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asachuu · 6 months

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I was going to post this yesterday as soon as I became aware of the new update, but I forgot about it and passed out. The sentiment is the same today as it has been for the past few months, though, and thank goodness I’m a bit more awake for this because there are…things to say.

I mostly reserve from some kind of lengthy, in-depth commentary because I genuinely don’t have the time or ability to go through Fifteen and the manga separately to point out even half of the most general things that are so incredibly jarring, all I’ll say is just. Why.

I would have complained about this ages ago already, had I not been entirely convinced I’m just losing my mind and I’m seeing things that aren’t there, given the manga does follow a lot of the dialogue of the light novel as opposed to its abysmal anime adaptation, but I suppose it is common knowledge that when you’re drawing a manga, or really any kind of story with both a text and visual element, the readers will not be focusing exclusively on the text. The visuals are just as important, if not more at times, and they can heavily change the feeling or mood of said story. With that being said, I think you can understand what I’m trying to get at here, and more specifically, why I’m very tired seeing yet another adaptation imply Arthur is some kind of cold-hearted monster to be feared even by the audience. I won’t be using any specific examples beyond this point, but all I’ll say is that I’ve had this in the drafts since the moment I saw the panels of Arthur getting accused of betraying the organization, somehow managing to get the text correct and yet make him look either completely lifeless or annoyed, as if he weren’t confused or clueless at all, unlike what the LN itself states. It just went downhill from that very moment, and for a hot minute, I convinced myself that the panels at the end of the same chapter were him either panicking or just giving up upon being found out and having that emphasized through the artwork, but looking at everything that ended up following, I don’t think that was actually meant to be the case, I think he was meant to look more deranged than sorrowful in those parts— and every other part in which this was supposed to be the opposite, that too.

This is not to say I have an issue with the artstyle itself, as that’s mostly the element emphasizing it, I believe everything could have been done so much better— with it, no less— but since this manga, and subsequently the style, has been so heavily focused on every single dark aspect that isn’t even there half the time, just like in Arthur’s interrogation by Dazai, exaggerating the wrong things to no end, that’s not the case right now. I’m not here to say Fifteen isn’t full of dark subjects and situations, it absolutely is, but they’re not everywhere all the time, and especially not in relevance of Arthur as an antagonist. I don’t know if it’s the fault of a concept that every BSD antagonist just has to invoke terror no matter what, the fault of focusing too much on Arthur’s power to the point it overshadows the character beneath it and renders him irrelevant, or the artist took some inspiration from our dearest beloved BSD anime season 3 and just decided to drag it in the same exact direction using different approaches, but needless to say, it really isn’t…that much better at the moment, and considering none of this is going to get remade, it simply won’t be.

Perhaps that’s a harsh judgement on my part, but again, the dialogue truly isn’t everything. Season 3 discarded it altogether and took their own spin on everything that was going on, ultimately creating a completely different piece of media than what Fifteen actually was, and even though the manga didn’t do the same, trying to hold onto the source material for once, I’m not going to even try to pretend that anyone would read it and come out thinking Arthur was meant to be a tragic character who found himself on the completely wrong path that ultimately led to his inevitable demise— no, everyone would immediately assume he’s a horrifying force of destruction who does everything in his own favor, no matter the cost, without any regard for anyone other than his lost partner. I am yet to see the end of the fight between him, Chuuya and Dazai, as well as the section where he reveals his past, but having seen what impact it had in BSD S3— even ignoring all the bits they cut out— I don’t have any hope that it’ll make him seem a bit more likable for those who don’t really enjoy heavily implied morally corrupt villains. And hey, I’ll admit I love those myself, but Arthur is not one of them, never was and never will be, and to portray him as such is to once again erase the very foundations of him in the original novels. I truly wouldn’t mind if that were the actual antagonist of Fifteen, but it just isn’t, and two entire adaptations so far seem to be dead set on making him into such a thing.

Honestly, with both this and S3, I’m not even surprised people are slowly starting to fall back into misinterpreting Arthur as a character completely, and although that technically never went away, from what I’ve seen, this is certainly not going to do anyone any favors. No wonder some people seem to believe he chose to become a government agent for near to no reason, had zero remorse about both his job or the events of Fifteen, is nothing more than one half of an assassin duo with nothing redeemable about either of them, and sure, I can blame this on many different things, but at this point, I’m sure these adaptations are just as responsible for it, because let’s not lie to ourselves— in a choice between reading a book, a manga or watching an anime, the first will often be people’s last resort, and while in the past, I could have dreaded a wave of anime-only people never having read the LN and running with those events as original canon, now I get to dread manga-only people as well, if not a combination of both, which is just amazing for those who want their beliefs about Arthur being a total psychopath to be solidified. Not for the rest of us, though.

Keep in mind that none of this is meant as some kind of personal attack or insult to Hoshikawa-san themselves, this is just my personal frustration with yet another thing which looked promising, but ultimately got shoved back onto the pile of Fifteen adaptations and interpretations which for some reason seem to despise Fifteen’s Arthur as a character, else he wouldn’t have been disregarded over and over.

Anyway, I hope I won’t have to come back here to add more things later because this really isn’t meant to be a dissection, but that’s my take on this whole manga so far. If I am to say something good about it for a change, at least it does actually try to keep some remains of the original LN in it, and new official art of Arthur is something I’ll begrudgingly appreciate, but I really can’t say I’m particularly overjoyed when the outcome of it won’t be much different to the outcome of S3 regardless.

#I could’ve predicted this from the day they took away Arthur’s blanket #I will never be over that let it be known I will fight for the sake of Arthur’s lost blanket #bungou stray dogs #bsd fifteen #bsd manga #bsd arthur rimbaud #randou #asachuu #if only I had the time and skill #I would try to redraw every scene Arthur appears in

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billiejeanenthusiast · 3 years

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Boobiegate masterpost

We know what they did this summer - and oh boy, was a it a wild summer that - unfortunately for us - stretched into autumn and beyond any reason.

I will first go over everything as it happened and then - because when you look back at everything you realise some timelines overlap - I’ll try to clarify some stuff and put it into perspective.

NOTE: I’m writing the dates from a GMT time zone point of view (aka. UK time)

So let’s start from the beginning.

Briana breaks up with Brody Jenner after dating him for some random attention seeking period. (June-September roughly)

Here’s an article talking about that irrelevant relationship. https://www.yourtango.com/2020334835/who-brody-jenner-girlfriend-briana-jungwirth-louis-tomlinson-baby-mama Now let’s fast forward a bit to September.

September 23rd

So on September 23rd we’re flooded with articles about Brody and Bri breaking up and Bri getting back together with her “on-again off-again (boy)friend Nick” and the biggest surprise “BRI IS ENGAGED”

So the story is:

Bri ended her relationship with Brody because “they were moving too fast” and he had “already met Freddie”

She then gets back together with her on-again, off-again bf Nick Gordon

She, her family, and Nick go on a “whirlwind” trip to Las Vegas (MIND YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC)

Bri and Nick get engaged during those Covid inviting few days in Vegas (September 21st- September 23rd)

Articles drop about how they’re engaged and she’s broken up with Brody (Sept 23rd)

Bri, family and Nick all share a huge amount of Vegas pictures of them in love, Bri’s ring, Bri and Nick being a couple (pictures obviously taken before Vegas to hopefully make someone believe that this in no way is a whirlwind engagement after just knowing each other a few weeks. Did they convince anyone? Well if you are convinced - I’m worried for you)

Here’s the tmz article:https://www.tmz.com/2020/09/23/brody-jenner-split-briana-jungwirth-engaged/ Here’s some pics of them we were all subjected to while they were in Vegas. And Nick’s new public profile when it just got made. Was he trying to start an influencer career and say goodbye to being a firefighter? Was he trying to get a night job taking off that all firefighter gear for money? Magic mike was a big movie after all….Who knows.

September 28th

At first the engagement pictures on Nick’s IG were just him and Briana and he used the #/shesaidyes. After a few days and probably after they realised it would be a smart move to acknowledge her kid she claims to have too (👀) he deleted those and on September 28th posted new pictures with a new caption and new # of course. This time “theysaidyes”.

The pictures are below.

But, moving on.

As soon as the engagement news drops, we have Nick - our “good-guy firefighter” making a new and public IG account, flooding it with pictures where he professes his love for Bri and soaking up the d-list association fame.

So in the coming weeks we get a lot of Nick, Bri and their families on IG. They post a lot about being constantly together.

What was the most interesting they really pushed the “dad” image on Nick. He was constantly posting about Freddie and even in Bs or Tammi’s stories he was always seen interacting with F the most.

Then after it seemed like the new fiancees had settle into their soon-to-be married life and everything seemed rosy for them - we get hit with the whammy BOOBIEGATE.

Because hell hath no fury like a sugar daddy scorned.

October 15th

On the 15th of October celebtm a gossip site, posts the next picture and caption on IG:

Basically, they’re saying a guy - his name unknown yet - contacted them to tell them how Briana scammed him out of money she borrowed to get a boob job. Specifically 5k USD. He claims he filed the case in court and it’s dated January.

They ask if anyone else has similar receipts or anything about her and that they’re investigating and will be writing a story. And the comments have a lot to say about Bri.

October 19th

4 days later on October 19th celebtm posts another IG update about how they have the court filing and how their article is in progress.

October 21st

2 days after the last IG post celebtm finally posts their article - on the 21st of October

https://celebmagazine.com/louis-tomlinson-briana-jungwirth-sued-over-boob-job/

(It’s on the web still - if it ever gets deleted let me know I have screen recordings of it)

The article is accompanied by this (below) IG post:

Also on this day we get Briana and Nick deactivating their IG profiles. Nick still kept his personal private IG and the only person who stayed public is Tammi.

October 22nd

A day after the article dropped there’s another IG post with the following picture and caption. Apparently, Sugar Daddy shared his receipts - specifically AmEx - with celebtm.

October 26th

On October 26th celebtm posts the second part of the article. It’s messier, with a more confusing timeline than the first, but tries to “spill” more details on Sugar Daddies relationship with Briana and her life in general.

Also by now we know his name - Michael Strauss. An investor in Warwick club in LA.

https://celebmagazine.com/louis-tomlinson-baby-mama-briana-jungwirth-double-life/

(Again this is the link - if the article gets taken down and you want to see it - DM me)

October 27th

Then a day later we get another IG post - no new article - just more excerpts from what the Sugar Daddy told celebtm.

Then it’s quiet for a few days and when you think this can’t get even more trashy - low and behold the circus that is called October 29th.

October 29th

So after a few days of silence celebtm strikes again, but this time they bring in TV’s most loved judge - Judge Judy. Apparently the TV show was willing to take this litigation and air it as an episode.

As always, they post an IG post and a caption, and the article mentioned in the IG caption below is basically an article written for clicks about Louis and Harry because they saw the larrie part of the fandom was getting them clicks. I’ll leave the link to the article here for documentation purposes, but honestly there’s nothing in there worth giving them clicks for. Not a thing. The title of the article is “A Complete Guide to 1D Members Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles’ Rumoured Relationship”

Article: https://celebmagazine.com/louis-tomlinson-harry-styles-relationship/

November 6th

We see the sudden return from social media exile of Bri to IG. She’s back - with a post and the description ironically saying “I’m back”. I refuse to post it because does anyone really want to look at her face-tuned selfies?

November 9th

Then after weeks of radio silence, the return of Bri to IG, we get what is apparently the - very underwhelming - like Bri’s boobs to Sugar Daddy who never got to see them - conclusion to this Sugar Daddy drama. This following article which is basically a letter from Michael to Briana telling her how he’s giving up on the lawsuit, taking this as a life lesson and how he hopes no one else falls for her scams. Article below:

https://celebmagazine.com/michael-straus-briana-jungwirth-open-letter-to-one-direction-louis-tomlinson-alleged-baby-mama/

(Again this is the link - if the article gets taken down and you want to see it - DM me)

And of course - the article is accompanied by an IG post by celebtm.

So, here we currently are. After watching that circus show no one wanted not paid for (well except the Sugar Daddy, and he didn’t even get to see the thing he paid for - so sad.) we’re in November and the Jungwirths and company are back to their carefree posting on IG.

Current status:

The lawsuit seems to have been dropped.

Everything seems to be in process of being swept under the rug.

Nick - the loving fiancee - is back to IG too. All of his happy, loving pictures with Bri still up (some deleted) - so we must assume their love survived Boobiegate.

As for overlapping timelines:

The timelines overlap mostly during the months March-October with it being said Bri dated Brody, but was also taking money from Boobie Daddy who was helping her during the pandemic, and was later also apparently starting a serious relationship with Nick.

What actually went on - I don’t know. And I’m honestly not interested to find out. This is being mentioned just so anyone coming across this post knows that yes - you didn’t read it wrong - the timelines do overlap with different people saying different things and Bri being tied to all three men at those times without any real clear timeline for the relationships.

So far this is all there is to this mess. If there’s more - I’ll do a part two or addition.

I’d like to end this with saying - these masterposts are 95% just me making them for myself because I forget stuff, and so much goes on in the fandom that if I want to keep up with it all, I need a nice timeline for things. I’m posting this for anyone wanting to make sense of this circus too or just to put it into a timeline. I did fact check all the dates, posts, IG pics, links and so on - but mistakes can happen - if there is one feel free to let me know.

#boobiegate #bri #masterpost

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kylorengarbagedump · 3 years

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Defy Your Authority: Chapter 2

Read on AO3. Part 1 here. Part 3 here.

Summary: So, like, what's the big deal, buddy?

Words: 3800

Warnings: None. Yet.

Characters: Kylo Ren x Reader

A/N: Hello!! Firstly, thank you so much to @bastila-ren and @elmidol for listening to me talk so much about this fic, for reading the first two chapters, and helping me with their generous feedback.

Secondly, I want to thank all of you for your EXTREMELY generous response to this fic. I admit I was very nervous to post this, and still am very nervous to write it, but I can't explain how helpful it is to know that people still enjoy the story and want to read more. It's definitely a story I want to write!

Y’all have truly been too kind to me. I don't have a posting schedule, just yet--I'm hoping every week or every other week. :) Love y'all SOOOOO MUCH.

Like the smarmy bastard he was, Hux fought off a smirk. But Allegiant General Pryde gazed at you with what some might refer to as sheer, indignant horror.

Kylo Ren stopped feet from the throne, his gaze wandering your grungy hair, dirtied uniform, the cell filth on your face.

“Hm,” he said. “That’s one way to greet your Supreme Leader.”

Embers tickled your cheeks. Your Supreme Leader.

You looked at the two other men. What was on your tongue: Would you prefer I get on my knees instead?

What you ended up saying: “Uh, sorry. Sir.”

“I believe the Supreme Leader requires an apology a little more comprehensive than uh, sorry.” Pryde stepped forward, as if to explain. “Sir, this woman was brought aboard by General Hux without prior approval.”

Kylo glanced between the older men, stare drifting to you, the darkness in his eyes reviving an animal within you that had been placed on life support.

“Yes,” he replied. “I don’t recall providing authorization for this.”

“Supreme Leader,” Hux said, “we both know your TIE has been out of commission for several cycles. I thought it prudent to--”

“You thought it prudent to ask a manager of a remote outpost to come aboard the flagship of the First Order. I assume that’s what you’re about to say.” Pryde paused, waiting for Hux’s contrition--but none came. He turned to Kylo. “Sir, again, please forgive me. Had I known he’d be bringing aboard a rim-dweller who would defy your authority, I would’ve denied his request, entirely.”

“Defiance.” Kylo’s gaze drilled you. Much like you had dreamt of something else of his drilling you. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Pryde balked. “Well, I hardly find it appropriate to address the Supreme Leader of the First Order as dude, for starters.” He spat the word onto the floor like poison. “Really, General, you and her both should be begging for his pardon.”

