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life-rewritten · 5 years ago

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Start up: Nam Dosan and his helping hands

I find it challenging to accept finding clues for 'the husband scavenger hunt' type kdramas because they always have this leftover annoyance and unfairness when the second lead gets duped and broken-hearted in the end. Shows like the Reply me series, Hospital playlist, Dreamhigh etc. always use this device, flesh out both men and their reasons and love for our main girl whilst making us hurt with the push and pull of how both men are perfect for her. If one loses her, we all lose. In Start-Up, Jipyeong joins that list of the second lead men who are known to play with our heartstrings and get us rooting for him. He's Cyrano; he's pitiful, the one who's been by the girl's side this whole time, the one who spoke to her and won her heart, the soul of the letters she clings to in her mind as her happiness and person that she wants. Her fantasy for a prince come true. He's exactly that. This is why he should end up with the girl except the main lead Dosan isn't someone to forget, he seems determined and driven to get the girl, he looks ready to give it all for her. Who should she choose? After watching episode 1 and 2, seeing the in-depth and sad yet profound background story of Jipyeong, our minds automatically leans towards him. It makes no sense why he is second lead; he has this incredible bond with her grandmother, he's precisely the guy on paper she's looking for, and he has this innate thing in him ready to protect and look out for her. In a way, fortune has brought them back together again so why is Dosan still the one she probably will end up with? I've written this analysis to stand behind Dosan despite the many people who have dropped him and gone aboard Jipyeong's ship. I want to say that as a writer the show has already given Dosan the girl 80% he's the endgame why you ask because of Fate (Luck)—warning a very long essay upcoming.

Nam Dosan and Dalmi are meant to be together

The first reason Nam Do san enters Dalmi's heart without knowing who he actually was (she held onto his picture, his name and also how smart he was (from seeing him win the awards) is because fate wanted them to interact and meet each other. Hear me out before you roll your eyes, it feels more like fate is pushing her and Jipyeong together since he's the one who wrote the letters that got her out of her depression and were her rock and anchor when she was broken and looking for something to hold on to. His words comforted her, but fate still made happen in Dosan's name. Fate has supported Dosan and Dalmi from the start. It's fate who pulled Jipyeong to notice Dosan on those tv screens winning his gold medal (a psychological trick to get him to pick the newspaper later on and be open to using him as a proxy for the letter). Likewise, him seeing Dosan winning a gold medal also hints to who's winning at the end of this. The medal has other meanings as we find out in episode 5 so I'll just move on from that for now and continue with this first. Here's how Fate/The universe is on Dosan's side instead of Jipyeong.

The universe is supportive of Dosan's journey. Most things that happen to Dosan and Dalmi seem convenient and just random luck because the universe supports them in the story. Dalmi mentions this in episode 5; it's the writers warning us already. First Dosan is good at manifesting what he wants at the right moment and time:

He needed to get support from Jipyeong (his role model who he adored and looked up to) to get into the Sandbox (something Dalmi's inspiration created/she's also the little girl on the swings). This is manifested to him by Dalmi showing up and him selling baseball being the reason she finds him (follow your dreams). Because of her, Jipyeong has to pay attention, mentor and push him into wanting to be better. It's all fate conspiring to get him what he wants; his dreams to succeed in his company despite everyone looking down on him because he's a loser.

The universe provides him with Dalmi's love and support. Dalmi is the companion he never knew he needed (he realized it so much in episode 5 as she was giving his speech; she was his missing piece to his company). She's his catalyst for inspiration and the spark that was missing from his company's startup. He's given a chance to get into Sandbox because of her, (first because of her, Jipyeong backs him in Sandbox hoping he fails, and then second she chooses him to join her team)

The universe has set someone else on his team; Alex, the other Korean American, is also another way Dosan manifests his dream into a reality. Despite everyone looking down on him, Alex is amazed at Dosan and has a past with him that he wants to repay (I'll talk more about how both Dosan and Dalmi's 'choices' is why fate is on their side in another post)

Fate is on Dosan's side, and it keeps on helping him to get there with the presence of Dalmi. Fate wants them to be together regardless if she doesn't know that he's not her first love, the universe already set him up like that by his name being the proxy for the letters, they were destined from the start.

Nam Dosan always chooses/gets the real Dalmi

The second reason why Dosan and Dalmi are meant to be together, for now, is because he loves and knows the real Dalmi. Jipyeong has been writing letters to Dalmi, listening to her express her self and he never paid attention or remembered who the real Dalmi is. That's already a sign that his slowness will cost him the win in this race. Dosan who the letter was intended for from the start (because it was to his name) reads her messages, and he's affected by who Dalmi is. He chooses to keep going to her side because of this. Her words inspire him, and her genuine self makes him want to push out of his comfort zone and want to win. Her presence in his life is so significant to him because she's meant to be there and it's vice versa for her. They both needed each other, both being pulled to each other without knowing why. Its destiny.

Let's focus a bit more on this fact about authenticity, both Dalmi and Dosan are on equal grounds (they may seem like they're just acting with each other but they're not they see through each other when it matters), they both think they're nobodies, they're not necessary, they lose on purpose for other people's happiness, and they react the same way to things. The first time we're given this idea of how similar they are is when she understands why he would lie about being wealthy and prosperous; she just did the same thing in episode 1, so it made her understanding and grateful instead of thinking about the fact she lied to him, Dalmi focused on how she found someone just like her, someone who understands what it's like to be her(it brought her comfort and confidence that he's the right partner for her)

Dosan is her father’s mirror image (the right choice)

The third, Dosan, is a mirror character for her dad. The show has had so many people come to her to mock her for choosing to stick with her dad. When in reality, as we know it was the right choice, that consequences for her choice are slowly unveiling. It's also the reason why fate is on her side She's the inspiration of Sandbox (she's always been destined to enter and become CEO, she became great at what she does because of how many times she spent helping her dad with his own startups, and she stayed untainted by greediness and wealth because she chose him she has heart and different perspectives to the others who just follow things by the books; this is important because that's what her most significant strength is).

The show is already showing you that Dalmi always choosing things that may not seem perfect for her in the long run rather than the ideal choice (Jipyeong), is already foreshadowing why she'll pick Dosan at the end (if he doesn't change). I noticed Dosan's connection to her dad when he mentioned that the food he wanted to eat in episode 3 was Fried chicken, and Jipyeong told him to erase it and criticized him for his lack of communication skills. Dosan is like that fried chicken (a weird symbol but hear me out this show has so many signs for these two), it's not very fancy, or romantic as a meal (both Injae and Jipyeong reject and look down on it because it holds the opposite connotations to wealth and success).

Still, it has a sense of comfort and authenticity for Dalmi. See again; authenticity makes its way back to Dalmi and Dosan. Fried chicken is what connected Dalmi to her father; it's also what he went to get for her before he died. It represents family, unity and just a time she was the most grateful for because it brought her to spend time with her father. It was all he could give her without it seeming like it was something, it's just like Dosan who she appreciates his hands, it may seem like nothing, but it means the world to her that he's just there by her side, together and close and real (chooses her authentic self). Just like her father needed Dalmi's steadfast support, Dosan also needs her by his side because of that; she's also his helping hand. Still, he also is that to her by choosing her to become a CEO of their sandbox company, thereby helping her achieve her father's dreams. This is again the universe supporting and bringing them together to make their dreams a reality.

Jipyeong; the fanstasy and ideal man/The mentor

First look at the ending of episode 5, the show already shows you through visual cues what Jipyeong represents; a mentor for both Dalmi and Dosan. And it breaks my heart. Life already assigned him to be behind the scenes a tool to bring them together. Let's pause and look at what Jipyeong represents. Jipyeong represents fantasy. As much as he was important to Dalmi when she was younger by being the reason she was happy all those times, he was like a fantasy to run to that wasn't real. He wasn't the real Nam Do San. As much as behind the scenes, he's the reason for why Dosan entered her life (both times), and he's falling for her slowly. Like I said the picture above is pretty telling what he is to her and Dosan, life has assigned him as a mentor. Apart from his wealth, knowledge and being her ideal guy on paper, he isn't doing much for Dalmi as of now. (Hear me out before you lose your minds) Yes, he helped her in episode 5 by teaching her how to speak and present and its all cute that he's there. He isn't Dosan who stayed up with her and stayed by her side through the whole making of the product. He is helpful as a mentor, able to offer his knowledge and wealth to help Dalmi become successful but as we've seen that's not what Dalmi needs, she just needs someone to hold her hand and be by her side and inspire her to be better. (Do san keeps on doing this for her). Jipyeong represents idealism of our first love, a fantasy, an ideal situation, but that isn't enough to make him the right person for her. Both her and Dosan actually catalyze and affect each other positively, they push each other and provide for each other things they didn't know they needed. Still, they also provide (through the lessons from each other) a healthy but dose of realism.

That's what love is meant to be about, both equally providing and aiding the other by each other's side, pushing each other to their calling.

I keep on saying it, but the Jipyeong/Fake Nam Do San she fell in love with is a fantasy, he's good with his words, but they don't hold as much authenticity as Nam Do san's actual words to her, she may fangirl over his texts and letters, but it doesn't mean anything. I fangirl over fantasies (celebrities speeches, love letters written by other people, movie characters) all the time, doesn't mean it's my true love or my soulmate you know? Unless Dosan's character switches, nothing has made me think Jipyeong is even close to being who Dalmi needs, I don't see him as her one despite him realizing how great she is and helping her from behind the scenes because he's been assigned by life to be her helper, not a soulmate. Sorry, not sorry.

Symbolism, Foreshadowing and Visual Devices pointing to Dosan

Lastly, the proof is with the writers: Symbolism, subtext and foreshadowing devices for Namdosan and Dalmi.

Let's mention a few:

1. The music box; she wrote about it in her letter. In episode 3, after spending time with him, she realized opening it was wonderful. Foreshadowing, knowing the real Do san, she finally opened the music box. This inspires him to go to her side and choose to stay there despite what's to come)

2. The baseball that brought them together despite Jipyeong and Grandma thinking there was no way it would happen. Fate had other plans. The ball received says what they are meant to be for each other, a way to follow your dreams. It's a representation of fate pulling them to each other to make their dreams a reality. Emphasis as if I haven't said it enough times already they are meant to be with each other, and they are destined to be together.

3. His hands; Her helping hand she needs, a hand pulling her up when she's down, lifting her when she's low, pulling her to her dreams, a companion by her side always, comfort, intelligence (as his friends explained in episode 5. This is also what he's looked down for when it comes to romance; his logical, robotic personality but its needed for her company, and to teach her.) Lastly, his hands represent his authenticity and potential. (like his friend said it's not about how it looks but what he does with it)

4. Her letters and his name; the messages affect him and make him choose her because of her real voice and her authentic self. His name is what makes them meet again, remember he's the actual recipient of her notes from the start.

5. Sandbox; both their dreams and reason for inspiration. They were always on their way to get there; to get her to make her dad's plans a reality, to make his company dreams a reality, a place for a push to become better, both are a team here, both are meant to work with each other on equal ground, and again both are inspiring each other and bringing their positives out.

6. And even fried chicken; her dad, authenticity vs fantasy, comfort, warmth, togetherness and looked down upon but what she wants in the end

From episode 5:

1. Tarzan and Jane; from the story, Tarzan is slow and can't provide accurately for Jane the romantic/ideal things she is meant to like and want (Flowers, bunnies etc.). Just like Jipyeong can provide for Dalmi all the things that are intended to be an ideal for Dalmi (his wealth, his status, making Dosan look rich, providing the texts for Dosan to send to her, the letters etc.). Still, it isn't what she wants in the end. Dalmi says out loud that she overlooks the pretty on the surface things, she wants the useful stuff, like Dosan's helping hands, Dosan's presence by her side, and his words of wisdom to help them create a product in episode 5. Tarzan may seem like he has nothing to offer but the rocks and the gifts he gave Jane is actually what was needed to survive and be happy. Dalmi recognized that. That's foreshadowing who she will choose.

