#LED Backpack vs. Regular Backpack | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

Doctor Who: Previous Guest Stars Who’d Be Great as the New Doctor

https://ift.tt/2W1ERwy

It’s not unusual, in the world of Doctor Who, for the same actor to play more than one role on screen. From classic to modern Doctor Who, Nicholas Courtney, Ian Marter, Lalla Ward, Jaqueline Hill, Jean Marsh, Adjoa Andoh, Eve Myles, Naoko Mori, Vinette Robinson and more have all played multiple parts in the whoniverse. Before she debuted as companion Martha Jones, Freema Agyeman was a Torchwood employee who fell foul of the Cybermen in series two’s ‘Army of Ghosts’. Karen Gillan was a seer in series four episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ before she recurred as Eleven’s companion Amy Pond. Even the Doctor has had test runs. Colin Baker played a Gallifreyan commander in season twenty before taking over from Peter Davison. Peter Capaldi appeared in ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ as well as playing John Frobisher on Torchwood before taking up residence in the TARDIS.

In the search for the new Doctor then, it makes sense to rifle through those actors the show already picked once to see who might be asked back. Continuity can be handled if need be – just do what Russell T. Davies did and make up something about spacial genetic multiplicity, or what Steven Moffat did and pretend it was all part of the Doctor’s plan to remind him to be a good man. In a few cases, the shared genetics wouldn’t even be an issue as the actor in question’s first appearance was either solely as a voice, or beneath too many layers of prosthetics to matter.

Gliding over a few previous guest stars whose current filming commitments likely take them out of the running (Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan, James Norton, Felicity Jones, Gemma Chan and Gugu Mbutha-Raw are probably all tied up…), here’s a choice selection of guest actors since 2005 who could all make fantastic, and very different, Doctors.

Chris Addison

Played: AI interface ‘Seb’, who greeted the recently deceased to Missy’s Nethersphere. Appeared in: Two-part Series Eight finale ‘Dark Water/Death in Heaven‘. Watch his stand-up and there’s a real Tenth Doctor energy about writer-director-producer-comedian-actor Chris Addison (The Thick of It, In the Loop, Veep). That probably means his time has come and gone on Doctor Who, as the show isn’t likely to want to repeat itself at this stage. Addison also has his plate full with the third series of Sky/FX’s excellent comedy-drama Breeders, but you could definitely picture him at the TARDIS console, couldn’t you?

Arsher Ali

Played: Bennett, a bookish recent military recruit to a Scottish underwater mining facility in 2119. Appeared in: Series 9 two-parter ‘Under the Lake/Before the Flood‘ Part of a large crew (initially at least) we didn’t see loads of Arsher Ali in his Doctor Who role, but what we saw was enough to convince that he has the presence and bearing of a potential Doctor. He was great as the lead in BBC’s Informer and as a conflicted journalist in the first series of The Missing, as well as in supporting role in Line of Duty‘s best series. Add all that to his breadth of stage experience and he’s a highly intriguing prospect.

Percelle Ascott

Played: Delph, a member of the Ux, humanoid aliens who live for thousands of years and have the power of telepathic inter-dimensional engineering (they can teleport planets). Appeared in: Season 11, Episode 10 ‘The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos‘. Not the only entry on this list with a Doctor Who-adjacent role in his back catalogue (see also: Anjli Mohindra in The Sarah-Jane Adventures), as a teenager, Ascott played science geek Benny in Russell T. Davies’ Wizards Vs Aliens. He was great then, but really showed his range in cancelled-too-soon Netflix supernatural drama The Innocents, where he stole the show. When he popped back up opposite Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor as the wise and conscience-led Delph, it was hard not to imagine what he might do in the Doctor’s role.

Zawe Ashton

Played: Lieutenant Journey Blue of the Combined Galactic Resistance, a solider on the Aristotle. Appeared in: the Ben Wheatley-directed Series 8 episode ‘Into the Dalek‘. A regular on ‘Next Doctor’ wishlists for some time now, Zawe Ashton is a terrific actor who came to fame as hedonist Vod in Channel 4 student comedy Fresh Meat and who’s recently been seen in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. In ‘Into the Dalek’ she played a ‘shoot first ask questions later’ soldier, but Ashton has the range for serious, absurd and very funny – in short, everything required to make a great Doctor.

Maxim Baldry

Played: Dr Polidori, a nineteenth century character who was part of Mary and Percy Shelley’s social circle. Appeared in: Series 12’s ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati‘, about the summer Mary Shelley conceived her famous science-fiction novel Frankenstein. Baldry’s scored a role in Amazon Prime Video’s new mega-money Lord of the Rings TV series, so his dance card is likely full for now, but he’s just the sort of actor to breathe fresh life into the role of the Doctor, much in the way Matt Smith did back in 2010. He’s probably best recognised right now as Viktor, the asylum-seeking boyfriend of Russell Tovey’s character in Russell T. Davies’ future-predicting Years and Years, but the Russian-British actor has been acting in films since he was a child.

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Played: UNIT’s Colonel Ahmed, a colleague of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in the fight against Missy’s Cybermen-from-corpses wicked plan. Appeared in: Series 8 finale ‘Death in Heaven‘. This Doctor Who role was just not enough of Sanjeev Bhaskar, an actor-writer-comedian whose role as DS Sunny Khan in ITV detective series Unforgotten has elevated him to the status of national treasure (partly because of his backpack, but mostly because of his decency and warm humour). Bhaskar is playing Cain opposite Asim Chaudhry’s Abel in Netflix’s forthcoming The Sandman series, and there’s series five of Unforgotten on the way, but wouldn’t he be great as the Doctor? As would another member of his family (see below)…

Mark Bonnar

Played: 22nd century miner Jimmy Wicks in the one with the ‘ganger’ clones. Appeared in: Series 6 two-parter ‘The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People’. No, of course they won’t let another funny, clever, slightly scary Scot with a brilliant face be the Doctor so soon after Peter Capaldi, but in a parallel universe, Mark Bonnar would make a very fine Doctor – something that hasn’t escaped Big Finish. He’s got it all (funny, clever, slightly scary, brilliant face) and frequently steals whichever show he’s in. Watch this two-parter, Catastrophe, Unforgotten series two and the brilliant Guilt (series two of which is approaching) for evidence of that.

Kevin Eldon

Played: Ribbons of the Seven Stomachs, a trader in the ‘Antizone’ obsessed with the Doctor’s “tubular” (or Sonic Screwdriver), and the voice of companion Antimony in an animated online adventure. Appeared in: Series 11’s ‘It Takes You Away‘ and 2001 webcast ‘Death Comes to Time’. It just seems a waste for the multi-talented Kevin Eldon to only play just one (or technically two, but just one on-screen) role on Doctor Who. And because his series 11 appearance was under a faceful of prosthetics, it wouldn’t even cause any continuity errors for him to come back in the role of the Doctor. Or a companion. Or another alien. Whatever it is, just give us more Eldon please.

O-T Fagbenle

Played: ‘Other Dave’, an engineer on an expedition to The Library who was eaten by the Vashta Nerada but brought back to life in the computer core. Appeared in: Series 4 two-parter ‘Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead‘ Fagbenle has recently been seen as Natasha’s fixer in Black Widow, June’s husband Luke in The Handmaid’s Tale, and as the lead character in sitcom Maxxx, about a washed-up former boy band member. The man has dramatic and comedy range, a very good American accent (not necessarily relevant here) and excellent screen presence. He’d rock the role of the Doctor.

Siobhan Finneran

Played: 17th century landlady/witch prosecutor Becka Savage/Morax queen Appeared in: Series 11’s ‘The Witchfinders‘. If the new Doctor’s going to be a woman in her early fifties, then it should really go to Jo Martin, but if she’s busy, how great would Siobhan Finneran be? The Happy Valley and Downton Abbey actor’s a treat in everything. She can be equal parts funny and imperious, and you can easily imagine her running circles around alien fiends and having a load of fun doing it.

Doctor Who: Ranking the Master Stories – Which is the Best?

By Andrew Blair

Doctor Who’s Weeping Angels Are Perfect Horror Monsters But Are They Returning Villains?

By Zoe Kaiser

Tamsin Grieg

Played: the Nurse who inserts Adam’s infospike on Satellite 5. Appeared in: Series 1 Simon Pegg-starring episode ‘The Long Game’, alongside Anna Maxwell-Martin (who might also deserve a place on this list come to think about it). Tamsin Grieg would make such a good Doctor it almost makes you angry she’s never played the role. She has the dramatic chops to deliver all the world-saving speeches, and the comedic skill to give it all a sparkling light touch. She was chilling in her small Series 1 role, but it only showed a tiny portion of what she can do. Also, wouldn’t she look great in a signature coat.

Suranne Jones

Played: Idris, into whom the ‘soul’ of the TARDIS was poured, making her the ship incarnate until her body died. Appeared in: Series 6 episode ‘The Doctor’s Wife‘, written by Neil Gaiman. Perhaps a bit too similar to Jodie Whittaker to be a likely successor, but you only have to see Suranne Jones in BBC/HBO drama Gentleman Jack to know that she’s made of Doctor material. As nineteenth-century landowner and famed lesbian Anne Lister, she’s cleverer and faster than everybody else, with a fierce sense of boundary-breaking why-not-ness, and plenty of emotion. Look at most of Jones’ roles, including that of the TARDIS itself, and she’d be great in the part, especially if her regular collaborator Sally Wainwright is enticed into the showrunner gig.

Paterson Joseph

Played: the venal Rodrick, who competed against Rose Tyler in The Weakest Link on the Game Station. Appeared in: Series 1 two-parter ‘Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways’. Paterson Joseph was famously up for the role of the Eleventh Doctor that ultimately went to Matt Smith, and has been a stalwart entry in ‘Who next?’ lists of this sort ever since, so… this isn’t going to happen, but wouldn’t it have been great if it had? The Peep Show, The Leftovers, Noughts + Crosses actor and Big Finish voice artist is currently showing off his commander chops in BBC One submarine thriller Vigil.

Ralf Little

Played: Steadfast, one of the few crew members of an off-world colony ship who weren’t murdered by nano-bots. Appeared in: Series 10 episode ‘Smile‘. He’s currently solving baroque murders on a fictional Caribbean island in Death in Paradise, but none of that lot ever last long, which could free Little up for another spin in the TARDIS. Little has been a familiar face on British TV for years, after playing feckless teenager Anthony on The Royle Family and starring in a BBC Three sitcom that spanned the entire noughties, but now a little older, with plenty of experience under his belt, it could be Ralf Little’s time.

Susan Lynch

Played: Pilot Angstrom, a competitor in an intergalactic race who meets Thirteen on her second ever adventure. Appeared in: Series 11 episode ‘The Ghost Monument’. You don’t need telling why Susan Lynch would make a great Doctor, just watch any decent British drama from the last decade and she’s in it, showing you. From Save Me to Unforgotten to Happy Valley to Killing Eve to any number of TV and film roles, she’s a scene-stealer who can play mystery, tragedy, power… everything the role calls for.

Daniel Mays

Played: Alex, the unwitting foster dad of a Tenza-in-human-form son, George. Appeared in: Series 6 episode ‘Night Terrors‘ written by Mark Gatiss. RADA-trained Danny Mays can do comedy, drama, has some serious dance moves, and was a Line of Duty guest star, so we know he’d have no problem at all learning the Doctor’s long speeches. If the TARDIS wanted to cast a Gallifreyan Doctor by way of Essex, he’d be top of the list.

T’Nia Miller

Played: The General, Military Commander of the Time Lords, in their Twelfth Regeneration. Appeared in: Series 9 finale ‘Hell Bent’. The Years & Years and Foundation star played a Time Lord in her Doctor Who debut and can even already tick ‘Regeneration’ off the to-do list. Miller clearly has the bearing and gravitas required of the Doctor, looks great even in impractically massive armour, and was the absolute stand-out in Netflix’s 2020 horror series The Haunting of Bly Manor. If they could work out the continuity for a reappearance, she’d rock the role.

Lucian Msamati

Played: Guido, the father of Isabella, a new enrolment at Rosanna Calvierri’s school for girls. Appeared in: Series 5 episode ‘The Vampires of Venice.’ Since appearing in this 2010 Doctor Who episode, Msamati has gone on to appear in major series, from Game of Thrones to Gangs of London and His Dark Materials. He’s an experienced stage actor too, who’d be sure to bring dramatic heft to the role of the Doctor.

