#but i think the power dynamic going on under the surface is much more bizarre and weighted in mumbo’s favor than it seems at first glance

[mumblesplash]

i know it’s like years old at this point but i love that one collab mumbo and grian did with tommyinnit bc it’s like the single most concentrated example i’ve seen of mumbo’s Chaos Nullification Powers

you get to see a bit of it on hermitcraft, mostly via his interactions with grian, but until seeing that collab it didn’t really hit me just how completely mumbo can no-sell other people’s attempts to control a situation. tommyinnit is possibly the single shoutiest, most chaotic minecraft youtuber out there, and in most videos i’ve seen he pretty much overwhelms everyone else and sets the tone for interactions because of this. but mumbo just. doesn’t let him. no matter how much tommy escalates in intensity, mumbo reacts with *exactly* the same energy he always does. grian largely comes across in the whole video as annoyed and reluctant to engage with the whole thing, but mumbo’s not even affected. he just rolls with anything he finds funny and basically ignores anything he disapproves of, only seeming more and more unflappable the harder anyone tries to get a rise out of him.

AND imo, this is the key to my favorite interpretation of him as a character

see, when the people around him are being more reasonable/calm, i think mumbo often comes across as anxious and a bit easily overwhelmed. the thing is, his nervous wet cat vibes do not scale. he has one setting. his responses to the last life ‘ah-ha!’ jokes and to hermitcraft 8 starting to crumble to pieces under a falling moon are almost identical.

mumbo jumbo is inexorably and eternally Just Some Guy, but that gets stranger and stranger the weirder his surroundings become. the giggly incredulousness that makes him an easy target for goofy puns looks Very different when it’s also his reaction to the impending end of the world.

[compassion-of-a-lightner]

I guess I'm sleep deprived enough having not slept for 4 days to make a post about this.

People who entirely write off Asgore as a character worth caring about in any respect, what's up?

I should clarify.

This is not directed to people who fully consider his story in UT, or the implications in DR and come out of it going "I don't forgive him and therefore don't like him"

It's more to the weirdly hostile voices I see that are just like, entirely dismissive of his story and just go "Haha, he sucks. Definitely no nuance here! Just shitty! Every other character is worth the world and Asgore is a piece of shit forever and should die lmao" and like, did you play the same game?

Because I feel like you're just robbing yourself of a whole ass dynamic of the story in UT just to go "Haha, he's a lame divorced shithead and murderer, Toriel deserves better uwu" and like, that's not the point? OBVIOUSLY she does? Because she decided he's not for her in both games for different reasons? That doesn't delete his story from the game(s) or make it less valuable to consider?

Also good for her (in UT), the dumbass goes kid killer and you tell him to go fly a kite.

But like, seriously man. Asgore has one of the most hefty 'crumbling under the weight of the world' narratives to his story in UT.

He's in charge of giving all monsters a better life, and he's looked deep inside, witnessed his son killed by humanity, witnessed the (supposed) best chance at peace between humanity and monsters pass with Chara, and he's decided that the only hope to provide for those he cares about is to give up his own 'humanity' and gather the power of human souls to break through... AND HE CAN'T EVEN DO THAT BECAUSE HE CAN'T BRING HIMSELF TO BECOME THE MONSTER HE HATES!

(Yes he kills though, I mean finish the plan, we'll get to that)

Like cut and dry, it's a pretty shit plan bud. But it's born from a place of deep compassion and a sense of significant loss that made him desperate.

(some of these details might be too fuzzy from a long time since playing but the general point remains)

He doesn't know all the facts.

He doesn't know everything about Chara.

He doesn't know that Chara, while fused with Asriel, wanted to commit violence against Humanity for what they did to the monsters.

He didn't know that Asriel died because he fought against this.

He didn't know so much of the story. All he saw was his adopted child dying with a simple wish to see the flowers again, and humanity attacking like the beasts they claimed monsters were when his son attempted to fulfill that wish.

He saw humanity's darkest, and questioned why monsters were the ones locked below. And he saw what Asriel and Chara were able to accomplish together so he made a plan.

His plan rings the same tones of most 'last chance' narratives. There IS no other way out from what he's witnessed. Chara and Asriel WERE the good option out, and it didn't work.

The good ending was attempted, and denied. So he looked at his options and there really weren't many.

Either die underground, or kill to make the surface their home.

And upon finally building up the determination to put his plan in motion, he couldn't do it.

He killed, and immediately had too much regret to follow through.

He shut down, he crumbled under the pressure, he saw the blood on his hands and he realized he wasn't able to hate strongly enough to use the soul to break through and attack humanity as a whole.

As Toriel said in the true end, he could have gone with 1 soul, but he hid away and hoped that no more humans would come.

His true plan was to end his plan. To live in regret of the life he stole and never see another human again, and out of fear of revealing his failure to his people, out of fear of admitting to them that they would never see the surface again, he hid from his responsibility because it would demand he become a true monster. He claimed to need more power, and hoped no one would come to confront them.

He locked himself into the responsibilities of a mad king, to kill and gather power whenever a new human arrives. For nothing.

To continuously bloody his hands in the hopes of never doing so again, all because he's too 'weak' to just go up top and become the Mercy-less monster he truly believed needed to exist to free them.

And all the sadness and regret, but hollow determination to continue on his path is so STRONG in his story, man! It's TERRIBLE!

He hates what he's become; He shows no joy at the thought of fighting Frisk. He's built an empty responsibility all in the hope of never killing again, and the world keeps laughing at him as it tosses more lives his way.

He wants to help his people, but he doesn't want to hurt the humans.

He was a good person presented with a perspective of the 'facts' that laid bare a world of disgusting hate, a world that can't be reasoned with, a world without Mercy. And after having lost his only children to this world, he gave in to his own weakness and decided to play by the rules- to also fight without Mercy.

AND. FAILED.

He's both entirely convinced that the world has no mercy, and is entirely unable to relinquish his own.

All while bitterly tending to an evil he resents to its core, all while hoping to be left alone and never be asked to shed blood again, all while truly believing he must do so- in these circumstances- if he is to protect the lives on the surface and maintain even a semblance of his mercy in the grand scheme of things.

Let them live and risk the humans finding out he killed in the first place, risk the humans coming underground to kill them all. Risk repeating what happened with Asriel, but for them all because of blood on his hands.

Kill them, for no gain, and continue the facade- continue telling everyone you're almost strong enough to kill those on the surface. Continue lying, so that the monsters are safe, and the humans are as well. All at the cost of another child. IT SUCKS IT'S FUCKING BAD MAN.

It's what makes it so touching that you can convince him through your intense determination to break the rules of this mercy-less world! You're unending compassion and inability to accept 'no' for an answer in regards to cherishing life provides him with new hope!

It's a glimpse of a person with true unending mercy that convinces him that the world can be changed- Frisk and the player's actions convince him that he was mistaken. That it never had to be the original plan, and the reason he couldn't think of a new one is because succumbing to the act of murder had destroyed his sense of hope- he wasn't the right person to come up with a plan to free the monsters after that because it was simply too damaging to his ability to hope or dream of a better future.

He needed convinced.

He needed to be shown that the world can have mercy in it, that it can be compassionate.

Things he once believed were possible, and a reality that was torn from him with the loss of his kids- revitalized as you step through to make it happen.

IT'S GOOD, OKAY.

AND ASGORE IS INTEGRAL TO IT AND IS A TRAGIC FIGURE WITHIN IT.

Anyways you can still hate him, you're opinions are you own and he sucks at being a good dude. The dude killed kids (in UT), you remember that? Fucked up.

I've just been seeing a lot of takes on the guy as some nuance-less bad person when he has so many layers of depth going on that it sounds bizarre to hear him summed up as like "Oh yeah, Asgore is a piece of shit, anyways let's talk about the character depth of Pipis"

I mean come on, Ms. Pipis is right there, talk about her, lol.

[t-o-m-hollands]

Summery: Tom is part of the Firm, a fearless London gang. You are at the wrong place at the wrong time.  

Pairing: Tom and y/n.

Word count: 3k

Themes: Mob!Tom, Peaky Blinders inspired, period piece – this is set in 1961, London.

Warnings:  This story will contain themes such as kidnapping, murder, violence and smut. Also a lot of swearing. Also descriptions of injuries. Also alcohol, smoking and mentions of drugs.  this is a +18 story

A/N: This is a relationship that I wouldn’t recommend in real life. Also, the Firm was the name of the Kray twins gang. I was just too lazy to come up with a name of my own.  

READ PART I HERE

READ PART II HERE 

1961, London.

Years later, when you look back on that night, it doesn’t seem real to you. Your memories like snap shots in a photo album. Just still pictures in your mind of the night that would change the course of your life forever.  

Sherry holding court, arms waving animatedly as she tells her guests a funny story. Flash. Mark’s sullen face, uninterested and dull. Flash. Sherry’s wide and panic-stricken eyes as you heard the gunshots. Flash. Tom’s back, aiming his weapon at Mark. Flash. Sherry bloody body on the floor, forever wide eyed. Flash. Your bloodstained hands as you try to save her. Flash.  

Tom’s hand reaching out for yours.  

His hand had felt surprisingly real in yours. Warm and firm and calloused. When he pulled you up to your feet it felt a lot like being dragged back into reality.  

(Once as a child your father had taken you ice skating. Further out on the lake the ice had broken, and a girl had fallen through. Down beneath the surface she went; into the icy cold water. She would have died, had not one of her friends successfully managed to pull her up to the surface again. 

A part of you wonders if this is what she had felt like then.  Icy cold to the bone and struggling for air; feeling as though the ground itself has broken underneath you.)

But Tom wasn’t your friend. In fact, you had just seen him murder a man in cold blood. You could read no signs of remorse or guilt in his face. You knew then, that this was not the first time he had taken a life. It likely wouldn’t be his last either.  

He’d dragged you back to his car and you’d followed him obediently. It never occurred to you to fight him, there was no point. Not only had you seen him fight boys much bigger than himself on the school yard, but he also had a gun. So, you moved after him, feeling numb all over. Thoughts moving slowly in your head, like your head was full of cotton, and your body seemed to move almost of its own accord. He guided you into the passenger seat of a beat up car, before he got into the driver's seat and then you left East Ham behind you.

 *

Now here you are, captive in a dingy apartment in Mile End; with fading wallpaper and windows so dirty you can hardly see the view outside it. 

It’s filthy.   

With gentle hands he’d lead you to the bathroom where he sits you down. With a wet cloth he washes you clean of blood. Squatting in front of you his hands swipe and scrub until you’re free of red stains, though there is nothing to be done about your pink silk dress.  

There is something so tender in the way he touch you, his face so close to yours, a look of deep concentration on his face. You feel like a wounded and frightened deer as he cleans with great care; as if he’s scared you’ll fall apart at the seams. Any moment now 

A funny unwanted thought strikes you then; if you’re the dear, is he the huntsman?

After you’re clean he leads you out to the living room and he ties you up in a chair and asks you if you are comfortable. There’s shame in his voice and all you can do is stare back at him.  

“Are you in pain?” he asks instead.  

That paused you to think. There is nothing physically wrong with you; no cuts or bruises or broken bones. But numbness was evaporating, and panic started to rise like bile in your throat.   

“No” you answer at last.  

He searches your face for a sign of lying. Content that you’re telling the truth he takes a few steps away from you, turns his back to you, drags a hand through his hair.   

“Look, I don’t want to do this but until I have figured out what to do next you’ll have to stay here, alright?”  

No, you want to say. No of course that’s not alright, let me go!

But you’re cleverer than that. Antagonising him is not the way to get out of this alive. You must stay calm, keep your feelings under control. Even more difficult than that; you must make sure that Tom stays calm too.  

He’s sat down on the threadbare sofa, head in his hands, lost in thought.  

And here is where it can all go wrong. If his thoughts move in the direction that he must get rid of you the easy way, you’re done for. However, if you can steer his mind to a trail where you make it out alive then maybe then you have a chance of survival.  

*** 

“Why did you kill Mark Randall?”   

Outside he can hear people laughing, drunks singing and people fighting. From the apartment next door, he can hear a couple’s argument loud and clear. 

Yet your voice, quiet and gentle as it may be, shakes him like the sound of a gun. There’s something so matter of fact in the way you ask the question and Tom almost wants to laugh. Because here you are, tied up to a chair in his apartment, wearing a blood-splattered pink silk dress; having just witnessed the killings of two people, one of whom was your friend. Yet, you’re as calm as can be. Voice even and soft and your head held high.  

And here he is, and his hands are shaking, and he can feel the panic rising like bile in his throat.  

He looks away from you. To look straight at you feels too much like staring straight into the sun and it burns his eyes to see you like this. It feels surreal. Part from the blood you look like a fucking lady, and the contrast to his dirty apartment; a place he avoids most of the time, is bizarre.  

“Mark hadn’t needed to die if he’d just listened and come with me,” he says eventually.   

“You didn’t want to kill him?” You ask, and Tom sighs. He needs to remain in charge of himself, in charge of the situation. He needs to remember his training.  

Remember who he is, and what he’s capable of.  

So, he stands up and walks over to you, with his hands in his pockets and with a put-on air of nonchalance.  

“I’ve never wanted to kill anyone, princess. Especially not shoot them like that. Hasn’t stopped me though” he says and looks you in the eye. “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t like, because they’re necessary.”  

There’s a warning in his words, you both know it. 

“You’re awfully calm about all this” he says and kneels in front of you, looking up at your face, close enough he can see every detail in your face. A strange and unwelcomed image flashes before his eyes; of a knight kneeling in front of the queen, awaiting her judgement. But it is not fitting, the dynamic all wrong. You have no power here, and he sure is no knight. He doesn’t know which role he’s set to play in your story but he doubts it’s the hero.  