You swallowed, attention on Kylo, trying to hide your glee. “Please, please forgive me,” you murmured. “Supreme Leader.”

Hux cleared his throat. “My apologies as well, sir.”

“Hm.” If he’d understood your tease, he didn’t acknowledge it. You frowned. Kylo looked to the cloaked mercenaries behind you. “Escort her back to Orinda.”

Disbelief smacked you across the face. “I’m sorry, what?”

Sputtering, Hux stepped forward. “Supreme Leader--”

“You don’t belong on this vessel,” Kylo said, glimpsing you, then the cloaked figures again. “Report is postponed. Prepare the Buzzard for departure.”

Like droids, they activated and brushed past you, stalking toward the turbolift. The Supreme Dickhead gazed at you expectantly.

“They’re not patient.”

You shook your head, crossing your arms. “If you think I’m leaving--”

“Supreme Leader,” Hux said again. For once, you felt like both of you were stuck in the same flabbergasted pod. “Repairing your fighter has already wasted the time of numerous engineers, we don’t need to add--”

“Perhaps every engineer aboard deserves to have their time equally wasted, General.”

Hux’s jaw tensed. “If you wish, sir,” he replied. “But we could resolve the issue now.”

“We won’t.”

For whatever reason, Kylo Ren seemed dedicated to preventing you from working on this ship, as if he didn’t know your skill level. As if he believed other engineers deserved a shot at it over you. Ignoring the furious trembling of your fingers, you dug them into your sleeves.

“What, you don’t think I’m capable?” you asked, frowning.

Pryde sighed. “Supreme Leader, the Council--”

Kylo pivoted to you. “No.” There was no hint of mockery or deception in his tone. “You’re capable.”

You swallowed, shrugged your shoulder. Tried not to sound hurt. “Then why won’t you let me try?”

Hazel eyes lingered, held you in silence for deafening seconds. There was something very, very tired inside of them.

“Sir,” Pryde said, “as much as I love the rousing debate over whether or not this rimrat should be deemed worthy of working on your starfighter, the Supreme Council meeting is in minutes.” He turned to you. “I believe you’ve been directed to leave.”

You furrowed your brow, but miraculously managed to say nothing. The muscle under Kylo’s nose twitched.

“You’ll get two hours.” He didn’t seem excited about the idea. “After that, you will return to Orinda.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever,” you sighed. “Sir.”

A huff escaped him. “The Supreme Council meeting.” He turned, strode to the exit. “Come.”

Pryde frowned. “Sir, shouldn’t Hux return her to the hangar?”

“No.” Kylo’s voice ricocheted in the chamber. “She’s coming.”

Something like joy sparkled in your heart. Hux jutted out his chin, smirking at Pryde, who frowned and looked to you. You resisted the urge to stick your tongue out at him. There was a puzzle in his mind regarding your identity, a puzzle he was struggling to put together without the missing pieces. You weren’t interested in offering them.

The three of you followed Kylo into the turbolift. Out of irritation, you stood as far away from him as possible. Awkward quiet settled in the air, and you grit your teeth, ignoring the sting of humiliation at your cheeks. Sure, it was nice he was inviting you to his little meeting, but that hardly compensated for the fact that it had been four entire months since you’d seen him and he was intent on booting you without so much as a parting fuck.

Not that you wanted to fuck him after that stunt.

Mostly.

The lift descended. Kylo hadn’t even looked at you, despite your best attempts at petty distancing. Hundreds of words hung on your tongue, and so few of them were appropriate for the ears of Hux and Pryde. Luckily for you, you could think them, instead.

Jackass.

The blast door slid open, and Kylo exited without response, the two generals on his heels. You lagged behind them, glare boring into the broad-shouldered bastard with the flowing cape.

Can’t believe this asshole was here the entire time, knowing everything, with all of the power in the galaxy, just doing bantha-shit about it.

Stormtroopers passed in formation, nodding in deference to the men in front of you as you turned a corner. The clomping of boots was the only sound for meters.

Leaving you for four months, horny as hell, lonely as hell, all while he was here doing what? Jerking off? As if he hadn’t begged you to stay. Please.

At the end of the hall, a set of blast doors parted, and you trailed the group inside, greeted by a massive, jet-black table with a hologram projector buried in the center. The occupants of about a dozen chairs turned, their eyes stuck to you, assessing you. Kylo crossed to the head of the table, Hux and Pryde taking spaces near him. The only open seats were at the back, relegated for only the most irrelevant attendees. You slunk over to one, sinking into it.

Apparently you’re not relevant to anyone in this room, anyway.

“Who’s this?” A balding officer of high-rank stared at you. “Supreme Leader?”

Pryde leaned forward. “She’s the Chief--”

“Who she is,” Kylo drawled, “is none of your concern.”

Blood heated your face. The room rumbled with uncertainty, but only for seconds.

“Sir,” said an older woman with slick blonde hair, “Multiple locations on Kamino refused entry to officers seeking out junior recruits. Our entry-level ranks are suffering. Requesting additional--”

Kylo glanced at her. “Yes.”

She nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“Supreme Leader,” said an older, white-haired man. “Surveillance indicates that a fuel depot located in the Inner Rim has received communications from Resistance starships.”

“Have they responded?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Eliminate them.”

“Yes, sir.”

Another, dark-skinned woman inched to the edge of her seat. “Supreme Leader, ground troops found no evidence of Resistance sympathizers on the most recent patrol of Aeos Prime.”

“And the infrastructure.”

“Seems salvageable, sir.”

Kylo blinked, as if the answer hadn’t even mattered. “Move to the next outpost in the system.”

“Of course, Supreme Leader.”

Yet another man cleared his throat. “Supreme Leader, if I may…”

Swallowing, you stared into the gleaming tabletop, tracing the rivets of white light bordering the projector. Voices rose, offering status updates and seeking approval of the man at the head of the room. Obviously, there was nothing attractive about how competent and powerful Kylo Ren appeared in this setting. And this definitely did not tingle pride in your belly watching every single person in this room vie for his favor, knowing that out of all of them, the one he’d fucked was you.

Then again, maybe that was the very crux of the issue. His time and attention was desired and demanded and split between thousands--he directed and delegated an entire, galaxy-wide government. He commanded armies. Strategized operations. Balanced every need, tangible and intangible, with only two hands.

You spent your days bathing in ion dust.

The Allegiant Asshole cleared his throat, breaking you from your pity party. “General Hux,” he said, “didn’t you have your pet project to present?”

All eyes turned to Hux, his face dull with irritation. Lips pursing, he straightened his spine, fingers whizzing over the data screen at his seat. One swipe, a quick field entry, and the projector hummed to life, shooting a blue hologram of a TIE fighter above the table. It flickered, rotating like a display.

“The First Order has regularly demonstrated deficient performance during naval engagements, despite our superior numbers and resources,” Hux said. “After gathering data, we discovered that during our most recent missions, the TIE fighter is regularly out-piloted by Resistance sympathizers.” He tapped the screen, and the hologram split into a cross-section. “Thorough research indicates the TIE model is obsolete.”

The room crackled with whispers, officers turning to each other and looking to Hux, their faces twisted in disbelief. Kylo Ren sat, saying nothing, trained on the display.

Sighing, you gazed at your hands and cleaned your nails. To you, this was obvious. Of course the basic TIE models--the TIE/fo models--were obsolete. The ships were highly inflexible, carried little firepower for their unwieldy construction, and had no hyperdrive application. In comparison to the model used by the Special Forces, the TIE/fo was practically useless.

It was less obvious why these high-ranking strangers seemed unable to handle the truth.

“General,” said a dark-skinned man. “Are you proposing we abandon the TIE corps?”

Hux pressed the screen again, and it zoomed in on an exposed ion engine. “At the very least, the most basic TIE corps is woefully unequipped in comparison to Resistance fighters.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he replied, “our pilots are extensively trained.”

Pryde sneered. “Admiral Griss is correct,” he said. “Our elite troops don’t demonstrate any issue with crushing Resistance burrows.”

“Elite troops are never the ones defending a new occupation.” Hux gestured to the engine blueprint. “We sacrifice our progress because of this antiquated construction.”

“And what’s so antiquated about it?” Pryde sneered. “The construction is based on the Imperial TIE. These ships were a well-known symbol of naval superiority.”

“Updated for modern needs,” added Griss.

Hux’s voice rose a decibel. “Not modern enough, given how frequently a single X-wing will decimate an entire unit.”

You wanted to groan. Against your will, you had to admit Hux was right. Orinda regularly saw straggling, crippled TIEs smash into the valley outside the hangar in attempts to land for repair. Mirna had pulled more pilots than you could count out of blazing wreckage.

“Do you suggest we change the basic TIE unit, then?” Griss asked.

“Perhaps,” Hux replied, “or we move to a different construction entirely.”

The other officers chuckled, murmurs rippling through the ranks again.

“Supreme Leader,” Pryde said, “what he’s suggesting is absurd. Sienar-Jaemus manufactures perfectly appropriate and functional fighters at an affordable price to the First Order. It’s been done this way since the Empire.”

Rolling your eyes, you sat back in your chair. For a General of a government allegedly interested in innovation and progress, Pryde seemed to love sucking the Empire’s dick. The fact that they were refusing to even entertain Hux’s idea was, well…

“Perhaps we should place a double order for the basic fighters, sir,” Pryde continued. “To demonstrate their capability.”

You snorted. “Now that’s absurd.”

Every voice in the room died. Leather squelched, and you glanced up from your nails in time to see a dozen bodies shifting in their seats to turn and look at you. Inwardly, you cursed--you hadn’t had to practice volume control in months.

At the head of the table, Kylo Ren stared. His expression, even to you, was indiscernible. But even if he was mad, you wouldn’t have cared. Not as long as he still intended on kicking you off the Steadfast without another word.

Shrugging, you said, “General Hux is right. The original TIE model is flawed. They lose out one-on-one almost every time.” Kylo still said nothing, the rest of the room too confused to interrupt you. “I guarantee there’s more credits spent on replacement models than it would cost to invest in something more versatile.”

Griss’s nose wrinkled, and he looked between you and Kylo. “I…” When Kylo offered no response, Griss settled on you. “I’m not sure what brought you here, ah… Lieutenant, but regardless of your purpose, you’re surrounded by superiors of the First Order. Don’t speak out of turn.”

“Right,” you said, “I do apologize, sir. But you have to admit that this all is a little absurd. I see busted up basic TIEs all the time. They’re a failure.”

“Yes,” he replied, “and you are?”

“Chief of Operations on Orinda.”

“An outpost?” The room echoed with laughter, and you bristled. Griss gestured to you. “Supreme Leader, please, why is this woman here?”

Pryde nodded. “I know you have your reasons, sir, but surely she doesn’t belong in this room.”

“Maybe this woman knows what she’s talking about,” you mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Griss whipped around, leering at you. “Mind repeating yourself, Lieutenant?”

Volume control. Really needed to get better with that.

Gathering a breath, you swallowed your ire. You could not spend all two hours on the Steadfast immediately making enemies with the military leaders of the First Order. Given Kylo’s state, you doubted he’d encourage your attitude.

“My apologies,” you said, bowing your head, “I’m just. Nervous. Being on this ship for the first time.”

“Perhaps you’ve spent too much time on Orinda,” said Griss. “You’ve forgotten the hierarchy.”

“She needs re-education,” said the balding man.

The dark-skinned woman huffed. “Or a demotion.”

“Some form of discipline, surely.”

“Yes,” said Pryde with a glare. “Perhaps that should be arranged.”

Your heart skipped.

“Enough.”

Every person in the room spun, attention on Kylo Ren.

He was still inscrutable. Still gazing directly at you.

A shiver spilled over your spine. Like instinct, your thighs pressed together.

“General Hux,” he said. “Prepare a plan for the replacement of the basic TIE model.” A pause. No one spoke a word. “Dismissed.”

You remained in your seat as the other officers rose, their lips sealed as they filed out of the room. Hux scowled at you--ungrateful prick--and acknowledged Kylo’s order before leaving. Pryde scrutinized you, his focus flipping between you and his Supreme Leader as he stood from the table.

“It’s time to leave, Lieutenant,” he said.

“I need a moment,” you replied, glancing at him. “Sir.”

Pryde turned to Kylo. “Sir?”

Kylo’s face was blank. “Dismissed, General.”

Whatever Pryde was thinking, he didn’t say. He offered deference to the Supreme Leader before strutting out, the blast door shutting behind him.

The moment it closed, the room thickened with heat, like stars vaporized the air. Sweat beaded your hairline, your tongue drying to paper. Every movement you thought to make was paused, paralyzed by confusion. Had it been four months ago, you’d be getting railed on top of the table or in his chair, you were sure of it. But Kylo seemed almost indifferent now. It neutered every response that came to mind.

Here you were, alone with Kylo Ren for the first time since you’d left. He was only meters away from you. And you had absolutely no idea what to do.

“Your time is limited, Lieutenant.”

A reminder he wanted you gone. You shook your head, chewing the inside of your lip.

“The silencer is free to be inspected.”

Indignance tightened your chest. Your face was on fire.

“Or perhaps,” Kylo said, “you’d rather travel directly to Orinda.”

You whirled on him. “So you knew I was on Orinda the entire time?” Your frustration was unfettered. “You knew and just didn’t do anything about it? For four months?”

His stare didn’t yield. “Yes.”

“Yes?” you said. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say for yourself? How do you expect me to respond to that?” More heat gripped your neck. He was still. “Why do you want me gone so badly? You act like you don’t even want me around.”

“I don’t.”

The words were switchblades to your chest. You shook your head, gulped your pain.

“Uh. Okay. Wow.” Sighing, you continued, “But don’t you--I mean. You pleaded with me to stay.”

He said nothing.

“You... I know how you feel. You can’t hide that from me. Do you…” Your throat was tight. “Did something change?”

For four months, you had wondered what had been going on in Kylo Ren’s mind. Seeing him draped in the responsibility of the Supreme Leader of the First Order, hesitation crept into your gut. Within his gaze, perhaps only apparent to you, there was a black, terrible emptiness, like shadows reined in by his rage. Exhaustion hung in dark circles under his eyes and at his cheeks. His presence was as breathtaking as it ever had been, only haunted with the weight of the galaxy.

For four months, you had wondered. You didn’t know, now, if you wanted the answer.

“You don’t belong here.” Kylo paused, then stood, moving toward the door. “Your presence is not warranted.”

“Warranted? That’s not what this is about.” You shot to your feet, intercepting his path. “You knew where I was, and you never once came to me! You left me there! Alone!” He side-stepped you, and you followed him, keeping your eyes chained to his. “Didn’t you miss me?” you asked. “Didn’t you think about me?”

He stalled. Exhaling through his nose, he spoke through his teeth. “Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you find me?” you said. “You promised!”

Kylo stood, trapped in your stare, his fingers furling into fists.

“I know how you feel about me.” You advanced on him. “I know it.”

You were so near you could feel his breath, count the individual strands of his hair, bask in the warmth of his body. A short inhale, and memory slammed you like gravity--the scent of his skin, his palms gripping your waist, his lips brushing your ear. The ache in your hands at night when they were not full of him, the bedtime yearning in your limbs when they were not wound around his. You had known him, known him, as if his blood ran in your veins.

This was the closest you’d been to Kylo Ren in weeks upon weeks. Somehow, you only felt further away.

“Why?” you asked. “Why didn’t you find me?” After all of it, he only stared. It lit you with rage, and you bumped your chest with his. “Say something!”

The muscle in his jaw tightened. His shoulders rolled. But he was silent.

A peal of bitter laughter escaped you. Whatever issues he had didn’t mater. You deserved more than what he was offering.

