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togansweep · 2 years

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TOMGREG IKEA?????🇸🇪

ooooh yes the ikea fic!!! @hickeywiththegoodhair asked about this as well. so basically this is a fic I kind of accidentally wrote with @tomwambsmilk, we were texting and before we knew it we had written 2,5k words. I copied our messages to a google doc and started making it less messy and actually write a story around it, I've done some of the beginning & the end but the middle still needs a lot of work. the first draft is around 4,5k words now, I'm intending to finish this one soon! (soon meaning 3 weeks or 6 months lmao).

the fic is about tom's bachelor pad era; after the whole italy situation he crashes at greg's place but greg's living situation is... questionable. at first glance it looks fine, but upon further inspection there are some issues: despite having guest rooms he only has one bed, his room looks like a raccoon's nest, he has one item of everything (one plate, one spoon, one fork etc)... tom has to use all his power to fight his desire to sleep in the same bed as greg and tells him they can't go on like this, they have to go shopping. tom first wants to go to some fancy furniture store, but upon further consideration it doesn't seem like the best idea to spend a shitton of money while the threat of divorce is looming on the horizon. and greg insists they go to ikea, and who is tom to deny him anything.

reluctantly tom drags himself through the store. no, that's a lie, he'd never admit it but he's actually enjoying this. greg's childish enthusiasm about the showrooms, testing beds with him, and good god ikea's meatballs ARE amazing.

after their little daytrip they get the furniture delivered they chose delivered to greg's apartment, but then the next struggle arrives: putting it together. tom wants to do it himself, because how hard can it be? really hard, apparently. tom can't get it done. after lots of screaming and calling ikea about their useless furniture he gives up. now they still don't have an extra bed, it pains tom to say this but there's really no other solution than to share a bed for now.

honestly I don't want to spoil the fic any further because that would ruin the fun, but it includes sharing a bed, hospital visits, tomgreg being idiots, and lots of toxic stupid pining. you know how it is.

here's a little snippet from the beginning of the fic:

Greg leads the way to a room in the back of the apartment. Tom thinks he almost looks a bit nervous, like he's about to reveal to Tom that he's holding some poor girl hostage to play house with.

Greg opens the door for Tom and steps aside a little to let him in.

"A real gentleman, aren't you, Gregory?"

Greg tucks a non-existing long hair behind his ear. "Oh well, it's nothing, I-"

Before Greg can finish his sentence Tom interrupts him, putting two hands over his mouth. "In the name of all that is holy, what happened here?!"

There’s laundry all over the floor and a towering stack of random books and papers on his bedside table that looks structurally unstable. A horrifying smell comes from a bowl with the remnants of something that probably was ice cream once, and are those joints taped on the wall…?

"Did I just walk into a hunter-gatherer's cave? Maybe I should get my lance and kill a mammoth for you, we can roast it above the fire and dance around it in our little leaf skirts. We’ll get married with rings made of its bones and make a bridal veil for you out of its skin."

It's a ridiculous analogy, but he did marry Greg in a way, didn't he? That evening in Tuscany, both of them in their white suits, knees brushing. The wedding band playing in the background, the cool air of a summer night full of promises. Selling their souls, a marriage bound by the devil instead of God.

Greg isn't wearing a white suit now, instead a white button up and a grey pantalon are clothing his tall body. He's still standing in the doorpost, eyeing Tom with that slightly confused expression he always seems to have.

"I never got really good grades in history class but uhm, I don't think marriage was a concept they knew of in primeval times."

"Of course I know that, Greg, I'm not some uncultured idiot. I just said that to make the story better."

"How does that make it better?"

Unsure of how to answer this, Tom just hums and picks up a dark blue tie with a silver thread pattern from Greg's enormous laundry mountain.

"Look at this beautiful, expensive Armani tie that I bought you, just laying here all lost. That's not how you treat pretty things, leaving them on the ground."

There's a metaphor in there that Tom doesn't want to dwell on, so instead he throws the tie in Greg's face. It's dirty now anyway.

"This room asks for some serious Marie Kondo, Greg. Why the fuck do you have half-used joints on the wall? Do they spark joy? Does seeing these joints bring you happiness?”

"They do spark joy actually, I'm like, really happy when I'm high!" Greg fumbles through his pile of garbage only to reveal an old shoebox. It's from the cap toe Oxfords Tom bought Greg when he first started working for him, the fact that he kept it would've made him smile if it wasn't for the next thing Greg says, "I have this box where I keep all my used joints, and when I have enough I want to make a weed-wall maybe? Like, Banksy style.”

“I highly doubt Banksy has ever made a so-called ‘weed-wall' Greg. And I didn’t know you took such interest in art? I should take you to the MET some time, show you some real masterpieces.”

“I mean, I don’t care about art, not really. But Banksy is pretty cool. And there’s this other guy who taped a banana to the wall and he got like, a shitton of money for that? So my weed project would definitely get artistic approval, I think.”

Greg picks up a doobie and twirls it between his fingers, looking at it like it's made of gold. God help him, he seems to be actually proud of his weed-wall idea.

“I don’t care Greg, this is not how we’re going to do this. I’m going for a little stroll around the block and get us both coffee because I sure can use some, and when I return I don’t want this room to look like a wannabe modern art gallery anymore. Are we clear, Gregory?”

Greg puts the joint he was inspecting back in the box with a deep sigh. “Yeah, yeah, alright.”

“Good. I’ll be right back.”

#I should really start working on this again‚ it's been two months I think #asks #tomgreg

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kagrenacs · 4 years

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Explaining the Iceberg #6

*Some things aren’t covered, namely things i’ve already discussed or content that I don’t feel is appropriate. And not everything is covered in depth

Tatterdemalion Moon Colonies: A since deleted forum post from MK, discussing the moon colonies of Reman that would later appear in c0da

Tamriel is the Far Shores: Orgnum is the immortal King of the Maormer, also said to be the Serpent God of the Sakatal’ indicating some connection to the Yokudan God of everything, Sakatal. Orgnum’s goal is to conquer Tamriel, this theory states that he may have mantled the Yokudan God and is confusing Tamriel for the Far Shores.

Water is Memory: One of the more difficult concepts to really pin down in these kind of theories, so bear with me. This topic has been brought up a few times in older lore discussions, and once again in ESO quite recently. First there should be clarification that I mean water both metaphorically and literally, just like the towers, there is no distinction between real and fake because this is a video game world. Second thing to note: There’s a lot of conflicting theories and ideas on this, i’m only providing the way I can conceptualize this all. If I provided every theory i’d surely hit some sort of character limit. Do you remember the metaphor about every soul in existence being a singular drop in an ocean? This is looking at the ocean itself, it’s the collective consciousness and memories of everyone out there, past, present and future. But this isn’t a synonym for souls and energy, this is a whole separate process. Sometimes souls are shown to be able to live without their memories (the soul carin), sometimes reflections of people's memories get stuck to places like ghosts (memory stones) When someone dies, their soul/energy and their memories may stick together and go to an Aedra or Daedra, or they might get split apart (like a Vestige) and end up in the Dreamsleeve to get recycled and in the Drowned Lamp which is a name for where all knowledge lost to history goes. This concept can be seen with the Daedra too, when discussing the ‘waters of oblivion’ when they get banished their essence heads back to this beginning place to spring back up. Water is memory also gets brought up quite often talking about Sotha Sil, who Vivec says is the selfishness of the sea, and whose ‘daughter’ is Mnemoli/Memory.

Crassius Curio, Time traveller: Another variant on the Crassius Curio plagiarism theory, accounting for why the lusty argonian maid is in ESO.

The Republic of Hahd: Mentioned in the Pocket Guide to the Empire, a group of people who claimed they lived off the coast of summerset, in an underwater civilization called Hahd. The only point in history that they became relevant was when they received tariffs for the transport of ‘mnemolite’ from the people of Hahd to the people of Nahd, and nearly sparked war between the Empire and the Altmer as they tried to figure out what was going on. Hahd and Nahd were both made up, thought to be by a group of psjjic students, as the island of Artaeum disappeared in that same year again.

Leaper Demons: Another name for Mehrunes Dagon, before he was cursed to become Dagon. Named this because of his ability to jump from Kalpa to Kalpa

Zero Stone: This is related to the towers, it’s the ‘heart’ of the tower, the piece that keeps it stable and functioning, essentially like a cornerstone. For the Red Tower and Walk-Brass this was a literal heart (the Heart of Lorkhan), but sometimes it’s other things like a fruit, or a person.

Tiber Septim Awoke Dagoth Ur: In the same short time as the Tiber Wars, where Tiber Septim was attempting to conquer all of Tamriel, Dagoth Ur awoken in Morrowind, which eventually forced ALMSIVI’s hand in signing the Armistice that would make Morrowind a part of the empire, hand over the Numidium, but allow Morrowind to largely keep it’s sovereignty. This theory suggests that Tiber Septim purposefully awoke Dagoth Ur as a long-term strategy, rather than trying to defeat ALMSIVI in wars. If not done purposefully, Dagoth ur may have been awakened by the presence of Tiber Septim (whose thu’um seemed to have came from Wulfharth, a survivor of the battle of Red Mountain and associate of Dagoth Ur)

Akatosh’s Shadow: MK mentioned Peryite as Akatosh’s shadow. Akatosh/Auriel largely introduced stability into the chaos of the Dawn Era as the God of time. Peryite has a similar function, that being natural order, where he micromanages Oblivion and Nirn. There’s more to this theory that i haven’t included due to sake of brevity https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/4zct3i/the_shadow_of_aka_peryite/

The people of Et’Ada: Mentioned in the books The Light and Dark and Sithis, the people of et’ada are the descendants of the clash between Anu and Padomay, the original spirits that would give up their forms to become mortal

The Dwemer became their creations: A thought that instead of the commonly accepted Numidium Skin Theory, the Dwemer souls are the ones powering their automatons.

Lefthanded Maomer: An in-universe theory that the Lefthanded elves and the Maomer are related. Evidence for this may exist in Orgunm being ‘Sakatal’

Skyrim getting Colder: A theory that says Skyrim is entering the ice age because of the recent snowfalls and the presence of Sabertooth cats and mammoths.

Anti-Magik Zones: Probably taken from D&D, areas where magic doesn’t work for some reason or other.

The Greedy Man: Another name for Lorkhan due to him ‘stealing’ the divinity of his fellow Et’Ada

Vvardenfell Lesbian Anomaly: The prescence of a large amount of wlw npcs in ESO and the presence of Tel Mora, an island full of women and Mistress Dratha who says she hates men. While the ESO one i’d argue that there’s a fairly equal spread of same sex couples, and Tel Mora is certainly the original developers adding in something ‘strange’ by having an entirely female island, various Lgbt fans of the games have made their own theories on this. @boethiah has proposed that Tel Mora was established as a safe place for lesbians, and Telmoran is the in-universe equivalent to ‘lesbian’

Prism Textract: A reference to a book from the mod Legacy of the Dragonborn

Ruptga: The chief god of the Yokudan Pantheon, people debate on whether he’s equivalent to Akatosh or Magnus, if he’s even equivalent to any god. He was the first god to figure out the Walkabout, and taught the other gods how to survive Sakatal (God of everything) shedding its skin.

The Elder Council world control: References a theory that the Elder Council is an incredibly powerful political entity that controls the entire world. (looking at how things were handled in Oblivion, doubtful.)

Tiber Septim Shapeshifting dragon: Ingame theories that Tiber Septim was a shapeshifting dragon based on the empire’s affiliation with them. (source seems to originate from GT Noonan, pre-Oblivion and Skyrim) Could be an early idea for Dragonborns, or perhaps just a wild conspiracy theory.

Insane Time-God: Another MK text, et’Ada Eight Aedra, Eat the Dreamer. States Aka has gone insane due to how many names he has

The Staff of Unity and Chaos: The object you need to assemble in tes Arena. Is able to open gateways to other realms, near instantly kill people. In some of the early drafts of the main quest of ESO, a similar relic was proposed called the Staff of Towers, and would have been similar to the main quest of Arena.

Dracocrysalis: Mentioned in the Nu-Mantia, it’s largely unknown what this means apart from ‘it keeps elder magic bound so it can’t change into something lesser’ based off wording it probably means something akin to changing into a dragon.

Telescopic Aurbis: Refers to a quote from MK A single Wheel? More like a Telescope that stretches all the way back to the Eye of the Anui-El, with Padomaics innumerable along its infinite walls. Essentially this refers to the cycle of Kalpas, all wheels lined up with one another would make a telescope-like shape. The focal point of the telescope would be Mundus, ascending upwards you hit oblivion, then Aetherius surrounding that, and then lesser, more chaotic realms beyond that. This is also mentioned in the Murkmire book ‘Lost tales of the Famed Explorer.’

Gaenor is Sai: Gaenor is said to be one of the hardest bosses of Morrowind, in the Tribunal expansion you can give him gold and allow him to become an incredibly strong warrior. He has incredibly high luck (770 points) making him difficult to hit. This theory states that he is either Sai, the god of luck himself, or a champion of his.

Haskill is the Actual Mad God: This might be a couple different theories. 1st: The events of the Shivering Isles is a trick played on the player character by Haskill/Sheogorath, and the Sheo you see and interact with is just a projection. 2nd: From a loremaster interview from ESO, Haskill states he’s the ‘vestige’ of Sheogorath, the mortal remnants of the person who mantled the mad god in the last greymarch.

Moraelyn=Nerevar: Moraelyn of the King Edward books was likely an early draft for Nerevar. Both have association with roses, both are from House Mora and are considered a champion of the Dunmer. He probably participated in the War with the Nords, being described in the 36 Lessons.

Tsaesci Vampire Language eaters: From MK’s And we ate it to become it and another interview. https://www.imperial-library.info/content/fireside-chats Tsaesci feed on language, he doesn’t state if this is metaphorical, or literal (if that even matters in these games)

Scarab’s transformation: Refers to Scarab that Transforms into the New Man, or Amaranth. The Scarab is a metaphor for godhood. (Scarabs are symbols of divinity in Ancient Egypt) and the New Man is a person achieving Amaranth and creating a new dream/universe.

Trinimalarky: A fun name for Malarky.

King Dead Wolf-Deer: A Bosmer transformed by the Wild Hunt. Lived from the first era until the beginning of the third.

