#isaac is good. just not excellent despite his best attempts

[gbagamess]

The 30 Best GBA Games (Game Boy Advance) of All Time 2021

The 30 Best GBA Games (Game Boy Advance) of All Time 2021

1. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Icon of Zelda: The Minish Cover shirts our checklist for a variety of motives: Never-ending allure, fantastic overworld and dungeon layout, clever puzzles as well as wiser challenge aspects. The Minish Cap told the backstory of Vaati, the leading antagonist and important shape in A number of Swords. Right after Vaati petrified Princess Zelda, Hyperlink rescued a wonder sentient head wear using a bird go that, when donned, lets him get smaller into a minute dimensions just like the{Buzrush.com} Minish, the small beings who have did the trick tirelessly to aid take out darkness coming from the planet. The head wear, the game’s central quirk, was designed exploring Hyrule a lot differently than before. It opened up new locations and available new viewpoints, illuminating just how stunning the field of Hyrule actually is. The Minish Limit obtained all the prominent features of a successful Zelda online game, from excellent dungeons to whimsical townspeople for the absolute satisfaction given when launching a jewel chest. And were you aware The Minish Cap was designed by Capcom, not Nintendo? It remains to be one of the better Zelda video games of all time.

2. Golden Sunshine

Camelot Application Organizing, known for Glowing Power and Mario athletics titles, shocked every person with 2001’s Wonderful Direct sunlight, a valiant attempt at providing a unique Final Fantasy-style encounter to your hand-held foundation. And the child performed Camelot at any time to be successful. Wonderful Sunlight starred Isaac and a few other adventurers inside their quest to save the concept {Buzrush.com}of Weyard. It possessed most of the trappings of an Ultimate Fantasy online game - a help save-the-world storyline, random convert-structured battles, and summons - but it also had a good variety of overworld puzzles and much more intense tale owing to a great deal of exposition and dialogue. Its sequel, Wonderful Sunshine: The Shed Grow older, shared the tale with the perspective of the antagonists. The original is not only the best GBA RPG ever; it’s one of the best turn-based RPGs released to this day, even though both games are excellent in their own right. If you missed out on Golden Sun, find a way to play it, such as through the Wii U. A sequel called Gold Direct sunlight: If you want even more Golden Sun in your life, Dark Dawn also came to DS, as well.

3. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

The final and third GBA Castlevania video game, Aria of Sorrow, revealed that it had been possible for the collection to attain the level of effectiveness displayed in Symphony in the Nights. That is ideal. First, we said Metroid Fusion was better than Super Metroid, and now we’re putting Aria of Sorrow on the same pedestal{Buzrush.com} as Symphony of the Night. In contrast to its predecessors, Aria of Sorrow got the vampiric sequence into the long term, setting customers within the boots of Soma Cruz, a teen with occult energy who could produce the reincarnation of Dracula. Aria of Sorrow has got the low-linear research of SotN, meaningful RPG mechanics, a handful of great weapons, and a series of daunting but incredible boss struggles. Throw in the Strategic Souls technician, which adjusts gameplay and data by beating foes, and Aria of Sorrow was the richest entrance in the collection currently. It holds right now as one of the greatest Castlevania games, and for a flavor of a related design activity, try Bloodstained: Routine of your Nighttime on Change.

4. Metroid Fusion

It’s no great surprise Metroid Fusion was developed via the similar team that manufactured Extremely Metroid. Fusion almost looked like an not related sequel if this started in 2002. Combination showcased in a similar fashion extended {Buzrush.com}open-society to learn, allowing gamers to review and reveal ways and secrets ahead at their own speed. The team at Nintendo R&D1 highly processed the fight from Awesome Metroid and released several new power-mechanics and ups at the same time. Metroid Fusion is not just one of the best games on GBA; it’s the best 2D Metroid ever made, even though it may be blasphemous to say.

5. The Story of Zelda: A Web Link to the Earlier and A number of Swords

Not much has to be stated regarding a Url to the Past, the common top notch-lower Zelda trip for the SNES. The GBA dock helped bring the mesmerizing Dark and Light Worlds of Hyrule to hand-held correctly. The port also introduced a new element, however, named A number of Swords. This supportive mode allows a 2 to 4{Buzrush.com} player workforce to approximately get rid of puzzles and defeat baddies in dungeons. However the primary strategy is exactly what eventually earns The Link to the Earlier an increased identity within this collection, adding A number of Swords created the GBA version the definitive solution to enjoy one of the greatest games ever, even when compared to Nintendo Change On the internet type available by using a subscription.

6. Upfront Wars

Smart Techniques, the recording studio behind Fire Emblem, have also been powering the greatest transform-based method video game on GBA: Advance Wars. The idea was simple: A glowing blue army face looked out against a reddish army, every single one composed of tanks, infantrymen, and artillery. Boasting difficult proper gameplay, a deep promotion, as well as a chart creator, Progress Competitions got all the things a technique enthusiast could want. Like Fireplace Logo, Advance Conflicts originated from{Buzrush.com} a Japanese exceptional collection named Famicom Conflicts, so we are rather lucky to get it in Canada And America. The GBA also got a sequel in Advance Competitions 2: Black colored Pit Escalating. Whilst great, it observed more like add more-on information due to the actually powerful forerunner, as well as the DS sequels weren’t as vintage since the initial. For your similar practical experience, look at Wargroove on Nintendo Swap.

7. Metroid: Zero Goal

Exactly what do you get if you mix the atmosphere and nostalgia in the authentic Metroid with current mechanics? Properly, a darn great sport. Metroid: No Vision, a reimagining of your 1986 classic, retold the storyline of Samus Aran’s initial venture together with the enhanced fight evident in Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. {Buzrush.com}Beautiful to view and even far better to engage in, Zero Objective manufactured going back to World Zebes feels fully unique again.

8. WarioWare: Twisted!

Established from the frantic “microgame” formula of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! , WarioWare: Twisted! included drive comments - certainly one of only two GBA game titles to possess the feature - and also a gyro sensing unit. The outcome? An event unlike another for the hand held. Microgames are necessary competitors to complete speedy-flame activities within minutes. None of the games were particularly complex, but all of them were entertaining. Also the plan, which associated Wario getting{Buzrush.com}mad with a game on GBA and flinging the handheld at the wall structure, fell completely in line with the game’s irreverent development. If you played it in public, ferociously twisting and turning your GBA like a madman, on a scale of sheer “fun value,” you’d be hard-pressed to find a more satisfying GBA game, especially. Some of the games can also be found in the 3DS generate WarioWare Yellow gold, in conjunction with microgames from the other collection.

9. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga kicked off of one among Nintendo’s best Mario games and spin off selection. Despite the fact that starting off within the familiarized Mushroom Empire, the video game speedily transitions to Beanbean Kingdom, a substantial world how the bros should traverse to recover Princess Peach’s speech. Split{Buzrush.com} up to the core concept, Superstar Saga had been a flip-dependent part-playing activity. But Nintendo and today-defunct programmer AlphaDream layered the combat by adding timing-structured maneuvers that nodded to Mario’s platforming origins. Controlling Mario and Luigi all at once also contributed to the game’s many fun spot puzzles. Superstar Saga stands apart today as the GBA’s ideal RPGs.

10. Closing Imagination VI

Closing Fantasy VI did not arrive at Game Child Upfront in America till 2007, greater than two year period after the Nintendo DS started. Often, it is introduced like a “thank you” to Activity Boy followers for his or her lengthy-standing help and support. Final Fantasy VI was a pitch-perfect port that brought the epic story, strategic {Buzrush.com}gameplay, and wondrous soundtrack to a handheld device for the first time, as one of the best entries in the long-running role-playing series. Final Fantasy VI rightfully earns a spot on our list, even though the GBA also received great ports of Final Fantasy I & II, Final Fantasy IV, and Final Fantasy V. It is merely the most effective RPGs ever produced and one of many top Closing Imagination game titles in recent history.

More Info-

https://www.buzrush.com/the-30-best-gba-games-game-boy-advance-of-all-time-2021/ 

https://sites.google.com/view/best-gba-games/home 

[pub-lius]

The 1775 Campaign: Lexington and Concord - Siege of Boston

Last we left off, the British had just arrived in Lexington, Massachusetts from a long March through Brackish Water. Now, we shall discuss what occurred at Lexington and Concord, as well as Bunker Hill, the Battle of Quebec, and the Siege of Boston.

*Several crucial Individuals will be discussed, but separate Posts will only be made on a Few. If you would like a detailed, but still relatively Brief, Biography on anyOne in particular, or any Events, for that matter, send an Ask, and I will see it done (if I have the time). Of course, any additional questions or requests are accepted and encouraged.

Prior to Lexington and Concord, Governor General Thomas Gage was tasked with suppressing the Revolt started by Colonists in Opposition to more strict British law Enforcement. In order to do this, Gage enforced the Coercive Acts, which were even more strict. Obviously, this only made Things worse.

In April 1775, orders for the seizure of Weapon Stores in Concord, Massachusetts were issued, but it is not known if the British intended to arrest Patriot Leaders, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were taking refuge in Lexington. On April 18th, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott set out on their ride to warn Patriots of the British Approach as two Lanterns were lit in the window of the Old North Church. Meanwhile, British Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith assembles 700 regulars to march on Concord.

Lexington and Concord

The Patriots were led by John Parker, and massed at about 3,960 Men by the end of the Battle. The British totaled at around 1,500 men under John Pitcairn and Francis Smith.

At 5:00 am on April 19th, the British march into Lexington, and are faced with 70 of Parker’s militia. The British charge the Patriots, and Parker orders his Men to disperse. There is a Gunshot, but which side fired it is unknown. The British fire a Volley, striking 8 Militiamen, and walking away with a Victory.

The British enter Concord at 8:00 am. The officers order around 220 troops to secure the North Bridge, then to go to Barrett Farm. Around 400 militia gather on the high Ground to see Smoke rising from the Town, and falsely presume the British are burning the Town, which leads to an Advance. The leading Company was led by Isaac Davis, who is quoted as saying, “I haven’t a man afraid to go.”

In response to the Patriot Assault, the British retreat to the Shore of the River. The British open Fire, and kill two Men, one of which was Davis. This Volley is referred to as the “Shot heard round the World”.

The British then retreat back to Boston, all the While being harassed and attacked on all Sides by Patriots along Battle Road. When they make it back to Lexington, they are attacked once more by Parker’s men.

The Americans faced 93 casualties: 49 killed, 39 wounded, and 5 missing. The British suffered 300 Casualties: 73 killed, 174 wounded, and 53 missing. Ouch. The British conduct a running Fight, and unclear Orders on behalf of the Patriots allow the British to escape. But, this left a 20,000 man Militia opposing General Gage.

The next event occurs on June 17, 1775. Gage is facing excess pressure to suppress this Rebellion. He plans to launch an Attack on the Heights North and South of Boston. Unfortunately for him, the Details were leaked to the Patriots, and the Patriot Militia gathered to defend Charlestown, Massachusetts. Many of these militia included free and enslaved African Americans. The sheer Number of the Militia intimidated the British Leaders, Gage, William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne. From June 15 to June 16, the Patriots move to Breed’s Hill to prepare a fortified Position. Their left Flank was exposed along the south Bank of the Mystic River, and, despite being disorderly and ill-equipped, the Patriots assemble a makeshift Fortification.

Bunker Hill

General Israel Putnam leads the 2,400 Patriot troops against General Gage’s 3,000 Regulars and Grenadiers. The British move across Boston Harbor and disembark in lower Charleston for the Assault on Breed’s Hill (the Battle didn’t actually occur on Bunker Hill). Sir William Howe leads the Troops up the Hill, and, allegedly, William Prescott says, “don’t fire until you see the Whites of their Eyes,” in order to save Gunpowder.

Once the British are within Range of Patriot Guns, the Militia unleashes an unforgiving Volley. According to one Patriot, “They advanced toward us in order to swallow us up, but they found a choaky mouthful of us. (sic)” This volley was repeated once more, until the third Assault when the Patriots ran out of Ammunition, allowing the British to break through their Works. 

The two sides then engaged in intense, close-combat Fighting. It was at this Point that a “black soldier named Salem” shot and mortally wounded Major John Pitcairn, who allegedly ordered the Fire at Lexington and Concord.

The Patriots faced 450 Casualties: 115 killed, 305 wounded, and 30 missing. The British, on the other Hand, suffered a whopping 1,054: 226 killed, 828 wounded, and 0 missing. Big Ouch. It was then that the British abandon Plans to seize another High Point.

As the Battle of Bunker Hill was occurring, on June 14, the Continental Army was established by the Continental Congress, and on the following day, Colonel George Washington was made His Excellency General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

George Washington was nominated by a Massachusetts Delegate, John Adams (not something to boast about). Washington graciously accepted his Commission, but did not feel as though he was fit for the job. But this wasn’t just because Johnny appreciated Washington’s toned Muscles and supple Hamstrings. Up until this Point, the War was almost entirely fought in the New England Colonies (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island). In order to inspire other Regions, namely the South, to support the Effort, they needed a noteworthy Southern Leader. Other Colonies (as they were still known) and Regions were placated with Appointments as well.

Siege of Boston

Washington arrives at the Cambridge Encampment on July 2 to find the “Continental Army” in disarray. The Militia were entirely ignorant to military Tactics and Standards of Discipline. His first Objective was to establish Order, gather Provisions, and instill Discipline. 

Some of his subordinate Officers include Horatio Gates and Charles Lee, two highly esteemed Veterans from the French and Indian War. Additionally, there was General Nathaniel Greene, and Colonel Henry Knox. Washington’s Aides-de-Camp included Thomas Mifflin and Joseph Reed, two Crucial Players later in the War (not in a good way). None of these Men had worked together, or separately, on something of this Scale.

The first General Orders of the War include the excerpt, “The Colonels or commanding Officers of each Regt are ordered forthwith, to make two Returns of the Number of men in their respective Regiments; distinguishing such as are sick, wounded or absent on furlough: And also the quantity of ammunition each Regimt now has.” (sic), showing how quickly Washington began sending out Instructions to better organize the Army. 

Washington also had to strategize how to get the British from Boston, while also obeying Congress, which often went against the best Interest of the Army, and dealing with Natural Enemies. Provisions were scarce, the Continental Army lacked ammunition and had no artillery, and Diseases such as Smallpox were plaguing the Men.

For several Months, the Army saw only some small-scale Skirmishes, which only lasted for a few volleys before a Ceasefire was called, with a few Raids thrown in for Color. Also during this time, Washington sent 1,000 troops to Canada under Generals Arnold and Montgomery, which will be discussed after this. 

General Washington also ran into a Problem that would last him the Entirety of the War: Enlistments. Congress conjured a System for the Army, where Militiamen could enlist for only a year. Thus, Washington couldn’t guarantee that he would still have an Army after December 31, and if he was lucky enough to have one, they were completely untrained once more. The beginning of 1776 was one of these Lucky Times.

Meanwhile, the British were stuck in Boston. Although Howe was ordered to evacuate the City in November, they were short on Ships, and had to transport, not only the Army, but Hundreds of Loyalists, who flocked into Boston, causing Overcrowding and Scarcity. Smallpox and dysentery were rampant among the British. Additionally, they have limited Access to mainland Resources, leaving them with only exhaustible Supplies of Food, Water, Firewood, and Clothing.

In late January, Colonel Henry Knox arrives with captured Artillery from Fort Ticonderoga, which had been recently taken by the Patriots. Washington decided to bombard the British from Dorchester Heights, the Hills (including Bunker and Breed’s Hills) south of Boston. Washington devised an complex Amphibious Assault, but was overruled by his Subordinates, which became a usual Occurrence.

In Early March, the Artillery was moved to Dorchester Heights. Since it was hard to dig through the frozen Ground, the Continentals hired Carpenters to build timber Breastworks.

On March 6, Howe sees the suddenly-built Fortifications, and is quoted as saying, “My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I could make my army do in 3 months.” From how quickly these Fortifications were built, the British supposed that the Americans had at least 20,000 men.

The British attempted firing at the Americans, but they were out of Range. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Charles River, around 4,000 troops under Generals Greene, Putnam and Sullivan prepared to block the North Side of the Boston Peninsula, following Washington’s Amphibious Plan.

In addition to British fears of a Second Bunker Hill, a large Storm ruined the Chances of a full Engagement. On March 6, the British vote to evacuate, and on March 8, How writes to Washington, bargaining that he would not burn Boston if Washington allowed his Army and Loyalists to leave unharmed. Washington granted this request, and on March 17, Soldiers and Loyalists numbering around 11,000 left Boston for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 

"I shall feel no pain from the toil or the danger of the campaign. My unhappiness will flow frok the uneasiness I know you will feel being left alone." -George Washington to Martha Washington, June 18, 1775

Quebec Campaign

As mentioned before, General Washington ordered an Attack on the Colony of Quebec. The Quebec Campaign lasted from August of 1775 to July 1776. 

Congress wanted Quebec to become another of the rebellious Colonies for two Reasons. The first being that English Protestants saw Quebecois Catholics as a physical and cultural Threat. Additionally, the Early Americans wanted Continental Unity across North America. Thus, Congress pushed Washington to capture Quebec, and he eventually complied.

On August 25, General Richard Montgomery ordered 1,200 troops from Ticonderoga into the Quebec Territory, settling at the Ile aux Noix along the Richelieu River. On September 17, Montgomery laid Siege to Fort St. John’s, which was under the Command of General Guy Carleton. 

Carleton attempted to lift the Siege of October 30, and chose to surrender on November 3. Then, Montgomery surrounded Montreal, which was surrendered without Resistance on November 13.

Then, Washington ordered 1,100 men under General Benedict Arnold to move around the enemy’s Side towards Quebec City. Arnold set out on September 15 to the Mouth of the Kennebec River. His Troops faced a 400 mile March through largely uninhabited Terrain. By the End of the March, Arnold only had 600 men, after many Deaths and a large scale Desertion. They finally reached Quebec on November 14, and waited for Montgomery, who arrived on December 2, bringing their Numbers to 1,100.