“Wow. Okay.” You shrugged, stepping back. “I don’t know who I was thinking about for these past four months, but it definitely wasn’t you.” Shaking your head, you turned toward the door. “Whatever, dude. Fuck you.”

You took a single step, and Kylo snatched your wrist, whipped you against his body.

“You say that,” he breathed, “as if you haven’t been thinking about getting fucked since you arrived.”

Oxygen fled your lungs. Every blood cell in your body piled onto your cheeks and between your legs. In seconds, you were a throbbing, pent-up, swell of lust.

You swallowed. “Oh, please,” you muttered. “You can’t distract me that easily. You know I need answers.”

“Hm.” Kylo scanned your figure. “So you say.”

“You’re such an asshole.” You tried to peel your wrist free. “Why didn’t you do this weeks ago, huh?”

His face darkened, his hold on you tightened.

“You ask questions that have no answers.”

“Ugh. Get off.” Grunting, you shouldered him, body buffeting his like a flaccid wave. It would’ve been arousing, his strength, how utterly solid he was, if he wasn’t making you miserable in this moment. “You’re so full of it, man. Let me go. I’ll go repair your dumbass ship and you can send me back to Orinda, like you so clearly want.”

“You presume to understand what I want.” His voice was severe, a dull blade. “You will not stay here.” The ghost of a smirk fled his face. “But you won’t escape punishment when you’re gone.”

You shuddered, stuck out your chin. “Your punishments don’t scare me.”

Kylo growled. “Really.” A leather palm cupped the back of your neck, tugged you close. “Such confidence.”

You couldn’t help it. A tiny, excited whimper left you. Kylo shifted, his hand squeezed--

The projector in the table beeped. An incoming transmission. The both of you froze, staring at the blinking request on the interface. You coughed, patted his chest as a signal to answer it. The knot in his throat bobbed, and he released you, crossing to the console and accepting the message.

Hux appeared in hologram form. “Supreme Leader,” he said, voice even more snivelly through the broadcast. “We received a distress signal from Orinda. Multiple Resistance fighters have been detected on radar. Requests for response from the officers stationed there have gone unanswered.”

The joints in your body locked. Your mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“Permission to dispatch TIE units, sir,” Hux said.

Kylo was still. “Dispatch.”

“Yes, sir.”

The hologram winked out. Before you could process, your feet were moving you toward the door.

“I gotta go.” Your pulse pounded in your temple. The entirety of your crew was down there. By themselves. “I gotta go there. I gotta get there. I’m sorry, I know I said I would repair your ship but--”

“Stop.”

“--it’s probably for the best anyway, I just gotta find some way there, I--”

He spoke your name like a command. You stopped. Stared into his tired, empty eyes.

His chest fell in a small sigh. “We’ll take the Buzzard,” he said. “Come.”

Kylo Ren tread past you, through the blast doors, into the hallway. The tatters of your bewildered heart weren’t a priority right now. You followed him--your Supreme Leader.

#kylo ren smut #kylo ren x reader #kylo x reader #kylo ren fanfiction #kylo ren #defy your authority #fya2 #fanfiction problems #WEEEWOOO WEEEWOOO

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hteragram-x · 3 years

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Firefighter AU (again)

It’s been a while since I posted anything about this AU, but I got some inspiration and finished new short story. This time about Virgil and Remus briefly discussing their jobs and characters. I think you can read it separately and still get what’s going on, but if anyone’s interested I’ll link previous related posts.

[HERE] is the introduction, [HERE] are some general HCs, and over [THERE] you can find previous story where Remus and Virgil met for the first time :>

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Word count: 1348

Relationships: technically Dukexiety, but they’re not there yet

TW: mentions of fire (what a surprise), mentions of dead animals, mentions of a car crash, swearing

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The phone rang for about half a second before Virgil picked it up and gave his practiced introduction. It was calm and quick. Then he fell silent and let the woman on the other side of the line speak, listening carefully and responding with a few instructions. In an even voice he explained that the team has already been sent, that the fire engine was on its way. That there was no need to panic and that someone else has already called and now the only thing she should do is patiently wait, sit at a safe distance from the flaming car, and keep him updated if anything bad happened before the brigade arrived.

He made sure the woman was safe, said goodbye, and let the conversation end.

Then he leaned deeper into his chair with a heavy sigh.

“I have a question!”, the loud yell right behind Virgil nearly sent him flying to the floor. He glared at Remus, clutching his headset and trying to readjust it before it slid off his ears. Why was he still surprised by these random outbursts? He should have gotten used to them weeks ago.

“What kind of question”, he asked in a tired voice very much aware that getting mad at Remus would only make his behaviour more annoying. Or worse… it’d make Remus upset... “The one I answered forty nine times already or something new?”

“A new one!”, Remus beamed sitting on a spinning office chair and moving closer to Virgil. “And if you’re exaggerating anyway you could’ve said sixty nine. That would’ve cost you nothing.”

“It would also cost you nothing to not say that right now, and yet you did”, was a slightly drained response.

"I always do!”, Remus giggled in a surprisingly cute way and leaned even closer, still remembering to not push Virgil too far from the desk. They were both currently at work, so distracting his co-worker too much and slowing down his response for even a few seconds could have potentially tragic consequences. Remus was definitely a careless person, but not when it came to other people’s lives. That fact was often shocking even to those who knew Remus for a very long time.

Virgil lifted an eyebrow making a “go on” kind of gesture with his right hand.

“Okay”, Remus started excitedly sounding as if he was trying to hype himself up to do something difficult. “How do you do it?”

Virgil lifted his second eyebrow in a silent question.

“I mean: how do you stay calm during the calls. Why do you even work here? I can scare you by saying “boo” in quiet monotone. And then you talk with panicking people who just crashed their car into the lamppost like it’s nothing!”

To Virgil’s credit he put a lot of effort to making his brain not fixate on the “Why do you even work here?” part of Remus’ words and not see it as a kind suggestion to fuck off. He mostly failed, but the intensions were there.

“I- I’m not sure”, he responded carefully after a moment filled with sounds of a chair squeaking under Remus who was usually unable to stay still for more than four seconds. “I have a separate… headspace for work, I suppose. I dunno how to explain it. Just like… switching to a different mindset when it’s something professional. Don’t you have the same thing with putting down the fire? I assume you don’t stare creepily at other people when you enter the building that’s in flames”, he added with a small smile, reminiscing their first encounter.

“Usually I don’t”, Remus answered with slightly disturbing, cheerful honesty that Vigil learnt to expect from his chaotic co-worker. “But, yeah… you’re right. I can be calm when I’m professional. And I’m way less tempted to taste fire when I’m fighting it. You know? Like… you don’t think so much about eating a bear when it’s chasing you down the extremely narrow path where trees are getting closer and closer until the forest gets very dark and there is no way to escape anymore.” Remus finished a rushed sentence with wide, light-hearted smile that lit up his face not unlike a lighter with which he almost singed his moustache on regular basis.

Virgil blinked at him and slowly shook his head.

“O- One thing at a time, okay?”, he answered finally. “Let’s leave the bear out of this for now. I know I shouldn’t ask, but did you just say that you’re ‘tempted to taste fire’?”

“Yeah!”, Remus answered with enthusiasm sending Virgil another bright smile that somehow still looked nice despite some unhinged glint always present in his green eyes. “You can make so many tasty things with fire. Like grilled vegetables! Or…”

For some reason, the fact that Remus was vegan never failed to astound the confused operator. Maybe his dietary choices would be less unexpected if he also didn’t rate every dead animal he ever saw on the street on a scale from ‘probably inedible, not enough fur’ to ‘no one touch that! It’s my lunch’.

“…or potato chips!”, Remus finished a long list of foods. ”Those are kinda made with fire?”

“…yes?” Virgil said carefully, not really sure where this line of logic was even going.

“See?! Fire makes tasty things. Ergo, hypothesis, fire is tasty too!”

“That’s… that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard today…”

“Well, jokes on you, because I’ve said something much more stupid only twenty minutes ago. You just weren’t there!”

“I’m not sure this defence is as strong as you think…”, Virgil sighed, annoyed at himself for a tiny bit of fondness that seeped into his voice. “Anyway! Please don’t eat fire.”

“Fine”, Remus said tipping his head back with a huff. “You’re so boring.”

“And you’re a dumbass. I can’t believe I was scared of you at first…”

“You were?!”, Remus asked delighted despite knowing this information before. It was always nice to hear that he actually frightened someone, even if it was a guy scared of drinking with a straw for the fear of chocking on it one day. Or maybe especially if it was that guy.

“Shut up…”

Surprisingly, Remus did fell quiet. They sat in silence for a few minutes glad that the phone stayed silent as well. It was nice to have a few minutes of peace and calm before someone else needed help. It meant that people were safe and it let them just appreciate each other’s company in the half-empty office.

“By the way… I do get the whole ‘work mindset’ thing”, Remus continued suddenly as if they never stopped or changed the topic. “It’s like I have a separate brain and personality that kick in when it comes to these things. I see everything differently.”

Virgil nodded in understanding.

“I’m less scared when I know I have to help someone.”

“Exactly!”, Remus exclaimed, once again almost making Virgil fall out of his chair. “I have that too, but I become more serious instead! So you’re a coward, but a protective one. Got it.”

“Get out of my office.”

Remus laughed and didn’t make a single move to exit the room. He sat more comfortably in his chair, reaching into a pocket for his favourite lighter with luminescent tentacles painted over sparkly black background. It was one of the most “Remus” things Virgil has ever seen.

The next stretch of silence didn’t last as long as Virgil would have wanted. After about a minute his phone rang again, distracting his from very vivid visions of the firehouse burning to the ground because of Remus’ negligence. He gave his colleague a brief smile and promptly answered the call, his head immediately clear – the thoughts about anything irrelevant temporarily forgotten. Few seconds later the alarm went off and the dishevelled firefighter jumped off the chair with a serious expression. He gave Vigil last look seeing his focused eyes and calm, patient face. Then he switched his own brain into appropriate mode and run out of the room towards Roman and the rest of his brigade.

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Next part is [HERE].

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My one-person general taglist: @imma-potatoo

My one-person taglist for this AU: @isabelle-stars

I used the term “taglist” very loosely here :D

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multsicorn · 3 years

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fandoms for a reason for a season for a lifetime

It’s funny how even spiralling into a new obsession I can tell - this isn’t one of the big ones, probably. Not unless it pulls out a whole lot more ~something~ in the last seven eps I have left.

Because when I look back at the fandoms I’ve been in here on tumblr over the last decade, there seems to be a sharp dichotomy.

[this got way too long? have a cut.]

There’s fandoms I think back on as ‘damn I love/d that. For so many reasons. Even if, for other reasons, good reasons, I am not in the fandom anymore - or not currently.’ Glee, Hamilton, Check, Please!, (where I never liked the canon much at all! but I loved my corner of fandom so much, I kept coming back to it for years.)

The Untamed. (Which I hope I may still come back to? In some form, if it’s still going, like, next year? I never quite managed to find myself a cozy corner, and wore myself out trying and failing, but I also never managed to really exorcise the feelings I wanted to there, so, I’m still like - I love it? I love a lot of things about it. But I cannot currently ~engage.)

Nirvana in Fire, which I am fully planning to watch for the third time, and hoping to create content for this next time round, … whenever I get tired of Word of Honor, probably in a few months from now.

And then there’s the fandoms where I just kinda needed - a fandom. To be in. Which does not mean I didn’t love them at the time! Hockey RPF (where I pretty much only read fic - and also wrote in my head a good handful of fic. based on fic. but I never cared much for the ‘canon’, lol.) Yuri!!! on Ice; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812; Good Omens. There are things I remember with fondness about all those canons (… rpf fic, the way I look at it, is the canon) - but - like. They’re not *so* much, to me. Obviously, to other people, some of these fandoms are their very favorites!

There’s more or less stuff that I love in each fandom. Or, maybe, more accurately, if I think about the things that draw me to each - they mean more to me, or less.

I was fully immersed in Glee fandom for … almost four years. I’ve never had another experience like that, because for almost all of that time Glee was actively, um, happening to us ;). I joined in the middle of season three, I left the fall after season six ended - in part because I fell head over heels for Hamilton, but mostly just because. I’d spent almost four years reacting to the unfolding story (and spoilers for it etc.), writing fic and meta and so forth, having my enthusiasm refreshed every few months (at least) by injections of new canon. Of course half the time I was reacting against new canon info instead of in favor of it, lol, but in any case - I was kept interested! And so by five or six months after canon ended… I felt like I’d chewed it over enough. I still loved Glee, and I will always love Glee, but I’d had most of the thoughts I’ll ever have about it. I was ready to find something else to have new thoughts and fresh feelings about.

(I was in Hamilton fandom for about a year and my experience there ended because of the aftermath of a pile of pan-fandom-famous wank. Fuck Israa, I say, from the bottom of my heart. Although what got me to leave ultimately wasn’t the flames or dogpilers, but the fact that so much of the fandom at least passively agreed with and supported them, meaning that I never knew which of my fellow shippers I could try to befriend or interact with.) (And then, after Trump was elected, I became far less interested in writing any fic about any Founding Fathers than I was in 2015. Which was after I left the fandom, but not irrelevant to why I never went back.) (seriously tho, I will remember ‘i would hope that it is clear who i do and do not associate with’ 4ever.)

And then! I was obsessed with a fandom built out of a few strips out of a webcomic that I don’t even really like… on and off over four years!? Goddamn. When I needed something else cause I was frustrated with Hamilton, I fell into Check, Please! and Jack/Parse (<3 <3 <3), and, because (that segment of the) fandom was tiny, and (relevant to my interests) canon updates virtually nonexistent… I ran out of interest/excitement/engagement repeatedly, and took up - one after another - Hockey RPF, Yuri on Ice, Great Comet, and Good Omens - each for just two to six months, iirc. And then I boomeranged back to Jack/Parse.

(at some point I will finish the post in my drafts about why Jack/Parse had such a hold on me, ‘living in the wreckage of what you thought your life was going to be.’ But that is not this post.)

And THEN I fell in love the with The Untamed, (thanks, stulti! For turning me on to *two* of my all-time favorite fandoms), and it was just, like, amazing, for a while. I hadn’t loved a canon that much since Hamilton, which had been five or six years ago? Even though I’d been in a number of fandoms between the two. It was so nice to love something so very much!!! And I ended up kind of overdosing, I think, cause I was eating from the fandom buffet more-or-less indiscriminately… there were so many riches in that fandom! And so many that weren’t quite to my taste, lol, because there was (and is) SO MUCH STUFF in that canon for its fans to love. (there’s another post in my mental drafts about that.)

Anyway. My point is. I guess. That I hope to come back to The Untamed, sometime. I fully expect to come back to Nirvana In Fire. (It is, actually, so good? As a canon as well as a fandom.)

I don’t expect to come back to Check, Please! ever again, because, weirdly, I don’t think I need to. Of course my understanding of what it means to ~reconcile with one’s past~ etc. has changed in the last mumble-years, but more than that… I have Nirvana in Fire, now, to deal with almost the same issues. I don’t think I fully got the Extent of Mei Changsu’s (Lin Shu) identity issues until the end of the show? But in retrospect - now that I have -

Nirvana in Fire is a pretty perfect fandom/canon for coming back to with gaps between, lol. It’s small enough that I can read through all of my favorite AO3 tags and be left wanting more; it has enough of a strong but slowly-spreading appeal that new people do come and go between say, last summer when I consumed the canon for the first time, and this spring when I watched it again.

And maybe I won’t need to come back and back! Maybe a third watch will be enough for me to say the things in that I want to say. I certainly cannot guess ahead of time!

