Disintegrate - MTG 4E

Melancholia

Melancholia By Laurence Dunbar 

Silently without my window, Tapping gently at the pane, 
Falls the rain. 
Through the trees sighs the breeze 
Like a soul in pain. 
Here alone I sit and weep; 
Thought hath banished sleep. 
Wearily I sit and listen 
To the water’s ceaseless drip. 
To my lip Fate turns up the bitter cup, 
Forcing me to sip; 
‘Tis a bitter, bitter drink, 
Thus I sit and think, — 
Thinking things unknown and awful, 
Thoughts on wild, uncanny themes, 
Waking dreams. 
Spectres dark, corpses stark, 
Show the gaping seams 
Whence the cold and cruel knife 
Stole away their life. 
Bloodshot eyes all strained and staring, 
Gazing ghastly into mine; 
Blood like wine 
On the brow — 
clotted now— 
Shows death’s dreadful sign. 
Lonely vigil still I keep; 
Would that I might sleep! 
Still, oh, still, my brain is whirling! 
Still runs on my stream of thought; 
I am caught 
In the net fate hath set. 
Mind and soul are brought 
To destruction’s very brink; 
Yet I can but think! 
Eyes that look into the future, — 
Peeping forth from out my mind, 
They will find 
Some new weight, soon or late, 
On my soul to bind, 
Crushing all its courage out,— 
Heavier than doubt. 
Dawn, the Eastern monarch’s daughter, 
Rising from her dewy bed, 
Lays her head 
‘Gainst the clouds’ sombre shrouds 
Now half fringed with red. 
O’er the land she ‘gins to peep; 
Come, O gentle Sleep! 
Hark! the morning cock is crowing; 
Dreams, like ghosts, must hie away; 
‘Tis the day. 
Rosy morn now is born; 
Dark thoughts may not stay. 
Day my brain from foes will keep; 
Now, my soul, I sleep
(all rights reserved to the author)
~Source:  https://pickmeuppoetry.org/melancholia-by-laurence-dunbar/

What a flipping day. I have ridden the roller coaster of my feelings up, down, all around and then by this evening felt like I hit a brick wall. Maybe watching 7solid hours of Martian Successor Nadesico wasn’t such a smart idea. Nor cruising the WordPress support forums and reading the shills lie about what WP.com is doing with selling their users out to AI.

It’s not even 6:30pm and I’m already for the next weekend. Maybe I need to get offline for a week? Well, a good night’s sleep and a busy week of work should help cure what ails me.

Legacies (Galaxy's Edge #11) 4Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Legacies
Series: Galaxy’s Edge #11
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Space Opera
Pages: 466
Words: 155K

---

I enjoyed this more than the first book, even though it starts off with killing off one of the main characters we were introduced to in the previous book. I was not a huge fan of that but it help bring the focus back to Wraith/Ford and then Prisma and her warbot minder, K88 I think its name is?

There was also a lot of jumping around in both character perspective and in time. We meet Urmo again, the evil yoda of this series. If I hadn’t recently read Imperator (back in December) I doubt I would have remembered who he was and I would have been left scratching my head about his brief inclusion to the story.

The main story is that Wraith has a bounty on his head from the Assassin’s Guild and he has to track the head of the guild down to find out who put the bounty out on him. But to do this, he has to pretend to be Tyrus Rechs, who is dead (and like, dead dead. Dying in a nuclear explosion will do that to even immortals, surprise!). So Wraith is dressing up in Rechs old armor and goes to the assassins guild to get the job to hunt Wraith, ie, himself. But it all goes pearshaped when the Guild catches on and sets an ambush for Wraith. But Wraith is good enough to survive and now he has a lead.

The other storyline is about Prisma and K88 and their adventures on a Savage mini-hulk that is tractor beaming in random ships and using the passengers to run random war game scenarios. They are hooked up with some Republic fighters and one of them is from the same project that Wraith/Ford was in. Ravi shows up in the flesh and helps them out. Prisma is hearing a woman’s voice in her head, someone who can use the power who is nobody she knows. Turns out it is a Savage and she has plans for Prisma.

At the same time, Wraith, who is doing that whole Rechs/Wraith thing, finds out that his dad was not his dad but an old army buddy and that he, Wraith, is a long lived military experiment meant to be the tip of the Legionaire’s spear. To survive when the House of Reason took the project over, he had his memory suppressed and his buddy pretended to be his dad so there would be no record of him.

