There’s an episode where at the very end his eye talks about how it made itself a king and it shows a picture of the eye on some sort of throne with a crown. Did the eye at some point kill Bunnicula? I ask this because on the thrown on the back there’s like two hornish things that kinda have his fur pattern on it but then also behind the eye there’s teeth. Makes me wonder if it just really likes bunnicula or if at some point on their adventures it decided to end Bunnicula

Spoilers ahead…
Dear Karthik Subbaraj,
Congratulations on yet another interesting movie, and for resisting the impulse to name this one, too, after a food item. Iraivi is an unusual feminist film, in the sense that it’s seen entirely through the prism of sympathetic male characters. Your men aren’t monsters who drink or cheat on their wives or subject them to torture. They do these things, yes, but… differently. Arul (SJ Surya) drinks, but only to drown out his sense of failure – he’s a director and his film is in the cans, being held hostage by a sadistic producer. Michael (Vijay Sethupathi) has sex with Malarvizhi (Pooja Devariya), and he continues to lust after her after his marriage to Ponni (Anjali) – I love that all your women have names that suggest classical heroines, including Arul’s wife Yazhini (Kamalini Mukherjee) – but it’s a marriage he committed to in a hurry and he still hasn’t reconciled himself to it. He’s being a bastard, certainly, but he’s not a one-note villain. And the torture they inflict isn’t the stubbing-a-cigarette-into-the-wife’s-bare-arm variety. It’s more mental than physical.
So we get women who are collateral damage – and I include Arul’s comatose mother (Vadivukkarasi), and the nurse who’s not allowed to do her duty – of men being men. They’re being babies, really. Yazhini tells Arul that he should get on with his life, write another story, make another movie. He says it’s like her trying to have another child while still pregnant with their daughter. (Yes, all these men end up with girl children.) He’s a wallower – but maybe all artists are. You like to do that, don’t you Karthik? Even in a film like this, you deliver a commentary about filmmaking and the artist. Why, even Arul’s father is a sculptor, and though we never see him ill-treating his wife (thank you for sparing us the clichés of raised hands and raised voices), we’re informed that he’s responsible for her state. His son’s following the father’s footsteps. Maybe you’re trying to say that the wives of obsessed artists are doomed to become collateral damage. Your films make us think, Karthik, so thank you for that.
All your stories have at their centre a filmmaker, or at least (in the case of your first film, Pizza) a storyteller. And through them, we seem to hear your voice. “Works of art should not be in places where they are not respected.” “Namma padam pesanum, naama pesa koodadhu.” You compare masala movies to a massage with a happy ending. (I laughed, but please don’t judge me when I say I rather like massages with happy endings – I refer to masala movies, of course.) We even get a line of dialogue about Dolby Atmos. (What will the B/C-centre audience make of this, Karthik? But then you don’t really give a shit, do you? More power to you.) And you like your insider jokes. That crass, egoistic producer who does not care about art – he reminded me of the crass producer from your earlier film, Jigarthanda. You like Rajinikanth too. You referenced Thillu Mullu in Pizza, Thalapathi in Jigarthanda, and now you have Arul singing Malayala karayoram, Michael singing Oorai therinjikitten.
Or is that more of an Ilayaraja homage? You like to keep the audience guessing, right? When the Bobby Simha character in Jigarthanda said he was a Shankar-Ganesh fan, it appeared that you were mocking the endless Ilayaraja nods in Tamil cinema, but here you are, doffing your hat to the maestro. “Raja Raja dhaan.” Arul says this… twice. (By the way, which is that nightclub which plays Maanguyile poonguyile? Do let us know.) And the reuse of Unnai thaane – first in a scene between Michael and Malarvizhi; later in a scene between Michael and Ponni – is the kind of Easter egg we come to your films for. Let me list some others, though I’ll probably need to watch the film a second (or third) time to get them all. The name of the bachelors’ quarters is Ambal Mansion – it goes with your theme and title. I didn’t get the bit about the windmills (something connected to the gust of wind that makes the row of cycles fall over in the first scene?), or why you showcased the book of Shanta Shishunala Sharif’s poems. (I confess. I Googled up that name. I can’t remember the last time a Tamil film made me Google something up. Madras, maybe.) And despite your note at the beginning that Iraivi is inspired by the works of K Balachander (he made female-centric films, but I don’t know if I’d call them feminist films), this is really more of an ode to Mani Ratnam, isn’t it? Specifically, Aayidha Ezhuthu. The three men, one of them – the impulsive one – named Michael. The film starting out as Arul’s story, then becoming Michael’s story, and finally Jagan’s (Bobby Simha) story. The finale with the woman on the train. Plus, the arc of the Madhavan-Meera Jasmine plot was essentially about being easily misled (in the case of the man) and becoming collateral damage (in the case of the woman.) And yes, the rain. All that rain. As though the skies were weeping for these women.
Am I digressing, Karthik? If I am, I’m just following your style, which is the opposite of simple and linear. As a result, I find your films longer than they need to be. (You may feel the same about my reviews.) For instance, I did not care for the scene in the nightclub where a director is felicitated. I realise it was there as a last straw for Yazhini, but it felt redundant. But I suppose they couldn’t be any other way, because you like these shaggy-dog stories that you then embellish with novelistic detail. I love the way you introduce your characters, the time you take with them. Our films lay out characters and their relationship to each other the minute we set eyes on them, but you make us wait to know how Arul is related to Jagan and where Michael fits in and so on. And when it appeared that a semblance of a plot was kicking in (something about Arul needing money to buy back his film), I dug out my phone and checked: it was a whole hour into the movie. Borrowing an image from Malarvizhi’s profession (oh wait, she’s an artist too; she’s literally an artist), it’s like daubs of paint slowly forming a bigger picture.
And you really like an expansive canvas. Not only does the crass producer have a brother, you also bring in his wife later on, to conclude a deal he began making. These segments practically form a mini-movie, with another woman left reeling by the actions of her man. Your films have this… density. They’re packed – with characters, with complications, with information doled out in bits and pieces. (A character says, “Un kitta onnu sollanum.” And instead of hearing what he has to say, we cut to someone else.) Take the scene where Michael asks Arul for money he is owed. You just need to get Michael to Arul’s antiques shop, so the next part of the plot can be staged. Arul could have told Michael to collect the money at the shop. Instead, this is what we get. Arul tells Michael to wait for a week, when he can get the 50 lakhs he is owed. Michael says he wants only 10 lakhs. Arul says he has only 8 lakhs, he’ll give the remainder later. Michael goes to Arul’s father, in the hospital. He has only 5 lakhs. And he directs Michael to the shop, to get the remaining 3 lakhs. Your signature intercutting adds to this texture, Karthik. Shots of Michael and Arul’s father in the hospital are intercut with shots of Arul hunting for booze. Shots of Michael and Jagan outside a courtroom are intercut with shots of Arul being consoled by his father. Happenings are stretched and meshed the way they would be in real life, and not compacted according to the page-per-minute requirement of screenplay-writing textbooks.
I could never predict where the film was going (win!), what these people were going to do (again, win!) –though I must admit I found this to be the weakest of your “twists.” The subplot about stealing sculptures, too, I found rather conceit-y, something half-heartedly cooked up to fit with the title and the theme, rather than something plausible, something these people would do. When Michael, here, commits murder, with a hammer, I went, “This mild-mannered chap? Really?” But then, even in Jigarthanda, I wasn’t quite convinced that the characters would do the things they did. They seemed to be puppets of a screenplay rather than credible human beings, whose actions evolve organically from who they are (or at least, who they seem to be).
But even if I am not convinced by the overall trajectory of your characters, I love how fleshed-out they are on a moment-to-moment basis. I loved the scene where Arul barges into Yazhini’s house, after their separation, on the day of her engagement to someone else. In a lesser film, she would have asked him to get out, and he’d have dug his heels in, and she’d have cooled down and… But here, she rushes straight into his arms. And you make us see why. She was frustrated, fed up with him. But she’s also confused. Was she hasty in abandoning this man? Should she move on with another man? Does she even need a man? With just this one scene, you’ve compensated for the underwritten heroine of Jigarthanda. The story arc may be Arul’s, but Yazhini registers as a fully formed character. Similarly, Michael’s arc allows for the delineation of Ponni and Malarvizhi, and through Jagan, we get glimpses of his mother, and possibly of all womanhood as viewed by a compassionate man. And then you say that women don’t need even this compassionate man (poor chap!), that they have to emancipate themselves instead of looking for a penis-wielding emancipator. What delicious irony, given that you begin the film with women talking about marriage, tying themselves to a man!
Or not, in the case of Malarvizhi, who is easily the film’s most interesting character. Her husband is dead, and she doesn’t want love anymore – only sex. When Michael buys her a diamond necklace, she gives it back to him – she can buy her own trinkets, thank you very much. But the character feels shoe-horned into the film, Karthik. I felt betrayed – and I bet she did too – that after a point, she was used simply as a plot device to get Michael and Ponni together, and also to illustrate Michael’s (who is now standing in for all of mankind) hypocrisy. I felt she deserved more. And yet, I appreciated your generosity in fleshing her out like all the others, without judging her. She gets to be the rare woman in Tamil cinema who dumps the man, and the way she lets go of Michael is echoed in the way Arul lets go of Yazhini, with a heavy heart and some playacting. A side effect of the Malarvizhi subplot is the reassurance that Vijay Sethupathi is still interested in making cinema, rather than just massy entertainers targeted at the box office.
Ponni gets a better deal (and Anjali is terrific, raw and expressive in a way she has never been). In a great scene – rather, a set of book-ending scenes – Michael tells Ponni that he was forced to marry her, and she’s going to have to “adjust” to this if she wants to be with him. Much later, she throws the “adjust” word back on his bearded face when he asks her if she slept with someone else. In a different kind of movie, we’d be invited to see this symmetry, stand up and applaud. But you’re too subtle for that, Karthik. Iraivi is your subtlest film. Which is why I winced at the melodramatic lines about men and women, most of which came towards the end. Aan, using the long-sounding vowel, versus penn, with the shorter one – for such a visual filmmaker (this is another outstandingly shot film, less showy than Jigarthanda and probably richer for that), do you really need the crutch of linguistic special effects from another era of filmmaking? Also, when the rest of your film is so allusive, isn’t there another way you can explain the twist without having a character resort to such an inelegant information dump?
And why is it that your films come together more in the head than in the heart? Why are they easier to admire than love wholeheartedly? I used to think it was because your characters are essentially deceitful, self-serving and unsympathetic, so though we were invested in what they did, we didn’t really warm up to them. But here, you have Ponni and Yazhini and Malarvizhi – and they’re still remote. But perhaps this is bound to happen when there are so many people, so many strands, when we don’t follow one person’s simplistic “you go, girl” journey like we do in, say, 36 Vayadhinile? But when the parts are so well-crafted, we don’t complain as much about their sum not adding up to a satisfying whole. I am sure that you will, one day, make that wholly satisfying film, but for now, thank you for these parts. Thank you for the ambition. I felt there were too many songs (some good work by Santhosh Narayanan), but thank you for ensuring that they don’t break character, the way songs usually do when a character speaking in his or her voice suddenly segues into the playback singer’s voice. Thank you for giving us SJ Surya, the actor – I never dreamed he had such a capacity to hold a scene, to hold the screen. Thank you for continuing not to sell out. Thank you for trying to do so much, even if not all of it needed to have been tried. And thank you for making me fight with myself, for not making it easy to decide if you’ve made a “good” film or a merely “okay” film. For now, Iraivi is a fascinating film, and that’s enough.
Sincerely, etc.

