#some of the most stellar novels this last year but this knocks them out of the park

[bleachposting]

OSHI NO KO LITERALLY GOT ME LIKE WHAT THE FUCK

[theassthatquits]

In the Margins Ch 3

You can read the first two chapters here. 

Summary: Barry picks out a book for Lup. Lup gets bold. 

Barry fell asleep with The TA’s Most Important Assignment laid open on his chest. He had just finished reading it before he knocked out for the night. The sunlight streamed through his port window, waking him up. Sitting up, dazed and confused and still in his clothes from the day before, he noticed a small note on the floor of his room in front of the door. 

 Grinning, he got up and retrieved it. It was, of course, from Lup. She had been writing him notes for years, leaving them in the lab, in his jeans pocket, under the door. They started out pretty insignificant, “Coffee is fresh in the pot,” “Practicing spells with Taako at 3”. They quickly got more fun: “Heard you snoring last night, couldn’t trance. Hope you had nightmares. Xx Lup” “Thank you for showing me how to solder last night. Tried to practice, might have burned some papers. Xx Lup”. He kept all of them. 

 This newest one said: “Sounded like you had fun last night. Glad to hear that my debut novel was a hit. Hope I’ll enjoy your pick as much as you love mine. I’ll get it from you at breakfast. Xx Lup” 

Barry looked up, confused. What did she mean by his pick? Was he supposed to give her something to read? Did he unknowingly enter into a backwards book club? Looking around his room, he found mostly textbooks and field journals, things that were in no way similar to what she had given him. He groaned, most of his books had lame nerd notes in them, they couldn’t compare to the stellar commentary she had in hers. 

 He was thumbing through the endless catalogued encyclopedias when he came across a history book from one of their first planes: Cultural Celebrations of the North and their History. He didn’t usually keep books like these in his bedroom, all of the history books he kept from former planes were boxed up in his lab, but this one was different. 

 This was from the cycle where he danced with Lup. 

 He remembered the year fondly, the town they were staying near had seemingly endless celebrations and holidays. This was in the beginning, before he was fully comfortable with everyone and was okay letting loose. It had only been a crush then, a seed that was planted when she stole his wallet with Taako and slung her arm so casually around him when they met. This was what made it sprout into something more. 

 Night of Dance was the first festival they were in town for. It is precisely how it sounds: when the night falls and the stars come out, they dance in celebration. The book goes into detail about how it honors the Goddess of vitality, but that wasn’t something that they fully understood that day. All they understood was dance. 

 Flipping through the book, Barry remembers how it felt to hold her in his arms under the stars as she smiled up at him and in the moment he thought he would die right there. He smiles to himself, a toothless grin with not much joy in it. No matter how long he spent pining after her, he would never get to spin her around like that every night. Metaphorically speaking. Maybe if he lent her this book she would remember dancing with him. 

 Barry grabs a pencil and starts jotting down some notes in the text.

 ----

 That night at dinner, everyone was unusually rowdy. It had been a quiet cycle for the most part. No one had died yet, and that was always worth celebrating. Lucricia and Magnus were passionately debating wrestling techniques (she had developed an interest during a cycle where Magnus had become a celebrity wrestler). Taako and Lup were dancing around each other, setting up the table for the meal, trying to trip one another constantly. Davenport and Merle were finishing up a card game in the corner, Merle yelling because he was sure Davenport was cheating. 

 For 40 years they had been family. Barry stood in the doorway, a smile on his lips. At first he felt like a constant outsider, the butt of all of the jokes. 

 Taako looked up at him, “Ah, I thought I smelled a fashion disaster.”

 Lup shoved him, sending some mashed potatoes to the floor. “Lay off, Koko.” She looked up at Barry, their eyes locking. “I happen to love the denim look.”

 Yep, they were a family. Barry blushed and walked into the room. 

 “Oooo is that for me?” Lup asked, spotting the book he was carrying. 

 “Uhh, yeah. It’s...different than the one you lent me, but I think you’ll still find it enjoyable.”

 “Different how?”

 “Well, in this one everyone keeps their clothes on.”

 Lup fake pouted, “Aw, no fun.” Suddenly changing her demeanor, she grinned and bounded over to him, snatching the book from his hand before he knew what was going on. “Cultural Celebrations of the North and their History. Ooh, sounds -”

 “Boring?” Taako cut in.

 “-very interesting.” She said, glaring at Taako. “Thank you very much, Barold. I’m excited to read it.” Lup was in a very good mood and feeling brave, so she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. 

 Stunned, Barry watched as Lup turned around and ran back into the kitchen. “Thanks, nerd!” She yelled as she disappeared through the door.

 Barry did not move for several moments. 

 “Barold? Are you going to join us for dinner?” Taako asked with a deep knowing in his voice. 

 Face flushing a deep red, Barry turned and sat down, joining the rest of the group. 

 ----

 “Cultural Celebrations of the North and their History,” murmured Lup to herself. She flipped through it quickly, trying to remember which cycle this was from. Scanning the chapters, she realized it was from the plane of celebrations. It was a very long time ago, before she had realized she was in love with Barry. A crush, sure. A potential drunken regret? Absolutely. 

 But Lup never fell in love. 

 Until she did. 

[gffa]

Hii I'm new to the Fandom and I'm obsessed with your blog! I ADORE your point of view really its making me love star wars more and more, my question is do you have any recommendations on which books to read to understand more about the lore and where cannon is right now??

Hi!  I’m glad if I can help you like SW lore more and thank you for such kind words, I deeply appreciate them.  And, oh, what a tricky question that is, without meaning to be!A lot depends on which part of the SW lore you’re looking for–are you looking for technical terms or character backstory tidbits?  Lore on Force woo?  The stories that help better inform the structure of Star Wars?  Because I feel like my answers would be different for each of those!So, I’m going to do a “here’s what I think is the best places to start when getting into SW supplementary material” list:1.  THE TV SERIESIf you haven’t watched The Clone Wars and Rebels yet, those should be first on your list!  TCW is there to help give you the bigger picture of just how awful the Clone Wars were, how politics dragged everything down into the mud, and will give you a ton of feelings on established characters.  I’m currently in the middle of a rewatch and its kicking up all these feelings I had and you can really tell that this is what George Lucas’ world looks like when they have the time to explore it.  (Though, hell, even with this show, it only covers things in broad strokes, especially because it is still aimed at younger audiences, too.)And Rebels is just a really great series by itself, but it also does a fantastic job of showing you just how complicated the war against the Empire was, how hard it was to wind together these various minor factions into one bigger Rebellion, as well as it does a lot to show what it’s like for Jedi after the genocide of their people.  It also has some killer cameos and resolution to things started in TCW and moments of confrontation for all the characters.Both of those really only have minor moments of exploring the Force Woo Lore (but there’s really not one singular place that explains it, imo, it’s something you have to piece together to see the bigger picture), but they’re fantastic for echoing the narrative structure of Star Wars and its themes.2.  THE COMICSThey’re the next best stop, they are also really great stories in terms of the character arcs, as well as the next best place to get more on the themes of Star Wars.  There have been so many moments, more than anywhere else, that I have wanted to just absolutely (virtually) SCREAM, because HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A HELL OF A MOMENT or HOLY SHIT THAT UNDERSTOOD STAR WARS SO WELL or just had really amazing moments.  I would recommend starting with:- The Star Wars 2015 comic (by Jason Aaron) and read it concurrently with Darth Vader vol. 1 (by Kieron Gillen), as they’re meant to go together.- Then read Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith (by Charles Soule)- After that, in any order:  Age of the Republic comics (by Jody Houser), Obi-Wan & Anakin (by Charles Soule), Jedi of the Republic - Mace Windu (by Matt Owens), and Kanan: The Last Padawan (by Greg Wiseman).- I also really enjoy the Star Wars Adventures comics from IDW, the Poe Dameron comics (by Charles Soul) are incredible and give a lot of context to the sequel trilogy and Shattered Empire does a lot in the same vein.3.  THE NOVELSNovels are trickier, because some are good for lore but aren’t necessarily stories I would recommend to new fans, others are amazing stories but don’t necessarily have a lot of lore.  So, I’m going to focus on the books that I think do the most bridge work and help you understand the bigger picture of Star Wars:- The Star Wars Battlefront II video game (okay, not a book, bear with me) does an amazing job of giving more context to how the Empire ended and how it connected to the First Order.  You can do a search on YouTube for “Battlefront 2 game movie” or similar search parameters and watch it like a movie, it’s about two hours and it’s wonderful.  Fall in love with the characters with me, understand why Jakku was important, and get some amazing cameos (and stunning planets) for the OT trio!- The Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig also does a ton of showing how the Empire’s fall wasn’t instantaneous after Endor’s moon, as well as the faltering early steps of the New Republic, and a ragtag bunch who hunt down Imperial war criminals and all come to love each other AND I LOVE THEM, sobs.  I would add in the caveat that I think these work massively better as audiobooks, so check if your library has them and maybe you can check them out on-line and be prepared to give the books a little time to grow on you.- Bloodline by Claudia Gray shows Leia six years before TFA and the New Republic still faltering and how she discovers the early origins of the First Order and loses her position in the Senate and starts up the Resistance.  It’s at its best when it’s a Leia book, but it also does do a lot of groundwork for the connections between the OT and the ST!- From a Certain Point of View by various authors, is a collection of short stories, many of which are hits and many of which are misses, but the hits are amazing.  If nothing else, “Master & Apprentice” (by Claudia Gray–not to be confused with the full novel of the same title), “Time of Death” (by Cavan Scott), “There Is Another” (by Gary D. Shmidt), and “An Incident Report” (by Daniel Mallory Ortberg) are all MUST READS.  I read all of them and I’m glad I did, but if a story isn’t gripping you, feel free to skim over it for the next, they’re only connected by theme, not events.- I loved both Spark of the Resistance (by Justina Ireland) and Resistance Reborn (by Rebecca Roanhorse) as books set between TLJ and TROS, where I grew even more fond of the characters getting to have adventures together.  I also thought the Dooku: Jedi Lost audiodrama was probably the best PT era canon book to recommend, too.4.  THE GUIDEBOOKSGuidebooks are more fun when you’re already invested and just want to look up a thing or two, but there’s at least one that I think is a must-read from cover to cover:  Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy by Pablo Hidalgo.  It doesn’t sound like it would be that interesting–a history told through art?  But it’s an absolutely stellar bird’s eye view and explanation of how things happened in the GFFA, how the Clone Wars happened, how the Republic fell, how the Empire rose, how the Rebellion fought back, how the New Republic rose, how the First Order knocked it all down again.5.  ANYTHING ELSE?I love the game Jedi: Fallen Order and I think it does an amazing job of staying true to the Jedi Order, their culture, and the themes of Star Wars.  You can do the same thing of looking for a movie-version on YouTube, it should be about four hours long to cover the majority of the game, and I absolutely fell in love with the characters and the world, it was clear they really cared about the story and the lore and making this feel like a game where you got to experience becoming a Jedi.This isn’t a list of “stories I thought were good” but ones aimed at establishing the best understanding of the bigger galaxy, as well as stories that I thought were really good for new fans!  While I put them generally in the order I would suggest them, if something’s not working for you, feel free to drop it and move on to another thing, either coming back later to the dropped one or not, because this should be fun and not boring work.HOPEFULLY THAT’S A GOOD PLACE TO GET YOU STARTED and if someone else would suggest a good Starting Place For A New Fan, feel free to chime in!

