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cheryls-blossomed · 4 years

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this is kinda random but i wonder if the reason the latest seasons of the flash have been so team flash heavy is becuz the villains have become less personal in a way. like the "big bad" in the first 3 seasons were either some sort of direct foil to barry or literally himself in the case of savitar (still dont know how i feel about this whole storyline tbh). i think that has left the later seasons feeling a bit more, boring for lack of better words since they stopped focusing so much (part 1)

on barry's inner demons since they wanted to move away from having speedster villains i guess, which i get. in s5 it seemed as if they were returning to this focus more on barry and his family (i.e. iris, joe) with the introduction of nora but the cicada villain never felt like he had that much consequence to me. anyway idk where i'm going with this lol

I can definitely see this argument, and I think it’s a good one (you make a lot of good points, especially re moving away from Barry’s inner demons), but in my opinion, I actually think it’s the other way around: because the show chose to focus more on the Team, the villains felt less personal. Leaving aside Reverse Flash (because of his long-standing history with Barry, including his hatred of and obsession with him) and Savitar (who was Barry’s Time Remnant... like you can’t get more personal than that), pretty much all the villains had the potential to have a pretty personal vendetta against Barry. There’s no reason, for example, that DeVoe or Dwyer couldn’t have been similar to a Zolomon-type villain for Barry. Zoom sort of served as an Evil Counterpart to Barry. DeVoe and Marlize were poised as the super-villainous pair to Barry and Iris’s super-heroic duo. DeVoe framed Barry for his own murder; he deliberately made their animosity extremely personal, but the narrative was more interested in having Barry play second fiddle to Ralph, and so the personal connection that was literally right there in the skeleton of the season withered away, and DeVoe just become everyone’s villain, particularly Ralph’s, by the end of the season. Dwyer and Grace were quite clearly meant to parallel Barry and Nora, but the writers were just not committed to Dwyer’s Cicada, and so there were very few moments where things felt personal, because Dwyer and Grace were just, essentially, mass-murderers. Grace didn’t even feel like Nora’s villain, quite honestly, even though she apparently was supposed to be. But season 5 also had Reverse Flash, but failed to capitalize on that potential until the final episode (where the animosity between Flash and Reverse Flash got extremely personal, even more so than ever before).

The thing is, Russo was actually quite a personal villain for Barry. He was a dying man, just as Barry was a man contending with his impending demise. Russo offered Barry a temptation that was impossible to refuse for a hero who has fought and saved the day over and over, but still is condemned to die no matter what. The problem is that the story was more concerned with a sloppy build up to Crisis than exploring the potential rivalry and even ally-ship between Ramsey and Barry, so there was such a strange focus on the team dynamic, while everything that Ramsey could tempt Barry with was only explored in the final two episodes of season 6A (and then really only in 6x07, quite honestly). So, I think skewing towards the team dynamic in season 6A was because of how sloppily the build-up to Crisis was handled more than anything else.

Season 6B was supposed to mirror season 6A. The execution was just fumbled on both ends. But consider the skeletons of both: 1) Barry is trapped by his own impending demise in season 6A and is suffering mentally; Iris is physically trapped in a Mirror and is suffering physically and mentally. 2) Iris (and everyone else) has to contend with a life without Barry; Barry (and Joe and everyone else) has to contend with a life without Iris, if he cannot save her. 3) Ramsey and Barry are both dead men walking; Eva is an Evil Counterpart to Iris. 4) The speedforce went through it in season 6A/Crisis (lol); the speedforce “dies” in season 6B, with Barry having to preserve whatever little speed he has left. So, Eva is supposed to be a very personal villain to Iris; she trapped Iris in a Mirror, where Iris is undergoing immense psychological trauma. The problem is that the narrative didn’t spend enough time on Iris and Eva’s dynamic, the way the show didn’t spend enough time on Barry and Ramsey’s dynamic. There are just one hundred side-plots to accommodate the secondary characters in season 6B.

So, I would argue that it’s actually the other way around: the villains feel less personal, because the show wants to make the greater Team dynamic more prominent. As I said, there’s no reason none of the post season 3 Big Bads couldn’t have been Zolomon-type villains, because they all parallel and therefore have a personal connection to Barry the way Zoom did (with the exception of Eva, but Eva has that personal connection to Iris, which was the whole point of season 6B... to create mirroring arcs in season 6A and season 6B).