I have two Etsy stores, one is a handmade store that gives me a decent income, one is a supply store that used to be a good income but I've really, really neglected because my other store has taken priority. Basically as I grew my handmade store I opened wholesale accounts, and I used those wholesale accounts to also buy supplies to sell in my supply store.
I started my handmade store because I was already making items on commission in my community, and I needed an easy way to handle communications and sales. Since the end of 2017 I've grown year on year, and I'm now at the stage where I'm considering reducing my hours in my day job because I really would like more of a social life!
I wanted to post to talk about my experiences between the two shops.
My handmade store sells to a niche community of probably about ten thousand people in the UK. Some gurus will tell you that's too small to base a business on, but honestly it isn't. If you can discover a niche with an engaged community who all want to spend (decent) money on their hobby then it's more than possible. I am also a part of that community, and I can regularly be found being a part of the hobby (not just attending events to sell to participants).
In six or so years, and around 600 packages sent Royal Mail, I've had one parcel be reported missing in my handmade store. That was an international sale to Belgium.
By contrast my supply shop I've sent out about 550 packages by Royal Mail in three years. My supply shop is a much broader niche (it's a fabric store). I don't know my community, I'm just another face in a vast global hobby. I regularly have people report that their package hasn't arrived. I use the same packaging, the same labels, the same Royal Mail services, the same Post Office as my other business. The only difference is that I am in my community as a handmade seller, but not as a supply seller.
The marketing is different too.
For my handmade store I post sporadically on Instagram. That's basically my entire marketing strategy. But my community do my marketing for me. They tell each other about the amazing thing they bought, they show it off, they post pictures about it, they recommend me on Facebook posts. They come back too - a chunk of my buyers come back to me at least once a year. Often they order one thing, and then come back with a group order for ten or twenty more.
By contrast, I made good sales in my supply store when I was actively marketing my products. I spent a lot of time learning about social media marketing and how best to do it for my business. It was labour intensive. Nobody was referring me to their friends. Nobody was talking about me online. On top of that, the profit margins were low and it all just barely felt worth it.
Anyway, I'm not dissing supply stores, or POD, or anything like that. I'm just saying that if you're trying to work out your niche then maybe look at your own communities that you're in first. If you have a great product that your community wants, they'll do most of the hard (and boring) work for you.

I have always wanted more kids. That being said,
I experienced high risk pregnancies, very traumatic births, and NICU stays, with both of my children. With my condition likely to recur (and even worse with a subsequent pregnancy), and the potential for it to create worse health issues for me down the road, my logical brain is saying we should count ourselves lucky with the family we have and be done.
I feel guilty and selfish for even considering having another child, after everything I, my partner, my family, and the baby, may go through.
I am however, struck by so much grief when I consider being done for real. My emotional side is feeling unwilling to accept this reality. I keep thinking, "How can this be happening!?" I've always envisioned a big family and at the moment I'm scared that every time I picture our family unit, I'll be reminded of what my condition took from us.
I know that having negative feelings about the decision doesn't make it the wrong one, but I would love to feel more at peace with the smart decision, if possible, because I really do think it's the best one for my family's wellbeing.
I'm scared that by not making a decision soon, or by trying to "give myself time" to accept it, I'm going to be hyperfocused on the decision until then. Furthermore, I'm scared that if I hold out hope we will have another one, and we decide not to, that I'll have missed acknowledging milestones for what they are (ex. the last time we taught our baby how to walk).
If you've had a similar dilemma, what advice would you give? What helped you decide? Did you regret your decision? What helped you feel better or more confident about your decision? Open to any feedback or ideas from your perspective.
Thanks everyone 😔💘

Ever since hearing the album two years ago, I could spend most of my time gushing about Science Fiction not just as another great Brand New album but how it just works as the final Brand New album too. And that's nowhere as relevant than with the closer, Batter Up. At 8 and a half minutes, breaking Limousine's record for the longest Brand New song at 7 minutes and 42 seconds, it's an incredibly somber and mellow number that ultimately looks band on the band's illustrious career as emo legends over the last 17 years. Jesse perfectly paints the picture here of how he never thought Brand New would be this career-defining moment for him and how much his commitment would take him all over the world. But at the same time, he yearns for that life he never had, one where Brand New wasn't his primary focus and one where he wasn't tormented by his past actions. But the interesting aspect about the song is how despite these feelings of regret, there's a bittersweet optimism of accepting the hand you're dealt with whatever curveballs life throws at you and making the most of it. "Batter up, give me your best shot". Feels so damn appropriate to use an American favorite pasttime as a metaphor for it, simple but effective. And then comes the bridge, perhaps the most important line in the whole song. "Lose whoever you once were, died and returned to the earth" Even though this line is interpreted as a sign of alienation from those around you as well as a loss of self-identity, I infer it as a personal message from Jesse to the fans. "Lose who you once were" Essentially saying, "don't be like me, make peace with your demons, get closure etc." And the feeling of optimism returns with the next line "Found ourselves back in love" (Nice reference to aloC-acoC) In a way, it reminds me of another emo legend's final closing statement, Stay True by Thursday with how Geoff asks of the bands that looked up to them as inspirations to not make the mistakes he did, even though Geoff and Jesse are kinda miles apart as people but I digress. Ultimately, Batter Up is perhaps the most appropriate way for a band to curtain call their career on. Not on a loud note with smashed guitars but akin to a quiet walkout of the theater as the credits roll. And the final chorus exemplifies perfectly with how Brand New's music will live on in our hearts (and in our earphones/speakers) "Batter up, never gets forgot" Sorry for the rambling but I just had to get this off my chest for a song that means a lot to me.

Raksha Bandhan, a festival that celebrates the sacred bond between brothers and sisters, is a day filled with love, joy, and heartfelt emotions. While the Rakhi itself is a significant part of the celebration, adding a personalized card can make the occasion even more special. Let’s explore the beauty of celebrating Raksha Bandhan with a Rakhi and a card, and how this combination can add a personal touch to the festivities.

The Significance of Rakhi

Rakhi, the sacred thread tied by a sister on her brother’s wrist, symbolizes her love, prayers, and wishes for his well-being. In return, the brother vows to protect and cherish his sister. This simple thread carries deep emotional and cultural significance, making it a central part of Raksha Bandhan.

Adding a Personal Touch with a Card

Including a card with the Rakhi adds an extra layer of sentiment and personalization. Here’s why combining a Rakhi with a card is a beautiful idea:

1. Expression of Emotions: While the Rakhi signifies the bond, a card allows you to express your feelings in words. Writing a heartfelt message can convey your love, gratitude, and the special memories you share with your brother or sister.
2. Personalization: A personalized card can reflect your unique relationship. You can include inside jokes, shared memories, and specific sentiments that only you and your sibling understand, making the card a cherished keepsake.
3. Keepsake Value: Unlike the Rakhi, which might eventually be taken off, a card can be kept and cherished for years. It becomes a lasting memento of the love and bond you share.
4. Creativity: Cards offer a canvas for creativity. From handmade designs to digital art, you can create a card that is as unique and special as your relationship with your sibling.

Tips for Choosing the Perfect Rakhi and Card

1. Select a Meaningful Rakhi: Choose a Rakhi that resonates with your brother’s style and preferences. Whether it’s a traditional Rakhi, a beaded one, or a Rakhi with precious stones, select one that he will love and appreciate.
2. Personalize the Card:
   • Message: Write a heartfelt message that conveys your love and appreciation. Share a favorite memory, express your gratitude, or simply tell your sibling how much they mean to you.
   • Design: Opt for designs that reflect your sibling’s personality. You can choose from elegant, quirky, traditional, or modern designs based on their taste.
3. Handmade Touch: If you’re crafty, consider making the card yourself. Handmade cards have a personal touch that store-bought cards can’t match. Use colorful papers, stickers, stamps, or even photos to make it unique.
4. Digital Cards: If you’re apart from your sibling, a digital card can be a great alternative. Many online platforms offer customizable templates where you can add your message and images. You can email it or share it via social media.

How to Pair Rakhi with a Card

1. Coordinated Themes: Choose a card and Rakhi that complement each other in terms of color and theme. This creates a harmonious and visually appealing gift.
2. Thoughtful Presentation:
   • Gift Box: Place the Rakhi and card in a beautiful gift box. Add a few chocolates or a small gift to make it even more special.
   • Envelope: If you prefer simplicity, pair the Rakhi with a card in a matching envelope. Decorate the envelope with stickers or ribbons for a festive touch.
3. Surprise Element: Add a little surprise to your card, like a small photo, a piece of jewelry, or a handwritten note. These small additions can make your gift even more memorable.

Conclusion

Celebrating Raksha Bandhan with a Rakhi and a personalized card brings an extra dimension of love and thoughtfulness to the occasion. It allows you to express your emotions, create lasting memories, and show your sibling how much they mean to you.
This Raksha Bandhan, take a step beyond the traditional and add a personal touch with a heartfelt card. Let the combination of Rakhi and card symbolize not only the sacred bond you share but also the unique and cherished relationship that will last a lifetime. Happy Raksha Bandhan!
Raksha Bandhan, a festival that celebrates the sacred bond between brothers and sisters, is a day filled with love, joy, and heartfelt emotions. While the Rakhi itself is a significant part of the celebration, adding a personalized card can make the occasion even more special. Let’s explore the beauty of celebrating Raksha Bandhan with a Rakhi and a card, and how this combination can add a personal touch to the festivities.