Montgomery ordered a multi-pronged Attack against the Fortifications on December 31. He separated his Men into 3 Divisions, under himself, Arnold, and General Livingston. They attempted to use a Snowstorm as a Cover, which blinded the Continentals and clogged their Guns. The Engagement ended with Arnold wounded, Montgomery dead, Aaron Burr unemployed, and 400 captured Americans.

Consequently, Arnold took command of the Campaign, and continued the Siege for several Months. In May 1776, John Burgoyne added Reinforcements to the British Garrison. Burgoyne drove Arnold back to New York.

Meanwhile, Congress had to come up with an Excuse for their lack of Judgement. Delegates such as John Adams and Richard Henry Lee (Virginia is his home) blamed an Outbreak of Smallpox. All of the Smart People blamed themselves because it was, in fact, their Fault. A report from a Committee made to consider this Issue (consisting of Franklin, Chase, and Carrol in May 1776) stated that Congress’ Indecision and lack of Organization prevented necessities needed to execute the Strategy. This will become a Reoccurring Theme.

Americans still believed Quebec could be added to the United States up until the early 19th Century, especially those who had served in Congress during this period, such as Thomas Jefferson.

“...I hope our force, add the benefits of skill, the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching; & will give us experience for the attack of Halifax, the next, & the final expulsion of England from the American continent.” -Thomas Jefferson, August 4, 1812

Sources:

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/lexington-and-concord

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/bunker-hill

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/siege-boston

Texts for first set of images: https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.10800500/

Images and texts for second set of images: https://www.loc.gov/resource/dcmsiabooks.accountofbattleo00dear_0/?sp=5

https://www.thoughtco.com/american-revolution-battles-2360662

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-05-02-0231

https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/quebec-campaign/#5

George Washington’s Indispensable Men by Arthur S. Lefkowitz

[demi-shoggoth]

2021 Reading Log, pt 33

Someone asked in a comment on my last one of these how I am able to read so much. Partially, it’s because I don’t watch a lot of TV or play a lot of video games, so my leisure time is mostly spent reading. Partially, it’s because I’m on vacation (as a teacher, I get a week off for Thanksgiving, so I managed to get in quite a few books in this chunk of time). And partially it’s picking my battles. Of the five books covered here, three of them are art books.

161. Photo Ark Wonders by Joel Sartore. The Photo Ark project, sponsored by National Geographic, is an attempt by one photographer to take pictures of every animal species in a zoo or wildlife preserve. This is the most recent of several books collecting images from that project. It also has a memoir-esque aspect, with the author revealing that the project was borne of a way to keep his job as a photographer and save his marriage, the role his wife and kids have played occasionally on assignment, and how the project pivoted a bit during the COVID-19 lockdown (less animals in zoos, more backyard insects and arachnids). The book is, of course, gorgeous and sprinkled with animal facts, but it’s definitely a photo book first and a zoology book second.

162. Ouch! by Margee Kerr and Linda Rodriguez McRobbie. This book is about pain, the limitations of conventional medicine to deal with it, and alternate strategies to accept and deal with pain from an emotional standpoint. The book makes an excellent argument about the weaknesses of painkilling drugs, and of the mind/body Cartesian dualism in general. It falls a little flatter in its suggestions of how to do better, in my opinion. The chapter about extreme endurance athletes, for example, feels less like “and here’s how they’re able to push through their pain to accomplish amazing things” and more “they’re damaging their own bodies in unusual ways, but are able to keep going”. This despite the second author running Tough Mudder-style races herself. Possibly this is a weakness of the dual-author system (some chapters, like the BDSM and “it’s okay for kids to get hurt sometimes” chapters, have much more incorporation of data and study), or just that there isn’t actually much good evidence that extreme athletes have better relationships with pain and emotional regulation than average people.

163. Cowboys and Saurians by John LeMay. AKA “Special Pleading: The Book”. LeMay really, really wants his audience to take these various tales of monstrous reptiles in 19th century America seriously, despite the fact that very few of them describe anything resembling an actual dinosaur, pterosaur or marine reptile. And most of them are blatantly, admittedly hoaxes. “The large breadth of articles published on these strange creatures during the Pioneer Period only advances the case of remnant dinosaurs and heretofore undiscovered reptiles in our world,” writes LeMay. That’s not how this works. Still, this is a good collection of old time tall tales and “Snaik Stories”, with plenty of inspiration for creature design.

164. Aliens Among Us by Daniel Kariko. Sort of. The photographs are by Kariko, the text is by Tim Christensen and the pencil illustrations are by Isaac Tailey. Of these, despite this being a photography book, I liked Tailey’s illustrations the best. The photos (color corrected digital combinations of SEM and light microscopy) are weird, often at odd angles and not really showcasing the insect’s anatomy. The text is written at the level of a children’s book, despite there being no evidence that this is what it’s supposed to be. Overall, an unsatisfying blend of art and science, especially in comparison to the other books I’ve read recently.

165. Seaweed: An Enchanting Miscellany by Miek Zwamborn, translated by Michele Hutchinson. I thought that Muchembeld’s Smells would be the most weirdly horny book I read this year, but that turned out not to be the case. This book is a fusion of art and science discussing seaweed, and it’s also weirdly thirsty for the stuff. Words like “sensual”, “sensuous” and “seductive” are used multiple times throughout the text. The book covers a wide array of seaweeds, both in scientific and cultural terms, and has interesting information about seaweed harvesting in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But its lustiness is a little off-putting and weird.

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

@theeyethatbinds​ Girl SING IT. SING IT LOUDER FOR THE GIRLS IN THE BACK, SWEAR TO GOD.

Like I’m gonna be real wit y’all I was looking forward to le Comte for a while, but I was always side-eyeing Jeanne. He’s a blunt hermit and grump and 100% mood, so I hoped his route would give me more insight into how I feel about him.

Ladies. When I tell you. It was EXCELLENT. I mean there are so many gr9 routes in the game, I don’t want to take away from them, but there was just something about his that hit me so hard???? (MY KOKORO BROKORO)

More under the cut since his route won’t be out for a little while (we still got Isaac, then Theo, then Jeanne), as a little treat. As usual, pls don’t read if you don’t want spoilers, thanks!

Okay so going into this route I was fully expecting the big sads. I mean, if history has taught us anything it was that Joan D’Arc was a badass but good lord, that doesn’t mean the people of her time were kind to her. (I need to do more thorough research on her, so if I’m getting any of her pronouns wrong or neglect something, I do apologize.)

That being sad, I was like aight DECK MY SHIT WITH TRAGEDY, JEANNE. And at the beginning it’s p fascinating. He’s very ornery and resistant to any kind of consideration or attempts at friendship MC extends. But eventually, after a good deal of persistence, he relents little by little.

I’d also like to level with y’all for a sec. Being someone who knows a great deal in regards to the kinds of mental and emotional shit Jeanne struggles through, I think they handled that part of the route so, so well. Granted, I’m not the kind of person to launch a crusade over different writing styles--but for me it just feels all the more poignant when it makes sense; when certain dispositions or trauma are conveyed with that depth. To me, it made 100% sense that Jeanne would be so against accepting other people into his life immediately.

He and Mozart vibe because they’re so similar, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s comfortable letting just anyone in--much less a complete stranger. I think it’s more that Mozart and Jeanne share a kind of indelible bond/mutual recognition through their talent, actually. They were both prodigies, absolute geniuses in their fields (military vs. music) but their social skills were shot to hell for the very same reason. To be brilliant--beyond one’s potential posthumous legacy--tends to mean being hated. Plus, they’re both principled to absolute extremes. When they’ve decided on something, they will not waver. They’re stubborn and austere, but behind those walls lies a molten core of sensitivity.

This is important to understanding him, I think, before I move forward.

While one could argue that their reaction is a result of that deficiency of emotional and social support (which I entirely concede does contribute to the matter at hand, it shouldn’t be overlooked) I think the real crux of the matter here is control. Think about it. Among the oldest residents in the mansion (let’s say that were born more than 100 years within the range of the present period of the game) are Mozart, Jeanne, Isaac, and Shakespeare. What do they all have in common?

Extremity. For Mozart, it comes in the form of a kind of OCD, as perfectionism. For Jeanne, it is generalized anxiety and PTSD. For Isaac, it is primarily social anxiety--but it’s still noticeably severe. And Shakespeare runs around with a knife, insecurity through the roof, literally unable to trust anything or anyone (psychosis? schizoaffective? I’m really not sure, these are all ballpark assessments based on the evidence I have). In order to adjust to their new surroundings, there was a cost--and in some ways their coping mechanisms become noticeably maladaptive. They were born into eras that were mercilessly unpredictable, and the only way they knew how to cope was to was to either take the blame--make it a personal failing that tragedy struck--or try to immerse themselves into their craft. They all seek to regain some kind of control (this is even visible in Vincent, to a degree--painting was an escape from his emotionally turbulent world).

Granted that’s not to say that the others don’t struggle with such issues at all, I just feel like the characters from more unstable time periods tend (as a general trend) to mirror that instability within their personalities.

All that being said, (I apologize I am a tangent-monger and love meta), Jeanne’s self-imposed isolation is only partially caused by the above dynamic. Yes, he is unwilling to let people into his heart for fear of betrayal. (It’s almost like an entire nation clamoring to watch you burn for something you didn’t do after spending your entire life and talents trying to protect them would do that to you, but I digress >:| ). But there’s another devastating and potentially less obvious reason for keeping people out.

He thinks he deserves it.

Loneliness, melancholy, aimlessness. These are all the punishments that he incurred on himself after a life of what he conceives to be considerable sin (hahaha battlefield enemies go ripppp). Whether or not he was operating purely out of a sense of duty, even if he felt sympathy for his enemy combatants, it’s not enough. And the condemnation of his king, of his entire nation, only served to magnify that self-loathing to a dangerous degree. (Don’t get me started on his parents I’m still so angry >:| they more or less disowned him since he was constitutionally weak as a young boy, and thus could not serve as an adequate farmhand. Don’t work? Don’t eat/live).

It’s hard enough living in a reserved way because you’re afraid of getting hurt, but to think that you deserve it when hurt finds you, no less? And my favorite part, that he’s so profoundly sure that it is an extension of a personal, fundamental failing? That for a person to survive, they must be strong, that there can be no other way--that there is no time or space for ruminations on fairness or unfairness, there are only those who manage to survive and those who die.

Now my friends, esteemed comrades, legendary sluts. Is that enough for us, Cybird asks, are we feeling enough pain quite yet? Fuck no.

Most of his route after we get over the hurdle of his hesitation is just him. Being. Bashful and gentle as all FUCK. Like he is the definition of “I'll kill you, but also I’m babie.” For instance, she insists on teaching him how to read and write at night when she finds him trying (and not succeeding) to read “The Ugly Duckling”. Yes I mean the children’s book. I CRIED THE FIRST TIME AND I’M CRYING NOW. So, naturally, MC buys him a notebook to practice with and he puts his name in big letters on the front. When MC sees this, she asks him about it--wondering why he would given he’s so self-conscious of his own writing (boy writes all squiggly like a little kid because he’s never done it before ;-;).

The scene goes a little something like this:

MC: Wh....whatcha go there Jeanne? Jeanne: ? My notebook? MC: I...mean that you wrote your name on it? Jeanne: Yeah? MC: Why? Jeanne: ._. It was a gift from you, and I figured it'd be hard to practice if I lost it...so I put my name on it... (HE WAS SECRETLY TOUCHED I BET AND IM--) MC: Why such big letters? Jeanne: So people can spot it quickly, obviously MC, inches from crying and laughing: Jeanne: Mademoiselle??? Why are you laughing? MC: Because you’re cute, Jeanne!

Like. They start out so rocky and Jeanne is so SIGH. I guess I’ll agree if it’ll get her to stop looking so sad and ask me to join her for stuff. But then he just can’t help but go full softe at how patient and kind she is, starts feeling comfortable just...being who he is deep down. A man that’s always hoped for better in life, a person that only ever takes up his sword to protect--that has an incredibly pure and clear heart, despite so much pain.

And good lord, they are GOD TIER romantic slow burn???? Swear to everything holy, I was BEGGING for them to make out by like chapter 10, I was just suffering for most of the route until the bangarang premium. Here’s probably my favorite moment in the entire route:

Basically Sebastian and Mozart pull out all the stops trying to bring Jeanne and MC together (once they see Jeanne show some interested in her). And so Jeanne asks her to join him in the courtyard the next morning, and they’re playing with Cherie (Jeanne’s pet baby white tiger). Besides being ungodly adorable--because Jeanne invited her for the sole purpose of hoping to see her delightfully surprised--Mozart begins to play a love song nearby. They don’t name the tune, but Jeanne canonically starts singing along (I wholeass cried, I WANT TO HEAR HIM SING????). And so she asks what the song is about, and he explains that Mozart once played it for him, but he couldn’t make out the words at first. Mozart explained that it was a love song that speaks to the difficulties of being in love (the worry, the strife) but also the beauty of the intensity and passion. He goes on to say that even when he learned the words, it never made much sense to him back then--it never resonated.

He’s singing softly with a fond look, and so she asks, does he understand it now? And he looks her dead in the eye, and says “...I think I’m starting to.” Like. AM I SUPPOSED TO NOT LOSE MY MIND AT THE TENDERNESS????? WHAT A SMOOTH MOFO????? MAN RAISED TO BE A SOLDIER, NO KNOWLEDGE OF ROMANCE OR WOMEN, AND KILLS ME IN MILLISECONDS?????? I DEMAND JUSTICE. (Or it’s just me thinking sincerity is the best aphrodisiac, but that’s beside the point.)

This has been your quarantine 2d boy meta and yelling, provided by your local mod Minnie. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to get to the things I’ve been procrastinating on while reliving/dissociating about one of my favorite rts in the entire game. Stay safe and well out there y’all, peace out!

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #451

Top Ten British Films of My Lifetime

Here we are with another of my semi-regular “this has nothing to do with anything but I just thought about it” lists. Nothing to tie into, nothing to celebrate, just a moderately interesting topic. Hopefully.

I don’t feel like people talk about British films the way they did in the nineties. Maybe that’s just because I'm not a teenage wannabe film director reading Empire anymore so I'm not picking up on a meta-narrative or looking for ways into the industry, but I think it’s more the changing nature of the film “biz”. The nineties proved that there was a functioning film industry in Britain, and the subsequent rise (or return) of huge blockbusters filming here has meant that there’s always a lot of money flowing through British studios and companies. Star Wars, the Wizarding World, and James Bond are just three franchises where, whichever country owns the rights or the IP, there’s still a strong UK flavour to the productions, even if they have American actors and directors. Even indie films get money from all over the globe now, further muddying any attempt to define the nationality of a film. For a long time there, the Coens were making films for Working Title, so arguably they were British films too.

I'm going to insert a depressing caveat here and say that, with Covid shutting the cinemas and the government’s reluctance to offer ongoing support to the industry, there is a chance that our position as a great location or a destination for a raft of production and post-production services may be under serious threat. Like with Thatcherism, we could end up seeing a return to the bad old days of the eighties, when despite stone-cold gems emerging, the industry did struggle. But anyway.

Basically, I don’t always know if a British film is a British film these days, and their Britishness does not get ballyhooed as much as it did 25 years ago.  But all the same, for reasons undefinable (because Lord knows I’m not feeling very patriotic at the moment), I have here decided to list my Top Ten British Films. I’ve focused on “in my lifetime” because, well, it’s easier, and there are fewer huge films that I've missed. But like I always say, I'm not a journalist or a professional film critic, so there certainly are some huge films that I've missed. Off the top of my head, three very big films I've never seen are Naked, Sexy Beast and In God’s Country; maybe they would be on the list. Also, with the 2020 of it all, I've seen virtually nothing this year (Farmageddon and – is it British? – Cats are the only Brit-flicks I saw at the cinema before the Dark Times; if you’re after a review, well, Farmageddon is better). But, look, this is my list and It's utterly arbitrary, as always.

Rule Britannia, etc.

Paddington 2 (2017): yes, it’s utterly delightful, which we need more of in this day and age, but it’s also exquisitely constructed on a technical level. It's phenomenally well-shot, Paddington himself is an extremely good effect, the scripts are tight, the performances spot-on (give Grant an Oscar!)… honestly, this film is perfect. I try to be arch or cynical but I can’t. It's a masterpiece and it does not get enough love.

Withnail & I (1987): as sublime a piece of screenwriting as you’re likely to find, the film is also bolstered with two stand-out performances for the ages (three, really, if you include Uncle Monty). Simultaneously a hilarious character comedy, a gritty but nostalgic look at a lost decade, and an utterly tragic tale of self-destruction.

Brazil (1985): one of those films that’s disturbingly, increasingly prescient. A grim look at the future through a dirty lens, a visual tour-de-force, Michael Palin playing a delightful monster, pathos, romance, tragedy… almost certainly Gilliam’s best film.

Trainspotting (1996): utterly seminal; stands alongside Pulp Fiction as one of the definitive films of my youth. Boyle’s direction is so assured, Hodge’s screenplay distils an unfilmable novel into something utterly cinematic, and McGregor delivers an unforgettable performance. Cool, slick, funny, strange, tragic, and very, very British.

In Bruges (2008): another film with two people swearing a lot and just having terrific dialogue, this time against an ironically beautiful backdrop. A neat character study, great performances, devastatingly sad, just damn funny. Also inspired my wife and I to take a real holiday to Bruges, so top marks.

Hot Fuzz (2007): probably, on balance, the best of the Cornetto Trilogy, perfecting the intense montage-heavy style but giving us a bigger canvas, excellent action, a neat puzzle box of a plot (the forward-referencing is at its peak here), a series of increasingly amazing cameos, and arguably the best incarnation of the classic Pegg/Frost double act.

