequently at the other nordic leagues), it is normal (and has been normal since probably forever) to see the players going for mostly blondes cause the nordic countries in general are notoriously known for the blonde genes if I say it like that (I myself am naturally blonde and so are many other people here, unlike in the rest of the world, where the blondes are in 60% of cases fake blondes) and while I don't have handful experience with the North American culture since I have been there only a couple of times, I believe that the blonde has become somewhat of a trend there among the middle and upper classes in the last couple of decades, especially in the hockey surroundings (I dare to say, that in a way it used to be copying of what the Nordic players have brought with them when the NHL first opened for the Europeans).

Peer and role model pressure. Honestly, I feel like a lot of people underestimate how huge of a thing that is in every team sport, ice hockey very much included.

When you ask the young players nowadays, my brother being among them, who they look up to, they always tell you players like McDavid or Matthews. The cult of personality of these role models goes way beyond what those players showcase on the ice, they are obsessed with everything they do and naturally, they try to be like them even off the ice. You have McDavid, who is dating and posting pics of his blonde girlfriend (despite cheating on her with brunettes, irony, isn't it?), and Matthews, who is fucking around with blondes all the time just like 99% of the league. Even the youngest role models like Hughes or Zegras, some of the young players look up to, fuck around with mostly blondes and that's the peer pressure mixed with the league's culture - everyone around you dates blondes, so you feel obliged to do the same thing, cause sticking out in any other way than skill-wise (of course in a good sense) isn't welcomed in ice hockey.

I feel like the perfect way how to explain this to everyone is the occasion when a famous celebrity (= McDavid, Matthews, Marner - who were all influenced by those before them...) promotes a certain clothing item, that becomes viral because they are famous and have an influence over the rest of the population, everyone in your surroundings began to buy and wear it, even your friends, and you feel somehow obliged to go with everyone else cause you don't want to stick out in the crowd with an out of fashion clothing. As disrespectful as it is to compare the WAGs to a piece of clothing, this is the reality.

The fact that most of those girls are so-called influencers or models and rarely some actually esteemable established professions is linked with accessibility and convenience, which goes both ways. The girls know that they can massively profit, both fame and money-wise, from dating a famous hockey player, twice as much when they want to become influencers and internet models because what really is the chance they will be successful in such a massive uncompromising industry and the world of social media when they look like every other basic girl in their country and lack the skills (and at many times even personality) to built an actually admirable influencer platform, that would stand out from the rest out there? Non-existent.

The number of those blonde wannabe influencer girls that slid into my brother's Instagram and Snapchat DMs after he was drafted (just drafted, keep that in mind, he doesn't play in the NHL nor the AHL to be as popular as the other guys, let alone guys like Hughes or Matthews) is absolutely insane and laughable at the same time, but the players roll with it, why wouldn't they when they can literally choose out of dozens, sometimes even hundreds or thousands of desperate girls, that many times have no dignity whatsoever and don't care whether it is going to be a one-night stand only, the guys will forget about right the next morning, or whether they will become the so-called girlfriend and will be cheated on regularly?

Trust me, those guys enjoy it disgustingly too much, even my brother, who is capable of casually telling you that he only plans to fuck her on the road trip since she is from the town, they are heading to when you ask him, who is the girl he is messaging with during a family movie night.

I said that the convenience of the girls being wannabe influencers and models goes both ways - the girls get the hype and financial backing out of the relationship, we know that, everyone must realize that if they think about it at least for a while and put two and two together. The guys, on the other hand, exploit the fact that those girls become dependent on them in these aspects, and therefore are forced to bear their blatant cheating and other behavior, which would in a normal relationship result in a split of the couple, because if they wouldn't they would simply lose the source of fame and money, the players represent. Lose that and be replaced by a chick, who wouldn't be any different from them. In a way, the girls, we see on the players' social media, don't even have to be actually dense and one-layered as many people believe, they are forced to be like that if they want to remain in a relationship with those guys because hardly ever is a player on such a high popularized level as the NHL capable of maintaining a relationship with a girl that has her own mind, independence, established career and sense of dignity that would make her leave the second her guy would be caught shamelessly cheating on her - "those girls aren't as easy as the blonde wannabe influencers as you call them."

"Why do they get married so young?"

I am relieved that my brother isn't at a marriable age yet (though looking at Brady Tkachuk, no one knows at this point what really is a marriable age among hockey players) and that he promised that he personally doesn't plan on getting till 25 - whether they will reflect reality or not, I am not sure, I hope it will.

Many of his teammates and hockey friends though, got in fact married in their early slash mid-twenties and according to what he told me, they mostly did it cause there was that pressure of a traditional family, society, or values, they themselves had ingrained in their heads from the old-school type of upbringing, which says that if you find the so-called right girl, you should marry her and have kids before you hit thirty because it is a sign that you have matured and calmed down enough to settle down - yes, that mindset still seems to exist even in the 21st century, and I personally believe that it is even more prevalent in the States hence among some of the guys in the NHL (I am looking at Seguin, in particular. That guy proposed only cause there probably is massive pressure on his 31-year-old ass to finally settle down, despite him still being the same Tyler Seguin that partied shirtless with Brad Marchand back in Boston).

Some of his married friends also allegedly say that they simply want to come back home after a game to a cooked dinner, wife and kids and enjoy a different, more peaceful world from the one they experience while playing and traveling - lovely statement when one overlooks the fact that the hockey lifestyle, when they are away from their families, also includes cheating on their wives and considering that as a normal part of the hockey life, which according to them doesn't have anything to do with their marriage as it is two separate lives, they live.

"Why do they cheat so damn often with just random chicks?"

I have practically answered that in everything I have written above, but the short answer, my brother gave me between the lines is - cause they can, cause they have the resources to, cause they want, and cause everyone around them does, so why shouldn't they?

