#Online Classes for GATE 2023

[girlactionfigure]

Here’s what it’s like to be a Jewish student at UPenn 🧵👇

 Penn was my dream school. Now it feels unrecognizable. Rising antisemitism, vandalism, and threats have gone unchecked. I shared my story with congress and the state senate months ago — nothing has changed.

In September 2023, UPenn hosted the Palestine Writes Festival. It featured speakers with long antisemitic histories who glorified terrorism. Thousands of students, alumni, and politicians pleaded with the administration to act.

They ignored us.  2/ 

I raised my safety concerns with UPenn leadership. Their response? "Hillel is one of the safest buildings on campus. You have nothing to worry about."

2 days later, Hillel was vandalized. The perpetrator screamed: “F** the Jews!”*  3/ 

Hillel is supposed to be a safe space—a place to eat kosher, pray, rehearse with my a cappella group, or just study.

The morning of the break-in, my op-ed was finally published: “What Are We Waiting For?”

Hours later, my fears were proven right. Weeks later a bomb threat was made on the building 4/

Noah Rubin | An open letter to Jewish students at PennNoah Rubin urges fellow students at Penn to utilize their....Link

December 3rd, 2023: A mob of students, faculty, and extremists marched through campus.

They screamed:

“Intifada revolution!” “From water [river] to water [sea], Arab Palestine!” “Only the martyr in spirit and blood can open the gates of Al Aqsa!” 5/ 

We locked ourselves in our rooms, terrified.

Buildings were vandalized with graffiti:

“Blood Money” “Intifada” “Avenge Gaza” 6/ 

I missed my finals work that night. I and hundreds of Jewish students couldn’t leave our rooms.

I shared this months ago. Now another semester is over, and nothing has changed to prevent this from happening again.

The silence from UPenn’s administration is deafening.  7/ 

Since then, a pro-Hamas encampment took over campus for 2 weeks in the spring. Jewish students were harassed daily:

Called slurs. Physically blocked from campus spaces. Told: “Hamas should do it again. You’re next.”

We were told to “avoid the center of campus.”  8/ 

Meanwhile, we were called: “Nazis,” “Hitler’s children,” and worse.

Some Jewish students were physically assaulted. 

Professors aren’t just silent—they’re leading this:

Some skip class to chant “Intifada!” Others justify Hamas terror or post extremist rhetoric online.

One even posted a Hamas military patch as a “cool” Facebook photo.

How is this acceptable?  9/ 

I’ve had over 20 meetings with administrators. I’ve been told to “take care of myself and get some rest.”

That was months ago. Now the semester is over, and I’m asking again:

How long will Jewish students be ignored?  10/ 

Why do these professors have full classrooms? Why are they given the official platform to spew hate? 

Many of them are not even tenured!  11/ 

Penn is failing its Jewish students. We’re looking over our shoulders just to get to class.

We deserve better. This fight isn’t just about us—it’s about stopping hatred from being normalized on campus.

Enough is enough.  12/ 

If you’re a Jewish student, an ally, or someone who cares about truth—stand up, speak out, and hold universities accountable.

We shouldn’t have to feel unsafe at our own schools.

I ask again: What are we waiting for?

🛑 #StopAntisemitism

@NoahGRubin

[justforbooks]

Alive in the Merciful Country by AL Kennedy

A primary school teacher navigates lockdown in an ambitious novel that asks potent questions about abuses of state and personal power

A.L. Kennedy has made no secret of her despair about post-Brexit Britain under the “rage-tweeting, Nazi-curious” Tories. “My government has become more radical, and that is difficult to explain to someone living in a European democracy,” she told the Swiss German-language newspaper NZZ in 2023. “Very dark people are at work here.” Kennedy, the author of acclaimed short stories and novels including Paradise, Everything You Need and the Costa-winning Day, has claimed that her views make her work less welcome in Britain. In her book The Core of Things, published in German, she writes: “I may not be the kind of writer our media watchdogs like.”

Alive in the Merciful Country, her 10th novel, was first published in translation in Germany and Switzerland back in 2023. As the book opens it is 2020 and, with her London primary school in lockdown, Anna McCormick is teaching her year 5 class online and doing her best to keep their spirits up. Together they discuss the story of Rumpelstiltskin, the “tricky wicked goblin with a secret name”. They invent Stiltskin dances and do Stiltskin sums about spinning and the weight of gold. For thousands of years, Anna tells the children, people have told versions of this story about lying and the misuse of power, reminding themselves “that the way to defeat all monsters is by knowing who they really are”.

Anna, a single mother to a 20-year-old son, is determined to model to her pupils “functional adulthood of a type that can still insist on expecting a better world”. But Anna’s own faith in that world has been fundamentally broken. As a student in the 1980s, she fell in love with Buster, a fellow performer in the UnRule OrKestrA, an activist street theatre collective. It was only after he vanished without trace that Buster was revealed to be an undercover cop. Decades later, Anna encounters him, her very own “Stiltskin among Stiltskins”, at the Old Bailey trial of five of her OrKestrA colleagues, exhuming long-buried anguish. Then, as the Covid crisis deepens, she discovers an unaddressed envelope propped outside the gates to her flat. It contains a manuscript: Buster’s own story in his own Stiltskin words.

The spine of the novel is Anna’s private journal as she struggles to make sense of both past and present. Traumatised by Buster’s betrayal and a subsequent abusive partner, Anna is furious and fearful in equal measure, raw with pain and paralysed by self-doubt. But although her country is “trapped in a national Bad Relationship”, bullied and gaslit by its Stiltskin government, she still believes in kindness and hope and silly jokes. She wants desperately to believe in her new partner. She tells her year 5 pupils the story of the murderer who kills 99 people and finds forgiveness. She knows that “the Stiltskins must get mercy, because the acting out of mercy cleans and saves us all”.

Into her account Anna interleaves extracts from Buster’s manuscript, detailing his shift from spy cop to self-funded vigilante killer targeting sex traffickers and racist Tory MPs with predilections for cocaine and underage sex workers. “The narrator is part of the bargain when you let a story in,” Anna warns, and Buster – who has as many names as he has stories – is far from reliable. Perhaps he is, as Anna insists, an out-and-out villain. Perhaps, like her, he is on the side of righteousness, his violence an inversion of her own valiant efforts to mend a broken system. Or perhaps his story is like the story of Rumpelstiltskin, a fable to reinforce our faith that goodness will ultimately triumph, and his words do not belong to him at all.

Alive in the Merciful Country is an ambitious novel that asks potent questions about abuses of state and personal power. It is also something of a curate’s egg. At her finest – and there are many fine moments in this book – Kennedy combines a beadily bleak eye with a standup’s comic timing and a profound humanity that breaks open the heart. Too often, however, she shows her political workings. For all her anguished contradictions, Anna is simply too perfect, her sensibilities – and those of all her friends – unwavering and irreproachable. As for Buster’s wearyingly long sections, they all play the same dogged tune. While he remains opaque, his targets are caricatures, numbingly unremitting assemblages of every cliche of their type. The effect is not eased by his stilted writing style: Buster claims to be Scottish but “I am small indications of self-harm and limp aloneness. I am a perfected personality and also clean effective within my truth in a place where I rest and play” reads more like Google Translate.

