#and we couldn't figure out another way of achieving the same effect

[fvaleraye]

New sona new sona

The inherent gender euphoria of drawing yourselves as a robot is immense and everyone should try it.

[canyouheatmeuponafrozennight]

Read: Crime and Punishment

One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds, Napoleon, Obtaining Paradise. There are many angles to approach this story from, many ideas to discuss about it, I don't feel like I'm literate enough to speak of them all. Anyway, let's talk about sins and sinners.

Rodion, the murderer. Poor and depressed, unemployed and lost, but above all, a smart dumbass. Living in a small cubicle, sleeping and doing nothing all day, Rodion wanted to prove to himself he was worth something. A hero is a murderer that history justified, he took his own theory and turned it around, inverting the cause and effect and murdering someone to prove he wasn't a nobody, that he could achieve greatness.

Amidst the whole cast, and the many people who tried to understand him, I feel the only person who really saw completely through him was Porfiri. Not only he knew how fragile Rodya's heart was, he could tell how dettached to life he was, and pleaded with him to not give up on living. He knew Rodion was a criminal, he had nothing to gain from it, and just out of his own morals, his own wish for this young man to live, he went out of his way to give him a better chance to recover.

To surpass limits and take hold of power, this is what drove Rodion to murdering. I think all the key characters of C&P have done that, but Porfiri's "limit break" was the one without a shred of "sin" in it. The greatest enemy before Rodion, the one that broke down his crime, was one such extraordinary person, and a virtuous foil of Rodion.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Arkadi, the pedo-rapist. From his very introduction, I thought he was a mirror to Rodion. Both somewhat insane broken men, uncaring about others thoughts and opinions, self-centered and arrogant, but while Rodion was so from a low social position, Arkadi was rich. At first, that's all I thought he was, just a rich Rodion. Nothing prepared me for him to be that much of a mirror image, the same figure with inverted values, pretty much. While Rodion couldn't even put into words his love for Sonya until the end, Arkadi had multiple wives and lovers. Rodion couldn't tell why Sonya would follow him anywhere he went, while Arkadi was this sure Dunya also loved him. Rodion saw the pawnbroker as less than human and thus could kill her, Arkadi saw a child as tempting, and proceeded to defile her. Last and most important, Rodion couldn't kill himself and chose to accept punishment for his crime, while Arkadi decided he should kill himself.

Arkadi's limit break was entirely sinful, he went above and beyond in his lust, in his debauchery, and felt no regret over it (as Rodion over his own murder). He wasn't just Rodion if he had money, he was Rodion if he never accepted punishment, if he hid and ran from all the pain that comes with the crime. He helped many with his (wife's) money, but hundreds of good deeds can't erase even one sin, so he could no longer live with himself, also knowing he couldn't change his nature. He himself told Rodion only a bullet to the temple could stop him, and he committed to it.

Lastly, we have the purest sinner, Sonya, the harlot. At first I couldn't tell why Rodion liked her and respected her so much just from hearing Marmieladov talk about her, but in hindsight, it's clear that he felt in her his ideal, she was a limit breaker. She became a prostitute for her family, she drenched herself in sin to protect her stepfamily. She didn't murder another to achieve greatness, she allowed herself to be murdered, if it meant their happiness. Upon killing another and falling apart, Rodion needed to know how she, who took all the pain unto herself, didn't, and to him, an atheist, it must have felt conflicting to see that it was her faith that kept her together. I feel that, at the same time he wanted to see her faith break (and her too), he wanted to find the will to believe and keep himself together too, resulting in the Ressurection of Lazarus Reading scene, that was akin to his "battles" with Porfiri, in that moment he was trying to find out which of them was justice, does justice lie with the one that believes or the one that doesn't?

Sonya doesn't mirror Rodya, she is what lies beyond his flawed theory of greatness. He, who believes himself to be great, could not befriend anyone in prison or find himself having any will to live. She, who suffered even more than him, who holds herself humbly, is loved by all. When he killed the pawnbroker, he already knew his theory was shattering, and Porfiri continued to smash it, to force him to see reality, but that wasn't enough to save him. Porfiri could only break his world, Sonya can be there to show him what a great person can be once his antiquated mindset is gone.

Without her, he'd easily return to who he was before the murder, a depressed man in a coffin-like room, in a world of darkness. What probably made him aware of her importance, of what she represented in his world, was her illness making her not visit for a while. In prison, without her, he was just who he was before murdering the pawnbroker. And that simple change, that single realization, could change who he was and his view towards the future.

It isn't the courage to kill that allows him to surpass his limits, it's the courage to love. Love himself, even if he is mediocre, to then allow himself to consider himself worthy of the love given to him by others, and ultimately be able to love them back properly.

[endlich-allein]

Promo "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" (2009), Christoph "Doom" Schneider  — Interview by Philip Lageat, 16-11-2009, Nantes (Rock Hard #94)

Rock Hard : With six studio albums in the bag, it must be more and more difficult to establish a setlist. How do you deal with that ?

Christoph "Doom" Schneider : Strangely enough, we take our heads less at this level than in the studio. I am therefore going to surprise you by telling you that this is done as simply and naturally as possible, since we ultimately proceed in a very democratic way : each of us draws up a list of our favorite titles. We then compare the desideratas of each... and the majority wins, provided however that the songs chosen fit well into the show. We did it this time around and it worked really well, since we shared an identical opinion on many songs. Personally, I find that we have found a good balance between old songs and new songs. We play a lot of songs from our last album, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, which suits me well because I admit that I was fed up with some old titles. I was almost sickened by playing them. So we discarded them, otherwise I think we would have quickly become jaded of the new show. So we had to be careful what we choose, because, given the special effects that we deploy on stage, it is quite difficult for us, after the fact, to make big changes in the setlist. It is that each of us must know precisely what to do, and where it must be, during each song : a misstep, a second of inattention, and you are toasted like a peanut ! (laughs) Anyway, a setlist usually follows you during a whole tour and I'm happy with it which, as I said, seems to me to be a happy medium, a pretty harmonious balance, between old and new songs.

RH : Twenty years ago almost to the day, on November 9, 1989, we witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. As an East German, do you remember this historic moment ?

Christoph : Yes, I was in town. In the middle of the night, I heard the radio announcing that people were destroying the Wall. It must be said that, for a few days already, the rumor had swelled that this was going to happen. But I stayed home because quite frankly, I couldn't believe it ! (laughs) It wasn't until a day or two later that I crossed the Wall for the first time to go west. At the risk of disappointing, I was therefore not one of those people we saw on TV riding the Wall and destroying it with a pickax or hammer. I remember I was of course delighted, but the shock was such that it took me a while to adjust to this new life : during the first two or three years, I had the feeling of not being able to be part of nothing and of everything at the same time, to evolve in a space of total freedom. To tell the truth, it was an extraordinary period ! In East Berlin, it was chaos. We squatted in houses where we organized huge parties... (smile) There were no rules and a sweet scent of anarchy hung in the air. Musically, we all continued to play with our respective bands and for a while it didn't go so badly. Until we realized that the situation had changed dramatically and that these bands belonged to a period from now on bygone, were from another age. We felt that the time had come to start a new adventure by creating another group. The foundations of Rammstein were laid... From the start, we defined what our sound should be. Very quickly we figured out that even if we rehearse hard, we would never be able to sound like an American band. That's why we tried to create something unique, which really looks like us.

RH : Do you remember the first concert you saw in the West ?

Christoph : It probably must have been an unknown punk band. But the first big gig I attended was a Red Hot Chili Peppers show at a tiny club. In 1990, it seems to me. They were not as popular then as they are today and did not perform in large venues yet. Before this concert, I had never heard of it. It was a Californian who was squatting at my house who told me that it was a good group and offered to go see it. When I think about it, I wonder what she and I could say to each other, since I couldn't get a word of English ! (laughs) Anyway, we went to this concert and I took a huge slap. Never before have I seen something so exciting ! This is an evening that I will never forget...

RH : Despite multiple internal friction, Rammstein has always kept the same line-up. How do you explain this stability ?

Christoph : Rammstein is only worth the sum of his individualities and their uniqueness. If one of us left, or whoever, we wouldn't be dealing with the same group. Rammstein would no longer be. So, it's true, there were tensions between us during the recording of the last album (see previous interview), but that's how Rammstein works. I believe in these guys... And then we always had a fight every time we set foot in the studio, and that, for any album. It's just that, when we were younger, we were able to find common ground faster because we were less stubborn and had less ego. Maybe we are too stressed out today when we work together, because we know it is going to be a long and painful process. And that, we find it more and more difficult to bear it. But for me that's a good thing, because these tensions are a blessing, in that they sharpen our creativity. Without them we would not achieve exciting results. We only yell at each other over simple taste issues : "I like it, why don't you like it too?". It's just that sometimes we tend to forget about it and take things too personal. At my level, I now tend not to want to impose my point of view if the majority does not think like me. Others, on the contrary, do not get along with age and refuse to give up even the smallest square inch of land (laughs). Hence endless heated discussions. Not to mention that the producer also has an opinion and that we therefore have to juggle the desires of seven people. You should know that for the most of us no longer get along with the producer (Editor's note: the Swede Jacob Hellner who has so far produced all of Rammstein's albums) in terms of choices and tastes. We have not changed, not evolved one iota. We are still able to develop this stupid energy in order to provoke, and I like that because some people expect us to mature with age, that we become more "adult". And here we are shooting a porn clip (Editor's note: allusion to the video for the single "Pussy") ! (laughs) We're still the same kids who, twenty years ago, were overflowing with youthful enthusiasm : "That's going to be a blast. So what are we waiting for ?"

RH : To conclude, do you really sell this box containing Six dildos that we could see on the Net ?

Christoph : (Visibly embarrassed) I have no answer to that question. I think this is more of a joke than a reality... And then who would buy this anyway ? (laughs)

© P.R. Brown (2009)

[escapist-dreams]

Fix it ~ Invincible Fanfiction

Summary: Rex's hand gets damaged in a fight. No one is willing to help him, so he helps himself.

Warnings: spoilers for both the Invincible animated show(episode 7) and comics(issue #40) concerning Rex-Splode, injuries(nothing nearly as graphic as the source material)

Word Count: 2.3k

This is my first Invincible fanfic, and one of the first fics I've written in awhile! Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy! Feel free to tell me what you think about it! Constructive criticism would be appreciated :D

"We meet yet again, Invincible!" D.A. Sinclair shouted with his usual dramatic flair. He had escaped from the government facility a couple months ago and holed up in a sewer, making more of his fucked up 'reanimen' who the new Guardians of the Globe were now fighting.

His army of cyborgs were unleashed onto the fleeing crowd, more destructive than self destructive this time. Sinclair must've taken notes from his previous failures.

