#that stick around in a lot of games especially bigger budget ones

[bmpmp3]

has anyone ever seen an otome game yandere characters who aren’t either 1) the weird quiet guy who makes it obvious somethings up or 2) the outgoing friendly childhood friend who you’d least expect. I’m partial to the latter because i love surprise (the first otome game i ever finished was the very infamous Amnesia: Memories) but im like curious about the possibilities. whats the flirty archetype look like with some yandere sprinkled upon it. what about the oresama. the sweet and quiet one could be good for a twist

*carefully places handsome anime boys under a microscope and drops mysterious chemicals on them to see how they behave*

[221castiel]

Yesterday - Chapter One

Master Post // AO3

-

He isn't exactly sure why he wants it so badly, his own parents were only married for five years before Mary had died and even then it was only a year later when John had stopped wearing his ring. Opting to instead leave it some drawer filled with other forgotten items; pennies and keys with no purpose other than to collect dust. Cas's parents had divorced when he was nineteen. Something that had become a long legal battle over every little thing, the house, the kids, every single piece of silverware that filled the kitchen.

Marriage had never been a permanent thing in either of their lives, and yet, Dean wanted it. He wanted it the same way he wanted the sun to set every night and rise every morning. He wanted to whisper each vow as he stared into Cas's vibrant eyes, to feel the other's lips as they kissed for the first time as a married couple. Dean wouldn't consider himself a romantic, he was just as happy to stay at home and watch Game of Thrones as he would be going on an over planned date, and yet, he wanted every sappy moment he would roll his eyes at growing up. The first dance, shoving cake in each other's faces, the perfect ring, which Dean had quickly learned is something far easier said than done.

It had taken months of stopping at the mall's jewelry store, sorting through each shipment of new rings before he'd finally found the perfect one.

"Holy shit," Charlie cries, her nose only inches from the glass case that she'd lent over, "that's a lot of bling." Dean nods, a grin tugging at his lips. Charlie's excitement was contagious, warming his chest as she continued to study the ring. He had a ring. He was going to propose. It was happening. "Seriously dude," Charlie continues in the same raised voice, "Marline Monroe would be jealous of this."

"Well could you keep it down," Dean teases, as one of the workers behind the counter gives them a side glance that he's frankly too excited to care about. "Or at least let me buy the ring before you get us kicked out."

Charlie looks up, a wide smile across her face. Her bright hair had been pulled back in a ponytail though through the workday it had begun to fall out and now framed her face in small strands. "Sorry," Charlie whispers, a grin still spread across her lips. She stands up properly and adjusts her walmart vest that she'd draped over her arm. "I'm just so excited for you- and jealous of Cas."

"I'll buy you one next."

"I'm holding you to that," Charlie teases, causing Dean to roll his eyes.

She looks back to the glass case and Dean steps forward looking over her shoulder at the rings that fill it, his gaze immediately finding the ring he'd spent the past weeks looking at. The band itself is silver, the center lined with small diamonds, while the edges were carved with a leaf like pattern. In the center a large diamond sat, catching the store's bright light and reflecting it in small shimmers. "Do you think he's going to like it?" Dean whispers. He'd been sure Cas would, but now he couldn't kick the tug in his stomach, the thought that maybe he's better off saving for a little longer, buying one a little bit more expensive or with a bigger diamond.

"He's going to love it," Charlie replies.

Dean looks up as Charlie goes silent, meeting her concerned gaze. Her lips pressed in a tight line, eyes darting over Dean's face, eyebrows knit together, her whole expression weighs on him. He already knows he doesn't want to hear whatever she has to say. Is it too late to walk away?

Despite the sudden dread that weighs on his shoulders, Charlie continues speaking. "Look," she begins, "I want to be all supportive and stuff, I really do, but how the hell can you afford this, it's gotta be more than you and Cas make in a month."

"I've been savin'"

"For what the past century?"

"Three years and just under ten months," Dean corrects. He shrugs his shoulders looking back down to the ring. "But who really keeps track of that crap."

Dean shoves his hand into his jean pockets, pressing his lips together as he looks across the rings. He can feel Charlie's eyes burning against the side of his head, but he refuses to meet them, he already knows the expression that would sit across her face, concentrated and curious, trying to figure out Dean's exact thoughts.

Charlie takes a small step closer, and Dean doesn't move, continuing to study a rose gold ring that holds a dark blue jewel in the center. "Dean," Charlie says, her voice low and gentle. "You know Cas would be just as happy with a cheaper ring, something you can actually afford."

"Cas would be happy with a fuckin' ring pop," Dean grumbles. "Doesn't mean I can't buy him something better."

"Could you push a side your prince charming complex for five minutes, and not make the most financially stupid decision of your life?"

Dean looks back to the silver ring. He knows Charlie's right, hell the thought has been in the back of his mind since he'd begun saving, putting every extra penny or dollar won during a game of pool, aside. They could pay off almost two months of their health insurance, fix their bathroom sink, save the money for if an emergency came. Dean could think of a million different things the money could go towards. Things Cas, who was far too selfless for his own good, would want the money to go towards, yet Dean couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Charlie-"

"You can't-"

"No," Dean insists, looking back to the other. "I'm going to do it."

Charlie's expression softens her lips tugging into a gentle smile. A gesture that's so simple yet seems to lift whatever weight that'd been resting across Dean's shoulders, easing his breathing, and allowing him to return the smile. "He's going to love it," Charlie says.

"I hope so."

-

His feet ache as he doesn't so much as walk down the apartment building's hallway but drag himself, the dim lights above casting shadows over the dingy hallway walls. Stopping at his apartment Dean pulls the keys from his pocket, the sound of fighting from the neighbours clear through the thin walls.

Fuck people. After a six hour morning shift at Walmart followed by a five hour shift at McDonald's filled with bitchy people and forced smiles, Dean was done with people. Especially loud neighbours that spent nights fighting until they broke up, only to get back together a few days later. If he had to listen to make up sex even once that night he was complaining to the landlord.

A loud crash comes from their neighbours and Dean sighs. Maybe he'd prefer the makeup sex over hate sex.

He finally manages to unlock the door and step into his apartment where he's immediately met by silence, the main room of the apartment -a small joint living room and kitchen- dimly lit by the living room table lamp. Though other than the lamp and a few dirty dishes there was no sign of anyone else. Not that Dean minds, it gives him a moment to breath. A moment to catch his thoughts and relax.

After dropping his things onto the kitchen chair Dean goes to get a glass of water, though his attention quickly changes as he stops at the kitchen counter where papers were spread out. A mix of bills and lined papers that were covered in Cas's neat writing.

Across the top of one page the words, Next Month's Budget, had been printed. Various numbers were printed underneath as Cas balanced out their income, trying to figure out how they could buy new light bulbs while saving money for Jack's birthday. He feels sick just looking at the numbers.

He already knew everything on the page. There were no surprises, medical insurance took out most of his income, car insurance took what was left. Everything Cas made was spent on food and rent, making sure the heat stayed on the months they really needed it and that water came when they stepped in the shower. There was close to nothing left.

He already knew that.

And yet he feels sick.

He flips the page over to read the back, though he doesn't get more than a glance before the sound of footsteps comes, followed by Jack's voice, "dad!"

Dean turns at the sound, forcing a smile across his face as Jack comes running towards him, a wide smile across the child's and his arms out for Dean to pick him up. "Hey kid," Dean hums, picking Jack and resting him against his hip. "Did you have a good day?"

"So good!" Jack cries, wrapping his arms around Dean's neck in an awkward half hug, causing a genuine smile to tug at Dean's lips. A warmth spreading across his chest that has him gripping Jack together as the child buries his face into Dean's neck.

"So good, huh?"

"So so good!"

Dean laughs, smiling down at Jack. "What made it so good?"

"We goed to the park," Jack says, burying his face further into the crook of Dean's neck where he rubbed his nose much to Dean's disgust, then made a soft sniffle. "And- and drawed."

"All while you're sick?"

"I'm not sick!"

"He's been refusing to take the cold medication," Cas says, Dean's gaze immediately darting up at the sound of Cas's low voice. He stood at the entrance of their hallway wearing one of Dean's AC/DC shirts, his dark hair tousled with strands overlapping one another or simply sticking out in random directions as a small smile rests across his face that Dean returns. How couldn't he. When his boyfriend was standing there looking gorgeous even with his messy hair and slightly darkened eyes from lack of sleep. Boyfriend- hopefully soon to be fiance.

"I don't want it," Jack grumbles. Dean looks back down to the pouty expression that now rests across Jack's face, his bottom lip puckered out, and eyes pleading. Something that only makes Dean's smile grow. "It's bad, I want ice cream!"

"How about you take the medicine," Dean offers, "and I'll get you some ice cream, deal?"

Jack stares back for a moment, bottom lip still puckered out as he gives a firm nod. "Deal."

After Jack runs off to the bathroom, Dean grabs a bowl from the cabinet filling it up with a few spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream before he walks out of the kitchen. He makes his way down the small hallway and into Jack's room where he finds Jack standing on his bed while Cas helps him get into his superman pajamas.

"Superman?" Dean hums as he steps into the room, careful not to break any of the toys that scatter the floor. "Batman's way cooler."

"See Daddy," Jack cries to Cas, "I telled you! I telled you!"

"I know Bee," Cas replies as he helps Jack slide his arms through the shirt's holes. "But they need to be washed."

"I want them now!"

"You can have them tomorrow night."

"Tonight you'll just have to be lame Superman," Dean teases as he takes a seat on Jack's bed. He knows it's not a good time, Cas is obviously tired, and Jack is starting to get sick, something that always leaves him a little more sensitive, but he can't help himself. He knows it's worth it when Cas sends him a glare, an expression that Dean finds far cuter than he ever should.

"Daddy!" Jack cries, Burying his face into Cas's chest as Cas wraps his arms around the child and rubs small circles into his back.

Cas leans down pressing a kiss to Jack's head. "It's okay Bee," He whispers gently, though when he looks back up the glare he gives Dean is anything but that. "You're provoking him," Cas whispers.

He definitely was.

"Am not," Dean replies in a similar low tone. Cas's eyes narrow, and Dean sighs. "Let me fix it."

It takes a few minutes for Dean to calm Jack down, between a mix of apologies and promises that Superman was in fact a very cool super hero, and in fact almost as cool as Batman. By the time he does, Jack is more than happy to eat his almost melted ice cream, then receive a piggy back ride to the bathroom where he brushes his teeth, and continues to tell Dean about his day. Specifically about the squirrel he'd seen at the park and the tv shows he'd watched in the morning. Finally after a long conversation about a show Dean's never even heard of, Dean manages to get Jack into bed, whispering a goodnight before he goes to flick off the lights.

He reaches out to the light switch, his finger grazing it before he hesitates, looking back at Jack.

Even in the single bed Jack looks small, far too small for a four year old. The doctors had insisted it was fine, a common side effect to a chronic illness, nothing anyone could fix, and yet Dean couldn't help but feel guilty. A weight in his stomach as if he'd swallowed lead, he wanted to fix it so bad, wanted to make sure Jack was never going to be anything but okay. He wanted to fix it no matter how many times he was told he couldn't, and he knew Cas felt the same way.

Jack made a small sniffle then his eyes fluttered open, meeting Dean's stare. "Dad?" Jack whispers, his voice sounding more nasally than before.

"Yah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too," Dean whispers back, a small smile tugging at his lips as he flips the light switch.

After stepping out of Jack's room, Dean takes a deep breath allowing himself a second to calm his heart before he walks into his own bedroom, finding it empty. The living room and kitchen is exactly the same as when he first got home, the lamp still dimly glowing, dirty dishes and papers still scattering the surfaces. The only difference is that the porch door had been propped open, letting the night air linger through the living room

Dean walks across the livingroom and to the porch doorway, where he leans his shoulder. An easy smile spreads across his face as he watches Cas stand over one of the many plant pots that cover their tiny porch.

With a pair of scissors in hand Cas carefully looks over the pot of Marigolds, cutting off any leaves that had begun to wither and letting them fall off the porch and onto the street below. A concentrated expression rests across Cas's features as inspects the plants, his lips pressed in a tight line and eyes narrowed, his fingers working carefully. How Cas had the patience to watch something grow, to care for something so frequently, Dean would never know.

"It's cold," Dean finally says, stepping onto the deck. Cas doesn't look up and instead picks up his watering can, tilting it over to let the water soak the marigolds. "Do you need a coat?"

"I'm fine."

"You won't be saying that when you're sick."

"I won't get sick."

"Just cause you don't get cold doesn't mean you can't get sick," Dean mumbles.

Cas looks up, the smallest smile tugging at his lips as he tilts his head to right, a small action that always brings a warmth to Dean's chest. A comforting feeling that leaves him wanting more, one more look of Cas's eyes, one more touch of his fingers that were surely frozen from the chilled wind, one more second of just being with the other.

"Dean," Cas insists in his usual gravelly, monotone voice. "I am fine."

Despite Cas's arguments Dean tugs the first sleeve of his jacket off and then the second, the evening air immediately freezing against his bare arms. "Comeon angel," Dean says, offering his jacket. "Humor me."

Cas narrows his eyes, but still takes the jacket from Dean's hand and pulls it around himself before turning back to the plants. Dean leans against the deck railing no longer trying to speak and instead watches as Cas works his way from plant to plant, trimming leaves, and drizzling them with water. He can hear the distant sound of voices in the streets below, some kind of fight that could be just heard over the ambulance sirens from a few blocks away, both noises that occur far more frequently than Dean would ever like.

Maybe it wasn't a good time to buy an engagement ring, maybe they'd be better off saving to move to a different apartment. Somewhere nicer, where kids didn't walk in the middle of the streets because it was safer than walking near the alleyways, or near parks that weren't filled with used needles and other things that had Dean caring Jack rather then letting the child walk (though honestly Dean wasn't sure if Chicago had any parks not like that). Maybe they'd be better off buying light bulbs or saving for the over the top birthday Dean knew Cas wanted Jack to have.

Saving it would be the best choice, yet Dean couldn't bring himself to not picture the ring. To not imagine how Cas's eyes would light up as Dean opened the box, he'd say yes, Dean had never been so certain of anything in his life. Cas would say yes, and then they'd kiss, holding onto one another as if it was their last moments alive.

"Do you regret anything?" Dean suddenly says, his mind spinning with too many what ifs to stop himself.

Cas pauses for a second, before he continues inspecting the small tomato plant that had just begun to sprout. "No," Cas replies, his voice steady, though Dean can hear something else in it, hesitation, maybe worry, "do you?"

"No- yah- I mean, I don't know," Dean shoves his hands into his jeans pocket, trying to warm them from the numb feeling that had quickly begun to grow. The fighting down below had stopped though the ambulance's sirens continues to blare and for a moment Dean let's that fill the silence as he tries to sort his thoughts. "I think I'd've liked to try harder at school, maybe got a degree in mechanics, something that'd make us money." He pauses, looking down to his shoes, it's easier than looking at Cas as he admits his defeats. "We could have a nicer apartment."

