#it's definitely a sentiment i agree with and i appreciate how it emphasizes the importance of extending compassion to yourself

[crescentfool]

beaming everyone on the dashh with good brain day vibes!!! i hope that you all can remember to extend self-compassion to yourself whenever you're feeling down about something 💙

[cassarilladraws]

Contagious

Lukadrien Fluffuary (using this prompt list) Day 4 - Make Them Laugh/Being Silly Prev | Next Read it on Ao3 Words: 910 Rating: T Carapace explained that he’d been booked solid the following weekend. Usually, he’d still make time for a patrol or two, but the way his schedule lined up he knew that wasn’t possible. His career as a DJ was taking off and the upcoming gigs were important. Of course, his girlfriend was going with him for support. Which meant Rena wouldn’t be running their patrol routes either. “Sorry, I hate to ask you guys to cover for us.” He said. “It’s not a problem at all!” Chat Noir smiled. “I’m glad things are going so well.” “I agree. This is your dream you’re talking about here.” Viperion looked at his friend with pride. “We understand if you need to scale back patrols while you build things up in your career." “Thanks?” Carapace appreciated the sentiment but the way Viperion had emphasized a certain word didn’t go unnoticed by him. He almost snorted at the remark, but kept his composure. There was a beat of silence before Chat Noir burst into laughter. “What?” Viperion asked. “What did I say?” “It’s not what you said. It’s how you said it.” Carapace placed a hand on Viperion’s shoulder and looked at him in mock sorrow doing his best impersonation of a doctor from a soap opera. “I have some news for you, buddy. I’m afraid it’s contagious.”

“What are you talking about? What’s contagious?” Viperion looked from Carapace to Chat Noir. “Why are you laughing?” “Should have told you there was a chance of this happening.” Chat Noir continued the scene Carapace had set. “But I guess I have passed It on to you. My burden is now yours too.” “Ah yes, the dreaded pun disease.” Carapace shook his head. “My best bud here has a severe case. Had it for years, in fact. You’ve heard the symptoms. Tragic.” “It's true. It was impossible for me to keep the signs hidden.” Chat Noir played along, easily falling into the dramatics. “I thought your pun was hissssterical. Symptoms are indeed starting to show. There’s no turning back now, my love.” Viperion rolled his eyes at their antics. “All I said was that we understand if he needs to scale things back.” Carapace couldn’t hold it in anymore. He broke character and threw his head back laughing. Chat Noir chuckled again before approaching his boyfriend. “What you actually said was that we’d understand if he needed to scale things back.” Chat Noir circled behind him playfully and whispered not so quietly in his ear. “With emphasissss on the word scale.” Viperion thought about it. It was true. He had and he didn’t even realize it. Scale…like the scales on his suit. Like the scales of a snake. He had emphasized the word. Viperion brought his palm to his face. That definitely happened. “Remember the other day?” Chat Noir reminded his boyfriend. “You told me I pun so much that meow certain words just come out that way naturally.” Viperion gave a crooked grin. It was anyone’s guess if his boyfriend had replaced the word “now” on purpose or out of habit at this point. “Yeah. Because you do!” “Well, maybe it’s rubbing of on you.” “It’s all your fault then.” Viperion accused playfully. “You’ve ruined me.” “Ruined or improved?” Chat teased. “Is the pun disease really that dreadful? Or a blessing in disguise.” Looking at the couple, Carapace saw an opportunity to mess with his friend. He slipped back into character. “You know experts have theorized that the dreaded pun disease spreads through lip contact.” “Ahh…Lip contact.” Viperion caught on easily and narrowed his eyes at Chat Noir. “There’s been a lot of that lately, my muse. Purrhaps we should lay off a while to ease my symptoms?! Ah, there went another one. Sorry love, but I’m afraid we’ll need to stop kissing so much.” Chat Noir shot daggers at Carapace with his eyes. Which only made Nino erupt into laughter again. “Noooooo…. Don’t even joke like that!” His arm draped across his forehead. Slipping back into the soap opera like scene. “I’d miss the kissing too much. I don’t think that I could bear to live without it.” Despite it all being a silly bit, started at his own expense no less, Viperion didn’t want their little scene to end there. If they were playing this out like a soap opera then… In an instant, Viperion grabbed Chat Noir by the bell and moved so that their faces were mere inches apart. His voice dropped an octave. “I’ll never stop loving you. Even if the dreaded pun disease kills me.” With that, Viperion crashed their lips together. The kiss was short and dramatic. He released Chat Noir’s bell and pulled away with flourish. This had clearly caught the blonde off guard and he was blushing furiously. Carapace snorted. “Oh the suave and smooth Chat Noir, hero of Paris, reduced to a flustered mess.” Chat Noir shrugged, cheeks still scarlet. “It’s not like I mind but….” Then he glared at his boyfriend and spread his arms wide over his head. “How does someone say “even if the dreaded pun disease kills me’ and make it hot?! Seriously?!” “Maybe some of your charm was contagious too, babe.” Viperion winked at him, playing it up even more. This only added to Chat Noir’s flustered state. “You’re killing me.” The laughter erupted from Carapace and the couple couldn’t help but join in. “You two are too much.”

[descendant-of-truth]

Pit has a lot of character depth to himself already, but throwing Dark Pit into the mix was an absolute game changer for me. And in order to explain why, I’m gonna have to ramble for a bit.

This turned out super long, so I’m gonna put it under a cut.

I’ve joked before on how Pit is essentially your typical Anime Protagonist on the surface; cheerful, loud, not very bright, but with a strong moral compass and a will stronger than steel. It’s an overused trope by now, frankly, since a lot of those characters end up feeling like carbon copies of each other in different circumstances. Even so, I’ve always felt like Pit was somehow unique from all those characters, but haven’t been able to put it into words very well. Which is what this analysis is for.

One thing that stands out about Pit to me (as I’ve mentioned before in previous posts) is that he’s disabled. Sure, having two dysfunctional limbs is a much bigger handicap to us than it is to Pit, but that’s a result of him simply having more limbs to fall back on. In any case, it’s something he’s known for being very sensitive about. We never actually see any of the other angels tease or bully him for not being able to fly, but it’s not exactly a stretch of the imagination. He literally says int the first chapter that it’s really embarrassing being an angel who can’t fly on his own.

And honestly, what an understatement. Dealing with discrimination is a lot more than just “embarrassing,” Pit.

Now, his insecurity doesn’t stop there, certainly not, but can we talk about bitter he is? Just, in general?

As early as chapter 3, he’s getting on Palutena’s case for deliberately putting him in a dangerous situation without telling him the plan--a plan that, by the way, Palutena admits was kind of half-formed.

“Luckily, the pheromone only attracted one of the heads. I was wondering what you would have done if both had shown up.”

“And you still went through with it?! I would have been finished for sure!”

Now don’t get me wrong, this was a funny moment, but it also solidifies a pretty important part of Pit’s character and one of the key features of this analysis: that Pit doesn’t always agree with Palutena’s methods.

This is also shown during chapter 5--which is, interestingly enough, Dark Pit’s debut. Palutena is just giving her tutorials as usual when Pit replies with an almost passive-aggressive remark.

“You know I really appreciate your help, Lady Palutena. But I’d be totally fine without all this hand-holding, too.”

Now, I have messed up the definition of “passive-aggressive” on multiple occasions, so I apologize if I used the wrong description here. But this is another scene that, while otherwise comedic in tone, shows that Pit can get kind of fed-up with Palutena--although he’s too polite to actively show anger towards her most of the time.

It’s times like this that I must applaud the writing in this game. There’s an abundance of comedic scenes, but even they can have serious consequences. And where better to talk about those consequences than in  chapter 23?

Oh, chapter 23. How I love you so. You know, they didn’t have to show us what would happen to Pit if he was cut off from everyone except his most hated enemy. They really didn’t. But they did. They did that for us.

This chapter changes a lot, man. I know I was talking about how Dark Pit was the game changer at the beginning of this post, and he still is (I swear I’ll get to that soon), but I just really need to emphasize this chapter for a minute.

Because you know what happens to Pit when he’s isolated??? He talks to himself. Specifically, he imitates Palutena and responds to his own imitation. It’s not exactly accurate at first, but once you get to the boss fight, his Palutena impression is almost creepily spot-on.

And why is this important, you ask?? Because it shows that Pit has actually become dependent on Palutena’s commentary. He mentions several times that he feels like he’s starting to lose it, and he has to escape before he really goes nuts.

