#15 ish pages per post. not that bad.

[irlnikeiyomiuri]

uuuuu...

[reasonoptional]

Hey how's it going, handsome?

Can you put together your top 5 Sanderson's oeuvres? Can be top 7, if needed, but no more than 10. Okay, 15 tops.

Or bette

This is hard to answer, because I just love his stuff the Cosmere so much. First, why the cross-out?

The Alcatraz series didn't make much of an impact. I suppose it would have been so much better if I had read them in 8th grade, but he hadn't written them then. I mean they're funny, but it's just not my thing (plus, my mom was a librarian, and she's definitely not into world domination. That I know of)

Same for the Cytoverse series, I suppose. I really did like one aspect of it (the humans' position in the universe, won't get more spoilerful than that), but on the whole, reading it when younger is better.

But now on to the stuff I did like and read several times, in order:

Warbreaker: the first book of his that I've read, and a great intro to the wider Cosmere, even if you don't know what that is. The one thing that struck me from the beginning was how scientifically it approaches magic, without lessening it. All the characters are sympathetic and multidimensional, even the psycho murderers. Plus, the god Lightsong is one of my favorite characters ever, up there with Sam Vimes from the Discworld. Gotta love a god who's skeptical of his own religion.

Elantris: Hooked on the first page, and the premise is fantastic: there is a city where (certain) people live like gods, surrounded by light and harmony and power, forever. And then ten years ago it all went to shit, and now Raoden needs to fix it, while his intended wife has no idea he's dead (it's complicated), and the militant religion from the neighborhood empire is stirring up a whole new batch of shit.

I had written several paragraphs about each of the Mistborn series (The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages) but then decided that it's too spoilery, so I'll just put the whole first series as a whole: an evil power threatened the world, and a hero rose up to challenge it. He failed, and now, a thousand years later, the bad guy is still emperor of the planet. A crew of magically empowered thieves decide to rob him. Features well-rounded, fucked-in-the-head characters, a complex magic system, two more magic systems in the sequels because of course it does, warring gods, shape shifters, and a surprisingly tender love story.

Yes, we've had Mistborn, but what about second Mistborn? Well, Sanderson has got us covered, v with the Wax and Wayne series (The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning, The Lost Metal): three hundred years after the conclusion of the first series, most of the characters have become mythological/religious figures, and the world has progressed technologically, so where the first one was fantasy-standard medieval(-ish), the second is roughly Victorian-level, with the protagonist Wax (a descendant of one of the original heist crew) being a law keeper out in the wilds and a less-than-perfect gentleman in the city. Since the world's deity situation changed, it follows that we get a brand new magic system. As per the norm, great characters (including a very well written and well-treated neurodivergent one), more secrets, more immortal shapeshifters (Soonie pups are this world's Teddy bears, inspired by a dog-shaped one from the first series (who is still around and amused by the toys)) and also there's Wayne, who according to Sanderson was not written; he just showed up one day, stole a hat and started making bad jokes.

Mistborn: Secret History answers up some of the questions the first two series pose, and clarifies very little. But we do get to see the Lord Ruler being condescending post-mortem, and somebody gets punched in a very satisfying manner.

Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell: admittedly I read this only because of the title, but it was worth it: an exploration of what kind of people live in a grim world, where the souls of the dead wander about mindlessly... until you break the Simple Rules, and then they kill you. Strong female protagonist, gloomy world building.

Sixth of the Dusk: a story about colonialism from the native perspective, about self-reliance as an individual and as a people, and the toll it takes to live in symbiosis with a telepathic bird. Confirmed to take place late in the game, as the colonizers came in magically powered starships from the planet Mistborn takes place on.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: another love story, with pleasant characters, intricate world building (twice), complex plot that Painter doesn't know is supposed to have a bad ending. Brando Sando stated that he wanted to write about having a bullshit 9-to-5 job in a magical universe, and this was the result. Features Design, a lovely young lady who is neither young nor a lady, and everybody seems surprised by it (despite the fact that she repeatedly points out she is not human)

And the best for last, the Stormlight Archive (The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, The Rhythm of War, and not soon enough Wind and Truth). A huge series, almost halfway done, and huge in scope and complexity. Dozens of viewpoint characters, none of whom is mentally fine (with one exception, but Adolin is also getting his trauma in future books, mark my words). Incredible world building (again), complex magic system (again), several plots going on at the same time (again), less-than-perfect deities (again), and an interesting exploration of gender roles, not in the way you imagine (oh you like reading? You're either a woman or a pervert). The main point of the series so far seems to be that magic will solve problems, but you have to solve your problems yourself. Oh, and Shardblades are confirmed to exist because Sanderson wanted big-ass anime swords.

White Sand and The Dark One are both graphic novel series, but I haven't read them yet. But they're probably very good.

As for the non-Cosmere works, The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is hilarious (and scifi).

[edit the next day] I completely forgot about the Reckoners series, which should tell you everything you need to know about my feelings towards it.

[bubblegumflavor]

As a fellow fic writer in this fandom I get how you feel. Back in 07, when I wrote fics in Live Journal you'd always get at least one comment even if it was from a mutual. But I'm a bit used to sending things out into a void and not always getting a response.

You gotta do what's best for your creativity! Keep writing for yourself if that's what makes you happy :)

PS~ I love your art~~ you draw them so cute together like I always wanna squish them.

Hi Anon~ <3

I remember when I started (2005ish maybe?) and I wrote in several fandoms since then, I got a good 15 comments per chapter, sometimes 20 sometimes 9.. but that was a regular count depending on the fandom. It got less over the years, sometimes updates with zero but next time a couple of comments and so on. I got used to write with very little response and made my peace with it. I always say if there's one person who enjoys it with me and who is happy about my writing, it's worth sharing!

However..

There's a difference if I see like people subscribing, leaving kudos, active page hits that go ~100/150 per upload... and NO ONE leaves a comment? I got lucky for my last fic, I had a good 3~5 people (out of 70 subscribers) who regulary commented. Not everytime always but enough to keep me going. I cut the story short in the end, ngl. I had planned much more but not only for that but also for me, I cut it short and that helped me decide to do so because even out of those 5-ish people, it got less towards the end.

I had another story in a more or less dead fandom where I always said I had a basic planned plotline with options to expand (I always have XD), to do 'road trips' and stuff... no one spoke up, I ended the story basic planned, people complained that there wasn't more. And I wonder... why do you come now when it's over not while I was writing and asking if people wanted more?

I am totally okay with little response.. that's all I want, some interaction with readers, knowing if people are there and if me sharing my story does something for anyone. I even started again to say: 'please leave a comment if you liked the chapter ' and out of 200 hits, no one does. It's pretty hard to not start to take it personally if I am completely honest, especially on a bad day. You wonder why people can't spare a minute to leave some kind words. It's not about having the most liked most commented most awarded story of all, I don't care about clicks and counts and comparing myself to others.

You start a new story and back in the days people used to leave some motivation like: I'm interested, I'm curious to see where this is going. Something like that... now... Nothing. Now finally a few people made themselves visible but after what? Me begging and honestly considering to not keep posting. I'm annoyed about myself that I see no other way than beg people to interact. I feel pathetic for doing so but I don't wanna just suck it up either, if that makes sense..

So yeah, maybe I will switch to.. finish a story for myself and then decide if I share it. It won't be the same fun I used to have but it has an impact on my motiviation, I can't deny that. If the story is done, it's done. Maybe I can spice it up with some artwork then or sth.. idk.

Thank you so much for reaching out, it means a lot! And I am happy you enjoy my dumb fluffy art-stuff =) <3

[feelinkeeli]

I recognize this book is 150 ish pages and am not interested in making 15-30 posts about it trying to not react to every other sentence.

Ok, literally the first and only time I have seen Jango correctly gender Zam so far is in this book. After he's killed her.

"I want you to have a childhood." WHAT CHILDHOOD JANGO!? Your son has no friends, no school, no pets. You often leave him home alone to the point he prefers it to your company, his father and only remaining social connection aside from the librarian droid. Because you killed his vodka aunt. Aochsvbeocu1cdbk uwgwdhhd this man is an idiot.

You know, I went into this book series thinking Zam and Jango die pretty early on. So Useless Adults wouldn't be too much of a trope given Boba is going to run headfirst into all kinds of bad actors. Jango's somehow defying expectations in the worse ways here.

I will say one of the funniest things about Star Wars constantly retconning the clone contract details is that the number of clones keeps increasing and the amount of credits Jango was paid to be genetic donor keeps oncreasing but it still amounts to like... less then 10 credits per clone. Not including the training Jango does for the clones. It's still a lot of money all added up. And raises the question more and more just how the hell Sifo-Dyas managed to sucessfully embezzle the funds that he did to create it? Sure, Dooku helped but like... You Know he used embezzled money Sidious gave him.

I feel like Im going to have to make a seperate post for all of Jango's bounty hunter code/rules/whatever. There's more than I was anticipating.

It's really cute that this novel and the AotC novelization both have Boba and Jango discovering Obi-wan's ship. The PoV contrast is interesting.

Boba's PoV over Obi-wan and Jango's talk is amazing. "It was like a figt to see who could be the most polite!" 🤣 No wonder Jango lost even if it was close.

Ooooh, according to Taun We the Jedi involvement was supposed to be a secret. Including from Jango? That's going to grow plot bunnies.

[girlactionfigure]

Only when he got older he realized just how fortunate he and his family were to be alive.

“The extermination of most of his relatives and millions of other Jews by the Nazis; the intrusive, unemployed immigrants who survived and crowded his parents’ small apartment; his sickly childhood; his mother’s dark moods; his own ever-present depression” - all of this, he survived, according to Patricia Cohen of The New York Times.

He was born in Brooklyn to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents on June 10, 1928.

One of his earliest photographs (attached to this story) shows him as an infant - “a plump, round-faced, slanting-eyed, droopy-lidded, arching-browed creature” held by his mother, with his older siblings, according to writer Margalit Fox.

Growing up, Murray as he was then known “har­bored ongo­ing fear of the per­ils that might lurk out­side of his home and neigh­bor­hood” and remembered how he cel­e­brat­ed his bar mitz­vah, according to writer Stephen Whit­field. 

That's when his father discovered that much of his extended family had died in concentration camps. The young boy thought he had "done something very bad, that I had made him suffer more than he had to."

“The death of members of his extended family during the Holocaust . . . exposed him at a young age to the concept of mortality,” according to NPR.

“As he got old­er, he was con­stant­ly aware of his mar­gin­al­i­ty and dif­fer­ence,” wrote Whit­field.

He seemed to be always sick, but when he was well, he could be naughty. He remembered his mother often called him “vilde chaya”, which in Yiddish meant "wild animal".

“His view of the outside world was often limited. . . and the little that he could see from his window,” according to PBS. “It was during this time that he began to draw and to allow his imagination to run free.”

He made a name for himself as an illustrator. When he received an opportunity to write his first book, he used the title "Where the Wild Horses Are" - unfortunately, he realized he couldn't draw horses, so he told his editor. His editor would respond, "Well, what can you draw?"

He would answer "Things."

He would become “the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche,” according to the New York Times.

He remembers receiving a letter from one fan:

In an interview with NPR, he is quoted as saying, “A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters – sometimes very hastily – but this one I lingered over . . . I wrote, 'Dear Jim: I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said: 'Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received . . . He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

~~~~~

“Maurice Sendak has been one of the most consistently inventive and challenging voices in children’s literature,” according to PBS. “His books and productions are among the best-loved imaginative works of their time. Like the Grimm brothers before him, Sendak has created a body of work both entertaining and educational, which will continue to be popular for generations.”

“Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children,” wrote Fox. “He was known in particular for more than a dozen picture books he wrote and illustrated himself, most famously ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ which was simultaneously genre-breaking and career-making when it was published by Harper & Row in 1963.”

He brought “to life a world of fantasy and imagination,” according to PBS. “His unique vision is loved around the globe by both young and old.”

When he died in 2012, the Washington Post wrote:

“They say that a creative adult is simply a child who has survived. Sendak survived a great deal, losing relatives in the Holocaust and struggling through a childhood that he remembered as “a very passionate, upsetting, silly, comic business.”

“And his books captured this — never talking down, yet always reassuring.

“The best writers are the ones who trust their audiences. Sendak did. And we trusted him right back.

“Sendak did not lie to children. He did not attempt to say that the world was more or less difficult than it was.”

