#though i want to alter the 2003 designs slightly

[tblsomedoodles]

What's 2003's reaction to the rise fam,I image they'd have questions

Pretty much lol. 2003 knows they exist, and that they'd be different from them so it's not too shocking when they finally meet (though that isn't until post movie. Angelo was sent back to Rise alone.)

Don (2003) is absolutely fascinated by the fact that they're different species of turtles. He absolutely LOVES Donny(Rise)'s inventions and is constantly asking questions and making positive comments about it. (Donny loves the attention. Parent-aged adult giving him praise over his special interest? It's a dream come true.)

Raphie (2003) is completely at awe over Raph (Rise). He's 7+feet tall at only 17?! then he gets to know him and he's just this anxious older brother constantly having to take care of his little siblings, even going so far as acting as their leader even though it wasn't a good fit. Raphie is sooo close to adding Raph to his adopted kid list b/c that kid needs SOMEONE. (Meanwhile Raph is sitting there thinking he somehow annoyed Angelo's pops because the dude won't stop staring at him with a look that he can't read.)

Leo (2003) has no idea what to think of Leon (Rise.) Like this kid uses humor and dramatics to hide his thoughts and feelings, which is something Leo never even thought of doing. Sure Leo jokes sometimes himself, and he does have his own dramatic flair at times, but not really like that. It kind of makes him think, particularly about how he himself may have acted if he hadn't always been the leader. Would he have been like Leon? (Leon thinks Leo looks too serious so he's made it his goal in life to get him to laugh, not that Leo has noticed it yet lol)

Mikey (2003) just finds it hilarious that they can be so different from them, yet not at all. Like Raphie is just as much of a softie as Raph, just Raph doesn't hide it. Same with Leo and telling jokes/dramatics, or Don trying to keep his mad scientist side under control. he's also happy to just chill with Angelo again. He's missed his alternate self/nephew.

Basically they see a group of kids that have went through hell recently (and as former kids that went through similar hells,) they want to be there for them any way they can.

Thank you! : )

[fourteenacross]

So, if you don’t follow me on other social media, I had..........kind of a crazy weekend!

If you are unaware, @twentyghosts and I have been friends for twenty years this year. We met after I joined a mailing list she ran because a mutual friend told me it was full of other people who loved Rent. Online fandom was just finding its feet and most fannish stuff happened on bulletin boards, mailing lists, or people’s personal fansites. It was 1999 and we were fourteen and now it’s twenty years later and we’re still friends and we have literal decades of inside jokes and weird shit we’ve made up together (including a successful podcast), but it all started because of Rent.

So, when Renata got a chance to attend the dress rehearsal for Rent Live and asked me to go with her, it felt very narratively satisfying.

Rent was a HUGE part of my adolescence. I can’t overstate that fact. Between 1998ish and 2005, I saw the musical on Broadway (and a couple times on tour) dozens of times. I made many lasting friendships, people I’m still friends with today. I learned all sorts of skills, including HTML and CSS, but also things like how to socially interact with a “celebrity” in a way that’s not massively embarrassing, how to manage a group of people and delegate tasks, how to be an adult human person on your own in the world. I had a really bad break-up with Rent in the mid-aughts thanks to some friendship issues, but it’s been over ten years and I’ve moved on enough to appreciate what the show has given me. This show is a part of my DNA and always will be, for better or for worse.

(And yes, I’m aware that the show has issues and is “problematic,” as the kids like to say, but it’s also a product of its time and it wasn’t like there was a ton of stories about queer people in the mainstream media in the mid-nineties. We’ve come a long way, and that’s good, but it doesn’t negate the importance of the show Back In The Day.)

Anyway.

Renata and I went on this whirlwind three day trip to LA to attend the dress rehearsal. If you watched the show last night, you know that Brennin Hunt broke his ankle during the dress rehearsal and that the bulk of the final aired product was taken from that dress rehearsal. Life is weird!

We managed to squeeze in some touristy things and see a friend from that mailing list we met on twenty years ago, but the highlight of the weekend was, of course, Saturday night’s show. We had zero idea what to expect--Renata won the tickets in a contest and the contest people weren’t super forthcoming with the actual details of what was happening. The people from Fox were a little better, but we still showed up at the Fox Studio lot on Saturday largely unsure of what was going to happen.

We were given red wrist bands and led all the way to the side of the lot to stand on line with other red wristband holders. We ended up seated in the “back” of the stage, where “La Vie Boheme” and “I’ll Cover You” were staged, along with some other little bits of the show. We could sort of see other stuff happening on other parts of the stage, but there were monitors as well, that showed what the cameras were filming as it happened.

The dress rehearsal ran through exactly like a live taping would. An emcee told us what to expect and walked us through how the taping would occur. It started at 5pm on the dot and was expected to end at 8pm on the dot. They would run through the show and stop for commercial breaks, during which we could stretch and talk while they set up the next “act” of scenes. There was a countdown from each commercial break and the show started up again and ran straight through til the next. The emcee warned us that the footage would likely be used in commercials and behind the scenes footage and special features on the eventual DVD release, so if we were sitting next to someone we “shouldn’t be sitting next to,” that we should move. (Of course, it ended up being much more than that, but...that’s life!)

We had joked a lot during the run up to the show. We didn’t know anyone in the cast except for BVD, Vanessa Hudgens, and sort of Jordan Fisher. We didn’t know what to expect or if we’d even like it. We were still half-convinced the whole thing was an elaborate joke.

But, dang, what a night.

Straight up, I started crying when the song “Rent” started. It was just such a visceral moment--I always get amped up and emotional at that part anyway, but I just couldn’t believe where I was and what was happening and who I was with. It was profoundly emotional in a way I can’t quite describe. Like seeing an old friend after a decade apart, I guess.

Overall, I had a fantastic time. I loved the performance--it was super high energy and emotional. I loved most of the changes they made and the way they adapted the material for the medium. I loved how they made the Life Support group a bigger part of the narrative and how they wove “Seasons of Love” into it. The whole thing felt incredibly true to the spirit of the show. I saw people on Twitter complaining about changed costumes and slightly altered lyrics, which was confusing after a bunch of these live musicals where they added new parts and new songs and all that shit. Like, it’s 2019, a lot of kids watching WEREN’T EVEN BORN when Rent came out. I think it’s good that they added narrative context. Things might make sense to those of us who saw it fifty times in 2002, but less so for people who are so divorced from what the world was like when the show takes place.

Anyway, here are some more random thoughts I wanted to get down, including some stuff I said on Twitter:

Mark’s added narration really helped frame the story while simultaneously acting as another barrier that kept him apart from the rest of the group, which really worked for me.

It was super hard to divorce myself from Rent as a stage show when it came to certain aspects of the experience of watching it. For example, I didn’t start applauding after OSG even though it was a great performance because you don’t applaud after OSG! Mimi comes in too quickly and it slides right into “Light My Candle,” so I wasn’t even prepared to do it. Same with a couple other song breaks.

Also, the designated pee break, “I Should Tell You,” was unavailable as we were not allowed to leave the sound stage once filming started.

The audience was CRAZY for Jordan Fisher. Too crazy--there was a quick reshoot at the end because the screaming at the start of “Rent” was so loud it blew out the actors’ vocals. (more on that later)

There were a couple things that I missed, like “You have to get out of the house,” because sometimes when you accidentally create an entire mega ship you can’t ever shake how much you ship the characters, but I think that they did a good job of adding in enough of Mark’s caretaking in that scene that it would have been redundant.

Most of the line changes seemed to be about contextualizing the show for a 2019 audience or removing things that were inappropriate for television, but there were a couple small changes that didn’t seem rooted in either things, but were objectively MUCH BETTER LINES. “You wanna produce films and write songs? / You need somewhere to do it. / It’s what we used to dream about; / think twice before you pooh-pooh it” was switched to “You wanna produce films and write songs? / You need somewhere to perfect it. / It’s what we used to dream about; / think twice before you reject it” AND THAT IS JUST OBJECTIVELY A MUCH BETTER LYRIC. People were so mad at the change and like....chill, my friends! I have probably seen Rent more times than you, stop trying to seem superior by bashing what is an OBJECTIVELY BETTER LYRIC.

Maureen’s costume and props were AMAZING in OTM. Renata said something like, “I can’t believe that we ever thought Maureen WOULDN’T be super over the top for that number!” and she’s right--with all we know of Maureen, ridiculous props and costume felt right on target.

I liked how the use of cameras helped highlight some small details of the show people might have missed in the staged version. At the end of “Happy New Year B,” when Mimi is “comforted” by The Man, Mark lingers in the doorway to the building and witnesses the interaction. A bunch of people I follow on twitter hadn’t even noticed that when they saw it on stage, and I think it’s such an important moment.

Ditto with the staging of “Without You.” The guys behind us at the show were so confused that Roger was in the hospital bed because, despite having seen the staged show multiple times, the minimalist staging of that scene didn’t make it clear to them that Roger was sick for part of that song. (I, on the other hand, wrote at least three fics about it. It was my favorite stupid angsty thing to delve into for like, six months in 2003.)

I had never heard of Kiersey Clemons before this and she legit was one of my favorite parts. She’s amazing.

After ICY:R, which blew the doors off the place, predictably, BVD exited by our audience section and people started spontaneously sobbing and cheering again as he walked by. He was so fucking incredible.

Jordan Fisher’s real life tears during “Halloween” MURDERED ME.

Okay, so, like most dumb nerd kids who got into Rent in 1998, Mark was my favorite character. I loved him, I super over-related to him, I wrote a zillion words of fic about him, etc. And, honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from Jordan Fisher. But my god, if he wasn’t my favorite part of the show. He fucking nailed it. He was perfect. He was able to pull all of the things I love about Mark from all the different performances I’ve seen and completely encapsulate it in what he did. I walked in like, “eh, whatever” and walked out like, “I WOULD DIE FOR THIS ACTUAL TWELVE YEAR OLD CHILD WHO PLAYED MARK TONIGHT.” 