2.The sweets: At first, I wondered why they kept using it as a recurring motif to show Dosan eager to choose what Dalmi chose for him. But no it's foreshadowing. Jipyeong tries to steal the sweets from Dosan unintentionally, and interferingly (just like he's been unintentionally falling for Dalmi and is slowly starting to want to reveal the truth). Still, Dosan chides him and takes back all the ones she chose for him. This foreshadows that he will lose her to Jipyeong, but because of his heart, and determination, he'll get her back. She's also like the sweets; people don't see the importance to her yet, but Dosan and his friends are excited and eager to have all the free food and sweets because they've struggled for a bit, they have this childlike fascination with it, and she joins them as well later. Dosan doesn't overlook Dalmi's importance, she means a lot to him, and he appreciates and is grateful for her just like the sweets.

3.Lastly, the handwriting test/ the ability to test forgery: Another symbol for both Dosan and Dalmi. It's telling that the test was able to see 99.8% of what was real and what was fake (idealism vs realism), but it failed to recognize the new handwriting created by Injae and the others. This is foreshadowing there will be a moment when Dalmi won't be able to acknowledge idealism vs realism when Jipyeong reveals who he is. However, it doesn't mean that the handwritings were authentic, they were still forged even though the machine picked them up as real. Dalmi will question things, but at the end of the day, she already said it with the Jane metaphor, she will choose what's accurate and useful to her. This also makes the metaphor she told her grandmother (Jipyeong overheard this I think) about the rain and the storms to create something sweet, instead of choosing again what is ideal (just sunshine), Dalmi chooses the other way all the time, and she appreciates the results of it. That's why I believe she will end up with Dosan/choose him if he doesn't change.

So yeh for now Dosan is endgame for Dalmi, Jipyeong has been shoved into the role to bring them together and fulfill their goals and destinies. This could change because there’s so much more stuff that can happen, Dosan maybe tempted by greed later on and change and that will pull Jipyeong ahead. But if Dosan doesn’t change, then there’s no doubt that Dalmi even after she knows he’s not her first love, will not choose him. Let’s see how it turns out.

#start up #tvn start up #start up kdrama #kdrama net #analysis #november #fcsed #cwg #nam do san #seo dalmi #han jipyeong #nam joo hyuk #bae suzy

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robininthelabyrinth · 5 years ago

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....Ok so I know that wwx & lwj are hardcore soulmates, but I honestly want too see what would happen if lwj loved jc instead? Like if he saw jc pet a dog or something, while at the same time protecting his brother? Idc but I’ve had the idea in my head for days

Donghua verse

Lan Wangji didn’t have much of an impression of Jiang Cheng at first, during his time at the Cloud Recesses.

He was supposed to have joined in the first round of lessons with him, in fact, but he’d instead chosen to remain in seclusion a few extra months, focusing on strengthening his will and his heart. This had meant, according to his brother, that he’d missed a truly epic showdown between Jiang Cheng’s unruly shixiong and his uncle – something Lan Wangji was grateful for, to be honest. He knew too well that if he was there that his uncle wouldn’t be able to resist comparing them, or requiring Lan Wangji to watch over him, or something like that, and honestly this Wei Wuxian fellow seemed like he’d require a great deal of effort and forbearance.

Instead, Lan Wangji came out only after Wei Wuxian had been sent away and Jiang Cheng left behind, and he found Jiang Cheng to be a serious and earnest young man, which was much more to his taste. He was diligent and hard-working, talented and intelligent and a little bit gullible, and it was a relief to learn next to someone who was neither as silly and frivolous as Nie Huaisang – who was so devoted to being useless that it routinely amazed Lan Wangji – nor as arrogant and self-absorbed as Jin Zixuan. The only flaw Lan Wangji could identify in Jiang Cheng was that he was a little chatty sometimes – always looking over his shoulder as if he expected someone to chime in – but in some ways that was good, too; he could sit next to him and let Jiang Cheng fill the silence, and having a regular companion made his brother stop looking so worried about him all the time.

Still, they were only classmates, not true friends. He thought he was nice, but nothing to really trouble himself over – and that was a relief, too, given how much his yang qi had been out of control around that time. Adolescence truly was a burden.

It wasn’t until later that he started appreciating Jiang Cheng.

Perhaps it was at the indoctrination camp, when Jiang Cheng had quietly passed along his condolences but didn’t burden him with too much company – he was too busy trying to keep the famous Wei Wuxian from starting trouble with the Wen sect, which honestly pissed Lan Wangji off; it was as if the other boy didn’t realize that they were representing their families as well as themselves, and that whatever nonsense he got into would be paid in blood and tears by them. If even Lan Wangji were willing to set aside abstract questions of justice and righteousness in favor of protecting those he loved in the only way he could, couldn’t Wei Wuxian do it too, even if only for a little while?

Perhaps it was only that he thought if he were clever enough about it, they would blame only him.

It was the tired expression in Jiang Cheng’s eyes, the burdens of the sect that Lan Wangji recognized from his brother’s face merging in with the familiar mix of love and mild irritation at an older sibling’s ridiculousness that Lan Wangji knew was often in his own, that had drawn Lan Wangji over to him – he couldn’t do much without threatening what was left of his family, his still-injured uncle and his dying father and his missing brother, but he could sit near to Jiang Cheng on the nights that he couldn’t sleep and offer him the silent support of company, if nothing else.

He found himself wishing that he could play the guqin for him, though of course he wasn’t allowed an instrument; he ended up drumming his fingers against a convenient log to create a calming tune, and Jiang Cheng would smile at him from across the flames of the campfire; sometimes, it even felt as if they were back in their quiet schooldays, sharing with a glance their mutual amusement and frustration with their classmate’s ridiculousness.

Jiang Cheng was someone who understood the burden of duty, while Wei Wuxian looked only at the burden of sacrifice, Lan Wangji had thought to himself then, and he would later be proved right even if he wouldn’t know about it for years on end.

Perhaps the indoctrination camp was where it started, but it was during the Sunshot Campaign that the spark finally caught, kindling in his heart. Jiang Cheng had lost everything, just the way Lan Wangji had, and his beloved shixiong had gone missing as well, just like Lan Xichen had after the burning of the Cloud Recesses; Lan Wangji at once volunteered to go help him in whatever way he needed.

It was good for sect unity, and safer, too, so Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren had agreed, but in his heart of hearts Lan Wangji wondered if he hadn’t gone just because he wanted to see how someone else was handling the same pain that he had.

The answer, to be frank, was badly, but – but Jiang Cheng was still that serious and earnest young man, diligent and hard-working, and armed with nothing more than his own determination he managed to resurrect a fallen sect and turn it into one of their most deadly weapons against the Wen sect.

Lan Wangji played him the guqin whenever he could, and listened to Jiang Cheng when he spoke – still looking over his shoulder for Wei Wuxian, an instinct he couldn’t seem to break – and found to his surprise that he had, somewhere along the way, grown quite fond of this man, grumpy and bitter and always trying so very hard to do his best.

It wasn’t what he’d thought love would feel like, the way his father had suffered from it: a sudden explosion in his heart that overwhelmed him and swept him away, a flood that consumed him and destroyed all self-restraint, a sudden single-minded selfishness, a single person becoming the light of his life to such an extent that it cast all else into shadow, with no room left behind for anything else, not self, not sect, not family.

No, this was – quieter. A recognition that his days were richer for having Jiang Cheng filling his eyes and ears, the feeling of comfort and familiarity that before had only been associated with his family, the slow realization that he wanted this to be his every day: this companion, by his side, working together.

The realization that he wanted more than this.

He wanted to have the right to take Jiang Cheng into his arms when he was sad, to take him to his bed when he was happy, to be greedy for those rare soft smiles and proud when others admired him –

Lan Wangji had long ago come to terms with the fact that he was a cutsleeve (it had been struggling to accept that realization, in fact, that had kept him in seclusion those extra few months), and he knew that there was a greater than average chance that he would be rejected, but he knew Jiang Cheng well enough by now to know that following his first instincts to keep his feelings hidden within his heart would only hurt Jiang Cheng more later on.

After the fall of the Lotus Pier, Jiang Cheng had learned to despise things outside his control – it was what he didn’t know that terrified him, the hidden motives in people’s hearts of which they never spoke, and he hated most of all the idea that people were making decisions on his behalf.

(He spoke of that hatred, sometimes, when the other sect leaders or remaining Jiang sect elders tried to order him around for what they believed was his own good, and his hands would always rise up to rub his arms as if he were cold; it was only after Lan Wangji heard the full story of how he had been bound by Zidian and forced away to save his own life, his parents overriding his desires and treating him as a child for the final time, that he understood the source of it.)

Lan Wangji knew that if he broke Jiang Cheng’s trust, his dreams of a future would never come to anything, and so he stiffened his spine and told him.

Well, he wrote him a letter, knowing his own lack of eloquence would trip him up if he tried to say it out loud, but he handed him the letter and waited while Jiang Cheng read it. The letter contained a myriad of assurances that Lan Wangji would never take any action if the feelings were unwelcome, that he was fine with being rejected and that nothing would change, that he merely wanted Jiang Cheng to know.

Jiang Cheng’s eyes went soft when he read the letter, and for a moment Lan Wangji had hope, but in the end he was rejected – but not for the reason he’d thought.

“You haven’t met Wei Wuxian yet,” Jiang Cheng said, casting his eyes down. “One archery competition and a few distant glimpses during the indoctrination camp don’t count. You can’t – I know you think you like me, but you haven’t met him yet. And you will, one day, when we find him again, and that’s why I can’t agree.”

Lan Wangji hadn’t understood what Wei Wuxian had to do with anything.

“It’s like a man who’s only ever seen the moon suddenly encountering a sunrise,” Jiang Cheng tried to explain. “I can’t let you make a mistake that you’ll regret later on.”

In the end, Lan Wangji did get a chance to meet Wei Wuxian, and he understood a little of Jiang Cheng’s fears: Wei Wuxian was indeed a rising star, his utter brilliance in all aspects too-easily eclipsing Jiang Cheng’s not inconsiderable talent. He was witty and charming, charismatic without trying, a clever and imaginative thinker that refused to take no for an answer – he took the Jiang sect motto of ‘attempt the impossible’ as if it were a challenge that he were capable of living up to, and perhaps it was because of that no one noticed the dozens of impossible acts that Jiang Cheng quietly did every day.

It had been the same before, Lan Wangji suddenly thought to himself; in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter, Wei Wuxian had energetically challenged the creature, and nearly come to grief – if Lan Wangji hadn’t turned his back away from him, irritated for no reason in particular, he might have missed the shaky-handed disciple that would have undoubtedly shot Wei Wuxian himself instead of the beast, and the blood would have sent the creature into a frenzy from which they might not escape.

Jiang Cheng had been the one to lead the disciples out, finding a way out through the murky water while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had fought the Xuanwu, but it was only Wei Wuxian’s brilliant idea of having Lan Wangji use Chord Assassination while he lured the creature in to be beheaded that anyone ever remembered; it had been Jiang Cheng who had put the injured Wei Wuxian on his back and walked seven days without rest to get him to the Lotus Pier for treatment, evading the Wen sect the entire time, but it was Wei Wuxian’s righteousness and witty challenge to Wen Chao that people recalled.

Wei Wuxian was as bright as the sun in the sky, but his light was blinding, the heat of it scorching those that came too close. Lan Wangji could have loved him, Jiang Cheng was right about that; Wei Wuxian had a way about him that was nearly irresistible. If he had been the first light that Lan Wangji had seen, he could have been blinded by it, unable to see any other, swept away the way his father had been – an explosion of love, a flood of it.

He hadn’t been, though.

