#which given that they’re CDs is just false

[boomerang109]

yeah maybe you’re a great music fan but actually i think you should be jealous of the joy and whimsy that my audio processing issues bring into my life

[jellymaids]

idle dantes thoughts

my favorite white haired anime man has me thinking since i heard he’s going to be relevant again in the upcoming jp fgo event somehow, and i can’t constantly subject my friends on discord to my screeds.

something i’ve seen rolling around in fgo fandom is “dantes’ soul is in the chateau, that’s why he’s still so full of rage.” i feel like this is a wildly simplistic view on dantes’ whole situation though? as well as disregarding that as an avenger, he is cursed to never forget the hurt and harm done him, no matter how small - it becomes his strength. that is a constant in all in the avenger class. gorgon remembers humanity’s hatred for her, jalter knows the pain of being persecuted as a witch, angra mainyu was made a scapegoat for sin. all of them have remembrance and constant hatred circulating in them.

beyond the direct “he’s just an avenger” answer, there’s more to be thought about as to why dantes is raging, though.

as much as you have to take fate/ versions of characters as their own entities and not strongly tied to history, there are enough references in his interactions, lines, and unique events to indicate that the writers are heavily pulling from the actual text of dumas’ novel. in particular, him referring to haydee at points - which is shockingly rare for an adaptation, as they prefer to keep him paired with mercedes and not get into the messy aspects of haydee existing in the story - is proof they’re thinking about what dumas wrote down. dantes is an existence like jalter, like nursery rhyme - all three are versions of themselves, self aware pieces of fiction. where dantes deviates from the others is that fate/strange fake confirms what the drama cd came close to saying - he was a real person who dumas met and extracted the story from, which dumas went and changed around into his own bestselling novel. the dantes we know, then, isn’t straightforwardly the one from the real world dumas’ novel. he’s fictional, real, and made fictional again, only to then again become real as our servant and ally - operating on a double level of constructed identity, messy as that is to define. 

dantes is intensely aware he is a creation. he doesn’t seem to hold much love for dumas, or the happy end which he gave his hero - we do not know the fate of the “real” dantes, but it can be inferred it was not a happy one, given his disappearance and refusal to interact with dumas again. as servants are twisted by the popular interpretation of them, so is dantes changed by the popular image of his novel as one man’s revenge saga. the lust for destruction and vengeance is what people know of him, the rage and pain that dominated most of his life after he escaped prison. the count of monte cristo is that specific man, and not the sailor from marseille or the man who regrets going too far and tries desperately to not fuck up innocent lives when he wakes up to how he’s being, the man who sails away with haydee and leaves france behind. 

he is in essence an excerpt of the full tale of edmond dantes, not the fully told tale of his life. he is denied that hopeful ending that dumas wrote him (in real life and in canon), and so he exists as avenger, forever on fire with hatred for injustice that would do those things to him, to the innocents in the world as a whole. that’s not related to the false chateau, that’s just baked into who he is as a servant. his soul is that popular, twisted image of himself while at the same time being aware that he’s been changed into this entity, much the same as other servants can be. frankly, it wouldn’t be out of line to say it skirts the concept of innocent monster, though i know that’s reserved for those who genuinely didn’t do the wild deeds attributed to them - salieri, andersen, etc. all of this is to say, it’s not the event that made him this way, it’s been in him since the real dumas put the words on paper, and fgo was just copying down what was already there into a servant. 

side note, for as heavy handed and awkward as the canon can be, it’s a remarkably nuanced thing to have it be noted in his information and the knk event that dantes holds a deep love for humanity. even in his complicated, fragmented existence, he still loves the good in the world as much as he hates the evil in it. there’s still something of the man he was and was meant to be at the end in him now. 

[adhd-disaster-willie]

Seventeen and strung out on confusion; chapter 1/4

Summary: Just some snippets of backstory for the one and only Alex Mercer; aka my comfort character. Each moment will have a date attached so you can understand the timeline. Angst with fluffy found family moments :)

Warnings: Homophobia, swearing

---

As I’m sure you could guess, there are numerous problems that come with being the only out gay kid at your school in 1994. It’s not so bad if you keep your head down and persuade your friends not to get into a fight with everyone who throws a slur your way, but regardless. That pink hoodie that you’ve been wearing since you were 14 and is honestly too small at this point but your parents refuse to buy you another one? Well it’s a target on your back and apparently everyone at the school is now a professional archer. Or at least, they’re all very proficient in the art of unoriginal insults that cut deeper than they should. All of this is to say, don’t come out to your religious parents in 1994. Ever.

---

Alex Mercer was born into a perfect nuclear family, in a two story house with a white picket fence, brick columns, and a clean cut yard that was unsettlingly green. His parents were as religious as anyone could get; straight-laced, good Catholic parents who kept their hands tight around Alex’s shoulders. He went to church every Sunday and tried to ignore the way his neck itched from the too-tight collar and his mother swatting at his hands until he had to sit on them to refrain from drumming on the nearest surface. He was good at hiding the way he payed undivided attention to his little sister’s ballet classes, good at pretending to stare at the girls in the hallways that all his friends drooled after, and especially good at convincing everyone that he drummed and sang to… impress said girls. Right. But unfortunately, Alex was even better at accidentally outing himself a day into the New Year, consequentially losing all of his parents’ affection.

He didn’t even exist to them anymore. Maybe it would’ve been better if they’d given him a million restrictions and curfews and basically chained his hands together, because this was unsettling. And lonely. Family dinners were a thing of the past, and he’d really begun to sympathize with Reggie and his microwaved, half-cold meals every morning and night. But it could always be worse. They hadn’t kicked him out… yet.

---

January 25, 1994

“Alex, dude!”

Alex flinched upon realizing Reggie’s hand waving in front of his face. He looked up and smiled guiltily, realizing the way he’d frozen, spaced out staring at the wall and absentmindedly hitting his sticks against his legs with a beat that didn’t at all match the song they were supposed to be rehearsing.

Luke sighed, wiping the pout off his face. “Alex, come on man! We aren’t gonna get any gigs if you keep…” He waved his hands vaguely and slapped Alex’s shoulder. “Just, pay attention dude.”

“Right,” Alex replied, his voice strained. He was staring down at his shoes and he could feel his bandmates having a silent conversation above his head which he could only deduce Luke was not happy with, probably meaning they were stopping rehearsal. He didn’t want them to stop for him; it made him feel like a burden, and Luke was right, if they were gonna make it anywhere, they had to be all in.

“Alex, you okay?” Reggie asked, his eyebrows knit together in concern.

Alex nodded briefly and kept his gaze trained on his feet. His sneakers were too small and he had to curl his toes in for them to fit but he was afraid of the reaction he’d get from telling his parents he needed something.

“It’s not one of those homophobic jackasses again, right?” Bobby asked, moving closer, his eyes narrowing. “I swear, this time I will cave Josh’s fucking face in-”

“It’s not!” Alex clarified, finally lifting his head. “It isn’t…” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look it’s just my parents alright? They…”

Reggie’s eyes widened and he began fiddling with his flannel sleeves. “They didn’t… they didn’t hurt you did they?” He asked, his voice small.

“No, no they didn’t hurt me… not physically at least.” He laughed ruefully. “They’re just being stupid, alright? Ignoring me like they have for the past 3 weeks.” Alex stood up, well aware that at this point band practice was a thing of the past. He walked to the couch, the other three boys in tow.

“Hey!” Luke elbowed Alex’s side before throwing an arm over his shoulders. “That new Green Day album is coming out in like, a week.” He grinned, eyes lighting up. “I’ve been saving up to buy it, and we can use that new cassette player I got for Christmas to listen to it.”

Alex nodded, smiling softly and letting his head relax on the back of the couch. “Yea that sounds great. Promise you won’t listen to it without us?”

“Of course ‘Lex; we all gotta be there to find which songs we’re gonna cover.”

Reggie wrinkled his nose in confusion. “I thought you said we’d moved past being a cover band?”

“It’s Luke, he’ll make an exception for anything if it involves Green Day,” Bobby chuckled.

Several beats of silence passed in which the sun seemed to get increasingly lower in the sky, before Bobby sighed in resignation. “You’re all staying here tonight, aren’t you?”

Luke beamed, clapping Bobby’s shoulders. “You know us so well.”

“Sleepover!” Reggie laughed, pumping a fist in the air. “Does it count as a sleepover if we all basically live here at this point?”

“Shhh ‘Lex, don’t ruin our fun,” Luke responded.

Alex smiled hesitantly. Yea, he was okay.

---

May, 1994

Michael Williams had dark hair brushing the tips of his shoulders, eyes that were almost golden in certain lights and a smile that gave Alex butterflies. Not to mention he was in theater and had a reputation for flipping off the homophobic jocks that were constantly on Alex’s tail. Not that he did it specifically for Alex, but still. The only problem was that talking to cute boys that he hadn’t known since 3rd grade was far from Alex’s strong point.

“Come on Alex!” Luke groaned, sliding into the last open seat at their lunch table. “Just talk to him before I literally combust.” He punctuated his sentence by waving at Alex with a cold french fry.

Alex grumbled something, his face in his arms in a futile attempt to hide the red dusting his cheeks.

“Hey Luke, if you explode because Alex refuses to talk to his crush, can I have your CD’s?” Reggie quipped, a lopsided grin on his face.

Luke gasped in mock offense. “Reginald-!”

“Still not my name.”

“I will be buried with my music,” Luke said. “Both of my guitars too-”

“Even your amp?” Bobby questioned.

“Yes.”

“Seems like a waste of space. Can you even fit all that in a coffin?”

Luke shrugged. “You guys can figure it out. Don’t betray my dying wish.”

Something that would’ve been silence had Luke ever been taught how to chew like a normal person passed over the table, in which Alex’s attention drifted lazily back to Michael Williams, who was chatting enthusiastically with one of the girls in his theater class. Alex didn’t know her name but they had biology together and she never gave him dirty looks, so he liked her.

“10 bucks if you go talk to him,” Bobby said, nudging Alex and waggling his eyebrows.

“No. No,” Alex said. “Not happening.”

“15.”

“Where is this money coming from?” Alex squeaked, although the prospect of $15 was all too tempting. He could get some decent shoes for that.

“20,” Bobby continued, grinning maniacally.

“Dude!” Luke laughed. “How are your parents gonna like you asking for money to fulfill a bet?”

Bobby slapped a hand over Luke’s mouth.

“I’m gonna regret this,” Alex sighed, already moving to stand up.

Reggie giggled like a child and offered a shit-eating grin to Alex, who promptly flipped him off before heading across the cafeteria.

---

December 17, 1994

Alex was screwed. No. Alex was completely fucked. Alex Mercer was likely seconds away from living in a ditch. Because of course it had to be his sister who caught him making out with a guy after school. And of course she was too young to understand why she couldn’t tell Mom and Dad. Because she would’ve done the same if he’d been kissing a girl because kissing is gross and it’s funny to tell your parents that your big brother was kissing someone.

“Hey Mom, guess what Alex did today?” Angie asked, giggling. She was perched on the counter, licking frosting from her fingers while their mother brushed cookie crumbs from her dress. And Alex was frozen at the top of the stairs, crouched down, his heart pounding so loud he was sure it could be heard downstairs. He dug his nails into his palms and prayed that his mother would pretend he didn’t exist when he wanted her to. It was one thing, them knowing. But this? This was something else. Alex’s parents lived on the philosophy that homosexual thoughts got you an eternity in hell, but homosexual actions got you shunned and thrown out. So yea, he was screwed.

“What did Alex do today?” His mother asked, plastering a false smile onto her face, her voice sounding like she was already packing his bags. Alex wanted to get up and run. He wanted to go to his room and jump out the window and fly away. But it was like the sweat on his palms was superglue keeping him stuck to the carpet, and his brain had short-circuited.

Angie laughed again, trying to get it out through her snickering. “Alex was kissing someone today.” She sang, her small feet swinging back and forth, the noise of her heels against the counter like knives in Alex’s ears. “That boy Michael that used to go to our church.” The innocence in her voice made Alex ache.

“Angie.” His mother’s voice was cold now. “Leave please.”

Angie’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she scurried up the stairs anyway, giving Alex a tearful hug on the way because even at ten, she knew that that voice meant trouble. “Sorry ‘Lex. I shouldn’t ‘a told your secret,” She whispered, before sprinting to her room and leaving Alex wondering if he’d get to see her after tonight.

“Alex Mercer, please come downstairs.” Her voice chilled him to the bone, like shards of ice penetrating his skin and seeping into his blood. But he walked down anyway.

Alex tightened the muscles in his hands and feet, willing himself to stay still and planted to the wooden floor, facing his mother head-on, as if the look in her eyes wasn’t terrifying him to the point of tears. But he wouldn’t let her see that she was getting to him, he wouldn’t. So he bit his tongue and counted down from ten inwardly.

“What is this nonsense?” She hissed, reaching out and gripping his forearm, her nails a millimeter away from digging into his skin.

Alex swallowed roughly. “I- I don’t know. Angie’s just… she’s-”

“Don’t lie to me!” His mother snapped. She brought her hand back, curling her fingers in with a look of disgust, as if she’d been touching fire. And then she was speaking again, but Alex couldn’t hear her over the pounding in his ears. He tightened his jaw and shut his eyes momentarily. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

“Get out.”

