#if you are interested in a certain product I can consider it for a review

[sk3tch404]

ℍ𝕚, 𝕀 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖, 𝕤𝕠 𝕀'𝕞 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕒 𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕠𝕦𝕤, 𝕙𝕒𝕙𝕒. ℂ𝕒𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠 𝕒 𝕄𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕟 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕩 𝕐𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕎𝕦 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘? ℂ𝕒𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕀'𝕞 𝕒𝕝𝕤𝕠 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟. 𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕗 𝕚𝕥'𝕤 𝕒 𝕕𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕣 𝕒 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟, 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 𝕚𝕥 𝕙𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 :𝔻 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝕪𝕠𝕦!!!

Yandere Wu Chang with a Chinese reader who is from modern day

Reaction and a little bit of headcanons!

Also tysm for sending an ask in! If my reqs are ever open, feel free to just go for it ^^ Ik how scary it is to send one in. Especially if the creator has other asks they've been working on, and the paranoia of breaking rules. But you're fine!

Also please correct me if i had gotten anything wrong about Chinese culture. I had only retained some information from a historical accuracy review video and somewhat prior information. Please educate me if you can or like to!

"My, isn't that interesting?" Bi'an walks over and sits next to you, placing his umbrella to the side, "Tell me, how has society progressed through the years? You said your original time was 2023 right?"

You nod, slightly flustered from his sudden interest. Bi'an is suddenly dropped over with a black liquid, and then appears Wujiu, "It seems the rumors are true. Do tell us more Y/n."

Both are ECSTATIC

There were rumors floating around that you were from the future when you first entered. Considering that they're in a manor containing all sorts of supernatural occurrences and people, they weren't all that shocked by it.

Not to say they weren't incredibly curious though! Though Wujiu was more excited than Bi'an hehe.

They talk extensively about you and what the future may hold. What kind of inventions have been made? How have clothing trends changed? Is this person still popular or at least known? How would the people of your time feel about this certain social custom?

What was your daily life? Did anybody give you trouble? Why was this "internet" filled with such strange and quite frankly disturbing content? (Oncler simps /j) Is this why your posture was so bad? Douyin makeup and fashion? Wow they look like dolls! But they amount of product they use in order to attain such a look is quite much sometimes haha.

OH MY GOD THE CHINESE FANTASY/HISTORICAL DRAMAS? They're absolutely entranced by it. Bi'an mostly comments on how historically inaccurate they are, and how outrageous the characters are.

Bi'an: Ah no, this is incorrect as well. The main lady should not be in such fine condition after such a dilemma. I'm surprised she had not been given rags to wear and executed by the emperor instead... What an interesting tale.

Wujiu usually makes passing comments on how they're all attractive, and talks as if he was in the drama itself.

Wujiu: HOLY SHIT IF YOU DON'T JUST FIGHT THIS MISTRESS, WOMAN IM GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU.

Takes everything seriously there 😭 Bi'an has to switch in order to apologize to you and tell Fan he's scaring you.

Since you adorn such simple clothing, they question you about Chinese culture a lot. Had such articles of clothing been lost to time? What traditions are still practiced? Wait, the average are allowed people cut their hair? How shocking! Isn't that disrespectful to their parents? Er, which ruler is in charge of the north now?

Once you tell them all of the things that connect you to your chinese heritage, they will try and do EVERYTHING you used to do.

New Year's was it? Ah they have been on a westerners calendar for a while, so they have not been up to date. Well, this calls for special red envelopes and beautiful clothing does it not?

Adorns you only in the most beautiful traditional clothing. Hanfu's are flowy and can be quite modest, but Qipao's can be intricate and beautifully simple. Oh but you could also wear a Tangzhuang. Matching with them, what a dream come true! So cute you are... Agh, they just can't pick! Why do you have to be so beautiful?

They are also surprised by how modern traditional clothing has become. Clothing like that would've been years worth of salary for the average man! How lucky you are to be able to wear such things for a price.

Although they doll you up and celebrate with you, you aren't allowed to do anything more than to stay with them and obey the usual rules during all of it.

Damn, you don't even get anything of real material value in the red envelope. It's a love letter and a small gift. Usually jewelry or something of that minimal sort. (The gift is meaningless to you as you receive all kinds of unwanted things from them 24/7)

They are glad you are of the same ethnic background of them! You both may have not been from the same place or time, but you two both have a personal understanding of each other's identity.

Partaking in various conversations about culture, technology, celebrating traditions, partially speaking in similar language... All and more of these things have them head over heels for you.

You're just perfect! How could they ever have been so lucky to encounter someone like you in this afterlife? Although they wish not to have experienced such past hardships, they're glad all of that had amounted to this moment.

It thrills them to know that they understand you more than anyone else in this manor. No one else could spend time and appreciate you like this here. It's only them who can truly make you feel at home. A home with them. Your lovers.

Perhaps being in this wretched manor has brought something worthwhile after all. Even if they don't win, at least they have something they can bring back with them.

[melonteee]

If nothing else, OPLA’s marketing campaign was downright diabolical. Because the community shift from skepticism to outright hostility towards that same skepticism really started when the show runner went onto that YouTube Reverie a couple years before the show came out. Not only was that the first time the showrunner began doing similar “interviews” with YouTubers (who are, generally speaking, The Worst interviewers), not only is it where many of the common talking points in defense of the show originated from (most notably “It can’t be a 1:1 adaptation” in response to any changes), but he told all these YouTubers that he was *such* a Big Fan of all of them - even the ones who were critical of the live action - and that he was using their videos as inspiration for writing the live action episodes.

Now, I’m not saying that the showrunner was lying when he said those things. But I do think that such a move meant there were no boundaries and a MASSIVE conflict of interest between someone who should be considered a representative for Netflix and creators and fans with huge reach in the fanbase. Because suddenly the OPLA was getting reframed not as another Netflix product, but as a really expensive fan film (that Netflix happened to be funding) - a fan film that Fans Like Them were having an indirect hand in helping create because the showrunner was also a fan of them. Combine that with how heavily it was pushed that Oda had to approve everything, and the whole thing started gaining this undercurrent of the live action adaptation almost being an endorsement of their interpretation of the source material… even as it became more obvious OPLA would deviate heavily from that same source material. But that sentiment only got more pronounced as those same YouTubers started getting opportunities to privately tour the sets and some even spoke to the writers that led to being labeled as unofficial-official consultants. Now, with another One Piece YouTuber from the same Reverie that the showrunner took part in a member of the season 2 writers room, there’s kinda this unspoken atmosphere surrounding that corner of the community that if you heap enough praise onto this adaptation, you too could be scouted for the next season and get endorsed (maybe even meet) Oda too!

It would be funny that the whole thing was that such a painfully transparent move on the showrunner’s part (most blatant example being that he hosted an anime podcast that totally wasn’t made just to endorse the show guys! He just wanted to talk to all his friends about anime and just HAPPENED to make the last episode the same day the live action aired!) if it hadn’t been so effective.

Like I said: diabolical.

I can't speak on whether or not those YouTubers are good interviewers, because I literally cannot blame them for jumping at the opportunity since the early stages WERE exciting and I have no doubt they were barred from asking certain questions. But my opinion is...perhaps stick to journalists for interviews since that's their job hh.

But god the marketing was absolutely insane. Was having Iñaki meeting Oda and putting a hat on his head, AS WELL as Mayumi Tanaka, not insanely performative to anyone else? Does anyone seriously think Oda willingly asked to do this and 'pass down' the hat for a project we KNOW he was continuously not listened to for 😭 all I can see is Netflix doing the MOST to make One Piece fans side with them, and it WORKED!

When the live action came out it got INSANELY review bombed. It'd only been ten minutes since the episodes had come out and the final episode already had hundreds of reviews and hundreds of 10/10s. Netflix did all they could to make sure NO ONE cared to look at this critically, and it's so frustrating that it worked cause I can't even have a reasonable conversation about why this adaptation simply did not work as an adaptation without tons of people biting my head off.

I've said it before but I will never forget the shift of people questioning why the hell this live action was being made, and why the hell the Merry looked like that (la Merry had been leaked) because...guys she looked like shit!! There's no colour or personality in it and she just looks creepy as hell.

And that's what everyone was originally saying! But suddenly you have the show runner reaching out to YouTubers, you have the announcement that Oda's approving EVERYTHING (we know for a fact he didn't), and suddenly the public opinion shifted like THAT!

Honestly if anyone wants an a grade course in how you market to a loyal fandom, just look at what Netflix did! Because EVERYONE can have their own opinion and say they liked it, but as an ADAPTATION? I stand my ground in saying it failed miserably. Because the fact people who NEVER saw the animanga are coming out of the live action with DIFFERENT perceptions of the story and characters- to the point you are genuinely talking about two different characters - the adaptation has failed.

Because, yes, an adaptation can't be 1:1, Matt Owens is correct. But what he DIDN'T say, is when you adapt something, what you need to keep in mind is fidelity. If your goal for an adaptation IS to bring an existing property into a new medium, and WANTING to replicate the characters and EXPRESS the same story - which the producers said this would be MULTIPLE times! - you better damn well hope the non One Piece watchers can jump from the live action to the manga/anime and go "Oh! Yes this is the Luffy that was presented to me in the live action!"

And they don't, especially not with other characters. The amount of non One Piece fans who then picked up the anime and were SHOCKED at just how focused on Sanji and Usopp were in the original should speak volumes, should it not?

Again, you can like the live action! I think it did its job in essentially being an advertisement for the original One Piece. But as a story and an adaptation of One Piece, it just failed. And I simply hate being unable to bring anything into question because Netflix's insane marketing has made this environment of "it's good cause I said so and everything's fine, shut up" 😭😭

It's genuinely an insanely good example of anime to live action adaptation and why, in my opinion, it just doesn't work. But I can't go into any kind of depth about that in a long form video essay the way I'd like to because my anxiety would go off the charts - even if I speak reasonably about it, because of the air created from Netflix's insane marketing. I just think it's kinda sad hhh

[accio-victuuri]

so i think a lot of turtles are cackling because of the recent ugg coincidence that happened. and i agree, this one is really sus and something that deserves a spot in cpn history. but i’m more interested as to the why of it all. why is it there. my first guess is they forgot to blur it out and thought it’s no big deal. we could leave it at that, but it’s xz studio we’re talking about here — and considering the events leading up to it, i guess one can’t help but wonder if there is anything more to this….

