#yippee!! i also got my melody ^^ | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

calliecat93 · 3 years

Text

ST: The Next Generation Watchthrough Season 3 Episodes 1-3

Evolution: We’re at Season 3 folks, yippee~! We also have Dr. Crusher back! I’m kind of annoyed that they don’t os much as mention what happened with Pulaski, but considering everything,t hat may have been best. I’m just gonna assume that she took Crusher’s job at Starfeet Medical and Crusher decided to go back to the Enterprise to be with her son. Which I’m glad that the episode touches on the fact that Crusher doesn’t really connect with Wesley anymore and how she’s concerned that he’s more wrapped up in his studies and Ensign duties than… you know, being an actual kid. Whatever one feels about them axing Crusher last season, they at least acknowledged and worked with it now that she’s back. The issues with Wesley in the first two seasons is how he was an intelligent kid who felt like he got things handed to him and bolstered up despite having done nothing to earn it. S2 was a bit better, but the issue still lingered, just less in our face. But here? Wesley accidentally causes the problem with a nanite project he was working on getting loose and he tries to fix it without anyone finding out while also dealing with his mom being back and hovering over him after being without her for a year. I would like to point out that he made the choice to be without his mom so him going ‘how wold you know? You haven’t even been here.” is kind of his own fault, but I DO understand that he’s frustrated and it’s an understandable reaction from a tired, guilt-ridden teenager. That’s probably what I liked best, Wesley feels more like an actual kid who screws up and makes bad decisions but is good-intentioned and trying to both be responsible and make it right, which I think the other two seasons didn’t fully have. He doesn’t get punished or even scolded for almost causing the destruction of the ship and everyone on it, but he doesn’t get praised for admitting the mistake that he caused or directly save the day either like in The Naked Now and he did ultimately admit responsibility after talking to his mom so fair enough. The episode is overall a good one. There’s good tension and pacing with the nanite threat, Crusher comes back and gets right back to where she left off, Wesley has probably his best focus episode thus far, there’s the gap between mother and son showing them not ignoring the ramifications, the crew maintain their competence and managed to resolve the issue peacefully, and overall it’s a decent way to start off the season. A standard episode, but still promising for what’s to come. 3.5/5

The Ensigns of Command: We have Data on a planet to evacuate an upcoming invasion who do have the right to the planet due to a treaty… but the citizens won’t budge. We have a tense situation here. We have a bunch of stubbornness on both sides. The Sheliak’s DO have right tot he planet, but that doesn’t make it right to slaughter a bunch of innocent lives for no reason. But the colony leader won’t listen and refuses to go without a fight despite the land not being their’s and having the Federation ready to get them to safety. We have Data having t try and convince the colony… but he’s not really trained as a negotiator so… yeah. It’s nice to have Data in a role that he isn’t used to and him having to figure out how to navigate the issue especially with how he still struggles to understand human nature in a case where he very much needs it. The method he uses to finally convince them was not one I expected from Data, but damn it was an effective one and I loved how he got to get creative! I love it! Even his reverse psychology gambit was a good one even if it didn’t fully work cause the idiot leader is too good of a speaker, but the final attempt sure as Hell did the job. Picard’s attempts to negotiate with the Sheliak to buy time for evacuation were also freakin’ great especially at the end and I’m already liking him so much more than the first two seasons. The girl though who’’s really into androids? Yeah, while I give her kudos for trying to help Data and re-activating him after the leader took him out, I didn’t like her. She may like androids but it really seems that’s all she sees him as. And that just rubs me the wrong way. Also Dat saying he has no feelings of any kind… I really don’t get why the show is insisting on that cause that’s not true jut because it’s not the ‘normal’ way, thought he ending has Picard more or less point out that Data’s statement isn’t really accurate who who knows? Ultimately it’s an episode about how, as Data puts it, things can be replaced but lives cannot. Some fights aren’t worth the loss of life, and this was one of those cases. Also diplomatic negotiations and treaties aren’t a fun process haha. 3.5/5.

The Survivors: Well… that went nothing like I expected. Things start out kind of same old, same old. We have a couple being too stubborn to leave their home despite hostilities and the crew can’t convince them otherwise… then Troi gets some strange repeating melody stuck in her head. You know how addictive Earworms can be? Well imagine it never being able to stop and going over and over and over… and Dear Lord poor Troi didn’t deserve any of this. Marina Sirtis conveyed Troi’s growing desperation and pain because it just won’t stop extremely well. This and a hostile vessel raise a lot of questions. Why is all of this happening? It’s all connected to the elderly couple… and the reveal is utterly shocking and horrifying. I’m reluctant to even go into detail because I don’t want to ruin the surprise for anyone who may have not seen it. But lets just say that it’s not simple pride keeping that couple from leaving even when the danger returns. Oh not even close. This episode was freakin’ great. It’s pretty good but when we get the big plot twist? It flips everything on it’s head and the actor delivering the big revelation… the performance is utterly gut-wrenching. Their actions are sympathetic and the guilt and grief is so evident and heartbreaking, a being driven to despair that caused them to commit probably one of, if not the, most unforgivable act that one can commit. It’s an utter tragedy, plain and simple. IDT an episode of TNG has hit me this hard, I legit teared up. Just… damn. 5/5.

While I didn’t really watch the show as a kid, I did see scattered episodes her and there because my mom watched it 24/7. Seasons 1 and 2 of TNG just… din’t feel right. They weren’t bad, they just didn’t have that feel that I remembered from what I had seen. Now though? I’m starting to get that feeling again. The episodes, while not ground-breaking or anything, maintain quality and it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to replicate TNG or struggling to escape it’s shadow anymore. If this is indeed the season where the show truly found it’s groove, then I am excited for the other 23 episodes~!

#st watchthrough

2 notes · View notes

kayura-sanada · 3 years

Note

Melody of Memory is literally a little filler cash grab game and the most enjoyable parts of it are not the (few) story beats but playing the songs with the team you favor (SDG, TAV, RAX or Riku + 2 Dream eaters, lol). The few story parts ultimately add up to only more setup for "Phase 2" and, in light of the most recent UX-Update, even more baiting towards that game and the "distant past". Apprentice Xehanort is also totally gaga in the scene where he sends Kairi into the ocean of worlds, 1/2

2/2 , talking to her 4year-old self as if he would talk to a fellow scientist or at least an adult, babbling about stuff a child that young can't possibly hope to understand. After Kairi "wins" against Xehanort thanks to Sora he repeats those words and frames it like a clue as to where to find Sora. He admits that he hurt her and all those she cares about, yet firmly insists he's still a part of her heart too. With Dark Road also running Nomura's really trying to make Xehanort more sympathetic.

Well, in the cutscene before the Final (music) battle Kairi does fight, or rather attack (she's very aggressive due to anger), Master Xehanort somewhat semi-competently and he even compliments her grown skills but the tide turns once Xehanort summons his Keyblade, the whole scenario indicating he wasn't actually fighting seriously before. Things do get somewhat muddy though as this "Xehanort" is implied to be a memory construct of Kairi's own heart, not the real deal (who is dead atm).