His eyes snapped open. Alex stood still in front of her, searching her eyes for the slightest bit of remorse. But there was nothing but ice. So he left. He left with tears running down his face and he couldn’t even bring himself to say goodbye to Angie. It wasn’t until he was halfway down the block when he realized that he had nothing but the clothes on his back and a backpack full of everything he could fit, and no where to go. He collapsed on the ground, the cold night air finally hitting him, seeping into his bones. He looked up and wiped his eyes, sniffling. It was odd, the way that the Christmas lights were able to look so beautiful when he felt so broken inside. It felt almost unfair that everything outside of him was moving at a normal pace like nothing had changed. But Alex knew better than that. Everything had changed.

---

These are the people who expressed interest in reading this when I posted about it a few days ago :)

@edgeofgillespie @herequeerandcantdrinkbeer @lookingthroughmirrors

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

[nostalgiaispeace]

2232.

1. What is your favorite shade of blue? dark 2. When’s the last time you bought something just because? lol never 3. What Ozzy lyric describes you best? - 4. When was the last time you went for a walk without a specific destination in mind? idk 5. Do you daydream? always

6. What was your last daydream about? well i’m not telling thei nternet 7. Ever won the lottery? lol no 8. How much did you get for your high school graduation? i don’t remember 9. What was the most important decision you made that screwed up your life the most? idk 10. Do you know what your Chinese horoscope is? hmmm i might 11. What is love really about? nothing i can describe right now while i’m exhausted 12. What’s the most you ever made in a year? lol 13. Do you have an online diary? no 14. What’s the biggest pot you’ve won in poker? I’ve never played poker. 15. What’s your most prized possession? my frog 16. What Metallica lyric most describes your life? - 17. Ever been to Ozzfest? no 18. How many concerts have you been to? a lot 19. Which one was your favorite? lana del rey 20. What shade of purple most describes your feelings right now? none 21. Pick a shade of a color. Now describe it to me and name it. light 22. Sun tea or brewed tea? brewed 23. What’s the most illegal thing you’ve done? drugs 24. Ever get busted by the cops? What for? No. 25. What’s under your bed? my cat 26. Vacuum or dustbuster? Vacuum. 27. How many people are on your buddy list? lol 28. How many pairs of rollerblades do/did you own? none 29. Ever wear out a CD? What was it? yeah. britney spears 30. What’s your favorite card game? solitare 31. Who was the most annoying person you’ve talked to on the phone? idk 32. What’s your favorite fast food meal? chick fil a nuggets and mac and cheese 33. Where is the best restaurant you’ve ever eaten in at? idk 34. Lamb chops or pork chops? Neither. 35. How many roses have you received/given? idk 36. When’s the last time you mowed the lawn? years ago 37. Washed your car? years ago 38. Ever have a tornado in your town? not since i’ve lived here — 40. What state is your wardrobe in? fine 41. What’s the last article of clothing you bought? sweats 42. How many trash cans can you see right now? One. 43. If you HAD to pick ONE song to listen to for the rest of your life, and that would be the only song you ever heard, what would it be? I don’t know. 44. Ever heard of Shinedown? Yeah. 45. They rock, don’t they? sure 46. What size is your bed? queen 47. When’s the last time you had pigs in a blanket? not that long ago actually 48. Have you ever painted the ceilings in your home? no 49. What does your lawn furniture consist of? lawn chairs 50. Ever live off of canned soup and ramen noodles for weeks at a time? no 51. What flavor of jelly are you? strawberry 52. Ever take any of those online personality quizzes? yeah 53. What musical group/artist do you love, but hide from other people? none 54. What’s on the floor in your bedroom? Nothing. 55. What is the first meal you remember eating? idk 56. Ever been to a drive in? no 57. What was the first movie you ever saw? i don’t remember 56. What’s in your keepsake box/scrapbook? so many things 57. Describe your first date. idk 58. Would you recognize most of your classmates 5 years after graduation? sure 59. What percentile of your class were you in? I have no idea. 60. When was the last time it rained while the sun was shining? I don’t recall. 61. What did you score on your SATs? i don’t remember 62. When was the last time you saw a rainbow? it’s been a bit 63. Name your favorite artist/song from before 1990. zeppelin 64. Do you think there should be new genres of music to encompass some of the newer rock performers out now? no 65. What colors is your lava lamp? - 66. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever hung on the wall? I haven’t hung up anything strange. 67. When’s the last time you did laundry? todayy 68. How many hammers do you own? one 69. Can you name every place you’ve ever had sex? yes 70. How many speakers are in your bedroom? none 71. DVD or VHS? dvd 72. What’s the most important thing you ever lost and never found again? idk 73. What forms of birth control have you used? pill and implant 74. How many webpages have you created, and can you still find them all? no 75. You have .30 in two coins. One of them is not a nickel. What are they? uh 76. What’s your pet peeve when cleaning the house? um all of it 77. Do you use sponges or dishcloths when doing the dishes? sponges 78. How many people are in your family portrait? three 79. How many times have you moved? too many times 80. Handcuffs or rope :D? Neither. 81. What season best describes your temperament? winter 82. What’s the last thing you had to drink? diet coke 83. Ever been so drunk you blacked out? no 84. What’s your favorite song on the top twenty right now? idk. 85. What do your light fixtures look like? uh normal 86. How many jobs have you held for more than a month? 4 87. Ever punched a wall? yes 88. When’s the last time you really lost your temper? It’s been a long time. 89. How do you cope? i cry 90. What’s your antidrug? idk 91. Ever grown any plants before? What were they? Nope. 92. Ever own a director chair? No. 93. When was the last time you camped out? when i was a kid 94. Went swimming? years ago 95. Went fishing? lol 96. Oust or Glade and why? Glade. 97. Ever thought you (or a girlfriend) were pregnant, but it was a false alarm? yes 98. If 97 is yes, were you glad or sad? well i was pregnant so i was happy 99. Do you have a red-eye mouse or one with a ball? none 100. What do your doorstops look like? - 101. What was the last conversation you had with someone before they died? i don’t remember 102. What do your drinking glasses look like? they’re just solid colors 103. How many bottles/containers are in your medicine cabinet? a lot 104. How many funerals have you been to? a lot 105. How many states have you been to? a lot

106. What was the last bug you killed and what did you use? a wasp 107. What does your country need right now? sanity 108. Are you creative? not really 109. How so? – 110. How many computers in your household? Two. 111. Ever help to solve a crime? No. 112. Who is in the picture frame on your bedside table? - 113. How many CDs does your player hold? - 114. What is one thing you’d like to do before you die? go to england 115. Do the good die young or do they die before they have a chance to be bad? um both suck 116. What’s your favorite totally cliche’ saying? everything happens for a reason 117. Ever go out of your way to exact revenge on someone? no 118. Was it worth it? - 119. Ever get pulled over by the cops and get away without a ticket? no 120. What’s the weather like right now? HOT 121. What was your first legal alcoholic drink? vodka 122. Do you have a door/doorknob to your room? Yes. 123. Name one thing you regret? lol so many 124. Ever get published by one of those poetry groups? no 125. What’s the furthest distance you’ve moved? states away 126. How many friends from high school/college do you still talk to? a few

127. Where is your home/heart right now? here 128. What’s the most expensive things your parents ever bought you? idk 129. What’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought? my car 130. How many hangers are in your closet? a lot 131. If you died right now, would you feel cheated or happy? happy 132. How many times did you intentionally start to commit suicide? a few 133. Ever spent the night in the “loony bin?” yes 134. What’s wrong with society? lol so much 135. How many crazy ice cream trucks are in your area? none really 136. What is your favorite cover song? i have a lot 137. Does the weather ever seem to reflect your mood eerily? no 138. Are you more psychic than most people? lol no 139. What’s your inspiration? my daughter 140. What’s the longest relationship you’ve been in? the one i’m in now for 8 years 141. Did you ever drop out of school? college 142. Ever raise a child that wasn’t your own for more than 3 months? No. 143. What is your favorite piece of jewelry? wedding band 144. Ever help someone cheat on someone else? ew no 145. Are you a cheater too? No. 146. What was the last dessert type food you’ve eaten? candy 147. Fill in the blank: I’m a ________aholic. Coffeeholic. 148. When’s the last time you went to a hairdresser/salon? february 149. Strangest medical procedure ever performed on you? nothing strange 150. Do you own any appliances? yes 151. Do you have an “egg crate” on your bed? no 153. Last time you went to the laundromat? idk 154. How many hinges are on your front door? I’m not sure. 155. Can I be done yet? yes

[joemuggs]

Pirate Material: Still Original

Saw some discussion of The Streets’s early work, and went to see if this article was still online - it’s not because the Vice brand partnership vertical (I’m sorry) that it was originally written for is gone. So here you go again!

I don't hold with the insidious theory that making brilliant art is a young man's game – or, in the words of Sickboy in Trainspotting, that “you have it, then you lose it”. It's a trope that's been with us since the beginning of rock'n'roll, dammit since the romantic poets, that idea that inspiration is intrinsically tied up with the energy of youth, that great works come like a bolt from the blue and artists are best off dying young1 rather than chasing round in ever-decreasing circles trying to relight your creative fire the rest of your sorry life. But it's clearly rubbish, a denial of craft and labour, put about by fantasists and advertisers and used as justification by those with a vested interest in keeping us emotionally immature and by the worst kind of poseurs for their ghastly Peter Pan antics.

Every so often, though, something I see or hear will make me think again – will make me have a flickering moment of belief in the essential white light of youthful creativity. And 'Original Pirate Material' is one of those things. I mean, have you heard it recently? Really heard it? Played it loud from the beginning, given it your full attention, let that utterly insane opening salvo of 'Turn the Page', 'Has it Come to This' and 'Let's Push Things Forward' work their magic on you? It's arm-hair raising stuff, it really is. The false hierarchies and dreary consensus of best-ever lists is another of those things I don't hold with, but yeah this really, really deserved to be on all those best-of-the-2000s lists, and I will gladly fight its corner against the Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee, Radiohead, Outkast, whatever you care to bring in fact.

Like almost all the best music, I didn't really get it at first. It was tinny-sounding and clattery, where I was used to dance music's oomph; I couldn't work out what Skinner's roaming accent was getting at as he slipped and slid across the rhythms, in and out of ordinary conversational cadence, lurching from sublime to ridiculous within single phrases. It was intriguing right enough, but it was impossible to shake the idea that it was all a bit contrived, an indie-weakened version of soundsystem/MC culture, or even more naggingly the idea that it was a wind-up, that this music was taking the piss out of all of us. Lines nicked from 'Gladiator' and talk about his Reeboks? Be serious. And then I had the epiphany.

The scene couldn't have been set better, really. I was out in Amsterdam for eight days on my first ever magazine feature assignment – to cover a conference on Amazon shamanic practice AND a High Times convention. I'd been hanging out with psychonauts, ravers, witch doctors2 and Dutch farmers, and experienced the best that ancient cultures and modern science had to offer; I was in a terrific mood as I was finally doing the job I'd always wanted to, and had been able to utter the immortal phrase “can I claim my ritual on expenses3, please?” on the phone to the Face magazine office. So when someone mentioned “that new band The Streets are playing the Melkweg” I was pretty much up for it.

The DJ beforehand, a Dutchman called Big Head, was playing what was generally known as “breakstep”, a kind of funky uncle to dubstep, and I liked it so much I bought his mix CD4. The Streets were very late coming on, but the crowd were raving and so was I, so who cared? When they did crash onto the stage, though, Skinner immediately and repeatedly asking the crowd if anyone had any cocaine, it was a glorious disruption of the groove, their sound spiky and awkward, and from the beginning I loved it. I don't remember a lot about the band except there was an ex-member of the Senseless Things5 on bass, and that Skinner and his co-vocalist spent a lot of the set pushing, shoving and trying to trip one another up.

And that's when it clicked into place: yes, this was a piss-take, but it was a deadly serious piss-take. This child-like 24-year-old was not just meandering between voices, themes and levels of seriousness, he was embodying every single one of them. He was a shaman too6. What was chaos and what was control became impossible to discern7. The only time I could remember seeing elemental clowning like this before on a stage was the Happy Mondays back in 1990, but I also recognised the spirit of so many loony rave urchins I'd been bamboozled and bantered at and had lighters stolen by over the years8, the never-ending babble of these Shakespearean monkeys, possessed by the endless power of the English language to spin out shaggy dog stories, to make jokes of the most serious matters and suddenly turn jokes deathly serious. The films that were projected as back stories to each of the tracks matched the quotidian urban subject matter of those songs – but they, like the lyrics and the music, revealed something so much more primal beneath. And still you could dance, laugh, drink and carouse to it.

Which is why, when I listen to 'Original Pirate Material' now, I don't hear “bloke poetry” or grittiness or mundanity or social realism any of those other things that are inevitably reeled out. I hear constant windows in to the most profound and abstracted of human instincts and experiences: vertigo, jealousy, transition, glory, loss, innocence and so much more. Just listen to the sudden swerves from domestic detail to dizzying generality in 'It's Too Late' or the affirmation and melancholy in 'Weak Become Heroes': these are about so, so much more than losing a girl or doing a pill9. They're about being human. Only years later did I start realising that Skinner was writing in a great English language tradition going a millennium back to Beowulf and taking in Sterne, Carroll, Lear, Pound, Spike Milligan, Ivor Cutler, Mark E Smith and Roots Manuva10, gibbering gobshites and bullshit artists, holy fools who could skip wildly into parts of our psyches where angels fear to tread.

