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righteousdelusions · 2 years

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A (very interesting) Chainsaw Man focused Japanese language learning journey that may or may not have been useless. But it was taxing.

I was telling @aki-47 that I reread Yoshida's coffee date chapter (103) and the first Makima chapter (1) in (my very limited) Japanese, and I realized both used kimi to refer to Denji, specifically in katakana (キミ). That seemed interesting to me. I was trying to make a list with some facts about Yoshida's speech pattern, as one does when one currently has no boyfriend and hyper-fixates on the octopus boy.

But this kimi thing, specially because it was in katakana, took over my brain. According to google, using kimi in katakana might make it look particularly more boyish, rough, informal or friendly, but also condescending and fake. In contrast with kanji (君), which is the regular usage. Or hiragana (きみ), that makes words seem more feminine / cute / elegant.

I've come around and read more chapters, and actually, kimi in katakana is most likely just a Fujimoto aesthetic choice*, because it's everywhere and so many characters use it (or… eeeeeveryone is shady/trying to be doubly condescending. Which.........). Reze too.

It's also not that uncommon in shonen to use more katakana just because it looks cool, and I searched around in some different manga and kimi in katakana is not that uncommon as I was initially lead to believe by the internet. Once again, probably because katakana looks cool/with emphasis. But I didn't know that because this is the first time I've tried to do this sort of stuff.

Another thing is that Kimi and Kun have the same kanji (君). So maybe, Fujimoto just wants to use both kimi and kun for Denji and tries to give contrast to the speech bubble so it's not confusing. And that's it, not much to think about.

However. Even if the whole katakana usage is pure aesthetic.

Kimi on its own is a very interesting pronoun. It's an informal you. It can read as affectionate, but rude or assuming if you use it with strangers. It's a pronoun you can use with close people or with subordinates.

IRL it's a word that's almost never used, except in very specific contexts; because bosses use it and Japanese people tend to omit pronouns regardless. It's mostly used by males. It already can be read as condescending (more so in katakana, then). You have to be confident that the other person is OK with you calling them that. Male characters might use it with other boys to denote friendliness.

It's not common, however, according to google, that women use kimi. Even in fiction. Women use it in songs, but it's not that often that a girl calls her boyfriend kimi, even in a story (though i don't watch too much shojo, do girls ever call guys kimi?). Again, more often than not, it's used by men to women.

A wife calls her husband anata, the husband calls his wife kimi. That's apparently a famous context for this word. Correct me if I'm wrong.

To summarize: In the right context, it's romantic/friendly; it denotes a deep bond. In the wrong context, it's condescending; it denotes a feeling of superiority.

The fact both Makima and Reze use it for Denji then (both in katakana, too), it's a bit of a subversion, when it comes to a heterosexual romantic relationship. Then, supposedly, they are taking the lead in the relationship.** But we all know that they had hidden agendas, and in one way or another, were above Denji.

Makima was his boss so she was on the clear by calling him that, though Makima is not particularly polite with her subordinates in general (haha). Reze only uses it a handful of times, she mostly calls him Denji-kun; which is a more polite and cute way to call him. Yoshida is sort of whatever using kimi, because Yoshida is male and he's a fujobait character. Both Makima and Yoshida use Denji-kun and kimi alternatingly.

(I haven't re read all the manga in Japanese, and I probably won't. But Angel and the Future Devil both call Aki kimi too, in a way that feels more on the condescending route, of course. Also in katakana. It wouldn't surprise me if more devils called humans キミ.

Yoru calls Asa omae (お前), which is rude because of how direct it sounds. She also used it with Yoshida, along side calling him "hey, man". Fami refers to Asa by name, as Asa-chan).

But anyway. The fact Denji's (female) love interests call him that specific pronoun.... Welp. Look Denji, no worries, you'll get a better Dom sooner or later.

And I think in general, devils calling humans キミ is telling.

Funny language stuff.

Asa calls Denji anta (アンタ, informal/rude, shortened version of anata).

*There's some interesting usage with Denji's first person pronoun, Ore (俺,オレ) in the case of Denji/Asa and Denji/Yoshida. It's always in katakana with Yoshida, probably because it's an informal male context, (and Denji doesn't like him that much). In the rooftop meeting, Denji used ore in kanji, till Asa pissed him off, and he revealed he was chainsaw man with ore in katakana (which also works as a Japanese ALL CAPS). Just before Asa asked him out on a date, ore was in katakana when he spoke. In the aquarium date, ore was in kanji. Katakana=rough, Kanji=polite.

**Himeno also called Aki キミ. At least in the Easy Revenge flashback in chap 34. I don't remember from the anime if she does it regularly, and she probably used it with Denji too, but I didn't reread any other chapters with Himeno. If my memory serves, she calls him Denji-kun more often than not.

This was supposed to be about Yoshida who is in like, ten chapters top. Why did I do this? Help.

#chainsaw man #denji #yoshida hirofumi #makima #reze #csm #izzy.txt #words #japanese learning tag #ALSO fun fact yoshida called kishibe anta

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lilbreck · 1 year

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ST:TOS 103 - Where No Man Has Gone Before

Yes, we did skip an episode. No, we will not be reviewing Charlie X. While we found both Charlie and Mitchell creepy, Charlie’s age and his ability to control people made both of us too uncomfortable to enjoy even watching the episode.

We open the episode with Spock and Kirk wearing ugly sweaters and Spock without his eyeshadow. Though, Nimoy’s makeup almost matches his sweater. This scene also brings us another bit of Early Episode Weirdness in that Spock claims that one of his ancestors married a human female. He neglects to mention that said ancestor was his father and the woman was his mother. I’m thinking that they didn’t have Spock’s full backstory fleshed out when they started filming. At least his eyebrows are closer to being in check. Yes, I’m endlessly amused by this.

I can only assume that Spock and Kirk are currently still on duty in uniform, because we do see people out of uniform in the back. I can’t remember, do we ever see the main crew out of uniform on the ship? (Daughter’s note: Why don’t they have badges if they’re in uniform? Did they fall off without them noticing?)

I know it’s nitpicky, but they don’t have any sort of quarantine procedure for things they beam onboard? I’m pretty sure they address this in Strange New Worlds, IIRC, and possibly in some of the other Star Trek series, but it really does seem like a major oversight. No decontamination or anything. It’s really surprising there weren’t more outbreaks of strange viruses or radiation sickness on starships.

As much as I love the touch screens of the later shows, there is something I just adore about all the toggles, switches, and physical buttons of the old Trek. One thing I never loved? When a superior would come over and hover as if he actually knew what you were doing and was making sure you were doing it right. I refuse to believe Kirk could actually operate the transporter controls unless they had been pre-prepared for him and he only needed to touch one button.

I know it’s kind of hard to tell because he’s wearing the wrong color shirt, but there’s our first Scotty sighting! Now just to figure out the first time he and Uhura are in a scene together. And you thought your pairs were rare. Also, the disaster recorder (which I keep mistakenly calling a probe) looks like some sort of filter drum from an industrial AC unit.

When they talked about its tapes being intact, my daughter got a big laugh. I told her that “In the future, we’ll like things retro.” Retro apparently also means downgrading back to the previous big screen TV/view screen. Side note: there is no need to have someone hovering over the captain’s shoulder like that. At one point he even directs her to stand in a different place. What was even the point of this character?

At this point I become very confused. Where exactly are they heading? They can’t be following a signal, because the signal is coming from the recorder. Just, they randomly start heading somewhere and run into what is probably the same strange field.

