#for how much i draw dragons i only have like. 4 i use regularly including my fursona

[bittybatarts]

it's appreciate a dragon day so give your local dragons lots and lots of treats and gifts ok?

[whiteappalachianwitch]

Types of Witches

Originally posted by little-red-grewup

Read about the Updates/Notes:

Hello everyone! Here is the updated version of the WITCH TYPES list, including types that were missed and recommended. Please be respectful if there is some form of misinformation or typo on here; I tried my verybest and took a lot of my own time and energy to do as thorough research as I could with what I have available, which is a very difficult and long task for somebody with low motivation. I am very in favor of constructive and polite criticism, but I will not tolerate people leaving rude comments without even trying to help me fix and provide the best information possible! Thank you so much to everyone who so kindly informed me of what needed to be polished up and fixed, you are all very lovely people for handling it with patience ~ And keep in mind, beginner witches:

You do not NEED to identify yourself as a type

You can choose to identify yourself as NO type at all

You can choose to identify with as many as you like!

Anyway, enjoy! ➺ Rainy

Each type includes a simplified description (for those who haven’t heard of the type, just to get a generalized idea. The shortened description is in no way meant to be discriminative or disrespectful), a few examples, and almost every bolded term includes a link to a (hand-picked) useful post/website for that type of practice.

Types of Witches

(Some may also fit into the second category)

∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆

Solitary - Practicing by ones’ self; not included in a group

Secular - Non-religious / Not connecting with deity(s)

Eclectic - An individual’s practice that has bits and pieces pulled from different magickal and/or spiritual practices, respectfully

(Theistic) Satanic - Witchcraft that is often centered around honoring and/or working with satan in spellwork and prayer

Athiest/Laveyan Satanic - Witchcraft worked with the idea that satan is a concept, rather than a real person or entity (loosely put; it’s a very detailed concept). Also known as Satanic witches who fit the secular description.

Hereditary/Blood - Including oneself in the practice of witchcraft on the grounds of having been born into a family who also practices. Knowledge and practice may also be passed down through generations, and honor old ways of magick

Traditional - One who practices witchcraft by honoring and using old and ‘traditional’ ways of magick; this type of witch might be one to practice modern methods of magick, but they might also stick to traditional concepts or techniques

Christian - Witchcraft that is performed to honor / or is performed in conjunction with the Christian God as the primary and only deity

Hellenic - A form of non-witchcraft practice in which the practicer follows Greek ideals/culture and honors the Greek pantheon

Celtic - Magickal practice that is based from the Celtic culture, including its’ mythology, deities, old ways, and (occasionally) language / symbols. May also describe those who only worship Celtic gods

Science - A form of magick in which both metaphysical ideas and scientific facts/theories are mixed in together by the individual practicer

Types of Witchcraft

Keep in mind that each term’s explaination is the basic description of that type of witchcraft/magick; each individual witch might be a certain type but define it differently, as their practice may be different from the next witch

∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆

Green - Utilizing greenery/plants/herbs/flowers in herbal and natural magick, such as creating blends of different plants or using primarily herbs in spellwork

Hedge - Also known as an astral title, a type of magick that is oriented around more spiritual work; astral travel/projection, lucid dreaming, spirit-work, healing, and out-of-body experiences are all practices included in this magick

Dream - (A possible variation of Hedge) Mindful and internal magickal practice mainly based from interpreting dreams and/or engaging in lucid dreaming. Those who intensify as this may “de-code” symbols and messages in the dream world similar to how one would use a divination technique.

Sea - A type of magick derived from materials and abstract ideas involving the ocean and oceanic world. Sea/Ocean magick can be worked using seashells and bones, sea weed, beach sand, driftwood, ocean water, etc. and a sea witch might draw their energy from that of the sea!

Storm/Weather - Magick that is worked by combining one’s energy with the energy of the weather, and most commonly rain. Weather witches will do things like collect rain/snow water, absorb the energy of a lightning storm, “whistle up” or manipulate wind, predict the weather, etc.

Cottage / Hearth - (A slight variation from kitchen) Magick that is weaved, worked, or embued into mundane tasks around the house or for loved ones. Cottage/Hearth magick may be worked into daily tasks such as cleaning, cooking, or any hobbies

Kitchen - Magick that is worked specifically through “kitchen craft” such as herbal mixtures, brewing, baking, and cooking, and honors many aspects of the natural world: including herbs, crystals, fey, and the elements

Tea - Those who drink tea, make tea, use tea-leaf divination, or enjoy blending herbal remedies! A variant of Kitchen/Cottage witch

Tech - Magick that is skillfully worked through technology! A tech witch will most likely have at least a few magickal apps on their phone, digital sigils, or an online/digital BoS and/or Grimoire

Garden - While having a garden and/or working in any type of garden; magick that is mostly (if not all) herbal and botanical-related! Garden witches take pride and find it calming or invigorating to work the earth, harvest that which they have planted, and are closely related to Green type

Elemental - Magick that is worked by honoring/acknowledging the 4 or all 5 elements: Water, Earth, Air, Fire, and Spirit. Commonly an Elementalist will dedicate different areas of their altars to each element, call upon them during spells and rituals, and use symbols to represent each

Water - Specifically centered on the element of Water; water scrying, collecting sea/storm/snow/river/spring water, swimming/bath spells and other water-related actives, creating and using symbols associated with water

Earth - Specifically centered on the element of Earth; grounding exercises, rock/soil collecting, strong appreciation of the natural world, creating and using symbols associated with earth

Air - Specifically centered on the element of Air; working with wind, using air-related tools (such as the wand), creating and using symbols associated with air

Fire - Specifically centered on the element of Fire; Using anything fire-related (bonfires, candles, burning objects) in most spellwork, creating and using symbols associated with fire

Flora - Much like a Green or Garden witch, those who work majorily with floral materials and flowers in their practice and in their spellwork! Their grimoire may be heavily associated with flowers rather than herbs, and likewise, one might use flower properties in spell or craft work.

Urban Primative/City - For those who live or prefer the urban/city lifestyle; magick that can be worked without the seemingly “traditional” ways of witchcraft

Faery/Fey - Magick for those who communicate and work with the fey during spells and rituals. Usually, those who work with the fey may also leave offerings regularly, as thanks for the assistance of a faery in their spellwork.

Spirit Working - A practice in which the person will perform spellwork in conjunction with or with the help of any manner of spirit. This includes Ouija, (sometimes) demon spirits, spiritual contact, etc.

Draconian - Refers to type of magick for those who call upon or work with dragons and dragon imagery in their practice; whether it be through astral matters or in spells and rituals

Seasonal - Witches who utilize and draw energy from the specific times of year for their magick, sort of how a person might have a strong love or connection to a certain time of year! This can also be spread out into Winter, Autumn, Spring and Summer witches

Embroidery / Sewing / Knit - One who embues magick into household “stitching” or “string” hobbies such as embroidery, sewing, knitting, stringing, and knotting ~ Basically, one who identifies with using knot or chord magick in many different skills

Paper - Magick that is worked with, essentially, paper! Burning paper written with sigils, chants, symbols or spells, creating magickal offerings, items, or sachels from paper, etc.

Music - Magick that is worked with music, musical chimes, or rhythm! Humming/singing, clapping, singing chants during spells, playing instruments (even simple ones, like the triangle or bells), or even just simply playing music during spellwork, magick, or during energy exercises are a few common things a music witch might fancy

Chaos/Chaotic - A type of magick utilizing new, non-traditional, and unorthodox methods. It is a new and highly individualistic practice, while still drawing from other common forms of magick.

Animal - (A variant of Green) Magick that is strongly tied to the animal kingdom, which includes a deep appreciation for all animals, and most often: usage of animal materials in spellwork. An animal witch will most likely be one who loves animals, a person who animals are immediently “drawn” to, and those who appreciate the natural world. Some animal witches might also use bones, wings, feathers, fur, skin, scales, (etc). from deceased animals in their magick, if they choose to do so.

Sanguine - Meaning “blood” or “blood red color” in Latin, a type of magick that deals with blood or other life giving fluid; life blood can also be represented through things such as water, or nutrients. A term for those who work with blood and life-oriented magick!

Sigil - A witchcraft working majorly with sigils, and the intent that can be put into them to active their power

Art/Craft - Witchcraft that can be worked through arts and crafts, simply put! One may embue macgick in creative activities such as painting, drawing, building, cutting, creating, etc.

Grey - A neutral witch, who practices magick that neither benefits or harms others. Grey magick may also both harm and benefit at the same time, balancing and neutralizing.

Bone - Witches who commonly collect, clean, and use animal bones in their magickal practice, and for things like altar decoration or magick-infused charms/jewelry. Materials used by those who identify as Bone witches are usually collected peacefully or after the being has passed on naturally!

Lunar - One who works magick with / honors the moon and it’s energy and phases. This type of witch is also one to favor casting magick during the night hours rather than during the day

Astronomy/Space - (A wider variant of lunar) Those who practice magick and correlate their beliefs in conjunction with the planets and stars! These witches may focus their magick with the properties of each planet, regularly read a horoscope or study astrology, and have a love of the stars and the night.

Energy - Those who prefer to do magick through energy exercises and manipulation rather than with many physical tools or materials; using the enhanced power of the mind and the body’s natural energies to bring about a magickal result or feeling. (Also may include aura work)

Crystal - Magick that is worked commonly with stones and crystals, such as during spellwork or for crystal healing techniques. This may also include chakra balance, crystal meditation… anything that uses crystals, really! A crystal witch may also have an extensive knowledge of stones, including how to identify them and using their properties.

Literary - Those who practice magick through books and literature; a literary witch may do thing such as using book divination, often study witchcraft/magick even after the “beginner” phase of learning, etc. Also a term used to describe witches in stories, books, or movies.

The following information was kindly given by lovely bedaelia! Her descriptions were so well-written, I decided to simply use her own)

Heathenry - a practice in which the individual follows, works with, and/or worships the Norse deities

Lokean - Someone who works with/worships Loki and/or any of his relations (Hel, Jormugandr, Sigyn, Angrboda, etc) ; does not exclude other deities.

Odinism - A faith that works mostly with Odin, Thor, Freyjr, Freyja, Frigga, and Heimdall.

Asatru - Literally “Faith in the [Old] Gods” it is a more specific branch of Heathenry that worships the major Nordic pantheon, minus Loki, Fenrir, or other “adversary” gods.

More on Heathen Denominations

Gaulish - A practice that involves worshipping Gaulish gods

Kemetic - Worshipping and working with Egyptian deities

Death/Necromancy - A practice that may combine Bone, Animal, Spirit work, occasionally also Blood. Using spirits to empower one self, hoarding bones, using graveyards, graves, the spirits of them, as well as the dirt (or even plants) that are found in them. May also honor the dead and/or gods who work with the dead. Also try this link.

Pop Culture - Uses pop culture as a main focus or inspiration for the craft. Using lyrics or movie lines in spells, worshipping and honoring pop culture icons or idols, use of fandom, and more. It is a very wide practice. Examples may include drawing from Harry Potter spells or using invented sigils from shows like Supernatural.

“Poison Path” - Working with plants, herbs, other items that may be poisonous, deadly, cause hallucinogenic effects, or affect the mind or body in some way (sometimes aphrodisiacs are included [?])

Desert - Using and utilizing the desert environment. Lots of work with hardier plants such as Cacti or Tumbleweeds. Use of the moon, desert earth, fire, rare water (especially rainwater), wind, local plants and herbs, as well as animals/creatures of the desert such as snakes, spiders, scorpions, and so on.

Swamp/Bog - Heavy use of water and moisture, rich we soil/mud, sometimes incorporates the use of bones, animals, and insects, especially the local plants of the Swamp

Types of Spellwork / Magick

Each term below includes a link to a resource of that specific type ~

∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆∴.*☆

Candle

Herb

Crystal

Knot / Chord

Color

Energy Manipulation

Bottle / Jar

Vocal (Chanting)

(Physical) Binding

Poppet

Glamour

[arthurhwalker]

reMarkable 2 Review

I had some requests for a review of this device, and I am glad to oblige in this case. I've been closely following digital pen stylus tech for about eight years. I'm just old enough that I still need to handwrite a lot of things to tap into my creativity, but greatly dislike clutter in my life.

The reMarkable is for the person that writes enough by hand to fill several notebooks a year. For someone that wants the tactile and somatic component of writing on paper to associate with their process. The new reMarkable 2 does basically what the reMarkable 1 did; faster, better, and with a much improved piece of hardware.

If you've read my previous review from May 2018, you know I basically raved about the first generation reMarkable. I had a few criticisms of the Gen 1, and a lot of that has been addressed with the Gen 2.

Support & User Experience

I've used a reMarkable tablet continuously for almost three years. I've never had a support issue with one. The software is updated regularly, features added, and user experience improved with each iteration.

There is really no comparisons to be made with that kind of uninterrupted usage. No smartphone, tablet, or computer you ever own will be that reliable. A 3-4 year old Thinkpad, running Linux, is about as close as it gets to that level of, switch-on-and-use, every day, without fail feeling.  

The reason is that the reMarkable 2 is leveraging the most reliable hardware, user input methods, stylus technology, and operating system basis available. My fear has always been that my reMarkable wouldn't be as reliable as a regular piece of paper, and a good pen. So far, that fear has never been realized with the reMarkable 1, or 2.

Pen Stylus Input

The majority of what one picks up and uses will be Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) stylus tech, with Microsoft Surface Products, or Wacom AES (Active Electrostatic) like that found in a lot of Asus, Dell, Lenovo, and so forth. The older Wacom EMR (Electromagnetic Resonance) is used less frequently, and usually only with their own products, or a version thereof with Samsung Phones and Tablets.

Of the three options, Wacom's EMR is still the best.

That's what you'll find on the reMarkable Tablet, and if you get their Marker Plus (it's the black one) it has the magical EMR eraser tip opposite the drawing point. There is no better pen stylus experience, for general use, sketching, handwriting capture, tilt sensitivity, and so forth.

The Marker Plus is $50 more than the regular Marker. It is worth it.

What if you're like me, and you have a drawer full of pen stylus products? Products that include the legendary Excalibur stylus pen that came with the Thinkpad Tablet 10 Gen 1, and worked with the EMR capable Thinkpad Yoga S1 from 2013? The one with the eraser tip, and sweet felt tip point? Will that stylus work?

Yes. Yes, yes it will.

However, the reMarkable Marker Plus just feels better. It's heft (19g) is perfect, eraser tip rounded to feel like the real thing, and tips that degrade gracefully without marking up the screen. Buy. The. Marker. Plus.

The Hardware

The manufacturer says that the reMarkable 2 gets 3 times the battery life of the 1, is 2 times as responsive (relative to rendering digital ink), and is the world's thinnest tablet at 0.19". Mostly, this is all of this seems to be true. Also, as mentioned before all the new Marker Plus has a built in eraser, all the new accessories snap together with magnets, and it charges with USB-c.

The screen is capacitive touch capable now. No more page turning buttons, and you can swipe down from the top to back out of a document or folder. You can turn pages with the swipe of a finger now. It takes a second to get the gestures down, but they're crisp and reliable once you do.

The tablet runs off of a dual core ARM process (a good thing, in my opinion).

My only quibble is that it is supposed to be able to connect to both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz WiFi, but so far I've only gotten it to connect to 2.4. It might be something with my specific router, and I'm not sure if my experience is typical.

On the lower left hand side of the tablet there are 5 connection points. This suggests that the tablet may have the ability to connect to other accessories in the future. If reMarkable added a Plain Text Editor, and a keyboard cover to the reMarkable, I would be over the moon.

There is no evidence that they will do this, but a guy can dream. Having what's basically an e Ink Typewriter this thin and light would be the ultimate for this writer.

