#chaos writeup

[fritzes]

the curse of ATP Madrid 2024

remember toronto's chaos? yeah this one's crazier

(shoutout @rodlaveraryna for helping me find the toronto post when I totally lost it)

first of all, the World #1 Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the tournament, making the fairly new #2 Jannik Sinner the top seed at a Masters 1000 for the first time.

In the first round, Félix Auger-Aliassime (who, keep in mind, took Nadal to five sets at Roland Garros) loses the first set to Nishioka. However, he comes back in the second and third sets to win the match 4-6 6-1 6-4. We'll be seeing a lot of him. In a Next Gen battle, young phenomenon João Fonseca loses the first set to the clay incompetent Alex Michelsen but proceeds to bagel him in the second set and then win the third with 4-6 6-0 6-2. Fabian Marozsan (of beating Alcaraz in Rome fame) saves eleven set points against Karatsev to win the first set and goes on to win the match 7-6 7-6. Moutet and Shang play an almost four hour match in which Moutet caused a massive delay by demanding the umpire give him coffee. And, most insane of all, teenager Darwin Blanch is drawn against Rafael Nadal for his second tour match ever. The scoreline is 6-1 6-0 (at least he got a game!)

Second round - here come the seeds. Jakub Menšík, yet another Next Gen wonder, upsets Dimitrov in three intense sets 6-2 6-7 6-3. Félix bagels known clay flop Mannarino. Fonseca loses quite brutally to Norrie. The ultimate clay hater himself, Daniil Medvedev, loses the first set to Matteo Arnaldi and looks absolutely done but comes back to win 2-6 6-4 6-4. Another known clay hater, Alexander Bublik, jokes his way through a win against Carballés Baena, who was so frustrated that he hit a serve directly at Bublik. Ben Shelton bagels Machac. Rafa manages to beat de Minaur, who he just lost to in Barcelona. Stefanos Tsitsipas, fresh off of two clay finals, is beaten by qualifier Monteiro 6-4 6-4.

In the third round, our top seed Jannik Sinner starts to show sign of discomfort, and his opponent Kotov is serving for the second set after Jannik won the first. Kotov has set point... and hits a questionable underarm serve that Jannik crushes down the line. Jannik goes on to break back and win the match 6-2 7-5. In the beginning of a long line of strange occurrences, Félix's opponent Menšik retires in the second set. Daniil loses the first set to Korda, yells at everyone, accuses the umpire of working for the Illuminati, but comes back to win the match 5-7 7-6 6-3. Bublik, the other resident clay hater, beats Ben Shelton 3-6 7-6 6-4, stetting up a match against who but Daniil. Holger Rune, who made two clay masters finals, loses to Griekspoor 6-4 4-6 6-3.

We start off the fourth round with another shaky Jannik match where he barely gets past Khachanov 5-7 6-3 6-3. At the exact same time - I kid you not, the exact same time - is a rematch of last year’s final. Carlos Alcaraz has match points over Struff at the very same minute as Jannik, but loses all three of them and extends the match another half hour or so, eventually winning it 6-3 6-7 7-6. Daniil comfortably wins the clay hater battle 7-6 6-4, and Bublik seems perfectly fine with it. In a strange occurrence of two varying levels of servebots on clay, Taylor Fritz beats Hurkacz 7-6 6-4 (including a very predictable tiebreak). Perhaps the strangest of all, Félix takes out Casper Ruud, the man who would marry clay if he could, 6-4 7-5.

And now to the quarterfinals. Think these matches have predictable outcomes? Wrong! Only Taylor manages to emerge as the favorite who wins, beating Cerundolo 6-1 3-6 6-3, an American servebot into clay masters semis. Meanwhile, Jannik withdraws entirely, giving Félix yet another walkover. In what may be the calmest match of his career, Andrey Rublev beats Carlos 4-6 6-3 6-2, ending his Madrid title streak. And, Daniil retires against Jiri Lehecka.

So, the semifinals no one expected. Andrey dispatches Fritz 6-4 6-3 after they traded breaks in the opening two games. And Félix receives yet another walkover when Lehecka retires a few games into the match. Yes, he received not one, not two, but three walkovers en route to the final.

In the end, though, Andrey wins it and claims a second masters title. So, that’s the end of the story, right? No, because in his interviews afterwards, Andrey reveals that he has been extremely sick for the entirety of the tournament and that he could barely sleep or eat. A bizarre yet fitting end to this strange tournament.

#tennis #atp #chaos writeup #I didn’t proofread this so if there’s a typo no there isn’t

[cosmicveils]

Lore relevant to drow in Faerûn (Baldur's Gate 3 setting)

This is a writeup mostly for anyone playing BG3 that may be curious about drow, if they're unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms/Faerun setting. I will say as a disclosure that I haven't read all of the drow-centric Forgotten Realms novels, and it's been quite a while since I read the ones I am familiar with. This is really just a basic primer lol. Anyway...

Religion and where they live: Drow usually live in the Underdark, which is incredibly vast. There are many cities spread throughout the caverns, generally with tens of thousands of drow and their slaves.

