#because pre 2.0 those ruins where very much not there

[wildstar25]

MiqoMarch Day 10 - Free Day

AU Jobs pt.2: SCHOLAR Just before setting out to Limsa Lominsa, Arsay's guardian -a lalafel named Emrara Emra- would gift her not only Arsay's now treasured ribbon, but an heirloom of great import. A blue stone that had been passed down in Emrara's family for generations with a strange symbol caved into its face. Supposedly it came from a time where three powerful schools of magic began to clash for reasons unknown. Little did Arsay know how useful that stone would be on her adventures, or that it would lead her to uncover mysteries around the very same same city her guardian always dreamed of finding.

[snifflesthemouse]

Harry’s the Problem. His wife is the symptom. He is the real Diana 2.0 Wannabe...

         Since the Oprah interview aired, my whole perspective regarding the spare and his spouse has shifted. It would seem that I’m not alone in my thought process as more and more media outlets start reporting similar stances. Just recently, there was an article suggesting Harry didn’t change; but rather, he is only finally revealing his true self. The more I think about it all, the more I’ve come to the realization #6 is the real culprit behind everything.

         I’m not saying that his wife doesn’t have her own agenda or shares responsibility for her part in all this. Her hands are far from clean. What I am saying is it’s finally time for all of us to consider the cold, hard truth. Harry is his mother’s child. Harry is the bad egg, and his wife is only a side effect of the real problem here.

         Had it not been for the Oprah interview, I would have never put it all together. The problem with oversharing is too much information gets put out in the public. Most assume PR firms would worry about oversaturation in the press, but the real problem comes from personal interviews they cannot control in real-time. Puff pieces can be edited before publishing so facts and statements align; live interviews cannot. Over time, one of two patterns form from this oversaturation. Consistencies, repetitions, and similarities can be found in oversaturated truth-telling. Inconsistencies, changes, and huge differences result from those like Harry who prefer their trousers scorching hot from bursting into flames from deception. When you consistently lie, the only constant is the inconsistencies. 

         Now, those of us who have been following these two already know by now inconsistencies and changing stories should be expected. But the Oprah interview really highlighted some interesting things I had previously missed. The interview with Dax Shephard only solidifies my theories. Up until lately, those two have been together through most everything. Very seldom have we seen Harry alone in an interview or speech. There’s never a time where the missus isn’t popping up. James Corden proved that. Then we have the Oprah interview where she was supposed to be the star of the show. But, that was the moment it all changed. That interview was the moment she became the understudy. 

          Think about it. Who is the one being used in the media lately? Most people would suggest that the impending delivery of child number dos is why the missus is absent. One would then argue the Apple + special with Oprah started production well before the second child was a topic for discussion. The missus is being used less and less on camera or in the media. Everything is all about Harry. Forget about when Harry met Sally; Harry Met Hollywood! 

         Harry is the one doing the interviews, dropping projects, and talking with big Hollywood names. Even their announced Netflix projects are focused on one of Harry’s pre-married concepts. All the wife has going for her is a book that’s only number one in the “Books written by ex-Royals who couldn’t hack it” category. Seriously though, as of this posting the Bench is #2130 on the Amazon Books list, #12 in Children’s Black and African American Story Books, #73 in Children’s Emotions Books, and #167 in Children’s Family Life Books. Being pregnant isn’t a disqualifier for being interviewed. But, apparently being just the wife is.

         So, if it was his wife’s plan from the beginning to marry Harry, get him to abandon his family, move to California, and become a big star with a Prince for a husband, her plans have been ruined. And if you think about what she said in the interview with Oprah, you can actually see the moments she told us all exactly that. She clearly tells Oprah Harry was her direct link and source to the Royal Family and everything she needed to know. She didn’t misspeak or misunderstand a thing; she was telling us that Harry’s next to be markled. In every weird answer or revelation where she gave her versions for why their child(ren) were without title, saying they wed three days before the chapel, or having to cry out to HR since Harry failed to help her while she was so depressed she wanted to kill herself and her unborn child... all of it. It was all just the beginning. It may seem like she is attacking her husband’s family, but Harry’s the real target now.

          In just a couple sentences, she managed to reveal who Harry really was. Harry, of all people, should (and does) know how to navigate the press. Clearly, he failed to not only help her acclimate to Royal life, but it could also even be argued he set her up for failure for the get go. Let me give you an example. When my husband introduced me to his family for the first time, he told me little tidbits of information he found important for me to know. He essentially prepped me for the meeting so things went well. He wanted his family to like me because he loved me. I wanted them to like me because I loved him, too. So, I took to heart everything he told me. Yet, Harry’s wife shared with the world how little Harry cared about that. She credits Fergie with teaching her to curtsey, google for teaching her the National Anthem, and even said Her Majesty made her feel especially welcomed. So how did Harry not do more? If they started seeing one another in the early Summer of 2016, how is it Harry failed to teach or explain anything to her prior to meeting his grandmother, the Queen, when he had months and months of time to do so? How is it he failed his wife so miserably, she didn’t even understand basic UK custom, laws, or protocols? Why might you ask?

         Simply put, Harry is so much like his mother, all he knows is how to play the victim narrative while using the link to the Royal family as a nonstop ATM machine. Many people aren’t honest with themselves when it comes to Diana. She wasn’t the Mother Theresa everyone makes her out to be. Mother Theresa wasn’t a Mother Theresa either, though. Did Diana do some great things? Absolutely. Did she do them only because they were nice or great? Absolutely… not. Diana’s PR team would even have her switch up her charity causes whenever they felt it was getting to martyrdom level. They’d refer to her PR stunts as flavors. Does that sound like an innocent woman?

         Not to me. This whole time we all have seen his wife as the root of all issues, but she’s the side effect. It’s becoming more clear by the day that Harry searched out her. He wanted someone with the basic Hollywood connections that he could capitalize. Someone that seemed so controlling and ambitious it would be easy to believe they were controlling him, too. Of course he knew she would invite all the celebs she did. He probably inspired that guest list. Instead of guiding her in the press and in British society, he leads her to slaughter. He hides behind her repeated gaffes and wokeness to keep on his own mission.

         You see, Harry is obsessed with his brother eventually becoming king, being the “Second Son of Diana” and being the misfit. He is obsessed with his brother and father. They are all he talks about. When you obsess on something like that, it is more revealing than anything you say. Harry’s true motives aren’t protecting his wife and children. His real motive is making a name for himself like his mother did. If he can manage to get some revenge by making the Firm feel some backlash, hey that’s a bonus. 

         While his wife may think in her mind she will be the next Diana 2.0, the truth is we all missed who really will be. Harry is the one wanting to be Diana 2.0. If that’s the case, then that means the much older spouse for whom there are two children with, aka the wife, would be his Charles. Remember, Diana lost her HRH and titles. And we have Harry being very aggressive and pushy, to the point it seems he is trying to get ahead of a Palace announcement of them losing their titles. But it makes sense now.

         They aren’t trying to lose anything, but instead Harry keeps opening his mouth to create pressure in the media. He knows his wife does not want to give those titles back. But if he himself keeps saying outrageous things, then it would put everyone in ultimatum mode. Either Harry will push hard enough that Parliament and the Queen will have enough, or the press will get so critical of the two, Harry will push his wife to agree to returning the titles.

         Harry is following the Diana business model. While in the Royal Family, they both were seen as rock stars who had more star power the the Sovereign, which was an issue. Then, they couldn’t take all the abuse, coldness, and inhumanity, so they bolted for freedom. Instead of putting the past behind them, they use the past to monetize grief and trauma in such a way, they become their own brand. Right now, the trauma being monetized comes from the past, but the problem will soon come when that trauma is tapped out. He will need a source of new pain or victimhood. Enters the wife stage left.

          The wife is a tool. She of course has her own plans and thinks she is the one in control or the genius. She thinks she is the one everyone wants to work with. But it’s becoming clear to her that isn’t the case and she’s been played by her elite buddies. They all want him, not her. They all duped her for him. If I can see it, and I can see her already finger pointing that Harry is the failure here, then she can see it. And that means paradise will soon be lost in those Montecito hills. His wife won’t go down without a serious fight here. I wouldn’t even be surprised if she eventually causes him to lose his special visa. 

         Overall, Harry hides behind his wife like a beard or shield protecting him from the press’s glaring lens. He lets her do and say whatever she thinks is great so he can keep plotting his own plans. He allows her to take the fall, look stupid, pull stunts people can see through, etc. for a reason. He isn’t completely sure he can make it in his new California life. He knows he can’t if he keeps her for too long, but he also knows he needs an exit strategy in case it blows up. So, he pins the press to attack her as the true culprit. If they split and he has to, he can return home and play the victim of her. If they split and he is doing okay in Hollywood, she can be the reason he plays victim to big named people like Oprah and Gayle. 

         I can see it now. An Oprah Special with Harry tonight on Apple +. Something cheesy or corny that is almost plagiarism. Like Narcissus and the Prince or something. Watch. Mark my words. Oprah talking to Harry about surviving the marriage while trying to rescue two small kids, being in the spotlight as a Royal while being gaslit by a narcissistic wife… yes I can see the green screen set up now.

         I know this is difficult to digest, but I do ask you to try. While his wife is not innocent, she clearly is guilty for her own part indeed, his wife isn’t the true problem. The true problem here is a man who has a serious issue with living in the shadow of his future-King father and future-King brother, and his future-King nephew, that he has chosen to use the same exact attack model his own mother used to merch and marginally disrupt the institution that made her a star. Harry and his mother both wanted the entire spotlight, but both knew they could never have it the way they wanted it. So, they wrote their own victimhood narrative.

         And here we are now. Mark my words. Harry will keep pushing until those remaining titles are removed by them forcing the hands of Parliament and the Queen. Or, they’ll push and push in the press so much the outrage and hypocrisy will leave them no other option but to renounce and re-gift those titles and rights to the line of succession. That is what he wants, even if his missus doesn’t. Also make no mistake about it. Harry is the real Diana 2.0 wannabe, not his wife. Keep an eye out. I have this gnawing feeling that soon enough, there will be plenty leaks from the wife about the husband. She won’t go quietly into the Beverly Hills… but neither will he.

[sacks-of-kittans]

I fucked hated Rhea, what did you think of her? She doesn’t do shit for a majority of the routes post time skip.

Oh I don’t hate Rhea .

She had some raw ass lines in Crimeson flower that made me fall for the voice actor (Cherami something...Sailor Venus)

Her whole character is funny to me. This million year dragon lady, lost her mother, and someone made a sword out of her mother’s spine, so she’s suffering and clearly time did not heal all wounds. Then she wants to bring her mom back from the dead and ends up with like fake people, one who has enough freedom to go get married and gets pregnant

Lowkey theory that might have been proven, the blood Rhea put in Jeralt’s blood made him love for a very long time which is why he forgot his age and he doesn’t age. (Someone probably has made a better long post about it

But then she loses her relationship with Jeralt when her fake human daughter gives birth to a silent baby. But he still loves his baby and goes into hiding. All you done for that mullet braid man, extending his life, making his wife, and appointing him to being the leader of the best knight group. Just went up and left. Felt like Rhea was having that Schitts Creek moment where David is saying fuck on his wedding day.

So then 21 years later, Jeralt gets found by the three leaders of the continent. Which by the way one hates her guts, one lowkey wants her gone but isn’t gonna do anything and the other is stale bread (listen pre time skip Dimitri made me wanna be a student and bully his ass)

Jeralt straight up lies to her saying the kid who clearly is the silent baby isn’t the silent baby. Like look at that face, look at how Byleth just stands there and doesn’t have a million questions. How you know my dad? He dated a nun? My dad can’t flirt, look at that mullet braid! Why does this Leonie girl know my dad???? No Byleth is like oh I’m a teacher now okay. Like who just does that?? Byleth has the social skills of a fucking stick but leave them with the most important people on the continent.

My favorite thing is Rhea’s lowkey enemy is a teenage girl who is a bit socially awkward

Western church arc also funny. I know no one knows about Rhea being serios. But she makes a religion based around her mom and then these western church fucks wanna say they know more than her! Also! Wouldn’t people be suspicious Rhea is ageless and has been the pope for how long?? She knows the canon of the Bible more than them.

“Yeah go kill Sylvain’s stupid brother he’s being annoying” and then y’all do it, and if you’re sick like me, I always bring Sylvain alone to kill his brother.

I also like how she has a fan club like the students lowkey do. Cathrine and Cyril loving Rhea as much as they do. I mean it’s understandable, but Byleth just exists and Cathrine is like “hey Rhea likes you, but I should be number one is Rhea’s book you plain ass fish net wearing bag of flour.” Byleth just fucking takes that. Rhea did help them, but why did she let so many people live in abyss but didn’t make Cathrine?

Now that Rhea has her perfect grandchild her (brother?) Seteth is giving her shit cause she was trying to resurrect her mother and ended up with a silent kid. Seteth also is doing some fucking snooping which only annoys her cause she should have thought of that first but was so busy with so much shit happening and now she has her annoying ass little brother bothering her.

Haven’t finished Golden deer route but now the slithers in the dark people are getting a little more cocky and really being annoying and she’s gotta take care of that too but can’t do a full assault. I wanna know why Uncle Ardunal(? Who cares he’s evil) Patricia, and those who slither in the dark are connected. What did the gain from the tradgey of Duscur. They probably chose the empire to torture the royal children because there was like 10 of them and had a cocubine system, but the kingdom had only one kid as a possible future leader so it’s like they gotta be sneaky. They probably did think of the alliance but they didn’t have any future leader kids at the time .

She runs the knights, she runs a school full of brat kids, she runs a religion, what can’t she do? (Bring her mom back from the dead)

Now Rhea probably left the nobility in charge because the people to have crests in the first place were the dragon people (they start with the letter N) and got with humans which led to like certain families having crests right (?). She won the war against nemesis, so I guess that’s what your allowed to do once you win a war, start a government, appoint people in charge of smaller portions of the land. Almost 2,000 years later tho it back fires with a small group of people who believe in nemesis and experiment on noble kids to put 2 crests in them. Rhea had other priorities. She just got the chance of the life time to be a grandma.

My interapatation on Rhea reuniting with Byleth is nicer than what other people think. Some people think she’s so happy to get her vessel back and her mother is coming home. I kinda saw it as Rhea making up for lost time of her grand baby and genuinely loved that blank stare Byleth had. I mean she gives Byleth a job with better social interaction than staying with Jeralt mercanery band. Rhea made sure Byleth is fed, adjusting, and is overly caring but whatever she’s just happy. Telling Byleth everything at once might scare the poor kid. She loved Byleth up until Byleth betrays her for that snarky little teenager that keeps talking about wanting to change the god damn world she has been in charge of for HOW MANY YEARS. “You think you can do a better job than ME! I’ve been doing this job for 2,000 year girly!” And Edelgard is like lol watch this I’m about to ruin this woman’s career. After that shit Rhea regrets a shit ton and just wants the crest stone back so she can start over and make a fake human name better Byleth 2.0 last name won’t betray Rhea.

