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terryballs · 4 years

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My favourite Doctor Who writers

10. Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is one of the most talented people to ever write for Doctor Who. Of course, talent alone is not enough - Douglas Adams, Alan Moore, and Naomi Alderman all miss out on this list. What makes Gaiman special is his fairytale, fantasy approach to the show. He has big ideas, full of heart, and I am always delighted by them.

Why isn’t Mr Gaiman higher up on the list? Simply because he has only done four stories. One of them, “The Doctor’s Wife”, is an all-time classic, while the others are at least good. With a couple more stories, Mr Gaiman would surely be higher.

9. Paul Magrs

Coming in at #9 is one of the most important writers of non-televised Who. Paul Magrs has written nine Big Finish Main Range stories (most notably “The Peterloo Massacre”), three Companion Chronicles, and two Eighth Doctor Adventures, including the exceptional “The Zygon Who Fell To Earth”, as well as a huge number of spin-off adventures.

It’s in print where Magrs really flourishes, though. It’s quite hard to get across just how influential Paul Magrs has been. Firstly, his three books in the Eighth Doctor Adventures range - The Scarlet Empress, The Blue Angel, and Mad Dogs and Englishmen - are hugely ambitious metatextual delights. These stories introduce Iris Wildthyme and the Smudgelings to the Whoniverse, and have each inspired their own spin-off series, collectively called the “Magrsverse”. Iris’s parody of the Doctor is a rip-roaring delight whenever she appears - and as you know, she’s famous for it - and will prove a lasting legacy for Mr Magrs.

I suppose, at this junction, I should mention Lawrence Miles, who has had a similar influence, but I just don’t find to be quite as good a storyteller as Magrs.

8. Rob Shearman

You probably know Rob Shearman for “Dalek”, the first good New Who story. What if I told you that “Dalek” is Shearman’s worst DW story?

The titles of Shearman’s audio plays are enough to send shivers up the spines of those who have heard them. There’s “Jubilee”, the loose inspiration for “Dalek”, which explores the Daleks as fascist iconography. There’s “The Holy Terror”, where the Doctor and Frobisher the Penguin Shape-Shifter have a similarly horrifying experience with a religious cult. There’s “The Chimes of Midnight”, possibly the definitive Eighth Doctor story, and “Scherzo”, itself perhaps the most experimental story in Doctor Who history, and “Deadline”, in which the villain is Doctor Who itself.

Like many of the writers on this list, Shearman has an eclectic back catalogue full of obscure oddities. But few people have quite his capacity for knocking it out of the park.

7. Chris Chibnall

It’s true that Chris Chibnall’s work before becoming showrunner is inconsistent at best. “42″ is bad and “The Hungry Earth” is uninspired. “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” is a fun romp, while “The Power of Three” is a great story that is let down by the ending which had to be re-written hastily due to unforeseen production issues. And Chibnall’s contributions to Series 11 range from “fine” (”The Woman Who Fell To Earth”) to “bad” (”The Battle of Ranskor Av Kolos”). But in “Pond Life” and “P.S.”, Chibnall shows that he knows how to write affecting character beats.

It’s in Series 12 that Chibnall really takes things up a step. His stories become sprawling and ambitious: globe-trotting thrillers crammed full of ideas. He’s still occasionally guilty of trying to throw too many ideas in, but his love for the story really shines through. There’s barely a weak moment in Series 12, and that’s largely because Chibnall himself steps up to write or co-write hit after hit after hit. It all culminates in the epic three-part finale, “The Haunting of Villa Diodati”/”Ascension of the Cybermen”/”The Timeless Children”, a hugely ambitious story that crosses space and time and pulls together disparate elements from the history of Who. It’s a million miles from “The Battle of Ranskor Av Kolos”: a fan-pleasing story that is truly epic.

6. Vinay Patel

Why is Vinay so high? Good question. Thinking about it, I can’t really justify this placement. Patel reliably produces great stories - “Demons of the Punjab” alone marks Patel out as a great, and to follow it up with “Fugitive of the Judoon” shows that it wasn’t a fluke. But Mr Patel has only got four stories to his name - the aforementioned TV stories plus “Letters from the Front” and “The Tourist” - so for similar reasons to Mr Gaiman, a high position is difficult to justify.

So instead, let’s give this position to Terrance Dicks. Mr Dicks has a bit of a reputation as more of a “jobbing” writer than someone like Chibnall or Shearman, Terrance Dicks was, first and foremost, a script editor. Yes, he co-wrote “The War Games” and was the sole writer for “Horror of Fang Rock”, but he’s best remembered for script editing the Third Doctor era (and part of the Second Doctor era), as well as producing an absolute mass of Target novelisations. But that’s not all - Mr Dicks has written original novels (VNAs, EDAs, and PDAs alike), Quick Reads, audio stories, two stage plays, and even the Destiny of the Doctor video game.

Sure, Mr Dicks didn’t burn as bright as Mr Patel. But his contribution to the Whoniverse is unparalleled.

5. Nev Fountain

Comedy writer Nev Fountain has written several of the very best Doctor Who stories. For some reason, these stories tend to centre around Peri (Fountain is married to Nicola Bryant). “Peri and the Piscon Paradox” is the best Companion Chronicle by far, due to a combination of great acting by Bryant and Colin Baker and Fountain’s sizzling script. “The Kingmaker” is an outrageously funny historical with incredible dialogue and multiple ideas clever enough to carry a whole story.

Frankly, those two alone should be enough to convince anyone of Fountain’s brilliance. But there is so much more - “The Widow’s Assassin”, “The Curious Incident of the Doctor In the Night-time”, “The Blood on Santa’s Claw”, “Omega“... if you like Doctor Who, make yourself familiar with Nev Fountain.

4. Robert Holmes

More than anyone else, Robert Holmes is responsible for the esteem which the Fourth Doctor is held in.

Holmes first wrote for the show all the way back in Series 6, with “The Krotons”. He wrote the very first Third Doctor story, “Spearhead From Space”, in which he also introduced the Autons. They reappeared a year later in “Terror of the Autons”, which introduced Jo Grant and the Master. In “The Time Warrior”, Holmes introduced the Sontarans, a pastiche of imperialism.

It was in the Fourth Doctor era that Mr Holmes really made his mark. He took over from Mr Dicks as script editor. In his own right, he wrote “The Deadly Assassin” and “Talons of Weng-Chiang”, but he also turned “The Ark In Space”, “Pyramids of Mars”, and “The Brain of Morbius” into usable stories, even appearing in “The Brain of Morbius” as the Doctor.

After stepping back from script editing, Holmes returned as a hack to write stories like “The Caves of Androzani” (probably the most popular story in Classic Who) and “The Two Doctors”, before dying shortly after his 60th birthday.

3. Jamie Mathieson

Putting Mr Mathieson above Mr Holmes really shows my bias towards New Who, but honestly, I’d rather re-watch “Mummy on the Orient Express”, “Flatline”, or “Oxygen” than any of Holmes’ stories. Mathieson is very inventive and extremely good at maintaining pace and tension. I’m sure we’ll get more stories from him in the future, but the ones we have so far should be used as inspiration by anyone wanting to writing exciting Who.

2. John Dorney

It is hard to exaggerate Mr Dorney’s contributions to audio Who. He may lack the external fanbase of Mr Gaiman, the influence of Mr Magrs, or the legendary status of Messrs Dicks, Chibnall, and Holmes, but make no mistake, Dorney is exceptional. In almost every range he tries his hand at - Lost Stories, Novel Adaptations, Third Doctor Adventures, Fourth Doctor Adventures, Fifth Doctor Adventures, Dark Eyes, Doom Coalition, Ravenous, Time War, Companion Chronicles, Short Trips, Jago and Litefoot, Missy, UNIT, Diary of River Song... Dorney reliably writes the best story in the set.

In particular, Dorney’s stories are notable for the way they focus on character drama. Look at stories like “A Life In A Day” or “Absent Friends” for particular examples of stories that use sci-fi concepts to draw emotion out of characters, particularly the stoic Liv Chenka. Other highlights of Dorney’s include “The Red Lady” and the “Better Watch Out”/”Fairytale of Salzburg” two-parter.

1. Steven Moffat

What more is there to say? Moffat is truly exceptional, reliably writing the best stories in TV Who for several consecutive years. The classics are too numerous to list, but the stand outs amongst the stand outs are “Blink” and “Heaven Sent”/”Hell Bent”.