My favorite segment of the show is “Halloween” through “What You Own.” Predictably. And it was super on fire. Everyone totally nailed all of the emotional highs and lows of those songs. It was so intense and perfect.

HOWEVER.

The one thing they cut that I got legit mad about was the “For someone who’s always been let down...” Mark/Roger exchange. That exchange is important to me and important to that relationship (no matter how you read it) and I was so bummed that it was cut. Most of the changes/deletions didn’t bother me, but that one rankled.

(As my friend Jen reminded me on Twitter, they could have at least replaced it with the NYTW “Love you” exchange.)

“What You Own” was amazing, even though Renata was bummed they cut the “Compulsive Bowlers” line. (If you are unaware, the main Rent message board, which we were both a part of, Renata for much longer than me, was called “Compulsive Bowlers.”)

Okay, so it was after WYO, off stage, that Brennin Hunt hurt his foot. We had no idea anything was wrong at first; we stretched and sat at the end of the commercial break and there was no countdown. Nothing. A few people started running back and forth across the stage, including Jordan Fisher a couple times. No updates, no information. The lights came up. Still no updates. Finally, someone got on mic and explained that Brennin had hurt his foot and that he was determined to finish the show, so they needed a few minutes to reblock the last couple scenes. 

They also informed us at this point that the whole OBC was there (which we knew from social media) and that there was going to be surprise at the end.

I immediately guessed what the surprise was, and was slightly mad at myself for it, because I thought I would be less emotional knowing what was coming.

(Spoiler alert: I was not)

So they brought Brennin out, carried across the stage by two other people with his foot in an aircast. They set him up on the table, got all the lights and things set again, and finished out the show.

There was one terrible/hilarious/terrible moment, where they find out Mimi is sick, where Roger would normally run to the “window” in anguish. Instead, they just cut to Brennin screaming “NOOO!” while sitting perfectly still. We laughed. I feel bad about it, but...I couldn’t help it.

The end was great (another great line replacement: “Time to see what we have, time to see” became “Now we measure how that year has passed,” which is SO MUCH BETTER), etc

And after the finale, when I was already sobbing, they lower this “Rent - 1996 - 2019″ banner and when they raise it, THE OBC IS THERE.

Which, of course I knew the OBC was going to come out and sing SOL. Of course they were. But that did not stop me from losing my shit and full on sobbing.

I still can’t believe that part happened.

Some other highlights: Jordan Fisher and Vanessa Hudgens were so incredibly gracious to their fans. They had very limited free time between “acts” and commercials, but they made a point of giving out as many waves and high fives and smiles as they could in their limited time.

At one point, during a commercial break, Jordan Fisher walked by where Anthony Rapp was sitting in the audience and stopped to shake his hand and talk to him and I got very emotional watching that.

Brandon Victor Dixon is just............so wonderful??? At everything???

We had detailed instructions on when to hold up our candles during “Will I?” and they told us many times that we couldn’t take them with us, but Renata and I were annoyed that we were unable to steal posters and screenplays, as is our right as annoying Rentheads.

(If you know a person who went to Rent like it was their job as a teenager, they probably have at least one “poster” or “screenplay” or “stash” that was stolen from the set.)

They had a lot of nice nods to the classic costumes in places, especially on the ensemble.

I loved how diverse the ensemble was wrt age. That’s not something you get a lot of in the stage show (which makes sense given the cast limitations and needing understudies, etc) that really added to the show.

And, listen, you can take the shipper out of the fandom, etc, but dang, I remember why I accidentally started a fandom revolution by creating Mark/Roger. Mark is SO in love with Roger, my friends.

(Also, my rarepair, Mark/Benny, which I will forever love as well.)

Everyone was so talented and gracious and really seemed to be putting their all into what was happening. The energy was intense and amazing and electric.

They needed to do one quick reshoot at the end because, like I said, the cheering at the start of “Rent” blew out the sound of the first few lyrics. They reshot just starting from “The power blows...” and asked the people in the SRO pits to not ACTUALLY scream this time, but for everyone else to scream and cheer like we did the first time. Jordan Fisher ran through Mark’s first verse and then started in on Roger’s first verse before they cut it and thanked us all for our help, and I stg I’d watch that child’s one man show version of Rent. He was super into it 😂

And I’m gonna finish with this, cut directly from Twitter:

Look, I know this show has issues and is, as the kids like to say, problematic, but it literally brought me almost every good thing I currently have in my life. I met Becca through Rent fandom a hundred million years ago, and that's why I moved to Boston with my amazing Boston friends. I met Renata through Rent fandom and that's why I have a podcast. I met SO MANY PEOPLE who are still dear to me because of this show.

Some of my longest fandom relationships - @isjustprogress, Jen, Priscilla, and a ton more I'm probably entirely forgetting because I'm so emotional right now. If we start breaking off tangentially, I know @leiascully through Renata, and @coffeesuperhero through Mary. I know all of my Boston friends because of Becca. I know so many of you because of Renata and the podcast.

Rent was a thing that happened to me at the exact right time in my life, first online and then in person. I feel like a huge amount of my independence as an adult started to bloom when my parents would let me go into the city alone to meet up with Rent friends. This show is a part of who I am, for better or for worse, and getting to see that performance last night, with one of my best friends in what will be the twentieth year of our friendship was just...enormously powerful and special to me.

So that is............pretty much all of it! I might try and jot down more notes as things come to me, but I am very hungry and want to write a few more words of fic today, so I’m leaving it here for now. Thanks for reading this nonsense, if you did, heh 😅

[douglashonorscollege]

The Tesla Titan

research paper by David Wacker  ⌂

Part I: The Tesla Titan

“Tesla Titan, he’s a hero! Gonna bring emissions down to zero!” Now that may be a clear rip off of the classic Captain Planet theme song, but the Tesla Titan deserves the same recognition as the beloved pollution fighter. The Tesla Titan is not only stopping the crimes of fossil fuel overconsumption and outdated automobiles, but also making space travel less environmentally destructive. Reusable rockets have decreased cost and waste by a big margin. He has also promised that moving to Mars in the future is possible. Though he wouldn’t be able to do all of these amazing feats if it weren’t for his infinitely smart Artificial Intelligence by the name of OpenAI (needs a better nickname). It is said that Tony Stark himself went to the Tesla Titan for pointers on how to be a world-saving superhero. The Tesla Titan keeps giving more and more to our wonderful planet; he is a true hero and spectacle.  

His only flaw would be that he hasn't done a good job at keeping his identity hidden. Just about anyone with a WiFi connection knows the Tesla Titan’s real name which of course is Elon Musk. Musk is one of the richest people on the planet, and he has been doing his best to use it for good! The Tesla Titan’s Origin Story begins in the country of South Africa, where he began toying using computers at a young age. At the young age of twelve he sold a video game he had developed to a magazine company. It was a space-themed “shoot-em-up” called Blastar, and it made the future billionaire a cool 500 dollars. You can actually play it in your browser now with a little digging.

At the age of seventeen, while continuing to get more adept with computers, Musk decided to get a Canadian passport. His reasons were based around not wanting to support apartheid—a segregation order in South Africa—with military service as well as chasing better economic opportunities in North America. He first attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, but then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees. From there, Musk went to Stanford for graduate school, quitting after a mere two days. He thought that the future was with the internet, and he was correct; in a relatively short amount of time, Musk sold his first online company, Zip2, for 309 million dollars (Gregersen).  

Elon Musk, aka the Tesla Titan, has become a dominant figure in the tech industry over the past decade, and for good reason, too. He has brought about paradigm shifts in many different fields with relative ease. This is a result of his influence that he has gained over the years. He has the capability to alter public thinking quicker than it would otherwise change. A paradigm shift is comparable to a scientific revolution, something that generally requires a lot of marketing, money, and, usually, time. Throughout this essay I will compare his ability to sell products to the abilities of the Marvel character Tony Stark, aka, Ironman. Both have helped invent and create amazing pieces of technology. They also have much success selling these technologies, and the similarities go on and on.  

The Tesla Titan gets his name after the electric car company he co-founded and where he continues to hold the title of CEO. The car company was founded in 2003 with the idea of fun-to-drive electric vehicles in mind. They launched their first full electric vehicle in 2008, named the Tesla Roadster. The Model S was launched in 2012, becoming the best in its class in every category. The company has released many more vehicles over the years, and just last year, it announced the Cybertruck, which currently has over 650,000 orders. Tesla is also close to releasing a self-driving semi-truck, which promises a 500-mile range on a full charge. From Tesla’s beginning right up to today, “Elon leads all product design, engineering and global manufacturing of the company's  electric vehicles, battery products and solar energy products” (Tesla).  

Recently, Tesla became the highest valued car company in the world, reaching an estimated $208 billion value in July of 2020. It is now being valued at $387 billion by Yahoo Finance today, with the possibility of another jump in value after it was announced that Tesla is joining the S&P 500. In its seventeen-year lifetime, Tesla became the forefront of electric vehicles, and it has reached farther than any other car brand before it.  

Although Tony Stark never released his own brand of vehicles, he is known to be the owner of many expensive sports cars. He also created the Model 52 Iron Man Armor, which could fully transform into a flying car, equipped with two circular jets on the bottom to keep it off the ground. So there’s some comparisons to be made between these two men. In the movie, Spiderman: Homecoming, a Stark Cargo Plane is robbed. Where this might not be the best example of its abilities, it still has the capability to cloak itself and stay off radar. So they both have their experience in transporting goods.  

The Tesla Titan’s highest reaching feat is SpaceX, which he founded just a year before Tesla. SpaceX has also reached the forefront in its field of sending rockets to space and, now, landing them back on earth. Falcon 9 was the first ever successful landing of an orbital rocket booster back in 2015. Since then, there has been nowhere to go but up! Following the Falcon 9 was the Falcon Heavy in 2018 and then the revolutionary Super Heavy Starship System this year. The Starship System can carry a total of 220,000 pounds. It is designed to travel quickly to different cities around the globe. It doesn’t stop there, though; the System was also built with the idea of transporting supplies  and people to and from the Moon and Mars. It does all this at a fraction of the cost of SpaceX’s closest competitor, Boeing. SpaceX has even transported multiple astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) with its Dragon spacecraft (Gregersen). Just recently, four astronauts were successfully transported to the ISS in association with NASA (Wattles).  

