#alas. I am limited in the level of detail that I can add.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

As we approach the next arc in the story, an outfit change is now on the horizon! The question is, what are our lads going to wear?

(Please also vote in the Lan Wangji poll!)

[sweetsmellosuccess]

The Best Films of 2020

The 15 Best Films of 2020

Normally, when I assess a full year of cinematic offerings, I consider both sides of that coin  —  the outstanding entities, and the least successful —  but the year of our lord two thousand and twenty provided more than enough misery for all of us, I do believe. Ergo, in my own small way to bring better vibes into the universe, for this year’s round-up, I’m staying solely on the positive tip, highlighting those films whose unfortunate release date during the Year of the Hex shouldn’t preclude them for being fully appreciated. Let’s take a year off from negativity and schadenfreude, shall we, and just stroll amongst the poppies and bright sunshine of some of the best releases of the year.  

15. The Invisible Man

“Leigh Whannell’s film is thoroughly modern in approach and sophistication, but the film it most reminded me of was made back in 1944. George Cukor’s Gaslight starred Charles Boyer as a loathsome husband who attempts to convince his already anxious wife (Ingrid Bergman) that she’s going insane by secretly rearranging things in their house and taking things from her so she thinks she’s always misplacing them. He preys on her emotional vulnerability in order to mask his own pathology and emotional detachment. The effect is absolutely enraging: Onscreen, he’s one of the more hateful villains ever committed to celluloid.”

Full Review

14. The Killing of Two Lovers

“From the opening sequence, with a distraught, estranged husband standing over the bed of his wife and her new boyfriend with malice in his heart, and a gun in hand, the film spirals out into incredibly well structured compositions, taking us inside and outside of David’s recurring psychosis, utilizing a bevy of techniques: The framing shrinks down around him, the sound gets muffled, as if underwater, save for the incredibly unnerving metallic sound of cables being stretched taut, and the sickening kathunk of a heavy car door slamming shut.”

Capsule Review

13. Another Round

“Typically, Vinterberg avoids simple conclusions  —  and God help us all if this film gets picked up by a U.S. studio and remade with, say, Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, and Chris Rock  —  providing more or less equal examples of the delirious fun drinking with your friends can be (the film opens with a group of high schoolers gleefully doing “lake races” whereby teams compete to drink a case of beer while running around the nearby body of water; and closes with the same teen crew, and some of their teachers, whooping it up in celebrating their graduation); and the horrorshow it can become (one teacher ends up peeing the bed, and on his wife in the process, another wakes up bloodied and out of it in front of his neighbor’s house), leading to very real and horrible consequences.”

Capsule Review

12. Soul

“Co-director Pete Docter is the creative force behind many of Pixar's best titles, having a hand in the Toy Story franchise, WALL-E, Up, and also directing Inside Out, a brilliantly moving treatise on the subject of emotional upheaval. This film, which he co-wrote and made along with fellow co-director Kemp Powers, is his first film back at the helm since that high-water mark, and he has again dug into the fertile earth of our mortality and come back with a particularly vibrant crop.”

Full Review

11. The Burnt Orange Heresy

“Based on the novel by Charles Willeford, the film briskly moves through its paces, clouding the waters with the schemes of duplicitous men, who have sold out any love of art for their greater obsession of cash and prestige. A literary thriller in the vein of The Talented Mr. Ripley, it’s become a genre all too rare in the era of blockbuster bravado. This film will remind you what a mistake that is.”

Full Review

10. Lovers Rock

“In the course of the party, the fuses blow while the house DJ is spinning Janet Kay's "Silly Games," a fan favorite at the time. Undaunted, the guests continue dancing away, singing the lyrics a capella in delirious unison, as McQueen's camera swirls around the living room as if nothing happened. Such a heartfelt moment of unbridled togetherness, putting into distinct bas relief the sense of community we've been denied as a species in 2020, feels like a benediction, an epitaph for the year, and a salve for what we've all been so desperately missing.”

Capsule Review

9. Time

“Ostensibly, it’s about the strain of incarceration on even the most grounded of families (an experience naturally disproportionate for POCs); but, on a deeper level, it’s also about the manner of our use of the limited number of revolutions we get to enjoy situated on this earth. It is a profound knock-out.”

Full Review

8. New Order

“Meet the new boss, only in Michel Franco’s damning portrait of a society locked forever in cycles of oppression, revolution, and new oppression, it makes no difference who you are, what your belief system is, or whether or not you subscribe to a moral set of ethics.”

Capsule Review

7. Dick Johnson is Dead

“Utilizing stunt people and special effects, Johnson kills her father off a number of different gruesome ways, as a means of softening the blow of actually losing him as his mind slowly slips away. This eventually culminates in a final gambit, both acutely painful and deeply moving, in which our sense of things gets seriously upended. As Johnson put it during the post-screening Q&A, the film serves as a “doomed experiment trying to keep my father alive forever.” This film won’t make him immortal, alas, but it does make him indelible.”

Capsule Review

6. Martin Eden

“Marcello packs the film with offbeat bits and pieces of other films, including strips of what appear to be vintage home movies, sometimes in juxtaposition to what Martin is feeling  —  a group of kids swinging wildly from the bar of a fence, to a full galley ship taking in water and suddenly sinking like an iron ingot – which adds a more winsome, timeless element to the narrative. It’s clearly set in the past, but avoids being too dependent on that particular sense of place and time. Martin is a young man, at first, just coming into himself, and the actions he takes, what he goes through, the film seems to suggest, would be similar in any age.”

Full Review

5. Minari

“The film is certainly charming, but that’s not to diminish its straightforward approach to its characters’ plight. It doesn’t shy away from their difficulties, and as a result, it doesn’t cheat towards smarmy emotional closure.”

Capsule Review

4. Collective

“The breath of hope in the film, when the inept Minister of Health resigns, leading to the placing of a new, emboldened director who works quickly to clean the quagmire left by his predecessors, is just as quickly expelled after the next round of elections, in which the Social Democrat party  —  the very ones in charge of this catastrophe in the first place  —  gets re-elected with an even greater majority than what they had before. A perfect reflection of what happens when a government is allowed to exist without any meaningful oversight, other than from a bedraggled press and a disenchanted electorate.”

Full Review

3. First Cow

“Reichardt, a naturalist at heart, is not known much as a humorist, but there is a lightness to her screenplay -- co-written by Jonathan Raymond, her frequent collaborator, who wrote the original novel upon which its based -- that keeps it as sweetly airy as one of Cookie's fried confections. The two friends are so out of step with their surroundings -- the party of men Cookie initially travels with are little more than brutish thugs, and the fort upon which they end up is no better -- they almost had to find each other. They are reunited in the local bar of the fort only because literally every other patron runs out to egg on a brawl between two loutish combatants.”

Full Review

2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

“Hittman’s eye for detail and emotional complexity  —  her characters can rarely articulate anything they’re experiencing  —  is incredibly acute, and she pulls tremendously understated performances out of her two leads.”

Capsule Review

1. Nomadland

“Perhaps no American director since Terrance Malick has made more of the collapsing light of dusk and twilight than Chloe Zhao. Much of her new film, which stars Frances McDormand as a transigent woman (“not homeless, houseless”), who traverses back and forth across the west in her beat up live-in van, doing seasonal work, takes place in that particular kind of vibrant half-darkness that shrouds the desert and its mountains with a magic kind of mystery.”

Capsule Review

Other Worthy Mentions: 7500; Assassins; Bacurau; Beanpole; Beginning; Black Bear; Bloody Nose Empty Pockets; Boys State; Come Play; Emma; Gunda; His House; Horse Girl; I Am Greta; Jacinta; La Llorona; Let Him Go; Limbo; Mangrove; Mayor; MLK/FBI; One Night in Miami…; Palm Springs; Possessor Uncut; Red, White & Blue; Relic; She Dies Tomorrow; Shirley; Shithouse; Shiva Baby; Some Kind of Heaven; Spring Blossom; Swallow; Tenet; The Dissident; The Invisible Man; The Nest; Sound of Metal; The Vast of Night; The Viewing Booth; The Way I See It; Vitalina Varella; Welcome to Chechnya

Inexplicably Underrated: 7500; Shithouse

Biggest Welcome Surprise(s): The Vast of Night; His House; She Dies Tomorrow

The Best Two Films I Saw This Year, Period: Satantango (1994); Harlan County, USA (1976)

[bnha-scenarios]

☕️ Special Thanks ☕️ 

As always, thank you so much for the coffee! Your kindness are very much appreciated! ♡

Emilija | Regan | Nela Kovaříková | 1 Anon

Onwards to the progress update.

I had. So. Many. Things. That I actually wanted to complete.

… Alas, work decided to be a bitch and swamp me with things to take care of. To put it simply, there were a lot of issues that caused a lot of overtime work even on weekends, so I had to step away from coding most of the time so I won’t burn myself out.

So yeah, I didn’t manage to complete a lot of features, though I did dabble on some stuff here and there. I’m not happy with the rather small progress either. But life happens, and there are just other things that are more important sometimes. So we just have to let it go and look forward to the next month!

I’d say that this month I was quite productive in terms of organization and planning instead of the actual coding. I have at least identified what I need to write for the ‘free activity’ time of the game, which makes about 30-40% of the gameplay itself. However, actually writing the scenes and executing it is a different effort altogether, which I have only started to embark on.

Still, it’s crazy to think that the development for the full game has been actively going for around three and a half months now. Whew. Knowing that I have a tendency to hyperfocus and then get tired of something after a short time frame, I’m going to at the very least give myself a pat on the back for still keeping this project up and running until now.

More details below ↓

Added Route: Kirishima

Let me preface this first with a declaration: I won’t be adding any more love interest after this. Please please please don’t make me do it 😅 Going through all the plans and re-setting up things to figure out how to add him in was such a painful experience…

But anyway. I will be adding this boy’s route to the full game, because a lot of people seem to want to have him in the game. He does seem like a fun character to write, so I thought I’ll give him a chance.

Gameplay

Places, Schedules, and Hanging Out with the Boys

I think you would have noticed from the last two devlogs, but there are several activities you can do in-game. One of them is to visit a place of your choice at a certain time in a day.

Some places can be unlocked when you reach a certain threshold in a specific stat, and there are others which will be unlocked when you reach a specific threshold in a character’s affection meter. Nai will message you whenever you manage to unlock a new place to visit, so keep a lookout for that!

But what happens when you visit a place?

Well, each character has their own schedules -- which you should be able to figure out either by coincidence or by talking to them at school when prompted to do so. Your Quirk will allow you to see the unlocked schedule of each of the characters, so my advice would be to check it out before deciding where to go! If you manage to come to a specific place at the correct time, you will bump into them. Normally, this will trigger a set of actions you can perform: Talk, Action, and Skinship.

Talking is a safe way to increase your love interest’s affection meter, especially in the first half of the game. More topics can be unlocked under some requirements. Generally, it doesn’t matter where you are, the topics you can talk about will be the same. There are topics which might trigger different reactions depending on how high your love interest’s affection is, so have fun finding them! However, be warned that most topics can be selected only once!

Action is another safe way to further increase your love interest’s affection meter. Unlike talking, different places have a different set of actions you could select from. More actions can also be unlocked under some requirements. Responses to this doesn’t exactly change based on the character’s current affection level, and it’s not limited to one time only.

Skinship is a riskier way to boost the affection meter: simply put, it’s a high gain with a high risk. Consider the character’s current affection level when you’re selecting from this list! He might not like it if you go touchy-feely when you’re not that close yet.

On the other hand, when his affection is high enough, you’ll find that you can have a lot of fun choosing the various options here. So be smart, bide your time, and have fun ;)

And that’s not all! Interaction is a two-way street, so depending on how your love interest views the main character, he will initiate Talk, Action, or even Skinship. There’s a lot of variations in here, and I hope you’ll have fun with this mechanic! I certainly am having fun while also pulling out my hair out of frustration designing this and trying to put the mechanism to control this into code…

Progress-wise, I think at the very least the functions for controlling this specific mechanic have been 80% completed. The actual writing however, is another story. There are still hundreds that I still haven’t had the time to write yet, and most of them are not yet coded in. Those who have been coded in still don't have sprites and music, so really, I’ll just say that the writing progress for this part is less than 1% completed….

On the left is the currently WIP full game project, with what I would say around 2-4% dialogue scripted in. And on the right side is the completed demo project.

…. Can you see how much effort the whole game is going to take me now? I did say to strap in and relax, cause this is going to be a long ride. And I wasn’t kidding lol

"Nai"

Although throughout the first week, the story will flow as your environment / characters around you teaches you on how the game works, I’m aware that the game mechanics might be hard to understand for casual players who aren’t too used to playing otome games (or games in general). Which is pretty much why I’m giving you a ‘helpline’ of some sort, in the form of another character.

