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moneymunch-inc · 2 years

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New Post has been published on Moneymunch

New Post has been published on https://moneymunch.com/nifty-stock-trading-calls-report-of-november-2022/

Nifty & Stock Trading Calls Report of November 2022

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]To Free Subscribers, We sent you the following intraday and positional trading calls in the previous month.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

P/L Report of November 2022

BUYOCT 20 – HINDALCO +38,700/ 1 lot

BUY OCT 31 – NIFTY +37,500/ 1 lot

BUY NOV 3 – PRECWIRE +2310 / 100 shares

BUY NOV 6 – ASIANPAINTS +14,000/ 1 lot

BUY NOV 7 – TATA STEEL +12,750/ 1 lot

BUY NOV 9 – HDFC +43,800/ 1 lot

BUY NOV 29 – BDL +3600/ 100 shares

BUY NOV 16 – EPL 1600/ 100 shares

BUY NOV 17 – HAL +1,00,225/ 1 lot

BUY NOV 17 – MINDACORP +1500/ 100 shares

BUY NOV 17 – HINDUNILVR +29,400/ 1 lot

SELL NOV 17 – ADANITRANS +22,500/ 100 shares

Total P&L = Rs.3,07,885

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]Trades Summary:

October 28, 2022, 9:02 AM – HINDALCO Is Getting Ready For Skyrocket Prices, But…

October 31, 2022, 03:48 PM – EWT – NSE NIFTY Bullish Scenario –

November 3, 2022, 07:05 PM – Is NSE PRECWIRE Preparing For A New High?

November 6, 2022, 04:39 PM – NSE ASIAN PAINT Has Entered A New Impulse Cycle

November 7, 2022, 01:15 AM – EWT – TATA STEEL SWING SETUP

November 9, 2022, 09:00 AM – EWT – NSE HDFC Is Outnumbering Sellers

November 16, 2022, 11:30 AM – NSE EPL – A Bull trap Or A Peculiar Reversal?

November 17, 2022, 09:03 AM – NSE HAL – Watch out Resistance breakout

November 17, 2022, 09:03 AM – NSE MINDACORP – Bulls Outnumbered Bears

November 17, 2022, 09:03 AM – NSE HINDUNILVER – Intraday Setup

November 17, 2022, 04:17 PM – NSE ADANITRANS – Elliott Wave Projection

November 23, 2022, 09:10 AM – NSE BDL – Bullish Outlook

If you have traded with one lot, you have made Rs.3,07,885 in the free subscription. Here, I’m talking about one lot only. What more do you want from a free subscription?

In-depth:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

(1) October 28, 2022, 9:02 am– HINDALCO Is Getting Ready For Skyrocket Prices, But…

I had written in clear words,” If the price sustains above 416, traders can expect the following target: 424 – 433 – 448+.”

[Update] 2 November 2022

09:40 AM – NSE HINDALCO touched first target of 424, and made a high of 425.85.

[Update] 7 November 2022

09:30 AM – Price reached the second target of 433.

[Update] 14 November 2022

09:15 AM – HINDALCO hit the final target of 448, and made a high of 452.8.

Points per trade: 36 points or 8.6% Per lot profit: Rs. 38,700+[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(2) October 31, 2022, 3:48 PM – EWT – NSE NIFTY Bullish Scenario

If the price sustains above wave B, traders can expect the following targets for wave (5): 18215 – 18340 – 18479+..”

[Update] 7 November 2022

09:15 AM – Price reached the first target of 18215.

[Update] 11 November 2022

12:15 PM – Nifty hit the second target of 18340.

[Update] 24 November 2022

03:00 PM – Price touched the final target of 18479.

[Update] 29 November 2022

01:30 PM – Nifty has made all time high of 18678.

Points per trade: 750 Per lot profit: Rs. 37,500+ (All TP)[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(3) November 3, 2022, 7:05 PM – Is NSE PRECWIRE Preparing For A New High?

I had written in clear words,”If the price breaks out and sustains above 96.90, traders can trade for the following targets: 100.2 – 116.65 – 126.6+.”

[Update] 10 November 2022

01:15 PM – Price initiated an entry at 96.9.

01:40 PM – Price reached the first target of 100.20

[Update] 05 December 2022

09:15 AM – NSE PRECWIRE hit the second target of 116.

10:30 AM – Price made a new high of 120.

Points per trade: 23.1 points or 24% Per 100 shares profit: Rs. 2310+[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(4) November 6, 2022, 4:39 pm – NSE ASIAN PAINT Has Entered A New Impulse Cycle

I had written in clear words,” If price sustains above 3160, traders can trade for the following targets: 3231 – 3283 – 3360+.”

[Update] 7 November 2022

9:30 AM – Price couldn’t sustain above 3160. Oder canceled manually.

[Update] 6 December 2022

11:20 PM – Price started forming impulsive wave 3. Entry marked as 3060.

[Update] 7 December 2022

02:40 PM – Price touched the first target of 3231.

Points per trade: 70 points Profit Per lot: Rs. 14,000+* [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(5) November 7, 2022, 1:15 PM – EWT – TATA STEEL SWING SETUP

I have written clearly,” If the price sustains above 106.70, traders can buy for the following targets: 110 – 125 – 136+.“

[Update] 14 November 2022

09:20 AM – NSE TATA STEEL Reached First target of 110.

[Update] 5 December 2022

02:45 PM – Price made a new high of 116.10.

Points per trade: 3 points Per lot profit: Rs.12,750*[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(6) November 9, 2022, 9:00 AM – EWT – NSE HDFC Is Outnumbering Sellers

I have written clearly, “If the price sustains above 2511, traders can trade for the following targets: 2533 – 2572 – 2610+.”

[Update] 11 November 2022

09:15 AM – Price touched the first target of 2533.

10:50 AM – Price hit the second target of 2572.

11:00 AM – HDFC reached the final target of 2610,

11:15 AM – Price made a high of 2657, The price has risen by more than 150 points after breakout of 2511.

Points per trade: 146 Profit per lot: Rs. 43,800+[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(7) November 16, 11:30 AM –NSE EPL – A Bull trap Or A Peculiar Reversal?

I have written clearly, “If the price sustains above the lower band, traders can buy for the following targets: 162 – 176 – 183+.”

[Update] 25 November 2022

12:40 PM – NSE EPL sustained above lower band of the channel.

01:40 PM – Price reached the first target of 162.

[Update] 28 November 2022

10:22 AM – Price made a new high of 171.5.

Points per trade: 16.45 points of 10.60%* Profit per 100 shares: Rs.1600+*[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(8) November 17, 2022, 9:03 AM – NSE HAL – Watch out Resistance breakout

I have written clearly, “HAL Has a broken-out All-Time high with a high volume at 2600. Traders can buy HAL for the following targets: 2743 – 2774 – 2821+.”

[Update] 23 November 2022

09:15 AM – NSE HAL Reached first target of 2743.

[Update] 25 November 2022

09:15 AM – Price hit the second target of 2774.

[Update] 06 December 2022

09:45 AM – Price made a new high of 2811. Trade completed near 2800.

Points per trade: 211 points or 8.13% Profit per lot: Rs.1,00,225+[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(9) November 17, 2022, 9:03 AM – NSE MINDACORP – Bulls Outnumbered Bears

I have written clearly, “Currently, the price is standing on the 200 EMA at 210. If the price sustains above 210, traders can trade for the following targets: 216.5 – 223 – 231+.”

[Update] 30 November 2022

09:15 AM – NSE MINDACORP closed at 210 with good volume. Entry point was marked at 210.

[Update] 1 December 2022

09:15 AM – Price hit the First target of 216.5.

[Update] 05 December 2022

09:15 AM – Price touched the second target of 223, and made a high of 229. Trade closed due to failure of breakout near 225.

Points per trade: 15 points or 7.16% Profit per 100 shares: Rs.1500+[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(10) November 17, 2022, 9:03 AM – NSE HINDUNILVER – Intraday Setup

I have written clearly, “if NSE HINDUNILVR sustains above 200 EMA, traders can buy for the following targets: 2498.5 – 2527 – 2553+.Note that, 2455 is a crucial support level for buyers.”

[Update] 18 November 2022

10:15 AM – Price triggered our entry at 2455 by making a low of 2448. Traded as short-term setup.

[Update] 21 November 2022

9:25 AM – Price reached the first target of 2498.

[Update] 24 November 2022

11:15 AM – Price hit the second target of 2527.

03:15 PM – NSE HINDUNILVR touched the final target of 2553.

Points per trade: 98 points Profit per lot shares: Rs. 29,400+[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(11) November 17, 2022, 4:17 PM – NSE ADANITRANS �� Elliott Wave Projection

I have written clearly, “It is moving towards crucial support at 3046, and if it sustains below this level, we can expect good bearish moves to the following targets: 2980 – 2590 – 2820+.

[Update] 22 November, 2022

09:17 AM – Price touched the first target of 2980.

12:45 PM – Price hit the second target of 2890, and made a low of 2876.

[Update] 23 November 2022

09:30 AM – ADANITRANS reached the final target of 2820.

Points per trade: 225 points Profit per 100 shares: Rs 22,500+[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

(12) November 23, 2022, 9:10 AM – NSE BDL – Bullish Outlook

I have written clearly, “If the price sustains above 950, traders can buy for the following targets: 970 – 982 – 998+.

[Update] [23 November 2022]

10:45 AM – BDL Reached the first target of 970 and made a high of 974.

02:05 PM – Price touched the second target of 982, reaching a high of 986.40

Points per trade: 36 points* Profit per 100 shares: Rs 3600+*[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_message message_box_color=”alert-danger”]Note: If you have traded with 1 lot, you have made Rs.3,07,885 in the free subscription. Here, I’m talking about 1 lot only. What more do you want from a free subscription?[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

#free stock tips #Intraday Stock Tips #nifty future tips #nifty intraday tips #NIFTY TIPS #nifty today #nifty trading tips #share market tips

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vowled · 3 years

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Kill Your Darlings: An Analysis of its Twists and Themes

A few days ago, I watched Kill Your Darlings, and needless to say, I became completely mesmerized by it. Naturally credible characters with well-crafted backstories portraying a true story of Love, Obsession and Murder, it's everything a person could ask for in a movie. The colour palette of the movie radiates comfort and the sound track takes you back in time when these two bright young men were falling in love. Right from the start it was apparent that there were many themes in the undercurrent of the movie, and these were such that required some amount of thoughtful contemplation. And I was incredibly sorry to not find any post or review which critically discussed the themes of the movie and did it justice- so after doing some reading and digging up as much as I could, here I am making an attempt to analyze the twists and themes of the story.

The Crucial Plot-twist

The Night In Question- why the movie's recounting of the events is fictitious:

When faced with the prospect of writing the deposition for Lucian, Allen tried his best to gather information about the events that led to David's murder. However, it proved to be a difficult feat as Lucien himself would not speak much about it clearly. So he pieced together what he could from the bits of information he got. However, we see Lucian vehemently opposing the deposition written by Allen and claiming it to be false. After some thought, I find that I believe Lucian's claims. Most of the following arguments are rooted in the fact that Lucien's relationship with David was an abusive one, where David basically groomed Lucian and was a sexual predator. I suggest reading my post here to gain more insight about how the abuse affected him.

"You weren't there, you don't know what happened." These words right here- they're the words of a victim. Being subjected to a form of sexual abuse myself, I found these words hitting me like a brick ton. These are words coming from a pained soul that refuses to recount traumatic incidents. He's practically saying that the abuse was so bad he had to kill his abuser to be free from it.

Even after Allen saw first-hand what a total creep David could be, even after knowing the man had stalked Lucian across multiple cities, he had to ask Lucian why the latter killed David when he "could have run". This tells me he couldn't exactly relate to Lucian's situation and wasn't very keen on believing him. Although he displayed a moment of intimate affection, there's still a lingering feeling of yeah but he broke my heart inside him. After learning how Lucian drowned David, he even begins questioning if he should help him at all. At this point, Allen doesn't trust Lucian enough to actually care how accurate the story is. So he wrote what he could, what he felt right. But even he couldn't condemn his friend/first love to such a fate as prison, so eventually he submitted it as his final paper. In all honesty, I thought that turning it in was a brilliant move, and one which also further proved that the "once you loved him too" version was mostly fanciful fiction.

Throughout the movie, sequences have been played in reverse frames (and I found this so pleasing) and from the nitrogen-inhaling scene, we know that these sequences designated memories playing out in Allen's head or his subconscious creating dreamscapes. And here's the catch- the entire scene of Lucian taking a walk with David and eventually killing him began with frames played in reverse order. This gives the absolute proof that the movie's depiction of the events were fictitious.

Allen's P.O.V. of the events mainly relied on the argument that at some point, Lucian genuinely loved and needed David. This couldn't be further away from the truth. When you're 14 and and being groomed and coaxed by an older guy, a lot many things could feel like love because you haven't experienced them before; but in reality, it's never love, it just is another form of violence.

Themes running through the movie

"There can be no Creation before Imitation"

We see Professor Steves saying this at the beginning of the movie, hinting that it would be a theme in the story. This statement is reflected throughout Allen's progression and development as a poet:

In the beginning, we see him being hugely influenced by his father's works and possibly trying to imitate him through poetic devices such as consonance.

Next, we see him imitating Professor Stevens' style of writing in his poem "the rose that scents the evening air, grows from by beloved's hair" which Lucian outright criticizes.

It is only with the poem Allen recites to Lucian on the boat that he starts developing some sort of originality. That poem in particular is directly drawn from his personal experiences and delivers splendidly.

This development continues as he proceeds to write "The Night In Question" wherein he brilliantly describes his opinion of how things went down. It was this streak that would eventually propel him to write his most celebrated poem, "Howl".

The Circle of Life and How Allen Breaks it

We see Lucian telling Allen how "Life is only interesting if it is wide" and about Yeats' "Circle of Life". As displayed by the linked document, turns out the circle of life is quite complex a thing, and the movie displays a lay-man's version of it. As Lucian tells about it to Allen, unbeknownst to them both, Allen also enters the circle and changes the turn of events:

It is obvious that at the party at David's, Allen was a misfit. David even goes so far as to literally call him out and point how unremarkable he was, but says how given the correct circumstances, even Allen could change things. And what's extraordinary is exactly this happens next: the liquor runs out in David's party and Allen suggests they should change the venue of the party- hence hijacking David's party!

We see Allen's life widen as he becomes closer to Lucian and starts doing things he'd never done before. At the same time, he also plays an important role in changing Lucian's life as well. It's Allen who suggests at first that Lucian should break up with David and stop taking his help. Later in the movie, after learning about David's obsessive behaviour, it's again Allen that said "we should get rid of him". Again, here we see some foreshadowing. Allen could have worded it in any probable way, and yet he suggested getting rid of David which subtly implied killing him. I do believe that this happened to become a subliminal suggestion to Lucian and furthered his murderous intent.

Hence, although Lucian radically changes Allen's life, the latter does so too in unlikely and unexpected ways.

Sacrifices (and Rituals?)

Since the beginning of the movie, we know that the characters are all extraordinary men and that they are capable of something revolutionary. But it was apparent that all of them would need a catalyst to set things in motion- a sacrifice of some sort which would help them break their moulds and free their inner poet. Allen's love for Lucian and his wish to impress him did make him work toward become better at writing. It was the fear of completely losing Lucian to Jack that made Allen put all his effort into writing, and made him come up with his best work yet - here, the fear acted as the catalyst.

However, the most significant thing in connection to this happened in this scene where Lucian cuts both of their palms and holds them up together - this can be considered a Blood Ritual.

"A blood ritual is any ritual that involves the intentional release of blood. Blood rituals often involve a symbolic death and rebirth, as literal bodily birth involves bleeding. Basic to both animal and human sacrifice is the recognition of blood as the sacred life force in man and beast. The participants may regard the release of blood as producing energy useful as a sexual, healing, or mental stimulus. In other cases, blood is a primary component as the sacrifice, or material component for a spell."