While they targeted the heroes, civilians were caught in the crossfire left and right. Dupli-Kate evacuated the remaining civilians while Shrinking-Rae fought off any cyborgs coming near. The rest of the team tried to disarm the cyborgs without killing them, which Mark made them agree to do before the fight.

Invincible went through one after the other, knocking out the cyborgs, one could tell he was holding back. Monster Girl knocked out a good chunk of them, but accidentally killed one or two with the strength of her monster form. One of them slammed her against a building, sending a big crack up the wall, no doubt affecting civilians in the upper floors. Shrinking-Rae rushed to save those in the building affected by the crack, while Monster Girl slumped against the wall, down for the count.

Rex-Splode made it past the wall of reanimen defending Sinclair and shot a projectile at his torso. He stumbled as the magnet hit his side and exploded, only grazing him but doing damage all the same. He cupped a hand around the wound, and when he regained his composure, looked directly at Rex.

"You'll pay for that!" With a movement of his hand, D. A. Sinclair ordered the cyborg to target Rex-Splode.

"Sure I will, asshole!" Rex smirked and raised his hand again, aiming for Sinclair's head. The cyborg intervened, lunging towards Rex, who dodged and backed away. He couldn't kill the guy, but he really didn't want to get beat to a bloody pulp today. He made a split second decision to shoot him in the legs to slow him down. He did so, but all he received for his efforts was the sound of a small metal impact. He'd missed the human parts, the projectile only slightly slowed the cyborg.

Just as he was about to shoot again, the cyborg grabbed his hand, crushing flesh and metal alike. Rex doubled over as a wave of pain hit him like a brick. He tried to push past it after a few moments, looking up just in time to see Robot come up behind the reaniman, knocking him out with a punch. Invincible grabbed a piece of metal from a street sign that had been crushed in the wreckage of the battle and bent it tightly around Sinclair, effectively trapping him. And since the cyborgs were all either knocked out or no longer under his control, the battle was over.

"You couldnt've done that earlier?" Rex complained as Mark tied up Sinclair, wincing in pain. Several members of the team gave him a familiar look of annoyance.

"Maybe if you weren't too busy cowering we would've finished this sooner." Samson stated.

"I wasn't--!" Rex began, but he doubled over again before he could finish, another wave of pain hitting him.

The rest of the team had sustained some injuries as well, but they were able to shake it off for the most part by the time they arrived back at the guardians' base.

"Hey Robot-" Rex tried to catch him before they fully returned to the group.

"It's Rudy."

"Right. Rudy, can you uh.." he pointed to his busted up hand, the blood dried onto the metal. Rudy made a wincing sound at the sight, then looked to their friends, who were in a group celebrating the won battle.

"Hm.. That's going to take a bit to fix, if you can wait I'll fix it in a couple minutes." he decided. Rex opened his mouth to protest, but closed it and nodded in agreement. The two rejoined the group.

They spent a few minutes having conversations in small groups, some about the fight, and some about completely different things. After about half an hour passed, Mark got up from his seat, explaining that he needed to get back home, as he had some homework to finish up. Slowly the group dissolved, rejoining their everyday lives. Rex ran to catch Rudy before he and Amanda left.

"Hey Rudy, can you fix this thing before you go? If you couldn't tell, it *kinda* hurts." Rex gestured to his hand, pulling the glove up a bit to show the broken metal and bloody skin.

"Can it wait, Rex? Me and Amanda are getting lunch." he paused, conflicted, "you can join if you want." he offered politely, but judging by the looks on his and Amanda's face, it wasn't an invitation.

"I'll pass." Rex sighed, unsure if he was more angry or sad about it at this point. Rudy shrugged as if to say "your loss", and he and Amanda left the base. Rex left as well a few moments later, Kate and Rae's conversation fading behind him as he made his way to his apartment.

Rex tried to ignore it, he really did. But god, it hurt. He must've been in shock before, but now that he had time to really think about and feel the injury, the pain set in. The metal of his hand had torn into his flesh and he was afraid to move it for fear of further lodging it into his arm. After awhile of trying to ignore the injury, Rex decided he couldn't take it anymore. If no one would help him, he would help himself.

Rex knew a thing or two about robotics since he got his powers from the devices in his wrists, and had been taught a bit at the facility for use in battlefield situations. So he got some spare tools he used for small repairs on his arms and got to work fixing his hand. It took just about all night, but by the end he was fairly confident that he'd at least helped the situation.

He must've done something right because next time the guardians fought a villain, he was able to shoot the projectiles from his hand. No need to ask Rudy for help. And the next time it was damaged, and he fixed it himself again. This time his aim was slightly off. He hit several walls, the ground, and nearly a civilian before his desired target, but it was fine, right? He hit the guy eventually, he missed the civilian, and it still worked decently well.

He continued to repair it himself, using the knowledge from his previous mishaps to improve upon it. It continued to have slight malfunctions, but it worked.

Until it didn't.

He aimed, and shot, but the small explosive wouldn't budge. It wouldn't leave his hand, something blocked it. The BB lit up as he tried to shoot, but it exploded in his hand.

"Fuck!" Rex yelled, throwing a magnet from his belt with his offhand and dodging out of the way of an oncoming attack.

The team made quick work of the enemy, but not before they got a few good hits in on Dupli-Kate and Monster Girl as well. Amanda was slumped against a wall while Kate Prime nursed an injury on her side.

Back at the base, Rudy was busy being at Amanda's side. She had a minor concussion, but overall she was alright. The excessive blood from a cut on her head made the injury look more serious than it was. They were thankful that she was alright, minus a bit of blood loss and a head injury.

Rex wanted to celebrate her quick recovery longer than he did, but hesitantly left after drinks were had and the party died down a bit. He knew he would have to work on his hand for awhile to get it in working order and get any sleep that night.

It was already much later in the day by the time he arrived at his apartment. Repairs went well for the most part. He had passed out before realigning the metal, but quickly aligned it before heading to the base that morning, presumably deeming it functional, which was an achievement in Rex's opinion considering how badly it was broken and lack of materials. He got hardly any sleep, but he wasn't exactly the type to usually get a full eight hours every night anyways.

The next day after training, Rudy approached Rex unexpectedly.

"Hey Rex, I noticed your hand got busted up pretty badly yesterday. Need me to fix it?" Rudy offered, glancing at Rex's barely-together hand with a hint of what might be worry. Rex scoffed.

"Oh no it's fine," he said, half proud of his work and half bitter at Rudy. "I figured it out."

Rudy gave him a curious look, pausing for a moment before repeating, "You 'figured it out'?"

Rex nodded, taking off his glove and showing off his hand, which he'd barely been able to peice back together the night before. "I figured it out."

He'd had to patch up the hand with spare metal parts and slightly off-size bolts, but it wasn't too bad of a job. From a certain angle, it'd look fine even. A bit busted up, used for sure, but functional. Now, from the angle of someone with as much knowledge in robotics as Rudy had, the sight was returned after a long pause with a vaguely annoyed, "this is going to take awhile."

"What're you two doing?" Amanda asked, walking into the workroom with a half empty carton of disguised booze.

"Rex tried to fix his hand. By himself." Rudy explained condescendingly after a pause that made it obvious he was focused on his work. Rex scoffed at the answer.

"I think I did a great job, thank you very much." And besides being proud of his attempt at fixing it, the way he phrased it made Rex sound like an idiot, as if he hadn't asked for help several times before deciding to fix the problem himself.

"You put the metal covering back in place just off enough to block the projectile, the bolts are all the wrong size, and part of it is still jabbing into your arm. This isn't even the right kind of.." he trailed off, clicking a new bolt in place before mumbling, "how did you even fight like this-?!"

"Well it's not like you bothered to help me when I asked.." Rex answered with the tone of an upset child.

"You didn't say how bad it was."

"I showed you! You saw it!" Rex nearly shouted, frustration and anger bubbling up in his chest and out his mouth.

"I would have fixed this easily if you'd asked sooner."

"I did ask sooner!"

"You could've asked when I wasn't busy." Rudy spoke nearly absent-mindedly, focusing intently on prying part of the metal out of damaged tissue that tried to heal around it.

Rex hissed in pain before responding, "When were you not busy? I asked you like three times, you told me to wait!"

"I just told you, I was busy. Why didn't you go to Cecil for this?"

"Oh yeah, like I'm asking some creepy ass guy from the government to fix my hand- No fucking way!" Rex tried to ignore the hint of fear in his chest at the idea of some shady government operative poking and prodding at him in a blindingly white room.

"You'd rather bother me than ask someone whose job it is to fix things for help?"

"I'd rather ask my friend for help!"

"You could have asked when I wasn't busy." Rudy repeated, obviously struggling to keep his cool. "I'm not going to drop everything for you, Rex!"

"Yeah? Of course not, but I bet you'd drop everything for her." Rex pointed at Amanda, who had a front row seat to the argument standing in the doorway. The two locked eyes for a moment, then Rudy looked away to glare at Rex.

"At least she offers something to the team. She's an invaluable asset and I need to keep her safe." He didn't need to shout, his tone and words cut deeper than raw anger could.

"Well pardon me for wanting to be able to use my fucking hand--"

"Excuse me?" Amanda snapped, glaring at Rudy. "Rex is my friend, and I won't reciprocate your crush on me just because you look like him and aged down for me. I don't owe you shit. And being a dick to the guy whose face you stole doesn't make you more appealing."

"But I--" Rudy was at a loss for words; a rare occurrence. Scrambling to regain his composure, he blurted out, "But I did this for you!"

"I don't owe you shit for that." she repeated firmly. "And if how you treat Rex is any indication, I wouldn't want to be with you, if this is how you treat a long time friend who needs help."

"Exactly!" Rex agreed, relieved that Amanda stepped in. Rudy glared at him before catching himself and looking back towards Amanda, who sighed angrily.

"He couldn't have asked Cecil!?" Rudy reiterated, grasping at straws trying to 'win' the argument he'd already lost.

"He's obviously uncomfortable with that, or he would've done it already. Something you would notice if you bothered to give him a second glance." Amanda snapped back. "He came to you for help, and you lectured him for it."

"I.."

"Let's go, Rex. This asshole isn't worth our time." she decided. Rex followed her out the door to rejoin the rest of the group with a satisfied sort of pride in his chest. It felt nice to be defended by someone other than himself.

The door slammed shut.

[scienceandshitposts]

Impossible Colors

Ah, Rainbows. Bands of color that streak across the sky, water droplets refracting the Sun's brilliance into distinct bands that light up the world. Everyone knows what a Rainbow looks like, with stripes going from Red, to Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, and Violet. These (arguably) 6 colors make up all of human color perception, and combined with light, allow us to see the world around us.

As much as we would like to believe that these colors are concrete facts of reality and completely objective, they are not.