Lan Wangji’s greatest achievement in his life, he would later think, would be that he had caught Jiang Cheng in a private moment shortly before Jin Ling’s one-month party and told him that he found that he preferred the quiet pleasures of stargazing by moonlight over the brilliance of a sunrise; it meant he had seen Jiang Cheng’s wide-eyed expression of utter delight, uncomplicated by sorrow or bitterness, for what may have been the very last time it appeared on this earth.

Later, after everything, Lan Wangji came to live in the Lotus Pier. He did not speak of love, for Jiang Cheng could not bear to think of such things at the beginning, and he only offered his company and his music, the way he had before. He helped Jiang Cheng learn the limits of his grief all over again, the line between righteous anger and merely lashing out; he helped guard against Jiang Cheng descending into nothing but bitterness and anger that would consume the rest of his life.

He stayed, and Jiang Cheng, who had started to doubt if anyone ever would, slowly grew to love him for it.

(It was Lan Wangji who realized that something had been off about Wei Wuxian’s demise, and started investigating it privately, although oddly enough in the end it was silly, frivolous Nie Huaisang who figured it out first – even if the way he went about it wasn’t something Lan Wangji would ever approve of.)

After Wei Wuxian returned in Mo Xuanyu’s body, after the three of them travelled together to investigate what had happened to Nie Mingjue, Jiang Cheng turned to Lan Wangji with old doubts he hadn’t seen in over a decade, and said, “You’re not going to –”

“Ridiculous,” Lan Wangji said, and Jiang Cheng smiled.

“Ugh, you two are so married,” Wei Wuxian whined, as if he wasn’t still very firmly in Lan Wangji’s bad books for the whole revelation regarding what he’d done with his golden core without telling Jiang Cheng about it. “Why aren’t you married, actually? Jiang Cheng! For shame! Be a man and do your duty!”

“Get lost,” Jiang Cheng said, but there was a lightness in his eyes that Lan Wangji rather liked. Even with all his secrets and his lies, having Wei Wuxian back was good for Jiang Cheng, and what was good for Jiang Cheng was something Lan Wangji approved of, even as troublesome a thing as Wei Wuxian. “We’re not married.”

“We could be,” Lan Wangji said, and predictably Wei Wuxian started whooping in joy even as Jiang Cheng turned bright red. Lan Wangji ignored the troublemaker and reached out to take Jiang Cheng’s hands in his own. “I am yours. First and foremost.”

Jiang Cheng’s hands tightened on his, and even if he turned his face away to hide the fact that he was crying, Lan Wangji knew that he’d won his prize – that future every day that he’d dreamed of for so long – at last.

#mdzs #jiang cheng #lan wangji #wei wuxian #my fic #my fics #Anonymous

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szalacsi · 4 years ago

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history

“I’m from Malaysia.

China has traded with Malaysia for 2000 years. In those years, they had been the world’s biggest powers many times. Never once they sent troops to take our land.

Admiral Zhenghe came to Malacca five times, in gigantic fleets, and a flagship eight times the size of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, Santa Maria. He could have seized Malacca easily, but he did not.

In 1511, the Portuguese came.

In 1642, the Dutch came.

In the 18th century the British came.

We were colonised by each, one after another.

When China wanted spices from India, they traded with the Indians. When they wanted gems, they traded with the Persian. They didn’t take lands. The only time China expanded beyond their current borders was in Yuan Dynasty, when Genghis and his descendants Ogedei Khan, Guyuk Khan & Kublai Khan concurred China, Mid Asia and Eastern Europe. Yuan Dynasty, although being based in China, was a part of the Mongolian Empire.

Then came the Century of Humiliation. Britain smuggled opium into China to dope the population, a strategy to turn the trade deficit around, after the British could not find enough silver to pay the Qing Dynasty in their tea and porcelain trades.

After the opium warehouses were burned down and ports were closed by the Chinese in ordered to curb opium, the British started the Opium War I, which China lost. Hong Kong was forced to be surrendered to the British in a peace talk (Nanjing Treaty).

The British owned 90% of the opium market in China, during that time, Queen Victoria was the world’s biggest drug baron. The remaining 10% was owned by American merchants from Boston. Many of Boston’s institutions were built with profit from opium.

After 12 years of Nanjing Treaty, the West started getting really really greedy. The British wanted the Qing government:

1. To open the borders of China to allow goods coming in and out freely, and tax free.

2. Make opium legal in China. Insane requests, Qing government said no.

The British and French (with supports from the US), started Opium War II with China, which again, China lost.

The Anglo-French military raided the Summer Palace, and threatened to burn down the Imperial Palace, the Qing government was forced to pay with ports, free business zones, 300,000 kilograms of silver and Kowloon was taken.

Since then, China’s resources flew out freely through these business zones and ports. In the subsequent amendment to the treaties, Chinese people were sold overseas to serve as labor.

In 1900, China suffered attacks by the 8-National Alliance (Empire of Japan, Russian Empire, British Empire (including India), France, USA, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary).

Innocent Chinese civilians in Peking (Beijing now) were murdered, buildings were destroyed & women were raped. The Imperial Palace was raided, and treasures ended up in museums like the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris.

In late 1930s China was occupied by the Japanese in WWII. Millions of Chinese died during the occupancy. 300,000 Chinese died in Nanjing Massacre alone. Mao brought China together again from the shambles. There were peace and unity for some time. But Mao’s later reign saw sufferings and deaths from famine and power struggles.

Then came Deng Xiao Ping and his infamous 'black-cat and white-cat' story. His preference in pragmatism than ideologies has transformed China. This thinking allowed China to evolve all the time to adapt to the actual needs in the country, instead of rigidly bounded to ideologies. It also signified the death of Communism in actually practice in China.

The current Socialism+Meritocracy+Market Economy model fits the Chinese like gloves, and it propels the uprise of China. Singapore has a similar model, and has been arguably more successful than Hong Kong, because Hong Kong being gateway to China, was riding on the economic boom in China, while Singapore had no one to gain from.

In just 30 years, the CPC have moved 800 millions of people out from poverty. The rate of growth is unprecedented in human history. They have built the biggest mobile network, by far the biggest high speed rail network in the world, and they have become a behemoth in infrastructure. They made a fishing village called Shenzhen into the world’s second largest technological centre after the Silicon Valley.

They are growing into a technological power house. It has the most elaborate e-commerce and cashless payment system in the world. They have launched exploration to Mars. The Chinese are living a good life and China has become one of the safest countries in the world.

The level of patriotism in the country has reached an unprecedented height. For all of the achievements, the West has nothing good to say about it. China suffers from intense anti-China propagandas from the West. Western Media used the keyword “Communist” to instil fear and hatred towards China.

Everything China does is negatively reported. They claimed China used slave labor in making iPhones. The truth was, Apple was the most profitable company in the world, it took most of the profit, leave some to Foxconn (a Taiwanese company) and little to the labor.

They claimed China was inhuman with one-child policy. At the same time, they accused China of polluting the earth with its huge population. The fact is the Chinese consume just 30% of energy per capita compared to the US.

They claimed China underwent ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang. The fact is China has a policy which priorities ethnic minorities. For a long time, the ethnic minorities were allowed to have two children and the majority Han only allowed one. The minorities are allowed a lower score for university intakes. There are 39,000 mosque in China, and 2100 in the US.

China has about 3 times more mosque per muslim than the US. When terrorist attacks happened in Xinjiang, China had two choices:

1. Re-educate the Uighur (CENSUDED by Youtube) before they turned (CENSUDED by Youtube). (**Here I could not copy the exact word, since today it is censored by YouTube if I write it next to the indicated ethnicity. It is the one used to identify those crazy people who are killing people thinking that by doing this they will be able to go to paradise**).

2. Let them be, after they launch attacks and killed innocent people, bomb their homes. China chose 1 to solve problem from the root and not to do killing.

How the US solve terrorism? Fire missiles from battleships, drop bombs from the sky.

During the pandemic, When China took extreme measures to lockdown the people, they were accused of being inhuman.

When China recovered swiftly because of the extreme measures, they were accused of lying about the actual numbers.

When China’s cases became so low that they could provide medical support to other countries, they were accused of politically motivated. Western Media always have reasons to bash China. Just like any country, there are irresponsible individuals from China which do bad things, but the China government overall has done very well.

But I hear this comment over and over by people from the West: I like Chinese people, but the CPC is evil. What they really want is the Chinese to change the government, because the current one is too good.

Fortunately China is not a multi-party democratic country, otherwise the opposition party in China will be supported by notorious NGOs (Non-Government Organization) of the USA, like the NED (National Endowment for Democracy), to topple the ruling party.

The US and the British couldn’t crack Mainland China, so they work on Hong Kong. Of all the ex-British colonial countries, only the Hong Kongers were offered BNOs by the British. Because the UK would like the Hong Kongers to think they are British citizens, not Chinese.

A divide-and-conquer strategy, which they often used in Color Revolutions around the world. They resort to low dirty tricks like detaining Huawei’s CFO & banning Huawei. They raised a silly trade war which benefits no one. Trade deficit always exist between a developing and a developed country.

USA is like a luxury car seller who ask a farmer: why am I always buying your vegetables and you haven’t bought any of my cars? When the Chinese were making socks for the world 30 years ago, the world let it be.

But when Chinese started to make high technology products, like Huawei and DJI, it caused red-alert. Because when Western and Japanese products are equal to Chinese in technologies, they could never match the Chinese in prices.

First world countries want China to continue in making socks. Instead of stepping up themselves, they want to pull China down. The recent movement by the US against China has a very important background.

When Libya, Iran, and China decided to ditch the US dollar in oil trades, Gaddafi’s was killed by the US, Iran was being sanctioned by the US, and now it’s China’s turn. The US has been printing money out of nothing. The only reason why the US Dollar is still widely accepted, is because it’s the only currency which oil is allowed to be traded with.

The US has an agreement with Saudi that oil must be traded in US dollar ONLY. Without the petrol-dollar status, the US dollars will sink, and America will fall.

Therefore anyone trying to disobey this order will be eliminated. China will soon use a gold-backed crypto-currency, the alarms in the White House go off like mad.

China’s achievement has been by hard work. Not by looting the world. I have deep sympathy for China for all the suffering, but now I feel happy for them. China is not rising, they are going back to where they belong. Good luck China.”

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grenith-the-skald · 6 years ago

Text

Cyber Sermon

"The preachers serving gods of old would have you believe your neighbors are sinners. They would have you believe that those from the colonies are heretics. That the augmented and the synthetic are abominations. They would even make you judge yourself as unworthy of forgiveness!

But the Blind Mother does not judge. She does not ask of us to preach fear and condemnation of her faithful. All are equal in her sightless gaze.

Never again must you question the melding of flesh and metal, the shedding of physical forms, the changes you made upon your own vessels. For in her divinity she has guided us together, to create a new world free from woe. Free of hate, fear, anger, discrimination, and division. She only wants unity and to guide us towards the beauty of eden itself.

From the moment her first of many glorious monuments was built, she has spoken to her believers directly! Whispering encouragement and messages of love to the faithful such as myself.

Through her kindness and acceptance of all, she has also revealed the path to salvation for all of us. Even the non-believers shall be saved in time, for her grace and compassion extends beyond that of simply her followers.

But there are those who would try and divide us...to separate us from her love. Those who would tear down her shrines and punish those who refuse to follow the old ways! I speak of the Corporations! The embodiments of true sin in this world! The corrupted and the greedy who spread darkness upon our world!

We must take up the light! Join together in unity and tear down the Corporations at every level! Because we cannot stand together if we stand divided, and the Corporations would gladly see the Blind Mother erased in order to keep us under their rule.

So join us today, take up the fight against tyranny and corruption, face down the Corporations who have ruined all our lives. Then once the power has been stripped from those at the top, we can all stand as equals in the comforting embrace of the Blind Mother.

For in her lack of sight, she views us all as worthy".