The Software

It is much the same experience as the reMarkable 1 with a few new additions.

You can convert your handwritten notes into text, cursive or block letters, and share by email. There is support for 33 languages.

With a Google Chrome plug-in, you can read web articles and pages on your reMarkable. If you're already battling with eye strain from looking at glowing screens all day, this is a nice feature.

Reading large PDFs and eBooks is still not crisp and snappy, but it is a vastly improved experience when compared to the reMarkable 1. Large graphically intense documents can be navigated without it taxing your patience. What I store on my reMarkable is vastly different now because of how much improved document handling has become.

I find the small sacrifice in speed rendering pages worth it, compared to the eye strain I get reading on other screens.

More pens, features, page templates, and ease of organizing have been added incrementally over time. With regard to the core functioning (Linux Based Codex OS) of the device, the manufacturer has only ever improved and supported the reMarkable.

Aesthetics

The reMarkable 1 was good for what it could do. It wasn't a bad looking product, but compared to the reMarkable 2, it was a rough prototype. Most tablets do not feel as nice in the hand as the reMarkable 2.

Rubber no-slip nubs on the back, rounded edges, satin finished glass and aluminum, make the tablet itself feel like it's from the future. I bought the Polymer Weave Book Folio, a step up from the regular Folio. A close friend got the same device and marker options as I did, but opted for the Premium Leather Folio.

Definitely, get the Book Folio, and if you can scrabble together the extra money, get the premium leather. That's my only regret is that I didn't spring for the best accessory offered. Is the Polymer Weave good? Absolutely, worth the $99. It is rigid, will protect your investment, and it's very classy looking.

My friend who picked up the Leather Folio is a graphic designer, and has greatly informed my sense of aesthetics over the years. She says the Leather Book Folio is well worth the extra. She is, most certainly, correct.

So, yeah, if you're going to get a reMarkable 2 and want a slightly used Polymer Weave Book Folio (mine), I'll let it go for cheap (so I can atone, and get the leather version, ha ha).

Value

The reMarkable 2 doesn't have a web browser, app store, Merge Dragons, audio player, or other third party applications. It won't replace your iPad, or Android Tablet. It will replace all the paper, notebooks, and pens in your life. This is especially true if you have a small scanner (like a Doxie), and leverage reMarkable's Smartphone app and cloud sync feature.

This tablet is for people that like paper, a lot, but don't want to carry it around or keep track of it. It is for people that fill 8-12 Moleskines a year, and mark up hundreds of pages of documents, for themselves, and others. It is for people that tap into their creativity by writing things down, sketching diagrams, and making lists.

The act of holding a pen or pencil against paper is a cognitive trigger, built into their implicit memory, every day, for years, that allows them to do their things.

$399 will buy a decent Samsung or Apple branded tablet, but neither of those is designed to emulate the experience of writing on paper like the reMarkable 2 tablet is. The reMarkable 2 will run you $399, a Marker Plus $99, and a Polymer Weave Folio $99, bringing it all to almost $600.

Unless you lurk reMarkable's website, and wait for a promotion. They did run a promotion for their pre-order, and will likely do something similar within a year of release. It is my recollection that the manufacturer ran at least two promotions for the Remarkable 1, and the savings were significant.

If you don't need one right this minute, check the website every week or so, their Amazon Store edifice, and whatever other options they have for your region.

Competitors

In the last few years, reMarkable has only acquired more competition in the e ink Tablet market. That competition varies depending on where you live in the world. In the US, no one makes a thing that directly competes. I looked at other products, didn't see anything that made me pull out my reMarkable 1 and make a list of pros and cons for comparison.

That isn't to say there isn't a better thing for your use case, but there wasn't for mine.

Final Thoughts

If I didn't drive this point home earlier, I'm going to make it now. The reMarkable 2 will not replace your laptop, mobile OS (iOS/Android) Tablet Device (meant to replace your laptop), or Smartphone. There isn't even a calculator app on the reMarkable 2.

The Remarkable 2 will replace the pens, pencils, highlighters, notebooks, and print outs cluttering up your daily carry bag, desk, and life. It's a digital paper option, not a personal computing option. When used for that purpose, it is exceptional, and well worth the investment.

[lumiolivier]

Fan Fiction Master Post (and Where to Find Them):

Hello, Internet.  It’s been about a year and a half since I last updated my master post and it’d be nice for you to pass this one around instead of the others.  And so much has happened since the last list!  I finally jumped on the Ao3 train!  This list has got everybody here.  If you got nothing better to do and need a little fic to put on the wounds life has dealt you (or if you’re a little bit of a masochist and want something that’ll tear your soul to shreds), then pick a link and indulge yourself, K?  Like last time, this list is organized alphabetically by fandom and chronologically, if there’s a series.  You’ll see what I mean.  Enjoy!

** indicates a story in progress as of the time of posting this list.

Attack on Titan:

Classified Files:  Ackerman, Levi

AU Crack! Hanji needs a favor from Levi, but there's no way Levi would be so willing. That's what she has Eren for! But...Well...Why can't Hanji's experiments ever go right?

Black Butler:

Just a Simple Interview, Right?

1 of 4.  What starts out as just an interview with 19 year old earl Ciel Phantomhive for the paper turns into a little more than that a young reporter bargains for when she meets his enigmatic, yet beautiful butler. (Mostly T rated with some lemon chapters)

His Strange Little Girl and Her Butler, the Enigma

2 of 4.  She had her interview, but gained a few new friends and one very, very special butler. Now, she has her beautiful demon husband for the rest of eternity. But when the honeymoon’s over…is it really over? Of course not. We can’t have anything simple, can we?  (Also T rated with a few lemon chapters.)

You, Me, and Cambion Makes Three

3 of 4.  The Michaelis family has grown by one. The young lord has finally married Lady Elizabeth. So, what comes next? A little catastrophe, perhaps?  (Yet again, T rated with a few lemon chapters.)

Her Butler, One Last Time

4 of 4.  So blissfully living as a magazine contributor in modern day New York City. Until she meets her new landlord…or her demon husband from a past life?

Peace, Love, Unity, Respect

(Mini-series) She’s graduated college. Her boyfriend dumps her. Her roommates find a way to cheer her up. But for whatever reason, she’s feeling a little desperate. Especially when the DJ keeps giving her looks. He feels like he’s seen her somewhere before…

Crossovers:

Trouble Comes in Threes

(Hetalia x Fruits Basket)  Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio could get anyone they want. They're beautiful, they're young, and the whole school knows it. But...They've had it all and grow bored. Even traveling outside city limits wouldn't prove to be any sort of challenge. But after a mess of a party, it appears Yao and Kiku's family tree is extending its roots when their cousins relocate. They couldn't stay at the Sohma house forever.

A New Hacker Has Entered the Chat**

(DRAMAtical Murder x Mystic Messenger) The RFA is usually pretty airtight when it comes to their information. Although, when their systems end up getting hacked, Seven and MC put their heads together to figure out who did it and why their source is coming from two different places. 

DRAMAtical Murder:

His Angel Bunny

When Angel goes into work on her day off, she just wants to throw her head against the wall. Until she sees a cute boy with a face full of metal and a heart full of sadness. She had to do something about it. Little did she know, that would lead to the greatest domino effect adventure of her life.

About Time

Just a quick one-shot of Koujaku doing a HUGE favor to humanity. Thank you, Koujaku, for your bravery and your services.

Death Note:

Lawliet

Ever wonder how L happened? The name? The person? The little boy behind it all…? (child!Lx parental!Reader going into the Kira investigation)

Fairy Tail:

The Princess and the Dragon  

(AU) She wants to be where the wizards are. However, her father has other plans for her. Stay out of the books, Lucy! You don’t need to practice magic! How do you expect to further the bloodline if you don’t meet anyone?

The Siren’s Song

(AU) Beware a frozen heart desperate for warmth...What a load of garbage...Right?

The Knight in Shining Armor (At the time of me posting this, the last chapter is going out this week)

(AU) Erza's flashbacks to the days before she joined the guild kept getting worse and worse. Master Makarov couldn't stand to see one of the strongest members of the guild falling apart like that, so a special job for a special S-Class wizard should be enough to snap her out of it. Especially when that job is for the Fiore royal family.

Fullmetal Alchemist:

Halfmetal Heart

Edward and Winry’s precocious daughter Tricia has picked up the family trade, but when she goes to apply for her state certification, something wonderful catches her eye…

Don’t Forget

Their house used to be a pile of ash, but now, it’s a home as Edward and Alphonse reflect on the day it burned.  One-shot

Happy Birthday, Sir

Today marks a very special day in Amestris. It’s the Fuhrer’s birthday! And his wife has a little something, something planned for him, but can Mustang let it be a surprise?  One-shot.  Partially goes off the Halfmetal Heart canon

The Spark and the Sparrow

Just some young Royai fluff about a thunderstorm that happened at Master Hawkeye’s house.  One-shot

Hetalia:

Candy From Strangers**

Amelia's boyfriend is a jerk. No matter how anyone looks at it, he's a straight up jerk. One night, things got a bit out of hand and...Well...He's her ex-boyfriend now. A broken plate to the cheek does that. But a kind hearted stranger in the park was more than ok with fixing up more than the deep cut on her cheek.

Draw a Circle

France stumbles on a mysterious naked woman and can't keep her to himself, so he consults his good friend Britain. Who is she? And where did she come from?

The Legend of Zelda:

Courageous Duality

Five years after the Kokiri Village has been burned by the Gerudo King’s newest apprentice, Link gathers the intestinal fortitude to go back and pay his respects to his old home. Until he finds his true destiny deep within the Lost Woods.  Takes place after Ocarina of Time

MCU:

Kilgrave’s Good Little Girl

Who better to bring in a murderous psychopath than a murderous psychopath?  (Reader)

Mystic Messenger:

Mistake Messenger

A one-shot collection of alternate routes for Mystic Messenger ranging from sweet and fluffy to naughty and depraved. MC x EVERYONE.

Man’s Best Intern

(AU) Poor Jaehee. Overworked. Underpaid. Under appreciated. Luckily, with the newest C&R intern, anything is possible. Although, when Mr. Han takes a particular shine to her, Jaehee’s workload may be doubled even more.

The Number Next Door**

(AU)  MC has finally gotten the opportunity to move into the apartment building of her dreams. After years of clawing her way up with her design blog, things have finally fallen into place for her. That is, until she learns her next door neighbor likes to blast meme music at 1AM.

Regularly Scheduled Programming

(One-shot) Saeran and MC indulge themselves with one night a week for garbage TV. Although, sometimes, we can't always get what we want.

Ouran High School Host Club:

Kiss, Kiss

1 of 3.  You’re starting at a new school and for any normal person, that’s difficult. For someone with your list of diagnoses, it’s even worse. Especially when all you want is to keep your head down and find a quiet place to study.

Back to Normal, I Guess

2 of 3.  After her summer in New York, Lana goes back to her school in London with her heavy heart full of the memories she made at Ouran Academy. But little does she know, the Ouran Host Club will always be there to welcome her back, no matter what time zone she’s in.

Our New Normal

3 of 3.  Lana misses Japan. Can we blame her? Unfortunately, she had to graduate from Ouran Academy sometime. But her new life in New York with Kyoya is only just beginning. College is an entirely different ballgame.

Switch**

Daddy's only looking out for his little girl and he wants what's best for her. She's not ready to take over the...uh..."family business" quite yet. She doesn't understand why she has to go so far just to go to school. But Daddy's word is law. Hey...Why does the angry guy in her homeroom seem familiar? And what's a host club?

Supernatural:

A Family Forged in Fire

1 of 2.  Lena was living in an orphanage. Constant rejection day in and day out. They were looking for a baby, not her. Little did she know that a case would bring a pair of brothers that would turn her life upside down.

When the Fire Goes Out

2 of 2.  After taking down the devil himself, a girl needs to get away, doesn’t she? Even though it puts her brothers in a worry and opens up a golden opportunity for someone new to slip into her life.

Yuri!!! On Ice:

Adopted

1 of 2.  AU: Victor and Violet adopted two precious little boys that they can’t help but love and became an unorthodox family. Even though the youngest can’t stand the oldest, but that’s the way siblings work. And things get even more troublesome when they both want to take up the very thing that brought Mommy and Daddy together.

Off the Rails

2 of 2.  After Junior Grand Prix, the Nikiforov family has moved to New York and began their training for next season, including Violet’s comeback. However, her comeback may be a bit more than she…or Victor…bargained for.

Not a Perfect Fairytale (But It’s Ours)

Fairytale AU.  Whoever decided the prince needed a princess has terrible foresight…

Surprise

Yurio is always a little paranoid, but for some strange reason, today, his radar was up even more than usual. Especially when Yakov doesn’t yell at him for missing a simple jump.  One-shot

Dr. Nikiforov Has a Ring To It

Getting sick sucks something awful on its own. Getting sick with no one else home but your overbearing roommate to take care of you? That’s a mess in itself.  One-shot

Pierced Through the Heart

(One-shot) Yurio and Otabek had been together a while now. Why couldn't they have something match like Victor and Yuri?

[scripttorture]

Torture in Fiction: The Dragon Prince

The Dragon Prince is a wonderfully written and beautifully animated cartoon. I don’t usually take on a whole series but I was interested in the pitch and have fond memories of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was curious to see what the creators had come up with since.

And overall I really enjoyed it. The characters are engaging and the plot is an interesting twist on a lot of typical fantasy tropes. (It also helped that this is the first time I’ve seen an animated character sign.)

The review contains spoilers for the entire season (1) of this cartoon.

After humans started using dark magic, magic drawn from destroying naturally magical creatures, an alliance of elves and dragons drove them to the western side of the continent. In the war that follows humans killed the dragon king and destroyed his egg.

Years later a group of elves sneak into the human kingdom, determined to assassinate the king and his son in revenge. Rayla, the youngest of the assassins, discovers that the egg is intact and alive. With the human princes, Ezran and Callum, she sets out to return the egg, the titular Dragon Prince, to his home.

But once again I’m rating the depiction and use of torture, not the story itself. I’m trying to take into account realism (regardless of fantasy or sci fi elements), presence of any apologist arguments, stereotypes and the narrative treatment of victims and torturers.

Which means I’m not focusing on the main characters or their plot line here. Instead this review is going to focus mostly on three side characters: Runaan, the leader of the elven assassins who kills the human king, Viren, a dark mage and the king’s advisor who takes over the country on the king’s death and Gren a guardsman loyal to Ezran and Callum’s Aunt.

Viren chooses to have Runaan kept alive and imprisons him in a stone cell. He’s chained in a seated position with his hands raised above his head. Viren attempts to bribe and threaten Runaan into revealing information about a magical artifact. Runaan refuses and in retaliation Viren casts a spell imprisoning Runaan’s essence in a coin.

As Viren tries to consolidate power he clashes with the princes’ aunt, a military commander who insists the boys are alive and should be searched for. Viren manipulates her into returning to the front lines but not before she leaves Gren in charge of searching for the missing princes.

Viren has Gren imprisoned. He’s chained in a standing position with his hands kept level with his head.

I’m giving it 2/10

The Good

1) Torture and the threat of torture is used in the context of interrogation but the story shows it failing. Runaan rejects every request for information Viren makes. He also rejects every 'olive branch' Viren extends.

2) Torture isn’t shown changing or even mildly influencing Runaan’s strongly held beliefs. If anything the story shows Runaan’s anti-human stance becoming more entrenched in response to torture.

3) Viren’s motivation for imprisoning and torturing both Runaan and Gren is quite in keeping with reality. Runaan is an enemy soldier. Gren is loyal to the old regime that Viren is actively trying to replace. This makes both of them political enemies, treated as threats to the new regime’s security. That’s incredibly true to life.