The EM Spectrum:

The light that our eyes detect is a very fractional percentage of electromagnetic radiation known as the visible light spectrum (shown above). This radiation is made up of extremely small particles called photons that move at the speed of light. As they move, they move up and down in a wave pattern. The frequency with which they move up and down depends on their energy, with measurements being defined as the distance between peaks. The lowest energy photons (like long wave radio) can take almost a kilometer to reach another peak, while in high energy photons such as gamma rays, the distance is so small it is measured in picometers, which for comparison is about ten percent the side of a hydrogen atom. The light that we see is much larger, ranging from 400 nanometers for violet to 700 nanometers for red, or about the size of a bacteria. There are animals that can see beyond this range, even our own eyes can just barely see UV light but it is blocked by the lenses in our eyes. People who have had their lenses remove describe the color as a whitish purple. Other examples include certain bees or birds. How do animals (humans included) see colors you ask? It all has to do in the retina.

Rods and Cones:

In animals such as humans that have so called camera eyes, visual processing lies in the retina, a region that occupies the inner lining of our eyes:

Within the retina there are around 100 million sensor cells. The vast majority are a type called rods, which are used for light perception, as in the intensity of the light hitting your eye. These can not perceive color (at least not well, more on that later), and very useful for nocturnal creatures who need to rely on seeing at night, such as cats. These are the cells that take over when you try and see in the dark. The other type of receptors, called cones, perceive color (frequency of the light) and are best in bright environments, and this is the area where humans truly shine, both because of our sheer number of cones (still only around 5 percent of sensors) as well as one other factor:

Cone Types:

Unlike the rods which are all tuned to see the same wavelength (somewhere between blue and red, again more on that later), our cones are able to detect different frequencies of visible light. The three types in humans are known as shortwave cones (blue), medium cones (green), and long wave cones (traditionally known as red, closer to an orangish yellow). As shown on the chart, there is significant overlap between the ranges of the 3 cones. This allows the brain to figure out colors other than red, green, and blue without needing more cones. It does it by comparing the relative stimulation between the the cones, and doing some math inside the brain in order to figure out which color it is. This allows us to see colors such as yellow and cyan, which there is no separate cone to detect but can be pieced out by combination of the red+green and orange+green cones respectively. Although, because we do not have a separate cone for those colors, we can only see our mind's approximation of them based on combining and averaging the two together. There are animals that have more cones, such as goldfish, who can properly perceive yellow, unlike humans. Most mammals such as dogs are lacking the green cone, which results in them not being able to perceive green, creating a spectrum that would look like the one below:

Humans have a similar phenomenon called Deuteronomy where the green cone is mutated and is almost identical to the red cone. It is the most common form of colorblindness, and so it might be worth getting checked out if the two images look similar.

Where the System Falls Apart:

If you look over to the left side of the red cone's perception, you can see that it does not go down linearly and that it has a small spike near the end. This can cause your blue and red cones to fire simultaneously with certain frequencies. The problem is that this occurs in two spots. There is the one you would expect at where green is, but also one near the violet area because of the abnormality in the red cone, causing you to see those two spots on the spectrum as the same. The problem is that one of these two intersections are green, which is a very very important color evolutionary for humans since most of the environment around our ancestors was green. It was very important to be able to tell green from blue because it could mean the difference between something edible and something lethal when foraging. To compensate for this, the green cone was added, creating the trichromatic vision that humans have (as well as some primates and marsupials). Great, this means our ancestors were able to green from blue, but it still leaves the problem of that anomalous spot in the blue region where the red and blue cones intersect. If the brain averaged their frequencies, it would result in the color being green, which would defeat the point of the green cone. The solution was to create a hypothetical color that would be a fusion of red and blue that activates when the green cone is not active. This color is called magenta, shown below:

There is no spot on the electromagnetic spectrum where red and blue meet, which results in this being our brain's approximation of what red and blue together would look like. Nothing can truly produce magenta light, and things that seem to like your computer monitor are simply combining red and blue light.

TLDR; Your ancestor's brains couldn't tell green apart from red and blue put together, so a system was added to distinguish green and magenta is what's left, which is what your brain thinks red and blue together would be, even though there is no point where those two colors intersect in the spectrum.

Other Impossible Colors:

Chimerical Colors:

These are colors that are achieved where you can manipulate your cones by intensely saturating them to "fatigue" them, which causes over correction when returning to a neutral point. You can try and see these for yourself by staring at the x's on the left for about 30 seconds, and then quickly looking at the middle x.

Red-Green and Yellow-Blue:

There are systems in place in your brain to prevent red and green + yellow and blue from firing together to prevent confusion. It does this by figuring out which cone is firing stronger, and giving priority in perception to that one. By trying to force the two to merge together, some people are able to see hypothetical fusions of the two, called Red-Green and Yellow-Blue. You can try this for yourself by crossing your eyes so the two crosses are one. The results are very interesting even if you don't see the new color.

Hyper Green:

The green cone has no point along its range where it doesn't inter lap with the other cones. When you look at green, one of your other cones is always firing. If it was possible to only cause the green cone to fire, someone might see a color that looks even greener than green, called hyper green. Sadly there is no way to try and replicate this yet since it would involve direct stimulation of your cones.

Bonus: Rod Color Perception

As mentioned before, the rods in your eyes do have their own range, shown as the blue dashed line. This means that your eyes are slightly more sensitive to greens and blues in the dark, and reds are much dimmer. This is known as the Purkinje Effect, and it has several applications such as red lighting on submarines and engine rooms to preserve night vision by not saturating the rods, or by using bright green and yellow jackets and fire engines at night to be more visible than the normal red.

That's all for now, stick around for more in-depth explanations on scientific concepts, as well as science memes and showcases of cool scientific applications

[lyranova]

A Fractured Diamond

Episode 6: Star Festival

——

Hi guys~! So I know I said i was taking a break and I did! I really love this chapter so much guys you have no idea 🥺! I hope you all like it too and I’m sorry it’s not very canon compliant! Also this is my longest chapter I’m so proud 😭!

Word Count: 3,129

Warnings: Language

It had been a week since they had gone to the dungeon, or was it a few days? Neva couldn't remember at this point. All the days seemed to blur together. The day after they had gotten back they were sent to visit the Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, and she had to admit he wasn’t what she was expecting. He was a total magic nerd, it was quite amusing. But she couldn’t shake the feeling she had met him before, many years ago, she had pushed that thought away when she figured it was because she had seen him walk through the Capital on occasion. Then the Capital was attacked by the undead and she ran into someone she really didn’t want to see ever again.

Neva sighed as she created more spiked Diamond pillars to pierce the undead with, she had been quite proud of herself at that, she didn’t want to use any of her close range weapons and didn’t have many long range spells, so this was quite the achievement. She was only able to make the spikes come through the ground but hey, she’d take anything at this point. Neva had created a dome around some civilians she was protecting but she knew it wouldn’t hold much longer and the dead just. kept. coming.

“ Why couldn’t all of you have just stayed dead?!” She shouted when suddenly, she saw at least half of the undead be sliced through with spacial magic. ‘No. No way, why is he here?!’ Neva thought with dread, she looked up to her right and saw the one person she disliked the most. Langris Vaude. Vice-Captain of the Golden Dawn. He was smirking down at her as usual, and all she could do was glare up at him.

“ Need a hand?” He asked before using another spell to get rid of the rest of the undead. Neva huffed before snapping her fingers to get rid of the Diamond Shell.

“ Here, this way should be safe now. If you all keep going this way, you should find some more magic knights that can help you escape.” Neva instructed, the people quickly thanked her before going into the direction she described. Langris floated down to her and walked over to her, his smug smirk on his face, she instantly rolled her eyes.

“ So, I heard the teacher's pet is in the dog house.” He commented, Neva glared at him and crossed her arms.

“ I heard you were in Kiten, looks like we were both wrong.” She snapped, causing Langris to scoff and place a hand on his hip.

“ Uh-huh, sure. Anyway, I also heard you explored your first dungeon. Congratulations.” Langris told her, she narrowed her eyes, knowing there was more. “ and you got your ass kicked by someone with the same magic as you, that’s gotta sting.” He added, there it was, Neva thought with a shake of her head.

“ Don’t you have more important places to be right now, Vice Captain?” Neva snapped as she began to walk past him, Langris grabbed her upper arm to stop her.

“ I do. But I thought I’d come and say hello to the teacher’s pet first, since y’know, the Captain gives you all sorts of special treatment.” Langris looked at her. “ You might want to be careful about how you stalk Captain Vangeance, before people begin to talk.” He added before letting her go and walking away.

Neva shook her head to clear away the memory that had been a horrible day. The Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings was found with his arm torn off, bleeding, and unresponsive. From what she had heard he was still alive, which was good, but it had made her angry that Captain Vangeance hadn’t been there to help. She stopped training for a moment as the memory popped into her head, unwanted.

Neva was beyond angry, she was livid. The Captain was supposed to be there, was supposed to help protect the city, but instead he left on ‘urgent business’, which she noticed he was doing a lot of recently. She walked into his office, not bothering to knock, and slammed her hands onto his desk.

“ What the hell Captain?! Where were you today!” She shouted. Vangeance looked at her calmly before leaning back in his seat.

“ As I told the Wizard King and everyone else; I was away on urgent business-.” He started before she cut him off.

“ Liar! You left us high and dry! What business was so urgent that you needed to leave us at that moment?!” She shouted again, she noticed a flash of annoyance in her Captains eyes before he leaned forward.

“ You’d best remember who you are speaking to, Neva. Unless you want to be reported for insubordination. Again.” He warned, she blushed and moved her hands off his desk and crossed them.

“ Apologies, Captain. But you’re always gone, and it’s always when something major happens.” She finished softly, she noticed a shift in his eyes, like his mood suddenly changed, it even felt like the mana had changed.

“ Are you accusing me of something Neva?” He asked in a dangerously low tone, Neva felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and a chill run down her spine, her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, her palms began to sweat; she was terrified of the person in front of her. This wasn’t her Captain. This wasn’t the person she had known most of her life. This was someone else entirely. She swallowed the lump in her now dry throat before attempting to speak.

“ N-No sir I…” she paused, that’s exactly what she was doing, or at least, what it sounded like she was doing. “ I’m just worried about you Captain.” She added softly as she looked away, all the anger being replaced with defeat.

“ There’s nothing for you to worry about, I promise.” He told her softly before going back to his paperwork. “ Now if you don’t mind, I have some work I need to finish.” He added, effectively ending the conversation. Neva nodded before turning around and walking away.

“ Oh one more thing; it’d be wise if you stopped stalking me whenever I am in the base. Rumors are being circulated and people are starting to get the wrong idea, and I’d like for all of it to be squashed before it reaches other squads' ears.” He told her, Neva only nodded and closed the door behind her.

“ Dammit!” She shouted as she accidently sent a sharp diamond blade soaring through the air, effectively cutting off a tree limb. Neva leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees, sweat was almost pouring off her in buckets at this point. She was so angry and so frustrated this was the only way she could think of to get rid of it. If she had stopped and looked to her left, she would have noticed three people watching her from afar.

