薔薇語

First and foremost, I am replying to the section you quoted. I have not bothered to read the rest of the article given the low quality of this one. If there exists some particularly good bit of information in the other parts, feel free to let me know. Here is one issue I have with modern feminism: they can't seem to settle on a narrative. I think a lot of self described feminists would hold to the idea that woman and men are largely and inherently the same. Most of what distinguishes us is purely cosmetic. So, had "Ms. Pacman" been made by a self described Feminist, the narrative around it would use all the same language above but twisted to be positive. Yes, Ms. Pacman operates exactly the same as Pacman. Why? Because she damn well should! Ain't nothing stopping her from being a badass point collecting, fruit eating, ghost killing yellow beast like her male counterpart. And other than cultural norms about dress, she is the same. Thank god for someone finally acknowledging the equality of the genders. But that narrative is not helpful for modern feminists and is thusly ignored in place of feeding into preconceived and narrative driven biases. It is this section, however, that I think is the biggest offender of my senses. It is uniformed at best. The author either has managed to play through the Legend of Zelda series without learning a damn thing or, and is more likely, never bothered to play the series. First, she does look quite familiar. That is because she is a female version of Link that was created specifically to satisfy feminist demands for a female link. Seriously, people are upset that their demands were met?*** "Tits"? I don't think the author even bothered to watch the video or look at any of the art for Linkle. If there is one thing Nintendo does do, it is avoid adding tits to characters. Especially young females (Link is in his early teens - I assume Linkle is too). The author can add blind as well to the list of descriptors for this reviewer. The author has a problem with a non-link character not wielding the Master Sword? You know, like every single non-Link character in the game? Zelda, Migna, the King of Hyrule, Majora, etc. have their own distinct weapons. Why should Linkle be different? "Legitimate Hero" line was also stupid. While Link is the principle character for the franchise, he is hardly the sole "legitimate Hero" in the stories. Migna, Zelda, Impa, and many more character are crucial to the stories. And might I add that Link is essentially the ONLY male hero in the series (until Skyward Sword where we also got a buffoon of a male character who also did some good). The series is chalked full of distinct female characters - Heroes, villains, fiercely independent to those who need constant help. This is hardly a franchise that lacks for positive female roles. It is one that seems to push a "men are bad, mmmkay" line, though. Essentially every main and semi-main villain is male. Yet you don't hear much complaint about this odd male stereotyping that happens. The author is complaining about the physical impossiblity of Linkle's attack? Really? So the author really didn't even bother to look at the attacks launched by the other characters - those decidedly unpractical to impossible attacks... God that is a stupid complaint. Lastly, the author is complaining that "linkle" doesn't sound original enough? So how much Japanese does the author speak? I am going to go out on a limb and say zero, zilch, and nada. So excuse me if I think their dismissive attitude on this should be met with an equally dismissive response. All in all, the Author is complaining because feminist demands were met. This is not a piece worth taking seriously in my not so humble opinion. Moving on from that, the entire idea of making Link female never made sense to me. This isn't a franchise that lacks strong and positive female roles in it. The titular character, Zelda, is as important, if not more important than the role of Link for most of the franchise. She is the reborn goddess that creates everything. She is the uber mage that seals away evils and that Link relies on heavily to survive. And it isn't like the big baddy is out trying to kill Link to achieve his goals. Indeed, link could literally be almost anyone but Zelda, Zelda is special. Zelda is unique. Link is just an afterthought to the plans of the big boss for most of the franchise. Moving beyond that, the female leads of the Zelda franchise are playable characters in other games and are equally great: Smash Brothers and this new Hyrule Warriors being the two main examples of that. So it isn't like these are characters left to languish. Yet somehow taking away principally the ONLY positive male role model in the series and replacing it with a female strikes feminists as somehow "fair"? Give me a break. It is pure BS from start to finish. Soar. Edit: ANd for those curious where Linle's attire comes from, it is highly reminicent of the original Link attire "skirt" and all: *** And incase anyone is curious, the artwork for Linkle also displays her having a sword. Is it the master sword? I doubt that but it is a sword. She simply does not display it in the game. But the original and official artwork for her in the manual shows it off. The following is, I assume, a fan created version that is almost exactly the same as the official art you can easily see on display.