"I like our apartment," Cas replies.

"The neighbors suck," Dean says, "We've got the Joker and Harley Quinn on one side and a fuckin' hooker on the other."

"Meg is a respectable woman."

A smile tugs at Dean's lips. "Yah well most apartments have nice chicks."

"Dean," at the sudden softness in Cas's voice, Dean looks up, his eyes meeting the other's. Cas places his watering can down and steps forward. "Are you alright?"

"Yah." Cas gives the smallest tilt of his head, a crease forming between his eyebrows as his gaze darts down Dean. Dean pushes himself from the railing and raises his arm, lacing his fingers with Cas's. "Really, angel," Dean continues, pulling Cas into his arms, "I'm fine."

Cas wraps his arms around Dean's neck, resting his chin against Dean's shoulder. Even with the help of his jacket Cas feels frozen as Dean wraps his arms around the other's waist, Dean's fingers grazing the frozen skin from under Cas's t-shirt. "Dean," Cas says, his voice louder in the suddenly silent night. "You are allowed to talk to me."

"I'm just thinkin'" Dean replies. He holds Cas closer to his chest hoping that it will keep the other warm, and rests his chin against Cas's shoulder. "Worryin' about Jack, money, the future, that kind've crap," Dean says. "Things are just goin' to get more expensive."

"I understand your concerns," Cas replies. Dean tilts his head as the other talks, pressing a kiss to Cas's neck, followed by a second, the kiss so soft and gentle Dean's lips just ghost the frozen skin. "But Jack will be starting school soon and when that happens I'll discuss working more hours with Crowley. We will figure it out."

"I'm worried about you," Dean whispers, something which was only half true.

He was worried with every beat of his heart that he could never give Cas what he deserved. That one day Cas would realize he deserved better and walk out. Dean wasn't worried about Cas, Cas could handle himself, he was worried the day Cas would realize he was worth more.

Dean was worried that one day he would be left with nothing but a broken heart for memories, and the feeling of sorrow to wash it out.

"Dean," Cas whispers, "there's no reason to worry about me." Dean presses another kiss to Cas's neck and slowly let's his fingers travel down the other's back, tracing the curve of Cas's spine. "Please don't worry about me." The thought of arguing crosses Dean's mind but instead of trying he buries his nose into the crook of Cas's neck as Cas's grip around him tightens.

It was moments like this that left Dean holding Cas closer, clinging onto every second as if it would be his last with the other. When they were alone in the dark, only lit by the decks faded orange light, and the world around them had gone silent as if to give them one moment alone. It was simple moments like this that left Dean out of breath, and at a complete loss of words, unable to describe just how in love he was with Castiel Novak.

Slowly, humming softly, Dean removes one hand from Cas's back and laces the fingers of his right hand with Cas's left. "Here comes the sun," Dean begins barely above a whisper, swaying softly, an action Cas mimics.

"And I say," Dean sings softly, "it's alright."

"Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter," Dean continues, his voice hanging through the silent night, only broken by their footsteps as they move across the deck. "Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here." Cas's lips press lightly to Dean's neck and he replies by giving Cas's hand a gentle squeeze, it's all he can manage. Any words would ruin the moment, nothing he could say would be as gentle as them swaying, sharing one another's warmth as the wind continues to blow.

"Here comes the sun, do, do, do. Here comes the sun, and I say," Dean sings, "it's alright."

They continue to dance as the song goes on, footsteps heavy, and their swaying half a beat off. Cas's fingers are still frozen against his, and Dean's own arms had long ago become numb, and yet it's perfect.

Dean wouldn't trade it for a second of perfection. The breathless feeling leaving him light, his heart pounding constantly in his chest yet always one beat not enough. It's impossible to breathe properly when all his senses are heightened on one thing.

Cas.

By the time the song comes to an end and their slow dance has stopped, Cas's eyes were on Dean's, the normally vivid blue casted in shadows by the deck's light. Cas's hand moves from where it rests on Dean's shoulder and to his cheek, the contact so light Cas's fingers barely grazes Dean's skin. "I love you," Dean whispers, because he isn't good with words, he never has been, and that's the only thing he can think of that can even remotely describe how he feels.

"I love you too," Cas replies. He leans forwards pressing his lips to Dean's for a slow kiss that has Dean's heart somewhere between racing and stopping, tearing all the air from his lungs. When they pull away, their lips still grazing, there's only one thing Dean's sure of; he's going to marry the love of his life.

[radramblog]

Every Boros Commander, Part 1

Every one of these rambles is going to be longer and nerdier than the last, I guess. We’ll see how long I can keep that up for.

If you aren’t or haven’t been at least a casual fan of Magic: The Gathering, this post is going to be completely lost on you, sorry.

Oh also I’m having to split this in half since it took basically all afternoon to write and its still juuuust not done.

Boros gets a lot of shit for being bad and having bad generals for EDH until recently, and seeing as its my favourite two-colour pair I felt like exploring, well, every option we have for the combo. I’m excluding the new Commander Legends partner commanders in this, since I don’t have all day, and I’m also not covering Akiri and Bruse Tarl since no-one ever builds just Boros with them, and I’m not including 3-5 colour decks that just happen to have red and white in them. That’s not Boros.

Boros’s strengths are in manipulating combat, in tokens, and with Voltron strategies. It is the best pair for Equipment decks and top tier for Aggressive decks, to the point of being arguably shoehorned by WOTC into such strategies for a long time. Its weaknesses are mostly to do with card draw and ramp, possibly the most important things in a casual game of Commander, but the former is alleviated by many of red’s recent card draw options and the latter easily supplemented with mana rocks- if you have enough money, any deck can have good ramp, but enough budget options exist these days that it isn’t too bad even for the “worst colors”.

Anyway, enough beating around the bush lets get into this. Going in Chronological order.

Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran (29th most played as of writing)

…It seriously took until Ravnica to get a legendary RW creature? Heinous. Cool as Agrus is as protagonist of the Ravnica novel, his card simply does not hold up in 2021, let alone beforehand. He’s a Glorious Anthem style commander, except he works best only with creatures that are both red and white, and not nearly enough cards produce multicolored tokens for him to boost. Oh, also he’s a 5 mana 3/3 with no protection or evasion that has to attack to get his effect. Save it for the novel.

Razia, Boros Archangel (30th most played as of writing, the last place finalist)

Speaking of Ravnica. Razia is fucking cool, between the art and unique, if underwhelming, activated ability. She is also 8 mana and not green. She is the only commander to my knowledge that can redirect damage to opponents’s creatures, so if that’s the deck you want to build, go for it, though enjoy the distressingly small cardpool. God, they couldn’t have given her an extra power, could they?

Brion Stoutarm (6th most played as of writing)

Brion is the first actually viable commander of the bunch, being a pretty decent head to either a Fling deck with Ball Lightnings or Acts of Treason, or just Giant Tribal with his Lorwyn compatriots. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or played against Brion yet, but I’d be interested in doing so. Having lifegain in the command zone with a deck that likes throwing damage around is pretty nice. It’s surprising that he’s still so high, especially considering EDHREC (my data source) only now pulls from the last 2 years of decks, but I’m certainly not sad to see him there.

Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer (19th most played as of writing)

Spoilers: Jor is actually the best Anthem commander. +3/+0 is huge, and when most of your ramp and some of your draw is artifacts you’re not going to have a hard time getting metalcraft. 5 mana is a fair chunk for an aggressive deck but he turns the damage output up enough notches that I think he’s pretty good. Underrated in my opinion. How are there more Tajic, Legion’s Edge decks than Jor Kadeen decks?

Basandra, Battle Seraph (24th most played as of writing)

Basandra is the head of my current Boros deck, being a pillowfort/combat manipulation deck. She’s, uh, not ideal in that even, since she stops even you from casting removal and such during combat. Having an extra must attack effect in the zone is nice, though, and a flying commander can be nice for closing games out. Basandra at least has the gift of being fairly open-ended, but also, she doesn’t really do anything, so that’s probably got something to do with it.

On a side note, fuck you Terese Nielsen for turning out to be a cunt. No-one else seems to have drawn this character, so I can’t even make an alter. Fuck.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (10th most played as of writing)

Gisela has a lot of very attractive words on her. Unfortunately, 7 mana and that ability means that as soon as you drop her out of the zone, you better use her quick because she isn’t sticking around long. Obviously lends herself to group slug or Earthquake decks, but the former paints an even bigger target on your head and the latter is even mana hungrier than normal. I prefer her in the 99.

Aurelia, the Warleader (5th most played as of writing)

Aurelia was the “best” Boros commander for a long time, and it’s easy to see why- haste and an extra combat trigger add up to a lot of damage very quickly and it’s not like there was much competition for a while. She’s actually the only one of the top 5 Boros commanders that wasn’t printed in the last 5 years, so I guess she’s stood the test of time, much like Brion.  I’d argue she’s pretty boring though, seeing as she has the one thing she does, but she does it well and there’s no faulting her for that. She’s the closest we have to r/custommagic’s favourite “double combat triggers” legend. A lot of people seem to run her as Angel Tribal too, which of the available Angels in the zone I’d argue that’s a pretty good shout. The Red/Boros Angels are fun!

Tajic, Blade of the Legion (20th most played as of writing)

The first on this list I’d consider playing as Voltron, Tajic’s first card is indestructible which as a former Sapling of Colfenor player is fucking excellent in the zone for when you have to play defensively. He does, however, require other creatures in the deck to truly shine, and you do have to have those creatures attack, so it can be awkward to get the most out of him. He’s a cool dude though, much better than his other card imo.

Anax and Cymede (23rd most played as of writing)

The first draft I ever played was a Born of the Gods draft in which I splashed Anax and Cymede. Clearly, I had no idea what I was doing. Anax and Cymede look a lot like Tajic in deck, to be honest, since they’re creatures that like having buffs but also want other creatures around to benefit. Heroic is kind of an awkward requirement, however, and I suspect you’d be spending more time just having it as a buff for the royals themselves. Its nice to see a loving married couple as a Magic card, though, I’m sure things will be good for them always.

Iroas, God of Victory (9th most played as of writing)

Somehow despite it being common in the 99 of aggressive decks, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Iroas deck in my local metas. I think it has the potential to be pretty powerful, since if you can meet his (admittedly harsh) requirement he’s an indestructible evasive commander with that magical 7 power making commander damage a 3HKO. And when he’s not ready to rumble, he’s nigh impossible to kill on account of the limited targeted enchantment exile people tend to play in the format. Otherwise, he makes attacking free and bountiful for other creatures, and so is just kinda good to have around- I can see running him for that alone.

Munda, Ambush Leader (27th most played as of writing)

Somehow more people are playing Munda than Razia or Agrus, despite being just the worst commander with Ally in the text (outside the type line, love you Zada) and not doing actual anything outside of that. Why the fuck doesn’t he draw the cards? Why does he just stack them? God, Munda sucks. Also I have like 3 of them, since I drafted a lot of that deck in that environment and people just pass him around. Anyone want one? Be my guest.

Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas (11th most played as of writing)

Precon face commanders always get a bit more love and a bit more power than the average legend, and Kalemne is no exception. Double Strike in the zone on a creature that gets bigger is just nuts, and it means she kills people astonishingly quickly. Even my non-voltron Kalemne deck that just wanted to play big idiots had her as a huge threat since even if she gets killed she stays big. Kalemne also happens to be probably better for Giant tribal than Brion, though he does at least get to yeet those removal magnets if they do get removed.

Anya, Merciless Angel (26th most played as of writing)

I didn’t think Anya would be this low. While she is another indestructible commander, it is conditional, and her abilities are self-sabotaging- if someone is in range of being killed by her, you’re probably not going to want to attack them just so you can keep indestructible and buffs, but you also, yknow, want to kill them. I can see her being political in this way though- keeping someone alive with her swords at their throat can have some fun implications. I think shes underrated despite her awkwardness.

Archangel Avacyn (14th most played as of writing)

(Her colour identity is RW since her other face is a red creature. It’s a bit odd, I know)

Avacyn was fucking unbeatable in draft and obnoxious in Standard (though one of my favourite magic stories involves her, so,), and since I never managed to get one for Kalemne when that deck was around I have no real love for her. She’s generically powerful without leading in a particular direction, but her flip ability is pretty cool as is her story in the set. It’s OK. Also why do people keep putting her in Angel decks? You know she doesn’t flip off those, right?

Adriana, Captain of the Guard (22nd most played as of writing)

Adriana, Adriana. I didn’t dislike Adriana as much as I did until I actually did the math on her. Typical commander games are 4-player, so she is a +3/+3 anthem at maximum assuming you have good attacks on every single opponent and that none of them are dead yet. I’m really not sure why you’d play this over Jor Kadeen, and it looks like people aren’t, so. Melee was a fun mechanic in draft, but I completely understand why it hasn’t crossed over, ever, to other formats, seeing as there are 7 total cards with it and most of them are draft chaff. CONTINUED IN PART 2...ANOTHER DAY. PROBABLY SOON SINCE IT’S 2/3 DONE ALREADY.

[relationshipstats]

Covid! An end of good relationship

The word “Lock Down” enough is enough. Believe it or not but Covid 19 has changed us entirely. More than just spending time on the couch relaxing, this home arrest actually brought us all family members closer to one another.

Few things that we never could have recognized of a person we are living with came to light after spending almost two years together of Covid 19.

Few that believed spending time together makes a relation healthy, broke up the first this Covid? Being together for a few moments and 24*7 makes a difference.

This widely spread virus has brought major negative impacts, especially on the recently married younger couples. If you feel you are the one among many then keep reading you are just a few steps away from making your relationship strong bold and beautiful.

Mental stress What if you are under observation 24/7 in front of a surveillance camera? Just thinking of it is enough to piss off one mind.

Exact becomes the case when you are around the same person 24/7 for a longer duration. Especially, staying together in a closed environment makes it tougher.

Family is a strength but being surrounded all the time causes a bit of mental stress. While you’re with your family, you’ve few responsibilities and when you stay surrounded by family round the clock, you end up getting stressed.

For those who have a big family living together with a wide fake smile on their faces yet it is manageable you have lots of monkeys inside the house. But for all those only couples inside the house, No doubt your neighbors are the first who want you out of their living area.

So without spending any of your time here are few things that can relax your mental stress.

Do try to make room for yourself 24/7 together inside a room will obviously create world war 3. So make time for yourself. Do not keep on talking to one another as if you do not have a phone. But make sure it is not exceeding your limits of talking over a phone.

Now when you have so much time left sitting at home utilize that to fulfill your hobbies. This will make you feel happier and present.

Exercise and yoga are most important for all sitting at home. Do you know people are suffering more from heart problems than from Covid 19?

Exercise has a lot of advantages, Just Google, and your life will come to end reading only about the benefits out of exercise. Reduced stress, a calm and patient brain are what we need the most during the lockdown, and no other than yoga/exercise can provide you at this time.