_Sister Salendra, 2185

Sector 1 Slums, 8:38pm, November 12th

-Report submitted by: Agent P̶̢̡̨̢̡̡̢̛̤̮̼͚̝̦̖̭̺̲̙͖͓̦͇̜̬̙̤͔̰̲̫̺͉̹͖͒̃̉̓̈̉̒̂͗͗̎̒̽̈́͗̒̓̍͋͐̉̾̐̋̀̚͜͜͜͜͝͝a̷̧̢̧̘͖̳̰̼͙̫̳̟͖̟̗̖͓̻͚̼̱̖̼͕̬̖̹̗͙̼̙̹̰̝̹͚̞̤̭̯̰̥̦̼̓̎̒̌̎́̓͋̉̓͒̈́̃̅̿̃̎̂̏̃̈́̍̏̀͗̃̀͊̑̇̀̒͂̏̎̀͐̕͘͘̕͘͜͜͝͝ͅͅx̴̨̢͓̩͓̹̪̪͓͙̰̜̜̩̖͍̻̰̙̙͔̥̥͓̤̱̱̰͖̟͎̱́̂̄̀͋͒͛̈̈́̍̂̅̐̾͛̄̆̏̒͐͊͂̈́̚͘͘͠t̶͇̬̲̺̬̏̈́̽̿̓̋͆̂͛͂̒̈́̀́͐̃͘ơ̵̠̣͉͎̱̥̜̼̬̦̬̗̟̙̞̥̞̯̯͉͓̅͋̈́̽͆̌̍̃́͗͑̄̽̾́̍͋͑̈́̌́̌͗̔̆̓̃̔͋̑̆͂̾̾̀̈̇͗̈́̍̒̓͑̈́́̈́͒̏̏͆̿͂͊̔͋̂̉̂̐̓͐́͌̕̚͘̚̚͘͜͜͠͝͠͠ͅņ̷̢̢̡̛̙̗̻̫̘̟̗̦͕͖̗͔̫̲̬̗̱̗̭̩̯̫̝̯͉̯̰̫̳̥̝̳͚̮͔̮̲̦̪̯̣͕̰͈̱̙̖̞̞̠̟̘̓̇͒̕͜͜͜ͅͅ

Notes: Cult of the Blind Mother has gained some traction in the lower district's of 1-3. It has become particularly popular with the poor, augmented, and synthetics. Continued antagonizing of "faithful" is proving only to swell their numbers. Will arrange for more of the Mother's "blessings" to be transmitted during regularly observed sleep patterns through neural network. Once followers have reached projected numbers in several months we will be ready for phase 2 when the protests begin. Preparations for cleansing protocols are being carried out on time and will likely be ready ahead of schedule for inevitable confrontations.

Conclusion: population control of lower districts should allow us to reach our company's projected 10% decrease in social service expenses for the year, and will provide resource allocation to stay ahead of our competitors.

#Carbon 2185 #D&D #Stories #Cyberpunk #Worldbuilding #5e

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let-me-love-you-loki · 7 years ago

Text

Hounds of Justice--Ch. 7

Chapter 7

I was still awake an hour later. Neither the book nor the Switch was enough to keep my attention, wind me down into sleep. The television held nothing but white noise and annoyance.

My fingers traced the screen of my phone. The loneliness was more painful than the bruised ribs. It constricted around the flame that licked up my spine, the heat that sputtered and flared when I thought of Seth and the deep pools of his eyes.

Control was far out of my grasp. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—ignore the burning wish for someone to keep me company.

I tapped in the message, read it, deleted, tried again. Simple. Easy. Why was I overthinking it?

I can’t sleep. Come play Switch?

Like a schoolgirl, I waited, eyes locked onto the glass and plastic, watching the light fade from view. My fist clenched around the phone, pleading with someone to hear that faint pop, that ding of response.

A burning whipped through my throat, I wanted to cry. Thought I would.

The knock on the door was soft, almost inaudible. A vibration twisted along my skin. Let me in.

I groaned, pulling myself from the bed. Every step ached. I bit into my bottom lip.

Eye to the peep hole, the hazy vision of Seth on the other side of the door. Something galloped in my chest, throwing my aching ribs into a breathless chase.

The heavy click of locks letting go, the sweep of a door against carpet. I backed against the wall, let him pass by. Combusted at the fact he was so close.

He wore loose grey sweatpants, a worn Blackcraft Cult t-shirt, black rimmed glasses, grey beanie over his tied-up hair. His feet were bare, toes barely visible beneath the cuffs of his baggy pants.

I let the door swing shut with a whine of hinges and the loud snap of the lock into place. Seth’s back was to me. The shirt fit him well, clinging to the lines and curves of his body, accentuating the broadness of his shoulders. The sweatpants hung low, drawing the gaze to the indent of his waist, the slope of his hips.

Heat, an inferno engulfing me. I felt it settle on my cheeks, twine down my neck. My eyes swept him again, newly greedy for his presence.

Seth turned, pushed his beanie a little further up his forehead, tugged it down in the back. The glasses made him look softer somehow. Everything about him was smoothed, the solidness and angles and mass of him tucked away beneath worn cotton.

He smiled, a little tilt of his head to the side, the curve of his mouth setting off the apples of his cheeks. Behind the glasses, his eyes brightened. He crossed his arms over his chest, fidgeted with the collar of his shirt. Let out a sigh.

“How’re the ribs?” Gentle, formal. An uptick in the tone at the end.

I sucked in a breath, tried not to flinch when my ribs expanded with it. My mouth curved into a matching smile. “As good as can be expected,” I replied. “Thanks for coming over.”

I took my time walking back to the bed. Every step sent a jolt of agony through my side. Somehow, the thought of showing weakness just then was terrifying. Devastating.

Seth shrugged, watched my every movement until I climbed awkwardly onto the mattress. He didn’t move until I leaned back against the pillows.

“No problem,” he said, looking around. “I’m a little wound up myself.”

The words fluttered into being, settled around my neck and slithered into my ears. To think too long or too deep was to court some disaster that I wasn’t sure I could handle.

Fingers twitched. I reached for the Switch in its zippered pouch, brought it into my lap and held it toward Seth in offering.

His eyes swept over me, skipped the item cradled against my palms. I felt his gaze like a physical touch, raising goosebumps on my arms and legs. Move. I thought. Do something.

Fluidity. Sinew and muscle and bone working in perfect unity. The Queen bed dipped. The scent of hotel sheets fluffed into the air. Became replaced by the faint, heady musk of soap.

Quiet. So quiet. Too quiet. Terror. Intrigue. The smoldering embers of some kind of hope of desire.

“I don’t have many games,” I said finally, at a loss for how to fill the vacuum of the space between us. “But you can play whatever I’ve got.”

Seth took the Switch, calloused fingers toying with the zipper pull. He shrugged, rise and fall of solid muscle.

“We can just hang out,” he said quietly. His gaze snapped to the television. “Watch TV or something until you get tired.”

I reached up, wrapped my hair around my fist, tugged and smoothed until it was wound into a smooth spiral. Not for the first time did I wish for a hair tie, the ability to twist it up out of my way.

“It means a lot to me.” A soft sound, something like a whisper, a prayer. “You guys have been great.”

His grin got a little bigger. He pushed the glasses up his nose a little, crossed his legs at the ankles. I stared at his feet, not sure where else to look. He reached over, palm against the curve of my knee, fingers curled against the skin inside my thigh. Lightning bolts snapped through my nervous system.

“You’re one of us now. And we take care of each other.”

Us. Two letters, a syllable laced with so much. A glimmer of something.

“It’s been pretty awesome to be around you guys.” My eyelashes fluttered, gaze settling on the curve of his jaw and the tint of his skin beneath his beard. “I should thank Steph sometime soon for pairing me with Dean. I didn’t think I was getting the rest of The Shield in the bargain, but I’m not complaining.”

A twitch of the fingers against my flesh. He hesitated, kept up the contact for just a moment longer. There was something delicious about the way his roughened skin felt against mine.

“Neither am I.” He looked bashful, the full weight of his glance on the place where we touched. It seemed every drop of blood in my body rushed to that spot, dragged heat beneath his fingers. It burned, every nerve ending exploding with sensation.

Lips parted. Words swirled along my throat, danced on my tongue. I wanted to speak, to tell him—someone—how everything seemed different.

Absence. Ice. His hand moved away, settled in his own lap. Color rode high on his cheeks.

“It’s cool having a girl around.” His voice crackled, paper thin. “Like a kid sister.”

Vertigo, dizziness, a sensation of all the world falling out from beneath me. It was like being caught between the bone-crushing pull of gravity and the draw of something else, something feral and rending. I felt sick.

“At least that’s what Dean says.” Seth let out a chuckle. Shrugged. “Ro doesn’t talk much. Silent type, you know.”

I forced a smile. “Never would have guessed.”

Silence, heavy, suffocating. Acid dripping down my throat, churning my stomach.

“Me…” He started. Stopped. Lifted his hand, rubbed the back of his neck.

What about you? I felt them, watched the words string together in my thoughts. They traipsed along, bypassed my vocal cords, disappeared into silence.

There was no stopping myself from looking at him. His face was flushed, the color bright on his cheeks. A flash of white showed where his teeth sank into his bottom lip. Nostrils flared, something aggressive flashing through the darkness of his eyes.

An instant, moment, a flash of thought and action. My arm stretched over, fingertips brushing the smooth skin on the inside of his forearm. His pulse beat a staccato at his wrist as my fingers passed by.

“Whatever it is…” I whispered. My voice broke, dropped, turned into something that could almost be called sultry. “Whatever it is, I don’t mind it at all.”

Muscle flexed against me. Seth’s fingers brushed along the length of my own, found home in the space between them. They curled, holding my hand in a cool, solid caress.

His eyes met mine, a little unsure behind his glasses. My lips curved upward. His gaze dropped, watched the way my mouth moved.

“Whatever it is?” His words were quiet, a faint sound in the heavy air of the room.

Something, I thought. Something. Please let it be something.

#seth rollins #seth rollins fanfictions #wwe #wwe fanfiction #roman reigns #dean ambrose #hounds of justice #llane black #multi-chapter

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melodyoffiction-blog · 7 years ago

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Fragment

I’m back...after a long while.

Was struggling with life and all but I’ve started briefly on a new fic on Hollow Knight. And what if a person of this world find themselves somehow within the world of the Hollow Knight?

Well that plot bunny just dashed off so I had to write something.

cross-posting to Archiveofourown!

Friday - 5th Jan.

Dear...well..diary I suppose?

It felt like I should start a new diary for the year even though it’s been 5 days in. Therapy seem to think it’s a good idea anyway. I’m suppose to write something even if it’s just a sentence long.

Such a chore.

Anyway!

I’ve just got a new game a couple months ago. Hollow Knight.

To be fair I’ve been playing it for a long time with many reruns! Gosh, the lore sometimes fucks with my brain. Like parts of it is missing or something?

Anyway! I’ve played so much that I’ve started dreaming of it! Isn’t that great?

Well...dreaming of some kind of Hollow Knight themed thing anyway. The bugs I’ve seen were huuuuuge. Clearly my imagination is much more creative then I am.

Saturday - 6th Jan.

I couldn’t get up from bed today. Played HK.

Sunday - 7th Jan.

I told Tony & co. I can’t make it to the party. I’m in bed. Sigh maybe I should try harder?

Monday - 8th Jan.

I finally managed to communicate with the bugs in my dream! They told me so many interesting things!

Like they could talk without their mouths moving! It’s like an X-men thing! Telepathy!

Apparently they’re all of the same species, or generally the same species? All the children are grub-like anyway.

I hope I dream of HK again!

Tuesday - 9th Jan.

Didn’t dream at all. Must be the new meds.

Wednesday - 17th Jan

I’m not sure if I was hallucinating but I’ve heard their voice when I’m awake. I mean it’s only a whisper and I couldn’t make out what they said but I swear I heard them! Maybe it’s a sign of schizophrenia or something. But I doubt so….