All of this is happening at the same time. POV’s are switching every couple of chapters and the forward momentum is absolute non-stop and relentless. By the end of the book I was begging for things to just stop and be in a bit more of an orderly fashion. I can understand why they wrote the book the way they did, but it was exhausting to deal with. As much as I complained about Takeover not seeming to advance the plot from Season One, I couldn’t complain about how the POV’s were handled. This just felt messier. Add in the deaths of Carter (the character from the previous book) and the apparent death (and if not, the complete disappearance of) Leenah and I had some real issues with how they handled secondary characters. I mean, why waste the entire first book of the series on a character who isn’t going to be around?

I know I have complained a good bit but I was happy overall with the book. It’s taking much longer for the authors to make apparent the path this second season is going to walk and I want that foresight now. I’m just thankful that author Nick Cole can’t narrate this series by some idiot who can’t tell a good story. Ohhhh, I still get angry with how they handled the Forgotten Ruins series. And look at that, I’m STILL complaining. I think somebody needs a nap.

★★★★☆

---

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

Synopsis – Click to Open

With his duty to the Legion satisfied, Wraith sets out to find a lost member of his crew―the young girl, Prisma. But not only does the journey bring with it more death and destruction―and loss―than he ever imagined, it revives the shadows of a forgotten past… and the only way forward is to follow the footsteps of the legendary Tyrus Rechs.

Meanwhile, as the galaxy struggles to steady itself following the fall of a corrupt and bloated Republic, dangerous threats vie for power. These enemies include both the exceedingly modern and the impossibly ancient, awakening at long last to emerge from the darkness between the stars.

• All My “Galaxy’s Edge” Reviews
• Galaxy’s Edge: Season Two
• Galaxy’s Edge: Season One
• Galaxy’s Edge: Tyrus Rechs
• Galaxy’s Edge: The Savage Wars
• Galaxy’s Edge: Order of the Centurion
• Galaxy’s Edge: Dark Operator

[Art] The Lord of the Poppies

Slumber, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Poppies, said he,
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the slumber, said he.

I’d like to sleep the month away folks. Won’t you join me as the King of the Poppies casts his spell over us all?

Wordpress.com Sold Us Into Digital Slavery to the AI

You think I’m kidding? Your data now goes directly to AI programs that pay Automattic. WordPress admitted this on their blog (but closed the comments section).

More Control Over the Content You Share

They gilded it by saying we can opt out. I have. Here is the link you need to also opt out:
https://wordpress.com/settings/general/

Under the “Privacy Section”, you’ll need to checkmark the “Prevent Third Party Sharing”. Make you sure hit “Save Settings” AFTER you have selected to opt out.

I know you all “know” this, but it is good to be reminded that “your” data is not yours on WordPress.com or on any site run by Automattic. Pay attention and take control where and when you can or you will permanently lose it at some point.

February '24 Roundup & Ramblings

Raw Data:

Novels – 15 ↑

Short Stories – 0 ⭤

Manga/Graphic Novels – 0 ⭤

Comics – 1 ⭤

Average Rating – 3.31 ↑

Pages – 3427 ↑

Words – 1244K ↑

The Bad:

The Expanding Universe #1 – 1star comparable to nuclear waste

The Good:

Pride and Prejudice – 5stars of goodness even with stupid questions ruining the experience

Phule’s Company – 4stars of light fun that really hit the spot

Movie:

No movie this month. After John Wick 4 last month, I needed a break.

Miscellaneous Posts:

• [Art] – Lover’s First Date
• Detonate – MTG 4E
• [Art] A Valentine Wolf
• Diabolic Machine – MTG 4E
• Dingus Egg – MTG 4E
• Shelf Control: A Subtle Agency
• Disenchant – MTG 4E
• The Spice(drops) Must Flow

Personal:

Man, where January sped by so fast that it was over before I blinked, February has felt like absolute frozen molasses. It went no where and it went there really slow. Every day of each week felt like it should have been Friday, not matter if it was Monday or some other day. Every single week. It was the month That. Would. Not. End.

Then part way through the month I got the worst cold that I’ve had in a long time. It started in my head and worked it’s way down to my chest. For two days at work I thought I was going to die. It was like a freight train had run me over. Took me over a week to recover from the weakness and I was coughing for the rest of the month.