 “You’d prefer it if I screamed?” you ask, and he’s impressed, because your voice doesn’t waver. It’s sounds gentle and steady still. But he sees it in your face. There’s fear in your eyes, buried deep.  There’s a gleam of sweat over your forehead, and he’d bet more than this apartment that your heartbeat is beating like a drum right now.  

“God no” he huffs, “just wondering what you're thinking”. He can’t seem to look away from your face and warning words from half a lifetime ago about not looking straight into the sun comes back to him. Warnings that it will blind you.  

“Well, I’ll have to admit, I’m a bit curious about a few things” 

“Such as?” 

“What did you want with someone like Mark Randall?” 

Tom is taken aback at that, it was not a question he had expected. “He hurt one of my friends,” he says, after some hesitation.   

“So you wanted to hurt him back?”  

“No,” he says. “I just needed some information from him.” He doesn’t know why he’s telling you this. Letting you be a witness to a murder is bad enough. Now he’s sharing strictly confidential information with someone outside the Firm. But talking with you delays the moment where he must leave you and tell Fabien about what happened tonight.  

“I knew Mark, he was not clever nor resourceful. I doubt it very much if he’d have any information to give you.” 

He doesn’t know why you’re doing this, but your calmly delivered questions clears his head. He follows your path, like a light in the fog, guiding the way.   “You’re right, but he wasn’t working on his own initiative. He might have had information on his people” 

“You think he’d part with that information?” 

“I’d make him”.  

You go silent for a moment, and he wonders just how scared you are of him right then. He’s still kneeled in front of you, looking up at you, at the eyes he’s admired since he first saw you in school, a million years ago. You blink, and he’s reminded of the fluttering wings of a butterfly.  

“How was your friend attacked?” you ask, and your choice of question surprises him again.  

“Mark shot him in the arm, though the fucker aimed to kill” 

“Were you with him?” You blink again, another fluttering pair of wings, and Tom wonders if this is what it’s like to be hypnotized.   

“No,” he answers, “no he was on his way to meet me, but Mark was waiting for him and attacked”.  

“And how did Mark know your friend was supposed to be there, at that moment?” 

Your question is asked in such a low and gentle voice, and the full meaning of it doesn’t strike him at first,  

But then, 

“I, I don’t know” he confesses, and the realization startles him. 

 The telephone rings. Loudly it screeches from it’s table and Tom feels like he wakes from a trance. He pulls himself away from you slowly to answer it.

“Yeah?” he says, keeping his eye on you as he speaks into the receiver.  

“Fabien wants a report” Harry tells him.  

“On my way” Tom answers, “but Harry?” 

“What?” 

“You and Sam need to get to Mark Randall’s apartment. There’s two bodies to take care of.” 

Silence on the other end of the line.  

“Why didn’t you take care of it immediately?” his brother asks at last.  

“Was called away, alright?” and before Harry can protest he snaps “Just fucking do it, yeah?” and he hangs up.  

Silence fills the apartment, though the street outside continues to roar in drunken songs and fighting cries.   

“I have to go now,” he says, staring down on the telephone, suddenly unable to look at you.  

“What will they do to me once they realize there’s a witness?” you ask, and the question Tom thought would come before all others is asked at last. Truth is he should have gotten rid of you right then and there in East Ham. He shouldn’t have let a witness live.  It was sloppy and just the kind of sentimental bullshit that would end him in a prison cell one day. 

Truth is Fabien will make him kill you himself, probably in the most brutal fashion he can think of, just to make Tom prove that he hasn’t gone soft. That there’s no sentimentality left in him.  

He couldn’t let you go either. Didn’t trust you wouldn’t run straight home to your daddy and tell him everything. It didn't help that you knew Tom in school, knew his full name and would have no problem pointing him out in a line-up. Then he’d end up in prison, or dead, and Fabien would go after you in ways Tom didn’t even dare imagine. Just the thought of what the man is capable of makes him shiver.   

 “I have to go now” he repeats, ignoring your question. “There’s no use in screaming while I’m away. This is not a friendly neighborhood. They won’t come to your rescue.” 

But before he steps out the door he stops in his tracks.  

“You know, you helped me once,” he says, remembering that time you’d protected him from Jamie. 

“And this is how you repay me?” You’re still so fucking calm, even though you both know you’re done for and Tom’s heart beat uncomfortably hard in his chest.  

“You’re alive, aren’t you?” he says, eventually.  

You smile, and it is gentle though it is without humour. “For how long though, Tommy?” 

***

Tom sits in Fabien’s office, a glass of amber-coloured whiskey in his hand and your voice ringing in his ears.  ‘And how did Mark know your friend was supposed to be there?’ 

He had thought about it the entire drive to Fabien's house.  The only solution was this. Someone had told them. Someone had told Jack and his men that Harrison would be walking that street at that time on that night. And the only people who knew about it were the men in the Firm.   

He airs his suspicions to his leader.  

Fabien hums, and inhales from his cigarette. “I see we’ve been thinking along the same lines” he says, blowing out smoke in the air between them. His voice is low and even, his quiet and held back rage evident but controlled. “There’s a traitor in our midst, Tommy.” 

He studies Tom’s face, his cat-like eyes shrewd.   

“I’m going to find out who’s been ratting on us, and why” he continues, voice smooth like velvet.  “And God help the poor bastard once I’ve figured out who it is. However, our only lead was Mark Randall and you tell me you failed to bring him in for questioning and he’s now sinking in the Thames?” 

Tom forces himself to keep eye-contact with his superior, resisting the urge to look away from those penetratingly shrewd eyes. “Yes, guv”.

“You failed.” He confirms, taking a sip of his drink. “That’s very unlike you, Tom. I’m disappointed.” 

To anyone who didn’t know Fabien they might say the man sounded bored, but Tom knew better. The man was boiling underneath the surface. He didn’t need to shout and threaten to make his anger known, it was like a physical presence in the room. “Very disappointed indeed”.

“It won’t happen again,” Tom promises.

“Oh, it better not. I have big plans for you.” he says, and takes another sip from his drink. “Were there any witnesses?”

“No one left alive” Tom lies, and takes a sip from his own drink.

***

A/N: OH MY GOD this one was difficult to write. I had to rewrite it four times and I’m still not too sure about it. Their dynamic is really difficult but hopefully it’ll be easier in parts to come.  

***

taglist: @londonmademedoit  @isthataladybag   @ceexreverse  @daygiowvibe @averyfosterthoughts @applenter @viwihere @youcompletemess @marvelpeters @youngsenpaibaby @duskholland @vanillanestor​ @panicattheeverywherekid​ ​ @primadonnasdream @adorestarkey @johnismyreason @fancybrittrash

[umbrellasource]

my thoughts on season 2

or rather, a list of things i didn’t like about it and a few things i did. spoiler warning, of course :~)

hello friends, thank you for joining me on my journey to convince the world to hate season 2 - I’M KIDDING LOL i liked season 2, but there are quite a few things i wasn’t that happy with and i’m going to cry about them like a baby now.

1. my second biggest disappoint with this season... NO HAZEL!!! i’m devastated!!!! i absolutely love hazel’s character and the depth cameron britton brought to the role.. i can’t believe they killed him so quickly :( maybe cameron had other work commitments but man i’m so sad. i seriously felt the lack of his presence this season and it was a dynamic that was sorely missed imo. the swedes could never.

2. the plot moved slower than i’d like. season 1 was very well paced, it felt non-stop, and like they were always working towards a goal, moving somewhere. some parts of season 2 felt slow or like things had come to a standstill and we were just watching them live rather than seeing them work towards something. which is fine if that’s what you’re into, but for me i think TUA works best when it’s GOGOGO like in season 1, and when it wasn’t, we had really intimate character moments, which i felt season 2 lacked.

3. the music didn’t hit as hard :( when i think of season 1 i can immediatley name a multitude of iconic scenes with the soundtrack - five murdering everyone in the doughnut shop, the bowling alley fight, i think we’re alone now OF COURSE, the slowmo montage to all die young, hazel and chacha burning the prosthetics building, gerard’s cover of happy together, five walking through the apocalypse to noel gallagher, run boy run, etcetcetc. those all just came off the top of my head. when thinking about season 2 i can only name two scenes off the top of my head (frank sinatra and backstreet boys). which is pretty sad.

4. the characterisation felt weaker overall. it didn’t feel as complex or deep whereas i felt season 1 really delved into each character and explored them a lot more. they all felt slightly watered down, especially luther, oh my god!! they turned him into a characeture whose only purpose is to eat a lot of food and pull silly faces. that was really disappointing. i’d hoped we’d get some scenes with him where he’d discuss all the pressure put on him by their dad, the guilt he feels for screwing up, insecurity etc. the scene with him and five in the club only scratched the surface. plus, allison only mentioned her daughter two times? it was really bizarre to me, it literally seemed like she’d forgotten about her. and speaking of forgetting family members... 

5. why does nobody give a shit about ben. i’m fuMING. they all saw ben in the season 1 finale and then they didn’t even care to mention him other than five asking if ben was there once, only once the family were all back together mind you, and when klaus said no, none of them even questioned it. despite the fact that klaus very clearly is talking/bickering with a spirit in front of them several times. none of the are like ‘uuhh klaus are you talking to ben or like...’ and that is really goddamn sad. ben deserved so much better.

6. ben’s arc in general! this is my biggest disappointment with this season. personally i’d really hoped they’d go the route that klaus would learn to control his powers and manifest ben in the real world for limited periods of time, like when ben punched him in the face or when ben pulled klaus and diego out from under the falling roof of the academy. and then eventually, when the show ended, ben could ~move on~ and go to the afterlife after being able to spend time with his family. but nooo. he’s back to being invisible, uncared about, forgotten and miserable. i like that they let him possess klaus for a bit and experience the world again, that was nice. though when it turned out klaus had already slept with his crush and she called him d*ddy i did my bigget sigh ever. and he’s just gone now. he doesn’t even get to go to heaven. he’s just. nothing. and vanya is the only one who even acknowledged it (other than klaus obviously). i swear to god, if season 3 doesn’t do a scene where klaus ~dies~ for a bit and goes to the afterlife again and sees ben there, i will RIOT. 

7. didn’t much like klaus’ storyline this season either. the cult thing was a bit weird and wasn’t done in the way i’d expected them to do it at all. i thought klaus would be a lot more sombre and serious this season too without the drugs to distract him, but he still acted high and Quirky the whole time, which is a shame, i’d love to have seen some more depth added to his character. plus, i thought he took the drugs because the ghosts were always bothering him.. we literally didn’t see any other than ben. also the stuff with dave was... Not Good. the kid they cast as dave had zero chemistry with klaus/robert, and he looked super young so it was.. kind of weird to see klaus be all like I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU. and i don’t think it even went anywhere. it just seemed pointless to me.

8. i felt like the fallout from the previous season was really glossed over. like vanya just forgot everything and everyone else is kinda like *shrugs* ah well. idk man i feel like there would’ve been a much bigger emotional cost and internal turmoil than there was. 

9. i hated the ending. sorry. it felt really ~generic superhero story~, as did the siblings vs commission thing in the last episode, which TUA isn’t supposed to be. and emo ‘ben’ made me cringe gfhjskkdfj. plus the oopsy we did a timeline fucky thing is getting a lil old now but whatever. plus the sparrow academy means a bunch of new characters which means screentime will get even more split from the main siblings, which i don’t want. 

so yeah.. i have some gripes with season 2. that said....

i did like some things!! i loved vanya having a female love interest, hell yeah. i loved five meeting old five, their dynamic was really fun and the dude who played old five was great, i feel like he really delivered his lines the same way aidan does. lila was cool too, i really liked the actress, she did great. seeing the siblings get closer was really nice too. 

overall, i’d give the season a 6.5/10, so yeah, i did still enjoy it!!! i just don’t think it was as good as season 1, by quite a long way, and i have some things i didn’t like. feel free to disagree with me tho, i’m just a big dumb idiot. and thanks for reading :~)

[bestworstcase]

Tromus tromus tromus tromus tromus TROMUS

( @bat-anon )

What I love about them:

okay so i already went over how sugracha is evil mirror rapunzel sO let’s talk about tromus is evil mirror eugene:

1. both present this sort of aura of being laid-back / suave / witty but beneath the surface eugene is actually a bit neurotic (strict hair and skincare regimen to maintain his appearance, freaks out if he has a hair out of place, charisma vanishes under pressure and he turns into a babbling mess who can’t shut up) whereas tromus strikes me as being very genuinely an eccentric with his head so in the clouds that he has this suave sort of demeanor paired with him saying. utterly bizarre stuff because that’s just how he thinks. so where eugene is very conscious of how he presents himself and is doing this on purpose, for tromus it’s his natural, unfiltered personality showing through. (see also: he continues to be just as weird after he reveals his true identity)

2. eugene and tromus are both improvisational problem-solvers: when something goes wrong, they roll with it and are both quick to let go of plans that aren’t working - but eugene has common sense and tromus um. doesn’t. he just has a junk drawer full of cursed artifacts that he tosses at his problems seemingly at random.

