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dappersheep · 4 years ago

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Food Fantasy: An Analysis on what killed a Golden Goose (2/3)

Welcome back. Before we get started, disclaimers again! I do not own the game or its characters, nor do I claim to know the history and future of the game. What I am entitled to are the thoughts and opinions written within this post. You may or may not agree with the points spoken of here. This post also remains untagged from the main foofan tag. Only my followers will see this.

We are now on the second part, so let's go forward under the cut!

Elex

And here we have our beloved global publisher that most of seem to have Stockholm Syndrome for. Don't lie, at least half of us are still playing this damned game due to sunken cost fallacy, sunken time fallacy and the cute/hot jpegs.

In 2018, everything started out fine. Sure, maybe we had some translation mishaps here and there -coughwe'llgettothatwreckagelatercough- but overall, Elex was running the game fairly well. Rewards were on time, we had active social media and support, and a discord was set up!

Hint: Please note I use quite a bit of sarcasm in most everything I say.

And then somewhere along that road, things got derailed. And I mean it like, we're in the midst of a trainwreck in slow motion and we've only cleared the initial collision and still hurtling forward or backward into a steel wreckage ticking inferno.

Problems started cropping up as early as late 2018, just a few months after the game was launched in July.

⦁ Art contest mishaps. You know when you hold an art contest on Facebook out of all places with its shitty tagging system, you're bound to have entries lost to the void, people forced to register an FB account just to participate (seriously, who even has an FB account that isn't just there to appease family members?) and having to wrestle with figuring out how FB's tagging system works. Add to that the panel of judges happen to be Elex staff who don't have a good eye for good artwork (we actually had a kiddy figure drawing win over a well drawn one during the last contest!) and that they ALSO weren't very good at organizing such contests on FB... well, we had several grievances over that.

⦁ Region blocked FB announcements. Strangely enough, I stopped getting announcements around Father's Day of 2019 while everyone else outside of SEA kept getting updates. Turns out that someone on Elex's staff really didn't like SEA players or was just really bad at fixing the settings for the group and never bothered to revert it back. It didn't matter in the long run though, because...

⦁ Abandoned social media platforms. FooFan Twitter, FooFan Facebook... they all floated slowly into the void and was never heard from again. And this was before the 2020 pandemic.

⦁ Remember what I said about Discord? Yeah, apparently, they opened one up a little too early and the staff in charge of it knew zero about how to setup and mod a discord community, and didn't even have the manpower needed to mod the influx of members that came in! Suffice to say, they had to get help from top players and mods from the FB groups to come in and sort things out because someone kept pinging @ everyone every few seconds other than the usual chaos that comes from a server with no filters and people trying to turn the discord into Global Chat 2.0, minus Russian hours.

⦁ Also in line with the point about abandoned social media platforms, they've also mostly abandoned the discord too and only pop in once in a while to check the bug reports or lost accounts. You have a slightly better chance of response with the in-game support. Only slightly. And there's a running joke with several variations on the main discord that the Owner account of the discord server was manned by an intern-kun who never bothered to pass it on to the next unfortunate soul left to maintain this game.

⦁ Favoritism. Funtoy is also guilty of this but they don't publish the game for Global. If you're a top spender the likes of maxing out your cash rebates within the three months or so and you kept spending even beyond that, Elex could possibly invite you to a funky little club where your voice is more important than say... 99% of the playerbase. On top of that, if you keep spending, you could technically also ask for stuff like getting this frame over that frame, or well.... delay certain features from coming to Global for over a year. Now you can simp AND be heard! (Note: In 2021, it's possible that that club may be dead too, as all things shall be)

⦁ SJW Friendly. I don't know if Funtoy themselves have anything to also do with this particular decision... but it's saying something that after a certain little tiddy tantrum from the community side, Elex decided not to announce anything about a certain event's fate and when asked by it by other parties (not me) they either lie through their teeth, or beat around the bush with a non-answer.

⦁ Partial translations, mistranslations. Now, I understand that a lot of Chinese grammar and semantics are confusing to translate properly into several other languages, but you'd think Elex would have given their translators more context to the character or the mechanic to avoid such mistranslations that later set off gender debates or worded the skill/artifact description a little clearer. That is... unless Elex really is hands-off trying to get to know this IP from the start and only gave it the most bare minimum of English where they can cut costs for it, so people can understand it 'well enough' to throw money at an obviously not beta-read quality game.

⦁ No translations. Yes we do have certain parts of the game that are in Chinese since forever since xx patch. Some characters' voiceline texts are still in chinese, especially during the Pledge scenes. More recent artifacts are also in chinese with no announced translation in sight. And don't get me started on the Food Soul bios, or lack thereof.

⦁ Delayed events. Prime example? We had weeks of minor events/no events and still Elex managed to eff everything up for our second Anniversary in July 2020. We ended up getting the Croissant event in late August with barely any apologies and compensation for the delay... and this likely would have never arrived as 'early' as it did if people hadn't been railing about where our Anniversary event was. As it stands, we are several minor events behind CN, at least a year and a half's worth behind. I know Global had requested heavily for more spaced out events (to save resources, not that it actually worked with all the nerfed rewards we get) compared to CN but this is extremely ridiculous.

⦁ Delayed permanent features. Hm... Guild Wars, Sky Tower, Bar, that Wuchang Fish Showdown... several Quality of Life updates.... that new permanent pool update... Food Souls still missing their JP voice packs... Food Soul Bios... *slowly ticking off more than I have fingers and toes*

⦁ Customer Support is whack. You'd be lucky if you got someone who understood your problem/inquiry right off the bat AND did something about it efficiently. You'd be luckier if they answered you honestly if you were inquiring about event updates or other buggy features or reporting hackers.

⦁ The Great Turkey and Apple Incident of 2020. Well, if you were around for that little SNAFU during the Turkey re-run event, you'd know a percentage of people suddenly got logged out of their accounts and had a baller of a time trying to get their accounts back. You were especially unfortunate if you were playing on an iOS account because even if you did bind it (like a responsible player should be doing), you probably still wouldn't get it back in time to rank properly during Turkey. Some Android players also experienced this, but it wasn't as bad as what the iOS players experienced. And then there was the compensation mishap for that too.

⦁ Hacker-chan and not-so-uwu Hacker-teme. Hacker-chan is a meme. Hacker-chan was a harmless player who regularly topped in Top Showdown every week for a time to send a message to Elex just how easy it is to hack the game in certain rankings and invited Elex to ban them every time, just to test how competent Elex is. In the end, Elex has proven to be incompetent and also glaringly stupid about how their published game works. Hacker-teme is a collective of individuals over time who have cheated the game during important ranking events or in somewhat important permanent battles. If you tried to report a Hacker-teme with evidence to prove it -and trust me, people repeatedly have-, Elex would tell you that they're not cheating and/or lie through their teeth that they're 'investigating the case' and then not do anything about it and let them keep their event ranking and thus get the rewards while someone who actually worked hard/whaled hard to get the spot gets denied. In one case, they believe that if an account has rebate points and the player level is at least around level 80, then the hacker-teme is obviously playing the game fairly. Never mind that their units happened to have low to no artifact nodes opened, and not high in ascension.

And that is the end of the Elex saga. I'm aware there's likely more things about Elex that I've missed, but feel free to add on to this analysis post with your own thoughts.

The last part of this trilogy is probably what many of us are waiting for, for obvious reasons.

#ravings of a madman #food fantasy but not tagged right

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rpgsandbox · 5 years ago

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Forge your legacy in the award-winning setting of the Iron Kingdoms with the celebrated 5th edition roleplaying game rules.

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Finally, within the pages of Iron Kingdoms: Requiem are extensive rules for the arcane technologies of the setting. These rules cover subjects from firearms and mechanika, like the galvanic arms and armor of the storm knight, to the mighty warjacks that accompany warcasters into battle.

"Before the Iron Kingdoms became a land dominated by industry and machines, it was the monsters that defined it."

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In the Iron Kingdoms peril lurks at every turn, as fearsome and terrifying creatures both great and small look to turn unwary adventurers into their next meal or enslave them beyond death. From ferocious packs of ravenous burrow-mawgs to deadly ethereal pistol wraiths that haunt the back roads and forgotten cemeteries, and the fiendish Infernals that still stalk the shadows, the Monsternomicon is filled with creatures both mundane and supernatural to challenge even the most experienced adventuring parties.

This legendary tome includes over 80 monsters, new and old, steeped in over 20 years of worldbuilding, now appearing for the first time with 5th Edition rules.

Click to go to the Update featuring these two preview pages.

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A girl, a sword, and a secret...

As a child, she lost everything when her mother was wrongfully executed for witchcraft and her soul was consumed by the most ancient of all weapons, the black blade known as the Witchfire. Hellbent to spare her mother an eternity of torture, Alexia Ciannor stole the accursed sword and set out to unlock its dark secrets. With the voices of the Witchfire's imprisoned souls raging in her mind, Alexia would eventually unlock the power of the Infernal artifact and command an army of undead to vanquish the villains seeking to use the sword to once again subjugate the Iron Kingdoms.

Nearly two decades later, the veteran of countless wars, Alexia returns to Corvis, the City of Ghosts, in search of help from the malignant forces that seek the return of the coveted sword. The Witchfire's true purpose is finally revealed, and only the courage and sacrifice of a small group of unlikely heroes can save Alexia from the brink of madness and prevent the infernal weapon from fulfilling its apocalyptic legacy.

The Legend of the Witchfire adventure will take players from level 1 to level 4, and is the perfect introduction to the action-packed and intrigue-filled world of the Iron Kingdoms!

==============================================

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, February 12 2021 7:59 AM UTC +00:00

Website: [Privateer Press] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram]

#RPG #kickstarter #Dungeons and Dragons #Iron Kingdoms #Privateer Press

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thesevenseraphs · 5 years ago

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Building a Viable Future in Destiny 2

TL;DR

Destiny 2 is too large to efficiently update and maintain.

The size and complexity of the game are also contributing to more bugs and less innovation.

Instead of building a Destiny 3 and leaving D2 behind, each year, we are going to cycle older, less actively played content out of the live game and into what we’re calling the Destiny Content Vault (DCV).