Now, we have two other new characters, and you can tell the woman (Elizabeth Dehner) will be sexually repressed because she’s wearing pants. This is confirmed when Mitchell inappropriately tries to flirt with her, and she basically rejects him. He then calls her a walking freezer unit and my daughter and I decide he needs to die painfully. Side note: there is no real point to her character. She doesn’t even get any real part to play until very near the end, and it was not all that necessary.

I know it was the 60s, and it’s possible that those kind of things were taken more seriously, but the way they talk about ESP and things like that as if they’re Very Scientific™ just makes me giggle.

Another issue I have with this episode is that they took the ship out of the galaxy instead of sending some sort of probe to gather information. Apparently, Starfleet and/or The Enterprise are run by Kerbals.

Given that both actors who had to wear the contacts kept their heads tilted back and seemed to be looking down toward what they were trying to see, I wonder if that’s the only way they could actually see out of them. I can’t imagine they were terribly comfortable.

Later on we get needless and uncomfortable interactions between Mitchell and Dehner, Mitchell being creepy and ominous, and Spock jumping right to “Kill him, Jim.” Of course, then we get undeniable proof that Mitchell and Kirk could never have really been friends:

He couldn’t even get Kirk’s middle initial right. Or, you know, they hadn’t actually worked on Kirk’s full bio at this point.

In the fight scene, the first where we get a ripped Kirk shirt, we never actually see what rips the shirt. We have Shatner’s body double do a flying tackle and then, when we cut to Shatner getting up (please forgive the blurriness):

It ends with Mitchell being buried in a grave (that I don’t think could have held him) and Dehner dying from… Emperor Palpatine style lightning bolt fingers. Kirk records that they both died in the line of duty. I choose to believe both bodies were left there, and they recovered. They learned to get along and remade the planet to be very hospitable… or they moved to a one far away. They’re gods, they can do that shit.

End of episode tallies (details by daughter)

Unprofessional Behavior: 01 (Mitchell, who was still himself at the time, harasses Dehner. After the zapping, however, I consider him under the influence and as such, none of his interactions with Kirk afterward count.) Total: 05

Starfleet Are Cheapskates: 01 (Kirk’s shirt got ripped and we don’t know why. RIP.) Total: 02

Reasons Why Enterprise Needs a Counselor: 01 (Kirk had to kill his friend.) Total: 02

Early Episode Weirdness: 04 (Spock? Why are you wearing yellow? And downplaying your human heritage? And you too, Scotty. Minus the human heritage. Spock also suggests killing Mitchell sooner than he probably would have later on.) Total: 05

In The Future, We Like It Retro: 01 (Tapes. They use tapes.) Total: 02

#star trek #star trek: the original series #tonya watch along #star trek: tos

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vixvaporub · 1 year

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December 19th to January 8th Read and Watched List:

Currently Reading:

Berserk - chapters 211 to 229

Fruits basket - chapters 88 to 92

Chainsaw man - chapter 33 to 38

What does the fox say? - chapters 8 to 10

A monstrous person’s time: madness syndrome - chapters 1 to 10 : rec from @blueeyeswhitebitch

My solo exchange diary - chapters 1 to 15

The Demon Prince of the Momochi House - Chapters 1 to 16

Updates:

Juujika no rokunin - chapters 110 to 112

Even if you slit my mouth - chapter 56 & 57

The beast tamed by the villianess - chapters 41 & 42

Bitten contract - chapters 56 & 57

The tainted half - chapter 28 & 29

19 days - chapter 412 & 413

The summer hikaru died - chapter 13

Skip and loafer - chapter 48

Tamen de gushi - chapter 225

A sign of affection - chapter 32

drcl - chapter 22

Call of the night - chapter 153

Blue period - chapter 57

Blood on the tracks - chapter 135

Shadows house - chapters 152 & 153

My dress up darling - chapter 86

Completed/Caught Up:

Brides of iberis (caught up, chapter 11) by the same author as octave, about a wedding planner that falls for one of her clients (tw cheating)

Noragami - chapter 73 to 103 (caught up) my heart hurts too much, I love this series so much but its destroying me, also we need an anime remake that actually follows the series

Kuuchuu Sanpo (one shot) it was meh

Anime:

Vampire in the Garden - episodes 2 to 5 (completed)

Chainsaw man season 1 - episode 12

Land of the lustrous - episodes 1 to 5

The magical revolution of the reincarnated princess and the genius young lady - episode 1

Ice guy and the cool female colleague - episode 1

Sugar apple fairy - episode 1

Dropped:

Palepoli- weird incest

Momo and manji - chapters 7

#vixupdates #I haven't updated in forever so this is a long one #for the next ones I might start adding things I'll probably read next

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basicsofislam · 1 year

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ISLAM 101: Your Zakaat

The Ultimate Objectives of Zakaat:

Allah May He be glorified and exalted has enjoined zakaat on the Muslims for a number of reasons including the following:

1) Love of wealth is an innate human tendency, and man does whatever he possibly can to acquire it. It is for this reason that Islam requires him to pay zakaat to purify his heart from selfishness and greed, as the Qur’an states, “Take zakaat from their wealth to purify and cleanse them.” (Soorat At-Tawbah, 9:103)

2) Paying zakaat nurtures feelings of affection and harmony and fosters community cohesion. Because people generally have a disposition to like those who do them a good turn, members of the Muslim society become so close-knit that they resemble bricks of a building, supporting one another. Crimes such as theft and robbery tend to drop off.

3) Paying zakaat is a vivid expression of true worship and total submission to Allah May He be glorified and exalted. When the wealthy pay zakaat they actually obey Allah’s commands, recognising that all prosperity ultimately comes from Allah’s favour and grace. By doing so, they also show thankfulness to Him for having bestowed His blessings upon them: “If you are grateful, I will certainly give you increase.” (Soorat Ibraheem, 14:7)

4) By paying zakaat the concept of social security and relative equality among members of society is realised. When the wealthy distribute the annual amount of zakaat among the rightful beneficiaries, wealth ceases to build up in a few hands and is instead kept in constant circulation. As the Qur’an states, “This is so that they do not just circulate among those of you who are rich.” (Soorat Al-Hashr, 59:7) Love of wealth is an innate human tendency, and Islam requires its followers not to be obsessively attached to wealth and to pay zakaat in order to purify their hearts from selfish greed.

Types of Wealth upon which Zakaat Is Due

Zakaat is not due on the necessities of life, such as food, drink, clothing, the house one lives in, even if it is a high-priced house, and the car one drives, even if it is a luxurious car. It is only due on types of wealth which are not kept for immediate use and which are bound to increase, such as the following:

1) Gold and silver (with the exception of gold and silver ornaments used by women for their personal use)

Zakaat is due on gold and silver only if their value has reached or exceeded an established minimum threshold for this particular kind of wealth (nisaab) and after one has been in possession of this for a complete lunar year (354 days).

The minimum prescribed limit on which zakaat becomes obligatory (nisaab)on this type of wealth is as follows:

Zakaat due on gold is approximately 85 grams and that due on silver is 595 grams.

Therefore, if a Muslim has held such an amount for a whole year, he must pay zakaat at the minimum rate of two and a half per cent (2.5%).

