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thatoneafkguy · 10 months ago

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Death Battle Matchup: Sasha Waybright (Amphibia) vs Severa (Fire Emblem)

Connections: Both characters are fantasy swordswomen who are part of a trio that get send to another universe and are tasked with saving it from an ancient evil (Anankos/ the Core). They care deeply about their loved ones, enough that they will sacrifice their lives for them, but early on in their stories they express this in very toxic ways (Severa has an inferiority complex which causes her to lash out at her friends and family, and Sasha acts controlling and manipulative towards her friends). Their character arc revolves around them learning to grow past their toxic behavior and into mature adults who help support the younger generation (Severa as a mother, Sasha as a child psychologist). They also both have designs which heavily focus on the color red (Sasha’s armor is red, and Severa’s most canonical hair color is red to connect her to her mother).

Animation potential: pretty good IMO, on the surface it seems like a standard sword fight, but both characters have some flashy fighting styles that would make for good choreography. And Sasha’s calamity powers and Severa’s Skill abilities/ alternate class options would both make for good power-ups midway through the fight.

Dialogue: both characters would probably be able to banter back and forth in a snarky way, with Severa probably being a bit more aggressive while Sasha might try to taunt Severa and get inside her head more.

Fight dynamic: I have two options of how this could start. One, the battle has a cold open with the two in a duel similar to Guts vs Dmitri, only this duel would be surrounded by a full-on army battle between Wartwood and Nohr. Alternatively, Severa could be sent on a mission through the Deeprealms which accidentally lands her In Amphibia, upon which Sasha would probably be suspicious of Severa in a similar manner to Obi-Wan vs Kakashi.

The fight would probably start small scale, with both characters locked in a duel and going back and forth taunting and insulting the other. Sasha would probably be more easily able to get under Severa’s skin, causing her to get mad and escalate things by using her skills and generally being more aggressive. The collateral damage threatening Wartwood/Amphibia would then prompt Sasha to get mad and go all out in a similar way, probably with some version of her “I’ll never give up, not now, not ever!” speech.

Eventually, the battle would take to the skies with Sasha in her calamity form vs Severa atop her pegasus. Sev would be able to use Luna, Sol, etc. to break through Sasha’s defenses and maintain stamina through healing, but Sasha would be able to maintain the clear power advantage. Eventually, Sasha would likely be able to destroy Severa with a powerful enough energy blast, but might still lose an eye and/or arm in a manner reminiscent to Captain Grime.

Potential track name: Crimson Moon (both characters feature the color red as a prominent feature in their designs, Severa’s alias Selena is themed after the moon, and the red moon is a significant feature in Amphibia)

#fire emblem #fire embem awakening #severa fire emblem #sasha waybright #amphibia #sasha amphibia #death battle #fire emblem heroes

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shrimppebbles · 5 years ago

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Pack Legacy Challenge

So here’s mostly a place for myself to keep track of rules I want to play a legacy with, and I deeply apologize if someone already has this idea, if you do, please do and I’ll give you full credit

this is made so you can play this challenge if you only have one pack or all packs, or any where in between

Name of the Game: basically, I made this to take full advantage of all expansion packs and game packs, and some stuff packs. Please note, I don’t have all the packs, so these will be based off my own packs, but feel free to add or remove whatever packs you own:) You win the challenge when you’ve played through all generations or get bored

Base Rules

your first generation starts rags to riches style

you can do these generations in any order you feel, you don’t have to follow the order I listed

you start each generation with the youngest child of the previous generation once they are either a Teen or Young Adult ( your choice)

when starting a new generation, you have three options: start rags to riches style; give the heir §20,000; or they can take all the money (also your choice)

any generation without a specified career, you can choose whether or not your sim has a career

you can choose whatever traits you want, but to add another level, add at least one trait from the pack

once you complete the designated aspiration, move onto another that came with the pack or choose which ever you like

you can use a potion of youth or multiple generations to complete any one pack

not a requirement, but marrying one of the well known townies from the specific pack is recommended

Generations

-expansion packs-

GET TOGETHER:

- max both dance and DJ skills

- live in Widenburg

- complete the “Leader of the Pack” aspiration

- create a club with at least 10 club perks

- meet your soulmate at a cafe or pool

- Try for Baby (and get pregnant) at least once from closet woohoo

CITY LIVING

- live in an apartment in San Myshuno

- max the singing skill

- complete the “City Native” aspiration

- reach level ten in one of the following careers: Style Influencer, Politician, or Critic

- eventually have penthouse with basketball court

- meet soulmate in Karaoke Bar

CAT’S AND DOGS

- live in Brindleton Bay

- own an at least 4-Star Vet Clinic

- adopt at least one cat and one dog

- complete the feather collection

- complete the “Friend of the Animals” aspiration

- max both pet training and vet skills

SEASONS

- max flower arranging skill

- have at least one baby with Father Winter

- have a green house with at least 10 different plants

- have 3 bee keeping boxes

- always complete all holiday activities

- reach level ten in the Gardening career

GET FAMOUS

- live in Del Sol Valley

- either have a PRISTINE or ATROCIOUS reputation (you can choose which)

- become a “Global Superstar”

- max both acting and media production skills

- complete either the “World Famous Celebrity” or “Master Actor” aspiration

- reach level ten in the Acting career

- Try for Baby (and get pregnant) at least once from Vault Woohoo

ISLAND LIVING

- live in Sulani

- become a Mermaid

- reach level ten in the Conservationist career

- complete the “Beach Life” aspiration

- max the Fishing and Fitness (only by swimming) skills

UNIVERSITY LIVING

- live in Brichester

- complete one degree of your choice

- join the corresponding job of the degree you chose and reach level 10

- complete the “Academic” aspiration

- max the Robotics and Research & Debate skills

- have a Servo

- Try for Baby (and get pregnant) at least once from a Shower Woohoo

ECO LIVING

- live in Evergreen Harbor

- max both Fabrication and Juice Fizzing skills

- reach level ten in either careers: Civil Designer or Freelance Crafter

- have at least 10 things that either create power or collect water

- Try for Baby (and get pregnant) at least once from a Dumpster Woohoo

- complete either the “Eco Innovater” or “Master Maker” aspirations

-game packs-

PARENTHOOD

- max parenting skill

- be a stay at home parent (you can freelance & your spouse can have a job)

- have AT LEAST 3 children

- have each child get at least one character value within trait range

- do at least one school project with each skill

- complete the “Super Parent” aspiration

JUNGLE ADVENTURE

- your soulmate MUST be from Selvaderada

- vacation in Selvaderada three seperate times

-max Archaeology skill

- complete both the “Archaeology Scholar” and the “Jungle Explorer” aspirations

- have ten different relics and artifacts AT THE SAME TIME

STRANGERVILLE

- live in StrangerVille

- complete the “StrangerVille Mystery” aspiration

- reach level ten in the Military career

REALM OF MAGIC

- live in Glimmerbrook

- become a Spellcaster

- have a top level perk

- learn at least 10 spells

- complete either the “Spellcraft and Sorcery” or the “Purveyor of Potions” aspirations

Other Notes:

feel free to edit and change these rules however you want, any challenge I make is free to edit and change to your liking

use minimal cheats and no money cheats

play around with your main sim’s siblings in between playing with the main

change up your families

have a single parent(unless otherwise stated), have a man and a woman, have two men, have two women and anywhere in between

add pets too for some added fun

have one generation with one child and another with seven and maybe only adopt for another

add your packs that I don’t have listed here (they’re not listed cause I don’t own them”

if you wanna add a stuff pack to the mix, play that one on short lifespans

if you’d want, play expansions on long, game packs on normal, and stuff packs on short

AGAIN, if someone else has done this before, please tell me and I’ll credit them

use the tag #packlegacy so that I can see your gameplay

#s4 #ts4 challenge #s4 challenge #sims #the sims #the sims 4 #ts4 #challenge #packlegacy #sims challenge #sims4 #sims 4 legacy

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jimmyandthepulsatingmass · 6 years ago

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A Look Back at Old Jimmy

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is one year old today! To celebrate, I thought I’d share some stuff about what Jimmy looked like in its original incarnation. Spoilers: not as good! But, fans will probably find it interesting, so check it out after the break if you want a super long, super informative post about a version of Jimmy that was never meant to be!

When I originally conceived of Jimmy, it wasn’t meant to be a huge game with a focus on exploration. Instead, it was meant to be around 8-10 hours and mostly linear. It wasn’t going to be a commercial game; instead, it was going to be a game that I posted on rpgmaker.net, like many of my other earlier games, and a means for me to show everyone that my game design had matured. The game was broken up into four segments, each representing a different character. Each segment was its own game. For example, Lars’s segment was going to be a first-person dungeon exploring game (called Dark Dungeon), Andrew’s segment was going to be a visual novel about going to school, etc. I forget if Helga or Buck had the more straightforward RPG segment, and I can’t remember what the fourth segment was going to be. Of these, I’d only been working on the RPG segment, and I’d finished all the battle designs and locations, so, at the point that I stopped development, this section was almost complete. So, naturally, that’s what most of this post will focus on.

In the frame story, the house was uncolored, and by completing each segment of the game, you’d gradually color in the house and make your family happy. When you had colored everything in, you would leave the house and then the ending was very similar to the ending that eventually made it into the game. Everything was drawn with crayons (by which I mean the crayon tool in MS Paint, haha) other than the sprites. Also, looks like this screen showed off Jimmy’s old sprite. Yikes, right?

Here’s the whole family. This isn’t a scene or anything (none of the dialogue was in at this point--other than some battle dialogue), but I just wanted to show off all the sprites. Let’s just pull that band-aid off quickly. The setting is a castle that gets destroyed by the Pulsating Mass. The entire RPG section takes place in a faux medieval section. I pulled some ideas about the videogamey aspect of that world into the Everchip segment (mainly how dialogue is delivered), but nothing too important story-wise.

This was Jimmy’s room inside of the RPG world. If it looks familiar, that’s because the opening of this segment of the game was going to be a shot-for-shot remake of the opening scene in Chrono Trigger, just drawn way worse. Helga would have delivered Chrono’s mother’s dialogue, but, like I said, I hadn’t done the dialogue yet, so I’m just manually opening the curtains.

Here’s a look at the world map. The little dragon aspect of the map could also breathe fire; he moves randomly, so I didn’t happen to catch it when I made the gif. The gif quality kind of sucks, so here are the area names: Hazeleye, Stoney Craw, Bursa Pass, Marrowick, Eastern Brow, Legs of the Ancient Giant, and Pulsating Mass.