[a-luran]

For the fanfic ask meme (if youre still doin it)

13, and 15?

I am! <3

13. favourite writing song/artist/album of this year

i got a lot of writing done to my “road trip“ playlist! It has a bunch of different different genres thrown in, and it’s a good 3-4 hours of music. I think I’ve talked about this before but I like to play youtube videos or movies in the background as I write too- music is what I plot and daydream to! Anaïs Mitchell is one of my favourite artists.

15. something you learned this year

I learnt a few things about writing this year, but I think it’s pretty significant that I figured out what was causing my writer’s block.

I’ve never had a large readership, or much feedback in general, but it never really bothered me. I’m not a prolific author, and I think the most i wrote was when it was just a wee handful of us sending scoteng prompts to each other.  Outside of that I have fill notebooks with letters I never sent, short stories, outlines, poems, songs. I published a short story in a literary magazine, I finished a stack of essays and a stellar Dissertation, but otherwise kept most of what i wrote to myself. No one really noticed my work but I was happy. Writing for the sake of writing. Composing for the sake of it.

This past year though, or two years really, i feel like something changed. I started to feel a anxious about it. Discouraged. And I think it just boiled down to the fact that I felt very lonely. I lost a lot of people and opportunities these past few years, and I was deeply hurt by it. This year took the last safety net I had and it knocked the breath out of me.

I felt (and still feel, a little) like it was my fault for not being good enough, or worthy enough to keep, and I projected that into how I felt about writing. My writing wasn’t worth it, it was a nuisance, it wasn’t good. It fell short, or came in too late. It wasn’t important. My ideas were wasted on me. I was taking it too seriously or not seriously enough. Someone made a comment about one of my stories- that it was overly descriptive, and too emotional. That the level of intimacy I was describing between the two characters was disgusting, and unrealistic. It made me feel even worse- ashamed and embarrassed. 

 I binned a good seven or eight stories I meant to publish, afterwards. It was months and in some cases years of work. One of the drafts was the first  sketches of an original novel I don’t think I’ll ever re-write.

In the months since I’ve had remarkable people be so kind and reassuring, I can’t express how much it has helped, but there was something in me that was still out of sorts. I wanted very badly to feel like my stories were special, and mattered to someone. I think we all do. Mine didn’t, so I was heartbroken. Then something completely unremarkable happened.

There was an issue with the double glazing of one of my relatives’ windows, and it reminded me of an idea I had for a story almost six years ago. 

I got home that night and wrote seven pages worth of character development. The next day I wrote another six. I can’t stop thinking about it. Last week I took a break and re-wrote the first chapter of Bowmore 12; I’m working on the second chapter now. I came back to the WIP that I felt embarrassed about and I’m hoping I’ll be able to rewrite it and finish as a gift for my thorki eggs. I’m excited about writing for the first time in a very long time.

My writing is overly descriptive, too emotional, and intimate, and I like it that way. My ideas aren’t wasted on me- they’re my ideas! There is no timeline for getting a story finished, and if someone is unkind I don’t ever have to share something that is lovely to me with them, ever again.

It has been six years, but I’m finally ready to write the story I loved. And I’ll continue to write at my own pace for as long as it makes me happy.

[jmsa1287]

A Year in Review: The 21 Best TV Shows of 2018

Peak TV may be over and the bubble may be about to burst. Unlike the past few years, 2018 yielded fewer outstanding shows. There were plenty of good-to-great series that aired this year but there were less exceptional programs when compared to the last five years. With the field being so competitive, talent is spread thin — not just those in front of the camera but folks who create and craft shows. We may be reaching a breaking point of quality vs. quantity but 2018 did offer some stellar series.

I watched just over 80 shows this year. I gave up on about 21/22? I liked a lot of shows. I loved only a few; pretty much the top 11. Most disappointing TV was "Deutschland 86," "Claws" Season 2 and "Little Drummer Girl." i hope 2019 is better!! lots of good stuff coming!!!

Below are the best 21 TV shows of the year. 

21. "The Haunting of Hill House" Season 1 Netflix

20. "High Maintenance" Season 2 HBO

19. "Black Mirror" Season 4 Netflix

18. "The Deuce" Season 2 HBO

17. "Baskets" Season 3 FX

16. "Channel Zero: Butcher's Block" Season 3 SYFY

15. "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" Season 1 Netflix

14. "Insecure" Season 3 HBO

13. "Mosaic" Season 1 HBO

12. "Channel Zero: The Dream Door" Season 4 SYFY

11. "The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell" Season 1 Netflix

10. "Forever" Season 1 Amazon

Starring "Saturday Night Live" alums Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen the tiny comedy "Forever," created and written by Emmy Award winners Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard, packs a powerful and emotional punch. It's hard to talk about "Forever" without giving away its unexpected and hilarious premise (make sure to watch past the second episode) but the show takes on what it means to be in a long-term relationship in a fascinating and refreshing way. "Forever" also serves as a showcase for Rudolph, allowing her to act and to do something interesting, nuanced and lovely.

09. "Sharp Objects" Season 1 HBO

"Big Little Lies" this was not. The fever dream summer show "Sharp Objects" boasted a similar pedigree to the 2017 hit (both series are directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, are based on hit novels, aired on HBO and starred movie stars), but was totally different in almost every way. This mood piece, starring a wonderful Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson, is a haunting exploration of memory and trauma, wrapped in a Southern Gothic mystery.

08. "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" Season 2 Amazon

Bright, bubbly and delightful, "The Marvelous Mr. Masiel" returned at the end of 2018 to remind us the best TV doesn't always need to be dark and twisted. In its second season, the Amy Sherman-Palladino comedy took risks, traveling in Paris, the Catskills and around the East Coast. And of course, like last year, the cast (Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle, Tony Shalhoub) remains absolutely fabulous.

07. "Homecoming" Season 1 Amazon

Based on a podcast and created for TV by Sam Esmail ("Mr. Robot"), "Homecoming" fires on all cylinders. Starring Julia Roberts in her best role in recent memory, this psychological and conspiracy thriller is one of the best-looking shows of the year. Riffing on Hitchcock, De Palma and more, "Homecoming" is a hypnotic mystery that's gripping as it slowly unfolds, featuring additional brilliant performances from Bobby Cannavale, Stephan James, Shea Whigham, Alex Karpovsky and Sissy Spacek.

06. "Pose" Season 1 FX

"Pose" is not only a beautiful show but a groundbreaking one. Featuring the largest cast of trans actors in TV history, this period piece centers on the ballroom scene in 80s New York City and shines the spotlight on a number of unknown actors who proved themselves to be some of the finest performers on TV this year. At the center of "Pose" is MJ Rodriguez's Blanca, a warm and heartbreaking character that is the through line of this stunning drama.

05. "Succession" Season 1 HBO

No show was funnier and more demented this year than "Succession." Centered on an incredibly wealthy family, which runs one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, "Succession" outdid itself week after week. Each episode was sicker and more hilarious than the last, building up to an over-the-top season finale that was as mean-spirited as "Veep" and as ridiculous as "Billions."

04. "Killing Eve" Season 1 BBC America

"Killing Eve" is a glamorous cat-and-mouse game that pops off the TV screen, thanks to stellar performances from leads Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. Developed for the small screen by Phoebe Waller-Bridge ("Flea Bag"), "Killing Eve" did an incredible job at turning an espionage thriller inside out, making the show humanistic, hilarious and addictive.

03. "Atlanta: Robbin' Season" Season 2 FX

The second season of Donald Glover's "Atlanta" knocked it out of the park. A number of episodes blended the absurd with reality and humor. The hilarious horror story "Teddy Perkins" is the finest example of what "Atlanta" can do. Episodes were narratively disconnected, allowing the show to fling its top-notch cast (Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz) to enter truly bizarre situations — from partaking in a Fastnacht celebration to a party at Drake's mansion. Episodes were also incredibly touching, like "Woods," in which Henry's character Alfred goes on a spiritual journey to reconnect with his late mother, and the flashback episode "FUBU."

02. "Maniac" Season 1 Netflix

The dazzling sci-fi drama "Maniac" was like nothing else on TV. It's world-building, courtesy of writer/creator Patrick Somerville and director/writer Cary Joji Fukunaga is incredible. A considered and specific show, the 10-episode miniseries took on mental health in trauma in a fresh way, resulting in one of the most creative shows in recent memory. It also featured a number of stellar performances from its two leads Emma Stone and Jonah Hill as well as its supporting cast, including a totally off-the-wall Justin Theroux, a diabolical Sally Field, and a compelling Sonoya Mizuno.

01. "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story" Season 2 FX

Told like a collection of short stories the second season of "American Crime Story," "The Assassination of Gianni Versace," examined homophobia in the 90s via one deranged and broken man. Though the show features a number of big names, it's Darren Criss's portrayal of gay serial killer Andrew Cunanan that stole the show. Expertly written by Tom Rob Smith, "Versace" explored a headline-grabbing story that somehow slipped away from America's consciousness. Unlike other true crime series, "Versace" made sure to highlight its victims, digging into their past and how their fate brought them to Cunanan, a victim of sorts too but a storm of evil who ended the lives of at least five men.

[rebelsofshield]

Panels Far, Far Away: A Week in Star Wars Comics 3/6/19

A stellar new Darth Vader limited series highlights this week’s Star Wars comics from Marvel.

