#and he doesnt get that little bit of New Concept perspective change

[creativebrainrot]

Since RP is becoming less and less scary ive been considering Maelgwyn AUs that dont include major story characters and one that also doesnt include being an Elonian Sylvari.

I'll start with the second one because, I've thought about it less, since the game encourages non-pale tree sylvari through Malyck's existence.

I'll keep the abnormally large part of his design because it contributes to his own expierence with himself. (?) His stature, coloration, and generally creature-like traits contribute to his selfhate and how much he despises being seen as a monster. Which is his primary motivation for why he Does That One Thing that starts his journey. Being seen as a monster is why he becomes a bounty hunter. So if he's not in elona, what if bandit syndicate leader? Except, these ones are grey morals and tend to help out those in need by picking targets who have excess and will for sure be fine after the attack. People who can EASILY replace lost shipments. Thats an easy enough replacement for the desert beast thing.

undercooked tho because im pretty sure no one would be tooo mad about a Single Elonian sylvari. My main answer for Maelgwyn's desert tree not being involved is usually, the tree never recovers. He's the only one that's awakened, and rather than healing slowly and stabilizing, the tree dies a few weeks after he wakes.

The first AU is much more interesting to me because Maelgwyn starts pretty grey morals BUT. If he never meets Trahearne,,,,,,,, he gets worse. Because Trahearne is also a grey morals guy but after being pact marshal for so long his morals have shifted to be a lighter shade, which rubs off on Maelgwyn. But if he never meets and stays with Trahearne then his friends would likely be fellow bounty hunters and contacts in the trade syndicates that get along with The Desert Beast and i think thatd make him much more willing to do shit like say. Raid a syndicate hideout with his buddies for nicer drinks and such. The syndicate doesnt LIKE him ANYWAY, and they ARE too close to his turf SO is it rEEEAAALLY THAAT BAAAD. cmon man. its JUST for some better alcohol and theyre only gonna do it once. or twice. when they feel like it. its not like the bandits need the stuff anyway????????

and shit like that. If he never meets Trahearne he also doesnt heal. Not as much anyway. Because falling for your fucking client/charge was a FLUKE and NOT THE PLAN. Maelgwyn was still very much not ready to actually love someone again but thats what he THOUGHT he was. He stumbled across the right person, and fell in love with someone safe and understanding enough, who loved him BACK enough, to see through his difficult tendencies. So his self hate, self doubt, fear, and just. ALL of his mental health issues around falling in love and being vulnerable with other people sticks around. Because he never got a chance to organically unlearn any of it. Because he IS NOT gonna be the one who goes looking for love.

Absolutely not, you tell this man you love him four months into a casual romantic relationship, he is having a secret panic attack and ghosting.

If he falls in love with YOU and realizes it. Bye. Ghosting.

He's so not okay xd

He's okay with friends, for the most part, but chances are, you're still not getting through to his honest self. Everyone gets The Desert Beast. If you get to see Maelgwyn you are a LUCKY bastard, this man masks and hides his real self SO MUCH.

#oc: maelgwyn (he/him) #ocposting #gw2 #also if he never meets the pact at all #he doesnt get a chance to see people who have personalities like him #fighting to change the world #having close friends and loved ones IN the pact with them #and he doesnt get that little bit of New Concept perspective change #so he doesnt get challeneged on his #'I am The Only One who will be left behind and unloved and I Specifically Deserve It' #self hate idea #hes a dumbass and i love him and im going to put him in his very own decorated blorbo pringles can #and shake him for 28438485783829273 hours #at speeds no blorbo should ever be subjected to #and also chew on him and bite him

[officialspec]

can you pleeeeease post your dm sexuality/gender hcs on here.... 🥺 i don't have a twitter but i wanna know. it's like a pandora's box to me now i'm like scratching at the door. let me in

heres the link 2 the thread (mild spoilers btw) ill post a transcript under the cut for ppl who dont have twitter

first off i think laios relationship to sex is super removed for like 50 reasons without even getting into his actual sexuality

he grew up in a place with very repressed ideas about sex and has a lot of fear about asserting his presence in situations

his special interest takes precedent over any social interactions he has and the level of closeness he feels towards people

he has a hard time figuring out his feelings towards other people both bc hes autistic and bc he has freaky deviantart fetishes that make sex in his mind a very abstract concept <- this one is me projecting mostly

that aside, i feel like gender-wise hes attracted to ppl so infrequently it may as well be entirely case-by-case

the idea of him being gay appeals to me from the 'raised with traditional values he Does Not fit into/hasnt begun to question it yet' perspective, i lauve characters who put a lot of stock into performing a role thats expected of them and fail miserably for unknown (gay) reasons

from his perspective tho i dont think he would ever really label himself anything. hes going to pride parades in the shirt+shorts Ally Fit to clap for his friends

hes also 'cis by indifference' imo... i love tmasc laios hcs it just doesnt mesh w his personal history to me. i do think hes got some kind of therian gender thing going on (not trans or nb but a secret third thing) but i cant see him changing anything abt his appearance/pronouns to accommodate that post-canon. hes just doin his thang

falin is in a similar boat for gender. i LOOVE tfem falin but the village repression thing has been bugging at me so i dont think i subscribe to it anymore (canon purist sorry) BUT if u hold that hc i am clapping and cheering regardless

instead i was propagandised to a while back and i LOVEEE the idea that being fused w a male dragon and the residual traits she has after being revived have given her a type of gender euphoria she didnt realise she was missing. a little boygirl swagger if u will

sexuality-wise i also dont think she would care to label herself, shes a lesbian by virtue of only being interested in One woman and zero other people. without marcille i do think shes still exclusively attracted to women, and i like to imagine she might experiment around a bit during her travels post-canon (pre-relationship). hearing abt it might put marcille on the news though

marcille is very simple That is a transfem lesbian. she cant get pregnant, shes obsessed w being femme and all that combined w her half-tallman struggles to be seen as 'properly feminine' by elf standards reads very transfeminine to Me. also her bookboy crush REEKS of comphet its not subtle

i think a more comfortable marcy might have the space to experiment w being elf butch like her manga boys but thats mainly self indulgence for me. utena could have saved her

senshi is gay his whole thing is abt not being able to perform dwarven masculinity to a proper standard (soft hearted, not as strong or rugged as his peers) which is like gaycoding 101. also hes a bear. homosexuality be damned by boy can work a grill

adding onto this i rly think senshi got some type of euphoria from being an elf in the changeling chapters. he was feeling himself so much i think he was using it as an outlet to have fun being a little fem and fruity without needing to justify it. do u understand

i dont have any particular opinions abt him gender-wise beyond that. his bulge is an essential part of his character design but i also saw a transmasc senshi a couple days ago that made me nod my head thoughtfully so i could go either way

chilchuck is cis and bisexual this is just canon. not even just his old man crush on senshi altho i do think thats very funny but they put his ass on a cover themed like hes in a dating sim with all the men and women in the cast and then slapped it in front of a chapter called "bicorn". i simply cant pass up that kind of overt signaling. its so fucking funny what else is there to say truly

izu to ME is a transmasc aroace lesbian (this one has the least basis in canon i just know it to be true) shes a little genderfluid with it nd uses he/she i think. i like to imagine she consistently uses masculine personal pronouns to refer to herself either way tho (boku, ore)

i think izutsumis gender/sexuality is entirely secondary in priorities to her body dysphoria. she has a lot of learning and acceptance 2 do before that kind of self discovery is on the docket and in my mind eschewing gender on some level is part of that. get sillay

shuro is cishet but at least he feels bad about it. next

kabru is a transmasc bisexual this is also practically text. his whole thing of being treated like a doll by milsiril to put in pretty dresses, plus i think it would be pretty easy for him to stealth in the west since tallmen are seen as inherently more masculine than elves

(i also think changing genders is just more common for elves. theyre androgynous enough that it wouldnt be hard and like who in their right miiiiind would be the same gender for 500 years. dwarves too)

i think he started presenting as male socially in the west but didnt need to consider medical transition until he moved to a more mixed culture where other races might see him as a woman

i dont have to explain the bisexual part. have u seen him

namari is a butch bisexual this is just canon straight up. shes not transmasc but i think the default settings for dwarven women is like 4 years of T regardless. shes a hit at all the local cruising spots despite her renfaire nerdisms i know this

and just bc im thinking abt em kiki and kaka are identical and kiki is tfem :} theyre both attracted to women but kaka is a sub so i forgive him

THATS ALL 4 NOW theres a lot of characters so i cant have thoughts abt all of them at once but i hope this was good. im right about everything forever as per usual

#ask #headcanons #passes out. my Mind #dunmesh

[significantlylesschill]

Please infodump about Raymond he's the most oc ever 👀

OH, WELL ! if you insist!!

(for anyone who is unclear!! raymond hashimoto is my [bmc fanon] Creator Of Squips and current head of the organization who manages their creation and distribution)

god we were just talkin abt this yesterday, but my guy raymond got his start as a character bc we wanted an Antagonist and i was the first one to mention i had a character concept on a backburner already; this wassss, three, four years ago-ish and turns out i really liked him so ive been lovingly developing his character since lmao

im preemptively adding a readmore bc i already know im gonna ramble FHKSDJF so buckle up raymond enjoyers!!

THEMATICALLY SPEAKING hes a little bit The Villain Has Some Points But Is Going About It The Wrong Way type beat . i mean. he went the 'use ai to fix everyone' route, yall know how it is; [see Be More Chill for examples]; raymond has always had trouble connecting to other people, fully understanding social cues--stuff like that doesnt come naturally to him, yknow? and the people around him growing up didnt respond well to this, and he understandably grew frustrated, and then that anger just.............ddddidnt go anywhere for like twenty years, and oops! my guy started taking some drastic measures

to provide a loose timeline, SQUIPs first came into fruition as the passion project slash college independent study project of one young adult ray--a chatbot type thing you could talk to, and in turn it would learn more about human social behavior, and help its user to become more comfortable navigating such!

every following iteration of this little bot was both more impressive and less noble in concept. for a while raymond fixated on making them ~*marketable*~ [party blower noises] but that didnt go over well in the long run, and long story short, this project hed poured his heart and soul into continued in more underground and MUCH less legal ways, until we reach in-universe present day, where something like the Mess That Happens In Be More Chill Musical Canon is not only probable, but expected

the world is full of people who dont listen, after all. its a squips job to figure out how to make them listen

raymond has an absurd amount of power, and he has little problem with exerting it for the purpose of keeping himself entertained. raymond likes sour candy and energy drinks and all manner of sugary sodas, and doesnt have anything resembling a sleep schedule. raymond has seven squip units of his own, three of which are no longer functional, and he tests all new major iterations on himself. raymond thinks he has it all figured out. raymond has an enormous personal stake in the success of his squip project. raymond never tells an outright lie because the ramifications of such are annoying and confusing and take way too much mental energy to bother.

raymond has a DEEP appreciation for the natural world; astronomy especially, he's been fascinated with it since he was young. there are things mankind can only barely touch, catch merely a glimpse of, things that will never fully be understood--not because mankind does not try, no, far from it--but because their perspective will simply never be large enough. also he names all his squip units after planets lol

his employees are treated with care and respect; given they play by his rules, of course. the professional world is where raymond is at his most capable; it's a world of rules and wages and agreements, and these are things that can be studied and mastered

raymond is a villain. he came to the conclusion once that mankind is flawed, and he felt as though hes the only one willing to act in a drastic enough manner to change things. he took drastic measures, spent years clawing into a position of power, and decided once he got there that he rather likes having power, actually. why shouldnt he indulge himself a little bit? why not get comfortable while hes here, hm? and at the top is where he plans on staying for as long as he possibly can.

i do also associate him with Every Single Track In The Album Spirit Phone By Lemon Demon . thank you for your time <3

#hr files #somebody let me know if this is incoherent i cant tell FKJDS #im gonna put this in some main tags for fun lmao #be more chill #bmc au #anyways TY FOR ASKING ANON i like raymond a lot :] #it is VERY LONG so be warned #in-character he is referred to as raymond by preference but I Do call him just ray quite often ooc lmao

[littlx-songbxrd]

Character analisys: Christopher Lightwood

(Tlh rant part 2)

This is the result of a failed harry potter au and a hell of a lot of overthinking

So Christopher, althought being one of the mains in the last hour and a well beloved character, doesnt get talked about enough. Neither in the books nor the fandom. His character is more often than not reduced to hes affanity for inventions, and blowing things up. As funny and lightehearted as it is, I just wish we could see him potrayed a little more well rounded. His role as a secondary character althought splendid, ( just with the few interactions we got with him I love him) was mostly, superficial through Chain of Gold. I feel as if we've never had a chance to ,in published material, get down and real with Christophers character.

A fact I'm sure we'll be resolved in later books, but it still pains me a bit when I think about it. I keep refering to his short story back in July last year and he has such a beautiful perspective of the world, such a different narrative from the ones were used to in this world of tsc . Its facinating, and it leaves much scope for the imagination so I overanalized, a bit

Christophers greatest desire in this world is to know. He wants to understand, he wants to make sense of the world that is around him. If he doesnt understand, he'll find an imperical way to make himself understand. Thats hes greatest desire, thats hes greatest need. He wants to understand the world so he can fix it. Because there is so much wrong, so much he feels could be fixed if only people were willing to learn. In his eyes if he understands the world, he can fix the world. Because no one else is willing to even consider outside they're normal methods, it falls on him. It falls on him to make new methods, be the change he wants to see

If Christophers greatest desire is to know, then his greatest fear is the uknown. The things he cant explain, the things that he'll never understand. He fears being useless, being unknowable. He relies on fact, in a way, because facts give him the hope he needs to keep on investigating. He has a hard time grasping what he doesnt understand, to the point he rejects the idea nothing can be done and tries to find imperical solutions to problems that dont have explanations (example when Jesse dies he thinks "This is all wrong. If we had met him, we might have been able to help him. To save him)

He hates not being able to know, thats why science is his armor. When the quarantine started in Chog, the first thing he did was try to make a cure. It was a fact a cure could me made, so he was set ln finding it. Because the demons in the daylight, the sickness, THAT didnt make sense. Finding a cure did, hes way to cope with problems is to focus on what he can do, the thing that makes sense in the middle of chaos. Because thats what he does, because thats what he can do. He wants so hard to understand every aspect in his life that I feel the idea that there are things he will never understand, that he can never make sense of, never fix, would terrify him

Now that we've covered all of this I have a theory, its a pretty wild one but if it were to be true it would be such an interesting concept

Christopher Lightwood, is afraid of death

Here me out! We've already established that if hes greatest desire is to know, then hes greatest fear is the uknown, that of which he cannot understand. What is the biggest what if on this earth than death?