Some of Moffat’s best work comes away from TV. The minisodes “The Inforarium” and “Night of the Doctor”, the novelisation of “Day of the Doctor”, the short stories “Continuity Errors” and “the Corner of the Eye”, and lockdown stories like “Terror of the Umpty Ums” are Moffat deep cuts which deserve to be held in the same regard as his great TV stories.

Moffat’s imagination lead to him creating multiple iconic monsters - foremost amongst them, the Weeping Angels and the Silence. Moffat emphasised the use of time travel within the stories themselves; other themes in his work include memory, perception, paradoxes, identity, sexuality, and responsibility. He is, without a doubt, the greatest Doctor Who writer, and I am so lucky to have lived through the period where he was active.

#Doctor Who #top ten #Steven Moffat

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yang-did-everything-right · 6 years

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Episode Eleven

I’m a bit late on this but I didn’t sleep amazingly so it had to wait, still really that title is all we really need right? No one who watches RWBY right now, not even the antis, not even they can say this was a bad episode. Because if you strip out the shipping, it was still an amazing episode. It had a new medley for the mecha fight with parts from every character’s theme, unified themes and it was a very technically sound portion. But that’s not what you’re here for, lets be honest. I know what you’re here for, so lets get right to it.

Adam vs Blake, was poetry in motion. It was a story being told before our eyes. It was a snapshot that was once black and white, but given color and life before our eyes. We knew and assumed many things about how a fight between Adam and Blake might go were she not paralyzed by fear and this was pretty much it. She was scared, to be sure. but Adam felt the need to verbalize it because she dared to resist against the death she so plainly deserved in his eyes. A good half of the fight was her running away, because she certainly did not want to be there. If she could get away from him instead of fight him, she’d prefer that. However he denied her that option and so she fought and boy did she. Her finesse, clever counter attacks and sharp use of her semblance allowed her to keep up with Adam for a time. She even managed to get his sword away from him which was amazing. However, Adam trained her and is still able to get into her head even now. More importantly however, he is physically stronger than her and allowing him to grapple her again is what sealed her fate in their fight. Had she been able to keep him from his sword the battle might well have gone in her favor. Still for being the underdog in their fight she had a resounding showing and I for one am extremely proud of Blake. However the fight that came next, made it clear that he was drastically holding back against her, likely due to the fact that he knew her and her combat style so well that he could afford to. Though when she took his blade away, that stopped. It was only afterwards that he started using his semblance and broke one half of gambol shroud. Though it was what followed that led to what is up to now, the best fight in this volume if not the series. Yang vs Adam. She came in with a Yang and Bumblebee was sacrificed to give Bumbleby life. Adam also took the full brunt of that motorcycle to the aura and there was no indication he blocked any of it, so it was easily the single biggest hit he’s taken so far and surely played into the later fight. Some people have wondered how Yang could be so apparently fearless during her fight when she plainly still suffered from ptsd in a big way. It might not be immediately obvious to people without/lacking understanding of ptsd, but as someone that suffers it I am in a unique position to elaborate. The thing about ptsd is, while you will always have it, it is not always ‘on’ and it can be completely overridden by a greater mental stimuli. For Yang, her emotional trauma was first and foremost, the loss of Blake and secondly, the loss of her arm. This can be seen in how she is able to easily joke about her arm and condition, with her father and later with her team and JNR. However she cannot do the same when it comes to Blake. Every single time Blake was brought up prior to them meeting again, it was met with anger, sadness and depression. This was absolutely intentional, as Blake is wound up tight within the mental condition of ptsd for Yang. So, Yang was presented with an absolute reason to be fearless. The Absolute Loss of Blake.Blake’s death would be an inconsolable weight on Yang, something I am very sure she would be unable to recover from. Moreso if it happened due to her own inaction, thus the exact opposite happened and her action revved into overdrive. Adding to this however, comes all the way from volume 4. The song Armed and Ready. Songs in this series are intrinsically tied to characters and the very theme of the show, music and art and colors were once outlawed in the world of remnant and an entire war was fought to bring those things back into the light. Whole generations of people named after colors and music and art as a form of rebellion. This is not an accident. Yang has been pumping herself up for this fight for three whole volumes, anyone who has similar experiences can verify that more than anything else, it is a battle of the mind. So that takes us to the fight itself and it was insane. Adam shows the audience immediately that his showing in v5 was a fluke from being outsmarted, outplotted and goaded into action by his victim. He did not just want to finish Yang, he wanted to humiliate her, dominate her and break her. That, is what he wanted to do. Key word, Wanted. He threw the book at Yang. His attack echos were particularly interesting, where his semblance was used to create ‘echos’ of his attacks that followed up with his attacks briefly. He also used a number of shockwaves, blast waves, blade beams and the like but it was effective at only one thing, knocking Yang away. Because once she got into his guard? She absolutely pummeled him the likes of which I’d never expected. But lets take this piece by piece, when Adam began fighting Yang he rushed her aggressively and seemingly put her on the defensive. But this was not him putting her on the defensive, this was Yang doing her homework on the spot. We need to remember something, Yang has -never- seen Adam fight before. Never. Her only experience with Adam, was losing an arm to a single slash too fast to even follow. So the only thing she knew was, “If I can see him, I have a chance.” The most important part of any duel, is if both opponents even have the means of challenging eachother. If not, then it isn’t a duel, it is a one sided slaughter. The first test then, was seeing if she could follow his attacks at all. Spoiler alert: boy could she. She used his heavy opening aggression as a way to feel out his speed and strength, she discovered pretty early that she was stronger than him. She also learned that his energy blasts multiplied his strength enough to send her skidding backwards. Most importantly however, she learned that she was no longer too slow to keep up with him and in fact, reacted faster than he did. She evaded his actual attacks and blocked his echos and energy, he did not land a single attack on her that was not blocked. This is extremely important. Once the opening salvo was done, she turned on the offense and Adam absolutely had no answer for it. She pounded him really hard and you could hear the sounds of pain from him, if you pause the video at choice parts to boot, you can see his face twisted in anguish. She hurt him. She forced him into the defensive which is a problem for her. Why? Because his core style isn’t an offensive one as most seem to believe. His core style is defend and counter, that is what his semblance is built around. Defending enough to build a meter and unleash brutal counters. Yang’s brutal offensive forced him to return to his basics, blocking as many of her attacks as he could with his sword, so that he could attempt to speed blitz and blast wave her to death. However this was also blocked which put her in position for Blake to give her a quick lesson on his semblance which changed everything. The parallel of her having to feel the pain of the damage she took verses him being able to get away with feeling nothing was extremely powerful, as it outlined a sociopath compared to one who self sacrifices. Once Yang understood, Adam failed to block her attacks with her sword again for a fair portion because she no longer went for his sword as a strike target, she even used the very move she used in v3 to come at him, just to juke and school him in a beautiful combo. However this was when Adam actually used his sword to block an incoming strike rather than making his sword a target, because he couldn’t get away with that anymore. The resulting blast and very heavy fighting left Yang tired even though she had not really taken any damage. Importantly however, Adam was also left panting and looking weary. He certainly had not expected the blond that he’d one shot a year ago to be giving him a genuine run for his money, yet here we are. More than that though, he also saw the look that Yang and Blake were giving eachother and it was a stark reminder of that moment in v3. That moment when he considered Yang someone worth killing to torment Blake, someone that Blake loved. At that moment, it was a bit more likely that he considered them close friends rather than intimate. But even love between dear friends can be powerful, just look at how devastated Yang was after the fact. They certainly had not been dating then, they certainly had not confessed any feelings then. At that point in their lives, they were just very very good friends. Yet now Adam saw more, Adam saw something in their eyes that enraged him to the point where he empowered himself for an attack so powerful that Blake cried out Yang’s name in such fear like we’ve never seen in this show before. Truly, it was a bad ass looking attack. It was mighty, powerful and awe inspiring. Notably however, Yang blocked it with her mechanical arm and this is important. She did not use her real arm and aura to block it, she did not spend aura to block this attack likely because she couldn’t have. I fully believe that this attack was a kill move, it would have cut through her aura and dealt a truly terrible wound. The fact that it was able to so deeply scar her mechanical arm, something that up to now had not even taken a scratch? Something that Ironwood had personally developed for her? Something that was cutting edge the year it was made? Instead, she tanked that attack like it was nothing and gave Adam a look that left no room for misinterpretation. She was done. Yet despite that, she still gave him a chance. “Leave US alone.” Not just Yang, not just Blake. He was both of their nightmare, but now he was not an invincible dream. Now he could bleed, now he could hurt and now he was standing in front of her. Her high tension however began leading to her shakes, shakes that stemmed from the fight, memories, the ptsd struggling to break through and his taunting when he noticed it certainly didn’t help.