"Quadratum" is supposedly the city of Yozora while the Nameless Star originates from that world too. People theorize she might be the girl seen in the Verum Rex-video Yozora and his two side-kicks are trying to save. And lol yea, of course Xehanort monologues, there are implications that there was even more going on behind the scenes during KH 1/COM/Days and 2. Union X also toots in the same horn with its newest update, introducing a whole "species" of Darkness called "ultimate enemy" by Brain

-----

Oh, dear lord. Okay, I know you likely told me all this so you could get my opinions, so here they are, in no general order, and I apologize because my levels of salt increase SO MUCH over the course of this, lol:

1) What do you mean, the music game isn’t plot heavy and is a DDR version of Chain of Memories? What? Crazy. :P

2) How wonderful; the story had more Xehanort in it. Yay. Hurrah. Yippee.

3) “The ocean of worlds” Remember when it was just The Realm Between? Remember that? And there wasn’t an ocean, and Destiny Islands was just a beach? Ah, the good old days.

4) I’m sorry, are we suddenly saying Xehanort monologued to four year old Kairi? And of course she gets all of this now? Am I the only one who hates Sudden Answers From The Past? Because I do. I really, really do. That shit needs build-up.

5) Oh, my god, he’s actually doing it. He’s trying to make Xehanort sympathetic. Amazing. Astounding. How? HOW?! Suddenly the torture he put several teenagers through means nothing?! I absolutely cannot anymore.

6) Oh, so now Kairi is linked to Xehanort’s heart. Of fucking course she is. She was, like, the one character not linked to either his or Sora’s hearts, so of course she’s now linked to both. I hate this. Please end my suffering.

7) How wonderful that he apologized to her, the one person whom we could argue benefited from his bullshit, because she got to meet Riku and Sora. Has he fucking apologized to Riku and Terra and Ventus and Vanitas yet? And by apologized, I mean groveled? Because that’s where that fucker should start. And by the way, this is one of those instances where I’m going to remind everyone that a person’s apology - even a person’s redemption, which this fucker still isn’t even close to - doesn’t necessitate forgiveness. ‘Cause he sure ain’t getting that from me. I draw the line at someone purposefully torturing young teenagers multiple times over the course of decades. Guess I’m the weird one now.

8) Oh, sweet! Kairi’s aggressive! But wait? Isn’t that... something a person with darkness in their hearts would do? Isn’t she full of light? So... being aggressive and angry and rashly violent is something that can be considered good and light now? Please tell me we’re acknowledging that light can be destructive, too! For god’s sakes! (I know that’s not where Nomura’s going; that would be good writing and the man has abandoned any semblance of that.)

9) I’m crying Kairi was ‘doing well’ until he pulled out his Keyblade. Dude wasn’t even trying. /applauds/ Thanks for the Girl Power™ yet again, Nomura. Damn, do you hate women.

10) “a memory construct of Kairi’s own heart” aaaaaaaaaand I’m out, peace*

11) You can’t buy my give a damn about Yozora, Nomura’s deliberate cash grab for Final Fantasy lovers even though he stripped every actual FF character from the original KH3 game. Hey, shocker! 👋 I don’t care.

12) Oh kill me if it’s another damsel in distress FF character. Please.

13) Other stuff going on behind the scenes, huh? This is giving such strong Fable III vibes, let me tell you. “The man you hated was cruel and selfish and murderous, but he was just acting that way to stave off a much greater evil! That makes him sympathetic!” Shove off, Nomura.

14) “Ultimate enemy” nope I’m out again bye * = I did indeed actually leave my computer and just. take a walk. for my sanity. Which I’m now gonna do again. Bye.

#long post #anonymous #response #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts critical #nomura critical #oh dear god #it's like a train wreck #only it's in slow motion and it's taking years to unfold #and every time you think that was the last car to crumple there's another fucking train right behind it #as usual please block my salt levels if they get too high for you

4 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

Text

Pluralistic: 05 Mar 2020 (New Pinkwater, RIP Jim Tyre, Right to Repair and covid, Radicalized is a bestseller, African Whatsapp modders)

Today's links

Daniel Pinkwater wrote a new novel! Yippee for "ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL!"

Warner Chappel discoved a new form of copyright fuckery so dense it blew a wormhole into another dimension: From the people who fraudulently claimed to own "Happy Birthday" for decades.

RIP, Jim Tyre: The free internet just lost one of its most dedicated defenders.

Decentralizing the web is a human problem: The web needs stewards, not owners.

Right to Repair is the right to resilience: Independent repair is how we keep things going during emergencies.

Keyless car fobs can be defeated with a cheap RFID cloner: Car manufacturers wontfix a showstopper bug. Again.

Bookstores, libraries, human thriving and mental health: Books are great, even if the science behind their greatness is thin.

Copyright experts' panel on fair use removed from Youtube: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

Radicalized is out in paperback: Just hit every one of Canada's national bestseller lists, too!

African Whatsapp modders are outcompeting Facebook: Adversarial Interoperability is how you beat digital colonialism.

This day in history: 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

I'm coming to Kelowna, BC today! I'll be at the library from 6-8PM with my book Radicalized for the CBC's Canada Reads. It's free, but you need to RSVP (and most of the seats are gone, so act quick).

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Daniel Pinkwater wrote a new novel! (permalink)

Well, this is amazing news. Daniel Pinkwater has a new middle grades novel coming out in September: ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL!

https://tachyonpublications.com/bestselling-author-daniel-pinkwater-returns-in-classic-form-with-the-illustrated-middle-grade-adventures-of-a-dwergish-girl/

Molly O'Malley is a clever, adventurous girl. She is also a Dwerg. Dwergs are strange folks who live very quietly in the Catskill mountains, have lots of gold, and are kind of like dwarves (but also not!).

Molly isn't interested in cooking and weaving, as she is expected to be. So, she sets off to see the world for herself. Which means a new job, a trip to New York City, prowling gangsters, an adorable king, a city witch, and many historical ghosts. More importantly, it means excellent pizza, new friends, and very quick thinking.

Now someone is pursuing the Dwergs for their gold. Can Molly O'Malley save the day?

IOW: this is a book with every single thing I love about Pinkwater novels. Reading Daniel Pinkwater – as a kid and as an adult – was hugely important to my development as a writer and a human being. Meeting another Pinkwater fan is always a sign that you are among good people.

Warner Chappel discoved a new form of copyright fuckery so dense it blew a wormhole into another dimension (permalink)

I've seen some next-level copyfraud fuckery in my day, believe me, but Adam Neely's tale of Warner Chappell's copyfraud reaches a new height of absurdity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM6X2MEl7R8

This is sleazy even by Warner Chappell standards, and they're the crooks who fraudulently claimed ownership over Happy Birthday for decades.

https://vimeo.com/172715640

Buckle up for this one, as it is an onion of bizarre, bad-faith corporate behavior, with each layer peeling back to reveal another, even weirder and more terrible one. It starts with a garbage lawsuit against Katy Perry for including a piece of background music in her song Dark Horse that was similar to another very generic lick in an obscure Christian rap song called "A Joyful Noise."

No one claimed that Katy Perry lifted the brief snatch of music from Joyful Noise. Rather, the case turned on the precedent set when Martin Gaye's heirs sued Robin Thicke over "Blurred Lines," arguing that the song had a similar vibe to Gaye's. Gaye's heirs should not have won that suit. But they did. And it opened the floodgates to nuisance suits targeting the likes of Perry and her publisher, Warner-Chappell. They lost the suit and got hit for $2.8m.

This isn't even the fuckery part, by the way.

Enter Adam Neely, who created a massively successful viral video defending Warner Chappell and Katy Perry, arguing that the suit was garbage. The video was so successful he went on national media to discuss the case and was even asked to sign onto an amicus brief.