He could never top this, could he? None of this is to dismiss Skinner's later work – he has on occasion made some glorious music and told some great tales since, and especially on 'Computers and Blues' when he turned full circle back to some of his early themes and freeform lyricism he showed he was tapped into the same wellspring – but 'Original Pirate Material' had it all. Everything afterwards, whether it's his narratives of modern life and celebrity, or his more philosophical turns, couldn't help but be self-conscious, trying to impose more structure onto what he had already expressed so perfectly in its rants, sketches, jokes and asides. This isn't about drugs, it's not about  “authenticity”11, and it's not really about youth as such – others have tapped into this very British, very mongrel method of accessing the ways of the human mind from very different places and perspectives – but for Skinner it was all tied into a particular openness to everything that comes with being a hungry young man with his eyes (very) wide open.

--

1 See the infamous “27 Club”, much discussed when Amy Winehouse carked it, and so called because it's the number of times anyone who takes it seriously deserves to have their face walloped with a cricket bat.

2 To be precise, a shaman from the Shuar tribe of Ecuador who played the Jew's harp.

3 Yes, bloggers, these were the days when journalists got paid expenses. They were decadent times, the early 00s.

4 In fact it is sitting on my desk right now, and it still sounds good.

5 You think nonsense genre names like “Post Dubstep” or indeed “Breakstep” are silly? Back in the 90s, The Senseless things were lumped, along with Mega City 4 and Silverfish into a genre called Fraggle Rock. Seriously.

6 No Jew's harp though, just a microphone.

7 You want to know how giddy with the brilliance of it all I was feeling at that moment? My brain flashed up the image of Stockard Channing going “chaos... control... chaos... control... you like?” to Will Smith as Donald Sutherland spun a double-sided Kandinsky in 'Six Degress of Separation'. And what? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjwiachXkjc

8 One routine about fake vs real Nike caps that managed to weave in and out of between-song patter for almost the entire set was such archetypal rave bollocks that you'd swear you'd heard it before from someone who was about to do you out of a tenner at some party on a hillside.

9 They're about those things too, though.

10 Peter Ackroyd's 'Albion: the Origins of the English Imagination' is the book you need on this topic, although admittedly he doesn't get right the way through to Roots Manuva.

11 There's no such thing.

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 6.4

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in chapter 6’s investigation, one of Shuichi’s flashbacks contained fake memories of real people and was therefore genuinely inspiring for once, Tsumugi rather tellingly pointed us to a ridiculous red herring about Kaede’s twin instead of anything actually helpful, Himiko was being just a little bit Kaito to compensate for how useless she feels in this investigation, and the hidden room contained a bunch of clues about the real mastermind’s identity and the truth of Kaede’s case.

Now, we’re headed to the Flashback Light classroom.

This very heavy rubble in the way which requires all 4 Friendship Power to move happens to be the shelves of music CDs and the entire piano from Kaede’s lab, which is through the wall to the left. It’s kind of neat how they thought about what rooms the rubble would have come from and made it match, even if this sadly means that Kaede’s lab is totally ruined now.

We can see the full moon outside the hole in the wall of this classroom. We could also see the full moon outside of Kaede’s lab during that scene where Shuichi was mourning her… and that was weeks ago, but only something like two weeks, not four. Yep, that’s a projection, isn’t it. (Or probably just a developer oversight. After all, you’d think Kaito or Gonta or anyone at all would have noticed, hey, the moon’s been full for over a week now, something’s up with that.)

The Flashback Light setup computer has all kinds of tantalising options available that it’d be fun to look through… but unfortunately Shuichi’s inner monologue funnels you into picking only the options you’re meant to pick, and you can’t see anything else. Boo, game designers, not writing optional text for this; it would have been interesting! Buuuut it would have been a lot of branches of text for something entirely optional, so fair enough.

-      The survivors on a different planet

-      Other survivors in the Ark

-      There are no survivors

Note how there’s no option for them to remember that actually there were some survivors on Earth and it wasn’t quite as devastating as they’d been led to believe. So apparently the memory of the apocalypse really did involve them remembering that literally everyone on Earth must be dead, with such certainty that future memories weren’t allowed to contradict that. Meaning no possibility of an audience, not even a small one. Meaning that, once Kokichi saw the Flashback Light in the Virtual World containing the memory of this apocalypse, he had to have known Flashback Lights were fake, if he hadn’t already figured that out when he saw the outside world in the first place.

Shuichi:  (And these categories… there are several inconsistencies about the survivors. Do I… have to select the correct one?)

Come on, Shuichi, you must know that doesn’t make any sense. You’re going to be quizzed about this thing you don’t remember, and you have to get it right before you’re allowed to remember it! That seems incredibly silly and unnecessary. The real implication of this should be immediately obvious.

Adjusting to match other memories.

Haha, yeah, that’s also not a thing that real memories should need to do. Though it’s neat that the computer has a built-in system to keep track of everything that’s already been decided as the “truth” for them and make everything else consistent with it. That could cause issues otherwise.

Shuichi:  “… Is there more than one truth…?”

There is something beyond the “truth”, just like Kaito knew you could reach, Shuichi!

Himiko suddenly shows up, despite having been trapped behind rubble in the hidden room last time.

Himiko:  “Be happier that I survived! I was able to make a spectacular escape from that sealed room!”

Yes, the Amazing Himiko’s Spectacular Sealed Room Escape Act, never performed before and improvised on the spot!

Himiko:  “Nyeh? You don’t understand how I escaped from there?”

Shuichi:  “…No?”

Himiko:  “Hmhmhm, I see… you don’t get it… You don’t know how I escaped… Then I shall tell you! I escaped from that sealed room with my magic!”

I love how gleeful she is about having done something he can’t figure out even though it wasn’t a prepared and practiced magic trick. She’s finally got something that she can claim really was her using her magic, rather than having to constantly make excuses about why she can’t use it!

With a bit of prodding, Shuichi convinces her to actually tell him.

Himiko:  “G-Got it. I’ll tell you… I definitely used my magic, but another thing that helped me escape that sealed room… was the girls bathroom on the 1st floor of the school building.”

It’s okay, Himiko, that still used your magic. Finding secret passageways is definitely something mages are good at (and obviously not because they use hidden passageways a lot in their acts), right? Like, with some kind of Detect Hidden Things spell? Totally.

Himiko:  “Nyeeeh!? That’s a Flashback Light!”

Shuichi:  “Y-Yes, but we shouldn’t use it…”

Heh. Shuichi has finally started to realise that maybe they shouldn’t really have been using any Flashback Lights at all this whole time.

Shuichi:  “… This is an emergency. Nothing I can do about that. Ah, now’s not the time to be thinking about boys and girls bathrooms… Alright, I’ll do it.” (I repeated several excuses in my mind as I stepped into the girls bathroom.)

This kind of (perfectly understandable and gentlemanly) mindset is why Shuichi didn’t find this hidden passageway in chapter 1 and save everyone except possibly Rantaro. Kyoko had no such qualms, but she was a very different kind of detective than him.

Himiko:  “Geez… Caught up on past killing games… That’s typical of a Remnant of Despair.”

It’s also even more typical of a Danganronpa fan.

Motherkuma:  “I can’t birth Monokumas unless the designated person specifically says the word ‘birth’…”

One might wonder why Motherkuma was set up so that he even needed to be given an order from the mastermind to be able to make another Monokuma and couldn’t just make them on his own, but it does make sense if you think about it. Monokuma is a psychopathic AI programmed to cause suffering for entertainment – they’d want to have failsafes in place in case he decided to go rogue and carry out that purpose of his on some “real” people beyond what he was meant to do. So they limited the physical power he had, first by having the Exisals only able to be controlled by the relatively harmless Monokubs and not Monokuma himself, and then also by making it so that Motherkuma can only clone Monokumas when the mastermind deems it necessary and not just on his own whims. That way there’s no risk of a sudden Monokuma robot uprising because he’s decided it’ll make good entertainment.

Himiko:  “Even I, the wise and powerful Himiko, panicked a little bit when I saw I was trapped in here.”

I really like this new Himiko who’s trying to put up a bit of a façade of false confidence, even if it’s obvious to everyone else that it’s a façade. It’s so Kaito of her!

And the more I think about it, the more I realise that Himiko never really did this kind of thing before this chapter. She was pushing herself to act positive, but not showing overblown confidence in her ability like this. Which makes it all the more likely that she is deliberately trying to imitate Kaito in his honour, and that’s adorable.

Himiko:  “W-Well? Was I… useful?”

Of course you were, Himiko! This hidden passageway you just found is a vital clue!

But Shuichi just kind of brushes her off at first and doesn’t tell her that. This is unfortunately not the first time he’s been so in detective-tunnel-vision that he’s been unintentionally dismissive towards his friend who really wants to know that they’re being helpful to him.

Himiko:  “…”

Shuichi:  “Hm? Something wrong?”

Himiko:  “J-Just tell it to me straight… like a man.”

Himiko’s even correctly invoking Kaito’s concept of manliness! Don’t beat around the bush, just be open and honest about how you feel about things! Even if the truth is that she wasn’t useful, Shuichi should just come out and say it instead of trying to hide it.

Himiko:  “I-I want to be useful for my friends. But I can’t help much in investigations, can I? I couldn’t find the mastermind…”

She’s also doing a little bit better at actually applying that manliness herself than Kaito was when he was having similar issues, because Kaito never directly admitted to how badly he wanted to be useful and how useless he was feeling.

Shuichi:  “Himiko, not only were you *useful*, you may have cracked the case wide open.”

Himiko:  “Really!? If I found such an amazing clue, that’s proof I’m no ordinary person! Hiii hee hee hee! I’m terrified of my own magical power!”

This is so adorably like the kind of immediate bouncing back that Kaito would have done if Shuichi had ever told him something like this. All in a day’s work for the Luminary of the Stars! Himiko being like this too is lovely.

Kaito’s continued insistence on presenting himself like a hero when he no longer truly felt like one and when everyone else was sure he was still sick was essentially him showing them a fiction in the hopes of inspiring them and keeping their spirits up. Himiko’s constant commitment to her act even when she’s not on stage and even when everyone’s perfectly aware it’s not real magic really is a lot like Kaito in some ways. Her doing her best to fill Kaito’s shoes like this is going to be a great help for boosting Shuichi and Maki’s mood once the three of them are living outside and trying to cope with all this. And the fact that Himiko has her own issues that she’ll need help with too outside of this fiction she presents isn’t going to dampen that, despite what Kaito thought on that front. Kaito was afraid his fiction was only a lie, that everyone believed it was true and it’d stop working on them if they knew it wasn’t, but that was never the case.

While Shuichi and Maki’s talents are necessary for their arcs and for the overall plot, it might seem like an arbitrary choice for the third survivor to be a magician, and that Himiko’s talent really could have been anything else. But I think this was still probably chosen on purpose, because Himiko presents fictions that are meant to cheer people up and make them smile, and that’s wonderfully relevant to the overall theme.

Maki:  “What… were you doing? Why were you in the girls bathroom?”

It’s pretty awkward writing that Maki has this immediate scandalised reaction to this. She’s supposed to have lost the instinctive sense for gendered bathroom taboos, based on the time she casually offered to check on Kaito in the bathroom without realising it’d be the boys’. Also, like, come on, Maki knows Shuichi, she’d know he’d never do that unless there was a reason that was actually important and relevant to the case. Danganronpa writing, please stop shoving this annoying talk of pervertnedness into everything, it’s chapter 6, now is especially not the time.

Anyway, Maki has the photo of Rantaro.

Shuichi:  (With this… I can fight. I can fight the mastermind behind this killing game. …And I believe I can end it all.)

Look at Shuichi believing in himself! He’s got so much more genuine confidence now than he ever used to, without anyone else needing to encourage him to feel that way! Kaito would be so proud of him. And it’s thanks to Kaito that Shuichi’s come this far.

Shuichi:  “Monokuma… you’re the one who calls these class trials… But not this time! This time, *we* choose to call a class trial! One to end them all!”

He’s become such a protagonist and such a hero! Look how far he’s come! Kaito would be so proud of him! Of course, Kaito already saw Shuichi as this much of a hero in the first place, but now Shuichi’s really started to realise and embody that image Kaito had of him, so that everyone can see him the way Kaito did!

Monokuma:  “And I think it’s pretty interesting that you guys are on board with holding a class trial. In fact, I welcome your initiative! This turn of events will make things very interesting!”

Unfortunately… that’s still exactly what the gamemakers wanted Shuichi to do. This was the plan for him all along. (That’s even exactly why they killed Kaito.)

To keep the stakes high, Monokuma threatens to kill them all if they can’t expose the truth and provide an interesting class trial, and he asks if everyone else has as much resolve as Shuichi does.

Maki:  “I’ll trust you. But if you screw this up…” [she smiles] “…I’ll kill you before Monokuma can.”

Shuichi:  “…Y-Yeah, I believe you.”

I love how this would seem on the surface to be an “I’ll be mad at you if you mess this up”, when what it really is, since Maki specialises in quick and painless deaths, is her saying, “If we fail, I won’t let Monokuma make you suffer.” Shuichi is smiling, too, because he understands that. This is the second time Maki has offered to help her friends by killing them painlessly if it becomes necessary to do that, and it’s weirdly adorable?

Himiko:  “I have friends I can trust! There’s nothing to be scared of!”

Oh, Himiko. Most of them, at least.

Shuichi:  “Our hope is going to end this game of despair!”

