Hello CompetitiveHS!
I am Giffca, and I like building off-meta decks that occasionally play well against the existing meta. You may remember me from Incredible Arcane Watcher Shaman only a few months ago! I've got something new for you today. This deck in particular feels like it can hang with any deck in the game right now. I cut out all of the slow reactive cards from a traditional HL list and replaced them with some more proactive packages that have a bit more strategy than "try not to die and play poof/box as soon as possible".
To be quite honest, I didn't think I was doing anything that special (hence the initial decklist name, "whynot" lol). But I've had really solid success over the last week climbing from D5 to legend, and intend to see how far I can take this list. I have maintained a +70% winrate over a 75ish game sample size, which is nothing to scoff at. This deck has a nice set of inter-mingling synergies that feel powerful and make for very dynamic games.

Below is the deck, its stats, and a brief overview of the key packages:
### whynot
# Class: Mage
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Phoenix
# 1x (1) Arcane Breath
# 1x (1) Brain Freeze
# 1x (1) Devolving Missiles
# 1x (1) Lab Partner
# 1x (1) Magic Trick
# 1x (1) Primordial Studies
# 1x (1) Violet Spellwing
# 1x (1) Wand Thief
# 1x (2) Astromancer Solarian
# 1x (2) Cram Session
# 1x (2) Frostbolt
# 1x (2) Sorcerer's Apprentice
# 1x (2) Zephrys the Great
# 1x (3) Arcane Amplifier
# 1x (3) Chenvaala
# 1x (3) Firebrand
# 1x (3) Vulpera Scoundrel
# 1x (4) Azure Explorer
# 1x (4) Conjurer's Calling
# 1x (4) Crimson Hothead
# 1x (4) Fireball
# 1x (4) Potion of Illusion
# 1x (4) Twilight Drake
# 1x (5) Cobalt Spellkin
# 1x (5) Jandice Barov
# 1x (5) Malygos, Aspect of Magic
# 1x (6) Onyx Magescribe
# 1x (6) Reno the Relicologist
# 1x (8) Mana Giant
# 1x (9) Dragonqueen Alexstrasza
AAECAf0EHrsC5gSWBY0Ig5YD/50DpaED/KMDkqQD9awD+KwD+qwD+6wD/awDgbEDkbEDiLYD4bYDjbsD28wD3cwD4MwD+MwDhc0Dx84Dzc4DpNED2dED5dED99EDAAA=

Stats (51-20, all games were played between D5 and Legend 5000ish):
https://imgur.com/a/4lJqnNO

Packages and Card Choice Overview
Highlander Package (Zeph, Reno, Alex, Potion of Illusion):
The first three need no explanation, but the fourth one likely raises some eyebrows. It's not a must-have, but it is so strong any time you can play it. Don't be greedy, as this deck does not lack value. My most common targets for potion are Reno and Malygos, and getting a single extra of either can be game-winning on its own. You will almost never potion a Zeph, but potion'ing DQA's 1 mana minion can be great too. Reno and Zeph are the reason you play this deck, Alex is a consolation prize.

Card Generation Package (too many to list, Mana Giant, Conjurer's Calling):
Pretty much every card in this list adds additional cards to your hand, meaning you are very unlikely to run out of value any time soon. Not only does this mean that you can adapt your game plan to your opponent, it also means that you can hang with the likes of Control/HL priest well into the late game. As a happy bonus, you will often be able to discount your mana giant to be 0-4 mana, which can lead to a conjurer's calling creating a ton of stats on board out of nowhere. Note that conjurer's calling also works really well with "1 mana" cards created by potion of illusion or DQA, as well as 5-drops from Jandice Barov.

Burn Spells Package (Frostbolt, Fireball, Malygos, Azure Explorer):
Not many people expect fireball to be hard-run in a highlander mage list, which means you are regularly able to finish the game earlier than your opponent expects. Augment the above with generated burn, malygos spells, and some cheap spell damage, and you've got 12+ reach from hand constantly ready to go. All of these cards are also quite effective at controlling the board if needed.

Spell Damage / Cheap Spells Package (too many to list, Firebrand, Chenvaala):
These cards give us early game plays and anti-aggro defense, but scale really nicely into the late game. Using boosted cram sessions to re-load or reclaim the board with 1 mana spells that become really dangerous really quickly again fits the deck theme of being able to stave off aggression while also playing the long game. I very seldom "Go Off" with Chenvaala, but it is a must-kill minion with huge upside.

Dragon Package (the 7 Dragons):
This mostly started because Cobalt Spellkin gives extra devolving missiles which are great, and arcane breath is a strong card which complements our game plan nicely. Twilight Drake because our hand is regularly quite full, Onyx Magescribe because he's a big body with an easily activated and strong effect, and Crimson Hothead because he helps keep you alive. I think regular Alexstrasza is too slow for this meta and doesn't fit that well with this list.

Other Specific (Weird?) Card Choices and Omissions:
Sorcerer's Apprentice - This deck doesn't aim for Wombo-Combos, but it has enough cheap spells where SA can be helpful. It is a must-kill minion with an upside that enables some nice tempo plays. Sometimes you can potion a SA for cheeky plays later on down the line, but don't be greedy with her.
Vulpera Scoundrel - Just a nice early game play that you can adapt to your specific needs. If you know the game is going late, get greedy, otherwise an extra arcane missiles or freeze can be life or death vs. aggro.
Chenvaala / Arcane Amplifier - Don't tell anyone, but these are actually the same card. 3 mana 2/5's that get your opponents to kill them immediately. Even aggro decks can't help themselves from trading into those inviting statlines. And if they don't die, they've both got nice upsides.
Jandic Barov - I play this card because it's new and neat and I opened it, but it's pretty substitutable. In fact Ras Frostwhisper might be better with all the spell damage, but this feels better to drop on an empty board (we're a proactive list after all). It also synergizes with Conjurer's and Potion of Illusion.
--------------------------------
Reno the Hero - Too slow and reactive for what this deck is aiming to do (in my opinion). Honestly it could earn a spot but I don't want any more dead cards that can land in my mulligan vs. aggro.
Archmage Antonidas - I only recently thought about giving him a try. He can turn your cheap/situational spells into additional fireballs, which seems really good. If you're facing mostly control, feel free to give it a shot, but I think this deck already fares pretty well vs. control.
Weapon Destruction - This deck does not have a good time against bomb warriors or rogues that get weapons + boosters early. Running a 1-of ooze won't fix that problem.
Big Spells Package - Dragoncaller into deep freeze or power of creation or box is very strong, but being alive against aggro on turn 7 with those cards in your hand is a big ask.
Secrets - Too reactive and easy to play around, make for very weak draws when played for 3 mana. This deck is too proactive to want to include a Flame Ward or Ice Barrier.

High Level Match-ups / Strategies:
This deck does not have a singular "strategy", which can make it tough to learn and play. You need to remain adaptable, make good choices with your discovers, and know when/how to lean into the RNG. Unlike regular HL mage, you don't just stall until turn 7/10 and slam Box or Poof hoping to win the CasinoStone. However, there will be games where I intentionally pick up a box from Vulpera on turn 3 knowing that it will come in handy as a probable board clear later.
Against aggro, mulligan for your early drop cards and try to contest the board as much as you can until Reno/Zeph/Firebrand can help decisively swing things in your favor. Potion'ing a Firebrand or Reno leads to many instant concedes. Once you've won the board, you need to be proactive and put your opponent on a clock. People do not play around fireball from HL mage. There have been games where I've kept up with a tempo/stealth rogue into the mid/late game, only to get burned down from full HP over two turns.
Against control, you will not run out of value. Hand size management is critical, because nearly every card replaces itself. 1 or 2 card potions of illusion are plenty, choose your target(s) wisely. You have a steady stream of threats, so spread them out properly and then use burn to finish the job. Playing a DQA on one turn followed by cheap dragons followed by a Mana Giant Conjurer's is often too tough for control decks to handle in succession. If your deck is thin, it can often be correct to discover and shuffle multiple Solarian Primes into your deck, because he is just that powerful. It can be risky to have two Solarian Primes in your deck if you haven't used your HL payoff cards yet, so be warned!