The chapter wasn’t even longer than usual. Assuming the level length is an accurate depiction of how long it is in-universe, he was only in there for about twenty minutes, maybe a little more. He spirals fast, and it’s kind of alarming.

On that note... I wonder if Dark Pit talks to himself, too?

I’m not saying Pit is completely unstable, the rest of the game is enough to prove that--but he’s definitely not in the best mental state, either. And you know what? For most writers, this would probably be enough. You have a perfectly good shonen protagonist who’s been bullied for most of his life and easily derails when isolated, but has strong bonds with other people that keeps him going. They didn’t really have to go further than that.

But did that stop them from doing just that?? No, because Dark Pit exists and I am living.

It’s unclear if Dark Pit is just a clone or literally a part of Pit’s soul that got separated, but I tend to go with the latter. Regardless, he’s described to be “manifesting Pit’s dark side,” which is the most important takeaway here. Because he and Pit have some... interesting things to say to each other.

“Who are you calling a puppet?!”

“Palutena says jump, you jump. She says fight, you fight. That sounds like a very satisfying existence. For her, that is.”

“I have absolute faith in Lady Palutena!”

“The Mirror of Truth doesn’t lie. I’m a reflection of your true self. So maybe your faith in her isn’t quite so absolute after all.”

“What would you know about faith anyway, you treacherous blackheart?!”

ALRIGHT LET’S CALM DOWN FOR A SECOND AND TALK ABOUT THIS.

Can we start with the fact that “treacherous blackheart” is a way stronger insult than Pit uses on literally anyone else in the game?? Or the fact that is entire argument (ignoring the whole “Mirror of Truth” thing) sounds like someone viciously trying to fight off their own intrusive thoughts?

How many conversations do you think he’s had with himself where he starts to doubt Palutena’s leadership and immediately counters with something like this? How many times has he put himself down like this, insulted himself for not having enough faith, for being angry with Palutena even when she deserves it because she’s a goddess and she cares about him and you gotta have total faith in your goddess or else you’re just a crappy angel.

“Methinks the puppet doth protest too much.”

The sarcasm is practically dripping from this line, but honestly, any attempt to rephrase it just manages to make it sound a lot darker. Especially when you consider what Dark Pit says much later in the game.

“You have got to be joking. All you gods and your stupid wars are the ones throwing everything off balance!”

This is something Pit would never even consider saying out loud. He never takes this stance in any of his speeches or arguments. But... it came from Dark Pit. And if we’re to assume that he’s a part of Pit that he never shows to anyone... then that means Pit shares this exact same sentiment. The difference is that he would shame himself for even thinking it, because that’s blaming Lady Palutena for the state of the world. And how could he do that to her?

Pit is so concerned about how he views Palutena that he isn’t even considering how he’s viewing himself, which is... less than ideal, to put it lightly. I’m not saying he lacks confidence, exactly, because he pulls through that whole game with all that and still saves the world just fine. But all that combined with the absolute crap he goes through, from going into a coma for three years to having his wings explode... I’m worried about him. Him and Dark Pit.

I’m going to leave this off with something I’ve been wondering about for a while; if Dark Pit really does have all of Pit’s memories, do you think he ever just wants to be called “Pit” for once?

This has been: Screaming About One (1) Angel For Three Hours Straight with Descendant-of-Truth.

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (#150-141)

#150: Francesco Gabbani -- Occidentali's Karma (Italy 2017)

"Soci onorari al gruppo dei selfisti anonimi L’intelligenza è démodé Risposte facili, dilemmi inutili"

"Honorary members of Selfie Addicts Anonymous Intelligence is out of fashion Easy answers, pointless dilemmas"

I remember how hyped Occidentali's Karma was before the contest--it racked up views like a wind machine, and it looked like everything was going in its favor. And for good reason.

Even within the title (because it uses English possessives, rather than in Italian, Occidentali's Karma satirizes those in the West who romanticize or even appropriates East Asian culture and/or philosophy. Rereading the translation, it's curious because Covid-19 increased anti-Asian sentiment to the point of violence across the world. But there were so many good references.

Along with an upbeat tempo, the question going into rehearsals was where Italy was going to host the contest the following year. (It's not as hyped as Fur Alle, see #227 to see how that turned out and why their other entry was better) Unfortunately, that was not meant to be, as a combination of the three-minute cut (which is why I attached the Sanremo performance instead), Francesco's progressive tiredness with performing the song, and the staging sunk it from the top five completely. For some reason, the latter didn't bother me as much, though I could see why people would see it as more gimmicky in the end.

And with Italy's other entries in the future, it doesn't seem like it holds up as well. But the "Namaste, ale!" part doesn't fail to amplify a crowd.

Personal ranking: 2nd/42 Actual ranking: 6th/26 GF in Kyiv

#149: Youddiph -- Vechny Strannik (Russia 1994)

“Вечный странник, я твоя судьба, Знаю, помнишь обо мне Ты всегда в пути, но для тебя Яркий свет в моём окне,”

“Eternal wanderer, I'm your destiny, I know, you will remember me You are always on the way, but there is always A bright light for you in my window”

A bit eccentric from Russia, but it makes for a worthy debut, part of a three-song stretch of them towards the end. I like how the lyrics told a story about the two separated lovers, and they are really poetic!

But I sometimes get lost with the more relaxed verses against the explosive chorus. The former reminds me of an instrumental to beat poetry; I would sometime mimic "Poetry by Gary" there, whereas the latter feels like something that would be in other ballads during the time. It took multiple listens to reconcile the two; the orchestration really helps.

Youddiph switches between the two forms, well, going from , and the scarlet multi-functional dress is a highlight. Which way did she wear it is your favorite?

Personal ranking: 3rd/25 Actual ranking: 9th/25 in Dublin

#148: Mocededes -- Eres tú (Spain 1973)

“Como mi poema, eres tú, eres tú, Como una guitarra en la noche, Todo mi horizonte, eres tú, eres tú, Así, así, eres tú,”

“Like my poem, you are, you are, Like a guitar in the night My whole horizon, you are, you are Like that, like that, you are”

The lyrics are so pure—telling a loved one that they remind them of all the good things in life, all sung really well by a really professional choir. It touched me the first time I listened to it, and found it really sweet even after multiple listens. The instrumentation adds to that feeling, which makes it unsurprising that it has become a well-beloved classic even to this day.

Curiously, when they released the single internationally, they had the Spanish-version on the A-side and the English one on the B-side. The radio stations prefered to play the former, which led to it garnering fame across the Americas and Europe. It was even #9 on the US Billboard 100 at one point, making it one of the few non-English songs to do so well there. And it's been covered over and over again.

In addition, it still holds Spain's highest point total at Eurovision, with 125 points. And that's after multiple voting system changes and an increase of countries participating. Then again, that's its power!

Personal ranking: 4th/17 Actual ranking: 2nd/17 in Luxembourg

#147: Dulce Pontes -- Lusitana paixão (Portugal 1991)

“Mmm... fado, só quando a saudade vem, Arrancar do meu passado um grande amor...”

“Mmm... fado, just when the longing comes, Pulling a great love back from my past”

For the record, this is not a fado song, but rather a song discussing about the singer’s relationship with the genre in a standard early 1990s ballad. However, Dulce would go on to become one of Portugal's most famous fado singers, especially with the track Canção do Mar.

This doesn't mean that Lusitana paixao is anyway inferior, though!

As a result, the songs calming, but the lyrics indicate some yearning to convey the pain. The chorus is a bit weaker than the verses (despite being the rare example of "major-verse/minor-chorus"), but the orchestration in them, combined with Dulce’s vocals, makes it shine.

Personal ranking: 6th/22 Actual ranking: 8th/22 in Rome

#146: Conchita Wurst -- Rise Like a Phoenix (Austria 2014)

"You know I will rise like a phoenix But you’re my flame"

(Maybe I should've had Lusitana Paixao at #146 to keep up the Eurovision 1991 references, right? #allora)

If there's anything noticeable in Rise Like a Phoenix, it's how resilient and fierce it is, while establishing a sense of glamour.

It starts off with an orchestral intro, and the first verse is quiet, before it starts blooming further and further through the song. The lyrics have a sense of bite about them--the narrator is hurt, but they will use their pain to become even stronger. And the staging helps with the concept; through the use of lighting, we get to see Conchita more, from the silhouette in the beginning to her full form by the end of the song, decked in gold and fully assured.