XZ & XZ STUDIO are notorious for blurring things out. not just faces of people close by or the staff, but also things around them. You even have a photo of GG with the window of the car blurred out, so people don’t know where he is — or the things on his car seats also blurred. This is understandable, it’s for his privacy. There are also times where certain items are covered in videos & photos because of ( the most likely ) certain contractual obligations. Also fact that the most random things people see him use gets sold out can be a factor, he doesn’t want to unintentionally endorse something that’s really more of a personal favorite.

It’s him wanting to keep certain aspects of his life private and that’s perfectly fine. Even if sometimes the guessing of what he has blurred out in some cases have been a game that turtles love to play. 😂😂😂

Now let’s review the video in question and why the shoes being left in the open seemed out of the ordinary.

you see they did cover up ( blue smileys ) some things on there and at some point the ugg slippers were sort of obscured. until that one frame where you can see everything clearly.

At this point, it’s not the first time that we saw one person having the other’s endorsement before it was announced. and the culprit was mostly ZZ. him having WYB’s endorsed products before it gets announced. Also it’s not usually THEM that you see using it ( well except for bottled joy lol ) but the staff. It’s like they were given a sizeable amount of that product and was shared to the crew — which only happens to an endorser/sponsor. I think this is the first that we saw from their videos. other incidents we have are from second pass photos so it’s why i’m overthinking it all. why does it seem intentional.

considering days ago there was the whole maison kitsune same style hot search and the same phone case is still fresh in people’s mind… shouldn’t he be more “careful” with these? not just with public opinion ( who mostly don’t mind ) but also his fans who get worked up about it.

A key incident also was earlier the day, there was an HS about him and his WDB co-star. It was a video “leak” from when they were shooting the drama. It looked very sweet and cp material — but they were shooting. I personally don’t have any bad blood with LQ. I genuinely think that they are friends and he’s comfortable to joke with her like that.

It stayed up for some time on the HS, and it’s okay to have it up considering it’s promotion for the drama. It’s normal. You would expect stuff like this to pop up since they are the main pairing in the drama.

THEN LATER IN THE EVENING XZS DECIDES TO DROP THIS ON US. While I do think a very small amount of candies are intentional, this one seems to be ZZ hammering us. I still remember how he spoiled us when OOL was out so this is really nothing compared to that. He could have gone for something more in your face but what they did was actually perfect. Only those who pay special attention will notice what’s going on. The casual fan will be distracted by him doing push ups and leave it at that— but not us ( and well other wfs who seem to be better at noticing stuff than us lol ). It’s like him comforting us after that HS and all the cp stuff in his drama ( which i’m not mad about cause the love stories between him and the two girls is well written so far ; i wanna do a proper post about it in the future ).

So there you go. It’s not just because we saw Ugg shoes on his video clearly. It’s the endorsement incidents before, his acts of subtle comfort to cpfs, the events that lead up to the release of the video and ZZ’s penchant for giving candies you can’t wash. CPNs that become popular like this are usually not only because of what get at face value. You have to look at the bigger picture to make it sweeter. 💛

-END.

[somethingwittyandweird]

What's your favorite game you played this year?

You've activated my “review of my year in gaming” trap card! I was already going to make this post in some form or another, you've just given me the perfect launching point. So, the first thing you should know about asking me for favorites: I never give just one. How could I, when it's been such a banger year of games? (Heads up, this one's going to go long.)

I loved Tears of the Kingdom to death, and it took home my most hours played on Switch. It is a shining example of what devs can do with an extra few months to polish a game. There were so many remarkable moments that testified to how much care and ideas the devs were able to put in. I loved how it used the time since the first game to develop familiar places and characters, adding depth (no pun intended) and also making sure every familiar location had some new twist. The story was a much stronger followup to BotW, and I think this overall has my new favorite ending sequence of anything in the series (I'd love to make a full post sometime about how the final Ganondorf battles just keep getting more spectacular with each new title). I am so, so, so, so normal about this incarnation of Princess Zelda. 

Also in my favorites this year is Fire Emblem Engage, which hit at just the right time to scratch my strategy itch. As a long time FE fan it’s not a surprise I enjoyed this one- though it lost the political intrigue of its predecessor in favor of a more traditional/tropey story, I still had a lot of fun with all its gimmicks and gameplay innovations. Also it is hands-down the most visually appealing game in the franchise, a title previously held by the series’ GBA entries which are masterworks from the peak era of beautiful sprite art. From the incredible crit animations to the spectacle of super attacks to the battle maps which are so beautifully detailed that the game lets you free roam around them after a battle just to appreciate them better. 

I finished the Link’s Awakening remake this year! It was a charming trip back to an older era of Zelda design philosophy and I found it fascinating to compare the ways where the classic puzzles and challenges differ from what the game would be like if it were made today, as well as the places where modern technology allowed for better QoL changes that weren’t in the original. I really enjoyed the music as well, which I find to be a standout among the series still.

Here at the end of the year, I have to give a shout out to Sea of Stars. It has everything you want in an indie darling- very pretty pixel art, very nice music, turn-based battles with timed hits I joke, but Sea of Stars does a great job balancing evoking/paying homage to icons like Chrono Trigger and bringing new gameplay to the JRPG formula. I like its pared-down take on JRPG combat which revamps skills/mana into a much more dynamic resource that’s constantly being spent and regenerated, and I’m a known sucker for character combo attacks which this game has in spades. The later parts of its story are told with a lot of heart, and again I am a known sucker for certain character archetypes. Surprisingly also, I think the movement and exploration is absolutely a standout- not something that’s typically emphasized in the genre. But this game constantly has you hopping across stepping stones, balancing on tightropes, climbing walls and ledges… the emphasis on interesting traversal and verticality is a strength few games like it can boast. 

Before my final pick, I’m including a special section for all the games I didn't play myself but watched my friends play and still want to praise: Hi-Fi Rush, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Mario Bros Wonder, Pizza Tower, the Minish Cap Switch rerelease, and more all came out this year and all of them have brought killer music, excellent gameplay, and stunning visuals that I’ve enjoyed to no end. Anyone considering to pick up any of them would find a quality product without a doubt.

With all that said: I think ultimately it has to be Tunic in the end. Underneath its premise of a Zelda/Souls-like adventure game there is a wealth of secrets that goes as far down as you have the courage to delve. It’s a game built to evoke nostalgia for games that you didn’t understand yet, posing as a game that you watched an older sibling play or a game you could only find a poorly-translated foreign copy of. It obscures everything and teaches you its secrets through context, exploration, and discovering in-game pages of the manual (remember manuals?). It’s a game made for lovers of secrets and puzzles, full of hidden paths and trophies that reward inquisitiveness and observation (and taking paper notes). It was when I saw that it not only has a conlang, but that it gives you the hints you need to fully translate it, that I knew I had to get it myself. It spurred me to screenshot every in-game piece of menu text, then spend evenings cross-referencing it to identify phonemes and construct a key.

The rush I got on completing that key is one of two moments I knew this game was absolutely special. The second standout moment is when the game teaches you its hugest secret, and then invites you to prove your mastery of it by presenting you a huge, multi-part puzzle. But, Tunic does the same thing that one of my other all-time favorites, Outer Wilds, does so well: powerups via knowledge, “unlocking” abilities that you always had, you just didn’t know that you did. The pieces to this puzzle are hidden in plain sight; it’s only when the game tells you what you’re looking for that your understanding shifts, everything clicks, and your eyes are opened to the path you have to follow. I don’t say it lightly, but I consider Tunic to be a one-of-a-kind title, and one that delivers completely on its unique vision. 

In case that brick of text doesn’t make it clear, I love this game. 

I love all of these games.

It's a fine time to be alive.

[onelonelystory]

I know a bunch of people are making way more helpful beginner’s guides to tumblr but for anyone who may be making the leap during the Reddit exodus here’s my two cents:

try following friends first. get the hang of how reblogging functions and of all the posting features. if you use desktop add an xkit extension and use their quick reblog. change your header and profile and title from the default. consider not using an unstylized picture of yourself as a profile; anonymity is valued here (though of course, coming from reddit, I’m sure you understand.)

curate your own dash. follow people who post about things you’re interested in, follow friends, follow friends of friends, unfollow anyone at any time if you notice that their posts are not for you. don’t feel obligated to follow certain people just to participate in certain corners of the internet. if they really have so much good shit to say, it’ll probably make its way over to you eventually. the trending and for you pages are kind of useless and serve best as an occasional peek into a funhouse mirror version of the internet you thought you knew.

don’t overuse the add-to-reblog comment feature. if there’s additional commentary you want to share with your audience, that’s what tags are for! it shows up in the poster and previous reblogger’s notifications just the same. somewhere down the line someone might see your tags and decide to append them to the main post. we affectionately refer to this process as “peer review,” because once something has been added to a reblog any further iterations of the post will include that addition so it’s really just a way of saying said commentary adds to the post in a way that is not exclusive to your own audience.

that said if you do feel you have additional context or a necessary perspective to add to a post and you deliberately want to attach it, don’t be afraid to say your piece. people can reblog it or ignore it if they like, that’s their business.

if you disagree with the contents of a post, try not to do a discourse about it. If it seems like well-intended misinformation, you can add a correction with a source, or whatever additional context you feel is necessary for anyone who may not know better. any questions about what the post really means or follow-up is maybe best directed towards op’s ask box, as the narrative of reblog threads can get lost in the notifs tab. don’t be argumentative, don’t make assumptions; this is the internet. nobody on here gets an editor to make sure their words are framed exactly as they intended. if you really feel like being negative take a screenshot of the offending section, redact op’s url and any tagged or visible accounts, and make your own post. we all want to just tear into something from time to time and disagreements are a part of life. but try to avoid unnecessary conflict, it’s neither fun nor productive for any party.

if you see someone being a bigot block them. don’t dunk on them, don’t send them anon hate, don’t argue against them in the reblogs. there’s no algorithm on this site and nothing spreads without people spreading it. the best way to stop vitriol is to disengage.

block anyone. block people for being hateful bigots, block people for being annoying. block people for trying to start discourse on your posts even if you feel bad about it. if you start thinking to yourself wow, my life would be just a little bit better if this person couldn’t see my posts and I couldn’t see theirs, block them. block me for being preachy. block your best friend of six years bc they’re spamming your dash with their untagged spongebob liveblog and then dunk on them in your 20 person discord server.

treasure your mutuals but don’t feel like you have to be following people to be friends. tumblr dms are busted as hell just send someone an ask instead unless it’s that private. the search function does not work. polls are new and we’re all still constructing the etiquette of those together, but so far they’re mostly a vehicle for pitting characters against each other chunin exams style. ignore any part of this post that you don’t want to listen to I am legitimately not the boss of you. make your own truth go crazy drink water have fun.