Conclusion:
The stats say that Paladin is the toughest matchup, but I don't think we're that unfavored. I think that bomb warrior is by far the toughest matchup, followed closely by aggro rogue or face hunter with really aggressive draws. The thing that I like about this list is that truly every matchup feels winnable and every game feels different.
Feel free to share your thoughts and reflections after giving it a try. Best of luck, and thanks for reading!

Giffca

The Demon Hunter destroyer - Legend with Secret Stealth Rogue

Introduction

Hey guys. I'm a hardcore paladin main who's hit legend multiple times with off meta pally lists, which I've posted some past guides for. Unfortunately, I've hit a bit of a problem recently - Paladin kind of sucks right now. More so than usual! Pure Paladin is the only viable deck the class has right now, but its lack of card draw makes the losses feel really bad.
Around a month ago, after a break from the game, I was looking for some cheapish midrange alternatives when Secret Stealth Rogue caught my eye. An archetype that was briefly explored at the start of the expansion but quickly lost popularity, I somehow became absolutely convinced that I had found the secret dark horse of the expansion. There was one problem though - the number of rogue wins I had at the time was in the single digits.
It took a long time to get used to playing rogue, as well as refining the pretty terrible decklist I had started off with, and I spent the entirety of the previous season getting to grips with the deck. After settling on a definitive version at the start of the current season, and over the course of over a hundred games, I have finally reached Legend. The purpose of this post will both be a guide and a hopefully compelling case for you to give this deck a try.
Legend proof 1
Legend proof 2
Deck overall stats (from Bronze 10 to Legend, W-L of 76-49, 61% winrate)
Deck matchup stats (final version starting from around Diamond 10, W-L of 49-29, 63% winrate)

Decklist

Secret Stealth Rogue
2x (0) Backstab
1x (0) Shadowstep
2x (1) Blackjack Stunner
2x (1) Pharaoh Cat
2x (1) Spymistress
1x (1) Worgen Infiltrator
2x (2) Ambush
1x (2) Ashtongue Slayer
2x (2) Dirty Tricks
2x (2) Eviscerate
1x (2) Shadowjeweler Hanar
2x (2) Skyvateer
1x (3) Edwin VanCleef
2x (3) EVIL Miscreant
2x (3) Greyheart Sage
2x (3) Hooked Scimitar
2x (4) Burrowing Scorpid
1x (7) Cursed Vagrant
Deck code: AAECAaIHBrIC7QLiB7q4A7u4A/vEAwy0AYgHj5cD/6UD9acDm7YDubgDzLkDzrkDz7kD0LkD2b4DAA==

Deck Discussion

The Stealth Package
Spymistress: A staple of the stealth package, Spymistress is a very generously statted card, able to contest the earlygame against other aggressive decks such as Demon Hunter, and also able to dish out big amounts of damage against enemy heroes for just 1 mana. Knowing when and when not to attack with a stealthed minion is one of the most important things to learn when playing this deck. Keeping the minion stealthed can have many advantages, such as denying enemy plays (Satyr Overseer for example), and keeping an activator for your stealth combo cards.
Worgen Infiltrator: Strictly worse than Spymistress, and originally wasn't run in the deck. So why did I decide to include it? First of all, I found that I wasn't activating Greyheart Sage (the best card in the deck) often enough. Secondly, I wasn't getting my 1-drops in my starting hand as much as I'd liked. Still though, I didn't like the idea of running what I thought was a sub-optimal minion. But then, u/FunkiMonkiTwitch came with his Stealth Rogue list, and this card's HSReplay stats on it were surprisingly decent. This is what pushed me to add one copy to the list.
Ashtongue Slayer: I originally ran two copies, since on paper this card seems pretty busted, right? Maybe for a pure aggro list, but I soon came to find that not only was I unable to actually use their battlecries very often, but its effect also seemed kind of underwhelming, effectively being "deal 3 damage to face or have your stealthed minion make a very awkward trade, and make the Greyheart Sage in your hand useless". However, the card does work well with Skyvateer, with the attack boost and immunity allowing for some nice trades. In the end, one copy seemed like the best option.
Skyvateer: Another staple, it doesn't have the most aggressive statline but this deck seriously needs card draw, and having a card that does both that and has stealth is too good of a deal to pass up on.
Greyheart Sage: The best card in the deck, a 3 mana 3/3 that draws 2 cards is just absurd. As mentioned earlier, in many situations you'll probably want to refrain attacking with a stealthed Skyvateer so you can get this card's effect off.
Burrowing Scorpid: While this is technically part of the stealth package, it's also just all-around a great card. Its battlecry of dealing the magic 2 damage helps immensely against DH, and its attack stat of 5 damage trades well into many things, most notably Shield of Galakrond and Glaivebound Adept.
Cursed Vagrant: Again, technically part of the stealth package, but its real use lies in its potent finishing power. The amount of pressure this card exerts is insane, clearing it doesn't help as it just summons an unstoppable deal 7 damage next turn. Used to run two copies, but as good as the card is, it's just too expensive. Due to the amount of draw in the deck, the likelihood of getting this in the midgame is pretty high anyway.

The Secret Package
Blackjack Stunner: A completely nutty card even after the nerf, the tempo swing it provides is insane. Due to the amount of draw in the deck, you will usually have a secret at your disposal.
Shadowjeweler Hanar: Still absurdly strong, a useful source of refill and can win games on its own if your opponent can't clear it.
Ambush: You should generally treat this card as a 2-drop. A 2 mana 2/3 poisonous is pretty strong, and very necessary too since your only other 2-drop is Skyvateer.
Dirty Tricks: An important card source of card draw, but at times you should aim to only play this if absolutely necessary, since keeping a secret in your hand to activate Blackjack Stunner and Shadowjeweler Hanar can be very important.

Notable Misc
Shadowstep: Synergizes with various cards in the deck. However, when running two copies it became a dead card more often than I liked.
Pharaoh Cat: One of the best 1-drops in the game, it provides a reasonable body and gives you a whole card for just 1 mana. Reborn minions are generally decent, and the card generation is seriously welcomed in this deck.
EVIL Miscreant: Interestingly, FunkiMonki's list does not run this card. I can understand why, since it's not the most aggressive resource, but EVIL Miscreant has many uses. Lackeys are just insanely powerful for starters, but they also make for great combo activators, making your Edwin significantly stronger. Both useful against aggro and a great value generator, and all in one package.
Hooked Scimitar: Kind of forgot this card existed, I decided to give it a try after seeing FunkiMonki's list and it worked surprisingly well. A very potent source of burst.

Notable Exclusions
Blazing Battlemage: Seems like a pretty good inclusion. However, due to the lack of space in the deck, and the decent number of existing 1-drops in the deck already, I ended up leaving it out. Although this card has the extra attack, it is just a horrible topdeck and is only useful if it ends up in your starting hand, which doesn't happen enough unfortunately.
Bamboozle: I used to run two copies of this, but not only was its effect often underwhelming, but it was just too reactive in nature. In most cases you should be ahead of your opponent on board, which goes against the point of this card. I was worried that without it, I wouldn't be able to draw secrets reliably enough to activate the Stunner and Hanar, but that ended up not being the case.
Akama: This card just isn't good enough. I haven't actually played with the card since I really did not want to craft it due to dust shortages, but I guessed that it wouldn't be much good in the first place since a 3 mana 3/4 with stealth just isn't strong enough, and drawing the prime would be such a rare occurrence due to the aggressive nature of this deck. And turns out, in the current Stealth Rogue list on HSReplay, it's one of the worst cards in the deck.
Flik Skyshiv: A solid card, but too slow in this deck, and too reactive. Plus, with two Blackjack Stunners, it's a bit unnecessary too. Could maybe be tech against Glowfly Swarm?

General gameplan
Each matchup is played quite differently, so it's hard to generalize this deck's gameplan. One thing is for sure though: this is not pure aggro like Aggro Stealth Rogue, and you should refrain from dumping everything from your hand. In a way, this is a classic Tempo Rogue deck. More detailed gameplans are included in the section below.