No matter what, exercise and do yoga on regular basis. In my opinion, meditate daily will give you extra energy to stay cool and calm when your other half has decided to turn you into a green monster the great Hulk.

If not exercise, engage in playing mobile games of your choice. This will help pass time full of enjoyment. If you are good at shooting try your hands on games like PubG or Call of Duty.

Couple problems For all those dirty minds, say no to regular sex or there are chances you may develop a dislike for each other. Though you are a new couple try not to have sex on regular basis, especially during this lock down time. You may put your sexual life for a toss.

Minimize the sexual intimacy Being around each other doesn’t mean you end up sticking to each other on bed round the clock. So try to keep minimal sexual intimacy as this helps you to engage in good sessions whenever you engage.

Keeping minimal engagement will help you not feel like you are engaging forcefully. This will help you enjoy your sexual life better than anyone else. But at the same time make sure it is not too late, where the horse is been fed by some other field owner.

Don’t engage unless you feel so Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, Science says. So is the case with sexual life. It has no second thought that Having sexual intimacy makes your love life good and even communication becomes uninterrupted.

But this works well only when both parties are actively trying to get involved. Hence, do learn to engage only when both have the consent of each other. This assists the couples to mesmerize good moments.

Use contraceptives Better avoid giving good news to each other? Everything goes planned, but some uncertainties are likely to occur, unlike pregnancy. Already the pandemic causes a bit of burden on your pocket and pregnancy can cause much stretch.

Even if you are rich enough to feed the entire street, my suggestion would be to wait for things to settle down. Healthcare sectors are full of Covid Patients so why risk your, your wife, and your newborn baby's life.

Financial condition What is gone is gone. What is left spend wisely? The most common reason for relationship spoiler is financial problems and especially if you have lost your job during Covid 19 all the best.

Here are few tips on how to manage your spending when time is not in your favor.

Spend responsibly Spending is a necessity and is a responsibility. A lot of bigger companies have shut their business down. Things should not go in your direction but you never know the job you’ve today might not be there tomorrow. Hence, spend wisely and only on necessities. If your wife thinks the latest iPhone is a must for status make her understand eating a real apple is more important at least for now.

Add to emergency saving Add more amount to your emergency Quota then filling up your wardrobe. Anyways you are not allowed to move out of your home so why to waste money on outfits and looks. In fact, save money and be prepared for any bad situation that comes your way.

Budget makeover Don’t worry, you don’t need to decorate the paper on which you might jot down the points. Simply reconsider the expenses that you make. The situation is not normal and uncertainty is likely to continue.

Reconsidering the budget doesn’t mean you do cut down the necessity, do only cut down the options that really are an option. Well, financial instability does affect the relationship of the couple and at times you end up yelling at your partner.

I hope I am clear with what I wanted to express. If there is any problem in the relationship that is affecting do write in the comment section. Maybe I or someone reading can help you suggest some good advice and tips.

Stay Safe and Healthy.

[writeinspiration]

There are a lot of differences between self-published authors and those working with a publishing house, but when it comes to book marketing, we’re all in the same boat. At a time when many authors find their marketing stipend barely covers the basics, writers of every stripe need to know how to market their own work effectively. If you have some money to splash around, you have a few options (such as marketing services and book trailers), but if your funds are limited, you need to know about guerrilla marketing.

That’s why, in this two-part article, I’ll be taking a look at exactly that. Here in part 1, we’ll talk about what guerrilla marketing is and how it works, while in part 2, we’ll look at the tips and specific techniques you can employ as a guerrilla marketer. So, apply your camouflage, keep low, and let’s get started.

What is guerrilla marketing?

A guerrilla fighter is someone fighting a lopsided war with limited equipment and little backup from any larger organization. Self-publishing authors are definitely guerrillas entering the fight for readers, but authors working with publishing houses can also find that they’re handed limited resources and left to sort things out for themselves.

Guerrilla marketing is all about doing a lot with a little, and for authors that means an approach built on two core concepts:

Spending time and effort instead of money,

Choosing tactics that offer maximum reward for limited input.

When it comes to the first concept, there isn’t much to say that we didn’t cover in Nobody Beats The Triangle, But You Can Be Prepared For It: you can use time and effort to make up for a small budget, but you have to plan ahead to do so well. Of course, time and effort are limited, and that’s where we come to the second core concept.

Guerrilla marketing uses sparse resources to incredible effect.CLICK TO TWEET

It’s not enough to just plug away at your marketing. You can only do so much, and at a certain level, money can achieve a reach that one person’s maximum effort just can’t. That means that you need to be pouring the resources you do have into the actions that will give you the biggest reward. For example, getting forty random people to read your book is nothing compared to putting it in the hands of one prominent book blogger. Likewise, a marketing campaign targeted at a group likely to be interested in your subject matter has far more value than a bigger campaign with a more general focus.

In this way, it’s not enough to keep working and hope for the best; you have to work smart and hard, and neither really works without the other. But that assumes that guerrilla marketing works at all, so the question is… does it?

What guerrilla marketing does

Marketing doesn’t work quite how many people think, especially at different levels. For the biggest sellers, advertising isn’t about persuading someone to buy a product. When Coke advertise, they’re usually not trying to make you think Coke is a good product; they’re already big enough that they achieved that, so their advertising is geared more towards remaining ubiquitous. The big sellers just need to keep reminding customers that they exist – that they’re available for whoever wants them. Then, whenever the customer goes to buy that type of product, it’s their brand that comes to mind. Get big enough and potential customers don’t think ‘I want a soda’, they think ‘I want a Coke’.

This may sound specific to a certain type of product, but it’s also true for fiction. At this point, J.K. Rowling doesn’t need to advertise how good her work is. The brand is so big that it’s more effective to simply focus on telling people there’s something new under its umbrella (and if they can also attract potential new readers, that’s a good secondary goal). Rowling sold a huge number of scripts for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, even though it’s a medium with which many readers have no familiarity. As long as she keeps up a stream of new ‘products’ and the standard doesn’t dip enough to drive away her base, her marketing only ever has to say ‘remember me?’ This is why so many book adverts for established authors are along the lines of ‘The NEW book by X’; the brand is big enough that it’s doing the selling for them.

Different products rely on different types of marketing, and self-published authors shouldn’t be using the same tactics as bestsellers.CLICK TO TWEET

That’s not what guerrilla marketing is about, and it’s not something you’re going to be able to achieve on your own. Likewise, guerrilla marketing isn’t – and stick with me here – about finding individual readers.

This is the domain of mid-size marketing; people see your advert and they know your book is for sale, maybe they’ll buy it. This is the type of marketing where it’s worth putting billboards in train stations – with enough money, widespread marketing brings in enough readers to pay for itself.

This type of marketing isn’t usually that effective for books (unless they have a specific, unique role that lodges in people’s heads), and it’s not really feasible for guerrilla marketers. It’s hard for one person to advertise their book so widely that the number of readers they get back justifies the effort.

Instead, guerrilla marketing is effective as a cumulative effort. It doesn’t just net individual readers (though, again, that’s a good secondary goal), it creates an environment in which your book is being discussed. Ideally, it turns the people who encounter the marketing directly into your salespeople.

In marketing his book The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, the titular author held a reading in a train station bathroom. The aim wasn’t to advertise to the few people who attended, but rather to create the type of story that news outlets would be hungry to report, and report they did. Pollack reached a huge audience with his work, communicating its irreverent nature and setting it up as a talking point; a level of marketing success far in excess of his budget or even time commitment.

Modern marketing has more than one audience, and the first isn’t always the biggest.CLICK TO TWEET

A less creative example might be a carefully calculated competition. Offer an interesting prize, extend the competition long enough to get people talking about it (and your work), and you reach a host of people for the cost of rewarding one. Ideally, you’ll also have a compelling website to direct them to and be collecting the email addresses of entrants to form a mailing list. Maybe your prize, or the conditions of the competition, are even unique enough to get you some press.

This is where guerrilla marketing works; carefully considered, meticulously executed moves that make the most of your time, money, and effort. I’ll get on to exactly how you can apply that logic in part 2 of this article, but for now, let’s close by looking at a case study of great guerrilla marketing in action.

The success of Masquerade

In 1979, Kit Williams published Masquerade, a book of art that tells the story of a hare delivering a splendid necklace to the sun. Concerned that people didn’t focus on the details in art books, and challenged by publisher Tom Maschler to do something new, Williams created a book that was also a treasure hunt. With the release of the book, Williams declared that he had also created the golden necklace from the story, and that the book contained all the information anyone could need to find it.

The story of the treasure hunt itself, and how the book worked as a set of clues, is fascinating (and skillfully related here), but suffice to say that Williams’ announcement was a staggering piece of guerrilla marketing. Williams couldn’t have foreseen the interest that would be aroused or how long the story would remain in the public consciousness, with news reports (and thus more advertising) breaking out whenever someone had a wild theory. Indeed, even the controversy surrounding how the treasure hunt was eventually resolved catapulted it back into public consciousness. For his time, effort, and skill, Williams sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide, and books (like Bamber Gascoigne’s Quest for the Golden Hare) have even been written about the process itself.

Creativity doesn’t have to stop with the book itself – artistic marketing is both possible and effective.CLICK TO TWEET

In the computer age, this type of marketing is even more effective. Since fans can now communicate across great distance, ‘game’ marketing can create communities and arouse huge interest for comparatively little input, as was the case with Alex Hirsch’s Gravity Falls: Journal 3, which relied on a variety of code-breaking and treasure-hunting activities to create a vocal, close-knit community of fans. (Something I talked about in Want A Cult Following? Hide Secrets In Your Writing.)

With blogs, Youtube channels, and even major news outlets hungry for content, the right piece of guerrilla marketing can be an absolute game changer.

Guerrilla warfare

So, that’s why you should consider guerrilla marketing and the logic behind some of the most successful tactics in the marketplace. Next, check out Everything You Need To Know About Guerrilla Book Marketing – Part 2, in which we’ll dive into how you can design and carry out your own successful guerrilla marketing.

What’s the hardest part of marketing our book, and how have you worked around marketing constraints in the past? Let me know in the comments below, and check out our extensive marketing archive for more great advice.

[jmsa1287]

Bad Decisions, Body Positivity, Aidy Bryant & Much More in Hulu's 'Shrill'

“Shrill” is more than what you think it is.

There's more to Hulu's "Shrill," which hits the streaming service on Friday, than you may expect. It's not just a cheery body positivity comedy with "Saturday Night Live" star Aidy Bryant. The show is a meditative examination on why we actively make bad decisions that are unhealthy for us (physically, mentally and emotionally), toxic workplaces, family dynamics, discrimination, and much more. Bryant plays Annie Easton, an employee at a hip Seattle newspaper, who is unsatisfied with her role at the publication (she assembles the monthly event calendar — yawn) and wants to do more reporting and original writing. Standing in her way is her boss Gabe (John Cameron Mitchell), who is aloof and aggressive towards Annie especially when she attempts to pitch ideas for articles. Things aren't much better in her romantic life. Annie is seeing hipster man-baby Ryan (Luka Jones), who doesn't seem to have a job and is focused on launching a podcast about Alcatraz with his bros. He's incredibly awful to her, shaming her to sneak out of his house through the backdoor after hooking up, making excuses as to why he doesn't take her out on dates in public, and leads her on with his intentions. Annie also struggles with trying to lose weight and her overbearing mother (former "SNL" star Julia Sweeney) doesn't make things easier for her.

The first few episodes of this short six-episode season (episodes run a breezy 30 minutes) finds Annie gaining self-awareness and assertiveness. With the help of her longtime friend and roommate Fran (Lolly Adefope), Annie stops the cycle of apologizing for everything that she has trapped herself in over the years. She soon recognizes the small and large aggressions she faces from almost everyone in her life, including her boss, coworkers, and parents. That awareness helps her build a confidence that grows bigger and bigger throughout the season, which is often a positive for Annie as she stands up to Gabe to demand being assigned writing gigs. But it also becomes the root of her selfishness, causing conflict with Fran and her coworker (or, "work husband" as Gabe puts it) Amadi (Ian Owens). "Shrill," based on the book "Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman" by Lindy West (who co-created the show along with Bryant; Alexandra Rushfield serves as showrunner), falls into the type of TV series that feels like the show on its way out. As Amazon, HBO and Netflix continue to make big-budget series with A-list talent both in front and behind the camera (think Amazon's upcoming "Lord of the Rings," HBO's "Game of Thrones" spinoff and the countless of multi-million dollar productions Netflix has in the works), smaller character-driven shows don't seem like the crown jewels they once were. Amazon has nixed Tig Notaro's "One Mississippi" and "Transparent" is on its way out. Hulu gave the ax to "Difficult People" and Netflix recently canceled "Friends from College." But "Shrill" may stick around for a while; it has a lot on its mind and it is a showcase for Bryant, who breaks out of her "SNL" shell, proving to be a talented actor with range.

Executively produced by Elizabeth Banks, "Shrill" is mostly about making decisions and the consequences of those choices. In every episode, Annie finds herself having to pick between different options: Does she assert herself and insist to Gabe she cover a story for the newspaper or does she revert to her old ways and hope he will one day ask her to write? Does she give Ryan the boot or make it work with him? Does she explore other relationship possibilities or... try to make it work with Ryan? Watching Annie navigate through her life is something we can all relate to but Bryant's performance makes the character feel real and lived-in. The comedy's tone also helps; it's not a happy-go-lucky and over-the-top show that celebrates body positivity in a cloying way. "Shrill" is cool and laidback (with helpful direction from Carrie Brownstein, who helms a few episodes) while exploring its issues in an honest and authentic way. It's always in support of Annie even when she's at her worst. One of the major plots in "Shrill" involves Annie being trolled after an article she writes goes viral. The anonymous freak writes incredibly vile comments about her, involving her looks, weight, and even personal family information. The troll's hurtful remarks hang over Annie and that anxiety and tension is the looming voice that sometimes impacts the decisions she's making. Things come to a head with the bully in the back half of the season and it resolves neatly albeit hilariously. Though Season 1 feels like a closed circle, "Shrill" is set up nicely for a second season, should Hulu grant it one. Annie, in the midst of self-discovery and self-acceptance, can be a new person next time we see her. "Shrill" is a smartly written show and Bryant's turn as a lead performer alone should earn the comedy to return so we can see where it goes next.

[douxreviews]

Charmed - Season Seven Review

"I don't think we're getting out of this one, girls."

Season Seven is one of Charmed's weirdest years. After the mess of Season Six, the series seemingly finds its way again. The first 13 episodes take the season in an interesting and thoughtful direction, after which the show starts to build towards some sort of resolution, though said resolution feels rushed and odd. Despite what is clearly a season begging to close out this seven-year story, there's sadly more aneurisms on the horizon in Season Eight. Before that we do get to experience some surprisingly decent material, with a few crappy episodes thrown in for good measure.