Whatever game Kennedy is playing with the reader, and she deliberately leaves that question open, it is a game that demands a primary school teacher’s patience. The tilt of her politics is not the problem here – anger at the toxic Tory legacy and the act of national self-harm that was Brexit is hardly unique among British novelists. The frustration of this novel is that she has allowed her absolutism to compromise her remarkable literary talents.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[yononart]

no new art yet, so let me yap a bit about my Tav/D&D rogue Aerin - did the same kind of post on bluesky so I might as well share stuff here!

art improvement journey under the cut! This is gonna be long and I'm also gonna talk about some stuff I went through over the years as an online artist.

Around 2016-2017 I started playing D&D with a group of friends, so of course I chose the rogue class to start. My DM did not allow drow characters for whatever reason, so Aerin at the time was just a random elf lol. I did not care much since I was very new to D&D.

This is what she looked like in 2017, my very first art of her:

big purple anime eyes lmao. what even is that shading...

I grew very attached to her during our campaign, roleplaying a smartass rogue that somehow always landed 19 on Perception checks was definitely fun, so of course I had to draw her again. Her skintone changed to be more tanned, her eyes changed color, but she was pretty much the same.

early 2018 (left) and late 2018 (right) art of her:

definitely looks better with golden-ish eyes

Sadly our campaign ended when the whole group parted ways and the DM kinda disappeared from our lives, yet I still loved my character a lot! I wanted to keep her alive, even without a D&D campaign!

I tried drawing her again in 2020-ish (I think?), but I never finished this:

Looking back, I can really see how much my style changed from anime to whatever it is now. Lmao. The 2020 wip is definitely closer to what I was trying to achieve at the time.

Back in the days I used to be very active on deviantART and Tumblr, but also joined IG for funsies. And oh gods, it was the worst idea I ever had in my entire life. While in 2015-2017 I was extremely productive, I started to slow down a lot, drawing just for the purpose of getting attention. I tried to draw things that were likely to be liked, or DTIYS stuff I didn't even care about. I was extremely uninspired because of how much I tried to please others and not myself.

Unfortunately that is when the big old artblock demon got me - I stopped drawing from 2020 to...2023? Pretty much. Maybe even earlier than that. Just a couple sketches here and there, but many and many months passed with me not even trying to draw anything. The "pressure" of trying to get some likes, being acknowledged etc was what made me stop drawing. I felt extremely unwell about what my art looked like, it was not good enough, I kept trying to change my artstyle to whatever, kept comparing my stuff to other people's works, it really became stressful to even hold a pen. I was pretty sad, cause in my most productive years I drew whatever came to my mind without giving a single f about anything. I completely lost this mentality over the years, so I stopped drawing.

Then Baldur's Gate 3 came out and oh my god. Holy hells.

I kid you not when I say this mf game did wonders to my creativity. Ngl, I already was in the mood for trying to get back to art - I bought a new graphic tablet (smaller, more comfy to use), tried out different brushes, followed some tutorials here and there, sketched a bit whenever I had the time to do it. But Baldur's Gate 3 really dragged me back to that carefree mentality I was yearning for. And after a "trial" run with a random character me and my partner created together, I OF COURSE had to bring back to life my beloved rogue. And finally turned her into a drow, heheh.

In no time I started drawing again, having no idea how to do anything anymore, kinda scared of how the result would look like and boom. Here we go, with Aerin again.

(left) more simple style VS (right) painted kinda style?

I do not think I am especially good at art. I lack many things (I suck at anatomy and proportions, it takes me ages to finish one piece) but...I can still see the improvement, even after years of not doing anything. It really surprised me. I never stopped observing art - I did not draw, but my eyes were still trained - and somehow this reflected in how I draw nowadays.

I am extremely grateful to this game. It fueled me so much with creativity I literally have too many ideas and things I want to draw (but no time lol), and I don't even care too much about what others may think. I am drawing again for myself, not to please others. I draw what I want.

And honestly, all this big post was just to say:

If you feel overwhelmed by socials and art isn't fun anymore, take a break. It doesn't matter if it's long or short - just take a break. Do not ruin things for you because of a couple of likes or whatever. Instead, try to keep the fun alive. It doesn't matter if your artwork doesn't get shared or liked a billion times. Your art is not worth the number of likes it gets. And if you have fun drawing your stuff, just do it! If you don't have fun in the process, the result is gonna suck for sure. At least for you.

And what if the result is not so good? FUCK IT!!! You cannot improve unless you work hard. You cannot improve unless you draw and keep your eyes trained. Consume art, draw, do whatever works best for you. Every artist, even the best you can think about, started from ugly sketches and cringe art. And keep your old art at hand - you may not notice it yet, but after a year or two go back to your old stuff and compare it to the newest you have. You will definitely notice the difference. That, my fellas, is improvement. It's hard to notice if you compare your last week's artwork with the current one you're working on. Go check older stuff. You ARE improving. You just didn't notice.

Take it from me, I'm an old 31 y/o hag and I have experienced things. Never let the fun dry out.

[tsaritsa]

tagged by @fullmetalscullyy, @firewoodfigs and @littlewitchbee for the greatest hits of 2023. ty all for the tag!!! i admit, it did take me a little bit to think of 10 diff things that i found good, so a new addendum to my usual 5 new years resolutions is to make a point of noting down these good things, lest they be lost to the ether like the others haha

my beloved eri came to visit me and it was such a joy to welcome her into my home and just talk and gossip. we got to feed penguins!!! i got to show her the milky way!!!! we got drunk and watched hunger games with emma. i'm so blessed to have friends that are so dear i want them to come crash at mine and i want more of these sorts of things to happen (as best we all can in a cost of living crisis lmaooo).

speaking of friends, i'm pleased to say that i was able to grow my small group of friends -- online and off -- to slightly-less-small! y'all know who you are, and i'm grateful to each and every one of you <333

i got a lot of tattoos. they're dope. my artist is like my tumblr feed personified. she just Gets It.

i built my own pc!!! it was a very scary and intimidating process, but she runs baldurs gate 3 like a CHAMP. (anything for my astarion).

i successfully finished nano, and now this month i'm basically doing another nano as i try to finish up this new fic. i cannot believe that i've broken 100k words and i'm STILL not done. maybe with a 150k draft i'll have a story in a coherent plotline (doubtful. i waffle a lot. rip moobeam who promised she'd edit it for me).

i've also gotten back into reading fiction a little more seriously -- entirely because of emma, but i am very grateful for her reccomendations. there's a few of us doing a bookclub and i cannot wait to have a discussion this month when we're all at the halfway mark!!! it's gonna be lit.