However, Blake was there. Yang was not alone either, just like Blake had not been. Blake learned from the shed, Yang learned from the waterways. Stronger Together. “We’re Protecting Eachother.” They held hands in what might well be the most iconic moment of the series, right in front of Adam. The man struggling so hard to break and kill them. The stage is set, the audience is ready. The final act of this play will commence soon and soon we will see the passing of a great villain, who absolutely deserves everything that is coming to him. Remember his short, remember it well. Phew, my longest post yet. I hope you folks enjoy it. If you have any asks, questions, comments or critiques, please feel free to send them my way.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #RWBY volume 6 #Yang Xiao Long #Blake Belladonna #adam taurus #bumbleby

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 6 years

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Michael in the Mainstream: Aquaman

Aquaman is an absolutely fantastic film. There’s really no getting around that simple fact; this film is a delight, a grand, epic, cheesy 80s adventure film throwback to rival even the best and brightest of that genre. Imagine, if you will, if Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Return of the King had a baby, and you have a general idea of the kind of film Aquaman is. The best part is that who on Earth could have ever seen this coming?

As I’m sure you’re all aware, Aquaman has long been the butt of jokes to casual audiences due to his perceived uselessness that was showcased in the old Superfriends cartoon, a cartoon that’s not exactly the best if you’re looking for accurate portrayals of all the characters involved. Even after decades of other cartoons giving him more to do, Aquaman never entirely was able to shake off that image, even when Jason Momoa was cast. It certainly didn’t help he got his debut in the much-reviled Justice League, where he was given a bit of a harsher attitude and a hideous costume. Then came the poster for this film with its stock image shark, and things looked pretty bleak. How could Aquaman hope to be a good film with all of this stacked against it?

The true brilliance lies in the decision by its director, James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring), to toss out just about everything Justice League established about Aquaman in regards to his personality and backstory, instead opting for a lighter, more fun take on the character. Normally such serious retconning would be atrocious and awkward… but it really makes this film work so much better. Aquaman is no longer a bitter character, he has no resentment towards his mother (instead having it directed at Atlantis for what they DID to his mother), he’s a fresh take on the character and it really is a difference of night and day. I liked Aquaman in Justice League, and I liked that movie; I loved Aquaman here, and I loved this film just as much.

So what exactly is Aquaman doing in his solo film? Arthur Curry (AKA Aquaman), after wanting nothing to do with Atlantis due to executing his mother, is forced to go to the sunken city by Mera (Amber Heard), who along with Arthur’s mentor Vulko(Willem Dafoe) think Arthur is the only man who is right for the throne of Atlantis. This is mainly due to Arthur’s half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) is a bit of a surface-hating warmonger who wishes to end the tyranny of humans and their pollution of the sea by the most violent means possible by attaining the title of Ocean Master by uniting the remaining kingdoms of the sea into an unstoppable army. There’s an ancient artifact Mera and Vulko believe could aid Arthur, a legendary trident lost to the ages that holds incredible powers and will certainly ensure a half-breed like Arthur is accepted as the one true king who can unite Atlantis and the surface. And so the film becomes a journey for Arthur to discover this lost artifact before Orm amasses his army, along the way finding out what it truly means to be king and also maybe stealing the heart of his half-brother’s betrothed.

The film’s greatest strengths do not lie in its story – I think most will admit this is a pretty generic and even cliché story, albeit one that is enjoyable (cliché does not equal bad, something more people need to realize) – but in its other elements, most notably the visuals. This movie is absolutely gorgeous. The shots of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis but Wakanda and Pandora to shame, and really do look like something out of a comic book. And speaking of comics, Aquaman’s enemies translated very well to live action, with Orm and especially Black Manta looking absolutely fabulous in live action. Black Manata is especially notable, since it would have been so easy to make his iconic suit look stupid or silly, but not only does it look perfect and accurate, Black Manta does not lose an ounce of cool factor in the process.

The performances across the board are almost universally fantastic. It should be noted, however, that Momoa and Wilson are both really carrying the brunt of the film on their shoulders, and doing it nearly effortlessly. Momoa is just an absolute blast to watch, his take on Aquaman is just so much fun, so charming, it’s practically impossible to hate him (though he does deliver a couple of lame jokes here and there). Wilson, on the other hand, portrays a villain who is at once sympathetic and understandable but also ruthless and underhanded. Orm feels like the DC answer to Black Panther’s Killmonger, an emotionally complex and personal villain that you can’t help but root for a little bit even though you also can’t wait to get see them taken down. Willem Dafoe is, as always, fantastic in his role as the wise mentor figure he seems to do a lot (John Wick and Finding Nemo both come to mind, and the latter is amusing as this is the second time he’s played an aquatic mentor figure), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II brings a sense of vengeful ferocity and symapthy to Black Manta. The weak link in all of this is Amber Heard, who is just at best a painfully average actor and at worst is just mediocre. She doesn’t hold back the film and she has her moments, but she really does stick out as the weak link when surrounded by all sorts of other fantastic performances, the biggest of which (literally) is Julie Andrews… as the biggest kaiju imaginable. I’m not joking.

There are so many nice little touches here and there too, such as the incorporation of Momoa’s own cultural heritage into the character which becomes evident in a lot of places, the absolutely heartfelt and touching relationship between Arthur’s parents, the drumming octopus that shows up being a cameo from Topo, an octopus sidekick that’s pure Silver Age silliness… this movie is absolutely not short on time.

Now, it’s not without a few flaws, but they don’t majorly impact the movie. The film can feel a bit long, but whenever it seems like it’s getting a bit slow something exciting happens to engage you. Of course, that doesn’t excuse some parts that, while cool, could have been trimmed out such as the Black Manta sequence. But even this flaw is one I barely consider, because in such a big, epic movie, it needed a cool personal showdown between a vengeful minor antagonist and Arthur. Really, a lot of this film’s ‘flaws’ are like this; they’re there, but if you like this movie it’s seriously easy to justify them.

Now what can’t be justified is the rushed nature of Arthur and Mera’s relationship. Again, it is easy to justify – this film is a big genre throwback to 80s adventure films, with one example Wan has mentioned being Romancing the Stone, and movies like this tend to have the hero get the girl at the end – but the rushed nature combined with Heard’s weak performance make it a bit odd. It honestly made more sense for them to end the movie as good friends, which would have been more reasonable, and then save their inevitable romance for a future film. All this being said, considering Mera was Orm’s betrothed, this causes the hilarious realization as you watch the big kiss and see Arthur nearly grope Mera’s backside that he has successfully cuckolded his own half-brother. There’s really no way to be too hard on this film, every time I try I end up praising it in the same breath as I critique it.

This is a truly fun, exciting movie that really pushes superhero movies to new heights visually, and makes me excited to see what DC does next. This is truly a step in the right direction, and shows that Wonder Woman was not a fluke, and was in fact a sign DC was onto something when they gave great creators room to shine with charismatic actors. Frankly, I’d say this film is even better than Wonder Woman, on the basis of this film having a much stronger villain and a better and more consistent style, while maintaining the elements that made Wonder Woman good (a charming and charismatic lead that truly gets their character, strong supporting cast, excellent action). Yes this film is cheesy, yes it’s not going to appeal to everyone, yes it’s not perfect… but I can’t help but recommend this, because we need more movies this exciting and fun. I just loved every single minute of this.

Even Pitbull’s song.

#Michael in the Mainstream #Review #movie review #Aquaman #Jason Momoa #DC #DCEU #DC film #superhero movie #action #adventure #James Wan

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rebelwheels-blog · 6 years

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You Are The Universe Experiencing Itself

January 30, 2018

Do not become / A “new you”. / This year, / Become / A better You.

Hello there, loyal readers. This update is going to have quite a quantity of information shared with you all, so be prepared not to be able to read all of this in one sitting. I’ll have headings as I usually do so that if there is something anyone wants to skip over, it’s easier to do so.

Hair and Color

More than two months ago, I decided that I needed a change. I’d had my red hair for so long, then ended up growing it out for various reasons, and I feel like having dyed hair makes it easier for strangers to come up to me and start a conversation. So, I booked an appointment with my hairdresser. Well, not my usual hairdresser, as he moved to another salon, but this one was friends with my trusted hairdresser. Plus, she did my dad’s hair, so I figured why not?

I wrote this a while back to post as another entry, but ended up not publishing it because, well, we’ll get to that later.

