#yaya new moot

[superscourge]

im seeing so many asks go in that I feel compelled to send oe now. we're sheezy mutuals (handy) your scourge is awesomesauce and hi anons. do you know if you'll be doing much else with that au infinite anytime soon I think you've set up interesting stuff with him and scourge and now I'm attached to the idea.

omg hiiiiiiiii <3 sheezy moots

i do plan on doing more with it yaya !! maybe not a COMIC like with new game, but i plan on doing more mini comics and art ^^ !!!

[erascrhead]

November Ice Breaker Tag Game

loI was tagged by the lovely @bnhastanning! I’m sorry this took so long - I’ve been procrastinating all of my work and i had to take care of it before did this but now? watashi ga kita motherbuckets.

November Ice Breaker

1 - What was the last thing you were really excited about? 

Not gonna lie, things are a bit bleak at the moment, but I suppose I was very happy because I did really well on my last lesson test in my Japanese class and I raised my cumulative grade by a whole percentage! I am not very good at it but if I do decently for the rest of term I think I can make my way up to an A-, which would be really cool!

2 - What do you wish someone taught you long ago? 

Don’t be so singularly focused on your goals and responsibilities that everything else is removed from your life. Most of my middle and high school career, I was focused only on achieving what I needed academically and extracurricularly, and pushing myself beyond what I really could handle, that I ended up overworked and lonely. If it puts it into perspective, in my 10th grade year, I not only had multiple people ask me if I had taken a semester away because I had spent so much time hiding in the library, but I literally gave myself an ulcer from stress and taking on other people’s responsibilities because I had painted myself into a position where I was never allowed to refuse. While I did get to achieve beyond what I ever could have dreamed of (and I’m really proud of myself for that), theres a lot of my adolescence that I have a sort of phantom nostalgia for, and that’s something I really regret. 

Your life needs to have balance to it. Make sure you find that early on, and understand how to equally prioritize your own well being with what you want and what other’s want from you.

3 - What are some of your guilty pleasures? 

Not doing the reading for class lmao. As someone who never once skipped the reading until I graduated HS, skipping some of the reading in college, when I end up having around cumulative 500 pages per week is quite nice. I wish I had something less goody-two-shoes but I do nothing and also have zero (0) shame.

4 - What topic could you give a twenty minute presentation on without any preparation? 

There’s a couple of different things I could talk about in differing qualities ranging from classical ballet scores to a linguistic breakdown of a hamilton song, and of course I could go off about bnha for a long time, but I’m gonna go with a fun one.

My most fun answer is that I could talk about racism and race correction in Harry Potter for like three hours. Black Hermione is god tier fanon, and JKR’s attempts to race correct her make me really frustrated, not only with the problems with the action itself, but as well with the nonchalance she attempted to do it with. I have a bit of a ‘cheat’ on this one, because last year I wrote a ~5000 word academic research paper on the subject. I was already really passionate about it before that though (that’s why I wrote it in the first place); the only difference now is I can spit out narrative and numerical facts™ off the cuff, and my argument would be better organized.  

5 - What scene in a movie or tv show gives you goosebumps every time you watch it? 

I don’t really have an answer for this, which is kind of sad but also hilarious considering what my parent’s jobs are. If I had to pick something, I don’t really have a scene in particular, but the movie Amadeus (the extended directors cut edition) is one of my favorites that leaves me breathless in the best of ways. 

6 - What were some of your favorite holiday traditions growing up? 

One of my favorites is that every year since I was little, my mother and I would pick out either 1-3 new ornaments for our tree. I remember being little and walking into the Macy’s Christmas section and just being dazzled by the lights, and typically, we would pick out some white and gold porcelain birds. As I got older, are choices started coming from more small time shops, like a kiosk in hawaii or a small knick-knack shop near the place where we occasionally ski in the winter. For me, it’s really the act of going and picking out something beautiful with her that’s really nice.

A newer tradition is that every year I bake chocolate-chip bread pudding in a dutch oven. I am, unequivocally, the best baker in the family both immediate and extended, though not the best chef, and this became a hit around the time I was 15. It’s just really fun to make -- I like to belt out to Christmas songs while I bake. 