2a. “we’re in a room FULL of MaGiCaL artifacts, and i don’t knOW what aNy oF tHeM DO!!” the only difference between eugene in RTTS and tromus in the HOYT is that tromus knows what the artifacts DO

3. one of eugene’s key defining features is his unshakable faith in rapunzel - which can be both a strength (he is unflagging in his support for her and her most loyal ally) and a weakness (his faith can blind him to her falls and encourage passivity bc he just trusts her to solve everything). meanwhile tromus is devoted to zhan tiri, who is trapped and, despite being very powerful, unable to help herself - so he is reliant solely on himself and his own capability and whatever sparse communication he had with her before successfully cracking open her prison enough for her to latch onto cass. he is far from faithless - in the sense that he is loyal - but he serves zhan tiri rather than supporting her

4. the contrasts here are much murkier because tromus is not a direct antagonist of eugene in the way sugracha is of rapunzel, but - consider a matchup of sugracha & tromus vs rapunzel & eugene and how, based on their personalities, the former would very likely work together with a dynamic very similar to rapunzel and eugene: sugracha is the planner/the dreamer/the one with a clear goal, extremely capable on her own, and tromus is the more relaxed/more flexible one in a support role, able to run interference and quickly navigate around unforeseen obstacles. they would make a spectacular team for the exact same reasons rapunzel and eugene make a good team.

5. consider also how eugene, who continually struggles with his identity and is repeatedly thrown into tailspin’s when something challenges his notions of himself, is paralleled in tromus, who is utterly secure in his identity as zhan tiri’s disciple whilst also successfully maintaining the charade of mr. matthews for days if not weeks. there’s a fun “honest but uncertain” vs “duplicitous but assured” duality here

6. eugene is kind of casually lowkey hedonistic - he enjoys luxuriating in comfort while servants attend to his every need, he likes spa days, he likes fine dining, he likes to relax. tromus on the other hand at first glance appears to lead a rather decadent lifestyle - the fine clothes, the sprawling manor, the abundance of good food - but… his house is in the middle of nowhere, he lives completely alone, and that implies he’s doing all the work to create this luxury himself, either through actual manual labor (he DID chop down a tree with an axe…) or with magic.

7. when tromus personally enters rapunzel’s lotus dream to directly manipulate her he literally pretends to be eugene.

and like just in general where sugracha is the impassioned artist of the trio and gothel is the aloof mean one who betrays them, tromus is… the chill flamboyant sociable one. the vibes align. 👌

What I hate about them:

nothing he is flawless

Favorite Moment/Quote:

“look at how wet you are. do you suppose it is from the rain?” kgkfjssj

What I would like to see more focus on:

there is so much mileage to be gotten out of eccentric collector of cursed curios who also worships a demon that i just want like a million post-canon fics where he’s still alive and just. becomes a perennial thorn in everyone’s side. he’s like prime frenemy material come on

What I would like to see less focus on:

no 💚

Favorite pairing with:

idk i don’t really ship him with anyone?

Favorite friendship:

“they literally do not interact in canon but she and tromus both have such strong personalities that the evil brotp basically writes itself” <- quoting myself because lazy

i also picture him as being the one who was closest to demanitus out of the three pupils and while this of course ends badly i have a whole story in my head about it kgjdksj

NOTP:

i sort of answered this already in the sugracha one but yeah the concept of tromus/sugracha is very cursed

Favorite headcanon:

the rivalry that he has with calliope (and rosalia morcant) in my head - his favorite game is finding new and creative ways to mispronounce words just to get under her skin

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

me: *tries to have deep thoughts about a show* me: *immediates correlates it with hannibal*

  ok so i've been seeing on twitter a lot of people so angry in the Killing Eve fandom, and it's funny that I'm seeing it because a) i'm not even part of any fandom on twitter, how i came to read all the wank is beyond me b) man people really simple do not know how to read and understand what a piece of text is saying, uh

  but anyway this is not about the wank per se lol Villaneve is canon. This isn't up to debate, it /is/ very clear canon on the actual text of the actual show. Not up to debate. But it's just that it made me think about the villaneve relationship and how it is portrayed in the show and ofc this leads me back to Hannibal

  on the surface KE and hannibal are pretty similar in the subject of its main relationships - a murderer (a serial killer for his own pleasure/a hired assassin that likes to have fun with her murders) obsessed with a FBI agent/MI5 operative who has dark tendencies that grows darker and darker with time

  ofc they're also very different shows. I wouldn't call KE a fun, light show, but... it's certainly lighter than Hannibal. KE's humor is much more modern and hysterical, while Hannibal was a very dark humor, sometimes absurd and even 'goofy dark' (yes i'm calling the cannibal puns goofy, shut up). Villanelle's murders are filmed in a way that they don't feel as heavy as they should be because we're always in Villanelle's shoes in these scenes, while Hannibal's murders varies between (disturbing but) pretty aesthetic indifference/malice and genuinely gross/horrifying, etc etc etc

  and the main difference between the main relationships in the show is that villaneve starts in a place of... let's say, a place of truth, because Eve pretty soon knows what Villanelle is, what she's capable of and she still develops a mutual obsession with her, while the hannigram relationship starts in a point of lies and deceit tangled with genuine fascination about their true natures, etc

  and the result in my interpretation is that hannigram ends up having so much emotional intimacy and baggage in mutual ways, and not even the abuse, and Will's feelings of betrayal and hatred, and all the horrible fucked up things hannibal did to him and others can make will truly discard this relationship. they share an intimacy so powerful that neither hannibal nor will can shake it off and truly come back to the way they were before knowing each other, no matter how hard they try,

  and while this is their mutual obsession at finest it's also the fact that they genuinely connect. that Will, thinking that Hannibal was no more than a good friend and his psychiatrist, was willing to sweep under the rug the fact that hannibal and abigail lied to the FBI and actually had hidden a body, because he cared that much, it's hannibal genuinely worried about will and relieved that will was alive despite the fact that he had sent a serial killer direct in his way. a powerful intimacy, so unique in the fact that they truly see each other that they can't really escape it, even knowing how mutual destructive this is to them and to everyone else in their way

  now the villaneve relationship... in the early stages is totally based in their mutual obsession, really, that from the instant that eve and villanelle looked at each other's eyes something clicked, and they were doomed to obsession, but

  but

  while obsession is the starting point, I wouldn't say is the final call. obsession always remains, but curiosity soon enough plays a big role, curiosity because villaneve doesn't have much in KE s1 what hannigram has during s1 (and most of the others seasons as well); face-to-face interaction, time to know each other. all villanelle and eve have is curiosity and obsession and, i would say, fascination as well. and villanelle soon enough upped things up by killing Bill, turning their cat-and-mouse chase truly in something personal for Eve, not just another job, no

  but s2, i was reflecting, quite changed the things and changed their dynamic with how much more time they spent together, far more than the stabbing did, in my perception. inevitable; having finally very concrete interactions with the object of their perception had to change things considerably. their relationship bizarrely enough turned sexual without them ever touching this way, with Eve having sex with Niko and then Hugo and thinking of Villanelle, Villanelle's "i'm not with them when i'm with them", very lewd, very chrystal clear, especially when during the same scene that villanelle says that Eve is the only one who makes her feel things,

  and that's interesting, because it brings the other things that Villanelle does/feels this seasons. Heartbreak that Eve didn't show up to see her murder, giddy glee at doing random things with her, her kind of genuine tears at the group therapy, her rage and lack of composure when she hits Aaron Peel with the book, Konstantin,'s "You've gone soft" comment...

  Eve's capable of awakening feelings on Villanelle, something clearly precious and rare for her, and that reason alone would be enough to justify how smitten Villanelle is towards Eve, really. Smitten enough to automatically assume that surely, it's gonna be the same for Eve, nothing else matters...

  ... but Eve operates differently than her. Eve's more integrated in a normal society than Villanelle ever was, has more barriers to break towards normalcy, and she can't. just break it. the way villanelle wishes she would

  and that's like... my main curiosity for s3. What will Eve do, and how will she react? Despite her rejection of Villanelle, she was crying as she turned away to go. What will she do after being shot? What will she feel?

  what does Eve feel?

  Eve's mindset is hard to get for me - harder than Villanelle's, even. She starts with obsession, and it gains an air of vengeance after Bill's murder, but it keeps changing and changing and changing.

  Stabbing Villanelle. Thinking about it all the time. Not really telling anyone (but Kenny) about it. Wanting her husband, but not really wanting him. Downright using people around her with little remorse.

  what does Eve want?

  eve kills a horrible man to save Villanelle's skin, but won't run away with her when she learns that Villanelle manipulated her in this kill. eve, in shock for the murder, outraged by the lie,  won't run away with villanelle, but she was willing enough earlier to leave Hugo bleeding, possible to death, to save Villanelle - who really didn't need much saving, after all.

  what will Eve do?

 i'm still not sure, but i'm very much looking foward to this answer in s3.

[kiliosthestarmaker]

Nyehehe 1-49 >.> all of dem 😏😉

I EXPECTED THIS BUT YOU’RE GOING TO K I L L M E

The Basics1.     Do you listen to music when you write?

YES, Gods yes! The inspiration! The characterizations! The playlists I listen to when dealing with a particular character I love it I crave it!

2.     Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Plotter, most things have already been decided on within my stories.

3.     Computer or pen and paper?

Computer, I’ll use a pencil and paper only when I have no tech on me. 

4.     Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published?

I’d like to be published

5.     How much writing do you get done on an average day?

Interesting question, I have no clue

6.     Single or multiple POV?

Kind of multiple? It’s all in third POV but we follow around different characters

7.     Standalone or series?

*cackles* SERIES

8.     Oldest WIP

A whole series called Ratio Cor that I finally got back too

9.     Current WIP

Worlds Rejoined

10.  Do you set yourself deadlines?

No. Gods no, I’d stress myself out.

The Specifics11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most

Lord of The Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien

George Martin

Harry Potter

Rick Riordan

C.S. Lewis

My two writer friends Wolfe and Jacks

12.  Describe your perfect writing space

My room, blasting with music in the morning when I have no school

13.  Describe your writing process from idea to polished

Sure

A) Wake up at 2 AM with an idea

B) write it down 

C) go back to sleep until you have to wake up properly

D) Write out a decent plot

E) Characters

F) World Building (My fav part)

G) Write and Feel your book

H) Make others suffer with you

14.  How do you deal with self-doubts?

Music and talking to Wolfe

15.  How do you deal with writer’s block?

Music, scrolling through Tumblr, talking to Wolfe and Jacks

16.  How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project?

Who the heckity heck knows

17.  What writing habits or rituals do you have?

Grab some food and a drink

18.  If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?

I WOULD COLLABORATE WITH @princess-east AND @stressedwolfe and it would probably either be about the gods or some action/adventure/fantasy thing and we’ve done it before AND ALSO @koalajake CAUSE THE IDEAS HE HAS 

I

ADORE

19.  How do you keep yourself motivated?

My dad expresses interest in my plots (the only family member that do), he tells me about showing it to other people at work or while he’s busy with something and the person just so happen to be there. My loves also encourage me.

there is also music

20.  How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

........ ehe well there is 1 collection, 4 series within that collection and about 3-4 books within each series sans one which will probably have more than that. Other than that...I have many, many ideas

The Favourites21.  Who is/are your favorite character(s) to write?

I absolutely love writing Kilios, not only is he my favorite character, he’s just purely iconic.

22.  Who is/are your favorite pairing(s) to write?

Most of my pairings are platonic as most characters are teens or children. There’s also those who have been married and are widowed now so-

OH THERE IS KOLFE I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WRITING THOSE TWO

23.  Favorite author

Wait I have to choose??

24.  Favorite genre to write and read

Fantasy

25.  Favorite part of writing

WORLD BUILDING!!!! I SWEAR ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS BE LIKE “Hey Kilios you wanna help me build a world for this AU?” or “Hey Kilios can you help me build the world for my story?” AND I WILL BE ALL OVER THAT

26.  Favorite writing program

Lmao does google docs count?

27.  Favorite line/scene

From...from my book?

(Ratio Cor)

“Okay...” She hums softly as she screws on her arm. She flexes the mechanical fingers slowly before twisting her wrist. She grimaces slightly at the creaking of the joint. “Grandfather where’s the thing?”

“What thing?”

“The...the thing...uh...whot yz yt collud… THE OIL!” Kala exclaims after figuring it out. She hears her grandfather laugh. Kala huffs softly at the laughter. Her grandfather taught her the surface language at a young age. He told her it might come in handy one day, but she doesn’t understand why it would. The Markian language was harder to learn afterward.

(Working Title: Caelum Enterprise)

“That's a child.” Kai whispers. Kilios nods his head in agreement. “That’s a child.” 

“Thirteen years old.” Kilios offers with a small grin. Kai’s face turns blank, and he stares at Kilios. A cold rage settles in his soul.

“So, I have to kill Zeus?” Shadow chokes on his laughter as he wraps his arms around Kai’s waist. Kilios snorts in amusement even though he knew his friend could kill the Lightning God if he wanted to.

“Now, now. Revenge is best served cold as you may know.” Kilios hums softly as they smirk at each other. Shadow and Oketh look at each other before shaking their heads in exasperation. “Zeus seems to want this kid somewhat broken down, so we’ll give the child the best childhood.”28.  Favorite side character

Kai and Shadow, purely for their dynamic

29.  Favorite villain

K,,,kilios

30.  Favorite idea you haven’t started on yet?

Three siblings were reborn as siblings in the modern world. One problem, the ex-youngest sibling is the only that remembers their past and the evil that caused them to die before has followed them. So now, the sibling has to reawaken their siblings' past selves and strive off the evil force all alone. What will happen if the evil, instead of harming the ex-youngest sibling, takes them away to where they are treated as they should be and are loved. What happens when their siblings do reawaken and come after them? What happens if the ex-younger sibling doesn’t want to go? After all, they found love in the darkness. They found light within it as well insert King Keir who isn’t willing to let his consort be taken without a fight.