Shuichi, no, you’re now sounding far too much like a perfect scripted Danganronpa protagonist and not enough like your own person doing this for your own reasons that have nothing to do with that bullshit Flashback Light that brainwashed you all.

Keebo:  “Do you really think that ending awaits us? It sounds too good to be true, honestly.”

Yeah, because obviously there’s only two options here, the hope ending and the despair ending, right? That’s definitely how this works. Even without his inner voice right now, Keebo still instinctively thinks that.

Shuichi:  “That ending *is* hope for us. …And we can’t give up on hope.”

Shuichi is basically just tautologically saying “the hope ending is hope”. Come on, Shuichi, shake off that brainwashing, dammit.

What’s really going to happen in the end, though, is just an ending, a permanent one, for the whole killing game. And that really is something that they would all genuinely want to hope for.

Tsumugi:  “Keebo… let’s trust Shuichi here.”

Tsumugi also wants this class trial rather than Keebo’s continued rampage, because of course she does.

Shuichi:  “Our final battle! Our hope will defeat your despair!”

Monokuma:  “Puhuhu… puhuhuhu… Ah-hahahahaha!”

Shuichi:  “Why are you laughing…?”

Because you’re giving the audience exactly what they want, Shuichi! This isn’t supposed to be about a battle between hope and despair like it’s just good versus evil, but the audience sure wants it to be!

Tsumugi:  “I-It’ll be okay! He’s probably just bluffing!”

And Tsumugi does not want them to think too hard about why Monokuma’s so happy about all this.

Shuichi:  (But it was still much easier than I imagined it would be. …No sense worrying about that now.)

No, this is definitely something you should be worrying about, Shuichi! If Monokuma wants something to happen, it’s not a good thing! Remember last trial where you forgot until it was too late that Monokuma is always the real enemy?

Tsumugi:  “The four of us, and Keebo… By combining the marks of our friendship… we can overcome this class trial!”

These words from Tsumugi sound way more trite than anything anyone else has ever said about friendship in this game. How do you even “combine the marks” of friendship?

Finally we can walk freely without a stupid time limit. The courtyard has a few half-hearted piles of rubble here and there but is otherwise looking remarkably intact for having been the battleground of a huge robot war all night. Methinks the developers were being a bit lazy here. (But at least the training spot is okay and that is good.)

Maki:  “Up until now, we had to find the culprits among the people in our group during the class trials. That’s why we couldn’t work together even if we wanted to. But… this time, it’s different.”

Tsumugi:  “Ah, since there isn’t a culprit among us, we can work together without any doubts.”

Himiko:  “We’re all going to be working together this time… I already feel more at ease!”

Shuichi:  “…”

Shuichi already knows what’s up. He’s realised the that the clues indicate the mastermind is one of the five of them. He should be able to realise exactly who it is, too, but in the trial he doesn’t seem to have figured that out until shortly before he tells everyone. Maybe he does know, though, and just doesn’t want to admit it to himself because he still hates accusing his friends.

Keebo comes back with all his weapons removed and his antenna replaced, meaning his inner voice is back.

Keebo:  “I acted recklessly and put you all in serious danger… I’m sorry! I’m very, very sorry!”

As he should be, really. He was willing to kill all his friends, and now he’s realised that maybe that wasn’t the best idea.

Keebo:  “I was wrong to try to destroy everything just to avoid losing to despair… Even if I had followed throough, there would have been no hope or future left afterward. In which case, my actions would have merely resulted in a different despair altogether.”

Yeah, that’s exactly what he would have done, and at least he finally realises this. The narrative is not doing a great job of hinting that Keebo’s inner voice is effectively mind-controlling him, because he’s being more rational and making more sense now that he’s mind-controlled again than he did when he wasn’t.

Granted, as it turns out, searching for the truth and holding this class trial is exactly the kind of thing the audience wants, and maybe it would have been better for everyone to just be randomly killed by Keebo’s rampage and give the audience a boring ending that might end Danganronpa for good. But since Keebo doesn’t know anything about the audience or what they want, then as far as he knew while he was doing it, his rampage was completely illogical and wouldn’t have achieved anything worthwhile.

Keebo:  “But… will you allow me to fight alongside you!? I want to help you find the truth! Please!”

Shuichi:  “Of course, Keebo. That’s what I’ve wanted from the start.”

Maki:  “If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to do all this.”

Sure would have been nice if Keebo had realised that he could use his weapons to help them find the truth earlier. You know, like in chapter 4 when four more people were alive and could have also potentially been saved.

Tsumugi:  “…”

Keebo:  “Oh… You seem angry, Tsumugi. Would you prefer I not help…?”

Tsumugi:  “I’m not mad… I’m just holding myself back.”

Tsumugi goes on to explain that she’s just “holding herself back” from making what sounds like some kind of reference to something that would ruin the mood. This moment would otherwise maybe seem like a hint that she’s the mastermind and is angry at what Keebo just did, but then that bit just makes it awkward because apparently she isn’t actually angry at all? Unless she made that excuse to try and cover up her genuine anger, but you’d think her acting skills would have prevented her from even showing it in the first place.

There’s also the fact that, although she definitely was mad at Keebo going off-script, she’d have been most angry about that while it was happening, and would just be relieved now that he’s got his inner voice back and is acting like he’s supposed to again.

Maki is still carrying the Bugvac, so Keebo offers to look at it with the zoom function he’s installed on himself. This is something that Kokichi also could have asked Keebo to do while he was alive. It’s possible, as I mentioned before, that Kokichi didn’t realise the Bugvac was finished until after trial 4, at which point it’d be basically impossible for him to ask Keebo for help… but it’s also entirely possible that it just didn’t even occur to Kokichi that Keebo could help here, because lol he’s just a thing he’s not a person it’s not like he could ever help with anything at all.

Keebo:  “Because I’m a robot, I can evolve in ways that are simply not possible for a human. I’ve… finally accepted that. There are notable differences between us, but they’re nothing to be ashamed of. Because… with my talent, it’s possible that I can save you all.”

This is the most half-assed attempt at making it seem like Keebo has actually had a character arc here. There was no kind of build-up to this at all. The change that made him decide to put on all his weapons was his inner voice being gone and had nothing to do with character growth, so now that his inner voice is back, he should be back to how he was before, which was apparently not wanting anything sci-fi at all.

…I say apparently, because whenever Keebo did happen to make use of his other functions like his recording function and his flashlight, he was always quite proud of himself and happy to be making himself useful in ways nobody else could. And yet he also kept saying that he didn’t want to be sci-fi and adamantly refused to install far more useful functions until now, which seems rather contradictory. I suppose you could handwave that the previous functions are too basic for him to consider them “sci-fi” and be averse to them? But even then, his speech right here implies that it’s less about what counts as “sci-fi” and more simply being able to do things that set him apart from humans that (supposedly) made him uncomfortable.

The writers, and I mean the out-universe ones here, really just did the absolute laziest job at what should be a vital piece of character work to justify why this killing game didn’t end in chapter 4 like it really should have. At least they did a pretty good job of justifying all of Kokichi’s terrible decisions that were vital to the plot having them be fairly plausibly linked to all of his issues, but man, they barely even tried with Keebo.

Clearly the Nanokumas need to be bear-shaped and just holding tiny little cameras, right. It couldn’t possibly be more efficient to just have their entire bodies be cameras with wings.

They talk about how these tiny cameras prove that Kokichi was right to use the Electrobomb in his plan.

Tsumugi:  “Umm… the more I learn, the more I wish that Kokichi had just worked with us normally.”

Yup. That sure would have been fucking helpful of him, wouldn’t it!? And that’s definitely not exactly why you wrote him to be the kind of person who’d never be that helpful and would never want to trust or work together with anyone, not at all.

Tsumugi:  “Gonta discovered it, Kokichi made a design, Miu built the device… It was because of all of them that Keebo was able to find the final clue. It’s almost like… everyone is cheering us on.”

Yeah, because Kokichi and Miu totally cared about helping us with this Bugvac, that’s definitely why they, you know, let us know they’d made it and didn’t just leave it for Maki to discover by chance through a lot of tedious effort, right.

Maki:  “Relax. If we end up failing, and it comes time for me to kill you… I’ll make sure to end your life swiftly, so you won’t have to suffer.”

Shuichi:  “…Th-Thank you?”

Aww! Though I’m sure Shuichi already knew that that was what she meant when she “threatened” to kill him earlier and she didn’t actually need to clarify. I also love Shuichi’s awkward thanks – he does appreciate the gesture, but this is an odd thing to be thanking anyone for.

Shuichi:  (There’s no point in worrying anymore. Right now… we only need to think about getting out of here alive.)

Ahahaha. They’re still blissfully oblivious as to what the attempted end goal of this trial is going to end up being.

Shuichi:  (I’m sure… this is the end of despair. And the beginning of hope.)

noooo Shuichi stop it

Shuichi:  (The killing game of Hope’s Peak Academy… The killing game of Jabberwock Island… And the killing game of this Ultimate Academy. How much more until they’re satisfied?)

Yeah, definitely just these three, right? They definitely haven’t had way more than that and still aren’t at all satisfied.

Shuichi:  (This is the end of it. I’m… tired of this. We’re going to end it. We’re going to end this cruel game.)

This is very, very true, though, more than he realises right now.

I once saw an LPer observe that this final trialground looks kind of like the set for a game show? Which is quite appropriate, really.

Monokuma:  “Puhuhu, it’s not up to you or me to decide whether or not this is the end.”

Oh boy, it sure isn’t. But we’ll get to that problem (and I mean that as an out-universe problem and not just an in-universe one) in several more posts’ time.

Monokuma casually threatens to murder his cubs if they don’t help him out during the trial. (Yeah, they’re still here, in case you forgot. I’ve been sparing you from them.)

Shuichi:  “…You really are the worst.”

Monokuma:  “I’m the best at being the worst, don’tcha think so? Puhuhu… I tell ya, people can’t get enough of my crude antics!”

Yep, Monokuma knows exactly what he’s here for – to play the villain and make himself hateable in an entertaining way (not that anyone should hate him for wanting to kill the Monokubs, but, you know). This is yet another thing he and Kokichi had in common.

…And the part where Monokuma was furious at Kaito for dying his own way? He was probably kind of okay with that having happened, too, beneath it all. He’s the villain, after all. He knows that he’s really here to make you root for the good guys to beat him and feel triumphant when they do.

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[Next post]

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Dylan on the Devil’s Holiday

An October 31st treat from James Adams! Check out an all-Halloween Dylan mix/essay — take it away, James! 

One of my first acquisitions back in the B&P trading days was a two-disc CD-R set called “All Hallows Eve and More.” It was a recording of Bob Dylan’s riveting performance at New York City’s Philharmonic Hall on 31 October 1964. The show is mesmerizing and ambitious, restless and hilarious. It was a jewel in my bootleg collection.

An earlier LP version of the bootleg was called “Halloween Mask” (or “Halloween Masque,” depending on which side of the Atlantic your copy was pressed). Dylan provided the title by making a funny comment during the show. After a heavy and emphatic version of “Gates of Eden” and a false start on the sex comedy of “If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got to Stay All Night)” Dylan giggles:

“Don’t let that scare you. It’s just Halloween. I have my Bob Dylan mask on. I’m masquerading.”

Indeed, it was Halloween and that slightly stoned exchange with the enthralled audience must be the most memorable moment in Dylan’s Halloween performance history. In 2004, Columbia released the concert tape officially, making it Volume 6 in Dylan’s Bootleg Series.

The Philharmonic show wins the prize for best costume, but there are many Dylan Halloween highlights. A year prior, he spent two hours in Columbia’s Studio A during “The Times They Are A-Changin’” sessions and left with the fantastic album version of “Restless Farewell.” In 1971, he spent time at Allen Ginsberg’s apartment, jamming with Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and David Amram and improvising music to accompany William Blake poems. Gregory Corso was there to hang and you can listen to the tape at the Stanford University Library. In 1998, Dylan had a studio session with Joan Osborne and together they recorded an upbeat version of “Chimes of Freedom,” for a television miniseries about the ‘60s. In 1987, Dylan spent Halloween at Barry White’s house. Maybe they discussed whether candy corn is delicious or disgusting?

Most of Dylan’s Halloween highlights occurred on the road and that’s what this mix aims to capture. Collected here is a chronological mix of live* Dylan performances recorded on October 31st  – Halloween. It begins with the 1975 iteration of Rolling Thunder (a night when Dylan wore an actual mask onstage) and stretches all the way to 2013. (Dylan’s last Halloween show occurred in 2018 but there are no known recordings of that Knoxville, TN performance).

I picked what I consider the most interesting performances from each night but the content and sound quality varies widely. Occasionally the performances are scary. They’re always interesting. I avoided selecting duplicate song titles. I included the rare occasions when Dylan acknowledged Halloween from the stage and preserved that “Bob Talk.” There’s even a cheesy Halloween-themed joke!

My favorite Bob Dylan Halloween moment occurred in 1977. Dylan again spent the day with Allen Ginsberg and the two passed hours discussing Dylan’s film “Renaldo & Clara.” The result is a riveting and insightful interview where Dylan uncharacteristically shares deep insights into the meaning and complexities of his art. (“This movie stops time in a way that no American movie ever has and I don’t think will. What we’ve done is hold on to something which seemed to be escapable, and we captured it and made it real.”)