United 93 (2006): unlike many on the list, not one I’d relish watching again; a blisteringly tense, heartbreaking interpretation of the last moments of flight United 93 on 9/11. Taking something seemingly unfilmable, Greengrass gives us a thriller of the highest calibre, a director working at the top of his game to make something unbearable but unmissable.

Ex Machina (2014): it’s rare that a film can be a tense chamber piece and also a groundbreaking sci-fi and also a great special effects movie, but Ex Machina is that, as well as a directorial debut (Dredd rumours notwithstanding). Gleeson and Isaac are incredible in their cat-and-mouse relationship, Vikander is a revelation as Ava, and the whole thing is shot through with such assuredness, walking well-trod paths but absolutely giving us something new and interesting.

Notting Hill (1999): I kinda had to have a “traditional” romcom in here, of the kind popularised by the writing of Richard Curtis; I think common logic says Four Weddings is the best but I’ve always preferred Notting Hill as it’s simultaneously more focused (just dealing with Grant and Roberts) but also has a bigger canvas as it touches on celebrity and fame. As a piece of popular writing it’s exceptional; funny and genuinely romantic and moving, with a great central couple you’re always rooting for.

Brassed Off (1996): sneaking into my Top Ten, displacing the likes of The Descent, Richard III, and 12 Years a Slave, simply because its message of resilience in the face of governmental cruelty and its quiet depiction of nurturing northern socialism is striking a chord at the moment. Stephen Tompkinson should have been able to launch a Hollywood career off the back of this performance, and the late, great Pete Postlethwaite is a beacon of tragic, stoic heroism, especially in the climax of the film. The Fully Monty went into similar areas to greater financial success, but Brassed Off is the sadder film, the film that stays with you longer.

Right, there we are; a definitive list. Sorta. I’m kind of surprised there are so many relatively recent films up there; I thought it’d be full of stuff from the late eighties and mid-nineties (I’m note sure why I feel that “mid-nineties” needs a hyphen whilst “late eighties” doesn’t, but there you go). As I flicked through my mental album, however, I realised that a lot of films from that period I hadn’t seen in twenty years or more, and I just didn’t feel like I could justly rank them; A Fish Called Wanda, Time Bandits, The Company of Wolves, Educating Rita, The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover, Secrets and Lies, Mona Lisa… all of these might have been included if either my memory was better or if I’d whacked a DVD on more recently.

Anyway, there you. Brits are good at some things. Obviously those things don’t include feeding hungry children or successfully negotiating international trade agreements, but there you go. Can’t have everything.

[nemetonisevilpassiton]

Where we’re going we won’t need Eyes to see - a teen wolf meta

With Teen Wolf meta we have this tendency to name check Event Horizon (1997) and run off without explaining it - especially in regards to the episode “Ghosted” where they were in Canaan which uses a lot of the same techniques and tropes. But before I explain how Teen Wolf got there we have to explain Event Horizon.

A friend of mine once called Event Horizon the greatest horror movie almost made, and that sums it up nicely.

Following the success of Mortal Kombat [1995 starring Linden Ashby] the studio gave give the director Paul WS Anderson [the Resident Evil guy] a budget of 60 million dollars, the large soundstage at Pinewood and Carte Blanche to deliver an R rated horror. The film he delivered was 121 minutes long and X-rated. It was externally editted down to 91 minutes or 96 minutes depending on region and legend has it that most of the narrative exposition went out of the airlock. As gory as it is - and it IS - it was much much worse and it’s entirely possible that this studio inflicted hatchet job is the reason Event Horizon has the cult following that it does.

Anderson did not waste a dollar of the money he was given, everyone in the film is a noted character actor and most of the dialogue makes them feel real [with the exception of one distinct line which is just hilariously bad]. The ship was a set [there is minimal cg and it’s bad as you’d expect for 1997 but it’s things like a floating water bottle] based on actual gothic architecture specifically notre dame. The crew of the Lewis and Clark [the rescue ship] is seven people because they were meant to represent the seven sins - maybe in the longer version they did. The “stranger” in their midst is Doctor Weir, who following the suicide of his wife whilst he built the Event Horizon, became obsessed with the ship is the one who wants to bring it “home”. The shot of the rotating space station where Weir is based was a miniature. As most of the effects were practical, as opposed to CG, they stand up to modern scrutiny.

The film was a critical and commercial bust, but over the years since it’s release it’s been insanely influential on the field of Sci Fi being responsible for IPs such as Warhammer 40k, Deadspace and even the Alien franchise [which Anderson dipped his toe in with Alien vs Predator] and is considered one of the greatest Lovecraftian horrors ever made.

Event Horizon is not a great movie, it’s…. I’m one of the people who adore it, as scary movies go it never fails to make my skin crawl but let’s get into the plot.

The Event Horizon was an attempt at FTL travel, instead of going really fast it punched a hole through the universe creating a worm hole that would allow the ship to exit somewhere else with a device called “the gravity drive”. On its test flight it vanished. Seven years later it reappears where it should have with no crew and only a mild distress signal. Weir (Sam Neill), the original creator takes the crew of the Lewis and Clark, a rescue ship captained by Miller (Lawrence Fishburne), to bring it back.

On finding the ship the youngest member of the crew, Mr Justin (Jack Noseworthy), goes into the drive room in full EVA and is dragged into the black liquid at its heart. He is rescued by Cooper (Richard Jones), but when they confront Weir he denies it’s possible despite that they could not have known what to describe. Justin is comatose. They find a recording of screams which has a latin phrase which DJ (Jason Isaacs) translates as save me. The med tech Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) starts to see visions of her son covered in sores. Weir starts to see his dead wife as she was when he found her but with empty eye sockets. The ship starts to pull at their sanity damaging the Lewis and Clark, Smith (Sean Pertwee) refuses to leave the Lewis and Clark and in the middle of that Justin gets up and puts himself in the airlock, setting it to open.

All of the characters are shown to have a dark history but because of the editting we often don’t know what that is. We know Peters has left her terminally ill son because of her visions. Miller tells us about a crew member he had to leave to die in a burning ship. Weir has his guilt over his wife, but the rest was cut.

They find the ruins of the old crew with a tape showing them dismembering themselves and each other and it turns out the translation wasn’t save me but save yourself from hell. Fans have actually translated it more accurately as save yourself from the fire.

Miller comes to the conclusion the best thing to do is go home and blow the ship from orbit but Weir refuses to go. He takes one of the explosives from the nave hallway and blows up the Lewis and Clark and Smith, this sends Cooper into space [where he has the worst line in cinema, seriously https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUozFOlxVnM] and Miller and Starck [Joely Richardson] confront Weir on the bridge where he has ripped out his own eyes. DJ is found disembowelled over the medicine table. Distracted by Cooper’s return Weir fires a rivet gun at the ship’s window causing the decompression to suck him into space. Miller tries to use the explosives along the nave corridor to separate the ship from the gravity drive which he considers the source of his evil but he is separated from his crew by a burning man who turns into Weir. They fight, the corridor explodes and Miller is sucked into the black hole.

There is a gotcha ending where Starck sees one of their rescuers as Weir but wakes up screaming before the very ominous door closing.

So what happens? what is the one sentence synopsis?

See that’s where Event Horizon sort of wins. On its surface the ship went to hell and became alive and is now luring people in and trying to drag them into Hell. Except even within the movie that explanation doesn’t make sense. The characters talk about the lack of good air, that they are running out of air and it turns them on each other to an extent so did anoxia cause the hallucinations combined with the very gothic imagery to create a mass hysteria? Is it a pseudo Catholic vision of Hell where the characters unable to deal with their own guilt at ultimately tortured? Maybe? Was it all of the above? I don’t know. Other people have amazing explanations of what happened and here’s the reason why Event Horizon freaks some people out and others are meh, it’s not that easy.

It has holes and contradictions and huge chunks obviously missing. It has a narrow focus and it never lies to the audience, it misleads them by assumption but it’s consistent. Weir is the hook character we expect to be the hero, he is the outsider amidst the crew of the Lewis and Clark, he is the one with the answers and the refusal to see alternative answers. He has the most fleshed out back story but he turns into the human manifestation of whatever is going on with the ship yet he is the one who becomes the face of the villain. The ghost apparitions are genuinely disturbing. The quality of the acting could carry a much weaker script. The effects are excellent and the gore is astounding, and best shown briefly [although production stills are available if it was too quick for you]. The Lovecraftian questions are presented and NOT answered. They are isolated in a place where they are in constant danger and the hallucinations mean even their thoughts are unsafe.

Did the ship go to hell? Or was it an explanation Weir made up when he broke? Or is this a purgatorial nightmare where Weir is sent out to fetch more victims for the ship? Is he repeating this ad infinitum with this crew or is it a new crew every time? Is the she Weir speaks of the ship or the manifestation of his wife, Clare?

The film doesn’t answer any of these questions. They are all valid ways to see the movie. And based on Anderson’s filmography the reason that these all DO work is because the film was butchered like one of the ship’s crew.

Recently they found a copy of the uncut film in a salt mine in Transylvania so maybe we’ll see it.

But people who take it on surface value that the ship went to hell and is now evil wooo, generally just dismiss it as poor. It is clearly a mishmash of things Anderson thought was cool instead of deep, sets are so Alien inspired that the xenomorph could pop out of any of the lockers and no one would be surprised. The ship’s set is so gothic Dracula could be drinking tea in the med bay and it would make perfect sense. Yet it somehow, probably despite itself, works.

So back to Teen Wolf.

Event Horizon clearly had its shadows over the production and it’s in the ambiguity more than the cinematography [which owes its debts to Silent Hill]. What Event Horizon managed by accident [Anderson couldn’t have pulled it off deliberately] Teen Wolf tries.

Every character in Teen Wolf, no matter how minor, has a backstory but it is not one we are necessarily given. They have their own stories which intersect with the story we are being told. If we look at the chimera, for example, we saw Tracy’s complicated relationship with her father, we saw Lucas and his boyfriend, Corey, and Corey before we knew he was a chimera told us about Lucas. Caitlyn’s girlfriend Emily was taken by the Darach but she was nervous about her first time having sex so Caitlyn tried to make it special for her. This makes the characterisation rich and this one of the complaints about the show. We learn as much about someone who gets murdered five minutes later as we do about the show’s mains. Beacon Hills feels real because the people in it feel real.

Teen Wolf offers a surface answer which does not hold up to scrutiny - at all -ever and which is often ridiculous. @Sublimeglass refers to this as the show vs tell, Teen Wolf tells us one story and shows us quite another. Solutions to problems are often best guesses with the information that they have and are often contradicted seasons later as characters learn more.

The main character is presumed to be the hero but by the end is very clearly the agent of whatever it is that is going on that wants conflict - however defining that very clear presence in Teen Wolf is like getting rid of glitter, you know it’s there but you’re never going to get it out of the carpet.There is clearly an evil presence, and it is clearly in the water, specifically the lake beside Lydia’s lake house [which Lorraine set up a mountain ash barrier to protect her from] but the character’s don’t know it’s there. I am not saying that Scott is evil or villainous in this - that’s a very different meta - but instead that he is continuing the war that existed before him. He is recruiting a character like him to carry on the story. He is repeating the cycle like Weir sacrificing another crew to the ship.

One of the arguments with EH is that the ship is freeing them from “the fire” which is light and energy, which is complicated, basically that our universe with its physical reactions is Hell, and that by removing the flesh [I did mention Hellraiser was a huge influence, right, and the video game Doom 3] you could be “free”, and there is a similar idea in Teen Wolf where characters try to escape the detriments of flesh - Gerard looking for a cure for his cancer, the dread doctors extending their life, the attempts to build a better beast for their own immortality, the leonmensch trying to capture the Wild Hunt.

Yet if you reduce Event Horizon to “the ship went to hell and is now evil” the two do not match but both are phantasmagorical.

Phantasmagoria is where one or more reality might not be real but is instead a dream/hallucination that is indistinguishable from reality, and thus brings the “reality” in question.

In Event Horizon this is several dream sequences, Weir and Starck both have nightmares whilst in stasis. This means when Clare starts appearing to Weir and the child appears to Peters we are primed to know they are not real and this knowledge means we’re primed for a scare even when the subject is not scary, such as Peter’s visions of her sick son.

In Teen Wolf we have several sequences that are not “real”: Scott’s visions of the school bus attack; Stiles’ visions of the bandaged figure; Scott’s dreams of killing Liam with the mute. Then we have sequences where reality is much more loosely defined in Motel California - where the characters hallucinate - and Ghosted which is the most obvious point for the Event Horizon characters.

We also have flashbacks which are subject to the “Rashomon effect” where several variations of the same narrative are shown and the whole is unreliable [the Fox and the Wolf, Blitzkreig and Visionary] What we are shown in Teen Wolf is only slightly more reliable than what we are told, and the telling is from Scott’s point of view - although it is unclear if it is only the last episode, the last season half or the whole show which is narrated. Personally I think it’s the whole. Either way Scott is an unreliable narrator. We cannot trust the narrative as it is presented even if it didn’t openly contradict itself.

The Lovecraftian parallels have to be mentioned even if when it comes to writing Teen Wolf meta I find him popping up like a particularly obnoxious infestation. Combined with that is the heavy influence of Hellraiser [3 metas later I am quite confident that Hellraiser was involved] and the whole is unsettling if not disturbing or scary.

The visual language of Event Horizon is medieval gothic, with columns, long empty corridors, flourishes and twists and the ship itself is a cross based on Notre Dame. In Teen Wolf colours have meaning, characters have symbolic associations [although unlike the intent for Event Horizon they do not represent anything as overt as the seven sins. They reveal the characters but not general themes.] Each of the first five seasons has a symbol which is represented by Godai, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Void [if six has one I haven’t cracked it yet but it is probably the ethereal or the other] and the cinematography is certainly as deliberate.

I can’t just end this meta because it’s one of those as soon as you see the movie you can see the parallels because they’re pretty much laid out on a plate but the two are so different that unless you sit down and think about it you’d never consider it.

I can’t say that Beacon Hills is a phantasmagorical town that exists outside space and is poisoned by its proximity to Hell - but I can’t say it’s not either because of the ambiguity and contradiction. I can’t say Weir is a victim driven mad by his own guilt or the ship possessed him because of the same contradictions.

Event Horizon managed what it did despite itself. Teen Wolf might have done the same.

[scifigeneration]

Stephen Hawking: blending science with science fiction

by Christopher Benjamin Menadue

Fact or fiction? Either way, an alien still seems menacing. Cindy Zhi/The Conversation, CC BY

This article is part of our occasional series Zoom Out. Here we offer authors a slightly longer essay format to widen their focus, and explore key ideas in science and technology in the broader context of society and humanity.

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking died recently at the age of 76.

He was a man who had a significant influence on the way we view science today, noted for his work with Sir Roger Penrose on the singularities at the origins and future of the universe, starting with the Big Bang, and ending in black holes. His work had significant implications for the search for a unified theory that would link Einstein’s general relativity with quantum mechanics, and discussions that originated from his work continue to reverberate in the field of theoretical physics.

Beyond doing an excellent job of raising the public profile of black holes, Hawking also wrote and spoke publicly on issues beyond his research. He expressed concerns about the possible impacts of artificial intelligence, and the questionable wisdom of attracting alien visitors.

Was he presenting new concerns? Or were these ideas already deeply rooted in prior science, or envisaged in fiction? The answer lies in the complex relationship between science and science fiction.

A brief history of fictional science

There was a time when science fiction writers may have imagined they were exploring the frontiers of the future. When the science caught up with the fiction, and in many cases exceeded it, this relationship turned on its head. Enduring themes of science fiction, which survived the impact of this scientific apocalypse, include interests expressed by Stephen Hawking – putting ourselves at the mercy of machines, communicating with non-human life and phenomena that are so grandly cosmic that they defy normal comprehension: sentient machines, alien visitors and black holes.

Science fiction authors used to make mileage out of technological speculation. From the 1930s through to the 1950s, video telephones, atomic bombs and thinking machines were wonderful things to speculate about, and no one knew for certain what was out there in the rest of the universe.

Astounding Science Fiction, December 1950: Impractical SF - Cities in Flight. Author Supplied

Robert Heinlein talked about bases on the Moon run by free-wheeling libertarians and Isaac Asimov wrote of future star-spanning, galactic-scale human empires. Alien visitors were common – whether for good or bad – and ravening beams of destruction had been tearing through the black emptiness of space since the mid-1930s for E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith. You could even make cities fly.

Science overtakes science fiction

In 1957 the Russians launched the first orbital satellite – Sputnik – and perhaps this was the beginning of the end for scientific fantasy.

It is strange to think today that when the meticulous director Stanley Kubrick was working on 2001: A Space Odyssey – released in mid 1968, and now celebrating its 50th birthday – no-one even knew for certain what the surface of the Moon was like.

Earthrise on the Moon in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick's Films

Kubrick had access to in-depth, technical support by NASA and other space technology experts, and this strongly influenced his designs. But even NASA didn’t know whether the lunar landscape was rocky or smooth, or exactly how Earthrise on the moon might appear.

The first pictures of Earth from space had been taken in 1946, but it was not until Christmas Eve 1968 that a high quality colour image of the Earth rising over the Moon was taken by the crew of Apollo 8. Despite Kubrick’s access to the best information you can see the differences between his imagery and the real thing.

Apollo 8 Earthrise. NASA

But Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey has elements of realism that are not found in modern science fiction films – the silence of space being perhaps the most striking. What people remember about 2001, however, more than the realism, is HAL – the sentient machine who goes haywire.

2001: A Space Odyssey touched on subjects that were significant to Hawking – artificial intelligence, alien contact, and even wormholes in space-time, or whatever it is that happens when Bowman goes through the stargate. These were still being presented on the basis of well-informed guesswork, however – and it might be argued that the release of this movie, which attempted to portray space travel and technology as realistically as possible, marked a point of crisis for science fiction.

