#I underestimated the work that making unique designs to each of those balls would be

[sleepyskydraws]

Inktober day 9 - Bounce

[vlouisaugustus]

Apply personally, or by letter addressed to Allen’s Fresh, Charles County.

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[naturecpw]

Never Underestimate the Intelligence of Trees

Plants communicate, nurture their seedlings, and get stressed.

Nautilus   Brandon Keim

Consider a forest: One notices the trunks, of course, and the canopy. If a few roots project artfully above the soil and fallen leaves, one notices those too, but with little thought for a matrix that may spread as deep and wide as the branches above. Fungi don’t register at all except for a sprinkling of mushrooms; those are regarded in isolation, rather than as the fruiting tips of a vast underground lattice intertwined with those roots. The world beneath the earth is as rich as the one above. 

For the past two decades, Suzanne Simard, a professor in the Department of Forest & Conservation at the University of British Columbia, has studied that unappreciated underworld. Her specialty is mycorrhizae: the symbiotic unions of fungi and root long known to help plants absorb nutrients from soil. Beginning with landmark experiments describing how carbon flowed between paper birch and Douglas fir trees, Simard found that mycorrhizae didn’t just connect trees to the earth, but to each other as well.

  Simard went on to show how mycorrhizae-linked trees form networks, with individuals she dubbed Mother Trees at the center of communities that are in turn linked to one another, exchanging nutrients and water in a literally pulsing web that includes not only trees but all of a forest’s life. These insights had profound implications for our understanding of forest ecology—but that was just the start.     

Tree Whisperer: “I think that we’re so utilitarian with plants and we abuse them to no end. I think that comes from us having our blinders on. We haven’t looked,” says forest ecologist Suzanne Simard (above). Photo credit: Jdoswim / Wikimedia.

 It’s not just nutrient flows that Simard describes. It’s communication. She—and other scientists studying roots, and also chemical signals and even the sounds plant make—have pushed the study of plants into the realm of intelligence. Rather than biological automata, they might be understood as creatures with capacities that in animals are readily regarded as learning, memory, decision-making, and even agency. 

This can be difficult to wrap one’s head around. Plants are not supposed to be smart, at least not according to the rubric of traditions known as western thought. There’s also a case to be made that, while these behaviors are indeed extraordinary, they don’t map neatly onto what people usually mean by learning and memory and communication. Perhaps trying to define plants’ behavior according to our own narrow conceptions risks obscuring what is unique about their intelligence.

It’s a rich and fascinating debate, one that won’t be answered without a great deal more research—and that research ought to be conducted with an open mind to the possibility that plants have minds. Simard spoke with Nautilus from her office at the University of British Columbia about the horizons of her work.            

To get the ball rolling, can you tell me about Charles and Francis Darwin’s root brain hypothesis?

Behind a growing root tip is a bunch of differentiating cells. Darwin thought those cells determined where roots would grow and forage. He thought the behavior of a plant was basically governed by what happened in those cells. 

The work I and others have been doing—looking at kinship in plants, how they recognize each other and communicate—involves the roots. Except now we know more than Darwin did; we know that all plants, except for a small handful of families, are mycorrhizal: The behavior of their roots is governed by symbiosis.

 It’s not just those cells at a plant root’s tip, but their interaction with fungus, that determines a root’s behavior. Darwin was onto something. He just didn’t have the full picture. And I’ve come to think that root systems and the mycorrhizal networks that link those systems are designed like neural networks, and behave like neural networks, and a neural network is the seeding of intelligence in our brains.

You’ve written that what makes neural networks so special is their scale-free character, which plant networks share as well. What does scale-free mean? Why is it so important?

 All networks have links and nodes. In the example of a forest, trees are nodes and fungal linkages are links. Scale-free means that there are a few large nodes and a lot of smaller ones. And that is true in forests in many different ways: You’ve got a few large trees and then a lot of little trees. A few large patches of old-growth forest, and then more of these smaller patches. This kind of scale-free phenomenon happens across many scales.

You can smell the defense chemistry of a forest under attack. Something is being emitted and plants and animals perceive that and change their behaviors.

Do you see scale-free networks at the level of individual trees, too, in the interactions within a single root system?I haven’t actually measured that, but there’s many things that you could look at. For example, root size. You’ve got a few large roots that support finer and finer roots. My guess is that they follow the same pattern. 

What makes that configuration so special? 

Systems evolve toward those patterns because they’re efficient and resilient. If we think of my forest, and the networks I’ve described, that design is efficient for transmitting resources among trees and how they interact with each other. In our brains, scale-free networks are an efficient way for us to transmit neurotransmitters.  

There’s something so primally amazing about networks between and within trees having similar properties to the networks in our brains. In the case of our brains, we understand that there’s something about the structure of these networks that gives rise to cognition. What are some examples of plant cognition? 

How do you define cognition? I’m asking because there’s a whole group of scientists who say we shouldn’t use that term because it means different things. 

Would it be any better if I had used the word “intelligence”?      

  I’ve used the word intelligence in my writing because I think that scientifically we attribute intelligence to certain structures and functions. When we dissect a plant and the forest and look at those things—Does it have a neural network? Is there communication? Is there perception and reception of messages? Will you change behaviors depending on what you’re perceiving? Do you remember things? Do you learn things? Would you do something differently if you had experienced something in the past?—those are all hallmarks of intelligence. Plants do have intelligence. They have all the structures. They have all the functions. They have the behaviors. 

Another word that can be slippery is “communication.” I would define communication as any exchange of information. That’s a very big umbrella; it can apply to, say, the co-evolution of berry coloration and bird tastes, so that over time berry color becomes more appealing to birds and correlates with nutrient properties. That’s communication—but we categorize that differently than we do the alarm calls squirrels give when a hawk approaches, or the conversation you and I are having right now. Where in that spectrum do plant communications fall?

 Right in there. And we’re prisoners of our own western science; indigenous people have long known that plants will communicate with each other. But even in western science we know it because you can smell the defense chemistry of a forest under attack. Something is being emitted that has a chemistry that all those other plants and animals perceive, and they change their behaviors accordingly

Putting science on that raises our own awareness that these plants are communicating just like we are. It’s just not a vocal thing—although some people are even measuring acoustics in trees and realizing there’s lots of sounds that we can’t hear, and that could be part of their communication. But I don’t know how far that research has gone. In my own work I’ve looked at the conversation through chemistry. 

When you and I communicate, though, regardless of whether it’s through sounds or scents, there are still individuals involved who have internal models of the world. It’s a conversation between conscious individuals, rather than an exchange of information that takes place without some awareness of that information being exchanged. Does that type of communication exist among plants? I’m not trying to reinforce some hierarchy where one type of communication is better than another, but to understand the distinctions.

I think what you’re trying to get at is whether there’s a purposefulness to it

A purpose, and also some locus to receive and direct that purpose. In the animal intelligence world, some philosophers now talk about pre-reflective self-awareness. The idea is that there’s a coherent sense of self, an awareness that you are you, that’s possessed by all animals by virtue of their having senses and some capacity for memory. The moment there’s perception and memory, there’s a self. Do you think plants have a self that is making those communications? 

Those are really good questions. Probably the best evidence we have—and keep in mind that scientists have looked at humans and animals a lot longer than plants—is kin recognition between trees and seedlings that are their own kin. Those old trees can tell which seedlings are of their own seed. We don’t completely understand how they do it, but we know there are very sophisticated actions going on between fungi associated with those particular trees. We know these old trees are changing their behavior in ways that give advantages to their own kin. Then the kin responds in sophisticated ways by growing better or having better chemistry. A parent tree will even kill off its own offspring if they’re not in a good place to grow.  