Why a character? Because I can and I want to. Shush 😆

If you’ve played the demo, chances are, you’ve encountered a name which you had no recollection of existing in the canon My Hero Academia universe. Well, you’re right. Like the player’s character, Nai (full name: Namae Nai / 名前 ない) doesn’t exactly exist in the canon universe, but she’s here to help you throughout the game. (She’s also there because if she wasn’t, 1-A class members becomes odd number in total and that just feels weird to me -- plus, the team exercise system in Heroics wouldn’t exactly make sense if the class has odd number of students)

For those of you who hate Original Characters with a passion (why tho), you don’t need to worry too much. She won’t be an intrusive character in the plot and will mainly not contact you unless she really has to (seriously, her full name literally means ‘no name’, so give her a break, ok?). And if, even then, you still hate her, well.... Too bad you won’t be able to enjoy the game, I guess.

For those of you who don't mind her existence: I hope you’ll take a liking to her dark sense of humor and appreciate her helping you get through the game!

Others

Fixed some bugs regarding unlocking Special Moves from certain activities and games.

Played around and customized the ‘input name’ for a little bit, so it wouldn’t awkwardly sit on the bottom of the screen. I have 0 talent in designing UI though, so the background still stays as a black screen -- but at least it looks more prominent now.

Added a little sign to indicate which route the player has entered. I think it’s pretty cute! Hopefully you’ll like it.

Assets

Those who follow me on Twitter would have seen this coming, but anyway, I’ll be using TMGS OSTs as the main character theme for the four love interests. Hush hush, okay?

Other than that, unfortunately I didn’t have time to do any assets gathering this month.

Writing

Nothing much to say here. I think I managed to script around 50% of the events in the first day, but honestly I’m not completely satisfied with it so I might go back and tweak them a bit. Still a lot of scenes to be written!

Plans for December

I'm not too sure whether there would be much progress for the next two months, since there are so many things happening and deadlines to be met at work, which is making me really unmotivated to do other side projects in my free time lately. I also feel like I haven't been taking care of my health enough ever since quarantine started, so I'm trying to get back into doing more exercises and looking for healthier food options, which also cuts into my free time and motivation I guess.

With that said, I'll still at least aim for getting some scripts coded in -- particularly for the events in day 1. Other than that, maybe hopefully some assets gathering for supporting Kirishima's newly added route, and finishing up the coding parts that I was unable to finish this month.

I'll see y'all again at the end of next month!

[madamhatter]

Witch of the Cosmos: Overview 3

Follow up post to Witch of the Cosmos: Overview 2. Goes into specific plot used for amnesiac!Kohaku and most likely outcome for Sophie. It’s absolutely wild that this was planned two years ago by myself and I am just letting it ALL out.

Kohaku’s contract exchanges his immortality and immortal memories for his chance to live as a mortal with mortal memories (though, the sorceress might’ve not fabricated them for her amusement). He specifically did this out of the reason of love -- something that moves her, for she cannot feel it anymore the way he does. Which is why she’s relatively kinder for this deal. 

Kohaku, the mortal, is ejected out of the spirit realm and immediately into current day Japan. His particular coordinates will have him landed by the remains of the very river he was the god for.  As for a status of the river, here’s the Sorceress explaining it: 

“What remains of your home is true, Kohaku.” A muttered truth, somberness heavy on each word coming from her lips. “The river is now a part of a metropolitan area – that apartment complex is only one of the many homes that belong to a city. Far bigger than any village you’ve seen.” Alas, the sorceress withholds further explanation, further detail of how the river was drained, how the carcass of the river was leveled and filled by concrete, how the life in the river beds was left homeless, and how nature struggles to move elsewhere to recover from the human spread. Yet, no matter what, humanity will continue its move, soon to corner nature, and the latter may be no more if they aren’t careful.  - CONTRACT.

The sorceress arranged for a particular date and time, manipulating around some events at her leisure to make a chance encounter possible. Why? If only to meet the one mortal the sorceress could trust with a former deity whose pride and tact will remain true to his spirit: Sophie.

The sorceress is confident that much like her mortal self’s spite, tenacity, and unyielding nature, her empathy and compassion are universal. She knows that her mortal self’s compassion would always take to nurture and protect someone. It’s what makes her human -  that selfishness to always wanting to help, to defy, to do by what her heart yearns for. 

So, in these arrangements, Kohaku is under Sophie’s watch and employment at her pop-up shop in Tokyo. This still follows modern!Sophie where she is a CEO/heiress and worked at age 13 to rebuild the company after her father’s lies and debts almost ruined the family’s chances. In this case, this is Sophie particularly when she’s deciding her own fate because she, again, she is one who wants to break fate. 

Sophie is 20, Kohaku is 16. Sophie still moms Kohaku and is very protective of him and will treat him like he’s family (a mix of younger sibling-child, which is similar to the relationship between Sophie and her sisters). 

Sophie the human is unaware of everything going on. So, she’s not aware of the strings being pulled by her remnants. (Basically, sorceress is manipulating very particular and is using her mortal self as a beacon for a reason).

This Sophie does have her actual magic (in its earliest stages) and it is very unknown to her. Supernatural exists in this verse, but it works on Ghibli dynamics (aka not in your face and is there if you look hard enough). -- This works basically like the postmodern witchaholic verse (minus this entire plot). This is important.

While all is said and done, and seen as a good favor made by the sorceress, this is simply not the case. It’s unwise to doubt deception and strategy in any form of Sophie -- even if it’s only the remains of her magic.

The sorceress, despite her great powers and status,  has been plateaued in her potential. She is only Sophie’s magic given life. All these great feats and growth was done when it was Sophie the sorceress. She could’ve reached greater limits, but she is stuck without the synthesizer -- the soul.

So, the sorceress saw opportunity when Kohaku approaches, arranges everything, with an ulterior motive. To take over Sophie.

After all, Sophie’s been described as the “host” and feeling empty and unsure isn’t a particularly kind and eventful existence. The magic wants to return back to its soul and be able to reunite with it and be able to grow from there.

( So, a Sophie who hasn’t reached this level is still at a greater advantage than the sorceress ). 

This is, admittedly, dark and terrifying by the ways that Sophie and the sorceress cannot be in close proximity of another for long. The sorceress has already been creeping and lurking over Sophie, sometimes bleeding into her dreams, her true form and its hundreds and hundreds of years of memories, knowledge, and suffering is not exactly rated safe for mortal minds.

Any mortal Sophie in Witch of Cosmos (WoC) plots will have strange dreams, feelings of dejavu, and all that good stuff w/o getting what’s going on. 

Like in the first post, the sorceress can drag you into her realm, but she is patient and awaits. She can arrange the time and date for it. But, for Sophie, she needs the right moment, the right time when Sophie recognizes her power and gets to that point.

It’s like waiting for fruit and needing it to be ripe (IE: Sophie’s hair should be completely silver-white, not dyed anymore ; has gained certain recognition of her strength ; made contact with a supernatural entity ( demon, god, etc. )  Kohaku doesn’t count as he’s a squishy mortal atm ) 

And what will happen then the sorceress takes over? Sophie’s magic is synchronized to the sorceress’s and it means she is at a state that reflects 600~ years of existence. Sophie does not have all access to memories. 

She is in a heavy foggy state of mind when it happens and some thing feels very, very off about her. 

And else ...? Well. That’s yet to be discovered.

And the sorceress does not ever enjoying spoiling the fun.  

Some cool shit I thought of that the sorceress (and Sophie the sorceress) can do (and other stuff) *To differentiate, I will be using WoC!Sophie to reference this particular version.

Can switch places with another version of herself where magic exists (so not appearing in ANY slice-of-life situations). It just means pulling out the other, leaving her suspended in animation and ‘sleeping.’ The swap can happen as quickly and it will BE the rare times these two can meet, though temporarily.

^ When she does this, WoC!Sophie will change her appearance to look like whichever way that Sophie does.  ^^ WoC!Sophie can possess another version of Sophie. WoC!Sophie’s body will be in forced suspension like when she switches with other versions of Sophie. WoC!Sophie takes over the body momentarily and the other Sophie is in the other body, but that version is also knocked out. WoC!Sophie does this for only very specific circumstances.

Another version of Sophie and WoC!Sophie can actually meet and talk to another; it is best for them to do in the places the sorceress can control/has created. 

Both ideas were scrapped in a subplot when I was originally figuring out how to get into Topaxi and add a ‘secret intruder’ in. Found that idea boring b/c Topaxi!Sophie has her own things going on ( + while WoC!Sophie is literally in exile and can match up with lots of themes, this is a little too much to pack into an already awesome and dense group verse ). 

Sophie does not need to be WoC!Sophie to reach this power. She does not need to undergo the same events to even have this form unable to age and stuff. Sophie’s magic naturally changes everything and anything, including herself. 

WoC!Sophie doesn’t always appear as older since she changes form. 

[thedeadflag]

G!P characters aren't necessarily trans, it seems pretty offensive that just because they share the same genital configuration as trans people (sometimes temporarily) do, that they should be deemed trans. There is so much more to being a trans person, especially the identity struggle that is just not in these characters.

You’re literally thisclose to understanding. 

There is absolutely more to being trans than our typical genital configuration at birth. You don’t need to tell me that, I’m a trans woman, I know this intrinsically.

When it comes to the g!p trope, he’s some major points of what we know:

It became a known, if rare trope as trans porn started taking off in the late 80s and early 90s. As trans porn became more popular, it also became more prevalent in wlw fandom, solidifying its presence in the late 90s/early 00s, making a bit of a jump in popularity when the a/b/o trope took off during the height of the Supernatural fandom.

As a trope, its sexual content heavily mirrors the core elements of trans porn. It doesn’t deviate from that framework. 

The g!p characters overwhelmingly possess the major aspects of transmisogynistic stigmas that get passed off as erotic taboo elements for people who aren’t us. The same things that amplify the cis gaze’s taboo fantasy gets us abused, exploited, hurt, isolated, and killed.  

I could go on for a few hours on everything that makes g!p function as a trope, but I’ll limit myself and leave you those to chew on. You can look through my archived posts for some more detail on the nuances and specifics if you want.

But here’s what we also know:

Trans women are the overwhelming majority of women with penises. We’re virtually the only women with penises that cis people and trans people alike have come across in any form of media content. 

This means that we are the framework worked off of when people think of women with penises, and we are the ones affected by media representation of women with penises.

When people create media including women with penises, the penis generally exists in that content as a vehicle for a variety of desires. When a marginalized person is desired for various physical aspects of themselves, with the substance of their character, their lived experiences, their diversity all tossed away? That is called fetishization.

Your argument breaks down to be essentially that because people fetishize trans women’s bodies and create media content through that fetishized lens, that those g!p characters aren’t necessarily trans, because there’s more to being trans than those fetishized parts of us. It’s an argument that fetishized caricatures of marginalized people aren’t necessarily those marginalized peoples.

It’s a very cart-before-the-horse surface level perspective. Think of all the harmful media stereotypes out there and ask yourself if people shouldn’t be upset about them because they clearly don’t reflect the reality and complexity of the people they’re negatively representing.

Let’s take the well known character of Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lecter, at one point, remarks that Jame isn’t a trans woman. But every frame of Buffalo Bill’s existence in that film works to play on transmisogynistic stereotypes. Every single scene with that character sends the message that trans women are delusional, dangerous sexual predators. But since an authoritative character claims Buffalo Bill isn’t trans, am I supposed to declare the film free of transmisogynistic representation? 

What about Rocky Horror Picture Show? Again, the main villain is an amalgamation of all the common transmisogynistic stigmas at that period in time, fused into a single murderous, rapist, alien entity. We also know the creator of RHPS considers (in the nicest light it can be stated) trans women to be cross dressing ‘third sex’ individuals, not actual women, and doesn’t believe anyone assigned one binary gender can actually be the other binary gender. But apparently, since it doesn’t explicitly say Frank N Furter is a trans woman, it’s not a problem? It’s not transmisogynistic representation?

No. Media literacy has taught us enough to know that there’s tremendous transmisogyny afoot in those two cases. 

So there’s parallels with g!p, obviously. You get a lot of folks literally removing part of a trans woman’s experience and playing around with it and experimenting with it through people who aren’t explicitly trans women. They’re treating trans women as a collection of ideas and kink potential to be picked apart like a berry patch instead of real human beings. Even if they say it’s not a trans woman, the result of their effort is a character that is all the fetishized trans woman elements, often a fair bit of the stigmatized elements, minus all the meaningful experiences. If I carve a pumpkin and empty all the insides out of it, and put a candle in there, it’s still a pumpkin. A Jack o Lantern, sure, but still a 100% pumpkin.

And that’s bound to happen. It’s inescapable.

I mean, when 99% of cis folks don’t understand how trans women tend to be sexually intimate… when they don’t understand what dysphoria is and how it works and how it can affect us physically and emotionally…when they don’t understand almost any of our lived experiences…then they’re not going to be able to accurately portray us even if they wanted to.

And I’ve read enough G!P fics where authors wrote those as a means of trying to add trans rep. but because they didn’t understand us at all, it wasn’t remotely representative, and it was entirely fetishistic.

So while the g!p trope was built on the foundation of trans women’s fetishization, and all such characters are inherently and implicitly trans women if not explicitly, they absolutely don’t reflect our realities, whether because of a lack of understanding, or an overriding fetish, or a cissexist & fetishistic mix-and-match approach, or what have you.