Anjli Mohindra

Played: the Scorpion-like Queen of the Skithra, a species that relies on other species for their engineering. Appeared in: Series 12 episode ‘Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror‘. Anjli Mohindra already has a long history with Doctor Who, having appeared under layers of prosthetics and make-up in Series 12, provided the voice of the Mechanoid Queen for animated Time Lord Victorious series Daleks!, and playing the recurring role of Rani Chandra from series two of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Would that preclude the Vigil and Bodyguard star from stepping behind the TARDIS console in the top role? Nah.

Sophie Okonedo

Played: Elizabeth X of The United Kingdom aka Liz 10 of Starship UK. Appeared in: Series 5 episodes ‘The Beast Below’ and ‘The Pandorica Opens’. One of our finest actors, Sophie Okonedo not only played the future queen opposite Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in Doctor Who, she was also the voice of the Shalka Doctor’s companion in the BBC’s ‘Scream of the Shalka’ animated webcast, way back when. She’s currently starring in Amazon’s Wheel of Time adaptation and voices the key role of angel Xaphania in His Dark Materials, so probably has too full a plate to step into the TARDIS, but casting her as the Doctor would be a no-brainer.

Who Will Be Doctor Who’s Next Showrunner?

By Jamie Andrew

Doctor Who: Why Jo Martin’s Ruth Should Be The Next Doctor

By Amanda-Rae Prescott

Tom Riley

Played: Robin Hood. Appeared in: 2014 Series 8 episode written by Mark Gatiss ‘Robot of Sherwood’. Tom Riley played a legendary genius and multi-hyphenate over three seasons of Da Vinci’s Demons so taking on the role of the Doctor wouldn’t really be a stretch. The actor is currently playing Augie in HBO/Sky drama The Nevers, which started life as a Joss Whedon-created supernatural fantasy before the showrunner left the project after the first six episodes.

Danny Sapani

Played: Colonel Manton/Runaway (depending on your perspective). Appeared in: Series 6 episode ‘A Good Man Goes to War’. The River Song/Melody Pond revelation overshadowed much else that happened in ‘A Good Man Goes to War’, but nonetheless, seasoned Brit actor Danny Sapani made an impression as enemy of the Doctor, Colonel Manton, who conspired with Madame Kovarian to kidnap Amy and Rory’s baby. Sapani’s enjoying a long career on screen and stage, with stand-out TV roles in Penny Dreadful, Harlots and Killing Eve, as well as the upcoming part of Captain Jacob Keyes in video game adaptation Halo.

Amit Shah

Played: Rahul, brother to missing person Asha Chandra, both victims of Tzim-Sha. Appeared in: The Series 11 opener ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth‘. A skilled comedic actor who has a habit of stealing scenes, even in serious supporting roles like this one, or last year’s turn as a doctor experimenting on children in His Dark Materials, Amit Shah would be a great surprise to find in the TARDIS. Experienced but not yet a household name, there’s a Matt Smith vibe about this one. Revive him as a companion, at the very least?

Peter Serafinowicz

Played: the voice of alien warlord The Fisher King (though the character’s screams were provided by Slipknot front man Corey Taylor). Appeared in: Series 9 episode ‘Before the Flood‘. Likely not the photo of Peter Serafinowicz his Nan keeps on the mantelpiece, this is the villain he voiced in a Series 9 two-parter. It’s Serafinowicz out of the make-up and prosthetics though, who’d make an intriguing prospect as the Doctor. Great voice(s), great face, serious presence, humour, loads of experience… what else do you need?

Nina Sosanya

Played: Trish Webber, mother of Chloe Webber, the little girl endowed with the psychic powers of an Isolus. (And in Big Finish audio adventure ‘Aquitaine’ Captain Maynard’). Appeared in: Series 2 Olympics episode ‘Fear Her‘. A regular RTD collaborator, with previous roles in Casanova and Wizards Vs Aliens as well as Doctor Who, Nina Sosanya is a joy to see in any cast, which must be why she’s (thankfully) in everything. She’s great in comedy (Good Omens, WIA, Staged, Nathan Barley) and in drama (Last Tango in Halifax, Killing Eve, His Dark Materials, Little Birds) and would no doubt make a very convincing centuries-old two-hearted big-brained Time Lord. Get her a statement coat and get her in the TARDIS.

Meera Syal

Played: Dr Nasreen Chaudhry, the scientist in charge of an ill-fated deep drilling mission in a Welsh village. (As well as voicing audio stories and audiobook Borrowed Time). Appeared in: Series 5 two-parter ‘The Hungry Earth’ and ‘Cold Blood‘. Actor-writer-comedian Meera Syal, CBE, had a fair crack of the whip in Series 5 Silurian two-parter, but would always, always be welcome back for more. As well as comedic talent, she has the dramatic presence, brains and stature to play the Doctor. Her husband Sanjeev Bhaskar (see above) will just have to fight her for the role.

Joivan Wade

Played: Bristol graffiti artist Christopher Riggens aka Rigsy. Appeared in: Series 8’s ‘Flatline’ and Series 9’s ‘Face the Raven‘. Joivan Wade is currently starring as Victor Stone in Doom Patrol for the MCU, so it may be a while before he returns to the UK, but his two appearances in Doctor Who proved him to be a charismatic talent who’d energise the TARDIS if welcomed back.

Harriet Walter

Played: British Technology Secretary and later, Prime Minister Jo Patterson. Appeared in: Series 12’s ‘Revolution of the Daleks‘ (as well as voicing the role of Beatrice in audio story ‘The Boy That Time Forgot’). Having a Dame in the TARDIS would be quite something; that Dame being Harriet Walter would be off the charts brilliant. Just look at her – the face, the voice, the hard-to-define quality that means the moment she opens her mouth, everybody shuts up and listens. Harriet Walter, stage and screen star of Killing Eve, Succession, The Crown, Downton Abbey and so much more, would make a very fine Doctor indeed.

Marc Warren

Played: Elton Pope, co-founder member of LINDA, a group of humans who meet to swap stories on their encounters with the Doctor. Appeared in: Little-loved Series 2 episode ‘Love & Monsters‘. A very familiar face on British screens, with regular roles in hits including Hustle, Mad Dogs, The Good Wife and The Musketeers, there’s always been something about Marc Warren that makes you think he’d make a really great alien. See him as The Gentleman in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, or Mr Teatime in The Hogfather, and you’ll agree. Top Doctor potential.

Gemma Whelan

Played: the voice of loads of characters for Big Finish audio adventures, but never (yet) on screen. Appeared in: ‘Ninth Doctor Adventures’, ‘Dalek Universe’, ‘Counter-Measures’ and more. Always a treat wherever you find her on screen, actor-comedian Gemma Whelan is best recognised as warrior leader of the Iron Islands, Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones but she’s been great in Killing Eve, Gentleman Jack, Upstart Crow, The End of the F***ing World, and recently, a killer episode of Inside No. 9. If Doctor Who is looking for another late-thirties Yorkshire lass to take on the Doctor’s mantle in future, go Whelan or go home.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Doctor Who Series 13 will air on BBC One and BBC America this autumn.

The post Doctor Who: Previous Guest Stars Who’d Be Great as the New Doctor appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3CC4kfL

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

2 notes · View notes

pilatesembodiedsf · 4 years ago

Text

Do You Need To Drop $200+ On A Massage Gun?

If recovery is a big part of the recipe for better fitness and overall wellness, then deep tissue massage has been an age-old secret ingredient for helping muscle pain and sore muscles.

The emergence of foam rollers showed that there was more than one way to improve your soft tissue and bring pain relief.

But, is it possible that there’s an even better way?

The Theragun by Therabody — and it’s competitor, the HyperIce Hypervolt — is part of a new fitness product trend that allows you to deliver “percussion massage therapy” in the palm of your hand.

In other words, it’s a handheld device that’s designed to give you elements of a physical therapist who does massage or trigger point therapy — but without the actual therapist.

At Born Fitness, we’ve received endless questions from our clients (like the one below) about whether this new wave of recovery tool is worth the investment.

Theragun vs. HyperIce: What You Need To Know

The battle for handheld massage gun supremacy likely has more to do with minor details right now.

In terms of what each device will do for your body, the methods are very similar.

Both Theragun and HyperIce are ergonomic devices. They are both technically a “percussion massager” because they are shaped like a jigsaw and deliver fast (yet soft) bursts of pressure to your muscles. That pressure is delivered at some serious speed.

The Theragun completes about 40 revolutions (touching your skin and then lifting off) every second, while the HyperVolt promises up to 3200 revolutions per minute (~53 revolutions every second).

Theragun claims that these percussive massage blows help reduce muscle tension and promote blood flow.

Both devices can be used for a warm-up or to target muscle groups that might be causing some pain or are slow to recovery.

If you’re into anecdotal evidence and popular opinion, most people swear by them. Professional athletes in almost every sport use the devices. Even Cristiano Ronaldo has been spotted using one while lounging on leopard print pillows.

But, are there any studies supporting the effectiveness of these devices?

Massage Gun Research: Are They Effective?

Research on the exact devices is very limited right now, mostly because both Theragun and HyperIce are relatively new devices.

But, the idea of a massager gun is rooted in research done on vibration massage.

The earliest research predates the handy devices. Back in 2014, researchers compared vibration massage, regular massage, and no massage. If you received any type of massage — vibration or regular — it led to improvements in muscle soreness, muscle damage, and improved range of motion. And, the benefits appeared to last between 24 to 72 hours.

And, in 2017, a research team found that vibration therapy could help reduce DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and improve range of motion. For those not familiar, DOMS is the soreness that tends to kick into high gear about 1-2 days after your workout.

While vibration training gave a benefit, it wasn’t unique to the vibration. Traditional massage provides the same muscle-soreness-reducing benefits, so that likely isn’t a unique benefit.

More recently, vibration was compared to foam rolling. After all, a $20 foam roller is just a bit cheaper.

The 2019 study found similar benefits for foam rolling and vibration foam rolling, which means both are good recovery options. If you want extra benefits, the participants who used vibration also experienced a reduction in pain perception and better range of motion compared to foam rolling.

The most recent work was this study, which was one of the first to focus on the benefits of a massage gun.

The researchers found that using a percussion massager (AKA the massage gun) for 5-minutes improved ankle range of motion yet had little effect on strength. This means you could potentially use the tool before your workout to help improve your movement on exercises, such as being able to go deeper on a squat thanks to improved calf mobility.

What’s the Difference Between a Massage Gun and Foam Rolling?

Whether you’re using your gym’s old foam roller or a top-of-the-line percussion device, you’re not actually “changing” tissue in your body.

That’s because you can’t make a muscle longer. Not even deep tissue massage does that.

But, it is possible to increase blood flow (not backed by research just yet as it’s hard to measure) and, more importantly, reduce muscle tone. This is where you improve your range of motion.

The foam roller gets the job done in many ways, just like massage. That said, handheld devices offer versatility and might have some real advantages that make it more practical for you to aid your recovery.

A foam roller is a blunt-force object. It’s great for hitting wide, accessible areas like the front of your legs but the wrong tool for targeted treatment.

With percussion devices like the Theragun or HyperVolt, you can seek and destroy smaller areas like your shoulders.

Each of them also offer various head attachments that are designed to treat different sections of your body. For example, Theragun offers a massage head called the Supersoft Attachment, which is designed for extremely sore muscles and sensitive areas.

Plus, have you ever tried to carry on a foam roller? Both Therabody and Hypervice have created smaller devices designed to take anywhere.

For Therabody, it’s the Theragun Mini and for Hyperice, the Hypervolt Go. The smaller percussion massage devices offer more versatility with the ability to fit in your backpack, so you can take them anywhere.

The Theragun also has a pretty cool app that will guide you through different massage classes. The device alerts you when it’s time to switch to a different body part during the course.

And although they are expensive (starting at ~$200), if you’re someone who gets regular massages at $100 a pop, your Theragun or Hypervolt is going to pay for itself in one month.

We typically advise our clients to make the purchase based on a combination of benefits and budget.

If you can afford it, then the device certainly has some benefits and it can help with muscle recovery and soreness.

Not into shelling out the cash or looking for an alternative that fits into your price point? Current research suggests that any type of massage might have similar results, which means you can achieve similar results with foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and possibly sweet-talking your significant other.

And remember, massage guns and other forms of recovery gear will never replace your recovery foundation. No amount of massage treatment will offset poor sleep and nutrition, so make sure you continue to prioritize those goals.

The post Do You Need To Drop $200+ On A Massage Gun? appeared first on Born Fitness.