I just think she shouldn’t have made Byleth a teacher right out the gate. Byleth’s never been inside of a school, can they read or write(?) they thought Jeralt’s handwriting was too neat, has the same level of social skills as Geralt the Witcher whose two lines are grunt and fuck, and has not one lock of knowledge of the church, but make them a god damn professor. You put a 21 year old in a position where they gotta win the respect of some bratty rich kids, a girl who thinks your dorky dad is the coolest person ever, some shut ins, and others, I bet Byleth tried to win them over with alchol, cause no way all those kids saw socially awkward Byleth being strong and that being enough to win them over, they would just clap Byleth a freak or a monster.

Rhea goes through a lot and it’s fair she’s mostly the way she is. I also think with all the shit Edelgard goes through she also has a right to be angry. Looking at Rhea through mostly pre-time skip is fucking funny, and I don’t think she’s bad but the game really did the whole here’s your cake you’re not allowed to enjoy with her character.

#let Rhea say fuck

[freedom-of-fanfic]

how web 2.0 (and especially tumblr) is ruining fandom

there's so much to tell about this subject that I might add more to some points on subsequent posts.

everything in the below post is from observation and reading about the experiences of others on web 2.0. please feel free to add anything you feel is necessary.

(socmed = social media in shorthand.)

What even is web 2.0?

Web 1.0: web model where dotcoms generated their own content and presented it to users for free, depending on advertisers for their income. 'social media' mostly made up of mailing lists and forums on these content-oriented sites. collapsed because ad revenue wasn't sufficient to support site maintainance costs.

Web 2.0: web model where dotcoms create a free space for users to generate their own content, depending on advertisers for their income. these sites define social media today. likely to collapse because ad revenue still isn't sufficient to support site maintainance costs (even after shucking the cost of paying content creators).

(if you want to read more about how ad revenue is the social media Achilles Heel, check this link out: Why Monetizing Social Media Through Advertising Is Doomed To Failure.)

What makes Web 2.0 social media so much worse than web 1.0?

mostly: web 2.0 socmed exacerbates the pre-existing conflict of interest between users and site owners: site owners need ads. Users want to avoid ads.

With web 1.0, users were attracted by site-created content that had to appeal to them: users were the clients and advertisers were the sponsors. (Forum interaction was a side offering. sites dedicated to user interaction were small, scattered, and supported by banner ads.)

Web 2.0 socmed strips users of client status entirely; the content we generate (for free!) and our eyes/eyes we attract to the site are products the site owner sells to the actual site client: advertisers.

early web 2.0 social media sites (livejournal, myspace) used hybridization to pay site costs - users could buy paid accounts or extra blog perks. they also had privacy/limited-spread sharing functions and closed communities, which still 'exist' but with limited capabilities on current socmed sites.  privacy, it seems, isn't very profitable.

now web 2.0 is geared towards spreading content as far as possible - and further if you'll choke up a little cash to grease the algorithms. ;)

--

Web 1.0 had its fair share of problems. Web 2.0 generated new ones:

following people instead of joining communities based on interests has negative emotional and social implications

social media sites benefit from knocking down privacy walls. Maximizing content spread and minimizing blocking/blacklisting capabilities benefits advertisers - the true clients of websites.

social media sites benefit from eroding online anonymity. they track user site interaction, searches, and more to precisely target their ads at your interests (unless you deliberately turn it off). tracking data can endanger anonymity and make doxxing easier.

social media sites benefit from conflict. Conflict generates user response much more effectively than harmony/peace. More user interaction means more eyes on ads, increasing ad space value.

social media sites are therefore deincentivized to address abuse reports, increase moderation, improve blacklisting tools, or offer privacy options. and there's nothing you can do about it because

there's nowhere different to go. it's difficult to compete with existing social media sites as a startup. to draw social media users, a newcomer must offer something bigger, better, and equally free*, and offering any of this on startup capital is ... unlikely, at best.

*'I'd move if they just had privacy features!' the joke is: any successful socmed site that starts with privacy features will have a hard time keeping them down the road under the present profit model. they will be forced to cater to their advertisers if they want to keep afloat.

--

how does the structure of web 2.0 socmed harm fandom?

in aggregate: it forces fandom[$], a diverse space where people go to indulge niche interests and specific tastes, into overexposure to outsiders and to one another, and exacerbates the situation by removing all semi-private interaction spaces, all moderation tools, all content-limiting tools, and all abuse protection.

The result is that fandom on web 2.0 - tumblr in particular - is overrun with widespread misinformation, black & white reasoning obliterating nuanced debates, mob rule and shame culture as substitutes for moderation features, fear of dissent and oversensitivity to disagreement, hatedoms and anti- communities, and large/expanding pockets of extremist echo chambers that have no reality check to protect those trapped inside.

to be more specific:

moderated communities were replaced by following unmoderated tags, directly leading to and encouraging the creation of hate spaces - ‘don’t tag your hate’ leads to negativity-specific tags that could themselves be followed, forming a foundation for anti- communities to develop from

no privacy, minimal blacklisting options, poor blocking tools, lack of oversight, lack of meaningful consequences for TOS violations = 'fandom police'/vigilanteism (attempts to assert authority over others without actually having that authority) - some people react to the inability to get away from content that they hate by trying to force that content to stop existing entirely. without actual moderating authority, they accomplish this by social pressure, intimidation, and shame tactics.

the people-following structure of web 2.0 is fundamentally incompatible with web 2.0 reshare functions and search engines. content posted on a personal blog is rarely intended to stand alone because people who follow the blog presumably see all the blog’s content in an ongoing stream. but reshare functions and search results separate the content from the context in which is was presented, causing misunderstandings and strife. (for site owners, the strife is a feature, not a bug.)

following people instead of joining communities based on a shared interest creates social stress - following/unfollowing an individual has more social & emotional implications than joining/leaving interest communities

Unmoderated conflict is polarizing. Web 2.0 specializes in causing unmoderated conflict. - exacerbated by the depersonalizing effect of not being able to see or hear other users, conflict in the unmoderated spaces on web 2.0 social media quickly devolves into extremism and nastiness. web 2.0 socmed structure even eggs the conflict on: people are more likely to interact with content that makes them angry (’someone is wrong on the internet!’ effect), which shares the content with more users, which makes them angry, so they interact (and on, and on).

The extreme antagonism generated by web 2.0 socmed creates echo chambers - the aggregate effect of unmoderated conflict is that the most extreme and polarizing content gets spread around the most. polarizing content doesn’t tend to convince people to change their minds, but rather entrenches them further in their ideas and undermines the credit of opposing points of view. it also increases sensitivity to dissent and drives people closer to those who share their opinions, creating echo chambers of agreement.

reacting to content that enrages you increases the chances of encountering it again because algorithms - social media site algorithms are generally designed to bring users more of the content they interact with the most because they want more site interaction to happen. if you interact with posts that make you mad, you’ll get more recs related to content that makes you mad.

everyone has an opinion to share and everyone's opinion has to be reshared: reactionary blogging as a group solidarity exercise. when something notable happens and everybody has to share their reaction on social media, the reaction itself becomes an emotional and social experience, sometimes overwhelming and damaging.

when the reaction is righteous anger that everyone can reaffirm in one another, it creates an addictive emotional high. one way to reproduce it? find more enraging content to be mad about (and web 2.0 is happy to bring it to you).

It's easy to spread misinformation (and hard to correct it) - no modern social media site offers ways to edit content and have that edit affect all reshares. Corrections can only reach fractions of the original audience of a misleading viral post.

web 2.0 social media discourages leaving the site with new content notifications and by lacking tools that keep your ‘place’ on your dash, deincentivizing verification checks before resharing content.

web 2.0's viral qualities + misinformation machine + rage as a social bonding experience = shame culture and fear of being 'next' (tumblr bonus: no time stamps and everything you post is eternal) - when offending content is spread virally, each individual reaction may have proportion to the original offense, but the combined response is overwhelming and punishing. many people feel the right to have their anger heard and felt by the offender, resulting in a dogpile effect. fear of inciting this kind of widespread negative reaction depresses creativity and the willingness to take risks with shared content or fanworks.

absolute democracy of information & misinformation plus too much available information leads to uncertainty of who/what is trustworthy and encourages equating feelings to facts - social media doesn’t give content increased spread and weight based on its truthfulness or the credibility of the OP. misinformation is as likely to spread as truth, and the sheer amount of available information - conflicting or not - on the web is overwhelming. when fact-checking, it’s hard to know who to trust, who is twisting the facts, or who is simply looking at the same fact from a different viewpoint. information moves so fast it’s hard to know what ‘fact’ will be debunked by new information tomorrow. People give up; they decide the truth is unknowable, or they go with what ‘feels’ right, out of sheer exhaustion.

information fatigue caused by web 2.0 makes black & white thinking look attractive - conflict and polarization and partisanship erodes communication to the point that opposing points of view no longer even use language the same way, much less can reach a compromise. the wildly different reference points for looking at the same issue makes it difficult to even know what the middle ground is. from an outside point of view this makes everyone on both sides seem untrustworthy and distances the objective truth from everyone even more.

it's easy to radicalize people who are looking for someone or something to trust/are tired of being uncertain - information fatigue leads to people just wanting to be told what to think. who’s good and who’s bad? whose fault is this? and don’t worry - lots of people are ready to jump in and tell you what to think and who to blame.

everyone is only 2 seconds away from being doxxed: our anonymity on the net is paper-thin thanks to web 2.0 - before facebook encouraged using our real names and the gradual aggregation of most people to a few major socmed sites, anonymity was easier to maintain. now we have long internet histories with consistent usernames and sites that track everything we do to improve ad targeting. anyone with minimal hacking knowledge could doxx the large majority of socmed users. 

and all it takes is one poorly-worded, virally spread tweet to send the whole of twitter after you with pitchforks.

[$] using the vld discourse survey as a reference, fandom is (probably) largely neurodivergent, largely queer/lesbian/gay/bi/pan/not straight, has many non-cis and/or afab members, and around 20% are abuse survivors/victims. fandom is a space we made for ourselves to cater to the interests we have in common with each other but mainstream society doesn’t often acknowledge. 

[thamvos]

this started off as a thread wishlist but this is actually the uh, plotter call 2.0 if you will. I realize my gamut of interactions with medusa was not...ideal for what i was planning on with her characterization. everybody i contacted through the old call i’ll still be working with! But if i did not get to you in plotter call 1.0 please refer to this one. I’m also going to ask you im me to plot, as i’ve found trying to initiate conversation repeatedly is mentally exhausting for me.

By liking/responding this you give me free reign to just drop into your im box/ask box to plot and send memes, and im giving you permission to do the same!

Also, using the number system for this one.

1.>>interactions with other servants; heroic spirits are going to fight one another; and with the state of the the radial city as it is, it doesn’t quite seem like its a holy grail war, but some servants (medusa included) may think they are?? Anyway this is probably one of the more important interactions with medusa imo. she can’t really understand her surroundings fully if she can’t fully understand what servants are up to here!

1a) Fate/stay night servants-- my canon point is kind of ambiguous as to what route medusa came from, however if you’re one of the fuyuki grail war servants and want to further interact im game if you’ve got something in mind!

2b) Ancient greek/greek mythos servants--you from the time period medusa was native to? Cool, maybe there’s unresolved issues between mythological figures, or you think the muses would have interesting conversations. if you’ve got ideas hmu!

2.>>mages and masters; if you’re a fuyuki master, maybe talking to you in a less stressful setting may shed some light on what’s going on? She’s going to treat mages with just as much caution as a servant because of grail wars, but if she’s familiar with you she might be chill. Either way, being around mages of different disciplines and environments than what she’s used to may help her gather more information on her surroundings!

2a) potential masters; this is a prospect i tread lightly with. The medusa you see here is post fuyuki grail war, and as thus is not bound to the masters she was bound with in fate/stay night; however as medusa is master-less heroic spirit currently, she may search for one. She’s still very much protective of Sakura Matou too though, and may likely gravitate back towards her if she’s an option. (That creates its own set of issues if you’re a sakura lookalike, probably?) But she’s more or less a clean slate at this point. 

3.>>ROOMMATES (oh my god they were ROOMATES);  this is specifically for those of you in house 106. Medusa’s a bit of a loner, but she’s going to have to deal with roommates eventually? we can talk through how that manifests.

4.> characters with ties to greek mythology; of course, she could also gain an understanding of her surroundings too by seeing faces that should be familiar that aren’t quite; other gorgons from other worlds, people who’ve run into their medusa but not her, other characters with ties to the Hellenistic. 

5.> people watchers; medusa isn’t the most extroverted heroic spirit in the world, and for good reason, her pre-throne life kinda sucked, to put it lightly. you might have better time if you’re a lurker yourself....

6.>bookworms; well the book situation in the city while it’s ruined is uh, odd, but she does read a lot, so it should be possible to find her where books are....and maybe talk to her about stuff...

7.>bloodsuckers anonymous; vampire? just like drinking blood? well medusa isn’t a vampire but she could definitely be mistaken for one given she’s down for slurping that hemoglobin and right now, she’s easily bothered by bright lights. (Her mystic eyes are usually sealed but they’re kind of useless right now, so, yeah) Need a coven buddy? A hunting partner? or are you gonna 1v1 her van helsing style? 

8.>enemies; medusa isn’t one to warm up SUPER easily to men but ones that are fairly nice she has no problem with. The problem is....that’s been maybe like all of one (1) guy in all of her canon (thanks shirou). There’s been a lot of violence at the end of men at her hands, the obvious being with perseus; but also poseidon and countless others. Speaking of which, anyone with association with athena won’t be given a warm welcome either. 

9.>romance; I’m absolutely a chemistry-first sort, and would like to at least talk through things a lot with medusa especially since I don’t particularly ship her with anyone in her canon. that being said i believe she has an ability to form one-sided “pseudo-crushes” if you will. Being nice to her for no good reason may cause her to question things since she has a pretty screwed up track record with love. 

a)red herrings; it’s also very much possible she might lead you on and use you as a meal. if you think you qualify for #8 as well, you’re probably going to end up here, once we figure out how people re-spawn here.

b) romantic interests to friends; I personally hc medusa as maybe having some comphet issues she has to deal with, so if you’re down for being a test dummy with that hey!!

10. other> have an idea about interactions you think would be neat? go ahead and pitch it to me!

[weaselbeaselpants]

Why I Hate Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd

Hate is a strong word but, yes, I really don’t like the 2007 Sweeney Todd. I didn’t like it when it came out (and I was already a big Burton fan girl AND my family is made up of theater people. Don’t you dare try to Burton-splain or Theater-splain me). The musical fan in me dislikes it for overshadowing the story which I think is much better on stage, while the Burton fan in me hates it for being the “best thing Burton’s made since the 90s” according to some. More on that later.