A clear paradigm shift occurred when Falcon 9 became the first booster to land itself back on Earth. A mere thirteen years after its founding, the company managed to break a barrier no one had come near breaking before. The main thing that Tesla and SpaceX have in common is their fearless leader, The Tesla Titan. With the amount of success that Elon Musk has had over just the past two decades in these two fields, a connection has to be made with his influence. After so many successes, it would be hard for the world not to believe in his hero-like abilities being behind some of  today’s paradigm shifts.  

Connecting this to Tony Stark comes a little easier than comparing a single transforming car suit. Stark Industries has connections to the creation of the original Helicarrier that is used by the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. Tony proposed the original idea to S.H.I.E.L.D., and with the help of Dr. Reed Richards and the former Xman Forge, they were able to design and eventually build the aircraft. Not that readers are able to see much of it, but there has also been a mention of the Stark Industries Aerospace Division, which supposedly created the first spaceship capable of space travel. It was first brought up in Iron Man, Vol. 1, #60, back in 1973, but not much has been said about it since.  

Finally, the last evidence I will provide for The Tesla Titan’s ability to perform paradigm shifts in a single bound comes in the form of Open AI. He founded the company alongside Sam Altman and others with a beginning pledge of one billion dollars. Since its inception, the company has worked on many different AI-related projects, from a fully AI Dota 2 team that regularly beats the best of the best human teams, to slightly less impressive—when it comes to competitive gaming—but still impressive bipedal AI simulations that learned to sumo wrestle one another. Moreover, Open AI developed an AI-trained robot hand that can solve a Rubik’s Cube. Then there’s the music generating AI, Jukebox, that has its own Soundcloud. But maybe the most impressive use so far is GPT-3, a unique text-suggestion software that can gather data in split seconds and fill out a full Excel sheet with data after a simple topic search and a few button presses.

In 2018, Musk left the company’s board but still remains a donor. He left the company because of possible future contests between it and the AI that runs his Tesla vehicles’ self-driving. While he might not be with the company anymore, the amount the company accomplished while he was associated with it is still nothing to scoff at. This is another great example of how someone of his status and income can significantly increase the rate of technological progress.

These accomplishments provide the easiest area to find similarities between The Tesla Titan and Iron Man. Both have their hands in the super intelligent AI basket. Tony Stark, of course, has his AI-assistant Jarvis with him wherever he goes, whether it’s in a pair of super fancy Heads-Up Display Glasses, in his massive super smart home, or of course while he’s in his trademark Iron Man suits. Jarvis is used for instant information, hacking, and even controlling certain aspects of the various Iron Man armors.  

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jarvis ends up inhabiting a Vibranium-based body that eventually leads to him becoming Vision. The body was constructed under the instruction of another super AI, Ultron, who intended on using the body as his most powerful form yet. As some will know, Ultron turns out to be an evil Artificial Intelligence with the classic, “exterminate the human race” mindset. Thinking quickly, Stark puts Jarvis into the body so it cannot be inhabited by Ultron. Vision is “powered” by the Mind  Stone (one of the six world creating Infinity Stones) which gives Jarvis full sentience.

My claim earlier about Tony Stark going to Elon Musk for inspiration was not that far fetched. Robert Downey Jr. did in fact go to Musk for tips on how to play the super-rich, tech playboy that is Tony Stark. And this completely makes sense, as The Tesla Titan is very comparable to Marvel’s Iron Man. It is a good thing that The Tesla Titan is on the good side, as it would be quite dangerous if he suddenly turned evil. He would have all the money and equipment he could need to possibly take over the world…  

Part II: Neuralink The Nefarious  

Neuralink The Nefarious, comes from a different timeline than The Tesla Titan, a timeline where the man behind the mask chooses to use his influence for evil rather than good. Neuralink The Nefarious sees the world as being infected by the parasite that is the human race, and he plans to use whatever resources he has—and he has plenty of resources—to expel the Earth of its sickness. But he won’t stop there—why conquer one planet, when you can conquer two, plus a moon? He develops spaceships with the cover story of cheaper space travel and commercial use for everyone. Behind the scenes, though, he schemes in the shadows. Along with his plans for stealing worlds, he is developing his mode of extinction for the human race in the form of mind-altering brain implants, which he markets as a possible cure for previously incurable diseases. The idea of self enhancement can drive practically anyone to madness, and he feeds on that desire. The implants are said to also provide information to the user just by thinking. While he’s at it, he has also sold “Not Flamethrowers” to the general public, another tool in his master plan. Neuralink the Nefarious will stop at nothing to become the Earth’s one true owner.  

This section of the essay will go over how not only does Elon Musk have similarities to those of Superheros, but he is also very capable of becoming a super villain. I will also go over the idea that when paradigm shifts do happen so quickly because of his influence, Technological Disjunction is rarely part of the equation.  Technological Disjunction is what happens when society doesn’t fully agree with a new technology that is being developed. For example, the use of drones by the public—many people worried about personal privacy. This has led to many regulations, including the requirement that the operator have a license to fly their drone over another’s property. Without a lot of technological disjunction, products that maybe should not be put on the market become available. Throughout this portion of the essay, I will compare Musk’s projects to multiple villains spread across pop culture, comparing their views and evil plans with those of Neuralink the Nefarious.  

Once again, Neuralink the Nefarious gets his name after one of his evil companies. Elon Musk founded Neuralink in July 2016, with a goal of solving paralysis and improving the human being by tampering with neurons in the brain. The “link” will be implanted into the person’s head with very thin “neural threads” reading interactions between the neurons that are used for movement in the brain. Their plan is to begin by creating a wireless link between users’ brains and their mobile devices: “The Neuralink app would allow you to control your iOS device, keyboard and mouse directly  with the activity of your brain, just by thinking about it” (Neuralink). As Neuralink learns more from its different iterations, the ability to help those with paralysis and other disabilities comes next. Or so they say.  

I believe that Neuralink the Nefarious got this idea straight from the 2014 Action  Film Kingsman: The Secret Service. The film’s antagonist is Richmond Valentine, a rich tech mogul looking to provide the world with “Free Calls, Free Internet, For Everyone, Forever.” He does so by implanting a chip directly connected to the brain. Sound familiar? It is later revealed that Valentine had an ulterior motive with his fancy Wi-Fi chips; not only do the chips provide said services, but they can also be used to make everyone who has one go into a murderous rage. So he markets and sells the chips around the world, and most of the first world ends up with one within a matter of a few weeks. He then activates their murder function and anyone with a chip begins doing whatever they can to hurt and kill everyone around them. Then of course the protagonist saves the day, but that’s besides the point. The point is this: if Neuralink the Nefarious really is inspired by Valentine—or vice versa—who knows what else these “links” will do to us.

A few months after founding Neuralink, Musk founded the Boring Company whose primary goal is to devise and create new methods of transportation. They plan to market underground tubes made for getting places quicker. However, for this essay, I will be focusing on one of the Boring Company’s previous products: in 2018, The Boring Company sold “Not a Flamethrower” to anyone who had a 500 dollars to burn. The 20,000 units sold out, generating ten million dollars for the company. Selling items similar to a flamethrower to the public doesn’t sound safe, obviously, as there is always the distinct possibility of someone wielding one with evil intentions.

I was not able to find a villain that specifically sold flamethrowers to the public. However, there is Norman Osborn, a prominent figure in New York, who is the head of Oscorp, which is a leader in various technologies. Behind the scenes though, Norman is the Green Goblin, one of Spiderman’s oldest foes. After taking an intelligence- and strength-enhancing serum, Osborn ends up going insane, which spurs his liking of destruction. I wouldn’t put selling flamethrowers off the radar for Mr. Osborn, whatever it takes to drive the city to the ground. Neuralink the Nefarious was pretty unique with this one, selling flamethrowers to almost anybody is something not many super villains have thought of, perhaps making him more villainous than the most evil of super villains.

These two companies of his are prime examples of technological disjunction being forgotten. Through vigilant marketing, economic class, and a wide influence, Elon Musk and his reputation have survived, even thrived, where others would have found themselves in the proverbial doghouse. Of course there will always be articles about how what he is doing is wrong, but they haven’t been impactful enough to keep Musk from continuing his work. He has accomplished so much that it has become hard to stop his Neuralink the Nefarious side—if it exists.    

Conclusion

Whether we are in the Tesla-Titan or the Neuralink-the-Nefarious timeline, Elon Musk has made major strides in whatever line of work he steps into. His companies have accomplished more in under twenty years than many have accomplished in over 100. There are so many more examples from his life to support both sides of this  argument, but I ultimately align myself with the Tesla Titan, not only because he’s the good guy but because there is more evidence for Elon being “good” rather than “bad.” I appreciate his thoughts on renewable energy and his efforts to save the planet from climate change. While I was writing this, my dad sent me an article about the announcement of ZETA, a group of electric vehicle manufacturers, including Tesla, arguing for no more sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2030, moving our world  closer to the electric vehicle paradigm.  

To reiterate, Elon Musk is in a special place in the science world. He is highly intelligent and very well known, giving him the power to trigger paradigm shifts in pretty much every industry he touches, which so far has been for the positive. But if he continues to avoid Technological Disjunction, he could potentially turn toward evil, which could negatively impact all of humanity. It’s the job of the public to keep figures like Musk in check, to make sure they remain the Tesla Titans rather than become Nefarious Neuralinks.