4) The timing of Viren’s bribes also felt like a good point to me. Runaan is captured and abused and then Viren attempts to bribe him into cooperation. First he uses food and drink, then he uses the offer of freedom. I don’t know whether it was intentional or not but I liked this element because it supports the notion of Runaan’s opposition becoming firmer as he’s mistreated.

5) I enjoyed Viren’s general characterisation throughout this and the way he justifies his actions. He presents himself as a ‘pragmatist’. He says he’s willing to make the ‘tough choices’ for the good of others and the Kingdom. That’s the kind of torture apologia torturers often parrot.

6) And that view doesn’t go unchallenged in the story. Other characters point out that Viren’s actions mostly benefit himself. His cruelty and his so-called ‘pragmatic’ lack of morals are presented as causing bigger problems than they solve. Together it creates a really good, succinct and understandable portrait of a torturer. It shows him parroting typical torture apologia and it shows why those views are wrong.

The Bad

Both Runaan and Gren should be dead several times over.

The portrayal of stress positions here is frankly appalling. It's difficult to be exactly sure about the passage of time in the story but Runaan is kept with his hands chained above his head for at least a week. Gren is kept standing for days.

Stress positions kill after about 48 hours.

In this case, neither character is depicting as suffering due to the way they're restrained.

Runaan is shown suffering but this is visually and narrative linked to other things. He's bruised because he was beaten when he was captured. His arm is withering due to a curse. He's weak because he's refusing to eat and drink (which should also have killed him, however I’m willing to give that more leeway in a non-human character). But the stress position he's kept in isn't depicted as fundamentally harmful.

This is more or less repeated with Gren. He isn't shown refusing food or drink and he wasn't beaten when captured. His posture in his chains is relaxed. He shows no signs of pain or discomfort. He leans against the wall and whistles. His movement, colouration, coherency and memory all seem to be completely unaffected.

Stress positions are incredibly harmful. They are painful. They cause wide scale break down of muscles in the victim’s body. This initially leads to a build up of fluid in the extremities. Which causes painful, discoloured swelling in the limbs, sometimes to the point that the skin ruptures into blisters. As more muscles are destroyed the protein released into the bloodstream becomes too much for the kidneys to handle and they fail. One description I read described the kidney’s being turned into ‘swiss cheese’.

The result is a protracted, painful death that can occur a significant period of time after the victim is released from the stress position.

The fact that it’s a stress position singled out as a ‘harmless’ torture is extremely significant here.

This is a torture that generally doesn’t leave lasting marks. It’s a torture that’s common in the modern world. And we unfortunately live in a world where torture trials often hinge on the presence or absence of ‘physical proof’.

Scars.

Survivors are regularly dismissed and belittled because they were tortured in ways that didn’t leave obvious marks on their skin. Because their torturers used techniques like stress positions.

Showing these tortures as harmless backs up the societal view that these tortures don’t ‘count’. That the pain these victims experienced was not real and they don’t deserve our help or compassion.

It backs up the notion that these particular victims are to blame for what they suffered.

These aren’t obscure philosophical notions or debates. These tropes, these patterns, these arguments affect our treatment of torture and torture survivors now.

They are part of the social structures that deny torture survivors asylum. They are part of the reason it takes survivors an average of ten years to access specialist treatment.

Presenting these apologist views uncritically to young children isn’t neutral either.

Because even without taking into account parental blockers on internet searches accurate information on torture is incredibly difficult to find. Any curious viewer, of any age, who watches these scenes and searches for more information would come across more torture apologia long before they find research on torture.

Especially as they may not even link what they saw to torture.

A casual viewer would first need to make that link. Then be aware of the term ‘stress position’. Then be aware of the academic journals or niche authors who publish on these topics. And then have access to enough money to pay for those sources.

Some of the sources are not available in translation.

The result is that the overwhelming majority of viewers are likely to accept what they see: that stress positions cause no harm.

These details are small. They don’t get a lot of screen time. They’re unimportant to the plot.

But they are not neutral. They matter.

The way the different ideas at play here interact matters. As does their impact on the real world.

And as a result, despite many good points in the portrayal of torture, I feel like I have to give The Dragon Prince a low score.

Overall

Part of the reason I wanted to review this was to highlight how prevalent torture is in children’s media and how cartoons are often sending out the same misinformation as adult action movies.

The Dragon Prince doesn’t suggest that torture works and it doesn’t justify brutality. But at the same time it’s downplaying the damage torture causes by treating some tortures as essentially harmless. It’s telling that the tortures singled out this way are clean tortures common in the modern day.

The tortures that victims are commonly subject to now, the ones that don’t leave lasting marks, are the ones being singled out as harmless. As not ‘proper’ torture.

The message that only some tortures and only some victims ‘count’ starts young. And the sad thing is the people creating this, writing it and drawing it probably had no idea they were portraying torture when they chose to have characters chained to the wall.

The background knowledge most people have on torture is poor, made up of apologist tropes and rumours and misinformation. But it is so widely accepted that it probably doesn't even occur to most creators to fact-check what they write.

And the result in this case is a wonderfully made cartoon, which includes fantastic representation of disability, of racial diversity and women. While parroting tropes about torture that are actively harmful to victims.

Edit: If creators are not prepared to show the effects of torture then they should not use torture. If those effects are unsuitable for a children’s show then I’m left wondering why they included torture.

Personally, given the level of research these particular creators lavished on other areas, I suspect this was ignorance not malice. 

Disclaimer

[realsocialskills]

Babysitting a nonspeaking four year old

Question from an anonymous reader:

I regularly babysit a 3 (almost 4) year old who has Autism. He does not speak, and he doesn't yet have a reliable alternative form of communication like signing or AAC, though he probably will soon.

 I have a lot of friends and two cousins who have Autism, but they all speak or sign. I find it difficult sometimes to understand what the kiddo in question is thinking, or wants, and I wondered if you or any of your followers have any first hand tips or advice on how I could better understand him? 

I know everyone is different, and I'm learning to read things like his body language, but I wondered if you/any of your followers who don't speak or spoke later than most remember anything that helped them get across what they meant when they were younger, or things adults did that were especially helpful. He doesn't have the coordination to sign or draw what he wants yet, being so little. I want to help him feel less frustrated and to be as good a babysitter as I can be.

Realsocialskills answered:

For the sake of readability, I’m going to call your cousin Anthony in this post. 

The first thing I’d say is: Listening to Anthony matters whether or not you succeed in understanding him. You may not be able to figure out what he is thinking, he may not yet be able to tell you — but you *can* treat him as a person who has thoughts and feelings worth listening to. That matters in and of itself, and it also makes successful communication much more likely.

Learning to communicate is really hard, even for typically developing kids. (Which is a reason why two year olds have so many tantrums, and why older kids usually grow out of that.) In early childhood education, a lot of what kids learn is that it’s possible to communicate in ways that others can understand — and that words are usually a better option than freaking out. One of the main ways early childhood educators teach kids these skills is by listening to them, and by supporting them in understanding the feelings they’re having. 

Kids with communication disabilities have more trouble learning to communicate in ways that others can understand — and they also often have more trouble learning that communication is even possible. Disabled kids need *more* exposure to adults who want to listen to them, and *more* support in understanding their feelings — but they often get less of both. Their feelings are often ignored, and their communication is often treated as nonexistent. 

All too often, kids with disabilities learn young that no one wants to listen to them. They often try their best to communicate, only to have their attempts interpreted as random meaningless noise or deviant misbehavior. When nobody listens, it becomes really hard to keep trying. One of the best things you can do for Anthony right now is help him not to give up.

It’s important to keep in mind that Anthony is a person with a perspective of his own. Our culture socializes us to see people with disabilities as having needs, but not thoughts or feelings. That implicit bias goes really deep for almost everyone, including AAC experts and long-time disability rights activists. Be careful to treat Anthony as a person with thoughts, feelings, and questions. This is a profoundly countercultural attitude. You can’t assume that it will happen by itself; you have to do it on purpose. (I did a presentation on this for medical providers a while ago which may be of interest.  )

Some specific things you can try:

Say explicitly that you’re trying to understand, eg:

“I don’t understand you yet, but I’m listening”.

“I’m not sure what you mean, but I do care”.

It doesn’t go without saying — and sometimes saying it makes a big difference!

Look for actions that might be intended as communication:

Does he point at things? Lead you to things? Flap differently under some circumstances?

Make a guess about what you think he might mean, and act on it.

It can be worth using words to describe what you’re doing, eg:

“I think you want the book because you’re looking at the book. I am getting the book”.

“I think the light is bothering you because you’re covering your eyes. I am turning off the light.”

He can’t read your mind, so it might not be obvious to him that you’re acting on what you think he’s doing — so tell him!

Name feelings you think he might be having, eg: 

“Susan took your truck. You are mad.”

“You like the marbles. You are happy.”

“Jumping is so fun!”

“You don’t like that texture.”

(Nb: Telling *adults* what they are feeling in these terms is usually *not* a good idea, but it’s a pretty common method used to help little kids learn about feelings — *if* you know with reasonable certainty what their feelings are.)

Ask questions, and offer choices, eg:

“Do you want the red shirt or the blue shirt?”

“Should we read the princess book or the truck book?”

“Should we go to the swings or the sandbox?”

Even if he can’t respond, being asked matters — it shows him that you care what he thinks, and that there’s a reason to try to communicate.

It can help to make the options more concrete, eg:

He might be more able to tell you which shirt he wants if you’re holding both of them. 

Or if you’re holding one in one hand and one in the other.

Or if you put them down in front of him.

If he responds to your question in a way that you think might be communication, respond to it as communication: 

Eg:  “You pointed to the dragon book, so we’ll read the dragon book”.

Or it may make more sense to just start reading it. Sometimes that works better than inserting too many words. 

Eg: “Ok, we’ll go to the park”.

You can also try yes-or-no questions:

“Do you want to go to the park? Yes or no?”

“Do you want to read the dragon book? Yes or no?”

“Is the dragon scary? Yes or no?”

“Is the king silly? Yes or no?”

Again, even if he can’t respond in a way you understand, trying matters.

You also might be able to teach him to point to things:

Pointing doesn’t require motor skills on the same level that writing and drawing do.

Again, in the two book example, you can ask him to point to the one he wants.

You can also show him pointing by doing it yourself, eg:

Take two books, and say “I choose the dragon book”, point to it, then read it.

Take two books and ask him “Which book do you choose?”

(Etc: It can take some time and trial and error to figure out how to teach this in a way that sticks, but it’s often worth trying.)

If he has a way to communicate “yes”, and “no” or choose between options, you can also check your guesses more directly:

“I think you said park. Am I right?”

“Did you say park, or something else?”

“Are you trying to tell me something, or are you playing?”

Remember that words can be communication even when they’re unusual: A lot of autistic people use idiosyncratic language to refer to things, or repeat phrases they heard somewhere else – in a way that they may or may not mean literally. Here’s a method for noticing when repetition is communication , and some thoughts on listening to folks whose speech is unusual.

Give him time to process and respond:

The standard teaching advice is: When you ask a question, wait at least seven seconds before you say anything else.

This feels a little unnatural — it can feel like a *very* awkward pause, and it can be tempting to jump in and say more stuff to clarify.

But if you say more stuff to someone who is thinking and formulating their answer, it tends to just give them *more* stuff to process. 

So give him time to respond — and be aware that autistic people often need longer to process and respond.

If you have an iPad you’re willing to let him play with, iPad use can really help some kids with motor skills and learning communicative cause-and-effect.

Most kids learn pretty quickly how to scroll through select the app they want, and that skill often transfers.

Most kids that age like Endless ABC, a really fun pre-literacy words-and-spelling app. https://www.originatorkids.com/?p=564

(That app also builds an association between interacting with a touch screen and making meaningful sounds)

You can also try the Toca Boca apps — a lot of kids like those, and some, like Toca Hair Salon, don’t require particularly strong motor skills.

Often, the best way is to play with the app together — eg, you show them how to drag the letters around, then offer them a turn.

Or help them out when they get stuck, without taking over.

Or say things like “which color should we pick? How about purple?” and see how they react.

Don’t expect AAC to fix everything:

Everything in this post still applies once he gets a device or a system.

An AAC device is just a tool. It’s one mode of communication, which might be useful for him under some circumstances.

Having an AAC device will not make him instantaneously able to communicate using words in the way that typically-developing kids his age do.

While some people learn to use an AAC device fluently very quickly, that is rare. 

Most people who use AAC because of a childhood speech delay take a long time to learn it.

And in any case, giving someone a tool doesn’t cure their disability. 

An AAC user with a communication disability still has a communication disability, and disabilities that interfere with speech sometimes also interfere with language. 

Even people *without* language disabilities tend to take a while to learn, for all the same reasons that typically-developing kids take a while to learn how to use words to express themselves. Communication takes practice.

(And also, all existing AAC technology has significant limitations and difficulties. It’s easier for typically developing kids to learn to speak than it would be to learn to use AAC, and having a speech disability doesn’t magically make AAC use easy.)

AAC implementations can also end up treating AAC use as an end in itself and forget that the point is to support communication. 

For most AAC users, AAC is one communication mode among many they use, and it’s not always the best one in every situation — eg: pointing to a banana can be a *much* more efficient way to communicate than scrolling through a device and finding the “I” “want” and “banana” buttons.

If Anthony gets an AAC system, he will still need you to put effort into listening to him, and he will still need you to take all of his communication seriously.

Remember that disability isn’t bad behavior, and don’t be mean:

Don’t ignore his communication in order to force him to talk or use a system.

The best way to encourage communication is to listen!

He’s not struggling to communicate because he’s lazy; he’s struggling to communicate because he has a disability.

He’s doing something really hard, and he’s in a hard situation, and that needs to be respected and supported.

You don’t need to introduce artificial difficulty; he is already experiencing more than his share of the real kind.

Anyone else want to weigh in? What is helpful for effective communication with a nonspeaking four year old?

 Tl;dr If you’re babysitting a kid who has trouble with communication, the most important thing you can do is listen to them. Scroll up for some specific options. 

[dragonspirebooks]

Welcome to my September updates post!

Wow, where did September go? Anybody else feel like it vanished into thin air? It’s been colder, with a couple of very heavy rainstorms and gusts of wind, and I’ve been pretty productive!

My goals for September were:

Continue researching critical commentary and autobiographical fiction for university. Continue researching proofreading and copy-editing. Don’t watch so much TV. Beta read a short story. Write two short stories. Complete the 14 days to a writing habit course. Ease the pressure on my novels. Read one book. Draw weekly. Catch up on emails. Use social media more.

Halfway through September, during the 14 days to a Writing Habit course, I realised some of my goals weren’t achievable or realistic, so I dropped a few for now. I wrote a post about setting realistic goals and vowed to change my ways: Other than that, how did I do?

University Research:

I read a published PhD level Creative Writing assignment with critical commentary. Whilst it was very useful, and high quality, the amount of academic language put me off a PhD myself! I still have a little more research on critical commentary to do, which I’ll aim to finish in October.

I started researching life writing by reading books in that genre. In October I’ll continue reading and learn how to write it. I’ve also thought of project ideas for when they, inevitably, tell me dragons can’t be in autobiographical fiction: At the moment my favourite idea is to write in the style of the film Sliding Doors using two narratives, one speculative and one real.

TV:

I binged Disenchantment, but there were only 10 episodes and it ended on another cliffhanger. I don’t think season 2 was as good as the first, although the steampunk part was awesome! I also watched the Doctor Who seasons with Rose: Rose and the 10th Doctor are my favourites, and they’re one of the only TV couples I buy into. I only wish they had more time!

Carole and Tuesday, which I started last month, was excellent. I love the music and characters, and I can’t wait for the next part! I’ve paused watching Digimon 02 for now. I’ll continue one day, but I’m going to (finally) finish Gotham instead! I don’t think I watched less TV, but it didn’t affect my writing.