The Significance of Rakhi

Rakhi, the sacred thread tied by a sister on her brother’s wrist, symbolizes her love, prayers, and wishes for his well-being. In return, the brother vows to protect and cherish his sister. This simple thread carries deep emotional and cultural significance, making it a central part of Raksha Bandhan.

Adding a Personal Touch with a Card

Including a card with the Rakhi adds an extra layer of sentiment and personalization. Here’s why combining a Rakhi with a card is a beautiful idea:

1. Expression of Emotions: While the Rakhi signifies the bond, a card allows you to express your feelings in words. Writing a heartfelt message can convey your love, gratitude, and the special memories you share with your brother or sister.
2. Personalization: A personalized card can reflect your unique relationship. You can include inside jokes, shared memories, and specific sentiments that only you and your sibling understand, making the card a cherished keepsake.
3. Keepsake Value: Unlike the Rakhi, which might eventually be taken off, a card can be kept and cherished for years. It becomes a lasting memento of the love and bond you share.
4. Creativity: Cards offer a canvas for creativity. From handmade designs to digital art, you can create a card that is as unique and special as your relationship with your sibling.

Tips for Choosing the Perfect Rakhi and Card

1. Select a Meaningful Rakhi: Choose a Rakhi that resonates with your brother’s style and preferences. Whether it’s a traditional Rakhi, a beaded one, or a Rakhi with precious stones, select one that he will love and appreciate.
2. Personalize the Card:
   • Message: Write a heartfelt message that conveys your love and appreciation. Share a favorite memory, express your gratitude, or simply tell your sibling how much they mean to you.
   • Design: Opt for designs that reflect your sibling’s personality. You can choose from elegant, quirky, traditional, or modern designs based on their taste.
3. Handmade Touch: If you’re crafty, consider making the card yourself. Handmade cards have a personal touch that store-bought cards can’t match. Use colorful papers, stickers, stamps, or even photos to make it unique.
4. Digital Cards: If you’re apart from your sibling, a digital card can be a great alternative. Many online platforms offer customizable templates where you can add your message and images. You can email it or share it via social media.

How to Pair Rakhi with a Card

1. Coordinated Themes: Choose a card and Rakhi that complement each other in terms of color and theme. This creates a harmonious and visually appealing gift.
2. Thoughtful Presentation:
   • Gift Box: Place the Rakhi and card in a beautiful gift box. Add a few chocolates or a small gift to make it even more special.
   • Envelope: If you prefer simplicity, pair the Rakhi with a card in a matching envelope. Decorate the envelope with stickers or ribbons for a festive touch.
3. Surprise Element: Add a little surprise to your card, like a small photo, a piece of jewelry, or a handwritten note. These small additions can make your gift even more memorable.

Celebrating Raksha Bandhan with a Rakhi and a personalized card brings an extra dimension of love and thoughtfulness to the occasion. It allows you to express your emotions, create lasting memories, and show your sibling how much they mean to you.
This Raksha Bandhan, take a step beyond the traditional and add a personal touch with a heartfelt card. Let the combination of Rakhi and card from Rakhi.com symbolize not only the sacred bond you share but also the unique and cherished relationship that will last a lifetime. Happy Raksha Bandhan!

Fauxmoi is a subreddit dedicated to pop culture and celebrity gossip. Someone shares an article about Sarah Paulson (49) and her girlfriend Holland Taylor (81).
The Top Comment:
Unpopular opinion: I hate this relationship. I hate huge age gaps. It skeeves me out that when Sarah Paulson was born, Holland Taylor was 32 years old. Sarah Paulson was obviously well into adulthood when they met, but still.
With 4k upvotes, it hardly seemed unpopular. The top reply:
I think once you hit a certain age it genuinely does not matter, like a 39 year old definitely has a fully developed brain.. Not gonna stop me from laughing whenever i see pictures of them together and judging the hell outta sarah though lmao. i cannot imagine what could possibly be appealing about a relationship like that.
I don’t get this line of thinking. They didn’t meet when SP was a baby. They met after living wholes ass lives. It’s not some twilight imprinting shit 😂
Why are you judging Sarah? Are you calling olds ugly? What if someone is perfectly turned on by an old? What’s wrong with that?
I think what's upsetting or "skeevy" and "icky" is ageism. Society doesn't like old people, doesn't see them as sexual beings. Kind of infantalises them while disregarding them.
I cannot tell you how much I hate to bring this up because this exercise is bullshit 99% of the time, but in this case I can’t help but wonder if people would be pushing themselves to be so okay with this if Holland was a man. Obviously the dynamic is shifted by that change, but I’m always surprised that everyone seems to think it’s sweet, or something. It seems impossible for this relationship’s dynamic to not be affected somehow by the age gap, the generational disparity, etc.
I literally feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Isn't the whole POINT of discouraging age gap relationships to prevent abuse of the younger, more vulnerable partner? You really think Paulson's age puts her at higher risk of abuse here? If people's reaction to age gap relationships has transitioned...then what's even the fucking point of having the conversation?
I’m extremely shocked and confused. I do not like age gaps like this. Is it better that she’s not in her twenties or something? Definitely, but wow - I did not have this on my bingo card. How is everyone not in shock? Like, y’all knew about this?!!?
...Sarah herself has even alluded to mommy issues…Holland was 32 years old when Sarah was born. Besides acting, what could possibly be their common ground? The idea of a person born today becoming a potential love interest for me in 32 years is insane.
The common ground argument is so tired. How boring does one have to be to only be able to connect with someone who shares the same "common ground" as them. Even partners of the same age can have different interests, backgrounds, energy levels, etc. It's two adults clearly in love - why does it matter what their basis of connection is? You don't have to be the exact same person to love another.
The ageism is that you assume an older women couldn’t possibly have the same interests. Why can’t they like the same movies? The same music? The same restaurants?... “Besides acting” which is a huge chunk of both of their lives! That’s a ton to relate over! This kind of attitude is so dehumanizing to older people. As if they can’t acquire new experiences and tastes.
There’s also an imbalanced power dynamic in hetero relationships. Women are at high-risk for abuse from men, but we don’t generally condemn straight couples. Even though maybe we should. Instead, we let grown-ups make their own choices and hope people won’t be shitty to each other.
At what point does the age gap thing turn back around and get weird about the younger person dating the older one? With the declining faculties of 60+ age people and the mental gymnastics of coming to terms with rapidly approaching death the power dynamic has always seemed like it was heavily heavily in favor or the (in perspective) younger individual.
My 89 year old grandfather says he’s still 35 in his mind, and sometimes it feels like I’m talking to someone in my age range, he’s honestly one of the best friends I have, caring, listens to my issues, gives me great advice, has interesting insights on current events, cracks legit great jokes all the time. We mostly stay the same people through adulthood, our bodies just look a lot different.
So would you not feel a little weird if he brought home a 35-40 yr old woman?
Why are you exaggerating the age difference here? If you're comparing it to Sarah Paulson's relationship, it would be a 59 year old woman. And that seems fine, honestly.
Regardless, if the age gap doesn’t matter because they are consenting adults, what difference does it make what hypothetical age range I chose?

(continuation of part 2)
III. e) The Mobius FF x FFVII collaboration
Alright, back to our suspension world-hopping! Let’s visit the realm of Mobius FF, —more specifically, the collaboration between Mobius FF and FFVII—, where I found the most substantial evidence for my theory.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the Mobius FF (MFF) world and games, let’s begin with a bit of a summary of the parts relevant to us. The story takes place in a world called Palamecia, to which people from other worlds are inexplicably summoned. The vast majority of those who are brought there don’t remember anything from their worlds of origin or their lives before Palamecia except their names: these amnesiac people are called Blanks. The main character is Wol, accompanied by a guiding fairy of Palamecia named Echo. Echo knows a lot about the mechanisms of Palamecia, as she’s tied to the realm. The leader of this world is Vox, a being who manifests only as a voice. The first thing all Blanks remember before they wake in Palamecia is Vox telling them the rules of the realm. Incidentally, the crystals of the MFF world are teleportation crystals.
III. e) i. Devs’ Statements
Let’s review some of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration devs’ statements before diving into its story.
For both the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration and the Remake project, Kitase took on the role of producer while Nojima supervised the screenplay and wrote the scenario. The project leader was none other than the Remake trilogy’s Hamaguchi, who told a SE interviewer the following:

“We would love for you to play the [MFF x FFVII] collaboration event as you look forward to [Remake’s] release” (“Celebration of the Overseas Release of the Steam Version and FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Collaboration Event”, Square Enix).

He later hints at the collaboration’s storyline:

“This collaboration is focused on Cloud, so the other characters will not make an appearance. Players will join Cloud, who has gone astray in Palamecia, on his adventures and see how the story unfolds based on his decisions. Content-wise, FINAL FANTASY VII fans will surely become fraught with emotion as events unfold in-game (laughs).”

Kitase concurs on the emotional aspect of the collaboration in the same interview:

“When it comes to the story, I seek two things– ‘mystery’ and ‘[…] emotional impact’.”

Clearly, fans of FFVII are supposed to react emotionally to the events of the collaboration. With these statements in mind to give us perspective, we can get into the plot points relevant to our analysis. MFF x FFVII Remake comes in two parts, the relevant plot points of which I will describe and analyze one at a time.
III. e) ii. Eclipse Contact
1) Fact-Finding
Part one of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event is called Eclipse Contact. It came out in 2017 on Aerith’s birthday, February 7th, and its release campaign ran until March. In Eclipse Contact, Palamecia welcomes someone new: Cloud Strife appears in the realm with very little recollection of his core world of FFVII.
Cloud isn’t a Blank, since he recalls the mako reactors in Midgar upon his arrival in Palamecia, and also remembers that he was hired by Avalanche to blow them up:

“Echo: How did you end up in Palamecia?

Cloud: I… That day... I remember now. A job. I had taken a job. I was hired muscle protecting clients. They wanted to stop the reactor... We used a train to get past security... Was it at night? Something happened... Next thing I knew, I was floating through darkness. Then [I woke up here]”.

This piece of dialogue reveals that Eclipse Contact Cloud’s memories end at the very moment when Avalanche arrives at reactor 1 in OG (disk 1, chapter 1): the very beginning of the game. Consequently, Cloud does not remember anything that happened from the beginning of the OG timeline onwards.
Wol and Echo are intrigued by Cloud’s strange case: non-Blanks rarely arrive in Palamecia. The following text appears on the screen shortly after they meet:

“Perhaps he is not truly who he thinks he is.
Perhaps everything is illusory, a dream.
Only one thing is certain, that he must press on, one step at a time, toward the light that shines from the promised land.”