~~~~~

In 2008 in the New York Times, Sendak revealed that he was gay and had lived with his partner, psychoanalyst Eugene Glynn (February 25, 1926 – May 15, 2007), for 50 years before Glynn's death in May 2007.

In that article, Sendak said he never told his parents: "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy," he recalled. "They never, never, never knew."

In a 2011 interview with NPR host Terry Gross, Mr. Sendak said "finding out that I was gay when I was older was a shock and a disappointment. I did not want to be gay. It meant a whole different thing to me — which is really hard to recover now because that's many years ago. I always objected to it because there is a part of me that is solid Brooklyn and solid conventional and I know that. I can't escape that. It's my genetic makeup. It's who I am."

Elisabeth Hoffman of the Baltimore Sun wrote, “Why do we pass laws that isolate, demean and shame people for something so utterly personal? It's no surprise that gay teens are bullied. No surprise that Maurice Sendak had to hide part of his identity from his parents — and from his readers.”

“In that often emotional NPR interview, Sendak also said: "I have nothing now but praise for my life. I'm not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more. What I dread is the isolation. There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die. But I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready."

~~~~~

“His work . . . did not seek to for­get the emo­tion­al threats that scarred his life,” wrote Whit­field. “Sendak’s rec­ol­lec­tions of dread and dan­ger instead became the source of a painstak­ing cre­ativ­i­ty that [Golan Y.] Moskowitz [author of “Wild Vision­ary: Mau­rice Sendak in Queer Jew­ish Context”] read­i­ly calls illus­tra­tions of ​“genius.” Sendak believed that his fan­tasies must instill truths, rather than con­firm the con­ven­tions of inno­cence, and this think­ing rev­o­lu­tion­ized the way that young peo­ple were under­stood and addressed.”

In that last interview with NPR, “the beloved children’s writer and illustrator was 83 years old and in declining health. He was feeling the loss of people close to him who had died in recent years. Inevitably, the discussion turned to issues of mortality … By the time it was over there were teary-eyed people in cars all across North America. One listener, Brent Eades, left a message on the NPR Web site: “I happened to be listening to this extraordinary interview while on the early-morning commute from my small Ontario town to Ottawa. I was entirely absorbed in it; and the final couple of minutes left me with tears streaming down my face, which I’m sure nonplussed my fellow commuters.”

~~~~~

In “Where the Wild Things Are”, Sendak wrote:

“ . . . the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go we’ll eat you up-we love you so!”

And Max said, “No!”

The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth

and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws

but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye

and sailed back over a year

and in and out of weeks

and through a day

and into the night of his very own room

where he found his supper waiting for him.”

~ jsr

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

[trophywifejimgordon]

thank you @bastardlarusso for tagging me! ^_^

Nickname: well, my dad calls me “punk.” other than that i haven’t really had one since i stopped going by my deadname? i think? (watch me be forgetting something crucial)

Zodiac: cancer 😔✊

Height: 5′9″. ish. 

Last Thing I Googled: other than “fist emoji” to put into this post? “the power of love lyrics” sfdgfgdshfnddghf

Song Stuck In My Head: funnily enough, the power of love (huey lewis & the news)

Amount Of Sleep: hahahahahaHAHAHA next question

Lucky Numbers: 34 (and any permutations of that. 17. 68. 43. etc)

Dream Job: author.....

Wearing: cobra kai t-shirt (thanks maryonna <3), jeans, ufo socks babeyyyy

Favorite Author: oof. uhhh, depends on the genre? i’m a pretty big fan of stephen king, jonathan stroud, edgar cantero, john brunner.... OH, and lyda morehouse, definitely. again, i’m probably critically missing some important figures in my literary experience but that’s who’s popping to mind atm.

Favorite Instrument: piano. it’s the only one i even kind of know how to play, anyway....

Aesthetic: tacky 80′s sci-fi shit. you seen re-animator? like that. actually, just tacky things and 80′s things in general. i look like if an entire decade threw up on me.

Favorite Song: how fuckin embarrassing is it if i say “on top of the world” by imagine dragons? 

Favorite Animal Noises: anything my little spengy boy says when he’s using his words (spengs being my cat, not esteemed ghostbuster dr. egon spengler.)

Random: when i was in middle school (well before IT (2017) came out, essential fact), i wrote a ~10k fanfic shipping gamzee makara from homestuck with pennywise from IT, on the basis that they were both clowns. i wrote this (AS A JOKE!) for a friend of mine’s birthday, rushing through the whole thing in one excruciating all-nighter. for the first part of the night, my goal was to go out of my way to fit every word from the spelling bee list (which both of us were competing in.. .i think? i know i did) into the story, but being that there were like 400 words on the list and that it took me about a paragraph if not more to write each one in, i had to give up on that in favor of finishing the fucking thing around like 2 am. i made a cover with bad clip art (ok, to be fair it was SUPPOSED to be bad) and printed the whole thing (around 15-20 pages) on the school printer, which technically had a limit of printing 3 pages per person per day, but the librarian liked me. her mistake. to make this worse, i hit print twice and i had to stand there while my weird clown fic printed in purple comic sans two times in a row, while someone else was watching me indignantly as she waited for her paper to print... whoops. anyway so that would all be bad enough, but the next year i wrote a sequel (i remember this being the best/worst installation in the series), and the next year after THAT i finished it as a trilogy, but also, i figured that the gift had to continually escalate, so i enlisted two other friends, and we made a fucking musical. 

every song was just a parody of some other song, with absolutely no rhyme or reason to genre or theme. i wrote the lyrics to these, and we actually recorded them, with one of my friends playing the ukulele and all of us singing parts. there was a cover of bring me to life by evanescence that we had to record about one thousand times because we kept laughing. i ruined my voice doing a terezi pyrope impression over a bad “bet on it” parody. at one point “can’t help falling in love” transitioned directly into “soldier boy.” possibly the most notable part of this whole enterprise was the fact that one of the songs we chose to be a part of this was “angel of the morning,” which... appears in one memorable scene in it: chapter 2, a movie that came out three years AFTER we did this. still don’t know what that means, but i’m pretty sure it’s a sign. anyway, i haven’t actually talked to the dude we did all this for in YEARS, but i still have a copy of that cd in my car. funny how life works out, i guess.

tagging: @oathedkeeper @charlesbukkakeowski @acieumdiddle @airi-koizumi @dragonmomknits @04kenma @marsunlost and anyone else who would like to do it!

[maxtothemax]

Hawk Annotations

It’s been some days since Hawk came out so I figured I’d post my stupid annotations on here. Putting it all under a cut because, obviously, there are so many spoilers, and I had a lot to say.

Started reading: 7/6/20

The 10th Maximum Ride book

It just came out today and I just got it in the mail so let’s see what this dumpster fire is all about.

2 – well! the world building is already bad

3 – I do sorta like the narrative voice though

8 – there’s so much swearing. wonder whether she’s allowed to say fuck though

she says “feck”???

11 – how is there an even remotely functional government like 15-20 years post-apocalypse

13 – why’d she wait the extra half hour?

15 – “my kids” I’m going to assume this is more of a flock situation than a teen mom situation?

19 – so much exposition :/

23 – I’m really not invested in any of this. Ugh, and I have 400 pages to go… [well, okay, it was more like 375. My hardcover copy was long.]

26 – for someone who doesn’t care about her parents, Hawk sure does bring them up a lot

37 – oh, that’s probably Fang, isn’t it

39 – is that a fucking smiley face? [It actually had J in the narration. What??]

40 – “Anytime I heard the word ‘experiment,’ my ears perked right up” okay just call me out like that I guess

43 – that would make sense

46 – black lab coat? [the future of lab fashion?]

67 – hmm this is weird, I don’t like it

69 – she didn’t really seem like she was into that

72 – …but apparently she was?

77 – I WAS RIGHT

78 – well that escalated quickly

82 – I don’t know how to feel about this

84 – WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED???

85 – has Max been in solitary for 10 years? What the fuck?? [It wasn’t solitary confinement, actually, just regular prison.]

87 – none of this world building makes any sense

101 – this is incredibly poorly written. Barely even follows the rules of reality

102 – It’s also very dark, edgy, “Life sucks deal with it” flavored and I’m not a fan

General note: this is reminding me of Witch & Wizard in all the worst ways. Especially page 105. [It’s been brought to my attention that Gabrielle Charbonnet also co-authored at least one book in that series, so that’s probably why.]

106 – Why does McCallum sound exactly like Trump? [The most shocking part of reading this book was finding out that Jimmy Patterson apparently disapproves of Trump.]

108 – so we’re not ignoring the “he was like a brother to me” thing?

109 – JP has torn this series apart so thoroughly. I hate him.

116 – Fuck this. You killed her after giving her maybe 2 minutes of page time. There’s nothing meaningful about that!! Nothing!!

119 – oH SHIT OKAY

121 – that didn’t make it any better, actually

Everything feels so pointless here

I don’t even want to read this but it’ll bug me if I don’t :/

127 – At least this book is better about describing characters

129 – HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY TELL?? Isn’t Ridley enough to prove it?

Side note: will we ever find out who Rose is?

130 – multiple sets of what now?

133 – HOW DO THEY FOLD TWICE???? [Their wings! Fold twice! How the FUCK does that work??]

138 – I’m sorry what

141 – Okay yeah McCallum is definitely a Trump stand in

145 – that’s not gonna happen

147 – I know Jeb is dead but I would be totally unsurprised if McCallum turned out to be Jeb. [Spoiler alert: he isn’t. Evidently Jeb’s still dead. Good for him.]

148 – Okay that line was actually good [the line was: “I’m Maximum Ride, you son of a bitch!”]

149 – Max ALMOST said fuck. Very nearly.

[God just let her say fuck, she deserves it the most]

153 – well this is fucked

154 – you’re not allowed to judge anyone’s names, you named yourself Hawk

160 – It doesn’t even really feel like the flock is older. Except Nudge, probably b/c she keeps calling Hawk “sweetie”

163 – why is Freak capitalized?

164 – “We try to keep the body count low. Part of our personal growth.” I’M SCREAMING NUDGE IS SO FUNNY

173 – OH SHIT

181 – Crismins? Did they change the word for Christmas?

183 – As usual, Nudge is the only one here who I respect

190 – Nudge would be an amazing mom

I’m actually so happy about Nudge’s characterization so far, I love her. Nudge stan for life.

[In the original series: Nudge who? I don’t know her.

In Hawk: Nudge is everyone’s favorite person.]

193 – “You want a wing! Find yourself a goddamn brain first!” that’s so fucking good actually

203 – Are you fucking kidding me

205 – OH GOD DAMMIT

209 – savage

215 – this just in: horses aren’t real

Hey also where the fuck’s Angel? Did she finally start a cult or something?

221 – “he’d put his dad wings on” that’s… quite a phrase

When did Fang become such a hardass? [Edit: actually he was focused on rescuing Max so I guess that’s justified.]

225 – “eyeless Rain” are we doing the blind mentioning thing again? Really? [JP has a bad habit of traumatically removing characters’ vision and then always bringing up that they’re blind as though that’s their only character trait, and I for one think he should be banned from writing for that alone.]

234 – well that escalated quickly

237 – way to avoid describing Gazzy or Iggy’s wings lol

246 – seeing Max call Fang “my love” is very uncomfortable

247 – Okay, that’s cute. [Cutest scene in the whole book, actually.]

257 – Nudge does have curly hair!!! See!!! [@ Narae Lee: take some fucking notes.]

259 – Gazzy’s environmentally friendly bombs. He should make a business.

269 – “forking”? Excuse me sir this is [definitely] not the Good Place I’m sure you can just say fuck

271 – Oh god I don’t want to think about how old the flock is now

HAWK HAS TATTOOS??

272 – These Ride girls are really prone to fainting I guess. Real convenient for transitions between scenes.

278 – I’m still so pissed that the flock was separated for ten years. Not even in a heartbreaking way—it just feels like there was no point to it

Also: how did they find out what happened to Rose? [Also: why use a random character you just made up instead of characters we already know? Hello? Wasn’t Fang’s gang still around post-apocalypse? Weren’t they all friends by then?]