2) All types of currency (banknotes and coins) held as cash in hand or bank balances

The nisaab liable to zakaat on cash, banknotes and coins is to be determined according to its corresponding value of gold (85 grams of pure gold) at the time zakaat falls due, based on the current rates of the country in which the payer of zakaat is resident. If such currency has been held in one’s possession for an entire lunar year, two and a half per cent (2.5%) of its value must be given out as zakaat.

To illustrate, if one gram of pure gold at the time zakaat falls due is worth, say $25, the nisaab of the currency will be as follows:

25 (price of one gram of gold, which is unstable) x85 (number of grams, which is stable)= $2125 is the minimum exemption limit (nisaab). It is worth noting that estimating the nisaab liable to zakaat on banknotes, coins and commercial commodities is generally based on their corresponding minimum amount of gold, since the value of gold is more stable than any other kind of property.

3) Commercial commodities

This term stands for all properties owned with the aim of investing them in trade. They generally include assets, such as real property, and commodities, such as consumer goods and foodstuffs.

The value of commercial assets, which have been held in one’s possession for an entire lunar year, must be estimated according to the current market value on the day zakaat falls due. If the commercial commodities reach the nisaab, two and a half per cent (2.5%) of their value must be given out as zakaat.

4) Farm produce

The Qur’an states, “O you who believe, give away some of the good things you have earned and some of what We have produced for you from the earth.” (Soorat Al-Baqarah, 2:267)

Zakaat is due only on certain types of agricultural produce on condition zakaat able produce has reached the minimum amount on which zakaat is due (nisaab)

In consideration of people’s different circumstances, the amount of zakaat payable on farm produce varies according to costs spent and effort exerted in irrigation.

Livestock: Zakaat is due on livestock, such as cows, camels and sheep, only if the animals graze on pasture and the owner does not take a lot of trouble to supply them with fodder.

If he supplies them with fodder all or most of the year, zakaat is not due on them.

Details as to the minimum amount upon which zakaat is due (nisaab)on livestock are available in books on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh).

Recipients of Zakaat

Islam has specified the beneficiaries of zakaat, and a Muslim may pay it to one or more categories or simply give it to charitable societies which undertake to distribute it to those entitled to it. It is more appropriate, however, to pay it in the country where one lives.

Those who qualify to receive zakaat funds are as follows:

1)The poor and the needy are those who cannot meet their basic needs.

2) The destitute who live in absolute poverty as well as those who cannot meet their basic needs.

3) Those employed to collect and distribute zakaat.

4) Slaves who need money to purchase their freedom.

5) Those who have run into debt and cannot possibly pay it off, regardless of whether they have assumed debt for public or personal interest.

6) Those who struggle in the cause of Allah: This includes those who fight in defence of their religion and country as well as those who engage in any activity which aims to support and propagate Islam.

7) Those whose hearts are to be reconciled: These are those who have recently embraced Islam or those expected to embrace it. The duty of giving zakaat to this category of recipients does not belong to individuals but rather to government bodies, Islamic centres and charitable organisations that determine the real benefit behind that.

8) The travellers who are undergoing financial difficulties even if they are very rich back home.

Regarding the deserving beneficiaries of zakaat, the Qur’an states, “Zakaat is for the poor, the destitute, those who collect it, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, for those in debt, for the cause of Allah and the stranded travellers. It is a legal obligation from Allah. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (Soorat At-Tawbah, 9:60)

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noegrets · 1 year

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We posted 3,879 times in 2022

That's 1,814 more posts than 2021!

12 posts created (0%)

3,867 posts reblogged (100%) (to be fair, this is indeed our reblog blog)

Blogs we reblogged the most:

@organicgold

@crystal-cheese

@acidshadow

@personalmilk

@cd-container

We tagged 3,874 of our posts in 2022

#pokemon - 232 posts

#capitalist bullshit - 185 posts

#cats - 154 posts

#art - 135 posts

#queer rights - 134 posts

#tumblr - 110 posts

#concerning art - 103 posts

#motivation - 95 posts

#languages - 94 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#the only sadness is people thinking you're writing fantasy when you're writing about your childhood in a place that's not america.........

Our Top Posts in 2022:

Next on Staircase Spirit, we have a review of House Flipper, a fun game where you renovate houses in first-person. You walk into the house, whip out the paint roller, and get painting.

❖ Read the article…

9 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

We watched the whole of the Detective Conan anime for the first time starting in 2018, so we're relative newcomers to such a long-running series. But we got into it. After we watched all of it up to its current point, we decided to go back and rewatch it from the beginning, and, while rewatching it, we've been taking some notes episode by episode. We wrote these notes primarily for ourselves, but we think they're pretty nice episode reviews, and when we reread them, we'd like to do so in full formatted glory, so we thought they'd be fun to share on Staircase Spirit.

We’ll be dividing these into smaller chunks because we’re not about to review 1000+ episodes all at once and in the same page. And before anyone thinks, what kind of endeavor are you saddling yourselves with, stop before it’s too late... actually, we’ve written everything up to episode 150 already, and we’ll be polishing these reviews and releasing them bit by bit over time. You can’t stop us!

❖ Read the article: Detective Conan anime reviews - ep. 1 - 11

10 notes - Posted October 19, 2022

While we are big fans of the Generation 2 Pokemon games, not even our favorite games are exempt from a well-deserved booing. Today, we’re going to insult the Apricorn Balls, which are so broken that even when they work, they don’t work.

So, just in time for chestnut season, we’re going to roast some nuts!

❖ Read the article…

12 notes - Posted November 11, 2022

More Detective Conan anime episode reviews, covering episodes 29-43. This batch contains the part where Shinichi’s parents are introduced. Those bastards.

❖ Read the article: Detective Conan anime reviews - ep. 29-43

15 notes - Posted November 29, 2022

Our #1 post of 2022

Our latest endeavor on Staircase Spirit is a massive review of the Orange Islands arc of the Pokemon anime. We hadn’t really watched this back in the day, and we heard it was bad... but, when we watched it, we thought it was cute.

❖ Read the article…

24 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #we use noegrets as a reblog blog #but also to share our articles from #staircase spirit

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chocobothis · 1 year

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📓

Nikolai kidnaps Nico to bait out Jill because he wants more combat data to prove the T-103s are still viable in the current market. Clearly the ones in the Eastern Slav Republic were doing good earlier that year but that was Agent Kennedy with assistance. He wants to prove what they can do, in bulk, against Jill Valentine who took out Nemesis.

Nico's new-ish to 23 when this happens in later part of 2011. So, yes, the earlier part of the year did involve Claire and Moira getting kidnapped. She's actually fucking done with all of this and has been for years now. Nico manages to disable five of the six before they're let out of the pods; turns out her very, very unique antibodies more or less break them down. So she really just injects her blood into the pods. The sixth one is a much bigger fight where she's trying to not become a greasy spot on the ground until she can inject that one too. She does get to Nikolai and he's a very unlucky man. This isn't Racoon City, she's not Jill Valentine, and a few years past being bothered about killing unchanged people.

There's a lot more happening than just action and revenge. Nikolai picks the still vastly empty counties where Nico's outbreak happened. Being in this area brings up so much trauma from just surviving that outbreak at 16. But it goes deeper than that. Vera Bright (the name her family and everyone there knew her as) died that night. Nico Bright lived and thrived and that's who she is.