It is trans fetishization, it is transmisogyny, and they are erasing us through these works by overwhelmingly flooding the market with misinformation and messaging that ultimately does come back to bite us in the form of sexual violence, community exclusion, enhanced cissexism, .

Because it’s late and I’m exhausted after working and commuting, I’ll cut things a bit short and I’ll quote trans guy user SynthDicks here on his take on Mpreg a ways back, which was very on point and relevant to this discussion

like… you cant write about pregnant men in a way thats divorced from trans men. writing about one way in which bodies adjacent to trans manhood are sexy or fun or desirable, while writing some complicated world in which the rest of the ways trans male bodies are characterised are done away with is creepy and transphobic. all it means is that both bits of the revulsion/fetishisation complex that trans bodies are placed under happens at the same time …

and using trans manhood purely for a pregnancy arc- erasing all the experiences that come from being a trans man- for the purpose of focusing on that one aspect of trans bodies is dehumanising and fetishising. its a fetishisation of trans bodies and a revulsion at trans experiences. these arent opposing statements. theyre the same statements

I really, truly hope you’re a little closer to understanding how this all works after all this rambling. If I had the energy to make a properly structured and cohesive post, I would, but alas. 

[fieryrondo]

my top 25 favorite programs from the 2017-2018 season

So. We survived Olympic season. (Or did we?)

A few lessons gleaned from the past ten months: 

the season is indeed long

momentum is fleeting

in the wake of disaster there will always be skaters who shine (thank god)

eating pineapples and writing prayer fic is extremely therapeutic

Olympics hype really is all that

being an fs fan is equal parts suffering and reward, though often times it seems more of the former and less of the latter.

See below for twenty five of my favorite programs from what has been a most tumultuous season, roughly in order of enjoyment. There is no rhyme or reason to this list as it is purely subjective based on my taste, which is already questionable to begin with. To avoid cluttering the top spots with skaters I absolutely stan and would gladly die for, I have limited myself to one skater per program.

Re: performances from Olympics. It was notoriously difficult to find footage for many of these skates. Thanks ISU I’ve done my best to link to broadcast footage whenever possible but have resorted to a few fancam links for some of these performances. Please do not manipulate fancam footage without permission from the uploader; I’ve been guilty of reblogging gif-sets made from fancam footage (which 99% of the time have the watermark removed and are clearly uploaded without consent and credit to the fancam creator) and am now trying to be careful with what I reblog.

Without further ado, here are my top picks:

25. Jimmy Ma’s SP, Propaganda/Turn Down for What, 2018 US National Championships

A guilty pleasure but something this fun can’t be bad right? This is the kind of skating program I’d show to friends and family in real life who dismiss figure skating as a dated sport characterized by heavily used classical warhorse music almost everyone recognizes but can’t actually name.

24. Ross Miner’s FS, Queen Medley, 2018 US National Championships

While Nathan skated a very technically strong program at US Nationals, the free skate of the night for me went to Ross Miner, who roused the crowd into a roar when he had the skate of his career and made a convincing bid for the Olympic team. Fun and electric, this program sparkled with energy from start to finish.

23. Moa Iwano’s SP, Asturias, 2017 JGP Austria

I generally don’t pay much attention to the junior skaters (so much skating, so little time!), but this talented lady from Kobe caught my eye during the JGP series. There were quite a few tangos this season but this one was by far the best one (that’s right, the best tango this season came from a 13-year-old). While her jump technique is not the best, Moa has an impressive sense of musicality beyond most skaters her age. I’ll definitely be following her more closely in the seasons to come.

22. Keegan Messing’s FS, Chaplin Medley, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

Thanks to a certain Spanish skater, I’ve developed a soft spot for Chaplin programs and while Keegan didn’t manage to skate this program clean, I really enjoyed it. It’s cheeky, charming, charismatic and full of fun choreographic details that bring the program to life. With an exodus of Canadian men retiring this season, Keegan will be among the oldest. He really hit his stride this season; here’s hoping he snags his first Canadian title next season!

21. Patrick Chan’s FS, Hallelujah, 2017 Skate Canada

Enjoyed...is not quite the right word to describe my feelings when I saw this particular skate via live stream. Shocked to pieces was more like it, and perhaps an overwhelming sadness to see him struggle so much. This skate would set the tone for the rest of Patrick’s final competitive season--a mentally, physically and emotionally taxing end to a competitive career most skaters can only dream of having. While this skate was a technical disaster--he skated a total of only two clean triples--it is nonetheless beautiful in the way a withering flower is; a remnant of elegance, an echo of years of skill, a lament for what could have been.

20. Yuna Shiraiwa’s FS, Pictures at an Exhibition, 2017 Internationaux de France

I had a hard time with this one because I adore both of Yuna’s programs this season, set to two very interesting pieces of music. Her FS, “Pictures at an Exhibition” won by a slim margin mostly because I love Mussorgsky and “Pictures at an Exhibition” is one of my favorite suites of all time--I also realize now that it’s really really difficult music to skate to because of the million tempo changes, key changes and the fact that half of the movements are very slow and not at all suited to skating. It’s a highly ambitious program for a 15-year-old and choreographically there are a couple of abrupt music changes that break up the flow (it’s mostly variations of the Promenade theme with a few other movements spliced in) but I really appreciated the challenge she took with a riskier but interesting piece of music. Looking forward to more exciting programs next season!

19. Nathan Chen’s FS, Mao’s Last Dancer, 2017 US International Classic

Super early in the season when skater after skater hopped onboard the recycling train like there was no tomorrow, I was ecstatic to hear Nathan bring forth two brand new programs. While Nemesis proved to be an instant hit, I was drawn to the free, an intriguing blend of Chinese music and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (avant-garde eargasm!!!). Mao’s Last Dancer had the potential to become a truly memorable and complete program. While the strategy to strip down the choreography in favor of hitting the technical elements later in the season was a practical choice, alas the performance I enjoyed the most happened to be its debut. 

18. Cheng Peng/Yang Jin’s SP, Assassin’s Tango, 2017 Finlandia Trophy

What a rough season they’ve had :/ But I loved their short program, which they only managed to skate clean internationally exactly once this season. For some reason, after Finlandia, this short never really clicked for them (missing the cutoff for the free at Olympics was tragic) and they ended up returning to their tried and tested short from last season for their post-Olympics redemption in Milan. It’s a cute and fun program and they skated it best here.

17. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres’ FS, The Sound of Silence, 2018 World Championships

After a strong start to the season led to a lackluster 4th place finish at Europeans, James/Cipres scrapped their initial free program to return to a program they were much more comfortable with, a strategic move that paid off when they rebounded at the Olympics and at Worlds with season’s bests and a shiny Worlds medal :) While it is not a technically perfect performance (see their 2017 World Team Trophy for a clean skate), there’s a lot of power and passion in it.

16. Carolina Kostner’s SP, Ne me quitte pas, 2018 World Championships

Simply divine! I have nothing else to add except that this was a breathtakingly exquisite performance, and I’m glad Carolina was able to perform this program to perfection in front of her home crowd.

15. Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani’s FD, Paradise, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

I admit I wasn’t immediately sold on the Shibutanis’ final program to their self-proclaimed “Trilogy”. “Fix You” was an amazing program, the best program of their career so far, and as with all sequels, it was tough to imagine “Paradise” could be better. But somehow things started to pull together once they made a few tweaks midway through the season and they pulled off a magical performance in Pyeongchang. Technically brilliant but also brimming with emotion, a performance absolutely worthy of Olympic bronze.

14. Elizabet Tursynbaeva’s FS, The Prayer, 2017 Internationaux de France

I fell in love with Elizabet last season (particularly her free skate to “Princess Mononoke”) and was very excited to see what programs should would do next. And she did not disappoint. Besides having the only acceptable Carmen this season, I also loved her free skate to Celine Dion’s “The Prayer”- it’s light and lyrical, a good fit for her. She still rushes through the choreography and some of her spins look really weird to me but she has made enormous strides in her presentation despite being hampered with a serious hip injury midway through the season. She’s lovely to watch, so floaty and quick over the ice.

13. Adam Rippon’s FS, Birds, 2017 NHK Trophy

What can I say? I loved this program last season and seeing it again this season was even more spectacular. The attentiveness to the music, the choreographic touches with bird movements, the meditative atmosphere. It’s just a very beautiful program. Adam has such a vibrant personality that obviously shines in his more “showy” programs, but I think I enjoy seeing his softer, lyrical programs best. 

12. Wenjing Sui/Cong Han’s FS, Turandot, 2017 NHK Trophy

As a fairly new fan, I don’t have the same level of distaste for warhorses as veteran fans do (I imagine this will change once I have more years of figure skating watching under my belt). It’s not as poignant or as memorable as “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” from last season, but I admit I still very much enjoyed this skate, if only because Sui/Han were the ones skating it. Did I wish they had picked something a little more interesting? Yes, but they’re Sui/Han. They can make anything look good.

11. Kana Muramoto/Chris Reed’s FD, The Last Emperor/Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, 2018 World Championships

Kana is the best thing that has ever happened to Japanese ice dance (Chris, you’re cool too.) I’m so weak for this genre of music and ever since I discovered a certain tiny queen skated to Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, I’ve been waiting to hear it again. I’m a sucker for nature imagery and you really get the sensation of the passage of time and the movement of the seasons. Watching this is like taking a breath of spring air.

10. Boyang Jin’s SP, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2018 Four Continents Championships

Meh movie, great music. My favorite Boyang program to date, it was really exciting to see him attempt something more serious, a heftier program that would expand the emotional range of his skating. His short program was brilliant at Olympics, but I enjoyed Four Continents a little more because it was such a comeback after an injury-filled first half of the season. Out of the new generation of rising quadsters, he’s made the most improvement and I have no doubt he’ll continue to grow over the next quad. Onwards and upwards, Boyang!

9. Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue’s FD, Across the Sky/Caught Out in the Rain, 2018 US National Championships

My favorite free dance of the season! You can always count on Hubbell/Donohue to do something a little offbeat. Blues is a bit of an unusual choice of music for a free dance (which tend to be either lyrical or warhorsey drama) but it fits them like a glove. After building some good momentum earlier this season, a few fatal errors in the free including an invalidated choreographic sequence left them trailing in 4th, just shy of the podium at the Olympics. They rebounded to claim their first Worlds medal a month later, which was a special moment to witness but I felt their Nationals performance was the most passionately skated.

8. Tatsuki Machida’s EX, Swan Lake: Siegfried and His Destiny, 2017 Carnival on Ice

Go big or go home. The time and technical requirements of amateur competition are clearly too restrictive for Tatsuki’s genius :) Why cram the greatest hits of Swan Lake into a paltry two-minute program when you can really do it justice by skating to it for almost eight minutes instead? Tatsuki spares no expense for his epic-length programs. Every moment is meticulously thought out and is as extra af. We’re treated to almost a minute of dramatic music and a skater-less spotlight before Tatsuki appears. The star of Swan Lake is typically the swan (or the black swan) but no, that’s too conventional; let’s make Siegfried the guy everyone’s talking about instead. Drama hands! Floofy hair action! Seven straight seconds of twizzles in time with the tempo change! Dramatique feather posing because why not. Did that twenty seconds of absolute silence between movements make you uncomfortable? Good, because it’s all eyes on me! Skating so gorgeous you wouldn’t even notice there are only two jumps (both amazingly timed to the music), this is a visual and aural feast for the eyes. It’s a Swan Lake to outclass all other Swan Lakes that have been, that are, and that will be.

7. Akiko Suzuki’s EX, O, 2018 The Legends

[inserts crying emoji] A regret I have is not becoming a fan when Akiko was still skating competitively. I love this program soso much and seeing it brought back again was a real treat. The choreographic sequence still sends shivers down my spine <333

6. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir’s FD, Moulin Rouge, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

Scintillating. Flawless. The pinnacle of ice dance. It’s the kind of performance that just sears into your mind for a long, long time. Though they didn’t get perfect marks here, it’s as perfect a skate you’ll find.

5. Wakaba Higuchi’s FS, Skyfall, 2018 World Championships

Such a cool and sleek program. I like the blue dress more than this one but this was easily the free skate of the ladies in Milan for me. A passionate and powerful skate, it was really nice to see Wakaba come back strong after a disappointing Nationals finish and hit it at Worlds. Reigning World Silver Medalist! (now please give her the PCS she deserves)

4. Aliona Savchenko/Bruno Massot’s FS, La terre vue du ciel, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

Wow. Just wow. I went in as a Sui/Han fan but wow, this free skate is gorgeous and sweeps me away every time I watch it. And they performed it to perfection at GPF, Olympics, and Worlds. The choreography is amazing and unique, and apparently full of little touches to previous programs (like the star catching moment from “The Lighthouse”, their free program last season). Dominant, majestic, and absolutely exhilarating to watch. I can watch this again and again and never tire of it.

