#minimal explanation the character interactions speak for itself

[whatsevengoingonanymore]

If I had known that Willem Dafoe was in John Wick I would’ve watched it sooner.

[zparkl]

Barbie Movie [4/10]

[SPOILERS] [PERSONAL GRIPES]

[Spoilers]

The costumes, set design, and music were all really well done. That said, the plot was just tripping over itself in trying to get the message across. I felt like I was watching three different Barbie movie concepts that were being squished together.

The fact that Ken was exposed to the patriarchy of outside and brought it to Barbieland was an interesting idea that was completely botched. The problem with the patriarchy is that it is harmful and causes damage to the people living within it. Women are oppressed and are able to be harmed and objectified without recourse while men are supressed and forced into toxic positions to hold up to a masculine ideal. But in the movie the Barbies loved it! Literally were having so much fun. The Kens were also living the life after finally getting some kind of respect.

The Barbies were just magically brainwashed with no explanation other than "they have no defenses like the Native Americans with smallpox". That was a stupid reason and makes no sense. He managed to do this in what like 20 minutes or like an hour? How? Since when do Kens have the power of controlling minds? Did he just ramble about horses and beer and every Barbie and Ken just fell in line? Wtf??? I understand the point the movie was trying to make but the execution was awful. Especially since the movie already established that Barbies don't really take Kens seriously anyways. But because the movie needs to make the point that little girls grow up in a world that minimizes their dreams we need Ken to brainwash the smartest women in the land.

Then we get to the second part where patriarchy also hurts men. Be honest, that was also weak sauce. Ken throws a fit and cries that he just wanted to be recognized but that falls flat when a majority of his speech is actually about his unrequited feelings for Barbie. So then its not actually about respect its about him being in love. And then you have another Ken chime in that he misses his best friend Barbie in a throwaway line. It was just far far too short of an interaction to show that these Kens did not enjoy patriarchy. This is also only verbalized after the Kens lose. An apology after a loss is just not as sincere as one made organically. If the Kens had realized during their whole Kendom that they missed thier Barbies and were not having as much as fun as they thought and then apologized it would have been more impact full. It was a movie trying to push a feminist message but it just couldn't quite get there.

Then you have the secondary plot with the little girl and the mom that is completely unnecessary. The Sasha character was just not endearing nor did she have any role in the movie. There wasn't even a reconciliation scene for Sasha and Barbie. Why set up that montage of them playing together? Why have Sasha tear Barbie apart emotionally? What was the point if there is no scene of Barbie and Sasha actually talking to each other. Or a scene of Sasha realizing what Barbie actually values and apologizing for the things she had said? In fact, Sasha should have been the one to motivate Barbie. She and Barbie are both transitioning from the innocent child into an adolescent. She could speak to Barbie about how it feels to suddenly be sexualized and how she became tough as a way to fight against it. Or how she herself is dealing with all those teenage emotions and her own awareness of her mortality. It felt as if Greta was planning something there but it just didn't fit.

The mother-daughter conflict was also just dropped once it became clear there just wasn't enough time for it. If Gloria was going to be the human that Barbie connected to the most then she should have just been Gloria's Barbie!! That would have solved many of my main criticisms with Sasha. If Barbie had belonged to Gloria then her arc makes sense. I could have also seen Barbie being an instrumental figure in bridging together Sasha and Gloria. Similar to Life-Size where the doll turned human is able to bring joy and self-confidence into a broken family. But again there was just not enough time so we had to speed past this little plot point.

There were so many excellent ideas in this movie. However not a single one was given the time and effort needed to fully flesh them out. A movie with such amazing potential should have been able to completely blow its audience away. Unfortunately this movie was just drowning in itself. I will say that the What Was I Made For? scene was absolutely heart wrenching. It was the best scene of the movie and I could watch that over and over again. I just wish that the rest of the movie was able to match that.

4/10 very funny and beautiful movie but the plot drags those points down

[deusvervemakesgames]

Project RBH Devlog 0001 – Finding Direction

There were some real-life complications that means this Devlog doesn’t have quite the progress that I would like, namely how long it took me to get feedback on my experiments. 70 mph windstorms can do that, apparently. The good news is that nobody was harmed, and damage was minimal.

To recap, I found three possible directions for Project RBH, and I promised to settle on one of them and write up a Game Design Document (GDD). And I have reached my conclusion from probably-not-extensive-enough playtesting.

Project RBH will involve the player starting out with a basic attack that they steadily upgrade over the course of a run, until by the end they are filling the screen with bullets like an angry god.

So the next step is writing out the GDD to make sure that the game actually reflects this idea.

I touched on it last time, but I feel like there’s more to say about GDDs and what makes them such useful tools for game design and development.

Conveniently, Game Maker’s Toolkit recently put out this video on means of analyzing games which ties directly into this subject.

The short version of this video is that a game’s systems and mechanics lead to dynamic interactions with the player(s), in turn coloring their emotional response. For example, a game where you have big guns and lots of bullets will probably make you feel like an unstoppable action movie hero, while a game with limited ammunition and powerful enemies will make you feel disempowered and cautious.

The GDD is a way for the development team and the designers to coordinate the systems and mechanics to steer the dynamics and achieve the desired emotional response. It’s an incredible tool for focusing design and development to a single, sharpened point. A way to ‘fail faster,’ so to speak.

Failing Faster refers to the practice of constant iteration as quickly as possible, in order to achieve more feedback and learn from the parts that don’t work. It’s the entire reason I threw together my current prototype even though I haven’t done my GDD yet. And yes, the GDD itself can be used to fail faster. Getting ideas out of your head and onto the page forces you to think of how to communicate those ideas, and gives you something tangible to show people and receive feedback on.

It's a way to prevent Perfect from being the enemy of Good.

But what’s included in a GDD? Yes. Yup, that too.

I’ve still got a template from my college professors while I was getting my degree in game design, and it includes:

The World,

Intended Audience,

Unique Selling Point

Multiple sections on plot and characters

Means of narrative progression

Locations, Layout, Maps

Intended Gameplay Experience

Enemies

Combat

Obstacles

Items and Equipment

User Interface

Art Style

Music and Sound

Among several other things.

As you can see, it’s a lot. Luckily, it’s divided into sections which makes it a heck of a lot easier to get through, especially because I don’t need to write an entire essay per section. The GDD is a living document, meant to be edited and updated throughout the lifespan of a project. I also won’t necessarily need every section.

This does, however, lead us to our next problem with the design. Story.

I’m the kind of person who really likes narrative in his games. Traditionally, Roguelike/lites are not known for being exactly narrative heavy. The cyclical nature of dying, restarting for zero, dying again, repeat, doesn’t always lend itself to storytelling.

Luckily this is a problem that has been solved multiple times. The recent Hades, for example, turns that very thing I listed as an obstacle to storytelling into a vehicle to drive the story forward. Heat Signature gives each of your playable characters a motivation; a specific goal they wish to achieve before dying or retiring, letting the player craft each character’s narrative through their successes and failures. Cult of the Lamb has a narrative explanation for your immortality and your runs with a plot that continues through the whole game, albeit a simple one. And, of course, the Mystery Dungeon games have been telling stories with roguelike elements for a long, long time.

The issue is not that it is impossible to tell a story in this kind of game. The problem is that calling my budget ‘shoestring’ is a gross exaggeration. Having a simple excuse plot like the one in Orbital Bullet would dramatically reduce the development time of Project RBH.

On the other hand, making this game the way I am is already enough of a pipe dream that it might be worth going all-in on it.

So that’s where things stand at the end of Week 1. Next week I’ll be checking in with the progress of my GDD, and deciding how and where to start actually making this thing.

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

Special thanks to my Tier 3 Patron Haelerin!

Support me on Patreon

[blackcatmanor]

RWBY Vol. 7 Ep 8 Photo Review (Repost)

Tumblr decided to delete the actual post or something. I don’t know. I’m old man yelling at cloud right now. SPOILERS below 

Characters done right.

Winter is QUEEN this episode. Winter’s line about “You’d have to pay me” to smile was great, and I liked her losing her cool and explaining to Penny it’s because of the bad memories in her house. I wish they explored this more, like in a flashback to Winter and Weiss’ childhood. That would have been great, and given a lot of set up into the toxic pool of despair they were both about to go back into. It was interesting her scene with Penny because it created a good juxtaposition from a human who WANTS to be less emotional and robotic, and a Robot that wants to be a human. *cute and tragic vibes intensifies*. It made me weirdly hope for more interactions between Winter and Penny- in which they help each other find a balance between humanity and a sense of duty.

 Willow- I am so glad we got to see her. Though it started odd, like she was a total delirious, foggy drunk who forgot her daughter left, and suddenly she becomes super lucid but morose. The tone shift was weird but besides the first few seconds it was great. A lot was conveyed about her- that she’s fearful for her safety, she’s morose, but still cares greatly for her children. The deeper explanation of her putting cameras around could have again been serviced by a Schnee family flashback. Jacques was an authoritarian and awful parent, but not abusive. You can tell this because when Weiss was slapped in volume 4 she was surprised, like it was something that never happened before. However maybe in the past, Willow bore the brunt of Jacques’ authoritarianism, interfering when he was getting too angry towards the kids but causing the physical abuse to be directed towards her instead of her kids. This would explain why she seems concerned for her safety and why she would put cameras around- in case something happened to her there could be a way to bring Jacques to justice.