Here’s a little effect that I thought turned out alright. The areas in dungeons were short and the paths were narrow. Enemies were designed to be at chokepoints, so there were fixed encounters. You didn’t get any experience or money from them--you just got to progress. I’ll get into that more, later, but here are some other shots of maps I thought didn’t look totally terrible:

The entrance to Bursa Pass, a mountainous area. You’ll probably recognize the bird effect in the background from Lars’s beach scene. This is actually where you would have first found Lars; he would have been sitting in front of the sign and carried off by a giant bird similar to Grimclaw, but its name was Throbbing Feathers; you can see how I cannibalized a lot of that stuff and used it in different ways in the final game.

This was Throbbing Feathers’s nest. He was the second boss.

Another shot of Bursa Pass.

This is a little reflection effect I liked in Marrowick, a forest area where you encounter the Rotting Jack-o’-Lantern, among other things.

This is a short area called Eastern Brow. It was meant to be an observatory, but it also kind of looked like a cannon, so I ended up planning for Jimmy and the family to go there and fire themselves out of it to get to the top of Legs of the Ancient Giant.

Here’s a typical part of the Pulsating Mass. It was very pink.

Equipment was fixed. You couldn’t buy equipment or items, and you only gained levels after beating bosses. Like I said earlier, the game was super linear. Battles were built more like puzzles since you couldn’t power level to get around them. Here’s what every other character had equipped for the curious:

My favorite part about looking through the equipment was that I forgot that Lars could only equip a Tommy Bahama Shirt on his upper body.

Here’s a weird part of the battle system that didn’t make it into the full game. In addition to their normal skill sets, characters had a “Moxie” set of skills. These four skills were the same for every character. In addition to HP and MP (SP here), battles utilized RPG Maker’s TP system. You would gain a set amount of TP each turn, and you could get double by guarding. TP allowed you to use these Moxie skills, which were basically surrogates for items.

Here are a few skill sets, starting with Helga’s. There’s a lot of overlap with the full version of Jimmy. Helga apparently was a cheerleader in Jr. High.

This is just to show that some of these skills that you’re familiar with didn’t operate the same way. Also, the characters’ HP and SP would normally be full, as you get full recovers after each fight, but I had artificially leveled him, so the numbers are wonky.

Here’s Jimmy’s complete list of transformations. He had a few extras that didn’t make it into the full game, as you can see. The final four were optional ones you could get for fighting new monsters that replaced the bosses in each area. “Imagine Face” lets you transform into a monster called “Giant Face,” which was the tank role; the Revolting Blob was more of a status inflicter. “Imagine Tree” is the “Tree of Life,” which took over the Phoenix’s big healing role (the Phoenix focused a bit more on offense), and “Imagine Guardian” was a monster called “Ancienter Guardian” (A harder version of the Ancient Guardian you could fight earlier in the game). It had an offensive role and the ability to interrupt, kind of like a more powerful Red-Billed Squawker with a group attack.

By the way, transformations could only be used inside a battle. There wasn’t a point of transforming in the field because of the linear level design. They also took a turn to use; a lot of the combat was slower and built around utilizing each turn correctly.

Speaking of battles, here’s what one would look like. As you can see, Mortimer made the transition from Old Jimmy to new Jimmy, but his design is a bit different. The battle backgrounds were stationary. The TP I was talking about earlier is shown here (as MP--Moxie Points).

Here’s Mortimer getting wrecked by Andrew. Some of the battle animations look pretty cool as crayons, but there just aren’t a lot of them. This is because anything that was used on players didn’t have an animation because of how VX Ace’s default battle system works. Note the end message says “Jimmy’s Family;” HItomi, Jonathon Bear, and Punch Tanaka weren’t playable characters in this version. Of these, only Punch shows up in the game at all. Jonathon Bear is just referenced via Jimmy’s shirt, and Hitomi wasn’t planned at this point. Jonathon Bear’s history with Jimmy wasn’t even conceived at this point.

Since I showed off Mortimer, here are a few more friendly faces:

You’ll notice their designs are basically the same as in normal Jimmy. There were only a few monsters that I kept, design wise. These two operated a bit differently in battle, though. The Elder Mr. Asp was invincible, and he would berate his son every turn. Then, at the end of each turn, the message, “The Elder Mr. Asp is ravaged by age!” would appear. After a few turns he died of natural causes. Here’s how it played out:

Apparently the Elder Mr. Asp was originally kind of a creep in addition to being a jerk. Also, I kind of wish I would have gotten a gif of him coughing, because I was using timing tags so that the cough and hack were instant, then the wheeze was drawn out really slowly.

The last thing I’d like to share is a bunch of monsters. There were a LOT, so I grabbed some I thought people would find interesting:

50′s Style Vampire’s original design.

This guy’s name was Albert Hands. Just kind of liked that.

Bad Weather’s original design. None of the other cloud people existed yet.

Elegant Ice Swan was an enemy rather than a piece of furniture. There was a mechanic where you could use elements--like fire--and they would have adverse effects on some enemies. Elegant Ice Swan would just melt if you hit it with a fireball.

Flesh Orb’s old design.

Here’s the Giant Face I mentioned earlier.

Grumble Bear’s design is the same for the most part.

Happy Little Sunflower’s original design.

This is a superboss named Karma.

Luna and Sol’s old designs. Sol looked okay. But, uh, Luna...

This guy’s name was Mumbles.

Here’s what Buck looked like when he got taken over by the Mass.

This is a dude named OctoCarl. I think he’s a cool dude.

Overweight Dinosaur was an early monster.

Early Phoenix design. You can still see this reflected in the Phoenix’s sprite in the full version.

There’s Punch Tanaka; he was too cool to have an action pose.

Here’s the Red-Billed Squawker’s early design.

...and Revolting Blob’s.

This is a monster called Bad Lunch. It tries to trick you into eating it.

Rotten Jack-O’-Lantern’s early design.

Here’s a monster called “Seeing Lips” that operated the same as Lingering Eyes. It also had a mechanic like Balanced Equations where if you didn’t kill both before the end of the turn after killing one, they would revive (and get a full heal).

This is a monster called The Amazing Residue. I wish I would have been able to include him in the full version. All he does is show off every turn and beg for people to pay attention to him, and the way to beat him was to use Andrew’s “Boring Lecture” ability to put each party member to sleep. Afterwards, he sulked off.

Here’s Throbbing Feathers, aka proto-Grimclaw. In this battle, you didn’t ride on his back, but Lars was in his claws, so you had to keep Lars healed while beating Throbbing Feathers in order to win.

This is the Tree Man that you didn’t get. He looks terrible, but if you set him on fire...

...this happens. It changed his move set and made him lose HP each turn.

This is a monster called Water Spirit. The way you beat it was by alternating freezing and melting it. Each of its forms had different abilities, so you had to switch the forms smartly in order to win.

Wubbly was one of the few unchanged designs. He had way more health, though, since there wasn’t an artificial “last 8 turns” challenge to draw the battle out.

Well, that’s about all I think I want to share. Old Jimmy was a way different game, and there was way more planning and A HELL OF A LOT more work between what you see here and what Jimmy eventually became. I hope y’all enjoyed seeing the little ideas that germinated into something more in the final product and all of the weird evolutionary dead-ends that never made it out of Old Jimmy’s bizarre, crayon-colored world.

#jimmyandthepulsatingmass #rpg #rpgmaker #rpg maker #happy birthday jimmy #jimmy and the pulsating mass

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etjwrites · 6 years ago

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OC Backstory Week 6 - Home

What does your OC consider their home? A place? Is it something they can return to? @yourocsbackstory

What makes anything a home, really? It's where you feel safe, cherished, a place you can always return to, and back before everything began, I considered the Hinnom Forest my home. But I'm sure you already figured that out. What you don't know is that I didn't spend every moment there. Sure, we kept to ourselves after that nasty bit of business with Ethaba and later, Tribe Anshi, but that doesn't mean we never left the forest. Quite the opposite, or did you think the more delicate components of our quirns self-manifested in the jungle. . ? Wow. Okay. I can tell the answer to that question from the looks on people's faces. Let me set you straight.

“Just two more days,” Bo remarked to Nyss and Rajan as they stared down at the mist shrouded greenery far below. He patted the leather satchel with its precious contents. “Two more days and I'll have my very own quirn.”

And then he'd almost be ready for Igis. His rounded ears would sharpen into soft points, his fangs lengthen, and the fur around his eyes would darken in Klia'an form. He'd pass the trials and finally be considered a full member of Tribe Osinan. Ken and Seri had already fashioned their quirns but used up the last rare minerals essential in their creation in the process, and a trading party had been sent to replenish the weapons' vital components. “Still surprised Nyss let you come along,” Rajan said, shifting smoothly into s'hinoian form and padding noiselessly down the rocky mountain face. Bo followed suit, trusting four legs to keep him more balanced on the steep terrain than two. “Our little brother isn't a kit anymore.” Nyss brushed by Rajan and gave Bo a gently affectionate headbutt. “And he'll respect his quirn that much more, knowing the time and effort spent acquiring everything that goes into building one.” Bo nodded, recalling the days of travel over the mountains and across the deadlands before coming upon the perpetually stormy S'hrahshah Sea. He and his brothers had camped out in a frix proof tent, huddled around a tiny fire for warmth, next to twenty other Klia'ans while they waited for the head of their trading party to finish negotiations. They'd almost not made it in time, the Pikhn'yns having started to unmoore their ships and prepare to set sail when they arrived. But once matters were settled, everyone had unpacked and set up a makeshift market, spending a week haggling over goods and prices. Bo himself had made some rather fetching bargains, he thought, trading chishish-vine rope for the tiny metal joints and ball bearings his brothers had advised he get. One by one he'd marked off each component that would eventually form his quirn, wandering from stall to stall and drawing his cloak tightly about him to protect from the chill. No one shifted while on the rocky shore with its sharp stones and tiny tide pools filled with deadly sea life. “The water's not good to drink in any case,” Nyss had warned as they strolled along the shore in the evenings. “But there's hard shelled creatures in there that will spike you and kill you before you even feel the sting. Best keep your boots on and stay on two feet.” The weather had become horribly gloomy by the time they left, all the members of Tribe Osinan glancing anxiously at the frix charged sky every few minutes. Bo had wondered whether they'd be able to outrun the storms moving in from across the sea. But all the trades had been satisfactorily completed in time, and the Pikhn'yns had left laden with buckets of Hinnom Sap, while Tribe Osinan had become rather rich in metals and circuitry and welding tools. But neither Nyss nor Rajan let Bo even attempt to piece together the lightweight quirn he'd dreamed of crafting for years, urging him to have patience until he reached home and could seek Elder Irjah's guidance. And now they were close – so close he could almost feel his fingers closing around the quirn already. He could hardly wait. To have his own weapon, to pass Igis, to start hunting or patrolling or scouting. Maybe he'd even use the lightweight staff to defend the Hinnom Forest if the humans who'd resettled Ethaba ever dared to bother Tribe Osinan. Bo pictured a hundred human soldiers being knocked off their feet by a concentrated burst of frix and chuckled to himself. Oh yes. There were so many reasons for him to get back to the forest and start working on his designs right away. Bo picked up his pace, pushing ahead of the party and practically racing down the mountains. They were so close to home and the beginning of the rest of his life. Was there anything more exciting in all the world?