When you go and whack off the top of a plant, there’s a huge response there. It’s not a benign thing. Is that an emotional response?                    

That last example, of a mother tree killing her offspring if conditions are unfavorable, touches on what I was trying to get at. Does the mother tree know she’s doing it? Is there a choice? Can a mother tree choose whether or not to provide care, and then at some level does she know this?

We have done what we call choice experiments, in which we have a mother tree, a kin seedling, and a stranger seedling. The mother tree can choose which one to provide for. We found that she’ll provide for her own kin over something that’s not her kin. Another experiment is where a mother tree is ill and providing resources for strangers versus kin. There’s differentiation there, too. As she’s ill and dying, she provides more for her kin.

We’ve done lots of experiments where we adjust the health of the donor—the mother tree—versus the health of the recipient, the seedling, by altering levels of shade or nitrogen or water. It matters what condition each of them is in; they can perceive each other, and those decisions are made depending on conditions. If we suppress the health of the recipient seedling, the mother tree will provide more resources than if we don’t.

 We focus mostly on a one-way thing rather than both ways. It’s hard to manipulate and measure big old trees; we’ve been trapped by the sheer size of trees and how they respond, how we can manipulate them and then measure their responses because they’re diluted against this bigger array of things going on with them. I think we should do those experiments—it seems crazy that it wouldn’t be a two-way perception.

 Does a mother tree have a mental image of those seedlings? Of course, a mental image is a very animal-specific concept. But does it have some internal construct, however it’s represented? Is that the same thing as having a memory of the seedlings in the way I have a memory of, say, my cat? I can think about my cat right now even though he’s in another room, not because I’m perceiving him but because I have a mental construct.

You can look at the rings of a tree. The interactions with seedlings affect growth rates; they affect how much water and nutrients are taken up. People can reconstruct this and say, “Oh, this neighbor died over here in this particular year. This tree got released.” They can even compartmentalize those responses in certain parts of the tree trunk. Different plants have different abilities to do that, but the memory is housed in the tree rings of all trees. In conifers, they also house those memories in the chemistry of their needles. An evergreen tree, for example, will hold on to its needles for five to 10 years.          

We know old trees change their behavior to give advantages to their own kin. A parent tree will kill off its own offspring if they’re not in a good place to grow.        

In research on animal intelligence, there’s long been an emphasis—arguably it’s still there now—on non-emotional and non-affective forms of cognition. Now more and more researchers are also studying emotions, and realizing that those other forms of cognition, like memory and problem-solving and reasoning, are intertwined with emotion.

If you take the neurobiology underlying our emotions out of the equation, then problem-solving and reasoning don’t develop. With plants, most of the research I’ve read has been about the quote-unquote non-emotional side of things. Is there also emotion in plants? 

I wish I knew more about emotion and affective learning. That said, let’s say you have a group of plants and stress one out, it will have a big response. Botanists can measure their serotonin responses. They have serotonin. They also have glutamate, which is one of our own neurotransmitters. There’s a ton of it in plants. They have these responses immediately. If we clip their leaves or put a bunch of bugs on them, all that neurochemistry changes. They start sending messages really fast to their neighbors.

Is that an emotional response? I guess it is. But I can hear my botanist side saying, “That’s not an emotion. That’s just a response.” But I think we can draw these parallels. It comes down to language again, to how we apply this language to look at these responses in plants.

 I think bridging that communication gap is important so that people realize that when you go and whack off the top of a plant, there’s a huge response there. It’s not a benign thing. Is that an emotional response? It’s certainly trying to save itself. It upregulates. Its genes respond. It starts producing these chemicals. How is that different than us all of a sudden producing a whole bunch of norepinephrine? 

Are there things we’re missing in plants because our concepts of intelligence are drawn from humans and from animals? There could be whole ways of being we don’t even have words for.

I think that we are. I think that we’re so utilitarian with plants and we abuse them to no end. I think that comes from us having our blinders on. We haven’t looked. We just make these assumptions about them that they’re these benign creatures that have no emotion. No intelligence. They don’t behave like we do, so we just block it out.

The other thing I’m going to say is that I made these discoveries about these networks below ground, how trees can be connected by these fungal networks and communicate. But if you go back to and listen to some of the early teachings of the Coast Salish and the indigenous people along the western coast of North America, they knew that already. It’s in the writings and in the oral history.

The idea of the mother tree has long been there. The fungal networks, the below-ground networks that keep the whole forest healthy and alive, that’s also there. That these plants interact and communicate with each other, that’s all there. They used to call the trees the tree people. The strawberries were the strawberry people. Western science shut that down for a while and now we’re getting back to it. 

What other relationships are possible? What does it mean to be giving, to be empathic with the vegetal world? 

There’s two words that come straight to mind. One of them is responsibility. I think that modern society hasn’t felt a responsibility to the plant world. So being responsible stewards is one thing. And also regaining respect—a respectful interaction with those trees, those plants

 If you’ve ever read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, she talks about how she’ll go into the forest to harvest some plants for medicine or food. She asks the plants. It’s called respectful harvest. It’s not just, “Oh I’m going to ask the plant if I can harvest it, and if it says no, I won’t.” It’s looking and observing and being respectful of the condition of those plants. I think that’s the relationship of being responsible—not just for the plants, but for ourselves, and for the children and multiple generations before and after us.

I think this work on trees, on how they connect and communicate, people understand it right away. It’s wired into us to understand this. And I don’t think it’s going to be hard for us to relearn it.            

Brandon Keim is a freelance nature and science journalist. He is the author of "The Eye of the Sandpiper: Stories from the Living World" and "Meet the Neighbors" from W.W. Norton & Company, about what it means to think of wild animals as fellow persons—and what that means for the future of nature.                   

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/never-underestimate-the-intelligence-of-trees?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[wasilly1]

Detroit World Championship

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." -Albert Einstein Introduction STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM education is very important for students because it prepares students for their career ahead. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM concepts, it will spark their interest in STEM careers. Including STEM in schools' curriculum is very important, it helps develop critical and innovative thinking among students. One of the organizations that focus heavily on STEM education is FIRST robotics. The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen. Since the initial founding of FIRST, it has grown to be a huge organization devoted to accomplishing their mission. “FIRST is more than robots. The robots are a vehicle for students to learn life skills. Kids often come in not knowing what to expect – of the program nor of themselves. They leave, even after the first season, with a vision, with confidence, and with a sense that they can create their own future.”

In FIRST, teams designs, build, program, and operate robots to play a floor game in an alliance format. FIRST has four competitions which are based on age: - FIRST Lego League Jr - FIRST Lego League - FIRST Tech Challenge - FIRST Robotics Competition. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international, annual robotics competition. Teams consist of high school students, coaches, and mentors. Each year teams compete in a different challenge such as scoring balls into goals, hanging on bars, or balancing robots on balance beams. Each team has a 6-week period to build and program their robot for competition. In addition to competing, awards are given to teams for entrepreneurship, creativity, engineering, industrial design, safety, controls, media, quality and exemplifying the core values of the program. Each year, at the end of the FRC season there are two world championships. The best teams from all around the globe go to one of the two world championships. One is held in Detroit and the other is held in Houston... That is where our story begins because our team went to worlds. Sparky 384 This year is Sparky's 20th anniversary. Sparky is a Robotics team from Tucker High School. Sparky was founded in 1999, and since then the team has grown quite a lot. Sparky has had a tradition of success and this year was no different.