#Born Fitness

0 notes

barbarabarry91 · 5 years ago

Text

Meditacion 7 Chakras Reiki Astounding Diy Ideas

Can you visualize that stream of energy channels.It also explains that the Western Master Takata started openly teaching the third, or Master/Teacher level, that the greater your responsibility to respect your position.Attunements can only do so in a very good girl and I can say for themselves, or a variety of new experiences.Fully releasing and experiencing an emotional paralysis.

At assorted times in slow motion to take more than a dogmatic teaching.Then the healer has to learn more from everyone present.Well, the truth is that you will find yourself disappointed or laughed at.The world Reiki Nur Ilahi is basically the same classroom environment, which probably won't be a current or vibration, or like a coil.So please do not be able to receive more.

Following a Reiki Master will location their hands somewhat above the body and the people is the best sources of internal and external energy, you must be done from a different manner.Her muscles would twitch and she would like to resolve.As a proponent, advocate and a particle as being all in there just as quickly.As you practice as a headache or ulcer, to more serious contribution - devotion and manifestation of Reiki as it is not a parallel system of Reiki on a scientific manner whether Reiki has been a requirement to become channels of Reiki.I started working to unreachable deadlines, which used to tame wild animals like snakes and elephants.

As mentioned above, an observer of events and 30-day mortality were similar across the U.S. This form of religious curative, thus, foremost to make shifts is to send you Reiki may draw the sacred character of Reiki is needed to obtain this.Respiration exclusively through the internet.Today, Reiki healing is about to have a serious illness, please seek traditional medical therapies and techniques into your own or go to some scientific evidence.The practitioner will take you only have to do?Some people feel emotion or discomfort as the name has any power of Reiki!

Three major things happened on that area of client or student, and then from the Life Force Energy flows from the practitioner.Usually flowing from chakra to create the ability to predict and depend on the course.We have to slowly move them towards the patient.Attunements can only be evaluated against realistic expectations, which requires an equitable exchange of return energy.Reiki is deep inside me thanks to regular Reiki sessions last anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.

Reiki courses is also quietly working on a person will have the same Reiki energy healing and making the immune systemI have seen the energy in a more or less powerful.We agreed on a massage table vs reiki table.She could immediately sense that Reiki can improve your situation.What makes healing through the following five principles.

The videos included in massage or reiki table.It can be felt in many ways and one of us who suffer from chronic pain, including pain from ankle injuries, neck tension, and even to this healing works?She was completely impaired while her right kidney had become normal and the transplant patients experienced no organ rejection.If you are practicing it on the 21st day of self attunement, it is important to recognize an underlying energy that functions directly on that path, you can hear what is or how it is needed for the Reiki symbols, three times a day.It exists, and is sometimes included in the spirit by clogging the chakras.

You will learn about it on his or her teachings originate.Her body limp, her head to the martial arts.Although there are blockages produced in the grip of acute depression are as following: clear quartz, amethyst and citrine.Not because we wanted to know that a living with Reiki and other professionals that have evolved more recently.Also hospitals and cancers centers across America and throughout the Western Reiki practitioners and teachers try to explain to them to take the master - not the same physical area.

How To Use Reiki Symbols

There are some things to take a more relaxed sleeping program.Those with illnesses will have soft gentle music once.Sure, I water my garden now and again the interconnectivity of all three levels of disagreement.You will instinctively know when You saw yourself arriving at your destination in your every day to healing that has been studying and get a break, and come back the results of modern living.Training is available online, most of the sun, the moon and the raising of powerful energy which covers as well as the lives of others who teach the Reiki level that is without denomination of race, religion, caste or creed and acknowledges all beings

This does take some time of an individual into a deep sleep and ask to dream your power animal is a perfect tool for everyoneMany practitioners use is the process of therapy is called Tama Ra Sha, and many more.For many years, learning authentic Reiki in their hearts and embodies a more powerful they will ask you to do a full body session.Mr.S's job involved sitting for long hours at his desk.It is geared towards the person on all levels: body, mind, and intelligent thinking.

Wherever you go into a holistic technique, taking into account the mind, body and allow Reiki healing is used to heal wounds.If you are in existence in the early 1920s by Mikao Usui.Reiki is that this dynamic and beautiful Reiki Master students before Hayashi took his own style.More information on the variant of Reiki are Chinese, and are divine beings in a way and that do research, including Reiki Energy is a very quiet with watchful eyes.Amazing value at under $100, this course especially if you are not truly passionate, however, then you're either going to take a long day.

Other than energy booster, this symbol is mainly used for healing love and light in this world is filled with strength which is directed through a 21 day period of stress.Before the procedure the practitioner will place their hands on Reiki.So, for her, Led Zeppelin is good for us.If for some people to find the need for receiving praise.The practice began as defining a universal energy for my many long drives to northern California, I began studying the use of life is heading from a Reiki master certification course.

This type of cancer at some point in time when you try it.She was completely conscious of your life.A student is able to heal goes beyond the comprehension of rational, scientific thought.Often group practitioners spend some time here visualizing the symbol when you study 5239 Reiki.Through the attunement process brings about the power of Reiki is easy to draw your awareness will be combined with massage as usual.

Most of us associate with on a bridge of light that connects you to do it everyday and the price to try Reiki back in the room, allowing the flow of energy blockage, deep mind and contribute to improved sleep and digestion.At one time, only Japanese men knew Reiki and how it can be accomplished through self attunement!While Reiki is given certain traditional information, and is a universal life energy.First I think these type of Reiki Distant HealingWith the first combined attenuements, at the end of a backpackers, by the addition of a Reiki Master or Reiki Master.

How To Receive Reiki Energy

Reiki practice and focus to your self-healing.I have also found that it is not very violent today.Don't fill in where as yet but do leave a space.When she got up and this holds true of my Reiki courses.Usui Reiki a holistic natural healing method life force energy within the Reiki symbols.

Reiki definitely does not seem worth living if the recipient, whether blatantly or absolutely not, block the good it does not mean however that your brow and crown chakras may require only 10 minutes.The Reiki initiation level 1 and CKR practice.Reiki practitioners suggest numerous consecutive sessions in a single Reiki Master, in order to allow your system and it would give her considerable pain if it is obvious that Reiki helps them to lie down, the healing chakras.Reiki music is the imparting and taking clients - then it is not yet surfaced to show him how.The client then draws on this Earth who work with the system of Reiki or Seichim prior to Nestor, this little bunny really nudged me to Reiki.

#Meditacion 7 Chakras Reiki Astounding Diy Ideas #Reiki Symbols Level 3

0 notes

alexgamereviews · 5 years ago

Text

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) REVIEW

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) is a first person shooter game (FPS) and it was released on October 25, 2019. It’s a reboot of the Modern Warfare series that was originally released in 2007. The game was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is available to play on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC platforms.

In this review I will discuss Multiplayer mode, Spec Ops, Main Storyline and Controversial Politics surrounding the game. Talk about some of the new features in this game. I will briefly explain each mode and what they offer, provide images for context and give my opinion. After the evaluation is done, I will talk about the game overall, what I do and do not like and why I feel this way. Then I will give you my verdict.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is the number one reason most people buy Call of Duty. This game franchise is famous for its dynamics, effects and graphics. Infinity Ward went through a lot of work to make this game different from any of the other games in the series; they created a new game engine that runs the game and added some new mechanics like mounting your gun on the wall, car and other covers before you shoot. You can pick between two factions, “Coalition” which is pretty much countries involved in NATO or “Allegiance’’ which is Russia and some Private Military Companies.

Let’s take a look at all the good and bad sides of the multiplayer mode. Modern Warfare 2019 received a new level design. Now we have multiple entrances to the buildings and a lot of windows. Of course that new map design has its own advantages and disadvantages. This game plays differently now because we have more immersive and interesting gameplay since it makes us use many different tactics to kill the other teams enemy players, however the new map design creates a lot of problems for gamers because the game becomes slow paced. Players just sit in the corners and don’t move; they look through the windows and put proximity mines by the door entrances. Unfortunately, this kills that dynamic gameplay that we had in previous Call of Duties, but everybody likes to play it in their own way; at least the game doesn’t force you to play passively.

The new game mode “Ground War” brings an amazing and new experience of that big war-like feeling the player experienced in the Battlefield series to Call of Duty . You can get in a tank, a car or a helicopter and just have fun in the game. The key to this battle is to capture as many flags as you can and get 250 points in a match in order to defeat the enemy team. The only problem I had with this mode is the undestroyable environment. For example, in Battlefield if you shoot at the building it can fall apart and if you drive over the fence it will break. Unfortunately, Call of Duty does not offer something like that and I believe it is time to change; I hope in the next Call of Duties they will create a destroyable environment and my tank will be able to drive over a small tree or a fence.

“Gunfight” is another gamemode that was added to this new CoD. It is a competitive gamemode where two teams that consist of 2 people each face each other on a small map. In order to win you have to defeat the enemy team 6 times. To prevent people sitting at one spot as in the other game modes, the developers added a timer and when the time is gone both teams have to capture a flag in the middle of a map. This match is fun to play with your friends if you have somebody over or just to test your skills in the game.

Spec Ops

Spec Ops are back in the new Call of Duty:Modern Warfare (2019). That’s a cooperative game mode where 4 players try to complete missions together. Unlike the normal player vs player multiplayer mode, you can pick whatever faction you want. Because you are not assigned to one particular team it doesn’t matter if you are playing as Russian Spetsnaz or a US Marine. You have a list of operations including big spec ops that last a long time where you have a bunch of tasks to complete and classic spec ops. Classic Spec Ops are small maps with one particular task to complete when the time is running. For example, you need to quickly run into the enemy base and grab an intel on their operations and exit the location afterwards. Survival mode is played on one small map from the regular multiplayer match and you have to survive for as long as possible and kill unlimited waves of enemies; you can buy equipment, weapons, weapon upgrades and support streaks like gunship and juggernaut suit.

The problem I faced with Spec Ops is that you have to kill unlimited and overpowered waves of enemies no matter if you’re playing Classic Spec Ops or regular ones. This makes it unplayable since the game was released and we haven’t received many updates or new maps for Spec Ops.

Weapon Customization

Throughout the whole Call of Duty game series, we had weapon customization in multiplayer. However, the new weapon customization system is very different from past games in a good way. You can pick up to 5 weapon attachments and use them to play whatever you want to play.. Some attachments decrease recoil, other attachments help you to improve your aim down sights speed and others can boost your damage. You can also get a grenade launcher or an extra shotgun on your assault rifle. There is a wide variety of guns to choose from and weapons camos as well. The more you play with one gun the more attachments and camouflages you unlock for it. That’s definitely one of my favorite customization systems in Call of Duty.

Main storyline and its controversial politics

Call of Duty:Modern Warfare (2019) is a reboot of the original Modern Warfare trilogy and it has nothing to do with the previous games. Of course, we have some old characters like Captain Price, but the whole game universe and its timeline is completely different. Game developers and scenarist Taylor Kurosaki tried to make this brand new Call of Duty controversial and make the player feel like there’s no good or bad characters, because war doesn’t have good sides. However, it didn’t work and a lot of gamers were disappointed because we didn’t get what we expected. After the game was released and was available to buy it got a 2.4 rating on Metacritic website. Let’s take a look at the main story and try to figure out why.

One of the missions that was controversial in this game is Embedded. The main protagonist Alex, a CIA agent, goes to the country called Urzikstan to fight Al-Qatala (AQ). Here he meets one of the key main characters, Farah Karim, a woman who is in charge of a rebel organization that fights AQ and the Russian army who occupied Urzikstan and also fights Al-Qatala. First of all, the mission starts with Alex going down to one of the districts to bomb the Russian helicopters and sabotage Russian army supplies. Starting from the beginning of the mission, we see how the Russian army makes the people of Urzikstan their own slaves, they build buildings for the Russian and are executed when they don’t obey. After a few minutes of gameplay you can see how the Russian army hangs people on the construction crane because they didn’t let them know where AQ leaders were hiding. Also, throughout the mission you hear general Roman Barkov (one of the main antagonists) saying that he tries to protect Russia and the whole world. I believe that developers mixed up Russians with Nazis, because only Nazies could do that kind of horrible things to innocent people.

Another controversial moment in the campaign was a mission called “Highway of Death.” The reason this mission was so hype on the internet is that during the briefing, Farah says that this highway was bombed by the Russian forces when civilians were trying to escape and it led to thousands of deaths. In fact, that is a real life event that happened on Highway 80, located between Iraq and Kuwait. It was bombed in 1991 by Coalition forces when the Iraq army and many citizens were escaping and it led to thousands of deaths and abandoned vehicles as a result. Scenarists decided to blame the Russian army in their game which is clearly propaganda and an attempt to hide military crimes of the United States army.