The Apollo missions revealed Earth to be a blue marble, and, as Jean Baudrillard has suggested: when you have seen people go to the Moon and come back again, in a “two‑room apartment with kitchen and bath” the magic and wonder may have evaporated. Astronauts might indeed just be “spam in a can…”, as the legendary test-pilot Chuck Yaeger cynically suggested.

The future now

After this, science fiction had two choices. Choice one: do realistic science, and get the science right so people couldn’t criticise it (which has even inspired an academic paper on the work of author Greg Bear). Or choice two: go beyond it. Create science so speculative and conjectural that it could not be categorically denied.

The Man in the High Castle: Philip K. Dick’’s alternate universe where the axis powers won WWII. Amazon Studios via IMDB

The future has become now, as British New-Wave science fiction author J.G. Ballard observed, and our fears about the future are that it will simply be more of the same, and boring. For his part, Ballard explored the “inner space” of human psychology in extraordinarily ordinary environments and alternate universes, approaches which enable some writers to evade criticisms based on scientific credibility.

Science fiction has to build a vision of the future that is not just more of the same. As human knowledge, and the application of that knowledge through technology advances, it becomes harder to find scientific subjects that are truly inspiring.

These days, 2001: A Space Odyssey has appeared at number 12 on a list of “the most boring films ever”.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence at the level of sophistication and consciousness portrayed in science fiction, with the potential to cause the concerns raised by Hawking, is a long way away. But Larry Tesler – former Chief Scientist at Apple – has suggested this will always be the way people think about it because “intelligence is whatever machines haven’t done yet.”

Hawking was not alone in prophesying the end of humanity as the logical endpoint of successfully building a sentient machine. We may think of this concern with what machines may do to us as recent, but in 1863 Samuel Butler encouraged us to rise up against the machines before we become their servants. He predicted that our increasing reliance upon technology would end with us serving it rather than it serving us, and that the more science and technology progressed, the more dependent we would become on it until it was indispensable. Butler’s proposal was immortalised in science fiction as the inspiration for the “Butlerian Jihad” in Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel Dune, with the edict:

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

Analog Dec. 1963 Cover for Frank Herbert’s Dune World. Author Supplied

The signs of this dependence on machines are around us now, and subtly pervasive – most of us have smart phones, and many other devices too.

Artificial intelligence is frightening for several, good, reasons. Perhaps the least threatening is that sentient machines could do our jobs as well as, or better, than we can – making us redundant. Robots have done this already with many manufacturing jobs. But robots who think could conceivably make human minds as unnecessary as our manual labour.

Current artificial intelligence projects include robotic doctors, stockbrokers, and, of course, weapons.

These, however, are not the “holy grail” of artificial intelligence – these examples are better described as “expert systems” that simulate human capabilities, like your fridge ordering some more milk because it has realised there’s none left.

A more disturbing recent development is the ability of algorithms and expert systems aided by humans to influence public opinion, and voter intentions. When machines can play poker better than humans, it demands we consider how else they might out-think us.

What people tend to think of as true artificial intelligence, and the type that appears most often in science fiction, and in the fears of people like Stephen Hawking, is the achievement of “general intelligence” – human level abilities. With the addition of consciousness, this is known as “strong AI”.

Strong AI is the stuff of science fiction nightmares - such as HAL in 2001, Ava in Ex Machina, and apparently more benevolent, but no less disturbing by implication, Her, the self-actualising virtual companion.

The face of indifference: Eva from Ex Machina. Universal Pictures via IMDB

Perhaps our biggest issue with artificial intelligence is the ethics of it - not whether it is ethical to build one, but whether an AI could ever be part of a human ethical environment that relies on communal concepts of moral accountability.

Would an AI have any feelings of responsibility towards humans, regardless of how we feel about them? What is to stop an AI with sufficient access to resources from exterminating all human life because it finds it convenient to do something that will incidentally cause us harm, as has been suggested by the philosopher Nick Bostrom?. Or would it stick to fixing elections in its favour?

AI researchers suggest that there is quite a lot that can be done to stop this, not least including a hardware off-switch, and not being silly enough to give an AI autonomous control of anything particularly important.

There are also suggestions that we could program an AI to be ethical in a human sense – and not just Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, whose flexibility and loop-holes were the basis of the majority of Asimov’s robot stories.

Regardless of how carefully we try to protect ourselves from programming an AI to “do the right thing” by us, there is always the possibility of the AI finding internal exceptions, as Gödel’s Theorem implies. Determinism, and complexity theories also suggest that to believe we might begin to programme such a sophisticated machine to unequivocally respond to our orders may be doomed to failure. As Stephen Hawking would remind us, failure is not an option.

Alien real-estate agents

Hawking’s other words of warning were on the subject of contacting aliens - the logical premise being that any aliens who could both (a) pick up our communications, and (b) pop over for a visit, would be in the possession of powers to transform space-time which are simply inconceivable to us. Our theoretical approaches to faster-than-light travel have some serious obstacles to overcome.

Theoretical approaches include the Alcubierre drive, which requires the creation of “exotic” matter at the limits of, or beyond, our very concepts of physics.

Alcubierre Warp-Bubble: if we find a way to do this to space-time, we can get there faster than light. A. DeBenedictis

Again, the question of ethics arises - why would an advanced alien civilisation be interested in, or feel any responsibility towards humans? Cautionary tales abound in science fiction about the possibilities. A particularly gruesome example is The Screwfly Solution – a story by James Tiptree Jr. that won a Nebula Award in 1977. Spoiler alert: in the story, we discover that the horrific genocide committed on humanity may just be the result of some alien real-estate agents tidying up the back yard before putting the “house” on the market.

Science fiction writers and directors are fond of the trope of the alien menace. Director Ridley Scott has imagined the awful consequences of an AI believing an alien species is more deserving of survival than the human one, in Alien Covenant.

Artificial Intelligence teams up with Xenophobic Aliens in Ridley Scott’s Alien Covenant. Twentieth Century Fox via IMDB

Is there any reason to believe that visiting aliens would have any more noble or less disruptive intentions than colonists reaching the Americas, or Pacific islands? Perhaps they might consider Earth a good place to send convicts, like Botany Bay in Australia. It might not bode well for the indigenous Earth people.

Black holes

Stephen Hawking’s most significant contributions to science have been on the nature and characteristics of black holes. These were already imagined in physics and in science fiction, becoming more topical for science fiction writers towards the end of the 1960s when Hawking’s work was emerging.

Probably the most popular book to deal with the concept of black holes was Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, published in 1988. Black holes had appeared in popular media before, even in a Disney film in 1979, but realism had not been a strong point.

The Not-So-Realistic Disney Black Hole. Disney via IMDB

Testament to the increasing knowledge and fascination with these phenomena, faults in the portrayal of the effects of the black hole Gargantua in Interstellar – despite being well researched – were considered interesting enough to the general public to be worthy of critical attention in mass-media news reporting. They also inspired a detailed explanation in academic literature of how a black hole might actually appear.

Progressively more realistic conceptual images of black holes - a: as portrayed in Interstellar, c: the (more) genuine article. Oliver James, Eugénie von Tunzelmann, Paul Franklin and Kip S Thorne

Black holes have also featured in music, and are almost certainly the only celestial phenomena to have made it to the top of the charts.

To infinity and beyond

Did Hawking and other scientists discover things that had a significant influence on science fiction, or were they publicists of things that authors and specialists already knew?

The answer may be a bit of both - certainly the public comprehension of “grand science” has made it possible to create science fiction that is more readily comprehended, and discussed, by the non-expert. This, along with scientific progress, has changed the nature of science fiction - writers and film-makers can no longer produce “lazy” work, but can sidestep by presenting the unknowable, as Kubrick did at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The history of debates about and representations of artificial intelligence, aliens and even black holes pre-dates Hawking, even though he, and his contemporaries, have raised public awareness of these outside of a science fiction audience.

One thing is certain, however: even though science has rendered the premises of much historic science fiction obsolete, the relationship between science and science fiction is just as strong today as it has ever been.

Christopher Benjamin Menadue is a PhD Candidate, Literature and Society at James Cook University.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

[isthatbloodonhisshirt]

Tutoring the Tutor

For @sterekgala‘ s Sterek New Year’s Extravaganza.

Ao3 Link on the collection.

It was starting to get a little annoying, if he was being quite honest. He was getting a little frustrated and knew that he was going to start snapping soon, which he felt would’ve been entirely within his right.

“Come on, then. Give us a look.” Isaac leaned into him heavily, attempting to see over his shoulder as Derek tried valiantly to keep his parchment away from his friend. “Derek, it’s due in ten minutes, just a quick peek!”

“You’re not going to be able to peek during your NEWTs, you might as well start anticipating failure now.”

“That was harsh,” Isaac insisted with a small pout. “After all we’ve been through together.”

“All the detentions you got me, you mean.”

“Half of those were Erica,” Isaac argued, pointing to the girl in question, who was lazily turning pages in her book, head held up in one hand, and her boyfriend Boyd pointedly ignoring them.

Derek just rolled his eyes and kept his parchment hidden away from Isaac. Really, it was his own fault for not having worked on it sooner, he knew how strict McGonagall was. He should’ve known better.

Isaac was still trying to fight him for his homework, Derek managing to keep it to himself mostly, when he heard someone say his name. He turned and saw their Head of House, Professor Sprout, waving him over from the other end of the library.

Wrenching his homework away from Isaac, he rolled it up and gathered his books, telling them he’d see them in class, and then headed for Sprout. She smiled at him as he approached, and then motioned out of the library.

He followed without a word, a part of him wondering if maybe he’d done something wrong, but he knew that couldn’t be right. Isaac often got them both in trouble, but it was never anything that he worried would get him expelled. Whatever Sprout wanted, it was likely nothing.

He followed her outside the library and she asked what his next class was before slowly heading in that direction. He figured she wanted to speak with him while making sure he wasn’t late for class.

“How are your studies going?” She asked kindly while they meandered slowly through the corridors.

“They’re fine, I think. Just trying to focus on the harder courses so I’m ready to take my NEWTs in the spring.”

Sprout looked at him fondly. “I remember your first day here as if it were yesterday. I can’t believe you’re already seventeen, in your final year. You were such a quiet little one, it’s amazing how far you’ve come.”

Derek tried to squash the embarrassed flush creeping up the back of his neck. He had always liked Professor Sprout, and he remembered being extremely pleased when he got sorted into Hufflepuff. He hadn’t ever felt like he suited any of the other houses, and he actually liked being in Hufflepuff a lot, even if he was stuck rooming with Isaac, who literally did everything in his power to get them in trouble.

Derek’s immediate family was actually one of the only ones who’d hit all four houses, none of them having been sorted into the same one.

His mother had been in Ravenclaw when she’d been coming to Hogwarts, and after having married their father—who was a muggle, and extremely patient for being stuck in a house with four magic users—they had had three children.

The eldest, Laura, had been sorted into Gryffindor. When she was in her second year, Derek had arrived and been sorted into Hufflepuff. Two years later, with Derek a third year and Laura a fourth year, their youngest sister Cora had started her first year and been sorted into Slytherin.

One family, four houses. Derek felt like he got the best deal.

“I’ve a favour to ask of you,” Spout said after another bout of silence.

“All right,” Derek said, frowning slightly at his professor.

They stopped at the end of the corridor in one of the open areas. People were talking and milling about, some of them heading for their next class while others headed for the Great Hall or the library.

“I’ve got a student in my Herbology class. Brilliant student, very talented, but it seems he’s expressed concerns with professor Flitwick about his struggles with Transfiguration. He’s concerned he won’t pass his OWLs and get into the classes he needs for sixth year.” She smiled sadly. “He’s a good lad, just easily distracted. Professor Flitwick said the student mentioned speaking to professor McGonagall about her best seventh year student, and she told him that it was you. I was wondering if you might be so kind as to help him with his studies this year. I know you have your exams to consider in the spring, but look at it as additional revision. Everything he needs for his OWLs, you will also likely need to review for your NEWTs.”

Tutor? Derek wasn’t exactly the best person to be tutoring someone else. He was grumpy and quiet and impatient. He hated slackers, despised skivers, and mostly liked to just stick to his own group of friends.

If he agreed to this, then he would be missing out on a lot of time with Isaac, Erica and Boyd.

Well, maybe not Isaac, since they roomed together.

But at the same time, everyone knew he wanted to go into teaching. Some of the professors at Hogwarts were going to retire in the next few years, and Derek was interested in seeing if he could get one of the teaching positions. Dumbledore wouldn’t even consider him if he didn’t show he could do this. Tutoring would be a good stepping stone to teaching.

And Sprout was right, tutoring someone else would help him study at the same time, so it wasn’t a terrible idea.

“Sure,” he finally said. “I can try for a bit.” He figured if the guy didn’t work hard enough or sassed Derek, he could always just drop him.

“Great. He’s a Ravenclaw fifth year named Mieczyslaw Stilinski, but everyone calls him Stiles.”

Derek almost groaned but managed to refrain. He knew the name, mostly from Cora. They were close friends, but the Hale siblings all did their own thing in school, so he didn’t really know Stiles, he just knew of Stiles.

He also remembered the first time he’d met him. It had been on the Hogwarts Express, when Derek and his friends had chosen a compartment on the train and had gotten settled. Halfway through the trip, the wall between Derek and Erica’s heads exploded, a hole forming connecting their compartment with the neighbouring one. When Derek had angrily put his face into the opening to tell off the moron who’d done it, he was greeted by a howling Cora, a terrified dark-haired first year, an annoyed redhead and a grinning Stiles holding a wand.

He’d angrily snapped for him to watch what he was doing before he took someone’s head off, and then had been forced to listen to the idiotic conversations from the next compartment over for the remainder of the trip, since the giant hole in the cabin wall made it impossible for them to keep their two compartments separate conversation-wise.

Of course, he should’ve figured Cora would stay friends with him. Despite her being sorted into Slytherin, and Stiles being sorted into Ravenclaw, they were like two peas in a pod and it drove Derek crazy because all he ever heard when they went home was Stiles this, Stiles that, Stiles is so amazing. Laura had teased her for a few years about them being together, and Cora insisted it wasn’t like that. It hadn’t been until this past summer, when Laura had been particularly nasty in her teasing, that Cora had shouted, “Fuck off, Laura, Stiles is fucking gay!”

He knew she hadn’t meant to blurt it out, because she looked horrified with herself for having done so, but it didn’t end up being a problem since Stiles had basically announced it earlier that year. Cora had probably come clean and Stiles had figured it would be best to say so himself before it spread on its own.

Which was ridiculous because who was Derek going to tell? Literally no one. He’d have to care enough about Stiles to talk about him to other people.

“Derek?”

He focussed back on Sprout, who was staring at him with concern, and cleared his throat.

“Sorry, yes professor. I’ll touch base with him in the morning and do what I can.”

“Excellent.” Sprout grinned. “I’ll inform professor Flitwick. He can let Stiles know to expect you in the morning.”

Derek nodded, bid the woman farewell, and headed off to class where he knew Boyd, Erica and Isaac would be meeting him.

He could do this for a little while. If Stiles ended up being as idiotic at his tutoring as he was in general, Derek would just drop him and tell him to figure his own shit out.

No big deal.

“What do you know about Stiles?” Derek asked Boyd while they headed for breakfast the next morning. Isaac and Derek had left the Hufflepuff dormitory early and headed in the direction of the Great Hall, but Derek had wanted to meet up with Boyd first because once Erica showed up, it’d be impossible for them to speak.

Namely because the Slytherin would attach her face to Boyd’s and try and suck the oxygen right out of his lungs. Derek still didn’t know how a Slytherin and Ravenclaw had gotten together, but he didn’t dwell on it. Erica was great, even if she was annoying.

“He’s smart,” Boyd said in his low, deep voice. “Good kid. Causes a lot of trouble, which loses us house points, but he also almost always earns double back for us.”

It was true. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seemed to be neck and neck for the house cup more often than not since Stiles’ arrival, though his friend Lydia helped, too. They were both eager beavers, and both in Ravenclaw.

“Isn’t your sister best friends with him?” Isaac asked. “Why don’t you just ask her?”

“Because it would mean talking to her.”

“You’re a right wanker,” Isaac said with a grin, the three of them heading for the Great Hall. They’d barely reached it when Erica appeared and, as predicted, she latched herself onto Boyd and they snogged in the doorway while he and Isaac just headed inside. They’d have to split for the tables anyway.

“Save me a spot,” Derek said, heading away from Hufflepuff and towards Ravenclaw instead.

It was easy to spot Stiles, because he was the most animated person at the table, and had a group of fangirls around him, sighing wistfully with their chins in their hands, staring at him with practical hearts in their eyes.

Derek didn’t get it. Especially since everyone knew he wasn’t into girls, but he figured they were just hopeful.

He walked right up behind him and interrupted him mid-sentence.

“Stiles.”

The student in question cut himself off and turned, staring up at Derek and grinning. “Hey Derek! What brings you here?”

“Sprout said she’d tell Flitwick,” he insisted grumpily. “I’m your tutor for Transfiguration.”

“Tutor?” Lydia asked, having been reading beside Stiles while eating her breakfast. “What on earth do you need a tutor in Transfiguration for? Aren’t—”

“Tell the whole school, why don’t you?” Stiles cut off, hissing the words at her while scrambling out of his seat on the bench and motioning for Derek to follow him away from the table. Sighing internally, he followed him to a more secluded area. Stiles crossed his arms defensively, shifting his weight and eying Derek.

“Thanks, I guess. For helping. Um, what time works for you?”

“I’ve got Quidditch practice on Tuesdays after five. Do you have any activities?”

“Nope, I’m cool with only one type of ball flying at my face.” His eyes widened at his own words and he rubbed at his face with both hands. “Ignore I said that.”