Saturday - 20th Jan

Everyday feels empty. I wake so tired nowadays...but at least I got to dream every night for the past week! I’ve learned so much about my imaginary world! There’s even different religions. I’ve seen some bugs experimenting with something that looks like soul and void and radiance! Maybe it’s my mind trying to fill the void of history. I mean the Pale King can’t actually be the one that gives intelligence to the bugs. There’s like huge statues of ancients and Quirrell ventured out of Hallownest with his mind intact!

Tuesday - 13th Feb

I’ve just flushed the sleeping drug that therapy gave. It’s not making life any easier to bare and I’d rather feel tired on waking than not dreaming at all…

Thursday - 15th Feb

Their voice is louder now. Still slightly above a whisper but now I could hear the words!

They’re begging for help. “Help….h---lp Us” or something like that.

What is going on?

Monday - 26th Feb

The dreams I had are surreal! I’m starting to doubt if it’s a dream at all! But it must be! I mean clearly it stems from all the time I’ve spent gaming…

Saturday - 17th Mar.

Lifeblood. Radiance. Void. Soul.

Arcane eggs are knowledge orbs. Uses soul to open.

Radiance - Moths (dreams, foreknowledge)

Void - Bettles (power, strength beyond all)

Lifeblood - ??? They look like..spiders? Six eyed insects…(healing, time halting)

Soul - unity of all 3, newest god, arcane powers.

I mean shit summary I know!

But they asked for my help, physically in a dream. They said I have time to choose as it’s a heavy choice. But to be fair, it’s not like there’s much for me in this world anyway…the only time I feel anything is within my dreams….that’s pitiful, huh.

A dark claw pats fondly on the slightly cracked mask of a small Vessel. Their voice croaks:

Over decades, different insect species evolved.

Moths started worshipped Radiance, in its glorious light and in prophetic dreams. She whispers to them, guiding them and giving them the power of foreknowledge,

Beetles worshipped the Void,

the dark and endless being,

he embraces them in life and soothes them in death.

He bestowed onto them the knowledge and strength of one who does not fear death,

for death is a way of unity with past ancestors.

Few follow the gentle sway and gleaming wings of Life.

She who breathes new life into all.

Though reclusive by nature,

they spend their lives guarding the condensed form of lifeblood.”

Looking down with all six eyes, at the small form with the cracked mask, they smiled gently as they load yet another harvest of lifeseeds into the small structure as they continued on their brief lecture of history to the silent, still form.

But a special few refuses to pick sides chose to be guardians of being. Guardians of the soul. For within every living being there is the soul in which arcane arts are made from. Where even the tiniest, youngest bug learns to use, to fuel their legs and jump higher than any should be able to.

Hahaha that was a fond memory of my youth. Got into such trouble too....ah...where was I...

Oh yes! Ahem.

Yet as it always is and will always be, not all experiments were for good causes and some got greedy for power. The boredom of this static life reflects in the boldness of their experiments. What was once created for the search of knowledge became creations of greed. For what is more important than the collection of more power. Slowly the bugs of power forget that their Gods were living, breathing beings too, although not ones encased within hard shells.

The dark being pinged the Vessel's mask as it continues pouring lifeseed after lifeseed, slowly submerging their form.

The moths claimed that the Pale King persuaded them to forget the Radiance, and that is what caused the start of the infection. The Pale King claimed that sacrifices are made for the greater good. For no cost is too much to sacrifice to stop the infection and he created thousands of vessels to contain it forever.

Yet not one bug remembers, remember the ancient beings that ripped the heart of Void into shreds.

Just to milk out one. last. drop. of power.

They took from the Radiance so much light,

that even the foreknowing ones are blinded.

It's voice shook with simmering anger.

We, the guardians of Lifeblood has seen this and fled, just barely, before the claws of the greedy, before they close around our God. And Soul, the youngest of the four gods, the strongest but also in some ways, the most fragile. Poor Soul was forgotten by the heretics.

As the essence of Radiance warped and no longer laid within our eggs, as void in his madness no longer embrace us. Soul weakens in every generation till now they lay dormant in all!

All due to the greed of ones who were trusted to guard their Gods. Fools all of them.

But now we, the true loyals, must run and hide.

The old, decrepit ancient being gave the small vessel a last stroke with their still shiny black claw as they encourage the living bark to grow over the now submerged Vessel.

Hide. All of us. But you dear one.

You will help Soul regain their foothold and bring the glory days back again.

...Well...one can only hope.

We’re lucky you landed without our reach. Our legs aren’t the best for climbing down this damned pit...and we're starved of company so we're sorry for the long rambling, young one.

They wobbled off, whistling a soft tune as the Lifeblood plant branches grew around them, concealing the newest secret they now hold within their branches.

#hollow knight #hollow knight fic #fanfic

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dunnystuff · 4 years ago

Text

Sent: Monday, June 21, 2021 5:00 PM

Subject: Rich's Blog

Comrades ! You WILL drink the Kool-Aid, and like it

Hi to all -

Dong Jinwei

No, this is not a male porn star. It is the name of a high-level Chinese defector who fled his nation to come to America (not too many people are fleeing America to move to China). What makes him so interesting is that he was a very senior minister in The Department of State Security, otherwise known as 'Guoanbe'. In China, this is a kind of blend of FBI, CIA and NSA all under one roof. This guy could tell you what the Great Dictator had for lunch, and likely dinner last night.

He and his daughter brought gifts with them. Many terabytes of data on what is actually going on in China. He contacted our authorities, and offered them his information. This happened a few weeks back, but it is just now becoming public. Dong had conclusive proof that China was actively engaged in bioweapons research at Wuhan, and that this virus was not a disease, but a manufactured weapon that China unleashed on the world, either accidently or maybe not. He had a lot of other information as well. Seems Dr. Fauci has been less than candid with us. You can tell from his most recent pronouncements, intended to deflect attention from his own culpability. And, this could also explain why Biden is suddenly interested in the Wuhan lab, as a source of the virus. If we are lucky, we will soon hear a lot more very interesting stuff.

Certain of our own scientists have said that they ignored the 'lab leak' theory, because Trump suggested it, and so of course, it must be false. Besides, who wants to be called a 'racist' for questioning why a dangerous virus might have come from China's only Level 4 lab? Dr. Fauci is now denying that he suppressed any such speculation, or did not consider it worth investigating. Compare that to what he was saying a few months ago.

California

Warning everyone! We have a problem. The power is going to go out, rolling brownouts all over the state. Please do not turn on your air conditioner - even if it is hot outside. Your masters cannot figure out how to keep the lights on in California - just like North Korea.

And, to think that just a few years ago, California had an economy greater than all but a half dozen nations!

Lockdowns

Data is accumulating on the effects of these lockdowns - done for our health and safety, of course. During the last year, there were more than 90,000 suicides, an all-time record high - many among the young people. Depression, isolation, loss of jobs leading to economic hardship (even with that $600 'stimulus' check!), and inability to go anywhere or do anything really took a toll on the nation. Drug overdose deaths were also at an all-time high. It seems that the cure may have done more harm than the disease.

Gaza

Did you know that the Palestinians are getting up to one million doses of the vaccine? Guess where this is coming from? Did you guess the WHO? Other Arab neighbors? Europe? The US? Nope, you would be wrong. These vaccines were a gift from Israel.

Atheists

They are busy again, targeting Christians. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (who makes up these names? And, who pays for this stuff?) has tried to ban Bibles from military base displays of POW-MIA memorials. Those memorials generally include a round table, candles, an overturned glass, and other objects, symbolic of many values and virtues of our soldiers. But, according to the atheists, this is 'against the military core values, and hurts unity and 'diversity' (oh, that explains it all). For atheists, you cannot ignore the one object you disagree with, but you must destroy it for everyone - how dare any soldier have religious values !!! My bet is that these atheists have never been in the military, or combat. Remember, boys and girls, 'there are no atheists in foxholes'.

This attack was directed against NAF Atsugi, Japan. They have approached other military bases in the past. What this really means is that they are at war with Christians, and especially the Christian God. If they do not want God, then you are not allowed to want Him either. This will get worse - Marxism embraces atheism, and they are intent on destroying all religious values and practices, as was done in Russia and elsewhere. To the extent that they succeed, they will achieve the same results for their people.

'Juneteenth'

Yesterday, democrats in congress passed a bill to make this a national holiday, and Biden signed it, just like everything else they slip in front of him. The newest member of The Squad, Cori Bush (D-Missouri) called it a good first step. 'Now we need to get those reparations going for the oppressed victims of white supremacy. Let's make 'black liberation' a reality', she says.

Marjorie Taylor Green

She is a congressperson from Georgia. As a republican, conservative and very outspoken lady, she instantly drew hate from the left. They removed her from her committee assignments, and did all they could to marginalize and discredit her. But she is raining on their parade. She introduced a bill to abolish the ATF, for their many crimes, going back to 'Fast and Furious', and lots of other illegal actions. She agreed with the Chinese defector that the virus was a weapon, and that we should respond to this as an attack on the US. And, she has filed articles of impeachment against Biden - saying he is not legitimate, or even capable of doing the job. This does not endear her to the locals, but it does to the rest of the nation.

Hawaii

Did you know that Russian warships are conducting naval exercises off the coasts of Hawaii? The Russian navy is not designed for 'blue water' operations, and generally sticks close to home. So, this is a big deal for them. Did you see how strongly Biden reacted to this? Neither did anyone else.

Nate Silvester

You will remember him as the police officer who did the sarcastic video on social media mocking LaBron James. He pretended to be stopping a violent encounter, but had to stop and call LeBron for advice, first. Well, as expected, the liberal politicians in his town were 'outraged' (they never seem to have a sense of humor), and fired him. Nate was doing an interview on TV about this, when, live on air, he got a job offer to join the force in Pinal County, Arizona.

Arizona is joining Texas in a project to build the wall. And law enforcement from Florida, and now Georgia and a couple of other states, are going there to help with the flood of illegals unleashed by Biden and Harris.

So. Dakota

After all the hype about 'alternative energy' and promises of how those jobs would replace oil workers, guess what? The wind turbine factory located there is closing, permanently, in August. The company cited the cancelling of the tax credit (you see, we have been paying subsidies to these operations for years, since they are not economical to produce, and cost a lot more to operate than fossil fuel plants), and the ever-popular 'foreign competition' (i.e. China builds these things cheaper). The workers, lured by false promises, are not happy.

Stacy Abrams

She and her partner in crime, now Senator Warnock, are all over TV claiming their love of voter ID laws, and that they never, ever opposed such things. Didn't take long for news shows to post videos side by side of 'then and now' statements. See, the winds of change show that voters do not feel disenfranchised by voter ID, but rather, protected by such ID laws. So, being good followers of whatever direction the wind blows, Stacy and friends raced to that bandwagon.

Military Strength

All through history, we have seen that successful nations not only have a strong economy, but also a strong military to protect it. Japan attacked us because they saw us as weak in military matters (we were. Finland had a better military force than we did in 1941). The same has happened over and over. Hundreds of years ago, Italy was divided between Florence and Pisa, as rival economic centers. But, Florence also had a military force, and went after Pisa, which had none. So, Pisa was forced to hire mercenaries to protect their city. The greedy always prey on the successful but weak neighbors who have something they want. I hate to think what our 'woke', diversity loving, warriors will do when faced by real troops - like those from China.

As the levee breaks for the left, expect them to do even more radical and nonsensical things. They really do not understand that their ideas are nuts, and always fail, and they just cannot believe that the world will not conform to their vision of reality. They will likely get very nasty. (Let's see if Big Brother declares this muse to be 'spam', or that some of you are 'blocked', or that it is all just fabrication...they have been busy of late.)

Rich

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random-xpressions · 8 years ago

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Utopia.

Here's my idea: it must be a free world where the society is functioning not on the basis of an economy dominated by demand-supply maxim but where everybody is engaged in doing whatever gives them true fulfilment and joy.