Here is a video we made of our 2019 robot. Our Season This year the FRC challenge was sponsored by Boeing.

This video talks about this year's challenge. We started out the season on a strong note. The way that FRC competitions work is there is first the District Competitions, then District Championships, and finally Worlds. As you progress through District Competitions you earn ranking points. The team with an adequate amount of ranking points, go to the District Championships. At the District Championships, teams compete once again to get a shot at going to the World Championships. This year, Sparky 384 performed well enough to secure a spot at World Championships. We also earned the title of one of the best defense bots in our district. This is a video we made of our team at District Champs. World championship We went to the Detroit world championship. The championship lasted from April 24-27. We reached Detroit on April 23rd and we began the setup process and preparing logistics for the competition. On April 24, we got a chance to take in Detroit and explore. We went around Detroit and we went to the GM headquarters. It was an amazing experience.

The world championship was held in the Cobo Center. If you have never been to the Cobo Center let me tell you one word that describes it. WOW!!! I really underestimated the scale of this competition. During the competition, the Cobo center had many unique activities which were open to everyone. One of my favorites was the innovation fair. The innovation fair consisted of cutting edge technologies from the best companies from around the world. We got a chance to view and experience a demonstration of these technologies. There were also many presentations and talks you could attend. Overall it was such a cool experience. Although, April 24th wasn't just for exploring. Qualification rounds began the same day. In Worlds, there are around 100 qualification rounds for each division. There are 6 divisions in the competition.  After qualifications, eight alliances of four robots each, are chosen. Those alliances playoff to be the division winner. Then, the 6 division winning alliances compete in a round robin tournament to choose top two alliances to go to Einstien aka the final match. It's 3 jam-packed days with a lot going on. On the 24th and 25th, we had qualification matches. But on 25th along with qualification matches, we had something interesting in store for us in the evening. The World Championship match is set during the time when most high schools have their proms, so that posed an issue. That's why RoboProm happened. I would be lying if I said that it sounds crazier than it is because it honestly is crazy. I have to say that it was really crazy and that I actually had a lot of fun.

Sparky was able to get to division quarterfinals. We as a team are extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish at the competition and we are looking forward to coming back next year. And plus, we don't want to miss out on the epicness of Einstein. Conclusion What FIRST has been able to accomplish is truly extraordinary. This is my first year being introduced to FIRST and now I am hooked and I am sure there are thousands of kids around the world who feel the same way. I would like to thank organizations like FIRST for changing the world, making it a better place, and inspiring the youth. https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/384 https://www.firstinspires.org/ Read the full article

[smithjeffrey2]

Post Mortem

Game App Icon

Title

Mini Golf Extreme!

 Genre

This game’s genres will include: 3D, Sports, & RTS.

 Platform(s)

Android systems version 20 or newer.

 Revenue model

This game features in-app purchasing for currency and advertisements for multiple methods of revenue generation.

Development tools/Language

The language used to build this game is C#. The tools used to create the game is the Unity game engine.

 Game audience

This game is intended for all audiences. The targeted audience is sports fans and players under the age of 25.

Team

Jeffrey Smith

·         Designer

·         Developer

·         Voice Actor

·         Creator

 Copyright/Reference

Smith, J. (2018) Mini Golf Extreme! Retrieved from: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Fullsail.Capstone.JeffreySmith

 Sound Bite

Travel often? Bored at the office? Alone or with some friends? Play mini golf anywhere you go!

Executive Summary

This game uses the gyroscope and accelerometer to allow the player to play mini golf on a mobile device. The player will use a golf club attached to the viewpoint of the device screen and control it with the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors. There are three unique methods of control to play each level. After level completion, the player is rewarded with in-game currency to spend at the player-store for customization. There are multiple courses to play on, and each map will be unlocked when they complete the map prior.

Inspiration

The inspiration behind this game came from a local mini-golf course that unfortunately had to close its doors permanently. I no longer had a way to play mini golf in a meaningful way. This game sought to change that. I wanted mini golf fans from around the world to be able to play even if they can’t physically. I did not want location or funding to hinder the ability to play when they wanted to.

 Capstone Game Scope

Broken into sections, the scope of this game is as follows. To start, the core features needed to be created and adjusted to work correctly. The primary feature for this game is the player controller. The controller needed to feel appropriate for the gameplay to be meaningful for mini golf. Being able to swing the device around and hit the ball was the intended outcome. In order to achieve this, the gyroscope of the mobile device was used to move around the club. The second controller used the accelerometer to get the tilt of the device. This controlled the location and direction of the ball and course controls.

The secondary feature was the camera. It was important to get the right viewpoint for each controller. Without the right viewpoint, the game would not capture the correct aspect of the gameplay. When the club was being controlled, the gyroscope also controlled where the camera would point. This was, so the player always had the club within view of the screen. When the ball and course were being controlled, it was important to disconnect the camera and allow it to follow the ball through scripting.

After the two core functionalities were made, the rest of the game could be developed. This would include the course layouts, the user interface, the scoring system, the multiplayer mode, and the player-store. The gameplay had to be perfect before moving forward on any other aspect because it is the sole reason behind the game. Without the gameplay being perfect, nothing else in the game would matter.

  Demo Screencast:

  The Critique: What went right

Design & Aesthetics

This game was being designed with the thought that mostly kids would be playing. I did not want anything to be overly confusing or misleading for the player. I created the user interface to be very straight forward. I am not an artist, but I knew a colorful theme and interface artwork would do well for this game.

I also designed the course layouts to be fun and challenging. None of them are too difficult to beat so the player does not become frustrated with the game. Each course has its own unique layout to mimic what the player would see at a real mini golf course. I built them with the thought in mind, so nothing was overtly wacky or out of tune with a physical possibility.

Project Management

Project management came down to scheduling each week’s goals. I mapped out exactly what aspect of the game needed to be completed and by when. Each major feature was given its own week to be completed by, so I could focus on that development process. I also planned features in a unique order so that nothing had to be revisited. When I was building the features, I would also try to take some finished work from them to apply to new features such as the user interface.

During the development, I wasted no time to work on future goals when there was time available. I pushed to finish my goals early in the week to allow myself more time for testing. When I was able to finish goals early, I started work for the next week's goals. Being ahead of schedule was always a priority for me because I never knew if something would come up that could slow me down.

 Development

During development, I had to focus on core priorities first. These were the features that must be in the game in order for it to be a game. As mentioned above, each week held different goals that needed to be met in order to finish the game on time. Much time was spent working out the coding for each feature. All of the programming code had to correctly function with each of the goals moving forward each week.

As I built each feature, I had to keep in mind the next programming goal in mind. I had to build the scoring system first. This system had to be built to be ready for implementing the reward system. After the currency reward system was made, I had built the player-store with the currency system tied in.

Testing

Testing was done at the end of each week. This allowed me time to finish the new feature goal and test it with everything else added prior. The testing took place within the game engine and on multiple mobile devices. Each device was unique in manufacturer and size. This allowed me to see the user interface scaling issues when the screen was large and when it was small.

Testing was also done using real players each week. After each milestone was finished, I would ask people to play the game and to focus more on the new content. This process helped me to understand where I was going right and where I went wrong.