Merlin:

Merlin got his own introductory post earlier in the month. He was sleeping (and snoring!) on my office windowsill as I wrote some of this post, and the moment I got up he stole my chair! He can be so cute, but don’t let him fool you! His latest obsession is chewing on the wire of an expensive gaming keyboard, which we have to hide at night!

His tail is getting really fluffy, and he’s so big. Apparently he still has 5 months of growing to do, and I have no idea how big he’s going to get!

Writing:

I wrote two short stories, Less than Perfect, based on my experience with writer’s block, and Wishing on a Star, about how different choices could change our lives. I’ll aim for two more stories this month, based on the #sunscribbles prompts Promise and Panic. The 14 day writing habit course by Writer’s HQ was excellent: I’m doing another course now, on short stories, which I hope will be just as good.

I didn’t set any goals for my works in progress, but I worked on my Arthurian legend retelling anyway. I typed up notes from my notebooks and planned the first eight chapters. The old me would’ve rushed to finish my outline so I could start writing for Nanowrimo. The new me says no to Nanowrimo, and I’ll aim to finish outlining the next eight chapters by November.

Drawing, and Proofreading & Copy-editing research:

I abandoned my weekly drawing goal. It was too much to fit in with everything else I wanted to do. I really want to practice, so I’m going to draw one picture in October: Probably Halloween fanart to give me an entire month to finish it! I’ve also put my proofreading & copy-editing research goals on hold for now, as I won’t have time once I start university again.

Reading:

I read a lot in September. Lots of non-fiction for research, some Doctor Who fanfiction, beta-reading, The Diary of Anne Frank (plus half of another book in an attempt to understand life writing for university), and one and a half fiction books:

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Princess of Death was a fun story about princesses and pirates, which I rated 4 stars, and I’m currently halfway through Heroes of Englandom, described as a cross between the Hunger Games and Divergent with a gay MC. I hated the comparison titles, because I couldn’t relate to the main characters, but I’m loving Derin and Dylan so far!

In October I’ll aim to read one book: Although I smashed my reading goals in September, I’d rather keep my goals small and manageable!

Other random stuff:

I’ve caught up on emails, but I decided not to focus on social media until I’m writing again.

I’ve been exercising regularly, but eating lots of pizza!

I’m growing potatoes! (and cucumbers, but I think I planted them too late!)

It’s my birthday in October, and I won’t be around much from the 8th-12th!

Thanks for reading!

I’m pretty pleased with last month, although I still seem to take on too much. With one month until I’m back at university, I need to get organised!

How was your September? What are your October goals? Are you doing Nanowrimo? Any book or TV recommendations? Chat in the comments!

Writing, Reading, Research and Kitten Updates: September 2019! Welcome to my September updates post! Wow, where did September go? Anybody else feel like it vanished into thin air?

[kai-keda]

YO!

We have a character analysis on Prussia based on Hetalia World Stars/character songs/the anime (as those are the only things I have full access to)

Full script under the "read more”

Clapping Nasty! Thot! Turbo! Virgin! Chaotic! Energy! Clapping

I was dared to say all those things first thing when starting this video. Except that last one. That last one was my own doing.

Anyways, let’s give a quick overview of how this analysis is gonna work. First, we need to discuss what may be considered the elephant in the room to people in the Hetalia fandom who know me on Discord.

Specifically the people in one particular RP server I’m in.

We need to talk about canon.

Now in the past I’ve made a point of the importance of canon when representing these characters. And I stand by everything I’ve said in the past, just not the way I said it. See, I don’t think the people I’ve talked to about it really understand what I meant and that may be my own fault.

When I tried to push the importance of keeping true to what we know about the characters, I got hit with comments like “well I like to add my own ‘glam’ to the character” or “there’s not much about my muse in canon so where does that leave me?” and so on and so forth.

What I really meant by ‘keeping true to canon’ in Hetalia is that we shouldn’t purposefully go against something we know for a fact is true. Even though it’s really easy when there’s not a lot of material for the character in question in the first place, I just can’t understand the appeal of doing something like that. To put it simply, I fell in love with the characters for who they are, not for who I believe they should be.

This issue came up again - unrelated to the first time it was brought up - on tumblr when someone made a popular post about people being told they’re wrong for representing the characters of Hetalia in certain ways outside of canon because they were from the area in question and wanted their character to be more accurate to their culture as they saw it.

Which is a really complicated, controversial and specific to Hetalia discussion, to be perfectly honest. It’s still a great discussion to be had, though!

Where do we draw the line between cultural/historical accuracy and canon characterization? How do we decide what’s more important? When do we let one side win out if we let it win out at all?

These are all great questions that should be saved to be answered another time on another video and/or tumblr post.

For now, let’s just talk about the meaning behind the title of this video and then I promise we’ll get into the character analysis.

If any of my Dragon Ball fans are here, you’ll probably recognize said title from “This is My Goku” and yes I did it on purpose. I’m sort of parodying my own video because that one was so serious and fueled by anger, spite and hatred that it turned out pretty comical in nature. And this one is one fueled by happiness, positive energy and genuine curiosity.

I’m not here to prove some sort of point, I’m here to see how in-line my personal idea of the character is with how he’s represented in the most recent version of “canon” in Hetalia. (i.e; How well does my headcanon fueled characterization fit with the Hetalia World Stars comic strips that HetaScanalations has so graciously shared with all of us?)

A LOT of what we know of Prussia cannot help but be based on personal headcanons and popular fanons alike. He’s frankly not in the series enough to do a full proper analysis of his character because we only really see him in passing in pretty insignificant strips.

So while I really wanted to call this video “Hetalia Prussia Dissection” I can’t do it. I really honestly either don’t have the skill level or really don’t have the material to do that concept justice. So today we’re going to go into what’s canon and what my own ‘glam’ added to the character really is. (See what I did there? I have nothing against combining headcanon with canon, I just don’t like letting headcanon completely and purposefully override canon but again, that’s a topic for another day.)

So with all that said and understood, let us begin our awesome journey.

Okay so here’s the dealio, Prussia is a narcissist and we’re gonna go into the psychology of that in depth and talk about what all that entails and see how much evidence we have to support that claim in canon.

According to PsychologyToday which, to my understanding, is a credible enough source for quick glances into the minds of people, while having a superiority complex does play a part in narcissism, it’s really a feeling of fear of showing vulnerability that leads it.To quote; “The narcissist fears that acknowledging any weakness will allow someone else the chance to take advantage of him or gain power over him.” And another quote: “Simply put, true narcissists have zero interest in introspection or self-improvement. Their guiding principle: Never, ever let your guard down.”

Now, none of the Hetalia World Stars comics, the Anime nor the character songs themselves actually show Prussia being afraid of being vulnerable explicitly stating, but if we look at the symptoms of narcissism and his history, we can see, in my honest opinion, where that comes into play.

The DSM 5th Editions symptoms for narcissistic personality disorder as described by Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D. on psychologytoday.com are as follows:

1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance.

2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.

3. Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).

4. Requires excessive admiration [regularly fishes for compliments, and is highly susceptible to flattery].

5. Has a sense of entitlement.

6. Is interpersonally exploitative.

7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.

9. Shows arrogant, haughty [rude and abusive] behaviors or attitudes.

This particular author of this particular article goes on to add a few more traits and symptoms. Those being:

1. They are highly reactive to criticism

2. They have a low self-esteem

3. Can be inordinately self-righteous and defensive

4. React to contrary viewpoints with anger or rage

5. Project onto others qualities, traits and behaviors they can’t - or won’t - accept in themselves

6. Have poor interpersonal boundaries

This article began by stating that only five of these fifteen traits need to be met in order to be considered for having narcissistic personality disorder. So let’s take a I’m-discovering-writing-this-analysis-as-I-go dive into my notes of where all Prussia's appearances are with these symptoms in mind to see if we can name at least five instances.

Right off the bat in both cases with the first listed symptom and the first appearance of Prussia in Chapter 12 where he unifies Germany, Prussia considers himself the one that is destined to lead the newly formed nation of Germany as his older brother. This is the idea of self-importance. Basically he has the idea of “If I’m not the one to do it, then no one can do it properly.” hence his fighting with Austria (and I bet winning said fight didn’t help.)

So there’s one.

But wait! There’s more in this chapter!

That same instance of him believing he needs to be Germany’s older brother goes along with the symptom of entitlement. It MUST be him simply because it MUST be him.

So we’ve got two now.

“Is highly susceptible to flattery”. When I read that I knew exactly what chapter we were going to discuss. I literally wrote in my notes for chapter 294 “Prussia is weak to flattery” because in the beginning of 294 and the whole of 293, Prussia was arguing with his king Frederick I about how much focus should be put on clothing, but the INSTANT Frederick I mentions that Prussia would probably look cool in the flashy outfits, Prussia caves and goes to spy on France to see about getting said flashy outfits for himself.

That’s three~ Two more and we’ve got ourselves a narcissist.

Being ‘arrogant’ is defined as ‘having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities’ and if that doesn’t describe Prussia in literally all of his “I am awesome!” glory, I don’t know what does. It should be self-explanatory to any fan of this series that, yes, Prussia is very arrogant.

Four down, one to go!

Number two in our list of symptoms “Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.” I BELIEVE this includes having constant daydreams about past glories as well as bringing them up all the time or when discussing said past glories, only discusses how great and awesome they were at the time.

Cough-cough - Prussia’s diary in 339 where he openly admits that said diary is mostly him saying “You are awesome” 20 times over.

And there we go. Let me know if you think of anymore instances in ANY official material that fits into these symptoms. I’d love to hear about them.

So with those five understood, it’s safe to assume Prussia is in fact a narcissist which - I know - comes as a shock to literally NOBODY but I figured it was important to actually pull up evidence for as opposed to just stating it as a passing fact and moving on like a lot of us Hetalians tend to do.

Explaining understandings of characterization is the fun part of character analysis, after all.

So let’s backtrack a little. Remember how that first article said being a narcissist comes from having a fear of vulnerability? Well, let’s go into headcanon and fanon land for two seconds as we read between the lines to find these signs of vulnerability based on the assumption that Prussia does in fact have this disorder.

Constantly in his official character songs, like “Mein Gott” or the Bad Friends Trio’s song “Overflowing Passion”, Prussia can be heard singing about how ‘it’s great to be alone!’ I take this to be a sign that Prussia understands that everyone is aware of him being lonely but he takes that understanding and turns it into a sign of ‘awesomeness’ as opposed to a weakness. He’d rather turn something most of humanity recognizes as a negative into a positive than admit to his own sadness. It’s the last thing he wants.

Let’s continue down this headcanon rabbit hole and talk about the wonderful Law 46 that was signed in 1947 after WWII and before the Berlin Wall. This is the Law signed by the Allied Control Council (France, America, Britain and the USSR) that stated that Prussia’s excessive militarism combined with excessive nationalism was too dangerous for the world as it was to blame for “repeated German pestilence” as Churchill put it.

Basically, this is the moment Prussia lost his nation and, in popular fanon, became East Germany.

There is no way on God’s green Earth that ANYONE is going to convince me that losing his nation like this - not just losing it in general but losing it to a piece of paper instead of a glorious battle that wiped his resources out - didn’t hurt and still to this day hurts Prussia on a deep emotional level. But do we ever see him talk about it?

No. And why is that? Because that would be a vulnerability.

See, I interpret Prussia as being my favorite type of character. The character that smiles and laughs and puts on a show about how great life is even though deep down they’re suffering from some serious issues whether it be trauma, negative mental health or just bad memories.

I know, I know, that’s not exactly a rare character type but I really don’t care, it’s still my favorite. It’s also not something that’s hard to see in real life. People will often hide behind a mask. We see it all the time in celebrities that people will refuse to ask for help when they are suffering because they’d rather everyone believe everything is fine for this that and/or another reason.

(Honestly though, can’t relate, because when I’m sad I let everyone know but that’s just a personal aside)

Getting off the narcissism train, let’s talk about something significantly less serious.

Prussia likes cute things and is attuned to nature. He’s constantly making references to nature like saying that it’s a great sign that even rabbits will prostrate before him in 299, saying “it’s cool like a wild little bird” in 293 and also mentioning how cute a little chirping bird is in his songs “Mein Gott” and his “Marukaitte Chikyuu.” Not to mention his image for his character profile shows him with a little bird on his head and holding a stuffed bear.

This ties in to both wanting to keep young ones’ innocence in tact as well as how in real life history, the German people had the most respect for nature at a time.

I have a friend who has taken multiple art history classes tell me that in German art there are often scenes of humans being lesser than nature that show how vast, beautiful and truly terrifying nature is.

As for Prussia wanting to help younger people keep their innocence, there is a chapter (chapter 187) where Prussia is reading Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales to a dying Holy Roman Empire (a character still portrayed as a child) and when questions arise like “Why would the witch be mad about Rapunzel’s clothes not fitting her and why would she blame the prince? There was no evidence of the prince bringing in food for her to eat.” he literally throws the book out the window.

He’s later, in the same chapter, shown to be writing the Grimm brothers asking them to PLEASE make the stories more actually child friendly if they’re going to advertise them as being stories for children.

So while in headcanon I imagine Prussia as not-shy-at-all about such things around other adults, it’s another story around children and those he perceives to be innocent. He canonically wants to preserve that cute nature of theirs and will do what he can to do such.

Random fun fact about the Hetalia character of Prussia; he gets really whiny when he’s hungover in chapter 32. He begs Germany to make him food and do other things for him even while Germany himself is also hungover. Also he says “I can’t eat things with faces on them” which woooo boy I’d hate to see what our cute-little-bird loving fool would think of Peeps.

Anyways, I think that’s about all I’ve got and surprisingly, we actually did have a lot to talk about with Prussia using mainly the comics and only partially headcanon. And it’s not even including the original run of the webcomic and manga since I don’t have easy access to those. And we didn’t really discuss the anime too much (mainly because it was just more of what we were able to see in the World Stars serialization).

Please feel free to continue the discussion in the comments. I’d love to hear/read more about one of my three favorite characters and how he’s perceived by others.

[awkakes]

Wow, this never happened before, but I guess there’s a first for everything~ thank you for tagging me @h-ijirihara

1: Nickname? Dayo is the most common one now, it used to be senchou (captain) and dame (だめ not dame) though

2. Star sign? Libra~

3. Height? I’m 5′, no I’m not 4′ 11″ I’m 5 ‘ pleasebelievemeI’mnot1/4ofaninchawayfrom5′

4. Time right now? 9:02 pm

5. Favorite music artists? Oohhh, uhh tough one...I don’t really have a favorite artist because I listen to anything that sounds good to me. But I really like instrumental song composers like Yuki Kajiura or Hiroyuki Sawashiro...

6. Song stuck in your head? I’ve been listening to too much enstars lately, bury me when 虹色のseasons comes out. (andwewereborntomakehistorybutthatsnotimportant)

7. Last movie watched? Iwishitwasmoana but it was Doctor Strange :D

8. Last TV show watched? Shield on tv, but technically if we include anime it was Little Witch Academia

9. What are you wearing right now? Oversized pokemon shirt and blue basketball shorts~

10. When did you create your blog? Way back when. About 2011 maybe? I have been off and on tumblr and only recently started going on a lot more frequently.