“With pleasure,” Derek grit out. “We can set up a schedule for you. How about a few hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Meet in the library after supper and I can help you for a few hours.”

“Sure.” Stiles half-smiled. “Sounds good. So, today too, then?”

“No time like the present.” Derek turned to leave, but Stiles grabbed his sleeve and tugged lightly.

“Derek?” He turned back to him. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Just don’t waste my time.”

Derek moved away from him once more and headed for his table. He found Isaac easily enough and took the empty seat beside him, the other chatting away at him the moment he sat down. He ignored him for the most part and went about eating his breakfast.

After they’d all finished eating, they headed off to their various classes. Derek saw Stiles a bit ahead of him, along with Lydia. They met up quickly with Cora, and another boy from Gryffindor, whom Stiles immediately put into a chokehold just for fun.

The kid was an idiot. He was still a child, despite being a fifth year, and apparently failing a class, which was ridiculous. How Boyd could insist he was smart, Derek had no idea. There were much harder courses than Transfiguration.

They reached their first class relatively quickly, and took their various seats. Derek spent a majority of the day trying to plan the study schedule for Stiles. He paid attention to his lessons, and took notes, of course, but there were some parts of the lessons he already knew extremely well and he used that time to try and organize his thoughts.

The day passed quickly, and after he finished with supper, he bid his friends farewell and headed back to the dorm to grab some of his books, then went to the library.

Stiles was already waiting for him, books open in front of him and the Ravenclaw taking notes on a piece of parchment. Derek had to at least give him credit for looking like he was trying.

Wandering over to him, he dropped his own books across from him, Stiles jumping before glancing up. He grinned when he saw Derek, straightening and putting his quill down.

“Hey.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Derek said while taking a seat. “I’m doing this as a favour to professor Sprout, nothing more. If you slack off, if you don’t show any improvement, and if you waste my time, I’ll drop you and leave you to fail your OWLs, understand? I only have a few months before my own exams, and I won’t waste time on a hopeless cause.”

Stiles seemed a little startled at his words, but he just nodded emphatically, saluting Derek.

“Yes sir, Derek sir! Understood. Shall we begin?”

Derek grunted and asked Stiles what chapters he was struggling with. The first night of tutoring had mostly just been Derek trying to figure out what Stiles needed help with, and taking notes on his various errors and grades—the ones Stiles remembered, anyway. Derek suggested they try some practice wand movements, but Stiles had immediately dismissed that and reminded Derek of the hole in the compartment wall.

Derek didn’t want to lose his eyebrows, so he agreed perhaps the practice could come later and to focus on the academic side first.

All in all, it had been a good lesson. Stiles had been attentive, though he fidgeted a lot, playing with his quill, tapping his fingers, jerking his legs up and down. It was clear sitting still wasn’t his forte, but he’d listened to everything Derek had said, and when the Hufflepuff told him he was assigning homework he expected done for the following day, Stiles had just nodded and agreed without complaint.

After three and a half hours, he decided it had been long enough and they began packing away their things.

“Thank Derek,” Stiles said with a huge grin. “I appreciate your help.”

“Sure,” Derek replied, watching Stiles walk away with a bounce in his step. He just rolled his eyes and gathered his own things, getting to his feet. He turned and almost walked right into Cora, who was standing right behind him, glaring with her arms crossed.

“What are you doing?”

“What does that mean?” Derek demanded, side-stepping her and beginning to head for the exit. She kept up right behind him, poking him insistently in the back.

“I mean what are you doing? Why were you hanging out with Stiles?”

“I wasn’t ‘hanging out’ with your friend,” Derek snapped, turning to glare over his shoulder. Was she worried that Stiles would drop her for him or something? “I was tutoring him.”

“Tutoring him? You?”

“Something wrong with that?” he demanded while they exited the library, Cora moving so they were walking side by side now.

“Why on earth would you be tutoring Stiles? In what class?”

“Transfiguration.”

“Transfiguration?” Cora echoed. “You?”

“Is there an echo in here? Yes, Cora, I’m tutoring him in Transfiguration. Sprout came to me saying he needed help, and I’ve got the best grades in my year for McGonagall’s class, so I was asked to help him out so he didn’t fail his OWLs.”

Cora frowned at him, looking thoughtful. “Huh.”

She turned down another corridor without explanation and Derek just chalked it up to her being worried he was stealing her friend. Cora didn’t have very many, mostly just the same group Stiles hung out with. Stiles himself seemed to be fairly popular, so he always had people around, but he seemed to prefer the company of Cora, Lydia and his Gryffindor friend. If Cora thought Derek was encroaching on her territory, she would be a pain in his ass to deal with.

Derek didn’t hear from Cora again, and when he saw her with Stiles the next day before breakfast, they seemed perfectly normal. The only change was that it looked like Cora was teasing him a lot more than usual, and his face would go pink before he batted away at her. Derek didn’t pay them any mind after that, going back to Isaac’s inane chatter and eventually leaving the Great Hall for class.

When he went back to tutoring Stiles that evening, he found he’d done his homework, as requested, and was somewhat surprised at some of his answers. He hadn’t done horribly, but he hadn’t done great, either. Derek spent a majority of the evening explaining the part where he’d gone wrong and Stiles took meticulous notes, nodding along and listening attentively. They parted around nine, Stiles grinning broadly and thanking him before gathering his things and exiting the library.

This continued on for close to a month, and Derek found Stiles was improving little by little, which was really rewarding for him, because he was obviously making a difference. He still got frustrated at some of the insane errors Stiles made, but he fought for patience and just explained them to him again.

By the second month, Stiles was improving further, but had also gotten a bit chattier. When Derek set him up with some worksheets to do, which would allow Derek to still tutor him while also doing some of his own homework, Stiles had started speaking to him.

He never said anything interesting, mostly just asked him questions about his plans for the future, what courses he was taking, what life was like living with Cora, things like that. He asked him about weekend plans a lot, and Derek assumed it was because he wanted to study some during the weekend, but Derek needed time to study and do homework, too, so he always responded as such.

It was weird listening to Stiles speak sometimes though, and despite his better judgement one day, Stiles said something that reminded Derek of Erica and Cora, and he said,

“You really sound like you should’ve been in Slytherin.”

Stiles looked pleased to have Derek engaging in conversation and had leapt on it, quickly saying, “You know, the Sorting Hat actually wanted to put me in Slytherin. It really, really did, but my best friend from back home, Scott, well he ended up in Gryffindor. He got sorted before me, so that was a done deal.” Stiles drummed his fingers against the table while he spoke. “It’s a known fact that people sorted between Slytherin and Gryffindor, even if they arrive as friends, they always leave as enemies.” Stiles shrugged. “I didn’t want to leave Hogwarts having lost my best friend, so I kept telling the Hat nope, nope, not going to Slytherin, you can put me anywhere but there, I don’t care, you can even put me in fucking Hufflepuff if you want.”

Derek glared at him for that comment but Stiles just grinned, clearly teasing, and continued.

“It eventually gave up and put me in Ravenclaw.”

Now that Derek thought about it, he actually did remember Stiles taking a while to be sorted. It was probably because the Hat had been adamant that he’d do well in Slytherin but Stiles kept insisting he didn’t want that.

“Do you really think you and your friend would’ve ended your friendship just because of the houses you’re in?”

“You should see Cora and Scott go at it,” Stiles insisted, eyebrows shooting up. “If Lydia and I weren’t there to mediate, I’m pretty sure they’d have killed each other by now. It makes me sad, but as long as I get to keep them both as friends, that’s what really matters to me.” He shrugged again, then grinned. “But don’t tell anyone about the Hat’s accuracy, okay?”

Derek snorted. “Oh yeah. You definitely should’ve been in Slytherin.”

“Why do you think Cora and I get along so well?” Stiles winked at him and Derek snorted, then they went back to what they were doing.

He found as time passed that he didn’t mind Stiles so much. He was a little loud and rambunctious at times, but still funny and very kind. He’d started bringing by various Quidditch related items once a week when he’d found out who Derek’s favourite team was. His mother apparently used to work for the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, so he had connections with most of the teams in the league. He often brought by either things from Derek’s favourite team, or various good luck charms for when games were around the corner.

Derek thought it was extremely kind of him, and when his mother had sent over some home-made sweets, he’d brought them to the tutoring session and offered some to Stiles.

“Aw, yes!” Stiles had instantly grabbed a handful of treats, shoving them into his mouth. “Dude, your mother makes the best cookies!”

It hadn’t occurred to Derek that Stiles would’ve already been exposed to his mother’s baking, but he was friends with Cora, so he should’ve figured.

Halfway through the second month of sessions, Derek was in the process of correcting Stiles’ worksheet while the other drummed absently on the table, looking around. He was doing better, but still not as good as Derek had been hoping.

“So,” Stiles said while Derek’s quill scratched away, “I was wondering, are you doing anything this weekend?”

“No,” Derek said, pleased when he saw Stiles answer one of the sections he’d previously been struggling with correctly. “Studying, probably.”

“Oh, cool. Cool.” Stiles’ hands drummed a little louder, causing the librarian to shush him. He mouthed an apology, Derek letting out a small laugh. Stiles was silent for a moment, then continued. “So. Uh, it’s a Hogsmeade weekend. I was uh, I was thinking—”

“Is it?” Derek asked, interrupting him without entirely meaning to, his mind half on what he was correcting and half on the conversation. “I wouldn’t know, I don’t go to Hogsmeade.”

“Oh, right.” He glanced up when he heard Stiles’ voice seem to deflate, but the other propped it back up and grinned at him when he saw Derek looking. “Yeah, of course. You’re a seventh year, you’ve probably been like, a bazillion times.” Stiles laughed and rubbed awkwardly at his arm.

Derek just went back to what he was grading, finishing up and handing it back to Stiles to look over. It was getting late, so he said they could go through everything on Monday when they had their next session and Stiles nodded.

He smiled and thanked Derek like he always did, but he didn’t look as bright and excited as he usually did when he left him. Derek frowned at his retreating back, then shrugged and started packing away his things. Someone slid into the seat across from him, and he looked up to see Erica there, giving him a look.

“You’re an idiot. He was trying to ask you out.”

Derek blinked at her, surprised, and wondered how long she’d been there. He saw books in her hand, and figured she’d been looking for something for one of her classes.

“No, he wasn’t,” he insisted, finishing up with his things but not standing, since Erica was still giving him a look.

“Derek, he was totally asking you out.”

“Trust me, he wasn’t. He asks me about my weekends all the time.”

“Then he’s either clued in to your stupidity, or really bad at taking no for an answer, because I can tell that kid is crazy about you.” Erica flipped some hair over her shoulder, then grabbed her books. “I can ask Cora, if you want.”

“No,” Derek said sharply. “He’s not into me, don’t be stupid.”

“You’re the stupid one, but if you say so.” Erica shrugged and stood. “Boyd and I are going to Hogsmeade, by the way. Isaac has detention. Hope studying is more interesting than a date with Stiles.”

“It wasn’t a date invitation!” Derek insisted after her when she walked away. The librarian shushed him angrily and he winced, turning back to his things and gathering them up before standing to head back to the Hufflepuff dormitory.

Derek slept badly that night because his brain wouldn’t turn off. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Erica had said, but it seemed insane to consider. Stiles was extremely popular, and not only in his own house. Yes, Derek knew he was gay, but he felt certain that if Stiles was interested in him, he would’ve been a lot more direct in asking him out. Stiles had nothing to worry about, he was more coveted than Derek was, and everyone knew Derek didn’t discriminate.

He’d dated a girl in first year, two different guys in third year, and had alternated between both genders for a majority of his time at Hogwarts. He wasn’t as popular as Stiles, but Derek knew he was attractive. He usually got involved with people because they thought he was good looking, and then they got tired of his prickly personality and dropped him. Which he was fine with, really, because if he was going to be with someone, they had to be able to put up with him whether he was in a good mood or not.

Stiles seemed to be pretty good at that, though. No matter what kind of mood Derek was in, Stiles always stuck around. Even nights where Derek knew he was being intolerable and insisted they cut things short so he didn’t say anything he’d regret, Stiles insisted it was fine and stuck it out, despite Derek’s terrible attitude.

“Hey Isaac,” Derek asked while they headed for class the next day. “Do you think Stiles likes me?”

“Probably, nobody can stand to spend that much time with you otherwise.”

Derek gave Isaac an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything. They just sat down in their Transfiguration class and took notes as always. They had a few practice sessions throughout the course of the lesson and Derek realized one of the items they were working on was the same one Stiles had been struggling with a few days ago but now seemed to have improved on.

When class ended, he hadn’t exactly meant to linger, but he found himself packing up more slowly than usual and he waved for Isaac to head out without him. When the class was empty save himself and McGonagall, he headed over to her hesitantly and stopped in front of her desk.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Hale?” she asked, lowering her glasses slightly and looking at him over them.

“I was just—I was wondering if you could tell me how Stiles is doing,” he said cautiously.

“Why, may I ask, would you like to know?”

“Well, I’ve been tutoring him for the past two months, and he’s really improved lately, so I was just curious how he’s been in your classes since we started.”

McGonagall was silent for a while, staring at him, then pulled her glasses off and said, “What are you talking about, Hale? Why would Mr. Stilinski need a tutor for my class, he’s got the highest grade in the entire school in Transfiguration.”

Derek stared at her for a long while, and found it somewhat comical that a small part of him had expected this to happen. Ever since Erica’s comment the night before, he’d remembered the way Lydia had reacted when Derek had wandered over to tell him their tutoring schedule. He remembered Cora’s incredulous reaction to the same news, and how she’d wandered away without a word. Even Boyd had said Stiles was smart when he’d asked him about him.

Stiles didn’t need tutoring at all. He was just using that as an excuse to spend time with Derek.

Holy shit, Erica was right! Stiles liked him!

“Forgive me, but can I ask you how Stiles is doing academically overall?” Derek asked.

McGonagall leaned back in her seat, eying him for a few moments, then said, “It’s not appropriate for me to share another student’s grades, but I feel comfortable telling you that Stiles is one of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever seen come through these doors. Every few years we encounter a student with exceptional skills, and Stiles is definitely at the top of the list. He wants to be an Auror, like his father. I dare say he won’t have any problems achieving that goal.”

Derek felt like a fucking idiot.

“Thank you, professor.”

She nodded, put her glasses back on, and went back to whatever she was doing.

Derek left the classroom, feeling stupid and almost angry. Stiles had essentially been wasting his time with this stupid tutoring business. Sure, it was good for Derek, because he was studying a lot while tutoring him, but if Stiles was so fucking smart, surely there were other ways for him to get Derek’s attention?!

He walked right into someone in his anger, and heard a shout. Grabbing at the arm of who he’d almost knocked over, he scowled angrily when he noticed it was Cora. She glared back, peeling Derek’s fingers off her arm and turning to gather her fallen books.

“Walk much?” she demanded.

“How long have you known Stiles likes me?” he blurted out.

Cora froze for a moment, then slowly turned her head to look at him. She eyed him warily, then finished gathering her things and stood, sighing.

“Look, Derek, it might have escaped your notice, but people have known about his crush on you for two years.”

Two years?! What?!

“He’s tried getting your attention in the past. He tried to talk to you a few times on the train, or at Quidditch games, but you always just brushed him off as that moron who’d blown a hole in the compartment wall in his first year. When I found out you were tutoring him, I went to ask him what the hell he was doing, because Stiles is a fucking genius. He just said that, to date, it was the only way he’d gotten you to talk to him.” She shrugged. “He wasn’t trying to be malicious or anything, he just wanted to spend time with you. You wouldn’t give it to him, so he found another way to do it. He told me he was asking around with the professors on who their best student in their classes were for the seventh years, and McGonagall was the first one to say it was you. So he went to Flitwick and said he was having trouble with Transfiguration, and obviously that wasn’t going to work for Flitwick because Stiles is his favourite, so he went to see Sprout to ask about getting you to tutor him since Stiles told him he’d spoken to McGonagall and she’d recommended you.” Cora shrugged. “You have to give him credit, he wanted this bad enough he risked the professors talking to one another and finding out he was full of shit.” She punched him lightly in the arm. “Give him a chance. He’s awesome, and you’d love him if you just stopped seeing him as the idiot who blew a hole in the wall.”

“He invited me to Hogsmeade,” Derek said with a small scowl.

“He told me. You said no. Shocker.”

Derek glared at her and she just rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t know it was supposed to be a date.”

“Well, now you do. And now you know what lengths he went to in order for you to just talk to him.” She shrugged again and started walking backwards. “Just give him a chance, would you? Stiles is amazing, and he’d be good for you. And hey, maybe he can tutor you in your shitty classes.”

Derek threw a book at her but she just ducked and laughed, running away from him before he could do any real damage.

Derek was still mad the entirety of the day, but the more he ranted about it to Erica, Isaac and Boyd, the more he realized that he honestly hadn’t noticed how hard Stiles had been trying to get his attention. His friends remembered, though, and were quick to give him all kinds of examples of things that he hadn’t even remembered happening.

The year before, he’d gotten an incredibly amazing and thoughtful Valentine’s from an anonymous source. He hadn’t asked anyone if they knew who it was from, figuring whoever it was would’ve told him by now, but Boyd admitted that he’d known it was Stiles because he’d seen him working on it in the common room. He hadn’t said anything because Derek had never asked, and he figured it wasn’t his place to give away Stiles’ anonymity.

Erica reminded him of the insane Hufflepuff support their Quidditch games always had from the Ravenclaw stands, even when the games were being played against Ravenclaw house itself.

There were just little things that all of his friends had noticed about Stiles that Derek hadn’t even realized. The more they talked to him, the less angry he became and he realized Stiles truly did just want to talk to him, and Derek had never given him the time of day. Of course he’d had to resort to drastic measures, Derek was in his last year at Hogwarts, and that made this Stiles’ last chance. He probably thought Derek was incredibly dense for not realizing he liked him and, honestly, Derek himself did feel pretty dense.