November 12, 2018

Got my hair cut and colored today. I have been deliberating on getting my hair cut lately as my hairdresser moved salons, and It’s about a half hour away… My hair has been kind of a touchy subject lately. But my dad convinced me that I was beginning to look a little too shaggy, or as he so eloquently put It, “homeless”. So, I booked an appointment with Annie, who cuts his hair and my grandmother’s, but today was our first time doing my hair. She’s a really cool individual plus she’s friends with my hairdresser so I figured I’d give her a try.

I’m really glad I did! She did an absolutely amazing job! My head fell only about three times and getting it colored was painless. Between her being careful but confident, and my Spinraza strengthened muscles, and Dad when he was needed, the three of us made a good team.

Originally, I was just going to do blue highlights. I’ve missed having my hair as a talking point for strangers, and I didn’t want to do red again, so I figured why not do something totally seemingly out of character?! I’ve thought about doing crazy colors before, but I have the confidence of a… Okay, everything has more confidence than I do when it comes to my appearance or personality. Anyway, I’ve been slowly trying to get back to my old cheerful self that did what she wanted to do because It made her happy, not because she wanted to Impress someone other than herself.

So that’s what I did.

When Annie showed me the shade of blue that I was thinking of doing, it was on a ring of other colors as well. In noticing this, an Idea was forming in my head, with the conversation that I had with my grandmother playing in the background.

“May I see the purple?” I asked with curiosity.

Who said I only had to have one color highlighted into my hair?

That’s how I ended up with glorious highlights of blue and purple.

It wasn’t until about two months later that I got to refresh my glorious cosmic hair, as my hairdresser had gotten sick the day I was originally going to redo it, and then I got sick on the day I rebooked with her. Which leads me into my next heading.

A Spin On Colds

Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, I got sick recently. Directly after Christmas, in fact. It was rather an interesting holiday this year as my grandfather came down with something right before my aunt flew in from New Jersey. So instead of spending Christmas with my grandparents like we have every year prior, my aunt and I slept over at my dad’s, so I wasn’t near germs. I have, I’m sorry, I had managed to stay healthy and not get sick for almost two years this coming February. However, after three late nights, and exhibiting much more energy than I have for quite a few years, my body ended up giving in to the sick life. This time, though, something was different. This time, I didn’t go downhill like I always do. This time, I got a regular old head cold.

Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either. That first morning when my sore throat began to break, I coughed, and I sounded like I was drowning. Just like every sickness I’ve had to endure since I first started this seemingly endless battle with my own body back in 2015. My dad sounded more irritated than I can describe when he heard this cough first thing that morning, but nonetheless turned me on my side like I do every morning to get my glug out and set up my nebulizer to give me a treatment. Granted, I believe it may have been an hour that it took to get this stuff out, but the thing is, I got it out. And it stayed out. It would come back a bit every so often and if I didn’t keep up with my decongestants along with my nebulizer treatments, I’d end up getting really stuffy and would feel an allergy tickle in my sore throat, but it never went beyond this. One of the days, though, my throat hurt so much that I had to use my phone to communicate by having it read off the words I was typing. Luckily, that only lasted for one day. The day after that, it still didn’t feel great and I had to periodically have my phone talk for me, but this was all normal. No drowning in my own lungs, no wishing it would all just end, no epic depression after realizing I was sick again. Just felt… Sick.

Now, this is something absolutely huge in my life because I now know that if I do get sick, this is all that will happen. I now don’t have to live in constant paranoia that if I get sick, I might die. Why have I come to this conclusion? How could I possibly know that this wasn’t just a fluke and that this wasn’t just a coincidence? Well, first off, I don’t believe in coincidences. Secondly, I would have to have absolutely no knowledge of my own body to think that this situation will not replicate itself. Every single time I got sick before, it didn’t matter if it was from pain, stress, fatigue, whatever, I would end up going downhill and not being able to breathe without extreme fear of drowning without my Bipap. This time, I spent one full day with my breathing helper and I was actually able to eat. Which was absolutely amazing since my appetite has been rather small since my fifth Spinraza injection, resulting in me eating less and less which most likely did not help my body fight off this cold in the first place. Since I got over my sickness about a week and a half after coming down with it, my appetite has luckily increased. Dinner isn’t fun trying to get down still, but the rest of the day I am actually eating.

I cannot vocalize enough how grateful I am for being able to say that Spinraza has absolutely turned my life on its axis. If it weren’t for this incredible medication, I do not believe that my cold would have simply stayed as a cold the way it is supposed to.

A week ago, I did finally end up getting my hair redone and I am absolutely in love with it again as I actually went back to my pixie cut.

Cue cheesy smile

Written in the Stars

Even though Christmas was not at all what we had anticipated, there were a few good things that came out of it. I managed to send my friend in New Jersey a home made present created by yours truly, which in turn showed me that I can actually sew with a needle and thread now. I got photos with Santa and his wife who travel around my grandparent’s neighborhood with the fire department and a fireman came up to me with a hat saying I could come work for them any time I wished. I was buzzing by the end of that night even when I knew we couldn’t have our normal Christmas Eve dinner together. My family discovered that our long-time friends and neighbors were our secret Santa that did the 12 Days of Christmas with a gift waiting outside our front door every day from the fourteenth of December to the twenty-fifth. But what really made an impact on me this Christmas was what was in my stocking. A book. But not just any book, no, this book was a book of poetry. Light Filters In written by Caroline Kaufman was in my stocking and when I read the poem written on page eleven, I felt as though I was reading my own thoughts. For the first time, what I had been trying to explain to others, but mostly myself, was written down in this two-hundred poem book created by a female the same age as I am.

Poetry has been a fairly large interest of mine since I had to write my poem for class which I added to my video for the SMA Video Contest. Especially once my dad introduced me to The Doors when he made me watch the movie with Val Kilmer starring as Jim Morrison. That man made me want to write more poetry, then I read Ms. Kaufman’s poetry and I decide that I will follow in her footsteps, but with my own spin of my tires. So far, I have twenty-three poems written and I am not stopping there. Especially when all of this made me realize that I have been writing poetry for most of my life without even being conscious of it. I’ve always loved trying to write songs, but I could never figure out a chorus. I thought poetry had to rhyme, but I realized that this is a fallacy. Which has opened a portal that I never knew existed.

Which kind of brings me to my next topic, which is going to be under this heading because this is all pretty connected.

As I mentioned earlier, I entered a contest that was to explain what it is like living with SMA for me. I placed fourth, but I had and have absolutely no idea how to promote my creations. However, the first, second, and third place winners did. The reason why I am bringing this up is due to an email I received a few weeks back. Writing this down is not easy, even though I never knew him personally, he was and is a part of the SMA family and participated in the same contest I decided to partake in. Ryan Cotter, the third-place winner, passed away at the beginning of December due to complications caused by the disease we both endure. He was 17 years old and excited to attend college after he graduated this year and was accepted to Arizona State University’s Digital Culture degree program as he was fascinated by the creation of videos and luckily, he had the utilities to allow him to experiment and fulfill his want to create with technology.

Now, I have had this information in my possession for a few weeks now and I honestly have no idea where to pocket it. Hence this update being much later than I had intended. I am about to confess something that may or may not end up bringing hate mail in my comments or inbox, but I feel like this information needs to be out there. Ryan ended up impacting me in a way that I never imagined I could be impacted.

I never liked being around, associated with, or promoting the fact that I am apart of a disabled community. I never wanted to do the video contest as it ended up making me relive my darkest moments. I never made it all the way through each video that was also entered into the contest because I could not bare to see others like me. I never like the fact that I am disabled and never want anyone to acknowledge that I am unless it involves my limitations as I’ll end up beating myself up over something I cannot do if it is brought to my attention.

All of these things kept me from watching Ryan Cottor’s video before he passed. All of these things kept me from discovering that he and I had a lot in common and that we could have developed a friendship. All because I was selfish and did what I get angry at everyone else for doing. Judging someone before I get to know them. Due to this, I have been a big ball of guilty energy. I know that I cannot change the past, I know it’s a bit too late to ask for forgiveness, but I would give every injection I have had of Spinraza to him if it meant he could have lived the life he should have lived. However, this is only something that can happen in my imagination, so what I will do to try and set things right is to allow myself to become a better version of myself. Isn’t that what everyone else does this time of year? Make new years resolutions? Well this is mine.

I promise to become a better version of myself that has theories to suit facts instead of facts to suit theories. To know absolutely everything I can about a situation before believing I already do. To be an advocate for the disabled community that will not sugarcoat the truth to make it easier to swallow.