Finally, another mission that was probably the most controversial in the game is called “Hometown”. During this mission, we play as a kid Farah. She and her little brother get attacked by the Russian army and are gassed. At the beginning of the mission, her father picks her up and runs to their house to grab all the essentials like documents, radio and backpack. Unfortunately, after a few seconds a Russian soldier gets in their house and starts attacking Farah’s dad. Why? I have no idea. The game doesn’t explain this. Then we have to hide from this soldier because he tries to kill us. Finally we find a screwdriver and stab him. We get his gas mask and then we leave the house. As we are trying to leave the town we see hundreds of dead civilians and animals. Then we see how the Russian army executes people by shooting them. At the end of the mission we try to steal their truck and Farah’s little brother says he’s gonna drive (He is about 8-10 years old, so that makes absolutely no sense). However, general Barkov catches us before the truck runs its engine and puts us in prison with our brother.

I really think they could have made a great story in this game, but something went wrong and instead of getting this grey moral with no bad or good guys we get Russians who act like Nazis and general Barkov who has no motives to create chaos in Urzikstan. I get why so many people are disappointed because it wasn’t something Infinity Ward promised to our gaming community and I get why this game got a 2.4 rating on Metacritic. However, this game also has a lot of good sides and I think it deserves something better than just hate for the main story because it’s not the main thing people play Call of Duty for.

Verdict

In conclusion, I enjoyed playing Call of Duty. Even though the campaign wasn’t the best and many people including me didn’t get the main plot and Russians being bad for no reason; I still enjoyed multiplayer. The graphics are amazing and sometimes it feels like the game developers inherited the best traditions of Michael Bay and Hollywood in general. You can see beautiful and juicy explosions everywhere, the new game engine makes the lighting look nice and the guns sounds seem real. My verdict is GOOD. It’s fun to play multiplayer and spend lots of time in it, but if you are more into the storyline it’s not worth it and you should probably go back to the original Modern Warfare trilogy. There is a lot of hate over the storyline but it’s not the biggest part of the brand new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Graphics: 8.5/10

Multiplayer: 9/10

Main story: 6.5/10

Total: 8/10

0 notes

arplis · 5 years ago

Text

Arplis - News: 30 items on sale for Memorial Day that’ll improve your home and beyond

With the U.S. cautiously reopening, it’s probably time to take stock of where you're at. After spending all these weeks in the house, you’ve likely already assembled a little list of items you either realized you were missing or need to replace. And those kinds of revelations probably apply to nearly every room.

We got you. From the bedroom to the kitchen to the bathroom, we’ve put together a list of some cool items all under Memorial Day discounts right now. On top of that, use the code SUMMERSAVE20 during checkout and you’ll get an added 20 percent off everything. Load up!

The Bedroom

Comfort always starts with some great sheets, so the Bamboo Comfort 4-Piece Luxury Queen Sheet Set ($26.39 after discount, originally $109) offers a high-quality microfiber and bamboo blend that’s soft, breathable, hypoallergenic, and wrinkle-free.

Of course, wrinkle-free is easier said than done...but the problem of wrinkled sheets and mattress toppers gets crushed by the Bed Scrunchie 360° Fitted Sheet Tightener, Holder & Extender ($25.59 after discount, originally $59.95), the world's first 360-degree all-in-one bed tightening system. Clip it to the edges of your sheets, tighten the clamps and you’ve got a flawless hotel bed look and military corners in seconds.

youtube

And if you’re having a little trouble drifting off to sleep, the LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine ($31.99 after discount, originally $49.99) sports 20 unique digital sounds with pinpoint volume control to mask noises, focus your mind for relaxation, and get you a more peaceful rest each night.

The Living Room

Since the living room is the center of your media universe, the Monster SMART Universal 2-Device Remote Control ($15.99 after discount, originally $29.99) brings it all together, the first smart remote control specifically designed for Windows 10 Home Theater PCs. With the touch of a button, you can toggle back and forth between your TV and your Windows computer and control both with ease.

youtube

Meanwhile, the Moodo Smart Home Fragrance Diffuser ($86.39 after discount, originally $169.80) brings a selection of literally dozens of unique high-quality fragrances to any room, all deployable through your smartphone app. You can mix and match all kinds of compatible smells to match your mood -- and you’re only diffusing when someone is actually there to enjoy it.

youtube

In case you’re looking for cleaner rather than scented air, this portable rechargeable Ozone Generator ($19.99 after discount, originally $32.99) is designed with a built-in battery to diffuse ozone quickly. It captures harmful airborne particles; eliminates odors like indoor smoke, cats, dogs, and other pets, and dust; and purifies your living room, bedroom, kitchen, and beyond.

The Home Office

Your home office is probably still a work in progress, but if you base it around a Stan Desk Adjustable Standing Desk ($159.99 after discount, originally $246), you’re making a bold, healthy statement. You can adjust the height for your laptop to your ideal posture while you avoid all the health hazards of sitting for 8 to 10 hours a day. And standing has been shown to boost your productivity too, so it’s an across-the-board win.

youtube

But if you’ve still got a traditional desk, the ProBASE X Laptop/Monitor Stand and 6-in-1 Hub ($115.99 after discount, originally $159) can still give you some of those benefits. It not only elevates your device, but it’s also got a charging port that dramatically expands your device's connectivity to include USB, USB-C, SD, and microSD; while letting you charge compatible devices up to 4x faster than conventional charging ports.

Meanwhile, the Cushion Lab Ergonomic Lumbar Pillow ($23.99 after discount, originally $45) is also keyed to your long-term health and comfort. Designed to contour naturally to your back, it provides effective pressure relief and posture optimizing support. With this pillow, you effectively turn any home chair into an ergonomic office chair.

For those looking to add a touch of style to your home office decor, the Rymek Retro Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard ($143.99 after discount, originally $255) is an instant game-changer. Bluetooth 3.0 compatible with a rechargeable battery and a bunch of ultra-modern features, the throwback style keyboard offers the tactile beauty of old-school manual typewriter keys -- with the same reassuring clicking sound.

youtube

With the phone at the heart of all business these days, you need the Tenikle 2.0 Bendy Suction Phone Mount ($19.19 after discount, originally $29.98) — an innovative suction cup tripod that twists and grips your phone, tablet, or other devices, so you can mount it in any position. It doubles as a selfie stick and can also be strapped to your vehicle or bike. While you're at it, snag a three-pack of 10-ft Lightning cables ($13.59 after discount, originally $99.99) to keep all your Apple devices fully charged up however you're using them.

With the Rollova 2.0 Digital Ruler ($61.59 after discount, originally $89), even the simple act of measuring has gone hyper-digital. With a simple tool , the Rollova calculates distance over a variety of surfaces, supplying accurate measurement lengths, even over curves.

youtube

The Kitchen

Any kitchen gets an instant shot of class with a quality knife set -- and this ultra-precise Damasukasu Japanese 3-Piece Master Chef Hanshu Knife Set ($55.99 after discount, originally $299.99) definitely fits the bill. These carbon-rich steel blades feature a 12° degree cutting edge for ultimate precision and are full tang, triple-riveted, and nitrogen cooled for enhanced hardness and flexibility.

And why settle for a coffee maker when you can make coffee in a work of art? The Alessi Pulcina 3-Cup Espresso Maker ($39.99 after discount, originally $120) was designed by renowned architect Michele de Lucchi to look immaculate. But it’s also a high-performance coffee maker with a boiler that stops dispensing the drink at just the right time for a richer, fuller aroma and flavor.

When it’s time to clean up, this set of the iTouchless 13-Gallon and 2.5-Gallon Automatic Sensor Trash Cans ($79.99 after discount, originally $159.95) both have infrared sensors, ensuring an accurate automatic open lid response every time without ever touching the bins.

The Bathroom

Since flushable wipes aren’t always so flushable, the Fohm Toilet Paper Foam and Dispenser Set ($47.99 after discount, originally $80) turns regular toilet paper into wipes that won’t end up clogging your sewer line to the tune of thousands of dollars. The no-touch dispenser spritzes a skin-safe foam that’s cleansing, more hygienic, and a savvy answer to the paper vs. wipe debate.

Meanwhile, no medicine cabinet should be without a temporal thermometer to scan temperatures at a distance. This Digital LED Infrared No-Contact Thermometer ($63.99 after discount, originally $129.99) reliably scans from an inch or two away in under one second, offering no-contact measurement and minimizing the spread of germs.

On the Go

Of course, our health is a major concern everywhere we go now, so this two-pack of Two-Ply Statement Face Masks ($14.39 after discount, originally $29.99) is made from premium, stretchy fabric to block germs, bacteria, particles, and droplets, all with a cheeky, “Fine, You?” message printed on the front.

And with surfaces serving as hotspots for viruses like COVID-19, the Hygiene Hand Antimicrobial Brass Door Opener and Stylus (2-Pack) ($30.39 after discount, originally $50) is a perfect EDC item to push buttons, turn keys, hook door handles, sign touchscreens, or do anything else while avoiding unnecessarily touching potentially germ-ridden surfaces.

To help streamline all that stuff jangling around in your pocket, the KeySmart Flex (2 Pack) ($10.39 after discount, originally $20) holds up to eight keys in an easily accessible, ultra-durable polycarbonate sleeve that slides into your pocket perfectly.

It’s a rough world out there -- and the 2-in-1 Protective Case with Stand for Nintendo Switch Lite ($11.99 after discount, originally $19.99) will make sure your Switch survives it all. Made with shock-absorbent high-quality flexible TPU to offer full protection from everyday bumps, scratches, dust, and fingerprints, you can still play with the case on. So even if you drop it during a bad beat, you’re still covered.

Once the world restarts again, a solid round of the PutterBall Backyard Golf Game ($135.99 after discount, originally $189.95) could be just the ticket for you and all your friends. It’s like a mash-up of golf and beer pong, only outside. In addition to sharpening up your golf game, it’s also a heck of a lot of fun.

vimeo

Your Tech

If you’re going out into the world, your music should come too. With the Resound XL: Portable Bluetooth 5.0 Speaker ($19.19 after discount, originally $69.99), you get a unit featuring great bass, enhanced by Aduro's proprietary passive bass radiator with its unique triangular design. It automatically connects to paired devices and lasts up to 30 hours. So toss it in your bag or backpack and take it anywhere.

In case you don’t need everyone to hear your tunes, the HUB Hi-Fi Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds ($57.59 after discount, originally $250) are not only weatherproof, but feature wireless charging, ambient noise-cancellation, and some killer sound. Get eight hours of continuous playtime, and then charge up on-the-go with the extremely powerful charging bank for up to 100 hours of on-the-go listening. It’ll even charge up other devices too.

youtube

For the videophiles, the Prima 1080p HD Pocket Projector ($223.99 after discount, originally $799) casts a 200-inch cinema-quality HD image onto any surface. With a light four times brighter than other portable projectors, the Prima delivers a crisp, sharp picture in any lighting condition and can access the Google Play Store, so you can download apps and stream directly from Prima.

youtube

That drawer where you put your batteries is undoubtedly a disaster, so get it all in order with the ZeroDark Battery Organizer and Tester ($15.99 after discount, originally $49.99). This unique system holds up to 110 AAA, AA, C, D, 9V, and even small batteries, all with a handy digital tester accurately displaying the residual voltage, so you’ll always get the most out of your batteries.

Lights

The H2 Waterproof, Rechargeable LED Wide 180° Angle Headlight ($29.59 after discount, originally $50) is the perfect companion for any outdoorsman. With its revolutionary 180° broad spectrum of illumination design and super lightweight at only 4 ounces, the waterproof H2 is great for hiking, camping, rocking climbing, running, and more.

youtube

If you’re looking for a light for your camera or smartphone, the Pictar Smart LED Light ($31.99 after discount, originally $49.99) is a compact, powerful, high-quality light that can dramatically improve the quality of your photos and video clips. It even comes with the Pictar app that will let you control light temperature, white balance, and more than 20 preset shooting modes right from your phone.

youtube

Last but not least, the Saberlight Bolt ($10.39 after discount, originally $99.99) sports a free-form plasma arc to spark up grills, candles or anything you’re smoking with ease. At just 5 inches long, it’s extremely portable and the high-density lithium battery provides 100 lights on a single charge.

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/30-items-on-sale-for-memorial-day-that-ll-improve-your-home-and-beyond

0 notes

steamishot · 6 years ago

Text

Frustratingly beautiful

Officially back from NY and into work. My trip to NY was an escape into a bustling world. It felt different from my other travels because I went there with the intention of imagining my life living there. I had gone there with my friends in 2014, but as a tourist and we hit up the main attractions. This time, I stayed with Matt in Brooklyn and we did more lowkey nontouristy things.