That evening, Dylan, Ginsberg, and Dylan’s partner in filmmaking Howard Alk donned masks and grabbed guitars. Together they roamed the streets of Malibu as undercover troubadour ghosts, presumably blending with nervous trick-or-treaters and impatient parents and offering impromptu performances on dark sidewalks and street corners. Can you imagine?! The idea is stunning.

Dylan isn’t playing a Halloween show this year. He is on the road, though, somewhere between Chicago and South Bend. If you live near there keep your eyes wide while roaming the streets after dark. You might just catch a glimpse of someone wearing a Bob Dylan mask before they slip away into the shadows again.

/

* There is one exception to this rule. Track number 4 is a studio recording from 1985, though the performance is clearly recorded live to tape. I’m not certain it was recorded on 31 October but that date is plausible and proposed elsewhere. Given the quality of the recording and the performance—but especially the title and subject of the song—there was no choice but to include it here.

//

Track List:

1. Isis – 1975 – Plymouth, MA – War Memorial Auditorium 2. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat) – 1978 – St. Paul, MN – Civic Center 3. Masters of War – 1981 – Kitchener, Ontario – Kitchener Arena 4. Baby Coming Back from the Dead – 1985 – Los Angeles, CA – Cherokee Studios 5. Ballad of Hollis Brown – 1989 – Chicago, IL – Arie Crown Theater 6. Wiggle Wiggle – 1990 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium 7. Gotta Serve Somebody – 1991 – Wichita, KS – Civic Center 8. Man in the Long Black Coat – 1994 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre 9. Blind Willie McTell – 1997 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Coleman Coliseum 10. Love Sick – 1999 – Chicago, IL – University of Illinois Conference Center Pavilion 11. Country Pie – 2000 – Evanston, IL – Welsh Ryan McGaw Hall 12. Mississippi – 2001 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center 13. Positively 4th Street – 2004 – DeKalb, IL – Convocation Center 14. Band Introduction – 2004 – DeKalb, IL – Convocation Center 15. Thunder on the Mountain – 2006 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center 16. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking – 2009 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom 17. Queen Jane Approximately – 2010 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre 18. Forgetful Heart – 2011 – Hamburg, German – Boxen Arena 19. Beyond Here Lies Nothing – 2013 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Heineken Music Hall

[imababblekat]

Imagine The Bot’s Defending You When Teased For Your Speech Impediment

(A/N: I don’t mind writing human characters at all! However, I only do three characters for headcannons. I did try to get a bit of his view/reaction in here though anyways! :3)

Character For Ask:

Tfp Optimus/TfpBulkhead/Tfp Ultra Magnus

~

Optimus:

Optimus is as polite as ever when introduced to Fowlers apprentice, welcoming them with the statement of looking forward to working together

as Fowler continues to inform Optimus of the duties this new person will take on, Optimus is soon distracted by the rapid call of his name

he turns to see you, all wide eyed and happy smiles, exclaiming to him about how you passed your entrance exams

the Prime smiles, being patient to hear you finish the good news even when you'd stutter

once finished Optimus congratulates you, saying he knew you would do great, when he remembers the two other people with you and decides to introduce

you smile, still happy and ecstatic and greet the new person, only to have them raise a brow and correct your words

the gleaming expression leaves your face and you turn to Optimus asking what you had said wrong

the Autobot leaders face falls into one of disappointment, seeing the smirk and devious glint in the apprentice eyes

he's not sure why they falsely claimed you spoke wrong, maybe because you had incorrectly interrupted, but either way he is not tolerating of such behavior

the new member is left taken aback when Optimus reprimands them, tone very serious and disapproving

they're lucky the large mech is willing to give second chances, because from the way he spoke, they know they've just made a horrible first impression

Bulkhead:

as always, Fowler finds Bulkhead jamming out along aside Moko when he introduces them to his new apprentice

the huge bot says high with a wave, while Miko bombards them with a million questions, to which the Wrecker can only give them a sympathetic smile

the new member is saved when you come rushing in, holding two cd's in hand

you go on to proudly tell your two best buds that you were able to order the last limited edition disc from your favorite band

they both celebrate with you, Miko a little more so, but neither say anything about how you mixed up the words for one of the song titles

Agent Fowler steps in to introduce you to the new apprentice, who you've just noticed and greet with an apology

the corner of their mouth quirks and the hand you had extended lowers when they correct you on your speech

turning to your friends to ask what you had mixed up, the person is lucky Bulkheads the one who stepped up to say something and not MIko, because both of them know you haven't said a single thing wrong in your friendly greeting

Bulkhead's optic ridges are narrowed and he tells them they shouldn't mess with others like that, especially someone they will be working alongside with

the apprentice is left stuttering out an apology of their own, eyes low and feeling the burning gaze of not only Fowler, but Miko and Bulkheads as well

Ultra Magnus:

Ultra Magnus to begin with always had a problem with your speech impediment

it wasn't until one of the kids explained to him what a speech impediment was that he laid off, and began correcting you as a way to help rather than as a way of being irritated

when introduced to Fowlers apprentice, Magnus is strictly professional, taking in quiet appreciation for the salute he's given by the new team member

Fowler see's you walk by as his apprentice continued to tell Magnus the hard work they did to get here and how it's an honor to be able to work with him and his team

calling you over Fowler introduces you to his apprentice, that of whom eyes you and ask how you got to be a part of Team Prime

after joyously explaining the incident at a water park, causing you to meet the Autobots, the new person glares before correcting you on your words

you falter from talking about the memory of meeting your family like friends, and look up to Magnus for some help on what you said wrong

Ultra Magnus of all people would know if you messed up in your speech, that of which you have not

the new apprentice is given the chill of a life time when Magnus glares down at them and gets after them for such irresponsible behavior, and that he will not tolerate such misconduct among his team, especially coming from a new member

~xXx~

[crystallized-shadow]

The Killer Meme

Tagged by @a-kid-named-hiro

[Me, Myself, I]

What is your philosophy/motto in life? Always try your best; you can’t always be the best but you can do your best.

How did you choose your User Name, and what does it reveal of your character? It’s my username from a different site and I really like it. I guess it could mean I’m the shiny thing in the dark?

What did you want to be “when you grew up” when you were younger? If your current job/plans are different, why did you change? I wanted to be Veterinarian when I was a kid but an allergy to dogs put a kibosh on that pretty quick.

What was the worst nightmare you have ever had? I usually don’t remember my dreams, but I can remember one where someone me shot in the back.

Tell the story behind one or more of your scars (physical, not emotional). I have several but the story is the same: I’m a fucking klutz.

What one thing would you like your great-great-grandchildren to know about you? What one thing would you NOT want them to know? I don’t intend to reproduce.

How do you learn (things-for-exams)? Re-reading notes and frantically cramming right before the exam (I do NOT recommend this method)

What was the cause of the worst physical pain you have ever been in? I slipped on the ice; over-extended two tendons, concussed a nerve, bruised my tailbone, and hurt my knee (I had to sit through 4 hours of classes before I could do anything about it, not fun)

Where do you live (a country is fine, just name a place)? USA

What is your biggest fear? Not living up to my own expectations

[Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used to Be]

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done? (Not the best, or the most accomplished, or the most life-altering, just the coolest). Gone tubing down the river

If you could change one event from your own personal history, what would it be and how would you change it? I let something very dear to me go, if I could change anything, I would never have made that decision

Describe the one thing you have learned in the course of your education, either inside school or outside of it, which you consider the most valuable. Actions speak louder than words, especially among people who are supposed to be your friends.

What memory would call up your personal Patronus spell? (in other words, what memory is your happiest or sweetest?) Any memory featuring my precious people happy

Describe the three best pairs of shoes that you’ve ever owned - favorites because of comfort, the way they look, the brand, any reason at all. Any shoes that I don’t have to tie are fucking amazing

[If I Ruled the World]

If you could have been born and grown up somewhere else, where would that have been? I liked where I grew up, so I wouldn’t change it

What would you demand in exchange for giving up your personal freedoms and civil liberties? Would never give them up

If there were no laws, which (former) crime would be the first you’d commit? I’d make all student loans disappear forever!

If you could do one thing or grant one wish for someone else, what would it be? I’d wish that those near and dear to my heart be happy for the rest of their lives

If you could know anything about your future, what would it be? If I’m happy with my life

Owing to a peculiar concatenation of events, you are the wealthiest person in the world, and the latter will end in 24 hours. Money being no object, and saving the world being impossible, what would you do during that last day? I’d make it the best day ever for everyone I care about. If we’re all going to die we might as well go out with a bang!

If you could hunt down one childhood tormentor (whether it be bully, tattletale, mean teacher, or friend’s mother who hated you for no good reason) and exact revenge upon them in some spectacular, prankish fashion without worry of consequences, who would you choose, and what would you do to him/her? That’s hard to say since karma has taken care of a few of these people. There is one person I’d love to slap in the back of the head for being incompetent when I got hurt, so I guess I’d do that.

If I offered you a chance to have anything you wanted, the cost being someone you didn’t know dies, would you accept? If I could stipulate the that person has to be a piece of shit that no one will miss, then hell yeah! Otherwise I’d have to give it some thought.

If you could have any one superpower, what would it be? Time travel

If you could punch any one person from any point in history, who would you pick? I have a list of people that deserve a good punch in the face

If you were given the opportunity to live another life, what kind of life would you like to have? I’d want a life where I could be happy and not have to worry about anyone hurting me or those close to me

If you could alter history in one specific place, where would it be, and why? Stopping someone close to me from ever dating the fucking whore who did nothing but fuck them over

Assuming you (or a group of friends) conquer Earth, which section(s) of the planet would you personally desire, and why? Somewhere quiet with good wi-fi so we could have a place to relax

If you could, with no repercussions, subject anyone you wanted to one day of utter and complete torture, who would you choose, why would you choose them, and what would you do to them? Conversely, if you could give anyone you wanted (other than yourself) one day of perfect happiness, who/why/what would you choose? The fucking whore I mentioned earlier, I would subject her to a day of torture, without hesitation.

It might be cliche, but my mom deserves the best fucking day ever so I would pick her.

[Media and Culture]

Hollywood called: they’re filming your life story. Who do you cast as yourself? I would just laugh and hang up the phone

They want to make your life into a Cartoon. Which graphic artist do you want to draw it? Not sure why anyone would want to do that, but I would pick @sinyaru or @artbythedarkside because I fucking love their art!

Your favourite Blackadder episode and why? ???

Movie adaptations of books - heinous, evil and always disappointing or perfectly acceptable? It really depends on the book and the actors they pick

What one song brings up the strongest emotion (negative or positive) for you? Hold Me Tight or Don’t by Fall Out Boy Killing Kind by Mariana’s Trench

If you had the choice to live in any fictional world, as in transposed into a book, which one would it be? Please explain why. Naruto, preferably during the Fonder’s Era because I want to me Madara and Tobirama! Also ninjas.

What is your favorite artwork (painting, sculpture, etching, whatever) and why? I can’t say I have a favorite piece, but personally I enjoy painting.

Name twelve songs for the soundtrack of your life. (In no particular order)

1. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day) 2. Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea (Fall Out Boy) 3. THNKS FR TH MMRS (Fall Out Boy) 4. It’s My Life (Bon Jovi) 5. High Hopes (Panic! At the Disco) 6. Natural (Imagine Dragons) 7. Teenagers (My Chemical Romance) 8. Head Above Water (Avril Lavigne) 9. I Don’t Care (Fall Out Boy) 10. Numb (Linkin Park) 11. Victorious (Panic! At the Disco) 12. Get Out Alive (Three Days Grace)

If you could have only five cds, which would they be? No burned cds count - only ones you physically purchase in a store/online. (In no particular order)

1. Mania (Fall Out Boy) 2. Phantoms (Mariana’s Trench) 3. Save Rock and Roll (Fall Out Boy) 4. Them vs. You vs. Me (Finger 11) 5. Pray For The Wicked (Panic! At the Disco)

Batman or Superman? Loki

What fictional character do you most identify with and why? If I had to pick I would say maybe Tobirama Senju. I can come across as cold, will do odd things to satisfy curiosity, and my intentions can be misinterpreted by those that don’t know me.

[The Completely Hatstand Section]

True or false: pineapple on pizza is wrong. False.

If you were a color, what would you be and why? Black or red, they are my favorites.

If you could be an inanimate object, what would you be and why? A dictionary so no one would use me

Assuming reincarnation exists, who do you think you may have been in a past life? How would you like to come back in the next? The running joke in my family is I was a pirate in my past life because my alcohol of choice, when I drink, is rum. I’d like to come back as a cat so I can be lazy and knock shit over XD

If you were a weapon, what would you be and why? A katana because they are badass

Do you wear orange? Why/Why not? Not really, it’s just not a color I own a lot of.

If you could ask your deity of choice one question and have it answered, what would you ask? I’m honestly not sure, maybe what’s the secret to the universe?

True/False: Green buffalos come from Albania. (seriously, now.) Um, false?

[Fair Trades and Dilemmas]

If remaining a virgin (or abstaining from sex) for the rest of your life would allow you to do real magic, would you do it? Fuck yeah! Magic is fucking awesome!

How much money would it take for you to appear naked (full-frontal) for five seconds on national television? A fuck ton of money, like more money than currently exists; I am very self-conscious.

Would you rather be a complete idiot with a charming personality, or intellectually brilliant but have no friends? I’d rather be intellectually brilliant, because my true friends would still be my friends, regardless of how smart I am.

