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high-warlock-of-brooklyn · 3 years

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take every chance, drop every fear

Note: The art is made by the brilliant and amazing @miss-shiva-adler Thank you so much for agreeing to collab with me, you have been so terrific 💙

Summary: The Clave has given a mandate for Simon- a new mission. Get the dagger that killed the first Shadowhunter, and get it quickly. Only problem? The dagger is in possession of Jace Herondale, the continent's most notorious Vampire King. Simon has to fulfil the mission, come what may. Except, the Vampire is already aware of his intentions, and is ready to face him. The result is sure to be deadly for at least one of them. Except, the mission doesn't go the way either of them expect.

Ao3: LINK

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“I’m going.”

“No you’re not.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“Like hell I can’t.”

Simon sighs, putting the briefing file back on the ops table. “Are you going to be like this the entire mission?”

“No.” Raphael shakes his head. “I’m not. Because there’s not going to be a mission in the first place.”

“Raphael, this isn’t your decision to make.” Simon crosses his arms.

“Okay. You’re right.” Raphael scowls. “This is your mission. But I have to say, it’s a very stupid mission.”

“What’s so stupid about it? It’s literally the simplest mission we’ve ever done. Even the Clave signed off on it.” Simon shrugs. “Get in, get the dagger, get out. It’s that easy.”

“Except for the part where you’re going into the lair of a Vampire king who’s been known to hold grudges against Shadowhunters in the past, and who guards his property more fiercely than a Draconea .”

Simon seems to bristle at that. “You don’t think I can do this?”

“I didn’t say that. I just don’t want you going in without backup. We’re Parabatais, we’re supposed to watch each other’s backs.” Raphael explains, his tone softening. Simon’s face brightens like a Mundane child on Christmas morning. “Aww you want to come with me! You want to keep me safe! I knew you were a softie inside, you big ole huggy bear.”

Raphael’s scowl deepens. “I know two hundred and sixty ways to kill someone and make it look like an accident, don’t tempt me.”

“Noted.” Simon offers him a lopsided smile. “This isn’t gonna be a cakewalk, I know that. I just- I know I’m up to it. And I’m long due for assignments anyway, I’ve been on patrol duty for way too long.”

“Nothing wrong with good old fashioned Shadowhunting,” Raphael remarks. “But if you’re so adamant, I’m going to help you with the plan.”

“I already told you my plan.” Simon reminds him.

“Yeah and I said it’s a stupid plan.” Raphael rolls his eyes. “Listen, I might not be inside watching your back, but I’ll be damned if I send you in without a proper plan. And no- don’t you dare-” he slaps away Simon’s attempt to squeeze his cheeks, “Don’t try to stop me.”

“Aye aye boss.” Simon offers him a mock salute, earning another eyeroll.

“Now I was thinking we could chart the ins and outs of the DuMort, maybe get some floor plans from the Archive.” Raphael says.

“I have a better idea,” Simon follows him out of the ops centre. “There have been missions of this type that I’ve seen before, and I was thinking we could maybe go through those. Learn how it works.”

“There has?” Skepticism clouds Raphael’s face, “I thought the Clave didn’t normally allow missions like this.”

“I know,” Simon nods gravely, “But these are crucial. You could even say that they provide- leverage .”

That stops Raphael in his tracks, the older Parabatai groaning as he pieces it together. “Simon Levi Lovelace, tell me you’re not going to put me through hours of a Mundane heist movie.”

“Of course not. I won’t make you sit through a movie.” Simon assures him, before breaking into a shiteating grin. “It’s a tv series!”

“Ay dios mio.”

---------------

“I can’t believe you’re still grumpy about this.”

“I’m your Parabatai, I’m allowed to be grumpy about your lack of self-preservation instincts.” Raphael tells him flatly.

“Why are you so upset? I’ve done vigorous research as you’re aware!” Simon protests weakly.

“Watching hours of tv and reading up on the man is not enough. What if you need an exit strategy quickly?” Raphael holds out a hand, a tiny round disk on it. “I asked Lily to make this specifically for you. Put it in your ear.”

“If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me to put something in my ear, I’d have two dollars. Which isn’t much but it’s weird that it has happened twice.” Simon looks at the device, debating the decision in his mind. “I know you’re concerned about my safety, and I appreciate the gesture, but I can’t take it.”

“Listen-”

Simon cuts him off before he can complain further. “I’m not refusing it because I want this to be a solo mission. I’m not taking this because Jace Herondale is the most powerful vampire on this continent and I’d rather not be caught with a device on me that crackles every time it turns on. He’ll expose me in a second. I have to focus on keeping my heartbeat even and my glamour intact, I can’t have any other distractions.”

Raphael stays silent for a moment, and Simon worries that he has insulted his best friend by declining the clearly thoughtful gift. But Raphael is nodding in agreement the next moment, and relief almost knocks Simon off his feet.

DuMort looks as sullen and abandoned as it perpetually does, and Simon feels tendrils of insecurity creep in as he stands outside wearing a white t shirt under the black leather jacket he raided from Raphael’s closet.

What if the intel was wrong and there’s no party at all and he looks like a fool when he has to go back to the Institute empty handed?

His hands fly to fidget with the cuffs of his jacket, nervously bouncing on his toes. Finally, after an excruciating wait of three minutes, Simon spots the stray lights of a strobe, a distant thumping vibrating the ground under his feet. He walks into the building, his senses at the highest of his abilities. Simon isn’t sure if it’s because of all the runes he’s activated under his glamour, or his anxiety sending a tingling sensation at his fingertips.

A healthy dose of each, he supposes.

The thumping of bass increases tangentially the closer he gets to the party venue. Simon spots no less than six vampires lounging in the dark corridors, a few perched on the banisters. It’s not something to inspire confidence, but it’s certainly a manageable number, if a situation rises. Finally, after a few minutes of going through some of the most complicated floor plans he’s ever seen, he comes face to face with the actual venue.

The party is….well there is a reason the Vampire king’s parties have a certain reputation .

There are aerial acrobats hanging from the chandelier that’s roughly the size of Simon’s room in the Institute, worth way more than he can probably imagine. The buzz of music is ever present, the bass shaking him to his very bones. Numerous waitstaff in wide ranges of clothing mingle in the crowd, offering drinks to the patrons.

The Herondale Clan symbol can be seen standing stark against the ashen skin of their wrists, the tattoo of a set of fangs biting a dagger dripping blood seared in his memory from Raphael’s in depth briefing. The knowledge does very little to soothe his nerves, hands flying to fidget with the decorative chains on his jacket.

One of the waitresses approaches him, and Simon debates between turning her away to remain alert but risk sticking out, or drinking anyway and take a gamble on his generally lightweight nature. But turns out he doesn’t need to make a decision after all, as she puts a glass of golden liquid in front of him, gesturing to the back of the club when he looks at her curiously, leaving just as gracefully as she came.

Simon picks the glass up, the doubtless expensive glass a comforting weight in his hands. The back of the club is darkly lit, adorned with only a single leather sofa big enough for two people, three at most. Simon tries not to stare, all the wheels in his mind whirring loudly to figure out just who would send him a drink so soon since his arrival.

Call it a professional curiosity.

At last, the strobe overhead flashes in the direction he’s been squinting at for the past three minutes, and Simon catches a flash of golden hair, and a set of glowing mismatched eyes, and all the bells in his head go off at once.

-----------

Jace is trying really hard not to be offended. He really is.

It’s one thing to come to the farce they call Clave Downworlder Relations meetings and lie to his face. He expects that after so many years in the Shadow World. It’s another thing to plan to steal from right under his nose.

The moment his informant at the Institute told him about the operation, he was ready for the Shadowhunter to step into his club, so he could rip his throat out and get on with his night without a hitch.

He just didn’t expect the guy to be so non threatening. Almost……. cute .

Well it’s not a hindrance really, definitely not a wrench into his plans. More like a ring lost in a birthday cake dough that you only notice after baking. A spilled ice cream scoop at most.

Whatever, Jace thinks. He’s just going to have to toy a little with the guy before he kills him.

----------

“I haven’t seen you around here before.”

Simon tries not to bristle or let any excitement show as the golden haired vampire claims the seat next to him at the bar, the crowd parting reverently to make space for him. Simon fidgets in his seat, hoping the man assumes his racing pulse as excitement rather than the truth.

He’d rather not die so soon into the assignment. Who’d finish his new Lego set?

The vampire gestures at the bartender for a drink, not taking his eyes off of Simon even for a second. The bartender, a wiry pale man, almost passable for a Mundane were it not for the purple eyes devoid of any iris. He hands over a drink to Herondale’s hand, the liquid sloshing against the rim in his hurry. Simon notices the dark red of it in the pulsing strobe light, and shudders inside.

Blood .

Simon takes a deep breath, settling his nerves. He’s a Nephilim. This is a mission. There is no room for error. He takes a swig of his drink before speaking, the alcohol warming its way down his throat. “You know everyone who comes here?”

“I never forget a face. Besides, I’d remember a face that pretty.” The vampire answers smoothly. Simon hopes the warmth in his cheeks is from the alcohol and not the implication of whatever this is.

Hope being a loose word.

“I’m Jace Herondale, I own this place.” the blond nods at him, lips stretching in a brilliant smile. A set of fangs behind his flawless set of teeth glint in the club lights, and Simon feels a shiver go down his spine.

“Simon.” He offers, stopping himself before he blurts out the Lovelace part. Herondale raises an eyebrow.

“Just Simon?”

“Just Simon. For tonight anyway.” The brunette purses his lips.

“Well then, Just Simon ,” the vampire’s eyes sparkle with mirth, looking Simon up and down, then offers an elbow casually, “You look like someone who could use some air. Fancy a tour?”

Simon straightens in his bar stool. “Mr Herondale, I-”

“Jace, please. I insist.” Herondale smiles dangerously.

“Jace.” Simon says slowly, as if feeling out the sound of it first. “I have to say, I’m not as easy to impress as I look.”

“Well then,” the blond smirks, “I guess I will have to try my best.”

Simon takes the offered arm, walking towards the back of the club, and up the stairs towards a lavish penthouse at the top of the DuMort.

The eagle has landed in the nest, Simon thinks, the eagle has landed in the freaking nest!

---------------

It’s like taking candy from a baby honestly. Well, not that he’d actually take candy away from a child. He might be a bastard Vampire king, but even he’s not that much of an asshole.

Jace guesses it’s more like tearing throats of pretty, unaware Shadowhunters.

The Nephilim gapes as they step into the penthouse. Jace suppresses the urge to laugh as the boy stares at the glass ceiling, the New York sky resplendent with millions of stars, the Milky Way partially visible this time of year. “Cat got your tongue?” He asks. The Shadowhunter almost forces himself to tear his eyes away, as if regretting it the second he does.

Jace feels curious if Nephilims do ever get to have the time to look up at the stars.

“This- this is, just brillian- wait.” Simon stops in the middle of the drawing room, “Don’t sunlight also come in?”

“It’s reinforced. UV resistant.” Jace explains. “Made for people with sun allergies.”

Simon nods in understanding, face sincere. “It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Jace answers. “Come on, I have something to show you.”

Simon follows him wordlessly, remnants of the childlike wonder still on his face, until he notices the narrow lobby and hand flies instinctively towards the breast of his jacket.

As if Jace wasn’t already feeling the glare of the adamas stele in his pocket.

Jace resists the urge to scowl. In his long life, if he knows one thing, it’s that Shadowhunters respond well only to one language.

He’ll show them what violence can mean.

-----------------

“Why do you have four different bathtubs? In four different bathrooms as well?” Simon asks confusedly. “Seems kind of overkill.”

“So I can bathe however I like.” Jace shrugs. “Three of those are for specific moods, and one is for spaghetti baths.”

Simon stares at him for a moment. “I honestly don’t even want to know.” Jace laughs, throwing his head back. Simon tries not to pay attention to how beautiful the man looks when he smiles.

“It’s an inside joke.” Jace explains, before straightening up, expressions smoothing to neutral ones. “There’s something I’d like to show you. Come on.”

The man moves closer into the penthouse, and Simon follows, mapping out the escape routes almost instinctively, noting how far they are from any immediate help should he need to avail it in an emergency. There’s a twinge of disappointment somewhere underneath the part of his brain that has been trained for two and a half decades to be vigilant, and Simon has to remind himself to focus on the matter at hand.

Right. The mission.

“Here.” Jace gestures at an open door to a separate part of the structure, light from inside the room illuminating his golden locks into a resplendent sunlit glow. The Vampire offers him a tight lipped smile, and Simon notices the deadlocks on the door, and a set of biometric scanners that shouldn’t be needed for a vampire.

What the hell is he keeping in there? And what exactly does he want with Simon?

“Listen.” Jace says hesitantly before Simon can step inside, hand on the doorknob. “I haven’t really shown this room to anyone. This is somewhat of a private indulgence, and you are one of the only few to ever witness everything that’s in this room.”

Simon’s heart lurches, but he tries to keep the ruse going, lips stretched into a practiced smile. “Hey, at least if something’s missing, you’d know who to ask.”

“Yes I would.” Jace answers, fangs shining as he offers a sharp smile.

Simon is so fucking screwed.

----------------

“By the A-”

The Nephilim clamps both his hands over his mouth, possibly to keep himself from saying the name of their precious Angel. Jace pushes the eyeroll down under the feeling of knowing he rendered a Shadowhunter speechless.

“You- you have- this is- I mean I expected- but- but this- I-”

Simon sputters on, and Jace debates over how to approach the situation. He could keep up the ruse of this being a date and show off his prized possessions, and this would definitely send a clear message to the Clave not to mess with the vampire king ever again. Or he could step back and let the boy intimidate himself.

Oh well, his best friend has been telling him to practice subtlety for the past few centuries anyway.

Jace lets Simon go up to the aisles between the artifacts, eyes weaving between all them, as if trying to take them all in at once. Jace waits for a reaction, ready to relish in the knowledge that he outsmarted the Clave.

“This is the best day ever!”

Wait what?

-----------

It’s been a little over one and a half hours. They still haven’t left the collection room. Jace is beginning to fear he never will.

The Nephilim, to Jace’s utter astonishment, and more than a little disgruntled feeling, looks just as excited to see the sword that fell Vikramaditya as he is seeing the Black Volume of the Dead. He’s been over sixty such oddities, every single one of them the only one of their kind, either by nature or by design, eyeing them like a child on their birthday. He makes a mention of having a fascination with unique artifacts like these since childhood, telling Jace everything he knows about them, seeking out any extra facts the age old Vampire might know that a historical record could have missed.

Jace is starting to suspect the Clave sent this specific Nephilim planning to undermine his strategies.

Not that he’d ever admit that it’s working. Nope.

He definitely does not preen as Simon tames the usually wild Black Volume like a house cat. He absolutely does not smile indulgently when Simon gushes over the kukri used to stab Genghis Khan affectionately.

He scoffs at the mere notion that someone like him would ever even be anything other than wrathful at a Nephilim, let alone be…. fond .

Yet Simon is going up to the countless artifacts that any museum would sell all their available limbs for, and treating them the same way a Mundane might treat an old friend, and Jace’s lips quirk up in an amused smile without any conscious effort on his part.

Finally, finally, Simon rounds up the first room of the collection, coming to stand in front of a dais at the north-east corner where a single dagger lies buried in a mound of solid dirt, preserved in a decorative glass case, warlock charms the only thing keeping it the way it appears against the harshness of time.

Jace waits for something to happen, and feels something blooming deep under all the amusement and excitement and more than a little satisfaction, and tries to put a name to the feeling. It’s disappointment, he realizes a moment later.

It’s ever so rare to find someone who truly appreciates his collection, not for what they can be used for, but rather for what they represent- the undeniable unshakable proof of the world’s wonders, spanning millennia of history. It’s rarer for them to be the very joyous, caring and sweet way that he thinks is distinctly Simon.

That’s the reason for this sudden melancholy, Jace tells himself, because the alternative is so much worse. Especially when he’s going to have to wipe off the blood of the boy in front of him from his fingers in a few moments.

Simon’s back has gone ramrod straight, his expression troubled, and Jace wonders what lie he’s going to hear. Jace finds himself wondering if he will use adamas on him.

“I have a confession to make.” Simon says without turning back.

-----------

Raphael was right, he really has lost his mind.

“I need to tell you something.” Simon rambles on without a break, worried that the nerve he’s worked up will falter at the slightest pause. “I lied when I came here. I didn’t- I’m not- I’m not a Mundane. I’m a Shadowhunter. And this was my mission. To infiltrate the DuMort and obtain the dagger that killed Cain Shadowhunter. So that the Silent Brothers can study it.”

As Simon speaks, the glamour around him ripples as if every word is a stone cast in the water, and as he finishes, it falls away to nothing, showing the black runes stark against Simon’s pale skin.