Typically, these drow revere Lolth, the Spider Queen -- an evil goddess who loves chaos above all else. Their society is incredibly matriarchal; women generally treat men like they're inferior, and only women can become clerics of Lolth. Men are usually focused on more martial pursuits. Typically, the third-born son of a House is ritually sacrificed to Lolth as an infant.

Assassination and ritual sacrifice are extremely common in Lolth-sworn drow society, even amongst family members. It is very common for Houses (families, essentially) to go to war with each other to advance their place in society. Countless houses have been completely exterminated this way.

Here is an excerpt from the beginning of the book "Homeland" by R.A. Salvatore:

Drider punishment: Remember Kar'niss from early in Act 2, the drow whose lower body is that of an enormous spider? He's a drider. Driders are drow who have been punished, typically by a high priestess of Lolth, or sometimes Lolth herself. Most driders seem to be male, but women have been turned into driders as well. The process is said to be excruciating, and it's generally a punishment for failing Lolth in some way, being disloyal, or hating Lolth and the ways of the drow.

Surface drow and Eilistraee: There are a couple of drow towns on the surface world, but they are extremely isolated and rarely seen. These "Seldarine" drow usually follow Eilistraee, another drow goddess that wants something better for her people. She embodies freedom, song, and dance. For a long time, her clergy was also female-only, but in recent times it's become welcoming to male members as well. Sometimes, these men use a ritual spell to change their sex, to better experience closeness to their goddess. While it's usually a temporary experience, some do it frequently or stay female-presenting for long periods of time. (And of course, this can be very relevant to transgender drow who wish to change their sex, or certain aspects of it.)

The Seldarine refers to the general elven pantheon of gods, all good-aligned enemies of Lolth. Long ago, Lolth betrayed Corellon, the leader of the Seldarine, and was cast out for her crimes. Eilistraee, the daughter of Lolth and Corellon, tries to steer the drow towards something better. A strong aspect of her faith is the freedom to choose. While most of her worshipers are drow, she welcomes all, and various types of outcasts can find comfort in her religion. She is considered a minor deity, however, and thus knowledge about her is quite rare outside of the drow. Both Eilistraee and her followers are little known and poorly understood.

How they're perceived by others: Drow are usually very distrusted both in the Underdark and on the surface, due to the reputation of the Lolth-sworn drow. Occasionally, they'll send raiding parties to the surface world to murder elves (especially followers of Eilistraee, if they happen to find one) and capture slaves. Drow aren't generally attacked on sight anymore by the time BG3 takes place, but they're still quite rare and tend to cause anxiety when they're not expected.

Sunlight Sensitivity: Drow born and raised in the Underdark also tend to be extremely sensitive to sunlight, as it's something they're not used to. This isn't present in Baldur's Gate 3, but it's been noted in D&D novels and materials for quite some time.

"Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight."

On the other side of this, however, they also have superior darkvision. This does show up in BG3; their darkvision distance is twice that of other races that have it, like surface elves.

As mentioned in some of the novels with drow characters, sunlight sensitivity can fade with enough time and exposure.

No sleeping necessary: You may have noticed Astarion, your character, or others sleeping in an interesting pose, like they're meditating. Drow (and other elves) in D&D don't need sleep; instead, they generally use a meditative trance. (They can sleep if they want to, but most choose not to).

"Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep."

And interestingly: while in trance, elves still have their passive Perception, just at a disadvantage. Other races don't, since they're considered unconscious while asleep. (Of course, if an elf or drow is actually sleeping and not trancing for whatever reason, they'd lose that slight edge.)

Retconned stuff: They used to actually have infravision (heat vision)! This was back in the late 80s/early 90s. From my understanding, though, this was eventually swapped out for darkvision. With the infravision, they also had Drow Sign Language, which relied on seeing the heat in their hands when they used it. You can see this in the beginning of "Homeland" by R.A. Salvatore.

An additional note from bramblepatch regarding that:

if I think of anything else, I'll add it on later lol

#drow #baldur's gate 3 #bg3

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 50 of Harrow the Ninth

Well, I mean, maybe. If you get resurrected, like I said in the last writeup, that does probably clear space for a new character to appear

So, Wake possessed Cytherea's body, probably starting from when Harrow stabbed the body with the sword a second time, I would guess. This doesn't make sense to me for a couple of reasons, though: 1) How could Wake be simultaneously piloting around Cytherea's body while also fighting Nonius in the River bubble? It seems like her soul would have to be in two different places simutaneously for that to happen, and 2) If Wake already has Cytherea's body, why does she need to kill Harrow and possess her body as well? It's not like she's having trouble using Cytherea to cause chaos. I guess you could maybe argue that the whole Nonius fight just took place while Cytherea was tied up, but I think Wake has been trying to possess Harrow from the beginning of the River bubble stuff

So this point of contention is not about environmental destruction of the Earth, or anything like that, then?