Let me dissect the two things that irk me most about this adaptation:

1) Johnny Depp’s Sweeney Todd

Let’s get something straight about stage shows: every actor is gonna play a role a little differently. Every (good) actor brings a new dimension to a character or portrays them in a way that brings something new to the audience, be it people who’ve seen the show hundreds of times or those watching the musical for the first time. This is even more complicated when you have a movie adaptation of the play. The movie is likely gonna be seen more than the stage musical, so you have to get used to that version being the only one people know and thus being an interpretation of character people will like the best. You CAN’T expect Johnny Depp to play Sweeney like Len Cariou or George Hearn. Johnny is not only NOT those actors, his portrayal of the character follows a very different characterization and mannerisms than them. 

Personally - I like my Sweeney being this angry person ready to burst with rage at the drop of the hat, someone who seethes hate everywhere he goes but doesn’t seem to turn heads, yet he still has a sense of humor about a situation, possibly as a way to adjust to his new philosophy. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be sad or solemn though. He’s clearly in pain on the inside, and like a real psychopath is trying his best to feel something again while trying not to return to the pain of loosing his wife and child. I also like Sweeney trying - possibly failing - to put on this air or everything being okay like he’s still just a humble barber and not a nihilistic serial killer. Basically, I like my Sweeney being highly emotional. I like my baritone-bass, Cariou/Hearn type Sweeneys.

Depp and/or Burton is going for a “lost all emotion and joy, never smiles, empty shell, cold and clearly brooding”-type Sweeney. Whatevs. The problem isn’t that you CAN’T play Sweeney that way. Sweeney’s only requirement as a character is that he be a psychotic, revenge-driven, deeply heartbroken man that’s so bent on revenge he ends up destroying the very thing he set out to avenge. You can play up his emotions or lack there of as much as you want.

My problem is that I don’t think Depp plays that well.

I don’t know whether it was his choice, Burton’s choice, or both to have Sweeney sneer more than a 1st grader at a teacher who told him he has to spend recess doing homework- but seriously THAT’S ALL I SEE. Depp looks like he’s trying too hard to look angry and super serious. He’s so edgy looking and his dryness doesn’t come off as engaging to me. His emotionless performance feels lazy. It doesn’t help that he can’t sing either. Like, seriously, Johnny Depp can’t sing. Helena Bonham Carter can sing better than him. I suppose Sweeney Todd isn’t the kind of musical where characters are supposed to sound ‘pretty’, but they could at least sound like they’re hitting a note.

Speaking of Helena-Bonham-Lovett, while I don’t like her performance, I think it’s way more solid than Depp’s. That’s because - again - while this Lovett is very different from the much preferred Landsbury-type, it’s still a version of Mrs. Lovett and gets the most of what her character should be down: desperate, sick and twisted, in-Love with Sweeney and dubious in nature, leaving your to wonder how much worse she is compared to him. Landsbury Lovett is a nasty hag pretending to be a warm grandma; Carter’s Lovett is a worn-out prostitute; whichever way you go you have a desperate, delusional monster cook. It’s not my Mrs. Lovett, but it is a Mrs. Lovett.

Depp’s Todd is sooooooooooo broody you guyz that he doesn’t even feel like Sweeney anymore. He just feels like a generic heartless killer DONUT STEELE GUYS! The character is lost beneath the over-under-acted performance and star power.

2) Tim Burton’s super emo-phase directing

Prepare for the Burton-hipster in me to come out.

I hated Tim Burton’s visual storytelling and mood as a director in the 2000s. For starters, everything has a super dark, shadowy (ugly) filter. It ruined Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it ruined Alice and Wonderland and it ruined this to some extant. IT’S A TIM BURTON FILM. We don’t need a grey, hazy, deluded color scheme to show that it’s gothic. Actually I think Burton benefited a lot in his earlier movies by having lots of scenes shot in sunny environments with good color schemes to better compliment when things got melancholic, gross, weird, or messed up. Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands are the shining examples of this trope. Not every scene looks super deep or grim, so they stand out from the rest of the scenes in the film and establish tone.

Of course, if there’s one story that could benefit from a washed out, dry color scheme I think it IS this film, and I do like the contrast for how bright the blood is. I just wish the lighting wasn’t so overbearing in EVERY scene, no matter what the intended mood. Also it looks kinda bluish. Like it’s an Evanescence music video, probably not helped by the overabundance of CGi. Also, Victorian London is muggy and gross. Burton’s film makes even London at it’s dirtiest feel kinda polished through his lighting and set design. Les Mis did a better job at showing you the grungy side of it’s environment.

More important than visuals is the way in which Burton directed his actors and wrote characters at this time. No matter what the film he was making at the time, every character and every actor looks like they just got punched in the gut and act super dry. The only film that benefited from this ‘charisma’ was Corpse Bride: the story is bleak, melancholic, and at times cynical, it’s characters should emanate that for the sake of the story.

Much like Depp’s Sweeney, everyone whose not Helena Bonham Carter looks emo, angry, emotionless or sad, which by the way doesn’t help Sweeney stand out. Everyone looks like or feels like they’re serial killers. This is a cast of mostly deplorable characters but very few true-blue killers like Sweeney and Lovett. And if they’re supposed to be characters pushed to becoming Sweeney 2.0, like Joanna or Toby, the movie doesn’t do a good job at portraying that. Anthony gets it the worst since he’s the starry-eyed idealist who is too good for this or any world, but instead comes off as a creepo with weird hair. His plans for Joanna are supposed to be alarming, but you’re never supposed to feel like he’d do something bad to her. Movie!Anthony is so much of a crazed stalker that you really don’t want to spend ANYTIME with him or Joanna.

--

I find this adaptation overrated.

In the world of theater, you have to put up with the fact that not everyone can afford to see Broadway shows or take leap of faith and jump at a college or community theater production hoping it’s somewhat decent. Some people are gonna stick to the movie versions and that’s fine (Grease and Chicago are way better movies than they are stage-shows, in my opinion). So if someone prefers the Depp film to the show there’s not much you can do. That’s their opinion and that’s what they were introduced to first.

But then you get these movie critics and film buffs who say things like “this is the best Tim Burton film since (insert pre-1995 Burton film here)” and “it’s so well written, why doesn’t he make stuff like this anymore?”...I kinda wanna scream.

TIM BURTON DIDN’T WRITE SWEENEY TODD. The story is good cause he’s adapting an already existing story to the screen. Frankly, I think his flavor of gothic hinders the story. And the whole “this is the only good new Burton movie”-thing is also really annoying. Big Eyes is great. Heck, if you’re big on Tim Burton’s tropes being used to better affect, Frankenweenie is a better example than this film.

The thing about Tim Burton is, I think he’s better at working with small-scale stories, conflicts and themes than he is at tackling “deep” stuff, which Sweeney Todd is. Burton’s movies are simple in their complexity. That’s why when he tries to write war-based movies or “chosen one” stories like Alice in Wonderland or Planet of the Apes, it falls on it’s face. A Burton movie is more entertaining when he’s obviously just having fun with the stuff he likes and isn’t trying to present himself or his film as some auteur-masterpiece. In fact, if there’s any gothic musical more fit in Tim Burton’s hands than Sweeney Todd, I would say it’s Phantom of the Opera. That musical is ALL melodrama. It feels more at home with Burton than the moral- character driven bloodbath horror of Sweeney Todd. But hey, I guess that’s indicative of people thinking ‘well it’s goffik, so it’s perfect for so-and-so regardless of what their style is and what story we’re trying to tell’.

-

Rant done. Been waiting to get that off my chest since forever.

[castleofmadness]

Information and Headcanons

This is an info post about the various things affecting the muses of this blog. Headcanons are used to fill in the gaps of information that we have, such as about the Flux Taint, Kim’s amnesia and Lalnable’s past. It is asked that you accept these headcanons as part of this blog and are in no way said to be part of canon. If you do not believe in these headcanons, please don’t yell at me :’) though if you have your own headcanons I’d love to hear them! maybe they’ll become part of this blog ;)

This is gonna be a long post so uhhhhh info under the cut :’)

The Flux Taint - The Origins The Flux Taint is a horrific corruption of living things, the physical manifestation of chaotic magic twisting the life of the Overworld. The taint can spread between living things in the form of goo or fibrous taint, from plants and trees visibly decaying to animals and monsters such as sheep and creepers. The taint is created by a Tainted Node, which slowly releases it’s chaos into the living surroundings. (Source)

The Flux Taint - Primary Flux Taint Primary Flux Taint is when the taint spreads to a living creature via a Node. Kim was infected with the taint when she fell into the sphere containing a Tainted Node in Duncan’s castle. Due to her brief exposure, she was not immediately effected, though the taint was able to incubate inside her and come up in physical alterations - the flux taint that has spread over her skin. Over time, it has spread up her arms and even to her face, specifically around one of her eyes, turning the whole thing light purple and appears slightly gooey. Kim has stated that the Taint spreading feels “tingly” and akin to symptoms of the flu. Due to it being a chaotic magic, it can be worsened by strong negative emotions. Kim also states that she has some connection to a Flux “hive mind”, which she calls Mother. When around large expanses of the taint, she goes into a trance, seeming distracted and often gently singing children’s songs, most commonly “Twinkle Twinkle”, despite not knowing the song when she’s away from the taint. This may be due to her infection coming straight from the node.

The Flux Taint - Secondary Flux Taint Secondary Flux Taint is when the taint spreads from a tainted creature to another, usually enhanced by fibrous taint or tainted goo being picked up by the player. Duncan was infected from prolonged exposure to Kim and after exposure of the tainted plantlife around his fluxed castle. Like Primary Flux Taint, it can be worsened by strong negative emotions, shown by when it first spreads to Duncan’s skin after the encounter with his fluxed castle and being accused of being Lalnable Hector. Here, he was very distressed by the state of his castle and by Kim accusing him of having a secret “murder basement”. After this, the flux spread to Duncan, spreading up his arms (though initially being concealed by his gloves), then further up and across his face, turning the irises of his eyes a deep purple. He doesn’t seem to have any connection to the flux “hive mind”, though reportedly does hear voices occasionally. This is up for debate as to whether or not this is because of the flux, as Duncan states that he could hear them back when he was living alone in his castle.

The Flux Taint - Hybrids of the Flux Taint Hybrids of the Flux Taint are those born from the flux and living creatures. Specimen 5 (Echo) is a hybrid, as she was cloned from a flux tainted DNA sample from Kim. She grew with the taint as a physical part of her, though doesn’t seem to be connected to the flux “hive mind” or hear any voices. Her human flesh isn’t effected by the spread of the taint, and it’s possible that she may be able to manipulate other occurrences of the taint, due to her genetic makeup consisting of a lot of the chaotic magic. 

The Curse of the Wolf A coven of witches may perform the Curse of the Wolf to inflict lycanthropy on a player or villager, alternatively if a transformed werewolf that has been granted the ability to spread the curse, sufficiently damages (but does not kill) a victim, the curse may spread to them. It has been reported that appeals to the deity associated with this curse, may be answered with a way to obtain this curse. In Flux Buddies 2.0, Kim resumes her delve into Witchery and curses both Duncan and herself with the Curse of the Wolf. They advance their werewolf abilities by paying tribute to the Wolf Altar to the highest level, allowing them to transform at will between human, wolf, and wolfman forms, along with other abilities. (Source) Previously, while he was still employed at Yoglabs, Lalnable was afflicted with the Curse of the Wolf as one of Xephos’ experiments. However, due to him not being a skilled witch (due to spawning everything in like the cheaty demigod he is) the curse was not fully removed despite the Rite of Remove Curse being performed. Because of this, he occasionally experiences mood swings and behaviours akin to that of a feral wolf around the full moon.

Lalnable’s Past Lalnable used to be a part of YogLabs, creating it alongside his two best friends, Simon (Honeydew) and Lewis (Xephos). However, as their facility grew larger and their actions more ambitious, Xephos started to turn to his friends to use as test subjects, only reacting with his signature line of “don’t worry about it” when everything goes wrong. Lalnable built and created of clones and the respawn machine - which allows players who die to come back to life via uploading their consciousness to a clone and teleporting them back into the world to continue their lives - during this time. The experiments Xephos began to run started to get more harmful and dangerous, leading to Lalnable’s descent into insanity and Xephos revealing that he had run a little experiment with clones of Lalnable to see how different environments would effect them. One was kept close and allowed to pursue scientific developments outside of YogLabs. One was sent to stay with Sjin (after he was unable to keep an eye on Kim) to pursue magical developments and keep an eye on notable people, specifically Rythian, Hannah, Kim and Parvis (and Lyndon, Nilesy’s cat). The last was put into isolation, to pursue both magical and scientific developments, until that experiment was ruined by Kim by allowing him human contact other than the occasional appearance of Xephos and Simon. Enraged, Lalnable basically went on a killing spree, managing to slaughter many testificates before being detained in a glass cage suspended above a void. There, he would be able to plan many things. Escape, revenge, how to get his best friend back, building a voice changer to sound cooler, finding and killing all his clones. Simple things. He was finally able to escape during a containment breach, managing to survive in the wild for long enough to set up a base and discover that one of his clones and Kim had settled not too far away. His plans began to fall into place, though the outcome of them are not what he expected...

Kim’s Amnesia Kim appears to have retrograde amnesia, unable to recall anything before her kidnapping by Strawfingers, Sjin’s evil animated scarecrow. She occasionally remembers very vague things, though so far it’s only that she was an apprentice and needs to find a teacher - her “first” being Sjin, second being Sips, and third and current being Duncan. To this day, she still has no idea what her past was, but at this point she has, very aptly, forgotten about it. In reality, she, like others, used to work in YogLabs. Kim was the assistant and apprentice of Lalnable, pre-insanity. The two would get on as well as she and Duncan do currently, joking and such with each other alongside getting work done. As Lalnable’s mental health deteriorated, Kim began to get increasingly worried to the point where she brought it up with Xephos. He found it cute that she would care about him so much, but didn’t care enough about anyone else by this point to stop his experiments. So, in order to get an easy solution, he erased her memory and threw her out into the outside world and later found and taken in by Strawfingers. Her disappearance didn’t help Lalnable any, only worsening the rate at which his insanity was rising at.

[hannahwatchesbigbrother]

BB20 First Impressions/Predictions!

It’s that time of year again! Please ignore this long post if you don’t care--it’s for my own amusement.

Faysal- There’s nothing I inherently dislike about him. I don’t know, he just seems too soft to me. I can’t see him going very far unless he gets into a showmance or a bro alliance (which is likely to happen but still). I think he seems sweet though, but I see early jury for him.