11. What kind of stuff do you post? Anything really. Mostly anime, video games, art stuff that gives me inspiration to draw~

12. Do you have any other blogs? I have my art side-blog @ahuety and since no one will really know I’ll put it here but I have a detective conan ask-blog on hiatus called @askalittlesunflowerthief 13. Do you get asks regularly? No, please talk to me ;w; I would love to get to know you people. I need someone to scream with about enstars or art and such

14. How did you choose your URL? Ahh, really it was “when cakes get awkward” but I decided to shorten it to awkakes because of convience. I baked a lot when I made this account~

15. Gender? Girl~ <3

16. Hogwarts house? I thought I was a Ravenclaw this whole time, but I took that hp test and it said Gryffindor so I don’t know what to believe anymore

17. Pokemon team? Pokemon Go was Mystic and for Sun/Moon I have an all flying type team I beat the game with~ Toucannon is mvp~

18. Favorite color? Orange, Sky Blue, and White in that order, ohmygawd I love them so much~

19. Average hours of sleep? 6 hours? BUTWHENI’MPLAYINGENSTARSDURINGEVENTSITSABOUT5

20. Lucky numbers? 27~ 3~ 14~

21. Favorite characters? Suou Tsukasa from Ensemble Stars, Sawada Tsunayoshi from KHR, Fai from Tsubasa Chronicles, Luke from Percy Jackson, not really a character but Alrescha from Puzzles and Dragons annnnnnddd- *lists 9000 more*

22. How many blankets do you sleep with? Usually 1, but it’s been cold recently so 3 (I have a pretty thin blanket so...)

23. Dream job? Anything that will involve illustration or art. Animation would be nice but being a concept artist/story board artist would just- :DDD

As for tagging...I see you guys and I do remember you whether you reblog my things frequently or not (or irl who knows ;D), I’mnotcreepyIswear but I tag @catzilla42 @asher855 @animeloversunitexd @clashofthebunnies aaannnnnnd @fuzzielogik09 (sup)

[thatguysamaniac-blog]

While looking for images of anthropomorphized versions of the new pokemon with their tits out, we stumbled upon some clickbait. Not just any clickbait, metacritic showing us a definitive fact based, unbiased top 50 games of the 2010's: 1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, 2010) 97 2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 2017) 97 3. Red Dead Redemption 2 (PlayStation 4, 2018) 97 4. Grand Theft Auto V (PlayStation 4, 2014) 97 5. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch, 2017) 97 6. Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360, 2010) 96 7. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360, 2011) 96 8. The Last of Us (PlayStation 3, 2013) 95 9. The Last of Us Remastered (PlayStation 4, 2014) 95 10. Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360, 2010) 95 11. Portal 2 (Xbox 360, 2011) 95 12. God of War (PlayStation 4, 2018) 94 13. Batman: Arkham City (Xbox 360, 2011) 94 14. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS, 2011) 94 15. BioShock Infinite (PC, 2013) 94 16. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (Xbox 360, 2010) 93 17. Divinity: Original Sin II (PC, 2017) 93 18. Super Mario 3D World (Wii U, 2013) 93 19. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (PC, 2010) 93 20. Persona 4 Golden (PlayStation Vita, 2012) 93 21. Persona 5 (PlayStation 4, 2017) 93 22. Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360, 2012) 93 23. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PlayStation 4, 2015) 93 24. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii, 2011) 93 25. Rock Band 3 (Xbox 360, 2010) 93 26. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PlayStation 4, 2016) 93 27. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch, 2018) 93 28. INSIDE (Xbox One, 2016) 93 29. Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One, 2018) 92 30. God of War III (PlayStation 3, 2010) 92 31. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PlayStation 3, 2011) 92 32. Bloodborne (PlayStation 4, 2015) 92 33. Celeste (Switch, 2018) 92 34. Super Street Fighter IV (PlayStation 3, 2010) 92 35. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PlayStation 4, 2015) 92 36. Undertale (PC, 2015) 92 37. Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS, 2013) 92 38. Divinity: Original Sin II - Definitive Edition (PlayStation 4, 2018) 92 39. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U, 2014) 92 40. Journey (PlayStation 3, 2012) 92 41. Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii, 2012) 92 42. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch, 2017) 92 43. The ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection (PlayStation 3, 2011) 92 44. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine (PC, 2016) 92 45. LittleBigPlanet 2 (PlayStation 3, 2011) 91 46. Overwatch (PC, 2016) 91 47. Bayonetta 2 (Wii U, 2014) 91 48. Forza Horizon 3 (Xbox One, 2016) 91 49. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers (PC, 2019) 91 50. Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (Switch, 2019) Richie:  I LIEK THE DUBBLE ONES! The Last of Us x2 Divinity: Original Sin II x2 Play count: 16 off that list, that's also eight twentyfifths, which is roughly how much of my massive dick your mom can take. Cunzy: Now, we all know the issues with a crowd sourced list. It's dumb. It's like putting together a list of best fruit, or favourite socks. However, every now and then it's useful to pull the wang out to measure it against the communities' wang and see just how weird and misshapen our is (we share genital appendages) by comparison. Play count: 9! What an alternative darling I am! Richie: I mean they are great, and you know they will be, but you have to draw the line somewhere, So you have to choose and say, "Nah I wont play this", better the time sink you know, right? And you choose your reasons, you skim an article, and find the thing that is slightly wrong and then activate your inner drama queen to say "OMG that is not a game I want to play I cant believe they dont have Fred Durst doing the voice of the main character" or something equally nuts. And there is plenty of them on that list that I simply refuse to play for these reasons. And I guess that's fine? Time is finite, I cant go back ten years and play all of the PS3 games I never played? Can I? Cunzy: GUILTY CONFESSIONS, A.K.A those games you know are great but just never got around to: Mario Odyssey, LoZ (the whole franchise), Red Dead (series), Mass Effect (series), Persona (series), Divinity (series), Souls (series)... where do I hand my gamer card back? Richie: Also Overwatch... Do people actually play it, or is that there just because people fiddle with their genitalia to fund cosplay camgirls? Cunzy: Yes, watch me throat this widowmaker dildo on my stream now. Richie: So do we disagree with this list? Well, to be fucking honest I'm not going to research it myself, I'm not sure I have played much more than 50 games this year, as far as i can recall, I played a lot of Diablo 3 and Fallout/Skyrim... but yeah I'm sure the above is good... Actually fuck that, Games of the decade for me are... Every iteration of pokemon that came out in the last 10 years, X/Y, Sun/Moon, Black/White, Sword/Shield, Flaps/Scrotum. Skyrim SNOW VIKING DRAGON SHOUTING Animal Crossing, Shake the tree for Nook. Lego Everything, play, collect, repeat Hyperdimensions Neptunia. Ultra Japanese anthropomorphised consoles as Anime girls. Vert is best Waifu.  Fallouts So many plus expansions, Chandler as a bad guy is special.  Diablo 3, Clicky loot loot  WoW Classic, because...  FFXIII-2, Timetravel-bocolina  Tomodatchi Life, Make your friends on the DS into miis, interact with them, cry alone at night Smash Bros. Repeatedly main Peach till she becomes top tier, yaay Jackbox games, All Gems, probably the best multiplayer gaming actually this decade.  Doki Doki Literature Club, MO-NI-KA Batmanzes, grapple glide Southparkgames, play the stories you have watched and add a weak RPG element. Dragon Ages-s, Way better than mass effect Every Naruto game. Like lego, but with anime ninjas Barrel Scrape: the game, where you frantically look at your steam collection for the games you have most played, and check the dates of your 360 games to see if they fall into this category I played 18 games it seems? Cunzy: *gasps for air*, wipes synthetic jizz from Lollipop Chainsaw skirt. Ten years is a long time. Here's my top 18 games of the decade. Silent Hill Shattered Memories 2010 Silent Hill without the combat and all the more psychologically chilling because of it. Great setting, theme and story. One I regularly come back to and still brick myself.  Endless Ocean 2 2010 Expanding on the first one in every way, shame there aren't more nature lovin' games in this ilk.  Monster Hunter Tri 2010 The only one in the series to have kept my attention despite it being the 'wrong one' according to many in the MH community.  Lost Planet 2 2010 Probably one of the games with the most comprehensive couch co-op mode and ridiculous bosses to team up against. Absolutely bonkers story, giant monsters and jetpacks. What more do you need? Dead Rising 2 2010 I wasn't too bothered with DR3 and DR4 despite absolutely loving the first game. They seem to have crossed the line between goofy but po-faced and just silly apocalypse zombie killing. DR2 arguably gives you a playground more memorable than Willamette and stays on the 'serious' side.  Dead Space 2 2011 One of my favourite gaming franchises I think, excellently built world that is complemented by the tie in anime, comics and spin-off games.   Resident Evil Revelations 2012 It was a good decade for Resident Evil with almost every game seeing multiple ports, re-releases and remasters. It's a close call between Resident Evil 2 and Revelations on the Nintendo 3DS for my favourite of the decade but this one really got it's biohazardous talons-with-eyes into us especially raid mode. Revelations 2 is fantastic co-op but the raid mode side of things isn't as fluid as the original Revelations. Criminally, aside from a brief VR foray into Resident Evil 7, we errr didn't play it.  The Last Story 2012 Oh, I fell in love with this game and despite the small geography of Lazulis City it felt like a living city with many surprises tucked away. Great soundtrack to boot.  Fire Emblem Awakening 2013 Another series that had a rock solid decade starting with Awakening then the rest of the 3DS trilogy, an excellent Warriors game and even Heroes wasn't too bad. Although Fire Emblem Three Houses is the superior game, it's the cast and the support system pioneered by Awakening that has this in my top 18.  Tomb Raider 2013 Sometimes the context in which you play a game is as important as the game itself. A weekend in 2013 with fellow Tomb Raider fans blasting through this excellent and long awaited reboot is fondly remembered. Last of Us 2013 It's hard to put a finger on just one thing that makes this game phenomenal but there's not been much like it since.  LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2013 There were some great LEGO games this decade from opposites LEGO Worlds and LEGO Dimensions to movie tie-ins and a strong series of games based on the Marvel and DC comics. The Marvel trilogy in particular was outstanding.  Everyone's Gone to the Rapture 2015 With age, the more energetic games can leave me wheezing with exhaustion just thinking about playing them and EGttR is a perfect respite from the shootbang games. Honestly, I'd be keen to play more games just like this. The English countryside setting in particular made it extra special.  Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 2017 Honestly, who actually puts Mario Kart on their top games list? Well thinking about it and looking at play records it's probably the perfect couch multiplayer game but with a real challenging depth to those looking to break records and get a hold of those elusive gold kart components.  Splatoon 2 2017 Cheating slightly here by including Splatoon 2 and the Octo Expansion as one entry. I'm really not a huge fan of the central competitive gameplay of Splatoon, although I've put in the hours, but the single player side of things are a worthy first person puzzler(?) in their own right.  Into the Breach 2018 When the options paralysis sets in, which is often, I just spin up Into the Breach. Three hours and a few runs later I'll question why I don't play this game even more often. Hundreds of hours in and still challenges to do, runs to try.  Super Smash Brothers Ultimate 2018 Part game, part nerdy love letter to gaming, part video game museum.  Pokemon Sword and Shield 2019 Okay as Richie pointed above any of the pokemon mainline series could have filled this slot but the last one makes most sense. Twas also a good decade for the spinoffs. I enjoyed Pokemon Conquest a huge deal, put an embarrassing amount of time into Quest as well as Picross, Rumble, Duel, Go and mystery dungeons.  And there we have it, lists, we'll be back at some point in the future with more lists, perhaps with a list spanning the last 2 decades, to present you with our Game of the Century (spoilers, it's SSX Tricky). Also if anyone has a word to describe my above rant about the act of proactively dismissing something despite knowing it will be good to avoid committing to the time sink, please let me know. We live in a time of labels, there must be a word for this! Love and where do you even start with persona! Richie + Cunzy X

http://www.thatguys.co.uk/2020/01/top-50-games-of-decade-commentary.html

[furilia]

Where to Go in The Philippines: The Perfect Itinerary

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Where to Go in The Philippines: The Perfect Itinerary

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It’s tough to think of a more beautiful corner of the world than the Philippines, with white sand beaches, bath-temperature water, and incredibly friendly locals.

These islands, 7,107 of them to be exact, are worth a departure from the typical banana pancake trail in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam! The beaches are regarded as some of the best in the world, as are the diving opportunities, and the welcoming nature of the Filipino people is unwavering.

But with so many islets to choose from offering up various culture, adventure and culinary delights, where do you even start to plan an itinerary and figure out where to go in the Philippines? Well luckily enough, Charlotte and I have spent roughly two months in the Philippines and have wrapped up our experiences into one neat little package below. Let’s get to planning your perfect Philippines itinerary:

Manila

It’s likely that you’ll begin your journey in the capital, Manila. A city bustling with people, Spanish colonial architecture, street vendors and Jeepneys.  Many travellers use Manila simply as a gateway to other destinations in the Philippines but we would recommend spending at least a day there in preparation for the rest of your adventure. It will also give you enough time to purchase your bus ticket to the North of Luzon, acclimatize, and sample street food like quack quack (battered quail egg) and caramelized bananas.

Quick Tip: Take a Jeepney ride for as little as 10PHP to a random destination in town. Just get off where you feel spontaneous!

Stay: Book your Manila stay here.

North Luzon (Banaue / Batad Rice Terraces)

North Luzon is very much overlooked in the Philippines with travelers opting for pristine white beaches and crystal cobalt seas instead. However, we would highly recommend a trip into the mountainous region for a glimpse into the World of the local rice farmers and stunning craggy landscapes. The UNESCO Banaue rice terraces are a key highlight of any trip to the North.

Top Tip: Most travelers visit Banaue due to the UNESCO title stamped across its name, however just an hour up the road (or up the mountain) lie Batad rice terraces which are just as beautiful and have far fewer tourists.

An overnight stay will allow you to live like the locals in a traditional stilt house built into the terrace. A trek to a neighboring waterfall is also on the agenda here and highly recommended! Wear a bathing suit and take a dip!

How To Get There: Overnight buses such as Ohayami run from the Sampoloc area of Manila for $19, which can be purchased a day in advance or on the day of (subject to availability). They leave at 9pm.

Stay: Batad Transient House (traditional stilt house) for just $11 with a delicious breakfast!

Sagada

Home to the infamous hanging coffins, the Igoret tribes of the North have long practiced burying their dead in coffins nailed against the side of cliffs, believing they will be closer to heaven.

This tradition is slowly dying out, so this is a rare chance for a deeper glimpse into traditional tribal life. You can hop off at Sagada on a return bus trip to Baguio from Banaue.

Quick Tip: Sagada has VERY limited ATMs and the one we did find had zero money, resulting in frantic phone calls home to wire money to Western Union Transfer! Take enough cash for your trip to Sagada.

Stay: Book your Sagada stay here.

Baguio City (Mount Pulag)

No trip to North Luzon is complete without visiting its highest peak at 2,926m above sea level. If that sounds like too much trekking for some then do not fear! Most of the journey is done by Jeepney to a mountain village where you stay overnight in a local house before taking on the summit in the early hours. In total the trek takes approximately 4-6 hours after reaching the village with a couple of rest breaks before reaching “the sky of clouds”.

Quick Tip: Most tour operators will drop you back at Manila providing you advise that you want to be dropped off here INSTEAD of returning to Baguio. If you follow this itinerary chronologically, this is ideal as we’ll be flying down south next.

Go With: Mount Pulag Adventures

Stay: Book your Baguio City stay here.

Boracay

A small island in central Philippines, Boracay is the top tourist draw of the Philippines, and for good reason! White beach takes center stage framing a 4km slice of paradise, once voted the best beach in the World (check out our guide to the best beaches in the Philippines)! An array of restaurants, resort accommodation and bars feature heavily along the main beach stations, while the back beach offers perfect conditions for water sports. Bar crawls, cliff jumping and ATV tours are all on offer here!

Quick Tip: We recommend spending 3 or 4 nights in Boracay. Once you have partied your way through the island it will probably be time to move on anyway!