Jace narrows his eyes, apprehensive of the Shadowhunter for an entirely different reason than he expected.

Simon keeps on talking. “I’m aware you might think I’m playing games with you, but I’m truly not, you can believe it. My Parabatai suggested a heist, not a con, and I wanted to do it alone. I watch a lot of Mundane TV you see, and I just wanted to test it out. Coming here undercover, flirting with you so you’d show me the dagger. All of it. But I wasn’t prepared for- for this.”

--------------

He’s done it, that wild Shadowhunter. He has managed to render Jace Herondale speechless.

He’s been expecting a lot of things. Lies. Accusations. Glamours. Even a fight. But not this. Not a clear admission of guilt. Not a confession. Not honesty.

Definitely not from a Shadowhunter of all people.

But standing in front of him, Simon looks as open as the book Jace’s mother used to read him, a time that seems like more than a few lifetimes ago. And just as familiar.

It’s not surprise, particularly, that makes him ask the question. Rather it’s the increasingly unsettling feeling, the uneasiness that claws inside some old forgotten part of him. “Why are you telling me this?” Jace asks, hoping the answer would tilt the world back into the way it was, the way it should be- a Shadowhunter cheating and lying their way into his lair, and him tearing them apart without a second thought.

But Simon, it seems, has a natural knack at surprising him.

He laughs, leaning forward, a clear sound Jace wants to hear again as soon as it subsides. His form shakes with the bouts of laughter, dark blue sneakers scuffing against the floor as Simon has to make a conscious effort to steady himself lest he topples the thirteenth century jade vase with a hidden message only to be read under clear moonlight.

Jace looks at him, questions swimming in his stare. Simon stops laughing for a second to catch his breath before he can answer.

“I’m telling you this because I’m an absolute idiot.” Simon wipes away a few stray tears that had sneaked their ways down his cheeks. “I’m a Shadowhunter, here to take back what is essentially historically ours. And I’m worried about you, the literal Vampire King, being sad.”

“What?” Jace asks, stupefied.

“My thoughts exactly.” Simon echoes. “Raphael is going to kill me.”

“Who?”

“My Parabatai,” Simon clarifies, then straightens up, shoulders rigid, the typical Shadowhunter mannerism shining through that lopsided smile. But even then, Jace notices it being filtered by a prism made of a good heart with an open mind. Then the Nephilim speaks, and the tone is, understandably, much more firm than it was a moment before.

“I have to take it. Dimensional portals are being breached, demons that haven’t been seen for millennia are swarming their way back. And we need more information. I’ll fight you if I have to. But really, you have to understand. This is a matter of safety of the whole Shadow World.”

That brings Jace back from his stupor, Simon’s words playing in his head on repeat like a beloved record. He squares his shoulders, regaining his lost composure, and regards Simon closely before he speaks. “I was aware of the ‘mission’, as you put it.” He silences Simon with a raised hand. “Yes, I have sources inside the Institute. Don’t insult my intelligence by arguing otherwise.”

“I was going to kill you once I caught you trying to steal the dagger.” Jace notices as Simon digs his nails in his palm, trying to fight off a shiver. “However, I have to admit, I was not ready for you to confess. And I was definitely not prepared for you to be so forthcoming with your intentions.”

Simon stares at him, expression resting somewhere between apprehensive and curious. “What should we do now, then?”

Jace turns, sitting against a high-backed leather chair he keeps inside the room. “In any case, I don’t see why we have to tarnish our professionalism.”

Simon squints in confusion. “You mean like a….. fight?”

“No, of course not. I see no reason we can’t be civilized.” Jace makes a show of mulling over the matter, before deciding on it. “I propose a deal.”

Simon crosses his arms. “I’m listening.”

“I offer the dagger to the Clave for their research, on loan . In return, I receive a generous compensation from the Institute.” Simon opens his mouth to ask something, but Jace keeps going on. “Let me finish. I also get a date with you. An actual one.”

That succeeds in shutting Simon up completely. The Shadowhunter stops, confident expression faltering at the face of the statement. He swallows, throat bobbing. “Why?”

“Why not?” Jace counters. “I had fun today, infiltration and all.” The blond smiles, as if letting Simon in on a private joke. “And it is awfully hard to find anyone that’s actually as interested in these as I am. I’ve been told most find these grim and improper for date night.”

“Ugh, amateurs.” Simon exclaims, face lit in a shining smile. “Okay then. I’ll go on a date. You know, for the greater good.”

“Ah, right. The greater good .” Jace teases.

---------------

“What the hell were you doing there for six hours?” Raphael asks in an accusatory tone as soon as he steps inside the Institute. Simon doesn’t answer, putting the wooden box gingerly on the ops table first, then shrugs off the jacket, bending his head this way and that to pop a muscle joint.

“You got the dagger.” Raphael says quietly as he opens the box. His eyes go wide once he takes in the content, enthralled to be in the presence of the stuff of legend every Nephilim child is told during bedtime.

“We have a mole here in the Institute.” Simon says, quiet enough only for Raphael to listen. The latter barely registers the words, eyes transfixed on the dagger at hand.

“Don’t be absurd.” Raphael scoffs.

“He knew about the mission, about me being undercover.” Simon raises an eyebrow.

That seems to snap Raphael out of whatever trance he’s been in ever since he took the dagger in hand. “What? Your cover’s blown?” Simon nods in agreement.

“We have to fix this right now.” Raphael puts the box away, focusing on the problem at hand. “We need to take Herondale out.”

“Already ahead of you, Rapha.” Simon claps a hand over his Parabatai ’s shoulder, assuring him. “We’re going out to Taki’s this Thursday.”

“Okay then.” Raphael nods along, before his face scrunches up as the words fully register. “Wait, what?!”

Simon can’t wait for Thursday.

#hmdiscord #nephilimdaily #idrisnnetdaily #tsccreatenet #dailyjimon #jimondaily #jace herondale #simon lewis #shadowhunters #the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc #the mortal instruments #tmi #jay.fic #collab fic #art

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a-day-in-the-afterlife · 4 years

Text

The 14th Department (AFTERL!FE) Meets the Demon Brothers and Undateables (Obey Me!)

Lucifer

Noah heard he has a dog. He is staying far away from the pretentious eldest.

Oldest big brother? You better believe Youssef finds a kindred spirit, even if they differ wildly in personalities.

Louis lives for the almost regal aesthetic Lucifer has got going on. Lucifer, in turn, lives for the day Louis will stop talking.

Quincy finds this whole trip preposterous (“What the heck is the Devildom? What happened to the Underworld?”) and does not like Lucifer’s condescending attitude (it conflicts with his own!).

Ethan doesn’t like Lucifer—proud and arrogant people with no reason to be so are not to be respected. Lucifer despises Ethan for the same reason.

Day! Will! Not! Go! Near! Lucifer! He’s so scary! But Cerberus is his best friend now (Nine-Nine who?).

Nine and Theo together find out that the eldest demon is into classical music and spend hours discussing early compositions with him.

Ell cannot be around this demon! He is a fallen angel! He tries to be nice (and because Ell is kind, so is Lucifer, even if the sickly sweetness of the angel drives him up the wall), but every good wish is punctuated with a sneeze.

Lucifer is so overworked, so by way of his calm disposition and love for meditation, Jamie helps him find ways to relax.

The eldest demon’s general demeanor astonishes June. How manly he is!

Likewise, Sian can’t go near Lucifer without feeling nervous. The man drips dominating energy!

Verine can’t understand the eldest’s love for classical music. Rock is infinitely better.

Mammon

Um, Mori and him are best friends. They together cause trouble in the House of Lamentation and in the 14th Department with their many get-rich-quick schemes.

Gaudy and expensive taste? Sign Louis up.

Ethan says ‘no’ to the demon’s general pomposity (it reeks of low self-esteem) and by God, doesn’t he own anything that depicts an iota of class?

Mammon is one speedy demon—how can Kirr not appreciate his fleetfootedness when it would bring him so much use whilst hunting? Apart from that, Kirr has no respect for that reprehensible thief, for the very idea of stealing brings back terrible memories.

Always belittled by their peers, Day and Mammon find a kindred spirit in each other, and Day is always reminded of his past life when he sees all the gold that Mammon professes to possess possesses.

Kati bit him twelve times because no dumb tsundere was going to steal his (cough Aitachi’s) spot as cutest in the Department!

Licht is eclipsed by Mammon’s demon form because how is he able to pull off wearing so little clothing so well? He must take notes. When he learns that Mammon is a model, too, he goes berserk with delight.

Cyrille finds the secondborn exceedingly stupid, although he begrudgingly gives him credit for being pretty decent at math.

Sian spots a fellow tsundere and runs away, because oh my God, it’s so obvious that Mammon likes this MC person!

Leviathan

Games? Social awkwardness? Extreme interest in things that no one else seems to care for? Cyrille has found his soulmate!

Aitachi and Kirr cringe at how Leviathan spends his leisure time, but are intrigued because they have never seen such methods of gaming and media consumption before.

Leviathan is forever at Quincy’s mercy, for the fellow demon has no qualms of absolutely crushing Levi’s already non-existent self-esteem.

Even though he loathes to admit it, Sian really likes the rhythm games Leviathan plays, and the thousands of idol posters in his room make him strangely nostalgic of his past life.

June wonders how Levi can go so long without feeling the overwhelming need to burst into a sprint now and again.

Theo almost kills the thirdborn because how is his room filled with so many Demonrito and Hell Mountain Dew containers? What filth!

Speaking of filth, Licht finds some of Levi’s dating sims and oh my darling, some of them are quite … lewd.

Ghilley and Leviathan together construct an elaborate Lego model of a castle from the anime My Sister Is A Fairy Princess, And Her Suitor Is Secretly An Ogre From a Land Far Away And Wants to Eat Us All, And It’s Up to Me to Save My Sister’s Kingdom.

Ethan can’t even walk past Leviathan’s room without a disapproving “tut.” Has the demon no discipline, despite being rumored to be the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy?

Kati spends all day poking at the cute monster and waifu figurines situated in Levi’s bedroom. He thinks Azuki-tan is cute, but not as cute as him, and anyone who says otherwise will get bitten!

Aitachi likes to rifle through Leviathan’s anime sword replica collection and giggle because in combat, they would be of no more use than a toothpick.

Satan

Finally! Someone with sense! thinks Ethan. Boy, do these two get along, right down to their educated and proper mannerisms to their mutual hatred of Lucifer.

Verine can’t go near Satan without coughing violently because the forthborn always has some manner of cat hair on him, no matter how diligently he preens.

Cats are infinitely better than dogs, so Noah sticks close to Satan.

Cyrille thought he had found a friend in Satan, who always has his nose in a book, but it turns out, Satan is more philosophically-and-intellectually-versed, while Cyrille is more scientific.

Nine likes Satan, for he is as calm as himself. Strangely enough, they both seem to have hidden wrathful feelings and bond over this.

Kitties! :D is all Day can think when he sees the fourthborn.

Youssef enjoys Satan’s company, too, for they both are anthropological in nature—always watching, but never interfering until there is a need.

Blond and princelike are the two of them, but Louis is sorely disappointed when Satan’s royal appearance is merely a façade of darker emotions to come, where Louis enjoys life in its every aspect. “How disappointing art thou, Satan!” Louis throws rose petals in distress.

Kirr and Aitachi try to hunt one of Satan’s cats, thinking it was some kind of Devildom’s finest prey. Satan does not forgive them for the attempt.

Theo sneezes the moment he enters Satan’s room. Although everything is in its place and not truly messy by any means, he refuses to let the stacks and stacks of books sit idly by when they are begging to be put in shelves!

Quincy and Satan each add to their respective repertoire of curses in their time together. It does not bode well for anyone in the House of Lamentation or 14th Department.

Asmodeus

They are … essentially the same person, so you can bet your ass that Licht and Asmo absolutely live for each other’s company. They literally spend hours modeling clothes together, discussing fashion, gossiping about their romantic exploits, and praising their overall appearance.

Louis joins in too, although he mostly stays for the latter, and the three vanquish away many nights complimenting their own and the others’ looks.

Sometimes Asmo likes to sew patches and sequins onto his clothes and mend them to his own design, and Aitachi, who likes to sew, learns many different ways of stitching from the fifthborn, although he hates the fact that Asmo, like Licht, never shuts up about what an “adorable and cute warrior” he is!

Asmo has to know Kirr’s hair care routine, which Kirr gives in one, succinct sentence: “I wash it. Sometimes.”

Nine has to constantly flee Asmodeus’ presence because it is in his nature to compliment the Soul Reaper on how absolutely beautiful he looks.

Kati expects makeovers, all of which should emphasize his cuteness, every other day.

Don’t ask how long Mori spent calculating how much money Asmo spends on beauty products, because he wept at the end of it.

Verine refuses to step a foot into Asmodeus’ room because do you know how much his sinuses are going to bother him when he spends even a second into a room so deeply entrenched in the fragrance of flowers and perfume?

Ghilley is used to a personality so akin to his roommate, Licht, so he has no qualms in dealing with Asmo and quite likes the gossip he is quietly able to distill from the fifthborn.

Beelzebub

Brothers in their flaming orange hair, June gloms onto Beel with astounding loyalty (Theo refuses to admit jealousy, but ...), especially when he hears of his dedication to his twin.

Cyrille has to interrogate Beel on the structural integrity of his wings in his demon form because there is no way that such a flimsy apparatus could lift a demon of Beel’s stature even an inch into the air! Also, how much does Beel exercise if he expects to gain muscle and burn off the infinite calories that he consumes? It is a scientific mystery.

Day likes snacks, Beel likes snacks! Everything is right in the world (even if the demon accidentally mistook Day’s hair for a mint ice cream cone).

Jamie is constantly offering fresh fruits and vegetables to the sixthborn, but even though he eats them willingly, Beel much prefers foods that will actually fill him up for a short amount of time.

Again, Ethan is appalled by the lack of discipline Beelzebub shows. The demon is simply a slave to his appetite and deserves nothing less than scorn.

Theo cannot decide if he likes or hates the fact that Beel leaves a trail of crumbs wherever he goes. On one hand, he gets to clean, but on the other hand, it’s so messy ...

Even though he has many misgivings of fallen angels, even Ell cannot help but like Beel! As long as he is fed, the demon is very sweet and kind.

Noah likes Beel, too. Something about his easygoing and generally cheerful personality pleases him to no end.

Beel tried to eat Kati’s hair, thinking it was a yummy bun. Sadly, he got bit more times than Mammon.

Youssef is a good cook and is thereby followed by Beel wherever he goes. The kind Soul Reaper doesn’t mind, though.

Belphegor

Noah likes how Belphie takes things easily and calmly, although it probably wouldn’t hurt for him to get more exercise.

Belphegor is even more of a conundrum to June than Leviathan was. He decides that next time he goes to the Devildom, he’s going to bring an extra pair of running shoes because the demon most certainly was wanting of physical exertion!

Kirr is absolutely astonished at the unguarded and completely lax way Belphie sprawls out in the House of Lamentation, sleeping. If he was an enemy tribesman, he would have no trouble in taking the demon down as he slept.

“This kind of laziness is not fit for a warrior at all!” cries Aitachi any time he seems Belphie dozing off.

Jamie likes Belphegor’s way of thinking. Sometimes, sitting under an apple tree in the sweltering summer heat after a hard day of work just causes one to be overcome with the desire to take a nap.

Youssef tries to brew Belphie a cup of espresso, but the caffeine just doesn’t seem to have an effect on the Avatar of Sloth.

Although he is slightly disheartened by the fact that his quiet footsteps seem to have no effect on the seventhborn, as he is always asleep, Ghilley revels in the prospect of drawing unsavory graffiti on the demon’s face when he slumbers.

Day sometimes tries to rouse Belphie, and Belphie, in turn, tries to kill Day.

Like his observations on his twin, Cyrille cannot fathom how the demon could sleep so much. How could one body need so much rest?

Simeon

Ell loves him. How can he not? He is the perfect angel! He is also very curious as to how the Celestial Realm of Obey Me!’s world works compared to the one in AFTERL!FE.

His whole aesthetic mesmerizes Louis. There’s something so tranquil but regal about it.

Licht wants to know where he can get an exact copy of Simeon’s outfit because darling, it's gorgeous.

Youssef probably spends more time around Simeon than he should, but his calm demeanor is so refreshing compared to the chaos in the 14th Department and the House of Lamentation.

Kirr and Aitachi together lament with Simeon on the struggles of working with technology. Why is it so difficult?

Something about the angel’s holy air makes Mori very much not inclined to ask him how much the gold clasp on his cape is worth.

Quincy hates the “pretentious” and “stuck up” angel and bickers with him almost as much as he bickers with Ell. Simeon never responds to his goading, although ... he does get a bit prickly when Quincy criticizes Luke or the Celestial Realm too harshly.