#anonymous #replies

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heartspac-e · 4 years

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2.8.2021 (christina)

omg this past week was crazy

classes/grad school - I got into this Natural Language Processing class that is at the same time as life group, but I was like oh I can just do it asynchronously. but wow this professor is confusing during his lectures. and he never mentions code or do any live demos but for the homeworks, we need to code everything from scratch and i can’t use any of the packages that I’m used to. such a pain the booty. im debating dropping it. it’s just hard catching up because i’m already a couple weeks late and the timing is just rough/always feeling behind, there’s not enough office hours, poorly structured class. anyways, that also made me rethink grad school as a whole. normally people go back to grad school because they know clearly what they want to get out of it so they take classes geared toward their interests but i’m just kinda here because this program was really convenient to get into and get out of the way and my parents were reallyyyy pushing it.. more on this later. i spent the entire weekend just staring at my assignment and listening to every indian man on youtube explain these concepts to me but im still so lost. i think i place a lot of worth on being able to “succeed” and always meet the goals and standards that others (parents) place on me and that I place on myself. but i need to remember that if i drop a class, it doesn’t mean i wasn’t smart enough for it or that im just generally incompetent lmao.

relationships - this guy from harvest told me he liked me. and i was shOCKED. we’ve been friends for a couple years but i never saw this coming. i wish i liked him like he’s an amazing guy. even my roommate was like smh he deserves better HAHA but i just feel so platonic about it. i’ve given it a week.. i’ll probably message him soon to tell him no.

parents - this week has revealed to me a lot of the hurts that i feel from my relationship with my parents. i know they want the best for me and i don’t wanna invalidate because i know it fully and feel it fully. BUT just because the things they do/say are always presented in the light that they want the best for me doesn’t mean that it isn’t sometimes kinda toxic or at least leads me to have toxic thoughts. im planning on taking freedom class to work through some of these things. but yea ive been trying to work on a better relationship with my parents so i thought i’d be more open about what’s going on in my life so i told them about the guy and they were SO adamant about me saying yes without even asking me about my thoughts first. and i was like bruh i’m gonna be the one dating him. not u. so pls chill. i think the things that they were saying just made me feel like they don’t see my worth and it’s like wow if you don’t say yes, no guy is ever gonna like u again and ur just gonna be single forever. i know that’s not true but yea still hurt by how they handled the news. also the way they handled when i told them about the class that im having a hard time in.. like i just wanna be happy and have a chill semester. and it feels like they have this mentality or imparted this mentality that if im not internally dying and stressed all the time that im not doing enough. and the past 7.5 years, i’ve just dealt with it because being a type 3 enneagram, meeting their expectations gave me a sense of accomplishment/success. but i wanna figure out what i want in life not just follow what they want for me. it’s such a common pattern and im so fed up. yea honestly the past couple days were pretty sad just thinking about these things.

spiritually - something im learning is that circumstantially, i can be struggling but that doesn’t necessarily mean i need to be struggling spiritually. im thankful right now coming out of the fast and being really disciplined with devos, i wanna continue that and i know and trust that God’s voice is different from my parents’ voices. That his love isn’t conditional on me meeting certain expectations or measures of success. I’m loved for who I am. for who He created me as. for who He’s been shaping me to be and continuing to shape me to be. as i’m growing, i want to know more of God’s word to be rooted in that and not find security in just doing what my parents think is the best. i want what i want in life to be aligned with what God wants for me no what others corner me into. even though i’ve technically made certain decisions about my future as of now in terms of career and grad school.. i trust that He still has so much more in store for me and i’m just gonna take it step by step and overthink about the future. like i dont see this as oh i’ve made it like this is what i’ve graduated college for but more as just a stepping stone.

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junker-town · 7 years

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Zion Williamson will be a college basketball phenom. What school should he choose?

Breaking down the finalists before Zion Williamson makes his recruiting decision.

Zion Williamson is going to be the biggest thing in college basketball next season. On Saturday, the most famous high school athlete in the world will finally make his recruiting decision.