The fact that this event took place inside Allen's head during a trippy session outlines how Allen had subconsciously taken a blood oath with Lucian to further The New Vision. This process of developing their revolutionary ideas would successfully progress for the rest of the movie; however, before its completion, the oath demanded a sacrifice- and the murder of David became this blood sacrifice.

"With Death comes Rebirth"

In the first half of the movie we see the initiation of this theme; after they've agreed upon to bring up something revolutionary, Allen talks about how rebirth comes only after death, and in their naivety, they play out a pseudo-suicide scene to imitate death. Little did they know greater sacrifices would have to be made. Eventually as events play out, we come to realise that it is David's death that became the cause and medium for their rebirth- both academic and intra-personal. Jack and Bill co-wrote the book "And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks" about the murder of David Kammerer, and eventually rose to fame, while Allen became popular with "Howl and Other Poems", none of which could have been initiated/inspired without David's death. As for their personal growth, none of them were the same as they were before the affair. I like to think all of them changed for the better. Lucian must have finally felt a sense of relief after getting rid of his abuser, while Allen finally took-off his rose-coloured glasses, saw Lucian under a more critical light, and developed a sense of self-esteem.

A Study in Violence (I was unsure whether to include this point in this analysis or not due to the violent nature of it. But I figure this analysis would remain incomplete should I leave it out. So here it goes..) The sequence from 1:10:00 to 1:12:00 was an in-depth survey of Violence and how it can occur in different forms. In particular, it focused on how any form of penetration is intimately violating.

We see a lonely Allen being so lost that he's about to have sex with a complete stranger. This itself is very unlike him, who in the beginning of the movie was shying away from Lucian kissing an unknown girl. A few sequences later we see how he wasn't very comfortable with this idea (he wanted to turn off the lights but the other guy turned them on) and yet he was made to shift into a position he did not prefer and hence was made to have rough sex.

We see Bill looking very solemn and injecting drugs into his hands.

We see the violent altercation between Lucian and David. We see David forcing himself on Lucian and eventually being stabbed by him.

We see Jack recieving the news of the death of his friend.

In this way, we see every member of the group being exposed to some form of violence, be it sex, drugs, physical altercations or death.

First Love and its aftermath First love is also an important theme of the movie as it shows how one's first love has the capacity to radically change a person from within:

Allen's first love changed him from the shy, people-pleasing always-upright persona to the bold, radical, critical and unafraid person he became at the end of the movie.

Allen's discovery of his own style of writing can also be majorly attributed to Lucian's criticism of his rhyme-schemes.

All in all, it was his love for Lucian that drove him to become a more out-going person and ignited the mischief in his spirit, while the heartbreak of realising Lucian didn't feel the same for him also lent him invaluable insight and allowed him to develop confidence and a sense of self-esteem, which would play a significant role in him eventually becoming his own person.

While Allen's first love furnished him with the overall better things in life, the same could not be said for Lucian, sadly. Lucian's first love reminded us how oppressive love can become if the other person isn't suited-well for us; it showed us how sometimes love and obsession are separated by a thin line, and how dangerous it becomes when the line is crossed.

Lucian's story also showed us how sometimes a relationship can be more abuse than love, and when that happened, how easy it became to confuse violence with love.

The most significant message that the theme of first-love portrays is that there will always be consequences.

With this, I bring my arguments and analyses to a close. I hope a future (or even past) lover of the movie happens to stumble upon this someday and learn something fascinating about the movie (or reignite their love for it). Thank you for reading this far!

[P.S. an uplifting fact: in real life, Lucian, Allen, Jack and Bill each got the type of life they wished for, and remained friends for the rest of their lives :) ]

#kill your darlings #dark academia movies #daniel radcliffe #dane dehaan #movie critique #film analysis #I hope I could word this comprehensibly

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shadow-turtle-234 · 3 years

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Interesting (and unitentional) parallels between the Loki Series and Where Mischief Lies

As I was reading the conversation/post here on Tumblr earlier today there were a few things that made me revisit a few previous Loki related works (comics and the novel mentioned above specifically) from Marvel that made started making my gears turn in making connections.

Please keep in mind, this is to be neutral to the best of my abilities: these are some parallels that I myself noticed and interpret with info and opinions that are based off of what is presented. I am not trying to cause a ship war or any hate to anyone - this is just me revisiting a few things at 21:00 in the evening.

And, as stated in the title; the parallels I am bringing up are unintentional (as we all know by this point Waldron isn't a fan of Loki, let alone do research prior before submitting the final draft with no citations and openly admits to plagiarizing other's works) but still interesting to, at the very least, consider:

1. SHARP Society's "treatment" of Loki and the TVA's "treatment" of Loki

-The TVA isn't quite "friendly" (read: is quite abusive) to Loki upon arrival. Loki (in the Series), is immediately subdued, stripped of their power (via the Time Twister Collar), clothing, pride and is forced to help the TVA find out who the Variant is. Loki (in the Novel) is immediately subdued and stripped on their magic (via restraints), and is forced to help find out who is killing and draining individuals of their life force.

-Granted, the SHARP Society treats Loki with a bit more dignity than having them be forcibly stripped, ass bare, but the striping of their power (unconscious, mind you) still without consent, much like the show.

- The SHARP Society works for a higher power that gives two shits less about them (Odin the Dad of the Year) unless it has an issue that may or may not be threatening to the grand "power" (the Nine Realms). The TVA works for a higher power that gives two shits less about them (Kang/HWR) unless is an issue that may or may not be threatening to the grand "power" (Multiverse and the Sacred Timeline)

2. Theo Bell and Mobius M. Mobius and their reactions/relation to Loki (before and after)

-Mobius and Theo, both, have a preconceived notion about Loki. Both believe Loki to be the Bad Guy, either by novels that were read and told the tale of Loki (that were prewritten), or by the chain of events that told the tale of Loki (that were prewritten).

-They both treat Loki terribly on two separate occasions: first being their initial interactions (introductions) between one another (Theo pushes Loki hard into a wooden crate and knocks them out with powder twice, is implied to be the one who put the restraints on Loki; {end of Chapter 12, and beginning of Chapter 13} Mobius uses the Time Twister Collar on Loki twice and forces them into interrogation, implied to be the one who can remove the collar {Episode 1}); the second is by "betrayal" (Loki is indirectly responsible for Mrs. Sharp's death and is blamed by Theo who tries to call out to police for help, which could have given out terrible treatment/torture [see Bridwell House of Correction for clarification] {end of Chapter 31, Chapter 32} though they choose to leave by their own volition; Loki is blamed by Mobius for betraying him when they left on their own volition and helping Sylvie and is sent to torture in a time cell {Episode 4}).

-Both Mobius and Theo, yes both of them, came to the realization that Loki was right/is not what history (both in text and in the Sacred Timeline) deems them to be, and saying similar quotes (M: "You can be, whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. In case anyone ever told you different... Well, it's never too late to change." T: "So write new stories. No one's destiny is written in the stars... There's always a choice.")

-Both share a cute but meaningful moment with Loki (Loki initiates the hug with Mobius, allowing it to linger on a wee bit longer; Loki allows the kiss with Theo to last a wee bit longer), and that moment was the last happy moment with them that wasn't either by an action that Loki caused ( yeeting Theo onto the other train car and leaving for Asgard without him) or by the break out the the Multiverse.

3. Sylvie Laufeydoittor and the actual enchantress, Amora, and their behavior towards Loki (Sylvie isn't the enchantress, y'all - she is a terrible copy cat jerk sue that is Loki, stop that bs excuse that she isn't - the show literally says otherwise that she is)

- Both have somewhat of a sibling dynamic with Loki in the beginning (Amora scheming with Loki in chapter 3 and 4 can be seen very much as somewhat platonic as we know they both grew up together; Sylvie and Loki's sibling dynamic before Sylvie conks out on the train)

-Both swear revenge on the people who ruined their lives and means to destroy and burn them to the ground, but unaware of what their actions may cause.

-Treats Loki like a pawn/uses them till they get in their way in which they have to fight; both are uncompromisable and treats Loki terribly (belittling and threaten to kill on multiple occasions ≠ romantic intentions)

-Loki is the only one investing in the relationship and almost worships both Sylvie and Amora on higher pedestals (Amora who is described to be powerful and respected in the Realms when it comes to magic but also is corrupt when it comes to morality and humanity, where Loki wishes to be like her - a magic wielder; Sylvie... who is great because she is female presenting {and this is where we only can look at the hair and magic for parallels cuz there really is none as, like I said, Sylvie is just a sue}), where as it can be debatable that Amora did care for Loki (maybe another power wielder to get her to Asgard before she inevitably betrays them, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did have feelings for Loki) but Sylvie actively doesn't show any romantic feelings towards them and is weirded out by their advancements while tolerating them for as long as she could till they became an obstacle. Both also use Loki's feelings to get to their intended goal until, as I said, Loki became an obstacle.

I know that there is probably more parallels in this novel and this show but these were the ones that popped out to me the most. So... yeah. No hate. Just something that I wanted to jot down. Not gonna tag it in anything, so if you see it, you see it!

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moondustaeil · 3 years

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𝐫𝐞:𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞.

↳ Ambrosia's not-so-happy life update.

trigger warning, this post includes: weight loss, food, calorie counting, disordered eating habits, suicide, insecurities, fears.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭?

As I contemplate whether I should make an earnest post look as aesthetic as possible, my eyes are tearing up to Lee Chansub's "Gone". Therefore, this chapter gets named after his lyrics.

Since when was it? It's a question that crosses my mind after deciding on the chapter name, even though I'm well aware of the number of days that have passed. Each day I write that significant number in my journal, but there must be more than the pen can write. Beyond my awareness: there must have been a certain amount of time spent on a prologue to pen down the event that ultimately led to this chapter.

Since where was it? There could be multiple meanings behind the question, but I can only formulate a limited answer despite the openness. As far as I'm in charge of this story, there is no why or where. Yes, I quite literally woke up one day and decided to go on a diet, simple as that. Before that day, dieting never crossed my mind: I never saw my body as too much or myself as too little compared to others. Can you understand now why I think a prologue was written for me and not by me?

Anyhow, let's have a look at how I think I experienced my life before the diet. Sometimes I think I don't even remember how I experienced the last moments of it, but that doesn't mean I don't know how it went. My life before the diet was pretty plain: I didn't engage in any social or physical activities and spent most of my time behind my laptop to write or lurk around on YouTube. Eating-habit-wise, I never ate much: three meals a day with occasional snacks, those snacks probably covering more calories than my meals did. Despite eating calorie-covering snacks, I would have given my all for fruit and vegetables, especially frozen fruit. Back then, I already had significant eating habits: I'd eat nuts when I was stressed, drink smoothies while studying for exams, eat sour sweets when I was bored. My body before the diet wasn't that noteworthy: I maintained the same weight for around three years and only ditched my tight jeans because covid had me feeling too lazy to wear them. A youth like this might sound boring to you, but I gladly lived my life like this and, I don't regret the way I spent it.

I can still recall up to two days before it began: I can tell the contents of those days like I was the supporting cast instead of the main character, simply because I can't remember the emotions. The two last days were spent behind my laptop, waiting for the exam results while eating spicy nuts (to keep the stress level low). When the exam results came, and I realised I passed them all, I must have felt relieved. But in my memory, I didn't and don't feel anything at all concerning my exams. And that's where it stops. I don't even know where it starts again.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲

It quite literally feels like I woke up with no memories of the first days of the diet: I can recall what I ate, but not what I did or felt.

On the first day, I drank a strawberry oat smoothie for breakfast. It was my first self-made smoothie which was convincingly delicious compared to the bought smoothies I used to have. That same day, I stopped eating snacks: unknowingly, I restricted them and wouldn't allow them for the months after.

That paragraph is all I remember from the first day, and if I were to write one about every day of that week, it would be less each day. Maybe those days just weren't memory-worthy enough as I don't want to search for a reason behind every single thing.

For approximately twenty-eight days after the first one, I have no recollections. The only way I can reflect on those days is by checking my calorie intake and physical activity. Though, it doesn't feel like I was the one who tracked it.

The first proper recollection I have is of a day I ate 180 calories for the first time: a number I can only wonder about now. Though it was my first time having such a low intake, it wasn't the last or lowest. The number 180 seemed to attract me as in the days that followed, 180 would be the maximum amount of calories I'd consume. Back then, I had no idea what TDEE or BMR (of any of the other terms) were, so I can't tell you what my deficit was. But I would burn around 1200 calories a day by exercising, and that should be enough to raise red flags.

From that point on, even though I was probably slowly killing myself, I felt alive. A growing obsession with food, weight loss and exercise was fueling my mind. While my body was left behind, trying to catch up with the pace. If I didn't lose more than 1 gram overnight, I'd starve myself the next day. If I felt too lazy to exercise, I'd punish myself for being lazy by doing more. My weight dropped a lot, up to the point where the scale sometimes seemed to skip numbers.

Then a parent swap came: I would be staying with my dad for two weeks. In advance, I had already figured out everything I thought I needed to know: how I would skip meals without him finding out, at what times I could exercise without him knowing, where I could throw away the food he thought I would eat. The day I packed my bag and left for his house, my plans turned into action.

The two weeks there went as smooth as I planned them to go. Even with bonuses: he worked up to three days a week and did not question it when I didn't eat. In those two weeks, I would replace kpop videos with programs I used to despise: supersize versus superskinny and mukbangs. The videos would satisfy my hunger in some way, even though they caused me to start nailbiting. I wouldn't eat: I would only watch as others fed themselves.

Since I lost the initial subject I wanted to discuss in this chapter (I'm so sorry), I shall be moving on to the next chapter.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑: 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨? 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐚𝐭?

It was at this point that people were starting to notice things that I hadn't. Sometimes those things were appearance-related and, other times it was personality-related or even habit-related.

It started with a compliment from my aunt, and I felt like I was glowing when she mentioned my visible jawline and thin face. Maybe I was slightly disappointed that she noticed the facial changes before my body but, at the same time, she noticed a difference!

After her, people started commenting on my body, and I worked more to achieve those comments. I saw them as comments rather than compliments: I didn't tire myself out starting from 5:20 am every day just to receive a meaningless compliment. I wanted people to take notice.

And, they did. People that directly surrounded me were starting to notice things that I failed to see. Mostly stuff that changed about my personality while my body was changing. My mother told me that I became the opposite of easy-going and friendly when others were around. My sister told me that my facial expressions had gone even further than my usual resting bitch face. My nephew said that all I would do was try to end up in arguments with others and that he didn't like being around me anymore. It hurt to have all of those things said, but at the same time, I was too in denial to care. The only thing I cared about was food, exercise and losing weight.

On rare occasions, I became aware of the person I became. Mostly when others would try to reach me by calling or coming over but I was too busy to talk to them, and if I did, I would talk about food-related things only. So, I shut everyone out.

I no longer talked to my friends daily, wouldn't reply to my parents sending me messages, didn't go on social media unless it was to look at food or triggering images.

The world consisted of me and was ruled by my obsession.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒: 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞

There is an unknown amount of time that settles itself between the previous chapter and this chapter. During this time, I once again feel like I'm just a supporting character: my habits develop and my obsession rules over everything I do.

Many of the things I did (which already wasn't a lot, to begin with), were based on stuff I said already. Though even more refined and obsessive.

When I closed my eyes, sleep would take me to dreams about food and weight loss. Approximately three times a night, I would open my eyes, assume it was morning and get ready for another day of exhaustion and starvation. Those nightly hours are still engraved in my mind and current habits: 12:00 am, 3:20 am, 5:28 am.

It is in this chapter that a slow awareness creeps up on me. The side effects are what wakens me when everything else consumes me: constant thoughts about food, the inability to sleep, not being able to think or focus, drifting from reality, always feeling cold, tingling headaches, not leaving the house for days unless it's for shopping (because I would look at food I couldn't eat).

"I need to stop," I told myself while I wrote in my journal how much better I would be if I lost some more weight because the scale is tempting me.

I didn't want to stop. I just wanted it to stop.