[the---hermit]

How We Read Now by Naomi S. Baron

I don't know where this book review will go, but to be honest I can predict it will kinda look like a rant at some point, because me and this book got beef. The worse 25 euros I have ever had to spend for uni. This is one of the books I have to study for my history of libraries and reading class, and if it weren't for that I would have dnf-ed this pretty quickly.

This is a non-fiction book that focuses on the differences between physical, digital and audiobooks. Its aim is to analize data to conclude on which is the best option for learning. It is said that the audience it is aimed at is made of teachers, educators and parents. I don't know if it was reading it from a student perspective, but the tone of the author felt so patronizing. It was incredibly annoying, and the worse thing is that I agree with a good amount of what the author is writing about, but the tone was so annoying it made it difficult to read and to agree with. There's so many things I didn't like about this book, I don't even know if I'll remember all of them. The general critique I have read about this book is that it's pretty dry, because there's a lot of statistics, and technical stuff about researches and analysis they did. It's true, but it's not the worse part of the book in my oprion. Firstly this book is so repetitive it hurts. If you could eliminate all the times the author adds unnecessary lines to say "as we have said in chapter x" or "as we will see in chapter y" the book would miss a good 50 pages at least, it was so overdone it made it difficult to focus on what the author was trying to say (and to be honest at a certain point it looked like it was simply a way to make the book longer). And then as if that wasn't enough the chapters in which she tries to give advices on how to have the best results from different types of reading the tips are always more or less the same for all three kinds of books, so again repetitive like crazy. While we are on the topic of these tips let's just say that they are beyond the line of being banal. I spent all that money and time to have someone tell me that to have a productive reading session I have to focus on what I read and minimize the potential distractions. As I mentioned reading it from a student perspective made the tone of the author feel incredibly patronizing, anytime she talks about students it feels like she comes from the point of view that all young people are drowned by technology and social media to the point of being stupid. I am not saying this is the opinion of the author, but it's the feeling I got while reading the entire book, and it was so annoying. Another thing I personally didn't like at all is how this person is trying to find the way™ to get people to read productively, almost without considering that not only everyone has their preferences but depending on what and how you study and who you are things might change drastically. The general idea given by the author is that at the end of the day you should mix mediums but physical books are the best for learning/studying. I do agree, because I prefer physical book, but the way this opinion is carried in the book made me want to disagree just to go against the author. Not the most mature way of dealing with this but that was my natural reaction. Overall the writing annoyed me so much to the point I struggled to focus, and against the author's advices I did way more skimming than close reading because of how repetitive this thing was. I do not recommend at all this book, it's not worth it. Read articles online if you are interested on the topic, this was a waste of money, ans if you couldn't tell I am still very much pissed at this book.

I read this for the non fiction prompt of the 2023 genre bingo.

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

Links Roundup

The interwebs had so many interesting things to read this week! Here’s a links roundup of a few. 

Hurricanes Becoming So Strong That New Category Needed, Study Says

Where else would we start but at The Guardian, with an article about how much bigger and more intense the biggest, most intense hurricanes (and other cyclones) are becoming. You might call it doom and gloom, but the climate–adjacent scientist in me finds some weird satisfaction in seeing that, yes, retaining extra energy within the climate system because we’ve overinsulated it by adding extra greenhouse gas to the atmosphere is having spectacular effects. Honestly, we need to get our act together about reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to net zero ASAP (40 years ago would have been better). 

Should More British Homes Be Built Using Straw?

The BBC website had an interesting article about adding straw–packed panels to the exteriors of buildings (generally as they’re being newly constructed, given the size constraints) to improve their insulation. The straw is packed so tight that it’s fire resistant but not so tight that it doesn’t trap air inside the stuffing, thus serving effectively as insulation, vastly reducing how much you need to heat or cool a building. At the moment, here in Germany, they use thick slabs of Styrofoam, which release horrendously toxic fumes if the building catches on fire. Straw sounds like an interesting, non–toxic, sustainable alternative, especially if you consider how much waste straw is generated every time crops like wheat, rye, and even oilseed rape (Canola) are harvested. The main catch is that production of the panels would need to be scaled up quickly enough to matter in our fight against further climate change by reducing the amount of energy needed to keep buildings at a comfortable temperature. 

A US Engineer Had a Shocking Plan to Improve the Climate – Burn All Coal on Earth

This article, also on the BBC website, is about the opposite of trying to save energy, and it’s a quick history of our attitude toward anthropogenic global warming. Turns out, the sort of people who don’t want to admit it’s real today were the sort of people who used to think it would be great to burn all the fossil fuels to take the edge of the chillier aspects of climate. Bonkers. These were probably also the people who liked to think that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere would totally boost plant growth, and therefore crop yields, on a major scale. Also bonkers. 

Can Slowing Down Save the Planet?

The New Yorker published an interesting review of the book Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto, in which the Marxist philosopher Kohei Saito lays out the case for “degrowth communism”. He argues that green capitalism won’t be enough to save the planet—and us. It just looks good from a certain vantage point right now because it pushes the environmental and social costs of resource extraction and good production into the Global South. This allows consumers in the Global North to remain blissfully ignorant of the damage they’re (we’re) doing with their (our) unsustainable lifestyles and obsession with continuous economic growth. 

How Craftivism Is Powering 'Gentle Protest' for Climate

Back to the BBC for a fun article about “craftivism”. I’d never thought about this before, but it’s actually a thing that has touched almost all of our lives, even if we’re all thumbs with a terrible sense of aesthetics. Who hasn’t walked past a street pole or statue encased in guerilla knitwear? Even I knitted a pussyhat to wear to an anti–Trump demo on inauguration day (although I didn’t knit a pink one because I would rather die than wear pink, except utterly ironically). And—although perhaps I’m revealing my age here—who hasn’t seen at least a few squares of an AIDS quilt? On the whole, I think it’s good that people put their crafting skills to good political use. Otherwise—and this may be an unpopular opinion—our need to continually craft is just an extension of our unsustainable overproduction and overconsumption of goods. Everyone I know who knits (including myself) has already made more sweaters, hats, scarves, socks, and baby blankets than they can wear out in a lifetime and yet we keep on knitting. 

A Big Idea for Small Farms: How to Link Agriculture, Nutrition and Public Health

NPR had a great article that fits with our current podcast episode on regenerative farming with Solarpunk Farms. A literally existential crisis that we’re currently failing to tackle is that of how we grow food. The whole agricultural system is messed up from top to bottom. Food’s too cheap (and many people aren’t paid enough to be able to pay the real price of food, which is a whole other enormous issue). Because of this, farmers are pissed off and dependent upon subsidies from the governments they’d increasingly like to overthrow. Meanwhile, they’re frantically farming so intensively to try to bring in enough income that they’re destroying what’s left of our natural world. Their farming practices are degrading soils and polluting our air and waterways with fertilizers and petrochemical pesticides, destroying adjacent ecosystems and driving numerous species of plants and animals (including insects and other key invertebrates) to extinction. Related to this, we’re eating too much of the wrong stuff (meat, highly processed foods) and not enough of the rights stuff (fruits, nuts, seeds, and vegetables). Enter the solution: nutrition incentive programs that make it possible for people with lower incomes to obtain fruits and vegetables from smaller, regenerative farms. It’s a win for public health, a win for fruit and vegetable farming, which isn’t subsidized the way corn, soy, and wheat farming is, and it’s a win for the small percentage of food producers fighting not to be swallowed up by the Big Food companies who’ve all but monopolized the production of the food we eat. 

Tractor Chaos, Neo-Nazis and a Flatlining Economy: Why Has Germany Lost the Plot?  

Having started at The Guardian, we’ll bring things full circle and end there with a look at the situation here in Germany. Lots of us are increasingly concerned about the rise of the far right and... perhaps still flying under a lot of people’s radar... that angry farmers are going to end up ushering in the Fourth Reich. The op–ed says it all, while trying to maintain a sense of humor about it. As with so much else in the news these days, it makes you want to scream that we have more important things to be doing right now—that matter for the survival of billions of people—than withdraw into the hermit crab shell of authoritarianism. Their easy answers and general denial of the problems that need solving will only make life even more miserable for most people and allow all our existential problems, like widening wealth inequality, environmental devastation, and increasingly catastrophic climate change, to escalate even further before we begin dealing with them. 

Sci_Burst

To end on a happier note, here’s a shout out about Sci_Burst, a fun podcast from Australia about “science, popular culture, and entertainment”. They even have an episode on solarpunk. If you’re all caught up with us (including with all the extras on our YouTube channel), our feelings won’t be hurt if you give them a listen. 😊

[razorblade180]

RWBY Vol9 Ep2 Review

I’m gonna say this right now, and maybe my opinion on this will change by the end. At the rate this is going, I kinda hope we’re in this place for two volumes. It’s a complex feeling but more on that later.

You know I was one of those people who kinda missed how Lindsay Jones voiced Ruby in earlier volumes; it’s a real double edged sword that we’re getting a little bit of that because Ruby’s depressed. 💀

Strangely enough, this volume feels more whimsical than its been in a very long time. Not just in setting, but a bit of dialogue and the way they’re making them move. RWBY honestly feels like it’s acting more anime than it’s ever been in this regard. Though I’m sure part of the reason for this is because of the state of their production. I don’t dislike it but it’s definitely odd given the circumstances. The characters so far look the best they ever had though.

Very happy Weiss talked about having no home and saying “we didn’t handle right at all.” She even goes as far as to say hopefully their friends overcame the chaos of the situation and her team’s performance. I wish this conversation was a little longer and I absolutely wish Blake and Yang were included. If I have one fear it’s that the show keeps cutting them out of important moments like this in favor of honeymoon moments.

This is just a really good moment.

Didn’t take too many pictures of the auction but it’s definitely worth mentioning that it’s pretty interesting Yang was asked what is love and she had no answer. She didn’t even begin to formulate one. Also, this volume has given her back some of her carefree and happy demeanor, which makes sense considering she thought she was dead and alone; anyone would perk up after realizing that’s not it, but she also feels in a certain way…less mature? Like she was very quick to just try the most destructive way to solve the problem in a way not even Vol1 Yang wouldn’t do outright.