Works Cited ~Brockman, Greg. “OpenAI API.” OpenAI , OpenAI, 28 Sept. 2020,  openai.com/blog/openai-api/. ~CB Insights. “8 Industries Being Disrupted By Elon Musk And His Companies.” CB Insights Research , CB Insights, 21 Sept. 2020, www.cbinsights.com/research/report/elon-musk-companies-disruption/ ~Chandler, Simon. “Elon Musk Is 'Distracting Us' From Real Tech Issues, AI Figures Warn.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 19 May 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2020/05/18/elon-musk-is-damaging-te ch-and-the-tech-industry/?sh=6206e5e19b8d. ~“Elon Musk.” Tesla, Inc , www.tesla.com/elon-musk. ~Evannex. “A Transportation Paradigm Shift Is Coming Thanks To Tesla's Elon Musk.” InsideEVs , InsideEVs, 22 Feb. 2020, insideevs.com/news/400142/tesla-elon-musk-transportation-paradigm-shift ~Fandome Contributors. “Iron Man Armor Model 52.” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Iron_Man_Armor_Model_52. ~Fandome Contributors. “Norman Osborn (Earth-616).” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Norman_Osborn_(Earth-616). ~Fandome Contributors. “S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/S.H.I.E.L.D._Helicarrier. ~Fandome Contributors. “Stark Industries Aerospace Division/Appearances.” Marvel Database , marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Stark_Industries_Aerospace_Division/Ap pearances.  ~Gibbs, Samuel. “Elon Musk Sells All 20,000 Boring Company 'Flamethrowers'.”  The Guardian , Guardian News and Media, 1 Feb. 2018, www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/01/elon-musk-sells-out-boring-c ompany-flamethrowers-fire.  ~Gregersen, Erik. “Elon Musk.” Encyclopædia Britannica , Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 27 Aug. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Elon-Musk.  ~Hern, Alex. “Elon Musk: the Real-Life Iron Man.” The Guardian , Guardian News  and Media, 9 Feb. 2018, www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/09/elon-musk-the-real-life-iron- man. ~Klebnikov, Sergei. “Tesla Is Now The World's Most Valuable Car Company With A $208 Billion Valuation.” Forbes , Forbes Magazine, 1 July 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/07/01/tesla-is-now-the-worlds- most-valuable-car-company-with-a-valuation-of-208-billion/?sh=6d99944f5334 ~Neuralink , neuralink.com/. ~“Not A Flamethrower.” The Boring Company,  www.boringcompany.com/not-a-flamethrower.  xxx Peterson, Andrea. Even Elon Musk Knows He's a Good Supervillain Candidate . 25  Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/04/17/even-elon-musk- knows-hes-a-good-supervillain-candidate/. ~“Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Valuation Measures & Financial Statistics.” Yahoo! Finance , Yahoo!, 18 Nov. 2020, finance.yahoo.com/quote/tsla/key-statistics/?guccounter=1. ~Vaughn, Matthew, et al. Kingsman: the Secret Service . 20th Century Fox, 2015. ~Wall, Mike. “Wow! SpaceX Lands Orbital Rocket Successfully in Historic First.” Space.com , Space, 22 Dec. 2015, www.space.com/31420-spacex-rocket-landing-success.html. ∎

More on David ~ Minerva’s Owl Homepage

[bog-o-bones]

Kaiju Forecast - 2018

The new year is quickly approaching us and kaiju fans certainly will have their plates full next year. Here’s a list of some of the major movies, events, merchandise and more to look forward to in the coming year!

Movies

Obviously the main tent-pole film of the year will be Legendary’s Pacific Rim: Uprising due out on March 23rd. The sequel to arguably the forefather of the New Kaiju Boom has seen plenty of ups and downs during it’s development, including a terrifying “indefinite hiatus” stamp placed upon the film in late 2015. Thankfully, the film has marched on through production and features the return of fan favorite characters from the first film as well as a new team of Jaeger pilots, led by Star Wars and Attack The Block’s John Boyega. Although a few trailers and promotional ads have been released, kaiju groupies can probably expect a surge in marketing around February.

Second banana (no pun intended) to Uprising is New Line’s Rampage loosely based on the popular city-crushing game franchise. Another film that’s spent time in Development Hell, Rampage stars perennial popcorn flick favorite Dwayne Johnson and will be unleashed April 20th to theaters everywhere.

One can’t forget about the King of the Monsters either. The second installment in the anime trilogy will make landfall in Japan on May 5th, titled Godzilla: The City Mechanized for the Final Battle (whew). Initial details remain scarce bar the inclusion of Mechagodzilla (who can be seen in the poster above). International fans may also get the chance to view the first installment in the series on Netflix, although no details for that are available either, aside from a continuously fluctuating date on the film’s Netflix Instant listing.

Tsuburaya’s latest entry in the Ultraman franchise will be seeing it’s traditional theatrical film in the form of Ultraman Geed: The Movie. Abroad fans of the show will most likely have to wait for a fansub service to translate the film in order to see it, but it may also be subject to a small theatrical screening like it’s predecessors Ultraman Ginga S: The Movie and Ultraman X: The Movie, although those were released to coincide with the Ultra series’ 50th anniversary. Never give up hope, though!

Of course, one can’t also forget about the ever-so-secretive Cloverfield franchise, which supposedly launches it’s third film in the semi-anthology series on February 2nd. Tentatively titled God Particle, the film has been pushed back three times from its initial October 2017 release date, leaving some to speculate if it is even going to come out at all. The Cloverfield franchise is noted for its heavy use of alternate-reality games for its marketing, but God Particle has seen effectively nothing so far, even when we’re less than three months away from release. Only time will tell, however.

Not necessarily a kaiju film, but it does feature the 8th Wonder of the World and may or may not feature Ultraman and the third incarnation of Mechagodzilla, Based on a thoroughly bland and tasteless early teen novel, Ready Player One is basically this generation’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit only for “geek culture” (hard gag) and...you know, bad. Kaiju fans will most likely want to wait for the YouTube compilation of all the references instead of wasting $9.00+ on a movie ticket to see some giant monster action.

Also supposedly on the docket is a film adaption of the above novel, Steve Alten’s Meg which features a surviving prehistoric Megalodon terrorizing some form of human society (you can tell I’ve read the book, can’t you?). Yet another film stuck in development hell, although the production for this film is at least two decades old. Supposedly principal photography has been completed on this film, but who the hell knows.

Television

While Tsuburaya is most definitely working on the next main installment of the Ultra series, a short series in the style of Ultraman Retsuden or Ultraman Zero: The Chronicle will be aired starting January 6th. Ultraman Orb: The Chronicle follows the history of the titular Ultra’s alter ego Gai Kurenai. Unlikely to be picked up by Crunchyroll like it’s original show, Ultra Fans will most likely want to stalk fansub sites to view this series.

Another of Tsuburaya’s toku heroes will see an animated revival next year with Studio Trigger’s Gridman anime based on a short shown at the Japan Animator Expo in 2015. Titled SSSS Gridman, named after the original show’s Americanization Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, the show will be released in the Autumn of 2018. Also related to Gridman, the original show is being broadcasted to nearly-impossible-to-document-channel Toku starting this December.

Aside from Ultraman and Gridman, I don’t know of any other kaiju-related television shows happening next year, so to not leave this section sparse, I should probably mention Kamen Rider Build, which while technically not kaiju based or a 2018 release, is tokusatsu-related and will be continuing into the new year. I know nothing aside from the basics of Kamen Rider, but according to the wiki it will be the last Rider show to be fully broadcasted during the Heisei era, as the next series will run into 2019 when Emperor Akihito will abdicate the throne to his son Prince Naruhito, thus beginning a new era of Japan.

Events

It would be heresy to discuss kaiju-related events and not bring up the quintessential annual kaiju con G-FEST! Next year’s convention looks to be an absolute banger and the entire guest list and schedule hasn’t even been announced yet! In attendance next year are Akira Takarada, best known for his role as Ogata in the original 1954 Godzilla film as well as his other roles throughout Toho’s library. Joining him will be Megumi Odaka, known as Miki Saegusa in the Heisei Godzilla series. This is her first G-FEST in over fifteen years, having attended back in 2000. Fans will most definitely not want to miss this event! G-FEST 2018 will be held July 13th - July 16th at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, IL.

San Diego Comic Con has always been the number one hotspot for pop culture news every year, and 2018′s convention is definitely one kaiju fans want to keep their eyes peeled to. The highly anticipated sequel to Legendary’s Godzilla reboot has wrapped filming and it’s extremely likely that the film will have some sort of presence at next year’s SDCC. Whether this means a panel with the cast and crew or a trailer is anyone’s guess, but considering it’s the last major convention before the film’s release (with the possible exception of New York Comic Con in October), it’d be insane of Legendary not to promote the film here. San Diego Comic Con will take place July 19th - July 22nd at the San Diego Convention Center.

On a slightly smaller note, Monsterama is a convention in the Atlanta, GA area that seems like your average horror/monster fan convention. Of special note on the guest list to kaiju fans is Matt Greenfield, former president of ADV Films and current president of Kraken Releasing. Both companies are notable for releasing many kaiju films to DVD & Blu-Ray in the west. Kraken’s latest tokusatsu releases include The Return of Godzilla on Region 1 disc for the first time, and Garo, the creation of character and monster designer Keita Amemiya. Fans will want to keep their ears open for this convention as new information regarding possible new releases from the company could be revealed.

Merchandise

The S.H. MonsterArts line continues releasing highly-articulated and accurate representations of characters from the Godzilla franchise, including the first non-Godzilla Showa character in the form of Mechagodzilla. Reissues of the infamous Shin Godzilla figure and the sought-after SpaceGodzilla and Little Godzilla are also in the pipeline. And of course, the highly anticipated release of the 2002/2003 KiryuGoji design as well. Mechagodzilla has been licensed by BlueFin to see a stateside release, but the others will remain Japanese exclusives.