When he woke up the next morning, he made sure to do so with plenty of time to get breakfast and head to the Entrance Hall. He changed quickly, ignored the snoring Isaac who was definitely late for detention, and went to grab some breakfast. He chatted with some of the other people in his house, and then headed for the doors when the Hogsmeade visits would start.

He was one of the first ones there, and he handed his permission slip to Filch without even looking at him. He headed down the stairs and waited at the bottom, feeling somewhat anxious and shoving his hands in his pockets.

It was getting a littler cooler out, but not enough to need more than a jumper, so he just shifted his weight from foot to foot to keep himself moving and kept an eye on everyone exiting the castle. After almost fifteen minutes, Derek saw Stiles walk out, talking animatedly to his Gryffindor friend Scott. Lydia and Cora were behind them, speaking quietly to one another, the four of them walking down the steps.

Cora saw him first and Derek tensed, expecting some kind of comment, but she just grinned happily and nudged Stiles, motioning Derek. When Stiles turned to look at him, Derek waved awkwardly and only felt better when Stiles turned almost embarrassingly red in the face. He said something to his friends, almost tripped the rest of the way down the stairs, and hurried over to where Derek was.

“Hey,” he said breathlessly, smiling brightly.

“Hi,” Derek replied. Before he could say anything else, Stiles continued.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “About the tutoring thing. But I just didn’t know what else to do, and I figured that tutoring me would also help keep your brain active for your own courses, and it would help with your NEWTs and I mean, those are still so far off, we’re only just about to start our third month of classes, so—”

Derek reached out and covered Stiles’ mouth with one hand, making him stop speaking immediately.

“I was mad at first, but people helped put things into perspective.” He lowered his hand when it became clear Stiles wouldn’t start yammering again. “I’m sorry for how I treated you before. I guess I couldn’t get the image of the first year who blew a hole in the train out of my head.”

Stiles laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah. Dad wasn’t too happy about that. He still brings it up when I try and argue how he’s lucky I’m such a great kid.”

Derek smiled slightly. “Well, I might bring it up, too, but I’m willing to spend a bit more time with you, if that’s what you’d like, though not as a tutor.”

“Yes!” Stiles nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, absolutely!”

“Great.” Derek motioned down the path with his elbow, hands in his pockets again. “Want to go to Hogsmeade?”

Stiles beamed at him and nodded, the two of them walking slowly down the path. Derek had no idea where this relationship was going, but as Stiles spoke animatedly about Quidditch and the ways to improve flight on an older model broom, he realized that he was more than willing to give Stiles a chance.

He may have lied, but he’d had good intentions. And he’d apologized.

Besides, Derek would never admit this aloud, but he’d kind of grown fond of his sister’s idiotic Ravenclaw friend.

By the time they reached Hogsmeade, their hands were linked together, and they both had ridiculous smiles on their faces.

Derek was okay with that.

END.

[stellaralchemist]

Come Fly With Me - A Summary

Or: The Gang Robs Protostar

The Starchaser let down amid the jungles of Celestion, the clouds above heavy with rain and rolling with thunder. It was a gloomy day, the jungles lightened only by the lights from the ship and the fires of a crashed ship just at the other end of their little clearing.

“Okay, but how come the ship is on fire?” Jeremy Murdoch asked, sensibly enough given the situation. He was reasonably pragmatic for an exiled Cassian who seemed to spend at least fifty percent of his time inebriated.

"Yeah... I thought it crashed last year or something,” Lady Starheart supplied, but it was too late. The back end of the ship was not on fire and despite the fact it was covered in tumbling vines that should suggest it had been here far too long to be on fire the gang was away.

It wouldn’t really do to be last on the ship, would it? Lady Starheart always ran freckled-face first into danger.

As the gang scrambled around like ants, trying to make hide or hair of this fascinating vessel the ever-sensible Morducai, with his oddly glowing pistols, waited down below. He was far too sensible to get caught in the trap, the trap which appeared to have sprung when rustling sounded from the side. Unluckily for Morducai he seemed to be wrong, and the little bot appeared to be harmless.

Bolo was a Chua, and Bolo was not wholly sensible. E excitedly poked around the little bot before announcing to the crowd, "Is just new Protostar bot. No bombs. Unless bombs come in original model." E couldn’t seem to stop irself looking just a little disappointed with this fact.

"Aww, poor buddy," Bron said, taking a step up to have a look. The granok was always sympathetic to robots, perhaps because (with proper maintenance and unlike the humans around him) they could live as long as he could. "Must'a gone down with the ship."

The granok scraped some mud away from the bot. “You look like an Isaac.”

The gang, with some intermittent bickering, and with the Isaac’s help discovered a door, its keypad indicating that it was even still being powered, at least a little bit. The red light waxed and waned over its face.

“Ooh, power! Good news for us, probably.” Bolo exclaimed. Bolo was relentlessly positive.

"Hopefully," Jeremy muttered to the chua. He was not as relentlessly positive. "Unless there's turrets behind the door or something."

“Is that likely, with Protostar?” Seeker asked, it was possible he was the least positive person in Celestion at the moment, given the current company this was also extremely impressive.

"One advertising bot and nothing else is a bit weird though, right? Protostar shit is usually so... you know, protected,” Lady Starheart pointed out helpfully. It was all a bit weird.

At the door, Jeremy was having trouble. He had a special eye that should have helped him get in, as it stood all he managed was to explode the panel. That made things rather difficult for Bolo, who tried to reconnect some wires. E managed the wires alright, they shocked the chua so badly e ended up rolling down the stairs, smelling of burnt fur.

Jenny Brightmist had a laser, and as the usual ways of opening a door didn’t seem to be working she tried that. Jenny Brightmist was an engineer, an excellent one at that, but even she couldn’t seem to do much more than put a little dent in the thing. Protostar was not fond of being robbed but they also weren’t immune to being blown up. The slightly weakened door coupled with a large number of explosives rendered the doors into pieces and revealed a treasure hoard of gadgets and gizmos, many of which were most definitely not for public consumption.

The hoard was enough to send Bolo into a dead faint but Yautja, the old draken, the clanlord of Mikros who was now the clanfather by default of the Starchaser, knew how to sort that out at least. "He'll come to. Watch this." He leaned down over the chua and said, lowly, "Morducai is touching your tools."

As the crew began to load up the goods, Bolo launched irself at the one-eyed man while Lady ran behind screaming,  "Bolo! Bolo no! Yautja was just trying to wake you up buddy! Don't hurt his face!" She hesitated and helpfully added, "Or his dick!"

It took the crew a few hours to load up the hoard of equipment, above the sky rumbled with thunder and below the crew sat on the ramp, sweating, as the last few pieces went away. Isaac, who had helpfully followed along and beeped cheerfully was nowhere to be seen, an oddity that the crew may have happily overlooked had a heart-rending and panicked mess of beeps not sounded from somewhere in the woods.

Bron was off already, that soft spot for robots would get him hurt one day, and behind him Lady Starheart, whose soft spot for idiots would get her killed. From there it was a domino effect of sorts. Yautja followed along with Jenny, and then Morducai and Jeremy. Seeker and Bolo were smart, they stayed back, at least for the moment.

Isaac was in a clearing, found smoking and injured, its front panels gouged away. It sounded as though something stalked the woods around and Bron, helpful as he was, focused on fixing the droid. Lady Starheart called for Bolo to bring them supplies, something she regretted when the Chua appeared and, beneath the clearing, a crude trap door sent all but Morty, Seeker, and Jeremy tumbling into a cage.

The trapped gang came to with numerous injuries, a snapped leg, cracked ribs, an injured shoulder… perhaps the worst was Yautja’s broken tail. Those were important to Draken, having it broken was a rather large tragedy. Still, none of them were in as bad a state as the bones around them, so there was still hope.

They lay in pain until helpfully supplied with medkits and a few beers from the safe men above. There didn’t seem to be anything to perform a rescue with, either inside the ship or outside. And so, after an hour’s work at the top the three men disappeared and the injured five below were left in the dark, to ponder what had happened to the bones around them.

------

It was six hours or so, before anything happened. When it did it came in the form of a J-X3 Protostar Shipping Protection Unit, its shoulder-mounted laser cannons were decorated with red and gold leaves tied together with vines and it communicated toward the cage in a series of beeps. It looked like it might be an Edgar, possibly a Francis. It came with five other protection units, these ones smaller and flying.

“This definitely how Chua expected to die,” Bolo observed. That was fair, now that it was upon them it seemed reasonable now they would all die this way.

Edgar/Francis tried to communicate, Bron tried to translate, they came to the agreement that what the bots wanted was the Starchaser and this was non-negotiable.

"Tell them they can get fucked,” Lady said after two abrupt a laugh. “Over my dead body and all of yours. Sorry Bolo, dude." She did sound apologetic about that but at least this way her mother would be wrong and she wouldn’t be dying alone.

"That's a no from the captain, friend. How about we work something else out?" Bron asked hopefully but this was not a negotiation on either side. But Isaac was there and Isaac was helpful. It tried to point out the power core in the corner and may have succeeded then if Seeker hadn’t appeared in another cave mouth.

The three men who had not fallen had been trudging all day, through miles of twisting caves, until they found a tunnel that opened here. And now, frustrated, Seeker has stepped out to try to negotiate. This may have been a poor decision given the jumpiness and unease of the bots, one fires and burns the man’s arm. It is not going well.

The bots descended into bickering, the one that shot Seeker even tries to offer him a pebble as an apology. It isn’t going well. The pebble clatters to the ground. The bot looks upset if bots can.

In the cage Bron is just excited to see Jeremy, they are good friends after all. A few pleasantries are exchanged, an attempt to understand what is going on. Edgar (or Francis) points to the power core, it lies dead in the corner beside a powerless bot. An examination of the others yields an indication that they’re all running low on power, their indicators are yellow and red.

Jenny voidslipped out of the cage, why she hadn’t done that hours ago was anyone’s guess but now she stood next to Morty, looking over the power core.

"Power core's fine,” Morty said “Just off. Looks like these bots tried to fix the damage to it and got themselves fried."

"Shame,” Jenny said without meaning it.

They got to work while the bots freed the caged group. They did look excited to be free at least, it was better than being in the cage. The bots seemed mostly curious about them, the bots hadn’t seen people in a while, not living ones anyway.

On the edge of the room Jenny, Seeker, and Bolo were at work on the power core while Jeremy and Bron determined whose fault this was (Bron’s) and Lady Starheart expressed her happiness that Morty had not “Stolen her ship and fucked off”.

Things, it seemed, had ended well for the gang. They repowered the robots (who still had a cage full of bones it was best not to think about) and said their farewells to Isaac, who sent them off happily. And then, well, they were up in the air. Back home and safe.

Well, except for Bron who had a bomb around his neck, but that was very much a different issue.

[ivegotsingleissues]

My review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (MINOR SPOILER WARNING)

Okay, so I’ve been sitting on this for a couple of days. I saw it this past Saturday, and I’ve been wanting to re-watch it because I want to see it again to reaffirm what I believe. However, until then, these are my honest opinions on The Last Jedi, and once again, I will try to be as vague as I can.

Honestly, I loved this movie. I did. It has some problems (okay, a LOT of problems), but guess what? So do a lot of the other Star Wars movies. I love Star Wars to death, I really do. I got into it when I was in fourth grade, and I absolutely lost it when Force Awakens came out. I got to see a Star Wars movie in theaters! Now I’ve seen THREE of them, and they’re still going!

But enough of that. Onto Last Jedi. Like I said, it has problems. It adds a LOT to the lore that some people aren’t going to like. It elaborates on a lot of Force powers and how the Force works. There is an absolutely amazing scene where Luke Skywalker talks about what the Force truly is. I absolutely loved it, but I can see how it will definitely confuse people.

The action and cinematography in this movie are especially beautiful. There’s no actually *lightsaber duel,* but there are two especially amazing scenes that involve the lightsabers, and blah blah blah. I’ll get into that later.

Despite how much I praise it and confess that I do love it (because I often feel that I’m the only one that enjoyed this film and I feel like this is the only place I can openly admit that), there are problems. This will get a LITTLE BIT SPOILERY SO CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Specifically my biggest criticism has to do with Finn. Now, I absolutely love Finn. He was one of my favorite parts of TFA. But in this film, they paired him up with a new character named Rose. From the start, I didn't really care about Rose as a character. She honestly to me felt like a forced (hehe, “forced”) attempt at diversity and a love interest. TFA showed that we can have amazing diverse characters and not have it feel out of place. Anyway, the two go to a casino planet called Canto Bait and have to find someone and then get off the planet and infiltrate a Star Destroyer. But the thing is, it honestly gets boring. I found myself zoning out every time they cut back to Canto Bait, because I didn't care. I was more invested in what was going on with Poe and Leia, or Rey and Luke, or even Kylo Ren and Snoke. The whole subplot just felt out of touch with the rest of the movie. 

OKAY, YOU ARE GOOD.

Another criticism is that this movie takes questions that viewers had from TFA and does a bad job at answering them..... Because there are no answers. They just either ignore the questions or just straight up throw the questions away in one case. 

Perhaps the one thing this movie does great right are the main characters. This movie actually made me fall in love with Poe Dameron. Jesus, Oscar Isaacs did an amazing job, and I was hooked on him from the very beginning. Daisy Ridley did an excellent job as Rey, but the best performance of this film goes to Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. Judging from interviews, he may not have enjoyed what they did with the character, but he does an absolutely amazing job. This film made me fall in love with Luke all over again, and it’s so amazing to see where his character went after all of these years. He is one of the main reasons I want to see this movie again.

Carrie Fisher deserves her own paragraph. I think we all were saddened and weary of what would happen with TLJ when we heard of her passing. I dreaded seeing the credits for fear of  breaking down. What disappoints me quite a bit is how little she did in this movie. She had some absolutely heartbreaking scenes, and I caught myself choking up at one in particular, but overall her character didn't do much. Yet, I still found myself loving every moment she was on screen, just like Mark Hamill. And yes, I almost shed a tear when the music in the credits died down and it read, “In Memory of Our Princess, Carrie Fisher.”

Like I said, I don't really want to get into spoilers right now. Maybe when the movie is out longer and I see it again I will, but I feel it’s far too early for me to say something on tumblr yet about spoilers. Did I enjoy this movie more than TFA? Eh, I don't think so. Maybe after a second viewing. But I definitely don't think that it deserves all the hate and criticism it gets (and it is CERTAINLY not as bad as the prequels). 

As of right now, I’m going to rate Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi a 7.5 out of 10. 

Seriously, give it a watch and see for yourself. I don't think it’s as bad as everyone thinks.....

But the porgs did piss me off after a while.

[stewy497]

Stew Reviews - The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - Poop and Religion

A friend of mine once described this game as “a game for atheists”. If you’re in any way connected to the indie community then that alone should be enough for you to guess the subject of this review. Not that you’d need to, it’s right there, at the top of the page; The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, and by extension, the 2011 indie sensation The Binding of Isaac, of which Rebirth is a remake.

Ye know, the strange thing about Isaac is that despite being one of the most important landmarks in indie culture, I never seem to see anyone talk about it. It’s not like Undertale, where the internet is practically wallpapered in fanart and comics of it; if you want to find Isaac content you’ll have to be prepared to dig a bit. I’ve seen it mentioned in passing a few times, but I’ve yet to see any of the bigger games journalists actively review it. Maybe I’m just subscribed to all the wrong ones – I can see from research that Jim Sterling has covered it multiple times, but at that point I wasn’t following him particularly closely. Anyways, that’s partly why I’ve taken that duty upon myself, and partly because I just really like this game. The original Isaac is a top-down roguelike dungeon crawler, taking most of its cues from the original Legend of Zelda, and Rebirth doesn’t change a whole lot asides from retooling the soundtrack, tacking the original DLC content onto the base game, and adding retro pixel graphics – you know, those things that every other indie game on Steam has; The Curious Expedition, Fez, Vagante, Roguelands, Magicite, Hotline Miami, Shovel Knight, but fortunately for Rebirth it’s an aesthetic that I’m actually rather fond of so I won’t give it too much flak for it.

The story is a simple one, and one you’ve probably heard before. Isaac and his mother live together in a small house on a hill. Life was simple and happy, until one day Mom hears a voice from above, commanding her to kill her son as a show of faith. Isaac escapes into the basement through a trap door, where he must fight his way through rooms of enemies until he eventually faces off against Mom. It’s a simple premise that sets up the story effectively, if a little twisted, but I have to admit, that twisted sensibility is part of what I like about this game. It’s a staple among creator Edmund McMillen’s other work. In this case, he wanted to include themes that reflected the religious conflict and abuse he experienced growing up, and the game definitely accomplishes that.

In terms of gameplay, you progress from room to room, fighting monsters with Isaac’s projectile tears. It’s simple and elegant, enhanced by the addition of hundreds of items and pickups that can do just about anything, such as directly affecting enemies, altering your stats, or changing the properties of Isaac’s tears. It’s also incredibly addictive, as befits the roguelike model. Death is inevitable as in real life, and Isaac makes that abundantly clear from the start, as the game is unforgiving even on easy mode. Your first few runs won’t take you any further than the second or third level at best as you learn the ins and outs of the gameplay, how to angle your shots and how each enemy functions. You’re rewarded for successive attempts with new unlockable items, bosses, characters, and even entire levels once you reach the later stages of the game, so it has an astounding amount of replay value. That does, however, come with the qualifier that before you start to unlock stuff, a lot of your runs are going to be pretty samey.