283 – Oh god, is it Angel?

284 – YEP! And holy shit did Total have a kid or something?

285 – Okay so I was this close with the cult leader thing

287 – TOTAL’S ALIVE??? and remarried?? where is he? [I still want some fucking answers, James.]

295 – what the fuck is with the spelling here? Did Angel really just say “staaaahp”?? [As in “stop” but the 2010 internet way of saying it.]

Did she just say “LOL” out loud??

301 – this feels like when you’re in the car with a friend while they’re having an argument with their parents…

This all feels so pointless. The whole first series was about building a better world, and things somehow only got worse.

306 – wow it really doesn’t take much to set Hawk off

307 – you know what, Max is right

The fact that it’s been 10+ years and the flock still has to save the world is really dissatisfying. [It’s passed off as a “it’s what we do” sort of thing, but that shouldn’t be their fucking lifelong job.]

315 – Breaking news: Hawk is introduced to the concept of daddy issues

320 – wait when did Ridley get here??

323 – why are there so many mentions of wearing ponchos to hide their wings? [There have to be better ways]

333 – this was the only major spoiler I got but even though I had warning I’m still mad about it

355 – “Could that could be sky?” has to be the worst mistype I’ve seen in here

365 – Okay this is super uncomfortable

370 – “200 km per hour” I don’t know the metric system but I’m guessing that’s not accurate [it’s 125-ish mph so… I don’t know enough about flying speeds for this, okay, that’s the author’s job]

375 – How would Hawk know what a geocache is?

378 – so she’s just leaving him to die?

381 – okay, zero foreshadowing on that one

396 – so Pietro lived

397 – so actually everyone lived except for Clete :/

399 – “More Epilogue”??

Finished: 7/7/20

I… have no idea what to say about this one. It was a lot. Some parts were decent, others were boring, and it didn’t really feel like a “new generation” book, just an excuse to show the old flock as adults.

I was pleasantly surprised with Nudge’s characterization, and I really liked the “drop the Phoenix” scene, but that’s pretty much all I liked.

[Additional note: the book had no plot. Zero. Like… there was an attempt, but it didn’t really come together.]

[echo-bleu]

I love your writing! So i was wondering what kind of process you use from idea to posting. Im super interested because some wing it..while others have outlines and very methodical ways to bring their work to life.

Thank you!!!

My process feels a little different for every fic, but I’ll try to walk you through it. I’ll take our hands clasped so tight as the example, because it’s perhaps the most representative (my other long WIPs are both fusions, so it was a little different). Under a cut because it got long.

I’m not a huge plotter. I wouldn’t say I’m a pantser exactly, because I tend to write non-linearly so I can’t quite just let the story go unchecked, but @eveningspirit tried to make me get into complicated planning methods and it failed spectacularly (sorry, love, I’m joking). I’m a perfectionist, but I’m really not methodical, even though I feel the appeal of it, it just doesn’t work when I try to do detailed outlines.

[violence and child abuse] The first idea I had for Hands was Jesse Manes really injuring Alex that day in the shed. It’s been on my mind ever since I first watched 1x06, but I didn’t have any solid ideas. It cropped up in setting fire to our insides (for fun) and at least a couple of my Whumptober fics, where Alex recounts Jesse beating him up and breaking bones. When I had the idea of taking his canonically choking Alex further, I realized that it was very similar to @aewriting‘s fic I Know Nothing Stays the Same. I don’t know how much of that was inspiration and how much was just parallel thinking (great minds, right?). As it may be apparent in my fics, I write disabled characters. A lot. And I write whump. So having Alex be disabled from what his father did wasn’t much of a reach from there. To give you a timeline, that was around when season 2 started, so mid-March-ish.

The second part of that idea, that tied up with it: one thing I wanted to write, and still do, is a fic where Alex and Michael have both stopped playing music completely since that day, and later use music to heal and get together. So, coupling the two ideas together: Alex loses his voice and Michael the use of his hand means they both lose their music. This thing they loved.

It evolved quite a bit from there, of course. Alex can’t sing anymore, but he also hasn’t stopped making music. I spent a while researching choking injuries (my search history is wild) and the possible consequences, how it could evolve over ten years, etc. From there, I wanted Michael to be completely unaware of it. Since Alex was in the hospital/in treatment for a long time and thus couldn’t leave Roswell, Michael had to leave. I gave him the life I think he could have had if Rosa hadn’t died, and thus didn’t kill Rosa. Michael being autistic is a headcanon/idea (it’s not a headcanon per say because I don’t think he is in canon, but there were possible indications) that I’ve had for a while too, so this was my chance to fit it in, as I love writing autistic characters.

When I get to this point, my process is to write down everything I can think of (on any scale: general plot points, backstories, details, pieces of dialogue) in no order whatsoever in a new file. Then I slide into @eveningspirit‘s DMs and talk her head off. I think she liked this particular idea :) She asked some pertinent questions, which got me to think about things like what happened to Jesse, whether Noah was there and good or bad, and so on. Putting these together, I (we, really) came up with more backstory ideas that I won’t go into because they’re spoilers ;)

I came up with the music therapy idea, and Rosa as the therapist, and off I went to write the first chapter. It came together pretty fast, and honestly easily. I talked to some other friends on Discord who helped me come up with a song for the first chapter. The second chapter was a little harder, but most of it was backstory, and I had it down. @eveningspirit (again ;D) looked through the first chapter and said she liked it, so I went ahead and posted it (in early April). Then things slowed down to a halt. I wasn’t in a great mental state and couldn’t write much, though I never stopped thinking, and 2x06 rolled around which threw me off for a while. The other thing is, I still didn’t have any real sense of a plot. I’m really good at coming up with backstories and not at all with plot, lol. I posted the second chapter at some point without really making progress on the third. The third chapter has a therapy scene that was hard to write (I want to thank @usbournejez and @brightloveee for checking it for me). But I kept thinking about it all, often in the morning while I shower and have breakfast. Usually I come up with plot points or lines of dialogue and often I’ve forgotten them by the time I can get behind my computer. But I write them down when I can. That’s how my writing becomes non-linear, since one of the first things I wrote will end up in, like, chapter 15. It’s just snippet, but they give me a sense of where I’m going.

When I get stuck, I just repeat the same steps. Go to @eveningspirit. Figure plot out. Write. Get stuck. Go to es again. Check with my friends whether you can see if someone is only on FaceTime. Research chronic lung infections some more. Write more. Try to write an entire Skype call without revealing who is on the other end. (Literally what I did last night and tonight). Something like Alex talking with Kate Long in chapter 4 just popped out of my screen and was completely unplanned. Other things are planned that won’t happen for a while. But I don’t have any real sense of, say, how many chapters there will be to this story. I know more or less where it ends. I know of two major events to come. I have pages of backstory and worldbuilding. I have maybe a quarter of chapter 5 written.

Planning for a story like setting fire to our insides (for fun) was very different, because I knew from the start that it was going to be non-linear. So I just started by randomly writing scenes I thought about. I did this for months before I really figured out how to frame it with Isobel going into Alex’s mind. This story had no plan whatsoever, and when I started posting, all I had were half a dozen random scenes and an ending. I have about the same for the sequel, so far :)

I hope this kind of answered your question! It’s ridiculously long, I guess I’m just in an oversharing mood tonight.

[boaws]

BOAWS Top Records of 2019

20 – Control Top – Covert Contracts (Get Better)

Sometimes you sit around and you try and think about what makes an album good or why you like it as much as you do and it's not entirely easy to narrow it down to one or two things. Usually there are some distinctive parts or sounds that strike me, but occasionally there are albums like Covert Contracts that bring together a number influences and pull them off quite nicely...and it just simply rips. I guess the three years between their debut EP and this first full-length were well spent refining whatever they were ingesting musically at the time, as what came out is a wild blast of post-punk that spans decades worth of sounds/eras that all fit along snugly next to one another on Convert Contracts. Is it going to reinvent the genre? Absolutely not. But is it kind of dance-able while also trying to smoothly hide that black eyeliner? Yup. It sure is. But it's also really good at doing it too. Control Top - Unapologetic (stream) BUY IT! 19 – Spotlights – Love & Decay (Ipecac)

Spotlights ride the fine line between post-metal and shoegaze, which I'm usually a little weary of because boy oh boy is there a lot of those bands and all those big riffs generally amount to a big old snoozefest. However, Spotlights caught my attention awhile back when their named popped up when playing alongside Hum on one of their many sporadic appearances. Turns out Spotlights weren't too shabby and their album Seismic was a bit of a winner too. They've since released their second album for Ipecac records and it takes the balance between the two aforementioned genres and toes that line even further. Love & Decay tweaks things a bit closer to the metal side of things, but still with some Midwestern flair and creativity in the realm of melody and definitely has the layers to appeal to the shoegaze crowd. Spotlights - Xerox (stream) BUY IT! 18 – Spit-Take – Falling Star (Dead Broke)

Spit-Take have been scattered around these pages plenty of times before, usually good for churning out two or three songs per release that make me appreciate them all that much more. Falling Star would mark their third full-length effort and it's about as consistent of a record that I've heard them release that sees them navigate though a pleasant balance of classic indie-rock/power-pop vibes while also throwing out some very Midwestern-ish clanky emo run throughs (“How”), which is usually always a good way to work your way into my memory. Short and sweet and available on both cassette and LP. Spit-Take - How (stream) BUY IT! 17 – VR Sex – Human Traffic Jam (Dais)

This is basically an alter ego of Andrew Clinco of Drab Majesty, wherein he typically goes by the alias of Deb Demure...here he opts for Noel Skum. I'm taking a guess that it's supposed to reflect the shift into a grimier/noisier side of the dreamy landscape that Drab Majesty typically inhabits. VR Sex contain much of the same undertones of something that Mr. Clinco would be associated with, remaining vastly catchy and rhythmic but now the game is a disassociated future where technology has apparently ruined society and now it gets darker, louder, and muddled in filth. Skum indeed. I'm not so sure the message is as conveyed as the presser would like one to believe, but I enjoy the tunes from a standpoint that it sounds like a slightly more modern Sisters of Mercy, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry or something along those lines. Not bad. I guess Human Traffic Jam will gain another level of appreciation years from now if it ends up hitting the nail on the head and we do in fact find ourselves in some type of Black Mirror episode. VR Sex - Sacred Limousine (stream) BUY IT! 16 – Cave In – Final Transmission (Hydrahead)

The trajectory for Cave In over the years has been one of the more interesting ones. Once a premier metalcore/hardcore band, they pulled the rug out from just about everyone and released their second album Jupiter, which sounded nearly like a different band...showcasing big hooks, melodies, and definitely a large infatuation with space-rock themes. I naturally loved it and was actually kind of excited for some reason when I saw that they had landed on a major label for their third album Antenna. Sadly it didn't go as planned and it was pretty much over after that album came and went without moving the needle a whole lot. Fast forward a handful of years following major label disappointment, the band suffers the tragic loss of bassist Caleb Scofield. The band had been in the process of recording/demoing for their first album in 8 years up until the point of his death and the recordings on Final Transmission are a collection of those. Andrew Schneider and James Plotkin did a nice job in smoothing out some of the rougher edges around what were mostly unfinished recordings, cause honestly I can't really tell in most places and the songs stand on their own for the most part. Final Transmission is, or likely would have been, an album that plants itself right in between Jupiter and Antenna, circling back to some of the spacey atmosphere and guitar tones that fed greatly into both of those albums sound. Possibly the album they would have made if RCA hadn't come knocking? Although it's unknown to me whether this is an actual final statement for the band, if it does indeed end up being that, it's a good'n. Cave In - Night Crawler (stream) BUY IT! 15 – The Bismarck – We Will Never Be Young Again (Self-Released)

The Bismarck have been around long enough to still have an actual website that hasn't been updated in years. As someone who still pays yearly hosting costs for some dumb reason and haven't quite convinced myself not to anymore, I guess I get it...but I know that's gotta be costly. The band is firmly in the PRF rock stable of bands, so that right there should give most of you an idea of what The Bismarck bring to the table. Over a run of what I think is five albums now, We Will Never Be Young Again seems to be an album that wants to prove defiant of its title, coming with full fire and energy and holy shit...anthems? Yeah. A song title like “Fuck You, Let's Boogie” certainly seems like something you could easily write off, but ends up being a bona fide gem of a tune. Solid album all the away around and if it ends up being to your liking, they have a rather deep catalog to pull from if curiosity strikes. The Bismarck - Fuck You, Let's Boogie (stream) BUY IT! 14 – Crumb – Jinx (Self-Released)