Though in reality, I had no control to stop myself or it. I had lost control long ago, and to this day, I still have no idea at which chapter I left it behind. Some days I thought of how to stop, but the exit sign was more like a full-stop as it led me to think of killing myself: it would make my family stop commenting on my condition and could give me a sense of freedom even though I would be dead.

It surely wasn't the first time I passed that exit sign in life, but it was the first time I felt determined to pass it by. All I wanted was to be able to sleep peacefully without thinking of food. *Snort*, such high standards.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓: 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬

Unexpectedly, a good dream did cloud over my bedroom. Even though it was simple, it's one of the dreams that I hope to keep in my memory forever. And for laughs, I'll share it.

TO1-member Donggeon was standing near my garage but, my mother's car wasn't in the driveway because she wasn't home. I was standing outside with him while he talked with Wei's Donghan (who was invisible to me). They were having a casual conversation in Korean. Then, he wanted to lean against the car that wasn't in the driveway, causing him to fall on all fours. He laughed at his stupidity and, at the same time, his ears were getting red from embarrassment.

That pretty much sums up the first not-food-related dream I had during my entire journey. And I still remember waking up at 3:20 am, laughing: it was stupid and silly but left such a big impression on me. And that's when I told myself: "I need to recover".

It sounds silly but I still, to this day, think that this dream set me off into recovery mode. Even though I felt like I had no control, I tried to take control: calculated a number of calories that I surely had to eat each day, planned Thursday to be my active rest-day, found less intense workouts to do in the morning, tried to replace the mukbangs in my watch later list by relaxing videos or recovery videos, scheduled to journal every day. Though I told myself I would do those things, it wasn't easy to put my words into action.

Yet, I fucking did it.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔: 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧

Not going to lie: I spent all night wondering how I was going to write this and all morning putting it into proper words. Hence, the reason why I'm feeling exhausted: too exhausted to continue writing it even though the blooming period is so close. So instead of giving a lecture on recovery: I will try to give my opinion on recovering and how I'm doing these days.

Each day, I still question whether I'm truly in a recovery of something. I never went to see a professional or verbally admitted to my problems, so I never learned whether I'm recovering from something or just making progress after a downfall. I might be familiar with the use of DSM-4 and DSM-5 but, that doesn't mean I'm qualified to judge on whether I had/have a disorder or not. Yet, I opt to use the terms disordered eating and recovery until I'm sure of what it was that I went through.

Some days it feels like I was faking all of it, but then I realise, how was I faking it while I was going through it and experiencing it? Perhaps some of you reading even think I am faking all of the above, but that's your opinion. I don't need to defend myself for feeling things.

Now, I'll update you on where I'm standing today because I guess I wrote six chapters in order to get to this point. We all know I like to write more than necessary.

⋅ My disordered eating habits and calorie intake: I have made quite some progress (even if I say so myself). Each week, I challenge myself to increase my calorie intake by 100 until I reach my maintenance calories. It isn't as easy as it sounds because by the time I actually dared to increase by ten calories, the week is over, and I have to adjust my goal because I wasn't even able to reach close to where I planned to be. This week my goal is to eat 800 calories a day: a number that unexpectedly is paired with a lot of guilt and fear, so I haven't been able to eat that amount yet. The maximum I've eaten is 641 calories a day. Together with that, I also promised myself to eat one fear food or not-eaten food a week: that way, I hope to stop restricting myself and learn to enjoy them again. Some lasting habits I developed: I fear eating too early and will try to push back eating as late as I can because it gives me the feeling that I can enjoy it for longer but I do have strict hours, I cut everything into mini pieces because it gives me the feeling that I have more to nibble on and more to enjoy, I read every single nutrition label multiple times (in the store and at home) because I fear that it might include too many calories or fat, I don't eat anything that I didn't plan and nothing that I can't track calorie-wise, I eat the same thing for breakfast every day because I feel like it's the only food I can trust. The urge to skip meals or lie about them is getting smaller, but the thought always remains in the back of my mind.

⋅ My weight: I'm at a weight that is still considered healthy according to whoever feels qualified to judge. However, I fear gaining weight every single day, which stops me from eating my weekly allowance. Despite eating more than at the start of this: I still lose weight. The weight loss fuels the bad habits once more, but I try to tell myself that my weight is only to indicate whether I'm close to my maintenance calories or not.

⋅ My body: my body kept most of its side effects inside until I started to recover aside from the ones that I've stated before. Yesterday was the first day that I didn't feel cold despite wearing a shirt only, so that was a win for my body. However, I do have constant headaches, get blackouts often and, I easily feel my energy draining whenever I do a little bit too much (which I didn't always feel when I was actively doing it). That being said, my abilities have definitely decreased: you can read what kind of exercise I do in the next paragraph, but it has decreased a lot because I will feel weak sooner than before.

⋅ Exercise: I am between struggling and not struggling with it. The reason why I started to exercise was to burn more calories than I ate. But back then, I had no knowledge of BMR and whatnot. These days I do a lot less impactful exercise than I did before, but I still exercise each day: I do 96 minutes of stationary cycling a day, go on daily walks and have the obsession to take steps whenever I'm standing still. As you might be able to tell, I feel like I'm on the line of having control here.

⋅ My personality/social life/hobbies: even though I was in denial about my changing personality for a long while, I eventually realised that people were right when they said I changed. The realisation came during recovery, mostly because I noticed how I was in a better mood than when I was at my lowest point. My social life is building up slowly and doesn't always include me having to talk about my weight loss or food, though people always mention it so, I do always end up having to talk about it without wanting to. As for hobbies, I found my interest in kpop and writing again but, it's still at a somewhat moderate level. I still find myself lurking at food-related posts or triggering things, but I can control myself better and watch some positive videos instead. Aside from that, I journal every day: I write down what I ate, my physical activity, what I saw as memorable in my day, and more.

𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞

That's pretty much all for the life update. I still left out a lot that I failed to remember while writing or felt too tired to write about, and I bet not a lot of you are interested in any of this anyway. I just felt like I owed everyone an explanation of where I've been and why I haven't been reblogging much or writing.

As I've stated a few times before, I don't know yet when I will get back into writing or posting content. And the past months made me realise that it might be good for myself if I take some time away from Tumblr: I won't be able to look for triggering content, won't be able to trigger anyone else on accident and can focus on working towards my goals.

I hate the word hiatus but I think this means that I will be going on semi-hiatus. On good days, I might still come here to talk to my mutuals or reblog some kpop content that I enjoy. But other times, I probably won't respond or interact much as I'm logged out.

For now, my semi-hiatus will continue until mid to end September. This might be shortened or extended depending on my progress and my personal needs.

Have a lovely day, moonflowers! 💌

#ambrosia's life #was this the tag i used to use for stuff like this?

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addierose444 · 4 years

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Back to Campus: Spring 2021

It has been 10 long months since I last stepped foot on the Smith College campus (or out of my home state for that matter). I am now officially back! Hooray! As I said in a recent post, I was prioritized for early arrival due to my job in ResLife as a Community Advisor. As I only just got here and am far from being settled in, this post is mostly just about the process. Hopefully this year I will actually post a room tour of sorts! (Last year, I literally only posted a photo of my emptied out room).

Back in mid-December, I signed up for an arrival slot (2:00 on Friday the 22nd of January). I was so excited about returning to campus that I started packing quite a while ago. To make the packing process easier in the future, I created an extensive packing list. To read my college essentials guide, click here. On Friday, my dad drove me to Smith. Before returning to campus, we stopped by the house of some family friends to grab the rest of my dorm essentials. Since Massachusetts considers my state (Vermont) high-risk, I wasn’t allowed to move directly into my spring housing. At this point in time, Massachusetts and Hawaii are the only states with low-risk status.

My house, Parsons, has been using Discord for our virtual house community. You can read about the other apps I use in (remote) college here. As I was the first one on campus, I decided to keep my residents updated on the check-in and quarantine process. This was not part of my job in ResLife, but it definitely felt relevant to that work. Even though I am a returning student and in ResLife, I didn’t fully know what to expect and figured others would appreciate a student’s perspective. I was already planning on writing this blog post but decided to just compile my updates here. For starters, I didn’t see the need for a total rewrite. I also thought it would be a fun and different post style. Lastly, I think there is value in knowing what people are thinking in the moment rather than just reflectively. Note that my updates are written to my Parsons residents and weren’t edited to reflect the audience of this blog. I did add some additional images to this blog post, but most were also sent via Discord.

Friday @ 1:19

Parsons in real life!

Friday @ 4:07

Just a quick update. I have moved into my quarantine location and thought I would let you all know a little more about the check-in process from a student's perspective. All official information can be found in an email titled "IMPORTANT ARRIVAL INFORMATION". You basically just enter the CC, present your OneCard (unless you are a new student in which case you will receive yours), follow the arrows, and do what you are told. The whole process is quick and easy. The COVID test is painless (you can feel it though) as the swab doesn't need to go super deep into your nose like with other tests. While I strongly advise showing up at your scheduled time, if you are a little bit early, you may be able to check-in anyway. (I checked-in about 20 minutes early without an issue). The only hiccup I had was that I got the wrong room key (my correct room number but for Park House). As it's hard to hear people with masks on, be sure to check the envelope containing your room key and bracelet before leaving the ResLife table (to avoid going around the CC for a second time like I had to). I think check-in will only get better and even going around twice was still very quick and easy. If you have concerns and would like to talk to me about them, feel free to send me an email or direct message me here on Discord. As for moving things into Parsons, it was exhausting as no one was allowed to help me. When you arrive at Parsons, someone (possibly me) should be there to greet you (and make sure you don't stay over an hour). (Some of you may also meet me in the CC as I will be helping distribute keys). See you soon!

Friday @ 5:02

As for the quarantine location, I am currently quarantined in the Ellery Inn. The other location is the Fairfield Inn & Suites. You can get to either location by way of a free shuttle. (Your ticket is the bracelet you receive at check-in). Students sit far apart with masks, but I personally felt more comfortable having my dad drop me off at the hotel. It is also worth noting that both hotels are within walking distance. The bracelet is also important so that staff in the house know you are allowed to be there. (If you have approved guests (low-risk state), I think they also get bracelets). I haven't learned the whole color-coding system, but my bracelet is red and lists my Parsons and Ellery rooms. My quarantine room is actually really nice. I have a comfortable king-sized bed and my own bathroom. When you arrive you get a bag with a few snacks, water, activities from OSE, and general information (including the wifi password). I will keep you posted on the food situation as dinner is yet to arrive. I will momentarily post the menu that was in my welcome bag. Hopefully, these updates are somewhat helpful or interesting. Let me know if you have specific questions.

Friday at 5:15

Still waiting on dinner (to be delivered before 7), but here are the aforementioned snacks.

Friday @ 5:34

Dinner! Will let you know how it is soon, but my roommate from last year has said "The chicken is very tender!". Basically what happens is the people delivering the food knock loudly on the door, announce "dinner" and leave paper bags outside your room. Breakfast for tomorrow was also delivered.

Friday @ 6:18

I was initially quite worried about the food situation (during quarantine) as I am a picky eater and didn't get to choose the meal. (It's all based on the food preference form). The first dinner was much better than I feared. The chicken had flavor, was tender, and was fully cooked. The greens were also tasty. The potatoes could have used some ketchup but were pretty good when eaten with the chicken. I don't really like beets, so I just ate a few to try them. They didn't have much flavor but were well cooked. As for the cookies, they had good flavor but were very hard. Overall, I was unnecessarily worried about the food situation but am definitely excited to get out of quarantine to pick my own food among other things.

Friday @ 6:26

Tomorrow's breakfast! Looks pretty good other than the fact I hate bananas. I am most excited about the vanilla soy milk. I just don't get why we get plastic bottled water at each meal.

Saturday @ 11:51

Lunch for day two in quarantine has arrived. Another gripe that I have is that we get a new full set of plastic silverware at each meal. It's the compostable kind, but I don't think it's going to be composted. So far quarantine is boring, but not that bad. There is a TV in the room with cable and Roku. Make sure you pack your quarantine bag carefully as you cannot leave your room until you get an official release email from ResLife. The rooms (at least mine) have a mini-fridge, so if you have food or medications that require refrigeration, not to worry. We got an email today saying that we will be released on Monday at the latest. I initially had the impression we'd get out on Sunday and yesterday it sounded like we may get out today. I am obviously hoping to get out sooner rather than later, but I'll just have to wait and see.

Saturday @ 5:57

Dinner day two. Even though I have been busy with a French essay, I am definitely getting restless here in quarantine.

Saturday @ 6:38

Yesterday's dinner was better than today's, but this one wasn't too bad. The tortillas were dry, so the meal was better and less messy without them. My main critique is that while the beef had good flavor, it was tough. I also think yesterday's greens were a little bit better. Here's what I got for tomorrow's breakfast. I am hoping to be released from quarantine tomorrow, but it could be as late as Monday. Quarantine releases are at noon or 4 pm.

Sunday @ 9:15

I passed my initial COVID screening! (Still waiting on my official release email from ResLife). Just for a reference point, I took my test a little before 2 pm on Friday and got the results email at around 11 last night. (Basically, you get an email letting you know that the lab results are available and are given a registration code to set up your account).

Sunday @ 11:45

Well, I am still in quarantine, but at least lunch has arrived. Noon is fast approaching, so I might not be getting released until 4.

Sunday @ 12:33

I finally received the official release email from ResLife!!! I can leave as soon as 1 pm and must be moved out by 4 pm. Like with arrival, there are shuttles every half hour. Starting tonight I will be ordering my food through the Grubhub app and picking it up myself. I also have another COVID test scheduled for tomorrow.

Sunday @ 1:17

I am officially back at Parsons! (I decided to walk instead of taking the shuttle). Feel free to continue asking questions, but I think this is the end of my arrival updates. See you soon!

#college #Smith College #spring 2021 #check-in

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rwby-redux · 4 years

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Preface

RWBY is the breakthrough anime web series created by the late Monty Oum of Rooster Teeth. Originally teased on November 5th, 2012, and officially debuted July 18th, 2013, the series follows the journeys of four young women enrolled in an academy that trains monster-slaying warriors known as Huntsmen. Set in the fictional world of Remnant, the story initially focuses on the surface-level plot of fighting against humanity’s ancient adversary, the ever-present Creatures of Grimm; over time, it becomes apparent that things aren’t what they seem, as the cast slowly begins to connect a string of heists committed by a criminal syndicate with the violent acts of a terrorist cell. The series is aired weekly on Rooster Teeth’s website, with its main arcs spanning 12 – 16 episodes per volume. In the years following the show’s initial release, RWBY has spawned numerous merchandise and related media, including two spin-off shows, multiple side-stories published as mangas, two standalone books, three mobile games, a behind-the-scenes artbook, and OSTs for every volume to date.

As of Volume 7 there are 98 episodes in total with a collective runtime of 18:52:00, or approximately 1,132 minutes, with more episodes and side content underway.

At best, they’re visually interesting; at worst, they’re disappointing.

Let me take a second to backtrack before the lynch mob starts to sharpen its pitchforks. The series deserves much of the praise that it’s gotten. RWBY was the first American-produced anime to be released in Japan (and if you’re a fan of anime, you know how insane those words sound). The 3D models and animation from Volume 4 onward are breathtakingly stunning, and even before the show made the leap from Poser to Maya, the fight sequences managed to be equally creative and entertaining. The show was nominated for and received multiple Streamy Awards, and was awarded Best Animated Series by the International Academy of Web Television. The Volume 1 soundtrack reached number one on iTunes, beating out the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Such is RWBY’s (and Rooster Teeth’s) reputation that it managed to attract the attention of, and later bring on, industry veterans and vocal legends such as Jen Taylor, Josh Grelle, and Aaron Dismuke.

That’s to say nothing of the fandom this franchise has amassed, of kids, teenagers, and young adults alike. RWBY has generated dozens of forums dedicated to fanfiction, fanart, and roleplaying. Thousands of people the world over have bonded over this show, fans from all walks of life. They’re passionate about this series. The fact that I’m writing this post is a testimony of that. If I didn’t care about RWBY, I wouldn’t be sitting on my couch at 3 AM, hunched over my laptop in my pajamas.