Oh, I was naïve back then, wasn't I? Still, it was a haven, a sanctuary, a place untouched by human greed and I had no reason to think any different. Now, who wants to see how my quirn works? (Of course I brought it, I'm in a building full of humans – my sol wasn't gonna be enough. Please, they've been nervous the whole time. That wasn't gonna change if I had nothing but my fangs and claws. No, I'm not telling how many weapons I have on me right now. We've only got a few minutes left in here anyway.)

@igotablankpage @musicofglassandwords @elaynab-writing @sheabutterskyes @alcego-writes @valdifarniente @writeanapocalae

00 - Intro || 01 - Family || 02 - Friends || 03 - Rivals || 04 - Skills || 05 - Loss || 07 - Free/Secrets

#wip #thorunn #yourocsbackstory #writeblr #amwriting #writblr #Bo #etjwrites #writers on tumblr #scifi #I am late late late but here it is!!!!!

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canvaswolfdoll · 6 years ago

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CanvasWatches: The Dragon Prince (Season 3)

And we’re back! Since the last batch of episodes… my life has changed very little. Dog’s still adorable. D&D campaigns keep stalling due to lack of time or interest of others. Not producing any of my own epic projects.

Yup.

The third season continues its trends of subverting tropes with kind of a lackluster pay off, while playing other tropes benignly straight. We finally get into Xadia, which has some interesting fauna. But even the character writing is starting to wear a bit thin. Everyone’s been settled into their roles and personalities, and few characters get to interact with others they hadn’t previously.

So, same recommendation level as last time: watch it if you have time and/or have been following it, but it’s not a major tragedy if you don’t.

We open the season with backstory for the inventor of Dark Magic, Ziard, and a former Dragon King, Sol Regem. Sol Regem wants Ziard to stop with the dark magic. Ziard is like ‘we humans don’t have naturally occurring magic, this is literally our only way to defend ourselves from you magical folk.’ to which Sol Regem responds “Stop it or I’ll raze your home city.”

So Ziard sacrifices himself and a few birds to blind Sol Regem and saved the city.

Which means the founder of Dark Magic is a good guy, and Dark Magic may not be inherently bad, and this is what I wanted and I’m sure I’ll be deprived of the conclusion once the series actually ends.

So, what are the arcs for the various teams?

Well, Team Escort lost Ezran, so it’s just Callum and Rayla making googly eyes at one another and becoming an official couple about half way through the season. I appreciate them not dragging the romantic subplot any further than necessary, and even granting us half a season to watch them be love birds, but it also smoothed out their dynamic, cutting down on the banter they once had. I miss their quips.

Team King (Ezran, Opeli, Corvus) are dealing with Ezran’s new authority and Viren being Viren. It’s nice to watch Ehran’s morals being tested, and showing that doing the right thing can be more difficult than just going to war. There’s political maneuvering that, in a more complex show, would’ve had more grey areas, but it’s mostly just Team King versus Team Viren.

Speaking of Team Viren, he picked up Aaravos and Prince Kasef, so Viren in no longer alone! He is also no longer in charge, as without King Harrow to set goals, Viren lets Aaravos call the shots. Viren is remarkably easy to lead. Viren’s actual goals also seem murkier than previous seasons. He clearly wants power, but I no longer know to what end. Is he avenging Ziard? Does he want world domination? To bring Humanity to greater heights? Or is he just a more active Lord Ozai? Regardless, his moral ambiguity is out, and I miss it.

Finally, Team Dark (Claudia and Soren). Turns out, I got their meta roles backwards in the first season review! Claudia is the loyal Azula to Viren’s Ozai, while Soren is the Zuko. I am disappointed by this arrangement, because watching Claudia’s descent into evil means she gets less funny moments, and I don’t think Soren can shoulder the full Zuko arc. Also, fear of making big changes prevents the narrative from doing anything really interesting.

The third season has a heavy case of fast travel. What took Team Escort three seasons to cover is now done by full armies in three episodes. There’s a giant sea in the way, remember? And a lava flow? Characters travel back and forth with remarkable ease for people without Rheairds.

After Viren’s rather drastic actions last season lands him in a cell after sending out magically created assassins with only the voice of a mysterious Startouch Elf named Aaravos, who is such an obvious example of what Viren would be if he were totally self-motivated that I’m astounded that Viren hasn’t ditched him, Ezran has kind of a mess to handle upon assuming the throne. The other four human kingdoms want to avenge their murdered/injured rulers, but Ezra doesn’t want to continue the cycle of violence, which is good in theory, but Prince Kasef is pushy and is willing to wage war of Ezran’s kingdom if necessary.

Also, Ezran spares Claudia and Soren from sharing their father’s fate, because that would be a jerk move. Team Dark confronts Viren about his secret missions, and Viren elects to burn his relationship with Soren to maintain the loyalty of Claudia.[1]

All this ends with Viren taking the throne (again) and Ezran taking a bird to rejoin Team Escort.

Now in charge, Viren’s like ‘I’m in charge of all the human armies now!’ and all the human armies are like “Checks out.”

But first, he needs to keep his end of the trade he made with Ezran, and lets soldiers opt out if they’d like. But they have to wear a broken chain patch to mark their cowardice. You’d think this would lead to a subplot about those who abandon the mission being shunned, but that would require more than nine episodes worth of time, so it’ll pay off at the very end instead.

What about Team Escort? Well, Callum and Rayla are finally being forced to confront their unresolved romantic tension as they keep walking towards their goal.

Initially, Rayla’s trauma of being unpersoned by her hometown acts as a nice distraction. I mean, sure, you sent a literal child to kill another younger child, and used a vague sort of magic tracking to decide she abandoned the mission as opposed to unforeseen events transpiring, but, sure, Night Elf knock-offs, make her a ghost in her own home town. You jerks.

Rayla eventually gets to talk with her Uncle’s husband, who only offers to send an advance message to the Dragon Queen and not, you know, telling the rest of town Rayla’s on an even better and less murdery mission and maybe we should reperson her?

Does anyone think of ways to resolve more than one problem at a time? Or think laterally? Is… is that why this fictional history is the way it is? Literally only three kids are able to conceive of consequences of their actions? That should be the adults jobs!

Mirroring the inland sea from last season, Xadia has a giant black sand desert with deadly zombifying snakes and hot sand. So that’s fun.

Luckily, a Skywing elf named Nyx has a giant lumbering camel to transport them over two days. She’s here to kidnap Zym under the theory of a reward, but I love her design and character so she better come back!

Maybe throw her into the Teen Girl Rogue Squad I want. She’d play off Amaya well.

Anyways, the trip is enough for Callum and Rayla to finally decide to be an item. So they’re an item with half the season to go.

Which, cool, we get to actually watch a relationship develop beyond the ‘We’re dating now’ point, but there isn’t actually down time to dig into that, so instead Callum and Rayla bicker less and it’s lame.

But Ezran took a moon phoenix, so he’s caught up. Time to climb a mountain!

Oh, by the way, Amaya got taken prisoner by Sunfire elves, acquires an elf girlfriend abruptly, and escapes with her to join Team Escort. Whoo.[2]

Team Viren plus Dark lead their army to the Sunfire Capital so Viren can steal a staff to forcibly upgrade his forces, and Soren finally decides enough is enough, and flees to join Team Escort while Claudia converts fully to Team Viren. Now, Claudia doubling down on her loyalty to her father is disappointing for a number of reasons, but, again, a later thought.

Anyways, Team Escort has gotten to the Dragon Queen, but she’s in a despair coma, and they get information an army is coming, so guess it’s time to prepare for war?

War ensues. It looks bad for our heroes for a bit, but then reinforcements bearing the banner of the broken link appears to flip off Viren specifically.

Good guys win the battle. During clean up, Ezra stumbles upon Viren, who threatens to kill him, but Soren shows up to defend Ezra. Then Cluaida shows up to make this tragedy even more Shakespearan.

Soren stabs his father, but it’s just an illusion.

Which is the first major missed opportunity. Yes, Viren[3] has a confrontation to have with Rayla and Callum in the Dragon Queen’s lair, but I think this confrontation didn’t add much. Having Soren kill his own father and having to face the emotional consequences of that instead of disappointing Claudia…

Actually, what was the point of illusion Viren? Could it have killed Ezran? Why would Claudia be okay with killing Ezran? Why kill Ezran at this point?

Anyways, Soren should’ve killed Viren, and Claudia could’ve still necromancied him back to life.

Instead, Viren falls off a mountain. It’s meh.

With all that done, the Dragon Queen wakes up and is pleased to have her son back (reasonable) and there’s two human/elf couples present (weird). I mean, she’s the first dragon shown not to be deeply anti-human, and I’m not sure that tracks? Shouldn’t she be in favor of the separation, or were there a bunch of bedroom arguments between her and her husband about racial politics?

Anyways, if we didn’t have three more schools of magic to get through, this would be the point we get the ‘where are they now’ epilogue, as all conflicts are resolved.

Except Claudia resurrects her father, and…

Wait. Viren had an elf prisoner. He could’ve resurrected Harrow. What is his deal? What are his motivations.

Anyways, the grub that was acting as the speakerphone between Viren and Aaravos went to pupate and it’s scary to our dark mages.

Which finally brings me to what I really wanted to see happen: Aaravos should’ve traded puppets. What would’ve been a better power move than him setting Viren up for failure so he could use the more gullible (and powerful?) Claudia instead. They’ve been slow rolling his deal, but what better way to firmly plant Aaravos as the most Machevallian Jerk than to out ‘for the greater good’ Viren himself? There’s an inevitable conflict between the two, as Viren hates elves despite being too trusting of Aaravos, so why not have Aaravos shrug off Viren getting stabbed by Soren and send his grub to Claudia’s ear?

Heck, why not have him teach her the wrong spell and use Viren’s body as a vessel?

Come on, this is one of the few times I’m actually advocating killing someone off. I never do that. But the story potential we’re now missing is tremendous!

Anyways, despite my snark and notes, I did enjoy the season. Not as much as the second season, as it got too locked into the myth arc to have as much fun as the last season, but the show’s maintaining what strengths it does have. However, I can easily predict it falling from grace sooner than later. Story-heavy shows struggle to maintain momentum past three seasons, and research indicates there’s four more planned.

Still, I’m excited to see what happens now the main quest has been completed.