As well as its replay value, one of Rebirth’s greatest strengths lies in its underlying theming and symbolism. Enemies and items from the base game all have strong themes of religion, decay, body horror or child neglect that makes them feel at home in the game’s setting and visual style. Unfortunately, this strength is counterbalanced somewhat by the DLCs. Don’t get me wrong, I like the DLC content; Edmund has the right idea about it, exclusively adding entirely new content rather than just cutting bits off the game at release to sell later, and even turning to his fans for suggestions, but the trade-off here is that a lot of the DLC content is far less focused, designed to be visually and mechanically diverse, but losing the associated themes. You can often tell which items have been added through DLC just by looking at them. I wouldn’t mind, but expansions often add scores, if not hundreds of new items, diluting the pool of strongly themed items significantly.

That, I think, is one of the reasons that it’s possible to suffer sever burnout from this game. After a while, once you’ve seen all the main content in the game, there’s little else to do but try to collect all the completion marks for each character. By this point, you’ve unlocked so many items that the ones you pick up in each run offer no synergy or thematic coherence – just a mess of features clinging to a sprite that looks increasingly like a patchwork quilt in a septic tank. In a way, I suppose that’s one major advantage the original Isaac has over Rebirth.

The best way to get over the burnout I’d say is to simply start a new save file. This is one of the few games that I own multiple copies of over multiple platforms – it’s available for all current-gen platforms, including Nintendo systems, which seems a bit incongruous given their family friendly reputation – and the PS Vita port is a godsend; it may not have the expansions available to other versions, but the game’s model is exactly the sort of thing I like to have on-the-go. I can pick it up and chip away at a run while I’m waiting for a friend to show up, or blast through a full game on the train out to Falkirk, and the mandatory lack of expansion material and relative brevity of the sessions means it’s difficult to burn out on. That might not sound like a good thing exactly, but think of it like this: if you order the chocolate brownie sundae at the Hard Rock Café, you’ll struggle to finish it in a single sitting, but if you accept that you can’t eat it all at once, ask for a doggy bag and wear it and your teeth down over the next few days, you’ll have far more success.

So, bottom line: though controversial in its subject matter, The Binding of Isaac and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth deserve their place in indie history for their fun and addictive gameplay and compelling message, and excellent portable port. I’ve personally never had anyone I’ve recommended it to come back to me dissatisfied, though I suppose it will depend on your personal capacity for such controversial material.

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Initial Thoughts--6x16 Mother’s Little Helper

Well that episode was quite the wild ride, wasn’t it?  We got a little bit of everything--pirates, Neverland, a nasty new villain, pirates (specifically a certain one-handed one who is amazing), twists and turns, an evil giant spider (could have done without that!), pirates, a tragic backstory, Emma and Killian both fighting like crazy to get back to each other, pirates, a double-cross from someone who’s being controlled, pirates, a new twist to the author story that ups the stakes, pirates, Lost Boys out for blood, and...did I mention pirates?  Because I liked the Hook/Blackbeard scenes.  A lot.

Overall impression:  Excellent episode in the midst of what’s turning into an excellent arc!  They have me on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happens next...and I don’t even have a clue what that might be!  Speculating’s fun, but when a narrative leaves you without even a guess where they’re going next?  That’s OUAT at it’s best!

Okay, so 3 main plot lines this week: 1. Henry and his little author incident. 2. Gideon’s backstory with the Black Fairy and his further attempts to kill Emma. and 3. Hook trying to find a way back to Emma.  Under the cut, let’s dive a little more deeply into each one of those storylines.

Henry, the author and the last chapter

Very curious what happened to Henry when he went into that little trance.  I wonder what exactly he wrote--and in what language.

Maybe some people were looking forward to seeing Isaac again, but...eh...4b was one of my least favorite seasons, and he just got on my nerves with his whininess....and he just kept it up in this episode.

I was glad Regina called Isaac’s bluff.  She knew she had him over a barrel.  He may have info she needed, but he wanted to get out of Storybrooke more than she wanted his info, so the ball was totally in her court.

Interesting about the story being in it’s final chapter, though.  I wonder what that means, exactly?  How will the savior’s story end?  What happens after the final chapter is written? Could we be lucky and get a season 7 about our faves living their Happy Endings?

Isaac explained what’s going on with the book, but he didn’t really address the whole Henry situation.  How does Regina keep Henry from having further such incidents?  What happens if he keeps having them?  Is there any significance to that other language he wrote?  

So many questions!

I will say, kudos to Regina for working so hard to try to fix the EQ’s messes!

Gideon/Emma/the Black Fairy/Rumbelle

Rumple had some messed up parents!

The Black Fairy is shaping up to be quite the formidable villain.  There’s something chilling and evil about her that goes beyond what we’ve seen from other villains.  And Rumple definitely came by his penchant for manipulation honestly!

Not surprised she cast the Dark Curse, but her attitude toward the children she kidnapped is curious.  It’s almost like she honestly does see herself as their mother, as someone they should love, despite her cruelty.  In that sense, she’s your stereotypical fairy tale wicked step-mother.

Chilling how she was able to brainwash Gideon and turn him from a scared little boy who was terrified of her to her second in command.  Seems a bit of Stockholm Syndrome took place there.

I liked that it was his friend that he wasn’t able to save that snapped him back into a desire to fight the Black Fairy.  Not cool on her part, though, to orchestrate the whole situation to trick Gideon into betraying her.

How did I not see the heart control coming?  It’s classic Once Upon a Time.  How did the writers manage to blindside me with it?  Kudos to them!

In the present, I dearly loved seeing Emma fighting back and ready to beat the crap out of Gideon to get Killian back.  I get why Emma reacted the way she did in the last episode, but I love having the fighter back!

It showed what a genuinely good person Emma is that she took Rumbelle’s suggestions, and went to Gideon--after all he’s done to her--genuinely trying to help him and give him back hope.  I liked that she was willing to help him.

Bringing a gigantic Shelob-wannabe spider to the sorcerer’s mansion in order to kill Emma?  Ugh!  That whole scene, from the moment Gideon trapped Emma in the web to the moment the spider mummified her felt like it was right out of Lord of the Rings.  Gideon was Gollum, Emma was Frodo, and the spider was obviously Shelob.  I guess that makes Rumple Sam....?  Okay, that’s weird.

I was glad Rumple saved Emma’s life, and I am glad that he’s stopped being the absolute worst in order to try to save his son from becoming evil.

Yet still...there were definitely things about Rumbelle in this episode that struck me a bit wrong.  Even when they’re at their best, their morality is just a little bit...off.

I get both Belle and Rumple wanting to help their son.  I get them hoping for his ultimate goodness, hoping they can get through to him and bring him back from the dark side.  I get them not wanting someone to harm their son.  But I think they make a huge mistake when they only look at who they think he might be deep down and they ignore, downplay, or dismiss the terrible things he’s done.

No, no one’s born evil.  Yes, Gideon had a terrible childhood, but you know what?  That doesn’t give him licence to try to kill an innocent woman who was genuinely trying to help him.  Newsflash: nearly everyone in Storybrooke had a tragic backstory.  Maybe they weren’t raised by someone as dark as the Black Fairy, but they had terrible traumas as well.  The heroes overcame them and went on to be heroic.  It is possible.  What makes one a hero is not how good their life was in the past, but how they choose to live their life going forward.  *Note, in all of this discussion about my issues with Rumbelle, keep in mind they don’t know that Gideon’s heart is being controlled by the Black Fairy, so it’s kind of irrelevant to my discussion of their behavior.*

By dismissing what he’s done as “he’s really a good person deep down, give him a chance,” they’re really not doing Gideon any favors.  They are kind of enabling him in living in a way that will ultimately be his destruction. (Granted, Belle is less guilty of this than Mr. “they just see things in black and white” Gold.  She acknowledges that Emma was right in what she said; it’s just that her mother’s heart can’t stand to see her son suffer, which is understandable.)

It also frustrated me greatly the way they treated Emma and insisted she treat Gideon with kid gloves.  She owes that kid nothing.  He’s tried to kill her twice now, shows no indication he’ll stop until someone stops him, and he banished her True Love to a distant land just when she needs him most.  Emma has a right to defend herself in whatever way is necessary.  If Gideon ends up hurt as a consequence of that, it’s on him.  Emma didn’t start this fight.  She never sought Gideon out.  She’s done everything she can for him.  Whatever bad things befall him are on him....

...or they would be if he were truly in control of himself.  As it is, he’s not in control of his heart, so he can’t stop himself from trying to kill her.  It turns out, Gideon needs saving more than any of them know.

And now the Black Fairy is in Storybrooke.  Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Killian and Blackbeard

Ngl.  I would watch an entire episode of nothing but Killian and Blackbeard one-upping and sassing each other.  That was A+ quality stuff there!

Killian, thoroughly pirate and thoroughly hero was hot.  I mean, he’s always hot, but there’s a certain...pirate swagger that’s been missing for a while, and words cannot express how happy I was to see it back.

That one handed shuffling thing Killian did...be still my heart.  (How many takes did it get Colin to do that without dropping cards everywhere, bless him.)

Excellent strategic thinking on Killian’s part!  His strategy was brilliant.  Win or lose, he knew he’d get Blackbeard to do what he wanted.  If he won, he just got the bean.  If he lost, Blackbeard would still take him home, even if just to get his newly acquired loot.

I love how unconcerned Killian was about Blackbeards taunts about him giving up everything for a woman.  Emma’s more important to him than anything or anyone, and he couldn’t care less if Blackbeard wants to rib him about it until the cows come home.

But of course, Killian couldn’t get home because of Gideon’s savior’s tears spell.  I love that they ended up on Neverland instead!  I’ve been hoping to get back to Neverland for a long time!

Those Lost Boys were intense!

Not at all cool of Blackbeard to knock Killian out and steal the boat.  Also...not the brightest of all ideas. 1. If he leaves Killian high and dry, how’s he ever going to get the Jolly that he won?  2. Where does he think he’s going to go?  They’re in the realm of Neverland.  Literally the only place he can go is the island.

I was a little disappointed we didn’t get a CS reunion in this episode, but in hindsight, it was probably best.  There was way too much going on in this episode.  The reunion couldn’t possibly get the focus it deserves amidst all the chaos.

Looking forward, next week looks like another wild ride!  Can’t wait until next Sunday!

[jodyedgarus]

Why This NBA Rookie Class May Be The Best Of The Century

As we approach the end of the NBA’s regular season, awards conversations are all the rage. As usual, the two most talked-about races are for Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year. Whether it’s “Get Up” or The Jump, Sports Illustrated or CBS or NBA TV, or even NBA players themselves, everyone’s got an opinion on who should take home the hardware at the end of the season.

The Rookie of the Year debate, at this point, pretty much boils down to the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic, who stormed out of the gate and grabbed onto front-runner status fairly quickly, and the Hawks’ Trae Young, who started off terribly but has been shining during the season’s second half.

But lost among this debate is this: The entire 2018 NBA rookie class — or at least the top five picks — deserves an award. Collectively, they are having the best debut season of any group of top five picks in more than 25 years.

Doncic (pick No. 3) is carrying averages of 21.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game while acting as the primary facilitator and scoring option in Dallas. He is only the second rookie in NBA history to average at least 20, 7, and 5 in those categories, and the other is Oscar Robertson, who did so during the 1960-61 season.

The man whom Doncic was traded for on draft night,1 Young, has been nearly as productive, albeit less consistent, in his debut season for Atlanta. Young’s season-long numbers of 19.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game are strong.2 Those numbers, though, are dragged down by his poor start to the year. Since the All-Star break, he’s averaging 25.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 9.2 assists a night, with shooting numbers that are far better than those he was posting earlier in the season as he struggled to adjust to the NBA game.

Two of the first five picks in a given draft looking this good, this early, would be impressive on its own; but Doncic and Young are not alone in their shining debuts. The other three players selected in the top five — the Suns’ DeAndre Ayton (No. 1), the Kings’ Marvin Bagley III (No. 2) and the Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. (No. 4) — have each been pretty damned good this year too.

Ayton has been a monster offensive force for Phoenix from Day 1, and he is already one of the league’s best post scorers and offensive rebounders. Among rotation players averaging at least 2 post-ups per game, per NBA.com, Ayton’s 1.03 points per play on post-ups ranks third, behind only Joel Embiid and LaMarcus Aldridge. Ayton’s offensive rebound rate, meanwhile, ranks 22nd among the 263 players who have qualified for the minutes per game leaderboard. And he’s been improving on defense throughout the season.

Bagley is averaging 14.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game off the bench for the surprisingly frisky Kings. And he’s been even better since returning from a five-game, injury-related absence in early March, posting 18.5 points and 8.2 rebounds a night with an improved shooting line. He has a diverse, varied face-up game and is working to stretch his jumper, and given his athleticism and quick feet, his defense could eventually come around as well.

Memphis shut down Jackson in late-February due to a quad injury, but before his season ended he averaged 13.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 combined steals and blocks in just 26 minutes a night. He did all that despite being, at 19 years old, the second-youngest player in the league.3 Jackson also knocked down 35.9 percent of his threes and carried an above-average usage rate and true shooting percentage, which is wildly impressive for a player whose primary contributions were expected to come on the defensive end of the floor.

So how does this season’s top five stack up against past classes? The chart below plots the collective win shares and win shares per 48 minutes for the top five picks in each draft class from 1979 through 2018 (otherwise known as the three-point era) during their respective debut seasons. Note that only players who played during the season immediately following that year’s draft are counted in this analysis; because we’re looking at the top five picks as a class, if a player did not debut with the rest of his class, it doesn’t make much sense to count him along with the others. For example, Ben Simmons was the No. 1 overall pick in 2016, but he did not play during the 2016-17 season, so he counts for 0 minutes and 0 win shares toward the total of that draft class. Simmons was excellent as a rookie once he did step on the floor, but it also would not make sense to group him with the 2017 draft class, because he was not drafted in 2017. Likewise, the same logic applies to Simmons’s Sixers teammate Joel Embiid, who was drafted in 2014 but did not debut until two years later.4

As you can see, the 2018 class fares extremely well in both win shares — which represent Basketball-Reference.com’s attempt to divvy up credit for team wins to the individual players on the team — and win shares per 48 minutes. The 21.1 win shares collectively accumulated by Ayton, Bagley, Doncic, Jackson and Young ranks eighth among the last 40 draft classes during their respective debut seasons, while their win shares per 48 average of 0.102 makes this class one of just six to exceed 0.100 win shares per 48.

One of those six classes (2009) saw only three players actually take the floor during their debut season, thanks to an injury that knocked Blake Griffin out for the year and Ricky Rubio’s contract with Barcelona that kept him in Spain for two years before he arrived stateside. Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and Tyreke Evans saw varying degrees of success during their respective rookie years and ended up posting a collective average of 0.108 win shares per 48 minutes, but they also combined for only 11.9 total win shares, far fewer than the other five classes that stand out in this analysis, each of which exceeded 20 total win shares.

It’s worth noting, then, who was actually taken in the top five in those five NBA drafts (1984, 1979, 1982 and 1992). It’s also worth noting that just a single class between 1992 and 2018 saw its top five post a win shares per 48 average better than 0.100, meaning it’s been nearly a generation since we saw an actual top five class debut with a performance as good as the one we’re seeing from the most recent draft class.

The top-five picks in the 2018 draft are in HOF company

The five NBA draft classes with the highest win shares per 48 minutes

Draft pick Year 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th WS per 48 min 1984 Olajuwon Bowie Jordan Perkins Barkley 0.174 1979 Johnson Greenwood Cartwright Kelser Moncrief 0.137 1982 Worthy Cummings Wilkins Garnett Thompson 0.129 1992 O’Neal Mourning Laettner Jackson Ellis 0.118 2018 Ayton Bagley III Doncic Jackson Jr. Young 0.102

Hall of Fame inductees in bold

Source: Basketball-Reference.com

Among the 20 players selected in the top five of those four drafts, eight are currently in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Another four — Bill Cartwright, Sidney Moncrief, Terry Cummings and Christian Laettner — made at least one All-Star team during their career. And six more became long-term rotation players. Only Greg Kelser and Bill Garnett failed to pan out at all, as they wound up out of the league entirely within a few seasons.

That’s an incredible hit rate of solid NBA players, and bodes well for what we should expect from Ayton, Bagley, Doncic, Jackson and Young in the future. It’s obviously far too early to predict that any of these players will be enshrined in Springfield one day, but the future certainly appears bright, and it seems likely that the 2018 draft class will be remembered as one of the best in quite some time.

  from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-this-nba-rookie-class-may-be-the-best-of-the-century/

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior’s Top 25 Movies of 2018!

What a year we’ve been having with all the politics and internet craziness and my own personal life, struggling to survive without a job and very little work, and YET, it was an absolutely fantastic year for movies. There is no arguing that fact when a good percentage of my annual top 25 came from movies I saw at Sundance way back in January. While there may be a few noticeable omissions that appear on many other top 10s, as well as a few movies I liked that were obvious awards fodder, I’m pretty happy with what turned out to be one of my more eclectic top 25 lists with a mix of smaller indies and big budget blockbusters. (In case you’re interested, I saw 248 movies in 2018, and that is only counting the new movies released during the year and not dozens more movies I saw at film festival and hundreds of older films.)

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it…. Or rather, I hope you enjoy reading this because it took me a long time to write it.

25. Stan and Ollie  (Sony Pictures Classics) – One of the recurring trends I saw happening during what was a relatively sucky year was that many of my favorite things from childhood were brought to the big screen. In this case, it’s the story of Laurel and Hardy, as ably played by Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, as it covers the last few years of their partnership as they’re struggling to fill theaters during a UK tour. The performances by the duo were splendid, as were the two actors playing their respective wives (a hilarious Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson), the script by Jeff Pope really putting you into the comedy duo’s world and mindset. Kudos to Jon S. Baird for this fantastic biopic, which opens next week in New York and L.A.

24. Annihilation  (Paramount) – Alex Garland’s sophomore film, his follow-up to the excellent Ex-Machina, was a fantastic adaptation of Jeff Vandermeer’s sci-fi novel that should have been as accepted as Arrival, especially with the fantastic premise and performance by Natalie Portman, as well as Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson and Oscar Isaac. Sadly, I didn’t rewatch it on Netflix when I had the chance but this is definitely something I’d buy on blu-ray.