7 - What book had the most significant impact on you? 

HARD QUESTION. There’s a bunch of different ways I could answer this: the impact on the way I think, the first chapter book I read on my own that helped me discover my love of reading, my favorite example of intricate world building? I have a lot I could say. The direction I’m going to go for is the impact on my writing, and the one of the first books that really made me marvel at the beauty of words, just as they are. My two runners up are The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, but my final answer is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Representation aspects aside (but also, yes!), this book was one of the first books that made me feel emotion for the words themselves. It’s more of a character study than it is plot driven, and as a kid who grew up loving action adventure fantasy novels, I think that’s one of the reasons it really stood out to me. I pulled an excerpt, just to give the gist:

I stared at the reproduced mural in the book -- but I was more interested in his finger as he tapped the book with approval. That finger had pulled a trigger in a war. That finger had touched my mother in tender ways I did not fully comprehend. I wanted to talk, to say something, to ask questions. But I couldn’t. All the words were stuck in my throat. So I just nodded.

One of my favorite things now is to play with words, to roll them around on my tongue and isolate their melodies, placing them in them in rhythm to a beat only I can hear, and I think that this was the first book that showed me how to do that.

8 - What weird thing do you have nostalgia for? 

So I went to a small school for all the way up until college; about 45 kids in my sixth grade class, 22ish in my homeroom/main class. There were four kids, including me, that had an aptitude for math, and understood the lessons without being taught them, and so what my teacher would do is give us the homework packet for the week and send us out to the outdoor benches next to our classroom to complete it during the period. We, being 11, would goof around Monday through Thursday and do the entire packet in the Friday period and then turn it in. Not the best teaching decision (i wish i had been taught the next year’s material tbh) but that’s not the point.

It was just a year, but those periods felt so untouchable and surreal and innocent. I remember, the school was so quiet, and it was just us, and we were just kids who were getting away with not learning math for a whole year, and it felt like the greatest victory in the world. 

9 - What's a problem you have, that might be entirely unique to you? 

I don’t know how unique it is, but the intensity with which I currently need to pet a dog is unparalleled.

10 - What are two of your favorite snacks? 

I literally eat an apple with peanut butter on a daily basis I cannot emphasize this enough i am, a slut, for peanut butter. 

There’s also this specific Costco Brand trail mix that I literally have eaten so much of that I got nauseous. We love Kirkland Signature™ up in this house.

That’s all! I’m tagging @kicheetah @teamstevesass @stark-tony @bakugox @rabbitproduce @pixie-witchery @joeytrlbiani @queenangst THOUGH NO PRESSURE and also anyone else who wants to! Have fun!!

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

Chinese Super League: Has the bubble burst with transfer tax?

Moves for Carlos Tevez and Oscar helped take Chinese Super League spending to a record

The Chinese Super League has gained worldwide attention, with their clubs’ collective display of financial might seemingly enabling them to attract young, overseas superstar players at will.

Oscar arrived from Chelsea for £60m, with the likes of Hulk, Alex Teixeira, Axel Witsel and Jackson Martinez also making the switch to China.

This was no retirement league with ageing players aiming for one last big pay day – these were players in their prime, who opted to leave top-flight European football.

Having lost Oscar to Shanghai SIPG in January 2017, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte claimed the CSL was a “danger for all”.

However, new rules governing overseas players appear to have dented the clubs’ buying power in their current transfer window which, unlike in Europe, closes at the end of February.

The imposition of a 100% transfer tax for overseas players – which the Chinese FA proposes to use to help the nation develop football at youth level – has led to a slowing down of clubs’ transfer activities.

Diego Costa’s mooted £64m move to Tianjin Quanjian was scuppered when the fee effectively doubled to £128m overnight because of the new tax.

So, with this new restriction in place, has the Chinese Super League’s bubble burst?

China’s football authority wants a 100% tax on loss-making clubs that sign foreign players

CSL spending slowing – but has anybody noticed?