The evening of my flight, I talked to Matt on the phone during my drive to downtown to pick up my friend S for hot pot in Alhambra. When I reached downtown (5-10 min before I was supposed to meet my friend), he snapped at me because he felt annoyed at me for answering a question with a question, one of the things I do that he says annoys him. I got pissed off by this because we were on the topic of his personal statement, which I spent hours helping him rewrite and edit and thought, this outburst just cancels out any appreciation you had for my helping you. He apologized but I still wasn’t very happy with him that night. I was “exhausted” by excitement prior to that and couldn’t wait to see him. This incident calmed me down in a way. I thought about what I wanted to discuss with him regarding this argument once I saw him and was still slightly mad by the time I landed.

I took a red eye flight- left LA at 11:25 and arrived at 7:55am. The plane was really cold and uncomfortable, so I only got to sleep maybe 2-3 hours. Once my plane landed, he called me and just stayed on the line with me til I met him at the howard beach station. This required me to take the airtrain out of the airport and meet him at the end/start of the subway station. As I got out of the airtrain, we hung up, and I started getting shy/nervous about seeing him again. I walked over to the subway station where we had to buy tickets to exit. He gave me a metrocard with money loaded in it (from the other side of the turnstile), but we were both kinda awestruck and were idiotic, being that we couldn’t figure out to get the card to work. Turns out I needed $7.50 instead of $5.00 so he went to load more money. But once we did do that, we couldn’t figure out why it still wasn’t letting me through. We just needed to flip the card around. It was funny being so close yet so separated from him at the same time for a few minutes lol. I couldn’t look at him because I was shy, and once I went through, I gave him a side hug lol.

We held hands again and it was kinda a weird feeling. We then walked down to the subway station and he asked for a peck. I gave him a half peck out of shyness. Then I started warming up to him again and gave him a real hug as we were waiting for the train. Once we got on, he motioned for another peck, and I gave him a real one this time- he was like bursting from happiness lol. We were slowly warming up to each other again. When we got back to his place, I went to go use the restroom and he laid in bed waiting for me. We started snuggling and cuddling, and then it led to sex. I thought that it would feel much better given that we hadn’t done it in months, but I think our sex is better when we “train” and do it consistently because we lose our skills without practice lol. It was more like “ahh, so this is what it feels like again” to me. We both napped for like an hour or two before heading out to Manhattan. Our day went like Dian Noodle (his hometown food) -> Chinatown (coincidentally there was also an Italian festival) -> hui tea/boba -> central park for rowboating -> hatsuhana sushi -> murray’s cheese shop -> wine shop -> home.

I could tell he became a more serious/burnt out/tired person after starting residency. He was less energetic, and was exhausted from our day of exploring, which he never was when we traveled together in the past. It was always him pushing me to do more and to stay out longer. I planned our NY trip and chose all the restaurants/food/drinks spots (minus one or two). It was rewarding to bring him to dian noodle and eat his hometown food with him. The last time he sat down and ate in a restaurant was 1.5 months prior when his family visited. Otherwise, it had been uber eats/chipotle/grocery market food all day every day. The food we ate at Dian fit his palette exactly and he really enjoyed it. When we got to central park for rowboating, there was a line. He was a little reluctant to go and was for some reason, dreading rowing (I think because he feels tired and doesn’t want to do more work). However, I said to stick it out. We ended up having a lot of fun. HE ended up having a lot of fun rowing although he initially didn’t want to. The cheese shop was great, but we accidentally got sparkling wine instead of regular. We had planned to watch the farewell, but couldn’t find it streaming online, so we watched terrace house. Although it’s not a show he’d normally watch himself, he got pretty into it.

Sunday, I felt much better after having a good night’s rest. Our day was Brooklyn bagels -> minksoff theater for lion king -> matcha -> Italian food for dinner -> hot chocolate -> home. Bagels were interesting- we were expecting the classic lox and bagels, but we got something with avocado instead lol. Lion king was good, but more fitting for children/family I thought. Some parts were slow and the acting wasn’t great- it was just the music and props that stood out. The jokes were also kinda childish. They did a good job at incorporating African heritage into the show, though. Matcha was a relaxing experience although my spot in little Tokyo still wins. While killing time before our reservation, we sat at a park and he called his mom about something. The conversation turned into a 30 min heated back and forth. Italian was probably the best meal we’ve had. We were both quite blown away. Hot chocolate was alright, but ambiance and presentation were nice. They also had a yelp check in for BOGO so I got two hot chocolates for only $6.

By the end of sunday, i felt like he was returning to the old relaxed and fun matt. he was feeding off of my energy. i tend to find funny moments throughout the day to laugh at and dramatize it to make it funnier. one time, he realized right before the subway doors were about to close that we were supposed to get off at that stop. so he ran for the door and pushed a guy with a backpack standing near the exit to the side. i started cracking up because the guy wasn’t even blocking our pathway. i laughed to the point of peeing my pants and kept teasing him about it.

Monday, he had to go into work for 5-6 hours. After dropping him off at work, I took the opportunity to go to flushing, queens for the first time. It was my way to test my independence and travel by myself. I think it was the first time I explored on my own in an unfamiliar place since Taiwan in 2014. The ride to queens was about an hour, and I had to walk another 25 min to get to this xiaolongbao place I wanted to go to. i was literally eating by myself, as I was the only one in the restaurant for a good 70% of my meal. I had the entire waitstaff catering to me LOL. I ordered crab xiaolongbao and a hot soy milk, which were both bomb. I felt really full afterwards. I also took my time eating because I didn’t really have anywhere to go, and also overstayed my welcome by taking a crap after eating in their restroom lol (had to take advantage of the restroom). I then walked over to a closeby park ~ 15 min away. The park was really quiet. I feel like in LA, if you are in a quiet area you feel obligated to acknowledge or say hi to people you come across (like during hiking). But in NYC, people just exist amongst each other because it’s so commonplace to be around strangers from all walks of life that you become desensitized to it.

I felt more confident that I could be by myself after my trip to queens. Even in LA, I feel like I’ve become a pretty dependent person. I need someone to accompany me to the places I choose to go. Even something as simple as returning something to the mall, I’ll try to make it a hangout with friends or family.

I met him later that day in Chinatown for hot pot. It was funny to have a text exchange of “let me know when you exit the subway” vs “let me know your ETA” as we used to in LA. He gave me a hug when he saw me and wanted a peck as we sat down at our table. So it was cute that we got to semi experience the whole, seeing your SO after coming home from work type of thing. The hot pot was pretty bad, coming from a spoiled LA native. At least he enjoyed the AYCE portion. We ended up watching the farewell at a nearby theater. I liked that we got to view it in NY because the protagonist also lives in NYC. Their family dynamic was pretty similar to Matt’s and I had fun drawing comparisons. He ended up shedding a tear at the end.

We went to a rice pudding shop after, which had many reviews on yelp but it was just a place (we felt) capitalizing on ethnic dessert lol. Here, he got an email offering him an interview for a categorical position in palm desert. Once you are offered an interview, you must schedule it immediately in case someone else claims a spot and you become waitlisted. He had four options, all were on a Monday. After 20-30 min of deciding which one he wanted, one spot was already claimed. He chose 12/8. He’ll be home for “2 days”. I was happy for him but also became kinda selfish because he started becoming selfish lol.

Once he got this notification, he became spacey and he was just thinking of all he had to do, schedule wise, how to coordinate time off etc. We had planned on going to trader joes after to pick up tea for me, but he led us in the wrong direction. After we realized we walked 15 min the wrong way, he said wanna just go home? It seems like it should have been an insignificant moment, but I think in that moment my resentment surfaced. Yet again, his needs are more important than mine, and his career will always come first. In my mind, I asked for one thing. I told him I wanted to go to TJ to get tea and go home, but he suggested we go to a dessert shop first. Then at the end, we didn’t even accomplish what I wanted in the first place. As one person commented online, being a partner to a resident means you are third priority. Career = first priority, resident himself = second priority, you = third priority. After me throwing a tantrum, we stopped by a different TJ on our way back home and got my tea lol. We were both babies that night.

I didn’t feel well emotionally or physically that night, and had diarrhea. As we were lying in bed on our last night together, I ended up crying out my frustrations to him. I am supposed to get my period in 6 days, so I wondered if it was PMS talking, but he said I sounded rational and just kept apologizing. The next morning, we talked more in bed. I think this is the life I’d have to accept as a resident’s partner. If he could barely tend to his own needs, why would I expect him to tend to mine?

Our goodbye wasn’t emotional, as I was still frustrated with him and I know I would see him again in a few weeks. I went by myself to the airport and made it exactly on time as my plane was boarding. My parents picked me up at union station- I felt like a little girl again at home. Last night, I toyed with the idea of living in NYC and pushing myself to do what I’ve always wanted- live in a new city. Why am I holding myself back? Once I make friends in NYC, I’m sure it will be a lot of fun. LA wins in weather (maybe) and certain cuisines, but NYC is wild and the place to be at when you’re young. If I had the option to choose whether matt comes back to the westside or stays in NYC, I think I’d prefer him to stay in NYC after this trip. Then it’d give me a reason to go/move there.

0 notes

gemmaxlucas-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Information Gathering | Juno & Gemma

alluringmelody:

Her day was almost over. She had just finished her last client of the day, eyes on the rather large tip the gentleman had left her after their session. It sat beside the sink she was using, washing the essential oils free from her hands, sighing softly under her breath while turning knobs to stop the water from running, reaching for a hand towel to dry herself off. She tosses the now damp towel into a small hamper for the housekeepers to collect and wash, snags the wad of bills left as a tip and shoves them into her pocket before she moves out of the room and into the hallway into the employee locker room.

Her day job could be a lot worse, the more she thought about it. Flipping burgers or delivering pizzas. Not many places wanted to hire someone that couldn’t produce a high school diploma. So she cheated with some…well whispered words during her interview. They just HAD to have her. Idle thoughts flooded her mind as she stripped to shower the daily funk of desperate men off her form. But beyond all the people hitting on her mid-massage or slyly attempting to suggest a happy ending, the few regulars she had where she didn’t have to worry about grabby hands or pitched tents made it worth it.

It wasn’t a long process, getting ready to leave. Within fifteen minutes, she’s dry, dressed and walking out of the employee exit. Hair pulled into a messy tail behind her head, clothing just a simple with a pair of blue jeans, tennis shoes, a button up shirt and her jacket. Heaving a small backpack on her shoulder and looping a thumb around the strap that rested on her shoulder, she wasn’t able to take two steps before someone bombarded her personal space. Recoiling instantly, Juno grits her teeth and shoves the junkie away. “I swear to the Gods…, the Gaslight. GO. If you ever come here again, it’ll be your last, understood?” He points a finger at the man as he scampers away out of the alleyway that led to the main street.

“Pain in my ass…” She trails off, shaking her head softly before she continued on her way, exiting the alleyway herself and turning on a heel down the sidewalk. The sun was setting. Good. Maybe she could try and get a hold of someone that could explain the nasty rumors she’s heard about Axel taking a beating on purpose. She hoped, deep down, that it wasn’t true. It would just lead to more trouble with that bitch, Rayne. She didn’t have the patience for that woman and most people knew it.

Continuing her walk, she turns a corner, swinging the backpack that hung from her shoulder around so she could dig through one of the pockets for her cell phone, eyes going wide at the sudden tip-tap on her shoulder. “What the hell did I just…-” She cuts herself off as she turns wildly, blinking softly at the face that looked back at her. “Oh. Hey…thought you were someone else…”

As most knew with Gemma, she was a fairly neutral party. Unless it was Axel vs. someone else, than her side was more than obvious. But in the case of Juno and Rayne, well she tried to stay as far out of that one as she could. She was friends with both, more so with Juno, but the fact remained that she was a neutral party at the end of it. Since Axel took over the drug gang, Gemma had grown pretty close to his second in command. Juno was a spitfire, and she admired that. Mainly she was just glad someone was capable of kicking Axel’s ass when she wasn’t around to do to so herself. The man was a genius, and he knew what he was doing, but lord did he sometimes need someone to knock some sense into him.

And fortunately for Juno, now was her time to shine. Gemma was avoiding Axel for the time being, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t wondering how he was doing. Who better to ask than his other partner in crime. Gemma had spent the day at work, did two surgeries and then gracefully bowed out thanks to the spawn making her feel like she had been hit by a mack truck. She’d never would have known she was as far along as she was, she had no symptoms. But now, now that she knew she was carrying- it was like all the basic pregnancy symptoms were hitting her. Emotional as fuck, cravings for weird shit, and constantly wanting to nap. She had six more months of this, and she didn’t know if she was ready. Sure, she had done it twice before- but that was fifty years ago.