 Nevertheless, the scene was good. You can really tell Willow cares about her kids and her exposition about Whitley was decent as well. But I have a huge death flag vibe about her….if Jacques finds out she’s been spying on him her greatest fears may come true. #ProtectWillow.

Qrow: I like seeing tidbits about Qrow’s struggle as a recovering alcoholic, though I wish they would talk about it more directly. We haven’t seen him a lot, and maybe he could mention that he’s attending AA type meetings or something. I also desperately wish that Yang and Ruby would address it! They have not directly interacted with Qrow much this volume, especially Yang who hasn’t talked to him since like one line in Vol. 6. I wish they would have a nice family moment where the girls talk about how proud they are to see Qrow overcoming his alcohol issues, and give him a good reason to keep on the path!

  Speaking of Qrow:

SS Gayship:  The trashship vibes are intensifying. Qrow is totally gay for Clover and I am here for it! Okay maybe it’s just friendly and not romantic, but it’s nice to see Qrow have friends. However, seeing how much they playfully interact means that I am going to be PISSED if they just make Clover some sort of double agent and shatter Qrow even more. With Ozpin’s betrayal, his estrangement from his family, his bad luck semblance, I think we have seen Qrow beaten down enough- can we not continually punch this poor character?

 Robyn’s smirk at Winter when she says Jacques can’t buy trust like everything else is great. I am also here for shameless RobynXWinter vibes.

  Characters done wrong:

Klein- RIP. I’m annoyed that they got rid of Klein. Was the voice actor not available? It would have been better to see him being abused by Whitley and Jacques, or maybe relegated to menial work rather than head butler. Seeing the fallout of his actions is more meaningful than just hearing it. Furthermore, it would also pack more of an emotional punch to see Klein being punished for his involvement in Weiss’ breakout, but Klein needs the work so he has to continue working for them in a more menial capacity.

 Whitley- I’ve known for a while they are probably going to have a “rescue Whitley” arc but they’re going about it all wrong. Every discussion with him sucks and is stupid. He’s smarmy and flat as a character, with his only development coming from Willow later. The “revelation” that his façade of arrogance is really because he’s hurt Weiss left him behind in Volume 4 doesn’t make sense, because Whitley was like that before she even left. His façade should come more from fear of his authoritarian, abusive father. Willow should have said something like “he was always trying to be on your dad’s good side, to avoid….well you know. But after you left, I am afraid he may actually be starting to EMBRACE your father’s perspective on life. So please don’t forget about your brother!” Or something like that. The writers and animators continually miss the chance to convey Whitley’s secret desperation as well. They showed one flash of fear in volume 4 and one in volume 7, but when he’s talking to Weiss he should be trying to talk to her in code, or having pain on his face!

 Whitley is also the words worst Gmod player. The only person who can get away with the nonprop T-pose is Jeremy MonsterTruckin’ Dooley 

Story stuff done right:

The little distraction bit to get Weiss away from Whitley was cute and funny. And it was nice to see comedy in a situation that lent itself to comedy. Last week I thought this “dinner” might have been an ambush in disguise, with Jacques luring Ironwood into Watt’s trap, but seeing how it was actually a huge party with News cameras, tons of guests, and the crew without weapons it immediately became clear this dinner was never going to be outright hostile, but instead served as a backdrop for exposition and plot development. To that vein, using it to give a bit of comedy is totally acceptable and breaks up the emotional scenes as well as the politically tense scenes.

I will say, though, I HATE the fat lady character. What’s with the voice? Is it supposed to sound like Ms. Piggy? This was kinda lame but at least Jaune’s slow mo “YESSS” and then their grimace was kinda funny. And it was a nice twist to have her covered in the food, making it seem like the plan failed, only to have the lady throw her drink on Whitley in a fit.

  Faunus discrimination- This volume has been better about building a world that has Faunus discrimination, and the introduction of Marrow has been a big part of that. In this episode, they had one small tidbit with a Faunus guy working as a waiter, literally serving the Humans, but I wish they would have teased out the Faunus discrimination a little more. In this kind of wide setting, with TWO Faunus main characters and a Faunus waiter it would have been a great chance for a few scenes building the culture around Faunus hate.

These are snooty elites so maybe they don’t outright berate the Faunus people, but maybe they try to quickly grab a drink and shoo the Faunus waiter away, or they don’t make eye contact and awkwardly talk AROUND them. Maybe they gawk at Marrow’s tail or Blake’s cat ears before having to be turned away by their friends. Think of how people treat people they are uncomfortable around- homeless, mentally ill, etc. Often people aren’t outright rude to them but reactions can run the gamut from gawking, to awkwardly minimizing interactions, to trying to pretend like they don’t exist. Some of that would be nice, but at least they are taking steps to correct the lack of Faunus hate in previous volumes.

Misery in Mantle. 

There is 1 homeless person shown in the episode, which is a 100% increase than prior episodes. 

  Story stuff done wrong:

So the council is only 3 members? That seems kind of small  for a huge kingdom like Atlas. I wish there was at least 5 members, and we could see them speaking for different regions. Instead it seems like there are three members of the upper crust elite and that’s it.

The insertion of Robyn at the dinner was odd, but it seems like Jacques is trying to butter her up. He commends her “vigor” and when she said the people of Atlas are suffering he says “Quite right.” It seems like he’s trying to use Robyn’s frustration as a way to get her on the Anti-Ironwood team. This would at least make sense of why she is here other than to have her scream in between the conversation. 

What was with the ending? I don’t get it. Watts disables the entire heating grid, which causes the rain to turn to snow in Mantle. Is this bad? Does this mean they are going to freeze to death? Probably? It wasn’t clear. People looked confused about the snow, and the kid seemed excited which makes me think it hasn’t happened before, but they didn’t seemed scared or really concerned.

[sol1056]

stop and un-remember this

Step away from the echo chambers of twitter and tumblr, and set aside the pockets of the internet where reviews live. Most of a show’s viewing audience -- hell, the vast majority of the US -- doesn’t reside in those places. 

For the casual viewers who make up the silent majority of almost every viewing audience, there’s minimal interest in any convention circuit, or interview, or much of anything outside Netflix’s selections. (This is one reason for having reviews and interviews showing up in a half-dozen venues, to try and grab as many low-engagement viewers as possible.) 

What that means is that, for the majority of viewers who are not as plugged-in as the core fandom, the story exists only as it’s shown on their screens. So let’s step back from JDS’ and LM’s ex-canonical explanations, and look at how the story appears when taken solely on its own merits. 

Behind the cut: five things the story doesn’t explain, and how the actual narrative might appear to a casual viewer. 

1. Shiro has a degenerative disease; while perhaps not terminal, it does sound inevitably debilitating. 

This is quite a bombshell, and it’s never mentioned again. Nothing in the story offsets or contradicts what Shiro -- or anyone else -- says in S7E1 about how much longer he’s got. 

SHIRO: I’ll only be able to maintain my peak condition for a couple more years.

This is underscored by the series’ use of timeframes (to a greater degree than any previous season). We know Shiro spent a year as a prisoner, and from Pidge’s later comment about ‘four years’, we can deduce it’s been another year since then, plus a magical three-year timeskip in the return to Earth. 

That means that for casual viewers, the season is shadowed by this assumption that Shiro has an expiration date -- and it’s not that far off in the future.

2.  Keith inexplicably stops pressuring Shiro to take position as Black Paladin.

Nothing is said anywhere as to why Shiro is no longer tied to Black nor the Black Paladin. The closest we get to even a nod in that direction is when all but the five current paladins are frozen, in S7E6.

ALLURA: Coran is frozen as well. Our paladin armor must have protected us from the shock.

The problem is Shiro’s wearing armor, too, and he’s also frozen. That single line (and his exclusion from the bulk of that episode) seems to stand in for the message that Shiro is no longer a paladin. 

At the same time, S7 had a complete absence of any protest from Keith. We’ve had 50+ episodes of Keith insisting -- even when all evidence pointed to Shiro’s death -- that Shiro remained the Black Paladin.

KEITH: Shiro is gone. He was the Black Lion.

A casual viewer might decide Keith’s silence in S7 meant Keith realized he’d been wrong all along. That in fact, the mantle of Black Paladin passed to Keith upon Shiro’s “death,” and the clone taking Black was another indication of the clone’s wrongness. That is, the clone stole Shiro’s memories and appearance, and Keith’s position as Black Paladin. 

3.  Shiro’s physical abilities are downgraded significantly.

Most of the fight scenes across S7, Shiro does little, if he’s even present at all. Krolia lampshades this by saying Shiro’s still recovering.

KROLIA: No, you’re still recovering. I’ll do it.

And in the last stretch of S7, Shiro’s contribution amounts to telling other people what to do; his previous physicality is reduced to acting as a conduit for Sam to hack his brain. And finally, Sendak defeats Shiro easily, compared to S1 where Shiro fought him to a draw. 