Matchups

Good Matchups
Demon Hunter: 27-6
This deck completely shreds Demon Hunter. I went 27-6 against them, a winrate of 82%. Your early stealth minions do great with controlling the board, and very often your opponent will think they're facing a Galakrond Rogue that hasn't drawn any of their invokes, which means that they'll face tank A LOT. You can easily take advantage of this, maintain board control and burst them down before they do anything too crazy. The only time you'll lose if they have the absolute nuts opening (something like Battlefiend into Umberwing into Satyr) and you don't have a Backstab or any 1-drops.
Sample Win: Here, I start off with a pretty mediocre opening hand. An EVIL Miscreant helps me to stabilize, and I eventually gain board dominance. The DH has then proceeds to face tank like crazy, dropping his health from 23 to 12, which allows me to pull off a surprise lethal.
Sample Loss: DH has the nuts opening, but I somehow manage to stabilize, again with the help of EVIL Miscreant. I'm in a good position, threatening lethal with a taunted up Cursed Vagrant, but he freezes it to prevent lethal and kills me next turn due to having Kayn to ignore the taunt.

Hunter: 8-1
A very good matchup, you completely dominate the earlygame and midgame and can usually kill your opponent before they can do crazy stuff with their higher costed stuff. Play should come very naturally - you have more cards to play early on, and you just play them to win the board.
Sample Win: Despite a solid opener from my opponent, an EVIL Miscreant allows me to build up a huge board, which gets very sticky later thanks to Hanar shenanigans.
Sample Loss: I have a horrible start here, unable to do anything for 6 turns, and my opponent puts me out of my misery with a turn 7 Brann. The downside of Shadowstep is displayed pretty well in this replay.

Paladin: 0-2
Okay, I know what this looks like. But a Pure Paladin that draws the nuts opening is hard to stop. I don't know how this managed to happen twice, but it did. In theory, this should be a great matchup, mostly due to your Blackjack Stunners which completely destroy them. I've played plenty of Pure Paladin, and Galakrond Secret Rogue was always my least favorite matchup.
If you don't trust me, here's the replay. Not much I could have done there.

Shaman: 2-1
I ran into three Highlander Shamans. This is a really easy matchup, treat it as a typical control deck, which means applying constant aggression but not overextending. Because of all your draw, you can steadily build up burst in your hand and finish your opponent off before they do anything crazy. Except that in Shaman's case, they don't really have any crazy plays to begin with. The one game I lost was due to some really bad draws.

Priest: 9-4
People love to whine about Priest, and rightly so - Priests are annoying as hell. But annoying doesn't mean good, and playing this deck has helped me realize that. You need to keep in mind that Priest has horrible draw, so probability wise they should not have many clears at their disposal. Sure, there will be some games where they draw all the answers and you can't really do anything the whole game, but most of the time they'll just sputter, cough and die. The key takeaway is: test for their clears, and don't be afraid to go all in.
Your Blackjack Stunners are one of your most important cards in this matchup, always keep a secret in hand so you can play them when you need to.
Sample Win: In this game, I carefully maintain a steady stream of aggression. My opponent has the occasional clear but I can always reload, while simultaneously building up burst in my hand, eventually leading towards the final attack.
Sample Loss: I'm in a pretty comfortable position throughout the game. The first thing to go wrong is my Cursed Vagrant not sticking around due to a discovered Shadow Word: Ruin. Then I get completely destroyed with an Amet + Soul Mirror combo, with both cards being randomly generated. Nasty stuff.

Meh Matchups
Druid: 9-7
Not much to say about this matchup. If your opponent draws their ramp stuff, they win. If they don't, you win. Play as aggressively as possible and hope for the best.
This does not make for very interesting replays, unfortunately.
Sample Win: Here, I decide to shadowstep the Ashtongue Slayer for maximum damage output. I build up a board which manages to clear the enemy's Glowfly Swarm. The stealthed Burrowing Scorpid really comes alive here, which becomes a very annoying threat for my opponent. His Emerald Explorer activates the Ambush, which leads to lethal.
Sample Loss: Opponent has double overgrowth, completely steamrolls me. Typical druid highroll stuff.

Mage: 3-6
In theory, a good matchup. Your opponent doesn't have too many good ways of dealing with all your threats. You have plenty of burst to counter Mage's lack of heal, and if you make sure to restrain from throwing everything in and maintain an even stream of aggression, everything should be fine, right?
Yeah, no. When you play against Mage, you enter a casino. And casinos tend to be pretty rigged. Your best hope is to cross your fingers and hope RNG doesn't screw you over. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen very often.
Sample Loss 1: Probably the biggest robbery of my whole climb. This was not pleasant to go through. The Khartut from Power of Creation was bad enough, but whiffing the burst from my deck even after shadowstepping the Greyheart Sage was enough to force me into a small break from the game.
Sample Loss 2: Scratch that, THIS was the biggest robbery. The early box that summoned Khartut Defenders, the Reno, the Conjurers Calling into two taunts, the other Reno, and the Hoggers. I had so much burst in my hand and still somehow lost.

Rogue: 9-9
Galakrond Rogue performs significantly worse without the Coin than with it.. As a result, whoever goes second in this matchup will have the advantage. You should aim to play this matchup fairly aggressively, since Gala Rogue doesn't have too many good early plays. Especially if they don't have the Coin, which can make things very awkward for them.
Sample Win: In this game, I just play my cards naturally, gaining a gradual advantage and finishing the opponent off quickly before he could do any of his power plays.
Sample Loss: Here, I had gotten off to a strong start, building up an advantage before it came to a screeching halt due to my Cursed Vagrant getting sapped. This wasn't the end of the world, but the Wand into Galakrond was.

Bad Matchups
Warlock: 2-3
Quest Warlock feels like a very strong deck to me. It has the tools to fend off aggro and once the quest is completed, which usually happens just before turn 10, it's pretty much game over. Play this one aggressively, since you're aiming to close off the game before quest completion. However, their access to AOEs and heal make things difficult.
Sample Win: Here, I barely squeeze out a win after having my board cleared multiple times.
Sample Loss: In this game, my opponent is completely unfazed by everything I throw at him. From big stealthed minions to a 14/14 Edwin to a hail mary Deathwing, nothing works.

Warrior: 7-10
This is going to be your worst matchup. Your stealthed minions can get cleared easily by Risky Skippers and Bladestorms, and if they have an Armorsmith at the ready no amount of burst will get through them. Once again, the only time you'll win is if your opponent does not have the answers, so treat it as if they don't and who knows - sometimes you'll get lucky. Your main win condition in this matchup is to build a big Edwin. Usually they don't have a way to clear it, and you just need to be careful of Bladestorm.
Sample Win: My opponent doesn't draw any of their weapons and gets destroyed by a huge Edwin.
Sample Loss: After barely getting through a wall of taunted up Warmaul Challengers, my board gets wiped by a Risky Skipper and I get finished off shortly afterwards with an inner raged Grommash.

Mulligan

Always keep: Pharaoh Cat, Spymistress, Skyvateer, Greyheart Sage
Sometimes keep:

Worgen Infiltrator against aggro. If not against aggro, keep if no other 1-drops.
Backstab against aggro.
Ambush if going second and have a 1-drop and no Skyvateer.
Dirty Tricks if going first and have a 1-drop (will most likely get activated early by Coin).
Hanar if you have a 1-drop and secret against a class that can't clear well (e.g. Mage).
EVIL Miscreant if going second.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading. Despite the occasional bad luck, I've had a blast playing this deck to legend this season. Keep in mind that I've barely been playing Rogue for more than a month and still managed to do pretty well with this deck. In the right hands, this deck has some serious potential to do some damage in the meta. Feel free to leave any questions and criticisms in the comments below, and I hope you'll give this deck a shot.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race. $150 turned into $10k playing baccarat. [Long]

I cut off my best friend of 13 years.i feel terrible and want to make things right but believe it's impossible.what should I do?