Welcome to the wonderful reality of hockey dating culture, sweethearts. The only positive thing about it is that it will always create gossip we can discuss.

Gonna be honest I am not reading all that but love you for this❤️

[mariacallous]

All roads lead to Phoenix. On the gravy train of greenfield investment riding on the back of Inflation Reduction Act legislative incentives in the United States, no county ranks higher than Arizona’s Maricopa. The county leads the nation in foreign direct investment, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC), Intel, LG Energy, and others expanding their footprint in the Grand Canyon State. But Phoenix is neither the next Rome nor the next Detroit. The reasons boil down to workers and water.

First, the labor. America’s skilled worker shortage has been well documented since before the Trump-era immigration slump and pandemic border closures. Especially in the tech industry—the United States’ most productive, high-wage, and globally dominant sector—a huge deficit in homegrown engineering talent and endlessly bungled immigration policies have left Big Tech with no choice but to outsource more jobs abroad.

Arizona dangled its low taxes and sunshine, but TSMC has had to fly in Taiwanese technicians to jump-start production at the 4 nanometer chip plant that was meant to be completed by 2024, but has been delayed until 2025 at the earliest.

The salvage operation calls into question whether the more advanced and miniaturized 3 nanometer plant—scheduled to open in 2026 will stay on course. (With two-thirds of its customer base—including Apple, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nvidia, Marvell, Analog Devices, and Intel—in the United States, it’s no wonder TSMC wants to speed things up.)

From electric vehicles to gaming consoles, the forecasted demand for the company’s industry-leading chips is projected to rise long into the future—and its market share is already north of 50 percent. Given the geopolitical risks it faces in Asia, a well-trained U.S. workforce could give it the comfort to establish the United States as a quasi-second headquarters. After all, Morris Chang, the company’s founder, had a long first career with Texas Instruments.

But the next slowdown they may face is Arizona’s dwindling water supply. In just the past year, Scottsdale cut off water to Rio Verde Foothills, an upscale unincorporated suburb on its fringes, due to the region’s ongoing megadrought and its curtailed allocation of Colorado River water. This was followed by Phoenix freezing new construction permits for homes that rely on groundwater.

Forced to find other sources, industry players have stepped up buying water rights from farmers, essentially bribing them to stop growing food that would serve the region’s fast-growing population. Then there are the backroom deals involved in an Israeli company receiving the green light for a $5.5 billion project to desalinate water from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez and pipe it 200 miles uphill through deserts and natural preserves to Phoenix.

Water risk brings political risk for companies. Especially in Europe, governments are carefully weighing the short-term benefits of corporate investment versus the climate stress it exacerbates. They have good reason to be suspicious: Firms such as Microsoft have been notoriously inconsistent in reporting their water consumption, and promises to replenish consumed water haven’t been delivered on. And even if data centers are becoming more efficient, growing demand just means more of them. Some European provinces have blocked data center development, pushing them to locations with high heat risk.

Europe’s regulatory stringency has long been off-putting to foreign investors, which is what makes European officials so weary of Washington’s aggressive Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

But to fulfill its promise of putting the United States on a path toward sustainable industrial self-sufficiency, these policies need to better align investment with resources, matching companies to geographies that best suit their needs. It would be better to direct capital allocation to climate resilient regions than to throw good money after potentially stranded assets.

If any company ought to know better on all these matters, it’s TSMC. In Taiwan itself, the industry’s huge energy and water consumption are a source of controversy and difficulty. Not only have droughts on the island occasionally slowed production, but the company’s own water consumption rose 70 percent from 2015-19.

Furthermore, Taiwan knows that its real special sauce is precisely the technically skilled workforce that the United States lacks. Yet TSMC has doubled down on Phoenix, a place without a reliable long-term water supply for industry, little in the way of renewable energy, and a construction freeze that will make it challenging to house all the workers it needs to import.

With all the uncertainty over both water and workers, this begs the question of whether the semiconductor company the entire world is courting would have been better off establishing its U.S. beachhead in the upper Midwest or northeast instead? Ohio, upstate New York, and Michigan rank high in greenfield corporate investments, resilience to climate shocks, and are abundant in quality universities and technical institutes.

Amid accelerating climate change and an intensifying war for global talent, how can those devising U.S. industrial policy better select the appropriate locations to steer investment to?

States with higher climate resilience than Arizona are starting to flex for greater investment. According to recent data, Illinois has climbed to second place nationally for corporate expansion and relocation projects. The greater Chicago area and state as a whole are touting their tax benefits, underpriced real estate, growth potential, and grants to prepare businesses to cope with climate change.

Other parts of the Great Lakes region, such as Michigan and Ohio, are also regaining confidence in their industrial revival, pitching heavily for both domestic and foreign commercial investment while emphasizing their affordability and climate adaptation plans.

Just over the border, Canada has been wildly successful in poaching foreign skilled workers unable to secure or maintain green card status in the United States while also investing heavily in economic diversification—all with the benefit of nearly unlimited natural resources and energy supplies. While Canada hasn’t yet rolled out Inflation Reduction Act-style tax breaks to lure investors, it abounds in critical minerals for EV batteries (nickel, cobalt, lithium and rare earths such as neodymium, praseodymium, and niobium) as well as hydropower.

The more that climate change warps the United States, the more grateful it should be that its most natural and staunch ally occupies the most climate resilient real estate on the North American continent, even taking into account the raging wildfires of this summer. But rather than covet Canada the way China does Russia—as a vast and depopulated resource bounty—the United States and Canada should cooperate far more proactively on a continental scale industrial policy that would bring about true self-sufficiency from the Arctic to the Caribbean.

This is where geopolitical interests, economic competition, and climate adaptation converge. As Canada’s population surges by up to 1 million new permanent migrants annually, a more unified North American system would be more self-sufficient in crucial commodities and industries, less vulnerable to supply chain disruptions abroad, and avoid unnecessary carbon emissions from excessive inter-continental trade. Thirty years after the NAFTA agreement, it seems more sensible than ever to graduate toward a more formal, autarkic North American Union.