Multiple Underkings: Another statement by MK, general consensus seems to be this refers to the existence of the Underking as two people, Wulfharth a nordic general from the 1st era who held the title. Zurin Arctus, who may have taken up the title after the 2nd Era, when Tiber Septim turned him into an undead being. Or both of them sharing the same body known as the ‘Underking’

Thot-Box: https://www.c0da.es/thotbox/7b10359a40bba7d2e654bc10226f694a68009f15 the worlds worst choose your own adventure. From what I understand of KIMMUNE, a thot-box is some sort of AI

Baar Dau is Shit: Pretty well known at this point. One myth states that Malacath got into a disagreement with Vivec and pooped on Vivec City..

Nu-Hatta: In reference to the person, they’re an ancestor cult member. Otherwise this is used to refer to the Nu-Hatta Intercept written by MK. The text in question seems to be a list of the various ways mortals have achieved divinity.

Talos brought back dragons: Not sure about this one, there’s too many results to filter through to find what this is specifically about

Lyg’s Numidium: The thought here is that if Lyg is the parallel to Tamriel, then it should also have a Numidium that reinforces time and makes events a reality.

Dawn Era Ideological warfare: From UESP, Quote: The Dawn Era was a period during which time followed an incomprehensible nonlinear path and the very laws of nature remained unset, making a timeline an artificial fabrication. A conflict was simultaneously a mere ideological difference of opinion and a manifest war. What this means in simple terms, all possible outcomes in the Dawn era were simultaneous. This might also refer to the Ehlnofey wars where the wandering ehlnofey (ancestor of men) and the old ehlnofey (ancestor of mer) differed in opinion about the existence of Mundus and went to war.

Vivec destroyed Yokuda: A reference to the 17th lesson of Vivec, where Vivec states For a year they studied under their sword saints and then for another Vivec taught them the virtue of the little reward. Vivec chose a king for a wife and made another race of monsters which ended up destroying the west completely. In a literal sense (not that this means much in context of the lessons), this seems to indicate that Vivec created the sword saints, who ultimately ended up sinking Yokuda with the Pankratosword technique. Vivec also said malewife rights.

Ayrenn KIMMUNE: Another MK text. This one states Queen Ayrenn is actually a 9th era cyborg from the future. This was written after MK read an early draft for the Dominion quests and wanted to make it cooler. The writers of ESO have stated they don’t consider this canon.

Tiger Guars: A bit of old morrowind lore, Imperials would mistakenly call Guars, ‘tigers’

Hermaeus Mora is a failed Elder Scroll: Two theories here: 1st: The Black Books are Mora’s failed attempts to create Elder Scrolls (The first pages reference concepts such as the Dreamer and CHIM, Elder scrolls are fragments of creation) 2nd: Hermaeus Mora himself is a failed Elder Scroll. The Census of Daedric Princes describes him as ‘born of thrown-away ideas used during the creation of Mundus’

SITHISIT: the Ehlnofex word for Sithis

Khajiit Tattoo theft: Rajhin the thief god was said to steal a tattoo off Empress Kintyra’s neck as she slept.

Mythopoeia: irl, it’s essentially a term for ‘world-building’ In the context of the elder scrolls, it means the ability to affect reality using belief or the will to change (similar to CHIM) In morrowind Yagrum uses it to describe the enchantments Kagrenac placed upon the tools.

Dragons Biological Time-Machines: In the early drafts for dragons, MK described them as Biological Time-Machines. While this isn’t entirely reflective of what they are now, some truth holds. Being shards of Aka, dragons inherently have some ability to alter time itself.

Argonian Tits: I can’t keep doing this.

The Elven Lie: From what I gather, it seems to relate to the idea that the gods are infallible, when in fact they have weaknesses and flaws.

#tes iceberg #The Elder Scrolls #long post #i have about two more posts of this and then it's done

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museswithinx · 4 years

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{ text ; Mikayla }: Good, we talked about running major changes through me so at least that stuck { text ; Mikayla }: don't I always? { text ; Mikayla }: It has been very fun. They are cool, I'm trying to wear them down to visit soon. I know, but when this is all over, we will definitely plan something. I promise. We'll be back Sunday.

( txt ; coffee dad ) : He really does have a bad habit of just doing, doesn’t he lol ( txt ; coffee dad ) : Oh that’d be cool! Sam will probably drive Uncle Gerry up a wall with questions haha. We should! Like maybe go camping or drive up to Seph’s beach house. That place is mammoth, pretty sure everyone could fit.

#ofstrengthisms #( mikayla novak ; )#( mikayla & becker tag ; )#answered #//Mikayla is excited about vacation possibilities lol

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bangtanstanst · 6 years

Text

To-Don’t

Sometimes, life gets overwhelming. But Yoongi will gladly remind you of the things you tend to forget.

pairing: yoongi x reader

genre: fluff

warnings: none (unless you consider mentions of stress one)

word count: 1.8k

a/n: hi guys! Different day than usual, and I’m still kind of tired so I hope there are no typos that slipped through, but here’s the fic as promised :) I hope you like it!

masterlist

Deep breaths, you tell yourself, eyes fluttering closed as you force yourself to follow your own instructions. Deep breaths, you’ll be fine.

You open up your eyes, slowly breathing in through your nose, out through your mouth. You’re standing in the middle of your living room, heart pounding and muscles tense with stress. You don’t even feel like you can sit down somewhere, take the time to pour yourself a cup of tea, or take a hot shower and let yourself unwind for a second – your mind just keeps running, thinking back, thinking ahead. Ideas, tasks, worries. Things you said, things you’ll have to say, reports you have to write, cleaning you should be doing… and all of it is coming at you all at once. Like a ton of bricks that suddenly drops from the sky, bricks pulverising you in a split second. Everything you have to do, everything you should be doing –

It paralyses you.

It’s not necessarily that you feel like crying, or breaking down. It’s like your body is just refusing to do any of the hundreds of tasks on your list, and your mind is just playing along, keeping you rooted to your spot.

You let out a shaky breath, gaze flickering to the window. It’s dark outside. You know it’s late – a little past eleven, you figure. When you left your office around half past ten, you were the last to switch off the light at your desk. You’d trudged through an abandoned building, the only wave and smile you received coming from the night guard sitting at his spot at the entrance, feet propped up on his desk and leaning back to stare at his screen until morning. Your car had been the last to leave the parking lot, the sound of your heels clicking against the pavement echoing through the area.

And yet you’d been the first to come home.

It’s not like you’re not used to it, and it’s not like you don’t understand. Living together with Yoongi is both a blessing and a curse, if you’re being truly honest. You get to spend your downtime together, or those precious few minutes before you go off to work for the day, or your free days sleeping in, just resting in each other’s arms in a peaceful silence. The curse here is, though, that those days off, that downtime, it’s all few and far between, and those few minutes in the morning and at night are usually just that – a few minutes.

Which is exactly why you’re here, stressed, frozen, and alone.

You could just call someone, or text, just to vent your frustrations and move on. A good point. You could. Only one problem – you don’t have the fucking time.

At that thought, you suddenly jump into action, blood rushing through your veins as you grab your laptop and your phone, pulling up your to-do list for the coming weeks. Meetings, meetings, and even more meetings, prepare stuff for those meetings, write proposals, prepare pitches, call Anne, email IT department, brainstorm on new approach, help organise networking event. Make doctor’s appointment, check budget, clean bathroom, clean the whole goddamn apartment while you’re at it, get groceries before you run out of food, do the dishes, meal prep for the week. Do this, do that, and do more.

You’re internally screaming at yourself, wondering how the hell your fourteen-hour workday doesn’t seem to have made even the slightest dent in the infinite list of tasks in front of you. Are you working too slow? Should you have gotten more done today? Should you have stayed later? Maybe you should skip lunch tomorrow, or have it at your desk. It can’t be that bad, right?

You’re so busy stressing out that you don’t hear the front door open and close. Yoongi calls out your name from the hallway, seeing the lights switched on in the living room, but you don’t reply, too busy thinking and chewing on your pen.

“Y/N?” Yoongi repeats, dropping his bag on the ground and shuffling into the living room to find you on the couch. You hear his voice, know he’s saying your name, but you don’t find it within yourself to greet him properly. “Hey,” he greets you, frowning when you simply hum in reply, not turning to even look at him. He walks a little closer, stopping right in front of you and crouching down to your level in an attempt to make eye contact. “Hi,” he says once more.

You look up at him, a small smile breaking out onto your face. “Hi,” you say back, keeping your eyes on him, though he can see you’re thinking of something else – that you’re not really seeing him.

“You okay there?” he asks, head tilted.

You hum again, nodding a little, pen still in your mouth. “Yeah, I’m fine,” you reply absentmindedly. It’s not that you want to lie to him, not at all. It’s just such an automatic reflex that the words just slip out before you realise they have.

He doesn’t say anything, just raises an eyebrow and plops down next to you, getting a good look at your calendar and the notebook full of tasks. “Oh?” he simply says, draping an arm around your shoulders.

It’s not much, but it’s more than enough to get you out of your shell, break right through the walls you’re so used to hiding behind. You drop your head in your hands, sighing shakily and rubbing your face. “No, I’m not,” you groan, subtly shaking your head.

He softly kneads your arm, shuffling a little closer to you. He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t have to – you lean into him without hesitation, without needing to think about it, putting your laptop aside.

“I think I’ve got too much on my plate, Yoongi,” you whisper, voice suddenly hoarse as you finally admit what you’ve been silently thinking all week – hell, make that all month. Closing your eyes, you lean your head on his shoulder and enjoy the feeling of his arm around you, pulling you closer to him. With a groan, you add, “Why the fuck do I do this to myself?”

He pauses for a moment, his hand toying with some strands of your hair. “Because you’re ambitious,” he softly says. “And you want to do everything that seems fun or useful, and because you can’t say no to people when they ask you to do something.”

You snort, eyes still closed. There’s something about him, his presence, his touch, something that just takes away your stress, takes away the paralysing feeling of your mind and body telling you to hurry, hurry, hurry. “Gee, thanks.”

“I didn’t say it was bad,” he tells you, nimble fingers running through your hair. You let out a sigh in content, snuggling closer to him. “It’s just who you are.”

“Great,” you mutter, “so I’ll be stuck in this state until I die of a heart attack in five years.”

He sighs a little, sitting back to look at you. Your eyes flutter open as his touch fades, looking up at him in slight confusion. “You also have a slight tendency to make things seem worse than they are,” he pointedly tells you. You open your mouth to defend yourself, but your boyfriend knows you all too well for you to really be able to protest his words. “Let me see that list,” he demands, holding out his hand.

After a brief moment of hesitation, you turn and grab the notebook from the couch, handing it to him. He looks down at it, eyebrows furrowing together in a subtle frown as he focuses on reading the words. Without much thought, you lean forward, smoothing the skin between his brows with your thumb, a gesture that has him briefly looking up and smiling at you before he looks back down.

“See, this is what I mean – you don’t have to clean the apartment, there are expert cleaners we can hire to do that,” he begins, grabbing a pen and striking through some of the tasks listed. “I know the work stuff seems like a lot, but I know you, and I know you blast through these things, no problem,” he tells you without looking up. “And I can get groceries tomorrow after rehearsal, no big deal. We’ll do meal prep tomorrow night instead of watching a movie, and you can call the doctor tomorrow morning before work, it’ll take you like five minutes.” He keeps striking through tasks as he talks, and you wince every time he does so. “And I’m sure our budget is doing fine, you can move that to next week at the earliest.” He falls silent for a moment, pausing before scribbling something at the very bottom of the page, where you know there’s exactly one white line left for you to write on. “You forgot something, too,” he finishes, looking up at you as he puts down the pen.

You frown a little, lips parting as you sit up, trying to get a look at what he’s added. “What?” is all that comes out, mind running in all directions, muscles tensing, stress returning. “What did I forget?”

Seemingly unfazed, he turns the notebook in his hands so you can read the page, and he says the word the same time as you read it. “Relax, you idiot.”

You let out a long breath, undeniably relieved there’s not another mammoth task waiting for you to finish. “You scared me,” you mumble, though his gummy smile melts away any annoyance you possibly could’ve had.

“It’s the only way to get you to listen these days,” he says with a grin, closing the notebook and tossing it onto the coffee table. “Now,” he says, arm sneaking around you to pull you into him. “Let’s forget about what you have to do later and just relax now, okay?”

You hum, arms wrapping around his torso. “Can’t say no to that,” you mumble, eyes fluttering closed once more as you settle onto his chest.

There’s a short silence, in which he starts to slowly play with your fingers, and you listen to his heartbeat to ground yourself, distract from what are still thoughts about tasks you have to do, tasks you can still do if you just…

“How was your day?” you ask, interrupting your own train of thought before you know you’ll spiral.

“Tiring,” he replies lowly, the word coming out with a soft sigh. “But it was okay,” he adds, sending you a small smile. He doesn’t say anything else, but you know not to pry, at least not now.

“Bed?” you ask instead, raising your head from his chest to look up at him.

He smiles at you. “Bed.”

a/n: thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! Can you tell I let life inspire me? ;) Don’t forget to send me your reactions/feedback, I’d love to hear from you :) Hope you have a great day/night wherever you are!

masterlist

#bangtanarmynet #bts fanfic #bts fluff #yoongi fanfic #yoongi fluff #yoongi x reader #bts x reader #min yoongi #bts suga #bts #my fics

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lindoig1 · 6 years

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Mainly R&R Day 31

A lazy day recovering from the stresses and strains of the last few. We stayed in the room most of the day paying bills, writing about our travels, posting some text on my blog and confirming a lot of bird identifications I had been unable to do with such poor and restricted internet coverage across Central Asia. I continue to be amazed by the extent of the restrictions, particularly in Iran where they seem afraid that some dastardly person might learn something from the outside world so even bird databases are blocked. I have been using the ultra-innocuous Avibase, but not in Iran!!!

We had to meet with our local travel agent to collect our train tickets to Bucharest downstairs in the morning and went to Barbecue House across the road for lunch and bought some water and Turkish bread and then had a couple of drinks upstairs during Happy Hour in the late afternoon. Apart from that, we just had a slow day until it was dinner time.