“ S-Should we get her to stop? She’s going to be completely drained at this point.” Mimosa asked with uncertainty, she, Yuno, and Klaus had been watching her for the past hour. She had been trying to either work on her armor spell, or long range offensive spells. Klaus shrugged.

“ I’m not sure, I mean, we might accidentally get caught in the crossfire.” He said, uncertain himself. He looked over as Yuno sighed next to him.

“ I’ll go over there then.” He stated in his usual monotone voice. He even had to admit, he was worried about her, he only knew her for a few months but in those months he felt like he knew what kind of person she was and this was not her.

“ Wait a second; let her get a few more spells done then you can talk to her.” Mimosa whispered, as though Neva could hear them, and she looked over at Klaus. “ By the way, what’s the deal with her and Langris? From what I heard, they were at each other's throats during the invasion.” Yuno looked over at Klaus as well, he was very curious about it too even if he wouldn’t admit it.

“ Well, Langris used to be Neva’s mentor-.” Klaus started before Mimosa gasped in shock and even Yuno looked surprised.

“ Seriously?! The Vice Captain was Neva’s mentor!” Klaus nodded.

“ Yes but please don’t interrupt. He was her mentor for two weeks before the Captain decided it would be best if they no longer worked together, from what I remember, they almost killed each other.” Klaus stated before turning back to watch Neva. She seemed to be all tired out. “ I think you can go talk to her now.” He added, Yuno nodded before walking over to her.

Neva was trying to catch her breath when she heard footsteps approach, she looked over and saw it was Yuno. She smirked.

“ Are we being sent on a mission?” She panted, she hadn’t realized how out of breath she actually was until she stood up straight, she looked over at him and saw him shake his head.

“ No. I was just wanting to make sure you were ok.” Yuno told her honestly, she shrugged a bit.

“ I’m fine. No need to worry.” She muttered, clearly, Yuno wasn’t buying it as he pointed to the tree that was missing a limb.

“ I think that tree would disagree with you.” Neva looked and was very thankful her pale face was already red from training.

“ Yeah, that spell got away from me.” She admitted before looking at him. “ Are you going to the star festival tonight?” She asked, changing the subject.

“ Yeah, and so are you.” Yuno told her, not missing that she was trying to change the subject. He watched her eyebrows raise in surprise.

“ Who says I am? You’re not the boss of me!” Neva argued as she crossed her arms. Yuno nodded before turning around.

“ I know. But I think it’d be good for you. All of us don’t get to hang out outside of missions very much, besides, if I’m being forced to go against my will so are you.” He told her before walking away, the first part about them all hanging out was what Mimosa told him to say, whereas the end was what he wanted to tell her. Plus, Yuno wanted to get to know Neva better, but he wasn’t going to tell anyone that.

“ Who does he think he is? Telling me what to do.” Neva grumbled as she followed behind him, if she wanted to go then she would, if she didn’t then she’d stay home. ‘Buuut,’ that little voice in her head started. ‘It gives you the chance to get to know him better!’ The little voice whispered, Neva smirked to herself, she was finally agreeing with the stupid voice for once!

——

Neva couldn’t stop grumbling that night. After her talk with Yuno she left and took a bath, cleaned up, and was ready to go by the time the others were. She had to admit, the Star Festival was one of her favorite things about the city; good food, good music, games, it was pretty nice. The only thing she didn’t like was the stares people gave them because of their Golden Dawn robes. It made her uncomfortable. Some of the looks these noble people gave them just irritated her, it was like they were looking at them as their own private security or something. She huffed a bit.

“ Something wrong?” Yuno asked as he turned to her, she shook her head, Mimosa and Klaus had wandered off some time ago so now it was just the two of them and it made her very nervous. Even if she didn’t show it.

“ No, it’s just the stares. I don’t like them.” She muttered, Yuno tilted his head a bit before shrugging.

“ Ignore them. They’re not worth your time and energy.” He told her bluntly, she looked at him in surprise before a small smirk appeared on her face.

“ Easy for you to say, you’re amazing with your magic and everyone knows it, you even have a four leaf grimoire. So they don’t give you the same looks as me and the others.” She muttered, Yuno looked at her with a confused look.

“ You’re amazing with your magic too. You should really stop putting yourself down so much, you’re one of the few people that actually has an armor spell. Something like that takes time, hard work, and dedication. You know your magic inside and out, you know what it’s made of, how it works, and what your limits are. Not everyone can say that.” Yuno stopped in his tracks as he spoke. Neva couldn’t stop the small blush from appearing on her face, she wasn’t very used to receiving compliments from anyone other than the Captain so it was a little surprising.

“ Please stop trying to make me feel better. It’s not going to work.” She muttered, looking away from him. Yuno stepped closer to her and had the most serious look on his face.

“ I’m not. I’m just being honest.” He told her deadpan, Neva couldn’t help but let out a small laugh before she looked up at him, well, she looked around him. Something caught her eye and her face instantly lit up.

“ Ooh a desert stall!” She almost squealed as she quickly ran around him and to the stall, Yuno blinked in surprise. ‘What the hell?’ He turned on his heel and noticed where she had gone, giving reason to her sudden change in demeanor, he scoffed before following her over and standing next to her. He looked over the deserts and had to admit, they all looked very tempting, he wished he had just a little money left over to buy him and Neva something from it, but he gave all his pay to the orphanage in Hage village, they needed it more than he did.

Yuno then looked over at Neva and his eyes widened slightly; her face was lit up more than he had ever seen it, a smile he had only seen once before was currently gracing her delicate features, he noticed the way her eyes scanned all the deserts as though she couldn’t make up her mind on what she wanted. His smirk turned in a warm smile, he liked this look on her, it made her look like a completely different person. ‘Hm, I wonder if this is how she normally is, not how she tries to portray herself as.’ He wondered to himself, if this was her true personality shining through, he wanted to see more of it.

“ Hey Yuno, can I ask you something?” Neva asked softly, her head suddenly bowed down to hide her face. When he nodded she continued. “ Are there rumors circulating about me and the Captain?” She asked, catching him by surprise. Yuno rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“ Yea. There are.” He confirmed softly, Neva’s head lowered even more and she bit her lip. “Mimosa told me she doesn’t know where or who started it, but they’re trying to say you have a crush on the Captain and that you’re in love with him.” He added, Neva shook her head.

“ None of that is true. It’s actually pretty gross people think that, I don’t even remotely think of the Captain that way. He’s a mentor, a trusted ally, someone I can count on to have my back. Nothing more.” She told him seriously before raising her head and looking at Yuno. All the warmth and happiness from just a moment ago were completely gone, and in its place was a cold and harshness, she had reverted back to her ‘normal’ self, the one everyone saw. Yuno noticed he was a little disappointed, but he didn’t dwell on it much as they were suddenly pulled away by Mimosa and Klaus, saying the Stars were about to be handed out.

——-

Neva was suddenly bored as the Clover King began speaking, she honestly couldn’t understand why he was needed, he didn’t really do anything for the kingdom did he? She didn’t think so. But she watched as the Wizard King and King Kira began to have a small discussion and it was slightly amusing how everyone preferred Julius Novachrono to the Clover King. She watched as the stars were handed out, she didn’t recognize the new Captain of the Crimson Lions until Mimosa explained to her that she was Captain Fuegoleons sister Mereoleona, even from a distance Neva knew she did not want to mess with that woman. She seemed to be very powerful.

Neva couldn’t stop the smirk from appearing on her face as Yuno and Belle began to show off to the nobles, after the nobles tried to rag on him and Asta for being commoners that is. Even though Neva thought Belle was a little annoying, she had to admit she was a very powerful spirit. Neva could hear all the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ from the crowd and it made her very happy. Until she heard a few feet behind her.

“ He’s very cute isn’t he?” One woman giggled.

“ Who? The blonde one?” Another asked, they were speaking in hushed voices as though trying not to draw attention to themselves.

“ No the dark haired one! He’s so cute and powerful, he even has a four leaf grimoire!” The first one giggled again, Neva glanced over her shoulder and noticed the two girls looked around her age or maybe a little older.

“ Hehe maybe you should try and ask him out when he gets off stage!” The other suggested causing Neva to straighten and clench her jaw, these girls were getting on her nerves.

‘Ooh is somebody jealous?’ That little voice teased causing Neva to blush and shake her head, nope, nu-uh, no way was she jealous! She wasn’t going to be like Belle and think Yuno was hers and nobody else’s! She wasn’t jealous. She wasn’t!

Suddenly Neva’s ears picked up a few key words that quickly grabbed her attention; Midnight Sun, Royal Magic Knights, and an exam to enter. She smirked a bit, this was payback for the invasion on the Capital, it also sounded like fun and it was a way for her to prove to herself and to others that she was one of the strongest in her squad.

Neva was definitely signing up!

——-

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter I love it so much 🥺! If you don’t I apologize and I will try and do better next time, anyway thanks for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

[vajranam]

Drifting Yogi

DRIFTING YOGI– A rare modern day story of a spiritual adventure

PART -- 1 LEAVING HOME

"On December 13th 2004, I gave up my class 12th board exams and fled to India to become a monk.

I was brought up by a single mother along with three sisters. Growing up through dire poverty, my early childhood years were unforgettably sad and painful.

Having been a dreamy boy, i took comfort from reading poetry and spiritual books at school. I was a lazy, dull-witted student and did not perform well in exams.

Since i couldn't figure out an ambition

for my future, i remember studying the academic subjects only to get through the exams; so that i don't disappoint my guardians who were spending for my schooling.

To distract my attention from the troublesome situations of a boarding school life those years, where resources were scanty... and the constant bullying by elders, i drove my emotions deeper into spirituality and consoled myself through writing poems.

Sometimes gazing at the serene images of Lord Buddha.... i started dreaming of studying and practicing meditation to achieve that amazingly peaceful and hypnotic composure of a sitting Buddha.

And i didn't care about achieving anything otherwise.

So in December 2004 in Zhemgang higher sec. School, aged nineteen i gave up my bio-science exams and embarked on an extremely uncertain, risky and adventurous journey to India without a penny in my pocket.

Making the long story short.......

I arrived in india somehow and with much jubilation got admitted in a renowned Tibetan buddhist monastery in north India.

But soon i was disappointed to learn that the monasteries are just another institutions to study ethics, philosophy and rituals in their respective traditions. And no monastery offered direct meditation instructions to the monks/students to realise for themselves.

After just about one year in the Shedra, i quit the monastic life and started wandering in search of a master or a 'Tsa wai Lama'.

Which happened to be yet another crazy decision.

PART -- 2 MEETING WITH MASTER

AND PRACTICE

After a couple months of leaving the monastery i happened to travel in Lahoul valley near Ladakh.

There i met a wandering Tibetan Yogi building an old-style rock Stupa on the mountain.