Its exactly everything Christopher hates, its unknown, unexplored and relies solely on interpratation. Hes not afraid to die, as in the act of his life ending. Hes afraid of the concept of what comes after, afraid of all the what ifs that come with death. It would make sense considering the way he reacted to Jesses death (see above) and it would make for such an interesting concept considering that

A. He comes from a race of people who willingly accept death as just another part of life, that regard death as a privlege and tends to die young ("We are dust and shadows" )

B. Considering Christopher was almost at death doors in Chog

We've heard the narrative of so many heroes, unafraid of death. That sometimes seeked it out against the fight of they're group. But we've never heard the tale of one who fears it. With just as much valor and courage, but fearful of the unexplored territory that is death

It would be such a cool concept if this were explored through Christopher, as I believe he is the perfect character to have this fear. CC already said he would behave unexpectedly in the shadow market, maybe this can be signs of how hes dealing with facing one of hes fears the last book?

So many options to explore through kits perspective, and his desire to understand. I just hope we get to see it

#the last hours rant #tlh #chain of iron #the last hours tlh #chain of gold #chain of thorns #merry thieves #christopher lightwood #tsc characters #tsccreatenet #tsc #the shadowhuter chronicles #cassandra clare #character analysis #ya fiction

[luque-moreau]

y'know i think its about time ive refurbished my psychonauts headcanons/theories

what??? me??? rewriting my psychonauts headcanons in a more comprehensible and informed way???

ye

alright, i think everyone knows what im talking about, by headcanons i mean headcanon as in singular, and as singular, i mean my "raz is somewhere on the spectrum of adhd".

so lets just get into it:

what is adhd actually?

adhd by definition stands for attention deficit hyperactive/hyperfocus disorder (yes, let me get into the details in just a sec). it is a nerodevelopmental disorder that is almost completely reliant on genetic factors, however conditions during pregnancy can sometimes contribute to certain aspects of how adhd manifests itself.

long story short, people with adhd have a smaller frontal lobe, and therefore less dopamine in general (even though yes, it is more complicated than that).

theres also a little bit of "chicken or the egg first" goin on here, certain behaviors or personality tendencies can also affect how adhd is presented in one individual to the next, however its still not clear if that is because it is an accommodating for a certain thought process or if someones experiences and personality shape their symptoms of adhd entirely. its a very blurry line, and the answer is different for everybody.

hyperactive type

hyperactive type is probably the closest to most stereotypical depictions of adhd, think the 5 year old whos parents brush off their child’s hyperactivity as something that will “go with age”. however, this isn’t only present in children, adults with adhd have to deal with a constant need for stimuli to make up for the lack of dopamine their current activity is providing them. this results in someone fidgeting frequently in repetitive or predictable motions, unable to hold attention to a specific task for long periods of time, or many other of the symptoms associated with adhd.(i sadly cannot provide more information in this area, i am not knowledgeable enough to...)

hyperfocus type

hyperfocus type is a tricky one, it can look like the complete opposite of adhd in theory. hyperfocus can look similar to special interests or hyperfixation, a great deal of time and knowledge dedicated to a very particular thing (although it is important to note that even though hyperfixations and special interests are incredibly similar, special interests is a term more typically used within autistic-circles, and isnt really the best word to use if you happen to be neurotypical). Think of maybe that kid who knows all the cool animal facts and won’t shut up about them. Its because certain trains of thought or activities might release more dopamine then others, so to get more of that dopamine, someone of hyperfocus type will be mentally unable to stop thinking or doing a very specific task or topic. this results in someone seemingly always spacing out, unable to change subjects or changing subjects too fast or with little to no correlation, or being completely unable to have enough motivation to do simple things.

personally i tend to fall under the category of hyperfocus myself rather than hyperactive, however the two are not mutually exclusive, its more common to find people with both types rather than just one. even myself, i might exhibit more tendencies to place me under the label of hyperfocus, but that doesn’t mean i don’t have any symptoms of the hyperactive type. its my personality that affects my mannerisms, which then makes certain aspects of my symptoms more or less apparent. Thats because im an INTP-T, i just tend to be more to myself and constantly in a state of thinking abstractly. I have trouble communicating and even sometimes recognizing my needs, and get to a point where im unable to do the simplest of things without feeling emotionally drained. Thats just my experience though, everybodys different. 

so what the fuck does this have to do with raz then?

well lets think about it, rather than have it just be me projecting myself onto a comfort character:

raz finds issue with connecting to kids his age

lets be honest. none of the campers really like raz that much. or at least some do the bare minimum to be try and be polite. it doesn’t seem like any of the other campers besides dogen, whos also socially outcasted, are really fond of raz. lili might like him, but that can definitely be interpreted as curiosity in someone new and different from the norm. It might not be that the kids despise him, but nobodys opinionated enough to care whether he is around or not.

social isolation is one of the most damning things i had to experience from an early age and still feel even today. there is a sense of feeling that you are different among your peers, whether that is a good thing or bad thing. it feels difficult to interact with other people you are not familiar with, and can really stunt you emotionally and socially. from a really early age, theres somethin in you that knows something is very different between the experiences of your peers compared to your own, and it can feel incredibly isolating.

raz and his borderline stupidity

time to get real again. raz is a fucking idiot. at least in the sense that sometimes his decisions seem incredibly spontaneous and not really thought through. he runs from home to attend a summer camp, not really thinking about the logistics of how he will get there, how the staff will react, how long its gonna take for his parent to find him, and so on. it doesn’t seem like he over or underestimates his abilities, he just goes for it without considering. that doesnt seem like the smartest thing to do, even though we know hes incredibly intelligent when it comes to larger, abstract situations. its the little details that he misses, small minuet things that seem unimportant that he overlooks, which can sometimes make things harder for him in the end.

i think its obvious that impulsivity is one symptom of adhd. however i cannot stress how difficult it is to think at supersonic speed and still feel incredibly stupid. i mean, thinking faster doesn’t inherently mean you will have better ideas, you can always be stupider faster, but being able to realize stupid mistakes or inconsistencies in your own thought process is annoying as hell. it feels like every time you try to recognize the issue, fix it, and move forward, you only end up not paying attention to another issue that gets bigger and more annoying than the first. Its always two steps forward, one step back, constantly making the same mistakes even though you try everything in your power to avoid them or grow as a person. The simplest of facts, ideas, or just things to remember end up being forgotten, and once youre reminded of them you remember them and feel like an idiot. however, arbitrary things and complex issues are much easier to digest and remember for me, things like history and the whole blame game charade of it all, biology and how every minuet thing has a greater impact on others and intertwines with every single factor of its environment, philosophy and theorizing why we think the way we do and what can be changed. but oh shit, im a dumbass i forgot to do my laundry. shit. god fuckin dammit.

empathy over sympathy

one of the basic themes of psychonauts is empathy. simple as that. raz goes around into other peoples brains, and tries to help them as much as he can, even if his efforts are not always successful in the way he intended. he never demonizes anyone to the point of unredeemability, and can empathize and understand other peoples perspectives. hes open to new ideas and

although some studies out there theorize that empathy is impaired due to adhd, from my perspective i feel like that is simply not true. if anything, i would say the sensitivity that comes with adhd (hypersensitivity) only enhances that empathy. i could definitely see social disconnection being one of the reasons it might appear that someone with adhd is less empathetic, however i would doubt that adhd would impair a persons empathy. adhd tends to also entail heightened emotions, this doesn’t necessarily mean a more outwardly emotional person, however it definitely shifts a persons perspective of their own emotions as well as others. the concept of hypersensitivity also completely contradicts the idea of people with adhd be less empathetic.

miscommunication and disconnect

sigh, the dad thing. yup. raz has that very iffy relationship with his dad at the beginning of the game which is eventually resolved. very abruptly, might i add. but thats not what this is about, thats a topic for another day. miscommunication seemed to be the root of the issue, however we only get razs side of the story. not to mention the severity of his claims and willingness to seemingly drop everything afterwards. kinda sus, ngl.

alright this ones a doosey. this, i feel, cements my theory pretty well. like i mentioned before, social disconnect and hypersensitivity are side effects of the symptoms of adhd.  this means people with adhd are highly more likely to either misinterpret someones words or actions if those in question are not completely transparent, its because they tend to overthink and interpenetrate responses with too much thinkin n such. the social disconnect makes a whole lot of it worse, it can just pile on top of already established feelings of inadequacy and isolation. and oversharing as a poor coping mechanism isnt an exclusively adhd related thing, it tends to be shared within similar neruodevelopmental disorders such as autism or even ptsd. i find it incredibly easy to disconnect myself from my own emotions at times and think critically at what i feel and how it affects me. which is a bad thing. if i dont acknowledge my emotions like they are my own for too long, everything falls apart. its not fun. but, that disconnect can make talking about certain more traumatic experiences or instances that had deep personal effects on my life and development as a person much easier to just share. and not always in an appropriate manner, comedic opportunity can be   v  e  r  y   enticing. this also explains why raz might have been able to drop everything about his dad after he apologized. he didn’t really, he probably still suffers just as much afterwards as he did before. but he probably wont realize that for awhile, since logically, the issue has been resolved. long story short, he has not had the time to cope, and to put that off he detaches himself from those feelings. w a c k

of course i have other reasons why i feel like raz could potentially have adhd, or at least be accurately represented in headcanon with adhd, some minor mentions being:

he uses his camp map as a journal to track his in-game progress, list of goals, and notes/snip-its of information. writing down information on some form of notepad or book is a common tool used by kids and even adults with adhd to help them keep track of minuet, individual tasks. its just using a planner, but with a bit more information. 

just from my personal perspective, the lengths raz goes to pursue his dream of being a psychonaut feel more like a special interest/hyper fixation sort of thing. he can jump between having genuine conversations with his fellow campers and just exploring the campground, to investing himself entirely in obtaining his goal, even when it seems almost impossible. thats some serious dedication to one very specific thing, y’know?

this one isnt as solid as the other but: m̶̖̰̯̫̍͝o̵̦͖̟͈̹̤̥̝͐̿̄̀̀̎̓ņ̶̛̭̠̐̊̆̍͝ķ̸̝͈̺̙̰̊e̶͉͚̼̅̔͗̂͐̍̕͝͝y̶̦̖̼͖̪͎̝̖̠̐̑͋̾̔̑́͐͘ ̵̢̲̘͎͉̔̀͒̄͌͊̀͌̀m̴̲̫̮̪̖̍̐͆̕͜͝ͅả̶͙͚͗n̶̗̳̩̙̘̼̦̦͇͝ ̷̡̨̡͔̗͕̘͍̥̑͒̎̐̃g̴͔̔̈̅̐̏́̌̔̈́́o̶̥̱̽̆̂͌̀͗ ̶̝̩͙͕͛́s̴̛͓̥̲̜͓͚̣̠̆̓̌͌p̶̜̹̯̦̫̯̣̎͐̽̉̾ḙ̴͇̬͑̈́̐̈́͘͠ͅȅ̶̡̗̞̩͔̫̪͈͑̓͗d̵̠͇͎̜͔͇͒̈́́̀̅̈́̒͘y̸̡̦̠̻̖̥̿ͅ. yeah, its the most generalizing reason but look, hes moving nonstop the entire game, climbing and running around the entire goddamn place wrecking havoc. a bit of imp can be found in most people with adhd if you look hard enough.

so thanks for reading this far i guess? im oversharing even right now with this, like an i d i o t but yknow what i dont want to read the great gatsby rn, so ive got nothin better to do. who knows, maybe the second game will give us more info to either support/discredit this theory? gotta wait for pn2 i guess

:^)

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #theory #headcanon #razputin aquato #this is real biased #isnt it

[heat0death0of0the0universe]

i gotta talk about Narrative Telephone

I. Fucking. Love. It.

when my extreme dislike of second-hand embarrassment takes a loud backseat i can fin so much that i love about it. 

but what i love most isn't the humor. or even the continued critical role content. no, i love the allegory and the metaphor of the whole concept. 

all my life i loved the concept of watching time move forward. seeing evolution, hearing language change, watching cultures rise and fall. but what i dont like is time and the fact that im along for the ride. id rather watch evolution, not be step 48801 of a process with no end. and sadly most media and general public doesn't like watching time change. no one wants too see how the English language evolves with a rise in Spanish speaking folks and pop culture creating new idioms and words. everyone would much rather watch something with the same animals with the same people walking the same cities speaking the same language, albeit maybe with a few more neon lights and holograms to make you feel like its in some vague ~future~. but narrative telephone gives me the change i like to see. i can finally feel like im watching a story going through the times and changes of a culture.

im gonna need to explain a little more. what better way than to show off all the current episodes.