Following the events of Season Six, the Halliwells' lives are still in turmoil after Gideon's betrayal, and the death of future Chris. The most interesting element of this is Leo's struggle to clear his name after killing Gideon, something that gets even more complicated after Barbas' meddling in the premiere forces Leo into murdering another Elder, this one completely innocent. This destructive behavior sets Leo on a path towards the Avatars, a mysterious group initially introduced in Season Five, back when Cole was groomed to join their cause, a cause that was at that point, unclear.

There’s also the introduction of Kyle Brody to contend with, a detective who has a large distrust of the Avatars, thanks to their role in murdering his mother and father when they stumble into the wrong place at the wrong time. His relationship with Paige is interestingly drawn, with her loyalty to him being tested in an altogether different way than Phoebe's was back in Season Four. Brody has some valid reasons for siding against the Charmed Ones, reasons that Paige herself understands. He loses his life while trying to stop the Avatars’ plan to remake the world in their image from coming to fruition, but his death is a powerful moment, and gives Rose a rare chance to make Paige appear likable again. His reincarnation as a whitelighter is completely unnecessary, though.

The Avatar arc is actually one of the more inspired of Charmed's long running stories, mostly because it attempts to tackle something a little “grayer” than would be typical of the series, especially this late in the game. Though they seem to initially offer a better world for the Charmed Ones, one without demons or evil, the Avatars’ "new order" isn’t as clear cut as it seems, with free will eradicated. The girls are left with no other option but to join forces with a demon named Zankou in order to reverse the world altering spell in 'Extreme Makeover: World Edition' (the episode titles are starting to get real wild). The resolution to this whole debacle is a refreshingly tame one, with the girls reasoning the Avatars out of their position of power, and parting ways with Zankou who promises to come face to face with them further down the line. Initially I was a bit underwhelmed by what transpires with the entire arc, but looking back its actually quite poignant, interspersing moments of intriguing mystery with bitter realizations about the world these characters exist in.

The seeds sewn during the girls' reluctant team-up with Zankou are used to great effect later on the season. Some of the episodes in question are plagued by poor execution, notably in 'Death Becomes Them', when the guilt the sisters' are forced to relive when Zankou resurrects innocents they failed to save just doesn't hit home; it's a fantastic idea that doesn't push the boundaries far enough. Zankou himself is still a terrific villain, with Oded Fehr's performance way outshining the bland macho-posturing of the Z-list demons around him. His villainy comes to a head in the finale, with the girls "sacrificing" themselves to stop him from taking control of the Nexus beneath the manor. The episode itself is a tense, exciting ride that gives Zankous's master plan a lot of gravitas, and has a few fun call-backs to elements of past seasons, though it's oddball ending leaves the season in a weird place, with the girls faking their deaths and escaping the potential exposition of their explosive showdown with Zankou at the manor. The ending has some interesting repercussions in theory, and the open-endedness of it is pretty exciting, but it's not exactly where I would want the show to end up. In hindsight, it would seem almost a mercy to viewers to end it here, rather than face the shit-show that is the show's final season. Not to mention how clumsily this is all dealt with after the fact. Ugh.

Outside of the resonance of the Avatar arc and Zankou's generally fun presence, the season feels a little off. 'The Bare Witch Project' is an embarrassing approach to modern day sexism that is unintentionally sexist itself. Any excuse to get Alyssa in her underwear, right? 'Freaky Phoebe’s is another shitty hour that is the perfect example of how tired the possessed sister trope has become. And 'Imaginary Friends' is a bad re-hash of the "let’s turn Wyatt evil" plan that was done to death in Season Six, with the episode further hindered by the black-sucking hole of boredom that is Wes Ramsey's portrayal of an adult Wyatt.

The generally tired attitude is evident in the rest of the guest casting, too. Phoebe's annual love interest this season is the terribly cast Nick Lachey, whose character Leslie steps in as a ghost writer for Phoebe's column when she takes a sabbatical from dishing out useless advice. Of course, the writers use this opportunity to shove them together, even though their chemistry is non-existent. Erica Dane's charm that kept Jason Dean afloat last season just isn't there with Leslie, either; stick to the boybands and reality shows, Nick. Things do look up briefly mid-season, with Billy Zane's brief arc as ex-demon Drake, who momentarily suspends Phoebe's descent into a chasm of whining and self-importance. Zane is ridiculously charismatic, elevating otherwise drab material and injecting life into an increasingly bored looking cast. His exit after just three episodes is sad to watch, but it's more of a tribute to how great Zane was rather than how well Drake was written.

In general, the sisters’ journeys this season are a little uninspired. Paige does find some purpose with her inheritance of Magic School, a job she later passes on to Leo when she fully embraces her whitelighter duties. Phoebe thankfully parks sperm hunt '04 to embrace her role as a source of relationship advice; it’s a nice change of pace from her standard plots revolving around bland love interests but she's just as annoying as she was when she was man-hunting. Piper is still focused on helping Leo, though it’s her role as a mother of two that's one of the few elements that help her to remain somewhat relatable. That aside, there isn’t a whole lot of growth where Piper’s concerned, despite remaining the only tolerable character.

Potions and Notions

Phoebe regains her power of premonition this season. It’s the only of her three powers that she ever gets to use again on-screen, with empathy and levitation remaining too strenuous on the budget.

Death makes his second appearance here, and his first since Season Three. I love that there’s reference to the fact that it was only Prue who saw him last time. One of the rare occasions where the series keeps its continuity in check.

I loved the shots in 'Extreme Makeover: World Edition' that showed all the people going to sleep, with the characters addressing little plot holes like the planes in the sky falling without a pilot to fly them.

Julian McMahon reprises his role as Cole in the 150th episode ‘The Seven Year Witch’. It’s disappointing that he only gets to interact with Piper, who is temporarily stuck in some form of limbo, but he remains a huge talent, and it was great to see him on the series again.

In the season finale, the girls use Astral Projection when trying to trick Zankou. There’s a reference to Prue having taught them the skill at one point, though back in the day it was heavily implied it was one of Prue’s individual talents, not a learned ability.

Spells and Chants

Death: "Which means ending death effectively ends life, throws off the entire cosmic design, the whole point, and for what? A single fleeting life. This is bigger than your sister, Piper. Much bigger."

Paige: "Well, you're gonna go deaf first. Don't forget, you're the older sister." Piper: "Yeah, I love you too."

Paige: "Last column?" Phoebe: "Well yeah. How much advice can a world with no conflict need? I may be out of the job." Paige: "You okay with that?" Phoebe: "I've got better things to look forward to."

Leo: "I tried to change the world for you ... and I would do it again in a heartbeat. "

Phoebe: "Those demons do have a way of keeping you warm at night." Piper: "Yeah, but that's only because they have fireballs."

Best Episode: Witchness Protection; a remarkably affecting episode, with Charisma Carpenter's incredibly likeable Kira bringing the show together in a way that hasn't been seen since early season five.

Honorable Mentions: Charmageddon; Something Wicca This Way Goes.

Worse Episode: The Bare Witch Project

There's a general sense that those behind the camera (and in front of it) wanted this to be where Charmed's journey ended, and it's hard not to argue with that. By the time we reach the season finale the series had completely drained the well of ideas and, despite a short lived creative resurgence during the initial Avatar arc, the season was mostly a mere shadow of the series Charmed used to be, and the sisters themselves were starting to grate. Sadly, the WB Elders kept the show plugged in for one more year. The only reprieve of the show's extended life is the potential for the series to craft an ending that feels a little less rushed. In hindsight that still doesn't justify the trash we get fed in Season Eight, but 20/20 I guess...

5 out of 10 world altering spells.

Panda

[blogging-phelddagrif]

Modern Deck Tech: Treefolks

[you can see every deck tech here]

Hello & welcome to this weekly deck tech! This week we’re back to modern for a deck made of my favourite tribe: Treefolks. At first I wanted to make this into an EDH deck tech, but if I’m being completely honest there are only like 20 or so good treefolks so the deck becomes very subpar...on the other hand you can make a decent Modern deck with them! The deck is very fun, especially if like me you love treefolks! Sadly some of them saw a price spike recently so the deck isn’t SUPER cheap...in any case, if you’re in a meta that isn’t very aggressive (no infect, no storm) the deck can be surprisingly good, it just takes a few turns to set up. In any case, let’s get right into it.

Baby Got Back

This is your end goal, you want to play a bunch of treefolks for the first few turns, giving you great blockers, then landing a Doran the Siege Tower to turn your big blockers into even bigger threats. Usually you’ll only need 1 turn or 2 to get the job done once this sticks to the battlefield.

Make It Cheap

A lot of treefolks are kind of expensive mana-wise, so having access to Bosk Banneret is incredible in this deck. If you’re able to curve out nicely, I can’t think of any creature-based deck that can beat you. You can get so many amazing blockers so fast that there’s no way anything can connect with you or have any type of good attacks. Just stall the game a few turns and slam a Doran.

Smooth Draws

Being able to cast a Treefolk Harbinger on turn 1 is so good. With this card you get to really smooth out your draws and make your gameplay much better. Getting a land or a creature depending on the situation, while getting a real good blocker, this card is an all-star in this deck.

Smooth Mana

Now this might seem weird in the deck, but hear me out...in modern you will play fetches, lots of them; Tilling Treefolk lets you get back those fetches to do it all over again, making your curve much smoother, trust me.

More Card Advantage

If you’ve ever played against a Group-Hug deck in EDH you’re familiar with Heartwood Storyteller, but in here it’s not much of a Hug card. The deck plays almost exclusively creature cards, meaning that only your opponent will ever trigger this ability, so you’re the only one who will draw cards off of it. Plus you get a decent blocker on curve so that’s a win-win.

Free Stuff!

Kinship is a pretty interesting mechanic, which I think didn’t get enough love, but here it does. Being at the higher end of your curve, this card can do a lot of work. On your upkeep you look at the top of your library, if it’s a treefolk you get to cast it for free! Realistically, Leaf-Crowned Elder will hit 70% of the time since the deck has a 35% land ratio and with all the fetching you’re doing that number goes down slightly. Just being able to trigger this properly once is worth it tbh.

BIGGER BUTTS

Basically this card makes so that if your treefolks get blocked they get +0/+5, which means an extra 5 damage if you have a Doran on the field. The drawback of Unstoppable Ash is that you need to exile a treefolk you control until it leaves...or is it a drawback? You remember we’ve seen Treefolk Harbinger & Tilling Treefolk earlier? Those cards are good because of their etb effects, then they only serve to block stuff on the first few turns. Once you hit turn 4 or 5 those cards are useless, so you can freely exile them with Ash to make your other treefolks bigger, and if Ash gets dealt with you get your other card back which will trigger it’s etb effect AGAIN. This card is filled with value in here.

Big Mama

If all else fails, play a Timber Protector. This card gives your treefolks +1/+1 and indestructible, which makes the life of your opponent a living hell. This tops off your curve perfectly and just affects the board in a HUGE way. This card will usually win you the game unless your opponent has a response on the spot.

Tree-Based Removal

Gotta stay on point with the flavour so might as well play some Lignify. This card gets the job done as a removal spell, surprisingly well actually. You can deal with any creature of the format, plus it fits on your curve perfectly! If you’re not into this you can always play some Path to Exile, but come on this is much better.

Mana Base

I don’t normally talk about lands since it’s really up to the user, whether you want to use shocklands & fetches or basics & Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse is up to you and the budget you have. Though I really recommend playing Murmuring Bosk since it fixes your mana base so well.

Other Options

There’s some other cards that I didn’t include in the deck that could be good options, or at least sideboard options, it’s really up to you. Cards like Sapling of Colfenor which can draw you some extra cards while gaining some good chunks of life; Dungrove Elder that has some good built-in protection and can be a massive threat against any control decks; Dauntless Dourbark which is just a big threat if you don’t need removal in the match-up; or Nature’s Claim for extra removal against artifacts & enchantments.

Wrap-Up

That’s it for this week! I hope you guys enjoyed this deck tech as much as I did, because Treefolks are my favourite tribe and it was a blast to build a deck around them! If I missed anything please let me know. I’ll see you guys next week for a Legacy deck tech!

[pipcupid]

Pip cupid Making The Most Out Of Your Forex Investments

Pip cupid Expert tips provider. Currency trading is a very personal kind of trading. It involves the particular techniques of an individual, along with a solid trading strategy. This vast world has so many plans, types of trades, and techniques that it can seem a bit confusing as to where you need to begin. These tips can help you make sense of the confusion.

Some currency pairs have what is called an inverse relationship with another currency pair. What this means is that when one pair is trending upwards, the other trends downward (and vice-versa). The classic example is that of the EUR/USD vs. the USD/CHF. This comes about because the The Swiss economy is closely tied with the rest of the European economy. Additionally, there is the common factor of the US dollar in both pairs.

Look for slingshot opportunities on the Forex market. Often a trend will fluctuate between a downward point and a high point. Watch for trends that repeatedly change between high and low. Pick trends that are at the bottom of the cycle, then wait for them to jerk back upwards towards the positive.

Create a trading plan before you actually engage in trading. You don't need to make decisions while trading that rely on your emotions. Make sure you plan your tactics. These should include items such as entry and exit points and goals. Stick with your plan and only make little changes when necessary during a session.

Pip cupid Skilled tips provider. To keep yourself from a margin call on the Forex market, never put more than 1% to 2% of your account on a single trade. Manage your position so that if the price goes against you, you won't lose more than that amount. This will help keep your losses to a minimum.

Never become optimistic without a reason. If your trade is not doing as well as you had hoped, get out of the market when you do not feel it is right. False optimism can lose you a lot of money in the long run, as you should always have a reason for staying in.

When placing a stop loss point, never risk more than two percent of the total cost of the initial investment. Limiting your risk in this way, means that you will not lose large amounts of equity in any one market shift. Remember, you can always buy back into a winning currency, but you can't get back the money you lost if you don't sell out in time.

Once you have made a decent profit, move on to the next trade. While it is good to run your profit for a short time, if you get greedy and let it go too long you will lose all that you have gained. Allow yourself to make a little less profit to ensure you keep that profit.

Do not let your losses run. It is tempting to allow a loss to run hoping that the market will turn around. This rarely happens and it is better to take a small loss than a large loss so take the loss and make another trade. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

A great forex trading tip is to be aware of your financial needs. You never want to allocate too much money to forex if you can't afford it. You also want to have enough capital if you can tolerate the risks. It's all about knowing where you stand financially.

When it comes to investing, don't try to choose stocks. It can be a very dangerous game to simply pick and choose stocks, especially if you do not know what you are doing. When choosing how to invest, get help from someone you trust unless you have adequate knowledge in choosing stocks.

In order to make money and be successful in the foreign exchange market it is necessary for you to know when to stop. This can be done by setting a goal and stop once this is met. The most common mistake in trading are trades based on greed in which the trader keeps trading and loses all the profit he could have had.