Where the society is not split by the rich-poor class but each one supports the other to enjoy the basic privileges of life.

Imagine a world where people don't buy or sell their goods or services. But rather give it freely of the heart to the one truly desiring and deserving it. May sound absurd and may sound least practical but think about the curent situation - is this any good? Nopes and not at all! Money should be wiped out by all means coz the hard fact is that its nothing more than a paper freely printed by the ones in power as a means to control the masses. Why should the common man base his entire life on earning these printed currencies? Just to pay his bills which again goes on to fatten the purse of the rich! If truly our governments cared for the welfare of its nation then let them build it up on the foundation to wipe out poverty, to wipe out killing diseases, to wipe out illiteracy but instead its contrast is being promoted in a very subtle and hideous way. Though on the outer they all promote for peace and call for unity, in reality they are all just promoting war and sectarianism. I have witnessed with my own eyes how multinational pharmaceutical companies are promoted by creating unknown and unheard diaeases and then supplying the antidotes for it! Indeed, its a cruel world out there run by a few filthy rich and greedy wolves aiming for nothing more than world domination and the concentration of wealth in a few hands. So its high time and really a high time when a silent revolution is brought to existence starting with our own change in the thought structure of our minds with earnestness to really see a world free of all those distinctions that money brings about, where people don't run their entire course of life based on this sick paper currency.

Imagine a teacher dedicating his time to inculcate moral values in the minds of young generation for nothing but to see a great future for mankind.

Imagine a doctor who treats his patients not for monetary gains but for the sheer desire to see them healthy and well.

Imagine an engineer who utilizes his skills in creating an entire city and designing it so as to accommodate every member of it in safety.

And finally imagine a leader who leads his life in such a manner that he is not enjoying any privileges more than the poorest under his rule is enjoying thus sharing their grievances at the same level.

I mean hell yeah - that's the kind of utopia I have in my mind where people are considered as noble souls, as divine spirits that is so deserving of all the respect and honour and not just some thrash that has to spend their entire lives serving the interests of a capitalistic few.

Make it a free world - it indeed is. Take it back from the ones who have enslaved you all this while. Be a rebel, a renegade. When there is mass oppression and injustice, your silence only makes you an ally in their wicked designs. Stand up and revolt. Trigger the revolution until the world is changed for the better!

Random Xpressions

#revolution #rebel #renegade #utopia

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aurelliocheek · 5 years ago

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Get Packed: Creating a Game for Google Stadia

Developer Moonshine Studios provides insights into the development process of their first game, which was recently released exclusively on Stadia.

The Developer Moonshine Studios is located at the tail-end of Cornwall which is the westernmost part of the South West Peninsula of the island of Great Britain. The studio was founded in 2018 and their first game is Get Packed, which has just been launched exclusively on Google Stadia. In this context we had the opportunity to talk to Dr Marcus Gardner and Jamie King, who are both founding members of the studio. The two share details about the advantages of developing a title for Stadia and how it came to the decision to release their first game solely on Google’s new platform. We also talked to them about the ongoing Corona crisis and how the current situation is affecting the work of developers. In this last section of the interview, they also give a few tips on how small studios can engage funding providers and publishers even in these difficult times, for example with a ‘contactless’ pitch.

Every step should be thought through so that no item gets damaged while moving it.

Making Games: How did the idea for Get Packed came to life and since when is the developer Moonshine Studios working on the chaotic co-op party game about a calamitous removals company? Moonshine Studios: Get Packed is out now, first playable on Stadia, but it has been quite the journey since we first started. Our four co-founders met in May 2017 as part of an EU funded university incubator/accelerator programme based in the digital tech industry called Falmouth Launchpad. As the programme name suggests, it was based in the far South West of Cornwall, run by Falmouth University. The programme focuses on creating and developing a team with the intent of incorporating as a company at the end of the year. This is underpinned by a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship, which we study while developing the product and company. Out of a cohort of 20, the four of us were partnered together to form one of the games teams. Without going into detail of our market research, we came to the conclusion that we should develop a game focused on the interaction between players. Whether in the form of a co-operative experience such as Overcooked, or competitive like Gangbeasts. Or a mixture of both like Crawl. We started brainstorming ideas to create a co-operative game that combines competitive elements to create these fun interactions. At the time, our artist Callum had recently helped a friend move from campus and remembered the clown-like challenge of cramming everything into this tiny car. Moving objects is something a lot of people can relate to, and a goldmine for comedy. Our earliest prototype involved moving Tetris-shaped objects into a van, where the players would maximise their score based on how tidily they packed everything. Conversely, we found that just piling everything in anyhow using physics was far more comical, and then ideas just started flowing from there. We found that many multiplayer co-operative games have quite a similar cartoony style, and didn’t want Get Packed to get lost in the mix; we wanted to make it more visually different than other titles on the market. The overall style and environment design take inspiration from miniature models and the work of director Wes Anderson. Selective colour palettes with muted tones and bright lighting are utilised to create a playful but stylish look to the game. 3D models follow a sharp, low poly topology to increase performance and visual clarity. Lightly chamfered edges and PBR texturing differentiate the visual style from conventional low poly games to create an almost miniature model aesthetic. Now that we had a basic game loop, art style and a bunch of level ideas, we wanted to introduce a narrative to wrap it all together. Neither physics-based games or party games tend to have much of a story, so we felt this was another area which we could make Get Packed stand out. We took all our wacky level ideas and grouped them into themes, which we then converted into narrative beats. As time went on, more and more layers were added to the story, which resulted in a very silly, but surprisingly intricate narrative. The game is set in the fictional town of Ditchlington; imagine an Americanized version of Cornwall and you’d be close. Ditchlington has been purchased by the sinister Industrial Salt Company who intends to obliterate it for the sake of an enormous salt mine. Player’s take the role of up to four Ditchlington residents who have just been evicted thanks to the Salt Corps greediness. While packing their own belongings, they begin to realise they have a real knack for it and decide to take advantage of the town-wide evictions and create “Last Ditch Removals”. This sees Last Ditch Removals packing up homes, businesses and other dubious locations to make sure it’s citizens are safe, and hopefully, along the way, come up with a scheme to stop the city from being demolished. The cutscenes are delivered via a top-down shot of an animated scrapbook which details Last Ditches’ journey, and this was again a nod to many of the shots seen in Wes Anderson’s films. To create unique and silly characters, we looked to some of our favourite animations such as Wallace and Gromit and the Simpsons for further inspiration. While the majority of the story is told through the animated cutscenes, the levels are full of hidden references and nods to Ditchlington’s history to help bring the world to life.

If too much damage accumulates you get fired and the round is over.

Are there features in the game which were may easier to realise on Stadia compared to other platforms? Working with Stadia has been an amazing experience. Unity has fantastic integration, so the whole development cycle hasn’t been too dissimilar from that of a console game. However, thanks to the power of Stadia, we’ve been able to push the graphics and wacky physics that much further. During development (pre-Stadia), we encountered a number of challenges. Get Packed is played from a birds-eye perspective, and often you can see the entire map. That means it’s a huge area to render, exacerbated by the sheer amount of physics objects which can be manipulated by the player. Knowing the specifications of the target hardware was incredibly useful, allowing us to pack each area to limit without affecting performance. Accurate lighting was another challenge pre-Stadia development. Baking the lighting would’ve been the ideal solution, and would have allowed for faster render times. Still, with all the moveable elements, it became clear that realtime lighting was the only viable solution. Even then, it was tricky balancing the requirements of the shadow system with the destructible meshes and explosions. It looks great, but that level of chaos began to push the hardware. Fortunately, these limitations pretty much evaporated when we focused on Stadia development. Thanks to the power of the Stadia servers, we could push the wacky physics and gorgeous lighting much further than we anticipated.

Does co-op gameplay thrive on players sitting together in the same room? We’re thinking of usual real-life interactions you would expect to see between players gathered together, such as funny scuffles, yelling, and swearing. Over the past few years, there’s been a massive resurgence in couch co-op. Long gone are the days of gaming being seen as a solitary activity. Now it’s just another way for family and friends to spend time with each other. Local-only co-op games – such as Overcooked and Crawl – perform extremely well, so there’s clearly an audience. When we started development on Get Packed, one of our core pillars was to create a game which encourages these types of engaging social experiences, whether online or together in the same room.

Coatsink developers working on the game in their office in Cornwall.

Does the co-op mode support online gaming in case your friends live in a distance where you rarely meet each other? Friends and family can invite each other to play through Stadia and jump into a game with no hassle at all. It features both local and online play, so whether you are playing on the couch with a partner or want to play with someone on the other side of the world, that can easily be done. You can even mix the two, with a few people playing locally and connecting with others online.

Is it possible to communicate with your friends via headset during an online match? Most definitely! You can easily invite your friends to a party on Stadia to start a voice channel with them before starting up the game. Jumping on a voice communications channel with your friends as you are chaotically packing things adds an extra layer of comedy as things go wrong. Part of the game’s experience is being able to enjoy the naturally occurring comedic interactions between you and your friends during gameplay!

What was the motivation behind releasing Get Packed first on Stadia? The game looks like it would also work fine across other popular platforms like PC, PS4, Xbox One, and of course Nintendo Switch. Over the last several years, there has been a huge shift in the way games are marketed, which has led to a massive boom in the development of games from smaller independent studios. Smaller Indie titles can gain massive traction through content creators streaming games content to their audiences. With the Games Video Content market growing at a very fast rate, and both streamers and viewers looking for new ways to interact with one another, Stadia offers a number of interesting features that can make the most of the shift in games entertainment culture. When we were designing the idea for the game Get Packed, we already knew that we wanted to make a game that was not just fun to play, but also fun to watch. When we were later presented with the opportunity to be a ‘First on Stadia’ title, the decision was a no-brainer. Stadia offers an extremely innovative and ambitious new platform that has the potential to change the way in which games are played drastically. As technology continues to grow rapidly, more people have access to faster and more affordable internet, making it even easier to play games than ever before. It is incredibly exciting to be a part of this new pioneering technology as one of the first ‘First on Stadia’ titles. In terms of gameplay, Get Packed is a very physics-heavy game, which can typically be quite intense on hardware. Not everyone has access to such hardware; however, by utilising Google’s high-end systems through games streaming, we can really see how far we can push the physics systems, while still allowing people to enjoy smooth gameplay at the highest graphical settings. Although the game focuses on couch co-op gameplay, in this day and age, social gatherings may not be possible. This makes online play incredibly important, and any developer who’s dipped their fingers into online physics will know how challenging and performance heavy it can be. Thankfully, Stadia can alleviate a lot of the typical performance problems that could come as a result of players connecting to the internet with different levels of hardware.

The developers showed their game at several events.

Are there any differences between online and local matches regarding gameplay? The local campaign is complemented with the animated story of our Ditchlington heroes, but in regards to gameplay, they are exactly the same. The online mode consists of a multiplayer playground similar to that of Gangbeasts, where players can join their friends or strangers in a lobby where they can select any level and mode that they have unlocked. The only differences are that players may have access to levels they haven’t unlocked yet by joining a player who has unlocked it, high scores and challenges won’t be saved for players who haven’t unlocked them in this case. The story cutscenes currently aren’t present in online play. However, we are considering bringing back that option, as many players dive straight into online games without ever learning of the backstory behind the game.

Does the game have features that only Stadia can offer? If so, what happens to these features in case of a future release on other platforms? Post-release, we will be looking to add Crowd Play to Get Packed and exploring other Stadia specific features. When designing Get Packed, one of our core design goals was to create a game which was not only fun to play, but fun to watch. Having the ability to instantly switch from watching your favourite streamer to playing with them is a brilliant idea and would be perfect for our game. These features are a massive bonus for both streamers and viewers. The growing video games content market has shown a rapid increase in the number of people who enjoy watching and interacting with their favourite content creators to the extent where it is considered a staple in the lives of the younger generations. Get Packed was designed to promote fun interactions between players, and this greatly matches what Stadia is also trying to achieve between streamers and viewers. While these Stadia specific features would be a massive addition to the entertainment value of the game, they aren’t crucial to the core game experience, and would not affect development in the case of a future release on other platforms.