If you enjoyed this review and what more, please use the tags below to explore my other writings, as well supporting my patreon (for early access and regular support) or my ko-fi (for a quick tip). I want to do more fun things.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Which had the potential for a much, much better pay off than we got. [2] Just once, I want the person whose confident the other is too stubborn to admit their crush to be wrong. I would love that dynamic. [3] Wearing some nice pajamas.

#CanvasWatches #the dragon prince #CanvasReviews #netflix

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

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Nuts.com Fills the Snack-Shaped Hole in My Heart

Background: Foxys Graphic/Shutterstock

An ode to the hilariously simple website that never judges my snacking habits

On my first visit to Eater’s New York office, where I was interviewing for this job, I made a point of trying to find the kitchen as I wandered the halls looking for the conference room I’d been told to wait in. I needed to know what kinds of snacks my potential employer offered. If I got the job, would I have access to unlimited granola bars? A coffee machine that whipped up lattes and cortados? Those terrible CBD-spiked seltzers with the good branding? Or would it be more along the lines of stale banana chips, single-serving bags of peanuts?

I never did find Eater’s snack trove. By the time I’d come on as a writer, the country was in the grips of a pandemic, we were all working remotely, and I was back in California to weather the storm.

At my previous job we’d place our snack order about once a month. Over Slack, our office manager would send the message I looked forward to more than pretty much any other: “SNACK TIME!” Our entire office descended on the group chat with the intensity of kindergarteners released at recess. Everyone in the office had their favorite (and least favorite) snack, and a curious soul always added some unfamiliar and unpromising new addition to our growing shopping list. These missteps didn’t cost us much, though, because we ordered this bounty from Nuts.com, a plain, practical website, where one can stock up on an ungodly amount of trail mix, beef jerky, and chocolate-covered almonds without breaking the bank or being weighed down with nutritional claims and shiny packaging. Once the order came, all the snacks packed in the same Nuts.com-branded zipper bags, we’d crowd around the dedicated snacking table and plunge our hands into the bags like hungry children.

It’s nice to taste some of these flavors again, to crunch down on the weird airy green beans that remind me of an office full of people.

Following the Great Unboxing was at least a week of back-and-forth berating of each other’s snack choices. Who in their right mind could — and actually would — choke down an entire jumbo case of Fig Newtons? What would possibly compel someone to house a family-size bag of salt and vinegar chips, so defeatingly salty that the eater’s lips crack and wrinkle like dehydrating plums? We hated each other’s snacking tastes with a passion. These moments of lovingly hurled disgust and indignation punctuated and enlivened even the most monotonous of work days.

Some days I miss this constant snacking even more than I miss dining out or going to a bar. It’s not that any one snack is unavailable to me now, or that the snacks in our monthly order were that special. But standing around a table piled high with bags of this and that, pecking at them like New York pigeons feels like a pleasure of the past now; it just isn’t something I see happening again for a long, long time. Especially not with the fear that grips me at the very thought of sharing a bag of popcorn, or the reality that it will be months before many of us make our way back into offices. Even seeing scenes of office life on TV and in movies makes me squirm in discomfort.

Spurred by nostalgia and a truly unexplainable craving for the same banana chips I’ve turned my nose up at on many occasions, I recently made my first visit to Nuts.com since joining the ranks of the nation’s WFH employees. The site’s design is as bare as ever, though my browsing did lead me to the company’s founding story, that of Poppy Sol, who sold dried nuts and fruit in a New Jersey open air market beginning in the late 1920s. (Thanks for everything, Poppy.)

Beyond this little look behind the curtains of the trusty snack provider, all was as I remembered: There’s no glitzy branding obscuring my search for new nibbles. Though the need for party-size snacks is low right now, one can still find a bargain on 30 pounds of raisins, or score a 10-pound bag of garlic bagel chips. I scrolled past all the items I’d unsuccessfully lobbied coworkers not to add to our cart — chocolate covered cherries (sweet like cough syrup, no good), organic fruit juice-flavored gummy bears (truly what is the point), and caramel coated popcorn (ordinarily perfect, terrible from this purveyor) — and went for the few snacks that colored my pre-pandemic work life: weird little nubs of half-popped popcorn that always cut the roof of my mouth, a huge bag of sticky-sweet medjool dates, fried green bean chips as brittle and snappy as kindling.

The familiar box showed up at my door a week later, my assortment of snacks rattling around inside. With the plastic bags laid out on my counter, I reignited a before-times ritual, going back and forth with regularity between desk (my dining room table) and snack counter (the only counter in my home). It’s nice to taste some of these flavors again, to crunch down on the weird airy green beans that remind me of an office full of people.

But clicking back to Nuts.com — now prominently bookmarked on my computer — I don’t gravitate to the snacks that I like. I scroll mindlessly through the many chips, candies, and dried fruits that I remain convinced no reasonable human would buy. The technicolor jumble of gummy candies shaped like slices of orange and lemon. The twisting cheddar cheese sticks one of my coworkers consumed in bulk. Rye bagel chips, dusted with a seasoning that is at first perfect, and moments later disturbing as the taste clings to every corner of your mouth. I’m not sentimental enough to really believe that if I just eat the office snacks of yesteryear, I’ll suddenly be transported back to the good ol’ days like Anton Ego tasting a nostalgia-inducing dish in Ratatouille. I don’t even know if I’ll put in another snack order, since a corner store down the street sells most of my favorites. Mostly, I’m content just strolling the undecorated virtual walls of Nuts.com, taking stock of all the snacks I’ll be sure to avoid once more when a coworker eventually — someday — passes them to me.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/33AwBDi https://ift.tt/2Rwjptv

Background: Foxys Graphic/Shutterstock

An ode to the hilariously simple website that never judges my snacking habits

It’s nice to taste some of these flavors again, to crunch down on the weird airy green beans that remind me of an office full of people.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/33AwBDi via Blogger https://ift.tt/32AnTG6

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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cycm · 7 years ago

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Lanan (pts 3 and 4)

1 and 2 are here

III

“Lanan!” a voice behind me whispered, “ye kno if ye furrah ya brow like ‘at too much it stays that way, aye?”

“Alanson,” I joked, “if that were true, your face would be stuck in a smile larger than the galaxy.”

“Aye, girl. I’ll give ye that. Almost done with that paperwork there, I see?”

“That I am. Does Chief want to see me?”

“Aye,” he replied, “that she does. Says it’s fer a special mission.”

“A special mission?” I asked, intrigued.

“Aye.” He said, disappearing down the hall before I could find out exactly what he meant by that.

Making my way to Chief’s office, my mind wandered again to earlier days before I had been given my body. I thought back to the day I had met Sol Alanson.

Back then, I was obsessed with distracting myself from my body. The alienation from my own body was crippling, and the virtual world was where I felt real again.

I mostly spent my time in fantasy worlds. They were a contrast to the nearly endless cityscape I lived in. Lush, green, and full of wonders only closely matched by the outside world.

Alanson had joined me one day, long ago, when my party made a call asking for new adventurers to join us. In game he played a lightning thrower, a Mage subclass whose primary role was high damage output to enemies, but the drawback of the class was that it was highly aim intensive at longer ranges, and it was hard to gear up properly for close-range fights since all the Mage gear was specced for far away combat and high mana.

He balanced this, a small amount, by playing a Dwarf. A short, stocky race whose primary benefit was higher health and greater health gains at higher levels. It was a novel concept and actually served him quite well. He became a mainstay in the party and eventually one of my closest friends.

Eventually, as it does, the topic came up of meeting in real life. I protested, but he was insistent. He had known me for years now, he reminded me, so I begrudgingly accepted.

It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

Normally, when one plays VR games, especially open world fantasy games, they do not play themselves. When I met Alanson for the first time outside of the game, I was surprised to meet an actual dwarf.

His eyes were a bright blue, almost crackling with lightning, and his large beard dominated his short frame. He wore tech across his arms that crackled and popped with electricity, armored silver gauntlets and pauldrons that drew attention for miles.

“You’re a bit shorter than I imagined,” was all I could get out when I first saw him.

“Aye. ‘N yer a bit moore depressed than I imagined,” he responded, cracking a smile.

I chuckled in response. “Ass,” I joked. “It’s good to see you, friend.”

“And you, family. I’d like to offer ya a job.”

The rest, however, is history. I accepted, after much convincing. Alanson had a way with words. I imagine this was his way of helping me. I certainly appreciate it.

“Your special mission,” Chief had said, “is to recruit Sheryl Discorsia Disenda. She is known as one of the galaxy’s most powerful psychics, born into a family of them on a planet of them, but with a defect that makes her ‘third eye’ open all the time. She hears voices from many lightyears away, constantly. Your goal is to seek her out, and ask her to join our task force. Any questions?”

After I had said I didn’t, she handed me a dossier, full of information on this woman. I decided to try and meet her as organically as possible, so I skipped reading most of it, aside from a few key points of information.

She was a loner, and stayed in her apartment most of the time. Normally this would be a problem, except it seemed that she would frequently go to a nearby park to walk once a week or so.

The plan, then, would be to get her attention at the park. Thankfully, it was hard to miss her with her wiry frame towering above most other people. My only problem was with her tech augments. It appeared as if she was constantly wearing headphones. How would I get her attention, then?

I met her on a windy day. The park was relatively empty, and a light frost coated the grass there. I quite liked the park, so I had established a routine there already by walking dogs and idly playing a few sports.

She seemed to glide up to me, approaching me instead of me needing to approach her. “I’m curious,” she began, “and pardon me if this is insensitive, but I see you out here all the time, regardless of what the weather is. How do you stand this cold?”

“If you must know,” I said, “it’s because I have a fully augmented body. The only part of me that remains human is my mind.” I tapped on my forehead. “What about you? You don’t seem to be fully augmented, so how do you stand the weather?”

“Well,” she replied, “I’ve got some augments, but they’re a bit different than what most people have.” She brought her arm up and pulled the sleeve of her hoodie back to reveal jagged, black veins running up her arm. “These augments,” she said, tracing up her arm with her finger, “are designed specifically to dull my senses.” She turned around and showed me the back of her neck, which was completely black, her features given greater definition by the jagged machinery. “They cover my entire body,” she said as she turned back, pointing to the headphones covering her ears. “Everywhere from my head,” she brought her hand down past her torso to point at her legs, “to my feet. I was born unable to control my psychic abilities, and so if I were to lose my augments some way, I would be overwhelmed with others thoughts, sensations, and memories. As I am now, however, my power has been localized down to only being able to speak with others. Effectively, I am deaf and I cannot feel anything in my own body. That is why the cold doesn’t bother me, I simply cannot feel it.”

“That’s fascinating,” I said. “What a wonderful story you must have to tell. What’s your name?”

“I am Sheryl. And you are?”