I think it has more to do with your discussion about time travel that does about terminal velocity. How do you left it only terminal velocity then I think the criticism you garnered for that post would be significantly less or non-existent. But rather your insistence upon understanding hoe time travel work and of criticizing others for the way they estimate it could work is what garnered you that post. Soar.

Episode three up posted. This time I decided to change things up a bit. Working from Bolo's original article, I make a slight reading error while talking about the source and to me it sounded like I could have been referencing another host. So I decided to go with that angle. Since I kind of settled on the idea in my head of these being part of a larger online news network currently named "News Net Junkies" (NNJ), I figured there would have to be other content producers on that channel. Perhaps something more akin to how TYT (The Young Turks of youtube fame) have many hosts that work together and independently. So this time I decided to draft up a logo for "Hero.Net Harold" and go with him doing a generic morning news cast. I think having at least two distinct personalities on the channel would allow me to have greater balance. HNH being a more professional news anchor and Gnu being more conspiratorial. This also means that I can craft generic news events and have HNH deliver them and then have Gnu respond to them without having to do the extra work of explaining the story in the Gnu Gnews. I also referenced another female caster named "The Marvelous Ms. Mary" (I am just now realizing that I probably thought of that name because of Mary Marvel...). I am not sure if I can adequately do a female voice or alter any attempt I make enough to cause it to sound naturally feminine but I might try. This also means I need to think of an angle from which this personality could work. Any ideas? Something that isn't flat news nor conspiratorial. The Cliche option would be for her to gossip and celeb news but with a Millennium city vibe (Did you hear who has been trying to find alone time with the Diamond Lady Jewel? ...). Perhaps she could be more focused on doing interviews with the community? But that means a LOT of voice work for me to try and work around. I am not sure if I am up for that quite yet. Again, any ideas? Then of course if I do get all three sections going, I might be able to find a way to do a three way cast akin to what is actually done on TYT. That could be an interesting challenge in terms of script production, recording, and production. What other things could I do to make this cast come more to life? I am not a particularly good artist or anything so I think creating artwork for all of this is not going to be something I could do. I could potentially do long form blogs as the characters about the goings on. Even mock up "official" press releases and such. What do you all think would be a good way to help engage with an audience? Anyway, below is the newest Episode. Skip to the 19 second marker to skip the intro music if you wish. I also have two other cuts of this version that has reduced music volume and one that has no music at all. I am trying to think of which of the three works best. For now I am keeping with the formula I have but if anyone is interested I can send you the others if you could give me feed back on what you think of them - especially as the compare to the current format. I have also attached the Logo for HNH. One thing I would like to do with this logo is completely cut off everything not inside the rounded off rectangle. I do not know how to crop things on a curve with my software. Anyway, that is probably enough for the night. This weekend has seen me be more productive than I thought I would be. Getting out almost 15 minutes of unique audio content despite this being my absolute first time to ever do audio recording, much less editing. Yippy for me. Soar. PS. In this episode I make reference to Mayor Brannon (I think I pronounced it correctly but perhaps not). While it was just two lightly dropped in references to the character that Hermit created, I thought they were appropriate. I am also linking to all content I produce in my signature for anyone interested.

One thing I have been trying to think of is what kind of sections should be created for this kind of show? What I mean is that news / information shows are normally broken up into several discrete sections. And while my two 'episodes' have a main story and secondary story, that is it. Other sections I could think to add would be things like: Weather, Traffic, Interviews, and play by plays of battles. While I could see a use for all of those I wonder what I could do to keep them entertaining. Referencing Welcome To Nightvale again, they get away with doing them in a unique set of ways: They always have weather but weather is just some indie music, traffic and general news tends to be the same but with a quick 10 or less second reference to something trafficy, doing interviews is much easier because they have a team of talent. The play by play bits I think would be a very compelling thing to have but I think that having a) battle music to run would be good and a source for sound effects to help add to the drama would be a must. One more unique idea I had for GnuGnews was "conspiracy corner" where he goes into some of the true and less than true conspiracies that have happened and / or are happening in Campaign city. I think this will take a bit of time to really develop as I will need to really sit down and start plotting out the various powers that be in the city so as to have an idea of what events / struggles / perceived struggles could exist. Any ideas on this front would be helpful. I had fiddled around with trying to alter my voice enough to make it sound feminine that way I could have a second show on the New Net Junkies' platform. If I do do that, I would need to think of developing a "voice" for her. But having two hosts would mean I could bounce them back and forth off each other. Off hand I am thinking of her as being a bit more Scully to Gnu's Mulder. SoaR.