Having been able to flex their financial power unhindered in the past, CSL clubs are not happy with the new rule. Some are keen to explore loopholes to enable them to sign top overseas players who buy out their contracts and then arrive for free.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s view is reflective of a system which appears to be taking a breather.

“They have slowed down in China and people haven’t noticed. Many people still think ‘OK we will pay these prices because if we don’t, China will buy the players for a maximum price’,” he said.

“That is gone. We have to be looking at what has happened in the past 10 months in China, and accept that they have slowed down. They are much more cautious about spending big money for European players.”

Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez notes that Chinese clubs, hindered by the tax, “have fewer places for foreign players”.

And while he was reluctant to see Brazil international Oscar leave Stamford Bridge, Conte now appears to have softened his stance.

“If an offer arrives for a player who wants to go, who is not in our plan, he can go,” said the Italian.

The new CSL season starts in March, with reigning champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao looking to extend their record haul of titles to eight.

But it was perhaps Shanghai Shenhua who made many outside China take note of the CSL for the first time, when Chelsea pair Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba ended their time in west London to join the club. Anelka signed in January 2012 for a reported annual salary of 12m euros (£10.6m) and six months later Drogba signed up for an eye-watering £200,000 a week.

One of the reasons the league was set up was to help improve the level of football in China, a nation that has qualified for only one World Cup – in 2002 – but is desperate to return to the global stage.

Failure to qualify for Russia 2018 was not a good start, but with the continued inclusion of superstar overseas players, the hope is that the level will improve and China will be able to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

There is an even bolder ambition of winning the World Cup in 2050 – and that ambition comes right from the very top.

Chinese President Xi Jinping wants his nation to be ready and able to compete against the likes of Germany, France and Brazil.

To do that, he wants to have at least 20,000 training academies and 70,000 pitches by 2020, with 50 million children and adults playing the game in two years’ time, while also ensuring that pitches are readily available in the country.

‘They were substituting players after 15 minutes’ – problems emerge

The rise of the Chinese Super League

The CSL, with its powerful backers, has the capability to make all that infrastructure a reality.

Ambitious Chinese club owners, whose respective business interests range from real estate, agriculture, investments, motoring and shipping among other sectors, are content to compete with each other both on and off the pitch.

As the CSL clubs enjoy close links to the state, in effect the country’s trade surplus with the world – which in 2017 was at a record $275.81bn with the United States alone – has become a very handy revenue stream for the clubs to try to tap into.

However, initial signs that all was not well with the CSL emerged when Drogba said he was not being paid.

Gambling on football – which is illegal in China – emerged in black markets and tales of bribery and corruption enraged the Chinese FA, forcing it to act.

Less than a year after he arrived in Shanghai, Drobga departed for Galatasaray via the intervention of a Fifa exemption.

Tianjin Quanjian claim they dropped bids for Edinson Cavani and Diego Costa due to rule changes

Often viewed as dithering, and with the increasing number of overseas players in their top league, the Chinese FA acted in an effort to help homegrown players’ opportunities.

“The starting foreign player quota was cut from four to three per club per match,” says senior UK reporter for Xinhua news agency Wang Zijiang.

“Any team who fields foreign players must have the equivalent number of Chinese under-23 players on the pitch at the same time. This is to help improve the standard of Chinese players.

“Previously, the rule was to just have a Chinese under-23 player in the starting XI, but clubs got around that rule by substituting them as early 15 minutes into a game, which did nothing to help the young Chinese players’ fragile confidence levels.”

Still, the allure of the CSL remains strong, especially when you see the salaries on offer. Last season, £615,000 per week was paid to Carlos Tevez, £400,000 a week to Oscar, £290,000 a week to Graziano Pelle and £200,000 per week to Ramires.

Attendances at CSL matches averaged just under 24,000 in 2017 – more than the average of the Championship in England this season. Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao had the highest average club attendance at 45,587.

“The stadiums are full with a passionate fanbase really taking their clubs to heart,” said Wang.