This will allow us to add to and support D2 for years, including the three new annual expansions we announced today, starting with Beyond Light this fall.

The DCV will include all content from Destiny 1 and anything that cycles out from Destiny 2.

We will bring back (or “unvault”) activity and destination content from the DCV each year.

Unvaulting starts in D2 Year 4, with the Cosmodrome coming back, as well as its three strikes and the return of the Vault of Glass raid.

The primary D2 content leaving the game and going into the DCV this fall are the destinations – Mars, Io, Titan, Mercury and Leviathan – and their supported activities.

There will be new ways to earn the Exotics originally linked to content that has entered the DCV.

When Beyond Light ships, the Director will have the following destinations:

Europa (new)

Cosmodrome (unvaulted)

Moon

Tangled Shore

Dreaming City

European Dead Zone

Nessus

This approach allows us respond to player feedback more rapidly, enable more innovation, and will keep Destiny 2 and your characters thriving for years to come

.More details to come soon and throughout the year.

Building a Viable Future in Destiny 2

Earlier today, we laid out a vision for Destiny's future, built right inside of Destiny 2. A future where we maintain your characters, accounts, and continuity with our game systems and build on each of them for years. This fall ushers in a new era in Destiny's journey, launching off a trilogy of expansions where your Guardians will explore the true nature of Light and Dark:

Put plainly, we are investing in Destiny 2 for years to come. But to continue your Guardian’s journey and deliver on this roadmap, we need to make some changes to our ever-growing world so it can flourish.

THE LIMITS OF GROWTH

Over the past couple months, we’ve mentioned the problems that come with maintaining a game the size of Destiny 2; and we’ve said that it cannot grow infinitely. After three years of non-stop growth, the scope and complexity of Destiny 2 has ballooned to unprecedented scale.

As of this writing, Destiny 2 features nine destinations, 40 story missions, 54 adventures, 42 Lost Sectors, 17 strikes, 31 PvP maps, 12 one-off special activities (like Menagerie or Zero Hour), seven raids, six Gambit arenas, three dungeons, many, many quests, patrols, public events, and of course, thousands of associated rewards. All of that, plus hundreds of game systems which layer on top of that content.

This unrelenting growth has resulted in a game that requires players to download up to 115GB to play, as well as huge patches tied to frequent updates. And those numbers are rising rapidly, as we’ve been adding approximately 25GB of content each year to Destiny 2 since launch. Those sizes not only stress hard drive capacity but also push the limits of patching capability. It also makes the time to generate a stable update for the game after all content is finalized, tested, and ready to go balloon to literal days instead of hours.

Worse still, that 115GB includes a lot of content that isn't relevant anymore – and can't remain relevant – as we evolve the world and introduce new experiences that will take center stage instead. For example: Warmind’s campaign represents only 0.3% of all time played in Season of the Worthy and yet the Warmind Expansion accounts for 5% of our total install size. This dramatic imbalance between player engagement and overall cost to maintain is found in a lot of our legacy content.

IMPACT ON THE LIVE GAME

Maintaining that much content in perpetuity slows down our ability to update the game with fresh experiences, reduces our ability to innovate, and delays our reaction to community feedback. The test surface alone is massive, to say nothing about how it impacts our designers, artists, and engineers trying to make cool new stuff every day under the weight of the crushing complexity of our scale.

Unfortunately it also means that we sometimes ship content that doesn’t meet the quality bar we’ve set for ourselves and that our players have come to expect. Recent examples are the issues with Felwinter’s Lie quest or when we had to perform our first-ever rollback of player progress due to a bug.

Our ambition is for Destiny 2 to be the best Action MMO in the world and that means being far more agile and nimble than we are today. But the simple fact is that our game's size and complexity prevents us from improving Destiny as fast as we – and you – would like.

THE “DESTINY CONTENT VAULT”

With Destiny 1, we solved the “ever expanding, exponential complexity” problem by making a sequel in Destiny 2. We left behind all of Destiny 1’s content and many of the features players grew to love. We believe now that it was a mistake to create a situation that fractured the community, reset player progress, and set the player experience back in ways that took us a full year to recover from and repair. It’s a mistake we don’t want to repeat by making a Destiny 3. We don't believe a sequel is the right direction for the game and for the past two years we have been investing all of our development effort into new content, gameplay, and new engine features that directly support a single evolving world in Destiny 2.

To create a sustainable ecosystem where the world can continue to evolve in exciting ways, and where we can update the game more quickly, we're going to adopt a new content model that we're calling the

Destiny Content Vault (DCV)

. Each year, usually at the expansion boundaries, we will cycle some destination and activity content out of the game (and into the DCV) to make room for new experiences.

The first cycle of Destiny 2 content going into the DCV begins this fall, with the appearance of the Pyramid ships in Season of Arrivals and the Beyond Light expansion, which we revealed today. Those events will usher in dramatic changes to the Destiny universe, affecting characters, destinations, and Guardians for years to come.

To set a new maintainable foundation for the game this fall and to create room for Beyond Light and the future roadmap, the first Destiny 2 deposit into the DCV will be larger than those to come in the future.

CURATING THE VAULT

Content that goes into the Destiny Content Vault may return in the future, altered (if necessary) to fit the new state of the universe. Furthermore, we consider all Destiny 1 and 2 destinations and activities part of the new DCV and we’re going to be pulling from that archive – revisiting some of the most interesting places in Destiny’s history – from now onwards. It’s why the original Destiny 1 Raid – the Vault of Glass – will be returning to Destiny 2 in Year 4.

Going forward, our explicit goal will be to try to keep the scope and scale of Destiny 2 at a relatively consistent size in order to increase our agility and to be able to properly support and maintain the game. Over the course of each year, the game’s content scope will grow as we add new destinations and activities in our expansions and Seasons. As we approach the next expansion, another cycle of content will go into the DCV to make way for a new influx of destinations and activities.

We will always do our best to give early notice of what's being cycled into the DCV, to help you and your friends plan around how you want to complete your collections and build up your account before the new Destiny year starts. The vast majority of content we choose to vault will also be from destinations and activities that have been free for all players for several months prior to their departure. For example: the Curse of Osiris campaign, which has been free since Shadowkeep launched in October 2019, and part of the Destiny 2 experience since December 2017, will go in the DCV later this year.

YEAR 4 DESTINY CONTENT VAULT PREVIEW

Here is an early preview of some of what’s going into the Destiny Content Vault (DCV) and what’s returning in Year 4.

RETURNING FROM THE DCV

On September 22, 2020:

Cosmodrome as a selectable, explorable destination (but not yet at full Destiny 1 parity on 9/22).

Note: We’re looking to leverage Cosmodrome’s initial return to expand the new Guardian origin story to the world of Destiny. Veteran players will be able to experience that story as well.

Cosmodrome’s Will of Crota strike will also be added to the strikes playlist for all players.

During Season 13:

Cosmodrome will be fleshed out to roughly Destiny 1 Year 1 parity.

Cosmodrome’s The Devil’s Lair and Fallen S.A.B.E.R. strikes return.

During Year 4:

Destiny 1’s first raid, Vault of Glass, returns.

HEADING TO THE DCV

On September 22, 2020:

Io, Titan, Mercury, Mars, and Leviathan will be cycled out and no longer be accessible.

This includes all PvE activities (including campaigns) on those destinations.

OTHER KEY YEAR 4 DETAILS:

There will be three raids playable this fall, including a new one set in the Deep Stone Crypt on Europa as part of the Beyond Light expansion.

There will be new ways to earn Exotics originally tied to destinations and activity content that have entered the Destiny Content Vault.

Available strikes will be based on a pool of possible strikes from active destinations. When a destination goes into the DCV, so too will its strikes.

The PvP Map playlist will remain a curated ‘best of’ mixture of maps from Destiny 1 and 2.

Gambit and Gambit Prime are being merged into a single mode, with their original armor visuals available to earn from the Drifter.

To be clear, the DCV does not apply to any weapons and armor in a player's inventory or vault. The DCV is about activities and destinations. We know you will have a lot of questions about how this will work. We will share more updates about our content plans throughout the summer. This includes a detailed overview of everything changing via patch notes, extensive DPS articles that will help break down what’s changing and when, as well as lots of opportunities for you to ask us questions along the way.

A NEW BEGINNING

This fall, we will begin delivering on the future of Destiny by making way for new adventures, locales, and stories dreamed up by our creative team, and forging the truly evolving world that it was always meant to be. These changes allow us the freedom to finally weave an overall experience for the Destiny universe that can truly live, starting with Beyond Light. We can now fit puzzle pieces we haven’t been able to pick up since the beginning of the original Destiny – including the true nature of the Darkness and Light and how such power will change you as a Guardian. We can now bring some of the greatest experiences in Destiny to the forefront of the current game alongside new ones to come.

The past six years, we’ve seen the Destiny universe grow and our community along with it. We want our quality of service to grow in kind, to be able to react to community feedback quicker, to innovate more often, and to continue to tell new stories with your characters. We’re excited to continue that journey with you.

– Destiny 2 Dev Team

#long post #spoilers

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dianaburnwood · 5 years ago

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Sorry for the inbox spam but it's so nice to talk about the game finally <3 were there any story or gameplay parts that you didn't like? Or is it too early to say?

Definitely never apologize for inbox spam about Hitman :)

My first impressions post is here, for those interested.

You’re asking me for story analysis here and this will get a bit rambley I’m sure, but sorry in advance because I have THOUGHTS

The status quo

Firstly, I will say that I applaud IO by telling the story they wanted to tell. Yes, absolutely, in many ways this was Blood Money 2.0, but it also delved into Absolution, Contracts, Silent Assassin, and Codename 47 (I can go into more detail on how it draws from all of them, but you can probably guess).

This trilogy, but especially this game, is a love letter to the entire Hitman series. It goes straight to the heart of what Hitman has been about since the very beginning. Choices. Freedom. Control. Fate. What does it mean to be human.

Not to sound up my own ass, but as a professional writer I knew they’d have to end with a return to the status quo. It’s the only way to leave the series open to continuation. Grey and Olivia had to be out of the picture by the end. I was shocked that Grey was killed so early though, but I have to say it was nice that he was actually true to 47 all along. I think 47 really needed that. We can delve deep into issues of survivor’s guilt here too, as Grey only died to protect 47. I guess he finally repaid his debt from Romania.