I may appear cynical at times, but the reality behind having such a debilitating disease is not a kind one. However, there are those like Ryan who would never allow that to be his reality, which allowed him to live life the way he wanted to. Not all of us are that fearless, but we can strive to be. The way I will strive to be fearless is to put together a book of poetry written by yours truly. Becoming an even better writer is what I will work on this year. I have taken my six months off, now it’s time to work. I don’t know if I will go to college, I don’t know if I will suddenly be able to walk with Spinraza leading the way like Venom does for Eddie when he heals him after his motorcycle accident, I don’t know if a celestial anomaly will hit the earth while I sleep and wipe out humanity’s only home, I don’t know if I will ever pluck up the courage to tell someone I love them, I don’t know if the next time I get sick that I will be able to get well again. None of us have any guarantees in this world, so we have to live it without fear and with an understanding that our lives are our own, to not let anyone else take anything away from it and only add to it.

I will be trying to add to this blog at least every week from now on. That way it will be easier to keep track of new advances in my strength and so forth.

I warned you this would be a long one. Thank you for reading until the end. If anyone has any questions, or just wants to chat, I will have all my contact information in my bio of my blog.

As this entry began with a poem, it will also end with one.

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pricryo · 6 years

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All the love asks

“Blush : What do you do when you have a crush on someone?”- i draw art of them and make playlists for them in secret and imagine how cool it would be to hold them… i also try to do whatever i can to make them happy, even if it makes me sad.

“Kiss : What’s the sweetest thing someone has done for you?”- i was once given a series of letters that spanned over the course of december with roughly one letter every day until christmas! it was all good, positivity, lovey-dovey stuff!! i really cherish that. i also really cherish every single time john has drawn something for me!! especially the things that were to cheer me up!!!! 💛💖

“Cuddle : Which one of your mutuals do you really want to hug right now?”- @blondewolfhd come get your hugs, love!! 💛💖

“Heartbeat : What fictional character do you love?”- oh, plenty!! there’s a full list on my carrd under comfort characters, but the main romo comforts are: john laurens (hamilton musical), brightheart (warriors), hollyleaf (warriors), jay merrick (marble hornets), steve rogers (marvel), arthur pendragon (bbc merlin), sir leon (bbc merlin), sir lancelot du lac (bbc merlin), sir gwaine (bbc merlin), and john marston (red dead redemption)! 💛💖

“Romance : Perfect date?”- going to a zoo or an aquarium!!! that would be super fun!!!!! or like… going to a cafe… or really anything!!! like… the perfect part is just being there with my partner honestly…

“Joy : What truly makes you happy?”- being with my partners and just… having fun, goofing off!! or doing things together!!! just being with them and just… loving them… they make me happy.

“Happiness : Who are your kin?”- assuming this means family, i have an older brother and sister, a mother and father, and three nieces and a nephew. not counting my many, many cousins. or my uncles/aunt. however, i don’t really… consider them family, for the most part, other than my older brother and one of my nieces (i call her kidd and she’s got some issues, but she’s pretty chill). in addition, i also co-own one pug (meatball), one blue heeler mix (fluke), one white cat (archimedes), one orange tabby cat (napoleon), one calico cat (mr. meowgi), one albino rabbit (casper), one rabbit with a “wild coat” (acorn), and one rabbit that’s brown with black splotches (berry). i also have… three adoptive dads and four boyfriends!! 💛💖

“Love : Are you, or have you been, in love before?”- yes!! i am deeply in love with my boyfriends!! john and leon are the only two that aren’t in my system, but i love them all the same!! unfortunately, i do have a bad habit of only referring to john, mostly because i typically feel afraid to tell people i’m dating two of my headmates and one of his, and i really wish i could break that. leon, gwaine, lance, john… i love you all equally. 💛💖

“Beloved : What do you love the most about yourself?”- i’m trying harder to learn how to love myself, but i think… my eyes? or better yet, my creative talent. i’m trying really hard to hone my writing ability considering how it’s my special interest and i’m an aspiring author!!

“Sweet: Favorite love song?”- currently, it’s if i killed someone for you by alec benjamin, but other good ones i like include the anchor by bastille, white blood by oh wonder, and i found by amber run!!

“Cute : What’s your aesthetic?”- unfortunately… it changes way too often. over all it’s had a foresty theme for a while, but sometimes it’s also been retro games and pixel art, and sometimes it’s been sunflowers and pastel colors and being gentle, and once it was books and reading and coffee, and once it was pirates back when they were one of my special interests! right now, i don’t really know what it is, and i really wish i did.

“Thoughtful : If you could change your name, what would you call yourself?”- this is also a very hard question! right now, the current name i’m going with is timothy alexander lucas(?) laurens (or technically wright, but then when i marry john, it’ll be laurens)!! but i also like a few of my kin names (merlin, icarus, javier, and bucky namely)! and i’ve probably entertained the thought of a few other names at one point or another, but right now i’m most comfortable with being called tim by most people!

“Charming : Who helps motivate you?”- my partners are my main source of motivation!! 💛💖

“Beautiful : Who is your ideal significant other?”- i’m already with them!!! 💛💖

“Affection : Who do you ship?”- plenty of ships! my biggest ship rn (mostly because of the kin shift) is jovier (john marston/javier escuella)! another one of my major ships is merthur (merlin emrys/arthur pendragon)!! you can ask for a more extended list in a separate ask but rn this is all that comes to mind!!

“Kind : What Pokemon would you be?”- where i kin a lot of pokemon… i have many options, like umbreon, jirachi, pikachu, zorua/zoroark, midnight lycanroc, pyroar, shiny yamask, shiny quilava, the rowlet line, and deoxys! that isn’t even counting my synpaths, either! but right now, i’m feeling mostly like i’d be midnight lycanroc! :0

“Heart Beat : You’re getting coffee with a celebrity, who is it?”- i don’t really know!!;;

“Giggle : Do you believe in love at first sight?”- not exactly!! i believe you can feel attracted to a person, but you can’t fall super deeply into love with them until you know every little detail about what makes them wonderful!! 💛💖

“Laughter : Who can always make you laugh?”- my partners!! 💛💖

“Smile : What do you find attractive?”- i don’t really know!! ;w; i don’t think i have any specific preference, but john says i do, so i’m uncertain!!

“Warmth : What is your happy place?”- a warm bed in colorado curled up with my husbands! 💛💖

“Huggable : What are your favorite flowers?”- mostly sun flowers and tea roses!! there’s plenty of them i like that i can’t remember rn, though!!

“Soul Mate : Who is your best friend?”- without a doubt, my best friends are my partners! 💛💖

“Unique : What qualities do you look for in other people?”- generally, i want the people i’m dating to have similar values to mine (anti-racism, anti-terf, anti-trump, anti-islamophobia, anti-xenophobia, etc!) and be a good person!! nothing else really matters to me!! 💛💖

“Trust : Do you trust people easily?”- i used to trust super easily, but after being put through emotional abuse my one of my best friends at the time and being manipulated after putting all of my trust in her, i find i can’t do that so easily!! however, i’m still slightly easy to trust, from what i’ve noticed recently!!

“Dearest : What item is most dear to you?”- literally anything my partners have ever given me!! like the candles john made!! or the art!! or the letters!!! or the minecraft sheep plushie that i love a whole lot!!! or the blankets!! or the things they’ve taken from the bad house and brought to me!! i love them a lot!!! 💛💖

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amahontl · 7 years

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NieR:Automata - Dengeki Playstation vol.638 Interview [Ending E spoilers]

WARNING! This interview contains spoilers up to Ending E.

Published on May 11th 2017.

Inquiring the key development staff of the abyss of “Project YoRHa”

NieR:Automata breaks past 1 million copies in sales and continues to be a hot selling hit. A direct interview with the 4 main staff immediately after the concert event! We enquire about the mysteries unraveled in the concert’s Recital Play and the world guide book. We’ll also ask about future grave visitings.

The people we’ll be interviewing

Director, Yoko Taro

From Bukkoro (ブッコロ). Responsible for directing NieR:Automata. Who is finally released from the deadlines for submitting the concert’s Recital Drama script and the world guide book.

Game Designer, Taura Takahisa

From Platinum Games. Responsible for the game design of NieR:Automata. Lately Yoko has been teasing him for his growing accustomization to the media.

Producer, Yosuke Saito

From Square Enix. Responsible for producing NieR:Automata. Kindly watches attentively over Yoko’s recklessness, when he’s gotta do it, he’ll do it.

Composer, Keiichi Okabe

From MONACA. Responsible for the sound production of NieR:Automata. In order to make the Osaka and Tokyo concerts a success, he goes all out with the MONACA staff.