Star Wars #62 written by Kieron Gillen and art by Andrea Broccardo

Leia is back in business and ready to bring the hurt to the Empire. Channeling her rage and pain at Queen Trios’s betrayal, she has crafted a deadly effective plan to incapacitate Sho-Torun for good. In order to carry out this mission, she will need allies from outside the Rebellion. As the team gathers unlikely supporters from the past few months of missions, Luke and Han must confront the fact that Leia may be treading closer to the dark than they are ready.

We have reached the final story arc of Kieron Gillen’s time in the Galaxy Far, Far Away and he looks to bring the themes of war’s effects on our central heroes to gripping close. It bears the typical marks of a finale story as Gillen brings together numerous characters from throughout his run such as Benthic Two Tubes and Tunga, the shape shifting actor that helped liberate Mon Cala. It adds a nice sense of closure and finality to the proceedings even if we are really only seeing the ending of a status quo for ensemble and series that will continue on for literal decades past this point.

Gillen also makes a point to further highlight the shaky moral ground that Leia finds herself in. She may claim that her attack on Sho-Torun is purely a strike on a valuable economic asset for The Empire, but everyone from Luke to Benthic can see that Leia isn’t approaching this from as purely a pragmatic thought process as she claims. This proves to be Gillen’s most interesting theme, but also his clumsiest in execution. Given how subtle and subdued Leia’s emotional arc was in “The Escape,” it’s frustrating to have characters flat out calling Leia out for being another Vader this early into the story. This story could and should take our characters to some dark places, but hopefully the character moments will ring as organically true as they have in the past.

Andrea Broccardo struggles here as well. After how strong last issue looked, the visual downturn here is a bit disappointing. Characters often seem to possess strangely glassy eyes and it gives them an inhuman and uncanny aesthetic. Leia in particular comes across as looking “off” here and that’s doubly disappointing considering that this is a story that is first and foremost about her.

Score: B-

Star Wars Age of Republic Padme Amidala #1 written by Jody Houser and art by Cory Smith and Wilton Santos

It’s a big week for the former Queen of Naboo. Not only is there a widely praised young adult novel out from EK Johnston, but she also takes center stage in this week’s issue of Age of the Republic. While an abundance of Padme is never a problem, this Jody Houser penned issue is easily the weaker of the two.

As has been the case with most issues of this series to date, “Bridge” offers some strong character work for our titular senator, but struggles in providing a narrative that excites in its own right. Most interestingly, Houser toys with just how much Padme’s handmaidens are aware of her double life and secret relationship with Anakin. Houser positions two different viewpoints that posit whether this is simply a private matter for Padme or whether it represents a risk to herself and her political agendas. It’s a smart topic, but it is given unfortunately little focus in the narrative as the story rotates towards her having to convince a neutral world of the goodness of the Republic. It’s a trope we’ve seen many times before in The Clone Wars and other Padme-centered stories, and it fails to stand up alongside some of the more politically challenging narratives of a character whose importance has grown in recent years.

Visually, “Bridge” is a disappointment as well. Cory Smith and Wilton Santos’s pencils are fine if unimpressive, but Java Tartaglia’s coloring lacks any flair or pop. It gives the issue a visually bland look that lacks the shadowy personality of Age of Republic’s villainous issues.

It’s disappointing to close out the hero side of this miniseries with easily its least impressive issue. Age of Republic has proven to be a fun if not entirely essential addition to the prequel era, but hey at least the bad guys fared well. (Unless Grievous really blows it next week.)

Score: C

 Star Wars Vader: Dark Visions #1 written by Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum and art by Paolo Villanelli

Dark Visions was going to be a strange project even before it released. Originally as Shadow of Vader written by Chuck Wendig who penned the Aftermath trilogy of novels for Del Rey , the series underwent a creative change after the formerly mentioned writer was fired by Marvel for supposedly being too politically incendiary. The comic was relabeled as Dark Visions and writer Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum took the helm. Now, it is hard to tell where exactly Wendig’s ideas end and Hallum’s begin. The behind the scenes drama could have easily led to a bland, mess of a comic, but if this first issue is any indication, Dark Visions may be a twisted treat of a comic.

The mission statement of Dark Visions is to provide views of Darth Vader from those who interact with him in atypical settings. The concept is an inspired idea for an anthology series and allows readers to get their regular dose of the Dark Lord since Charles Soule wrapped up his ongoing back in December. This first issue sees Vader filling the role of unwitting hero to an apocalyptic world plagued by a monstrous kaiju-like monster. Hallum crafts a believable and suitably wonderous new planet and imbues the entire story with the rhythm of a mythic epic poem. While the script smartly establishes just how Vader came to this world, part of the issue’s strengths is seeing just how the Sith Lord becomes the heroic “Black Knight” to a generation of alien children without ever betraying his sinister character.

Paolo Villanelli delivers a standout visual spectacle. Vader’s clash with this monstrous beast feels suitably epic and dynamic. Villanelli blocks this action sequence with large landscape spanning splash pages and tracks its tug-of-war with violence and energy. Colorist Arif Prianto cloaks Vader in swaths of sunlight and heroically staged flames. It’s an interesting experiment in how visual language helps re-contextualize a character that we already know so much about. It may not make us see Vader as a hero, but it shows us how someone potentially could.

This issue is a knock out success. A fun and thought provoking self contained adventured that can be picked up and enjoyed by fans of any kind. If the coming issues even remotely approach this level of quality, we are in for a something great.

Score: A

[milk--loaf]

04 / 22 / 22 - #2

as per my last post, this is really just a place for me to store all my video ideas. i'm not sure i'll follow them with all of them; a few might not pan out. but here's what i'm thinking so far (also, i'm probably going to edit this particular post as more ideas come to me):

a three-part series reviewing the three generations within the skins uk series. this is fairly obvious fodder for me, because like buffy, i have this series all on dvd and it's one of my formative pieces of content. the only qualm is i have seen other creators cover aspects of the skins series. i'm concerned about treading newly-covered ground.

an ambitious concept i had early on in the creation of the channel was an in-depth review of my two trunk novels. this isn't as palatable to me for the fact that it seems a bit self-involved. rest assured, i'd rip my old works to shreds, but by concept alone the optics don't seem great.

i know for a fact that i'll be doing a video on suspiria (1977) because it's my favorite movie on the planet. but there's so many directions to take it. the most solid idea i have is to review / compare the original to the remake, and analyze what it takes for a remake to be successful. both are stellar in separate ways and individually live in my top ten horror movie list.

the other option i have for a suspiria-themed video (or given the abundance of concepts, a two-video series) is a review of the original suspiria's sequels - inferno and mother of tears. i have seen inferno but not mother of tears, which reads as aesthetically different from the previous films, i'm guessing in large part because it was filmed / released 27 years after inferno. for this and the last suspiria concept, i'd like to dive a lot more into the behind-the-scenes. i'm a huge fan of the youtube channel dead meat and i'm inspired by their total consideration of any given film, both story- and production-wise. i'd have to put in effort to differentiate my style of review so it doesn't feel like a cheap knock-off.

it would have to be after i fully cover suspiria, but i'd also like to cover argento's deep red and tenebrae, which are standalone giallo films with a similar dreamy aesthetic to suspiria and largely different plots. maybe the bird with the crystal plumage, too. but talking this far ahead puts me at risk of looking at the forest rather than the trees, which feels like a pitfall. i'm still figuring out if this video essay hobby of mine will pan out, after all.

i've recently latched onto the spanish show elite, which to me, feels somewhat influenced by skins uk with a stronger, harsher "mystery/crime scene" bent. yeah, crime and death occur in skins, but they're not the central crux of the plot in every season. talking about elite in a video won't happen any time soon, because first i just want to enjoy the series without thinking too critically. and there's like, five season thus far.

a piece of content i can see myself covering within a reasonable amount of time (as in, within the next few months) is a review of the movie viy (1967), which i know next to nothing about, but i'm super intrigued by. it was the first soviet-era horror film to be released in the USSR, which, that alone seems fascinating. this is definitely high on the agenda, despite being point number 7 on this list.

a form of media i haven't covered on this channel yet are novels. which is surprising, but also, what can i expect? i just started the channel, lol. i think the top contenders on my bookshelf are catherine house by elisabeth thomas and the first bad man by miranda july. these are some of favorite books. catherine house would benefit from the fact that i recently wrote a paper over it, and could modify that material into a script. the first bad man benefits from the fact that i'm fuzzy on the plot (it's been a couple years since i last read it), which might make for a good reaction video. logistically speaking, i'd have to figure out what to do for the b-roll in the video, which is a potentially big hurdle.

junji ito graphic novels, mainly gyo and remina. i could also cover spiral, but two things bar that: i don't have the graphic novel physically on my shelf, and also, spiral is... incredibly in-depth and well-loved. i'm not afraid of entering that territory, but i'm more familiar with the likes of remina and i'm more comfortable talking about it in full.

there's this dreadfully old king arthur tv show. not only in black and white, but like, blurry black and white, with fuzzy audio. i remember putting this on TV with my roommate a couple years ago. we didn't really watch it, we just played it for noise. now that i'm personally more invested in the lore of king arthur, i'm very curious about revisiting it. light research has left me high and dry on the title, though. i know it had lancelot and guinevere in it, and some crusty old wizard (merlin, i imagine), but i can't remember the name. i'll... figure it out. maybe. hopefully.

a series on angel. this is a distant possibility, but likely to happen if i ever finish the buffy series. separately, i could also do a read-through of the buffy and angel comics. but that would require some actual investment. buying all the comics would take time and money, and i'd probably want to show images or panels as well, which logistically would require some problem-solving. in other words, a nightmare of a concept, but very intriguing.

oh! i want to analyze an american werewolf in london as well. i know it had a sequel which completely bombed financially and artistically, and that might be fun to add to the video.

for a hot second i thought it would be neat to do a plot and lore rundown of genshin impact, but two things are keeping me from fully jumping on board: i've already seen one person do this. second is that the lore, while really cool, is pretty intense, and thus far feel unfinished/aspects are yet to be connected, explored, and detailed. i thought this overall concept ran dry, but then my idea shifted to doing a complete arknights lore and story review (another gacha game), which feels like new video essay territory and reads as a bit more comprehensive. maybe thanks in part because it's all text. like, a bunch of it. lore bomb-y, exposition-y, and descriptive. i wouldn't cover side stories, which would be insane. there's at least one side quest with over 250,000 words. that's a novel if i ever saw one. so i'd probably just cover the main story and characters.

and i think that's it for now. like i already said, this post might be edited in the future to add or subtract ideas, or i might just make an updated post. we'll see!