3. Satoko Miyahara’s FS, Madame Butterfly, 2017-18 Japanese National Championships

While her short program is more loved (as it should be, it is an amazing work of art, Lori really outdid herself, you should go watch it ^^), I think I enjoyed her free skate more simply because it’s given her so many Moments this season. Coming back from a slew of injuries, including a serious hip injury from last season, it was highly questionable if she would even be able to make it to the Olympics at all. But Satoko silenced all doubters again and again, at Skate America and then at Japanese Nationals, where she gave the free skate of her career with an emotive and stunning performance that carried her to her Olympic dream on butterfly wings ^^. Triumphant, mesmeric, spectacular-it is a Madame Butterfly that rewrites the tragic ending into one of hope, a story that is entirely Satoko’s.

2. Javier Fernandez’s FS, Man of La Mancha, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

(password to video link: man of la mancha)

A skater from a small federation, from a country where figure skating barely exists, Javier has written history again and again. And what a journey it has been! From finishing 35th at his first Worlds appearance in 2007, Javier would go on to qualify for his first Olympics in Vancouver and become the first Spanish skater to win Europeans, to win Worlds, and ultimately, to win an Olympic medal. It feels appropriate that “Man of La Mancha”, an unapologetically Spanish program that perfectly captures the essence of Javier’s career--”to dream the impossible dream”--is to be the program to stake his Olympic dream on, And his Olympic dream truly seemed almost impossible in the months leading up to Pyeongchang. An uncharacteristically disastrous free at the Cup of China disqualified him from making the Grand Prix Final for the first time since 2013. And while his Chaplin short clicked for him (also excellent, highly recommended), he struggled with the free all season long. Unabashedly romantic, with just the right amount of earnest cheese (the best kind) and aged whimsy, “Man of La Mancha” is my favorite Javier free skate and I’m so glad he was able to skate it to its fullest potential at the competition that mattered most.

1. Yuzuru Hanyu’s FS, Seimei, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

What makes a skate great? Legendary? Memorable? It’s easy to jump to the pristine “Seimei” in Barcelona, the ethereal cleanliness of “Hope & Legacy” in Helsinki, or even the world-record breaking (again) “Ballade No.1″ in Montreal. While all of these skates are indeed great, legendary, and certainly memorable, I find my thoughts turning instead to a young seventeen-year-old Romeo in Nice, unleashing his battle cry after a dramatic fall as he fought through a sprained ankle to win his first Worlds medal. Clean performances are definitely great, but great skates don’t need to be clean. At the end of the day, what makes a skate great is in the struggles overcome, hardships endured, fears mastered, doubts silenced; in spite of it all, to manage to find joy and fulfillment in not only what you have accomplished but also in the thorny path that has led you there. It’s not as perfect as Barcelona, but the Seimei in Pyeongchang offers a different kind of magnificence, a triumph in more ways than one.

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #107

Today we have revisiting Rough Landing, a question I don’t need to answer in the best possible way, double bimbos, tumblr being tumblr, me possibly somewhat going off on one in regard to what NOT to do, and more.

[Anonymous said:] Had a Corruption rank up and one of the slaver options had both Depraved and Spiritual, which are supposed to be mutually exclusive I thought: Choice 4: Madeline Crakewyne - Human Wastelander Futanari - Competent Skybreaker - (Spi)(Fly)(Res)(Clu)(Cun)(Usc+)

- You’re right, those should be mutually exclusive. 

[Anonymous said:] There is an event where one of your slavers will slip into your tent at night and have their way with you. Can you explain some of the mechanics that govern this event?

- My absolute favourite kind of question. Mainly as there exists a resource in game already which I hope should be able to fully explain all the details. Please see under Help and Prefferences -> Forced Encounters. 

[Anonymous said:] Need to ask; any chance for standard dwarf female commission, or this one is considered up to date?

- There technically is one in Scout the Coast though I’d prefer to get another one for the examine. I’ve been trying to get one done for ages through the commission polls that would serve to be a fun NH take on Dorf Fortress. I’ve also got a set of portraits potentially coming as a bonus though there’s some health issues getting in the way of that.

So it’s not consided up to date, there is a chance, but maybe not for awhile. 

[Anonymous said:] Bug report: orc cum addict training on bimbo slave results in double bimbo.

- That’s hilarious, and far too appropriate. Alas, I must say that has been found and will be fixed for the update. 

[Anonymous said:] the links to pixiv have disappeared

- Oh tumblr... why must you be so well tumblr. Tried adding a link to the twitter which has a link to the pixiv and that’s not showing either as an active link. Thankfully if you go the tumblr directly (i.e not on the dashboard) there’s an embed of the twitter so you can access them that way.

[academiy-blog said:] Hey man, Love the work you do, please don't give up on this path, you're so talented and creative. I am in love with your game No Haven and want to make a game like it but don't know where to start or how to do it. I am a complete stranger to coding and game making but I want to create adventures that people can lose themselves in like you do. Can you please tell me where should I start learning and what skills would I need to make a game like No Haven? You're awesome, take care Your big fan, me

- First seriously appreciated!

But oh man do not like it like I did as it was the complete wrong ass-backwards way to do it :D

Starting with RAGS meant I learnt a rather terrible system like the back of my hand which I worked how to break horribly to do what I wanted it to do. Doing it that way meant I often learned the wrong lessons when it comes to coding more in general, and didn’t know that, cause it worked. 

Then moving onto Twine without the time to really take a break to learning coding properly meant I was having to pick up concepts on the go, and again made a bunch of mistakes. 

Personally if I could somehow start over I’d do a coding course of some kind, and then use that knowledge to make games rather than deciding to make games, and still at times be lacking vital knowledge about what I should be doing or indeed not doing. 

Saying that I’ve found freecodecamp (especially the emails with five things to read each week), and w3schools to be great resources so maybe you could try starting there?

[Anonymous said:]   If someone hates being spiritual leader, they won't leave role when asked. In fact slavers leave this role only if they dislike it. Is this a bug?

- I’m pretty sure that’s been fixed, but will double check. 

[From the Patreon:] Short question:How do i transform my Character or another Slaver into the opposite gender? Male -> Female or Female -> Male.Are there certain assignments?

- There's a couple of different ways. 

Biomancy and Corruption can both do it for Male>Female. So you can either work towards doing it on purpose using the encampment activities, or you can run assignment that can result in Corruption like Changing Places and it might well happen. 

There's assignments that can do it one way or the other like Keldan Alley or Into the Depths. 

Then there's the option of getting too deep in debt with the Ensnared Rose.

[From TFgames:] The game is very fun and enjoyable.How to actually win the game?I gained a lot of money, trained the slavers and slaves.What to do next?I got tired of repeating tasks.

- Hi, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Currently there's a placeholder win condition of reaching 10k gold. Honnestly it's not very interesting as is and purely in there as a placeholder, and most players from what I've heard prefer to set their own goals like aquiring certain uniques and training them up. I know one player on my discord server always goes for the full collection of cheerleaders, along with making sure they have their own 'assistants'. 

There's also the golem scenario which has an alternate win condition which is more involved complete with patron submitted art for the final victory. 

I do have plans to address the win conditions by making them more interesting and varied. So that will be coming down the line. 

[From the Collective:] Some theoretical questions:a slaver promoted witch with Racial:Wyrdcraft is supposed to go away after some time. How does this combines with aspect Bimboborn ? Does she comes back after some time? Is there a way to keep her? What happens if a slave version of her is given as a slave to a dominant slaver with the appropriate aspect. What does she gives as traits to her master? any magic or Elementalist traits ? Can she go away?

- Bimboborn would not apply like if they were sold. She does not. There isn't but certain slave training and levelling her up can get her to stick around for longer. Witches can't be given with that aspect and there's a special scene to reflect that. 

[From the Collective:] My MC gained this Debauched Exaltation:  Caress of Bone -40 And the Mal Trait that goes with it.Does it make him immune to mind control events ?Apparently not if I look at the Mashlands Witches but there's other events I haven't tested.

- Call it Malevolence light so it mainly just works on assignments. Also those totally-not-witches have all sorts of tricks so who knows what they're actually fully capable of.

[From the Collective:] Negotiate entry of the Lord's gate: It doesn't trigger a level up if your slavers win enough xp to level up at the end of the mission. You need another mission to level up.

- Doesn't surprise me. It's a miracle that utter mess of an assignment hangs together at all so something minor like that is a small price to pay. Had to try to pull it apart recently for the Twine conversion and man it is so much yikes you would not believe. 

[From the Collective:] Not really a bug, per se, but still:I want to do the Mistress of torments mission (For the Normal Success result). When my slaver number is at maximum I can't do this even if I set the general orders to "Don't recruit anyone"I think it's the case for all missions with potential slavers. You should be able to do them with the "Don't recruit anyone" option on.

- I'd need to go back and do an alternate result where no recruitment is possible for that to happen. It's something I've been trying to do a lot more with the slave taking assignments recently especially, as I know it's also annoying when you're full up on slaves and are then locked out on too many assignments.

[From the Collective:] what's the requirement for crafting traits and Artisan/Artificier aspect? leaving a slaver on crafting assignment for months doesn't seem to trigger lvl ups.

- Currently impossible as Crafting xp isn't really a thing. Saying that the first Crafting assignment is currently walking the commission poll (along with the Insatiable fuck off fight) on the patreon so now it's just a matter of time for that to change. 

[From the Collective:] Imperial Muse I don't understand a part of the rewards Rewards Diplomacy rank up bonus: large wood elf shaft x4

- That's an amusing, if very annoying bug as I keep forgetting about it (happened with this update that's about to come out too though did get to hotfix it before the public release), if I don't add a new Diplomacy assignment to a certain condition.

[From the Collective:] at the moment no enchantement. As far as  I know there is only one enchanted item, from the ooze mission, maybe a proof of concept.the tinkerer encampment position is also in development.

- There's also the enchanted armours possible to find from corruption, there's a late game assignment in the city that can provide some, certain uniques start with one, and the next update will have an update which can also provide some. 

[From the Collective:] I have just realized that the bug that allowed to promote slaves even after you have reached 20 slavers had been fixed (sometimes I hate myself) Can you do something to expand the number of slavers - Do not count slavers and slaves in camp position - Do not count unique slaves and slavers (this way you will not be blocked with new missions of the update that have a story role), the 2 golems the witch queen, the fallen paladin and his demi angel friend, maybe also the cheerleaders, was unable to have more than one until slavers were 20) - Have a small number of places that can on be used by promoted slaves - a unique mission, perhaps  one for each region that allows additional camp size. - Some camp positions can be unlocked by missions. Taskmaster at Mountains, Alchemist at City, brewer at Coast, Cook at Forest, Emissary at Plains

- The current limits are in place due to RAGS (along with partially due to how I've set up the arrays, see previous answer about mistakes being made), so for now I'm not planning to change that or add ways to get round it in RAGS. However I do plan to change this I hope in the Twine conversion. There I can redo arrays on the fly which should make changing that more reasonable. 

[From the Discord:] Favorite Boardgame?   

- I’ve played much better, much designed games and certainly much more well regarded ones, but if I’m being honest for the best memories attached to it then absolutely Go. Not the one with the black and white tiles. The International Travel Game which came out in the early 60′s that my grandparents had a copy of. 

Thinking about it I suspect how willing it was to utterly screw with the players by diverting them on a flight to Paris to ending you up in some tropical island on the other side of the world you were trying to get to might have some influence on my approach to game design :D

[From the Discord:] What are the chances of a 10 Year Anniversary Remastered Edition of RL in 2024, complete with CHAPTER 3 (j/k... but I would play it)

- Honnestly, with what I’ve learned doing WR and NH I’m reasonably confident I could do a combined RL1 and 2 in Twine in a couple of months max if I dropped everything else. So not something I’m likely to do anytime soon with so many other priorities, but one I have thought about. 

[From the Discord:] What are the most recent major Scientific, Magical & Cultural innovations in the land of NH?

- I have an assignment chained to discuss that. 

[From the Discord:] Do marlsunes get fleas?

- Yes, occasionally if they let themselves go, but it’s treatable. 

[From the Discord:] With the existence of a Horned One camp... is there any credence to the rumoured couples only Horned Two camp?

- Given how well the double horned one idea is doing in the commissions recently, looks so. 

[From the Discord:] Specifically, how advanced is the art of glassmaking in the land of No Haven? Are glass panels a thing? Maybe even one-way mirrors made by the foremost guilds that employ E:Ea?

- See that’s a more tricky question than it sounds, and it’s all down to the Neko Protection League.

One thing I’ve found with commissions is it’s often a negotiation to get everything you want, and in that sacrifices end up being made, and/or details that were important in the original pitch get overlooked to focus on something else that is more urgent to be amended. In this case the glasses I wanted to look even more archaic didn’t get reflected as much as I’d have liked. 

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a bloody fantastic pair of pictures. Just a minor regret you know that I feel as is they don’t quite fit what I had in mind for the tech level of the setting.

[From the Discord:] Draki harpies - possible or UFO-like sightings?

As cool as a visual that suggests, which is tempting don’t get me wrong, draki are of elvish and human origins only. 