Encouraged by the prospect that he can actually breathe in the (fresh-smelling) presence of Simeon, Verine enjoys his company, but is perpetually annoyed by the fact that the angel seems to pity him for his condition.

Ethan can’t hate Simeon, either. He is the sole honorable character he can find in the entire Devildom, even though he has to admit that it seems that the angel is hiding something.

Day really likes Simeon! He’s so nice and is always ready to play with him.

As a man of science, Cyrille scoffs at Simeon (and Luke’s) unfaltering belief in religion.

Luke

Kati bites him on sight. Luke just seems irritating and how dare he think himself cuter than him!

Aitachi sympathizes with Luke, for they both lament on not being taken seriously because of their age.

Luke reminds him a bit too much of a chihuahua for Noah to be too fond of him, but the little angel means well, so Noah suffers his incessant barking out of (Kind)ness.

Day is a human puppy ... and Luke is an angel chihuahua. They get along great, although Luke makes it his most important goal to Christianize Day, who seems to believe in other things!

Quincy wonders when Luke will stop talking and is constantly entertaining thoughts of hastening the day when he will. Likewise, Luke wishes the “horrible demon” would go away forever.

As a fellow angel, Ell finds Luke to be great fun. It’s strange though, Luke seems to always be expressing the opposite of what he’s feeling in typical tsundere fashion, but he never sneezes.

Sian finds Luke to be of the utmost annoyance. He’s so short (heh) and yappy and annoying!

Kirr wonders if the little angel will make a good hunting dog, but after he realizes that Luke has a lot of trouble keeping his mouth closed, he thinks better of it.

His dealings with Day cause Nine to be an excellent caretaker of Luke when Simeon is away. You just have to deal with exuberant personalities like his carefully, is all.

Ghilley and Licht give Luke “five stars” in terms of cuteness. The young angel does not approve!

Theo stays far away from Luke. Children are walking crumb-and-stain-factories and he is not going to get dirty.

Solomon

Quincy and Solomon exchange many spell incantations and curses and keep the rest of the Soul Reapers, angels, and demons in an uproar with their constant shenanigans.

When he notices that Solomon has many fortune-telling artifacts in his room, Kati rifles through them all (without permission), much to the sorcerer’s amusement, especially when Kati discovers many supposedly unpleasant things about his future.

Although Quincy and Solomon are the true troublemaking duo in terms of pranks (Satan helps, sometimes), Day and Solomon are almost equal in measure, although much of Day’s rogurey is an accident, and he never means to cause any harm!

Licht is instantly enamored by Solomon’s cape—what style! You can see the entire Milky Way embroidered on it (Cyrille instantly assures him that that is not actually the case)!

Ghilley can’t help but wonder why anyone thinks Solomon is shady. He seems to be a pretty upstanding, if chaotic, guy?

Youssef admires the humanity of Solomon. In a land of angels and demons and even Soul Reapers, it’s good to have someone so normal.

Unlike Ghilley, Ethan definitely notices that something shady is afoot when Solomon is around. Because of this, he tails the sorcerer wherever he goes, for he’d rather not a ruckus be caused.

Sian has many questions for Solomon on the status of idols in the Human World since he left it. What are the newest trends? The most popular groups? The most admired dance moves? He wants to know it all.

Barbatos

Cyrille finds the whole time-travel aspect of Barbatos’ powers intriguing and derails the butler from his duties for hours in attempts to understand the nuances of this overpowering concept.

Ethan privately thinks that he looked much better in a butler suit than the demon. What is even going on with the front of his outfit? A diligent and uncomplaining demon is Barbatos, and Ethan has to respect him for that, even if he is a position so beneath his own.

He’s so scary! D: thinks Day, even though Barbatos is nothing but kind to him.

Kirr likes the fine fare that Barbatos cooks, although he laments not being able to win “the mind game” against the butler, who he spends many hours staring coolly at.

Theo and Barbatos spend many an evening chatting about the best way to maintain the most perfect state of cleanliness.

The strong smell of detergent follows Barbatos sometimes, and Verine can never bring himself too close to the demon. However, he has to begrudgingly admit that if it weren’t for the overwhelming stench of chemicals, he would be breathing in a suffocating cloud of dust particles, so he has to thank the butler for that.

Jamie gives Barbatos many good recipes for fruit pies and Youssef can’t wait to try all the (possibly) delicious recipes that Barbatos recites to him.

Ghilley, unfortunately, finds it very difficult to sneak up on the butler, for Barbatos has seen all Ghilley’s attempts to scare him in all the timelines he has observed.

Diavolo

This bumbling idiot is the ruler of the Devildom? thinks Ethan with great distaste. However dignified Diavolo might be, Ethan cannot see past the blindingly cheerful mask he puts on and finds it most undignified.

A fellow royal! How is Louis supposed to resist striking a long-winded conversation? Diavolo entertains Louis’ pompous and overbearing self and they find each other most delightful.

Licht positively drools over Diavolo’s demon form outfit. Just how he is pulling off that much style?

Quincy finds much enjoyment in disrespecting the Prince of the Devildom to no end and is always disappointed when Diavolo responds to his insults with a tolerating smile.

The Prince of Demons and the son of the Demon Lord are titles that are essentially the bane of Ell’s existence, but he manages to be most respectful toward him, even though he is shaking in his shoes and wondering when all their interactions will come to and end.

Day lived like a king in his past life and is not even remotely fazed by the enormous amount of finery found in the Demon Lord’s Castle. He is, however, enamored with the Little D’s, who, when not insulting him, are great fun!

Diavolo’s lifestyle of luxury is basically Mori’s dream, so he takes every opportunity to make notes of the expensive furniture and ancient pieces.

Noah and Youssef like how down-to-Earth Diavolo is, despite his high position. They feel as if he has something to hide, but for the most part, he is a jolly fellow and they enjoy his company.

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britesparc · 4 years

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Weekend Top Ten #454

Top Ten Launch Games

Oooh, it’s finally here!

By the time you read this, the Xbox Series X/S consoles will be out, and the PlayStation 5 will be imminent if not already with us. At the time of writing I’ve yet to sample either console, although hopefully that will soon change. However, it’s a bit of a weird console launch, especially for Xbox owners, as there’s not much in the way of actual launch titles. PlayStation has the excellent-looking technical showcase (in that it shows off their sexy new controller, if not necessarily the excesses of the console’s visual prowess) Astro’s Playroom. But on the Xbox side, the only genuine first-party exclusive (not including the port of rather smashing PC title Gears Tactics) was to be the troubled Halo Infinite, which has now been pushed to next year to deal with some of its apparent graphical deficiencies. For what it’s worth, as a Halo fan, I thought the actual gameplay presented looked as good as it always has, so I’m still very excited, but it’s a shame not to sample something genuinely new and shiny at launch. For me, then – as someone not getting a PlayStation this year – I’m going to have to contend myself with updated versions of older games, and hopefully something like the really exciting-looking The Falconeer or, eventually, Cyberpunk 2077.

Of course, it’s not always been like this; in the past, a landmark game has often been the core reason to upgrade to a new console. Certain titles have defined their hardware platforms, offering a taste of the experiences to come, be it through revolutionary control systems, previously-unimaginable graphics, or simply by shattering preconceptions and expectations. As such, this weekend I’m celebrating my favourite launch titles.

Now, a couple of my usual caveats. I’ve hardly owned any consoles in the grand scheme of things; I was a computer gamer until the launch of the first Xbox, and even then was PC-first until about midway through the 360’s life. As such I came to a lot of these late, or played them on friends’ systems. I’m sure a videogame historian would give you another list, one that was able to put each title into its historical perspective. For my part, I’m mostly basing it on how much I like the game, but I am also trying to weight it in terms of its “importance”. I mean, one of my favourite “launch titles” of all time would be Lego Marvel Super Heroes on the Xbox One/PS4, but that seems a bit of a ridiculous game to call a launch title, especially as it doesn’t really show off the hardware or define the generation in any particular way. I just think it rocks. So I’m trying to judge it also in terms of how effective a given game was at being a launch title, as well as my personal preference; as such, some games, which I think are more emblematic of their time or their hardware, might end up higher in the list than if I was otherwise just ranking my favourites.

Christ, that was boring. Look, here are ten games that I like that came out when a console came out. Have at it.

Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, 2001): it’s not just that it made playing an FPS on a console as comfortable and enjoyable as on PC, but it revolutionised what an FPS could do. Expansive open landscapes, dynamic combat with intelligent enemies, an ingenious shield/health combo, two weapons, drivable vehicles, and frankly outstanding graphics. And for Xbox – a curious underdog, a big black sheep devoid of cool or class and feeling like Microsoft was trying to buy its way into the console space with a hefty dose of brute force – here was something unique, something incredible. I don’t think anyone quite expected Halo, and it’s arguable that it single-handedly changed not only Microsoft and Xbox’s fortunes but the entire game industry too.

Wii Sports (Wii, 2005): the Wii was this strange outlier, a tiny white box that eschewed the grunt and girth of its rivals, and seemingly built around its unique motion controller. Would it work? Wii Sports proved that yes it would, a delightful bundle of games that perfectly showed what the console and controller could do. Immense fun in and of itself, but the Wii’s ability to lower the barrier of entry to non-gamers meant that your dad could thrash your brother at bowling. And that is a thing to cherish forever.

Tetris (GameBoy, 1989): depending on where you look, Tetris may just be the best-selling game of all time. It’s on everything now, from the Xbox Series X to your watch. But there was a time when “Tetris” meant “GameBoy”; that four-colour greenscreen box of wonder that everybody had but me. It was beyond ubiquitous, and its short-form nature and simplistic styling made it ideal for the portable console, its chirpy and iconic music sounding perfect coming from those tiny speakers. And above all else, of course, Tetris is fantastic, one of the greatest games of all time. It was a perfect marriage of software and hardware.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 2017): so here’s the thing: I like Zelda, but I’ve never fallen in love with it. I didn’t grow up with it, so coming to Ocarina of Time, there were too many old-fashioned trappings in the way; it just didn’t feel as enthralling or as fun to play as, say, Half-Life or Deus Ex. BOTW changed that; the limitations were gone, the world was blown wide open. It no longer felt like an 80s game in three dimensions, it felt new. Better than new – it felt like tomorrow. Despite the Switch being graphically weaker than its contemporaries, BOTW was and is simply gorgeous to look at, but it’s how it plays, how it feels like a vast but real world, how it has its own rules and they make sense instantly. It’s the greatest open world game of all time, and emergent physics sandbox, and yet it’s still unquestionably Zelda, emphatically Nintendo. Okay, it technically came out on the Wii U at the same time, but who the hell played that? This was the game that made you want a Switch.

Super Mario 64 (N64, 1997): this is often the game people cite as being one of the great revolutionary launch titles, but I must confess its charms were lost to me at first. Taking what was great about Mario and converting it expertly into 3D was a heck of a feat; graphically for the time it certainly impressed in the scale of its worlds, and whilst back then I felt it lacked the detail and granularity of some PC titles, in retrospect it was a perfectly-suited art style, offering smooth textures even when right up close. But it was its precise controls and the open, hub-based nature of its worlds that was revolutionary; many games aped its style, but it took a long time before anything really matched it.

Hexic HD (Xbox 360, 2005): not every game here has to be some genre-busting graphical powerhouse; they can be simple but quietly revolutionary. Hexic HD is a terrific puzzle game with a simple hook, brilliantly executed, and enough intrigue and nuance to keep you coming back for one more go, to beat your high score, to get to the next tricksy level. But the time and manner of its release, and what that signified, marked it out as something more important. It was the first Xbox Live Arcade title; Microsoft’s curated gallery of smaller, more indie-flavoured games. More than that, it was free, coming pre-installed on all Xbox 360 Pros (the ones with the removable hard drive). It was a taste of what was to come, introducing audiences not only to the idea of playing these kinds of smaller, less intense games on a console, but also the idea of purchasing and downloading them digitally. It was great and ground-breaking in equal measure.

WipEout (PlayStation, 1995): I kinda missed the PlayStation generation. I was still, more or less, in my PC-centric “consoles are toys” mindset (which I wouldn’t fully shake off till the release of the N64). But I came to appreciate its qualities as a cool, exciting, super-fast futuristic racer. I’m pretty sure it’s not the first 3D hover-car racing game, but it was presented in such a groovy package that it ticket all the boxes, and helped show off just what the PlayStation was capable of in terms of its 3D graphics and CD sound. And, of course, it helped define the console as being a bit more edgy and grown-up than the previous Nintendo and Sega stalwarts.

Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1988): what can be said about one of the most iconic games of all time? Mario Bros defined not only a console, not only a generation, but arguably an entire artform. Creating what we now know as a platform game, it expanded and surpassed the basic template of Donkey Kong into a roaming adventure, part twitch-gaming reaction test, part puzzle game. I played a lot of copycat games on my Amiga, but even then, as a whiny computer brat, I knew that Mario was better. Even when my cousins got a MegaDrive and Sonic, I knew – deep in my heart – that Mario was better. It's a deep game, an endlessly replayable game, a supremely fair game despite its difficulty. I think it’s hard to overstate just how good, or how influential, Mario was.

Project Gotham Racing (Xbox, 2001): I tried hard to pick a different platform for every game in this list, but I couldn’t exclude PGR. This may be tied up with my biography a little bit, but my other half and I played this game to death. I never think of myself as a big racer fan, but every once in a while a title comes out that I just really, really get into – Jaguar XJ220 on the Amiga, Midtown Madness on PC, the Forza Horizon series nowadays – and PGR did that in spades. A gorgeous arcade racer, it was a great launch title to show off the sheer grunt of the Xbox; then, as now, the most powerful console on the market. It also offered a terrific four-player split-screen. But its Kudos feature – borrowed from semi-prequel Metropolis Street Racer – offered ways to win outside of sheer racing graft, awarding cool driving. I still love the original, and I kinda wish they’d bring back or reimagine its city-based driving for a future release or Forza spin-off.

Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (PSP, 2004): okay, so this is a bit of a cheat as I've barely played the original PSP version, but Lumines is just phenomenal; the best moving-blocks-around game since Tetris, and probably the most influential one since then too (for the record, I've played it extensively on multiple other platforms). An excellent spin on a Tetris-a-like, its use of music and colour made it a beautiful, brilliant sensory experience. With Sony entering the handheld market, the PSP needed a USP, something vibrant and cool that suited a portable experience, and Lumines provided it in spades; also its funky visuals and music was a good fit for Sony’s brand.

Well, that was fun, and a lot harder than I expected. If you’re enjoying a new console this Christmas, then hopefully you’ll have fun with one of the new launch titles too – even if I doubt any (apart from maybe Astro) would trouble a list like this in the future (although I do think The Falconeer looks all kinds of cool).

#top ten #games #gaming #launch games #xbox series x #xbox series s #playstation 5 #nintendo #switch #halo #mario #zelda

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organizedlikeus-blog · 4 years

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51 Great Ways to Be a Successful Parent When You Have a Demanding Career

What’s the use of success if you do not have time to enjoy it with the people who matter to you the most?

Does it really matter?

You are too busy at work that you rarely find time to be with your family at home. Does that make you a bad parent? Maybe not, but close.

Creating a balance between being a parent, having a successful career and a thriving social life is a very delicate affair among many millennials. One of the factors usually takes precedence. Sadly, career always seems to be the winner.

And it is totally understandable- one has to put food on the table and enjoy the beautiful little things life has to offer.

But what happens when you still want to raise a healthy and happy family while still advancing in your career?

The further you advance career-wise, the less time you have to spend at home or with your children and beloved ones. Those in business have it a little bit easier because they can be able to schedule time to be with their families easily.

But picture this: You have a good, solid education, started your career from the bottom and now things have panned out for you. You earn a good income, you have lovely children and you have a supportive spouse. What are you lacking?

If your spouse stays at home to take care of your children, you may have had it easier than most, but you still need to do your bit on connecting with your children.

What’s the use of success if you do not have time to enjoy it with the people who matter to you the most?

It’s hard juggling career and parenthood for the millennial. You want to enjoy the best of both worlds. You want to witness your baby taking the first baby steps, growing a tooth, calling you mama, or papa, learning how to speak and such sweet little matters. You want to do all this and still try to keep yourself organized at home.

“The period between 18 months and 3 years is a critical period in the growth and development of a child and parents should be present, If possible, to create that lasting bond with their kids.”- Dr. Sears

You want to be there for your teenage daughter or son, to guide them through the treacherous adolescent and teenage years. You want to see them grow into responsible citizens by having a hands-on approach.

How do you do that without losing the chance to keep bringing the bacon home?