in other real life stuff, i worked really hard to build up my savings. hopefully 2024 will bring more money to me, or at least i'll get a better handle on my spending. (she says, despite booking flights and holidays HAHAH).

part of that ethos was investing in pieces of clothing/accessories that would stand the test of time, and i want to continue these kinds of purchases into the new year. i think the next big purchase for me will be a replacement pair of leather boots -- my current ones are getting towards the end of their life with the inner sole.

despite working full time, i also completed two seperate courses for study! one was directly related to work, but the other was for purely personal pleasure: an introductory course for tikanga māori. the next step of the tikanga course wasn't avail for me this year, so instead i've signed up for night classes for te reo māori instead. i want to incoporate more reo into my work and feel more confident in conversations, so this was a natural step. i've also got another work-related course on my plate too, so i will be a very busy bee for 2k24 hehe.

in 2023 my health had to take a bit of a backseat but in the last few months i was able to get back on top of it! this year is already off to a great start for me: i'm getting back down to a more comfortable weight, my strength is still improving, and my mental health and sleep hygiene are feeling more... within my control??? i've sorted out my priorities a bit there. turns out living on 4 hours of sleep on the regular isn't healthy lmfao

tagging @beesbeesdragons, @mountainhaunt, @liquorisce, @soufflegirl, and @dairogo -- only if y'all want to!

[lastbluetardis]

It's me. Hi.

(I'm the problem, it's me.) Sorry, I couldn't resist a TSwift reference. (Not sorry at all lmao)

I just wanted to check in and say hi! I've sort of disappeared into the ether for the past year/year and a half, emerging every now and then to shitpost or post a chapter of whatever I happened to be writing.

Small life update: I've been working at a university in Maryland as a chemistry professor, mostly teaching general chemistry, but also a bioanalytical chemistry laboratory class. My contract was initially for one year (2022-2023 school year), but I've been renewed for a second year 🥳

Employment is obviously super great, but I genuinely enjoy my job, which is a huge bonus. Sometimes my students get on my nerves, but on the whole, they're good eggs. I'm so much happier than I was in grad school (it was scarily touch-and-go for a while there during my worst months, but then I got on meds and things started getting better). Here's to hoping the university wants to keep me around and will eventually transition me to a more long-term contract rather than a year-by-year basis 🤞

I still have my kitty, Hydie (for those who are new, that's short for Hydrogen...she was my first cat, after all). She just turned ten years old this past spring, but she's still incredibly sweet and playful (only with me, as she hates everyone else 😂) Here is a sleepy Hydie blep:

Otherwise, I've been just chilling and playing video games. Destiny 2, Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West, The Last of Us 1 & 2, Elden Ring, and more recently Diablo 4 and Remnant 2 have been my favorites to play or replay. I'm very much looking forward to Baldur's Gate 3 when it released on PlayStation next month!

My writing spark has dimmed quite a bit, so I haven't written much these last few months. A paragraph here and there, maybe a thousand or so words if I happen to catch a good day. But I'm not forcing it. In grad school, I used writing as a distraction and a way to disengage and dissociate from the world, and while that probably saved what was left of my sanity, I want to build healthier habits with writing. I'm just not sure what those habits look like yet. I'll get there eventually. I love writing too much to completely toss in the towel.

Anyways, this post got longer than I meant it to, but I wanted to check in with everyone and give a little life update. I'm hoping to engage on this hellsite a bit more; I've retreated from many online friendships I've cultivated, and I'm sorry about that.

That's it for now, I'll catch y'all later 💜

[wutbju]

(RNS) — Even when Steve Pettit resigned as president of Bob Jones University in April after citing a dysfunctional board, he had only glowing things to say about the historically fundamentalist South Carolina school.

“There’s no question to me that God brought Bob Jones into existence and it’s his school and God’s going to accomplish his will through it,” Pettit told a Greenville, South Carolina, news outlet in June. “I think the future of the school is bright.”

But some former faculty and students have a less flattering perspective to share.

There’s the student who said she was interrogated and disciplined after her boyfriend gave her a side hug.

There’s the faculty member who claims she was given an ultimatum and eventually resigned after refusing to let teachers at the school-sponsored day care spank her 2-year-old.

There’s the student who reported hiding in his closet on Sunday mornings to avoid being punished for skipping church.

And there’s the student who, after coming forward with allegations of being repeatedly assaulted by a graduate student at the school, said she was questioned by administration about what she had been wearing at the time.

A new podcast based on 19 interviews, “Surviving Bob Jones University: A Christian Cult,” aims to bring these and other stories to light, showing how alleged patterns of conformity, isolation, information control and surveillance impacted members of the Bob Jones ecosystem. Found on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, the series has already gained over 20,000 listens. Though the use of the word “cult” is provocative — and many religious scholars argue against using the word at all — Andrew Pledger, a former Bob Jones student and the host of the podcast, contends that the university, known for banning interracial dating into the 21st century, has long been steeped in controversy. The university did not respond to requests for comment.

As a closeted gay student, Pledger was wary when he arrived at Bob Jones’ pointed iron gates in 2018. But as a child of the Independent Fundamental Baptist church — where women wore skirts, the end times were a looming threat and students learned that evolution was a myth — his parents would only help pay for a college that aligned with their values.

While Pledger was no stranger to rules, he quickly realized the Bob Jones handbook goes beyond the bans on alcohol and nonmarital sex typical of other Christian universities. According to the 2023-2024 student handbook:Students are barred from any physical contact between unmarried men and women, though “Side hugs are permitted for photographs.” Students are instructed to avoid rock, pop, jazz, country and rap music, which have “the markers of our current corrupt culture.” Dance with “expressions of worldliness or sexually provocative nature” is prohibited. Students are not permitted to view movies with higher than a PG rating. Students must wear “conservative business casual” attire to class. Student rooms are checked three times a week. BJU reserves the right to monitor all network activity on student computers. Students are expected to attend a church approved by the school and record their weekly church attendance online. “Same-sex dating” or advocating for such dating is banned.

Pledger found the rules stifling, especially as someone wrestling with faith and sexuality. He recalls hiding in his closet each Sunday to avoid attending a BJU-approved church, crouching behind his hamper until his room had been checked. He’d also disconnect his devices from the internet because, he explained, “if I’m on the internet during the time I’m supposed to be in church, I’m gonna get in trouble.”

Bob Jones’ rules are an extension of the school’s theology, which emphasizes the importance of expelling sin from daily life.

“Holiness entails separation from the godless ‘world’ system (1 John 2:15–17; Ezra 6:21) by discerning where one’s culture reflects evil values,” the 2022-2023 BJU handbook says. “By living holy, separated lives, we publicly proclaim that only He (God) is worth loving and following.”

A few months before he would have graduated, Pledger definitively rejected the BJU brand of holiness. In a video interview with “exvangelical” Josh Harris, a former purity culture celebrity, Pledger rejected fundamentalism and came out as gay. Less than two weeks later, he was expelled.