Continuing the theme of super-articulated figures, the S.H. Figuarts line will be seeing a surge of Ultra-related figures next year. On the docket are too many figures to list (see the Ultraman Wiki article) but of special note are the kaiju Antlar, Pandon, Twin Tail and Gudon (seen above). No release dates for any of the kaiju have been revealed, but it’s very likely these monsters will see release in the coming year.

In the world of vinyl figures, chances are Bandai will produce figures for the Godzilla anime sequel, but of special note are new releases in the Movie Monster Series line for 2003 Kiryu and Biollante! This marks the first vinyl figure of Biollante since the original 1990′s deluxe-sized figure. Despite the lack of pictures, the low price of only 1500 yen means collectors will not want to miss out on this one.

Pacific Rim Uprising continues to dominate off the screen with a highly anticipated line of figures from Bandai’s Robot Spirits line. All six of the film’s main Jaegers will be released for less than $40 each (and imported to America via BlueFin) and are easily available for pre-order from mainstream sites like Amazon and BigBadToyStore. Tamashii also plans to release an expensive yet extraordinarily accurate Gipsy Danger figure through its Soul of Chogokin line as well as vinyl representations of the kaiju enemies in the newly revitalized Sofubi Spirits line.

Alternatively, Diamond Select Toys is putting out their own line of Pacific Rim Uprising figures of the Jaegers and the kaiju. These figures appear to be more in-tune with what NECA released for the first film, so those who want similarly scaled figures have that option. DST is also releasing articulated kaiju, for those who aren’t satisfied with Bandai’s vinyl offerings.

Continuing with American companies, NECA has been hard at work sculpting new figures for their Classic Godzilla line. Nothing new has been revealed yet and information is reportedly coming at ToyFair in February, although NECA is notorious for not keeping their word on reveals for their non-80′s properties. Part of this has to do with Toho’s infamously strict licensing policies which resulted in NECA being only allowed to do Godzilla suits in their line as opposed to supporting monsters as well. NECA also revealed that they do not have the rights to create figures based on the 2019 designs of Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah leaving the likely scenario being similar to Pacific Rim Uprising’s toys, with Bandai doing S.H. MonsterArts figures of the three kaiju to be distributed in America via BlueFin.

In late 2017, Criterion secured the streaming rights to fourteen Showa Godzilla films, comprised of the films Classic Media released in their Toho Master Collection, Media Blasters’ two-film library of Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon, and the out-of-print Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). The films are currently available for streaming on the FilmStruck service, but Criterion has implied that they are interested in a physical release sometime in the future. Nothing concrete has been revealed yet, so fans will want to keep an eye on Criterion’s monthly Future Releases updates to see if any of these films make the cut.

Finally, kaiju artist and fan extraordinare Matt Frank is drawing an officially licensed Redman manga! From the previews shown, it appears to be taking on more of a dark tone than the original show. No word on a US release yet (although it’s likely copies will be offered at his G-FEST Artist Alley table).

With each passing year, the kaiju fandom grows bigger and bigger and more and more kaiju-related media is being released every month. It’s truly a new age for the genre and definitely the best time to be a fan. Here’s to a happy 2018!

[kiwi-le-survivant]

Kiwi-Le-Survivant’s Best Games of 2017 Post

I bought a PS4 this year, which means I was actually able to play five new games this year. It’s my hope that people will actually enjoy reading my thoughts, and soon I’ll be able to rival The Game Awards and announced Halo 6 or something right in the middle of my posts. Let’s jump right in.

Top 5 Best Games I Played That Came Out In 2017:

5. Tekken 7 - You know, I think I prefer Tekken to Street Fighter now. Although that might be a combination of me being slightly better at the former, coupled with Capcom having no idea what they’re doing lately. As shallow as it sounds, I think a big reason I love this game so much is the novelty of both a Capcom and an SNK character guest starring in a Tekken game.

Not as big on Noctis, though. I was hoping for either Kazuma Kiryu, or another fighting game rep. Although I guess you could argue Noctis represents Dissidia.

It’s at the bottom because the other games are so good. I hope they keep adding more content beyond what’s already planned.

4. Danganronpa v3: Killing Harmony - Apparently opinions on this game are mixed among DR fans, mainly related to the ending. Personally, I liked the ending, and I feel the rest of the game is pretty much in line with the first two in terms of quality. I’m a fan of the new mechanics, like Debate Scrum and Psyche Taxi. The soundtrack is really good, too. I think everyone can at least agree this is a memorable game.

3. Yakuza 0 - I haven’t finished this one yet, but I’m told it’s a fantastic entry point if you want to get into this series. This is one of the few games I can think of where I actually willingly did sidequests, because a lot of them are actually funny, and even heartwarming.

2. Persona 5 - My most anticipated game of 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. I’m a big fan of Persona 3 and 4, and I feel this game is just as good, if not better. I greatly prefer the Tokyo setting to the rural setting of Persona 4.

From the art style, to the setting and music, P5 oozes style out of every orifice. In fact, you could make a case for it being one of the most stylish games of all time. I thought for sure it would be number one, but one game managed to top it.

1. NieR: Automata - I heard this game actually sold really well, and that’s great news. Imagine telling someone that the sequel to NieR would outsell the newest Mass Effect. It’s amazing what an extra layer of polish and removing or altering some of the more tedious aspects of the first game can do.

Honestly, I’m bad at explaining why the game is good. Just play it. I genuinely believe it will go down as one of the greatest JRPGs of all time, and that Yoko Taro can and should be thought of as the next Kojima. If you dismiss it as a Metal Gear Rising/Final Fantasy rip-off that relies on fan service, well, your loss.

Did I mention that both NieR games have strong contenders for best video game soundtracks of all time? It’s true.

This is pretty long, so I’ll include the rest of the awards under the read more.

Top 5 Best Games I Played That Came Out Other Years:

5. Kid Icarus: Uprising - I haven’t played this as much as I’d like, but I’ve greatly enjoyed what I have played. I don’t even really mind the controls, really. I haven’t used the stand yet.

4. Gravity Rush - I started playing this game a few weeks ago, and I already love it. Kat is one of the most likable protagonists I can think of. She should be Sony’s mascot. In all honesty, this is one of the most fun open world games I’ve played. The only thing I’d say is lacking is the combat, but it’s manageable.

3. Va11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action - A game about mixing drinks and talking to people, while trying to save enough money to avoid getting evicted. There are multiple endings, too. The one I got really got to me. 

2. NieR - I’d hate to say it, but for the longest time, the only thing I saw related to the game was the Zero Punctuation review, and I wrote it off as generic based on that. Thankfully, a few friends heavily recommended it, and since Platinum were doing the sequel, I figured “alright, I’ll check it out.” It turns out, generic is probably the worst word to describe NieR, and Yahtzee is an idiot.

NieR is a rough diamond, similar to Persona 3, or the original Yakuza. A game that has more than its share of flaws, but its originality makes up for them. The gameplay is, well, it’s no Bayonetta. It’s not even DMC1, but it’s there to serve the story and characters, which I found myself getting attached to.

I’d recommend playing this before Automata, if you have a say, but it’s not 100% necessary, and Square Enix could have made that option easier, so it’s up to you.

Check out @thathomestar‘s post about it, too.

1. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - I knew of this series by reputation, and it seemed like the fanbase overlapped a lot with other things I was a fan of, but I got spoiled on who the lead villain turns out to be years before I played it, and I thought some of the character designs looked unappealing, so I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy it.

It turned out, I enjoyed it a lot. It scratches the same itch as Ace Attorney for me. I like the characters a lot more now that I actually know more about them. Funny how that works. Except Hifumi. He looks awful, and is awful.

The second one is probably better in many ways (especially the protagonist), but I feel the first game has a certain humility to it. I get the sense that the developers didn’t think it would take off as much as it did, and some of the rough patches kind of add to its charm. I also think the ending was originally planned to be more ambiguous.

Also, I made at least one friend while playing this game. That’s a plus.

Top 5 Games I Want To Play But Never Got Around To:

5. Cuphead - I felt kind of bad for not having any western games on the last two lists, so here we go. Cuphead looks pretty fun, and I really respect how much effort and creativity went into the game’s visuals. It reminds me a bit of Skullgirls. Sadly, I don’t have an Xbox One, and I doubt my PC could handle it.

4. Sonic Mania - Like Cuphead, this is another labour of love. It was really nice to see people being positive about Sonic again for a few months. Then Sonic Forces came out, but oh well. In a similar vein, I’m also interested in the Crash N-Sane Trilogy, but since Sonic Mania is a new game, it gets the edge.

3. Super Mario Odyssey - Looks really fun. I’ve never played either the Galaxy games or 3D World, but from an outside perspective, Galaxy and Odyssey look like a lot more appealing to me than 3D World. Sadly, I don’t have a Switch.

2. NioH - I suck at Souls games, to be honest, but I find this game’s concept very interesting. I think I’d be into in a Souls game where I can play as an actual character, and not just a blank slate.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo has impressed me this year. I think this is the first time a 3D Zelda game and a 3D Mario game have come out the same year. I like this game’s art style, and I’m told it’s a breath of fresh air to a formula that was getting stale. However, no Switch, and no Wii U, either.

Top 5 Most Anticipated Games of Next Year:

5. Kingdom Hearts III - Yup. This is definitely coming out next year. Always bet on Sora.

4. Red Dead Redemption II - I was kind of burnt out on open world games, but if this is even half as good as the original, it’s pretty damn excellent.

3. Dragon Ball FighterZ - I loved Dragon Ball Z as a kid, and if this game came out when I was a kid, I would probably say “holy shit!” and also “who’s Beerus?” I think this has the potential to make Arc System Works a big name with mainstream audiences. Then maybe we can get a Persona 5 Arena with graphics like this.

2. Yakuza/Hokuto no Ken thing - I never read much Hokuto no Ken, but this looks amazing. Right up my alley.

1. Soulcalibur VI - I just really love fighting games, man. There arguably hasn’t been a great Soulcalibur game since SCII, in 2003 (2002 if you only count the arcade release), so I’d love to see this series make a comeback. Put Cassandra in it.