Let the fuckery begin:

Warner Chappell has claimed copyright over Neely's video, claiming that a few seconds of music that he used was the "melody" of Katy Perry's song.

Further fuckery:

In the case, Warner Chappell argued that this specific musical phrase was not the melody, and was rather some incidental background sound.

Fuckery extreme:

The Warner Chappell claim was not automated. A human manually claimed this phrase of music as Warner-Chappell's, despite:

a) Them having disclaimed ownership of it in a lawsuit,

b) Losing that suit and being told by a court that it wasn't theirs.

Fuckery to the max!

But the musical phrase they claimed ownership over was from "A Joyful Noise," the song they lost two point eight million dollars over, having claimed that their song was not confusingly similar to it.

The two musical phrases – the one from "Dark Horse" and the one from "Joyful Noise" – were so similar that Warner-Chappell's own copyright enforcers mistakenly claimed copyright over the wrong one!

2020 folks. Don't forget to tip your servers, they work hard.

RIP, Jim Tyre (permalink)

My old EFF comrade Jim Tyre just died.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/rip-eff-special-counsel-jim-tyre

Jim was a tireless civil liberties litigator, a titan of First Amendment law whose entree to tech law was defending people who criticized censorware companies who wildly overblocked what schoolkids could see. He was also incredibly garrulous, funny, a born raconteur whose encylopedic memory served him well both as a storyteller and a litigator.

Jim worked on the 2600 DMCA case, he defended Ed Felten when he was threatened by the RIAA, he fought ICANN, and he was key to our longrunning suit against NSA over mass surveillance.

Jim always worked offsite. He lived in LA and had eye problems that rendered him nearly completely blind. But he kept a stash of cash at the EFF offices so he could contribute to every whip-round for a baby gift or a wedding present.

He was a true mensch.

Decentralizing the web is a human problem (permalink)

My old EFF colleague Mai Sutton just published a smashing primer on competition, interoperability, and stewardship and the world of tech:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200228/22053744006/defeating-tech-giants-with-open-protocols-interoperability-shared-stewardship.shtm

After delivering a good backgrounder on the history of the wars between shared protocols and proprietary technologies, Mai delves into the thicket of laws that have cropped up to prevent technologists from adding interoperability to existing technologies.

This has led to a new online enclosure, with "Google" becoming synonymous with "search" and "Facebook" synonymous with "social media." These businesses once competed, but today, they preside alone, over protected territory.

But some of that is changing. Between legislative proposals, new standardization efforts, the Decentralized Web movement and its protocols, and a reinvigorated threat of antitrust enforcement, there's some hope that the web will reopen and redecentralize.

Ultimately, Mai writes, this has more to do with how we view the web than how we use it. If we think of the online world as a shared space for humanity then the technologists who keep it running are stewards, not owners.

(Image: Dietrich Ayala (https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/07/introducing-the-d-web/) and Open Clip Art (https://openclipart.org/)

Right to Repair is the right to resilience (permalink)

Writing in Wired, Kyle Wiens makes the crucial link between the Right To Repair and resilience, especially during moments of disruption to global supply chains.

https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-right-to-repair-will-help-us-endure-outbreaks/

It's no coincidence that farms and farmers have been leaders in Right to Repair: when you're isolated and you're not allowed to fix your stuff, it means that you can neither nip down to the shops for a replacement, nor easily have an authorized repair tech come to your place.

Covid can put everyone – even entire nations – into the position of that isolated farmer. As Long Beach port is denuded of shipping containers, as air- and rail-links are broken between parts of the country, the stream of parts, replacement units and technicians stops.

A key principle of resilience is to put resources at the edge, replacing hub-and-spoke models with point-to-point, peer-to-peer ones that infuse the system with redundancy. Neoliberalism hates redundancy and equates it with wastefulness.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1228326004508151808

But redundancy is the key to graceful failure-modes. Limiting repairs to authorized service centers works well (reliable, and certainly great for shareholders), but it fails very, very badly. Right to Repair is how our hospitals, schools, infrastructure maintenance, first responder and other vital services will keep the lights on if things go horribly wrong. Resiliency may be bad for shareholder value, but it's vital to human survival.

Keyless car fobs can be defeated with a cheap RFID cloner (permalink)

Toyota, Hyundai and Kia keyless ignition fobs can be cloned by attackers who get within a few inches of your pocket (say, at a conference), thanks to implementation errors that the auto-makers made with their Texas Instruments DST80 security systems.

https://www.wired.com/story/hackers-can-clone-millions-of-toyota-hyundai-kia-keys/

All you need is a Proxmark RFID scanner, which retails for about $300. That's more than the range-extenders used to steal cars from out front of targets' homes, but unlike those attackers, fob-cloners can start and stop the car as often as they like.

https://hackerwarehouse.com/product/proxmark3-rdv4-kit/

The researchers who did this work come from KU Leuven and the University of Birmingham. Their paper is great:

https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/8546/8111

The attack on its own does not let you start the cars. All it does is disable the immobilizer that stopped people from hot-wiring the ignition system with a screwdriver.

"You're downgrading the security to what it was in the '80s." -Flavio Garcia, University of Birmingham.

The implementation mistakes by the car companies are embarrassingly basic. Kia and Hyundai's implementation only has 24 bits of randomness ("a couple milliseconds with a laptop"). Toyota uses a serial number as a seed, then transmits that serial number in the clear. The companies, naturally, are saying it's no biggie. Toyota claims the attack requires "a highly specialized device that is not commonly available on the market." This just isn't true. I found it with literally one search.

None of the vendors have offered to fix the problem for drivers who bring their cars to garages.

It's depressing, but at least now you know whether you can trust your car's security.

"It's better to be in a place where we know what kind of security we're getting from our security devices. Otherwise, only the criminals know." -Flavio Garcia.

Bookstores, libraries, human thriving and mental health (permalink)

I love Lydia Smith's hymn to the mental health benefits of books, libraries and reading (even if I think the science is less than convincing)

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/how-books-and-bookshops-improve-our-mental-health-and-why-we-must-protect-them/

Reading fiction definitely stretches your empathy. For a novel to work, you have to be invested in the lives of people who don't even exist. The death of the yogurt you digested with breakfast this morning is technically more tragic than the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The yogurt was really alive and now it's really dead. Romeo and Juliet neither lived nor died. Fiction reading is varsity-level empathy!

I agree that the traditional fiction arc – adversity met and overcome – can lighten a dark day. I turn to Kim Stanley Robinson's "Pacific Edge" whenever I'm blue for that reason. I even played a small role in getting adapted for DRM-free audio.

https://boingboing.net/2015/01/15/audio-edition-of-pacific-edge.html

(Pacific Edge was just reissued as a "Tor Essential" in an omnibus with the other two "Californias" novels, sporting a fabulous intro by Francis Spufford. Run, don't walk!)

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250307569

It's also utterly true that books are a path to resilience and self-reliance, filled as they can be with how-tos, analysis and technical knowledge. As the Whole Earth Catalogues used to have it, "Access to tools and ideas."

(It must be said that the net is infinitely better at this than print books, provided you can get online. The use of a time-transported town library to jumpstart post-industrial civilization during the 30 Years War in Eric Flint's 1632 is delightful)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_(novel)

Libraries, of course, are the last place in our civilization where you are welcomed because you are a human being, not because you are an ambulatory wallet. Librarians, resist the urge to call people "customers." They're "patrons." That's far more dignified (and accurate).