“They shunned me,” Pledger said. “I lost all my jobs at Bob Jones. I lost so many friends, I literally had to start my life over from scratch. I lost everything. I didn’t matter to them anymore.”

If you ask Pledger, it’s not just the rules that make Bob Jones unique; it’s how they’re enforced. Several guests on the podcast describe a “snitching culture” where students are expected to police their peers for violations. If they fail to report a rule breaker, they are equally guilty.

Though the handbook encourages students to “lovingly hold one another accountable,” Camille Lewis, a former BJU faculty member who is interviewed on the podcast, did not experience the vigilant culture as loving.

Lewis told Religion News Service that as an employee in the ’90s and early 2000s, she would hide with her husband, who was also on faculty, in the back bedroom of their on-campus house during chapel services so no one would see they were home. Even when they moved eight miles off campus, “we would still not sit in the living room with the light on, just in case someone drove by and saw we were home and not at a Bible conference meeting,” she told RNS.

The oversight escalated in 2006 when Lewis received a memo from the campus day care requesting to spank her 2-year-old. She declined to give permission and the situation intensified, with questions about her theology of sin. Eventually, Lewis said the university president told her the disagreement would lead to a “parting of ways.” Lewis and her husband ultimately resigned. RELATED: Bob Jones president resigns, accuses board chair of thwarting Title IX complaint

Erin Burchwell, another podcast guest, grew up — literally — on the Bob Jones campus. Born to two BJU faculty members in 1979, she spent most of her life there until she graduated from the university in 2001.

“They had their own dry cleaners, their own post office. Everything you needed. Most faculty and staff could only afford to eat at the dining hall three meals a day,” Burchwell told RNS. “You had to use their doctors for your health insurance and their hospitals. So most faculty kids were born on campus.”

Burchwell described Bob Jones as a “subculture” that “infiltrates” families and churches, creating generations of parents who see the school as the only legitimate choice. Those inside the Bob Jones community had few connections with what she called “the outside.”

When Burchwell started as a freshman at Bob Jones in 1997, she said, she was sexually assaulted regularly by a graduate student training to become a pastor. During her junior year, she and her parents shared her allegations.

“At 20 years old I had to sit in the dean of men’s office with the dean of men, dean of students and both my parents, and had to read out loud this thing that happened to me. And then at the end of that, one of them said, wow, you have excellent grammar. And then the other one said, and what were you wearing when these things happened? And he started questioning my attire, and then said, did I understand how guys’ brains work?”

When Burchwell’s alleged perpetrator and his family threatened to sue her, she agreed to stay silent. But in 2014, after Bob Jones fired GRACE, an independent watchdog group the school had hired to investigate sexual abuse allegations at the university, Burchwell came forward in The New York Times as a participant in the investigation. Though the school eventually rehired GRACE and issued a report, Burchwell said that to her knowledge, Bob Jones has avoided most of GRACE’s recommended changes. She added that after she spoke to the media in January 2014, her father was fired from Bob Jones one month later, after 42 years, without explanation.

While Burchwell told RNS she agrees that Bob Jones fits the “academic definition” of a cult, she’s hesitant to use the word because it can alienate those still connected to the university.

Many religious scholars have long contested the use of the word “cult,” saying it has been misused to dehumanize believers as passive and brainwashed, to create unhelpful boundaries between “good religion” and “bad religion” and to signify groups as targets for government surveillance and even violence.

Podcast guest Rachel Bernstein, a therapist who is on the advisory board for the International Cultic Studies Association, told RNS she thinks Bob Jones does qualify as a cult because of what she described as unquestioning loyalty to presidents and administrators, the school’s insular nature, its adversarial approach to the outside world, black and white thinking, restrictions on beliefs and lack of privacy.

“I find that it is good to use the word cult when it qualifies as such so you know what you’re dealing with,” she said.

As the podcast continues to gain traction, Lewis told RNS she hopes the firsthand accounts will give listeners a clearer picture of life at Bob Jones and prompt them to think twice before attending. “The tattling, the isolation, and the control is the same,” said Lewis. “I think it would be better for people to go to a different place and learn that God isn’t just at Bob Jones.”

[coreypettengillconceptart2]

Something I need to work on in my concept art is that I have a tendency to focus on the final polished image rather than the iterative process. Looking though some concept art for Baldur's Gate III I found some explorations of the character Karlach that show how much a character can be refined through this process. So I thought it would be worthwhile to take a closer look.

Looking at the portraits Konstantin Porubov did while honing in on Karlach's appearance one of the things that strikes me is how different the early versions are. Not just her appearance but the temperament and personality it conveys. This is especially with the third design on the sheet which reads as a more serious, possibly intellectual character. This could reflect the fact that Larian explored different classes for her (Larian Studios, 2023, p. 18), and serves as a reminder that iteratvon in concept art isn't just about finding the look of a character/environment/etc. but finding out who/what they are and how they fin into the project.

In the same post Porubov also shows off some full body explorations for the character Isobel. Throughout these designs the color palette stays consistent and some version of the star symbol is incorporated. So it seems likely that they had a fairly solid idea for the character at this point. Instead here he seems to be exploring the character's silhouette while also blocking in smaller forms and details. Looking over these designs I can start to notice the way he is blocking forms in using a limited palette to allude to detail without getting bogged down in it, in the way I usually do.

Sources:

Porubov, K. (2023). Isobel and Karlach Baldur’s Gate 3. [online] Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JvnQ9Z

Larian Studios, (2023). Baldur’s Gate 3 Artbook. [pdf] Larian Studios. Available at: https://larian.com/account/digital-extras (account required)

[llbbl]

My 50+ Greatest Video Games

Here are 50+ games that have stuck with me over the years - a collection of my favorite titles that have left a lasting impression. These aren’t ranked in any particular order, just games that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and spent countless hours playing.

Super Mario World (SNES, 1990, Nintendo) - Classic platformer featuring Mario and Yoshi in the Dinosaur Land adventure

World of Warcraft (PC, 2004, Blizzard Entertainment) - Massively multiplayer online RPG set in the world of Azeroth

EverQuest (PC, 1999, Sony Online Entertainment) - Pioneering 3D MMORPG that helped define the genre

Warcraft III (PC, 2002, Blizzard Entertainment) - Real-time strategy game featuring four unique races and hero units

StarCraft (PC, 1998, Blizzard Entertainment) - Sci-fi RTS featuring three distinct alien races in a cosmic conflict

StarCraft II (PC, 2010, Blizzard Entertainment) - Sequel to the iconic RTS expanding on the original’s story and gameplay

The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1986, Nintendo) - Action-adventure game that pioneered many open-world gaming concepts

Half-Life 2 (PC, 2004, Valve) - Revolutionary FPS featuring physics-based gameplay and immersive storytelling

Vampire Survivors (PC, 2022, Poncle) - Roguelite survival game with auto-attacking and bullet-hell elements

Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995, Square) - Time-traveling JRPG considered one of the greatest games ever made

Doom (PC, 1993, id Software) - Groundbreaking FPS that defined the genre for years to come