So, apparently the first part is from Henry V, the second part is from the Maori version of the New Zealand national anthem, and the last part is an Eminem lyric. Does BOE use a naming scheme that's like the Puritans who named themselves after entire bible verses, except that instead of using the bible, they use the entire corpus of pre-Resurrection media?

Also, I've been told by people that they are somehow speaking modern English even 10,000 years into the future, does that also go for BOE? Clearly Wake is able to communicate with the other characters without issues. But if this is really just supposed to be the case because John is some kind of micromanager who somehow manages to magically stop language change in the Nine Houses, why would BOE be affected by that? They aren't even in the Nine Houses, and I doubt very much that John cares whether or not they can communicate with him. Anyway, the reason I mention this is that if BOE no longer spoke a language in which these phrases mean anything, they would actually probably work much better as names. The first two seem fine as they are, actually, but I think the Eminem lyric becomes substantially less silly-looking if you don't know what it means. And Wake says "they're dead words", but if she is speaking modern English to John, they aren't really dead words, are they?

This makes zero sense. She's been walking around the Mithraeum with a gun, she's been perfectly capable of killing herself whenever she wanted to do that. Also, does John see himself as a cop?

Was the prison on the Ninth actually intended to be a dummy target for BOE? I don't know how much sense that makes, since like John says, there's nothing on the Ninth except the Tomb, and until the conclusion of this chapter I think he's very sure that no one can use the Tomb against him. So why put a decoy there?

I'm guessing this is a reference to whatever catastrophe happened just before the Resurrection and not, say, the bombs that BOE sent against John's ships?

Would being named after an Evanescence lyric really be any sillier than being named after an Eminem lyric? Honestly, it's probably an improvement in this particular case

So that's an interesting thing, actually - Wake's skeleton was almost certainly converted into a construct for snow leek farming/etc. on the Ninth, so it would have been perfectly human-shaped and mobile, it's not like her bones got buried in the ground or something. Earlier Harrow said that revenants want to inhabit something that's mobile - like a skeleton - or they get bored and leave. So why did she leave her perfectly mobile skeleton to go possess Gideon's sword? Did she only possess the sword when she found out it might leave the planet? What is the thanergy link between Wake's skeleton and the sword in the first place? Or was she just able to possess the sword because it belonged to Gideon?

After reading the entire chapter I'm still not sure what she knows now that she didn't know then. That the Tomb was opened 8 years ago and nothing much happened? I'm guessing she was in on this because she thought opening the Tomb would end the Nine Houses

So Mercy was somehow able to make sperm survive for 12 weeks, but couldn't make the ova last that long? I know thanergy is bad for reproduction, but this is kind of like how Hal 9000 doesn't have all the abilities of modern computers but can somehow beat every human at chess. Or who knows, maybe John's sperm is just special like that

There's something about this story, where Gideon was literally conceived and born just to die, not even properly named, her whole purpose was just to die so that someone else could achieve some end, and then that didn't happen and she was saved from that fate by Commander Wake's death, and then she grew up and independently decided that her whole purpose in life was to die for someone else anyway

Why does he do this? I theorized before that Pyrrha is stil around and he's kind of both of them, so do his eyes betray when he is Gideon versus Pyrrha too and he wants to hide that?

I'm absolutely dying to know exactly what kind of relationship these two(/three?) had/have. They had an affair and they do seem to like each other, but he killed her literally twice now and she very much tried to kill him with the whole incinerator thing. Actually, I mean, speaking of the incinerator incident, when he talked to Harrow after that, did he really think Wake was possessing Harrow? Did he not realize she was actually possessing Cytherea? I think he must have realized she was possessing Cytherea, because of his visits to her before that, but then after the incinerator thing he was talking to Harrow like she was Wake. But I guess Wake was then also in the River bubble doing the two-places at once thing

What Pyrrha died for? I mean, aside from the fact that I think Pyrrha might still be around, actually, wouldn't the official story be that Pyrrha died 10,000 years ago and not 19 years ago?

I love all of Gideon Nav's descriptions of Gideon the First: Gideon Classic, Gideon Senior, Gideon Prime, Gideon, original flavor

Is this the real reason why John seals himself up when they fight the resurrection beasts, so he doesn't bleed blood that could be used to open the Tomb?

So, the original plan was the Gideon's death would, by itself, undo the blood ward and then presumably Mercy or Augustine could come by later to undo all of the other wards? And what actually happened was that there was a thanergy bloom because of the deaths of the 200 children and then Gideon like, I don't know, scraped her knee outside the Tomb once and that undid the blood ward? And Harrow thought she must have figured it out herself somehow?

This is simultaneously so funny and also kind of gross. But the original Deus Apate, like I mean the original Greek one, was really just about distracting God and not about secretly harvesting his sperm to create a baby to bring about the apocalypse, no one needed to specifically seduce Zeus to get him to create babies with absolutely everyone. I thought it was an appropriate reference when it appeared earlier in the story because that was about distracting John, but it feels significantly less apropos here

Did Tamsyn Muir sit down and go, you know what would have been really cool? You know what would have been really great? It would have been just awesome if Darth Vader had cracked a dad joke at the end of Return of the Jedi, I'm so mad he didn't do that

Things that are still not resolved as of this chapter:

What does Gideon's eye color mean?