Just like he did in FFT’s Ivalice, Cloud feels the need to find the Promised Land in MFF x FFVII, despite the fact that he lacks memories of the OG timeline. Though Cloud doesn’t remember anything beyond the train ride to reactor 1, he does remember the Promised Land (at least somewhat). This is odd, given that in OG, Cloud didn’t learn about the Promised Land until several chapters into the game.
Wol and Echo agree to help Cloud figure out why he’s here, since there’s clearly something strange going on with his presence in Palamecia. In fact, Cloud brought Midgar’s mako reactors with him somehow, transplanting them onto the landscape of Palamecia. The group decides to bomb these reactors, following Cloud’s instincts in the hopes that it will jog his memory.
Now for my favorite part. After blowing up another reactor, the group is surprised by the appearance of a crystal. A piano rendition of Aerith’s theme begins. When Wol tries to touch the crystal, something akin to a force field rejects him. When Cloud approaches it, however, the crystal responds to his hand by flashing with light. As it begins to glow, Wol concludes that the crystal is linked to Cloud and Cloud alone. Let’s examine the resulting dialogue:

“Echo: This is the light in your memories. The light of home.

Cloud: Home? But I don’t—

Echo: If you don't remember… then your home is lost to you.

Cloud: Then my memories are gone.

Wol: Do you want to reclaim your past?

Cloud: Not interested... I am what I am now. Not what I was.

Wol: Then tell me… This light. If you can’t remember it, what does it mean to you?

Cloud: It's a warm light... I feel at peace. If this place —home— is as warm and peaceful as this light, then I want to go there.

Echo: You can't go there... Not back to the past.

Cloud: I see.

Echo: But even if you can't go back to the past, you can go forward. If you wish for it strongly enough, the crystal will show you the way. The way to a new world. The way to your Promised Land. […]

Cloud: So... Should [I] take [my] chances and make a wish to this crystal?

Wol: Go ahead. It’s your crystal.

Echo: I should warn you that once you start on this journey, there's no coming back.

Cloud: The past is the past. I want to go to a place where everything is new. I’m ready.“

What follows is a moment I call the wishing scene (13:43-14:34). Cloud closes his eyes and wishes on the crystal. It flashes, and suddenly, rainbow-colored ripples of light appear around it. Aerith’s theme is replaced by a slightly modified version of “Midgar, City of Mako”, the track that plays during the opening cutscene of Remake. You can recreate the modification by listening to “Midgar, City of Mako” from 2:00 to 2:23, then skipping to 3:00 and listening until 3:18. You may recognize the musical motif that kicks off the wishing scene as the Lifestream motif, which has become symbolic of the mysteries of the Remake trilogy, as it often plays during scenes where unexplainable plot deviations from OG occur— more specifically, deviations involving multiverse shenanigans. For instance, it plays during MOTF 4. It also plays in Rebirth after Cloud blocks masamune as Aerith is shown dying anyway.
Cloud disappears with his crystal, after which Echo speaks to Wol about Cloud’s journey:

“Echo: Each person gets the Promised Land they justly deserve, not the one they really need. If you’re a bad person, you go to a bad place. If you expect nothing, you get nothing. Even the journey there makes you look deep within yourself to find out who you really are. Cloud should be facing his own past as we speak. It’s cruel, but necessary. That battle was a long time coming”.

Apparently, at least in the context of this collaboration event, the Promised Land can be a reward or a punishment, depending on which you deserve. Echo explains that Cloud will have to face himself and his past on his way to his Promised Land. This means that the Cloud that appears in Eclipse Contact must next embark on a journey that will confront him with his past, test his mettle, and ultimately lead him to the Promised Land he justly deserves.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
There’s a lot of vital information to dig into here, mostly provided by Echo. She claims that the crystal’s light is linked to Cloud’s memories of home; Cloud has to have known this home in the past, as it could not otherwise exist in his memories. MFF Cloud must be a post-OG Cloud. Unfortunately, Echo indicates that whatever Cloud’s home is, he’s lost both it and his memories of it. Despite this, Cloud describes his home as warm and peaceful, concluding that he wishes to find it. Though Cloud can’t return to the past, Echo tells him that if he wishes it strongly enough, the crystal can guide him toward a new world, where his home and his Promised Land exist in the future. The fact that Aerith’s theme is playing all throughout these descriptions of Cloud’s lost home, his Promised Land and the past that he can’t return to makes it extremely obvious that these concepts all point to Aerith. Aerith is Cloud’s lost home. Wherever Aerith is, that’s his Promised Land. The time spent with Aerith before her loss is the past he tragically can’t return to. You might have clocked the similarities between Eclipse Contact’s mention of Cloud’s lost home and DFF’s mention of Cloud’s lost dream: in both these titles, Cloud’s home and dream are equivalent to his Promised Land. It’s confirmed yet again that Aerith is the one Cloud hopes to return to, just like every soul returns to the Lifestream. At this juncture of my research, I was curious as to why the last thing Cloud remembers before waking in Palamecia is the run-up to the Reactor 1 bombing mission in OG (disk 1, chapter 1). This mystery will have to persist for a while longer.
The alarm bells in your head might’ve been triggered by the mention of the wishing scene’s rainbow ripple effects— and rightfully so. This visual cue has sparked passionate debate in the fandom since its appearances in Rebirth, as seen in these pictures:
Zack Choosing To Get A Cure For Cloud, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating a New World/Timeline
Aerith Pushing Cloud Out of that World/Timeline, Remake Chapter 14
Cloud Blocking Masamune, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating New World/Timeline
You might have read or heard that this rainbow effect signifies that a character has entered another timeline, created a portal to another timeline, created a new timeline or is being shown different timelines. Indeed, whenever the OG timeline is deviated from in a significant way, this effect appears. The pictures above present multiple examples of these shifting realities.
One might propose that the rainbow ripples in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth are unrelated because of the long period between their respective release dates. This long in-between period indeed makes it likelier that the effect was used without forethought in Eclipse Contact, forgotten over the years, and incidentally reused in Rebirth as a plot-important visual cue with no connection to Eclipse Contact. I’m inclined to disagree since the crystal is specifically described as a vessel that can take Cloud “to a new world” by Echo, which is a bit on the nose. Regardless, it’s plausible that there’s no connection. That is, it would be, if the rainbow effect didn’t show up in Remake too.
When the Whispers are finally defeated in chapter 18 of Remake, a burst of the rainbow ripple effects indicate the emergence of multiple worlds, newly freed from the restrictive clutches of fate (1:16:36-1:16:47). Shortly thereafter, Sephiroth takes Cloud to the Edge of Creation and invites him to join forces with him. Cloud refuses, and Sephiroth says the following:

“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it? Let's see.”

The question “What will you do with it?” implies that the answer is unknown, meaning Cloud is no longer bound to the OG timeline by fate: many alternate futures lay ahead. Sephiroth is telling Cloud and the audience that now, the mystery of the Remake trilogy has become “Which future will Cloud bring into existence? Which among the infinite possible timelines will his choices result in?” After pondering this aloud, Sephiroth leaves Cloud alone to consider the rainbow effects in the sky (1:19:23-1:19:36). Because they generally represent alternate or changing timelines, it’s safe to assume that the rainbow ripples here represent the myriad of possible worlds that Cloud’s actions in those seven seconds could generate. After all, Sephiroth was just talking about them, and chapter 18’s description in Remake reads as follows:

“In a world beyond, Sephiroth shows Cloud a vision of the planet seven seconds before its demise. Having strayed from the course destiny set for them, they strike out on a path towards an unknown future."

This explains why the player is shown Cloud staring at those colors in the apocalyptic sky at world’s end, directly after hearing Sephiroth’s cryptic words: those are all the alternate “unknown future” timelines ahead of him, now unravelled from fate. Amongst those rainbow ripples lies the answer to the question “What will you do with [the seven seconds]?”
Given that Remake was released in 2020 and Eclipse Contact came out in 2017, the major story elements of the Remake trilogy —including the eventuality of alternate timelines— had to have been planned out at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: while the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration was being made, Remake was also in production. Also recall that the collaboration event and the Remake trilogy share a codirector in Hamaguchi, a writer in Nojima and a producer in Kitase. Based on all this, it’s more than likely that the rainbow ripples in the Remake trilogy and inEclipse Contact represent the very same thing: alternate worlds and timelines. All this to say that when the rainbow effect appears around the crystal in the Eclipse Contact, it means the crystal is acting as a vessel to another world, just like Echo said.
But that’s not all Echo said: she also mentioned that this other world would take Cloud to his home, to his Promised Land. We’ve already established what that means for Cloud, what it’s meant since two whole decades at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: this crystal will take Cloud to Aerith. So, where exactly did the crystal take Cloud? In what world can he meet Aerith again?
The music that plays during the wishing scene gives us a huge hint. As I noted before, the track playing in the background is a slightly modified version of Remake’s “Midgar, City of Mako”, which plays in the introduction cutscene of Remake. This is a musical cue that the ending of Cloud’s journey in Eclipse Contact and the very beginning of the Remake trilogy are closely related. Add the fact that the devs wanted players to experience this collaboration event before playing Remake, and it becomes undeniable: the crystal that appeared to Cloud in Palamecia —which offers to lead him to his home and Promised Land, meaning to Aerith—, took him to the world of the Remaketrilogy.
Eclipse Contact is huge. The whole crux of my theory lives and dies right here. However, we still have part two of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event to analyze as well as its promotions to look into before I can drop the thesis on you, so bear with me in order to receive the most thorough analysis of all this possible! I want to give you every drop of proof I can!
III. e) ii. MFF x FFVII Remake Fatal Calling
1) Fact-Finding
Fatal Calling came out February 1 of 2018, and its release campaign ended in March. The game opens with a cutscene: Cloud is floating, seemingly unconscious, through a sparkling, green current of light. The current flows into a circle of bright, white light, surrounded by rainbow ripple effects as Cloud is driven toward and into it. An orb floats along with him. The Advent Children theme “The Promised Land” plays, a choir of mournful, aching, mutedly desperate souls engaged in a lamenting prayer. Sephiroth’s voice echoes:

“Sephiroth: It’s time. You may turn your back on the past, lock your memories away. Hide reality beneath a layer of illusion. But destiny will not die so easily. Yes. At memory’s end you may plead for it all to go away. But the past is a curse, binding your soul. It’s time. Wake to your fate. Rise to your destiny.

Cloud: (In a half-conscious grunt) Reunion…

Sephiroth: The light will lead you. Wake to your fate. Rise!”