No worries, we have curated a list of proposed activities and action points you can undertake to ensure that as a parent, you do not lose the connection with your children and still be able to grow in your career so that you can have a well-balanced, all- rounded and fulfilled life.

50 + 1 great ways on how to be a successful parent despite having a hectic career

Get involved in your children’s activities

It doesn’t matter whether it is a 2 minutes, 5 minutes or 30 minutes’ affair. Whenever you get the chance, get involved in what your kids are doing. It could be a silly game of legos, building blocks, a simple game of ‘catch’, coloring or whatever they fancy- be there. Engage them, encourage them and try to have fun while doing it. It may seem silly to you (of course it is) but it means the world to them.

Share meals with your family

Whenever possible, be present to share a meal with your family. This could form a perfect bonding moment where you take the opportunity to learn stuff about them. Have a family meal routine. For instance, you can teach your kids to conduct a thanks giving prayer before meals. This creates some sense of purpose and responsibility in them.

Send postcards whenever you are out of state or country

I know technology is the easiest way to reach out to connect with your kids at this age, and we shall get to that. However, nothing beats an old-school fashioned way such as sending a postcard whenever you are out of the state or country. 20 years later, they might not remember the calls you made, but they will relish the postcards you sent to them.

Text and use video calls whenever possible

For kids who are able to comprehend SMS, it would be a good way to communicate. You will be surprised at the rate which teenagers text. It makes them feel that you have some sense of connection with them and their world. However, do not try to be funny, or learn their lingo on text as that may backfire really bad. It is practically impossible to keep up with all the ever-changing slang, abbreviations, emoji and whatnot. You can also FaceTime or skype when you are away from them as this gives some semblance of real connection. Do not befriend them on Facebook, but if you wish to ignore this, do so at your own risk.

Plan special times and moments

Special times and moments mean different things to different people. Find something unique that you could share with your child and have fun at it.

Include your kids in your daily schedule

As you make plans on how you will conquer the world that day, be sure to include your kids in your schedule. You might not get the chance to see them but something might come up and you may find some free time. Use that time to connect with them in some way.

Grab a snack together

Now and then, find some few minutes to escape from your workplace and grab a bite with your son or daughter. Just makes sure this does not happen too often- unless the snacks are organic

Bring your kid to the workplace

Some workplaces are so cool in that they allow their employees to take their kids to the workplace. If your company allows this, take them there. Let them know what you do, and in some situations, how you do it. Introduce them to some of your colleagues. They might get intrigued.

Drop and pick them from school

You can schedule your mornings in such a way that you are able to drop your kids to school in the morning yourself, and maybe pick them from school later in the evening. Do not leave this role to a nanny if you can help it. This stamps your presence and role in life and you can be able to have a chat during the drive.

Go shopping with them

Next time you visit a mall, allow your kids to do some supervised shopping. Give them a list, push the tray and let them pick the products as you stroll alongside. This gives them some sense of responsibility and great pride in knowing you trust them enough to pick groceries for the homestead.

Be present on birthdays and other important occasions in their lives

You can’t miss their birthday. Enough said there.

In school, try to attend their soccer practice, their drama presentations, auditions and whatnot. The support goes a long way in building their confidence.

If you happen to miss their birthday for some reason, make it up to them soon.

Say ‘I love you’ consistently and mean it

They will love you right back. Maybe.

Say “I am sorry” and mean it

Sometimes you need to say sorry to your kids if you make a mistake. Learn how to do that and mean it. This will help them learn to own up to their own mistakes in the future.

Let them fail now and then

Do not spoil or pamper your kids too much. Let them learn by themselves sometimes. If they fail at something, revisit that thing and point out the mistakes made. Then let them try again. They will learn to be strong and independent.

Engage them in debates and intelligent conversations

Every now and then, engage them in intelligent debates. Let them know that you respect their opinion even if the topic is beyond their scope or realm of comprehension. You can ask them a question like;

“Billy, what do you think Trump should do about South Korea threatening to bomb us?”

You might get some very interesting responses and if they have no idea what you are talking about, school them. They will think you are a hero.

Take them on a road trip & play games at home

You do not have to transverse the whole country for that. Just drive for a few hours around slowly and enjoy their chatter as you explain to them facts about places you go like a tour guide. Play with them some games in the backyard.

Be their role model

Your kids look up to you for guidance on practically all matters. Do not disappoint them. Try to guide them in the right way and you will be their role models. If you cannot fit into the role model picture, be content with being their parent. However, do not let them think you are perfect. Just let them think you are a kick-ass dad or mom!

Buy them gifts and congratulate them when they do something good

Let the kids learn that good work is rewarded by giving them reasonable gifts when they do something good. For instance, when they get that A in school, take them to see a special movie, or buy them that video game they have been yearning for months.

Do not spoil your kids with gifts to compensate for your absence

We just said its a good idea to buy your kids gifts. However, do not spoil them. This is a form of bribe that will not work out well in the end. They will come to associate you with material things and when you do not give them what they want, they might turn into spoiled brats. Just apologize to them and explain to them why you could not be with them at some point.

Keep your updated on their progress in school

There is no point in paying for your kids’ tuition in an expensive school if you are not able to monitor if they are getting value for your money. Keep tabs on their performance, both academically and socially. You can call the school now and then to spy on what the kids are going.

Do not be harsh in punishment

Learn how to punish your kids according to the mistake committed. Do not be too harsh and do not be too easy on them. If you are too harsh, they will form a wall of fear around them and isolate you from their world. If you are too easy, it may encourage them to keep making stupid mistakes. Even kids conduct a simple cost-benefit analysis. If they feel that the punishment will not be as harsh, they will be tempted to commit the mistake deliberately as they stand to gain more.

Teach them about money

One thing I wish my dad taught me when I was young was money. This is an important topic that will shape their financial well-being in the future. Teach your kids how to save what you give them as pocket money. Then later, teach them how to invest the little they save and how to enjoy profits. They should learn that money doesn’t grow on trees.

Bring them up to be responsible citizens

Do not bring up mean children. Teach them how to be responsible. It all starts in the house. Let them clear the table after a meal, let them make their beds, arrange their toys and such activities. Occasionally, engage in charitable events in the society with them.

Learn how to detect changes in your child’s behavior

Children’s behavior changes constantly depending on many factors. Most changes are natural, related to their growth patterns. However, abrupt changes in behavior need to be noted. For instance, children being moody all of a sudden, throwing things around, talking trash and such weird behavior. The changes could be hiding something big, maybe something happening in school or the neighborhood. Detect these behaviors and address them before they escalate into something ugly.

RELATED: What to do when your kids become rebellious and how to change that effectively

Love your children unconditionally

Enough said.

Praise your kids in public but reprimand them privately

Do not scorn your kids in public, particularly in front of their peers. It lowers their self-esteem. When they excel in something or do something good, praise them publicly.

Do not compare your kids with others

Your neighbor’s kids may seem perfect, better mannered, better composed and destined for greater success than your kids. Do not be a fool to make the mistake of comparing your kids with others. Each child is unique in their own right. This is what makes the world a beautiful place. Each parent brings their kids up in their own style. Encourage your kids to be the best they can be, in their own capacity and not under the society’s expectations.

Let your kids see you as their safe haven

Protect your kids. Let them know you got their back at all times. They will appreciate you for that and be able to venture out of their comfort zones in pursuit of excellence.

Teach by example

You want your kids to take the trash out habitually? Start by doing it yourself. You want your kids to read a book at home, start by reading a book yourself. The point is, do not impose rules on them. Let them see you do what you want them to do and they will gladly follow your guideline.

Help them improve their social status

Encourage your kids to be social with their peers. Let them visit their neighbors now and then and let the neighbor’s kids come to your house to visit. Some of the longest and most fulfilling relationships and friendships in the world were formed during this stage.

Provide for them.

Food. Clothing. Shelter. Remember those basic needs?

Identify, nurture and support their talent

If Justin Bieber’s parents did not support him and his talent, he probably would never have become the sensation he grew to be. Kids have different talents. They cannot all be famous movie or music stars. Some could be the next Picasso or the next president. Learn to identify these talents and support them as they try to explore them.

Do not raise your child to seek approval of the society

This point has been touched a bit here. As a parent and a human being, learn to live your own life, by your own rules, not those of the society. If you try to please everyone in the society, you will fail terribly. Teach your kids to also live by their own standards so that they can live a more fulfilling life. Of course, you have to find some balance and point of interest between you and the society but you get the point.

Show your kids how to get along with their siblings and family

Family could be rough and tough. Siblings are mean, annoying and selfish sometimes (most times actually). But that is what makes it a family. As a parent, it's your role to teach your kids to get along with each other. Teach them how to take care of each other, how to love each other and how to support one another. After all, they are not going to wake up and disappear into thin air someday. They are family.

Be their parent, before you become their friend

Do not struggle too much to be friends with your kids that you forget how to be their parent. Start by being a parent first, then work your way to friendship. If friendship doesn’t work in the end, you can fall back into the parent role.

Allow them to question your actions now and then

Let your kids ask you questions concerning some of your actions or stand on certain matters. Explain to them clearly why you did what you did or took the specific stand you took. They will learn how to reason and defend their actions.

Secure their future

You have the money and the resources to cushion your children and assure they have a great future. It’s the role of the parent to educate their kids. If you can afford it, set up a trust, or an education policy for them. They will be able to live life without doubts and reach their full potential.

Take care of their health matters

Get a health insurance policy for your kids. It will also make you rest easy with the knowledge that their health matters are well taken care of. Nothing disheartens a parent than the thought of having a sick kid and having no capacity to do anything.

Encourage them to express how they feel

Let the kids tell you about how they feel on a variety of matters. It is important to them when they know that you seek and value their opinion on different issues.

“The most important thing you can do is to make sure your child’s world is conducive to exploration”

– Craig T. Ramey, Ph.D., director of the Georgetown University Center on Health.

Take good care of yourself

How do you expect to take care of your kids when you cannot take care of yourself? Up your game, dress nicely, eat healthier, live a healthier life and you just might enjoy being a parent to your kids and friends to others.

Display affection to your partner in front of your children

It may seem gross to them but go right ahead, kiss your partner in front of them. This public display of affection offers them great assurance that all is well and there’s a lot of love to go around in the house.

Talk less, listen More

Let your kids do all the talking. Just do the listening and prompting, and act like their opinion and jibberish is all that matters to you in this world. It might not make sense to you, but it does to them.

Avoid using phones or electronics during dinner time

There’s this annoying habit of people eating whilst engrossed in their phones, ipads or newspapers. Make the dinner time a tech-free time. No receiving phone calls, no making calls, just a good old-fashioned family dinner where healthy conversations can be had before everyone gets back to tech world.

Develop a strict family culture

Have a culture that everyone has to observe. For instance, tech-free dinner times, strict times for sleeping, making beds when kids wake up, being polite to strangers, taking dirty dishes to the sink among others. Each kid will grow up with a sense of responsibility.

Read with them/for them

Find time to read with your kids before they sleep. Let them read out loud and correct them when they err. Do not be fast to correct frequently though. Let them know they are doing just great. Read to them books that interest them. Occasionally, sit with them as they watch cartoons on TV.

Monitor their online activities

It might seem intrusive to their privacy, but it’s worth it. There are all manners and sorts of abuse and bullying online these days. There is no need to let your children become victims of something you can control. Place limitations and filters on what they can watch online.

Be the boss in the homestead

Children need to look up to someone who has some semblance of authority. Be that person. Let them come to you when they have issues, grievances or concerns because they believe that you will resolve them perfectly and fairly. Be firm with your judgments and punishments but be fair as well.

Do not quarrel in front of your children

Parents quarrel all the time- we are human beings after all. However, try to avoid quarreling in front of your kids as this may have negative implications for their future.

Learn about what your kids love and surprise them now and them

Surprise your kids with stuff they love now and then. This brings them closer to you and keeps them in anticipation of the next surprise.

It’s Ok to fail sometimes

Do not be too hard on yourself. And do not beat yourself too much when things do not seem to go the way you expect with your kids. Fail, learn and try again.

ACT NOW!

Now you know different ways to be relevant in the lives of your kids despite having a hectic career. The next step (and most important one) is to put these figments of wisdom into real action. Enjoy your career and enjoy being a great parent.

TODAY.

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mackenzie41dempsey-blog · 5 years

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The Young boy Along with One thing Additional.

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bugheadfamily · 6 years

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Bughead Family Discord Member Spotlight

Graphic by: Katie ( @betty-cooper )

This week the spotlight is on Bridget (@duskyblossom)! Click the read more link below to get to know our member!

Spotlight by Mila, @jughead-jones

Bridget | @duskyblossom

Name: Bridget

Age: Old enough to do Lego.

Location: Somewhere in this crazy universe.

Any other languages aside from English people can contact you in?: I would say a little bit of French but probably best not to haha.

Favourite Riverdale characters and ships?: Betty, Jughead, Cheryl (after she reconciled herself), Mary, Midge (rip), Valerie (somehow fell off the face of the earth?), Fred! My favourite ships are definitely Bughead and Choni, they’re just so adorable!!

Favourite moments from S1 & S2?: My favourite episode was 2x09 because of how the writers executed it, I know a lot of people disliked it but I thought the storylines in that made sense (Not because of the lack of bughead, I liked the actual CONTENTS and not just the shipping aspect.) 2x12 was also really good! In terms of bughead content,obviously 2x12 and 2x14 were the most bughead filled parts of Season 2, but I really liked 2x05 because man, that pulled at the heartstrings. Stuff like the ‘I believe you, Jughead.’ scene was what made Season 1 really cute in terms of Bughead. I also really liked the dynamic they had between Betty and Jug in S2.

What are your hopes for S3?: In terms of Bughead, I really want to see RAS giving them a chance to act like real teenagers not 25 year olds. I want to see them being all cuddly and just being happy for once!! I’m also super intrigued to see where the serpent storyline will go, and how Betty will interact with Gladys and Jellybean.

Other fandoms you’re into?: Nothing, really. I used to be a huge Hunger Games and Harry Potter nut, so you can still talk to me about those! I also LOVE The Office, it’s my other favourite TV show!

Something non-fandom you love?: Reading, art, and baking!

What are some of your favourite movies/TV?: Oh, BOY. This question is really hard. For TV, obviously Riverdale is my number one, but The Office US comes a close second. I got so invested in The Office and it was so difficult to see it end. For movies, the Sound of Music can’t really be beat in my books. It’s such a timeless classic that i’ve loved forever. La La Land is my VERY close second, that film was and still is the death of me. Lady Bird was an INCREDIBLE film, I really related to it and its bittersweetness and sentimentality! And classic musicals like Mamma Mia and Grease.

Favourite books?: I read a lot, so I’m so excited to share some of my faves! Obviously the Harry Potter series, that influenced me a lot. The Hunger Games trilogy was also really gripping and I loved that. The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon was so enlightening and I loved that. The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Saldinger, such a classic and I loved the way it was written. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green is a really good book that brings light to mental health in a less harsh sense which is perfect for me. I’m also reading The Circle by Dave Eggers at the moment which is great so far!

Favourite bands/musicians?: I don’t really listen to anyone in particular, but my 2 favourites are Adele and Sam Smith.

If you could live in any fictional world which one would you choose and why?: I feel like everyone says this, but probably Harry Potter. I wouldn’t want to risk the chance of getting murdered in Riverdale tbh!

Favourite food?: This question is so so SO difficult but I’d have to say shoestring fries with aioli and a huge side of salad.

Favourite season?: Spring! All the flowers bloom and all the baby animals are born, it’s starting to get warmer but it stills rains! Everything about it is just wonderful.

Favourite plant?: Baby’s breath! It’s so delicate and sweet.

Favourite scent?: Starfruit or vanilla bean. Starfruit is such a fresh and pleasant scent, while vanilla makes me feel all cosy and calm.

Favourite colour?: Pink, pink, pink!! I love it so much.

Favourite animal?: Can I be boring and say dogs? I just love them.

Are you a night owl, an early bird, or a vampire?: Can I say none of these? I love sleep so mornings are not for me, and being a vampire is a big no-no. So I guess I would say night owl, as I’d rather go to sleep late than wake up early.

Place you want to visit?: All over Europe - it’s such a beautiful and interesting continent.

Do you have pets?: If you do, tell us a little about them: Yes I do! I have a schnoodle (schnauzer + poodle cross). He is the cutest little thing and always gives me snuggles even though he really just wants food haha. I love him to death.