Perhaps that’s the point, making each RWBY character personify a part of Alex’s (Alice) flaws in the book that leads to the consequences for the book to progress

I’m shocked how quickly Ruby gave up the sword. I feel like she might definitely blow up somehow. The team is kinda checking in on her and aware she’s upset, but so far it feels like all of them aren’t trying to go too deep. Like there’s a scene where there’s a little laughter and jokes going on and Ruby is just staring at the sword. My hope is it’s highlighting that none are exactly on the same page.

Ruby being sad makes it rain. Hopefully all of them will pick up on that before a full blown storm happens. The episode ends with them trying to see the Red Prince, is what I assume his name will be. I’m definitely intrigued in where this goes.

Definitely sorting my feelings about all of this, it feels as if the show is giving me what I want, but only surface layer before running off to the next point and I’m going “wait we just started talking. 😅”

Also, this isn’t a gripe or anything, and I’m sure this is a hindsight moment, but I do find it a little strange they had Oscar mention this book last volume, and not someone who was going to fall. Granted, we know Ruby and Yang were read bedtime stories and Blake loves reading; I can even see why Weiss has heard of it, but I did find it a little strange when they all basically went “Oh yeah of course we know all about this book.” Like…sure? That’s fine, I guess it only feels strange because at no point was this ever brought up.

I wouldn’t even need much. We were in Weiss’s house and three of them were together waiting for Penny to wake up. Ruby could’ve saw it on a bookshelf and grabbed it; surprised that a household so far removed from her life style had a story Yang and Summer read to her. Blake mentions she likes that book and Weiss does her Weiss thing by saying “You do know a rich child still a child, right? Even Winter grew up reading that.” All while Ruby is too busy thinking about her own sister, and we transition to being stuck in the tundra.

(I don’t know why I made this whole scenario. I swear it doesn’t actually bug me in the grand scheme of things. 😂)

[dustedmagazine]

Listening Post: Wire — Not About to Die

In the late 1970s, Wire invented a certain variety of art punk—short, rhythmic, minimalist, melodic and smart. The band’s first three albums, Pink Flag in 1977, Chairs Missing in 1978 and 154 in 1979, set a template for a whole generation of 1980s bands: the Feelies, R.E.M., Sonic Youth, the Wipers, Mission of Burma, the Minutemen and others. Their brash, engaging aesthetic continues to reverberate through rock and pop—Jay Reatard, Franz Ferdinand, Shopping, the Woolen Men and a hundred others all sound like they spent time listening to the first Wire albums.

Wire itself moved on briskly from this early salvo, refusing to play early material (relegating that role, on one tour, to a cover band called Ex Lion Tamers) from 1985 forward and moving instead into a synth-y, dance-y phase.

Perhaps because they were so insistent on leaving the past behind them, Wire spent years resisting a release of the material now on Not About to Die, a collection of demos and alternate versions of songs from Chairs Missing and 154, as well as other tunes that never got an official pressing. Cassette copies circulated unofficially, and in the early 1980s, Amnesia Records released a bootleg version despite the band’s objections.

The demos are rough sketches, made without much attention to production and further damaged by several generations of tape-to-tape copying. But while no one would mistake this material for an official Wire release, it provides fascinating insight on Wire’s creative process. Early versions of “French Film (Blurred),” “Used To,” and “Being Sucked in Again,” document the development of Chairs Missing, while prototypes for “Once Is Enough,” “On Returning” and “Two People in a Room” hint at the rough beginnings of 154.  “The Other Window,” blown out on 154 into a baroque space opera, is here a galloping, punk song.

The whole enterprise sheds light on a period when Wire was reinventing itself—not the only time but a significant one—and the way their songs changed as their ideas about what they were doing changed. It’s also a lot of fun, and if you like the earliest Wire best, it’ll make you happy in the most basic way.

Jennifer Kelly

Jonathan Shaw:  A university girlfriend gave me Chairs Missing in 1990. I knew about the synthy Wire, which was my only schema for them. The one-two punch of "Practice Makes Perfect" and "French Film Blurred" completely knocked me out, still one of my favorite two-song sequences in music. Canonical in my post-punk imaginary. So the version of "French Film Blurred" here really threw me. As someone who has never made music, I always sort of know that songs get wood-shopped, worked over. And the guys in Wire had very specific ideas of themselves as a band, so one can imagine the journey from initial concept or melody to final version could be really long. But man, that's a very different song, and an interesting glimpse into the band's process.

Ian Mathers: Personally, my favorite of their opening trilogy (and still just my favorite Wire album) is 154. The weird, often kind of mannered energy of that record (the reason I love it!) isn't really found here, even on versions of those songs, but that's not a complaint. I'm most struck by the way that, if I didn't know most of these songs already, I'd be quite willing to believe this was just an early Wire album, and a good one. It might be the use of 'demo' throwing me off a little —  reviewing the Pavement Terror Twilight reissue I listened to a lot of demos, but those were much chintzier efforts intended by the songwriter to show the rest of the band what the song sounds like. These demos feel more like Wire are at least considering the idea that any of these could be basically the final songs. If anything they feel more like the different takes on the Stooges' Fun House box than a lot of more recent demos I've heard.

I guess at least some of the material here was included on the previously released Behind the Curtain comp, but maybe because that's less focused (31 tracks in I think a bit over an hour, versus 18 tracks in a little under 40 minutes) I could never get into them there, whereas I've been listening to Not About to Die a lot, and enjoying it. Something like "Chairs Missing (Used To)" is an example of a demo for one of my favorite Wire songs that's both different and lacking a lot of what I specifically love about the LP version of that song, and yet I love this one too. And then stuff like "Stalemate" just feels like a lost gem. I came into this interested to hear this record and expecting to find things of interest, but already I'm thinking this is just getting added to my regular collection, which I didn't necessarily expect.

Tim Clarke: Like Ian, 154 is my favorite Wire, so on initial listens, the hard-edged punk energy of the opening run of songs on this collection threw me a bit. I've never been that attracted to the fast and loud aesthetics of punk, but what's really striking with Wire is how tight they were as a band during this era, even when throwing together demos. Admittedly, part of the magic comes from what they brought to the songs in the studio, but there was clearly chemistry within the band that came from just playing together in a room.

Jonathan Shaw: Fast and loud is where most of my listening is located, so my surprise at the record's relative polish is inflected differently. I also come at demo recordings with other contexts for how the form functions. There's a long tradition of public-facing demos in heavy music, stuff that's recorded for large(ish) audiences by bands that haven't yet been signed, stuff recorded by signed bands that's issued outside of labels' releases. Those tend to be rough and raw by design, a sort of marker of the music's authenticity. That's a fraught term in punk — always has been: see the venom associated with scene "posers" in the 1980s. It's even more fraught when listening to a band with such sharp attitudes about Art. Still, I share Tim's enjoyment of the sense of the band "just playing together in a room." Wire's music is not famed for its warmth, but these recordings have a sort of warm immediacy that's appealing. 

Jennifer Kelly:  I was just A/Bing "French Film (Blurred)," and it's a really striking transition.  The demo version is loose and live sounding, sort of barked out vocally, with those really serrated, punk rock guitars, not that far off from the Buzzcocks or the Clash.  The one on 154 tamps the vocals down to an ominous whisper (and gets it way more under control pitch-wise), while bringing the guitar and bass up and sharpening them up.  There are some close harmonies in the chorus, where in the earlier version they could barely get the right notes on one vocal line.  It's just so much more carefully coiffed, at once odder and more pop sounding.  And having said all that, I like them both, and I maybe like the demo a little better.  

Bryon Hayes:  I was doing this as well with "The Other Window," as on my first listen through of the demos, I didn't know what song I was actually listening to.  The demo is a chugging guitar rave-up with actual sung vocals that could easily have fit in on Pink Flag.  Had I heard this version before the one on 154, with its underwater guitars and spoken word, I might have thought that the latter was actually someone like Bauhaus covering Wire.  I know that this is anachronistic, since the "Bela Lugosi's Dead" single came out the same year as 154, but I think this is also more evidence of Wire having a major influence on such a diverse array of bands and musicians.  Even more evidence: my introduction to the band was actually through Flying Saucer Attack's cover of "Outdoor Miner."

Jennifer Kelly:  Anyone want to share early live Wire experiences? I don't have any, but I bet someone does.

Bill Meyer:  I believe that Wire did a tour of the USA with Roxy Music in the late 1970s, but I didn't see it. My first encounter was in 1980, when I went to Wherehouse Records in East Lansing with a request for guidance. I'd just picked up XTC's Drums and Wires and dug it, so I wanted to hear some more new wave sounds. I was directed to 154, which was a bit of a mind-blower for me. I worked my way back over the next couple years, picking up Pink Flag and Chairs Missing, and I also enthusiastically embraced Colin Newman's solo albums. My first impression of the demo recordings under consideration is that they lack the precision and conscious preference to take roads less traveled that made Wire's albums so powerful. I suspect that part of the Wire recording process in the 1970s was to take their songs and figure out what about them sounded like someone else. Those parts had to go. 

I didn't get to see Wire live until 1987, when they came to town in support of Snakedrill and Ideal Copy. They weren't playing anything earlier than "Drill," but they did have the ex-Lion Tamers on hand to play Pink Flag straight through. I remember being amused by the open act (who were very accurate), and very impressed by the spareness of Robert Gotobed's drum it - one hi-hat, one snare, and a bass drum with a garbage can lid nestled inside. I was also very impressed with the rhythms he played using that set-up. The band's sound was pretty streamlined, but "Drill" had real teeth live. Oh, back then Graham Lewis had a rather impressive mullet, which in combination with his fierce faced delivery made him look a bit like Frankenstein's monster.

Jonathan Shaw:  I have never been in the room with the band, but this set from German television in 1979 is pretty great. It was released as a CD/DVD bundle a number of years ago. Likely my favorite Wire music.

Tim Clarke:  Comparing 154 opener "I Should Have Known Better" with its demo version here (entitled "Ignorance No Plea") demonstrates how restraint and subtle changes in tempo can transform the feeling of a song. In its demo form, it starts off slower than the album version, dragging its heels, then picks up speed and introduces plenty of cymbals that swallow up the high end. The demo works fine as a standalone song, and it's not massively different to its final form. However, they reined in the sense of release that comes from the demo's second half and introduced eerie reverb, crafting the song into a more effective album opener.