23. Mary Poppins Returns  (Walt Disney Pictures) – Continuing the theme from Stan and Ollie, Disney finally made a sequel to one of my favorite movies as a kid with the wonderful Emily Blunt stepping into the shoes of Julie Andrews, and I was shocked by how much I enjoyed it, especially since I wasn’t a fan of Rob Marshall’s Into the Woods… or Chicago, for that matter. For this one, Marshall perfectly captured the magic I felt first watching Mary Poppinsand listening to the album over and over as a kid, with really fun songs, including some co-written by Lin Manuel Miranda, I believe.

22. Aquaman  (Warner Bros.) – While Aquaman has never been my favorite DC superhero, I had high hopes for director James Wan’s first foray into superheroics, and I wasn’t disappointed. Granted, there was a lot to keep up with, since he fit a lot of story into one movie… I mean, who wouldn’t, considering the chances of there ever being an Aquaman sequel? But yeah, Jason Momoa really sold me on the character, and the way the movie remained faithful to the Aquaman lore and mythos made in the comics, and there was just so much to enjoy that I can’t wait to see it again.

21. Boy Erased (Focus Features) – Another second feature, this one from Joel Edgerton, who adapted, directed and co-starred in this adaptation of Garrard Conley’s memoir of growing up with a preacher father and religious mother who sent him to participate in a gay conversion program run by a zealous fanatic (played by Edgerton).  I thought Lucas Hedges was just fantastic in the lead in this as well as in his father Peter Hedges’ movie Ben is Back, so this year finally put me on the Lucas Hedges wagon despite him appearing in multiple Best Picture-nominated movies over the last couple years. (I also want to point out the Honorable Mention The Miseducation of Cameron Post, which was also quite good as it looked at the problems caused by these gay conversion programs.)

20. Crazy Rich Asians (New Line/Warner Bros.) – I fought tooth and nail against buying into the hype for this all-Asian cast adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel, but I’m a total sucker for romance, especially the romantic comedy genre, and this was a fine one for the ages. My worries about this being seen as Asian wealth porn was somewhat off-base – although there was some of that in there – and this ended up being the perfect movie for one of my fave directors, Jon M. Chu, to finally be taken seriously in Hollywood. Granted, I already loved Constance Wu from Fresh Off the Boat and Michelle Yeoh from a million movies, but I loved what newcomers Henry Goulding and Awkwafina brought to the mix, and I even liked Ken Jeong in this, so yeah, a pleasant surprisw, and one I probably will rewatch again soon.

19. Roma  (Netflix) – Likewise, I finally saw this movie at New York Film Festival after tons of hype out of Telluride, Toronto and Venice, but I immediately was able to relate to the love the kids in the film have for their maid, something similar to my own childhood living in Brazil in the early ‘70s. There’s no denying that director Alfonso Cuaron makes stunning films that leaves your jaw agape in every scene, and what an amazing coup for first-timer Yalitza Aparicio, an indigenous woman who might have had a hard time getting roles if not for Cuaron’s brilliance in casting her. This movie hit me even harder emotionally a second time, although I still wouldn’t place it higher on my year-end list since I thought some of it was noticeable directorial wanking i.e. Cuaron could do these big set pieces merely because he had the ability and money to do so.

18. On the Basis of Sex and RBG (Focus Features / Magnolia) – I’m cheating here a little bit just because this year saw two fantastic films about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, first in the doc by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, which created a beautiful portrait of the amazing woman.  Later in the year, Felicity Jones portrayed Ginsburg in a pivotal point in her career where she goes before the Supreme Court to fight for gender equality. It’s an important case but also an important turning point in our country, and I love how Ginsburg’s relationship with her husband, played by the dashing Armie Hammer, was portrayed.

17. Monsters and Men (Neon) – A movie that was seemingly missed by anyone who didn’t see it at Sundance, and even by many who went to Sundance was Reinaldo Marcus Green’s drama about a shooting by a Brooklyn policeman and how it’s viewed by three different people from the neighborhood. Two of those people are Anthony Ramos’ Manny and John David Washington (from BlackKklansman) as a fairly young policeman dealing with the corruption and racism in the force. It also deals with a young baseball prodigy (Christopher Jordan Wallace) who wants to get involved with the protests against the killing even if it might hurt his chances at getting into a good college. If you have a chance to see this movie, you’re likely to be impressed by Green’s storytelling abilities and how it’s used.

16. Searching (Sony/Screen Gems) – Aneesh Chaganty’s directorial debut was an amazing thriller starring John Cho as a man whose daughter has disappeared and using only what can be viewed on a computer screen. Sure, it sounds like a gimmick, and it’s one that’s been used in films like Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows and the Unfriended series, but Cho’s performance is a career-best, and Chaganty finds a way to create a plausible thriller that keeps you invested in Cho finding his daughter. (And I loved the hint I discovered to the movie’s big twist on watching a second time.)

15. Widows (20thCentury Fox) – While I liked 12 Years a Slave just fine, Steve McQueen really blew me away with his foray into the heist genre, starring Viola Davis as the wife of a criminal (Liam Neeson), who dies in an attempt to steal millions from a local Chicago mob boss… and political candidate (Brian Tyree Henry – one of this year’s major MVPs). It seems like a fairly simple plot, but McQueen finds a way to integrate the local politics (incl. amazing performances by Colin Farrell and Robert DuVall), surround Davis with some amazing women (including Cynthia Erivo and Elizabeth Debicki) and create a heist film unlike any you would have seen before, as it was far more unconventional than other heist films, as one might expect.

14. Mary, Queen of Scots  (Focus Features) – Fantastic performances by Saoirse Ronan as the title character and Margot Robbie as her cousin and rival Queen Elizabeth made Josie Rourke’s feature directorial debut quite an amazing film. It wasn’t just another costume drama, and as much as it sadly is being overshadowed by The Favourite, the material told this fascinating story about two feuding queens in such an interesting and exciting way, including an impressive battle sequence, making this very different from other period pieces, including the many that have been directed by men.

13. Instant Family (Paramount) – Another one of this year’s surprises was seeing Sean Anders, the director behind Daddy’s Home and its sequel, take on a more serious comedy based on his own real life. Apparently, he and his wife adopted three kids, so in this very funny, sweet and warm comedy, it’s Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg as a couple who take in three Latino kids, including the amazing Isabela Moner, who I think is going to be amazing as Dora the Explorer. But there was so much to enjoy about this film from the easy laughs to some of the sweeter and more touching human emotions on display.

12. Hereditary  (A24) – Another film that premiered out of Sundance (that I missed there) was Ari Aster’s directorial debut, an absolutely horrifying film about a mother (Toni Collette) dealing with all sorts of strange supernatural occurrences after the death of her own mother. A24’s marketing for the film was such a brilliant bit of Red Herring creation that you might go in thinking that Collette’s daughter Charlie (played by Milly Shapiro) was gonna be the main antagonist/conflict… nope! Colette’s amazing performance was countered by a similar one from Alex Wolff, and if you weren’t totally creeped out by this movie’s ending, there’s probably something wrong with you. Aster proves himself to be a fascinating visual storyteller, so I can’t wait to see his next movie.

11. The Citizen (ArtMattan Productions) – Roland Vranik’s Hungarian film that premiered at the Berlin Film Festival all the way back in 2016 finally got a U.S. release thanks to New York’s Metrograph where it played for a number of weeks. After seeing the trailer a bunch of times, I ended up checking it out, and I was blown away by how timely and prescient the story of an African immigrant trying to become a Hungarian citizen related to what was going on in this country over the past year. It’s a wonderful indie film that sadly didn’t get the attention it deserved.

10. Eighth Grade (A24) – Yet another Sundance “discovery” was comedian Bo Burnham’s debut, which featured newcomer Elsie Fisher as 13-year-old Kayla, who is trying to deal with puberty, her last year in middle school and a pesky but lovable father, played by Josh Hamilton. This is just such an enjoyable even if you went to middle school so long ago that you barely remember it. Even so, Burnham found a way to tap into those feelings to create an extremely enjoyable comedy. I’m convinced Elsie Fisher is gonna be a superstar.

9. The Hate U Give (20thCentury Fox) – Probably one of the most underrated films of the year, which thankfully has gotten some critical love in the past few weeks.  I thought this adaptation of Angie Love’s Y.A. novel about a teenager named Starr, played by Amandla Stenberg, fighting with the two sides of her life with the advent of #BlackLivesMatter after watching her childhood friend killed by a white police officer. The cast that producer George Tillman Jr. built around Stenberg was quite impressive, including Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Anthony Mackie and Common, with many powerful emotional moments that did a good job explaining what young black people in urban areas must deal with daily. It’s a fine return to form from the director of Notorious and Soul Food.

8. Ant Man and the Wasp  (Marvel Studios) – I bet you didn’t expect to see THIS Marvel Studios rank so high while a couple others didn’t even place in my list (or even Honorable Mentions), huh? Maybe I’ve just gotten sick of the whole thing where every movie is basically set-up for the next movie, which has been the case for a while now. Sure, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a sequel to Ant-Man and there was a post-credits Avengers: Infinity War tie-in, but otherwise, this was the Ant-Man movie I had been hoping for after the rather disappointing first movie. Obviously, having Paul Rudd involved in the writing and not working from a previous plot (as was the case with the first movie) helped the characters from the first movie shine. (Also, loved the Ghost as an antagonist.)

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse  (Sony) – It was a fairly tight race for my favorite superhero movie of the year, but after seeing this animated take on Marvel’s webbed wonder a second time, it was obvious to me that this was indeed one of the best feature film iterations of Spider-Man outside the comics. Sure, I was a fan of what Brian Bendis had done in the Ultimate comics, maybe not some of the Spider-Verse stuff introduced by Dan Slott, but taking those two disparate things and turning it into a true story about Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore, who should be cast as Miles in a live action MCU movie) and then having Jake Johnson voicing the older “mentor” Spider-Man just made for a fun movie that exemplified all of the previous films directed and produced by Lord and Miller including The LEGO Movie and 21 Jump Street. I’m looking forward to more big-screen animated superhero movies, and yeah, I liked Incredibles 2 just fine but I was never that attached to the Pixar movie.

6. Love, Simon  (20thCentury Fox) – After blowing up the DC Universe via his many CW TV shows, Greg Berlanti returned to the movies with this coming-out coming of age romantic comedy starring Nick Robinson as Simon Spier, a closeted gay teen who discovers that there might be another gay teen in the closet at his high school. This simple plot led to a wonderful high school coming-of-age rom-com that really brightened me up on a miserable day I was having (the first of many this year), and I loved how relatable Berlanti made the story.

5. Bad Times at the El Royale  (20thCentury Fox) – Possibly one of the most underrated films of the year, Drew Goddard’s second film as a director after the similarly excellent Cabin in the Woods, featured a cadre of individuals converging on a mostly-abandoned hotel on the border of California and Nevada. Jeff Bridges plays a priest, Jon Hamm plays a travelling salesman and Broadway star Cynthia Erivo (also in Widows) is a singer who all show up at the same time, as we quickly discover, very little about the El Royale is as it seems. I almost don’t want to reveal too much more, because it’s the way the story unfolds which had many comparing it to Tarantino (both positively and negatively). I felt that so many filmmakers have tried to ape Tarantino and not understood what makes his storytelling style work so well, but Goodard figured it out, and delivered a rich film full of many surprises. I can’t recommend the film more, since I know very few people had a chance to see it in theaters.

4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout   (Paramount) – Considering how much I was disappointed by Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, I expected its direct sequel to be more of the same, and boy, was I wrong. Tom Cruise and McQuarrie pulled out all the stops to create a viable conclusion to the four movies that had been produced along with JJ Abrams and Bad Robot, which included the extraordinary 4thmovie directed by Brad Bird. I was impressed the first time I saw this in IMAX… but then I saw it again… and again… and again. I just couldn’t get enough of the amazing action scenes and the intricate plot (even though I found a few holes in it). I’m so psyched to see what McQuarrie does next, and it successfully reminded everyone why Cruise is the star that he is.

3. Juliet, Naked  (Lionsgate / Roadside Attractions) – The fact that filmmaker Jesse Peretz was able to adapt one of my favorite Nick Hornby novels in a way that’s faithful but not to a fault made this one of my favorite movies of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. If you couldn’t tell from my love for Instant Family, I absolutely love Rose Byrne, and she killed it as Annie, a woman living in a seaside English town with her boyfriend Duncan (Chris O’Dowd) as an avid fan of musician Tucker Crowe. When Annie posts something negative about a newly-discovered Crowe rarity on Duncan’s blog, they break up, but she also ends up having a long-distance relationship with the actual Crowe, played by Ethan Hawke. There’s just something so spot-on about Hornby’s book and this adaptation was just as enjoyable, genuinely warm and very, very funny. I wish more people went to go see it.

2.  A Star is Born  (Warner Bros.) – Believe me, there may be no one more surprised by how far this movie has placed in my year-end list than myself. I’m not a huge Bradley Cooper fan, nor do I particularly like Lady Gaga or her music, but this is a great old Hollywood story that’s perfectly modernized with Cooper playing rock star Jackson Mane who sees Gaga’s Ally performing at a cabaret club and falls for her just as he tries to help her career. It’s a story that’s been told a number of times before, and sure, I can understand why some women might not like the implications that a man might help the woman have success in the movie industry, but Gaga killed it playing a character possibly not too removed from herself. I’ll be thrilled with any and all Oscars this movie earns, especially for Bradley Cooper, making a stunning directorial debut. (And I always love Sam Elliot in anything he does. He’s so deserving of an Oscar here, too.)

1A. Won’t You be My Neighbor  (Focus Features) – As always, I separate the docs from my overall year’s best list just because I tend to like the genre so much that my entire top 10 would be docs if I didn’t separate them into their own category. But yeah, Morgan Neville has done it again with another 10/10 doc following his Oscar-winning 20 Feet to Stardom. Barring some major push by one of the other docs that made the shortlist (and my top 12 below), there’s a very good chance that Neville’s doc about beloved PBS host Fred (Mister) Rogers will win him a second Oscar. Rogers is beloved by adults who grew up watching his show and getting a chance to look behind the scenes made many adults cry, mainly for joy but also for sadness that these trying times doesn’t have a Mister Rogers to help us through it.

1. Green Book (Universal) – Yes, I’m well aware of the controversy and backlash from many black film critics (most of them who write for ShadowAndAct.com, oddly enough) who hate this movie for one reason or another. By the time all that controversy had reared its ugly head, I had already seen the Peter Farrelly historic buddy comedy twice, and I loved it both times I saw it.  If you’re unaware, it stars Viggo Mortensen as Italian stereotype club bouncer Tony Lip, who is hired to drive and safeguard Mahershala Ali’s jazz pianist Dr. Don Shirley on a tour of the Deep South during the early ‘60s when racism still was running rampant.  The growing chemistry built by these two actors through the situations they find themselves in made me far more interested in Shirley and the Green Book of the title, so anyone complaining about the movie should realize that through entertaining humor, Farrelly has opened a conversation that I hope will continue through next year.

Honorable Mentions:

There were so many good movies this year that all of these fine films ended up just outside my top 25…

A Private War (Aviron) Operation Finale (MGM) First Reformed (A24) Lean on Pete (A24) The Rider (Sony Pictures Classics) Collette (Bleecker Street) Cold War (Amazon Studios) The Miseducation of Cameron Post (FilmRise) Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street) Suspiria (Amazon)

TWELVE GREAT DOCS

This was most definitely the year of the theatrical doc, even though, yeah, there’s still a few Netflix docs on here… okay, one. Otherwise, it was important to see most of these movies in a theater, which culminated in Peter Jackson’s 3D WWI doc They Shall Not Grow Old, which just missed my top 12. Sorry, this feature has gotten a little too long or otherwise, I’d write more about each of these, but most of them I wrote about in the weekly column.

1. Won’t You be My Neighbor (Focus Features) 2. Free Solo (National Geographic) 3. Hal (Oscilloscope) 4. Three Identical Strangers (Neon) 5. Minding the Gap (Hulu) 6. RBG (Magnolia) 7. Rock Rubber 45s (Saboteur Media) 8. Crime + Punishment (Hulu/IFC Films) 9. Shirkers (Netflix) 10. Fahrenheit 11/9 11. Far from the Tree (IFC Films) 12. Whale of a Tale (Giant Pictures)

STUDIO OF THE YEAR:

Every year I like rewarding a studio that goes above and beyond both in terms of releasing great, entertaining movies and also being generally decent to deal with. While Universal has the top movie and Warner Bros. is #2 and Fox has a lot of movies on the above list, I think I’ll have to give this year’s award to Paramount Pictures, not only for making the best Mission: Impossible yet, but also with two wonderful surprises in Instant Family and Overlord, which both were far better than their trailers. (They also released A Quiet Place, which didn’t make my list but was still a solid thriller.) But most importantly, they’re the most improved in terms of press/critical outreach, and I greatly appreciate that, especially in the tough year I had.

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

I always like sharing some of the music I’m listening to each year and though my music budget has been cut rather drastically this year, my favorite album of the year was Metric’s “Art of Doubt,”followed by Buffalo Tom’s “Quiet and Peace”and The Fratellis’ “In Your Own Sweet Time.” I also dug Monster Magnet’s “Mindf*cker,” Ash’s “Islands” and James’ “Living in Extraordinary Times,” but none of this gets me more excited as the prospect for a new Cure album in 2019!

Oh, fine.. I’ll tack on my Terrible 10 for the year, but I don’t feel like revisiting any of these: 10. Kin  9. Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich  8. The Spy Who Dumped Me  7. Before I Wake  6. Truth or Dare? 5. London Fields  4. Head Full of Honey  3. Mandy  2. Aardvark  1. Assassination Nation 

That’s it for this year. Hopefully, I’ll have more to come soon.