So this is going to be a long read and I feel like I'm acting like a whiny b**** but I'm tired of ignoring my feelings. But I also worried that I might be wrong. Thank you all for any advice you can give.
So I met this dude back in high school named Kyle he was an outcast had no friends very bad personal hygiene always wore trench coats even in the dead of Summer. We met because this kid named Jacob who was kind of an ass but in a funny way we were all cool with him just walked up to me and my other friend Alex and said here's some outcasts you can hang out with. The rest was history we got along fantastic we became our own little group of friends and always hung out every single day. Kyle was severely depressed never left his house and his room was disgusting like moldy food plates and piss bottles.after I came over to his house for the first time I made it a point to start taking him out with me even if it was just for a bike ride and eventually I helped him get over his shut in tendencies. I came over and me and my girlfriend cleaned his room for him multiple times and would take him out and pay for everything to try and get him out of the funk. I sat him down and we had a long talk about his personal hygiene in the nicest way I could and basically I worked with him to help him become a regular functioning person and beat his depression as I knew what he was going through as I am clinically diagnosed with depression and PTSD. After we started breaking him out of some of his bad habits his life started dramatically improving. He started making friends outside of our group and was just generally a happier person and I was happy for him. I would go over and help his family and him with whatever they needed as I saw them as my family because I didn't really have one I didn't talk to my mother for over 6 years because she didn't have somewhere to stay I let her come stay with us and she brought her heroin addict boyfriend with her who was not supposed to be there and threatened my landlord. Agreement was a place to stay for her and my brother. They ended up leaving without paying rent and lied to everyone and said I kicked them out when I only told her that he had to leave causing her and my younger brother to be homeless while he went back to his mother's house.The problem started around 2015 in May when my ex's dog had puppies. He wanted one and we were both okay with that. So about a month after that conversation my ex wanted to go to Reno to take a mini-vacation and go gambling at the casinos so he agreed to come over and watch the dogs for a week. We came back he was gone and so was one of the puppies that was too young to be taken away from their mother.I called him and told him he had to bring the dog back and he cussed me out and told me I told him he can have it and he wasn't giving it back.3 weeks pass of us not talking and I ended up going over and apologizing for the situation and just letting it go as he was taking care of the puppy giving it formula and the dog was doing fine. After that he started avoiding me it was just little things at first like he didn't come over or ask me to come over anymore and would only show up around half the time he said he was going to. Stopped playing online games with me and only started talking to me again when his girlfriend cheated on him. I was there for him through the whole thing he started staying over for weeks at a time and I did everything I could to keep him from falling back into his depression letting him know it wasn't his fault he was a good boyfriend and he would find someone someday that would recognize that. After he got over her he ended up going back to the same old contacting me less and less responding to my calls and texts less and less to the point where we weren't really talking by the time 2018 rolled around. In January of 2018 I became homeless because of my fiance at the time who was doing drugs behind our back came home one night from doing a bad batch of whatever she was on was hearing voices and threatened my client who is a 65 year old woman (I work as a live-in nurse for people on hospice).Kyle heard through some of our mutual friends that I was homeless and his family offered to have me come live with them.I took them up on the offer and when I moved in I had to clean all the stuff out of the spare room that was just being used for storage for the last decade or so clean all the cat pee off the walls and steam clean the carpet. I lived there maybe a week before things started going south. His stepfather was unemployed and lied about being disabled to the state consistently and even bragged about it.I don't know if you've ever lived with a man but when they have nothing to do the first thing they start doing is picking on every little thing they can because they are bored. I had my dog living with me Carl who is a little 10 lb teacup poodle husky mix. He was completely housebroken and even litter box trained.so when I was at work I would leave him in the room with a full bowl of food and water and he would be completely fine. So I take this as an opportunity to rebuild my friendship with Kyle and try to hang out with him more just watching movies not even doing anything crazy and every single time he would make up some lie and leave before the movie was even done. At one point he just stopped caring told me he was going to go to bed and then just went to the living room and watched TV for the rest of the night.I ended up hanging out with my current best friend Angelo who I met back in high school when our girlfriends were going to get into a fist fight with each other and we wanted no part of it LOL. I ended up hanging out with him way more than Kyle Even though I literally lived with Kyle.which bothered me because I felt like he just didn't like me anymore and didn't want to be my friend he further cemented in when he would also lie wouldn't even hop on Xbox with me saying he was going to bed and then I catch him playing the exact same game with other people.I took him out for his birthday and he ended up literally ditching me to go hang out with his other friend.but I just ignored it and just stopped initiating contact first as I was tired of being blown off. I know I'm probably sounding like a girlfriend at this point and that's not the case but it was just hurting my feelings because I was going through a lot at the time and my best friend didn't give two s*. So I get home late from work and get chewed out by his parents that I came home after 10 when that was never the agreement that I had to be home before 10. The stepdad says it wasn't his job to watch my dog and I never asked him to but apparently he had been taking Carl out of the room and watching him.they were having me pay a little bit extra so that I can eat food at the house which is completely acceptable but during the conversation about me getting out of work late and getting there after 10 they start going off on me for eating a bag of chips that was meant for his sister's lunch (this was by far not the last bag of chips and no one informed me that there was food in the pantry that was off limits) so I apologize things move on like normal. I make it a point stop by Safeway on my way home and pick myself up dinner every night as to avoid touching anything I'm not supposed to. So around a week later I get off of work and I'm asked by my boss to go to a different site because they need some work done there before tomorrow and I would get overtime so I obviously take it. I call his mother and let her know that I am going to be home very late because my job needed me. I end up going about 4 cities away for the job and by the time I get off Bart is closed.luckily I had a friend who lived up there who let me sleep on the couch for the night.I texted his parents and let them know what was going on that I didn't have a way back and that Carl would be fine in the bedroom big didn't need to take him out he had a litter box and everything else he could need. I get back the next day and immediately get chewed out for not coming home tonight before saying they had to take care of my dog take him out to walk and everything else. He was in an air-conditioned room with food water and a litter box and all his toys he was completely fine. I apologize to them again explained the situation they're just not having it. It's becoming painfully obvious they never wanted me to move in in the first place especially since the stepdad has been telling me since day one that they could rent a room out to an old lady and get double the rent (fat chance with all the screaming that goes on in that house and two years later that room is still vacant) another few days go by and the grandfather comes over who I was on very good terms with I had helped him with a lot of his work for free and helped him clean out his storage and I'm sitting in my room and I start hearing them bad-mouthing me to him in the living room. I really had to pee but I felt extremely awkward going out there so I ended up peeing in a bottle. Then going to bed. A few days later I get off of work stop by Safeway to get food get back at around 11 since I got off at literally 10 and the step dad walks up to me like he's going to do something says (don't you dare f*** ever do that to me again it's not my job to watch your dog) so I finally straight-up tell him I never asked him to watch Carl he was completely fine in the bedroom and he needed to find a hobby instead of riding everyone's ass and avoiding work. The dude is literally a control freak and has pushed almost all their family away from them. I go into my room and I hear him stomp his ass up the stairs wake Kyle's mom up out of a sound sleep when she has work the next day to cuss her out about me getting home late. I heard every word.so she can't fall back asleep apparently and the next day she gets written up at work for being too tired and making a mistake she wouldn't have made if she was so tired.she comes up to me the next day and says that I woke her up when I came home last night. And that I needed to leave because I was going to cost her her job.I literally said I heard the entire conversation she was not awake Mickey woke her up and she just blew me off. Then said that my hollow apologies didn't fix my screw-ups.guess I should have told her to f*** off like literally everyone else in the household did. Kyle comes downstairs hearing the argument and starts defending his stepdad saying that his mom was already awake and Mickey didn't do anything and I literally told him to his face that I heard everything his stepdad was so goddamn loud. He completely threw me under the bus they told me I had to leave within a week or pay them extra rent to stay till the end of the month. I left a few days later without saying a word to anyone. I ended up moving in with my friend Angelo who I have to say is an absolute saint. We literally shared a room had opposite work schedules and my dog they're on top of it and he never complained once. He helped me get back on my feet pull my s*** together and get my own place. I didn't initially cut contact with Kyles family until about a year later when I really started thinking about the whole situation and realized how ridiculous it was. But I never actually cut contact with him just his family. It really hurt my feelings that they treated me like one of their own whenever they needed help with something and then the moment I needed help I was trash help I didn't even ask for but was offered to me.I didn't have much of a family so his family was like a surrogate family to me and I never would have thought they would behave like that. So Kyle randomly contacts me on and off and in December 2018 my ex and first girlfriend dies of an overdose which I know it shouldn't have messed me up but it did.then in July of 2019 my fiance who had at this point admitted to her drug problems and was seeking help relapsed and died. Leaving me with our daughter. Then in December 2019 my sister killed my dog because I made the mistake of letting my family back into my life. I had a one phone call from Kyle after all this and then spotty text messaging or he wouldn't reply for weeks at a time after that so I decided the friendship was dead it was time to cut him off.I felt extremely guilty doing so so I didn't tell him I just blocked him on Facebook and changed my number. So in June he contacts my mother to try and get in contact with me and asks if I blocked him and if I was mad. I lied and said no because honestly I just didn't feel like dealing with all the b******* right now I'm not in a good place. Well yesterday I finally had a moment where I started feeling better and I just wanted to get all this s*** out of the way and I know I don't want to be his friend anymore because we weren't even really friends anymore anyways. It really hurt me that I had been there for him whenever he had bouts of depression he had a life that was 100 times easier than mine and couldn't be there for me when I was going through s*** myself. He has never had to work he's always had something to fall back on he's never even paid for a car they've all just been given to him but he acted like he had it so rough and I wasn't condescending I was there for him. So here's our final conversation and I want to know do you all think I'm lost in my bull shit like he says? Do I have a right to feel the way I'm feeling or am I overreacting?
Me:So honestly I did lie and I did block you on FB.im always afraid of hurting people's feelings for whatever reason.i am not your friend you are not my friend it has become blatantly obvious over the last six years that you do not like me kyle.honestly this "friendship" has caused me more emotional stress than anything else.i literally hung out with Angelo more when I literally lived with you.i lied about stealing from my job and you failed the test I cannot trust you anymore either.when I was living with you guys and Mickey literally stomped his ass upstairs and I heard everything including him waking your mother up you still lied and took his side you said that your mother was already awake from me getting back. You took Jager a dog you don't even want anymore from what I can see early caused me an insane amount of drama and I was the one who had to come over and apologize. You ditched me on the last birthday we hung out to go hang out with Richard. You wont even play a video game with me even when I give you the device to do it and you avoid me like the plague unless no one else picks up.when you were depressed I came over cleaned your room out for you multiple times took you out and tryed to help you feel better. When you had terrible personal hygiene and no one wanted to hang out with you I still did and even had a talk with you about it in the nicest way I could. I'm at the point in my life where I can't keep doing more for others than I do for myself.I can't keep getting upset that people don't want to hang out with me and I'm not going to.I want your mother to stay out of my business and stop looking up s*** about my daughter or I will report her. Even though I got woken up every single day by her yelling at 6 in the morning still went to work tired me coming home late from buying groceries because I got yelled at for eating a bag of chips was reason enough to kick me out according to her so I'm good. Also the real reason that piss was in the room was from the night your mom had your grandpa over and was talking massive crap about me and I didn't want to come out but i really had to pee.Even though I helped clean out that room which no one else ever would have done I was still told from day one that they could easily rent it out to an old lady and get paid more.well it's been 3 years now and I still don't see an old lady living there.just the loss of income that put more weight on your mom so mickey could have more control of the house I have had the absolute worst year of my life I need people around me to support me and that's asking too much. It's fine that you do not like me anymore that is called people growing apart it's completely normal but at the same time it's unhealthy to ignore it and pretend it's not happening. The last few years I have seen who my real friends are and I have lost a few on the way. I am calling it on this "friendship". Once I get my daughter I am moving to Kentucky and I already have a house out there. I have blocked all of your family on Facebook along with a few other people I really need to cut contact with Genuinely I hope you get that fire under your ass bust out of your depression and don't make the same mistakes I did. Get a job and your own place you won't believe how good it'll feel. I've been bottling crap up for years for the sake of others and honestly I'm not that person anymore. I apologize for this coming out of seemingly nowhere and wish you and Amanda the best.goodbye.
HimJordan your so caught up in your own bullshit I think you may be lost in it, I've always loved you like a big brother and you will always be my brother but your actions have taken you places I'd never thought you go, if this is goodbye I understand. I've been distant over the years trying to find myself, and I enjoy the quiet of keeping too myself I thought as my friend you would respect that but I was wrong I hope you find some kind of peace in this life. You impacted my life more than anyone else has and I want to say thank you you've shown me what men can be at their best and worst. Lead a good life and take care of scarlet you owe it to her and Sam. And as this being goodbye don't come back into my life I don't want it not after everything you felt you had to say I will not argue with you we could go back and forth for hours but if this is what you need man, you find your life do it. I believe in you. Take care of yourself.
Me:Kyle you consistently play online games with other people and keep in contact with other people I have seen it firsthand when I lived with you.Like the multiple times you ditched me to go play WoW with your buddies.genuinely I don't know where my actions have taken me that you wouldn't expect I never became an addict all I have done is struggle to find some semblance of stability and failed miserably. You've always had someone to fall back on so you wouldn't understand that. The fact that you were literally just making excuses shows that I'm correct in my decision-making here. I'm not worth an actual explanation or an apology. Just like with the dog. Goodbye.