If RWBY is so good (or occasionally threatens to become good), you might be wondering, why, then, does this blog exist?

Well, because…when you stop and look at it critically, it actually kind of sucks.

Despite initially being written by a three-man team, the series is full of inconsistencies and an underdeveloped cast. The characters, especially from Volumes 1 — 3, are full of one-dimensional stereotypes whose contributions to the story amount to a three-word summary: “The School Bully,” “The Wacky Professors,” “The Racist Cop,” “The Cutthroat Bitch,” “The Anime Waifu,” “The Audience Surrogate,” “Discount Elle Woods,” and so on. Fundamental elements of the story, like Aura, Semblance, and Dust, are either poorly-explained or not explained at all, and the limitations of those core concepts can change at a moment’s notice to suit the needs of the plot. The primary antagonist of the first three volumes is universally hated by the fandom for having no discernible motivations beyond being “ambitious and power-hungry,” and having a personality that consists exclusively of irritating smug. The show-writers, despite repeatedly promising queer representation, have failed to make even one of their ten central protagonists queer. This isn’t touching upon the fact that the first openly-gay character on the show was an antagonist, or that the next two were side-characters who were relevant to the plot for all of seven episodes, before vanishing from the story entirely. The two leads that are currently being hyped as our first queer main-cast members have only been repeatedly teased, with said characters never once uttering the words, “I’m bi,” “I date women,” “I’m not straight”—nothing but narrative subtext and playful winks from the VAs whenever a fan asks if they’re queer. Subplots end up having no pay-off or get entirely forgotten mid-volume. The story is so protagonist-biased that the heroes are frequently able to get away with being hypocritical, or committing criminal acts because “it was the right thing to do,” with their POV framed as an infallible “fuck you, got mine” verbal gut-punch to the audience (while other characters in the show, who often make the exact same calls as the heroes, are ridiculed by the show and the fandom). Whenever the story isn’t spray-painting stolen cars and selling them to their original owners, it manages to clumsily handle allegories for real-world issues such as systemic racism, mental illness, abuse dynamics/victim survivorship, and gray morality. The worldbuilding is absent from the main show and has to be supplemented through RWBY’s spin-off series World of Remnant. The story’s setting feels flat and lifeless at times because the “cultures” of this world are never established.

The list goes on and on.

So if this show has so many flaws, why are we still having this conversation?

Because I’m captivated by the untapped potential of this world. When you brush away all of the detritus, you can see the wealth of raw material buried beneath. This is a world where the gods have forsaken their creations, with one having even deliberately created the monsters that hunt humanity. The two characters who are central to the history of this world are tragic figures, one cursed with immortality as a punishment for demanding that the gods revise the first draft, and do away with needless death; and the other, cursed to ceaselessly reincarnate into the minds and bodies of like-minded souls, waging a war of attrition against a person warped beyond recognition by the capricious spite of the gods. This is a world of forgotten magic, of shifting allegiances, of characters embarking on personal journeys and unearthing deadly secrets. It’s a story of people from all walks of life learning to cooperate and work together, forging friendships and alliances in order to face the challenges that lie ahead.

It could easily have the bones of an epic fantasy series as long as it remembers to drink its milk.

RWBY’s issues aren’t insurmountable. Most of them are the byproduct of the series’ blind adherence to “rule of cool,” the motto that practically codified the beginning of the show. From Volume 4 onward, the series took a radical shift in tone that tried to be “more mature,” and only succeeded in making the earlier episodes absurd in hindsight. Why, in Volume 6, are the characters concerned about civilian endangerment, when in Volume 2 they happily pursued a giant mech in a highway car-chase scene that would’ve caused untold collateral damage and civilian death? This change in storytelling created a thematic disparity that reoccurs time and time again, retroactively emphasizing just how inconsistent the worldbuilding and storytelling are.

It tried to be Avatar: The Last Airbender, and what we’re left with instead is Game of Thrones Season 8.

Now, I’m not using this blog as a platform to damn Monty Oum (or claim to be a better creator than him). But it’s important to address the flaws in his story, and to acknowledge that his passing doesn’t make RWBY somehow sacrosanct or immune to constructive criticism. RWBY has flaws, ranging from nitpicky to potentially capable of causing real-world harm (in the case of the aforementioned queerbaiting and racism analogies). I’m a firm believer that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum; art is informed by our beliefs just as much as art informs our beliefs. We can still respect and admire the potential RWBY has to offer, while being mindful of where it needs to improve.

That’s where this blog comes in.

At the end of the day, the RWBY Redux exists as a thought experiment. I’m writing it chiefly to entertain worldbuilding ideas and headcanons I’ve spent years musing on. I’m not asking readers to agree with any of my numerous stances, nor am I going to shy away from other fans’ criticism as I hammer this project out. With a little TLC, perhaps I’ll manage to create something that manages to be more complex than its source material. And if you choose to follow along with my endeavors, hopefully you’ll find this project equal parts engaging and entertaining.

Wish me luck.

#preface #deconstruction #writing

7 notes · View notes

video103 · 5 years

Text

syllabus

DMS 103: Basic Video

The Department of Media Study, University at Buffalo SUNY

Spring 2020 Instructor: Charlie Best (pronouns: he/him/his or they/them/theirs)

T/TH 9:00 am - 10:50 am

CFA 286 Office hours by appointment and Tuesdays 11am-12pm, starting 2/4/20

Instructor email: [email protected], UB email TBD blog: “DMS 103 SP2020” https://video103.tumblr.com/

THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. IT ALMOST CERTAINLY WILL CHANGE. DUE NOTICE WILL BE GIVEN OF THE CHANGES. Course Description: Basic Video is a beginning level class on the uses of digital video as a medium of artistic expression. The class will be a mixture of history, theory, technique and practice; with the emphasis on combining the former three into the all-important act of making. The class is intensive and hands-on; the apprehension of technical and aesthetic skills in shooting, sound, and editing, will be emphasized. Class assignments will introduce students to, or deepen their familiarity with, as many areas of the moving image genre as possible. Importance will be placed on using video as a means of expression, articulation, exploration and experimentation. This course will emphasize experimentation over imitation. Active and constructive participation in class discussion and activity is required. However, both listening

and speaking are involved in successful participation, and this requires sensitivity to the ideas and

methods of participation of others in the class. It is a goal of the class to be open minded and respectful

of others’ work. All ideas, thoughts and critiques are welcomed. Screenings and discussions of specific

screenings will enhance the class. In class exercises and workshops will occur frequently and focus on

elements being currently discussed in the course. There will be weekly moving image creation AND reading/writing/watching assignments, as well as longer term ones. Access to equipment and editing facilities will be available with the $125 lab fee for this course. Course Outcomes

Students will:

▪ have a basic knowledge of video camera operation, lighting equipment and techniques, audio recording, visual composition, and post production editing software.

▪ students will create original video artworks.

▪ critique and analyze one’s own work and classmates’ work using critical analysis and constructive comments.

▪ work individually and collaboratively to produce a finished work that meets assigned objective.

analyze and discuss video examples with effective use of vocabulary of film/ video production.

Required Supplies

-sketchbook or notebook and pen/pencil for notes, drawings, diagrams, etc. Bring it to class every day

1TB USB 3.0 portable Mac compatible hard drive. *NOTE: Although hard drive space is available for students in the editing lab, an external hard drive is highly recommended for this course. Class project files will be large in size. A flash drive is not large enough to properly save your project files. Students are responsible for their file management.

-All required course readings will be provided either electronically or on paper.

Recommended Supplies

-SD Card, minimum 32 GB

-You may find as the course continues that you wish to purchase/borrow various tools/supplies for your work. Expect this desire to come about! No assignment will be given that will require to make any outside purchases in order to successfully complete the assignment to your fullest potential.

Evaluation and Grading Attendance and Participation: 25% Weekly/Biweekly Moving Image Projects and Written Responses/Viewing Assignments: 20% Midterm Project : 25% Final Project and Portfolio Review: 30% Grading scale: 100-90 = A 89-80 = B 79-70 = C 69-60 = D

59 and below = F

Extra Credit: Extra credit is welcomed in multiple forms, and can be decided upon between the student and instructor on a case by case basis. Some suggested forms are: independent written analyses of media that has been posted to the class blog, attending and reviewing a local exhibition, camera/video studies done outside of an assignment. To be considered for extra credit, the student must schedule a brief office hour appointment with the instructor, to view and discuss the work. Each extra credit assignment adds 5 points to a previous assignment grade, of the student’s choice. Extra credit cannot be earned and then saved for a future assignment. Extra credit cannot make up for a missed assignment.

Assignment Descriptions Moving Image Projects (MIP): These projects, given weekly or biweekly, are meant to complement/practice a skill/concept covered in class. Consider them like digital sketches in a sketchbook. An informal, raw work that shows dedication or thorough study is just as valid as a completed, polished work. Take them seriously, but enjoy them as well. These are opportunities to make mistakes and learn more about your media making interests/dislikes. The criteria for each MIP will be given the day they are assigned. They will never be required to be more than 2 minutes. We will occasionally critique them as a class and in small groups. Personal feedback will be given from the instructor to the student regarding their MIP.

Written Responses/Viewing Assignments (WR/VA): These assignments, given weekly or biweekly, are meant to complement or further topics presented in class. The criteria for them will be given on the day they are assigned. All written responses will be a minimum of 300 words. College level writing proficiency is expected. Content and thought is graded more heavily than grammar. All written responses are to be turned in to the instructor via email or hard copy, by the start of class, the day they are due. We will occasionally share our writing, in part or full, with each other during in class discussions. The purpose of these assignments is to grow in our critical thinking and sharing of viewpoints, learning to ask questions and analyze media thoroughly. Honest reflection is valued over trying to be fancy for fancy’s sake. Personal feedback will be given from the instructor to the student regarding their WR/VA.

Midterm Project: The midterm project will be a student produced work of 2-3 minutes in length, considered fully complete at the time of presentation. The student will be able to select their final assignment from 3 available project categories, to be given. A proposal will be required and factored into the final grade. This work will demonstrate the student’s grasp of concepts learned in the first half of the course, as well as their conceptual/formal interests.

Final Project and Portfolio Review: The final project will be a student produced work of 5-10 minutes in length, considered fully complete at the time of presentation. A proposal will be required and factored into the final grade. The student will be able to select their final assignment from 5 available project categories, to be given. The student will also present a portfolio of 5 moving image works, not including the final project. These works will have been made over the duration of the course. After the initial due date, a previous assignment may be edited and re-presented as part of the final portfolio. This will not change the assignment’s initial grade, but is meant to encourage further editing on one’s portfolio throughout the semester. The portfolio and final project will demonstrate the student’s grasp on skills learned throughout the course, and the growth of their conceptual/formal viewpoint as a video maker. Class Blog I will be regularly updating a class blog. Here you will be able to find documents, links, criteria, news and more that I will post for you. Required reading or viewing for an assignment I will try my absolute most to both post to the blog, and distribute in person/via email, so that it is always in two locations. The purpose of this blog is to provide resources that can greatly aid your personal research and creative practice, provide an archive of the artists/topics/films/videos/websites/etc we look at, and provide inspiration for assignments. I highly encourage, if you do not already, to start your own creative practice of collecting/archiving media/resources that are meaningful to you. Class Schedule: Subject to Change Week 1: Intro to Intro T 1/28: Introductions, Syllabus Review, round table media discussion

Assigned - WR/VA #1, bios TH 1/30: Video and camera basics, screenings Due - WR/VA # 1

Assigned - Video Portraits MIP Week 2: Cameras and Adobe Premiere T 2/4: Assigned - WR/VA #2 TH 2/6: Due- Video Portraits MIP Assigned - Element Studies MIP

Week 3: Adobe Premiere, cont. T 2/11: Due - WR/VA #2 Due - Element Studies MIP TH 2/18: Assigned - WR/VA 3 Assigned - MIP 3 Week 4* T 2/25: Due - WR/VA 3 Due - MIP 3 Midterm Project Introduced Assigned - Midterm Project Proposal TH 2/27: Due - Midterm Project Proposal Week 5* T 3/3: TH 3/5: Week 6* T 3/10: Midterm Critiques, in class screening TH 3/12: Midterm Critiques, in class screening Week 7: Spring Break!!!!! :) Week 8* T 3/24: Assigned - WR/VA 4 TH 3/26: Assigned - MIP 4 Week 9* T 3/31 Due - WR/VA 4 TH 4/2: Final Project Introduced Due - MIP 4 Assigned - MIP 5 Week 10* T 4/7 Due - MIP 5 Assigned - WR/VA 5 Assigned - Final Project Proposal

TH 4/9 Due - Final Project Proposal Week 11* T 4/14 Due - WR/VA 5 TH 4/16 Assigned - MIP 6 Assigned - WR/VA 6 Week 12* T 4/21 Due - MIP 6 Due - WR/VA 6 TH 4/22

Assigned - WR/VA 7

Week 13* T 4/28 Due - WR/VA 7 TH 4/30 Week 14: T 5/5: Final Critiques** TH 5/7: Final Critiques** *Due to the interdisciplinary and experimental nature of this course, and the short notice of the course given to the instructor, the topics and specific tasks of each week will be determined 1-3 weeks in advance. All students will be timely informed of the week’s schedule and the specific nature of assignments. Possible skills learned may include: green screen, lighting, camera angle/shot workshop, sound editing. Possible topics/themes/genres covered may include: narrative and non narrative film making, documentaries, music videos, internet video/memes/social media, video games, performance, race and video/film, gender/sexuality and video/film, found footage, appropriation, general video history, film history, Surrealist film, non-Western filmmaking approaches, collaborations/social experiments, experimental media use. **Once I have more information regarding scheduling during final exams, I will have a more complete schedule regarding final critiques. I am hoping I can add one more week of work time for everyone, but that remains to be seen. Course Policies

Attendance and Participation

Students are allowed 3 unexcused absences (“no call, no show”) for the semester. After a 4th missed class, your final grade will be lowered by half a grade. With six absences, it will be difficult to pass the class. If you know you will be missing class, I appreciate an email sent ahead of time. Medical/personal emergencies are considered excused absences. Students are responsible for any work or content covered that they missed in an absence.

Assignment Policy

Students are expected to turn assignments in on the day they are due, at the beginning of class. This policy will be reconsidered only under extenuating circumstances. Turning in something is always better than turning in nothing. Communicate with the instructor as soon as possible if completing an assignment on time is an issue. Students are free to use anything they make in this course on their portfolio. Content Warnings I will do my absolute best to inform students, prior to viewing, if the media we are going to watch/read, contains content one may find sensitive or potentially triggering. Please note that media of any content can cause intense reaction based upon the viewer and context it is presented in.

Class Conduct

Students must show the instructor and others proper respect by adhering to the following guidelines:

Students will be on time to class and stay until dismissed. If late, students will enter the

classroom quietly and unobtrusively. If you are over 15 minutes to the class or leave early

without informing the instructor, your attendance will be marked as absent for the day.

Students will refrain from engaging in off topic discussion or distracting behavior during class.

Students will show other students courtesy while they are speaking or presenting material. Respectful, supportive and constructive feedback is expected from all students when reviewing and critiquing their peers’ work in any form.

Students will adhere to professional standards of interaction at all times during class. Students are responsible for the material covered and the homework assigned on the day/s they were absent.

Students are responsible for checking their emails regularly for class announcements.

There will be extremely limited cell phone use in class, as it is distracting to the instructor as

well as your classmates. I ask that you turn off phones and only use computers for notes during

lecture-based classes. Use of these devices during unallocated class time will reflect negatively

on your participation grade. Use of laptops and tablet computers is not allowed during class time for any purpose other than taking notes during lectures, or for an instructor authorized in class workshop. Laptops must be closed during screenings and project presentations.

We will be screening several films and videos in class and discussing each film, so please be

awake, alert, and attentive. Closed-toe shoes are required for every class due to production workshops and handling heavy equipment that has the capacity to cause bodily harm.