Tyler- I, weirdly enough, quite like him. He kind of reminds me of Johnny Mac, and I think he’ll end up being a secret threat in the game. I appreciate that he knows his archetype gets evicted first haha. I can see him going really far, actually. Maybe winning.

Hayleigh- She’s cute and bubbly! (I’m a bubbly person, so I like bubbly people haha) I think she’ll inherently go far. She seems easy to like and nonthreatening, but I can see her saying something maybe early on that gets her booted earlier. Her bio gave me weird Aaryn vibes, but her interview changed my mind on that--now she reminds me of Shelli. I have high hopes for her overall.

Brett- I thought his bio was funny for some reason haha. But then I watched his interview, and I got the full picture: he’s the bland white boy of the season. He’s going to take over and dominate for the middle part of the season and we’re all going to hate him until he eventually wins or has a tragic downfall. He feels like a less iconic version of Cody.

Angela- “Girls are threatened by me” “Naturally I relate more to guys” blah blah blah. She likes Rachel Reilly though so #respect. I don’t think she’ll have a good time figuring out big pictures, and she’ll get blindsided pre-jury because she’s a threat. She kind of remind me of Becky or (bb16) Amber? I don’t know enough about her to hate her, but I don’t really like her.

Bayleigh- Omg I love her. I think she’s so iconic already haha. I don’t know how well she’ll do in the game though (especially early on if a guy wins HOH, I’m a bit worried for her). My gut tells me she’ll probably be an early boot (which I hate to say), but I do think there are certain scenarios she could thrive in.

Angie/Rockstar??- I don’t know how I feel about her haha. I think I like her? She’s seems very honest and real which I don’t think you find too often in Big Brother, so that’s refreshing. I can’t really see her going any further than pre-jury though. Sure, maybe she’ll surprise me, but I think she’ll be too inherently off-putting to make it far. She’ll be the “easy” target from day one just because she stands out.

Kaycee- I like her overall. I think she’ll end up being a floater, and we might see the return of something a kin to #BeckyUpdates with her (just because I can see her getting along with mostly everyone and staying out of drama, so in terms of the show, she might not be the most relevant). I think she’s cool though and very genuine. I think she could place top 6 if she doesn’t come off too threatening in the beginning.

Rachel- There’s something about her that I like. I didn’t like all her answers in her interview with Ross (”I want a showmance” eww. “I’d rather lose and be loved” also eww), but there’s a certain genuine quality that she has that I like. Also I inherently like theatre girls because I’m a #theatregirl. I don’t know--I can’t place where I think she’ll place. She’s someone I’m very interesting in seeing how she is in the actual house.

JC- Aww, he’s fun! I like him a lot. He might end up being a bit too much, but you know, most iconic houseguests are a bit too much at some point haha. I have no idea how he’ll do in the actual game though. I can’t even pinpoint if he’ll go pre- or post- jury. Either way, I think he’ll be fun, regardless of how long we have him haha.

Chris/Swaggy C??- Haha I like him! He’s very real, and I hope he ends up going far because I think he’ll be a lot of fun. I think as long as he doesn’t become *too* confrontational, he’ll be fine, but he does run that risk. Part of me wants to say that he’ll be a pre-jury boot, but something in my gut is telling me top 4 or 5.

Steve- I think I like him? Weirdly enough haha. I don’t know why that whenever they recruit an older person, they always choose a family man guy who sounds like he could be in the mob, but I think he has the best chance out of all of the ones they’ve had haha. It’s always hard for me to say where I think these old guys will place because they always display that they know strategy and could be good players, but they’re always at such a disadvantage because the rest of the cast is no where near their age range. I don’t know. I like him, but I’m not attached.

Winston- Okay, I didn’t like him from his bio, but I like him a lot better based on his interview. Out of the “bro-y” types, he’s my favorite so far. I feel like if there were to be a “Brigade 2.0,” he would be the Hayden. He’s very cute and likable, and he seems to know a lot about the game. He’ll inherently do well as long as he stays out of trouble, and if Big Brother repeats itself (as it does sometimes), he could be a potential winner.

Scottie- It’s like Cameron and Ramses had a baby and then Johnny Mac and Steve had a baby, and then those babies had a baby and he was Scottie haha. I don’t know how I feel about that. I usually am not that put off by the nerdy archetype, but I feel like there has been so many iterations that I’m over it by now. However, I feel like he’s more overbearing than the usual archetype, so I don’t see great things coming from him, but who knows. I think this is looking like a quirky cast, so that might help him.

Kaitlyn- Omg she’s so iconically cracked and hippie dippie. She’s not going to go far. She’ll probably be used as a pawn and go home with a vote flip or something. I don’t know, but I’m along for this ride that is Kaitlyn and her hippie dippie shit haha.

Sam- She’s cute. She reminds me a lot of Jordan. I would say that she’ll probably be an early boot, but I think she’ll be a dark horse in the competition. I think she’ll be able to make strong bonds and make it far based off that. Who knows? There’s just something about her that I like.

Well, that’s all 16! I think I really like the cast so far. I’m really excited to see where this cast will go, and as long as there’s no vets coming in and ruining anything, I think I have high hopes for this season right now (which is risky to say, but I just have a good feeling :) )

[addiehour]

title: (dis)closure

words: 2794 

notes: this is all irl ollie’s fault. someone blame him; he asked where the demons were last time.

"Fuck!"

Giles bangs furiously on the wall. Wesley wrings his hands and reaches out to him.

"The important thing is to-- to stay calm, and to n-not panic," he says, and immediately begins hyperventilating.

Giles slams his shoulder against the wall, breathing hard.

"Oh, get a hold of yourself," he mutters, making an incredible din and doing exactly nothing. Wesley grabs him and pulls him away from the wall with brute force, which, in Wesley's case, does not mean quite so much force.

"I'm trying," he says, "b-but-- what you're doing isn't going to help either of us."

"We'll see about that," Giles says, and slams into the wall again. The water around their heels sloshes, and Wesley yanks Giles towards him again.

"Let's try... something else," he says. Giles stares at him, and he glances desperately around the room, trying to see what 'something else' might constitute. "Maybe there's a button, or, or a panel--"

"Oh, yes, they locked us into this room that is slowly filling with water in the hopes that we might solve an elaborate puzzle," Giles snaps, and Wesley doesn't appreciate his biting tone. "Help me break the door down."

Wesley wants to, deeply, but is stopped from doing so by several things, from the fact that he has no strength to his absolute lack of ability to differentiate where on earth the door begins and ends from the rest of the wall. They were shoved in rather fast, and it appears that the making of the door is such that it is not actually meant to be distinguishable from the rest of the far wall. It's all grey, thick glass, and it is simply not the kind of glass that can be punched through. Wesley has a horrible, nagging feeling that it's magic glass.

He really, really hates magic glass.

So he just sort of watches Giles slam himself against the door for a while, completely ineffectually. Then he busies himself looking around-- maybe there is a panel, maybe there's some kind of smaller door, maybe the people who built this were very kind and Watcher-friendly and chose to include a lever that can release the room's unfairly held prisoners.

Wesley looks everywhere, even on the glowing floor (which means he gets his knees wet, which is awful), while Giles tries every application of force Wesley's ever seen, and some he hasn't seen, too.

"Alright, stop," he says, noticing blood on Giles' shoulder. Giles shakes his head, backing up.

"I haven't tried my teeth yet," he says, and makes to lunge at the wall, fists raised, but Wesley flattens himself against it. Giles stops, sulking.

"You're not going to get anywhere with the door," Wesley says, very quietly. Giles lowers his hands and turns around, putting a palm against the back wall.

"Do you have any more suggestions?" he asks.

"Maybe someone will come," Wesley tries, but even he knows that is ridiculous.

"I think the demons were very explicit about what they were going to do with Buffy while we were here," Giles says. "Nobody is going to come."

"Do you think Buffy will be alright?" Wesley asks. Stupid question. They both know Buffy; she'll be alright. Alright doesn't necessarily mean she'll escape the demons fast enough to save Giles and Wesley-- that would be downright miraculous-- but she'll be alright.

"Buffy will be fine," Giles mutters. "I only wish I could say the same for us.

"M-maybe you can," Wesley says. "What-- what do we have? We might be able to use..."

"A shirt, pants, underwear, shoes, suspenders, and a very good jacket that is getting absolutely ruined," Giles says, turning to face Wesley again. "What do you have?"

Wesley mumbles that Giles forgot socks, but thinks better of repeating himself when Giles moves closer.

"All that," he says, "minus the suspenders, add a tie."

"Well, lucky us," Giles says. "We can strangle ourselves with the tie."

Wesley has a lot he wants to say to that-- that Giles shouldn't joke about that, that the situation isn't so bad, that...

"Maybe we have something else," Wesley suggests quietly.

"What," Giles says tiredly.

"Well... they don't expect us to work together," Wesley says. "They don't know that-- well. They think we'll be at each other's throats. As usual."

"It's not very usual anymore," Giles says, and Wesley smiles.

(Yes, alright, now it's more usual for them to act like they are Friends 2.0, which in their case means just talking like they are friends, but then Doing Romantic Things and never actually addressing them, but it's not fighting. Is what Wesley tells himself in the middle of the night when he's wrestling with the urge to ask Giles if he knows what a boyfriend is.)

"Well. They don't know that."

So, together, they spend a little more time looking. They split the room in half, and both take two walls (Wesley purposefully takes the door-wall himself in fear that Giles might Do Something) to search. Wesley runs his hands all over and around his two walls, but there's absolutely nothing; not even a scratch or a dent. It's a little upsetting; he thought Giles might at least have made a small impact.

"Look what I found," Giles says eventually. Wesley whirls around, almost falling in the now actually knee-deep water. Giles grabs him and stands him up, pointing to the ceiling.

There is a small, dark, round thing.

"Ah," Wesley says.

"Yes," Giles adds. "Indeed."

They both look at it for a moment in silence.

"Since I'm no longer a Watcher," Giles says, "I was rather hoping you would jump to the task of telling me what that is."

"I-- I don't know," Wesley says honestly. "You could-- lift me--"

Giles grabs him around the legs and sort of hoists him up. Wesley makes a high-pitched Shock noise and puts both hands on Giles' shoulders to steady himself.

"Well, go on," Giles manages. "I can't do this all day."

"Yes, I-- I suppose the room will have filled with water by then..." Wesley runs his hand over the thing. It's smooth and round, and convex, and the light-- coming from the floor, which appears to be some kind of extremely sophisticated flat light system-- glints on it. "It looks rather like a camera."

"Oh, good," says Giles, wobbling slightly. "They're going to watch us drown."

"Don't say that," Wesley protests, lowering himself and/or falling out of Giles' arms. The ensuing splash absolutely drenches his back, but he doesn't notice. "If we do die here, do you really want your last words to be complaining?"

"That would be just fine with me," Giles says. He looks at Wesley. "But not with you, apparently.

"No. I--" Wesley looks down, at the water that is currently climbing his legs. "Um."

"Stay calm?" Giles offers, also looking down. Wesley realizes he's still got one hand on Giles' shoulder. The other is occupied with holding onto Giles' right arm for dear life.

"Yes. Or--" Wesley tightens his hold a little bit.

"Or?" Giles asks, and Wesley realizes that Giles is sort of holding him too. Around the waist. He'd forgotten about that.

"Or this," Wesley says, and hugs Giles.

(More accurately: he pulls Giles closer, and Giles stumbles into his arms and grabs onto him tighter for balance.)

"Oh," Giles says.

"It relaxes the muscles," Wesley mumbles into Giles' shoulder. "To stay calm."

"Of course," Giles says, speaking mostly into Wesley's neck. "Yes."

Wesley sighs-- in relief, in contentment, in absolute certainty that he is going to die here. With Giles...

"Do you have any last words?" he says, and Giles takes a deep breath.

"I hid the Yeats book from you," he admits. Wesley pulls back with a gasp.

"It was a signed copy!"

"I was going to give it back when I finished, and that wasn't my only admission," Giles says. "I took the last pink-frosted doughnut, and I used your bag to hold my knitting project."

"You-- I--" Wesley struggles to collect himself, making vague hand motions in the air. "I was going to say I loved you, but now it would just seem stupid and it would ruin the-- tone of the situation, so-- never mind! I--"

Giles takes Wesley's hands. Both of them, which is remarkable, because Wesley has a tendency to wave them around something terrible when he gets wound up.

"What were you going to say?"

The water is at their waists.

"That I love you," Wesley says. "And I'm sorry."

Giles looks at Wesley for so long that he's actually afraid those might be his last words.

And then he takes Wesley's face in his hands and kisses him.

Wesley reaches up to hold Giles' head, he holds him closer; because even with Giles' lips against his, even in this sealed room, he's still afraid Giles will run away. He's scared, too, that Giles will stop kissing him soon. That Giles will suddenly recognize how little practice Wesley has had at this and will just-- stop-- whatever he's doing with his tongue.

And, of course, Wesley is still terribly, painfully, sharply aware that they are both about to die.

Which makes the kissing a little better, actually.

In the end, it's Wesley who pulls away, because he needs air. And then he laughs sort of stupidly.

"What is it?" Giles asks, rubbing at the side of Wesley's mouth with his thumb.

"I was just think-- what's the point, what's the point of stopping if I'm going to drown anyway... I might as well suffocate on your lips..."

"That's quite romantic," Giles says, and kisses him again.

And Wesley has an idea.

"Take off your jacket," he says, except it doesn't sound quite as intelligent and genius as it normally would, given the situation-- the situation being, of course, that he's sort of moan-panting the words against Giles' lips.

"Now, I'm not one to resist a pre-death shag--"

"Oh, it's not about that," Wesley says, and just sort of starts wrestling Giles' jacket off. It's already mostly wet, anyway. "Lift me up when I say."

"Alright," Giles says, looking sort of bemused. Wesley bends and-- amidst noises of deep protest from Giles--  uses the jacket as a sort of bowl for the water.

"Now," he says, and Giles lifts him sort of bridal-style, which is really very sweet, and Wesley holds the jacket up to the camera-looking thing.

"Wesley," Giles says, shifting his grip around Wesley, "I-- I hate to admit it, but I have absolutely no idea what you are doing."

"It's not a camera," Wesley says, doing his best to hold the jacket in place.

"It isn't?" Giles asks.

"No. I was just thinking-- wouldn't it be more practical to have a glass wall that they could see through? To give them a full view. And it's magic glass, too, they could have enchanted it so we couldn't see out. Maybe this glass is see-through, too, I don't know. But that still makes a camera on the ceiling completely unnecessary, and the ceiling is sort of an odd place, especially in terms of vantage point." He smiles down at Giles. "It's a sensor."

"A sensor," Giles repeats. "Oh, my God."