“Lanan. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sheryl.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, also, Lanan.”

“Say,” I said, “I’m a bit hungry. Care to join me for lunch?"

She stared for a moment, her pale face almost glowing like moonlight despite the sun shining brightly. “I suppose we could chat over lunch. I’m not very hungry though, so I hope you don’t mind if I don’t get anything.”

“Fair’s fair. I know a cozy place nearby we can relax at.”

So, we talked for a while as I ate, and she merely sipped on some water. We became fast friends, talking much about our lives and our hobbies. Eventually she mentioned that she was looking for something to take her mind off of things, so I told her that my boss was actually searching for new people. Surprisingly, she agreed to meet Chief. Shortly thereafter, we had a new recruit join our team.

#writing #scifi #cyberpunk #fantasy #on mobile so i cant add a jump hhhhhh #please leave comments i’d reall appreciate them!

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restmark22-blog · 6 years ago

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Our Small Bath Reveal! (+ How We Created a Spa-Like Shower System)

This post is in partnership with Lowe’s.

It’s bathroom reveal day, and we couldn’t be more excited! We’re excited to show you, we’re excited to have the last untouched room in our Chicago home completed, and we’re excited to have heated floors. Heated floors! We worked with a team of people to help us get from point A to B… to C to D to Z. Our favorite local designer and contractor got us off and running, and Lowe’s helped us with the tools needed to execute the sweetest little bathroom we could imagine. The entire process took close to 3 months, with the majority of that time being spent fine-tuning the details. (I’m a perpetual fusser.)

Our small bath is located just off of our dining room (we’ll call that Chicago-old-house charm), and it’s the room used by our guests and friends. It was virtually untouched since the day we moved into this home – 6 years ago! – because we couldn’t bear the thought of spending an ounce of energy on a space that functioned so poorly. The toilet was almost 6″ off of the wall, the floor was several inches higher than the adjoining room, the drywall had holes in it(!) and the shower leaked like a sieve. The before-and-afters of this room may be one of our very favorites, so let’s get to it!

Our Small Bath | Before

Our Small Bath | After

A Closer Look | Before

A Closer Look | After!

Perhaps the reason we waited so long to renovate this room was because Scott and I were in disagreement over how we wanted it to function. Initially, I was very against keeping a shower off of the dining room, and I was adamant that a half bath would make much more sense. He disagreed wholeheartedly, saying that a home with two full baths was more valuable, and, well, guess who won? (He was totally right, by the way.)

We struggled with a layout that would allow us to change the shape of the old corner shower, which only furthered my argument that this room was simply too small for a shower. I’ll admit I was being very shortsighted, and now I can’t imagine this room without a shower! Eventually, this will be Lucy’s bathroom, and all of us sharing one shower could’ve created challenges down the line. So we compromised; the shower would stay if we could make the room larger by stealing space from the shared wall of the workshop.

The Shower | Before

The Shower | After

Creating a Spa-Like Shower System

Pushing back that wall changed everything! Essentially, the new floor plan gave us the depth we needed to enlarge the shower, and while we were at it, we also moved the vanity to the same wall as the toilet. This allowed for us to have the shower span the entire back wall, which was an immediate upgrade in scale and possibilities. The transom window is a piece of frosted glass, bringing more light into the bathroom while maintaining privacy.

After landing on the Cassidy line of fixtures from Delta Faucet, the rest of our decisions tumbled into place seamlessly. We initially used the Cassidy faucet in our garden bathroom renovation, and we loved it so much, we knew the same line could have a happy home here, too! Lowe’s offers online and in-store curated collections from some of our favorite bath brands (think: Delta and Kohler), and we loaded up our virtual shopping cart with everything we needed. We purchased every last fixture, plus our Kohler toilet, allen + roth vanity and lighting online, and we had it all shipped to our home for free with our MyLowe’s account. (All items are linked at the bottom of this post for you!)

Tip: Every purchase you make online and in-store saves to your MyLowe’s account, making returns and exchanges super simple. With a whole-room renovation, this became an invaluable resource for us!

We paired our rain shower head + arm with this handheld sprayer, and we had them streamlined with this diverter. The diverter has a thermostatic valve that allows us to keep our favorite temperature set, as well as the option to choose the shower head, the sprayer, or both!

Our glass shower wall and door was custom cut by a local contractor, and in this small room, we wanted to keep things feeling as open as possible. Because of this, we chose a small chrome ball knob (on a door that swings in or out!), and we asked that the glass be taller than the height of the shower arm (our final glass height was 90″). The taller glass keeps most of the steam in the shower, which feels very spa-like and has been such a treat.

The shower curb was fabricated from stone remnants, which was a big cost save. Our contractor gave us the final measurements, and we took those numbers to a fabricator near home and asked if they had marble-like quartz remnants that could work. A few options were given to us, and we fell in love with Noble Grey by Cesarstone quartz option:

We carried the same quartz remnants into our shower niche and wall ledge, and we think it looks so beautiful against the subway tile! The niche placement, long and low, is tucked onto the same wall as our Delta Cassidy fixtures, which conceals it nicely from view when you walk into the room, we think.

Problem Solving the Soffit, Lighting + Vents

Perhaps a photo of the ceiling isn’t exactly expected, but this is a before and after that made a massive impact on our small bathroom. Let me show you where we started and where we ended up, and then I’ll get into those details:

The Ceiling | Before

The Ceiling | After

Our contractor realized that the soffit for our furnace vent could be removed completely, and the vent itself could lay flush on the wall! Hip, hip! With the new layout, we also moved the exhaust fan to the center of the room, and we flanked it with two recessed lights – one for the shower, one for the main area. We also added a sconce above the recessed medicine cabinet, and finally, we couldn’t resist the Jaxson sconce as another pretty detail. Can one room have too many lighting options? We think not.

Note: The Jaxson sconce is currently unavailable, but this one is really similar! We also considered this handsome globe sconce, which is a steal.

Upgrading the Vanity and Toilet

We recently shared the install of our vanity and toilet, and we’ve been so pleased with our choices. The marble-top vanity is solid and beautiful, and it’s especially sweet when topped with our widespread faucet. And because all of our plumbing fixtures are polished chrome, we did a quick swap of the hardware and added these. (The original hardware was stainless, and while nice, this was an easy fix and better suited to our bathroom!) Another trip down memory lane is in order, don’t you think?

Vanity | Before

Vanity | After

We chose this Kohler one piece toilet for it’s sleek lines and smaller footprint, plus, it’s easier to clean! I realize this is a small detail (wait, is there such a thing as a detail too small?), but the flush handle is awfully cute. We like to think that she’s winking at us.

Adding Art + Greenery

We knew that our Libby silhouette would be an adorable addition to this room, especially because Lucy loves her so, so much. It’s a nice contrast on an otherwise empty wall:

Atop the wall ledge, we gathered up fresh greenery and layered them with this small greeting card. (I’m forever using greeting cards as art prints!) Something that Scott and I have vowed to each other, is the promise to allow Lucy to feel. This print is a subtle reminder that, yes, it’s okay.

And see that small bud vase below? That’s an old Pine-Sol bottle that we found hidden in the walls during the demolition phase of this renovation! We soaked off the label, and now it’s a tiny reminder of this journey.

Customizing Tile for a Vintage Feel

The tile in this room has come a long way (baby)! Prior to us, it had been layered so many times that you had to take a physical step up into the bathroom. (If only we had a nickel for every time someone tripped – oops!) We were excited to peel back those layers and create a custom rosette design by mixing these black + white hexagon tiles, and – this is so exciting – we sprung for heated floors! The tile in this bathroom was always so painful in the winter against bare feet, and we can’t wait to test them out this year as the weather starts to cools down.

Flooring + Tile | Before

Flooring + Tile | After

While the floor tile has a vintage look, we opted against traditional subway tile, and instead, we chose this Cloe tile in white. It has a lot of variation, which is impossible to capture in a photograph, and yet it’s so stunning in person! Because there was already a lot of movement in the wall tile, we chose bright white unsanded grout, which we think allows the subtle color pattern to really shine.

Mixing Metals Adds Interest + Warmth

While all of our plumbing fixtures are polished chrome, you know that we can’t resist mixing metals whenever possible! Our wall sconces are a warm brass, and we think it adds a touch of whimsy – especially when paired with the pink board and batten. Because there’s a lot of metal tones in the room, we kept the mirror simple with this frameless recessed cabinet, which almost blends away.

Follow This Renovation from the Beginning!

As a reminder, you can view this (or any room) renovation from start to finish at any time, post by post! In our menu bar, go to ROOM MAKEOVERS, choose OUR CHICAGO HOME (or any of our properties) and then click on the room you’d like more information on. This was a highly requested feature that we hope brings value to this blog, while also providing you with the encouragement to take the next step. And the next one. And the one after that! Renovations take time, and it’s always worth it to cross that finish line.

A huge thank you to Lowe’s for supporting our pink, black and white bathroom vision, and all the virtual hugs from us to you for giving us a boost in the thick of it and cheering us on along the way! Any questions? Leave them in the comments, and we’ll be happy to answer.

Our Bathroom Sources:

Source: https://www.yellowbrickhome.com/our-small-bath-reveal/

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olivereliott · 8 years ago

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Design Your Own Custom Motorcycle Gear

You don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to know that one-offs float our boat around here. So why stop at the bikes? What about suiting up in custom gear, to go with your custom bike?

Today we’re looking at ways to get unique gear, and the companies that will make it for you. Find out how to create your own one-off motorcycle jacket, how to get leather pants as unique as a snowflake, and how to get a helmet that fits like a glove. It’s a cookie cutter world out there, so let’s stand out.

Custom motorcycle jacket by 55Collection I can barely draw a straight line, let alone stitch together pieces of animal hide. And yet I now wrap myself in a custom leather jacket of my own design. Of course I had help turning my muddled inceptions into a wearable result—but that process was easy. And the finished product, in my own humble opinion, is pretty damned sweet.

Barcelona-based 55Collection is a small but highly skilled collective of leather experts. On top of their own in-house collection of jackets, they have also developed a ‘Custom Works’ program for creating bespoke and tailored examples.

Since I don’t have a degree from Central Saint Martins, I leaned on the work of others to communicate my likes and dislikes. I sent over a few images of jackets that had styling elements I liked, and we morphed things together to develop a design direction.

Personally, I’ve always wanted something similar to Brando’s iconic Schott Perfecto from The Wild One, but wanted mine to have a more modern cut and added functionality. I spitballed ideas back and forth with company founder Aitor Gonzalez and, after a few emails, received a rendering based on 55Collection’s RCK jacket. It ticked my boxes, so I sucked in my gut and asked wifey to wield a measuring tape.

