#so it's kinda like a modal card

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than bellies

Does your opponent have an annoying blocker that's stopping your from murdering them? Just fucking eat it!

[inventors-fair]

Secondary Effect: Modal Flavor Runners-Up ~

Our runners-up for last week are @bergdg, @feyd-rautha-apologist, and @piccadilly-blue!

@bergdg — Clearance Sale

I would never have thought about this kind of flavor, but having both of these options on this kind of card is oddly wholesome? Or should I say, wholesale! Ha. ... But I really like this card, actually. Having these go-wide effects are oddly decent in Limited in the right environment, and having the impulse effect on top of them makes this a great uncommon indeed. I think that it's probably okay at uncommon to make it attacking creatures, and I think the question of what kind of push you can do to make the pump slightly more powerful is...negligible. Which is good! I think that Trumpet Blast vs. Burn Bright effects is super niche, so that's the nitpicky portion of me wanting to make an excellent card perfect.

And the second effect mirrors the flavor pretty excellently as well! I think you can simplify the wording, but I think that it brings up the question of what exactly you want this effect to do. I'm not sure right now if you want nonland cards to cost {1} less, OR if they only cost less if both cards exiled this way were nonland cards. If it's the former, you can say "Spells you cast this way cost {1} less to cast." after the second sentence. If it's the latter, you can say "Those spells cost {1} less to cast if two or more nonland cards were exiled this way." I...think? Maybe the "if" should come first, like Bonehoard Dracosaur. That said, I'd also get rid of the second line of FT, and then...yeah! Pretty darn perfect for the sides of the sale that you described: mad rushes and hot deals. Great work.

@feyd-rautha-apologist — The First Empire

I honestly didn't think that something like this could work. Looking at this, the more that I read, the more I'm enjoying it, and the more that I can't help but feel that this would be too much for a premier product but would be excellent for a supplemental product. Possibly, anyway. The mechanics of myth and truth are interesting here. If I follow the myth, then if someone takes the monarchy it's kinda representative of the kingdom being lost forever. If I follow the truth, the empire doesn't have the same permanence as the myth, but the temporary gains may still be impactful. Isn't that just plain cool?

It's still a lot of text, honestly, and I don't know if there would be a cycle of these things, but I imagine there could be a deciding factor between myth and truth that makes a world of these cards quite flavorful and interesting at the same time. What do choices matter when everything is destroyed to dust in the end? Choices matter because one has an effect that lasts forever and one does not. Like, the enduring myth is a fantastic way of going about these two options, and I love that. Monarch and its related abilities, having been a frustration in constructed sixty-card formats before, is probably not coming to standard anytime soon. I want to still highlight this card as an excellent design exercise and a neat boardwipe to boot.

@piccadilly-blue — Time Gentlemen, Please!

You know, as a translation of real-world action and gameplay mood, this one is a lighthearted play that I feel works oddly well. (For those unaware, the name is essentially "Last call" for bartending purposes.) Either everyone vacates, or everyone goes for another round. That's really the gist of it! Mechanically, this card's quite the upper end of control pieces. If this was printed in a premier set, hell, I'd even start investing in control again. Extra turns allow for big finishers like Teferi to lock the game down, but on the aggro receiving end you get to wipe everything away. Boom goes the readiness for Sphinx's Rev (RIP).

And then we get to this notion of comparable MTG in-world mechanics. The mood is so lighthearted, and the effects would be almost ironic compared to what they usually depict. "Yeah, there are two cards in my deck that wipe the board. One depicts the descent of a corrupted god annihilating the innocent—and one's about a bartender kicking folks out 'cause the night's over." And that's, like, not out of the ordinary for the game. Sometimes Naturalize removes the horrors of the Eldrazi, and sometimes it's a broken piece of pottery. Effects like these are a little more grandiose, of course, and I think it's my own preconceived notions of what massive effects 'have to' look like that's the stumbling block. Maybe we're not going to see bar-themed references in the game anytime soon, but as for levity? I'm not too opposed, oddly enough.

And finishing soon, double-prommy. @abelzumi

[loreholdlesbian]

Thunder Junction Play Booster Challenge

Hey y'all! With every set I like to make a booster pack's worth of custom cards to play around with. This challenge is based on one from the 3rd Great Designer Search, so one thing I like to do is push the boundaries and find new innovations on the mechanics and themes as well as on the general mechanics of magic. However, I also want the cards to feel at home in the set so I need to balance novelty and boundry pushing with not feeling completely out of place. That all said, let's get into it!

Art links:

Crimson Bandit

Dawn Assault

Archon's Host

Aether Bombardment

Thunderhoof Phantom

Assemble the Crew

Atiin Nomad

Midnight Slinger

Thunder Wings

Killer Crewmember

Doomed Stormkin

Shepherd Raptor

Lawless Dunes

Rare

Crimson Bandit 1B Creature- Vampire Rogue Flying, lifelink Plot 1BB (You may pay 1BB and exile this card from your hand. Cast it as a sorcery on a later turn without paying its mana cost. Plot only as a sorcery.) At the beginning of your upkeep, if Crimson Bandit is plotted, draw a card and put a loot counter on this card, then you lose 1 life for each loot counter on it. 2/1

There were a few cards that have a triggered effect when you plot them, but I wanted to push that a step further and give you an effect while it's plotted. I gave this particular one a downside to encourage you to eventually cast it.

Bonus Sheet Card

Dawn Assault 4LL Enchantment [rare] (L can be paid with either R or by tapping an untapped red creature you control.) Whenever a creature you control becomes untapped, Dawn Assault deals 1 damage to any target. Constables Up All Night To Catch Sunrise Bandit!

This is a new mechanic that's kind of like phyrexian mana (Pretend that L has a red cast to it, and a better symbol while we're at it. Im very limited in what the card creator lets you put in mana costs), but with a much safer alternate cost. It's kinda convokey, but has a strong benefit in that it can be mixed with normal mana costs and used in activated abilities as well as spell costs. I decided to use it here, because it played in a somewhat similar space to mount using tapping creatures as a cost which means I could make a card like this that would synergize with what the set is doing. Makes for a good bonus sheet card.

Uncommons

Archon's Host 2W Enchantment- Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature is an Archon in addition to its other types and has flying and “Whenever this creature attacks, return target permanent card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it.” If enchanted creature is a Mount, it’s saddled.

One fun thing I realized is that Magic has two species- Archons and Specters- that always are seen riding a mount. This card is part of a mirrored pair, the other being a 2 mana black card that makes a player discard. I thought that would be a fun thing to play around with in the set introducing mounts. The flavor here is that the archon manifests itself on a holy mount and the "It's saddled" text is a flavorful way to do that that also shows that there might be more you can do with the saddle mechanic using alternate ways to saddle. When it's on a non-Mount, the archon manifests more through possession than riding them.

Aether Bombardment U Instant Spree (Choose one or more additional costs.) + 1 - Tap or untap target nonland permanent. You may choose this mode more than once. + U - Draw a card. “Don’t worry, at least you’ll wake up. More than I can say for the poor fool you shot.”

This is technology I think would be useful on other kinds of modal cards too, letting specific modes have unique features, but I think it's especially useful on spree since it means you can make it more like multikicker on a card-by-card basis. This card is meant to be part of a cycle with a generic costing mode that can be used multiple times and a colored cost that can be used once.

Thunderhoof Phantom 1U Creature- Spirit Mercenary Flying Thunderhoof Phantom can block only creatures with flying. Whenever Thunderhoof Phantom deals combat damage to a player, until your next turn, you may cast spells as though they had flash. 2/1

This card doesn't have too much of a story behind it, I just thought a flash-granter would be a good way to synergies with the WU archetype and I liked the idea of it being on a combat trigger to encourage less of a draw-go style of play.

Assemble the Crew 3B Instant Mill five cards. Return an Assassin card from your graveyard to your hand, then do the same for Mercenary, Pirate, Rogue, and Warlock.

I don't think there should be many cards in the set that treat outlaws more like party where you want diversity, but I think a little bit is fun. I wanted to cost the card where you were happy with it at about 3 or even 2.

Commons

Atiin Nomad 1W Creature- Human Nomad Whenever Atiin Nomad becomes tapped, untap it. This ability triggers only once each turn. 3/1 “I like this world. Much more fun than the last two.”

Here's a card that's good synergy for Mounts, you can saddle something and still attack with it, but you can also just use it as Pseudo-vigilance.

Midnight Slinger 2U Creature- Human Wizard Vigilance T: Add U. Spend this mana only to cast your second spell each turn. 2/3 “You, me, and our thunderweapons at Moon’s Height. Winner gets to walk away.”

Here's an exploration of what blue can do mana dork wise, that ties into the UR draft archetype and the plot shennanigans.

Thunder Wings 1U Enchantment- Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has flying and ward 3. Plot 1U (You may pay 1U and exile this card from your hand. Cast it as a sorcery on a later turn without paying its mana cost. Plot only as a sorcery.)

Auras are a great card type for the plot mechanic, cause they really benefit from being able to go down before the creature you need to enchant does. Only one card plays around in that space so I wanted to do another; a protection mechanic felt like a good use cause cause that's something you really want to get on the creature as soon as it's down.

Killer Crewmember 2B Creature- Gorgon Assassin Deathtouch Killer Crewmember has menace as long as you control a non-Assassin outlaw. (Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Rogues, and Warlocks are outlaws.) 2/2

I wanted to explore what else you can do with the outlaw mechanic. Specifically, I looked into things you can do with outlaw that you can't just do with any old typal card, and this was what I came up with. It encourages playing a wider variety of outlaws, without needing you to go all out like party does. I intend this to be a cycle, with each color caring about a different type.