Do not leave bottles of water, coffee cups or any waste behind in the classroom or editing studios. Use common sense when considering bringing food or drink to class.

Academic dishonesty and acts of plagiarism will result in serious consequences. If you have any question about the relationship of your work to the work of another, ask your instructor prior to handing in such assignments.

Contact the instructor if you are having trouble keeping up with the course. It’s better to reach out

than wait until it’s too late.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY https://academicintegrity.buffalo.edu/policies.php Department Policies:

• Students are entitled to a course syllabus with course content, meeting times, course requirements,

grading criteria, statements on academic integrity, disabilities, sexual harassment

• Criteria for grading of projects and papers should be made explicit before the work is due; formats for

examinations should be made explicit prior to their administration.

• All students must meet the academic requirements stated in the course syllabus. This includes papers,

projects, class participation, and laboratory assignments that count toward the final grade.

• Late work is accepted only at the discretion of the instructor.

• Students who fail to adhere to punctuality or miss classes will see their grade impacted accordingly.

• Incomplete grades can be requested but remain at the discretion of the instructor. If request is

approved, faculty member and student must complete and sign the “Departmental Request for Grade 4

of Incomplete” form http://mediastudy.buffalo.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2011/03/

RequestforIncompleteGrade-v1.pdf

• Students must adhere to DMS equipment access and usage rules as outlined in the Equipment Room

Policy - http://mediastudy.buffalo.edu/facilities/access-policy

• Weapons are not allowed on campus. If students are planning a production that involves using

anything which could be interpreted as a weapon they must obtain written permission from the

University Police or the equivalent authority beforehand.

• No student can be required to view or respond to materials they deem offensive. Substitute

materials will be made available, where possible.

• Collaboration is encouraged where appropriate and in accordance with the instructor’s consent.

However, plagiarism is never acceptable. Students must understand that they may under no

circumstances knowingly represent as their own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another

in any academic examination or term test, or in connection with any other form of academic work. If in

doubt, the student should err on the side of caution and consult the instructor for guidance.

• If a student has a disability (physical or learning) the student may contact the Office of Disability

Services http://www.student-affairs.buffalo.edu/ods during the first two weeks of class. ODS will

provide information on arrangements for reasonable accommodations.

• Sexual harassment of employees and students, as defined at

http://policy.business.buffalo.edu/Policy%20Library/Discrimination%20and%20Harassent.pdf

is contrary to university policy.

• Classes are to meet at the time and location listed in the schedule, unless changed with the consent of

the entire class, and approved by the Department Chair.

• Instructors are to be available for consultation during office hours and, at the discretion of the

instructor, by appointment.

• Instructors are required to justify a grade, if a student asks for this information. Instructors should

retain academic records for one year after the end of the course.

1 note · View note

wherespacepooh · 7 years

Text

Yuzuru Hanyu 2017-18 Media Day: Master Post

This post consists of excerpts from news outlets and TV wideshows as information from TCC media day came through from 8.09-10. Magazine reports & longer broadcast specials that come out later will have their own posts with links added in this post for organization––last updated 2017.8.29.

Feel free to repost with credit and link - gladi.

URL: https://wherespacepooh.tumblr.com/post/163950208929/yuzuru-hanyu-2017-18-media-day-master-post

Long Program: SEIMEI (8/09 7:50 Sponichi Annex)

Layouts & other notes (last updated 8/11 4:42 Japan Time)

Perfect SP (4Lo // 3A, 4T3T), all jumps landed. (8/09 10:29 Jiji) 📺: SP footage from 02:14 on 8/09 TBS N Sta (cr. to yuzu_pino@twi)

LP:

5 quads planned

SEIMEI was done in separate parts to music on Day 1. Landed opening 4Lo and 4S. For second half, landed 3 quads including the 4T combo cleanly. (8/09 10:29 Jiji)

“has not done musical arrangement” (8/10 Kahoku, see Q&A 4 below)

📺 TRIPLE FLIP shall not be ignored (cr. pon91491240@twi)

📺 All five quads in SEIMEI starting at 05:31 in the video from 8/10 News Every (cr. yuzu_pino@twi)

📺: 4T-lo-3S, some choreo (cr. spread_wing0217@twi, Tokudane)

📺: 4T3T, spins, etc (cr. anipooh1@twi, Tokudane)

📺: SEIMEI 3A-2T into SE, 3A (cr. yuzu_pino@twi, FUJI Mezamashi)

Misc

Brian Orser: Hanyu in best ever pre-season condition (8/09 Yomiuri)

approx 80 people (update: 95!) attended Media Day (8/09 9:00 Sankei)

David Wilson was sick from fever and did not attend (8/09 BBMook)

📺 Video message on ANA SNS [1] [2]

📺 4T3T(rippon) from NTV Sukkiri (cr. yuzu_pino@twi), 📺 different angle from 8/13 Fuji Heros’ (cr. anipooh1@twi)

📷 A great set of photos from Day 1 Seimei session by Taketazu Atsushi from Yomiuri Shinbun

📺 Day 2 footage (in red UA) from 8/13 Fuji Heros’

Translation of interviews, articles and news clips:

Emphasis mostly on word from Yuzuru and his team, plus other miscellaneous tidbits. Loosely reverse chronological order.

Shae-lynn Bourne Interview

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ARTICLE: Yuzuru Hanyu: I am at 20% right now (Number 934-5)

Despite still trolling with one single 3A, the brat (you’ll see) shows his tender side (you’ll also see) in his pursuit of figure skating mastery and ideals…This is quintessential Hanyu––calm, confident and thoughtful as he discusses the Olympics, his programs and the significance and meaning of skating itself.

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ARTICLE: The Secret of Prestigious Champion Maker (TCC) where Hanyu Yuzuru Trains (2017.08.18 Yomiuri)

In-depth look into the Cricket Club as a training environment and what the team, the grounds, the rivalry all mean to Hanyu. Plus, a quote from Shae-lynn implying, perhaps, some new choreography? *-* *-* *-*

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ARTICLE: Yuzuru Hanyu’s legendary masterpiece. Reason for challenging SEIMEI once again in Olympics (2017.08 Number Web)

An in-depth look into the thought process behind SEIMEI as an Olympic strategy and an unflinching take on the season’s challenge, focusing on the performance itself. Plus a more extended quote from Tracy Wilson \o/ - gladi

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ARTICLE: Hanyu. Evolution. Confidence without conceit (2017.08.18 Kahoku)

A really, really nice read with good detail and perspective. Quite poetically written. - gladi

“This time around, withSEIMEI, ‘[he] will bring out every detail with movements of his hands, his legs, his upper body, all the way down to the character’s background.’”

“In his bid toward a successive victory for the first time in 66 years [of Olympic history], there is no conceit. Only self-confidence.”

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ARTICLE: Brian Orser speaks about Olympic prospects (2017.08.18 Kahoku)

Hanyu is in great shape, team communication is stellar. Men’s figure skating, watch out! - gladi

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📺 Special: Fuji HERO’S (Day 2 footage, exclusive interview) Hanyu section

8/13 (cr. to yuzu_pino@twi), 03:49 - 07:43 Hanyu’s section

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ARTICLE: “Who will be the protagonist in Pyeongchang?” (Snippets from Hanyu section)

8/12 Nikkei (Print edition, apologies no link to source available)

- Coach Tracy Wilson: “Hungry. That’s a personal trait of Hanyu’s. When [skaters] get the gold medal, there’s a period of respite, but Yuzu only looks forward.”

- Coach Brian Orser and choreographer Shae-lynn Bourne on the change in Hanyu over the past three years: “He has grown up, and is more open now.”

- “Hanyu has his own strong views about skating and there are also cases when he disagrees with the coaches. “Should we say I have gotten used to the environment? When Brian said ‘do this, do that’, I would add only a little bit extra (t/n literally "plus alpha,” a Japanese English term that has its roots in baseball was used, eg. the “change” part in “1000 and change”) of my own thoughts on top of his—-that was [how it was] around Sochi Olympics. Now, we discuss, bringing both our opinions to the table. 1+1 now yields 3 and 4.“

- Regarding the music choices, Brian was initially hesitant: "Chopin was an immortal masterpiece, so Brian agreed. The music for the free program has such strong personality, in the world of the figure skating, it is not a ‘warhorse’. A program that is prominently Hanyu-esque, and ‘the fact of skating to two familiar programs’ would be tricky, according to Orser. After discussion and coming around to the choice, Orser now says this, 'this free program has been well evaluated by many, and the program itself means a lot to [Hanyu]’. On top of performing it, the performance must be on a level of a complete different dimension.”

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ARTICLE: Hanyu Yuzuru on his Olympic strategy. To choose “programs where he can be himself.” (Full trans linked)

Web Sportiva 2017/08/11

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📺 Special: NTV Sukkiri (Seimei Shrine special, 4T3T rippon, comments from Aya Kawai, FS commentator + Nagano ID representative)

8/10 8:00 (cr. yuzu_pino@twi)

04:21 -

4T3T rippon \o/ (yuzu_pino@twi also clipped it out here)

04:29 -

Hanyu visited Seimei Shrine on 6/04 and left an ema: “May I bring performances as I’d envisioned, and, may happiness come to everyone, through my performances. 2017.6.4. Hanyu Yuzuru” (04:29 in video)

04:30 -

The production team visited Seimei Shrine on 8/09. According to Chief Priest Yamaguchi, Hanyu visited to give thanks as he had used Abe no Seimei as theme in his performances the season before the last, to express gratitude that he was able to do it. Thinking back, Yamaguchi thought he might already have held the thoughts of using the music of Seimei in his chest, and had come before the altar to report these thoughts to the gods. (04:30)

05:53 -

When Hanyu visited two years ago in July, he had gone to see the portrait of Abe no Seimei (usually made open to the public once a year in September). Yamaguchi recounted that for around ten minutes, Hanyu was silently looking at the portrait, in seiza (kneeling with tops of feet flat on floor and sitting on the soles) with his back very straight, tauter than the usual. Seemed to have many thoughts. Yamaguchi thought perhaps Hanyu had at that point been practicing with the image of “Hanyu” and wondered if, seeing the portrait, that image had become something new. (05:53)

07:21 -

Many fans came to wish for his health and a gold medal in Pyeongchang Olympics. The production team interviewed a (male) fan: “He is really amazing, isn’t he? I hadn’t watched much figure skating, but when I saw his performance, I began to find figure skating interesting. So I hope he’ll be in perfect condition in face of the Pyeongchang Olympics.”

10:32 -

Aya Kawai (Nagano Olympics Ice Dance representative, FS commentator): Because the sense of novelty is lost when music is reused, it makes it hard to impress the viewer. He got many 10s in his components two years ago, but there’s the possibility that 10s won’t come so easily. So in order to get 10s, he must put out an amazing performance, clearly superior to the last time.

11:07 - (Narrator/caption: About bringing 5 quads into the program this season)

Isn’t it exactly Hanyu’s figure skating that always evolves and goes beyond the current limits?

11:21 - (Narrator/caption: The evolution seen in the practice footage is…)

The opening Loop gives off such an increased sense of stability. It’s the newest quad to him and the most difficult. But for a second, I thought it was a triple––it looked that secure. It was such a good jump that, if I were a judge, I would want to give him all the GOEs.

12:10

Reporter at media day: What’s your goal at the Olympics?

Hanyu: First... first... I have to be chosen as Olympic representative...*laughs* I think *laughs more*

Reporter prompting: And beyond that?

Hanyu: Well. If I’m chosen as representative, the gold medal... of course I want to aim for it. *giggles* I [made the quote] difficult [for you] to use >”<

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ARTICLE: Perfect jumps at [8/08 EST] open practice, no mistakes, [programs with] competition-ready finish...as witnessed by assigned reporter

8/10 8:00 Sports Hochi

(Skip opening paragraph because you all know he is skating to SEIMEI)

The familiar sounds of taiko and flutes reverberating in the rink alone brought back the sense of exultation. It was that music, the one that twice-renewed the world’s highest score in successive competitions. Powerful jumps, graceful movement and supple limbs. I was immediately drawn into the world of Hanyu Yuzuru’s SEIMEI. “There are many people who think ‘I love this program’. In my opinion, certainly everyone wanted to see it again.” These are Coach Brian Orser’s words.

On the eve of the 15-16 season, Hanyu had asserted, “Amongst the current Japanese men, I alone can bring out a wa-themed program to such extent. [Senses of] delicacy and strength that are brought out because it’s me. Then, a program precisely as described was completed. “I would like to bring performances that don’t make people think ‘this again?’ in competition.” Hereafter, how would he proceed to weave the five quads into the fabric of the program? A new challenge has begun.

Although it has been the same way each year, Hanyu only holds open practice once a year. Since it is the last chance before the Pyeongchang Olympics, a press corps of around 80 people from Japan rushed over. Responding to questions from TV stations and news outlets combined for over thirty minutes, he spoke with a smile throughout. Cutting a different, more relaxed figure than in competition venues.

At the two open practices, each an hour long, he opened by landing a perfect 4T without warning, right at the start. The SP run-through was deftly clean. “The most important thing is to skate clean. If I can do that, results will come.” His first competition is Autumn Classic International (Opens 9/20 in Montreal).

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ARTICLE: (Hanyu Q&A4) Wants to defend title. Can exceed world’s highest scores. (repeated ones are skipped)

8/10 06:32 Kahoku

(Skipped opening paragraph)

–––– You will be repeating both SP and FP. (t/n additions bolded) "I have been warming up for the season. Have not done musical arrangement. People may think ‘this again?’ right now, but I [aim to] show performances that won’t make you think this way in competitions.” "With Olympics, there is no time to skate and get into a new piece of music. I want to be at a good place right from the starting line, and gain further mastery from there.”

–––– Isn’t it difficult to work with the possibilities of giving viewers a sense of deja vu? "Even with the same music, the content is completely different. It feels like I am doing something completely different. So I think everyone’s sense of discomfort will gradually fade away.”

–––– There are expectations of [you achieving the] world’s highest combined score? (t/n additions bolded) “I don’t feel much pressure. With this piece, I am confident that I will be okay. Skating to it feels pleasant. I think the world’s highest score can be exceeded.”

–––– You carry the burden of expectations from your hometown, Miyagi. “Toward the disaster areas of the Tohoku earthquake, I carry these thoughts of ‘let’s take on new challenges!’ and ‘let’s go hand in hand from now on!’ And that overlaps also with skating. Because I have experienced the earthquake, I was able to overcome even during tough times. I want to produce results that bring encouragement to everyone.”

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ARTICLE: Hanyu resurrects Onmyoji for Olympics! “[Will] of course [aim to] defend title” (Partial)

8/10 05:05 Sanspo Page 3

- There is a reason for such confidence. Off-season. Hanyu continues to be in face of skating [in his university courses]. Ergonomics, Medicine, Ethics––he reached out in all directions seeking hints for [further] evolution. Sometimes applying his own jumps into mathematical expressions, analyzing their “moments”––the turning effects of forces. “I aim to be a skater whom, any way they slice it, [people would have to say], ‘Hanyu is just so good.’” The ambition to aim for the top of the podium drives the 22-year-old.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ARTICLE: (Hanyu Q&A3) There was a lot on my mind at Sochi, but my direction is clear now.

8/10 05:32 Sports Hochi

(Skipped opening paragraph)

–––– Unlike in Sochi Olympics, you are in the position of being chased. “I don’t especially think I am in the position of being chased. Compared to Sochi, the competition for a medal is much fiercer. Everyone right now has their own attributes, and we encounter and clash as fellow [competitors], so it’s a lot of fun. My identity is as an all-rounder, with high quality in everything, and I would like to properly leverage my own weapons and fight.

–––– What is the difference in approach? “At Sochi it was a lot on my plate, but my own path [that I should take]––something like that––has become very clear now.

–––– What is the difference in approach? “Recently, I was looking at videos and articles of interviews before and after Sochi. ‘So that was what I was thinking back then’, ‘Oh, I was trying not to be bound by my past self” and so forth. These are all my own experience, so it’s quite advantageous after all.

