#rather than ''i think realistic tuning is bad''

[verdantmeadows]

To me the joy and beauty of vocal synthesizers has always been that they don't sound real and exploring that to create artistic expression that can't be achieved by human voices, so seeing them become more and more realistic is disheartening, almost? Especially since a lot of artists make the same voice banks sound so different and have their own personal charm. I'm glad that people will be able to make things that sound realistic, but I'm worried that songs that intentionally play out of sounding as realistic as possible will be sidelined, discouraged, no longer created, impossible to find, or unsupported by fans of vocal synthesizers. I don't want things to just push towards being as realistic as possible. There is beauty in how everyone's usage of the same voice banks sound different. There is beauty in the lack of realistic sounding vocals in vocal synthesizers.

[inhuman-obey-me]

What are your thoughts on OG obey me not getting anymore lessons after 80? It worries me because it kinda feels like they are trying to kill it slowly.... This is making me not enjoy nightbringer because i thought i would be a spin off new game with a new story that we could play while waiting for OG obey me to come with season 5, but now it seams like nightbringer will be their only foucus and season 5 will never happen. Sorry this kinda turned into a rant just not liking what's happening now.

Yeah, we weren't too happy when we first heard about it, which was the AMA the devs did on Reddit. It was a shitty way to release that information, and it sucks that they really only said so when people ASKED if OG was going to get season 5/more lessons. It did create backlash right away, which we guess they were...attempting to avoid in the first place lol. But they definitely should have handled that announcement a lot better than they did.

In terms of what it means for the future of OG, we don't think they are trying to kill it per se so much as they just sort of...wrote themselves into a corner, and this was their way of hitting reset, on that and other things.

(no need to apologize for ranting, ours is even longer LOL -- rest under the cut!)

We definitely have some criticisms of the writing in Season 4, particularly how they squandered much of what was narratively set up in Season 3, and they didn't really set anything up on where it goes from there. It's also unfortunate that the original game is just going to be doing the same events as Nightbringer, rather than separate ones, which just means there's really nothing to motivate people to stay. And in that way, it does also sort of feel like a waste of all the effort people have put in to strengthen up our cards and grind affection and stuff, because we can't transfer ANY of that. They probably hope to continue that both sides will make money for them, but realistically speaking, it does feel like they are effectively just pushing everyone to migrate to the new game, and that the original is being sort of abandoned to just a maintenance mode kind of thing.

One thing they did note about the decision was that Ruri Tunes was originally supposed to just be an additional mode, but they decided to split it off as part of a separate Nightbringer game/story in order to not make the original "unplayable" with all they wanted to add and change "under the hood". Part of that, at least at a guess, may be due to the difficulty curve of the original -- despite them adjusting the difficulty in a patch, plus their zero-AP lesson battle promo campaigns, they probably were seeing a lot of drop-off just for people who gave up because they couldn't make it through those earlier lessons to even finish Seasons 2, 3, and 4. In that sense, it's good and bad to shift the continuation of the story to this new game even though they don't seem to have actually learned their lesson with the difficulty curve problem... But that's another thing they get to hit reset on by making a new game.

As for a Season 5, we do know from the same AMA that the story from the original is supposed to "continue" in Nightbringer, which suggests that it might pick back up from the end of Season 4 as effectively a Season 5, like maybe MC will make it back to their own time and continue from there, just in this other game instead of the original. Which, um, is certainly a choice on their part, especially since not everyone has the time or interest in a rhythm game. It kinda feels also a bit like this sudden time travel thing in Nightbringer may almost be a way of buying them some time while they figure out what to do as a continuation to the OG plot.

All of that said, however, considering the lack of direction for the original, we've actually been really enjoying Nightbringer's story! It dives into a lot of super interesting questions and content that fans have been begging for and brings back some of the darker themes from Season 1 that we've really missed, so even though it's not quite the Season 5 we've been waiting for, we're really hyped for the new content to keep coming!

[shadowmaat]

Mullet Wig, the Llama King

New drama just dropped!

I think we've all noticed that our favorite hellsite has some... issues when it comes to moderating toxic groups: Nazis, transphobes, TERFs, extremists of every stripe, etc.

In fact, there seems to be a trend where the victims of those groups are more likely to suffer consequences than the perpetrators themselves. Even in my tiny little mud puddle among the tumbleweeds I've heard things.

So when Our Kitty of Hacking, who has the bonus of being a reliable source, shares a story of a trans woman being banned from the site, I go digging.

In THIS corner we have a trans woman buckling under the weight of harassment and stalking. She's made multiple appeals to the mod squad for help and been continually ignored.

In frustration, she makes a post wishing for cartoonish violence to happen to Our Supreme Overlord... and gets banned.

In THAT corner we have Our Supreme Overlord, who bought a site that has never been profitable, couldn't turn a profit, and decided to shove it in the corner.

Under a deluge of complaints about the banning, he feigns having the high ground and cites the reasons why he's totally right and everyone else is wrong.

Point the first: "We have queer folks on staff, so we can't be queerphobic! They've never complained!"

Having queer peeps on staff doesn't mean much. For most companies it's just a checkmark to show how cool and inclusive they are. It doesn't mean they're treated well, it doesn't mean their concerns are listened to or addressed, and it doesn't mean that they speak for the entire community. Also? Just because they don't say anything doesn't mean they don't have objections. "fear of losing your job" is a hella big reason to keep your mouth shut.

"There was unmarked sexually explicit material and that's against our TOS!"

There's a difference between "showing off results of surgery while fully clothed" and "sexually explicit material" you absolute corncob.

"There were threats of violence!"

A Looney Tunes-style threat, especially one couched as "I hope" rather than "I'm going to" is not something to be taken seriously.

Also? The victim you've chosen to vilify was also receiving threats of violence- likely much more realistic and specific- and yet those threats were apparently not found to be in violation. Interesting how that works.

Additional point: You misgendered her. You fucking MISGENDERED HER. There is absolutely no excuse for that and you can't fucking claim you "didn't know" her pronouns. If you aren't sure, you FIND OUT before you go spouting self-defensive bullshit.

You've turned a blind eye to the hate groups and bad actors on here for years. Now, suddenly, when it's all about YOU, you suddenly find a way to moderate/remove anyone who hurts your fee-fees. C'mon, dude. I'll do a whipround to get you some mountaineering gear so you can finally get over yourself.

Just go back to ignoring us, you soggy cabbage.