Doomed Stormkin 3R Creature- Elemental Trample, haste At the beginning of your end step, sacrifice Doomed Stormkin unless you committed a crime this turn. (Targeting opponents, anything they control, and/or cards in their graveyards is a crime.) 5/4 Those already attuned to storms must focus to avoid becoming one with the plane.

Crimes!!!!!! this was a difficult card to flavor but I like what i came up with. i couldn't really find anything novel to do with crimes beyond this

Shepherd Raptor 4G Creature- Dinosaur Mount Whenever one or more creatures you control attack while saddled, you gain 3 life. Saddle 1 (Tap any number of other creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Mount becomes saddled until end of turn. Saddle only as a sorcery.) 5/4

Here's something just a little different with saddle. If you have no other mounts, you can trigger it for itself but this gets a lot better in a deck with other mounts like the GW one.

Lawless Dunes Land- Desert T: Add C. When Lawless Dunes enters the battlefield, if you control three or more lands that share a land type, create a 1/1 red Mercenary creature token with “T: Target creature you control gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Activate only as a sorcery.”

I wanted a desert reward and a desert and i was stuck at common, and that felt quite hard to do at common because the as-fan isn't high enough. What I came up with was this- it *can* be a desert reward, and it pushes you a bit toward that by being a desert itself, but it also works with basics.

[transienturl]

you know on the one hand. I think the projects on @addons that I work on are rather beautiful, that they're full of elegant solutions to interesting problems that I take pride in my contributions to, and I've obviously spent an objectively excessive amount of time on them. which are all things that contribute to them feeling rather substantial to me.

but on the other hand I do occasionally find myself explaining to someone who isn't an xkit user what I spent five hours working on on whatever day it is, and it's always like, well, you know, it does stuff like, uh, it can put an icon next to people's usernames when you follow each other? and, and such. and when I put it that way it sounds like the kind of thing one would code in an afternoon? you know?

(of course it's not actually hard to reconcile these things; I know that we spent the better part of an afternoon figuring out how to make those icons align flawlessly at any zoom and font size in both the post header and blog card modal, and another one making them have tooltips when you mouse over them and ensuring that the tooltips localize into your tumblr UI language. xkit rewritten is kind of like "okay but what if instead of making it like an afternoon hobby project you did it like it was made by the best web developers in the world." turns out that's not that hard when the project owner is in that category and the other dev will spend four hours per PR to kinda look like they are.

also I guess we do pull data out of react internals. that is a pretty significant thing that we do. like I understand where I'm coming from here but we very much do pull data out of react internals. go code that in an afternoon I dare you. disclaimer I can't take any credit for that bit; maybe I'd have figured it out in three years, idk—I don't think it'd have occurred to me to try, is the thing. anyway I did do a fair bit of hooking up to make it faster so that's a thing I guess.)

[blackkudos]

Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was one of the first players of the instrument in the bebop idiom of musicians such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. Gordon's height was 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm), so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" and "Sophisticated Giant". His studio and performance career spanned over 40 years.

Gordon's sound was commonly characterized as being "large" and spacious and he had a tendency to play behind the beat. He was known for humorously inserting musical quotes into his solos, with sources as diverse as popular tunes like "Happy Birthday" to the operas of Wagner. This is not unusual in common-practice jazz improvisation, but Gordon did it frequently enough to make it a hallmark of his style. One of his major influences was Lester Young. Gordon, in turn, was an early influence on John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Rollins and Coltrane then influenced Gordon's playing as he explored hard bop and modal playing during the 1960s.

Gordon was known for his genial and humorous stage presence. He was an advocate of playing to communicate with the audience. One of his idiosyncratic rituals was to recite lyrics from each ballad before playing it.

A photograph by Herman Leonard of Gordon taking a smoke break at the Royal Roost in 1948 is one of the iconic images in jazz photography. Cigarettes were a recurring theme on covers of Gordon's albums.

Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the Bertrand Tavernier film Round Midnight (Warner Bros, 1986), and he won a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist, for the soundtrack album The Other Side of Round Midnight (Blue Note Records, 1986). He also had a cameo role in the 1990 film Awakenings. In 2019, Gordon's album Go (Blue Note, 1962) was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Life and career

Early life

Dexter Keith Gordon was born on February 27, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. His father, Dr. Frank Gordon, was one of the first African American doctors in Los Angeles who arrived in 1918 after graduating from Howard Medical School in Washington, D.C. Among his patients were Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. Dexter's mother, Gwendolyn Baker, was the daughter of Captain Edward Baker, one of the five African American Medal of Honor recipients in the Spanish–American War. Gordon played clarinet from the age of 13, before switching to saxophone (initially alto, then tenor) at 15. While still at school, he played in bands with such contemporaries as Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette.

Between December 1940 and 1943, Gordon was a member of Lionel Hampton's band, playing in a saxophone section alongside Illinois Jacquet and Marshal Royal. During 1944 he was featured in the Fletcher Henderson band, followed by the Louis Armstrong band, before joining Billy Eckstine. The 1942–44 musicians' strike curtailed the recording of the Hampton, Henderson, and Armstrong bands; however, they were recorded on V-Discs produced by the Army for broadcast and distribution among overseas troops. In 1943 he was featured, alongside Harry "Sweets" Edison, in recordings under Nat Cole for a small label not affected by the strike.

Bebop era recordings

By late 1944, Gordon was resident in New York, a regular at bebop jam sessions, and a featured soloist in the Billy Eckstine big band (If That's The Way You Feel, I Want To Talk About You, Blowin' the Blues Away, Opus X, I'll Wait And Pray, The Real Thing Happened To Me, Lonesome Lover Blues, I Love the Rhythm in a Riff). During early 1945 he was featured on recordings by Dizzy Gillespie (Blue 'n' Boogie, Groovin' High) and Sir Charles Thompson (Takin' Off, If I Had You, 20th Century Blues, The Street Beat). In late 1945 he was recording under his own name for the Savoy label. His Savoy recordings during 1945-46 included Blow Mr. Dexter, Dexter's Deck, Dexter's Minor Mad, Long Tall Dexter, Dexter Rides Again, I Can't Escape From You, and Dexter Digs In. He returned to Los Angeles in late 1946 and in 1947 was leading sessions for Ross Russell's Dial label (Mischievous Lady, Lullaby in Rhythm, The Chase, Iridescence, It's the Talk of the Town, Bikini, A Ghost of a Chance, Sweet and Lovely). After his return to Los Angeles, he became known for his saxophone duels with fellow tenorman Wardell Gray, which were a popular concert attraction documented in recordings made between 1947 and 1952 (The Hunt, Move, The Chase, The Steeplechase).  The Hunt gained literary fame from its mention in Jack Kerouac's On The Road, which also contains descriptions of wild tenormen jamming in Los Angeles. Cherokee, Byas a Drink, and Disorder at the Border are other live recordings of the Gray/Gordon duo from the same concert as The Hunt. In December 1947, Gordon recorded again with the Savoy label (Settin' the Pace, So Easy, Dexter's Riff, Dextrose, Dexter's Mood, Index, Dextivity, Wee Dot, Lion Roars). Through the mid-to-late 1940s he continued to work as a sideman on sessions led by Russell Jacquet, Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Ralph Burns, Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Gerry Mulligan, Wynonie Harris, Leo Parker, and Tadd Dameron.

The 1950s

During the 1950s, Gordon's recorded output and live appearances declined as heroin addiction and legal troubles took their toll. Gordon made a concert appearance with Wardell Gray in February 1952 (The Chase, The Steeplechase, Take the A Train, Robbins Nest, Stardust) and appeared as a sideman in a session led by Gray in June 1952 (The Rubiyat, Jungle Jungle Jump, Citizen's Bop, My Kinda Love). After an incarceration at Chino Prison during 1953-55, he recorded the albums Daddy Plays the Horn and Dexter Blows Hot and Cool in 1955 and played as a sideman on the Stan Levey album, This Time the Drum's on Me. The latter part of the decade saw him in and out of prison until his final release from Folsom Prison in 1959. He was one of the initial sax players for the Onzy Matthews big band in 1959, along with Curtis Amy. Gordon continued to champion Matthews' band after he left Los Angeles for New York, but left for Europe before getting a chance to record with that band. He recorded The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon in 1960. His recordings from the mid-1950s onward document a meander into a smooth West Coast style that lacked the impact of his bebop era recordings or his subsequent Blue Note recordings.

The decade saw Gordon's first entry into the world of drama. He appeared as a member (uncredited) of Art Hazzard's band in the 1950 film Young Man with a Horn. He appeared in an uncredited and overdubbed role as a member of a prison band in the movie Unchained, filmed inside Chino. Gordon was a saxophonist performing Freddie Redd's music for the Los Angeles production of Jack Gelber's play The Connection in 1960, replacing Jackie McLean. He contributed two compositions, Ernie's Tune and I Want More to the score and later recorded them for his album Dexter Calling.

New York renaissance

Gordon signed to Blue Note Records in 1961. He initially commuted from Los Angeles to New York to record, but took up residence when he regained the cabaret card that allowed him to perform where alcohol was served. The Jazz Gallery hosted his first New York performance in twelve years. The Blue Note association was to produce a steady flow of albums for several years, some of which gained iconic status. His New York renaissance was marked by Doin' Allright, Dexter Calling..., Go!, and A Swingin' Affair. The first two were recorded over three days in May 1961 with Freddie Hubbard, Horace Parlan, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, George Tucker, Al Harewood, and Philly Joe Jones. The last two were recorded in August 1962, with a rhythm section that featured Blue Note regulars Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins. Of the two Go! was an expressed favorite. The albums showed his assimilation of the hard bop and modal styles that had developed during his years on the west coast, and the influence of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, whom he had influenced before. The stay in New York turned out to be short lived, as Gordon got offers for engagements in England, then Europe, that resulted in a fourteen-year stay. Soon after recording A Swingin' Affair, he was gone.