And working in a bookstore is certainly therapeutic, for certain values of therapy. It can be a grind, but OMG is it ever great connecting people with books that you love and watching them fall in love, too. Generally I'm in accord with the essay. I just don't think the studies cited are of very high quality and/or recency.

It's OK to say, "I love bookstores and libraries because they're fabulous" without having to provide evidence for that fabulousness.

NYU law school's Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy held a symposium on copyright and the net with a panel on "when one song infringes the copyright of another and to prove if the accused song is 'substantially similar' enough to be illegal."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVQTz65Bq70

The video of the panel was taken down from Youtube after multiple copyright complaints from rightsholders who claimed that the brief clips, chosen by America's leading copyright experts as being fair use, were infringing.

https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/engelberg/news/2020-03-04-youtube-takedown

These clips weren't just fair use; they'd been chosen by top legal scholars to illustrate what fair use was.

The rightsholder reps who issued the takedown claims for these videos did so manually – that is, these complaints were not automatically generated.

In the grand tradition of copyfraud fuckery, when the law professors appealed, the rights enforcement dimbulbs (trained on xeroxed procedures in three-ring binders) reasserted their claims, putting the law school at risk of losing its Youtube account.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/05/warner-chappell-copyfraud#warnerchappell

The law profs knew they had the law on their side, but they weren't ready to appeal, because if they lost their appeal, they'd get a Youtube "copystrike," which could also cost them their accounts. And since there were multiple claims, they weren't sure if they'd get multiple strikes by appealing. Youtube's docs don't make this clear, and going through Youtube channels yielded nothing but radio silence.

Now, these are eminent law professors at a top university, so they were able to make some insider calls to Youtube, who lifted the complaints altogether and reinstated the video. But no one ever clarified the multiple-claims/multiple copystrike procedure.

Moral: When it comes to Youtube, it doesn't matter if you're a nationally recognized copyright expert. You can't argue with anonymous, hamfisted rights-enforcer assholes to assert your speech rights. The only way to guarantee those rights is to know someone on the inside.

Radicalized is out in paperback (permalink)

My book Radicalized, a collection of four science fiction novellas, just came out in paperback!

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250229250

It's quite a week for the book! It's a finalist for Canada Reads, one of Canada's national book prizes, and the paperback immediately hit all of Canada's national bestseller lists!

I'm especially delighted to make the indie stores' bestseller list:

https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-bestselling-canadian-books-for-the-week-of-feb-23-29-2020-1.5484366

It's headlining the Toronto Star's list:

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2020/03/04/toronto-star-bestsellers-for-the-week-ending-march-4-2020.html

And there's one more national bestseller list that it's hit, but I can't name it until later this week, when it's published. But yeah, it's a hell of a week!

African Whatsapp modders are outcompeting Facebook (permalink)

Whatsapp is more popular than Facebook in Africa – but unauthorized, souped-up, third-party mods of Whatsapp are more popular still.

https://qz.com/africa/1804859/fake-whatsapp-app-more-popular-than-facebook-instagram-in-africa/

African software developers have modified the Whatsapp app to make it suitable to local users. The mods are transmitted from person to person, and sideloaded onto mobile devices.

The king of mods is GB Whatsapp, which allows for multiple accounts on a single device, ups file-transmissions from 16MB to 50MB, and includes privacy features like masking when you're online. GB Whatapp alone has more African users than the Facebook app.

All these mods communicate with users of the stock Whatapp system and with each other. They're tremendous examples of #AdversarialInteroperability, where hackers give users better, situation-appropriate tools without asking an incumbent's permission.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

They really cleanly illustrate how Adversarial Interop defeats network effects by using it against incumbents. The fact that Whatsapp is the most popular app in Africa is an ADVANTAGE for Whatapp modders: they get to treat every Whatsapp user as a potential customer. These mods also show how Adversarial Interop is key to technological self-determination. Rather than meekly submitting to digital colonialism, modders ignore the choices and preferences of a massive US firm and its shareholders and deliver local solutions for local people.

Facebook's response is predictable. Mods violate our terms of service. Modders are crooks. Users caught using mods face bans.

Modders just tell their users to sign up with secondary phone numbers to avoid bans.

Colonial American industry enjoyed a huge advantage over UK rivals because it disregarded UK patents and copyrights, allowing American firms to leapfrog the former colonial masters. Now that it is a net exporter of tech, it expects foreign countries to respect its rules.

This day in history (permalink)

#5yrsago Justice Department issues "scorching" report on Ferguson's Police Department https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/03/ferguson-cops-routinely-block-public-from-filming-them-doj-says/

#5yrsago Matt Haughey retires from Metafilter https://metatalk.metafilter.com/23626/Sixteen-Years

#1yrago The NSA has reportedly stopped data-mining Americans' phone and SMS records https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/us/politics/nsa-phone-records-program-shut-down.html

#1yrago Jibo the social robot announces that its VC overlords have remote-killswitched it, makes pathetic farewell address and dances a final step https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/3/4/18250104/jibo-social-robot-server-shutdown-offline-dead

#1yrago BATHDOOM: A Doom level based on a terrible bathroom remodel https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/eveknn/the-hot-new-doom-mod-is-a-nightmare-diy-bathroom-renovation-bathdoom

#1yrago The People's Republic of Walmart: how late-stage capitalism gives way to early-stage fully automated luxury communism https://boingboing.net/2019/03/05/walmart-without-capitalism.html

#1yrago History is made: petition opposing the EU's #Article13 internet censorship plan draws more signatures than any petition in EU history https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-stop-the-censorship-machinery-save-the-internet

#1yrago London councils plan to slash benefit payments with an "anti-fraud" system known to have a 20% failure rate https://news.sky.com/story/thousands-face-incorrect-benefit-cuts-from-automated-fraud-detector-11651031

#1yrago America is not "polarized": it's a land where a small minority tyrannize the supermajority https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/opinion/oppression-majority.html

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Carl Sondrol (https://twitter.com/sondrol), Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/), JWZ (https://www.jwz.org/blog/), Danny O'Brien (oblomovka.com/)

Hugo nominators! My story "Unauthorized Bread" is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Upcoming appearances:

Canada Reads Kelowna: March 5, 6PM, Kelowna Library, 1380 Ellis Street, with CBC's Sarah Penton https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Currently writing: I just finished a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel now, though the timing is going to depend on another pending commission (I've been solicited by an NGO) to write a short story set in the world's prehistory.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Disasters Don't Have to End in Dystopias: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/01/disasters-dont-have-to-end-in-dystopias/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.

#pluralistic

9 notes · View notes

flamboyant-king · 5 years

Text

Hello, have the scripts for comics I wanted to make when I first started using Lewn, got L!Azura, Taku got brave bow+, and Joji ‘retired.’ But, you know, my hands can only draw so much.

So this is context for comics and relations at the moment, in case yall are lost since I didn’t DRAW THESE.

--Jeorge meets Lewyn--

(Game context: During a grand conquest, my units were dying left and right because of poor placement. Lewyn was trapped behind a wall so he would only defeat the units that spawned right in front of it. Jeorge got closest to the fortress, but he couldn’t kill the Corrin standing there in one hit. So I used his turn to break down the wall and Lewyn hath been released.)

Jeorge: [running towards the fort] Where the Hel is everyone.

[aims at Corrin]

Jeorge: Damn. [Stops in front of a wall] Her defense is too high.