[lesbian-forte]

I wanna say a few things about Synthesizer V, because a lot of vocal synth fans, especially of mainly Vocaloid and UTAU, tend to misconstrue intent when it comes to wishing for vocals to migrate or cross-platform on the engine.

-It isn't about 'realistic,' or at least for the most part. It isn't about disliking their classic robotic sound just because of progress. I'm gonna say it- I do dislike Vocaloid 6. I don't think that's an unpopular opinion. But I don't hate Vocaloid in general, and want badly for the software to improve.

Banks like Gumi and Una got smoother transitions and (bad) crosslang... at the cost of getting put through a white noise factory. Their V4s were much clearer and even Gumi V3 English was far more reliable, while their V6 updates sound as though someone in the recording booth is rubbing styrofoam and the mic lacks a pop filter. Supposedly in the name of the iconic 'Vocaloid sound' that the type of engine noise doesn't even resemble. And for those who like the robotic sound and don't like SynthV because it's not, I've got news for you- you can have it without the fuzz.

For one, you can tune robotically in SynthV very easily. Tune entirely manually like any non-AI program, and since there's very little of that metallic twang, certain effects just move to mixing. Rather than taking out the sound of engine noise, it's putting certain things back in instead, which is a lot easier to do than the inverse- and the option of keeping things sounding more natural and clean without all that work is a huge bonus for people who don't think that sound fits their taste or style.

I personally love robotic-sounding vocals. But a clean, clear, and fluent base render output is essential to get the most out of your sound. I love Eleanor Forte R1/lite because that's what she is. Clean, clear, and fluent. But not realistic in any sense, unless compared to previous vsynths. She's probably just an Arpasing bank with higher render quality, but she's amazing regardless. And free too!

-Accessibility. SynthV is very accessible and easy to pick up. There's a limited version to try it out and make projects at the cost of fancy features that even allows commercial use, and many voicebanks have lite versions also with limited features and no commercial use. There aren't time limits on trying out the program- and just like Vocaloid, if you tune something with one vocal you can send it to a friend to render with another. Having lite voices to work with a lower quality version of the same voice that will render it means you actually know for the most part what you'll get, save for a couple quite old exceptions.

And when you do want full versions, it's dirt cheap. It's cheaper than Cevio, and far moreso than Vocaloid or Piapro. The two most expensive voicebanks on the program convert to roughly $120USD, and they're known for their special features and high quality. Most are 60-90 for digital, and SynthV voicebanks are feature-rich with the equivalent to appends already built in.

Full versions of AI voicebanks (the current gen) are also multilingual with little quality loss between languages, mainly just an accent. No need to purchase a separate English voicebank with no appends or deal with extremely clunky input and tuning. Currently four- (soon five!!) are options usable for any voice. Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and when testing is done, Spanish will go from being exclusive to one bank to fully available.

It's also just generally very user-friendly. Especially if you dip your toes in with the basic editor before being barraged with all the features of pro, everything is laid out simply. While the UI could use a minor revamp because it's getting crowded and being able to resize the sidebars would be nice, there isn't really anything bad to say about it. As someone who'd hardly touched vocal synths myself, I knew how to work it in hours.

Oh, the autopitch. This one is contentious. There is a certain laziness to doing plug-n-play on a cover and calling it a day, just like with any other vocal synth. However, on originals, or working with it to make sure the voice cooperates, more time can be spent on phonemes, parameters, and mixing. Calling SynthV bad because it's just 'too easy' is gatekeeping vocal synths, plain and simple. Being able to make what you want without having to manually make every single pitchbend or fight with the program before getting to do anything more interesting is a way to make people more creative, not less.

-In regards to people complaining about the updates- aside from Stardust because of her limited copies and discontinuation, previous versions are still there! Dreamtonics doesn't give companies or individuals predatory contracts that force them to stop distributing older products with the same VP or wait for years to move. They're okay with their voices being on multiple engines and still supported. You'll still get your UTAU Teto, Renri, Oscar and XYY, Cevio Rose, Popy, and Kafu, and Vocaloid Gumi, Sora, Miki, and Kiyo. And you'll get your SynthVs!

Synthesizer V, Voicepeak, and Dreamtonics are not turning into a monopoly. Vocaloid still has tenure and the current version has a backlog spanning back to V3. Cevio has some heavy hitters that make it huge in Japan. Ace Studio is big in China and has the Vsingers. If you see characters coming to SynthV, that speaks of the quality of the program and its capabilities of bringing a wider audience. It has naturalness for those that want it, high quality render output, expressiveness, fluent English for marketing to the west, and Windows, Linux, and Mac support. There's nothing wrong with wanting options, and the companies know this. It's broadening the market, not vice versa.

[thekaijudude]

Blazar isn't over yet but I feel that the plot here is one of the worst. Even Trigger had a more consistent plot

Agreed tbh

Tho the actual issue with Blazar that I have (and I can sense that we're on the same page here) is that this is basically following the early Heisei formula, which are episodic seasons where theres not much focus on an overall plot.

Personally, while I did grow up with the Showa and Heisei series, I always wanted the series to focus on the Ultra itself, in terms of treating it as an actual character with dialogue, actively contributing to plot development etc, rather than being basically a plot device. Which is why I prefer the New Gen series (And im literally just rewatching them while Blazar is airing cause its boring af)

So its not really the issue of Blazar having a bad overall plot, its just that the focus of the series from the get-go was it to be a episodic season. And I wouldnt really say that the plot is bad, but just too basic. Even Taguchi outright said this that Blazar has a simple plot.

But to us that are focused on continuity of how one episode leads to the next, yeah Blazar is really bad. Like compared with the other seasons where each week im actively looking forward to watching the next episode to see how the plot develops after new revelations have been made in the previous episodes, I literally actively procrastinate from watching Blazar episodes cause I know nothing substantial is gonna happen anyways.

Tho on the other hand, the second thing I look for in a series are the quality of the fight scenes. Which was definitely a disappointment because I honestly expected to see an improvement from Z. And while it too had a pretty simple plot, Z's fight scenes then was essentially the peak of the franchise. But Blazar fell short in this department. But then again, this could all be part of Taguchi's plan to make Blazar a more "realistic" series.