If Devil May Cry V were announced, it would automatically be at the top of the list, but sadly, no. As for Bayonetta 3, I don’t think it’s coming out next year. With that said, while I don’t have a Switch, Bayonetta 3 is potentially a system seller for me.

[italianartsociety]

New Writer Favorite Artwork Fact File

To welcome our new IASblog writers, we thought it would be wonderful if they introduce themselves by sharing their favorite work as one of our “Favorite Artwork Fact Files (FAFF). Our second FAFF comes from Maggie Bell. 

What is your favorite artwork? The Sacro Monte di Varallo, an Observant Franciscan site founded in the late fifteenth century to recreate the experience of being a pilgrim in the Holy Land.

…and your favorite detail? I love the view in the Bethlehem complex through a carefully placed opening in a grate, through which the viewer can see one of the Magi removing his crown.

Why? I visited Varallo while I was conducting research for my Master’s thesis.  I remember the trip from Santa Barbara to the entrance gate of the Sacro Monte being a long and difficult one.  When I arrived I imagined that I felt similarly to the many other pilgrims who had come to Varallo for various reasons over the centuries.  The site itself is a bit overwhelming, and was clearly meant to be understood with one’s whole body.  The paths take visitors through trees that obscure one’s view, and passing from the outside heat (I was there in August) to the dark quiet cool inside the ”temples” requires visual and physical adjustment. 

The Sacro Monte di Varallo was founded in 1491 by the Observant Franciscan friar Bernardino Caimi. Bernardino had returned to Varallo, a small city close to Lago Maggiore, after serving in the Franciscan-controlled territories in the Holy Land. Bernardino wanted to create a more accessible option for pilgrims in the form of a Sacro Monte, or “Holy Mountain,” designed to mimic the pilgrimage experience down to the very measurements of particularly important sacred sites. For instance, the recreated Nativity Grotto at Varallo looks very similar to the actual grotto in Bethlahem, and the replicated stone covering Christ’s sepulcher was allegedly based on measurements taken by Franciscans who had seen the original. Visitors can still follow the stations of Christ’s suffering along the Via Dolorosa leading up from the town of Varallo to the top of the Sacro Monte, which match the distances demarcated on the original road in Jerusalem.

In the early to mid-sixteenth century the pilgrim’s experience was given added vivacity through the addition of wooden and terracotta polychrome sculptures representing figures from the life and Passion of Christ, almost all of which were created by Gaudenzio Ferrari (1471-1546) and his workshop.  The earliest known sculptural grouping is the Pietra dell’unzione slightly smaller than life-size and made entirely of painted wood. Later figures, like those in situ today, have a heightened level of realism and wear fabric clothes and wigs made of human hair.  (In fact, you may donate your hair to the Sacro Monte, as long as it isn’t dyed.)

By the mid-sixteenth century the Sacro Monte had fallen into disrepair, though interest in the site was revitalized thanks largely to Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan and a powerful voice during the Counter-Reformation. Borromeo was a devotee of the Sacro Monte, often spending the night praying in the Sepulcher next to a wooden figure of the dead Christ. Between 1565 and 1569, just after the Council of Trent had sanctioned the use of images for devotional purposes, the architect Galeazzo Alessi (1512-1572) designed elaborate new “temple” structures for the sacred sites, as well as glass enclosures, or vetriate, for the sculptural groups.  This fundamentally altered the interactions between pilgrims and images, as they could no longer move among or touch the figures but rather needed to view them through glass from a distance. Visitors today are still separated from these figures, and their engagement is further controlled by openings in the barriers, which frame specific views of the scenes within.

The Sacro Monte di Varallo has been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003, along with eight other Sacri Monti in the region. Each of these sites tells a specific story.  For instance, the Sacro Monte di Orta leads the visitor through the life of St. Francis, and the Sacro Monte di Varese represents the life of the Virgin.  The Sacro Monte di Varallo remains an important part of the surrounding community, and early-modern pilgrims have been replaced by locals and visitors strolling the grounds, and buses of school children on field trips.

References: Jonathan Bober, “Varallo, Sacro Monte” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.

“Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy.” 

Mario Labò “Galeazzo Alessi”, Treccani Dizionario Biografico.

View of Sacro Monte di Varallo site.

View through enclosures, Sacro Monte di Varallo.

Pietra dell’unzione, artist unknown, 1493-1507, Sacro Monte di Varallo. 

Flagellation of Christ, Sacro Monte di Varallo. 

[zombiescantfly]

Words About Games - Unreal Tournament 2003 (Epic Games, 2002)

The phoenix is a mainstay of mythology. Its cycle of death and rebirth in explosive flame makes for a grandiose inspiration, symbolizing runaway success from catastrophic failure. Unreal Tournament 2004 was that stunning pillar of fire giving way to immortal majesty, but Unreal Tournament 2003 wasn’t really a horrible crash to death, or the agonizing crawl to the grave, it was more like if the metaphorical phoenix just kind of stumbled over a rock or something.

Unreal Tournament 2003 is a difficult game to talk about without also launching into a discussion of UT2004, but I'm going to do my best. Be aware, though, that as I want to save longer explanations of things for the UT2004 essay itself, this one might come off as a little meaner spirited than I truly feel, and certainly a bit abbreviated.

Unreal Tournament 2003, so named to evoke a parallel between sports games like Madden or NBA 2K, was the followup to the first Unreal Tournament. Released September 30, 2002, the game brought with it sweeping changes to the UT brand, some of which remain contentious to this day. Double jumping and wall jumping were in, the Ripper, Sniper Rifle, Enforcer, and Impact Hammer were out and the Assault Rifle and Lightning Gun were their replacements, weapons were nerfed across the board, AI was improved, the Tournament ladder itself was given a facelift and a bit of a metagame aspect, more lore was rampant, Domination was out, Double Domination was in, Bombing Run made its debut, and most heinously of all, Assault was out.

UT2003 is not a horrible product, nor was it even a bad one. It was divisive at the time, and the changes it made remain so, but it paved the way for UT2004’s unbelievably perfect followup, and so we must acknowledge its good points.

I probably spent just as much time online in UT2003 as I did 2004, and believe me, that is a considerable amount. Unreal Tournament 2003 was the new hotness - it looked great, it played both familiarly and unlike anything I'd played before, and it scratched every itch 10-year-old me wanted out of a sequel to what had instantly become my favorite game. It's just that UT2004 came around a year and a half later and scratched more itches than I knew I had.

But I said this would be the negative one, so let's talk about what it did wrong.

I'll address the most obvious thing first: yes, many UT99 fans hated double jumping and wall dodging. I did and do not, I think it adds a ton to the combat, and the real issue is that projectiles were nerfed along with its inclusion.

Double jumping is, as the name implies, the ability to jump again in midair, helpful for reaching slightly higher up or doing a minor bit of repositioning in midair. Wall dodging or wall jumping is the ability to double-tap a movement key while touching a wall in midair to dodge off of it the same you would if you were on the ground. You got a single “wall dodge charge,” if you want to think of it that way, per instance of being airborne, allowing you to jump, doublejump, walldodge; or jump, walldodge, doublejump, whichever you preferred. This allowed players to cover a fair bit of distance in midair, and was the leading factor in why the nerf to projectile weapons was so maligned.

Hitting a moving player with a rocket directly was already fairly challenging at anywhere past mid range, and UT99’s rocket launcher did a hefty chunk of splash damage to compensate. UT2003’s altered movement scheme with its new emphasis on midair movement and rapid direction changes made hitting someone with a rocket directly even more difficult, and damage was reduced for both a direct impact and splash. So on and so forth for the flak cannon and biorifle, but not the pulse gun - now called the Link Gun, but we'll talk about that change in the next one.

But projectile weapons weren't the only guns that felt the cushiony caress of the nerf bat, because hitscan weapons had their own slew of changes. See, in UT99, the shock rifle and sniple rifle awkwardly occupied a very similar role. Both could kill a player in two hits, but the shock rifle had a significant knockback effect (and the famous shock combo of course) while the sniper rifle had the ability to headshot for an instant kill.

UT2003 solved this in its own special way. The shock rifle’s primary fire damage was reduced from 60 to 45 per shot, necessitating three shots to take someone down. Its fire rate was also more than halved.

The sniper rifle, on the other hand, actually became slightly more deadly. Or should I say the Lightning Gun did. One of the things I mentioned in the UT99 essay was that the game went to great lengths to make weapon fire highly visible. Of course, the tiny particle of a sniper bullet impacting doesn't accomplish that. Sometimes gameplay health needs to come before proper theming, and the devs wanted something more visible that would make sitting in one spot with a sniper rifle less attractive of an option. Enter the Lightning Gun. It's a sniper rifle, for sure, but one that leaves a highly visible trail of electricity lingering in the air after each shot that points right back towards the shooter. And that wasn't the problem. The problem was that it took ALMOST TWO SECONDS to let you fire again! In an arena shooter! The shock rifle got off easy compared to the atrocities meted out upon our poor ranged precision weapon!

But it did 70 damage a shot so I guess that's okay. It wasn't, though. UT2004 increased its fire rate, spoilers for next essay.

Right, weapon nerfs. Ultimately I think they were mostly fine, and helped better define how personal the fights could get. Time-to-kill in games is a rough thing to balance, and it can end up feeling really not great if it's too far in either direction. You want every weapon in the arsenal to feel unique, so you reduce the damage overall to have a more varied spread, but then obvious better choices arise, like how over half of Quake’s arsenal is ignored. It's why games like the various Calls of Duty have moved into making the lethality of CoD 4’s Hardcore mode the new norm - they keep putting more and more weapons in, and the simplest way to balance them is just to make each and every single one kill someone in four shots. It's a matter of balance that will never be perfected, and it's why I have a hard time actually saying if UT99 or 2004 is my favorite. 2003 and 2004 are slower, if just by a little bit, but I think it better allows the weapon design to shine as well as letting people get creative with the way they move through the maps. But at the same time, I do think some nerfs were too harsh, and maybe, you know, the rocket launcher didn't need to lose almost 20 damage on a direct hit after all.