Rise Like a Phoenix was one of the first Eurovision songs I listened beyond the 2016-7 timeframe (or at least, one of the first that I liked enough to draw some fanart). The whole piece doesn't get lost in a soundtrack (a lot of comments talk about how it could fit in a James Bond movie), and it holds itself firm and dignified. And while I'm not part of the LGBTQ+ community, I could understand somewhat why something like this is important.

And it's absolutely glamorous.

Personal ranking: =3rd/37 Actual ranking: 1st/26 GF in Copenhagen

#145: The Common Linnets -- Calm After the Storm (the Netherlands 2014)

“I just wanna know if staying is better than goodbye...”

Both Rise Like a Phoenix and Calm After the Storm weren't seen as contenders before rehearsals, as the former "leaned on a gimmick" and the latter wasn't "stereotypically Eurovision" enough and too low-key. It took a couple of great stagings; whereas "Rise Like a Phoenix" plays with fire and revealing who one is, "Calm After the Storm deals with the melancholy and tension after a relationship, and does so fantastically. (cries in 2018)

The following lyric is a pretty hard-hitting one from an otherwise serene-sounding song. The story in it also deals with this stasis; while "calm after the storm” implies a return back to normal, the lyrics also indicate an ambiguity towards the state of this broken ship. (Looking over it, I still can't believe how clever the title is) The fallout creates an emptiness, and sometimes the silence is louder than any shouting. It’s definitely worth a listen, and I don’t listen to country often!

(On whether Calm after the Storm would've made the better winner, I'm not sure. I can agree it's the more thoughtful song and would've opened the doors to more genres, but Rise Like a Phoenix had just as much of an impact. Of the winner-runner-up pairs of the 2010s, this is the one I'm down the middle about. Both are so good...)

Personal ranking: =3rd/37 Actual ranking: 2nd/26 GF in Copenhagen

#144: Dino Merlin -- Love in Rewind (Bosnia and Herzegovina 2011)

“One to a hundred, multiplied by you, It all looks great, it all looks cool, Healthy children go to school, My daughter's in love, my son loves too..."

If you ask most Eurovision fans on what's their favorite Bosnian entry is, it usually comes down to one of three options. Love in Rewind is the most recent of them, but still has its charms. (Don't worry, you'll find out what the other two are in due time...)

A happy song which relishes on the beauty of life, Love in Rewind has the narrator appreciate the little things in life, despite the minor-key(?) tone throughout. Dino conveys this cheery feeling well, and the people on stage definitely add to this familial scene, from the chorus to Maya's piano playing and everything else in between. It's really enough to give you those warm feelings inside. (And if you don't, what kind of person are you?!)

For a song which performed second in the final, Love in Rewind also did quite well, with a solid sixth place! Though in an average year like 2011, it deserved the win.

P.S: What did the juries not see in this song?

Personal ranking: 1st/43 Actual ranking: 6th/25 GF in Dusseldorf

#143: Cliff Richard -- Power to All Our Friends (United Kingdom 1973)

“Power to the boys who played rock 'n' roll And made my life so sweet And to the girls I knew before And those I've yet to meet”

It's funny I'm writing this now, because the most recent #Eurovisionagain was 1968, which featured the hit "Congratulations" and it losing Eurovision by one point, haha.

Cliff Richard’s second entry is a bit less remembered than his first, but I think it’s quite better. From the rock and roll vibes of this one to the celebratory lyrics, it brings a spark of joy and modernity to the 1973 contest. Speaking of modernity, Power to All Our Friends was the first song to use some playbacked elements--the orchestral drummers are doing nothing in the background during the chorus. Though the orchestra did help with emphasizing the grandness of this song.

Cliff’s dancing, on the other hand, hasn’t changed and still remains very awkward. He also stayed in the bathroom when the voting came along, and then Spain was now one of two countries which beat him. I'm kind of surprised that he never had a grudge against the country.

Personal and actual ranking: 3rd/17 in Luxembourg

#142: Rollo and King -- Never Ever Let You Go (Denmark 2001)

“I’ll never ever be the same since you left me lonely So please come back to me again”

Isn't this wholesome? From the opening harmonica solo, one can expect a really happy and warm song. Rollo and King deliver the joy in spades, and Signe's arrival in the second verse made the whole crowd at Parken cheer. What a moment.

I love how the duo's voices work and the lyrical content of the song (though sometimes I'm a bit confused about if the narrator changed or not...). It's very sunny and cute, which makes it shine at the end of the lineup. While it doesn't have the same "movie-ending" feel as In a Moment Like This (#164), it still does the job well. The ukelele parts also bring a bit of spice to it; "I even really liked "I Don't Feel Hate" from this year because of its similarities with their riff!

I actually like this more than "Fly on the Wings of Love", though they both share this comfy, acoustic vibe. But that's what Denmark does best in the contest--bubbly cute songs, and Never Ever Let You go is the best of them. (But don't worry, there's still more Danish songs to come!)

Personal ranking: 3rd/23 Actual ranking: 2nd/23 in Copenhagen

#141: Sergey Lazarev -- You are the Only One (Russia 2016)

“Won’t ever give up ’cause you’re still somewhere out there Nothing or no one’s gonna keep us apart”

The top three of 2016 all had something compelling about them, which made them shine from the bunch. They had songs of different genres, but the performances make them stand out from the rest of the crowd, with highly capable singers.

You are the Only One pops out right away with the opening bell, and follows through a dramatic arc about finding the one. While there are questions about how ”dated” the song is, the production is quite awesome and adds to the drama. I always imagine a cool music video where one traverses across the city and trying to find someone for comfort. It would make a very fitting soundtrack.

And Sergey is a great performer, handling the evolved wall staging with ease. There were some angles that made it give the fact away to the viewer, but seeing Sergey sing and climb and announce that someone was the "only one" wowed everyone, including me.

No wonder I listened to this so many times when I started following Eurovision!

Personal ranking: 4th/42 Actual ranking: 3rd/26 GF in Stockholm

[unpopularly-opinionated]

What is or isn’t a ‘Microtransaction’

Full disclosure, yes this is 100% in response to Gearbox CEO, Randy Pitchford’s tirade against Game Informer for their article on Borderlands 3 having microtransactions.

If you google the word “Microtransaction”, that is the definition you will see come up first-hand: “A very small financial transaction conducted online.” Now, it’s reasonable to say that this is the technical definition of what a microtransaction is. It is what, at the end of the day, is the definition of a microtransaction.

I know some people might take issue with using Urban Dictionary as a source of information, but since it is essentially crowd-sourced information and with most every day people not being in control of how updated our dictionaries gets, it’s as close to a daily-updated lexicon that we have; it’s essentially a dictionary for modern words, which the word microtransaction sort of is (Google marks it’s first appearance in 1961, however it is only after 1985 that it began to increase dramatically in usage, reaching it’s peak in 2003, and by ‘peak’ I mean 0.0000000814% of people used the word).

If you go on Urban Dictionary and look up microtransaction, you get these definitions:

“The cancer of modern gaming.”

“A pay-to-win or pay-to-play method that game companies use to make the consumer’s wallets burn.”

“Pay-to-win in gaming.”

The central themes throughout these three definitions are that microtransactions are “pay-to-win”, an aspect that is not included in the technical definition of what microtransactions are, and the general reaction to them is clearly a negative one.

It’s no surprise that the inherent reaction to microtransactions is a negative one because, and I fear that it’s almost not hyperbole for me to say this, we’ve been trained to view microtransactions as a negative. They have brought nothing good to the video games industry.

There’s the nefarious lootbox pseudo-gambling mechanics, sometimes including gameplay-enhancing benefits, sometimes including only cosmetic items but all with the same randomized concept of not knowing what you’re going to get on each attempt.

Or the in-game currency that comes in packages deliberately designed to make you have to pay for the more expensive packages in order to get enough of it to buy the items that you want, of which may include items that are only obtainable via purchase.

Or the direct-purchase items with outrageous price tags for what you’re getting in return, like for example, the red-dot sight in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 that cost a whole $1, which in itself is designed to look like not that much money but when you consider what you’re getting in return it’s outrageously overpriced.

And even outside of the games themselves, they’ve done absolutely nothing to benefit the public image of a company, and have in general brought down the perception of many long-since praised companies like Bioware and Bethesda. Companies who used to have the respect, faith, and trust of many of us and who have now since lost all of it.

All of these different issues that microtransactions have brought up, along with the sensationalist gaming media, it’s no wonder the overall perception of microtransactions would be a negative one.