I do think the only fair way for Grey to die was to take himself out, and I appreciate that. He is honourable, he is righteous, he has his own code. He would never let himself be taken alive. And yet, I do wonder if he still would have shot himself if 47 wasn’t there. He might have let himself be taken and then work out a way to escape later. But in the end, he had no choice if he was to save 47. He wished they had more time - he didn’t even get to enjoy his freedom - but he got what he wanted and the story no longer needed him.

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay, there really isn’t anything I didn’t like. IOI went above and beyond in taking risks here. We got a linear level, we got a level with hidden targets, we got levels with non-target objectives, we got investigate gameplay, we got multiple partners to assist, we got narrative mission exits, etc. Tbh the most “traditional” level in terms of trilogy gameplay was Chongqing.

The camera and shortcut unlocks were a wonderful addition to the series, and it opens up the levels in great ways, with vents, walkways, passages, etc. Hitman maps are always extremely re-playable, but now? OMG, the possibilities seem endless.

It would have been all too easy for IOI to stick with what they knew worked. And I think that’s why they decided to go all out for the end of the trilogy. Now was the time to take risks if they were going to take them - and I’m so glad they did.

Character arc

I’ve written about this a bit already, but I’m gonna keep going :D

47. What are his choices? What could he choose?

In Mendoza, Diana offers him a chance for the future. She asks him about retiring somewhere like Mendoza, as he’s not going to work forever. And he responds saying he has started thinking about the future.

I really wonder how that future worked out - cos he took a year off at the end of the game. Where did he go? Did he keep to himself? Did he try to have a life? Did the loneliness, the isolation, the lack of purpose eat him alive until he came back to her?

What is the life that 47 wants for himself? We see his worst fears given a voice - Diana’s voice - when we get that wonderful look into his psyche. And Diana really dug deep here, and wow, it hurt to watch. We all knew she was pulling a Blood Money, but with ICA/Providence guards all around them, she really had to let 47 have it. And yet, while she spat vicious words for show, she used the opportunity to forgive him. To let him know that he didn’t have a choice in killing her parents, and she knew it.

But damn. 47 trusted Diana without question. Unwavering loyalty, all the way through this trilogy. And yet, doubt crept in. Her words gnaw at his own worst fears about himself - and in case we missed it, Grey spells it out for us :D Grey, representing 47′s emotions, shaking off his fears, and knowing that Diana was giving him the only opportunity to get close to Edwards.

Rationally he would have known that Diana would never do this to him. But the psychological analysis of 47 in this game is really superb. He worries that he is just the tool that Providence made him to be. That his life with Diana, the ICA, the contracts, it was all “a wall to shield him” from that terrible truth.

So, what’s the alternative? Give it up. Run away. He tried it before at the end of C47, but he was running from the past. This time, he realises through the voice of Diana that he must embrace the past. That’s the only way forward.

And so he does. And I love that. Because 47 can never get away from the fact that he is an engineered killer. Before, in Silent Assassin and Blood Money, that fact angered him. It made him feel trapped, alone. Now, he has a new perspective. He chooses the truth he likes. He needs to embrace his past to be released from it. He needs to finally, FINALLY, come to terms with who he is, what he has done, and what he needs to do to move on.

Is this a conscience developing? I’ve talked a lot about his emotions before, and how we have seen him experience guilt. Is that growing? I’m not so sure. I think it’s more that he knows he has done wrong, he knows that feels wrong, but he does want to do what’s right. And so, he chooses his life this time, as an antidote, a foil, to corruption.

Because he truly believes that Diana is untouchable. She is incorruptible.

But in choosing this life for himself, he is still a weapon, a tool to be wielded, and he trusts Diana to quite literally point him in the right direction. But is that enough to be happy?

The thing with 47 is that I think happiness will always be out of his reach. But freedom? He has to choose that for himself. He’s not ready to let Diana go - perhaps even less ready than Diana herself at this stage. HITMAN 3 really shoved his loyalty for her in our faces from the beginning. And after 20 years, they have trust, they have affection, they have devotion to each other. So the real question is, in choosing Diana, has 47 chosen his own path? Or is he still choosing to have her pick it for him?

And is choosing someone better than choosing something?

#hitman 3 #hitman 3 story analysis #hitman3spoilers #hitman 3 narrative #47 emotions #Anon

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maydaymemer · 5 years ago

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Hitman Oddities - Agent Smith

In Hitman 2016’s Hokkaido level there’s a specific tray in the morgue that can be opened with a keycard or hacker. On this tray is a live body, that of Agent Smith. This was his first appearance in the series since 2006’s Blood Money. Smith is an at times incompetent CIA agent made to contrast with 47’s class and professionalism, the character was a reoccurring gag in the previous games usually needed to be rescued or assisted by the player and appeared in every installment up until Absolution. He has since reappeared in Hitman 2 (2018) in the sniper levels but this comeback cameo I want to point out in this small post because it contains a continuity error

In the dialogue Smith says he starts with something along the lines of “hey I remember you. You were at the Pinecone Rehab Center”. Referencing the mission Flatline from Blood Money. This is a weird line of dialogue already because Smith doesn’t just remember him from that one incident, he’d saved him definitively twice before Blood Money in the first and second games. Then he sort of saved him later in Hitman 2SA by helping him kill assassins, with more sent to kill Smith before you leave the mission. This piece of dialogue treats it as if Smith was only a minor character from Blood Money rather than a staple of the series’ early years. The dialogue and delivery is vague enough, however, to not be a full continuity error. However, the mention of the Pinecone Centre is a big fat error in the dialogue, as that’s not the last time 47 and Smith meet in Blood Money. Smith is actually the client/handler for the final mission Amendment XXV, where he has to assassinate the Vice President and a rival clone assassin in order to stop them from killing the president and making cloning illegal (Blood Money has a weird story). Smith should instead be saying “hey 47! I haven’t seen you since you literally assassinated the Vice President for me. Thanks btw”

It’s really not a big deal but it’s something I noticed while playing recently and I think it’s just a sign of how Blood Money-obsessed the gaming community was, to the point that a character with a richer history was boiled down to an early appearance in that game. But it also suggests that the current writers for IO are more New Blood and might not really know much about the series beyond the odd Wikipedia search and asking some older employees. Not that I’m saying their shit at their job, I actually really like the new story for its use of within-trilogy continuity, but they should probably have read up on what they’re referencing before they wrote their script

#hitman #hitman 3 #hitman 2016 #agent smith #hitman Oddities #gaming #continuity #gaming trivia

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article-place · 4 years ago

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Hitman 3 Review The latest Hitman trilogy came to an end. IO Interactive learned from the mistakes…

The latest Hitman trilogy came to an end. IO Interactive learned from the mistakes and successes of the past and applied its learning in Hitman 3 . Agent 47 is ready to embark on a new adventure that promises endless playable possibilities.

Gets it? I tell you about it in this analysis. Five years have passed since Agent 47 reappeared with the aim of showing that, despite being a long-lived franchise in the action title genre, it was still capable of delivering fresh experiences from IO Interactive .

Although the first installment generated controversy due to its episodic format, the new trilogy knew how to get up and move forward firmly to consolidate itself. Now we are living the culmination of a proposal that has improved title after title.

Hitman 3 , in addition to being an exceptional closure that no fan of the character can miss, is a clear example of the potential of the Danish study.

Innovating in a saga like Hitman is not an easy task. Especially because its playable bases, those that have accompanied the franchise since its inception, are mechanics that cannot be separated from without altering the identity. An identity that, by the way, has been forged over two decades.

So the goal of IO Interactive was not to reinvent the wheel, but to expand the playability possibilities and enrich those experiences that we have already had with Agent 47 for years. It is important to note, however, that on this occasion those in charge decided to devote more attention to the narrative section.

Hitman 3 stands out for an extraordinary level design and an outstanding audiovisual section

Hitman has never been an exponent, much less in the way of telling stories. With Hitman 3 is no exception. Although there is clearly an effort to make the narrative become an important element, unfortunately it falls halfway.

It’s not that the story is boring; in fact it has certain twists and turns and interesting moments that make us know more about the situation that Agent 47 drags from the previous games. The main problem is that the story never manages to catch up with the rest of the playable proposal. Consequently, it goes unnoticed much of the time.

So expendable is the story of Agent 47 that his stumble does not affect the rest of the game in the least, fortunately … However, there is that negative feeling because it is a margin for improvement that they have never been able – or wanted – to take advantage of.

I do not know if it is a deficiency of IO Interactive in the narrative field or if at some point they decided that it was not worth taking a risk with a more elaborate proposal.

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I would bet more on the second. And as I mentioned previously, it doesn’t affect the entire product because Hitman , for better or worse, has never tried to excel in his argument.

Beyond the main story, Hitman 3 also offers us a series of short narratives that are available in each level. I mean the ** »Mission Stories» **, a group of objectives that make us live brief adventures within the same setting. Most consist of completing various tasks until, finally, having the victim at the right time and place to kill him.

Each level of the game offers three “Mission Stories”, however, the way to deal with them can vary completely depending on our actions. This is where the myriad of playable variants of Hitman 3 begin to be glimpsed .

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Another key point is that the three stories are not available from the beginning. You must complete the level to unlock them. This is just one example of how IO Interactive seeks to get the player to visit the same level over and over again . Is it generating a repetitive experience? Not necessarily.

The reality is that it is up to you to face the mission in one way or another. The limit is your imagination . If all of the above is not enough for you, you should know that each level has dozens of challenges . Yes, dozens. Although some can be completed in the same attempt, you will have to revisit the level several times to complete them all.In addition, everything contributes to obtaining a better grade at the end of the level.

Best of all, the challenges are very different . From carrying out assassinations with different weapons, objects and tools, to interacting with the scene and using it to your advantage to get rid of witnesses and enemies.

Once you take a look at the extensive gallery of challenges offered by level, the next thing to do is plan your execution. Be careful, some will require you to break your head when planning them and when trying to execute them. This is precisely the greatest attraction of Hitman 3 , the freedom that you have to beat its playable offer as best suits you; to experience one and the other possibility, no matter how far-fetched it may seem.