  The Critique: What went wrong

Design & Aesthetics

Seeing as I am not an artist, I had to work with what I was able to get. I was not able to build assets that I needed. I was also unfamiliar with how to build terrains. The terrain that is in each level was not as aesthetically pleasing as I hoped for. The tools in the game engine make it easy to build terrains but not to an extent I was intending for or knew how to use.

The sound is also a big part of the game that could have used more attention. Included in the game were background music, sound effects, and voice acting. But, there was not enough variation as I had hoped for. All the music and sound in the game had to be purchased. I am not a sound designer, so I was limited to what I could purchase.

 Project Management

The timeline management for this project faced a setback early on in development. As this was not planned, it set the other priorities back a week. I had to work more hours than expected to bring the project back on track. This was done by working on the new feature and that week’s goal, simultaneously.

During the development of the timeline, I underestimated the amount of time required to build each course. The art assets I acquired for the course were all modular, but the amount of time required to build and make everything perfect for a ball to roll seamlessly was more time consuming than anticipated.

 Development

During development, I had a setback early on in the process. I discovered that one of my core features was not going to work as intended. I had to remove that from the game and rethink a new feature that could replace it. I then needed to design and create that feature as soon as possible to not get a setback in my development timeline.

After this setback was corrected and a new feature had been set in place, I was able to move forward with the rest of the game unhindered. Each feature thereafter was able to be finished on time or early. Having that kind of setback so early in the development process helped me to realize that time was of the essence. I did not want any future development to be slowed down, so I pushed for extra time each week.

Testing

Testing was a big factor that was not fully taken into account when building the timeline. I had not anticipated the true amount needed for each week's feature. I planned each feature for the week with only the build time in mind. I did plan for testing on the last day of the week, but at most times, this was not enough.

Another factor that was not taken into account was the player testing. When I had players try the game, they would provide great feedback. For instance, in the game, there was a penalty for restarting the game to try again. Players would simply leave the game entirely and re-enter to avoid the penalty. As this was not the intended outcome, the penalty was removed.

  Summary:

The goal of this project was to create something new that has not been made before. I wanted to put my programming skills to the test and expand my knowledge at the same time. The initial goal was to use augmented reality to place a mini-golf course in the player's surroundings. After I found that this feature was not possible, I needed to figure out a new way to create something new, but no longer use augmented reality.

After some developing and testing, I found that the goal to create something new was still achievable without the use of augmented reality. I spent some time reviewing the current mini-golf games on the market and noticed a trend of the same type of controller. The controller used by those games were a simple click, hold, and drag to hit the ball. I wanted to create something more meaningful to the game that allowed the players more control. I wanted to give the feeling of actually playing mini-golf back to the players.

The feature controller I created was a club that uses the device's gyroscope to allow the player to actually swing the device. As if the device was the club itself, players could swing and hit the ball around a course. This was the goal I sought to create. Knowing that this new feature was going to take time for players to be comfortable with it, I added two new methods of control that they might be more familiar with.

In summary, I was able to create a game of mini-golf as I desired it to be. The game has been played by many friends and family. Each had said that the new feature controller brought back memories from when they played the physical game as a child. The feedback on the game has been positive. This project has been a great learning experience and a great accumulation of time, learning, and expansion of my mobile gaming knowledge within the degree process.

  References:

Smith, J. (Feb 15, 2019) Game Images. Created on (Feb 20, 2019) by: Smith, J.

[kythen]

Haikyuu!! - Slow Dancing [1/?]

Title: Slow Dancing (Chapter 1)

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Pairing: Kurodai

Summary: A hybrid and masquerade AU. Courtship, like dancing, is best done slowly.

Lord Oikawa of Aobajousai is hosting a masquerade party and all are invited to partake in three nights of masks, finery, and of course, dancing. Kuroo Tetsurou of Nekoma finds himself enraptured by a crow he chances upon while looking out for his young lordling. On the other hand, Sawamura Daichi of Karasuno is drawn in by a cat who seems intent on flirting with him. Welcome to the masquerade, where everyone is everything and nothing they seem to be.

Also found here on AO3.

Word count: 5,312

[Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4]

"We, um, lost Kenma," Inuoka reports, his ears flat against his head and his tail switching nervously. Beside him, Lev displays none of the same nervousness Inuoka has, standing tall and earnest, despite doing what Kuroo had explicitly told them not to do and lose Kenma.

Kuroo sighs, putting down the reports he had been reading and smoothing them out against the surface of the table. "I'll go look for him. One of you wait by Kenma's room in case he returns and another of you go and tell the others to search for Kenma."

Inuoka and Lev nod in unison and barrel back out of the door. Kuroo follows them out, locking his door behind him before he sets out in search of Kenma.

They have only been in the Aobajousai castle for a day but Kenma has already managed to disappear on them twice. They found him the first time after one of the Aobajousai folk tipped them off and Kuroo had told the rest of Nekoma to keep an eye on Kenma so that he didn't disappear again before the ball. Even so, Kuroo has had a bad feeling about this and it turns out that he was right. He should have watched Kenma himself instead of trying to catch up on paperwork while away from home.

Kuroo checks the lower levels first, where they had found Kenma the first time, scouring the dark and quiet corners for a familiar splotched head of blond and black. It is unlikely that Kenma would be outside the castle, even with the weather being as fine as it is, and it is just as unlikely that Kenma would have been taken by force. As far as Kuroo knows, everyone gathered here in the castle was friendly, or under truce, and kidnapping the heir to another fief would only bring the wrath of everyone else down on them. No, it is more likely that Kenma had run away to avoid attending tonight's ball—not that Kuroo would let him.

The Aobajousai castle is absurdly huge and Kuroo sticks to the south wing once he sees the rest of Nekoma fan out all over the castle. It is an old and inherited property, passed down through ancient lines of tradition to Oikawa, who took it upon himself to improve the castle once it had come into his hands. In addition to its sprawling inner quarters and outer courtyards, there were now false doors that led to nowhere and windows that opened up into outdoor walkways, all constructed haphazardly into its original structure. While maddeningly frustrating, it was a clever move on Oikawa's part to deter would-be intruders and assassins, which he had in spades. And seeing the number of social functions Oikawa liked to hold, Kuroo wouldn't put it past him to have done it for the sake of messing around with his guests.

The castle tries Kuroo's patience as he searches it, looking into every nook and cranny that Kenma could possibly fit himself into. He climbs a spiral staircase in a narrow tower only to find himself at a dead end, seemingly one of Oikawa's frustrating designs. Kuroo stops on the top step and looks carefully around him. Light spills through a lone window behind him, starting to fade as evening draws near. But it is still bright enough for him, barely, to make out a low door to his side, built at an odd angle to the steps. Kuroo stoops and tugs at its handle and it opens for him easily, leading out into the ramparts.

This high up, the wind is strong and Kuroo's hair whips against his face, obviously ruined for appearing at social functions anytime soon. He can fix it later but now and more importantly, he has to bring Kenma back with him. Kuroo isn't alone on the ramparts and he sees Kenma crouched against the parapets, hiding from the wind. There is another boy beside him, who has bright orange hair and a pair of large, black wings, which marks him out as someone from Karasuno.

Kuroo stops before the both of them and Kenma looks up at him, irritation creasing his brows.

"Hello!" says the Karasuno boy, balking slightly when he catches sight of Kuroo's face.

Kuroo smiles and it does nothing to settle the Karasuno boy down. If anything, it makes him more nervous and Kenma has started to scowl at him.