Sephiroth’s mentions of Cloud hiding under an illusion and repressing his memories are no doubt allusions to Cloud’s past, which was complicated and darkened by Hojo’s experiments. It makes sense, then, that Cloud responds with “Reunion”. Fatal Calling indeed focuses on Cloud’s relationship to his past, his identity and Sephiroth. Everything involving Nibelheim —where everything started—, Sephiroth’s manipulation, and Hojo’s experiments are on the table. Also noteworthy if not out of place is Sephiroth’s evocation of fate.
Cloud enters a battle with Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, who are surprised to see him back in Palamecia. Cloud tells them about the orb seen floating along with him in the opening cutscene: though he calls it a materia, he doesn’t know how or when he acquired it. Based on his behavior, it appears that Cloud remembers just as little about the events of OG as he did by the end of Eclipse Contact. Wol informs Cloud that whoever he heard speaking to him on his way here was probably Vox pretending to be Sephiroth.
As the group advances, Cloud recalls Midgar and decides they should go there next. At one of Midgar’s mako reactors, the group encounters Sephiroth, who speaks to himself:

“It's still not enough. This... this is but a pale imitation of the power I desire.”

Once Sephiroth has disappeared, Cloud explains what he remembers: Sephiroth was the greatest SOLDIER of all and a hero to Cloud, though Cloud can’t remember what exactly ended this admiration. As players of FFVII OG, we know the event in question is the Nibelheim incident, wherein Sephiroth slaughtered the town’s residents, including Cloud’s mother, after learning of his past. The former war hero also severely injured Tifa, whom Cloud presumed dead when he found her in the old mako reactor with a vicious slash on her chest. Cloud is agitated by the gaps in his memory, so the group resolves to follow Sephiroth for answers. When they find him again, Sephiroth causes Cloud to experience a piercing headache with the mere mention of the Reunion. They fight, but Sephiroth is too powerful— he skewers Cloud with the masamune and taunts his unconscious body:

“Sephiroth: A puppet. I won’t kill you. Not yet. Not until you know true despair.
Wol: If you want despair, we got plenty to go around. Palamecia’s full of it.
Sephiroth: Yes, this planet knows suffering. But it is not the world that was promised to me. I must go home. Tell Cloud, if he wants to see me again, he should face his memories. I will await him there, in the land of memory, where it all began. In Nibelheim.”

Sephiroth darkens Cloud’s materia, turning it black. Later, Wol explains to Cloud that Sephiroth stole the light from his materia, taking Cloud’s strength along with it.
Once Cloud has woken up, the group travels to Nibelheim to uncover the truth about Cloud’s memories. Cloud slowly gathers pieces of his past, shown to the player as titled, diary-like text written from various perspectives. Cloud learns the truth about SOLDIER, Jenova cells, Sephiroth, and what happened in Nibelheim. Let’s examine a few of these diary entries:

“A Warrior’s Tale: There's a girl in Nibelheim I think about. Warm. Cheerful. More grown-up than a child. Haven't talked to her much, but she seems nice. She's going to be leading the SOLDIERs to the mountain reactor. Maybe if I get into the survey team I'll get a chance to talk to her? Nah. She's out of my league.”

Young Cloud’s crush on Tifa is on full display! This must be a memory from his time as an infantryman accompanying Zack and Sephiroth to Nibelheim.

“Tale of the Nameless: I drift along in the mako, asleep. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Give me a number. I… I… I am… The Reunion. The Reunion must happen.”

This entry could be taken from any one of the Nibelheim survivors’ perspectives, as they were all bathed in mako and turned into Sephiroth clones. I would venture to say this is Cloud’s perspective though, given the reference to this iconic line from OG:

“Cloud: Professor... please give me a number. Please, Professor...
Hojo: Shut up, miserable failure.” (disk 2, chapter 2).

The trio encounters Sephiroth near the old Mt. Nibel mako reactor. Because Sephiroth stole the light from his materia earlier, Cloud goes into the confrontation already drained of his strength. However, when Cloud lifts the materia in his hand, it lights up and creates rainbow ripples in the air around him, similar to those seen in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth. Cloud is healed of his injuries: he closes his eyes for a moment, wearing a peaceful expression. Sephiroth is displeased, but recovers quickly:

“Sephiroth: The guiding light… it healed you.

Wol: […] here, near the mako reactor, the materia regained its light. And your strength returned […]. [Sephiroth]’s here so he can steal the power you've stored inside that materia.

Sephiroth, with a short laugh: I have all the power I need. Cloud. What strength you’ve regained is yours. Use it to fight me. It’s time. Let’s decide this, in this land lost to despair. The prize is home. The Promised Land. There to answer the call of destiny.”

With this second evocation of fate, Sephiroth disappears.
Cloud, Wol and Echo find Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. He mocks Cloud for believing the orb in his possession is materia. Sephiroth waves a hand and his signature black and purple fog surrounds Cloud, immobilizing him. Sephiroth claims that the power Cloud regained at the Mt. Nibel reactor was Sephiroth’s all along. Now that it courses through Cloud’s veins, Sephiroth controls him. He calls Cloud his puppet and finishes with the following before the two vanish, leaving Wol and Echo alone:

“Now, let us return. Back to the Promised Land. The time of the Reunion has come.”

After Cloud finally breaks free and defeats Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, the villain makes a final threat:

“Very good, Cloud. You’ve destroyed an illusion. But the time will come to abandon your illusions and face reality. Then, you will know true pain.”

Sephiroth disappears for the last time, his body surrounded by his signature dark fog and the rainbow ripples. A piano rendition of Tifa’s theme begins. Cloud’s orb rises into the air and becomes a crystal, with the same shape and glow as the one we see in Eclipse Contact. The following dialogue is illuminating:

“Cloud: I will fight. The light will lead me where I need to go.

Wol: You sure? Wasn’t that [crystal] Sephiroth’s?

Cloud: I heard Sephiroth's voice, at the end. Inside me. Whatever he put in me, it’s still in there. Someday I’ll settle that score. If I can't avoid destiny, I might as well face it head-on.

Wol: Yeah. That was quite a speech, Cloud. Surprised you made it through without laughing.

Cloud: Yeah, forget I said it. I will too.

Echo: Forgetting won’t make it go away. Even if the words fade from memory, your dream will never disappear. Not until it becomes real.“

The crystal shines as though in response.

“Echo: See? See, that's how the light of hope works. Hope can turn your dreams into reality.

Cloud: Yeah. I guess so. I might forget this world, but I won’t forget hope. And my reality, that’s for me to live.”

Tifa’s theme ends. Cloud approaches the crystal, and disappears in a beam of blinding light. Once Cloud has vanished with the crystal, Aerith’s theme begins playing. A few pale feathers with a slight orange tint (the color of MFF) float down onto the floor where he stood seconds before. The image fades to black. The credits roll, and Aerith’s theme continues all the way through.
Once both the final name in the credits and Aerith’s theme fade, we’re surprised by a sudden, troubling image: Sephiroth appears in a frightening flash, standing amidst the flames of Nibelheim. When his image fades to black, the collaboration title *“Final Fantasy VII x Mobius Final Fantasy”*appears on the screen. The FFVII title is surrounded by the 1997 meteor logo. Then, a flash of light: the titles reappear, except this time, they read “Final Fantasy VII REMAKE x Mobius Final Fantasy”. The new Remake Meteor logo replaces the 1997 version. As soon as these changes to the FFVIItitle and meteor logo occur, Aerith’s theme returns. It plays on until the game ends a few seconds later, the screen fading to black.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
The introduction cutscene shows that MFF Cloud travelled from Eclipse Contact to Fatal Calling via Lifestream. It’s unclear how much time has passed in between, but the atemporal nature of the Lifestream makes the question irrelevant. My theory that MFF Cloud has died is corroborated by the way he’s depicted in the opening cutscene: his eyes are closed and his body is limp as the Lifestream carries him.
Eclipse Contact ended with Echo’s claim that Cloud will face his true self and confront his past while he journeys to his Promised Land. This description resembles what Cloud experienced in the OG Lifestream sequence (disk 2, chapter 8). Indeed, Fatal Calling revolves around the same topics the Lifestream sequence addresses: the truth about the Nibelheim incident, Hojo’s experiments, young Cloud’s crush on Tifa, etc. The opening cutscene shows Cloud being transported to his Promised Land and facing his past on the way there, just like Echo said he would.
Let’s now take a long detour to examine the song that plays during the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling: “The Promised Land” theme from Advent Children. The title and general subject of this song are obviously relevant to the cutscene, but there must be more to its inclusion than that. Perhaps the lyrics can help us understand its appearance in the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling. Here are the unofficial English lyrics (translated from the original Japanese lyrics by an anonymous fan and verified by me via DeepL):

“Why do we cling together?
Why do we give punishment to lesser hearts?
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The pulse of veins flows through the earth
A faint, faint pulse
Of a heart drawn to death
A gentle life returns to the planet
Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?
Why do we cling together?
Why do we beg for forgiveness
In the Promised Land?” (“‘The Promised Land’ (theme)” by Final Fantasy Wiki).