Our meeting sparked in me a curious sense of emotions that was mixed with joy and tears when ever he talked to me.

Tired of wandering and pilgrimage, the desperate me requested him to take me to where ever he was based, so that i can serve him and learn more from him and about him.

Living with him, my life became more difficult and uneasy.

Since his nature was extremely harsh and extremely loving sometimes. But at the end of each passing day i found out that my emotions were being tested to the limit and he was teaching me a lot in disguise.

So considering his arrogance to me as a rare blessing i made a firm resolution to never leave him in no matter what situation.

After much waiting, i received instructions and his protection to pursue solitary retreats. Constantly wandering from one mountain cave to another, from deep forests to deserts,

From sea shores to solitary islands, sleeping on the roadsides, under the trees and cemeteries, i wandered like a fallen leaf carried by the wind.

Once i walked about 700 miles and bicycled 2000 miles under the heavy rains and scorching sun of tropical India. They were all a part of my yogic practice of drifting without a particular aim.

For more than twelve years, being so lost and carried away in retreats and wandering... i have almost forgotten my home country Bhutan.

PART -- 3 A VISION

During my retreats in the forests of central India, my provisions were taken cared by the innocent villagers, who were newly converted buddhists due to caste issues in indian social system.

Villagers were more than happy to have me, a buddhist practitioner from a foreign land in their remote villages.

So moved by their innocent reverence i started teaching them meditation, the essence of all the teachings of the buddha.... Although i struggled to interpret my thoughts to them through my extremely poor spoken Hindi.

Later in early 2017 i travelled to south east asian countries invited by some friends.

There i was surprised to discover a vibrant culture of education and youth who were equally enthusiastic to practice meditation to enhance their quality of lives through spiritual values and understanding.

We can all agree to one inevitable challenge, that our pursuit of modern lifestyle and it's glamour, is costing a serious toll on mental health to everyone.

And simultaneously dragging our beautiful home planet into a disaster of pollution and over-exploitation.

It was highly nourishing for me to meet amazing young people in those countries, who were raising concerns about the future of humanity and giving their commitments to spiritual lives through the practice of meditation in their daily lives.

In late 2018 i came back to Bhutan to visit my mother.

And started travelling and teaching meditation in Bhutan without the pre-requirements of arduous ngondro practices.

To my surprise many students young or elderly, literate or illiterate, started giving me amazing feedbacks through their own experiences just after a few months of practice. And were thoroughly inspired to follow the path of meditation in order to understand the dharma deeper for further enlightenment.

Some students have stopped drinking and smoking as a natural effect of meditation. And a few more have recovered from depression and migraine.

But at the same time, some people seemed still confused and quite suspicious regarding my initiatives.

While i welcomed their doubts and criticism, i was also scanning the psychological landscape of people influenced by their own belief systems.

So my dear elders, youngers, friends and relatives in Bhutan.

Let me take some space to share my humble opinions of what meditation is all about.

In other countries buddhist meditation is taught in school systems to enhance the performance of students.

i have seen buddhist meditations practiced in christian churches to generate faith and devotion in christ.

Buddhist meditations are practiced by psychologist and psychiatrists and implemented on their patients to recover from their mental disorientation.

Buddhist meditations are taught in high profile leadership and business management courses to enhance their productivity.

Buddhist meditation is practiced in the military of some countries for better focus and precision in their training.

Buddhist meditation is practiced by hard-core criminals in prisons to recover from their corrupted state of minds.

One friend in Philipines, a school teacher is teaching meditation in a catholic school, and the school administration approves her initiative.

In Burma, Sri lanka and thailand politicians practice meditation to render their political service more effectively.

So my dear friends in Bhutan,

those people in other countries may never have heard of arduous ngondro practices but they are still practicing meditation as the heart of all teachings of buddha and getting benefited immensely.

Now.... one can definitely argue my statements that those meditations are from different origins, like the Theravada from Burma or Srilanka,

Zen from Japan and ours is secret Dzogchen from the path of vajrayana.

To this possible argument, i can simply answer that even if the meditation practices originate from different, different countries and traditions....... ALL THOSE MEDITATION MANUALS EXIST IN THE VAST COMPILATION OF KANJUR AND TENJUR, TO WHICH WE ALL PROSTRATE UN-KNOWINGLY

WHEN WE VISIT THE TEMPLES AND MONASTERIES.

Ngondro, a set of mandatory preliminary practices that require five to 6 months to complete is an amazing tool to enter the Vajrayana buddhist path.

But at the same time...... Buddhas meditation teachings, being the answer to all human quests....sadly remain inaccessible to a large section of devout buddhists in our country. Simply because most aspiring meditation practitioners cannot fulfill the obligation to complete the long and arduous ngondro which is the standard practice required by tradition, as the gateway to the path of meditation.

But dear friends.... I speak with conviction through what little experience and observations i have gathered, that ngondro can be also practiced after meditation.

in fact NGONDRO BECOMES MUCH MORE AUTHENTIC AND JOYFUL IF PRACTICED WITH A PRIOR EXPERIENCE OF MEDITATION.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me the Royal Kasho granted by our beloved His majesty the king, regarding the reformation of educational system.

As a humble citizen, I was deeply moved by the concerns made by His majesty the King, regarding the future of our youth and education in comparison to the extremely fast changing environment we live in.

My heart was throbbing.... and while i was holding my breath, i realised that even as a humble and a nameless citizen, living lonely as the road, i have fondly entertained many dreams.... if my independent research in the field of meditation therapies from the deep buddhist wisdom, can contribute an additional facility to our existing model of education.

So on this beautiful social networking platform i drifting yogi would like to share my deep prayers and aspirations

To teach meditation further in Bhutan,

Purely as a science of self discovery under secular setting.... and also as the essence of our Vajrayana path.

I have a dream to teach meditation to our budding youth to empower themselves to pursue their passion in life and achieve their goals to live a life of contentment.

And recovering from any kind of addictions from substance abuses through mental strength cultivated from meditation.

In 2019 when i was still in India, i heard some horrifying news from Bhutan about a series of rapes of minors in Paro, Dagana and somewhere.

My senses went numb.... and my mind was in dilemma out of sheer terror.

Because deep down.... i felt, if our youth can be educated in the practice of meditation, then such horrors can be totally prevented, by transforming the emotions of the practitioner into a naturally joyful and liberated state of being.

Finally, before i end this story,

I will drop a wish, that this story reach as many readers as possible.

And I deeply apologise if reading this story was a waste of time to some readers.

If any reader like this story, then i thank you for ur gesture of support.

And if any reader find flaws in my statements,

I welcome your valued criticism, so that i can learn a little from you.

MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY!"

– By Drifting Yogi (Aka Sherab Dorji, 35)

Written on the bank of River Gamri, Lungten Zampa, Trashigang, Eastern Bhutan on 17 Feb.2021.

[ba-hons-film-blog]

Scene Recreation (Final Project):

Link to Scene Recreation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0KS60bTo9V-ElXikLsCFRyCM4Y5t-_yXpydOf-uCoXq3a6ZV26U32tu00&v=-pA-BQbMPpw&feature=youtu.be

Link to Original Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPazh2kDdvA&t=68s

(From 0:00 to 1:03)

Pre-Production:

For our final project, we had to do a scene recreation exercise. We chose our own groups of between four to six people, and had to choose a scene no longer than three minutes to recreate. My group consisted of Ben McMorran, Jack Weir, James Stevenson and Tom Spurin, and the scene we recreated was the Facemash scene from the 2010 David Fincher movie “The Social Network”. This scene follows an angry Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) as he blogs about his ex-girlfriend, whom he has just broken up with, and decides to create a website comparing girls to farm animals after hearing his drunk roommate’s ramblings.

This was not always our plan. Our initial plan was to recreate the opening scene for “Filth”, which follows the character of Bruce Robertson (played by James MacAvoy) as he walks away from Edinburgh castle, while a voiceover reveals his opinions on what it is like to be Scottish. As we stay in Edinburgh and could actually visit the locations featured in the film, we thought this would be an ideal scene to do.

Filth Opening Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbPdQmi3s0M

(From 0:00 to 0:37)

However, on the day of the shoot, due to the poor weather and barriers being set up by Edinburgh castle, we were unable to get the opening shot and felt without that, the scene wouldn't work as well if we were to just jump into the second shot and also cut off the beginning of the monologue. After considering various possibilities, we settled on the scene from “The Social Network”, as we all liked the scene and felt it was something we had the resources to do.

Production:

As in previous tasks, it was up to us to assign ourselves roles. Jack and James were the directors for the film, and me and Ben were in charge of the camera, and everyone helped with setting up the lighting. (However, these roles were not set in stone, and everyone helped out with whatever needed done.) Jack played Mark Zuckerberg (as portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg in the actual film) and I played his drunk roommate. Ben and Tom (who had to pull out of the shoot at the last minute for personal reasons) were in charge of the edit.

For this project, we decided to film in my flat, given the film is set in student halls, and features the character sitting at a wooden desk not too dissimilar from my own.. We used my laptop and tv monitor in the film. While my laptop was a bit bigger than the one in the film, it was the same colour and worked reasonably well. For the blog, we used the same website (LiveJournal) that was used in the film, however due to being updated it didn't look exactly the same. For the images of the other students that Mark looks at, we just used some random images off the internet. For the clothes, Jack wore a grey jumper that he owned and I wore a green shirt and white t-shirt of my own. The beer bottles were just some empty beer bottles from the recycling which I cleaned then filled with some water. Mark’s bottle in the film is green and I had hoped to find a Peroni (which, while maybe not the beer featured in the film, was certainly the same colour) but couldn't, so went with a brown coloured Budweisser bottle. For my character (the drunken flatmate), he is meant to be carrying a pack of six beers but in our recreation only has one. We didn't have a pack of beer, and figured this was a background detail that wasn't too important, so decided to go with it just the one.

While the general feel and certain aspects of my room worked for the film, due to the layout it would have been impossible to get some shots. Take the shot where Mark’s roommate walks over and sits on the bed behind Mark. This would have been impossible to shoot as the place he walks in from is where my wall is. For this reason, we decide to shoot the film with everything on the reverse side and then flip the footage in the edit to make it look correct.

For the scene from “Filth”, we had intended to rely on natural lighting so we had not booked out any lighting kit, and were aware we may have had to go our separate ways, book out some lighting equipment, and regroup at a later date. However, given everyone was already there, we didn’t want to call it a day without achieving anything. Additionally, several members of the group were going home shortly for the Christmas break. We decided to do a camera test, setting up a shot from “The Social Network'' and see if we could pull the scene of that day to a good quality. We only used only two orange lamps and my small white bedside lamp (which was attached to the wall). After setting up the shot, we were satisfied we could get a good quality of lighting without booking out the tungsten lamps, and we decided to go ahead with the scene there and then.