But - yeah. There are those fandoms I love ~forever,~ some of which I may not be done with…

And then there’s Word of Honor. Which I love right now. Even if it’s not as deep, or ~intense, or… whatever… as some of my other fandom loves; I still love it! Even if I can see ahead to six months from now when I bet I won’t, anymore. I still can’t believe that I spent the past hour-plus writing this post rather than dashing on to watch episode 30, which is what I was intending to do when I sat down.

It’s just - funny. That sort of double vision. How I know this fandom is Mx. Right Now, but that doesn’t make me squee any less.

#fandom how does it work #two murderers walk into a bar #to the cliff's edge #it's about the scheming #ummm #yayhamlet #jukebox musical did you mean my life

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redbeardace · 4 years

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The Equality Act

What is the Equality Act?

If you’ve paid attention to politics (in the US) over the past few weeks, the Equality Act has been name-checked quite frequently. It was listed as a Day One priority of virtually every major Democratic presidential candidate at a recent town hall. It was brought up in response to a recent pair of Supreme Court employment discrimination cases, one involving a gay man, the other involving a trans woman, both of whom were fired after coming out. But what is it?

The Equality Act is an update to a number of federal anti-discrimination laws, primarily the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act explicitly provides anti-discrimination protection on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. You can read the full text of it here, but if you don’t feel like it, the basic summary is that it’s mostly a Find-And-Replace job, substituting “sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity)” for the word “sex” in existing anti-discrimination laws.

Why is the Equality Act important?

Right now, across the entire US, it is illegal for someone to be fired due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. In many states, there is a specific state law prohibiting this form of discrimination. However, in the rest of the states, where there isn’t an explicitly state law, it’s prohibited because of an interpretation of the word “sex” in existing anti-discrimination laws.

These existing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. For a plain, simple example, that means that you can’t reject a qualified candidate for a job, simply because she’s a woman. Sex cannot be the deciding factor.

And that’s where the interpretation comes in. Over the years, guidance of federal agencies and findings in court cases have held that this protection on the basis of sex extends to sexual orientation and gender identity. Let me tell a quick pair of stories to illustrate:

1: You have a hardworking, recently promoted employee named Alex. One Monday morning, Alex comes into the office, sporting a shiny new ring. Intrigued, you ask about it. “I got married to Elizabeth on Saturday!”, comes the excited reply. You congratulate Alex and wish him a happy life.

2. You have a hardworking, recently promoted employee named Alex. One Monday morning, Alex comes into the office, sporting a shiny new ring. Intrigued, you ask about it. “I got married to Elizabeth on Saturday!”, comes the excited reply. You fire Alex and throw the contents of her desk on the street.

In this scenario, the only difference between Alex and Alex is their sex. Their sexual orientation is effectively irrelevant. You fired Alexandra for doing something you would have been fine with Alexander doing, therefore you have illegally discriminated against Alexandra on the basis of sex.

Or so says the interpretation.

The thing about an interpretation of this kind is that it’s fragile. It’s great when you have LGBTQ-friendly people at the wheel. But all it takes is one fascist dictator wannabe to tell the federal agencies to change their mind. All it takes is five people in black robes with a lean to the right to say “Nah, I think it means this”.

And that’s where we are today.

The court cases heard last month will be decided next June, and there is a very real possibility that the Supreme Court will reject the interpretation that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected on the basis of sex. If that happens, it will immediately become legal to fire people or refuse housing or kick someone off a bus for being gay or being trans in more than half of the states in this country.

So that’s bad.

The Equality Act, by explicitly including protection for sexual orientation and gender identity, will make it clear that kind of discrimination is illegal. It won’t be open to interpretation, and will be far more resistant to the direction of the wind in DC.

What else should I know about the Equality Act?

It explicitly provides protection for intersex people. When I did a survey of state-level anti-discrimination laws earlier this year, I found that intersex people were largely ignored. That leaves them in legal limbo land where maybe they’re protected and maybe not. The Equality Act includes “sex characteristics, including intersex traits” under the definition of “sex”, and would thereby unambiguously include that in all of the protections provided. However, while the Equality Act is a step in the right direction, but it does not address specific intersex issues.

It covers the “perception or belief, even if inaccurate” case, which plugs some potential loopholes in protection.

It is worded vaguely enough to protect agender and non-binary people, but it does not explicitly mention them.

Unfortunately, sexual orientation is defined as a specific, enumerated list: “homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality”. Asexual and pansexual, etc., are not included. This is a common failure of many anti-discrimination laws. I doubt it’s born of malice. Instead, it’s a combination of ignorance and inertia. So many existing laws define it this way, it’s easy to copy and paste without thinking. I prefer the language in New York City’s ordinance: “A continuum of sexual orientation exists and includes, but is not limited to, heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality and pansexuality.”

There is no mention of romantic or affectional orientation in the Equality Act. This strikes me as a huge hole. Not only does this mean it completely leave out protection for aromantic people, it opens a loophole for discrimination based on romantic orientation of all types.

Nothing in the Equality Act tries to fix unnecessarily gendered language that exists in the law. That would be a far more involved undertaking.

So where does the Equality Act stand?

The Equality Act has been passed in the House of Representatives, where it was a priority of the Democratic majority there. After passage, it was sent to the Senate, where it will die, because the Republican majority there wants nothing to do with it. And the President wouldn’t have signed it anyway. There is no chance in hell that it will be passed before 2021, and even that would require Democrats holding the House, taking the Senate, and getting the White House.

So, you see, that’s a bit of a problem. The Supreme Court’s ruling on these cases will come out in June 2020...

What you can do about it!

VOTE.

And vote for the Democrat where applicable. Republicans are actively opposed to this issue. You have seen what happens when Republicans have control over the government and it is up to you to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Yeah, sure, Democrats aren’t perfect, but they’re a hell of a lot better than this fascist clown show and homophobic sidekick we have now, so vote Democrat and then keep the pressure on to force them to get better. (And while you’re at it, push them for Ranked Choice Voting so we can maybe get rid of the two party stranglehold...)

Find out about your local anti-discrimination laws. Local anti-discrimination laws won’t be overturned by the court decision in these cases. So, if your state or city does not already have LGBTQ protections in its anti-discrimination laws (or doesn’t even have any anti-discrimination laws at all) band together and make noise. Get them to pass one.

Tell everyone you can about this. Be loud. Silence will let them get away with it.

Fight back. If it all goes to hell in your state next June, boycott any business that fires someone for being trans, picket any apartment complex who evicts a gay couple. Broadcast their bigotry, shame them publicly. Make noise.

Reach out to your lawmakers and tell them that you support the Equality Act and think it needs to be improved and passed. And “improved” is key. Since it hasn’t passed yet, there’s still time to make it better. So tell them they need to make it better. (At the same time, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. As it stands today, it’s a vast improvement over existing law, so work to get the Equality Act passed, even if they don’t fix it.)

But Wait... There’s More!

Another interesting (and unexpected) side story related to this which came up after I’d written most of this post is that ratification of the ERA is now within reach, thanks to Virginia going fully blue. While it’s very likely that VA will vote to ratify in one of their first actions in January, there’s some haziness about whether or not it will count. That means it will be a fascinating backdrop for the presidential election, with one side fully supporting ratification, maybe even with a woman carrying the flag for the second time in a row, and the other side being forced to explain why they don’t think women are equal, while they run a disgusting misogynist and/or someone who refuses to even eat with women. Popcorn time!

But... What’s the ERA, you ask? That’s a fair question, because it hasn’t been talked about much since it was killed by a pack of anti-feminists back in the 70s. It’s the Equal Rights Amendment, a constitutional amendment that reads “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

The haziness surrounding ratification is twofold: First, the original congressional language had a deadline, which has long since passed. Second, some states which ratified it early on have since rescinded their ratification. Proponents of ratification will note that the original deadline was extended once, and can be extended again, if needed, and beyond that, a deadline may not even be valid. As for rescinding the ratification, it’s not clear whether or not a state can even do that. At any rate, it’s bound to head to court and make a lot of noise along the way.

As you may have noticed, the language is very similar to the vague meaning of “sex” that the Equality Act is trying to fix. Will the ERA protect gender identity and sexual orientation? That’s unclear. It’s open to the same interpretation and court opinions that come up in the Civil Rights Act. In fact, the Supreme Court decision in those cases I mentioned above, whichever way it goes, will probably be the precedent at work, should the ERA actually get ratified and take effect.

So you know what that means, right?

Once the ERA is ratified, we're going to need the ERA 2 to explicitly include what the original ERA leaves out.

We have a lot of work to do. Time to get busy.

#equality #equality act #era #equal rights amendment

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octagoncalibrator · 4 years

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Some thoughts of Heart of Deimos.

I made a reddit post but I thought I might repost it here and see if the response is any different. Mild spoilers for Heart of Deimos, the most recent Warframe update, under the cut.

First off, this is a bit of an effortpost, and it will be quite meandering and confused, sorry about that. We are now two days into Heart of Deimos and I had some thoughts I wanted to put on paper as it were. There's a TL;DR at the bottom.

The Bad:

In all honesty, taking into account the usual DE release-then-fix cycle and the quick patching they've already done to things like the Son token costs, there's very little about this update that I think is objectively bad. Deimos might be the single best open world release of the set, lack of a catchy musical number aside. It's not any buggier than any other release, which may say more about DE's QA than anything, but I have fallen through the map a few times, and host migrations have broken multiple vault runs.

The combined token system is a pretty big departure from the other open worlds, and I found it very confusing initially. Without the prior context of using Ticker for bonds in Fortuna, I think it would be really opaque, particularly for new players who aren't already up to speed on how the open world resource loops are expected to work. Alongside the complex token system, it's also understandable that people are frustrated with the expectation that they -must- participate in mining, fishing and conservation to get the tokens, since these don't really leverage the well developed aspects of gameplay.

The initial quest was lackluster from a storytelling perspective, with some really nonsensical events, a lack of development for each individual beat, and a frustrating lack of building on the already existing lore in favour of introducing new lore. It was pretty blatantly a tour of the zone mechanics, though maybe we'll see a more engaging plot when the equivalent of the Profit Taker and Exploiter bounties are introduced over the next year. The new warframe being dropped in by Mother as an afterthought, without a scrap of context, almost felt worse than the way previous quests have just given us the blueprint with no explanation at all. Protea's quest felt a lot clearer so it's disheartening to see them taking a step back there.

Finally, prior to finding the Albrecht lore I thought the playable content of the update was quite short and uninteresting.

The Good:

The Family voice acting is really, really good. Some of the writing is a bit iffy in the classic overwrought DE sense (which IMO is charmingly earnest anyway) but the delivery is fantastic, and while initially I was put off by the characters being shallow, I came around on it - I will go into more detail under 'The Ugly'.

With regards to the grind: even though the resources from the open world minigames are mandatory, participation isn't - so far I've run conservation exactly once, for about an hour, and I am clear for the third rank up with the Entrati. The world drops and bounty loot are more than enough to cover the vast majority of other costs, which is honestly fantastic. For all the complaining, DE has definitely learned from PoE and Fortuna with regards to letting people dictate their own playstyle without handicapping their progress. You can focus down specific requirements with specific minigames, no trouble, or you can just play bounties and run and gun your way to incidental loot. The combined token system was really confusing initially but combined with the incidental drops it makes progression quite organic without forcing you to spend your time on any particular task (looking at you, pre-Thumper PoE). There also seems to be a pretty solid spawn chance for tokens in the caves of the open world, and since the rank ups are now 1 of each kind of token instead of 10, this is possibly now a feasible way to skip the conservation grind entirely.

With regards to the lore: despite my earlier complaint about narrative quality and disconnection, DE does seem to be tying Parvos, the Entrati and the Glassmaker together, which is interesting. Prior to finding the Necraloid area and hearing the excellent Albrecht Vitruvian lore (seriously, mad props to the writers and the VA, the fourth log gives me powerful Darkest Dungeon narration vibes) I was ready to drop the game until a few patches and more content was added, but now I'm fully willing to grind for a couple weeks to hear the rest. I'm curious to see where they will go with the Heart and the Man in the Wall, particularly in regards to stuff like the reliquary drive and how it relates to the Necraloids and pre-warframe Orokin technology in general.

The Ugly:

The Family are the ugly, get it? This bit is mostly just because I want to talk about the new characters and the themes of Warframe as a narrative.

There's a kind of tension around the family that I initially found offputting - here we have a family of immortal alien gods who made their name ripping secrets from the flesh of reality, literally sprouting from the meat flowers of an infested moon... and they act like the cast of Arrested Development, switching between lofty poetic proclamations and petty squabbling that wouldn't be out of place on a sitcom. At first it seemed like it was just bad writing. Over time though, with exposure to the wider plot and the various deeper interactions, I started to warm to it. It's really interesting how DE has juxtaposed the deformed appearance of the Entrati, their perfect-marble-statue-like Orokin aesthetic, the pulsating infestation, and this very human, very relatable behavior. It really pulls back the skin on the Orokin as a people and uses a bit of clever metanarrative to show us that even the Tenno remember the Orokin as being more than human, when they were just as flawed as anyone else.

The individual characters felt very shallow at first, like cardboard cutouts of the typical family transplanted into a blob of writhing meat, but the pleasant surprise of the relationships mending between Entrati rank-ups and the subtle undercurrents you start to notice when interacting with them over a longer timeline really turned that on its head. There's some really excellent combinations of writing and delivery that add subtleties to each character, like the Daughter's undercurrent of thirst for either the Tenno or for butchering mutant fish, or the animalistic yearning of the Son and his bleeding heart hidden under the callous and cruel facade.

Family, parenthood and belonging are arguably the core themes of Warframe's narrative - the Tenno are orphan children clinging to a single parental figure who herself is a stolen child, while their allies like the Ostrons and the Solaris are people who cling to their human connections and their shared culture despite outside forces, and draw their strength from each other. The grand enemies of the setting are collectivist empires who have shredded their humanity in pursuit of strength and profit respectively. Then you have the Orokin, whose grand flaw is hubris in isolation, and a deliberate abandonment of shared humanity in pursuit of impossible perfection. The entire Parvos questline related to blood, with Nef wanting to abuse it for gain and Parvos denouncing him. Even the Sentients, arguably the only alien culture in the setting, love their families and oppose the Orokin and by extension the Tenno largely in defense of their people.

DE has leaned hard on quite creepy, quite -relatable- strangeness to give the Family depth, which helps reinforce that they're demigods of a dead empire, even if they are also quite friendly and personable. It lends some real weight to the way the Orokin have been depicted as cruel, hollow people, since we now have direct evidence of how their culture and the expectations of their various roles tear at those interpersonal connections. There's a lot of heart and clear work put into developing these themes, and I think that it's a bit sad that the quality of the writing is frequently overlooked in the broader Warframe community in favour of focusing on the flashy mechanics and cool new novel features. DE's writers are some of the best in mainstream video gaming currently, and even with my complaints about the main quest earlier, this consistent ongoing thematic cohesion and the variety of individually good beats more than make up for incoherent feature-driven storytelling.

TL;DR:

Despite some teething issues and bugs Heart of Deimos might be the best open world update so far, the way DE presents the Family and develops on the overarching themes of the story are pretty excellent, and I am excited to see where they go with it. Thanks for reading my incoherent and largely irrelevant thought-spew. Have a good one.

#warframe #heart of deimos #rambling diatribe #I have no qualifications just many opinions

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brightbeautifulthings · 4 years

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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (trans. Robin Buss)

"'I have heard it said that the dead have never done, in six thousand years, as much evil as the living do in a single day.'"

Year Read: 2019

Rating: 3/5

Context: Last year’s year-long Les Mis read went so well, I decided to choose another intimidating classic to tackle in the same fashion this year. I know myself, and if I don't deliberately pace out a book like this, I'll try to read a thousand pages in a week, and it will just be a miserable experience. (That's not to say some classics aren't miserable experiences regardless of how you read them, but that's another issue entirely.) The Count of Monte Cristo was calling to me from the shelf, and by pure luck, I already owned the edition I wanted to read (plus a B&N abridged version that promptly went into the donation box). Reviews overwhelmingly praise Robin Buss’s translation for ease/modernity, and the Penguin Classics haven’t let me down yet.