Why were Mercy and Augustine trying to open the Tomb?

#the locked tomb #harrow the ninth

[icebrooding]

STORY! THOUGHTS! (along with meta/fractal)

In chronological order as I go through;

"You're damn right Nephus, let us go in, guns blazing!"

I think its so cute baby kryptis are 'broodlings'. The adventures are pretty fun!

Love noticing new dialogues on-map!!!

Nephus telling Peitha to get behind us and her instantly running out into combat is perfect. She will make good friends with Trahearne in my fic.

Chapter 18 fucking destroyed me??

Like ok. Eparch terrified of Mordremoth? Scary shit. When you're this big of a threat but there is still The Bigger Fish...

Snargle books existing in Nayos (via thievery) made me wheeze.

Looking up the stairs and seeing the kryptis standing up the sides of it was so Good visually smh.

I joked earlier: 'what if Zakiros is empty'. not like this..... never like this...........

Going in That Room actually made me feel so... upset. The whole time I was going around freeing the essences I was just 'this is distressing. this is so, so upsetting'. I felt so oddly cold.

My theory that Eparch slaughtering that village was done purely out of nature and not out of malice, confirm. But on that note...

I still feel like there is more to it. I still think Isgarren had done something to Eparch. There is still something SUPER missing here. Their dynamic is shady to the very end.

I need to do a writeup on how Eparch was actually a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, obviously :/ /s

The horn and then the kryptis all standing down made the hairs on my arms stand on end lmfao

Confirmation that Febe was one of the other House leaders! Man, Nephus really was the only surviving one, huh... I assume Aurkus died at some point, anyway.

ISGARREN COMING IN AT THE LAST MOMENT LETS GOO. You did not get Midgarsormr'd, you scrungly prune of a creature.

Something about Eparch calling Peitha a 'princess' and then so specifically 'my blood' just makes me wonder if he was really her father and not her uncle. IDK, just thoughts for my brain...... its probably not but i love Thinking

Eparch's entire last segment really does make me think he was the 'well-intentioned extremist' that got extremely lost/messed up along the way. With all the dialogue about Nayos being so hard to survive in and how resources are so scarce... Eugh. He was a power-hungry tyrant who did such horrible things but the memories from his PoV give him extra depth that I can feel sympathy toward.

I feel like I need to write some kind of Commander/Nephus/Zantharon fic.

So many fic ideas. SO MANY IDEAS FOR WILDFLOWERS HNGH.

and since i just did the meta-

SPIDER EPARCH REAL. I WANTED SO BAD FOR HIM TO HAVE A FUCKED UP SPIDER FORM. YES.

FRACTAL!

GOD FUCKING WOW I CANT BELIEVE THE SAME DUDE THAT KILLED ISGARREN'S GF ALMOST KILLED HIM TOO :)))

deimos/cerus fight was a whew as a 3man team. i love the constant chaos of their mechanics all going off and giving me trauma like you'd never believe! oil! OIL! OIL!!!

eparch.... hah. that was not gonna happen lmfao. need to get our resident Fourth Man and then I think we'll be okay tho.

#text #soto spoilers #this isnt like a comprehensive list its just the rapid-fire wordvomit that comes to my brain

[decepti-thots]

since almost none of the LL arcs made it through to the second round i don't think it's unfair to point out here what i said to lily while round one was going on: the main thing that doing the writeups in the bracket that stood out to me was. it was really hard to do proper summaries of the LL arcs the way i did for most of he MTMTE arcs?

i told them that the one that really made me go 'ah okay' was how. ok, so it was genuinely coincidental that elegant chaos and dissolution were matched up in round one as the two 'functionist arcs', i did not do that on purpose, i was trying to do a thing where round one was not gonna have any hard matchups based on my qualitative knowledge of what is and isn't beloved in the fandom, so the good shit was saved for later rounds, and it shook out that way. but like. i could summarise what elegant chaos was 'about' in a way that would jog the memory very quickly for anyone who hadn't read the comic in a hot second, because i didn't need to lean on the plot but the core theme. 'it's the time travel arc with a trolley problem for our characters at its core', boom, done. and i couldn't do that for dissolution! it is seven issues long, and i can tell you the 'plot', but i couldn't easily tell you... what that arc is. about. there is a division between its ostensible themes and the events that happen. same with the nautica-memory-loss arc. same with crucible! the LL arcs, i consistently struggled to briefly summarise not plot events but... what is it 'about'.

and i think that's why LL #25 made it through where other lost light stories didn't; i have my issues with it, but as with the best MTMTE arcs, i know what it's about. LL struggles to regain the narrative coherency most of MTMTE had where 'theme' and 'plot points' are mostly in sync, and a lot of that is as much to do with the simple fact that demanding a comic relaunch itself to have a #1 is a fucking stupid thing to do, tbh. even as i am more critical of later MTMTE arcs at times, the fact is that the loss of momentum caused by that editorial decision is not something you can just write yourself out of and editorial decisions deserve a chunk of the blame. comics industry, get your shit together. but i do think that LL #25, in being this epilogue that insists upon being its own thing, works to try and recover some of that thematic drive. similarly, i think the mederi arc is the closest LL comes to regaining that synergy between theme and 'plot', and lo, it came the closest as major arcs go to putting up a fight. anyway the moral of the story is that constant enforced relaunches are VERY DUMB. not that i think not having it would have magically fixed EVERY problem, but. seriously. oh my god. bane of the industry.