I have created a second short cast as an evening followup to the afternoon one before. I think this one worked a bit better than the previous one but there are still issues I want fix / just generally get better at these things. Also, I am starting to get a foggy idea of the campaign Heroes and some other characters that exist but there is still work to do. I think just getting news story ideas and hopefully ones that flow together in some kind of way will help a lot. I have also created an preliminary official logo for GnuGnews. What do you all think of it? Off hand I want to make the letters darker - so that they are completely black. But the off grey /black seems acceptable for now. If you want to skip to the actual news bit, it starts around the 27second marker. Lastly, since I was interested in the idea of having a twitter for the character, I tried to set one up. But doing so I learned that GnuGnews was an already taken handle. Who'd of thought. But NNJGnuGnews was open so I took that (News Net Junkies Gnu Gnews). Any thoughts on this episode or on the endeavor in general? (/Edit) Praise and Criticism alike are both equally welcomed. I want to know what is working and what isn't so I can continue forth in a good direction. SoaR.

I am glad that you liked the music. I really enjoyed it too and thought that the rather steady sound following my edit was good. But having listened to it a few dozen times while recording - especially certain sections - I just found myself less and less confident in my choice. "The boys in Blue tights" and "like last time" lines I thought would be a bit humorous. I am glad that they hit their mark. Most of my edits (that I kept) were simply splicing in new audio sections after a small pause. trying to isolate and cut out single words was quite hard and I had to scrap all of those edits. But because of the splicing and me knowing where those cuts are, I can really notice it when my voice changes and when some bits of the audio editing weren't treating the recordings exactly the same. All in all it was an interesting experience and I will try do do one more and see how it goes. If anyone has recommendations for where I can find background music, I would be really happy. Especially repetitive music so I don't feel the need wrap up faster than I like. I originally had probably another 10 to 20 seconds of script for the second story that I cut just to make sure it all fit with the music. Thanks again! SoaR.

I have completed what should be considered an extremely early and prototype version of a news cast as Gnu. In the last couple days I have learned quite a bit about doing even the most basic things with audio recording. I still have tons to learn but I am already learning a few things to look out for when doing recordings in the future. Settling on a script is was hard. Then keeping to that script was even harder. I have spent tons of time recording because of wanting to redo something because I had a mistake and / or editing the audio directly because there was a mistake. I have also learned that I should wait until I have all of my audio recorded before fiddling with the effects on it because the exact same effects might not change the tone and volume for each affected section equally. Also I have a better since of how much my voice can change between each recording despite my efforts to maintain a single voice. Lastly, it is hard to find music that I can openly use without copyright violations. To kind of skirt around this issue I have just left this video unlisted. Hopefully this will work fine until I decided if I want to commit to this enough to actually find a music service that will let me use their music in my own podcasts / youtube videos. Anyway, without further adieu, the attached video is my initial Gnu attempt. Assuming you are not a fan of the initial opening music, feel free to skip to 25 second marker. From that point on my voice comes on and the music fades. Although the balance of my voice to music isn't quite what I wanted. Any thoughts? What should I be looking out for with this? Voice, music, speech patterns, stylings, etc. Also, thank you very much Bolo for the Hero.Net Harold articles. I decided to just settle on one of them and provide more info about it. I did add in a lot of personalized names (Plasma, Jewel, Garrik, etc). SoaR.

I am currently listing to some playlists by Monstercat on Soundcloud. If you are a fan of any of the electro, house, or dance style music, they are a good place to go for an absolutely extreme variety of music. They are also very supportive of the streaming community and let tons of streamers use their music without much fuss. That is how I came across them. Twitch implemented a copyright detection system that caused a lot of havoc as it would mute or shutdown live streams but Monstercat stepped up to give out permission to use their music quickly and easily. So pop on over and enjoy their music at soundcloud.com/Monstercat . SoaR

Here is a show for all those CSI fans out there. Oh, and for every single adult who cares about the truth of criminal investigations. ^^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nSgUVmdDSs SoaR.