I dont vibe with that decision either based on what it turned out but hey, at least its finally ending lol

Of course not to say that its totally bad tho, because we do have highlights like Niji, Brood Gevalka, introduction of M421 (however little) etc

But overall, I'd give Blazar a 4/10. Completely unmotivated and uninterested to watch most of the episodes, might put it at 3/10 which would make it the same tier as RB which I actively hated how the plot turned out but I dont think Blazar, as boring as it is, is THAT bad (so maybe 3.5? Stay tuned for the final review after the last episode). But at least they did remove cringe content (only cringe I rmb might be the washing machine scene?) so at least thats an improvement?

Movie dosent seem interesting either since there's neither new forms nor crossover

All we can do is hope that Arc would return to the usual New Gen formula

[talenlee]

Story Pile: Buddy Daddies

There’s a lot to be said for mid anime, in quality and in scope. Not an epic sprawling story meant to spin off for multiple seasons. Not a mystery that promises a resolution that it may completely bottle. Not trying to change your life, just trying to get you to tune in and look at some ads and maybe buy a wall scroll or two. Or fill out the extensive entries on the Internet Movie Firearm Database.

Buddy Daddies is a fundamentally a more ‘realistic’ show than you might imagine. It’s an unreality of high speed car chases and gunfights in cities, rather than grand political drama or telepathy and future sight. It’s grounded in that the characters have to spend time dealing with things like day care and clothing options and Japanese cultural assertions about how to blend in. Sometimes there are anime made because it lets them represent transitions between worlds and remarkable special effects and build on a particular visual language, but Buddy Daddies is an anime that doesn’t do anything you couldn’t do in a live action TV show, except doing it very cheaply and conveniently.

Here then, is your pitch: It’s an action comedy about a pair of single dads who adopt the same daughter, and also, they’re professional murderers. Hilarity ensues. Well, mild hilarity. Well there are jokes.

Modest spoiler warning ensues. I’m not about to tell you anything that you couldn’t predict looking at the poster.

I could give you a more detailed outlining of the narrative, the sequence of events in the series, but it isn’t that important. I mean it is important, they give the whole thing texture, and there’s tension about the question of how things work out, but it isn’t important. The narrative is a vehicle to enjoy the contrast of these two assassins with one another, and then the contrast of their job (assassin) and then doing a non-assassiny thing (a three legged race for their adopted daughter’s cheers). Core to this narrative then are the three characters that bear it up and their conflicting needs. One could use a classic ego/superego/id kind of construction to examine them, but given that I don’t want to have to explain that structure and I’m sure as hell not busting out the Hegel, let’s just grab for a more useful frame of reference you’ll get: the Sonic/Shadow/Tails tryptich.

In this tryptich you have a character that perceives themselves as a protagonist because of the traits they have that think make them a good person; you have an alternate mirror to the former, who is inexplicably present in their life despite seeming disinterest; and then you have a kid, who is largely too nice and guileless for either of them to be willing to disappoint. Also, the Shadow and Sonic are fucking (this is canon to Sonic: The Hedgehog of course, but not at all related to Buddy Daddies; it does not serve to inform the model but does present operational utility for the verisimillitude of the structure).

Our Sonic is Kazuki, an assassin who, despite being an assassin, considers himself a broadly Nice Guy. He chats up girls, he develops useful skills for operating in life, he is capable of forming emotional connections with people, albeit briefly, and he

Our Shadow is Rei, an assassin who, despite being an adult, sleeps in a bathtub and plays videogames all night. He also smokes indoors, and doesn’t emotionally connect to people easily, which is okay because of his abusive father, and also because he’s supposed to be the tormented hot one. Rei is pretty much bad at all the things Kazuki is good at, except that they share skill in the vein of Being Good At Murdering People, which not only happens to be something they can do in different styles, but also something where Rei gets to look cool as hell doing it. Rei feels custom built to be a very specific kind of very attractive. He looks like a lesbian designed an exception. Still, the smoking thing is a deal killer for me, plus it’s just not wise to get people whose traumas match your own.

No my father did not raise me to be an assassin.

Our Tails is Miri, who is a child. Miri is not a child but, a child plus, a child and. Miri is just a child. Her entire worldview is that of a child, and she’s a pretty realistically rendered one. What Miri lacks in world-wise integration into the story of her family she makes up for by being largely not responsible for killing the fun the way that little kid characters are often overused for in other media. Miri does interfere with one job, but it’s in that interference that the boys realise that they have to do things to ensure she isn’t interfering with them during their work — assassins don’t have Take Your Daughter To Work Day, usually.

It is through these three characters interacting that the story happens. Miri’s needs present problems for Kazuki and Rei to solve, and she meets needs they have. Rei needs someone who can connect to him on his level without adult concerns or miscommunications, and Kazuki needs someone who he can care for to assuage his guilt over what you can probably already guess happened to him. Miri needs some chickky nuggies and microwaved hamburger, and you know, clothes and school and social time with kids and time at the zoo. She needs kid stuff.

One of the strangest things about this anime is that it seems to be able to grasp entirely nonstandards family formations, in that Miri clearly has two dads, but it also goes out of its way to point out that, oh, sure, there are two dads, but the dads are not doing it. It’s understandable! Japan is a culture with a very different adoption culture to my own, where it’s pretty normal for a pair of men to adopt a kid, but it’s extremely weird for a pair of men who aren’t in a relationship to adopt a kid. Maybe it’s easy to see a pair of dads co-parenting as long as they can reassure you they’re not gay.

Is that somehow more homophobic? It strange to route around in my head. It’s not like Buddy Daddies likes women much or represents relationships with them as being some kind of fun.

There’s a comparison you can make about Buddy Daddies that is a little uncharitable, because it’s comparing this funny anime about cool covert operators doing covert things and raising a family with another anime about cool covert operators doing covert things. It’s an unfortunate comparison, because yeah, it does apply, but it’s also dreadfully unfair to Buddy Daddies. Buddy Daddies is a show without grand ambitions and challenging narratives. It’s not a cash-in, because that would indicate it seemed to expect to make a giant pile of money; it’s not a spin-off, because it would probably copy that other formula more with more marketable traits. Buddy Daddies is its own thing.

Plus, that other anime knows that women exist and can do cool things.

It’s not an amazing thing, but it is its own thing, and it’s pretty fun!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[talesfromthemidnightride]

It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

★★★★☆

Synopsis: It Starts with Us is a direct sequel, and while the two books can and should be read back to back, both books carry their own unique beat and story. While It Ends with Us details abuse in various relationships, It Starts with Us details overcoming abuse and finding yourself again. Lily Bloom must now navigate a tight act of peaceful co-parenting with Ryle and what it means to have Atlas Corrigan back in her life.