[thephdpensieve]

Chaos theory and chamomile tea

7/100 days of productivity • 31-Oct-23, Tuesday

About today

Predict Rossler, learn how to change the model ✓

Try forecasting timeseries >>

Send writeup to advisor >>

Get eclipsing binary data set from T ✓

Explore astro timeseries datasets ✓

Dinner with girls - garlic chicken, momos and custard

Phone off by 9:45, meditate and off to bed by 10:30 Was on a call with my best friend and it has been a long time since we talked, so I had to

Still got the cough from last week's flu. So trying to soothe my throat with chamomile tea

#Notations: ✓ Done >> Moved to tomorrow --struck-- cancelled #dark academia #gradblr #gradschool aesthetic #chaotic academia #phdblr #phd aesthetic #grad school motivation #phd life #phdjourney #physics phd #100 days of productivity #100 days challenge #100 dop #productivity challenge #phd tips #virtual buddy

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

I found your blog fairly recently and really enjoy your thoughtful writeups! Just wondering, how do you choose the fics you review? Is it just ones you’ve happened to read, or do people submit them to you, or something else? Thanks for enriching the fandom!

Thank you so much!! I answered this here recently but a short answer is: it's total chaos and I have no real system for what I read and when! But people are always welcome to submit! I just cant promise when they'll get recced <3

[tryslora]

Welcome to What I’m Reading Wednesday on a Thursday, because yesterday was chaos and while I got as far as making my little graphic, I didn’t get to do a proper writeup!

I also managed to finish three things between yesterday and today, but that’ll get discussed next week—this is being done as if I were posting it on Wednesday morning as I should have done! Preparing AHEAD OF TIME is apparently the new name of the game for future!me.

Audiobook

I finished reading Heat Wave, the third book in the Incredibles trilogy by TJ Klune, and DAMN that was an awesome ride. Do you love YA books? Queer books? Superheroes? Complicated gray areas but also villains who are villains? Non-neurotypical POV? This is that series. I adored Nick—our POV narrator in all his ADHD glory. I adored the story. It was just so much fun, and angsty in moments, and SO GOOD.

I then started the non-fiction writing advice book Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders, narrated by the author herself. This book is wonderful, like having a conversation with the author, and it makes me feel SO GOOD. Even unfinished, I’ve been screaming about it every chance I get. It’s great to read a self-help book and come out feeling energized and motivated rather than shamed.

Physical Book

My physical book is continuing The Marann by Christie Meierz. I have a few quibbles with the book, but overall, I’m enjoying it. There are some trigger warnings that should be included, so be prepared for that. I continue to enjoy the difference in culture between the aliens and humanity. This is definitely a romance, and has that vibe and happy feel.

Ebook

I have a huge collection of ebooks in my Kindle library, many of which I am not entirely sure how I obtained. Some are freebies that Amazon gives to Prime members monthly. Either way, I’m not certain how I got Love Among the Stars by Claerie Kavanaugh but I’ve been enjoying the romance. It’s a quick, easy read, but too light and quick to be great.

Manga & Graphic Novels

My journey through Elfquest continues with The Complete Elfquest, volume 2 by Wendy & Richard Pini. I’ve reached things that are definitely not familiar! I completed the Seige at Blue Mountain arc and am in the middle of the Kings of the Broken Wheel arc (hopefully I’m remembering that title correctly). Continuing to love it. I fully admit, I want to kick Rayek often and do hope to get to see some character progression as it goes on. I’m very much enjoying getting to see the new things. My excitement grows and it’s hard to hold myself to only one chapter a night!

Since I received the latest volume of Black or White by Sachimo (Vol 8), I sat down and read it right away. I mean. It’s BL, pretty much what it says on the tin. Jealousy between two men—both actors—who can’t be out, but there are an awful lot of people in the know about their relationship. That said, they really have settled in to their relationship and that part continues to improve.

Spoiler for next week… Between Wednesday morning (when this should have been written) and Thursday afternoon (when I am writing it), I finished three of the above books… so expect some new things next week! I may have also discovered that audiobooks make thick unwieldy highly descriptive prose accessible to me, when I struggle to read it in a physical book. So that’s cool!

#what i'm reading #am reading #books

[vinegar-on-main]

fynn thoughts. now.

:)

I ASSUME YOU MEAN FLYNN FROM SMT IV AND HELLO YES HI I am going to be talking major spoilers for SMT IV and by extension Apocalypse during this.

If you have any desire to play or watch me play the game (@beantothemax and by extension @meme-boys-blog you have clearance) I suggest you do not engage.