A casual viewer might thus assume Shiro himself chose (offscreen) to refuse Black’s position, between adjusting to a new body and the last stages of a genetic disease (since a clone with identical memories would reasonably also have identical physical aspects). 

4. Shiro has the clone’s body, but not the clone’s memories.

In S7E1, the high-drama element is whether his awareness can fix itself to an unfamiliar body. Shiro calls out the clone-situation only once. 

SHIRO: Well, I'm sorry, Lance, but I guess having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron's inner quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself has left me a little out of sorts for the past few weeks. 

Later, Shiro mentions his “disappearance,” and says dealing with the long dark passage alone required adopting routines. He never references any events that happened during his absence. The narrative is pretty clear, so it’d be reasonable to conclude the two had completely separate experiences, and Shiro has none of the clone’s memories. 

In short: Kuron was evil, is now dead, and has no further influence on events.  

5. While we’re at it, a casual viewer might be unaware of the intended subtext of Shiro’s relationship with Adam. 

Yes, yes, I’ve seen all the arguments that say it’s supposed to be coded as romantic, but it’s full of contradictions that create a certain ambiguity. For one, they’re in the officer’s club, with other people present. Second, although Adam asks what he means to Shiro, his next line could imply a long-term partnership of a military kind. 

ADAM: Every mission, every drill, I’ve been right there with you.

Although the EPs/writers seem to put family together to a frightening degree that a modern military would never condone --- Matt and Sam on the mission to Kerberos, Veronica going with Lance to the battlefield --- that’s just not the assumption the average person is going to make. 

In writing, you always put last what you want to stick in the reader’s mind. The order here leaves room for viewers to skip over any implications in the first line to linger on the second, which could be ambiguously platonic. A viewer not actively looking for queer representation could interpret this as Adam being afraid for his best friend, and possibly a bit jealous at being left behind. 

At no point -- in that first episode, or later, when Shiro learns of Adam’s death -- does anyone speak of their relationship. Nowhere does Shiro even put a word to it. If casual viewers had already coded them as best friends or near-brothers, Shiro’s grief is still comprehensible and relatable. In some ways, the platonic aspect of other pop-culture bromances (ie Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers) are just as strong, with mourning just as severe. 

Honestly, there was more in a few lines’ exchange between Ezor and Zethrid to indicate a romantic relationship than there was in all of the Shiro/Adam interactions or references. “I’ll always take care of you” and “that’s my girl” are pretty unambiguous, especially given the character designs (and previous interactions) make it pretty clear these two are not siblings. 

And --- unlike with Adam and Shiro --- they’re storyboarded with a certain intimacy. They’re alone, and Zethrid gets in close in Ezor’s personal space, with Ezor neither pushing her away nor recoiling. 

ZETHRID: Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.

If casual viewers had heard anything in passing about LGBT+ rep in VLD, it’s entirely possible they could’ve assumed this was the rep intended. Of course, both die in a fiery explosion not long after, but who’s counting. 

in the absence of in-story explanation

It seems to me that a casual viewer --- lacking the EPs’ explanations --- might have found S7 somewhat confounding. Is Shiro now unable (or not allowed) to pilot Black because he occupies someone else’s body? Is Keith’s tacit appropriation of the Black Paladin mantle meant to signal the S4 handoff was a mistake? By virtue of his disease or his victimhood in Haggar’s schemes, is Shiro no longer qualified to be a paladin? 

The season’s also full of characters framed as though we should care as deeply about them as we do about the core protagonists. Adam, Colleen, Iverson, Sam, and a dozen or more Garrison cadets and officers, all better trained, better disciplined, and better equipped than Voltron itself. They not only get two episodes of backstory (twice what Voltron itself got), they dominate most of the second half of the season.

Meanwhile, the protagonists struggle, needing Shiro to tell them what to do; they’re almost their own worst enemies more than Sendak is. Compared to the Earth forces who rally repeatedly, the Voltron team barely hangs in there. They need Shiro’s ultra-ugly oversized insta-mecha to intervene, before Voltron can get its act together long enough to strike the killing blow.   

Honestly, it’s no surprise the first flush of audience reaction is so unhappy, if the majority were unaware of the EPs’ explanations. Almost all contradict point-blank what we see in the story itself: 

Shiro’s disease was cured during his imprisonment or cured in the cloning process, but either way he’s fine, now

The clone was neither evil nor brainwashed, just basically Shiro doing his best until Haggar struck in late S6

Shiro and the clone are now merged consciousness, with Shiro retaining his memories plus that of the clone’s

Shiro’s link to Black has been permanently broken by Allura’s transfer; he’s no longer a paladin, full stop

Shiro and Adam were in a long-term relationship, either currently engaged or heading that direction, at the time of their breakup

None of that shows up in the narrative. None of it. 

Lacking that ex-canonical information, it had to have felt as though the story’s expected trajectory was just thrown out the nearest window. Coupled with the extreme emphasis on an entirely new set of characters, I wouldn’t be surprised if casual viewers got the impression that S7 existed solely as setup for Voltron to gain a new and better set of paladins.

[wxnnabe]

nyaa-llo, here i come with a predictable stand request ⭐ can i please get some headcanons involving the newest member of bruno's group (a quiet and very reserved kind of person) possesing an incredibly affectionate and very touchy stand ?? the user isn't lacking in repect or fondness for the rest of the group, but they usually keep to themselves so it's their stand that expresses their positive feelings towards the others when they cannot (*´ｪ｀*) thank you and best of luck with your blog !!

Ooh, this sounds nice!  Sorry this turned out SO LONG. And thank you! Everyone has been so kind to me thank you all ahaha (I couldn’t put Trish in this time, but if I find time I might add her in too because I love her) 

-The new member had a rough start to the gang-no one really has a easy introduction to the group considering the context in which they find themselves grouped in with people who were all more than capable of killing you without a seconds notice-but the near-death experiences shared in a few particularly pear-shaped missions and their quiet and non-invasive personality helps (and hinders) how each of the members perceive them, especially once they are introduced to their stand. 

-They have, at the least, given Bruno a breath of fresh air. The rest of the group, save for Abbachio, Giorno, and, if not provoked, Fugo, can get quite rowdy and their loud personalities tend to grate at everyone at times, which causes petty arguments between the group and more headaches Bruno could live without.So being able to be in a room with them in silence can prove to be peaceful, if not a little bit awkward. He will try to keep light conversation with them in times like these, but he often feels like he is hinging on their privacy and leaves them be. So when he returns from a mission to see their stand opening its arms to give him a welcome back hug he is surprised, to say the least; he manages to accept the hug but will turn to the new member for an explanation. When they explain that their stand is quite a bit affectionate, and usually does the talking for them, he won’t mind them letting their stand out around him-it takes a while to get used to a stand being so affectionate with him when it’s user is quite the opposite, but he eventually, while having pleasant conversations with their stand, who it seems could talk forever despite being monitored by its user, the new member slowly opens up and chats a bit more. (though not as much as their stand would, it still delights Bruno that he is gaining their trust.)

-Abbachio holds an initial distaste for many people and newcomers are no exception. Particularly this one, who is mysterious and quiet and never really indulges any ulterior motives. Perhaps they are just reserved, but perhaps they are hiding something-Abbachio does care for his gang, as annoying and obnoxious as they tend to be. So while he does not trust them for a long while, he will eventually give up on the idea that they are a threat to the gang and actually enjoy their company, mostly because they keep to themselves and don’t bother him. Maybe a few snide comments will be thrown their way, but everyone will note that they certainly do not get the brunt of his remarks simply because there’s nothing he really can pick on-they keep to themselves and leave him be when he is in a rotten mood, which tends to be more often than not. He may even grow to like them. He does not, however, like their stand-he’ll bark at them for having no control over their stand, perhaps a bit too harshly as they aren’t really used to being at the receiving end of his disapproval anymore. He immediately feels bad, and if they hadn’t been around the gang for so long they wouldn’t pick up on the signs of his remorse and may have even fled the room in embarrassment which would only make Abbachio feel worse. Their stand learns very quickly that he does not appreciate it clinging to his arm and telling him to be careful in the next mission, and merely gives him a smile or grin when he enters the room. He wouldn’t admit it to a soul, but he has to stop himself from smiling back when he’s in a really good mood.

-Fugo doesn’t mind them at first. They give him peace and quiet that he otherwise would not achieve with Narancia around all the time-but there silence can often be intimidating, and he takes their reserved nature as utter seriousness. It’s…suffocating, he realises, to be in such silence, especially as he is used to the rowdy nature of Narancia or Mista causing a fuss. When he is alone with them, he finds himself making excuses to leave the room in search of that rowdy elder he is tutoring or the smelly gunman who wanted to let him in on some questionable dating advice. He may not openly say it-but he’s still a kid, and he’s been robbed most of his childhood from a young age with the pressure his family put on him. They keep to themselves and do their job, and if they are young they certainly don’t act it, which although should be expected as part of being in Passione, he has had the luxury of being friends with people as immature as Narancia, and it’s part fooled him into thinking he can live through that carefree young lense-even if vicarious. So when they come into the room flustered over a stand that is launching itself into him and saying how much they worried about him, he realises they definitely aren’t as serious as he once thought they were. He lets their stand hug him and be as touchy and affectionate in that moment, mainly because he still can’t believe that he thought that they were some stoic character when they were really just quiet, perhaps a little bit shy. Their stand gives them depth in their character, and a humanity that is often forgotten within the mafia, so while it grates on his nerves when they pull him in for a hug or move to squish his cheeks, he doesn’t mind their stands positive and cheery attitude.