Tell us a little about yourself?: I mean, what’s there to tell? Hmm… I guess I could say I’m a creative person. Work that I’m not inspired by is really difficult for me such as areas like mathematics or science. I’ve always been a creative soul, I much prefer the arts over sitting at a computer and typing equations or finding out molecular structures. That stuff just doesn’t interest me! I’ve always been a girly girl at heart, as I said before I adore the colour pink and cutesy things. Tying in with being a girly girl, I’ve been a hopeless romantic since I can remember. I feel like I always look at the idealistic side of things, which doesn’t help me being a perfectionist. To all the people who aren’t perfectionists, lucky you. It’s beyond frustrating when something isn’t how I want it to be. Making art and other things is a challenge for me, if I’m not completely happy with what I’ve done, I will throw it out. There’s a running joke that I’m not allowed to give up on a piece anymore because I’m that bad! I’ve always been super academic, I’ve never been one for sport as it doesn’t activate my mind as such. Although I must say, swimming is something I’ve always been good at. I’m such a water baby! I’m super in to fashion and photography, it really interests me how you can express yourself through simple things like what you wear. I think that’s it!

Fun or weird fact about you?: My pinky finger on my right hand moves completely on its own. I can move it up and down without any of my other fingers moving. I haven’t met one person who can do it too!

Asks for fanfic authors:

How long have you been writing?: About 3 years now!

Which is your favourite of the fics you’ve written?: Well I mean My Muse Yet My Saviour as that’s the only thing I’ve done in the bughead fandom so far!

Favourite fic/chapter/plot-point/character you’ve ever written?: Probably Chapter 9 of MMYMS. (Spoiler if you haven’t read it!) I was really glad I got to incorporate Jellybean into the story and write her out in my own way as I’ve seen other writers do before. I can’t wait to see how she’s portrayed in S3!

Which was the hardest to write, and why?: All of it, to be honest. Writing is difficult for me as I get bored easily with a lot of things and I have to push myself to put out the best content I possibly can.

How do you come up with the ideas for you fic(s)? (examples: Do you draw inspiration from real life? Listen to music? Get inspired by TV/movies?) Do you have an process to your writing?: Can I say my brain? I just make stuff up as I go along, and somehow make it work! There’s no rhyme or reason to my writing either - I just word vomit onto my document and then organise it!

Idea that you always wanted to write?: Just normal, teenagery bughead. I think that’d be adorable!

Favourite character to write?: Betty - she has so much versatility and you can create a lot of dimension with her!

Best comment/review you’ve ever received?: All of them. I’m so appreciative of all the praise I get, it really motivates me to create more content. Thank you to anyone who’s ever commented, I appreciate you!!

Best and worst parts of being a writer?: Best is probably having that creative outlet to share your work and ideas. It gives me a chance to share all my thoughts and feelings in a way and I love it! Worst is probably the time it takes. Mostly I don’t have enough free time to write and when I do I’m not in the mood. Finding that balance is really difficult.

Do you have any advice to offer?: Keeping working hard! If you don’t push yourself, your work won’t be of your best ability. Giving yourself a challenge shows off your skills and makes you work harder than before, which really pays off.

This is the second instalment of Bughead Family’s Member Spotlight series. Each week, a member’s url is selected through a randomizer and they will be featured in a spotlight post. In order to participate, please join the Bughead Discord (more information found here). Thank you.

#bughead #riverdale #bughead family discord #member spotlight

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dweemeister · 6 years

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NOTE: The following contains full spoilers.

Solo (2018)

Officially entitled Solo: A Star Wars Story, Solo is the second Star Wars anthology film to be released by the Walt Disney Company after their acquisition of Lucasfilm. It is an origin story for the character of Han Solo – who has been played by Harrison Ford until now. The Star Wars franchise is increasingly being treated like the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with its release dates planned years in advance, short and rigid production schedules for astronomically-budgeted movies, the studio’s growing dependence on these franchise films for profits at the expense of smaller projects, and the interconnectedness with other corners of the franchise. Yet I admit a bias: Star Wars – and Solo, by extension – has already proven its cinematic legacy (which is mostly distinct from popularity); I predict the verdict on the MCU will be quite unkind in several decades. Thus, I can tolerate the frequency of Star Wars films for now. But my patience here is not unconditional.

A rollicking space Western adventure picture, Solo is not without sizeable weaknesses – potentially exacerbated by the fact that the last Star Wars film was released less than a half-year ago and that Ron Howard had to replace co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the Jump Street series, 2014′s The Lego Movie) late into principal photography. Lord and Miller were dismissed by producer Kathleen Kennedy (president of Lucasfilm and co-founder of Amblin Entertainment) after creative differences with co-writer Lawrence Kasdan (1980′s The Empire Strikes Back, 2015′s The Force Awakens). Hiring the capable Howard steadies the film, even if it means this is the one Star Wars film that takes the least amount of artistic risk.

Beginning thirteen years before the events of Star Wars (1977), Han (Alden Ehrenreich; who plays the role with some youthful hesitation appropriate to this version of the character) and lover Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) are attempting to escape their home planet of Corellia. They are separated in their escape attempt, and he promises to find her again by joining the Imperial Navy. Three years later, Han has been expelled from the Imperial Flight Academy and find himself an infantry grunt. Here, he befriends the Wookiee Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) encounters a band of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers who are interested in a shipment of coaxium (a substance that enables faster-than-light travel): leader Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), his partner Val (Thandie Newton), and Rio Durant (voiced by Jon Favreau). Fleeing from the Imperial Army, Beckett’s gang attempts a train heist, only to be fatally thwarted by another criminal gang – the Cloud Riders, led by Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman). Afterwards, Han and Chewie will follow Beckett to see Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) – who masterminded the operation. Vos requests another heist, but not before Han reunites with Qi’ra, who has become Vos’ assistant.

There is also the matter of charmer/pilot/smuggler/cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eater Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), his droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), and a piece of garbage christened the Millennium Falcon. After nineteen years since The Phantom Menace, Ray Park returns as Darth Maul with Sam Witwer (reprising from Dave Filoni’s two animated Star Wars television series) voicing the character in a late MCU-esque cameo.

The screenplay is co-authored by Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jonathan (2007′s In the Land of Women, 2012′s The First Time). Before Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm, the Kasdans had been working with George Lucas on a young Han Solo film since at least 2012. Lawrence had to depart early to finish the script to The Force Awakens, and it is unknown how much of Lucas’ influence is in the final product. Nevertheless, Solo is a movie that is running through a checklist of references it must include. That pair of dice Han Solo keeps on the Millennium Falcon? Yup. Befriending Chewbacca and establishing a complicated relationship with Lando? Of course. Explaining Lando’s fashion sense that would make him a bête noire to Edna Mode? Fashionistas rejoice! The Kessel Run? Oh yes – if the Imagineers at the Disney parks ever decide to include the Kessel Run as a Star Tours option, prepare for the most whiplash-inducing amusement park ride ever! It is the moments in between these scenes – scenes with characters we are less familiar with – that leave the greatest impressions.

Of interest is scene-stealer Tobias Beckett (Harrelson has played roles like this for ages now, and he might give the best performance other than Glover here), who is to Han as Obi-Wan was to Luke Skywalker. For literary types, imagine Long John Silver from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island if Long John Silver treated Jim Hawkins more like an adult. Beckett has lived his life looking out for himself, disallowing himself to put complete trust (and, as a result, love) in anyone – including his partner, Val. There are layers upon layers to his personality, to whatever Beckett might show up on a given day to an employer or client. He is not cynical for the sake of being cynical; the least interesting people in the world are cynical for the sake of being cynical. Circumstance and horrible luck has made him the way he is, as he passes along the lessons he has learned to a young kid who is walking down the same hard-nosed path he has chosen.

Compared to most other popular Western media franchises, Star Wars has handled major character deaths with sensitivity – in peace or through trauma, death is shown as disruptive, eventually strengthening, to the consciences of the living. Solo may be the first film in the franchise that does not adhere to any of that. Death is a regular part of life to these outlaws and the deaths of Rio, Val, and L3-37 in the opening and middle third of the film registers no impact. Perhaps their deaths are shocking to some, but we have not learned enough about these characters (even if they were established in other Star Wars media, these moments will not have worked for a general audience) to care. I cannot decide if Val or L3 has the most mishandled death. Where the former’s death should cut Beckett to emotional pieces, it is but a momentary setback to him and the film refuses to more fully explore why his reaction is as cold as it is (trust is a part of love). For the outspoken L3 (and love interest to the recently-established pansexual Lando Calrissian), she has raised points about droid enslavement that Star Wars rarely acknowledges. Her beliefs are treated like miscalculated comedy, with only the droids in the movie taking her seriously. When Lando weeps over L3, the comedic framing of his beloved droid renders the scene either uncomfortable or unintentionally funny. Deaths of major characters should not be funny nor should they leave audiences perhaps even without sympathy. Following Snoke’s shocking, almost decontextualized killing by Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi and the numerous deaths in Solo, Star Wars is in danger of cheapening the value of life. To do so profanes cinema.

Inconsistent performances plague Solo. Ehrenreich, who looks nothing like Harrison Ford nor acts anything like him, is fine in the role – to imitate Ford’s take on the character would only set himself up for failure. The performance is his, although his vocal inflections are too distracting to forgive. Emilia Clarke is no disaster, but her failing performance is scattered. She is unconvincing in the many roles the screenplay is calling her to be: femme fatale in space, lover, ruthless killer, backstabber. Clarke herself claims that she was confused on set because of Lord and Miller’s ineptitude as directors. As that cannot be independently verified, all I can say for now is that Clarke should sack her agent and find some smaller-budget movies to work on. Seriously. Paul Bettany, as Vos, may be the first Star Wars villain that I forgot about hours after seeing the movie. Donald Glover is not in the film long enough to save it from mediocrity (and his Lando is, like Billy Dee Williams’, too reactive a character because of the screenplay), but from what he is able to do his comedic timing and charm is exactly what Solo needs. Glover’s starpower has progressed rapidly in the last several years, and one suspects he is not slowing down soon.

Earlier I mentioned Solo’s lack of artistic risk. Much of that conservative filmmaking comes from not only from Ron Howard, whatever Phil Lord and Christopher Miller contributions remained in the film, the Kasdans, and Kathleen Kennedy, but cinematographer Bradford Young (2014′s Selma, 2016′s Arrival) and editor Pietro Scalia (2000′s Gladiator, 2015′s The Martian). Young’s camera moves too much in quieter moments and he uses close-ups and medium-close shots to excess in both interior and exterior environments – this is Star Wars and this is Bob Iger’s money you are using, so embrace the darn landscapes you are blessed with. Solo feels drained of color and the cameras seem to have brown or black-ish filters applied at the brightest moments, making it the least interesting film in the franchise to look at. For Scalia, the transition from Han and Qi’ra’s separation to trench warfare is baffling. Did the film projectionist make a mistake and put in a reel of an All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) remake with laser guns? Equally poor is Scalia’s handling of Han’s confrontation with Vos and the aftermath. Only twice does Scalia prove himself: the train heist (Young’s most glorious moments) and the Kessel Run (itself a visual effects wonder... now if only Young could stop it with all the close-ups).

John Williams provided the main theme for Han Solo (which contains a noble fanfare dueling with syncopations suggesting his criminal side), but it is Englishman John Powell (his stupendous How to Train Your Dragon scores are some of the best compositions of this decade), who scores the film with a ninety-eight-member orchestra assembled at London’s Abbey Road Studios. Powell will use Williams’ theme quite often, but will add a liberal amount of percussion (an aspect of film scoring from the mid-2000s onward I am not a fan of, but that I accept given this unpolished origin story far from the operatic orchestras of the main Star Wars saga) from the opening moments, setting all this up with “Meet Han”. The score truly shines during the action sequences. “Train Heist” begins during a campfire scene as Han, Chewbacca, and Beckett’s gang reminisce about past adventures and imagine their futures, accompanied by lush string and wind melodies. By 1:30 in the cue, the scene has cut to the heist itself. The percussion sounds like something out of Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions, but the orchestration keeps the action closer to the John Williams tradition. This scene makes way for the Cloud Riders’ arrival – heralded by “Marauders Arrive”. This motif features a thirty-six-voice Bulgarian women’s choir, and according to John Powell, they contributed, “an aggressive, exotic sound... to feel like a different culture had arrived on the scene.” That effect is accomplished wonderfully.

The Kessel Run scene is strengthened by “Reminiscence Therapy”. Despite initial listens, the cue is more than just a regurgitation of two disparate moments from the fourth and fifth episodes. The grinding strings, the pounding percussion, and the occasional rhythmic anarchy that would give anything less than a tested, played-it-all orchestra night terrors combine to throttle the Kessel Run into one of the most exhilarating space pursuits seen in cinema. My second-favorite moment in the score occurs at 2:55 when Chewbacca’s theme is heard as he takes the pilot’s seat of the Millennium Falcon for the first time and, twenty seconds later, Powell transitions to the most shameless quotations of Williams’ Star Wars theme.

Many motifs other than Han’s theme are present throughout the score, including the Han-Qi’ra love theme – most notably in “Lando’s Closet” and “The Good Guy”. Though their romance, like Anakin and Padme’s, might not be convincing, they receive a hell of a motif. Using some chord progressions hinting at the Han-Leia theme (because Han will fall in love again), the theme begins with woodwinds or brass immediately repeated by the strings, and in later iterations (as they realize their romance cannot continue) taken by solo trumpet and harp. Perhaps for many this following statement will not mean much, but permit this classic film buff to wax even more about Powell’s score. The love theme in Solo feels like something Erich Wolfgang Korngold (who scored many 1930s-1940s Warner Bros. swashbucklers featuring Errol Flynn) would have written had he lived to score Star Wars. Korngold may have been an exciting action composer, but his love themes are also stuff of legend – listen to this from The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). For Powell, he has composed the best film score of the year so far. Star Wars’ tradition of musical mastery continues.

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With eighty percent of the film reshot after the dismissal of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Solo is as good as can be expected from such a tortured production history. Adjusted for inflation, the vast amount of reshoots has made it the second-most expensive Star Wars film of all time (behind The Force Awakens) – tied with Wild Wild West (1999) and The Fate of the Furious (2017), and just ahead of the infamous Cleopatra (1963). Where Cleopatra nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox, something tells me Disney will survive Solo (which has especially tanked in Asian markets where Star Wars is less ingrained into cinematic culture and is disappointing in North America as this review is being written).

Call me a traditionalist (in many ways, I am), but Star Wars movies are cinematic events – nothing else can attract the genuine attention of those who breathe cinema (supposedly, they hate having a good time at the movies) and those who want to go see the movies they want to see (supposedly, they are ignorant of what is good cinema). Solo – in its flawed construction and its ultimate function in the Star Wars franchise – does not feel like an event. It is a fun romp through space that introduces new characters and enriches older ones, but little else. An eighteen-month wait for the ninth episode in the main saga does not seem that long at all anymore.

My rating: 6/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#Star Wars #Solo #Ron Howard #Alden Ehrenreich #Woody Harrelson #Emilia Clarke #Donald Glover #Thandie Newton #Phoebe Waller Bridge #Joonas Suotamo #Paul Bettany #Jonathan Kasdan #Lawrence Kasdan #Bradford Young #Pietro Scalia #John Powell #John Williams #Kathleen Kennedy #My Movie Odyssey

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kairostechinc · 4 years

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4 Steps To Turn Makeshift Digital Transformation Into Long-Term Success

While many companies were reportedly undergoing some form of digital transformation before COVID-19, it seems they were not far enough along their journey to respond effectively. At the outset of the pandemic, companies scrambled to look for IT equipment such as laptops and IT services like Zoom to get a grip of the new digital reality that came overnight. As the crisis unfolded, it became increasingly clear that those companies lacking a robust digital backbone or the ability to conduct their business online were struggling.

But there is also good news for those “digital laggards” now: the main reason why up to 90% of digital transformations fail - lack of alignment and resistance - is suddenly off the table. COVID-19 has removed scepticism and resistance to digital transformation and replaced it with a sense of unity and urgency, as companies are forced to leverage digital technologies to ensure business continuity.

Forward-looking executives realize that they face a different challenge today: How to turn a makeshift digital transformation to survive the crisis into a true and sustainable push towards becoming a digital frontrunner?

4 Steps To Creating A Lasting Digital Footprint People are biased to look for simple and immediate solutions that reduce uncertainty, especially during times of crises. No surprise then that digital transformation efforts driven by business survival look different from those that are carefully planned and prepared. Instead of a North Star that hovers in the distance above all digital initiatives, the overarching question becomes: How can we leverage digital technologies to ensure business continuity now?

However, avoiding irrevocable mistakes is critical to ensure a more long-term oriented digitalization later. As one business leader in the education sector told us: “The trick is not to squeeze a 3 year digital program into a 3 month program. The trick is to make sure that what you do today is still valuable in a few years from now.”

The following four steps provide a guideline for companies to leverage the current momentum of their digital transformation for long-term digital success.