Critic's Criticisms Part II: Canto Bight

This is the continuation of my series highlighting specific critic's criticisms of TLJ. Part I on Humor is here, which also details my reasoning for this mining operation. Here we are covering Canto Bight, and we have everything from run of the mill iodized stuff to hail-sized rock salt on display, so adjust your goggles accordingly.

Johnson overplays his hand occasionally — most notably an unnecessary sequence at the casino city of Canto Bight that goes straight from a political sermon into a plot hole

Ethan Sacks, New York Daily News - Fresh

The bad news is, this involves an unnecessary trip to a kind of casino planet that doesn’t really advance the story.

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic - Fresh

A scene in an opulent casino is easily the most painful yet in this new generation of Star Wars flicks, eliciting images of the green screen busy set pieces of the early-2000 franchise additions, enticing to the youngest members of the audience who need their stories overly padded with shiny spectacle.

Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot - Fresh

Boyega is a loveable hero, and his new compadre Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) is a nice addition. However, as much as it isn’t overbearing, their entire sub-plot is when the adventure loses steam. This moves the film away from where all the interest is – Luke. At this point, it becomes a little disjointed and unnecessary, never reaching a point of excitement required for a chunk of plot of this degree.

Cameron Frew, FrewFilm - Fresh

an extended digression with Finn and Rose that doesn’t end up counting for much plotwise

Bob Chipman, Moviebob Central - Fresh

Sadly, Boyega's Finn -- still an appealing character -- is saddled with a go-nowhere plot-line that has him and Resistance mechanic Rose show up at a space casino and cross paths with a rogue with a heart of a gold (or maybe just rogue?) played by Benicio Del Toro. There's the kernel of interesting idea there as we glimpse the socioeconomic underpinnings of this galaxy far, far away in a way we've never seen before, but it's a digression whose payoff doesn't warrant the build-up. And when you're already the longest Star Wars ever made (two and a half hours!), some snipping here and there might not have been a bad idea.

Zaki Hasan, Zaki's Corner - Fresh

I’m not a big fan of Finn and Rose’s side adventure, which has the air of a spinoff story being tacked onto the main narrative (probably to give Finn a purpose, since Rey is doing her own thing with Luke). Apart from showcasing the power of hope on a younger generation, it’s not as well integrated into the seams of the larger story as it could’ve been.

Tomas Trussow, The Lonely Film Critic - Fresh

It’s Finn’s mission which takes the film off on a diversion where it didn’t really need to go. There’s a lot of comedic hijinks involved in all of this which George Lucas would have excised from the first draft of anything he ever wrote.