We went for a walk to a small bazaar that we had seen on our tour yesterday and found the whole area chockablock with wall to wall people, many of the women in burkhas, chadors or headscarves, with families picnicking on every available inch of lawn or wall and thousands more pouring in. It looked as if it was set up for some sort of music event or speech rally with huge loudspeakers all over the place. We never found out what it was, but I suspect it was some sort of Islamic event because we heard some chanting or praying pretty loudly from our room a bit later in the evening. We shouldered our way through the bazaar and ogled many of the displays, but bought nothing. One interesting one was a silk spinning display with many threads from cocoons linked and being spun into silk cotton. Another was a guy carving a wonderful relief on a wooden door. Beautiful work. (At lunchtime, we had seen a woman weaving a small carpet. Someone said it takes a year to weave a metre, but I think that was a porky to justify the extravagant pricing.) We bought some reasonably edible takeaways at a ridiculously low price and ate it on a tiny bit of wall that wasn’t in use and then went out of the area and explored the tram station on the main road so we could buy our Turkish version of a Myki. Heather had an icecream and the vendor had this amazing routine he played on every customer. He gave you the icecream and as you grabbed the cone, he tipped it upside down - numerous times. Then he put it inside two other cones and when you held the cone, he would take the top two away leaving you with an empty cone. It was extremely clever and great fun to watch. He had some other gimmicks too and kept the crowd entertained enormously at the expense of the hapless person desperately trying to catch their icecream. (We saw somewhat similar shenanigans at numerous other icecream stalls in the following few days.)

The trams here are very similar to our biggest ones at home except that they all have at least two, sometimes three of them, joined together. Quite mammoth. The trams were arriving one after the other, crowded to the gunwales and disgorging their load into the already packed event - whatever it was. The whole area for hundreds of metres around was jam-packed with seething masses of humanity and I am glad we got out before it became just too crowded to move. I will try to find out what the event was, but it was BIG!

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rajasthantourplanner · 5 years

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Rajasthan Tour Package in August

Rajasthan Land Of Heritage-Culture- Royalty

Rajasthan is the largest state of India, it is one of the most popular tourism destinations in India. This state has great tourism potential and enthralls tourists and vacationers with its awe-inspiring tourism options in the forms of culture, tradition, temples, art & architecture, history, forts & palaces, monument, havelis, wildlife sanctuaries & parks, rippling sand dunes, Thar Desert etc.

There are many fascinating travel destinations in the state which can be visited, explored and enjoyed on your travel and tours in this royal state of India.

Jaipur :- Jaipur is the capital of this state. Jaipur is also the largest city in the princely state of Rajasthan.It was founded in 1727, by the Kachwaha Rajput Ruler Sawai Jaisingh II, who was the ruler of Amber. Jaipur is also known by the nickname ‘Pink City of India’ which is due to the distinctive saffron or pink color of the buildings of city. The planning of the city was done according to the Vedic Vastu Shastra (Indian architecture). The well planned streets and detailed and artistic architecture make it one of the top preferred tourist locations.

Forts, monuments, temples, Gardens, museums and vast market places of Jaipur bring tourists who come from all around the world to experience the food, fun and frolic at this wonderful town. Jaipur is also home to a huge no. of arts and craft with over 20 unique specializations. Jaipur is the state capital city and very popular tourist destination in India. Worth visit attractions in Jaipur city are Amber Fort, City Palace, Albert Hall Museum, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Jaigarh Fort, Nahargarh Fort and Heritage Hotels And much more places to visit

Udaipur :- Udaipur is also known as the City of Lakes. The city was the capital of the Sisodiya Rajputs of Mewar and it was founded in 1553 by the Sisodiya Rajput Ruler Maharana Udai Singh II. The Mewar Rajputs founded the city to relocate their capital from Chittor to a more secure location.

Udaipur city is known for its elegant palaces, forts, and lovely lakes. It is one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in India. Key attractions of tourist interest in the city are City Palace, Jagdish Temple, Lake Palace, Pichola Lake, Fateh Prakash Palace, Monsoon Palace, Fateh Sagar Lake, Udai Sagar Lake, Eklingji Temple, Nagda Temple, etc. While in a few texts, it has been termed as the Venice of the East. Today, most of the palaces have been converted into hotels, thus attracting a huge no. of tourist crowd to this city.

Jodhpur :- Jodhpur is also the second most populated city of Rajasthan after Jaipur. The city was founded in 1459 by the Rathore Rajput Ruler, Rao Jodha Singh of Marwar. The city was founded as Marwar’s new capital after the fall of the former capital of Mandore. Jodhpur is also called the Sun City as it enjoys a bright sunny weather all year round. Strategically, it is considered to be the most important city of western Rajasthan

Jodhpur is an important tourist destination as well. Jodhpur has been listed many a times in various tourism magazines and documentaries and has topped the lonely planet’s list of most extraordinary place to stay in 2014. The various hill forts, palaces and the old walled city are just a handful of attractions from the multitude that this wonderful city has to offer. Jodhpur is also known as the Blue City of India, Jodhpur is the second largest city in the state. It is a wonderful tourist place to be visited on Rajasthan travels and tours with attractions like mammoth Mehrangarh Fort, Jaswant Thada Memorial, Umaid Bhawan Palace, Mandore Gardens and many heritage hotels.

Jaisalmer : – Jaisalmer is also known as the Golden City of India The aptly named “golden city”, which comes from its view during the day, the city of Jaisalmer lies in the heart of the Thar Desert. The city was founded by The Bhati Rajput ruler Maharawal Jaisal Singh in 1156 Ad. The city gets its name from the golden sands of the Thar Desert and the same golden colored sandstone used in the city’s architecture. The city is a famous tourist spot due to its magnificent architecture and the various arts and crafts which are unique to this region.

The city thrives on tourism, and can be called a home away from home for a huge no. of tourists from all around the world. Key attractions of tourist interest in the city are Its Golden Fort, Jain Temples, Havelis and an exciting trip to rippling sand dunes of vast Thar Desert. The unique feature about the city of Jaisalmer is its architecture. It was built as a walled city which makes it one of the largest living forts in the world. The fort has numerous eateries that offer Italian, French and local cuisines. Visit during the months of November and December and you will enjoy this castle city to its fullest

Bikaner :- Bikaner is also known as the Camel City, Bikaner is a wonderful tourist place to visit in Rajasthan. It holds a prime position in boosting tourism in Rajasthan with major attractions like Junagarh Fort, Lalgarh Palace, Havelis, and sand dunes. The city of Bikaner was founded in 1488 by the Rathore Rajput Ruler Rao Bika. Rao Bika was the son of the Rathore Ruler Rao Jodha who founded Jodhpur. The place is known for its forts and food. The various arts and crafts of this place are also unique, especially the intricately carved windowpanes called jharokhas. It is one town we would personally recommend for you to visit if you want to experience the authentic taste of rajasthani cuisines. The various fairs held in Bikaner also attract a huge no. of visitors from all around India and the world.

Bikaner is a wonderful tourist place to visit in Rajasthan. It holds a prime position in boosting tourism in Rajasthan with major attractions like Junagarh Fort, Lalgarh Palace, Havelis, sand dunes And the famous temples like Karni Mata and Laxmi Nath Temple etc.

Pushkar :- Pushkar is a holy city in Rajasthan. It is one of the most sacred cities in India with lots of attractions like Lord Brahma Temple, Gayatri Temple, Savitri Temple, Pushkar Palace, Rose Gardens, Pushkar Ghats, etc.

Lying in the Ajmer District of Rajasthan, the holy City of Pushkar is often described as the king of pilgrimage sites in India. The town is located at the shores of the Pushkar Lake, which was created by the tears of Lord Shiva. The town is famous for its temples and various Ghats which are frequented by hundreds of visitors during the annual bath.

Mount Abu :-The place takes pride of it being the only hill station in the desert state of Rajasthan. Mount Abu is situated in the Aravalli mountain range and is a part of the Sirohi District of Rajasthan. Mount Abu was known as the Arbuda Mountain, which has been mentioned in the Hindu Epic Mahabharata and is known for to be the place where the Great Sage Vashishta retired. The hill station houses many ancient sites and temples which are frequented by many pilgrims from across India along with many forts and lakes.

The Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary, Trevor’s Crocodile Park, Nakki Lake, the most Famous Dilwara Jain temples, and the Achalgarh Fort which was built in the 17th century is the major attraction of city to visit

Ranthambhore :– Ranthambore is one of the most popular destinations of Rajasthan tourism. It is globally famous for Ranthambore Tiger Reserve & National Park. The key attractions of the park are tigers, Ranthambore Fort, Jogi Mahal and ancient banyan tree. The Ranthambore Fort and the Ranthambore National park Both places are the attraction of city. The Ranthambore national Park and its wild life century is the heaven for wild life photographers

Visit - https://www.rajasthantourplanner.com/

#Rajasthan RajasthanTravels RajasthanTours RajasthanTrips RajasthanTour

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niuniente · 7 years

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5, 7, 12, 19, 32, 47, 56, 63!

5: How did you fall into the tumblr hellpit?FivePlusPencil and Andy talked me over in Metal Gear Solid paintchat almost 10 years ago haha. I thought I’d just visit here like “...Well, why not...” THAT’S WHAT WE ALL THINK. THAT WE’LL JUST VISIT HERE QUICKLY.

7: What fan interest or yours would you most enjoy explaining in your workplace?Nier Automata, though no one would probably get it :’D Or Japanese audio novels!

12: What’s something trivial you have strong opinions about?Well eh, maybe the closest is that all furniture needs to be in rightful place in energy vise. I can sense if energy gets clogged because this chair is in it’s way or the bed is a wrong way around or a poster is on a wrong wall ect. For others this doesn’t make any sense, because they put things on which looks the best for them or where there is the best place, but I put things in places which feels the right and the lightest. For example I bought Billy Idol’s poster and planned to put it on my bed’s wall, opposite to window, and when I placed it there, this whole apartment got clogged. Energy didn’t move anywhere. At mom’s place mom had turned quest bed underneath window, to go alongside it (head toward the window screen) and I couldn’t sleep on it at all. After a few night my sister and I turned the bed back to sideways to the window and then I could sleep again normally.

19: Favorite trope nobody writes enough of?I have to admit I don’t read much at all fanfics anymore because I’m so picky haha, but deeply emotionally involving and twisting stories I miss a lot. Something which makes you invest in it and then see the sheer emotional struggle and turmoil of that person, which boils inside of them. Where things go from bad to wrong and from wrong to worse and from worse to a nightmare in a psychological turmoil, which makes one question their whole existence and the meaning of life. Where these things build up gradually and then you go look at things later like “Oh shit, there were hints about this already but I didn’t understand them yet, but this makes sense now!”Something which you have to backtrack to see that all the elements were and are there but you couldn’t see them or think much about them until you had either gone the story through or advanced far into it (this happened in Kill la Kill in a humorous sense)I don’t care if the story has happy ending or bad ending, as long as it’s well-made story and the emotional turmoil has a good base there. (I’m looking at Oyasumi Punpun, Wolf Guy and Nier Automata)

32: What was your favorite childhood toy? Do you still have it?I don’t remember any single toy which would have been above anything else but if I can name 8-bit Nintendo, then it’s that :D I don’t have it anymore. I borrowed to this member of manga- anime club I was part of in my early 20′s and I never got it back. My old friend promised to seek the person who had borrowed it from me last year and he found out that the person was so highly in debt they had most likely sold it... I’m very reluctant to lend my personal, closest things to anyone but for some reason I felt it would be alright with the Nintendo.

47: Did you ever have a dream/nightmare that stuck with you for years?When I was 6 I had a dream of a man who met a woman in a skiing resort. They talked at a table and had really much fun together, but then the woman had to leave. She forgot her hat and the man took it to rush after her to give it to her. Then he noticed how the hat had a strange yarn line going around it (red) and it didn’t look like any regular yarn. He squinted at it curiously and a male voice asked inside his head “Do you know what animal’s fur has been used to made that yarn?”The man when out for skiing to think about that strange yarn and replied finally to this unknown voice; “No, I don’t.”The voice replied; “It’s made from mammoth’s fur” and then suddenly there was a fully dressed mammoth in a skiing suit, just skiing around like a human. He appeared behind the bush and scared me for some reason so badly that the dream was a real nightmare. (I’m still very “uh no pls” around mammoths, they freak me out).

I know it sounds hilarious and makes no sense in text vise, but visually...! Almost 3 decades later I still remember that dream so vividly I could direct a short movie about it. I remember every single detail in clothes, in the skiing resort, all lights, colors, the texture of the hat, how the man and the woman looked, how the weather was outside and how the snow looked, how there were little bits from branches and pine cones on the snow ect. I have never ever seen as detailed and vivid dream as that one. It feels like I almost visited an another place.I tend to remember my dreams very well, if they’re meaningful or strange.56: If you were a poltergeist where would you haunt and what would be your preferred style of prank?I’d probably turn things upside down and pile them up in a way that’s physically impossible. And write on the walls something like “Hello”. I’d be rather harmless haha.63: In an ideal world, what would you like done with your body after you die?Cremated it.

#ask meme #hitodama89 #ask niu

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sartle-blog · 7 years

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From Botched Restoration to Selfie Destruction: 5 of the Worst Art Fails

#art news #very silly #art history #theft #vandalism #art fails #ecce homo #art heist #fails #don't touch the art

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williamlwolf89 · 4 years

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The Blogger’s Guide to Telling Stories That Win Hearts and Minds

Have you ever wondered if people even care about your writing?

You pour out your heart and soul, but sometimes that feels like shouting your words down a bottomless abyss.

You know you have a world of knowledge to pass on – but you have no idea how to wrap it into an exciting package your readers will love.

Could it be that … your writing just isn’t engaging enough?

After all, if even famous writers like Hemingway or Steinbeck took many, many years to excel in their craft, how are you supposed to instantly produce a moving masterpiece out of thin air?

You just feel overwhelmed.

And when the time comes to crank out another post for your blog or writing client, that huge blank space with the relentlessly blinking cursor … frankly, it’s terrifying. Because you fear the response to your efforts will be radio silence … once again.

Luckily, you have a fool-proof technique at your disposal that is guaranteed to make your readers long for every powerful word you write.

And it’s been around forever.