It also taps into this festering rage that she couldn't protect Claire and Moira. As much as she's fighting (and graphically murdering) Nikolai Zinoviev for fucking over Raccoon City with greed, it's also very, very personal. He hurt Carlos and Jill in ways that they will never full recover from. They're people she loves with the same ease as breathing and with such a fervor that she's on the hunt. He thinks he's in charge of this little ""show"" but it's her. Yeah, he's taken down professionals but she's not a professional. He has a very angry, very dangerous less than pro that's decided he's breathed too long.

By the time the BSAA gets there things are done and over with. She's a bloody mess with broke or dislocated bones, strangulation marks around her throat (from Nikolai), a concussion, and a black eye. Nikolai is very dead in the same room and it's a gruesome mess. The mercenaries he hired as his crew, the living ones anyway, mostly just surrender. One of them describes it as, "Yeah, there some BOWs there and then monster that tore through them."

I feel like I don't lean into just how mercenary Nico is at the end of the day. She would die doing what she thinks is right. That's just who she is at her very core. There's this fierce love that guides everything but she's also ruthless. Sometimes the ends justify the means. If she has to be judge, jury, and executioner then she will be. Her not meeting Lucas Baker was for the best because there very likely would not have been a Lucas Baker left for RE7. He's a bully and a blight and the swamp doesn't give up its secrets.

A part of her sees it as she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty for the right cause or something adjacent to the right cause. It's why she eventually gets on with like Ada like a house on fire. There's a level of legality that just doesn't need to be bothered with. She protects Leon because he's one of the Good People in the world like Chris, Jill, Carlos, and Claire.

Yes, this the event that gets her nicknamed Borzoi; something that she takes in stride and uses as her call sign with Hound Wolf. Because she's a little hound that killed a big, silver wolf.

Put “📓” or some other version of a book emoji into my inbox and I’ll explain the plot of a fanfiction that I haven’t written but daydream about.

#ask answers #resident evil #nico bright #she's the embodiment of “fuck around and find out”#and she's dangerously protective of her family and friends

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the-domestication-of-the-dog · 3 months

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The 13th Annual(??) L.A.O.K. Awards

The Lazy Sack-of-Shit Award Me

For, in the second time in the history of the awards, posting this list after the completion of the following awards year. Wow, the first two-time winner of the Lazy Sack-of-Shit Award. This is so unexpected, I uh- I didn't even have a speech prepared. Uh, but I would like to say this: tardiness, is not something you can do all on your own. I'd like to thank my two-year-old daughter Rosie, for needing and deserving constant attention, a brain disorder called adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and the engineers at Reddit, Instagram, and YouTube for creating systems of crippling dopamine feedback loops, without which, I might never be tardy.

Now I know you've all been opening this site every morning and hitting refresh to see when these would finally be posted, so without further ado...

The most dangerous thing about the Layokies…is that you may grow to love them too much. [This is a reference to Avatar: The Way of Water. Remember that movie? It grossed $684 million domestically.] The people (3) have spoken, and the Layokies, even if massively delayed, must go on. [At the time of writing this, I was a month or two behind, but then instead of finishing and posting it, I just…didn’t. But here we are a year later, and I do want to post my 2023 Layokies (also massively delayed), but it seems weird to do that without first posting the 2022 Layokies, so hey let’s blaze through this thing and you can find out what I thought about some movies from over two years ago.]

I love celebrating movies, so it’s kind of a bummer to me that this year felt like Dullsville, U.S.A. But I’ve said that previously, then reread years later and thought, ‘what was I thinking, these movies were great!’ So here’s to the perspective you get when time passes. What’s that called? Retrospecticus or something.

I’ll also note that, as listed in last year’s post [a.k.a. two-years-ago’s post], I had a baby, which, as predicted, severely limited my in-theater viewing. I also moved to Pasadena, which meant those films I did see in the theater were relegated to the AMC Santa Anita. You know my thoughts about AMCs (and pretty much all megaplex chains), but even AMC Century City has the big IMAX seats. AMC Santa Anita’s IMAX is in just like, a normal theater?? I just saw The Super Mario Bros. Movie in this exact theater and it was SO. QUIET. But that’s a Layokies for another year [which is actually this year. Also this has since been remedied, and now they have one with the big seats and all, and I recently saw Dune: Part Two there, and it looked and sounded great so woohoo.]

Narrative Film Everything Everywhere All at Once TÁR Thirteen Lives Top Gun: Maverick Women Talking

Boy this is a real bummer. FOUR out of my five favorite movies were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and maybe that’s why I never posted this edition of the Layokies. What fun is talking about movies without also being contrarian? Typically there’ll be some movie I see in the middle of the summer that wows me, which absolutely no one else cares about, talks about, or even watches. That movie never came, because Everything Everywhere All at Once was already being talked about as one of the best movies of all time a week into its release, so much so that it felt like you were some weird guzmo if you gave it 3.5 stars on Letterboxed instead of 5, where it currently sits as the 25th highest-rated narrative film of all time [but actually currently at #103; whoops just checked again: #118]. I was more in the latter camp, and we all know the rest. Even the “irrelevant” Academy agreed. Okay then, let’s look to my second-favorite movie of the year, a drama about women who sit around debating in a barn for 90 minutes. Ah, that’s more like it, who would want to watch that? Except…another Best Picture nomination. This is really annoying! You have to scroll all the way down– [and here my commentary from early 2023 broke off. Scroll all the way down for what?! We shall never know. While I had slotted everything in for awards, all prose after this point was composed on or after February 3, 2024, so I’ll do my best to remember.]

And the Layokie goes to… Everything Everywhere All at Once

“EEAAO” as they call it, was truly a great film, and it was cool and weird to see it garner such recognition. The last time my own pick won Best Picture was 12 Years a Slave, which of course it did. The momentum behind this one, however, I still can’t understand. Looking back, it still feels like it should have been normie repellant. I can only guess that the efforts made by the Academy in the decade-long wake of #OscarsSoWhite is actually changing the demographics as intended, not just for race, but age and all other types of diversity.

Honorable Mentions Avatar: The Way of Water Bones and All The Menu Pearl The Whale

Documentary Film Bitterbrush Cow Claydream A House Made of Splinters Navalny

You might have heard of A House Made of Splinters (which is devastating btw—the only other movie to put me in literal racking sobs beside Benjamin Button [and wouldn’tcha know they’re both about child abandonment?]) and Navalny from their Oscar nominations (and Navalny’s win)[RIP], but the other three on my list weren’t even shortlisted, and they were all incredible. Bitterbrush follows two cowgirls as they work the sprawling ranges of the American West and wax poetic on a number of subjects. Its incredible vistas are paired with an amazing classical score and soundtrack. Claydream is the story of how the animator behind classic works like the California Raisins eventually had his studio hostilely taken over by Phil Knight’s son (which if you don’t know who that is and what the studio became, is very worth not spoiling). I’m an animation fan, but this was still a gripping story of a generally unknown American master which is both worth your time, and worthy of a Moneyball-style narrative adaptation. Lastly Cow…well let’s just say if you enjoyed Gunda, give this one a watch you sick bastard.

And the Layokie goes to… Bitterbrush

Naturally, the best doc of the year wasn’t even shortlisted. A trend we may see continue in 2023…? However, you can watch Bitterbrush now on Hulu, and I suggest you do.