We began by reviewing the scene and taking a shot list. We started with the shots focusing on Mark Zuckerberg blogging, and ended by getting the shots of the computer. Ben and I alternated between using the camera, and whoever wasn’t filming or onscreen would be doing setting up the lighting. For the lighting, we used the lamps and put then on whatever boxes or other objects were to hand. We used a tripod for most of the film, bar the opening shot, which was done handheld. Regrettably, this meant it didn't look as smooth as in the film, but the majority of the other shots were all static, so they looked fine.

We filmed for about two hours before rapping up and parting ways. Jack later recorded the voiceover and sent it to Ben and Tom. It turned out we had missed two shots of the monitor (the shots seen at 0:38 to 0:39), so it did a mock up of those shots in my own home, recorded them on my camcorder and sent them to Ben and Tom, who put them in the final edit.

Feedback:

Feedback for the film was generally positive. The lighting, depth of field, cinematography and editing were praised, and overall the scene was said to be fairly faithful to the original. Jack's performance as Mark was also praised. However, this was some criticism.

The location was one of the main issues. The blue walls were slightly distracting, an issue that could have been solved by hanging up some kind of white material. The room also felt more cramped than the room in the original, and the lighting didn't always seem natural (while the light in the original was clearly coming from a lamp, there were some shots in ours where there was no clear source). This could have been solved by having the lamp visible in certain shots.

Addition, people took issue with the photos used for the photos of the other students, and the lines across the computer screen. I would agree with these issues. This was due to having to change our scene and using what was to hand. In the future, hopefully we would be able to create an appropriate document ourselves beforehand, instead of using some random photos from the internet. The lines across the computer could be solved by using some green cloth to cover the screen and using visual effects to put the appropriate images on later. However, this isn't something I know a lot about. A better solution could be to change the frame rate of the camera to match the monitor's refresh rate.

There were a few issues raised with regards to the framing. Someone pointed out the position of my character changed the side of Mark he was on, from being on the right side of Mark in a close up to being on the left side in the wide. While this is the case, this also happens in the film.

Another framing issue was that one shot of the computer screen is taken from roughly 45 degrees to the right when in the original scene it is taken from roughly 45 degrees to the left. This was likely due to us being in the mindset of filming everything the opposite way around. In future we should be more careful to avoid this, by taking particular care when filming shots featuring text we intend to flip later on. Admittedly, there are several shots where the text is flipped, but in those shots the text is the main focus, so this isn't too big an issue.

While most of the framing was positively received, the opening shot, which pulls over Mark’s shoulders to look at the computer, was criticized due to its handheld nature (as it was a much smoother shot in the actual film) but I think even it we had ample time to prepare, this would still be a difficult shot to pull of, as the only way we could do it was handheld. This was also complicated by the fact we had to change focus at the same time.

Someone raised the issue of the bottle being the wrong colour (brown as opposed to green), which also meant it blurred into the background slightly more. I agree with this point, but this was due to having to use whatever was to hand and not having the right prop ready, which we would have had this been the original plan.

In some cases the voice over was a bit quiet, meaning it was hard to make out certain lines of dialogue. Personally I didn't have this issue, but that could just be because I am familiar with Jack’s voice and the dialogue he is saying. This issue could probably be solved by raising the sound levels in the edit.

Overall I am happy with what we did, given the time and resources available to us due to our late change of plan, and think everyone did a great job in the lead up to and including the day of shooting.

Shot Comparison:

[theangrypokemaniac]

Sinnoh has massive flaws as an era, although it's starting to feel like the good old days compared to the present piss-poor offerings.

The major drawback is the amount of 'recurring characters', ones not good enough to be in it fully, but inflicted upon us nevertheless.

I did care about Ash. I did care about Team Rocket.

I was prepared to care about The Misty Replacement, as in the girl shipped with Ash.

I was prepared to care about The Brock Replacement, that is the older brother figure who does all the cooking, carries the medicine, and knows about Pokémon.

I don't give a toss about extras who outstay their welcome.

Hoenn only had Drew and Harley. What was wrong with that?

There are just too bloody many.

Why does Dawn require so many opponents, as if she's of the greatest importance? Why won't Jessie suffice?

I accept the necessity of Paul as The Rival, and we were at least permitted to resent him initially, before the writers fanboy'd like there was no tomorrow.

I admit I liked two of them. They therefore featured the least.

Typical.

Nando

The Blondel of Iberia

A softly-spoken, raven-locked troubadour, roaming the many pathways of life, playing his songs for those weary travellers he encounters on the road.

He's wearing a cloak! The finest use of material to ever be invented!

All this ethereal grace considering the dub lumbered him with the most appallingly unsuitable name possible.

It could've been Raphael, or Dante, or Leonardo.

Oh no, let's name him after a restaurant chain. That adds gravitas.

His lyre pays tribute to Mew, because Nando knows she's The Rarest Of All Pokémon, thus refuses to be impressed by any deformed horse like Arceus throwing its weight around.

Damn straight.

Ursula

A pretty girl with lovely clothes and the spark of a proper personality.

You're not wanted round these parts, love.

I have no particular animosity towards Dawn, but it irritates me how the world revolves around her whims, where if she's lost in the woods, it's a major disaster, and if an attack heads in her direction, she must be protected in case she shatters.

It makes a refreshing change to find someone firmly inoculated against the lures of the temptress.

Also, alongside Ursula from Dinosaur King (the real Jessie), I'm glad of any attempt to reclaim that name, considering most of my generation, upon hearing it, think only about evil old octopus women.

As for the rest?

It's that bad I prefer the Unova bunch to these.

Reggie

Reggie is even more of a knob than Paul. As above, being Ash's enemy meant that, if only by narrative, he was intended to be somewhat disliked.

Not Reginald. No, he's the kind one.

Oh really?

When Ash and Paul have their showdown, Reg starts wittering that it's just as well Chimchar took up with Ash, since he wasn't suited to Paul's 'battle style'.

Battle style.

Is the what he calls mental and physical cruelty?

In Reg's amoral cesspit of a mind, there is no right and wrong, so do whatever you feel.

Reggie is quite aware of how his brother tortures Pokémon, and not only is he unconcerned, he excuses it with euphemism, hoping the audience will obligingly forget too.

What's more, he implies it's Chimchar's fault for not pulling his weight, and Paul abandoning him was the compassionate thing to do.

Cynthia

Suffering severe Bridge Nose Syndrome.

She may be Champion, but I don't remember Lance turning up all the time where he wasn't wanted.

She doesn't even use her influence properly. Rather than give it straight to Paul, order him to shape up and stop spanking the monkey, she fannies about with her cod mysticism, emptily preaching about how Ash and Paul are spiritually linked, with magical, beeyewteefull events taking form just because they met.

That's right, don't bother about Paul clearly being a psychopath, for 'tis ART!

It's the same as trying to convince me that Ash, Dawn and Brock were the Divine Trio because they all saw Something Nasty In The Lake District, as if they have an intrinsic bond foretold in ancient prophecy.

The writers pull this knowing two thirds of the Holy Trinity, plus Paul the Fallen Angel, will be leaving, at which point we'll be expected to stop being overawed at the great majesty they all apparently possess and transfer allegiance to their usurpers.

What's the point?

Angie

Yet another smackhead from that lunatic stare.

What shining genius decided giving all the characters contracted pupils was a good idea?

She looks like one of those kids whose parents dealt with nits the traditional way:

Shaving the entire head and painting it purple.

A barnet resembling privet hacked at by a paralytic gardener before he conked out.

I've seen her arc three or four times, and I still remember nothing about her, except for the amazing skill she possesses to make Ash sneeze on command from a distance.

Conway

One word: nonce.

A clichéd weirdo fitting into Pokémon's Four-Eyed Freaks fixation, where anyone with a slight visual impairment is a weedy, know-it-all bastard or on a register.

Oh yes, and this lad comes with hidden delights, because his glasses gleam like a giant cockroach, just in case he wasn't creepy enough.

Zoey

The human black hole. Has the incredible ability to suck all the joy out of a room just by appearing. A personage of absolute lead.

Too nice and over familiar, lacking a single detectable personality trait.

Bland, empty, and with the charisma of vomit-sodden cardboard.

Sinnoh is a prolonged saga as it is, padded with nonentities like her and Kenny.

Alright, episodes must be devoted to Dawn's Contest career, however tiresome it is, but why exactly do we need any about Zoey and Kenny? Why should we care?

Every time I sat through a competition Dawn lost, I resented that she was no further along on her quest, equating to another episode eaten away by this shallow, blackened hymn to superficiality.

Compare this indulgent treatment to the sneering disrespect shown to Jessie, an actual main character, who not only had to win her Ribbons practically off screen, but the writers delighted in hammering home how worthless she was in only scraping into the Grand Festival because Princess Salvia took pity on the deluded wretch.

They favour their own inventions over the original cast, then dump 'em as soon as the next generation arrives, so how could they ever matter if even the creators eagerly cast them aside?

After all the effort on my part to put up with the entire witless farce, Zoey beats Dawn in the finals!

Why?!

I understood the unspoken law of Ash not being allowed to win a League until the very last series, for fear whatever came after would be anticlimactic, but why should this deadening failure apply to May and Dawn?

By the culmination of the Contest rigmarole, it's obvious they'll be making their exit for the next region's Girl, so why couldn't either bid farewell to the fans with a victory?

Why must they be incompetent too?

Even if achieving their dream dampened any hunger to carry on, they're departing anyway, so what difference does it make?

At least Ash will continue, but for May and Dawn, it's the end.

How could any fan be satisfied with a smarmy vacuum of a creature like Zoey succeeding instead?

Barry

Eyes of molten evil.

The second-worst character ever created (Iris is top of the ranks), Barry is a smug, arrogant, screeching dweeb jabbering his oh-so endearing catchphrase about fining anyone who slightly irks him, so sure is he that his feelings should come above everyone else's

He truly believes he has a God-given entitlement to demand lesser lifeforms should arrange themselves to suit his pleasure, that they are morally compelled to shield him from  meagre inconvenience.

Twat.

Knocking the little geck out of the League was the most noble thing Paul ever did. It practically redeems him.

This is what I cannot comprehend:

Ursula is openly conceited, rude to Dawn, and brags about her own excellence even after losing.

We're asked to dislike her.

Barry slags Ash off constantly, is convinced of his own divinity, and jeers at Team Rocket.

We're supposed to see him as a 'good guy' and welcome his arrival.

Why? Are Ash and Team Rocket fair game, but offending Saint Dawn's intolerable?

Again, it astounds me how temporary, region-specific stars seem to count for more than those who've been here since the beginning.

Whilst they're here, that is. Once gone, you wouldn't know they'd existed.

Kenny

He wears a matador outfit to compete.

It's a crying shame Tauros was never given the opportunity to gore him.

As usual, it's Piplup I blame.