Quick Takeaway:

Some Relationships don't feel appropriate but are passed off as such.

POV changes fluidly between each other.

Relationships bounce back and forth in a realistic manner.

The grammar is clean and free of significant mistakes.

POV character tends to shape a scene based on how it emotionally impacted them, which can cause a slightly unreliable narration of events.

Each chapter ends with a minor cliffhanger, encouraging the reader further into the story.

I no longer understand Lily's struggle.

The final chapter is best left off as an epilogue or not included.

In-depth spoiler review below the cut!

Right away, I felt as if It Ends with Us never actually ended, and I was just picking up the book again. Sometimes the best sequels aren't what happens a few weeks or months or even years later, but what happens later in the day.

Each passing chapter reminds me why I enjoyed the first book so much. The relationships all feel real, and the characters speak to each other like other people would. Although, I am a bit put off by the thought of a 12-year-old "playing therapist" on an adult almost 30 years old. It doesn't feel appropriate to turn to someone so young for advice on their personal life, or for the parent to encourage such a relationship between their friend and child.

Another thing that I noticed was how some scenes can be presented. For better or worse, Colleen Hoover can acutely tune into the reader's emotions when writing a scene. This can cause some scenes to be a bit skewed. At the surface level, you see and feel the way the POV character feels in the moment, before going back and realizing it can also be slightly different.

Take for instance when Ryle learned why Lily chose Dory as the middle name for their daughter. He had every right to be upset over that, but he remained calm and never took it out on her. But, yet, Lily feels so strongly that he is gaslighting her and trying to manipulate her. It grows to a point where you could almost believe her because the narration, reasonably so, focuses heavily on her inner thoughts.

I had a hard time putting the book down as the chapters each end with a minor cliffhanger. Minor details you picked up in past chapters will suddenly make a lot of sense in a later chapter. Add in the alternating POV changing, and it has you continue reading as the story slowly unravels.

While this doesn't impact my rating for it, I do struggle to understand what drives Lily this time. A lot of it has to do with her being a mother and thinking of her child. I feel more intuned with Allysa's instincts of just doing it and dealing with the fallout later, rather than Lily's careful thinking of her daughter's future. I think this is in part of me no longer being in the same life stage as Lily -- i.e., she is a mother and I am not.

I wasn't too enthused with the ending as it absolves it of any wonder. Yes, it ties up all loose ends, but it cuts out any and all wonder a reader may have of the two. Sometimes, those are the best endings to a series. A little wonder is never a bad thing when coming to the end of a story. Not every milestone needs to be addressed or given to the reader.

If you want your own copy of It Starts With Us, please click here.

I tend to do tea and playlist pairings for books I read. I'm currently behind at the moment, but please feel free to check back later for a tea & playlist pairing for It Starts with Us!

[minuy600]

Review 79-08: Atari Basketball (Arcade)

Is this the first case (aside from Pong technically) where a console game got ported to the arcade? Pretty cool if so. However, I must also say that it killed some of my motivation for writing this review.

I hope you understand that these gaps between reviews will only keep getting larger as the games get more complex, or like in this case, so antiquated that I barely got anything to say.

I'm very heavily considering the option of splitting the reviews to be per console, rather than clump them all together. It's gonna be a while before the 2600 in particular gets anything spectacular, and I don't want to wait to play the far better arcade and NES lineups.

Let's finish the 1970s before we get there though.

Graphics (4/5)

The main detractor for this game is the lack of color, which seems kinda dumb by the late 70s, but you gotta consider that most arcade games at this point in time use overlays or have what, 3 colors max? It would've been a total revolution if they did go for it, but it's not yet inexcusable not to do it.

Otherwise, this is Basketball 2600 on steroids. Pros include player models looking pretty impressively detailed and court design that actually seems pretty close to the real thing.

Essentially, if this had color, you could've confused this for a later NES title like Double Dribble, and I think that that is very good.

Sound (4/5)

This game really is a hidden trailblazer audiovisually. It's got a jolly catchy tune on the attract mode, which, despite being a single channel, is composed far better than any other game we've seen so far. Space Invaders did their thing really cleverly, however this resembles real music way more.

Also, goddamn crowd noises and ambience? Solid stuff, man. Once again, it sounds almost exactly like an NES game during gameplay.

Gameplay (3/5)

It's the 2600 version... Done better. I know, it's crazy right

Here's a quick list of things i've noticed while playing a couple rounds: -The ball does not go into the net as easily, you have to aim far better to score. It's still not hard of course, though it's better than pretty much guaranteed scoring. -The gameplay is very much faster and more fluid. The ball physics also appear a bit more realistic. -Stealing the ball seems to be less random and easier to perform.

It does enough to feel more modern without neccessarily completely outclassing the original. It's a fine if very simple game still.

Longevity (2/5)

Eh. At least it's got multiple DIP switches so you could set up a match length, and multiplayer is still alright for a go or 2 if you find a cabinet.

Overall

I'm surprised really, this ain't half bad. I wouldn't play it again in a hurry, though I can imagine it being a nice experience if you find it laying around. Most impressive are the audiovisual aspects, a big step forwards for realism. Just think of the amount of games that used similar humans to these a full generation later!

[desert-fern]

Effort

That’s what I’ll remember you for, because you did your fucking research to create a masterpiece. And that shit isn’t easy

Also creating such a realistic bad guy, someone that is truly rotten to the core

I will admit that I didn’t see this until now, for some stupid reason and I fucking love you Vinny.

I hate to burst the bubble but I did less research than you think I did. Most of it was solely geographically based because ya bitch has no idea where countries are sometimes but I so appreciate the kind words!

And bad guys are so much fun! I’ve always said that I would rather play an irredeemable character than one who can be erased into a well-meaning person. Hazard is just… yeah. I also made him him just a little worse than he was when you read AGAD before my edits… soooo stay tuned Vinny!

[cervixpiercer]

What is sex, what could it be, and what should it be?

Sleights of Reason by Mary Beth Mader is primarily a text on the ontology of concepts. Central to it is Mader’s metaphorical use of the ‘Jacquemart.’ The Jacquemart is, in example, the cuckoo bird on a cuckoo clock—it is a moving mechanism which activates in time with a chiming mechanism. The purpose of the Jacquemart’s movement, however, is to appear as though it is the source of the chime. Mader’s claim is that concepts function similarly: they commit acts of “internal ventriloquism” in order to appear as though one part is doing the work of another part.