The concert’s existence is thanks to the fans and as the best reward for the developers

Now that a bit of time has passed since the release of the game, I’d like to take this chance to ask you of various spoilers… Since time is restricted today, I’ll have Yoko give his comments on the next day to supplement your impressions of today’s very first NieR:Automata concert, as well as future plans for the game.

Yoko: I see, acknowledged.

With that said, I’d like to truly congratulate you on the realization of today’s concert. What are your impressions now that the first performance, the Osaka performance has ended?

Okabe: Speechless. The progress for the concert this time was really cutting it close, we were doing various adjustments right up to before the concert started. To get it all over with, we had to do our first rehearsal on the day before, let alone the day of the concert. I hope the fans will be satisfied with what we have to offer.

The concert was amazing! I was watching from the audience seat and I could hear a lot of people crying within the seats around me, I was crying too of course.

Saito: I was crying the entire time. To the point that my tear glands are possibly destroyed. Yoko did cry too, right?

Yoko: Yes. I cried without realizing it.

Taura: I was wailing as well. To the point that I ran out of tissue. It was tough from the very beginning, the part I really cried at was the part with Beauvoir. I personally like fast pace music but, the memories of mid-production revived and I couldn’t bear it.

Yoko: You sure those tears were only meant for those hard times? (weakly laughs)

Taura: Not at all… It was definitely a hard time, but in turn it meant that it was memorable. Other than that, the “Song of the Ancients” coupled with the NieR:Automata and NieR Replicant/Gestalt footage of Devola and Popola went really well together.

I’m sure this goes the same for the fans as well, that this concert is the greatest reward for the developers.

Okabe: There’s the Tokyo performance after this and we’d like to show the audience an enhanced performance.

By the way, who coordinated the footage played at the back of the stage?

Okabe: We’ve gotten a vendor this time to coordinate the footage and we’ve made the one in charge have a proper understanding of NieR. The finished product was immensely satisfactory. But of course, Yoko was supervising it all.

Yoko: I only supervised it. I felt that this time, the significance of the Recital Drama was very, very severe. I don’t ever want to put myself in such mayhem ever again.

Saito: Since the limited tickets came with the Recital Drama script, we did intend on sending it out to the customers, “We have till the day itself for the script, so whatever”, is what we’d like to say. Our very own publication department had the color drained from their faces.

Yoko: Saito made the rash decision of making different scripts for each performance….

Saito: What! It was Yoko who said he wanted to do a Recital Drama. (laughs)

Yoko: Well, that’s true but, I didn’t say I’d write a new script for each and every 5 performances you know.

Saito: Well that can’t be helped. It’s tough getting all 5 of the voice actors to come in on the same day, it’s something that needed to be arranged pretty early on. They’re all such busy people you know?

I see, that’s a valid reason.

Saito: At first Yoko wanted to get a boys’ choir in but that was obviously impossible. Even then, we made a move to somehow get a hold of the venue for the concert, as well as sending out offers to the voice actors….. It was a lot of work. Especially for today’s Osaka performance, we were fortunate enough to have 9S’ voice actor, Hanae Natsuki, present. Hanae had “Oha Suta” to attend to early in the morning on the following day, so I thought he’d turn down the offer. But, Hanae himself said he would definitely attend and with that, we got 2B’s voice actor, Ishikawa Yui, and Pod 153’s voice actor, Akiyama Kaoru, together and brought their collaboration to life.

[1] Oha Suta (おはスタ Oha Suta) is a children's TV show which airs in Japan in the morning on Monday to Friday, and it is produced by TV Tokyo.

All that trouble was worth it, the Recital Drama was amazing. 9S kept dying as usual, Hanae seemed a bit pitiful. (weakly laughs)

Saito: I was able to watch the rehearsals on the day of the concert, my first at that. When it comes down to the real thing, they perform amazingly.

I took a look at the scripts for all 5 performances and it was shocking.

Yoko: Was it?

It was full of content that could’ve been put into the game itself. It wasn’t something that you could classify as side story content.

Taura: I know what you mean. Without much thought, I wanted to make a certain scene like this(within the game)….. It came spontaneously to mind.

Right. I wish you guys included it in the game.

Taura: Included in the game, huh.

Yoko: No way, that’s out of the question! (weakly laughs)

Saito: Well, you could say that it’s a concert-only special content. We have a super big surprise prepared for the last day as well. I’m looking forward to seeing the fan’s reactions.

I’m sure the fans are rather delighted with the Recital Drama itself, as well as the supplementary footage.

Saito: Actually, we have made plans to record the audio of the Recital Drama, we might want to release it in some sort of medium.

[2] All the performances’ play audio have been recorded and added to the Blu-ray release of “The Memories of the Puppets”.

It would’ve been ideal to have new in-game footage for the concert.... I think.

Yoko: I see. If Square Enix funds us then, Platinum Games would, well, right?

Taura: Right. If something is given, I can do as much.

Yoko, Taura, you two are making a totally sleazy look. (laughs)

10th anniversary, the next project? Juicy details about the next project’s plans

At any rate, a million copies sold across the world is quite amazing.

Saito: 1 million copies. It’d be nice if it happened but to think that it actually did happen. As for me, I had a secret goal of “pushing Yoko Taro up to the next level”, and I think I’ve managed to accomplish it. With that, the “World of Yoko Taro” is widely spread.

Yoko: But to be rather honest, I think that the hit (NieR:Automata) is a fluke. Even all the staff involved thinks so too.

Saito: A fluke eh… Well, even if we do make another game, it might not sell as well as Automata did.

Have you managed to investigate as to why Automata achieved a million copies?

Yoko: I have already said this several times, it’s all because of Platinum Games’ strength.

Taura: Oh no, no, no, there are a lot of portions that I thought were good though. Character design by Yoshida Akihiko, music done by MONACA that was newly established by Okabe, Yoko’s leadership power and Saito who produced everything with his power, it’s all filled with great things.

Yoko: What’s wrong, Taura? Ever since I pulled you out into the media, since when were you able to make such a counterattack?

Taura: It’s all thanks to Yoko’s direction. You have my gratitude. (grins)

Yoko: That reply, what are you, a monster?! Your training was a total blunder~ (laughs)

But, making such a high quality game with such little resources is truly amazing to be rather honest.

Taura: It’s because the staff all love “NieR” and due to that, we had an unbelieveable amount of horsepower going on. It was truly the fruit of our labour, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to make such a thing ever again. (weakly laughs)

Saito: Probably not. (laughs) To be able to make something that’s so chock full of content is not easy. I was truly grateful for that.

But, with all the new details revealed in the Recital Play and the World Guide Book, having all that plot assembled together, wouldn’t it be possible to make a sequel or a spin-off? For example, the “The Country of Dawn” or “The Dragoon”, you can expand so much on.

Saito: Hold on a minute there. A spinoff? Who’s gonna be the protagonist? Pascal maybe?

Yoko: Well, I can probably make a 2 hour long story for Pascal. I don’t know if there even is demand for it though.

Platinum Games sure has it rough huh.

Taura: Totally… Especially since we’ve canceled a project. Not to mention the DLC we released on May 2nd, the development on the game itself had already wrapped up, so we’ve only had a few staff to help out with the DLC. It was tougher than I expected.

And with the Square Enix’s and Platinum Game’s CEO making an appearance in the game, surely must’ve gathered controversy. (laughs)

Yoko: That was only but a factor. At first the additional costumes were gonna be about 1800 yen, but that was way too expensive for what it was so, adding in a simple side story and a colosseum, with the addition of a lower price of 1500 yen, as well as adding another extra of the CEO fight… Well, I think it’s all satisfactory content.

With the concert ended and the DLC already released, has “NieR:Automata” reached it’s end?

Saito: I wonder. The next thing would probably be, for example, in 3 years time, the “NieR” 10th year anniversary. I daydream about what we should do for it. By then, I have no idea what we’d (the team) all be doing. My liver has been in quite bad shape after all...

Yoko: Me too. We’ll just leave the rest to the next generation. All I’ve been thinking is how I’m gonna die.

Please don’t say that. (weakly laughs) A 10th year anniversary is splendid isn’t it? I have great expectations for it.

Saito: This is all still some far ways off but, as long as the fans love the “NieR” title, we will somehow push something out. And with that, everyone, please continue to forever support the “NieR” series.

Thank you very much for today!