How To Get There: Fly or ferry. We took the overnight ferry to save on accommodation and boarded from Batangas (reachable by 2 hour air conditioned bus from Manila). Ferries should be booked a few days in advance with 2GO Travel and they depart from 9pm and sail overnight to the port of Caticlan for $19 arriving at 7am dependent on sea conditions. From here passengers take a 10 minute boat across to the island.

Stay: Hostel Avenue is the only beach front hostel in Boracay opened 2017 for $17, located on White Beach.

Coron

Located in the province of Palawan, Coron is where you will find those Insta perfect dragon-esque landscape rock formations that penetrate the skies and inhabit turquoise lagoons below them. THIS is one of the reasons we first put the Philippines on our bucket list and trips to Barracuda Lake (fresh water lake), Kayagan Lake and the small and big lagoons are an absolute must on your visit here and can be booked one day in advance in the main town. Coron is also dubbed as the shipwreck capital of the World due to a large number of sunken Japanese vessels all within a 20-minute boat ride of the main town.

Quick Tip: The town is quaint and buzzing with other travelers. In our experience, we preferred to avoid the crowds and booked a private charter with another couple to take us to the best snorkeling spots when the hundreds of orange lifejackets had already left. This also means you can hand pick your sightseeing spots and all for as little as a $25 increase on the popular tours!

How To Get There: For approximately $90 we opted to fly from Caticlan (Boracay) to Coron and boy was it worth it! Boarding a small 12 seater Air Juan plane from Boracay you can swoop across the archipelago of the Philippines marveling at the tiny, Maldives like islets beneath you. A highly recommended way to see the Philippine landscape in all its glory!

Stay: If you’re confident in speaking with the locals by now, a cheaper alternative to a hostel on the main strip is to walk the quieter streets of the town and find a friendly local who will offer up his spare room for free or for half the cost of a hostel. Still to this day staying in ‘Sheila’s’ room while she was away at University was one of our favourite stays of all our travels!

El Nido

Sticking with Palawan, El Nido is the next obvious destination to go to in the Philippines to get your jaw dropping landscape fix! The town is a traveler’s paradise, housing an array of budget accommodation, charming restaurants and bars and also ample diving opportunities. Take an island hopping tour, inclusive of small and big lagoons, 7 Commandos Beach, Snake Island and Cudugnon Cave. Tours start from around $26 inclusive of three or four destinations, oh and lunch is included too. Sold!

Quick Tip: If your budget allows, we would highly recommend putting some money toward an island hopping expedition from Coron to El Nido. Sailing in and around some of the smallest and most remote islets of the Philippines was truly breathtaking. Sandbar slices of paradise, camping on secluded beaches and snorkeling in some of the clearest waters in the World were some of our favourite moments from the whole of our Philippines trip, not to mention singing Karaoke in a locals home with only the local villagers and rum to keep us company! For us, this was THE way to see the real Philippines at its most authentic.

Go With: Buhay Isla run 3 and 4 night expeditions between Coron and El Nido ports.

Stay: Book your El Nido stay here.

Cebu

Our visit to Cebu was mainly focused around one sight in particular, Kawasan Falls. This picturesque waterfall that plummets into the turquoise lagoon below has quickly become an instagram favorite and when you see it, you’ll understand why! We would highly recommend getting there early to avoid the crowds.

The falls can be easily accessed from the main entrance. Take a tricycle from your guesthouse and they will already know where you want to go!

Quick Tip: For the more adventurous traveler and for an alternative way in to the falls, opt for a canyoneering experience where you will be thrilled with 2-10m cliff jumps into the azure waters below. Taking a dip in such mesmerizing waters is highly recommended in any case, but to do it all with a rush as you jump and jolt from the limestone cliffs above is all the more exhilarating! Your experience ends at Kawasan Falls; the perfect end to such an adventure.

How To Get There: Vans regularly leave from the town of El Nido to Puerto Princesa every hour directly to the airport. You can choose to either explore Puerto Princesa or fly directly to Cebu.

Go With: We opted to canyoneer with Highland Adventures and found them to be reliable with all safety measures and equipment in place.

Stay: Book your Cebu stay here.

Oslob

It has always been a dream of ours to swim with whale sharks in a natural environment. We are so jealous of Kristin’s authentic experience with whale sharks in Mozambique and as avid divers we await the day until we get to see such a rare moment!

Although we were not 100% happy to swim with whale sharks while they are being fed, we did in fact get to swim with them in Oslob as part of a tour we were doing. They are some of the most beautiful creatures we have ever laid eyes upon as they graciously swoon in the waters collecting fish that are being served for them. We caved into the experience here as we justified the experienced based on the sharks being allowed to come and go as they please, but we await an authentic experience with much more excitement!

Be My Travel Muse generally does not support animal encounters like this that alter the animal’s natural behavior, but it felt remiss to leave this off of the itinerary since many people do want to have this experience. It is here to provide information rather than encourage you to participate, however. More ethical alternatives where the sharks are not being fed include the Bay of Los Angeles in California, the Maldives, Mozambique, and many others depending on the season.

Bantayan Island

An off the beaten path island that is often overlooked by many taking the main tourist trail but conveniently located north east of Cebu. Still a hidden gem, locals will welcome you into their guesthouses with open arms for you to explore powdery, undeveloped white sand beaches, local cafes, fish markets and of course skydiving! Yes, you read that correctly, Bantayan island is home to the only place to skydive in the Philippines and of course we had to try it!

Quick Tip: Although we were there largely to skydive, Bantayan ended up one of our favorite destinations in the Philippines due to the untouched landscape, local food, secluded sands, and of course the friendly Filipino people. Take a bike ride between Santa Fe and the neighboring village and stop off at the local cafes (which are essentially villages houses) and take in the local life sipping on cheap, cold beer. You can thank us later!

How To Get There: Take a taxi to Cebu North bus terminal. Board a bus to Hagnaya (3 and a half hour from Cebu City for $3.62). At the Hagnaya terminal boats to Bantayan island leave every hour up until 4pm and cost $3.85.

Stay: Book your Batayan Island stay here.

Visa Requirements

Always check your visa requirements before entering the country but for most, you can enter the Philippines without a visa for up to 30 days, providing you have evidence of onward travel.

Extending your visa is a simple enough procedure however. You can apply to do so at the Bureau of immigration to allow 59 days. We would recommend not doing this in Manila and opt to extend on one of the smaller islands such as Boracay as the procedure is much more simple and a lot quicker.

Getting around: Luckily, travel in and around the Philippines is relatively inexpensive, though may require some forward planning.

Buses: Many destinations within provinces can be reached by bus, especially in the North and at short notice too should there be availability. All are air conditioned, cheap and some even provide a snack! We recommend an overnight bus as the perfect way to save on accommodation while getting from A to B. What’s not to love!

Jeepneys: Do take a Jeepney when possible! Not only is a good way to sample local transport in a pimped out American armored vehicle but it is also cheap too.

Boats / Ferries: Given the Philippines has some 7,000+ islands, this should be no surprise. Many online agents provide bookings in advance (1 or two days is sufficient) and overnight ferries in particular are comfortable and air conditioned depending on class. You can also buy tickets directly at the port to save on fees, but during holidays expect to have to wait a few days to be able to book!

Flights: Flying between provinces isn’t actually as expensive as it first sounds, should you fly at the right times and between the right destinations. It also allows you to see the archipelago from above too! We think that’s worth the money all by itself.

Taxis: Many city provinces such as Manila and Cebu have taxis, however the cheaper alternative is a tricycle (motorbike with side cart). Tricycles are a great way to zip around and are also considerably cheaper than taxis. Always ask to journey on the meter and it is always worth researching how much they should charge per km to avoid overpricing.

So have you fallen in love with the Philippines yet? These secluded white slices of sand, the clearest waters in the world, the culinary local delights, and the spirit of the Filipino people all make this country one of our favorites in the world. All this, coupled with the relative cheapness to many other similarly beachy destinations and ghe ease of getting around makes it an absolute must visit!

We hope this helped you put together an itinerary and figure out where to go in the Philippines, but please feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments below.

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About the Authors: Charlie and Charlotte are the wanderlusting couple behind The Wanderlovers. They have swapped their city life in London for an action packed journey across the globe. Hand in hand, they’re taking on one country at a time and creating a life they don’t wish to escape from! Through their couple’s travel and lifestyle blog they hope to inspire future travellers that anything is possible if you just buy that one way ticket … Go Live!

Related posts:

Bantayan Island: A Hidden Gem In The Philippines

Offbeat Travel: Bottle Beach on Koh Phangan

Island Hopping In The Philippines

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[dzamie]

Fuckton of OC questions: Kenneth

Questions from @liaraliara‘s post here. Doing these for Kenneth, will do more for other characters eventually, whether y’all want me to or not.

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything? His full name is “Kenneth Oberon Brighton” has little to do with anything. Dzamie killed his last rival, and I just needed one with more staying power. And possibly a hint of questionable occasional necromancy, just in case. His middle and last name rarely come up, but his middle name is after the fairy king because he’s very good with magic, and his middle and last initials are because “haha his name is Ken O.B.”

2. Do they have any titles? How did they get them? He currently has High Mage (very powerful red magic), Elite Dragonslayer (self-explanatory), Katul’s Bane (near-singlehandedly wiped out several key positions during a war), and is currently Dzamie’s Rival (self-explanatory).

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory? Yeah, grew up in a moderately well-off household. His fondest memories are from watching gladiatorial fights from time to time, and several events while in the dragonslaying academy, including his first kill and when he and a couple of friends woke up early to see how many people would fall for a bucket of water over some doors. Total sodden count: 5 humans, 2 Katul, and one very angry dragon. One of the Katul was Dzamie; neither Kenneth nor he knows the other was involved in any way.

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents? They don’t really approve of his opinions about Katul, and believe the dragonslaying academy irreversibly corrupted their happy, bright-eyed son into a wary man with a sharp gaze. Doesn’t stop them from inviting him over for the holidays, or him from accepting the invitation every year, though it can get a little tense from time to time.

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults? No siblings.

6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate? He was a bit of a prankster, but somehow kept escaping punishment, and eventually graduated at the top of his class. He was never really a fan of humanities subjects, and loved pretty much anything involving killing dragons.

7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood? He knew a few others who shared his mischievous nature at the time, but many drifted away, and several have been killed by dragons.

8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals? Used to have a dog, left the dog with his parents. Dog is presumably dead by now.

9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals? He’s not particularly good or bad with animals. Snakes don’t like him, though.

10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect? He doesn’t really feel strongly one way or another, but knows his lifestyle is inherently too dangerous to have kids near for long.

11. Do they have any special diet requirements? Are they a vegetarian? Vegan? Have any allergies? He’s allergic to catnip.

12. What is their favourite food? Cheeseburgers, medium-well.

13. What is their least favourite food? He’s not a fan of cannibalism, and as such no longer sneaks a bite from Dzamie’s or HM’s plates, no matter how appetizing they look. Just in case.

14. Do they have any specific memories of food/a restaurant/meal? At an event, one dish was made with dragon meat. HM had brought his own food as well; he and Kenneth spent an awful lot of time trying to outsmug each other, knowing full well that the other knew what they were eating.

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking? He can cook... spaghetti and basic sandwiches. Claims to know some good recipes for Katul, but the only ones who’d take him up on that offer figure they can prepare it better.

16. Do they collect anything? What do they do with it? Where do they keep it? Collects the horns of dragons he kills. Neither he nor Dzamie knows the other does this. They’re kept in a proper magical subspace pocket, which happens to make it nearly immune to theft.

17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos? He started a habit of taking pictures of weird or interesting things that he might normally not notice, as a way of practicing general awareness.

18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else CYOA, ragtime, whatever QI counts as, cheesy horror, and fighting game respectively.

19. What’s their least favourite genres? Romance, vocaloid, reality TV, romance, and platformers

20. Do they like musicals? Music in general? What do they do when they’re favourite song comes? He’s not really into music.

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper? Fuck yes he does. His magic draws on and reinforces anger and hatred. He’s often quick to lose his temper, which generally manifests a destructive magical aura around him if he doesn’t focus it at something or someone.

22. What are their favourite insults to use? What do they insult people for? Or do they prefer to bitch behind someone’s back? He mostly just swears.

23. Do they have a good memory? Short term or long term? Are they good with names? Or faces? He has a scary good recollection of just about anything that could be used to more efficiently kill Katul and dragons. Also, he remembers voices and faces well, but takes a while for names.

24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress? Nobody’s actually sure if he sleeps regularly. Dream has confirmed that he does, occasionally, go to sleep, but doesn’t know if this is regular or induced behavior.

25. What do they find funny? Do they have a good sense of humour? Are they funny themselves? He laughs at shaggy dog stories and at seeing the destruction of his enemies. He’s not conventionally funny, but he’s good at making himself laugh, usually via the second method.

26. How do they act when they’re happy? Do they sing? Dance? Hum? Or do they hide their emotions? Probably has a bit of a spring in his step from his recent victorious fight. He’s more likely to keep his sparring with Dzamie to the verbal realm, rather than physical and/or magical.

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad? He kinda turns all sadness into anger.

28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? A visibly angry Dzamie scares him, as do a couple of well-known but civilized dragons. He’s also scared of his parents disowning him, but realizes this is an unrealistic fear (though that doesn’t stop fears).

29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective? Fears are for tactically exploiting.

30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out? Nothing really planned or structured, but fighting Dzamie is often quite the workout. He’s usually rather upset going into it, and either exhausted or deceased afterwards.

31. Do they drink? What are they like drunk? What are they like hungover? How do they act when other people are drunk or hungover? Kind or teasing? He no longer drinks, after Dream sent him a certain picture of himself, drunk, after he’d recovered. He and she are the only two who know what the picture is of.

32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like? Well-fitting, somewhat elastic t-shirt, and a pair of shorts or slacks - offers him freedom of movement, since his lifestyle sees him in sudden fights rather often. Kenneth usually sleeps in the buff, but has several sets of pajama bottoms that he’ll wear a t-shirt with if he’s a guest or has a guest.

33. What underwear do they wear? Boxers or briefs? Lacey? Comfy granny panties? Red or black boxers.

34. What is their body type? How tall are they? Do they like their body? Lean and fit. He’s a couple inches shy of 6′, and likes his body.

35. What’s their guilty pleasure? What is their totally unguilty pleasure? His guilty pleasure is definitely his collection of dragon/human vore media. It’s better-protected than anything else he has. His less-than-guilty pleasure is Dream. 

36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing? He’s good at killing Katul and dragons, and has nigh-unparalleled physical and magical offenses. His hobby is whittling, though generally he just makes sticks into pointy sticks.

37. Do they like to read? Are they a fast or slow reader? Do they like poetry? Fictional or non fiction? He likes to read some things, especially historical accounts of military strategy. It’s slow going, though. Fiction is nice, but he believes poetry to be too pretentious.

38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had? He tends to admire mostly physical beauty. Kenneth is very envious of Dzamie’s mana regeneration.

39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging? Letters, since those can be sent via magical means and keep their properties, unlike digital messaging.

40. Do they like energy drinks? Coffee? Sugary food? Or can they naturally stay awake and alert? Nope. He’s just naturally alert.

41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship? Completely straight. He’s got a thing for large boobs and dark hair, but hasn’t really formed any mental preferences.

42. What are their goals? What would they sacrifice anything for? What is their secret ambition? He seeks power, physical, magical, and to an extent political. Kenneth would sacrifice nearly anything for the ability to massively increase his power.

43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non religious people? He’s aware of deities, but doesn’t worship any, as he figures he doesn’t want to worship anyone who’d let Dzamie - the annoyingly resiliant Katul - and HM - the wicked dragon who kills all attempted slayers - continue to exist.