For my less coherent updates in real-time: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX. My review is spoiler-free, but my updates are not, so read with caution if you’re not familiar. Trigger warnings: In a book with a thousand pages? Everything, probably, but for sure death, parent/child death, suicide/suicidal thoughts, severe illness, guns, abduction, poisoning, slavery, mental illness, sexism, ableism, grief, depression.

About: When forces conspire to have sailor Edmond Dantès arrested for a crime he didn't commit, he spends years in a hellish prison, fighting to stay sane. Through bravery and good fortune, he manages to escape, and he assumes a new identity for himself: The Count of Monte Cristo. Under this guise, he inserts himself into the lives of the French nobility, vowing revenge on those who wronged him.

Thoughts: Like most thousand page novels, there's no reason this novel needs to be a thousand pages, but the one thing I can say about them, collectively, is that I come away feeling like I have a relationship with them that I usually don't get from a shorter book unless I've read it multiple times. And it makes sense: I've been reading this book for a year. I've had relationships with actual humans that were much shorter than that. Dumas's prose (helped along by Buss's translation) is accessible and not overly dry, if not quite as humorous as Victor Hugo’s. Thanks to both of them, I now have a rudimentary understanding of the French Revolution and the difference between a Royalist and Bonapartist (because truly the only way to make me read about history is to put it in a novel).

Dumas proves himself more capable of staying on topic though, with one or two exceptions. The only margin note I cared to write was, apparently, "Horrible digression", and I stand by that. As soon as the novel leaves Dantès’s perspective, it gets less interesting, beginning with Franz encountering Sinbad the Sailor on Monte Cristo and continuing with the Very Weird and Terrible Side Anecdotes about bandits in Rome. Otherwise, much of the storyline is more or less linear, without the intricacies of Waterloo or the Paris sewer system. It grows more chaotic as the book goes on though, with frequent digressions into every character's backstory.

The plot takes such a drastic turn that it's almost like reading two different novels with two different main characters. At the beginning, it’s most like an adventure story. There are sailors, prison breaks, and buried treasure. Yet, for all those things, it’s surprisingly un-suspenseful. Dumas has a very stolid way of story-telling. The pace is almost supernaturally consistent, so that even things that probably should have tension in them are presented as a matter of course. (Or maybe I’m just hugely desensitized by media.) I wasn’t as excited as I thought I should be during some of the more compelling parts, but there’s something reassuring about Dumas’s relentlessly straightforward story-telling.

The middle takes a major dip in interest. Cue a lot of long and tedious backstories, plus Monte Cristo's elaborate set-ups to take down his enemies. It basically devolves into a soap opera of the various dramas of Paris’s rich and powerful families. Monte Cristo barely needs to lift a finger to destroy these people, since with a few mostly harmless suggestions, it looks like they're all going to self-destruct at any moment without outside help. The ending never really recovers from the action of the beginning, thanks in large part to the characters. There are more than it's worth keeping track of, including a lot of side characters, family members, and name changes. A detailed, spoiler-free flow chart of how everyone is connected to everyone else would have been helpful. (But be careful about Googling those because spoilers.)

Edmond Dantès is an easy hero to pull for, since he’s honest, good, and capable, and he has a kind of earnest faith that things will work out that’s endearing. He goes through a fair amount of character development in prison, and his father/son relationship with Faria is especially moving. On the other hand, it's difficult to like his alternate persona, The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas goes a bit overboard in making him filthy rich and knowledgeable about literally every subject, and no matter how generous he is to his slaves, they're still slaves. Whether he’s playing the part of a pompous ass or is actually a pompous ass is sort of irrelevant by the end. There are a couple of flailing attempts at character development in the last sections where he wonders whether he had the right to do everything he did, but it's too little/too late to make much of an impact.

The story wouldn't work without some Shakespeare-level villains. Danglars is Iago whispering in Othello’s ear, and Villefort is even more insidious because his upstanding citizen act is so convincing. Caderousse is just a coward, and it’s interesting to see how jealousy, ambition, and fear all play an integral part in condemning an innocent man. Mercédès is a bland love interest; Valentine and Morrel are basically the Cosette and Marius of the novel, but at least there are some decent people on the page to pull for. Much as I dislike all the descriptors of Eugenie as “masculine” (because she must be less of a woman if she has a mind of her own), she's a powerhouse, and I was living for her lesbian relationship with her piano instructor.

It's clear Dumas has no idea when to end a story, since every time I thought we'd wrapped up a plot with a certain character, they'd resurface a few chapters later to spin it out a little further. Though everything (and I do mean everything) moves much more slowly than necessary, I was satisfied with the way it all played out. It's hard to come back from a main character I can barely stand though, and I happen to not like novels where nearly every character is terrible. While I found Les Mis surprisingly relevant on its social commentary, I’m struggling to see why Monte Cristo has stuck around. Only the first parts could reliably be called an "adventure novel," and the rest is purely middle of the road.

#book review #the count of monte cristo #alexandre dumas #monte cristo readalong #classics #3/5 #rating: 3/5

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novelwritingtrash · 5 years

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better than words #15: in profile

by Allyson Gross

This revived edition of better than words is about Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, but (do not fear) not about HarryandTaylor, my feelings on which I will reserve for drunken karaoke performances of “Style.” This is about profiles, specifically Rob Sheffield’s profile of Harry in Rolling Stone, and Laura Snapes’ profile of Taylor in the Guardian, and what we learn about / what we want to learn about pop stars when we read these kinds of in-depth interviews.

In a 2014 piece for Believer on the history and trajectory of celebrity profiles, Anne Helen Petersen wrote that as a genre of journalism, the profile “sells the celebrity’s image and the values that image is made to represent.” Profiles contribute to how we understand or come to know stars; they’re the publicity and promotion end of Richard Dyer’s “star image,” that composite puzzle piece of who celebrities are in public, but packaged under the guise of private truth or a peek under the curtain. I will never go to Taylor Swift’s Nashville home, but Laura can tell me about the stickers on her oven, and it will communicate something to me about Taylor that I did not know before, and perhaps I will feel closer to her. While truly “knowing” a celebrity is the impossible project of their consumption, a good interview provides the brief illusion of it. The promise of a good profile rests within the understanding/belief/hope that the off-stage “truth” of a celebrity is theoretically discoverable with the turn of a good question or an in media res lede. Frank Sinatra has a cold, and Harry Styles has brought his purse to lunch.

I’ve been thinking a lot over the last year about how profiles contribute to our understanding of stars, and what role they play now, when most of our information about our faves comes from social media, whether that be on stars’ own or fans’ (see: the rise of the update account, that great and problematic aggregator of stan info). Last fall, in a piece lamenting the “death” of the celebrity profile, the New York Times’ Jon Caramanica wrote that “monologue, not dialogue… threatens to upend the role of the celebrity press.” Celebrities, in Caramanica’s analysis, were either not talking (Taylor Swift, Drake, Beyonce), or talking too much on social media, making the “intimate perspective and behind-the-scenes access” promised by celebrity journalism “largely irrelevant.” This is a little dumb, but mostly short-sighted, because the oversaturation of celebrities’ own content online only strengthens the case for a good profile that can (de)construct our stars beyond whatever Taylor Swift’s publicist wants her to post, or even what Taylor herself does; it makes the best ones all the more interesting for their ability to communicate the celebrity unmediated by their preferred Instagram filters. In response to this NYT piece last September, I started (and ultimately abandoned) a tinyletter about profiles, in the draft of which I wrote:

I like my pop stars like I like most places, most people: quiet. If the defining property of celebrity is its undefinable magic — the other, sparkly essence that makes this or that person different, representative, worthy of their visibility in public — then too much noise (literal or figurative) kind of ruins it for me. This is not to say that I want to hear from them never, but rather that the unknown is more interesting and productive than it gets credit for, and oversaturation diminishes the potential of interpretation or imagination. I want to know that there is something to know about my favorite celebrity, but I don’t want it handed to me on a silver platter (or Instagram story).

When I wrote this, I was in a post-dissertation high, hyped up on the magic of writing about Harry Styles fans projecting onto his rhetorical void, and I wanted to kind of defend the beauty of a quiet pop star. I read this now and I laugh, not because I totally disagree with it, but mostly because it’s so complicated. I am both personally and academically fascinated by the kind of empty signification that has marked Harry’s last 4 years in public, but not all silence is equal. And while projecting into / interpreting vagueness can be fun and interesting, it is nice to hear him speak again and remember why I love him. It is nice to have new things to read in a profile, new pieces to contribute to the puzzle that is how I understand Harry Styles’ personality.

Rob’s profile is a treasure trove of these puzzle pieces — meditation (!), dulcimers (!!), mushrooms (!!!) — stitched together with all the trademark enthusiasm and care of my favorite of his work. I love Rob’s writing not least because it so often communicates that same love and emotion I feel for the things I love, the people I’m a fan of, in a way that bridges the gap between the over-detached but unserious way of approaching artists beloved by young women. In a media landscape which expresses cynicism about the artistic integrity/validity of subjects of the female gaze, while simultaneously fetishizing young girls as uniquely prescient tastemakers, Rob’s writing is both intelligent and earnest, neither dismissive nor overly reverential.

But the rub of this profile, of course, is that Rob and Harry are friends, and it is impossible to forget this. In the NYT piece, Caramanica writes that the “covenant” of celebrity profiles is that “the journalist is the proxy for the reader, not the subject,” but in Rolling Stone the line feels blurred, and perhaps purposefully so; the allure of this piece in the weeks building up to it, for so many fans, was that Rob himself was writing it. The elephant in the room (addressed paranthetically in-text) is perhaps that this piece exists in this form because of their relationship, not the other way around. Friendship begets not only ease of subject, but access. This interview is the result of an extraordinary level of time spent with Styles, granted over several days in two countries. In a recent piece for Columbia Journalism Review on celebrity access in music journalism, Jeremy Gordon described a typical process for securing an in-depth feature: “An editor asks a publicist for four days with an artist; that gets bargained down to two. A writer pitches a profile; it turns out there’s only time for a Q&A over the phone…. An artist’s availability is inversely related to their fame; even when available, they have to be a willing participant in sharing their story.” That every substantive interview Styles has ever given was either written by an older, white male friend (Rob, Cameron Crowe) or a Q&A with another famous person (in Another Man, Chelsea Handler and Paul McCartney) both qualifies his willingness to share his story, but also explains so much of the feeling of his “silence” even when he is speaking. If the promise of a good profile is the potential for some unearthed private truth, there is a sense to every word safely printed about Styles that cuts that possibility off at the knees.

Over the weekend, Laura published an interview with Taylor that withheld few punches; for the first time, Taylor was on record speaking about a whole host of issues, from white supremacy to Weinstein and the 2016 election. That Laura got Taylor to so gamely talk about all of these complicated topics with only around an hour of time with her in Nashville is impressive enough, but the deftness with which she navigates and unpacks Swift’s responses, while simultaneously holding a really empathetic, humanizing mirror up to this routinely dehumanized megastar is both incredibly smooth and admirably smart. In the end, this is a fundamentally different type of piece than Rob’s on Harry, in the same way that Harry and Taylor are differently marketed and portrayed and publicly consumed. While Harry’s silence has always been a mirror, the void of which we fill to reflect ourselves, Taylor’s has always been an empty room we have begged her to fill. She must answer for herself, she must atone, and in the end we will be surprised when she comes across as so human and understandable, while Harry Styles rides around Malibu in a Tesla.

I love both of these profiles, subjects, writers. This is not to say one is wrong, or one is better, but instead perhaps to highlight both the inherent double standards around how we talk about stars like Harry and Taylor (and specifically, Harry and Taylor, as my friend Fiona catalogues in this thread here), but also to unpack more critically what that actually looks like in practice, what the variety of possible secrets we seek look like on the page. Harry Styles gets praised for briefly mentioning white privilege in print, while the collective response to Taylor Swift’s lengthy justification of her own politics is a half-annoyed feeling of “finally.” This is for so many reasons, and 99% of them are of course about gender. As Fiona wrote on Twitter, “It’s just frustrating how women are expected to bring their whole emotional lives to their art, and are then criticised for doing so. Meanwhile we’re meant to admire HS for... articulating emotions? And accessing them with the help of mushrooms? How brave! How bold!” More broadly, that we want different things out of a profile on Harry than we do on Taylor is not alone the result of how they perform themselves, but also how we receive and relate to them; it is as much about the degree of scrutiny we subject them to as it is the amount they are willing to sit down for us, if a friend or stranger is speaking with them.

And we all want different answers. I would have killed to hear Laura talk with Taylor about pop-fandom-as-scavenger-hunt, and the broader implications/ramifications of that odd quote from the Entertainment Weekly article in May about how she “trained” fans to essentially become online conspiracy theorists. In Rolling Stone, it was jarring to see Harry praise fans’ “bullshit detector” without Rob interrogating what that even means — While Harry’s quote about holding up Black Lives Matter flags is a good one, the piece takes the sentiment at face value, and doesn’t address the year-long, international effort by fans trying to get him to speak up about BLM on stage. Each of these pieces would have probably looked totally different if the other had written them, or if someone else entirely had tackled it, and yet profiles still hold such oddly tremendous weight with regard to the star image, particularly with acts like Taylor and Harry who so rarely allow them. That such a disparate and varying chain of events and relationships (where the interview takes place, how long they get, if the writer knows them, if they play hard or softball with questions, how they follow up, etc) provides this information which figures so heavily in how we relate to and understand stars is endlessly fascinating. It also kind of highlights the complete futility of pretending to really know anything about celebrities we love, which is honestly perhaps the most comforting bit of all.

#brilliant

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rilenerocks · 4 years

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Hi Michael. It’s that time of year again. That time you always hated when I was so, so very hot and sweaty and thus, always had the air conditioning turned down, the overhead fan turned to high and the small floor fan churning away all night long. Like living in a wind tunnel, you’d say. I’m sure you wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to learn that nothing’s changed. I climb into our bed, each night, still on my side, yours untouched, with the dull roar of all my cooling machines as my companions. The thin sheet quivers in the breeze. You’d hate it. I’m physically comfortable and I lie there, thinking. Look at this headline from an article I read this evening.

Scientists Have ‘Woken Up’ Microbes Trapped Under The Seafloor For 100 Million Years

I mean, really? While I was trying to wrap my mind around the impossibility of those numbers and the subsequent life options they revealed, I suddenly hoped that meant we had a chance of reuniting somewhere in this mystifying universe. Certainly our collective and relatively young microbes have just as good a chance at survival as those ancient ones. I’m positive that your microbes are all over our house, our garden and in the few personal items of yours which I’ve stashed away. There might be a few hairs in your brush. I wouldn’t care which version of us we’d be, young or old. Ish.

So then I was thinking about all the tiny details of life I’d normally tell you every day when you were still here in the flesh. I mean, I like your constant cosmic presence, but I usually turn to that with just the most important stuff. I’ve been dying to share with you all these strange little nothing thoughts that cross my mind. Mostly, no one has ever been able to put up with the endless stream of seemingly random, disconnected thoughts that pour out of me. My sister, Cheryl is probably the next best listener after you. As my younger sibling, she was well trained in the absorption of my peculiar brain workings. I’m lucky she’s still here. But there’s just nothing like you for that bottomless reservoir of acceptance which you provided for me. Isn’t it ironic that we both know you’d be appalled by me releasing all this private information into the faceless universe? I mean, I know some people who read my blog but mostly, they’re strangers. Honestly, except for a few private spaces in myself that defy language, most of the rest is just irrelevant in the long run. What impact do our little quirky selves have? I know you’d disagree but I need to survive now, in my own way. So here are a few random thoughts that beset me as I lie in our bedroom, my favorite space, while my mind wanders in the wee hours after I’m done reading, wishing I could talk to you above the whir of the fan blades spinning around me.