Niall Browne, Movies in Focus - Fresh

Much of the Canto Bight sequence feels unnecessary

Molly Templeton, Eugene Weekly - Fresh

First, both prominent new characters Rose and DJ seemed shoe-horned in, and Rose especially doesn't seem to have a real place in this film nor does she add anything to be hopeful about in the future. And while both Rey and Poe fans will probably be pleased with where their characters go, Finn sort of takes a step back, as he is sent off on a side adventure that seems like second-tier Star Wars. It's a diversion that takes up a good portion of the film and really serves no purpose to the overall story...worse yet, it seems to contain some heavy-handed political messages not commonly found, at least not this blatantly, in the Star Wars universe. These are more than just quibbles too: Most fans will not be used to the slow, lumbering pace or the general unevenness of this film...especially coming on the heels of the action-packed pacing that JJ Abrams brought in Episode VII.

Tom Santilli, AXS.com - Fresh

There’s some stuff that feels extraneous (the whole Canto Bight sequence, which seems to exist to set up a new Lando-like character played by Benicio del Toro), and the cycle of attack and retreat — mostly retreat — gets a bit monotonous.

Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com - Fresh

Muchas de las situaciones se sienten forzadas e innecesarias (por ejemplo, la aventura de Finn y Rose, me parece innecesaria).

Ruben Peralta Rigaud, Cocalecas - Fresh

Their jaunt to the casino planet of Canto Bight serves little purpose besides introducing Del Toro, updating the cantina scene, and offering up a tired CGI chase scene that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Attack of the Clones. Kudos (maybe) to Johnson for introducing income inequality to the Star Wars universe, but the entire sequence feels rushed and shoehorned into an already long movie.

Pete Vonder Haar Houston Press - Fresh

The weakest of these is Finn's. It's briskly paced and full of action yes, but let's just say a casino is no cantina... Worse, it also sees him interacting with Prequel Trilogy levels of CGI critters.

Karl Puschmann, New Zealand Herald - Fresh

But the worst distraction “The Last Jedi” has to offer involves erstwhile Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and a Resistance maintenance worker named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), a subplot every bit as visually and narratively inept as Lucas’ prequels were taken as.

J. Olson, Cinemixtape - Rotten

Finn’s entire storyline could be cut and the film would be better off. As Finn was one of the driving-force leads of The Force Awakens and also a charming character, this is a disappointing development. His adventure is such a low point that it would not seem out of place in one of George Lucas’ efforts from between 1999 and 2005, and it serves little purpose to the film’s overall plot.

Alex Doenau, Trespass - Fresh

there’s too much going on in The Last Jedi, and a lot of it feels like filler. Besides the aforementioned, stalled-out space battle, there’s a clunky sequence in a casino that goes on far too long, a lot of distracting cameos, and new characters inhabited by Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro, who bring close to nothing to the proceedings.

Bob Grimm, Reno News and Review - Fresh

Finn and Rose (a new addition to the principal cast) distract the audience with an overlong and ultimately unnecessary side plot.

Richard Dove, International Business Times - Rotten

And this plotline feeds right into the absolutely unforgivably terrible subplot, which is the adventures of Finn (John Boyega) the cowardly ex-storm trooper, and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), the class-conscious engineer, who go on a fetch quest that is every bit as pointless as the whole matter of the military nonsense, only even worse, because it hinges on terrible comedy, bad CGI, and a spectacularly horrible moment when Johnson stops the film in its tracks to provide a ruthlessly on-the-nose lesson about economic inequality and the military-industrial complex.

Tim Brayton, Alternate Ending - Rotten

Some of what happens on the casino planet — called Canto Bight, and sure to figure in the next film — is goofy on a level as cringe-inducing as things we saw in the prequel trilogy; like, Jar-Jar Binks–awful.

MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher - Fresh

Johnson does his best to hustle from one location to the next, but the narrative has a tendency from time to time to drag. The biggest example of this are the scenes on Canto Bight. Which is a shame, because a huge chunk of the film’s message is established on these scenes. But the very nature of the story, with its many moving parts, inadvertently makes this section of the film feel like a diversion.

Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm - Fresh

The humour is kind of sour in other places, too, such as the silly neo-cantina scene as Finn and Rose track the whereabouts of a mysterious encrypter, who might be the rebellion’s last hope, into a sort of galactic Monte Carlo. The abundance of slapstick there and in other parts of the film doesn’t click and feels forced.

Diva Velez, TheDivaReview.com - Fresh

In an unnecessary and quite frankly preposterous third subplot, Finn (John Boyega) and a new character, Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), race against the clock to locate an underworld figure who can help them neutralise the First Order’s tracking device, thus allowing the diminished rebel fleet to escape.

Vicky Roach, Daily Telegraph (Australia) - Rotten

Weak points come with awkward humour that lacks comedic rhythm and an unnecessary casino escapade, where a disposable underworld character DJ (Benicio del Toro) is introduced, that subsequently soft lens into what is essentially a children's adventure tale about animals

Craig Takeuchi, Georgia Straight - Fresh

Unfortunately, we keep getting dragged away from the only emotionally resonant portion of the film to watch Finn and Rose engage in sub-prequel hijinks on the casino planet. Everything here is forced and awful, visually uninteresting and often dark to the point of unwatchability, lousy with mawkish little kids making bug eyes at the camera as we marvel at the horror of economic inequality, and drowned in an atrocious patina of truly terrible CGI. It calls to mind the droid factory in Attack of the Clones and the pre-podrace sequence in The Phantom Menace. Most offensively, the whole Finn/Rose diversion has absolutely no importance to the forward momentum of the plot—it's utterly irrelevant, even nonsensical.

Sonny Bunch, Washington Free Beacon - Rotten

Not everything in the film works: a few of the goofier comic moments fail to land and true to the legacy of Lucas there’s a fair amount of eye-wincing dialogue. More importantly, the second act bows under the weight of too many narrative strands; Finn’s away mission comes off as a bit superfluous, as does Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo, and both Rose and the beloved Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) are sadly underwritten. In a trade-off that brings scope and complexity, Johnson has sacrificed narrative efficiency.

Christopher Machell, CineVue - Fresh

I didn't like the sequence in a casino--a callback to the Star Wars Cantina, of course, but also a chance to discuss the evils of war profiteers and the 1%. There are creatures there, there's slapstick, there's a heist of sorts, and it all harks back to my favourite of Johnson's films, The Brothers Bloom, in the interplay between the characters, in the lightness and clarity of the scheme. But it's tonally disruptive, and it introduces a trio of children who seem like part of a different film.

Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central - Fresh

Finn and Rose’s trip to a gambling planet – basically a space Monaco – flits between light fun and on-the-nose political narrative.

Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle - Fresh

It also begs the question why the space casino sequence, arguably the least relevant to the core story, wasn’t dramatically trimmed back. Aside from a throwaway final shot, this section of the film is the weakest – designed to depict profiteering space-capitalism run rampant (ironically, also depicting a stable of space-horses also running rampant).

Patrick Kolan, Shotgun Cinema - Fresh

But as ingenious as this setup may be, it also gives rise to the film's most pointless subplot. After waking from his coma, Finn (John Boyega) contrives a means by which he can disable the New Order's tracking device, albeit one that requires him to sneak off the fleeing vessel, travel to a Monaco-styled casino planet, track down a master codebreaker and infiltrate the enemy's warship undetected. This enormous MacGuffin sees Boyega partnered with the charming Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, a Resistance engineer low in status but high in pluck. The problem is that their side adventure does absolutely nothing to advance the actual story.

Tom Glasson, Concrete Playground - Fresh

Unfortunately, John Boyega’s Finn, Oscar Isaac’s Poe and Kelly Marie Tran—as Finn’s new partner-in-rebellion Rose—are given the equivalent of busywork while the rest of the cast moves the plot along.

Simon Miraudo, Student Edge - Fresh

A detour to a casino planet where Finn and a resistance mechanic named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) search for a codebreaker to help them disrupt the First Order's tracking of the retreating resistance ships feels like a trip into another movie. The stakes here seem far lower than the live-or-die scenario facing Poe, General Leia Organa (the late Carrie Fisher) and the others trying to make their getaway.