1. Create and empower your digital A-team There has been much discussion whether digital needs to be driven by a dedicated team or distributed across the different parts of the organization. Prior studies show that an empowered and well-funded unit is critical for avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy and for accelerating implementations, especially in times of high pressure.

When we compared successful and failed digital transformations, one major distinguishing aspect stood out: successful digital teams were able to hit the ground running from the get-go. That is, while the skills and expertise of team members are surely important, it was the organizational environment and support that was in place to support the digital take-off. Successful digital teams report directly to the CEO, have enough funding available to make a real impact, and own the decision rights to actually effect change on an organization-wide scale. Leveraging digital talent, a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) who has proven transformation experience, and a core digital team comprising diverse competencies and an entrepreneurial spirit are key. Take the case of infrastructure and energy company ABB, who brought in Guido Jouret, a veteran of Cisco and Nokia, to accelerate their digital transformation in 2016. Reporting directly to the CEO, Jouret built a centralized team with dedicated funding to “make the rest of ABB more digital.”

2. Make sure to capture great ideas Great ideas are generated both internally and externally - from employees, customers, suppliers, and partners. To effectively leverage the creative power of their networks, companies need a systematic approach to capture ideas and funnel them into a pipeline for evaluation and prioritization. Leading organizations have set up clear processes and the appropriate tools/platforms that help them to manage a constant flow of ideas. Back in 2014, Danish toy manufacturer LEGO pioneered their “LEGO Ideas” platform to engage their customers. It represented a strategic pivot, from viewing their customers as “hackers” infringing copyright to actively leveraging them to feed LEGO’s product development and design processes.

Organizations that implement a systematic ideation approach not only benefit from enhanced innovation, but also improved communication, better workplace satisfaction, and the ability to spot changes in their business landscape before their competitors. During a crisis, actively scouting and leveraging great ideas is essential. The recent burst of open innovation during the pandemic shows the vast potential of creating value with front-line employees, customers, and partners. For open innovation to be successful, diversity among partners is key. In fact, the best ideas may come from unexpected places. At the peak of the pandemic, Scandinavian trucking giant Scania for example established a shared command centre with the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm in a common effort to make sure that the supply for personal protective equipment for healthcare workers is ensured.

3. Implement a rapid test-and-learn environment Digital disruptors are often said to follow a “fail fast, fail often” culture, but this could prove to be a costly strategy when the survival of an organization is at stake. We recommend that companies strive for a test-and-learn environment that supports hypothesis-driven experimentation with a rapid turnaround.

During a crisis, finding the middle ground between unguided experimentation and risk-averse reservation is essential. While playing it safe may seem like the right thing to do, it is important to recognize the opportunity of falling barriers when it comes to experimentation and improvisation among customers, employees, and even regulators. Executives have an opportunity now to quickly implement a system that leverages this environment and allows employees to systematically and efficiently formulate and evaluate new ideas around hypotheses. Companies like 7-eleven Japan have demonstrated how this can work: establish a set of clear guidelines for all employees to formulate hypotheses, regularly follow-up on the results of experiments, and focus on how to improve over time.

4. Plan for long-term success beyond survival While short-term initiatives can help ensure business continuity, companies must periodically ensure that their actions contribute towards long-term digital success. We recommend that companies periodically ask themselves two questions to ensure they are constantly moving in the right direction:

Question 1: Can we accommodate evolving technical developments?

In survival mode, many companies need to quickly introduce new technologies to ensure business continuity. Companies’ swift turn towards SaaS solutions are a case in point (e.g., video conferencing services like Zoom that are not part of the company’s core application portfolio). Companies may be tempted to incorporate digital tools next to legacy IT infrastructure because they are easy to come by and enable quick acting. But at the same time, these tentative solutions run the risk of creating misconfigurations in systems, processes, and data. Developing a robust enterprise architecture that supports continuous integration of new developments is essential for digital success. At the same time, keeping a close eye on those developments that only serve as quick fixes during the crisis is essential to make sure they do not become so systemic for a company that they cannot be retired when the crisis is over.

Question 2: What is the purpose that drives our digital transformation?

In today’s world where exciting new technologies (e.g., Blockchain, AI, quantum computing, augmented reality) are being developed faster than ever before, executives are easily swayed to follow the newest trends and fashions without evaluating it against the bigger purpose their organizations seek to achieve. In times of crisis, the often-exaggerated business potential of technologies climbing the Hype Cycle can often make these technologies seem like a silver bullet. Besides the question of whether these often imaginary hopes hold up in reality, we advise companies to revisit the choices they made during times of crises and evaluate them against their purpose. It may seem costly to adapt or even abandon digital investments, but if they do not fit with an organization’s purpose, the price of holding on will be much higher.

Some final words: Digital transformation works best when technology follows the pull of changes in strategy, structures, and processes, not the other way around - especially in established organizations. At its best, digital transformation unlocks the ability to design a true cultural change and offers employees to become digital transformers in their own right. A clear purpose and a set of shared values and norms helps to make the digital transformation journey more graspable for everyone and has been shown to result in substantially higher success rates.

This Article Source is From : https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomokoyokoi/2020/10/06/4-steps-to-turn-makeshift-digital-transformation-into-long-term-success/#74130cd57622

#Digital Transformation #digital business #technology #digitalization #digital transformation for business

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azzandra · 7 years

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Fic: Third Time’s the Charm, Part 1

"Speaking of which," Max said, "did you hear about who Mayor Bradley is bringing back from his little jaunt?"

"Are you going to make me guess?"

"Yes."

It’s angara. He’s bringing angara to Prodromos. A fic about the colonists on Prodromos, and the newcomers to the colony.

(also slight spoilers for the outcome of Liam’s loyalty quest.)

Evelyn knew the moment Max walked through the door that he was going to be imparting some particularly juicy piece of gossip to her. She cranked the music up on her earbuds and continued inputting information into the fabricator, and when Max spoke, she heard only an indistinct buzz over the music.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Max's expression growing just a big less smug as he realized Evelyn wasn't even listening. He sighed in the dramatic Max fashion, employing his whole body since Evelyn couldn't hear him, and then he sat on Evelyn's desk, next to her terminal.

Evelyn continued tapping away at her keyboard until Max had to reach over and tug the earbud out of her ear.

"What'cha doin'?" he asked.

"Adjusting parameters," Evelyn replied.

"On what?"

"Trying out native materials for fabrication," Evelyn replied. "Got a preliminary report from the Nexus tech division. Prodromos has some completely new minerals that show promise." She turned to look at Max. "I'm making a hammer."

"Cool, you do that," Max said, frowning slightly.

It was clear that she'd left Max torn. On one hand, he probably really wanted to impart whatever amazing news item had brought him here. On the other, why would Evelyn be making an obsolete tool like a hammer.

"Why?" he finally asked.

Evelyn turned to him, unable to hold back a smile.

"Don't worry your pretty little kneecaps about it," she said, patting his leg for emphasis.

He snorted a laugh.

"You're a monster and I don't know why we're friends," he said flatly.

"I'm the only one who puts up with your constant gossiping," she replied just as flatly.

"Speaking of which," Max said, seizing on the provided opening, "did you hear about who Mayor Bradley is bringing back from his little jaunt?"

"Are you going to make me guess?"

"Yes."

Evelyn closed the program for the fabricator and opened up her personal correspondence. She'd received a ping for a work assignment. Habitation request. If Mayor Bradley was bringing back guests, this was likely the reason for the ping.

"Mm, the turian primarch?" Evelyn said, delaying as she brought up the details. She was careful to keep her face impassive, even though she felt a bit of eye-popping would have been warranted in this case.

"Not even trying, are you? Come on, a real guess this time."

Evelyn scanned over the assignment and then sent the details to her omni-tool.

"Lady Sweat on her Heleus tour," Evelyn replied.

"Too soon, Ev. I mean, yeah, she's been dead for six hundred years at this point, but too soon."

"Okay, well, we can continue playing later, I have a work thing," she said. "Mayor Bradley asked me to prepare some quarters specifically for our angara guests."

Max made a choked sound as the rug was pulled out from under him.

"That's cheating, Kearns!" he shouted as she headed out the door. Evelyn gave him a jaunty wave without looking back.

By the looks of the message, she was going to have to prepare lodgings not just for a group of angara, but about a dozen Initiative personnel as well.

This was altogether an easy task. As outposts were meant to be assembled quickly, the buildings were little more than mix-and-match cargo pods, meant to be attached to one another easily. Other than being considerably larger and heavier, they were not unlike Lego pieces.

For the Initiative personnel, she could just as well disperse them among colonists without assigned roommates. Given that most people's families were still on ice, there were plenty of available bunks.

She checked in with Dr. Ramirez beforehand to find out what he knew about the incoming guests' physical condition and potential medical accommodations, and the answer was fairly vague, but it didn't seem anyone was in urgent need of care.

She had even less news about the angara, but based on the scant information she had from the Nexus infopacks, and employing a bit of common sense, she was going to assume that they would want to stick together. They were coming to an alien colony, following a traumatic experience, and relying on the kindness of relatively new acquaintances. Yeah, they'd want to stick together.

Evelyn felt each satisfying click as the rooms attached to each other, even though she wasn't the one operating the crane. Tichus Tiervian, who was operating the crane, gave her sidelong looks each time she made a pleased hum.

"Kid, it's just habitation blocks," Tichus said. "I don't get why this makes you so happy."

"Oh, right, I forget turians don't have Legoes," Evelyn said, and patted his shoulder with pity. "No Legoes and mandatory bootcamp. Poor dears."

"I'm starting to get why Max complains about you all the time," Tichus grunted, as he slid the final block into place and heard the final click as it connected.

"I don't force him to be friends with me, he just loves complaining that much," Evelyn said. She jumped out of the crane cabin.

From there, it was the basics.

Of course, the basics could be tricky when you were trying to provide for an alien species you had only the most general information on.

Mattresses and bedding. Toiletries. Electronics. Water rations.

Evelyn checked the average angara proportions, and concluded, from there, that the mattresses would have to be considerably larger than human requirements. As big as turian or salarian mattresses, but probably softer. She hated guessing at these things, but if she was off base, she'd make it up later. Or the angarans would move on before it became much of an issue.

She managed to grab a few people from Supply to help her with assembling the beds; one of them was even a biotic, which helped considerably with hauling the stuff.

Bedding was easier, if only for lack of choice. She hoped the standard issue scratchy Initiative blankets wouldn't be seen as some sort of insult, but at least the sheets and pillows were good quality.

Evelyn actually had to pause and wonder if angara used pillows, and if yes, if they were at least the same kind that humans did. She picked up a pillow and turned it over, trying to figure out if the shape would be uncomfortable with angara physiology. She missed the days when she could just pick up lifestyle magazines if she wanted to know the latest alien trends in interior design. She was going to have to start her own if she wanted a lifestyle magazine now. At least that was an idea for later down the line.

She was going to have to follow up. Maybe convince one of the angara to show her any pictures they might have of their bedroom. In a non-creepy way, hopefully, though Evelyn had never quite mastered how to ask 'show me where you sleep' in a way that didn't unsettle people.

Until then, she added some other pillow variations to the angara living quarters, including some of the neck supports turians used, and some asari cushions. The angara would know what worked best for them, and in a pinch, Evelyn would fabricate something just for them.

Next were the electronics. She hastily set up a terminal on a desk, and then switched the climate controls from being omni-tool activated to be accessed by the terminal. No telling if the angara would have omni-tools or any compatible devices, but given how Eos weather was still somewhat temperamental, they would definitely want access to the climate control.

After further consideration, she switched the options on the terminal from pictographic to all-written. It was better not to put the angara in the positions of having to interpret standardized icons from a different galaxy; their translators would hopefully be more useful with the written language.

She also added in the application tracking the water ration for the building, dragging it onto the screen right next to the climate control.

Satisfied with this, Evelyn moved on to the next issue. What the hell was she going to do about toiletries?

"Which of these smell nicer to the angara, you think? Mint or lavender? Both? Neither?" Evelyn had a bottle of liquid soap in each hand, and weighed each one in turn.

"I am not a beautician," Dr. Ramirez said flatly.

"You're a doctor, I know," she said. "So shouldn't you know about this stuff then?" Evelyn reached into the box next to her, and retrieved a new bottle.

"Okay, this one is alsara scented. It's a fruit from Thessia. It smells like summer holidays to asari."

"That's... unusually specific information to possess," Dr. Ramirez said, as he looked towards Evelyn.

"I ask unusually specific questions," Evelyn said. She offered the cap to Dr. Ramirez. "Just smell it and tell me if you think it's okay."

"How do you expect me to know, exactly?" Dr. Ramirez asked, now growing annoyed.

"You're a doctor, you should know about... biological stuff? I don't know?"

Dr. Ramirez sighed deeply and activated the scanner on his omni-tool. After scanning the bottles, he ran the results through some sort of program.

"Not the mint," he said. "It has an ingredient some angara are sensitive to."

"Well, I could've done that," Evelyn grumbled.

"And yet you spent half an hour pestering me instead," Dr. Ramirez said. His omni-tool pinged just then, cutting off whatever rant he was ready to launch into. "Now if you don't mind, I actually do have patients coming up."

"They're here already?" Evelyn jumped to her feet.

"Yes, now please clear out," Dr. Ramirez said, and all but swept Evelyn out the door.

#mass effect fanfiction #prodromos #angara #original characters #minor canon characters #every NPC has their day

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britesparc · 3 years

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Weekend Top Ten #483

Top Ten Non-Predictions About Not-Quite E3

So E3 is upon is at last! Nearly. Almost. Sort of. A bit. But after a year in which the world-famous videogame trailer convention and Keanu Reeves meme factory was sidelined by this virus thing (Google it), it’s nice to have a major entertainment landmark back in the calendar.

Last year was a bit frustrating, but also interesting. For a long time I’ve wondered about the need – as a consumer – for huge conventions such as E3. It makes sense for the industry, sure, the same way Sundance or something does for film: it’s a way for creators to showcase their wares and hopefully secure deals or employment. But as a way of showing to the public games that are in development, or announcing new things, it’s seemed old-fashioned for quite a while. It requires developers and executives to turn into PT Barnum or something, hawking their wares on elaborate stages, titivating their offerings with dances and celebrity appearances. Sure, sometimes it’s genuinely excellent and entertaining, but most often it’s memorable for all the wrong reasons. With many companies now engaging directly with fans by releasing curated videos that announce their games in their own way, in their own time, would that not have been better? If last year is anything to go by, then no, not really. What we got – and this may have been in large part due to 2020’s unique circumstances – was a long, long summer and autumn filled with rumour and conjecture, and occasional, uninspiring videos, often featuring CG trailers, often for games that were literally years away. On the one hand, lots was announced; on the other, it all felt vague and woolly, and the slow drip-feed did nothing but build anticipation to unrealistic proportions. Without E3 serving as some kind of anchor point – in time, if nothing else – then the spray-gun smattering of videos, trailers, and announcements felt disparate and a little disappointing.

And so it’s back! But not quite. Because, understandably, the huge convention aspect is gone, replaced by a wholly online event. And whilst this may be detrimental to people who want to secure a distribution deal for their game, it might actually make for better showcases for us, the unwashed masses. Instead of a ninety-minute stagebound light entertainment extravaganza that ends up feeling like a ten million dollar school play, we’ll (hopefully) get tightly edited videos that highlight the games, alongside trimmed-down and relevant talking head interviews from developers explaining what we can expect and just how many bumps they’ve managed to map this year. At least, that’s what I hope will happen.

Of course, exactly what E3 is nowadays is a bit weird anyway, and this year exacerbates that. Loads of companies seem to shun the show itself but schedule their presentations for the same week or thereabouts, giving us, what, a fortnight (with a “gh”) or so of things to look forward to. I mean, it feels a bit weird putting this list out a full week before E3 formally kicks off, but I wanted to try to pre-empt any interesting amusing reveals that might occur in the days preceding (at the time of writing, Nintendo haven’t announced a new Switch, despite everyone on Twitter saying it was due any minute now). To be honest, I always like to look for the random stuff anyway, as the huge games tend to be known about or heavily rumoured well in advance (it felt like an open secret for at least a year that Playground Games were developing a new Fable, for instance, and we were just waiting to see when Microsoft would announce that). So I’ve tried to make these predictions daft, wish-fulfilment, or at least offer some kind of personal spin on the sort of thing we might expect. And, of course, as someone who tends to prefer to play on Xbox or Nintendo, there will be a skew towards those companies (anyway, Sony don’t really have a presence at E3 nowadays). And like I’ve said before, the really personal wish-fulfilment stuff I always used to “predict” in these things have started to come true – we’ve got Fable and Perfect Dark on the way, and we had Crackdown 3 a couple of years ago. If it goes on like this I’m just going to have to start wishing for loads of old Amiga games to get rebooted.