During the construction of my jacket, Aitor checked in with a few ideas and comments. We discussed pocket locations, zippers, textures and finishes, and made a few slight alterations along the way. Roughly six weeks later, my jacket was delivered and I was floored by how well it turned out. It’s since spent most of its time since on my back.

I realize that the design I chose [below] may not work for everyone. Chris thinks I’ve got an Adam Ant thing going on—which may or may not be a compliment—and Wes has stayed uncharacteristically mum. But that’s the beauty of Custom Works: you’re free to let your freak flag fly, as they say.

Personal aesthetics aside, 55Collection are making a stellar product. The stitching, inside and out, is strong and resilient. The leather is supple, smells amazing and feels thick enough to shrug off some rash.

The fitment is near perfect: I would have liked extra length in the arms, but that error falls solely on me. And even with the included D30 armor, nothing looks boxy or out of place. The break-in period was almost non-existent, and it’s stood up well in a myriad of weather conditions—although I did experience a wee bit of the oxblood dye bleeding after a mild soaking.

In the saddle, the sturdy YKK two-way zipper (Aitor’s recommendation) keeps the jacket nicely in place while the added brass snaps at the collar keep me from being smacked at speed. The pockets can be readily accessed with a gloved hand, and the shoulder area has great articulation to allow full range of movement.

The jacket’s insides are covered with a swanky, red satin liner that makes sliding in and out an absolute breeze. The only downside is that the liner is not removable, so things could get warm in summer months—unless you opt for perforations, like I did.

The armor pockets—two at the elbows, two at the shoulders and one at the back—seal with Velcro fasteners. They would be better if they were full length, but D30 bits come as standard for all spots, save for the back.

At roughly US$700 (€600) a custom jacket from 55Collection isn’t exactly inexpensive. But it does fall in line with other, off-the-rack, premium brands. And even if a bespoke design doesn’t interest you, there’s something to be said about wearing a motorcycle jacket that’s been tailored to fit. If you’re in the market, put 55Collection at the top of your list. [Buy]

Custom leather motorcycle pants by El Solitario I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; leather pants aren’t for everyone. But a bespoke set of Rascals from El Solitario M.C. can be pretty sweet.

Unlike the jacket option from their countrymen at 55Collection, the customization process here is limited. If you want something even rarer than the standard Rascals, your task is to sort out the materials (leather or suede) and color ways that float your hide-lined boat. Then they’re applied to El Sol’s tried and true design. Your Pantone choices are near limitless, so it’s good to have something referential if a true color match is your goal. But, as you’d expect from the minds behind The Impostor BMW R nineT, nothing is considered too wild.

The goat hides used throughout are 1.4mm top grain Nappa leather, which delivers a flexible yet durable finish to these retro-inspired riding strides. A small Spanish atelier that runs operations in the neighboring Portuguese woods constructs each pair. A fact that should only be spread sparingly, to secure the finest of drink and wildest of hearts.

The zipped exterior armor pockets at the knees run a touch small for my D30 stuff but readily accommodate other CE-rated curves, and the hips feature additional padding. The leg openings are zipped as well, and finish high enough above the ankle to comfortably fit into a full height boot. Or easily slide over six-inch Red Wings. (If you’re like me and have longer limbs, make sure to ask for added length from the standard sizing.)

There are two zippered, diagonal pockets large enough to stash cash and EDC essentials, and a waistbelt to fine-tune the fit. Also included with the Rascals, whether bespoke or not, is a set of leather suspenders that I find to be the perfect accompaniment for these trousers.

Since the Nappa hides will eventually stretch out a bit, the suspenders should ensure continued fit. And, if you’re like me and find your waistline fluctuating from season to season, it means you can loosen the belt a notch or two without dropping trou.

In warmer climates, the quilted liner may prove to be a little steamy, but ever since fall arrived here in Toronto, I’ve been glad to have them. When the Rascals were first released, that liner was a classic Barbour-style tartan design that I wish still remained, but it’s since changed to plain navy. If you speak up in the early stages of construction, you may be able specify the tartan.

I can’t speak highly enough about the quality of materials used throughout the construction of the Rascal pants. The leather is absolutely flawless, with no variation in tone or texture. And the suede I had chosen for my side panels is as soft as a wolf cub’s belly. These are great leather pants that should last a lifetime, bespoke design or not. [Buy]

Vanguard FF helmet I wasn’t expecting much when I first slid my head into the Vanguard FF helmet. When something is designed and executed to look this pretty, performance usually takes a back seat. And while I won’t be shelving my ICON Airframe Pro or Schuberth anytime soon, I was pleasantly surprised.

Right off the hop and out of the packaging, this thing is gorgeous. The manufacturer is Veldt, based in the Isle of Man, and the Vanguard treatment on my Aluminum loaner model was exceptionally pretty. The carbon fiber shell was clearly visible through the glossy candy-coat, and the ‘aluminum’ portion is actually a metallic paint—but that isn’t a bad thing. Mixing mediums would compromise the structure, and the shell is extremely light as is.

The custom options for the Vanguard FF come in two different forms. First of all, you can adjust the fitment via removable pads in different sizes. If you need more support in the cheeks, front, back, or top of your head, this can be adjusted quickly and deliver a decent feel.

I say ‘decent’ only because my tester unit was an XL/XXL shell size—which is at least one ‘X’ and maybe even an ‘L’ bigger than I typically wear. Despite this, I was able to load up on padding to find a comfortable and stable fit. But make no mistake: that padding is for fine-tuning only. If you’re adding one to the collection, make sure it’s properly sized.

The more visible customization comes from the fact that the FF can go from a full-face to a three-quarter design, by simply unscrewing four titanium Allen bolts. Unlike Wes, I’m not a fan of letting my beard breathe freely at speed, so the modular appeal wasn’t big on me. But there are plenty of riders out there who would enjoy two options with one lid. And if you’re worried about safety, the Vanguard FF is both ECE and DOT approved.

The face shield is also removable, but I have reservations about its performance. It too attaches to the shell via titanium bolts, so the hinged area is not affixed to, well, anything. Those metallic rounds just kind of float in space, and avoid marking the shell thanks to soft touch padding below. The visor design also misses out on having a ratchet-action of any kind. That means it’s either up or down—and once you start moving at speed it’s down, whether you slam it or not.

This made me think the Vanguard FF was going to be noisy and cause lift at high speeds. Well—and here’s the surprising part—it isn’t noisy, and it didn’t lift. At least not compared to other similarly-styled lids. As a benchmark, I rode with my Bell Bullitt for a couple of hours before donning the Vanguard FF. The new kid on block was quieter, and I found less rattle coming from that shield too.

Venting was adequate, with eight different holes cut into the shell design. Those vents can’t be closed though, and even though the visor features a Pinlock design, you may experience fogging issues, depending on temperatures.

As an added option the Vanguard FF can be outfitted with an internal Bluetooth headset from Fusar. My demo unit was so equipped and, despite the lack of lows and mid-range common to most of these devices, the sound was decent. Even on my Thruxton, riding on the highway with its British Customs 2-into-1 race system.

The accompanying handlebar mounted remote is a nice touch, too: otherwise, control comes from buttons on the boom mic, which can be a bitch to get to on the roll.

Pricing on the Vanguard FF starts higher than just about every one of its peers, which may stop many of you in your tracks. But if you see the Vanguard FF (or its Veldt variant) as two helmets, that pill is a touch easier to swallow. If you also opt for the additional Fuser kit, things fall inline a little bit more.

If you’ve been thinking about a Bell Bullitt but haven’t yet pulled the trigger, give the Vanguard FF a second look. It may surprise you as much as it did me. [Buy]

Images: Supplied, Matt Neundorf and C. Merey.

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sliceannarbor · 8 years ago

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Ben Aronson

Painter Boston, Massachusetts benaronson.net

Photo by Eileen Aronson

SPECIAL GUEST SERIES

Ben Aronson is a painter based in Boston, Massachusetts, most notably known for his dynamic cityscapes. Ben’s paintings are housed in the permanent collections of over 50 museums in the United States and abroad, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; De Young Museum, San Francisco, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, Michigan; and the Suzhou Museum, Jiangsu Province, China, as well as in private and institutional collections. He has presented over 20 solo exhibitions at galleries across the country, such as the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York; Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, California; and Alpha Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts. In 2004, Ben was elected into the National Academy of Design in New York City. He earned a BFA and MFA in painting at Boston University School of Fine Arts, studying under Philip Guston, James Weeks, Reed Kay, David Aronson (his father), and John Wilson. Earlier posts include four years as an architectural illustrator, for which Ben was awarded a prestigious international honor from the American Society of Architectural Perspectivists. He also taught an annual drawing seminar for architectural students at Harvard Graduate School of Design for nearly 10 years. Ben lives with his wife, Eileen, at their home and studio in Boston, Massachusetts.

FAVORITES

Book: There are many, of course, but currently I would have to say The Brutality of Fact: Interviews with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester (1987).

Destination: Idyllic Prince Edward Island, Canada, where we have a small summer cottage on the ocean.

Film: The 1992 film El Sol del Membrillo (The Quince Tree of the Sun), which closely chronicles the artist Antonio Lopez Garcia's attempts to paint a quince tree.

Motto: "The goal of painting is not illustration, but a concentration of reality and a shorthand of emotion." - Francis Bacon

THE QUERY

Where were you born?

I was born in Boston and grew up here.

How did you begin to realize your intrigue with painting/the fine arts?

I'm not sure I can even remember when I decided to be an artist; I always wanted to do it. People say painting is something which chooses you rather than the other way around. I've always loved making things as far back as I can remember. Growing up in a home where both parents were respected artists, I was already involved in exploring my connection to art making from an early age. As a kid I constantly drew and built models. Later came interests in music, architecture, and photography, but by the time I finished high school I wanted to seriously study painting more than anything.

Why does this form of artistic expression suit you?

The fun is in the anticipation of what might appear. I want to be surprised and it's always new. There is a deep satisfaction in life if you work very hard to become expert at something you love to do, and find a way it can support you.

What path did your training/education follow?

Even with parents who were artists, art was never pushed on me, which drew me to it all the more strongly. My training was formal. I understood that art is a language, visual not verbal of course but a language nevertheless, so a formal education made great sense to me. Quite simply, if you intend to speak coherently in visual terms you need to become fluent in the language. So traditional training made sense to me from the outset. Drawing from direct observation was taught as the underpinning of the artist's preparation along with a thorough familiarity and knowledge of the great master artists of the past and present.

How did you get your start in the business of art?

The art market is actually very difficult to break into even with direct connections, and anyone who has tried to assist an artist with their career knows this to be true. In my early 20s, already with a family of two young boys, I took a job teaching art in a private high school and also made small art commissions from friends and colleagues. This led to small local galleries which eventually captured the attention of national galleries. Gradually sales reached the point where I could ultimately devote full time to working in the studio producing my own work.