Honorable Mentions All That Breathes Bad Axe Children of the Mist Nothing Lasts Forever The Territory

Actress Mia Goth - Pearl Cate Blanchette - TÁR Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once Aubrey Plaza - Emily the Criminal Leslie Manville - Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Okay this would have been a pretty cool category at the time, highlighting unsung performances by Mia Goth, Aubrey Plaza, and Leslie Manville. Here are three movies worth seeking out just for their leads (Okay, you probably won’t miss anything not seeing Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, but for Pearl and Emily the Criminal, I sincerely mean this. Aubrey Plaza has serious chops.) And if you’re not a horror fan, please know that Pearl is so much more, and you’ll miss absolutely nothing by not watching X first (or at all [unless you are a Kid Cudi stan like me]).

And the Layokie goes to… Cate Blanchette - TÁR

Another tossup, but the Layokie way seems to be, when in doubt, give it to Cate Blanchette. Unlike one dear reader, I’ve only seen TÁR once, but perhaps because the character is so commanding and desperate for attention, so is the performance.

Honorable Mentions Viola Davis - The Woman King Carey Mulligan - She Said Tilda Swinton - Three Thousand Years of Longing

Actor Tom Cruise - Top Gun: Maverick Brendan Fraser - The Whale Idris Elba - Three Thousand Years of Longing Park Hae-il - Decision to Leave Ralph Fiennes - The Menu

And the Layokie goes to… Brendan Fraser - The Whale

Let me tell ya, the people were maaad that Austin Butler didn’t win best actor for Elvis last year. For whatever reason, members of the public call and email the Academy every year to provide their opinions on who and what should and shouldn’t have won (I got a call six months into 2020 to tell me how shameful it was that Parasite won Best Picture, not because it was a bad movie, but because there were so many American movies worthy of attention. I asked her if she had seen Parasite. She hadn’t.), but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a strong reaction to someone not winning more than Austin Butler. But the Academy got it right, in my opinion. Brendan Fraser played this role with simultaneous sadness and pathos and optimism. It was really remarkable. Typically, the strong performances I’m drawn to, and which generally receive recognition, project outwards. Brendan Fraser’s character in The Whale, perhaps appropriately, seems instead to draw everyone and everything else into himself.

Honorable Mentions Ram Charan - RRR Felix Kammerer - All Quiet on the Western Front Viggo Mortensen - Thirteen Lives (because why the hell not)

Supporting Actor Colin Farrell - The Batman Barry Keoghan - The Banshees of Inisherin Mark Rylance - Bones and All Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once Miles Teller - Top Gun: Maverick

And the Layokie goes to… Colin Farrell - The Batman

Colin Farrell is showing up a lot in this edition of the Layokies, but nothing was more impressive than his complete transformation into the Penguin. I watched this a couple times, and if I was into conspiracy theories, I still might not believe it was him. Also shoutout to one of my boys, now three-time Layokie-nominee Barry Keoghan. Where y’all been? We done been hyping Barry Keoghan over here since 2017.

Honorable Mentions Christopher Abbot - On the Count of Three Christian Bale - Thor: Love and Thunder Paul Dano - The Batman (Did you know he had to pull out of The Power of the Dog for this role? Ouch.) Paul Dano - The Fabelmans Colin Farrell - Thirteen Lives Nicholas Hoult - The Menu Aaron Taylor Johnson - Bullet Train Ben Whishaw - Women Talking

Supporting Actress Nicole Beharie - Breaking Angela Basset - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (thought this before everyone else said it) Jessie Buckley - Women Talking Claire Foy - Women Talking Hong Chau - The Menu

Another actor getting nominated for the wrong role, Hong Chau was hilarious in The Menu. I watched that once and still think of her line delivery every time I eat a “tortilla.” But it was basically the whole cast of Women Talking that stole it this year, and this could have gone to anyone one them. (Three years too early for that casting Oscar!)

And the Layokie goes to… Jessie Buckley - Women Talking

Honorable Mention Dolly De Leon - Triangle of Sadness Stephanie Hsu - Everything Everywhere All at Once Rooney Mara - Women Talking

Best Director Edward Berger - All Quiet on the Western Front Daniels - Everything Everywhere All at Once Todd Field - TÁR Ron Howard - Thirteen Lives Joseph Kosinski - Top Gun: Maverick

And the Layokie goes to… Joseph Kosinski - Top Gun: Maverick

Absolutely incredible that both this and Spiderhead were directed by the same person. If you have no idea what Spiderhead is, it’s a Netflix movie that came out the same year about a guy who goes to an island prison where they test potions on you and Chris Hemsworth is the head potion-making guy and also he’s evil, which is supposed to be a big reveal but is obvious from the beginning. Anyway it was super forgettable and got dumped to the recesses of the algorithm in about a week, while Top Gun: Maverick is indelible and single-handedly saved movies after the pandemic. The second time I watched this, I paid attention to all the little things: driving shots, dialogue shots. It hits such a sweet spot between invisible and obvious style. No big surprise, however, as Tron: Legacy and Oblivion are also supremely well-directed action movies.

Honorable Mentions Park Chan-wook - Decision to Leave Ruben Östlund - Triangle of Sadness Maria Schrader - She Said Ti West - Pearl

Original Screenplay Park Chan-wook & Chung Seo-kyung - Decision to Leave Daniels - Everything Everywhere All at Once Seth Reiss & Will Tracy - The Menu Todd Field - TÁR Ruben Östlund - Triangle of Sadness

And the Layokie goes to… Daniels - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Pretty sure these guys went to the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon school of screenwriting, as this movie has everything: action, sci-fi, romance, about four different levels of family drama, and plays on all our deepest emotions: acceptance, ambition, self-worth, existentialism.

Honorable Mentions John Patton Ford - Emily the Criminal William Nicholson & Don MacPherson - Thirteen Lives

Adapted Screenplay Samuel D. Hunter - The Whale David Kajganich - Bones and All Rebecca Lenkiewicz - She Said Sarah Polley - Women Talking Ti West & Mia Goth - Pearl

I don’t know why, but after listening to the audiobooks for She Said and Catch and Kill, I wholly expected She Said to come in and ham it up big time. But where lesser filmmakers would have attempted to erect a monument to the #metoo movement, She Said played it totally straight. It was more akin to Spotlight than any other film I could think of, and as worthy of praise. It’s too bad the subject matter was already 1,000 times bigger than the movie, because I think the film audience missed out on a real gem here.

And the Layokie goes to… Sarah Polley - Women Talking

That said, there’s another movie about women talking I liked even better, Women Talking. I’m still stunned this was nominated for Best Picture. In what world? It’s currently on Prime, so if you haven’t seen it, add it to your list. It’s also the perfect companion to any movie that receives my wife’s most common film criticism: “It was just a bunch of men talking.” (Think: any war movie.)

Honorable Mentions Like five different guys - Top Gun: Maverick

Now onto the fun stuff:

The Something Award Prey

The Nothing Award Amsterdam

Worst ADR in the History of Movies Hustle

Okay I can’t find this clip online, but it is so egregious, I think it’s worth the effort. Go on Netflix and start watching Hustle starring Adam Sandler at the 17:00 mark. Note how echoey the office is, then give it until Ben Foster’s line “You find me that missing piece, and you’ll be right back on the bench coaching.” I’ve watched this clip probably 25 times, and I absolutely love it. For me, it’s impossible not to picture him in a little sound booth reading that line with headphones on.

Now I’m guessing if any of you did go and watch this, you might be thinking, yeah okay, so what? And already knowing what’s coming and watching it in this manner, maybe it is a so what. But to watch as many movies as I do, and to have heard as much bad ADR as one would, and then to have Ben Foster reach out and smack you in the face with this poorly done a line of ADR…ah, it’s like a holy grail of lazy/rushed/bad filmmaking. It’s like up there with the Batman & Robin reverse shot. Let’s just say it was probably some studio executive’s fault.