44. What is their favourite season? Type of weather? Are they good in the cold or the heat? What weather do they complain in the most? He finds winter very pretty, and likes that his fire magic reduces its effect on him while still hampering dragons he might be trying to slay.

45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves? He is a picture of strength, but tends to intimidate people.

46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves? If he tries, he makes a good first impression. Though, if he doesn’t prepare himself beforehand, he comes off as dismissive.

47. How do they act in a formal occasion? What do they think of black tie wear? Do they enjoy fancy parties and love to chit chat or loathe the whole event? He will find something to do instead of going to those occasions. If forced to go, he looks for someone he knows to talk or just whatever for the entire time; this someone is usually Dzamie, who’s there either for his own reasons or by the winds of chaos. Kenneth has inadvertently stopped several highly valuable things being stolen in this manner.

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend? See above; he mostly only interacts with others if there’s a thing he’s interested in going on.

49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them? His dragonslayer’s sword and shield. He’s not sentimental in the slightest. He doesn’t take anything in particular, but usually has at least one mana crystal on him just in case.

50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials? Honestly, I have no idea. He’d probably go for basic wilderness survival things and a few charged mana crystals.

[pixelbitesgames]

Ultra Hello and MEGA Good Morning!

Game: Rune Factory 4 Played On: 3DS Format: Physical Release Year: 2013 Developer: Neverland Co. Publisher: XSEED Games

What can I say about Rune Factory 4…. Well, not too much since I've never actually played the it. One thing I can say about it though is that as a farming simulator/ RPG type game it’s not exactly my cup of tea.

It is however one of my wife’s favorite genres so she happily agreed to play through it to completion and tell me all about it along the way. So the following will be mostly based on what I took away from our conversations during and after her play through.

I initially picked up Rune Factory 4 as a Christmas gift for my wife and wrapped in what I can only assume was the most extravagant and beautiful wrapping paper (complete with bow). Now, it’s been a couple of years but I believe she played through to the end of the first story arc before I unceremoniously tore her away from it to play something else with me. This of course led her to shelf it for a bit.

When it was recently dusted off and taken for a spin again my wife definitely seemed eager to restart her character and play through the game in its entirety.

Presentation

My impressions of the game just based off of its front cover are definitely positive. I love the anime-esque artwork and it reminds me of many of the fantasy anime I've watched like Log Horizon or Sword Art Online.

The game logo is very fancy and that amazing dragon in the background definitely draws me in and makes me want to give this game a try.

Wait, does that white haired guy have horns or really fluffy ears?!

Now, I consulted my wife and she informs me that he is the male equivalent of my beloved monster girls (Monster guys? Monster boys?) and he’s half horse….alrighty then….

Honestly, I'd say just based on the box art I would want to try this game out myself especially knowing it was developed/published by XSeed Games. I'm a big JRPG fan and like  Atlus or NIS, XSeed is known for it’s great Japanese ports.

The back cover displays more of the beautifully drawn anime artwork showing some more characters and also a few farm animals/monsters.

The in game screenshots are vivid and colorful and JRPGish and make me want to play the game all the more.  But am I prepared to plummet headfirst into a magical world? Do I have what it takes to be the new ruler of Selphia?

Although I’m generally not a fan of farming sim games (a la Harvest Moon) the fact that this has dungeon exploration and RPG elements certainly intrigues me. And we can play as a boy or a girl!!!!

Not gonna lie but I’d totally play as a girl just to try and win the heart of horse guy from the front cover.

Inside the game case is equally exceptional in displaying the bright and colorful anime-esque game that is Rune Factory 4.  

I really love how they utilized the 3DS game case design and displayed chibi versions of each character in those little holes. I gotta say XSeed knows what they’re doing. Even better is the increasingly rare full color booklet insert.

The 34 page booklet included with the game acts as a mini strategy guide giving you lots of background story, small tips on things like the basics of gameplay and short run downs on each bachelor and bachelorette. Did I mention that XSeed really knows what they’re doing?

The Game

Rune Factory 4 is a looooooooong game. It’s right up there with Disgaea and (insert another long game) with a potential level cap of 50,000. Even after playing around 150 hours my wife only reached around level 196 and this is after a great deal of grinding on her part just to be able to survive and complete the third and final story arc of the game.

Now like most games of this type you can continue to play long after the story ends. Since there is an exorbitant amount of stats, skills, runes, magics, weapons and tools to level up, as well as a never ending supply of dungeons to conquer. There's certainly plenty of things to keep you busy while you slog your way along to reach that enormous level cap.

My wife says she enjoyed the game immensely and would definitely continue playing it sometime or even restart a new character. If you are a fan of this series or this genre she gives it a two thumbs up and  highly recommends it.

There are rumors floating around about a 5th installment and that will be an instant buy for us for sure. We do own the 3rd of the series for the Wii and haven't played it yet but that's what this blog is all about amirite?!

Social Media Stuff

As we conquer each game look out for let’s play videos on my YouTube channel PixelBites and let me know what you think!

We’ll occasionally do live gaming sessions as well. Keep an eye out and stop by my Twitch channel at PixelBitesLive when we do!

You can also find the entire list of games in my collection on

PixelBites’ Backloggery

The list will be updated regularly as I start and finish games as well as when I get new ones. Don’t hesitate to take a look and let me know what you would like to see featured in the future!

Follow me on social media to keep up to date with what we are doing next and other random video game shenanigans!!! See you there!

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[wiresandstarlings]

I’m just trying to be someone better than I am

1. Maybe six months ago, Netflix recommended me a show called Terrace House: Aloha State. I don't usually pay much attention to Netflix's recommendations, but the preview image featured the most attractive girl I've ever seen. Short hair, feline eyes, sharply angular face, just every physical feature I find attractive. So naturally, I looked up the show to find out who she was.

Terrace House is a Japanese franchise of reality shows where the producers select a group of six people, three guys and three girls, and put them up in a mansion. A group of Japanese celebrities comment on their lives. That's the entire premise: reality television with all the bullshit stripped away. There's the usual production magic, where small arguments and innocent flirtations are amplified with fast cuts and dramatic music, but there are no cash prizes or external pressures. Just the real drama of lost twenty-somethings trying to figure out their lives. Guests can stay as long as they'd like, but in the history of the franchise, only one guest has stayed the entire duration of a season. Quintessentially Japanese minimalism.

I found out that the girl's name is Lauren Tsai. She's a model and an illustrator, and at the time there wasn't much information on her, at least for someone in reality television. There was only a two-minute interview on a site called “hypebae” that showcased some of her drawings, which are surreal, grotesque fantasy portraits. Girls with baleful eyes and arms of fish, dragons with tentacles, etc. Mysterious, beautiful, slightly disturbing, a cross between Miyazaki and Robert Crumb.

But she didn't have a Twitter or Instagram or Youtube channel. And the art and the mystery made her more even attractive to me.

I spent a couple more minutes looking at some of her modeling photos, and moved on. Slightly creepy, also typical. I saw an attractive girl, found out who she was, looked at some pictures of her, filed her name in the back of my head. My momentary obsession wasn't sufficient motivation to actually watch the show.

Earlier today, Youtube recommended me a radio interview she did earlier this month. And as placid and otherworldly as she looks in her modeling photos, Lauren's replies were simple and candid and entirely approachable. She talked about growing up and Terrace House and her uncertainties and insecurities.

Terrace House is filmed in Japanese, but Lauren isn't Japanese at all. Her mother is white, her father is Chinese, she was born in Massachusetts, and she grew up in Hawaii speaking English. She's 19 now and has studied Japanese for 4 years. She was lonely and maybe bullied in high school. She changed high schools three times, including going back to Massachusetts for boarding school, and got her diploma from a small Buddhist high school. She models in Tokyo now, and it's weird sometimes. “You feel like an object really... Or you feel like there's nothing you can do. Like no matter what you say, all you're judged on is how you look.”

In contrast, she has Twitter and Instagram accounts now. And like, on her social media she's only amplified the mysterious and aloof persona of her earlier photos. It's mostly modeling and outfits and a couple illustrations, and her clothes have gotten stranger and tighter and more expensive. I spent maybe forty minutes looking through her pictures on Twitter, more out of jealousy and confusion rather than attraction at this point. Like, how is this person so cool? How did she seem so normal in her interview while she's living her life like this, with these clothes and perfect makeup and hair and style and she just watercolors these amazing portraits between her modeling and celebrity?

On one level, with some distance, the answers to these questions are simple. She was sad and lonely for a long time, she worked hard in obscurity for a long time, and she turned an unusual and not entirely attractive opportunity to her advantage. She learned Japanese on her own, she probably gets up at 6 every day and works out for 3 hours and spends another half-hour picking out her outfit and draws in every free moment.

But are those answers really so simple?

2. I mention all this because I also saw Ingrid Goes West later today. Ingrid Goes West stars Aubrey Plaza as Ingrid, a woman who begins to obsess over Instagram celebrities – “social influencers” – after her mother dies. At the beginning of the movie, she crashes a wedding because the bride, one such celebrity, replied to one of her comments but didn't invite her to the wedding. In tears, she maces the bride and gets committed to a mental health ward. She finds another influencer to admire in an Elle profile, Elizabeth Olsen's Taylor, and moves to California to be closer to her. Naturally, Taylor's life isn't nearly as perfect as her Instagram account.

Ingrid Goes West addresses the gap between how we perceive other people and who they actually are, the boundaries between art and life, the benefits and dangers of social media, mental illness – the entire landscape of the 21st century. The audience empathizes with Ingrid because of her pain, but she's also ruthless and manipulative and remorseless. Ingrid Goes West is a film about a stalker, and by any reasonable moral standard Ingrid is a villain. But if Ingrid is a villain, then so is anyone who's ever wished they could be someone else.

There's a delightful scene where Ezra, Taylor's husband, shows Ingrid his art: realist paintings sprayed over with giant hashtags in gross neon colors. Did he paint the underlying landscapes himself? Of course not. They're found objects.

In the end, Ingrid films and uploads a moment of quiet, desperate honesty and the aftermath is both comforting and devastating. The last scene is a moment of absolute desolation. It's a thoughtful film, but it's also funny and moving and warm.  

I had the privilege of watching Ingrid Goes West next to two twenty-something girls whose running commentary elucidated how much was at stake in Ingrid's growth and reversion. When Ingrid changes her hairstyle and buys new clothes and meets Taylor for the first time, one of them offered, “I'm actually stressed out right now.” And at the end: “I'm going to need like five more drinks after that.”

Because, after all, despite its myriad individual themes, Ingrid Goes West is at is core about our new American dream. We have everything, but we desperately need more. We have hundred of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, but we're painfully alone. Something is missing from all our lives but only because corporations need there to be. When we follow someone on Instagram and like their jacket and buy that jacket and feel no different, well, what could we really expect. Should we all just give up Instagram? I don't think that's the answer either.

3. Naturally, after Ingrid Goes West, I thought of Lauren Tsai. And as much as Ingrid contains pieces of every millennial, I basically am Ingrid.

I have a gut-level suspicion of social media, and honestly I Instagram and Facebook stalk very rarely. But I'm certainly familiar with loneliness, self-hatred, and wishing I was someone else. Basically everyone I've ever admired, I admired with consuming obsession. Inio Asano, Carey Mulligan, James Murphy, Miranda July, Carrie Brownstein, George Saunders, now Lauren Tsai. I have difficulty just appreciating someone's writing or music or acting, not using it as a vehicle to just inhabit someone else for a while.

And like, I've had friends, even very good friends, but I'm not sure how. The mechanics of social interaction bewilder me. My friends ultimately come and go, and even when they're present I spend most of my time alone. And if I had the money and freedom and bravery, I might well move to Syracuse and follow George Saunders around for a couple months.

I would pay a lot for footage of someone just living his life for a full 24-hour cycle, unaware he was being filmed. I want to know how to be. I want to know how to live in a particular place at a particular time and just function.

I feel like I've made a lot of progress over the past couple months. I sleep more regularly, I spend more time doing what I enjoy or need to do and less time wasting away and worrying. I exercise more. But I still feel fat and lazy and I wonder when I won't.

I wonder if my biggest problem is how much I look towards the future. I've never been entirely present anywhere. In high school, I was looking toward college. In college, I was looking toward a career. Here in California, I was still looking toward what's next. I've never been anywhere I expected to stay for more than a couple years. That said, I'm moving again soon, and I'm not sure how long I'll stay.

4. Biking home from the movie theater after Ingrid Goes West, I listened to Julien Baker for the first time in a while. During the bridge of “Sprained Ankle”, I stopped pedaling and glided through the night and stared at the streetlights and it was perfect.

5. I hate using headphones. I buy expensive foam tips but they still bruise my ear canal, and no matter how quietly I set the volume, my tinnitus flares up. Even so, I have my headphones in for maybe a third of each day.

6. There's nothing like three days of idleness and total isolation to make you question your entire existence.

7. I should standardize how I use words and symbols for numbers at some point, but not now.

8. I really fucking love writing. I'm going to write more.

[likefusion]