But I’m not here trying to convince you that microtransactions are bad, you already know that, I already know that, we all already know that. What this post is meant to be about is utilizing the technical definition, alongside the Urban Dictionary definitions or what I will refer to as the colloquial definitions, to ascertain what exactly we consider a microtransaction to be.

At face value, using the technical definition alone, it seems like an obvious question with an obvious answer: microtransactions are any purchases made through an online store, specifically an in-game store in this case.

I argue that this definition is far too broad and includes many different kinds of purchases that we don’t typically think of when we hear the word microtransaction used in relations to a video game. From the colloquial definitions, we can clearly get the idea that most people tend to consider microtransactions to be “pay-to-win” items and/or mechanics.

However, I also argue that that definition is far too narrow and doesn’t mention or include things like loot boxes, something that (by word-of-mouth) is the centerpiece of any discussion revolving around microtransactions, as they tend to be the most prominent and the most nefarious forms of microtransactions.

All of that being said, I bring in now the topic of Game Informer’s article on the microtransactions in Borderlands 3, and Randy Pitchford’s colorful response:

“Despite Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford’s comment about ‘no microtransactions’ in Borderlands 3 during today’s livestream, we’ve been told cosmetic items are still purchasable.” - Game Informer

Now, to be clear, at face value, nothing said here is wrong; this tweet is technically speaking true. However, going by the earlier definitions of microtransactions that I laid out above, it’s disingenuous, and that’s what makes it wrong.

I’ve spoken on numerous occasions about my opinions on Overwatch’s cosmetic-only loot boxes, of which I will not be getting into with this post, but an aspect of that I’d like to reiterate here: having purchasable cosmetics in a video game is not a bad thing.

It’s not what is immediately thought of when you hear the word “microtransaction”. Microtransaction, as the dirty and/or taboo word we view it as, brings up the idea of pay-to-win mechanics, lootboxes, and purchased in-game currency, not directly purchasable cosmetic-only items.

It’s important to keep in mind that, yes by technical definition alone, even directly purchasable cosmetic-only items are microtransactions, but so too are any purchasable content, including DLC. However, no one looks at DLC, especially not the kind typical for a Borderlands game, and considers it to be on the same level as Battlefront 2′s pay-to-win lootboxes, because that would be absurd.

This tweet and related article are essentially the equivalent to someone writing “My neighbor does a LOT of drugs” when their neighbor is a frail old woman who needs to take twenty different pills to stay alive. By technical definition, nothing said there is wrong, but it should be obvious why saying something like that would be wrong in that circumstance.

Yes, technically speaking, taking some Tylenol for my headache means I’m “doing drugs” but if someone came and told you that I was doing drugs, would your instinctual assumption be: “Oh, he’s probably just taking something harmless like Tylenol or DayQuil or whatever”? No, probably not. You would immediately assume ‘drugs’ means something akin to cocaine, meth, heroine, or the like.

The gist of what I am saying here is: context is important, and Randy Pitchford seems to agree with that sentiment, as was expressed by his reaction to Game Informer’s tweet and article. A lot of people criticize Pitchford for his reaction, saying he lied when said there would be no microtransactions, but it’s important to note two very important details here:

A) When Pitchford initially said that there would be no microtransactions, he clarified immediately after that there would be directly purchasable cosmetic items, as there were in Borderlands 2.

B) As expressed in earlier parts of this post, directly purchasable cosmetic items are not what is colloquially considered to be microtransactions.

Assuming they stick to their promises, something which I know seems unlikely in today’s video games industry but assuming they do and that there will be no microtransactions in Borderlands 3, we need to praise them for it. We need to praise the companies, big or small, that do not add in $1 red-dot sights, or lucrative gambling mechanics, or purchasable gameplay-enhancing benefits.

We need to emphasize to the video games industry that that is what we want from our video games. We can complain and complain and complain all we want to on our various internet forums, social medias, and articles, but clearly that isn’t working. So we need to show appreciation to the depressingly few companies who put out games that don’t give in to these disgusting “live-services” money-making schemes.

What I’m saying is, the next time you’re buying a video game, consider buying games like Borderlands 3 instead of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, or Fallout 76, or Anthem, etc.

[comicteaparty]

January 7th-January 13th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from January 7th, 2019 to January 13th, 2019.  The chat focused on MoonSlayer by Monica NGalvan.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START! Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on MoonSlayer by Monica NGalvan~! (http://moonslayercomic.com/) You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PST), so keep checking back for more! You have until January 13th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 3. What is Nirúr’s role in Syrma’s curse? Why is her Syrma’s death so important to Deneb and Nirúr’s goals? Is Nirúr as evil as everyone makes him out to be?

QUESTION 4. What do you think happened in the past that convinced Menkar to join to the side of the liosalfar (besides his past betrayal of his former king)? How might revealing this affect Syrma’s quest?

monicang

Hi everyone! I'm Monica, the author of MoonSlayer. This is just for telling you that you can ask me anything you want to know about my comic! Thanks and I hope you enjoy it!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. Why is the Storyteller helping Syrma? What exactly are the Storyteller’s ultimate goals regarding Arunor? Do you believe Puck will remain loyal to the Storyteller, or will he now work for Deneb?

QUESTION 6. What do you believe Henna did in the past that caused her to be exiled from the court of the sidhe? What does this have to do with Henna turning into a monster? Also, what deal did Henna make with Puck?

RebelVampire

1) my favorite scene is probably when henna goes to bathe and puck shows up and we start learning that something is wrong with henna. i enjoy the illustration work a lot with how much detailed work is put into henna's appearance. but i also just like the elements added to the story because it really adds this forboding sense that time is running out for everyone really, not just syrma. and i think the addition really helps to add more stakes to the matter, since the more lives in the balance the better? XD 2) this is a tough choice. probably henna. of the designs i like hers the most because its just so strange, mystical, and beautiful at the same time. but also i like how teasing she can get in one scene but then serious and badass in another. all around shes just a really intriguing character to me that i enjoy learning about. 3) I wouldnt label Nirur as "evil" so much as id probably assume hes self-absorbed and concerned only with his well-being. as for his role, i assume some magic shenanigans where somehow syrma's death will help release him. although i feel like not everything is as it seems. like nirur expects his sister to fail and is just trying to get syrma to come to him to trick her into using her inability to be affected by magic to bust him out of god jail. but just spit balling on that one i have no real evidence other then i assume nirur is cunning. 4) i think maybe the liosalfar saved menkar's life. and that menkar may have really just been depressed and had nowhere else to go at the time. i dont think itll reall affect the quest so much as make syrma go "omg hugs for menkar"

5) given the convo the storyteller had with hatal, im gonna assume hes helping syrma out of boredom. cause it seems implied that their world is just kind of stuck and static, never changing and never growing. and i think the storyteller just wants that to change. which i mean to be fair, you cant be a good storyteller when there are no stories to tell. and you cant have good stories without change, growth, and progress. as for puck, yeah i think hes gonna remain loyal to the storyteller. just cause deneb probably wouldnt help him even if he helped her. 6) im gonna just take a stab in the dark here and say maybe forbidden magic comboed with a lack of deference to the crown. although i assume that henna was exiled partly because nobody wants a monster in their lands, so better to get them out before theyre too dangerous to lose. as for the deal, help syrma and get cured? i mean that seems the most likely. and i assume it was a generally vague deal that henna partly regrets cause theres a lot of help needed.

keii4ii

1) This may be a weird choice, but I really liked the scene when Syrma kissed Menkar and ran off. Or rather, that's the scene that made me like her. It's not that I ship them (I'm aro and rarely get excited for shippy stuff). Rather, it made her feel more 3-dimensional to me. There's a lot of scenes portraying her as this perky, reckless warrior-huntress... But there's gotta be more to her than just the fighting and the hunting, right? And that kiss scene did it for me. She was still the same perky, reckless girl, so it wasn't like showing an unexpected hidden side of her. But it still showed that there are mundane moments in her life, too.

6) There is a short story in the Threads anthology that goes over this. I actually read that short story before reading the main comic... It doesn't explain everything, but it explains a lot.