Of course, this freedom goes hand in hand, first, with a set of mechanics that are inherited from the titles that precede it. No, there are no changes to the basic gameplay of Agent 47. However, there was also no need for a twist. IO Interactive focused on enriching the gameplay with the help of an inventory of objects that can be quite varied and, of course, with a level design that borders on excellence .

Beyond the visual section, which I will delve into later, the levels were created with the purpose of making the most of the gameplay. And it always comes out triumphant in that area.

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During your journey through the levels, and with the help of instinct mode , you will be able to locate interactive elements that can get you out of a tight spot or make your mission easier. The variety is very wide and its use is again subject to your imagination. And when it comes to items and weapons, the amount available is staggering. The funny thing is that even the smallest item can be a lethal weapon.

For example: a banana – no kidding. It will be up to you to explore the scene for other objects that are also useful and do not attract attention, as drawing your pistol at an inopportune moment will cause an uproar.

Of course, a part of the great effectiveness of the mechanics has to do with the behavior of the enemies, which is sometimes ridiculous. I missed that they had a more challenging artificial intelligence . That they were able to identify that the bald “military man” walking beside them is the same one who moments before was dressed as a janitor.

Going unnoticed is usually very easy even after being identified as an intruder. I suppose these kinds of nonsensical moments are part of Hitman’s identity and are equally responsible for making it more fun.

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I could not finish the analysis without highlighting an outstanding audiovisual section in each of the six locations we visited: Dubai, England, China, Germany, Argentina and Romania. The graphic level of Hitman 3 is worthy of the start of a new generation. I had the opportunity to enjoy it on a PlayStation 5 and there is nothing to fault for the visual quality.

The attention to detail on the stage is to stand up and clap your hands. Not so in animations, which still have room for improvement. Something that will immediately steal your eye, at least in the next-gen version , is the huge number of NPCs of certain levels. These are moments when you really feel part of a live stage. And of course, playing at 60 frames per second always makes a difference.

Conclusion

Hitman 3 is the culmination that the trilogy deserved . Agent 47 says goodbye, for now, with a delivery that can offer you dozens of hours of fun. As long as you are willing to revisit the levels in order to overcome its many challenges.

Although there are no significant news regarding the previous two titles, IO Interactive has been able to enrich its formula to expand the possibilities of the World of Murders. The Denmark studio exposes their ability to design levels, an ability that I hope they can capture in their adventure with James Bond himself.

Pros

A level design that borders on excellence.

The freedom to complete objectives.

Dozens of hours of fun thanks to the challenges.

Outstanding audiovisual section .

Cons

The story again is a must.

The artificial intelligence is poor.

#hitman #playstation #writing

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itsyouch · 5 months ago

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Beyonders Trilogy characters I'm TOO emotionally attached to :(( (I have this horrible feeling they are all gonna die so I'm putting this out here before anything happens)

btw please don't correct me if I'm right. I don't want any spoilers, especially about my faves

Drake: Drake is my number 1. He is my comfort character, my silliest guy, and hes totally a father figure for Rachel. I would crash out sooo bad if he dies. But I know he won't haha......

Tark: listen..... if ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HIM ITS OVER FOR ME. I DONT KNOW IF I CAN MOVE ON IF SOMETHING HAPPENS. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AAAAAAHHHHHH!!

Dorisio: HE IS MY JOY. MY SWEET I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. I NEED MORE BOOK TIME OF HIM <3333 OOW OW OOWWWW

Nedwin: OHH I CAN'T EVEN PUT TO WORDS HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM!! He's so depressing and he deserves better

Rachel: oooww I love her so much! She's so silly I can go on but I'll be here for a while x]

Ferrin: he is such a goodly fleshed out character, in his back story and demeanor, Brandon Mull really knew what he was doing when he wrote him <3

im felling kinda good about Ferrin, I think he's gotten to good for Brandon Mull to just kill off, Ferrin doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to die :)

(OMG I JUST REMEMBERED! I had a dream I met this random girl, and she saw that I was reading Byonders, and she was like "oh I love this book!! But when Ferrin died-" I had to look at her with a thousand yard stare, I tell ya. I literally felt the dread while in the dream. Thankfully it was a dream haha...)

But the characters I think are gonna die are

Galloran (which sucks cuz I wanna see him live in a safe world and finally get to rest)

Drake

Tark

Aram

Nedwin (because he might sacrifice himself for Galloran...)

Nia

Honestly even Jason might die too... I don't have hope for anyone

I feel like more people are gonna die obviously, but I can't think of anyone else. I didn't add Jasher and Farfalee cuz they still has more lifes (if Maldor doesn't crush their amar😭)

But its mainly Tark and Drake that have me taking physical damage rn.

I am so so so so so scared for Drake, he only has 1 life left, and I don't think I can take it if he dies a meaningful death. Cuz his whole reason for leaving the eternal feast was so he could use his last life to do something good

IF HE DIES IN AN IMPORTANT WAY. FULFILLING HIS PURPOSE. IM GONNA CRY. I DONT WANT HIM TO DIE A MEANINGLESS DEATH. I JUST DONT WANT HIM TO DIE!

It's either he dies in an important way by serving the rebellion, or! HE JUST DOESN'T DIE! PLZ PLEEEASSEE PLEASE.

....

I can literally save myself by not finishing the book, if I don't finish it, then everything is fine <3

Drake and Tark are my STRONG #1 favorite characters. Tark is so fleshed out and has such a sad back story :(

Ferrin and Drake are the same to me, but the difference is that when Ferrin talks or is described doing something, I get giddy and can barely focus on the book, I would totally wear a hat and shirt that says "#1 Ferrin supporter"

But with Drake... when ever he talks..... ooow oww, I just wanna... GRR I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN IT. I GET EVEN WORSE. ITS EITHER I CANT STOP GIGGLING, OR I JUST BREAK DOWN CUZ HES GONNA DIE!! see here..... I don't know if he's gonna die, I just always jump to conclusions ,:')

wasn't supposed to add this part but I just love yapping. Also have fun knowing how cooked I am, everyone who finished the book and knows which one of my favorite characters are gonna die <3

#Im sorry this is so horribly written😭😭#I have so much to draw....#the beyonders trilogy #ferrin son of baldor #drake the beyonders trilogy #tark the beyonders trilogy #nedwin the beyonders trilogy #aram the beyonders trilogy #galloran the beyonders trilogy

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hecallsmehischild · 6 years ago

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Recent Media Consumed

Movies

How To Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World. Sadly, the stories and plot reasoning in these movies has gotten weaker with each addition. However, if you watch this movie for the stunning visuals and Toothless and Hiccup antics, you will NOT be disappointed.

IO Last on Earth. Just... how do I put this. Many years ago I watched The Road. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it was grindingly unpleasant the entire time. I got about halfway through this movie before I stopped giving it the chance to change from this same impression. I’ve gotten a lot more lenient with myself, allowing myself to stop if I’m not enjoying a flick, and this was one of them.

Marvel. Excuse me. *buries face in pillow. Muffled screams of rage emerge* does literally anybody in Hollywood beyond the makers of the friggin’ Lego Movies have any notion of how to deliver a message without bludgeoning their audience over the head with key words and sock puppets. Seriously.

Books

Healing from Hidden Abuse by Shannon Thomas. Very helpful. Very informative. A good half the book, I think, I’ve underlined. I’ll need to read it again, I think. Slower, the second time.

The Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis. The final book in his space trilogy. I understood it better as an adult, but the last few chapters were still a little confusing. The preface mentioned that in this book, Lewis was trying to make the same point he’d made in a much slimmer non-fiction volume called The Abolition of Man. Abolition of Man was way over my head, I experienced the phenomenon of reading words that I knew, individually, and not understanding them in connection with each other. In this fictional format, I came much closer to understanding the point he was trying to make to his fellow academics, for whom he obviously had much scorn. They were the butt of most of his satire.

Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto. This is his thesis book. Dumbing Us Down was just a short collection of speeches and essays. This book really gets into detail and it is, frankly, incredibly depressing to read this book, then look at your life and see exactly where you were impacted by the things he said. Gatto was an award winning schoolteacher in the NYC districts for thirty years, and this book is as much his confession as it is his thesis. You can practically hear him begging for forgiveness in every chapter. On the upside, I have started to take small steps away from reliance on “experts” because of what he’s said, starting with painting my own walls instead of calling on “professionals.” Baby steps.

Anime

March Comes In Like A Lion. I’m glad I picked this one. I don’t usually enjoy slice of life anime and I don’t know if I can tell you that I enjoyed this one, but it was calming. Soothing to watch. And certain moments really spoke to me, as the main character struggled with moving forward in the face of what was never named, but was quite obviously severe depression. (Me at 16 eps, oh this is good, I wonder how many more--44??? What did I sign on for...)

#child loves movies #child loves books

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isitepic · 7 years ago

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Is It Epic? Sonic Mania (Plus) Review

Sonic Mania is a pretty special game, from it’s creation story to the end product we see before us today. During the days of the Dreamcast and the days following after, there would be several attempts to recapture Sonic’s glory days on the Genesis. Though none of them quite matched the quality of those games, for many, Sonic’s handheld adventures such as the Sonic Advance trilogy would be Sonic’s only 2D games for several years.

But that’s just for official Sonic games, meanwhile, there was a steady, lively community for Sonic mods and fangames, yet again trying to recapture that Sonic 16-bit magic. While many fell flat on their face, some of them actually came quite close. Enter Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley.

Christian Whitehead, also known as the Taxman, had coded his own engine, dubbed the Retro Engine, and showed it off at SAGE of 2009. This engine would of course, be used for his pitched remake of Sonic CD. Whereas games like Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 were available on iOS at the time, they ran on rather crummy emulators. This was different. This was a complete remake from the ground up.

Enter Simon Thomley, aka Stealth, who worked on several well known Sonic fangame projects like Sonic MegaMix, and possibly most famously his own version of Sonic the Hedgehog on Gameboy Advance Hardware. Being friends with Christian, he provided his own advice on the Sonic CD remake before joining him on the remakes of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.

After a failed pitch for a Sonic 3 and Knuckles remake, the two would not be deturred. Enter Sonic Discovery, after a lengthy meeting with Takashi Iizuka, Sonic Mania was born. After it’s reveal at San Diego Comic Con 2016, people were excited, and I was right along with them.