One can easily imagine Greenland joining one day—the country already enjoys autonomy from its colonizer (Denmark) and is now pushing for complete independence, driven partly by the desire to control more of the riches that climate change has revealed it to possess.

Meanwhile, in Taipei, there are far more complex geopolitical consequences to consider. TSMC has long been considered Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” a leader of industry so important that a conflict that took it offline would be a major own-goal for China. But it is precisely the combination of the China threat, environmental stress, and pandemic-era supply chain disruptions that convinced TSMC’s customers that its home nation represents too large a concentration risk.

Now TSMC and its rivals are expanding production from Japan to the United States, Europe, and India. This globally diversified set of chip manufacturers is easier for China to exploit as countries more susceptible to Chinese pressure become less rigid in compliance with U.S.-led export controls over advanced technologies.

At the same time, if the United States no longer depends on Taiwan itself for the majority of its semiconductor supply in just five to seven years, will it be as willing to defend Taiwan militarily? This, not Ukraine, is what Beijing is watching for as it pursues its own “Made in China” quest for self-sufficiency.

Industrial policy is back in vogue as a national security and economic strategy. But to get it right requires aligning investment into industry and infrastructure with the geographies of resources and resilience. The countries that build climate adaptation into their strategies will be the ones that build back better.

[lone-sk]

Hey, so! I thought it would be fun to do a tier list of all the games I played for the first time this year, and discuss my thoughts on them. Tiers are unordered, thoughts below the cut.

Super Meat Boy -

Just a fun ass time. Excellent platforming, a great difficultly curve, fun level gimmicks, and a solid amount of content. Basically as flawless as a video game can get.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth -

I've never played a roguelike where each run felt so unique. All the different shit you can do with ability synergies and items is insane, the skill ceiling for this game is practically infinite. This is what the roguelike genre has the potential to be, and every other roguelike is now worse because they aren't this good.

Dark Souls Remastered -

Yeah, the combat is improved in later entries, but the level and world design here is unmatched. Each segment flows together so seamlessly, combined with the top notch atmosphere and aesthetic for an unforgettable experience.

Psycholonials -

A really exceptional visual novel that talks about the pandemic, the internet, and just kinda what its like being a young adult nowadays. Captures a lot of weird and intense feelings. It makes you feel so emotionally drained after every chapter, and I mean that as a compliment.

Persona 5 Royal -

There are so many interconnected systems in this game, but they're all so balanced and intuitive. The developers thought of everything, and every time you get complacent, they pull another trick out of their sleeves to keep you on edge. Masterclass of pacing. Plus, the visual style is leagues above anything else out right now. The RPG mechanics are even somewhat manageable as well. It just feels good to play, and never really fumbles.

Class of 09 -

A visual novel that is both really funny, and really profound. Kinda similar to MTV's Daria, with a lot more edge. I do appreciate that there is a message - several really - at the core of it's various endings, and it's not just being edgy for the sake of it. The voicework really caries the experience, especially in contrast to the inconsistent artstyle. I get that they want to go for the shitty deviantart anime style, but some of the endcards just look bad.

Class of 09: The Re-Up -

Pretty much a direct improvement in every way. More scenes are hand illustrated now, and the artstyle looks a lot more palatable now. The voice actors are given more challenging scenes, and they absolutely rise to the occasion. There are less endings, and less content overall, but it's higher quality.

Cruelty Squad -

Everyone seems to talk about this games art style, but honestly, I just really liked the gameplay. Lots of high skill movement mechanics, paired with challenging level design, and a dash of immersive sim mechanics make for an engaging experience.

Melty Blood: Type Lumina -

A fighting game that combines the mobility of a platform fighter, with the combos and depth of a traditional fighter. Takes the best of both genres with none of the cons. I only wish the netplay was better.

Shenzhen I/O -

A puzzle game that involves programing and arranging circuits. Fun, but very challenging. Or maybe I'm just dumb.

Pentiment -

Disco Elysium but set in a 15th century European monastery. It's well written, and has cool art, but doesn't really have the memorable, interesting characters of Disco. Plus, it asks the player to learn a lot about medieval history. Like a lot.

Dead Cells -

A fun enough roguelike, but it runs out of steam pretty quickly, faster than you'd expect for this genre. After a while, you run out of good long term progression unlocks, and the difficultly curve really spikes. I got stuck at a point where I could beat through all of the stages easily, but then the end boss would wipe me out really quickly.

Hotline Miami -

Lots of visceral, gory gameplay. The aesthetics and art direction are on point as well, more so than normal for one of these games that was clearly made for a gamejam. The controls do kinda suck though, the lock on mechanic is especially unintuitive. It's almost impossible to play on controller.

Exa Punks -

Another fun programming puzzle game. The gimmick of having little robots you give commands to is fun, and kinda reminds me of those websites that teach coding in similar ways. The only problem is that the objective of levels can be unclear.

Watch Dogs 2 -

I'm surprised a Ubisoft sandbox is this high, but this game really grew on me. The gameplay is mostly similar to the stuff you can do on the hacking skill tree in Cyberpunk 2077, but more fleshed out and intuitive, really fun stuff. The story, too, is surprisingly pretty good. They also push the messaging pretty far, nothing that's proper like, anti-corporation or anything, but it's pretty anti-silicon valley, anti-walled garden tech, stuff like that. Shattered my incredibly low expectations, good job guys.

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley -

Overrated as fuck in my opinion. It starts out strong, but the pacing gets flattened by the end of chapter 2, and it feels like the developers don't know where to go from here. There are so many little bits and pieces of the story, with the cult, the demons, the weird shit to do with blood types - and I don't think there's any way to take these ideas, build on top of the story so far, and have something cohesive, or satisfying. And if you're just here for the incest, it's only in one scene at the end of one of the possible endings, so what the hell was even the point.