The song appears to be a regretful lament of human behavior, expressed by the repetition of “Why do we […]?” questions. The behaviors listed are all typically human ones: the terms “[clinging] together” and “[giving] punishment to [the] lesser” express the uniquely human nature of tribalism and the consequences of the fear and hatred it can generate, and “[begging] for forgiveness in the Promised Land” is likely a reference to the human hypocrisy of only feeling sorry for one’s crimes when judgement day arrives. This last line describes a scenario where someone remains passive or ignorant in the face of something important, only to realize its essentiality once it’s too late. The repeated“The planet did not forgive us” lines reflect the fear of being condemned forever because of one’s mistakes, as though the planet is a deity one has sinned against. The lyric describing a pulse in the earth is obviously about the planet being alive— a reference to the Lifestream. But the pulse is faint and weak and the planet is dying, perishing because of mankind’s greed. This is an indictment of mako energy. The line “A gentle life returns to the planet” refers to an innocent’s soul returning to the Lifestream after death, while the next lyric “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” protests the “sacrifice” of the planet’s soul energy for mako production. In all this darkness, this song’s mention of “forgiveness in the Promised Land” leaves a modicum of hope for a better place, however meek, even though mankind might not deserve it. The song “The Promised Land” is both a lament of mankind’s ways and a plea for mercy, with religious and/or spiritual undertones. The song’s themes seem to be: the Promised Land itself, regret and shame, the sins and foolishness of mankind, the death of innocents, grief, Cetra spirituality, and a meek, quiet hope despite it all. The most interesting aspect of the song is its antithetical portrayal of death as a thing of both despair and hope, condemnation and salvation, cruelty and mercy, suffering and relief. Maybe we can glean more information about this theme’s significance in the world of FFVII if we examine the contexts in which it appears.
Importantly, the song plays in Marlene’s introductory narration of Advent Children, meaning its themes are related or similar to the film’s. I highly recommend listening and watching it again, even if you remember this iconic segment. Marlene references Aerith’s sacrifice as the image of Cloud lowering her into the water is shown. Note that Marlene says “Sadness was the price to see it end” (2:36) after we are shown Aerith’s death and her subsequent unleashing of the Lifestream (1:49-2:24): Aerith’s innocent life was sacrificed for the planet’s survival. The lyrics “A gentle life returns to the planet” and “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” suit Aerith’s situation quite well.
The theme also plays in Advent Children as Kadaj dies in Cloud’s arms (1:45:00-1:47:55), hearing Aerith’s gentle voice and reaching up to take her invisible hand. Here is what Aerith says to him in his dying moments as “The Promised Land” plays:

“Aerith’s voice: Kadaj?
Kadaj: Huh?
The dark sky has gone with Sephiroth. Healing rain starts falling from bright clouds. The rain no longer hurts Kadaj.
Aerith’s voice: You don’t have to hang on any longer.
Kadaj: Mother! Is that…?
Aerith’s voice: Everyone’s waiting, if you’re ready.
Kadaj nods his head slightly in acceptance. He holds out his hand, and slowly evaporates into the Lifestream. Cloud watches […]” (Advent Children).

Kadaj is brought into the Lifestream by Aerith as she provides rain from the Lifestream. All those with geostigma are healed by the rain, and Tifa feels Aerith’s presence as the party celebrates:

“Tifa, looking out at the falling rain […]: Somehow, I knew you were there. Thank you” (Advent Children).

Cloud stands in the rain with a smile —his first in the whole film—, closes his eyes and basks in Aerith’s healing with his face upturned. He is finally at peace:

“Cloud’s expression is one of peace as the [Lifestream] rain patters against him” (Final Fantasy VII Advent Children English script, “[83] Atop the Shinra Building”).

One thing is clear: the track “The Promised Land” accompanies Aerith. It only makes sense, since we’ve seen overwhelming evidence that she is Cloud’s Promised Land, and since she occupies the Lifestream —which some consider the Promised Land as it is where souls go after death— during the events of Advent Children. Note that when the piece plays, Cloud is shown either mourning Aerith and releasing her into the river at the Cetra capital, or basking in her presence, smiling with relief at the peaceful feeling that she’s somewhere near: these two opposing scenes reflect the song’s antithetical portrayal of death.
Additionally, the song’s themes of regret, shame concerning one’s sins and a small hope perfectly describe Cloud’s character arc and feelings in Advent Children. Cloud regrets his inability to save Aerith, which he considers a sin. Further, he only realized how important she is to him once it was too late to tell her. And of course, he harbors a fragile yet important hope that he’ll be reunited with her in the Promised Land:

“‘Can sins ever be forgiven?’ — Cloud asks this to Vincent, who mutters a brief answer. For both of them, ‘I couldn't protect my loved one’ is the sense of guilt that they carry, so their words resonate with weight” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Vincent Valentine”, “In Advent Children”, page 72).

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"’It is my sin that I couldn't protect my loved one’ — under this assumption, Cloud closes off his heart. What will the reunion with Aerith bring him? ‘I... think I want to be forgiven. Yeah, I just want to be forgiven’” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Cloud Strife”, “In Advent Children”, page 40).

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“Cloud, after seeing Aerith’s hand reach for him through the Lifestream: … I think I'm beginning to understand.
Tifa: What?

Cloud: An answer from the Planet… the Promised Land... I think I can meet her... there” (disk 3, chapter 3).

Just as the song and Marlene express in the introduction of the film, Aerith was innocent, and her sacrifice generated great grief. Cloud finally experiences peace when he feels her presence in the healing rain, and he smiles: he’s glad to be with her again, even if it’s only for a brief moment of tangential respite.
The scene depicts Aerith guiding Kadaj into the Lifestream as the song plays, tying her to the concept and theme song of the Promised Land once more. This connection is later solidified by Tifa’s thanks to the late flower girl. All of this evidence shows us that this musical theme is intimately linked to Aerith, as it never plays in her absence. After all, the song speaks of sins, the death of innocents, forgiveness, grief, a small sense of hope, regret and the afterlife: all themes relevant to Cloud’s feelings surrounding Aerith’s death in and outside of Advent Children.
The Remake OST also includes a version of this piece called “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life”. This iteration of the theme begins playing in the wake of the first bombing mission, right after Sephiroth taunts Cloud with his mother’s dying words in Sector 8 (chapter 2). Sephiroth appears to Cloud surrounded by flames, evoking the Nibelheim massacre, and the theme begins playing in the background once he disappears, continuing (13:17-15:30) as Cloud walks through the sector, encountering fires and destruction all around him. This version of the Promised Land theme is meant to emphasize the deaths of the innocent Nibelheim townsfolk and the innocents in Sector 8. This dreadful atmosphere is amplified by the cries of despair that ring all around as Cloud passes by NPC Sector 8 residents. Perhaps the themes of tribalism and mankind’s sin are relevant to this scene as well, since Shinra and Avalanche are two distinct and warring groups whose quarrels, regardless of their necessity, result in the deaths of innocents. The theme of guilt also emerges, reflecting the Avalanche members’ feelings upon seeing the unintended collateral damage of the explosion. “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life” plays until Cloud encounters Aerith on Loveless. So it seems in this scenario, the heavy weight of death and despair is lifted when Cloud meets the lively, cheery Aerith. Once more, Aerith is central to the musical theme of the Promised Land, as well as to the concept itself.
I also noticed that a version of the song plays as Cloud and the party ready to enter the Forgotten Capital to save Aerith in Rebirth’s chapter 14: it truly adds the weight of her upcoming death to the scene.
Back to Fatal Calling, the scene where Cloud regains his strength is quite mysterious. Wol says Cloud’s orb regained its “guiding light” light because of its proximity to the mako reactor. In the moment his strength is replenished, Cloud is shown tilting his head back and closing his eyes: this is reminiscent of the scene in Advent Children when he stands under Aerith’s healing Lifestream rain, feeling at peace. The rainbow ripples shining from the orb indicate that something is crossing the boundaries of worlds. Since the mako reactor pumps up the Lifestream, being near a reactor also means being physically near the Lifestream. This means Aerith’s spirit is within proximity. In my opinion, Aerith was able to heal Cloud from the Lifestream, just like in Advent Children. However, Aerith is not in Palamecia with him: her healing had to travel there through the Lifestream, transcending the boundaries of worlds, hence the rainbow ripples.
Let’s now address the appearance of Tifa’s character theme in Fatal Calling. Since Fatal Calling is all about discovering Cloud’s past in Nibelheim and then in Hojo’s lab, it makes lots of sense for Tifa’s theme to play as the crystal appears. In OG’s Lifestream sequence (disk 2 chapter 8), she’s the one there helping Cloud sort through his past instead of Wol and Echo. Cloud even picks up a piece of his childhood crush on Tifa in Fatal Calling as a shard of his memory. After all, this crush was the catalyst for him joining SOLDIER, and everything that transpired in consequence:

“Cloud: That was the first time I heard about Sephiroth. If I got strong like Sephiroth, then everyone might... If I could just get stronger... Then even Tifa would have to notice me” (FFVII OG, disk 2, chapter 8).

Additionally, it’s fitting that her theme should begin right after Sephiroth speaks of “[abandoning] your illusions and [facing] reality”, considering that Cloud’s false persona was concocted by Jenova using Tifa’s mistaken impressions of Cloud:

“While being tended to by a station worker in the Sector 7 Slum train station, [Cloud] was reunited with Tifa, and using the abilities of Jenova’s cells, formed a new personality” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVII World, “Cloud Strife”, “Cloud Behavior Record, Compilation of FFVII”, page 40).

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“(Image caption:) A new personality takes shape the moment he sees Tifa” (FFVII Story Playback, “Story Check: Tifa’s Flashback”).

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“Tifa (to Cloud): Deep down, you're a pretty nice guy. Didn't see it when we were kids, but...” (Remake, chapter 14).

Hi all, relatively new to the world of mechanical keyboards and Nuphy, but have recently bought an Air75 v2 for both work and travel and I love it. My biggest gamechanger though has been the installation of the EurKEY layout on my computer, and combined with my Nuphy's ANSI layout it allows me to work in English, German and French with symbols easily accessible - for anyone not aware, see details here: EurKEY - The European Keyboard Layout (bruentjen.eu).
My question is if anyone knows where/how I might be able to obtain a set of EurKEY keycaps for my keyboard, as it would be fantastic to have it visibly on my keyboard instead of a printed sheet of paper sellotaped to my Folio case! If not directly available, are there any companies that could make custom keycaps suitable for my Nuphy?
Thank you all for your help in advance!

Hey Hello! Actually finding the right words for this is more difficult than I anticipated haha. I am searching for something serious and long lasting and real! I wonder if I make a post here I get some more out of it than from dating apps. They are just so draining lol. I don't mind long distance relationships as long as there is a want from both of us to get together at somepoint.
So a few words to introduce myself! I'm Marvin, freshly 25 and from Germany. I am a huge gaming nerd and music enthusiast, I am currently even learning how to play the guitar! I'm very animal friendly I used to have a dog for a long time and currently I got my little cat Huby!(Yes I can share pictures for sure haha) I am very into psychology and mental health since I recently started investing in my own and now I have a much better understanding of that topic. It is oh so unbelievably important. I live a pretty stable life when it comes to work and a place to live. I have my own house with garden but it's so much room and so much work for me all alone. This house needs some life with a loving girl next to me some kids and maybe a family dog haha! I'd like to have a girl that understands and cares for me, someone I can be a mountain to hold onto for, somebody I can share my passion and love with. I love spending time together doesn't matter what! Cooking together or grocerie shopping, showering or working in the garden, watching movies or playing video games together all of it is great. I don't mind sharing pictures or face timing at all! To be a bit confident I can say that I don't look all to bad I just haven't gotten any luck just yet lol.
So hey if you are still reading and are actually interested in learning more about me then feel free to send me a message! I don't really mind your age everything from 18-35 is fine by me! I answer as soon as I see it. I got some free time at the moment haha! I'm looking forward to getting to know you!