After a frustrating delay for the PC version and dealing with the fallout of Denuvo, many people, including myself, were completely enamored with the game. But that was a year ago, and a lot can change in a year. I’ve certainly changed a lot in the course of a year.

With the new Sonic Mania Plus DLC that was released in July of this year, the game has changed quite a bit and the hype has died down significantly. With this in mind, I figured now is as good of a time as any to sit down and really analyze Sonic Mania, especially with the new 1.4 update.

The plot of Sonic Mania is unfortunately a lot of wasted potential. After discovering a mysterious power source on Angel Island that teleports whoever it is you’re playing as to Green Hill Zone, it transforms the surrounding EggRobos into the new Hard Boiled Heavies. Through one big adventure, The Heavy King faces off with the Egg Reverie and Super Sonic. After defeating them both, a portal opens up and Sonic is sucked in, kicking off the events of Sonic Forces.

In essence, the story only exists to advertise Sonic Forces and that ends up working against it. The original story saw Dr. Robotnik falling into a deep depression after the events of Sonic 3, with the Hard Boiled Heavies taking over, but that was scrapped for reasons I’m not entirely sure of.

But story was never the drawing point of Classic Sonic the Hedgehog. While games like Sonic CD or Sonic 3 had something of a narrative, it was never the heavy focus of the game. What really sold Sonic was his gameplay, and luckily, Sonic Mania excels in that regard. What made Sonic work in the original Genesis games were his physics and level design.

The key to good Sonic level design is fluidity, keeping Sonic moving is as important and his speed itself. Take Sonic 1 for example, all the best levels in that game are filled with slopes and loop de loops that Sonic can roll around and pick up so much speed that he can outrun the screen itself. Sonic Mania keeps such design mentalities in mind, as even in more rigid levels such as Titanic Monarch, skilled players can speedrun it as easily as something like Green Hill Zone.

What’s also important is Sonic’s physics, and by extension, his momentum. This is where Sonic Mania succeeds and something like Sonic 4 fails miserably. How Sonic reacts to the terrain below him is cruical, because if he doesn’t react properly, then the game won’t function right.

Sonic Mania is the first “Classic” Sonic game since 1994 to truly feel like it understood why the Genesis trilogy was so beloved, expanding on what people liked about them in every way. That’s not to say the game is without it’s flaws, however. Some of the bosses way overstay their welcome. Hydrocity Zone Act 2 in particular can really feel like a slog, being two full bosses back to back. Metal Sonic also can be a bit of a drag, but thankfully in the recent 1.4 update, it’s been updated to be slightly more forgiving, adding a checkpoint right before the final phase, which has also been updated quite significantly.

Some of the levels in general can also go on for a really, really long time, and that’s especially a bit of a problem when the save system saves only by Zone and not by Act. What’s especially strange about this is that the Sonic Advance trilogy, Sonic Rush games, and the Sonic 1, 2 and CD remakes all had this figured out, save by Act, and those levels are significantly smaller than those found in Sonic Mania. If I stop playing at Mirage Saloon Act 2, I shold, at the very least, be able to pick it back up again at Mirage Saloon Act 2.

While it’s nice to see the Elemental Shields get some more creative usage, they don’t really get enough of that creative usage. I mean, yeah setting fire to Oil Ocean Zone is pretty cool, and yeah, sticking to the ceilling in Flying Battery Zone is a pretty creative idea, but aside from setting fire to a bridge here or there in Green Hill Zone, that’s kind of it.

Sonic Mania also got paid DLC in the form of Sonic Mania Plus, adding two new characters, Mighty and Ray. It also adds some new Bonus Stages, new Special Stage layouts and a brand new Encore Mode, with new stage color palletes and slightly altered stage layouts. But that’s the operative word: slightly. Mighty is essentially the easy mode of this game, with a ground pound that can destroy certain objects and occasionally lead to different paths, and his shell protects him from certain dangers. Ray is essentially Super Mario World’s Cape Mario in the form of a Sonic the Hedgehog character, allowing him to glide over large distances.

The new level layouts don’t really lend themselves well to the new character’s abilities. By and large, aside from different entity placement, the levels are basically identical. The Special Stages have also seen a significant overhaul, with all new, much more difficult to find Warp Ring placement, the Special Stage design aesthetics going in reverse and being BRUTALLY unforgiving. One slip up, and at that point you may as well throw yourself off the track because you aren’t getting the Emerald.

The only reason I got all the Emeralds in my playthrough of Encore mode is, what I assume was a Debug feature left in the PC version by mistake that allowed you to instantly go up a speed level and the press of a button.

But as cool as it is to see these characters return after over 22 years of absence, and as fun as they are to play, these levels aren’t entirely built around these characters’ abilities. We have fewer Warp Rings and those are moved around quite substanstially, and we have a lot more harsh enemy placement, but that’s all, really.

To be completely honest, I am beyond the point of burnout with Sonic Mania. With over 100 hours on record, gathering all the footage for the video review and getting 100% clear on all files in Encore Mode, I am Mania’d out. I am taking a long, long break from Sonic games until Team Sonic Racing comes out.

Though I sound pretty negative in this review, don’t take that the wrong way; Sonic Mania is a gorgeous, beautiful game that serves as a love letter to fans of Classic Sonic. While not a perfect game, for the first time in many years, we finally have a worthy followup to Sonic’s adventures on the Genesis. If you fell in love with the potbellied hedgehog like I did, Sonic Mania serves as a beautiful reminder of why Sonic set the world on fire.

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#sonic mania #sonic mania plus #classic sonic #miles tails prower #knuckles the echidna #mighty the armadillo #ray the flying squirrel #is it epic?#review #video review #DreamSaturn #PC #pc games #pc gaming #nintendo switch #ps4 #playstation 4 #xbone #xbox one

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onlinebook-us · 3 years ago

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[PDF Download] How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air, #3.5) BY : Holly Black

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Return to the captivating world of Elfhame with this illustrated addition to the New York Times bestselling Folk of Air trilogy that began with The Cruel Prince, from award-winning author Holly Black.Once upon a time, there was a boy with a wicked tongue.Before he was a cruel prince or a wicked king, he was a faerie child with a heart of stone. #1 New York Times bestselling author, Holly Black reveals a deeper look into the dramatic life of Elfhame's enigmatic high king, Cardan. This tale includes delicious details of life before The Cruel Prince, an adventure beyond The Queen of Nothing, and familiar moments from The Folk of the Air trilogy, told wholly from Cardan's perspective.This new installment in the Folk of the Air series is a return to the heart-racing romance, danger, humor, and drama that enchanted readers everywhere. Each chapter is paired with lavish and luminous full-color art, making this the perfect collector's item to be enjoyed by both new audiences and old.

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albonynet · 5 years ago

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IO's studio director says its Bond game could be a trilogy

IO’s studio director says its Bond game could be a trilogy

Little is known about IO Interactive’s recently announced James Bond game (beyond the fact the studio will be a great fit, and it’s years away), but in a new interview with Danish website DR studio director Hakan Abrak has dropped some crumbs. First of all by teasing that the game ‘could’ be a trilogy, which is no great surprise. “We have been allowed to make our own digital Bond, which will not…

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rrrdivoz · 6 years ago

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Discos escuchados en 20-19

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Kelman Duran - 13th Month (2018)

Susana Santos Silva - All the Rivers, Live at Panteão Nacional (2018)

Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness - Emakhosini (2018)

The Soft Moon - Criminal (2018)

Rejjie Snow - Dear Annie (2018)

Snail Mail - Lush (2018)

The Wombats - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life (2018)

Neko Case - Hell-On (2018)

Death Drag - Shifted (2018)

Toby Driver - They Are the Shield (2018)

Drudkh - Їм часто сниться капіж (They Often See Dreams About the Spring) (2018)

Dead Combo - Odeon Hotel (2018)

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band - Siri Ba Kele (2018)

Глеб Колядин [Gleb Kolyadin] - Gleb Kolyadin (2018)

Nap Eyes - I'm Bad Now (2018)

Murder by Death - The Other Shore (2018)

Monte Resina - Aluado Bulimor (2018)

Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik - Hugsjá (2018)

Marlowe - Marlowe (2018)

Wayfarer - World's Blood (2018)

Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn (2013)

Lil Peep - Goth Angel Sinner (2018)

Mundo Livre S/A - A Dança dos Não Famosos (2018)

Cecilio.G - MAD MAX POWER (2018)

Betacam - Mítico (2018)

Axolotes Mexicanos - Salu2 (2018)

Atom Rhumba - Cosmic Lexicon (2018)

Za! - Pachinko Plex (2018)

Aliment - Brother (2018)

El Petit de Cal Eril - ∆ (2018)

Rodrigo Amado, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler & Chris Corsano - A History of Nothing (2018)

Kikí d'akí - Breve encuentro (2019)

Joan Miquel Oliver - Elektra (2018)

Yung Beef - Adromicfms 4 (2018)

Fernando Alfaro - Sangre en los surcos (2018)

Elastic Band - Fun Fun Fun (2018)

Disco las Palmeras! - Cálida (2018)

Cooper - Tiempo, Temperatura, Agitación (2018)

Mutant Beat Dance - Mutant Beat Dance (2018)

Soleá Morente - Ole Lorelei (2018)

Ferran Palau - Blanc (2018)

Pega Monstro - Casa de cima (2017)

Maria Rodés - Eclíptica (2018)

Justin Hurwitz - First Man (2018)

Various Artists - We Out Here (2018)

Thelonious Monk - Mønk (2018) *** 4.5/5

Dapuntobeat - Digital Pills (2018)

Cookin' Soul - Doom Xmas (2018)

Graham Lambkin / Jason Lescalleet - The Breadwinner (2008) *** 4.5/5

Bernard Parmegiani - De natura sonorum (1975) *** 4.5/5

Various Artists - Tuva, Among the Spirits: Sound, Music and Nature in Sakha and Tuva (1999)

Dr. Roger Payne - Songs of the Humpback Whale (1970)

Akira Sakata, Chikamorachi & Masahiko Sato - Proton Pump (2018)

Aterciopelados - Claroscura (2018)