Years in Europe

Over the next 14 years in Europe, living mainly in Paris and Copenhagen, Gordon played regularly with fellow expatriates or visiting players, such as Bud Powell, Ben Webster, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Drew, Horace Parlan and Billy Higgins. Blue Note's German-born Francis Wolff supervised Gordon's later sessions for the label on his visits to Europe. The pairing of Gordon with Drew turned out to be one of the classic matchups between a horn player and a pianist, much like Miles Davis with Red Garland or John Coltrane with McCoy Tyner.

From this period come Our Man in Paris, One Flight Up, Gettin' Around, and Clubhouse. Our Man in Paris was a Blue Note session recorded in Paris in 1963 with backup consisting of pianist Powell, drummer Kenny Clarke, and French bassist Pierre Michelot. One Flight Up, recorded in Paris in 1964 with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Kenny Drew, drummer Art Taylor, and Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, features an extended solo by Gordon on the track "Tanya".

Gordon also visited the US occasionally for further recording dates. Gettin' Around was recorded for Blue Note during a visit in May 1965, as was the album Clubhouse which remained unreleased until 1979.

Gordon found Europe in the 1960s a much easier place to live, saying that he experienced less racism and greater respect for jazz musicians. He also stated that on his visits to the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he found the political and social strife disturbing. While in Copenhagen, Gordon and Drew's trio appeared onscreen in Ole Ege's theatrically released hardcore pornographic film Pornografi (1971), for which they composed and performed the score.

He switched from Blue Note to Prestige Records (1965–73) but stayed very much in the hard-bop idiom, making classic bop albums like  The Tower of Power! and More Power! (1969) with James Moody, Barry Harris, Buster Williams, and Albert "Tootie" Heath; The Panther! (1970) with Tommy Flanagan, Larry Ridley, and Alan Dawson;  The Jumpin' Blues(1970) with Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, and Roy Brooks; The Chase! (1970) with Gene Ammons, Jodie Christian, John Young, Cleveland Eaton, Rufus Reid, Wilbur Campbell, Steve McCall, and Vi Redd; and Tangerine (1972) with Thad Jones, Freddie Hubbard, and Hank Jones. Some of the Prestige albums were recorded during visits back to North America while he was still living in Europe; others were made in Europe, including live sets from the Montreux Jazz Festival.

In addition to the recordings Gordon did under his major label contracts, live recordings by European labels and live video from his European period are available. The Danish label SteepleChase released live dates from his mid-1960s tenure at the Montmartre Jazzhus. The video was released under the  Jazz Icons series.

Less well known than the Blue Note albums, but of similar quality, are the albums he recorded during the 1970s for SteepleChase (Something Different, Bouncin' With Dex, Biting the Apple, The Apartment, Stable Mable, The Shadow of Your Smile and others). They again feature American sidemen, but also such Europeans as Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

Homecoming

Gordon finally returned to the United States for good in 1976. He appeared with Woody Shaw, Ronnie Mathews, Stafford James, and Louis Hayes, for a gig at the Village Vanguard in New York that was dubbed his "homecoming." It was recorded and released by Columbia Records under that title. He noted: "There was so much love and elation; sometimes it was a little eerie at the Vanguard. After the last set they'd turn on the lights and nobody would move." In addition to the Homecoming album, a series of live albums was released by Blue Note from his stands at Keystone Corner in San Francisco during 1978 and 1979. They featured Gordon, George Cables, Rufus Reid, and Eddie Gladden. He recorded the studio albums Sophisticated Giant with an eleven piece big band in 1977 and Manhattan Symphonie with the Live at Keystone Corner crew in 1978. The sensation of Gordon's return, renewed promotion of the classic jazz catalogs of the Savoy and Blue Note record labels, and the continued efforts of Art Blakey through 1970s and early 1980s, have been credited with reviving interest in swinging, melodic, acoustically-based classic jazz sounds after the Fusion jazz era that saw an emphasis on electronic sounds and contemporary pop influences.

Musician Emeritus

In 1978 and 1980, Gordon was the DownBeat Musician of the Year and in 1980 he was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. The US Government honored him with a Congressional Commendation, a Dexter Gordon Day in Washington DC, and a National Endowment for the Arts award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1986, he was named a member and officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in France.

During the 1980s, Gordon was weakened by emphysema. He remained a popular attraction at concerts and festivals, although his live appearances and recording dates would soon become infrequent.

Gordon's most memorable works from the decade were not in music but in film. He starred in the 1986 movie Round Midnight as "Dale Turner", an expatriate jazz musician in Paris during the late 1950s based loosely on Lester Young and Bud Powell. That portrayal earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. In addition, he had a non-speaking role in the 1990 film Awakenings, which was posthumously released. Before that last film was released he made a guest appearance on the Michael Mann series Crime Story.

Soundtrack performances from Round Midnight were released as the albums Round Midnight and The Other Side of Round Midnight, featuring original music by Herbie Hancock as well as playing by Gordon. The latter was the last recording released under Gordon's name. He was a sideman on Tony Bennett's 1987 album, Berlin.

Death and postmortem

Gordon died of kidney failure and cancer of the larynx in Philadelphia, on April 25, 1990, at the age of 67.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Dexter Gordon among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Family

Gordon's maternal grandfather was Captain Edward L. Baker, who received the Medal of Honor during the Spanish–American War, while serving with the 10th Cavalry Regiment (also known as the Buffalo Soldiers).

Gordon's father, Dr. Frank Gordon, M.D., was one of the first prominent African-American physicians and a graduate of Howard University.

Dexter Gordon had a total of six children, from the oldest to the youngest: Robin Gordon (Los Angeles), California, James Canales (Los Angeles), Deidre (Dee Dee) Gordon (Los Angeles), Mikael Gordon-Solfors (Stockholm), Morten Gordon (Copenhagen) and Benjamin Dexter Gordon (Copenhagen), and seven grandchildren, Raina Moore Trider (Brooklyn), Jared Johnson (Los Angeles), and Matthew Johnson (Los Angeles), Maya Canales (San Francisco) and Jared Canales (San Francisco), Dexter Gordon Bogs (Copenhagen), Dexter Minou Flipper Gordon-Marberger (Stockholm).

When he lived in Denmark, Gordon became friends with the family of the future Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, and subsequently became Lars's godfather.

Gordon was also survived by his widow Maxine Gordon and her son Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III.

Instruments and mouthpieces

The earliest photographs of Gordon as a player show him with a Conn 30M "Connqueror" and an Otto Link mouthpiece. In a 1962 interview with the British journalist Les Tomkins, he did not refer to the specific model of mouthpiece but stated that it was made for him personally. He stated that it was stolen around 1952. The famous smoke break photo from 1948 shows him with a Conn 10M and a Dukoff mouthpiece, which he played until 1965. In the Tomkins interview he referred to his mouthpiece as a medium-chambered piece with a #5* (.080" under the Dukoff system) tip opening. He bought a Selmer Mark VI from Ben Webster after his 10M went missing in transit. In a Down Beat magazine interview from 1977, he referred to his current mouthpiece as an Otto Link with a #8 (.110" under the Otto Link system) tip opening.

[t-underneaththeradardancing]

ulereaching for shards of moments - in the dust whirling - everything is starstuff but u knew that

mind weave day wake dream propellent music - trances the fuck out at 9 am - weighing chances - i settle for unlikely cuz of possibility and the odds are not great  - i set the course from memory - for when its just the motions going through - glide path day  

the plan  sorta the actual not far from 

wild card  always

today its sciatica not aces tho - s’ok i dealz not unexpected - maybe a joker later - theres a kitty like up my sleeve another kinda  ace  - a couple crows inna mix mostly came to share some love i think - a quiet thought perhaps a prayer - a happy thought peace seeking - wishing there was more time to wander - aimlessly seeking nothing - doing - fuck all and a couple errands - energy saving for the weekend - plan on playing both nights - sat w new friend - her name is vita - i forgot it 2x to start with i gave fair warning and i guessed close sorta - the 2nd  - she gave me her card im laffing cuz its true - i could blame it on the old as fuck but it lifetime chronic - she writes songs sings and plays guitar  - she throws off magic casual  - we havent really talked much - dont know much about her - we just play music  - and stare into space and dig the scene  - and laff a lot - every time so far liam has been there - we dont tawk that much either  - we join each others trances like a chord sequence w modal changes - the dorian confuse me every time - i wuz playing a ukulele cuz it handy while vita plays my guitar threatens a kazoo solo we call it a practice - tbh idk what she gonna actually do in my set but thats sunday  - she has heard me play some of my set - joined on harmony and improv vocals to my solos - never has a vocalist lissened so carefully to my playing and riffed off it trading notes and floating - and its fun - no fucking drama 

this started as a straight up poetry thing and then - i wonder if the same thing happen to dylan 

so imma rest b4 dinner 

later

[whoaffle]

My Quiz Pet Peeves

DISCLAIMER: just my random-ass opinions on shit that ultimately doesn't matter and is not that important at all, but I wanna talk about it becauee I like talking a lot. It's not that relevant. It's not the universal truth. It's not the "right way to go about it". It's just what I like and what I think. If you don't agree, ok.

Ok so. Here's the thing: I hate the unrelatable quiz options. I hate the super specific quiz options about stuff I don't know and often never heard of. And specially I hate quiz options that revolve around USA culture and presume everyone knows how USA schools/colleges were like. But I'm gonna leave that one for another day, I'm here to talk about the "pick one of the following" and I have no clue what the options are or mean.