First album for the Brooklyn based Crumb and I'd thought I'd heard an EP or something before this, but upon further research, it would appear I hadn't. This introduction is fine enough anyway, wherein they combine that niche of slacker ethos that worked its way through a number of indie bands in the 90's and spin it with a chilled loungy/psych thing. Maybe a tinge of jazz influence here and there, but more or less it sticks to the poppy psych side of it all, leaving for a very breezy and smooth 28 minutes of music. The ambiance, or I guess mood, of Jinx is pretty heavy throughout, likely forcing the album to be something that is relegated to particular times of which it strikes just right, however when it does...it certainly works. Crumb - The Letter (stream) BUY IT! 13 – Razorlegs – Skip Skool (Self-Released)

Latest cassette from this improvisational noise/psych outfit, each side consisting of its own roughly 18 minute long descent into fuzz, pummel and blown amps. Side one is “Transistor Love” and gets things going with a rapid paced drum explosion that contends to outpace the entirety of the track, leaving me seemingly off balance for the duration. There are faint voices coming and going as the track progresses into its squalls of feedback and I'm left to envision that this is to mimic the joys of still using the radio dial (FM mute OFF...no cheaters) and then it promptly ends...picking back up with another steady drum beat that steers pretty much the rest of the track from one critical guitar injury to another. Flip the tape, you have “Skip Skool” and we're off with a death march of drums and the sputtering flare ups of distortion before turning into a full fledged burnt out psych mantra, sounding like it's trying to rip and tear its way off the tape that it was laid on to. Razorlegs - Transistor Love (stream) BUY IT! 12 – Breastmilk – Bliss (Chicago Research)

Chicago Research put out a variety of things this past year that I thought were all very solid in their own uniquely bleak and disturbing way, however Breastmilk kind of wins out of for things to play in the background if you genuinely want someone to be creeped out while being in your house. An interesting take on downtempo, that reaches its grimy fingers into the same head spaces of Throbbing Gristle, Nurse With Wound or the likes. An ebb and flowing bass churn scrapes along for 18 minutes of whatever hellscape this may be, the opener “Transient” using a ring-back tone to voicemail sample to unnerving ability. Not to mention a woman sobbing to the background of glass shattering and various other noises on “Jesus Piece”. Breastmilk provides the soundtrack for the horror, however part of the fun of Bliss is the open ended scenarios of whom and what it's playing for... Breastmilk - Transient (stream) BUY IT! 11 – HTRK – Venus in Leo (Ghostly International)

It sure doesn't feel like it's been roughly five years since HTRK released the excellent Psychic 9-5 Club, but that's the case. Following the death of co-founding member Sean Stewart, HTRK continued forward as a duo and have seen their sound venture further into the electronic world; relinquishing the heavy low end found on early recordings while cold pulses of bass and synth have since flooded over. Remaining consistent has been Jonnine Standish's vocal presence throughout, one that dictates the miscues, misery and loneliness in hushed breathy swoops. On their fourth effort, Venus in Leo, Standish and guitarist Nigel Yang return to the same nighttime introspection of regret, however with Yang's shimmering guitars coming back into play more so than we've heard in quite a while...fading in and out of the background. I kind of miss the heavy minimalism, almost deep-house vibe, that Psychic 9-5 Club had...but melancholy plays out in many different ways...and Venus in Leo seems to be the way HTRK wanted to tackle it this time. No matter, it's still immensely enjoyable. HTRK - Dream Symbol (stream) BUY IT! 10 – Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs (Drag City)

Funny note, Quiet Signs was one of the first albums of 2019 that I really liked and accordingly I included one of the tunes from it on that respective months mix. My now fiance listened to it and then sent me a picture of the name of the song that was on and simply said “hate this”. Noted. It's OK though, we still love each other. How could you hate something as serene as Quiet Signs? Anyway, Jessica Pratt has been honing in her sound for several years now and took the plunge with her third album to record in a proper studio, which resulted in an album that sounds really far removed from being recorded in a proper studio oddly enough. The sparseness in instrumentation and the dreamlike echoes of Pratt's voice feel like both are in the same room with you, but still somehow a million miles away...or if that I'm not careful enough the whole thing will disappear entirely. It's the indescribable feeling of distance and brief lapses of clarity that make Quiet Signs so beautiful sounding. It comes and goes all too quick however, so I'll be anxiously awaiting the next appearance from Jessica Pratt. Jessica Pratt - This Time Around (stream) BUY IT! 09 – Notches – New Kind of Love (Dead Broke / Salinas)

Was blown away by Notches and their debut record High Speed Crimes around three or so years ago. It was pretty much everything I could ask for in a pop/punk record, bringing plenty of fuzz/distortion and a heaping fuck ton of melody. While New Kind of Love doesn't necessarily register on that same scale with me, it's still a fantastic record from a band that continues to peel off some of the catchiest material within the genre. It being the bands third album and all, it's kind of fun noticing them “growing older” of sorts and moving away from the turned up to “11” mindset. It's about the song now man, I mean it's always been I'm sure, but now it's no longer buried underneath a sheet of distortion. Can't blame them. I entered my listening to public talk radio in the car phase of my life here not too long. Totally feel ya. Give these guys a listen please. Notches - Funny How (stream) BUY IT! 08 – Dry Cleaning – Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks (It's OK)

From the opener “Dog Proposal” Dry Cleaning establishes very quickly that Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks is exhausting. I don't mean that in the negative sense either. The second EP from the UK based post-punk group is merely informing all of you out there that life is just extra fucking exhausting. Because it most certainly is. Singer Florence Shaw takes the six songs on this EP and crams so much of our current day-to-day nonsense in it that I'm basically getting an anxiety attack listening to this sucker. However, the honesty is appreciated and the contradicting jauntiness of some of these tunes is an excellent way to remind that no matter how tired I am that everything else is going to keep rolling as it always has. While there are much bigger issues at hand that Dry Cleaning tackle throughout, it's the debilitation of everything as a whole that Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks really conveys the most. After two excellent samplings from the band, it's pretty terrifying to think of the destruction on my nerves that they could cause with a full-length. Time will hopefully tell. Dry Cleaning - Viking Hair (stream) BUY IT! 07 – Kim Gordon – No Home Record (Matador)

It had never really occurred to me that Kim Gordon had never released a solo album up until this point of her lengthy career. I was kind of blown away by that to be honest. I guess it's just that Thurston Moore seems to fart one out here and there, so I'd assumed Gordon had done the same. However, as it stands, No Home Record is Kim Gordon's first solo effort and completely took me by surprise. Maybe I'd expected it to sound much like her material in Body/Head? I don't know. Or for it to be closer threaded to Sonic Youth? That's unfair, I know, but it is what it is. The good deal is that No Home Record is completely left field of about anything I expected; that takes equal parts no-wave and drags it through the glitch/industrial minefield. Gordon's voice fits right in with it all, adding to the instability and jarring nature of practically everything on this record. I'd never thought I would have wished for a Kim Gordon experimental electronica record, but it's 2020 baby and things are apparently really fucking different now. Fantastic stuff. Kim Gordon - Don't Play It (stream) BUY IT! 06 – Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society – Mandatory Reality (Eremite)

I somehow wish I could have this album playing practically the entire time I'm at work (it's almost long enough), but unfortunately my boss sits perched only a mere few feet away from me to ensure that maximum stress is achieved. Joshua Abrams and the NIC have created an absolutely astonishing collection of work on Mandatory Reality that is likely easier to zone out to than to deliberately ignore. You'll want to, because wherever Mandatory Reality exists, the grass is most certainly greener and I'm frantically waving my ticket to hop aboard whatever space-age craft is going to take me there at any given time. But really more to the actual music, Joshua Abrams and the NIC have laid out 4 slow moving, borderline minimalist, pieces of avant-garde jazz that sooth and calm the bludgeoning attempts of our actual mandatory reality sometimes. It's pretty brilliant and perfectly recorded/captured by Greg Norman. Played on a proper stereo, it's a variety of nuanced sound that demands repeated listens simply on that alone. Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society - Shadow Conductor (stream) BUY IT! 05 – 55 Deltic – You Could Own an American Home (Kingfisher Bluez / Strictly No Capital Letters / Barely Regal)

I love the title of this record so much, because here sometime in the next year we're going to have to start looking for a house and having been through this rodeo once before...I know how utterly dreary that's going to be. The only fun part about it right now, is the non serious part where I'm just cruising Zillow listings at work and seeing the inside of all these cool houses I can't afford. And what better of an idea to center an emo/slowcore record around? In actuality I'm pretty positive that's not what 55 Deltic are even remotely channeling here, but I would imagine there is a definite longing/nostalgia for a time when working towards a successful future was something not increasingly hard to obtain. The songs on You Could Own an American Home weigh heavily through a slow but sturdy pace, that lines up well with bands like Bedhead or Codeine, who both seemed to pull at a lot of the same strings that 55 Deltic are equally bummed out about no longer being commonplace in society. Really enjoyed this one, as it touches upon a lot of the aspects I like about the genre and isn't afraid of getting a little raucous here and there. 55 Deltic - Tangen (stream) BUY IT! 04 – Cherubs – Immaculada High (Relapse)

I guess the rumor of Cherubs signing to Relapse finally came true...albeit for their second album, fourth overall. Not sure why that took so long, but whatever...here we are...Cherubs consuming roster space on the same label that I remember receiving some pretty wild catalogs from years and years ago and lots and lots of pretty bad cover art. Or really good cover art if you were into grindcore. Either way. I guess it makes sense, Cherubs were, and are, fairly extreme in the realms of the noise-rock world, being a band that released one of the true classics in Heroin Man. When they got back together, there was a level of fear that the burden of having to follow that sucker up would be a bit hard to do, but 2 Ynfynyty wiped away any concern of that as I foolishly had mistaken the band as a group of people that would even remotely worry about something like that. The album ended up being nothing short of amazing and sounded like a band that had a little regard as to what they “should” sound like and just made a record that they wanted to. They returned this past year with Immaculada High and did exactly the same thing, producing a record that isn't simply a repeat and pushes their sonic explorations of marrying noise/melody even further into the grandiose murkiness. At this point, I'm calling it good. I mean, this is two more Cherubs albums than I ever thought I would get already, so I'm not really willing to push my luck here. However, if more is to come...then I'm here for it. Cherubs - Full Regalia (stream) BUY IT! 03 – Clear Gash – Replenish (Iniquity)

Knew nothing of Clear Gash when listening to Replenish and still know nothing about Clear Gash. They are from Germany and apparently have a very sparse web presence other than releasing this album on Iniquity Records, which have graciously provided it on their Bandcamp site or in the form of a....CD? Beggars can't be choosers I guess and at least Replenish got out there one way or another. Clear Gash are a bit of an oddity in this day and age, as there just aren't too many people out there really trying to bring murky moodiness of grunge back to the forefront, however that's not too far from what they are attempting on their debut (I'm assuming?) album. It's fuzzy, down tuned and pretty filthy sounding stuff. The interesting part is that they are taking the tone/sound and partially playing it like slowed down hardcore. Odd, but it jams sure enough. The production almost lends a bit of a raw Born Annoying/Strap it On era feel, which is definitely appealing to me. Replenish rips and is a distorted mess of riffage that has sorely gone missing in the past couple or so years for some reason or another. Clear Gash - Ode to Discrepency (stream) BUY IT! 02 – USA/Mexico – Matamoros (12XU / Riot Season)