[cyberkevvideo]

Throne of Night Theory Builds Part 6: Play as Myceloids (Book 3)

Today is Halloween. I figured it would be the perfect time to discuss playing a monster race. Namely, the Pathfinder 1st Edition mushroom monster, the myceloid.

When Gary first started developing the Throne of Night adventure path, he talked about alternate races that could do the scenario as well. One was as elves or humans who’d been bought as slaves. He even had a Campaign trait available in Book 1 that gave these non-darkvision characters, darkvision 30 ft. Not bad. It wasn’t brought up in detail, but I theorize that these particular characters would likely have managed to escape their drow or derro captures, and made their way to the outside world temporarily, whether with help from their saviours or even on their own. They could have even started in the village of svirfneblin and been nursed back to health.

One of the races that was talked about most as an alternative to the drow and dwarves, was the myconid. There was even art for it. So in one of the unpublished books (Book 3 specifically), we were supposed to have had a section that would have been all about playing this telepathic and voiceless mushroom race from D&D. And, unfortunately, there in lies the problem. They’re a Wizards of the Coast copyrighted race. They’re not OGL. You see fan versions online for both 3.5 and 5e, but they’re fan works only. They can’t generate any monetary value. Not without permission from WotC. My guess is Gary didn’t realize this when he first conceived of the idea and had the art work commissioned. He might have even thought Paizo would eventually release their own version, but they did not. Or that he could borrow from another 3PP, but no one officially released a clone version of the race. This sadly meant that Gary would never be able to see this come into fruition. And I can’t help but wonder if other copyright issues got in the way as well. But that’s just another hypothesis.

What could have been done, and it’s not exactly his forte, is to design his own version of the race or convert one that already exists in monster form. With the help of the Advanced Race Guide, that’s possible. Looking at it though, that would have taken up quite a bit of space in the book, and could even have other logistic issues that I might not be aware of. Thankfully, that doesn’t stop me from doing updates like this though.

Images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus. The art is on Michael’s dA page, which I’ve brought over, and am sharing for this article.

EDIT : Going through Gary’s old updates, it seems he did realize at some point that the myconid race was not a possibility, but that he’d have to write for myceloids. The art piece uses the former name, but that was back in 2014. By 2015, Gary must have updated his notes for the final update that he gave us on the project. Saying: “Here also is another piece of preview art showing a party of myceloid adventurers. In Book Three, there will be an article about playing an all myceloid party through Throne of Night and this is the piece of art that accompanies that article.“ It’s still unknown whether or not he was waiting on Paizo to release an official race or if he was going to homebrew one just for this adventure path. He might have even have thrown caution to the wind and decided that he’d just have players go up as the 5 HD monsters and play them straight out of Bestiary 3 as-is. There’s a lot of options he could have gone with.

While the small size myconid is not a playable race, the medium size myceloid from Bestiary 3 is a possibility. Normally a CR 4 monster, and a mushroom creature at that, they have many abilities and traits that could come in handy. Normally of evil alignment, this definitely fits for the theme given for the drow side. It’d be interesting to know the reasons that these mushroom people would have for making their own kingdom. Maybe they’re all good-aligned and they want to establish an empire that showcases trade and emphasizes peace. Always a possibility. The party could consist entirely of black sheep myceloid that aren’t carnivores and looking to consume mortal flesh and have a magnitude of slaves. Or they could be the most evil of all myceloids and were booted for being too evil, and their own empire filled with cages upon cages of slaves that also serve as their food rations could be just the thing they’ve been looking for.

I broke the race down into two different sections. The first is a very playable and balanced race of only 12 race points (RP) with an optional section that shows a myceloid race class ala Savage Species (D&D 3.5) that slowly gives them back all of their abilities over the course of the 5 hit dice that a myceloid normally gets. If you haven’t seen them, Dreamscarred Press and Rite Publishing both have monster books that deal with this kind of progression as well. Necromancers of the Northwest did a stint on their site as well, for free, a few years ago. Everyone definitely has their own style of doing things. This just happens to be mine.

The second section is a much more Advanced Race version that puts the race at 25 RP. This rivals things like the svirfneblin, adaros, kasatha, and wyrood. All of which are 20 RP or greater. While I don’t break it down point for point, I do make mention of just how much this race would cost if you tried to get everything available through the Advanced Race Guide, for the race, without taking any racial HD.

Note: There is no telepathy ability in the Advanced Race Guide, however, strix have an ability to only be able to speak with avians, and it’s 0 RP. Figured that for 30 ft. a myceloid could speak to other myceloid with telepathy. You’re welcome to ignore and remove it though if you feel that’s not a correct assumption.

Myceloid Race Ability Score Modifiers +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence 1 RP Type Plant 10 RP Size Medium 0 RP Base Speed Slow 20 ft. –1 RP Senses Darkvision 60 ft. 2 RP; low-light vision — RP Thick Skin Natural armor +1 2 RP Special Quality Telepathy 30 ft.; other myceloids only 0 RP Weakness Vulnerable to electricity –2 RP Languages Xenophobic: Undercommon plus Common, Elven, Sylvan, Terran, Treant 0 RP

Total 12 RP

Myceloid Race Class Hit Die d8 Racial Class Skills Perception, Stealth Skill Ranks Per Level 2 + Int Modifier. HD    BAB    Fort    Ref    Will    Special 1    +0    +2    +0    +0    Claws (1d4), thick skin, scent, shatter resistant, Survival +2, +2 Wis

2    +1    +3    +0    +0    DR 2/slashing, resist 5 (cold and fire), Sense Motive +2, telepathy (+10 ft.), +2 Con

3    +2    +3    +1    +1    Disease (purple pox), Survival +4, telepathy (affects purple pox sufferers too), +2 Str

4    +3    +4    +1    +1    Claws (1d6), DR 5/slashing, resist 10 (cold and fire), Sense Motive +4, telepathy (+10 ft.), +2 Con

5    +3    +4    +1    +1    Spore cloud, spore domination, telepathy (+10 ft.), +2 Str

Disease (Su) Purple Pox: inhaled or injury; save Fort DC 10 + ½ racial HD + Con-modifier; onset 1 minute; frequency 1/day; effect 1d2 Wis and 1d2 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. A creature that dies of the purple pox becomes bloated over the course of 24 hours, after which its body bursts open, releasing a fully grown myceloid. Additionally, as long as a creature takes at least 7 points of Wisdom damage from the purple pox, it must make a Will save, equal to the initial save DC, each day to avoid becoming affected by a lesser geas (no HD limit) that compels the sickly character to seek out the nearest myceloid colony in order to offer itself up for spore domination. The save DCs are Constitution-based. Shatter Resistant (Ex) At each racial level, a myceloid gains resistance to sonic 2 (to a maximum of resist 10). Spore Cloud (Ex) Once per day as a standard action, a myceloid can expel a 10-foot-radius burst of spores centered on itself. This cloud persists for 1d3 rounds. Any creature caught in this cloud or that moves through it is exposed to the myceloid's purple pox disease—a creature need save only once against any one spore cloud, however, before becoming permanently immune to that particular spore cloud's effects. The spore cloud does not hamper vision. Spore Domination (Sp) This spell-like ability functions as charm monster, but functions only against creatures currently infected with purple pox. Thick Skin (Ex) At each racial level, a myceloid’s natural armor improves by +1 (to a maximum of +6).

If taking monster race hit dice isn’t your speed, or your GM doesn’t approve of this, an alternative is to play a version of the race that’s still playable, and uses the Advanced Race Guide to its fullest. While the total racial points looks like it’s a lot, remember that the svirfneblin is 24 RP and the newer released adoros shark humanoid race from “Blood of the Sea” Player Companion is 32 RP. It’s also been suggested that despite how powerful they are, playing an entire party of drow noble (41 RP) still wouldn’t give you much of an advantage. That’s honestly kind of crazy. So with that, in mind, if you’re allowed to play this, I’d go this route over the hit die route. That said, if you want to add in the rest of the stats and natural armor, you’re looking at +4 Str, +4 Con, and +2 Wis for 28 RP and the additional +4 natural armor comes to 14 RP. Improving the resistance to cold and fire to 10 is another 2 RP each for 4 RP. You’d also need to take the Improved Natural Attack to get the claws to 1d6 damage. Granted, you could just buy the “Named Feat” for 2 RP. Without the resistance to sonic, telepathy, spores, and disease, you’re still looking at a total of 73 RP. That’s beyond monstrous. But for now, here’s the basic version that’s more likely to be approved. Hopefully.

Alternate Myceloid Race Ability Score Modifiers +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence 1 RP Type Plant 10 RP Size Medium 0 RP Base Speed Slow 20 ft. –1 RP Senses Darkvision 60 ft. 2 RP; low-light vision — RP; scent 4 RP Thick Skin Natural armor +1 2 RP Natural Attacks Claws (1d4) 2 RP Energy Resistance Cold 5, fire 5 2 RP Skill Bonus Sense Motive +2, Survival +2 4 RP Weakness Vulnerable to electricity –2 RP Languages Xenophobic: Undercommon plus Common, Elven, Sylvan, Terran, Treant 0 RP

Total 25 RP

If you like this, I’ve done others, and a couple of 3PP have been making their own Savage Species compendium over the past couple of years. Seek them out. Necromancers of the Northwest probably did my favourites. The ogre mage and the medusa ones are what I used for the Way of the Wicked when we had to figure out how to work them into the story and advance them for the campaign. I changed them up a bit because they were missing a few ability score advancements and didn’t have a “base race” of 10 RP, which would have helped A LOT. But that wasn’t part of the original design because the creator thought that would make cause the PC to out-scale other PCs. Which, no, it won’t. Monster PCs of equal HD will never trump a standard PC. I guarantee you of this as someone who’s been forced to play one too many monster PCs. But that is neither here nor there.

What’s funny is that there was possible mention of a team of all kobolds doing this AP. I would have loved it despite the fact that they’re so weak. If you wanted to that out, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend the Jon Brazer Enterprises umbral kobolds or go with the standard Paizo kobold and make the advanced variants that gain bonuses on what chromatic dragon scales they have, and even gain a breath weapon of that type. Much more survivable. The party’s opponents would soon regret underestimating them just for being a kobold.

I hope you enjoy this update and should you do an underground adventure, whether Throne of Night or not, it’d be great if this race build was of benefit to you.

I will say though, that if you are running 5e because you’ve converted the AP to D&D 5e or are doing your own Underdark/Darklands campaign, I would absolutely implore you to seek out the fan made myconid race. It’s pretty well designed. I will say that a party of mutes would make for a very difficult campaign. However, I have heard of parties that are composed entirely of kenku. Those poor, poor DMs.

Have a happy and safe Halloween.

[thatdarnblogagain]

Top 10 Street Fighter Pretty Boys(Playable)

I am an equal opportunity sort of guy. If I do a top 8 female list I will also do a list of men because I am sure my blog is not limited to one gender or sexual preference. So let’s get started!!!

Number 10: Fei Long

Fei Long is hot tempered and brash but has the skills to back up his impulsive nature. Based off Martial Arts Legend, Bruce Lee, Fei Long is a beast who also manages to make an other wise plain design work. Seriously you can cosplay as this guy if you have the body for it and spend a $100 dollars max.

It does not hurt that he goes topless, allowing all who like rippling abs and biceps to enjoy while he kicks in foes’ faces. So why so low on the list? Because he boring as ****!!!

Number 9: Rashid

He’s rich! Acrobatic! Charming! And has one of the sickest theme songs to date in the Street Fighter Franchise. Rashid is an awesome character out of the gate with a TON of personality. Someone ask him to donate some to Fei Long!

He is only this low because of how annoying fighting against him is and that stupid *** beard! DA HELL! His alternate costumes show that Rashid is a pretty good dresser, which is always a plus as a guy, on top of having you know…a personality and an income.

Number 8: Alex

If you like muscles but Abigail, Zangief and Hugo are far too buff then you will love Alex. A grappler character who while buff is still not steroid buff. Opting to go topless this New York native was a heart throb for quite a few in the Third Strike era since Remy was busy being an Edge Lord *****.

Why so low then? Because there are others on the list that just outshine him. That said, Alex is straight to the point and matter of fact about his views always hoping to become stronger, sort of like another character on this list.

Number 7: Ryu

Silent! Stoic! Strong! Those words pretty much capture what Ryu truly is! Preferring to let his fists do the talking, having a bloody intro that states that fact in Street Fighter 4, Ryu has the body of  weight lifter but the persona of monk. A monk that will feed you your teeth and then say sorry after by taking you for a cookie. Hell! M.Bison/Vega, Akuma, Ken, Sakura, sometimes Chun Li, C.Viper, Gouken, Juni, Juli, and Rose all have their eyes on this guy…for very different reasons.

Ryu is only this low because he is BROKE AS **** and more prone to long walks at night…alone while he tries to figure out the path to true power. Dude is obsessed with battle and if Goku is any indication, family life is not meant for Ryu. 