On the positive side, I was able to play a good bit of Magic the Gathering on whatsapp. Had a 3player game with Dave and Mark. It took us a solid, glorious week to play. With me in the United States, Mark in the UK and Dave in the Netherlands, those time zones really kicked our butts. But we overcame and while I don’t know about the other two, I had an absolute blast. Long, slow games of Magic where you chat between turns is one of my favoritist things.

Speaking of games, I kicked my own butt into gear and sleeved up Marvel Champions. I will put up that post next week, so no need to fret, you’ll get your MC fix.

We have several new families at church, so I’ve been wearing myself out introducing myself each Sunday. I am NOT a people person and interacting with people wears me out, even good interactions. I can’t wait until they’re regulars and I can go back to ignoring them 😉

Cover Love:

Kind of the opposite of “love” because this is the cringiest cover for a book that I’ve read in a very long time. But “Making Love Last Forever“ by Gary Smalley was a great book. The cover, however, is like looking at a train wreck happening in real time in slow motion. I cannot look away no matter how much I want to. And now you get to see that image seared into your brains as well. You are welcome.

Plans for Next Month:

I’m going to watch and review a movie. I have no idea which one though. I’m contemplating digging back into my massive pile of anime discs and trying them again. There’s gotta be SOMETHING I can still enjoy 😀

My Magic card posts will get a slight aesthetic change. I’m not going to be putting up the art AND the card in the post. While I liked a change, I found it was simply too busy for my taste. So I’m going to be making the art part the featured image and just having the card itself in the post. That way I still get both parts but without having it look overwhelming.

Will have two [Art] posts again.

Will be doing another buddy-read of the Discworld series with Dave again. Going to be reading Mort, the first of the Death subseries. I remember really enjoying the Death books before, so I have high hopes I’ll enjoy it as much if not more so than last time 😀

Other than that, reviews as normal and random posts when I feel the inspiration.

The Spice(drops) Must Flow

In preparatory celebration of Dune: Part 2 releasing in theatres this coming Friday, I thought I would do a fun little post where I blabbed. As opposed to all those other posts where I’m just a big ball of frowniness and generally stay as silent as the grave. You remember, that post where I just sat there and stared at you and totally judged you for not commenting on my post that had nothing in it? Oh, NOW you remember? Good. Don’t let it happen again, ok? Because otherwise I’ll have to unleash the beast and he’ll cram spicedrops down your throat until you are addicted as Paul was to the spice.

Because if you think about it, there’s really not that much difference between Spicedrops and the Spice.

One of them comes out of a giant worm’s butt and one of them comes out of a giant factory’s extrusion machine. It’s really the same thing, especially in principle. Secondly, both of them can kill you if you take too much of it, especially if you’re Special and are blessed/cursed with Type 1 Diabetes/AretheChosenOne (those are really the same thing too if you want to get technical). Thirdly, they are both addictive. While wars have not been fought over the Spicedrops (yet!), that is because the supply is almost unlimited. You just wait until the masses can’t buy them in the grocery stores anymore and THEN you’ll see rioting never seen except when a Star Wars movie blasphemy is released. But enough of that sad sack talk. This is supposed to be a happy post!

Now, you might be wondering how I came to this decision. Well, I’ll be honest. It was a miracle, plain and simple! I woke up one morning and before me was A Sign.

Not even Jonah himself could ignore a sign like that! Well, he could, and did, hence the whole Jonah and the whale scenario. But I’m way smarter than Jonah. No getting eaten by a whale for me, thank you very much. Or even a big sandworm. I’m also much smarter than that dummkopf Liet Kynes.

Therefore, as the Prophesied One, I declare today to be the start of Party Hardy Month! We will move to a lunar calendar, thus giving us 13 months in the year. There will be January, February, Party Hardy, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, Bookstoogetober, November and December. I’m not your run of the mill Prophesied One. When I want something, I roll up the sleeves of my Mystery Robe and get to work. I don’t expect the world to change on a dime just for me. I’ll do the changing TO it. On a quarter. Because I’m not a cheapskate.

So grab yourself a bag of The Spicedrops, watch Dune Part 2 and celebrate Party Hardy with me, Bookstooge the Prophesied One. It’ll be great! Or else….