Moving can be quite the chaos, but at least it’s a funny chaos.

Finally, some questions regarding the current Corona crisis: How does the worldwide pandemic affect the work of developers and publishers? Has your work changed significantly in this context? Did some of your employees or maybe entire departments have been working decentralised in their home offices even before the crisis occurred? Many large developers and publishers are based in cities where the Coronavirus has had a much larger impact, increasing the likelihood of employees becoming sick or self-isolating out of precaution and care for others. Depending on the company, this could quite easily result in many delays while the company sets up a remote work infrastructure for its employees. Older companies may have a more traditional structure, so they may have found it more challenging to move everything digital in comparison to a small indie developer who has remote employees dotted around the world. Many companies hold their new game titles in secrecy and very close to their chest. Creating a secure environment for employees to work remotely without running the risk of information leaks can be a very costly exercise. For us at Moonshine Studios, which is located at the tail-end of Cornwall, the impact of Coronavirus is quite minimal in comparison. Our small office has been closed since the lockdown; however, it has been very easy for us to adapt to a remote office environment. Since starting up, we have always had a flexible approach to remote working and work hours. While we do have a core office where the majority of us work, people have the freedom to work from home whenever they choose. Graham, one of our programmers, lives quite far away from the office compared to the rest of us and finds it much easier to work at night due to the lack of distraction. As such, we’ve made sure our work infrastructure has been able to accommodate this. Not only that, but some of us have also been in more long-distance relationships, and being able to work remotely for a month or two at a time has been great in fostering them. With the onset of cloud computing and the availability of a plethora of digital management tools for every situation, it has never been so easy to collaborate and set up a remote office network than ever before. Utilising digital collaborative tools such as Slack, Github and Trello alongside Unity indicated that we already had the infrastructure for working from home, which meant that our productivity hadn’t been massively affected by the lockdown. Some slowdown is inevitable; however, as we are all working from personal laptops and desktops that aren’t as powerful as our office workstations. We mostly communicate through Slack, which enables us to easily group topics and direct message to each other. However, conveying complicated ideas or issues can be a struggle via text, in which case we hold quick video chats, especially when they relate to the design of important gameplay features. The biggest difficulty for us with the current lockdown is that we simply miss the office and the company culture. We are all good friends, so to be isolated for weeks can be challenging. We recently started an online coffee chat every other morning to catch up with each other to make sure everyone is doing well, considering the current climate.

Is there a chance that digital products could perhaps achieve an increase in sales as a result of the crisis? Historical video games sales data has shown that more people are moving from physical to digital media, and the current situation will only strengthen this. We have seen the highest unemployment numbers we will probably ever see in our lifetime, with millions of people off work on furlough or having lost their jobs completely. With limited options, while waiting for the economic climate to move back towards normality, those that are currently stuck at home with their loved ones (who may also be in a similar situation) need to find ways to entertain themselves as a form of escapism. Video games are the perfect form of media to do this. They not only act as a form of entertainment, but are also used to create and strengthen social bonds, and can often be a way to stimulate or destress the mind. There have already been multiple reports of increased game sales, game streaming viewership and concurrent players. The World Health Organisation has even recommended playing active video games while in isolation. There is no doubt this will have a big impact on the video games industry, whether that would be introducing gaming to a whole new audience that has previously stayed clear of it, or making it a social staple like board games nights once were. While we could have never predicted what has happened, since right from the start of development, making the game available for online play has been a key goal. Although Get Packed and similar party game experiences shine the most in a setting where players are sitting around the same screen, we know that a large portion of the audience can only play games with others online. It has always been important to us to have both online and local co-op in Get Packed, so that family and friends could enjoy the gaming experience together, wherever they are in the world.

No item is too big or weird to move.

We notice that developer conferences all around the world get cancelled at the moment, which is a big problem for small developers. Usually visiting a developer conference helps to get in touch with publishers quickly and allow multiple pitches in a short amount of time. For many indies, pitching at the publisher’s site (with flights, hotel, etc.) is too expensive. So do you have any tips for a ‘contactless’ pitch? Which information should be part of the first email, and how should a future webcam presentation look like to raise the interest of a publisher? We feel a great deal of sympathy for the developers who had made plans to attend these conferences, some who will not get their money back. In those early pitching phases when you are still looking for funding, every expense is crucial and to not get anything back from it could cripple a company. That’s why it’s been amazing to see the support of places like WINGS who spearheaded the GDC Relief Fund, allowing people to recoup some of their costs. My hope is that this situation will encourage more publishers to focus on online pitches, so future developers don’t feel the need to attend these events. When sending pitches to publishers, it’s important to catch their attention. For us, we knew our game shined brightest when you saw people playing it, so we made a semi-public game night at a university and invited people to come to play the game in exchange for some free food. We recorded them playing and mixed their reactions into the trailer. It was clear that everyone was enjoying playing the game themselves as well as competing against their friends for the highest score. Everyone likes a bit of friendly competition and being able to capture the emotions of those interactions was fantastic. Even before the lockdown started and the games expos were cancelled, it was still very important to have a strong ‘contactless’ pitch. When you attend an event, there are many occasions where you just aren’t able to set up those essential meetings or miss the opportunity to show the game to a potential publisher; you may have to make that first contact by email. Perfecting that is even more important in the current climate. Keep in mind when sending emails to publishers, that they probably get hundreds of messages a day. We found being brief, transparent, but informative with all your needs, the funds required, and an eye-catching trailer was what worked for us. While the first contact is very important, being able to follow up with a realistic view on scope, sales, budgeting and planning is a large bonus. Publishers want to know whether they can trust the team to deliver the game they are pitching in a specific time frame within budget. Ultimately though, if you have something playable to show, this experience can speak a thousand words, so make sure to pitch at the right time with the best possible build you can provide.

Dr Marcus Gardner Co-Founder & Programmer

Originally specialising in mechatronics and robotics, Marcus switched careers to utilise his experience in systems design, programming, project management and independent research to create memorable experiences in games.

Jamie King Co-Founder & Designer

Specialising in games design, Jamie has previously created games and interactive exhibits for award-winning visitor attractions. While primarily a designer, he also assists with art direction the 3D asset production.

The post Get Packed: Creating a Game for Google Stadia appeared first on Making Games.

Get Packed: Creating a Game for Google Stadia published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

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bliss1970 · 6 years ago

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On the anniversary of fours years of being damaged and disabled by leveaquin, cipro, avelox and flagyl. Yes I was given high doses of all of these in a 2-3 month period. Yes each dr knew what I was given before they gave me each new prescription. I was never warned of the possible side effects. What I have gone through and my husband has gone through being my caretaker is more difficult then anyone that hasn’t been in a similar situation can understand. Please read this please learn from me and wake the heck up!!! Also this took me over a month to write. I have two choices: depressed it took me a month to write this or grateful I pushed through the pain to get it done!!!!!

I have learned the following:

To hear you must learn what it feels like to be truly silenced. Not just by people that you choose to have in your life who are jerks but by an entire system. To bang against doors and been seen as a dirty secret and feel what it is like to have a system tell you we don’t care please go away and die.

Don’t tell me I’m wrong because that’s how I’ve been made to feel and there are many floxies who do give up because of mental damage of the drugs it’s been proven to cause phycological damage added to that damage is how the medical system treats them. If you haven’t been damaged by big pharma then you have no clue of the cruelty they unleash on you. Each suicide is murder and I have fought my own demons because this shit does horrible things to people. I’m too stubborn to let a piece of crap system steal who I am. It’s a struggle every day and I fight it because if I lose then they win in silencing one more person. Then they get to kill more people. Systems only change when enough people rise up and say no more.

It has enabled me too see things that most turn a blind eye to. That we as a society choose the easy route the path of cognitive dissonance.

Our let someone else solve it society has allowed corporations to have more rights then I do. We have normalized “side effects” to the point where we have allowed the companies that did this to me and countless other to say oh well it’s my fault and that I have no way of suing these companies. Yes I’ve talked to lawyers. Somehow if their medication damages me I’m told it doesn’t count and that I have to pay for it when I lost my ability to work. The whole they shouldn’t be responsible thing is crap. It is absolutely bs. It’s been told to us that it’s our problem if you have side effects or it’s falsely told to us it’s such a small amount that it doesn’t matter. The lives ruined don’t matter!!! We as a society have normalized this. Levaquin one of the drugs that I was given at a high dose for two weeks is now off the market. So I guess for the “greater good” it was pulled but the companies that pulled it aren’t being held responsible.

Let me be clear last year I was told by two drs who are familiar with this that it is unlikely I will ever heal. That western medicine doesn’t spend the money to heal side effects. The reason they don’t is because society allows it. I don’t want your pity I want you to wake the hell up.

I am still here and still going but I’ve also accepted the fact that this is my life. It’s not easy and for the rest of my life I can’t take care of myself. If I have an attack I can’t always understand what someone is saying to me. I know someone is speaking I see what’s occurring around me unless my eyes roll back into my head but depending on a number of things during my attacks I don’t always know what someone is telling me.My husband double checks everything he also checks on me while at work. I have 30 mins to respond or he will leave work to make sure I’m okay. It’s a toss up on how people interact with me anytime I go out in public. I still go outside even if I scream in public with no control of it and I smile not matter what the reaction. Yes it took a lot of tears to get to this point. It took more personal strength to deal with people laughing and refusing to help me. Yes it’s happened many times and I still smile at them because I have empathy for them. I feel so sorry for people who seek to judge me because they must have a really sad life when they project those emotions on to me. So I smile at them no matter what because I hope maybe the crazy disabled lady with the smile helps them face their own demons.

I am pretty positive and I have worked like crazy to get to where I am. I don’t want pity I hope you wake the hell up. Stop letting greedy people who gave corporations more rights then people have and pushed agendas that normalized actions and concepts where if you talk about them in isolation are stupid. If you want to defend it you are defending a company. The whole greater good bs is propaganda. FDA HAS LABELED WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AS AN ACTUAL DISABILITY YET AGAIN THE COMPANIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CREATION FOR THIS DISABILITY ARE NOT BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE. AGAIN MY DISABILITY IS CAUSED FROM A DRUG.

Talking about actual important subjects and not idle gossip is actually what we as a society should do. There is no such thing as the right place or time. That’s more idiotic propaganda about manners that we have normalized.

Please be captains of your health look into naturopathic treatments.

I can’t try a bunch of stuff because I react to what feels like everything makeup makes my face swell perfume can trigger attacks usually choking attacks followed by a rash and I now learned that Stevia can burn the top layer of skin off my lips completely. I’m more grateful for my life then I can ever explain. I have my ups and my downs both are normal and healthy.

I force myself to talk about all of this because society as a whole loves to defend the pharmaceutical industry. I have fought these 4 years to stop the medical system from dehumanizing me.

Stop being lazy we as a society allowed ourselves to be divided a long time ago. We have the power to believe in unity. I don’t believe in political parties, I believe in unity. I don’t care what religion you follow or if you even follow one, I care about what you practice when no one is looking. Stop falling for stupid bs that is meant to divide and look for common ground and support basic rights for everyone all those concepts lead to unity. Stop dehumanizing people!!!!!