Number 6: Dudley

Dudley is the pinnacle of a gentleman! He will be pouring you tea one moment and the next moment KOing “Gutter Trash” who dare to sully your name. This English Boxer is the second boxer to Street Fighter but by far the classier and more refined of the two.

Never showing much skin, Dudley’s tailored clothing still show how well built he is for any encounter, whether in the ring, street or sheets with whom ever he desires. Also he is rich as hell, with a bad@$$ style, and look to him. Gold diggers rejoice! CALM YOURSELVES!!!! Have some dignity!!!

Number 5: Guy

So Guy is that one dude at school who is good at everything. He is the silent type, with quiet confidence and almost unshakable resolve! To add to that...he is a ninja! Dude has looks, skill, and he is a NINJA!!! Too bad he is such a freaking goodie two shoes. 

Guy is that character who seems to believe in absolute justice and can do nothing wrong. I mean that is begging for a punch buuuuuuuut…he is a ninja, and not real.

Number 4: Gill

That thong, thong, thong, thong, thong, thong! If ever someone says Street Fighter objectifies women and not men, please show them the above pic. Gill only just beats out his brother Urien for a few simple reasons. Urien is bat s*** out of his mind! Gill is the EMPEROR of his organization, which means he wipes that toned butt of his with your money. And also…Gill is the closest street Fighter has ever had to a “god” (F*** out of here with that Oni talk).

That said, Gill is also the leader of a bloody cult/clandestine group, so dating him may result in some late nights with his “friends” singing around a campfire…with you inside it. I kid! I think…Hey on the plus side you know what you are working with since he wears less than most of the women in the Street Fighter Franchise.

Number 3: Vega

You thought Urien was crazy!!?!?! Well he is but while Urien hates people because he has a god complex, Vega hates anyone who he deems fugly! Which is worse!!??! Why even try to find out? This guy is pretty (Not handsome! He prefers pretty or beautiful!)  knows it, with a bank account that would make most people swoon if the looks do not work (they will). He is also charming to no end buuuuuuut….

This fool is crazy!!!! Vega once killed a butler who told the spanish ninja that he was still an Adonis despite a minuscule scar you would need a microscope to see. Vega said “F*** that!” and killed the poor guy. Also he may spend more time admiring himself than you. So if you like them alluring, Vega is your guy, just do not touch his face or you know…just do not date a guy who is crazy, like these next two.

Number 2: Ken Masters

Ken is Vega if the latter was not nuts. This blonde karate master has the looks, the money and the morale compass that most would want in a guy,along  with a healthy dose of self confidence. He knows he is bloody good at what he does and you are going to know it too, by way of him telling you or his fists doing so (in the ring of course). Ken is a good guy with the ability to talk smack and back it up while being a family man and CEO.

Intelligent, brave, handsome, rich, confident, and just! Ken has it all...alas Mr.Masters is such a catch he already has a family sooooooo…on to number one!!!

Number 1: Cody

Cody is not a bad boy. He is THE bad boy! He is that guy who gives zero f**** what you think about him. He encompasses the qualities of speaking his mind, standing his ground and never backing down. That said, despite his delinquent nature, Cody is a truly good guy at heart, who is simply brooding (gfto remy, no one likes you!). He has the disheveled good looks people tend to like, with enough muscle mass to be able to break through a concrete wall…with a rock.

 He is flawed and he knows it, unlike many on this list, putting him on a different level. He makes no pretenses about himself and what you see for the most part is what you get. A troubled man with his own moral code.

If you want a guy who can defend you, most of the guys on this list can do that but Cody has done it, time and time again and even broke out of jail to save the world…and beat up people but who wants to sweat minor details. This is a knight in not so shining armor who will come through when the chips are down, once he can let off some steam. 

[gothify1]

It's no secret Glossier is über-talented when it comes to making waves, influencing trends, and setting refreshing diversity precedents within the beauty industry. So it's not surprising that when the cult-loved brand announces a new product launch, people go bananas . Of course, some launches have gone over better than others—Glossier Play is still a controversial topic among beauty editors—and some of the brand's beloved signatures (Milky Jelly Cleanser , Balm Dotcom , Cloud Paint , Generation G ...etc.) will likely never be dethroned from their pedestal. Which brings us to today's major news—the launch of Glossier's newest product called Brow Flick ($18)—the only brow product the brand has debuted since the 2015 arrival of Boy Brow ($16). (Which, if you didn't know, is the brand's #1 selling product and one of the most iconic brow products, well, ever. ) In fact, as the brand stated in a press release, last year, a tube of Boy Brow sold every 32 seconds. To which we say damn . Alas, we digress—back to the task at hand! The exciting and surprising (unless you're a beauty editor who received the exciting news last week) arrival of Brow Flick ($18), a sleek brush-tip detailing pen that's intended to groom and touch up your arches with the perfect amount of pigment and texture. With Brow Flick, it's all about definition, not necessarily color or fluff; the product aims to give Glossier's loyal community the option to add "more brow to their brow" for a full, polished, ultra-natural-looking finish. So what makes Brow Flick ($18) different than the gel, powder, or pencil you already love? For starters, it comes in just three sheer, (surprisingly) versatile shades, Black, Brown, and Blond, which pair beautifully with their corresponding shades of Boy Brow. Second, the formula is water-resistant and creates easy, natural-looking strokes that look significantly less artificial and "drawn" than the results stencils and pencils can yield. You can use the pen anywhere you feel you want or need more definition or depth—be it the tails or arches—and thanks to the malleable, super-fine brush tip, the final aesthetic is designed to look pretty darn seamless. (Spoiler: It does!) Composition- and ingredient-wise, the formula is ophthalmologist tested, dermatologist tested, vegan, dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, grain-protein-free, nut-free, and hypoallergenic (woo!), and other notable features include copolymers (for enduring wear), superfine pigments (for detection-free believability), and, of course, the flow-through brush applicator tip (for fine lines, precise application, and a natural finish). For A+ application, the brand suggests starting with clean skin, which will help ensure the formula adheres how it's intended. Then, holding the pen at a downward angle, lightly etch and feather your strokes anywhere you want some improvement. Let the application dry for at least 15 seconds, and then feel free to brush and fluff your hairs up with Boy Brow to enhance your work with a little more hold and definition. Et voila! Brow Flick in a nutshell. Of course, there's the whole issue of whether or not the newest Glossier baby lives up to all the inevitable hype, so I asked a few of my fellow Who What Wear co-workers to weigh in with before-and-after photos coupled with unbiased reviews. Keep scrolling for our honest thoughts! Wearing: Brow Flick in Blond & Boy Brow in Clear. "I'm notoriously anxious when it comes to brow products. Due to how fair my skin and hair is (and how sparse-ish my brows are), it's easy for brow products to go haywire fast. So I generally stick to pencils, which yield more control and precision than goopy gels. Thus, when I heard that Glossier's latest brow launch was a pen—which sounds rather intense—I was concerned. I had scary visions of an application that looked more like a paint job than a natural-looking brow boost.  . "That said, as soon as I unpackaged Brow Flick, my stress level dropped; the brush tip is super fine and soft, and as I began stroking it through the sparse areas of my brows, I could barely detect the product—in a good way. (I literally had a Britney Spears moment; like, Is this thing on?). However, despite how subtle the application was, I did notice a slow, steady, user-friendly build in the oomph and precision of my brows. "The job was done in about 30 seconds, and the product was completely undetectable (no telltale trace of pencil left behind!). Brow Flick truly delivers on the "your brows, but better" front, which is my personal vibe when it comes to enhancing my brows. I didn't feel like I needed more pigment, so I simply brushed them into place with the clear Boy Brow formula, but honestly, I probably wouldn't even do that on a daily basis; I generally like to keep my brow M.O. as minimal as possible. "Overall, I'd give Brow Flick five stars and might actually love it just as much as I love Lash Slick, my favorite mascara. However, I do worry the effect won't be dramatic enough for those who love a brow look that packs a lot of punch (although you can always add extra definition with a second coat of Boy Brow), and am also slightly worried the pen might dry out in about two seconds flat. All in all, though, my first impression is stellar, and I'd definitely recommend it for the person who loves a natural and super-low-maintenance brow look."  The 12-hours-later update: "I applied Brow Flick at the office around 8 a.m. in the morning and then went to a 6 p.m. spin class where I literally produced buckets of sweat. After the class, my brows looked like they hadn't even been touched and were still perfectly intact! Glossier, you weren't playing when you said the formula was water-resistant!" Wearing: Brow Flick in Brown; Boy Brow in Brown. "This decade's brow trends have been kind to those with thick, straight-across caterpillars like mine (thank goddess the early 2000s are long gone!), and I've been leaning into any product that helps me achieve my Burt-and-Ernie brow aesthetic. My go-to brow products are either gels formulated with fibers and a lot of hold (like boy brow!), which allow me to achieve the full, bushy vibe I like, or super skinny-tipped pencils that let me fill in sparse bits as well as create the look of individual brow hairs. "My first impression of Glossier's (very appropriately named) Brow Flick is very positive—I love how the flexible tip and inky (though light) liquid product allows you to very precisely stroke hair-like lines into the sprout of your brows or fill in the arch/tail. Bumped up and locked in by a coat or two of boy brow, I love the full, feathered effect. My only suspicion of the product is that it deposits pigment so lightly (admittedly great for not overdoing your brows) that I'm afraid the applicator would dry out after five or so uses. Only more experimentation will tell. But for the time being, I'm digging my *brows on flick* (sorry for the pun... had to)." Wearing: Brow Flick in Black & Boy Brow in Black. "Right off the bat, I was impressed by how easy it was to apply. The brush literally flicks on a sheer stroke of color, leaving my brows looking fuller, darker, and more even. Being the novice that I am at all brow products under the sun (save for my beloved Boy Brow, naturally), I applied it all over my brows just to see how it would look. I quickly discovered that the formula doesn't easily smudge off, though, which is great if you apply it where you want, but not so great if you paint outside the lines, which I definitely did a few times. I finished with Bow Brow for a full statement brow moment I'm excited to re-create for my next event. For more of a natural everyday look, though, I'll probably limit the Brow Flick to my arches and finish with the Boy Brow in clear instead." Wearing: Brow Flick in Black & Boy Brow in Black. "Rarely do I wear makeup; most days I roll out of bed and decide to dedicate my morning routine to my curly hair. But I definitely could be down to incorporate Glossier's Brow Flick pencil in when I'm feeling extra spicy. I have to say that Brow Flick was a little lighter in effect versus the Boy Brow, which felt like the type of product you put on to have a bold brow. Overall, both products looked great, but Brow Flick gave off a more natural, non-filled in look, while Boy Brow screams brows on fleek." Wearing: Brow Flick in Brown. "I love the subtle difference the pen makes to my brows. It enhances and shapes my brows without looking like I've actually got brow product on. The pen itself has a light-as-air texture—almost like a brown watercolor." Next Up, My Eyebrows Doubled in Size After Making These 6 Sneaky Changes.

[teaandgames]

An Evening or Two With Morrowind

If there ever was a game that I really wanted to get into, but struggled to, it would be The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I’ve been trying to play it since I was young. All three discs would install and the various enemy images popping up would fill me with excitement. I was ready for some sword swingin’ and cave explorin’. The boat would pull up to Seyda Neen, the music would swell and I’d step out into a world full of promise.

Shortly after that, I would stop playing and never pick it up again. There are a lot of reasons for that of course, most of which I’d delve into here, but it seems to stuck with me a bit more these days. That’s one of the strange things about getting older I suppose. My levels of patience haven't increased or decreased, rather they’ve changed to accommodate different things. My level of patience towards slow internet, for example, has massively decreased. Clunky game mechanics, however, I have a lot more patience for.

And boy is Morrowind clunky. It is eighteen years old after all and those years have weighed heavily on the poor thing. I wondered at using something like Tamriel Rebuilt, which reworks Morrowind from the ground up while adding new lore-friendly content. In addition to something like that, I considered the possibility of some combat mobs to improve perhaps the most annoying part of Morrowind. In the end, I settled with nothing more than a few graphical mods which, if I’m honest, I’m not sure if I installed properly.

A few bits have aged well but, alas, the graphics are not one of them. You can see this immediately as the guard comes to direct you off the slave ship and he struts towards you like a poorly strung marionette. Everything is a dull grey and brown and as for the character faces, whoa. You want to stick a helmet on any NPC you see just to stop them staring at you. Still, things tend to grow on you the more you play. Morrowind’s a pretty storm struck place and I will admit the blackened hills and billows of steam do add something to it as you press inland.

While the world itself may look ugly, it does a good job of immersing you into it. It may be a very small thing, but one thing I do like is that all of the bandits I’ve encountered have been given unique names. So rather than just ‘Bandit’, they have an actual first and last name. Of course, most of them just start swinging straight off the bat but I appreciate the touch. You can also chat to everyone and, while most of them say the same thing, it makes you feel like part of the world. It has the same problem that plagues its successors, that everyone starts sounding the same, but I can look past that.