Considering the players involved that make up USA/Mexico, I would be really really bummed/surprised if they managed to put out a record that was crap. It just doesn't seem possible when bringing together members of Butthole Surfers, Shit & Shine and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth...three very very fine purveyors of completely fried and distinctive noise-rock. So, it's relatively safe to say that Matamoros falls within that same realm of noise and dives deep into the red at the drop of the needle with the title track opener and spots some extra guitar ugliness from Spray Paint member George Dishner, which seems ridiculous that an extra amount of mangled feedback would seem necessary...but listening to Matamoros one gets the sense these fellas operate in a world unbeknownst of limitations. This then segues right into a grossly heavy cover of Cherubs' “Shoofly” with guest vocals by Mr. Kevin Whitley himself. Even he can't really crawl above the heaping amounts of distortion that USA/Mexico uncompromisingly continue to pour on, as his voice is repeatedly swallowed up by the mass. Matamoros carries on much in the same manner for it's duration. “Vaporwave Headache” cranks up the RPM's some and rips through two and a half of minutes of chugging maxed feedback and alien vocals as a possible representation of a vapor wave song if it were dubbed over on the same cassette roughly 400 times and then played at five times the speed. In the end, Matamoros greatly out performs the bands debut Laredo and is essentially the exact product of which could be expected through this collaboration of sorts. Well worth the risk of potential hearing loss. USA/Mexico - Matamoros (stream) BUY IT! 01 – Possible Humans – Everybody Split (Hobbies Galore / Trouble in Mind)

Yeah, this is my kind of thing. I'll never shy away from bands that want to continue hoisting that Homestead/Flying Nun flag and pumping out those type of jams. Possible Humans have apparently been lurking around Melbourne for a handful of years now, playing shows...etc. However, just towards the beginning of last year put out their first full-length through Hobbies Galore and it's been nice to see it gain some traction over the past few months. Enough so that Trouble in Mind picked up the record after the initial pressing of 200 sold out lightning quick. I got hooked after hearing the sprawling psych flavored “Born Stoned”, which despite being eleven minutes long it makes good on every single second of it, masterfully combining the Homestead or Athens sound with something that could have been an absolutely smoking Blue Oyster Cult deep cut. It quite simply rules and will undoubtedly be the best track I hear for a very long time. Definitely not trying to sell the rest of the album short, because Everybody Split is front to back a fantastic listen and piece of work that encapsulates a general feel/sound so well. If you haven't heard it yet, please make this one a priority. Possible Humans - Born Stoned (stream) BUY IT!

[anneliesinautopia]

Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group Advice (from someone who actually rode it)

I recently rode Rise of the Resistance, the new ride at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, in Disneyland. This new ride has been highly anticipated, and to accommodate the crowds, Disney and created a “boarding group” system, unlike anything they’ve used before. I wanted to share what I have learned by trying to get a boarding pass myself over the course of two days, and what I gathered from friends experiences, in hopes that this may help someone either understand the system better, or hopefully get a boarding pass/ group of their own, and experience the best ride I’ve ever experienced. (This post is about the system in Disneyland, and from what I can tell it might be similar to the WDW version, but I cannot confirm)

WHAT YOU NEED

a smart phone

the Disneyland app

a Disney account to sign into the app

a valid park ticket

all of the tickets of the people in your party to be scanned into the Disneyland app (and this would apply to every person present.) i.e if you have four people in your party, all four tickets should be on everyones phones, in their app

you NEED to be in the park before the park opens for business that day to the public. i.e: if the park opens at 9am, be in the gates before 9am

ADVICE

make sure your phone is charged of course. not only do you need it to get a boarding pass, but you also scan your boarding pass when getting in line for the ride, so you need it accessible.

plan ahead for when you need to leave to be able to get into the park. the entirety of the in between space between DCA and Disneyland (aka the esplanade) was filled with lines to get into the park both days that I went. 

do NOT use the park wifi. It’s bad to begin with, but now everyone is going to be on the network, or at least trying to be.

when preparing for the time for the boarding groups to “drop” aka park open, make sure you have completely closed out of the Disneyland app, and opened it “fresh” about 2 minutes before park open, and just remain on the opening screen. do not go further into the app in order to prevent having to refresh the app, or close it out again.

make sure everyone in your party is attempting to get a boarding pass right when it “drops”. the more people in your party, all working towards getting a boarding group, the better off you may be. more hands on deck, more phones, different networks, just a better chance.

once the clock strikes the time of park open, that will be your time to hit the “Find Out More” on the Disneyland app section for Rise, then you’ll hit “Join Boarding Group”, from there it will already have every ticket on your app checked to be added into your group, and continue to follow the prompts to hopefully get you to the screen that says you have received a boarding group.

THINGS WE “KNOW”

Disney has said that they can accommodate 8-12 boarding groups per hour, as long as the ride is in proper operation aka it doesn’t break down.

I have yet to be able to find out how many people are in a boarding group, or how many parties for that matter, however, I had two different friends who got boarding passes with their friends, and both groups were about 6-8 people. to clarify these friends were there different days, and got different boarding groups.

the time you arrive to the park DOES NOT affect your boarding group placement. As long as you are in the gates before the park is officially open for business, you have the same chance as everyone else for a boarding group.

you have to scan into Disneyland, not Disney California Adventure, to be able to get a boarding group

the boarding groups have been “selling out” or “running out” within the first minute to two minutes of the park opening. The only time I have heard it taking more than a minute was on Wednesday 1/22/20, where it took 55 minutes to distribute all boarding groups. According to cast members I have spoken to, Wednesday’s are the “slow” and “dead” day at Disneyland, so maybe that had something to do with it.

You are not guaranteed to ride the ride. If something goes down with the ride, and they cannot accommodate you, even if you are considered to be in one of the “planned” groups for the day, things can still change. 

The number seems to change as to what is considered a planned group, and when the cap of the planned group is, versus the unplanned. typically it has been groups 70 or higher.

The ride DOES NOT continue to run until park close. If they get to the end of their boarding groups before park close, they will not add more people. At some point, they decide what the final group will be, and the only way you know what that number is, is to go to the entrance of the ride, and see if there is a cast member will be standing outside with a sign that says that final group, about 2+ hours before the park closes.

THINGS TO REMEMBER/KEEP IN MIND

just as you probably wanted to be surprised for this ride, consider not posting spoilers or ride throughs of the ride, or at least warning your followers and friends before doing do. keep the magic alive and fresh for everyone.

there are warnings on the walls closer to the ride entrance that warn you of fast drops, and fast movement. if you cant handle a carousel, this might not be the ride for you.

please be understanding that just as this ride is new to you, its new to the cast members (who keep in mind, did not build it) so if there are issues, be kind.

YOU ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO RIDE THIS RIDE. if you are in the “back up” range, so for the day I actually rode it, the backup groups were anything 72 and above, so that is a big maybe if you get in that range. Even with a boarding pass, things can change. Be understanding.

YOU MIGHT NOT GET A BOARDING GROUP/PASS. There are hundreds, and maybe thousands of people who are trying to do the same as you. Just be warned.

For my experiences, see the bottom of this post! ☺️

I think that is everything I can think of. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a note/comment on this post, DM me on Instagram @anneliesinautopia , or tweet me on twitter @anneliesveldman . I hope this is helpful, and may the force be with you!

All of the things in this post are from my experience as an annual pass holder/ guest and from my friends experiences as AP’s or guests only. All opinions and comments are my own.

The first time I went to get boarding passes, the park opened at 8 am, I got into the park at about 7:30, and had an issue with my app because I already had it loaded on the ROTR page at 8, so it didn’t refresh, so by the time I finally got it to work, I ended up getting boarding group 121, which was in the range of the “back up” boarding groups. That day the backups started at group 80, meaning anything past 79 was not a guarantee for the day, even though you had a group. The idea is that if they get through their groups fast enough, or sooner than expected, they will start letting in the backup groups. However something I learned that night, like I mentioned above, was that they choose a while before the park closes what the last group will be, as well as the fact that they don’t run until park close. So no Rise for me that night. The next day the park opened at 9, I was in there at about 8:30 ish, and this time I had four friends with me. Learning from my previous issues with the app, thanks to screen recording my first experience and watching it back, I made sure to have the app completely closed out, all my friends had theirs closed out to, but loaded it to at least to the first screen, the one just when the app first opens. That turned out to be beneficial because when the clock struck 9, my friend was able to get us a boarding group, and my phone got to the page about two or three seconds after he did, but it already registered that we had a boarding group! That day we were lucky enough to get boarding group 15 and road the ride around 10 or so and W O W. That’s all I will say 😉

[soap-brain]

‘sup i got tagged by @elroymarvelous (and i need to stop using ‘sup as a greeting jesus christ *tips fedora*)

aaand i’m tagging @bottomkirk @greetings-from-the-suffer-puppet @isthisspockspeaking @lieutenant-sapphic @loststarlight @wordssometimesfail @trappist-1p @autisticarchieandrews @greenjimkirk @plaidshirtjimkirk @jamest-kirk @subinnnnn @tomatosdumpster @thetardisismysoulanimal @random-fandoms-trash @thatpunktrekkie and anyone else who wants to do this! just consider yourself tagged :)

 THE LAST

1. Drink: black tea

2. Phone call: my dad? i think? i don’t call people unless i can’t totally avoid it

3. Text message: @isthisspockspeaking

4. Song you listened to: we built this city by starship

5. Time you cried: ???? probably last week or tomorrow

6. Dated someone twice: njoope

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: i’m unkissed, therefore...

8. Been cheated on: nah

9. Lost someone special: yup

10. Been depressed: lkjsldfjslfjklasjdflajs life is hell atm so yes, constantly

11. Gotten drunk + thrown up: literally every time i have as much as two cocktails?? i don’t get it tbh. and i didn’t even really get drunnk

3 Favorite Colors

12. yellow

13. blue

14. green

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU

15. Made new friends: yup!

16. Fallen out of love: didn’t even fall in love so falling out of it is kinda difficult

17. Laughed until you cried: the aquarium incident in physics lab the week before last. i’ve never laughed so hard in my life i think. cried again when we rehashed it

18. Found out someone was talking about you: i guess?? but i knew it already, and it wasn’t bad stuff

19. Met someone who changed you: uhh? maybe

20. Found out who your friends are: (does this year count as last year?? do we mean last calendar year or last 12 months? cause then HELL YES jesus)

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook page: thank god no lol

GENERAL:

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: almost all of them, but there’re a couple where i only assume who they are tbh

23. do you have any pets: ... five cactuses. i bet that counts :p

24. do you want to change your name: i wrote a wonderful monologue about how ravenna is actually p great and i’m learning to be her at @greetings-from-the-suffer-puppet a couple days ago or so. my name makes me pretty damn unique, and i like it!

25. what did you do for your last birthday: went out to dinner with my family and got drinks with an ex-friend later

26. what time did you wake up: I OVERSLEPT AND WOKE UP AT TEN AM MY ALARM WAS FOR 6:30 FUCK ME

27. what were you doing at midnight last night: uh. @bottomkirk uhhh MADE ME watch the dramatic readings of my immortal

28. name something you can’t wait for: august 1, 2017, around 2pm (i’ll be done with my chem final by then and probably also through the post-final breakdown and hopefully already packing / having packed my suitcase)

29. when was the last time you saw your mom: two weeks ago (ish)

31. what are you listening to right now: the two illustrious construction zones a street over :D and whatever else comes through the window. also rain pattering

32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: yes my dad’s best friend’s name is tom and he’s a cool dude. weird, since he’s an artist, but cool

33. something that is getting on your nerves: well i’m mostly done with being insanely annoyed by the spn fandom, so atm it’s the mcu

34. most visited website: tumblurb

35. hair colour: ???? it’s like a dark blonde in places but the tips are light blonde. i’m considering becoming a redhead over the summer :D

36. long or short hair: mine? long. on people? whatever floats their boat

37. do you have a crush on someone: no

38. what do you like about yourself: ???? i think i’m getting a really good grip on my life but it does contain lots of internal crying

39. piercings: two in both ear lobes

40. blood type: 0+ i think. i’m sure about the 0 but i forgot my rhesus type

41. nickname: i don’t have one :( please give me one?

