39 Days

20 People

1 Survivor

As I mentioned in numerous other threads, the winner of Survivor can be a highly contentious topic for many fans simply due to the nature of the game based around the jury. A player can be the most dominant, most likable, or most physical contestant in the show’s history, but if the losers do not want to vote for them, they won’t win the million dollars. While this has become a bit more contentious in recent seasons, Survivor has always had its controversies throughout the show’s history. Nowhere did this debate blow up more than the airing of Season 19: Survivor Samoa, where America was introduced to Survivor’s most infamous contestant: Russell Hantz

What Is Survivor?

Skip if you read any of my other threads.

Survivor is a reality television competition where contestants are stranded on a deserted location and compete for a million dollars while living with the bare essentials. Upon arrival, contestants are split up into teams, called tribes, and compete for rewards to improve their living conditions as well as immunity from Tribal Council. The losing contestants must make the trek to Tribal Council to vote someone off their tribe: whoever has the most votes will be eliminated from the game. When about half the cast has been eliminated, the tribes are merged into one and contestants must then compete individually to win immunity. Finally, when only a handful of castaways remain, the contestants who have made it to the merge but were voted off form a jury that chooses which remaining contestant will earn the title of Sole Survivor, winner of the million dollar grand prize.

Each season varies in structure, and there are numerous twists and changes incorporated to switch things up, but Survivor at its core is truly a social game. The winner is usually not the one who wins the most challenges or does the most work at camp (though both of those traits can certainly help), but someone who can form strong bonds with others or at the very least have a story and strategy that the jury is willing to vote for. The winning contestant must be able to form a solid alliance, be respected by their peers, and search for any in-game advantages

Rome around Christmas was magical, just like in any time of the year. Even in a world as cruel and unforgiving as their own, people could find some joy and wonder in the sight of the various nativity scenes shown from Santa Maria Maggiore to Saint Peter Square, or the smell of roasted chestnuts sold around the street corners. This would be the first Christmas Giovanni would’ve spent in Rome, as he had moved there from Liguria to attend one of the Papal Capital’s universities. His guide that day was quite the personality: Lucrezia, the daughter of a rich roman merchant, raised like an aristocrat, but also taught how to navigate the festivals and streets of Rome – after all, public appearances had always been important in politics.Lucrezia had brought him to Piazza Navona, and Andrea marvelled at the sight of the many stalls, which sat by the sides of the magnificent square, as a procession slowly marched on: Patricians, with their colourful and bright banners, trumpets and shiny armours, the cardinals with their scarlet robes and their standards, as they marched through the cheers of the common folk. Between a sip of mulled wine and another, Andrea’s attention got caught by a figure riding a horse in by the Holy Father’s carriage, surrounded by the formidable swiss guard, a man who wore a purple cloak around his back. The outsider turned towards Lucrezia, asking - “Who’s that man?” - with a curious tone, whereas the woman simply shook her head “The Defensor Fidei! The shield and sword of the Pope! I thought you’d be able to recognize the banner!” she said, over-emphasizing each pompous title with sarcasm. Andrea felt slightly irritated by those words, almost calling him provincial, but the air of celebration quickly improved his mood once again.

As the days are ever shorter and the nights get longer, we make our way to the shores of Italy for our new After the End: Eurasia Development Diary, the 11th one at that! Always note that every feature is still wip and subject to change.The Italian Peninsula has long been in an interesting position: both the cradle of the Renaissance and the Roman Empire, and the home of uncountable squabbling city states and petty kingdoms. After the End, this can still be very much said to be true in 2666. Cultures have turned towards their own local dialects, as old banners rise to the wind.In the North, a plot has unfolded, threatening to ruin peace in the region. In

Cover|Vol.1|Previous|Next|Map|Wiki+Discord|Royal Road

This is Part.2, please read Part.1

Sorry again for the awkward cut. Got too close to the character count again, enjoy.

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Link to part 1.

Link to part 2.

Link to part 3.

Link to part 4.

Link to part 5.