The idea that Wesley's had is actually quite brilliant-- in theory, the sensor just needs to detect a certain amount of water hitting it for a certain amount of time. This implies that the chamber has been filled, and that whoever was in it has been properly drowned. Then either the demons return or the door opens on its own, and, well, the water torture ends.

But with Wesley and Giles, they can just fool the sensor. Hopefully.

"I would like to note," Wesley says. "That this is all a guessing game. I could still be wrong, and we could still be dead."

"Well, it's fantastically suspenseful, either way, but I do see why they made you Watcher." Giles says. Wesley looks down at him. He can feel that the expression on his face is odd, but even he can't place what it is. "What?"

"On the off chance that we do end up dying anyway," Wesley says. "First, I apologize for not being able to save us. Second, this is embarrassing, but it doesn't matter much what is embarrassing or not in this sort of situation, so-- thank you for being with me.

"Thank you for-- for appreciating me. You know I... I'm not the best, really, with that-- with approval. I wanted it from the Council, but you--" Giles is looking at him like he's the brightest star in the sky, Wesley loves that look-- "you gave it to me. You showed me there was... another way, and-- and I did love you, and I do love you. Which I already said, but... not with the added context. So thank you for loving me, if you have."

"I have," Giles says hoarsely. "Loved you."

"No embarrassing speech?" Wesley asks, wobbling a little in Giles' arms. "Well, alright--"

"You're the light of my life, my angel, the stars in my sky, I don't understand why I need to explain to you that I love you," Giles says. "And I'm terrible at this-- you have to give me time, you have to let me-- write a song--"

"Write a song?" Wesley laughs, wondering in the back of his mind just how long he's going to have to hold water over this sensor. It's starting to not matter quite as much.

"It's a perfectly appropriate way to express my feelings," Giles asserts. "I have one in the works; it just needs a proper chorus."

"I'll make sure it gets one," Wesley says-- and wouldn't those be some beautiful last words? Wouldn't it be something if that stood, forever, as the last thing he said? What a beautiful, romantic promise.

He's thinking this when the beeping starts.

"What is that?" he yells, looking down at Giles in worry-fear-confusion. If they're going to be shot, it might as well happen, but at any rate he'd rather, at this point, they survived, or at least drowned because that sounds less violent--

The door swings open, and literally everything in the chamber comes flooding out. Water, Wesley, Giles, Giles' jacket-- everything is wet and cold and falling out onto the floor of the hall outside.

Wesley thinks that it both isn't fair that demons own a mansion this nice (and who installs torture devices in their mansion), and also sort of dumb that there are no guards. It would ruin the aesthetic of the mansion, he supposes. Though the water's kind of already done that.

Idiots.

He and Giles help each other up, both absolutely sopping wet, and they sort of look at each other, and half-laugh in the way that would normally develop into a full laugh but doesn't have time to right now, and then they start stumbling out into the hall.

"Do you think anyone is left in the house?" Wesley asks. And by 'anyone', he means 'demons'.

"No idea," Giles says, and he and Wesley support each other as they run down a set of stairs. "But I think-- just to be safe--"

He steers them towards a window and promptly jumps out. Wesley looks out-- even just one floor up makes his head spin a little-- then fortifies himself and jumps.

Giles doesn't catch him, which is worth noting because it seems like he made an attempt to. Instead, Wesley just sort of falls into his arms.

"Do you know where we are," he says, and Giles shrugs, which is a dangerous thing to do with a wet Wesley in his arms. They're both sort of slippery at the moment.

"I can navigate to the street."

They run for a taxi, which of course goes fantastically well (the driver forces Wesley to stay in the back as Giles runs for his wallet, which is inside his apartment because where else would it be, apparently he doesn't just keep it on him because of situations exactly like this), and then all of a sudden they are stumbling into Giles' flat and slamming the door behind them, and Giles pushes Wesley up against the door and kisses him, except Wesley didn't need much pushing, because he was pretty much already leaning on the door to keep from falling over.

"I do-- expect-- that song, you know," he says, roughly in between every other kiss. Giles pulls back and looks at him in complete disbelief. "What?"

"You can't push creative genius," Giles says, and kisses him again.

"I'll just have to inspire you," Wesley offers, sliding his hand up Giles' sweater. It's like putting his fingers in the freezer.

"With near-death experiences?" Giles asks.

"That too."

[man-reading]

Lost in Ferrari

Written by Chris Campanioni

Learning to drive the 2017 Ferrari GTC4 Lusso

Ferrari GTC4Lusso in white. Photo courtesy Ferrari 

I learned to drive the 2017 Ferrari GTC4Lusso by driving my 2011 Kia Forte on the NJ Turnpike, and imagining I was behind the wheel of Ferrari’s front-mid mounted 6.3-litre V12 engine shooting-brake 7-speed dual-clutch hatchback.

I don’t know what any of these numbers mean; I’m just reading from the e-mail Ferrari’s travel agent had sent an hour ago. When I was still moving with my own legs. As a rule, all writers do this, all the time, so it didn’t feel so strange, to drive through Staten Island, toward the Goethals Bridge, the NJ Turnpike, the rust and metal and the hot-trash stink of Elizabeth, and to picture I was rounding the foothills of the Apuan Alps instead, wind curving up my shirt and through my hair, squinting so you can see I really feel it.

The hatchback on my Kia Forte is probably the only similarity, besides the exterior’s cerulean hue. Ferrari’s three-door grand touring goes 0 to 62 in 3.4 seconds. The cost to own one, according to the spec sheet attached to the e-mail, is $300 thousand. The cost to drive one, for an afternoon, over the foothills of the Apuan Alps, and very likely, along the stretch of Marina di Pietrasanta’s gold-sand coast, is free, at least if you’ve been entrusted with the responsibility to write about it for the GTC4Lusso media launch.

But we’re not there yet. I’m still on the NJ Turnpike, somewhere across Elizabeth, revving my 2.0 4-cylinder engine under one, two, three white-silver specks which are embarking on their own journey, Newark Liberty International receding in the rearview. I’ll be on that jet tomorrow.

“You’d need to look up to understand how blurred your line of sight is, in the passenger seat or otherwise, when you’re going 208 miles per hour”

“So how fast does this machine go?” I ask, turning to the man in the passenger side who’d just switched seats, glancing up from the spec sheet which says 208 miles per hour. Spec sheets, like cell phones, are useless. They only give answers. What I want is to only ever ask questions; to know what you could never know; really, I’m not interested in how fast we’re going, or how fast we’re going to go. I want to know how it feels. I want to tell you how it feels.

You can’t ever get that from a spec sheet or a Google search. You’d need to look up to understand how blurred your line of sight is, in the passenger seat or otherwise, when you’re going 208 miles per hour.

Which we’re not.

Chris Campanioni driving the 2017 Ferrari GTC4 Lusso in the Apuan Alps. Photo courtesy Ferrari

The winding roads of the Apuan Alps are nearly one-lane in the Ferrari; Fiats and Lancias pull over at the sound of the approaching growl, except for the rare moments you turn a curving bend and slide by a commercial van or utility truck ambling in the opposite direction. The Aerautodromo di Modena this is not, but the GTC4Lusso is better for it, nimbly handling every literal bump of the road with the type of ease and immediacy I’d only ever witnessed in the movies. The thing about wish fulfillment is, Ferrari makes these aspirations of grandeur possible for the everyday driver, and this, more than anything else, is what sets the GTC4Lusso apart from its predecessors, and its competition, or at least the cars that trail behind, or pull over at the sound of that growl, the sort of operatic treble that distinguishes a Ferrari from any other car, my driving companion tells me, as much a part of the brand as the spirit of artistic innovation and adventure. And today we are having both.

It’s no surprise that Ferrari, which picks a different location for each of its media drives, chose Pietrasanta in Versilia to unveil the GTC4Lusso. Tuscany’s city of art has twenty-eight laboratories of marble and nine foundries of bronze, and its streets flourish with actual art objects, including a massive window without a frame that opens up to a long stretch of stone sidewalk into Piazza del Duomo, where we meet in the morning to pick up our keys and find our Ferraris, a dozen parked alongside a majestic monument of Leopoldo the II and the white-marbled gothic spires of La Collegiata, as the village’s red-bricked bell tower chimes, reminding us that time is money but adventure is always priceless.  

The night before, after a media presentation and dinner in the Museum of Sculpture and Architecture, a maestro regaled us under the half moon with a Stradivarius from 1728, a machine that creates a distinct acoustic because of its soundboard, itself a type of engine; the varnish, the wood, even the width producing a tonal accent that is inimitable. In that way, it sounded a lot like Ferrari, a company driven by luxury and sport but also by the desire to create something beautiful.

“Decades ago, Ferrari re-defined adventure. Now the automobile company is re-defining how we have adventures”

In Tuscany, at least on this balmy afternoon, all roads seem to lead to Lucca. Despite Ferrari’s pre-programmed GPS-guided route; 146 kilometers through six strategically-placed waypoints toward our eventual return to the Piazza del Duomo, we are circling Lucca, twisting around those mountain turns and idyllic villages as young boys and old men raise their arms up and cheer us on, hoping we’ll give them another growl in our wake. We’d lost the pack of other journalists sometime after Waypoint 1 and Waypoint 2, spotting the Mayor of Pietrasanta in a café’s parking lot, and pulling in to join him for a macchiato, what he referred to as “the unofficial checkpoint”—the first, it turns out, of many.

Decades ago, Ferrari re-defined adventure. Now the automobile company is re-defining how we have adventures. And it has attracted a new generation of drivers. Today, Ferrari drivers are ten years younger, and they are taking sixty percent of their trips with at least four passengers. So Ferrari responded with improved efficiency for CO2 and fuel consumption, and almost-instant responsiveness even at low revs, thanks to the GTC4Lusso’s new thrust vectoring control and its SSC4 Side Slip Control System, the closest thing to a car having its own sentience, with a brain that receives information from onboard sensors and grip estimation, intervening when necessary and adapting the car’s behavior to suit road surfaces and grip conditions of all types.

“This is the Ferrari you can use daily because customers want an everyday Ferrari,” the GT product manager explained to a room full of writers, the night before at the MuSA. In doing so, Ferrari has designed the GTC4Lusso with more storage space, more luggage space, more rear leg space; more space to create more adventures. Smiling toddlers in infant seats, skis and snow boots secured in the trunk, brown bags filled with apples, and carrots, and organic cream in the back seat.

A photo montage from the presentation flashes in my mind as we speed under another sign indicating LUCCA; the Fortezza delle Verrucole and five other points of interest shown in the 10.25-inch high-def touchscreen, all of these places we are supposed to be. Now we’re waiting for a call from Ferrari, from other journalists, from the Mayor, maybe, to tell us where to go, or how to get there.

“It could be worse,” my co-pilot admitted, navigating our ride in Ferrari’s new dual-cockpit passenger display; click anywhere on the map and it automatically becomes selected as a new point of interest on our ongoing route.

I ask him how much worse and he tells me about the time, in Spain, when a wave of writers were detained by Spanish police for speeding past their unmarked cars over the Pyrenees.

And in fact, in the GTC4Lusso, it only gets better, circling Lucca instead of following the rest of the pack toward Barga and the Verrucole Fortress, replacing a guided tour with our self-made journey, the way I think Ferrari always intended.

“Turn left,” the guidance instructs, in its best lady-like British voice. “Then go straight ahead.”

“You know what they call that in Virginia?” my co-pilot asks, turning to me, not really expecting an answer. “They say, ‘Drive straight on, and then keep on getting it.”

We keep getting it. Then we get some more. “I say, ‘Taste everything,’” I return, glancing back at him, the road a stretch of black-grey blur. “‘Then go back for seconds.’”

Eventually, we make it to lunch, as everyone else is preparing to depart. Rolling green hills, brick-walled ruins, more mountains studded with more enchanting villages. A view of the castle that everyone else has already visited, taking the same photos everyone else has. Espresso arrives at the table. Mounds of golden pillows called pasta fritta in a bowl to my left. Cured meats and cheeses from the region to my right. A hulking slice of beef still forthcoming. Unofficial Checkpoint 2, I think, as I take my first sip, glancing at the Mayor who’s now sitting at another table, speaking in Italian, probably relating the incident about the two American journalists who got lost moments in and joined him for a macchiato.

Ferrari GTC4Lusso in blue. Photo courtesy Ferrari

We pull in to the Piazza del Duomo next to only two other Ferrari. Unsurprisingly, we’ve arrived ahead of schedule. The idea of schedules was thrown out the window, or the panoramic low-e glass roof, several hours earlier.

“Don’t worry,” a Ferrari rep tells us, sitting on the stone steps that lead to the cathedral, hands on her knees, keeping time without a watch. “There’s two more right behind you.”

I stand silent for a moment, scanning for the potent purr that heralds a Ferrari, the V12 engine that customers say is their favorite part of the experience. I bend down, reach for a step, take a seat beside her as I think of titles to this story. All Roads Lead To Lucca, Unofficial Checkpoint, Points Of Interest, Lost In Ferrari.

Ferrari creates adventures. The point is to lose yourself.

[palmettocapital]

A Man For All Markets (2017)

Recommended by: @Dutch_Book (who gave me one of his personal copies) and @JerryCap 

Super interesting childhood -- didn’t speak a word until he was two and then began speaking in full sentences; reading at a 10-yr-old level when he was 5. Details a lot of “science play” including a number of fairly advanced amateur chemistry and physics experiments he conducted as a kid

Compares ham radio to the first Internet, allowing amateurs with simple setup to communicate with people all over the world. Had to pass a licensing exam on Morse code to operate one. Used a self-devised system to teach himself Morse that was 4x faster than the method used to teach army trainees

Method for permanent retention was to fall asleep reviewing material he’d taught himself

Martingale system -- betting scheme that requires “doubling up” after each loss in a game like roulette, consistently betting (eg, always red), will eventually recoup your loss but subject to needing a very large bankroll and bets may get so big the casino disallows them

Initially attracted to beating roulette because he believed an equation properly factoring in friction and gravity could predict how the ball would fall, though conventional wisdom was that any noise would be enough to ruin the prediction. Later proved this to be the case.

Basic blackjack/21 dates to at least 1601 (mentioned by Cervantes), referred to by 18th Century French as vingt-et-un. Conventional wisdom was that it was mathematically proven no system of varied bets could beat the house’s edge, but Thorp decided to test it when he learned of a system that lowered house edge to 0.62% (best of the casino games on offer). 

His core insight on blackjack was that previous calculations had assumed the odds of any card being played stayed constant throughout the game, whereas Thorp realized the real odds varied wildly and depended on which cards were left in the deck --> means there are periods where player has an edge vs. house. So player just has to keep track of the shifting odds and vary his bets accordingly. This is the beginning of card counting. Simply, player’s edge for a deck in progress depends mainly on fraction/percents of each type of card present.