Kabocha

I've only just now started reading this comic, so I'll answer the questions later... But I really like the art so far. It's lovely and incredibly intricate!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. What do you believe the group will do regarding the last potion ingredient since Henna’s blood is useless? How might Farian and the other sidhe help or hurt the situation?

funakounasoul

I need to do an archive binge of this comic again but I wanna just say that I love this story. Love Syrma and want to see how she achieves her goals. I love the art style. It's clean and professional but it's on a stylistic side that attracts me (I tend to not go for stories, especially fantasies, where the cast looks too realistic). Keep up the amazing work, Monica! :D

Kabocha

1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it? http://moonslayercomic.com/comic/ch5-20/ I loved this sequence -- Syrma getting the Angisu was pretty dang neat to see, especially when she threw the flames at the monsters! 2. Probably Deneb. She's got enough mystery around her, but so far I just like how... IDK, goal-oriented she is? She's interesting so far, and I want to know what she has in mind for Syrma. 3. NO IDEA! I think Deneb probably expects that Syrma will take her place, and that's why she chose her and took her magic -- this was all necessary to get her ready. 4. Menkar was probably going to be king before the other guy was put in place, and things went badly. 5. I can't really say why the storyteller might be helping Syrma, but I do wonder how much of this has to do with fate? Alternatively, Deneb could be totally losing it and degenerating somehow, and he's trying to find a peaceful end for her. ...Granted, nothing involving Syrma ever seems to be peaceful for long. 6. ...Y'know, I'd like to know what Henna did? I imagine her exile is directly related to becoming a monster, and is just a consequence of not being with her people... I do think, based on the cast page, that Henna probably helped Iris become immortal, which pissed off several sidhe.

snuffysam

1. Definitely the sequence where Syrma first uses the Angisu. The flames turning into claws around her hands... beautiful. 2. Syrma. I just love the way you see her grow up throughout the comic. 3. I think Deneb wants to use Syrma to free her brother somehow? I'm not sure how sacrificing Syrma would help with that, however. 4. I agree with Rebel on this one. Menkar was exiled for his betrayal, and the liosalfar took him in. 5. I think it's possible the Storyteller just disagrees with Deneb's actions, and wants to stop her somehow? As for Puck, I think he may pretend to be loyal to Deneb, but I still think he's going to help Syrma overall. 6. Agreed with the other sentiments, I'd also like to posit that maybe Henna doesn't know if she's actually helping Syrma, or if she's a traitor. After all, she threatened to reveal her deal with Puck to Syrma and Menkar, which isn't something you do if you're only being helpful.

Kabocha

Seeing how Puck got in a hell of a lot of trouble, I do wonder if it's just that nobody wants Deneb to know what's goin' on

snuffysam

the whole comic is leading up to a surprise birthday party

Kabocha

Oh no! D'ya think Syrma and Deneb have the same birthday? Maybe Deneb's just trying to prevent Syrma from crashing her party or something.

snuffysam

it's the only reasonable explanation i feel

RebelVampire

QUESTION 8. What insight do you believe the beginning of the comic gives us to the current story? What do you predict given that Syrma was warned about being seduced and is also emphasized to be all alone?

RebelVampire

i want to add to some of the discussion that i kind of think deneb isnt losing it. i think shes already lost it. XD in the sense that shes just being completely used by her brother and just flat out cant see it. is so dedicated to him nothing about morality or anything else registers to her anymore. its all about getting nirur out of prison, even her children be damned. 7) maybe theyre gonna be extremists and kidnap farian. cause that can only go well right? although i forsee them getting majorly delayed, caught, and sent to sidhe court. puck can be their lawyer. 8) the fact shes all alone....gonna be honest. i just assume everyone be dead. henna is a monster, puck got offed by deneb, menkar died fighting the dragon. cause i dont have optimism from that beginning. i feel like the warning about being seduced is gonna cause syrma to maybe sympathize with deneb some. see that she is a victim of nirur's machinations. and then syrma will kill them both cause i mean the title is moonslayer O_O

monicang

I have to admit that I'm amazed with the guessings and theories of all of you. Some of them are quite close to the truth.

Kabocha

Maybe Nirur lost it and that's why he's locked up... and Deneb's susceptible to the same issue as him. And Syrma's... well, Syrma's going to take over for both of them. Regarding question 8 -- I'm honestly worried xD Like, what's Nirur gonna do? Try and tempt her with power and such? Surely he knows she's not really attracted to that... Unless he can promise her all sorts of things like, her family back, a happy life... using illusions. But maybe he'll also just try to win her heart. XD

Monica -- oh my!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. Do you believe that Syrma and Menkar’s relationship is changing, or is it all just playful teasing? How might the growing tension between them change the direction of Syrma’s quest?

snuffysam

No idea what Syrma's intentions are, but I don't think Menkar's going to take the teasing seriously. like 1) from his point of view, syrma was a baby yesterday, and 2) pretty sure he watched his wife and kid(s) die.

keii4ii

It reminds me of something from a game, when a human character and a dragon character interact. They'd met and fought together as allies in a war 3 years prior. They reunite, the dragon gives the human what he needed, and goes on her way. Human: Wait! Aren't we going to talk and catch up? It's been 3 years! Dragon: What? But we saw each other just 3 years ago!

My guess is Syrma has a crush that she's okay with being unrequited, because she understands there are the differences between them. By the same token, I think she might feel jealous if Menkar were to pursue a relationship with another woman, especially a mortal/non-dragon woman (I don't think this likely, just speaking hypothetically). Not like vehemently jealous, just a "hey I thought... ugh n/m " kinda thing.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 10. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

RebelVampire

9) i do think the relationship is changing. they seem way too blushy and into the flirting for it not to be. but more i think the dynamic thats changing is them both kind of coming to terms with the fact that they may have some feelings for each other, even if they dont know what to do with them. in terms of changing the direction of syrma's question, i assume itll motivate her more. up until menkar probably gets killed cause i ahve no hope for him to live through this quest. 10) i am looking forward to syrma's growth most of all i think. cause shes still got a ways to go before she's ready for any moon slaying. so im interested to see in how the future trials challenge her and prepare her for the task at hand.

keii4ii

I'm looking forward to finding out what the whole deal is with the intro, obviously! Wanna know what everyone's endgame is: Storyteller, Puck, Nirur, Deneb, etc. (I also wonder if the sun is ever gonna be more involved? )

snuffysam

what if everyone's fine having a nice picnic and syrma's just alone because she's the only one who could go through the gate,

RebelVampire

that is also possible. i just dont think itd sit well with the other charas

snuffysam

it's not a happy picnic

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about MoonSlayer this week! Please also give a special thank you to Monica NGalvan for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked MoonSlayer, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: < http://moonslayercomic.com/%3E

Monica’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/monicang

Monica’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A378XX

Monica’s Store: http://moonslayercomic.com/store/

MoonSlayer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/MoonSlayerComic

[mild-lunacy]

Eurus and Mycroft's Gambit in TFP

I was thinking of the recent @thepurplecarbuncle post about what Mycroft told Sherlock at Baker Street in TFP: "the man you are today is your memory of Eurus". I agree with her incredulous response, in that I can see how it sounds false, like a pure retcon-- it sounds ridiculous-- because it *is* ridiculous and it's meant to be, on one level. Obviously, if it's taken to be literally about Sherlock's deepest self, his best self, that can't be true. Sherlock is a kind man, a 'good man', as Lestrade says later in the same episode. So it's textually not *literally* true. But at the same time, Sherlock's not *only* that man that he'd become thanks in part to John Watson, is he? As Ivy told me so eloquently, the whole point, whether here or in Mary's reference to who Sherlock and John 'really are', is about the *duality* in Sherlock and John's natures.

Sherlock is kind and good, but that hasn't always been the persona he's been inhabiting, is it? Him standing with Moriarty on that rooftop, promising Moriarty that he's not one of 'the angels' wasn't all that long ago, and Sherlock had shot Magnussen while proclaiming himself to be a 'high-functioning sociopath' just recently. And that persona, including Mycroft's spiel in ASiB about heartbreak being inevitable and how 'caring is not an advantage', had always seemed to be tied to Mycroft and his influence. Still, you can't just take Mycroft at face value, 'cause he's playing the role he's always played. If anything, he's more obvious about it in TFP than ever before, explicitly taunting John to Sherlock's face 'cause he knows Sherlock would always choose John-- would always choose *sentiment*-- and he wants to make it easier on Sherlock. As usual, Mycroft tests and prods both John and Sherlock at Baker Street, rather than being straightforward. Mycroft certainly isn't simply saying that Sherlock is some kind of Eurus lite(tm), and he always has been his whole adult life. He'd just called Sherlock a 'dragon slayer' in HLV; he *knows* Sherlock for real. The point is that he *hasn't* been like Eurus, but Sherlock's made some deeply unnatural and unnecessary choices to shut himself off from friendship and emotional intimacy because of trauma from events related to Eurus he cannot remember. Of course... that's not established text, at least until TFP. We just have clues and foreshadowing. In TAB, Sherlock insists 'I made me' (although he then thinks of Redbeard when there's a dog barking in his Mind Palace). And indeed, Sherlock's choices in response to Eurus-- at the beginning and the end, in TFP-- are shown to be very much his own. He certainly made himself what he is by *choice*, even if he's not conscious of it afterwards.