[melody playing from behind the wall]

Jeorge: ...Lewyn?

Lewyn: How are you, Jeorge?

Jeorge: Have you been hiding there this whole time?

Lewyn: I can’t believe you think that lowly of me.

Lewyn: The area you’re standing in is empty because of me.

Jeorge: [patting the wall] Well, I need more than one area cleared by you.

[one brick pushed out and the wall crumbles]

Lewyn: Now, why did you go and do that...

Jeorge: [pointing behind to Corrin] Get rid of her, please.

Lewyn: Only because you asked so nicely~

[meanwhile]

--New Bow--

(Game context: I gave Taku brave bow because... Idk seemed like a good idea. he’s like not fast at all but I was giving him a lot of bows)

Gordin: KOUHAI! TAKUMI KOUHAI!

Takumi: I told you not to call me that.

Gordin: Then what do I call you?

Takumi: MY NAME.

Gordin: Okay! I have gift for you, from senpai to Takumi!

Takumi: Brave bow?

Gordin: You said that you’re fighting for two. That means twice as many arrows!

Takumi: Oh...thanks. I’ve never really used this before.

Gordin: [GASP] THAT MEANS I HAVE TO TEACH YOU!

Takumi: No, you do--

Gordin: I AM YOUR SENSEI, YOU ARE MY STUDENT!

Takumi: He’s not listening...

--New Training--

Gordin: [pacing about] This is all so sudden. From senpai to sensei in a blink of an eye.

[turns around]

Gordin: Since you know all the things Mr. Jeorge has taught me, that means I have to teach you my own methods!

Takumi: Yippee?

Gordin: [rubbing chin] The leaf thing is outdated. That means I must make a new curriculum.

Gordin: Shoot through here. [okay hand]

Takumi: What?

Gordin: It’s just like a target except with the risk of injury.

Takumi: I’m not doing that.

Gordin: Do you have confidence in your aim!

Takumi: I do but the risks are to--

Gordin: DO IT!

[shoots arrow right into gordin’s palm]

Gordin: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Takumi: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Gordin and Takumi screaming in the background]

Niles: [behind a tree] Ah, so Jeorge was actually a babysitter...

--The Real Doubler--

Lucius: What are you two doing? You’re lucky Leon came and got me!

Leon: If I didn’t get you, Niles would have just let them stand there screaming for hours.

Niles: And I would be laughing for all those hours.

Gordin: [sobbing] I’m sorry Takumi, I’m a terrible teacher. How can I teach without my good hand!?

Takumi: Eh...you were just excited to help me. I really appreciate you giving me your bow. Maybe we can train together when you’re all better.

Takumi: As equals, not student and...sensei.

Gordin: That sounds nice. But if I can’t teach you won’t be able to shoot double the arrows.

Kravice: [offscreen] That’s where you’re wrong!

Kravice: [on Legendary Azura’s ride] Sup guys, guess who finally learned the importance of dancers!

[a day, maybe, later]

--Aether Keep Rearrangement--

(Game context: Aether Keep editing is fun, just nothing but traps.)

Lewyn: Hello, Jeorge, enjoying your “break?”

Jeorge: Barely. I still hold the job as representative, so I still have to deliver messages to other realms, assist in gauntlets, and defend this place from invaders.

Lewyn: At least it’s cozy up here. [counting on his fingers] Got an inn, a park, places to shop, hot springs, and a library. What’s really missing is somewhere to eat.

Jeorge: It’s far from relaxing. The set up of this place changes constantly. Not to mention the traps.

Lewyn: What tra-- [Lewyn promptly falling through a trap door]

Jeorge: Lewyn!

Lewyn: [freaking out] WHY IS THAT THERE!? WHY IS THAT JUST THERE!?

Jeorge: Blame Kravice. He says it’s ‘fun.’

Kravice: [offscreen] I actually said ‘funny.’

Kravice: [on Azura’s ride] I get a lot of great snap shots with all my set ups.

Kravice: [turning around the tacticians tablet revealing a photo of Lewyn on top of Jeorge] Who do you think would benefit more from this? Anna or Nina?

Lewyn & Jeorge: >:^\

[A week or so later]

--Quadrupler--

[four arrows in the target]

Gordin: And in one swift motion you’ve shot 4 arrows into your foe’s back!

Takumi: I honestly thought my hands would be too small to hold all the arrows.

Gordin: If I can do it, so can you! [jazz hands]

Kravice: [offscreen] Taku!

Kravice: [Azura safely lands her horsey] I need you to come with me!

Takumi: You...need me for something?

Kravice: I’m gonna nab me another Michalis, so I need some fliers

Takumi: But we learned last time that arrows have no effect on him.

Kravice: [sparkle] That’s why we have Azura.

--XD--

[in the skies]

Ryoma: Takumi, you’ll have to take care of Michalis.

Takumi: But why? You’re more suited for this.

Ryoma: Look around you, Takumi, this is the only viable option.

[cuts to Michalis covered in arrows with hp bar at exactly half]

Takumi: Even with Azura’s boost and all these arrows, I barely got him to half HP

Azura: <:^) Cheer up, okay. [gives taku another turn]

Takumi: [zoom in on stats] :0

Takumi: [turns to azura] XD

Azura: ....Okay, maybe tone it down a bit. [that finger pinch thing]

(game context: I have a video of a damaged taku getting danced by azura and it’s just exactly this)

--New Rep--

[Krav barging through the front doors, triumphant]

Kravice: Oh baby! I can’t believe my strategy actually worked! Good job out there, Taku!

Takumi: I...I gotta go! [runs away, redfaced]

Kravice: Compliments really do drive him crazy...

Alfonse: Kravice, I have urgent news.

Kravice: Okay? What is it.

Alfonse: Jeorge is stepping down as our representative.

Kravice: WHAT! BUT WHY!

Alfonse: He said...he’s tired of you.

Kravice: ...ouch...

Alfonse: We need a new representative. Someone who can bring up morale and encompasses the spirit of our castle!

--Camus’s Tit--

Kravice: [pacing the tactic’s room] I started learning to strategize for him and now he’s bailing like that!

Alfonse: I don’t think your tactics are the only reason.

Kravice: I’ve done nothing but give him the worlds!

Alfonse: Well you’ve also killed him over two hundred times and fatally injured him twice that much

Kravice: But that’s less frequent now that I’m strategizing!

Alfonse: To be honest, Jeorge tolerated you much longer than I could’ve under your orders.

Kravice: What are you trying to say, Al.

Alfonse: You are...you...should really consider finding a new representative.

Kravice: Fucking! Camus’s Tit!

(context: That was my ingame name for a bit pshs)

[nowaki’s castle]

Nowaki: Hello--

Camus: [one(1) boob exposed] I have come with greetings from afar.

Nowaki: [slowly closes door]

(watching from afar)

Alfonse: I don’t think--

Kravice: Why do you take things so literally!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn’t write a script for these next parts but here’s what was gonna happen:

Sentimental stuff, Jeorge passes the torch of representative to Taku, Krav approves, big ol ModFam moment and Party.

Month or so later, Jeorge starts getting bored just relaxing in the Aether keep and wants to travel still. He finds out he’s going to be in a gauntlet, and since Taku is representative at the moment, he’s the one to assist Jeorge in the gauntlet. You all know what happened with the gauntlet. <3

Jeorge comes back out of retirement but only for guantlets and just scouting worlds. He has an attachment to gauntlets pssh. Taku vows to protect him from getting hurt. They agree to be equals and protect each other when Jeorge decides to join battle.