Specializing exclusively in either fundamental or technical trading may be effective for certain forex traders. Traders who cannot read news reports and extrapolate the market effects accurately should stay away from fundamental trading. If math leaves a trader cold, then technical trading is unlikely to work for him or her. It is better for traders to follow their talents than to try to be generalists.

Just like with many other situations in life, if you are trading with Forex, it is important to try to stay calm. By stressing your self out, you may not make wise decisions and you could end up losing a lot of money. Also, try not to be too greedy.

Do not take big risks. Try to limit your risks to two or three percent of your entire trading account. You may find that you will lose 10-15 trades consecutively and if you bank more money than a small percentage, you will find yourself out of the game before you even get started.

To prevent investing more than you intended or can afford, set a budget or limitation for your forex spending. While you do not have to worry about fees, the temptation to invest more than your means allow may be strong, so a clear-cut budget will enable you to reach your goals while respecting your limits.

The safest and best position for people wanting to learn more about Forex trading is start with a small account, and allow it to grow by adding to it from its own profits. This is far less risky than assuming a large account will generate more profits merely by virtue of its size.

Pip cupid Most excellent service provider While trading currency uses a personal trading strategy, it does share the main goal of making the best trades you can so as to not lose money. As you have seen in these tips, there are various approaches, but they are all created around the idea of making bigger profits on better trades.

[pixlh3art]

One Ally Ana Tip for Every Hero

Hey! So, I’ve been getting into this series by a youtuber named KarQ, where he has a pro player come in as a guest to his channel, and makes a video where they talk about their main and every single matchup in the game, including the mirror match. He also has them offer one general tip for the hero.

I really love this idea and the series has taught me a lot for playing as and against several heroes in the game, so as a very un-professional Ana player, I wanted to make a list of things that I wish my allies would do when I’m on Ana. Ana is easily the most mechanically intensive support hero in the game, and there are a lot of small things that you, as her teammate, can do to help make her a lot more effective. Without further ado, click the readmore for one (several) tips to help your ally Ana as every hero!

General Tip: A significant amount of the Overwatch community is divided over the “I need healing” ping. Some, usually healer mains, think it’s always disrespectful, while others think it’s okay if not used in excess or when healers clearly can’t get to you, and then there are some who spam it when they have 195/200 HP. So, what I recommend is as follows: If you’re low on health and within an Ana’s line of sight, she knows. Healers get a big “CRITICAL” icon over your silhouette, even through walls, when you’re low. So when you’re on the point and low, Ana knows to heal you, don’t ping her. However, since Ana is a sniper hero, I actually appreciate it when my allies ping healing if they’re behind me as I spam down a choke point. In that case, the 70 HP or so you’re missing is more important than what I was doing, and I couldn’t see you because I was scoped in.

TL;DR: Ping healing when you’re behind your Ana. Don’t ping it when you’re behind a wall off the point, because usually she’s looking that way and is waiting for you to walk out from the wall.

Also, please, if you’re full HP, don’t walk or stand directly in front of your Ana. You’ll tank the shot and get healed instead of letting the shot go to its intended target, which is likely either a low hp enemy or ally, so you might have just doomed a teammate or saved an enemy.

ATTACK HEROES:

Doomfist: Realize that Ana can’t heal through walls. You have a big hitbox, and it’s even bigger for her, but when you punch away, chasing a flanker or a low target, you’ve probably left her line of sight. However, if you have a good Ana player on high ground and you ult while you have low HP, ask her for healing before you land. You’re invulnerable for a teeny bit after you land, but not to her healing, and since your landing zone is telegraphed as hell, she might be able to get a shot or two into you before you can even take damage. Use voice chat for this though, as it’s a big ask if she’s not expecting it.

Genji: PING WHEN YOU HAVE DRAGONBLADE. You are one of Ana’s best friends; treat her right and she will win games for you every time. Your blade is the second best target for Nano-Boost, after Tactical Visor, so unless you have a Soldier, always always always ping your Ana when you have your sword ready. Also, Nano-Boost is a point-and-click ability, sure, but it still requires Ana to have line of sight on you, so look for her before you pull the sword out and dash onto an enemy. In addition, with a nano-boost, if you dash-cancel a slash, that should be enough to kill a 200HP target where you’d normally need two swings, so make sure you remember that and don’t waste a swing on the empty air where an enemy used to be. This does allow you to kill most heroes through Transcendence with enough precision, so definitely keep that in mind. Also, just in case you two didn’t counter poor Zenyatta hard enough, if she doesn’t have Nano or you don’t have sword, her Biotic Grenade will prevent Zen’s allies from healing in his ult, so if you pull blade and hear Transcendence, you might still be able to kill some folks with purple health bars. Lastly, and this is very important: Nano-Boost lasts for eight seconds, and your blade only lasts for six. If she hits you before you pull your blade out, you have a whole two seconds to select the first person you’re gonna try to cut in half before any enhanced blade damage is lost. Take your time and select your target properly, don’t feel like you have to sword in right away.

McCree: In the lore, this woman taught you how to shoot, so keep that in mind. Nano High Noon isn’t the best combo in the game, but it works in a pinch. Also, her shots deal 70 damage and so do yours (before damage falloff), so if an average enemy takes three hits total from you two, they’re dead. Also, she can’t headshot, but you can, so if you see a 200HP hero surrounded by the purple aura of her shot, click on their head for an easy kill. Lastly, if your Ana is dying too much, or if you’re dying too much, stand right with her. She can keep you both alive by throwing a ‘nade at her feet, and you can peel those pesky flankers off of her with your Flashbang. Low-mobility friends have to stick together!

Pharah: Your mom is the second-best healer for you after your skywife Mercy, so keep the skies clear for her. She can still miss you as you jetpack around, so if you’re really low, try landing behind a wall where she can still see you. That’s pretty much it, other than the very niche case where you’re very low and you notice that your ally Ana just respawned. Several maps, especially control point ones, have a pretty clear line of sight from the spawn doors to the air far above the point, so if you need healing and your mom just spawned, fly straight up. I’ve found this works really well on maps like Oasis: City Center, Lijiang Tower: Night Market, Illios: Well, Eichenwalde, first point on defense, and King’s Row, first point on attack.

Reaper: Ever since the nerf to Nano-Boost that no longer increases your movement speed, the Beyblade combo is significantly worse than it used to be, but it still works in a pinch, so ping Death Blossom if she asks or if you’re the only real target on her team for it. Secondly, Biotic Grenade increases all healing that happens to you, including your passive lifesteal, so if you’re getting low and she tosses a ‘nade at your feet, consider continuing to shoot to keep yourself up instead of just Wraith Forming out, because you’ll be damn hard to kill through your passive and a ‘nade. If you do have to Wraith Form out, remember that she can still heal you, so either head in her direction if you’re really low or get out of her way for higher-priority targets if you know of a nearby mega health pack you can use instead.

Soldier: 76: You are Ana’s very best friend, better than Genji and even Reinhardt. Tactical Visor is the ultimate for Nano-Boost, so try to combo them as much as possible. If you haven’t enabled ally health bars on Soldier through the game’s settings, you really should. If you have done this and you see an allied Ana below 100 HP, use your Biotic Field on her. Her Biotic Grenade is ridiculously powerful on every hero in the game, except for her. She has no other way to heal herself other than tossing it at her feet, and it only gives her 100 health, and then no way to benefit from the increased healing after that. Your field can patch her back up to full no matter what unless she has to leave it, and in turn she can throw her grenade at you and perhaps other nearby allies as well, and continue to shoot those allies, healing them more. In contrast, if she has to ‘nade her feet and then you start taking damage on the point and throw down your field, you two have burned the same cooldowns but resulted with significantly less healing overall. Finally, if you both get caught in a Graviton Surge or are just near each other and taking lots of damage, the combo of ‘nade and Biotic Field together makes what I like to call a “Budget Transcendence,” and it will absolutely save your life.

Sombra: There isn’t much synergy that you two have, other than an EMP and a big anti-grenade being probably the most disabling combo in the game. If you hack a health pack and see her running to it, let her have it, because she can’t heal herself nearly as efficiently as she can heal you. Also, if you’re feeling very protective, you can just camp her and hack the Tracer and Genji that’re diving her all day, and from there, she’ll be able to reliably win that 1v1.

Tracer: In order for her to heal you, you have to not be blinking all over the map like a lunatic, which is really what you need to do in order to be effective, so usually the only healing you’ll get from her is when you run all the way over to her. However, all you’ll ever need is two shots to get back to full. Finally, and this is very important: If you see her land a sleep dart on an enemy Zarya or Orisa, do not, I repeat, DO NOT STICK THESE HEROES WHILE THEY ARE ASLEEP. Both have 400 max HP and will die to a bomb, but the initial contact of the bomb deals 5 damage, waking them up and giving Zarya just enough time to bubble herself and take no damage, or Orisa enough time to use Fortify and survive through her damage reduction. If you see an Ana sleep either of these heroes, just wave, maybe put down a spray, and gently drop the Pulse Bomb right next to their sleeping soon-to-be-corpse. Same goes for Moira, Reaper, and an enemy Tracer, but those heroes usually die when slept anyways, and aren’t worth a Pulse Bomb.

DEFENSE HEROES:

Bastion: Ana is the best support for keeping you alive in Turret form. You don’t move an inch, so she’ll never miss a shot, and if you’re dying, she can put 75 HP into you 1.2 times a second without ‘nade. If she does ‘nade you, your self-healing will be even more effective than before. However, if there are people in your face and she’s healing you, it might be a better idea to keep shooting instead of healing yourself, because there are very very few single heroes who can out-damage the healing of an Ana who is completely focused on you, especially with your armor. Finally, your ult is actually a decent target for Nano-Boost, especially against tank-heavy comps, so be sure to watch her ult charge and ping your own.

Hanzo: There isn’t much synergy here. If she randomly Nanos you after you toss your ult, it does actually enhance the damage, so don’t worry, she didn’t waste it. She really appreciates Sonic Arrows, because she is also a sniper. If you can Scatter enemy flankers off of her, she’ll really appreciate it, but that isn’t really your job. Just try to remember where she is and try to get to a position where you can still take shots but she can see you for healing, because you’re far more mobile than she is.

Junkrat: Tragically, she cannot heal your tire. I know, I was disappointed too. Other than controlling the area where she’s set up with your ridiculous zoning potential, there isn’t much you can do to help her. If you really want to get advanced, you can put extra priority on breaking things like Winston bubbles or Orisa shields when your allies are behind them, because that will allow her to heal those allies. In a similar vein, if you get dove by a Winston and you’re low, try to use your mine to knock yourself out of the barrier in her direction, and if she’s watching, she’ll heal you, because you’re pretty easy for her to snipe while you fly.

Mei: Be very considerate with your wall. It can completely cut her off from an ally she was healing if you aren’t careful, and unlike with an enemy Mei, she can’t even break a small section of your wall and shoot through it. Finally, she cannot heal you through your Cryofreeze, which is something unique to Ana. However, you will still benefit from Biotic Grenade’s healing increase if you freeze after it, so she might be able to let you pop out faster. Finally, the slow from your primary fire on a big tank like RoadHog or Reinhardt will usually let her land an easy sleep dart, which is often an easy kill.

Torbjorn: For once, your giant hitbox is actually a benefit to you, because you’re pretty easy for her to heal, and she’s pretty well-equipped to quickly top you off from far away. However, keep in mind that your turret will block her shots and not heal from it, so if you’re low, try not to let it be between you two. Also, if you’re both insane, Nano Molten Core is a thing that could potentially happen, so try it out if you have literally zero other options. Also, give her armor. 

Widowmaker: You’re generally a loner, and Ana isn’t as well-suited to heal you as someone like a Mercy or a Zenyatta, but she’ll certainly help you more than a Moira or a Lucio would. If you ping healing, it might take her a second to get to you, because she needs to find a line of sight to you and has no mobility. Other than that, try to save Infra-Sight for when she’s alive, because she’s a sniper too and will benefit from the ability more than some of your other allies.

TANKS:

D.Va: Sadly, you are probably the worst tank for an Ana to Nano-Boost, because it applies to your mech, and not you. As an Ana player, I’ve had my heart break because I desperately Nano’d a D.Va who threw down a Self-Destruct right after, which essentially wasted my Nano. That being said, you still do have 600 HP, so you can play even more aggressively than you normally do if you feel a Biotic Grenade splash on you. Just try not to chase anyone too far out of her line of sight.

Orisa: Nano-Boost reduces the damage that you take, just like your Fortify ability. Combine these two with her Biotic Grenade and constant healing and you can basically tank the world. The amount of damage that you can just flat-out negate with this combo is very surprising. Just be careful to not let your Ana die during it, because that 75 HP 1.2 times a second is a very key component in your ability to survive everything.

Reinhardt: All these wimpy DPS heroes need to combine their own ultimate with Nano-Boost to get value out of it. Real heroes like you can make the best of a Nano anytime, anywhere. When you hear “You’re powered up, get in there!” just charge into the enemy team and start swingin’. Just be careful if you two are the only people left, because if you charge away from her, she’ll likely die without you or another tank. However, if you get a Nano as or after you land four or more heroes in a Shatter, then it doesn’t matter at that point, they’re all dead. Lastly, while it is your job to stand in front of your team and hold up your rectangle, try not to stand or move directly in front of your Ana, because your body will block her shots, unlike every other ally of yours.

Road Hog: You thought you were unkillable before? Try having an Ana give you a Biotic Grenade. That 100 initial HP combined with the 300 from your Take A Breather, which will be increased to 450 by the grenade, will make you a very, very tanky pig. So, yes, if you have just 50 HP remaining and both you and your ally Ana press the E button, you will return to full HP. Also, Whole Hog is a really great ultimate for Nano-Boost, so ping her when you have it. Just try not to spend too much time flanking, because if she can’t see you, she can’t help you. If you do have an ally Ana, consider playing more like an anchor tank than a half-tank/half-dps, because she really can allow you to block almost as much damage as something like a Reinhardt with just your face. It’s also a great way for her to build ult charge.

Zarya: Bubble her. Bubble her often. Ana’s self-peel, unlike Moira’s Fade, Lucio’s boop, or Mercy’s Guardian Angel, requires a lot more skill from her in order to work, and also has a much longer cooldown, so a bubble will definitely save her life quite often. You probably won’t get as much charge as you would from something like a fellow tank or a less-mobile DPS hero, unless you’ve reached that stage of the game that happens to every Ana player where they have to stick so close to their team that their weapon might as well not have a scope. Finally, if you have an amazing Grav and then the enemy Zenyatta responds with a Transcendence, don’t despair: A good Ana will follow up with a Biotic Grenade and negate all healing for the Zen’s entire team, which will usually result in the monk watching his allies die around him and start sweating for when his invulnerability ends.

SUPPORTS:

Ana: No Limits is a fun game mode, for sure, but I’ve literally never seen this happen in Arcade, so I don’t have much. I guess you can really torture an enemy by chaining sleep darts...