The Final Problem has various callbacks and parallels (the big one to THoB, for example, that I've discussed recently). Besides the differences in the vector (Sherlock's own mind rather than a hallucinogenic drug with Henry), I think it's important to note that Sherlock *chose* to forget in a way Henry didn't. Sherlock isn't just a victim of a crime, but still the active protagonist. His conversation with Mycroft at Baker Street can also be a callback to ASiP. That's where we first heard Mycroft say John could be the 'making of' his brother, 'or make him worse than ever'. As Ivy summarized, TFP works as the resolution of Sherlock's arc, and so we had to answer the question of why does Sherlock actually say he's a 'high-functioning sociopath'? Why does he say being alone 'protects' him? When people dismiss the entirety of TFP, it's easy to miss the issues of characterization continuity and the sense in which things may actually make sense in unexpected ways.

I should emphasize that I don't think Sherlock's trauma is meant to be definitive to his personality. The question of whether Mofftiss always intended this reveal since Series 1 is interesting but ultimately irrelevant in practice. It's enough to say that Sherlock's always worn part of his 'Sherlock Holmes' persona, the 'high-functioning sociopath' self, as armor. It's never been natural. It's not because he's naturally a misanthropic loner (like Mycroft), who thinks of other humans like goldfish. This doesn't mean that he's *not* different in his own way, or that he didn't mean it when he told Mycroft in TEH 'why would anyone mind?' But unfortunately, Sherlock struggles to fully accept or accommodate his own humanity even after TEH (though the process has begun at that point). In HLV, he regressed from his touching, emotionally open wedding speech to tell John that romantic love was 'human error', and in TAB he actually cries, overcome when Watson acknowledged his humanity. John has had a tendency to believe Sherlock could work miracles-- in TRF, he wanted him to not be dead as 'one more miracle'-- which had long been an ongoing issue, as @stephisanerd described in her classic meta. So it's more like this childhood trauma is just the specific trigger to what was always an ill-fitting illusion of all-knowing supremacy that Sherlock put on as a defense mechanism. And *that* is Eurus's fault (indirectly, at least); essentially, Eurus herself is the DFP personality with nothing underneath, in a much more personal, less metaphorical way than Moriarty had been. If Moriarty is the 'virus in the data' in TAB, Sherlock's response to Eurus had corrupted his operating system in this metaphor.

Whether Eurus was intended from the start or not, I essentially think she is simply the mechanism. It was always pretty clear that Sherlock was carrying around some pretty toxic ideas about what kind of things he should aspire to for himself. There were some unrealistic standards he held himself to, but he also has some extreme convictions about sentiment and 'romantic entanglement' leading only to heartbreak. In a sense, we'd always blamed a sibling for this: we'd just blamed *Mycroft*. Mycroft said lots of insensitive things and provided a sense that Sherlock's family life was cold, or at least complicated (especially pre-S3). Then we met the Holmes parents, and it seemed like Mycroft and Sherlock were actually a product of a 'normal', happy home... if one with a math genius mother. But Mycroft's clear resentment at Christmas (and his 'file' of complaints about his parents) and Sherlock's avoidance and awkwardness still seemed... a bit odd. Clearly, some kind of issues were not being addressed. A lot of issues, as it turned out, although in some ways the Holmeses really were a supportive, even ordinary family. The parents just really didn't know what to do with Mycroft and Sherlock, let alone a girl like Eurus, it appears.

I think it's clear that Mycroft always felt he had to take care of things invisibly, to be 'the adult' (even if Mummy didn't appreciate it in the end: another statement there's no need to simply accept at face value). He couldn't just tell Sherlock that he thought he wasn't dealing with the issue properly; if anything, sentiment really isn't Mycroft's area, as he said in TEH. But he worries about Sherlock... 'constantly', as he told John from the start. Mycroft has always placed a lot of stock on other people's potential influence on his little brother. He's seen how sensitive he is; how deeply he can be hurt. So of course, if he thought John Watson could be 'the making of' Sherlock after 24 hours, he's the type to blame Eurus's bad influence for Sherlock's unfortunate conviction he was a 'high-functioning sociopath' (a descriptor he'd be most likely to have heard applied to Eurus, not himself). Mycroft's gambit in ASiP was that John could break through to him, somehow, though this didn't mean he'd start suggesting Sherlock open his heart anytime soon. Both brothers had been burned, and Mycroft was very, *very* protective (after Eurus came the drugs, after all). Mycroft always knew how much both John and Sherlock resisted and doubted him and anything he said, so he *couldn't* be straightforward even if he wanted to. It's true that even at the wedding, Mycroft still warned Sherlock not to 'get involved'. It's not that he meant the opposite, necessarily-- but he really does worry about Sherlock and his tendency to have 'danger nights', after all, and this wasn't baseless, as HLV demonstrated. However, surely Mycroft still believed John to have been a good influence. Even if both of them admired Eurus a little too much, surely Mycroft knew Sherlock would need to choose John, and could be counted on to choose John in TSoT.

In the end, Mycroft asked John to 'take care' of Sherlock after his overdose in TAB: the ultimate sign of trust. He definitely thinks John has fulfilled his early promise in ASiP, and could be trusted with Sherlock's future-- Mycroft's only pressure point. Even so, in TFP Mycroft suggests Eurus remained a hugely formative influence, primarily in negative ways. And in certain ways, I'm sure that's true. The man Sherlock is today is a product of his past, just like any other man. However, that's not *all* he is, and I think that by the end of TFP, Sherlock's made peace with that.

[hotfitnesstopics]