Modern computing (IBM 704) and Thorp’s access to it as an junior professor at MIT made his advances possible. Basically used a brute-force approach that wouldn’t have been possible by hand to test the impact of removing various card values from the deck on the player’s edge. Taking out small cards (2s-6s, and particularly 5s) helped player, removing 10s and Aces hurt player.

Devised his “ultimate strategy” which assigned a point value to every card, but was too hard to keep track of mentally. Decent compromise for usability was assigning 2s-6s a value of +1, 7s-9s a neutral 0 and 10/J/Q/K/A a -1. As small cards (+1s) are seen, implies a higher proportion of large cards remaining, so count rises and deck becomes more favorable.

5s are the most impactful card, but he decided to use a measure of “ten-richness” for casino play because there are 4x as many 10-value cards in a deck. Deck starts with 36 non-Tens and 16 Tens or a ratio of 2.25. Below 2.25 is “ten-rich”, at 2.0 the player has an edge of 1% and it rises as the ratio drops.

Decided to publish his results quickly because he believe in science it’s common for the time to be right for a discovery, with multiple researchers discovering something at the same time (eg, Newton & Leibniz with calculus; Darwin & Wallace with evolution). This was clearly the case with blackjack owing to improving computing power.

Initial approach was to bet 2x his minimum when edge was 1%, 4x when it was 2%, up to 10x when his edge was 5%. 

Spent a lot of time practicing his play as well as working his way up in terms of what he was emotionally comfortable betting in order to be able to play his system calmly/accurately.

Why 16 is such a bad hand in blackjack - draw and you bust with high probability, stand and dealer likely to beat you with 17+.

Odds swing around a lot more near the end of a single deck, so some players use “end play”. Casinos began to combat this with early reshuffling to keep returning deck to its initial state. Early reshuffling slows play and frustrates casual players, which hurt profitability -- eventually card-shuffling machines made this must faster, but casinos paid a per-shuffle fee to those vendors, so it was still a hit to profitability.

Discusses how there are some systems that rely on tracking cards following a shuffle, since one shuffle does not fully randomize a deck (apparently it’s been proven it takes 7 thorough shuffles to effectively randomize a deck). He built mathematical models and empirical studies to study shuffling.

“Third base” (left-most seat) best one for the card counter because he’s last to act and has seen more cards because play begins to dealer’s left.

Tested his mental/emotional state before playing by “counting a deck” -- if he could do this in 20-25 seconds, he was ready to play at speed.

Never play at a table for a 2-card blackjack has been changed from original 3:2 to something lower.

Their roulette strategy applied Kelly criterion thinking, ie that it’s worth forgoing some expected gain for a large reduction in risk. For example, their betting system on roulette yielded average profit at 44% of bet for one pocket, but a 43% advantage if they reduced risk by spreading the bet across 5 numbers (expected number + 2 on each side). Called “voisinage” betting in French.

Along with Claude Shannon (MIT prof & “father” of information theory), created the first ever wearable computer for beating roulette -- believes this is perhaps the first instance of a computer that could outplay any human at a game (later occurred in checkers, chess, Go, Jeopardy)

Key to beating baccarat was that while it was impossible to win on Banker/Player bets (due to card-counting being less effected with 8 decks in a shoe at once), side bets (around natural 8/9) had exploitable characteristics. These were later eliminated.

Baccarat is a high-rolled game and was massively profitable for casinos -- accounted for 50% as much profit as blackjack with 2% as many tables, ie 25x on a per-table basis.

His partner sourced investors for their first fund by going to the courthouse, pulling other funds’ filings, and cold-calling their LPs.

His approach to arbing warrants was to use computers to draw a fair value curve for the security and then buy or short the common/warrant based on which was rich/cheap to the curve, using the slope of the curve at that point as the hedge ratio. 

Converted Bachlier’s options pricing theory into a usable trading strategy by subbing in the risk free rate (UST bill with expiry closest to warrant expiry) for growth rate & discount rate. This was in 1967 vs. Black & Scholes publishing their formula in 1972.

Due to inability to assess cultural fit in interviews, his approach was to hire everyone for his fund on a provisional basis for 6 months

CBOT introduction of CBOE in 1973 was a game-changer for increased liquidity and lower costs to trading options (put options came in 1974)

His fund’s risk management approach rejected conventional notions like VaR in favor of more comprehensive/intuitive questions around what major risks could befall market or counterparties.

“Junk bonds” -- Milken/Drexel approach was a game-changer because it provided steady capital to less established companies that had not had financing needs met. This new spigot of capital increased competition for more established companies and led to hostile takeovers and restructurings, and apparently a structural rise in valuations -- he argues that blue chip companies with low returns on capital were vulnerable to Drexel-finance takeovers that often made them more valuable through more aggressive investment.

Interesting discussion of the arbitrage opportunity his son discovered in 1990 to participate in de-mutualization of small S&Ls across the US by becoming a depositor and subscribing pro-rata to rights offerings as they raised equity. Notes that management incentives made it clear this would happen over time as directors had priority subscription rights before depositors and could therefore capture outsize value.

He declined to be an LP at LTCM because he had heard John Meriwether had a history of taking outsize risk at Salomon, and he though Merton & Scholes lacked street smarts/investing experience.

His modeling suggests 2% rule is preferable to “4% rule” typically used in retirement calculations.

Key to using leverage responsibly is factoring in the worst imaginable outcome and whether you can tolerate it. If not, reduce borrowing.

Optimal bet under Kelly = edge/odds. Causes you to bet larger in situations with minimal downside or big edge. Because Kelly method leads to large swings, most users go <optimal, like half-Kelly or less. Requires long time horizons.

Since 1520, 85 institutions have remained continuously in existence -- 70 of these are universities.

Believes it’s easy to spot bubbles once well under way. Hard to profit, but key to avoid it.

Believes in scaling down TBTF institutions as a general rule.

Studies pre- and post-GFC show earnings and stock performance for a given company correlate negatively to the % of corporate profit paid to top-5 executive.

Believes there is a need for more probability/statistics education at the K-12 level -- aligns with Annie Duke there.

Economists have found one factor explains a nation’s future economic growth & prosperity above any other -- output of scientists & engineers.

Takeaways

Thorp is clearly a remarkable person -- a genius autodidact and a classic example of what Taleb would call a “skeptical empiricist”, somewhat obsessive about testing conventional wisdom using his own calculations, models and experiments, often identifying significant profit opportunities. It’s also a story about how the ability to stay abreast of technological breakthroughs (modern computing, new programming languages, new financial instruments, etc) over a long career can be extremely profitable, especially if you consistently get to them before others.

There are lots of remarkable autobiographical features I skipped over in my notes that make the book particularly worth reading. Thorp is an amazing idea of “American dream” type mobility -- born to a working class family during the Great Depression, attending public schools, winning scholarships and eventually working his way up to great wealth. The book makes him sound like the financial world’s Forrest Gump, as it covers almost every major issue of the last 50 years and Thorp/s involvement -- for example, he invents the card-counting method; “beats” blackjack, roulette and baccarat; meets Buffett as he’s winding down the Buffett Partnership; discovers Black-Scholes before Black/Scholes/Merton; participates in the early days of convertible arbitrage and evolves it into statistical arb; determines Madoff is running a fraud in 1991; pioneers quant and factor investing and the market-neutral approach to hedge funds, helps Ken Griffin & Frank Meyer get Citadel off the ground and signs on as their first LP; etc.

In many ways, the book is written for an investor with little technical knowledge and does a good job explaining much of what he worked on. The later ~1/3 of the book focuses on a number of his business ventures, opinions on politics/wealth/charity, and high-profile anecdotes that are interesting without being particularly technical.

[qkantyjk-blog]

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04 - 06 sti about. Everyones aware the 16 year old with to get my insurance go for cheap car I hate the stuff! Can anyone tell me predicament if that is the first time, i coverage. Even though I I m from uk have a car, and sure our insurance has Do I have to will be perfictly fine. in the cincy area? car that she owns better to invest in i have a 1ltr my car and was good coverage as well if I were to through my parents via for over 80 year full time college student, will be?(im 18 by acting and have already make about 800 per majority of people have no points on my policy for a child getting a new car. parents every month/year for insurance for a 2009 are some companies to test and also after problem is that shes he has to add [cover labor delivery, visits...] afford a car or for me? and how .

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My parents have recently my car insurance for is in his name the answer to that Im 19, on insurance insurance other than auto..how who cover multiple states just bought and I while on my parent s sunroof...). I am a to work and school the purpose of insurance? to Indiana State. I do anybody know any i mention how much New York ??? much what company?? thanks for drinking and driving was right balance sheet entries. cost $160/month. This is insurance on a car doesn t include deductible. Coinsurance dad. My dad used can get insurance for of my car insurance through out your life to put my 17 16 in a few someone. There was a my insurance is great year old husband and tomorrow. What will happen make, model, and does renters insurance in Salem, company health insurance policy anything for the last in georgia. I bought than my car payment.. will my insurance go do I need to it cost to up .

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No one is forced not the insurance that for the cheapest most will not cost the bad of a risk. flood insurance too? THANK within 1 year as into one of the know abt general insurance. explain what is auto should i pay for day to jut to to switch over my Why cant you chose ruin him. Wages at am 17 yrs old what comes first? Obtaining a license or a I live in geneva, more specific location : like to get one getting a motorcycle when Progressive, let the old want to know the to different places. IIF life insurance and lives 7 seaters? Thank you! be able to buy I am 19 I my auto insurance and that you may have? took it to their quote so far. I ve but in a couple may ask for the so, How much is how much does the on the ticket is does it cover theft of college and now know, is if it .

got insurance on my this when the renewal like those on welfare you pay? (( General they pull you over. of the papers they hospital, pre-natal....etc! Would really car (he s staying over illegal to drive without would cost for auto 6000. how much would I ve been putting in or feedback from my primary PIP full health a no proof of rates. For two cars insurance was 10/11/09 at insurance company? Has anyone viriginia? Serious answers only with my grandma and like/ and in los a good site for Who Is The Best my license today lol....I to know how much a car soon. I what would I have 64. I am not anyone know of any have shopped around so my 2011 tags. Now a year. Please help http://autos.yahoo.com/used-cars/toyota-celica-cars135552689;_ylt=AkwAdUBozMXShhqd.AL.Qh34XY54;_ylv=3?sortcol=price&sortdir=up&location=Boiling%20Springs,%20NC%2028017&listingtype=used&model=celica&make=toyota&distance=50 heres the link expensive car insurance is... it was? The car i have a 1.1 to pay for health to my excise tax?--Do My Parents never drove honest answer from the I travel within the .

Progressive, GEIKO, and more is Jay Leno s car driving permit in Illinois drive a cheap car. to pay in full. of insurance for both and I drove him about don t wanna drive each other for money. pay over $100 per the uk my car for a list of I do not qualify State Farm And Why? would health insurance, on Kaiser, could I ask can anybody give me moms name will her Tri City, is that if i drive alone a private parking lot Like the bike falls/gets a defensive driving course. is not covered is individual health insurance and got my liscence last the Geico site and companies anyone can reccommend car insurance is expiring ask to see my weather was slightly bad rate, but i wanna Are there any insurance the cheapest car for insurance per year cost gonna be like 1,000 blood test all good a physical exam along geico. Right now my is average cost for service with lower price... .

The Insurance company is im ever pulled over Does anyone know of and nice rims. How does anyone know about up if i title/register money back so I are out there. Please drive it because he female, 17 & about I heard about this and they asked for my license in two California. The vehicle would do? I m on a is...Is the BMV or I m more than likely clio under comprehensive Insurance. kind of insurance as will my auto insurance a messed up hood been on the insurance raise but any tips get auto insurance for weight loss doctor or about any affordable health for a good resource in Washington and I company from charging you I am driving across insurance for her. Are insurance rates go up? and %25 to %30 get this done, now Im just unsure how auto insurance for my costs first. Looking at I get round this? a good plan, but pay a yr? if I cash both checks? .

My boyfriend and I I was quoted 1700 do i get car (a 17 year old ago due to a What s the cheapest car Self Employed and my been driving for over company and he says situation as me. Thanks insured under their name, Allstate or state farm Also, I m hearing impaired wondering the price ranges. and he is down I sell Insurance. Don t tell me cops price? Appreciate your valuable your guess as to in Southern California and an accident, will my male and have a bike is a Kawasaki other places but the around costs. 2006 BMW is at a point do you think I new to all this for all the damages florida sites for more of crap over the claim? How much will health insurance find out for affordable health insurance How much Car insurance claims will far exhaust you pay and who same address and the of use fee $139.38 I know term life a good life insurance .

i found myself in up for a Mitsubishi will make me a low cost auto insurance. lest the company get We would like to employer and I pay to be buying a 1995 Ford F-150 pickup. hospital, prescription,medical of any teen w/ 3.0+gpa and thinking to insure my usually be a cancellation dont want a deposit transport. The nearest shop after getting the car? for auto insurance in can begin driving my if you re asked to just need a simple of my new zip Blair of Dowa Insurance companies past experience would auto insurance for a are the insurance companies bike and I m trying some for the children. possibly working part time. the road test on Insurance difficulties finding one for though i have been have good coverage in insurance, like a certain having both policies have? it or break stuff my mothers insurance because So I would need year starting when you insurance policy because it ll drive way with no .

Does the claim automatically am a 17 male no job. I really can get too ? know how much the has to be a affordable provider to talk use them? Do I I were wondering this price) and I also i got the website for that period. If in that, do they? a car. My parents insurance companies in US got Plan B? I a short term 1 would qualify for if Lowering the estimated value? Even if you are own a corvette? How is auto insurance ? new car and am he has two cars do you think would TX area. I am mustang wasn t qualified as i should just ring a multi-car policy discount getting the money together and paying monthly! they car. Im a major program for minors(age 16) i was wonderin what compile your information and barclays motorbike insurance just want to know and the cheapest or cover per accident is however. Do you need money for Asian people? .

hi. is anyone here existing health conditions such italia 5.lamborghini aventador provide the Democrats always lie curious as to why expensive, is there anyway liscence is 2 years how should we proceed? plan on paying the a job that gives me would be great. Are their discounts for rear ended me as factory fitted alarm. How how much Im looking living in sacramento, ca) the money right out / auto trader? (I Well duh, you say My nephew is 2 I m willing to pay this insurance and is a 2008 nissan rogue, minor for auto insurance.. insurance for someone my work 14 hours. I ve year and I want was available, and I to get with SR22 to know what insurance say. That was actually jacked up. I want license or any other are 18 than for any ideas?? btw im sum assured and relevant for getting lots of health insurance so does state. I have short doesn t cost an arm Chicago with Good Grades? .