You can start any business of your choice, whether for-profit or non-profit, regardless of whether this business exists practically in the world or not and whether there’s an existing business model to make your chosen business work or not. Irrespective of what it is, it will start off moderately successfully and eventually become very successful. You will make a very satisfactory wage and your investors/sponsors will be very pleased with your work. What business would you start? Some online business that rivals Amazon.

Would you sacrifice an unknown portion of your life so that a loved one could live for one more year? Without a doubt

Tagging @theintellectualweeb @sinyaru @artbythedarkside and whoever else wants to do it

[rusocialpod]

Assimil is a dialogue based learning course popular amongst language learners. This is clearly illustrated by the 4+ star reviews on Amazon for the majority of the available courses. Assimil has a range of courses available in a variety of languages, but is geared primarily towards French speakers. Dubbed "The Magic Books” by NPR, Assimil is quickly approaching both 100 years of language teaching, and 100 languages in their catalog of courses. What is Assimil? Assimil, a French company, was created by Alphonse Chérel in 1929. It publishes several different series, their most popular being Sans Peine or With Ease. The Assimil Sans Peine courses are a combination of dialogue-based texts and audio where you learn by working through passive and active stages. In the passive stage you complete the lessons by reading and listening. While in the active stage you not only listen to and read the lessons, but attempt to translate the dialogues on your own. Compared to the apps and podcasts that many learners use these days, Assimil arguably offers an “old fashioned" approach. The method hasn’t changed much since its original release in the 1920's. So is it still a relevant learning tool? In the past, I have used Assimil to study languages I already had a foundation in - Chinese and Croatian. So for this review I decided to take on the challenge of studying a language in which I was a beginner: Korean. [caption id="attachment_20749" align="aligncenter" width="700"] My Assimil "Korean With Ease" course[/caption] Assimil’s Korean courses are only available in French, so I choose to work through Assimil Coréen Sans Peine to see how I would do. Before I started using Coréen Sans Peine, I’d categorise myself as a “false beginner”. I had dabbled in the language, but my Korean reading was precarious at best, my vocabulary extremely limited and my understanding of grammar non-existent. Having completed the course, here are my thoughts. Assimil Korean with Ease: Getting Started Each course in Assimil’s Sans Peine series includes both a book and four audio CDs (and/or an MP3 disc). The courses are available in 148 language combinations, although only 16 of these are for English speakers while 49 are for French speakers. I really like that both the audio and book are available as a complete package, especially because the audio is directly related to the text. What’s more, I like that the audio is to the point. There aren’t any fancy introductions or extra banter from the speakers that you have to endure to get to the real “meat” of the program. Assimil’s Sans Peine courses are created with beginners in mind, and it’s very easy to get started. Each book includes a thorough introduction to the language with tips on pronunciation, the writing system if there is one, and general features of the language. Following the introduction, the course dives right in. For languages with different writing systems, such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean, transliterations are included in Assimil’s courses. While I could have slowly worked my way through Korean texts, I really appreciated having the transliteration printed below the dialogues so that I could focus on speaking and listening comprehension, rather than my reading skills. Plus, the accompanying audio offers you the chance to hear how the words sound so you don’t feel like you’re guessing. [caption id="attachment_20750" align="aligncenter" width="700"] A look inside the Assimil course.[/caption] Each chapter includes a brief dialogue (although these grow longer as you progress) and notes on content. There are also exercises that give you the opportunity to use the material you’ve learned. Together with the translation that conveys the meaning of the text, a literal translation is included so that you get a feel for word order and vocabulary without needing vocabulary lists or grammar exercises. The lessons intentionally avoid going into great depth on grammar, instead offering a collection of simple dialogues with detailed footnotes on rules as they appear as well as notes on the culture tied to the language. How I Used Assimil I personally work through the lessons, reading the dialogues out loud before shadowing them once more along with the audio. The way that I use the course, the active stage starts when I repeat the lessons with the audio alone to see how much I’ve really mastered. I can then go back and review what I need with the text. I also like to try out what I’m learning as a part of language exchanges. This approach works well for my learning style, but I could understand why other learners might not be a fan of the series. For me, the process ensures that the material I’m learning really sticks, but others might find it tedious. The strengths of the Assimil method definitely lie in the way it offers context for what it teaches rather than word lists or grammar exercises isolated from how the language functions in day-to-day life. Most lessons can be completed in around an hour, so they are a manageable length. Assimil with Ease Review: What Did I Learn? Assimil Korean includes practical and relevant phrases and vocabulary for real world situations. Through the course, I learned words and phrases that were incredibly useful and applicable to daily conversations. These included: I almost forgot! What genre of books do you read most? What time do you get off work? There was nothing to eat in the fridge, so I went out to the restaurant across the way. What kind of food do you like? I really like that Assimil jumps right in and skips the laborious introductions that span several chapters in other courses. My only criticism is that you are not equipped with everything you need to give a full introduction to someone you’ve just met. While I don’t need to know how to describe my entire extended family, it would be nice to get a bit more content for introducing myself, my hobbies, and my preferences. One thing that’s really great about the series is that the dialogues vary from language to language so that they’re more culturally and geographically relevant to the language that the book teaches. But this also means that depending on the learner and depending on the language, the usefulness of the material in the books really varies. Compared to other With Ease books, the Korean course did seem much more travel/business orientated, but there was enough additional content (karaoke, seasons, food, jokes) that this didn’t deter me much. Overall, the language in the texts is relatively formal. Personally, I prefer this. I would rather be overly formal than rudely informal. Especially with a language like Korean where honorifics are important. What Level Can You Reach With Assimil? Assimil claim that their Sans Peine series will take learners to the B2 level according to the CEFR scale and that their Perfectionnement series will get you to the C1 level. I’m not entirely sure how accurate this is because while you may work with material that ranges from the A1 to B2 or C1 level, there are gaps that would need to be filled with the help of other resources. In terms of vocabulary, it was not as thorough as I would like from a course that works through so many levels. For most learners, this is fine because relying on just one course or learning tool to teach you a language is never a good strategy, but it could be deceiving for those expecting an all-in-one language resource. I will say this: Because the Sans Peine course gets to B2 level in about 71 lessons, they quickly grow challenging. The course also covers quite a bit of grammar, but it’s done in a way that isn’t overwhelming. You’re introduced to different grammar concepts on an as-needed basis. For the same reason, the course isn’t for someone who hasn’t had any prior exposure to the language. It’s a bit difficult to pick up without any experience in your target language. But it’s fantastic for those with a basic vocabulary. What Could be Better about Assimil? I did have some issues with the Assimil approach. The introductions and basic pleasantries were not as in-depth as I would have expected for a course aimed at beginners. There are some phrases that fall into this category, but the course quickly shifts into situational and culture-related dialogues. While these are useful later down the line, I thought that just two short chapters on introductions weren’t quite enough. At the same time, however, this is something you can easily find in any other resource, so it’s not a huge strike against Assimil. The one thing that I would really love to see added to the series would be additional relevant phrases at the end of each chapter. These could be phrases that might fit into the example dialogue and they would serve two beneficial purposes. One, you could role play and swap out some of the phrases so you really get to maximise the dialogues in the book. And two, you get additional vocabulary and phrases suitable to the theme of each chapter without having to figure out the grammar to piece them together yourself. My biggest complaint is about the audio. Most computers no longer have a disc drive built in, so I had limited listening options. It would be far more convenient if the book included an access code to download the files online or you were given a USB drive with the audio instead. In addition, I wasn’t a huge fan of the transliterations for the language in the book, but only because it was different from what I’m used to. There really isn’t a standard for Korean, so it’s hard to penalize them for this. Plus, since I wasn’t that great at reading Korean, it was helpful to have this available to me. Finally, the selection of Assimil courses available to English speakers is relatively small in comparison to their overall catalogue. If you don’t speak French, your options with Assimil are limited. This also makes accessibility outside of Europe somewhat difficult (or more expensive). If you do speak French (or another continental European language), however, Assimil is an excellent resource to work on laddering. Assimil Review: Did I Actually Remember What I Learned? Because it’s a traditional coursebook, Assimil really doesn’t have a way to keep you accountable. It’s up to you as the learner to monitor your progress - there are no leaderboards, progress bars, or points awarded for working through the material. That said, the lessons are short and easily digestible, so there’s not anything to keep you from continuing through the lessons on a regular basis. The only critique I had is that you do have to find the time to sit down and concentrate on the lessons, which is different from some of the other resources available that are more portable. If you don’t have the time to really sit down and study, you can always just work with the audio to see how your listening comprehension fares. I really enjoy Assimil’s approach. It was just challenging enough to hold my attention and the time it takes to complete the lessons is just right. I also like the extra cultural tidbits and language facts they add in the endnotes. It gives me a nice break from actual language learning but still keeps me in the right mindset. I was honest with myself as I completed the various exercises, working to find the answers on my own before double-checking the result against those provided. Because the lessons were so succinct, I found I ended up with just the right balance of right and wrong answers to keep me motivated (not so many that I grew frustrated but not so few that I became bored). If you really want a way to track your progress, you can do so with the exercises at the end of each chapter. You can also check how you’re doing through the review sections, by how many lessons you’ve completed and by how much of the audio you understand without the help of the text. The book contains review sections every six chapters. I was pleased with the frequency of these - neither too much nor too little. The course structure offers you the opportunity to work through the information in a variety of ways, so even though I didn’t retain everything I learned using the course, I was able to take away the things I was most likely to use in the future. Assimil: The Verdict The verdict: I would definitely use Assimil again in the future, but with the caveat of doing it my own way. Assimil brought me from having an entirely shaky understanding of Korean to being able to confidently have short and direct exchanges in the language. I am definitely not at a B2 (or even B1) level, but I would say that I am somewhere in the vicinity of A2 and that I might hit B1 with another pass at the book and by more intensively working on the translations, or active phase of the book. The Assimil method runs contrary to the Speak from Day 1 approach. It suggests that the learner take a passive learning approach for the first several chapters, then step into an active approach in the later chapters. This means that you work through the beginning of the book by reading, listening, and completing the exercises. You’re then advised to go back during the active stage and work on translating the lessons. If you ignore these directions, however, and reading the dialogues from the first lesson, you can Speak from Day 1 with Assimil. The great thing about a self-guided course is that it’s, well, self-guided. You can use it however you see fit and take as much time as you need with each section. I will use Assimil again in the future - in fact, I’m already using it for Russian. While the content of every dialogue may not be useful for every learner, I like the context that it gives the language and I find this approach much more effective than that of some of the other available course books. You can find Assimil Coréen Sans Peine on Amazon. Other Assimil courses available for English speakers: New French With Ease Spanish With Ease German With Ease Italian With Ease Brazilian Portuguese Arabic With Ease Japanese With Ease The post Assimil Review: An Honest Look at the Assimil Language Learning System appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

[aspiestvmusings]

Why isn’t anyone talking about Toby saying their fertility treatment did not work and they need funding? What do you think is next for mission baby Quintis?

Hi, anon, 

FIRST: SPOILER ALERT!  FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN 4x20 (opening scene) & PREPARE FOR THE USUAL SUPERLOING “REPLY” 

SECOND…

It is possible some fans missed the line in the midst of all the workplace drama that was going on in that scene. 

THIRD 

Maybe no-one wants to talk about it, cause it was just that one line… with no followup. No discussion on the subject at all. No emotions from the two regarding this. No nothing. Which.. to me… seems suspicious.  So maybe fans are either waiting for next eps and the (hopefully on screen) talk on this, and more info on all of this… Or simply are in denial about it not working. Or not wanting to talk about it yet, cause they …like Quintis, really wanted this to happen- pos. news on 1st time/test….and are just sad…and unable to talk about it yet. 

Here are my thoughts on this: 

Yes, Toby’s line in this ep suggest as if they know for sure that their  1st IVF cycle didn’t work. But isn’t that interesting? I mean… most likely just TVscience issue (and they don’tfollow reality much), but still makes you wonder/ask… if they did not knowin 419… cause it was too soon to tell, and if 420 happens just “a few days later” (based on Happy’s comment that she saw Flo get in the car just a few days ago), then that’s interesting. How do they know FOR SURE now then, just a few days later? I mean.. the blood test shows higher hCG levels only after a certain time… tests taken too early (after IVF, after fertilization… implantation) can not be trusted fully… so if they JUST got to the timeline where you can tell, then it might be a false neg test. Meaning… too early to tell for sure. So until I know the timeline and what they are basing this on… I am proceeding with caution…;) 

For those unaware… the blood test isn’t reliable/can’t really tell anything util about 2-3 weeks after the transfer… (the hormone levels become detectable after “the seed has planted the roots” aka found a home on the uterine wall aka pregnancy has actually occurred) and home tests are notoriously incorrect during IVF… for various reasons…giving false readings. So… without knowing what they base this claim on…I am not prepared to comment or make final decisions. Was it a home test (Toby as a doc should know!)?Was it just the 1st blood test (taken barely 2 weeks after?)?  Was there more doc visits and their ignore the time issue again (more time has passed), and they know for sure what the issue was: no implantation happened; there was a successful “touchdown” but it still didn’t last; something other… Either way… unless more time has passed than ep 420 claims… Happy was on “prep mode” for those few weeks, and until we get more answers in next ep (what went “wrong” and what needs to be “fixed” next time to make it happen)..or until no surprise twist in the finale (cause sometimes late implantation can occur) …I’m leaving this door  wide open..for all options. 