"Kuroo," Kenma says as he stands. The Karasuno boy follows suit and the wind catches on his wings, almost knocking him off balance.

"We've got to go," Kuroo says. "The ball will be starting soon and you can meet your new friend there."

"Kuroo, you know how I feel about this," Kenma mutters.

"I do, but duty is duty."

Kenma looks mutinous but he steps away from the parapets, looking back at the Karasuno boy as he says, "I'll see you later, Shouyou."

The Karasuno boy waves back at him, spreading his wings, and Kuroo hears the beating of wings against the wind as he returns to the tower with Kenma in tow.

"Secret tryst?" Kuroo looks over at Kenma as they head back down the stairs.

"We just met."

"Interesting place for a first meeting."

"He was flying. He stopped on the ramparts because the wind was too strong."

"Will he be okay out there? He's pretty small."

"He'll be fine."

Kuroo glances over at Kenma again, caught off guard by the certainty in his voice. "Oh my. You sure it wasn't a tryst?"

"It was not."

"Sure." Kuroo smirks and Kenma doesn't bother looking his way.

Kuroo takes Kenma back down into the depths of the castle, which are still swarming with frantic Nekoma folk. Kuroo grabs a frazzled Shibayama on his way past them and tells him to call off the search, which Shibayama receives with obvious relief.

"It should be you in my place, Kuroo," Kenma says quietly as Shibayama scurries off to relay Kuroo's orders.

Kuroo knows how much Kenma hates this, but duty is duty, and birthrights are birthrights. Even if Kenma and his bloodlines were crossed, that would not entitle him to anything that Kenma was born into. Kuroo was fortunate enough to be taken in and brought this far, and he is content with where he is now in Nekoma, right by Kenma's side and just out of the spotlight.

"Don't underestimate yourself, Kenma. The people of Nekoma adore you."

"That's all your doing. Yours and Yaku's and Kai's. I haven't done anything."

"Oh yes, like the relocation plan after the south district caught fire wasn't your idea. Or opening the castle's stores during the food shortage of last winter."

"Those weren't perfect solutions. You were the one who worked them out with the rest and carried them out."

They reach Kenma's room and Lev brightens up when he sees them, straightening up from where he had been crouching on the floor. Kuroo shoos him off and rests a hand on the door handle. "Look, Kenma, I'm not going to argue with you about this again. You know why. But we have a ball to attend in less than an hour and if you don't show up Oikawa is going to want to know why."

The look on Kenma's face says it all and Kuroo chuckles, pushing the door open and ushering Kenma in.

"No running off again or I'll send Oikawa after you next time."

"You wouldn't."

"I would. It's his castle after all."

---

"Welcome, one and all, to the world-famous Aobajousai masquerade balls!" Oikawa proclaims from the top of the stairs, preening as he draws the attention of everyone in the ballroom.

"Show off," Kuroo mutters under his breath as Oikawa descends the stairs with a flair only someone of his caliber could muster. He is blooming, vines stretching along his arms and curling along his sides, roses bursting open in his chestnut hair like natural adornments. Unlike Kenma, the Lord of Aobajousai loves parties, which is why they were all gathered here from across the kingdom for three nights of festivities.

This time, Oikawa had decided on a masquerade theme, making it mandatory for everyone attending to show up in a mask. The first night was for the different fiefs to acquaint themselves with each other and everyone was decked out in formal wear in their fief colours, distinctive animal or plant features displayed proudly. Costumes were a must for the second night, by Oikawa's decree, and free dress was for the third night. While masks were to be worn for all three nights, the different, fief-unique features were useful in identifying where someone came from.

Those with cat ears and tails like Kuroo had come with him from Nekoma while those with plants dancing along their skin were in their home territory of Aobajousai. Across the ballroom, Kuroo sees the eagle-winged folk of Shiratorizawa, whom Oikawa had probably been forced to invite for the sake of good relations, and the owl-winged folk of Fukurodani. The snake folk were from Nohebi, the monkey folk from Jouzenji, and the bear folk from Date, all scattered around the ballroom along with others sporting their own distinctive features.

Kuroo's eyes fall on another group of winged folk, their wings a solemn, solid black in contrast to the eagles and owls. There is a head of orange mixed in amongst them and Kuroo steps forward to nudge Kenma in the back.

"There's your crow-winged friend," Kuroo murmurs in his ear. "Looks like he made it down safely. Wanna go say hi?"

"Later," Kenma mumbles, keeping his eyes down. But the tip of his tail twitches, betraying his interest, and Kuroo smiles indulgently.

"Looks like Oikawa's big introductory speech is over," Kuroo remarks as polite applause fills the ballroom. Oikawa is on the ground level now, conversing easily with his guests, and the different groups of folk have started to disperse, filling the ballroom with a mix of colour. "We could go for the food first. Unless you want to dance?" Kuroo teases.

An elbow flies into Kuroo's side and Kuroo coughs, turning watering eyes onto Yaku, who had come up beside him while he wasn't paying attention. "Stop bullying Kenma. He's nervous enough as it is."

"Hey, if you haven't noticed, I'm trying to help him relax," Kuroo protests, holding a hand to his wounded side.

"By winding him up even more?" Yaku scoffs. "Kuroo, provocation isn't the cure for everything."

"Neither is violence," Kuroo retorts.

"Kenma's gone," Kai observes calmly, breaking up the argument between the both of them with practised ease.

Kuroo whips back around and Kai is right—Kenma isn't there. His tail lashes out crossly behind him, angry at him for not keeping an eye on Kenma.

"He's fine," Kai assures him, directing him to look across the ballroom at where Kenma has made contact with a familiar orange-haired crow.

"He's talking to a stranger," Yaku says, his voice filled with wonder. "He never does that. Usually we'd have to drag him out from the corners of the ballroom."

"They grow up so fast," Kuroo says with emotion.

"It is his duty, even if he doesn't like it," Yaku points out. "Someday, he'll be the Lord of Nekoma and he'll have to do whatever Oikawa is doing—or at least, the basics of what he's doing. You can't coddle him forever, Kuroo."

"I do not," Kuroo says and both Yaku and Kai look at him disbelievingly. "Not that much?"

"Go and have fun, Kuroo," Kai says sympathetically, patting him on the shoulder. "Kenma will be fine."

"Go get laid for all we care," Yaku says, less sympathetically. "After all, that's the purpose of these parties, isn't it?"

"Wow, Yakkun, is that concern for my love life that you're showing?" Kuroo raises an eyebrow at him.

"What love life?" Yaku snorts before turning away and disappearing into the crowd.

"Kai, I may never recover," Kuroo mutters, staggering against him. "Has it really been that long since I last slept with someone?"

"Unless you count the reports you've been taking to bed as of late, yes." Kai pats him on the shoulder again and props him up on his own two feet before he follows in Yaku's footsteps.

"I feel unjustly insulted," Kuroo mutters to himself. "I've been busy."

He had been busy, sorting out an influx of reports in Nekoma once the older advisors started retiring one by one. Like the elderly cats they were, they did as they liked, letting their work spill down to the younger generation without much warning. Officially, Kuroo didn't have a place in the advising council yet, but unofficially, he was pretty much the one holding it all together with the help of Yaku and Kai and Kenma, along with the inner circle of cats he had urgently recruited.

But as Yaku and Kai had said, since he was here, and technically free of all responsibility by virtue of being free from the Nekoma castle, maybe he should leave all the paperwork aside for now. Let Nekomata and the other surviving advisors back in Nekoma handle it all for a while. He is going to have fun and let loose—while still keeping an eye on Kenma.