42. relationship status: single pringle terrified to mingle

44. pronouns: she/her

45. favourite tv show: wtf kinda question is that. tos all the way

46. tattoos: i WANT but i’m so broke i don’t quite know how to afford food for the next two weeks haha

47. right or left handed: right

48. surgery: a couple minor ones, once getting my wisdom teeth out and once having a dark birthmark removed. also i think i had to get one of my milk teeth removed by the dentist :D also there was the glass table incident. me and my sisters all have actual scars from that glass table. i p much slit my lip on it and you can still see the scar! fun times! my other sister has a small piece of her ear missing bc of that table :D

50. sport: horseback riding (*cries* i wish i had a stable here), yoga, running

51. vacation: THIS STUPID QUESTION IS IN ALL THESE THINGS AND I JUST HAVE TOO MANY ANSWERS!! ugh. FINE. let’s do this as per the distance these places are away from me. berlin. the netherlands. sweden. the uk. iceland. italy (esp rome, venice and ravenna), france. greece (all the ancient cultures yay). barcelona. idk whether egypt is safe atm but egypt (the pyramids and that all). south africa. japan. china. australia. chile. brazil. mexico. the usa (a roadtrip. you know, the classic. also nyc??? i miss you. also hey i have friendos there!!). canada. OUTER FUCKING SPACE LIKE WHOA

52. pair of trainers: does this mean the shoes or a coach?? i do own shoes if that is the question. several even.

MORE GENERAL

53. eating: rn? nothing. but there will likely be pancakes today

54. drinking: water, and obscene amounts of black tea

55. I’m about to: study (lmao procrastination ftw)

56. waiting for: august 1, 2017, 2pm

57. want: a fucking break

58. get married: maybe

59. career: doctor!! (hey what do you call a nerdy doctor? a DORKtor ahhahahaha love me please)

54. drinking: as in alcohol?? ehh. i have half an apple cider in the fridge, and other than that there’re like two cocktails i like to drink, maybe three

WHICH IS BETTER:

60. hugs or kisses: i’m touch starved so i’m a slut for any kind of physical attention tbh

61. lips or eyes: i like lips cause then you can speak and eat food. i like eyes for seeing (though mine have a glitch. i need an expansion pack for them)

62. shorter or taller: i’m tall. small people are ok but you need to be careful so you don’t lose them in your purse

63. older or younger: ??? well i like kids and seniors can be assholes but also vice versa so idk 

64. nice arms or nice stomach: arms bring the food. stomach holds the food. GoodTM (personally? i’d like for my arms to stop having acne and for my stomach to be flat. thank)

65. hookup or relationship: relationship

66. troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant (i only pretend to be tough lmao)

HAVE YOU EVER:

67. kissed a stranger: nah

68. drank hard liquor: what qualifies as hard?? i’ve had vodka in my drinks, but they were cocktails, so ?? (actually we made moscow mules when i visited my parents and the recipe said to put in 4 cl of vodka but i’m PRETTY sure my dad put in more)

69. lost glasses/contact lenses: akjslöfdjasldfjasldf fuck me up. yes. also broken them. also you try to have -5 dpt and find your fucking glasses. i can see 20ish cm in front of my face clearly. when i lose my glasses i’m essentially fucked

70. turned someone down: yes, and it was a good idea

71. sex on the first date: ha no

73. had your heart broken: sure

74. been arrested: :D (no)

75. cried when someone died: irl? cried when someone almost died. movies? yes.

76. fallen for a friend: nope

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

77. yourself: i guess so, yeah!

78. miracles: “magic is just science that you don’t understand yet”

79. love at first sight: no

80. santa claus: excuse you, this is americawashing. in germany we have the christkind. fuck off

81. kiss on the first date: maybe??

82. angels: ehhhh

OTHER:

84. eye colour: slate grey

85. favourite movie: Wonder Woman (2017) dir. Patty Jenkins (elroy wrote this and imma leave this here), also the one with the whales, transporter 3 and a very specific version of cinderella

[idontfindyouthatinteresting]

So I’d think it’s fair to say that most people going to Red Dragon Con 4 will probably have attended an RDC before, but just in case, or if you had a tough time getting things in place last time around, here’s a tips list, from the basics to extras. 

Autographs! - All Gold/Regular ticket holders get 1 autograph per guest included with their ticket price, Bonus Guests are chargeable to regular ticket holders and Extra Guests are chargeable to everyone. If you would like extra autos beyond what you’re allocated you can buy them at the con (from the desk by sign ins) and you can do this in two forms. Either you can buy a photo, and the cost of the photo includes an autograph, or you can buy a “badger” which means the guest will sign something you’ve brought, like a funko or an artbook. Autos are £10/£15/£20 depending on the guest. Badgers and photos are exactly the same price. Autos are called by ticket type and number, please do not queue unless you’ve been called as you won’t be allowed in the room. The calling is done via notices on the screens in the talks, via a white board in the atrium and via starfury’s con twitter. You’ll be given a card containing your “free” autos, if you lose it you won’t get a replacement and each auto is ticked off as you get it. If you bring something to be signed by a guest, whether or not they are willing to sign it is entirely at their discretion, I would recommend not bringing anything that you think might cause a stir.

Photos! - No photos are included in your ticket price. You buy what you want before/during the con. All guests will do individual shoots and groups selected by Starfury (this typically depends on which guests characters work well together) and then also they’ll do a shoot with all the guests. Photos are typically (Eddie Izzard was an exception) not organised by ticket type or number, but preorders went first as of RDC3. When it gets closer to the con you’ll be able to buy selected photo shoots online, and this is the only way to guarantee you’ll get hold of a photo ticket. Though it’s v. unlikely they’ll turn you away. Photos are £20 (for individual guests, though the “main” guest i.e. Mads, Hugh etc may cost slightly more) and then the groups range up to £130+ for the photo with all the guests (and if you want more than one attendee in the photo it’s £5.00 per extra person.) The photo queues are scary but do go quick. I would recommend not buying all your photos for the Saturday or Sunday, spread it out. There is a (free) bag drop off so they aren’t in your photos, but you do have to carry your preorder email or cards with you when you go round.

Talks! - Talks happen on both Saturday and Sunday from around 12pm to about 5pm. There is a break for lunch (but this is when the fan meets take place, see below) of about half an hour. The seating for the talks is Gold at the front, stewards and then regular ticket holders. All the talks are about an hour long and are made up entirely of questions from the audience, there is a microphone at the front and people queue for a chance to ask a question. (If you’re unable to queue, someone can hold a place for you and when it’s your turn, a microphone will be brought to you.) Talks are filmed and projected onto huge screens. 

Fan Meets! - My knowledge here is limited because I’ve never done one but the essentials are, if you’d like a “meet and greet” scenario whether you’re a gold or regular ticket holder, you can buy a ticket to have a talk with some of the guests. These are held (as above) during the talks break on both Saturday and Sunday, so if you want to do them your schedule becomes pretty hectic. There are select tickets for each talk, you have to sign up at the registration desk. Only certain guests do them, Bryan and Hugh didn’t for RDC3 (for obvious reasons.) Details I’m not too sure on, so please correct me if you’ve been to them: Sessions are 30 mins, tickets are £20 and the groups are of about 10 people.

Meet and Greet! - Gold ticket holders only! This is run immediately after the opening ceremony and golds will be directed to the room as soon as it’s over to be seated. Tables are of 9 (with a chair left for the guest) and you’ll be asked how many are in your group before you enter the room. Guests will then work their way around the room, spending about 5 minutes at each table. With regards to how long it lasts for, that’s anyone's bloody guess. RDC1 we were there until midnight, BTRDC we were out at like 10:30 (lots of gold ticket holders didn’t show to the con) and RDC3, well, 4 in the morning. Basically, it lasts as long as it takes for the guests to get around and as long as you’re willing to wait. Bryan Fuller is of course the worst offender, but regardless of who is attending, prepare yourselves for a wait! (with booze and pizza and probably some sort of activity.)

Stewarding! - I’ll definitely be stewarding this time around! Basically it means you help out with the con a little over the course of the weekend, most people will have a 3(ish) hour slot on the Saturday and the Sunday. Things like being on the door and checking badges or doing the bag drop for photo sessions etc. You won’t miss any autos/photos you buy (you may be able to skip some queueing too if you’re stewarding during the sessions,) you get to sit behind the golds in talks and you get a group photo of the guests as a reward at the end of the weekend. (Check out my one from RDC1) I’ll post when Starfury are asking for sign ups and put the info on my RDC4 page.

Gifts for the Guests! - Keep them small if you can, Bryan and Hugh had gift collections at RDC3 and then we know that Bryan shipped all of his stuff back to the US. This was a later addition to get the queues running faster, so I don’t know what they’ll do for RDC4, but regardless, there is a high chance if you give them bulky stuff they’ll have to leave it.

Self care! - It’s very easy to not eat or drink anything over the weekend, I would recommend bringing a bottle you can fill up with water and snacks. For RDC3 I didn’t have a single square meal (but that was super bad, I’m changing it up to ensure I do actually eat this time around) it’s that easy to forget about. You aren’t going to want to go up to your room constantly either so bringing a bag you can carry everything in for the day is also important

Guest care! - They will be in and around the hotel, getting to and from sessions, getting into cars and sometimes in the bar. Please don’t use this as a chance to swipe a freebie. The weekend is crazy for them and because it’s Hannibal and they’re awesome, they are probably already going above and beyond what they’re paid to do. Unless they’re willing and able (like for example, Vlad turning up at the hotel on one of the evenings) please just let them do what they have to do in peace. You have plenty of opportunities to interact with them and ask your questions over the weekend. 

Misc!

- Lanyards for your con badges are an extra £2.50, please have this (and to make it easier, in change) ready when you sign in on the Friday evening.

- There is a raffle for the con banners and posters (signed by the guests) over the course of the weekend and winners are announced on the Sunday.

- Bring a folder to put your photos/ autos in. (Mine also has my name and telephone number on it just in case.)

- Lots of people are now wearing badges with their URL’s/twitter handles on so everyone knows who is who! Here is mine!

- FLOWER CROWNS! Please wear a flower crown! It’s a wonderful, beautiful thing that makes the whole event look much more like a Fannibal one! 

- You don’t have to stay in the con hotel to come, and sometimes staying elsewhere is cheaper, along bath road there are lots of options. But if you’re staying in the con hotel and still want to keep costs down, it’s cheaper to bunk up! Single occ is £80 a night, double is £90 and triple (with 1 camp bed) is £110.

- There is a cash machine at the con hotel but you are charged to withdraw. But planning what you want and sticking to it (i.e. drawing the cash out pre-con) is the best way to stick to your budget and not go mad. I know exactly what I want photo/auto wise before I walk into the hotel and I do not deviate.

- Some people (particularly international fannibals) do arrive on the Thursday so there’s a little going on that night too if you want to make a longer weekend of it. The con discount for the cheaper rooms doesn’t apply for the Thursday so you will have to pay the normal rate (which is currently £132 for a double room.)

*This is how starfury/the hotel runs things as of the time of writing, I doubt they’ll change the set up too much but if they do, I’ll alter this post as soon as I’m aware. This post is built upon my own experiences of RDC1, BTRDC and RDC3.*

As always if you have any questions about the con let me know and check out my RDC4 page for the most up to date info on what’s going on.

[allydsgn]

Supply Recommendations for Graphic Design Students

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve posted something like this... so bear with me! It was requested by an anon that’s entering a university as a Graphic Design major, so here are some supplies I recommend and why! (I may do a spoken and visual extended version as a video, so let me know what you guys think!)

(disclaimer: this is my opinion and I haven’t tried everything in the world, so if you have your own recommendations definitely reblog and say so in your caption! I’d love to check out your favorite supplies!)

Categories include:

Day-to-day supplies

The Big One$

Projects

Some Fun and Fancy Stuff

DAY - TO - DAY SUPPLIES

Sharpie pens and markers

Cheap-ish

Reliable

You can find them basically anywhere

Great for black and white abstractions/sketches with different marker thicknesses

They also have pretty colors for note-taking!

X-Acto Knife

Cuts in a straight line

Replaceable blades

In most art and office stores and even in places like Walmart

If you cut something sticky and ruin your blade, just replace it!

Goes with a ruler to cut in a straight line

Masking Tape

Holds things down without ripping it

Keeps prints rolled up

Keep one with you or at home

USB Drive

Always have a USB drive ready for use!

Turn in files, take files to the printer, or even just taking files to a different machine to work on is always a possibility. 

If you make it a habit to keep it on you, then you won’t forget it on the days that really matter.

Noise canceling headphones (or at least ear buds)

Rowdy classmate ignorer

Helps blast music in your ears to help you focus

Marshmallow buds that go in your ears works best for this

A drink that makes you happy

That morning coffee before a 9AM studio 3-hour class, or that water bottle during an afternoon session can really help you out. 

Helps keep you going!