Listen, you guys need to stop making super specific subjective personal niche quiz options, you need to start understanding that different people don't know the shit you do and have different references than the ones you do! No matter how much you think "but everyone knows-" no. Everyone does not know. Do something relatable! Or at least add a "I don't know" option. You guys need to go generic!

"Choose a song from this person" like omg I don't listen to that person, I don't know! Instead, ask me about my favorite music genre! Or a favorite artist, but with lots of different options! (And a "I don't know any" option, always). My favorite musical instrument even! I can forgive 'pick a lyric even if you don't know the song' type of questions, although I do find those boring because I never know the songs, but at least they are doable. I'm just a silly hamster who doesn't knoe any song, so ok. Just remember people won't have your references.

"Pick a tarot card" I don't know tarot. I have no fucking clue what the cards look like or what they mean. So if you MUST use that question, give me pictures and meanings so that someone who doesn't know it can have anything to base their choice on!

"Zodiac sign" would already be kinda niche, lots of people don't know it, maybe give them a date or description if you want to go for it, but honestly, today a quiz asked me about "modalities: fixed, mutable and cardinal" and like. I've never even HEARD of those before, I had to leave the quiz to Google what the fuck that was, like, my bitch?? Not everyone knows your stuff! People don't all have the same references, so I don't know... write what these symbolize instead, anything that made you put then in the quiz.

"Choose a color" should always come with the colors in the option unless it's just basic shades like "red, orange, green". If you'll do "Tiffany, rust, aquamarine, bubblegum", etc, then add an image of the color. Add the specific shade you're referring to because colors have multiple names and no one agrees on them. Use the Hex Code with the color if you want, just show the user what you are referring to.

"What's your favorite characters from THIS SHOW" shut up! Ask me my favorite trope or archetype instead, with a brief description of each option! I don't watch that show! I don't know these motherfuckers!

"What's your favorite celebrity" PLEASE add a "I don't know / I don't care" option, because some people won't know any of them or won't care enough about that! Please! Same for "Choose a movie" or "Choose a book".

"What's other people's impression of you" do I look like other people? I don't know! Ask me how I would describe myself! This is a real pet peeve I know but also ughhh.

Personally, I really like the "What would you do if...." questions, I think they are generic as long as the options are varied, and you don't need some background reference or previous knowledge for them. I don't know why I never see those in quizzes....

To sum it up: just go generic, relatable, practical. I know you wanna be artsy and poetic but like... at least in most options, make it something doable. Make it something anyone would be able to reply in a genuine form so half of us don't need to go "Ugh I wanted to skip this question but I have to reply so I'll choose anything random and it's gonna affect my result and maybe it has nothing to do with me".

Anyway none of that REALLY matters, do whatever you want in reality, it's your quizz and I'm not the boss of you, but I'm just saying what I would personally like myself and it's not really that important.

"But, Waffle, you wrote a huge text post, you must be pissed!"

No my dude. I just can't shut up. Every time I wanna talk about something I will write a wall of text because that's how I roll.

Sorry for the long post, here's a picture of a grasshopper:

[the-ballad-of-my-brain-blog]

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[fancyfairie-blog]

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[dravidious]

You're more amazing than flooding

Big fat combat trick to pump all your excess mana into!

Cards used as example for balancing the modes:

[inventors-fair]

Side Projects: Winners Circle

Congrats to our winners this week!!!! @nine-effing-hells, @hiygamer, and @wolkemesser

~ ~ ~

Mynyx, Progenitor Parasite by @nine-effing-hells

(For New Phyrexia)

Infect is an excellent choice for this contest. Players absolutely want to build an “infect deck” (well some of them do anyway. Those of us who have seen the Light do) and so I think a commander to help you do that is an excellent idea. And these are good colors for it to be in. You could maybe add blue if you want to? But I kinda like golgari as-is. I think a “lose the game” trigger is an awesome choice for this card. It feels incredibly Phyrexian, and helps shore up one of the bigger weaknesses of playing infect in commander. Usually, you kill one player and run out of steam. That’s not gonna be the case with this thing out. I need to address the elephant in the room here: Only the tokens produced by the second ability are Phyrexians, not the ones produced by the first. Those are just insects. I’m gonna assume that’s not intentional, and it probably won’t factor in much to judgement though. On the topic of the tokens, is there a reason you didn’t re-use the existing green Phyrexian Insect creature token with infect? That aside though, I think this is a sweet card and an excellent fit for this contest.

Lakshi, Renegade Quicksmith by @hiygamer

(For Aether Revolt)

A UR artificer for kaladesh is a great slot to fill, that definitely feels like something that was missing from the block, and makes perfect sense as a precon. I’m a little unsure about the energy aspect? Cause I don’t think this would make a particularly good energy commander, it kind of feels like it’s pointing you down a separate path as a deckbuilder? But also, I feel like this card works kinda fine on its own, with no secondary sources of energy, and maybe having more paths a deck makes it more interesting. I think this is a pretty fun card though, and is exactly the kind of card that would work well at the head of an artifact deck where you’re doing all kinds of tricks, almost combo-y shenannigans and putting a value engine together. I like it.

Old Scarbough by @wolkemesser

(For Shadowmoor block)

Like you said in your submission, shadowmoor treefolk aren’t in red, but I don’t think that’s too huge an issue here, especially since this is meant for a commander deck and not the main set. (this also could have been a giant? Those aren’t in black in shadowmoor, so this does run into a similar issue, but the statline does seem more befitting of a giant than a treefolk personally). I think -1/-1 counters are a great theme for a precon, and you’re right that we need a good jund -1/-1 counter commander. I’m a little skeptical that there would be enough volume of good cards as of shadowmoor block, I feel like it took until amonkhet block or at least scars block to hit that threshold, but I won’t hold that against you cause I’m letting people play a little fast and loose with the laws of time for this contest. I think this makes for a pretty interesting -1/-1 counter commander, the modality here works very well. The issue is usually that some cards want you to put -1/-1 counters on your opponents creatures, and some want you to put them on your own creatures, and I think this straddles that line pretty well. I like “destroy that creature” as a mode, because it lets you use -1/-1 counters in their intended function, as removal, and powers up your ability to do that, but if you’d rather the creature stick around (which there are lots of reasons you might want in this deck) then you aren’t punished for doing that. All in all, I think this is a sweet design.

~ ~ ~

Thank you all for your submissions!! Runners will be up shortly

- @loreholdlesbian

[housebeleren]

Guilds of Ravnica Reprints & New Art

Guilds of Ravnica is an exciting set for a number of reasons, and not the least of those reasons is a chance to get all new art for some reprinted cards. It’s always one of my favorite parts of preview season: seeing which cards they picked for reprint, and ogling over the new art.

This time around, three reprinted cards kept their old art, which is a break from tradition for non-core standard sets. Chromatic Lantern, Goblin Electromancer, and Wee Dragonauts are all welcome reprints (Lantern in particular), but they all have somewhat iconic art already set on Ravnica, so it makes sense that new art wasn’t necessary.

As always, it critical to note that all Magic art is wonderful, and my preference for any one over another is just that: preference.

Let’s start with possibly my favorite piece of new art in Guilds of Ravnica. Honestly, this feels like somewhat of a random inclusion in the set, given that it doesn’t synergize or even particularly play well with any of the mechanics or guild strategies. That said, I’m absolutely stunned by this gorgeous piece of art by Igor Kieryluk. Igor has done a number of pieces for MTG over the years, and, for me, this will join the ranks as one of the most memorable and iconic. There’s a softness to this that’s powerful, evocative, and haunting. It’s beautiful.

He’s really good at these mist effects, no? Really fits into the film noir styling of the set.

Previous art (From now on, I’m just doing chronological, without ranking, but I’ll bold particular favorites of mine):

Guilds of Ravnica

Magic 2011

Y’know, I always feel like this card goes back way further than it actually does. First printing was in Ixalan, but it feels like a staple, and for good reason. This type of modal removal has been making a lot of appearances in Standard over the past few years, and I think they’ve been great successes. As for this art, it’s really a cool design. I love the perspective, with all the detail of the different city layers just barely visible below. The Ixalan version more clearly depicts action, but in some ways, the opposite is what makes the Guilds version shine. The calm in this piece is ominous, waiting for the strike with bated breath. Really excellent.

Simon Dominic is relatively new to MTG art, with a couple of pieces from Hour of Devastation being the first I could find. Even so, I really enjoy what he brings to the style. He’s got definite whimsy in his pieces (Experimental Frenzy is another of his from this set), and beautiful use of bold accent colors. His pieces have tons of detail, often with layers and layers of background to explore. Really fantastic.

Guilds of Ravnica

Ixalan

Dead Weight is a card with already existing art that’s pretty well known by Randy Gallegos. As much as I love that version, I find this new one by Lake Hurwitz to be really compelling. The perspective, with the ball & chain taking up so much space in the foreground, is really unique. And I love how well this evokes the spirit of the Rakdos cult, even though they’re not a major presence in this set. It’s a nice touch.

Guilds of Ravnica

Innistrad

I love this card. It plays really well in Guilds Limited, what with all the big Golgari & Selesnya cards running around. As far as the art goes, this new depiction is really flavorful. The Dimir slicing right through an Azorius statute is somehow both literal and figurative at the same time. I also really love the detail of the cathedral in the background on the right side. Amazing what can be done with such a monochromatic palette. Deruchenko Alexander has worked with monochromatic palettes before, just look at the gorgeous green jungle of Ornery Kudu or the ethereal purple light in Entreat the Dead. He also did the phenomenal Spell Pierce from Ixalan, one of the highlights from that set.