10: VALDOR

• Valdor suits up for battle:

>Valdor entered the arming chamber. A dozen attendant serfs were waiting for him, each bearing a piece of his armour. Some articles were supported by two or more pairs of hands, given the weight of the individual auramite segments, and all shone with a glassy, almost dazzling lustre.
>
>In the earliest days of the long campaign, even the Legio Custodes had not worn this gold. They had made do with what could be provided by the fledgling state they had been created to protect, and their weapons and protection had been almost as crude as those they had fought against. Slowly, slowly, the artifice had increased. Techwrights and artisans were brought to the Sigillite’s orbit and pressed into more strenuous service than they had known before. Old skills were recovered, new techniques devised. The new ceramic compounds used in protective war-plate were the greatest leap forward – stronger and more heat-resistant than their metallic counterparts, and capable of being tooled with incredible precision. Motive power could be coupled effectively to the machined units, giving the wearer precise control over the level of power assistance. Many warlords on Terra employed versions of so-called ‘power armour’, but none of them had access to anything like this.
>
>So when Valdor looked at his armour now, he saw the way every component fitted perfectly against his flesh, the way every component slotted perfectly against the others. Every sinew-link, every fibre-bundle, every synapse-jack – they were all works of art, tailored to him alone and wearable by no other soul. Once donned, the division between armour and wearer was more a matter of semantics than anything else – for all practical purposes, they became one unit, a seamless amalgam of genebred muscle and lab-wrought nanotechnology.

• We get a lavishly detailed d

Just binged all three seasons, I enjoyed it a lot. So watchable. And I have to give a shout out to the acting. So many absolutely hateable douchebags, but such distinct and complete characters. Logan and Tom and Roman are all so totally awful, but in such distinct and fully-drawn-in ways.

That said, I do think the show rattles along so fast and has such watchable and hateable characters that it's easy to miss things that either don't really make sense or are just dropped. For instance:

-Greg's name is presumably still on the log as being the person who signed out all the papers to be shredded. He was trying to record an incriminating discussion with Tom. Kendall hints at that with his threat to burn him, which Comfrey later reminds us of. But then... that goes nowhere?

-Suddenly these GOP hopefuls come out of nowhere, and are super important for one episode, and Roman DEFINITELY has gay vibes with one of them, and then... poof?

-Kendall quite sincerely seems to want to "get out". But now at the end he has the perfect opportunity to but... doesn't want to any more?

-Whatever happened to Marcia? She was presented as this super-machiavellian schemer with her own agenda, and a bit plot point back in season 1 was her getting two votes in the family trust. Then that was just dropped. And so was, more or less, her character? Was she so outraged that Logan had had an affair with Holly Hunter that she wanted a divorce? That could not possibly have been his first affair, why was that one so important?

Most bizarre, at least to me (someone who knows very little about how big businesses are actually structured) is how much or little seats on the board of directors of Waystar seem to matter. I thought that directors were elected by shareholders at the company meeting... and in fact, that was basically the entire point of owning stock to begin with. But way back in season 1 when Kendall's first coup fails, Logan just instantly fires everyone who voted against him. Can he do that? But then later on, it's a HUGE deal that Stewy and Sandy get four seats on the board. But that means they actually matter, and have influence, right? If not, why did they care so much? But then all of a sudden at the end of season 3, Logan is just making this sell-the-company deal totally out of nowhere. Don't Stewy-and-Sandy matter at all now? And aren't some of Logan's kids on the board?

Definitely an excellent show, and I'm eager for season 4, but I'm curious if anyone can c

Hello everyone, have been a longtime lurker but I've wanted to start writing my own takes for fun instead of just chatting to people about politics. Do let me know if this isn't the place to dump this stuff but I've written a (pretty fucking lengthy) post about where I think the Tories are going and if it gets any of you thinking or starts a discussion I'll call that a win x

Now that the media have started saying things like ‘this is the beginning of the end for Boris Johnson’ we can be fairly sure there’s at least a reasonable chance Tory MPs are thinking the same and feeding back to their contacts in the BBC, Spectator, Daily Mail and elsewhere that they’re very cross with the PM.

An inexhaustive and brief summary of why different parts of the party (all of which have large and complex overlap) are angry with Johnson would look something like this:

The remaining (in both sense of the word) liberal-conservatives are frustrated with Boris because of all the Brexitish, culture warrish, right-wing stuff; the Tory right are annoyed about all the Channel migrant crossings, the existence of (limited) COVID restrictions and the lack of progress on ruining the Irish peace process; the economic liberals see Boris as betraying the small-state, low-spending traditions of the party; plenty of particularly older men in the parliamentary party are anxious that they’ve either been passed up for promotion or been demoted to make way for fresh Northern and/or minority ethnic blood; and all Tory factions are angry about The Trolley’s (as Dominic Cummings calls him) lying and inconstancy on issues as varied as whether or not he knew who was paying for the redecoration of his Downing Street flat, whether or not Owen Patterson should be rescued from suspension for breaking lobbying rules, and whether or not illegal Christmas parties took place at Downing Street last year.

Apparently, his flirtation with compulsory vaccination, which the BBC has used as a basis for producing a fairly supportive sounding explainer on the subject, has Tory MPs feeling like they no longer know him. Throw into the mix Labour’s new lead in the polls and the survey findings showing that a majority of the public think Johnson should resign, and you can see, even after decades of self-serving melodrama which has yet to bring him down, why the parliamentary party are beginning to think Boris may no longer be a winner.

So, imagine that in six months time Johnson has been unable to steady the shi

Secret societies of human psychics called greys and invading aliens, aka what happens when the Shil'vati recruit the grain of truth behind the human myths of vampires and sorcerers.

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Part forty: Behold the halls of bullshit and confusion

Edgar mulled over what he had seen in Seilinka’s memories.

The feelings both caused and experienced in her memories of being a part of this company was rather horrifying, it wasn’t a corporate company but rather a military division under the consortiums centralised command.

The fact that above a certain level the higher ranking absolutely had an utter stranglehold on the metal supply and purposely kept the rest at the bare minimum to survive.

Edgar at first had been surprised at the bio functions of Seilinka’s armoured suit, then as its implications dawned on him, he became dourer and angry.

The suit aside from being special forces armour was a body waste reclamation system, skin sweat urine faecal matter it was all made to extract the most of the metal it could from anything shed from her body, there were even small processing ports for her to feed in hair or the bones of her dead comrades to extract their bodies metals from organs she could not functionally cannibalise.

He had wondered whether Kiri’s description of what they were going to do with the baby was accurate, the sheer cold efficiency of the armour mixed with Seilinka’s memories answered that.

But there was more and he knew that she wasn’t actively trying to hide anything it was just that her memories and mind had been tampered with to not be able to remember certain things.

Edgar’s proposal was simple transport the mother and child to Ahriman, there they would be examined carefully buy the elders and the tribe’s best specialists in both medicine and memory tampering.

Tribe…. They weren’t exactly a tribe any more, legally they were a noble household and in effect a sovereign vassal nation under the shil’vati.

Quite a few of the interior wanted the woman interrogated by their methods, which meant torture and threats which would also mean they wanted the child to make good on those threats.

The imperial military wanted some measure of oversight and ass

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

The brothers were the main reason I started this series. They are the prime example I know of where the writers thoughts and their product are on two different universes. I think it's best I continue with them.

The Brothers Context

According to Miles in the V4 Commentary, Fennec and Corsac, as mentioned earlier, were characters originally conceived pre Volume 1, being the 2nd and 3rd Faunus thought about after Blake.

Ignoring how odd it is that they aimed to make the minority Civil Rights group evil from the getgo in 2013 (the same year of the Black Lives Matter movement, right after a black teen was killed by police and they continued to push how evil the Fang is instead of changing this), they were to play a much larger role working with Torchwick.

Miles said:

>Something about them that we wanted to hone in on was the fact that they are schemers. They're never the ones on the front lines with the biggest sword, ready to crack some skulls. They are the ones who are convincing the guy on the front line that what they're doing is totally the right idea.

Sigh.

Here we go.

The Hype Versus Reality

I hope you can see where the issues arise already. The writers had the Albains in the back of their minds since before the show started, so have been thinking about them for much longer than the audience has seen them. In their minds, they really did show how the Albains were manipulative shadow operatives. They assumed that's what we see too. That way, it would have been a big shock to see them personally try to kill Ghira and Kali. But the information that they currently put doesn't gel with this:

• Middle Managers:

\"We're not... that manipulative, are we brother?\" \"Hush now, too late to be sad, we were ruined since our conception - at least with these two as our writers.\" \"And they say Tyrian is the crazy one.\"

There is only one instance where the Albains can be considered sneaky schemers is when they sent an assassin (Yuma) after Ghira's messenger. The issue is they were introduced as high ranking White Fang representatives to begin with, so them giving orders to lower ranking White Fang members is not them being manipulative, it's them doing their

Now this might be a no-brainer, but I think it might lend some insight into what's going on between the pyramids of Meereen.

Hizdahr appears to be what is a typical Ghiscari noble: A trader (of lives), not a warrior; rich and extravagant to the brink; lusting for power and coin; yet in the end weak and unfit to rule. He buys up the Fighting Pits when their course is low, in what seems to be a Wolf-of-Wallstreet-type bold move, and then pesters Dany until she reopens them so he can make big profit. He tells Dany that he only cares for being King because of his own vanity, and the only thing he really does as King is fulfilling his weird fixation with the Fighting Pits, finally reopening them to make le big profit.

But I always thought his attitude to Kingship fishy. Why does he treat his crown as if it was simply an accessoire? Shouldn't he be aware that there comes great risk and a lot of grey hair with being king? It's not a fun job, and Hizdahr only seems to learn that when Dany is gone and he has to deal with the Yunkai'i by himself. And where does his fixation with the Fighting Pits stem from? Did he really believe that, if only he annoys Dany for long enough, she would give in and allow him to make profit? He put a fortune into buying (admittetly, cheap) Fighting Pits, so it does seem he was either a) really certain that they would be reopened or b) he bought them for more reason than just coin.

So what I'm thinking is this: Hizdahrs make-up as an extravagant, superficial, narcissist merchant-noble is a shtick, for the most part at least. He is in that regard very similar to Illyrio, who also plays the fat lad that's only interested in money and cool titles, besides actually having "ulterior" motives that he tries to hide.

Although Hizdahr isn't really hiding his motive that well, but it appears that noone around him (neither Dany nor Barristan at least) really takes him serious when he is upfront about it. I'm talking about this quote by him:

"Before you came Meereen was dying. Our rulers were old men with withered cocks and crones whose puckered cunts were dry as dust. They sat atop their pyramids sipping apricot wine and talking of the glories of the Old Empire whilst the centuries slipped by and the very bricks of the city crumbled all around them. Custom and caution had an iron grip upon us till you awakened us with fire and blood. A new time has come, and new things are possible."

If I'm correct and Hizdahr is to be taken serious about h

Pilot on me!!

Part one here.

Part two here.

6: KANDAWIRE

• Kandawire and Armina, her chief aide, are en route to meet Ophar, "hurrying from the inner Council chambers towards the reception suites." The guards on duty attempt to look alert as a High Lord passes by, but they are failing.
  • The security detail on duty in the offices of the High Lords, the highest echelon of civilian government, is made up of non-augmented, undisciplined baseline humans.
• Armina wonders if Valdor cut off the interview in response to Kandawire insulting him, but Kandawire brushes her off, stating that she has been granted another audience.
  • Kandawire is surprised that Valdor, in her estimation, "wants to talk. Imagine that. I thought it would be like drawing blood from a stone," and that even after everything he's accomplished, "he talks like a man without pride."
• Armina expresses doubt as to the necessity of the interviews, "even if you have as many hours as you need. We are already committed. We have been committed for months."
  • This is the first outright confirmation that Kandawire's enquiry includes action (that the Custodes might consider hostile) beyond information gathering, which was hinted at in Ophar's chapter.
• Before Ophar gives his report, Armina activates a "clandestine sweeper-baffle" to ensure they are not being spied upon. "Having listening devices in the Council chambers of the High Lords was unlikely, but not impossible; in its short life, the civilian administration of the Imperium had become almost as paranoid as the military."
• Ophar first confirms Kandawire's suspicion that "the Custodians are withdrawing from the main patrol routes, and concentrating on the Senatorum complex... they appear to be going somewhere underground... I suspect there are chambers down there that none of us has access to. ... whatever the truth of that, it's clear to me that there are very few of them here. Tiny numbers, far fewer than I expected. ... so many are fighting elsewhere, that the ones here are stretched to breaking. Perhaps that's why he's come back now? There will never be a better time, but it can't last."
  • What's going on down there? Tantalizing question.
  • Now that "he's come back," clearly referring the Valdor, "there will never be a better time." A

Check your mind, you're free to follow. All the friends that you can borrow. Everbody's so much fun. To pay for all the lunches done. Always trying to beat the rest. You're always trying to be..." - Lyrics from Tinsel Town by Seal

In an interview with a television channel last year during time of SSR’s suicide, Rhea Chakraborty mentioned that Sushant Singh Rajput was troubled with his co-star Sanjana Sanghi and publicist Rohini Iyer. Publicists go to the extent of telling the stars whom they should meet, date and party with. Rhea Chakraborty mentioned, “Sanjana Sanghi and Rohini Iyer troubled him a lot. Rohini had introduced us but later she stopped talking to us. Sanjana and Rohini, Sushant thought, were part of a big nexus. It was odd that if I am doing a film, a big film, why would you take so much time to clarify the #MeToo allegations? I want this to be investigated. Why will I keep quiet for one-and-a-half months? Wherever she (Sanjana Sanghi) was, be it America or anywhere on Earth, she would have had Google. Every budding actor check news about them. So, did she not know about such a big piece of news?”

When Kawn, a well-known talent management agency of Mumbai came to news for all wrong reasons, it made us think about the power of the agencies. According to reports, Kawn found itself in the middle of the Bollywood drug probe carried out by the Narcotics Control Bureau. Deepika Padukone has been a client of the agency since 2013.

Names like Jayanti (Jaya) Saha, Karishma Prakash and Shruti Modi have cropped up during the probe. Mumbai’s popular celebrity managers, Jaya and Shruti used to manage Sushant and Rhea Chakraborty under their company Kwan. Jaya’s colleague Karishma Prakash is Deepika Padukone’s manager. Deepika has been an exclusive client of Kwan since 2013. The agency got an alleged WhatsApp chat between Karishma and Deepika related to drugs.

The trend of hiring a specialised publicist who can handle the press, the controversies and gossip were always in demand. And it’s an open secret that Bollywood thrives on publicity and anybody who can help the star in doing it even if he/she demands an obnoxious sum of money is a winner.

Dale Bhagwagar who has been the longest surviving Bollywood publicist and has spent around 33 years in the industry since 1997 recollects that when he stepped into this profession, most of the publicists during those days were not very learned.

He reminisces, “I got a lot of new trends in the industry and I k

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "

I won't be doing that today!

You take away their little brooms

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

There hasn't been a post all year!

It’s pronounced “Noel.”

What, then, is Chinese rap?

Edit:

Notable mentions from the comments:

• Spanish/Swedish/Swiss/Serbian hits

• French/Finnish art

• Country/Canadian rap

• Chinese/Country/Canadian rock

• Turkish/Tunisian/Taiwanese rap

There hasn't been a single post this year!

(Happy 2022 from New Zealand)

They’re on standbi

thanks for the great response. I'll start putting forward and back buttons in here too.

previous

next

This was it. Taiyaki Riku had been waiting his whole life for this moment. A beautiful princess had summoned him earlier and told him of his terrible purpose. And now at this moment the King and Queen of all of humanity were asking him to fight a demon lord alongside 6 other heroes. Video games and manga had prepared him in every way for any possible obstacle and gave him so many good ideas to advance these poor people.

"And now we will finally check your classes for all to see." almost like a sports event the literal stadium of nobles and peasants alike cheered. The King from his box looked down on the seven heroes, each one having a prince or princess behind them. He motioned for a group of priests to make their way across the dusty colosseum while a... a screen activated over the king and queen's box. Probably magical.

Just as he was about to be the first to be presented the orb the doors to that they were lead through earlier burst open letting two more people into the arena.

"WAIT! I the eighth princess have for the first time ever summoned an eighth hero for the demon lord subjugation!" a younger version of his sweet savior, princess Abby strode boldly into the last place in line as the king pinched the bridge of his nose. She was obviously a troublesome daughter if she would be late like this. Abby even explained that only seven could be summoned so it might even be a ruse to get attention. He would have to watch out for her as a troublemaker.

The hero she brought was definitely not Japanese like the rest of them. And he was old as hell, like wasn't getting isekaied for high school students only? There had to be some kind of age cut-off. Wait... he had a GUN! That cheating bastard was just walking into another world with a revolver and a belt full of bullets. He was dressed like a full-on cowboy from the old west too. I mean at least get the genre right if you're going to intrude where you aren't wanted. And why was he holding a flower pot?

*************************************************************************************

If it hadn't been for the impending doom of the empire and Haven as a whole King

Bob

Just to clarify, 12345678

So that I could frequently say, "I am going to walk 5 miles now."

Edit: My most popular post on Reddit! 😀 Thank you for the awards.

Me grabbing a soda from my (what I thought was) half full 12pk...

Notices there's only 2;

Me: "Awe man... This is a damn bird box!" Her: "What the hell does that mean?!" Me: (Pulls both cans out & shows them to her) "It's only got Toucans."

I'm not ashamed to admit the look on her face was glorious.

Do your worst!

After all his first name is No-vac

I was just sitting there doing nothing.