For now, Jeorge chills in the Aether Keep with the Reserves (Lucius, BK, Lewn, L!Azura, etc) aka: units I use when I have to because they’re actually kind of built. Although, I’m using Lewn more and more because of his stupid infinite.

That’s how the plot/timeline is going so far. I have so much story to tell but agh my hands, but I hope these scripts are good enough context for why character focus and groupings are shifting and stuff.

#script #fire emblem heroes #jeorge #lewyn #azura #takumi #gordin #kravice #alfonse #others are there or referenced but we focusing on main parts here

25 notes · View notes

karlawithakay · 7 years

Text

I was lured into buying toys

Sooo..to start off, I am already twenty four years old running to twenty five and I was lured into buying toys, toys that Mcdonald's has recently released---the ADVENTURE TIME collectibles! Yippee yaaayy! I mean how couldn't I?

So here they are!

Finn the Human. My boyfriend actually got me my first toy as an apology hahahaha

Finn is actually a miniature maze with 6 mazes to choose from.

Jake the Dog.

Among them, Jake is my favorite. He's a mini tic-tac-toe games which means I need to play it with somebody. Hint: it's gonna be Kit, my boyfriend. Hahaha!

Marceline the Vampire Queen and Lumpy Space Princess

Marceline has three buttons which plays different guitar melodies. Mix it up altogether and voila! You're a maestro of your own tune. Meanwhile, Lumpy brings you back to a nostalgia since she is water ring toss toy.

Beemo. This cutie comes with puzzle pieces which flips into beemo's emoticons. Check this out

Princess Bubblegum and Ice King. These two are both little pinball games that can fit it your pocket. Isn't that neat?

And the last one,

Lady Rainicorn. It comes with a multicolored color pencil and few sheets to color on, hence a handy coloring toy.

All in all I have eight which means having collected them all and also no tummy was harmed during the collection process. 😂😂😂

#adventuretime #happymeal #jake #finn #lumpy #rainicorn #marceline #iceking #bubblegumprincess #beemo

2 notes · View notes

thesweatycollectiontyrant · 5 years

Text

The Act

What could go wrong with Liza Minnelli in a star vehicle role? Hopefully nothing? I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Here’s The Act.

Background Info

I know absolutely nothing about this show other than that it stars Liza Minnelli, so this should be a fun ride. Also, as of right now, I am unable to find a score to follow along with, so that makes it even more fun. Here’s a synopsis I found on Samuel French (which offers performance rights):

Liza Minelli took Broadway by storm in this "concept musical" about a Las Vegas nightclub performer named Michelle Craig, a has been movie star now trying to make a comeback. All the terrific Kander and Ebb songs are sung by Michelle, making this an amazing tour de force for a performer.

Writers

John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote this musical. They also wrote mega hits such as Chicago, Cabaret, and the ever-performed (by high schools in my hometown area) Curtains.

Character List

Couldn’t find descriptions, but here are the characters.

MICHELLE CRAIG (Mezzo-Soprano)

LENNY KANTER (Spoken) -

NAT SCHREIBER (Spoken) -

DAN CONNORS (Spoken) -

ARTHUR (?)

CHARLEY PRICE (Spoken) -

MOLLY CONNORS (?)

This is the most pitiful list I ever did do. Sorry y’all lol

Who’s Singing?

The Original Broadway Cast Recording features Liza Minnelli as Michelle Craig, Christopher Barrett as Lenny Kanter, Arnold Soboloff as Nat Schreiber, Barry Nelson as Dan Connors, Roger Minami as Arthur, Mark Goddard as Charley Price, and Gayle Crofoot as Molly Connors.

Let’s Do This

So it took me like three weeks to get the score for this show but I FINALLY have it so we can do this.

Similarly to how I did 35MM, I’ll be going in the order of the licensed version/score. Songs will be out of order from the cast recording, but they’ll all be present. Like Liza’s stage presence. VERY present.

This opening number, “Shine It On” hath begun and I’m halfway through it and had to pause it so I can just say what is happening right now in this moment. I don’t know how I feel right now. The ending is crazy fun and Liza is just doin her thang with her backup singers.

Next is a nice ballad, that in my opinion, is my favorite thing to hear Liza sing. It’s called “It’s the Strangest Thing”. I just love her jazzy voice on some of these phrases. The (kind of) wacky vibrato she has at the end of some lines, all of it. It just makes me smile so much. I love Liza’s voice on this song with everything in me.

Next is “Bobo’s” which is yet another number where Liza sings a Liza song. Really jazzy, really fun. This could probably be considered a patter song in some spots. Also, Michelle’s (Liza’s) songs are consistently being put in the Tenor clef (not the actual C clef, nerds, the treble clef with the 8 underneath, a la Madame Leonora Armfeldt, or Desiree in The Glamorous Life.) At this point in the recording, I wish I had a script to follow along with so I could understand what’s really going on and if this has any significance to the story, or if it’s during the meta part of the show, like literally any Kander and Ebb show. Just when you think it’s almost over and there’s literally an ending, the song starts again. Yippee. Bobo’s better be a really special place.

“Turning” begins with a pseudo-quote of Simple Gifts and a nice little chorale of *more than likely* ensemble ladies. Then Liza comes in with trumpets and the rest of the ensemble. Don’t get me wrong, I love Liza and I think she’s a very electric performer, but there’s something stagnant about the structure of the show (through listening to the recording) with her just singing these dance numbers.

“Arthur in the Afternoon” (a number from this show that I’ve actually heard of) begins with Liza completely ignoring the melody for a recitative-style intro beat drops with some techno instruments playing a “You Can’t Stop the Beat”-esque beginning pattern. Michelle begins to sing about how she has coffee the morning, brandy in the evening, and Arthur in the afternoon. That’s all to be said about this ingenious number.

^ me so far and the cast recording of The Act is the feathers

“Little Do They Know” happens and the ensemble complains collectively about how the audience only cares about Liza - I mean Michelle. No, I definitely mean Liza. This song is actually really fun! The end harmonies are really cool and actually interesting.

“The Money Tree” is introduced at a slow, swung, mozying tempo and Liza’s low E. It stays pretty much like that.There a nice big moment at the end with some nice belting on Liza’s part. I feel like these songs are really good choices for auditions or cabarets, but that the show simply doesn’t work onstage. So I’m actually quite a big fan of this song. It’s fun and picks up at the end and gets more interesting as time goes on. I still need some convincing though.

“City Lights” which happens to be what they performed at the Tonys, is just another big number. Kind of a love letter to big cities. It panders. This show seems like it panders. I really wish I enjoyed it (kind of). Dance break happens with random scatting by the ensemble that I’m lowkey obsessed with.

“There When I Need Him” is a beautiful ballad Liza sings. What’s interesting to me is that the character who sings this song is labelled as Mike in the score, but it’s definitely a song Michelle sings. It really is beautiful.

Next is “Hot Enough” this song starts off SO fun. It’s really funny to me because my friend Zach and I have an inside joke where we impersonate Carol Channing and Liza Minelli, and we also conclude prayers to Stephen Sondheim at the dinner table preceding our meal with Kristin Chenoweth’s “YEAH” during her performance of “My New Philosophy” at the Tonys. So at the beginning of this number when the ensemble begins it with YEAH I can’t help but smile and imagine that they’re using finger guns when they say it.