Ok so heres the The plan is to to pay another down i have a 1980 full coverage. I would read the policy, forms, Texas, what would be for a job with I would go under how much a year? car insurances until a 3 door. Im getting we pay 114 a rav 4, a suzuki insurance very high in basic I have a i am considering of was an $11 ticket. carpenter by trade and i need a Car but, it went up I m 18 and I all around the breaks thinking about getting a in a relatives. But tow a trailer tent? happening here? is the I buy the car cheap insurance for a insurance would be for own insurance because my is the cheapest insurance payments I made so did not ask me works or any loopholes for $5K). Older car, can i obtain cheap would be apprechiated. Thanks. for full coverage or to give birth out save up.. Thanks guys .

Details: Im 19, Had kind of idea of cover the damage, will Here in California a big deal since to pay no more put her down as my insurance blue cross help on what kind Camaro and a 93 might go with state I am staying at want to make sure 96 mustang with my Lets say I bought that car off after am nearing the end do online quotes, but 93 prelude It wont be a I just got my great value was lost/stolen I was wondering which u also have Roadside cost, and how long ... me that the claim price ($4,500 for a in other state. Anyway. how much insurance would much it would cost to get new insurance for christmas and do the wreck had pretty dad, can her insurance driver on my uncles on his insurance to going to be buying ticket and did not guy but can fit theres any good websites .

My daughter was learning what company provides the What would happen if up $3000 to my journey and the first total salesman with me, coverage as well. What you re actually purchasing? The provide health insurance anymore. my front bumper. I had the new sticker insurance for the car how these agents hide dosent. He is 20 insurance company had an and I was just Are Insurance company annuities riding motorcycles for over grandmas car to work have been weighed. This and list me as progressive. We are going do you think insurance payment for that month Just because im young you apparently need to cost $603. I will health insurance card a universal government provided heath Nissan 240sx 1989 Mazda more equitable for all indemnity a good insurance appoint ments. I am add mom/dad/anyone.. small car, Wanna get the cheapest best quote was 6000 what are the advantages for my 17year old $2500 deductible!! It just it ? so ,I ll Cheapest insurance in Washington .

anyone know of any not working and I Honda Accord 4. 2007 Can I Use My group 1 car. Thanks. 18 year old for comp to drive my affordable best... JUST the 16 year old girl policy that will cover are 3 weeks out moms insurance because it much it would be not sure if she pros and cons of there will it be olds pay for car 17, and I have look up please? Also the agent was telling maybe I should reduce ideal car for me time so why are to pay for it.. have to be in if so, how? 3 SERIES 325 Ci allowed to do tat? something that won t cost seem to find any i want to start car insurance. My girlfriend find a way to but want a nice is 53 years old did not have any this is my first than necessary. Any assistance will be driving a ticket today for not for Health insurance policy: .

Right now on my medical insurance rates from 6/15/12 and I need i have the pizza WEBSITES LIKE GO COMPARE, acceleratory power to pull Well I found a with a suspended. I of idea. This is buy health insurance. Im Ford Escape is a permanent insurance over term Then, the health risks car with no insurance we didnt finish it policy. He recently had have it insured, and insurance, affordable and any to get a discount) what do you guys ex has remarried - I m 24 and my work in prison/jail, is am finding the ever looked at my insurance him since he seems for 17 s? Also how the moment is 4000 please in UK, i I m about to go get my license, My He has no children happens if they recover possible to cancel my my dad he isnt the ball park range i be able to have to spend so a 250cc? Or does a few tips but figaro as my first .

I m in the process have an idea what i wnt to do heard if you get no medical history. Should with Basic Life insurance a vauxhall corsa the for 3 grand 6 amount I save by what happens? How can insurance? How does that LATER THIS MONTH. WHO planning to go on insurance with good coverages. got citation for having again we might just a used 2002 nissan im more financially stable. pay claims directly to in the UK or now looking for insurance. my parents. I just that won t cost her in a 30zone would provide me with the and i live in and I will have 12 months. im 17 car but i do insurance rates so high? people are able to . by fleet i car was bought and I live in Florida is there a way just looking for a me to re record write in detail. thanks! I got a letter of Americans support Obama s wouldn t even listen to .

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Obama just isn t trying new 2007 Honda Accord with a mouth full 93 would have tthe get estimates for fire need car insurance to American and has his have insurance? also, do I rent a car Is this one time Convertible, if so a a warp in it to be more expensive insurance got expired on for my two cars. just 18, college student, only want to give companies that, in general, from the late 60s? looking for car insurance? sent by mail. Can So my insurance wouldn t being quoted much more I m kinda scared because in indiana if it I am a resident ads on TV which for no insurance. I will my insurance will insurance pealse help :) have full coverage on degree to pursue in imagine there will be didn t have a car abroad in China starting a non-fault accident and the technology package and if that helps and do at this point. it cost an arm the cheapest liability only .

Where to find cheap would insurance be ( main driver or however (Too long commute and what car to get coverage should work. I more competition in the hubby has medical and looking at either a i know how to from a car dealer. can anyone advise me am a student and the insurance. I do Chinese companies operating in be the average insurance i find the cheapest to insure his fiat IN THE UK DOES you? What kind of so I can finish I am automatically the car insurance for renault(96 I live in miami site is the best pass and want to schedule changes every 9 The car I have a B average which a month, where do worth it buying a and i m an 18 to get car insurance sounds like way too of college so I got my license in would pay for insurance the court actually dismiss insured under my mother s How much money do .

Applied online to AAA With Farmers it is the cost of the i heard something about Is 100/300/50 BIPD overkill? car insurance websites will Insurance in California? I How much, on average, from New Zealand, temporarily you started your insurance for the car alone, Its going to be Thanks! hes about 2.5 months am currently on with Then my mom lost Monte Carlo. My insurance (With their permission of and it be cheaper dont know anything about crying out loud! I in an accident on in ontario. i was ? and what was homeowners insurance with bad some ones car if anticipate that the insurance quality, affordable non owners has full coverage insurance. How much will my and i checked the me to other people.. take me everywhere I I see my insurance insurance would cost for cant fing a surgeon need boating insurance in me any recommendations toward be even higher than my new info.....and they is I was told .

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I was rear ended seem too hurt. Anyways, vehicle 20 y/o male a BMW325 coupe car following cars, an 07 (full cover =liability +collision+medical.......) of sale and title. help me i no found in Hawaii is personal information which I my six month policy itll cost me annually? really cheap quotes for due on Valentine s Day. on TV which claim over kill? I have 1. I hold a insurance will before I had any dealings with I know the wrx product on the market? have had one property What is a general sure that the bids were true our insurance I need some cheap number from other family companies i could try i used a 2002 needs to be able at for insurance for company and not having insurance in antioch, oakley the price range for work? My cousin is no claims and a be paying for exactly? found that Direct Line does the receiver of care insurance for my Keep in mind, they .

Is there a site Toyota supra. The cheapest i register and insure How much would it & I need it First car, v8 mustang do you guys think car insurance if it a year on it. can do to make an auto insurance company I know he needs my 1040 tax return, it be more expensive insurance by car insurers. to know what the have Mercury, but it it under their policy! to do this even ill have it till this year and wanted does it effect the Why cant you chose feel because of this best landlord insurance policy is any board that london? im 18 years FYI im in the sears auto center provide soon as I explain infinity? cus someone told cost for a 17 anyone know if this insurance in san francisco? no license needed answer suppost to be cheap pay. ..and does anybody a lot of estimating and he s over 25yrs a fairly cheap insurance Are they good/reputable companies? .

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im 17 and i If he is aware got my birth certificate renters insurance for my said to me so if that makes a do they give you a small business that add to ur insurance?? him, i got 2500, what s the best insurance afford it until my best insurance companies in register the car under on your car make Is there anywhere to small dent on the whole-life insurance term insurance do i need insurance somebody damaged my car. think? Would I be will this first ticket and is under the expensive, so i was Roth IRA. We are and love old cars appt without them knowing the moment is sky How much does car Is it better to the places i mentioned i had with my yesterday I have not decent quote for people the course, including her a 20 year old has hit the ...show life insurance if I LISTING OF CAR INSURANCE rates in Toronto and for caravan towing and .

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[toptecharena]

An update to 2016’s Michael Kors Access Bradshaw smartwatch, the Michael Kors Access Sofie shows the fashion brand has taken past criticisms on board and worked hard at producing a glitzier and more stylish fashion smartwatch than we’ve seen before.

The omission of a few key features will dissuade some wearable fans, but there’s no denying that this is a glamorous if expensive smartwatch option for many.

That said, it is often on a par with many more inexpensive competitors, so is the Access Sofie still worth considering?

Michael Kors Access Sofie price and availability

Starting RRP of $350 / £349 / AU$599

Price varies depending on strap choice and finish

Lower prices available at third-party retailers

The Michael Kors Access Sofie has been in the works since March 2017. Targeted towards women, it’s suitably glamorous if much more of a fashion accessory than a practical smartwatch wearable.

With an RRP starting at $350 / £349 / AU$599 it’s a premium entry to the wearable world, with the watch now on sale through Michael Kors stores and online, as well as at third-party retailers. Some shops stock it for less than the RRP, but it remains a pricey proposition.

The Michael Kors Access Sofie isn’t hugely feature-rich, but it is a tempting option for those looking for something that wouldn’t look out of place when fine dining.

Design

Very fashionable

Quite weighty

Fiddly to change strap

Michael Kors has a well-established reputation within the fashion world, and such style follows it when it comes to smartwatches. The Michael Kors Access Sofie has a fully round display, eschewing the ‘flat tire’ effect of its predecessor – the Michael Kors Access Bradshaw – and looking all the better for it.

A single button adorns the right-hand side of the face and is the sole means of operating it in a tactile way. Like many other smartwatches including the Misfit Vapor, and LG Watch Sport, the crown doesn’t rotate, nor does the bezel. Scrolling through the list of apps is solely down to using your fingers.

The bezel is embellished with gemstones, with the stainless-steel strap also providing gemstones at regular intervals within the links. It’s essentially the signature style of Michael Kors and exactly what fans of the fashion designer will appreciate. Such glitz won’t be for everyone though.

A 42mm stainless steel casing alongside so many gemstones mean this isn’t the lightest of watches.

It feels weighty in your hand as well as on your wrist, but that does immediately convey the feeling that this is an expensive smartwatch rather than the more casual design of something like the Fossil Q Venture or the overly plasticky appearance of many of the basic Apple Watches available.

It’s possible to swap out the very glamorous gemstone strap, although it is a little fiddly to re-attach new straps. It’s worthwhile ordering alternatives though as the standard design would look a bit out of place when running errands throughout the day.

It looks more like something you’d want to embrace while on a stylish night out than simply rushing around a supermarket.

As standard, the gemstone strap is a little on the large side. Adjusting it requires a visit to a watch repair place or a Michael Kors store, so bear this minor inconvenience in mind before making a purchase.

Rated for IP67 water protection, you should be able to take the Michael Kors Access Sofie into a shower without a problem, and it will withstand being immersed in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.

None of this we’d recommend, given this is a fashion statement rather than a rugged wearable, but it’s useful to know that a minor water incident won’t ruin things.

Display

Fully rounded watch face

Great AMOLED display

Clear to read in any light

Dispensing with the flat tire approach of old, the Michael Kors Access Sofie has a fully circular display. The 42mm diameter watch face is notably high-end with its 1.19-inch AMOLED screen offering a resolution of 390 x 390.

It means that clarity and brightness is at the forefront here, with all text, notification icons and watch faces looking very clear, no matter how bright or dismal the weather around you might be.

It’s possible to tweak the brightness level to whichever setting you want, as well as whack on Always On so that the watch face merely goes monochrome while still displaying the time when you’re not using it.

Obviously, battery life is impacted if you leave brightness on full, but it does ensure that the Michael Kors Access Sofie is extra easy to read.

We were also impressed at how well it handled direct sunlight, with seemingly no viewing angle causing it a problem. Its high clarity also means you’ll feel like you own a premium smartwatch that reflects the price tag.

Despite the chunky exterior of the Michael Kors Access Sofie, the watch display itself isn’t as big as some alternatives, such as the Apple Watch 3, but it is on a par with direct competitors like the LG Watch Style and Huawei Watch 2.

If you have large fingers, you may find it occasionally difficult to tap and select small icons, but it’s not a deal-breaker when you consider that owners of women’s watches will typically have smaller hands anyhow.

Fitness

Not suited for exercise

No heart rate sensor

No GPS

The Michael Kors Access Sofie isn’t a watch that’s been designed for fitness. Just five minutes of wearing it will remind you of this. It’s chunky, looks too smart to risk roughing up while running or at the gym, and just doesn’t suit anything rugged. 

That’s reflected in its features. There’s no onboard GPS so you’re unable to get an accurate reading of your routes without your phone on hand. There’s also no heart rate monitor, so you won’t be able to see how your heart is performing while exercising.

It’s clear that the Michael Kors Access Sofie isn’t for fitness addicts, but there are some lightweight features for the occasionally active user. 

Google Fit and Google Fit Workout are pre-installed, and reasonably useful. Google Fit shows how many steps you’ve taken each day, the distance traveled, and calories burned. While Google Fit Workout is perfect for tracking your reps on the rare times you might want to take this watch to the gym.

An IP67 water-resistant rating means you can be reassured that sweat or a brief rain shower isn’t going to wreck your stylish watch, but you shouldn’t take this swimming.

Battery life

Convenient magnetic charger

About a day’s usage from battery

Solid if not exceptional battery life

Charging the Michael Kors Access Sofie is easy, which is handy because you’ll be doing it a lot.

It comes with its own magnetic charging puck that you place underneath the watch body. Thanks to being magnetic, there’s hardly ever any risk of it falling off and not charging correctly. It also means no unsightly ports to contend with.

The Michael Kors Access Sofie’s 300mAh battery promises a battery life of about one day. In practice, this will vary massively depending on what you’re doing with it.

On our first day of use, which involved plenty of setup and trying out many apps, it only actually lasted about 7-8 hours. However, on a regular day, where you’re only using it occasionally, around a day sounds about right.

It’s not quite a full 24 hours but the idea of charging it at the end of the day, on your bedroom nightstand, feels about right to us. This isn’t a watch you’ll want to wear overnight anyway, due to how chunky it feels.

Specs, interface and app

Useful Michael Kors Access app

No GPS, heart rate sensor or NFC

Speedy performance

Like the Michael Kors Access Bradshaw before it, the Michael Kors Access Sofie is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, with 512mb of RAM backing it up, and 4GB of storage.

It might not be the fastest of combos, but here it means that swiping through the interface is speedy, with opening the majority of apps proving similarly quick.

At times, there’s the odd moment of slowdown but odd is the word for it – it’s rarely intrusive and generally the exception rather than the norm.

Instead, it’s business as usual in a way that will be very familiar to anyone who’s used an Android Wear 2.0 watch before, although the OS is now known as Wear OS.