episode one is simple, pumat and the big bad wolf. the sorry starts with pumat on a stroll through the woods. he finds a talking wolf and they fight. the story ends with the pumat eating a nice mushroom and wolf stew. but the changes to the story are what get to me. i love ashley, trust me i really do. but in this context, she’s basically the dark ages. everything crumbles and the story follows in the crash. this point is when the more brothers grimm tales and nonsense folklore are added in. people dont like the night, so the seen changes to match. suddenly the wolf not only speaks, but has a beak! the fighting through being somewhat vague in the original story now is lost to time and is none existent. taliesin builds off it, changing it ever so slightly from a garbled to a more of a warning story. a story that reflects a change in a cultures thoughts on the woods. when everything was all writings and giant building the woods where just a place to rule over and harvest, but after the fall now its returned to the unexplored. the place of fey and monsters that should never be explored at night. marisha adds winter and gives it just the smallest bit of added context. a man in the woods during night before might have been seen as mad or crazy, but a man scrounging for some mushrooms in a dead forest in winter isnt tempting fate, he’s struggling to live. a shift in view also makes it so that the beaked magic wolf is just as weakened by the winter, and is easily turned away by just a voice. sam is..something. if ashley is the dark ages than id say sam is like a renaissance. specifically a very drunk renaissance. the kingdom was risen and is filled with hubris and pride.its gained a very “man falls for his hubris” greek vibe to it.  pumat has gone from scavenging to walking unbothered by cold dead winter. the kingdom has lost its enjoyment of strange creatures, monsters are still around in legend, but most have been replaced with magical people, with a clear rise in “person in an animals skin” tropes. the original fight has been mostly lost, now the story is that of a magic hunter who eyes the mushrooms taken by pumat and gives a chuckle and permission to continue exploring the woods unimpeded. pumat eats just the mushrooms, which now have gained the lupine taste, and the vague description of “he became something more” giving the idea of some sort of curse for his nature. Laura has added back the wolfs anger, but removed the suspicion of pumat. the curse is still in the end of the story though. this could be a change into more of a forbidden fruit trope. because pumat still trusted strange mushrooms in a dead forest with a magic guardian, he paid the price. travis is a sort of close to modernization of the story. its the point in time when its nonsensical nature and magic was viewed as weird and convoluted.  similar to when we look at older myths with long intricate plans and think “nice story, but poor pacing”. liam goes for the “granddad telling stories by the fire” vibe. the tale has died down and is being co-opted for new use. now the rather dark tale has turned into more of a children's storybook with messages like not to trust strangers and to not do drugs being tagged on. 

ep. 2: jesters ability to say 1000 words a second. pickadors plume is a story in a story. a story about gaining a treasure through a complex and detailed series of events  with lots of loaded lore about the world with no clear description of what the treasure truly is. liam is the first few generations. the generation close enough to the original to try and remember, but not enough to keep every detail. the best example is of the ending, where the treasure should be. humans love rewards, so a story with a vague reward isnt enough for people. in liams generation transition to the griffon, travel, and fruit specifically being the treasure begins to lay its foundations. since this is already so long i will also mention that the transition from stone shaped like a heart ---to----> stone shaped like a hut could be an example of a changing dialect and language. sam, travis, and marisha are clear evidence of a shift in culture. jesters complete backstory wasnt introduced till now. and in it comes the cultures want to explain this event. humans love simplifying, but we also love to describe things. if we want to, we will add words just as much as we remove them. the dialect changes just as much. the new word of “schtupping." has either replaced or become a synonym of the word fucking, the name of the plum as even changed too. the treasure has gone from “lost to time” to “there is treasure, i just wont name it”. but fret not, for the mystery aspect is still in the story. for now everything will disappear like it never happened, or did it? though travis specifically specifies that you keep the treasure. humans love rewards, it was gonna come back eventually. matt is the sorta an enlightening moment in the society. at the very least its the point in time where people who know geography and history say “wait, that layout doesnt make any sense”. taelisan and ashley are the beginning of the end. the slow fall into the dark ages. the story becomes vague and small. slowly becoming more of a statement and less of a story. the society is forgetting large chunks and its bleeding out into other legends. there maybe a sort of thanksgiving/ christmas sort of event spawned from or because of the myth, but the story itself isnt going to live every far (hence why its ending in a dark age and not somewhen else)

Ep. 3: boy do humans enjoy rich’s, love, and drama. sam’s story comes from a society that warns against wanting what you wish for without expecting some strings attached and features a evil ruler to boot, just so they can date the legend. the story of a delivery boy who invents a pair of glasses to see through objects and uses them to win rewards and gives them all to a rich woman that only loves him for the money, and really loves the prince. matt changes the story so the two are already in love. but also changed it so that it was the greed of the prince and the wife that lead to the heartbreak rather than the delivery boys naivety. travis changes delivery boy from a clever inventor to just already owning the glasses. both matt and travis with there respective fictional cultures are showing how humans like to remember the stuff they liked in a story, so when they forget when something specifically came in, they just fill in the blank and assume its always been there. travis specificaly begins the stories slow march to a less heartbreaking story by adding a joke to help give the couple a more flushed out relationship. this is also the shift in cultural perspective. the antagonist began his life as a evil prince, but now is simply a rotten neighbor. this could mean the myth was co-opted to fit a better role, possibly after the removal of monarchy or just of a specific bloodline.the rich wife becomes just the wife, no money involved. this is also the beginning of what a full fledged re-write of the story. now the delivery man has gone from giving up to still being in love with the wife and now even standing up for himself. (possibly a mix of when the story was of a prince and used to promote the common folk to rise up against the kings, leading to the theory of a removal of the crown). ashely...oh ashely. this moment in history atleast solidifies the love between them, and even brings back delivery husbands inventor skills. liam is the slow clawing climb back up out of the collapse. he’s still very much in the collapse of the kingdom. but aleast its just before when begin to solidify into the new meta of the era. laura and taelisin’s era is a complete re-write after the collapse of the society. the focus has moved to more of a folk-hero style legend about rising above through theft and cheating (could mean that after the collapse the culture around theft changed from crime to fighting to survive. the antagonist has really changed from being the bad guy to just in the love triangle. the society seems to agree with every polyamourous person when we all say “this how drama triangle could have been avoided if you guys all just got together”. marisha’s only real change a more modernization from “specticals” to “goggles” and that the culture either wants to make half-orcs feel more inclusive or just really dont like goliaths and changed it. 

ep. 4: deargodfinallyigottheneedtowritethisoutofmysystemsoletsspeedrunthisshit. liams story is an analogy for the horrors, pointlessness, and sacrifics of war. but over time the story shifts from a “we did this to ourselves” narrative to a “an outside force did this to use”. this shifts the goal from a need for peace to a need to protect everyone for the sake of the many. ill write more later but dear god i my hand might fall off soon

#cr #critical role #narrative telephone #telephone

[taki118]

List of Reincarnated into the Villainess of an Otome/Romance Novel Series I Like

Soooooo I’ve gotten sucked into the very specific isekai subgenre?trope? Of girl gets reincarnated into an otome game or romance novel she loves but is the villainess. It’s kind funny how similar these all are but at the same time so different. Now these arent all the titles just the ones I’ve read for at least a volume and like. (if asked i might make a list of the ones that failed for me). I’m gonna separate by types. and if you know of any other titles please do tell me.

Received Past Memories during Childhood

(The story starts with the MC remembering her past life as a child and growing up with the knowledge)

I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags...

So this one has a good deal of traction since it has an anime adaption currently running, but I’ll be honest it’s not one of favs. This series is primarily a harem comedy and most of the jokes deal with the MC’s expectations from the game not matching her new reality and not realizing why, which can be very fun, if one note. The characters are likeable which is why I keep reading but I think some other titles on this list use the concept far better.  There is also a spin off version where the MC doesnt get her old memories until later in life and has to deal with the actions of the game character, but it’s fairly the same you arent missing much if you dont read it. 

The Villainess Want to Marry a Commoner

So in this one the MC isn’t trying to avoid a bad end rather she’s very excited to be able to romance her favorite NPC whom she wished was romance-able. (which honestly mood) I’m not very far in but it really takes the whole this is a game the furthest as there are stat checks and the MC basically carried over all the items and skills acquired in her past playthroughs.

Survive as the Hero’s Wife

A web series, this one takes place in a book and the main pair are married as children and the MC plays double agent for the series antagonist to keep her and the LI safe. It’s fairly involved with a larger cast of characters but I’ll be honest this is one of the titles I feel would be stronger if it was just a straight fantasy series, the whole Isekai aspect feels like it’s there just to make the plot move quicker. But all around a good read. 

Fiancée’s Observation Log of the Self-proclaimed Villainess

Now this one has a fun twist on the formula in that it’s told from the perspective of the love interest. Some of the faults other titles are plague with are avoided here as the main character himself has no knowledge of the world being a game, his fiance does but while she’s happy to tell him she’ll be a great villainess and get him a happy ending with the heroine she never tells him why thats so important so he’s left in the dark and thereby so are we. I will give a warning there is  bit of fat shaming in this as the original games villainous was chubby  but this version is skinny, like its not awful but its not the best implication that bad is chubby and good is skinny.

The Evil Lady's Hero

Another webseries set in a novel while we dont see the MC in childhood (save for some flashbacks) it’s stated she’s had her old memories since then. What I really like about this series is the MC’s personality and set up. So she died well into her 20s  and as such she is a bit more mature and levelheaded than most MC’s, her plan was to avoid the main cast of the books as much as possible but ends up drunkenly sleeping with the male lead leading to them dating. Her thought being I’ll just enjoy this for now and let him break up with me when he meets the heroine, all good. The pair play well off each other and I’m curious to see where the story goes.

The Result of Being Reincarnated is Having a Master-Servant Relationship with the Yandere Love Interest

Now this one has a lot of fun with this concept as there are two other characters who were reincarnated like the MC. Because this game had only yandere love interests even the “good” endings arent that good, the MC also has limited knowledge as she didnt get to play all the way through so she feels less omnipotent than other protagonists, and along with not being the only person displaced it gives the series a nice refreshing feel.  

Received Past Memories as Young Adult (The story starts with the MC remembering her past life after/during the events of the game/book)

I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss

So I actually really love this series and wanna read the light novel version. The MC regains her memories during the beginning of the bad end for the villainess and thinking quickly saves face to run off and find the main antagonist of the  game the demon king who happens to be a secret route on the second play through. Its a very fun read but gets a little dark in later chapters I wont spoil cause its good but there is an attempted rape scene. 

Simply Good Sense for a Duke’s Daughter

This one kills me cause the world building and characters are so strong and dense it’s actually weakened by the fact that the MC was reincarnated is really just kinda brushed off most the time. As you get more and more invested the only real purpose her being reincarnated into an otome has is like some ideas for products to sell and how to make things that dont exist in this world yet. Like I wont say I don’t enjoy it but I think I’d enjoy it more if it was just a fantasy story. 

Beware the Villainess

God I love this webseries. The MC is just a delight as she decides she wont be evil but she wont be good either. What I like about this series is it kinda plays with the fact that the setting is a trashy romance novel cause as the MC learns more about the main characters of the novel she finds that the descriptions in the book dont match up because it’s very surface level. Example a merchant whos said to be very smart and savvy in the books is actually rather easy to outsmart, MC realizes it’s cause the writer only ever wrote he was smart never HOW he was smart. I would def give this one a read its a lot of fun. 

For Certain Reasons, The Villainess Noble Lady Will Live Her Post-Engagement Annulment Life Freely

This is again another series I think would be stronger if it was straight fantasy. The MC of this story actually has no idea the world is an otome game, she was  nurse in her past life and uses that knowledge for the betterment of the land, (though actually its hard to tell if she was really reincarnated or just has the memories of this person) The story could have moved just as well if the MC was given like a medical textbook from a mysterious other world. But the characters are fun so its not awful just not one of my favorites. 

Reincarnated but not as Villainess 

I Am Troubled That My Fiance Is a Villain

The MC is reincarnated into an otome game with her memories as a child but as a side character, she ends up endearing herself and becoming engaged to the games villain character. Its very cute because she doesnt have to worry about a bad end she doesnt try to interfere much just keep those around her safe. 

Seduce The Villain's Father

Web series MC gets reincarnated into a novel as a minor character, as the story takes place prior to the events of the book she changes things to keep her new sister safe and uses the opportunity to try and avoid more tragic events. Its not bad I’d say the idea itself is interesting though its a little uncomfortable she calls the male lead “father” 

A Villain Is A Good Match For A Tyrant

Ok so this web series is kinda hilarious and I do have to spoil a little cause the person reincarnated is NOT our lead, its our villain. So this person was actually the author of the story, she had written a novel about a girl being reincarnated into the bastard daughter of a lord who gets engaged to a tyrant and has to pretend to be evil to stay safe from his enemies, and the author is so PISSED she reincarnated into a random priestess. Its so weirdly meta. The MC is the lord’s bastards and the events play out just like story only she doesnt get her body taken over. This series is very fun, cant wait to see how it goes. 

Anyway this is my list if you have suggestions for me I’ll check them out. Will probably make another list later. 

#manga #web series #isekai #I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags #The Villainess Want to Marry a Commoner #Fiancée’s Observation Log of the Self-proclaimed Villainess #Survive as the Hero’s Wife #The Evil Lady's Hero #The Result of Being Reincarnated is Having a Master-Servant Relationship with the Yandere Love Interest #I’m a Villainous Daughter so I’m going to keep the Last Boss #Simply Good Sense for a Duke’s Daughter #Beware the Villainess #For Certain Reasons The Villainess Noble Lady Will Live Her Post-Engagement Annulment Life Freely #I Am Troubled That My Fiance Is a Villain #A Villain Is A Good Match For A Tyrant

[itsjustaphase-mom]

Queer Eye: Umbrella Academy Edition

so the phrase “Luther on Queer Eye” came to me and I freaked out and uh yeah this happened... i basically wrote up how the Fab Five would help the Hargreeves siblings (its under the cut cuz it’s l o n g) (also Karamo signs them all up for therapy i didnt write that for each one because they all need it so bad) (oh also warning i dont know shit about anything these men are experts in so constructive criticism is appreciated thx xo)

Luther

Tan- surprisingly, Luther doesn’t seem to have any issue finding well fitted clothes, so Tan would probably just work on style- add some colour and prints, teach him how to make his torso look a bit smaller with the cut of his clothes and stuff like that

Antoni- big man need big food...find recipes that satisfy the monkey body??