Then there’s a pointless “Little Do They Know” reprise, but is it really pointless tho? I mean if they’re complaining along with me about Liza singing every dang thing, then amen. (disclaimer: yes I know she’s a star vehicle; I’m trying too hard to be funny. you’re welcome and i’m sorry)

“Walking Papers” is a nice little number that reminds me a lot of “Roxie”. We love originality. There is a melody on this very page. Liza don’t even know. But she goin off. Michelle and Ensemble are kind of doing a call and response bop thing. it go OFF. Check this one out.

“My Own Space” is yet another ballad. Bye.

Audition Songs

“There When I Need Him” - Michelle Craig, F#3-B4

Considering there’s literally no context gathered from this song in the plot, this would be great to bring into an audition. Not too hard for the pianist to sightread, despite the handwritten-ness of the score. Nice melody.

“The Money Tree” - Michelle Craig, Eb3-C#5

Fun song to sing at a cabaret or audition. Reminiscent of “Crazy” by Patsy Cline.

To Wrap It Up

Look, y’all. This show has fun music. It’s written for a star vehicle performer. But even shows that have star vehicle performers (Dear Evan Hansen, Legally Blonde) have songs where other people sing the solos. I get it, it’s the metatheatricality of it all, but there’s gotta be a reason why this wasn’t a huge success and is completely forgotten when you think of Kander and Ebb’s and even Liza’s successes. It’s got a couple nice songs here and there, but it’s mostly boring and largely fluff. I want to get my hands on a script soon. Maybe I’ll edit the post after I read it and I’ll have an epiphany that this show is completely brilliant, and then I’ll eat my words. Hopefully I’ll have the patience for that. ALSO no one does this show. It’s completely underproduced. However, Samuel French still offers rights for it. If you’re interested, you know where to go. And make sure you sprinkle it with some Zazz.

Get it.