Weeird Doubles Burning down rural Irish houses - The Banshees of Inisherin, The Wonder Doing donkeys dirty (oh baby a triple!) - EO, Triangle of Sadness, The Banshees of Inisherin Boring documentaries slowly zooming in on a few pixels - Three Minutes: A Lengthening, Riotsville, U.S.A. Fatties who just gotta stuff their face with candy - The Whale, Piggy

Best Song Naatu Naatu (of course) - RRR

Take it from someone who literally Naatu Naatu’d so hard that he fell over (but was Naatu Naatu-ing as a joke, but falling over wasn’t part of the joke, even though that’s exactly what happened the movie).

youtube

Also, The Whale Rap from Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. (You can take this one from someone who as a kid did many freestyle raps with friends on the Windows sound recorder, and this is about how it usually went.)

youtube

The Michelle Williams Loves Getting Divorced Award The Fabelmans

I love Michelle Williams and I wish her and her characters all the best, but why is she always divorcing good men who love her?? Don’t make the vow then!

Previous examples include Take This Waltz and Blue Valentine (okay “good” might be a stretch on the latter, and I actually remember thinking they would get back together at the end anyway, though I will not be watching it again since that seems not to be how every other single person read that movie).

Finally Got the Thor Movie Poster Right Thor: Love and Thunder

Best Scenes After Yang - Opening credits Barbarian - Calculating the square footage The Batman - The car chase Bitterbrush - Saddling the horse Bones and All - Maren visits her mom Children of the Mist - The final kidnapping Everything Everywhere All at Once - Rocks with subtitles Navalny - The phone interview Nope - Aliens in the stables Pearl - Pearl’s dinner confession Top Gun: Maverick - Boy you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a fantastic scene in this one, but if I had to pick one…no, literally sitting here thinking, and I can’t decide. All so damn good. Buzzing the security checkpoint; Great Balls of Fire; any time Jon Hamm yells or gives a stank face; Maverick/Iceman reunion; dogfight football; Maverick doing the solo training run; the actual climactic run; and the hug at the end. Triangle of Sadness - The food poisoning (a sequence really) RRR - Naatu Naatu (again, undeniable)

Here’s where I usually link to the A.V. Club’s annual list of best scenes. Sadly, they stopped producing it starting the 2022 awards year.

The 3rd Annual Oklahoma Connections Award Pretty sure one of the girls in Bitterbrush moves to Oklahoma at the end of it or something. Otherwise not a banner year for Oklahoma mentions, except…

The 2nd Annual Shawnee Honors Two years, two shoutsout for my hometown of Shawnee, OK:

2022 - Babylon: Brad Pitt gets told off for pretending to be Italian when he is actually from Shawnee. (And Brad Pitt actually was born in Shawnee. YouTubers doing the Lord’s work.) 2021 - Stillwater: Matt Damon did some work down in Shawnee (mispronounced Shawny instead of Shaw-NEE; shameful, Matt!)

Good in Everything Award Colin Farrell - After Yang, The Banshees of Inisherin, The Batman, Thirteen Lives Tilda Swinton - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, The Eternal Daughter, Three Thousand Years of Longing

Destigmatizing Fatness Award The Whale (in some ways but also mostly not) Three Thousand Years of Longing (in some ways but also mostly not) Piggy (in some ways but also really mostly not)

Worst Movies

Mad God

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Lightyear

Luck

Deep Water

White Noise

Hocus Pocus 2

Halloween Ends

Ambulance

Scream (2022)

Best Visuals Avatar: The Way of Water The Bad Guys Bitterbrush EO Everything Everywhere All at Once Fire of Love Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Three Thousand Years of Longing 😎

Movie That Deserves Discussion The Northman

I am usually so down for folklore, medieval period pieces, and a bunch of crazy shit happening, but for me, this was a big miss. Already discussed in my Letterboxd review.

Best Title Our Father

This was a (pretty poorly made) documentary about a religious fanatic and sick-in-the-head fertility doctor who fraudulently used his own sperm to impregnate over 100 women. So, Our Father. I’ve always been a sucker for a double meaning, but damn.

Worst Title Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Remember the megahit Knives Out? Well now there’s a sequel; it’s called Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. It is the sequel to Knives Out.

Worst Line “That’s a great time hack! Thank you kindly” -One of the witches in Hocus Pocus 2, not 10 seconds after struggling to pronounce the word lotion (“loh-shun, lohh-shuun”), you know, because they’re from the past and don’t know modern terms, like lotion.

Worst Restraint for the Criminally Insane The shackle around the Riddler’s neck that was so large he could have just lifted it over his dern head

Where Were the Bones?? Bones and All

Many LOLs Everything Everywhere All at Once The Menu RRR

(not too many LOLs this year)

Absent on Purpose Aftersun Causeway Elvis Living

Still Haven’t Seen I don’t remember

One cheeseburger to go. And a gift bag. Thank you for dining at Hawthorn.

#movies #layokies

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illionoisprelawland-blog · 4 months

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The Scopes Trial: A Controversy about Evolution

By Lizbeth Herrera Gomez, University of Chicago, Class of 2026

March 6, 2024

The Scopes Trial refers to John Scopes, the defendant, who was convicted and fined $100 for teaching evolution in a public high school. Central to the case was the Darwinian theory of evolution and Biblical literalism that gave rise to fundamentalism. The defense team was led by Clarence Darrow and included John Neal, George Rappleyea, Arthur Garfield Hays, and Dudley Field Malone. The prosecution included Tom Stewart, Ben McKenzie, and William Jennings Bryan. Both Darrow and Bryan came to represent two sides of the trial, Darrow stood for academic freedom–which included allowing the teachings of evolution–and challenged the religious and moral views of fundamentalists.[1] Bryan, on the other hand, was seen as the leader of fundamentalism and, thus, a threat to individual liberty because he wanted the state and its people to control the curriculum of public schools, effectively barring teachings of evolution.[2] And while Darrow claimed to be an agnostic, he was actually an atheist who viewed Christianity as a slave religion and its teachings as dangerous.[3] As such, the ACLU–American Civil Liberties Union–was wary of having Darrow on the defense team, believing that his zealous agnosticism would transform the trial from an appeal for academic freedom to a broad assault on religion.[4] This, of course, does end up happening later on in the trial. Bryan, on the other hand, occupied more of an honorary role in the prosecution, his presence attracted spectators and, eventually, led to his notable exchange with Darrow.

Within the actual trial, the exchange between William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow became legendized. Arthur Garfield Hays was the one who called Bryan as the defense’s final expert on the Bible, putting him on the witness stand.[5] Darrow then took over and questioned Bryan’s beliefs and Biblical history; the questions ranged from Noah and the Flood, Jonah and the Whale, ancient civilizations, and the age of the Earth.[6] Although I understand Darrow’s purpose in asking these questions, I’m surprised the judge allowed such personal attacks against Bryan. The case is about John Scopes and the Tennessee law he infringed, not about whether Bryan believes Joshua made the sun stand still. Even more, Darrow’s clear skepticism and dislike for the antievolution crusade influences how he presents the trial to the American people, publicly disparaging Bryan. Darrow’s inquiries were such that Bryan was forced to choose between his beliefs and modern knowledge; in either case, Bryan lost face because, by choosing the former, he was showing ignorance and, by choosing the latter, he was showing that some degree of biblical interpretation was necessary.[7] So while the Scopes Trial was supposed to be about academic freedom and individual liberties, the presence of both Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan transformed it into a creationalist–evolutionist controversy that pitted fundamentalists against modernists, atheists, and agnostics.