Turns out game design is complicated, who knew.

Another victim of these changes was our poor friend the Ripper. Oft ignored for its unpredictable demeanor, the ripper was ripped from the game without a true replacement, leaving other weapons to shuffle to the left one spot in the loadout order. 6 became 5, 7 became 6, and so on.

Also the Enforcer got axed and was replaced with the Assault Rifle, a decidedly boring and woefully underpowered substitute whose grenade-launching capabilities could not fill the void an actually viable starting weapon left.

Sadface emoji

More bad things, though. Domination and Assault were both removed, though Double Domination replaced the former. Double Domination is a terrible replacement and a worse gamemode. It's really, really bad. I'll save my full explanation of it for the next essay, but know now that it was aggravating, slow, obnoxious, and just plain boring. Bombing Run is essentially single-flag CTF, and was perfectly fine.

Also removed alongside Unreal Tournament’s most famous gamemode was its most famous map, Facing Worlds. Face in UT99 quickly became, well, the very face of the game in many regards. It offered a bit of every style of gunplay, had great music, and had a ridiculously inventive and impressive visual design. And it wasn't in UT2003. Instead they gave us Face 3, a perfectly good map on its own that kept the same gameplay and visual design philosophy, but was a bit bigger and had more going on. There's nothing wrong with Face 3, it just wasn't Face.

Coming along for the ride out of the series was the classic deathmatch map Deck 16, easily one of the best maps for the game. It had a strong focus on vertical space, a simple layout with generous sightlines, and made room for nearly every weapon. Deck was a great map for anywhere from 1v1s to even five or six players to a team. And it wasn't in UT2003. There is a pattern to this game, and it wasn't a good one.

So, with Assault gone, Domination gone, Face gone, Deck gone, the Ripper gone, what did UT2003 bring beyond new movement options and a modified CTF-alike?

Well, 37 brand-new maps to start. Fewer than UT99’s 50-strong launch, but arguably of a higher overall quality. Lots of UT99 maps were quirky experiments made by the devs to showcase this or that aspect of what their shiny new engine could do. It had a ton of incredibly memorable and inventive maps as a result, but nobody really puts Galleon or Pyramid on the same list of noteworthy Unreal Tournament maps as Facing Worlds, HiSpeed, or Deck 16.

By 2002, the general public had started to really understand this whole “3d gaming” fad, so maps didn't have to wow players with gimmicks and could focus on being, you know, well designed spaces that compliment the game's design.

Unfortunately, as I look over the list of maps in UT2003, even including the 16 added across two free bonus packs, I'm not seeing many that I'd actually consider my favorites. Granted, it's not as if none of the maps are good, and I actually think DM-Asbestos and CTF-Maul are quite strong maps. Series veteran DM-Curse does make a return, however, in its third iteration. It's a solid map, I'm glad they stuck with it.

Beyond that, there isn't much I want to say about the maps that I won't talk about more clearly in the UT2004 essay in March, so I'll leave you with a parting thought. Unreal Tournament 2003 came out ten months after Halo erupted onto the console scene, and had a full year before that game was released on PC. Halo brought with it a handful of things that got people very excited, and which UT2003 lacked. It sort of wallowed after its initial release as most people who preferred UT99 simply went back to their existing communities, some jumped ship to the upcoming Halo or Call of Duty 2. A dedicated community did arise, of course, but with UT2003 not being everything people wanted it to be and relatively lackluster overall, it prompted a familiarly grand response from Epic.

Sadly, though, with the combination of lukewarm reception and the sudden offering of other big name shooters with just as much clout, the genre was expanding, and the arena shooter was no longer the de facto experience. It would hang on for a good while, helped in large part by the upcoming Unreal Tournament 2004, but the times were inevitably changing.

Next time we'll take a close look at the immediate sequel to this pretty okay but not fantastic game, which itself is pretty fantastic at the worst of times and a perfect experience at the best. Lofty praise, certainly. Come back in two weeks and see if I mean it.

[corrineweingarth-blog]

Why Is Actually Deflation Bad?

If you feel like me, you tend to avoid purchasing gifts till the eleventh hour. Making use of New Moon astrology has actually been extremely gratifying as well as really exciting for me. I performed a prize map along with my daughter as well as we are actually expecting finding the symptom of our wants in the months ahead of time. Nonetheless, astrologers and doomsday soothsayers feel that the full Moon at perigee is responsible for natural disasters. The ultimate blood moon in 2015 is arranged to landed on the first night from the Jewish holiday season of Sukkot. Nevertheless, Beauty THIRTEEN performed leave its calling card: the 1st two stages of its enhancer rocket fell to Earth as well as burned up, but the 3rd phase made use of to nudge it right into lunar track crashed on the Moon. There is actually no actual lighting from its very own there - our company discover simply the feeling of light-giving because of the moon's theft from the burning-sun of warm, that the moon lays eyes on all the time. For example an Aquarius Moon is great, detached and also intellectual, they would value traits distinct different and may even find intellectual stimulation reassuring. Finding the moon is a burning desire of people so the Lunar Exploration Orbiter (LRO), NASA's youngest moon probe, helps Jasminesport.Info deliver us some incredible simple facts regarding the lunar system including there are actually lots of water ice being actually located at the moon's north rod and also elsewhere.

Exposure from holy objects throughout colossal twilight is actually additionally depending on various other factors like light contamination, humidity, and also the period of the moon. Though the moon possesses no environment outside, the caves are full of 'sky' properly satisfied to supporting the breathing necessities of lifestyle kinds.

We may certainly not attempt to alter others, merely our perspectives to those folks, in hopes that they will definitely respond to one's advantage to our company. Another crucial component this procedure is to contemplate the top qualities of the sign that the new moon is actually happening in. These astrological qualities will provide our company effective pointers about what to pursue, and also how you can formulate or move toward in the direction of just what we wish to complete. For instance, Muslims, Jews and also some other lifestyles use various schedules and month in which there is actually no blue moon in the current period. Like the Solar system 5 (moon spacecraft) and modern-day airliners, Falcon 9 is designed to manage an engine-out circumstance as well as still complete its goal. Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk required to Facebook's (FB) Instagram to share a picture of a moon base on Thursday, while popular quick seller Jim Chanos discussed more earthbound concerns concerning Tesla on Bloomberg TELEVISION. Our team recap Chanos's newest ideas on Tesla below, deliver our system's existing take on the stock, and provide a number of means Tesla longs can easily limit their threat in case Tesla reveals do not move toward the moon over the next a number of months.

Where there has been opinion, consider just what made a mistake and exactly how connections can possess been enhanced. It is actually ideal to maintain a lot of these in the worlds from fact so this creates the activity slightly much more tough, but this can be enjoyable to slip in an insanely unrealistic one (the bride-to-be the moment walked on the moon along with Simon Cowell). Moreover, in 2003, Mars was actually not the brightest item in the evening skies besides the moon. There is actually a concept phoned Blood Moon Forecast explaining that 4 lunar eclipses occurring in between April 2014 as well as September 2015 are actually a certain indicator of the moving toward Rapture. Because this moon in Pisces is a releasing moon take some time in nature to pull back and discharge the aged toxic psychological injuries from the past. Let's establish cycles of longitude (meridians) on the moon thereby: Allow the top as well as bottom from the Moon (on C) as seen by K be actually the Moon's poles.

[williamsjoan]

Eon’s GCHD MK-II Review — Unlocking the GameCube’s Full Potential

I love the GameCube. I grew up on my Game Boy systems and the Nintendo 64, but the GameCube defined much of my gaming love to this day. I shout the good word of Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door from the rooftops and grunt when Nintendo ignores my pleas for a spiritual successor. Wind Waker will always be my favorite Zelda game, even if others have surpassed it critically. I remember playing Mario Party with the microphone accessory or being captivated by the planet of Talon IV in Metroid Prime. 

All this love has also been recently twisted by crippling nostalgia. I have a severe case of it. Throw anything from my childhood on screen and I will likely be drawn towards it. That’s why I have been slowly circling down the rabbit hole of resurrecting old game consoles onto modern HD displays for years now. 

My entry point to this niché hobby was a YouTube channel called My Life In Gaming. Coury and Marc run the channel, creating highly educational videos about bringing classic consoles back to life on modern HD TVs. I immediately jumped to their video on the best solutions for the GameCube and found out the financial horror associated with bringing the GameCube into the modern era. Nintendo’s official component cables cost an arm and a leg, going for $250+ on eBay. To get an HDMI port for your GameCube a few years ago required physically modding the system. I nearly pulled the trigger on a roughly $160 mod, but backed off after more research and not being keen on physically altering my childhood system.

Through all this time in the rabbit hole, I came across a new company early in 2018 that was offering a plug-and-play option for HDMI cables on the GameCube. EON created the GCHD, a tiny adapter that plugged into the digital out port on original GameCube systems and allowed native 480p output for $150. Just like the physical mod, I nearly pulled the trigger a few times, but it was never in the budget. 

Ten months later EON revealed an upgraded version of their adapter. The GCHD MK-II (MK-II from here on out for simplicity) was revealed on November 15 and offered a couple new features and refinements over their original model. We were fortunate here at DualShockers to receive a consumer unit a couple days ahead of its official release on December 15, 2018. Selling for the same price of $150, I wanted to find out if the MK-II is really worth the cost to bring my beloved GameCube onto my HD TV.

Before we dive further in, let’s talk specs. The GameCube is capable of 480p digital output. This is thanks to a snazzy port on original model GameCubes that was meant for stereoscopic 3D. That tech was never fully developed, but the port offers access to the GameCube’s lossless digital signal. That’s five years before the PS3! The MK-II uses that port, along with an onboard FPGA chip with custom version of the open-source GCVideo software, to take the digital signal and output it over HDMI with zero input lag. This does not upscale the video to 720p, 1080p, or 4K. You’ll have to use an external scaler for that. The MK-II also allows for analog output via the common red, blue, green component cables meant for the Wii. There is also a new analog/optical audio port for plugging in headphones or a surround sound system.