The Incredible Power of Stories to Win Hearts and Minds

As humans, words are perhaps our most powerful tools. Words have crushed souls and built empires. So let me tell you a little story about the true power of words.

It’s the story of Scheherazade, a young girl in ancient Persia, who was facing execution, scheduled for the next morning.

Curiously, she had brought herself into her situation on purpose. She had agreed to marry the king.

The king’s first wife cheated on him, and he felt so angry and bitter that he decided to make sure it never happened again: by bedding a new virgin wife every night and having her decapitated the next morning.

But Scheherazade wasn’t just stunningly beautiful; she was also extraordinarily smart. She had a plan to snap the king out of his bloodthirsty frenzy. Every night, she would tell him one of the most bewitching, mesmerizing stories he had ever heard and interrupt it right at its peak, promising to continue the next night.

And every night, the king spared her life for just one more day.

But for how long could she continue this dangerous game?

You’ll have to wait to find out. But first, let’s take a look at the powerful trick Scheherazade employed.

Why a 30,000-Year-Old Trick Still Works Today

As long as humans have existed, we have been hardwired to satisfy one urge. (No, it’s not what you think.) I’m talking about storytelling.

Some 30,000 years ago, when our ancestors carved the thrilling tale of their last mammoth hunt into rock walls, their scraggly-haired friends must have consumed these stories eagerly.

That’s because the need for stories is rooted deeply inside our brains.

It’s the reason you love watching movies or TV. The reason you exchange your latest personal adventures over a cup of coffee. The reason we tell bedtime stories to our kids and the reason you can’t help but check your Facebook page for updates from friends.

We’re addicted to stories because we get the thrill of a new experience without risking pain or hardship ourselves. And they’re a form of communication. We live and relive events through stories.

And our brains process stories differently. Stories engage a deeper part of our brains than any logical explanation ever could — it’s the emotional part, the “Ugh-I-once-felt-that-too” part. And we connect at a much deeper level than information delivered in the abstract.

Author David Mamet famously stated, “The audience will not tune in to watch information. You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. No one would or will. The audience will only tune in and stay tuned in to watch drama.”

When you think about it, that’s exactly the reason we read the entertainment, sports, even politics section of the news.

Humans crave drama – so feed it to them like candy!

But how does this apply to you as a blogger?

How to Avoid Drowning in a Sea of Forgettable Bloggers

As stories connect so deeply with our emotions, content that uses storytelling is also more memorable than bare facts alone.

In fact, stories are 22 times more memorable than bare facts.

Pack any bit of information you want to pass on to your reader into a story, and it will stay with him. Stories mean emotion, and emotion means deeply engraving the lesson into your reader’s brain.

Here is a demonstration. Which advice would you have listened to more closely as a kid:

“Don’t feed the grizzly; it’s dangerous.”

“Little Charlie from across the street tried to feed the grizzly last week and got his arm torn into a bloody mash.”

Take your pick.

Because here is the harsh blogging truth: People forget the lessons they learn online, even the ones they absolutely love. Life gets in the way. But next time your reader is standing in her kitchen, wondering about what to bake, she might remember that funny story about the dog that stole the blueberry pie… and use exactly that recipe from your cooking blog.

Finally, if you do nothing else but inform your reader with your content, you are missing out on one of the main reasons he came to you in the first place: Entertainment.

Whether they know it or not, your readers are also surfing the Internet for distraction. And if you can include stories in your blog, you’ll make reading fun. And they’ll stick around.

But you might wonder if storytelling even applies to your blog. Storytelling is for novels and movies and TV shows, right? But blogging? How does that work?

Let’s find out …

Storytelling: The Swiss Army Knife for Self-Reliant Bloggers

You may not believe it yet, but you can use storytelling for virtually any blogging topic.

Writing a post for your car maintenance blog about how to change a fan belt? Tell a story about how many years ago, your uncle’s fan belt tore while he was on his way to a date. He tried changing it and arrived covered in engine oil.

Writing about how to calculate the centroid of a trapezium on your math blog? Tell them about your excitement for mathematical formulas and how your parents found out about it by observing you drawing geometrical figures in the sandbox all day long.

No topic is too abstract for a story, once you find a way to relate it to people.

It’s great for posts that already have a kind of narrative flow: ultimate guides, “How to” posts, bonding posts, case studies, or opinion pieces.

But you can also use storytelling for posts that just contain bare lists, like a list of resource links. Just put your story in the opening or the closing of the post.

Here is the basic rule: You can tell a story in any post that includes at least a little snippet of continuous text.

And your secret weapon of storytelling isn’t just limited to posts. You can use stories to sell products or to connect with your list as well.

The following are some examples of how to do it:

Roundup posts. Set the context with a story. If your post is about getting more followers on Facebook, tell the story of how you struggled to grow your following until you applied the advice of certain experts. You could also insert a story into the participants’ bios.

Interviews. Frame your questions with stories. For example: “Amanda, I know in your first two months of blogging your blog saw a whopping total of 23 visitors. Today, you have ramped it up to 40,000 visitors per month. Which tools most helped you to make your blog a success?”

Opinion pieces. Describe an experience that led you to form your opinion, and describe it in the form of a story. Look at the topic and find an association that holds a story. Make your opinion or attitude a story in itself by describing how it makes you behave.

“Wake-up call” posts. Paint the future story of the best case and worst case scenarios: What will happen if the reader doesn’t change their behavior? What will happen if they do? Show the domino effect of good or bad events. Once you have a chronological sequence, you have a story — things are happening one after the other.

“Cause” posts. Let’s say you decide to lead the fight against a new regulation your readers hate. Tell the story of that witty email you wrote to the bureau, starting with the hopeless quest to find the email of the right person. It’s David versus Goliath, and readers love to root for the underdog.

About Pages. Using personal stories on your “About” page helps you appear like a real human being – not a faceless digital ghost. Also, choose stories that make you stand out, even if it’s in an awkward way. Aaron Iba, in his “About” page, simply scanned a psychological evaluation from his childhood days. It diagnoses him as a highly intelligent kid … with ADD. And it definitely makes him look very human.

Product Reviews. Tell the story of how a time management product “saved your life” or a fertilizer killed your favorite plant. But be truthful – this is not the place for invented stories.

Sales Pages. If you have a product or service to sell (or from your affiliates) or you can make money with, write testimonials as success stories. Let a happy customer describe how your financial coaching paid for itself in a few weeks and left them with money in their pockets at the end of every month.

Email newsletters. Personal stories help subscribers identify with you, but writing about your grandma’s gum surgery will look odd without the relevant context, so link it to your blog topic. A photography blogger might tell the story of toppling over backwards trying to shoot a photo of the tip of the Eiffel Tower. And by the way, to achieve a pleasant contrast when shooting against a bright sky, this is what you have to do…

As you can see, bloggers can use stories just about anywhere.

But why are they so effective?

5 Ways Stories Can Supercharge Your Writing

Here are just a few of the ways stories can lend power to your writing.

1. Stories Add Clarity and Credibility

If you want to demonstrate a point, a story is ideal because it shows how your lesson played out in the real world. A story is like a testimonial for your tip.

In ancient times, when Uagh told Uggah (both conventional stone age names, I assume) how his mammoth hunting friend had broken through the ice layer never to be seen again, it wasn’t just to give Uggah the slight kick that he had outlived his friend. It also served as a testimonial, a warning of the precise spot of danger on the ice.

We trust the experience of others, that’s why testimonials work so well. And we pass our experiences on in the form of stories.

Anthony Metivier shows us how the mind can suppress memory and gives an example with a little story about his near-plane-crash-experience.

2. Stories Bond You to Your Readers

A Masai Warrior and a New York stockbroker live in totally different realities, but they both know the joys of a task well done or the fear of losing someone. The one thing they have in common are the same emotions.

If you tell your own story and share your emotions, you’ll bond the reader to you.

Sarah Peterson lays it all out about how she struggled in her relationship while becoming an entrepreneur. Sarah’s readers share the goal of leaving the 9-to-5 grind, so this is a courageous post that taps deeply into their fears and desires. It makes the reader feel understood.

In your bonding story, share your authentic feelings. Letting your most private feelings go public for the whole world to see can be scary. But these feelings are exactly what will make your story work so well.

3. Stories Provide Entertainment and Variety

People love to be entertained. So share something fun, outrageous, or surprising.

Chuck Wendig, in this example, shows off his radical and entertaining writing style. In an imaginary conversation about a figure his reader created, he writes:

When I talk to you about your character, and you start to tell me, “Well, she has to find the DONGLE OF MAGIC to fight the WIZARD OF BADNESS and then she tames HORBERT THE MANY-HEADED DRAGON,” I immediately start to cross my eyes. I emit drool. I have a small seizure and then fall into a torpid grief-coma. Grief over what you’ve done to the human condition.

The post wouldn’t have lost any information without this paragraph, but it’s fun and draws the reader in.

4. Stories Help You Win Your Reader’s Attention

The purpose of your opening is to catch the reader’s attention and draw them into your post. Stories do this naturally.

This post begins “Food changed my life,” and the phrase is strange enough to get readers curious. How could something as commonplace as food have changed the author’s life? What does he mean? Is it about losing weight? Or the hidden additives in our modern diet? Or the torturous taste of fried tarantula?

Reading on, the author talks of pushing his trolley among “soulless food” and of how he “hates food.” We all need food, so how can he possibly hate it? (And still, we might have secretly felt the same way some time after consuming too much McDonald’s food.)

Each new sentence seems to raise as many questions as it answers, and before the reader knows it, they’re drawn deeply into your post and train of thought.

So throw your reader a hook, let them bite, and reel them in on the fishing line of their own curiosity and appetite for drama.

5. Stories Inspire People to Take Action

One of the best ways to close your posts is with a call to arms – inviting your reader to act now.

So use a story to paint a vivid and inspiring future for your reader.

This Copyblogger post is about touching people with your writing. In its last paragraph, it tells the story of the future you, the heartfelt writer, affecting the lives of thousands of people with your writing:

Give them a reason to laugh. Give them a reason to cheer. Give them a reason to keep fighting, even when they feel like all hope is lost.

Do that, and you won’t have to search for readers. They’ll search for you. You’ll boot up your computer one morning to find thousands upon thousands of them waiting for you, ready to listen, ready to learn, ready to launch into action.

And that’s when you’ll realize: you’re not just a writer anymore. Word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, you’re changing the world.

Maybe you’re like Don [Draper, from ‘Mad Men’], lying on a couch, sipping a glass of bourbon, or maybe you’re not. Either way, you gotta admit…

It’s pretty freaking cool.

Jon Morrow skillfully fires up his reader’s emotions, and boy, do you want to go out and write after reading it.

How to Find the Perfect Story for Any Situation

Having been convinced of the universal power of storytelling – even for bloggers – you might be wondering where your stories come from.

How do you find that mesmerizing story idea that will bring life to your post?

In truth, all your idea needs is the secret ingredient we’ve already mentioned: strong emotions!

Turn on the TV, open a magazine – you will always see the same forms of drama. Nothing special about it, but people are eating it up like hot fudge.

How you present is much more important than what you present. So don’t panic because you think you need to rewrite Gone with the Wind.

Whether your story covers a single phrase, a whole section, or your entire post, first you should identify the point you want to make.

Then look for a story that expresses your point as neatly as possible.

Simple, right?

Well, just in case it doesn’t seem simple just yet, let’s look at a specific example.

Say you run a “home and garden” blog and want to write a post about buying furniture, in particular how to match colors and fabrics.

What type of stories could you use to enhance your post?

The following are a few different story types you could draw upon for your furniture post.

1. Stories Where You are the Main Character

The first option is to exploit your personal experiences. You already know that it makes for a strong connection with your reader.

In our example, if you ever worked in a store selling furniture, you should feel like you won the lottery.

Granted, that’s not very likely. But maybe you could draw a parallel with an experience you did have? What about that summer job in a clothing store you took in your teens? Clothes require careful combinations too. You could tell a story of your worst-dressed customer as an analogy for a room full of poorly coordinated furniture.

Remember, everybody, including you, has a myriad of stories to tell; most people just don’t dare to tell them publicly. Your life is an accumulation of stories. Draw from your wealth of experiences.

Societal norms have put filters into our heads. So go ahead and be the one who dares to shake people out of their fatigue by telling them something raw and authentic.

The more inner resistance you feel to telling your story, the better it is: You are involved emotionally. Transfer your emotions onto the page and the reader. He will love you for it.

2. Stories You Have Heard or Read

What did your ex-roommate once tell you about his Dad’s obsession with antique furniture? What about your cousin’s eccentric taste in pillow covers? And what did you learn from that documentary the other day about glassware?

We are constantly bombarded with an avalanche of stories from family, friends, acquaintances, and the media. Make mental notes. Use the boring small talk at the next garden party to extract interesting stories from strangers – you will also have a better time than asking how their kids are doing for the third time.

Draw upon these stories in your writing. There is a reason why you remember them; some piece of it connected with you. Find the part that got you interested in the first place, and parade it. It will also be the most interesting part for your reader.

3. Stories You Find on The Internet

One tool offers an inexhaustible supply of stories.

It’s your old friend Google. And while an unfocused Google search can be like diving down a rabbit hole, finding the right story is usually just a matter of using the right keywords.

History is an endless source of great stories. (The term even contains the word “story.”) Look how Mark Manson fills an entire 4,000-word post with countless historical mini-stories. Even the tabloid papers would have a hard time coming up with that much sex and personal drama.

For my furniture-related post, I Googled “Victorian furniture styles,” and found this Wikipedia link, which mentions how plaster was scored to look like stone and graining was used on woods to imitate higher quality. You could easily tell a story about how it was fashionable in Victorian times to fake surfaces to seem higher class.

I chose “Victorian” just as a random era to make my search more concrete — generic queries tended to produce generic results. If “Victorian” hadn’t worked, I’d have tried other eras such as “Renaissance.”

4. Stories From Your Reader’s Life

Try to put yourself in your reader’s shoes. Have you been where he is now? If not, give it your best guess. Which concerns could be on his mind right now?

Whoever your reader is, if he is reading a post about how to match furniture, he quite likely is in the process of furnishing his new house or apartment. So why not begin the post like this:

Is all of the planning and combining starting to annoy you?