Unreal (PC, 1998, GT Interactive) - First-person shooter showcasing the revolutionary Unreal Engine

Quake (PC, 1996, id Software) - Technical breakthrough in 3D gaming and multiplayer FPS

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV (PC, 2005, 2K Games) - Turn-based strategy game about building civilizations through history

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC/PS3/X360, 2011, Bethesda Softworks) - Open-world fantasy RPG set in the Nordic province of Skyrim

Fallout 4 (PC/PS4/XOne, 2015, Bethesda Softworks) - Post-apocalyptic RPG set in the ruins of Boston

Diablo II (PC, 2000, Blizzard Entertainment) - Action RPG that set the standard for the hack-and-slash genre

Hollow Knight (PC, 2017, Team Cherry) - Atmospheric metroidvania with challenging combat and beautiful art

Minecraft (PC, 2011, Mojang) - Sandbox survival crafting game with infinite possibilities

Control (PC/PS4/XOne, 2019, 505 Games) - Supernatural action-adventure set in a shape-shifting building

X-COM (PC, 1994, MicroProse) - Turn-based tactical game about defending Earth from aliens

Might and Magic series (PC, 1986, New World Computing) - Classic RPG series featuring party-based dungeon crawling

GoldenEye 007 (N64, 1997, Nintendo) - Revolutionary FPS that defined console multiplayer shooting

Divinity: Original Sin 2 (PC, 2017, Larian Studios) - Deep tactical RPG with complex systems and multiplayer support

Baldur’s Gate 3 (PC, 2023, Larian Studios) - D&D-based RPG with unprecedented level of choice and reactivity

Elden Ring (PC/PS5/XSX, 2022, Bandai Namco) - Open-world action RPG featuring challenging combat

Dark Souls II (PC/PS3/X360, 2014, Bandai Namco) - Action RPG known for its difficulty and intricate level design

Overwatch (PC/PS4/XOne, 2016, Blizzard Entertainment) - Team-based hero shooter with diverse character roster

Team Fortress 2 (PC, 2007, Valve) - Class-based multiplayer FPS with distinctive art style

Borderlands 3 (PC/PS4/XOne, 2019, 2K Games) - Looter-shooter with irreverent humor and billions of guns

Warframe (PC, 2013, Digital Extremes) - Free-to-play sci-fi action game with space ninjas

Resident Evil 4 (GC, 2005, Capcom) - Revolutionary third-person survival horror action game

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PS3/X360, 2013, Ubisoft) - Open-world action game set in the Golden Age of Piracy

Stardew Valley (PC, 2016, ConcernedApe) - Farming simulation RPG with rich social interactions

RimWorld (PC, 2018, Ludeon Studios) - Sci-fi colony management simulation with emergent storytelling

BioShock 2 (PC/PS3/X360, 2010, 2K Games) - Underwater FPS sequel exploring themes of family and collectivism

Max Payne 2 (PC, 2003, Rockstar Games) - Noir action game featuring bullet-time shooting mechanics

Death Stranding (PS4, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment) - Unique delivery action game with social connection themes

Frostpunk (PC, 2018, 11 bit studios) - Society survival game in a frozen post-apocalyptic world

Orcs Must Die! 2 (PC, 2012, Robot Entertainment) - Tower defense action game with trap-laying mechanics

Deep Rock Galactic (PC, 2020, Coffee Stain Publishing) - Co-op mining FPS featuring space dwarves

Heroes of Hammerwatch (PC, 2018, Crackshell) - Roguelite action RPG with pixel art graphics

Smite (PC, 2014, Hi-Rez Studios) - Third-person MOBA featuring mythological deities

Factorio (PC, 2020, Wube Software) - Complex factory building and automation simulation

Left 4 Dead 2 (PC, 2009, Valve) - Cooperative zombie survival FPS with dynamic AI Director

Bloodborne (PS4, 2015, Sony Interactive Entertainment) - Gothic action RPG featuring aggressive combat and Lovecraftian horror

Final Fantasy VII (PS1, 1997, Square) - Landmark JRPG featuring epic story and innovative materia system

Clash of Clans (iOS/Android, 2012, Supercell) - Strategic mobile base-building and raiding game

Cyberpunk 2077 (PC/PS4/XOne, 2020, CD Projekt) - Open-world action RPG set in a dystopian future metropolis

Risk of Rain 2 (PC, 2020, Gearbox Publishing) - 3D roguelike shooter with escalating difficulty and power progression

Hades (PC, 2020, Supergiant Games) - Action roguelike based on Greek mythology with compelling narrative

Halo 3 (X360, 2007, Microsoft Game Studios) - Epic conclusion to the original Halo trilogy with groundbreaking multiplayer

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC/X360, 2006, Bethesda Softworks) - Open-world fantasy RPG set in the Imperial province of Cyrodiil

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1991, Nintendo) - Beloved action-adventure featuring parallel Light and Dark Worlds

Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES, 1988, Nintendo) - Unique Mario platformer based on Doki Doki Panic with character selection

Torchlight II (PC, 2012, Runic Games) - Fast-paced action RPG with mod support and multiplayer features

[forzahorizon2fullpc]

Forza Horizon 2 Full Version PC

Forza Horizon 2 Examines

Forza Horizon 2 brings in Our Rivals, a quick and also simple solution to recognize which traces you've ended up being beaten happening. Here forzahorizon2pcgame.site, Clubs permit you to definitely form groups with other participants from the population in order to co-operate, compete, along with write. Upon arriving on the Event an individual achieve admission on the head three, in addition to the remainder will certainly uncover when ones movement over the Street Fall. If you're discover your car or truck complicated to manage after that you might want to make it possible for on the list of numerous pushing advances in which Forza delivers. In Forza Horizon 2 you will discover several style to help earn Expertises though the model a person need to seek to learn end up being wandering along with dodging visitors.

Walk at the rear of the controls involving many of the globes hottest automobiles, like cars on the latest Quickly & Mad film, Livid 7! The full auto record includes things like over five stunning rides, such as the majority of iconic automobile on the Fast & Livid motion picture, the supercharged 1970 Dodge Charger R/T Rapidly & Flabergasted Edition. Rivals Function makes it possible for that you compete in opposition to your buddies, Batter, in addition to the planet to line the very best times period upon every trace inside European union. Anyone goal now just about every affair is usually to generate like much XP as you can with racing cleanly and elegantly to be able to outdo the XP leaderboard. Like some celebrations in a Getaway, a election continues and also your next Street Vacation Site ends up being decided.

Thanks to a luck-based 'spin-the-wheel' prize system when you level upwards, unlocking autos likewise understands a whole lot longer, making progression think slower, while one does eventually turn up earlier. The idea gotten married to gorgeous visuals that has a brilliant setting, great handling in addition to a very fun festival-themed vocation mode. Attempt heading onto ForzaMotorsport.net in addition to retrieving the community forum.