Help: snipping tool video recording not working (properly). The pictures do work.
(DELL G15 5525 laptop
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon Graphics 3.20 GHz, System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor.
Edition Windows 11 Home, Version 23H2
it was working fine the app was recording and I ended the recording and it opened snipping tool app and it showed a blank screen
If I only record from a small area for example 400x400 it works and is able to record the save. But if I record ex. 600x 600 though it does start recording, but when I stop it gets stuck and can't save.
I am getting an error message when I stop and try to play the recording: "recording stopped and "Error: Unsupported video type or invalid file path" and sometimes it just opens a white blank window and sticks there.
I can't figure out how to make it work I've tried to style all the tips and advice I can find on google... I need the recording so bad So I'm gritting my teeth when I can't figure out what's wrong!
Really big thanks if anyone knows or comes up with a solution!!

Local trains, local beaches, or local auto rickshaws - basically everywhere that you use public transport to reach your place, how do you deal with people staring at you?
It becomes worse when you are a tourist and people keep staring just because you are wearing something mildly exposing. The summers have made it so difficult but even shorts and tank tops bring stares.
ok you ignore it so far. But now you post it on social media and see people who never talked to you since months start liking your stories or commenting on your posts that has this type of outfit.
Does all this make you feel insecure after some point? How do you deal with it?
I don’t feel like posting my pictures altogether anymore in the fear of being viewed in a dirty way.

TLDR: my guy friend and I got much closer than before after a weekend away. I have feelings for him but he has a girlfriend, my friends say he’s flirting but I don’t wanna distance myself.
So I originally met Brian M20 in October but very briefly, I was talking more with his best friend Steve M20
Steve and I did end up kissing in the March but we decided to stay friends
When this happened Brian was there to give me advice and help me deal.
Around the same time I also got scared of our friend raising his voice at me and Brian made sure I was okay. When I had to talk to this guy and went away, Brian followed without us asking, insisting he stay next to me and that he was there for me to make sure I wasn’t alone/protected.
Brian has a girlfriend, I found this out in March.
Brian and I have been friends since and he’s always offered an ear but always just been around, never really getting close. He even encouraged me to join their friendship group and be around more since he said everyone likes me
He offered at one point to talk to Steve to see if he could sort out the ongoing awkwardness and before a weekend away with all our friends I told him not to bother.
On this weekend away, Steve wasn’t around and so it was just Brian and I hanging out. Slowly throughout the weekend we were eventually growing more attached to the hip, always together.
We went to the smokers together, he asked if we could take a breather away from everyone, I was worried about my top looking bad and he told me it looked nice, just as everyone reassured me. Then I would catch him looking at me and me looking at him. I accidentally even caught him doing this on a video and then hiding from it
The next day I was driving back with him and before the drive we were hanging with friends and he was standing so close to me while I was sitting his leg was practically on my thigh. He also kept making faces at me across the room to the point a stranger asked if we were dating.
On the drive home I always caught him staring at me and looking away when he got caught. At one point we made a game out of it and looked back and forth continuously until we met eyes and smiled and looked away.
We would hang out with friends and then end up alone. This time our friendship felt like it shifted, we had gotten closer. I was talking excitedly about something and he was smiling and staring into my eyes, he called me love so softly I barely heard it, and even though he said he was gonna go home he stayed with me when all our friends went home. We stayed together until sunrise poking fun and bantering with each other. He would make fun of my accent (trying to do an impression) and the words I used and how short I was or bad at a game etc
At one point he made a risqué joke and we both got real awkward and brushed it aside.
By this point I’ve developed feelings for him
He says I distract him if I come near him and if he sees my face or pictures it he can’t focus
He nearly hurt me and hugged me
He nearly upset me and tried to hug me and pat me on the head and asked the whole night if we were okay
Then once I offered him a smoke and instead of taking it from me like he normally does, he bent down and puffed it from my hand in front of everyone
I once went to look at my phone and he didn’t want me to because we were playing a game and he kept blocking it even when I was against him, drunk and not realising and kept moving in front of me laughing
He maintains eye contact for so long and at one point I said something and his eyes were flickering from one side of my face to the other for a few seconds before he finally asked me to repeat myself, all in front of Steve which made me feel odd
I tried to distance and then we got teamed up for a group game night and when we were winning he was fist bumping me until he spontaneously hugged me when we won, always walking away to talk me up to other people and then coming back to talk about it again
I am so confused because we’re friends but I get the impression something is there that’s more than my feelings.
I don’t wanna distance myself because he’s always been good to me but something in me knows if I was his girlfriend I wouldn’t like this
How do I go forward without distance because I would never be a homewrecker but I have these feelings? Is this all in my head?

Hello everyone, I am a beginner in Midjourney.
I don't have an art background, I've learned photography for a while but didn't stick with it, I have a certain IT and data background, and I like beautiful image works.
Midjourney is a very good product, especially the V6 version, the images it generates have shocked me aesthetically, so I decided to learn to create with it.
I have some insights during the learning process of Midjourney, and I have also built some tools to help me understand it and speed up creation. I want to share the process with everyone here, hoping to discuss together how to better and more efficiently play with Midjourney.

My Journey of Learning Midjourney

1. Looking at others' works and prompts
others' works
Seeing others' beautiful digital works on Midjourney online is also a reason for me to seriously learn it. There are many places to learn, such as the Midjourney official website, Facebook interest groups, PromptHero, etc. There are thousands of beautiful pictures, and problems come with them: the prompts behind them are endless, and I don't know where to start learning. At first, I copied these prompts into discord and reproduced them myself, but this method made me feel like I didn't gain anything.
2. Learning keywords
Luckily, I found that keywords are the key. Smart people have summarized many types of keywords, such as artists, artistic styles, camera perspectives, shooting distances, Texure, light, color, etc. This has opened the door to a new world for someone like me who doesn't have much experience in photography and painting. I started to search for related information on Google: who are the artists? What is their style of work? What is the camera perspective? What types are there? etc. Through this path, I learned a lot of photography and painting related knowledge, and of course I am also very grateful to Midjourney, it has inspired my interest in learning this aspect - once I took a SLR camera to learn, the poor early composition plus a pile of boring parameters made me give up quickly. Midjourney also has a bunch of boring parameters, but its composition is stable, which can ensure that I can draw passable pictures even if I don't understand these parameters.
In the process of understanding keywords, I found that even so classified, there are still too many of them. For example, artists, globally and from ancient times to the present, there are so many artists, how can I remember everyone's name and quickly make up their style of work? So I started to think about whether there is any tool that can allow me to select keywords based on representative works or effect pictures. During this period, I found a keyword visualization library with 11.7K stars on GitHub, and some prompt generator websites that can select keywords based on effect pictures. They are really great, and they sort out keyword types more systematically and comprehensively than I do. This is a good place for beginners to start. But I still can't use them very well, for the following reasons:

1. Some trendy keywords may not be included
   
2. Each website cannot exhaust all types of keywords, and some types of keywords are of interest to me, such as decorations.
   

So I started thinking about building my own library. DIY a Studio that meets my personalized needs. I built my idea with Notion.
my KeyWords Visual DataBase
I first built a visual database for keywords, stored keywords by tags and categories, tested the effects of each keyword in Midjourney V6, and imported the most representative photos into the library. Then use Gallery mode to display keyword and corresponding effect pictures. The keyword visualization database can remind me of the effects of each keyword and provide me with inspiration; and I can also continuously add my keyword.
3. Treat learning as a game challenge: find excellent works, try to assemble prompts to reproduce them
After building the keyword visualization database, I feel much more at ease when creating prompts. The new creative process is like this: when I have determined the Subject I want to express, I choose the visible keyword in the keywords library to enhance the artistic effect.
Now start challenging the new goal: find excellent works, guess its prompt, and reproduce it. This is a very interesting learning method, like a game, it can keep my passion for learning.
I found such a reproduction target online:
Target(Other's work)
The Subject of the picture is easy to determine: "Film Venom, a sexy beautiful woman". But its subtlety lies in the fact that the woman painted is sexy but not vulgar, the color is bright, there is a sense of line, and the whole work is very high-end. If there is no blessing of keywords, just enter the Subject into Midjourney, the effect is like this:
prompt：“Film Venom, a sexy beautiful woman”
These photos are more like taking photos of porn stars and lack a sense of high-end. Therefore, I need to try a lot of keywords to enhance the beauty, such as finding some artists and art styles whose works are similar to the target works, then finding color and line description words close to the target, MidJourney allows various art styles to be mixed together, so my keywords There will also be a lot of permutations and combinations, which is a bit like doing an experiment, trying all possibilities.
The difficulties I encountered here are:

1.I have to manually put together each permutation and combination
2.Manual work takes a long time, but inspiration is fleeting
3.I can't remember what combinations I have made, and I may repeat the same combination

So I built a [prompt lab] (because it's too much like an experiment), which includes a prompt generator and a keywords visualization database. The generator uses the key types of keywords as options, selects while referring to the keyword effect pictures, and the function automatically assembles into a complete prompt. Just click the "copy" button and paste it into discord, which is much faster than I slowly put together in discord. It can also record the prompt combinations that I think are more critical according to my own ideas, which is convenient for me to review and summarize.
prompt creation process
Of course, due to the architecture, Notion also has some shortcomings: it cannot make pictures into options. I can only put the keywords library in the sidebar, and use it as a dictionary to flip through when assembling prompts.
Tried 200+ times quickly with prompt LAB
In addition, I also established a visual view, when I passed the more satisfactory effect picture back to the laboratory, I could compare the effect difference of the prompt anytime.
Visual Gallery
Finally, after countless attempts, if there are very satisfactory works, I will want to collect them. And the remaining unsatisfactory ones can be deleted to keep the number of records in the laboratory at a processing level that my brain capacity can accept.
4. Put good works into the collection library
I added a collection library to the lab, classifying and managing my own satisfactory works and other people's excellent works, which is convenient for reference and inspiration.
Collections Database
5. To be continued
In fact, although I have done so much work and tried, I’m still at the beginner stage. Digital art creation is endless. Perhaps with the deepening of cognition, my tools will also evolve.

THE END

Thank you for reading to the end. Here I share my unique learning process, hoping to help some people, and also hope to get everyone's guidance.