Kuroo slinks towards the food table, watching the middle of the ballroom fill up with all manner of folk, teeth and claws and wings and tails meshing together in dance. Kenma is still with the Karasuno boy, the both of them keeping to the side of the ballroom as per Kenma's usual habits. He'll be fine, Kuroo assures himself as he tears his eyes away from them and turns his attention fiercely onto the food spread out on the table.

"Oh, do you want that?" A hand retreats from the platter directly before him and Kuroo glances across the table.

He sees black crow wings and a man smiles at him apologetically, holding a full plate in his hands. Like everyone else in the ballroom, he wears a mask, velvet black and simple, which obscures the top part of his face.

"Oh, no." Kuroo gestures to the last piece of something on the platter. "Feel free."

"Are you sure?" the crow says. "I have to admit, I've probably tried each of everything and it looks like you've just arrived to the food table."

"I'm not that hungry," Kuroo insists. "Go ahead."

"You know," a drawling voice interrupts the both of them, "we do replenish empty platters here at Aobajousai, polite gentlemen." Kuroo and the crow startle as a man with pale pink hair saunters towards them with a slow-growing grin on his face. He taps the edge of the table and says, "One of you take it already so we can replace the platter."

Less than a minute later, Kuroo finds himself slinking away from the food table, a frantically filled plate in his hands and the crow right next to him, muted embarrassment hanging in the air between them.

"It looks like you're particularly hungry," Kuroo clears his throat, breaking the awkward silence. He eyes the mound of food balanced on the crow's plate pointedly.

"Not particularly," the crow replies shortly.

"Big eater?" Kuroo raises an eyebrow, dropping his gaze to the crow's body.

He doesn't look especially big-sized, even though he has a solid waist and firm legs framed by the clean-cut black of his clothes. He is about a hands-width shorter than Kuroo but he carries himself well, his shoulders squared and his posture straight, making up for the height difference between them with impressive presence. Even though Kuroo can't make out his whole face under his mask, he gets the sense that his newfound crow companion is attractive in spite of his deceptively plain first appearance.

"It's normal," the crow insists, trying to sound nonchalant even as his steps quicken, betraying his annoyance over Kuroo and his questions about his food choices.

Kuroo grins, widening his strides to keep up with the crow. "You mean all crow folk eat this much?"

"It's a long way to go between Karasuno and Aobajousai," the crow says defensively. "Anyone would be hungry after travelling that distance."

"You're right," Kuroo agrees with him amiably.

The crow shoots him a suspicious look like he had expected Kuroo to keep at it and Kuroo smiles back at him winningly. He is about to ask the crow if he can join him at his table when a flash of blond and orange catches his eye and his attention trails off to the side. He is close to the pillar that Kenma and the crow boy from Karasuno have sought refuge at and his footsteps slow, caught between wanting to stop to check on Kenma and wanting to follow the crow to his table.

Kenma catches his eye before he makes a full stop and Kuroo thinks it would be a good idea to keep walking when the crow boy catches sight of him.

"Hi again!" the crow boy chirps, recognising him even with his mask on. The crow boy's mask dwarfs his face, black and orange in his fief colours, and he adjusts it when it slips down over his nose.

Kuroo raises his shoulders in a slight shrug to Kenma, grinning as he stops before the both of them. "Hey there. I didn't get your name the previous time."

"I'm Hinata Shouyou!" the crow boy says.

Kuroo doesn't recognise that name and he mentally files it away for later reference. He isn't too familiar with the crow folk from Karasuno, seeing that he has never had any reason to cross paths with them.

"Have you and Kenma tried the food?" Kuroo asks him, holding up his plate.

"I did but, uh..." Hinata glances at Kenma.

"We can go to the food table now," Kenma interjects. "Seems like it's less crowded now."

Kuroo twitches at the less than obvious jibe at him and he waves his tail at the both of them as they head away from him. Maybe Yaku and Kai were right and he was hovering too much. Kuroo has been antsy ever since the Lord of Nekoma started talking about retirement and Kenma started his own series of small rebellions so that the position of lord would be put as far away from him as possible. Kuroo would tell him that it didn't work, seeing that he was the only one eligible for that particular position by blood, legal blood, but he doesn't want to give Kenma even more ideas.

"Okay, no. Party time," Kuroo whispers to himself, reminding himself of where he is as he puts Nekoma politics out of his mind and looks around for his crow companion. "Dance, flirt madly, hopefully get laid..."

The crow is gone and Kuroo droops. Obviously, he wouldn't wait around for Kuroo.

There are so many other people Kuroo could approach in this ballroom other than the crow, each more exotic than the next, but the crow had been intriguing in his own way, with so much of him yet to be known under his mask, and Kuroo is nothing if not determined.

---

"Mind if I join you?" Kuroo grins down at his crow after finally locating him at an out-of-the-way table with a decent view of the dance floor.

"Go ahead." If the crow was startled he keeps it out of his voice and body language well as he gestures at a chair across him.

"Nice view you've got here," Kuroo remarks as he wolves down a sandwich and something that looks like a bird wing. Chicken, maybe.

There is an empty plate on the table before the crow and he looks sated, his posture more relaxed than it had been around Kuroo previously. "Just trying to make sure that nobody from Karasuno wreaks havoc here. Oikawa would have a field day."

"He would forgive you magnanimously, and you would owe him for half your lifetime."

The crow chuckles. "Sounds like someone has experience dealing with the Lord of Aobajousai."

"Don't we all. He practically rules this kingdom. It's been hell trying to catch the fine 'not-technically-illegal-but-very-advantageous-to-him' print on each and every agreement."

"I can't tell if I'm envious of his way with loopholes or just plain annoyed," the crow agrees.

"With great power comes great craftiness," Kuroo intones. "Or maybe it's the other way around."

The crow looks at him sidelong. "Speaking from experience again?"

"Who me?" Kuroo grins and bites into a chocolate eclair.

The crow grins back at him, fully facing Kuroo now as he nods towards the eclair. "Those are good."

"Oh," Kuroo says through a mouthful of delicious chocolate and tries not to flash any teeth at the crow. "Speaking from experience?"

"Yes," the crow replies, not taking the bait. "I was fully prepared to fight you at the food table for it, just so you know."

"If your definition of 'fight' was to duel me with politeness, I'll have you know you'd probably have won if we weren't interrupted."

"Thank you. Now I can sleep at night knowing that I have another victory secured under my belt."

"Ah yes, the ancient art of politeness on display again. You, my fine crow, are a champion at this." Kuroo polishes off the rest of his plate. He hadn't realised how hungry he was until he started eating. Maybe the crow was right about hunger and travelling distances. "How about a rematch?"

"At the food table? You must be particularly hungry," the crow remarks, a smile in his voice.

"Nah, I probably won't be able to beat you in that department either." Kuroo pushes his plate aside and leans an elbow on the table. "How about on the dance floor? Would you like to dance, sir crow?"

"Oh," falls from the crow's lips but he recovers quickly. "You'll get indigestion, dancing on a full stomach."

"I will have no such problem," Kuroo says confidently. He has done more than dance right after eating before.

"I don't really dance," the crow admits.

"I could teach you," Kuroo offers, holding out a hand.

The crow smiles back but doesn't take his hand. Kuroo can read another apology on his lips when a flash of silver appears right above the crow's head and Kuroo opens his mouth in warning just as the newly arrived crow slaps his crow between the shoulder blades.