I do still love the original Khans of Tarkir version this one by Svetlin Velinov, with the Sultai Naga slicing through the Mardu banner. You can really feel the “disdain” in it. 

Guilds of Ravnica

FNM 2015 Promo

Khans of Tarkir

Giant Spiders show up in basically every set, and there’s only so much variety in them. I do love the ominous nature of this one, with the skeleton remains of its previous victims in the foreground. Really sets the “recluse” tone of the piece, a little more so than the Magic Origins original.

Mike Bierek gets a piece or two in just about every Magic set, and with good reason. Many iconic pieces belong to him, perhaps none more so than the current version of Sol Ring you’ll find in every Commander deck. More recently, he’s done the fabulous Nexus of Fate Buy-a-Box promo, and one of my favorite Guilds of Ravnica pieces, Artful Takedown.

Guilds of Ravnica

Magic Origins

I’ll admit, this reprint completely flew under the radar for me, probably because I never played during Judgment. Ol’ Ironshell here gets his first treatment in modern borders. Kev Walker tends to prefer these close up perspectives, with very minimal, hazy backgrounds. Rather than detail a cathedral facade, as in Disdainful Stroke above, Kev merely suggests such a building in the upper-left corner of the background.

The focus on the beetle plays well with the flavor text, lending to the feeling of whimsy present in a lot of Kev’s recent pieces. This is the space where I think he truly shines.

Guilds of Ravnica

Judgment

Another recent reprint. Looks like they’ve settled on the White Pacifism effect they want for Standard at this point. This version, by Mark Behm, has a slightly fuzzy, almost impressionistic feel to it, particularly in the treatment of the floor in this room. Again, the flavor text enhances the fun & whimsy of the card, making it clear this is a theme they’re trying to play up when they have the creative space to do so. I love the idea of the Azorius trying to codify how to handle all the various bizarre Simic creatures they end up having to detain in this world.

Guilds of Ravnica

Rivals of Ixalan

This is another card that goes way back, all the way back to Tempest block. I love when they can reprint cards like this as periodic staple effects, decades later. The art is a first-time inclusion by Heonhwa Choe, and it’s beautifully done. I love this look at the Gruul, and a taste of what we can expect more of in Ravnica Allegiance. This is probably my favorite version of this card, and I hope we see more from Heonhwa Choe in the future.

Guilds of Ravnica

Conflux

Invasion

Exodus

This card makes a ton of inclusion in this set, so win for whoever put it in the card file. This new art really evokes the concept of the art, that all the members of the Conclave are lending their power to a single champion in a time of need. The color scheme of rich greens with the pops of purple is really gorgeous, and reminds me of Alex Konstad’s Merfolk from Ixalan (check out Jade Bearer for a sense of what I mean.) But what I especially love about his work is the incredible sense of motion. Just browse through his card art, and it’s really amazing how dynamic his pieces feel, so you can really get a sense of the action that is taking place.

Guilds of Ravnica

Rise of the Eldrazi

Of all the cards I expected to see reprints in standard formats, Narcomoeba was never one I really considered. And yet, it’s a perfect fit for Guilds of Ravnica, thanks to the Surveil mechanic. While the original art was intentional in its ambiguous location & time, the new one puts the architecture of Ravnica on gorgeous display. Howard Lyon is a master, and it shows in this piece. This art looks like it’s taken directly out of dreams. It has the quality of a beautiful piece of art from children’s literature, and I mean that in all wonderful ways. I particularly love the inclusion of the fishing person and his cat, which enhance the dream-like quality of the piece. I kinda want everything in my life to be done in this color palette.

Guilds of Ravnica

Future Sight

And yet again, the grand saga of Creature A vs. Creature B on Prey Upon art continues! This time, it’s some sort of Faerie vs a Giant Spider! (Maybe a Hitchclaw Recluse?) I do love the perspective on this one, staring up from the deepest bowels of the undercity. G-Host Lee has only done a handful of pieces for Magic (1 each set starting with Rivals of Ixalan), but they’re all excellent. One common threat I see with them is a great use of distance & perspective. Check out Storm Fleet Sprinter to really get a sense of what I mean. I definitely hope to see more G-Host art in the coming sets. As for Prey Upon, I like just about every version of this staple, but this one is one of my favorites.

Guilds of Ravnica

Explorers of Ixalan

Aether Revolt

Eldritch Moon

Innistrad

Righteous Blow is a card we haven’t seen in a while, though there are a lot of similar effects running around. This art by Izzy is really interesting, with the light source seemingly emanating from the weapon strike itself, as if they’re fighting in an otherwise dark space. I love a lot of Izzy’s art (such as the fabulous Radical Idea for this very set), but for this particular piece, I think I prefer the original by Clint Cleary.

Guilds of Ravnica

Avacyn Restored

Wizards seems to have taken the “Penis Wurm” issue seriously, since all the Wurms in Guilds of Ravnica have a decidedly less penis-like design to them. Siege Wurm showed up first in the Original Ravnica, and has been the poster-child for Convoke ever since. I really like this version by Filip Burburan, and it’s consistent with his “all of the teeth” aesthetic. (Seriously, the new Tarmogoyf for UMA is peak Burburan at its best.) Again, this piece also ties in nicely with the flavor text to create that more lighthearted tone that permeates the set.

Guilds of Ravnica

Ravnica: City of Guilds

Skyknight has been the signature Boros Common since its debut, and that’s not going to change this time around. It’s great to see Chase Stone making a Limited Common, since he is frequently tapped for Mythics, iconic characters & story moments. I love the vista of the city that you see here, though it didn’t read super well on card size, so it’s great to see the larger image here. The action of the knight, standing in the stirrups, gives the piece a ton of energy and excitement. One other thing I particularly like is the color palette of the piece. Previous Skyknights were aggressively Red/Orange in their artwork. Sometimes I like the art clearly evoking the “card color,” but sometimes it looks contrived. Here, he lets the Red & White of the Knight’s armor, the rooftops, & the Roc do the color-indicating work, while keeping the sky & clouds in a realistic palette. It really just elevates the whole piece. My only wish would be to see just a touch more of the mount he’s on, but I get that the focus is intentionally on the rider. 

Guilds of Ravnica

Gatecrash

Ravnica: City of Guilds

The whimsy is real. Someone did a really great job pairing the art descriptions & flavor text in this set. This art gets better the longer I look at it. No surprise, Steve Argyle is the shit. Nuff said.

Guilds of Ravnica

Ixalan

Battle for Zendikar

Wall of Mist is a relatively new card, but it seems poised for staple status. This new art, by Tianhua X, has that surreal, dream-like quality that permeates this set. I love the tall spires climbing out of the mist. Tianhua X is relatively new to Magic Art, starting with some exquisite lands from Battle for Zendikar. He excels at creating pieces with unique perspectives, often slanted or climbing up at extreme angles. They heighten the sense of the fantastical in pieces like this, when at its core it’s simply fog in a city. Beautifully done.

Guilds of Ravnica

Core Set 2019

The Guildgates are all excellent this time around. I love the “front door/back door” design, as it helps to showcase different aspects of each of the guilds. They’re all really gorgeously done.

Guilds of Ravnica

Return to Ravnica

And finally, the shock lands. What trip to Ravnica would be complete without these? The art keeps getting better and better, and I don’t think any two exemplify this better than Temple Garden & Overgrown Tomb. The rich autumn colors in the Selesnya art is absolutely stunning, and I love the stone statues in the tomb, signaling the era of Vraska. Really beautiful pieces all around.

Guilds of Ravnica

Return to Ravnica

Ravnica: City of Guilds

Whew. So that’s it. Those are the reprints that got new art in Guilds of Ravnica. I’ll try to touch on some of the other noteworthy art on new cards in a future post.

[radramblog]

MtG: The Dean Problem

The newest Magic set, Strixhaven: School of Mages (a subtitle I was better off not knowing existed), has provided an absolute bounty of legendary creatures for commander players to fawn over. A new set of Elder Dragons with splashy and interesting abilities, another Planeswalker commander, and a full cycle of uncommon legendaries for those who love the design they bring to the table (like me!).

And then there’s the Deans.

These are not proving popular, and there’s pretty good reasons for that…but why?

The Deans, in my eyes, are the culmination of a compromise between multiple design elements that didn’t quite come together right.

The first of these is Partner. Partner, and Partner with, have proved incredibly popular commander designs, though a large part of this can be attributed to some of them being incredibly potent. The simple idea of having two commanders instead of one is just appealing to a lot of people, not to mention the customisability involved with the unpaired ones. They were an excellent solution for Commander Legends draft, and a way of making it so your options for certain colour combinations, particularly 3-4 colour ones, weren’t as limited as design philosophy and practicality (it’s often hard to fit 3C cards into a set when the set isn’t built around tricolour, and not many are) would normally make them.

The other is double-faced cards in general. Not many transforming commanders exist, but the Deans do share this trait with the Gods from Kaldheim. They have a modality that lets you build around one or both sides, many of them have cool and splashy effects, and perhaps most importantly, they are unique and interesting. The transform commanders have their own issues, but most of them (just pretend Ulrich doesn’t exist) are powerful enough, unique enough, or popular enough characters that people are going to be playing them.

The Deans do not fit either mold, and it’s to their detriment. It’s pretty clear that the design inspiration for each of them were the Partner With pairs- two monocoloured legends with effects that play off each other. Shaile puts counters on creatures so that Embrose can get value from them. Augusta lets you use Plargg’s ability extra times. Imbraham dumps cards to benefit Kianne’s ability. And this is all well and good for 60-card formats, where drawing a second copy of your Legend is normally a downside, but you can just play the other half and get some synergy out of the deal. But in Commander, you only get one at a time.