-Narancia thinks they’re boring, to be perfectly honest. He does try with them, striking up conversations and inviting them out with some others-but they live on an entirely different plain as him.Where he is energetic and outgoing they are private and speak minimally. He finds himself talking for the most of their conversations, and he just ends up worried that he has bored them to sleep. He’s only brung them out twice because both times have gone pear-shaped (It seems not everyone likes the atmosphere of clubs with the blaring music and beaming lights) To their defence, they do try to enjoy it, but it’s all a bit overwhelming-particularly as they are relatively new to the gang and there are still some members that don’t entirely trust them (the warning glare Abbachio sends their way when they agree to go clubbing with Narancia is enough for them to make sure they leave at a reasonable time and Narancia calms down enough for them to sneek through the base without causing a fuss) and they aren’t particularly the party type. He has, however, left an impression on their stand, and it isn’t long until he is subjected to its antics. It’s very affectionate with him, and he isn’t used to the smothering, not that it isn’t a good feeling; it’s just foreign. He thought that he was boring them, but it seems like that wasn’t the case at all according to their stand-in fact, the new member will be astounded to see that their own stand is working against them too once Narancia has gotten used to having it around, pushing and encouraging them to put down their book and go outside for a bit and accompanying him in silly little pranks on them. Narancia grows closer to the newest member too, and it turns out they compliment each other well, with the new member drawing him back from jumping into dangerous situations and Narancia pushing them out of their comfort zone reassuringly, they could very well potentially become partners in crime.

-Mista is seemingly indifferent to their quiet nature for a while and apart from joining them on missions or getting dragged along with them on another one of Narancia’s quests to god knows where, they don’t really interact much aside from quick pleasantries. But he watches them closely and the actions that they take; its clear, through his deduction, that they care about the gang, as much as they tend to keep to themselves. He’ll try to engage more with them, partly because he feels guilty for not doing so before, and partly because they need to open up a bit more, which is easier said than done. It’s when he’s idly reading a magazine while waiting for Giorno to come back with the mission briefing that they admit to him that their stand is the more talkative and outgoing of them; that’ll perk Mista’s interest. Sex pistols all have a personality of their own and while they have been introduced to the member pistols have yet to meet their members stand out of battle. So when they introduce their stand to Mista, they are surprised to see Mista draw out his stand. Each of the pistols have varying reactions to their stand and Mista is definitely intrigued by it. He’s another one that will incorporate their stand into getting the new member out of their shell a bit more, and he doesn’t really mind their stands touchy, affectionate personality and is probably the most accepting of the gang in terms of the members stands affectionate gestures because of his more laid back personality.

-Giorno respects them as a team member and tries to warm up to them as soon as he can because he can sympathise with their current predicament. He is a busy man, but he will still check up on them when he can. As such, it’s not until much later that he is subjected to their stands affection. He, like Fugo, had much of his childhood taken away from him, and he hasn’t ever really received such affection in his life, so he may not reciprocate hugs and it will take a while for him to truly accept their stands affectionate ways. It does, however, bring them closer to him, as he can see and respect how much they genuinely care about each and every one of their team members. As for their quiet nature, he doesn’t really have an issue with it-like Bruno, its a breath of fresh air after the energy that Narancia and Mista can exude from the group sometimes, though he does find it tedious to have to constantly talk to them and only get minimal replies-the one thing that really raises his ire is when it feels like people aren’t really listening to him-but with their stand involved, happily chatting away with him, he’s not too fussed, though the member can sense that he wants them to be able to talk to him instead of having to create a three way onversation that ends up with their stand saying something particularly flustering for the member. He’s patient, though, and lets them open up to him and talk to him in person in their own time.

[thoughtofmae]

Portrayal of Asians in Hollywood (#ExpressiveAsian)

Throughout September 2017, #ExpressiveAsian has been trending on major social media platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram. This trend brought the attention of Asians portrayed in Hollywood and how Asian characters are whitewashed. Many individuals expressed their opinions by referencing movies that, supposedly, have Asian characters. For example, Ghost in the Shell has received major backlash due to its casting - the original leading character is a Japanese girl, however, the role was given to Scarlett Johansson, a female actress of non-asian descent. This disappointing decision has caused the movie to flop, which brought hope to the Asian community that it would inspire movie productions to stop whitewashing Asian characters (Sam Levin, 2017). Regarding this, it has caused a lot of people on social media to trend #ExpressiveAsian to demonstrate empowerment and acknowledgement to the Asian community, and how Hollywood should respect those members of the community.

Generally speaking, in sociology, part of the study is dedicated to the structure and function of humans in society. This study can be applied to the portrayal of Asians in Hollywood. Hollywood is a major media production that has made a name for itself. It has influenced media multiple ways– from shedding light onto controversial topics, to acting out a certain race. Through this, there has been recent attention brought onto the portrayal of Asians. In sociology, it important to view the media as a key to help figure out how humans are structured and how they function in society. Regarding this, due to the lack of Asian characters in Hollywood, or the constant whitewashing of Asian characters, it is important for sociologists to look into this problem because it does affect society in a racial matter. For example, Asians are depicted as either “nerds” or “prostitutes” in Hollywood (Sam Levin, 2017). This does play into the stereotype of Asian men being ‘tech geeks’ or ‘doctors’  (which is not a bad thing, however, generalizing Asian men into those categories can be problematic), and, most times, emasculated or desxualized (Sam Levin, 2017). When it comes to Asian women, they are often portrayed as ‘sex workers’ and ‘submissive’ women  (again, this generalization is problematic), and, often, are sexualized for being exotic (Sam Levin, 2017). Additionally, not giving Asian roles to Asian actors has been a rising problem as well. These negative representation of Asians do affect the Asian community in society because they are generalized into categories that they are not typically associated with, along with whitewashing Asian history and historic characters. Thus, causing racism to play a huge role in society. Therefore, this racial problematization is important to a sociologist’s study.

Between 2014-15, only 3%-4% of characters in Hollywood were Asian (Sam Levin, 2017). This meant that a lot of major movies did not have Asian characters and leading Asian roles (Sam Levin, 2017). This affects the Asian community because it demonstrates the poor diversity Hollywood has maintained. In a sociological perspective, one could apply critical race theory to this predicament. Critical race theory revolves around racism. In this case, it demonstrates how racial oppression affects Asians in Hollywood. As stated earlier, Asians are often portrayed as “geeks” and “prostitutes” (Sam Levin, 2017). These generalized claims are dangerous in society.  Associating such labels to a race is highly offensive because it is branding stereotypes. As stated, Asian women are characterized as sex workers and are considered to be submissive, along with being oversexualized. This causes society to view Asian women as seductive human beings, which is extremely uncomfortable because it fetishizes a race. When it comes to Asian men, they are viewed as nerds and are often emasculated and desexualized. This causes society to question the masculinity of an Asian male, along with branding them as socially awkward or boring.

In addition, Asian characters are often whitewashed. Throughout Hollywood’s history there has been backlash on casting because Asian roles are not given to Asian actors. The roles are often given to white actors and actresses, who, historically, are Hollywood’s most casted race.  For example, Emma Stone was criticized for her role in Aloha. Her character is a women of  Hawaiian and Asian heritage (Nigel M. Smith, 2015)– Emma Stone is neither Hawaiian or of Asian descent. Also, The Great Wall, for instance, has an Asian character as the lead role (since it is based on the history of the Great Wall of China). However, instead of giving the role, respectively, to an Asian actor they gave the role to Matt Damon, a male actor of non-Asian descent. Thus, whitewashing Asian history. Also, because of poor casting decision, it has minimized the opportunities for Asians to have any roles in Hollywood.

The portrayal of Asians in Hollywood affects the way people perceive Asians in society. Having constant stereotyping being broadcasted onto society causes people to treat and label Asians into that stereotype. Regarding this, symbolic interactionism plays a role in this situation. Symbolic interactionism demonstrates how humans interact with one another, not just through symbols, but through language and subjective understanding. When an individual understands a race through stereotyping, they are understanding the false image of the race. This is problematic because it causes the individual to view the entire race as a stereotype, thus promoting racism. As stated, Asians are often portrayed as “nerds” and “prostitutes” (Sam Levin, 2017). As these stereotypes are promoted, this causes society to view and treat Asians a certain way. Society will emasculate and desexualize Asian men because of their nerdy representation, while Asian women are sexualized for their “sex worker” and submissive appearance. Due to this negative portrait that Hollywood has painted for Asians, the lack of representation will harm the community by generalizing and promoting them into racial categories.  