Your Favorite Period ends up being Returning: Rewind Time for the 90’s about Forza Horizon 5.

Seeing that these online game have an incredibly tiny participant population, effectively stay ending online ritual with regard to Forza Horizon 1 along with Forza Horizon 2 about May 22, 2023 and so that we could give attention to our own nearly all contemporary sports. You need to realize that because of the age these sport in addition to the assistances, gate for you to on the web efficiency also before the public closure year isn't agreement. About 22 September 2014, Flip 10 Facilities uncovered the primary 100 connected with over 200 autos to get reported from the available world activity, through exotics, rally car or truck, pickup truck, scorching hatches, and the like. A lot of automobiles on the Forza strings go back, including many automobiles from your first Horizon game. The catalog consists of the 2014 Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 and Veneno, How to Download Forza Horizon 2 the McLaren P1, the LaFerrari, the Agera, and also the Bugatti Veyron Extremely Sport.8 Another novel car or truck that they can included discharged stayed the Honda Capri RS3100 that's a store locate. Thises a racer advised simply by a great many others yet, on the subject of open-world battle activity, Forza Horizon 2 becomes best-in-class.

Horizon 2 has and overcome Sony’s Driveclub towards chequered hole with regards to cultural gaming which consists of, emergeny room, very identical ‘Clubs’, that you simply can certainly each foundation or even join using your pals. Each one can easily use up to be able to 1000 associates, meaning Playground Activity will need to have a very unique outlook with what gamer’s friendship group of friends searches prefer to ordinary people. New union elements can possibly make people prizes while you’re not playing.In common it is not only a game which enables the item testing to be able to pocket funds. Performing healthy here races generates you credit history as well as XP as well as with all the problem risen in place their certainly not very not easy to be able to routinely end about the stage.

Competition isn't restricted for you to truly run sometimes; whether or not you're looking for various other players inside California king or clawing your current stroke by having a velocity area, Forza Horizon 2 produces anyone with a Rivals revise to permitted you realize as soon as you've overcome your friends as well as Clubmates. Proceeded include the very first activity abrasive hipster brother; tamed include the obnoxious cutscenes that suffocated anyone with faux-cool language whenever people weren’t with the turn. Indeed, there exists right now a small number of rich 20-somethings racking winning their own cover states simply because, daylights, The father are able it, yet this time around they need someone to join in on the exuberance as an alternative to list people away the street like B-movie villains. There's however a fairly extended pause until eventually September 30, thus those contesting enthusiasts who're nonetheless delighting in Forza Motorsport 5 need to steal the possibility to compete "Nürburgring," the 3 rd add-on for your game, and that is immediately readily available in order to download free of charge. Finding different experience is really as regular seeing that stopping, heading towards place, along with selecting on the list of races listed generally there. A fairly well-rendered CG coordinator branded Richie will probably walk anyone through the basics in the pageant as well as some of the races you'll be performing.

You will discover also numerous Good results for that on the web manners, such while competing throughout 200 multiplayer experience and achieving 25 hen house Bucket Number. On-line Route Excursion includes persons tour via place to location, taking part in races as well as multiplayer-specific affairs like as Infection. The squeeze you choose to do on the highway between events relies towards your current gain with the entire Way Excursion video game, therefore the item not almost attaining the races. In terms of benefits, they're tied to a really Challenge Gotham Racing-like fashion system. Performing various exercises like good begin, move, along with approach overlooks may enhance ones technique multiplier.

Outside the 2 multiplayer methods, it is possible to even now fulfill various other reside persons as a result of Automobile Meet up with. Travel to one these places through the alone diversion and you'll knowledge the automobiles connected with your friends as well as other persons who are also paying a visit to an automobile fulfill. If you see a vehicle or costume layout you prefer, you possibly can acquire the item right then. You possibly can tone of voice chat with all your guy attendees and in some cases concern the troupe with a Series contest. Forza Horizon 2 work with exactly the same outstanding images serp because Forza 5, watering pump available 1080p videos as well as ridiculously detailed automobiles. The support time has been halved although, in order to allow the gaping world locating.

And also artistic-minded racers can easily burrow in to the very same good dress along with label publisher while told with Forza 5, contributing to their world online. Notwithstanding, the festival itself provides the experience a memorable atmosphere as well as form. The towns you stay in all use a hub exactly where people are heard to be able to celebrate the event, full of signage, go up, with fireworks. The Car port uncover inside these switches become exactly where you'll visit update your own car or truck, provide them with new color affairs, and also design livery as well as labels. Within 2015 a Porsche development ended up being discharged which often aspects over 10 Porsches plus a Porsche-themed Container Record as well as good results.

[octokinesis]

Dancing until the Way is Clear

I cannot believe it has been so many years since my last post. Looking back, however, it makes perfect sense. I was so engaged with having my art be my life while attempting to recover my spark from an impossible employment situation (that unfortunately provided hours of laughter) that I set aside few, if any hours to document what was happening. And if you know me, you know that when I’m in a perfect storm like that, I find its eye and hunker down to…study.

And I did! You might have noticed the extra sections here on the website about Somatic Activated Healing™. I received my certification in 2022 and have been in service to healing the world through dance ever sice. Don’t get me wrong. I been done been doin dat! This time I do it with a full sense that I am authorized to go forth. For many of us Gen Xers in tradional arts, we would be the erstwhile culture bearer, but our elders and/or mentors are still around living from the fruits of their labor OR, COVID took them before we felt we were fully annointed to walk through th eotherside of the gates, back into community, carrying the sacred bundle. Kinda frustrating.

Now we find ourselves looking for classes to take or a studio to use and there is no longer an acceptance that beocming better in order to great things requires repetition, humbleness, and time. People want to work less, sleep less, weigh less, pay less, save the environment while traveling more, shopping more (hiding that fact from themselves by doing it mostly online), drinking and eating more. They want to be paid a living wage but want to be waited on hand and foot at a discount. In this climate, getting people to bring their earthsuits to a dance class just for the feeling of being there can become tricky business. With this SAH Method™ certification, I can meet you in your lving room via Zoom.

The irony is that I stumbled into the Method because I was looking for a way to address the trauma in the bodies of people I wanted to interview during ART+FACT, a National Performance Network-funded project I helmed twice with my homies, The Earthseed Collective, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. It was great becoming a Southern Artist for Social Change, but it was almost impossible to get to activation phase because of the terror still alive in the memory and flesh of residents of that town. We were looking at 1973 to understand how our parents dreamed the present we were living in 2023 to then create the dreamscape necessary for 2073. Intentionality was going to be supported by deep listening, songs, drums, and dance…except people would come to watch the outdoor West African dance class from the safety of their cars.

In 1973 my little town integrated their public school system during Christmas break, sending a terse letter out to white families that the local high school had no. choice in the matter because “seperate but equal” could not be proven in the district. That Christmas, white separatists and supremacists spent the holiday erecting what became known as ‘seg academies’ all over the region. The parent meeting, rallies and fights that made that moment happen had left their mark in the collective imagination of all. Additionally, white networks of surveillance went underground, but continued to keep tabs on Black and Indigenous people. So while I COULD give an African dance class on the courtyard with live drums, I could also find doors closed in fear, interviews for the podcast cancelled, and local news outlets pretending to have not received our press releases.