Likewise, the production on the album version of "Two People in a Room" really dials up the huge snare sound and the dissonance between the guitars and bass. The demo almost has a rockabilly feel, plus that distracting phaser effect on the guitars. Wire really knew how to pare songs back to essentials in order to maximize their impact.

Bill Meyer:  The differences between the demo and final  versions of “Chairs Missing (Used To)”  are, I think really informative. Jonathan used the word “warmer” to describe the demo editions, and I do think that the added electronic sounds and more restrained vocal of the final edition result in a decidedly chillier sound. I’m also intrigued that the demo has such an elaborate vocal arrangement; this was not a dashed-off performance, and they threw out some elaborate work to get to the song to its end form. 

“Being Sucked In Again,” on the other hand, wasn’t drastically changed at all. The modifications are mostly a matter of tweaking gestures to make them stick out a bit more.

Jonathan Shaw:  The opening seconds of the demo version of "Used To" sounds like a blues shuffle. I almost expected ol' Keef Richards to start riffing over it. Like Bill, I'm struck by the experimenting with vocal arrangement--wonder if "5th demo" indicates a number on a tape reel or the fifth version of the song. I think the former is more likely, but the band must have worked hard on many of these songs.

The version of "I Should Have Known Better" here isn't so radically different from the 154 version, but the demo has some serious 1977 punk attitude. Strongly prefer it.

Ian Mathers:  Funnily enough, the Flying Saucer Attack cover of "Outdoor Miner" was also MY introduction to Wire!

I hadn't done many A/B comparisons before reading about the ones mentioned here, and it's been really interesting! Something like "Options R" is a case where the demo sounds so great and so... finished, I might have thought they didn't really change it unless I compared. The actual b-side version is largely the same, possibly a slightly less winning performance. But the slight vocal distortion and the way they turn the sort-of guitar solo near the end into this shimmering, serrated thing is another example of those small, distinguishing touches that really makes the finished versions worthwhile in their own right (compared to such strong demos, I mean). 

I'd seen the Wire on the Box video Jonathan shared before, and love it - one of my favorites from them as well. I wasn't able to see them live in person until even later than Bill, on the tour for the first Read & Burn EP. They did not have any Ex-Lion Tamer equivalent with them, I think may have just played one older song, during the encore (sadly it's not up on setlist.fm and I didn't take any notes back then!), and was one of the louder shows I've ever seen. I definitely heard some fans lamenting the lack of earlier material, but honestly they played with such ferocity I respected the not-looking-back gesture.

Jennifer Kelly:  In addition to alternate versions, there are a few cuts here that never made a proper Wire album.  I'm liking "Culture Vultures," for instance, which was recorded on a Peel Sessions, but never for a studio album.  

As was often the case, Peel got something especially visceral out of the band.  

Bryon Hayes:  I'm really liking "Underwater Experiences".  This track wound up on Document and Eyewitness and the more recent 10:20 collection, but in a sped up and aggressive format.  The version on Not About to Die is such a slow burner, you can feel the aggression building but it doesn't really burst until that last line, "to free my mind and break my neck".  Priceless!!

Bill Meyer:  Ian, that Read & Burn tour really drew me back in. As Wire’s music got more ponderous and less rhythmically interesting in the latter part of the late 1980s-early 1990s run, I grew very disenchanted. When they did the tour in the late 1990s where they finally played all the old tunes, I just didn’t want to know, and I sat it out; it seemed antithetical to their concept as a project in perpetual progress, and given what the Wire album had sounded like, I didn’t trust their judgment. But then I heard a promo of the first Read & Burn EP, I liked it, and decided to see the tour. The short, ferocious, and (yes, very) loud set of new material made it clear that I was wrong to write them off. The Read & Burn/Send era still really holds up for me.  

Jonathan Shaw:  Speaking of short and ferocious: I really like the way the recording quality gives some of the playing such an immediate snap. The opening seconds of "Stalemate," for example, in which the action of the strings feels so taught and sharp; or Gotobed's crazy, tight rhythmic structures in "Stepping Off Too Quick (Not about to Die)." The undercurrent of anxious tension is just about palpable. I've often found that really engaging on some of the classic records we've been discussing. "I Feel Mysterious Today" is a batshit song--as insanely paranoid as it is playful. That weird, psychologically inflected quality feels especially present in the playing on these demo tunes. So sharply attuned, so beset by nervous intensity. It's not the most pleasant thing to tune in to, but feels very much in tune with that thing we call post-punk.

Chris Liberato: The Read & Burn EPs and Send have held up for me as well, Bill. Those are good records. As for the songs on Not About To Die that didn’t make it onto a Wire album, I don’t think anyone’s mentioned “Oh No Not So (Save The Bullet)” yet. That one really threw me off on first listen; It’s so bouncy and jangly and generally un-Wire-like that I thought I was listening to a different band the first time I heard it. I had burned Not About to Die onto a CD-R (I know, I know) to play during a road trip and had it sequenced to follow a bunch of Neutrals’ music. When the Neutrals portion of the disc ended and “Oh No Not So” started, the two blended so well that my brain didn’t register that I listening to Wire until the chorus hit and just enough of Newman’s chilliness came through that it finally clicked.“It’s The Motive” is probably my favorite of the songs that didn’t appear on an album, though. I hadn’t thought about the similarities between Wire and The Feelies before Jenny mentioned it in the introduction, but Gotobed’s fills on that one definitely bring them to mind, as does the skittery guitar work and rhythm on tracks like “Once Is Enough.”

[dylan-hayes]

How Kimberly Clark's Unconventional Testing Strategy is Raising the Bar for Diapers and Training Pants

News Anchor: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to " " Insight Hour," where we bring you the latest news and insights from around the nation. Tonight, we have a special guest with us from Kimberly Clark, a leading name in personal care products. Please welcome Ms. Jessica Rodriguez.

Jessica Rodriguez: Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

News Anchor: Ms. Rodriguez, Kimberly Clark's new line of disposable diapers and training pants has been causing quite a buzz, with an astounding 90% of parents choosing these products over their competitors. Market surveys also found that even current parents that are currently happy with their current brand have even considered making a switch! All reviews from parents, especially new parents love that your diapers hold up all night, are blow out proof, and are great for sensitive skin. Could you tell our viewers a bit more about how the company ensures the quality of these absolutely phenomenal products?

Jessica Rodriguez: Absolutely. At Kimberly Clark, our primary focus is always on the safety and satisfaction of our customers, especially the parents and their little ones. To ensure the highest quality and performance of our diapers and training pants, we have an extensive testing process.

News Anchor: That sounds intriguing. Could you give us some insights into how these tests are conducted?

Jessica Rodriguez: Of course. One unique approach we take is to scale a small batch of new and current products to adult sizes and have adults test them instead of infants or children. This might sound a bit unusual, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Adults can provide valuable feedback on comfort, fit, and overall performance, which helps us identify any potential issues or improvements that need to be made. We also tend to do quality assurance tests quarterly with our current product lines to ensure that the factories producing our product meet our high degree of quality.

News Anchor: That's quite an interesting strategy. So, by using adult testers, you gain more insights into the products' performance?

Jessica Rodriguez: Exactly. Adult testers give us more objective feedback since they can articulate their experience better than young children. It also allows us to avoid any potential risks or discomfort that children might face during testing. We want to be absolutely certain that our products are safe and reliable before they reach our consumers.

News Anchor: That's commendable. I can see how using adult testers can help improve the products even further. Could you tell us more about the feedback you receive from them and how it influences the final design?

Jessica Rodriguez: Absolutely. The feedback from our adult testers is incredibly valuable. They provide insights into the products' fit, absorption, and any potential leakage issues. They also help us identify any areas that may cause discomfort or irritation. This data, combined with feedback from our team of experts, is meticulously analyzed, leading to continuous improvements in our diaper and training pant designs.

News Anchor: It's impressive to see such dedication to product improvement. Finally, Ms. Rodriguez, how do you assure parents that the adult testers' experiences truly reflect what their little ones will experience?

Jessica Rodriguez: It's a great question, and one we take very seriously. While adult testers give us crucial insights, we consider the need for a controlled environment. So naturally we also conduct extensive trials with adults in simulated infant /childhood settings. This approach ensures that the final products are not only safe and effective but also meet the needs and expectations of our young customers and their parents.

News Anchor: Thank you for clarifying that, Ms. Rodriguez. It's evident that Kimberly Clark's commitment to safety and quality drives your product development process. We appreciate you joining us today to share these fascinating insights.

Jessica Rodriguez: Thank you for having me. It was my pleasure to shed light on our testing processes. If there are any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

News Anchor: I'm sure our viewers are now well-informed about Kimberly Clark's approach to product testing. Once again, thank you, Ms. Rodriguez, for your time and valuable information.

Jessica Rodriguez: Thank you and have a wonderful evening.

[aceouttatime]

5, 10, and 20 for Sylvan please :3

Good evening, smallcomfycat. I believe I've already answered a couple of your questions, but I suppose it can't hurt to indulge you just once more. That is unless these happen to be more on the personal side, in which case, it may--my poor mind can take no more punishment.

Give me a moment to read through that damned list...

Upon further review, I don't have any particular qualms with any of these besides number ten, but I sign up for this hell, so I can't necessarily deny you an answer. Though, I do have a question for you--what could have possibly caused you to want to know my nightly habits? Is the manner in which I brush my teeth just absolutely riveting to you?

I should have been more adamant with my work partner, Tamia, about wanting nothing to do with this little interview game. Alas, I was bribed.

5. Do you have any role models? Tell us a little bit about them.

Role models? I see. Well, a select few professors from back when I attended college stuck out to me. I have a couple now, as well--my direct superior, Col. Strasse, has excellent management skills and was the driving factor in my promotion to the...challenging disappearance case I'm working on at the moment. Not many as young as I can boast the credentials I have already. It really was in her best interest to pull me from the masses; thank god she recognized my potential.

My grandfather on my father's side was a noteworthy individual in his prime as well. Theodore Okeanoú was the son of a lower-class immigrant couple, and, despite the unforgiving events of his childhood, he found success through hard work and endurance. He attended the same undergraduate school I did and went on to do investigatory work for the FBI.