[gascon-en-exil]

A Not Actually Definitive Ranking of Fire Emblem Games

So after a lot of deliberation I’ve decided not to revisit last year’s Zelda ranking project on a full scale for FE, but that doesn’t mean it’s not something I really wanted to do. 2018 is the year we’re going to get alternatively hyped for and disappointed by FE16, after all. With that in mind have an abbreviated list that will end up being one very long post. I’ve got games to gush over and an anon or two (and very likely actual followers…eep) to piss off, so here we go.

The “personal favorites of the series, love revisiting them” Tier - FE10, FE2/15, FE4

I’m never going to argue that Radiant Dawn is a perfect game or even just a perfect FE game, but damned if it doesn’t manage to do so much right all at once. An extremely ambitious story that builds off its mostly conventional predecessor in a variety of interesting ways, deconstructing a bunch of series narrative standards (life in a defeated country kind of sucks and there are people that don’t warm that quickly to young and inexperienced rulers, go figure) and taking an eleventh hour hard right at Nietzchean atheism as read by a Pride parade. Kind of falls on its ass by the end, but every experimental FE story does the same thing so I can’t fault this one. I love the army switching as motivation to try different units almost as much as I love the oh-so-exploitable growth and BEXP mechanics. Its Easy mode also hits a sweet spot for me of being challenging enough to not be a complete snore while also allowing the freedom for all manner of weird self-imposed challenges that don’t even require grinding. By all accounts Hard mode is one lazy design choice after another, but I don’t play at that level so no complaints here.

Never played Gaiden, but to its credit around half of the unique gameplay mechanics I like in Shadows of Valentia were also in the original: the modest army size, the novel approaches to inventory management and magic, the pretty basic class system with just a hint of nuance. The remake threw in some hit-or-miss questing, dungeon exploration, and achievements, but all the rest was either a solid addition or a continuation of NES-era annoyances that I could live with. And the story…SoV makes me dislike the DS games even more just because this game does so much with so little. Even leaving aside the mostly great voice acting there’s a bunch of new content that characterizes almost everybody and makes half of them (the men, anyway, because this is a remake of a Kaga-era game and therefore misogynistic as can be) gay because why the hell not, and then some development that constitutes the only solid attempt at worldbuilding Archanea-Valentia-Ylisse has ever really gotten and also retcons some stuff from Awakening into making sense. It’s even got some solid DLC with lots of character stuff for the Deliverance, the least sucky grinding of the 3DS games, and probably the only context in which I’ll ever be able to comment on anything from Cipher.

No remake needed for Genealogy of the Holy War to make it competitive with the rest of the top tier - just an excellent translation patch and the standard features of an emulator. I’ve never watched Game of Thrones and probably don’t plan on it, but I gather that this game provides the same essential experience with less blood and female nudity and marginally more egalitarianism for all. I can forgive it for being the original Het Baby Fest since you’d be hard-pressed to find a single entirely healthy and well-adjusted individual anywhere on Jugdral and I relate to that just as much. Screwed up family dynamics for everyone! It’s also arguably got a more fun breeding meta than either of the 3DS games, lacking Awakening’s optimization around a single postgame map with very specific parameters or Fates’s high level of balance that ironically stymies analysis. This is another game for interesting inventory management and unit leveling that isn’t too obnoxious, which mostly makes up for the maps taking an eon to play through even with an emulator speeding through those enemy phases. This would be a strange game to remake, but if it got a localized one of the same caliber as SoV I fully acknowledge that this could climb to the #2 spot. SoV would probably have the queer edge though unless they do some strange things to the plot or just make Gen 2 really gay…but then again Gen 2 is the part that’s more in need of fleshing out as it is. (Also, this game has So. Much. Incest. That’s not even really a kink of mine especially as it’s all straight incest, but I just find that hilarious in light of how Tumblr’s purity culture speaks of such things.)

The “good games, but don’t come back to them as much” Tier - FE7, FE9, FE8

Blazing Sword is not here for nostalgia purposes, especially since when I first played the game at 14 years old most of what I like about it didn’t really register. It was just that game with RPG elements that I liked and permadeath that I didn’t, and it took a few games after that for me to become an established fan of the franchise. Massive props for putting such an unconventional spin on a prequel to a textbook FE; this is a game in a series about war in which no war is fought, how crazy is that? We actually get to see the backstory of FE6′s tragic antagonist, even as it’s completely tangential to the plot of this game and so just feels like random Jugdral-esque family drama without context, and on top of that we get the first hints of interdimensional travel and kinky human/shapeshifter sex several years before either of those became controversial talking points about how they were ruining the series. I am so there. Lyn doesn’t matter to the saga, but her character arc is distinct and self-contained and also she picked up a disproportionately large fanbase while being bisexual and biracial so go her. Eliwood is sympathetic and homosocially-inclined even if his growths frequently make me want to cry (at least he gets a horse unlike his similarly-challenged son), and I can live with Hector even if I could have done without his lordly legacy. Throw in some average-for-the-time gameplay with just enough variety across the two routes and even more good character work *waves at Sonia and Renault and Priscilla -> Raven/Lucius and Serra and…* and it’s all in all a solid experience. The ranking system can go die in a fire though, which funnily enough it did after this game. Yay!

Like most early 3D games - except on Gamecube so it’s even more embarrassing - Path of Radiance has aged terribly by every aesthetic measure aside from the soundtrack. It’s also painfully slow, and my computer can’t run Dolphin apparently so an emulator’s not going to fix that for me. Those obvious flaws aside, it’s still an entertaining game, and more importantly it’s the prologue that had the crucial task of setting up all the pins RD knocked over in stellar fashion, whether we’re talking about the basic storyline that actually isn’t or the many het relationship fake-outs (more so in localization…I guess we’ll never know if NoA was actively planning that when they pushed Ike/Elincia like they did). PoR is also a love letter to Jugdral in both gameplay and themes, albeit an occasionally critical one. The jury’s still out on whether Jugdral or Tellius succeeds the most (fails the least?) of the FE settings at developing a complete world with a nuanced and resonant saga narrative, but that Tellius manages to be competitive while being kind of clumsy overall with racism and shifting the series’s overarching motif of dragon-blooded superhumans to one of kinky interracial sex is pretty impressive. The less I say about Ike the better since it’s only his endings in RD that save him for me; suffice it to point out that his worldview and general personality were clearly designed to appeal to a demographic that does not include me.

And finally comes The Sacred Stones, truly my average benchmark FE as I like it but struggle to have any particularly strong feelings on it one way or the other. The story is standard but has a few intriguing quirks, like the light vs. dark magic meta, surprise necrophilia, and how the main antagonist’s sexuality sort of depends on which route you take (except he’s still never getting laid so does it really matter?). It also seems to have been the first game to have made a legitimate effort toward the kind of replayability that’s normal for RPGs, what with the branched promotions, the route split, and the actual postgame. That’s all much more engaging than just filling up a support log. The gameplay is also more polished and (I think?) more balanced than the other GBA games, if one is willing to overlook the minor issue of Seth. Let’s see…something something twincest that’s now an IS running gag, something something guys talking intimately about their lances, something something SoV did the whole dungeon crawling with monsters bit better but I can forgive SS for not taking it that far. Moving on….

The “they have Problems” Tier - FE14, FE13

Probably qualifies as a fandom heresy, but yes I’m putting Fates first of these two. Fates is in every conceivable way for me the “You Tried” game, because I had such high hopes for it from the moment we got the earliest promotional content. I was expecting a World of Warcraft-style conflict between two morally grey factions with myriad convoluted grievances against each other messily resolving themselves one way or the other according to player choice (though note that this is already somewhat damning with faint praise as no one’s going to call WoW a storytelling masterpiece), with Conquest in particular a true villain campaign that I imagined might play out as European Imperialism: The Game. What we actually got was…not that, not at all, but amid all the complaints about plot holes and idiot balls and moral myopia most fans seem to have forgotten just how much there is to this game. It’s three full stories that together average out to be just about passable, with possibly the biggest gameplay variety in the series that fixed most of Awakening’s more broken elements (pair-up, children being unquestionably superior to the first generation) while also adding in new features that undoubtedly appealed to someone or other like Phoenix mode and the castle-building aspect. I can even mostly forgive the obvious growing pains Fates exhibits in terms of queer content, as they were pretty much inevitable once the developers realized that (almost) everyone was picking up on the subtext and that that approach just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Again, they tried, and if the results included face-touching fanservice and plot contrivances left and right and two-way cultural posturing that inevitably crosses over into real world racism at some point I can still step back for a moment and acknowledge that Fates began as a distinctive, high-concept setting on par with Tellius and Jugdral that was willing to do something different with the narrative norm (for two of its routes at least, and even so I’m not begrudging Birthright its conventionality because that grounding is important overall). And who knows? Maybe a later game will come along and retroactively make this setting coherent.

Fates might have more sexual fanservice, but if there’s any FE that I feel ends up a slave to fanservice in a broader sense it would be Awakening. Yeah, I get that when it was in development everyone thought this would be the final game, so it makes sense that the finished product turned out to be a nostalgia-laden greatest hits piece. It’s still hard to forgive Awakening for feeling so insubstantial, doubly so since it ended up revitalizing the franchise and now it and Fates are everywhere. It’s got a plot that only makes some sense in light of SoV and possibly on a meta level (following my theory that the plot structure is meant to mirror FE1-3 in sequence), the first iteration of an Avatar dating game heavily coloring the characterization and support system, and a queasily feel-good atmosphere that allows almost no character to actually remain dead and centers everything around the self-insert and the power of friendship. So much for the series’s traditionally dim view of human nature and recurring theme of the inevitability of conflict. What’s more, in spite of its theoretically broad scope (including a criminally under-explored time travel plot with a bad future) and numerous call-backs to older games Awakening does surprisingly little for developing the series’s most frequently-visited setting. I think it was in large part how generic this game has always felt to me even before release that I never got very hyped for it and as a consequence was never very disappointed by it. It’s just….there, with its nostalgia and its chronic “no homo” and its host of hilariously broken mechanics. I wonder if we’d have ended up viewing Awakening more favorably if it really had been the last game? Eh, probably not.

The “needs a remake or needs a better remake” Tier - FE5, FE6, FE3/12, FE1/11

I don’t have a specific order for these, except that FE1/11 is almost certainly the bottom since 5 and 6 have remake potential and, lack of localization aside, New Mystery was a better remake than Shadow Dragon.