Another small detail of note is the lack of any waypoints. There is a map, but it’s very limited. Key cities are marked on and NPCs can add things to your map, which is handy, but to find specific things then you’re beholden to the road signs and the vague directions given to you. Every time an NPC gives me two routes, both long and confusing, I die a little inside. In the end, I end up winging it and hoping I end up in the vicinity. If you wander in the wrong direction, then just loot everything in sight to sell later.

Of course, Morrowind’s exploration is filled with its own share of problems. The first is that any time you want to go anywhere, you’ll have to contend with the menace known as the ‘Cliff Racer’. Flying enemies that are all over the place. It’s quite common to look up and see three of them trailing after you. I wouldn’t mind so much if their AI worked properly but they’ll frequently get stuck in the air above you, distantly screaming. It’s a pain in the arse, especially as they’ll prevent you from resting.

Even when they get down, the annoyances are not over because we then must get on to the combat. The biggest grievance is the hit rate, which is decided by a bunch of maths running in the background, which is dictated by your skill in the chosen weapon, your agility and your fatigue. What this essentially boils down to is you missing the vast majority of your hits unless you specialise in one particular type of weapon. It makes for a frustrating early game and even towards the end it’s a pain in the arse. It was the biggest hurdle to overcome.

So why didn’t I mod it out? Well I’m not a hundred percent sure to be honest with you. It felt like if I modded out the combat and the rough graphics, it would almost be a cheat. I would have had to rebuild the whole damn game just to get into it and I didn’t want that. I wanted to see if I could enjoy Morrowind on its own merits. And the truth is, I am. It’s got its niggles, including the fact that your attributes can be damaged leaving you stranded in the middle of a dungeon, but it’s a very unique place.

Morrowind is a strange old place, complete with mushroom trees and giant jellyfish, full of interesting people and places. While the fifth entry, Skyrim, ended up making all of its locations feel the same, Morrowind makes its big cities feel unique. Particularly Vivec, which is one big, fantastic maze complete with sewers full of Daedra. That’s contrasted with the sand-blasted Ald’Ruhn or the built up Balmora. While Morrowind is certainly rough around the edges, and most of the middle, its uniqueness is winning me over. I can see now why it’s so beloved.

[diegoqdmaleagp31insurance-blog]

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[tripstations]

This Greyhound bus problem is an expensive travel lesson

At first, Beverly Parker’s Greyhound bus problem looked like a slam dunk case. Valuables had gone missing from her checked luggage during a recent trip from Birmingham, Ala., to Albion, Mich. And Greyhound wasn’t exactly breaking a land speed record to help her.

But then I read the details of her request, and a simple case suddenly became complicated. It wasn’t the $150,000 claim amount that fazed me. My computer adds a few extra characters if I don’t release the zero key fast enough. I was certain that was a typo.

It was everything else.

Parker’s case is a reminder to read your travel company’s luggage liability rules before you entrust them with your valuables. It also underscores the importance of keeping your compensation request in line with a carrier’s legal obligation. Otherwise, you could learn a very expensive lesson.

This Greyhound bus problem made me ask a series of questions about consumer education in America. The answers to these questions would help Parker and many people like her advocate for themselves.

It was an uneventful bus ride to Michigan, until …

By all accounts, Parker’s 20-hour bus ride from Alabama to Michigan was routine. Her motorcoach made scheduled stops in Nashville, Cincinnati, and Detroit before reaching her destination.

But as she explains in a letter to Greyhound’s CEO, there was nothing routine about it:

I am a loyal passenger on Greyhound Lines as I ride the bus at least 4 times round trip each year. The purpose of this letter is to see if I can receive a solution letter for a financial settlement which I have been trying to receive for a while now with no success for my lost or stolen items.

My luggage has a yellow special handling tag that indicates that Greyhound is responsible for my luggage and the contents.

I was referred to you by your coworkers that I feel have been stonewalling and providing incorrect information up to this point. The most recent interaction was 4/26/19 around 6:34 pm in which Ms. Brown called me and stated she worked in the corporate office. We had a conversation and she stated she would contact back Monday and have not heard anything from her up to this day.

This has been a long and unsuccessful journey that I feel could have been resolved if there was better communication between your company and me. I have included a package of the documents that will show how long this process has been to get the letter. Since I had to mail the packages I am including my expense for those in my complaint (see the items).

I just want the issue to be taken care of as I suffer from chronic depression and other health concern that I believe this is not helping with my wellbeing.

By now, we can see a few red flags on the horizon.

First, there’s the $150,000 claim, for which you could buy a pretty decent used motorcoach. Then, it’s the letter along with a statement about chronic depression that seems to have nothing to do with the missing luggage.

Yet I still wanted to help with this Greyhound bus problem.

So how did this Greyhound bus problem happen?

I dug deeper into the claim. What happened to Parker? Then I found her actual claim:

The $150,000 claim was largely for “invasion of privacy” and “emotional distress.” The reason? She says someone stole $5,650 worth of jewelry from her checked luggage, even though the bag had a yellow tag on it, which she says entitled it to special handling.

Greyhound’s luggage liability

A quick look at Greyhound’s luggage liability shows its liability is limited.

If any of your checked baggage goes missing or is damaged while being stored in the baggage compartment under the bus, you can apply for compensation. You’ll need the baggage tag that was given to you when you checked your bag to process the claim.

We offer a maximum value of $250 per adult ticket and $125 per child ticket. If you have anything in your checked baggage that’s worth more than this amount, we can’t pay any more, unless you bought insurance.

Parker didn’t have insurance. And what about the pain and suffering the loss of her valuables caused? Unfortunately, Greyhound’s conditions of carriage make no mention of compensation for mental distress.

How to avoid a Greyhound bus problem like this

We publish the names, numbers and emails of key Greyhound executives on this site. But simply sending an email to an executive wouldn’t have done Parker much good. She might have also benefited from some of the proven problem-solving strategies on this site — and adjusting her claim to a more realistic level.

Under Greyhound’s conditions of carriage, Parker couldn’t file a claim for more than $250. She might have been able to ask for more in small claims court. Alabama small claims court actions are limited to claims of $6,000 or less.

But the best way to avoid a Greyhound bus problem like this is to never, ever pack jewelry in your checked bag.

It’s unclear why she packed two diamond bracelets, a birthstone ring and a gold band in her checked luggage. But if she’d simply carried the jewelry with her or worn it, then she would have avoided this trouble.

Threatening legal action can doom a claim

If your claim is outside the scope of the carrier’s liability rules, there’s one more thing you can do to kill it: threaten to sue. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Parker did. She found an attorney in Albion and sent a strongly worded letter to Greyhound in which she added perjury to her laundry list of charges.

Whether the claim has merit or not, sending a legal letter usually takes the case out of the hands of the customer service department and puts it straight into the legal department’s domain. The only way out of that department is usually through a court.

And for my advocacy team, it’s also the end of the road. We can’t advocate cases once a consumer has engaged legal counsel, for a variety of reasons. But mostly, this is not a legal advocacy organization. We use other — and at times, more effective — methods to encourage a fair resolution to a consumer problem. Sadly, Parker’s case was a non-starter.

So what’s your consumer IQ?

I’ve been thinking about Parker’s case a lot since it crossed my desk last week. I don’t know her personally, but she comes off as a well-meaning passenger who just wanted Greyhound to do the right thing. I’ve corresponded with thousands of people just like her. Most are good, reasonable people who just don’t understand how to effectively resolve a consumer problem. Maybe they exaggerate their claims (one zero can make a big difference) or they use the wrong approach (like making an empty threat of litigation). But ultimately, I think companies can quickly remedy these inflated consumer claims because they can easily — and legally — swat them down.

And that’s made my inner conspiracy theorist wonder whether companies are actively trying to create an entire generation of customers who can’t help themselves. At the risk of repeating myself, I believe these are otherwise smart, honest people who just don’t know anything about consumer rights.

That’s led to a series of even bigger questions. Can you measure consumer IQ? What is your consumer IQ? What should it be? How early should we start developing consumer IQ in schools, in order to counteract the obvious efforts by corporate America to turn all of us into obedient automatons?

I would have loved to help Parker. And I suspect that if we answer these questions, we might be able to help her and many, many people like her.

The post This Greyhound bus problem is an expensive travel lesson appeared first on Tripstations.

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[revivedyouthcreamtrailrevie-blog]

Revived Youth Cream

Revived Youth Cream: Add A Touch Of Youthfulness To Face

Revived Youth Cream

:- “You don’t have to use so many makeup products on your face to hide the wrinkles and fine lines. There are other ways too to treat them”

My best friend told me when I was done with my make up schedule. Ever since I first noticed the wrinkles on my face I have depending up on the concealer and colour corrector to hide their appearance. But lately, with late night meetings and party I forget to take my makeup off my skin. Result? My aged skin has started to look more aged. So when my best told me that there are other ways I can opt for that will be effective enough to target my age spots I was curious to know

“Yeah, like getting Botox injections and using anti-aging products, right? See I am scared of needles so Botox is out of the option and I don’t have to time to wait for results after applying the anti-aging product. So what is left?”

She told me that one doesn’t necessarily have to go under the needles to look young again and not every anti-aging product is effective in supporting aged skin. She suggested me to side my makeup kit for a while and use Revived Youth Cream instead.

It is been four weeks of using this and I have to say I never thought my skin can ever look so smooth and flawless. Don’t just trust me rather find out for yourself by going over my unbiased review on the same.

In an essence what Revived Youth Cream is all about?

Revived Youth Cream is an anti-aging product created to eliminate the stubborn signs of aging from the face. With time, our skin goes through wear and tear every day. With busy schedule round the corner, our skin doesn’t able to get proper nutrition and care and due to this aging signs starts to form. Revived Youth Cream steps in between to heal your skin from all the damage your skin goes through daily.

The appearance of wrinkles starts to look reduced and so does your fine lines will get smoothen out. The crows feet get smoothen out and the dark circles will look lighter day by day.

Explain to me how Revived Youth Cream works in reversing the aging process from the skin?

Tissue, millions of cells and proper dosage of nutrition’s; they all are responsible for making our face to look plump, healthy and youthful but alas their presence with time starts to diminish causing your face to look wrinkled, lifeless and droopy. In laymen terms, we call this the signs of aging. So, if one wants to reverse the process of aging from the skin, one has to use something which will be effective enough to heal the damaged cells and tissues and along with that also able to stimulate them to get rejuvenated again.

To do this, it is important first to boost the level of collagen and this is what Revived Youth Cream does. See the presence of collagen is in abundance when we are young. This is the reason teenagers don’t have to use any anti-aging products back then. However, factors I have mentioned above starts to go down which impacts the collagen to get damaged. This anti-aging product is composed of chain of peptides which when goes into the cellular layer of our skin helps to boost the level of collagen and due to this your skin is able to go through the following changes it needed to clock back the aging process.

Improve in the level of collagen boosts the level of hydration and moisture too. Due to the daily wear and tear, these two starts to go down which aggravates our skin to form wrinkles and fine lines. When the hydration level gets improved, the look of wrinkles and fine lines too starts to look reduced.

See our skin have a defence mechanism which is there to protect your skin from all the environmental factors it gets exposed to everyday but bit by bit due to the busy schedule we have round the corner leads to damage our skin. Improve in the level of collagen helps to strengthen our protective shield so that the aging sign doesn’t start forming on the skin once it gets healed after applying this anti-aging product.

How should you use this anti-aging product?

First wash your face with any gentle cleanser and pat your skin dry properly. After that take out the required quantity of Revived Youth Cream on your palm and dot it all over your face. Also, cover your neck with this. Massage your face in the upward direction until the product is totally absorbed into the skin.

I would suggest you to use this product for maximum 60 days to long last the results.

Get to know how these women find Revived Youth Cream by reading their testimonials

Meredith, 34 shares “I am so happy with the results I got after using Revived Youth Cream that I can’t explain. Now I don’t have to wakeup seeing the wrinkles and fine lines in the mirror first thing in the morning. Finally I got something which have reduced the appearance of age spots dramatically without me going under the needles”

Jenna, 30 says “I don’t have deep pockets to go for the Botox surgery so when I got to know about the benefits of Revived Youth Cream I had to use it to believe it. Oh boy what an anti-aging product it is. My skin feels so soft and smooth since the day I have started using it. The best part is the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines have reduced too”

Where to buy this anti-aging product from?

It is exclusively available from the link given below. Not just that, by clicking the link below you won’t just able to make purchase of Revived Youth Cream but also able to avail the RISK-FREE TRIAL offer currently going on this anti-aging product.

All you have to after clicking the link is to fill up the form given on the main website page. There fill up that form with your shipping details and click the RUSH MY TRIAL. After that, all you have to do is pay out the small shipping charges and in return you will get the sample bottle to try it before even making a full purchase. Isn’t this offer wonderful? Do this now as trial bottles are very limited.

Is it safe to use this anti-aging product or will it cause me any side effects?

No, absolutely it is safe to apply this product on your face. It is composed of only natural ingredients which are all backed up the clinical research.