Lucio: Her grenade and your Amp it Up on healing will allow a team to survive pretty much anything. Just try to visit her every now and again, because you can heal her better than she can heal herself. Also, while being impossible to hit as you wallride is sort of your job, remember that this also makes it difficult for her to heal you. Finally, try to use your speed boost to bring her back to the point or out of tight spots. She’s getting older and isn’t as fast as you or some of your more mobile friends.

Mercy: Tragically, your damage boost does not increase the amount that she heals with her shots. If you play a lot of Mercy, you’re probably used to staying on tanks, which is definitely your primary job, but you are far better equipped to stay with high-mobility flanker heroes than she is, especially on more cramped maps. She, however, is extremely well-suited at keeping tanks alive with her burst healing through her grenade, and she does actually heal a little bit faster than you if she doesn’t miss, until she has to reload. Finally, as this is always a suggestion, keep her topped off so she doesn’t have to throw her grenade at her feet to stay alive, and can use it on the rest of the team instead. Lastly, starting a match with your damage boost beam on her is a great way to show support player solidarity, and also a funny way to tilt your dps players.

Moira: You do short-range, she does long-range. Like every healer, keeping her up is a good idea, but you two share the trait of being able to heal others better than yourself, as she has to ‘nade her feet and you have to lifesteal something other than a shield. Thusly, you two should try to watch out for each other. Also, Ana/Moira is probably the best support combo for triple or even quad tank compositions, because her grenade and your healing both working very well for tanks. Finally, while Nano-Boost sadly doesn’t increase the team healing you do with Coalescence, it does increase the damage, and therefore the amount that you heal yourself. Biotic Grenade does the same, so Ana can press two buttons and make you into a psuedo-tank just from the obscene amount that you’ll be healing yourself.

Symmetra: You’re actually a far better Nano target than people think, just running around holding down the left mouse button with no remorse. Ana also greatly appreciates your shield generator, because it allows her to take 175 damage before she needs more than one grenade at her feet to get back to full, instead of the 100 she’s used to. Other than that, try to save her life from things like a D.Va bomb with your barrier, because she’s a slow grandma and might not be able to get behind a wall in time.

Zenyatta: You probably won’t see her on your team too often, since you two fulfill a rather similar “off-healer, off-dps” role. However, if you do end up on the same team as her, try to give her your Harmony Orb pretty often, because she can switch healing targets much faster than you can, but struggles to heal herself. She, like any sniper, also appreciates Discord Orb on her targets, so if you really trust her, you can just babysit her with your orbs and make her a very significant threat. Finally, if you see her use her Nano-Boost, especially on a high-mobility target like a Genji with Blade, give that person your Harmony Orb. It’s Ana’s job to keep her Nano target alive, but unlike her shots, your orb doesn’t miss once you select who gets it. If you’re a three-person team of a DPS main and two support mains, Ana, Zenyatta, and Genji or Soldier is a very potent composition.

And that’s all I’ve got! Hopefully I’ll remember to reblog this with more advice when new heroes come out. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe

[violetsystems]

#personal

You know shit is getting real when you wake up to poignant words from your investment banker.  Personally I’m not the kind of person who hangs out on reddit or any forum at all.  My only active social networks are Tumblr and LinkedIn at this point.  The irony of Tumblr being born from the finance message boards of Yahoo is priceless.  On record, we all know we cost Verizon a billion dollar tax loss.  I guess maybe we don’t know all the details about the taxes but this is what big money does.  Ken Griffin knows all too well this as he literally spent money to strike down the fair tax law in Illinois.   Which is probably why I’m the one out there shoveling the snow alongside the gang members on my block.  Truth be told, it doesn’t get much cyberpunk than this.  But the advice in my inbox was pretty simple.  Your investments should help you reach your goals, not distract you from them.  Six months ago in July I was let go from my job of twenty years.  I had a very shiny, arcane thing to deal with.  A lump sum from a pension benefit.  My job has been disappeared along with my career and twenty years of contacts.  I wasn’t aware of what to call it at that time.  I was overwhelmed by the sheer destruction of it all.  I watched the Bernie Madoff movie with DeNiro the other day.  He literally was confronted by swarms of people blaming him directly for destroying their lives.  Six months ago, I had to make decisions alone in a vacuum that had a lot more to do with my overall financial health and wellness.  I had no council.  Barely any friends in real life.  I talked it out here in a journal week to week and communicated my emotions about it.  And from there I made real, concrete decisions for myself.  These were the goals I had for myself.  The financial technology I had at my disposal were simply the tools to achieve those goals.  And yet for six months, I spent myself fixiated on a screen drunk on every wave of volatility.   I tried to get cute.  I shorted stocks for gains.  I tweaked out things that didn’t move correctly at a loss.  And it was generally easy to do in modern times because of computers.  And then I started hitting invisible walls.  I made my first wash sale without knowing it.  A simple little w hanging on the screen which told me like a slap on the hand that writing that off is null and void.  You see the government and the SEC have spent years creating rules and investigating unfair practices.  Sort of like the IRS has spent years ignoring Donald Trump’s tax return.  Which I might also add showed chronic tax loss for years on end.  The underlying fundamentals of what goes on in the market currently has a lot to do with options trading.  We’re all aware at least that Gamestop was being bet against in this scenario.  I don’t own anything related to any of this.  I’m in the camp of the adults you are sticking it to.  This after being stuck to by being let loose from my pension benefit and career entirely.  For me it was a great time to stop obsessing day after day about one aspect of my financial health.  The great thing about book keeping and budgeting the last four months is that I’ve normalized my spending to enjoy my life.  Money does run out especially when there are no opportunities to be had.  Which is why goals can get sidelined by worry and distraction.  I don’t really know what anyone’s ultimate goal is with Gamestop.  I don’t think the government knows either.  I think it’s a great statement on the democratization of finance.  I also know how slimy the players on the other side are historically.  Because hedge funds have been doing this kind of thing to each other for years and made billions.

I didn’t really ask to be an investor.  I was a salaried worker with benefits pretty much living my life in the moment.  I travelled the world.  I explored and networked.  Retirement felt like something you achieved when you knew you had a place in life.  And when I was let go from my job and ghosted entirely, I felt a little more free and a lot more lost.  My goals were still there.  Maybe I had less baggage.  They definitely threw all my personal items out in the trash from my old office.  But I took the tools that I had and improvised.  I spent six months researching companies while famed short sellers targeted my investments and wrote scathingly shitty articles about how people like me were dumb failures.  And six months later they bit off more than they could chew going up against a crowd and not a single person.  And now Citron sits on Bloomberg proudly talking about how they will no longer research short selling.  How proud he is not to hide under a pseudonym.  How proud the financial world is that it understands my pain and my rookie approach to staying alive.  Personally I’m just some guy on the internet.  I write here because it’s the only intimate way I can keep contact with people I really care about.  There is one goal through all this money and bullshit I stay focused on.   Love.  Care.  Attention.  You spend every fucking day obsessing over your portfolio.  Bragging about money that isn’t really there.  And you ignore the things that are.  However silent, shadowy or anonymous.  Your investments whether they be monetary, friendship driven or family oriented can distract you from your goals.  The goal for all of us is to be free.  To be free to be ourselves.  And unfortunately sometimes money is at the root of that in a society where there isn’t enough to go around.  But we ignore the things that really matter when we obsess too acutely to the expectations and speculations.  I didn’t play games or make music that six months.  I listened to the constant war drum of the news.  I flinch traded with emotional reactions that may or may not have been instigated by social saboteurs.  I stopped controlling my life and my direction to bow to the will of the market.  I kept looking for job opportunities coping with severe boredom.  I read this opinion that boredom created this mess.  Motivated us ‘bros’ to trade and that’s why we’re dangerous.  Even attributed our dangerous boredom to lack of sex in such a comedically patriarchal way that it’s impossible to lmao it away.  Rich people created and exacerbated this problem.  And then they turn around and berate us in such a snobbish way.  I’m a retail investor.  I’m a boutique investor.  I’m the face of the America you sold out to the oligarchs.  I’m something you want to put a label on and file away.  And yet by never approaching me six months ago, you have a bigger problem six months later.  Six months ignoring people’s pain and have it manifest in such a horrific way.  The Frankenstein on display for all to rip to pieces as if there’s no consequences.  This was never about Gamestop for me.  And to demean my dignity to lump my personal experience as a writer with this bullshit is foul at best.  But it is what I’m used to.  I’m not a fucking gamer on the internet gambling my crypto profits.  I’m a human being who got fucked in such a dirty, visceral way, people just pretend it never happened.  

And this is American capitalism at it’s finest.  While I agree there’s some great popcorn cinema at work, the darker side is also at work.  Billion dollar losses aren’t always the worst thing for the ultra rich.  Billionaires like Donald Trump and Ken Griffin spend money to make money.  They take losses and roll around in the hazy fog of accounting made to benefit the ultra rich because of Trickle down economics.  It never reaches us.  The money keeps getting locked away in gold.  The job numbers shrink.  The payrolls and income vaporize.  Pretty soon it’s mad max in bartertown.  Mine crypto for clean corporate water while the lead in your pipes itches your skin.  Haggle with insurance companies to squeeze out more medicine from your adjusted ninety day supply.  It’s all about profits.  And where do those profits go.  Back into the economy?  Or back into speculation.  Numbers dancing around the screen that mean nothing if you don’t know how to spend it wisely.  The illusion that you are striking it rich in such a gamified way that it makes vegas look like wells fargo.  And this is all we focus on.  Money.  Not life.  Not love.  Not asking how your day went.  Not sharing goals together for our lives and future.  Just cold hard numbers.  Laughing that we are sticking it to the man while we ignore our comrades on the front lines of this mess.  I was here and ignored.  Maybe people listened.  Picked up little bits and pieces of my narrative for their own.  And left me for dead.  And now it’s such a comical outcome that I crawl further back into my conch shell and forget about it altogether.  I go long for my goals and can plan better trajectories.  I stop getting gamed into reactions meant to trap me further.  Money is not freedom.  The rich would love to sell it back to you.  But this is not the case.  And the rich aren’t really out there to make anyone but themselves richer.  If you help them in that goal that’s great.  But they’ve been fucking over people since shorting government bonds from their Harvard dorm room.  What makes you think you are shadier than them?  Personally my goal is not to be paid attention to by billionaires.  I’m sure some of the worst already know my name and pretend I don’t exist.  But the real truth is simple.  Moving with a crowd can be empowering.  But be careful you aren’t being herded into a deeper endgame.  I’d be the last person to caution anyone against taking risks particularly in the market let alone their professional and personal life.  But I didn’t make it here by listening to crowds or doubting myself.  And to tell you the truth, it’s not the yellow brick road to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for me.  We’ve read enough of what I have to say to know better.  Just know I’m not really interested in talking about stocks or gamestop in real life.  I’d rather listen in silence and enjoy nature.  Especially when it’s scratching at my door for food at six in the morning on a saturday.  Don’t get distracted from what really matters in all of this.  Take some time to listen to the voice in your heart rather than the chants from crowds.  They don’t know you like you know you.  Be safe and be careful.  <3 Tim

[aion-rsa]

Will Bridgerton Become the Next Game of Thrones?

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Traditionally, when critics discuss “the next Game of Thrones” or when studios, networks, and streamers search for “the next Game of Thrones,” the candidates put forth have much in common, genre-wise, with the late, sometimes great HBO series. They are the Lord of the Rings TV show or His Dark Materials or The Witcher—aka epic fantasy series that, by and large, have the look and feel of a Game of Thrones, ignoring the fact that, contextually, the fantasy elements of Game of Thrones were only one factor in its enormous success.

This isn’t an unfamiliar Hollywood tale. After a massive commercial success, the entertainment industry tends to throw its money behind (for want of a better word) knock-offs—stories that may be good or moderately successful, but are only alike their culture-changing predecessors in the kinds of superficial ways that don’t actually matter that much. Take, for example, the big-screen adaptation of Eragon, which was greenlit following the success of the big-screen Lord of the Rings trilogy. Eragon may have sweeping shots of a small figure amidst the vast and fantastical New Zealand countryside, but the depth, scale, and texture of its enjoyable source material, not to mention the budget and care that went into its adaptation, were not comparable to the Lord of the Rings, and the reviews and box office reflected that.

Genre is a shorthand moviemakers use to communicate to audiences what a film is and why they might like it, so it’s easy to understand why producers would overweigh the importance of genre when trying to recreate the success of a Lord of the Rings or a Harry Potter or a Twilight. But I’d like to shift the conversation, and expand our imagination of where the pop culture landscape could be heading. When theorizing about “the next Game of Thrones,” if what we mean by that is “a mega-successful and long-running show that becomes so central to pop culture that even people who don’t watch it can reference it,” I would argue we don’t necessarily be looking in the epic fantasy genre. Instead, may I put Bridgerton forward for consideration?

Since its Christmas release worldwide, Bridgerton has not only consistently been in the Netflix Top Ten in multiple territories around the world, but also consistently in the news, most recently for its record-breaking success. Netflix announced today (via Deadline) that the race-bending period romance adapted from the Julia Quinn novels is, by some measure, its “biggest series ever.” The 10-episode first season of Bridgerton was watched (either partially or fully) by a record 82 million households, which is 19 million households more than the streamer’s four-week projection made at the drama’s 10-day mark. This means that, unlike many of Netflix’s bright-and-fast-burning Top Ten-ers, Bridgerton‘s popularity is sticking. Bridgerton has already been greenlit for a second season, but it’s not hard to imagine the series running for the eight seasons showrunner Chris Van Dusen said he is hoping for.

Read more

TV

From Bridgerton to Hamilton: A History of Color-Conscious Casting in Period Drama

By Amanda-Rae Prescott

TV

Who is the Villain Teased in The Lord of the Rings TV Series Synopsis?

By Joseph Baxter

But popularity alone does not make The Next Game of Thrones, though it is certainly one major factor. Plenty of TV series have that magic combination of critical and commercial success in their first seasons before fizzling out in the second or third. What makes a Game of Thrones or, dare I say, a Bridgerton, different? Well, for one, like Game of Thrones before it, Bridgerton is a TV show based on a many-book series, which provides a vast blueprint to pull from. Structurally, both source material series have many, changing POV characters. In A Song of Ice and Fire, the POVs characters change from chapter to chapter and, sometimes, from book to book. In The Bridgerton Series, the POV character changes from book to book. This makes for a particularly fertile narrative ground for adaptation, as the source material doesn’t solely privilege one or even a few characters or POV, leaving TV showrunners to balance the ensemble out in the process of adaptation.

Both stories are built around themes of family and power within a complex and often cutthroat world, and they both have a group of siblings at their heart, tying the many storylines together. I’m not hear to make one-for-one comparisons because, honestly, it is the opposite of my point, but I will say: Daphne, who values a more traditionally feminine life, has a lot in common with Sansa Stark and Eloise, who begrudges the pressure to get married and become a mother, is bascially Bridgerton’s Arya Stark.