I still haven’t fully played Thracia 776, but I’ve watched and read through Let’s Plays and have read more than enough analysis and meta on the game to where I can definitively say that I wouldn’t enjoy playing it too much and don’t feel all that emotionally connected to the story except insofar as it relates to the overall Jugdral saga. The concept of a standard FE plot that ends with the playable cast losing is an intriguing one, though they really could have done better than the weird non-ending that is this game’s final boss. I’m also not as invested in Leif the fallen aristocrat as I usually am those types of characters, possibly because it’s a foregone conclusion that he eventually gets his kingship anyway. I would like a remake, hopefully one that smooths over some of the original’s mechanical roughness and also makes a bunch of characters gay because the material’s certainly there in places, but I also admit that I’d rather have a remake of Genealogy first. Or, for that matter….

Binding Blade doesn’t have the potential for an amazing story-driven remake that Thracia does; after all, it’s basically a soft reboot of FE1 with an equally bland lord saved by his Super Smash Bros. fanbase and possibly his weirdly large harem. That said, there’s a fair amount of character potential and worldbuilding opportunities what with the series’s first true support system and the content of its unorthodox prequel. Even by itself I feel like BB does more to sell Elibe as its own distinctive world than any of Marth’s games ever did for Archanea, and that’s even with the reality that like the Archanea games this playable cast is inflated with some really forgettable characters (that seem to have followed a semi-rigid numerical quota by class in this instance. It’s weird.). This game never really stuck in my mind as a good playable experience either, not helped by the fact that it feels simple and antiquated compared not only to the GBA games that followed it but to the Jugdral games that preceded it. Good on them for throwing out some of Thracia’s more unwieldy mechanics, but did they have to throw out skills, hybrid classes, and varied chapter objectives too? The space limitations of the GBA couldn’t have been that severe.

While I’ve been spending much of this post ragging on Archanea, I will say that (New) Mystery of the Emblem has some interesting character beats, like the resolution of the Camus/Nyna/Hardin tragedy, Rickard and the situationally bisexual(?) Julian, and some of the antics of Marth’s retainers. I did like bits of the remake’s new assassin plot even if most of it is cribbed from the Black Fang; Eremiya’s no Sonia, but Clarisse and Katarina have their moments. Also, Kris isn’t that offensive to me since I was never all that engaged in Marth’s inconsistent personality and from what I’ve seen his/her supports don’t all devolve into a dating sim. New Mystery has a broader array of characters than either the original or the previous remake, without requiring the player to kill off characters just to get some of the new ones. That said, the reclassing in the DS games is still broken and allows the player to strip even more character out of their personality-deprived units. I’m getting to the point where I’m having trouble separating the two actually, so I’ll just go ahead and remark that I think everyone can agree that Shadow Dragon is the worst of the three remakes so far, with no supports, the aforementioned killing of units, a prologue that adds to the story but only exists on Normal mode and also requires you to kill someone off (seriously, what is it with this game? Is it commentary on the necessary sacrifices of war that they tried forcing on the player for one game until they realized it was a terrible idea?), the needless removal of features from earlier games like rescuing even as others like weapon ranks and forging were left in, that first clumsy iteration of reclassing, and little to nothing that I can see as elevating the story above the standard fantasy adventure fare of Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light that might have been good in 1990 but didn’t look so hot in 2008. Archanea just feels so lifeless overall compared to every other setting in the franchise, to the point where I don’t even feel that guilty about putting the first game in the series way down at the bottom when over in the Zelda ranking I raised the NES games above ones I found more fun to play solely because of their historical significance. Isn’t FE1 arguably the first tactical RPG? I feel like I should appreciate it more, but I just can’t. *shrugs*

[teenageread]

Review: Grit

Synopsis:

His presence beside me is like heat, like weight, something I’ve carried around on my back too long.

Raw and moving, this contemporary realistic debut novel will leave readers of E. Lockhart and Gayle Forman breathless as it unflinchingly unfolds the tragic secrets being kept in a small, deceptively idyllic Maine town.

Seventeen-year-old Darcy Prentiss has long held the title of “town slut.” She knows how to have a good time, sure, but she isn’t doing anything all the guys haven’t done. But when you’re a girl with a reputation, every little thing that happens seems to keep people whispering—especially when your ex-best friend goes missing.

But if anyone were to look closer at Darcy, they’d realize there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. Staying out late, hooking up, and telling lies is what Darcy does to forget. Forget about the mysterious disappearance of her friend. Forget about the dark secret she and her cousin Nell share. Forget about that hazy Fourth of July night. So when someone in town anonymously nominates Darcy to be in the running for Bay Festival Princess—a cruel act only someone with a score to settle would make—all of the things that Darcy wants to keep hidden threaten to erupt in ways she wasn’t prepared to handle…and isn’t sure if she can.

Plot:

Darcy and her sister Mags, along with their cousin Nelly are blueberry pickers. Every summer they go to the farm, pick as much as they can, from 7am to 5pm, in order to save up. For Darcy it was to get a car (even though she failed her driver’s test four times), where Nelly was saving up for cosmetology school. This is how it always been, the three of them. Darcy’s and Mag’s dad died eleven years ago, after falling off a bridge from a dare, leaving them and their mother, Sarah, alone. Their landlord, Hunt, went easy on them, charging them a rent for basically free. Nelly and Aunt Libby live in the trailer at the edge of the lot, for what the world thought was moral support, but Darcy knew it was just so that Libby can be closer to mock her mother. With her snide comments and backhand jokes, Libby took the town gossip as truth about Darcy, and made sure to tell Sarah at all points of time. After all, how could Libby not make fun of Sarah’s life as so far her reckless husband died for $50 and a round of beer, and she had the town slut for a daughter. Needless to say Darcy and Libby did not get along. With a hazy July fourth memory haunting her, Darcy is faced with the summer of mockery of Shea, looks from Jesse, sibling trouble with Mags, and trying to keep Nelly safe from the secrete last year that almost killed her. Not only that, but with a break in Rhiannon’s case, the police are knocking down Darcy’s door with questions about her missing ex-best friend. With her darkest secrets coming to the light, Darcy has to be strong as she stands in front of the town as a Bay Festival Princess, showing off her true girt as a small town girl with big secrets.  

Thoughts:

Darcy Celeste Prentiss is a girl you had to like. Sure she knew how to had fun, spent most weekend nights getting drunk in a field, and be surprised in the morning to find herself in her own bed. Where she does have some regrets (July fourth to be exact) Darcy knew to how to keep secrets. From Rhiannon and what truly happened to break their friendship. How Rhiannon cold words started Darcy’s reputation, one that Rhiannon started to begin with. Then the Shea issue, of the guy who cannot give Darcy a break (whose reason why for his actions are left in the shadows by French), then to Jesse who sees the ‘real’ her. As Gillian French debuted novel, this shows her skills of her writing as she holds the secretes close to her chest, only to leave you guessing before they are finally reviled. The novel accurately titled Grit as that is what Darcy has: Grit. Moving throughout the summer with her backbreaking blueberry work in the compete to top harvester, defending herself from Libby, standing up to Shea, and defending Nelly, Darcy overcomes her challenges one by one, in French’s stellar novel.

Read more reviews: Goodreads

Buy the book: Amazon

[thornstocutyouwith]

Name: Aries S.(Salem) Sebastian Hailstrum

Meaning of Name:  Aries: The Ram, Salem: Peaceful, complete, Sebastian: venerable, Hailstrum: Shelter, Hailstorm, Hellstorm

Nickname(s):  A.S.S, Hailstrum,

Age:  16-40

Birthday:  April 16, 1990-

Species/Nationality:  Zodiac/Human, American/Scandinavian/French/Irish

Accent: Yes

Language spoken: English, Korean

Powers:

Aries: Aries allows strength-based abilities, such as Horn Protrusion, Enhanced Strength, Fire Manipulation, Strength Manipulation, and/or Caprine Physiology.

Horse: Horse, Fire

Ivy/Butterfly: Butterfly Physiology, Moon

Eagle/Men: Raptor Physiology and Quetzalcoatl Physiology, Water

Zodiac Empowerment

Psammokinetic Blade Construction

Key Manipulation

Purple Lightning Manipulation

Enhanced Repositioning

Hiddenness Manipulation

Musical Intuition

Mental Pressure

Tantric Metabolization

AU Aries Power: Stellar Physiology

Weaknesses/Illness/Allergies:  Has quite a few health problems the more severe ones being from when the Cancer Zodiac ran him over with their car and nearly killed him when they were in high school together.

Pet: No

Occupation: Student/Psychologist

Faceclaim:  Charlie Hunnam/Nick Roux

Description:  His hair is naturally blond, but sometimes he will dye it grey or black. In his teenage years he would often spike his hair and delve into more colors to dye his hair. As a matured adult he will sometimes style it back or messily to one side or the other or leave it wherever it may fall. When he was a teenager he kept it longer than he does as an adult. Aries has varies scares along his body and face from being hit by a car as a teenager. His skin color is a warm, somewhat tanned color. As a teenager he would often paint his nails, and sometimes still does as and adult if he’s bored enough. He has four tattoos one one his chest, one on his back, one on his right arm, and the last on his left

Outfit/Accessories/Jewelry: Long Sleeve Shirt, Jeans, Boots, Jacket, Left Middle Finger, Left Ring Finger, Right Index Finger, Right Middle Finger, Right Ring Finger, Nose Ring

Height: 5′9″ - 6′1″

Weight: 112 - 145

Body Build: Toned, Athletic

Backstory/Background:

Past

Aries was born into a wealthy as well as well known family. His parents were quiet famous in their own right. Though his father was exceptionally so. He had been the heir to a rather large family fortune and business it would seem. As Aries himself was also to inherit a piece of that fame and money as well. Aries was the last of four children between both his parents, his mother having two sons prior to becoming married to his father. Though he had a full blooded sister a few years older than him as well.

From the beginning Aries had a silver spoon in his mouth, it would seem. He was spoiled beyond belief, mostly by his adoring mother. Aries had idolized his oldest brother and got along very well with his second oldest brother. Which perhaps at times emboldened him too much for his sister, who he did not get along with well at all. The two were both spoiled more so than their older siblings, being the babies of the family. His father had seemed to take interest in his sister more so than Aries however. Which had birthed a wider gape between the two as Aries would literally stop at nothing to have his fathers affection.