The visuals are important for this one. SOAR.

And that was when I paused the show and then clicked the close tab button. I will not be viewing this show anymore. Seriously, the prize winning journalist who has apparently kept Clark's secret for so long just slips up like that? The obvious love triangle being formed is passe at best. And worse yet, it is happening in half the time I predicted before. Does that make me an optimist or this show just that terrible? Anyway, maybe in a year or so when this whole season is done I will pick back up from episode three, but I am not confident. Especially if this show doesn't even manage to get a second season. SOAR.

Yeah, he might have to serve a couple years of jail time. On the weekends, of course. You don't want to disrupt the man's life too much. And while banning him from being an officer might be too harsh, they will politely and cautiously ask that he not be 'on the beat' while he finishes his weekend sentences. Unless, you know, they really need him to do it. SOAR.

I agree with you quite a bit. Seriously, everyone is going to know Barry is the Flash before this season is up. Also, what was up with putting that woman in danger? They had no idea what could come from doing that and it was foolish at best. I think Joe was completely right to be questioning what Barry was doing. The Free Fall idea made me happy, too. It showed that Barry was smart and that some physics still apply in this world. ^^ I wonder what will come of the Zoom storyline this season. He has been quite compelling so far and I really liked his show of force on the last one. SOAR.

Yeah, WTNV is a real hoot of a show. The only issue I have is typically with the "weather". I am not a fan of most of the indie music they showcase. So with little exception (and there have been exceptions) I just skip the weather. Actually, when I first got into WTNV, I would create a short playlist on youtube and listen to them as I fell asleep - I normally need something playing in the background to go to sleep quickly. It makes for interesting background noise when you are alone at night in the dark as you are about to fall asleep; especially so with that sign off that Cecil does. I believe that WTNV was one of (if not THE) most downloaded podcasts on Itunes for some time. I doubt that it still is but it certainly is popular enough to warrant it continuing on for almost four years now. SOAR.

I am loving that angle, Bolo! Thanks for the tidbit. I do have a quick question about Gnu, though. How do you pronounce that? Is it the same as "new" or is the 'G' actually pronounced? I might spend this week trying to find some free downloadable software that I could do a podcast on. I am terrible at reading things without error but I am going to give it a go with a new bit or two from what you linked above. It would be interesting to see what doing a podcast is like. Thanks again for the help! ^^ SOAR. Edit: Off hand does anyone have any recommendations for software to use to create a podcast? I am a bit of a noob at such things so simple and free is best for me. ^^

Thanks, Bolo! I didn't make this very clear (Actually, quite the opposite). While I am thinking of the medium in which this kind of entertainment / media would be distributed in is the Podcast format, I am not set on the format of the Media itself. That is to say, while "Welcome to Nightvale" is a podcast, the show itself is a radio broadcast. So maybe something similar. Maybe a "Live Stream News Stream" for the modern world. ^^ SOAR.

Recently I have started to listen to "Welcome to Nightvale" again. For those who haven't ever heard of that podcast before I will do a brief summary. There exist a town called Nightvale. In this town, things just aren't right. It is a slightly comedic take on a Lovacraftian horror story town. In this town there is a Community Radio host called Cecil who does rather standard (for the setting) news updates and discussing of his personal life. This Podcast usually runs just shy of 30 minutes. While I have been catching up with where I left off, I found myself thinking of Hermit's "The People of Campaign City" thread where he has done a great job in expanding upon the random character suggestions in the book. I know that many of us have kept game notes for sessions and a few of us even do full on write ups for stories but has anyone thought about doing this as a Fake-News podcast? Currently I am toying with the idea of a "New Media News Team" set in "[Campaign City Name]" that discusses the happenings around the city. Not exclusively on the Champions of the city - I mean, those people get enough press as it is - but on all the happenings in the city that would strike any normal person as odd. Like how Old Lady McGraw has been swearing up and down since Tuesday that her Toaster has been recording what she's been up to. Could it be Mechannon preparing a new invasion? Maybe Ms. Magic, the City Champion, has been summoning a few too many demons? Who knows?! [Podcast Name] News is on the case and will figure it out while also bringing you up to date information about the latest bank robbery in progress, too. Anyway, I was curious if anyone has ever done something similar to this. I think the most likely parallel is that some of us have probably done mocked up news flashes on the latest campaign events. While I don't have enough time right now nor the expertise to sink into doing something like this, I thought it was a novel idea and see what others thought. Any ideas? Any ideas for possible news stories? SOAR.