You’re the only person who knew that while I was listening to WLS radio during my pubescent and teen years in Chicago, I wasn’t just a rock and roll/rhythm and blues kid. I also liked gospel, jazz and classical music. I still remember that when you were working at the Record Service, you kept track of my favorites and made sure I always those albums in my stash. And then, you updated them to CD’s so I didn’t have to wear out my vinyl. I’m still listening to lots of different genres every day. I don’t think I could’ve gotten through this bizarre pandemic time without it.

Here’s another weird thing I’ve noticed lately. I don’t watch much television during the day. I turn it on for a few minutes when I get up in the morning, mostly a defensive move to make sure nothing impossibly earth-shattering happened overnight. That’s how things are right now – every day seems to bring a story that’s incomprehensible. Today the story was that after the worst economic quarter ever reported since they started measuring these things, Trump suggested that perhaps we shouldn’t hold an election this fall. This guy will sling any idea that he thinks will get him a second term. As an historian, you just wouldn’t believe how this country has devolved since you’ve been gone. Anyway. When evening rolls around, I’m tired from being outside most of the day. After dinner, I watch the news and then scroll through the tv guide, looking for anything that might distract me, amuse me or otherwise edify me in some way. Lately, I’ve realized that virtually every day, The Godfather, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Gladiator is playing. Often they’re on at the same time, while other times, they’re staggered. It’s so peculiar. Usually I watch bits of all of them. By the end of the week I’ve seen them in their entirety, albeit out of order. I’ll also pause for Sense and Sensibility, The Princess Bride, Pride and Prejudice or any Errol Flynn movie. Makes me laugh. If you were here, you’d be doing the same thing with The American President, To Have and to Have Not, You’ve Got Mail or The Maltese Falcon. Also Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, or Stand by Me. I’m working my way through a decent number of tv series that I missed when we were too busy to watch them. But recently, I’m needing revolution. I’ve got “Z” and Battle of Algiers on my DVR. I probably don’t need to get more cranked up than I am these days, but I guess that’s too bad. Watching them anyway. I wonder how any new shows will be made for the fall? Better not go down that rabbit hole. They’re probably not going to happen.

I want you to know that in your honor, I have loyally kept up with a smaller version of your food garden. Not just the perennial herbs that still marvelously appear and make me feel that it’s you who’s emerging through our rich dirt. That’s kind of absurd because your ashes are sitting in a beautiful box in the house waiting to some day being mingled with mine. Then we can be in the garden together. That aside, I’ve also been diligently planting and nurturing the annual herbs and vegetables, although at the moment, I’m losing the vegetable battle with the squirrels and rabbits. I’ve managed to get about two dozen cherry tomatoes off the vines while I try to ignore the smushed ones on the ground with one bite mark taken before abandonment. All the low-hanging large tomatoes have been filched along with the green peppers. I’m holding out hope for ones that are a little higher on the vines.

I’m really missing your cooking, though. Yesterday, I started ferreting around your recipe folders and dug out the one for pesto which, by the way, wasn’t labeled. I’m going to make it. I don’t have as much basil as you would plant so I don’t expect to be spooning the mixture into ice cube trays that we could pop out of the freezer for pastas and pizzas. But I’m going to get it done. You really spoiled me. The good news is that I knew it and let you know. So there’s that.

Meanwhile, I’m being really mindful about enjoying every bloom in my flower world. I wait impatiently to make sure that my perennials return and get so happy when they show up. Then I try not to get sad because soon they’ll be gone. That’s something I have to work on – if I’ve learned anything, I know I need to stay in the present. So I’m out there a lot, with the butterflies and the birds, chasing them around with my phone to get good photos that I hope will be comforting in what I expect will be a socially distanced winter.

Regarding the birds. So far, since spring, there’ve been 50 species in the yard. I don’t know if you’d recall that I started drawing them and filing them in a binder called The Yardbirds. I know you’d get the music reference. Anyway, my renderings are improving. If I practice, I’ll get better. Here are a couple of my recent ones.

I’m really happy that I’ve created a great bird habitat in the yard. I’m learning a lot about their behavior. I love watching the hummingbirds and the house wrens. Tiny, but mighty. I’ve grown fond of catbirds which are showing up regularly at the feeders. They’re perky and curious and pretty brave.

I’ve done something pretty dumb, as getting attached to wild animals doesn’t bode well for a happy emotional outcome. But I’m very fond of the cardinal pair that lives here year-round. After a rousing rescue of one of their fledglings last week, I felt so familial with them that I decided to name the strikingly beautiful female who comes for here daily for a dip in the birdbath. I’m calling her Pumpkin. Now, how absurd is that? I like her boyfriend too.

Another thing I did after a good deal of thought was sell your beloved bike. That was hard for me. I know it was just a thing but you loved it so much. I heard your voice in my head saying, “don’t be ridiculous – it’s just sitting there being wasted. Get yourself some extra cash.” So I did. But I took photos first. All these things I have to do. When I lie in bed in the night, I think about how much easier it is to share the loads of life. I miss that a lot although I’m glad I have what it takes to manage on my own. I think back to my mom after my dad died. By the time she was my age, she’d been dependent on me for almost 5 years. Makes me shudder.

How could I not tell you this most important thing? Our daughter, who went from working remotely to having to appear in person in a closed courtroom, found out the other day that a court clerk had tested positive for Covid19. She was asked to leave her office, get tested and do another 14 day quarantine. Then the judge in charge pf hearing her cases tested positive as well. Ugh. That meant that all the rest of our little family bubble had to be tested too. So far, she and our son got negative results. Our son-in-law, both grandsons and I await our results. I hope we’re all negative and can resume our little intimate enclave. The months ahead look daunting to me. The virus is traversing the country at will with no definitive treatments or vaccines. I dread flu season adding to the complexity of everything. Feels positively medieval.

In other news, I got an email from the park district informing us that the indoor pool was reopening immediately. The list of precautions and requirements is very long and detailed. I read it carefully while keenly aware of my longing to get back to swimming. In the end, I’ve decided against it. I just don’t think being in an indoor facility shared with high school students can be safe enough for someone like me, a member of what I call the “death group.” So I’ll just have to know that a block and a half from our house, people will be paddling away while I won’t. This adult decision-making of risk vs. reward is overrated.

In other news, I actually wish I was more like my mom in her widowhood. She used to talk a lot about how all she wished she could do was hold my dad’s hand one more time. Lucky her. I remain deeply interested in resuming our intimate life for another 30 years or so. I hope if this reaches you, you’ll be glad to know that some of our best things are strong enough to survive death.

So that’s all for tonight. By the way, I thought you should know that I just restlessly flipped on the television. There is Gladiator in the midst of the re-creation of the battle of Carthage. Round and round it goes, my dearest boy. Until next time.

A Message from the Wind Tunnel Hi Michael. It’s that time of year again. That time you always hated when I was so, so very hot and sweaty and thus, always had the air conditioning turned down, the overhead fan turned to high and the small floor fan churning away all night long.

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tak4hir0 · 4 years

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This is a guest post by Aaron Ross, co-author of “Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com”. You aren’t alone – just about every company struggles with adoption of their Sales Force Automation (“SFA”) system – even the SFA companies like Salesforce.com! WHY EVERYONE STRUGGLES Do As I Say, Not As I Do – The executive leadership takes a top-down approach to forcing a system and process on a team, without getting their buy-in first, or ensuring the system will benefit reps too. Also, leadership is slow to adopt themselves, setting a bad example. Perfectionism – You try to ‘boil the ocean’ and have the system do everything and track everything, and nothing seems to work. It just gets “junky” from disuse. Do you have a system in which you can’t even remember the original purpose of many of your fields? Overwhelm – You’re all busy and overwhelmed. Even if you felt like you had time to learn a new system or update it, you don’t want to because your brain is fried. Impatience – You’re unrealistic with how long it takes to implement, learn & adopt (it’s months, not days), just like with any other major initiative. Boring – Have you been through long (aka endless) training sessions to teach you how to use a SFA system? Enough said! Sales Force Automation systems like Salesforce.com are ESSENTIAL tools; but like any tool, it’s only as valuable as the proficiency with which it is used. As easy to use as Salesforce.com is, many companies still struggle to get their people to use it. And the top leadership must set the example if they expect teams to adopt as well, which brings us to… 10 WAYS TO INCREASE SALESFORCE ADOPTION Set up a useful CEO/executive team dashboard, PLUS include a slot in the executive meeting to review the dashboard. What metrics are currently tracked in weekly executive meetings, sales management meetings, and your one-on-one meetings with salespeople? Translate these out of Excel and into a Salesforce.com dashboard (where possible), using the dashboard as the basis of that part of the meeting. No exceptions. This will create a top-down effect that will greatly help in inspiring adoption!Start simple, with a single first dashboard and only the top 8-10 metrics the team cares about. Examples: Closed sales quarter to date, Open deals slated to close this quarter, Number of leads qualified this month, Pipeline created this month, Results per vertical, etc. Clean up your SFA clutter to improve usability. Stop trying to track EVERYTHING. The easier Salesforce.com is to use, the more people will use it. Get rid of the clutter, mostly by hiding things people don’t use and keeping labels intuitive: Hide unused tabs. Hide or remove unused data fields. Use simple, common sense names for custom fields. Make compensation dependent on reports in Salesforce Don’t pay people if the sales opportunity or customer isn’t in Salesforce, or if it’s not filled out to pre-defined standards. You’ll be amazed at how quickly opportunities move into Salesforce. Clearly communicate why Salesforce adoption matters. Studies have shown that when you clearly communicate why you want something, people are much more likely to cooperate. You won’t get much cooperation from salespeople if they feel like you only want them to use Salesforce because you want to keep tabs on them. But if they know why it’s good business for them to use it, they will. Without data in Salesforce, the management team must either navigate blindly or extract data manually from people, hurting the sales team in either case. Sales reps will waste time as teammates struggle or make mistakes because of inaccurate or incomplete views of accounts and their status. Customers will be more likely to receive poor service, as customer support won’t have a clear picture of what’s going on with the account. Customize the user interface for your people by role. Find out what sales reps need from Salesforce, and how they could benefit – then configure a specific user interface for them that excludes anything irrelevant and distracting. Start training and creating expectations Day One with new hires. Make a first impression and reinforce the idea that everything should and does live in Salesforce. Start them with good habits. Make it a part of sales culture and peer pressure. “If it’s not in Salesforce, it doesn’t exist.” If management holds a high standard of expectations and doesn’t cheat, reps will improve. Example: On a pipeline call, if a rep hasn’t entered or updated a deal, make the team wait while they update it in real-time (assuming they’re at a computer). Take an online training class. Whatever system you have, there are different kinds of classes – take them! While in a perfect world you could use a system just by looking at it and it would be totally intuitive, until Apple gets into this market, you will have to take training. Have experienced Salesforce users do one-on-one training sessions. I’ve found that many users of Salesforce, are just intimidated by a “new system.” Sitting down with them for a couple of half-hour sessions to review a few useful tips is enough to get them over the first hump. Evaluate a mobile smartphone version Would Salesforce on Blackberries/iPhones make it more accessible? Especially for salespeople on the road who have little time to update things on a laptop, this can be an easy way to give them access to make small, yet important, updates or to access data in the system from anyplace at any time. Bonus Tip : Have You Tried Sales Contests? Done right, sales contests can be a fun and simple way to increase adoption! I love the idea of using contests to help adoption, because by running a contest, a company MUST simplify the most important things that need to get done, they have to make it interesting, and they get people’s energy moving with deadlines and friendly competition! Have you thought about sales contests to increase salesforce adoption, or run any yourself? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments here. CONCLUSION Remember, it’s not just the responsibility of the software you choose to make you successful, or the sales reps themselves. The CEO bears the most responsibility here in also using it and staying committed to doing whatever it takes to help the company embrace it and use it effectively. Sell – don’t command – people on the value and vision of what it will be like to have it embraced! Summary Article Name 10 Ways to Motivate Salesforce.com Adoption Description Any company using Salesforce is looking for ROI. They can see the most of it after their team embraces Salesforce adoption. Author Aaron Ross Publisher Name LevelEleven Publisher Logo

#LevelEleven

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bettsplendens · 7 years

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Reality in Gotham

Hello to all watching! I have a very important announcement, but first, I’m going to have to explain a few things.

First, you must understand that reality is fluid, and it is greatly influenced by how it is perceived. Portions of reality only inhabited by nonsapient creatures rarely undergo considerable change, for example, and-

Oh, I should define “change”, shouldn’t I?

Well- I don’t mean that everything in them stays the same when they don’t change. Things change. I mean that what is possible changes. Not what could eventually be possible, through improved technology- what will ever be possible, according to the laws of that reality. In addition, the laws of probability are an important part of that- and they are the first to shift.

Anyway- portions of reality only inhabited by nonsapient creatures rarely shift because nonsapient creatures have no imagination. With very few exceptions, they perceive reality as it is, and only as it is.

Nonsapient creatures, well- they get interesting. They have imaginations! They come up with things that don’t exist. Now, usually, those don't turn into anything. Either they’re too much like reality, or they’re too far away for what human minds can accidentally accomplish. But, sometimes, they hint.

Like those, oh, what do you call them- cryptids. By and large, those don’t exist. The collective belief isn’t enough to bring them into reality, but it is enough to continue producing what seems like proof. Because it almost is proof- stories, tiny scraps of hints, strange things that don’t quite fit. That’s what belief produces- those little hints.

And there are outside factors that can influence probability, and therefore reality. Anything improbable enough has some influence. My being here, for example, or the continued existence of people who’ve survived things that should really be impossible- people with things through their brains are a good example. Normally that’s not a concern, though, please don’t go and kill improbable folks. It takes a great deal of extremely improbable things in one place to alter reality, and, usually, you can’t get that many improbable things without there already being altered reality involved.

But, hm, I should get back to my point.

I’m sure you know of the gap in time, between 2 and 4 am, where nothing seems quite right. Now- this is mostly due to the effects of a lack of sleep on humans, plus all the various little things that are different when almost no one is awake. Reality seems just a bit off. And that’s because it is! In that space in time, but only in the parts of the world currently experiencing that space in time, reality is askew. And it is that way entirely because of how sleep-deprived human brains perceive the world, and because of how strange it seems to your brain to see normally public areas empty of people. Because reality feels askew, it is askew.

Now, as I’m sure you can imagine, this is where things can be dangerous.

Take this city, for example. It’s absurd! Look at these buildings. It’s as if no one has updated most of the city in a few hundred years. Everything is falling apart, it’s crumbling and dark, and, oh, I can smell the lead, that can’t be helping. And it’s full of crime. More than that, it’s full of people who are extraordinarily improbable. Your hero is a man dressed as a large version of a small flying mammal, accompanied by an entourage of children in brightly colored outfits! This city has been held hostage by birds! Actual birds! There is a man dressed as a clown riding a large robotic teddy bear outside of- oh, my friend, your nemesis is here, you should deal with that.

Nothing in this city makes any sense, by the laws of reality that govern everything around it. And that is because this city operates on a slightly askew version of reality. I have checked the city myself- there are at least two creatures hiding here who take advantage of that, but they did not cause this.

So do you know what did?

Ask your neighbor why all these things happen. They will probably tell you “because this is Gotham” and then look at you like you are a simpleton for not understanding how reality works.

And that is because something happened. Something that can be termed a “mass belief event”. Now, it may have been an intentional attack, or it may have been accidental- probably a poison, a hallucinogen. The lead levels around us are not helping that. Or, maybe even a serial killer- one with seemingly mystical powers who frightened everyone living here. It’s difficult to tell, and probably irrelevant.