You know…I am suspicious of all “facts” stated on the show with no info on what they are based on. In S3 Happy stated she is pregnant… we did not know how she knew until the end of the storyline (a false pos blood test at the docs… until then it could’ve been just her guess based on missed period or home test… we were given no details… til it was revealed in the end) So I am not ruling out (wishful thinking on my part, I am aware of that) that they are basing this on uncertain info - either false neg, or just a home test, or this show is going full “genius” and have them not be able to tell the difference between an actual period & implantation bleeding. And basing this simply on superficial data like “cramping” or “blood” that they read falsely (hard to believe with geniuses, and one of them being a doc, but I don’t put anything past TV shows) So… until more info is given, I am not buying this…

But yeah… IF it didn’t really take, and it’s not just a throwaway line  that had no follow-up or focus on the emotional repercussions of  the not good outcome, and it’s canon canon with no twists coming…then I think we have two main options: either IVF cycle 2, or adoption. Because I think the show has made it clear that they’re not gonna give up trying… even with all the bumps on the road (that the writers add…  (#didtheyreallyneedtoaddeverysinglebumpthough #Idprefermorefocusononeissueinsteadofquicklydoingallissuesinarow ?) Both costly options. So adding to the expenses of the future parents-to-be. Even considering the gift from Walt… shares of the “pie”… and Happy’s inventions bringing in the big bucks. 

If there isn’t a plot twist coming regarding this first cycle, then there really are only two options, as the third - give up… is not Quintis., They will tackle this… as a team… and they will find solutions.  Cause they ARE going to have a family. They will be waiting outside of school for their kid(s)… It is gonna happen. No matter when and how. It’s gonna happen for them. 

In short: I find it always suspicious when something is not given much attention on screen.  It can mean 2 things: writers decided to not go deep into the plot (not good writing) OR it was so casually mentioned with no real focus…on purpose. And I do not expect final answers in 421 either. I do expect the final answers only in the finale… whether it really didn’t happen on 1st try, and they gotta find ways to save for next attempt in “5 months” or just as they’ve given up… a plot twist… (doc calls & says 1st results was false negative, which would make the S4 IVF-baby plot reverse of the S4 Cd-baby plot. Also..I am not giving upon hope that Collins will have something to do with all this…and he messed with their test results or something…) and since it seems that next 2 eps take place very soon after this ep in their universes timeline… then there is the  chance that they could rely on one test results again… with no extra information on anything… 

So… IDK Maybe Toby was also using whitelies… and trying to get Walt to give them a bigger share by claiming it didn’t happen, when they either don’t know yet, or know it happened but aren’t sharing til end of 1st trimester or something? Who knows? (with these “geniuses”)

THE LINE BY TOBY IS: “ … Our fertility treatment hasn’t worked, we need more funds”  (Notice…he doesn’t say ”it didn’t work.” He says “hasn’t worked (yet)” #staypositive , so…) 

[fantroll-purgatory]

@picklesthatswhat

Alternia, beforus, or AU?  Same as sfumat

Name: Oriion Lemnos

Oriion based of the name of the constellation and hero, and Lemnos is where orion regained his sight in the myth. Another character that i want to rename but i can’t figure a new one out.

Hmmm… Since he’s interested in gladiators AND hunting, maybe you should shift gears away from the Orion myth? Orion was certainly a venerated hunter and hero, but he was not someone regarded for mmmuch else in the Gladiatorial/Warrior World. 

Maybe you could use Hercules instead? He’s someone who slayed and captured many impressive beasts (including the Nemean lion)- and in Aeneid, Hercules faces the Geryon, a warrior giant who in some interpretations looks much like a Manticore, which echoes the reference to his lusus much more solidly than Orion would. 

Also- get this- in the Bibliotheke of Pseudo-Apollodorus, Hercules is noted to use an olive-wood club, which is a good blood-range joke for him.

Finally, he has an established Media Precedent for gladiatorial combat.

 So how about Alkaio Geryon. Alkaio from Hercules’ original given name, Alcaeus/Alkaios, and Geryon from, obviously, Geryon. 

Age: 7 sweeps (roughly 15 years)

Strife specibus: longswordKind

You could just use swordkind for this and have him specifically wield a longsword! Might I suggest adding clubkind as a secondary strife specibus, because a lot of Herculean myths involve him toting both a sword and a club (and poison arrows but that’d be getting a little excessive). 

Fetch modus: hunting modus

He gets a bow and arrow and has to shoot what he wants

How about a Capture modus where the item “hatches” as one of many fiduspawn creatures and he has to subdue it in order to access the item? It’s a fun reference to Hercules’ labors while also referencing alternian culture.

Blood colour: sage

Symbol + meaning: its the orion constellation symbol

 I’ll switch this up to an altered form of the Hercules Constellation symbol! 

Trolltag: hunterWarrior

 How about pugilinaciousGladiature.

pugilinacious is a combination of pugilist and pugnacious. A pugilist is like a boxer or fighter, and pugnacious means someone energetic and scrappy, likely to get in a fight. Gladiature is Gladiatorial Swordplay. 

Quirk: he replaces Os with Ὠ and bookends his paragraphs with o-       -o

Eg: o- yὨu gὨt that frὨm a fruity pebbles cὨmmercial -o

 Since I changed up his sign, how about he bookends with |~  ~|. And how about replacing O’s with 6′s instead? 6 is the number of legs Geryon often has, and is also half the # of Hercules’ labors. 

Eg: |~ y6u g6t that fr6m a fruit pebbles c6mmercial ~|

Lusus: a scorpion-lion mix

Might I add that it should have 6 legs. 

Personality: He’s a cheerful and upbeat boy with a knack for hunting. He mostly hunts to feed him, his lusus, and to occasionally pay his moiral for her work. He’s generally kind and willing to help people out. He can be a bit too kind at time though, like he’ll try to help people he barely knows. He has a bit of a hard time reading the atmosphere and is a little dense.

I like this haha. A thickheaded man. Maybe make him have a bit of protective nature? And maybe he should feel really guilty when he hurts someone’s feelings. Maybe like, dramatically guilty. Take that oliveblood tendency to hold grudges and turn it back on himself in a… semi-productive but overall kind of unreasonable way. Like, oh, I made my friend sad? Obviously I must pay for this CRIME. I will toil EVERY DAY until I make amends. 

Interests: he’s interested in gladiators and warriors in general. He’s picked up an interest in metalworking from his moirail and helps her out from time to time. He has i knife and dagger collection.

Good stuff! Maybe make him interested in hunting too, since you listed that as a talent. Maybe outside of hunting for sustenance, he could also do some Track, Catch, Release hunting for sport.

And if you want him to be someone who’s just interested in the warrior spirit in general, maybe he Could be a fan of like, wrestling (not the fakey fake ring wrestling stuff but the REAL stuff), since that was a pretty popular ancient Greek/Roman sport. 

I’ve looking into Gladiator rules for you, so maybe you could implement some of them in his personality? Basically the most important part of Gladiatorial combat is putting up a good fight and putting on a fun show. They’re not fighting to Kill, they’re fighting to survive, and that CAN mean both of them- in fact, it OFTEN meant both of them. Gladiators rarely if ever struck from behind. And if a Gladiator did strike a lethal blow on the other, it was usually only One- they didn’t purposely brutalize each other to make each other suffer. Then an executioner would come in from the sidewings and put the dying gladiator out of his misery, quick. 

So you could make him someone who believes in putting on an entertaining show, who likes things to be straightforward and honest, and who believes in Acts Of Mercy.

Title: I still haven’t decided

Honestly I’ve got to say I’m a little stuck here, too. I mmmiiight call him a Seer of Doom? Someone who’s interests are theoretically all surrounded in doom and someone who understands death intimately, who understands the routes of inevitability of the end, and who uses this information to shape and change the nature and state of life.

Land: Land of Prey And Protection

How about the Land of Augurs and Voracity? 

The planet whispers of doomed futures to him, trying to misguide him, trying to force him to follow false fates. The air is full of swooping birds who torment the consorts of the planet, picking them apart. He must rid the land of these beasts, as well as the imps/ogres/etc now adding to the torment of the consorts. 

Dream planet: Prospit

Design:

Horns: I didn’t do anything to them, I just want to explain why I kept them around. There’s three bits, adding up to a total of 6, which is relevant to the numbers I mentioned before. The way they’re arched also kind of reminds me of a scorpion’s tail! 

Outfit: I wanted to make it look less like a direct rip from Equius, so I lowered the armholes on the shirt to be a bit more like a wrestler’s leotard, then edited the shorts so they’re have a gathered edge like exercise pants. I also made the shoes into boots and changed them to sage to create more visual interest. 

Symbol: And, obviously, I changed the symbol to the new one! 

Thank you for sharing!

-CD

[joanprimmer9]

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[aion-rsa]

Cyberpunk 2077: Every Romance Option in the Game

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Cyberpunk 2077 article contains spoilers.

In the grand tradition of Mass Effect and other RPGs, Cyberpunk 2077 does let you romance some of the notable characters you’ll meet during CD Projekt Red’s massive adventure. However, it’s entirely possible to go through the game without realizing that these romance options are available to you.

In fact, Cyberpunk 2077‘s romance requirements are so specific that even if you are keeping an eye out for the right opportunities, one false step can permanently prevent you from being able to pursue even a temporary fling much less a long-term relationship.

So while some romances are impossible to pursue unless you create a certain kind of character at the start of the game, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the game’s available romance options if you want to avoid missing your chance at some of Cyberpunk 2077‘s most memorable interactions.

Judy Alvarez

Requirements: Feminine V Only

One of the internet’s favorite Cyberpunk 2077 characters is also one of the game’s most impactful romance options. However, it’s going to be a while before you can start a relationship with Judy. If you’re interested, though, (and if you’ve chosen a female V avatar) here’s what you need to do:

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Call Judy when prompted to during the main story.

Follow the Judy questline that becomes available a little later in the game.

During the “Pisces” mission, refuse Maiko’s plan.

Complete the rest of Judy’s quests to unlock the Pyramid Song quest. You’ll receive a pretty clear prompt asking if you want to make your move. Choose that option.,

The morning after, Judy will ask you what last night meant. If you want to start a relationship with Judy, say that it was the beginning of something special.

Not only does a relationship with Judy result in certain story alterations (which can include changes to the game’s multiple endings), but you’ll gain access to her apartment and an additional item stash.

Panam Palmer

Requirements: Masculine V Only

Panam is an interesting romance option as you’ll actually have several chances to flirt with her during the game’s main quest. However, she’ll refuse you every time. While it is possible to actually start a relationship with Panam, doing so will require you to complete this specific series of steps:

Finish all the main Panam side quests until she calls you and offers you the Riders on the Storm mission.

During Riders of the Storm, choose every dialog option that lets you flirt with Panam.

During the With a Little Help from My Friends quest, choose not to tell Saul about the plan. When Panam asks why you did that, don’t choose the option related to money.

During the Queen of the Highway mission, you’ll be able to make a move on Panam. Be sure to choose the “Oh yeah, let’s go” dialog option during this sequence.

At the end of that quest, kiss Panam when given the option to do so. This will properly start the relationship.

Much like Judy, a relationship with Panam can impact the game’s ending, but the significance of your decision to start dating her also depends on some of the other choices you make throughout the game.

Kerry Eurodyne

Requirements: Masculine V Only

Kerry is actually one of the “easiest” romance options in Cyberpunk 2077 as starting a relationship with him only requires the following steps:

Follow Johnny’s request to meet Kerry as part of the Johnny Silverhand questline.

Break into Kerry’s house to meet him and then follow the rest of the Silverhand questline involving Kerry.

During the Off the Leash mission, choose to flirt with Kerry when you have the chance to do so.

Accept the Boat Drinks side job and kiss Kerry when prompted to do so.

After the Boat Drinks job, you can choose to start a relationship with Kerry or make it a one-time thing.

Unlike Judy and Panam, starting a relationship with Kerry has less of an overall impact on the game’s ending and storyline. However, a few minor things will change if choose him as a partner.

River Ward

Requirements: Feminine V Only

River is by far the most unique long-term romance option as he’s the only potential relationship partner you won’t meet during the course of the game’s main story (at least based on what we know so far). While that makes it very easy to miss this character, you can start dating him by following these steps:

Accept the I Fought the Law quest.

By following that questline, you’ll eventually meet River who will offer you a side job called The Hunt.

This is where things get complicated. During The Hunt, you’ll need to keep River alive. That means you’ll have to find every piece of evidence in the braindance sequences included as part of this mission chain. If you miss any evidence, you can still save River by knowing that the name of the farm that you’re looking for is called “Edgewood.”

Do not leave River alone at the farm or he will die.

After completing The Hunt, indicate you’re interested in River when given the chance to do so.

Take the side job called Following the River. As part of this mission, you’ll have the chance to begin your long-term relationship with River.

While River doesn’t have as much of a possible impact on the game’s endings as some of the other potential partners, the side quest associated with this relationship is absolutely one of Cyberpunk 2077‘s best. As such, you’ll probably want to follow this path even if you don’t pursue intend to start a relationship with River.

Meredith Stout

Requirements: Masculine Corpo V Only

One of the game’s earliest romance options is actually easy to miss given the number of paths you can take at this point in the game. If you want to romance Meredith, though, here’s what you need to do:

Choose to make a deal with Meredith before The Pickup mission.

There’s some debate about this part, but it seems the safest play is to accept the chip that Meredith gives you and not decrypt it.

During The Pickup, choose to pay for the bot with the chip Meredith gave you.