Jonathan- Help that man deal with his monkey body!! shaving is an option buddy

Karamo- help him get over his leader complex and ALSO i was thinking about the fact that he doesnt realize how bad his siblings (namely klaus and vanya) were abused?? and that’s why he’s always brushing them off like that because he thinks his experience matches theirs even though he had superstrength and was their dad’s favourite...he just never stopped to consider that  they had it so much worse so fill him in karamo plz

Bobby-He needs space, he’s a big man. Bobby’d be able to hook him up with stuff that was big enough to help him feel normal sized again (and also they’d hopefully help him find an apartment because he doesn’t need to live in that house)

Diego

Tan-he needs some colour in his life... also imagine Tan finding outfits that can hide his knives better that just sounds hilarious

Antoni-please antoni this man ate a raw egg....help him

Jonathan- He has some scars on his face but they make him look cool (and I think he feels that way too) so Jonny could give him tips to cover em but i dont really think he’d want em...he’d probably just tell him to moisturize

Karamo-help him grieve Patch, he barely got a chance to with all the apocalypse nonsense

Bobby- he’d make Diego’s place look cool and edgy but also be hella functional it would look so cool

Allison

Tan-she’s absolutely gorgeous and all of her outfits are stunning and honestly he has his work cut out for him with the next one so it’s his day off

Antoni- he’d teach her how to make some real good stuff that she can teach Claire how to make!! it’d be so cute!!! Maybe Claire would join em!!!! guys!!!!!!

Jonathan-give her the haircut that Emmy has please for the sake of the gays i am begging you

Karamo-he’d help her get her daughter back (i know that’s out of his paygrade but shhh) and teach her parenting techniques to use instead of her powers

Bobby- he’d make her a chic, childproof home and it’d be the best

Klaus

Tan-fashion is a spectrum that ranges from Klaus to that guy in season one (?) that said his style icon was Frasier... Tan would be simultaniously LIVING for Klaus’ outfits from a proud gay dad perspective and appalled by the things he wore...he’d find a balance that was very gay but more befitting a 30 year old man (would Klaus actually wear it? probably not. he’d diy that shit and the look on tan’s face would be priceless oh my gosh im crying at the concept yknow the end when they all sit down and watch their routine? Klaus would go through his closet and look directly into the camera, holding up the “new and improved” clothes while tan just loses his mind)

Antoni- teach him how to make easy, good food. He needs some quick, simple, healthy recipes for when he’s not feeling it okay wait now im thinking about klaus getting addicted to cooking as a way to occupy himself when he gets too close to relapsing and guys guys guys we have a CONCEPT here oh boy i might have to do smth with that

Jonathan- honestly he’s pretty good? Probably a haircut and also GIVE HIM ROB’S NATURAL CURLY HAIR

Karamo-help him get sober. and help him learn that he can be more vulnerable, he doesnt have to laugh off everything. He doesnt have to hide everything. he needs to get help sometimes. also get him to do yoga because i feel like he’d love that for some reason??? idk the idea just popped into my head and i think he’d be a big fan

Bobby-give him a place that’s functional and neat, but with his sense of style. Quirky and artsy. Very easy to clean and keep organised, because his stuff is in such a state of disarray.

Five

Tan-just like.... go buy clothes that aren’t your old school uniform? Something that is befitting of a 58 year old man but doesn’t look too off on a 13 year old’s body... I feel like Tan and Five would be bros

Antoni-teach him that he cant survive off coffee...also teach him how to make his own damn coffee instead of whining about it all the time

Jonathan- Teach him how to shave and just generally take care of himself properly because he didnt have anyone to do that the first time around im not crying youre crying

Karamo- Make him less of a dick. It’s okay to hurt, and it’s okay to be confident but you dont gotta be an asshole about it. also maybe discuss delores.

Bobby-he needs a study with lots of space to write lmao ooh imagine the style is inspired by all his favourite time periods, whatever those may be that would be so cool plenty of antiques in that place

Ben - ok i know no-one but karamo could really do anything cuz he’s a ghost but pretend they could

Tan- he needs that colour boy he’s too emo (for Tan, i fully support emo rights)

Antoni- uhhhh he hasnt eaten in like 10 years feed him smth good

Jonathan- He’s perfect so nothing to change tbh

Karamo- honestly Ben is the most well-adjusted??? and he’s dead?? idk what karamo would really do besides getting him therapy

Bobby- He needs a place for himself!! There’s theories that he doesnt exist without Klaus which tbh I kinda believe so even then Bobby could incorporate a little space for him in Klaus’ place... get him some bookshelves!!

Vanya

Tan-absolutely nothing, her style is impeccable... ok fine tan would maybe make it more gay and fit better, accentuating what she wants instead of hiding everything under the baggiest shirts she can find

Antoni- comfort food that’s healthy (what? do i hear vanya and klaus bonding over using cooking to cope???)

Jonathan-GAY HAIRCUT UNDERCUT OR SMTH (but also her hair is adorable so i kinda dont want him to cut it......)

Karamo-help her realize she’s gay, just look at her karamo... but also work on her self esteem because shit dawg that could use some work

Bobby-fix up her apartment!! make it sleek and cool with hints of violins everywhere and also make it brighter because that colour scheme cannot be helping her depression

uh so yeah this was just me ranting for no reason lemme know what you think lmao

#tua #umbrella academy #queer eye #klaus hargreeves #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #casey talks

[ilovetuds]

So I'd like to write my opinion towards the so waited last movie of the loved franchise How to Train your Dragon, the post will contain Spoilers so if you didn't watch it yet I recommend not reading this post. I was quite disappointed with the movie but there were also parts I really enjoyed, like I said at the beginning its my opinion and I just want to share the cons and pros of that animated movie (AGAIN IN MY PERSPECTIVE), I just felt like it had more potential than what we got and it left a lot of unsweared things about the plot of the whole dragon universe created by them and felt a little lazy.

CONS:

1- This one made me feel uncomfortable, the whole snoutloud and valka ( Hiccup's mother) kinda romance, he was clearly into her and fighting to get her attention. Common if that's not at least a little bit disturbing? It's like one of your friends start to hit on your mom, its just weird. In the end of the movie we are not sure if they will have something or not, she praises him and he gets all lovey dovey. (FOR THOR NO, PLEASE NO) 2- OKAY THIS ONE IS THE THING THAT I WAS PASEKAEOSAKOEA (really annoyed), for me the last villain, the so called 'Night Fury' killer, the one who everyone was afraid of and said he was some master of the hunt, he was pretty shallow and dumb. His character was not really detailed and his reason to kill all Night Furys was even worse. He tells Hiccup when he killed his first Night Fury his whole tribe cheered because of that, so he just decided he wanted to kill all of them, I mean that's a good reason for a villain, pride or whatever you want to call it but not for the "ultimate villain", it's just really weak and lazy plot. Maybe I should put topics here about him, I watched the whole series and read the books so I might get a little into them now:

a. He doesn't look scary at all! I mean common when we had villains like Drago who had a really cool concept, a tough looking guy who called himself Dragon God or Dargo Bloody Fist, and the guy is 50 old! The guy enslaved dragons, controlled na Alpha dragon and he even rode Toothless. He was a hell of a villain he was really a madman. Now let's talk about Krogan, if you watched the netflix series you know him. The man is fucking awesome and you can actually fear him, he has a hell of a dragon as a 'partner', has a cool scar and a tough face, he's brave and fiercefoul, you don't want to mess with that dude. He ran to every fight with his dragon or without, let's not forget he captured a titan dragon! And his plans were smart too, it was a character that had knowledge and was a really amazing. We shall not forget about Viggo Grimborn, for me one of the best character in the series, you never know if you can trust him or not, he is the Crime Lord his whole appearence on the series was amazing, you saw him grow as a character and he had a lot of good plans and traps agaisnt the raiders. And we shall not forget about Johann, the man used the vikings for years and never revealed his true intentions, he was a master mind really good villain and a big plot twist in the whole universe. I could mention some other small villains here and there but my point is, all of them were really smart and were challanging for the gang to beat, with the so called "Night Fury Killer" was really dumb and he felt not so special, he had no good plan or a good reason for you to like, hate or fear him, he was just there because they needed to show the guy almost wiped all the little toothless off the earth. His character was really dissapointing to me.

b. We wanted to see new dragons, and especially new 'bad dragons' and we got some cool scorpion like dragons, nothing super creative and new, because we had the Triple Stryke already, (which is na awesome dragon). He had to drug those dragons to obbey him, which doesnt explain how they would listen to just him it made no sense at all. They were strong yea, but they were also dumb. Toothless got rid of 5 or 6 of them so easily it felt stupid. Like no challange whatsoever. 

c. His poison darts were na idea we seen in the whole franchise a lot, so nothing new, I know it is a movie for kids but his darts could be deadly, like when he shot the dragon who charged after him, it would add a lot more to his character as evil and na asshole if he killed the dragon instead of putting it to sleep, just looked really overused to me. d. Overrall it was a really wasted character, the movie felt way too rushed and we didn't have time to see and develop anything for him. It was just a waste of animation and plot. 3- The light fury, I know a lot of people must be loving her concept, desing and etc etc, after all she is Toothless's mate, but her character at least for me wasn't much likeable. It seemed like she was just put there to end the story and to show the whole thing about growing up, because you will start to get distant of a lot of your friends and things change, because it is real life, that's true and we get it, but she as a character, she has no story, no explanation and we don't even get to know more about her. Again it felt really rushed. Don't get me wrong, I know it would be a lot of things to cover in a movie, but the whole franchise was always about giving and learning about dragons and how they react and their characteristics, so when we get nothing explained or the whole let's study this dragon or Fishleg's thirst for knowledge ( I do know he tried to draw her but he gave up too easily and didn't really seemed that interested) is dissapointing... It was finally someone Toothless could relate to and not be the end of his species, the way they should've dealt with it should've been different. There was more promo than plot. FISHLEGS DIDN’T EVEN CARE TO NAME HER, THATS HOW SPECIAL SHE WAS.

4- Hiccup's friends, his friends weren't really that important and funny, I get this whole movie is supposed to be more grown up, but we grew up with them, it felt like they were more like background characters than secondary. I think there were less dialogs and interactions between all of them, kinda sad.

5- Again the movie felt really rushed I don't think they covered things that were important for the end of the plot and focused on shallow and stupid things.

6- The hidden world, I wanted to learn and to see more of the hidden world, how it worked, the new species there, something, anything. Instead we just got a grumpy toothless going back to the new Berk with Hiccup and a stupid chase. I found something really strange too, with that many dragons, there should've been an Alpha, another dragon other than Toothless, but it's too convenient that we learn that Toothless is also Alpha in the Hidden World, and not just that suddenly all the dragons see him as a superior. AGAIN RUSHED and lazy, IT WAS THE FUCKING HIDDEN WORLD OF THE LEGENDS....

7- If you watched the trailer you watched the movie. I dont know whats going on with some trailers nowadays, but they are showing too much and basically you can tell everything that it's going to happen. I think it's really dumb and disrespectful to the watchers. 

8- I know maybe you guys don't care but I really wanted to buy a new Toothless toy to put as a display on my computer, but the toys that were created for this movie, were really terrible looking and bad quality. And the new toothless (The huge one) is just the same as the other one from 2014, disapointing. 

9- They said all the dragons disappeared and bla bla, but we seen that there were dragons in the sea, in some islands really far far away and hidden caves all around the world. Maybe the dragons near Berk were gone, near the vikings but not all the dragons in the world. 

10- Where in the hell is Heather? Just that lol Where is Heather. Her dragon is sound and safe and didn't go to the hidden world. Neither did her brother's. Again a big flaw in the plot.

PROS 1- Okay I really liked the cinematography of this movie, you can tell how much they invested in it and how much they evolved, the animations, landscapes the dragons, the reflection on Toothless eyes were breathtaking. Amazing.

2- Toothless and Hiccup friendship, it is beautiful till the end, we love their friendship and how they interact with each other, theres no complain. Maybe we hate to see them getting apart because we realize that its what we are going to experience in some point of our lives, I thought I'd always see my friends from school and my friends that I had for more than 19 years, but time and life get in the way, friends will still be friends but you will likely see them less, which somehow make us sad. 

3- Astrid and Hiccup marriage, it was touching and cute, I did feel like it was more for fan service but it's alright, it was cute and they deserved each other. 4- Astrid Growth, she had na amazing develop as a character and being always there to help Hiccup was really a big plus for her. 

5- 'Mini meatlug' IT WAS ADORABLE ENOUGH SAID.

6- Hiccup realizing he had potential and with or without Toothless he would be a great leader, that is a really special moment in the movie and it's touching too, learning to believe in yourself and being independent.

7- Hiccup mother's appeared a lot during the movie, she had no super special scene but it was nice to see her and her adorable dragon. 

8- The new 'elk dragon' I'm sorry I don't know his name in english yet and I just wanted to write this fast cuz I mainly don't really have anyone who's a fan to talk about and I'm excited! Anyways, he is just so cuteee! 

9- The riders armors, it was a really cool idea and cool looking I approve that.