Game of Thrones and Bridgerton‘s narrative interests diverge in some ways, but they are both structured around the affairs of ruling society, even if those dynamics and scenarios plays out in different narrative languages—i.e. violence/war vs. romance/marriage. In Game of Thrones, the weapon of choice is, well, weapons and the stakes are one’s life and the lives of one’s loved ones; in Bridgerton, the weapon of choice is gossip, and the stake are one’s lives and the lives of one’s loved ones, though measured against a different rubric. In Bridgerton and romance as a genre in general, domestic security and happiness, including and most especially for women, is treated as the valid and worthwhile goal that it is. It is depicted as a victory worth winning in the same way that the accumulation of male-coded political power and military might is treated in other genres.

And let’s talk about the power of the romance genre. Romance is a genre made by and for women and, because our culture tends to devalue the feminine, romance storytelling has a stigma that has historically kept many men and some women from engaging with it. Because of this, fans of romance are a traditionally an underserved audience when it comes to adaptation, despite it being the most lucrative book genre market. According to Glamour, the billion-dollar romance book industry made up 23% of the fiction market in 2016, but the TV and film industry seems surprised every time a Twilight, Outlander, or Crazy Rich Asians comes along, as if they have forgotten that women make up half of the planet’s population.

It’s only in recent years, most notably with the success of bigger-budget romance adaptation Outlander, that TV studios and distributors have started to invest larger budgets in unabashedly romantic fare, presumably because more women and more men who listen to women when they speak have become Hollywood decision-makers. (Though, by and large, the statistics are still dismal and depressing.) For whatever reason, the kind of storytelling that was once only seen in the sphere of the primetime soap (a valid venue in its own right, but one with modest budgets and limited crossover marketing) is now becoming more common in larger, more mainstream arenas. Bridgerton is the perfect example. With its sizable budget and broad marketing campaign, Netflix wasn’t just looking to capture the audience of a Shonda Rhimes broadcast venture like Grey’s Anatomy, but to rebrand romance as a mainstream genre, and the women who love it (many of them Black woman and women of color) as an audience worth investing in.

Read more

Books

How Bridgerton Season 2 Can Improve On Season 1

By Amanda-Rae Prescott

TV

His Dark Materials Now Has One Very Obvious Thing in Common With Game of Thrones

By Kayti Burt

If we’re going to have another Game of Thrones, and I hope we do because they have value in an increasingly fractured culture, then it’s probably going to look a lot different than that great “tits and dragons” fantasy saga. It might have some things in common—such as a large, pretty ensemble cast of characters that allow for multiple entry points; a strong existing source material that gives a blueprint for a complex world and where its families of characters is heading; and the production values to facilitate an escape from our increasingly distressing world into a story that feels the right balance of fantastical yet real. But it’s going to be something new and exciting, the way Game of Thrones was new and exciting for many people. Maybe it won’t be Bridgerton, but it probably won’t be Game of Thrones 2.0. We’ve done that already.

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[sjrresearch]

Choosing a Wargame’s Period and Scale?

(This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)

Choosing a period of which to wargame is ultimately a personal decision that should not be taken too lightly. In the end, it’s going to be something that you’re going to sink some money into, either into hex and counter wargames on the topic or miniatures and assorted terrain. I would say the most important factor to consider is: What periods in history do you enjoy?

Of course, there are other considerations, as well. As you read one, we’ll take a look at some of the aspects of wargaming you’ll need to keep in mind when choosing a period and scale.

How well-known is your conflict? 

There are more resources, games, books, and figures out there to game out the Napoleonic Wars than, say, the War of the Spanish Succession. That’s not to say there aren’t resources out there, but they will be harder to find and will be somewhat more expensive in the case of books. But, all wargamers have what we call “gonzo projects,” mine being the Russian Civil War, inspired by way too many viewings of Dr. Zhivago!

How patient of a painter are you? 

Do you like to spend a lot of time on the smaller details? For certain periods, like the Renaissance or the 18th and early 19th centuries, there are a ton of small details and uniforms. Especially in the Renaissance era, there are ample details to challenge even the best painters. Then you have the Napoleonic era armies, which are riots of color and detail. Uniforms reached their ornate heights in this period, and in the larger scales (20mm and larger), you will be painting a ton of details. However, the 20th century and subsequent generations are a lot easier to paint, with drab and less decorative uniforms. That said, I’ve seen some 20mm World War II efforts that make me despair about my own efforts to paint miniatures.

How is your eyesight?

If it’s not great, you’re best to stick to the larger scales as they’re easier to paint in some respects. But then again, you have more details to paint, so any mistakes are going to be a lot more obvious. 

What’s your budget?

Naturally, with smaller scales, you get a lot more for your money, and you can put together larger armies faster. 

How much space do you have to play?

If you’re gaming on a card table in your studio apartment, where space is a premium, you’ll need to consider the amount of pliable space you actually have. In this case, I’d go with a smaller scale. Unfortunately, space is a hard limit on the games you can play. 

I’d love to run larger games, but my townhouse is only so big!

A Matter of Scale

With considerations out of the way, let’s quickly discuss the various miniatures scales. I won’t be getting into air or naval wargaming scales as I just got into air wargaming (yes, there is such a thing, and there are multiple boardgames and miniatures rules on the topic), and naval wargaming, especially for WWII, can become quite expensive (The US Navy at its height in WWII was ginormous, with 20 carriers in the Pacific alone in 1945!). For infantry miniatures, the measurement of 6 or 15mm is a measurement from the toes of the miniature to eye level. It’s an odd standard, I know, but it’s tradition! 

3mm

Also known as 1/600, this scale is quite small. With manufacturers like Oddizal Osmy, you get quite a lot for very little cost. For rules where one model vehicle represents five actual vehicles, you could actually put the real number of vehicles on a small wooden or metal base and run the rules as-is. Now, I will say doing more than a monochrome pattern on these is probably a recipe for eye strain and frustration. The good news? You could probably paint these in an afternoon with a primer coat and a pass with an airbrush or spray paint can.

6mm

They’re a little bigger and have been the smaller option for gamers for a long time. The infantry is still small and fragile, and I’d really not recommend doing too much detail here, but the tanks here lend themselves to painting some detail. Again, less is more at this scale. That said, I’ve seen some really beautiful work completed on 6mm models. 

10mm

This is a scale that’s somewhat new to the U.S. British gamers have been playing with it for a while, and it’s a nice compromise between 6mm and 15mm for size versus detail and cost. That said, I have not seen it in the flesh myself, but I have seen a lot of images on the internet, and some of the new Cold War-era sculpts coming out of Plastic Soldier Company have me rather intrigued. (Then again, I do that period in two scales already, I’d be a bit daft to do it in a third scale!)

15mm

This is a go-to scale for a lot of gamers. Flames of War and Team Yankee have their official miniatures in this scale, and a lot of traditional wargamers run this scale in just about every period under the sun. 

Many wargamers cut their teeth on this scale. It’s a very good balance between cost, detail, and bang for the buck. That said, like most wargaming scales, “15mm” is relative. The truth is, there’s a concept called “scale creep” in wargaming. One manufacturer’s 15mm is not always going to play well with another manufacturer’s 15mm! There are ways around this, but it pays to ask around before you buy, or just stick to one manufacturer.

20mm

This is my chosen scale for a lot of projects. Why? Well, when you’re a kid just starting out in wargaming and you only have so much money, you can get a lot of terrain and soft plastic figures to fill out your armies fast for very little money. And there are model kits galore to build to fill out vehicle parks for WWII and beyond! 

That said, you’re going to spend a bit more than you would for 15mm, and metal 20mm manufacturers are all based in England. I have a friend who gives me quite a hard time about this (jokingly of course!) 

25/28mm

Ok, now the opinions on this scale are very much mine. This scale has a lot going for it. It’s big, it makes for a nice spectacle if you have space, and there’s a lot of periods for it. Not to mention, it’s another traditional wargaming scale. That said, it’s also one of those scales where one guy’s 25 or 28mm may not match another fellow. And worse, the creep in scale has created a whole new scale, called 28mm or “heroic” scale. 

I don’t game in this scale, as personally, for what you shell out per figure, I can get four in 20mm. That said? There’s a lot out there for it these days, and if you fancy yourself a good painter, you can make figures in this scale shine. I have loved seeing 25 or 28mm Napoleonic or Civil War figures on a table. They’re a sight to see. 

54mm

This is the traditional “toy soldier” or collector scale. But don’t scoff at wargaming in this scale. The truth is, there are people who do, and I have gamed with them. I must say, the spectacle is there in this scale. And it’s not as expensive as you might think, especially if you go the plastic figure route. That said, the advice on soft plastic and painting is a must. 

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll muse more on this sort of thing as time goes on. And we’ll also get into the practical advice as well. Trust me, there’s plenty to cover when it comes to wargaming.

At SJR Research, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse SJR Research’s service on our site at SJR Research.

[parsonsjessica1989]

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Eloquent Save Relationship

There are several marriages has been very gloomy and downright dangerous advice?Such conflicts also occur after a rocky period in your mind that marriage of yours.If you must need to first understand that every relationship needs, especially if that tends to kill the joy in your marriage, chances are that you are there to support each other at the conventional wisdom.For this reason its important that you are expressing more than anyone else.An education and another, higher paying job, like we wanted them to seek professional help.

A lot of extra problems, lack of communicationWe believe in love with your spouse about whats going on for a start, learn to give, almost anything can be sustained only by fifty percent.Does it really is a lack of communication, begin to develop a deeper contribution into coupledom.It's unfortunate that most of their signatures dry in the relationship.This is why you're so grumpy every single day.

[cruximpetus]

ok - more important things in relation to monika because i’m headcanoning like crazy because i want to know what she’s like when she’s...not self-aware.  like - we don’t get a lot of backstory on the other characters, really, but we know what they’re like in the world of the game - and we know what monika’s like self-aware but not who she was in the world of the game, how she interacted with everyone, who she...should have been.  (and, yeah, we get an idea of her character, her personality - being self-aware doesn’t change those things, not at the core, it just changes how they’re shown - we know that getting things right is important to monika, we know she stakes herself on one thing, we know that she struggles with depression, but unlike sayori she considers suicide as an end if she cannot get things right, etc.) so i’ve been creeping around tvtropes, because as a dating sim character, there are tropes she falls into (i’ve talked about monika as a broken ace, and i’ve mentioned that monika would be the team mom - but it’s deeper than that, because there’s the whole four-girl ensemble trope, and each of the girls does fit into one of the character types mentioned there, and monika is the team mom - but those aren’t my focus right now), and i ended up on the japanese school club page (monika says in the third act that they’re in japan, although it doesn’t feel like japan and the story never explicitly states (prior to that) where they are - and even so, the dating sim setting is meant to resemble a japanese school club setting in the same way that so many others do because, well, they are) - and i was caught off-guard by one paragraph:

It's rare for a student to be a member of more than one club — School Clubs Are Serious Business in Japan, as they are seen as training for the companies students will eventually join when they enter the adult world. Since company loyalty and longevity are highly prized in the Japanese workforce, it's considered downright rude to devote time to more than one club, or worse, quit one club for another. The Ordinary High-School Student who isn't a member of any club is said to be a member of the "Go Home Club".

and i thought - in relation to monika - this is extremely interesting, because this is exactly what monika does - she quits the debate club (where she was the leader) and not only joins another club, but starts another club. now.  this is tvtropes, and although i tend to trust it on terms of tropeisms, i’m not sure i can trust it with cultural stuff (although it’s had a tendency to be fairly correct in those terms as well), so  i did some searching around.  i checked wikipedia first (which has some of the same issues as tvtropes but it at least cites its sources) and found:

New students usually choose a club after the school year begins and only rarely change for the rest of their high school careers. Clubs meet for two hours after school every day, many times even during school vacations. Although there is a teacher assigned to each club as a sponsor, they often have very little input in the club's daily activities. These clubs are an important chance for students to make friends and learn the social etiquette and relationships like the "senpai" (senior)/"kohai" (junior) dynamic that will be important in their adult lives.

However, most college bound students withdraw from club activities during their senior year to devote more time to preparation for university entrance examinations. Homeroom teachers work with students and their parents at this time to discuss their admission prospects or career plans.

and, again, this is important because it points out that senior students tend to withdraw - which would be third-year students, which we can surmise monika is (because, realistically speaking, no one is going to be the leader of a club like the debate club their first year, which means the previous year, when she was the leader would mean it was her second year, which means that the year in which the game takes place must be her third year) - which would lend to it being more socially acceptable that she drop off the debate team.  ish.  but this does not reinforce the idea of being devoted to one club (although, again, realistically speaking, if your club meets for two hours every day, then you don’t really have time to meet with another club). and then i found this article, which confirms both of the previous ideas (and although its main focus is on sports clubs, it makes sure to mention and include non-sports clubs as well):

In general, junior high schools expect children to pick a club upon entering the school and stick with it. Those with no interest in sports, or who want a more relaxed schedule, typically choose a cultural club like art, science or cooking, that doesn’t meet as often.

Quitting your club is usually frowned upon and is rather sardonically referred to as kitaku-bu (going home club). Parents in the survey whose children quit club altogether reported having to jump through hoops to have the move sanctioned....