Curtains here, rugs there. The couch finally fits with the cupboard, but now it doesn’t fit with the side table.

Furnishing an apartment can be a headache, especially when you are not sure how to combine all the different pieces.

And notice how most of the story is implied. The narrative isn’t explicit – this happened, then this happened – but it’s there behind the scenes. It’s implied by sentences like “The couch finally fits with the cupboard, but now it doesn’t fit with the side table.” We can imagine hours of trial and error trying to combine different items of furniture from a catalog or website.

You could also tell your reader’s story indirectly by choosing a personal story they’ll relate to. Consider who your audience is – which stories from your life will they relate to best?

If you started a blog about parenting, that might be a story about a teething baby. Readers of a tattoo blog would be more interested in the story of the first time you were “inked.”

5. Stories You Just Made Up (It’s Okay)

The point of a great story is to draw your reader in, entertain them, and leave them with a message. And a story doesn’t have to be true to achieve these goals.

So if you don’t have a story, invent one.

Of course, there are limits. Never lie about your biography (education, career, big merits), never lie about another existing person, and don’t fake events to provoke opinions. Don’t explicitly claim your invented story is true either.

For the furniture blog post, you could make up a story of someone newly rich, with almost unlimited budget, whose expensive furniture was combined so badly that house guests laughed at his lack of taste. Your message? That a beautifully furnished room is not limited by budget.

Build a Devoted Following through the Magic of Storytelling

Armed to the teeth with storytelling tools, you can now engage your readers’ emotions like never before.

Remember, you’ve told hilarious stories during family holiday dinners or when you were alone with your best friend. Telling stories on your blog is easy too.

And Scheherazade?

With enormous courage and wit, she managed the unthinkable: After firing up the king’s passion night after night with her thrilling stories about wonders, love, and danger, he spared her life and made her his queen.

Scheherazade saved her own life, and thousands of others (the king’s future brides), with the mesmerizing power of storytelling.

Here is the point: We humans are raw and vulnerable. We want to see ourselves reflected in others and we want to experience truth (even if it’s not always fact) – which is why we love to immerse ourselves in the pain and the joy of a sweeping story.

Give people the stories they are so desperately longing for and they will strongly engage with your writing – as they will feel your message to the core.

You have magnificent, unbelievable stories, begging to be told.

The question is: do you have the courage to tap into your deepest emotions and share them with the world?

Because if you do, your readers will be your loyal audience forever.

The post The Blogger’s Guide to Telling Stories That Win Hearts and Minds appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/storytelling/

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szopenhauer · 4 years

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write a random lyric. I'm sour candy, so sweet then I get a little angry, yeah

how many times have you been in love? dunno what I can count and what not are you the type of person who always needs to be in a relationship? nooo

are you generally a happy person or a depressed person? depressed what is your biggest weakness? not gonna tell you do you think you’re a strong or weak person? both, it’s complicated have you ever ridden on the back of a garbage truck? nope have you ever been miserable, yet happy at the same time? not really, I am miserable and the fact that I joke/laugh about something or I enjoy part/something about a certain thing/moment doesn’t immediately mean I am truly happy do you think everyone is beautiful? sorry but no, it’s a matter of perspective, one person can be pretty to someone and ugly to others or just during the certain time or look better in person than on a picture etc. do you believe that all members of the opposite sex are basically the same? all people are basically the same and yet they’re not when was the last time you were let down? today is there someone you just cannot stand to be around? majority of society what is the best fingernail polish color? black is music a daily part of your life? could say so do you drink alcohol regularly? not at all

Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4. na tę historyczną okazję kupił lepszy, kolorowy model Without looking, guess what time it is: 22.00 Now look at the clock. What is the actual time? 22.01

*I was worried it’s like 22.10

With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? nothing :3 What are you wearing? crop top with a guy hidden behind the balloons, my gf would hate that shirt Did you dream last night? I don’t think so

If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? my own apartment Do you like to dance? whatever Would you ever consider living abroad? I can’t imagine that What do you want to say to God when you reach the pearly gates? sigh...

Have you ever read a Shakespeare piece? had to but didn’t like it What colour is your sleeping bag? I didn’t use it for years so I don’t remember

Ever made a bucket list? there was website about making those Do you drink the recommended amount of water in a day? try to but probably fail Ever felt as if a teacher was thinking of you in a lustful manner? hope not, gross Where do you get your jeans at? I don’t wear jeans anymore but would buy them in second hand if I need any Do you use any specific acne medication or do you just wash your face? I just wash my face as meds do more harm actually Have you ever worn a ankle bracelet? like once Favourite Disney movie song? not a fan of those in general Do you use body mist or perfume? neither but body mist is a better option for sure

Have you ever placed an ad in the paper? For what? nooo

What kinds of things do you own that are plaid? less than 5 items

When was the last time that you felt sad/mad about something? What was it? this day, I already complained about it on tumblr but don’t want to nor can get into details

When was the last time you did something that was bad? Did you get away with it? what’s good and what’s bad? :(

Do you use the word “tad” to mean “a little bit” sometimes? I’ve never heard of it before

Do you ever refer to something as being “rad”? I don’t recall using that word

Are you close with your dad? we’re best friends

When’s the last time you visited your grandparents? almost 3 years ago

What do you think of people with animal heads on their wall? if they’re vintage (or natural death taxidermy) then it’s fine but if they hunt then I’m against it

Do spinny chairs = greatness? I prefer not spinny ones Do all bottled water brands taste the same? not to me but some are very similar

When’s the last time you walked backwards? couple of hours ago for fun Growing up, did you have an imaginary friend? I invented some friends but I knew they don’t exist, I used them for daydreaming Are you afraid of spiders? am not Do you like touch-screens? meh Which person do you wish had more time to spend with you? father? Which extinct animal species would you like to bring back? dodo, moa, mammoths What’’s your favorite thing to snuggle? my fav childhood toy that is sitting near my bed last months because it is falling apart due to being so old and loved Do you throw things when you get mad? I throw stuff that can’t break or hurt anyone when we’re teasing each other but that’s all Who do you wish you could live with? I wish I could live ALONE Have you ever been afraid of being replaced? I know I will be but it’s still disappointing Do you like magic tricks? why not Do you have any unrealistic goals in life? even easy ones feel like they’re unrealistic to me Ever just stare at the moon? it happens What is the last awkward question you were asked? someone asked me after what I take the most smelly poop, srsly When you like someone, is it obvious, or are you good at hiding it? can hide it well but don’t wanna Are you good at following advice? I shouldn’t >.< Is your closet messy or clean? it’s a little disorganized Who do you worry about a lot? myself Do you wear make up for yourself, or for others? I don’t wear it lmfao If you HAD to choose, what would you want to be trapped in? a good dream? Are you optimistic? I’m a pessimist, close to realist, still slightly a dreamer

did you ever date the last person you kissed? we’re dating

pepsi or coke? I don’t drink soda/pop but I liked pepsi, it was more fresh, minty, cold - cola is warm, sweet and sticky what is your favorite sport? I hate sports in general is your computer a laptop? desktop who is in the room with you? no one where is your mom? in bed, sleeping where did you get the shirt you’re wearing? second hand in Ełk are you texting someone? not currently would you kiss the last person you kissed again? we plan to do you own something tie dyed? I hate tie dye

does gore in movies bother you? very

what would be your ideal vacation? staycation is fine is it harder for you to fall asleep or stay asleep? fall do you ever play board games, or have you grown out of them? you can’t grow out of them :o do you celebrate christmas? sure did you see the movie avatar? wasn’t interested

were you a quiet child or a loud child? quiet

would you ever have a threesome? it ain’t for me

when did you last feel the most free?: never?

do you think you could last six months without cheating if your significant other went away on a trip?: 100%

do you know anyone who is part native american?: in my whole life I saw no more than 10 native americans

did you ever love someone and feel like it was wrong?: tell me about it...

the last time you felt like just disappearing?: 24/7

what’s your favorite bug?: moth, I know snails don’t count but gonna mention them anyway

do you like rock or rap music better?: rock

do you go to cemeteries a lot?: no but I wouldn’t mind

ever known someone with an eating disorder?: at least one person

have you ever had a white christmas?: 20+

ever stayed in a hotel room over night?: long time ago

last time you tripped over something?: last week

what’s something you want to do but aren’t sure of yet?: *shrug*

worst relationship you ever had?: ...

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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The neverending quest for Absolver’s ultimate martial art • Eurogamer.net

You’ve heard of the Way of the Dragon, but have you come across the Way of the Magic Right Arm? As you’ve probably guessed, it’s a martial art were every move has to involve the right arm – effective at rattling jaws, less so at sweeping ankles. It’s not, you’ve probably also guessed, an actual combat discipline but one of thousands dreamt up by players of Sloclap’s Absolver, the unbearably stylish fighting game which lets you pick from over 120 beautifully animated kicks and punches to create a bespoke martial art, or “deck”, of up to 16 moves.

Launched in 2017, Absolver’s idyllic open world and RPG trappings such as looting are a little deceptive. This is a duelling simulation above all and as such, many player-created decks are works of painstaking optimisation, born of hours spent weighing up frame counts and hit ranges. There are plenty, however, that are more whimsical than competitive, and the game would be much poorer without them.

Some decks are purely about showing off, stringing together high-stakes moves like the MeiaLua, a grandiose kick which begins with you pointing your arse at your opponent’s head. Others trade on creative handicaps, such as boxer decks that keep your feet firmly on the ground. There are monkish decks that seek to recreate as closely as possible the martial arts (including Kung Fu and Jeet Kune Do) from which Sloclap took inspiration. At the sillier end of the scale are decks which only use moves that spin you clockwise, and “Chad decks” – as lovingly described by r/absolver member Morklympious – which chain together meaty hits with wind-ups so exaggerated you might as well be fighting in slow motion. They’re guilty pleasures for veterans looking to blow off some steam.

There are quite a few of those veterans knocking around – still writing guides and sharing tips on Discord and Reddit for a small but dedicated playerbase now split across PC, PS4 and Xbox. This is heartening given that Sloclap ceased support for Absolver in spring last year, a few months after shipping the game’s first and final expansion, Downfall. A tiny French outfit helmed by Ubisoft alumni, the developer is hard at work on its second, unannounced game (not, its co-founders tell me, an Absolver sequel), but Absolver soldiers on thanks to the brutal alchemy of deck-building, which has fostered an atmosphere of good-humoured rivalry and experimentation. Returning to the game three years after my review, I was curious to learn what the community had made of it all.

First, though, a quick primer on what makes Absolver’s combat so gripping. The game gives you a selection of fictional martial art “styles”, to begin with, each with a different defensive ability on top of regular blocking and evasion. The Kahlt’s style Absorb ability lets you park health loss and win it back by counter-attacking, for example, while Windfall is about sliding around and hopping over blows. You’re free to mix and match moves regardless of style, however: the real heart of deck-building is the stance system. Strings of up to three moves – each gradually mastered by defending against them – are mapped to one of four stances in the editor. You can change your stance manually, but it’s more efficient, and elegant, to do so by performing attacks, which begin and end in a certain stance.

Thus, a combo launched from front-right that ends in a low kick might spin you into a backward-facing stance, opening up a string of ankle sweeps and elbow strikes. This might then rotate you back to front-left, giving you the opportunity to tenderise your opponent’s ribs with a flurry of straight punches. You can also set one move per stance as an alternate attack: these break up your regular combos, and serve as a shortcut through your combat deck. If that punch combo seems ill-advised, for example, you could unleash a big guard-breaking alt and switch back to front-right stance in one move.

Locking move strings to stances introduces an engrossing “latency” to Absolver’s fighting, and as such, puts the emphasis on foresight and building momentum. Alts aside, you can’t just pull out the exact move you need at the touch of a button. As I wrote in my review, the fun of deck construction is working out what any given opponent is likely to be doing when, and plugging in a countermove. Just as important, however, is the resulting sense of flow. In many action games, character models blink noticeably between states unless committed to a combo animation. In Absolver, each move carries you organically to the next, the cleanness of the transitions emphasised by highly readable character designs that rank bold shapes and colours over detail and secondary motion. It’s breathtaking stuff, all the more so for knowing that players are free to mash together those punches and kicks as they see fit.

It’s also entirely hand-animated, much to my shock. “We couldn’t really afford motion capture so we didn’t work directly with any martial artists,” says Sloclap’s co-founder Pierre Tarno. “But we were lucky enough to have very talented animators who had a great sense of body dynamics.” It helps, of course, that Sloclap is a studio populated by fighters. Tarno is a lapsed ninjitsu student, while co-founder and combat system designer Jordan Layani is a practitioner of Pak Mei Kung Fu. Absolver’s two main animators are themselves both martial artists and hip-hop dancers, reflecting one of the game’s three taglines: “combat is a dance”.

A few of Absolver’s currently active players also have firsthand martial arts experience to draw on, as I discovered when I put out a call for interviews on the subreddit. Many are also expert fighting game players. “I’m an amateur boxer and a competitive Smash Bros player so the idea of every fight being unique because everyone has their own moves was thrilling to me,” says lidofzejar. Another redditor, xXTHEMVGXx1, has found that certain Absolver moves, though “absolutely ridiculous”, can have some applicability in real-life taekwondo.

Absolver at launch didn’t always do the best job of tutoring the player, but it is very accessible for all the arch-complexities of deck-building – just two attack buttons, a block, a dodge, and each Style’s unique defensive options. This lured in dabblers like Morklympious, who was discouraged by the high skill floors of other fighting games – “I just need to track a few things instead of a million things” – but it was no less attractive to genre devotees because it allowed them to get into the meat of strategy faster.

“Fighting games are hard, and the easy execution of Absolver allows mindgames very early on,” comments SomeAVALANCHEguy. The game’s relative shortage of equipment variables or auxiliary powers, meanwhile, appealed to spartan-minded players irked by such features in the likes of For Honor. “Every move is technically breakable, adds xXTHEMVGXx1. Every move is dodgeable. Every move can be absorbed by a full stamina bar. It doesn’t restrict your skill due to stupid gimmicks that are just no fun to fight against.” You can perform a handful of healing or stun spells by spending “tension shards” that accrue in combat, but these only delay the inevitable if your opponent has your measure.