10- Toothless Babies, I really thought they would look cuter lol but I guess that's alright and we can't complain we got to see a nightlight fury babies for the first time so cuteee! Okaaaay if you guys want to add more points to my list or disccus about some feeel free! I want to talk about the moviee lol

#how to train your dragon #toothless #dragon #lightfury #night #nightfury #httyd #httyd 3 #how to train your dragon 2 #how to train your dragon 3 #netflix #dreamworks #franchise #movie #spoilers #cute #meatlug #fishlegs #hic #astrid

[cerullos]

this isn't really in line with the meme but what would a Good series eleven have been like? or how can series twelve turn it around/be better?

hm…………………………re: eleven, the only aspect of eleven’s personality i would change is his needless misogyny, because i don’t think that’s necessarily a “component” of eleven, so much as it is…moffat. and really this would be mostly solved by just eliminating all of the creepy, unsettling scenes where rory and the doctor are mutually possessive over amy or collude somehow in treating her like an object (e.g. vampires of venice when rory thanks the doctor for being needlessly cruel to amy and patronizing her like a child, or when eleven is supposedly only allowed to hug amy for a certain amount of time with rory’s permission lmao and don’t even get me started on the girl who waited). i wouldn’t change some of eleven’s worst tendencies (like his constant, prolonged lies–keeping the ring and rory’s existence from amy in S5, the doppelganger and mystery pregnancy fiasco in S6, etc.) or eleven’s selfishness in valuing amy at least in part for how much she blindly adores him, or even “never let him see the damage. and never, ever let him see you age” and all the kind of hideous implications that come with it. i don’t think eleven is…a good man, and i find that interesting, especially in relation to ten (although the 50th imo horribly wasted that dynamic, which had so much more to give). i like the basic concept of ten in his endless compassion, burdening himself with so much pain that the doctor regenerates into a man who is as equally as selfish as he is loving, who does his best to forget and bury his mistakes instead of acknowledging and atoning for them. 

my issue is literally just that amy isn’t treated as an equal of eleven’s! even putting aside the obvious power imbalance of amy idolizing eleven from childhood, their basic, everyday interactions are weighed so heavily against amy it’s almost painful to watch at times. one way to solve this would be to emphasize and acknowledge the flaws (eleven’s) i mentioned earlier. eleven’s selfishness is alluded to in episodes like the god complex, but always in a way that empathizes with him and absolves him, rather than highlighting amy’s perspective and the ways in which his selfish actions negatively effect her. even when eleven feels pain it isn’t the same as when, say, ten does because eleven always has a loophole…he’s always a hundred steps of everyone else (amy included).

i mean, look at pandorica opens/big bang…rory is furious (rightfully so, obviously) when eleven basically implies amy’s life doesn’t “matter” in the grand scheme of things, but we later find out he’s only saying this because he’s traveling from a future point in time when amy is already alive again and fine. even when he “dies” at the end of big bang, we later learn he knew all along that amy would be able to remember him back into existence. there are no stakes for eleven, he’s too absurdly smart for any to exist. one of the only times he faces consequences is when he loses amy permanently in angels take manhattan, and that’s telling enough in itself. 

compare this w/ clara who’s constantly given teachable moments with twelve even opportunities to outthink twelve! an episode like, say, flatline could never exist with eleven and amy, the dynamic as it is couldn’t support it…eleven beholden to amy, amy acting as undisputed leader. and i’m not saying that amy isn’t smart because she is, and there’s tangible proof of that–but not smarter than eleven–never, not even for a second. that’s the conceit of eleven as a character, untouchable god “the doctor in the tardis, next stop everywhere.” eleven doesn’t defer to amy because it would literally break his character to do so and that imo is the greatest failing of their dynamic. 

the other, obviously, is that amy isn’t given the means to fight back when eleven disrespects or belittles her…and this is just another side of the same coin. amy’s anger is deliberately framed as kind of…impotent. moffat likes the idea of amy as a “spitfire,” but when push comes to shove it’s always expected that she’ll fall into line when the doctor demands it. it’s played for laughs that amy ignores him and does as she pleases (and she does, when the two of them are on friendly terms–like in vincent and the doctor when eleven orders her not to follow) but in life-or-death moments when amy’s life is at stake, she isn’t even allowed to question the doctor’s authority. it’s supposed to be funny when the doctor tells amy to shut up when she says she’s afraid she’s going to die. if rory were to pull that on her, can you imagine how she would react? but moffat deliberately declaws amy around the doctor, and the implications of that are…really unsettling, if you would rather not just attribute it to virulently misogynistic writing (which it also is, of course). clara and twelve have big blowout fights and yet this is pretty starkly absent from eleven and amy’s relationship…she may snipe at him from time to time, but overwhelmingly amy is expected to roll her eyes and huff and storm off and listen. eleven is barely given reason to feel guilty on these occasions, let alone confront or regret his actions. because, again: eleven cannot be wrong. and a doctor that cannot be wrong…inherently has no need of a companion. i mean, think of what donna says to ten: "i think sometimes you need somebody to stop you.” how many times has amy been empowered to successfully “stop” eleven from doing anything, ever. 

the tl;dr on this is that amy needs so much more agency in their relationship than she was given (but what else is new, she needs more agency throughout her run in almost ever aspect of it). i think…there are elements of something really beautiful in their relationship–and amy does love him without qualifications, which is more than can be said of rory, obviously, even if it’s largely because of what eleven represents for her. i think there are moments where eleven regards amy with a kind of reverence, which we see similarly with twelve and clara later, and it’s…touching. if they had expanded on that thread, it might have grown into something that equaled amy’s childhood adoration of eleven–maybe into something that would prompt eleven to value amy’s input a little bit more than he ever seemed to in canon. there’s a lot there that’s good (the basic template is peter and wendy, and i could not possibly love that more if i tried), but the execution is…really poor, really deeply tainted by moffat’s misogyny and it favors eleven to a ridiculous extent. there’s always that sense of discomfort, like the whole relationship is skewed by how imbalanced it is and how frequently amy’s suffering is exploited to fuel eleven’s rage and grief despite the fact that he can’t seem to bring himself to even respect her as a person half the time. 

#asks #so uh. woo ok there you go...i guess! #i did talk about how i think thirteen's eps can improve though so i can link that...when i find it #Anonymous

[jhindraven]

okay im gonna go on a long rant about paladins, and how the new skins are a bit of a travesty

first of all, i just wanna say that i’m no expert on character and/or game design, and i dont claim to be one either. i may be studying it at the moment, but i only know what ive learnt from my teachers and from youtube. keep that in mind. 

also, this is a collection of all my complaints about paladins regarding skins. this isnt just one specific issue- this is everything i hate. this is all my opinion, you dont gotta agree, whatever.

okay now onto the actual rant. 

alright. so. seris has a new skin out atm- cottontail seris. and its...

well to put it simply, it fucking sucks. thunderbrush, buddy, pal, what the fuck is up with this skin.

look, i get that its a skin. it doesnt have to be in character. whatever, cool, it isnt canon to what little story this game has (thats an entirely different rant for later), thats fine. but it... doesnt look like seris. you took her most defining features and threw them out the window. and thats bad. not only from a design perspective, but from a gameplay one as well.

now, lets have a look at seris’ default skin. what are the key features? and what’s her silhouette like?

her key features are a long flowing skirt, hood up, and a blindfold, right? yeah. her silhouette is clearly a dress, with the big triangle-like shape down the bottom. her head becomes almost like a triangle/diamond too, because of how it points on the top of her head.

now when we compare that to the new skin, we have an issue:

where did her skirt go? where’s her hood?  without those things, her silhouette is wack. she looks like an entirely new character! she looks more like a long haired skye, or lian, or even kinda like ying. not seris.

when you’ve got abilities like cassie’s and talus’ ults, that allows you to see the other team’s silhouettes through the walls, this shit is important to think about. i probably wouldn’t have time to sit and go “hold up is that seris? or is that [insert literally any other female champion minus like two]”

this issue happened with inara too, but to a lesser extent. her battlebyte skin removed her big skirt/dress in favour of a pencil skirt-type thing, causing her silhouette to change a bit. but because she’s got her staff, her floating ribbon, and the floating crystals she looks (close to) the same.

and unlike seris, she’s tall. seris is about average height for all the female champions, and that makes her harder to pick out with this skin.

and you know its bc thunderbrush is like,, super horny and just has to sexualise every female character in this godforsaken game or he cant sleep at night or something. @.kinessie puts it best in this post here

on a different note

 it has officially been one whole year since furia was released and since the rise of furia event.

why is thunderbrush still posting demonette/abyss skins????

on his twitter he says, and i quote, “I want more ‘demonettes’ in the realm as well as a chance to flesh out the Pyre some more. Pyre warrior drogoz is a good start but we need more.”

i mean that’s neat and all, but like... surely you can make a more interesting concept than just “tall demonette maeve”

dont even get me started on how sexualised this skin is, considering that she’s one of the youngest champions

i dont have much more to say about the demonette stuff other than just “surely you can do better than that”

my final thing

why do the same like 8 champions keep getting new skins?

im gonna make a whole new post with how many skins each champion has, and when their latest one was added. so yeah. ill edit this post and add a link to it once i do it. EDIT: its here

my whole point can be summarised with this image:

(credit: u/clertex on r/paladins)

SO, TLDR:

the new skins are boring or completely change the character, and thunderbrush keeps ignoring almost every character for the waifu-bait ones.

thunderbrush has no rights

#paladins #pcotr #thunderbrush #my post #long post #im fucking heated folks this shit drives me up the wall #ive got issues regarding the lore too: like how they up and deleted the 3 stories that came with imani + atlas' release #or how there's literally no lore for the sentinels OR the people with no side in the conflict #im mad #make an effort #i wont be surprised if this gets no notes #but i must scream

[tumblunni]

Bwoop! Cathedral tower defense ideas! Havent really made much damn progress on this game since I havent got a design for the protagonist yet, but at least now I have designs for two of the party members. (Thanks @summon-daze!) So for now lets just have some rambling ideas for potential sidequests you could have with these two!

BRIEF SUMMARY TIME Amity: Protagonist. A gruff and badass wandering priestess whose homeland was destroyed in the war. Now she’s joined another church in a foreign land and is dertermined to defend it against the demons, and never let that tragedy happen again! But she has to win the trust of these strangers first, and teach them how to survive... Florin: First and only party member you begin with at the start, deuterogonist, cute sidekick of sass and pep. He’s a plant type demon who’s haunting Amity for reasons unknown, and refuses to leave! Now she’s stuck trying to get rid of him, while he insists on being annoyingly helpful yet comically lazy at the same time. Also, as an incidental fact, he suffers from narcolepsy. Malachi: Optional party member, and the only other demon in the cast. An adorable little choir boy who doesn’t seem entirely aware that he’s become a demon. It’d be cruel to judge him the same as the others, we need to keep him safe! He’s quiet and cuddly and comically oblivious. What do you mean humans don’t enjoy eating rocks??