Williamson is choosing between the usual suspects — Duke, Kentucky, Kansas — as well as a pair of local school in South Carolina and Clemson. The Spartanburg, SC native is going to be a star wherever he goes, but this decision is particularly compelling for one reason: Williamson’s game is so unique that he needs to be surrounded by the right teammates to truly maximize his potential.

We haven’t seen a player quite like Williamson before. At 6’6, 275 pounds, he has the height of a shooting guard and the weight of a center. He’s one of the most explosive dunkers ever at the high school level, but he also struggles to shoot from the perimeter with consistency.

What does the ideal fit for Zion Williamson look like?

Williamson feels like a natural four with the ability to play five in small ball lineups at the college level. If you could draw up the perfect situation for him, it would look something like this:

A veteran point guard who can run pick-and-roll, shoot off the dribble and is more of a facilitator than a scorer.

Two knockdown shooters on the wings, with one comfortable as a secondary ball handler and playmaker and the other who acts as a defensive ace on the perimeter.

A center who can step away from the basket and hit a jump shot (think current UCLA center Thomas Welsh). Ideally, there would also be a bouncy, shot blocking forward on the bench to give the team a different look.

Which of Williamson’s five finalists does he fit best at? Let’s break down the options.

South Carolina

South Carolina is a fine program. Frank Martin is one of the sport’s great coaches. He proved it last season by leading the Gamecocks on a shocking run to the Final Four as a No. 7 seed. Even after losing their two best players to the NBA — P.J. Dozier and Sindarius Thornwell — South Carolina will still have a chance to make the NCAAs this season, especially after upsetting Kentucky on Tuesday.

Still, we’d put the Gamecocks last for two reasons: they already have a veteran front court in place, and they don’t have a ton of returning shooters on the perimeter.

Williamson will be better as a four or five than on the wing at the college level. USC already has Chris Silva and Maik Kotsar entrenched at those positions. The addition of Brian Bowen will help, if he’s eligible, but South Carolina just doesn’t have the type of dynamic guards to help set up Williamson that the rest of the finalists do.

Kentucky

John Calipari grooms NBA stars as well as anyone. That’s one thing Kentucky definitely has going for it. The question is whether next year’s Wildcats’ team will have more shooting than this year’s squad, which struggles badly to hit shots from the perimeter. Here’s what we know:

Point guard Quade Green should be back for his sophomore year, and he’s hitting 40 percent from deep this season. He’ll be joined by 5-star recruit Immanuel Quickley, a long, athletic guard whose jump shot remains a question mark. Williamson and Quickley have hinted that they want to play together.

Kentucky has a pair of five-star wings coming in with Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson. Herro, a former Wisconsin commit, is known as one of the better shooters in this class. Johnson only hit 23 percent of his threes on the EBYL this season, but his stroke looked good as USA Basketball junior minicamp in Oct.

No one knows what’s going to happen with the Kentucky front court. Wenyen Gabriel, Nick Richards and P.J. Washington all could be back, or they could all leave for the draft. Gabriel’s shooting could make him an intriguing stretch five next to Williamson.

Kentucky always has so much roster turnover that it’s hard to figure out the supporting cast at this point. One thing is for sure: Williamson would be an absolute phenom in Lexington. Kentucky might not have a true superstar this year, but they will next season if Williamson picks the Cats.

Clemson

Zion Williamson at Clemson would be the equivalent of Trae Young at Oklahoma: the local kid staying home and choosing to create his own legacy. Clemson is far from a traditional basketball power, but the Tigers are in the midst of a great season right now at 15-3, ranked No. 20 in the polls.

Leading scorer Marcquise Reed should be back for his senior season as a 6’3 guard who shoots over 40 percent from deep. Third leading scorer Shelton Mitchell will be back as a senior, too, and he’s a worse shooter (32 percent from three) but superior passer (4.3 assists per game). Elijah Thomas, a 6’9, 250 pound big man, will also be a senior. He’s a traditional post scorer who has not attempted a three this season.

Unfortunately, Clemson will be losing Donte Grantham and Gabe DeVoe to graduation, a pair of senior guards who can really shoot that would have fit great with Williamson. Head coach Brad Brownell has been successful on the transfer market, though, so it’s too early to really know what this roster is going to look like yet.