Aterciopelados - Caribe atómico (1998)

Mercado de los Corotos, by Augusto Bracho (2018)

Da Pawn - Pistola de Balín (2018)

Jeff Rosenstock - POST- (2018)

Saintseneca - Pillar of Na (2018)

Say Sue Me - Where We Were Together (2018)

Rival Consoles - Persona (2018)

Julee Cruise - Floating Into the Night (1989)

Lowrider - Ode to Io (2000)

Grotto - Smokonomicon (2016)

Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975) *** 4.5/5

Elder - Dead Roots Stirring (2011)

Steve Hillage - Fish Rising (1975) *** 4.5/5

Respire - Dénouement (2018)

Los Caramelos - Cicatrices de un cuento (II) (2018)

Nacho Casado - Verão (2018)

Milo - Budding Ornithologists Are Weary of Tired Analogies (2018)

DJ Muggs & Roc Marciano - Kaos (2018)

Nostrum Grocers - Nostrum Grocers (2018)

Apollo Brown & Joell Ortiz - Mona Lisa (2018)

Panda Bear - Buoys (2019)

The Collective - TEXTURES : WALLS (2019)

The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011)

Toro y Moi - Outer Peace (2019)

Mark Deutrom - The Blue Bird (2019)

John Garcia and The Band of Gold - John Garcia and The Band of Gold (2019)

The Scary Jokes - Burn Pygmalion!!! A Better Guide to Romance (2019)

Future - BEASTMODE2 (2018)

Anja Garbarek - The Road Is Just a Surface (2018)

Craig Armstrong - Sun on You (2018)

The Good, the Bad & the Queen - Merrie Land (2018)

Beautify Junkyards - The Invisible World of Beautify Junkyards (2018)

Abul Mogard - Above All Dreams (2018)

Michael O'Shea - Michael O'Shea (1982) *** 4.5/5

Tim Buckley - Starsailor (1970) *** 4.5/5

Nico - The Marble Index (1968)

Orquesta de las Nubes - Manual del usuario (1987)

Panchasila - Panchasila (2018)

Tim Buckley - Happy Sad (1969)

Lula Côrtes e Zé Ramalho - Paêbirú (1975)

Son House - Father of Folk Blues (1965) *** 4.5/5

J.B. Lenoir - Alabama Blues (1965) *** 4.5/5

Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas (1985)

Billy Paul - 360 Degrees of Billy Paul (1972)

Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt - A Meeting by the River (1993)

Elizabeth Cotten - Folksongs and Instrumentals With Guitar (1958)

Skip James - Today! (1966)

Mississippi John Hurt - Today! (1966)

Muddy Waters - Folk Singer (1964) *** 4.5/5

Muddy Waters & The Rolling Stones - Checkerboard Lounge Live Chicago 1981 (2012) *** 4.5/5

Otis Spann - The Biggest Thing Since Colossus (1969) *** 4.5/5

Chester Watson - Instrumental Tape (2019)

Future - Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD (2019)

English Baroque Soloists / Monteverdi Choir / John Eliot Gardiner - Mass in B minor (1985) *** 4.5/5

Wiener Philharmoniker / Carlos Kleiber - Symphonie Nr.5 (1975) *** 4.5/5

Berliner Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez - Symphony of Psalms; Symphony in Three Movements; Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1999) *** 4.5/5

Muggs x DOOM - Muggs x DOOM (2018)

Gun - Gun (1968) *** 4.5/5

Dark - Round the Edges (1972)

Morgen - Morgen (1969)

Truth and Janey - No Rest for the Wicked (1976)

Leaf Hound - Growers of Mushroom (1971)

The Moody Blues With The London Festival Orchestra - Days of Future Passed (1967) ***5/5

Sascha Goetzel / Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra - Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade *** 4.5/5

Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow (2019)

The Kinks - Something Else by The Kinks (1967)

Scott Engel - Scott 4 (1969)

Gong - Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy (2015) *** 4.5/5

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez / Анатолий Угорский [Anatol Ugorski] - Le poème de l'extase; Piano Concerto; Prométhée (1999)

Genesis - Nursery Cryme (1971)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / James Levine - Rhapsody in Blue; An American in Paris (1993) *** 4.5/5

Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (1986)

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

FEBRERO:1. James Blake - Assume Form (2019)2. Felipe El Hombre - Los Hijos del Sol (2018)3. Eptos Uno - Haciendo historia 4. Berliner Philharmoniker / Herbert von Karajan - Le Sacre du printemps (1964)5. L' Orchestre de la Suisse romande/Ernest Ansermet - Le sacre du printemps (1957) *** 5/56. L' orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Ernest Ansermet - The Fire Bird (Complete Ballet) (1958)7. Igor Stravinsky - Ballets; Stage Works; Orchestral Works (L'Orchestre de la Suisse romande/Ernest Ansermet) (2001) *** 4.5/58. Orchestre de la Suisse romande / Ernest Ansermet - Pulcinella Suite; Song of the Nightingale (1960) 9. L' Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Ernest Ansermet - Petrouchka (1950) 10. Igor Stravinsky - Apollo Musagettes / Renard (L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romand, Ernest Ansermet) (2002) 11. Jonathan Bree - Sleepwalking (2018) 12. Junior Wells - Coming at You (1968) 13. L' orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Ernest Ansermet - Nutcracker Suites Nos. 1 and 2 (1959) 14. Fenton Robinson - Somebody Loan Me a Dime (1974) 15. Magic Sam Blues Band - West Side Soul (1968) *** 4.5/5 16. The Velvet Underground - White Light / White Heat (1968) 17. Muddy Waters - Fathers and Sons (1969) *** 4.5/5 18. Fred McDowell - My Home Is in the Delta (1964) 19. Mississippi John Hurt - Last Sessions (1972) 20. Mumford & Sons - Delta (2018) 21. Blank Banshee - Blank Banshee 0 (2012) 22. Champion Jack Dupree - Blues From the Gutter (1959) 23. John Lee Hooker - That's My Story (1960) *** 4.5/5 24. Various Artists - The Favourite (2019) 25. ¿Téo? - ¿Téo? (2018) 26. John Lee Hooker - Travelin' (1960) 27. Johnny Shines - Too Wet to Plow (1975) *** 4.5/5 28. Blind Willie Johnson - The Complete Blind Willie Johnson (1993) 29. Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961) 30. Snooky Pryor - Snooky (1987) 31. Sonny Boy Williamson - His Best (1997) *** 4.5/5 32. Muddy Waters - Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live (1979) *** 5/5 33. Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians (1978) *** 4.5/5 34. Ennio Morricone - C'era una volta il West (1968) 35. Ennio Morricone - C'era una volta in America (1984) *** 4.5/5 36. Kronos Quartet / Pat Metheny - Different Trains; Electric Counterpoint (1989) *** 4.5/5 37. Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' in the Moonlight (1959) 38. Johnny Shines - Johnny Shines (1974) *** 4.5/5 39. Colin Scot - Colin Scot (1971) *** 4.5/5 40. Black Dresses - Thank You (2019) 41. Czarface & Ghostface Killah - Czarface Meets Ghostface (2019)42. Vladimir Spivakov / Sergej Bezrodny / Dietmar Schwalke / Alexander Malter - Alina (1999) 43. FLUX Quartet - Feldman Edition 6: String Quartet No. 2 (2002) 44. Stan Getz & João Gilberto featuring Antônio Carlos Jobim - Getz / Gilberto (1964) *** 4.5/5 45. Dietmar Wiesner / Markus Hinterhäuser / Robyn Schulkowsky - Crippled Symmetry (1994) 46. Takács Quartet - The 6 String Quartets (1997) 47. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (1960) 48. Carla Bley & Paul Haines - Escalator Over the Hill (1971) *** 4.5/5 49. The Don Ellis Orchestra - Electric Bath (1967) 50. Arditti String Quartet / Dawn Upshaw - Arnold Schoenberg 2: Streichquartette I-IV (1994) 51. English Baroque Soloists / Monteverdi Choir / John Eliot Gardiner - L'Orfeo (1987) *** 5/5 52. The Tale Quartet - String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (1990) *** 4.5/5 53. Les Arts Florissants / William Christie / Guy de Mey / Guillemette Laurens / Agnès Mellon / Jean-François Gardeil / John Holloway - Atys (1987)54. Roberto Loreggian - Fiori Musicali: 3 Organ Masses *** 4.5/5 55. Federico Moreno Torroba - Monte Carmelo (Federico Moreno Torroba, Gran Orquesta Sinfónica del Teatro Calderón, Madrid) (1999) 56. The English Concert / Trevor Pinnock - Dido and Aeneas (1989) 57. Al Ayre Español - Al Ayre Español Edition (2012)58. Ana María Iriarte / Inés Rivadeneira / Selica Pérez Carpio / Manuel Ausensi / Miguel Ligero / Rafael López Somoza / Perecito - La Revoltosa (1962) 59. Malibu Ken - Malibu Ken (2019) 60. Yugen Blakrok - Anima Mysterium (2019) 61. Sada Baby - Bartier Bounty (2019) 62. Kill Bill & Rav - New Moon (2019) 63. Wicca Phase Springs Eternal - Suffer On (2019) 64. Blockhead - Free Sweatpants (2019) 65. Rival Sons - Feral Roots (2019) 66. Various Artists - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Soundtrack From & Inspired by the Motion Picture) (2018)67. Steve Hackett - At the Edge of Light (2019) *** 4.5/5 68. Siena Root - Different Realities (2009) *** 4.5/5 69. Bessie Smith - The Essential Bessie Smith (1997) *** 4.5/5 70. Alberta Hunter - Amtrak Blues (1980) 71. Dinah Washington - Dinah Jams (1954) 72. Meek Mill - Championships (2018) 73. James Booker - Junco Partner (1976) 74. José Andrëa - Bienvenidos al medievo (2019) 75. Alan Stivell - Renaissance de la harpe celtique (1971) 76. Galandum Galundaina - Senhor Galandum (2009)77. Alberta Hunter / Lucille Hegamin / Victoria Spivey - Songs We Taught Your Mother (1962) 78. Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita - Clychau Dibon (2013) 79. Planxty - Planxty (1973)