THUS, SIDEQUEST IDEAS

* Multiple different attempts to get rid of Florin, which all inevitably fail and end up causing him and Amity to become closer buddies. TFW you try to exorcise a guy and end up frolicking through the fields of friendship~! * Similarly, it could be fun to have some silly plans to trick him into being less lazy. Predictably the answer is just gonna be ‘when you’re nicer to him, he actually wants to put in the effort’, but that doesnt mean we cant have some fun shenanigans in the process! * Amity sneaking around trying to spy on Florin and find him doing something evil. He’s GOT to be here to pull off some ultimate plot, right?? Lol, 90% of their friendship is just Amity being suspicious as heck and Florin rudely persisting in being harmless. * A plot where somehow they actually do get separated, and Amity begins to realise how helpful her lil demon sidekick has actually become, and how much she genuinely appreciates him as a friend. Could possibly be that instead of being gone, Florin is ill with some sort of demon sickness and you need to go on a grand quest to save him? or maybe he’s been kidnapped by a villain who wants to use his powers for nefarious purposes, and accuses you of doing the same thing because why on earth else would you pretend to care about this monster? (And then when you rescue him you can have the grumpy excuse that of course you only did it because he’d be dangerous as anyone else’s sidekick. No affection was involved at all!!) * Mysterious flowers are appearing around the cathedral, and Amity starts to suspect that Florin is setting up some sort of evil demon plan. But she actually discovers that this is a sign of how much he’s genuinely begun caring about the other npcs, he’s been paying attention to their troubles and secretly giving them the flowers he thinks they’d most like, without wanting to take any credit for it. So you get a sassy friendship scene of Amity blackmailing him by threatening to reveal he’s been being nice! Thus florin gains the bonus skill of opening a little flower store. (And blushing himself to death every time anyone says thank you) * A conflict between Amity and Florin, where she accuses him of just being lazy as always, but this time he really was trying! He started off not caring about anyone, and only working when it benefitted him, but now he’s working his butt off and has become really self-concious about the fact he’s not really able to keep up with the rest of the party. And so he ends up talking about his narcolepsy problem with her, and if they have enough friendship points she starts being more considerate and trying to help him out with it. And maybe unlocks a longer quest chain of improving the home base’s medical facilities? * Florin hibernates in winter, everyone has to cope without him and realises how much they miss him. Like a repeat of the earlier quest where he’s kidnapped, but this is a new perspective on how Amity feels about it now they’ve been close friends for a while. And also how everyone else around the church feels. Maybe a plot of them all deciding to write down letters for him to read when he wakes up? And maybe tensions getting high when some sort of disaster happens, and Amity is like ‘oh god i dont want to have to tell Florin that this place fell apart without him’. (With it being up to player choice whether you include the bad points in the letter, or try and hide it from him.) * A potential bad ending for Florin, and how things continue afterwards. I think he’d be one of the characters who (initially at least) doesnt die when defeated in battle. If he’s taken out, he’s just near-mortally wounded and recovers after a very tense period where he’s in a coma. And then the plot explores everyone’s feelings at almost losing him, and his own feelings of uselessness now he’s too injured to go back to the fight. And because malachi can become like an adoptive brother to florin, they can still have a happy ending together even if florin has been removed from the party like this. He retires to take care of his lil bro full time, and he doesnt worry about feeling useless when he knows he’s got someone who thinks the world of him. And Malachi can inherit some of his skills and equipment since now Florin can devote all his time to tutoring him into taking up his former place in the army. * Oh, and of course Malachi’s recruitment sidequest! You’d first encounter him as a feral rock beast in a dungeon somewhere, and there’s a conflict between Amity and Florin because she believes this thing needs to be destroyed and he insists that they can redeem it. He can sense it’s a demon, and its got to be corrupted if it’s going wild like this! But Amity believes that demons are inherantly evil, so this one’s behaviour isnt unusual like florin thinks. She’s aknowledged that florin isn’t evil, but she still feels he’s an exception amoung demons! But eventually she’s convinced to take a chance on florin’s convictions, because its rare for him to be so un-lazy about something, and to defend something even at the risk of his own life. So they manage to find a way to purify the monster, and find out that it was a very young child, underneath all that scary rock armour. So if they’d slain it without a second thought, they would have committed an unforgiveable sin... * Malachi’s next sidequest would be convincing him to leave the ruins and come home with them, while exploring the dungeon to try and find out what exactly happened to turn such a sweet kid into a demon. (Not to mention the fact he was absolutely crazed with corruption!) I don’t wanna spoil the ending to this, but I have a lot of Sad Ideas for this charrie, hee hee~ * A potential plotline that once Malachi joins the church base, he could have trouble making friends with the normal human children. I Had an idea of a bully character who’d get redeemed and ultimately become accepted as his friend after a big ol sad apology scene, and then they become this misfit buddies duo. And the ostracization from the other kids doesnt hurt as much when he’s got this tough former-bully lady defending him against her former-comrades. * And he also grows closer to Florin as theyre the only two demons, and florin was the one who saved him. Plus they both enjoy sitting buried in the flowerbed and eating dirt! I think the relationship wouldnt start off this close though, Mal would initially be scared of Florin. Since he doesnt know that he himself is a demon, he just thinks florin is the only demon and he has much the same fears as Amity once had when the story began. But it could be more comical, because its inherantly silly when you have this kid with giant horns yelling ‘ITS A DEMON’ and hiding behind the couch XD And eventually he does grow to love florin like a parent, but he’s still comically oblivious. He just decides that florin ISNT a demon, of course! He’s just... a little more green than other people!! * Possibly a plot of everyone holding a funeral for malachi to cheer him up, since he never had one when he died as a human. But since malachi doesnt comprehend the whole concept, he’s just like ‘when normal people get put in the ground they sleep forever, why did i wake up? is it because i never got tucked in like they did?’ And then it could be funny like bender’s fake funeral in futurama, but also a bit bittersweet and sad and heartwarming. * Sudden panic! Malachi accidentally calls florin ‘dad’, and florin FREAKS THE FRICKLE FRACK OUT! ‘I’m not a good influence, amity! aaaaa!!!’ Worries too much about not being good enough, maybe comically tries to change his personality into a generic sitcom father and malachi is like ‘wtf’ * Possibly a plot about malachi and florin bonding as demons, and figuring out what being demons even necessarily means. I’m thinking florin might be a bit scared by seeing how malachi can sometimes hulk out and run on pure instinct. Its such a huge contrast that this sweet kind child can have such bloodthirstiness inside him, he doesnt understand how malachi seems to enjoy fighting. And he doesnt understand how malachi can think he can control it! He gets a bit scared that this means the fighting side of him is the real side, and the childlike side is just a front, just a lie like everyone says demons manipulate everyone. And does this mean that florin himself is the same? Is he just deluding himself that he can be good? So the resolution is florin being able to accept that both parts of malachi are still malachi, and its completely possible to have both sides without being evil. It is indeed in the nature of demons to fight, but they dont enjoy destruction or evil, its not like holding back some horrible monster who’ll murder everyone you love. And florin has always been holding back this side, he’s been afraid of using his powers too much, worrying he only exists to kill. Malachi helps him accept that his powers have equal potential to heal and to harm, and that it IS possible to control them, that the choice between good and evil is indeed his own choice. At the same time this helps malachi accept that he is indeed a demon, and cope with remembering his horrifying backstory. Knowing that he isnt alone, and that demons dont have to be evil, he’ll be able to be okay, and he has this other demon friend who can help him though it. And they’re able to work out the whole Fearsome Demonic Instincts by doing some playfight sparring together like total dorks XD If you’re worried about your sense of control, then never using your powers wont help! Gotta actually practise! * Possibly florin officially adopting malachi as his son, and its possible for the player to expand out and make more bases once you’ve fully upgraded the cathedral. And maybe florin could become the boss of this new place, and turn it into like an orphange for malachi and others? it could be a big sign of his character development that he’s come this far! Also it could just be hilarious to imagine how baffled travellers would be. “Aaaa there’s a demon and he’s... looking after small children??” “We must rescue the small children from that horrible demon and take them to the orphanage!” *knocks on the door and its florin again*

#cathedral tower defense

[themoneybuff-blog]

Ten Lessons from My Well Worn Winter Coat

This past weekend, I put my winter coat away until next November or so. Its a hardy winter coat, a green Carhartt arctic coat, one that gets me through an Iowa winter where you can have entire weeks where the temperature doesnt peek above 0 F. I keep a nice spring jacket around that will serve me well for temperatures down in the thirties, but the winter coat is now in overkill territory. Ive had this coat since 2003. That means this is the seventeenth time Ive put the coat into storage for the warmer months. Its a little worn in a few places, but its still as sturdy as can be and incredibly warm on a cold winters day. This wonderful winter coat is kind of a living embodiment of a lot of the financial principles I live by. Lesson #1 Paying More for a Well Made and Reliable Item Is Worth It, Because You Wont Have To Replace It As I said, Ive owned this coat for seventeen years. During that period, Ive owned at least four spring jackets that I can remember. They were all somewhat less expensive than this thick winter coat, but each and every one of them has had split seams or tears or other major problems. I repaired some of those issues; other issues just werent worth it. In the end, Ive spent quite a bit more on those four (at least) lighter spring jackets than I spent on this well made winter coat, even though each of those lighter spring jackets was individually much less expensive than my winter coat. The winter coat was well made from the start. I paid more to get a well made one, one that would last for many, many winters. The other coats were less expensive, but they werent well made. I knew with some certainty that they would probably not last nearly as long as my winter coat. Whats the lesson here? Its worth your money to pay for something thats genuinely well made and reliable because youll be able to use it for years and years and years. If you go cheap, youre probably replacing that item before too long, and it wont take too many replacements before that pile of cheap items was more expensive than that one well made item. The lesson has been learned. My next spring jacket is going to last me until Im 70. Lesson #2 Theres No Reason Not To Use an Item Until Its Truly Worn Out This winter coat of mine has some signs of wear on it, dont get me wrong. Its clearly not a new coat any more, especially if you look closely at it. There are some spots where the fabric has worn to a very smooth patch, but its still strong. This coat has quite a few years of use left in it. Its not unsightly, though; its just not new. I am reminded of an old martial arts instructor that I know. He achieved a very high level black belt, a level at which it takes an incredible amount of discipline and work and time and effort to earn another level. His belt was extremely worn, almost in tatters around him, as he approached the time to get a new belt. Yet, there was something deeply impressive about his worn belt. Worn doesnt mean bad. The idea that something being worn is a bad thing is a curious construct of our modern society. Something being worn but not broken is a sign of strength, of durability, of resilience. Its something to be lauded. There was a time in my life where I didnt see it that way. Something worn meant something that needed to be replaced. Sometimes, that might be true, particularly if that wear indicates a functional problem, but often, wear simply means that an item is very well made and reliable. Much of our lives rest on a backbone of well made items that have shown a little wear. At this point in my life, I like things that have some wear on them. That shows theyre well made. That shows theyre reliable. That shows that theyve put in the work. Id rather have a lot of items that have a little wear but have done the job reliably for a long time and will very likely keep doing that job reliably for a long time to come. My winter coat falls into that category, as do many of my favorite possessions. Lesson #3 Buying a Used Car or a Smaller House or a Sensible Insurance Package (and So On) Means You Can Afford To Buy Many Other Well-Made and Reliable Items One of the big knocks against buying a more expensive but well made and reliable items is that the up front cost is usually pretty high. If youre on a tight budget, a well-made $200 coat might be wonderful, but your budget only accounts for a $60 coat, so which one are you going to buy? Sure, the well made coat might outlast four of the cheap coats, but the expensive one just isnt an option. Thats the point at which you have to stand back and look at the big picture. Obviously, over the long haul, a well made and reliable and highly regarded item thats still reasonably priced is going to be the item that gives you the most bang for your buck. Over the course of 20 years, a $200 coat is going to give more value than four or five $60 coats that fall apart or look like theyre about to. However, to get on that bandwagon, you need the resources up front to invest in those things, plus the willpower to make good financial choices now and later. In the short term, the best thing you can do is cut back on the big things. Rather than replacing that car, keep driving it until its ready to give up the ghost and is facing a big repair bill to stay on the road. Rather than having a bigger house or apartment than you need, get a smaller one all youre really losing is extra space to pile up stuff you dont really need. Those kinds of moves save hundreds of dollars a month. Then, rather than spending that money frivolously, start putting it towards stuff that returns value. Pay off credit cards. Put it into your retirement savings. Spend a little more to get well-made reliable items like a $200 winter coat that will last for many years rather than a $60 one that will be trash in three winters. Not only that, driving a well made car for a very long time is basically the same idea behind wearing a well made coat for a very long time. You might pay a little more up front for it, but its going to last and last and last until the total cost of ownership is lower (and its a lot less headache, too). Lesson #4 Worrying What Other People Think Is a Trap One of the big motivations for many people to replace things like winter coats when they show the slightest bit of wear is an over-concern with what other people think. The reality is that other people rarely think of you nearly as much as you think they do. They just dont. Rather, people spend a lot of time thinking about themselves, and their spare thoughts about others are spread across so many other people that you rarely get a deep thought from others. Its called the spotlight effect. We think others think about us as much as we think about ourselves, which is simply impossible. We obsess over our own flaws and think others are similarly concerned theyre not. Even if they notice the flaws, they often dont care. Often, when someone criticizes you and is cruel, its because theyre grinding an axe about something completely unrelated to you. The truth is no one is going to care about a little wear on your coat, and very few are even going to notice. People are almost never looking for those kinds of things at all because theyre just not relevant. It makes no difference in my life whether a person on the street has mild wear on their coat, so why would it even enter my mental radar? The truth is, it doesnt. That doesnt mean you should give up on all hygiene and start dressing in rags. The best maxim to apply when interacting with others is to treat others as you would like to be treated, which for me means being clean, wearing clean clothes, and being friendly but not overly intrusive. Does anything really change for you if you interact with someone in a brand new coat versus someone in a coat that has mild wear that you would really only notice if you were looking for it? Lesson #5 A New Coat When My Old One Still Works Doesnt Bring Me Real Value or Joy For some people, buying a new coat might bring them a burst of joy that fades quickly. For others, it may even bring some degree of lasting joy, though I would suspect that it fades as the coats newness does. For me, though, my coat is not a source of joy. Its a functional item. As long as it keeps me warm in the winter and doesnt cause me to look too out of place, Im happy because its serving its purpose. (If anything, I feel slightly good about the wear, as I noted earlier.) If youre buying something you dont need, it should bring you at least some measure of real joy, ideally a lasting joy. This isnt just about coats or about articles of clothing. Its about everything you buy, from electronic devices to cutlery, from a cup of coffee at Starbucks to a can of black beans. Is this something I need? If not, is it bringing me significant joy or lasting joy that I cant easily get elsewhere? If not, I shouldnt be buying it. I dont need a new coat. Getting a new coat would not bring me any significant or lasting joy, at least not any that I couldnt get elsewhere (like the joy of grabbing that warm coat on the first cold day of the year, which I can get from my current coat). This is a valuable perspective to apply to everything you might spend money on. That worn coat of mine is just an embodiment of the idea. Lesson #6 Reliable and Reusable Are Earth-Friendly Concepts Remember those four worn out and falling apart spring coats that I talked about earlier? Those things were sadly trashed, to my regret. Im not sure where they all wound up, but wherever it was, it was likely not a positive thing for the environment. However, this winter coat of mine has been in my home for almost two decades. It has outlasted all of those other coats. It has never taken up space in a trash bin. It has never taken up space in a landfill. And it wont for quite a while yet. Thats an Earth-friendly move. Yeah, its a small one, but lets say everyone in America had a winter coat that they didnt replace for two decades rather than a winter coat replaced every five years. Thats 900 million coats over the course of twenty years. Thats a landfill full of coats (at least). Yeah, but what difference does it make? This goes back to that old analogy of a beach full of starfish. You cant save all of the starfish no one can but you can certainly grab a few and toss them back in the ocean. Buying a long lasting item that wont need to be replaced soon is the equivalent of tossing a starfish back into the ocean. Thus, you can certainly toss back quite a few starfish in your life. Lesson #7 The Coat Has Memories This might seem strange, but when I pull the coat out of the closet, I often think about the many different adventures Ive had with this coat. I think about sledding down a hill with my kids, especially when they were small. I think about my misadventures with skiing. I think about our trip to Yellowstone when it was unseasonably cold and my choice to bring my winter coat turned out to be a great one. A new coat wouldnt have those memories and pleasant thoughts associated with them. A coat that gets replaced every three or four years never has the chance to build up those kinds of associations. Its similar to how I feel about our kitchen table. There are a few notable scuffs and scratches on it, and I remember what was happening when almost all of those things happened. Theres a huge scuff that came from a heavy crock that we were using to make a jumbo batch of sauerkraut. Theres a big scratch that my son made with his fork when he was two or three. Those things have meaning and value to me, and those things go away if we just replace the item as soon as possible. Not only is such a replacement expensive, theres something of value thats lost and can ever really be replaced. Theres something special in a worn item. Lesson #8 The Savings Is Building Toward Greater Things Ive made the case that a reliable and long lasting item at a reasonable price saves money compared to buying cheap items that wear out quickly. The financial implications of this are numerous. First of all, the expense of replacing an item comes up much less frequently. I havent bought a new winter coat in almost two decades. Its just not an expense in my life. Sure, if I replace it with something durable in a decade or so, it might be expensive, but its simply a long way down the road. Second, Ill see that replacement coming a mile away. The nice thing about having a durable well-made item is that its usually pretty clear when its getting close to replacement time, but youre not usually facing an emergency replacement. You have some time to save, to research, and to shop around for another reliable and reasonably-priced replacement. This process wont be an emergency replacement. Ill have time to find the right thing and to look for sales. Third, I can use the money in the interim to build the future I want. Because I know these two things about my coat, I know that the money I might have to throw at a regular coat replacement cycle can go to other purposes in life, namely building the future that I want. Its a lot easier to save for retirement when youre not replacing a lot of the regular use items in your life with any sort of frequency. Obviously, my coat alone isnt making that kind of difference, but when you add up lots of things that are well made and reliable and dont have to be replaced, it does make a difference. My goal is to eventually have all of my frequent-use items be well made and reliable so I never have to worry about replacing them, ever, and Im not too far away from that right now. Because of that philosophy, I recognize that my worn winter coat and other items like that in my life are contributing to my early retirement goal. There are so many things that I simply dont have to replace with any frequency, and because of that, my regular expenses are lower, and because of that, I can contribute more to retirement, which is the big financial goal that matters to me. Lesson #9 Im Setting an Example Another thing I value about this worn coat is the example it sets for my children when it comes to practical frugality. You dont need a new coat every year. You dont need a new coat every five years. This one keeps doing the job and, yes, real people use items until theyre truly worn out. Ive noticed that my children take after this idea. None of them are ashamed to shop for clothes at a secondhand store. They dont mind used items a bit as long as they work. They appreciate the value in getting something thats of high quality at a reasonable price rather than the cheapest thing they can find, a phase they seemed to outgrow well before their friends. Its also in line with my core social circle. Most of my closest friends apply the same principles to their possessions. Get something thats good quality, even if its used. Use it until its genuinely worn out before replacing it. Repeat. The coat is a symbol of that, in a subtle way, and it very subtly reinforces that idea within my social circle. Although Im aware of the spotlight effect, Id like to think that if anyone does really notice my coat, it nudges them in this direction as well. They see a coat with a little wear on it and they think that its a good thing, not something to just be replaced immediately. Lesson #10 The Homework Matters The final lesson Im reminded of is how the homework matters with these kinds of purchases. Finding a well-made and reliable item that does what you want it to for a reasonable price isnt easy. There are a lot of companies out there selling badly made items, or items that look good at first glance but will fall apart quickly with regular use. Taking the time to sift through the options and find the item thats actually of high quality does take some time and effort. However, buying a well made item should be a pretty irregular purchase, so you should have time to do the homework for each one. Lets say it takes 30 minutes to buy a coat as an off-the-cuff decision, but its likely a poorly made coat that will be replaced in five years. If I spend an hour right now researching coats and find a really good one that lasts, then I spend 30 minutes shopping for a good price on that coat, and that coat lasts me for twenty years, Im still saving time. The homework pays off, in terms of both money and time. Finding the right item might take some effort, and finding it at the right price might take some diligence, but if you dont have to replace that item for twenty years, that effort and diligence reap real financial rewards. Final Thoughts My well worn winter coat is emblematic of the kind of life I want to live. I dont want to spend my time buying poorly made things that wont last. I dont want the expense of that, either. Instead, I want items that provide lasting value and perhaps build up a little character as well. Good luck! https://www.thesimpledollar.com/ten-lessons-from-my-well-worn-winter-coat/