However when he was still very young his mother had been murdered right in front of him. Which had traumatized him severely at the time. So much so that he had lost most of his memories of the entire week leading up to the event of the stabbing. Mainly because he had also been injured in the attack, not that his father had let that be known. Which caused him years of distress. Which was complicated more by his father seeming to take his mothers death out on the young boy, neglecting and at times abusing Aries in fits of anger. Especially as Aries grew to become more insolent.

Soon enough Aries’ father had remarried, his elder siblings had moved away. This had left Aries alone to his own devices far too often. Now a teenager with newer, younger siblings from his fathers second marriage he was viewed as a burden and an annoyance. One his father didn’t want around. During this time his father fell into his inheritance as well. Becoming even more rich and well known from it. As well his new mother had thought he would become a threat to the children and pushed him out of the family home. Begrudgingly his father sent the young teenager to live alone in a small home in the nearby town. While the rest of his family were living a luxurious life. In nearly a different state entirely from him.

Aries saw this as a win however, getting more into drugs and falling into his petulant behavior. Becoming quite a popular classmate among his new school and making plenty of friends. Despite many of them thinking he had a very aggressive aura about him. As he could show he was easy to become hostile, especially when he did not get what he wanted. Aries rarely sees his family during his final years of school. Despite his delinquent tendencies he still manages to pass with high grades.

Present

However things did hit a speed bump in on of his last couple months of high school. A girl he had trouble getting along with was pulling out of her parking spot when one of his friends jokingly shoved him behind her car, resulting in his being hit by it and knocked over. The girl had backed up onto his torso, crushing some of it before pushing the gas as she realized she hit someone, further injuring him more severely in her panic. Aries would spend the rest of his school year in the hospital. Though still managed to complete his subjects in a timely manner in order to graduate.

This incident was however one more that his father used to blame him for being ‘unlucky’ and borderline ‘unwanted’. After a few emotionally abusive words were flung Aries was told that it would be the last time his father was going to pay him a visit and that he would continued to get some money in the bank, as well as pay for expenses to get him through college and a small allowance he told his son that he never wanted to see him again. Aries could only agree to the new terms, as he had never wanted to see them again either.

Aries would go on to college, still acting immaturely and getting into fights or rebelling against whatever thing struck him as annoying at any given time, in his free time. He was however still studious in his school work and would even spend many evenings studying over going out with friends to wreck havoc on the town, something he enjoyed doing almost as much as learning, almost. Aries however knew that he needed to complete his courses without getting tossed in prison or letting himself be distracted entertainment.

In time Aries had found he liked getting into fights, so he started doing that. Clearly taking advantage of everyone’s fascination with the movie Fight Club, to some extent. A free ass beating for anyone who crossed him was right up his alley though, so he would take. Enjoying the sexual tension between him and some opponents at time. Especially those who would re-challenge him to matches. Over the next couple of years there were two different sides of Aries, one that stayed up late at night on a Saturday studying when needed. The other out causing anarchy in the streets and fighting people in unsanctioned fights. It was a quick way to make a couple more hundred dollars.

After graduating with a doctorate in psychology he went on with living his life, now independent of his father or his family’s wealth. Over the next couple of years he becomes popular enough to gain some fame from his chosen career. Where he now lives comfortably, but still enjoys fight clubs and other anarchistic activities as well,... Wouldn’t it be weird if you had to fight your psychologist...

Future

Aries in time meets a S/O older than him and has three children, two sons and a daughter.

(Work In Progress)

Personality:

Incisive, Fiery, Aggressive, Sarcastic, Relaxed, Intelligent, Dramatic, Energetic, Casual, Physical, Reserved, Inconsiderate, Disconcerting, Quirky, Neurotic, Anxious, Mannerless, Insensitive, Courageous, Determined, Confident, Enthusiastic, Optimistic, Honest, Passionate, Impatient, Moody, Short-tempered, Impulsive, Assertive, Independent, Competitive, Selfish,

Quirks/Savvies/Other: Dyes his hair, Wears glasses sometimes, Good with mechanics, 117 IQ, Bisexual,

Likes: Theater, Reading, Running, Golf, Watching YouTube videos, watching sport, Rubix cubes, Meat, Milk Chocolate, Biscuits, Football, Hockey, Photography, Comfortable clothes, Taking on leadership roles, Physical challenges, Individual sports, Cartoons, Elves, Goldfish, Coffee Mugs, Heroes, Magic wands,  Saxophones, Romance novels, Games, Conspiracy theories,

Dislikes: Inactivity, delays, work that does not use one's talents, Fungi, Renaissance history, Neckties, Glassware, Gardening, Rabbits, Movies about animals, Cute woodland creatures, Crystals, Country music,

Fears: That people don’t really like him but are just putting up with him, Going blind

Personality Tests: ISTP, 8w7, The Challenger, The Enthusiast, Fire Element, Gryffindor, Wampus, Neutral Evil, Wolf Patronus,

Other: Aries, Aries-Taurus Cusp

Parent(s):

  -> Father:

  -> Mother:

Sibling(s): 2 older half brothers on his mothers side, 1 older sister, a couple younger half siblings from his father

Children: 2 sons and 1 daughter

Starters

Chat’s

Para’s

Face

Stuff

Information

Asks

All

                                                                              Alternate Universes

Horror AU

Greek God AU(Pheme/Philotes/Deimos/Helios)

Divergent AU

Hunger Games AU

Storm Coast AU

Harry Potter AU + 1

Pokemon AU

Planet AU

Mermaid AU

Plant AU

Neverland AU

Marvel AU

Star Wars AU

Royalty AU

50s Era AU

Titanic AU

Apocalypse AU

Circus AU

It Came From Another Dimension AU

Riverdale AU

Living Doll AU

Gang RP

Noah Bellamy

AUs

[wonderwonderhowido]

Year-end meme time! I have been answering these questions once a year without fail since 2006. Maybe one of these years I’ll stop, but not for 2017.

Was 2017 a good year for you?

Yes! In February I decided I wanted to quit my job and go to Brazil for 3 months. I quit my job and moved away from NC in July, left for Brazil in August. I had a short-lived but intense romantic relationship from April-July. We drove across the country together. Brazil was really challenging but overall amazing. With the exception of a couple periods when life was too hectic, I kept up with my yoga habit. I think I made it a full 8 months without skipping a whole week actually? Maybe it was 6 months, I forget now, I just know that it was an important milestone for me at the time because I have never managed to keep up an exercise routine that long before. I spent more time at the ocean and by the pool than I have in most other years of my life. I lost some weight. I stayed relatively on top of my shit (bullet journaling really helped, when I was doing that), and stayed sane. I read a fuck ton of Harry/Draco and BTS fic. I took a lot of chances with people I had only just barely met. It has honestly been a pretty stellar year for me personally, the mounting sense of despair over the external world aside.

What was your favorite moment of the year?

Being in the ocean with kids climbing on top of me, demanding to be tossed into the waves.

What was your least favorite moment of the year?

Nothing actually stands out. I had some pretty low moments of crying over certain things in my life, but nothing I can talk about on the online, and besides since none of them were reacting to specific things they all sort of blend together in my memory anyway. I did cry whole buckets while leaving my goodbye party in NC and continued to cry when I got to my ex-BF’s house and then cried myself to sleep, but it feels sort of not right to call that a least favorite moment, just cathartic.

Where were you when 2017 began?

At the same new years’ party I was at when 2014, 2015, and 2016 began. That night was kind of a mixed bag for me, although I did get a new years’ kiss, which I will probably not be getting this year.  

Where will you be when 2017 ends?

One of my oldest friends in SLC is hosting a “polar plunge” at her house, so I’m going to do that. I probably will not be taking any kind of plunge myself but I can provide emotional support to those who shall.

Who will you be with when 2017 ends?

My friend Jennica and her husband. I have no idea who else, I don’t think I know most of their friends these days.  

Did you keep your new years resolution of 2017?

Looking at the half-assed resoluations I made…. Lmao, no I didn’t, but then my goals for the year changed rather drastically in February when I decided to upend everything, and I feel pretty good about how I followed through with all that stuff.

Do you have a new years resolution for 2018?

Have another list of resolution-ish intentions I have, I still would not call this list whole-assed but hey:

-complete a 30 day yoga challenge (I am on day 7 already, actually, so if I keep up with it I'll knock this one out before the end of January)

-don't let more than 4 days go by without going to yoga (other than when I'm traveling)

-don't let more than 2 days go by without writing (other than when I'm traveling)

-write original fiction at least three times a week, even if it's just like, scribbling down 100 words of a writing exercise (again, other than when traveling)

-read at least 25 books

-read at least 20 short stories

What was your relationship status? Did you break up with anyone?

I was in a relationship from roughly April-July, we broke it off before I left for Brazil. I dated other people in there, although no one for as long as I dated him.

How many one-night stands?

I think four? Idk depends on what you consider a one-night stand. And I made out with lots of different people, which was fun.

Did you make any new friends in 2017?

I made a lot of new friends in Brazil! I’ve made some new friends and reconnected with old friends through kpop. I seem to have made some new friends in SLC, which has been really nice.

What was your favorite month of 2017?

Probably September. April really ranks up there, too.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 30!!! I think on the day of I went to work, got taken out to lunch by my boyfriend, swam in my apartment’s pool, and started watching Boku No Hero Academia, also with the boyfriend. I had a small party for myself over the weekend, if memory serves. It was really nice, low key and happy, I really enjoyed turning 30 and have been very much enjoying my thirties since. I remember thinking that I was going to feel angsty and panicked about turning this number but that never really hit. It was mostly just good.

How many different places did you travel to in 2017?

Ashland, OR; Wilmington, NC; Charlotte, NC; from Carrboro, NC to SLC, with stops along the way in Birmingham, New Orleans, a town in Texas that I have forgotten the name of; in Brazil: Fortaleza, Taiba, Manaus, Tefe, Mamiraua Reserve, Monte Alegre do Sul, and Sao Paulo.

Did anybody close to you die in 2017?

No.

Did anybody close to you give birth?

Yes, K and E.

Did you miss anybody in the past year?

I missed my NC friends a lot after I moved away. I missed Brazil and my people there.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Other than public figures, no, not really.

What were your favorite movies that you saw in 2017?

Loving Vincent, Thor: Ragnarok and The Last Jedi.

What was your favorite song from 2017?