Open the message that Meredith sends you after the mission and meet her at the motel.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the end of the Meredith romance line. There doesn’t seem to be a way to continue your relationship with her and it doesn’t have an impact on the game’s story.

Rogue Amendiares

Requirements: Any V

One of Cyberpunk 2077‘s most memorable quest givers isn’t a long-term romance option, but you can initiate a brief fling by following these steps:

Work your way up to the Tapeworm mission by following the main story.

Honor Johnny’s request to visit Rogue by taking over your body.

Following the quests and story moments that come after will eventually lead to Johnny and Rogue going on a date.

Rogue may not be a “commitment” romance option, but choosing to romance her can alter certain elements of the game’s ending. We don’t want to dive too much into those spoilers here, though, and it’s possible for this romance to not amount to much in the end if you decide to pursue other options near the story’s climax.

Alt Cunningham

Requirements: Any V

This is actually the only romance option that all Cyberpunk 2077 players will encounter during the course of the game’s campaign. Just follow the Johnny Silverhand story until you reach an early sequence involving Alt. It’s seemingly impossible to miss this romance unless you just ignore the main story entirely.

While brief (at least in the player’s mind) this relationship ends up playing a major role in the final moments of the game.

Joy-Toys

Requirements: Any V

We’re kind of stretching the word “romance” here, but Joy-Toys are Cyberpunk 2077‘s version of prostitutes. They’re clearly marked on the game’s map by the “lip” icons which will lead you to male and female Joy-Toys.

Your time with Joy-Toys will set you back a 100 eddies, and choosing to utilize their services will trigger a cutscene featuring nudity.

The post Cyberpunk 2077: Every Romance Option in the Game appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ndzTVH

[aaliyahhill]

How To Last Longer In Bed For Surprising Tricks

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Premature Ejaculation Leads To Pregnancy

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Top 5 Ayurvedic Medicine For Premature Ejaculation

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[dailyaudiobible]

11/30/2017 DAB Transcript

Daniel 7:1-28, 1 John 1:1-10, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 28:23-24

Today is the 30th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. And, of course, here we are at the end of the 11th month of the year, leaving us one 1/12th of the Bible to go, one month left. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s stay right where we are, here at the end of the 11th month. We’ll dive back into the book of Daniel, and then when we get to the New Testament, we’ll begin first John. And we’ll talk about that then. First, reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Daniel 7:1-28

First John:

Okay. So, yesterday we concluded second Peter, which means that we have arrived at the first letter of John the evangelist, the beloved disciple as church tradition holds, as the author of this letter. Although, many scholars disagree with that. John does not specifically claim authorship but copies of this letter were all over the early church and it was quoted and referred to in early church writings. When the canon of the New Testament Scripture was being ratified, first John didn't have a problem being authenticated as true Scripture. John is writing this letter, probably as a circular letter giving us clues to how the New Testament church communicated and worked early on and was probably written to the same people that Peter wrote his two letters to later in his life and that Paul wrote letters to. These letters were meant to be circulated throughout the churches so that they had many apostolic voices pouring the truth of the gospel into the church. And John's probably writing this from Ephesus very late in his life, somewhere around AD 92 to maybe AD 100, maybe as late as 110, although we don't know this for certain. And he is writing, specifically, to combat false teachings and heresies that have sprouted up in the early church. Some of these the early forms of Gnosticism. And John has a unique perspective because he was actually there. So, when an early teacher like Sorrento's began teaching that the spirit of Christ came into Jesus body when he was baptized but before that he was just a normal man and that the spirit departed from him just prior to crucifixion, John has an opinion, and he refutes this. And this is helpful for us today because there were a lot of teachings, a lot of ideas in the stew that became the early church, and a lot of ideas that have continued for thousands of years, and that continues until today. So, we’re fortunate to have documents like these to speak into those ideas. And, so, we begin. First John chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for these 11 months, every single day that we've been together in community around Your word. And there is no doubt that we can feel, and see, and sense the change that it makes in our lives. We can see what we’ve struggled through this year, and we’ve seen at key moments how Your word has spoken into our lives and given us clarity and hope. And we love You. And we’re grateful for this gift of Your word. So, as we close down this 11th month, we also look with great anticipation to what You have to say to us through the Scriptures in the 12th month of this year. Holy Spirit, come. We open our hearts completely to You. Everything that we are and all that we hope to be is intertwined with You. Our faith is in You. Our hope is in You. Come Jesus. We pray in your name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what's going on around here. And there’s several things.

The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box 2017 is available now. And as I have mentioned, we've packed it full of resources that you get to pick and choose what's for you and what's for you to give away. So, this Sunday is the first Sunday in the season of Advent, inaugurating the season of Advent for this year. And we have a CD full of Advent songs in the Christmas Box. These are not like traditional carols. These are songs of contemplation of the mystery and the longing for the arrival of the Savior. They’re really helpful to immerse ourselves into this final month of the year. We also have the family Christmas CD in the Box. Those are traditional carols, contemplative and lush arrangements, perfect for just turning off all the lights and just leaving the Christmas lights on and warming a cup of coffee or cocoa or whatever and just taking a minute to breathe and enjoy the season. There is the book, The Road Back to You, which we've talked about. It was a very influential read for me this year, very, very helpful. And I'm glad that we could find a way to bring it to you. We’ve also included two copies of Sneezing Jesus, a book that's very much like the Christmas Box. It is definitely something that we should immerse ourselves into and contemplate the implications of Jesus humanity, which is exactly what we celebrate at Christmas, His coming, His coming as one of us. But it is definitely also a book to be given away to people who are searching and can't get beyond the stereotypes about Jesus to the person that He was and is. We've also got the Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb for 2017 in the Box. We do that every year. I've got all…we’ve done it for five years …I’ve got them all on my tree. They, each time I put them on the tree, it represents a year in the life of this community and a completed journey through the Bible in that year. So, 2017 is another one of those. And, honestly, for me, every time I see them it's like bringing…bringing this whole community together. All that we've been through, all that God has spoken through His word, it just represents that to me. Then you have your choice of our Wind Farm coffee. This is the Daily Audio Bible blend. It’s being roasted fresh before it goes into the box so that it arrives to you fresh, which is what we always do. Or if you prefer, and you are a tea drinker, then our Wind Farm honey bush and rooibos tea is what we’re offering in the Box this year. Of course, rooibos originates in South Africa. And then a pack of 20 of the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards, including the envelopes, are in the Box, as well as a Black Wing pencil.

Speaking of Black Wing pencils, a great gift idea or a great preparation for the new year. And the new journey through the Bible is to plan to journal your year, Journal your life. And we have a great selection of resources for that in the Daily Audio Bible shop, in the lifestyle section. I’ve been using these items all of this year to journal through my own life. When I was looking at these the other day online, thinking yeah, I would love to get this as a gift. I would most definitely put it to use and treasure it. So, check that out.

And lastly, early registration for the More Gathering coming up this April, which is our annual conference for women, that takes place in the southern Appalachian Mountains, which are located in northern Georgia, so, about an hour outside of Atlanta. Early registration is open now and early registration pricing is available until the end of the year. And it's a lot of work but we keep doing this every year because we keep seeing remarkable stories and breakthroughs. It is just an amazing time of sisterhood. And friendships are formed there that will last a lifetime. And the More Gathering makes for a fantastic and unique gift idea, because not only is there anticipation for April and the time that’s shared the More Gathering, but it's also something that has lifelong impact. So, you can find all of this at dailyaudiobible.com. The More Gathering is found in the initiatives section and everything else that we’ve talked about is found in the Daily Audio Bible shop. So, check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage. I cannot possibly thank you enough. I do not have the words to express the gravity of gratitude that we have for being able to serve each other and be in community around God's word every day. So, thank you for your partnership. Obviously, your contributions to the Daily Audio Bible are tax-deductible and you will receive a receipt for your partnership. If you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow as we begin the final month of the year.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:

Hello. Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is ___ from ___ . It’s been a ___ since ___. And this morning I’m calling for one or two comments and a prayer request. Over the last three weeks, a friend of mine of 6 months was 3 weeks pregnant lost her baby. She was at work, didn’t feel well, went to the doctor, there was no heartbeat. It is a hard day because I’m heading to the funeral to support her in burying her 6 month old. You see, here in Canada over 6 months, considered a human being, per sea. ___ just for the child….and then buyying her…and it’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve watched or had to encounter my entire life. And it’s a little bit harder too because I, myself is pregnant, and can I have some prayer for that too. But I wanted to pray today that I have the right words, that the comforter in form of the Holy Spirit will put His arms around her and her husband and their other child and just give them comfort in this time because this is something they really do not understand. This is something I have no words to explain. All I say to her is, let the comfort of the Holy Spirit be with her there. She is a really, really strong person who believes and she ___ in God. So, we ask that that will continue and the Holy Spirit will just be with her. And the second thing I want to…and this is a comment about my two year old…I have a two year old that…and so the Daily Audio Bible has been around since he’s been in my tummy and we do the Wind Farm coffee. And the Wind Farm coffee came in yesterday and he ripped the package open and he turned and looked up at me…he looked at the logo and he goes…oh…Brian…Daily Audio Bible…Bible…Brian. And I was just blown out of my mind because he’s only 2 years old…2 years and 5 months…and he can identify this. When I turn on the Daily Audio Bible in the morning he just comes in and goes…oh Brian...Bible…and I’m just mesmerized that he knows all this…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is ___ calling from Delaware. It is Thanksgiving holiday in the United States and I just wanted to take a moment to express my personal gratitude for this platform. Having this global campfire has impacted me in so many ways that I cannot begin to say. So, I am thanking God, foremost for all his plans in the DAB family, opening avenues that we can build community surrounded by love, understanding, support, and ultimate appreciation of being in heaven one day together. So, thank you, Brian and Jill, for your everyday obedience to follow the calling of God. Thank you for those behind the scenes that work day and night to make sure that this community is fed daily by the bread of life. Thank you all in this community. Whether you are a regular caller, a one-time caller, a new believer or just a listener, you are important to us all. I just want to name a few people; Candice from Oregon, Pastor Gene, Viola, Asia from Munich, Blind Tony, Jay from New Jersey, Slave of Jesus, Tony the truck driver, Drew from the bay area, and Lee Ann from ___, Annette from ___ and the other people in this community that I could not name one by one. I love you guys. I want you guys to know that I’m very, very grateful for each and every one of you. Happy Thanksgiving from ___ in Delaware. Bye-bye.

Hi. This is Toni from Germany. The Lords Facilitator in Healing. I want to…I am calling on behalf of…well…not on behalf of…for…the people who called in on November 24th, which was Alex and Gerry about confessing, so to speak. When you…you represent many, many, many people. And, so, I say this for us all who are struggling with the same temptations…we are works in progress…and my recommendation is to…look…we each need to look behind what is driving our actions. A lot of times it is from an experience of our past. So, I want to applaud those who are calling in. You represent many and in doing so you…you basically in…tap into the power of this group…of this community. So, thank you for doing that on behalf of all the other people who struggle with the same temptations. And I just would kind of echo what Brian says when we call in…on that message…on the community prayer line…well done. And we will all be praying for you. Amen. Ok. Take care. Bye-bye.  

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is John calling from Bethlehem Pennsylvania. It is the 24th of November, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, Black Friday in the United States as well. I want to get right to the point of my call. Terry from Chicago, I heard your prayer request this morning on the 24th podcast and Mark S. from Sydney Australia, I heard your request as well. Terry and Mark…interestingly enough…amazingly enough…or maybe not so amazing…we should just expect this…that…you know…today's proverb, 28:13 from the 24th podcast says, ‘whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.’ Guys, I just wanted to encourage you. Terry, you said you had an affair for 10 months…and Mark…I love you man…from Australia…you said that you've gone into sexual sin again. You guys have both openly expressed that you’ve done wrong things in God's sight. You're confessing, you’re renouncing. You have mercy. Guys, I want to let you know, God's arms are wide open for you. His mercy is endless and boundless and infinite for you. He’s so happy that you’ve confessed your sin and that you repent in it and with that will come change. So, I'm praying for you. Guys, let’s put on our big boy pants here. You have the ability to accomplish anything through Christ. Period. Believe it with all your heart and all your soul. I believe in you, through Jesus, through God, that the Spirit that indwells in you has the ability to crush and stop all of these things are going on in your lives. We love you and I love you.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family, this is Benjamin, the sewer. It’s been a while but it’s good to be back. Since I last called, I got married. So, two months into that and I’m applying to the police force. So, pretty exciting stuff. So, I’m just calling today…my heart really, really was impacted by the three men whose calls were on today's recording here on November 24th. So, let’s just pray. Heavenly Father, I just lift up Terry from Chicago right now. God, he’s just going through this storm Lord and regardless of whether or not the storms come based on our actions or the world around us, Lord, it’s rough, and I just pray and ask that You would reveal to Him Lord that he’s not beyond hope, God, he is not beyond Your love. He is not beyond restoration and newness. We ask, specifically, for the restoration of his marriage, Lord, that You would humble him to continue to seek that out, to continue to be persistent in seeking reconciliation…just maybe knowing it’s a process…it’s a long process…yeah…just that he would be seeking You and growing in You Lord, that he would be able to experience Joy amidst all this Lord. And I just quickly want to pray for Mark S. from Australia. I just love hearing your voice and love you calling in regularly. I just lift you up. And Kurtis from Northern Carolina, I'm praying for you and your wife. I’m going to call back some time and pray more. Ok. I love you guys. Bye.