So what’s the trick to crafting an effective martial art in Absolver? I put the question to the subreddit one evening, went to bed, and awoke to a wall of text, which I’m going to do my damndest to break down here. NanoHologuise, author of the subreddit’s mammoth deck-building guide, notes the importance of a safe opener – a cheeky kick that doubles as an evasive jump, perhaps, or a rushdown punch that can be initiated while out of reach. xXTHEMVGXx1 preaches the value of “50/50s”, meaning that a move and that stance’s alternate attack should hit from different angles to catch the opponent out – especially important against fans of the slippery Windfall style. Regardless of style, Absolver players can block anything while they have stamina, so you need to force opponents to open up, either by overwhelming their stamina reserves with a combo that leaves few countering opportunities or, more likely, baiting them into striking back.

To all this, add myriad exploits that are designed to grease the process of moving around inside your deck, overcoming the constraints of the stance system. One is step-cancelling, the trick of making a fractional movement after an attack to reset the combo and perform that attack again. Players have also learned to manipulate the game’s lock-on – releasing and relocking in order to switch stances a second or so faster.

Much of which was a world beyond Sloclap’s expectations for the game. “Very quickly after launch the game doesn’t “belong to you” any longer,” notes Layani ruefully. “The studio’s best player gets dominated online by advanced players. You see players break apart the mechanics and tell you ‘actually, this is your game’, this is the meta.” The studio had balanced Absolver before launch using a mixture of Excel formulas and old-fashioned hands-on time. “We regularly did internal tournaments to give ourselves a feel for potential balancing issues,” Layarni explains. “We also set up a tracking system to see which attacks were most used in ‘winning combat decks’, which allowed us to get specific information during the beta test.”

All this fell through the floor after launch, however, as the Absolver team – around 30 people at its largest – realised the scale of the task it had set for itself. Sloclap’s founders had worked on multiplayer games at Ubisoft, including Ghost Recon games, but they had little experience of live ops, to say nothing of tweaking something as fiddly as a competitive fighting game.

“It was complicated for us to determine whether the changes we implemented were going to create other issues for advanced players,” Layarni goes on. “We didn’t have test servers and we had a reduced testing team, focused on bugs rather than balancing. It was never catastrophic, but we went through phases of the game where players would spam fast attacks, and others where players could play turtle, tanking attacks and waiting for their opponent to lose stamina, in order to violently punish them. This was a stressful period for us. We had just finished a rather exhausting marathon to ship the game, and we continued sprinting for a year after the game was released.”

The stresses were offset by the knowledge that they had put together something special – an approachable yet in-depth fighting game that soon attracted a lively audience. “Every time [we updated the game] we were impressed with how fast and how articulate the feedback was, from top players in the community,” says Pierre Tarno. “Three days after the patch is out, they’ve got detailed, structured analysis of all the changes, consequences, side effects.”

One of his great regrets is that Sloclap wasn’t able to maintain a steady conversation with the community, though the developer did run pre-release content by certain more dedicated players. “I think the community may have felt that we sort of ignored them, that we were in radio silence mode, because we just didn’t have the bandwidth to really interact with them. We were reading the Reddit daily [but] communicating takes a whole lot more time than just reading”. Sloclap did hire community managers, but they were tasked with “general community wellbeing and manners” rather than discussing the game’s direction.

The Absolver players I spoke to on Reddit had plenty to say about Sloclap’s post-launch support, good and bad. There are complaints about promised weapons like the Bo staff (barehanded by default, Absolver players can equip wargloves and swords that are fuelled by tension shards – only swords have distinct moves, however), and complaints about the balance of power between Styles. Some players remain confused by certain development decisions – why release a PVE expansion for a game that thrives in PVP? Others lost interest thanks to long delays between updates and certain unresolved bugs. There is particular frustration about the game’s current state. “Absolver at 1.30 is literally one patch away from ending on a sweet note,” says Morklympious. “It’s like listening to a chord progression that never resolves.” Another user, Dsamuss, suggests that Absolver’s pre-Downfall 1.14 update represented the fighting system at its best.

One thing everybody seems to agree on, however, is that Sloclap has always tried to do well by the community, despite its limited resources. They definitely listened to the community and changes what needed changing,” says NanoHologuise. “They did stuff like implementing frame data for attacks in the deck editor, they ran a closed beta for [Faejin] and actually listened to a lot of the feedback and implemented it. And while the tug of war between Styles remains a sore spot – Stagger is currently considered overpowered at lower skill levels – few players think there’s an unbeatable combat deck. Most opine that even the most devastating moveset is only as good as its wielder. What keeps people coming back isn’t the hope of achieving supreme master status, but the pleasure of never quite getting there.

“Meta decks aren’t even really a thing,” NanoHologuise goes on. “There’s certain attacks or arrangements of attacks that are strong or commonly used, but most people like putting their own spin on things. I’m very much a player who wants to be ‘optimal’, but there’s plenty of hilarious galaxy-brain decks that aren’t great on paper but work beautifully when you have a read on your opponent.” KurlySaav – a glutton for fighting games whose replies are packed with granular talk of frame advantages – confesses that they sometimes open a deck with a move called One Inch Punch – one of Absolver’s slowest guard breaks, and thus a terrible way to start a brawl – purely for the joy of it.

“Something I do personally is play with range in my decks,” adds xXTHEMVGXx1. “Some moves can hit well over three meters, and some moves send players flying over three meters, so I make sure those moves are easy to access.” Johnfiddleface23, meanwhile, would rather roleplay a Style than optimise a deck to the gills. “Sure, you can stay meta and go with jabs, avoid moves and certain Faejin moves like Low Back Fist, but the best deck is finding a solid middle ground between practicality and how much you love the way your deck looks, and plays.”

For me, this spirit of playfulness represents Absolver at its best. There are more practised competitive fighting games, but few make such a point of relaxed tinkering in the company of like minds. Discussing the game’s score, a simmering medley of percussion and guitar, Tarno notes that Absolver was designed to be “a combat game about making friends” – it’s more of a practice bout at your neighbourhood gym than a fight to the death. Hence the school system, which lets players who’ve graduated to the hallowed rank of Absolver share their decks with disciples. And hence Absolver’s gorgeous networked open world, a landscape of gold, green and scarlet where AI hoodlums lounge like cats, awaiting the next challenger.

It might seem rather gratuitous for a game that comes alive in separately loaded 1v1 arenas. Certainly, as NanoHologuise suggests, it’s hard to square the world’s opulence with the absence of features like a tournament mode, a network/ping indicator or spectator options. “I personally think Sloclap couldn’t decide whether they wanted this game to be a fighting game, or an action RPG, and a lot of the things that affected the community were related to that.” Read as a creative hangout space for dabbling pugilists, however, the ornamental-seeming backdrop makes a lot more sense. If the developer has punched above its weight with Absolver, the fact that decks are still being invented and debated today indicates that where it really counted, Sloclap struck true.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/the-neverending-quest-for-absolvers-ultimate-martial-art-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-neverending-quest-for-absolvers-ultimate-martial-art-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

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ciathyzareposts · 4 years

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Game 43: Enchanted Island (1979)

Sorry Greg, it only required a fraction of my cunning.

Okay, so I screwed up. Remember a few posts ago, when I said that I had the order of the Greg Hassett games screwed up? And that my next game would not be Enchanted Island but would instead be Sorcerer’s Castle Adventure? Well, I forgot to change my notes, so I ended up playing Enchanted Island anyway. This is my completely nocturnal quarantine brain in action.

Enchanted Island is technically the sixth of Hassett’s text adventures, and it’s the fifth one that I’m playing for the blog. They didn’t start out all that great with Journey to the Center of the Earth Adventure, but his later efforts like Voyage to Atlantis have shown signs of improvement. All of them have scored pretty low on the RADNESS Index though, which makes me question why I have such an inordinate amount of fondness for Greg Hassett. The fact that he’s about thirteen years old around this time certainly has something to do with it. But the more I think about it, the more I realise that he’s pretty much exactly what I wanted to be when I was that age.

I went to uni to study IT (an ill-fated decision) with the intention of getting into the games industry. I wanted to make games! Unfortunately, I didn’t want to make games in the system that was around in the late 90s and early 2000s: I wanted to be a solo creator, or part of a small team, not one cog in a huge machine. So I dropped out, bummed around, and eventually picked up a job in a library archive. The sad thing is, I could have had what I wanted in the 80s and maybe the early 90s. I could have had what I wanted from about 2010 onwards. I just happened to reach adulthood around the time where doing that was pretty much impossible. (Eh, who am I kidding anyway, I never would have had the drive to be a success at it. I just slept from 10am to 1am.)

What does my sad life story have to do with Enchanted Island, you ask? Well, uhhhh, they’re both set in Australia? (That was a segue, folks. I didn’t spend three years studying professional writing for nothing.)

So, Enchanted Island. Like Hassett’s other games, it was originally released through Mad Hatter Software for the TRS-80. There was a later port for the Apple II, but I couldn’t find it, so I’m playing the TRS-80 version. If this post at Gaming After 40 is anything to go by, the version I found is a revised one that was written in assembly language rather than BASIC. I’m not entirely happy with that, but I couldn’t find anything else so this is what I had to work with. (I did find something that I think approximates the original version, but more on that in Ports of Call below.)

As I mentioned above, Enchanted Island is set in Australia, or more accurately speaking, on an island off the Australian coast. That’s what the opening of the game says, anyway. The description on the packaging says that it’s set on an island in middle of the Pacific Ocean, which isn’t quite the same. For all that it matters, I’ll go with what the game says. The goal of Enchanted Island (surprise, surprise) is to scour the island for treasure. It’s a beacon of familiarity in these uncertain times.

Crikey mick, I’m on a flamin’ island!

The game begins with the player standing on a beach. There’s a sign that tells you that dropping any treasure found here will increase your score. I do appreciate a game that does this outright, rather than making me figure out where to drop things on my own. Checking my inventory I discovered that I was carrying nothing, and typing SCORE I learned that I needed to earn 140 points.

There’s also a warning not to go south, so of course that was the first thing I tried. I ended up in the ocean, where I drowned. (Wouldn’t you think I’d turn back when it got to chin height or something?)

After a restart I headed north along the beach, and eventually to a thicket where I found some tasty food. Remembering that just about every second puzzle solution in Hassett’s games involves FEEDing something, I took the food with me rather than eating it myself. East of the thicket was a rocky flat and a cave, but it was dark inside so I decided to go elsewhere to look for a light source.

East of my starting location I found a green bottle in the sand, but I couldn’t open it so I took it with me. Further east I found an oasis, with a single palm tree. I climbed up the tree, and there I found a vulture guarding a golden feather. The feather was denoted with + symbols, meaning that it was one of the treasures that I needed to find. I fed the tasty food to the vulture, which flew away, and I was able to claim the feather and take it back to the beach.

I can’t imagine that hand-feeding a vulture is much fun.

Heading south from the oasis, I found a dusty book half-buried in a sand dune. Reading the book gave me the following clue: MAGIC BREAK WORD BOTTLE “BIMBO”. This looked like two clues jumbled up to me. I tried breaking the bottle, only to be told that there was nothing hard enough here. I also tried typing SAY BIMBO, but nothing happened. The game definitely recognised BIMBO though, so I was on the right track.

I followed a winding path around from where I’d found the book, past a waterfall (with no secret room behind it, what a rip), and to the edge of a cliff. There I found a lighter, which would definitely come in handy if I ever found a light source to use it on. North and east of that I eventually came to a place called Spyglass Hill, where I encountered a deer. Nothing I tried to do worked, not even KILL DEER, so I left this for later.

South of the deer I found a shady spot, where a warlock was guarding a silver key, the second of the treasures that I needed. Much like the deer, the warlock didn’t respond to anything I did, but he also wouldn’t let me take they key.

This was all looking very similar in structure to Voyage to Atlantis. That game had treasures scattered around the map, most of them guarded by creatures that served no other purpose than to act as obstacles to the treasure they were guarding. Solving the game was a case of finding the solution to getting rid of each creature, and if memory served a lot of those solutions would involve food. I’d already found one that backed that up.

The only other place to explore was east of the oasis, which led me a large rock with writing on it. The writing read: “WARLOCK SLIP. HIT DEER”. The first part of that didn’t look like something I could act on right now, but I went back and tried HIT DEER. I was told “I’ve no weapon, so I’d rather not.” Something else to remember.

I went back to the rock and tried breaking the bottle. The rock was obviously hard enough, because the bottle shattered and revealed a note inside. The note read: “HOLY SMOKES, A TIGER! BARBS LIKE BAN…” The rest of the note was too faded to read. I hadn’t encountered a tiger yet, nor had I met a “barb”, which I figured was short for barbarian.

North and east of the rock, through some tall reeds, I found a depression with a lantern on the ground. This was the light source I was looking for, and with the lighter I was able to ignite the lantern and start exploring the cave. Thankfully, the lantern doesn’t appear to ever run out.

The caves were almost as big as the rest of the island I’d explored, but only a few locations had items of interest in them. In a “sacred chamber” to the north and east I found a gold ring, the first unguarded treasure that I’d found. West of that, in a dead end, I found an emerald embedded in the wall. I mustn’t have had the right tool on me though, because I couldn’t get it out.

A little bit north and west of the entrance I found a cell, with a human skull on the floor. South of that was another dead end, with a “mammoth ruby”, another unguarded treasure that I gleefully pocketed. I’d thought its implied size might cause me problems, but it didn’t.

North of that I found a strange cave, where a medicine man was guarding a crate. As with every other living thing in the game, he was non-responsive to all of my actions except trying to take that crate.

At this point, I’d explored every part of the island that I could find, and none of the inventory items I had were obvious solutions to the obstacles before me. I needed something that could make the warlock slip, a weapon to hit the deer with, and a tool to pry the emerald from the wall. As for the medicine man, I didn’t have any clues as to how to sort him out. There was nothing for it but to retrace my steps around the island and make sure that I hadn’t missed anything.

I found the first clue to what I was missing at the top of the oasis palm tree. The description there said that I could see a jungle to the south, but I couldn’t see a way to get there. This put me in the mind of the passwords from Colossal Cave Adventure and its variants, so I tried SAY BIMBO again. This time it worked, teleporting me to a dead end in the cave. This didn’t seem all that helpful, so I tried it again, and this time it teleported me to the jungle I had seen from afar.