I wish I'd gotten to meet him.

10. What’s your biggest goal? How do you hope to achieve this?

My biggest goal is to take Strasse's job. Hah, I'm only kidding. Mostly.

In my opinion, the 'biggest goal' is a broad question. In life? In my career? Morally? Physically? Specify next time, would you? I'll just go with life, as it's probably what you're getting at, considering most of these questions are posed to destroy my ego.

I want to find contentment. I often wonder if living my life for my career is something worthwhile, but I continue to circle back to doing so anyhow. I don't have a family to provide for nor a partner (not that either of those are a necessity). The only hobbies outside of work I regularly attend to are reading, gardening, and caring for my cat, Archie. I don't need a gaggle of friends, but an emptiness still plagues me somehow.

I'd like to know what it is I'm missing and if there is more to life than the mundanity of my day-to-day. I want a reprieve from the turmoil fogging my mind. Maybe progressing in the Gaelis case will bring me lasting comfort. Maybe not. But what is my life if not a series of trials?

20. Describe your nighttime routine.

After I return from work--if I do, that is--I make the last few calls and send the last few emails I need to before I can put it all aside. Then I take a few moments to give Archie his much-needed attention. He's such a pampered little fellow, but he's the most intelligent cat I've ever met.

Once I came home to him sitting on the windowsill with nothing separating him from the outside but the flimsy screen. How he opens the glass bit without opposable thumbs will forever remain a mystery to me, but every now and again, I find him in that same spot. And when he's not there, sometimes I'll find a few bits of coppery fur marking his spot.

Orange cats. There's something about them that just exudes oddity.

I take great care of my appearance and cleanliness, so I shower or bathe, if time allows, as soon as possible. My hair has been long for years, and I've developed a precise routine of applying certain products to keep it healthy. I've gotten quick about it over the years.

After that, I fix dinner for Arch and me. Sometimes Tamia stops over, but most nights, it's just the two of us and a bottle of red wine. I'm no cook, but I can make a decent veggie stir-fry. My little sister was more artful in that department.

Then I settle down with a book on the balcony if the weather's nice. It's a high-rise, my apartment, and the view on clear days is stunning. The sunset almost masks the commotion of this terrible city.

I don't end up falling asleep until late in the night, most nights. My thoughts keep me up.

That's about all I can say about my evenings.

Thank you, I suppose, for the host of asks. Sleep well.

Lt. Sylvan Okeanoú

[thatshitkrejci]

I do not entertain thoughts of a One Direction reunion; I feel hysterical when I take the premise seriously and then deflate when I consider whether I would have fun seeing Louis and Liam in concert these days. I’ve made my peace with the unique moment that was following 1d, culminating in the release of their final album, Made In The A.M. (MITAM), in November 2015.

1d is fun pop music. From a critical perspective, the vocals are strong to middling (sorry Up All Night and Take Me Home era Niall and Louis), and the instrumentation is rarely interesting or challenging. It’s hooky radio-pop, and if you let it sweep you up you’ll find yourself driving with your best friends, car windows down, shrieking “it’s gotta be yooooooououoUOOUUUUUU.”

1d entered an “indefinite hiatus” eight years ago. Since that time, the back half of MITAM has been my favorite run of 1d songs to revisit. I think many of these songs are their best. Some may argue these songs cannot be their strongest because Zayn isn’t involved. The truth is, MITAM includes the most cohesive sound and technical chops of any 1d album; it benefits from the band’s years of experience as artists and increased creative control over writing and production. With a run time of 58 minutes it is too long, which is perhaps why I prefer to revisit its last 10 songs and not the first 7.

But this isn’t meant to be a retrospective album review. What I’ve been thinking about is the feeling of hearing new music from a band for what you are certain is the last time. Knowing the band was ending made many lyrics from MITAM feel too literal (oh, why you’re wearing that to walk out of my life?) as the band crooned about loving you goodbye and giving it to you one last time.

When I hear the last ten songs off MITAM, I tap into the emotions I felt when I first listened. The end of the album takes you on a journey through acts of nature, longing, and demographic-appropriate lustiness. It’s a frenzied finish about holding on, wishing you didn’t have to go, and promising to find each other in the next life. It’s easy to imagine them writing this album about the end of your own relationship with Liam, Harry, Niall, and Louis (and maybe Zayn too, depending on how much you’d processed his exit months prior).

The lyrics of Walking In the Wind felt insane in context. How else am I expected to take a wistful song about missing what you had but knowing you’ll always have memories of the good times?

You can insert yourself as the main character of any 1d album with countless songs about desperate love and broken hearts. But these songs felt personal and pointed to me. At the time of its release, I could not help but read them as both a goodbye to the band and to the band’s relationship with its fans.

You know I’m always gonna look for your face. You can call me if you need me. We could live forever. It’s never enough.

Last First Listen: Reflections on One Direction's final album (formatted version)

[badedramay]

tentatively excited for jannat se aagay because i think its premise looks Just different enough for it to be semi-interesting but im pretty much all in for Mein as of rn lol.. i think ayeza is a genuinely good actress with star power who gets relegated to the same roles all the time so this darkish glamorous tone has me so intrigued.... Not really a wahaj fan but i think their chemistry was chemistrying enough that if they actually do go the morally grey route for ayeza i'll watch.

also i saw you ask for green tv recs and i don't wanna be one of those people that says ALL OF THEM bc how counter-productive so here's some base-level reviews for the ones i've watched: tumhare husn ke naam is a classic romance that i think earns the 90s drama comparisons. very sweet so far but i think its most unique aspect is that this is the first time since mera naam yousuf hai probably that ive been endeared to an imran abbas character lol. jeevan nagar is really funny and rabia butt is a gem i'm very excited for her career but tonally it's something i have a hard time getting into.. reminds me of old pakistani skit shows but elevated to a certain level. kabli pulao i actually haven't seen which is blasphemous but the premise didn't intrigue me at all... might give it a chance for nadia afghan. 101 talaqain has an interesting story but i couldnt continue it because the direction was choppy and contrived. idiot suffers from a lack of defined secondary characters but the main two are very very endearing and well-acted so its like... if youre willing to sacrifice your time watching ahmed ali akbar and mansha pasha play the main couple from 3 idiots. finally, i think 22 qadam might be my favorite? its directed well and the storyline is actually intriguing so far even though from the teasers i was worried about how they were gonna do the cricket stuff (they managed it well). couldn't tell you about the romance bc there's been one interaction at the point im at but hareem CARRRRRIES and wahaj actually plays charismatic foil pretty well. sorry these are all just rambles but i hope u have a great day <3

I don't think Ayeza gets relegated to the same roles though? she tries to switch it up whenever she can. of course her "damsel in distress" roles outnumber her other characters but she has given a success in Meenu (a bubbly character) and in Mere Pass Tum Ho and Yaariyan (negative characters). Laapata toh had her playing a bubbly, negative-ish character. she definitely has the range and she looks terrific onscreen. even more so since she has started taking charge of the styling of her characters. her wardrobe in Mein looks ek dum GORGEOUS I just know Imma be salivating on her looks alot. Wahaj-Ayeza chemistry..idk..haven't been WOWed by it yet but i am hoping the drama itself will change that perspective.

thank you for the rundown about Green Ent's shows! i still haven't gotten the time or frankly even the inclination of checking out any of these. I read multiple complains about the channel's shows' having techincal issues that overall impacted the quality of the shows and honestly that has me hesitating in checking them out. alsoooo...maybe it's just me but there's something a little "off" about all of the dramas either the casting or the kind of stories that are telling that just doesn't pique my interest? i am not writing the channel or the content off entirely..i hope it will offer me something in the future that will have me taking this channel seriously but so far, I am far more concerned about shows that happen on the Big 3 channels of PakTV and am treating Green as just a beta version of a channel that needs time and continuous tinkering to work out its chinks before I consider it ready as a channel to be invested in.

[edharrisdaily]

Just This Guy: Ed Harris on Being in His Body and Relaxing Into the Moment

Actor Ed Harris talks about the masculinity on display in Get Away If You Can, being “the thinking woman’s sex symbol” and paying attention to your life.

The word “legend” gets bandied about to the point where it’s lost a bit of its meaning, but there are still some people who unquestionably fit that bill—and I, for one, consider Ed Harris legendary in the acting sphere. After working his way to star athlete in high school, the New Jersey native discovered his love for acting through local theater productions before moving to Los Angeles and graduating from the California Institute of the Arts.

His first feature film role was as “Pathology Resident #2” in Michael Crichton’s 1978 thriller Coma, but named roles were soon on the horizon. After breaking out as John Glenn in The Right Stuff five years later, Harris cemented himself as an instantly recognizable face for the next four decades.

Even a brief appearance in the opening scenes of this year’s biggest cinematic event, Top Gun: Maverick, makes a mark specifically because that’s not just anyone playing Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain, that‘s Ed fucking Harris. People have a certain way they expect a Harris character to be, and the four-time Oscar nominee is able to use that to his advantage both by playing into it and by subverting expectations when he chooses.

Search “Ed Harris” on Letterboxd reviews and you discover that there can never be enough Ed Harris, that the actor can make anything watchable. “When Ed Harris is on screen I think to myself ‘Yes’. When Ed Harris isn’t on screen I think to myself ‘No’,” writes Juhana. Important questions arise, like “Why don’t more people talk about Ed Harris?,” or a particularly troubling dilemma from Rachel, whose review of Enemy at the Gates queries, “Weirdly rooting for the Nazi villain played by Ed Harris. Why am I always wanting Ed Harris villains to succeed? The Truman Show? Westworld? Am I actually an Ed Harris stan?”

Yes, Rachel, we are all Ed Harris stans, because, as Mason insists, “the roles that Ed Harris plays can only be played by Ed Harris.” Even the most pessimistic of us can’t resist his charms, such as Todd, who states, “Kids suck. Teenagers suck. Adults suck. But Ed Harris, Ed Harris does not suck.” Perhaps it’s Ethan who best captures the feeling Harris gives us all, as his Snowpiercer review keeps it nice and simple: “Ed Harris!”

You’ve got to get out of your own f—king shit sometimes. A lot of people don’t.