–––– As for the 4Lz? (t/n: repeats Hanyu QA2 from Sanspo except for a little addition in bold) “I’m able to jump [4Lz] and practice is going fairly well, but I’m not considering it for now. [First] settling everything nicely with the current layout, attacking each [element] properly and completing it is what I want to do.”

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ARTICLE: (Hanyu Q&A2) Strategy of “exception” is “to dispense with unnecessary thoughts”

8/09 18:44 Sanspo

(Skipped opening paragraph)

Hanyu, who announced his programs for the Pyeongchang Olympic season, responded to questions from the press with a sunny expression.

–––– Both the SP and the FP are repeats from the past. Were there any doubts regarding your choices? “I may have been a little hesitant with the SP, but for the FP, I’ve thought to use it before last season started.”

–––– About bringing 4Lz into your program(s)... “I’m able to jump [4Lz] and practice is going fairly well, but I’m not considering it for now. I'll [first] settle everything nicely with the current layout.”

–––– Both SP and FP were programs with which you got the world’s highest scores. [Do you feel that] you must go beyond that? “I don’t feel too much pressure. [The programs] are extremely pleasant to skate to. Jumps, spins, steps––it is a program where I can skate like myself with all of these elements, and not have to think about unnecessary things.

–––– What is necessary in order to defend an Olympic victory? “The most important thing is to skate cleanly. If I am able to do that, the results will come. I want to power up.”

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📺 NEWS CLIPS (8/09 Evening Round)

8/09 17:49 FUJI Minna no News (cr. to yuzu_pino@twi)

- Reporter, “What is your forte?” Hanyu, “Everything.” at 2:37

8/09 18:48 TBS N Sta (cr. to yuzu_pino@twi) has Chopin footage from 2:14 onwards, SEIMEI before that, loud Brian laugh sandwiched in between.

8/09 18:12 EX J-Channel (cr. to yuzu_pino@twi)

- Hanyu: “Although I seemed to have debuted [being known for] jumps, originally my specialty was spins. When I was young, I trained with a great emphasis on skating. So, perhaps I can say with confidence that everything is my specialty. I want to be the kind of skater where people say "Hanyu is just so good" no matter what part [of my skills] they look at, even in isolation. In that sense, I take pride in that everything is my weapon.” (02:25)

8/09 16:59 NTV news every (cr. to yuzu_pino@twi)

- BO: “There will be some critiques about this decision. I know it’s the right decision. Because, again, that piece deserves to be at the Olympics.” (04:16)

- Hanyu speaks about the technical side to this program: [The current layout] is definitely several cuts above the layout at the time, so, well, if I properly deliver on the current layout with this program, 100% I should be able to exceed [that score] (slight laugh)––that’s what I really think. (04:33)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a transcript of the “mixed zone style” Q&A. Probably 70% of the content has been covered in the SEIMEI announcement section below, but this gives a better sense of what was asked and what was answered.

ARTICLE: (Hanyu Q&A1) Determination and Challenge toward Reenactment. “To achieve performances that don’t make you think ‘again?’” (QA translated in full)

8/09 12:27 Daily Sports Online

–––– Your programs?

“SP is Chopin’s Ballade No.1, the same as I have skated during the summer ice shows. As for FP, I was thinking let’s do SEIMEI once more. The [decision] process was that I had decided that I wanted to reuse this program in the Olympic season ever since I was able to achieve great performances with SEIMEI in the 2015-16 season. I decided almost without any hesitation. I might have been a little hesitant about the SP, but as for the FP, I had decided right from the start, before I even started last season. I feel like I have warmed up for this season.”

–––– What are the new challenges?

“Doing three quads in the second half, so it’s a total of five. Actually, although I popped a first-half jump into a single at World Team Trophy back in April, I had gotten a sense for putting 3 quads into the second half, and I also gained confidence that you could only get after having succeeded in competition. I consulted with Brian, but for me, I felt like I could put 3 into the second half without any hesitation.”

–––– Apart from jumps, what were other things you had brushed up?

“What do I want to show? How do I want to perform this piece? How do I feel?––I’ve come to dig deeper [in these questions]. Ballade No 1 is for the third time, so after listening [to the music] countless of times, I’m in the stage of training where I’m dealing with how I want to express this piece, how I want to do the jumps, and so forth. Maybe you still think ‘this again?’ at the moment, but I want to achieve performances such that you don’t think so when you see them at competition.”

–––– August 9th (local time is 8th) will be six months before the Pyeongchang Olympics. What are your thoughts on the Olympics?

“Of course I have the desire to defend my title. When I utter words such as “defend title,” I think that there are some sort of bindings from the past, from having won the Sochi Olympics. But, my own sense is that exactly because there was the past, that I have come to practice this way right now. I was thinking I’d like to have it all work together right from the first half of the season, and so that’s how I trained.

The important thing now is to first be chosen as representative in a condition where I am healthy, without injury, and capable of bringing out my true abilities with the best effort possible. If I am chosen, I would like to do my best, and aim for gold.”

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ARTICLE: Hanyu’s Specialty 3A will be a “contingency plan just in case” (Full apart from opening para)

8/09 13:20 Daily Sports Online

(Skipping introduction paragraph)

Although it was the same music, the content was different. When he got the highest ever (at the time) free program score of 219.48 at the 2015 GPF, he did 4S and two 4T, for a total of 2 types and 3 times. But this time, he is planning to do 3 types and 5 quads in total, including 3 in the second half where the Base Value is multiplied by 1.1.

“What I currently have in mind is to jump the 4Lo and the 4S in the very beginning, followed by the 3F in the first half. Spins and steps. The first jump in the second half will be 4S3T combo. After that, 4T1Lo3S combination, and then 4T from a little steps. At the end of the second half, I’ll enter and exit a 3A combination with spread eagle, and in the very end, it’s okay if I do 3A for recovery, or 3Lz normally,” Hanyu explained as if reciting an incantation.

The big change from last season would be to reduce the number of 3A down to one, and increase the number of 4T up to two. Hanyu’s 3A has even been said to be the world’s most beautiful, and is a strong weapon that Hanyu himself has said he has deep sentiments towards.

Probably, the reason he decided to take it out nevertheless is that, as a contingency plan, there is nothing as reassuring as the 3A. For figure skating, there is a rule that the same type of jump may only be repeated once, and only two types of jumps may be repeated [in one program]. When skaters fail, they have to consider things like type of jump and number of rotations, making corrections while performing. Because Hanyu’s 3A garners many GOE points, even if he messes a quad up, he can make up and “recover” with this “quad-equivalent” jump.

Providing is preventing. Behind the challenge is risk management––assumption of various situations at each phase of training.

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ARTICLE: Hanyu on Full Gear toward Pyeongchang. Perfect SP (Partial)

8/09 10:09 Daily Sports Online (missed this little one, about the SP)

- “It’s a level of completion unthinkable at pre-season. At the runthrough of the SP “Ballade No 1″, after he landed the opening 4Lo, he also successfully landed in the second half the 3A, followed by the 4T combo. Although certainly he is familiar with the program, having had it for two seasons, the jump layout at the time was 4S, 4T3T, with a 3A in the second half. Even as he raised the difficulty by a lot, Hanyu landed all the jumps in the program and showed us a perfect performance. According to Hanyu, ‘I was thinking I’d like to have it all work together right from the first half of the season, and so that’s how I trained.’“

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📺 NEWS CLIP (SEIMEI announcement)

8/09 9:31 FUJI Tokudane (Interview already in articles below) - Clip of SEIMEI 4T-lo-3S, some choreo (cr. spread_wing0217@twi) - Clip of SEIMEI 4T3T, spins, etc (cr. anipooh1@twi)

8/09 7:58 FUJI Mezamashi - Video clip of SEIMEI 3A-2T into SE, 3A (cr. yuzu_pino@twi)

ARTICLES (SEIMEI announcement) (Partial)

8/09 10:29 Jiji (missed out a paragraph, bolded) - “[SEIMEI] practice was done in separate parts, to music. For quads, he landed the opening 4Lo and 4S, and landed three (including the 4T combo) cleanly in the second half as well. - “Together with the SP using Chopin’s Ballade No 1, a reenactment of two seasons ago when he got a combined 330.43 points. Hanyu stated, ‘How do I want to show, how do I want to express––I’ve come to dig deeper [than before]. I want to achieve performances that, when you see them in competition, don’t make you think, ‘again?’”

8/09 10:04 Sankei (some photos :D but no extra content) 8/09 10:15 NHK (another photo but no extra content) 8/09 7: 55 Asahi Shinbun (Interesting last paragraph added. Bolded) - “Riding upon the melody of Japanese flutes and taiko, Hanyu began to skate. He showed a born-again onmyoji as he easily landed 4T three-jump combo, 4S two-jump combo and more.” - “The reason to Hanyu’s choice is that ‘it is a program that is very much like himself no matter in the way of breathing, or jumps, or steps.’ And, when asked what his forte is, declared decisively, ‘Everything.’”

8/09 7:50 Nikkan Sports, 9:15 Nikkan Sports (Similar. New bolded.) - To Hanyu, [SEIMEI] is a program that “allows him to be himself, and skate comfortably.” - “Regarding concerns over a familiar program, Brian Orser who coaches Hanyu disagrees. ‘Not only is it a program that wows no matter who sees it, the choreography has also been updated. But, there is a need to raise the level.’ Hanyu too, ‘without any extra prompting, still wants to skate to it again.’”

8/09 9:00 Sankei - Around 80 people came from Japan to report on Media Day - First quad [in the LP performed today]––a quad loop––was landed, and adjustments has been smooth as well. - Hanyu: “desires to repeat his [Olympic] victory.”

8/09 9:06 Daily Sports Online - “Although he uses the same piece [with SEIMEI], Hanyu’s ‘consistently practicing at a high level’. And as he says, he plans to bring 3 quads into the second half of the program, for a total of 5 quads in his layout.” - “[Hanyu] expresses his determination to “first be chosen [to represent Japan in Olympics] in a condition that is healthy, without injury, and capable of bringing out his true abilities with the best effort possible. If [he] is chosen, he would like to aim firmly at the gold medal.”

Mako Hara from Nikkei (nikkei_haramako@twi) - [Hanyu] said clearly, “The difficulty is different, I will show a different performance.”

8/09 Daily Sports Online - Hanyu, firm and clearly: “Since the time when I achieved good performances in 15-16 season, I’ve decided that I wanted to skate to it in Olympic season. I decided without any hesitation.”

8/09 7:50 Sponichi Annex - BO: “Both jumps and skills are going up. It’ll become a high level program” displays confidence at performance that exceeds two seasons ago.

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ARTICLE: Hanyu is fully prepared for five quads: With half a year left, [Brian Orser] speaks about strategy and the field (Full trans)

8/09 Yomiuri Morning Post (Chiba) (cr. takarahako@twi)

I’m going into my sixth season as Yuzuru’s coach. He is naturally talented technique-wise. He jumps 3A’s and quads perfectly, as if he were superman. But he is never satisfied [with the status quo]. In order to bring good skates, in order to live up to expectations surrounding him, he continues to aim high with all his might. In that sense, I feel that he is a special existence.

During the three years after the Sochi Olympics, although there were two seasons where he wasn’t World Champion, he has grown exponentially. Thirsty for victory, wanting to improve, he has pushed forward in training. Having regained the world title after three seasons, there is no doubt that he has regained confidence that his past efforts were in the right path. It’s the best condition to be in, facing the Olympic season.

For the men’s, the age of however many types of quads being attempted left and right have come. This development is probably going to continue this season as well. During the off season, we have done many runthroughs, and worked hard to increase his stamina. That is in order to do five quads––one more compared to last year––for the free program. But, it is not just about the number of quads, we also hope you’ll pay attention to the high quality of the skating and the jumps.

Sochi Olympics was a one-on-one battle between Patrick Chan and Yuzuru, but this time more faces have surfaced to compete for medals. Beginning with Javier Fernandez who he trains with, youngsters such as Nathan Chen, Shoma Uno, and Boyang Jin have come to the fore. I am looking forward to the existence of rivals leading to even further growth from Yuzuru.

I know he is looked upon to repeat his win at the Olympics. He wants to meet every expectation, and is devoting his full effort towards it. In terms of pre-season condition, it’s been the best ever. There is still half a year, and I am looking forward to see how far he’ll grow. (fin)

#yuzuru hanyu #hanyu yuzuru #羽生結弦 #figure skating #2017

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datamattsson · 4 years

Text

Mirroring your OpenZFS pools of Ubuntu 20.04 onto a set of new drives

I've blogged about my HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10+ in the past. As boot drive, I put in a SK Hynix Gold S31 SSD in one of the 3.5" slots using an adapter. The remaining three disk slots are used for my spinning media OpenZFS pool. Two problems presented themselves, one I could predict, the other a bit unexpectedly. The former problem is that I have my home directory on the spinning media OpenZFS pool, this, by today's standards, is quite dreadfully slow, given I serve my home directory over NFS in certain situation. It's like being back at the late nineties. I'm not a huge fan of keeping this data on a single drive either, as I had planned to move my home directory over to the SSD and just keep copies of the home directory on the spinning media pool. Unless, the unexpected problem, the SSD comes to a screeching halt at times, for no apparent reason. Sometimes it performs well and sometimes it's single digit throughput (MB/s). Unusable. I opened a support case with SK Hynix who got back to me with the very unexpected response that I should install Windows. Bye-bye, SK Hynix, you are the absolute worst.

So, here I am.

Problem solving mode

Since I don't have two 2.5" slots to spare for mirrored boot and home directory, I needed to get creative. External drives? USB? eSATA? SAS? Thanks to the extremely well done research by Serve The Home, I did not have to look far. Since the Gen10+ has a spare PCIe slog, it's possible to put two NVMe drives using a PCIe to M.2 adapter card. Said and done, I picked up the StarTech PEX8M2E2 adapter along with two 1TB WD Blue SN550 M.2 2280 NVMe drives.

Presto!

Edit: As snarled at on reddit, bifurcation is not needed with the StarTech card.

Surgery options

The next decision I had to make was if I had to reinstall the system on these drives. If so, would I install on a RAID1 or try cobble the disks together with OpenZFS pre- or post-install? (Ubuntu installer does not yet support any advanced OpenZFS pool schemes, AFAIK). Friends don't let friends to OpenZFS on RAID, so I would end up doing post-install surgery and I simply took the challenge of doing in-place replacement of the SSD onto a NVMe drive and make the OpenZFS pools mirrored (there's one boot pool and one system pool with the default Ubuntu install). My Google Fu completely failed me and I could only find obscenely written guides or vague evidence on how to do this and I decided to DIY since my situation was fairly unique. Going from single SSD to two NVMe drives in one swift stroke.

I hereby present the 100% unofficial guide on how to transfer a Ubuntu 20.04 installation from a single device to two devices, mirrored.

A few pointers.

Keep backups of your data

What works on my computer might not work on yours

What will happen in subsequent updates of Ubuntu if packages touches /boot/efi is unknown at this time

The copy & paste verbiage below is from a VM I practiced on

The practice VM could successfully boot from a single drive if there was a failure

Let's get to it.

Device and partition duplication

As mentioned above, these steps were performed on a VM, not an actual Gen10+. Device names, partition schemes, size and who knows what, WILL differ on your system. Use these steps as guidance, not a copy & and paste template.

Note: All commands below are executed as root.