If I say this word one more time I’m going to get cancelled.

It took a little while, and another death, to figure out what I had done to make BIMBO work. It turns out that you need the ruby in your possession. There is a clue to this in the game, although I never found it: if you type OPEN BOOK rather than READ BOOK, a hollow voice tells you that “the ruby was Bimbo’s”. I’m not sure why you’d try that once you’ve read it, but it’s not the first game I’ve played where the two commands give different results. Usually, it’s that there’s a note or something hidden between the pages. Anyway, I worked out the solution through process of elimination, by trying the magic word every time I picked something up or did anything else noteworthy.

The jungle was a pretty small area. To the west, I found a hut with a barbarian guarding some rare spices. To the north was a tiger guarding a priceless giraffe skin. And to the east, I found a bear guarding some Cuban cigars. I also found a bamboo pole, which I took with me, but nothing I was carrying seemed to have an effect on any of these three. (For old time’s sake, with Adventureland fresh in my memory, I tried SCREW BEAR. Nothing happened.)

The only other avenue to explore was a dark marsh, this game’s obligatory maze. Since this was a marsh I didn’t think that leaving inventory breadcrumbs would work as a mapping tool, as I expected them to sink into the bog. That didn’t happen though, and mapping this small maze was no hassle. I found a bunch of potentially useful items in there as well: a jewel-encrusted coconut (another treasure), a glowing glass ball, a banana, and an iron pick. I also wandered out of the swamp and into the ocean for another ignominious death, but in a game as small as this it was a minor setback.

The first thing I tried after scooping up all of this stuff (which required multiple trips due to this game’s six item inventory limit) was to break the glass ball. This caused yet another death, but one that came with a vital clue.

This isn’t necessarily a game over, you can BIMBO your way out of the Land of Lost Adventurers. You can’t win without the glass ball though.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. Should vital clues come from failure? On the one hand it breaks the narrative immersion. On the other hand, playing an adventure game isn’t really like experiencing a narrative at all, particularly in these early days. It’s more like unravelling a puzzle, and repeated failure is a part of that process. I can see why people have a problem with this sort of thing, but I think I’m okay with it.

I was pretty sure at this point that I had the tools I needed to solve the game. I started by feeding the banana to the barbarian, who took off and left the peel behind. I took the spices and the peel, and went to the warlock. GIVE didn’t work as a command, and THROW gave me the message that I could only throw the ball. So I tried DROP, and sure enough the warlock slipped on the peel and vanished. (I assume he teleported away out of embarrassment.) I took his key, and went to deal with the medicine man. Trying BREAK BALL here results in yet another death, but when I tried THROW BALL the wizard instead took his wrath out on the medicine man. With the key I was able to unlock the crate, and inside I found another treasure, a golden chain.

“I had the cure for the plague of the 20th shentury and I losht it!” That’s some obscure Sean Connery for you oldies out there.

From there it was a simple matter to pry the emerald out of the wall with the pick, and hit the deer with the bamboo pole. This causes it to bound away, leaving golden antlers behind. How this is done by an explicitly female deer is anyone’s guess.

So far I’d gathered the following treasures: a golden feather, a silver key, golden antlers, a ruby, a gold ring, an emerald, a golden chain, some rare spices, and a jewel-encrusted coconut. There were two other treasures to be procured – the Cuban cigars and the giraffe skin – but both were guarded by the bear and the tiger respectively. Based on earlier clues I guessed that the cigars would get rid of the tiger, but that meant I still had to deal with the bear, and nothing in my inventory looked helpful. The only item I had that hadn’t served a purpose yet was the skull, but the bear wasn’t interested in eating it, and I wasn’t able to throw it either.

This is where I got stuck for the longest, and I considered hitting a walkthrough for the solution. This time my patience held out for once. I just kept trying different things on the bear until I hit on the solution. It ended up being a little bit annoying. Trying HIT BEAR gave me back a message that I didn’t want to, because the bear might hit back. But when, in desperation, I tried FIGHT BEAR, I got the following result.

And I did it *bear*-handed. That’s it. That’s the joke. Wacka-wacka.

So I’d already found the solution, I just hadn’t worded it properly. The same thing happened to me recently with Mystery House, where CLEAN ALGAE hadn’t worked but WIPE ALGAE did. At least in that game, it happened with a verb that the parser didn’t recognise. With Enchanted Island, it recognises HIT, FIGHT and ATTACK, which are ostensibly the same action, but only the latter two let you kill the bear. (Incidentally, trying FIGHT or ATTACK on the deer gets you killed, even if you have the bamboo pole.)

With the cigars now in my possession, I went to the tiger and typed LIGHT CIGAR. This didn’t work, but SMOKE CIGAR did, and I was able to claim the giraffe skin. These were the final two treasures, and I took them back to the beach and claimed the full 140 points.

I won, I guess?

Somewhat disappointingly, there’s no victory message when you win. I wondered briefly if there was perhaps something else that I’d missed, but my score suggested not. I confirmed later by playing an earlier version of the game that I’d found everything, so it seems like Greg Hassett either didn’t want to congratulate the player or just forgot about it.

This is the full treasure list, and the amount of points that each one is worth:

Golden Feather – 15 points

Ruby – 10 points

Gold Ring – 15 points

Jewel-Encrusted Coconut – 10 points

Rare Spices – 10 points

Emerald – 15 points

Silver Key – 10 points

Golden Chain – 15 points

Golden Antlers – 15 points

Giraffe Skin – 10 points

Cuban Cigars – 15 points

And this is my Trizbort map of the game:

Wooaah, the clicks’ll make it bigger.

Enchanted Island isn’t bad, but it’s a pretty slight experience. Much like Voyage to Atlantis, it’s a perfectly competent game that does what it does in the most adequate manner possible. I didn’t love it, but it’s a perfectly fine way to fill in an hour or two.

RADNESS INDEX:

Story & Setting: The treasure hunt set-up doesn’t earn it any favours, but I was intrigued by this game being set on an island off the coast of Australia. It doesn’t follow through on that at all though, featuring a number of things that do not exist in or near Australia at all. We don’t have tigers (although we did have Tasmanian tigers, but those are different); we don’t have bears (although we do have koalas, even though they aren’t really bears; and I suppose there are always the dreaded, deadly Drop Bears); and according to the internet we don’t even have vultures. I’ll give Hassett the warlock, but “medicine man” isn’t really a title that gets used for our country’s indigenous elders. It’s much more of a generic hodge-podge of jungle stereotypes, and not all that interesting. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Characters & Monsters: As with Hassett’s other games, Enchanted Island doesn’t have living creatures or even the digital representation of such: it just has obstacles. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Aesthetics: Silent, text-based, terse. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Puzzles: The puzzles are simple, and not all that clever. Only two of them presented any difficulty, and the solution to the bear puzzle is really not solvable without simple trial-and-error. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Mechanics: The parser is a basic two word affair, which has its own set of strengths and limitations. It does pretty much everything it sets out to do adequately, and there was only one place where I had real parser trouble. Rating: 3 out of 7.

Challenge: A game that I can knock off in under two hours definitely gets lumped into the too easy basket, but it didn’t present me much in the way of frustrations. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Fun: There’s not a lot of enjoyment to be gleaned from this one, but as I’ve said before I always have time for a short game. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Bonus Points: 0.

The above scores total 12, which doubled gives it a RADNESS Index of 24. That puts it equal 34th overall, and equal 20th out of 27 adventure games. It’s sitting level with Burial Ground Adventure and Hassett’s own House of Seven Gables. In terms of the other Hassett adventures I’ve played, Journey to the Center of the Earth and King Tut’s Tomb are two points below, and Voyage to Atlantis is four points higher. That’s probably because I ranked it pretty early into the blog, but then again it does allow you to shoot a manta ray with a cannonball, which is definitely worth some points.

PORTS OF CALL

I couldn’t find the Apple II version of this game, nor could I find a version for the TRS-80 that was earlier than the one I played above. But on this web-site I found a web-based implementation of Enchanted Island that has a number of differences. I’d say it’s pretty clearly based on the game’s original release, or at least something a lot closer than the TRS-80 version that I played.

I’ll run through the differences below:

There’s no warning at beginning of the game about heading south into the ocean.

In the same location where you find the tasty food, there is also some green liquid. I never found a use for it.

Opening the book no longer gives you a clue about the ruby belonging to Bimbo. That clue comes from the skull in the cell, and is given to you upon entering that room.

The warlock doesn’t just disappear when he slips on the banana peel, he slips and breaks his neck.

The clue in the book is slightly different, and comes with a plug for Hassett’s five previous adventures. Instead of saying “MAGIC BREAK WORD BOTTLE BIMBO”, the clue after the advertising reads: “BRE BOT MAGIC WORD: BIMBO”.

The clue written on the rock is also different. Instead of “SLIP WARLOCK. HIT DEER”, it reads “SLIP WAR. HERACLES’ THIRD LABOR”. This is hitting some pretty obtuse territory, requiring the player to have some outside knowledge of Greek mythology. The third labor of Heracles was to “capture the Ceryneian Hind”, a deer so fast that it could outrun an arrow. There are different versions of the story, with different accounts of how Heracles caught the deer, but in none of them does he take a swing at it with a bamboo pole. It’s no surprise that Hassett changed this one in a later revision.

I TOLD YOU, I WOULD BREAK, YOUR F*CKIN NECK!

Probably the best difference, though, is that this version of the game actually has an ending. I got my congratulations after all.

I do love the old-school TV aesthetic on this site.

I can’t really rate this version on the RADNESS Index, because I’m not sure where it’s sourced from. I think it’s authentic, but there’s no way to know for certain, and I don’t know what release of the game it represents even if it is genuine. It’s not quite different enough to get a changed score anyway.

NEXT: I’ve been checking in on Futurewar periodically to see if my problem has been fixed, but no luck so far. The next game on my list promises to be a more substantial undertaking than some other games I’ve played recently. It’s time to drop back to 1978 and play the 430-point version of Colossal Cave Adventure, which I see was written by Don Woods himself. I suppose that makes it an official sequel of sorts, or perhaps even the definitive version of the game. It’ll be interesting to check out.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-43-enchanted-island-1979/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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newyorktheater · 5 years

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In a year that has ended so dramatically off-stage, and during which so many people talked dismissively about “political theater” — but they didn’t mean anything actually happening in a work of art — it’s good to celebrate the memorable moments that happened nightly on New York stages.

These were moments that were memorable as a visual spectacle or a verbal tickle or an emotional punch, moments that meant something because of off-stage events, or meant nothing but stayed with you nevertheless. Some moments were memorable because they were lovely; some because they were ugly. There were enough memorable moments this year in so many shows (even some one might not otherwise have cared for) that the gallery below is just a sample — as was the one last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. I’m forced to focus largely on the moments with human actors — leaving out the unforgettable moments involving a live goat, a rabbit, and most of the puppets (I do mention one.)

Click on any photograph to see it enlarged and to read the extensive caption that explains each moment, which are more or less in the chronological order of the shows’ opening. Some of the moments on stage were so special that the production didn’t provide photographs of them; in such cases, I use a different photograph from that show.

Ruthie Ann Miles as Immigration Judge Craig Zerbe presided over The Courtroom, a re-enactment by Waterwell theater company of actual deportation proceedings, using the transcript. What made this an especially memorable moment was that it marked the Miles first performance in New York after a reckless driver last year killed her four-year-old daughter and caused the loss of her unborn baby.

“4.48 Psychosis,” an opera based on Sarah Kane’s play about her mental illness, featured this exchange, the words projected onto the back wall as the performers sang them: Have you made any plans? With the words projected onto the back wall, the psychiatrist had the following exchange with the patient: Have you made any plans? Take an overdose, slash my wrists then hang myself. All those things together? It couldn’t possibly be misconstrued as a cry for help.

In “Alice By Heart,” the entire colorfully-clad cast turned into a single giant caterpillar

In “The Cake,” Debra Jo Rupp portrayed Della, a good-natured Christian baker in North Carolina who refuses to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding, and then feels guilty about it. Late at night, in bed with her husband Tim, she tries to explore her conscience with him as sounding board. Tim doesn’t want to hear it. He thinks she was right to turn down the lesbians. Tim: It’s – it’s just not natural. Della: Well, neither is confectioner’s sugar!

In “Ain’t No Mo’,” the play by Jordan E. Cooper, making his Off-Broadway debut as both a playwright and an actor, African-American are leaving the United States en masse on flights to Africa. In the final scene, Cooper as pink-garbed stewardess Peaches is left behind. The final stream-of-consciousness monologue, accompanied by the voices of famous black Americans –Bessie and Billie, James Brown, James Baldwin, and Malcolm X — is a metaphor for the black experience in America, as Peaches can’t uproot the bag of black history, and is left defeated, stripped down to a bare black man, shouting “Give it back, give it back.”

“Ashes,” a haunting work of theatre that told the real-life story of an arsonist, was peopled with dozens of characters — all but the narrator are puppets. In one of many astounding moments of magic, the narrator’s father (a puppet) who is dying smokes a cigarette, and exhales the smoke, which then curls up into the air and magically forms the text: “The last thing I did to my father was lie to him.”

Ali Stroker as the fun-loving, oversexed Ado Annie in “Oklahoma!”, teases and kisses, flirts with and sings to the dim Will Parker (James Davis), — and most memorably swings with him gleefully on her wheelchair.

Andre De Shields commands the stage in Hadestown from the get-go. The show begins in complete silence as the rest of the cast watches Hermes, in his elegant, grey silk suit, slide across the stage, pause, and open a button to show a loud and splendid vest, before trombone player Briane Drye lets out a blast from jazz heaven and De Shields launches into the get-down “Road to Hell.” It’s the quietest, and most mesmerizing, opening of any show on Broadway.

“Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise” a kung-fu musical that was the inaugural show in the mammoth McCourt Theater during the inaugural season of The Shed, the arts center that’s part of the gleaming and sterile new Hudson Yards neighborhood. The musical took advantage of the space, when the performers soared up 80 feet in the air for aerial acrobatics and then back down again.