I have not done a great job of keeping track of which songs I’ve listened to the most this year, but: Silver Spoon/Baepsae by BTS; Nights by Frank Ocean; Soldados by Legiao Urbana; Don’t Take The Money by Bleachers; The Louvre by Lorde; Ultralight Beam by Kanye West; Young by The Chainsmokers.

Did you have a favorite concert in 2017?

Bleachers and MUNA in Charlotte! Also Chance The Rapper.

Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2017?

I feel like yes but I think I did less getting super drunk than in previous years.

Did you do a lot of drugs in 2017?

Not ‘a lot’ but I was not expecting this to be the year that recreational drugs came back into my life. So ‘a lot’ by my usual standards, I guess.

What kept you sane?

Yoga, walking, and journaling. This is a very boring and literal answer, sorry, but it’s true. I’m sorry to be one of Those People but exercise and mindfulness are the reasons I’m able to be off anti-depressants.

What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?

Traveled to a foreign country by myself. Tried cocaine. Wrote fanfiction commissions. Taught english classes. Learned how to samba. Used a bullet journal. Did goat yoga. Interviewed a creator I admired. Went to a club by myself.

What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

-August 21, the day of the eclipse and the day I flew to Brazil.

-July 28-29, my last days in NC, the night one of my cats spent in the bathtub of a friend’s apartment, and the days I spent frantically moving out of my apartment.

-The Women’s March. Both because it was one of the very few times this year I felt politically empowered, and because that night I had a really fantastic tinder date with a woman who had also been at the march. This was only a couple days after I’d been dumped by the girl I was seeing, so I felt very spitefully pleased about the timing of it all.

-April 22. At my old job, we opened up a new public preserve, an event everyone in the org had been working to make happen for years. The event itself went extremely well and was super gratifying, and then that night was one of the early and really great dates with the guy I was dating.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Quitting my job in a way I feel good about. Making Brazil happen. Moving out of my apartment. Sticking with yoga. Finishing my otayuri Spy AU. Writing all the fic that people commissioned me for, even though it took me forever and a day. Paying off my credit card post-brazil.

What was your biggest failure?

I am disappointed in myself for not trying harder to write and publish more nonfiction, even though I felt all this momentum in that direction after the McElroy piece I wrote in May. I am also disappointed in myself for losing steam on the novel I started in 2016. There are some conversations I wish I had had with important people in my life, that I always chickend out on having. There are some feelings I wish I had been able to leave behind, but couldn’t.

What was the best thing you bought?

Other than plane tickets, probably my chromebook. It does not feel real at all that I bought that in 2017, though. This year has been five years in one.

Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? happier

b) thinner or fatter? thinner

c) richer or poorer? poorer

How did you spend Christmas?

With my family in SLC, like I almost always do. We opened presents, my dad and I went to yoga, I read a lot of kpop fic, in the evening we went to a dinner party at my parents’ friends house and I ate a lot of really good food.

What was the best book you read?

If I manage to finish The Female Man today, I will have read 23 books this year, not counting the 6 Animorphs books I reread and the gazillions of BNHA manga chapters. That’s actually more than I thought I had read, and maybe I should make my books goal for 2018 a larger number, hm.

But anyway I think the best book of those was probably The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler or Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I also loved Swing Time by Zadie Smith but I read that at the beginning of the year so it sort of feels like a lifetime ago.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?

Well for half of it I’ve been either living out of a backpack or in my pajamas almost 24/7. Also I got rid of most of my wardrobe. So I guess minimal?

What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?

A new Carly Rae Jepsen album!!! And greater financial security, a home in a city I’m happy about living in.

What do you wish you’d done more of?

Writing original fiction and freelance writing. Exercising more discipline in my writing life, in general. Mindfulness exercises when I was upset. Taking photos of people I wanted to remember.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

Sweet jesus do I wish I had spent less time mindlessly refreshing apps on my phone, particularly twitter. Also pointless angsting about personal relationships. Gone on less Tinder dates that I knew weren’t going anywhere.

What are your plans for 2018?

Going to Japan in May with @corvidyouths and @globsavethequeen!!! And getting a job in New York or LA or DC or, who knows, somewhere else that I haven’t though of yet.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Well, I don’t know how much of my year this actually sums up, but these lines have been rattling around my head more than anything else. From Nights by Frank Ocean:

I ain't trying to keep you Can't keep up a conversation Can't nobody reach you Why your eyes well up Did you call me from a seance You are from a past life

[wanderingthepages]

Again, but Better by Christine Riccio

Book Description:

Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents…sounds ideal -- but Shane's made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance…what’s that? Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time's a ticking, and she needs a change -- there's nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She's going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure! Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart. Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic - the possibilities are endless.

My Review:

                                                     **Spoilers**

Oh man. Wow. I have watched Christine on YouTube for years, and I really expected to like this book. I was SO excited that I got approved for an ARC. I am genuinely surprised this book is the way it is. And I'm honestly still debating bumping it down to one star.

I don't want to totally dump all over the book, because it wasn't a complete train wreck or anything. It did make me feel things, the premise was somewhat imaginative, and I think there is potential there. I just don't think this would have been published if it was submitted by someone who didn't already have a brand and huge online following. I hate to say that, because it sounds so snotty and cliche. But in this case, it's just the truth. This reads like something you'd see on Wattpad or a self published ebook with a clipart cover on Amazon. Actually, I've read better on Wattpad to be honest...

This was genuinely difficult for me to read and enjoy because it was so painfully, glaringly autobiographical. I felt so uncomfortable the whole time because it felt like reading someone's diary. Maybe none of this stuff actually happened in Christine's life (I mean, some of it definitely did-study abroad, etc.) but Shane was so obviously Christine it was jarring. The hair, the clothes, the computer, the book recs, the mannerisms, the pushing YouTube as a self promotion platform. Even the pasta/sauce thing....it was just...a lot.

On top of my weird squirmy feelings of basically reading about the author as the main character, Shane was dealing with some social anxiety or just general anxiety issues that made her head a chaotic, unnerving place to be. When I said this book made me feel things I meant that nervous jittery energy was just pouring off every page, a whole novel full of second hand embarrassment. I was so stressed and uncomfortable while reading it I really wanted to stop. But I also just wanted to finish it and be done. I was interesting enough to want to find out how everything turned out, but just barely. I was tempted to give up many times, especially toward the end after they started over. I was super not interested in watching them relive their internship again.

I had a hard time relating to or connecting with any of the characters. This was a lot like listening to a friend's stories about studying abroad...or reading their diary. I get who everyone was, but I don't actually see or care about them as characters. They're just passing players in a story who I will never know or care about. Pilot included. Although since we got to know him very slightly better, I did have some additional thoughts on him. Mainly that he's an incredible jerk and WAY not worth all this angst. He didn't redeem himself in my eyes at all. Both Shane and Pilot seemed incredibly immature and self absorbed. And what 24 year old, 26 year old? I forget how old they were when they went back, doesn't know how to balance an incredibly easy internship and a relationship? Not only doesn't know how to do it, but literally thinks it can't be done until someone tells her they are actually able to hold down a job and be married at the same time. Just...what...? I understand there is a time of distraction at the beginning of relationships where you may forget things or re-prioritze, but people can usually find their footing. It was so ridiculous that she hunted him down in New York, ended up going back in time to be with him, and then had one bad day and decided that was it. Done. And whenever Shane was done with Pilot he completely fell off her radar like a baby who knocks a block off a table and thinks the block no longer exists because the baby can't see it. But if she randomly shows back up in Pilot's life he's supposed to drop everything and reveal he's been secretly pining for her all along? Just so, so weirdly immature and selfish. Especially for people in their 20s. Shane, especially, manipulated everyone and every circumstance based on how she was feeling at the moment. And scarily didn't seem to realize she was even doing it. When Pilot wanted to go back to 2017, she convinced him to stay but when she was ready to go back she literally didn't even talk to him about it at all. So yeah, Pilot and his cheating and leading people on was also horrible and I didn't like him at all, but maybe they deserved each other after all. Also, how do you ever trust someone who will be with you while they're with someone else? So he dumps his girlfriend for you, great. What happens when you're the girlfriend and he meets someone else?

ANYWAY, writing wise, this ARC wasn't cleaned up quite as much as I'm used to, so I don't know how much they'll fix in editing. But most of the transitions were very abrupt and jarring. To the point where I'd have to take a minute to figure out where we were and what we were talking about now because last paragraph was Shane and Pilot alone in their hotel room and now we're in downtown Paris with completely different people. Or something similar. The names were trying way too hard to be unique and they were cringey. Like embarrassing to say even in my head, cringey. Pilot?? BABE??? And I don't know if Primaveri is a real last name, but I kept wanting to say Primavera. I did really crave Italian food after reading this book. The writing overall just seemed very amateur and unpolished, and not very well thought out. The magical element was not well integrated into the story or well explained so it felt very jarring and even more unrealistic than it actually was. And, although this seems nitpicky, I had a really big problem with being the top her class in medical school being like Shane's "safety", her fall back. The thing she did just because her parents wanted her to and it was no big deal. You very successfully complete 6 years of med school and get engaged somehow without having ANY feelings about it at all? How? How could you make it through that much work without having any passion or interest or drive for it whatsoever? It just seemed completely ridiculous to me.

So...two stars. I'm giving it more than one star because it did make me feel things. Although those feelings were anxious and annoyed, I was still moved in some way. And I did read it pretty quickly and want to finish it. Even if it was because I just couldn't look away. I didn't want to tear this book down. I've been watching writing updates on it for like the last year and anticipating it. But I also don't want to lie and say it's great when it's not.

2 stars

[shivamgumber50]

6 Sectors To Grow Post Covid-19

6 Sectors To Grow Post Covid-19

COVID-19 has engendered unprecedented disruptions across sectors. From suspending flights and trains to restricting the movement of people and vehicles, it has had a large-scale impact on the Indian economy.

The Indian market has fallen about 30 percent from its record high of 12,140 registered. And a large part of the fall could be attributed to the global sell-off amid signs of economic slowdown. Due to the rise in Coronavirus cases across the globe.

At a time when the global economy is going through a recession, India Inc. is likely to face a rub-off effect which will in turn impact demand and earnings.

However, some sectors are also considering this hour of crisis as an opportunity to innovate their existing business models and create solutions. Some sectors are likely to get positive impact by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Coronavirus is having a major impact on the global economy and the stock markets across the globe. India is among the top 15 economies which are most affected due to this pandemic.