His crow squawks, his wings flaring out behind him and nearly sweeping the crow behind him off his feet. Spread wide, his wings tower above Kuroo, sleek black feathers laid out along a sturdy bone structure, strong enough to bear the weight of a human body. They are beautiful, stealing the air right out of Kuroo's lungs as he gazes up at them.

Quick as they had come out, the crow folds his wings against his back, some of his feathers ruffled after the sudden movement and he smooths a hand over them as he turns back with a glare. The silver-haired crow that had startled him drops into a chair next to him, unapologetic and windswept from dancing.

"Alright, s' your turn," the silver-haired crow says breathlessly, looking between the crow and Kuroo. "Oh, look, you've already got yourself a partner. Nice."

"I was in the middle of being turned down," Kuroo tells him, sending a silent, telepathic prayer for help over.

"Whatever for?" the silver-haired crow says in amazement, turning to the crow. "Was he being a jerk to you or something?"

"Yes, at first, but he's slightly more tolerable now," the crow says wryly and Kuroo's heart flutters with hope.

But he doesn't want to push too hard and end up right back in the intolerable range so he concedes. "Don't feel like dancing? I'll drop it if you aren't in the mood."

The crow hesitates.

Understanding dawns on the silver-haired crow in a flash and he leans forward to look Kuroo in the eye, his silver eyes glinting through the holes in his mask. He has a fancy one on, the edges trimmed with a stiff lace that threads through the sides of his hair. "He's probably worried about stepping on your feet," he whispers far too loudly. "He's not so good with footwork, this one, but he dances nicely enough if you hold him really well."

"Hey," the crow says indignantly, although his face flushes in a way that makes Kuroo think that the silver-haired crow is right.

Kuroo nods knowingly. "Don't worry, I'm really good at avoiding stray feet and guiding wayward crows through the dance floor. You'll be safe with me, promise." He offers his hand to the crow again with a small smile. "So, once more, would you like to dance?"

The crow glances at his hand, then at his friend and back again before taking Kuroo's hand with a huff.

"You couldn't have come at a worse time," the crow mutters at the silver-haired crow as he stands.

"You mean a better time," the silver-haired crow corrects with a grin. "Have a good time, the both of you!"

"On a scale of one to ten, how likely am I to be stepped on while dancing with you?" Kuroo asks lightly as they wait for the current song to end.

"Ten. It's too late to regret it," the crow informs him.

"Aren't you bird folk supposed to be light anyway? You know, hollow bones for better flight?"

The crow shoots him a look and says, amused, "You wish."

The song draws to an end and they take up a recently vacated spot on the floor, fumbling for a moment as they try to figure out whose hand goes where before the next song starts up.

"I'm taller," Kuroo says smugly, his hand resting on the crow's back and brushing the underside of his wings.

He swears he sees the crow roll his eyes as he rests his hand on Kuroo's shoulder. "Not for long," he mutters under his breath.

The song starts up, and it goes well. The crow isn't as bad of a dancer as his silver-haired friend makes him out to be, even though he spends more time glancing down at his feet instead of looking up at Kuroo.

"Hey," Kuroo says, by way of catching his attention.

"Hm?" the crow answers without looking up.

"Eyes up here?" Kuroo suggests. "I think your feet are doing fine even without your supervision."

The crow shrugs but he tilts his chin up to meet Kuroo's gaze. "It's your loss."

Almost instantly after he looks away, a heavy weight crushes Kuroo's foot on their next step and Kuroo bites down on his lip to keep himself from yelping. He still emits a pained whimper anyway, his fingers digging into the crow's hand, and the crow backs away from him, his gaze snapping downwards again as he steps off Kuroo's foot. He would have taken another step back and slammed into another couple but Kuroo holds him fast, dropping his head onto his shoulder as he sucks in a quick breath of air. They are lucky that it is a slow song, which allows them to come to a near stop in the middle of the floor.

"I'm sorry," the crow apologises, his face flushed as Kuroo lifts his head from his shoulder after the pain fades to something more tolerable, "but I told you."

"It's fine, I'm fine," Kuroo breathes, exhaling heavily as they start moving again. "Keep looking up."

The crow gives him a doubtful look and Kuroo brings his tail to the front, curling it around the backs of the crow's thighs. The next time he makes a misstep, Kuroo knows to bring his foot away instead of letting it get crushed under the crow's foot. They end up with a slightly different variation of the dance, with Kuroo dodging the crow's feet every few counts, but Kuroo thinks it is fine as long his feet are safe.

"You're pretty good at this," the crow admits. "Most people would have given up on me by now."

"That would be such a waste." Kuroo smiles at him in what he hopes is a most charming manner.

"Do you like dancing?" the crow asks thoughtfully.

"I do when I have a charming partner."

"Then you must be forcing yourself now," the crow says wryly.

"On the contrary," Kuroo meets him with a grin, "I'm enjoying myself immensely."

"You weren't enjoying yourself a minute ago when I stepped on your foot," the crow points out and Kuroo winces at the reminder.

"That was in the past— hey, don't step on me again." Kuroo sidesteps a particularly wayward foot, guiding the crow aside with a firm hand on his back.

"Honest mistake, my apologies."

There is nothing apologetic about the barely concealed mischief in the crow's eyes or the twitch of his mouth and Kuroo smiles despite himself. It was not just flattery on his part when he had called his crow partner charming because he is charming, playful beneath that seemingly stern front. His mask covers the top half of his face, set over a strong jaw and firm chin, but his mouth is inviting, soft and well-used to smiling. Through the eyeholes in his mask, his eyes are a warm brown in the light, sparkling with a mirth that warns Kuroo to watch his feet again.

Instead of dodging this time, Kuroo tightens his grip on the crow, swinging him around easily and dislodging his steps. The crow's wings ruffle behind him, spreading slightly to catch his balance as he rights himself in Kuroo's hold.

"Change of pace," Kuroo says innocently as the band segues into another song with a count twice as fast as the previous song. "Keep up."

"You keep up," the crow retorts, lifting his head in challenge to Kuroo.

Kuroo smirks, tightening his hold on the crow. "Oh, I will."

---

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Kuroo says breezily, loosening his collar as he leaves the ballroom.

"It looked like you and that other crow were trying to beat each other up on the dance floor," Kenma comments. "Don't you usually save that kind of thing for the bedroom?"

"I didn't expect us to become a spectacle." Kuroo grimaces. One moment they were trying to outmanoeuvre each other in that tight space between the both of them and the next moment half the dance floor had cleared out rather than get caught up in their spontaneous competition.

The both of them had broken apart the moment they noticed that they had somehow become the centre of attraction and Kuroo had slunk towards the shadowy sides of the ballroom before he realised that he had lost his crow companion. Even with some cautious searching after the attention on them had dispersed, he had not managed to find his crow again.

"It was entertaining at least," Kenma says, the corners of his lips quirking up, which was his way of laughing at Kuroo. "You can look for him tomorrow night."

"I hope so." Kuroo sighs, longingly remembering the press of the crow's body against his, pushing back when Kuroo tried to take up more of his space, his legs tangling in his when the crow tried to trip him up. There had been so much promise in what they had building up between them. Something fun, something special, something more that Kuroo had been looking forward to.

He sighs again.

Kenma says nothing, not even bothering to give him the stink-eye as he usually would, which makes Kuroo think that Kenma's night with Hinata had gone exceptionally well. He is envious of them. Happy for Kenma, but still envious. Kuroo hadn't even managed to get a name.