The specific concept which Mader works with in Sleights is sex. The book takes aim at a ‘steelmanned’ concept of sex. That concept, put shortly, is “a bimodal quality of humans that normally develops along one of two pathways.” Mader picks out three concepts within this sex concept for close analysis: bimodality (bisexuality), normality, and development. Sleights devotes a chapter to the specific Jacquemart’s at play in each of those concepts. Mader’s argument, however, is not that these concepts are bad because, they participate in or include the Jacquemart mechanisms; for the most part, she does not develop an argument that these concepts are bad (although it is clear that she believes this to be the case; at one point she refers to sex as “ethically disastrous”). Nor does she seem to scorn the Jacquemart mechanism itself. Rather, what is demonstrated here is that the only reference that these concepts actually do is self-reference.  When something like bisexuality reaches out into the world, and points at the mass of humanity, at common sets of chromosomes or repeating patterns of flesh, what in fact happens is that bisexuality points at itself.

There is a thriving literature on the remediation of concepts, what is commonly called the “ameliorative project,” and associated with Sally Haslanger, and analytic philosophy of sex.  The vast majority of the literature in this area, including Haslanger’s work specifically, is committed to some sort of realism about sex, with a more skeptical lens tuned towards ‘gender’ (there is a strong distinction here, which isn’t necessarily present in Mader’s work (although Mader does write exclusively about sex, it could be read somewhat creatively as including social aspects)).  The value of Mader’s project is that it provides rebuke to realist positions on sex and provides an alternative ontology for thinking about what it is we are doing with concepts. Appreciating the self-reference of concepts opens up many more doors for thinking of things to do with thinking and ways of organizing our doings. This allows us to work with more explicitly normative concerns foregrounded, rather than delimiting our options by what we can presently see as real.

The goal of my project is to provide some normative guidelines for what sorts of concepts we might try to create, how we might mark out a concept that is worth actualizing among ourselves. My plans include:

Expanding my knowledge of the ameliorative project within contemporary analytic philosophy of sex

Reviewing feminist work on the concept of sex (in all traditions I can find writing on)

Learning about the project of “conceptual engineering”

Reading sexological writing on the sex-gender split (s/o to Lydia for referring to this as an example of what was originally imagined as “conceptual engineering”)

I’ll probably try to read one “work” from each of these categories in a rotating fashion, taking (and posting) notes from each. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you. I'll be tagging each post with "#what is sex" and will probably make a button on my blog that takes you right to them eventually. But for now, this is a starting point.

[red-riding-wood]

Writing Plans for 2022

I'm gonna slap a read more tag on this because it's gonna be a long one. Basically just an overview of what I will (probably) be writing this year.

My New Years resolution was to absolutely crack down on my writing and pump out more pages than Stephen King but we'll see if that actually becomes a thing.

My priorities, kind of in order but also not really because I am a very indecisive person:

Also, requests are not featured on here because I intend to do those sort of in between my actual fics. But I swear they are on my mind and definitely on "the list"!

My Peaky Blinders fic (White Ribbon). This will be a two part novel series so I think the majority of my efforts will be going towards this. I at least need the first written this year but will hopefully power through into Book 2.

A bunch of other things for Adrien Brody characters because I am down bad and nobody can stop me. Confirmed (in my mind) so far includes: - The Grand Budapest Hotel - bringing Alice back for a multichapter AU of her and Dmitri rather than Jopling - The Darjeeling Limited - have a lil multichapter fic planned for this - King Kong (2005) - Look, hear me out. It's a really cool world that I want to write in. Also, Adrien. - Chapelwaite - Main reason is again Adrien but also I really want to write horror and love the gothic sort of setting. Probably will wait for season 2 to come out first though. Also may use Charlotte (my Peaky character) for it.

I'm probably not finishing that Willem challenge... but I still have a lot of his stories that I intend to follow through on because they will haunt me otherwise. These include: - World on Fire (Light Sleeper) - A two part novella? novel? that uses my character Kelly from my old Far Cry 5 fic and it keeps calling to me, especially the ending scene, so I know I need to finish writing it. - a currently unnamed fic for Murder on the Orient Express - I also have so much inspiration for this and I can't wait til it's written but I have some things in the storyline and character to fine tune first. This will probably come when White Ribbon and World on Fire are finished. - Finish Verum Vindictae (John Wick). I can't let this one fall into the abyss of abandoned WIPs but I also don't really have the inspiration for it right now. - I do have to finish LEOMB though can make no promises when - Potentiallyyyyyy an Aquaman fic that I didn't have a full storyboard for but some ideas for. I love the world of this film and what I had in mind would be very dark, almost horror-esque. - Also potentially a fic for Roadhouse 66. I have the first chapter written, a character, and nearly an entire storyboard. I just don't know if I care enough about it to invest the time. - also potentially (but less likely) a Beyond Two Souls one

A Modern Warfare fic because the nostalgia for COD is hitting me hard again and I think I actually sort of have a couple ideas for it. And I had no idea that so many people were horny for Ghost now so it's actually a thing.

Finish my Far Cry 5 fic. The sequel will probably be in 2023 realistically.

Potentially more Wes Anderson stuff even if it doesn't involve Adrien because I just love his worlds; they're huge comforts to me. But this is only if I can think of good ideas.

A couple original works. Short stories and some poetry. I don't know yet if I will be posting them, though.

If I'm feeling ready for it, and have written enough of my long to-do list, then I may start on my dark western novel that I intend to publish. Won't be posting here because if my real name was ever associated with this I would probably become a hermit. But of course whenever I do end up writing it I can keep anyone interested updated.

Monster sequel in um... 2023? 2050, more like it.

Also let me know if you'd like to be on the tag list for any of these specifically or in general and if you'd like details on any of them since most currently exist in my head.

[jerzwriter]

Realistically speaking was there a time, in their whole life together, when any of your pairings had to work a little harder on their relationship because it has being affected by their day-to-day (work, parenthood, personal changes, just life itself) ?