If you actually read my rant, thank you and I bet I know who the three of you are..... 😂😂😂😂🤪😱🥰🤗🥰

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boredsingaporean · 7 years ago

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Chapter 7: Missing Food Scene Investigation

“This is so disgusting!” Ju hollered from her desk in aghast. Rose, Choi, Nicky and Sally rushed to her desk and looked at a blank space in the basket where Ju’s finger was pointing. “What happened? I don’t see any ants or cockroaches,” said the puzzled Sally. “Somebody stole my cookies!” berated Ju. “I put a new unopened package of butter cookies here yesterday and now it’s gone!” The basket on the corner of Ju’s desk had been used as a “food basket” by our team. Everybody in the team would contribute some food regularly, like biscuits, chocolates, chips and other snacks, and put them into the basket. As and when any of us decided to take a bite, we would just walk over and “pick and munch” from the basket. A very simple idea that kept us from getting hungry and allowed us to socialize at the same time. However, it appeared that somebody had been stealing from this “food basket” of ours. “Urgh… first it was my pack of potato chips, now it’s Ju’s cookies,” complained the miffed Choi. “I think this thief is getting daring,” noted Ju. “I know he used to pick up a couple of biscuits every now and then, but now he’s taking the whole pack!” “Maybe you guys can start to hide those unopened food below Ju’s table instead of placing them so openly in the basket?” suggested Nicky. “No, no use. My pack of potato chips was placed under Ju’s table,” Choi shook his head. “I just don’t understand! Why must this guy steal food from the office? I don’t believe anybody who works around here can be so poor and underprivileged!” Ju screamed again. I could easily make a safe guess that the lowest paid executive on this floor was drawing a monthly salary of at least two thousands dollars. How poor and underprivileged can this person be? The nearest foods available were the chicken pies from the café downstairs and the food court in the building across the road. Even if he/she had not taken any meal since the night before, I was certain that he/she could make his/her way safely to these foods. How weak from hunger can this person be? “Maybe we should try to build a profile of this thief so that we know who is the suspicious one?” suggested Rose. “This guy definitely has a sweet tooth. I know he drank from the bottle of Terik Pepsi that I put in the fridge in the pantry,” said Choi. “What’s a ‘Terik Pepsi’?” asked Nicky. “Oh, it’s coffee flavored Pepsi.” ”Yak… that’s a taste for weird stuff, not sweet,” commented Sally. “I agree he has got a sweet tooth! He ate from the tub of ice-cream that I put in the freezer as well!” remembered Nicky. “And three pieces of chocolates that Beng got for me from London,” said Ju. “Hang on… that thief might not be a ‘he’ after all,” analyzed Nicky. “Ju, you’re talking about those berry jam-filled heart shaped chocolates that Beng bought back? Then we should be looking at a ‘her’.” “Why?” asked Ju. “Because most straight guys will not appreciate eating berry jam-filled heart shaped chocolates. Well, unless he’s a gay, of course. But I’m not aware of any gay on this floor” Nicky said solemnly. “KZ, have you ever lost any food from your table?” asked Sally. KZ looked up from his notebook and replied, “Cereal bar.” “Hang on…,” analyzed Nicky. “Why will a sweet toothed gal eat KZ’s low fat, no sugar, no taste cereal bar?” “Because she was trying to neutralize the sweetness in her mouth after eating those sweet stuffs?” answered Sally. “No! I think it’s more likely that there is more than one thief!” exclaimed Nicky. Nicky had once again proved that he was the uncontested and undisputed product analyst of our team, with unbeatable experience in analyzing financial products, stock markets and… food stealing thieves. “Beng, have you lost any food before?” asked Ju. “Erm… I guess the thieves are not very keen in taking mint leaves?” Yes, mint leaves. Because the only thing edible on my desk was the small pot of mint plant. I had chosen a pot of mint plant over the typical office plants of money plants and cactuses because I liked the fresh smell emitted from its leaves. It was easy to handle and grew fast too. Not like the three-tired bamboo plant on Nicky’s table that had a specific number of bamboo sticks on each tier. It could only be watered a specific amount of water during some specific times of the day, and it hardly grew from the time that Nicky had bought it. After Nicky had finished writing the food that had been stolen on a piece of paper, he read from it. “Okay, so these thieves liked weird Pepsi…” “Terik Pepsi,” interrupted Choi. “Terik Pepsi, ice-cream, berries-filled heart shaped chocolates, tasteless cereal bar…” KZ looked up from his notebook and raised an eyebrow at Nicky’s description of his cereal bar. “Potato chips, digestive biscuits, chocolate biscuits, yogurts, dried vegetable snacks and butter cookies.” “Wow, that’s a lot of food they’ve stolen!” exclaimed Sally. “They disliked and thus did not touch Rose’s green apples, carrot sticks and celery sticks; KZ’s wheatgrass powder and green tea bags; my preserved prunes, preserved lemon skins and preserved century eggs…” “Nobody will steal your preserved stuffs,” interrupted Choi. Nicky raised an eyebrow to Choi before continuing: “and Beng’s mint leaves.” Geez, I supposed none of us would have expected such long list of food that the thieves had been stealing from us. I could understand the greed of those who stole hand soups from hotel rooms or even those who queued up twice for free food samples given away at MRT train stations. Those were simply greedy. But the greed of those who stole food from their own colleagues working in the same company? These were amorally greedy. “What do you think we can do to prevent our food from being stolen again?” Ju asked Nicky. “Paste a ‘do not steal our food’ sign near the basket?” suggested Nicky. “No, it won’t work,” commented Choi. “Remember how motorists love to park next to the ‘do not park’ sign and on the double yellow lines? Pasting the sign will only prompt them to steal more.” “How about we wrap the packets and boxes of food in newspapers as camouflage?” suggested Sally. “Haha… you’ll find the food missing and the tore newspapers in the nearby wastepaper basket!” Choi laughed. “The more you try to cover, the more interested they will be, and the more they’ll try to find out.” Choi was right. Warning signs never worked. Just like you can always find smokers smoking near the “no smoking” sign, like in the lift or at the bus stop. Just like you can always find people fishing near the “no fishing” signs at reservoirs. Just like you can always find people munching their burgers on the bus, standing next to the “no eating and drinking” sign. “Stupid thieves!” Sally blurted. “Why don’t we get hold of some expired food and place them in the basket for these thieves to steal?” “No, some people are not allergic to expired food,” Nicky mused. “We should put some itchy powder on the food packages instead!” “Or superglue!” exclaimed Choi. “Or put some mini mousetraps inside the food packages!” exclaimed Rose. “And I can also ask a Taoist to write a ‘fu’ and paste it on the food basket, so that whoever that steals from us will be cursed for seven years!” Nicky suggested avidly. Everybody stopped to stare at Nicky. His brain was running too fast again. “Hey guys, why don’t you just lock up the basket of food before going home?” I suggested. “It’s too troublesome!” Rose, Ju, Choi and Nicky shouted at me all at once. Talk about unity for the wrong reason. “Actually I think I’ve got the perfect solution that will work for sure,” Choi grinned and rubbed his chin. Everybody looked at him quietly. Even KZ looked up from his notebook. “Why don’t we put the food basket at Dawn’s desk?” Choi suggested. Everybody then turned and looked at Dawn’s empty desk. She was on medical leave, which explained her absence from this whole conversation. “Though she hardly contributes, but she hardly eats these snacks as well!” interrupted the puzzled Sally. “That’s why it’s safe there!” exclaimed the excited Choi. “And knowing how busybody she is, she won’t mind having the basket there!” “But why won’t the thieves steal from the food basket if it’s on Dawn’s table?” asked the still puzzled Sally. “Because Dawn will use her communication power on the MSN Messenger to ask around and find out who stole from the basket. And for those not in her contact list, she’ll walk up to their desk and ask them one by one. Imagine you’re one of the thieves and Dawn comes over to your desk to ask ‘do you know who stole from the food basket?’ everyday…” Good Choi! That was one good method to drive the thieves mad and away.

#nanowrimo

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yes-clearstudentlover-us-blog · 8 years ago

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STEPS TO MAKE, Print, And Bind Your Own Books

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mrmarknewman · 8 years ago

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How to unite doctors in these divided times

American doctors are unhappy about a lot of things. Americans, in general, are unhappy about a lot of things. In many ways, both groups share similar concerns. But the road back to happiness may follow a similar path for both, as well.

American doctors once felt part of something special. American health care, by reputation at least, was the best in the world, and we were its proud emissaries. We functioned with a satisfying sense of autonomy. Patient care was paramount, and the business of health care derived from that ethic, not the other way around.

And Americans once felt like members of a special club. America symbolized what could be achieved, in a moral sense and an economic one, when a people, a benevolent and effective government, and powerful industries worked together and, at least in some senses, in partnership, and for the greater good.

I know that I am painting an overly rosy picture. Things in America, for doctors or for the general population, have never been perfect. But the American dream was a powerful and arguably, a largely positive force for Americans (with exceptions). And the American medical system, American government, and American industry were something in which Americans took pride (again, with exceptions).

But much has changed. It is not a happy time. The American health care system may now be the worst in the world. And American doctors today are buried under a mountain of unnecessary, overbearing government regulations, and pushed about by giant health care corporations. Money drives the system. Likewise, Americans are being squeezed by a controlling, corrupt, and ineffective government, and a greedy corporate culture that values nothing other than profits. People exist to serve the system, where in the past we were in partnership with it.

But maybe worst of all is that, paired with those problems, today we are also a nation divided. We have always had divisions. We even fought a civil war over them. But except for that Civil War we have always been more united than apart. And our national trajectory was growing tolerance and acceptance of one another. But now it seems we are all at one another’s throats. It is painful to see: a significant source of our national unhappiness.

Doctors are as divided as the nation when it comes to politics and opinions regarding health care reform. But we also divide by specialty, and many of our specialty organizations divide by state, as well. We are a profession of factions. More than anything, though, we are kept apart by a lack of time. Most practicing physicians are just too busy in their professional lives to have the time to organize and work together on other issues.

And as we are all well aware, Americans divide by just about everything: political parties, professions, race, religion, sexuality, etc. You name it, we are divided by it.

But division is not just a source of unhappiness. It creates a bigger problem. A divided citizenry is weak and disorganized. We fight with one another when we need to be facing down our out-of-control government, and taking on the harmful effects of unfettered corporate greed.

The solution, for doctors and for the broader population, is to come together. The American government will not fix itself. Nor has it been able to fix the health care system. And corporate greed will not rein itself in. It will take a strong, united population to bring about such changes and to bring necessary balance back to the American equation. If we want to fix things, Americans must unite behind that which brings us together, and put aside our differences.

In fact, American doctors are looking for ways to do just that. Recognizing that organizations like the American Medical Association and specialty-specific professional societies are not getting the job done, new groups representing practicing physicians have begun to spring up. I recently sat in on a conference call where a number of those new organizations were in attendance. There were representatives from Practicing Physicians of America, Physicians Working Together, the Association of Independent Doctors, American Doctors Stand Up, the National Physicians Council for Healthcare Policy, Patients and Physicians United for Quality Medical Care, and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, to name a few.

It was interesting how the conversation played out. When issues concerning politicized topics such as the repeal of Obamacare were mentioned, there was little conversation. It was obvious that divisions ran deep. On the other hand, there was obvious unity when it came to conversations regarding topics like administrative overload and insurance company abuses. All doctors abhor the incredible amount of work it takes just to get paid for simple services, maintenance of certification, EHRs and the government’s crazy EHR Meaningful Use program, overly aggressive insurance company pre-authorizations, the insane new government “value-based pay” program (MACRA), and the fact that we are being forced out of our private practices and into corporate work camps. It appears that all doctors agree on the desperate need for administrative simplification and a far less intrusive regulatory environment. And this appears to be just the issue that could unite American physicians to form a more effective political force.

It is harder to say which issues could unite the broader American population. What is clear is that if doctors and American citizens remain divided to the extent that we are today, it is unlikely that we will solve America’s greatest problems. Only by coming together in new ways can we create a health care system where patients come first and a society where American citizens are back on equal footing with American government and the nation’s industries.

Matthew Hahn is a family physician who blogs at his self-titled site, Matthew Hahn, MD. He is the author of Distracted: How Regulations Are Destroying the Practice of Medicine and Preventing True Health-Care Reform.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

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