Kansas

Kansas is losing its best player, point guard Devonte’ Graham, to graduation. The Jayhawks are losing their best shooter, too, in fellow senior Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk. In their place comes a wave of transfers and impact freshmen that should give Bill Self the ability to play with a ton of lineup combinations.

Point guard will be handled by Charlie Moore, who hit 35 percent of his threes as a freshman at Cal last season. Devon Dotson — the No. 26 recruit in ESPN’s rankings — is coming aboard, too. Dotson is another shorter guard who wins with skill and toughness over size.

Malik Newman (35 percent from three) should be back at shooting guard. He’ll be joined by five-star recruit Quentin Grimes, who has a reputation as a crafty three-level scorer. There’s also Marcus Garrett, a long-armed guard who has been up-and-down in his freshman season, and has hit only 5-of-26 shots from three.

At the forward positions, Kansas can choose from Memphis transfers Dedric and K.J. Lawson, Arizona State transfer Sam Cunliffe and potentially Lagerald Vick, though it’s possible he turns pro. Neither of the Lawsons are great shooters, but Dedric in particular can be a stud. At 6’9, 230 pounds, he averaged 19.2 points per game for Memphis last year.

Kansas’ front court is currently paper thin, but that could change next year if Billy Preston finally gets on the court and Silvio De Sousa is ready to contribute. Udoka Azubuike is expected to return as starting center.

Kansas did well with Andrew Wiggins and Josh Jackson, and they would do well with Williamson, too. The fit alongside the Lawson brothers seems a bit awkward, but the best players will play. Williamson would be great in Lawrence.

Duke

No school has ever signed the top three players in one class. If Williamson picks Duke, Mike Krzyzewski will have done it.

Duke’s class already includes No. 1 recruit R.J. Barrett, a 6’6 Canadian guard, and Cam Reddish, a 6’7 wing who can score from three levels. Duke has its point guard of the future lined up, too, in Tre Jones, the younger brother of former star Tyus Jones.

Williamson would slide naturally into the four spot that Marvin Bagley III will vacate. He would have Javin DeLaurier next to him at center, and maybe Marques Bolden, too. Duke appears to have a serious opening in the front court next year, and Williamson would be the perfect fit. It’s easy to imagine him logging lots of minutes at the five given how much Coach K loves small ball.

The only question is if Barrett, Reddish and Williamson could all be happy sharing the ball together. Right now, they are the projected top three picks in the 2019 NBA Draft by ESPN.

Zion Williamson recruiting prediction

These finalists are incredibly tough for me to rank, so I can’t imagine how a 17-year-old like Zion feels. Clemson has become the Crystal Ball favorite, and that would be a lot of fun. The Tigers roster just has too many question marks at the moment for me to rank them No. 1.

Here’s my order:

5. South Carolina

4. Kentucky

3. Clemson

2. Kansas

1. Duke

Any of the top four choices would be a great for Williamson. This is a fascinating recruitment. We’ll know how it ends soon.

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viralhottopics · 8 years

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GOP Lawmakers Are Already Weary Of Trump’s Unforced Errors

WASHINGTON Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) learned about Michael Flynns resignation like nearly everybody else on Capitol Hill: through news reports that broke late Monday night.

Heading to work Tuesday morning, he didnt get any guidance from the White House on how to talk about the abrupt departure of President Donald Trumps national security adviser, whos been mired in controversy for weeks. So, he just treated the day like any other, heading into his usual GOP conference meeting and emerging to find reporters eager to ask about the fallout over Flynn.

Cole responded as other Republicans did throughout the day: Trump was right to get rid of Flynn. But on the broader issue of the White House keeping fellow GOP lawmakers in the loop in moments of crisis of which there have been plenty Cole acknowledged that work needs to be done. Yes, he conceded, the president and his team are just three weeks in and deserve some slack. But the self-inflicted wounds, like deciding it was smart to push Ivanka Trumps clothing line on national television, are starting to pile up.

Stop creating things that get in the way of the good news. [Flynn]is a pretty good example, Cole told The Huffington Post. The stakes are so much bigger than issues like that. I mean, Nordstrom? Really?