The key difference in commander is that you don’t get to play both halves of these cards. Outside of shenanigans like Supplant Form (which only Uvilda/Nassari and Kianne/Imbraham get to play), it is nigh impossible to play both halves of these commanders at the same time unless your playgroup rule 0’s to let you do so. And while this is also the case with Kaldheim’s Gods, many of them are clearly designed with this in mind, following one of two MDFC principles. Either A., their modes are differently powerful depending on a situation but a deck helming them wants both anyway, such as Halvar being a bloke or a sword in a deck that often lacks one or the other, or Jorn ramping early on and his staff being better for value lategame. Or B., they just, can come back to your hand, like so you can play both, like with Alrund and Toralf. These cards are far from perfect, and have a lot of the same issues as the Deans, but it isn’t as pronounced.

The other biggest issue with the Deans is that they’re…kinda mid? Pretty meh? With the Partners, you’re often playing one as your commander and the other for the colours- like I love me an Ishai, but everyone’s just playing him so they get White and Blue in their Vial Smasher or Reyhan decks (though they at least synergize with the latter). The Deans wouldn’t be so bad if individual halves of them were interesting, and the deck got to play that as the commander but with an extra colour, but they’re…just not? Of the 10 faces of these cards, there are maybe 2 (Nassari and Augusta, who I’ve kinda come around on) that I’d even consider playing as solo acts with a colour bonus. This is kind of an inherent limit of the designs of these characters- they’re all teachers, which in this case means they need to be humanoid and therefore not super huge with fun splashy effects, and they’re modal, which means they can’t have a million lines of rules text so people don’t get too overwhelmed (not that that stopped some of these, whoof).

At time of writing, the Dean cycle occupies 5 of the bottom 6 most built commanders out of Strixhaven (I’m surprised to see Mavinda among them, but I guess Feather exists). This was not a shock to me the way some of the other placements here are (people are catching on to Quintorius lets gooooo), and it’s pretty clear why. I’m pretty sure at this point most people are sick of MDFCs in general, considering we’ve had 3 sets worth of them and not a huge number have caught on- while price isn’t always a good gauge of playability, it’s rather telling that 2 of the 68 printed managed to break a 10 dollar price point.

It’s unclear as to whether this experiment is going to return, but I’m very concerned it will with the Innistrad sets releasing later this year. Considering Innistrad was the first set with any double-faced cards in the form of the transform cards, we’re very likely to see some DFC action show up in there. And not to inject too much of my opinion here, it would kinda ruin it for me if they went back to MDFCs for them. The transform cards are not only more interesting from a gameplay standpoint, they’re much better for storytelling and flavour. The Werewolves worked so extremely well, as did many of the beasties the set came with. A huge flavour hit comes just from whether or not the card can flip back to its front face, the difference between modality and a permanent transformation. The difference between a recurring, endless cycle and a step you take that you can’t come back from.

The difference Deans, and MDFCs in general, don’t have.

[amandabct]

August 6 : FINAL BLOG POST - STUDIO

ACADEMIC DESCRIPTION

Cleromancy is a form of sortition and casting, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, but are believed to reveal the future will of God or other supernatural entities. (Douglas, 2017. Page, 02).

PROJECT TITLE

Punishment is our game build off this Cleromancy concept. Punishment is a drinking game targeted at young adults, whereby players are forced to eliminate a word or action from their behavior and if unsuccessful a punishment is assigned.

PLAY AESTHETICS

For our project, we focused on the three play aesthetics - challenge, fellowship, and expression. Challenge was represented in our game by eliminating easy words or actions from one’s ability when one’s card was chosen. Promoting players to use new thought processes and different behavioral patterns. According to (Laudau, 2017), the cerebral cortex shows an increase in “higher thought processes, order motor planning, and cognitive control when introduced to new behaviors or thought environments”, such as eliminating natural words or actions. (p. 16 to 17).

As the game is a multiplayer experience it uses the aesthetic of fellowship. According to Demir and Jaafar (2012), fellowship increases “positive psychological well being which expanse the relationship between social skills, happiness and fair play”,  (p. 45).

In our game, only a couple of rules are explicit, leaving the rest of the game to be decided by each other. Implicit rules help groups communicate self-expression, ideas, creativity, though, and diversity. According to Eden and Veksler (2016), “primary motor cortex contributes to the implementation of implicit value-based rules during motor decisions, providing evidence for a functional contribution towards an activity”, (p. 112). 

REFLECTIVE STATEMENT

Target Audience

Our game of play is targeted at the audience of teenagers / young adults in a social drinking situation. As students, we too, spend time drinking and socializing so we thought by creating a game that increases the enjoyment of these situations benefits us too. We noticed the target audience, don’t find card games an activity of leisure anymore, so we thought if we focused our cards as complementary to other games or activities, such as drinking it would be effective and played.  

What Worked?

Choosing to make tokens/coins rather than a generic set of cards. In the game, once you pick a card you hold onto that card for the duration of the game. When testing we noticed people tended to fiddle with coins more. This reminded people they were playing the game but also successfully followed the usability heuristic of affordance. Affordance, meaning people should understand the coins need to be tossed without reading instructions. We wanted to create a game that people want to play before it’s been played.  

The idea of throwing cards, as this added a random effect when they landed. It also added the aspect of fun which is directly correlated with play. 

Allowing the group to determine the punishments and value of the wildcards. This added the idea of implicit rules which makes the game more focused on the group playing. 

What Didn’t Work? 

We always liked the idea of randomization. We had previously decided that the cards would be double sided but could be taken apart and reconnected to others so no one would ever learn the cards. However, when prototyping we noticed that to reconnect would be difficult to create. When playtesting we also noticed people didn’t show interest in reconnecting the cards. Thinking further about it, people might lose the cards too.

Using symbols instead of words, as people especially drunk teenagers won’t remember or be able to interpret the symbols. As the game is simple to play, we thought it was only fitting to have text that was simple and easy to understand (when drunk!)

The Future and Production

As a group, we decided to make the cards out of wood as it was the most durable material, it was tactile and aesthetically pleasing compared with clay and procast plastic. However, to keep with the coin theme, I think it would be interesting to create a set of coins made of metal, this would emphasize the Cleromancy idea. But I also think the usability heuristic of affordance would be maximized as people associate metal coins with money and tossing them. 

Also, like the game Cards Against Humanity, we could make expansion packs so cards could be refreshed and new games played. This would add another element of challenge and enjoyment. 

REFERENCES

Douglas, H. (2017). Online Etymology Dictionary. The United States of America.

Laudau, A. (2017). The Neuroscience of Improvisation. Melbourne, Australia.

Demir, M., & Jaafar, J. (2012). Social Skills, Friendship, and Happiness: A Cross-Cultural Investigation. Arizona, United State of America.

Eden, J., & Veksler, A. (2016). Relational Maintenance in Digital Age : Implicit Rules and Multiple Modalities. Virginia, United States of America.

PLAY EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION

Twitter Friendly Tag-line

Punishment is a Prophetic Drinking game drawing inspiration from archaic cleromancy and Voodoo Prophecy, designed to complement social gatherings by adding additional layers of complexity to interactions.

RULES OF PLAY

Preparing 

Gather your party people together, in a group of 4 to 12, and find an open spaced area and sit down in a circular form.  Get your drinks ready and open and turn your imagination on for thinking up some creative punishments. Then choose one of your party people (maybe your host) to collect all the cards from the box and get them to prepare everyone to begin.

Aim

The aim of the game is to not say or do the action that is displayed on a circular card. Whoever does, is punished, which the group of people playing collectively decided on what the punishment will be.

How to Play

REMEMBER! You CAN’T do or say the word that is written on your card, otherwise- PUNISHMENT!

Whoever you decide was best fitted to throw cards (that won’t injure anyone) throws them into the middle of the circle.

Each of you party player have to try race against each other to pick out a card of your preference, or one that you think you can manage to not do. While doing this, try not to stumble or fall on top of each other, that would just get weird...

Once you all have collected a card, the remaining cards are put aside back into the box.

Then you all take turns going around the circle saying which card you have chosen and what you can’t say or do, kinda like an alcoholic at an AA meeting.

This is a free round for all of you so you can share what card you have without a punishment, cause I’m sure you would have already gotten on by forgetting about not being able to do it.

Once everyone has shared, you all decided together on a general punishment that you will have to do if you lose.

The game can be played while continuing on with the social event or drinking, played as a background game.

If you are caught doing and action or saying a word that they can’t, punishment needs to be called immediately otherwise you are able to get away with it.

There is no timeframe for the game, you can choose to finish a game or start fresh whenever they chose, but you all need to be aware of the change.

PLAYTEST VIDEO INCLUDING RULES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FCe8ANZ1y0

PHOTOS

[robertdaviis]

Top 10 Turn-Offs For Women That You Want To Avoid

Note from the editor, Kyle: Big thanks to Tani Underwear for partnering with us to make this post/video possible. Tani Underwear is the most comfortable men’s underwear that I personally use and love. If you’re looking for undergarments that will change the way you think and feel about underwear, I highly recommend it.

What is this?

Today, we’re showing you the top 10 turn-offs for women, that you NEED to avoid.

If you’ve done everything right with a girl, there will come a point where it seems like you can do no wrong. Where it seems like no matter what you do, she’s going to like anything that you’re about. But guys, even when things are going good, especially when they’re going good, there are plenty of seemingly harmless, everyday things you can do that either slowly get under a woman’s skin and make her lose interest, or just kill the chemistry in the blink of an eye.