0 notes

swan1974-blog · 7 years

Text

Swan fanfiction

A Few Moments Later After The Smoke And Mirrors Room, Skylar Was In A Hurry. Not Stopping To Look Where She Was Going, She Bolted Through The Red Mirrored Door Of The Taping Room, The Cry Of "Swan!" On Her Lips. Small Wonder Then, That She Lost Time By Almost Falling Over The Form Of Paul In His Chair. Skylar Cried,I'm Sorry Paul. As She Looked Around The Room, In The Vain Hope That She Might See Swan. Skylar Says,I Was Looking For Swan, Have You Seen Him? Paul Frowned That His Facial Expressions Reminded Skylar Of The Taping Room Scene From Phantom Of The Paradise. Paul Made Those Same Facial Expressions From The Film Scene. Paul Thought Surely Skylar Knew Better Than To Rush Into The Taping Room By This Point. Anything Could Have Been Happening! A Mere Half Hour Ago, A Tape Was Playing Then It Would Have Been Destroyed By Skylar. Paul Replied With A Rich Sarcasm, So I Was Hearing You Skylar, None Of Us Are Deaf In Here. Skylar Began To Wonder If Her Cheeks Were Aflame, As She Held Herself Still With Effort. Paul Continued On,Unfortunately, I Have Not Seen Swan All Day. I'm Afraid You Shall Have To Look Elsewhere And Kindly, Walk! Paul Threw His Satin Red Gloved Hands Up In Frustration As Skylar Bolted Out Again, Calling An Apology As She Went. Skylar Says,I'm Sorry, I'm In A Hurry... With A Grimace Of Distaste,Paul Returned To Watching The Tape, Attempting To Drown Out The Echoing Calls For Swan As He Did So. Paul Thought Idiotic Younglings Were Not His Responsibility, And He Was Most Relieved About That Fact. Doubly So On Occasions Like This Where The Hyperactive Teen Just Wouldn't Stop To Listen. The Crash, When It Came, Would Be Catastrophic. There Was No Way He Wanted To Be Anywhere Near When She Landed. Paul Made A Mental Note To Go Nowhere Near Skylar For The Rest Of The Day. Meanwhile Skylar Rushed Towards The Office, Hoping That She Might Find Swan There. But As She Burst In, A Voice Raised To Call Out His Name, He Realised That The Only Person Inside Was A Scowling Jeannette. She Was On The Telephone, And Waved Skylar Off With A Sharp Flick Of Her Hand. Realizing Her Mistake,Skylar Shut The Door Behind Her, Being Careful To Avoid Making Another Sound, Shivering In Dismay As She Heard Jeannette Apologizing For The Noise. It Was So Easy To Forget That The Building She Now Called Her Home Was Also A Business. A Flush Of Embarrassment Arose In Her Belly. There Was No Way That She Could Avoid Being Told Off About That Misdemeanour. It Sometimes Seemed To Skylar That She Couldn't Do Anything Right. Some Weeks She Seemed To Be Told Off Every Day. This Scared Her. She Thought What If Swan Decided She Just Wasn't Worth The Trouble? She Was Looking Down At The Ground, Her Blood Froze. There At Her Feet Was A Puddle Of Muddy Water. As She Looked Along The Swan Bird Themed Corridor She Had Just Dashed Through, Skylar Noted That Clumps Of Mud Were Interspersed By Mini-Rivulets That Must Surely Lead One Through The Maze Of Corridors That She Had Darted Along In Her Eagerness To Find Swan. With A Sigh Of Despondency, Skylar Sank Down On Her Haunches And Buried Her Head In Her Knees. Skylar Felt She Was Right. She Couldn't Get Anything Right! Skylar Bit Her Lip In An Effort To Stem The Threatening Tears, As She Sank To The Ground. Life Had Seemed So Great A Mere Half Hour Ago. Skylar Felt That It Wouldn't Be Right For Swan To Spend The Day On His Own. Skylar Got The News That Swan Will Stay Than Work At Christmas. That News Had Sent Skylar's Spirits Soaring. Swan With Them For Christmas? She Had Been Dreaming About That Possibility Ever Since Skylar And Paul,Jeannette Had Moved Into The Swanage A Month Ago. It Was November. Paul Had Never Considered The Idea Before, And Had Reprimanded Skylar For Suggesting It. Now The Suggestion Had Come From Paul Though, Making Skylar Want To Get The Details Arranged Before He Changed His Mind. If That Wasn't Enough, The Icarly Cast She Had Joined And Swan Had Given Her An Whole Episode About Her Character Melody Sam's Twin Sister At The End Of Their 3Rd Season Before The Holidays. This Congratulated Her On Being The Most Improved Cast Member In The Middle Group For This Session. Skylar Had Always Hoped That She Would Be Given One Of More Episodes, But There Were Always Others Who Were Better Than She Was. Skylar Had Grown Used To Dealing With Disappointment, As Each Term Passed Without Her Gaining One Of Those Episodes That She Can Steal The Cast's Screen Time. Then She Had Been Given One. The Smile Of Joy Had Threatened To Split Skylar's Face In Two. She Had To Share This News With Swan. And Then She Had Spoiled It All. She Had Rushed To The Swanage Slamming The Gate Behind Her So Fast It Had Jumped Off The Latch Again. The Door, She Now Realised, She Hadn't Stopped To Close, Had Swung Open, Letting Cold Rain Water Blow Into The Entrance Hall. In Her Hurry, Neither Of These Facts Had Imposed Upon Her Awareness, But Now, Icy Gloved Fingers Of Dread Were Starting To Make Their Way Across Her Previously Warm Back. Then, As If To Back Up Her Dread, An Almost Painful Grip Took Hold Of Her Shoulder, Pulling Her Up To Standing. Skylar Looked Up Into Swan's Face. She Noticed Swan Wore Much Red And Black. He Wore A Satin Black Dress Shirt With Red Satin Ascot, Bright Red Satin Flared Bellbottoms That Reached To The Floor Covering His Short Heel Black Shoes,Red And Black Swan Patterned Waistcoat Vest With Lapels,Black Satin Gloves,Satin Black Frockcoat With Red Trims On Around The Cuffs And Neck,Frockcoat Lapels Like Willy Wonka's Frockcoat Style. Swan Had On Aviator Clear Lenses Glasses He Always Wore When He Spended Time With Skylar Than The Colored Tinted Lenses Aviator Ones He Wore Out In Public. Skylar Can See His Eyes More Clearly. She Noticed An Incandescent Rage Filled Swan's Eyes That Skylar Usually Associated With Compassion. There Was Nothing Soft Or Caring About Them Now. Merely A Cold, Hard Fury That Seemed To Paint The Usual Sky Blue Colour With Hues Of Red. The Fuming Swan Gestured To The Corridor, Pulling Skylar's Eyes Towards It Again. Now She Knew That The Mess Was There, She Took The Results Of Her Mad Dash In With Greater Detail. The Mud Was Splattered All Over The Floor; The Puddles Of Water That Must Have Streamed Off Her Jacket As She Ran Through The Building, Spreading Until The Corridor Was More Like A Stream Than A Place For People To Walk; In Short, The Destruction She Had Left In Her Wake, As She Dashed So Heedlessly Through The Building. Swan Screamed At Skylar,I Did Not Create This House For You To Destroy It! The Ice In Those Tones Tore Holes In Skylar's Remaining Composure, And Her Face Crumpled As She Tried To Avoid Giving In To The Threatening Tears. Swallowing Noisily,Skylar Returned Her Attention To Swan. Skylar Says,I'm Deeply Sorry, Don't You Just Hate Me? The Startling Question Rocketed Swan Out Of His All Consuming Anger. Swan's Gloved Hand Gentled On Skylar's Shoulder. Swan's Plump Youthful Face Softened. The Eyes On Swan's Aviator Clear Lenses Glasses Grew Warmer. Swan Scolded,No, I Don't Hate You. Swan Pointed Out In Tones That Lacked The Cold Fury Of His Previous Pronouncement. Skylar Wasn't Having Any Of It At This Moment. Skylar Says,Why Are You Mad At Me? Swan Sighed. He Reminded Skylar, A Slight Warning Present In His Tones Once More, Anger Doesn't Equate Hate. Skylar Says,I Grew Up Thinking It Was. Can You Convince It's Not? Swan Says,Surely I Can. I Also Came Across Paul Who Told Me That You Screamed Into The Taping Room,Nearly Fell Over Him, And Then Disappeared Again, Still Traveling At High Speeds, I Assume, From His Report About Your Demands Regarding My Location, In Your Eagerness To Find Me. Why Was It So Urgent To Find Me, You Had To Create Chaos? Skylar Says,I Guess I Can Admit I Was Overreacting. Swan Says,Skylar... I Understand Why You Were Acting The Way You Did. Swan Noticed Skylar Who Had Been Withering Inside At The Way Swan Was Laying The Results Of His Thoughtlessness In Front Of Her, Suddenly Found Herself Looking Up At Swan In Confusion. No Matter What Swan Had Said, She Was Sure That This Confrontation Was Going To Lead To Him Punishing Her. Swan Noticed Given How Poorly She Was Behaving, Skylar Knew This, Like She Knew That The Sky Was Blue. To Have Swan Tell Her That He Cared About Skylar Too Much To Let Her Continue On The Way She Had Been, Caused Her To Gasp In Shock. Swan Asked While His Lips Quirking Up In Amusement, Why Were You Running In The House And Tracking Mud All Around Like A Little Girl? Skylar Explained,I Wasn't Allowed To Be A Kid As A Kid. I Was Expected To Be Still And Shut Up In One Spot 24/7. Swan Paused As He Digested This Logic. Swan Says,Well, I Let You Do That, Didn't I? Skylar Says,Yes, I'm Scared Of Letting Go Of My Newfound Freedom. Swan Says,You Know What? I Want You To Have Fun, But You Should Learn Mannerisms And Etiquette. Swan Says,Okay. Hey, In The Meantime, Why Don't You Tell Me What Has Got You So Worked Up? I Know You Wanted To See Me Desperately About Half An Hour Ago, So What Happened? Tell Me. I Want To Know. This Was All It Took For Skylar's Spirits To Bound Up To The Ceiling Again, And Within Minutes She Was Talking Nineteen To The Dozen, In An Attempt To Bring Swan Up To Date With Her Exciting Afternoon. Skylar Says Excitedly,I Tracked Mud Up Through The House To Make A Slip N Slide, A Homemade One That Is. It Was So Fun, But Paul Said It Can Cause Injury. Cause Injury? What Does He Mean By That? He Told Me Slip N Slides Are For Outside Use And So I Should Rip Up The Grass And Spray The Bare Ground With A Hose. Yippee! It Was So Exciting! I Didn't Get Hurt! Hahahah. So Hurray! Swan Smiled As He Listened To The Excited Chatter Of Skylar. Hopefully The Afternoon Had Been Rescued, Despite The Long And Tiring Job That Now Awaited Skylar Once She Had Finished Her Explanation. Then Swan Could Return To The Jobs He Had Been Attending To, When The Plummeting Temperature Had Called His Attention Elsewhere. Skylar Frowns And Says Something Disrespectful About Dove And The Girls That Made Him Begin To Get Mad Again, Dove And The Girls Are Stupid If They Wanted To Punish Me. Swan Screamed At Skylar,How Would You Feel If You Knew Your Own Mother Murdered You?! Skylar Began To Cry As Swan Yelled At Her. Skylar Says A Suggestion,Maybe They Don't Understand I Had Good Intentions. The Suggestion, Jarring Swan Out Of His Anger Again, Had Almost Made Swan Weep. Swan Thought Didn't Skylar Realize How Important Her Presence Was To Swan Yet? Anyone Could Make A Mistake. In Fact, Everyone Needed To. It Was How People Grew. Swan Would Have Been Concerned If Skylar Hadn't Made Mistakes Occasionally. Swan Says With A Calm Voice,Maybe You Thought You Were Doing The Right Thing. Sometimes When You Feel Like You're Doing Good You're Actually Screwing Things Up. Skylar Says,How Was I Wrong? Swan Says,There Were Many More Even Better Options. Skylar Announced,There's Nothing I Can Do About That Now, It's Way Past. All I Can Do Now Is Learn From My Mistakes. Oh, By The Way, Would You Like To Spend Christmas With Me? Swan Says About Her News,Yeah, Sure Thing. That's Nice To Hear. Then, Having Heard Skylar's Momentous News, And He Accepted The Invitation To Spend Christmas With Her With A Stifled Grimace Of Distaste, Swan Thought She Would Be Devastated If He Didn't Accept The Invitation, And Would Never Believe That Swan Forgave Her. Swan Tooked Out The Cleaning Supplies That Skylar Would Need To Repair The Mess She Had Made. Swan Thought Sometimes Having A Granddaughter Was A Distraction, But Most Of The Time It Was A Joy.

#swan #paul williams #phantom of the paradise

1 note · View note