For the record, i haven't beaten SMT IV Apocalypse yet, so most of my opinions will come from SMT IV and the few glimpses I got of him during gameplay so far.

Favorite thing about them Almost every single NPC in Tokyo talks about how polite he is, almost unbearably so if you refuse healing from Hunters Associations. Every dialogue option is so very polite and formal.

Least favorite thing about them GOOD LORD I wish we got to see more of Past!Flynn in the Neutral route. I mean I got a couple more scraps of info from Apocalypse, but I need to know the kid's relationship with Masakado and/or Skins and Fujiwara.

Favorite line Hes a bit of a silent protagonist, but he does say stuff about Relics that you find around Tokyo. They're so silly. Try guessing which one is which!

"Could it be to protect one from feces?"

"Bizarre-smelling sand."

"Could it be a uniform for some sort of ritual?"

"A very bouncy object."

"Could it be seaweed?"

"....."

"A squishy carpet"

brOTP Mentioned this in the Isabeau writeup, but yeah. Isabeau. They've gone through so much, they're basically besties at this point.

OTP HEY GUYS YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE SO TRAGIC??? I love Flynn/Issachar. I love the inherent tragedy in it. I can see them going off and being Samurai together like they dreamed but alas, the world is not so kind... In fact it is so much Crueler than they think! nOTP Shipping Flynn with Walter or Jonathan. Like sure I can see it, but I think those two are more in love with Chaos or Law respectively. Again, please change my mind! I love hearing different opinions to mine!

Random Headcanon Flynn never really talked to people when he was a kid. Issachar approached him one time at like a town meeting and Issachar made it his mission to be friends with him. Flynn immediately opened up as soon as Issachar brought him out into the woods to hunt for Cool Bugs.

Unpopular opinion If you say any other ending is canon you CLEARLY haven't played neutral. And yeah i mean i get you neutral ending is hard to get and a bit of a slog, but new game plus is RIGHT THERE. And there's a BILLION guides on how to get neutral.

Song I associate with them

Just... Lets just say i drafted out an entire animatic to this song.

Favorite Picture of them

Sleepy... Having dreams about Things Screaming in his face... In all seriousness i think you know what is my fav picture:

Yes, i had to hunt through my files to see my darling boy smile again. He deserves it. Look at him, Hes so happy. About .5 seconds later he is beaten within an inch of his life. :(

#ask game answers #smtiv #Flynn smt #smt #shin megami tensei #megaten #smt iv #asks

[fritzes]

Toronto 2023 aka one of the most bizarre tournaments of the entire season

Even Daniil winning Rome has nothing on this chaos:

First, let us take a look at some of the seeds in this tournament. Casper Ruud is the third seed, having just flopped his way through the entirety of grass season and getting bageled in the final of a clay 250. Fourth and fifth seeds are Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune - we'll get to them later. The tenth seed is Félix Auger-Aliassime, who has only managed to hold onto his spot because most of his points are from the end of the season. For reasons inexplicable to me, Cameron Norrie is the eleventh seed. Borna Coric, holding on to his Cincinnati points, is the fourteenth seed.

In round one, lucky loser Vukic immediately upsets Coric 6-2 6-3. Qualifier Purcell takes out FAA 6-4 6-4. Milos Raonic, given a wildcard into his home tournament, beats tenth seed Frances Tiafoe in a tight match in which there was a ton of drama about what areas of the net it is acceptable to touch and win a point. Speaking of Canadian wildcards, Diallo beats Evans, who had just won Washington the week before. And finally, Alex de Minaur (we'll be seeing a lot of him) beats Norrie in a comfortable 7-5 6-4.

In round two, the top seeds come in and a lot of them immediately head out. Fifth seed Holger Rune, about to enter a massive flop era, loses to qualifier Giron in three sets. Tsitsipas gets crushed by Monfils 6-4 6-3. Vukic continues his run by beating Korda in an extremely close match. With the exact same scoreline as Tsitsipas, sixth seed Andrey Rublev loses to McDonald. Thirteenth seed Zverev is utterly destroyed by Davidovich Fokina 6-1 6-2.

Now into the third round, newly crowned Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz loses the first set to Hubi Hurkacz. And, in true Hurkacz fashion, the next two sets go to tiebreaks, both of which Carlos wins handily. Vukic's crazy run is finally ended by Monfils. And Davidovich Fokina continues to show no mercy to top seeds as he takes out Casper. Now, it seems like Alex de Minaur is down and out, seeing as he is down 1-5 against eighth seed Taylor Fritz. But then he wins a game. And then another. And then another. Yes, he somehow manages to win the set and ends up breadsticking Fritz to win the match.

So into the quarterfinals we go. Carlos Alcaraz's streak, starting all the way at Queen's Club, comes to an end as he loses to the inconsistent roller coaster of a player that is Tommy Paul. Davidovich Fokina just keeps winning and beats McDonald 6-4 6-2. And again, it seems like Alex is done for, down 2-5 against Daniil Medvedev. But what do you know: he wins a game. And another. And another. Alex de Minaur does it again and wins the match in straight sets.