Of course. Let's be real. Every couple does, and, in my experience, any couple who says they don't is lying (and their kids tell the truth!) 😂

I haven't really written about the mundane parts of their lives because, well, do we want to read about the mundane? Do we want to know about when Kaycee is furious at Ethan because he left his dishes in the sink after she asked him to wash them 3 times? Do we want to know if Tobias is ready to snap because Casey left her hair in the bathtub drain for the 15th time this month? And normally, these issues don't really bother them, but they do today because they had a BAD DAY. This happens to all of us. I'm not really here for THAT, but...

As I get through more of my HC for the pairings (tell me to stop with series, please!), we'll see a little more of this, but it won't be my focus. I'd rather focus on the good/happy times and the REAL big challenges. And AUs are where I will go a little wilder with problems. Sometimes they're not even surmountable.

It's odd because I have Ethan and Kaycee as more of the "fantasy" pair and Tobias and Casey as more "reality". But with Kaycee in place of Casey in Ethan's world, I think I am able to change that a bit.

In addition to Casey's insecurity at the start of their relationship and a third pregnancy that is life-threatening, they have other things they'll go through. Like a phenomenal job opportunity that would force their young family to relocate from a life they love, and at first, they're not necessarily on the same page. After the birth of their daughter, Casey comes to the realization that no matter how much she may emphasize with her husband, his family, and now her daughter dealing with racism in every aspect of their lives, she will never be able to fully understand. She will face issues, from outside forces and internally, about what it means to be a white woman raising a child who is bi-racial, and at times she will feel she's not up to the task. There are other things as well, but these are some I have outlined. But, after baby 3 and the huge impact it takes on their lives, Casey and Tobias are titanium. Not that they weren't before, but now, after he had to face the prospect of life without her, and she had to face the prospect of dying and leaving him and her babies alone... everything is in a different perspective, and they will be united on a whole other level.

For Kaycee and Ethan, I see a lot of their struggles in the part of their lives where they lead up to being a couple, but they're not too bad after. They're a strong unit, they understand each other, and they're both mature enough to know. They really don't want to invite drama. I think that's evident in both pairs. The guys are nearly 40 when they get together, and while Kaycee/Casey is approaching 30, she is mature and more in tune with herself than many her age. Why invite bullshit is the motto.

But Ethan and Kaycee will have things too. When dealing with infertility, for one. Had I kept my pairing Ethan/Casey, I think we would have seen more personality clash issues. But with Kaycee, they're a little more in tune. But still, he lived alone for all of his adult life, adjusting to a partner. No matter how much he adores her, being around them is still an adjustment. When they disagree on work-related issues, there are times it spills over into the home until they learn how to better manage that. Kaycee has a tendency to put others before herself, sometimes to the point that she is harming herself, and Ethan does not cope with that well.

Jesus, how do my answers get so long. But you've inspired something - I'm going to ask you all - take a look at my next post. :)

Thanks, Nonny - I love when you guys make me think like this!

[antrauma]

looking back on it, harukaze really was a great song to end a series on, even if tybw got animated later, like, honestly the whole fullbringer bullshit was a pain in the ass but it could’ve functioned as an epilogue after everything ichigo went through... if it had actually been THE end... kinda like naruto anime’s final arc after the war with kara no kokoro, I mean, I know the quincy bullshit had some very early vague foreshadowing but the series focused on completely different shit for so long that it felt like it should’ve been a spin off or something rather than getting tacked on to the main manga

huh... I think part of the reason I hated quincy arc so much is that it felt less like a natural continuation of the series and more like a disconnected sequel ? and it also did the ultimate sequel sin of invalidating the happy endings that everyone earned with how many characters it killed after pulling all sorts of bullshit to keep everyone alive before... I mean, I’m not categorically against not killing characters? if anything I hate it more when characters start randomly dropping dead to up the stakes? and bleach protagonists survived some utter nonsense earlier so it was really jarring? hell even gin’s death was jarring since I was so sure he was too popular and charismatic to not cockroach his way out of it but it was still poetic in a way? like, I would’ve been fine with tybw causalities if bleach had been the kind of manga to kill heroes left and right to begin with but the sudden shift felt like a betrayal of the tone I’d gotten used to? 

and like, it wasn’t even done well? when one pice killed ace and whitebeard after not killing even villains outside flashbacks, it hit like a fucking truck I’m still traumatized? but it was also logical and telegraphed like a tragic train chash you couldn’t look away from and OP never shied away from showing what kind of world it actually took place in and how it kept moving dynamically even when the main characters weren’t involved, so despite being a massive shake up both personally/emotionally and for the status quo, it all felt natural and kept being relevant, like, it COUNTED for something and it STILL DOES

tybw deaths felt like HP randomly cutting to remus and tonks’ off-screened corpses to show off MUH WARRR only to shrug and move on to the next scene and I hate such artificial stake raising shortcuts, like, I legitimately prefer characters with writing-investment implausibly surviving over them meaninglessly becoming statics on a death toll checklist bc at least then they have more storytelling potential for the future, even if it’s for sequels or other writers or different mediums or spin offs or even fanfics, like I know people randomly dying is supposed to be realistic but fuck realistic when I’m reading a story stories are supposed to be art and arbitrarily changing rules in the middle smells fake-stakes and it’s also betrayal especially when you deliberately contained to small time characters outside the protagonist’s circle? 

tho, you bet I would’ve been singing a different tune if they had the ball to kill byakuya, or hell, renji or orihime since byakuya is still a bit on the fringe... probably not chad? the guy was shafted so hard on narrative importance by then that I would’ve also called his death chickenshit... rukia was still too platonic-soulmate and deutragonist for the entire series to kill, especially with how her rescue arc was where the entire manga grow the beard and uryuu was too involved and thematically important to the arc itself as the last quincy so his death would’ve been a bad fit for the narrative being told... I guess I wouldn’t have wanted orihime to die if only so there wouldn’t be room for ichigo to end up with rukia, so renji would’ve been my chosen sacrificial lion

...I mean, to this day I still I love ichigo and rukia’s relationship? their fates are so intervined and they’re probably each other’s most significiant person, even beyond any romantic relationship they could ever have with others, so orihime will always be the second fiddle no matter what... but I would’ve hated it if they smooched? it just would’ve made their bond lesser in my eyes somehow if all that pure intensity was actually secretly romance motivated? it’s just so hard to find such deep purely platonic bonds between opposite genders in all media, not just manga? even if naruto and sakura’s friendship got there by the end, they had so much bullshit early on and sakura marrying fucking sasuke cancels all my goodwill out... even if I love sarada... besides, hinata’s soulmate energy  beats out the friendship with sakura unlike orihime and rukia... and shikamaru became naruto’s true best friend and work wife once sasuke stopped being such an immediate issue

[carpenoctem72]

A Little Life - thoughts on the play

A little life spoilers!!!