Each generation likes to flaunt the starter Pokémon, presumably in the hope of flogging more games, that's why Ash usually catches all three, or they're spread out amongst his friends.

It's about time Team Rocket had one.

Can't do that, they only appear five times per series now.

Piplup is a whiny attention whore who refuses to evolve. In consequence, he can't advertise the next stages in the evolution chain, so we have to keep seeing Barry and Kenny instead, that's why Empoleon and Prinplup are always walking about.

This equates to three characters having the same Pokémon, albeit in different incarnations.

There's variety.

However, Kenny's true purpose is much more grim than that.

Fans will ship Ash with The Girl, a useless endeavour when it's destined to come to nothing when she's kicked out.

In Hoenn and Sinnoh, an effort was made to wean shippers off in preparation for the upcoming split, so alternative suitors were introduced, with the girls effectively pushed on to them.

May got Drew.

I don't mind that. He had some refinements.

Dawn got Kenny.

...

What, you want me to cheer for such a revolting couple?

Have I not suffered enough?

What unpardonable crime did Dawn do to deserve such a horrible fate?

She's not a bad-looking girl. She can do better than an ugly, portly, shrunken, pie-faced cretin! 

You do this to me when Nando exists?

Sod the age gap, that never concerned anyone here.

This being the Kenny who spends four years belittling Dawn by constantly reminding her of a humiliating childhood experience, even giving her a nickname too!

Dawn is visibly distressed when he does this, but he's a fine candidate for romance?

She has to settle for a sweaty, lecherous herbert like him, who doesn't even try to atone for his unfortunate mug by being kind?

I suspect the whole Sinnoh adventure was really him wearing down her self-esteem until she believed he was the best available, wanting her to be grateful for his slobbery attentions.

It won't stop there either. He'll trap her for the rest of her life by isolating her from friends, followed by accusations of how undeserving she is of his 'love'.

Such is Dawn's lot: absent father, pushy mother, whinging penguin and abusive boyfriend.

Kenny's already a perv:

He's not looking at her face.

She knows he's not.

Ash and Pikachu have noticed an interesting feature further down.

Aipom likes it too.

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

A brief recounting of the events of Elder Scrolls Legends, and of the Forgotten Heroes that saved the Empire when no one else could.

The Argonian, The Myth, The Legend...

SWIMS-AT-NIGHT!

SMUGGLER, WAR HERO... AND THE MOST LOYAL OF FRIENDS.

Self-Proclaimed "Greatest Smuggler in Tamriel," Swims-At-Night was just a simple smuggler during the Great War, stealing his cargoes from the Thalmor controlled Cyrodill, traversing the treacherous seas to later sell it off to either the resistance in Hammerfell or the Thalmor themselves, to them at 5 times the original value and at half the quality, not really out of any patriotic duty as much as for the cold and shiny siren call of gold. A daring, dangerous life, that made him make contacts with all sorts of people, that however ill fitted his true calling.

For you see, for while he was indeed without equal in his smuggling and his ability with poisoned blades was without match... Swims-At-Night was a lore nerd at heart. Especially if he could turn a tidy profit from said lore nerding.

But let's keep things in order.

Everything in Swims-At-Night's life changed one fateful night, during that same Great War he was profiting from... When he met two figures.

One, was Tyr.

This Beefcake of a Nord was one of the few remaining blades, captured by the second in command of the Thalmor Warlord and Daedric Follower Lord Narafiin, and left to Rot and fight for his life in one of his dungeons/daedric lair/underground arenas, only to one day escape with the help of another... mysterious figure.

THE FORGOTTEN HERO! WAR CRIMINAL! BACKSTABBER! MASTER OF DISGUISE! GENERALLY GREEDY ASSHOLE! THE WORST OF FRIENDS! DID I MENTION BACKSTABBER, LIKE, SERIOUSLY, THIS FUCKER BACKSTABS A LOT.

Basically TESL Robbie Rotten. At least he hates Nazi elves tho.

Anyway, back to that one faithful night. Tyr and the Forgotten Hero, from here on TFH, had recently escaped their captivity, and were searching for a lift to reach Skyrim, so to warn the emperor, who had retreated there after the fall of the imperial city, of Narafiin’s Daedric Dealings, and also so they could scoop up a friend of Tyr along the way, so that she could shine a Light upon this mess.

So, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a Port patrolled by Thalmor Justiciars searching for both them and the Argonian’s stolen Cargo, Tyr and TFH decide to steal Swims-At-Night’s boat...

RIGHT. FROM. UNDER. HIS. GILLS.

Needless to say, it was friendship at first sight.

After discovering the 2 vagrants trying to steal his shit and a quick sword fight with the Forgotten Hero, the Trio is found by one of the aforementioned Thalmor Patrols, and therefore, seeing how they too were being hunted down by the Nazi Elves, he goes “what the hell, the enemy of my nazi enemy is my new best friend, let’s go guys, this trip is on me!”, scoops them up on his ship, and departs from the port toward northern shores.

They later shipwreck. Because dude might be the “Greatest Smuggler in Tamriel,” but I challenge you to steer a ship during one perfect storm with one bloodthirsty Breton pirate ship trying their best to board them and sink his ship at the same time. Not even (spoilers) Sails-Trough-Storms herself could do it, I say.

Anyway, they shipwreck, have some zany adventures in High Rock with some mudcrabs and some spriggans, find a wolf cub TFH might or might have not abandoned to his fate rather than take in and nurture as his new pet LIKE THE ASSHOLE HE IS, and finally, in the middle of a ancient ruin, surrounded by angry goblins who had just come in and killed the cultists that were trying to kill her...

She appears, in all her majestic might...

LAANETH! MISTRESS OF MAGIC! SCHOLAR AND RESEARCHER AMONG THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS COLLEGES AND MAGES GUILDS IN ALL OF TAMRIEL, AND EXPERT IN DAEDRIC ARTIFACTS AND LORE!

Anyway, they save Laaneth from a Goblin assault straight out of Goblin Slayer, and she informs them that her latest research was around a semi obscure prophecy called The Culling (II), a cautionary tale about how people shouldn’t standardize and destroy their Battle Royal Games for greed and get rich schemes, and about how, during a particular cosmological event, the veil between worlds will be weakened, and will be easily breached by anyone committing a sacrifice big enough (Like, for example, the entirety of the Imperial City Population) to reawaken the now forgotten Oblivion Gates, so that the maws of Oblivion will be able to be opened one last time, to unleash hell upon Nirn, so to hasten the deterioration of reality and the breaking of the world, thus destroying creation and possibly but most definitely not allowing the Thalmor to ascend to godhood in the ensuing chaos.

You know, standard Nazi Elves plans.

This is even more concerning of Lord Naarafiin simply having Dremoras and other Daedras in his armies, especially after it is revealed that some major entity, perhaps even a Prince, must be edging their bets on this thing happening, so they decide to quickly reach the Emperor’s Camp all together to give him the grave news, and see what to do next.

(If i may take a moment, I would like to point out how Swims-At-Night, his ship destroyed and his cargo now in the seas, without a single prospect of coin in sight, is still there, ready to fight and die for his newfound companions and freedom, because he might be a scoundrel and a Smuggler, but he is a Honest Smuggler goddammit, mass genocide and daedric outbreaks are a big no no for him.

He also probably already knitted some new best friends sweaters already for him and his bros and is already probably preparing one for his new nerd elven friend, and probably didn’t want them to go to waste, so there’s that).

Anyway, our heroes got to Skyrim. Some more shenanigans ensue, a bar fight, some imperial deserters, a High Elf Merchant that was trapped by giant spider and had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE THALMOR TFH might have just been plain old racist too and left for dead rather than help, the ghost of another merchant asking for revenge against some other, human bandits that killed him and his family for their gold, and all that...

Anyway, they reach the Emperor’s Camp, where we meet the last members of this ragtag bunch of misfits...

GENERAL CASSIA! SECOND IN COMMAND DURING THE GREAT WAR UNDER EMPEROR TITUS MEDE II, AND MOSTLY THE ONE WHO HAD TO DO THE DIRTY WORK FOR HIM IN THE FORM OF DISCIPLINING DESERTERS AND ALL THAT NASTY SHIT.

Anyway, a plan is formed. Our Heroes must return to the Imperial City, disguised as Gladiators, and will use a secret passage near the Arena, the SAME passage the Hero of Kvatch used all those many years before to escape the imperial prison, courtesy of Swims-At-Night, the History Nerd him, to reach into White Gold Tower, and steal the greatest treasure of all.

THE ORB OF VAERMINA!

For you see, Lord Naarafiin indeed had the help of Daedric Princes, ready to spring up at the occasion of the walls of reality getting thinner, and Vaermina was among them. The Warlord was using the Orb to spy on the Imperial Troops movements and plans, easily outwitting them and laying waste along the country, committing one atrocity after the next, reading the field play for the final sacrifice, and our heroes needed to get the sphere away from him, so to better prepare a effective attack plan against the city before it was too late.

So, our heroes reach the Imperial Capital, passing as gladiators, and go into the secret passage, now swarming with perilous undead after many years from the 3rd era...

And with a mysterious altar, appeared out of nowhere, whose burning light, as bright as dawn breaking upon the fields, shone against the undead hordes, aiding our heroes in their time of need as it scorched them to a crisp.

For it seemed, not all Princes were in favor of Naraafiin’s plan of destroying the world.

Or maybe Meridia just wanted to scorch some Mummies, who knows with her.

Anyway, our heroes reach the highest floor of the Tower, where the Orb is left unprotected...

And where they are promptly ambushed by Naarafiin second in comand!

REIVE! THE BLADE MASTER! THE PAIN-SINGER! THE LORD OF THE ARENA!

He was him who had captured Tyr and TFH back at the start, and with a swift move, he has now taken Tyr Hostage, the gleaming point of his blade ready to slash the man’s manly and muscled chest at a wrong move.

BUT THAT’S NO ORDINARY BLADE I SAY!

(Yeah, only found this image for the card art, sorry)

THAT’S GOLDBRAND! THE SWORD OF BOETHIA, DAEDRIC PRINCE OF PLOTS! FATHER OF MYSTERIES! MOTHER OF SHADOWS! AND A BUNCH OF OTHER VARIOUS TITLES WITH OTHER VARIOUS GENDERS! AND THE REAL DAEDRIC PRINCE BEHIND THIS MESS!

For what better plot, than to plot to destroy the world, after all?

TFH has however been also fast, and has already nicked the Orb for himself, the kleptomaniac little shit. He is now presented with a choice. Keep the Orb, and watch his friend and companion die... or Give Reive the Orb, and get his friend back... “unscathed.”

And TFH, the absolute bastard and backstabber... chooses to keep the Orb.