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////MARZO: 1. Planxty - Planxty (1973) 2. Tri Yann - Double Best of (2011) 3. Dick Gaughan - Handful of Earth (1981) 4. Soho Rezanejad - Six Archetypes (2018) 5. Mägo de Oz - Ira Dei (2019) 6. Saurom - La magia de la luna (2017) 7. Jake Bugg - Hearts That Strain (2017) 8. Little Simz - Grey Area (2019) *** 4.5/5 9. Nicholas Britell - If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)10. Tase - Boomerang (2018)11. Nave Especial - Ruzzi12. Párpados- Ramona 13. Vendaval - Pehenche (2016) 4.5/5 14. Ida Cox with the Coleman Hawkins Quintet - Blues for Rampart Street (1961) 15. John Lee Hooker - House of the Blues (1960) 4.5 16. Maria Beraldo - Cavala (2018) 17. Niña Dioz - Reyna (2018) 18. Perras on the Beach - Flow de Cuyo (2018) 19. Muddy Waters - Hard Again (1977) 4.5 20. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982) 21. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Texas Flood (1983) 4.522. Freddie King - Getting Ready... (1971) 23. Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978) 24. Armand Amar - Human (2015) 4.5 25. Julio Iglesias - Yo canto (1969) 26. Alec Benjamin - Narrated for You (2018) 27. Solange - When I Get Home (2019) 28. Maurice Louca - Elephantine (2019) 29. Motorpsycho - The Crucible (2019) 30. Julio Iglesias - Julio Iglesias (1970) 31. John Lee Hooker - It Serve You Right to Suffer (1966) 4.5 32. Julio Iglesias - A flor de piel (1974) 33. Julio Iglesias - El amor (1975) 34. Julio Iglesias - Sono un pirata, sono un signore (1978) 35. Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet (2019) 36. The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time - Stage 6 (2019) 37. Xiu Xiu - Girl With Basket of Fruit (2019) 38. Saba Alizadeh - Scattered Memories (2019) 4.5 39. Irfan - Seraphim (2007) 40. Scott Walker - Tilt (1995) 41. Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next (2019) 42. Behdad Moghaddasi - Persian Suite (2010)43.

Lay

Namanana

(2018)44.

BaianaSystem

O futuro não demora

(2019)45. Juçara Marçal e Kiko Dinucci -

Padê

(2008)46.

Milton Nascimento

Lô Borges

Clube da Esquina

(1972)47.

WWWINGS

PHOENIXXX

(2016)48. J

ulio Iglesias

Soy

(1978)49.

Julio Iglesias

A Mexico

(1975)///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////ABRIL:

Quelle Chris - Guns (2019)

Stoney Willis - Nu Stogie (2018)

Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019) *** 4.5/5

Nivhek - After Its Own Death / Walking in a Spiral Towards the House (2019)

Ini Kamoze - Ini Kamoze (1984)

Movimiento Original - Soldados del ghetto (2008)

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places (2019)

Devin Townsend - Empath (2019)

The Comet Is Coming - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery (2019)

Avey Tare - Cows on Hourglass Pond (2019)

La Dispute - Panorama (2019)

Matmos - Plastic Anniversary (2019)

Nuru Kane - Sigil (2006)

Townes Van Zandt - Our Mother the Mountain (1969) *** 4.5/5

Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt (1969)

These New Puritans - Inside the Rose (2019)

American Football - American Football (2019)

Lucki - Freewave 3 (2019)

Fennesz - Agora (2019)

Durand Jones & The Indications - American Love Call (2019)

Joe La Reina - Esas nuevas modas (2017)

Nuvolascura - Nuvolascura (2019)

PUP - Morbid Stuff (2019)

Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis (2019)

Nils Frahm - Wintermusik (2009) *** 4.5/5

Nils Frahm - Felt (2011) ** 4.5/5

The Stuttgart State Opera Orchestra & Chorus / Dennis Russel Davies - Akhnaten (1987) ** 4.5/5

Nils Frahm - Encores 2 (2019)

Michael Nyman - The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994) ** 4.5/5

Pep Llopis - Poiemusia la nau dels argonautes (1987)

Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass - Passages (1990) 5/5

Groupe de Recherches Musicales de la RTF - Persepolis (1971)

Nuno Canavarro - Plux Quba (1988)

Magnolia Electric Co. - The Magnolia Electric Co. (2003)

Tim Bowness - Flowers at the Scene (2019)

Zakir Hussain & Shivkumar Sharma - Rag Madhuvanti and Rag Misra Tilang (1987) *** 4.5/5

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Shahen-Shah (1989) ** 4.5/5

GAS - Pop (2000)

Various Artists - Symphonies of the Planets 1: NASA Voyager Recordings (1992)

Various Artists - Symphonies of the Planets 1-5: NASA Voyager Recordings (1992)

Anouar Brahem Trio - Astrakan café (2000)

Hamza El Din - Escalay: The Water Wheel (1971)

Anouar Brahem - Le pas du chat noir (2002) *** 4.5/5

Black to Comm - Seven Horses for Seven Kings (2019)

Opera Magna - Del amor y otros demonios (2019)

The Claypool Lennon Delirium - South of Reality (2019)

Francisco López - Anima Ardens (2016)

Francisco López - Amarok (2010)

Stelios Petrakis, Efrén López & Bijan Chemirani - Mavra Froudia (2011)

Jana Winderen - Energy Field (2010)

Prague Chamber Orchestra - Dvorák: Serenade for Strings; Czech Suite (2001)

Dr. Dre - 2001 (1999)

Le Orme - Sulle ali di un sogno (2019)

Traveler - Traveler (2019)

Soen - Lotus (2019)

YG - Stay Dangerous (2018

Gesaffelstein - Hyperion (2019)

Bournemouth Sinfonietta / Jean-François Monnard / Maria Kliegel - Cello Concertos Nos. 1 and 2; Suite, Op. 16; Allegro appassionata; The Swan (1996) *** 4.5/5

Apparat - LP5 (2019)

Bandalos Chinos - BACH (2018)

Emmanuelle Bertrand / Pascal Amoyel - Suites pour violoncelle; Méditations hébraïques pour violoncelle et piano (2003) *** 4.5/5

Julio Iglesias - Un canto a Galicia (1972)

Lizzo - Cuz I Love You (2019)

Uboa - The Origin of My Depression (2019)

Anderson .Paak - Ventura (2019)

Sunn O))) - Life Metal (2019)

/////////////////////////////////////////////// 322MAYO:

Marea - El azogue (2019)

Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising (2019)

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell (1980)

Various Artists - El camino de Leda (2019)

Juliana Hatfield - Weird (2019)

Aldous Harding - Designer (2019)

Beirut - Gallipoli (2019)

Boy Harsher - Careful (2019)

Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs (2019)

Hante. - Fierce (2019)

Lila Downs - Al chile (2019)

Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride (2019)

Bjørn Riis - A Storm Is Coming (2019)

Kelsey Lu - Blood (2019)

Fontaines D.C. - Dogrel (2019)

Pile - Green and Gray (2019)

Mdou Moctar - Ilana (The Creator) (2019)

Avalanch - El secreto (2019)

Tierra Santa - Quinto elemento (2017)

Monkey3 - Sphere (2019)

Maja S. K. Ratkje - Sult (2019)

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Ancestral Recall (2019)

Critical Defiance - Misconception (2019)

Avantasia - Moonglow (2019)

Beast in Black - From Hell With Love (2019)

Inculter - Fatal Visions (2019)

King Crimson - Dinosaur (KC50 Vol. 17) (2019)

Smoulder - Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring (2019)

Tierra Whack - Whack World (2018)

Khruangbin - Con todo el mundo (2018)

Marcela Viejo - Pequeñas Profecías (2018)

Cala Vento - Balanceo (2019)

Iron Savior - Kill or Get Killed (2019)

MihTy - MIH-TY (2018)

Big Thief - U.F.O.F. (2019)

Loyle Carner - Not Waving, But Drowning (2019)

Altın Gün - Gece (2019)

Gathering of Kings - First Mission (2019)

Theon Cross - Fyah (2019)

Greg Foat - The Mage (2019)

Budos Band - V (2019)

Wand - Laughing Matter (2019)

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Transiberiana (2019)

Holly Herndon - PROTO (2019)

Alfa Mist - Structuralism (2019)

Young Nudy & Pi'erre Bourne - Sli'merre (2019)

Maluma - 11:11 (2019)

Farruko - Gangalee (2019)

Tyler, the Creator - Igor (2019)

Ifriqiyya Electrique - Laylet el Booree (2019)

Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones: Season 8 (Music from the HBO Series) (2019)

Sadness - I Want to Be There (2019)

LINGUA IGNOTA - All Bitches Die (2017)

Solid Space - Space Museum (1982)

Próchno - Próchno (2019)

The Residents - Commercial Album (1980)

Gabor Szabo - Dreams (1968) 4.5/5

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Alles ist gut (1981)

YG - 4Real 4Real (2019)

Daddy Yankee + Los de la Nazza - Imperio Nazza: King Daddy Edition (2013)

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 382JUNIO

YG - 4Real 4Real (2019)

Daddy Yankee + Los de la Nazza - Imperio Nazza: King Daddy Edition (2013)

Chester Watson - Time Moves Slower Here (2019)

Jai Paul - Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones) (2019)

Fire! Orchestra - Arrival (2019)

Cazzu - Error 93 (2019)

Front Line Assembly - Tactical Neural Implant (1992)

Slauson Malone - A Quiet Farwell, 2016–2018 (2019)

Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy! (2019)

Denzel Curry - ZUU (2019)

Injury Reserve - Injury Reserve (2019)

slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain (2019)

Lucy Rose - No Words Left (2019)

Aesop Rock - Skelethon (2012)

Amerigo Gazaway - A Christmas Album (2018)

Atlas Pain - Tales of a Pathfinder (2019)

Aya RL - Aya RL (1985)

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (2010)

Black Alien - Abaixo de zero: Hello Hell (2019)

Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs (2019)

Departure Chandelier - Antichrist Rise to Power (2019)

Magma - K.A (2004)

Magma - Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh (1973)

Somn - The All-Devouring (2019)

Riot City - Burn the Night (2019)

Flying Lotus - Flamagra (2019)