The MK-II comes packaged in a tiny GameCube designed box. There are three color choices meant to match your hardware; purple, black, and silver. EON let me pick the black edition to match my GameCube. The back of the box details all the features of the adapter, while detailing the easy setup. All that is inside is the MK-II itself and a tiny instruction booklet.

I popped the MK-II out of its box and immediately went to plug it in the back of my GameCube. This adapter only works with DOL-001 model GameCube systems, which will have the digital out port. You’ll definitely want to make sure you have this model GameCube before buying the adapter. Initially, I had trouble getting the MK-II into the two ports on the back. I had to unplug the system entirely and get it in the light to make sure I was lining it up correctly. Once I got it lined up, it fit perfectly and snuggly.

After plugging it in, using it was nearly a breeze. All you have to do is plug in an HDMI cable and boot the system up. It automatically works and displays the GameCube at 480i. To get 480p to work on games, just hold the B button as a game boots up and select “yes” to progressive mode. I found that most time the GameCube prompted me whether or not I held down the B button, but to guarantee it, I’d recommend holding the button down. I say nearly a breeze because I had some trouble syncing a universal remote to access the MK-II’s settings.

I thought I had a remote lying around, but it wasn’t “universal.” I went to Target and bought the cheapest one they had, but it wouldn’t work either. I had to go back to Target, return the $7 remote and swap it for a $15 remote. This remote worked after I read the remote’s instruction manual on how to sync the thing. This was tedious mostly because I didn’t own a universal remote. I was also sick at the time, so that didn’t help matters.

“…using it was nearly a breeze. All you have to do is plug in an HDMI cable and boot the system up.”

Once the remote was synced, I was able to access the settings for the MK-II. Its feature list isn’t too extensive, but it does offer some interesting choices. There is a line doubler for when the GameCube displays 480i content, to help create a picture quality more akin to 480p. You can turn on scanline to simulate a CRT TV. While slightly nostalgic, scanlines really shine on the GameCube’s rare 240p games and GBA games. You may adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation. There are even options for tweaking the MK-II’s on-screen display (OSD) settings, which is for the settings. Honestly, it really is plug-and-play ready, with only a few settings you may want to tweak for specific games.

The first game I booted up was The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. I thought the game’s bright color palette and cel-shaded visuals would be a great test point. I’ll let the game speak for itself.

It’s as if the old school yellow, red, white composite cables were smearing Vaseline over the game footage, dulling the colors and shapes. It blew my mind to see it in action. It took what I remember the game looking like and put it on display. And didn’t just clean up Wind Waker. All of my GameCube games, from Super Smash Bros. Melee to Metroid Prime to Paper Mario, were being displayed the way that the developers intended it to be seen. It reminded me of when I put on glasses for the first time: There was a whole world of clarity I was missing out on and I didn’t know it.

As I mentioned above, the MK-II also allows for component output. When I first heard this was one of the new additions, I questioned its inclusion. Why add the support for analog video? After mulling it over and having the MK-II in person though, its addition makes sense for the GameCube’s active and diehard community. Having these two ports allows for simultaneous, lag-free output. This makes stream/capture setups simple at events and tournaments. The GameCube and its games were also designed for old CRT displays, as HD was entering its infancy. Including component allows for the highest quality analog output for purists who want to play on CRTs and PVMs the way the designers intended. It lets users have their high-quality cake and eat it too. 

But this analog path may bring up a common question- why pay $150 to have my GameCube in 480p over analog when I could just use a Wii and its component cables? All first generation Wii systems have backward compatibility with GameCube games. It really comes down to two facts. The first is that the Wii output is purely analog, with no access to the lossless digital signal. Using the MK-II gives us that pure signal, giving us a better picture via HDMI or component. The second fact opens a whole new platform of games—The Game Boy Player.

“It reminded me of when I put on glasses for the first time: There was a whole world of clarity I was missing out on and I didn’t know it.”

Back in 2003, Nintendo released the Game Boy Player, an accessory that attached to the bottom of GameCube systems and allowed Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy games to be played on the TV. As a kid, this blew my little mind. I got one for my 9th birthday and it hasn’t left my system since. Now at 24, the Game Boy Player (actually its software) leaves much to be desired. 

There are homebrew software solutions, like the Game Boy Interface (GBI), that put Nintendo’s software to shame. That’s a whole different rabbit hole, but combining that GBI with the MK-II leads to incredible results. 

If the GBI is not an option, the MK-II does a decent job cleaning up the official Game Boy Player software. You can see that the smaller text becomes legible and the overall image is slightly sharper. The GBI is where the crispness of the MK-II shines with GBA games. Even with a CRT filter over the game, it is a better picture than the official software.

When it comes to the audio output, the MK-II matches the format of the video output method. Digital when over HDMI and analog when using component. There is a 3.5mm auxiliary jack for analog output to headphones. I imagine this was implemented for Melee tournaments or just tournament environments.  Tune out the surroundings and really hear the game. The audio still outputs to the TV, so spectators, streaming/capturing setups still get the game audio. Even headphone splitters work!

The 3.5mm jack also doubles as a mini-TOSLINK optical audio jack, providing access to digital surround sound. I tested this out on my surround sound system with Wind Waker and Metroid Prime, both games that support Dolby Surround Pro Logic II. The games sound fuller coming out of three speakers and a subwoofer. Sound didn’t come out of my two other speakers, which is possibly due to the games not taking advantage of 5.1 surround sound. I’m not entirely sure.

“As a piece of hardware, the MK-II is sturdy, full-featured, and straight up easy to use.”

So is all this worth it? That’s probably why you read this far. Is $150 worth accessing the untapped potential of your GameCube? That’s all going to really depend on you.

As a piece of hardware, the MK-II is sturdy, full-featured, and straight up easy to use. It breathes new life into GameCube systems and is one piece that can help the console adapt to modern TVs. But how much do you love your GameCube? Do you play Melee competitively? Do you have a Game Boy Player and want to play your collection on the TV? Is the GameCube your favorite Nintendo system? If you answered yes to any of those and you truly want the best picture that your GameCube has to offer, I think the GCHD MK-II is worth every cent. It’s versatile, powerful, and easy-to-use. Most importantly, it makes the games I love look and feel their very best in a way I just didn’t think was possible.

The post Eon’s GCHD MK-II Review — Unlocking the GameCube’s Full Potential by Max Roberts appeared first on DualShockers.

Eon’s GCHD MK-II Review — Unlocking the GameCube’s Full Potential published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[doctortdesigns]

When I came up with my original Sew Geeky plans, this jacket wasn’t on it at all, but I added it to meet the criteria of the Pattern Review Wardrobe Contest, and I’m so happy I did!  I love this jacket!  Simple, casual, warm, easy, and colorful.  Definitely fits with what I’m wanting to wear right now!

Don’t we all wish we could be as effortlessly chic (though perhaps not quite as affected by staring into the sun) as this Burda model?

Here is my version:

Here is my official pattern review for my Wardrobe Contest Entry #1:

Wardrobe Contest Notes: I made this as the “topper” for my Wardrobe Contest Entry.  I had decided last year that I would try to  create seasonal wardrobe capsules as my sewing plans for the year, each one inspired by a Geeky fandom of mine.  My spring inspiration is The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was one of my favorite films and books growing up.  Although I had bought this fabric a while ago and have had this project planned in the stash for quite some time, the geometric combination of colors made me think of the stained glass window in the cathedral, which is why I decided to include this jacket in the collection for this contest entry.

Pattern Description: Women’s open hooded jacket with patch pockets.

Pattern Sizing: Burda sizes 34/36-38/40-42/44.  I made the 38/40 at the shoulders and graded out to a 42/44 at the hip.

Were the instructions easy to follow? The instructions were very straightforward, especially for Burda.  The instructions even clearly explain how to create a flat felled seam for the hood and the sleeves.  The only change I made was to apply the patch pockets before constructing the rest of the jacket; it seemed like it would be easier to apply them when everything was flat rather than after all of the side seams had been sewn.  Otherwise the instructions were great.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the envelope once you were done with it?  Yes, very much so!  I was drawn to this pattern because the model photo looks so laid back and casual chic, and that is very much how it feels to me when I wear it.

What did you particularly like or dislike about this pattern?  Likes: Everything!  This jacket is quick and easy to sew, the instructions are quite clear, it is an older Burda, so much easier to trace, and the jacket has a perfect laid back vibe that is still a bit more elevated than an old college hoodie.  Dislikes: None, really.

Fabric used: A multi-colored woven that I bought from JoAnn Fabrics at least a few years ago.  It is yarn died and very warm!  I’m not sure if it is cotton or poly or something else, but the inside is slightly more brushed than the outside, so it is quite soft.  I always intended to make this jacket with it, so I’m glad it’s finally in my closet and out of my stash!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: None; I made this completely as drafted.

Would you sew it again?  Would you recommend it to others?  I could definitely see myself sewing this again!  It’s a quick pattern, but the emphasis on using flat felled seams and other finishes on the hems and openings gives it a very tidy construction.  I absolutely love the way it fits, and it has a nice balance of being casual but not athletic wear.  I would highly recommend this pattern if you have or can get ahold of this 2003 Burda pattern.

Conclusion: Really, really love this!  I’m excited to wear this jacket, as I think it is perfect for the climate where I live.  I’m also excited to keep going with my wardrobe plans to come up with a hopefully very coordinated wardrobe for spring!

Pattern Review: BWOF-03-2003-109A (Sew Geeky Spring/Wardrobe Contest Item #1) #sewing #Burda #wardrobeplanning #hunchbackofnotredame #booknerd #springsewing When I came up with my original Sew Geeky plans, this jacket wasn't on it at all, but I added it to meet the criteria of the Pattern Review Wardrobe Contest, and I'm so happy I did!