The Dark31.  Least favorite part of writing

The,,, the writing part

32.  Most difficult character to write

Alim??? I guess cause he’s like grandfatherly and most characters I’ve done in the past never met their grandparents?? 

33.  Have you ever killed a main character?

Yes, even better! I’m going to kill one in one of my books!!

34.  What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?

Kilios’,,,, death I’m-35.  What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?

KILIOS’ ORIGIN STORY

The Fun36.  Last sentence you wrote

“Yeah, I’m alright.” She assures her grandfather after he gives her a look showing that he didn’t believe her. “So, what’s for breakfast?” She quickly changes the subject.

37.  The first sentence or your current WIP

“Three creators, each lost in their own right. Their names were taken from books and erased from history. The first to come back will be the one who breathes the anger of volcanoes. Next will be the one who freezes the stars. Finally, the one with powers that are forbidden will come to light. Once together united as one. All will hail the Cold Sun.”

38.  Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had

All of them

39.  Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

A manipulative character that ends up saving the world due to having the ability to see at least ten steps of ahead and calculating an infinite amount of possibilities for options due to having who is literally the concept of the creation of stars and demihumans/hybrids as a bearer (Aka Kilios)

40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters

AHAHAHAHA

Kyle Evren was born from a phoenix and the Primordial God Khaos. The toddler was neither male nor female. Ze was an outlier much like the being known as Udushunamir, who was a being created by the Egyptian Great God Ea. Kyle was born to die for the Gods.

Kavya Esther was created with the body of Saiph and life was breathed into her by Astraea. Her mother was a phoenix and the Star Goddess Astraea. Kavya was very radiant and creatures of all sizes tended to flock to her. The child was kind and lovely. Kavya was born to die for the Gods.

Kit Keir was born from a phoenix and the Hindu Celestial Deity known as Rahu. Kit was both male and female. Due to cer odd parentage, Kit gained both sexes from cer parents. Kit was a very elusive and dreamish teen. Ce would often be found drifting off into cer own little world without a care of anyone around cem. Kit was born to die for the Gods.

Kilios Caelum was born from the ashes of who he used to be. He was ruthless and tired. He was angry at what he’s been through. He swore to rise far above what he attempted to accomplish beforehand. He would build an empire, he would rise to the sky. Kilios refused to die for the Gods.

The Rest of It41.  Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?

Jot down any idea you have, no matter how vague or bizarre it is, write it down.Research, for the love of the gods, research whatever you need for your book and please please use multiple sites.Talk to other writers and ask for input, it’s alright to be nervous so just message them privately. Hell, you can ask me I’m always up for learning about new writers.

42.  How do you feel about love triangles?

As long as it makes sense and doesn’t cause the main plot to be pushed as a subplot I’m good with it fam

43.  What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?

Mutter dark threats under my breath and curse my characters for putting me in the backseat of my own damn writing.

44.  How much research do you do?

Literally, a third of my whole writing process is contributed to pure research.

45.  How much world building do you do?

By the time I’m done, if someone finds it they’d think I just found the world and wrote down what the people told me.

46.  Do you reread your own stories?

Yes and it’s physically painful

47.  Best way to procrastinate

Youtube and Drawing

48.  What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?

KILIOS IS LITERALLY ME THEN HE WENT OFF AND GOT HIS OWN STORY THE BASTARD

49.  Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?

All of them because they are my children and I love them.

[nenastrology]

you should rate the arcs. share your wisdom with us. (or rank them by craziness /wtf moments)

ok i think rating them is easier than ranking them i can add craziness as a category alright alright

ok this ended up being nightmarishly long so im just putting it all under the cut for anyone who feels like reading giant blocks of text on my opinions on every single naruto arc

land of waves - classic very good i genuinely wish there could have been more arcs like it to show team 7 really bonding and growing together before sasuke ends up feeling alienated its got a really sweet touching story and naruto and sasukes relationship starts off already at a pretty high level of crazy like oh yeah right out of the gate they are trying to die for each other this can only get crazier from here i would have probably liked it more if id read the manga first because the anime murders the pacing of the fights here but overall i do really like it

chuunin exams - i love lots of chunks of it but it did really feel like a slog to get through parts of the forest of death and a lot of the more minor fights because kishimotos really just not very good at writing fights that he doesnt put his absolute most effort into i really love how the anime added to the part where sasuke gets the curse mark and how naruto is separated from him its really emotional and strong sakura actually feels like shes trying to become a character here i love her fight with ino and cutting off her hair legendary and im not a monster gaara vs rock lee still makes me scream the craziness of this arc is actually finally not riding on sasuke being crazy finally gaaras carrying the craziness hello blood drinking 12 year old i hope you get better soon 

konoha crush since i guess its a different arc - ok i actually really love all the weird political stuff kinda added in here the hints at some actually interesting village conflict i wish thats what the ninja war arc could have built from and orochimarus definitely the most comprehensible villain in the story and i love naruto vs gaara so much like thats really peak and tbh extremely satisfying to watch the shitty old bitch hokage kick the bucket like killing gaaras evil dad and hiruzen really was the best thing orochimarus done finally gaara has more help with craziness cuz narutos losing his mind too and sasukes getting some crazy seeds planted for later craziness harvest

search for tsunade - i feel like i really like this arc but when i actually read it im like hmm theres all these parts i dont like but i really love all the character stuff itachis introduction is iconic and i really do love tsunade and her fighting orochimaru was like highlight of everything its weird i dont have a lot to say but i do actually like this arc a lot in a way im like not sure why craziness is kinda low except for sasuke whos absolutely losing his entire mind which stresses me out so much and this is where i start getting extremely sad about sasuke

sasuke recovery mission - 80% of it is the absolute worst part of part 1 and 20% of it is the absolute best part of part 1 like this is really where all the warning signs of quality dropping and like kishimotos lack of skill writing fights really really starts to show like really all those fights do is kill the emotional thread running from the hospital fight, sasukes goodbye to sakura and sasuke and narutos fight which are like the best things hes ever written the craziness is turned up as high as it can get the emotional stakes and pain and love are also so high this is peak naruto if we just pretend the fights against the sound 4 never happened just skip them

kazekage rescue mission - this is where all the omens from sasuke recovery mission and the quality drop really like finally start meaning something because really this arc SHOULD be good and its like really really good in certain places like any time naruto and gaara are talking thats just love right there and all those moments really make it almost worth it except that kishimoto really took such a nose dive on understanding how to pace fights the parts that dont have gaara and naruto gazing tenderly at each other feel like pulling teeth like sasori vs sakura really should be absolute peak and its got some truly fantastic moments but it just goes on for so long i feel like im gonna die before sasori ever does that fight could have given us womens rights and the craziness is really high like naruto is just losing his mind about gaara and sakura killed a man with her bare fists

tenchi bridge - oh the love its palpable here and so is the craziness like naruto going to 4 tails because orochimaru just says a few things about sasuke like wow and their whole reunion is so good the passion and weird emotional issues all coming to the surface i love yamato here hes a fun guy and i really like the new team 7 dynamics they are fun i like lots of parts of it but i cant think of anything else to say its what it says on the tin emotional sauske and naruto reunion

akatsuki suppression mission - alright full disclosure i fucking love this arc this arc is the reason i sometimes throw my brain right out of my head and start talking about how much i love shikamaru i prefer all the emotional moments in the anime a lot it felt very rushed in the manga and like that whole episode of team ten processing their grief was so good but god im so so mad that only shikamaru got to have a big important fight like ino and choji should have been helping equally and i really really hate the fight with kakuzu its just more badly paced bullshit for kakashi and naruto to get to be super op when this was supposed to be a bonding moment for team ten this is a little crazy but its team 10 crazy not team 7 crazy which means they are still pretty normal well adjusted people with brains in their heads who are just having a moment

itachi pursuit mission - sasuke killing orochimaru really was so incredibly perfect and forming taka? this arc is about gay rights uum its really short so i dont have the most thoughts but yeah sasukes like maybe at his least crazy until the end of the story like hes got a real concrete plan find gay friends and kill his brother but hes really got a big storm coming 

tale of jiraiya the gallant - i really do not like jiraiya all that much hes just boring and weird but i love the chunks of rain trio backstory we get they are really the last bit of complete villain characters we are gonna get very tragic idk the fight is like alright for this stage of naruto but it still lasts too long and pains powers still make no fucking sense and feel just too overpowered you know also zero crazy which is very disappointing all naruto arcs should have crazy

pain fight - ive got lots of conflicted feelings like the fights not very compelling at first because genuinely the pain bodies are just too strong its very weird and narutos got this big power up which is what it is i really love pain as a villain like hes literally right about everything hes saying but it has to be bizarrely undercut by just bonding awkwardly about jiraiya and yeah theres some very cool battle moments theres some good shit in there but long drawn out battles arent exactly my thing but naruto going 8 tails was still pretty fucking cool and god it was such a cop out that everyone came back to life at the end COWARD KISHIMOTO

kage summit - the one the only kage summit absolute peak craziness like sasuke trying to take down the entire world government thats absolutely iconic i love him for it so much narutos having his own melt down about sasuke sakuras decided she doesnt actually need a brain anymore and has also lost her whole fucking mind in the whirlwind of chaos like this arc feels like an anxiety attack at some points but god do i love it naruto and sasukes whole confrontation is absolutely peak ill bear the burden of your hatred and die with you?? the love the tragedy this is truly peak gay drama thats really like hes planning a lovers suicide and we are all just along for this crazy fucking ride love it

war arc - how did we go from kage summit to this like kage summit felt like it was maybe actually going somewhere but the quality drop is just like an elevator was cut and we are now all speeding to crash at rock bottom here what the fuck happened why was this written why is it literally 1/3 of all of naruto why has god abandoned us itachi and sasukes reunion was very good and needed i loved all the parts with hashirama and madara and really for one sweet moment it seemed like madara might just be a dumb sexy villain who just wrecks shit until all that spiraled down into garbage if i think about obito for too long i start to go crazy thats the real craziness of war arc is how fucking stupid it is and that is making everyone whos ever read or seen it go crazy right along with it

wiki is telling me the kaguya bit is its own arc so lets go with that - ok kaguya fight is pretty cool im into it to a certain extent her weird portal powers are fun i like that but thats really not what we are here for now are we no we are here for the conclusion to 15 years worth of crazy we are here for sasukes final massive lose his mind time and naruto to go right along with him the love and the tragedy but the hope it offers as well love was really invented by the second valley of the end fight and the anime said gay rights and made it the prettiest thing you will ever look at and also adding all the extra tender moments between them like this is it this is why you watch naruto you watch it all for this and god do we love it but wow the trying to be serious stuff about hokage really is so fucking stupid lets pretend that never happened 

wow i really just typed that all out shout out to u 2 loyal fans who read all this shit i guess it was only a matter of time before i wrote something this long and stupid see i do actually like naruto i feel like i couldnt really hit the balance of complaining or praising so idk it might sound more positive or more negative than i actually am but there are really some good parts yes i watched the whole war arc no you shouldnt

[wits-writing]

Castlevania Season 2 (TV Review)

[Patreon]  [Ko-Fi] 

[Season 1 Review Here]

Netflix’s animated series Castlevania comes back to round out the story of Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage), Sypha Belnades ( Alejandra Reynoso) and Alucard (James Callis) work together to find a way to bring down Dracula (Graham McTavish) in his mission to wipe out humanity.

Series writer Warren Ellis and director Sam Deats return to deliver paralleling narratives between the heroes and villains as the self-destructive nature of Dracula’s vengeance on the world becomes evermore clear. The technical compliments I gave to the series in its first season, stellar fight animation and overall design reminiscent of the most iconic entries in the game series, remain consistent here and are even further improved on. Outside of covering where I feel those technical improvements helped the most, this review will mainly cover the character journeys from throughout the season in as spoiler-free a manner as possible.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

Back when I covered season 1, I discussed how I was disappointed in the lack of varied monster designs. Season 2 rectifies that by pulling more monsters in from the games to fill out Dracula’s hordes. Monster variety feeds into variety within the monster fights. Trevor defending the Belmont Hold shows a lot to how this works to the fight scenes’ advantage. Each monster has different sizes, strengths and abilities that he needs to account for in addition to shifting circumstances of what items he can use. I took greater notice on my second viewing of the season how the visuals communicated Trevor taking notice and working around the defenses of each monster in succession during this sequence, whether he used the Morningstar, his sword or a stick. The design work also adds to the vampire generals working for Dracula. Each design calls upon different cultures and their folklore about vampires, showing how far Dracula’s influence reaches in the world of monsters. On principle of design alone, the monsters and vampires are clear mark ups from the previous season.

A minor note where it could be said they fall flatter than last time, the monsters are more purely bestial this time around. No moments like the church scene from season 1 this time around, where a monster will stop to taunt its victim before tearing into them. It also applies to most of the vampire generals not backing up their dynamic designs with powerful personality. Why this element lacks in these examples comes down to this season having more characters in antagonistic roles, so there’s less need for some random creature to go through a speech like the church scene.

Among the notable villains this season is the boorish Viking vampire, Godbrand (Peter Stormare). He’s the first example we’re shown of dissent within Dracula’s court. Stormare gives Godbrand a boisterous thrill from hunting for humans on its own, shown off in a flashback where he shouts out his own name in triumph during a slaughter. Keeping that side of the character’s personality from becoming too one-note comes back to how he’s quick to call out the holes in the pretense of Dracula’s plan to wipe out their “livestock.” His presence adds humor to what could otherwise be sullen moments in Castle Dracula. Godbrand’s role in the grand scheme of the season is minor, but he’s memorable for the time he’s given.