In the semifinals, he keeps his momentum going and beats Davidovich Fokina 6-1 6-3. Amidst all this chaos, Alex de Minaur has pulled off numerous feats of excellence and is surely on his way to a title.

But there's one top seed left.

To say that Jannik Sinner cruised through this tournament is almost an understatement. He only lost one set, and he was gifted a walkover in the third round. Tommy Paul, who just beat Alcaraz? Jannik beats him handily, 6-4 6-4.

Alex's reward for his incredible run is a final against someone he is 0-4 against, an in the near future would be 0-7 against.

Before his miracle run ever sprang from that fateful bin, Jannik Sinner emerged from this insane tournament as the winner. And a few months later, it paled in comparison to everything he would do next.

#oh toronto 2023 you will always be famous #tennis #atp #chaos writeup

[gutsandbleeding]

THIRD WRITEUP!!!! :lowqualityconfetti:

This one centers around Chara, and fourth will be centering around Sealands! My writing style also changed, but I hope you enjoy !!

"If it's that hard, you can give up, Dreemurr. The responsibility will be taken by your brother." The sorcerer says, putting one hand on the throne being about to be placed on the golden, but stained by dust and blood floor. The inheritor of the throne looks up at them, with burgundy eyes tired and hopeless, yet they don't stand up at all. "No," they say. "Is it truly that important if there's no one responsible?" continuing on, "Asriel is a traitor. And I won't accept betrayal. Throw the throne away." Their voice echoing across the domicile, not doubting their decision. The sorcerer nods and carries the throne, leaving Chara to sit on a cold floor, burdened with frustration and guilt. Picking out and gently looking at the buttercups around and under their sitting, armored legs, Chara thinks to themselves.

When will you come back?

The current state has left them betrayed by hope. Yet again, something they're about to reach has been taken away. Only one SOUL left for the barrier to break, and no one has been falling down for 2 years. Sacrificing won't do good, due to Chara being the royalty and if they're gone, the whole underground will go in chaos and war. Time passed so much, but we've still haven't found freedom.

But I know what to do.

#gutzz #undertale #gutzztalkzz #my au #underswitch #underswitch chara #chara underswitch #chara undertale #chara #undertale chara #chara dreemurr

[notajinn]

Top Games Played in 2023 - Number 6: Sonic Superstars

6. Sonic Superstars (PS5)

The first new 2D Sonic game since Sonic Mania had a lot to live up to.

Note that this writeup will have SPOILERS because there's some things I need to talk about that require them.

What I Like

First and most importantly, Sonic Superstars is not trying to be like Mania or even the classic Genesis games. It is clearly its own game, and I appreciate that. The physics are nearly matching those games, but the level designs give it a more unique feeling closer to the Sonic Advance series.

In general I think they did a great job with the level designs. They feel fun, unique, and mostly don't overstay their welcome. They also have a bit more emphasis on exploration, but not to the extreme level of Sonic CD.

The final zone in particular is hands down my favourite final zone in a 2D Sonic stage. Act 1 is already pretty cool, but Act 2 involves going through Act 1 backwards! I know that's been done in other games, but this is the best it's been executed in a Sonic game.

I love that there are character-specific stages. This is especially helpful for Tails who never got stages designed for him in the old games, and Amy Rose who just wasn't playable. As a big Tails fan, I really enjoyed the Tails-specific stage because it gave a challenge for a character that is otherwise considered the "easy mode" in previous games. Precise flying and backtracking were the right way to go about it.

Amy's playstyle is quite fun where she is somewhere between Sonic and Hammer Kirby. She's not quite as combat-focused as Sonic Advance, but in exchange she does platforming much better here.

The other new playable character Trip is also a lot of fun. Her spin dash lets her travel along walls similar to one of the Wisps in Sonic Colours. She has gets a very unique and weird Super form.

Speaking of super forms, this game has what I consider the easiest special stages in 2D Sonic. Not only are they about as easy as Sonic 3 & Knuckles Blue Sphere stages, but they are also extremely easy to replay if you fail since you can replay levels from the hub world. This makes them less stressful. This is also important because you actually get tangible differences from each Chaos Emerald thanks to the Emerald powers. Since I played as Tails outside of character-specific stages these weren't as important to me, but they have some useful functions like a screen clearing attack, an additional jump for a limited time, or a climbable tall vine. I found these powers most useful during boss fights.

I love that Fang the Sniper returned after so long. He's one of my favourite Sonic characters, so seeing him with a proper 3D model in game and in the animated cutscenes is just really cool. I also appreciate that he's still somewhere between genuinely dangerous and a goofball. They did a good job capturing his vibe in the aerial boss fight against him.

Adding a simple hub-world gives the game a nice level of polish. It also makes it easier to retry stages, or play the optional stages like character-specific acts or unlockable fruit acts.

The game is surprisingly long with 11 Zones, and you unlock a second Trip-specific campaign after finishing the game. I haven't tried the second campaign yet, likely leads to the true final boss

As a Tails player, I found it much easier to defeat enemies by flying in this game versus any other 2D Sonic. One other small thing is you get a special cutscene for Tails completing the game (you probably get one for each character).