Tomorrow then, as Kenma had said. He will look for the crow and ask him to dance again, unusual footwork or not.

[jonathonlund121-blog]

Ten Reasons that You Are A Newbie In party.

Believe You're A Professional In celebration? Take This Test Currently To Find Out.

Winter season highlights the appeal in Brisbane with it's clear and also lovely bright skies. 10 from the fourteen districts of the world's mightiest city were significantly damaged; the fire lasted six days as well as entirely ruined three of the areas. Ecco qui di seguito la lista delle cose che serviranno al Craft Celebration di San Valentino. This box has stickers, task books or even two playthings that those attending your equine celebration will certainly love. Event ... Gail Leino is the net's leading authority on giving the most effective possible celebration, utilizing proper rules and also manners while likewise instructing organizational skills as well as enjoyable truths. You will certainly see the number of visitors diminishing also before the event concerns half method stage. If money is tight, and with currently having splashed out on Halloween outfits, but still to acquire the Halloween party food, after that you might not have much left in your bag to decorate the space. You can likewise find beautiful decors on Etsy or at your local party supplies shop. The first is a fantastic Hollywood celebration which comes utilizing many design event tips. Rather, plan in advance and also draw up your to-dos which will certainly assist you to with dignity stream easily via your party intending process. Since it is a business event does not mean that waltz music will be played the entire evening, simply.

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[homme-in-um]

Deposition of The Stag

Irish cinema is a unique and invaluable cultural export. Like many aspects of our culture, it’s hard to define exactly what brings a sense of ‘’Irishness’’ to a piece of art . Irishness in cinema utilizes the tools of absurdity, cynicism, dark-humor, sincerity and a gloomy, fable-esque tone. We are great storytellers, as twee as that sounds; look to Calvary, Young Offenders, Intermission, Give up Yer Oul Sins, The Guard. Don’t look to 2013’s The Stag. The marketing this thing got you’d think it was the first Irish comedy ever made.The horrifying thing is, I’m sure many believed that. Designed , as the many comparisons before and after its release would suggest, as an Irish The Hangover, The Stag seemingly recognizes the many elements that often come together to make a distinctly Irish movie so great, but dilutes and cobbles them together in such a frankenstein-ed manner to leave me sure the driving creative force behind this movie was the suitiest hollywoodian producer who ever produced , or an overeager southside film graduate. It is a vapid , humorless attempt to cash in on the success of its national peers .I do not like this movie, that’s hopefully clear unless I’m generally more curmudgeon than I thought I was. What really infuriates me is how inoffensive this movie seems to have been to everyone else. When I went to find solace in common opinion , I was even more horrified to find that reviews are overwhelmingly positive for The Stag. Mark Kermode of the Observer wrote ‘’A stag weekend gone wrong is the basis for a surprising amount of comic depth, minus the excesses of the Hangover franchise’’. ‘’Perfectly executed, and deeper than you may think’’ writes stuart-comerford of the first imdb review that appears. This thing got 81 percent on rotten tomatoes. The overwhelming response of the public is a ‘’fair play’’ smile and pat on the head , with an over-use of the term ‘’warm’’. Movies that I don’t like are ok, subjective medium and all that. Movies can be objectively bad and still be great- I’m looking at you The Scorpion King- but a movie that fails due to slovenliness and the underestimation of the movie going public's standards deserves bile, failure and angry blog posts.

This is a movie that falls sub-par from even professional quality on almost every count. Even those who sing it’s praises seem to recognize that lambasting these complaints as snobbish and high brow to the point that I got suspicious this was bought advertisement- a claim which I’m still pretty sure of in spite of being too lazy and bereft of evidence to back up. When I first saw The Stag in the cinema, within the first half an hour my defences were already way up. The movie, rightfully, supplements its run-time with establishing shots aplenty. No complaints on that score. The more time spent looking at Irish countryside or rainy Dublin streets the better, especially if it’s less time spent cringing through Andrew Scott careening between phoning in his performance and chewing the scenery in an attempt to make up for lost acting ability. The tricky thing about the admittedly beautiful use of Ireland as backdrop is that it jars with almost every interior scene, the lighting options of which seem to fall somewhere from 80’s soft-core porn to (poorly produced) internet sketch comedy videos in quality. This might seem pretty snobbish, but I guarantee you’ll notice it if you ever watch the film. Lighting is one of many fundamentals that this movie seriously drops the ball on, and as with any fundamentals, if it was done right, you’d never notice it.

No one goes into a movie to hate it. I consume media, cinema in particular like digestive biscuits. Most of us, whether we know it or not will give the benefit of the doubt for quality, story, performances and humor because we want to hear the story out. There’s no ‘’in’’ here, not a single likeable character to follow through the story although they all jostle desperately for position.

Finnán, Protagonist; spineless, unlikable, irrelevant lampooning of a ‘’metrosexual’’(we’re onto hipsters now surely, and even by 2013 that was getting old).

Davin , Protagonist?Antagonist?; Basically a rehashing of Finnán. Gets most of the jokes that would I suppose help the audience connect but for the smugness of it all.

The Machine, Antagonist?Probably?; Over the top , on the nose caricature of a grown up D4 head. Maybe I have a soft spot for the character but Peter McDonald, co-writer of The Stag, does an alright job. The faux-wisdom pumped out of The Machine is a pain, but there are real moments of emotion and comedy of which he is the linchpin. Does require an awful lot of shite-talk to get to ,which would be pretty unbearable but then a lot of D4 heads are that ridiculous, so fair dues.

The Rest?, ? ; I dunno, you watch it and tell me anything about any of the characters.

The script is chocked full of jokes so weak the cast trying to laugh together at them provide some of the best performances. It’s a masterclass in exposition. These two factors combined give the impression this movie went through several iterations of everything from actual comedy to drama to indie- any of the above. Then there’s the finale. Tacked on about three scene’s late after an over emotional punch the finale features Peter McDonald-the co-writer and comedic locus of this piece, giving a monologue about OIRland, how we’ve lost our way ( ‘’The Money, The Church’’- spare me) and, to finish this faux-Irish resolution, sings U2 to a delighted wedding party. Now, I understand that our constant U2 abuse as a contemporary nation is a trope the film attempts to lampoon in one of it’s unconfident , unfunny running gags, but even that is only tangentially relevant to Irish culture. Part of the viewer , if they’re anything as jaded as I am, has to find this ending oddly satisfying; a truly woeful cherry on this rum raisin ice-cream*.

*Insert your least favorite ice-cream here, I don’t want to pigeonhole all of us.

It frankly shocks me every time I sit through The Stag how no one person working on this mess of a project stopped what was happening. The actors are all Irish actors- one of their fathers is one of our most well respected. The crew , it being an Irish feature, are part of the amazing culture of cinema made here. How this turkey got signed off by any of them is beyond me. It did though, it did it’s stint in cinema( where yours truly paid actual money to see it)and now sits inoffensively online for consumption. And consume it I do. I’ve seen this movie probably about 4 times now. It makes me physically angry each time but I persevere to better understand exactly how to make and spot a hot turd of a film. It is of course, easier to critique than to do , but even the critics have failed us as an audience on this score. My crusade is to correct this. I will not let go of how terrible this movie is, and I will study it and rage against it to anyone who will listen to set the record straight. I’m watching it so you don’t have to. Or at least, don’t pay for it.