Shadows of Doubt -

A procedurally generated detective game, which gets points for letting you do pretty much everything. Like it's an admirable level of detail, you can do shit like break into the phone lines in order to trace someone's call. It just doesn't really click with my brain, I guess. Like it could be tutorialized a bit more, so the player has a better idea of what they can do. Plus after a while, you exhaust all the different cases there can be, and they all get predictable and formulaic. I do hope there are more content updates in the future, this is a great base to build off.

Psychonaughts 2 -

The world and characters in this game are all really good, but the story is really a drag for me. The first game had this goofy, silly vibe to it, but the story here is so overly focused on like, acknowledging how fucked up it is that you can go into people's minds and change their personality like that, which I always thought was kinda the joke of the original. Plus the gameplay is like, just okay, although a lot of the levels are too long, which feels like a weird complaint, but I ended up getting bored a lot.

Pseudoregalia -

Excellent platforming with dogshit level design. Once I left the tutorial stage, I was constantly confused about where I needed to go, and what I needed to do, and even where I was. Just some of the worst game design I've ever fucking seen. Abysmal shit. But, the movement is pretty spectacular, so I did end up finishing it. I hope people find out how to mod level packs in, that would be hype.

Pizza Tower -

I had the same issue with this game that I did with Mario Odyssey. The main character has such a distinct and refined moveset, so why am I spending half of most levels as someone who is not the main character? I don't understand this focus on captures. I still had a lot of fun, but it's frustrating as fuck, when you want to play as the fun character with the deep, high skill ceiling moveset, and the game does not want you to do that for some reason.

TIS-100 -

Another puzzle game for smart people, which is brought down a bit from not really having an art style. I dunno, I get wanting to be minimal and cool, but at least give me background music, come on guys.

FAITH: THE UNHOLY TRINITY -

I do respect the commitment to the Atari 2600 art style, but if anything this just proved why most "retro"style games went for the style of later console games. The gameplay is literally almost nothing, and I have a hard time getting into any story that's told in 90% text logs. The style makes for some effective horror, outside of that I had a hard time getting anything out of this.

ALAN WAKE II -

I feel like the devs did not consider the combat system here. Like the entire point of making combat clunky and resource - dependent is to force the player to pick and choose their battles. It falls apart when you're constantly forcing them to kill enemies. That, and the corkboard puzzle sections don't really require any thinking to solve, you can just brute force them. They aren't very intuitive either, it's such a transparent way to just, progress the plot instantly. I did like the story though, for the most part, and the visual style is pretty fantastic. Lots of eerie, abandoned scenes, I love it.

Hotline Miami 2 -

Whatever improvements to the art style and gameplay are negated by the terrible level design. Lots of wide open spaces, where an enemy off screen will shoot you, and you have to duck out of cover, spraying at them with an SMG that has random spread. Lots of glass, lots of levels that only really have one route, lots of getting killed by random enemies you didn't even notice. Just really frustrating stuff.

Teardown -

The tech used here is really cool, I just wish they used it in a better way. The levels are barely passable, there's no real difficulty curve, or ideas that get expanded upon. It still feels like a tech demo.

Hiveswap Act 1 -

It's a perfectly inoffensive point and click adventure game. The art is well made, I like the story, and I thought Joey and Xefros were cute together. It's just missing something to really bump it any higher. It's short, and the puzzles are all either obtuse as fuck or super easy to solve. I also have a hard time figuring out who this is for. I don't know if Homestuck fans or point-and-click adventure fans would get a lot out of this.

Yakuza 0 -

I had a hard time getting into this one. The main story is just too soap opera for me. So many characters with complicated relationships, so many dramatic declarations and cutscenes. The combat is also just okay. The side content is really great, but it's hard for that to carry the entire experience for me. What a weird game.

Critters for Sale -

It's difficult, because I think there's a lot of cool techniques here that would help push visual novels as a medium forward. Lots of cool visual effects and fun mini games. Being very clear and upfront about how many endings and routes there are. Good menu and UIs. But the stories are just, not very good? Like I can remember maybe one or two individual moments, but most of the game I've totally forgotten about. Except for the Death Grips storyline, what the fuck was that?

Far Cry 3 -

Everyone gasses up the main story on this one, but lets be honest, it kinda sucks. Vaas is great, but who gives a shit about any of Ethan's friends? Or Ethan himself? Plus, the gunplay and exploration were both so generic. They were probably impressive like a decade ago, but now? I can get this same experience in 20 other games, do something interesting with it, or get out.

Not for Broadcast -

A game that really had me, and then really lost me. At first, the gameplay is mostly basic video editing stuff - keeping the camera on the person talking, censoring curse words, stuff like that. Ok, makes sense, it's fun. But they slowly add more gameplay that's just busy work, and the story really goes off the rails, and I couldn't take it seriously anymore. It basically turns into watching Monty Python skits while solving a Rubik's cube.

Gunfire Reborn -

A roguelike fps that just kinda sucks. The "roguelike" elements don't change anything massive about your run, just enemy placement and weapon pick ups. And it runs on like, Borderlands progression, where you're just looking for stuff with the bigger number. The combat feels shitty too. Shitty movement, abilities and guns that don't feel satisfying to use, what a terrible experience. I hate how every FPS makes "difficult" enemies by just adding more HP.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch -

Boring as fuck. The story was boring, the combat was boring, the world was generic, I feel like I've played this game twenty fucking times already.

Jedi Fallen Order -

Dark Souls if it sucked. You can always tell if a game was made in Unreal Engine if it has shitty, floaty movement, and for a soulslike, not having precise movement really fucks with the entire experience. There are also too many ranged enemies, which is a problem when your character is melee focused. The levels suck, and the story is shit. Fucking Star Wars fans will buy anything.