Health | The Atlantic Why Doctors Should Read Fiction The annals of literature are packed with writers who also practiced medicine: Anton Chekhov, Arthur Conan Doyle, William Carlos Williams, John Keats, William Somerset Maugham, and on and on. As doctors, they saw patients at their most vulnerable, and their medical training gave them a keen eye for observing people and what makes them tick.But if studying medicine is good training for literature, could studying literature also be good training for medicine? A new paper in Literature and Medicine, “Showing That Medical Ethics Cases Can Miss the Point,” argues yes. In particular, it proposes that certain literary exercises, like rewriting short stories that involve ethical dilemmas, can expand doctors’ worldviews and make them more attuned to the dilemmas real patients face.The paper dissects ethical case studies, which students in nursing and medical school often encounter in classes. Typically, these studies—most based on actual medical cases—summarize a conflict about a course of treatment or another aspect of someone’s care. The students have to decide what the doctor or nurse should do next, or determine what the doctor or nurse did wrong. The idea is to get students thinking about problems they might face in the future, before they actually confront these issues in a pressure-filled clinical situation.The paper’s author, Woods Nash, a medical-humanities scholar at the University of Houston, points out that ethical case studies have a distinct literary style—or lack thereof. They emphasize action over characterization, and provide a bare minimum of atmosphere. They’re also short—usually a few hundred words—which cuts out most of the nuance and motivation for characters’ behavior. The brevity and lack of nuance aren’t just literary faults, but actually limit the usefulness of case studies, Nash argues.To demonstrate these shortcomings, he turns to fiction. In his new paper, he distills a typical ethics case study from a short story called “Fetishes” by the physician-writer Richard Selzer. In the story, a middle-aged woman named Audrey faces a hysterectomy. On the eve of the surgery, her anesthesiologist informs her, rather bluntly, that she’ll have to remove her dentures beforehand. Audrey doesn’t want to, because her husband—an anthropologist who regularly travels for months at a time—was out of the country when she got them and still doesn’t know she has them, even decades later.Audrey argues that letting her husband see her without them will shatter her “dignity.” The anesthesiologist pooh-poohs her concerns and orders her to remove them for her own safety. Audrey eventually confesses her dilemma to a younger resident with a physical handicap (a limp), who establishes a much better rapport with her. He agrees to slip them back in during her recovery, before her husband can see.In his paper, Nash reduces this 10-page story to a stark 215-word summary, then analyzes it using a typical ethical framework in medicine known as principalist ethics. He notes that many bioethicists would criticize the anesthesiologist for not respecting Audrey’s autonomy and dismissing her concerns about the dentures. But the analysis would also be blind to the subtler dynamics that make the story resonate, he argues. It’s not a story about lack of autonomy as much as about a woman whose male doctors (including the dentist who pressured her into getting dentures in the first place) condescend to her. The short summary also overlooks how the younger resident connected with Audrey—by establishing a human bond first, instead of simply walking in and dictating treatment.Audrey “perceives [the doctors] as behaving smugly, belittling her because she is a woman, and relishing the power they wield over her,” Nash writes. “Until these underlying issues are resolved, recommendations to communicate more openly, respect patient autonomy, and reduce risks would remain insufficient.” Such recommendations, he adds, “do not penetrate to the problem’s roots.”So how can students penetrate to the roots? Nash proposes a simple exercise, one he’s employed in his classes for three years. He has each student read a story like “Fetishes” and reduce it to a case study. Then the students read their classmates’ summaries of the same story, and examine how they differ—in the underlying assumptions, or the details emphasized or omitted. Among other lessons, Nash says the exercise teaches students that “the style of a case is not ethically neutral” and that “there can be no definitive statement of a case.”Short stories aren’t perfect, either. Like doctors, fiction writers have their own biases and limitations, and the traditional Western canon represents a rather narrow (and mostly white and male) perspective. But unlike the pseudo-objective tone of case studies, stories like “Fetishes” at least attempt to promote overlooked points of view. And instructors certainly could seek out stories by authors of diverse backgrounds.Overall, Nash says he’d prefer to “jettison” medical-ethics case studies entirely. He writes in an email, “The real world is messy, of course, and ethics cases often teach us (implicitly) to clean up that mess by oversimplifying it.” Furthermore, case studies “are themselves a byproduct and reflection of clinical practice’s overemphasis on efficiency. Not just in primary care, but in many areas of medicine, doctors spend far too little time really listening to patients and trying to appreciate the depths of their patients’ problems.”Other scholars agree that medical-ethics case studies have limitations. Leslie McNolty and Matthew Pjecha, program associates at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, praised Nash’s paper overall, especially the idea of rewriting short stories to help teach inexperienced medical and nursing students.But they caution against too sweeping a condemnation of case studies. “In nearly every discussion of real ethical issues, you’ll hear someone say [things like], ‘I wish I knew more about her husband,’ or ‘why’s she so afraid of dementia,’” McNolty says. When presented with case summaries, in other words, people often do ask questions and seek out more information.Along those same lines, Pjecha notes that “people actually using [case studies] in ethics committees in hospitals”—as opposed to students in classes—“are aware of how austere and truncated they are.” Often, someone who treated the patient on which the case is based will be present to answer more questions. Overall, Pjecha says, ethics committees see case studies “as an important first step, but then you unpack it further, and it spins into a story.”Still, Nash stands behind the idea of eliminating case studies. “Good short stories are far more effective means of teaching students and health-care professionals to wrestle with the mess, to pay attention to narrative perspective and detail, and to become more comfortable with ambiguity,” he says.They’re also, Nash points out, much better reads. “Why continue to use ethics cases if short stories are better at inviting realistic reflection and more enjoyable to read and discuss?” It’s a sentiment that Chekov, Maugham, and others who wrestled with such issues in both their life and work would appreciate. more info...

http://www.fitnessclub.cf/2018/08/why-doctors-should-read-fiction.html

[ionecoffman]

Why Doctors Should Read Fiction

The annals of literature are packed with writers who also practiced medicine: Anton Chekhov, Arthur Conan Doyle, William Carlos Williams, John Keats, William Somerset Maugham, and on and on. As doctors, they saw patients at their most vulnerable, and their medical training gave them a keen eye for observing people and what makes them tick.

But if studying medicine is good training for literature, could studying literature also be good training for medicine? A new paper in Literature and Medicine, “Showing that Medical Ethics Cases Can Miss the Point,” argues yes. In particular, it proposes that certain literary exercises, like rewriting short stories that involve ethical dilemmas, can expand doctors’ worldviews and make them more attuned to the dilemmas real patients face.

The paper dissects ethical case studies, which students in nursing and medical school often encounter in classes. Typically, these studies—most based on actual medical cases—summarize a conflict about a course of treatment or another aspect of someone’s care. The students have to decide what the doctor or nurse should do next, or determine what the doctor or nurse did wrong. The idea is to get students thinking about problems they might face in the future, before they actually confront these issues in a pressure-filled clinical situation.

The paper’s author, Woods Nash, a medical-humanities scholar at the University of Houston, points out that ethical case studies have a distinct literary style—or lack thereof. They emphasize action over characterization, and provide a bare minimum of atmosphere. They’re also short—usually a few hundred words—which cuts out most of the nuance and motivation for characters’ behavior. The brevity and lack of nuance aren’t just literary faults, but actually limit the usefulness of case studies, Nash argues.

To demonstrate these shortcomings, he turns to fiction. In new his paper, he distills a typical ethics case study from a short story called “Fetishes” by the physician-writer Richard Selzer. In the story, a middle-aged woman named Audrey faces a hysterectomy. On the eve of the surgery, her anesthesiologist informs her, rather bluntly, that she’ll have to remove her dentures beforehand. Audrey doesn’t want to, because her husband—an anthropologist who regularly travels for months at a time—was out of the country when she got them and still doesn’t know she has them, even decades later.

Audrey argues that letting her husband see her without them will shatter her “dignity.” The anesthesiologist pooh-poohs her concerns and orders her to remove them for her own safety. Audrey eventually confesses her dilemma to a younger resident with a physical handicap (a limp), who establishes a much better rapport with her. He agrees to slip them back in during her recovery, before her husband can see.

In his paper, Nash reduces this 10-page story to a stark 215-word summary, then analyzes it using a typical ethical framework in medicine known as principalist ethics. He notes that many bioethicists would criticize the anesthesiologist for not respecting Audrey’s autonomy and dismissing her concerns about the dentures. But the analysis would also be blind to the subtler dynamics that make the story resonate, he argues. It’s not a story about lack of autonomy as much as about a woman whose male doctors (including the dentist who pressured her into getting dentures in the first place) condescend to her. The short summary also overlooks how the younger resident connected with Audrey—by establishing a human bond first, instead of simply walking in and dictating treatment.

“[Audrey] perceives [the doctors] as behaving smugly, belittling her because she is a woman, and relishing the power they wield over her,” Nash writes. “Until these underlying issues are resolved, recommendations to communicate more openly, respect patient autonomy, and reduce risks would remain insufficient.” Such recommendations, he adds, “do not penetrate to the problem’s roots.”

So how can students penetrate to the roots? Nash proposes a simple exercise, one he’s employed in his classes for three years. He has each student read a story like “Fetishes” and reduce it to a case study. Then the students read their classmates’ summaries of the same story, and examine how they differ—in the underlying assumptions, or the details emphasized or omitted. Among other lessons, Nash says the exercise teaches students that “the style of a case is not ethically neutral” and that “there can be no definitive statement of a case.”

Short stories aren’t perfect, either. Like doctors, fiction writers have their own biases and limitations, and the traditional Western canon represents a rather narrow (and mostly white and male) perspective. But unlike the pseudo-objective tone of case studies, stories like “Fetishes” at least attempt to promote overlooked points of view. And instructors certainly could seek out stories by authors of diverse backgrounds.

Overall, Nash says he’d prefer to “jettison” medical-ethics case studies entirely. He writes in an email, “The real world is messy, of course, and ethics cases often teach us (implicitly) to clean up that mess by oversimplifying it.” Furthermore, case studies “are themselves a byproduct and reflection of clinical practice’s overemphasis on efficiency. Not just in primary care, but in many areas of medicine, doctors spend far too little time really listening to patients and trying to appreciate the depths of their patients’ problems.”

Other scholars agree that medical-ethics case studies have limitations. Leslie McNolty and Matthew Pjecha, program associates at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, praised Nash’s paper overall, especially the idea of rewriting short stories to help teach inexperienced medical and nursing students.

But they caution against too sweeping a condemnation of case studies. “In nearly every discussion of real ethical issues, you’ll hear someone say [things like], I wish I knew more about her husband, or why she’s so afraid of dementia,” says McNolty. When presented with case summaries, in other words, people often do ask questions and seek out more information.