______________________________________________________________

Lizbeth Herrera Gomez is currently a sophomore attending the University of Chicago. She is double majoring in Law, Letters, and Society and Political Science, with a minor in Gender and Sexual Studies.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Larson, Edward. “Summer for the Gods.” Basic Books, 2006, pp. 71.

[2] Larson, Edward. “Summer for the Gods.” Basic Books, 2006, pp. 103.

[3] Larson, Edward. “Summer for the Gods.” Basic Books, 2006, pp. 71.

[4] Larson, Edward. “Summer for the Gods.” Basic Books, 2006, pp. 100.

[5] Larson, Edward. “Summer for the Gods.” Basic Books, 2006, pp. 187.

[6] Larson, Edward. “Summer for the Gods.” Basic Books, 2006, pp. 187.

[7] Larson, Edward. “Summer for the Gods.” Basic Books, 2006, pp. 188.

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internationalrealestatenews · 5 months

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cyrunsnuzlockes · 10 months

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Current stats:

Littleroot: Jimmy the Spheal

Route 101: Cob the Bellsprout (deceased)

Route 102: Stella the Stantler

Route 103: Exeggutor (missed - ran out of pokeballs)

Petalburg Woods: Politoed (missed - ran out of pokeballs)

Route 104: Jenny the Mightyena

Tree also pointed out some possibilities to clarify for the Species/Dupes clause:

If I only have a later evolution, then earlier evolutions can be caught and do not count as a duplicate

If the later evolution is only available via trading, then that evolution can be caught and does not count as a duplicate.

If I've lost an unevolved pokemon, its evolutions still count as duplicates.

Essentially, if I am able (or at one point was able) to acquire the pokemon via leveling/items, then it counts as a duplicate, but also losing a pokemon cuts me off from replacing it with a later evolution (so losses hurt more, basically).

Anyway, onto the Nuzlocke!

Route 115 doesn't have any grass I can reach, so I bounced over to Route 116 and ran into...

Cascoon!

I Sand Attacked with Jenny it until its defense was maxed out (since all it knows is Harden), then switched to Stella to chip it down with Astonish...

AND THEN STELLA GOT A CRIT AND KNOCKED THE DAMN THING OUT.

goddammit.

Route 116: Cascoon (missed - KO'd by a rogue crit)

Moved on to Rusturf Tunnel and ran into...

A Lombre!

Actually managed to chip this one down properly, and...

Boom!

Welcome to the team, Larry!

Rusturf Tunnel: Larry the Lombre

Trained up my team to the 15~17 range and now let's take on the "Rock" gym!

Err, it's a Steel-type gym now.

A'ight Roxanne! Let's do this!

oh no

OH NO

....well, that's that, then ._.

Final Team:

Jimmy the Spheal, level 18

Stella the Stantler, level 13

Jenny the Mightyena, level 15

Larry the Lombre, level 17

Taken out by: Roxanne's level 15 Magnemite

#pokemon nuzlocke #pokemon emerald randomizer nuzlocke #EmNuz Log #queuebone

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audio-luddite · 1 year

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If not tubes its phono cartridges

The science people strike back!

The people at https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?reviews/ are at it again. They have added phono cartridges to testable things. Kinda tricky as you need a test record and some digital stuff, but that is not at all what I want to discuss first.

One of the people there found a old article in a Canadian Magazine of all places about blind testing of phono cartridges. A cardinal rule of audio reviewing is to NEVER do blind testing. You cannot use cost, brand, and exclusivity to rank products. It was a blind test where Bob Carver won his bet to make his cheap amplifier sound like a super high end unit.

Here is the link:

The "reprint" is a series of images of the pages from the old rag. If the magazine still exists there may be copyright issues. I read through it all. Is it not wonderful when you have your own opinions confirmed by honest studies?

Basically the story boiled down is the only difference between good cartridges is very small to almost statistically insignificant factors. And those differences may be due to small frequency response deviations that can be removed by using a multiband equalizer. Scandal!

They do note that moving coil types have high frequency resonances. Those are appreciated as detail and air in many descriptions. Those are the very things that the Sound Smith guru Peter Ledermann dislikes about MC types.

My take on that is if it is not on the record you should not be hearing it.

One thing hinted at is how well the auditors can hear. Do they like rising treble to compensate for old person's hearing? I can only hear to 12 kHz so 18 or 20 kHz means damn little to me. Do golden ears have their ears calibrated? I bet not.

The MCs in the test were an Ortofon and a Denon. The Denon is still made and is the popular 103. The MM noted is actually an MI type being the venerable Shure V15 IV. Once you are at a certain level of quality it does not get better, only different. Sounds like my favorite tune don't it?

It is a fun read.

More generally I looked at some of the plots they have. Almost all have a rising top end over 10 kHz. Often that is an impedance artifact from capacitive loading. My AT440 Mla was very nasty in the treble with any more than 100pf. They do not have it in the list.

Crosstalk is generally not great. I have only one of the current results, it is an AT7V. I do not run the tracking force they show as 2.0g. I have it at 1.6g and it is fine. Cross talk falls from the bass and is respectable. Rising is distortion in 2nd and 3rd harmonics. There is also a noticeable rise in the bass.

My Grado Opus 3 lists the channel separation as 30 db average from 10 Hz to 30 kHz on the Grado site. I wonder how it would test here?

This is pulled off their blog.

Generally the plots show remarkably linear response for most examples. Cross talk in the Bass is expected if they actually mix it together to almost mono there.

They list that they have tested a Signet Tk7e. Could not find the results plot. I like that one a lot. I should pull it out of the box and into the phazer for fun. I have a newer stylus for it. It is a compatible not the actual proper one. Those have not been made for decades.

I can roll phono pickups. I think that is more legitimate that rolling tubes.

#audiophile #audioblr #cheap audiophile #vinyl #audio research preamp #phono cartridges #moving coil cartridge #high end audio #audio technica #grado cartridges

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financeknowy · 1 year

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Who Are The 7 Incredibly Richest Men In The World

Everyone really thinks the richest men in the world are just people who actually control the world and sits on their ass and just assume the title of the richest person in the world, well that might not actually be true. What is rich, BTW? Someone with no bills? someone with a paid-off house? someone with 1 million dollars in retirement funds? There is always joy and pride that comes from having riches and that is what brings us to today's topic which we know is going to be talking about 7 of the wealthiest, most affluent, and most successful men in the world.

Generations upon generations of exceptional people have continued to amass wealth but just 7 of them from our present generation are our today's focus and the question we all have for them is why they want all those riches and would rather stay on top as the richest in the world than enjoy their riches to the fullest or is there something behind it. You'll discover all that in this post.

LET'S DIVE RIGHT IN!

Bernard Arnault

Arnault was not what we actually expected but this old pal is proving to have what it takes to take that place, He was compensated €7.8 million as the director of the LVMH group during the year 2016.

In July in the year 2019, Arnault became the second wealthiest man in the world, with a whooping net worth of $103 billion. During the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arnault witness his riches diminish by $30 billion as sales of his opulence goods collapsed.

Arnault shortly beat Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world in December 2019, and again for a little period in January 2020. In April the year 1999, he was the richest person in fashion, topping Zara's Amancio Ortega and looking like the richest man in the world ever.