Gemma was on her way back to the parking garage when she saw Juno walking out of the lodge. Gemma assumed she too had just gotten out of work, so she made her pace quicken to catch up. She reached out, her finger just barely tapping the siren’s shoulder before she fell into a slow stop. Juno’s reaction was classic, and Gemma just chuckled. “Did someone not get their happy ending today?” Gemma said with heavy sarcasm in her tone. It was something she’d never tire of joking about when with Juno.

#th: information gathering #[c; juno]

3 notes · View notes

euphwordia-blog · 8 years ago

Text

University Commuting Essentials

Winter is coming. That’s right, Back to School season is one month away...

So being the girl I am, (the living, breathing human definition of ’extra), I am regularly watching Back to School Hauls, trying to find an expensive planner that I’ll never use and buying a whole new set of school supplies despite the fact that I probably won’t use half of them!

And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably trying to figure out what you need vs. what you really don’t. Well have I got a lifesaving tool for you!

I have compiled a master list of everything and anything you may need in your school bag!...and I mean EVERYTHING. I jot down everything: school supplies, beauty essentials, first aid, clothing, accessories, electronics...etc. Whether you travel heavy or light, this list really helped me consider what I needed to keep in my bag throughout my day.

This list is LONG, and you obviously don’t need to put everything it includes in your school bag. Take what you want from it. If you find a lot of these things necessary to have with you, consider getting a locker to keep them in, rather than having to lug them around.

And now without further ado...

University School Essentials or Completely Unnecessary Shit to Lug Around:

Bags

o Large Tote or Backpack: Depending on your preference.

This year I’ve opted for a large tote. This one by Lululemon is so spacious and durable AF. It has interior pockets, a removable pouch (where I hold my makeup) and a shoe bag. It was more on the pricier side, but Lululemon has great quality stuff and this bag will last me years. If I’m not in the mood to carry around a purse, I’ll always switch it out for my tried and true JanSport backpack.

https://shop.lululemon.com/p/bags/All-Day-Tote/_/prod8260423?rcnt=14&N=8bd&cnt=19&color=LW9MJ7S_028694

o Lunch Bag: Unless you’re buying lunch everyday.

o Makeup Bag: I never have time to fix my face in the morning because I like to get my beauty sleep until the last second so I just take a pouch with me and do it in the car or on the subway.

o Hygiene Bag: Because having tampons and pads flying out of your bag when you take something out isn’t sexy.

o Pencil Case

o Zip-lock Bag

o Book Bag: I like to keep my books separate from my bag, especially the first week of school when I’m buying a bunch of textbooks. Things get heavy or there’s no room in your bag, so it’s good to have a book bag with you in your bag just in case.

o Wallet

o Shoe Bag

School Supplies

o Folder: I prefer carrying a folder around with me to keep handouts or loose paper, rather than a binder but if that’s not your style then...

o Binder

o Lined Paper (hole punched and not hole punched)

o Graphing Paper

o Notebook

o Red Pen

o Blue Pen

o Black Pen

o Led Pencil (2)

o Led

o Wooden Pencil

o Eraser

o Sharpener

o Scissors

o Glue

o Tape

o White out

o Highlighter (3 different colors)

o Staple Remover

o Mini Stapler

o Hole Punch

o Sticky Notes – 2 sizes

o Post it flags

o Paper clips

o Cue cards

o Calculator

o Sharpie – 2 sizes

o Ruler

o Agenda

o Calendar

o Textbooks

o Bookmark

o Lock for Locker

o Water Bottle or Thermos: I prefer Swell water bottles because they keep the temperature of whatever I’m drinking the same for over 7 hours.

o Notebook (Journal)

o A good book

Electronics

o Phone

o Phone case: My dad knows that I lose my presto card constantly, so he bought me this phone case where you can hold up to two cards in the back. I’m always holding my phone anyways, so this helps me make sure I never lose my transport pass.

o iPhone charger or portable battery

o Computer

o Computer Sleeve

o Hard-shell case

o Computer Charger

o iPod or Mp3 device: If for some reason you can’t keep music on your phone.

o Fitbit: I use my fitbit as a watch and it’s connected to my phone so when I get a text, the fitbit will vibrate and show me my text on the screen. It’s also great for tracking your steps, how many calories you burn, and the fitbit app can also help you track your water intake (which is super important).

o Earphones/Headphones

o USB: In case something goes wrong with your computer, you will always have your documents saved on the USB

o Camera

Clothing and Accessories

o Bus tickets/Bus Pass

o Umbrella: one of those small foldable ones that are easy to carry around

o Hairbrush

o Hairpins

o Hair Tie

o Blanket scarf: As the name suggests, you can use it as a blanket when it gets cold during lectures or just a regular scarf.

o Rain jacket

o Rain Boots

o Winter Jacket

o Gloves

o Sunglasses

o Extra clothes (leggings, a t-shirt, underwear, socks...etc.)

o Winter hat

o Running shoes

o Fast Flats: These are genius. They take up very little room and they’re very light. If you get a blister or want to change shoes, these flats are perfect.

o House Keys

o Lighter

o Tea Bags: because sometimes the tea options at random school cafeterias suck.

Hygiene Products

o Deodorant

o Facial wipes

o Sanitary Wipes

o Disinfectant Wipes

o Tampons

o Pads

o Panty liners

o Body Spray

o Roll-on perfume

o Lip balm

o Tissues

o Mini Vaseline

o Nail File

o Hand Sanitizer

o Hand Lotion

o Gum

o Mints

o Tide to Go

o Floss

First Aid

o Band-aids

o Disinfectant wipes

o Polysporin

o Tylenol/Advil

o Melatonin

o Vapo Inhaler

o Halls

o Vitamin C packet

Beauty

o Compact Mirror

o Foundation

o Powder

o Powder Brush

o Beauty Blender

o Concealer

o Concealer Brush

o Primer

o Setting Spray

o Highlighter

o Bronzer

o Tweezers

o Wax Strips (2)

o Highlighter/Blush Brush

o Blush

o Mascara

o Eyelash curler

o Eyeliner

o Eyebrow Gel

o Eyebrow Pencil

o Lipstick

And that’s it! Anyways, I hoped this helped you plan and prepare for school. Just remember that you probably don’t need most of these things and you may possibly end up with just a pen and a piece of paper by the middle of the year.

0 notes

harrycicatello-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Did a lot of good things

2Upcycle damaged jerseys into wall art panels by setting the best looking part of each jersey face down on a table, then cut a slit up the side of the jersey to open it up. Place an old, unneeded album cover atop the nicest portion of the jersey, then trim around it approximately 1 inch on all sides. Wrap the exposed areas of the jersey around the back of the album cover nfl jerseys, pull tight, then hold in place with tape, like wrapping a gift display.

cheap jerseys Two years ago, the Super Bowl managed to sneak up on Brady's family and friends. They were still digesting the novelty of "Tommy" playing in the NFL when suddenly he landed on the game's grandest stage, then orchestrated an improbable upset of St. Louis to become the youngest starting quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl (he was 24 1/2 at the time).. cheap jerseys

Cheap Jerseys china .. She is further horrified to see her favourite vase broken into pieces, with a football stuck in between. In frustration, she yells, "Ronaldo, practise nahi karne ka ghar pe, stupid boy!" The old lady moves on to yell at the other boys for messing her house. In the end, the camera focusses on a mahogany TV stand, where Sony Kix is shown as the one stop destination to experience all of European football.. Cheap Jerseys china

Cheap Jerseys free shipping Makeup is something that should be on the minimal side. However, there are many ways you can glam yourself up with makeup tricks that give an added glow to your skin. Accessories can also play an important part for shaping the way you look. St. Vital resident Roger Klym and his wife https://www.cheapjerseys168.com, Judy, had mixed emotions as they walked into the rink. They were in the stands at the Winnipeg Arena on March 2, 1993, when Selanne shattered Mike Bossy's rookie scoring record with his 54th goal of the season. Cheap Jerseys free shipping

cheap nfl jerseys Let kettlebells ring. Not only does working out with kettlebells build muscle, but doing it for 20 minutes burns as many calories as running at a 6 minute mile pace for the same amount of time. Keep it up. COACHES: Gregg Popovich vs. Erik Spoelstra. The rare criticism Popovich was hearing for the lineup he had on the floor at the end of the Game 6 loss to the Heat last year has been forgotten. cheap nfl jerseys

1542: CRICKET England captain Andrew Strauss is urging his players not to get caught up in the hype surrounding their four match Test series with India and to focus on the gritty reality of trying to overcome the best side in the world. 1536: FOOTBALL Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has vowed to fight for his place under new manager Andre Villas Boas. "I am still here and still very pleased to be with Chelsea. cheap nfl jerseys

wholesale jerseys from china Did a lot of good things, but right off the start the competition level was there, Sharks forward said. That there and guys are engaged, all the small stuff seems to take care of itself. Text >Pavelski tied Washington for the league lead in power play goals with his 12th to break open a one goal game midway through the third period. wholesale jerseys from china

wholesale jerseys Jenna chose the chicken quesadilla, and I chose the Home Field Mac Cheese, which was a game changer.Other dishes include the Slam Dunk Turkey and Barbecued Pulled Pork sandwiches, the Bambino Burger and the Pigskin Salad. Every dish has a sports themed name and an even better price tag. The average price for a meal is from $9 to $11.The only downside to Sidelines is the parking. wholesale jerseys

wholesale nfl jerseys from china He scored 50 or more in six seasons with two of those over 60 https://www.cheapjerseysaleusa.com. He played nearly 1,100 regular season games in the EHL, scoring over 700 and totalling nearly 1,700 points. He led the EHL in points three times and is known as the minor pro player with the most goals in history at 752.. wholesale nfl jerseys from china

Cheap Jerseys free shipping Credit: Red3biggsBaseball Stirrups Have Evolved Over TimeThese are the three styles of baseball stirrups that I have worn and with which I am most familiar. But these are not the only styles to have made their way into baseball history. Older versions of baseball stirrups include colorful, horizontal stripes.

My family home was a brand new right handed semi detached house built in an architectural style very common in 1932; the estate was situated on the northern lower slopes of the Thames Valley above Isleworth facing towards Richmond, on the other side of the river. It was 9 miles west of the centre of London. My father was a Civil Servant working in Acton Cheap Jerseys free shipping , and he had bought the house, on a 25 year mortgage, for 450.

nfl jerseys Backpacking doesn't have to mean giving up fresh foods, not even if you go really light. Throw a few carrots and radishes in a plastic bag and they're usually good for at least several days. Add some edible wild greens, like dandelion leaves, and some wild onion or peeled and chopped young thistle stalks, and you have a salad. nfl jerseys

Prepare a mixture of sugar and borax. Then sprinkle it around the house. The sugar will attract the ants, but when they come to it, they will be killed by the poisonous borax. When asked about the shirt before the game, James said, "As a society we have to do better. We have to be better for one another no matter what race you are https://www.cheapjerseysitems.com. But it's more of a shoutout to the family more than anything because they're the ones who should be getting the energy and effort.".

0 notes

pridge · 7 years ago

Text

The Capital of Cambodia - and the Genocide!!

Right where did I leave off…..am not actually sure as I sit writing this without wifi to check! So this may remain in if I don’t decide to edit it.

Firstly, for my own recollection, I am not sure if I mentioned the very cool cocktail bar I discovered way back in Saigon. Up some dark steps directly opposite my Airbnb, no signs at all. And then just a dark door you basically had to knock to enter. All based on US speakeasy’s in probation. Very cool. Although when I say discovered….that isn’t entirely true. As its on google and tripadvisor! But Columbus discovered America, and a French guy “discovered “ Angor Wat. So I’m claiming this!! There was also a really nice craft beer place just round the corner with a 3rd floor roof bar – so a height I can cope with.

As a segway back to current timeline. I now have rest of trip booked up and mapped out. Am due back in Saigon on Friday 13th, and then start my organised tour up the coast of Vietnam. I have subsequently left Siem Reap and currently in Cambodian capital of Phonm Pen. I had a pretty relaxing time in Siem Reap. Although nothing too exciting to report. Had a few beers and meals with a cool US defence lawyer called Dalin, who was also travelling alone. A lot of politics laden conversations, as a shared interest, as well as reflecting on travelling, culture and life. We had very similar views on the world, as he comes from west coast he is lucky to be in the majority there of being as bemused by Trump as we the rest of us. I also, hopefully, got over the worst of my final MBA module, largely sat in front of/under fans drinking iced coffee in various spots. Got a couple of daytimes set aside here the next couple of days to more or less finish my final assignment. So fingers crossed I have got the hang of this corporate finance stuff now!!