You heard it here first: E3 2022 is when we get the third-person open world Ruff ‘n’ Tumble reboot we’ve all asked for.

Anyway, here are ten predictions for E3 that probably won’t happen.

Halo Infinite multiplayer beta: we know Halo will be there, because it’s front and centre of Microsoft’s little announcement picture thing (along with what appears to be a bit of the Starfield logo). As the image also seems to show multiplayer Spartans, I imagine this will be the focus rather than more campaign gameplay. I actually think this is a big risk, as the main criticism of Halo last year was that its graphics weren’t good enough; typically, I’d say, the campaign visuals are stronger than the multiplayer portion, which tends to focus on elegantly designed levels and fast-moving gameplay. I wonder if there’ll be another, longer look at the campaign sometime later in the summer, in a dedicated Halo presentation. Anyway, one thing I think MS will do to curry favour is announce an imminent multiplayer beta. Maybe there’ll be a sign-up, but I think it would be cool if it was available for anyone in Game Pass Ultimate. It’s a way to get people to sign up for the service, and that seems to be Microsoft’s main goal right now.

Games ready to play RIGHT NOW: Psychonauts 2, Age of Empire IV, and the Xbox version of Flight Simulator have all been given age ratings recently, something that only happens relatively close to a game’s release. I think that at least one of these – maybe all three! – will be shown at the Xbox presentation, and then declared to be available immediately on Game Pass. Again, it bigs up Microsoft’s service, and would also be a cool mic drop moment for games that might be anticipated but aren’t quite the triple-A behemoths of Halo, Fallout, or Gears.

All the rays, nicely traced: one thing that’s been a bit frustrating as an Xbox Series X owner is the lack of genuine next-gen feeling experiences. I’ve really enjoyed the upgrade from a base Xbox One, and playing a game like Gears 5 feels like a huge improvement (and it’s gorgeous too). But I want to see crazy stuff that the old box couldn’t do, and not just in higher resomolutions. One of the things that I’d love to see is more ray-tracing; this is a next-gen graphical treat that, to me, feels like when I first saw games with dynamic coloured lighting twenty-five years ago. So I hope we get a proper reveal/release date for the ray-traced Minecraft expansion, but I’d also love it – now that Xbox owns everything – if the ray-traced version of Quake 2 was announced for the console. Give me them rays, Microsoft!

Quaking: speaking of the Quake series, it’s the first game’s twenty-fifth anniversary this year, and I think it needs some love. Now, id are working on their Doom reboot trilogy thing, so I don’t expect to see a fully-fledged reimagining for a few years yet, but how about re-releasing the original game on modern consoles? Doesn’t need anything fancy, just like the ports of the first Doom that are ten a penny. Quake is a bit more complex to port, it’s true, but I still think it’d be amazing to see it on consoles before the end of its anniversary year.

Nothing but Star Wars: outside of the Xbox-Bethesda conference, I hope we see some lovely, lovely Star Wars goodies. There are a few projects in development, but I’m gonna stick my neck out and say that we’ll get a fairly long look at the Knights of the Old Republic remake/reboot, a very vague teaser trailer for Fallen Order 2 (maybe even just a title reveal), and a teaser for the open-world game from Ubisoft. I don’t, unfortunately, think we’ll see anything of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga until the Lego livestream later this summer, but for what it’s worth I’m not expecting that game till Christmas now.

Old games on Switch: I think one of the things Nintendo is going to announce is a bunch of older games coming to the Switch. We already have Skyward Sword coming, but I think we’ll hear about other classic Zelda games coming in the anniversary year. Maybe remastered Metroid Prime games too? And I think they’ll do another one of those battle royale-style versions of their classics, maybe the first Donkey Kong?

New games on a new Switch: the sheer weight of “New Switch” rumours seems to suggest it is real, but when are they announcing it if their E3-ish Direct is all about software? I wonder if we’ll see some new games for Christmas ’21 going into ’22 that are then revealed to be enhanced by this mythical Super Switch. We’ll probably see a bit more of Breath of the Wild 2 (although I think there’ll be a bigger Zelda-focused Nintendo Direct later this year). I’m gonna predict Pikmin 4. And vague teasers for both a brand new Metroid Prime game, and also for Mario Kart 9. And all of these will be designed to run better on Switchy McSwitchface. Whenever that comes out.

Microsoft buys more companies: I just think this is inevitable, and I reckon we’ll get another announcement next week. Which companies? God knows. The Flight Sim guys maybe, or The Medium developers. Or, I dunno, Team 17. Probably not Sega, as funny as that would be. Maybe a medium-sized Japanese developer. So, yeah; Microsoft’s spending spree isn’t quite over.

Sony’s not-E3 announcements: Sony appears to be skipping E3 altogether, again. So when will they have their next big video presentation? I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long personally. So what will they talk about? I’d have thought we’d see the next Spider-Man revealed this year, but the big chitter-chatter at the moment is the whole “cross-gen” conversation (my opinion is: who cares?), and also when their games will come out. well, call me pessimistic, but I think Horizon: Forbidden West will end up being early 2022, with the new God of War and Gran Turismo ending up as late 2022 releases.

Crazy talk: I think this has ended up being a relatively straight and rational list, which just won’t do. So let’s get some wild ones out of the way here at the end. Sony announces remastered versions of Lemmings and Lemmings 2 for PC! Microsoft is making new games starring their Avatars! Double Fine release a PC version of Scurvy Scallywags for Game Pass! A brand new Duke Nukem! Lucasfilm bring Ron Gilbert back to oversee a reboot of Monkey Island! Nintendo announces Switch Sports! Gabe Newell announces VR support for Xbox Series X with an exclusive port of Half-Life: Alyx! Peggle 3! Phew, glad to get that out of my system.

#top ten #e3 e3 2021 #xbox #nintendo #sony #playstation #switch #switch pro #microsoft #series x #halo

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myherorp · 4 years

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THE QUIRK DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED !

incoming information on hero course student, cuboi.

get to know them !

faceclaim: na jaemin

name: choi haneul

hero name: cuboi

gender & pronouns: male ( he/him )

age: nineteen

year group: third

department: hero

agency: the angel agency

reputation: there were mixed opinions about haneul, the boy who would alternate between eloquence and politeness to that of rude bluntness. still, he wasn’t the worst there was and he showed skills as an aspiring hero. someone you could look over, especially with how he never tried to stand out if possible. however, there did seem to be an air that he could do better, especially when he showed signs of a strategical mind. generally, he was easy-going and approachable, got a rather level-head, a knack for strategy and needed to be pushed more to shine.

the quirk !

quirk name: cube creation

quirk description:allows the user to manipulate and create translucent blue cubes.

abilities:

To simply put, he could create translucent blue cubes out of thin air. What these cubes could do, however, was what made it versatile. He could essentially create a shield for others or items as long as he could form the cube around or in front of them. He could also manipulate the cubes so that he could carry the things he held in it in a telepathic manner. Moreover, he could create these cubes without holding anything in it, instead using it as projectiles to launch at his enemies. For the case of things like bombs, he could keep the explosion within the boundary of inside the cube.

Lego Armour; one of his favored techniques, creating cubes over parts of his body in an armour like fashion to hit harder and endure better. Sometimes he didn’t even do the full armour and merely stuck to partial armours to save energy.

Tetris End Game; we all know what happens when you get a game over in tetris—it’s a rain of blocks. That’s essentially this technique, various projectiles of blocks coming at the opponents.

Lockdown; putting down a boundary field over a pretty large area to prevent anyone from getting out. This is usually meant for strategies such as wanting to make sure the criminals don’t escape or to allow opponents to take the burnt of an attack.

Other than this, he was versatile and could use his blocks depending on the situation. He could use the sharp edges of his blocks in a blade like ( albeit not the best ) manner, a bludgeoning weapon, a shield, a mode of transport, or more. He could even create more complex constructs out of tinier cubes.

strengths:

His quirk can be used for rescue missions or to keep a minimum amount of damage if necessary. Due to this, he could keep disastrous fights in a small area or anything too dangerous from damaging a wide area. This was a quirk that was friendly when a large amount of people were in the vicinity.

It’s a pretty versatile quirk. He could use his quirk both offensively and defensively. Whether it be a bludgeoning weapon or an onslaught of projectiles or a shield to defend oneself. He could even use it as a mode of transport by putting people inside a cube and letting it get from one point to the other.

He’s still able to manipulate his cubes through telepathic means—which would allow him to use blocks in offensive manners or to move things more easily. This also allowed him to change the size of the cube, thickness of the cube’s wall and more.

weaknesses:

The simple struggle of how much energy is required to create or manipulate these cubes. How long he could maintain the cubes, how big he could make it, how sturdy he could make it, how fast he could move it, or if he could even move it at all. Currently the heaviest object he could move is a rather small car and even then it’s barely hovering and pretty slow. He could create strong enough cubes that could take a heavy hit from a fellow student’s strongest attack but he’ll probably only manage to do it once. He could also make about 20 cubes the size of his head of a mediocre level of sturdiness and move it about freely—however, adding one more would cause a strain that causes the movements of the cubes to be more stiff and slow.

Although, energy wise he could sustain 20 cubes—whether he could handle it long enough before he got a headache was a different case. Managing multiple cubes that are bound to do something different from each other can be taxing. If those 20 cubes were to move in one direction together, then that could be manageable. But, if those cubes were to move on different directions or do different actions, it was a recipe for a massive headache. Basically, managing more than one cube was going to be him multitasking. As of now, he could multitask five cubes efficiently.

More in regards to his current state of mind than his actual abilities: he lacked the motivation to push harder. Good enough was good enough, there was never the urge to go beyond. There’s no proper drive as of now, and all he wanted to be capable of was being alright. That’s simply how it was right now. He could get better, but he was already content with what he was capable of now.

Though capable of defensive measures, it didn’t necessarily enhance his own physique. Speed and reflexes especially were something he needed to work on his own. If he was slow, he was slow. And in the fast-paced environment of the hero life—a second could change everything. Unfortunately, his lack of motivation did cause him to lack in the physical department.

the history !

triggers: n/a

× CHAPTER I. The thing about bad apples, you see, was that in a tree full of shiny, red jewels—there could be the single rotten fruit that was better off thrown away. He’s that bad apple, a discord among everything else good in his life. He had wonderful parents, understanding family, alright friends, and yet… Well, let’s start off from the beginning shall we? With successful parents and a cool world to live in, young Choi Haneul was initially amazed by it all. He could get anything he wanted, and fairytales were pretty much reality. It was like being a part of every show he loved, of being in an endless dream. But soon, that became the very problem that plagued him. It’s not fun. It’s pretty much there for him on a silver platter. Everyone did everything already, and his parents let him get away with anything. And as a child, he already realized—it was hard to be special. Maybe, once upon a time, heroes were only fiction—but now they and villains ran rampant in reality. Then he’s not just some mundane kid on the street, he was already a rich child that could live off of his own parent’s money. But he had enough of a conscience to feel bitter from doing such a thing. The worst was when people asked him what he dreamt to be in the future—there’s no honest answer. Not when there didn’t seem to be anything fun or special to be or he could just have anything he wished. It was bittersweet for a child who should have been able to dream to already see a reality where everything was possible. Because if that was so, what more could he do to it?

But after several times of saying ‘I don’t know’ and people still prying into his business—he lied for the first time.

“I want to be a hero.”

Empty words slipped out of his lips, but before he knew it that sentence became what others defined him with.

× CHAPTER II. He’s not sure why he tried but sometimes trying something was easier than to not. People bother too much when you don’t, and he hated such troublesome meddling from others. That’s why he played his role and kept up the act. It’s easier to say that he wanted to be something than admitting than to admit that he was still lost. Even if he had to put effort into something he couldn’t really care, it was something.

But going through life was like a tiring motion. It’s a cycle, and he found himself like driftwood in the ocean—following the waves but never going in his own direction like the fishes deeper down. He’s a cloud in the sky, trying to peacefully go through and avoid the birds that flew by. If there was anything he wanted, perhaps it was the ability to just stay still, close his eyes, and to be okay even if he gets stuck there for eternity. Because when he finally can stop, breathe, and ignore everything around him like the world has ended and he was all that was left—maybe then he could make sense of what he wants and what his thoughts were.

Because everything was a hassle as much as it was somewhat nice oddly enough. He didn’t know when everything troublesome became everything pretty fun. Playing tag with the other kids was okay, but too much effort. Spring flowers that bloom would have made his day if not for how jealous he was at how bright and uncaring it was to the world. Playing to the rules that society has made was done so he could at least enjoy some of the luxuries he detest less than the harsh life without it.

In the end, he found himself only smiling because as much as he hated everything, he was living in a world that he couldn’t help but admire. Because these fools that were known as humans live even if it was never necessary. We live, complain, praise, and try to take another step forward. They say he should be too young to understand, but what people weren’t aware of was that even if he started to lack manners and respect for most things—he was rather interested in philosophy.

And perhaps the first lie wasn’t “I want to be a hero.”

It’s “I have everything.”

Because as a human, there’s no way he could ever get everything in the world. And in truth he really was nothing. That was the harsh reality he loathed to admit. He was nothing but he didn’t want to do anything about it. He didn’t try to be as special as anyone on TV because that was too much effort. And yeah he’s doing okay, but he’s not doing great.

His classmates all have dreams, his parents wanted to support him for anything he wished to be, and yet he sat there in class looking down at the paper in front of him with blank eyes.

‘What do you wish to grow up to be?’ were the words written on it, a common question asked by everyone. He knew they expected him to also write in more detail as to why that was so or else they pulled him aside to ask him to write more and that was just too much time wasted on something so trivial.

So he wrote his answer, false as usual. He stole from every other kid’s words and jumbled it together to make something original.

‘I want to be a hero because…’

All Might. Helping people. Be the star. For money. Whatever.

He’s sick of it but school years go by and he continues his farce.

× CHAPTER III. His life goes as normal. Most times his father was busy saving someone’s life and his mother was dealing with her business, but he also was taken care of by maids and butlers so it was okay. During those moments he’d usually play around with whatever was trendy before throwing it away when it became boring or watch anything on TV. He meandered between countless activities until he could call it a day or eat his meals. The only constant hobby he had was to go to the garden and sit under the cherry blossom tree.

Leaning on the trunk of this gentle tree, letting the blossoms fall on him as he looked at those cherry blossoms contrast against the blue sky. It was the most peace he could ever find himself in, even if it was tainted by guilt and the images of his mother and father which deserved better.

In this haven of his, where he didn’t have to face the world with expectations—he asked himself:

“What do you dream of being?”

His hand raised up to the sky, his eyes peering through the gaps between the fingers, he wondered.

He didn’t know. He’s not really sure anymore. He just said he wanted to be a hero because it was so easy to say. Adults hear that from their kids and they just shake their heads fondly, knowing that was nearly every child’s dream. The most he realistically wanted from it was the cash ( but what he truly wanted was the idea of becoming special to someone, to everyone ). The thing he knew was worst to get was death ( and sometimes he thought he’s better off that way if he didn’t remember how painful it could be ).

“Where are you heading to, what’s that goal you’re fighting for?” he kept on asking, but there were no answers, no help, just this him that knew nothing.

Pitiful, he couldn’t help but feel as he shit his eyes. If only he could ever understand.

× CHAPTER IV. If he was to actually try and make sense of things, then the harsh reality of a mundane life became more apparent. Sure, he was pretty rich and all, but it’s not like he was the only one in the world.

Childhood was just chilling about going to school, making friends, going back home where he just lazed about. This cycle didn’t stop even now, but he did have to make time to train his quirk somewhat if he wanted to be the hero that he claimed to want to be.

And in this young life of his, before he found himself heading to high school, he knew that there was barely any change. Because he didn’t seek it out on his own, he merely waited for it to come to him. He didn’t seek out change even if a part of him wished for it, and he wondered why he couldn’t really make sense of himself.

Then now, he had to decide what school to go to next. The obvious choice was U.Y., and yeah it was really over-achieving, but with how googly-eyed his parents were about him going into such a school, he decided to try and do a decent amount of effort. turns out, decent from him and trying to get things done over with ended up with him getting into the school, if barely. ah, this was going to be exhausting.

the personality !