“Orchestrated by a lead fan with a loudspeaker, flag-waving, drum-beating, banner-holding fans make for a fantastic matchday noise and what they’re watching on the pitch is a standard of game which is improving with all the investments and addition of overseas players.

“And they’re not being taken for granted either. When any hint of match-fixing or any football scandal surfaces, the attendances dip, with fans wanting the authorities to clean up the game and ensure that what they’re watching on the pitch has not been tainted.”

From ‘crazy’ to ‘under control’

Former West Ham striker Freddie Kanoute learned Mandarin when he moved to China six years ago

One former Premier League player who has first-hand playing experience in China is Freddie Kanoute. The striker played 38 times for Beijing Guoan in the 2012-13 season, scoring 12 times.

Kanoute recalls it being “a bit crazy” early on when he arrived in Beijing, but says the nation is on the right path to realise its lofty ambitions.

“Now it seems they are trying to get things under control by regulating the transfer system and taking a more sustainable position by investing more in youth development,” said Kanoute, whose sports consultancy firm helped facilitate striker Jonathan Soriano’s move to Beijing Guoan last year for a fee of about £10m.

“Chinese players are definitely not at the level of the top leagues in Europe, but maybe equivalent to third-tier divisions in Europe – with the exception of some players who I think could play in top European leagues.

“In the future, if authorities of Chinese football take the right steps, we will definitely see more and more Chinese players coming to Europe and more international players join the CSL.”

Kanoute immersed himself in the country, learning Mandarin and “connecting” with his new environment.

However, former Manchester United and Manchester City striker Tevez has likened his time at Shanghai Shenhua last year to a “holiday”.

“First of all, one should not think it’s easy to play in China, that you’re going to be successful no matter what,” said Kanoute.

“In fact, it’s quite competitive – and on top of that you have to adapt to a team, a culture, a language. You can’t make a difference all alone. So a player who decides to go there should be motivated and be prepared to adjust, blend in to a certain extent in order to make a difference.”

Javier Mascherano’s 10m euro (£8.86m) January switch from Barcelona to Hebei China Fortune proves the CSL continues to do business at the right price. And given the new transfer tax, the 33-year-old Argentine may fit the new financial narrative from now on.

However, Cedric Bakambu’s $50m (£35.7m) switch from Villarreal to Beijing Guoan last month suggests the appetite remains for a big-money transfer. Bakambu reportedly bought out his contract with the Spanish side, although the tax implications of that deal are being scrutinised by the Chinese FA.

For some players, the allure of the riches from China come second to wanting to continue to compete at the highest level.

In 2016, Yaya Toure twice rejected offers from Shanghai SIPG and Jiangsu Suning, preferring to remain at Manchester City in pursuit of Premier League and Champions League success.

And former Italy international Antonio Cassano this week described a potential move to China as “stupid”.

Could England hold the key to China’s future?

Carson Yeung was the owner of Birmingham City from 2007 until 2014

While the CSL will persevere at home, thousands of miles away, something has been stirring on the West Midlands football scene since July 2007, and the area has become the focal point of Far East football investment.

Carson Yeung took over at Birmingham City. Nearby West Bromwich Albion – the only West Midlands side in the Premier League – later moved into Chinese hands, with Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers going the same way.

So why are we witnessing a West Midlands footballing shopping spree by billionaires from a nation where most traditional football fan allegiances tend to be towards Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal?

Villa’s owner Dr Tony Xia has grand ambitions for his team and he sees a growing of the fanbase in China leading to an eventual tie-up for Chinese players to come and train at the club.

“When we bought Villa, we made detailed planning for the club’s future commercial development and social influence, and hopefully we can use this platform to help Chinese football,” Xia told the Xinhua news agency.

That growth could benefit the CSL in the long run, while also feeding into Guangzhou Evergrande’s stated aim of not fielding a single overseas player in their team by 2020.

However you view it, the grand footballing designs of the CSL clubs and China in general continue unabated.

The Chinese FA may have stepped in to curtail the massive overseas player spend, but that seems to be a much-needed pause for breath rather than a sign of any bubble bursting.

The post Chinese Super League: Has the bubble burst with transfer tax? appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.