Although symbolic interactionism and critical race theory may go hand in hand, critical race theory provides the best explanation for this event. Critical race theory revolves around racism and oppression. Since there is a lack of Asian representation in Hollywood, this oppresses the Asian community because they’re roles are being whitewashed. Along with the oppression, their roles are based on stereotypes, thus promoting racism.

Source: i, ii

[dicapriho]

Thoughts on Alien: Covenant

*No direct spoilers, but hints & mentions*

I kept telling myself to not hold this film to as high expectations to the ones I have for Alien, and mostly passionately Aliens (1986 - my top 5 of all time). Of course you can’t help but compare the films, as they all fall into the same timeline and universe - I had to keep reminding myself that this film is indeed before Alien & Aliens, not many years after. 

Most notably, what I found troubling with Alien: Covenant is the sheer lack of introduction to secondary characters. We see Daniels (Waterstone), Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and of course Michael Fassbender. All the others seem to fall away to their inevitable demise, the way that nearly all characters in previous Alien films do. Only, shamelessly we don’t care, nor do we feel sadness, because we’re not given their names, we’re not introduced to them in any official way, and they’re not given any defining characteristics. James Cameron managed to do this so well in such a short space of time in Aliens, with us being introduced to the marines after waking up from hypersleep; we have the boisterous banter between Hudson & Vasquez, the knife-trick bonding roll, we meet Frost, Hicks, Apone, Drake and all the rest - it’s all laid out to us in less than fifteen minutes, we get to know the people fighting with Ripley & we like them and their clear differences and behaviours (like Hicks’ tenacity as he watches rather than speaks etc.). But in Alien: Covenant, it seems that apparently the characters aren’t apparently worth getting to know.

Another problem that most films of this century now have, is the serious over-use of CGI and special effects. What made the previous Alien films (excluding Prometheus) so terrifying, is that the xenomorphs were REAL in the sense that they were really there in scene and not added in post-production. They were built, made by hand and really came face-to-face with the characters. That’s what made it scary and so incredible to watch, because you could see the detail and the structure, and the intricacies that H.R Geiger created. But it’s just too easy now, to make them with CGI and have them dancing all over the screen like prancing Gazelles, it just loses the terror and shock of it all. 

Not only is there a lack of connection to characters and the iconic antagonists, the film just seems to lose its momentum and Ridley Scott’s boner for Michael Fassbender is really at it’s pinnacle. Not only is there Walter now, David returns in his Shakespearean-like attitude, as the false-saviour. The philosophical interaction between the two androids is an exhausting watch that goes on for just too long and becomes pretty infuriating to sit through. 

It also seems unrealistic that this happens before Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 & Alien Resurrection - the gritty space aesthetic of 80′s and 90′s brought into interstellar space travel is ignored. Prometheus & Alien: Covenant seems too shiny and new compared to the films that follow. But I guess the only explanation for this is that by Alien & Aliens etc. is that space travel has become so tedious by then, that it’s just like manual labour on planet Earth itself. 

Summary: Alien: Covenant is a disappointment if you’re looking for redemption from Prometheus. There’s minimal scares (most notably, the quarantine scene in the medical bay) and somehow too much Fassbender, therefore time being taken away from other characters that could have been promising/entertaining. While it focuses on an attempted philosophical aspect of alien life, rather than scaring us with it’s already iconic material that could have been just as terrifying. 

[wellamarke]

top five things to change? Two hard ones: cabin pressure and humans :)

ooooooh thank you!! very hard because y’all know those are my two absolute favourite shows in the whole entire world and i frequently claim that they are pefect, but I will try!!

5 things I would change about Cabin Pressure:

1. Alphabet what now?! I would, obviously, extend it to at LEAST one more series! Its only flaw of note is that it ended :/ 

2. I know that the actors had very minimal rehearsal time and that when recording, they can’t always go over lines for a very tiny slip, and I also know I am overly pedantic, particularly for someone who isn’t particularly eloquent out loud….. but the only person of the main cast who never miss-emphasises a line is John. Cause, you know, he wrote it. Benedict straight up changes the company name to ‘MGN’ more than once in series 4, Carolyn and Douglas both lose the one-syllable game by choosing the two-syllable pronunciation of ‘beer’. And I was listening to Douz today and remembered this, which I cannot unhear now that I’ve noticed it: 

MARTIN: I am the senior pilot on board, Carolyn.
CAROLYN: Yes. But Douglas is the better pilot on board.

why does she inflect pilot and not better? That’s what she’s correcting him on, after all. I adore Stephanie Cole with EVERY FIBRE of my earthly being, and if this was a normal show that she had extensive rehearsal and reshoot time for, they would have got it right, I know. But since we’re picking faults, I’d change that line for sure! 

3. The change in Caitlin’s name, from Cayt-lin to Caht-lin, will always annoy me. I know that it has WOG explanation, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I would have them stick to saying ‘Caytlin’.

4. The timeline! Arthur’s 28 and a half in Boston, and “nearly thirty” in St Petersburg, but when asked, the Finnemore usually claims that the timeline is supposed to run sort of parallel to its broadcast. Somehow, July 2008 to August 2011 - more than 3 years - is condensed into 18 months, and as someone much cleverer than me has worked out, somewhere, this throws out other people’s ages too, and messes with things like the length of time Martin’s worked at MJN. So I’d change Douglas’s line in SP. Or maybe make Arthur 26 and a half in Boston! 
(But outside of this post, my theory is that Arthur understands the word “nearly” to mean “around the general area of”, so he doesn’t correct Douglas - 31 and a half is nearly 30, after all, it’s just after rather than before.) 

5. Although I loved Zurich and thought it was a beautiful end to a beautiful show, it’s forever devastating that Martin leaves. Give me that Air Liechtenstein AU any day of the week. 

Lol, most of these are so petty and tiny, and maybe someone who isn’t me could think of really smart, conceptual improvements to the show as a whole, but…. I…. just really love Cabin Pressure, okay. 

5 things I would change about Humans

(which got a bit long, sorry lol)

1. Obviously, I would put Fred in series 2. At first I wasn’t sure how I would put him in, but I think I would have had Athena trying to fix him/introduce V into his mainframe in the early episodes, despairing and going after the other prototypes when she couldn’t, and then maybe repairing his code with Karen’s help? This would kill two of my series 2 birds with one stone: because one, I really missed Karen interacting with any of the Elsters this year (she literally exchanged one look with Mia, that was it.) and two, I started joking that Athena and Milo’s scenes were actually a crossover into another show, because they interacted almost exclusively with each other (and V) for most of the series. I had an easy time getting to love Renie, Flash and even Hester, because they were so involved in the lives of characters I already loved. In the early episodes, the most connected I felt to Athena was when she went to talk to Hobb, of all people, hehe. So giving her Fred to fix would (a) fix Fred and (b) make Athena feel more part of the show’s core. 

2. Joe and Laura’s interactions with Sophie in the second season. Well, more particularly Joe, since Laura had other niskesque things on her mind. How does Joe not realise specifically that Sophie is mimicking synth behaviour very early on? Instead he talks vaguely about her ‘putting up walls’, when it’s painfully obvious what she’s actually doing. He tries, repeatedly, to talk her out of it in hushed, Serious Tones, rather than trying to engage her properly in childlike activities (although props for the foodfight scene, and maybe the lack of anything similar that went before it is what makes that so affecting). And the most!!! annoying thing!!!! is that in whichever episode it is that Renie comes over (4/5?), they let her answer the door and let Renie inside, like? is it just me? or should they have been at least listening out - just in general when a child answers the door but particularly when a child who’s supposed to be staying away from synths answers the door to -apparently- a synth! Who’s come to visit your son, no less? Like why didn’t they even check what was going on? This is made worse by the fact that when the Ominous Utility Synth of Doom arrives, they’re suddenly all about knowing who’s coming and going. Basically, Joe and Laura are only interested when it’s convenient, when it’s not interrupting their covert whispering about how worried they are about Sophie. Less whispering, more parenting, guys. 

3. I gotta get in one petty intonation point, okay - the way Lindsey Kiwanuka, bless her, says that Vera can do “ten times what the D-series can do” instead of “ten times what the D-series can do”. It just… sounds so wrong, so I would substitute that line for the proper inflection. I don’t know if you’ve noticed haha but I am a person who italicises for emphasis, like, a lot. I speak quite emphatically IRL and I like that to be reflected in anything I write. So I guess I’m quite tuned in to it, and whenever I hear some poor actor botch the inflection of a line, I think to myself “I bet the writer didn’t italicise that properly in the script!” (oops, there I go again). So, yep, that. But kudos for Humans for having very few examples to choose from. I actually can’t think of any others. 

4. Pretty much all the deployment of Odi in series 2, like… need I say anything more, that was just heartbreakingly inadequate. I loved parts of it very much, but it sort of feels like they wasted his character and kind of implicated Mattie (and all of the Hawkinses except Sophie, really) by having them neglect his needs. It’s just sad. Not the kind of tragedy his character provided in series 1, which was art. Just sad sadness. 