I know it sounds small, but your mood definitely affects your productivity!

A sketchbook (any kind will do!)

Literally, can by any paper quality, based on what you usually draw with or sketch with (like to use marker? Either have an extra page behind it or get marker paper)

Any price, any color, any size (try to aim for letter-size/A4)

Make sure it fits with what you usually carry around (backpacks can hold a 9″x12″, but purses would carry a Moleskine size or smaller)

Have 15 minutes before English starts and you thought of something? Take out that handy dandy sketchbook! Bored in said English class? Handy dandy sketchbook strikes again!

Notebook for notes

More than just for typical note taking!

Good for recording feedback

Track any last-minute changes to projects or deadlines

To-do lists will help understand what’s due next class and not get super anxious!

Metal cork-backed ruler

A great companion for that X-Acto knife!

Cork back helps not slide around

Metal means you can’t accidentally carve off the edge (like you would a plastic or wooden ruler)

Found in most art stores and can get pricey for bigger ones, but if you take care of it then it’ll last forever

Make sure to get at least two sizes (a longer one for trimming cover sheets for 16″x20″ mounts and a smaller one-foot ruler for trimming business cards and smaller things like that)

Post-it notes

Great for making notes on things that you don’t want to directly mark. 

Good for just keeping in mind anything you don’t want to forget (especially if you stick them to your laptop, they’ll be hard to miss).

Prisma Markers

These art markers are my personal favorite. 

You’ll hear all kinds of brands, preferences, and prices. 

Copics are nice and are very aesthetic, but they’re also about $7-$8 per marker. Concept markers from Jerry’s Artarama are very cheap at about $2 per marker, but the colors on their caps are sometimes misleading, and Prisma Markers are a happy medium at about $4 - $5 per marker. 

They’re at most art stores 

For me, they’re a happy medium price-wise and I like working with them. (Concept markers maybe I’d get the black because it’s cheaper)

Binder clips

Keep sketches and randomly sized and trimmed papers together

I prefer binder clips over paper clips because they can hold more and group things nicely

You can also hang things with these if you want on a thumbtack

Hair Ties

Keeps hair out of the way when creating mock-ups that include glue and X-acto knives

Rolls things up

Groups things up (markers and other utensils)

Cheap and effective!

Rubber bands are a little meaner, especially to hair or trying to get them off a long paper roll.

Circle Tool

Basically, something that makes perfect circles. 

This can either be a circle template, a compass, or some other device that you find that makes different sized circles. 

You can go cheap on these

The Toolbox

All these little things that I keep mentioning to bring with you need to be contained somewhere! 

I like putting what I’m using for a current project in a toolbox and bringing that to school.

I suggest going with something that’ll fit in a backpack or that you don’t mind carrying around.

Really only carry it if you think you’ll need it.

You can carry a smaller version of typical tools (pens, pencils, markers, scissors, x-acto, etc.) and leave the rest at home, too.

The Baggage

Not the emotional kind, but the one that carries all of these crazy supplies I’m recommending. 

In university, you don’t have all of your graphic design classes in one day (I would hope), so having a typical backpack works fine for the smaller supplies. 

If a project is due the next day and you’re planning to work at the school and you need to bring everything, then I highly suggest a rolling backpack!

Don’t kill your back!! Messenger bags only work if you’re not bringing much, otherwise, do a backpack (or a rolling one).

THE BIG ONE$

Laptop

Almost all graphic designers will tell you to use a Mac, but of course, not all graphic designers can afford one.

If you can afford a Mac, I’d recommend it.

If you can’t afford a Mac, go with a cheaper alternative, but not TOO cheap. It still needs to last 4 years and run all of your programs.

Wait until you actually need to buy one (that way you can get the latest models or earlier models at cheaper prices).

External Hard Drives (BACK EVERYTHING UP!)

I would even say have at least two (current semester and archive(s))

You never know when previously mentioned laptop may die, malfunction, or wipe everything.

Keep a back-up for sending to competitions, putting in portfolios, and just for safe keeping.

KEEP IT ORGANIZED. You need to know what you have and don’t have so you don’t “double save” something in two separate folders.

A decent phone with decent camera quality

Nowadays most people do have this phone already on them, but if you’re one of the low-budget phone holders, then I highly suggest to get a higher quality phone.

Picture taking for process photos can actually be done with a phone camera if it’s good enough, you can just fix things up in photoshop. 

Having a decent phone will let you also use helpful and productive apps such as camscanner, schedule makers, and Adobe apps

Raising your mood with a higher quality of life will help raise productivity!

If you can’t open snapchat without it force closing then you miss out on your friend’s lives or whenever they get an update on a project and you don’t. Social media can honestly be helpful sometimes as people post their process online!

Drawing tablet

Wacom works well enough for me!

You don’t have to go super expensive with all the bells and whistles for this... you just need something that draws.

These can get a little pricey (mine being at $90 and I got one step-up from the cheapest one at the time)

You don’t absolutely need a tablet, but it is very handy.

If you don’t do illustration often I would not recommend it.

You can also hold off on getting a tablet and just hand-draw something, scan it, and fix it in whatever program (or vectorize/image trace in illustrator and mess with it that way)

PROJECTS

Tracing paper

Helps trace things when abstracting

Covers mounted work with a protective sheet

I prefer the rolls, but they’re way more expensive than the 9″x12″ pad (maybe not per foot, but it’s initially more expensive)

Spray mount/Adhesive spray

One way to stick two things together

You need a lot of space and throw away paper under what you’re spraying

You’ll definitely get all of it everywhere (which is good if you want to make sure corners don’t stick up on a mounted piece, but it’s bad if your garage floor is suddenly sticky)

Liquid cement

Another way to stick things together and is a little more forgiving. 

Elmer’s brand is the one that I have, and basically, if you mess up or “over-glue” something, you can rub the excess off (like you would the typical white Elmer's glue).

When you’ve rubbed it off, it basically becomes those little gray things that erasers produce that you can just brush away. 

It comes with a designated brush attached to the lid on the inside (super convenient) and it’s easy to apply and store (smaller bottle than the adhesive spray can).

Portfolio case

For when you’re carrying larger pieces from one place to another (such as a mounted piece or a large editorial) like turning in your final presentation of your project.

You can get a big fancy one if you really want to, but at least get the bare minimum to carry something from one place to another without it getting folded or wet. (especially you commuters/bus-riders)

SOME FUN AND FANCY STUFF

The big paper cutter

Even I don’t have this one, but whenever I use the one at school or at FedEx it makes trimming things down so much easier! 

You line it up, you drag the blade across, and then you’ve got a perfectly straight line. 

Again, if you can afford the money and space for it I recommend it, but my school provides one for us.

It’s kind of one of those things that you don’t NEED if you have an X-acto knife, but it speeds things up a bit

High-quality camera

Similar to the phone concept... taking nice photos of your work is always a plus. 

The camera I would reserve for mock-up photos for submitting pieces or getting photography for an editorial work. 

Someone in your class ought to have one that you can borrow (and maybe even the program will offer one to borrow), but it’s always good to have your own things.

Also, being able to stage your own photos instead of photoshopping mock-up templates always feels more authentic and looks better in a portfolio. (you’re not the only one looking up Photoshop mock-up templates in the design world)

Light table

You can either buy one or make one (easier than you think)

Very helpful when you’re tracing! 

This is the most useful when you’re doing abstractions or you’re trying to refine hand-drawn ideas. 

You can make one with a shadow-box frame and some LED lights. 

Again, not necessary since programs might actually have some at school that you can borrow.

A second monitor

Web design!

Programs like Brackets do live-preview, so when you code the changes apply immediately to a chrome preview window, so seeing the changes as you code is helpful! 

Putting up inspiration or just other documents to keep in mind on the other screen makes things easier to work with.

Fancy keyboard with custom keys

This one was actually a recommendation from my boyfriend (who is a tech geek). 

Basically, there are keyboards that you can map shortcuts to specific keys on the keyboard. 

There are some shortcut keys that you’ll use a million times in a project and if you feel that a function key being assigned to it would be easier instead, and you have money to splurge, this is the keyboard to go with! 

This is totally unnecessary, but could be lots of fun and helpful!

iPad and Apple pen

Digitally drawing on a tablet with a stylus can be good for digital note taking or just drawing in general (as an alternative to the drawing tablet). 

My professor uses his for sketch notes (which is always fun) and sometimes I see people doing illustrations straight into the tablet or just concepts. 

Sketching concepts digitally allows you to put down ideas quickly, but also be able to save them without having to worry about scanning or taking pictures of the drawings. 

Another splurge option that obviously has other uses than this, but is completely unnecessary.

MORE Prisma Markers

Remember when I said Prisma Markers before?

You really only need a basic color set and maybe a gray set. Any more than that then you’re falling into a fun and fancy category for supplies. 

They’re not the cheapest things in the world, but using markers definitely brings your sketches up a level versus pencil or black and white sketches.

It’s also good for making preliminary color schemes and other illustrations. 

Have several blacks because those are usually the first marker to go dry.

That’s all I got! I hope that helped and I’m sorry it was so long, I tried to condense... but I’ll make a visual/audio version that might be easier to digest!

[armoredcorelegacy]

On Growth and Growing Pains in the Armored Core Community - AC Talks, an Armored Core Community Perspective Piece

The following is a multi-part AC Talk discussing the internal issues of the community. This was originally posted on the 19th of Feb, 2017. http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1spkr3f The year is 2017. There may or may not be a new AC on the horizon, and hope, curiosity, and faith are in the air. But what of the people? What of action, of activity, or more importantly, growth? Where does the AC community stand in comparison with half a decade ago? All in all, 2016 (and first part of 17) has not been too bad. Up until late 2015 the situation had been in a state of constant decline, something which has been consistent since about 2010-ish. The only exception to this were the initial release periods of ACV and VD; but much like 4/FA, new game hype only lasted so long, and the decline continued. There are a few reasons for this. 1. The appearance of key people who have been creating content and innovated things. While still only a handful of people, their impact has been wide reaching. BusterTBM (https://www.youtube.com/user/BusterTBMPlays), an avid old generation fan, Buster began his wildly popular Your AC in LR series in Nov of 2015 which gained alot of traction within the fanbase and continues to be a consistent and interesting source of content. Moodydata (https://www.youtube.com/user/Moodydata), creator of Limit Release began his venture into more community focused content, such as the chat show, streams and unique ideas (dual streams, stream contents, etc.) and commentary on the community and also on the AC series (AC Lore series, let's play, etc.). DominantLegend discovered and proliferated the use of the PPSSPP emulator which now allows people to easily play AC3, SL, LrP and also show it with built in screen capture and screenshot of the emulator. IrregularRaven also made strong discoveries in terms of finessing the technology and also developing interesting concepts. Their (and many others) creations and content helped spawn more content (azure, knightmare, royal angel, darkstar angel, ostardva, okami, ) 2. The change in congregation of the community In olden days most players met up in IRC chats or forums. However, a shift has been taking place where people have been straying away from these and been more fragmented. As of current there is no specific site fansite/forum that the community sticks too. It's been making it quite hard to coordinate and keep people up to date on stuff, and partially contributes to the perceived "inactivity" in the community. Probably one of the most surprising gathering spots was the Armored Core Gamer's Facebook group. In comparison with when I first joined a few years ago, it's now doing significantly better. Instead of waking up to see the occasional spam bot post and raging 4th genner, there's a constant stream of posts from player's, talking about builds, story, unique and wacky stuff and it's quite refreshing with how barren its been the past few years. That being said, the years we've spent in the dark times has kind of taken its toll. This is most evident in discussions; most of them tend to be very shallow, talking about very simple points, likes and dislikes, and in some ways more "casual." But despite that, there is a small but genuine shift towards cooperation and smart discussion. To me, the key moment was when I stopped hearing "4th GEN IS BEST GEN HURR DURR" and instead heard people, particularly newer 5th gen players able to talk about their game and instead of being put down, were encourage and given the viewpoints (more balanced, pointed towards constructive criticism and fairness) even when they weren't fans of the gen themselves. This change in attitude is the important thing as well as the fact that it is still continuing to grow. As long as that can be maintained I see things improving in general as our situation does too. Discord has been an interesting case where it seems to bring alot of new people... but they just tend to lurk. What you get is most of the vets hanging out and not really a whole lot else. Discussion feels sparse and often aren't too great. 3. The explosion of content As mentioned above, the amount of content the community has been producing an incredible amount of content. four years ago if you searched AC on youtube you'd be lucky to find 3-5 videos a week. Nowadays, you can find at least 10-15 per day by different people. On top of that you have the stuff posted on the AC FB page (memes, AC images, etc). I used to have to stretch content out over a week in order to make it least; nowadays I can't even post half of it in a single day. So basically, the community has slowly started to pick itself up (albeit in pieces) and get back into its former shape. But it's not quite there yet, and it's becoming clear we're getting to the point where we need to start being concerned about the problems that will afflict us as we reach a bit more... mid-size. To use an analogy, the community is currently hovering right below an imaginary poverty line. Below this line we're not bringing in more people than we're losing, we don't have enough exposure to garner outside interest in our games and also our content, and we're still very unorganized and uncoordinated which prevents us from executing larger scale projects and activities. In terms of the games themselves, it means we have very few people actively playing any of the games, and for the most part there are few tournaments/events that occur. In order to keep moving forward, there is a few things we need to do: 1. Coordinate and organize consistent play times for games. It doesn't matter which game or console, make sure there are constant times where people are on and playing 2. Support community content. Like, tweet, and share any AC content you find so that other people (both fan and non-fans). Follow and like any pages or twitters which post content. Exposure and spreading the word is key. 3. Know where to find people. ACL, RR, ACG, AC Gamers group, Gamefaqs, know where to find where the various groups of people hang out. Be proactive. This is really a combination of everything above, but the key thing about the community now is that we cannot afford to be complacent. We need to be willing to pour our time and energy to make that final, hard push to get beyond that imaginary poverty line. Conclusion The AC community is on the slow and painful road to recovery, but we are still a long way off. Not enough people are active, games still have too few players, and content is still not getting enough exposure, and when it becomes more obvious when you talk to members of the community and their frustrations. And unfortunately the only way we can solve these issue is to keep grinding and pushing. Even if we host rooms with days where no one joins, or create videos with only a few views, even if it pains us that we don't get what we deserve, what have to keep pushing. We are still a community on the fringe and struggling to survive; we cannot rely on external sources but instead on ourselves. The final push will be laborious but if we want any hope of changing our situation, we need to keep going. -FromCheng