Additional questions for Yoko Taro

On the following day, we asked the Director, Yoko Taro, some questions about his worldview of the story of NieR:Automata (in a super rushed fashion). This Q&A is completely non-edited so please read on. We will also ask questions to Yoko about the currently-on-sale Strategy Guide and the World Guide Book, so for those who are curious about the mysteries that lies within, please do check it out!

Q: In the game, we’ve seen Yorha units clash against each other, so if there ever was a scenario where 2B, 9S and A2 duke it out against each other, which model would be the absolute strongest?

Yoko: The E model is the strongest. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Even though A2 and 2B are the same “No. 2” types, are their “Self Data” the same? Also, is it possible to implant A2’s Memory Data into 2B?

Yoko: A2 and 2B both have different Self Data. It is possible to do the implant. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Despite being the same “No. 2” Type, when 9S first encountered A2, why did it feel like 9S had such a weak reaction in that encounter?

Yoko: It’s because he didn’t notice. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Despite 2B being killed right before 9S’ eyes, why did he harbor such strong hate towards A2?

Yoko: Did it look like he hated her? Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: In the World Guide Book as well as the Recital Drama’s script we saw the inclusion of the unsightly transcription of the “Country of Dawn” and the “Country of Night”. Could you give us some details about this?

Yoko: In the World of “NieR”, in the past, the Earth’s axis had been distorted, because of that, a perpetuity of a world of day and a world of night exists. I wrote this reply in a hurry so from here on out I will skip the details.

Q: From the Recital Drama, we now know that the one who conceived the “YoRHa Project” is Zinnia, as well as No.9 who knew of his plans. Is it safe to assume that No.9 and 9S are the exact same model?

Yoko: The names are different hence the model is different. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Of all things, why did No.9 decide to help Zinnia with the “YoRHa Project”, despite being full of spite against the Project?

Yoko: There has been a misunderstanding. No.9 did not resent the YoRHa Project, rather, at the design of YoRHa units (The Black Box). Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: Is there a reason as to why Zinnia and Pod042 share the same voice actor (Yasumoto)?

Yoko: It is because Zinnia is Pod042’s personal data prototype. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

Q: In the Recital Drama, there was no passage pertaining A2’s awakening, is it safe to assume that she woke up somewhere?

Yoko: If anything, “to assume” is all up to you. Since this reply was written in a hurry, I will skip the details.

#nier #nier automata #translation #interview #yoko taro #ニーア #ニーアオートマタ #dengeki playstation

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orrtala · 7 years

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Peepers: my darling precious evil frustrated ambitious little eyeball man

Post S1 analysis

Also it would be nice if you’d read the thing. I like the thing.

A good while ago I wrote how much I liked Peepers willing to put his foot down, when he's not afraid of Hater, when he's done with his boss and it shows. And some of you told me "Oh man, you're going to like Peepers in S2!" And I was like "Ok, fine, we'll see."

"The Greater Hater" started with Peepers clearly annoyed with Hater, not caring if he get blasted or not. Okay, good. Then he's clearly in awe of Dominator's ship and I go "oooooooh I suspected he'd leave Hater in S2 looks like I was right!" Then he goes off on Hater again and as we all know frustrated Peepers is the best Peepers. So here I was, thinking that Dom was going to be Peepers' new boss, happy about Commander letting his frustrations out, maybe he'd get some character arc thanks to the switch? …But at the same time I enjoyed that dynamic between Peepers and Hater and I was also kind of sad it was going to end right when it started to get really good? The episode continued; Dominator managed to trap Wander and Sylvia, enrage Hater and fight him back with ease, while Peepers gets a good look at bot factory. "This is it," I thought. "He's going to leave Hater for the new guy for galactic domination."

And then Peepers saved everyone by wrecking the console and, though I didn't really know it at the time, became my favorite character.

Peepers got A LOT of character development this season. And, strangely, his character arc wasn't even that big or prominent. He wasn't the one who was supposed to face Dominator in one way or another (though he tried, oh boy he tried and ended up with disastrous results). He was a guy who wanted to have universe at his feet, knew he lacked the abilites to do so and had to rely on someone powerful. But now with Hater being distracted by Wander all the time he had to work even more and even harder to fullfil his ambitions.

Aside from the very first episode it didn't start with much. In "The Big Day" he tried hard to get Hater out of Wander-frenzy, and failed miserably not noticing the whole skullship planned a wedding destruction ceremony. He broke down in tears and that was that. In "The Breakfast" he just served the titular meal multiple times only to get roped into cleaning the mess Hater left in his morning tantrum.

But then "The Axe" happened. Peepers is fired by his boss, keeps on hoping Hater would rethink the matter, but it seems like skeleton man gets on his own just fine. Peepers suffers through his inner "Grop I'm so sad about life and stuff" song (and I still didn't got to hear Tom Kenny's version, come on, when is it going to be released?) gets into taxi and… tries to find a new job in newspaper? What the heck, there are so many villains around, why can't he just work for one of them? It's because he truly believed Hater is the greatest, the most powerful villain in the galaxy. And that they could be great again working together if Hater would just let him. And, well, eventually he does, almost to the point of begging. They get back together, Peepers gets a statue, and everything is right in the world.

We also got to see his room in that episode. It's small, it has a bed, a toilet, a locker and a giant Hater poster. That's it. And then he can fit all his belongings in cardboard box (along with a plant that I'm sure he stole from the cafeteria to have something to put into box). It just shows how much time and effort he put into his work. No wonder he was depressed about the prospect of losing it all.

"The It". Oh my grop I absolutely adore this episode. Aside from being hilarious it was great Peepers episode. Commander is fed up with Hater's shenanigans and decides to work with what he can. Hater causes a chaos with the game of tag (and also wants to tag Peepers himself, and, well, we can't have that… cause… reasons… nobody would like to be it anway…) – time to freeze him in coldbrrnte! Nobody wants to be it? Time to use it against other villains! And we get this nifty montage of evil, ambitious Peepers. "A true villain turns weakness into a strength!" Thanks, Peepers, that was subtle. While writers just can't keep Commander happy for too long and episode ends up with him crying, at this point Peepers understands that while he needs Hater for the empire to work, he ensures watchdogs are working with him anytime skeleton man gets distracted by Wander.

…Though then again does he actually need Hater that much?

Enter "The Cool Guy". Peepers and Hater's relationship is actually pretty decent at this point. They seem to have an actual fun playing with toys strategic figurines and planning an invasion at the same time, but Emperor Awesome's arrival puts a wrench into the whole thing. On Peepers side he worries that his boss won't get to the invasion on time but eventually gets fed up with waiting – it's invasion time! Commander goes on how he knows very well what Hater truly wants, mocking his dreams of being popular and tries to lead the invasion on his own. While putting his eye-face on the flags. Though he definitely used Hater's popularity as a villain to do this.

When he goes off to the aliens about bowing down to their new master and ruler he gets interrupted. And no one, no one will ever convince that he wasn't talking about himself. He wanted to conquer in his name for once, just to try, maybe he had capabilites, maybe he was enough, maybe he didn't need Hater after all? But Awesome makes fun of him, of his cuteness, his height, and him being a nerd. And Peepers, despite the initial failure, responds in truly great manner, making fun of him instead, pointing out what pathetic person he is. However he does that without mentioning the jab at his height. It's clearly a thing he doesn't want to talk about.

There's not much to talk about when it comes to "The Rager" and "The Good Bad Guy". Peepers continues on being Peepers to who Hater actually listens to, but also gets smacked around by his boss (more about that in relationships analysis). He's just kind of there. Getting punched by Sylvia who wasn't even there.

Oh yeah, time to mention his relationship with Syl, huh. Since their moment in "The Battle Royale" they started to get along, somewhat. It's continued in "The Show Stopper", "My Fair Hatey" and "The End of the Galaxy". They found a similriaties in each other, common goals, and at some point even had fun together. Their frenemy thing going on is important to both of them, but especially Peepers, who, so far, didn't have anyone who he saw on a same level as him.

Before "The Battle Royale" Commander managed to get his boss to the #2 spot on the leaderboard, learned to work with childish Hater and the only real obstacle was Dominator on the first place, destroying planets left and right. After this episode Dom rmeained as obstacle, but in an entirly different way: previously Hater was willing to fight the guy back. But since he developed a crush on her things started to be… complicated.

Peepers, after the fluke of attack in "The New Toy", where Hater sabotaged every attempt at fighting Dom back using the frostonium, is done. He just wants to get rid of Dominator, wants his boss back on track; he doesn't even dream of getting S1 Hater, he just wants the things to be what the status quo from the S2 first arc back, when childish, distracted Hater was a person he could work with.