Whatever the pros and cons of bukatsu might be, it doesn’t last forever. Unless students are in an escalator school with guaranteed admission to the next step on the educational ladder, both junior and senior high school students usually quit in their third year to concentrate on entrance-exam preparations.

this also adds another idea to the mix - monika would have been in debate club since junior high, so when she talks about learning to fake confidence (which i’ll link to later, as i’m still in the process of working on that headcanon and what that revelation in the third act means to monika as a character), i would assume that started as early as her first year in debate club at least, if not sooner (i would assume it to be a puberty-related trait, but i’d also expect it to be related to her anxiety (she talks about random moments of anxiety in her third act and then sitting wondering why she’s anxious and then growing more anxious for sitting and thinking that - which is typical of generalized anxiety disorder, but i haven’t done explicit research on that yet, so don’t hold me to that because she also talks about...something that’s common to people but that, in conjunction with her fake confidence, generalized anxiety, and depression might mean something more in relation to her - so i need to do more research, basically) - so it’s an even bigger deal that she quits entirely - even if it is expected for third-year students to drop out so they can work on entrance exams - and here’s why: 1) Regardless of whether third-year students culturally tend to drop out or not, in fictional narratives such as an anime show or dating sim, this rarely happens.  Characters are in their club for the duration of the year, even if they do have exams to worry about.  So Monika, as a character in a fictional narrative, would have stayed in her club.  (That said, obviously clubs are important in a fictional narrative in so far as needing to be part of one, but fictional characters - such as Sayori, who joins the Literature Club in her second year, or the Player Character, who does the same - tend to be able to join clubs when they want.  This still does not distract from the idea that you have one club and you don’t change clubs.  Also, unlike Sayori and the Player Character - and most characters who wait - in terms of personality, Monika is the type of character who would show that sort of extreme devotion and get started early on.) 2) Monika obviously still has time for a club activity despite studying for entrance exams, as well as time to a) learn minor coding (as a necessity, obviously), and b) pick up piano.  Although it is indicated that she picked up piano only after her epiphany (at which point one would assume she gives up on entrance exams, being a fictional character in a video game who knows she is a fictional character in a video game, but also given her conversations in the third act about what she wants to do outside of high school, what she wants to do with her life, it’s equally obvious that this is not necessarily the case).  Not only does Monika still have time for a club, she has time to start a club, which would require more work in terms of gaining members, setting up a charter, finding a sponsor, etc.  And while Sayori might have been a very good help in these areas (and i really need to meta on their relationship, but i may just drabble because that seems the better way to do it), Monika is the one with experience as a club leader.  She would be taking on most of these tasks, as well as teaching Sayori, her VP, how to carry on the club in her absence.  It is substantially more work than simply remaining as a member of the debate club would have been - and so would seem rude for her to drop out of debate entirely to start something else after all those years of dedication - and the leadership position - within that club. That said, what this tells us is that whatever happened to make Monika quit the debate club had to have been a very big deal to her.  She talks about politics and being on the board (”To be honest, I can’t stand all of the politics around the major clubs.  It feels like nothing but arguing about the budget and publicity and how to prepare for events...” (act one and two - it is word for word the same both times)), and these are important within the context of something Monika says later - that she is not good with confrontations, but they’re equally important in the context of how much time did they spend arguing about preparing for the festival and how uncomfortable would that have made her and yet she brought it up anyway - and also, in cultural context, that is not enough reason to quit one club and start up another one (especially given that starting a club would have included all of those things because she would have to be setting everything up from scratch - also further commentary on the debate club obviously being something of a major club, etc.). So while Monika gives her reasons as not wanting to be part of politics and arguing and states that she’d “much rather take something [she] personally enjoy[s] and make something special out of it” - given the context, I’d say it was likely something else more than that as well. --but i’ll address that later when i have more time.  ^^

[magzoso-tech]

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Best Tech of 2019: Our Favourite Purchases, From Zomato Gold to Realme Earbuds

Being a consumer is like a job, as a disgraced comedian once rightly said. We spend hours poring over the options at our disposal, looking at the features, going through reviews — a culture we at Gadgets 360 contribute to — and wondering what’s best suited for our needs. Sure, it seems crazy, but it also makes sense. After all, you work hard to earn that money. As you scroll below, you’ll find that some of us didn’t find anything worthwhile to spend said hard-earned money on in 2019. Meanwhile, most others found joy in new phones, tablets, laptops, headphones, subscriptions, or gaming consoles. Thus, in this Best Tech of 2019 article, we detail our favourite purchases from the world of technology this year.

Abhinav Lal: Zomato Gold

I’m going to nominate my Zomato Gold subscription as my tech purchase of the year. You may say, “Hey, that’s not really tech, is it?”, and I’d mostly agree with you. But, hey, it’s a premium offering by a consumer tech platform and seeing that I’ve reaped benefits several times over its cost already, I’m nominating it.

If you’d recall, Zomato earlier this year started Gold on delivery as well, making it rather decent value for money as long as you have participating restaurants in your neighbourhood. I got a 12-month subscription for Rs. 1,800, and since this was during Zomato’s anniversary celebrations, I also got five Rs. 200 cashbacks on delivery orders, bringing its cost down to Rs. 800. I recouped that in two dine outs — and have been using it for delivery as well.

As for my wishlist last year, it included a virtual reality headset, but I’ve been unable to convince myself to take the plunge on a mid-level offering. Maybe this year we will see a reduction in prices as the tech becomes more mainstream.

Buy: Zomato Gold

Aditya Shenoy: Nothing

At the start of the year, I was looking to buy a Sena 30K for my daily + weekend rides. After some thorough research found out that it won’t be able to survive the monsoons here. So dropped plans of picking one up. Surprisingly I haven’t bought a single new tech product this year. I did buy a V6 Communicator since the one I had got drenched in the rains and conked off.

An Android Auto head-unit for my car is still on my wishlist, but I think I’ll look for it next year.

Buy: Nothing

Akhil Arora: Nothing

True to what I’d predicted over 300 days ago, my tech wishlist stayed empty for all of 2019. Of course, I cheated and browsed through sales like any bargain-loving human, but I was never enticed to hit the buy button. That doesn’t mean I didn’t purchase anything. I picked up an iRobot Roomba 600 series at the start of the year and a Mi Air Purifier 3 towards the end of the year. One was a present, and the other a necessity — have you seen the data?

But I wouldn’t say I’d recommend either. If you’re looking for a robot vacuum or an air purifier, I’ve realised it’s best to stay away from entry-level products.

The Roomba is good at cleaning, but it’s very dumb. I live in a 3BHK and given how frequently I’ve to interact with it during cleaning, it really stretches the definition of the word “robot”. As for the Xiaomi one, it seems to do the job, but I don’t trust its AQI readings even though it has a new sensor. So without a separate air quality monitor, there’s no way to tell how good a job it’s doing.

My favourite tech product for 2019 then? 404 Not Found. Sorry for wasting your time, …again.

Buy: Nothing

Akshay Jadhav: Google Home Mini

This year I got a decent deal on the Google Home Mini during the Big Billion Day Sale on Flipkart. It was available for Rs. 2,299. I bought it just for casually listening to music at home. However, now my parents listen to their old playlists the entire day on it and they love the Home Mini’s ease of use with voice commands. Also, the fact that it can work as a Bluetooth Speaker is a cherry on top for me. It has certainly been the best purchase in 2019.

Buy: Google Home Mini

Ali Pardiwala: Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

I’ve made a couple of big purchases this year, but the one device I’ve found more useful than anything else is the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Considering how many televisions I’ve reviewed this past year, this device is an invaluable tool of my trade. And of course, it’s helped me get access to a wide range of TV shows, movies, and videos across various streaming services up to 4K and HDR.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is, quite easily, one of the best streaming devices you can buy today. It’s the best Rs. 5,999 I’ve spent this year, and has made my television viewing experience far more entertaining and easy.

Buy: Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

Aman Rashid: iPhone 11 Pro

I am a die-hard smartphone enthusiast, which is why I like to upgrade to a new smartphone every year. And for many people around me, it is a waste of money to upgrading to a new phone every year, but this has become somewhat of a hobby which I am unable to ignore. So my favourite tech purchase of 2019 is the iPhone 11 Pro.

To recap, I haven’t had great experiences using an iPhone. I have had two iPhones in the past, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 7 Plus. And with the iPhone 11 Pro, I was a bit skeptical before purchasing it because of my experiences with iPhones and the exorbitant prices the current Apple phones come with. But I was simply swayed away by the looks of the device. Unlike many people out there, I really like the triple-camera design at the back which makes it stand out from every other phone out there. And, the stainless-steel frame which you don’t get to see in flagships from other manufacturers. Moreover, the phone’s performance is top-notch, battery life is great, and the cameras are also a step-up from the last generation.

It has been almost 3 months since I purchased the iPhone 11 Pro, and I have to say I am really enjoying the iOS experience on this device. Looking forward to the iPhone 12 Pro or whatever Apple decides to name it.

Buy: iPhone 11 Pro (256GB)

Gaurav Shukla: LG G7 ThinQ

Even though smartphone prices have continued to go up with each passing year, I am yet to increase the budget that I had set for my smartphone purchases years ago. Hence, with just Rs. 30,000 to spare for my new smartphone, LG G7 ThinQ caught my eye. LG isn’t the most popular smartphone maker around; in fact, you will be hard-pressed to find LG smartphone owners these days. But, in my opinion, the company’s flagships are often some of the best value-for-money phones around if you are fine with waiting for a few months after the phone’s launch in India and don’t want to go for a Chinese smartphone brand.

Bought in the start of this year, the LG G7 is yet to disappoint me. The phone packs some impressive specifications for an older smartphone and is very easily going to last me another year. Having said that I do hate the massive screen but sadly that is a reality of the Android smartphone market right now, and the phone’s cameras aren’t great.

With Mi LED 10W smart bulb as my only other tech purchase, there is little competition for LG G7 ThinQ for my favourite tech purchase this year.

Buy: LG G7 ThinQ

Harpreet Singh: iPhone XR

I didn’t spend a lot of money on tech products this year, I’m going to end 2019 with a lot still left on my wishlist. But I did upgrade my smartphone this year. I switched from an iPhone 7 Plus to the iPhone XR, after spotting a decent deal online.

It seems like a decent upgrade to me. I like the battery life on the iPhone XR, but I miss the physical home button and Touch ID. I like the fact that it has support for an eSIM as a secondary connection even though I don’t really need one. I do love the camera though, nothing Pixel-like but since I only capture photos for Instagram and Snapchat, it gets the job done.

Buy: iPhone XR

Jagmeet Singh: Microsoft Surface Go

I often do some work while commuting. Checking for new emails or responding them while on-the-move is quite feasible through a smartphone. But I usually spend my travel time in writing new feature pieces or transcribing recent interviews that both a compact PC-like machine. I do carry my work laptop, but in the recent past, I observed the need for an even smaller device that I can take with me in most of the places. I found the iPad as an early solution. However, I ended up purchasing a Microsoft Surface Go.

Since the Surface Go provides me with the full Windows experience, I can not just open apps that are limited to iOS (read iPadOS) but also access all major software packages that I used to have on my desktop or work laptop. The portable design of the Surface Go also makes it an easy-to-carry machine and the optional keyboard adds productivity. Likewise, the touchscreen experience on the device is also on par with my iPhone. The only thing that lacks here is the battery life that gets exhausted in five-six hours of regular use. Nevertheless, there is a USB Type-C port that supports the Power Delivery (PD). So I use a compatible power bank for charging on-the-go.

Buy: Microsoft Surface Go

Jamshed Avari: iPad Pro

After promising myself that I wouldn’t buy anything unnecessary this year, I stumbled across a ridiculously good deal on a second-hand previous-gen iPad Pro that I simply couldn’t pass up. Did I actually need it? Not at all. Was it a good impulse buy? Absolutely! My previous iPad no longer receives iOS updates, I get to play high-end games, and the huge screen is just glorious. You can have a full-sized A4 page up, which is great for reading and especially for sheet music. Creative apps such as Synth One really feel transformed on the bigger screen and the stereo speakers are a revelation too. Moreover, it’s so light that I can just take it anywhere. Now to find an equally good deal on a keyboard cover…

Buy: 12.9-in iPad Pro (2nd Gen)

Nadeem Sarwar: Samsung Wireless Powerbank

2019 was the year I shelled out the most when it comes to purchasing tech goodies. I got myself the Acer KG241QP gaming monitor that offers 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time at a sweet discount on Amazon. I also burnt my earnings on a Redgear MK881 Invador mechanical keyboard with the Kailh Blue switches, and of course, RGB lighting effects. But my favourite tech purchase of the year was the Samsung Wireless Powerbank (EB-U1200CPNGIN).

This one’s not your average, blocky power bank. Aside from a USB Type-A port and a USB Type-C port, it also has a circular Qi-certified wireless charging pad that supports the in-house Wireless Fast Charge tech. It lets me simultaneously charge a phone and a wearable device (or another wireless charging compatible phone, which happens to be the Pixel 3 in my case). The 10,000mAh battery is enough to juice up the phone’s battery thrice, and the build quality is also top notch. It comes at a premium over rival 10,000Ah power banks, but the versatility it offers is unmatched.

Buy: Samsung Wireless Powerbank 10000mAh

Prabhakar Thakur: Amazon Fire TV Stick

Amazon Fire TV Stick was my favourite purchase this year, though I did not really “buy” it. It came with a Samsung TV that I bought (not a smart TV). It has changed my TV viewing experience for good. With Fire TV Stick’s clean UI and decent voice remote, I don’t have many complaints about the device.

This one doesn’t support 4K videos, but I have no qualms about it because of the expense of the amount of data that will be needed should I raise the video quality that much.

Buy: Amazon Fire TV Stick

Roydon Cerejo: iPhone XR, Fire TV Stick, and PS4 Pro

I may have gone a little crazy this year with my tech purchases. My first one was an iPhone XR back in April, when the big discounts and cashback offers began. An excellent device with more than a day-long battery life which even rivalled the iPhone XS. Plus, the fact that it was available in India at an effective price which was even lower than what it was being sold for in the US, made it a no-brainer.

My second-best tech purchase has been the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. The reason it makes the list is because I managed to snag one during this year’s Black Friday sale, for just $25! (roughly Rs. 1,800). It’s also a lot faster than the standard version, supports faster Wi-Fi and of course, can do 4K streaming.

My last big tech purchase of this year is the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro. Yes, I’m aware that the PlayStation 5 (PS5) will be launching around this time, next year, but like every new console generation, the true potential of it will most probably only be realised till a few years in the console’s lifecycle. By then, we’ll also have newer revisions which may fix any teething issues of the launch models, possibly a Pro model and most importantly, more affordable prices out by then.

Pro tip: If you’re looking to get the PS4 Pro, keep in mind that the only official bundle with India warranty is the one with the extra controller. All other bundles on Amazon and Flipkart of the Pro that include free games, are direct imports and don’t have a valid Indian warranty.

Buy: iPhone XR, Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, or PS4 Pro

Sumit Garg: Nothing

I have spent a lot of money this year. My biggest purchase has to be a new car, but did I make a tech purchase for myself? Well, no. Yes, I did buy two Redmi 8A smartphones, but those were gifts for my family members. Other than that, personally I did not find anything that amazed me in tech this year and because of that I didn’t make any tech purchase this year.

Buy: Nothing

Tasneem Akolawala: Amazon Echo

I didn’t make any big tech purchases this year, nothing that makes for a worthy mention. Although, I did make a tiny Amazon Echo purchase in January for the house. It’s proved to be quite handy, especially to satiate the growing curiosity of my kid. For those unaware, the Echo range of smart speakers from Amazon comes with Alexa voice assistant built in. It lets you ask questions, request songs, ask for recipes, and set reminders – and responds with voice-based answers. I’d recommend it as a nice addition to your home entertainment space. I bought the second-generation Echo, but it would be ideal to buy the third-generation speakers now. Amazon offers a slew of Echo speakers in different forms and functionalities.

Buy: Amazon Echo

Yousuf Jawed: Realme Earbuds 2

After using OnePlus wireless bullets for an year then getting back to old tech like wired headphones is tough but I did make a choice now and it is Realme Buds 2. These Realme earphones are good in terms of sound quality within the price bracket. The braided cable make you believe it is stronger and practically doesn’t get tangled. The length of the wire is very generous, and it comes with a rubber clip. I also appreciate the drivers and the chambers they are housed in, redesigned to give better sound quality. The magnetics snapping feature of the buds are very handy. So, yeah, this was my tech purchase on the year.

Buy: realme Earbuds 2 in-Ear Wired with mic

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