Warning: Possible spoilers for future DPA games
So the DPA season two premiere game (Directive 8020) is going to release this year so I'd like to share some of my own theories and spread some info on each of the upcoming season 2 games
Directive 8020
We know quite a bit about D8020 already due to the teaser from the end of TDIM, the gold picture from TDIM, and the new years post on Twitter. It's obvious that D8020 is a sci-fi based possibly The Thing themed game. In the teaser at the end of TDIM we see in the bottom left that the game takes place on the COC Cassiopeia which is a space vessel flying through the Cetus constellation which is a real constellation that has been mentioned before in HOA.
As for D8020's cast there are only five people mentioned or shown in the teasers. Thomas Carter (Possibly deceased) Simms (Infected and turned into a monster) and Stafford (The person making the PA announcement) plus two astronauts in the gold picture premonition in TDIM
Intercession
Not much is known about this game but it probably has to do with spirits, the devil, or something of that nature. The definition of intercession is the action of intervening on behalf of another or saying a prayer on behalf of another. Given the context the latter definition is the most likely.
The Craven Man
The Craven Man's logo has a tall humanoid statue know as a wicker man. Wicker men are large wooden statues that are burned by pagan priests for human or animal sacrifice. With that being said The Craven Man will likely be about a pagan cult in which our protagonists have to escape from. Not related but I would love to get a perspective of someone in the cult kinda like how we got with Salim in HOA where Salim was an Iraqi soldier and everyone else who was playable were American soldiers.
Winterfold
Winterfold is a real forest in Surrey, England. The forest was mentioned before in the post credits scene of HOA where Brooks and Miller say "It's like Winterfold all over again" this leads me to believe that unless the Winterfold game is about a different incident, than Winterfold takes place before HOA which takes place in 2003
O' Death
O'Death is the next spin-off DPA title and looking from the logo and the trademark it's going to be a card game that involves The Curator. If you look closely at the logo there's actually another card behind the card of The Curator, which supports the idea that this is a card game. No other important details have been released about O' Death.
That's all the info and theories I have, feel welcome to share your own theories, thoughts or information in the replies.
Sorry for the long post btw.

To believe in myself and the things I’m capable of doing. The fact that I’m continuing to prove to myself that I’m almost down for anything. I have been and done and seen. As life does, it will continue and repeat. But the big factors are that I am the one making these choices. I know some haven’t been handled the best way i could have. I have learned to be able to bypass my feelings about certain responsibilities. People drop people all the time. You can have it all one moment and just like that! Gone the next. Everything you worked so hard for. To be fair it’s an every man for themselves kind of game. Or so that’s how it’s always been in my world. It doesn’t have to be either. I want to travel to a new world. One like mine but not. To find something that doesn’t come by force but by nature. A force of nature.
Need….
Understanding my surroundings. Stop trying to take control of everything. You can not be in more than one place at a time. Your mind and body and soul must be present in the now of things. You will miss opportunities and experience living both 10 steps behind and 10 steps forward. Like a mad women you’ll go insane and lose everything. Although it feels like I’m constantly losing, it isn’t so. I have to see the big picture. The love you have to give should be sacred and protected. Earned and cherished. I know that I might feel like I do not have the rights.. that I’ve balanced my good and my bad. That karma has given me this sorrow as a gift for choosing to do wrong. But that is also a form of my own doing. When making a decision I had two thoughts;1. hurt those as they hurt you… 2. Love those as you want to be loved.. it doesn’t seem wrong.. but when you’re blinded by pain.. you think getting even will make you feel better.. in the moment.. it might.. but the bittersweet factors of life. Love always hurts with bitter confusion. Either way.. good or bad.. No power moves in darkness. Darkness is just the construction of consumption. When fighting your demons becomes too much. Everything goes blank. An empty vessel. To be corrupt with the ideas and thoughts of battle. To always be on guard. As for the brighter side of things. There is always a choice. A path to take. It’s a place without time. You can do or be and choose endless possibilities as you see fit. Everything you can carry.

 Need…. 

To respect myself. Give credit when it’s due. Fight for my right to voice my feelings no matter how crazy someone may think I am. Never be afraid to speak ever again. Even if no one listens.. someone is always listening.. have the courage. Stick to your gut, learn to listen to what you truly need not what makes everyone happy or comfortable before you are. Selfish is with a bad intention. Self understand and self worth are embracing your spirit and being in a group that celebrates the same.

Need….. 

I have now seen three (3) natural super events in a one (1) month time frame.
O
In early April we had traveled to see the solar eclipse. My LTR’s friend had a crummy cabin right in the path of totality and had invited lots of people to come watch. These were acquaintances and chums from a touring / traveling / festie past life, the kind of wild spirit I’d see once or twice a year at some interesting event and ask what they’ve been up to. My lover would already know; they are a creature of social media and a master of effortlessly effusive connections. I can’t even pinpoint when I forfeited all of those attendees as now being more their friend than mine.
Totality is still ineffable despite all the accounts. You see it coming as the clouds part directly below its pathway, leaving a trail of its approach from the horizon. Animals freak out, shadows bend, the collective hype of your company irresistible. The sky darkens slightly one minute before you’re snapped into a parallel dimension ruled by a glowing ring god. For four minutes the neurons in your brain that fear the sky are screaming and you experience the answer to the question: “what if reality was different?”
Having experienced that rumination made me actually reconnect with all the attendees afterwards. How lazy I was, how fearful and jaded, to assume that friendships, human connections, didn’t deserve effort? That you should never forfeit companionship without at least trying first? How beaten down and cynical had I become that Luna herself had to remind me that love should be joyous and celebrated? Now was a chance to correct that mistake.
I ended up becoming the life of the rest of the party, an unusual position for me. Perhaps my mind was sufficiently shaken up and I saw the opportunities I had long ignored. Perhaps my gregarious partner didn’t dominate the scene because of the blotter which I had passed on. Maybe some combination of those factors led to them being uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of our stay. By contrast, the silent drive home was typical for us these days.
V
They were not in the car for the second super event. That was just me and my coworker, called off of our out-of-town jobsite. An unusual emergency meant that we had to drop everything and leave NOW. If our supervisor hadn’t called then we would have felt it in the air, a sense of impending danger spoken in wind and atmosphere.
My phone alert went off on the highway. Take shelter now, an impossible plea at 70 mph through farmlands. My coworker, a plain spoken plains man, silently barreled forward towards the green-blue cell. The throbbing bassline of Nugent’s “Stranglehold” accompanied the descending fingers of clouds that threatened just that. Cars and semis were pulled over under overpasses, a pointless shield against anything other than the hail but I still understand their impulse. We reached our exit and could see the storm that we passed under from the driver’s side window.
“There it is” he said so flatly. His enthusiasm was appropriate: there, behind the modest and familiar skyline, was the weather event every midwestern is taught to fear. But it struck no fear in me. It too looked modest and familiar.
The funnel was literally just an extension of the slate clouds above, a tendril, a shape, not registering with me as a threat at all. Even while driving through it my thoughts weren’t of danger but of melancholy resignation. Perhaps because it was a forty minute drive and my position was completely determined by outside demands: be at work at this time, go to this jobsite, leave right now, this is the only path you can take home. I felt no control over any of it, not the schedule, not the weather, not the lame ass boomer soundtrack that could’ve been the last thing I heard had a butterfly flapped it’s wings different.
The tornado incurred significant damage just a few miles from our house. My partner was equally non-plussed by the whole situation. If they had felt fear in the basement then they had forgotten it entirely, the event reduced to a “man that was crazy” story to recount later within a handful of sentences. Perhaps they too recognize that some awful events are just bound to happen, the certainty of which strips the stress away.
//
The final phenom was actually a subdued encore. The aurora borealis had made a surprise visit to the Lower 48, but we missed the first night. Even though my lover had received texts from their many friends telling them about the heavenly light show, we were already in bed and in no place mentally to go see it. The NOAA predicted it would be visible the next night, so we planned for that instead.
The drive was the last effort of the day, a final rally after work and social obligations and stressful interactions on top of endless mundane life maintenance. Our modest midwest town with it’s modest skyline isn’t too heavy on the light pollution, but there was a lake a half hour north where most of the local pictures were taken the night before. Making the voyage out there felt like a slog after those last few days, but the aurora was on my bucket list and I needed some cosmic intervention in my life. I was hoping it would be like the totality, a brilliant display that left me changed afterwards. Instead, it was like the tornado. It just was.
Sure, there were some pastel smears in the night sky. Hell, you could even point your phone at it and see if better on your camera app. But it appeared as if the display wasn’t as breath taking as the night before. Our friends and countless other couples lucked out and got to experience something beautiful, but we did not. And I felt nothing.
No anger, no resentment, no disappointment even. Just a kind of tired acceptance that I only got to see some of this brilliant thing I always wanted but I was so worn out from days of work and effort and driving and stressful interactions of fighting and arguing –
We drove back again in silence. Five days ago we were given homework from our therapist. We were instructed to end each night a brief description of a frustration from our day that didn’t involve our partner. The idea is to distill the unpleasantness to a few sentences and a few words so that we can express how we feel about negative experiences as simply as possible to each other. Perhaps that exercise will help us understand each other better and highlight themes that consistently upset us.
That only works if you do it every night. This was five nights since that session and we hadn’t done the exercise even once. It’s a great idea, but we are just in no place mentally to put in the effort. We had tried for years to not forfeit our companionship, only to feel drained and exhausted. We just go to couple’s therapy because that’s what good progressive millennials do. We both know what’s coming. We can feel it in the air.
A committed relationship was always on my bucket list. I had hyped up the beauty of it in my mind. Instead it’s only been a lot of work and effort and rallying and fighting and arguing. Other friends and countless other couples got to experience that brilliance, but I just felt so, so tired.
The impending break up is going to be awful. We are deeply entwined with each other, and it’s going to be painful to separate and watch our mutual friends take sides. It’s going to leave a path of destruction, but we are both resigned to this happening. I feel no control over it, it’s just what’s on the horizon. I wonder what opportunities there will be afterwards, when reality is different.

Hey folks! I've been hearing a lot about how AI, like ChatGPT, is supposedly killing our creativity and making us lazy. Sound familiar? It's basically the same scare boomers had when the internet started getting big. Everyone thought it wouldn't be as accurate or reliable like libraries and end traditional research. Well, we all know that didn't happen.
Here's the deal: AI isn't going anywhere—it’s the new normal, just like the internet became for the generations before us. When everyone has access to AI, it’s not about what it does, but how creatively you can use it. It’s like having a powerful new tool in your kit. It takes care of the tedious stuff so we can focus on the bigger picture and deeper ideas.
Think about it—people once freaked out that calculators would end math as we knew it. Instead, we just ended up tackling more complex problems. AI’s the same. It doesn't replace our creativity; it amplifies it. It gives us a base to build on and push our ideas in ways we couldn’t before.
So, what’s your take? Are we ready to work with AI and push the limits of what we can create and discover?