[chubbyhippo]

Thanks to @chom-raaa for the tag :D

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

It’s just cute so I keep using it haha

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

Disregarding subs, Fire in the Night.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

It’s a succulent! I chose it, because in Chinese they’re literally called plants with a lot of meat so I thought it’d be fitting.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Yes! I’m so thankful for them <3

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

There are a lot, but the most recent ones I can recall off the top of my head are:

Fair Ankles by Kells Literally everything by Xen but especially Whatever It Takes b/c fake dating is best trope ofc Striped by Alice and also her Doses of Serotonin series (don’t let the name fool you, most of them made me feel feelings of not well-being and happiness) Le Parfum des Fleurs series by Star dusk and there's nothing i can do and how could i live without you by Catsby

There’s a lot more that I love and reread often but I’ve been busy and not reading much so these are the ones I remember :)

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

No subs and 10 bookmarks (I don’t really use the system on ao3)

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

I’ve written a lot of different AUs, but I supposed a common one is brothel!Chuuya or just miserable childhood chuuya haha

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

User subs: 8 Work subs: 23 Bookmarks: 65

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

Basically everything, but that’s what online anonymity’s for

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Writing specific: I’d like to improve on writing longer stories with actual plot Other: I’m basically constantly in writer’s block and only feel the creative burst to write every month or so and I’d like to write more often and make it a habit

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I mostly write skk so I supposed popular ships.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

11!

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Oh boy, lemme see... 4 with a decent portion written and ~14 others with plans RIP

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I try to jot them down b/c I have a terrible memory.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Nope, but I’d love to :)

/cough/ we’re not counting that shelved one right? @miwagashi

16. How did you discover AO3?

I honestly have no idea. I’m guessing I just migrated over with an author from ff.net

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

ahah you’re so funny

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Nope.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Nope.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Just do it. And then edit like mad.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Plot them out, but leave room for adjustments.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Nope, hasn’t happened yet haha

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I don’t think it’s necessarily a specific type of scene, but rather just when something doesn’t flow smoothly I can’t continue.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

I am currently rotating priority on 4 one-shots, 2 multi-chapter fics, and the 4 skk week fics I never finished, but at this precise moment I’m working on Day 3 of the skk week fics.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

My ‘next projects’ just hit me when they want to with absolute disregard for my schedule so I’d say yes, yes I do.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

My daily goal is to attempt to write a word /sob/ I’m in writer’s block 24/7 T^T

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Probably.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

It’s actually so hard to choose, but I’d say had we but world enough and time and some to misery are born for skk and Live to Die Another Day for gen-ish (the pairing-less fate of this fic is so sad lol)

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Ch 3 of Soul Oath: I don’t particularly dislike this story per se, but I struggled so hard writing it so I cringe when I see it.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Hopefully with more works out and with a better/consistent uploading situation.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

The before and after (the planning and the editing)

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

THE WRITING aka putting words together that actually get my point across while being subtly symbolic and grammatically correct.

33. Why do you write?

Because I enjoy it :) I’ve always liked exploring various themes through the lens of various characters and imagining how they would react.

Tagging anyone who wants to do it :)

[flauntpage]

Brett Brown Could Unleash His Young Talent To Play at a Historic Pace

There was a time when James Harden and Tony Wroten were statistical peers.

During his second year with the Houston Rockets, Harden sported a usage rate of 27.6%, good for 22nd in the NBA. This was 2013-14, also the first season of The Process in Philly, which saw the 76ers’ 21-year-old Wroten finish fractionally behind the Rockets’ bearded one with a usage rate of 27.5%. Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, meanwhile, claimed a higher usage rate than Portland’s prolific Dame Lillard that season.

Usage rate gets thrown around casually by hoops nerds and NBA writers as a measure of offensive responsibility. Usage is determined by a simple formula that weighs minutes, shot attempts from both the field and the stripe, along with turnovers within the context of a team. It’s essentially a path to identifying which players are heavily influencing possessions for each team. For some historical context, Allen Iverson led the league in usage rate in 2000-2001 in addition to pacing the planet in TGI Friday’s expenditure and illegal usage of handicap parking spaces.

During the 2014-15 campaign—Harden scaled to seventh in the league in usage rate, just behind LeBron James. Amid an 18-win season in South Philly, Wroten likewise vaulted into the top tier of ball-dominant playmakers, finishing ninth in usage rate that season. Such unique autonomy saw Carter-Williams finish fifth in the league in drives to the basket per game as a rookie, and both he and Wroten rated in the top six in drives per game in 2014-15, both finishing just ahead of Russell Westbrook. We can keep going if you want (you don’t want); Ish Smith was somehow fifth in the entire league in drives per game with the Sixers and touched the ball more times per game than either of Kyrie Irving or James in 2015-16.

I’m pretty sure there is a point to this statistical bloviating, which is to frame the incredible offensive responsibilities coach Brett Brown has afforded his lead ball-handlers, even when they’ve been objectively terrible at assuming said duties.

For Wroten and Carter-Williams to have become usage peers of such productive league luminaries like Harden and James speaks to how hollow those Philly rosters proved; someone, and basically anyone, had to take those bad shots. Yet past the turnstile D-League caliber rosters Brown often worked with in his first two seasons at the helm, we found continued evidence of this thematic tendency to overload ball-handlers even during a more promising, Embiid-centric 2016-17 season.

This past season, the 76ers’ resident Danny Woodhead, one T.J. McConnell, ranked fifth in front court touches (the NBA calls them front court touches, but they are possessions in a halfcourt offense) per game from January on—just ahead of Isaiah Thomas, Ricky Rubio and Kyle Lowry. [I’m admittedly grateful McConnell doesn’t go by Timmy, because a scrappy Timmy McConnell might have broken the white guy grit scale.] The premise is clear; Brown affords his lead distributors atypical freedom to drive, pass and shoot in his up-tempo offense. Brown didn’t just rely on shitty and wasteful guard play as a last resort– the position appears elemental to his pace-and-space fueled scheme. The 76ers have finished between first and seventh in the league in pace—measured simply by possessions per 48 minutes—across Brown’s four seasons. The possession-hungry nature of Brown’s offensive agenda is arguably his greatest schematic departure from the Spurs’ archetype, a team often near the back of the league in possessions per game.

Enter pseudo forward and de facto point guard Ben Simmons—he of the four daily trips to the Camden practice facility. With such a high-usage role in Brown’s breakneck offense, Simmons’ qualities and weaknesses will be magnified to a degree even his live Instagram posts can’t match. As Crossing Broad’s own Kevin Love detailed, Simmons might just be a 7-foot Jason Kidd. I’m not quite as sold on the ascension of Simmons’ jump shot, but I’m confident that he can become a special force even if his jumper doesn’t become an asset. Per team tradition, Simmons skipped his first professional season due to injury, leaving us still scraping NCAA data for some statistical insights.

What do the NCAA numbers say about Simmons’ ability to assume the massive usage rate and isolation scoring (driving) freedom Brown will likely afford him? Turns out, this Australian kid was generational as a statistical contributor in college, as he’s the only NCAA player with both an assist percentage of at least 27% and a total rebounding rate of at least 18% since 2009-10. During his lone season in Louisiana, Simmons was 15th in the nation in 2-pointers made, fourth in attempted free throws and seventh in rebounds per game, while finishing 32nd in the country in steals per game (tops in steals of any player taller than 6-5). Collegiate steal rate has been valued as an identifiable and translatable category to the NBA level, as it’s an indicator of quickness. To consider his rare blend of boards and dimes in simpler terms over a far more substantial sample, Simmons is the only Division I player since 1993-94 with at least 150 assists and 380 rebounds in a single season.

Going the advanced route, let’s consider that Simmons was ninth overall in the nation in box plus minus (BPM), a box score based metric for evaluating the overall contribution to his team (which also reveals how shallow LSU’s roster was around him). Only D’Angelo Russell, his former high school teammate, and former pre-draft Sixers icon, posted a better BPM as a freshman over the past seven years. ESPN NBA analyst and spreadsheet wizard Kevin Pelton broke down Simmons’ statistical transition to the pros in the spring of 2016, “Simmons’ LSU stats translate to an NBA equivalent of a rebound rate near 15 percent and an assist rate near six per 100 plays. There’s precisely one NBA player who can meet both of those standards this season: Joakim Noah. Draymond Green (14.5 percent rebound rate) and Blake Griffin (13.5 percent) are close.”

Now remember, that’s referencing very-good-at-basketball Bulls era Noah, not the White Walker playing for the Knicks. Either way, this is pretty, pretty good company to keep, even if the connection only lives in Excel for now.

Only four NBA players at least 6-foot-7 averaged as many as seven rebounds and finished in the top 35 in assists in 2015-16 – with Green, James, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo among them – milestones which appear realistic to consider over the next few seasons given the team’s intent to deploy Simmons as a ball-dominant point forward. It’s additionally fun to consider Joel Embiid was third in the NBA in usage rate last season; suggesting Brown is more than willing to trust his young stars to drive the team.

Brown’s penchant for giving his lead playmakers keys to the kingdom extends to Markelle Fultz, as well. We can imagine Fultz will get plenty of work on the ball in addition to learning to run the screen maze from veteran sniper J.J. Redick. Fultz not only claims a higher assist rate than Lonzo Ball did last season (not bad considering Ball was more of a pure point guard), but he also became just the second freshman player since 2009 to post at least a 30% usage rate, 30% assist rate, and 55% true shooting clip (a measure of shooting efficiency at all three levels). Let’s recall Fultz is the first freshman to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists since 1992-93. The potential for this gifted combo guard to capitalize on a rich allowance of opportunities appears promising.

There is a great experiment yet to unfold—one that somehow began with the likes of Wroten and MCW—the pairing of a giant, generational point forward in Simmons with a silky, and at times aloof, scoring prodigy in Fultz. Opening night will mark the first time two No. 1 overall picks debut together. It’s appropriate to get as excited as many Sixers fans are for the debut of this unique duo, especially given their coach will afford them every opportunity to succeed, and fail, as high-usage cogs.

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