5. Above all else, though, I would change the length of each series!! It’s a common complaint that series 2 tried to stretch itself over too many storylines, but honestly I don’t know which one I’d go without, per se - really, I just wanted more of pretty much everything, except Joe, because no. Every plot is intriguing and valid and has amazing points, but they pretty much all suffer from underdevelopment and scarcity of scenes. I feel like the stuff with Hester was very well done, good pacing, excellent development, but she was pretty much the only character I found wholly satisfying as regards her narrative deployment. Everyone else left me wanting explanations, extensions, more of the quiet llittle character moments series 1 was full of. The Hawkinses, for example, seemed like more of a unit in series 1, when they were divided and tense, than they did this year - all spread into their little corners of the plot. Does Mattie even know Renie exists? Does Joe know Odi’s name? Imagine if we had, like, 12 episodes even - I’m not saying go 24 like some American shows, necessarily, though I’d obviously love that - you wouldn’t need to add much plotwise, just give us some breathing space. C’mon. Commission a slightly longer 3rd series, powers that be…… you know it makes sense. 

Thank yooooou this was fun! 

Send me a show and I’ll try and come up with 5 things I’d change 

[indiehangover]

Cinderella is an incredibly well-known story: a poor girl gets stuck living with her awful stepmother and stepsisters who treat her like a maid until one day she wows the prince at a masquerade ball and they live happily ever after. But what if Cinderella just wanted to escape, or she wanted to take back the home that was left to her stepmother and make it her own? What if the stepmother had her reasons for being awful, and the stepsisters did as well?

Cinders is a visual novel that allows players to explore these possibilities and more. Choose your own fate and chase your dreams, but be careful you don’t turn out just as rotten as your stepmother… or worse!

Title: Cinders Developer: MoaCube / Crunching Koalas Publisher: Crunching Koalas Platform: Nintendo Switch Game Version: Final Review Copy: Provided by publisher Interface: Handheld Switch console Available on Switch and Steam

Cinders is a witty young woman living with an overbearing stepmother and her two daughters, as if she was reenacting a certain well-known fairy tale. But unlike its protagonist, Cinders is not afraid of taking fate into her own hands. Even if it means breaking the rules…

The game takes a look at four women and what made them who they are. It’s a story about freedom, dreams, sisterhood, and finding your own Happily Ever After that may not exactly agree with the stale morals of classic fairytales.

With multiple endings, 120 decision points, and over 300 choices, Cinders gives you total control over the main character’s personality and how her story unfolds.

I love story-driven games, but I’d never played a visual novel until Cinders (not counting Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, but I never want to think about that game again). I loved the idea of taking a very basic, simple fairytale and expanding upon it, and I figured it would be a great starting point into the world of visual novels. Heck, my “day job” is as a book reviewer, so combining gaming and books sounded like a dream come true.

Cinders ended up being pretty much exactly what I expected, but slightly better in almost every way. The game begins a week before the prince’s ball, but Cinders doesn’t know anything about that yet. Instead, her life is pretty much exactly as you’d expect it: she cooks, she cleans, and she gets berated, insulted, and mocked. Heck, even her name is a mockery of her existence. In fact, the explanation of the title was one of my favorite things about the game: she was nicknamed Cinders by her father because of the color of her hair, but her new family decided that it would be funny if she lived amongst the cinders in their home.

Despite her crappy existence, you’re given choices of how to interact with your family and what to do right from the start. You can treat your stepsisters just as badly as they treat you and rebel against your stepmother’s wishes, or you can suck it up and be the better person. There are additional, unique characters added to the story as well, such as a childhood friend who has become a merchant, a “witch” with a mysterious link to your family, and the prince’s right-hand man with an unshakable sense of duty. These characters have some real depth to them, and you’ll only get to see a little of that depth with each playthrough, depending on your choices.

The gameplay of Cinders is incredibly straightforward: you read dialogue, you get presented with choices, and you make said choices. That’s basically it! There’s no movement (aside from selecting from a map at specified moments), there are no puzzles (aside from figuring out how to get the endings you want), and there are no minigames to play. You don’t have to worry about stats or inventory or anything aside from choices, and you’re given an unlimited amount of time to make each choice. That isn’t to say the game is simple by any means; according to the developers, there are 155,000 words in the game, 135 scenes, and 120 choices to make. The game contains 50 profile variables to track how you relate to different characters and what kind of ending you’ll get. None of this is voiced, mind you, but I’d say that’s fair given how many lines of dialogue there are. I play the vast majority of my games muted anyway, and I read far faster than people speak, so I really didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.

The first playthrough took a bit over 3 hours, but there was still loads to do. In fact, I spent about as much time with subsequent playthroughs as I did with the first, despite my heavy use of skip mode that allows players to get through a run in less than half an hour. Skip mode is a brilliant feature, and it’s one I almost missed entirely. Pressing the skip mode button sets things in fast forward, automatically continuing on until you exit skip mode, you’re given a choice to make, or you’re presented with dialogue you haven’t seen yet. This is amazing since there are four completely different endings to unlock, and when you include all of the potential possibilities of each ending, there are over 300! For example, if you end up with the fairytale ending (as queen), you can be one of four types of queens, you can have one of four love interests (you heard right, being married to the prince doesn’t mean he’s necessarily the one you love, or that he loves you!), and you can have one of four advisers (including none at all). These are all decided by the choices you make, and every time you play through the game you unlock those individual attributes in the Endings section. As you unlock more, you can mix and match them, although you’ll only see the last several screens of the ending if you make up an ending this way. The game shows you what percentage of the variants are found, and completionists will be incredibly busy unlocking them all. With all of my experimenting and messing around, I’ve only found about 60% of all of the variants, and it would’ve taken me far longer to figure out the fourth type of ending without help from the developer’s wiki. Without spoiling anything, I really wish there was a fifth major type of ending though. There’s a specific element in the game that seemed like it should have far bigger repercussions, but instead, it has minimal effect on the story. This would be a big deal if the other endings weren’t so terrific; the slightest changes in endings could lead to learning more about the world of Cinders. I was frequently blown away that the 5th, 7th, 10th, etc. times I played through the game I was still finding out more about various characters and seeing people in a new light.

I loved the themes Cinders explores. For one, the concept of choice itself is shown not only for Cinders (as you can see in the image above) but for everyone else in her life. The whole premise of Cinderella is that the titular heroine is trapped, unable to live her own life until magic intervenes. Even then, how does the story end? She marries a prince she knows almost nothing about, all to escape her former life. But in Cinders, you’re able to choose from all sorts of possibilities, and merely the fact that Cinders is making choices for herself is miraculous to her. But that’s the thing about starting to make choices for yourself: when you feel trapped for so long, every choice seems better than your current life, no matter where it leads. Who hasn’t blown a bunch of money after getting their first job, or eaten way more than they should the first time they have spending money at a fast food place? For Cinders, there are plenty of bad choices too. Then there are the other characters, who have gotten exactly where they are in life due to the choices they’ve made, or the lack thereof. Numerous characters are doing what their parents did, and feel just as trapped or indebted to their families as Cinders does, although they find themselves happier about it because of their attitudes. Even Cinders’ stepmother has made choices for reasons that make more and more sense as you discover her secrets, although she could still be less of a jerk.

The game does a terrific job with other topics and themes as well. The writers make light of the idea of Cinders settling down with the prince without really knowing anything about him, among other things. I appreciated the way that nearly every character is likable, even the ones that shouldn’t be. One of Cinders’ stepsisters, for example, is as sarcastic and bitter as I’d be in her position. The romanceable characters are likable, cool dudes, and I personally think Cinders would be happy with any of them (depending on how you play it). The “fairytale ending” of becoming queen is even deeper than just fairytale love, and if you play things wrong (or right, depending on your point of view) you can take control of the entire kingdom with an iron fist.

Cinders is terrific for fans of visual novels or “mature fairytales”, and folks who love twists on stories they already know well will especially get a kick out of it. However, this doesn’t limit who can enjoy the game – while the developers call this “a mature take on Cinderella,” it has a teen rating for a reason. While some adult things can happen, there are no sordid details and things never get any kind of gory or overly naughty. But if you’re the type of person who skips through dialogue, you’re definitely in the wrong place.

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Cinders from #indiedev @TomGrochowiak and @CrunchingKoalas is an #indiegame visual novel where you help Cinderella make her own fate, for good or bad, with the prince or not. Check out our review! Cinderella is an incredibly well-known story: a poor girl gets stuck living with her awful stepmother and stepsisters who treat her like a maid until one day she wows the prince at a masquerade ball and they live happily ever after.

[foursprout-blog]

The Truth About Dating After Narcissistic Abuse That Every Survivor Needs To Know

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/the-truth-about-dating-after-narcissistic-abuse-that-every-survivor-needs-to-know/

The Truth About Dating After Narcissistic Abuse That Every Survivor Needs To Know

autumnbphoto

Dating itself can be a disaster zone especially in the digital age. Welcome to modern romance, where hookup culture reigns, the ease of dating apps have outstripped traditional courtship rituals and instant gratification is the norm. Yet dating is especially difficult when you’ve been the target of emotional, verbal or narcissistic abuse, a form of covert emotional manipulation where you’ve been belittled, isolated and controlled by a pathological person.