First, get an idea of what your partition layout looks like on your system with lsblk.

lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT loop0 7:0 0 255.6M 1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/36 loop1 7:1 0 55.3M 1 loop /snap/core18/1885 loop2 7:2 0 49.8M 1 loop /snap/snap-store/467 loop3 7:3 0 62.1M 1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506 loop4 7:4 0 29.9M 1 loop /snap/snapd/8790 sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi ├─sda2 8:2 0 923M 0 part [SWAP] ├─sda3 8:3 0 998M 0 part └─sda4 8:4 0 17.6G 0 part sdb 8:16 0 20G 0 disk sdc 8:32 0 20G 0 disk sr0 11:0 1 2.6G 0 rom /media/mmattsson/Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64

The drive of interest here is sda. Dump the partition table to a file.

sfdisk -d /dev/sda > layout-sdb

Your layout-sdb file will initially look something like this.

label: gpt label-id: 0A00C51C-DF26-4237-90F2-28D80EB7542F device: /dev/sda unit: sectors first-lba: 34 last-lba: 41943006 /dev/sda1 : start= 2048, size= 1048576, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, uuid=427FBDD1-8CEF-4E2B-9BE1-837BBB3CC087, name="EFI System Partition" /dev/sda2 : start= 1050624, size= 1890304, type=0657FD6D-A4AB-43C4-84E5-0933C84B4F4F, uuid=165B2B55-3BC1-B345-B3EC-5285EBF368BA /dev/sda3 : start= 2940928, size= 2043904, type=6A82CB45-1DD2-11B2-99A6-080020736631, uuid=E43AE096-6764-1245-A9A7-FA091DE6FAEE /dev/sda4 : start= 4984832, size= 36958175, type=6A85CF4D-1DD2-11B2-99A6-080020736631, uuid=8850142A-8094-9B47-88EA-F1ECDB45C4AE

Edit the layout and have these steps in mind: - Change the label-id, I simply decreased the last hex value by one for each disk - Change the source device name to the destination device name - Remove the UUIDs (new ones will be generated)

The results should look like this:

label: gpt label-id: 0A00C51C-DF26-4237-90F2-28D80EB7542E device: /dev/sdb unit: sectors first-lba: 34 last-lba: 41943006 /dev/sdb1 : start= 2048, size= 1048576, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, name="EFI System Partition" /dev/sdb2 : start= 1050624, size= 1890304, type=0657FD6D-A4AB-43C4-84E5-0933C84B4F4F /dev/sdb3 : start= 2940928, size= 2043904, type=6A82CB45-1DD2-11B2-99A6-080020736631 /dev/sdb4 : start= 4984832, size= 36958175, type=6A85CF4D-1DD2-11B2-99A6-080020736631

Next, copy the edited layout to your next "disk".

cp layout-sdb layout-sdc

Change the values you just changed (decrease the label-id) to the new disk name. The result should look like this.

label: gpt label-id: 0A00C51C-DF26-4237-90F2-28D80EB7542D device: /dev/sdc unit: sectors first-lba: 34 last-lba: 41943006 /dev/sdc1 : start= 2048, size= 1048576, type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, name="EFI System Partition" /dev/sdc2 : start= 1050624, size= 1890304, type=0657FD6D-A4AB-43C4-84E5-0933C84B4F4F /dev/sdc3 : start= 2940928, size= 2043904, type=6A82CB45-1DD2-11B2-99A6-080020736631 /dev/sdc4 : start= 4984832, size= 36958175, type=6A85CF4D-1DD2-11B2-99A6-080020736631

Next, "apply" the new partition tables onto your new disks.

sfdisk /dev/sdb ../../sda3 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:36 8850142a-8094-9b47-88ea-f1ecdb45c4ae -> ../../sda4 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:36 165b2b55-3bc1-b345-b3ec-5285ebf368ba -> ../../sda2 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:36 427fbdd1-8cef-4e2b-9be1-837bbb3cc087 -> ../../sda1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:44 e3115c86-4bc9-b14a-ab62-90efdb67a5af -> ../../sdb3 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:44 edde5235-ceac-f54b-b9cd-279b46c0a996 -> ../../sdb4 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:45 a749fd64-615e-da4b-9ba4-86023a5d7542 -> ../../sdc3 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:45 581ed7e7-1d93-0c4b-b9ce-b690763b0b38 -> ../../sdc4 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:56 183e59f6-84af-124a-9904-07a824ece292 -> ../../sdb1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:56 f8c90bc4-0a48-094b-8967-46f8e65fde03 -> ../../sdc1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:56 693f6ba7-499f-d841-9631-2a3d089e602f -> ../../sdb2 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 16 12:56 3ab0018f-ba13-6f40-905a-af49456f6788 -> ../../sdc2

In the output above we can see that the UUID maps to sda3. The next set of UUIDs that matter is the ones that use sdb3 and sdc3, as these correspond to the partition UUIDs on our new drives.

When we got the UUIDs, attach the new devices to the current device (this will effectively mirror them).

zpool attach bpool e43ae096-6764-1245-a9a7-fa091de6faee e3115c86-4bc9-b14a-ab62-90efdb67a5af zpool attach bpool e43ae096-6764-1245-a9a7-fa091de6faee a749fd64-615e-da4b-9ba4-86023a5d7542

Checking the status of the pool, we should observe a three=way mirror.

zpool status bpool pool: bpool state: ONLINE scan: resilvered 92.3M in 0 days 00:00:01 with 0 errors on Sun Aug 16 13:05:13 2020 config: NAME STATE READ WRITE CKSUM bpool ONLINE 0 0 0 mirror-0 ONLINE 0 0 0 e43ae096-6764-1245-a9a7-fa091de6faee ONLINE 0 0 0 e3115c86-4bc9-b14a-ab62-90efdb67a5af ONLINE 0 0 0 a749fd64-615e-da4b-9ba4-86023a5d7542 ONLINE 0 0 0 errors: No known data errors

It's now safe to remove the old device from the pool.

zpool detach bpool e43ae096-6764-1245-a9a7-fa091de6faee

Now bpool is done. Repeat the exact same procedure for rpool. Once that is done, power off the system, remove the old disk, make sure the boot order is correct in the BIOS and boot into the new system. Grub will throw an exclamation upon boot saying that it's falling back to defaults, this seems to be what should be happening as the system will come up and behave just fine on subsequent boots.

Summary

Do not try this without understanding how to help yourself to back out of the situation and do not perform any of these procedures on devices where you care about the data (have backups if you do).

My Gen10+ ended up with bpool and rpool looking like this after first boot.

zpool status pool: bpool state: ONLINE scan: resilvered 937M in 0 days 00:00:01 with 0 errors on Sun Aug 16 13:39:05 2020 config: NAME STATE READ WRITE CKSUM bpool ONLINE 0 0 0 mirror-0 ONLINE 0 0 0 nvme0n1p3 ONLINE 0 0 0 nvme1n1p3 ONLINE 0 0 0 errors: No known data errors pool: rpool state: ONLINE scan: resilvered 24.3G in 0 days 00:00:41 with 0 errors on Sun Aug 16 13:41:43 2020 config: NAME STATE READ WRITE CKSUM rpool ONLINE 0 0 0 mirror-0 ONLINE 0 0 0 nvme0n1p4 ONLINE 0 0 0 nvme1n1p4 ONLINE 0 0 0 errors: No known data errors

I also snapped a picture of the snug fit with the StarTech NVMe card in the Gen10+

Until next time, happy tinkering!

#OpenZFS #Ubuntu #Gen10Plus #NVMe #StarTech #WesternDigital #ZFS #Linux

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frankwallace · 5 years

Text

Gratus Sum | thanks to the musicians

I have much to be thankful for, as I have said many times in these blogs. And so today, in the spirit of my nearly completed 4th Guitar Sonata, Gratus Sum – I am Grateful – I give thanks to all the musicians who have done so much to inspire and support me. Gratus Sum is dedicated to long time friend William Kanengiser and gives special thanks to the the seven musicians listed below who will present two concerts in my honor next week.

Frank Wallace Tribute Concerts in Boston and Hartford

Friday, October 25 pre-concert talk 7:30, concert 8:00 First Lutheran Church, 299 Berklee St., Boston BCGS calendar listing

Saturday, October 26 8:00 Alfred C. Fuller Music Center, F Berkman Recital Hall at the Hartt School, 200 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford, CT 06117 Phone: (860) 768-4100 Hartt Calendar

It is with great delight and thanks that we announce our dear friend and colleague Bob Ward and the Boston Classical Guitar Society will present A Tribute to Frank Wallace this October 25th in Boston and again Oct. 26 in Hartford CT. The concert of my compositions will feature Bob with Alex Dunn playing Duo Sonata #1; Chris Ladd, guitar and Ása Guðjónsdóttir, violin, on Gryphon, Violin Sonata #1, Daniel Acsadi playing Débil del Alba, David William Ross on Cyrcles, Sonata #3 and Nick Cutroneo on Shadow of the Sun. See complete program below.

Video Tributes

Various artists have posted videos on Facebook and YouTube as well as some private messages of my works. All are special, but one stands out for my deep and long connection to a great artist, one of America’s best. William Kanengiser and I met in the summer of 1974 while I was teaching at the Appel Farm Arts Camp and he was a summer camper playing electric hot licks from Mahavishnu Orchestra and studying Villa-Lobos on classical. Bill pays tribute to my music and our friendship with a visit to GSI. Read the complete tribute and see all three videos at the GSI blog. Here’s one of the videos:

youtube

Thanks to other musicians

Juan Carlos Laguna has been performing Caracara in his concerts of contemporary music

Watch Dieter Hennings-Yeomans play Rain in VT

Randall Avers posted a beautiful rendition of A Distant Wind on Facebook

Bob Ward initiated the Tribute concert idea and made it happen and Chris Ladd organized the Hartt School concert

Chris Ladd went to the Faroe Islands to debut Gryphon when I was incapacitated in the summer of 2018

John Holmquist has shared a beautiful poem and several lovely folk songs – he has an incredible voice if you don’t know!

David William Ross commissioned and recorded Cyrcles, Sonata #3, which was just released on Parma Records.

Nick Cutroneo did an independent fund-raiser for me by going 12 hours on Twitch.

Cyro Delvizio sent a video of he and his wife performing Mi Jardín de Calla recently

An old friend bought every single guitar solo I have written from gyremusic.com — I now know how much my music is worth – $293!

Another friend bought all my cello music to send to a fabulous cellist in Caracas who is also suffering from a very rare cancer

Composers

William Beauvais wrote a piece for me last November – Prayer for Frank

Gilbert Isbin – recently completed Kept Promise for solo lute, dedicated to me

Concert program for Tribute to Frank

All works composed by Frank Wallace

A Distant Wind Performed by Christopher Ladd

Tjaldur

Drunnhviti

Débil del Alba Performed by Daniel Acsadi

Tjaldur

Drunnhviti

Cyrcles, Sonata 3 (selections from ) Performed by David William Ross

Solstice

The light

Darkness falling

Solstice II

The great sleep- Ko’s way

First truth

Anoushka (from Film Scores) Performed by Robert Ward

Duo Sonata 1 Performed by Robert Ward and Alexander Dunn

Vivace

Adagio

Finale

Gryphon for Violin and Guitar Performed by Christopher Ladd and Asa Guojonsdottir

Lions’ tale

Eagles talon

Feather and claw

Shadow of the Sun (from Suite Hartt) Performed by Nick Cutroneo

New England Sextets Performed by all

A Distant Wind CD

now available for purchase at Gyre Music.

A Distant Wind music inspired by faraway times and places CD by Frank Wallace guitar and composer music by Wallace, Britten and Sagreras; guitar by Aaron Green, 2018

The title track

https://gyremusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/06-A-Distant-W-t2-EDIT2-v1636-320.mp3

Puerh

portrait by Daniela Spector

A distant wind blows from the sun. It blows from China and the Faroes, It blows from Chichén Itzá and Paris, Machaut and Britten Basel, Boston and Brittany.

My cup is filled, sun, soil, soaked leaves flow in my veins. Ancient wisdom bathes cells in silence. A distant wind flows through.

–Frank A. Wallace, Antrim NH, 9-7-19

Gratus Sum | thanks to the musicians was originally published on FRANK WALLACE

#A Distant Wind CD #classical #Composition #Event #guitar #New Music #Performance #Recording #Solo Guitar #Tribute #William Kanengiser

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auratusuniverse · 7 years

Text

Auratus Universe/FourFaces Fanfic Master Post - UPDATED 5/13/17

@jazzmosis12 suggested that I do this and I have to agree, it is a pretty good idea because I lose track sometimes xD

I’ll try and update this more often than I tend to do with my sidebar thingy.

Total Fic Count: 64

Angst: 30

Fluff: 34

The Angsty Fics - Multi Chapter

Where Do We Go From Here (Incomplete) Future fic that is very canon divergent.

Clouds (the original Angst Meter for my fics) Steven tries to deal with loss.

Silver Lining (the AU sequel to Clouds - Incomplete) Peridot can’t deal with loss and tries to fix things

Incredible - Also on Tumblr (Incomplete) Canon Divergent after Winter Forecast. Connie is killed in an accident. Rose’s Room tries to fix things.

Bubbled - Also on Tumblr (Broke the Clouds Scale for some folks) An alternate ending to Bubbled

No Need To Worry (Incomplete) Steven tries to rescue Connie from Homeworld. Canon Divergent as of “I Am My Mom”

More under the cut

The Angsty Ficlets

Burden - Connverse, PeriTV, Steven and Peridot friendship. (Tumblr)

Last One - Connie doesn’t listen when Steven tells her to evacuate. Connverse and Lapidot (Tumblr)

If You Die, I’m Gonna Kill You - Pearlidotmethyst. Part of the “Where Do We Go From Here” storyline. (Tumblr)

You Need to Wake Up Because I Can’t Do This Without You -Connverse.(Tumblr)

You’re the Only One I Trust To Do This - Mild Connverse (Tumblr)

Shawn - Some Maheswaran Family angst!.(Tumblr)

Yell, Scream, Say Something! - Connverse with bonus Peridot. (Tumblr)

Things You Said After It Was Over - The rare Rupphire Angst (this hurts me too much to write, honestly). Set during the Where Do We Go From Here Storyline.( (Tumblr)

Anniversaries - 100 Words of pain. Set in the Clouds Timeline (Tumblr)

Pink - Some more Steven and Rose angst. Connverse. (Tumblr)

Journal - Another Clouds Timeline one. (Tumblr)

Waiting - Connverse plus some hinted at Steven/Gem and Steven/Human pairings. Set about 100 years after canon. (Tumblr)

Timelines - (Tumblr)

Pining - Connverse, Lapidot, and one sided Lapiven because Steven is worried about losing Connie eventually. (Tumblr)

This Song Is Over - An extremely soul crushing songfic to a song of the same title by The Who. Steven wakes up after a battle and has to piece together what happens. (Tumblr)

Won’t Get Fooled Again - Followup to the above fic. Steven gets revenge. (Tumblr)

Timing - A fic done for Jazzmosis12. . (Tumblr)

Five times Steven said I Love You and the one time he didn’t - An angsty 5 +1. (Tumblr)

The New Crystal Gems - A thankfully non-canon drabble. (Tumblr)

I Will Wait For You - Connverse Angst set after “That Will Be All” (Tumblr)

Him - Connie falls in love with someone else. Steven just wants her to be happy. (Tumblr)

Pepper - A songfic to “It’s Not Unusual”. Best read after reading Salt (in the Fluffy fics) seven times. Connie dates someone else and Steven doesn’t handle it well (Tumblr)

Prompt 13 - A Connverse prompt (Tumblr)

Prompt 49 - An Amedot prompt (Tumblr)

The Fluffy Fics

Spin - Steven, Connie, and Amethyst have a sleepover. (Tumblr)

Salt - A Songfic to What’s New Pussy Cat - Best if read seven times before reading Pepper. (Tumblr)

Up All Night - Part of 12 Days of Connverse. Connie watches Steven’s favorite show. (Tumblr)

Prom - Part of 12 Days of Connverse (Tumblr)

The Test - Part of 12 Days of Connverse. Older Connverse. Connie takes an important test that will decide her future with Steven. (Tumblr)

First Kiss - Part of 12 Days of Connverse. Steven gets a little jealous (Tumblr)

Middle Name - Part of 12 Days of Connverse. Steven and Connie have their first child - and Steven almost misses it. Amethyst saves the day. (Tumblr)

3:00 AM - Part of 12 Days of Connverse. Steven and Connie talk at 3 AM (Tumblr)

A visit from Steven Universe - Part of 12 Days of Connverse. Steven and Connie cheer up Onion. (Tumblr)

The Baby Sitter - Set when Steven is three. What happened to Steven’s babysitter. (Tumblr)