Bastion -

It's Hades, but everything is 1% as good. I guess it was interesting to see the roots of certain ideas, but everything is just slower and not fun. Literally no reason to play it now outside of some historical curiosity.

City of Gangsters -

There are so many interesting systems here. You can set up specific routes for your crew to perform at specific times, down to the location, and action, but honestly, it just doesn't scale well. In video games that revolve around storing shit, the complexity ramps up much faster than it does in most games, and if you don't provide the player the tools for handling it, it's just overwhelming. I appreciate the ambition, but this needed like, another half year of dev time, minimum.

Outcore -

I've never played a game that was this self conscious. You can skip pretty much all of the gameplay, although it's not like it offers a lot outside of rip offs of better games. So much could have been done with this concept of a desktop buddy coming to life, but instead, I am presented with a rip off of the Flowey fight from Undertale. Guess it's not plagarism if you frame it as an homage. Get the fuck out of here.

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone -

It needs more. More upgrades, more enemies, more weapons, more arena designs. As it is, it feels like a gamejam game.

Hiveswap Act 2 -

Oh my god the story is so terrible. Imagine thinking that it's a good idea to introduce 30 characters in a 4 hour game. Barely any of them are interesting, either, and even if you do end up liking one, it's not like they can be a significant part of the story, because we've got 29 more of the fuckers to introduce. Plus there's an Ace Attorney segment like halfway through which is really hard to get through if you've never played one of those games. I don't see anyone enjoying this, outside of the really hardcore Homestuck/troll fans, and even then, do you know how much fan fiction for this series exists? And how much of it is really good?

#lone talks #super meat boy #the binding of isaac #dark souls #psycholonials #persona 5 #class of 09 #cruelty squad #pentiment #dead cells #hotline miami #watch dogs #the coffin of andy and leyley #shadows of doubt #psychonaughts 2 #pseudoregalia #pizza tower #faith the unholy trinity #alan wake 2 #hiveswap #yakuza zero #critters for sale #far cry 3 #not for broadcast #gunfire reborn #ni no kuni

[weaselandfriends]

hey! Just watched Players, and was interested in hearing more of your thoughts on it--in what respects you found it hewed true to your own research/experience. I've never engaged with eSports, but Players' depiction of "online masculinity" more broadly was very compelling to me, and reminded me of Jay from CQ, albeit with a more balanced/positive slant. I think that sincerity/positivity hurt the show by preventing it from exploring racism/sexism in gaming culture; you catch glimmers of it, particularly in the internet's reaction to Nightfall's replacement of Guru, but the show goes out of its way to avoid couching it in those terms, presumably to show eSports in a more sympathetic light. Race and gender are common themes in your stories; do you think you would have placed more of a focus on them? Also, have you seen American Vandal? That show's first season was memorable to me for its dissonant ending, which placed all that preceded in a new light; Players has a more understated version of the same, in which Organizm's inhuman, unhinged voicemail is shown to have perfectly predicted Creamcheese's feelings, thus humanizing it in retrospect--only for Organizm to reject this, sacrificing everything in pursuit of impossuble perfection. Many of the show's characters are embodiments of some skill/archetype, and it asks what exactly separates these paragons from ordinary people--which I felt closely matched your own style of characterisation. Thanks for your time!

I'll preface this by saying that I haven't actually seen Players. I just know about it, since it was heavily advertised on the LCS stream when it came out. I'll mention a fun fact though: Nightfall's actor is actually an ex-LCS pro named Youngbin, a Korean-American who once played for Team Liquid. As I understand it, the show also has cameos from many other real pros and esports personalities.

I can speak about some of the topics you brought up, though. First up, racism in the esports scene. This was one of the major topics I wanted to cover in my planned esports story. In particular, I wanted to use the story as a vehicle to challenge the idea of American exceptionalism. In League of Legends, the North American region is a distant fourth best, behind Korea, China, and Europe. In the early days of the scene it was possible to chalk this discrepancy up to infrastructure, especially when it came to Korea; having already developed a sophisticated esports scene due to StarCraft, Korea had an organizational and coaching edge over the rest of the world from about 2012, when the game first took off in Korea, to 2017, when big money investors in the other three regions were injecting huge cashflows into teams. This was an era of Korean dominance, where Korean teams won almost every time. To catch up, the other three regions would import Korean players to their regions as much as possible (since 2015 there have been rules in place to limit imports to 2 per 5-man team), and the only region to ever really catch up to Korea is China, which combined high-money importing of top Korean pros with the gargantuan Chinese server population (China loves League of Legends, it's like the national sport) to finally start winning some tournaments.

North America has consistently lagged behind even China and Europe, an issue mainly related to low server population and poor American internet infrastructure, which forces most prospective NA players to learn and practice the game on much higher ping than pros in any of the other major regions. On top of NA being bad, NA is consistently buoyed by high-profile import players, as opposed to "native" North American players. Actual American and Canadian players often take up filler role player positions around imported Korean and European stars, which has led to a general fact of life that Americans are simply not that good at the game compared to the competition. This is in spite of the fact that League of Legends is an American game made by an American company. It's a joke in traditional sports that Americans are only the best at sports they made, but in League, Americans aren't even that. I wanted to center my story around an American role player in a more supportive position like top, who would have to grapple with the fact that despite being in the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1% of players, he was simply not good enough to matter beyond that.