What I Didn't Like

By far the biggest weakness of this game is the bosses. After the first few which are pretty standard, the bosses end up becoming FAR too long. In retrospect I realized much later that they probably intended for you to use Emerald powers, and I did for the last few bosses with great success. But they are still so long, even that aerial Fang boss that I otherwise enjoyed.

The final boss in particular is so long that it's almost as bad as the Death Egg Robot in Sonic 2. But it's still not quite THAT bad.

The other huge problem of the game is the unremarkable music. What kind of Sonic game doesn't have amazing music?! Even the ones I don't like much like Sonic Heroes had an amazing soundtrack.

I'm not a big fan of the Knuckles exclusive stage; he climbs very slow.

I was also bummed that Super Tails does not get any Flickies. He just gets the general speed/jump boost and invincibility.

Another small annoyance is when you exit the shop, you always end up at Zone 1 in the hub world regardless of where you entered. And then it can take up to a full minute to navigate back to where you were.

Final Thoughts

Sonic Superstars went for something different instead of emulating that classics. This worked great for levels, but not for bosses. If they can keep this quality of level design but make bosses quicker like the classics, a sequel has the potential to be one of my favourite Sonic games.

#top games of 2023 #sonic superstars

[vettesebas]

neat little writeup on RBR's Hannah Schmitz. no matter how you feel about Red Bull, you gotta admit Hannah's been an insanely valuable asset to the team. i love that she leans into the chaos, blocks out all the noise not central to her role, and wants to use her position to help other women in motorsport

#hannah schmitz #red bull racing #rbr #women in motorsport #females in motorsport #plus she was there for part of seb's reign 💙 #i'd really like to know what kind of dynamic they had if any

[ladycharles]

Apocalypse Girls - track 9 on Manic Pixie Dream World bts

This song is at its core a vision of the post-apocalypse. We are automating things such that it's conceivable that the internet could continue existing past the die-out of humanity. So what then becomes of our memories and experiences as they live on without us in cyberspace? The song is a lone survivor browsing through the Internet as their last connection to humanity, and it's an exploration of the digital world as its own ecosystem. I didn't realise at the time but it's very obviously influenced by living through the isolation of the pandemic.

I have always loved disco and especially the era of indie that took influence from it (Franz Ferdinand, The Killers for example). Its insistent, danceable pulse really lends itself to 4/4 time, so I thought it would be fun to try to make a disco beat in a really odd time signature, in this case 17/8.

I used to play in a band with Megan Miller who was similarly pretty fond of odd timing (you can hear it too in her work with And the Kids, I recommend Turn to Each Other). Since a big conceit of this record was doing things bigger and wilder, I set about trying to make it work so that it wasn't immediately obvious that the timing is so unusual.

When I contacted Greg Alsop, about drumming, he mentioned to me that he was working on a song in 17/8 which was an odd serendipity (I can only think of like two songs that use that signature). His drumming in Tokyo Police Club always really impressed me, it feels distinct - powerful like punk but more rich and complex with a lot of cool patterns that wouldn't necessarily come to the average player. I think he took the song and kicked it up a big notch - this song is so close to chaos it needed a perfect yet lively drum performance and that's what he brought.

Sorry for the long long writeup this time, this one had a lot of moving parts. I have to shout out that Erin Tonkon and Sarah Register made this mix/master so good for the album version - it was a bit silly of me to insist on mixing the single version myself because this is an extremely difficult song to balance and I really did a pretty okay but not amazing job on the original mix. Also have to shout out the amazing video by Areeb Tariq which I might post separately.

#glam rock #indie rock #spotify #lady charles #musician #nonbinary #genderfluid #franz ferdinand #The Killers #And the Kids #Prog #Prog punk #Post punk #Manic pixie dream world

[heatherinthesky]

We are supposed to hurt and get hurt , love and be loved, yell and yelled at. What are we in the midst of this chaos , a mere human with flaws and emotions running wild. Mistake and be mistaken ! #human #life #poem #muse #art #writeup

#art #poem #nature #oceans #real life

[vortship]

[Headcanon] Hal sees Zim and Dib as dorks

Send me a headcanon you have about my muse

Yes and no. I actually was planning on doing a longer writeup of Hal's skewed opinion on Irkens so HOLD THAT THOUGHT. Hal sees Zim as her unstable boss with a mysterious past she wants to know more about. She enjoys the chaos, while still often finding him unbearable. Even the nonsense queen has her limits.

As for Dib, I THINK I've covered this before but a lot of that is situationally based. She doesn't think of him as much when she first meets him, but she does test his limits to figure out why Zim sees him as a threat while still remaining playfully ambivalent. The more he pries into her life, the more actively malicious she becomes in thwarting him. Basically, messing with him is fun until it gets too real and isn't anymore.

#[ᴛʜᴀɴᴋs ɪ ʜᴀᴛᴇ ɪᴛ! ┐(●’v’)┌ ooc]