You most certainly did and it was appreciated. But thanks again and I am glad to be of assistance. When I get some time in a couple weeks to sit down and start landscaping some spreadsheet ideas, I might send you a message if I get flummoxed by something. Yeah, while I am not a dearth with time even I have my limits. So imputing individual win loss data for each combatant for each day could cause some slowdown - especially if I get sick like I did a couple weeks ago. So yeah, farming out some bits would lead to an easier flow of data collection. The hardest point then would be getting everyone to use a simple pre-defined spreadsheet so that I could just copy paste data. But all of the data issues will just need to be ironed out with a bit of time. Again, if anyone has ideas on data they want to have tracked, please let me know. The earlier I know, the earlier I can plan how I will arrange things. I know that simply moving where I put "Arena bonus" and "Dice roll" greatly increased my efficiency since I could simply transpose a single function rather than re-writing it several times. SOAR.

No, I don't think you do. And I think that is in part due to my less than clear explanation. The system I suggested for pairing off is likely the exact same system that was just used. We all face each other in a set rotation - "we" meaning "managers / teams" and not "champions / contestants". After that rotation has completed a set number of cycles we then compare accumulated results. A "Round Robin" style system, I believe it is called. I was stating that we should have that system AND set in place a rule that says something to the effect of "If A v Z match up has already had the "youth gone wild" modifier, then all subsequent A v Z match ups can NOT have that." And since the Mods are set to days, it should be relatively easy to ensure that they do not repeat for particular re-matches. Thus SKJAM and I will not have Red Sonja and Black Panther face each other 2 or 3 times just because we got stuck on the "powerless" matchup whenever we fought. As was the case last season. As was the case for your Zorro facing down Captain America (I believe that was the match up). Foreign Orchid.

Hmm. Something about "chi powers" and the concept of them at some point NOT being "superhuman" is puzzling to me. I'm not sure what but I am sure something. ^^ Foreign Orchid.

Are gladitorial bare handed battles yo the death with bears still illegal? I know a couple murderers Id like to see on TV that way... On a more serious note, I hope both of those horrid wretches are charged, tried, and found guilty. And perhaps never see the light of day again. SOAR.

It is because of Timey Whimy particles splish splashing in the Continuity vortex. Lucky the absolute nature of the Fixed variable death on Wells' part with the random non-fixed and tangental force of RF was able to self compensate and correct until demarked time point Z, where Z was the death of Thawne. So it actually makes perfect sense. I don't get what is so hard. SOAR.

Not to be too munchkiny, but maybe we can help you min-max your cyber eye if you post the exact build. Also post any relevant campaign requirements or lims that might exist. SOAR.

Yeah, I imagine an all villain team would not get the popular vote for most matches, but since I already don't win the popular vote that doesn't sway me much. So it would be a throw away season for fun. SOAR.

Wow. I didn't notice that. I didn't even think to look at the results since it was all placed in alphabetical order and couldn't be messed with. But you are right that Black Panther did a great job. Taking out my champions alone I get: Black Orchid - 21 - 2 - 1 Black Panther - 36 -4 - 0 Cyborg - 9 - 0 - 1 Dr. Light - 39 - 2 - 3 Flash - 34 - 3 - 0 Gohan - 31 - 2 - 2 Robin - 11 - 0 - 2 Spiderman - 20 - 1 - 2 This means that my most popular character (per match) was Flash with 11.3 votes per match. Least popular was Robin with only 5.5 votes per showing... Damn Red Robin got NO love... The character I used the most in solo matches was Dr. Light. Although she didn't have the strongest showing she still has a softspot in my heart. Gohan, too. Thanks for the heads up Capt. Soar. Edit: Tag Team Results: Black Orchid - 0 Black Panther - 0 Cyborg - 6 - 1 - 1 Dr. Light - 2.5 - 0 - 1 Robin - 5.5 - 1 - 1 Spiderman - 2 - 0 - 1 SOAR.