Racism in the esports scene is an odd issue, because it's less "racism" and more "regionalism"--or xenophobia. This is due to the league format of professional League of Legends, in which regional leagues (Korea, China, Europe, and NA) feed into a major international Worlds cup. In a sports scene where teams are not tied to specific cities the way they are in traditional sports, this regionalism is often what drives fans to support certain teams, what causes people to root for a team that feels like "theirs." This makes the fan ecosystem closer to the way people root for teams or players at the Olympics or the World Cup, instead of what it's like in the NFL, NBA, etc. Where things get complicated in terms of League is that unlike the Olympics or World Cup, teams from a region are allowed to field players from other regions to represent them. In North America, as I mentioned, this issue is exacerbated because not only are North American teams bad, they're bad often without even being quote-unquote "North American." I mentioned before that there is an import rule that ostensibly ensures every team is 3/5ths comprised of native players. However, due to a variety of loopholes and also the United States' significantly more lenient legal residency and immigration restrictions compared to China, there are many players who were imported to NA solely to play League of Legends who are now technically counted as non-imports. At the most recent Worlds, NA sent three teams, and of the 15 players on those teams, only 3 were "native North Americans," the rest either being imports or former imports who got green cards, making them legally residents. One team was comprised entirely of imports or former imports. Meanwhile, other regions are represented by teams that have a majority of "native" players. So the fan ecosystem is designed around supporting "your region," but NA is in the unique position where "your region" is majority comprised of players from "another region." Hence the point of soreness.

The racism question gets further complicated by the racial makeup of "native" North American players, which heavily slants toward Asian-Americans/Asian-Canadians. Of the 3 "native" players at Worlds last year, 2 were Asian-American/-Canadian (the third was Quebecois). Doublelift, the most famous and beloved North American pro, on whom I believe Players' Creamcheese was modeled, is a Chinese-American whose real name is Yiliang Peng. The breakout rookie star of last year, Jojopyun, is a Korean-Canadian who "native NA" fans held up as the shining hope of native NA talent. Youngbin himself, who plays Nightfall, is a Korean-American "native" pro. This begs another interesting question: Is it racism to support Asian-Americans over Asian Non-Americans? I think this uniquely positioned sports ecosystem creates a complex and interlocking system of identities that is prime for exploration in a narrative format. With the prevalence of European importing, it becomes even stranger. Most of the white players in the North American league aren't Americans or Canadians, but European imports, who are often subjected to the same prejudice and bias among fans as Korean imports. THEN it gets even more interesting when you factor in country of birth, which isn't even tied to citizenship or residency. One of the most famous "native" North American players is Spica, who was born in China and moved to Philadelphia when he was 10 or so. He still has Chinese citizenship and is only considered a "resident" of the United States, exactly like many of those green card-holding "imports," and yet Spica is universally considered "native" talent by fans. Last year, one team (CLG) made a splash by fielding almost entirely "native" talent, and was held up by fans as the "native talent" team--even though one of their players, Dhokla, was born in India. So where is the line? What distinguishes "native" from "foreign"? This is such a complex notion of identity that I feel like I could talk about it for hours.

As for sexism, yeah it's just really sexist.

I guess it's a bit more nuanced than that. League of Legends is like chess in which there is ostensibly no physical reason why women wouldn't be able to compete at the top level, and yet there simply are very few women who do. I follow the League scene from the amateur system to the pro leagues, and it's not like there is a large number of talented female players who are simply being withheld chances to compete due to organizational/player/fan sexism. There have even been instances of major organizations creating all-female development teams, but these teams are generally comprised of players who simply aren't at a level high enough to compete in the major leagues. Every so often you get a female player or two in the amateur or development leagues, but they don't generally stand out enough to be realistically promoted to a major league team.

In all four major regions, there has only ever been one female player who competed at the top level, that being Remilia, a trans girl, whose story is brutally tragic. She was manipulated and abused by the owner of her team, Chris Badawi, who provided for her a botched gender-reassignment surgery that left her with permanent pain for the rest of her life, until she died by suicide some years later. As you might imagine, any fan discussion on Reddit that even tangentially involved Remilia was a graveyard of posts deleted by moderators. The prejudice there, sadly, is about as rampant and overt as possible.

This post went pretty long, especially since I haven't actually seen the show you asked about and wasn't able to give any more specific thoughts on it. Hopefully, though, this provides a bit more context to the strange and complex regional and racial identity issues in the scene.

#league of legends #lcs

[ballplayersxo]

Anon who asked about learning - if you want to learn

/basketball/ and not just NBA basketball imho you’re way better off watching the WNBA ladies because they play closer to fundamental basketball, the NBA and players get away with a lot of stuff for the sake of entertainment factor like getting away with huge travels (taking too many steps) if you know it’s going to lead to a good bucket or dunk or something but the women aren’t given that much freedom, from my experience watching at least.

The same for the European leagues and the euro players in the NBA too I’d say because euro ball is very different to NBA in a lot of ways, the euro leagues are stricter about their rules/is a lot more physical and team based overall so there is a lot, lot less of the relying on the one player to shoot the lights out of a game and win it for them. That stuff has its place but watch wnba and especially euro leagues you’ll see big differences in how players apply their skills in certain situations and which teams and which is/isn’t good at certain things (usually teams who suck at passing the ball and rely on one guy..)

The only downside really (assuming you’re not in Europe because you said it’s not a big thing where you are and that English is your primary language) would be that most euro leagues won’t have English broadcasts so that element of hearing what commentators are saying and learning that way would be lost unless ofc you can speak whichever language you’re watching.The Spanish Euroleague is widely broadcast though and is one of the better leagues imo.

great advice!!

[andiessoccerblog]

Group F Breakdown

Expected to move on: France, Brazil

Expected to exit in group stage: Jamaica, Panama

France

FIFA Ranking: 5

Reputation:

France is one of the rising European powerhouses, but they’ve never fully...risen. They can hang with the best, but they’ve never finished better than 4th place in a World Cup and 5th in the Olympics. Their style of play is very European--smooth and skilled--but they are also known for their vengeful fouls, especially against rival teams Germany and USA. The players mostly play  together in the French league Division 1 Féminine, with about half the squad playing on the same team: Paris Saint-Germain, a total powerhouse in European and International Club football. 