This is pretty much so I remember what my thoughts were on the play, both on its own and in comparison to the book.

I read ‘A little life’ in the spring of 2021, and found it a harrowing and tormenting read, but clearly an excellent book, so when my friend invited me to see the play for his birthday, I gladly accepted. I didn’t feel so much daunted by the prospect of seeing a play for 3 and a half hours, not even with the prepared knowledge of what I would be witnessing on the stage. I am typically quite an emotionally expressive person, and seeing plays will set me off crying if they are sad enough so it was not at all a surprise that I cried around 10 times during the performance.

James Norton was excellent as Jude, transforming from what is a typically handsome, masculine presentation of himself to the vulnerable, damaged portrayal of Jude St Francis, and performing the physically intensive and emotionally rigorous tale. Willem was actually played by the same actor as Benedict Bridgerton, Luke Thompson, which I did not even realise until the end as my eyesight is genuinely terrible but that was a nice surprise and clearly showed the range that he has as an actor to go from acting in Bridgerton to this.

My initial thoughts after exiting the theatre were positive ones; I think they executed it well for it being an 800 page book, which many have deemed as ‘torture porn’, and there were certain aspects that I really liked:

- the bloodstained shirt being used for the rest of the second half - a symbolic staining of Jude and a foreshadowing of the tragic ending he was going to get. Hope seems less likely when you are covered in blood.

- The orchestra that really helped create agonising suspense - notably in the scene with Dr Traylor and the counting to 10 which was terrifying because of the pain you knew was coming. I also liked the orchestra’s addition to emphasise Jude’s anxiety with Caleb.

- the music playing from the record player on stage in the background during soft moments between the friends.

- the video backgrounds of NY becoming blurred when Jude self harmed

- All of the acting was amazing, I was incredibly immersed in the story and every character really felt raw.

- The nakedness added such an element of vulnerability and I liked that they did not shy away from it because it made the moment much more visceral and horrific.

- the actual cooking of food (actually due to James Norton’s diabetes) which made the play like super realist and helped with immersion.

The play also had some flaws and even managed to highlight a limitation of the book itself which was interesting:

- As it is a play and obviously cannot capture everything in the book, some things were definitely sacrificed like the relationship between the 4 friends and the depth of the story - i.e. Malcolm and JB’s story, and even to an extent, Willem’s.

- Harold’s relationship with Jude could be focused on more throughout the play rather just at the end -> the large focus on Ana, Jude’s social worker when he was young who died, was maybe too large considering she did not have such a big role in the book.

- the sudden club scenes were a bit jarring which was kind of funny

And finally, my biggest ‘flaw’ that I noticed is that while reading the book, the death of Willem and Malcolm did not feel so unnecessary because there was so much detail and it was such a horrific book that it felt in keeping with the tune of the book. However, with the play, it was a lot more fast paced (obviously) and there was more hope that permeated the tale than there was in the book, so when it had run through all the bad things that happened to Jude, most of it made sense like the abuse in his later life aligned with his abuse in childhood because often victims of abuse believe they deserve that abuse. This meant that when Willem and Malcolm died, it felt so unnecessary as it felt like overkill, making the story sadder just for the sake of bad things happening to Jude - it was not even a presentation of the evil of humanity which most of the book seems to focus on - just an unlucky incident that made the ending of the play feel so much worse than it needed to be. There was a scene towards the end of the play before Willem and Malcolm’s death where Willem has just learnt the full tale of what has happened to Jude and he starts dancing and blaring music, and it is a beautiful moment of humanity as he sways with Jude hanging onto him, and I believe there could have been an ending like that which would have at least left a little hope. As the book seems to focus so much on the bad parts of humanity, it also looks at the good in humanity, such as Harold in Jude’s life and Willem, and to take that away at the end does not feel like a cohesive addition to the story, but instead a fulfilment of the term ‘torture porn’. 

[thezanyarthropleura]

Sneaky Dinotopia Posting

I still have the first three of the original books (never did get Journey to Chandara) as well as VHS tapings of the first airings of the miniseries (or, ‘Television’s first Mega-Series’ as is billed during the event itself). I remember not getting to watch it live the first night because I was with family at a horse race, however there were small TVs at the venue that were meant to be tuned in to the race, and we snuck a quick change of the channel to catch the very end (the scene with the mosasaurs and the temple). I also managed to catch at least one episode of the 13-episode followup series (Contact, IMO the best one) and I know I read Windchaser at one point, but remember nothing from it. Never knew about the other novels or the games, but I do distinctly remember attending a James Gurney signing, where he had an easel set up and did live drawings. This was after at least the miniseries had aired, as he drew Zippo (from the letters Z and O, although I can’t quite remember how he managed that).

I spotted Quest for the Ruby Sunstone and the live-action series, including unaired episodes, at a rental place once many years ago, but we were there to find a movie to watch with the family, so I didn’t get to see them then. But over the last few days I got out those old VHS’s to watch the miniseries, and found the series on Youtube, and I greatly enjoyed them both (although you kind of have to accept that the series is its own thing, not quite the same as the miniseries and even less like the books). Also watched Quest, and it’s an interesting blend of elements from the miniseries and books into a Land-Before-Time-esque story that happens to also have humans. I found it overall enjoyable even though there are some very strange moments (I think they named a character a slur?!?). Very cool to see the original strutters referenced heavily in an action sequence.