We had super cool shit planned for the performance part that woud have accured after the memory and object collection phase. In fact, I just managed to get a Mississippi Art Comission grant to make the crockpot tietravel devices FINALLY. I feel odd because my collaborator had to close their business because the building was sold out from under them….that’s for another post.

So I still practice Somatic Activated Healing™. If I didn’t, I might honestly be dead or at least have had a massive heart attack by now. Getting my unexpressed emotions out, learning to stop giving meaning to every little feeling, and practicing dropping the story and staying with the feeling has radicalized me in wild, wonderful ways. Teaching it as acting technique alongside Stanislavski technique fueled me intellectually as well as psychologically. Giving a session in a corporate environment to groups who are struggling to find their way through tumultuous transformations in the way we do business has been a masterclass. Last November I spearheaded the first World SAH Day experience, showcasing 24 hrs of sessions by certified teachers around the globe via the Lyceum at Rust College. Now I’m launching a business to cultivate a sacred, sovereign space for cultivating imagination, genius, and joy; SAH Method™ is an integral part of this endeavor.

On August 8, 9, and 10 I will have a live offering each evening at Urevbu Contemporary as a soft launch to A Place for Joy LLC. It’s feeling anything but soft. While tickets are available at Eventbrite and Luma, I’m out here in these streets meeting people, introducing them to the Method and the biz, hoping to see them in person on at least one fo those nights. Yes, entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. But I have every faith that those who have been searching for the one thing that would make all the difference will arrive through the doors of this beautiful gallery and get their entire life.

Maybe you will be one of them.

[beyourselfchulanmaria]

Very attractive to me ... I want to ask my son if this game is fun? Can someone like me - silly mom who has never played online games play it? XD Lan~* Baldur's Gate 3 is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment of the Baldur's Gate series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. A partial version of the game was released in early access for macOS and Windows in October 2020 until the full release for Windows in August 2023, with versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S releasing later that year.

Set in the universe of the Forgotten Realms, the game begins with the protagonist waking up from unconsciousness on a mind flayer dimension-crossing ship infected with a parasitic tadpole that threatens to transform them into a mind flayer. Alongside several others who have met the same fate, they are forced to go on a quest to find a remedy to prevent ceremorphosis. Players choose from twelve character classes and customise their characters at the beginning of the game; they also select an origin from several options. Through interacting with other characters, engaging in round-based combat against enemies, and making plot decisions, players determine not only their fate but also the fate of Faerûn. That determination is also impacted by the game's dice roll mechanic, where a player's roll determines whether the outcome of a character's action is successful.

Baldur's Gate 3 received critical acclaim, with praise for its gameplay, narrative, production quality, and acting performances. It quickly found itself ranked among the greatest video games of all time and won numerous Game of the Year awards, including becoming the first game to win Game of the Year at all five major video game award ceremonies; the Golden Joystick Awards, The Game Awards, the D.I.C.E. Awards, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and the British Academy Games Awards.

Petting our cute owlbear <3 Baldur's Gate 3 84 / ?

[cattutorialsblogs]

CAT Exam Day 2024 Checklist & Instructions

The day for which you have been preparing for months is sooner or later around the corner. IMS desires you all of the great for CAT 2024! Let's start your preparation with Best Online Coaching for CAT.

Here are some important things to note earlier than you take the CAT 2024.

CAT 2024 Exam Day Checklist

1) Admit Card: Print the Admit Card on A4 length paper.

2) Photograph: Affix the same photograph on the Admit Card that changed into uploaded while registering for the CAT

3) Original Photo Identity Proof: Carry alongside anybody original picture ID proof to the test centre (PAN card/Driving License/Voter ID/ Passport/ Aadhaar Card (With Photograph)/ E-Aadhaar).

Do’s:

Candidates are counseled to discover their Test Centre and its accessibility at the least a day earlier than the check in order to reach the Test Centre on time at the day of the check.

Please reach the centre as indicated in opposition to Reporting/ Entry time at centre. No candidate could be authorised to enter after the Gate Closing Time.

It is advisable to attain the Test Centre round 60 to ninety mins before their slot time. It is not really helpful to attain both too early or too past due.

Don’ts:

Mobile phones, electronic devices, watches, calculators, stationery objects, pens, papers, wallets, goggles, and many others. Will NOT BE ALLOWED within the Test centre.

Shoes/footwear with thick soles and garments with big buttons are NOT authorised.

Do not convey any stationery. Writing Pad & Pen may be furnished to candidates for rough paintings, that allows you to need to be again after the check.

Do not panic/ stress your self. Your performance is as a good deal about your intellectual strength as it is about your arrangements and competencies.

Search for a best CAT Online Coaching Classes for prepare CAT, choose percentilers as a your study partner.

Last Minute Tips for CAT 2023 Exam

CAT 2024 Preparation Plan

[an-aussie-button-masher]

Who Needs PvP? Five of the Latest and Greatest Singleplayer Adventures

   What’s the most annoying aspect of modern gaming? Is it all the greedy battle passes and microtransactions? The incessant toxicity of online playerbases? Games demanding your endless interaction with constant daily or weekly challenges that guilt you for deciding to play anything else? It’s probably a combination of all of the above, really. Well, if you’re looking for a break from all that games-as-a-service online nonsense, seeking something a bit more casual, why not try these singleplayer adventures?   These are a handful of the latest and greatest solo games, all enjoyable offline with no toxicity or microtransactions in sight. Of course, while they’re increasingly outnumbered by online titles, there’s still far too many of these types of games to list here - so, I decided to gather a small yet diverse variety to show off here: a sprawling fantasy RPG with endless possibilities, an action-packed rhythm platformer, a creepy eldritch fishing game, a pantheon-slaying titan of storytelling, and a game where you play as a cat. Take a look for yourself!

Baldur’s Gate 3    Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ve definitely at least heard of this game - especially after it won 2023’s Game of the Year. Baldur’s Gate 3 is about as close as it gets to a full Dungeons & Dragons campaign on your PC or console - no need to organise all your friends to show up for a campaign session! In this massive RPG, you can play as a handful of pre-set characters, all with their own expansive stories and countless unique interactions, or make your own from a dozen different races and classes. Want to be a Fighter? A Wizard? Barbarian? Cleric? Bard? Some unholy mashup of everything? Perhaps you’ll play as a human, or an elf, or a gnome, half-orc, or dragonborn - there’s a practically endless list of possibilities, and that’s just in the character select screen!   Everything you do has some kind of impact on the hours of storytelling: who will you help, and who will you fight? Where will you go? What sides will you take in this absolute narrative feat? There’s an overarching plot, but the path you take through it is entirely yours to decide - for better or worse.