Not only are you reeling from the trauma of a toxic relationship, you’re not even sure you ever want to date again. Any survivor of narcissistic abuse can tell you that it’s exhausting to even think about being with another person after the mind games he or she has gone through.

I always recommend being single for a period of time after going through a trauma like this, because it is likely to affect your intuition, your boundaries and your ability to step back and reevaluate whether this person is right for you. However, I do receive letters from survivors who ask me questions about dating and looking for love after abuse.

Here are some tips I would recommend moving forward if you do decide to venture out to the dating world again:

1. Take the time to heal.

I can’t stress this enough. Our society has conditioned us to quickly get over someone by getting under someone else. While studies have found that there is some truth to the idea that a rebound can help us feel hope at future romantic prospects, it can backfire if the rebound relationship is unsatisfying or the rebound person in question turns out to be toxic too.

In the latter case, it turns out that we grow even more attached to our exes rather than detached if the person we date right after turns out to be of a similar pathological type. That’s why if you’re committed to the idea of a casual arrangement, I’d still recommend holding off until you’ve evaluated what your standards for that arrangement would be and to ensure that you’ve built up a sense of independence to move forward from any person you’re dating should they show red flags.

Even a casual date can be retraumatizing if the person in question is all too similar from the abuser you’ve just escaped from. It can lead to black and white catastrophic thinking about your romantic future if you’ve had far too many terrible dates or keep meeting toxic people. It’s honestly so much more satisfying to “date yourself” for a bit – nourish yourself, treat yourself, celebrate yourself and reconnect with the beautiful strengths you always had.

If you need to date someone, date yourself. Take yourself out, treat yourself as if you were someone you dearly loved and cared for. Learn the art of self-compassion. Know that you are worthy and inherently loveable, regardless of your relationship status.

In the immediate aftermath of abuse like this, it’s necessary to dedicate your time to repairing your body, mind and spirit. Use self-care practices like meditation, yoga, and a daily exercise regimen to begin healing the parts of your brain affected by trauma. Seek trauma-focused professional support to help process what you’ve gone through before you move onto a new relationship.

2. If you have worked on healing and are dating again, learn to trust yourself.

Far too many of us rationalize, minimize and deny toxic behavior from the onset because we’re committed to giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. I have some counterintuitive advice: don’t. Instead, approach the task of dating with a neutral blank slate whenever possible. Let someone show who they are through their interactions with you, with others and how they treat you. You have plenty of time to invest in them later after you’ve seen that their behavior is consistent, their character is sound and their integrity …well, exists (this is the bare minimum these days). In the beginning, try to resist projecting your romantic ideals or fantasies onto this person.

It’s tempting to create a narrative about a new partner and how they’ve come to save us, but we all know that sometimes the people dressed as our saviors turn out to be the very people we need to be saved from.

3. Don’t assume everyone has a conscience. Better yet, assume they don’t unless they’ve proven themselves.

The fact is, 1 in 25 Americans are estimated to be sociopaths according to clinical psychologist and former Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Martha Stout. It’s really not that far off to assume that you might be dating one if they’re exhibiting a lack of empathy, entitlement and callous behavior.

In the timeless words of writer Sherry Argov, always look out for number one…you. If you see unsavory behavior, note it. If you feel a gut instinct, allow yourself to honor it. If it looks too good to be true, sometimes it really is. Be aware of excessive flattery and love-bombing – this is a manipulation tactic toxic people use to disarm you from the onset and get you to trust them.

You don’t have to announce to toxic dating partners that they’re toxic, by the way. That usually just results in narcissistic rage, retaliation or further attempts to ensnare you. Instead, quietly observe and let them hang themselves so to speak. Narcissists can’t hide for long. They always slip and their unmasking will tell you all you need to know. When they do, don’t listen to their explanations – let their actions speak for themselves and detach as soon as possible.

And remember: you don’t have to justify your decision. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and retraumatized by dating, it means you’re not ready to date. Whether they’re a healthy potential partner or a toxic one, it’s always a good idea to make time and space for inner work prior to committing to another long-term relationship.

4. Slow down.

Dating coach Wendy Powell recommends that those who are looking to avoid dating narcissists in the future would do well to slow down. Don’t let a potential partner sweep you into a fairytale romance that can descend into a nightmare. Instead, get to know them without falling for immediate intimacy, which can trap you into the vicious cycle of trusting someone too early on without knowing anything about them. If a dating partner demands you see them all the time, this is a red flag. If a dating partner is urging you to go too quickly (asking to take you on vacation, have sex with them before you’re ready, meet their parents) from the beginning, realize that this is not necessarily an indication of their affection for you.

Rather, it may be a sign of trying to control and take over your life early on. It’s wiser to recognize that people who have a genuine interest in you can wait to build that organic connection before they start shopping for wedding rings. Always be wary of anyone who claims to love you within a few weeks of getting to know you.

5. The Big Takeaway

The truth is, they likely don’t know you at all and if they claim they do in the early stages of dating, it’s suspect.

Remember that you don’t know them either.

Above all, honor yourself and your instincts. They could someday save your life.

[foursprouthappiness-blog]

The Truth About Dating After Narcissistic Abuse That Every Survivor Needs To Know

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/the-truth-about-dating-after-narcissistic-abuse-that-every-survivor-needs-to-know/

The Truth About Dating After Narcissistic Abuse That Every Survivor Needs To Know

autumnbphoto

Dating itself can be a disaster zone especially in the digital age. Welcome to modern romance, where hookup culture reigns, the ease of dating apps have outstripped traditional courtship rituals and instant gratification is the norm. Yet dating is especially difficult when you’ve been the target of emotional, verbal or narcissistic abuse, a form of covert emotional manipulation where you’ve been belittled, isolated and controlled by a pathological person.

Not only are you reeling from the trauma of a toxic relationship, you’re not even sure you ever want to date again. Any survivor of narcissistic abuse can tell you that it’s exhausting to even think about being with another person after the mind games he or she has gone through.

I always recommend being single for a period of time after going through a trauma like this, because it is likely to affect your intuition, your boundaries and your ability to step back and reevaluate whether this person is right for you. However, I do receive letters from survivors who ask me questions about dating and looking for love after abuse.

Here are some tips I would recommend moving forward if you do decide to venture out to the dating world again:

1. Take the time to heal.

I can’t stress this enough. Our society has conditioned us to quickly get over someone by getting under someone else. While studies have found that there is some truth to the idea that a rebound can help us feel hope at future romantic prospects, it can backfire if the rebound relationship is unsatisfying or the rebound person in question turns out to be toxic too.

In the latter case, it turns out that we grow even more attached to our exes rather than detached if the person we date right after turns out to be of a similar pathological type. That’s why if you’re committed to the idea of a casual arrangement, I’d still recommend holding off until you’ve evaluated what your standards for that arrangement would be and to ensure that you’ve built up a sense of independence to move forward from any person you’re dating should they show red flags.

Even a casual date can be retraumatizing if the person in question is all too similar from the abuser you’ve just escaped from. It can lead to black and white catastrophic thinking about your romantic future if you’ve had far too many terrible dates or keep meeting toxic people. It’s honestly so much more satisfying to “date yourself” for a bit – nourish yourself, treat yourself, celebrate yourself and reconnect with the beautiful strengths you always had.

If you need to date someone, date yourself. Take yourself out, treat yourself as if you were someone you dearly loved and cared for. Learn the art of self-compassion. Know that you are worthy and inherently loveable, regardless of your relationship status.

In the immediate aftermath of abuse like this, it’s necessary to dedicate your time to repairing your body, mind and spirit. Use self-care practices like meditation, yoga, and a daily exercise regimen to begin healing the parts of your brain affected by trauma. Seek trauma-focused professional support to help process what you’ve gone through before you move onto a new relationship.

2. If you have worked on healing and are dating again, learn to trust yourself.

Far too many of us rationalize, minimize and deny toxic behavior from the onset because we’re committed to giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. I have some counterintuitive advice: don’t. Instead, approach the task of dating with a neutral blank slate whenever possible. Let someone show who they are through their interactions with you, with others and how they treat you. You have plenty of time to invest in them later after you’ve seen that their behavior is consistent, their character is sound and their integrity …well, exists (this is the bare minimum these days). In the beginning, try to resist projecting your romantic ideals or fantasies onto this person.

It’s tempting to create a narrative about a new partner and how they’ve come to save us, but we all know that sometimes the people dressed as our saviors turn out to be the very people we need to be saved from.

3. Don’t assume everyone has a conscience. Better yet, assume they don’t unless they’ve proven themselves.

The fact is, 1 in 25 Americans are estimated to be sociopaths according to clinical psychologist and former Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Martha Stout. It’s really not that far off to assume that you might be dating one if they’re exhibiting a lack of empathy, entitlement and callous behavior.

In the timeless words of writer Sherry Argov, always look out for number one…you. If you see unsavory behavior, note it. If you feel a gut instinct, allow yourself to honor it. If it looks too good to be true, sometimes it really is. Be aware of excessive flattery and love-bombing – this is a manipulation tactic toxic people use to disarm you from the onset and get you to trust them.