It seems like, to most fans of the franchise, the 13-episode series is either just a footnote or a blanket “it’s bad, don’t watch,” and well, that’s fair, it’s a lot of steps removed from the books to the point it’s hardly recognizable at times. But I still wish more people would talk about it, so here are my favorite parts of the series:

Le Sage. My feelings on the overall concept of the outsiders set aside, she’s an intriguing personality and voice to add into the Dinotopia setting, someone who doesn’t mesh well with the way of things because realistically, there are going to be people who don’t, and not all of them should be unsympathetically so. She’s the definition of a big fish in a small pond, and it can be scary to watch her live on the edge and continue to long for the outside despite what we, the audience, all know is the potential for hurt and danger therein, but mostly I just blame the show’s take on Dinotopia for being overtly traditional and stuck in the past to the point that despite all its positives, apparently some people still don’t feel content, accepted, or taken care of there (which reflects a lot of my personal conflicted feelings on the setting as a whole). I love the way she eventually just inserts herself into the main cast’s adventures as if it’s a way to deal with boredom, and her arc during the two-part The Cure arc becomes legitimately heart-wrenching. If there’s any benefit to the series ending at 13 episodes, it’s that we didn’t have to watch her inevitable Hallmark-style ‘redemption’ where she loses all personality and quietly settles down with someone, probably Frank. Instead, she stays the same free-spirit throughout, with no solid romantic interest that goes anywhere (and, if one reads into things, particularly some overt lines the final episode, maybe a long-lost lesbian love for Rosemary?), and her decision to return to Dinotopia, rather than live out her otherwise-short life seeing as much of the outside world as she can, seems to be a platonic one, with her realizing after sharing an awkward hug with David that these people have become her family.

26. Just seeing her first in the miniseries made an impact. From then on, 26 has always been my favorite number, appearing occasionally at the end of usernames and such. But now I get to discover more than two decades later that she also has some more time to shine in the show, maybe never being in the direct spotlight like in Quest but I was expecting a bit more sidelining in the interest of saving the CGI budget. She has a few important roles in episodes, and the part in The Cure where she escapes and is shown racing toward David and the portal was probably the most genuinely excited I’ve been watching the series, about on par with seeing interaction with the outside world itself.

Zippo/Zipeau. There are a few points, particularly in the early episodes, where his voice is noticeably ‘off’ compared to the miniseries, and while it’s never quite the same, later appearances are significantly better and he does feel mostly like the same character. There’s a humorous arc (in an otherwise strange episode with a questionable Aesop and a vague, off-brand nod to Poseidon of all things) where he runs for mayor on the platform that there should be a bigger library (He got 9 votes I’m SO PROUD OF HIM). To circle back around to Le Sage, as well, some of the later episodes have the two of them begin to tolerate each other (Le Sage being a known dinosaur-hater) and they even get a small moment in The Cure where they save each other’s lives and Le Sage expresses reluctant gratitude. If there’s one downside to the series ending at 13 episodes, it’s that I would’ve liked to see more of these two becoming friends.

Contact. The only episode I recognized as having seen before, so if I saw any others, this was the only one that stuck with me. Probably the most grounded use of the Dinotopia setting (compared to time loops and youth potions and pulling an island-wide ‘It’s a Wonderful Life/Christmas Carol’ ruse…), and it feels like the most real episode of the bunch. Karl finds a radio and wants to use it to get off the island, but instead finds a scenario where he needs to act as a third party directing a rescue ship to survivors stranded on a raft, before they’re caught in the storms surrounding Dinotopia. Tensions are extremely high throughout, especially because Karl has tried so many times no one will ever believe he’s doing anything other than trying to escape.

The Dinosaurs, in general. There are a lot of episodes where it’s clear they were rationing the budget, telling stories that take the focus away from needing to use CGI, but there are just as many episodes where they still decided to go crazy and show dinosaurs just casually existing everywhere. And while I prefer the herbivores any day (Ankylosaurus FTW), and the live-action takes’ portrayals of the carnivores leave a lot to be desired, the T. Rex is still a good example of a dino that only got one scene early on in the miniseries, but features prominently in many episodes of the series. Parasaurolophus is also everywhere, both as guards and overlanders. While sadly there don’t seem to be any new dinosaurs, we do get to see a little bit more of just about every kind from the miniseries.

[cyanidefilledcandy]

Soooo....I've decided to repick up a project I started a couple years ago...or at the very least I have the desire to.

It's a parody comic and my goal is to have the first chapter done by October 31, which I doubt will happen since it's just over a month away, and as I mentioned, I haven't touched it in just about two years (or hell....may be over two years now...)

But I will admit, I have been procrastinating all afternoon in even starting to work on it because frankly, I am absolutely terrified to...

This isn't anything new because I always get terrified to draw anything unless it's digital and that's only because I know if I make a mistake, it can be permanently removed whereas with traditional drawing, my mistakes can be seen clearly, even if I try to erase them.

Another thing is that when I decided I might try a crack at it again a few months ago, I opened my sketchbook to find the pages completely ruined... Part of it is my fault because I stupidly chose to do the pages front and back in an effort to be cost effective and I work with graphite....

So needless to say, a lot of the pages got smeared. But the real issue is that some weird stains got on the pages which I truly don't understand as it's been in storage in a bag for basically a year and a half...

I found a hack for redrawing art, but it won't work because of my idiot decision to make them front and back... And also the idea of trying to redraw them TRULY terrifies me because I've never been able to redraw any of my drawings properly....even if I'd just did them, even back when I was drawing regularly. I can't imagine how bad it will be now that I haven't drawn in over a year and a half and my skill has been steadily getting worse over the years regardless. :/ (I once read someone here on Tumblr that said if you think your art is suddenly getting worse, it's not. It's just that you've tuned your eye and are just now noticing flaws that you didn't realize before because you've learned more. I thought that might've been the case, but no....my drawing has just gotten worse...)

It really pisses me off, though. I hate my fear and perfectionism because it holds me back from doing so much I want to do... Like even in school, I'd rather not take a test and receive a flat 0 than to try and fail...

And yes, I know that realistically, I can't get better if I don't try, if I don't use it, I'll lose it, and perfection doesn't exist....especially in art. (In fact, I LOVE that fact about art. I know a lot of artists I follow say they prefer digital because they can make the work look cleaner....and frankly, I love a messy, sketchy piece of art.)

But, it's so unbelievably hard to break this mindset. I can tell myself until my mind is blue in the face that it doesn't matter if it's not perfect and to just try and practice to get better. But, I can't get over that mental block of trying and failing. Of not being able to get what I see in my head on the page...

And it's even more frustrating because looking back...I am actually shocked and impressed with what I have...

I have seven pages drafted...Messy, and not nearly done, but still, SEVEN pages! And they don't look half bad. And I know I can refine them make them at least passable...

But it's just the idea of completely starting from scratch...when I'm so out of practice...

I have nothing really to say with this post. Just venting my frustrations with myself to myself. (And whoever chooses to read this...)

IDK...

I'm thinking of getting a new drawing pad and maybe some tracing paper to trace the pages and restart them that way.... But we'll see. (I'm getting a new book regardless. I had completely forgot the pages were kerfuckled until just now...)