Dos Monos - Dos City (2019)

Wilma Vritra - Burd (2019)

Madonna - Madame X (2019)

Anouar Brahem - Conte de l'incroyable amour (1992) ***** 4.5/5

Crimeapple & DJ Skizz - Wet Dirt (2019)

Death Grips - NO LOVE DEEP WEB (2012)

DJ Muggs & Mach-Hommy - Tuez-les tous (2019)

El-P - Cancer 4 Cure (2012)

Danny Brown - XXX (2011)

The Divine Comedy - Office Politics (2019)

Death Grips - The Money Store (2012)

Orville Peck - Pony (2019)

Kishi Bashi - Omoiyari (2019)

Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music (2012) **** 4.5/5

21 Savage & Metro Boomin - Savage Mode (2016)

ScHoolboy Q - CrasH Talk (2019)

Lil Ugly Mane - Mista Thug Isolation (2012)

Kevin Abstract - Arizona Baby (2019)

Paul Bley - Open, to Love (1973)

Masta Ace & Marco Polo - A Breukelen Story (2018)

David Torn, Tim Berne & Ches Smith - Sun of Goldfinger (2019)

Bertrand Belin - Persona (2019)

Cheeto's Magazine - Amazingous (2019)

//////////////////////////// 431 JULIO

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana (2019)

Thom Yorke - ANIMA (2019)

Hildur Guðnadóttir - Chernobyl (2019)

black midi - Schlagenheim (2019)

Saweetie - ICY (2019)

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up (2011)

Ghostemane - Oogabooga (2015)

Ghostemane - For the Aspiring Occultist (2015)

A$AP Mob - Hella Hoes (2014)

Magma - Köhntarkösz (1974) **** 4.5/5

Magma - Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré (2009)

Ghostemane - Rituals (2016)

Ed Sheeran - No.6 Collaborations Project (2019)

Niño de Elche - Colombiana (2019)

The Roots - undun (2011)

Sonnymoon - Golden Age (2009)

Andrés Suárez - Cuando vuelva la marea (2011)

Siekiera - Nowa Aleksandria (1986)

Mayhem - Grand Declaration of War (2000)

Burzum - Filosofem (1996)

Ved Buens Ende..... - Written in Waters (1995)

Solaris - Marsbéli krónikák (1984)*** 4.5/5

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Storia di un minuto (1972)

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per un amico (1972)*** 4.5/5

King Crimson - Lizard (1970) *** 5/5

Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979)

Suicide - Suicide (1977) *** 4.5/5

Yann Tiersen - All (2019)

Terje Rypdal - Odyssey (1975) ***5/5

Tomasz Stanko Septet - Litania: Music of Krzysztof Komeda (1997)

Camel - Mirage (1974)

Camel - The Snow Goose (1975) *** 4.5/5

Quella Vecchia Locanda - Il tempo della gioia (1974) /*** 5/5

DJ Armok / DJ Bishop / Pillbox - Dungeon Rap: The Introduction (2019)

ZelooperZ - Dyn-o-mite (2019)

PoiL - Sus (2019)

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Io sono nato libero (1973) *** 4.5/5

Renaissance - Turn of the Cards (1974)*** 4.5/5

////////////////////////////////////// 469 AGOSTO

Earl Sweatshirt & Apollo Brown - Some Brown Songs (2019)

Earl Sweatshirt - Wicked (2019)

Stoney Willis & Earl Sweatshirt - Farm (2019)

Blood Orange - Angel's Pulse (2019)

Mach-Hommy - Wap Konn Jòj! (2019)

Eberhard Weber - The Colours of Chloë (1974)

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (1968) ***** 5/5

Sam Rivers - Crystals (1974)

Bob Dylan - The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings (2019)

Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Live 1975 - The Rolling Thunder Revue (2002)

Bob Dylan - Hard Rain (1976)

Black Dresses - Love and Affection for Stupid Little Bitches (2019)

State Faults - Clairvoyant (2019)

Sun-Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra - Atlantis (1969)

Mabe Fratti - Pies sobre la tierra (2019) ***** 4.5/5

Eartheater - IRISIRI (2018)

Moral - And Life Is (1984)

Keith Jarrett - The Survivors' Suite (1977)**** 4.5/5

Benjamin Hudson / Sebastian Klinger / Jürgen Kruse - Spiegel im Spiegel (2006)

the Mountain Goats - In League With Dragons (2019)

Big Big Train - Grand Tour (2019)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest (2019)

Bill Orcutt - Bill Orcutt (2017)

LINGUA IGNOTA - Caligula (2019)

Eberhard Weber Colours - Silent Feet (1978)

Bill Orcutt & Jacob Felix Heule - Colonial Donuts (2015)

Zaz - Effet miroir (2018)

Wintersleep - In the Land Of (2019)

Trending Tropics - Trending Tropics (2018)

Ghostemane - N / O / I / S / E (2018)

CunninLynguists - Oneirology (2011)

Kno - Death Is Silent (2010)

El Cuarteto de Nos - Jueves (2019)

Esbjörn Svensson Trio - Viaticum (2005)

Meitei - Komachi (2019)

Brockhampton - Ginger (2019)

Little Brother - May the Lord Watch (2019)

Various Artists - Blues Hollerin' Boogie: Great Voices of the Blues (1994)

Bon Iver - i,i (2019)

Quasimoto - The Unseen (2000)

Aesop Rock - Labor Days (2001) ***** 4.5/5

Edan - Beauty and the Beat (2005)

Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagon (1996)

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (2007)

//////////////////////////////////// 513

Tool - Fear Inoculum (2019) Ralph Towner - Solstice (1975) Lana del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!

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myreadingexperience · 8 years ago

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A week or so ago I finished “Liquid surveillance”. The conversation between Bauman and Lyon is at pace, unfolding the complicated truths of today’s surveillance. First, it’s said: it’s post-panoptical. We’re not in the age of Jeremny Bentham’s prison design anymore, the guards are away and we watch ourselves. Bauman emphasizes the fact that we do this out of a deep need of being together, and that the fear of being watched has transformed into exhilaration, a promise of never being abandoned: „the condition of being watched and seen has thereby been reclassified from a menace into a temptation”. Quoting Josh Rose, „the internet doesn’t steal our humanity, it reflects it”, shines light on the fact that, maybe, Facebook had such a huge success because we have been in waiting for it. In Georg Simmel’s writings, secrecy is important in shaping social interaction, because „how we relate to others depends deeply on what we know about them”. Whether Foucault would call today’s blogs and tweets confessional is at question, as Bauman says that this society has brought the private to the public in unprecedented ways. The paradox is that, while the hard end of the panoptic will generate resistance, the soft end „seems to seduce participans into a stunning conformity”. Bigo introduces the concept of „ban-opticon”, to indicate the way exclusion and profiling technologies work, through „managers of unease” (such as police) and „globalised (in)security” (through security technologies that make us feel threatened). The features of the ban-opticon are: exceptional power in liberal societies, profiling, and normalizing non-excluded groups (to a belief in free movement of goods, persons, etc.). The DIY surveillance system expects people to „erect the walls themselves”. Because we live in a „consumer society”, we ourselves become commodities, and social media aids us to be both „promoters of commodities” and „the commodities we promote”. In Sherry Turkle’s words, „we expect more from technology and less from each other”. For Bauman, the debate is between security and freedom, one must be sacrificed to another to find the viable solution. Morality comes to mind, as automation and remoteness allows us to be liberated from moral constraints, with the principle „we can do it, so we will do it”. The adiaphorization of military killing is the removal „from the category of acts subject to moral evaluation”, as Gunther Anders warns there is negligibility in the effort needed to set off a cataclysm, including „globocide”. The need to cope with fear of „the other” makes citizens stockpile on alarms and insurances while endorsing extreme measures such as torture and domestic spying. „Security’s imagined future is one in which all abnormalities ... have been excluded.”

I’ve been reading “I’m with the bears”, one or two stories each day. They’re quite depressing and scary. There’s a good introduction by Bill McKibben and then we’re on to a story about early eco-activists, very realistic, just one night unfolding, with a pointing question at the end, by T. C. Boyle. The second, Zoogoing, by Lydia Millet, is an account of a man who becomes obsessed with watching animals by himself, at their own pace, in their cages at night. “Sacred space” must be read to get it, but shortly, Kim Stanley Robinson describes a group of friends trekking up the mountains, experiencing a changing landscape. Hermie, by Nathaniel Rich, is a sad-funny story about a man talking, as an adult, to his imaginary childhood friend, a crab. Diary of an Interesting Year by Helen Simpson describes a world in which governments have fallen and the fittest survive, it’s quite violent, sad and engaging, but having read the MaddAddam trilogy by Atwood, it’s nothing new. Newromancer by Toby Litt happens in a world of control and no fun, telling the story of a few “rebels” trying to find some. The last four stories are, interestingly, my favorites. I also had some expectations of them, but they’ve been met. “The Siphoners” by David Mitchell is about an old couple living at the end of a land, in a world falling apart, with oil princes unimaginably high. It jumps from a life of before the fall, when they were anthropologists, to the now, when they’re old, vulnerable, and useless to society. This back and forth happens in “arzestula” by Wu Ming 1 too, a story that is quite poetic about a flooded world, also without internet and communications, in which a woman goes back to her home so she can go towards the future. “The tamarisk hunter” is particularly despairing, but I didn’t expect any less from Paolo Bacigalupi, from whom I read a few years ago a short story that stayed with me vividly (one about a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by mechanical humans who unexpectedly find an organic dog - interestingly, I didn’t much enjoy his novel, The wind-up girl). Anyway, it’s a world with water scarcity, insomuch that the river itself is taken by the rich and the rest cannot use it anymore. The last story, ending the book, is a short account of human history, from the past to a future of us-no-more, by Margaret Atwood.

Elena Ferrante’s “Those who live and those who stay” is so close to my heart it's a bit beyond a novel now, almost like having an old friend Elena who tells me her stories, so vividly they hurt & annoy me and I can see them happen. So whatever criticism there is to write about it, I cannot do it, I've been completely drawn in the universe.

"voglio che tu faccia meglio, e la cosa che desidero di piu, perche chi sono io se tu non sei brava, chi sono?" (says Lila to Lenu)

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