So… to help you out, we’re showing you the top 10 turn offs guys do that tend to slip through the cracks. And because we want you to know how to take your game to the next level, we’re also showing you the #1 thing you can easily do, to almost completely avoid turning a girl off. Now let’s jump in.

10. Low Volume Facial Hair

One of the biggest understatements of the year here… facial hair has made a pretty big comeback. For a while (as in, for a few decades), being clean cut and shaven was more or less the norm. But these days, facial hair is everywhere. As soon as a guy can grow it, BOOM. No going back. Full beards, five o’clock shadows, mustaches, mutton chops. If it grows on the face, guys are trying it out.

Nobody really knows what led to bearded revolution over the last decade or so, but there is one unfortunate side effect: A lot of guys are going for beards, when it’s just not in the cards for them. We know, facial hair is cool… and even if you don’t want it most of the time, it’s nice to have the option.

While, of course, your facial hair your choice… when it comes to turning on girls, patchy facial hair typically doesn’t do it for them… and almost always, they’re gonna prefer a clean-shaven face to get close to.

9. Greasy Hair

Alright alright alright. You’re probably hearing this and thinking, wait a minute, I KNOW I’ve seen guys with greasy hair get girls, so how are you gonna tell me greasy hair is a turn-off?

Alright, true. But what you might think is hair grease, is actually hair product. And if it’s product, yeah… It’s probably part of their style. But what we’re talking about today, is about the naturally occurring grease that builds up on your hair after not showering. For some dudes, that grease may show up after a couple days without washing their hair… for others, it might show up after a couple hours. Like sweat and body odor, hair grease is largely genetic, and unfortunately… is something girls will notice when they’re looking at you closely.

8. Ratty Underwear

This one should go without saying. But our reports show that a surprisingly high number of guys out there… appear to be pushing their underwear to the limit… and girls are noticing.

For some reason, a lot of guys seem to have the impression that girls won’t catch that pair of ratty old boxers they’ve got on. It’s either because guys think their underwear isn’t all that bad, or because they think girls just don’t care. Either way, your underwear matters.

You may even know today’s video sponsor, Tani Underwear. Super high-quality and universally girl approved Tani has designed underwear that solves the problems plaguing your underwear drawer and how girls look at your chonies…

Now… instead of showing you a bunch of dudes in underwear (which we’re sure you’d love), how about we show how the right type of underwear, like Tani, keeps girls from ever being turned off by the sight of your boxers.

Reason #1: Breathability

When it comes to your underwear, breathability is everything. The reason why? Because moisture is not only what causes gross stuff like odor and fungus. But it’s also ultimately what causes boxers to dissolve into the shreds on your floor. And not only that, swamp-ass, as it’s officially called, is the result of underwear that offers no breathability in an area that produces a lot of sweat, and for girls who see it on a guy, it can be pretty hard to ignore. By using Micro Modal AIR, a futuristic fabric that’s both moisture wicking and quick drying, Tani’s SilkCut Collection manages to keep the moisture levels to a minimum and the infamous swamp-butt at bay.

Reason #2: Accentuation

Do you like when a girl wears sexy, attractive lingerie? Of course you do, and women want the same. She wants to see something that’s naturally accentuating and attractive. Rather than saggy underwear that looks like you’re wearing a cloth diaper. High-quality underwear, like Tani, are designed to not only make you and your body look attractive. But they’re also manufactured with special materials, like elastane and Micro Modal Air, so that they last longer, and help hold their shape for longer.

In short guys: your underwear is probably the last thing a girl sees you wearing, so it definitely needs to make the right impression… and today’s video sponsor, Tani is the exact type of underwear women love.

Tani was even kind enough to hook Mantelligence viewers up with a crazy deal: buy 1 get 1 free! Check it out in the description… and note: it will only work for a limited-time.

Click here to check out Tani Underwear

What is this?

7. The Wrong Thing Playing in the Background

In general, one of the major differences between guys and girls, is that context plays a huge role in their attraction, and overall interest in guys. If this sounds surprising, this phenomenon is pretty well-documented and understood in psychology. While women do like guys who are classically good-looking and well-taken care of, the overall presentation of the guy plays a much bigger role in how girls perceive him. And that also includes the immediate context of being in the moment with a guy.

One of the places this becomes especially clear, is if you’re hanging out with a girl at your house watching a movie or show. If you’ve got comedy, horror, action or anything too distracting playing in the background, it’s gonna be a lot harder for her to look at you romantically, if anything starts to happen… the reason why is simple: Because your entire presentation is off.

Which make sense, right? All we’re trying to say, is that if you’re watching a movie on the couch together, always be ready to hit pause.

6. Smelling Like a Gym Bag

You knew this one was coming. Just about everybody, from AlphaM, to TMF to BasedZeus, has discussed widely the importance of not smelling like an armpit. And the reason for that, is because far and away, a guy who smells bad from a distance, is a HUGE red flag for women.

Now, there are some excuses that girls will let slide: You could have just gotten done working out, you could have been helping a friend move all day, or you could be a sailor returning home from sea. Basically, if you’ve been engaged in heavy physical activity, you’ll probably get a pass. At least the first few times. However, if you’re caught repeatedly stinking for no reason, don’t be surprised if she starts asking you to shower before coming over.

Guys, if you’re a subscriber, keep watching, because at the end of this video, we’re going to show the #1 thing you can do to EASILY prevent turning ANY and ALL women off. So stay with us. You don’t want to miss it. Okay, let’s get back to it!

5. All Grooming All The Time

Alright. So you guys know that we always advocate proper grooming, taking care of yourself, knowing how to dress and that it’s always a safe bet to look after your appearance. But we also know… that with the sheer volume of information, opinion and choices as there is out there, it’s incredibly easy to get carried away in the details and get obsessed with looking good. While your girl does want you to be able to look good, if you’re taking longer to decide what to wear than she is every day, your impeccable style is probably having the opposite effect of what you want.

4. Disgusting Nails

So, you may not think this is a big deal but a girl almost definitely notices how your nails are looking. And even though you probably (hopefully) don’t roll around with finger nails that can take an eye out, they are 100% a detail worth keeping in check. And it’s pretty clear to see why they might be a major turn off for women: They look crazy, they hide bacteria, and worst of all, they scratch. Now, you may not have had the misfortune of accidentally scratching a girl with finger or toe nails that are overdue for a trimming… but take our word for it: It’s embarrassing. And as far as your night goes, there’s basically no coming back from that. While long, unsightly nails are an eyesore for sure, there may be nothing that kills the mood so swiftly as accidentally snagging your girl with a toenail that’s too long.

3. Why So Serious?

Here’s a common scenario: Imagine you’ve been hanging out with a girl all night and while things may have started off alright, they slowly faded until it seems like she’s just kinda ready to go home. As I’m sure you can imagine. This is something that happens a lot. And while there are endless reasons why a date can fizzle out, one of the most common reasons, is just because the guy didn’t look like he was having any fun. Girls are magnetized by fun.

So, if a guy doesn’t seem like he’s enjoying himself, a girl’s most likely not gonna want to hang out for too long. Because like you, like your friends, like anyone else… girls need that feedback to let them know that everything is cool. So if you’re hanging out with a girl, and wondering why she doesn’t seem to be enjoying herself, there’s a good chance, that it’s probably because you’re just not smiling enough for her to know.

2. Failing to Mirror Body Language

Just like you’re wired to respond to what she’s throwing your way, she’s gonna respond to what you’re sending hers. You’ve probably heard us talk about “mirroring” before. Basically, the mirroring we’re talking about is where two people are communicating, while also subtly copying each other’s body language. Mirroring happens almost entirely on an instinctive level, and It’s a way of subconsciously building familiarity. Animals do it, and so do we. But even though it happens with us barely evening noticing it… it still has a huge effect on chemistry. So much so, in fact, that if you’re not mirroring a girl’s body language, she’ll have every reason to think you’re not into her, which will lead to her turning off feelings she has for you.

1. Your Teeth

If there’s one thing, one loose end, one last remaining detail that can come back and bite you just as you’ve got a girl comfortable, it’s yellow teeth. Honestly, this one stings a little bit. Because usually the way a girl finds out a guy has yellow teeth, is if the guy is laughing, smiling and having a good time. It’s a harsh reality. It’s always in that moment when a dude finally decides to let his guard down and relax, that a girl notices “damn, those teeth are just a little on the yellow side.” The good news is that, with all the teeth whitening options out there, yellow teeth don’t need to be something you’ve got to worry about. The bad news is that if you’re just finding this out, you might’ve lost a few points with a few girls already.

The #1 Thing You Can Do to Prevent Turning OFF ALL women

By this point, you might be thinking you’re gonna be walking into a minefield the next time you go hang out with your girl. And while it’s remarkably easy to lose favor with a girl you like and take her from feeling it, to turned off, there is one thing you can do everyday to always have a leg up with a girl, get in shape. Seriously. Now we know, this isn’t as easy for some guys as it is for others, but for a lot of guys out there. A ton of their problems would be solved just by getting strong. The reason why? Honestly, it’s NOT that you’ll look better. It’s not that you’ll be stronger.

It’s almost 100% due to the fact that exercise is guaranteed the clearest path to becoming a fundamentally more confident version of yourself. Which is without a doubt the #1 realest turn on for women anywhere you go.

In Conclusion

If you enjoyed this video, be sure to let us know, and give it a thumbs up and don’t forget to click and subscribe.

And while you’re here, why not check out these other powerful videos?

Thanks for watching!

The post Top 10 Turn-Offs For Women That You Want To Avoid appeared first on Mantelligence.