Player Pool: 

Captain Wendie Renard is a 6’2” defender, who is known for headers at both ends of the pitch–she has 44 goals scored for France, despite her position at centerback. However, it was a question if she would even play in the World Cup, as she heavily protested the previous French coach Diacre. The only other player with more caps and goals than Renard is forward Eugenie Le Sommer, who will manage the offensive line, including Kadidiatou Diani, Viviane Asseyi, and Grace Geyoro.

2019 WWC performance: 

France dominated group play in an impressive fashion, and plowed through a not-so-easy  round of sixteen game against Brazil before being eliminated by the eventual champions, USA. They were unfortunate to come up against the USA as early in the knockout round as they did; many people believed it would come down to USA v FRA in the finals. As it was, the game against the USA was a very close match, and through the whole tournament, they showed they were one of the more dominant teams in the tournament.  Wendie Renard, a defender, led the French team in goals and led the defense, but also scored an own goal that almost sank the French team.

Brazil

FIFA Ranking: 9

Reputation: 

I will stand in front of the world and defend women's soccer as less theatrical than men's. However, Brazil makes that hard. They are dirty and aggressive players, but they go down like a toothpick at the gentlest touch.  That's not to say they are not supremely talented, as many of them are, and they are one of the few countries where their  women's team is as fearfully imposing as their men's. The ladies of Brazil can dance around their opponents, but also can shoot balls so hard they break wrists. They are known as a team that is consistently difficult to beat, and have successfully integrated talented young players with their more veteran standouts to maintain their high level of play.

Players:

 There is one player on Earth who has won the FIFA world player of the year five times, and it's not Lionel Messi. Keep an eye on Marta, a fantastic all around player in her fifth World Cup, who I would like more if she flopped less. If anyone can fill her shoes post-retirement, it is Debinha, a crafty midfielder with a killer shot. The aforementioned youngsters of the team, Bruninha (20), Geyse (24), and Kerolin (23), might start, but can also provide a spark off the bench after the veteran players have worn down opponents.

2019 WWC performance:

Not bad! They played strongly, and although there was a lot of individual brilliance and skill, they couldn't come together as a team in the most important moments. They made it through to the knockout round, but didn't progress past the first round, falling to host France.

Jamaica

FIFA Ranking: 43

Reputation:

After their first World Cup in 2019, Jamaica confidently qualified for their second by beating Haiti, Mexico, and Costa Rica to finish third behind the USA and Canada in the qualifying tournament. They have really been building on their 2019 experience, and have climbed ten points in the FIFA rankings since then. Many key players that were in college in the 2019 World Cup have graduated and joined professional teams in the USA, England, and France, gaining even more experience in top-level soccer. 

Player Pool:

This team is made up of super talented college students, with one or two 30 year olds thrown in for good measure. Their qualifying run was made possible by their goalie, 19 year old Sydney Schneider, and scoring machine Khadija (Bunny) Shaw. Joining the team for this World Cup is Drew Spence, a midfielder who had made senior appearances for England, then took a period of mandatory leave from the international game so she could join the Jamaican side. 

2019 WWC performance:

For their first World Cup, not a ton was expected of them. They gave it their all and got valuable experience to build on moving forward. They pretty much got run over in the group stage, ending with a three game goal differential of -11. Still, it gives the nation something to build on and be proud of.  

Panama

FIFA Ranking: 52

Reputation: 

This is the first World Cup for Las Canaleras (The Canal Girls), who finally qualified after narrowly losing a spot in the 2019 World Cup to Jamaica, their rival in this group. Panama hasn’t played many games against world-up level teams since the 2022 qualifications, but played Colombia in June just before the cup, earning one loss and one tie . With a very young team, it will be difficult for them to get out of the group stage. Teams like Panama are the exact reason why the World Cup expanded to 32 teams–so that more lower-ranked squads can get experience and make the game more competitive on the whole.

Player Pool:

Goalkeeper Yenith Bailey splashed onto the scene, winning Golden Glove for the best goalkeeper at the 2018 Concacaf tournament, only one year after she switched from a midfielder to goalkeeper. It has been six years since then, and other goalkeepers have joined the squad, but Bailey has the most experience. For goalscoring, Las Canaleras will look to midfielder Marta Cox, and Riley Tanner, a young offensive player that is the only woman playing professionally in the USA.

2019 WWC performance:

Did Not Qualify

#woso #uswnt #womens soccer #women's world cup #nwsl #world cup #wwc 2023 #jamaica wnt #frawnt #france #brawnt #brazil #marta #panama

[magdasabs]

The headwind to Wembley was a bit too strong

by Zećira Mušović

We went in with high expectations and a belief in finally bringing home that long-awaited championship gold to Sweden. A championship in England that would mean a whole new level of interest from supporters and media. It was a record-breaking championship in many ways and the grand final at Wembley remains in the tournament, although with Sweden eliminated where we didn't really have the margins on our side this time. There will be no gold this year, no matter how much we hoped and believed in it. There was a bit too much headwind.

We start at the bright end. We start by highlighting our supporters who created something magical for us during this tournament. Already in our opening match against the Netherlands, I felt the support of the yellow wall, which coolly decorated large parts of the stands and which let the match through. And the yellow wall followed. The crowds we got to witness before our matches both on site in England but also in various places around Sweden were moving to see. When we rolled in on the bus for our semi-final against England, we drove past a huge sea of ​​supporters for the two nations. I had to hold back the tears. It struck me how far we have come in the sport, what moves have been made and how much we engage and inspire. There was palpable joy among the fans, who happily waved and stood fascinated with their cellphones trying to get the best picture of the player buses. These are new times now.