Along those same lines, Pjecha notes that “people actually using [case studies] in ethics committees in hospitals”—as opposed to students in classes—“are aware of how austere and truncated they are.” Often, someone who treated the patient on which the case is based will be present to answer more questions. Overall, Pjecha says, ethics committees see case studies “as an important first step, but then you unpack it further, and it spins into a story.”

Still, Nash stands behind the idea of eliminating case studies. “Good short stories are far more effective means of teaching students and health-care professionals to wrestle with the mess, to pay attention to narrative perspective and detail, and to become more comfortable with ambiguity,” he says.

They’re also, Nash points out, much better reads. “Why continue to use ethics cases if short stories are better at inviting realistic reflection and more enjoyable to read and discuss?” It’s a sentiment that Chekov and Maugham and others who wrestled with such issues in both their lives and work would appreciate.

Article source here:The Atlantic

[erriikkka]

As I develop my capabilities, I’ve been really a hoarder of movies, Disney films to be exact. Since then, it has always been a part of me to pay attention to these movie pictures that accompanied and innovated me throughout the years. Furthermore, i have abide to tackle the route in reaching my dreams and I have these bundle of films that represents my childhood in which i can relate to. These movies are the reason that at some point in my life, it also happens to me, and there, I see myself in my that particular scene so what are you waiting for? come on and see what’s inside my movie blog!

I. Beauty and the Beast

the 18th-century fairy tale was brought into life.

Beauty and the Beast

Disney has already given us live-action versions of animated films like Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty in recent years but in a way, Beauty and the Beast feels like the riskiest of them all so far, as far as potential backlash is concerned. Beauty and the Beast is still much more recent than those other animated classics, and many can clearly remember growing up during the film’s initial release and explosion in popularity. Starting from editing, the musical, the casting, setting and the whole production staff made everything possible for this film has to be brought into life and its just very alluring, it will never disappoint you. There are numerous scenes from the film that leave me breathless and had me in tears. One of these scenes is when Belle and the Beast had their first date and dance in the tune “Beauty and the Beast” which depicts their love story. Speaking of their lovestory, the story’s fantastical elements made it feel truly “realistic,” these touches the hearts of its viewers especially, the die-hard Disney fans who waited for this time to happen. It was like a time travel from time to time through the use of the music box which plays the life of Belle since she was born. Lastly, it was when Gaston fatally shoots the Beast from a bridge, but it collapses when the castle crumbles, and he falls to his death. The Beast dies as the last petal falls, and the servants become inanimate. As Belle tearfully professes her love to the Beast, the enchantress reveals herself and undoes the curse, repairing the crumbling castle, and restoring the Beast’s and servants’ human forms and the villagers’ memories. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance and lived happily ever after. With that, I could definitely say that i am mesmerized by this film and it has a huge impact in my life. This movie get to be my favorite movie. 10/10

II. Frozen

Frozen.

My happy pill.

  Frozen desalinates the new generation, our generation. Wherein, the youths are being portrayed by Elsa who would always keep a particular secret from everyone for the reason that she’s afraid that the society wont accept her. Within her, i saw myself, i saw how excruciating it is for her to lose her loved ones, i’m not saying that the same thing occurred to me but, even my family’s complete, there’s always that something that’ll be missing.  Since then, this film has been my happy pill and Elsa served as my spirit animal and just like her, I should be continuing what I’ve started and what I want because basically, it’s me, that is me. No one could ever deny the hard fact that these challenges will always come and test us, but we should all believe in ourselves that we can like what Elsa did. She stood up for herself and she even managed to grow into a beautiful rose even if she’s all alone. The reason why i really can’t resist this film is about it’s life lessons that we should always think first before we should do any decisions for it might affect our future.

III. Inside Out

The universe is full of dark matter and black holes, of planets made of diamond and space clouds that smell like raspberries. It is beautiful, terrifying and very, very odd. but none of that wonder holds a Christmas candle to what goes on in the mind of an 11-year-old girl. Take Riley—a fun, goofy, hockey-loving kid from Minnesota. Sure, she might not look all that unusual from the outside. But dive into her gray matter and you’ll see towering shelves full of memories and terrifying forests of broccoli in her subconscious, cloud cities forming in her imagination and elaborate dreams taking shape on the sound stage of her psyche. Above it all, in the control tower, work Riley’s core emotions: Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear. They push buttons and twist knobs and help power Riley through each and every day, making scads of marble-like memories all the while. Most of those marbles are eventually whisked away to long-term memory storage. But a handful stay in the control room. They’re her core memories, moments so critical in Riley’s development that they’ve spawned whole islands of identity. When Joy is sucked out of the control tower, though, it becomes impossible for Riley to do much but sulk and cower and occasionally blow up. And while that’s not good in and of itself, it’s a fantastic depiction of what kids feel when they’re under a lot of stress. When you’re 11 and your whole world has changed, your inner world is shaken, too. And we learn here that our emotions, even ones that might seem, on the surface, “bad,” can help stabilize things. Riley’s parents don’t understand what’s going on with their suddenly sullen daughter, but they want to help. And so they do—through love and patience and understanding. It’s pretty obvious that Mom and Dad are great (though not always perfect) parents, and Riley, eventually, sees them as such. That means Inside Out isn’t content to depict how awful things can get when our lives take a sudden downward turn. No, it also wants to show us how important family can be in the process of picking yourself up and moving on.

IV. Moana

  Princesses come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, though Disney’s latest addition to its ever-growing gallery of empowered female heroines, Moana – The sail of the century. It is a tale of the young daughter of a Polynesian chief who seeks to explore the world beyond her island in the Pacific and save her people in the process. Moana’s father continually asserts that because her role is to be the island’s next leader, she must remain on the island. However, her decision to defy her father’s orders leads to a fulfilling experience. She skillfully incorporates Polynesian culture into its plot, demonstrating its beauty and intricacy while respecting its origins. The film includes the traditional Polynesian legend of Maui, a demigod known for his mischievous personality and contributions to mankind, most notably his creation of the Pacific Islands by pulling up rocks from beneath the ocean. Maui’s character is cleverly utilized to highlight the significance of Moana’s agency as a young woman. Demonstrating his rude personality, Maui constantly doubts Moana’s ability to navigate the ocean and help her people because of her status as the young daughter of a chief. Moana’s continual capacity to prove Maui wrong emphasizes her independence and inherent talents regardless of her social standing or gender. Though Maui and his godly powers contribute to the storyline, Moana’s strength and determination are central to the film’s plot and communicate a stirring message of female empowerment. Patience is the key to happiness, they say, and nearly the entire film embodies that belief. For example, Moana must find enough patience to learn how to sail, patience in Maui who doesn’t trust her at first, and patience throughout her entire journey. During the film we see Moana fail a few times before she finally succeeds, and that added humanity to her character, which a lot of protagonists tend to lack. When a lot of people see this, especially our youth, I think it will help them realize that mistakes are a part of our journey through life, and some things require patience before success. The film will be cheered as many things — an entertaining holiday film, a princess story without the slightest hint of romance, a multicultural addition to the Disney family — but best of all, it’s a sharp attack on helicopter parenting. Unlike most of the young women we meet in fairy tales, Moana has a happy childhood and never wants for anything. Like many middle-class American kids today, she has two wonderful, caring parents who only want what’s best for her. Otherwise, the movie offers positive messages of self-discovery and empowerment. And Moana herself is a great role model, demonstrating perseverance, curiosity, and courage.

V. Coco

They say, Coco is the best movie of Pixar in years, and I totally agrees with it. Most of the scenes in the movie takes place in the Land of the Dead, but the movie never stops overflowing with life. Colors riot and effervesce, Mexican folk-art patterns tease the eye, music and song ride beneath each scene and goose it forward. The movie’s so exuberantly visual that it feels as if you’re sticking your head inside the collective unconscious of an entire culture. Not to mention it’s soundtrack “remember me” which says the whole story and within that, we can all see that many people can relate in this kind of music especially the emotional ones. Although out the movie, it made me cry for the reason that at some how I can relate and I know how it feels when your parents are contradicting the things you wanted to do. This movie is a 10/10 for me. It’s really nice and knowing me, being emotional this movie suits my sentimental heart. While all is well in the end, the movie can be dark and sad , especially for those who’ve lost beloved relatives. But it also has powerful themes of perseverance, teamwork, and gratitude and encourages audiences to love and appreciate their family and always follow their dreams.

5 worthy movies that you shouldn’t miss! As I develop my capabilities, I've been really a hoarder of movies, Disney films to be exact.