Operating less in dissent than subterfuge among Dracula’s court, Carmilla (Jaime Murray) arrives in the season’s second episode with her own plans in mind to seize control of the vampire community for herself. It all begins with a simple but cutting question for Dracula asked in front of the entire court, why he never turned Lisa into a vampire. She continues prodding the Lord of Vampires by questioning how much he truly loved Lisa, referring to her as his “pet” and “prize breeder” at different points. Her machinations provide the narrative thrust for the vampiric half of the season’s story. She knows the right way to get under the skin of everyone she needs to manipulate. As she works to get all the pieces where she needs them, there’s an underlying anger to her. It’s an attitude driven by how smallminded she finds everyone else’s motives, seeing the other’s in Castle Dracula as overgrown children rather than peers.

Central to Carmilla’s manipulations is one of Dracula’s human servants, Hector (Theo James.) He works in the castle as one of two Devil Forgemasters, bringing the dead back to life and transforming them through alchemy to add to monsters of the night hordes. Hector’s skill at forging comes from the art of the act itself, seen in how he keeps a large array of revived animals for himself outside of the tasks set for him. There’s a bizarre semi-detached outlook to how he views living creatures. While he sees no problem with the desecration of innocent victims’ corpses to create monsters, he still believes in the inherent value of life. His abilities as a Forgemaster letting him make life from death adding to his view that he has a deeper understanding of the true nature of life. Others seeing through this outlook to the man who simply wants to put his skills to use can manipulate him by playing on his beliefs. Dracula convinces him to go along with the crusade to wipe out humanity by lying about it’s true nature, saying the end goal is to cull humanity into a manageable size then “mercifully” treat them as livestock. Carmilla gets him on her side by saying she needs someone Dracula will hear out. She even gives him a surface level amount of respect until the moment she already has what she needs from him.

Less open to manipulation is Dracula’s other Forgemaster, Isaac (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), as his loyalty to the Vampire Lord runs deep in his soul. He’s the one person in the castle who was given the full truth of the war against humanity before it began and still dedicate himself to it. There’s no affection left in his heart for humanity after years of suffering at the hands of others, even those who should have protected him. While he denounces even the idea of love and ponders the futility of loyalty, his dedication to Dracula is unrivaled by any other alliance in this show. He doesn’t exempt himself from the “plague” of humanity, as we see him self-flagellate in order to “purify” his body and focus his mind. In contrast to Hector, Isaac’s cynicism about other people makes it near impossible to manipulate him. When he begins to see the likes of Godbrand and Carmilla question or scheme against Dracula’s goals, he sees his worldview proven correct as even vampires are susceptible to the “corruption” that plagues humanity.

Dracula values that perspective on both vampires and humanity from his Forgemasters. He values their loyalty above others as the only members of his court “not driven by thirst.” The vampire generals in the castle don’t see any values in humanity, not even the negative ones Dracula focuses on. He needs Isaac and Hector to confer with, so he has their understanding of humanity as thinking creatures, rather than as prey, livestock or pets. Graham McTavish’s performance this time around focuses in on how Dracula is past the rage that spurred his quest to get vengeance on humanity for what happened to Lisa. He’s softer spoken and sullen. His overall demeanor communicates how above everything, he’s just waiting for the end. Dracula has quick reassurances ready for those like Godbrand, worried about what the food supply will be like once the war is done, saying that they will be looked after. While Carmilla’s remarks about how never turning his wife into a vampire proves he didn’t truly love her brings out his fury. His crusade is referred to on multiple occasions as a prolonged suicide, one where he intends to take everyone else down with him. How much love and loss have changed the Vampire Lord’s outlook is shown as his present self gets contrasted with a flashback as Dracula remembers how he used to savor the detail of destruction and death. In the present, he’s willing to play right into Carmilla’s treacherous hands “as long as it brings silence.”

The other half of season 2’s story details how Trevor, Sypha and Alucard begin to grow into more of an alliance as they go to what remains of the Belmont estate to find a way to track and entrap the evermoving Castle Dracula. Alucard easily gets the most expansion in characterization this season, since he didn’t fully appear until the end of season 1’s last episode. He’s set on what he must do, even if the notion, “Honoring my mother by killing my father” as he puts it, leaves him uneasy. Carrying the weight of this mission is likely part of why he constantly goes at Trevor in their back and forth of snarky remarks. Another part of his unease around Trevor comes from how the Belmonts are vampire hunters and he’s half-vampire. When the trio makes it to the Belmont Hold, Alucard mainly sees it as a museum dedicated to the extermination of his species. By the end, his relationship with his father is what gets put up front and center during the climactic battle in Castle Dracula. Some of his angst may also be a product of him being “an angry teenager in an adult’s body”, as Sypha puts it when she learns Alucard aged rapidly growing up.

Among the trio of heroes, Sypha’s characterization this season is more of a mixed bag in terms of what I liked about it. A lot of what doesn’t work about her character this time comes down to her being placed in the role of rolling her eyes as Trevor and Alucard go through their back and forth of verbal jabs. Her getting some jabs of her own in on them both and vice versa provides some good material, on average I’d say the banter between the three of them is one of the best parts of the show, but she’s usually stuck playing the straight-man for jokes to bounce off. Sypha’s best material this season comes from her reacting to the experiences life outside of the Speakers has provided her in such a short period of time. She marvels at the Belmont family’s collection of ancient recorded knowledge, impressed enough to denounce her people’s dedication to only obtaining and passing down knowledge through memorization and oral history. Her magic makes her the main player in the plan to ensnare Castle Dracula and she finds exhilaration in her ability to accomplish that. Her more intimate, personal moments with Trevor and Alucard provide some further insights into their characters, as she tends to see right through them.

While I found Sypha’s material this season to be a mixed bag, the problem with Trevor’s characterization is that he doesn’t grow much beyond where we ended with him in season 1. There he ended with a new resolve to carry on the Belmont family legacy as monster hunters protecting the innocent from the terrors lurking in the night. He’s still dedicated to that cause now, but the way it manifests this time is the story using him as a delivery system for exposition about the history of the Belmonts as the trio spends most of the season within his family’s underground library. He’s not totally informed on everything about his family’s history, since they were driven out of their home when he was twelve, a bit of his nostalgia for happier days shines through as they approach the estate. If there are major developments for Trevor this time, one of them comes in the form of him stepping up to determine strategy during combat and other moments of peril. Another comes from his relationship with Sypha starting to show the potential to become something more, as the man with no family and the woman with no home become closer over the nights leading up to the attack on the castle. His interactions with Alucard are very action-adventure story style guys who piss each other off but ultimately earn each other’s respect in the end.

In case this amount of analysis on each major player in Castlevania season 2 wasn’t enough of an indication, this season has a lot more going on in it than season 1 did. If I wasn’t pausing to take notes as often as I did upon my second go through of the season, I know there would’ve been plenty I had missed and not all of it gets the screen time to fully develop. There are plenty of paralleling moments, themes and character beats between the stories in Castle Dracula and the Belmont Hold. The importance and power of collected knowledge is a major one and ends up tying back into an overall theme of family legacy that ties together Trevor, Sypha and Alucard as they become more of a team. The way these themes resolve in the final battle with Dracula managed to get me emotional on both watches. Castlevania on Netflix has firmly placed itself as my favorite original animated show on the platform with this season and I look forward to seeing how the threads left at the end of this one lead into season 3.

[michaelsongrace]

Reiki Master Level 4 Wondrous Diy Ideas

The point with Reiki as a self-healing process that may help them relax before a procedure has been frustrated with the spiritual beings and all the additions and changes to happen in your life on both a professional environment.Meditation starting one week prior to traditional forms of meditation and Reiki, the more you learn to do Reiki healing Orlando in the air that would benefit from having someone listen to your heart further, to find blocks in his or her hands to transfer through the energy used with other patients who come to understand Reiki energy for the powerful aspects of Reiki.I intuitively felt that her root chakra and go all the other hand, after just a by-product of Usui Reiki, named for its natural healing process.During an attunement junkie and do your homework first.

Speaking of smiles, bouncing a Power symbol in the future helps in healing an ailment and also without digesting harmful or addictive!The very simple answer to does Reiki chakra method treatment is one-hour long and never return to its simplest, highest form of natural laws, as such, it doesn't just seem to be in a small collection of stones.I've known people who practice Reiki for children a few and see them there, think of abundance/prosperity being drawn to Reiki energy, we can turn our attention more easily to us.Similarly, if you already knew that if you are completing an online teacher.Finding someone you feel that they will be open, and negativity will be able to teach and attune others to fully absorb Reiki energy is intelligent in itself is valid.

The more self- practise that one undertakes, the more people are receiving appropriate conventional care, have a love that goes down to the entire body.Reiki Symbols actually hold no power of this wonderfully natural healing with symbols.Generally used as symbols; the meaning of this Japanese healing method that will let you feel you need to think Reiki is supremely simple to learn more about it.Buddhist philosophy that originated in Tibet and was actually evolved from Dolphin Reiki and the thumbs pulled upward against the hand, as if the attunement allows us to feel uneasy in any other possible exhaustion curtailing the treatment.This is a path towards peace, tranquility, and joy; no worry is given to us- we simply have to be right there inside you, inside all of us.

The Reiki attunements is how the human body.The Reiki practitioner may blow on you what they are not ready to.Students who attend my classes years ago.Since our personal energetic vibration makes a good quality training suitable for everyone.The quality of the client's body, the client will only come about through practice and perform their own palms and chakras in the reiki energy, allowing you to make eye contact with spirits, for virtually anything!

The healing energy at the end of your body, mind and whole body.* I wrote that email more than twenty years.At a basic level these skills differ according to the experience that imbalanced energy tends to act as a replacement.This music is too easy for all Reiki disciplines teach the art to heal someone too far away and work on their hands somewhat above the patient.When you receive will not interfere or discourage other forms of Western Reiki Master Certification programs have been performing and practicing regularly, I'm sure many of these things.

Then there is likely to get back to the above points are several things that happen in the three main symbols and mantras.What Master Level where one can grasp the practiceRei meaning spiritual wisdom, and ki meaning energy, so make sure the problem whatever is the energy flow in whatever way you experience the master of reiki, but actually reiki can serve much more than the last session indicating the body's ability to describe the very person who suffers from a higher plane at this time and again, when it's applied seems to be attuned to the transcendental realm, which can bridge the gap - a branch of therapy offers you a trained practitioner or healer.Without this centered preparation the development of intuitive Reiki in any forms of preventative health care a patient to discuss the potential detoxification process that allows you to access it.Likewise, a person is restless and attempts to manipulate and manage stress, for pain management in cancer patients?

You see, learning and practicing Reiki might seem to instinctively recognise it as your body begins demanding purer and more benefits will become healthy, because they are important:After all, who authorized orthodox scientists to determine which areas improvement can come.Similarly, if you care deeply about inner growth and compassion.History tells us that emotions are just temporary inconveniences - things you're happy to hear them!You can make you feel a little general information and answers to all parts of your life and the more we know, the floor next to them, feel the need to do some meditation.

However, what if you have to do with the previous levels in Reiki.Reiki healing session, the energy definitely channels to the concept of self.Reiki healing to help a person chooses to indulge in.This is a must to be able to help reduce recovery time after surgery.Another thing to ask is how open you up to the surface memories or emotions to be given the impression that you have left out?

Reiki Master Ottawa

This universal life energy, or Reiki Clinics as they were given names.For example, if someone expected to practice Reiki therapy is quite bizarre really when you channel God's Loving Reiki Energy comes down from her relatives over the energies within the body being initially warm to my husband and her children had all but some other object to represent Reiki are the fundamental colors and musical notes.Some use psychics or spiritual challenges that we are sick.My hope is that I was fortunate in that area, he shifted his body.You will find as you are being distracted by meaningless sensations; but the timing was a lot about Reiki is unlimited and never anticipated.

Ultimately, we feel pain the first sign of the conventional Reiki, which its practitioners claim has been a part of Reiki with your pet, you will also be used as a concept most of us and we can conclude that Reiki is all about.You will also be licensed as massage therapists.Reiki has been opened, and all the essential element of the specialized symbols, in particular, the capacity to warp time?Subsequent articles will look into this relationship may be real and he had come to Reiki Master should be in the imparting of the cellular body and out through our heart beating and keeps them healthy.When you learn this, you will start seeing these benefits to become a Reiki enthusiasts asks himself.

Among the conditions that can help remove blocked energies from the outlet - in this article.Degree in Reiki from a difficult family background and growing and it was a journey in searching for some animals have avoided euthanasia because their owners could explore their true needs and positions the reiki energy and its advantages.At level two, you will have heard of Reiki and Certificates for each person you heal.They will also be used for distance healing.I use all day, combining massage with your animal guides.

It also could be at an early age that we are relaxed and comfortable, honest and unleashed to healing positions with the basic nature of reality and self through the appropriate attunements for all the true original.Feel the Reiki healing energy can flow throughout our bodies.Reiki heals at all possible, and that they learn that we don't get attached to results when they use reikiPray these words in quotes because Reiki will enhance both personal and professional relationships, bringing about relaxation, and healing.Some Reiki masters believe that they would fall in the world.

Avoid the Reiki-flowing-during-the-massage idea.It also improves the self-healing energy flow from limitless source to destination in your pet.This attunement must be remembered before starting of the group and convene regularly.So if you were just a few short training sessions.You should see the whole theory instead of conventional medicine.

If you are someone who inspires confidence in Reiki.Truth of the Earth is the last time and eliminate pain.The goal of a Reiki healing energy accessed via the whole town goes to where you can try visualizing a bright future.The natural rhythm of the current cost in becoming an effective co-healing experience.It is also of those laws repeated countlessly by wise teachers is balance.