Screwed Up Priorities? 5 Reasons You Aren't Working on the Right Content Projects: By all accounts, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a pretty smart guy – one of just a handful of U.S. presidents who made it to the Oval Office without having held any type of elected office. Eisenhower may never have served as a governor or a senator, but he did manage to win a little conflict known as World War II, as the commander of the Allied forces in Europe. Can you imagine a higher-stakes situation in which to prioritize your daily decisions and tasks? Yet he found a way, pioneering what's known as the Eisenhower Matrix, later popularized in business circles by Stephen Covey. Some tasks are urgent. Some are important. Some are both. The idea is to carefully prioritize so you're spending as much time as possible on important tasks (obviously the important-urgent ones first), without getting too bogged down in urgent tasks that aren't important – and especially to stop wasting time on tasks that are neither urgent nor important. This mindset can be as helpful for creating killer content as it is for winning wars. “In every case, not being able to prioritize effectively leads to failure,” says Nicholas Dragon, digital marketing manager at Intermountain Healthcare. When a team can't set realistic priorities, deadlines are missed, projects are pushed back, clients get unhappy, and teams grow increasingly less effective. You get to the point where you're putting out fires 90% of the time instead of producing cool stuff. In every case, not being able to prioritize effectively leads to failure. @NicholasDragon via @MarcusWorkfrontClick To Tweet If you're not feeling as victorious as you'd like to be with your content marketing efforts – or you're struggling to distinguish whether you're even working on the right content or not – it could all come down to five simple prioritization problems. Address each of the following in your organization, and you'll finally be able to lead your team out of urgent land and into unimportant territory, where the cool stuff gets produced. 1. You don't know what's in your work queue “As with many groups, we get more requests than we can possibly fulfill,” Nicholas says. “This used to bog us down because we tried to be everything to everyone, and we let the requestor set the level of priority.” When someone would stop by Nicholas' office, needing this or that for a meeting tomorrow or an event next week, his team would jump into action and make it happen. “We allowed their problem to become our problem,” he says, “which caused a domino effect with deadlines for all of our other projects.” Because he didn't have a clear window into his team's complete list of current and upcoming work, it was difficult to calculate the true consequences of agreeing to every last-minute request for help. Office pop-ins aren't the only way that work requests land in your team's queue – and that's the problem. Some projects are initiated through careful planning, arising out of a quarterly planning meeting or an individual kick-off meeting. Others may come by way of email or sticky note, instant messenger, or even a text or voicemail. Still others can be mentioned as an aside in a meeting about something else (“Hey, Lisa, I think we need to jump on Blake's suggestion. Can your team take that as an action item and make it happen by Q3?”). With requests flying in from all directions and arriving in different formats, it's impossible to evaluate them against each other and know which project to tackle first. What you need is both consistency and visibility. And that means requiring everyone to submit all requests through a single portal, as uniformly as possible. Options include: Custom ticketing system Task- or work-management software Single email inbox (e.g., workrequests@yourcompany.com) Google form that feeds into a spreadsheet Individual on your team assigned to wrangle all incoming requests Require everyone to submit all #content requests through a single portal, says @MarcusWorkfront.Click To Tweet However you choose to approach it, the goal is to have one place you can go to see what's on deck for your team – and for all new requests to make their way into that same platform, so you have the ability to weigh them against each other. That whole stopping-by-your-desk thing with a content project that's due tomorrow, and standing there waiting for you to agree? Yeah, you need to shut that down. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Stop Killing Your Content Team: 3 Ways to Scale Work With Existing Resources 2. You haven't defined prioritization criteria Another reason so many teams spend their time working on the wrong content is that they haven't found a good way to distinguish between important and not-important tasks. Instead, they choose their priorities based loosely on the following: How urgent it is. This is a terrible idea, given that sometimes the only reason something is urgent is because the requestor didn't plan ahead. Ever heard the saying, “Lack of planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on my part”? It's a good one to memorize. Who asked for it. Yes, you should give greater weight to projects that come from the CEO than the suggestions coming from your summer intern, but you won't be effective at your job if everyone above you on the org chart gets an automatic yes to every request. After all, what happens when you receive two competing requests from individuals with identical political clout? How do you decide between those? How easy or fun it appears to be. You've always wanted to try your hand at creative video content, so when an executive sponsor brings you a fun video project, you might casually wiggle it into the top of your request queue – without really weighing its impact on your other priorities. How well-defined the request is. Request A comes to you outlined in minute detail. You know exactly what the expectations are and how to go about fulfilling them. Request B is vague and ill-defined, but you can see it will have real strategic value. You may be tempted to put Request A at the top of your priority list, partially to reward the conscientious and thorough requester. But Request B might be where the money's at. This system isn't really a system at all. It's the way teams react to requests when they're in survival mode.  Instead, you have to regularly stop and evaluate your workload based on preset criteria, both so you know where you stand and so you have a chance of bringing order to the chaos. Some organizations will use a scorecard or point system to make this process easier. Others prioritize weekly or even daily using the Agile marketing approach. “Recently we developed a new intake process for project requests,” says Nicholas. “We started by setting a default priority level to projects and improving communication about expectations related to timing and delivery. Any project not directly tied to operational goals and objectives for the organization automatically receives non-priority status.” Nicholas argues that there are only two priority levels: Something is either priority (i.e., related to operational goals) or it is not. “If you need to put something in a second or third priority bucket, it's not really a priority,” he says. “Don't call it that.” HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Confused About Agile Marketing? Your Questions Answered [With Video] 3. Your prioritization criteria don't align with company strategy Maybe you are making efforts at prioritizing incoming tasks, but if you're not keeping company strategy in mind during that process, your list of criteria is nothing more than a cute wall decoration. If, on the other hand, your prioritization criteria can be directly tied to key corporate objectives, they become unassailable – especially when those inevitable interlopers try to get you to bend or break the rules for their pet requests. If prioritization criteria tie to key corporate objectives, they become unassailable, says @MarcusWorkfront.Click To Tweet Chris Savoie, who works at the director level in the software industry, says managers have to think of themselves as translators. You speak one language to those you report to and another language to those you manage. Your job is to translate corporate strategy into actionable work. And when the work is done, you have to translate the results into numbers the bosses care about. “The effort I spend translating my team's work into reportable metrics helps reveal the numbers I should be paying attention to – and it ensures that the projects coming into my team are aligned with the strategic goals my bosses want,” Chris says. Both during your initial prioritization process and when you're reporting on completed projects, it's essential to draw a direct line between your team's efforts and the company's foremost strategic initiatives. 4. You don't have executive buy-in You may have kept key strategic goals in mind while selecting your prioritization criteria, but if your bosses don't know that, they'll be less likely to respect your process. You need to get the royal seal from management. Spell out your process to the top brass, as well as your reasoning. Explain that to stay focused on priorities that will advance the corporate agenda, everybody (including them) must follow your processes as outlined. Nobody gets a free pass to slip a project ahead of the pack. Make it clear that by signing off on your process, they are giving you the authority to say no – or not yet – to anybody (including them). “Bribery. Donuts. Mountain Dew. People try all kinds of things to get around the process,” Nicholas says. He calls the most common attempt the “I'm-telling-dad” routine, where people skip steps in the chain of command to force a team to comply with an unrealistic request. “With our current process, we worked with our senior leadership team to develop something that everyone could agree on,” he says. “With buy-in from everyone, including the C-suite, the ‘I'm-telling-dad' method doesn't work. If someone tries to use that method, the first question is, ‘Did you follow the process?'” HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 4 Ways to Use Data to Better Understand Your Content Production Process 5. You're failing to enforce the rules You can have all of the executive buy-in in the world, but if you're inconsistent about following your own process and enforcing the rules, it will all fall apart, one content project at a time. If you're finding it hard to diligently follow your own process, consider the possibility that it's overly complicated. “Processes that succeed, no matter what their purpose, are simple,” Nicholas says. “A simple process takes very little time to complete, and there is no room for misunderstanding. If your intake form is an entire page and asks for technical details about font sizes and kerning, how many people will ever take the time to fill it out? Instead, they'll look for new and creative ways to get around it.” Prioritize right How does a content team determine what is most important, so they're not constantly being drawn into whatever urgent tasks seem to be on fire at the moment? Start by gaining visibility into your current and upcoming work. Define set criteria for determining the priority of new projects (such as a points system or a scorecard), and make sure those criteria align with corporate objectives. Present your plan to management and get buy-in. Then work within the boundaries you set and let no one skirt the rules. If that all fails, which it won't, just ask yourself: What would Eisenhower do? HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 7 Productivity Killers for Marketers and How to Fix Them Editor's note: We appreciate Workfront's support of Content Marketing Institute as a paid benefactor. This article was reviewed and edited independently to ensure that it adheres to the same editorial guidelines as all non-sponsored blog posts. Do you want the opportunity to immerse yourself in content marketing training from best-in-class speakers? Make registering for Content Marketing World an important task (and before it becomes an urgent task). Sign up today and use code BLOG100 to save an additional $100 on early-bird rates. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute The post Screwed Up Priorities? 5 Reasons You Aren't Working on the Right Content Projects appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. http://bit.ly/2p1HxF3

[hotspreadpage]

Screwed Up Priorities? 5 Reasons You Aren’t Working on the Right Content Projects

By all accounts, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a pretty smart guy – one of just a handful of U.S. presidents who made it to the Oval Office without having held any type of elected office.

Eisenhower may never have served as a governor or a senator, but he did manage to win a little conflict known as World War II, as the commander of the Allied forces in Europe. Can you imagine a higher-stakes situation in which to prioritize your daily decisions and tasks? Yet he found a way, pioneering what’s known as the Eisenhower Matrix, later popularized in business circles by Stephen Covey.

Some tasks are urgent. Some are important. Some are both. The idea is to carefully prioritize so you’re spending as much time as possible on important tasks (obviously the important-urgent ones first), without getting too bogged down in urgent tasks that aren’t important – and especially to stop wasting time on tasks that are neither urgent nor important.

This mindset can be as helpful for creating killer content as it is for winning wars. “In every case, not being able to prioritize effectively leads to failure,” says Nicholas Dragon, digital marketing manager at Intermountain Healthcare.

When a team can’t set realistic priorities, deadlines are missed, projects are pushed back, clients get unhappy, and teams grow increasingly less effective. You get to the point where you’re putting out fires 90% of the time instead of producing cool stuff.

In every case, not being able to prioritize effectively leads to failure. @NicholasDragon via @MarcusWorkfront Click To Tweet

If you’re not feeling as victorious as you’d like to be with your content marketing efforts – or you’re struggling to distinguish whether you’re even working on the right content or not – it could all come down to five simple prioritization problems. Address each of the following in your organization, and you’ll finally be able to lead your team out of urgent land and into unimportant territory, where the cool stuff gets produced.

1. You don’t know what’s in your work queue

“As with many groups, we get more requests than we can possibly fulfill,” Nicholas says. “This used to bog us down because we tried to be everything to everyone, and we let the requestor set the level of priority.”

When someone would stop by Nicholas’ office, needing this or that for a meeting tomorrow or an event next week, his team would jump into action and make it happen. “We allowed their problem to become our problem,” he says, “which caused a domino effect with deadlines for all of our other projects.”

Because he didn’t have a clear window into his team’s complete list of current and upcoming work, it was difficult to calculate the true consequences of agreeing to every last-minute request for help.

Office pop-ins aren’t the only way that work requests land in your team’s queue – and that’s the problem. Some projects are initiated through careful planning, arising out of a quarterly planning meeting or an individual kick-off meeting. Others may come by way of email or sticky note, instant messenger, or even a text or voicemail. Still others can be mentioned as an aside in a meeting about something else (“Hey, Lisa, I think we need to jump on Blake’s suggestion. Can your team take that as an action item and make it happen by Q3?”).

With requests flying in from all directions and arriving in different formats, it’s impossible to evaluate them against each other and know which project to tackle first. What you need is both consistency and visibility. And that means requiring everyone to submit all requests through a single portal, as uniformly as possible. Options include:

Custom ticketing system

Task- or work-management software

Single email inbox (e.g., workrequests@yourcompany.com)

Google form that feeds into a spreadsheet

Individual on your team assigned to wrangle all incoming requests

Require everyone to submit all #content requests through a single portal, says @MarcusWorkfront. Click To Tweet

However you choose to approach it, the goal is to have one place you can go to see what’s on deck for your team – and for all new requests to make their way into that same platform, so you have the ability to weigh them against each other. That whole stopping-by-your-desk thing with a content project that’s due tomorrow, and standing there waiting for you to agree? Yeah, you need to shut that down.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Stop Killing Your Content Team: 3 Ways to Scale Work With Existing Resources

2. You haven’t defined prioritization criteria

Another reason so many teams spend their time working on the wrong content is that they haven’t found a good way to distinguish between important and not-important tasks. Instead, they choose their priorities based loosely on the following:

How urgent it is. This is a terrible idea, given that sometimes the only reason something is urgent is because the requestor didn’t plan ahead. Ever heard the saying, “Lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part”? It’s a good one to memorize.

Who asked for it. Yes, you should give greater weight to projects that come from the CEO than the suggestions coming from your summer intern, but you won’t be effective at your job if everyone above you on the org chart gets an automatic yes to every request. After all, what happens when you receive two competing requests from individuals with identical political clout? How do you decide between those?

How easy or fun it appears to be. You’ve always wanted to try your hand at creative video content, so when an executive sponsor brings you a fun video project, you might casually wiggle it into the top of your request queue – without really weighing its impact on your other priorities.

How well-defined the request is. Request A comes to you outlined in minute detail. You know exactly what the expectations are and how to go about fulfilling them. Request B is vague and ill-defined, but you can see it will have real strategic value. You may be tempted to put Request A at the top of your priority list, partially to reward the conscientious and thorough requester. But Request B might be where the money’s at.

This system isn’t really a system at all. It’s the way teams react to requests when they’re in survival mode.  Instead, you have to regularly stop and evaluate your workload based on preset criteria, both so you know where you stand and so you have a chance of bringing order to the chaos. Some organizations will use a scorecard or point system to make this process easier. Others prioritize weekly or even daily using the Agile marketing approach.

“Recently we developed a new intake process for project requests,” says Nicholas. “We started by setting a default priority level to projects and improving communication about expectations related to timing and delivery. Any project not directly tied to operational goals and objectives for the organization automatically receives non-priority status.”

Nicholas argues that there are only two priority levels: Something is either priority (i.e., related to operational goals) or it is not. “If you need to put something in a second or third priority bucket, it’s not really a priority,” he says. “Don’t call it that.”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Confused About Agile Marketing? Your Questions Answered [With Video]

3. Your prioritization criteria don’t align with company strategy

Maybe you are making efforts at prioritizing incoming tasks, but if you’re not keeping company strategy in mind during that process, your list of criteria is nothing more than a cute wall decoration.

If, on the other hand, your prioritization criteria can be directly tied to key corporate objectives, they become unassailable – especially when those inevitable interlopers try to get you to bend or break the rules for their pet requests.

If prioritization criteria tie to key corporate objectives, they become unassailable, says @MarcusWorkfront. Click To Tweet

Chris Savoie, who works at the director level in the software industry, says managers have to think of themselves as translators. You speak one language to those you report to and another language to those you manage. Your job is to translate corporate strategy into actionable work. And when the work is done, you have to translate the results into numbers the bosses care about.

“The effort I spend translating my team’s work into reportable metrics helps reveal the numbers I should be paying attention to – and it ensures that the projects coming into my team are aligned with the strategic goals my bosses want,” Chris says.

Both during your initial prioritization process and when you’re reporting on completed projects, it’s essential to draw a direct line between your team’s efforts and the company’s foremost strategic initiatives.

4. You don’t have executive buy-in

You may have kept key strategic goals in mind while selecting your prioritization criteria, but if your bosses don’t know that, they’ll be less likely to respect your process. You need to get the royal seal from management.

Spell out your process to the top brass, as well as your reasoning. Explain that to stay focused on priorities that will advance the corporate agenda, everybody (including them) must follow your processes as outlined. Nobody gets a free pass to slip a project ahead of the pack. Make it clear that by signing off on your process, they are giving you the authority to say no – or not yet – to anybody (including them).

“Bribery. Donuts. Mountain Dew. People try all kinds of things to get around the process,” Nicholas says. He calls the most common attempt the “I’m-telling-dad” routine, where people skip steps in the chain of command to force a team to comply with an unrealistic request.

“With our current process, we worked with our senior leadership team to develop something that everyone could agree on,” he says. “With buy-in from everyone, including the C-suite, the ‘I’m-telling-dad’ method doesn’t work. If someone tries to use that method, the first question is, ‘Did you follow the process?’”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 4 Ways to Use Data to Better Understand Your Content Production Process

5. You’re failing to enforce the rules

You can have all of the executive buy-in in the world, but if you’re inconsistent about following your own process and enforcing the rules, it will all fall apart, one content project at a time. If you’re finding it hard to diligently follow your own process, consider the possibility that it’s overly complicated.

“Processes that succeed, no matter what their purpose, are simple,” Nicholas says. “A simple process takes very little time to complete, and there is no room for misunderstanding. If your intake form is an entire page and asks for technical details about font sizes and kerning, how many people will ever take the time to fill it out? Instead, they’ll look for new and creative ways to get around it.”

Prioritize right

How does a content team determine what is most important, so they’re not constantly being drawn into whatever urgent tasks seem to be on fire at the moment?

Start by gaining visibility into your current and upcoming work. Define set criteria for determining the priority of new projects (such as a points system or a scorecard), and make sure those criteria align with corporate objectives. Present your plan to management and get buy-in. Then work within the boundaries you set and let no one skirt the rules. If that all fails, which it won’t, just ask yourself: What would Eisenhower do?

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 7 Productivity Killers for Marketers and How to Fix Them

Editor’s note: We appreciate Workfront’s support of Content Marketing Institute as a paid benefactor. This article was reviewed and edited independently to ensure that it adheres to the same editorial guidelines as all non-sponsored blog posts.

Do you want the opportunity to immerse yourself in content marketing training from best-in-class speakers? Make registering for Content Marketing World an important task (and before it becomes an urgent task). Sign up today and use code BLOG100 to save an additional $100 on early-bird rates.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Screwed Up Priorities? 5 Reasons You Aren’t Working on the Right Content Projects appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

Screwed Up Priorities? 5 Reasons You Aren’t Working on the Right Content Projects syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm