I had an abusive therapist in 2021 whom I recently, and so kindly, made a review page for on RateMDs (Canada); turns out a lot of people feel the exact same way about her, and one person claimed they are reporting her to the ethics board due to her verbal attacks.
My next therapist in 2022 was abusive, even worst than the last. It was so bad I ended up reporting to the ethics board, and the therapist is now doing coaching for the time being. If I had recorded the sessions it would have been game over for that therapist. It killed me for a long time that I didn't record the sessions.
I later sought out a new therapist; my friend warned me that the one I chose had "crazy eyes" and it was red flags all over (based on their PP profile). I should have listened.
This new therapist, Alex, almost killed me, again. He was awful. The second I walked in the room, I warily mentioned my past experience with the abusive therapist. In response, Alex started accusing me of having "destructive" behaviours - despite that I didn't tell him anything about my behaviours yet. I hadn't told him anything at all, just that I was anxious due to a past experience. I think he has issues with younger women.
I saw Alex from August 2023 - April 2024. In this time, he became delusional from his own assumptions, confronted me constantly for things he pulled out of thin air (he would twist anything I said and then confront me for some alleged bad behaviour or cognitive distortion), and was entirely unwilling to try a different approach despite my (at first) gentle attempts to communicate that his approach wasn't working and was making me very unwell. I can gladly provide examples but it'd end up being a long ass post if I do that, so bear with me. He couldn't handle me even trying to talk about my past therapy abuse, because it was assumed to be my fault. Any dissent was "resistance" or rigidity. He refused to do trauma work despite that being the foundational problem. He refused to let me "free associate" (psychodynamic therapy) because he was convinced it would cause me some wild regression (as if his current approach wasn't fucking me up.
There was nothing for me to work with in the therapy. It wasn't grounded in reality; it was just all about how awful I am, yet not even in a way that was tangible - he could never explain himself. I was already hanging on a thread from my past abusive therapists, and I pretty quickly developed a substance use disorder (prescription) to try to cope. Began to vape nicotine constantly to try to stabilize myself. I began to isolate myself. By December 2023 I stopped going out at all - again. You know, almost died from the therapist in 2022, my life was almost ruined, and couldn't go out at all, and there I was basically back in the same place.
I never missed a single session. I even opted to increase to twice a week session in an attempt to resolve whatever was going amiss. I continuously tried to establish a working relationship with him. My self-confidence and sense of reality and self were devastated.
Anyway, March 2024 comes around and it comes out Alex diagnosed me with BPD and that was why he was been so confrontational (and delusional). Now, I'm pretty darn sure I have either schizotypal or a psychotic disorder. I was under the impression he was treating me for this, as he himself said he dx'd me with schizotypal. But I was also very confused because being confrontational with the kinds of populations I fit into is exactly not what you're supposed to do and has been proven to fuck them up. It's one of the reasons I stayed so long; I just dissociated into oblivion. Not to mention the CPTSD.
I end up sending Alex an email detailing my experiences, which was hard to do. He never asked me about my experiences before (it was all about his assumptions of me), and I thought I needed to try to put an end to this, to again try to establish a working relationship.
The next session, Alex immediately begins to apologize, tells me how he misdiagnosed me, that he's been treating me for a Cluster B disorder when he should have been treating me for a Cluster A, that the "treatment" not working wasn't my fault. He also was convinced that this is what went wrong in my past therapies; that they misdiagnosed me with BPD when the issue was schizotypal, and that it just so happens that applying the confrontational treatment for BPD to schizotypal can basically end the schizotype. (TBH he was way too generous to these past therapists; all him saying that proved to me was that he never believed me in the first place.) He told me he "failed me" and that I "humbled him." He was almost crying he seemed so sorry.
I was already looking for a new therapist, but I was grateful that at least it seemed like things were set straight with Alex. I mean, I now had a substance use disorder and all the more therapy trauma, but I'm pretty happy with little. It was mutually agreed upon that the termination was due to the ways in which the misdiagnosis made the treatment inhospitable for me. It was ended amicably but I noticed he began to act weird around me, very distant, etc. I didn't think much of it, figured maybe he was more emotionally involved when he thought I had BPD for whatever reason.
Found a new therapist at the beginning of April - a formally trained, international psychoanalyst who lives in Prague out of all things (was getting desperate) - and things are going well, finally. No therapy abuse; no issues that even closely resemble the issues I've had with the abusive therapists, etc. Things are finally "easy" with a therapist; the sailing is as smooth as it can be.
Well, two days ago I contacted Alex as I wanted to go to a boutique treatment centre for my prescription substance use issue and they were requesting recent past therapist notes. I thought what a better option than to have Alex send his notes with an explanation that he misdiagnosed me, that he thinks I have been misdiagnosed continuously in past therapies and that's why I've been "treatment resistant," and so on and so forth. Also, given that I developed the issue because of the stress from Alex, this way my story would be corroborated.
Alex was adamant sending his notes was a bad idea, and that the ethics board actually recommends that psychologists write summary letters of the treatment instead. I thought that was nice that Alex was looking out for me. I explained to Alex what I'm looking for in the letter (with the central focus being on the misdiagnosis issue), and that my main goal is to help prove my eligibility for the program (they only take "highly motivated" clients; it's more relaxed in terms of restrictions and what not). I agreed to pay Alex around $400 for his time. I really thought Alex and I were making further amends and that it was so nice he could have my back on this.
Alex gets back to me with the worst letter imaginable. All about how the treatment failed because of ME, how we never made any progress because of ME, that the "lack of consensus on treatment goals and methods" was a massive barrier, and that this all happened despite that the frequency was increased to twice a week (which he failed to mentioned only occurred because I requested it, in an effort to save the therapy!). He made no mention of the fact that I never missed a single therapy session or any fact that would make me sound good, not to mention that he didn't even so much as touch on the fact that the therapy failed because of HIS misdiagnosis. He made it sound like the termination occurred because of how treatment resistant I was.
He also downplayed my trauma (I asked him to speak out this in the letter), saying only how I have a family history of "neglect" and being "scapegoated." My mother would scream at me, like to the point her lungs were going to burst, as a small child until I blacked out, this continued up until I was kicked out at 18, and I have serious CPTSD. I was even diagnosed with PTSD at one point. Like? Alex is supposed to be a specialist in trauma.
So I read the letter and was confused. Got back to him assuring that I'd still pay him, but suggested maybe he remove some parts of it if he can't revise them. Told him I disagree with the reasons for termination and why the treatment didn't work out, and reminded him of the fact he misdiagnosed me. I was honestly very confused and thought maybe he forgot. Told him it's probably not helpful to minimize my trauma.
Cue a minute after I send that email, and it suddenly dawns on me. The pathetic excuse of a therapist never recorded his fuck up in my clinical file. He obviously maintained his delusional narrative within his notes, presumably to cover his ass in case I reported him or sued him for malpractice (unlikely anyway), given his misshapen and misapplied "treatment" caused me a ton of harm due to his incompetence.
I was seeing red and sent him another email informing him that I actually recorded our final session, given what happened with my previous therapist (and Alex knew about my regret of not recording those sessions, and I'd often leave my phone out during our sessions). It's one-party consent in Canada, and Alex at the very beginning told me he was fine if I recorded the sessions anyway. So yeah, I emailed Alex whilst appalled telling him all about how I recorded him stating he misdiagnosed me, was treating me for the wrong disorder, that therapy not working wasn't my fault, and so on.
Told him he can either write me a letter based on facts - facts I can corroborate given my session recordings - or I'm not paying him for shit. Told him to not even bother replying if he isn't willing to write me a letter grounded in reality. Shockingly, he never got back to me.
And now he'll never know if I was bluffing and he gets to spend the next few months in terror that I'm going to use session recordings to report him for knowingly putting false information in clinical documentation.
What the hell. He could have at least TRIED to make me sound decent in the letter given that he knew what he was saying was bullshit. I guess dissonance is a real bitch. I also don't for a second buy that if I had BPD, his shit-tier "treatment" would have magically worked. It was gaslighting and abusive. You can't just make horrible assumptions about people or create a false reality, shove that in the person's face, then gaslight them all the more when the person is fucking confused and, eventually, distraught.
What a gaslighting loser. I should legitimately report him. Leaving him a bad review as we speak.

Hello, I am developing an "MMO" called Skullborn: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1841200/Skullborn/
I use voxels so players can create custom designed weapons, armor, and buildings. Currently the terrain is not voxel based. But it is kind of boring and I would love to add caves, overhangs, and being able edit the terrain would be cool too.
When I was initially developing the terrain generation I tried using standard voxel chunks (like minecraft) but the performance was very poor. Granted my voxels are smaller than minecraft. But still, I want to be able to have a huge amount of vertical variation (huge mountains and valleys) AND be able to generate terrain far in the distance.
Currently I am generating the terrain chunks with a basic 2D heightmap and I have separate low LOD terrain generation as well for the terrain in the distance. It's efficient but a bit boring.
I have been thinking that octrees might be the answer to my problem but I see a big issue with them and I'm curious if anyone has a solution for it. Even if the voxels are stored in octrees, you will still need to iterate through every single "leaf" voxel in the terrain generation stage of the process to determine if the voxel is part of the terrain or not. So I wouldn't really gain any efficiency wins in the terrain generation stage.
I wonder if anyone has come up with a good algorithm to only evaluate voxels on the surface of the terrain (using a basic 2d heightmap) and mark everything below the surface as in terrain and everything above as out. Then maybe you could have a second step to add 3d caves... Sounds like the second step could be expensive though...
Curious if anyone has ideas about this!

Got a letter today from the housing association saying the "recycle bins are contaminated with non recycle refuse". "Residents should be aware that if they continue to contaminate these bins I will have no alternative but to have the bins removed."
We've had letters warning about this before, but clearly one of my neighbours choses to ignore them. I have an idea of who it might be but havent caught them in the act. Am I supposed to sort their crap in the bins myself?? There's notices on the back door leading to the area, but these were ignored too. Some neighbours are aggressive so I dont feel safe confronting them personally, one threatened to push me out a window. Really at a loss here, any advice?

So this isn't actually dating. It's rejection. My bad if this isn't the right sub for that.
34F. I work with this guy (28M) that I started feeling something for, and last night after work, I texted him I was wondering if he wanted to hang out sometime. He didn't reply, and after about an hour, I sent another text to try and make it ok if he wanted to say no but felt awkward, and said if not, it's cool. I just wanted to ask.
But he never responded at all. I can infer what that means lol. But then, how do I work with him now? We work together a lot, and are often the only two employees at the store for hours (it's a very small store with a limited number of employees). Do I just act like I never said anything?
I know, I know ... asking out a coworker is probably a bad idea. I have a habit of making high-risk decisions lol. But what's done is done; it's a moot point now.

Now we all know why Smoke has that RIDICULOUS name.
We all know they are druggies, since they admitted to it. EVERYTHING in their lives are calculated, I wouldn't be surprised if they were getting high the day they conceived him and thought it would be a cool memory to name him Smoke. I see that idea 100% being Hunters. Hopefully when Smoke is older, he changes his name.

I feel deceived.
So my gf and I have been in a 2-year relationship, live together and are planning a future together. When we first got together I didn’t know that she had just come out and I feel like she presented herself as not newly out/wasn’t super transparent about being newly out. I love her and want a future with her but I like as our relationship has progressed I’m just finding out things that make certain things in our relationship make sense. For example, her mom has not been very receptive to me. She’s sorta homophobic but I thought she wouldn’t be because my gf portrayed her parents as accepting. After meeting them she mentioned in the past that she “tried” telling her parents she was a lesbian many times in they wouldn’t listen (for context her ex was a nonbinary male that was masc presenting so they passed as a hetero couple and her parents never acknowledged them being trans). Her mom not warming up to the idea of me/us makes more sense if I knew she was digesting her daughter’s lesbianism for the first time (it was a process with my own mom too but she’s cool now). Also, I just found out that she went to her first pride parade the summer that we met. Her over excitement that whole summer about dating women, being on dating apps, etc. just makes a lot more sense now.
Am I overreacting??
I get that everyone comes out on their own time but I had a rule of not dating people that aren’t out and I feel like I had no agency to decide to opt out of this until it was too late because I was ill-informed/LIED TO.

I always hear, "Just reflavor it and it works," and personally, I really like the idea that you can reframe the explanation of something to suit and personalize your character. It’s really useful, but considering magic in the Forgotten Realms (and in other realities that use the D&D magic system), doesn't it become a bit conflicting? Or at least, doesn't it spoil the reflavoring in a certain way, turning it into something merely "decorative" within the narrative perspective?
Let's start with the fact that when you cast a specific spell, you are casting "that" spell, not exactly the reflavored one. This means that any other resource or "source" that can determine which spell was used will say you cast spell X, not Y as the player wanted.
I'll try to give an example: let's say a player creates a chronomancer who, when casting "Ray of Frost," has reflavored it to "Ray of Deceleration." The idea is pretty cool, but if any other resource, like an item that can reveal cast spells, or an archmage investigating the area to discover the type of magic used, wouldn't they identify the spell itself? "Ah, yes, he used Ray of Frost; you can tell by the freezing effects on the body. It’s a common trick, so we're probably dealing with a not-so-experienced mage."
My point is: reflavoring, at least in terms of spells that have a system more or less translatable into the fictional reality, kind of kills the idea of the spells, doesn't it? Yes, you can describe what the spells look like; in Tasha's, if I remember correctly, this is mentioned. But the spells are still traceable, understandable. They have an identification that makes them what they are, which makes the reflavoring just an appearance within the game’s reality. So, even if an NPC says, "No, he used a translucent thing that made the Goblin move entirely slowly, as if he were slow in time itself!" it would just be responded with: "That was just the appearance of the magic being manifested, it has nothing to do with time. The original form of that spell is still Ray of Frost; do you want me to demonstrate it for you?"
Don’t get me wrong, I find it harder to allow this kind of thing when it comes to spells. One of my players has an Eladrin who is a Half-Elf, and his teleportation is described as "he puts himself in another timeline and establishes it in the present so briefly that only he moves." And that’s fine — racial ability, item, or any other thing like that, I find much easier, because he’s not following a parameter like a spell that has V, S, M components. Any of these can reveal what the spell really is, not the player’s flavor. This makes the player more of a "cosplayer" than what they determined they are.
This thought came up when my player and I were discussing what he would do at higher levels since there aren't many Dunamancy spells available, and there are other Wizard spells that can't be ignored. So, it’s something that’s been on my mind since then.
Have any of you dealt with this in your games? Again, I’m very much in favor of reflavoring, but I find spells much more limiting in this regard, and I always think that if they ever conflict, it would be horrible. So, how would you handle this?

Nancy Brooks was the first victim. She was a popular cheerleader, & an energetic one at best. Everyone enjoyed her bubbly personality. So you can imagine the shock and despair that swept over our school and the entire town when she was found dead.
They said she was found in a dumpster at the back of the local pizzeria. The cause of death was nasty. A large gaping hole in her chest. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that her heart was missing. This means that whoever did this had ripped her heart out with their bare hands in some brutal fashion.
The police questioned us, asked if Nancy had any enemies, and asked if there was anyone who wanted to hurt Nancy, but we couldn't think of anyone who would like to harm her. It wasn't like she did anything to warrant hatred from anybody. They continued to investigate, even with the few suspects they had, and the few amount of evidence they had.
Meanwhile, the community was in uproar over who would kill an innocent teenage girl like Nancy, and in such a brutal manner. While a memorial at Nancy's locker was made, and a vigil was held in honor of her. Rumors spread throughout the hallways over who the culprit might have been.
"I still can't believe she's dead," My friend Stanley said as we sat on his front porch. His voice was a little shaky. "It's just, how could something so horrible happen to someone like her?"
"I don't know," I said, staring at the road as cars passed by here and there. Although my face didn't show it, I felt paranoia, slowly growing in my body. It was like a seed that had just been planted into the ground and started to grow.
"They'll probably find the culprit," I told Stanley. "They'll probably find them..". The way I said it made it sound like there was hope, but at the same time, I felt like they would never catch the person responsible for killing Nacy.
Unfortunately, my prediction was proven right, they never caught the culprit. After 2 months, Nancy's case went cold. It wasn't long until the next murder happened though.
This time it was Grant Reese, a smart and slightly chubby guy. Although naive, he meant well, and some students respected him for that. He was found dead in his backyard in the same gruesome manner as Nancy—a large gaping hole in his chest.
School was canceled again, the police investigated again, and they questioned us again. But nothing turned up, again.
Eventually, the media started to dub the killer "The Heart Thief" due to how he "stole" his victims' hearts from right out of their bodies. This however didn't stop the fear and paranoia seeping over the town.
Stanley was more on edge after Grant's murder. He was more paranoid now, and who wouldn't be, there was a deranged killer on the loose, tormenting our town. And the police haven't caught them yet. But still, it was disheartening watching Stanley slowly start to become a shell of what he used to be.
Whenever I saw him, I noticed that the dark circles around his eyes seemed to grow larger, he began even to be afraid of his own shadow. Every time I talked to him, he'd always spout out a fake smile, but his eyes told a different story, they showed terror, terror of being killed by a lunatic. I still tried to make him feel safe, I still wanted to make him feel like everything was okay, even though at the back of my mind, I knew it wasn't. I was just as scared as Stanley, but I couldn't tell him about my invulnerability.
A month after Grant's murder, the Mullins twins were found dead at the local park, their hearts both missing. Even worse, only 2 weeks later, two teenage lovers, Whitney Rowe, & Troy Osborne were found dead in Troy's car, and in the same manner as Nancy, Grant, & the Mullin twins.
If Nancy and Grant's murders caused Stanley to be paranoid, this made that paranoia worse than before. He eventually stopped talking to people, he'd subsequently stop coming outside. My fear was still growing, but Stanley's was more rabid. I wasn't any better. My sleep schedule started to falter, I'd lie awake at night, trying to get rid of the Heart Thief from out of my head, and go to sleep. But I just couldn't. I couldn't get the thought of a psychopath looming over our town, killing innocent teenagers.
Eventually, Stanley stopped texting me. I wasn't too worried, but I was still concerned, but it was just for one day. He just stopped texting for one day. That wasn't much of a big idea. Was it?
Then he didn't text me the next day or the following day.
After the fourth day of not responding, I decided that I would have to check on him in person. That wasn't so bad, go to his house, ask his parents if he's okay, and check up on him. Easy job-
What if he's dead?
I shook the thought out of my head. No, he can't be. He's fine. He's fine.
"He's fine," I mutter as I walk up the steps and touch the door handle. My eyes slowly widen as the door opens. Why is the door unlocked? That doesn't make any sense-
What if the Heart Thief got him?
NO. No. He's fine. He's fine.
I carefully tread through the house, my footsteps being soft due to the shoes I'm wearing.
"Stanley...?" I said, in a hallowed whisper.
I walked forward, my heartbeat started to beat more and more. My heart rate slowly started to shoot out like a bottle rocket. Then I saw something.
Stanley's parents. They were strung up on the floor. Their necks were both snapped, and their eyes hung lifeless. I couldn't focus on the scene for long when I heard a terrible noise from upstairs. The sound of something being ripped.
I went up the stairs, my heart surged as I reached the top, and I went to Stanley's room. My thoughts were frantic as I reached his doorway.
Then my body stopped. My breathing paused as I was taking in the scene before me.
Stanley was on the floor, puking out blood as a hole was punctured through his chest. His crazed, horrified, and tearful eyes turned to mine. But then something impossible happened.
Somehow, Stanley's heart was pulled out from his chest, and it hung in the air like something was holding it. Some invisible force was holding onto Stanley's heart. Then it held it up high and then dropped it. It vanished like it fell into a mouth, and was consumed in one big gulp. I couldn't comprehend what I was witnessing. I couldn't understand how any of this happened. I just stared at what was left of my friend as the life escaped his eyes. He croaked out one final word before dying though.
"Alec....."
I just stood paralyzed, unable to do anything, my mouth hung dry as I tried to get a word out.
Then I felt a presence right next to me. It made me sweat even more than I already was at the sight of my dead best friend. My breathing grew more rabid as I felt like someone loomed over me. But no one was there. Nothing was there. But it felt like someone was. It felt like something was. Something horrible.
Then I heard a "Shhh" noise being whispered into my ear.
Suddenly, I didn't feel that terrifying presence. It left Stanley's room. It was gone, but Stanley's body wasn't.
My stomach felt sick as I exited Stanley's house, dialing 911. I only managed to mutter about finding my friend dead in his home, before I collapsed from shock on the front porch.
I eventually woke up in the hospital. My parents were tearfully thankful that I was okay and safe. Two detectives visited me too. They asked me questions about Stanley, and I answered them wearily. But even then, I couldn't tell them what I saw. I couldn't tell my parents about what happened in Stanley's home.
They did find Stanley and his parents' bodies though. Some people wondered why the Heart Thief went out of his way to kill two adults, some were still angry that the psychopath had claimed another victim. But regardless of that. I still couldn't recover from the events that unfolded in Stanley's house.
I attended his funeral, and I gave a heartfelt speech, bottling up my sadness in an attempt to look stable. But I wasn't.
Some neighbors and classmates look at me with pity on their faces, and some of them look at me funny. I could hear the whispers about me behind my back. Some of them were filled with remorse over how I lost my best friend, some were filled with suspicion over how I could have killed Stanley, or maybe even the other victims. The rumors didn't help either.
I've had to take therapy three times a week now, I feel like it's helping, but at the same time, I feel like it isn't. Nothing will ever help me recover from what I saw that afternoon.
Ever since Stanley's death, I've started to slowly become a shell of what I used to be. I began to become more aware of my surroundings, and I started to become more jumpy. My sleep schedule started to become worse too. I've had many nights where I'd lie awake at night. My mind constantly replays what happened at Stanley's house over and over.
"This is probably how Stanley felt before he died," I say, as my eyes stare at the ceiling.
The paranoia that was once set inside me has evolved into something bigger, something worse.
But that's not just it, I know who the Heart Thief is now, I know how he manages to kill his victims without ever getting caught.
I don't know why he still hasn't come for me yet. I was a direct witness to one of his murders after all. So why hasn't he come after me yet? Why hasn't he killed me? Was this all just part of his plan? To watch me break into a panicked state? To watch me devolve into a cowardous human being?
Because if this is his plan, it's working.

If Jace condones or plans B&C, it would be very bad, worse than when Dt killed his wife - second only to Rhaenys' casual Terrorism
DARK AND EDGY DOESN'T EQUAL MORE INTERESTING.

• A character being evil doesn't mean better written or more interesting. In most cases, just making a character evil is a surefire way to ruin the character.
• Yes, Jace beat his bro once, so did his elder bro - about 40 times. That means tomorrow, if he kills or doesn't bat an eye at the murder of children (for revenge) and nothing else, we should have seen it coming.
• Remember in GoT, Jon, Robb, and Sansa, even Tyrion and Arya, who go ultra-dark, are basically in the same situation Jace is in right now, and they never had any ill will toward Tommen and Myrcella. Most of them even think fondly of them (but for Tyrion that one time).

This is Jace we're talking about, the same guy who was spooked by Daemon and Ceraxes threatening some KG. Two days later, he's with Mysaria plotting the greatest scheme in CK AGOT history. Jace's dynamic with Daemon was one of the more interesting parts of his character in season, and they should lean way more into it to make him and Dragonstone more interesting. Here's how it should be done:
TURMOIL ON DRAGONSTONE, TEAM BLACK INNER CONFLICT
Reddit recently introduced a theory that season two will split up the black into two camps. The radicals [Daemon, Jace, Baela, and Mysaria] and the Conservatives [Rhaenyra, Rhaenys, and Corlys]. I love this idea, as internal conflict, when done right, is better than external. But the team doesn't make sense.
Radicals should be Mysaria, Daemon, Rhaenyra (Them going rogue was meant to be the point of the final scene of S1). Conservatives are Rhaenys, Corlys, and the Kids.
Firstly, kids who aren't Joffrey or Ramsey should have a predisposition for Honorable warfare. As proven earlier with the KG loyalty, this scene is where Jace leans. Also, Baela was raised by Rhaenys and should logically lean to her side.
Daemon and Rhaenyra already murdered a man in cold blood, almost jokingly. They should be the ones cool with child murder, not the kids. If you want to make Jace and Baela interesting, here are some ideas for you:
P.S: Rhaenyra shouldn't be cool with B&C, but she shouldn't be completely shut off to Daemon and Mysaria. Rhaenyra is Dragonstone, Rhaenyra is the realm. The point of two opposing Camps should be to pull Rhaenyra in both directions and give her hard choices.
Now concerning Jace and Baela:
a)Jace (The angel on the queen's shoulder):
It would make sense that, similar to Davos, Jace (alongside Rhaenys) should be a voice of reason for Stannis, I mean Rhaenyra, counteracting DT and Mysaria.
Also, similar to Davos, Jace's conflict should be to convince himself first, then others, that his monarch is just, despite the f-uped things they do, while also being antagonistic to the devils whispering at court (Mysaria and Melisandre).
Davos convinces Sala (Legendary Sailor), the King's Men (Different gods), and the Manderlers (honorable knights) to back Stannis. Jace convinces Corlys (Legendary Sailor), the Northmen (Different gods), and the Manderlers and Knights of the Vale (honorable knights) to back Nyra.
b) Baela (Torn Between two Parents):
Baela has two parents, Daemon and Rhaenys, who happen to be leaders of both factions on Dragonstone. Baela for now leans heavily towards Rhaenys, but she has just been reunited with daddy. Couple that with Luke's murder, the internal conflict the B&C should cause, and the fact that they are at war, and her morality is being slowly chipped away in time for Rooks Rest. After that, she can go either way - Ruthless radicalism to revenge Grandma and protect Lil' Bros and Lil' Sis, or dial it back to honor Grandma.
If she swings towards Ruthlessness, that is good conflict between her and Jace instead of "I'm mad you cheated on me even though we haven't seen each other in 8 years" (Also parallel to Jon being shocked by Val's ruthlessness when it concerned Shireen and Freefolk rights).
BONUS: THEORY OR RATHER PITCH ON JACE'S FUTURE
Jace should die at Tumbleton, not the Gullet. The only effect Jace's death has in the book is it gets Rhaenyra out of the hospital bed. Plus, that death is super anti-climatic, second only to Daeron's. Now imagine this:

• Jace is betrayed by his dragonseeds at Tumbleton, and Cregan is also present at Tumbleton and escapes.
• So we have Jace dying because a frankly stupid decision of his (sharing nukes), in the presence of his bro, and he would be avenged by his two Bros (Addam and Cregan).
• Maybe Cregan flees to the God's Eyes. Maybe Jace refuses Baela from coming with him, and he would have won if Baela was by his side. Also, Daeron will be present, and Daeron is Jace's rival (Maybe he almost beats Daeron, and that is when Hugh betrays him).

You can see a death at Tumbleton is far more satisfying for Jace than shot by an arrow when he flew "too low".
Potential Ramifications of Jace's Death:

• Aegon attacks Dragonstone now that Jace isn't coming back.
• Rhaenyra needs vengeance, and Addam and Nettles are scapegoats instead of "I hate bastard and your smashing my Uncle". Also, Mysaria, the Daemon on her shoulder, has free reign now that both Angels, Rhaenys and Jace, are dead.

This would probably not happen, but it was good to get my ideas out there.

I’ve always been a super light sleeper, super reactive to sounds around me but in that same retrospect, I’ve always been a super vivid dreamer and reactive to stress, having sleep paralysis and looping dreams on multiple occasions. (You can skip to the bold part cause the first part was mainly regular dream turned intense, if you’re uninterested)
The dream I just had was like me and my sister going out to run an errand at like 11:30pm and going with the kids I’m babysitting cause it was on their list of errands cause we should’ve done it earlier but forgot so we go out and I’m looking around for a place to get a drink cause most of the shops are closed this late and I tell the kids to go ahead to the place we’re going for our errand cause I’ll be there real fast while I’m getting this soda from the Chinese spot and I have some cash on me.
I go up to the guy and ask how much are the soda and he’s like 1.25 USD so I’m like okay cool let me get 4 cause I had four quarters and some singles and I pick mine (a coke, 2 sprite and an orange) and I’m giving him the money and bro starts laughing cause my cash is counterfeit and he thinks I think he’s stupid and I’m like O.O cause I had no idea it was counterfeit and try looking at my others bills (mind you I had like 27 dollars on me, and turns out all of it is counterfeit and I start freaking out
The boss comes up like what’s the issues, and I’m like I didn’t know this was fake my mom gave me some of these and he starts feeling bad and I’m like I’m gonna go get the bills from my sister cause she’s literally at the bank rn, and he’s like okay I’ll hold it and give you an extra sweet tea- and I rush over to where the kids I’m babysitting and my sister and my male friend I didn’t realize was there is at (I don’t have male friends- this was like some sort of faceless look a like to someone I knew in hs)
I’m like can I get some singles, I’ll give it back when I can (I knew my quarters were good but I needs cash) and my male friend is like I have the perfect thing and pulls out this super old 5 dollar bill cause it’s superrrr old cause it’s from the first time he went to the bank and put money away and for some reason even tho it was senstimental he was okay with it and we quickly go tg to get my sodas and he’s about to pay but the worker guy thinks it’s a joke cause it’s an old dollar and looks fake cause it’s an old print with no boarders and I’m like “it’s real!! We just got it from over there!!” And he’s like whatever this is where it’s confusing and stressing me out
We leave before the boss man returns but things get kind of crazy when boss starts chasing us down to get the dollar cause it’s worth thousands apparently??? And he wants to get us but I’m scared and whatever and at some point I end up in a big body of water and I’m panicking and having dual visuals of me stuck in bed so I’m like “open your eyes. Wake up.” While making a little noises from my body there like my usually humming or something and unlike usually, I open my eyes from that dream easily and end up in a room where all the floor is wet and cold and my head hurts cause I’m tired from that dream where I was being chased and I just woke up from it but I’m still asleep cause it’s a dream in a dream.
Mind you, It was like super bright where I woke up btw, like in the dream where the floor was wet/stained, it was like a dream equivalent to where squidward was when he saw the future but I didn’t see my reflection anywhere.
I walk through the floor thinking about how I’m gonna clean it cause I think it’s a mess from the ac leaking, and I go to find my mom to tell her about that dream but I keep like zapping back to the bed and looking at the water and it’s cold and I end up waking up pretty soon after just crouching down and looking at the floor and realizing it’s not water on the floor but it is stained and looks like it was wet and dried out which is more annoying to clean and mop.
But yeah I woke up and forgot the details for a while but just went to the bathroom and turned my ac to fan mode and typed it out.
I can give more context in my home situation if anyone is interested, but I’m super interested in any interpretations!! <3

It’s my first time playing Elden Ring and I don’t know what to make my build. I’ve beat Margit and I want to do the whole game no summons. How do I decide what to make my build? I kinda want to do strength but doing the same attack is kinda boring, bleed seems cool but is really broken and would kinda ruin a first play through (I think). I’m just tryna have a cool sword that I can go fast with and look cool. What if I decide to change it how can I?
Any ideas?

Keep your bio short, sweet and lighthearted. Avoid things and statements that can be used against you. You don't need something special or extravagant and having a bio that's too long or in depth can look as too tryhard. Instead work on your pictures, because in the end those will decide if someone swipes left or right on you regardless of what they say... because only once they decided that you are cute enough they will open up your bio
Tease slightly. Be humorous. Tell them how good your life is without directly saying it. And pictures pictures pictures. Each picture needs to be high quality. Bio doesn't have the same strength as decent pictures.
Write something that tells me about you--what you like to eat, do in your free time, watch on tv, last cool place you visited or want to visit next, whatever. The worst is guys who write nothing or just their IG handle, FFS. If that's all the time and thoughtfullness you can put into a profile, I'm going to assume that's what I'll get from you in a relationship. Also, is it laziness or complete lack of self-awareness? This is why writing even a little bit about yourself can be really important in this context.
Every girl is gonna be attracted to something different and the character limit blows. Just be yourself
OK, so, you officially downloaded Bumble, picked out your best dating-app-friendly photos, and brushed up on some Bumble openers. Now, it's time to create the best Bumble bio. But where do you begin?
Creating a good Bumble bio that stands out may sound like an intimidating task, but it's super important you don't half-ass this step. According to Bumble's US data from April, "those who added a bio to their profile experienced an increase in their average number of monthly matches than members who didn't," a Bumble spokesperson says. Clearly, it's important for a better dating experience.
But just because crafting the best Bumble bios sounds intimidating doesn't mean it has to be. Really, it starts with thinking about all of the things that make you you. With the help of a Bumble spokesperson, here are some tips and ideas on how to craft the best Bumble bios to score quality matches.
Tips on How to Write the Best Bumble Bio
Complete your entire profile first. Before deciding on what to include in your bio, Bumble recommends filling out the rest of your profile. Add to your "Interests," "Basics," and "Lifestyle" badges, which will give people an idea of who you are and what you're looking for. Then, take a look at your profile and decide what about yourself is missing from it. Per the Bumble spokesperson, some of the most popular Bumble profiles included information on a user's dating intentions, exercise interest, and zodiac sign.
Highlight the things that matter to you. The Bumble spokesperson said this will help to make sure you're matching with people who share similar interests as you. For example, if it's important you match with a fellow dog-lover, make sure you mention something about your own dog (or the type of dog you want). To stand out from the billion other profiles that mention a dog, don't be afraid to add some spice to your profile. "Try to jazz your bio up a little by exaggerating your statements or cracking a joke," the Bumble spokesperson says. Just remember, you don't have to say too much — brevity is key.
Focus on the positive and not the negative. Bumble data shows that positivity is one of the most important traits for Bumble members worldwide, according to the spokesperson. Instead of listing out what you don't want in a partner, hone in on what you do want. "Focusing on what you do like can be a much better way to find someone who ticks all your boxes," the rep says. In other words, don't use your bio to list out things you're not looking for in a dating-app match.
Ask those closest to you what makes you special. Ask your friends or family what key things they think a date should know about you, the Bumble spokesperson suggests. "They won't overthink it in the same way you might."
Once you're ready to write your bio, here are some ideas to get the juices flowing. Feel free to copy and paste, or tailor the below to your individual preferences and needs.
Funny Bumble Bios
"Would do dirty things to [insert the name of your favorite sports team's coach] if it meant the [your favorite sports team] would win."
"If you're not messing up the lyrics to 'Fergalicious' with me, I don't want it."
"My definition of loving me unconditionally is always giving me the last mozzarella stick."
"As an English major, you will 1,000 percent make my day if you prove you know the difference between your and you're."
"Always hungry, and I mean, physically hungry — not hungry for success, or anything."
Best Bumble Bios
"If you're down to rave with me, you have my heart."
"Looking for someone who also has an adventurous palate!"
"I'm DTF. Yes, that's down to food — always."
"If attending a Saturday morning SoulCycle date is your idea of 'fun,' I'm yours."
"What's your most controversial opinion?"
Sexy Bumble Bios
"Ice cream is my second favorite thing to eat in bed."
"In the mood for a glizzy, and not the hot dog kind."
"Looking to cook my famous lasagna in exchange for you showing me your favorite bagel spot the next morning."
"Nothing will turn me on more than a match who knows their Harry Potter."
"My favorite summer activity is playing sand volleyball, so you could say I'm pretty good on my knees."
Good Bumble Bios
"Team sweets over salty. Don't agree? Give me your best argument."
"Tell me about your next tattoo or piercing."
"I would sell my soul for an unlimited supply of my mom's homemade dumplings."
"Must know your thoughts on Beyoncé's new country album."
"If you like Pizza Hut breadsticks, Taylor Swift, and drinking way too many espresso martinis, we'll get along just great."

I have hundreds of hours in FO4, so I'm pretty familiar with the base game mechanics, scrapping everything and building everything etc. I'm a whopping level 27 in 76 though and I have so many questions that google has mostly failed me on and I'm hoping you guys can shed some light.

1. I'm trying like heck to get caps so I'm not worried about paying 10 caps every time I fast travel, but nothing in my vending is really selling. I have all types of ammo I find at 1 cap and any cool stuffies or plans I don't need at like 10. I'm setting up camp on water near the newbie bar (Wastlander?) so I can sell purified, is this too low of a level for people who buy from vending to bother with? I try to keep the vending as close to roads as I can and easy to find, but I just feel like I'm missing some trick. I'm not selling scrap yet because I'm a builder at heart and want to make my camp awesome eventually.
2. I like to use pistols generally, but I still have the basic slow revolver I started with and I haven't yet found something better (I can afford anyway) or good mods to upgrade it at all. Tons of other guns, no pistols. Is there a newbie friendly quest line or area I can focus on to get a better one? Current damage on mine is I want to say like 75ish. I've been mostly just exploring, haven't been in a hurry to do a lot of quests.
3. I've been hopping into the meat events I see and praying that higher people join the hunting ones so I don't get my face ripped off by 6 bears. The cookout one though, I saw someone mention that the super mutant dude is a vendor? I've tried to interact with him before, but I guess a bunch of people were already queued. What should I be looking for on the event vendors? Is there any other event tricks that I should know or care about? Someone said somewhere the plans from it sell really well, but I have no idea how to get any of them.
4. Someone said in a thread that you can get plans for a bar or something neat from a faction guy? Are there factions I should be concentrating on if I want to build up my camp with fun stuff or get good starter gear?
5. I've been cooking up a storm, mostly because stim packs are not cheap and I am squishy. Is there recipes that will sell? Is it worth it to try to keep your food and water meters full, because water seems to drain real fast.
6. It seems like there are about 400 currencies in this game, so I'm guessing I'll figure them all out eventually. Is there one or 2 I should focus on at this low of a level in the forest area?

That's mostly it. I've been enjoying the heck out of this because I always end up using mods in FO4 and this is a real challenge without them. I forgot the pain of having to worry about my weight. I'm having fun just wandering around, killing and looting and stuff, don't get me wrong, I just feel like an idiot overall in game.
Any tips are really appreciated. I'm playing on XBox.

Phil Aston: Hello and welcome to the Now Spinning Magazine podcast with me, Phil Aston. And in this episode, I’m absolutely delighted to have with me Tony Martin, one of the UK’s most underrated rock vocalists. You’ve had a really varied career, but what we’re going to talk about today specifically is Black Sabbath and the new “Anno Domini” box set. So, welcome, Tony. Thank you so much for joining me.
Tony Martin: Thank you. And thank you for having me on the show. Very cool.
Phil Aston: A bit of context, because I think this is kind of helpful for you. My son is 30 now, but when he was 15, he set up a Facebook group, kind of saying, “One day, please can we have the Tony Martin Black Sabbath albums released?” That was 15 years ago. He was still at school, half his lifetime ago. And I think in the early time when he set this up, he may have reached out to you and you might have said something like, “I don’t think it’s gonna happen, Dan.” And here we are, all these years later, and it’s not only happened, but it comes out this Friday. How does that feel to know that these albums are now going to be available again?
Tony Martin: Well, first of all, well done to your son. It took 15 years, but he got it done. To be honest, there’s been a few periods when I didn’t think it was happening. In fact, about a year ago, Tony Iommi’s manager called me and said, “You know what, this is just so complicated. I don’t think we can do this.” So I was resigned to it not happening myself. It’s all to do with band politics, really. There are so many people involved or have their fingers in the pie that they all have to be on board. And there were allegiances changing all over the place, left, right, and center. So in the end, it was getting a bit tiring, but well done to Tony Iommi and BMG. My God, the patience they showed to get this thing together and actually get it out there. Wow. But how does it feel? It feels brilliant, to be honest. I’m very excited. I haven’t actually had these albums in my own hands physically for the past 25 years. I gave all mine away thinking I’d be able to get some more, and I didn’t. They just stopped making them. So to actually physically hold them again is really cool. What a great job they’ve done of it. So I’m thrilled and excited. And I’m helping out now because I’m not in the band, obviously, anymore. So I just offered my help to promote it and they said, “Great, let’s do it.”
Phil Aston: Isn’t it amazing? Because I’ve done quite a few reviews about Black Sabbath box sets and stuff, but this one, within about 12 hours, there’s literally 12,000 views of the review. The love for this period of Black Sabbath is actually huge. It’s grown. It almost feels as if the profile is higher now than it was at the time.
Tony Martin: Yeah, there is a kind of reason for that. Partly people have got over the “it’s the new guy” thing, and also it’s been 25 years since. So now we’re reaching out to a whole other group of people, in addition to those that were already there. But to the outside world, it looks like there was a huge gap, and to me it felt like a huge gap. But actually, the fans were always there. I’ve been waiting myself as well to get this back out there. And it’s just band politics, really. That’s all it is.
Phil Aston: Because you had that period when it was almost as if this part of Sabbath’s history was hidden because of band politics. None of this really happened, which I think probably stirred up more interest and kind of people wanting to find out more.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it could be. It’s an old famous thing, you know, if something ain’t around for a while, people start talking about it. But yeah, it’s a strange thing, the music business. You’re either in fashion or you’re not. But I am just thrilled that they’ve got around it. Just the patience they’ve shown to actually put this together. At one point they were just saying, “We can’t do it.” But I’m really chuffed anyway.
Phil Aston: I imagine there’s been compromises along the way. Lots of fans probably don’t understand how complicated the politics and all the different licenses and everything that goes on over the years, they become more and more entangled. People say, “Where’s Eternal Idol?” But of course, that was a different record label. Different people own it.
Tony Martin: Yeah, absolutely. It’s owned by somebody else. And also Eternal Idol, or “Eternal Idiot,” as we call it, was kind of reissued not that long ago. Really.
Phil Aston: That’s right. With the two CD version, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. So they were kind of thinking, “Well, there’s no real panic because that’s already been done and let’s just move on.” Because that would have wrapped them up in contracts for centuries, I think. I can’t even think that they’ll ever get them to let that go. But they were struggling to get the people involved with these four albums to make up their minds and do stuff. I’ve been all for it all the way along, I have to say. Obviously, because it’s my career, my history. It’s not just the band’s history. It’s ten years of my life that went AWOL. So, yeah, I’ve been up for it all the way along, but some people don’t and it’s taken them a while to get on board.
Phil Aston: I think it’s fantastic. The first one was Headless Cross. You joined one of the biggest rock bands with all that history behind it. You were an established singer with the Alliance. But this was a chance, as you say, with Eternal Idol, you went in and it was already prepared. You sang it, but this one was where you could really put your mark on it, your personality lyrically as well as musically. Can you remember what it was like actually being at the beginning of that? Did you feel comfortable around Iommi and Powell and thinking, “Right, what kind of lyrics am I going to do by Headless Cross?”
Tony Martin: Yeah, I was comfortable by then. Well, kind of. The thing is, with Eternal Idol, if I can just backstep a little bit. The Eternal Idol wasn’t the first call up. The first call up was in 1986 when they were doing the Seventh Star with Glenn Hughes. And that scared me to death because I can’t sing like Glenn Hughes. Nobody can sing like Glenn Hughes. They put me on standby back then, so I’d sort of tentatively had an introduction to Tony Iommi. Then in ’87, they got me in for the audition, and that was the next introduction to Tony Iommi. But because Eternal Idol was already written, that gave me a whole year plus a bit more to find out what this thing was. What the hell was I supposed to do? So just doing Eternal Idol like that was fine by me because I didn’t have to discover anything myself back then. It gave me a chance to get my feet in. So by the time it got to Headless Cross, now I know all the guys, and I kind of know what’s expected of me. I still had to find the “me” that I needed to find. I went around it the only way I could, by focusing on things I was interested in. I couldn’t do the lyrics and melodies that Geezer was writing for Ozzy because that was a generation before me. The stuff that Ronnie was doing was fantastic, but I couldn’t get inside his head. So I had to think about what I was going to do. I had an interest in the old gothic death stuff, like Dracula and Frankenstein, Mary Shelley type writing, and of course, in England, we have Shakespeare. Nobody speaks English like that anymore, that old English text. I thought, “Old English text, gothic death, and Black Sabbath. That might work.” So I put them all together and came up with Headless Cross, which is where I lived. I lived in a village called Headless Cross.
Phil Aston: Yeah, you put that on the map. They weren’t pleased about it. The most recognition I’ve got is my name on a bus stop. And Cozy Powell thought the album needed more death, didn’t he?
Tony Martin: Oh, that’s true. That’s actually true. We were recording “When Death Calls,” and he was in the studio playing, and he suddenly stopped. We went, “You alright?” He went, “Yeah, just remind me, what’s this song called again?” I said, “It’s called When Death Calls.” He said, “I don’t think there’s enough death in it.” And he carried on playing. So, okay, maybe he’s taking the piss, but isn’t it such a great sounding album? As Tony Iommi says, he never left Black Sabbath. So when people criticize him, saying, “You should change the name or whatever,” he never left. So it was still Black Sabbath. The riffs, the guitar sound was reaching new peaks of excellence around this time.
Because when it was just him and Ozzy, for example, it was guitar, that was it. When Geoff Nichols joined during the Dio period, it introduced a few more keyboard things. That allowed Iommi to play solos against those keyboard pads and chords. And then you come along and start sticking 50 tracks of vocal harmonies on it, like in Anno Mundi and stuff like that. It just kept developing. Sabbath isn’t really known for vocal harmonies and keyboards, but underneath that was still Tony Iommi. And it still sounded like Sabbath. We were happy to do that. We just wanted to make Tony happy and do the best for him. It was his band. So we were happy to seek out that Sabbath sound and make sure it did what it said on the tin. A couple of times, like with the Seventh Star thing, he ventured a little bit away from it. Songs like Heart Like a Wheel don’t really make the Black Sabbath sound, but it’s still good stuff. I have great respect for all of the eras that went before. I had to sing all of the songs. So I do have great respect for it. And it’s been an honor, you know, like being part of the whole story. But he was the only one that stuck it out. And we respected him for that. You’re right, they did ask him to change a couple of times. He said, “No, I can’t change now.”
Phil Aston: The next one, if I pronounce this right, it’s Tyr.
Tony Martin: Yeah.
Phil Aston: Because when it came out, me and my friends, actually, because there was no Internet back then and nowhere to go and check it, we did call it Tyr. To be.
Tony Martin: Yeah, Tyr.
Phil Aston: Watch you find in Birmingham. You know what I mean? So it actually rhymes with beer, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It is, yeah. Actually, it’s Tiw, which is Scandinavian for the son of Odin or something.
Phil Aston: Well, this is almost as close, probably, to Sabbath getting into almost a concept album. Isn’t it? This is a collection of songs that in another time and space you probably as a band would have gone out and performed the whole thing.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it wasn’t meant that way, but they were struggling to find a name for the album. We were recording and getting towards the end and the management called us up and said, “We really need a name for this album.” And Cozy said, “I’ve got one. Let’s call it Satanic Verses.” We went, “What, like Salman Rushdie thing?” He said, “Yeah, it would be great publicity.” We said, “Yeah, but we’ll all be dead.” So we did struggle, but they happened across the artwork. We’d done Anno Mundi, we’d done Gates of Valhalla and all that sort of stuff. They went, “What if… Tyr?” It was fine by me. So it took on the Viking sort of theme. By that time, I was thinking, once I’d done Headless Cross and started to have an interest in the Vikings and stuff. As you know, the Vikings haven’t been particularly good for us. They came over and stole all our women and sheep and whatever. But I had an interest in them as well. So I was thinking, every culture, every religion has its dark side. There’s always a devil type in a god type. I thought we could go around the world and I could do this. You could pick up on all sorts of cultures and pick out the dark side of various things. But it was the last kind of… I still did that with various other songs and various other artists. But Tyr was leaning towards that theme.
Phil Aston: It’s an excellent album. Then of course, the strangeness of the politics in Sabbath. Dehumanizer comes along and Dio re-enters the scene. You obviously had an opportunity because every cloud has a silver lining. You can go off and do your solo album at this time. But you did kind of like… It sounds like it was almost a forced relationship, the way that he was and he wasn’t. I mean, how was that period for you? Because you did demo some of the tracks, didn’t you?
Tony Martin: Firstly, it was a shock. I didn’t see that coming at all. Literally just walking out the door to the next writing rehearsals. My managers called up and said, “They don’t want you to go.” From what I recently found out, although I had my suspicions, Tony Iommi said the record label just wasn’t supporting it. They weren’t getting behind us at all. Then they started banding about all different names and stuff, and Ronnie’s name came up. They thought they’d give it a go. He said it was all on and off all the time. After they let me go, it wasn’t too long before Tony called me back and said, “Can you come back?” I said, “No, I can’t. I’m doing my solo album.” More time went by, and he called me back again and said, “Are you sure you can’t come back?” I said, “I’m doing my solo album. I really can’t.” He said, “Do you want to come down and try?” So I did. I went down and tried putting my voice on some of the songs, but it would have meant rewriting everything, and they weren’t going to do that. So I said, “The best thing is if you finish this with Ronnie, get this done and out of the way, then maybe we can talk again later.” So that’s kind of what happened. By that time, I’d done my solo album, which I wanted to get as far away from the Sabbath thing as I could at the time. I went back to doing what the Alliance and some of the bands I’d been with, that middle-of-the-road AOR type stuff. But when they called me back to Sabbath, Polydor dropped my solo album like a brick. They said, “We can’t do this if you’re going to go back with them.” So that got stopped. It’s so confusing. By the time I got back with the guys to Cross Purposes, it didn’t feel that much of a gap for me, because I’ve been talking to them and working with them through the Dehumanizer thing.
Phil Aston: Stylistically, that album, because it was on the IRS label, I know some people have said, “Well, it should be in there.” Stylistically, musically, it’s very different. I mean, you take it out. These four albums in this set, excluding Eternal Idol, they sound like a progression. Dehumanizer sounds like a kind of sidestep. Even the way the riffs are done in the songs, it’s changed. You take the vocalist out, but the music continued. You took you out and it was very different.
Tony Martin: I suppose it does a bit. If I go back and think over it, I guess that’s what it was. It was kind of an interruption into the flow of things. When we were doing Tyr, I thought we were doing really well. I thought we were onto something. Dehumanizer, in that sort of respect, does feel a little bit like an interruption. But there was some good stuff on there. Ronnie’s always been a good singer. I don’t quite know how they feel about it, but it was kind of nothing to do with me. I just let them get on with it.
Phil Aston: After that, Cross Purposes is probably, out of the four albums in this set, my personal favorite. Geezer’s back in the band now, so you’ve got his bubbling bass in there. And again, lyrically, it’s all you. Did you feel any kind of, “Oh, Geezer’s back. Will he want to help out?”
Tony Martin: I did ask. He just said, “No, you can do it.” So I just carried on.
Phil Aston
The reason why I love this album is that it’s varied. A lot of people think of Black Sabbath as the Godfathers of heavy metal, and heavy metal is always heavy metal. But if you think back to albums like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the seventies, they weren’t all heavy metal. There were all sorts of things on there. There were keyboards and light and shade. This, I felt, connected to that album, because you had light and shade on it. So there were more dynamics in the lyrical delivery and the song delivery, in the way that Iommi is weaving his riffs around the melodies. What are your thoughts looking back on this album now?
Tony Martin: I think you’ve just summed it up. It did sort of shift up a notch. Not only that, but the sound they were getting with Leif Mases producing it, it sort of grew up. It lifted somehow out of what they’d done before. It felt like, “Oh, this sounds good.” The songwriting and the exploring we were doing with the songs and stuff. At the time, Geezer Butler said that’s the best album he’s ever been on. He never said that again, but he said it at the time.
Phil Aston: I can imagine him saying just that.
Tony Martin: But it was good. Having Bobby Rondinelli in the band as well. Technically amazing. Brilliant player. His drums close in, and he plays with his wrists. Very technical. Whereas Cozy’s drums are stretched out far and wide. He’d lean over and hit them. But great to have them both in. What an honor. I mean, it’s Geezer Butler as well.
Phil Aston: When you got to South America, Bill Ward was in for a few gigs, wasn’t he? That must have been quite surreal. Bill Ward and Geezer playing songs like Headless Cross, which they had nothing to do with.
Tony Martin: They had nothing to do with. We were kind of weird because once we’d started to get Geezer and Bill back in, they wanted to start doing more of the older songs. That just makes you look, read between the lines going, “What’s going on? Where’s this going?” Once it’s happened to you, you know it. Then you’re reading between the lines. You start to feel it. Then you go, “Ah, right.” You can feel it. They’re clearing up. I did ask if they were going to do a reunion with Ozzy. Iommi was always denying it. Said, “No, no, we’re not doing that.” But I didn’t mind. The reason for that is because I knew what I could do in the future then. I thought, “Well, if they just tell me, that’s fine. Cause then I can plan.” The first time it was a shock and I didn’t know what to do. But I was kind of keyed up for it the next time. But he kept going. They got Bill in. I love Bill. I think he’s brilliant. We did some shows with him. But for some reason, and I don’t know what it is, I mean, I can tell you Iommi loves Bill. He regaled so many stories about when they were out there and how funny it was. I never understood why they never gave him time to get back in it. When you think of Def Leppard, they made a drum kit for a one-armed drummer.
Phil Aston: Yes, very true.
Tony Martin: Surely they can find time to get Bill settled back in. Whatever problems they’ve got. I mean, come on.
Phil Aston: You would think, yeah, very true.
Tony Martin: Get on with it. I thought, “Right, this is going to go south again.” But it didn’t. We carried on with Forbidden, and then Cozy came back after his accident. It was really up and down. Confusing. People in and out. During the time I was in the band, there were eight different lineups.
Phil Aston: It was very much a revolving door, wasn’t it? Before we move on, I just want to ask, because I know a lot of fans ask this. In the booklets in these box sets, there’s an image of Cross Purposes Live. That was a VHS tape and a CD. Is there a reason why that wasn’t included in some way? Is that game politics?
Tony Martin: I did ask about that, and they were just keen to get on with it. They said, “Come on, let’s go, let’s do it.” What they told me was that they’re going to take their time now to see what else they can gather and do an additional thing to this along the way with more of that in it. With the Cross Purposes Live and some other stuff. There’s a track that I recorded with them when Eddie Van Halen came and did Evil Eye.
Phil Aston: Yes, yeah, Evil Eye, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. I used to take the track out. I had it everywhere. Writing sessions, recording sessions, rehearsals. I just happened to be there. I didn’t even know who was coming. Iommi just turned up with Eddie Van Halen. I went, “Holy hell, it’s Eddie Van Halen. What’s he doing here?” He did some rehearsals with us and then disappeared. Never saw him again. But I got the recordings of the rehearsals that we did.
Phil Aston: Oh, wow.
Tony Martin: So I sent them to Tony Iommi. I said, “Use these. Get these on.” He said, “No, no, we can’t.” The reason they said was anything that has the slightest newness about it looks like a new Black Sabbath track or album track. They’re not allowed to release anything new under the Black Sabbath name. So even if it’s historical, they couldn’t allow it. It’s really weird.
Phil Aston: That means there must be lots of live stuff recorded. More bands were recording live stuff from the nineties onwards that you just couldn’t work on because it would go out under the Black Sabbath name.
Tony Martin: Not just live stuff. I’ve got about eight tracks that we never released. Just from the writing sessions and rehearsals and stuff that we used to do. They just can’t get out. They just won’t allow it.
I don’t understand. Well, I kind of understand. When you’re trying to protect your name, your mark, your image, your everything, which is where the band politics comes in, they won’t allow you to do anything that they think. And there’s all kinds of… Everybody from Ozzy to Dio to everybody. They don’t want their thing to be diluted or taken away. I do understand that. There are people involved all along the way that have an objection of some kind or another.
Phil Aston: But I guess, hopefully, this box set’s going to sell out really quickly and will show there’s a demand for this material and for this part of Black Sabbath history. There’s a lot of love for it. A lot of people worked really hard within it, like yourself. They’re great albums, wonderful songs. If there’s other music waiting in the wings, whereas we all get older, thinking through the eyes of the fan, it would go down so well, wouldn’t it? But I am, as you are, very grateful that these four albums have arrived in a box.
Tony Martin: Yes, it’s an important thing for me. It’s an important thing for the band, and it’s a great thing for the fans. I’m thrilled. It’s been an honor to be part of the story. I love the fact that it’s out there now. They did say there is no limit to the box sets. They have sold out on day one.
Phil Aston: I’m not surprised.
Tony Martin: They said the way they do it is they tend to poll the outlets and stuff and say, “How many do you think you can sell?” And they put their numbers in, and they’ve gone way past that. So now they’ve got to go back and produce more. There’s no limit to it. I love what they’ve done. There’s more in the box set than just the albums. Posters, programs, and everything.
Phil Aston: And then Forbidden. I’ll be honest, Tony, when I heard this for the first time back in the day, I didn’t like it. I tried, but I didn’t like it. My son liked it because I think probably because his dad didn’t. But now the remix, it’s as if someone’s released the drums and the guitars. It sounds like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It does. It’s brilliant. I love the fact that they’ve dismantled it and put it back in a way that they couldn’t or didn’t with the other three. Forbidden needed it for all kinds of reasons. It was done under a sort of cloud where a lot of us weren’t really into it very much. But it was also an attempt at trying to give Sabbath a kind of acceptable twist to the youth. It didn’t work.
Phil Aston: The nineties were weird, weren’t they? The nineties were strange for heavy rock.
Tony Martin: The problem was we were fast heading towards great new bands like Nirvana and eventually Green Day and Metallica doing stuff. We were going and they were trying to change the sound to fit in. It didn’t work. We didn’t think it would. But there are people out there that love Forbidden as it is. I said that to Iommi. Last time I saw him, there are people out there that love it. He said, “They’ll probably love this version now.” But shaking the chains, guilty as hell, rusty angels, forbidden. And of course, “Loser Gets It All” is a great track. That wasn’t even on the album originally.
Phil Aston: It’s brilliant.
Tony Martin: Yeah. Strange. I absolutely love it now. It does sound like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds like it should be there in amongst the others. They’ve done a great job. Tony and his engineers have really pulled it together. It’s slightly more guitar and slightly less keyboard. They’ve done Cozy’s drums. Fantastic job on those.
Phil Aston: They’re just unleashed, aren’t they?
Tony Martin: Yes. They haven’t changed anything. They’ve mixed it and given it a new attitude, which is brilliant. They’ve given it more space. It sounds bigger. I just love what they’ve done to it. I’m really proud of it now. I didn’t like it then. There’s still a couple of tracks where I would love to have gone back in and…
Phil Aston: Yeah, you know.
Tony Martin: I thought at the time, because I was that off it at the time, my head just wasn’t quite there. A couple of tracks I thought I could have done better. I did sort of say when they were doing it, “Can I go back in?” They said, “No.”
Phil Aston: I suppose because that might edge towards it being a new recording then.
Tony Martin: Yeah, tricky. I’m not going to tell you which tracks it is, but there were a couple in there that I wasn’t quite happy with. But on the whole, it’s a great job they’ve done.
Phil Aston: Because when you were playing live, there were more songs from your period in Sabbath coming into the set, weren’t there? You were a unique vocalist in many ways for the band. You could cover Ozzy, Dio. You probably could have done Ian Gillan. Anything. You could have the ultimate set list, really, going through every era.
Tony Martin: That was a bit of a mistake. I told them I could sing anything, really. They thought, “What can we give him to sing?” They threw all sorts of stuff at me. I had a shot. Fortunately, I’ve got the kind of voice that can get around most things, and that’s a result of being in so many different kinds of music. I’ve been involved in everything from reggae to rock.
Phil Aston: Who were your key vocal influences growing up? As you say, outside of this Black Sabbath badge, your voice can go in any direction. So who were your influences? Was it blues, soul, rock?
Tony Martin: It kept changing. Everything I listened to, I thought, “That’s good. That’s good.” Each couple of years, something else took my attention. I’d really pour my soul into it. When I started off with reggae, believe it or not, I worked with Musical Youth and Dexys Midnight Runners in the studio. I was a guitarist back then. Then I loved blues. I got into prog rock bands like Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull. Then it shifted to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. That led to Rush and bands like that. Then I had to come down out of that prog rock technical stuff because Sabbath is much more honest and basic and straightforward. To a point. When you’re in the band and you find out how he does it, it’s stunning. I never even gave it a thought. I thought, “It’s got to be easy.” It wasn’t easy at all. Iommi can put seven, eight different riffs into one song, and each one of the riffs could be a song on their own.
Phil Aston: Very true.
Tony Martin: So, wow. You get your head around it. It’s weird. Plus, the time signatures he was throwing at us. There was a 14/4 and a 15/8 or something he was throwing at us. How he gets his head around it, I just don’t know. When I saw him a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a really good job on this.” I said, “Thanks, man.” He said, “I actually don’t know how you sang over some of this stuff.” I said, “Neither do I.”
Phil Aston: Just mad, isn’t it? You could try anything. I might have thought, “That means you might be able to put some of the songs in that Ozzy couldn’t do into the set. Or I can try something that I’ve never been able to do before because Tony says he can do anything.”
Tony Martin: It’s because I showed willing. I told them I’d have a go. And I did have a go. I did put into it. The songs, the writing, the live shows, whatever. I kind of made a rod for my own back in some ways because it was hard flicking between all of the different vocal techniques. But I did my best. It sort of came across okay. The problem is when you try to do stuff like that, it can sound a bit like a tribute act. But we got it nailed, I think. Especially having people like Cozy Powell, Geezer Butler, and all those guys in the band. We were willing to seek out that Sabbath sound, and we were conscious of it. So we were all aiming for the same thing. From outside, it might have looked like a chaotic mess. But on the inside, it all had a focus. We were all willing to give it a go. That’s what I think they saw in me. I knew they liked my voice, but I think that’s what they saw, a willingness to have a go and see if you can make it work. All those different time signatures and riffs that I had to go, looking back, to me, it’s Black Sabbath. Like,
Phil Aston I’m a Deep Purple fan, and every lineup of Deep Purple is still Deep Purple. I know Black Sabbath, there’s lots of politics in the way some of the fans look at it. But I think, which is why they had Heaven and Hell later on instead of Black Sabbath, because of the politics. But listening to these four albums, one after the other, you brought to life Viking mythology and song. More death. Just your passion and the way you projected the lyrics and your phrasing makes these albums unique. An important part of the Sabbath story. Finally, do you feel like this outpouring of love for this lineup is validating everything? Any doubt that might have been back then?
Tony Martin: Yeah, doesn’t it just? The biggest validation is from Tony Iommi himself. It wasn’t regarded that highly until he sat and listened to it without the bickering going around. When I went down a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a great job on this. There’s fantastic songs on here.” I said, “I know.” It’s just that validation that he gives it. The fact that the fans are returning to it. The fact that we’ve got new fans coming to it. Whole new record labels. I think it’s Rhino in America. It’s BMG in the UK, Europe. The record labels are coming back to it and getting behind it. They see something in it. The management sees something in it. So it’s all coming together. Which is a shame because I’m not in the band anymore.
Phil Aston Who knows? Maybe you and Tony will think, “It’d be great if some of this other stuff can come out at some point and we don’t have to wait another 25 years.”
Tony Martin: If he was going to do that, he’d say, “Let’s just write some new stuff.” But from what I’ve been told, Tony’s touring dates are done now. He won’t be going out on the road again. That’s probably out of the question for writing. I did tell him I was interested if he wants to do something. But he’s got so much going on. He’s still busy. Doing stuff. He had that ballet, the Black Sabbath ballet.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that’s true.
Tony Martin: Never saw that coming. No, he’s working on all kinds of stuff. He’s writing new material for something else now.
Phil Aston: So what about you, Tony? Have you got any plans for another solo album?
Tony Martin: I never actually stopped. For the past 25 years, my career took me into the studio and writing for people. My voice appears on 89 albums and projects now. It’s been good for me. I owe everything to Black Sabbath because that’s how the world got to hear my voice. People know what they’re talking about when they talk to me. “Can you write, can you sing on this?” They already know what they’re hearing or expecting. I always try to make it better than what they give me in the first place. A lot of that is me in the studio, and I’m happy, and I still am, happy doing that. But I do tend to choose what I do these days.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that makes sense.
Tony Martin: So I’m still doing the odd thing for people now. I did have a solo album a couple of years ago called Thorns.
Phil Aston: Great album.
Tony Martin: Yeah, totally unknown guitarist from America, Scott McClellan. I only met him because he kept badgering me on Facebook. He kept sending me stuff. I was like, “Go away.” He said, “Listen to this. What about this one?” In the end, I listened to it and it was brilliant. So I gave it a go and it turned out really well. But then Covid interrupted that and we couldn’t get out there with it. Some countries were saying, “Yeah, you can come,” and other countries were saying, “No, you can’t.” It all got distracted. I haven’t finished with Thorns because they wanted to do a vinyl for it. They said we had to take some tracks off to get it to fit on the vinyl. I don’t want to take any tracks off.
Phil Aston: Make it a double.
Tony Martin: Yeah, make it a double. Write some more. I wasn’t prepared for that. I’m pacing up, trying to write some new songs. Scott has sent me loads. We’ve got enough tracks for Thorns 2, but I haven’t finished Thorns 1 yet. I’ve got to come back to that. I do want to finish that off and get that done. Then if we can do the next Thorns thing, who knows? We’d like to try and get it out on the road. Getting out on the road for me is so different to the Sabbath thing. The Sabbath machine is huge. They only have to mention it and all the cogs start turning all at the same time all the way around the world. It all starts fitting into place within days, within weeks. On your own, it’s different. I can’t do that. I have to hire other musicians to go out on the road and rehearse the whole thing and start again with a brand new show. It’s a lot harder for me, but I would love to get back out there. My career took me into the studio, so I’ve got more to do. But I just tend to choose now.
Phil Aston: If people want to get Thorns, is it DarkstarRecords.net? Is that the best place?
Tony Martin: No, Battle God. They are the main label. Darkstar were involved and they’re still there, but they’ve had some troubles in the past couple of years. They were on board and I did two versions of it from between the two territories. I liked that. But mostly now, Battle God is the label to grab hold of it. It’s still available and I’m still signing them. People send me the stuff to sign.
Phil Aston: But I haven’t finished yet, so there’s more to come.
Phil Aston: Brilliant. Well, thanks very much, Tony, for all of your time today. Everybody, make sure you go and get a copy on CD or vinyl of this Black Sabbath Tony Martin years box set, “Anno Domini.” It’s absolutely superb.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it is good. I’m just smiling. I think it’s brilliant.
Phil Aston: No, that’s it, isn’t it? Whatever anyone thinks, these albums are available again. People can hear just how awesome this time for Sabbath really was.
Tony Martin: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Phil Aston: All right, take care, and hopefully I’ll talk to you again in the future.
Tony Martin: Thank you. All right, Phil, thanks, mate. Cheers.
Phil Aston: Well, a huge thank you to my guest, Tony Martin. That was fantastic. I’m almost lost for words in knowing what to say to sum up that interview because I know a lot of you are really interested in this box set, “Anno Domini” by Black Sabbath, which is out on CD and vinyl. Just as I thought, it’s sold out already, but there’s going to be another pressing. I was able to ask some of the questions I know some of you have been wanting to know, like why weren’t there extra tracks? Why wasn’t the live Cross Purposes included, etc. So now you know. Some of it is really exciting because it means there might be a companion set with some outtakes or live stuff as well. That’s really exciting.
Tony Martin is a fantastic vocalist, really passionate, really imaginative with his lyrics and his vision of how he writes his music. These four albums are essential. They’re Black Sabbath albums, okay? That’s what they are. They sound like Black Sabbath albums. Wasn’t it interesting that Geezer Butler said Cross Purposes is the best album he’d ever played on? It is a truly remarkable album. But they all are: from Headless Cross, to Tyr (which I can now pronounce correctly), Cross Purposes, and Forbidden, which has been given a new lease of life. Seriously, it is incredible. Just stunning.
Thank you again to Tony Martin for joining me here on the Now Spinning Magazine podcast. Please keep spinning those discs, whether they are vinyl or CD. Check us out on the podcast. We’re on every platform you can think of, from Apple to Spotify to Amazon. Of course, we’re on YouTube. Please subscribe and check out the website at nowspinning.co.uk. Remember, music is the healer and the doctor. So take care and I’ll see you all very, very soon.
Watch the full interview here
Phil Aston Now Spinning Magazine

I've noticed my laptops cpu overheating and reaching temps of 100 and even 103 (was playing jedi fallen order), it usually performs at 85-95 though. Was wondering if that's common and normal? I have a cooling pad, low room temperature and the fans were cleaned pretty recently. While gaming i use the performance mode because the turbo would be even crazier. Any ideas what could i do more? 🤔 Cheers!

For context I'm trying to design my own original Vtuber character, and I want to use AI to generate some junk and say maybe I see a part of an image and be like "huh thats a cool idea, I will expand upon it and use it (not copying it)"

I think it would’ve been cool to see Chef Hatchet and Ezekiel hatch an alliance when he found Ezekiel in the cargo hold; instead of turning him over to Chris he keeps bringing him meals and homeschooling him, teaching him military exercises and such. Maybe making him do the previous challenges with props they have on the plane to keep Ezekiel’s mind sharp.
Ezekiel keeps his humanity, agrees to split the prize money 50/50 with Chef if he wins, and that’s when Chef “exposes” Zeke to Chris and the deal to re-enter the game is reached. Ezekiel then has a larger advantage then expected but perhaps out of fear of getting him kicked out, getting himself fired, or genuine fondness from bonding, Chef does not interfere with the challenges to give Zeke additional advantages.
Maybe it comes to light before, or when Ezekiel is eliminated, that Chef trained him and made a deal, but is not punished for it since it didn’t change the game. Maybe Zeke is disqualified as the punishment to Chef.
My idea is largely inspired by TD Wonderer on YouTube who has a series exploring if Alejandro and Sierra were in Island and Action; the ripple effect in his universe creates an alliance between Chef and Tyler in TDA. I thought it was a cool dynamic and think it would be neat to see it applied elsewhere.

POSITIVES
*Kyle MacLachlan. No matter what role he plays, he commits to it absolutely and is always very engaging to watch.
*I was very happy with how the show handled Bobby, Hawk, the Log Lady, Andy, Lucy, Ed, Nadine, Norma, MIKE and Shelly.
*The atmosphere was very strong, and I liked the idea of reality breaking down around the characters. The visual and audio editing was superb.
*Andy's visit to the Fireman's place (the White Lodge?) was such an amazing moment of the mundane encountering the supernatural. I never expected him of all people to end up there.
*The Log Lady's death was extraordinarily well written.
*I was very impressed with Robert Forster as Frank Truman. Replacing Harry with a random new brother sounds so cheap, yet somehow it worked perfectly.
*I really liked Naomi Watts' performance as Janey-E. Of all the newcomers, she was my favourite.
*The evolution of the arm was so fucking awesome. Way to make lemonade out of lemons.
MIXED
*Although I enjoyed Dougie and Demon Coop as characters, their storylines eventually started to feel like Lynch just wanted to make two extra movies without bothering with studio negotiations, so he just squeezed them into his Twin Peaks show.
*Demon Coop in particular was really oddly utilised. I would have thought the whole point of having a doppelganger is to make use of the fact that he looks like someone else. Him raping Diane is the one thing I would EXPECT Demon Coop to do. To me, it would've worked better if he stayed in Twin Peaks and committed acts of evil against people Cooper has a connection with.
*I really enjoyed the dynamic between Gordon Cole and Albert (my personal interpretation is that Cole has kept him close out of fear of losing the last agent he has a connection with). But nothing they did was very interesting. I wanted to see them actually discover the Black Lodge and maybe share a few more scenes with Demon Coop. It was cool when they brought Tammy into the fold, but then she does absolutely nothing.
*The Audrey Dance was a delight, and I thought Charlie's actor was hilarious. That aside, her storyline was a disgrace.
*I felt the Roadhouse band-of-the-week thing was kinda silly. Nice music, though.
*I didn't necessarily miss Annie's character, but I wish Coop at least asked about her and showed some emotion instead of suddenly being into Diane now.
*Speaking of her, Laura Dern gave a good performance, but I really can't imagine her as Coop's secretary.
*A few of the original characters seemed to just kinda be there, namely Ben, Jerry, Dr Jacoby and James. The actors did fine with what they were given (I especially loved that first scene between Jerry and BROTHER BEN), but the material wasn't there. Jacoby's transformation into an alt-right commentator was mildly funny, but could've gone a lot further than the occasional monologue.
NEGATIVES
*The narrative was very weak, consisting mostly of overconvoluted lore and shameless retconning. Nothing that they introduced here was as compelling or worth exploring as the threat of Bob and the Black Lodge in the original show.
*I was surprised how minimal Bob's involvement was. I know Frank Silva is sadly no longer with us, but Ray Wise proved that the character can be magnificent even without him.
*I no longer understood what our characters were fighting for and why, so it was difficult to care. The show was far too obtuse for my personal tastes. Despite how ambiguous the original could be, they made Bob into a visceral and real threat whom we hated for hurting characters we liked. Judy is barely a concept, and Demon Coop spends most of the show wandering around America killing random one-off characters. It just didn't have the same impact.
*The British guy with the green glove is the single dumbest thing in any Twin Peaks story.
*I did not need to see Dougie have sex.
*As a fan of the Windom Earle character, I didn't appreciate his total erasure from the canon (not even a member of Blue Rose??).
CONCLUSION
Overall, I felt that Twin Peaks: The Return was experimental and intriguing, but not a good Twin Peaks story or a standalone piece of art.
I have to emphasise again that I went in knowing that it would have a different tone, that it would focus on other characters, that Cooper wasn't in it much. All of that I can live with. It can be its own thing whether I like it or not.
But centering the entire story around a minute-long cameo from David Bowie in a spin-off prequel film and pretending that this was what Coop, Briggs and Cole were working on the entire time during the original show confounds me. It's like Lynch and Frost want The Return to be a follow-up to some idealised version of the 1990 Twin Peaks where they had full control. A sequel to a show that doesn't exist. They want people to care about their version of the story, not the story that was aired. And that's just sad.
This dependence on the original lore and characters means it cannot be its own thing. But it's also completely ignoring how that lore and those characters used to function on a fundamental level, preventing it from being a good Twin Peaks story. So to me, it just doesn't come together. You can say "reality is breaking apart" and "who is the dreamer", but as a viewer, I'm not satisfied purely by Lynch's half-sleepy musings. Why bother building up these characters and this world in the first place if that's all that matters?
The only interpretation that makes even halfway sense to me is that both Cooper and Laura are still trapped in the Black Lodge, and all of season 3 is just their demented fever dream as they slowly realise they can never leave. But that's hardly worth a whole season of television.

May got out to a lightning start for me, continuing the torrid April pace for a while before cooling off a bit in the back end of the month. That's partially by design, as I jumped into a pair of longer games (one enormously so) which I won't finish until deeper into June, but I've also noticed I'm slowly bleeding gaming time from my evenings. As my kids get incrementally older and the days grow incrementally longer entering summer, an hour that would previously be my own is now deferred to them, and that adds up over the course of an entire month.
Not that I'd trade my kids, you understand.
(Games are presented in chronological completion order; the numerical indicator represents the YTD count.)
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#27 - Contra: Hard Corps - GEN - 8/10 (Great)
It's been fascinating to watch the Contra series evolve over time, and Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis is no different. With no Mode 7 (the SNES' proprietary isometric viewpoint mode) available on the system, necessarily some of the top down content from Contra III would need to be altered or removed, and that begged the question of what would take its place: after all, a return to basic sidescrolling action might feel like a big step down, and we can't have that. So I think I expected Hard Corps to throw in a new wrinkle to keep the formula a bit more fresh. What I did not expect was for it to make three enormous changes.
For one, Hard Corps has four different characters to choose from, and each is actually unique. It's not just the look - where else can you play a cybernetic wolfman? - but they've got different sizes and hurtboxes as well. And while each starts with the same basic low power machine gun, each has a completely different loadout of possible weapon upgrades, ensuring that all four play very differently from one another outside of the fundamentals of movement. To that end, the two weapon toggle of Contra III is expanded in Hard Corps, allowing you to hold all four of your upgraded weapons simultaneously and switch between them at will, which adds a new layer of depth and strategy to the action. Building upon this notion of enhanced player choice even further, the second big change is that the game has branching paths. After the first stage you make a choice that determines where you head for the second level, and then later on you make another choice that creates further divergence, such that the game has four main endings (and a secret fifth!), all with their own dedicated unique stages. It's for that reason possibly the most replayable game so far in the franchise; I myself did a run through of each ending using a different character per run to get a feel for them all.
This leads to the final big change, which is the only one I don't regard a resounding success: the entire game is basically a boss rush. Let's zero in on the main path that I followed on my primary playthrough and add up all mini-bosses and full boss phases. What number might you expect that to come out as? A dozen or so? Well, sorry about your naiveté, but the answer is 43: it's bosses all the way down. This is a MUCH more mentally taxing load than previous Contra games where you could kind of skate through the non-boss sections with good fundamentals. And that's just one of four possible paths through the game! It's absurd! It's also way more fun than it sounds it would be from the description, but I've heard people say Hard Corps is the toughest Contra game and now I know why. I do miss just running and gunning and dropping dudes in one hit before a thrilling finale; it's hard to be properly wowed by a boss fight when that's all you ever see. But nevertheless Contra: Hard Corps is lives up to the legacy of greatness the franchise had up until that point established...just steel yourself mentally for the extensive memorization it requires of you.
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#28 - Ancient Enemy - PC - 5.5/10 (Semi-Competent)
Solitaire is one of those games that nobody really wants to play. It’s a game of convenience and opportunity, only attractive in the absence of something better, which is to say “nearly anything else at all.” Slightly more entertaining are variations on the form, such as Mahjong Solitaire or Free Cell, where certain cards/tiles are locked until the ones above them have been cleared away. These are still just time wasting games for people with nothing else to do, but when presented as a discrete set of challenges there’s a bit more appeal. Do you know they say that every one of the 32,000 numbered games of FreeCell on classic Windows operating systems was supposedly beatable? Did you know a very bored teenage me once decided to see if I could prove it by playing and beating every single unique game of FreeCell in order? I got into the low 30s or so before I questioned what the hell I was doing with my life and wisely moved on.
Well, Ancient Enemy is a game for people with nothing better to do, masquerading as a game that would qualify as "something better to do." It’s an RPG, I guess, but the gameplay revolves entirely around a solitaire variant. You have a deck of “stock cards” numbered 0-9 and start each encounter (“hand”) by flipping the top one. Then on the board you have to collect a card with a number adjacent to the one you’re displaying - 0 serving as a bridge between 1 and 9. Getting a card reveals any card trapped immediately below it and enables that card to be collected as well. If you can’t make a move, you can flip a new stock card over to get a random new number until your deck runs out. Some levels are simple puzzles in this vein, trying to clear all the cards from the board. Most encounters though are battles, where you do the exact same thing, except the color of the card you collect enables you to attack, defend, or cast a spell. So it’s turn-based combat, except each turn is you basically clearing as many cards as you can from the board to juice up your attack or bolster your defense, and that’s about it.
Now, at first, this is actually way more fun than I’m making it sound. I mean, I like solitaire type games for what they are, and the extra mechanics definitely do enrich the experience. You get consumable wild cards, battle boards have bonus cards with instant benefits, you get powers that manipulate the board, new types of cards appear, all good stuff. The problem is that the game completely runs out of these new ideas about a quarter of the way through, at which point you’re just going through the motions until the end, accompanied by a complete nothing of a story that I was confident I had figured out, only to find that the ending was somehow worse than the cliche I’d been anticipating. Thus, the game sadly settled into that exact same niche of games it was supposed to improve upon and supplant. Which I suppose is ok…if you’ve got nothing better to do.
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#29 - Snakebird Primer - PC - 7/10 (Good)
I follow a general rule of always playing game franchises in order, but Snakebird Primer is a unique case wherein the developers of the original Snakebird decided that it was too off-putting to new players, and so they made a sequel that they explicitly wanted newcomers to play first. A "primer" in truth to ease you into the overall Snakebird challenge, as it were. So when I decided to check out Snakebird, I thought all right: just this once I'll do it your way.
So how does Snakebird Primer shake out? Well...it's fine. It's a jaunty kind of puzzle game, with bright colors, friendly art and music, and general good vibes. In each stage you control one or more segmented "snakebirds" and have to get them all to the rainbow portal to complete the level. Sometimes you need to eat fruit to open the portal as well, but that's the entire game in a nutshell. It's a very simple concept, complicated only by the fact that a snakebird that has no body segments touching the ground will fall, and so each stage is a kind of pathing challenge, tasking you to figure out the right order of operations to reach the end. The levels are very well paced and designed if you just go in order: there aren't any hand-holdy tutorials, but new ideas are introduced organically at various intervals, and the challenge always feels reasonable, especially because you can undo any number of moves at will, like stepping through code to find an error.
There is, however, a significant difficulty spike for the last couple levels, which is pretty jarring. And when you add to that the fact that the designer of Baba Is You said he built a lot of his design philosophy around the original Snakebird, I've got to admit I'm a lot less keen on checking that one out. It's in that same realm of "enter these six dozen commands in precisely the right order" that made Baba Is You eventually feel more tedious and frustrating to me than anything else, so I think for now I'm happy to have just played the "lite" version instead.
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#30 - It Takes Two - PS4 - 8.5/10 (Excellent)
When trying to write down a genre for It Takes Two in my tracking spreadsheet, I wanted to put "Yes". It's as though the developers wanted to make a bunch of different kinds of games and, rather than accepting any limitations (self-imposed or otherwise), they just found a way to do it all at once. It Takes Two is a platformer. It's a third-person shooter. It's a puzzle game. It's a rhythm game. It's a racing game. It's a stealth game. It's a boss battling action adventure. It's a minigame collection. It's a romantic comedy. It's an exploration playground. One minute you're flying around on a jetpack chucking Captain America shields at devils and the next you're literally playing a timed game of chess. None of the things that It Takes Two does would be characterized as masterpiece forms of their respective genres, but that's not the point. There's sufficient depth and development of each mechanic that it never feels like a lazy tack-on to check a box - and that in itself is beyond impressive - but it's the sheer number of different ideas tossed into this package that make it truly special.
It's hard for me to even review this game, frankly. Part of that is because I feel a strong bias towards the game for the audaciousness of what it tries to achieve, and for the way it inspires me to keep stretching myself in new ways however I can. But it's also hard because I don't remember the whole thing. It Takes Two is both fresh in memory, having just finished it, and yet far away and mingled in my mind with similar bits of similar other adventures (Tearaway foremost among them). Why is that? Well, I first booted up It Takes Two in May of 2022 as a co-op experience to share with my wife - quite fitting, as it turns out, given the nature of the game's plot of trying to reconcile an embattled couple. We'd only play in smaller bursts of 1-2 hours at a time, but every session we played it felt like we were playing a new, different game. Music to my ears, but much harder on my gaming-challenged wife, who took longer to adjust to each mechanical shift. Pretty soon we were playing less and less often, even as I was playing a game like Tearaway early on that occupied some similar design space in my head. Soon we stopped playing at all. When I tried to suggest resuming this title over the past year, I was repeatedly rebuffed until finally a month ago I managed to wear her down enough that we picked it up again for about an hour a week. So it is that the first half of the game is fuzzy and nebulous to me, even as I recall that I loved playing, whereas the back half is much fresher, and it's nigh impossible for me to separate my wife's frequent frustrations from my own experience - especially since I've been playing on a controller experiencing heavy stick drift, so managing the camera was a nightmare through no fault of the game's.
All that said, how could I not recommend this game? It's best played with two experienced gamers, but the story only fully lands if you play as a couple, so there's a bit of potential for a disconnect there, as I experienced. It's not a perfect game. But it is an incredibly ambitious one that had me routinely grinning from ear to ear, despite the grumblings on the couch next to me. When I pointed out to my wife that we finished the game in May 2024, almost to the day when we started back in '22, she said "They should've called it It Takes Two Years." We're both glad it's over, but I think for very different reasons.
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#31 - Rogue Legacy 2 - PS5 - 7/10 (Good)
Some game sequels try to really shake things up and try something different from the one before. Final Fantasy is probably the biggest and most obvious example of this, but you can also see it in virtually every Super Mario Bros. game, in the Castlevania series, and the list goes on extensively from there. On the other hand, some game sequels treat their predecessors like rough drafts to be perfected. With these, the idea is to take the vision for the previous game, use the increase in time/budget/developer expertise now available, and try to execute on it more completely than was possible before. When a game like this is successful, there becomes almost zero reason to ever play the original game (other than possibly its story), because the new version has replaced it entirely as the definitive experience.
Rogue Legacy 2 is one of these latter types of games. Everything from the first game is pretty much still there (bosses excepted): enemies, basic combat and room design, character classes, traits, progression, etc. It immediately feels like "Hey, I've played this before," yet a cursory look reveals a huge wealth of additional content over the first game. Classes are better differentiated, you get new weapons, more spells, special abilities, new items, new upgrades, new explorable regions, new mechanics, new new new. It truly is a total replacement for Rogue Legacy 1 in this regard, a "go ahead and uninstall that thing forever because we've got it all right here and then some" type of mission statement. I was amazed at how I kept finding ever more avenues of progression and discovery, even many hours into the game, In fact, I never did manage to play as every class, and each class has a variant form as well, most of which I didn't even unlock. It's overflowing with stuff.
And I think that's why it didn't work quite as well for me as the first game: it's all too much. Now there are four different types of currency, all acquired in different ways, all for different upgrade paths. You're always competing with yourself on what to level up between runs because there are too many choices and all of them seem pretty good, but as you're finding your early groove the game throws a big wrench in there: labor costs. While each upgrade has a set gold cost that increases as you level it up, early on the game adds a universal tax mechanic to the entire upgrade tree, making it increasingly prohibitive to spend your money on stuff, and it feels awful. Rogue Legacy 1 had a similar system where each upgrade cost 10g more than the previous, but in the sequel these escalate far more rapidly, to the point where you'll complete a huge run and still feel like you can only afford one or two upgrades that barely move the needle. It's a pure inflationary grinding system meant to pad playtime, and I'm not about that. I played RL1 through multiple New Game + levels, but I was thrilled to beat RL2's final boss and move on because the economy is so frustrating. Other than that though, it's got quite a lot going for it.
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#32 - Undertale - PS4 - 7/10 (Good)
When is some information too much information? Undertale is notorious for its rabid fan community insisting that there is only one "right" way to play the game, and so if you've ever heard of Undertale there's a good chance you already know what that preferred method is: pacifism. Undertale takes a unique approach to the JRPG in two primary ways: first, that defending against enemy attacks is an active system pretty much akin to dodging in a bullet hell game, and second that you almost never actually need to choose the "Fight" command from the battle menu in order to succeed in an encounter. The argument from the community is that you must play in this fully pacifist manner, largely because of a design decision that thoroughly punishes players who do not, only revealed after the game's conclusion. Thus, these players are "helping" curious newcomers by saving them from falling victim to a fairly vindictive design choice that would create a lot of frustration.
The problem with that approach is that Undertale makes it abundantly clear from the outset that you have the option for these alternative combat approaches, trains you on how to use them, and then gives you a positive feedback loop for choosing that direction with your gameplay. Which means the discourse surrounding this game effectively undermines not only the game's own ability to surprise and educate you, but also the authorial intent of that same design decision, which in context is a conscious player decision to go against the grain and suffer the possible consequences of doing so. In short, I wish I'd never heard of Undertale before I played it, as I'm sure I would've had a much better time.
As it stands, Undertale is still a highly creative take on the genre that, despite an aesthetic I didn't care for and writing that leaned a bit too hard at times into "lol I'm so random" territory for my tastes, still managed to get me invested with some of its characters and even make me laugh aloud at times. I was particularly impressed with that aforementioned approach to combat, as each enemy introduced unique hazards to avoid, so fighting a new monster was far more exciting here than in a standard turn-based RPG where the only meaningful question is "How much damage did this whatever move do to me?" So for those reasons I applaud Undertale. Even still, there's a lot of walking back and forth with no major purpose beyond "it was decided the game should be a little bit inconvenient here," adding some unnecessary tedium to the mix. In short, Undertale's a generally good time, but if you want it to be even better, just pretend you haven't read anything I just said.
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#33 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PS5 - 7.5/10 (Solid)
2018 was a big year for Miles Morales. In the fall he showed up in the PS4 title Marvel's Spider-Man as a major supporting character, and by the end of the year he was stunning cinema audiences in the fantastic Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as the primary protagonist. It's no surprise then that by 2020, with his brand so hot, Sony and Insomniac Games would cash in with a follow-up title to the hit PS4 game with Miles front and center. And for the most part, the game is what you'd expect it to be from that basic pitch: more of the same from 2018, only focusing on Miles' family, his new home of Harlem and its people, and his path to becoming a fully fledged hero in his own right. That's all fine, but here's the problem: all of it has been done better before, and recently to boot. Miles' story of personal growth and family drama was handled better in the Spider-Verse series, even though MSM:MM wisely walks chooses to walk some different beats along the way. "Superhero of Harlem" was done masterfully by Netflix with the Luke Cage series (the first season, at least) back in 2016, and MSM:MM doesn't even try to address any issues beyond the most surface level. And the "more of the same" gameplay?
Well, admittedly that's still pretty good. Web swinging is as fun as ever to the point that there's an XP challenge to web swing at high speed for a full cumulative hour of real time and I caught myself thinking, "Hmm, maybe..." There are fast travel points that unlock relatively early on, but the joy of traversal feels like the main point of the game, so why would you bother? Miles also gets some new Spidey moves related to his bio-electric powers, and these are really fun and impactful to pull off, such that "more of the same" isn't in this case a damning phrase. And yet, it's also distinctly not "more, but better." In order to emphasize your new powers, the goons you fight (now including women for the first time I can recall ever seeing in a superhero game like this) have upgraded their own abilities as well, which means the simple pleasure of chaining big combos is a bit diminished. Maybe this enemy just blocks all your basic attacks and stops you cold. Maybe this one turns the tables to dodge and counter you. Or maybe you're just constantly surrounded by a flood of dudes with guns and rocket launchers and you feel like you never get a chance to press "punch" without being thoroughly punished.
Now add to that the game's relatively brief length and general lack of meaningful activities compared to its predecessor, as well as its truly awful villains and the ho-hum plot that they service, and you've got a title that's decidedly a step back from what came before. Of course, what came before was excellent, so even a step back still lands you in territory that's quite fun to play around with. My 6-year-old summed it up best when he came downstairs to ask me a question one day and caught me playing: "Whoa...how are you Spider-Man?!" Which is to say that Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a game that really makes you feel like a wannabe Spider-Man who hasn't gotten it all figured out just yet. And I guess that's all right.
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Coming in June:

• I've had less time for PC gaming lately for a couple of different reasons, but I'm expecting that to be a temporary thing, and I don't think I'm in danger of failing to finish Mass Effect 3 by the end of June. I didn't realize the version of the game I had included all the DLC. Nor did I actually know what any of the DLC was. So I was quite a ways into the game and feeling great about my progress when I got suspicious that the section I was playing wasn't actually base game content. I looked it up and found that, in fact, about 90% of what I'd played to date was DLC and I'd barely actually started the base game itself. That explains why the main story was taking a while to get off the ground, at any rate.
• Speaking of getting off the ground, my journey through The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom began impatiently a few months after release, but I took an extended break from the game and have now spent pretty much all of May continuing my thorough trek through the game world. I'm well over 200 hours into the game and am only several days away from having explored the entirety of the game's map. At which point I believe I'll finally advance the main quest past its initial stage.
• In my review for Rogue Legacy 2 above I mentioned the Castlevania franchise, which I feel I can speak to as a whole given that I've finished nearly every game in the series to date. Unsurprisingly I felt most drawn to the metroidvania style games, so there was a layer of disappointment in exhausting the last of those to discover. Disappointment that will soon be temporarily eradicated when I boot up Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, produced by that same creative mind.
• And more...

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