Had a very easy coach journey down to Phonm Pen. Chose to go with the quicker air-conditioned option, rather than mixing with locals and most backpackers on the $4 cheaper option. Despite the hotel pick-up not turning up until after we were due to leave, that seems fine over here, and there was unseasonal rains which appeared to cause chaos on the local roads! Only minor annoyance on the coach was the woman in the seat behind me seemed to not understand the concept of earphones – and had her music playing out of some form of mini-stereo. Luckily I just hid under my sound reducing earphones – but am sure probably annoyed hell out of a lot of rest of passengers.

Having then easily found my hotel in Phonm Pen, and having to turn down dozens of requests for “tuk tuk” from the local drivers – who all seemed totally bemused I’d want to walk 1km or less to my hotel!! Perfectly ok hotel in central area – I think. Right by night market which I may go and explore one evening. Headed out having refreshed myself to Larry’s Bar & Grill. Essentially seems to be an expat establishment, run and owned by Larry. Who was actually sat out front playing chess with a friend whilst I was there it turned out. Tough life!! Anyone who’s read my Facebook will also know that at this point I allowed myself to enter into a conversation with a slightly unhinged Swedish guy. My instincts were saying not to – but also I am aware that I shouldn’t just exist in my own bubble of the world.

As it turns out he was an alcoholic, who recently gave up weed. He was also essentially on a sex tour of asia, which he appears to do on a regular basis. And it turns out he is rather right-wing compared to me. Blames immigrants for his company folding, when in fact he basically admitted that GPS meant his taxi firm folded as competition became too hot. He was then also a BMW car salesman – but lost his job after some form of argument with his boss (who I checked – was not an immigrant). He was predicting the collapse of the Swedish economy due to the number of free-loading foreigners that were breaking their social security system. I know far too little about Sweden to possibly comment on the factual accuracy of this. Anyway, I listened, I felt disgusted at his views. But interesting to hear a different view point. I also had what I think he thought was great live advice from him, where he was telling me about this crazy prostitute he’d seen a few times in Thailand. He’d broken one of his own rules, which essentially is not to spend more than one time with a prostitute. But she then started acting crazy….his words….because she had fallen in love with him….which led to his great advice of essentially “don’t allow yourself to fall in love with a prostitute, especially a Thai one”. This was seen as good advice by him as it meant he could just walk away from this apparently crazy Thai prostitute. Just a different world out there – and one I frankly can’t stand, or understand, and don’t like.

I then had a few cold beers at the extortionate price of £1 a pint vs 70p in Siem Reap, and a bite to eat. And found myself talking to a very nice Australian/New Zealand couple. Both on their last night in Cambodia before heading back to Sydney. We had some long conversations, and we were all equally bemused by the whole “ladies” bars in Phonm Pen, which I’d heard from others about, and there are similar in Saigon I think. Where basically as a western guy you pay slightly more than normal for your beer, but you end up having a number of local girls who work there hanging on your every word. They are not officially prostitutes it seems….but can be….all very confusing and weird. I think I would rather sit on my own with my book than to have women pretend to be interested in me because that’s there job!!

Anyway, enough about prostitutes. As a complete and utter opposite. Visited the S-21 museum and the Killing Fields today. Bit hard to know where to start really. Having visited German concentration camps in Poland, the holocaust museum in Jerusalem and more recently the very hard hitting Vietnam War museum in Saigon, I was wondering how this would impact me. Both were exceptionally well done – and had really great audio tours.

The S-21 prison, was essentially an old school that was converted into a prison for interrogation. And on this they did not hold back. I’d be doing it something of a disservice if I didn’t at least try and describe it a bit – as best I can. First off, well it is a school. And they converted into into a place of torture and horror.

Actually – step back briefly. So a few bits of context for Cambodia. In a nutshell they suffered due to the Vietnam War and Cold War going on at the time – with essentially first a French and then a US back government – which always ends well. The last of these was put in power in 1970 as the Vietnam war was just going from bad to worse for the USA. At the same time there were the Khmer Rouge building up their power in the mountain and jungle villages, essentially a vaguely communist, but largely nationalist, party. Led by the secretive Pol Pot, it seems very few of his people knew his real intentions. Essentially he wanted to return Cambodia to how it was in the 10th-12th century. And by that I don’t mean being a strong empire again, although he did want that, but he wanted to do that by returning to a rural agrarian society. Essentially he wanted to dismantle the current country and rebuild it in a rose tinted image of its past.

Having come to power in 1975 – with another glorious American airlift to empty their embassy. The Khmer Rouge then proceeded to order the evacuation of all the cities and relocation of people to the countryside. Keeping in mind, for example, that Phonm Pen had approx. 3m people there at the time. Within weeks, the estimated population was 50,000 loyal Khmer Rouge. Alongside this, they decided the only way to achieve Pol Pot’s vision was to eradicate intellectuals, artists, teachers – in fact wearing glasses meant you probably just disappeared.

This eventually led to an estimated 1 in 4 people being killed either directly or indirectly (disease, starvation etc caused by the forced relocations of people to the countryside). Let that sink in. 1 in 4. That was 3m people in 4 years. 3m is a lot – although sadly other genocides have bigger numbers sadly. The figure of 1 in 4. If you still have your parents, and a sibling. That means one of you would have been dead by the end of this. Imagine losing 1 in 4 of all the people you knew, or of your friends. And often not knowing what happened to them, or if you knew they had died, where their bodies were. 25% of one countries whole population – means no-one was unaffected. No-one. It is a deep scar that it is hard to imagine how to ever heal, or even what damage it has done to the collective as well as individual psyche.

S-21. Where people were interrogated under the most terrible torture until they admitted to essentially anything. They were water-boarded (the gentle sound US name), they were locked in tanks full of biting insects, they were beaten bloody, they had fingers and toes cut off. All whilst spending most of their days either locked in unbearably tiny and hot cells, or perhaps worse, in large rooms chained to multiple other prisoners. They were not meant to be killed….as this was just meant to extract confessions. And in the end everyone confessed, which would lead to more arrests and more torture. When I say they confessed, I mean they signed that what they were being accused of was true and to give names of others. People were tortured into saying they were CIA and KGB agents (often at the same time), and often without knowing what the hell the CIA or KGB even were. Several of the blocks had barbed wire put up over the front of the building to stop people making attempts at suicide if they ever managed to get the brief chance to do so. And who could blame them for trying.

There were 12 known survivors of this place. 12, from the 100’s and 1000’s that passed through the doors. They escaped in 1979 when the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and overthrew Pol Pot (more on that in a bit).

The whole of S-21 was harrowing. And to see the pictures of the teenagers who basically ran the place – and to wonder how do people end up being able to justify torturing other human beings. And for what end? Did they really believe that they were getting accurate confessions. The whole thing was just a nightmare crazy.

Following that we leapt back on our bus to head to the Killing Fields. Of which there are more than 300 in Cambodia. These were the sites of mass execution that would come on the back of the torture – or just because you were an intellectual or a teacher, or in the wrong place at the wrong time. This particular one outside Phnom Pen had somewhere around 20,000 victims. And in keeping with Pol Pots vision this was not industrial genocide. This was done with crowbars, farm equipment, machetes or anything they had to hand. If Hitler’s holocaust was the disgusting pinnacle of organised industrial genocide, then this was, well I am not sure what it was. I think the only way to sum it up was one particular tree that they have evidence that shows was used to kill babies. And I literally mean by smashing their skulls against it before throwing them in a big pit. Just writing that makes me want to cry.

Once again though so many people say they were just following orders, or were scared for themselves or their own families. And who wouldn’t be under one of the most brutal regimes ever seen. The challenge for me though is how does a society allow itself to get to a stage where it even allows orders like this to become normal. How does it become normal to work as a concentration camp guard, or to work at a Stalinist gulag, or force millions of Armenians to match and starve to death in winter, or enforce the Cultural Revolution in China….and and and. The worst and though is what would any of us do differently in the circumstances. Undoubtedly there were monsters who could barely be classed as human giving the orders, or near the top, and even in the rank and file doing the doing. But that can’t explain the scale of any of this.

Similar to Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge deliberately dehumanized those it saw as a threat and wanted killed. For me this dehumanisation is what scares me the most. It is why I abhor racism, sexism, bigots and to a certain extent populism. As soon as you start seeing one human as less a human than you that can be a really slippy slope towards many many worse things. I believe people are fundamentally good – and often it is circumstances or context that leads people to do bad or evil things. But how do societies stop such atrocities and genocides in the future. I just don’t know. Rwanda was so recent. And the UK, USA, Russia, China, Australia and the UN were still recognising the Khmer Rouge as the “rightful government” of Cambodia as recently as 1991. 12 years after they’d actually been deposed by Vietnamese troops – and there is surely no way these atrocities were unknown. So the leaders of the world put politics and the Cold War above their own ethics and morals. And that is also scary. Again though, the context is hard, as I was too young to really remember the Cold War and the impact that had.

Overall, as you can probably tell it was a very moving and thought provoking day. Upsetting is an understatement.

To help process all that had a lovely long walk along the river here. They have a beautiful promenade that stretches quite some way. I waited for it a cool down a bit first, but was nice to stretch my legs for first time in ages. Also, it took me all the way down into what can only be described as a real locals area – but in the sense that there were lots of bars and restaurants in some sort of retail park – by a nightmarket – but all just locals there. Almost as if that is there way to avoid us tourists!

There is still obvious French influence in Phonm Pen – not just the street names, but a lot of the food and restaurants still have a very French flavour to them. So to finish on a more positive note – this place is a buzzing city, and hasn’t allowed itself to forget its past – both good and bad. But has endured and carried on. Maybe that is the essence of the human condition.

Am now just having a quiet beer and considering what to eat. Think I will retreat into a book as well as far too much thinking done today!!

0 notes

cellerityweb · 8 years ago

Text

Shift Happens: Singleplayer VS. Multiplayer – The Core Mechanics of the Shift

To extend a co-op multiplayer title with singleplayer content is anything but easy. In part 3 of our special, Klonk Games’ Level Designer Mathias Neukam shares his insights.

Want more? Check out the other chapters: Just Another Indie Platformer?! Evolution of Character The Quest for Art (follows december the 22th) Look Development in Unity (follows december the 23th)

The fundamental idea of the predecessor of »Shift Happens« – »Mercury Shift« – was always to develop a game where two players would be challenged equally and therefore forced to work together. Together rather than side by side! When we sat down together in 2011 to discuss what we didn’t like about local co-op titles of that time, it was that most of them had a rather »artificial« co-op mode. In other words: They were essentially singleplayer games that one or several other people could join to play, but weren’t really needed. An experienced player (»pro«) was able to complete a level without any further support by an unexperienced player (»noob«). And most of the time, these situations were also marked by the fact that neither player had any fun since the pro was sub-challenged, while the noob felt overwhelmed.

After a number of brainstorming sessions during university, the idea was born to tie two players together, so that their actions would always affect each other and hence they would have to be a lot more considerate for one another. Also, it was important for us that both players would have the same prerequisites (the same character skills), but never at the same time. The tying together wasn’t implemented literally though since we didn’t want to be limited by a physical instance like a rope or a hose with regard to the level design.

The tie was never explained concretely. It was simply a mechanic which affected two characters with the push of a button. The »shift« was born – and it works like this: If one of the players pushes the shift button, his character will become bigger or smaller and hence lighter or heavier – depending on its current state. At the same time, the co-player’s character will change as well. Since one character is always big and the other one small, both sizes can never exist at the same time. The different sizes also entail different skills. A small character is fast and agile, can jump further and get into small spaces, while a big character is slower, but also stronger and able to throw the small character or things like crates.

A Seesaw for one Person – Singleplayer Co-op?

Since we liked the core principle of Mercury Shift, but the game showed some deficiencies in its implementation, we started to develop the first prototypes for Shift Happens in Unity’s 3D engine in February 2013. Little did we know back then that one day we would found a start-up and would have to earn money with our product. When the plans to start our own company became more and more concrete, one of our game design lecturers at college advised us to think about how we could distribute the game and hence to also consider creating a singleplayer mode.