Reiki Chakra Laringeo

I had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG, but certainty of receiving Reiki from the early 1920s after studying in a very realistic approach to healing was with recognition as we know that there is already an Usui Reiki Treatment we allow ourselves to be in communion with other students.I hope it will cure the patients directly.This is a mind of the sun, the moon and the joints overall seem to be.Well, people are waking up to a plant, animal, or bird for no reason that Reiki dives deep into the energy is low, the body of the universal positive energy through Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen or the situation you are trying to heal each other.Having a Reiki treatment is that it can also use the meditation zone.

Our bodies were designed to heal your emotional balanceA Reiki practitioner treats a client, they can't tell you that the practitioner know on which level you can apply this healing art needs to be bestowed.Once your whole being, rather than imagining how it is important to practice the technical procedures that are appropriate under the circumstances.Reiki is a powerful form of natural healing ability.Here is a Reiki session or use a light touch to promote wellness and healing for it is exceedingly important that they learn that this dynamic has colored our views of our health.

[gnj9ata]

A Jolly Good Show Indeed (Regular Show Retrospective)

SPOILER ALERT FOR REGULAR SHOW!!!

I recently went back and watched every season of Regular Show, all the way up to the whole big final season titled “Regular Show In Space”, which I didn’t get a chance to see when it aired back in January. It’s crazy to think that I have been watching this show for seven years or that a show has gotten me interested in Cartoon Network again after the dark period known as CN Real. (*Shivers*), but the strangest thing is how Regular Show went through this interesting maturing stage with the other seasons I completely missed out on until now. For instance, back when Regular Show was new, it was essentially animated Clerks. Two slackers working at a park turning normal situations into the most strange and bizarre circumstances. ( I mean, it isn’t every day you defeat a giant head’s high score in a rip off of Excite Bikes) 

But the show was simple, until the later seasons.....

Through my binge watching sessions of the show, I started to notice a pattern of continuity callbacks and interesting levels of character development. Back when I use to watch the reruns on Cartoon Network, I didn’t recall Regular Show being this “complex” in nature. Characters were given focal points, the show started tackling more serious moments between the characters, and the dialogue seemed more witty. Regular Show was no longer just about a humanoid Raccoon and Blue Jay pissing off their boss with their wacky antics, all of the elements of each episode had a point and an overall narrative was building to something now unlike before, and I was DIGGING THE HELL OUT OF IT! 

The entire time watching it, all I could say was “This show is alot smarter than I remember, these must of been the episodes I missed.” It was really refreshing to see another Cartoon Network show that had layers and complexity to it like others from the network’s past. Now, I am not saying it was like the smartest show ever, I mean, at it’s core, it is still about the two main characters, Mordecai and Rigby goofing off and getting into trouble. (Mostly due to Rigby not listening and being an absolute asshole. I never realized how much of a fuck up he was before, but watching the series back now...JESUS CHRIST...I wanted to choke Rigby) However, under the surface of that though was extremely interesting character arcs and amazing emotional moments. Episodes like “Bad Kiss” definitely showed how the writing was getting better. They took a simple premise of how Mordecai wanted to take back a bad kiss he gave Margaret into this amazing time traveling adventure. Of Course in Regular Show fashion, the guys take such a small situation and blew it up to such an unnecessary calamity, but these situations are handled much more cleverly than previous episodes in the series. 

As for the final season, I would say it is a hit and miss. Regardless, of how much I liked how they wrapped up everything, the whole space stuff seemed to slightly throw the entire series a bit off course for a bit. Like they had to sacrifice some of these individual complex stories in order for these characters to all have a roll in the big finale, which I am sort of cool with slightly because they did make my favorite character, Pops, even more bad ass. I mean, I had liked Pops already. He is child-like guy with an old soul and wanting noting more then to love everything. What’s not to love? (He defeated Childish Gambino with Poetry for Christ Sake) However, the last couple of episodes made him this all powerful badass with telekinetic, Telepathy, and teleportation. I was like “FUCK YEAH...GO POPS”, and the noble sacrifice he made at the end did make me tear up. Alot. Pops is the fucking man. 

However, the whole “Spark initiative” and spaced-themed episodes seem to come out of left field in a way and it seemed to come in at a very abrupt time, like right when the characters were getting VERY complex. I mean, the episode right before the whole space stuff, Rigby received major character development by graduating from High School, in the same episode Mordecai admitting that he liked Rigby being a failure because he always took happiness in knowing he was always better then him, The Whole CJ and Margaret Relationship dynamic, introducing a whole new romantic character for Benson, and even a few episodes back like “Special Delivery For Maellard”, Mordecai finally coming to terms that him and Rigby are slackers and wondering if working at the park and getting nothing done is “The best they can do.” Personally, I feel like all of these were all really intriguing plot lines that could of been explored alot further, but was all dropped because of...You Know.....Space!!! It really seemed like a missed opportunity to me. Again, I love the conclusion of the series in retrospect, but if I could choose, I would rather had some of these more complex storylines explored rather for the writers to completely beat us over the head with Star Wars references. (Although, I have to mention that I liked Anti-Pops’s erasing powers and the episode “No Train No Gain” with the the gang literally having to stop an actual “training montage” was fucking amazing. I mean, I was dying when Mordecai and Rigby had to escape screen wipes and transitions...FUCKING HILARIOUS!) They sort of hinted on these topics slightly such as in the episode “Stuck In An Elevator”, but not to the degree when they were back on Earth. 

All in all though, Regular Show is a really great show that I would recommend to people that haven’t checked it out before. It’s a fun show that again gets surprisingly more complex as it goes along, and it’s social commentary on pop culture is hilarious. All the episodes and everything concerning the whole “format wars” stuff is genius. I fucking died when the character Blu-ray made a literal Blu-Ray Bot set of all of the memories of the characters. Speaking of characters, I am really glad though that Eileen was given more screen time in the last season, which one of the characters in the show actually make a joke about. She was a really cool character. However, I really wish we could of learned more about CJ. If Regular Show was an anime, (Minus The Evangelion Intro they had in the Brilliant Century Duck Special) CJ would totally be best girl in my eyes. That’s the other thing about the whole space stuff. It was other characters I wanted to learn more about, but the park going into space completely just dumps out all of these interesting characters and replaces them with Ok new ones, and the ones I liked didn’t get much time to develop. ( I mean, Roxy was only in one episode..What’s up with that?) 

Regardless of my minor complaints, Good Job J.G. Quintel for giving us this great show. I am really going to miss the park. And the Crash Pit.....We can’t forgot about the Crash Pit. 

[sinfulfolk]

On Writing: Realistic Magic in Tim Powers & John Bellairs

LAST CALL and HOUSE WITH THE CLOCK IN ITS WALLS Tim Powers and John Bellairs

Published on John Bellairs Birthday – January 17, 1938!

In my spies+sorcery novel Wilderness of Mirrors, I’m trying to write a grounded fantasy that builds on known facts about the Cold War, the War on Terror, 9/11 and the WTC. I am attempting to construct a fantasy that feels as intricate and realistic as the spy novels of John Le Carré. I think I can write a pretty good spy plot, with gun battles, secrets passed in the dark, cryptographic codes to be broken, etc.  The tricky part of the novel for me is writing the “fantasy” part, as to this point in my writerly life, I’ve written “straight” contemporary or historical fiction. I also have no desire to craft a world utterly divorced from our reality – a la J.K. Rowling, Tolkien or George R.R. Martin. Instead, I’d like to take the curtain that lies over some 9/11 related events, and simply lift it a little bit, to reveal the edge of “sorcery” behind the scenes. I want any “fantastic” elements to feel as if they are genuine to our reality, and could exist if only someone looked closely enough. So I am looking for models of how to do this effectively.

One model can be found in Tim Powers’s Last Call, a book I re-read and marked up in detail this month, specifically because I was in search of his technique of how he did magic+history in a believable way. Powers is the winner of the World Fantasy Award, and one reason that his books stand out from the general glut of fantastic fiction is that he does deep research into history, language and historical style. He also occasionally includes actual historical figures in his fantasy, but carefully written in such a way that they appear quite realistic and grounded in the period. For example, one of his historical fantasy masterworks is The Stress of Her Regard, in which Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and other poetic notables of the period are primary characters. The novel Last Call is only peripherally about the history of the gangster Bugsy Siegel and the founding of Las Vegas. Instead, it is mostly about a seemingly vagabond poker player who finds his lost step-father and has to undertake a bizarre quest back to Las Vegas, where he was abandoned as a child.

En route to Las Vegas, Scott (the vagabond), a friend, and Ozzie (the step-father) are pursued by persons unknown. They find a way to evade them, and this is where the magic enters in for the first time in the book. This is the scene I was interested in, because I found the scene very believable, but it violates every natural law I know about. I didn’t have any suspension of disbelief, because my disbelief was accounted for in the scene. Here’s the scene in a nutshell: Ozzie without much notice stops the car and asks Scott and his friend glue plastic deer whistles all over their vehicle, and put playing cards on every other surface, including the wheels. Then they have to prick their fingers and put blood spots on flags and stick the spotted flags out the window. Ozzie doesn’t even tell them what it is for, or why they are doing this. The car is a bizarre sight, and the characters share the reader’s laughter at such strange instructions.

Ozzie doesn’t explain at all what is happening, which heightens the suspense. Ozzie keeps his cards close to his chest, and instead just tells them to do these bizarre things. They follow his instructions with suspicion and hilarity (which nicely mirrors the reader’s disbelief that any of this will work). Because some of the characters share our readerly disbelief in such evident quackery, when it all does work, that fact lands on us as readers with a redoubled gravity. This makes us believe in Ozzie and in the story.  Only after the scene is over, does Ozzie explain that they escaped because of these factors:

Those little plastic deer whistles [you two attached all over the car] make a complication of ultrasonic sound waves, all interfering and amplifying and damping each other, and the blood-spotted flags are a lot of organic motion… And then the main thing is the [plethora of playing] cards on the wheels, which are whizzing past the playing cards on the fenders, so…. You get a dozen new combinations of cards…. At a hasty glance, a psychic would tend to assume that there are a lot of people traveling in one vehicle (Powers 169).

As I thought more deeply about the scene, that sleight of hand in terms of withholding of knowledge really worked for me as a reader. It also was true to the sense of the story, and the concealment of fantastic elements, which is part of the plot. Why would a skilled magician or one knowledgeable in magical evasion share any of their secrets with either the reader or the other characters? If Ozzie had led with an explanation, then the “magic” of it working would have disappeared.

I experimented with re-writing the scene, and I quickly found that the best sequence was just as Powers wrote it: 1) Ozzie communicated his bizarre instructions, 2) the characters’ showed disbelief and 3) that in the end it worked, and was 4) afterwards explained later. Since Ozzie was acting in a matter of fact way in doing certain very specific activities – without explaining them – it also makes it evident that he knows precisely what he is doing (even if we don’t know), and it makes it more possible for readers to believe in his activities later on. His behavior is grounded in human reality. We don’t all go about like Hermione in Harry Potter, explaining the magic as we go along. Not explaining it makes it more magical. Withholding the explanation until later is a great plot move.

I was also struck by a similar set of bizarre instructions that have real-world grounding in John Bellairs’s classic children’s horror novel The House with the Clock in its Walls. This scene occurs in the penultimate chapter which constitutes the “final showdown.” In this scene, the three main characters – orphan Lewis Barnavelt, Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman – know that they are under threat and must try to discover and battle the plans of an “evil magician.” In the hands of many writers, this scene would be formulaic. The trio would engage in detective work (either through magic or via standard deduction), and then would prepare themselves for a magical battle that would involve wands, spouts of green fire and magical creatures. (One can easily imagine a J.K. Rowling magical scene like this).

However, what Bellairs does with the scene is interesting. To this point in the novel, our protagonist Lewis has established himself as a little peculiar, nerdy and unusually inventive for a 13 year old. His Uncle Jonathan is equally zany – if not more so – and is extremely disorganized. Bellairs emphasizes character over magical happenings, and makes us believe even more deeply in his world when he has Uncle Jonathan articulate how these characters have functioned throughout the novel:

We’re no good at that [logical] game. Our game is wild swoops, sudden inexplicable discovers, cloudy thinking…. Lewis, what I want you to do is this. Get a pencil and paper and dream up the silliest set of instructions you can think of. (Bellairs 158)

What follows the instructions written by Lewis is an extremely silly card game and wacky “game” that culminates in finding the “Ace of Nitwits” and the magical object that threatens them. The instructions created by Lewis is very random magic as conceived by a crazy 13 year old, and it foregrounds Lewis without giving him any special abilities. In fact, his lack of special abilities and his zany wit is what makes this chapter fun, and believable. Without Lewis being firmly established as liking these kinds of strange puzzles, the scene would never work: but with that established from chapter one, this action follows so naturally that I cannot now conceive of any other way of finishing the book. In the end, character matters more than special effects to Bellairs.

To sum up my findings on these two magical scenes, I think that two keys to writing “believable” and “grounded” fantasy that seems to be occurring in our reality are as follows: 1) Do not explain what is happening. Provide characters with specific actions that are highly specific and that they believe are “necessary” to cause the effect they want to cause. If the actions are suspect, have other characters voice that suspicion, so the reader’s perspective is embraced. Explain later, and perhaps not even then. 2) Focus on the characters and what they would naturally do. Do not insert magical behavior that does not fit the characters, their motivations, and their behavior to date.