But, whatever happened, everyone’s perception of the city changed. Gotham City became a dark and frightening place, full of crumbling ruins, creeping scavengers, and threatening figures with strange abilities.

Now, whatever did that to everyone would have worn off eventually. But the city, well-

Look around you.

The city remembered.

Yes, places remember! Patches of reality remember! They aren’t usually conscious, but things, especially things made by other creatures, know how they ought to be. And how they ought to be is heavily defined by how it is thought that they ought to be. It’s why children can build things startlingly well from cardboard before they realize they shouldn’t be able to- because children, and any other beings who can imagine but don’t yet know what they shouldn’t be able to do, have the power to alter reality. Just a fraction. Please, please do not try to weaponized that, it has been attempted, it fails every time and it goes terribly wrong, but that is a fact.

Places remember what they ought to be. And reality shifts around them to help that. Cities left to fall into ruins regrow nature more easily because they remember that they ought to be full of plants. And Gotham, well- Gotham remained the frightening place that its inhabitants perceived it as.

Gotham remembered what its inhabitants thought it ought to be, and it shifted to accommodate. People didn’t repair things as often as they ought to, scavengers moved in, and… the loosened reality allowed for certain defiances in places. Such as your “supervillains”.

Now- if I lived here, I would want to change that.

Do you?

Well, good news! You can!

And it’s really very simple.

Stop believing. Start questioning. Start asking “why has no one repaired this building yet? Why is this man in a suit covered with punctuation marks still around? Why are these people who are clearly mentally ill being allowed to escape time and again from the same place?”

Start refusing to believe!

If you are new to the city- stop accepting it! Yes, the city is strange to you, and your perception of it as strange can help to bolster the altered reality, but you have insights into what other cities are like! Start questioning all the differences this one has.

If it works, you will start to see change, but it will not be as if by magic. People will start refusing to accept situations, start trying to rebuild. Maybe… stop putting the “villains” back into the place they keep escaping from. You cannot change the past, but you can change the future, can push this city’s reality into something a bit less Gothic.

Your perception of reality is more powerful than you understand.

Use it.

Refuse to believe that which should be unbelievable.

Refuse to accept this.

#Gotham #Reality #My fic #My work

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sage-nebula · 7 years

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Hi! I was hoping to ask you for any recommendations on fanfics, specifically pokemon ones?? I trust your judgement and have read your writing before (It's flipping amazing) and I was just wondering if you had any favorites??? Thanks for your time :)

First, thank you for the compliment about my writing! I really appreciate it! ♥

As far as fic recommendations go, I’m afraid I don’t have too many since, in all honesty, I don’t read very much fic anymore. To be even more honest, I don’t read as much as I should period anymore, even though I know I need to get back to reading within my genre to sharpen my skills for my original works. A lot of it comes down to time, and how I mismanage what little free time I have (i.e. I spend it playing video games, writing my own fiction, watching cartoons, et cetera), but nonetheless, I don’t read nearly as much as I should anymore. I need to get back to that.

With that said, I can at least recommend some old classics that I’ve loved, although only one of them is a Pokémon fic (and it’s a PokéAni fic, at that). Hopefully you’ll find them enjoyable!

Title: PhantomAuthor: PinkFalconFandom: PokéAniGenre: Romance/DramaStatus: In ProgressSummary: “Misty's Training to be a Master in a large, ancient Stadium, but it isn't easy. First the Battle Ghost gets its greedy hands on her Totodile, and now her old friend Rudi is trying to court her. But the Ghost doesn't like that . . .”Rec Notes: This is, as odd as it may sound, a Phantom of the Opera Pokémon AU. Rather than simply transport the characters into an opera house, however, PinkFalcon took the time to adapt the Phantom of the Opera plot to the Pokémon world, while at the same time creating a bunch of worldbuilding to go along with it. So instead of an opera house, it’s a training stadium; instead of a phantom, he’s a “battle ghost” (and a little something extra, on top of that). Pokémon are still a very, very real part of this story, which I find to be incredibly appealing, because AUs where the pokémon cease to exist really aren’t interesting to me. Pokémon are important---that needs to be kept in!On top of that, the characters aren’t simply copy-pastes of the characters from the original musical / movie. Although each character does have a counterpart to some extent (Misty is Christine, Rudi is Raoul, Ash is Erik, et cetera), they’re still very much IC. The only real snag when it comes to in character characterization is Gary, given that he’s one of the primary antagonists, but even that can be accepted if you squint, tilt your head, and remember that his motivations here are rooted in love and loyalty for his grandfather, whom he feels was severely wronged. Either way, Gary’s role is minimal, so that’s easy enough for me to brush by in favor of everything else (which is really, really good).The primary ship for this fic is Ash/Misty, however much the original play and summary might lead you to believe otherwise. With that said, Rudi is treated extremely fairly. This isn’t a case where he’s the asshole boyfriend that you want to die so that Ash and Misty can be together; rather, he’s treated like a real person, his actions and motivations are believable, and there are times when I even feel bad for him despite the fact that I have ship bias for Ash/Misty. (And while Erik/Christine is a ship with a metric ton of problems in the original musical, believe me, Ash is still very much Ash here; there’s none of that gross nonsense in this fic, trust me.) Also, although this is an Ash/Misty fic, rest assured that Pikachu is still a main character and plays a very important role. One of my biggest pet peeves is when PokéAni ship fics either delete the pokémon entirely, or at the very least render them irrelevant. Trust me, Pikachu is not irrelevant here, and his bond with Ash is very real and very important.Overall, this fic is very well-written and easy to get absorbed in, the characterization is excellent, and even if you’re familiar with the original musical, enough is changed to make it original and refreshing. (Again, it’s far and away not a copy/paste of the musical.) The only real catch here is that it’s unfinished, albeit near the end, and hasn’t been updated since 2013. However, that 2013 update came after something like five years of inactivity, so! PinkFalcon is still working on it. It just takes a long time. But each update is really, really worth it, I promise.Overall, this fic is a real winner. I highly recommend checking it out.

Title: The Girl From WhirlpoolAuthor: SilverShineFandom: NarutoGenre: RomanceStatus: In ProgressSummary: “When Naruto's father met his mother, his only impression was that a village out there must have been missing its idiot.”Rec Notes: You know how Kishimoto included backstory for how Minato and Kushina met and fell in love? It’s irrelevant. It’s honestly irrelevant in the face of this fic. This fic is better than the entire Naruto manga and franchise combined, and trust me, I’m not exaggerating.While the only genre listed for this fic is “romance,” this fic is much, much more than that. At 248,299 words, this fic stands not only as a slow burn Minato/Kushina fic, but it begins with how they met as children and grew as individuals throughout all of the events that led up to the start of the Naruto manga. As such, it not only shows them coming together as acquaintances, and then friends, and then eventual lovers; it also shows their other friendships, the wars they both lived through and participated in, and everything in-between. They also each date other people throughout the course of the fic, so trust me when I say that although this is a Minato/Kushina fic, again, it’s more than that. They’re not the only people in each other’s lives, even as their affections for one another solidly grow over time.This fic is, like the one before it, amazingly written and very, very easy to get absorbed into. The prose is excellent, as is the dialogue. Once again, the only snag is that it’s still in progress, and this time hasn’t been updated since 2011. I don’t know if this one ever will be updated again, but the plus side is that it at least doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. Either way, it’s excellent, and as far as I’m concerned this is the canon backstory for Minato and Kushina. The tripe Kishimoto can take a hike, tbh.

Title: The Legend of Zelda: The ReturnAuthor: Rose ZemlyaFandom: The Legend of ZeldaGenre: AdventureStatus: Complete!Summary: “Takes place after OoT with the assumption that Link lost all of his memories of the events in the game when Zelda sent him back in time.”Rec Notes: Okay, so that summary really doesn’t tell you a whole lot. (No offense, Rose, but it’s true!)Essentially, The Return is a sequel fic (of sorts) for Ocarina of Time, taking place in the child timeline. The idea here is that Link lost his memories after Zelda sent him back (as stated), and so he grew up as a mostly normal boy. There are a few catches, however: He was still banished from Kokiri Forest thanks to the Great Deku Tree dying again (from something) and Mido blaming him for it, and as such he grew up under the watchful eyes of the owner of the archery shop, a man named Bruiser. Everyone else who was involved in the Ocarina of Time plot (the Sages, namely) are fully aware of everything that happened over the course of OoT, though this is being kept secret from Link (as is the fact that he’s actually the Hero of Time, et cetera). And unbeknownst to Link (and everyone else), Ganondorf is seeking to make a comeback now, using Dark Link as his primary agent of choice . . .I can’t say too much more about the plot without spoiling all of it. I can say, however, that this fic (and its sequel) are probably my favorite fics of all time. Rose’s writing has informed so much of what I think about the Zelda-verse over the years (I mean, I discovered The Return when I was about thirteen!), and to this day the origin story she wrote for the Gerudo (which is in the sequel, Reconciliation) is what I hold as the canonical origin story for them, particularly with regards to the OoT Gerudo. It just makes so much sense, on top of being beautifully written. The Return features a multitude of original characters, and what is notable about this is that this is the first fic I ever read where OCs have been related to (or in relationships with) canon characters, and yet it works. In fact, it didn’t even hit me that that’s what I was reading until I was at the very end, and then I was like, “Oh. Okay,” and went along with it, because Rose’s characters are actual characters who feel like they belong, versus just being vessels for the writer or reader. All of her characters (canon characters included!) are extremely fleshed out and three-dimensional. The worldbuilding she includes (such as the aforementioned origin story for the Gerudo) is phenomenal. The plot is engaging and easy to get absorbed in, once again. And RR!Link is the best Link, hands down. Of course, I might be a bit biased because I relate with him an awful lot (his snark is my snark), but all the same, I adore him. (As well as Hunter, and Neesha, and . . .)There are a few caveats here. The writing in the beginning is rough. Rose started The Return back in 2001, and as such, particularly when you read her later work and then go back, you can see how her writing is evolved. It’s still not bad, but her earlier writing is not nearly as pretty as her later writing. I implore you to just sort of . . . forgive that, for the time being, because trust me: Her writing really, really improves over time. (Even over the course of The Return, given that she spent two years on it.) There are also place sin The Return where Rose admits that she included certain things she’s not proud of (such as damseling of certain characters) as a result of her feeling like she had to stick to the Zelda formula. She breaks more and more from that over time (especially in the sequel), so it’s just one of those things where you can say, “Okay, that’s not the greatest, but she has learned and it shows.” (It’s also something she’s avoiding in The Warden’s Return, which is her original work based on this series of fics she has written---and trust me, it’s quite original, it’s not a copy/paste!)Overall, you do need to read The Return before going on to the sequel, I feel, but it’s very, very, very worth it. And I don’t want to talk smack on The Return, because it is still quite good! But if there are parts where you feel like :/ about the writing quality or whatever, just know that Rose does really grow as a writer, it vastly improves, and the rougher parts in the beginning are worth sticking through to get to the really, really good stuff later on. I promise.

Title: The Legend of Zelda: ReconciliationAuthor: Rose ZemlyaFandom: The Legend of ZeldaGenre: AdventureStatus: In ProgressSummary: “Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Return. Based loosely on A Link to the Past.”Rec Notes: re: that summary: Rose pls.More specifically, this is the sequel to the above fic (obviously), and as the summary states, it’s loosely based on A Link to the Past, despite A Link to the Past not featuring the same Hero in the actual Zelda timeline (but do we care about that when this fic is this good? No, no we do not). Reconciliation takes place three years (iirc) after The Return, and opens with Link, Hunter, and Neesha returning from a “diplomacy mission” that they had been sent on for the past three months before the fic starts. During that time, Aghanim (who named himself regent to the throne of Hyrule) has been up to some awful nonsense, which kickstarts the plot when Link and Neesha return home only to discover that they’re no longer welcome in Hyrule Castletown . . .Again, this is a case where I can’t say too much without spoiling the plot. I can say that, if you’re familiar with A Link to the Past, there will be some things that are familiar to / expected by you (such as Aghanim being a villain, the three towers that Aghanim had constructed in OoT’s Hyrule, Link needing to retrieve the Master Sword from the Lost Woods, et cetera). However, Rose also veers off course from the game’s plot and, much like The Return before it, makes it an original story, and very much her own. All of the characters from The Return make a comeback, and there are a host of new characters (such as Hylian noble Eldrick) who add to the plot as well. The writing is absolutely fantastic (especially as it goes on), the narrative is absolutely compelling, and there are numerous places where your heart will be broken (but you’ll be glad for it---you’re going to suffer, but you’re going to be happy about it). Reconciliation really probably is my favorite overall fic. I adore pretty much everything about it and recommend it to everyone. The only real catch here is that update wait times are immense; Rose began Reconciliation in 2004, it’s still in progress, and the last update was in 2014. It also ended on a cliffhanger. However, the upside is that she is still working on it, it hasn’t been forgotten, and so there is hope! (There are also a lot of drabbles on her prompt blog. ♥) This fic is really, really, really worth it. So is The Return. So are all the drabbles and midquels and prequels. So is The Warden’s Return. Really, Rose’s writing in general is worth it. Go read it.

Title: Catch Me if I FallAuthor: flusteredkeithFandom: Voltron: Legendary DefenderGenre: RomanceStatus: Complete!Summary: “Ever since the five paladins began to really work together as a team, Allura swore to herself that as long as the universe was at stake, she’d always put their feelings above her own, no matter what the circumstances were. She thought it’d be simple—easy, even. What she didn’t expect, however, was for the complications to arise from within herself.Alternatively, Allura tries not to fall for Keith.(Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work.)”Rec Notes: This fic is what really opened me up to the idea of Keith/Allura as a ship, which made me start thinking about it more and more, which made me really come to love it. It takes place following the events of S2, which means that it covers not only the burgeoning feelings between Allura and Keith, but also how Keith comes to take on the mantle of Black Paladin / Leader of Voltron. Everyone is in character (the dialogue in this fic is on point), the slow burn is there and believable, the parallels are nice . . . really, everything about this one is great. It’s also a one-shot, so it’s a lot less of a commitment to make going into it. If you’re curious about Keith/Allura (or even if you’re not but want to give this a chance anyway), I really recommend it. It’s a good read.

Title: Once Upon a Time There Was an OceanAuthor: ABadPlanWellExecutedFandom: Doctor WhoGenre: AdventureStatus: Complete!Summary: “Rose had traveled through so many different parallels, ranging from the mundane to the bizarre, but now, looking out at the familiar London skyline, she wondered if she'd finally found home at last.”Rec Notes: Everything by this author is, dare I say it, absolutely fantastic, but I’m going to go ahead and rec this one as it’s the first one by the author I ever read, and to this day I still think about it (and, once again, find it really easy to get absorbed in it at any point). This fic takes place between the conclusion of the season two finale, and the end of season four, when Rose is (as the summary indicates) jumping from parallel to parallel with the Dimension Cannon. There are multiple fics with this premise by this author (as part of her Certain Dark Things series), but this one in particular stands out because Rose does make it to her original world in this one . . . only at the wrong time. She ends up bumping into the Ninth Doctor before he ever met her, as well as Captain Jack Harkness while the latter is working for Torchwood 3 (makes sense if you remember his timeline after he gains immortality). Though this author does ship Doctor/Rose, this isn’t a ship fic so much as it is, as the genre indicates, an adventure fic with these three all thrown together at differing points on their own timeline, each of them having only pieces of information about each other. There are times when the writing jumps around a bit where it shouldn’t (where the focus character shifts inexplicably, for instance), but overall the writing is good, the premise is excellent, and I really recommend this one. Though as I said, everything this author has done is great, and that’s the truth.Also, it’s Nine, Rose, and Jack; what more could you possibly ask for?