—⁠Ed Harris

While more people certainly need to talk about Ed Harris, I recently had the chance to talk to Ed Harris, as he jumped on the line to discuss his latest feature, Get Away If You Can. Written and directed by Terrence Martin and Dominique Brun, the real-life married couple also star in the film as TJ and Domi, whose relationship might have hit a breaking point. They embark on an open-ocean sail to try and reignite their spark, while flashbacks show how they got to this point. Those include glimpses of their relationship with TJ’s father Alan (Ed Harris), an intimidating chauvinist who clashes hard with Domi’s progressive views of the world and insists his son must assert his dominance as a man in the marriage.

Harris chatted about that very nature of manliness, how his own relationship with that identity has shifted over the years, and the most interesting roles he has taken across his vast impressive career.

Terrence Martin talked about first meeting you at the Oscars some years back when he was a page. What’s been your impression of him and how did that initial meeting evolve into you eventually taking part in Get Away If You Can? Ed Harris: Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t really recall that first meeting. I imagine it’s because I haven’t been to the Oscars for quite a while. But yeah, he contacted me after that, about five years ago, and asked if I would take a look at the footage they’d shot, him and Domi. I looked at it and was really impressed with the fact that they even shot it because it was out on the open seas—off the coast of Chile, I believe.

He told me about the story and gave me the script, said he wanted me to play his father, and I was really impressed with their commitment—the fact that they had shot that footage maybe two years prior to that. They were just determined to make this film, and I knew that if I lent my name to it, it’d probably help a little bit in terms of them getting the funds to finish it. So I said, “Sure, I’ll do that.” I like TJ and I like Domi. I think they are very much in love and a really nice couple.

It’s clearly a passion project of theirs, something they’ve been pushing years to make happen. Is that drive something you found yourself relating to? I know it took you something like a decade to get your directing debut Pollock made. Yeah, very much so. The part that I played, it’s not a part that I would normally be excited about doing, and I was very willing to do it because it helped those guys finish their dream project. And I actually had a good time filming it, we got along great. I haven’t seen the finished project yet, but I’m looking forward to watching it.

A lot of your character’s presence is focused on that relationship with his son, and this pressure he’s putting on him to be “a real man.” Whenever I think of that notion of a man, I think about your former co-star Gene Hackman, who has such a manly presence but would often speak about how real men are ones who are not afraid of their femininity and their vulnerability. What does being a man mean to you? Most of all, I think it means paying attention to your life and not getting sucked into a kind of pressure that is put on a lot of American men to be macho, to be this, to be that. Life is not something that you figure out when you’re 25 years old. I’m 71 now and still learning—still trying to be a better person. I think any man or woman, their job is to keep going as a human being and expanding their mind, keeping your heart open and learning about yourself and the people you love, and being a tolerant, caring individual. We all have many sides to bounce through, and I know it’s important to not deny any of those sides that come.

Did becoming a father have an impact on your interpretation of that role? For sure. When [my daughter] Lily was born, it changed things. You wake up and the first person you think about is not yourself, which is nice, but what really helped out was Amy [Madigan]. I’ve been married to her for 39 years, come this November. When we were first together, I was not someone who knew what it meant to be open with your feelings. She used to say, “You got to talk to me, you got to tell me what's going on. How are you feeling?” I said, “What do you mean? Don’t you just know how I feel?” That was a lot for me, and it took a long time for me to really be able to be a true partner with her. You’ve got to get out of your own f—king shit sometimes. A lot of people don’t.

I was reading this interview where you were asked, “If you could give your younger self some advice, what would it be?” And your answer was basically to relax because you get a little bit too intense sometimes. How are you dealing with that intensity these days? Are you feeling more mellowed out? Not as an actor, but definitely as a human being, you know what I mean? The last couple jobs I’ve had—a couple of indie films, one with Lily Rabe and this thing I just finished with Kristen Stewart—I’ve been feeling very relaxed. Just within my body as an actor, I’ve been feeling really comfortable in front of the camera—very unconscious of the camera, and really just being able to see the way I’m working with myself. I always felt that way, but I’ve been feeling even more present lately. It’s good.

If I had a full head of hair, and had a full head of hair my entire life, I’d probably be a completely different person, to tell you the truth.

—⁠Ed Harris

You’ve said before that you don’t think you get the credit you deserve for being bald and playing parts in films meant for people with hair. Could you elaborate on that uniqueness of being a leading actor in Hollywood who’s unafraid to be bald in a world that often resists that natural evolution? Nowadays, it’s nothing. There’s all kinds of people that are playing major roles and starring roles that don’t have any hair or have shaved their head or whatever. 30 years ago I didn’t have hair, and I haven’t had hair on top of my head for quite a long time. I don’t necessarily need any credit for that. It was a fact. If I had a full head of hair, and had a full head of hair my entire life, I’d probably be a completely different person, to tell you the truth. My career probably would have benefited, but I don’t know that possible timeline because that’s not where I’m at. [Laughs] You should see me now, man. I got hair down the middle of my back. I got these extensions for this thing I just did, it’s a lot.

[Laughs] I’m looking forward to seeing that. I read an article that described you as “the thinking woman’s sex symbol,” which I can attest to because when I told my mom I was interviewing you she shrieked like I’ve never heard her shriek before and said she had chills because you’re a huge crush of hers. [Laughs] Wow!

So, Ed Harris, how does it feel to be the thinking woman’s sex symbol? I think it just means that I’ve been the most sensitive guy. I’m in touch with my own feelings, and I’m pretty aware of how other people are doing and feeling. I think I’m really insightful about where other people are coming from, and if that makes me a thinking woman’s whatever then I guess yeah, I don’t know.

When I read that, it made me think of your performance in The Lost Daughter, which is so gentle. You initially weren’t interested in that film, but it was your wife Amy who convinced you to take the part. What was your initial reluctance there and how did she manage to turn you around? I just didn’t find the man very interesting. I was like, “Oh, he’s just kind of there,” you know? And it was more about the film itself. When Amy read it, she said, “This is a great film. This is really about something, especially from a woman’s perspective.” So I read it again, trying to read it from a different perspective, and I got what she was saying. Then, when I was actually doing it, especially working with the people I was working with, it was really rewarding. When I was talking about feeling more relaxed, that film was a revelation to me in the sense that I did it very relaxed. I was just this guy, you know? He was just this fella.

One film that I’d be remiss not to bring up is The Truman Show, which is one of the most popular films on Letterboxd. Your involvement with it is really interesting, in that you came on late after they had already started filming, replacing Dennis Hopper in your role, and you really made it something special. Is that one you look back on fondly now, with that same reverence so many people have for it? I love working with Peter Weir because he’s very thorough. He has a vision and he pays attention to every little detail. When he asked me to do that, I only had a couple of days before I started filming. In a way, I was glad about this. I didn’t have a lot of time to tie myself up in knots about what I was going to try and prove. I just had to come up with an idea and work with Peter on it. And yeah, the film—I mean, talk about a pretty prescient film in terms of what’s happening today. I have fond memories of it, yeah. I didn’t really work with Jim [Carrey] one-on-one, but I got to know him a little bit. I like Jim a lot.

Similar to Get Away If You Can, that’s a film that’s very much about escape and despite its dark themes it’s turned into a big comfort film for a lot of people. Do you have any films that you return to time and time again when you’re looking for a retreat from the world? To be perfectly honest, no I don’t. Nothing comes to mind. Well, actually, one would be Ryan’s Daughter. There’s something about that movie. It’s always enchanted me, and it’s definitely soothing to my soul, watching that movie. I think a lot of it has to do with where it was shot. It’s just so beautiful, you know?

If watching films isn’t usually the go-to comfort activity for you, what is it that you like to do that helps you escape from it all and reconnect with the beauty of the world? I do enjoy being in nature. I enjoy manual labor. I’ve got a few acres where I live and there’s always something to do. I find that it’s very therapeutic for me to just work with my body, my hands, my legs, my head—figuring things out. It keeps you very much in the moment, and that’s helpful to me. I do have a tendency to get ahead of myself sometimes. It’s nice to just pull back and concentrate on what you’re doing at the moment.

Yeah, I’ve really been trying to push myself to be better about going and taking a walk outside for like an hour every day. Just getting away from screens. Yeah, and if you’re out there in nature, in the woods, and you just stand still for a while, all kinds of things start happening.

I wanted to bring up the Alex Cox film Walker, which just had a gorgeous new release from The Criterion Collection. It’s an incredible film, and reading through the backstory of it, that sounds like such a complicated shoot down in Nicaragua. Was the filming experience of that one as chaotic as it seems? I don’t know about chaotic, but it was a bit surreal on some level, I suppose. The Contra War was actually going on at that time. Nicaragua is still a very poor country, and here we were—we were getting help from the Sandinistas in terms of labor and lumber and all kinds of things. I have fond memories of that movie. It’s a crazy, wild movie but I was totally into it. I was totally into it, man, I was committed big time.

That’s my job; to find this character, play this character, and help this person’s vision come to life on the screen. I get excited to work with people that really want me to help them make their film come to life.

—⁠Ed Harris

It’s definitely one of those films that didn’t get the respect it deserved when it came out, but now people are starting to come back around to it and appreciate it a lot more. People didn’t quite get it at the time. Yeah, I think the anachronisms caught people up, for one thing. The story was actually pretty big news in 1855, but the Civil War came and people forgot about this guy who went down to Nicaragua and took over the country. I think it was at the request of Cornelius Vanderbilt, if I’m not mistaken, trying to connect the two oceans together down there in Nicaragua. But yeah, it didn’t help Alex’s career.

I haven’t talked to Alex in a while. I hope he’s still making movies. I know he made a couple things after that, but really Alex could be his own worst enemy. I think he alienated a lot of people because he had a certain attitude going on, and it was offensive at times. But I love to work with people that just have a vision and a strong thing working for them. Even if part of their brains are a little bit out there, I really like that.

I read that to help get into character, you led the entire cast through a ten-mile march through the countryside. I did, actually! And Miguel Sandoval and his wife were on that, and Miguel’s wife had been trying to get pregnant and she got pregnant soon after that. It opened up her whole body. It was hot, it was up and down on really dusty, dry hills. It was really scary. I remember that very well. Everybody was into it, they all followed me.

Would you say that’s the most intense thing you’ve done to prepare for a role? I don’t know, I spent so many years working on Pollock. That was probably the most involved that I ever was with any particular character in terms of really trying to inhabit the essence of someone. Walker’s up there with that though, I’ve got to say. I remember I lost a lot of weight. I was rationing myself to four Ritz crackers a day, among other stuff. There were certain things I was very disciplined about at that time. I met Marlee [Matlin] during that shoot. I learned ASL for a while. I have fond memories of working with her, she was something very special.