+ easy-going, mature, strategic, witty = straightforward, curious, contradictory × aimless, muddle-headed, apathetic, deceiving A generally go with the flow person, Haneul was one that rather let the present situation guide him. One not to complain or judge, he kept an open mind and a lax demeanor. He puts others to more of an ease with this aura of his, never the kind to pry or be overbearing to others. Maturity was prominent in him, far more insightful than one could expect. Being understanding as well as dealing with things head on than break down, the teen’s mental years go beyond his actual age. However, just because he had such a mindset and knowledge never really meant that he acted upon it ( or at least obviously showed it ). Not only that, though, he was one that planned out things well. Although, his strategies suit better to the realm of socializing surprisingly enough. If he gets into it, Haneul could plan conversations like a mighty general in war. He knew the right social cues, could be sharp enough to understand his opponents, and utilized everything to his advantage. He’s not exactly battle savvy yet, but if his current existing schools were to get used to it—well, he could become a force to be reckoned with. With quick wits and a sharp tongue, Haneul was the kind of boy that could get into the flow of things or fit the atmosphere by his great sense and observant nature. He’s also good with putting in smart jokes or play with words when in the mood ( which was most times ). He’s also what one could call savage, daring to hit with harsh but humorous remarks. Haneul wasn’t one to beat around the bush, instead hitting the point instantly. He didn’t really care if he came off as insensitive or rude, but one must know that he would lead conversations to the heart of the problem as well as make sure no one strayed from the clear path in front of them. Whilst helpful in maintaining some sense of order, he was still too blunt for some people’s tastes. The boy was a curious soul, not in the kind that would pry too much and get into people’s business—but the kind that questions himself and the nature of others. This sort of thinking muddles his head, lost his sense of self more, and made him all the more confused. Because he questioned himself constantly of the authenticity and how genuine he was with his words more than necessary instead of going into it without a care. he’s straightforward in speech, yes, but his own way of thinking goes round and round like a demented ferris merry-go-round. It did help him to question others more, though, making sure to be more apprehensive and aware of things. It also helps him to be eager to learn things that caught his fancy, may it be philosophy or why and how heroes work. In a strange way, he, himself, was a contradiction. For he was straightforward but a deceiver, strategic yet muddle-headed, mature and aimless. They usually shouldn’t work, but in the enigma that was Haneul, he embodied these traits as much as he questioned himself about it. It didn’t help out with this confusing head of his, but it did make him a pretty unpredictable fellow. He’s not really someone with goals. He lies about it more than he’s honest, always wondering and unsure of his own wants and desires. He didn’t have fixed goals that he truly wanted, but instead of trying out to find out what he wanted he ended up just lazing about and continued down a path he wasn’t even sure if he wanted. Haneul’s mind was like a canvas that’s been splattered and painted by too many colors. It’s messy with constant questions, thoughts of his own judgement, and anything that caught his fancy at the moment. It’s a labyrinth as confusing as a chaotic orchestra, and the only reason he could function properly in conversations and planning out strategies was because he was invested enough to do so ( which happened only when he wanted to keep things less troublesome on his end ). Apathy was another defining factor of his, always taking his time and calmly going about things but also indifferent to everyone else. He wasn’t one to really care about most things, merely going through with the motions because it’s less problematic if he did. Most of the time, he’s trying to think of how to make it easier for himself than to not. If following the rules was easier, then he’d follow the rules. If having a common dream that won’t be questioned was easier, then he’d just say that was his dream all along. If having to put up an act because it was easier, then lie he will. The easier the better, and it contradicted his understanding to make his own life better he got to push himself. Unfortunately, he’s not in the mood to do that just yet. He’s a liar, but yet he can be honest. His lies were usually something he put up to keep up a normal image that others would not bother. His honesty only came forth when it came to tackling other people’s own idiocy or to quicken the process. But deceiving, to him, was to say that he wanted to be a hero or that he had a dream or even the fact that he’s saying to himself that it couldn’t be helped ( even if he knew the problem was him all along ). Lying made things easier and less stressful, and he lied more about his state of self and to himself than anything else.

#myherofollow #myheroaccepted

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douchebagbrainwaves · 5 years

Text

WHY I'M SMARTER THAN EXAMPLE

But apparently hackers are particularly curious, especially about how things work. The philosophy's there, but it's hard to design something for an individual client's complex and ill-defined needs. For example, if you find yourself packing a bottle of vodka just in case, you may have a whole car to yourself. My three partners and I run a seed stage investment firm called Y Combinator. You tend to keep your voice down, because there's a good chance the person at the next table would know some of the statements that get people in trouble, and start asking, could this be true? The situation is much the same with work. But I did not till recently understand the role risk played. I was talking about how investors are reluctant to put money into startups in bad markets, even though that's the time they should rationally be most willing to buy?

Because the main points are unconnected, the list of n things.1 The cartoon strip Dilbert has a lot to market it. Let them write lists of n things for n 3.2 So who are the great hackers I know seem to have a habit of questioning assumptions. And the crude version 1 was, if I remember correctly, less than 10,000 lines of code: the best design surpasses its predecessors by using new ideas, you don't have to work as if it were the small group of individuals that humans were designed to work in. I couldn't imagine a great hacker except by working with him, and treat that.3 And users don't care where you went to college. A lot of the statements that make people mad are the ones they worry might be true. A team that outplays its opponents but loses because of a bad decision by the referee could be called unlucky, but not hapless. I have to give up on the bottom.

They'll be things you've already noticed but didn't let yourself think. Good hackers avoid it for the same reason I did look under rocks as a kid: plain curiosity. In a list of n things protects the writer from indulging in any flights of fancy. New technology and new jobs both come disproportionately from new companies. Why didn't anyone think of it before?4 And software sells hardware. When times get bad, hackers go to grad school at Harvard to cure you of any illusions you might have about the average Harvard undergrad. I don't know enough to say whether advantages like lack of competition outweigh disadvantages like reluctant investors. Saying the earth orbited the sun was another matter. Some would ask, why would one want to do, at least for a while. Obviously you can't prove this in the case of a single individual, but you can tell from aggregate evidence: you can't manage a process intended to produce beautiful things without knowing what beautiful is. But what if the problem isn't given?

For most of us, it's not a switch to Apple, but a return. The cartoon strip Dilbert has a lot to say about cubicles, and with good reason.5 The answer to the paradox, I think, though, that all other things being equal, a company that will deliver so much as one that, if they have time machines in the future will look like, but I'm not too worried about it. If you work on overlooked problems, you're more likely to discover new things, because you need more of them to solve a given problem. There are people who would disagree with this. Well, that is.6 Even people who hate you for it believe it.7 As for books, I know the answer to that.

As for books, I know the answer to that. But airports are not so bad: most of the initial sales of the Apple II came from people who bought one to run VisiCalc. What if no one happens to have gotten in trouble for a particular idea yet? Now that conventional ideas have caught up with it, it seems obvious. The spread of the term political correctness meant the beginning of the end of political correctness in the early 1990s, Harvard distributed to its faculty and staff a brochure saying, among other things, that it made sense to invest in us if we had better than a 1 in 24 chance of succeeding. I've rarely had a neat answer to it.8 Instead of writing Word directly in C, they'd be plugging together big Lego blocks of Word-language. A real essay, as the name implies, is dynamic: you don't know you need to, and the study he quoted was published in 1968.

I think, maybe I should say Richard Stallman, or Linus Torvalds, or Alan Kay, or someone famous like that. This essay is derived from a talk at Oscon 2004. So it's winner take all. So it's winner take all. It's true they have a long tradition of comparative open-mindedness is no guarantee. Notice all this time I've been talking about the designer. Once a toll becomes painful, people start to find ways around it, and that's pretty easy with digital content. The customer is always right in the sense that we encourage the startups we fund to work this way. It seems so convincing when you see animals in the wild. The philosophy's there, but it's woven into the story instead of being pasted onto it like a label. By the time you get to social questions, many changes are just fashion.

Notes

1323-82.

Companies didn't start to get at it, by Courant and Robbins; Geometry and the war had been with their decision—just that if you include the prices of new means of production. Parker, op. Since the remaining outcomes don't have the least correlation between the government, it seems a bit more complicated, because the test for what gets included in shows that they lived in a bug.

Instead of bubbling up from the study. But politicians know the answer.

When you're starting a business is to claim retroactively I said yes. One VC who got buyer's remorse, then work on Wall Street were in 2000, because they've learned more, are not merely blurry versions of great ones. Different kinds of menial work early in the Ancient World, Economic History Review, 2:9 1956,185-199, reprinted in Finley, M. Thanks to Paul Buchheit for the government, it may be useful here, because by definition if the company is always room for another.

It's a bit misleading to treat macros as a game, Spacewar, in one where life was tougher, the more educated ones. Robert Morris says that clothing brands favored by urban youth do not do this would be a hot startup. But it could be adjacent.

It's hard for us, because some schools work hard to mentally deal with them.

One VC who got buyer's remorse, then work on open-source projects, even if they seem to someone in 1880 that schoolchildren in 1980 would be great for VCs if the similarity extended to returns. We try to make peace with Spain, and Windows, respectively. The biggest exits are the only result is that if a company tried to combine the hardware with an associate if you pack investor meetings too closely, you'll have to decide whether you're a YC startup and you can survive without external encouragement.

Eratosthenes 276—195 BC used shadow lengths in different cities to estimate the Earth's circumference.

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mnaru001 · 5 years

Text

6/5/19

The human body is the ultimate barrier and in some sense, a lot of our culture was about demolishing this barrier. “To be in one's head” means to temporarily become blind of everything that is happening beyond. To be in one's head is to be ultimately selfish, engulfed in one's ideas of, ultimately, oneself. The reluctance of being challenged by the “world outside”. Social media today does something of this sort - it continually feeds us the content that we ourselves have preselected. The same happens in extreme loneliness. It is not so much the physicality of it (one can always get a dog) but the lack of real interaction and the response from one’s environment. Talking to people can often feel like talking to walls - superficial and pointless, but what happens when you don’t have anyone to talk to for a very long time?

For some reason, I keep having the phantasy of becoming someone else. I tried it once or twice in my life, through what could be called a method performance or crudely put, lying. I used to tell people stories that I made up as if they were true and watch how it affects the way they feel or the way they react to me. Once on a train home in London, I was talking to someone and pretended to be a doctor, the character I based on a friend of mine who is an actual doctor. We had a pretty good conversation about how doctors are overworked these days or something like that. The point was, the person I was talking to was fully convinced I was a doctor.

I don’t do things like that anymore, it can get pretty awkward pretty fast and such behavior is often perceived as malicious. People feel cheated. Which is a bit funny, we “put on” an identity every day and people rarely see our true faces. Actors get paid for convincing people they are not who they really are. But the point here is that of becoming someone else and the conditions of doing so. One life is not enough - some of us manage to squeeze in a few. Life of a professional of some sorts, a child, a parent, a grandparent if we’re lucky. Life is diced in to narrow categories, all with roles to play. But what is beyond all that? Is a society/culture built on identity legos? Each identity has borders. What would happen if I could “try on” an identity? If I could look at myself through someone else’s eyes? if I could look at the world through someone else’s eyes when I want to? Art does this to some extent - when I look at a painting, I see a picture of someone’s world. The way they saw it, the way they felt. What if I could carry this with me? What if I could “see” multiple perspectives simultaneously? This weird feeling after watching a good film for, example. When you in the strangest way become the character - it makes you spontaneously quote the characters when you find yourself in similar situations (oh memes), or movies start serious fashion trends (Instagram's outfit mood boards). What sparks this intrinsic desire to mimic?

Fashion? Theatre?

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bern33chaser · 5 years

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15 Groovy, Awesome, Swell and Cool Words

What’s your favorite word of compliment or admiration? How do you express approval? These are important questions for each generation of young people, who want their vocabulary to distinguish them from previous generations. It’s not fool-proof: a slang expression of approval is often fashionable in one place or time but not another, and may even coming back into fashion later. A word that is fashionable in one school might be considered outdated in another.

Perhaps the longest reigning compliment is “Cool!” – after an unusual run of popularity among several generations of young people, it remains fashionable in 2019. But in the last century, dozens of similar words have come in and out of fashion.

ace – Meant “top quality,” as in the highest playing card in a standard deck. A “flying ace” in World War I meant a pilot who had shot down five or more planes in combat. A student who gets an A on a test can say, “I aced it!” But once upon a time, it was used as a positive exclamation: “Ace!” meant “Great!”

awesome – typical of GenX youth (those born roughly between 1961 and 1981), but also used by American preteens in 2019. Example: “This popcorn is awesome!” One of several contemporary uses of a stronger word in a weaker sense, awesome originally means “producing terror,” then “full of awe” or “awe-inspiring.” Example: “The volcano erupted in an awesome shower of fire.” More recently, it has been used for anything that’s moderately interesting (such as rocks, socks and clocks in the Lego Movie song “Everything is Awesome.”) Perhaps this usage expresses a hope for a life that’s more than moderately interesting, or else, youthful enthusiasm.

bad – An example of contrarianism in youth slang (bad means good), but still with the original connotation of “rough” or “evil.” That is, a girl would not say, “Oooh, that’s a bad bouquet of flowers! Thank you! I’ll put them in a vase right now.”

bully – One of the favorite adjectives of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, meaning “grand” or “excellent.” Used in this sense in Great Britain by 1680 and revived in popularity America around 1844 (“Bully for you!”). Its meaning changed from the Middle Dutch boele, meaning “lover” or “boyfriend,” later probably used similarly to “Ooh, your boele is really bad! I like him!” to the current sense of someone who is cruel to those weaker than himself. But when Roosevelt was President (1901 to 1909), it was probably as popular as cool is today, and meant approximately the same thing.

cool – This word has also kept its Old English meaning of “low temperature.” Someone with a cool head is not hot-headed or easily angered – he has control of his passions. But a dispassionate person might also lack compassion for others, an implication of cool in the 1957 musical West Side Story. In the 1940s, tenor saxophonist Lester Young popularized the word as an expression of calm approval and satisfaction. If you ask teens in the Teens if they need anything, maybe something to eat or drink, they may respond, “No, I’m cool” or “No, I’m good.” It has been spelled “kewl,” but that’s now dated or ironic.

crack – Used in the phrase “crack shot,” an accurate marksman, but it means good or skilled in general. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary definition involved “quickness or smartness.”

epic – Frequently used by young gamers but common among many young male Americans, meaning “very cool and exciting,” Originally used for important events or great objects worthy of long works of heroic poetry such as the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Beowulf, and Paradise Lost. Political campaigners like to refer to the “epic accomplishments” of their candidate, if any, the last time her or she was in office, if ever.

groovy – Popular in the 1960s among surfers and hippies. It even became the title of a Los Angeles television show in 1967, live from the beach in Santa Monica. But it originated in the Jazz Era of the 1920s, from the phrase “in the groove,” referring to the groove on vinyl records. If you were in the groove, you were part of the latest music scene.

gucci – From the high-quality clothing line, used by YouTuber Matt Smith to mean “high quality” or “good.” When a former enemy becomes your friend, you can say about your relationship, “It’s all gucci.” In a 1999 magazine interview in Harper’s Bazaar, singer Lenny Kravitz calls his bedroom “very Gucci.”

hep – According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word “hep” was first used in 1862 to mark the cadence of a march, like this: “HEP 2 – 3 – 4… HEP 2 – 3 – 4…” The words “Left… left… left-right-left” served the same purpose and also made it clear which foot you should put forward when. By 1900, it had already begun to mean “trendy.” decades before it was adopted by beatniks and hippies.

hip – Originally spelled “hep,” this word referred to the most current-conscious residents of the 1960s. Someone who was hip knew all the latest jargon, wore the latest fashions, and understood the latest ideas. To say “I’m hip with that” meant “I know what you’re talking about and I agree.” So a hippie at the time was someone who was very hip. Of course, being trendy is a moving target – the word was first used in this sense in 1904, and trends have changed substantially since then.

mod – Beginning about 1958, the mod youth culture was typified by young sharp-dressing, scooter-riding working class Londoners, but spread around the world. So in the early 1960s, if something was mod, it was trendy. Long after mod stopped being a common compliment, an American TV series called The Mod Squad debuted in 1968 and ran until 1973. Its young undercover detective stars were more hip than mod, using solid and groovy as their compliments. The word was revived effectively later – according to a middle-aged GenXer, “That word was so 80s.”

sick – Another example of contrarianism in youth slang. Being ill is disagreeable, but something that is sick is attractive. In other words, calling a skateboard sick is an expression of admiration. On Mark McCrindle’s list of the most annoying youth phrases in Australia, “fully sick” is number 2.

swell – By 1786, a swell was a dandy, a fashionable person with a swollen sense of self-importance. But it became an exclamation of admiration. In the musical The Music Man, set in 1912, Professor Harold Hill warns parents against sinister influences on their sons: “Are certain words… creeping into his conversation? Words like… like swell!” But it was too late: by 1930, expressions such as “That’s just swell!” had become common in the United States.

wild – The theme song of The Patty Duke Show (1963-1966) says about the two main characters (both played by Patty Duke) “What a wild duet!” Perhaps a 1960s reaction to the staid 1950s, where wild behavior was not acceptable.

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Original post: 15 Groovy, Awesome, Swell and Cool Words from Daily Writing Tips https://www.dailywritingtips.com/groovy-cool-words/

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