Title: And On the Third DayAuthor: MerryArwenFandom: Harry PotterGenre: RomanceStatus: Complete!Summary: “Eventually, they find a note tacked to the gargoyle who guards the passage to the Headmaster's office. It is in Granger's handwriting and signed by her at the bottom, and tells them that, the danger being over and the initial aftermath winding down, she feels that the three of them need some time alone to recuperate and will reappear exactly three days from that day, at four o'clock.”Rec Notes: I am very, very, very picky when it comes to HP fic, so you can trust me when I say that this one is fantastic. It follows the ending of DH with a slight canon divergence---namely, that instead of just having Ron/Hermione in love with each other, the fact of the matter is that Harry is involved in that relationship as well, i.e., it’s a Harry/Ron/Hermione OT3 fic. And, again, it’s excellent. The characterization is perfect, dialogue is spot on, and the prose flows really, really well. It’s a one-shot, so there isn’t a lot of commitment here, and to this day I sometimes come back to this fic because it is just that good. Really, if you’re open to the idea of a Golden Trio OT3, go read it. I’m sure this fic will convince you.

#cascadenight95

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meingenious · 5 years

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10 of the Greatest Advertising Strategies for 2019

http://www.digitalmarketingbyrohit.com/?p=2143 10 of the Greatest Advertising Strategies for 2019 - http://www.digitalmarketingbyrohit.com/?p=2143 When content material advertising and marketing was gaining steam, there have been actually just a few strategies you could possibly leverage. On a typical day, you’d write a weblog submit, hope it ranked on Google, ship it to your electronic mail subscribers, and submit it to your social media profiles. That was just about it. That is nonetheless the primary technique most entrepreneurs use these days, however since content material advertising and marketing has exploded in recognition since its early adoption, it has developed into a way more nuanced and sophisticated kind of selling with many strategies for reaching and resonating with an viewers. So, that will help you study the best advertising and marketing strategies round right now, we have rounded up the ten greatest advertising and marketing strategies for 2019. Learn on so as to add some instruments to your content material advertising and marketing arsenal. Greatest Advertising Strategies Exhibits The Pillar-Cluster Mannequin E-mail Subscriptions Historic Optimization Podcasting Hyperlink Constructing Social Media-based Public Relations Viewers Segmentation Model Extensions A/B Testing 1. Exhibits Within the neuroscience discipline, researchers have confirmed that storytelling is the easiest way to seize individuals’s consideration, bake data into their reminiscences, and resonate emotionally with them. The human mind is programmed to crave, search out, and reply to well-crafted narrative — that’ll by no means change. So identical to your favourite Netflix present, crafting reveals can entice your viewers to look at total seasons of your sequence, subscribe to your updates, and get extra excited on your present’s latest season than they at the moment are for the third season of Stranger Issues. Earlier than you inexperienced gentle one other slew of listicles, how-to posts, and supreme guides, bear in mind how highly effective storytelling is and think about crafting a present chock-full of battle, shock, and emotion that additionally ties to a singular angle and is advised in an episodic trend. 2. The Pillar-Cluster Mannequin Since individuals closely depend on Google to offer correct and related solutions for many of their questions right now, Google wants to grasp the intent and context behind each single search. To do that, Google has advanced to acknowledge topical connections throughout customers’ queries, look again at related queries that customers have looked for previously, and floor the content material that greatest solutions them. In consequence, Google will ship content material that they deem essentially the most authoritative on the subject. To assist Google acknowledge your content material as a trusted authority on advertising and marketing, gross sales, and customer support subjects, think about implementing the pillar-cluster mannequin in your weblog. By making a single pillar web page that gives a high-level overview of a subject and hyperlinks to cluster pages that delve into the subject’s subtopics, you’ll be able to sign to Google that your pillar web page is an authority on the subject. Hyperlinking the entire cluster pages to the pillar web page additionally spreads area authority throughout the cluster, so your cluster pages get an natural enhance in case your pillar web page ranks increased, and your cluster pages may even assist your pillar web page rank increased if they begin rating for the particular key phrases they’re concentrating on. 3. E-mail Subscriptions As of now, subscribing to your favourite on-line publications by way of electronic mail is the easiest way to maintain up with their newest tales and information. And because it takes a mean of six to eight contact factors to generate a professional gross sales lead, persuading individuals to subscribe to your emails and, in flip, always eat your content material will generate extra leads and income for what you are promoting. Rising an engaged, loyal subscriber base additionally speaks volumes concerning the high quality of your content material and its emotional resonance. Despite the fact that hoards of content material saturate the web and most of the people’s inboxes right now, persons are nonetheless actively participating along with your content material, which is a transparent signal that they really worth it. 4. Historic Optimization In 2015, HubSpot made a revolutionary discovery about their natural month-to-month weblog site visitors — the overwhelming majority of it got here from posts printed previous to that month. In actual fact, 76% of their month-to-month weblog views got here from these previous posts. Right now, their groundbreaking revelation rings louder than ever — 89% of their month-to-month weblog views at the moment come from posts that have been printed not less than six months prior, and so they’ve developed a whole technique devoted to refreshing and republishing these historic items of content material. All these weblog posts are referred to as “updates”, and so they comprise 35-40% of HubSpot’s editorial calendar. And by refreshing them with new data and web optimization optimization after which successfully republishing them as new weblog posts, HubSpot can construct upon their present natural worth that these posts have amassed by way of backlinks and person engagement and double and even triple their site visitors. This course of additionally helps HubSpot optimize their weblog for effectivity, lowering the quantity of recent content material they must create whereas growing their natural site visitors and conversions. 5. Podcasting Based on a content material format examine carried out by Edison Analysis and Triton Digital, individuals age 12 and older are listening to on-line audio content material at unprecedented ranges. On common, individuals spend 17 hours per week tuning into their favourite podcasts, on-line radio reveals, and audiobooks. There are additionally 14 million extra weekly podcast listeners this yr in comparison with final yr, which is greater than Guinea’s total inhabitants. The demand for audio content material has exploded, however that doesn’t imply individuals will hearken to your branded podcast simply because it’s a podcast. In actuality, they’ll solely hearken to it if it could maintain their consideration and, finally, entertain them. In any other case, producing yet one more interview-an-expert podcast like everybody else will solely add to the noise flooding the web. 6. Hyperlink Constructing Incomes high-quality inbound hyperlinks from web sites and pages with excessive authority scores is essential for reinforcing your area authority. However, sadly, “Should you write it, they may hyperlink to it,” is just not a viable web optimization tactic. An efficient methodology for incomes high-quality hyperlinks is by asking different web sites which have the identical or increased area or web page authority rating than you to hyperlink to your prime content material. You must also ensure your content material is related to the referring web site’s content material. One other manner you’ll be able to earn high quality backlinks is by utilizing Backlinko’s skyscraper methodology. The skyscraper methodology is an web optimization technique the place you discover content material that ranks effectively for key phrases you need to rank for after which create content material that’s higher than the highest rating posts. Then, you utilize web optimization instruments to seek out all of the websites which have linked to your competitor’s content material and ask essentially the most related websites to switch your competitor’s hyperlink with a hyperlink to your improved content material. 7. Social Media-based Public Relations Right now, over 30% of time spent on-line is devoted to social media. Evidently, individuals spend extra time on social media than ever earlier than. And public relations professionals are pivoting their technique from solely specializing in inserting their tales in information shops’ publications to concentrating on driving site visitors to their social media profiles too. With a purpose to efficiently pitch your tales to journalists and information shops these days, that you must account for the content material that performs effectively on their social media profiles and their publication. So earlier than you pitch your story, ensure it’s related and fascinating to the information outlet’s social viewers. 8. Viewers Segmentation In a world overflowing with digital noise, creating irrelevant or unwarranted content material gained’t catch anybody’s consideration. To create personalised advertising and marketing campaigns for every slice of your goal market, think about leveraging viewers segmentation, which separates your goal market into particular, accessible teams of individuals based mostly on private attributes like their demographics, psychographics, and behavioral data. 9. Model Extensions Huge firms usually prolong their model to develop new merchandise in industries that they don’t have any market share in. These initiatives are referred to as model extensions, and so they enable firms to leverage their model consciousness and fairness to create extra income streams. Traditionally, essentially the most profitable model extensions are those that carefully tie to the corporate’s flagship product or core model, like Gerber’s child garments and Dole’s frozen fruit bars. So by coming into tangential markets that may protect their model’s distinctive associations and perceived high quality, firms can develop new merchandise that customers intuitively perceive the advantages of, although they’ve by no means seen them on a shelf. On the flip facet, an organization may also exploit their model, and, in flip, injury it. In the event that they develop a product in a market that isn’t carefully tied to their flagship product or core model, like Zippo’s fragrance for girls, firms can connect undesirable associations to their model, weaken its present associations, and harm its established merchandise’ perceived high quality. 10. A/B Testing Each firm has a unique set of consumers, so there’s no one-size-fits-all formulation for designing essentially the most optimum web site, crafting essentially the most compelling copy, or constructing the best product. To determine which web site design, line of copy, or product characteristic will produce the very best outcomes on your firm, you should uncover what your distinctive set of consumers choose. With A/B testing, you’ll be able to run an experiment between two variables, like a purple and blue CTA, to establish which one produces higher outcomes. A/B testing shouldn’t be confused with multivariate testing, although, which lets you concurrently take a look at many variables. JOIN DIPLOMA IN DIGITAL MARKETING https://www.ingeniousacademy.in/digital-marketing-classes-aurangabad-digital-marketing-course/

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cryptswahili · 5 years

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Ethereum is about to get a big upgrade. Here’s what you need to know.

Ethereum, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and the most popular platform for decentralized applications (dApps), is getting an upgrade on (roughly) Jan. 16.

The upgrade is called Constantinople and it makes the Ethereum network a bit more efficient, paving the way for bigger changes further ahead. It also brings some important changes for miners on the network.

Here’s an overview of what, exactly, is happening, and the steps owners of ether should undertake ahead of the fork.

SEE ALSO: 2018 was crypto’s year of reckoning, but there’s hope ahead

The answer to the second question is really easy: There’s no need to do anything. The upcoming upgrade, while technically a fork, will very likely be non-contentious, meaning there’s no disagreement on whether it should happen. This means Ethereum won’t split into two separate coins next Wednesday. If everything goes well — and chances are good that it will — your ether holdings will be exactly the same before and after the fork, regardless of whether your ether is located on a private wallet or an exchange.

And no, ether holders will not be getting a new coin; if you see info about it anywhere, it’s either a scam or a mostly-irrelevant project that’s just trying to get some attention out of the confusion that surrounds every cryptocurrency fork (which is why I’m primarily calling Constantinople an upgrade and not a fork).

IMO the Ethereum community should consider adopting @zcashco’s terminology of calling things like Constantinople “network upgrades” and reserve “fork” for splits that leave 2+ viable chains. Too many people asking me lately where they can dump their non-Constantinople coins…

— Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) January 10, 2019

Ethereum node operators and miners will have to update their software ahead of the upgrade; the links can be found here.

Note that the January 16th date for the upgrade is approximate. The upgrade should happen when block 7,080,000 on the Ethereum blockchain is mined, which is currently approximately Wednesday, Jan, 16, 8pm UTC, but the exact time will shift a little as new blocks aren’t always found in the same amount of time.

Paving the way for a faster future

With that out of the way, there are still a few things you should know about this upgrade.

Constantinople consists of five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), which are documents explaining a new feature or change in Ethereum’s code. Explaining them in detail might be a bit too technical for most users, but here’s an overview of the most important changes they bring.

Four of the EIPs — EIP 145, 1014, 1052 and 1283 — describe various technical improvements, which make Ethereum a bit more efficient, cheaper to use and pave the way for future upgrades. In short, they’re nice, they’re needed, but they’re not something the vast majority of users will notice in day-to-day usage.

EIP 1014 is worth singling out as it makes it possible to interact with Ethereum addresses that haven’t yet been created. This is important as it will be used for so-called state channels, which will (hopefully) be an important scaling solution for Ethereum, allowing certain transactions to happen on a separate blockchain. Remember how Cryptokittes ground down Ethereum to a halt? Well, thanks to state channels, games like Cryptokitties will be able to live on Ethereum without slowing it down.

From PoW to PoS

The fifth EIP, 1234, brings two major (but closely related) changes. One reduces the reward for mining Ethereum, and the other delays the so-called “difficulty bomb,” a mechanism that forces Ethereum to upgrade to a completely different mode of operation called proof-of-stake (PoS).

Ethereum, like Bitcoin, is a blockchain-based platform with a proof-of-work consensus mechanism. That means that blocks with all the transactions on the networks are confirmed by miners, which employ computing power to solve a math puzzle with ever-increasing complexity. This makes it quite hard (though not impossible, as seen from the recent attack on Ethereum Classic) to alter Ethereum’s blockchain, but it’s also wasting a tremendous amount of energy.

Right now, Ethereum mining is being done with machines similar to this one, which are pretty big energy wasters. New tech called proof-of-stake will remove mining machines from the equation.

Story continues

Image: Flickr/Cryptocurrency360.com

Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum’s plan from the get go was to transition to a different consensus mechanism called proof-of-stake. With PoS, there’s not mining in the traditional sense; instead, owners of ether coins can “stake” them in order to participate in a sort of a lottery, in which winners “create” the next block. And this switch isn’t just some future fable; it will happen in an upgrade called Casper that’s actively being worked on and is slated to kick in sometime in 2019 (Casper, you guessed it, will be a much more significant upgrade than Constantinople).

Switching from PoW to PoS isn’t simple. This is partly due to the big mining ecosystem that has grown around popular cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, and partly because all the kinks of how PoS should work haven’t exactly been ironed yet.

But there’s an additional problem. Ethereum has something called “difficulty bomb” built into its ruleset. It’s a timer that progressively makes miners’ work harder. This reduces the influx of new ether, and also makes mining ETH less lucrative. It’s a bit of a stick that chases away the “old” miners and ushers in the new mentality of staking coins to “mine” new blocks.

This is where EIP 1234 comes into play. Since Casper isn’t ready yet, this change will delay the difficulty bomb by approximately 12 months. But, since everyone knew about the difficulty bomb timer for a while, its effects have been calculated into miner profits. So EIP 1234 makes another change: It reduces the block mining rewards from 3 ETH per block to 2 ETH per block.

So, after Jan 16, it will take roughly the same time for an Ethereum miner to mine a block, but their reward for doing so will be reduced from 3 ETH to 2 ETH. It’s not very complicated, but it will have long-lasting consequences on Ethereum.

What about the price?

The price of ether has been extremely volatile lately.

Image: coinmarketcap.com

Again, EIP 1234 does not change much for most Ethereum users, but it is quite a big change for people who mine ether. Some may switch to mining other cryptocurrencies, but because of the way Ethereum was designed, mining will still stay profitable for most.

Of course, one question that many ether owners will be asking themselves is: What happens to the price of ether after this change?

This is hard to answer. Ethereum has been extremely volatile in the past two years, with the price dropping from a high of nearly $1,400 in January 2018 to a low of $85 in December — and all that happened without a significant network upgrade. In other words, if price is jumping up and down like crazy (the price went down more than 20% in the last couple of days, for example) for little or no reason, trying to price in the effects of Constantinople is folly.

Still, there are reasons for cautious optimism. Reducing the influx of ether should, theoretically, drive the prices up, though the effect will likely be mild. Furthermore, if the upgrade goes as planned, it reduces uncertainty, which is typically good for the price.

Again, the TLDR on this one is simple: If you own ETH, there’s no need to do anything ahead, during or after the Constantinople upgrade. Hopefully, the upgrade will go as planned and pave the way for Casper later this year.

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.

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