You don’t have to announce to toxic dating partners that they’re toxic, by the way. That usually just results in narcissistic rage, retaliation or further attempts to ensnare you. Instead, quietly observe and let them hang themselves so to speak. Narcissists can’t hide for long. They always slip and their unmasking will tell you all you need to know. When they do, don’t listen to their explanations – let their actions speak for themselves and detach as soon as possible.

And remember: you don’t have to justify your decision. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and retraumatized by dating, it means you’re not ready to date. Whether they’re a healthy potential partner or a toxic one, it’s always a good idea to make time and space for inner work prior to committing to another long-term relationship.

4. Slow down.

Dating coach Wendy Powell recommends that those who are looking to avoid dating narcissists in the future would do well to slow down. Don’t let a potential partner sweep you into a fairytale romance that can descend into a nightmare. Instead, get to know them without falling for immediate intimacy, which can trap you into the vicious cycle of trusting someone too early on without knowing anything about them. If a dating partner demands you see them all the time, this is a red flag. If a dating partner is urging you to go too quickly (asking to take you on vacation, have sex with them before you’re ready, meet their parents) from the beginning, realize that this is not necessarily an indication of their affection for you.

Rather, it may be a sign of trying to control and take over your life early on. It’s wiser to recognize that people who have a genuine interest in you can wait to build that organic connection before they start shopping for wedding rings. Always be wary of anyone who claims to love you within a few weeks of getting to know you.

5. The Big Takeaway

The truth is, they likely don’t know you at all and if they claim they do in the early stages of dating, it’s suspect.

Remember that you don’t know them either.

Above all, honor yourself and your instincts. They could someday save your life.

[ibloggingkits-blog]

New Post has been published on Blogging kits

New Post has been published on https://bloggingkits.org/ikea-dives-into-international-of-artificial-intelligence/

IKEA dives into international of Artificial Intelligence

It’s acknowledged for flat-percent wooden, but Ikea’s made no secret of its digital destiny.

The Swedish business changed into a brief to embed wireless charging into its furniture and has already launched its personal cheap line of clever lights you may manipulate out of your phone.

Now, the enterprise’s Copenhagen-based totally innovation lab is trying out-out new virtual waters: it’s accumulating research on public notion on Artificial intelligence (AI).

Do You Communicate Human?

released this weekend through Space10 (the identical lab accountable for Ikea’s glorious indoor Growroom), Do You Talk Human? Is a global survey to inform Ikea’s destiny.

Trendy Synthetic Intelligence Maybe Extra Than Intelligence Well, known Artificial Intelligence is a term used to explain the type of Synthetic intelligence we’re watching for to be human like in intelligence. We cannot even give you a perfect definition for intelligence, yet we’re already on our way to construct several of them. The question is whether or not the Synthetic intelligence we build will work for us or our paintings for it.

If we ought to understand the worries, first we can recognize intelligence after which assume where we’re within the system. Intelligence will be said as the important technique to formulate statistics based on to be had records. That is fundamental. If you could formulate a new statistics based totally on current statistics, then you definitely are smart.

Considering that is a lot scientific than spiritual, allow’s Talk in phrases of technology. I’m able to attempt not to place a number of scientific terminologies so that a not unusual character may want to recognize the content without problems. There’s a term worried in constructing Synthetic intelligence. It’s far known as the Turing Test. A Turing Test is to check an Artificial intelligence to look if we could understand it as a PC or we couldn’t see any distinction between that and a human intelligence. The assessment of the Check is that in case you communicate to an Artificial intelligence and alongside the manner you neglect to remember that It is truly a computing device and no longer someone, then the device passes the Take a look at. That is, the gadget is simply artificially wise. We have several structures these days that could pass this Take a look at inside a short at the same time as. They’re now not perfectly artificially intelligent due to the fact we get to take into account that It’s miles a computing gadget alongside the process elsewhere.

An instance of Artificial intelligence would be the Jarvis in all Iron Guy movies and the Avengers films. It’s miles a machine that knows human communications, predicts human natures and even gets frustrated in points. That’s what the computing network or the coding community calls a Standard Artificial Intelligence.

to place it up in everyday phrases, you may speak to that device like you do with a person and the device would have interaction with you want someone. The problem is people have limited expertise or memory. Every now and then we cannot take into account some names. We recognize that we understand the call of the opposite man, but we simply cannot get it on time. we will remember it by some means, but later at a few another example. This isn’t always known as parallel computing within the coding world, but It’s miles something much like that. Our mind characteristic isn’t completely understood but our neuron features are usually understood. this is equivalent to say that we don’t apprehend computers but we apprehend transistors; due to the fact transistors are the constructing blocks of all computer reminiscence and characteristic.

When a human can parallel process facts, we call it reminiscence. at the same time as speak approximately something, we keep in mind something else. We are saying “with the aid of the manner, I forgot to inform you” after which we retain on a specific problem. Now imagine the power of computing system. They by no means neglect something at all. that is the maximum vital part. As plenty as their processing capacity grows, the higher their facts processing might be. We are not like that. It seems that the human mind has a confined capability for processing; in average.

The rest of the mind is facts storage. a few humans have traded off the competencies to be the other manner around. You may have met people that are very horrific with remembering some thing, however, are excellent at doing math just with their head. Those human beings have genuinely allotted elements in their brain That is often allotted for memory into processing. This enables them to method better, but they lose the memory part.

The human mind has a mean size and consequently, There’s a confined quantity of neurons. It’s far expected that there are around 100 billion neurons in a mean human brain. This is at minimal 100 billion connections. I can get to a maximum variety of connections at a later point in this article. So, if we wanted to have approximately one hundred billion connections with transistors, we are able to want something like 33.333 billion transistors. This is because every transistor can contribute to 3 connections.

Coming again to the point; We’ve executed that stage of computing in about 2012. IBM had completed simulating 10 billion neurons to symbolize 100 trillion synapses. You need to understand that a computer synapse isn’t always a biological neural synapse. We can’t evaluate one transistor to at least one neuron because neurons are a great deal Extra complex than transistors. to symbolize one neuron we can need several transistors. In reality, IBM had constructed a supercomputer with 1 million neurons to symbolize 256 million synapses. To try this, that they had 530 billion transistors in 4096 neuron synaptic cores according to investigate.Ibm.Com/cognitive-computing/neurosynaptic-chips.Shtml.

Now you may recognize how complex the real human neuron need to be. The problem is we have not been capable of constructing an Artificial neuron at a hardware level. We’ve built transistors and then have included software program to control them. Neither a transistor nor an Artificial neuron ought to manipulate itself; however, an actual neuron can. So the computing potential of a biological mind begins at the neuron stage, however, the Artificial intelligence starts at plenty better ranges after at least several thousand fundamental units or transistors.

The tremendous aspect for the Synthetic intelligence is that it isn’t confined within a skull where it has an area obstacle. if you found out the way to connect 100 trillion neuron synaptic cores and had large sufficient centers, then you may build a supercomputer with that. You can’t do this together with your mind; your mind is restrained to the quantity of neurons. In keeping with Moore’s law, computer systems will sooner or later take over the restricted connections that a human mind has. That is the crucial point of time Whilst the statistics singularity Might be reached and computers come to be essentially Extra smart than human beings. this is the general concept of it. I assume it is incorrect and I’m able to provide an explanation for why I suppose so.

Evaluating the increase of the range of transistors in a PPC processor, the computers via 2015 should be capable of the system at the level of the brain of a mouse; a real biological mouse. We’ve got hit that point and are shifting above it. that is approximately the general computer and not approximately the supercomputers. The supercomputers are absolutely a combination of processors connected in a way that they are able to parallel system statistics.

Now we recognize sufficient about computing, brain, and intelligence, let’s communicate about the actual Synthetic intelligence. We’ve got unique stages and layers of Synthetic intelligence in our normal electronic gadgets. Your cellular telephone acts artificially sensible at a totally low level of it. All the video games you play are managed by means of a few kind of recreation engine which is a shape of Artificial intelligence features on common sense. All Synthetic intelligence nowadays can function on good judgment. Human intelligence is distinctive that it may transfer modes to feature based totally on good judgment or on emotion. computer systems do now not have feelings. We take one choice for a given state of affairs Whilst we aren’t emotional and we take some other decision When we’re emotional however underneath the equal state of affairs. that is theft that a laptop cannot attain until now.

All the scientists suppose that the computers will have to come to this point to make certain that They’re artificially clever and might be self conscious. I disagree with this. More structures inside the universe don’t appear to characteristic based on emotion. All of them seem to feature based on common sense. Beginning from tiny subatomic debris to galaxy clusters, There’s no emotion; or now not that some thing I could note. yet, they function at fantastic accuracies and policies. The black hollow on the center of the galaxy is like perfectly correct. If It is a bit bit More effective, it might gulp up the whole galaxy and collapse on itself. If It’s miles to be a bit much less powered, it’d lose manage of the galaxy and All the stars would disintegrate. It’s miles such a perfect system that billions of stars run at the side of nearly 0 errors. That is because all that occurs is According to a few good judgment and no longer feelings.