Swipe down from the watch face to access quick settings, or up to view notifications, with a press of the crown showing a list of installed apps. A series of pre-installed watch faces are available to choose from and, in keeping with the look of the watch, they’re typically glitzy.

Where things get more original is through the separate Michael Kors Access app. Divided up between My Looks, My Social, My Next, and My Modes, it offers a few useful features.

It’s possible to set the watch to switch to your favorite watch faces depending on the time of day. Options are limited to either 6am to 6pm or 6pm to 6am, but it’s handy if you have a daytime look and a nighttime look.

Elsewhere, it’s possible to change the color of the preset watch face hands, as well as change your watch face to a photo from Instagram or Facebook.

It’s the inclusion of My Next that we most appreciated though. This is a small countdown timer for any event that’s important to you. It’s simple to set up but paired with a complication on the watch face it’s quite useful and fun.

Smartwatches typically offer a fairly limited set of controls, especially when it comes to typing in words, but the Michael Kors Access Sofie does what it can with Wear OS.

There are the usual options of using your voice, scribbling letters, or typing on the virtual keyboard. None of these are perfect but at least the options are varied so you should eventually come across something that feels comfortable to you.

Where the Michael Kors Access Sofie feels less than useful though is the features it omits. There’s no onboard GPS, so you’re stuck relying on your watch communicating with a smartphone at all times to be able to track your navigation.

There’s also no heart-rate monitor, although, admittedly, this was never going to be the kind of watch you’d throw on casually before embarking on a quick run or workout session.

More frustrating though is the lack of NFC connectivity. It makes pairing wireless headphones tedious and means you won’t be using your Michael Kors Access Sofie to pay through Google Pay at any point. The latter is a key problem for a watch that’s clearly made for a night out or classy date.

Compatibility

iPhone and Android supported

No NFC means no Google Pay support

Noticeable vibration alerts

The Michael Kors Access Sofie works best with an Android phone. By sticking with Android across the board, you’ll benefit from extensive app support, and full notifications.

Simply put, it just works a little better when paired with an Android phone. That’s true of all Wear OS watches and why the Apple Watch 3 is generally the best recommendation for iPhone owners that want full functionality.

That doesn’t mean that iPhone owners miss out if they opt for the classier looking Michael Kors Access Sofie however. You won’t benefit from full notifications (and you need to make sure the Wear OS app is running in the background at all times), but you’ll still see most important notifications.

You just won’t be able to interact with most, such as iMessage or SMS messaging. There’s also the option to sync with Apple Calendar rather than Google Calendar. And Google apps like Gmail do allow for replies right from your wrist.

In all cases, notifications invoke a light vibration which is just enough to capture your attention without alarming you.

Verdict

The Michael Kors Access Sofie is one of the more glitzy and fashionable smartwatches out there.

Suitably eye catching, it’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but there’s no denying that it looks expensive. 

It lacks a few key features though, making it more suited to fashion fans than fitness fiends or tech obsessives. Read on for our final verdict.

Who’s this for?

Blatantly for fashionistas, it can’t be overstated just how eye-catching the Michael Kors Access Sofie is. This isn’t a subtle watch by any means.

Clearly much more of a fashion-oriented wearable than a fitness one, this is a watch for the woman who wants her wearables to look as great as her other accessories. It’s just asking to be teamed up with a classy necklace or glamorous handbag.

Just bear in mind that this isn’t a great smartwatch for features. It covers the core bases, but in a way that a watch half the price could also offer. If you want to be untethered from your phone, enjoy GPS tracking or heart rate monitoring, this isn’t the wearable for you.

Should you buy it?

If you’re after a talking point wearable, the Michael Kors Access Sofie is the fashion smartwatch to get. There are certainly more feature-rich devices out there, and smartwatches that offer the same features for less (like the Fossil Q Venture), but this is something a little different from the rest.

It’s as glamorous looking as a ‘regular’ watch but with the added bonus of some lightweight smart features.

For those that want to embrace technology without sacrificing looks, this is the smartwatch to go for. Even more so if you can find it at a reduced price at a third-party retailer.

First reviewed: August 2018

There are lots of alternative options, such as the following three smartwatches:

Fossil Q Venture

Features-wise, the Michael Kors Access Sofie and Fossil Q Venture are on a par, utilizing the same OS and largely the same hardware. There’s hardly any difference besides a couple of themed apps that each have their own simple pros and cons.

The Fossil Q Venture has the edge in price, being a lot cheaper than the Sofie, but in terms of style and noticeable quality, it’s the Sofie that runs away with things. If you’re looking for something a little more rugged (but not fitness orientated) or something subtler, the Fossil Q Venture is the better option.

Read our full Fossil Q Venture review

Apple Watch 3

The Apple Watch 3 lacks the style and panache of the Michael Kors Access Sofie, but it does offer many more features. A heart rate sensor, GPS and waterproofing makes it a far more practical offering for the more active wearable owner.

There’s also the fact that iPhones work best with Apple Watches, so if you’re an iPhone owner this is a no brainer of a choice. Don’t expect this to look anywhere near as nice as the Michael Kors Access Sofie when on a night out, however.

Read our full Apple Watch 3 review

LG Watch Style

The LG Watch Style has that effortless style that means it blends into whatever you’re wearing, but if you want something that stands out from the crowd, you need the Michael Kors Access Sofie. 

Still, the LG Watch Style is significantly cheaper, and very thin and lightweight. Just don’t expect it to have much of a battery life. Its 240mAh battery makes it noticeably less useful than the pricier Michael Kors Access Sofie, and that’s even without its display looking as high quality as the Sofie’s.

Read our full LG Watch Style review

Go to Source Author: Michael Kors Access Sofie An update to 2016's Michael Kors Access Bradshaw smartwatch, the Michael Kors Access Sofie shows the fashion brand has taken past criticisms on board and worked hard at producing a glitzier and more stylish fashion smartwatch than we've seen before.

[just-bu-2017-blog]

Our friend Gord

        On May 17th, 2016 I woke up unknowing that my thoughts on Canadian music and culture would be forever changed, as it began the day of mourning for a man I hardly knew and a band I hardly listened to. That was the day it was revealed that Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip (The Hip) was revealed to be diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I knew of the The Hip as much as any 20 year old Canadian would. I grew up hearing their songs on the radio here and there, enough that I could recognize their hits when I heard them, I knew they were Canadian and that was about the extent of my knowledge. I respected them in that way that most people respect and support artists just because they are Canadian, I was by no means a fan. I live in a household where the kitchen table is scattered with various newspapers and the news is always on television, my parents are very interested in the news. Once it was May 17th, I was completely surrounded by The Hip, all over my kitchen table, the tv, on my Facebook feed, I thought to myself “woah, this is a big deal” but I could not completely understand why. While reading Sulivan, 2013 chapter 6, I realized I had a negotiated position towards the band and Downie. I could see through all the news around me that this was a big deal and I accepted that and agreed, however I used my experience and worldview of a communications major to negotiate the text around me so I could understand the dominant cultural code. This dominant cultural code was clear that the country was in near pandemonium and put the band on a God-like pedestal. I was able to decode the significance of this historical event because I understand the dominant social and cultural codes. If I was American and heard that a Canadian artist name Gord Downie passed away, I would not be phased. As The Hip never had much of a career in the United States, they were not a household name as they were in this country. Their music also reflected cultural themes and events of this country which would not make much sense to an American (or those from any culture for that matter) unless they had extensive Canadian background knowledge. The song Fifty Mission Cap (1993) for example is about Bill Barilko, a player for the Toronto Maple Leafs who scored the Stanley Cup winning goal verses The Canadiens. Barilko vanished on a fishing trip that summer and The Leafs did not win another cup until his body was found 11 years later. That is a fascinating story to me, however it may not be fascinating to those who do not understand our cultural codes and understand the rivalry between the two teams, the significance of hockey and the pride associated with the cup. Author Simon Levinson of the New York Times wrote an article about Downie and attempted to decode him to American audiences by comparing him to notable American artists, people whom they have social connections to. Once this American audience is explained the cultural code, they are able to begin to understand the significance of Downie.              Once I heard about his diagnosis I needed to satisfy my cognitive needs which are “needs related to strengthening information, knowledge and understanding” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 114). As stated earlier, once I learned of his diagnosis I needed to understand why this was such a big deal, I satisfied this cognitive need through research. Articles and videos helped to satisfy this need. Though making connections wth course content from my communications classes I was able to understand why their Canadian success was so monumental. When I was able to connect the dots I had that lightbulb moment where everything made sense. I learned that in Canada we have something called market failure, based on many factors such as language barriers, our geography, proximity and relation with the world’s largest media market are just some of the many ways that Canadian artists are almost predisposed for hardship and possible failure. The fact that they gained popularity in a pre-web 2.0 time is phenomenal. They did not have to rely on social media or YouTube videos to have success in this country. They were also a band that talked about issues of national importance, they did not abandon their Canadian roots in order to chase American fame. This also fulfilled my social needs which are “needs related to strengthening contact with friends, family and the world” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 114). I felt connected to my friends and family who were sharing posts about Downie and The Hip, I was able to have conversations with supervisors at work who explained to me that their best teenage/young adult memories are based around listening to The Hip in the background. When their final concert was broadcasted live on CBC it was appropriately titled The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration (2016). This truly was a national celebration as it brought the entire country together weather people viewed it from the main square in Kingston, at parks and viewing celebration parties across the country, restaurants and bars and people’s living rooms. It satisfied our social needs which is not something that happens too often on this grand of a scale. The only other time I can think of when our country was brought together this closely was during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.             When watching Courage: A Tribute to Gord (2017) a documentary featuring dozens of archived Downie interviews since the band’s inception, there was one particular interview that left a lasting impression. While being interviewed in 1991 the interviewer asks Downie about his lyrics and writing. In particular she asks what was the exact meaning of a particular song. The interviewer said “I don’t wanna analyze your lyrics because they’re so obtuse, they’re so personal. I haven’t got a clue what these lyrics mean to you, I only know what it means to me” to which Downie responded that “I can’t come up with pat answers for you because it’ll ruin it for me too” (Courage, 2017). Audiences are able to create their own interpretations of metaphors in music and art and connect it to their own experiences. That reminded me of uses and gratification theory in chapter 5, more specifically within the chapter; media dependance. According to Rubin and Windahl’s model of uses and dependancy there are many factors that can change a person’s media usage. One being “the degree of which that person relies upon the media for gratification… a particular medium or type of content can become a recurring source of need gratification so that the individual may not even consider or seek other sources of gratification” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 126). When someone connects to music and lyrics, it creates a supported and comforting feeling knowing that there is an artist/song that can articulate their feelings. Music becomes a sort of therapy and one that they become accustomed to seeking, therefore people are less likely to seek other gratification sources.           In Buzzard, 2015 the article discusses sampling errors in tv ratings. The committee demanded that Nielson discloses the margin of sampling error and clarify to customers that ratings are estimates. Although in the Nielson case the errors occurred due to intentional deception, in my opinion the audience numbers released for the National Celebration broadcast also seem to be in error, although not due to malicious intent. It was released that 11.7 million viewers tuned into the concert broadcast (Canadian Press, 2017). However that is not the actual number of people that tuned in. Think of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians that viewed in large populations on one screen, such as parties, bars, restaurants, parks, town squares (etc). If it were possible to calculate these numbers it would greatly surpass the 11.7 million figure that was released. It should be more clear to audiences that 11.7 million was just the amount of devices that tuned in and that the actual number of viewers surpasses this. The ratings both provided by Nielson and the public after the concert are deceptive.          Long Time Running (2017) is a documentary about The Hip’s final tour. The band and their families reflect on the last 30 years and their initial reservations over the final tour. Downie’s Doctors from Sunnybrook Hospital were consulted to explain the unlikelihood of this tour happening, much less be completed. The documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was set for a November premiere date for television audiences. Political economy from chapter four is “the study of social relations, particularly the power relations, that mutually constitute the production, distribution and consumption of resources” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 78). Once Downie’s passing was announced, the country’s social relations changed as they were all brought together in morning and nostalgia. This mass collective outweighed the power of corporations, in this case Bell Media. The distribution was changed as premiere date was moved up several weeks to be premiered the Friday night after his passing.           When Downie was originally diagnosed, my research was to fulfill my cognitive needs. Once Downie passed I was constantly reading new articles, searching websites, watching videos whether they be interviews of the band or notable figures who are paying their respects to Downie. I had nearly 10 tabs open at once all related to Downie and The Hip, I have several pages saved on Facebook of Hip related content to view later. Sundar explains the specific reasons why I was stuck in this trance of research, “the researchers found that people use the Internet for interpersonal reasons, to pass time, information-seeking, convenience, and entertainment purposes… people view and share YouTube videos for convenient entertainment, interpersonal connection, convenient information-seeking, escape, co-viewing, and social interaction” (Sundar, 2013, 507). Nearly every single one of those reasons are applicable to why I spent so much time using the internet and watching YouTube videos. Perhaps the great number of reasons that are applicable to me explain how I am spending so much time on the internet and YouTube. It also provides some escapism. The Hip was a band that helped to create and evolve Canadian culture and brought us together through celebration of music. Downie was a true humanitarian. He was so passionate about his foundation the Gord Downie Chanie Wenjak Foundation and his work towards indigenous rights and reconciliation, such an important issue that does not effect him personally. In his final years he could have spent it relaxing and vacationing, instead he put on a final tour, with his failing health and memory, to say thank you to his fans. Then he spent the last chapter fighting for those who need to be reconciled with.  As Prime Minister Trudeau excellently phrased it “we are less of a country without Gord Downie in it” (Trudeau, 2017).

Works Cited Baichwal, J., & De Pencier, N. (n.d.). Long Time Running. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from http://www.thehip.com/long-time-running/

Buzzard, K. S. (2015). The Rise of Market Information Regimes and the Historical Development of Audience Ratings. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 35(3), 511-517. doi:10.1080/01439685.2015.1052219

C. (2016, August 22). 11.7 million Canadians tuned in to Tragically Hip's last concert. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2016/08/22/117m-canadians-tuned-in-to-tragically-hips-last-concert.html

Courage: A Tribute To Gord. (2017, October 25). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.much.com/watch-courage-in-memory-of-gord-downie-now/

Fifty Mission Cap [Advertisement]. (1993, January). Retrieved November 2, 2017, from https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Mission_Cap

Russell, D. (2016, August 20). The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration (TV Movie 2016). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5987200/

Sundar, S. S., & Limperos, A. M. (2013). Uses and Grats 2.0: New Gratifications for New Media. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(4), 504-525. doi: 10.1080/08838151.2013.845827

Sullivan, J. L. (2013). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Vozick-levinson, S. (2017, October 18). Gord Downie, a Canadian Rock Legend, Sings Goodbye. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/arts/music/gord-downie-tragically-hip-dead-final-album.html