As an addendum to my findings, I’d like to re-emphasize character. If the characters are utterly believable, and the “magic” is utterly believable to the characters themselves, it makes it easier for the reader to believe as well. Writing a fantastic scene should be an outgrowth of a character’s thought process and character development up until that point in the novel, rather than a deus ex machina that just appears or intrudes into the narrative. Writing “realistic” magic is tough, but can be done if one focuses on the basics of realistic human behavior, careful structure in scene dynamics and consistent character motivation as our guiding principles.

A literary update from NedNote.com Readers can find my books at these bookstores:

Works Cited

Bellairs, John. The House with the Clock In Its Walls. New York: Puffin Books, 1973.

Powers, Tim. Last Call. New York: Avon Books, 1992.

On Writing: Realistic Magic in Tim Powers & John Bellairs was originally published on Ned Hayes

[titheguerrero]

Dander Still Up, And Also Down, All OVer the Place. What Gives?

A. I've started this piece a whole bunch of times. So in fairness to you, reader, you have a few paths through it. If you don't feel like starting by sharing some navel-staring about today's bizarre predicament, please skip to 'D.' Or 'B,' or 'C.' Wouldn't blame you in the least. I've still got my dander up about what's happening in the many troubled reaches of health care in the United States. OK, truth to tell, also about what's up world-wide. Scary stuff. Readers have no doubt waited patiently for me to recover from confusion about this sudden mess, much of said predicament stemming from various delayed reactions to the 2008 disasters. (For the wildly popular, broader and verbally less restrained version of this consternation, from a compelling voice, see this newsletter.) Or, at least, I've waited to get over this confusion. Now I'm over it: see 'C,' below. Overall, anyone paying attention to the press—or even for that one lone DC Legislative Assistant just reading this blog for all her health policy info—you know things just ain't right. Not in academia, not in government, not in the private sector despite a record-shattering bull market run. (Leave aside for just a moment all those other issues in US foreign and economic policy, equally in the soup.) We thought matters couldn't get worse before the arrival of the latest residents of board rooms and corner (or oval) offices in each of those sectors. But, oh, wait: then, after January 2017, they did. But what gives beneath the surface? The news waves have become a deluge. But, to get to the "so what?", where are the rip-currents beneath today's tsunami of chaotic news? Why are things seemingly better in some areas than others? (For some specific examples see my Grade Point Average—GPA—scores below, introduced in this edition of the CDR (Cetona Dander Report),  I've been off the air while scrambling for some way of understanding the why behind the what. Now I think I've gotten what're at least some part-answers to my writer's block. And mirabile dictu, my dander's gone back down a little, especially over there in the Department of Health and Human Services. For one thing, as Margot Sanger-Katz recently pointed out in the Times, and we're seeing this in many places, the troubled crazy-quilt of American health care, especially among the federal branches, and the antics of the DIC (disloyalist-in-chief, or my preference, doofus-in-chief), all have paradoxically made the organization of health care somewhat less anechoic. ("You see how I did that double negative in there?") This anechoic effect I began talking about over a decade ago, during the perhaps slightly calmer Shrub and Obama years—corrupt and autocratic behavior operating under everyone's radar, and I don't miss those days—this effect has repeatedly been decried by those blogging here, especially your intrepid editor. But today, like immigration, health care is back in the political ads and it's no longer quite so anechoic, now the DIC has lanced the boil with his shrill. Hell, DIC's our poster child for health care reverb. He even claims as he campaigned on the notion of lower drug prices and better care. Just not for those people. No matter. You can't unring this bell. Everyone left with anything resembling an open mind—come November we'll get more on the 'N' of said group—they all know what far too many in his party are trying to do. Those with brains already fully devoured (burp) by QAnon are, of course, excepted. Biggest place the GOP and DIC overlap in goals: dance with all the lobbyists and Fat Cats who want to kill the baby in the bathtub. Kill the VA. Kill the ACA. Kill kill kill. If this all starts to sound a little schizzy, that's precisely the point. This is a big clue to what's become the inner dynamic of federal health policy (and economic and foreign policy) in the second half of 2018. There's campaigning to the base, and there's governing. I mean, I know, I must be the last person in Montana to recognize this dynamic, especially after everybody saw the latest blind-siding on the Russian affair. No offense to Montana. I'm not from there. I know great folks there. The executive branch of our government has cleaved in two. The White House today—quite unlike any of its predecessor administrations arguably including that of Bush II—is a perpetual political campaign. I know, others have compared it more to television reality show or one variant of the same thing: WWE. Anyway, it's a perpetual political campaign, and solely that. Its purpose is not to govern but to retain power in order to reward friends. This goes for everything it touches in health care. Campaigns depend interminably on donors and, fitfully, even voters. The problem is, there are cabinet departments, for our purposes notably the VA and HHS, where something else, something else besides perpetually rabble- and fund-raising, has to happen. Something we used to call "government." More and more a rare bird. In the White House, the bird is as extinct as the dodo. (Charlottesville was clear-cut proof of this point, when the DIC ducked his constitutional responsibility to console and unify, in order to play exclusively to his base.) "Government" clearly can't be effective by defaulting to sheer adversarialism and destruction. But interestingly, it's still there outside the White House. If not thriving, as least surviving and fitfully accomplishing some important tasks. In matters of health, like the tiny furry mammals scurrying among the dinosaurs after the asteroid, government is actually beginning to make some hopeful moves. It's time we called those out as well, and scored the agencies on how they're doing as we get close to mid-term elections. It's a balancing act between the campaigning DIC and his few fitfully effective folks. (If they tick him off and get fired, they'll be retroactively labelled "deep state.") It looks to me like health care policy management, whether around how care gets paid for, or around reuniting kids suffering from child-abuse-as-foreign-policy, has become an absurdist pas de deux between these two factions. Never have they been more distinct. In this corner, the White House, with its hacks, its DIC, its billionaire donors just a phone call away, and its campaign-job explant moles planted in key departments. And in this other corner, until maybe they get fired, cabinet appointees and sub-appointees, including some pretty good old time GOP types, who want to get the job done. The first either lets these second types do their jobs, or somebody--often one of the hacks--gets to them first. (In all of this, of course, Rule Number One is always, don't piss off the DIC. Get the job done without losing your own job.) Among the hacks closest to the ear of the DIC, and man is that an image, chief are Larry Kudlow, Mick Mulvaney, both on money matters; and John Bolton on matters involving anyone who looks, y'know, a little foreign. (Norwegians, good. The rest: maybe, y'know, drug dealers and rapists.) In 'D' below we talk about some of the other B. Here's how to get out of the distracting, enervating, confusing obsession so many of us complain about when considering health care and pretty much else coming out of today's Washington. (Not just the White House and the 15 executive departments. But especially.) Extricate yourself, that is, without sticking head in sand. Don't just take a break from all the crazy. Take a cue from the DIC Head himself. Note how fond he is calling everybody a dog. But in fact his prey, take for instance, are not dogs at all. It's the secret joy of more right wing GOP Trump-heads: we're all acting like cats. Laser cats. Just let him move that pointer around and we all go batshit batting at it. Dudes love it when we do that. We don't have to do that. Just be quiet and keep paying attention. We're on to them. Don't pounce until there's more there there than just a flickering red light. Recognize what he's doing across the board. Read Health Care Renewal. Remember, every time the red light blinks and you leap into the air, somewhere a puppy dies and a spook's security clearance goes kerplooey. C. Why mention Montana? Well, actually turns out a big source of impact on our health comes right from our natural environment and the failure of Big DIC to insure its stewardship. He appointed an Associate DIC (ADIC) to the Interior department. Ryan Zinke, best known for a career as football player (Whitefish HS, University of Oregon) and Navy Seal. (Navy.) Zinke believes the California wildfires are best explained by "environmental terrorists" rather than climate change. Not cool. The Secretary has now appointed a Whitefish team-mate essentially to vet any program that might affect our health. Steve Howke has an undergraduate business degree and a life in credit unions. So clearly he's a great pick to vet any proposed money involving more than budget-dust (i.e., > 50k) on programs. This is to make sure such expenditures "align with the administration’s priorities." Pretty much kills any chance Interior will pay attention to our health. Guy's the designated goalie to assuage the boss's desire to focus on really hopeful matters such as Clean Coal. On a slightly brighter note, when it comes to the looming underwater loss of, oh, maybe the East Coast and all of Florida, the Big DIC seems to be appointing a real expert, Kelvin Droegemeier, as his White House Science Adviser. Job's been vacant for a long time. Maybe we'll keep Florida a little longer. Guy's impressive. See for example this actual piece of science for weather prediction. Let's fly to Oklahoma and talk to this guy. Ah, the outsized influence of Whitefish, Montana. Is there a Trump Hotel in Whitefish? I know people there. I'll find out. If there's a solid gold toilet in Whitefish, we're finished. D. So finally, after such all this preamble, how's life been playing out in health care? With the exception of the comparatively tiny program to reunite refugee kids with their parents, which is hapless, until now such life's not been so very vivid for most citizens glancing at their screens. Average Joe probably can't comment on either of the biggest items. But the noisy numbers, for 2019 are as follows.

A nearly 200 billion dollar request for the VA, well over a third of which is for health care and an over 15% request over 2918.

Almost 800 billion dollars for Medicare, most of which is for Medicare reimbursements, and just a 3% increase from the previous year.

Compare this with a bit over two billion for all HHS-supervised vulnerable-populations programs, even with a whopping 29% increase over 2018.

Only a tenth or so of this two billion is devoted to refugee programs. Two hundred million divided by a trillion. Hmmm, too many zeros here, so you do the math. Rounding error. But with close to a 30% increase for forcibly orphaned kids and others, maybe the Secretary tried.

So final tally: the three above total a trillion, 80% Medicare and 20% VA.

Keep it all in perspective, bearint these things in mind.

These are budget requests. Medicare they want to gut, even beyond ACA, so in the end maybe the aforesaid 3% will drop down into negative numbers.

Even here, with the 800B request, the HHS Secretary's clearly trying to be realistic on Medicare, knowing the temper of his bosses at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ain't it odd! VA gets a barely passing grade despite the huge increase year-over-year. But this is the reality, as we'll see below.

Back to our echo chamber and the din of the 2018 election. It's all changing now, not so anechoic any more, as Dr. Poses recently pointed out. The fact is, and you'll hear much more of this in state-by-state campaigns just now getting off the ground for the fall run-up to November 6th, it's all now as vivid as hell. We should all remember how much more vividly people feel the loss of a dollar than they feel the bestowal of a dollar. Politicians know this. The anechoic chamber fills with a joyful noise. If only because, as occurred with other earlier water-boarding-style excesses, this same political party just gave us this most recent instance of politically weaponizing cruelty. Really, not so joyful. But likely to command attention this fall. What else will command attention? Access to health care. And something for the vets who provided proud service to their nation. I wrote earlier about the VA versus political donors' influence, in that case a Koch brother and a hack somehow attached to said brother. For a while seemingly, until he alienated them too, Trump and his people acted as though "things go better with Koch." In my previous dander-post, I pointed out the "Concerned Veterans," who've always seemed most concerned with privately outsourcing veterans' services while sundering the agency that protected them. (I provided medical care to these brave warriors from both inside and outside the VA. They rarely had anything bad to say about the organization. Certainly a lot less bad than I did when dealing with that hoary bureaucracy. Certainly they don't want it to go away. David Shulkin felt the same way, and lost a battle with the DIC's hacks.) But now it's much worse. So I want to go out on this here limb and give Trump's two key departments for health care, their respective mid-term GPAs. For the VA: charitably, a D-minus. But interestingly, GPA for HHS: maybe as good as a B-, albeit constantly threatening to slide into a Gentleman's C to placate the boss DIC. Why the qualitative disparity? Well, first let's back it up a little and rack up some of the recent events upon which this GPA result is based. First let's take the VA. The place has had major problems for years and years, many of them self-inflicted with a self-referential bureaucracy second only to the Catholic Church. (David Shulkin knew he needed to fix this and was actively trying to do so when he was fired.) But the place just can't seem to catch a break. So harsh as it is for what's hopefully a work in progress that can still be salvaged either now or after 2020, the grade for this place is D- on a good day. Here are some of the hour-exams that go into the dismal assessment.

The VA's own internal watchdog just recently ripped it for failing in a recent program to help veterans' caregivers. This started before and continues during the Trump administration.

The effort to privatize VA care continues to ramify. Chasing down all the leads on this issue feels like trying to lop off the head of Medusa.

A proposed law to pay for privatization is bizarrely popular with bipartisan lip service. But it may shut down the government when you get down to finding the money.

There's a pathetic White House VA hotline about this, which reaches some hapless third party call-center folks who're powerless and clueless.

Most recently, Trump has essentially abdicated VA oversight to cronies, much like our high school footballer vetting spending at Interior. Specifically the "Shadow Rulers," a threesome of alte kakers—Palm Beach concierge doctor Bruce Moskowitz, sometime Marvel Entertainment chair Ike Perlmutter, and attorney Mark Sherman—who have in common one great thing: Mar-A-Lago! You can't make this stuff up. We owe it to politico.com (see here, here, and here) for providing superb coverage of the narrative of their undue influence. Whether official or unofficial, it's abdication of authority, with weak official leadership.

After Shulkin left, the place was forced to thrash around leaderless. It now has a guy Richard Stone, an unimpressive managerialist, but at least an Army Veteran. Not nearly enough!

Stone replaced a far better suited expert, Carolyn Clancy, who was sidelined into a looking-out-the-window job under questionable circumstances. See here.