“Moulin Rouge” was thrilling from the moment you entered the theater… until about ten minutes after it began. That’s because the brightest star in this stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 movie musical is designer Derek McLane’s set. Before we even take our seats, it envelopes us in love, or at least in lots of red – a huge red neon “Moulin Rouge” sign above red lights in the shape of a half a dozen hearts nestled lovingly within each other, a full-sized, red windmill full of lights perched on the box seats above us to our left, a life-sized elephant (which, for variety, is purple) in the box seats to our right…

In an arresting moment in “Deluge,” a tall white dancer dressed in black tossed up a short black dancer dressed in red, accompanied by a score that included recordings of some of the most fulsome public comments by Donald Trump and other politicians (“These are animals…Pocahontas…legitimate rape…”) The dance company whose members wrote, choreographed and performed this remarkable piece is called Loco-Motion Dance Theater for Children, and they were performing as part of the 16th annual Rebel Verses Youth Arts Festival, an exciting and inspiring show presenting artists ages 13 to 19 from some dozen youth theater companies. The festival was almost as impressive for what was not on stage as for what was: There were no teenage cliques, no obsession with popularity. It was not the standard depiction of teenagers in even well-meaning shows on Broadway

“Sincerity Forever,” one of the five plays in Perfect Catatrophes, a festival of Mac Wellman plays, takes place in a fictional Southern town named Hillsbottom. Jesus H. Christ, a black woman, comes visiting and the town’s teenagers, dressed casually in Klu Klux Klan’s outfits, are oblivious. In the first of several memorable moments, two of the teens admit that they are ignorant – “I don’t know why the sky is blue, and I don’t know what ‘blue’ is, and I don’t know why I don’t know,” — but conclude that their ignorance must nonetheless somehow be God’s plan. “the most important thing is not what you know, but whether you’re sincere or not.”

At the end of “Novenas for a Lost Hospital,” which sweeps through the 161-year history of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village, focusing on the cholera and AIDS epidemics, Kathleen Chalfant as Mother Seton leads the audience down the narrow staircase to the street, and then the block and a half over to the so-called St. Vincent’s Triangle, a new park across the street from where the hospital once stood. It’s the site of the New York City AIDS Memorial. The audience stood in a circle for the epilogue, beneath the white steel triangle canopy of the memorial.

In “The Great Society,” which chronicles the final four years of LBJ’s presidency, we get out of the White House in just a handful of scenes. In the most memorable, Jimmy Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old Alabaman tries to register to vote, and is killed doing so, which leads to the confrontations between Civil Rights marchers and Alabama troops on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

There is one spectacularly funny moment in “Scotland, PA” musical comedy version of “Macbeth,” which is based on Billy Morrissette’s 2001 movie, and is set in a fast-food restaurant in the “podunk town” of Scotland, Pennsylvania in 1975. After married couple Mac and Pat Kill Duncan, they take over his restaurant. All the fast-food workers are dressed in construction jumpsuits and the establishment is covered with canvas. Suddenly, all the workers strip off their outfit, and simultaneously all the canvas falls off, and we see red and gold costumes, red and gold décor, a huge yellow M sign, and the new name of the restaurant: McBeth’s. This is one of the two shows this year in New York that featured a funny scene involving McDonald’s. The other was Soft Power — which opened the same week!

At the end of Tina, The Tina Turner Musical, Adrienne Warner — dressed in trademark tight red leather mini-dress, highest of heels and tallest of wigs, ascending a staircase of flashing lights backed by a raucous band each in his own Hollywood Square — delivers Tina Turner’s greatest hits – Nutbush City Limits, Proud Mary ( “Rollin’, rollin’ rollin’ on the river…”) – and we all rise as one, ecstatic, and swoon.. I’m not sure what it says – but it says something – that this greatest moment in the musical’s nearly three hours occurs after the curtain call.

This sexy scene in The Inheritance is not actually the most memorable in the play. That comes at the end of the first part of this two-part play, when the young gay men who died during the peak of the AIDS epidemic walk from the back of the theater one by one to the stage to shake hands with the living.

In “You Oughta Know,” the exhilarating show-stopping number from Jagged Little Pill, Jo confronts her girlfriend Jackie, whom she had discovered in bed with a new boy in their high school named Phoenix: “Every time you speak his name, does he know how you told me you’d be there until you died. Til you died, but you’re still alive….you, you, you oughta know. You, you,you,you…” As Jo, Lauren Patten’s delivery of the song is so forceful and electric that it prompted a standing ovation.

Memorable Moments on Stage in 2019 In a year that has ended so dramatically off-stage, and during which so many people talked dismissively about "political theater" -- but they didn't mean anything actually happening in a work of art -- it's good to celebrate the memorable moments that happened nightly on New York stages.

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jeremyhowlett · 8 years

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As I take a look back over the course of 2016 there is much to be thankful for. It has been a year full of blessings and adventure. We have been blessed in so many ways. I’ve been able to explore more of the world that God has created for us. And often, I’ve been able to bring my family along with me on these adventures. The outdoors is where I feel most comfortable. I enjoy exploring and playing outside. A lifestyle that allows me to do that is vital to my overall balance, happiness, and mindfulness. Being able to do this with my family is necessary.

Here is a look at what 2016 brought to me and my family.

A Ski Family

The year started off where it was going to end, skiing. We rung in the New Year of 2016 with some fun family ski time. Through utilizing the Alta Copper Pass and hand me down skis we were able to get our children into skiing last winter. The oldest was into it at first but after a scary incident at Sundance she decided that skiing was no longer for her. The boy and the next youngest are passionately in love with it though. That excitement has carried over to this next season as well. It was a fun start to getting them out in the snow.

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I was able to get out on some great ski adventures to start 2016. I was able to summit a few 10,000+ foot peaks on skis as well as go out on a yurt trip in the Uintahs.

The view back to Wolverine Cirque and the Alpine Ridgeline from the summit of Honeycomb South Peak

It is hard to beat a winter destination that is not in a yurt! Especially one obtained by your own power.

Racing On A Whim

In February we took the family and headed down for the weekend in Paige, AZ. I decided to jump into the Antelope Canyon 50. From little running and some ski touring I was planning to get through the first 33 miles of the race. I would have signed up for the 55k but then I would not have had the opportunity to run through Antelope Canyon. It was worth it to get in the canyon. I see why so many people travel from all over to visit this place! It was fantastic!

The slot canyons of the desert are amazing. Well worth heading down to do the Antelope Canyon 50!

Ready to enter the canyon and run on through.

After the race we took the slight detour over to Zion National Park. Not a lot of time to spend there, but enough to get out and enjoy the surroundings. Also, it was early season so we could drive through the entire canyon. It was pretty cool jumping into a race late and still making my goal. I tend not to race much unless it is for the scenery and this one had excellent scenery!

Cautiously overlooking Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River in Paige, Arizona after the Antelope Canyon 50.

Any time that you can make a trip over to Zion National Park it is worth the detour. We swung by for a couple of hours.

We enjoyed a great family outing to the open house of the Provo City Center Temple. It is wonderful to take our children to visit these sacred buildings and teach them about the importance of God’s holy temples.

Sometimes you need to head south for a bit to escape the cold. Altra hosted a fun athlete summit in Las Vegas. Leslie and I headed down to join in on the festivities.

The Altra elite athlete team

We are always looking for a fun race and an opportunity to travel and visit someplace new. Leslie and I headed out so that she would be able to race the inaugural Mendocino 50k this spring.

Traveling for races is more than just running! We get to see such beautiful spots!

Spring brought some great new beginnings. I had the privilege to baptize my third child. What a glorious day! These are the great moments as parents.

Excellent family days!

A Registered Nurse!

Years ago, we decided as a couple that Leslie would pursue a degree in nursing. This would give her something to fall back on were we to ever need it. She was placed on the wait list and it seemed as though the day would never arrive that she were to go back to school. Well, that day came a couple of years ago. After hard work, family sacrifices, and what didn’t even really seem like that long, she has done it! Leslie is now an RN! This is probably the biggest event of the year and we are all so proud!

Celebrating with mom on her big day!

This year brought about other changes. This past summer we decided that it was time to move on from Altra. It was a hard decision, but the time seemed right and it is time for new challenges. I am currently helping a couple of startups and doing some consulting in marketing and brand strategy.

As the snow melted and the ski season ended it was time to move onto summer fun. What is more fun to do in the summer than to get out camping? And because camping isn’t enough we needed to make it a family backpacking trip. Our first ever full family backpacking trip happened as we went up above Horsetail Falls up the canyon from Alpine, Utah. It was steep and rugged at parts, but worth the adventure! We did run into a bullhead snake on our way down. That made us all a little more edgy on the descent.

This year Leslie got into Western States through an Altra sponsored position. What a superb venue!

Leslie got out to preview the course at the Western States training weekend over Memorial Day Weekend.

Yosemite National Park

On the way out to Western States we took the southern route through Mammoth, California and into Yosemite National Park. This was my theme park! This was the first time that I had ever been to Yosemite and it lived up to the hype. It was such an excellent place. As we drove into the Valley for the first time it took my breath away. Half Dome stands supreme from the moment that you come around the corner. The granite walls are superb. Yosemite is truly magical!

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While in Yosemite I did an awesome 26+ mile run from Tuolumne Meadows down into the Valley along the John Muir Trail. It was fun speaking with and meeting many thru-hikers headed out to do the entire JMT.

Western States 100

We then left Yosemite and headed to Tahoe. I’ve driven around Lake Tahoe a couple of times in the past but never really spent much time there. It is a place that I need to go back to. Some time I would like to do the Tahoe Rim Trail.

All ready to go at the starting line in Squaw Valley!

Western States was a lot of fun running around to chase Leslie along the course. I can see why this is such a highly touted race. It had the allure, the scenery, the venues, and the people. It was a lot of fun. She didn’t quite get the day she wanted, but she pushed through for a solid race nonetheless. Read her report here.

The team helping to crew mommy around the course at Western States.

One strong woman! I love being married to this amazing gal!

Rolling into a good finish around the track!

More Summer Fun

After Western States we continued to have a fun summer.

First ever young women’s girls camp!

Second family backpacking trip. This time up in the Uintah Mountains.

SGB 40 Under 40 Honoree

Early on in the summer I was honored with Golden and Brian as a SGB 40 Under 40 Award winner. This award goes to 40 individuals each year in the outdoor and sporting good industry that has done outstanding work. With our ability to create and grow Altra we were recognized and honored with this award during the summer up at Deer Valley Resort. It was a fun get away with my wife and a great honor. We worked hard to achieve this and it feels great to be so well recognized.

Sporting the hardware in one hand and the most beautiful woman in the other!

Northwest Road Trip

We ended the summer with a bang as we headed up to the Northwest to visit Seattle and Portland and surrounding areas.

All loaded up and ready to head out for two weeks on the road!

Mt Rainier was socked in clouds the entire time that we were there, but worth the visit. We will need to be back fore sure! Rainier is so much more than just the mountain. The surroundings are astonishing. Waterfalls, rushing rivers, lakes, lush greenery, and so many trails to explore. This place is a true playground!

After Rainier we spent a day in Seattle. We took the kids up in the space needle and enjoyed a meal overlooking the city in the rotating restaurant.

How yummy is a wall full of gum?

The views were amazing! Within an hour we got to see the entire city from up here as we rotated around.

We then proceeded up to the San Juan Islands. Leslie’s family has some property on the shores of Lopez Island. This was a spectacular place to spend a couple of days! We kayaked, biked around the island, paddle boarded, and ate fresh caught crab on the beach! Superb!

Down from the San Juans we headed to Olympic National Park. On the onset this is not one of the epic parks, but dive into the middle and you know why this place is preserved. Mt. Olympus is an amazing peak! I need to go back to summit it. I ran from the north to the southwest of this park and it was amazing. Loved the interior of this park!

From Olympic National Park we headed down along the coast to Portland, Oregon. Any coastal drive is a plethora of adventure and great sea towns. We got to eat fresh oysters, drive through logging areas, see the routes of Lewis and Clark, and drive across the Columbia River on a bridge that was over 2 miles long from Washington to Oregon.

We took a slight detour to visit Canon Beach

Portland is a great town! There is so much to do and see. This visit was not short of activities. Wish we had more time to slow down and do more (or at least to eat more local ice cream).

On from Portland we visited the Columbia Gorge and visited several waterfalls including the large Multnomah Falls.

The trek up to Oneonta Falls through the gorge was a fun one. It was about a mile each way, but we had to walk through chest deep water to get there. This is worth the trip to the Gorge.

As we have the privilege to explore this great country with our children we are blessed to show them so much. We have the opportunity to spend time with them and grow closer as a family. We are also honored with an increased cultural exposure that broadens and enlightens our view of humanity and the world that we live in. We have been blessed with both the passion and ability to travel and explore great places. Its not always perfect, but the memories that we gain from these trips are priceless.

Back to Everyday Life

Not that everyday life is too different from the adventures that we go on, but we do have other responsibilities that we need to attend to. One of those being getting the little ones ready for a new year of school. We sent off our first middle schooler this year. Wow! That makes me feel a bit older.

Their personalities truly come out in this photo! Off to school!

As we approach late summer and early fall it is time for peak bagging season in the Wasatch Range. This year was not a huge year with getting to the tops of too many mountains but here are a few that I did get on top of this year.

Both Honeycomb Peaks

Sugarloaf Peak

Mt. Baldy

Lone Peak

Devil’s Castle

Mt. Olympus (in Utah)

Clayton Peak

After several attempts I finally made it to the top of Sugarloaf this year!

Other activities that we engaged in as a family this year were Jr. Jazz Basketball, Youth Baseball, Mountain Biking, Gymnastics, Rock Climbing, Scouting, School Play, Orchestra, Dance, and so much more. We are always staying busy with something.

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The year ended much like it began, on the mountains in the snow. As a family we got out a few more times to close the year. Also, I had the opportunity to go and explore some great backcountry terrain in the Uintahs with some buddies. Its been a great ski season so far looking into 2017.

As we leave 2016 behind and look back on the many adventures we get excited for what 2017 has in store for us. We are looking forward to more fun, more places to explore, and a lot more time as a family as we grow closer to each other and to God. We are truly blessed and hope to always be grateful for what we have. We hope that you enjoy your 2017 as much as we will enjoy ours!

My 2016 Year In Review with family, adventures, travels, and more! As I take a look back over the course of 2016 there is much to be thankful for.

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