Is it true that on Pollock you had to be hospitalized for a bit due to the stress of working on it? After pre-production, yeah, which was really, really exhausting. I don’t remember how far we were into filming, but the scene I think when it’s his first show with Peggy Guggenheim and even in the shot you can see that I’m standing but I look like I’m about to fall over. I was just exhausted. I had to take a couple of days off. I totally ran out of gas.

When you’re taking on a project, how much of it is about finding the character you’re really excited about, and how much is about wanting to lend what you can bring to the overall film? Well, most of the time it’s about the character and who I’m going to be working with. And the script, of course. I mean, the script’s a bible and if the script doesn’t resonate with me, I’m not too interested. Then, when you talk to a director—whether it’s Agnieszka Holland or Peter Weir or Ron Howard or whoever it might be—directors who really have an intention and really have a specific vision about the movie and want you to help them realize that, I like that. That’s my job; to find this character, play this character, and help this person’s vision come to life on the screen. I get excited to work with people that really want me to help them make their film come to life.

[onewomancitadel]

Thats fair. It's understandable considering I'm no longer invested in the ending since I dropped the show, but it's not entirely a product of not caring about the ending. There are other shows that I love like One Piece for example where I'm immensely invested but also I'm not really concerned with the ending. Though maybe thats because One Piece emphasizes Journey > Destination due to primarily being about Adventure. Regardless I always appreciate your perspective. Thank you. -EmperorLuffy

I'm more certain of Cinder not dying, and even more certain of her redemption than ever before. I was reviewing KM Weiland's Book "Creating Character Arcs" and Cinder's final scenes in Atlas are all indicative of the phase in a positive change arc where a character at first rejects the truth they need in order to change. It's the part where the character moves closer to the thing that they want but as a result move even further away from what they need. -EmperorLuffy

The case for her redemption becomes even more solid when you consider her backstory. Not necessarily what its about but rather the fact that she got one in the first place. If shes just going to be killed off, then why give her a backstory at all? Adam didnt get a backstory Neither did Hazel Watts or Ironwood No one who died got a backstory but Cinders story is apparently so important they can devote an entire Season to it? Doesnt sound like a character thats meant to be killed off -EmperorLuffy

Sorry if I'm typing too much but my point was that they are very clearly doing something with Cinder that they are not doing with any other antagonist besides Salem. Thus it's only reasonable to conclude that Cinder's character story holds some sort of significance, as there wouldn't be a need to tell her story otherwise. There'd be no point in fleshing out her story if there were ultimately no meaning behind it and she was just meant to die. -EmperorLuffy

Hi EmperorLuffy, hope you're having a good day.

Sad to hear you dropped the show. Unfortunately for everybody I am very much here to stay. (Also no, you're not typing too much, I think it's pretty obvious I don't mind length around here). (:

I've no reference point for One Piece, and it's really not the sort of anime that interests me, but I can respect your taste.

I think you’re misunderstanding my point about endings. Endings aren’t arbitrary, they affirm the intent of the text. The point of Cinder's redemption is that not only is it just interesting but it also affirms and lines up with themes in the show - it's not too late to turn back, life isn't senseless tragedy, there is meaning in pain and joy... and because I love and adore Rose Tico, I think, 'It's not about fighting what we hate, but saving what we love,' is something I spy in R/WBY in particular.

Whilst I do broadly agree with you about Cinder's redemption, I've already written a lot on this topic and similarly commented on the special attention paid to her. For how economic they are with their storytelling (and the fairytale/mythic intertextuality is one way of doing this), they dedicated quite a bit to her in V8 alone.

I also wrote more here on Cinder versus Adam. That post covers a lot of what I think are critical errors in comparing Cinder to Adam. Similarly, my first post about Hazel covers issues with death-by-redemption and what the purposes are of a character like Hazel, in relation to Cinder especially, though the post is from October last year. And yes, I'm pretty sure Cinder's redemption is set up for Salem's, that's why the literal Salem/Ozma analogue with Jaune and Cinder is so potent.

I would agree that the conflict of desires and needs are very apparent with her character and I've also written about this before, it's the conflict inherent to what she thinks she wants out of the Maiden power (power, and all of them) versus what it could actually give her (spiritual and emotional development, true freedom and responsibility). The fact she's tricking her own master (the way Oscar tricked Ozma in V6) at the end of V8 should be significant enough on this front alone.

Here is an early post about what direction I think Cinder's redemption is taking at the end of V8. It's a bit older as well, and I might articulate it better now, but I would still compare the point her character is at as the same position Ironwood was in recomitting to good. (I think I was a bit impassioned in that post because the idea that Cinder was just going to be evil again and it was some sort of 'subverted' redemption arc was something I had been seeing around since the end of the volume).

From that post:

#a treatise on why cinder fall is the love of my life #cindemption #LOL! I DO WHAT I WANT!

Ok I guess I forget how much 'too much' I am.

Also, I'm not sure how it's possible to read Cinder's redemption (and her living) without Knightfall, so it's interesting that you don't think Knightfall will be canon but maintain Cinder's redemption is likely. Personally I think it's a wombo combo. I can't find where I've talked about this before but I think the point with Cinder is you need someone to get through to her, and the 'power of friendship' is clearly insufficient.

Anyway, I think the best point is that her death means the Maiden powers will be in question. As I've said so before, this doesn't make sense unless the Maiden powers are done away with, but even in that case it doesn't mean she has to die. I also think all the current Maidens except Summer are endgame, as I've said a few times... so there's a clear thematic statement being made with the powers, especially in relation to redemption, and also for something else I twigged, but that's going in a new post - I forgot to make it the other night when I went to sleep. It's more of a deliberate articulation of the themes of legacy.

Poor old Cinder. Everybody speculates over her death, for good or ill. I want to see her hatch a magnificently evil plan and succeed only to find the victory spiritually hollow. Oh wait!

[isocertification47india]

Navigating Halal Certification: A Guide for Halal Certification in Ireland Businesses / Uncategorized / By Factocert Mysore

Halal Certification in Ireland 

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However, navigating the intricacies of halal Certification in Ireland may be a complicated method. This entire guide explores certification in Ireland, outlining its significance, the certification method, and valuable property for groups looking for to go into the halal Certification in Ireland market.

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Cross-contamination:  Measures need to be taken to save you halal Certification in Ireland products from getting into contact with non-materials or utensils.

The Growing Significance of Halal Certification in Ireland

The Muslim population in regularly developing, growing a huge call for for halal Certification in Ireland merchandise. Irish corporations looking for to cater to this developing market segment can advantage from certification in severa techniques:

Increased Market Access:  Halal Certification in Ireland  allows organizations to faucet into the big worldwide marketplace, anticipated at over 1.Eight billion customers.

Enhanced Brand Reputation:  Certification demonstrates a strength of mind to respecting Islamic nutritional dreams, fostering bear in mind and emblem loyalty among Muslim clients.

Competitive Advantage:  In an an increasing number of competitive grocery maintain, halal Certification in Ireland can differentiate Irish services and products, attracting a much wider purchaser base.

The Halal Certification Process in Ireland

There is not any single, universally identified halal Certification in Ireland frame. However, severa right certification our bodies carry out the world over, with a few having a presence in Ireland or imparting a long manner off certification services. Here’s a simplified evaluation of the everyday certification technique:

Initial Inquiry:  Businesses interested by halal Certification in Ireland contact a certification body to recognize their specific necessities and techniques.

Facility Audit:  The certification body conducts an entire audit of the producing facility to evaluate compliance with halal Certification in Ireland necessities. This can also moreover moreover include inspections of device, garage regions, and slaughter techniques (if relevant).

Ingredient Review:  The certification body reviews the components carried out in products to make certain they’ll be halal Certification in Ireland-compliant. Suppliers’ certifications for components may be required.

Management System Review:  The certification body assesses the company commercial corporation enterprise’s manipulate tool for halal Certification in Ireland compliance, together with documentation, training strategies, and traceability measures.

Certification Issuance:  Following a a success audit, the certification body issues a halal Certification in Ireland to the agency corporation, authorizing them to reveal the emblem on their products.

Maintaining Halal Certification in Ireland

Maintaining halal Certification in Ireland requires ongoing strength of will from agencies. Regular audits with the useful resource of using using manner of the certification frame are critical to ensure persisted compliance with requirements. Additionally, agencies want to stay updated on any adjustments in suggestions or interpretations.

Resources for Irish Businesses Seeking Halal Certification in Ireland

Several belongings can beneficial beneficial useful useful resource Irish corporations on their adventure inside the route of halal Certification in Ireland:

The Halal Certification in Ireland Food Council of Ireland (HFCI):  A non-profits agency enterprise installation to promote the halal Certification in Ireland  meals organization in Ireland. The HFCI offers steering and belongings for corporations searching out certification.

Accredited Halal Certification in Ireland Bodies:  Several right worldwide halal Certification in Ireland our bodies function in Ireland or offer an prolonged manner flung certification offerings. Conducting studies to pick out a body prison thru a identified company organisation is essential.

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM):  The DAFM offers information on meals safety policies and may provide steerage on navigating the halal Certification in Ireland method.

Additional Considerations for Irish Businesses

Understanding Consumer Preferences:  While halal Certification in Ireland guarantees compliance with non secular guidelines, it is vital to understand the severa alternatives inside the Muslim customer base. Researching famous halal food tendencies and adapting product offerings therefore may be beneficial.

Marketing and Communication:  Once certified, effectively talking  credentials to reason audiences is vital. Utilizing trademarks on packaging, taking element in halal Certification in Ireland  alternate suggests, and attractive with Muslim companies can growth logo reputation.

Conclusion:  

By statistics the significance of  Certification in Ireland and navigating the certification way efficiently, Irish businesses can unfastened up new possibilities within the burgeoning global halal Certification in Ireland market. Catering to the developing Muslim purchaser base in Ireland and past can result in prolonged market percentage, brand popularity, and sustainable

Why Factocert for Halal Certification in Ireland

We provide the best ISO consultants Who are knowledgeable and provide the best solution. And to know how to get ISO certification. Kindly reach us at contact@factocert.com. work according to ISO standards and help organizations implement Halal certification in Ireland with proper documentation.

For more information, visit Halal  Certification in Ireland

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