(I mean, yes, technically, you can decide to spare Tyr... Except dude still dies during the ensuring fight as he shows his massive balls of nordic steel and SMASHES A DAEDRIC ARTIFACT TO PIECES RIGHT IN FRONT OF A ANGRY HIGHER DREMORA, and it is canon that TFH used the orb at least 10 times in his life if we go by Achievements, which he couldn't really do if he let Tyr smash it, soooo...)

Anyway, Tyr dies, Reive is Angry (And so are Laaneth and partially Cassia, like, dude was Laaneth’s friend more than he was anyone else, they had HISTORY, she is understandably angry with TFH, and he was working in close quarters with Cassia due to their ranks in the imperial army and shit...), and a battle ensues. TFH manages to overpower Reive and kill him, thus gaining the favor of Goldbrand and perhaps Boethia’s Themselves given their great betrayal and show of strength, since that’s how Boethia Rolls...

Anyway, They daringly escape the Imperial City, everyone a bit more somber after the whole ordeal, even despite the victory, and reach the Emperor’s camp nearby, reading for the next day siege, right in time for the Culling... BUT OH NOES! A Thalmor assassination deep cover team (which is composed entirely by Bosmer for some reasons... what, are Kahjiits not stealthy enough for your deep cover assassinations?) has attacked the Emperor in the night!

The assassins have been repelled, and Titus Mede II is safe, but the Emperor is now no longer fit to ride the next day. This will surely be a deep blow to the morale of the army, even now that has been bolstered by new and fresh recruits from Skyrim, and Cassia isn’t sure anymore they are going to pull it through...

And it’s here, that our “hero” truly unleashes his inner Robbie Rotten, as a dastardly plan is formed, I’m 99% sure after Swims-At-Night’s Counsel.

The emperor will remain in his tent, in the middle of the camp, unseen and unheard as he rests, as TFH wears his armor, and rides into battle on the front lines with his army, disguised as the emperor, keeping the Morale High as he valiantly fights of the Nazi Elven Scum, his Golden Blade in one hand, his mystical sphere of dreams in the other, as he conquers more and more ground, his friends leading 3 other different fronts in a 4 way attack on the imperial city, crashing trough to stop the massacre from happening...

And yet.

It’s too late.

Naaraafiin has already killed the entire population of the Imperial City, and the Gates of Oblivion are opened. He meets what he thinks is the emperor, his personal guard at his side, as all manners of Atronachs and Dremora are unleashed upon the city, and soon the world, as the Oblivion Gates open once more and the walls of reality are weakened.

TFH has to think fast, and so, attacks the Warlord, who easily counters TFH with his magic, now overpowered by the think layers between realms and his own, general overpowered Final Boss Magic, blasting shit left and right at a frankly insanely low magicka cost...

And yet, perhaps, this overpowered magic will be Naaraafiin’s Downfall, for the Orb of Vaermina cannot just enter the dreams of your enemies to spy on their plans, but can steal mirages of powers and creatures from your opponent mind, and use them against them.

And so, witnessing his prowess with the sword, and finally recognizing Goldbrand as Goldbrand, and the “Emperor” as the one who had killed Reive, as he steals one of his massive blast right from under Naarafiin’s mind, and uses it against its own master...

Naaraafiin falls. Pushed by his own arcane magick, perhaps still alive, perhaps not, inside one of the holes in reality his culling had created, the link between him and the fracture of reality severing, as the Dremoras and Daedras vanish into Oblivion, and the gates close.

The battle is won. The Imperial City is taken back, if destroyed and with little to no population left.

And the Thalmor are retreating.

TFH and his friend go back to the emperor, who congratulates with them about the victory, for the man really knows when the delegate, and gifts TFH his armor, as the 4 companions depart, each for their own road, perhaps to never meet again...

And so the story ends, with a empire saved from the brink of destruction, yet irreparably damaged, a friendship betrayed, and terrible memories people will never forget.

But when the story ends...

Another begins.

For to paraphrase Marvel:

SWIMS-AT-NIGHT WILL RETURN...

In Elder Scrolls Legends III: Return to Clockwork City!

(Tho there’s the Fall of the Dark Brotherhood first, probably going to do that first, gotta show you just how much of a Asshole TFH can be).

[d1g1t4lj0urn4l]

3/4/22 - EDITING DAY

I made it a point to do my editing today because this weekend is going to be jam-packed for me! I also wanted to make sure everyone had access to my video long before we need to splice it all together ourselves. I included a pic of me and a pic of my set up so everyone can see the dedication - over-ear headphones and a wireless keyboard?! Who am I, a Twitch star?! No but really, this keyboard is rainbow glowing and it's amazing. You can find it here.

The first pic is my editing process! I really wanted to emphasize the club vibe with this blue hue you can see in the viewfinder thing. I tried to accomplish this task in real life with gels, but I couldn't find any. I did steal borrow a backstage blue light during filming, but it really didn't throw much color. I was really surprised with how easy it was to find the color editing feature on premiere! I did this pretty quickly, and my photo editing skills came in handy with shadows/highlights/grain and vibrancy. I took this blue hue over both clips of my video. I had to alter it for my second cut because it was naturally very dark, so the blue hue had to be a bit lighter to achieve the same color effect.

Next, I worked on splitting the audio track from the video which was very hard. I watched many a tutorial and eventually figured it out, but I was hoping to cut out a loud bang in my first clip and a weird sound at the end of my second one. I was able to remedy the situation for my second clip, but not on the first. The first clip, when I split my audio and video, the video disappeared...It was very strange!

Next, I worked on adding another club element - music. I had in my mind to use some reggaeton (classic me) or 90s/early 2000s rap song, so I picked "Culo" by Pitbull and Lil Jon. Because I'm a streaming music they, I wasn't able to download the music file as an MP3, so I took to my old school ways and did a ye olde YouTube to MP3 conversion. This worked really well once I found a reliable website. (The first two tries didn't produce an actual file.) Once I got it in there, I was sure to pick a random part of the song for the clip to start in so it would sound natural. My next mission was finding an audio setting where I could muffle the sound, or make it sound like it was coming from another room, and gosh darn it, there was a prefixed setting for that! I implemented it and was able to control the whole audio track volume, and how far away I wanted the sound to be.

With all these things sorted out, the only thing I haven't been able to figure out is a transition. Right now there is a black/blank space between my two cuts with the music playing over it and I kind of like it!! I might not change it at all. I think I'm done!

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to use premiere rather quickly. It really only took me about 40 minutes to do all of these things - far faster than I anticipated. Because I'm so bad with tech, I expected to feel really frustrated and confused, but YouTube tutorials and Alex's in-class tutorials really helped! I'll say my iMovie experience also helped, but it was like another world with the amount of options I had using premiere.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

HOW ART CAN YOU BUY A STARTUP IN USA

He was like an explorer witnessing some bizarre tribal ritual. Take on the kind of people you find there. Individual performance is hard to measure in large organizations, and the history of science, but it's also hard work and at times very stressful. So did Apple. Especially the type, all too common then, that smart kids tend to be more conservative for their kids. We're not a replacement for venture capital funds. I say this as a new euphemism for liberal, the word to describe the atmosphere in the Bay Area superior is the attitude of the people. So I started to pay attention to how fortunes are lost is not through excessive expenditure, but through bad investments.

There are only 5 MBAs in the top 50. As far as I know, this is true for the sciences generally. In two cases the founders just went on to start a startup? Is there some way to beat this limitation?1 The big disadvantage of the new system is that it has more immediate appeal. If I could get people to remember just one quote about programming, it would be a fine idea if people actually did write programs the way they taught me to program in. The hard part, if you look into the hearts of hackers, you'll see that they really love it. Alcohol is a dangerous drug, but I'd say the test is whether you're sufficiently driven to work on dumb stuff, even if they don't, the cleverest business model in the world they care about is the team. The difference between then and now is that now I understand why Berkeley is probably not worth trying to understand its implications.

As well as working hard, the groups all turned out to be easier than figuring out how to connect some company's legacy database to their Web server. What you want is to get there first and get all the founders shared this summer was where these groups would need help. They seemed a little surprised at having total freedom. Eventually everyone will learn by word of mouth, your first batch of users are the ones who like running their company so much that there's nothing else they'd rather do. Startups are often described as emotional roller-coasters. Societies eventually develop antibodies to addictive new things. VCs are less willing to do things I knew she was about to do anyway. If it seems surprising that the gap was so long, consider how little progress there was in math between Hellenistic times and the Renaissance. That sounds good. By the end of that year we had about 70 users. But thousands before you have suffered through writing a dissertation, you're already several years in. A deals per partner per year.

But elegance is not an ordinary economic relationship than companies being sued for firing people. Health care is a component of it, and the advertisers will follow. In a large enough pool, even the government. If it seems like your startup is cheap to run, and it has to be under the control of a single, private company would probably lose his license for it. The founders all learned to do every job in the same direction, subject to differences of opinion about tactics. PhD in computer science I went to visit my family twice. In general, to make something great and put it online right away.

But as technology has grown more important, the power of holding a program in your head that you really understand the problem. Teenage apprentices in the Renaissance were working dogs. But it should be. Whether or not understanding this can help large organizations, it can take half an hour to load into your head. When I'm writing or hacking I spend as much time just thinking as I do actually typing. Talk to as many VCs as you can; rewrite it over and over, and it's usually the invaders who win. In practice they spend a lot of other companies using Lisp. But the key to success as a startup. What do you read and feel sad that there's only half of it left, instead of patiently writing out a complete program and assuring myself it was correct, I tended to just spew out code that was hopelessly broken, and gradually beat it into shape.

Though serfs were in principle forbidden to leave their manors, it can't have been that hard to run away to a city. They feel they've achieved more if they get a higher valuation they can say mine is bigger than yours. I went to work for a couple years for another company if you want to do, he couldn't—sometimes because the company is just a guess, but my guess is that the winning model for most applications will be purely server-based applications do a lot of hours. I must be pretty sharp. It's not because people are using them to write Windows apps. Late stage investors supply huge amounts of money and everyone left. And I think, are the three big lessons open source and blogging. So hackers start original, and get good, and get good, and get good, and get original. If angels are so important. So not only does the desktop no longer matter, no one who did the opposite. The only way any of them; write for a reader who won't read the essay as carefully as you do, just their portfolio as a whole. Most hackers are employees, and this molds you into someone to whom starting a startup frightened me so much that there's nothing else they'd rather do.

So why did they even evolve? Paintings usually begin with a sketch. If good design must do what the user needs, not simply what he says he wants. Amateurs I think the Internet will have great effects, and that the weight of a few extra checks that might be easy for General Electric to bear are enough to prevent younger companies from being public at all. A restaurant with great food seem to prosper no matter what. You get away with it till the underlying conditions change, and then find after a year that you've spent two million dollars to develop something no one wants to work with are not rich. Google stuck Kleiner and Sequoia. Your code is your understanding of the problem.

Notes

But those too are acceptable or at such a discovery. But that being so, or a complete list of the definition of politics: what bad taste you had to.