To be on the safe side I would still suggest you to do the patch test once. Just take out the pea sixed amount and apply it on your wrist. Wait for few seconds. Rule of thumb is if it causes you any irritation, consult your dermatologist about it and if it doesn’t then you are good to go.

What is that I should remember while using this anti-aging product?

Always remember to close the lid after each usage to protect it from getting contaminated.

Is it better then getting Botox Injections?

For some people, Botox has fared really well but like I said for some for others it has caused some serious side effects. You should know that Botox injections have ingredients in high dosage which is suitable for some skin and for others it can leave permanent marks. When you use Revived Youth Cream, you can be assured that it won’t cause you any side effects like scars and irritation.

Still, it is recommended that you consult your dermatologist before adding this in the skin care regimen.

Where to Buy Revived Youth Cream

[samirgianni]

Crop Rotation and Soil Amendments in the Small Garden

When we first started working in an allotment garden oh, 20 years ago (aauugghh!) I read a lot of gardening books and magazines. The one thing that has really stuck from that reading is our crop rotation plan. Our plan is adapted from one put forth by Sylvia Thompson, and which is described in her book The Kitchen Garden, although it only gets 3 pages there. I think I first found it as an article in The Kitchen Gardener magazine, an excellent but somewhat short-lived venture, where the plan was detailed in a longer article. No sign of it online, alas. What I am about to describe is more-or-less her plan, much adapted to our own personal uses. That's one of the beauties of this scheme - it is a simple, even crude, four-part division, and as long as  you remember the logic of the plan quite adaptable. On this blog I've previously discussed this plan briefly and often presented vegetables grouped together in the categories we use, but I don't think I have really delved into it in great detail. There are 2 general reasons to rotate crops, even in a fairly small garden. The first is the one people tend to think of: to avoid the build-up of diseases and pests in the area. Unfortunately, rotation does not do much to alleviate this problem in a small garden. You are staving things off for perhaps 15 minutes in my experience. Still, we rotate crops partially because hope is as hard to kill as cucumber beetles, and partially because we do get the second benefit: we can plan and target soil amendments to keep our plants at the level of fertility best suited for them. Essentially, this plan groups vegetables according to their nutrient needs. I'm being a bit facetious about the effectiveness of a rotation plan in avoiding diseases and pests, by the way. In reality while it doesn't do much to evade pests, I suspect it's quite useful in keeping the diseases down to a dull roar. Be sure however, that you are not saving diseased seeds and simply moving the problem along every year. (See our struggle with bean anthracnose.) And if you do get diseases don't put the season-end debris into the compost heap. If you have municipal compost pick up use that; if like us you have a large property, have a compost dump some good distance from the garden, from which you do not actually use the compost.

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The groups that vegetables are divided into for this plan are as follows: LEAFS are the vegetables with high nitrogen requirements. Many of these vegetables are the ones for which we use the leaves, such as most of the brassica family, spinach, chard, lettuce and most salady greens, mustards, etc. Also included is corn, which has a very large hungry plant, even if what is eaten is the seed or fruit of the plant. We grow all the brassicas here, even if they are used as roots (rutabaga, turnips, radishes) or stems (kohlrabi). Celery would be here, and we include celeriac as well. Leeks do better here than in with the roots, and other onions can be included here if the root section is more crowded than the leaf section - as you see we are making pragmatic exceptions already. We tend to have a lot of room left over in the leaf bed since we don't grow corn and brassicas are limited due to their incompatibility with our soil. Some of the leafs go into and out of the garden fairly quickly; the smaller salady things as well as many oriental vegetables and things like rapini can produce usable material in as little as a month. That allows you to possibly plant some green manures in this section or to use part of it as a targeted compost site (i.e. just pile up  your compost in a chosen spot over the summer and dig it in during the autumn.) Of course, you can succession plant instead. We meet the need for extra nitrogen amongst this group of plants by amending each 8' x 5' section with one wheelbarrow full of either our own compost or composted manure acquired elsewhere, before planting. Our own compost is the cheapest, but maintaining a compost pile sufficient to produce the amount required is a challenge and takes quite a lot of work. When we were first gardening at this site and struggling to bring our soil fertility up from dire to acceptable, we put in very large amounts of composted manure brought in literally by the dump-truck load. Now we can maintain it with our own compost supplemented with bags of manure from the nursery when that runs out. We target the brassica beds in particular with other nutrients. We add a little dolomitic lime to those beds as well as borax. The first helps raise the pH of our soil (lower the acidity) and the second helps with a suspected boron deficiency. Also as the season progresses, the leaf section is most likely to be treated with foliar spray fertilizers. We prefer organic ones based on fish, seaweeds, and molasses. (As you may suppose, such spraying sessions are immediately followed by laundry and bathing sessions... yeeeeeah. And we don't do it right before harvests - there would be no point since they wouldn't have time to do anything anyway.) Periodic dustings with food-grade diatomacious earth are of some use against leaf-munching insect pests. FRUITS: are the vegetables where the seed bearing parts of the plant are eaten, with the exception of legumes which will form their own group, and corn which, as already mentioned, goes in with the leafs. Squash, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are the main vegetables in this category. These will be planted where the leaf plants were in the previous season. They need some nitrogen as most of them form fairly substantial plants, but too much will develop green leafy growth at the expense of the fruit. They also vary in their needs; squash and melons can have fairly substantial nitrogen requirements but peppers may not need very much at all. They all do need a certain amount of phosphorus. This should be remaining in the soil to an adequate degree from the amendment with compost made last year when leafs occupied these beds, but we generally add a little bone meal to make sure. Since the fruit plants that need the most nitrogen are generally the largest, and are well spaced apart, it is easy to supply a little compost into the planting hole when they go into the ground. Just a little though! A handful to small shovelful will do, scaled to the plants' expected final size. We used to put a little bone meal in the planting hole with the extra compost, but bone meal is attractive to certain animals (skunks? raccoons? we haven't caught them in the act so are not quite sure) but we may be sure that they are very inclined to pull up any plants that have bonemeal at the roots. It's better to sprinkle bone meal over the bed to be planted a week to a few days before planting and rake it in well to foil these pests. They will likely still come and root around for it but if it is well mixed in and the plants not yet in the ground, little damage will be done. Epsom salts are often also added to the planting hole for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Just a small spoonful should be sufficient, and mix it in a bit. Don't be put off by the name. It isn't a salt; it's crystallized magnesium and sulfur, which are useful in assisting the plants to produce blossoms and fruit. However, if your soil is not deficient in magnesium there is really no point in adding more. Our soil is sandy and acidic, which is often deficient in magnesium, but I can't say we really noticed any difference in productivity the few times we've added epsom salts. Now we don't bother. Blossom end rot is a common problem in fruit crops. It is directly caused by a lack of calcium, however the problem is rarely an actual lack of calcium in the soil but is more related to too much water, too little water, or wildly fluctuating amounts of water. Keep an eye on the watering; most fruit crops in my opinion do best with steady but ever so slightly scant quantities of water, especially once they are on to the fruiting stage. Of course if it is raining non-stop there isn't much to be done. Although, in my experience, a tendency to blossom end rot is definitely something that can be selected against in seed saving, the same with a tendency to split. Keep that in mind during particularly rainy seasons as a silver lining. Organic fertilizers as described in the leaf section may help with blossom end rot, because they encourage the fungi which regulate mineral uptake in plant roots. It doesn't hurt to add crushed eggshells for the calcium content, but I don't think it particularly helps all that much either. If they are dried well before being crushed and scattered about they may deter snails and slugs to some degree though - which means you may actually prefer to save them for the short-assed leaf plants. ROOTS: are the plants where the edible part grows underground, or at least at ground level. Carrots, onions and garlic, sweet potatoes, potatoes, parsnips, and beets are the main crops here - as mentioned above brassica root crops go with the rest of the brassicas in the leaf section. Root crops in general do not like too much nitrogen. This is why they are saved for the crop which is 2 years away from a general application of compost. Too much nitrogen may cause skinny, hairy, split roots - a thing most likely to be really apparent in carrots. However when we first started in this garden we struggled with carrots. Now they do well. My conclusion is that they do like compost - provided it was applied 2 years earlier. Carrots go into a bed previously planted with peppers and eggplants, which are the lightest users of nitrogen and which were given the least in the way of planting-time compost. Parsnips and beets too, for preference. Potash or potassium is the main nutritional requirement of the root crops. Since the previous rotations are light users of this nutrient, hopefully it is still present from the original application of compost. Wood ashes and kelp meal are recommended to boost potash if you feel it is necessary; we never have added either and our root crops seem to be doing fine. Your soil may vary of course, and if you happen to have some nice clean wood ashes a light sprinkling worked in  a few days to a week before planting may be a good idea. I wouldn't go chasing after them, though. Potatoes produce tubers in proportion to a good healthy top growth and are probably more interested in a nitrogen boost than any other root crop. For this reason, and also the fact that they are solanaceous crops, Sylvia Thompson recommended putting them in with fruit rotation. I don't do that because the fruit rotation is already the one that is bursting at the seams for us. They get their own bed and I don't mind adding a little compost for them. Do it with a light hand though; compost in contact with the forming tubers can cause fungal problems on them. Planting comfrey leaves with potatoes is often recommended and it is something I always mean to try since the neighbouring ditches are full of feral comfrey, but so far I always forget. Again, if you add it, it should not come into direct contact with the roots. Potatoes, like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers (and tomatillos and ground cherries) are members of the solanacea family and should not follow any of those. We have 5 beds in each section; tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos and ground cherries are all planted in the 3 central beds of the fruit section only, then in this rotation potatoes are only ever planted in the 2 outer beds. This is a rule we follow more assiduously than most. Sweet potatoes have such lush growth they always look like they should require a lot of nitrogen, but they really don't. They come from tropical conditions where the soil is often somewhere between poor and completely lousy, and they contend with alternating torrential downpours and droughts. Consequently they are pretty tolerant to everything except cool weather.  Onions are another "root" vegetable that like a bit of nitrogen, or so I am told. Mine have always done just fine without. A foliar feed early in the season may be a good idea though. In fact onions consist of a swollen ball of basal leaves above the actual roots, and rarely grow deep in the soil unless you planted them too deeply. Leeks are more green and leafy, and I put them in with the leaf rotation. Shallots tend to go wherever I can find them some room, to be honest. Finally, garlic is a bit of an oddball vegetable in that it is planted somewhere between late summer and fall, and harvested the next July. We put it in one of the beds that had tomatoes in it. As soon as frost touches the tomatoes and/or they have stopped producing, we remove them at once and plant garlic in their place. Then the garlic is in the right spot for the next summer. When the garlic comes out I replant the space with beets intended specifically for pickling - I don't mind if they end up a little on the small side. There are beets elsewhere in the root beds for summer eating and winter storage. Radishes could follow the garlic as well. Winter radishes in particular would work well and can be stored for a time. Yes, I usually want to put radishes in with the leafs but oh well. They are flexible enough for this. Watch your brassica positioning in relation to the radishes though, if you put them here. LEGUMES: consist of all the peas and beans; peanuts, chick peas, lentils, and lima beans included, as well as some cover crops/green manures such as hairy vetch and red clover. Legumes have the ability to fix nitrogen in their roots, supplying their need for nitrogen themselves and leaving some behind when they come out. Thus they are either the last crop of the rotation or the first, depending on how you want to  look at it. They will grow in quite poor soil, provided it has the fungus they interact with for nitrogen fixation. Our first bean and pea crops were very poor because our soil didn't have it. So, for the second, third, and fourth years we used a "bean inoculant" (which is actually a fungus) with our legumes when we planted them. Many soils already have the requisite fungus present, and bean inoculant can be hard to find and a bit pricey. However, our experience was that one application to each section of beds was sufficient but required and now all our peas and beans are growing well. If you are starting a new garden and struggling with peas and beans, consider using it. Legumes are really the only set of vegetables that leave the soil with more nutrients than they found, as a result of this ability to hoard nitrogen. However, to benefit from this directly don't remove the finished plants by pulling them out - clip them off just above the ground. Otherwise their accumulated nitrogen simply moves on to the compost heap, assuming that is where you put them. That's not a disaster if you apply the finished compost back to the beds in the fullness of time, but since these beds will hold the nitrogen-hungry leaf crops next season it is better to leave it right in place for them.

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With this plan, you need to allot equal amount of space for each section, since each grouping will rotate through the whole garden in time. This can be a little hard to achieve, and a little moving of things around is tolerable to achieve the quantities and varieties you want. Just keep in mind the nutritional needs being catered to in each section, and move the plants most appropriate for the alternate section. We have started growing and eating a lot more dry beans, and it was to some degree in response to the need to fill in space in the legume section. A happy accident, as it happens! As you may suspect from all of this is that you really need to make a garden plan before you plant, and amend it as you go. If you have a garden of any size at all it will really help you maximize your productivity, keep track of where each plant is (what is this little green sprout, anyhow?) and if you keep your plans from year to year (I recommend it!) you can refer back to them to note the last time you grew something, and review how your garden has evolved over time. from Seasonal Ontario Food http://seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com/2017/01/crop-rotation-and-soil-amendments-in.html