Future Vision Prompt - Connie asks Garnet what the future holds (Tumblr)

Piecing it Together - Older Connverse. Connie and Steven don’t remember last night. (Tumblr)

Fifteen Candles - Connverse. Steven’s Fifteenth Birthday (Tumblr)

Till You’re Here Beside Me - A fluffy companion to “I WIll Wait For You” (Tumblr)

Under the Knife and Chill - Tooth Rotting fluff written on Valentine’s Day. Some Season 4 spoilers. (Tumblr)

Boardwalk Parade - I’m actually proud of this one. Steven wants Connie to meet him before the Boardwalk Parade a couple years into their friendship. (Tumblr)

Winter Forecast Part Deux - Steven and Connie spend a winter together. Set in the “Where Do We Go From Here” Timeline. (Tumblr)

Never - A fluffy ficlet written on April 1st. (Tumblr)

Princess - A Pre-series, Connverse drabble (Tumblr)

Blue Red and Grey - A Connverse songfic, following the progression of Steven and Connie’s relationship. (Tumblr)

Made of Love - Connie is a little addicted to fusion (Tumblr)

Peridot’s Headcanon - A future fic, Connie finds Steven in Rose’s Room. Bonus Peridot. (Tumblr)

Picture - Pearlidotmethyst fluff (one of my favorites to write) (Tumblr)

Six - Peridot meets Onion (Tumblr)

Pearl Loves Pi - A Pi Day drabble (Tumblr)

Friends - Part of the “Where Do We Go From Here” Storyline, Peridot meets Connie and becomes a little obsessed. (Tumblr)

Prompt 17 - Steven thinks he’s holding Connie back. (Tumblr)

Prompt 28 - Steven wants to propose to Connie. Peridot has just the ring. (Tumblr)

Prompt 34 - Steven and Connie have an impromptu sleepover (Tumblr)

Prompt 22 - Connie notices the little things Steven does - Posted to the wrong blog initially. (Tumblr)

Prompt 45 - Amedot and Connverse fluff. Peridot has a secret. (Tumblr)

Prompt 41 - Steven plans for his “friendship anniversary” with Connie - with help from Peridot! (Tumblr)

Prompt 32 - Takes place during Steven’s Birthday. Steven reflects on what Connie told him. (Tumblr)

Prompt 13 - Steven goes to Connie’s senior prom (Tumblr)

#steven universe fan fic #fan fic #master post #I need to remember to update this damn thing

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mllemusketeer · 8 years

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How I Met Jazz

I just finished a fuckton of awful grading. Have the next installment of the self-insert ‘verse. One day, I may even start posting this on Ao3....

So the story of how I, nerd by day, supernerd by night, wound up with Autobot protection ought to be told. Or at least part of it. It was mostly due to The Paper That Made Everyone Hate Me.

First of all, due to a series of increasingly implausible incidents, I published a paper that pissed off Megatron, bewildered Optimus, and enraged Ratchet—and my advisor, and a bunch of people in my field. Long story short, the field of bioethics is not a placid lake. Tempest in a teapot is closer to it. Tempest in a teapot with laser guns, now.

Technically, due to confidentiality and all, when a paper is in-press, people don’t share it widely; the reviewers aren’t supposed to chat about what they’re reviewing. But the journal I submitted the thing to has a digital submission portal and doesn’t take paper submissions, and anything digital, Jazz tells me, is something that Soundwave can get into. Nevermind that whatever system sent the paper to the reviewers may have been less secure than might be hoped.

Which I really wish I’d known to start with. Because the result was, about three weeks before I was supposed to find out whether the thing had been accepted or not, Megatron found out about the paper. A paper in which I’d quoted him. For which I’d interviewed him (long story, blame Sam Whitwicky, because who else). And blew a gasket.

So toward the end of June, when everything is just beginning to get unbearably hot and tempers (human and Cybertronian) are starting to fray, it comes to Optimus Prime’s attention that one of the human graduate students loosely associated with NEST (I’d gotten a base pass, very restricted, written and had the protocols for my research approved—just interviews, all temporary, had started the research proper, but was a significantly less august personage than the interns responsible for getting Starbucks) was getting Decepticon death threats. He wasn’t pleased. Never mind that Ratchet apparently was Reviewer #2 (no, you’re not supposed to find these things out, but since when has Ratchet been observant of rules when it doesn’t suit him? The answer, according to Jazz, is never...) on the paper, and was as about as delighted as Megatron about said paper. He was all too happy to give Prime the rest of the details, which, again, you’re not supposed to do. But there aren’t really rules for how to apply this when someone is at risk of becoming paté, so he got away with it.

From my perspective, it looked like this:

6 am on my fucking birthday: Decepticon death threat regarding the paper. Cell phone, email to every email address I owned, tumblr message, facebook message, twitter, everything. At the same goddamn time. Somehow overrode all the silent modes on my devices. My room was a hellstorm of cheery binging, beeping and clicking for about three minutes. That was worse than the stated intention to turn me into paste, really.

6:10 am to 11: contact advisor about what to do about death threat, chew fingernails, get very useless email back, shrug, contact police and the NEST representative, go teach class because lab won’t wait for death threats, and I am quite literally more scared of my lab coordinator than Megatron. Megatron doesn’t write my paychecks. I am a grad student and have fucked-up priorities, okay?

11 am: Get contacted by Optimus fucking Prime about the fucking paper (spot where my morning went to shit/off the rails. Base pass does not equal even seeing Optimus Prime. I was too far down the food chain for that.)

11:10 am: Get picked up by a bunch of really buff guys in a humvee, one of whom starts explaining the situation to me as if I’m four, come on dudes, I’m a grad student not an idiot…okay, fine, actually those things are the same.

12:35 pm: Arrive at Autobot base

12:55 pm: Spend 20 minutes kicking my heels in what looks like an office 40 feet off the ground while people stare at me, have yet to (I think) see an Autobot. (I was wrong, actually; it wasn’t a humvee, it was a Topkick, and it was Ironhide, and that one guy was just pretending to drive, and Ironhide snickered about this for weeks, because that’s absolutely the level of Ironhide’s sense of humor.)

1:00 pm: Call from angry lab coordinator for not showing up to teach lab, try to explain, dude in a suit shows up and offers to take the phone. Since I am now enduring the full blast of an outraged lab coordinator, I comply. It suddenly is a very short phone call. She even apologizes.

1:01 pm: Meet Optimus fucking Prime.

1:30 pm: Have a really excellent talk with Optimus fucking Prime about my paper; he really can learn everything about anything very quickly. Like, in an hour.

2:00 pm: Finish substantially less excellent talk about the fact that me becoming paté is a serious risk, and what the hell did I do? Also, he is a little taken aback I’m not involved more with the Autobot/human research initiative; he thinks I should be much more involved, not just a visitor. It’s a very promising paper, he says, though unnerving.

2:01 pm: Pause.

2:02 pm: Ask Optimus fucking Prime if he could be the co-chair of my committee.

2:03 pm: HE SAID YES.

2:15 pm: SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK SHIT SHIT DID I DO THAT SHIT FUCK DAMMIT WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF I AM REALLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH SHIT FUCK DAMMIT SHIT SHIT SHIT HE’LL HATE MY WRITING SHIT

2:30 pm: FUCK FUCK FUCK GAAAAAH HOW DO I TELL MY ADVISOR

2:45 pm: FUCK FUCK SHIT BUGGER DAMN

2:50 pm: why do I do this to myself

3:00 pm: Okay he looks like he’s finishing up oh shit did he just ask a question what did he ask quick nod look like you understand

3:00 pm: Wait shit what does he mean, someone to keep an eye on me, am I getting a bodyguard dammit should not have zoned out in front of the new chair of my committee

3:10 pm: Met Jazz.

It didn’t go well.

The discussion between Optimus and Prowl about who it would be best to assign to keep an eye on me took place that morning; Jazz had been told about it about twenty minutes before he met me, and he was not pleased. He had things to be doing. Important, Megatron-irritating things. Babysitting was none of the above.

Besides, that last prank he’d pulled with Sunny and Sides hadn’t really been that bad.

He looked down at me. I looked up at him.

“I’ll leave you two to get acquainted,” said Optimus, and left.

Silence.

“Well,” said Jazz, “I suppose if Bumblebee can manage with Sam…”

I had not met Bumblebee and had no idea what Sam he was talking about at this point, so the sentence made no sense to me. I just stared at him.

“So,” he said, flopping on a pile of shipping containers arranged in a roughly Cybertronian sized chair shape, “what do you do for fun?”

Which was where things really went downhill.

For fun? I stay in and write. Or I go for a walk. Or I cook, or sew. I go camping. I go hiking. I do not, in fact, do basically anything that counts in Jazz’s book as fun. Except swing dancing. Erratically. And badly. But he perked up like nobody’s business when I mentioned it. Going exploring, yes, that was pretty okay, we’d be doing a lot of that if I wanted to come along on his (safer) patrols. Other than that? Nothing.

It’s quite an experience to watch 15ish feet of robot sort of deflate. To be fair, Jazz, though not pleased with the situation, was resolved to make the best of it. But I’d just told him that the best of it wasn’t going to be all that fun. And I was feeling guilty because look, I hadn’t meant to piss the giant destructive robot dictator off, it had just sort of happened. I mean, no one expects giant robot dictators to read the bioethical literature, that’s well outside the job description! I’d not only pissed Megatron off, but I’d chosen literally the most boring way to do it and now this nice big robot was looking at me like I tended to look at iceburg lettuce—with a sort of resigned determination to do what was polite (in my case, eat the flavorless, useless vegetable; in Jazz’s case, interact with someone who seemed to him to be the human equivalent). God. This was going to be horrible and boring for both of us.

We both turned out to be wrong about that, as it turns out. Eventually.

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angsarapblog · 4 years

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On our last restaurant review I mentioned it was our second time dining outside after the lockdown here in New Zealand was lifted, where we splurged on a staycation date with the Mrs. That last review was our teatime and this post was our dinner. Our place of choice is Culprit, a restaurant in Auckland CBD with an amazing concept.

Culprit as their site mentioned is inspired New Zealand local bounty, childhood & travels through the States & Europe. That is why on the menu you will see names of producers and they company they are with beside the dish on offer. Their dishes are dishes are about showcasing what they do, keeping it simple, fun, fresh and delicious. Entrees or appetizers are served on a yum cha style cart where 8 to 9 individually priced seasonal bites (not Asian dumplings) will be offered to your table for you to select. Each offering on yum cha will have a price tag indicated on the tray, so you do not need to ask for a price. Another interesting concept here is the heavy use of secondary cuts and unloved bits and pieces of meat hence you will see items such as chicken liver, bone marrow, flank steak, pig face and ugly carrots, but don’t let those choice of cuts put you off as these guys deliver it better than the good cuts you know of.

Booking is necessary because this place is always packed, so if you don’t want a long wait or disappointment, then its best to have your tables booked before your visit. Once sorted all you have to worry is what to grab on that cart.

As mentioned earlier, we came here for a dinner, it was 7:00 PM so it was prime time, the place was busy, but they have lots of attendants to help you to your table and order. Upon seating you would notice a paper on the table similar to yum cha where they tick the prices of the item you grabbed. Initially you will be served with a small amount of soup, to keep that appetite running, it was in the form of cauliflower puree with truffle (if my palate is correct, I did not get name when it was served to us. It was a good soup to start with, so full of umami, you will start salivating, triggering those taste buds to grab what is available on cart.

Like most yum cha style restaurants it can be disappointing, especially when other tables had finished what’s on offer, that is what happened to us, basically the cart goes to the farthest place from the kitchen, down to the nearest one. We were seated, two tables apart from the kitchen so we always see empty tray or trays that are unpopular. We waited for a while, around 30 minutes until I asked the waiter whether we can order separately rather than wait for the cart. He said it’s possible, so take this tip if you don’t want to wait for the cart. What is good, the ones on offer in the cart is written on the menu so you can pick and choose from there put it on order. We grabbed some Sesame & Spelt Sourdough / Tom & Josh – Daily Bread, Roast Bone Marrow (NZ$14.00) served with pickle gel, vogels, parsley salad / Kate & Craig – Pamu Farms and Parfait & Donuts served with chicken liver parfait, pinot noir syrup / Ben & George – Bostocks Organic.

Twenty minutes later, our orders have not arrived, and we noticed those who came later than us had their orders already, so we called another waiter by the name of Eden and told her the scenario. We waited for 50 minutes and the only thing we had was that free soup, she was very apologetic and told us to give her a few minutes and she will prioritise our orders. She looked at their system and it seems that it was not logged hence the orders did not come in. The first waiter might be really busy and forgot place that order. So Eden asked us what we ordered, so we told her the three items we initially mentioned. She left and in a matter of minutes, she was carrying our order. Again in an apologetic tone, she told us the starters will be on the house due to the inconvenience caused.

As we enjoy our starters, she constantly asks us how our order was, or if we are ready for our next one. We thought she was just doing it because of the scenario, but as we notice her, her service to other tables are the same, she really do care about their customer, kudos to her, she was one of the best waiters we had encountered.

Sesame & Spelt Sourdough was really nice, dough was dense and stretchy, it went perfectly good with that chicken liver parfait instead of the Roast Bone Marrow that it was paired with. The Donuts on the other hand went well with the Roast Bone Marrow, so we thought they should swap the accompaniments on each to have a better experience. Chicken liver parfait, was amazing, very buttery and well-seasoned. Roast Bone Marrow on the other hand lacked some seasoning but by adding some salt, it brought out its flavours.

Appetizer done, so we ordered our mains. We were planning to have Beef Bavette and the Pig Face, but Eden told us the servings are quite huge so it’s better to start with one and see from there. Again a nice suggestion from her, usually most waiters don’t care, just order what you want, and they will deliver it without suggestions. So we grabbed one and Pig Face / Freedom Farms, Southern Alps (NZ$35.00) it is. The name might sound unappealing but don’t worry it was not served in a pig’s head face form, probably it was the cheek part where it was cut in an edible looking slice.

Basically it’s a braised pork jowl served with persimmon, radicchio, black garlic, puffed crackling. It was really nice, it was fork tender, melt in your mouth experience, well-seasoned and balanced flavours. Persimmon was a nice sweet addition that complemented that bitter radicchio, this plate was spot on, add to that the crispy pork crackling on top, it was excellent all the way through.

Along with the pork we also had this Crinkle Cut Golden Kumara Fries somewhere in Pukekohe (NZ$10.00) which is hand cut, parsley fried and served with kiwi onion ranch. It has a nice crisp outside, which probably is from a tapioca flour, potato or sweet potato flour, it was not your average fries. It was like a mashed sweet potato in a crispy coating that is perfectly matched with a sweet and tangy ranch.

We enjoyed our dinner with some wine, the Mrs choice was Astrolabe Rose Marlborough NZ 2018 (NZ$14.00), a delicate rose gold hue with the scent of rhubarb and rosewater. It was mildly dry and a medium bodied wine with round with hints of stone fruits and quince. For me it was Seresin, Pinot Noir Marlborough NZ 2016 (NZ$16.00), it was earthy, herbal with hints of dark fruit, it was a really nice Pinot Noir, usually I am faithful with Central Otagos but this Marlborough changed my mind.

After dinner we were offered with some desserts, and we grabbed some “Lemon Meringue’ Trifle (NZ$9.00) served with Kiwifruit, lime curd, golden syrup cookie crumbs. This was a nice dessert at the same time a good palate cleanser, refreshing, sweet, tangy and cold.

Overall, we had a nice dinner, while it was not a good start, that combination for great food plus the amazing service of Eden, made the night really memorable. So if you happen to dine in here, look for Eden so you are guaranteed to have a great service.

Culprit. Address: Level 1/12 Wyndham Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010, New Zealand Phone: +649 377 5992 Website: culpritdiningroom.co.nz

Culprit (Auckland CBD, New Zealand) On our last restaurant review I mentioned it was our second time dining outside after the lockdown here in New Zealand was lifted, where we splurged on a staycation date with the Mrs.

#Restaurant #Review

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