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault was born on the 5th of March 1949 in Roubaix. His father, manufacturer Jean Léon Arnault, a graduate of École Centrale Paris, owned the civil engineering corporation Ferret-Savinel. His mother, Marie-Josèphe Savinel, daughter of Étienne Savinel, had an "obsession for Dior".

Three years later, after he had enticed his father to change the focal point of the company to real estate, Ferret-Savinel marketed the industrial construction sector and was renamed Ferinel. In the year 1971, he fully graduated from the École Polytechnique, France's top recommended engineering school, and began working for his father's company.

Following the ownership of a textile corporation and transfer of its headquarters, the corporation renamed the real estate branch to the George V Group. The real estate assets were later sold to Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE), in due course becoming Nexity. Arnault was schooled at the Lycée Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix and the Lycée Faidherbe in Lille.

He is recorded as "Bernard Arnault & Family" on the Forbes Billionaires list. Forbes evaluates the Bernard Arnault & Family wealth to be $158 billion in 2022, making him ahead of Bill Gates. On the 5th of August 2021, he reclaimed the dignity of the wealthiest man in the world, with his net worth soaring to $198.4 billion. This happened because of the sales of LVMH's luxury goods deluged in China and other parts of Asia.

Arnault and his family have an evaluated net worth of US$206.7 billion as of February 2023 according to Forbes, which makes him the richest person in the world, boosting past Elon Musk. His current 101.5 m (333 ft) yacht Orchestra was constructed in the Netherlands by Feadship. Arnault owned the 70 m (230 ft) transformed research tanker Amadeus, which was sold in late 2015.

#finance #richest #wealth #money #richest people #richest person in the world

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thekaijudude · 1 year

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The Reaprea vs the entirety of the Ultraman canon.

Btw, the Reaprea is ridiculous. None of its abilities have really been described yet, but I do have some of its feats.

First, a mere extension of the Reaprea, which was 7% to 10% of the Reaprea’s full form’s power, managed to kill Father of Ultra, the Leo Brothers, all of the first six Ultra Brothers (with the exception of Ultraseven and Ultraman Adam (OG Ultraman, to refresh your memory)), and hundreds of Intergalactic Defense Force rookies in a battle where it was fighting them all simultaneously.

Second, after the previously mentioned feat, the same extension nearly killed Ultraman King.

Third, after Noa joined King’s side in said battle, the extension was giving both of them a hard time in battle.

Fourth, the Reaprea’s full form is responsible for creating the Dark Lords.

[Side note, the Dark Lords consist of a heck of a lot of characters (most are not named or mentioned, just know the Reaprea has created between 90 and 100), but here’s the main Dark Lords: the First Empera (long story short, this is a version of Alien Empera that not only predated the version Mebius and FoU fought, but was also thousands of times more powerful), Gatanozoa, the Guar Siblings, Rayblood, and Zarkran (a hybrid/soul-fusion of every previous Dark Lord’s powers and energies, but enhanced to godlike status).]

Fifth, the Reaprea’s full form was able to stop King from reviving the Ultras it’s extension had killed with his Childhood Radiation. Btw, this was done by canceling the effects of King’s Childhood Radiation, not by stopping King from releasing it. Either way, this left King in a state similar to the one he was in throughout Geed’s series.

[Side note, King could not and did not return until after the Reaprea’s destruction, which was over 6,000 years later.]

[Last side note, the Reaprea’s full form / true form was sealed away in another dimension, but its extension wasn’t. Basically, the seal had weakened, allowing the Reaprea to not only start creating Dark Lords and extensions of itself in other dimensions, but also allowing it to use its powers to affect dimensions it’s not even currently in.]

Anyway, with all that information on the Reaprea’s feats, how far does it get in the canon Ultra Series?

iirc yr scaling was UB = 10 NG

Referring to this handy lookup table I posted:

Which is basically 100 times weaker than in canon, or 1 000 times weaker if u wanna scale them with Taro

Imma say that yr OC can defeat Noa (highball), so he's basically around 10^102 - 10^103 NG

Which only canon Noa is above him, at 10^105 NG

Other than Ultras, you're probably looking at the Absolutian Lord, Reiblood, or potentially Legend otherwise if u want to take into account the other possibilities of the whole canon, albeit we have no idea how strong they are

Or to take a step further and using this as reference:

If I wanna argue for powerscaling beyond the established canon and say that as the current "ultimate state" of ultras' existence depends on just how active they are after taking on a formless existence, potentially the Absolutian Lord, VoL, Plasma Spark, Ultra Mind, DoL etc would theoretically be stronger than Noa via this line of reasoning thanks to the Decker movie

In fact in terms of the highest postulated power (assuming my method of scaling is correct, even tho it's arbitrary at this point):

1. Dimension of Light (DoL)

Entire pantheons of Ultras have come from it, not to mention its confirmed to be still active even after 30 million years

Just for fun, if we assume the DoL is 30 million years old, his power level would be 10^9000 NG, or equivalent to a 8998-way 1 NG fusion, or literally 10^8895 times stronger than Noa

Ridiculous I know, but we need to remember that it's probably the oldest thing we know in the entire multiverse

2. Absolutian Lord

Powers the entire planet of The Kingdom, which Absolutians are very significantly stronger than your average M78 Ultra (Assumption going based off dialogue from UGF3, can't mathematically conclude until we get the official ages of the Absolutians for a fair comparison)

3. Plasma Spark Ultra

(Entire Planet of fully sized Ultra warriors)

Of course I'm assuming it isn't even as aspect of King in the first place as pointed out in the second linked post

4. Ultra Mind

While only ever granted the full Ultra powers to 9 Ultras, it still enables an entire planet of beings to access the lesser, Ultra Humanoid forms

5. Voice of Light (VoL)

We see that it grants the full access of Ultras and Kaiju to whoever scales the Warrior's Peak. And in UGF2, Fuma hinted that there's more O50 Ultras that we have not seen yet

But I think it's safe to say it isn't an entire planet's worth of successful candidates

6. Reiblood

His reionyx genes have spread across multiple universes at this point, but each reionyx aside from Rei and Belial are very weak ngl

But due to the sheer scale of his influence is not yet well understood till this day, he could potentially even be 2nd place if he could, for example, turn every single Absolutian into a Reionyx

7. Radical Destruction Bringer / Delaxion

Placed them here because they are VERY active even after taking on non-physical forms

But we just don't know yet about the intricacies of how they exactly interact with their proxies to be able to say any further beyond this

Might be on the same tier as Noa for all we know

8. Noa / King

King might potentially be placed lower than Noa as the former has not been seen forsaking his form yet (aside from Crisis Impact, since it was by circumstance rather than choice)

While for Noa, we have seen that he has the ability to switch between form and formless existences

But both have granted powers to Ultras before, but only powerups so I'll just group them together

9. Legend

Have not been observed to grant anyone powers, still exists as Cosmos and Justice as physical forms

Note that I didn't include the Eternity Core or the Victorium Core here because tbh I doubt that they're transcended, energy-based ultras since they don't really "interact" with beings, and their power seems to only be transfered via an external device without showing any form of sentience thus far (Which is why the Plasma Spark is up there if u forgot) despite the former being also at least 30 million years old

So I kinda went above and beyond "established canon" to give you a far more interesting answer, or else the answer would just be Noa, which would be short and boring lol

Thanks for the question!

#ultraman #asks

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