What do you consider the most challenging aspects of this pursuit?

Over an artist's career some of the challenges change while others remain the same. In the beginning, the difficulty is finding a way to support yourself while trying to find the time to develop one's own voice and skill as an artist. The most important thing is to uphold the integrity of the work, presenting it on your own terms in a way unlike anyone else. Later on, once established, I think the challenges are more related to the work, continuing to evolve, and trying to understand the questions rather than answers because in the end it's a mystery.

How would you describe your creative process?

I would describe it as a process of search because the result can't be preconceived; it's reached only through the act of making the painting. Almost any visual circumstance that evokes a compelling emotion or feeling of mystery can generate the momentum to carry me into the process of developing an idea in paint. It can even arise out of the completion of a painting, no matter if it's a success or a failure; the conclusion suggesting some exciting and unexpected new direction to pursue. The working process itself is concerned with rhythm, balance, and total design. The search is also to understand what actions and selective choice making will develop the idea while anticipating what the effects will be in the work. It's a dialogue between the artist and the painting, one of reaction and response, back and forth, with the aim of discovering what sequence of steps will move the painting forward toward a unified whole, a logical totality.

What materials do you typically work with?

It's a simple list: oil paint, brushes, panels, and ordinary studio tools. I do make every effort to use archival and non-toxic materials and methods.

What is it that draws you so strongly to the urban landscape scene?

I started out as a plein aire painter working outdoors in the countryside. Perhaps I'll return to it at some point. But I find the geometry of the city powerful, and the energy it brings to the subject lends itself to exploring the urban landscape, utilizing painterly elements of abstract expressionism to convey that energy through the brushwork and handling. People are often surprised that, while I'm known mostly for painting cityscapes, I live in the country and prefer it.

Do you have a favorite painting and/or memory associated with a piece you’ve created?

Yes, with many, because they all become records of personal experiences, both outwardly and inwardly.

What do you consider the most important themes in your work?

I think quality and integrity are the most important elements of any artist's work. Considerations of form, content, and style are determined by the presence or absence of integrity and quality. That said, paintings can be fully successful with a single thematic goal as simple as the celebration of observed nature. A painting can also carry important narrative themes simultaneously alongside the visual. The danger with narrative is when it is allowed to overtake the painting to the degree that it reduces a work of art to simple illustration, or worse, propaganda and polemic. The test of a successful result is if all the elements work together as a unified whole without allowing a loaded storyline to capsize the painting. I found this especially true and challenging in my Wall Street series.

Is there a project along the way that has presented an important learning curve?

Most definitely the Wall Street paintings. In addition to the challenges mentioned in the previous question, I had to learn about and understand the world of global finance and Wall Street to the extent that my works would read authentically to anyone who understands this complex topic.

How has your aesthetic evolved over the years?

The way you look at the world evolves as you grow, and if you're an artist your paintings will naturally reflect that.

Do you have an artistic resource that you turn to?

The history of art, all the great masters ancient and contemporary, is an essential, inexhaustible, and crucial family for a painter to be connected to. And now as never before, the internet and social media have provided tremendous reach and artistic cross-pollination globally, with easy access to the work of other contemporary painters.

What three tools of the trade can’t you live without?

1) Charting my own course and being my own boss; 2) A studio with good light, high ceilings, and enough space; and 3) Extended periods of time to work without interruption.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Keep doing it, and stay at it. That's basic for survival as an artist. Over the years, life will conspire against an artist's time in the studio, for many reasons. Staying at it over the long haul takes resolve and commitment. Just keep giving it the time and remember that repetition is the mother of skill. Also keep in mind that purpose is stronger than outcome: put your reasons first and leave answers for later. In other words, focus on your process and the results will follow. You must want it, because desire is where strength comes from. What you pay attention to and think about the most is what will happen for you. Think of where you are and where you want to be, and recognize that dissatisfaction is a tremendous motivator, so use it. The very best results never come out of the comfort zone.

From where do you draw inspiration?

Inspiration can come from anywhere and anything, outside or inside the studio, as long as you remain open and observant. It's everywhere all around us all the time, but elusive, and the challenge is staying open to it. Our ordinary preoccupation with the daily activity of life tends to distract us from exciting possibilities and ideas which are right there simply waiting to be recognized.

What drives you these days?

It simply comes down to a mysterious compulsion to express the joy of experiencing the world through painting.

#boston #visualarts #painter #ben #aronson

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lesbianrewrites · 8 years ago

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The Martian Chapter 10

*disclaimer* This is a project done for fun, and none of these characters/works belong to me. I do not claim to own any of the material on this page.

This is a Lesbian edit of The Martian by Andy Weir.

Chapters will be posted every day at 2pm EST.

Google doc version can be found here. The chapter can also be found under the cut. Enjoy!

CHAPTER X

LOG ENTRY: SOL 90 Seven days since Pathfinder, and seven days closer to home. As I’d hoped, my inbound tracks gave me a path back to Lewis Valley. Then it was four sols of easy driving. The hills to my left made it impossible to get lost, and the terrain was smooth. But all good things come to an end. I’m back in Acidalia Planitia now. My outgoing tracks are long gone. It’s been 16 days since I was last here. Even timid weather would clear them out in that time. On my way out, I should have made a pile of rocks every time I camped. The land is so flat they’d be visible for kilometers. On second thought, thinking back to making that damn ramp… ugh. So once again I am the desert wanderer, using Phobos to navigate, and hoping I don’t stray too far. All I need to do is get within 40km of the Hab and I’ll pick up the beacon. I’m feeling optimistic. For the first time, I think I might get off this planet alive. With that in mind, I’m taking soil and rock samples every time I do an EVA. At first, I figured it was my duty. If I survive, geologists will love me for it. But then it started to get fun. Now, as I drive, I look forward to that simple act of bagging rocks. It just feels nice to be an astronaut again. That’s all it is. Not a reluctant farmer, not an electrical engineer, not a long haul trucker. An astronaut. I’m doing what astronauts do. I missed it.

LOG ENTRY: SOL 92 I got 2 seconds of signal from the Hab beacon today, then lost it. But it’s a good sign. I’ve been traveling vaguely north-northwest for two days. I must be a good 100km from the Hab; it’s a miracle I got any signal at all. Must have been a moment of perfect weather conditions. During the boring-ass days, I’m working my way through “The Six Million Dollar Man” from Commander Lewis’s inexhaustible collection of ‘70s tripe. I just watched an episode where Steve Austin fights a Russian Venus probe that landed on Earth by mistake. As an expert in interplanetary travel, I can tell you there are no scientific inaccuracies in the story. It’s quite common for probes to land on the wrong planet. Also, the probe’s large, flat-panel hull is ideal for the high-pressure Venusian atmosphere. And, as we all know, probes often refuse to obey directives, choosing instead to attack humans on sight. So far, Pathfinder hasn’t tried kill me. But I’m keeping an eye on it.

LOG ENTRY: SOL 93 I found the Hab signal today. I have a solid bearing and direction to go. No more chance to get lost. According to the computer, I’m 24718 meters away. I’ll be home tomorrow. Even if the rover has a catastrophic failure, I’ll be fine. I can walk to the Hab from here. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I am really fucking sick of being in this rover. I’ve spent so much time seated or laying down, my back is all screwed up. Of all my crewmates, the one I miss most right now is Beck. He’d fix my aching back. Though he’d probably give me a bunch of shit about it. “Why didn’t you do stretching exercises? Your body is important! Eat more fiber,” or whatever. At this point I’d welcome a health lecture. During training, we had to practice the dreaded “Missed Orbit” scenario. In the event of a second-stage failure during MAV ascent, we’d be in orbit, but too low to reach Hermes. We’d be skimming the upper atmosphere, so our orbit would rapidly decay. NASA would remotely operate Hermes and bring it in for rendezvous. Then we’d get the hell out of there before Hermes caught too much drag. To drill this, they made us stay in the MAV simulator for 3 miserable days. Six people in an ascent vehicle originally designed for a 23 minute flight. It got a little cramped. And by “a little cramped” I mean “We wanted to kill each other”. Once we got out, Commander Lewis declared “what happened in Missed Orbit stays in Missed Orbit.” It may seem trite, but it worked. We put it behind us and got back to normal. I’d give anything for just five minutes of Missed Orbit training. I’m really feeling alone lately. Up till this road trip, I’ve been too busy to mope. But the long, dull days with nothing to do really drives it home. I’m further away from other humans than anyone has ever been. Man, I hope I get Pathfinder working again.

LOG ENTRY: SOL 94 Home sweet home! Today I write from my gigantic, cavernous Hab! The first thing I did when I got in was wave my arms wildly while running in circles. Felt great! I was in that damn rover for 22 sols, and couldn’t even walk without suiting up. I’ll need to endure twice that to get to Ares 4, but that’s a problem for later. After a few celebratory laps around the Hab, it was time to get to work. First, I fired up the Oxygenator and Atmospheric Regulator. Checking the air levels, everything looked good. There was still CO2, so the plants hadn’t suffocated without me exhaling for them. Naturally I did an exhaustive check on my crops, and they’re all healthy. I added my bags of shit to the manure pile. Lovely smell, I can tell you. But once I mixed some soil in, it died down to tolerable levels. I dumped my box o’ pee into the Water Reclaimer. I’d been gone over three weeks, and had left the Hab very humid for the sake of the crops. That much water in the air can cause any amount of electrical problems, so I spent the next few hours doing full systems checks on everything. Then I kind of lounged around for a while. I wanted to spend the rest of the day relaxing, but I had more to do. Suiting up, I went out to the rover and dragged the solar cells off the roof. Over the next few hours, I put them back where they belonged, wiring them into the Hab’s power grid. Getting the Lander off the roof was a hell of a lot easier than getting it up there. I detached a strut from the MAV platform and dragged it over to the rover. Leaning it against the hull and digging the other end into the ground for stability, I had a ramp. I should have brought that strut with me to the Pathfinder site. Live and learn. There’s no way to get the Lander in the airlock. It’s just too big. I could probably dismantle it and bring it in a piece at a time, but there’s a pretty compelling reason not to. With no magnetic field, Mars has no defense against harsh solar radiation. If I were exposed to it, I’d get so much cancer, the cancer would have cancer. So the Hab canvas shields from electromagnetic waves. This means the Hab itself it would block any transmissions if the Lander were inside. Speaking of cancer, it was time to get rid of the RTG. It pained me to climb back into the rover, but it had to be done. If the RTG ever broke open, it would kill me to death. NASA decided 4km was the safe distance, and I wasn’t about to second-guess them. Driving back to where Commander Lewis had originally dumped it, I ditched it in the same hole and drove back to the Hab. I’ll start work on the Lander tomorrow. Now, to enjoy a good, long sleep in an actual cot. With the comforting knowledge that when I wake, my morning piss will go into a toilet.