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Rob& Chyna Recap: Exactly Touched Down In Chyna Town

In this weeks thrilling peak into the life of, the cherishing duo make a trip-up to DC, the Kardashians we actually care about get cameos, and Rob learns what a waldorf salad is.

Most importantly, we get to finally convened some of Chynas family and MAN do occasions start to make a lot more sense Re: Chynas preferred method of confrontation.

Chynas mom is appointed Tokyo Toni and I am already over this occurrence. Chyna describes her as the realest being she knows. This doesnt looks a lot like often of a competition as Chyna lives in LA and spends most of her time hanging out with the Kardashians.

Tokyo Toni craves Rob and Chyna to come up to visit her in DC for the 4th of July so Rob can experience his first real obstruct defendant. Chyna known to be Rob would hate every part of this, so shes probably going to acquire him do it.

True love: checking in on your lovers Postmates orders to make sure he isnt cheating on his diet. How happy do you have to be to guild a Kit Kat on Postmates? Thats a grade of self-deprecation that I have yet to even reach.

Chyna tells Rob that she got a call from Kim and Khlo inviting her to Khlos birthday party. He had already known about the party but hadnt told her because he didnt want to go. Shocker. Something like Khlos birthday party would be high profile, aka Robs worst nightmare. To be fair, any party where I might have to stand next to Kendall Jenner in a photo “wouldve been” my worst nightmare as well.

They decide to go to the party together and no one even hollered in a vehicle or shed posies of buds into the consortium to get to that decision. Progress.

Chyna: Wow that was a healthy discussion that we handled like adults. Rob: Yeah. Chyna: So anyways gives examine my mommy next.

The second Chyna delivers up the 4h of July Rob just straight-up bails. Like, leaves her residence. You can only manage so many serious exchanges in a epoch before you were supposed to Postmates some Kit Kats, I suppose.

While getting ready for Khlos party, Rob has a meltdown about his outfit and tries to get out of going. Make she who hasnt tried to cancel proposals over a wardrobe failure shed the first stone. On the way to the party Rob casually removes that his diabetes may be acting up again. The last-place era this happened was because “hes been gone” cold turkey on his insulin and had to spend some time in the ICU. Person please explain to this grown adult that insulin isnt a Flinstones gummy vitamin that you can pa as you please.

Khlos birthday is at Dave& Busters, which leads me to believe that it might actually be her bat mitzvah. If anyone are determined to throw a mid-life coming of age ceremony for a religion they dont even follow, it would be a Kardashian.

Watching Khlo and Chyna interact is like the buildup to the watering hole situation in, and tbh I dont even know who would come out on top in that combat. Segment of me wants to think that being pregnant would slacken Chyna down, but even a dazzle Chyna at half-speed is even more capable of taking someone out than me at heyday fitness.

Rob stands for an hour to take photos before honcho dwelling. Weird , none of those seems to make it to Instagram.

Chyna sheds a BBQ after Khlos to try and continue Rob from reverting back to mole guy mode. She invites Scott, who proceeds to offer all the entertainment by talking about coke and Chynas dads dick. Scott is that guy that you bring to any event youre apprehensive about listening, because no matter the environment he will retain his outrageous, semi-drunk attitude.

Rob begrudgingly agrees to go to DC with Chyna and she starts the trip off with a tour of her childhood haunts. She stops to take some photos with love outside her old-time home and Rob instantly shuts down.

Rob : Im really nervous about this family dinner, hopefully it croaks smoothly. Chyna : Oh cool I invited my estranged mothers who havent spoken to in ten YEARS.

She also invited three of her half-siblings , nothing of who have met her baby. Tokyo Toni doesnt seem like the kind of woman you want to ambush with these concepts, which means that the producers 100% sent out the invites and told Chyna to play along.

Tokyo Toni shows up in what looks like a Japanese outfit with chopsticks sticking out of her hair, because no one is brave enough to explain culture appropriation to her.

They are, nonetheless, brave enough to tell her that Chyna is essentially the same age as two of her siblings, entailing her papa was cheating on Toni. This revealing doesnt come off well.

Rob: Im so glad that Chynas family is unstable, its truly taking the spotlight off me.

Toni lovingly tells the story of the first time she saw Chyna dancing at the golf-club, as if it was her first high school dance or something. This leads to the family plus Chynas suite heading toward Synsaysionals, Chynas first association. She describes it as a bit ratchet, so you are familiar with Rob is going to pass out about 30 seconds in.

The excursion to DC is clearly works out for Rob. Hes less uneasy, more self-confident in public, and even stops for a few photos with followers. Say what you will about the relations between the two countries, but Chyna is patently making progress here.

New drama: Hoard, Chynas oldest acquaintance, and Paige, Chynas current best friend, very clearly abhor each other. Treasure doesnt cartel Paige( real mention Mika) because she satisfied Chyna after she was far-famed. The shade is unreal. The entire gang is all out together bowling and Treasure wont even announce her Paige because its her LA name, which is a little hypocritical because. you are familiar with Blac Chyna is for sure birth given.

Paige leaves the bowling party early because Treasure isnt even attempting to hide her antagonism. Chyna convenes her back at the hotel and tells her to work it out or else. Im securely Team Paige on this one, because Treasure fears the shit out of me. By the time the 4th of July party comes around they still havent worked out their issues, so Chyna pulls them both aside and becomes them hash shit out in front of her. This mama tactic 101 establishes me thing Chyna is going to be a pretty solid momma. Frankly, Im delighted to see that I tolerated through the first two boring episodes of this demonstrate to get to this confrontation.

Treasure, in front of a gang of lighters and TV cameras: Im just worried that Paige is use Chyna for her fame.

Tokyo Toni gathers Rob and Chyna aside and sag some real trues. The difficulties Rob and Chyna have dont even compare to the shit that Toni went through: a poor 16 -year-old girl with a babe, figuring shit out on her own. She doesnt proceed so far as to call Rob a spoiled bitch, but the implication is there. Will this extremely feeling and alcohol-fueled admonition change Robs perspective on life? Probably not.

2600 miles back, Kris wakes up in a cold sweat with the vaguely menacing sense that someone is trying to mom her son. She recollects his failed sock thread and rollers over to go back to sleep.

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How down-at-heel Lisbon became the new capital of cool

Four years ago, Portugals capital felt like a city on its knees. Now it is being touted as hip, cheap and innovative. But is the socialist government failing Lisbons poor in its rush to revitalise?

In Lisbon people keep telling me about the surfing. Its great. The beaches are 20 minutes from the beautiful, historic and lively centre of Lisbon. You get the best of everything: Bondi meets old Europe. I hear this from Patrick, a Kentuckian whose digital marketing business was formerly based in Costa Rica and at another time in Bali; from Matthieu, a French life coach; and from Tariq, a British property specialist. I hear it from the Yorkshire-raised, London-based Rohan Silva, whom the British press likes to describe as a tech scenester or techpreneur, and from Joo Vasconcelos, Portugals suave secretary of state for industry.

Until recently, most of the news coming out of Portugal was of what Vasconcelos calls the worst crisis in 100 years, with stories of professionals sleeping in their cars because theyd been evicted from their homes. On my last visit, for the architecture triennale in 2013, an event full of ingenious low-cost ideas for reviving empty spaces and struggling businesses, Lisbon felt like a city on its knees. Now, according to one of the 2013 triennales organisers, Mariana Pestana, theres a psychological improvement. People are starting to dream again, theyre starting to consume again. Economic change is no longer something that happens to us. There is some control. There are also early outbreaks of the complaints that come with urban success, rising property prices and loss of character.

Lisbon is becoming an outstanding example of what might be called Monocle urbanism, after the magazine that combines trendspotting and lifestyle advice with social and political commentary, and which recently devoted many pages to the Portuguese capital. For the sophisticated nomads that Silva calls the global creative class, Lisbons attractions are powerful. According to Vasconcelos, the big cosmopolitan cities of the world are more like each other, such that central London and central Lisbon are closer to each other than London is to the Brexit-voting regions of Britain. (Theorists of the liberal metropolitan elite will take note.) For the first time since the 1940s, when Lisbon was a refuge from the war, says Pestana, the city is really cosmopolitan.

Take Patrick Tigue of Downtown Ecommerce, the American who was formerly in Costa Rica. He has clients all over the world, from the US to Australia, some of whom he doesnt meet for years, if ever. Our business started to grow, and we had a problem scaling up, so we opened up a map and wrote down a bunch of cities. They had business criteria access to English speakers, low cost of living, low wages, a convenient time zone and personal preferences: surfing, good weather. Berlin and Barcelona were good from the workforce perspective, but the lifestyle in Lisbon did it.

In Lisbon, he goes on, the people are incredible. There is always some type of music, style, arts going on. The food is incredible, the architecture Its a big little city. The real estate you feel its coming up. It was quite a gamble. I came here last year for a vacation but it turned into an extended stay and then into moving here permanently. Id like to stay here for the long term, to have kids here. I am that convinced.

Manifestations of the new Lisbon include reincarnations of locations first created to serve tech businesses in London. One is Village Underground, part creative community, part arts venue, which aims to combine affordable workspaces with art, music and performance. In London its distinguished by four recycled Tube carriages perched in the air. In Lisbon it consists of a pile of shipping containers and repurposed double-decker buses, on a dramatic location next to the citys suspension bridge.

Patrick Tigue of Downtown Ecommerce in his Lisbon office: The lifestyle in Lisbon did it.

Another is Second Home, a shared workspace created by Silva and his business partner, Sam Aldenton, an enclave where industrious tech businesses can get in touch with their inner lotus-eater. In Lisbon, as in London, the Spanish architects Selgas Cano have been commissioned to design an internal garden of delights, with abundant foliage, subtly clashing colours and playful details, only less frenetic in the recently-opened Portuguese version: the main space is a single greenhouse-like room, with the territories of different companies defined by plants.

A programme of cultural, social and sensual events a wine-tasting, a literary salon, an introduction to hydroponics is designed to engage and delight the members. A cafe painted deep blue serves both them and any of the general public who want to venture in.

Second Home opens off Time Out Market, in the historic Mercado da Ribeira, that describes itself as an original concept that creates food and cultural experiences based on editorial curation. The idea is to translate into physical space the knowledge of the journalists of the eponymous listings magazine, to house the best restaurants and artists the best of the city under one roof. It opened in 2014, now attracts 2 million visitors a year, and has inspired another Time Out Market, planned for London later this year.

Lisbon also has Vhils, a young street artist described to me as a cross between Banksy and Damien Hirst, already embraced by government-backed art projects and corporations like the electricity giant EDP. (Which, it must be said, seems to go against the bottom-up ethos that is supposed to be the point of street art.)