In order to go all the way in tournaments, everything needs to work out. Skill, momentum and luck along the way. Constant headwinds have rarely been a winning concept. Not this time either. The Corona pandemic reminded itself again and crept into our bubble. Injuries came untimely and also posed some tough questions. There were factors that meant that before each match, new constellations were created, which take their little time to sharpen to the extreme. It may appear to be excuses for some, but I am absolutely convinced that there are elements that cause it. Despite trials, we always gave it a try, we struggled to create our flow.Then add good resistance that invited dancing along the way. Nations such as Switzerland and Belgium probably guess some uninitiated are blueberry nations that we should easily beat. Those opinions were evident not least in certain media forums where some experts swung wildly over, what they thought, non-performance. But those of us in the game, who are a little more savvy than watching highlight clips and quickly Googling before doing an analysis, know that there are no such nations in a European Championship. It takes a lot to win.

Together with France, we managed to finish tied for third. Incidentally, I think it is strange that no bronze match was played in such a big championship. Now I understand that it is not done on the men's side either, but I think that in both championships a bronze match would have meant additional interest and an even greater hype around the concluding final. Alas, it was a bronze medal after a top group where we managed to get ahead of reigning champions the Netherlands. A tough and nervous quarter-final against an organized and tactically astute Belgium, with a match-winning goal in the final seconds by none other than Linda Sembrant. Then the English got a little too heavy in the semi-finals. Managed four goals against us and zero scored by us. Despite that, the statistics after the match showed that it was even. Details once again decided,

We went for gold but didn't make it all the way. A few days after our departure, I as a player have a strange feeling in my body. Being in a championship bubble for so long, with all the stresses that come with a tournament, makes it feel strange to leave when the day finally comes. This becomes especially noticeable if the journey home is suddenly earlier than what the brain has been preparing for for so long. Imagine the balloon slowly deflating, with a feeling that it all came to an abrupt end. We wanted to go to Wembley but had to finish in Sheffield. This time we have to settle for bronze, no matter how much we wanted the gold.

#zecira musovic #article

[freakurodani]

Would you like to share your thoughts on the bokuakakuroken dynamic?

OKAY so uhh it took me longer to get to this than anticipated. unfortunately i got this ask RIGHT before i started my shift, and its been ough, more than 12 hours since i ended my shift, which means my thoughts had so much time to change and morph

i will try to gather my thoughts into coherency fjakjbas (no promises tho,,), these arent all necessarily romantic, i think they CAN be! but i think if they are a polycule, theyre a friendgroup first?? idk, i think they are a mix of romantic, queerplatonic, friendship soup yknow??

but i really enjoy the subtle rivalry between akaashi and kenma on the court. It's not the overt goading and gloating that bokuto and kuro have with each other, but its there. And I adore it. Captains and setters mirroring each other... balance... in my brain. I think there is lots of team work OFF the court between kenma and akaashi too, especially when it comes to making fun of bokuto and kuroo. they have an understanding

i think bokuto and kenma are an interesting pair. in volleyball, bokuto is WAY TOO MUCH for kenma. he's loud and boisterous and greedy. he's like shouyou, kenma can't get away with anything. off the court, bokuto is STILL A LOT, but he also shows such *genuine* interest in kenma's interests, he's attentive and engaged. he also gets *way less* scandalized by nudity and gore in Kenma's more intense games. Kenma isnt great at explaining things, but bokutos go gettem attitude makes him a pretty fun player two

kuroo and akaashi... i thought about them a lot. to me, they are STEM and HUMANITIES solidarity. I'm going to tangent to curate the vibe~~.

The separation of stem and humanities is a fairly recent development in education/academia. in the european renaissance, art and science were so deeply interconnected. to be an artist you had to understand the natural world. it helped you greatly as a scientist if you could depict the world you saw. Leonardo da Vinci probably comes to mind, incredible artist and inventor. He stared at water for hours watching it ripple. He believed that if you were not outside drawing every second you could, you were hardly an artist at all (he was VERY hardcore, and VERY uhh.. most ppl didnt like him much. Same with michelangelo. Raphael was the renaissance's golden boy, it's why the pope was in close contact with him while he did the school of athens in his library while michelangelo was still waiting for a letter back from the pope about the sistine chapel (pope didnt wanna talk to him) none of this is relevant but i LOVE talking about this stuff. Bernini is my favorite, though he is Baroque/late renaissance rather than High Renaissance (after the mannerist movement!! very important distinction. (did you know there were TWO bernini's? Gianlorenzo's father, pietro would have been more famous if his son wasn't a prodigy. but he wasn't resentful, he ate up his son's skill, was very proud "i will be known as the father an mentor of the great gianlorenzo!" cute stuff) what number of parenthesis am i at? i think this is the last one)

i digress. I think of akaashi, a literature nerd, and kuroo, a science nerd. and I think of them appreciating that about each other. I like to think that if one of them has intense, burning thoughts about something that moves them, a passage written so beautifully, a chemical reaction so moving, they share with each other. both of them i think, share a certain appreciation for the beauty in the world, and can really appreciate the beauty that the other's perspective comes from. they bleed into each other, akaashi starts thinking more of the physical world, and kuroo, already a metaphorical savant (we are blood, anyone?) appreciates akaashi's musing (absolutely LAUGHED at him the first time Akaashi waxed poetic about bokuto though. They have solidarity but they still lowkey antagonize each other aksfjbaksjfbaskjfbakj)

i think ill cut my thoughts off here. ive really rambled and i think most of it wasn't STRICTLY about bokuakakuroken, but when i was thinking about them yesterday, this.. kinda was the deal. my thoughts can be really difficult to capture and tie down, theyre amorphous clouds that twist and change in hurricane winds so sometimes they just come out as "WAAHA CRYING SOBBINGS OUGH" because thats the only way i can get them out before they slip away

im supposed to be writing things down more, it helps me a lot. but, if you were interested in maybe a sneak peak of what its like to try to think of a single topic in my brain,,, here u go! please enjoy the content you asked for, and i hope the content you DIDNT ask for was at least a little bit interesting <3

#conspiracy lvl: ask #i will not put this in the tags #since its a fucking mess asbfjkajfbaksjfa #art musings #i just...really wanted to talk about it #long post