Hi-Fi Rush    Bethesda sneakily released this bumping rhythmic platformer early in 2023, and it quickly became a number-one hit. Play as Chai, a bit of a loser with ambitious dreams of becoming a rockstar - and when he accidentally gets his music player implanted into his heart and the whole world around him starts moving to the beat, those dreams start to literally become reality. Suddenly, Chai’s fighting off a dark corporate conspiracy with the power of music, friendship, and blunt force trauma with a sick guitar made of magnetised garbage. In this game, everything - everything - moves, jumps, flashes and swings to the rhythm of the music playing from Chai’s heart, and moving yourself and your attacks in time makes you stronger and earn higher scores.   Hi-Fi Rush is truly an earnest throwback to old-fashioned straightforward action platforming, with a linear level-after-level structure and no side quests or unnecessary padding to get in the way of the story or the rapid-tempo gameplay. It’s got a beautifully colourful and chaotic artstyle, genuinely entertaining characters and hilarious writing, and of course, a banging soundtrack to top it all off.

Dredge    Let’s take things down a notch for those looking for something a little more casual and slower-paced - assuming you can keep your anxiety in check, that is. Dredge is a chilling eldritch cosmic horror story, disguised as a simple little fishing game. Sail out in your little tugboat, pull up any fish you find (don’t worry about the increasingly-creepy and disfigured catches, it’s probably just your imagination) and make absolutely sure you return to port before dark - you’re not alone out there. You might catch glimpses of things much older and much bigger shifting just beneath the waves; how much of it is really there, and how much is just your paranoia getting the better of you? Are you willing to take the risk that there’s nothing really there…or that it didn’t see you?   Once you start collecting some decidedly-unnerving artefacts in the waters, a puzzling storyline begins to take shape, capped off with a stunning twist and a dangerous choice to make…or, you can just mind your own business and keep busy catching and selling all the fish from day to day, upgrading your boat and relaxing on the mostly-calm ocean. Just mind those lights in the fog - pretty sure that isn’t a town in the distance…

God of War: Ragnarök    Now, back to something a bit more blood-pumping with a true linear action titan - God of War: Ragnarök. Kratos, the former god-butchering Ghost of Sparta, is back, and (reluctantly) doing what he does best as he faces off the might of the Norse gods including Thor, Heimdall, and Odin himself, alongside his growing son Atreus. Between all the enemy-slaughtering and gallivanting across the Nine Realms, Ragnarök tells an emotional and engaging narrative of a father not wanting to lose his son, fighting against fate itself to protect his boy just a little longer. The game features graphics and visuals as gorgeous as its’ writing and acting is brilliant - it’s little wonder why Christopher Judge won 2022’s Best Performance as Kratos.   Besides the story is the fast-paced complex combat system God of War fans know and love, with Atreus joining his father as a playable character with his own array of skills and attacks; time to get that hand-eye coordination up! For returning players looking for a good reason to jump back into action, a recent DLC expansion adds a brand-new challenging mode if you’re after a true test of skill in the hallowed battlegrounds of Valhalla.

Stray    This is a game where you play as a cat. Need I say more? Well, if the feline gimmick isn’t enough to interest you, how about a surprisingly fascinating world and endearing characters? Stray pits the cutest protagonist in gaming against a dark, treacherous world that’s much, much bigger from the perspective of our tiny fuzzy hero. In this game, you’ll climb, jump and sneak across a neon-lit city populated entirely by robots, all carrying on with their jobs long after humanity is gone in a tale that explores questions of sentience and societal growth - and collapse.   Come for the adorable little kitty, but stay for the interesting story, beautifully haunting visual style, quirky robotic characters and some thought-provoking puzzles. How far can this cat go to reunite with its lost family? Will this unlikely hero be the key to helping its new mechanical friends find freedom from the massive locked-down city? What happened to humanity in the first place? There’s a lot of questions to answer, and yet you’re just a cat. Additionally, the game also features the best button prompt ever: Press O to Meow!

   Like I said, there’s plenty more solo adventure games to be found beyond these standout examples - which one is your favourite? Are there any more worthy additions to this list you know? Let’s hear it! Feedback, reblogs and likes are all much appreciated!   Thanks for reading!

An Aussie Button-Masher

[globalinstituteoftechnology]

Global Institute of Technology, Jaipur: Inspiring the Next Generation of Engineers

Global Institute of Technology, a prestigious institution, was established in 2002. It is AICTE approved and RTU affiliated institute. It is mainly known for offering top-class engineering undergraduate and postgraduate courses in different fields. It is the first ever college to acquire an A grade by NAAC-UG. It is located at ITS, 1 & 2, IT Park Rd, Sitapura Industrial Area, Sitapura, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302022. Here, students can pursue B.Tech and M.Tech courses of their choice and gain the best prospects in future.

A candidate with a minimum of 45% in Class 12 is eligible to pursue B.Tech at this College. Whereas, the eligibility criteria to pursue an M.Tech degree here is a minimum aggregate of 50%. It is among the top B.Tech colleges in Jaipur. GIT offers various different Engineering programs which are as follows:

B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering

B.Tech in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science

B.Tech in Electrical Engineering

B.Tech in Civil Engineering

B.Tech in Information Technology

B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, etc.

The tuition fee of these courses is somewhere around 3.8L to 4L for 4 academic years comprising of 8 Semesters.

Admission Process:

The admission process at GIT is effortless. Students need to carry out a few processes to get into this institution. They can surely encounter numerous benefits on academic as well as non-academic basis. It is ranked among top colleges for B.Tech in Jaipur. The entrance procedure here is divided into a number of steps:

Step 1: The Application Process:

The application process is completely online. Candidates have to register their details online in the application. They can fill the form by visiting the official website of Ahmedabad Institute of Hospitality and Management.

Step 2: Phases of Selection:

Scholars should get a decent score in entrance tests such as, JEE Main, REAP, GATE. Further on, they have to appear for their REAP or CAM counselling procedure.

Step 3: Verification of Admission:

Once, the selection phases are done, candidates are required to submit some documents. Once, these documents are verified, selection will be granted based on the scores, overall performance, etc. to the students.

Apart from the admission process, candidates can explore the placement opportunities provided here. Many popular and high-performing firms appear here every year to hire students. The top recruiters of GIT in 2023 involve, TCS, IBM, Oracle, Cognizant, Genpact, Yamaha, etc. The highest package here stood at INR 90LPA in the recent times. These aspects make it a perfect institute among the best B.Tech colleges in Jaipur in recent times.

To sum up, from the academic system to the infrastructure, placements, and other prospects, make Global Institute of Technology a perfect institution for candidates who desire to gain the best career opportunities. With the well-experienced faculty and the education system at this college, students will have a great academic experience, Additionally, they get various chances to showcase their abilities and perform various experiments and research related to their respective fields and get vital certifications that supports their CVs. Therefore, scholars can encounter overall growth and future building by being a part of such a prestigious B.Tech colleges in Jaipur like GIT.