So when Commander gets Hat into his hands he snaps. "The universe will be mine!" He's entirely willing to leave Hater and conquer the universe – yes, he said universe, not galaxy – by himself. Dude's definitely ambitious. Of course after everything blows up and Wander gets his Hat back things get back to normal. Well, relatively normal. As normal as WoY with Hater having a crush on a bigger villain can get, I guess. But it was there, Peepers and his ambitions resurfaced yet again.

By the time "My Fair Hatey" rolls Commander decides to take matter into his hands. I feel like fighting Dominator was pretty personal for him at this point; she was the person who messed up his plans, who made Hater into total fool. He explains his plan to Sylvia in a glorious singing manner, roping her into bringing frostonium onboard Dom's ship and… well, he successed. Sort of. It's unclear what has actually happened, but Dom gets ice powers thanks to that and the galaxy is even more doomed. But nobody can accuse the little guy for lack of trying.

In "The Bad Neighbors" Peepers clearly feels guilty and tries to reach to Hater for help. He doesn't sleep, overworking himself even more than normally, and comes up with nothing. There is a bright spot at the end of a tunnel though – his confidence is back by the end of episode and everyone is free from sitcom shenanigans.

When I finished the series my Screener asked me which arc from S2 was my favorite and which one I liked the least. Without thinking I responded that I the third arc was definitely my least favorite. Before I could mull over my response she said: "oh yeah, it didn't have enough Peepers in it, right."

Yeah, Commander kind of disappeared in a last act and took backseat to Wander and Sylvia trying to find ways to beat Dominator. He finally got to appear in "The Robomechabotatron", where he pretty much laid out his opinion about Hater to Wander (which also meant some Peepers&Wander interactions, yay!) And while I love "The End of the Galaxy" he didn't do much there. At the beginning he lost all hope, though was later shown to be looking for Hater, probably trying to plan what to do next, if that galaxy was lost. He was extremely happy about getting his compentent boss back, saved Sylvia's life, got a serious case of heart eyes and it ultimately got back to chasing Wander across the galaxy.

So, Peepers. Ambitious, evil, workaholic Peepers. I love this guy.

While it's obvious he's evil, more evil than Hater, I was thinking: how evil is he? Can we assume he's as evil or even more evil than Dom? (Or Screwball, but let's stick to evil guys who know they're evil kay.) People seem not to think so, if only because he exclaimed: "Man, that's evil!" upon learning her plan of destroying the whole galaxy. First of all he's fine with destroying few planets. He was planning a tour to do it back in "The Big Day" for flarp's sake! It's not about all the people who would lose their homes and lifes in that, no. It's about his lack of comprehension about this plan. See, Peepers is ambitious, he wants to conquer, he wants to rule, even if it has to be in someone else's name (though we all know he would gladly do it alone if he could). Sure when he sees her plan on a giant screen he's shocked, but then…

…he has this look. It's not 'it's so evil why would she do that to these people' look, it's: 'what the flarp, why would anyone do that, what are the benefits, is that her plan, is that why she destroyed everything on her path, better stop her quickly or I won't have anything to conquer.' He wants to save the galaxy only to conquer it, he says it himself later in musical episode, and Hater remembers it in the finale, causing the heart eyes. So, yeah, personally I don't think Peepers is less evil than Dominator, he's just more cautious, needs to work with others, and doesn't see sense in destroying everything; what is there left to rule after all?

So what would happen to Commander in S3? A lot of things, I imagine, I wrote the whole post about my suspcions regarding his future. Also there's a matter of his and watchdogs' home planet, that aaparently was destroyed by Dom. We would learn about his background, maybe finally get his first name. More interactions with Hater and Sylvia. Please, please, more interactions with Wander and Dominator. And…

…I'm… just gonna go cry in the corner, okay?

TL;DR: I love this character so much. He's ambitious, evil, and was supposed to get an arc in S3. Still got a lots of development in S2 and what we got was glorious.

#commander peepers #woy #savewoy #character analysis #wander over yonder #not liveblogging #orr blogging #non episode

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ogmosis · 6 years

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Crime Fiction Interview: Sandrone Dazieri

Kill the Father and Kill the Angel are two of the most enjoyable crime fiction books that I have read in the last few years. Buzzing with wit, invention and pop culture references, Sandrone Dazieri has established an arresting series that will hopefully run for longer. Aside from these two international bestsellers, Dazieri has been a prolific author of other books and screenplays so it was an honour to be able to quiz this fascinating Italian wordsmith on what makes him tick.

1) Do you prefer the often restrictive nature of screenwriting or the unlimited scope of novel writing?

They are different fields and I live them in very different ways. I love the speed of execution of screenplays - their amazing conciseness and storytelling through images. I also like to see how a script changes in the hands of a director and actors. When it works, it's wonderful, because it multiplies the power of the written word. When it doesn't work... it is still a pleasant way to make a living. Novels, instead, are my home. I grew up in them, first as a reader and then as a writer, and they are the only place where I can truly do whatever I want. All the rest was coming and going, but over the last 20 years I have written novels almost every day.

2) How important is a strong, malevolent antagonist to underpin a riveting crime series such as yours?

It is extremely important, but my real antagonist is never a human being. Yes, there is a murderer and they need to be found, but both in the first and second novels of the 'Uccidi il padre' trilogy, the person who carries out the act is only a piece of a larger system, a corrupt and compromised system, linked to the state. It is a thriller, not a spy story, but I try to represent an idea of crime that goes beyond our borders. By now, evil is globalised.

3) Did you imagine actors when you were writing Caselli and Torre as they truly jump off the page?

Thank you for the compliment. In order to move a character through a novel, I need to know how they would behave in a given situation without having to think about it too much. I need to hear their voice in my head when they speak. In short, I have to identify with them, even if they are a monster. It's like Stanislavski's system applied to writing. If I had to stick an actor's face on them, it wouldn't work for me.

4) Your pop culture references are hugely enjoyable, which help to give the characters and story depth. Are you surprised more authors do not pepper their books with them to infuse more of a human touch?

Actually, many writers do that, and many do it better than me. For example, authors such as Stephen King and Niccolò Ammaniti. And then it is true that we always try to show off classical culture and not pop culture. Unfortunately I am lacking in classical culture, I had no choice.

5) Do you outline your books rigorously or do you meander off on tangents as the writing day evolves?

I don't meander off, but I don't do treatments or outlines. If I'm getting to the end, I do a list of the missing chapters, to check that I am not leaving anything out. I know that the story I want to tell will come only after I have warmed up and have had the characters move around a bit. I don't meander because I know where I am going, even if sometimes I end up in dead ends and end up throwing away many pages. Every time I know that, to reach my goal, I will have to learn some new tricks and this is gratifying.

6) Which authors and filmmakers have influenced you the most, both when you started out writing and now?

There are hundreds, to tell you the truth. When I like a novel, a film or a character, they continue to work inside me for a good long while. Lately I have been ordering again the novels I read between the ages of 12 and 14. Of some of these I am able to quote lines by heart and I remember they key scenes as if I had been there. I have also been influenced by comics, songs, animations etc... so let's mention one name per category. Stephen King for novels, Alan Moore for comics, David Bowie for music, Yoshiyuki Tomino for anime and Hideo Kojima for video games.

7) How important was your background working in several professions before you settled on writing?

I am a kind of minestrone with lots of different bits in it but, if I have to mention a job that certainly shaped me, I'd have to say a reviewer of TV movies for a magazine. Every week, I had to summarise the plot of a hundred films into five lines each. I only had the title for about half of those films because they came from obscure American cable TV channels and, at the time, we didn't have the Internet. I made a lot of stuff up, and it was a great exercise.

8) What aspects of journalism have informed your writing the most in the creative and editing phases?

None. I have a press card, but I don't consider myself a journalist. I got the card when I was working in TV magazines, but the peak of my career was interviewing a few presenters. I had the feeling I was bothering them and I would freeze. I never got any scoops.

9) How did the big success of the Gorilla series change how you approach the craft of writing?

It didn't, apart from second novel wobbles. The first had done well, but it could have been a fluke, and with the second I would discover if I had what it takes. When the second did well, I told myself that confirmation would come with the third one, and so on. Until the fourth novel, if someone asked me what my job was I would say I worked in books, but never that I was a writer. I felt like a self-taught fraud, someone from the street. Even now, compliments embarrass me and I struggle to talk about what I am writing.

#amreading #amwriting #scriptchat #books #crime #crimefiction #italy #italia #sandronedazieri #screenplay #screenwriting #film #sceneggiatura #killthefather #killtheangel #publishing #simonandschuster #mystery

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