These high-concept and somewhat Anglophile initiatives are laid upon a city of old-fashioned dignity, of arcades and ocean breezes, of the yellow, timber-lined streetcars that get into the tourist pictures, of classical facades maintaining their equilibrium over steep slopes, of delectable cake shops and family-owned seafood restaurants.

Lisbon is also a city that responded to economic crisis with resourcefulness and imagination. Behind an anonymous and battered door, for example, can be found a Cozinha Popular (peoples kitchen) founded by a food writer called Adriana Freire. It is a serene space in the district of Mouraria. where people who had fallen on hard times make exceptional meals for the enjoyment and benefit of the local community. Out of it has spun Muita Fruta, a project to transform Lisbon into a big farm. It started with mapping the citys existing fruit trees, helping their owners to get the best out of them, harvesting their fruit and making jam. The plan is to expand the project by planting new fruit trees, in collaboration with the city government, wherever space can be found.

Tech businesses commune with their inner lotus-eater at Second Home, a shared workspace created in Lisbon by Rohan Silva and Sam Aldenton. Photograph: Iwan Baan

Contemporary Lisbon, then, combines the blessings of history and nature with the entrepreneurial actions of both locals and outsiders. It is still cheap. Charlie Orford, British co-founder of flight-booking website Low Cost Hero, took a quick look at London and immediately put it in the bin. His Lisbon space costs less than 12th of its equivalent in London. For reasons like this, combined now with Brexit, Lisbon is particularly attractive to young, creative exiles from the British capital.

Vasconcelos lists other assets: it is one of the safest cities in the world, even during the crisis. It is liberal and open: we look like southern Europe, yes, but we are not the stereotype of southern Europe conservative, Catholic thats completely wrong. In many things we are more like the UK than Spain. Gay marriage, gay adoption, theres not a discussion we are one of the countries receiving more refugees. Again, theres not a discussion.

Portugal is also, he says, a common-sense society, very respectful. If you think Latin blood is very aggressive, you are wrong.

Its a simple enough idea if you can locate yourself pretty much anywhere, why not in a really nice place that is also affordable and welcoming? but it doesnt happen purely by chance. Even more exotically, as Silva puts it, theres a socialist government thats very popular but pro-enterprise. Lisbons new identity has been willed into being by government, especially by Antnio Costa, formerly mayor of the city and now prime minister of Portugal.

Costa came to power promising economic growth combined with relief from the worst pains of austerity. You can have several types of austerity, says his minister, Vasconcelos. It can impact on the most fragile or on the most strong, on companies or workers, old or young. What were trying to prove is that you can be serious and can achieve a good public deficit as we are now, our best ever while at the same time fostering entrepreneurship and science.

Food writer Adriana Freire, left, sells jam made from the citys fruit trees via her Muita Fruta project.

As mayor, Costa swept aside bureaucratic obstacles, encouraged creative and tech entrepreneurs and boosted tourism. He made it easier to open businesses or hotels in historic buildings. He set up programmes for teaching schoolchildren and the unemployed how to code. He created Startup Lisboa in the then moribund centre of the city, a place where fledgling businesses could find their feet, run by now-minister Vasconcelos. He was helped by the dynamic Graa Fonseca, now secretary of state for modernisation, then in charge of a department of entrepreneurship.

Mariana Duarte Silva, the woman who brought Village Underground to Lisbon, says that Costa is a little bit of an annoying optimist, but I think that helps.

Lisbons revival has also been helped by some not-especially-socialist incentives, such as the Golden Visa, which gives rights of residency to anyone buying property worth more than 500,000. Many are attracted by its tax regime, especially the highly-taxed French. It has also welcomed the not-especially-socialist Airbnb and Uber. The taxi drivers protested for a day, says Vasconcelos a touch dismissively, but that was all.

If the energy and vitality of the new Lisbon are genuine, the Costa renaissance is not without doubters. Ana Jara and Lucinda Correia, of the architects Arteria, are engaged in the sort of low-cost ingenious interventions that were seen at the 2013 Triennial: making new and good-looking signs to draw attention to long-established businesses, and devising a strategy for making beneficial use out of the underused rooftops of Lisbon apartment buildings. Initially they were pleased by the revival of the city but now they see residents and businesses being pushed out by rising prices.

People are playing the game of Monopoly. they say. You buy houses and you build hotels.

Banksy meets Damien Hirst in street art by the Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, known by the tag name Vhils. Photograph: Alamy

The Golden Visa is the worst thing. It makes it possible for someone to buy a huge property but it causes social exclusion. It says, if I have the money I have the right to be here. This is not managing the city in a smart way. In the medium-to-long-run, you lose identity, people will not be making or producing any more.

They say that a bastardised form of Portuguese cuisine is being sold to tourists, and that Costas relaxing of planning rules is leading to faadism, whereby only the shells of historic buildings are retained.

A short film, Youll Soon Be Here, has been made to chronicle the effects of tourism on Mouraria, the marginal, multicultural and poor downtown area where, among other things, Freires Cozinha Popular is located. A campaign has been set up, Morar Em Lisboa (To live in Lisbon) to oppose displacement. Even a Costa enthusiast like Mariana Duarte Silva of Village Underground says: People are being chucked out of their homes and traditional shops are being closed. But the prime minister is very conscious of it.

It would also be a loss if the identity of Lisbon, a city rich in things subtle, graceful and well made from food to artefacts to buildings is swamped in a flood of branded, curated, confected, marketed experiences, if the stuff that is good and already there is repackaged and resold.

Lisbon has an aptitude for mimicking other cities. Its suspension bridge is much like the Golden Gate in San Francisco, and it has a statue of Christ reminiscent of Rios. Many of the latest interventions are London-inspired. Its breathier boosters now say it could generate a countercultural energy like the one that San Francisco converted into the wealth of Silicon Valley. Northern Europeans like to retire here too, which would make it a sort of Miami.

Now it resembles a speeded-up east London, moving rapidly through the gears of dereliction, artistic renewal, entrepreneurial action, rising prices and gentrification.

Its a cause for celebration that a great old city, down on its luck, should find a new life, but the really smart thing for Lisbon and its government would be to do better than cities that have gone this way before: to achieve vitality while also nurturing the things that make the city so appealing in the first place.

See this: landmarks of the new Lisbon

The Time Out Market, in the historic Mercado da Ribeira, offers food and cultural experiences based on editorial curation. Photograph: Alamy

MAATThe sweeping new riverside gallery designed by Amanda Levete for the art foundation of the electricity giant EDP.

EDP HQ EDP has also commissioned architecturally ambitious headquarters by the Portuguese practice Aires Mateus, designed to welcome the public at least some of the way into its complex.

Cozinha Popular da Mouraria A popular kitchen created in response to the economic crisis.

Time Out Market An ensemble of food shops and restaurants, a place for street food that should have a Michelin star.

LeopoldA restaurant where a menu of many highly-crafted courses is served on small, square blocks of wood.

LX factory The former premises of a thread and fabrics company that now houses studios, bars, galleries and venue spaces, a stage for a diverse set of happenings.

Shared workspaces Local incarnations of the shared London workspaces Second Home and Village Underground, which in different ways combine high levels of architectural invention with cultural programmes to delight the creative and tech companies they house.

Read more: www.theguardian.com

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Meals doesn’t get extra adventurous than this

Even adventurous eaters like me — over time I’ve tried delicacies like fried grasshoppers, Sichuan-fashion hen ft, the pungent fruit Durian, raw sea urchin and sea slug — balk at chomping up a venomous arachnid.

The truth about Meals although, is that one guy’s tarantula is every other man’s Wagyu beef. Travel writer and Photographer Dean Starnes prides himself on setting all types of so-referred to as extreme Meals in his gob.

“Journey is about attempting new things, experiencing new cultures and taking part in new sports. With that fundamental ethos in thoughts … it becomes most effective a depend on time before I commenced attempting a number of the more excessive foods I was supplied,” he says.

Even though Dean has been sampling unfamiliar ingredients for greater than a long time, a few flavors and textures continue to be “especially unsightly.”

“I recollect the first time I ate an eye fixed — a fish eye I accept as true with — become as a trade scholar in Japan,” Dean recalls.

“Fish eyes are considered the tastiest a part of the fish and that they had given the eyes to me in the spirit of generosity.

“It was awful enough having it roll around in my mouth, however, when it burst I used to be unprepared for the sudden exchange in texture. I squealed like a schoolgirl at a Justin Bieber concert and involuntarily sneezed it out all over my host family, their visitors and the faculty major.

“As you may recognize, Japan is a selected well-mannered tradition, and the Japanese are a totally decent bunch. I can in no way forget about their startled seems of horror on their faces as they picked little bits of the eye off themselves,” he says. but a fisheye isn’t the worst issue he’s tried. Right here are Dean’s 5 maximum edgy dining stories:

1. Bugs I hate to sound picky but it’s honest to mention that I’ve by no means eaten an insect that I’ve simply loved. My advice — if you are a primary-time insect eater — pass for the deep-fried, crunchy ones.

As an instance, Mexicans do a tasty, deep-fried grasshopper drizzled in lime juice (chaplains). Flavor-sensible, they’ve got a salty, bitter zing to them, which, as some distance as Bugs move, I discovered quite clean.

After that, it’s all down hill. The worst are the pulpy, squishy kind that explodes in your mouth (in lots the equal manner a grape may). Huhu grubs from New Zealand are quite foul whilst eaten raw, however, the globular, grass inexperienced grubs I ate in northern Laos had been even worse.

Want to Do Something a bit greater Adventurous in Russia? Nowadays Russia is open to all and sundry, it has so much to offer whether or not you’re inquisitive about taking a historical trip around its imperial beyond or in case you Want to do Something a bit greater adventurous. So what type of Russia adventure Travel can someone count on if you want to do while traveling this us of a? We are able to have a look at a just multiple more adventurous styles of traveling you can think about doing in Russia.

For the reason that disintegrates of the Soviet Union greater than a decade in the past now more and more foreigners are traveling via it, but it could still be a tough vicinity if you are unable to talk the language. But, anywhere you move in Russia you will find that the people are tremendously warm and inviting hosts. In reality, if you are seeking out a few wherein that takes you far from the normal holiday routes then you definitely must take into account a number of the subsequent whilst seeking out a more adventurous journeying experience in Russia.

1. Trans-Siberian Railway

At some point of this journey which takes you from Vladivostok-Moscow to the wilds of Khabarovsk in the heart of Mongolia and on to Lake Baikal and the snowcapped mountains of the Urals. This journey is a complete of 6, a hundred thirty-five miles in distance and During it, you will skip via 8 extraordinary time zones. The trains are very cozy, however, it’s far the splendor of u . S . A . as you pass through the various regions that genuinely gets an adventurers juices flowing.

However, n case you assume this a bit staid for a adventurous journey in Russia you could try the subsequent instead.

2. journey to the North Pole

With this type of Russia adventure Travel you are given a threat to add your call to the very small listing of people who’ve already made this epic journey in the beyond. That is Actually the extra tough of any types of adventure Tour that you could find, but it will be well worth it whilst you reach the pinnacle of the arena. while visiting through the Arctic you may notice that the whole lot seems bigger, the icebergs are large and the horizon simply appears to move on all the time. Definitely many human beings have determined this specific Russia journey Tour to be a totally humbling experience and has positioned life in to perspective for them.

Grief Transformation: Embracing life After the Dying of a Loved You’ll Lead You to greater adventure My husband Hurley became a born explorer and adventurer. He was a skydiving bounce grasp, a falconer and a lover of roller coasters. while he changed into recognized with most cancers, he was inside the system of building an extremely-light plane. He planned on getting to know to fly it whilst it become finished. He died 10 months later with a few more adventures within the works.

My concept of journey is lengthy distance avenue journeys, museums, nature walks, the ferris wheel, the merry-cross-round and walks at the seaside.

A 12 months after my husband’s Loss of life, a chum invited me to go on a Shaklee cruise to Jamaica and Cancun and the Bahamas. Betsy and that i both Loved to Journey and this become an exquisite gift. whilst we arrived at the ship, Betsy and that i had been searching on the off shore excursion selections. We each jumped on the concept of going to the Mayan ruins and temples, shopping and lunch inside the Bahamas and a ramification of spa remedies on the days at sea. Then, Betsy found Some thing she had usually desired to do, ziplining above the cover of trees in Jamaica. Despite the fact that no longer as extreme as skydiving, I could experience the fingers of my fingers start to sweat and my belly doing a flip flop. I wasn’t positive if I could try this due to the heights, but with Betsy’s eagerness and the notion of my husband, I decided to move.

when my husband died, I failed to experience survivor’s guilt for being the person that endured to stay. but, I did sense a responsibility to live existence completely, to add adventures to my existence that he might never have the risk to do. To realize waking up and dwelling every day.

In Jamaica, we were transported with the aid of bus to a place with zipline guides, and system. As I perfect up within the harness and helmet, I felt my husband’s spirit strapped in with me. Status on the brink of the cliff, with the guide giving me words of encouragement and explaining how safe I was at the same time as connecting me to the zipline, I took a minute to shut my eyes and experience the connection with my husband. “Ok, Hurley, allow’s move. This one’s for you!”

I jumped off the cliff to fly over the first riverbed freeing a scream of pleasure and pleasure. For the following forty-five minutes, we moved along the zipline landing on one platform after some other. at the ultimate zipline run, the longest one inside the series of leaps, the whole line was above the tops of the bushes. Certainly one of my passions changed into looking birds fly and soar. For the primary time in my lifestyles, I felt like I was a chicken flying over the tree tops. I desired it to move on for all time. My hear soared as i felt gratitude to have had the experience. Between the eagerness of Betsy and the duty I felt to stay life completely, I had experienced one of the maximum effective, fun moments of freedom on this lifetime.

Someday I will do it once more for the natural pleasure of the adventure and the gratitude for being alive. I’m able to no longer waste one second of the treasured time I’ve Right here. I will include all of it and live a lifestyle really worth celebrating.