LOG ENTRY: SOL 95 Today was all about repairs! The Pathfinder mission ended because the Lander had an unknown critical failure. Once they lost contact with the Lander, they had no idea what became of Sojourner. It might be in better shape. Maybe it just needs power. Power it couldn’t get with the solar panels hopelessly caked with dust. Setting it on my workbench, I pried open a panel to peek inside. The battery was a lithium thionyl chloride non-rechargeable. I figured that out from some subtle clues: the shape of the connection points, the thickness of the insulation, and the fact that it had “LiSOCl2 NON-RCHRG” written on it. I cleaned the solar panels thoroughly, then aimed a small, flexible lamp directly at them. The battery’s long dead. But the panels might be ok, and Sojourner can operate directly off them. We’ll see if anything happens. Then it was time to take a look at Sojourner’s daddy. I suited up and headed out. On most landers, the weak point is the battery. It’s the most delicate component, and when it dies, there’s no way to recover. Landers can’t just shut down and wait when they have low batteries. Their electronics won’t work unless they’re at a minimum temperature. So they have heaters to keep the electronics warm. It’s a problem that rarely comes up on Earth, but hey. Mars. Over time, the solar panels get covered with dust. Then winter brings colder temperatures and less daylight. This all combines into a big “fuck you” from Mars to your lander. Eventually it’s using more power to keep warm than it’s getting from the meager daylight that makes it through the dust. Once the battery runs down, the electronics get too cold to operate, and the whole system dies. The solar panels will recharge the battery somewhat, but there’s nothing to tell the system to reboot. Anything that could make that decision would be electronics, which would not be working. Eventually, the now unused battery will lose its ability to retain charge. That’s the usual cause of death. And I sure hope it’s what killed Pathfinder. I piled some leftover parts of the MDV into a makeshift table and ramp. Then I dragged the Lander up to my new outdoor workbench. Working in an EVA suit is annoying enough. Bending over the whole time would have been torture. I got my toolkit and started poking around. Opening the outer panel wasn’t too hard and I identified the battery easily enough. JPL labels everything. It’s a 40 Amp-hour Ag-Zr battery with an optimal voltage of 1.5V. Wow. They really made those things run on nothin’ back then. I detached the battery and headed back inside. I checked it with my electronics kit, and sure enough it’s dead, dead, dead. I could shuffle across a carpet and hold more charge. So I knew what it needed. 1.5 volts. Compared to the makeshift crap I’ve been gluing together since Sol 6, this was a breeze. I have voltage controllers in my kit! It only took me 15 minutes to put a controller on a reserve power line, then another hour to go outside and run the line to where the battery used to be. Then there’s the issue of heat. It’s a good idea to keep electronics above -40C. The temperature today is a brisk -63C. The battery was big and easy to identify, but I had no clue where the heaters were. Even if I knew, it’d be too risky to hook them directly to power. I could easily fry the whole system. So instead, I went to good old “Spare Parts” Rover 1, and stole it’s environment heater. I’ve gutted that poor rover so much. Bringing the heater to my “workbench,” I hooked it to Hab power. Then I rested it in the Lander where the battery used to be. Now I wait. And hope.

LOG ENTRY: SOL 96 I was really hoping I’d wake up to a functional Lander, but no such luck. Its high-gain antenna is right where I last saw it. Why does that matter? Well, I’ll tell ya… If the Lander comes back to life (and that’s a big if) it’ll try to establish contact with Earth. Problem is, nobody’s listening. It’s not like the Pathfinder team is hanging around JPL just in case their long dead probe is repaired by a wayward astronaut. The Deep Space Network and SETI are my best bets for picking up the signal. If either of them caught a blip from Pathfinder, they’d tell JPL. JPL would quickly figure out what was going on, especially when they triangulated the signal to my landing site. They’d tell the Lander where Earth is, and it would angle the high-gain antenna appropriately. That there, the angling of the antenna, is how I’ll know if it linked up. So far, no action. There’s still hope. Any number of reasons could be delaying things. The rover heater is designed to heat air at 1 atmosphere. The thin Martian air severely hampers its ability to work. So the electronics might need more time to warm up. Also, Earth is only visible during the day. I (hopefully) fixed the Lander yesterday evening. It’s morning now, so most of the intervening time has been night. No Earth. Sojourner’s also showing no signs of life. It’s been in the nice, warm environment of the Hab all night, with plenty of light on its sparkling clean solar cells. Maybe it’s running an extended self-check, or staying still until it hears from the Lander or something. I’ll just have to put it out of my mind for now.

PATHFINDER LOG: SOL 0 BOOT SEQUENCE INITIATED TIME 00:00:00 LOSS OF POWER DETECTED, TIME/DATE UNRELIABLE LOADING OS… VXWARE OPERATING SYSTEM (C) WIND RIVER SYSTEMS PERFORMING HARDWARE CHECK: INT. TEMPERATURE: -34C EXT. TEMPERATURE: NONFUNCTIONAL BATTERY: FULL HIGAIN: OK LOGAIN: OK WIND SENSOR: NONFUNCTIONAL METEOROLOGY: NONFUNCTIONAL ASI: NONFUNCTIONAL IMAGER: OK ROVER RAMP: NONFUNCTIONAL SOLAR A: NONFUNCTIONAL SOLAR B: NONFUNCTIONAL SOLAR C: NONFUNCTIONAL HARDWARE CHECK COMPLETE BROADCASTING STATUS LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL… LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL… LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL… SIGNAL ACQUIRED

#the martian #the martian andy weir #lesbian rewrites #lgbt #lesbiansafe

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

Quote

Background: Foxys Graphic/Shutterstock An ode to the hilariously simple website that never judges my snacking habits On my first visit to Eater’s New York office, where I was interviewing for this job, I made a point of trying to find the kitchen as I wandered the halls looking for the conference room I’d been told to wait in. I needed to know what kinds of snacks my potential employer offered. If I got the job, would I have access to unlimited granola bars? A coffee machine that whipped up lattes and cortados? Those terrible CBD-spiked seltzers with the good branding? Or would it be more along the lines of stale banana chips, single-serving bags of peanuts? I never did find Eater’s snack trove. By the time I’d come on as a writer, the country was in the grips of a pandemic, we were all working remotely, and I was back in California to weather the storm. At my previous job we’d place our snack order about once a month. Over Slack, our office manager would send the message I looked forward to more than pretty much any other: “SNACK TIME!” Our entire office descended on the group chat with the intensity of kindergarteners released at recess. Everyone in the office had their favorite (and least favorite) snack, and a curious soul always added some unfamiliar and unpromising new addition to our growing shopping list. These missteps didn’t cost us much, though, because we ordered this bounty from Nuts.com, a plain, practical website, where one can stock up on an ungodly amount of trail mix, beef jerky, and chocolate-covered almonds without breaking the bank or being weighed down with nutritional claims and shiny packaging. Once the order came, all the snacks packed in the same Nuts.com-branded zipper bags, we’d crowd around the dedicated snacking table and plunge our hands into the bags like hungry children. It’s nice to taste some of these flavors again, to crunch down on the weird airy green beans that remind me of an office full of people. Following the Great Unboxing was at least a week of back-and-forth berating of each other’s snack choices. Who in their right mind could — and actually would — choke down an entire jumbo case of Fig Newtons? What would possibly compel someone to house a family-size bag of salt and vinegar chips, so defeatingly salty that the eater’s lips crack and wrinkle like dehydrating plums? We hated each other’s snacking tastes with a passion. These moments of lovingly hurled disgust and indignation punctuated and enlivened even the most monotonous of work days. Some days I miss this constant snacking even more than I miss dining out or going to a bar. It’s not that any one snack is unavailable to me now, or that the snacks in our monthly order were that special. But standing around a table piled high with bags of this and that, pecking at them like New York pigeons feels like a pleasure of the past now; it just isn’t something I see happening again for a long, long time. Especially not with the fear that grips me at the very thought of sharing a bag of popcorn, or the reality that it will be months before many of us make our way back into offices. Even seeing scenes of office life on TV and in movies makes me squirm in discomfort. Spurred by nostalgia and a truly unexplainable craving for the same banana chips I’ve turned my nose up at on many occasions, I recently made my first visit to Nuts.com since joining the ranks of the nation’s WFH employees. The site’s design is as bare as ever, though my browsing did lead me to the company’s founding story, that of Poppy Sol, who sold dried nuts and fruit in a New Jersey open air market beginning in the late 1920s. (Thanks for everything, Poppy.) Beyond this little look behind the curtains of the trusty snack provider, all was as I remembered: There’s no glitzy branding obscuring my search for new nibbles. Though the need for party-size snacks is low right now, one can still find a bargain on 30 pounds of raisins, or score a 10-pound bag of garlic bagel chips. I scrolled past all the items I’d unsuccessfully lobbied coworkers not to add to our cart — chocolate covered cherries (sweet like cough syrup, no good), organic fruit juice-flavored gummy bears (truly what is the point), and caramel coated popcorn (ordinarily perfect, terrible from this purveyor) — and went for the few snacks that colored my pre-pandemic work life: weird little nubs of half-popped popcorn that always cut the roof of my mouth, a huge bag of sticky-sweet medjool dates, fried green bean chips as brittle and snappy as kindling. The familiar box showed up at my door a week later, my assortment of snacks rattling around inside. With the plastic bags laid out on my counter, I reignited a before-times ritual, going back and forth with regularity between desk (my dining room table) and snack counter (the only counter in my home). It’s nice to taste some of these flavors again, to crunch down on the weird airy green beans that remind me of an office full of people. But clicking back to Nuts.com — now prominently bookmarked on my computer — I don’t gravitate to the snacks that I like. I scroll mindlessly through the many chips, candies, and dried fruits that I remain convinced no reasonable human would buy. The technicolor jumble of gummy candies shaped like slices of orange and lemon. The twisting cheddar cheese sticks one of my coworkers consumed in bulk. Rye bagel chips, dusted with a seasoning that is at first perfect, and moments later disturbing as the taste clings to every corner of your mouth. I’m not sentimental enough to really believe that if I just eat the office snacks of yesteryear, I’ll suddenly be transported back to the good ol’ days like Anton Ego tasting a nostalgia-inducing dish in Ratatouille. I don’t even know if I’ll put in another snack order, since a corner store down the street sells most of my favorites. Mostly, I’m content just strolling the undecorated virtual walls of Nuts.com, taking stock of all the snacks I’ll be sure to avoid once more when a coworker eventually — someday — passes them to me. from Eater - All https://ift.tt/33AwBDi

http://easyfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/09/nutscomfills-snack-shaped-hole-in-my.html

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