The positive side for the Indian economy is the significant correction in the crude oil prices as India imports 85% of its oil needs which is the silver lining, suggest experts. Sectors that are defensive in nature as well as focused towards consumption are likely to do well along with insurance sectors.

1. E-Commerce

Prior digitalization investments are paying off in moments that we’re experiencing today. Especially if companies already underwent digital transformation, making their relevant offers and services consistent with a focus on customer experience. With e-commerce being a fundamental element to keeping the business alive and thriving.

Focusing on e-commerce, analysts were already expecting a continued strong growth over the coming years. Which will be mainly driven by the further adoption of mobile shopping and connecting more and more new commerce touchpoints like chatbots, voice assistants, smart devices, social media etc. But that was all before the world went into lockdown.

People are turning towards buying via digital channels, +10-35% based on a U.S. consumer survey conducted by Civis Analytics and L.E.K. Consulting. We expect that companies with a strong digital experience will do better weather the storm and overcome the economic downturn.

We can’t be sure of how our physical shopping aisles will look in the future. But what we do know is that e-commerce will inevitably play an even stronger role in the virtual checkout lanes that drive bottom lines for retailers much faster than expected.

2. Banking

The Indian banking industry witnessed unprecedented growth since the 2008 financial crisis up until about a couple of months before the COVID-19 outbreak. A looming slowdown has now been exacerbate as the entire economy comes to a screeching halt.

The crisis, however, is also providing the BFSI space with an unparalleled opportunity to bring about a fundamental change in the way that it functions.

India is a cash-driven economy that, despite large-scale measures such as demonetisation, has not been outgrowing its dependence on cash. This seems to be changing, as the viral nature of the novel coronavirus has made Indians circumspect of cash.

Investing in large private Banking/NBFC would be considered as a safe bet. Going forward, in the medium to long-term we expect a recovery in the FMCG/ Consumer Durables sectors with improvement in the overall economy and uptick in demand.

3. Medical

The healthcare sector is at the epicentre of this unprecedented global pandemic challenge, and the private sector has risen to the occasion, by offering to the government all the support it needs, be it testing support, preparing isolation beds for the treatment of Covid-19 positive patients or deploying equipment and staff in identified nodal hospitals.

Pharma counters will be the immune to the economic slowdown. And we believe these counters have been in focus post the virus breakout.

As people adopt better personal hygiene practices in the post-COVID-19 world. The consumption of nutrition and wellness products is expected to see a rise. At present, products like disinfectants and sanitisers are recording the highest sales. A trend that seems likely to continue and become deeply ingrained in consumer behaviour. These trends make medical one of the biggest Sectors To Grow Post Covid-19

Fitness products like fitness tracking gadgets and apps are also seeing a surge in demand. This shift in mindset towards healthier living opens the door for collaborations between fitness product manufacturers and healthcare providers. This will create a positive impact on the country’s GDP in the coming years.

Moreover, as people turn to the online medium, provisions like online medicine delivery and teleconsulting. These already seeing stellar growth owing to the lockdown – will rise even further in the future.

4. Education

Online has become the default mode of education during this long lockdown period in the wake of Covid-19. What this means for the institutions and academic leaders, administrators and students in the long run is getting clearer.

Among many economic sectors, the higher education sector is undergoing a tectonic shift right now. What several futurists and education technologists have been forecasting for long, is now happening.

At least for two decades now, edutech (short for Education Technologies) enthusiasts have been predicting that technology will become the biggest intermediary of teaching–learning processes.

In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, millions of students across the globe driven out of their university spaces, and professors are confine to their homes. Higher education stands disaggregated, and faculty and students are grappling with the sudden new norm of completely online teaching and learning.

5. IT Sector

India’s $180-billion IT sector has a heavy dependence on business from the US and Europe. Making its fortunes integrally linked with the performance of these international markets. As top clients from these regions reduce their IT spending in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Indian IT companies should leverage their core value proposition and restructure their existing offerings at competitive price points.

This will help players to survive in the short term. While preparing them to capitalise on the digital opportunity that will come knocking at their doors once the world goes digital. Developing the core IT infrastructure and new-age capabilities. Therefore, will become a priority for IT companies as they navigate the current choppy waters with speed, skill, and agility.  

The growth isn’t limited to just these sectors and will surely extend itself into many avenues of the Indian economy. As the economy slowly starts juggling back to normalcy after lockdown lifts. It would be interesting to see how these transformations play out for the existing infrastructure and larger community.

6. Insurance Sector

The Indian life insurance industry has evolved in the last two decades post privatization of the industry in 2000. While growth has been aided by strong capital markets. There have also been interim setbacks in the form of regulatory changes. The private players have shown healthy growth since 2014.

Going forward, insurers are well poise to maximize the long term growth potential of the industry on the back of a stable regulatory environment. And favorable demographics and increasing digital adoption by the customers.

These are few factors outlining the same as changing demographic profile & low insurance penetration. This makes insurance one of the 6 Sectors To Grow Post Covid-19 Keeping these factors in mind insurance industry have big scope in coming fiscal years and currently looking at fundamentals many stocks are available at attractive valuations.

These are the 6 sectors that will likely to grow post covid-19 era.

Check out our latest blogs here https://mydigitaltomorrow.com/blog-2/ .

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Kevin Wozniak on Kevflix: Ranking the 2020 Oscars Best Picture Nominees

Unlike last year’s crop of Best Picture nominees, I am actually rather pleased with this year’s nominees.  Of the nine nominees, four of the films made my top ten of 2019, seven of the nine nominees were in my top 25 of last year, and there is only one nominee that I genuinely do not like.  With the field being this strong, I would only get mad if the movie I did not like won.  If any of the other nominees win, I won’t fuss about it.  But, I do have my preferences when it comes to the nominees, so here is my ranking of the 2020 Best Picture nominees.

          1 – THE IRISHMAN (Martin Scorsese)

The Irishman was my favorite movie of 2019.  Some have called The Irishman “Old Man Goodfellas” and though a very narrow view of the film, it is one of the reasons why the film is great.  Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour crime epic is a film about loyalty and regret looks at the choices we make life and how we have to live with them, good or bad.  It is quieter, sadder stuff from the director who just seven years ago gave us The Wolf of Wall Street, but Scorsese is dealing with his own stuff here, as The Irishman looks at getting old and what comes with it.  Led by a trio of masterful performances from Hollywood legends Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino, The Irishman is yet another Scorsese gangster masterpiece.

    2 – ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (Quentin Tarantino)

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, yet it is probably his most personal.  After a slight misstep with 2015’s The Hateful Eight, Tarantino came back with a fury, making a movie about a movie star and his stunt double who are on the backends of their careers.  Terrific performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and soon-to-be Oscar winner Brad Pitt are coupled by some of Tarantino’s best writing to date and a gorgeous look.

    3 – PARASITE (Bong Joon-Ho)

We live in a time where a lot of movies are recycled or remade and as a critic, there really isn’t much that surprises me nowadays.  And then a movie like Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite comes along and knocks our socks off.  What an incredible achievement.  A movie that is thrilling, funny, and shocking, filled with twists, turns, and every emotion you can feel.  If there is one movie that really should win on Sunday, it’s Parasite.  This would shake the Academy landscape and hopefully be a turning point for the future of the awards.  It’s going to get its wins, but Best Picture would be a game-changer.

    4 – FORD V. FERRARI (James Mangold)

Ford v. Ferrari is a classic American sports underdog story.  A movie that bleeds red, white, and blue and will have you wanting to stand up in your chair and cheer, “AMERICA!”  Director James Mangold made a wildly entertaining, rousing racing movie that features stellar direction, excellent performances, and edge-of-your-seat races you won’t forget.  This is going to be a movie that I rewatch a hundred times and will love every single time.

    5 – MARRIAGE STORY (Noah Baumbach)

I’m not the biggest Noah Baumbach fan, but I absolutely loved Marriage Story.  Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson give two of the best performances in their impressive careers and there are a number of great supporting turns from Laura Dern (Oscar bound), Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta.  Though the film is about a failing marriage, Baumbach’s script isn’t all sadness and anger.  There are a lot of funny moments and even more sweet moments.  It’s a well-told story about a something a lot of people go through, yet Baumbach finds the heart in all of it.

    6 – LITTLE WOMEN (Greta Gerwig)

Little Women is a classic story that has been told a number of times on the big screen.  But Greta Gerwig’s version is so fresh and unique, yet still as warm and delightful as the previous reiterations.  The wonderful ensemble led by Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh, a great score, and gorgeous set design bring Louisa May Alcot’s novel to life.  But it’s Gerwig’s direction and non-linear script that really elevate Little Women from just another remake into the best screen version of Little Women we’ve seen.

    7 – JOJO RABBIT (Taika Waititi)

I have Jojo Rabbit towards the bottom of this list, though I have a feeling this one could move up a couple notches upon rewatches.  I’ve only seen Jojo Rabbit once and I liked the movie.  This is Taika Waitit’s most impressive work as a director, as he made a Mel Brooks-esque satire about a young Nazi youth’s relationship with a Jewish girl during World War II.  The movie is very funny and genuinely great, but takes a really hard turn to sad that just didn’t sit well with me when I saw it.  I’m definitely going to give this one a rewatch and maybe it will move up a few spots, but for now, this is a good movie with Waititi at his best.

    8 – 1917 (Sam Mendes)

There is no denying that 1917 is a technical achievement.  The “single-take” World War I movie is something to behold in terms of cinematography, blocking, sounds, and sets.  However, their is a lack of emotion in the film.  The film felt like a video game in that we were just watching two characters get from point A to point B while trying to stay alive.  We didn’t get a good grasp of these characters and any other character in the film beyond our two main soldiers don’t really matter.  I respect the hell out of this movie on a craft level, not on an emotional one.

    9 – JOKER (Todd Phillips)

The only Best Picture nominee that I do not like is, of course, the film with the most nominations.  Joker is an abysmal experience.  A one-note slog of sadness, depression, and anger with no point or message.  This was supposed to be a grounded origin story about Batman’s greatest nemesis, yet it isn’t that.  It’s just a movie about a guy who’s life gets worse and worse and worse until he decides to shoot someone.  There are a couple things I liked, like the performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro and the location shooting, but the rest of the movie, including the ominous score (which is probably going to win an Oscar) really don’t work for me.  This is far and away the weakest Best Picture nominee, yet one that is going to win a decent amount of awards.

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