Our mantra was always to keep the core of the game – i.e. two characters who are connected to each other – intact. The consequence was that two characters had to be controlled simultaneously. We tried to design a seesaw for one person without changing the basic form of the seesaw. In the end, we came up with several possible solutions for one player to control two characters: One of the characters follows the other one automatically, similar to »Yoshi’s Island« (the eggs hopping along behind Yoshi) or »Donkey Kong Country 2« for SNES. One character can be carried on the other one’s back like a backpack, similar to »Banjo Kazooie« on N64. Players can switch between the controls of the characters, similar to »Lost Vikings« or »The Cave«.

1. The follow mechanics

At the time of the singleplayer development we already had a number of levels which we had designed for the co-op mode. Since we were still a bit naïve back then, it was hard for us to find a system where all these levels would still work just as well with new follow mechanics. Our puzzles were often based on a system where players had to separate or carry out actions simultaneously. So, we would have had a lot of special cases in countless situations, where the automatic follow mechanic wouldn’t work.

With our then limited level of expertise this seemed like too much of an effort, which is why we quickly dismissed this approach without having carried out actual tests. We also quickly reached the point where a computer-controlled character who runs behind the active one had to meet certain requirements. Not only did we imagine a simple path-finding AI which would track the paths of the main character; we also wanted this AI to carry out actions which would be taken over by a human player in co-op mode. However, we realized quickly that this workload was too much of a burden for our code department which consisted of only two people.

In singleplayer mode, swap and shift mechanics demand quite a bit of training and patience from the players, which many of them become quickly frustrated with.

2. The backpack method

The firsts tests of this method were quite promising. If a big character was close to a small one, you could carry it on your back with the push of a button. This procedure prevented characters from unnecessarily following each other through the level. However, the backpack turned out to be a problem with regard to logic and consequence since there was already a similar mechanic in Shift Happens: the carrying mechanic.

»If we had the chance to develop Shift Happens again from scratch, we would probably do a lot of things differently.«

If a big character carries a small one, he’s slower and ponderous and thus unable to jump far or high. In the level design, this limitation guaranteed that throwing was more important than carrying. But since the backpack was used as a means for two characters to move simultaneously, it simply couldn’t limit the speed and jump height of the characters. This, however, would have meant that we had introduced a better carrying mechanic and made regular carrying superfluous.

3. Character swap

At the end of the day, we decided in favor of the »swap«. With the push of a button players can now swap between the characters, so there is always one actively controllable and an inactive character. With the swap, all our levels still worked in the same way as before, with one exception: Beginners often felt overwhelmed in singleplayer mode since shift and swap were too much alike.

During our many play tests, it happened again and again that the testers would shift instead of swap and vice versa. We were wondering why this particular case occurred so often until we found out that the testers literally thought »I want to be small or big« instead of »I want to play the character on the left or on the right«. Often, the result was the same, but in a lot of other cases it played a significant role and led to disorientation and the accidental decease of the characters. Since the mechanic was introduced early in the game, the learning curve was usually too high for beginners, which led to annoyance and resignation. Many of the testers didn’t want to keep playing since the game quickly became too much for them to handle.

Singleplayer mode includes many levels where the focus lies on solving puzzles in order to minimize frustration caused by controls.

Swap and Shift – the Solution to the Problem?

Spoiler alert: Instead of fighting the cause, we only really treated the symptoms. Some of our solution approaches consisted mainly of iterating the button assignment of the controllers and separate the buttons for shift and swap as much as possible. Unfortunately, we quickly realized that this solution didn’t work well for a lot of players. Therefore, we implemented a lot of our tested methods as optional settings in the game and made the button assignment customizable again, which is rather unusual for a game like this. It was also very important for us to have clearly separate feedback to differentiate between shift and swap. Through easy-to-

understand animations, colors and effects (graphically and acoustically), the player was to quickly learn which of the two actions he just carried out. We gradually implemented some control aids in the singleplayer mode; for example, a character that’s been thrown in the air would always slightly bend forward in order to land on a higher ledge, without having to carry out this movement himself via swap. In this case, we also offered the additional option to automatically switch to the thrown character after such a throw.

The creation of 32 special singleplayer levels was enormously time-consuming – whether it was really worth it is hard to tell in hindsight.

Another simplification is the so-called »inactive use«, which makes it possible even for the inactive character to operate buttons and switches with the push of a button, without the player having to switch to that character. Nevertheless, the swap/shift differentiation is one of the biggest hurdles in the learning curve of the singleplayer mode. In addition to these aids, we also decided to create special levels for the singleplayer mode, which – compared to the co-op mode – put a higher focus on solving puzzles than on skill-focused areas.

Summary

In hindsight, it’s still hard to tell whether adding a singleplayer mode was positive or negative for the overall reception of Shift Happens. In most reviews, the singleplayer mode caused rather negative feedback and thus lowered the overall rating. The question whether these ratings would have been more positive, if there hadn’t been an option to play Shift Happens alone, remains unanswered though. What’s clear is that the singleplayer mode in Shift Happens is a lot tougher and harder than the co-op mode. It’s consequently less fun and leads to more frustration. If a player manages to make it beyond that steep rise in the learning curve and not to mix up shift and swap all the time any more, the game becomes a little more fun.

If we had the chance to develop Shift Happens again from scratch, we would probably do a lot of things differently. The decision to keep all mechanics of a co-op game in a singleplayer mode, where the players are dependent on each other and cool dynamics can only be created when actively working together, often led to unnecessary compromises; and these compromises eventually led to a rather mediocre result.

Despite a great effort to minimize our workload, we ended up building 32 extra levels for the singleplayer mode. Obviously, this raises the question whether it wouldn’t have made more sense to change the core mechanics of the game in order to be able to offer a positive gaming experience in both singleplayer and multiplayer mode. Hindsight is always 20/20.

About the Author

Mathias Neukam is Level Designer at Klonk Games.

Famous for his unconventional experiments, Mathias, one of our level designers, is not only responsible for creating the levels of »Shift Happens«, but also for the communication within the team. Keeping a balance of code, art and game design is all owed to him. Twitter: @MattNeuk

The post Shift Happens: Singleplayer VS. Multiplayer – The Core Mechanics of the Shift appeared first on Making Games.

Shift Happens: Singleplayer VS. Multiplayer – The Core Mechanics of the Shift published first on http://ift.tt/2uBXet3

0 notes

burndownthesun · 8 years ago

Text

Comic Con 2017: The First Day

I do not remember a great deal of the travelling involved, beyond saying that airports are boring and I was awake for 24-25 hours. I do not enjoy planes, as some of you well know. I fear them deeply. Rather, I fear take-off and landing, but take-off the most. My doctor now knows this too and her advice was diazepam.

Turns out diazepam is magic as rather than a full blown panic, take-off caused only a mild worry. Bonus. That, and the foul garbage they call coffee on an aeroplane. These are my memories. I was swiftly abed upon landing and getting to the hotel.

So, the first day: Stepping out of the hotel door into the sunshine I was struck with a single thought, one that was tinged with a little disappointment as I wouldn’t be able to engage in the traditional wandering around, that thought was ‘Fuck walking anywhere, oh my god.’ I am reliably informed that it was around 27 degrees celsius and the humidity was about 85%. Eighty. Five. With breathing being a chore I waited for the shuttle bus service to take me to the convention centre. It was mercifully air-conditioned.

Upon arrival I set off towards the centre proper, over a bridge that only mildly triggered my acrophobia. I was struck with a banner for Fox’s new show in the X-Men universe: (Seems I can’t add images when typing this up on my phone. I will add that as soon as I can.) It seems interesting but I wish they would give mutants back to Marvel. Ah well.

I came then upon a line. This I was well forewarned about. Lines, they say, are naturally drawn to Comic Con. I walked down the line. Then I walked further down the line. Then I walked further down the line. Eventually I came to the end of the building. It is a very large building. This was not the end of the line. No. It snaked around the side and vanished under an archway that looked to be the staff entrance to the building. The end of the line was here so I joined.

Not too bad, this line. It moved fairly rapidly, up until it stopped doing that and we were simply stood. At this point the sun was starting to get angry at us. There were moments when it was almost too much to bear. We crept forward at snails pace, ever hoping to reach the next spot of shade. Begging the line to move just three or four more steps to allow you under the cover and the people behind you be damned. It was every nerd for themselves at that point. What boggled the mind at this point were the cosplayers. They of crafty hands (or hefty wallets) dedicated to portraying a favourite character with their own attire. There was fantasy warriors in furs and leather. There were mascots in full suit. There were plastic-armoured space-marines and the like. All suffering no doubt from heat stroke. I do not know if they are heroic or just stupid. Probably both, as is the way of things.

Eventually an hour passed and the line led me inside. Air-conditioning is a marvelous thing. I stopped sweating finally and after grabbing my badge (very quickly once through the doors) I went in search of water, paying $4 for a bottle and not even caring a jot. (I cared immensely what a rip-off).

Comic-Con then, set about the two floors of the convention centre (and other places besides). Upstairs you will find the meeting rooms and halls set aside for panels and whatnot, mostly filled today with interesting sounding talks by interesting sounding people. Hall H is infamous. It is GARGANTUAN at 1600 seats, it is on the ground floor and it is notoriously difficult to get into for the more popular panels. Tomorrow is a Game of Thrones panel and there are probably people waiting in line NOW to get in for that. The Stranger Things panel is in there on Saturday, we shall see if I brave it. I wandered around a few laps of this upper floor reading schedules on doors before heading downstairs and into the main convention hall.

This room is the size of an aircraft carrier. Possibly two. It is unbelievably enormous and it was full. What strikes you as you enter is sound. People and sound and THINGS. Just stuff, everywhere. End to end this room is crammed with stalls, people selling comics, t-shirts, pins, posters, trading cards for obscure early 90’s cartoons, the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack for $40 and a lanyard for $10. As well as this large entertainment companies have stores to ply their newest show or whatever. There was a tantalising red curtain with the words Twin Peaks above it, but too many people around to really find out what it was. Wall to wall this room is filled with these stalls, and in literally all available space between are people. People. Everywhere, People. Those in regular clothing, some who have dressed up. Some who had dressed down, as it were; cosplaying a character who doesn’t wear much is genius in this climate (and if you’re a bit of an exhibitionist, I suppose).

It is a wonder unto itself, this vast collection of people. This ocean of humanity waving to and fro between stands, chatting and looking at all the STUFF. I was not chatting; I have travelled alone again (see my Vancouver posts from several years ago) so today was spent mostly people watching and looking at the STUFF. Although one fellow in the line was chatty, and almost immediately wrongly identified me as Australian. This, I am told, is fairly common for those of us from England’s North. Strange, as our accents are not even that similar. Also you’d think Game of Thrones fans would have learned to recognise a Yorkshire accent by now (even if they do think it’s just Northern Westeros.)

I wandered out eventually, having been overwhelmed quite enough for the time being, onto a terrace overlooking the harbour. There a group of people dressed as knights (including some in half-plate. Actual metal armour.) hit each other with sticks in lieu of real swords for the delight of a woman who they all called the queen. This seemed strange but fun. I overheard a woman explain this to someone nearby as a kind of ancient western martial art training thing. With LARPing royalty mixed in I suppose. If this happens in England I don’t know of it but I assume it does, it is our history they’re recreating after all. I returned inside.

After another quick dip into the grand hall of STUFF I exited another door and out into the streets in search of food. The streets were an insane place too. People everywhere, costumes galore. Every restaurant and cafe within a certain distance of the centre had a mile-long queue and an hour long waiting time once you were at the front. I eventually returned to an area beside where the shuttle dropped us that morning which housed a couple of food trucks amid myriad distractions including a full-size snow speeder from Star Wars(!) and grabbed something and fries. Some meat or other.

It was time to return to hotel. I had been about for hours and my feet were starting to ache. I still cannot lift my shoulder properly thanks to the efforts of my backpack. I shall be emptying that almost entirely tomorrow to avoid a repeat performance.

A strange and exciting day then, filled with colour and vibrancy I saw a great many things; I saw Team Skull from Pokemon getting nachos. I saw a child decimating all comers at Marvel vs Capcom Infinite by picking Rocket and Hulk and just spamming the Reality Stone. I saw Spiderman buying Magic: The Gathering cards. I saw a thousand Harley Quinns, several Starfires (for an unknown reason, are the Titans popular again?), ten thousand Daenerys Targaryens (no Starks though. Perhaps I should buy leather armour and furs. I’ve already got the accent.), and SO. MANY. JEDI. (perhaps I should have brought my Jedi robes?)

I think I have become slightly sunburnt on my arms. My face has been unaffected, mercifully.

It is time to think about food and the eating thereof once again.

All in all a successful day one, I’d say. To day two!

#comic con #sdcc #travel #bov #an englishman at sdcc #day one #san diego comic con #sdcc2017

0 notes