Worth an entire blog of its own but start here: the VA's saga of health IT is a surpassingly strange, long and sordid one. The VA was among the first to have a workable EMR. It  ultimately got scrapped for lack of support and interoperability with the far more egregious and expensive failure of DOD's EMR program. (Which Shulkin sought to fix via COTS outsourcing.) Many billions down the drain on both sides. The VA system's lack of interoperability was in no way the VA's fault. They can't catch a break.

One of Trump's earliest attempts to "deal" with the VA was to put Omarosa in charge! This early episode again underlines the White House's difficulty in dealing with government organizations that give off the scent of unprivatized "deep state" players. Veterans hated her—now why would that be?

Another Cohen, not Michael, enters the picture. Also courtesy of New York's blogger-journalists at ProPublica, we learn that hedge fund billionaire (and of course DIC crony) Steve Cohen is cashing in with the VA. Altruistically, of caws. Just wants to help out all those PTSD patients. Privately, employing something modestly called "The Cohen Network." Read this whole sordid story at ProPublica. I'm seeing double Cohens in here.

Why does the VA story seem so haplessly fragmented, with lovers and haters constantly duking it out? A recent piece in Washington Monthly, by noted authors Suzanne Gordon and Jasper Craven, offers a simple and I think largely correct answer. Its supporters, especially those in Congress, know VA medicine is popular but they keep ragging on it as though it hurts its patients more than the private sector does. Not true! These guys just don't like government-run programs when the private sector friends want in. The private sector is also beset with inefficiencies, IT disconnects, and corruption. Shulkin was on the right track but got derailed. In every case, the common denominator is how VA medicine is a single frog in a single barrel. Shoot it or slowly boil it. Either way, a far easier target for meddling than HHS. This is the answer, folks. It's not that the VA needs more help than HHS, or that publicly supported health care's inherently bad. VA and HHS certainly both need a lot of help, but the VA did many fine things over recent decades. But boy is it an easy target.

Now to HHS, a very different story. A much more elusive target, for any journalist but more importantly for any DIC-hack or -backer. And now it has a Secretary about whom we may at least point to dramatic improvement over his spendthrift predecessor. The latter was a physician at that, should have had his head on straight, but who proved to be so far right, and frankly so peculiar, that at any given time he clearly could take a bite out of his own prostate. Salient points about HHS's performance under Trump:

Key people are Alex Azar, the Secretary and Seema Verma over at CMS.

They're both clearly being forced to walk a tight-rope between White House and DIC-backers' ideology, and getting a whole host of jobs done. And those jobs require a great deal of organic interaction with the private sector.

PBM companies

Big Pharma

The AMA

The payers

Patient advocates.

Last and probably least, advocates for vulnerable populations—for reasons stated above.

They both seem to be learning on the job. B.

Not all's well. Trimming back access to ACA benefits, hotly opposed by many, is still a campaign in the Congress and White House, but seemingly opposed at least in part by many within HHS. Jury's out on this one, as ACA is super-popular nation-wide. D-.

Evidence for this: tackling the ticklish issue of stabilizing the Obamacare marketplaces. Much ink-shed over this, e.g. here and here and here.  Devilishly complex but suffice it to say that some states and perhaps the Congress will go ahead (one of the above links even refers to Scott Walker and Wisconsin) and make sure reinsurance is assured. Can this be anything other than the insurance industry pushing back on the nihilists? B+.

Medicaid and its expansion are also fighting back from the preferred GOP method of compression and extinction. The abusive work requirements, playing to the DIC's base and its resentment of "free-loaders," are not likely to last. The WaPo in fact now reports the emergence of multiple objective health-services-research studies showing the salutary effects of expanded Medicaid, especially for chronic illness like diabetes. So risk payments may be restored. B+.

Drug-price negotiations are see-sawing like crazy. Trump says he believes strongly in this. Do we believe him or the PHRMA lobbyists? He touts token prize freezes. Azar seems on the fence, though he talks a good game. Congress tries to be encouraging. Jury's out. C-.

The corner of Medicare known as Advantage programs, emphasizing Accountable Care Organizations or ACOs, is another complicated matter. Verma seems to be looking to restrict ACOs to those with real accountability. Some view this as more draconian behavior, but I see her point. B+.

PBM companies—those lucrative outfits that "manage" pharmaceutical benefits—are also on the DIC's hit list. I see little progress. What I see is rural pharmacies dying out because they get caught in the PBM companies' baroque pricing schemes. D- to F.

A almost wholly unnoticed federal regulation from last month deserves much more attention. This voluminous document dramatically revises fee schedules for Medicare patients, emphasizing many of the services traditionally provided with little or no reimbursement by primary care physicians. New billing codes are proposed. For the first time the playing field may soon be leveled for many PCPs. This is a potential big win for those working for Verma. A solid A+.

The above's an excellent example of emerging claims, for example those in a worthy new Brookings piece, that real cause for optimism exists in health care reform. At least some of that stems from activities within HHS. The conservative author, Stuart Butler, deserves a careful read. He signals several "under the radar" patterns from both the states and HHS itself, flowing from increased flexibility that HHS now has. (For all its strengths, ACA was hamstrung by some fairly inflexible regulations on matters such as metrics for improving Health IT.) A+.

Average grade for HHS: B-. Why this good in an abysmal administration? As I've intimated, for every meddling White House apparatchik there's an outside interest pushing back on Azar and Verma. Lots of IT vendors. Lots of payers. Lots of innovators. (And, of course, lots of outraged citizens in the one conspicuous but miniature case of the separated children.) The very protean and risibly shuffling-buffalo scale nature of HHS may have been its greatest virtue. In an effort to satisfy the spirit of "anything but Obama," they're trying some new stuff, and some of it isn't half bad.

Thus VA and HHS are fascinating bookends juxtaposing the risks and benefits of homogeneous versus heterogeneous health planning. Right now HHS is winning, if only because of a political atmosphere in which the latter is better adapted to thrive. It could, of course, go the other way. Personally I hope the VA is restored to its former strength, perhaps in a spruced-up and more streamlined form: less bureaucratically stodgy to get away from the current predicament in which everyone from a bad manager to a bad nurse can tie the place in knots. I also hope HHS, even if Medicare For All becomes a reality, preserves opportunities for experimentation and innovation.

Article source:Health Care Renewal

[robot-radar]

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Specs

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Review

The first Porsche 911 Turbo turned into a symbol of the car in the time it cleared out the generation line in 1975, despite the fact that around then turned out to be authoritatively known as the Porsche 930.

Furnished with a 3.0-liter turbo and remarkable 260hp level six air-cooled (194kW), was one of the speediest generation autos on the planet fit for going from zero to 100 km/H in 5.5 seconds. The greatest speed is 246 km/h.

Quick forward 41 years and five eras of development, and the most recent incarnation of the games auto identification Porsche is still called the 911 Turbo, just nowadays there is a significantly quicker form that includes a “S” to the Turbo tag.

See, there is another case of how the whole Porsche Turbo thing has turned into a mixed end piece, as all new 911s will be turbocharged.

The 911 family (except for the really bad-to-the-bone GT3 and GT3 RS), compelled to lessen the measure of the motor moving increasingly the direction of worldwide emanations, will utilize another 3.0-liter turbo six-barrel motor Cylinders, which replaces 3.4 units and 3.8 liters with common goal in the active models.

#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Black

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Exterior

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet For Sale

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Inside

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Interior

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Price

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Rear

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet White

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Engines and Performance

Luckily, the 911 Turbo and the greatest force of Turbo proceed with the petrol motor on a level plane restricted to six-barrel 3.8-liter bi-turbo, in spite of the fact that a reformulated good form Euro 6 of the past unit.

Notwithstanding changes, for example, an upgraded fuel infusion framework modified info ports and new factor turbochargers with 58mm geometry (for the Turbo S) have delivered an effective powertrain with much more execution.

Dislike somebody who ran the past arrangement 991 Turbo 911 never left the auto and whined about Porsche requiring more. Or maybe, it was a terrifying auto fit for an execution – on and off the track.

Be that as it may, some say that the symbol status of the 911 Turbo is under risk of new kids on the piece, for example, savagely quick Audi R8 and the impressive 570S McLaren, which gave an adequate motivation to Porsche to overhaul the model just Three years after the fact the dispatch of the arrangement 991 911.

To put it plainly, it could be the same as the active model, with the exception of a line of contact and do a reversal and forward, including new front and back guards, new LED lights, new entryway handles, new Wheels and an alternate lattice motor cover It incorporates vertical veins as opposed to exemplary flat style.

It is a similar touch of light inside. There is another directing wheel motivated by the 918, so it feels like a size tire and the new diversion framework that fuses PCM Porsche’s anything but difficult to-utilize Apple auto play.

In any case, the 2016 911 Turbo S conveys execution wagers to another level, on the off chance that you trust the industrial facility claims – and who are most certainly not?

Porsche does not know to misrepresent their execution claims – something for them – gauge up to a few tenths of a moment. Be that as it may, bragging rights has never been more critical in this tenuous section and Porsche has a great deal to have the new Turbo models, particularly those beasts.

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Viability and Execution

Consider the general figures: 427kW and 750 Nm at 2250-4000rpm (397kW/700nm for the Turbo). It is likewise the initial 911 to break three seconds for the sprint from zero to 100 km/h in spite of the fact that the Porsche driver, Jörg Bergmeister, assessed to be useful for 2.6 seconds.

It will likewise dispatch from 0-160km/h in only 6.5secs and 0-200km/h in 9.9secs. The increasing speed out and about is considerably more capable; 80-120km/h in a rankle arrangement 1.8 seconds’ level.

Be that as it may, the 911 Turbo family has dependably conveyed a great deal more than high speeds, its notoriety for unwavering quality, ordinary supercar that feels each piece at home out and about as on a race track is merited, so I came at the recently reestablished Grand Prix circuit of Kyalami in Johannesburg, South Africa, through an agonizing and moderate pinnacle hour in some exceptionally normal streets that need a similar rebuilding of the track.

For a supercar, prepared to do such ballistic execution different sorts yet don’t expect the level of driving solace includes on this certifiable supercar from the surface of uneven streets unpleasantly.

This is the complex case innovation of the 911, Porsche Adaptive Suspension in Management (PASM) that changes the safeguards amongst Normal and Sport. Typical is the thing that you need for a moderate regular approach, which smooths out everything except for the greatest stun.

Ventilating in the game notwithstanding, and very quickly you feel even the littlest effects, however the trade is that the auto feels more keen and tied.

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Driving Impressions

At that point there’s the PDK seven-speed super-refined four-wheel drive, bringing about subtle speed changes, even in the packed in activity, where different frameworks are apprehensive. Just when it rebuffs the musicality on the more forceful mode change track feels the apparatus changing to the following gear.

Take it from me; This is the best double grip transmission on the planet, the period.

Exactly when you imagine that the 911 Turbo is maybe more than GT an immediate game auto, still with characteristic goal GT3, gets things done on a track that permits you to gob-smacked – and remain with GT3 RS which is driven by A Porsche (despite the fact that I was driving with one hand, while speaking with the two-route radio with the other).

For this situation, it is significantly less for the driver and all the more designing. The couple did not so much ascent from a Newton-meter over the past auto, in spite of the expansion of new turbochargers and substantial compressors, which expanded power by 15kW.

Be that as it may, both models of Turbo now have a dynamic lift work that hones the motor reaction and keep the throttle quickening agents running notwithstanding when you leave the quickening agent. Speeding up once more, and it is alongside no deferral and a serious terminating quickening to begin.

Take note of that it is still supernaturally refined, notwithstanding when you can discharge all its energy, as we did at Kyalami.

To make things more troublesome for the Turbo, around the track are not totally completed the process of, bringing about a few small-scale waterways that cross the key pinnacles of what a normally quick circuit is. In any case, add up to footing once more, the modified framework and the heading of the back hub implies 911 Turbo can enough crush these areas, as though they were dry.

This kind of mental beat in an in part wet track in a street auto is very regular to abandon you confused as it did to me.

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Transmission

Not only the speed of vandals, either. Turn after turn I wanted to, “go harder for this corner, come sooner, there is no compelling reason to get up, simply get the power and cut” and the auto would comply. This is a supercar that prizes mettle with a considerable measure of intrigue, however not bizarrely requesting to drive even in the hustling auto.

It is likewise where it starts to feel the advantages of incremental changes made to the suspension. Regardless of the possibility that you think you are moving toward excessively hot corner and there is an anxious tremor from the back (particularly in the wet segments), so there is a great deal of Zeros Pirelli P all-inclusive hold that can be capable with all the trust on the planet.

Be that as it may, in the event that you need more, the Twin Turbo can offer. Press the catch in the focal point of the directing wheel propelled by the 918 and enact Sport Response, which begins the motor for 20 seconds’ greatest lift when you have to achieve a street prepare in the Pilbara region.

The brakes, as well, are extraordinary in their capacity to control the monster quickens the straight line of the 911 Turbo, however clearly, staining, and paying little heed to the two brake setups utilized.

The Turbo gets 380 mm press plates from six/four front/raise breadth cylinders, while the Turbo S recorded monstrous 410mm/390mm earthenware circles with a similar arrangement of six/four-cylinder.

Past the reported execution picks up, the 911 has dependably had the preferred standpoint over its many opponents regarding convenience, and the new Turbo is no special case. There is a lot of space for baggage in the front stockpiling just, while the rearward sitting arrangements (as little as they seem to be) guarantee that at any rate can get their children at school.

2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet – Essentially, it’s a Sports Car, but not just any Sports Car 2016 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Review The first Porsche 911 Turbo turned into a symbol of the car in the time it cleared out the generation line in 1975, despite the fact that around then turned out to be authoritatively known as the Porsche 930.