Top 10 Turn-Offs For Women That You Want To Avoid syndicated from https://aspiringgentlemanblog.wordpress.com/

[repwinpril9y0a1]

This is Why Your Next Tattoo Session Should Come With Tarot Cards

image courtesy of Earth Altar

Justine Serebin, master reiki healer and owner of Earth Altar Studio in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, makes people beautiful: She paints on gorgeous tattoos (coupled with tarot cards and intuitive energy readings) and even provides cosmetic tattoos (like eyebrow microblading, which is the process of adding feathery semi-permanent ink strokes to your arches to enhance their shape and fullness).

There are also piercings, laser hair removal, and micropigmentation to add natural-looking freckles. But this is no space of vanity — you’re more likely to leave Earth Altar cosmically at peace than ready to show off your new art on Instagram, and that’s what makes customers go crazy about this place. We talked to Serebin about how she’s incorporated her beliefs into her business and how she always maintains health, wellness, and beauty all in one sacred space.

EcoSalon: Tell us about Earth Altar Studio! How does it offer something different to the healthy, conscious customer? What is the ultimate benefit for your customer?

Justine Serebin: Most people who walk in to our studio don’t realize we do tattoos because the space looks light, bright, and airy. Succulents, crystals and sage bundles line the waiting room. It smells good, feels peaceful, and has fun music playing. We offer tea and raw foraged water to everyone and strive to make everyone feel at home here. We are your one-stop shop for all things tattoo, and body enhancement and wellness. We are artists, professionals, have medical backgrounds, and have a full-bodied understanding of how all tattooing procedures work. We tailor our services to each client to bring out the best and most beautiful results. We offer laser hair removal by our RN Cheryllynn Ponce and full-body piercing by licensed medical professional Mickey. Taylor Epstein is our yoga, reiki, and meditation specialist who is also an RN. We have a microblading specialist and cosmetic tattooer, Vickie Chiang, and a few tattoo artists, Melissa Martell and Taylor Eacuello, both of whom I have taught to tattoo. We also have tattoo artist and comic book artist, Zachariah Roane, who has about 10 years’ experience. We are pretty much a female-run shop and are here to help, create, and make the most impossible dreams you can think of, a reality.

ES: What inspired you to combine the metaphysical with the art of tattooing?

JS: Truly, they both go hand in hand to me — right from the beginning. It started with one of my first visions when I was learning to meditate ten years ago. I saw myself sitting on a beautiful wood-floored studio overlooking the ocean. I was tattooing a woman’s back and something about it was healing her. At that time, I didn’t know really anything around tattooing or healing. It felt like it was my calling and I’ve spent the last ten years chasing this vision, trying to put all the pieces together.

ES: Why was it important to you to incorporate crystals into a space that involves cosmetic procedures? How can someone incorporate them in their own lives?

JS: Crystals and stones are like little fairy helpers that we can keep in our pockets. Who doesn’t want a little fairy helper to hold your hand when your getting your lip color tattooed on? Just joking, but kinda not! Crystals can be healing, energizing, peaceful and you can actually program them to “work” for you. If you are feeling nervous and are filled with anxiety, grab some clear quartz, clear with sage, and program your deepest intention into the crystal, whisper your wish into it, and hold it close to you. Trust, believe, and have fun with it. To me they are beautiful, and they make my giddy and so happy to be around so I filled my shop with them.

ES: Tell us about what reiki healing is and how it’s helped your customers during the tattoo decision-making and creation process.

JS: Reiki is an ancient form of feeling, seeing, and moving energy throughout the body, cultivating it, and checking in with the subtle body to heal, feel better, and become more energized and empowered. It is a healing modality that may be used before, during, or after a session or treatment to bring a sense of balance and wellbeing. Some procedures like acupuncture can activate places in the body where we store old emotional wounds, blocks, or just plain fear. If we notice these subtle bursts of energy coming to the surface, reiki is recommended to help soothe, ease, and clear the heavy stuff that comes up. Reiki can be used during a consultation appointment as a way to prepare for your procedure, mental and emotionally, whether it’s cosmetic, medical, or a custom tattoo. The intuitive tattoos are a more elaborate, intensive version of regular reiki but use the basic principles to heal and transmute energy.

ES: For many people, the tattoo process goes something like this: They find a photo or symbol of something that’s meaningful to them, take it to an artist, and get it tattooed on. Do you find anything missing from this typical tattooing process?

JS: Well, there’s nothing wrong with this method, and we do accommodate tattoos like this — although our artists believe that original designs that are customized are best because we don’t want to steal artwork from other artists from the Internet, especially Instagram and Pinterest. It’s such a small community and we really want every artist to do their best work and thrive.

Personally, my style, strength, and passion for tattooing is abstract symbolism representative of meaningful intention to activate awakening, transformation, and personal evolution. Sometimes, one may know that they want a meaningful tattoo but don’t know what design they want. That’s the little sweet spot where my work fits in. I feel like each intuitive design I tattoo is essentially a gift, a very unique code that only they know the true meaning of. Anyone who looks at it may appreciate its shape, structure, and colors but the true power is hidden and safe, kept secret just for the wearer to know and contemplate and use as a power symbol.

ES: Why do you think people sometimes remove or regret their tattoos? Is it the lack of intention? Not clearing the negativity?

JS: I find that most are disappointed because they didn’t feel safe to communicate with their artist about the artwork prior to getting tattooed. This is so important to me and I always practice the clearest communication possible prior to starting a tattoo. I double and triple check with my clients to make sure they are sure and happy with the artwork; if not, we alter it or postpone our appointment. It rarely happens, but it’s always the safer option. I think the other reason people remove tattoos is because they rush into it. Impulsiveness with something so permanent can lead to a negative experience, which it why we are primarily an appointment-only shop. Intentional living is at our core and that takes a little time to sit with and create inside of ourselves.

ES: How does the intuitive Tarot card reading guide or inform the tattooing process?

JS: The cards I created are like a thermometer reading or window through which I can see a clean view into what my client is going through. It opens deep, honest conversation, and draws out and brings light to areas of their life that they may be withholding, withdrawing, or unconscious of. Through our collaborative exploration of deciphering the meaning of the cards I begin to see imagery, visions, and energy blocks that need activation. Then I begin to see and create a visual language through symbols on a specific area of the body. The design is drawn with a single use pen so that my client can view the intuitive image and edit with me to their liking. Then the actual tattoo process begins.

ES: Why is sage such an important part of your sacred intuitive tattoos?

JS: Sage is a powerful cleansing herb that we use to clean our studio with daily. I also use it to clean each crystal or stone before we program them with intentions for the tattoo process. I attach one of my needles to a saged, medically cleaned, and cosmically charged crystal to tattoo with, as I don’t want any stale vibes to be transferred into my clients energy field.

ES: Your business also offers cosmetic tattooing, like microblading and adding beauty marks. How do you think outer appearance affects people on the inside?

JS: We, our souls, live inside of this Earth form, our bodies. It is dense and difficult for us to dwell in, and often there is deep disconnect between our bodies and souls. I believe our souls are grand, expansive, glittery, iridescent, magical, and angelic. To be as limited as we are as humans (and not flying cosmic balls of magic light dust) with our thinning hair, or hair overgrowth, skin problems, and discolorations, blah blah blah, we do have these forms for a reason, and I believe that reason is to create! To create anything we desire, to be, look, and feel anyway we want to. Our services like cosmetic and medical tattooing and laser hair removal make life easier in many ways for us to free ourselves from this limited, imperfect form. The procedures simplify our daily tasks, minimize our routines, and help make room in our lives and minds for the things that truly matter to us. Imagine how much time you could save if you didn’t have to do your makeup in the morning, or shave your body hair, you could use that time to dream a little longer, or create something, or do something you love! These services, even regular custom tattoos, help bring the inner soul self closer to the skin surface, hence making our bodies our Earth Altars.

ES: How do you incorporate the concept—and implementation—of wellness into your business?

JS: The foundation of Earth Altar Studio is rooted in the desire to be a sacred, cosmic vortex of love, healing, creativity, and transformation. The details of the studio bring this to life: Our water is raw and foraged from Opal Springs, Oregon, and our teas are organic loose-leaf blends with intention and herbal healing qualities. The studio uses recycled and biodegradable products wherever possible and we try to keep our footprint as low as possible. We have yoga mats and a trampoline in the patio to keep our artists’ blood flowing and invite our guests to enjoy their tea in our outdoor space to connect with the elements before their sessions. Every detail, event, and procedure has intention and love behind it.

ES: What daily habits do you have to ensure there is health and wellness in your life?

JS: My daily ritual is always evolving. It is a practice of focusing and feeling for the highest vibration. Meditating and evoking visions of the dreamiest life imaginable. Soaking in the joy helps me feel calm and happy throughout the day and ready to take on the challenges of running the business and taking good care of my clients.

ES: What’s your average morning like?

JS: My mornings begin when I place my feet on the ground, sending love to my body and gratitude to my life. I make lemon tea and soak in the sun. Then yoga, self reiki, reading, and journaling. It’s extremely important to me to be as balanced and grounded as possible before I step foot in the studio. These little rituals I do daily help me to be a clear and focused channel for my intuitive work.

ES: What’s your favorite wellness food and beverage?

JS: I love smoothie bowls! They can be such beautiful works of art — colorful and so rich with flavor and nourishing ingredients.

ES: What’s the best piece of health or wellness advice you’ve ever received? From who?

JS: My soul sister and our yoga/reiki specialist Taylor Epstein told me the other day to ask daily for divine intervention and guidance in all that I do and in each word I speak. To allow for a moment of pause and reflection before responding to a question and allow the divine, higher self to speak through me, always. This concept is so powerful and the ultimate practice of intentional mindfulness for me.

ES: What are the words you live by?

JS: Follow your bliss, trust your intuition, and believe that you can manifest anything you desire!

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