Every White House finds Hill relations to be tricky. Its a byproduct of bifurcated government, where 535 lawmakers have different opinions about legislation and governance than the one person at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. What sets the Trump administration apart from its predecessors is not that Hill relations are bad; its that theyre entirely scattershot. For some Republicans, the relationship has been wonderful.

Theyve been great to me, raved Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in an interview last week. Ive been down there and met with the president. Know them all I get a big kick of people who think they should be up and running in every sense of the word right now.

But most GOP lawmakers arent getting invites to the White House. One Republican senator, who requested anonymity, said the president keeps exacerbating his missteps by not clueing lawmakers in to what is going on.

Yes, this senator said, flatly, when asked if the Flynn controversy makes it harder to keep defending the presidents actions.

Its clear that the limited goodwill that Trump enjoyed among Hill Republicans following his election is beginning to dissipate. Last month, he stunned lawmakers in both parties when, with no notice, he signed a sweeping and hastily drafted executive order suspending all refugee resettlement and banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Its tied up in court now, but some senators took note that this may be how Trump plans to lead and that his style may be counterproductive to collaboration.

It was chaotic, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said last week of the rollout of that executive order.

Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he learned about the presidents action from news reports. The White House has been more accessible since then, he said. But when asked if Trumps team soured relations with the Hill over that episode, he offered a diplomatic response: They probably learned a great deal over the last several days.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Trump’s rollout of his immigration executive order was a hot mess.

Beyond poorly executed executive orders, Trump has insulted the leaders of some of the nations strongest allies, like Mexico and Australia the latter of which drove Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)to step in to smooth out relations.

The president has also left GOP senators to fend for themselves as they go to bat for his cabinet nominees, some of whom have faced blistering criticism over their lack of qualifications or their unethical and possibly illegal past activities.

Trumps education secretary, Betsy DeVos, drew such strong public condemnation that the Capitol switchboard was flooded with calls ahead of her vote. GOP senators like Pat Toomey (Pa.) felt the wrath of constituents furious about their planned votes for her, to the point thatToomeys staff stopped answering phones altogether. In the end, DeVos was confirmed, but even some Republicans voted against her, and the vote was so tight that Vice President Mike Pence had to come in and break a tie. Thats never happened with a cabinet nominee, and it wasnt a great moment for Trump.

Its not looking good for some of his cabinet picks in the pipeline, either: Trumps nominee for labor secretary, Andy Puzder, hasnt even had his confirmation hearing yet and at least five Republican senators already arent sold on him.

You dont know where theyre going to land, said the anonymous GOP senator, meaning hes bracing for the next unforced error by the White House.

Some senators were more forgiving. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said he thinks Republicans are much happier about working with Trump now that Flynn is out.

We can all armchair quarterback and suggest it could have been done quicker, but the fact that its been handled now is something that I think a lot of us wanted to see the president do without having us put more pressure on him to do so, said Rounds.

Others didnt seem to want to talk about Trumps missteps. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said hes waiting for more details on Flynns actions before developing an opinion. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who competed against Trump for president in a heated primary race, gave a bland response about Flynn being a good man and the need to keep the country safe.

Asked again if he thinks the protracted controversy over Flynn hurts relations between the Hill and the White House, Cruz stepped into an elevator and stared blankly ahead as the doors closed.

Part of Trumps problem on the Hill is that, for all his schmoozing, he enjoys publicly berating those who dont go along with his whims and agenda. In fact, he often saves his most vitriolic tweets for his GOP detractors. It has already soured his relations with a handful of Senate Republicans and, not surprisingly, allows those same Republicans to criticize the White Houses agenda.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and McCain two routine targets of Trump have hammered the president and his top advisers over their potential ties to Russian officials who meddled in the presidential election to help Trump win. Theyve led bipartisan opposition to any suggestion out of the White House that the U.S. should ease sanctions against Russia.

Graham only laughed when asked if Flynns resignation affects how hell work with Trump going forward. He said he still has lots of questions about Flynn, namely whether he acted alone in his conversations with Russian officials and how he may have been compromised by those calls. That aside, Graham sees a silver lining to the mess at the White House.

It makes it almost impossible for them to lift sanctions on Russia now, he said.