Greg Maki Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) Fresh

The only characters not doing a huge amount of growing are Finn (John Boyega) and mechanic Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), and not for nothing, their subplot opens up a momentum drain that is the only weakness in The Last Jedi. Boyega and Tran are perfectly enjoyable, and their subplot isn’t a complete waste of time, but you start to feel the length of The Last Jedi when it veers off with them, and Finn’s arc is a pale echo of Poe’s so it’s not like much is being accomplished.

Sarah Marrs Lainey Gossip Fresh

Rey’s journey toward learning the ways of the Jedi is far more entertaining than Finn’s convoluted (and ultimately pointless) storyline

Josh Bell Las Vegas Weekly Fresh

Rose’s character is front and center in the film’s weakest sequences. We’re diverted to a city where the worst of the worst frolic. No, not the usual hives of scum and villainy. It’s a casino where the very, very rich cavort. The evil One Percenters! If you’re not immediately yanked out of the story here you deserve a prize. The accompanying dialogue is equally clunky, as is the reason all these vapid souls gained their fortunes.

Christian Toto, HollywoodInToto.com - Rotten

Far less successful is the time spent with the rebels on the run from Hux and the First Order. Not only is it centered on the slowest space chase in sci-fi history, but subplots featuring Poe, Finn (John Boyega), and Rose (newcomer Kelly Marie Tran) go absolutely nowhere. Sure we get introduced to DJ (Benicio Del Toro) and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern), but it’s with actions that fail to connect either through sheer stupidity or the simple truth that their absence wouldn’t change the story in the slightest. They’re obvious filler, and as is the Disney way (witness their Marvel films) the studio’s never met a character that couldn’t be jammed into a movie for no reason other than the misguided belief that more is better. Finn and Rose’s adventure in particular offers some additional action beats and a visit to a casino — think the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from Star Wars, but for the 1% — but it is meaningless noise.

Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects - Fresh

Meanwhile, what feels too much like the “B plot” side adventure has Finn and Rose on a mission that takes them into another film entirely, a sort of intergalactic James Bond-meets-Free Willy. It’s hard not to feel that their entire subplot could be axed in order to make The Last Jedi stronger and tighter, which is unfortunate.

Kaila Hale-Stern, The Mary Sue - Fresh

There is a whole section that feels out of kilter and harks back to the CGI naffness of the prequels — and is also virtually pointless to the plot.

Jamie East, The Sun (UK) - Fresh

The film’s epic 150-minute runtime allows plenty of room for Johnson’s inventiveness, but there’s also a tiny bit of fat in the middle of the movie, specifically in the Canto Bight scenes with Finn and Rose. The casino city itself is gorgeous and has some crazy-cool characters, plus Finn and Rose’s presence there shines a light on some new, worthwhile themes for the Star Wars franchise. However, in terms of the overall story, the whole escapade feels a little pointless and small. It doesn’t help that Benicio del Toro’s new character, DJ, who is part of the same storyline, is largely insignificant.

Germain Lussier, io9.com - Fresh

Star Wars: The Last Jedi does have a clear weak spot -- specifically the side plot that develops between Finn (John Boyega) and newly-introduced Resistance member Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran). Following a genuinely funny meet-up between the two characters, they are given their own special mission searching for a codebreaker who can assist in the battle against the First Order. But this storyline never feels particularly inspired or impactful as everything else going down in the movie. While it is constructed to fit with the larger themes of the film, features its own interesting expectation-flipping turns, and does eventually have a key impact on the macro scale, it's also the only part of the feature that ever feels expendable, and not helping anything is that it features the weakest visual effects of the blockbuster (especially during a second-act chase sequence).

Eric Eisenberg, CinemaBlend - Fresh

Finn and Rose’s mission takes them to Canto Bight, a kind of Monte Carlo peopled by extras from Babylon 5, and feels like it is just ticking the Weird Alien Bar box started by the Cantina. A ride on space horses also feels like a needless diversion, as does Benicio Del Toro’s space rogue, whose strange, laconic presence never really makes its mark.

Ian Freer, Empire Magazine - Fresh

It’s a shame, then, that the righteousness of Finn and Rose’s place in the film is undermined slightly by the limpness of their mission. Perhaps feeling there had to be some kind of Mos Eisley–esque sequence in the film, Johnson sends the pair to a casino city full of all kinds of creatures. It’s fun, sure, but the whole operation ultimately turns out to be a red herring. At least there’s some nice musing on liberation during this stretch, reminding us of the real stakes of this long story—freedom is, after all, what the Empire denies and the Rebel Alliance promises. And in a gorgeous third-act sequence—which includes the film’s true Empire Strikes Back homage—Finn and Rose finally get the emboldened moments they deserve. I just wish they fit more integrally into the central thesis of the film, that they were just as special, in their way, as Rey is, glinting with messianic power as she ascends.

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair - Fresh

Of the three simultaneous plots, it’s Finn’s that sometimes drags down the energy, particularly with an introduction of a shady thief played by Benicio del Toro, the only new addition to the cast that doesn’t quite work; he seems to be acting in his own private movie, and it’s not as good as this one.

Will Leitch Paste Magazine - Fresh

Where the film struggles the most is on Canto Bight. Taken on her own, Rose isn’t a bad addition to the Star Wars mythos, and the movie definitely needs someone to play against Finn. Unfortunately, they lack the electric chemistry we saw between Finn and Rey in The Force Awakens, and their secret mission in a casino feels like it should be far more entertaining than it actually is.

Matt Goldberg, Collider - Fresh

Some action sequences are superfluous and unengaging. Benicio del Toro all but cameos as a sort of hobo hustler, while John Boyega’s Finn is sidelined, relegated to relatively inconsequential hi-jinx.

Alex Godfrey, GQ Magazine [UK] - Fresh

Finn (John Boyega) and newcomer Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) attempt an espionage mission that takes them to what is the Star Wars equivalent of the French Riviera. It’s a casino city named Canto Bight, and their adventures here push the Rick’s Café sensibilities from the original Star Wars’ cantina sequence to their limit. Nevertheless, this entire subplot amounts to a whole lot of padding while the real tough and revelatory decisions are made on Ahch-To.

David Crow, Den of Geek - Fresh

Plot-wise, I felt the entire side story at the casino world of Canto Bight was unnecessary. If you cut the entire sequence out of the film, it would have little impact on the core narrative.

Scott Chitwood ComingSoon.net - Fresh

Finn (John Boyega) wakes up, meets a admiring fan down in maintenance named Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) and they head off on their own adventure, a detour that somehow combines the louche slickness of Cloud City and moralizing at its most Disney.

Joe Gross, Austin American-Statesman - Fresh

But The Last Jedi’s two-and-half-hour sprawl still includes an awful lot of clunky, derivative, and largely unnecessary incidents to wade through in order to get to its maverick last act. This is especially true when it comes to the plausibility-straining mission of stormtrooper turned Rebel Alliance fighter Finn (John Boyega) and puckish series newcomer Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran).

Sam C. Mac, Slant Magazine - Rotten

There are a couple of big names that fail to deliver much aside from, perhaps, realizing their childhood dreams of being in a “Star Wars” movie. A trip to a city that might as well be called Space Macau also fails to pay many dividends.

Christopher Lawrence, Las Vegas Review-Journal - Fresh

Case in point is the plot involving Finn (John Boyega) and new hero Rose's (Kelly Marie Tran) McGuffinesque mission to Canto Bight, which is of the ashtray-on-a-speederbike variety, and takes away from the tension cranked up elsewhere.

Harry Guerin, RTÉ (Ireland) - Fresh

The remaining 20% is made up of two different locales, one of which is entirely superfluous to the story. Essentially, there is a subplot that introduces Benicio del Toro’s mysterious work of eccentricity, except it doesn’t really do much of interest with him. Admittedly, it feels as if the character could be destined for bigger things in the final chapter, but I can only go off of what I watched, and well, the middle portion of The Last Jedi is stuck in the furthest setting from lightspeed. The journey expands to a space-Vegas full of various alien life forms and inhabitants, but it’s not as visually striking as previously explored planets. Additionally, by design, there seems to be filler injected simply because the other characters need things to do while Rey accomplishes what she needs to with Luke.

Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth - Fresh

The scenes on Canto Bight seemed like an unnecessary divert for Rose (a new character I actually really like) and Finn. This “casino planet” was like a scene right out of a low-budget Sy-Fy channel movie shot in Vancouver. It felt too familiar and earthbound to be a scene in an other-worldly scene in a Star Wars movie. The Rose/Finn alien horse race through the casino that ruined the galactic one-percenters good time and did some property damage was just ridiculous and should have been cut. Rose and Finn flopping around on the alien horse just looked like a bad theme park ride.

Chris Gore, Film Threat - Fresh

There’s a lengthy diversion to the casino planet of Canto Bight that feels pointless and tacked on just for the sake of giving us a cool new corner of the galaxy to feast our eyes on.

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly - Fresh
And that's it for Part II. Happy Holidays to all my fellow fans and miners! Next week I will conclude with Part III, which will cover- well, let's just say it's the longest of this series by far. Heh.

Problem Gambling: An Interplay Between Law and Medicine and A Platform to an Interdisciplinary Approach to This Mental Health Disease- Juniper Publishers

Juniper Publishers- Journal of Physical Fitness, Medicine & Treatment in Sports

Introduction

Gaming and betting contracts are a practical expression of homo ludens: they symbolize a desire for entertainment, a ludic desire. That ludic desire of the player, symbolizing an eminently personal need, does not have enough material foundation to merit the right to legal protection, because it lacks economic interest [1]. This consideration is no small one. Governments worldwide are not keen to legalize the gambling activity. Social costs inextricably linked with gaming leisure industry underpin this widespread hesitation. Efforts concerning the creation of a sound responsible gaming model that strives to achieve the deemed harm-minimization is a definitely the goal that one ought to tirelessly pursue in this realm. This cannot be achieved without an interdisciplinary engagement between the knowledge creators (scholars, researchers, medical doctors) and the end-users (casinos, public entities, lawyers, psychiatrists, whose main purpose is to curb problem gambling).
As far as the aforementioned goes, there are not many papers that proficiently combine the legal side with the other side (medical, psychologic, psychiatric, neurological, sociological, social policy), aiming to curtail the issue of problem gambling. To shape a proper responsible gambling model it is crucially important to address the problem gambling in an interdisciplinary way. Needless to say, this is the main aim of this paper.

Background - What is Problem Gambling?

First things first. How can one outline an accurate definition of problem gambling or problem gambler? [2] Despite the existence of problem gambling, there have been ongoing difficulties with grasping a widely accepted definition of this mental health disease. Conversely, despite being often used, the legal taxonomy «responsible gambling» and «responsible provision» are also scarcely defined. «Although, differences in definition are quite important because they impact on solutions provided to overcome the problem» [3].
«For instance, the Australian Productivity Commission (1999), included a vast range of definitions of problem gambling that variously emphasized either symptoms (e.g., loss of control, chasing debts) or effects (e.g., disruption and damage to personal, family or work life). One widely accepted definition is that adopted by the Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority (VCGA) which states that problem gambling occurs “where a person´s gambling activity gives rise to harm to the individual player, and/or to his or her family, and may extended into the community» [4]. On the other hand, «Problem Gambler», as far as the Canadian doctrine is concerned, is widely carved out as any person whose ability to resist the impulse to gamble has been impaired, or whose gambling has compromised, disrupted, or damaged personal family, or vocational pursuits [5].
While gambling may be portrayed by the vast majority of gamblers as a dazzling form of entertainment and an enjoyable leisure pursuit, its very nature means that there are staggering risks involved in this activity [6]. «Problem gambling (PG) behaviours (as a reminder, problem gambling is a mental disease) occur when an individual gamble in a manner that exceeds their means, for money than they can afford and spending excessive time gambling, both which can cause deleterious effects on the lives of the gambler. Such effects may include neglecting family, health, hygiene, and even employment, as well financial obligations, which highlights PG as not only an issue at the individual level, but also for wider society. Indeed, for every PG there is potential for a multitude of individuals to be negatively impacted» [7].
Background - Problem Gambling, an Overall Shift of Perspective in Relation to Research and Theory?
«Over the last 15 years or so, the field of responsible gambling (RG) has developed from a basic interest in minimising gambling problems, to a fast-growing field of research, theory, and practice covering all aspects of the gambling experience. Even in the recent past, RG was typically the remit of perhaps one or two individuals in an organisation, maybe just a minor part of the primary role. However, over the last few years and in many gaming companies, RG has become a concept embraced at all levels from the CEO down to the point-of-sale retailer, and all those in between. Whilst some of this focus has been driven through regulatory policy and an increased awareness of problem gambling across many jurisdictions, much of the interest stems from a realisation that problem-free players make for a better business. That is, long term customers are going to be those who continue to play, without problems, primarily for reasons of leisure. In short, proactive gaming companies have developed socially responsible business models, that are based on increasing the number of moderate-spending, long-term repeat customers and, that strive to avoid custom from players with gambling problems» [8].
The burgeoning growth of Responsible Gaming practice has been accompanied by an overall shift of perspective in relation to research and theory. «Previously, RG was largely influenced by a view of gambling problems that primarily adopted a medical and/or disease model, with little control or power attributed to those that were most negatively affected. However, increasing support for individual autonomy has become the main issue. This position was outlined in detail by the «Reno Model» [9] which argues that responsible gambling should be based upon two fundamental principles: « (1) decisions to gamble reside with individual and represent a choice, and (2) in order to make good decisions, individuals need to be well informed. This shift in perspective also reflects wider social and cultural changes that have seen more of an emphasis on the importance of consumers making informed purchase choices across a variety of products and services. On the other hand, technological developments have become a driving force, for both the design of games and gambling environments, as well as for tools and services that can assist players to play responsibly» [10].
However, whilst there has been a significant development in research and technological breakthroughs in the Responsible Gaming realm, the translation of valid research into wide-spread practice has sometimes been slower to take effect than initially expected [11].
This portrays a huge gap between the above-mentioned knowledge creators and end-users. This gap surely needs to be bridged. But how?
By engaging in an interdisciplinary path that ought to connect both sides of the gambling industry (medical doctors, gambling leisure industry, lawyers) that would significantly boost the benefits of the global innovation in gaming leisure industry. There is no other way. This particular issue will be addressed later and its concretes features will be also thoroughly carved out.
Background - Problem Gambling as a Repository of Interdisciplinary Contributes: The Cardinal Importance of Empirical Evidence in the Context of Electronic Gambling Machines (EGMs)
Electronic Gambling Machines (EGMs) represent a sweeping part of the gambling leisure industry. It is widely accepted that EGMs are the core of gambling leisure industry, except in the casinos of Macau, where the table games, namely the Baccarat, heavily outweigh EGMs. That´s the reason why Knowledge Creators focus have been driven towards the empirical evidence for the differential impact of gambling outcome on behaviour in electronic gambling [12]. The research undertaken in this specific field has achieved a major breakthrough: EGM´s are the realm of addictive patterns of gambling behaviour as they enhance the illusion of control of the players about the outcome of the game. Furthermore, EGM´s are markedly the domain of the loss-chasing behaviour, the core characteristic of Problem Gambling, which can be thoroughly explained because:
«§ Approximately 13 % of EGM gamblers meet diagnostic criteria for problem gambling (PG) which is one of the highest rates of among all other forms of gambling. EGMs are interactive, computerised gambling platforms found in many licensed betting offices, casinos, and other leisure facilities.
§ They adopt variable ratio schedules of reinforcement that subject a player to addictive patterns of gambling behaviour. EGMs have been shown to instil and maintain irrational and superstitious beliefs, as well as distort concepts of randomness and probability that can contribute to illusions of control. Such features may act in maintain or indeed contribute to the onset of PG behaviours. § In addition, EGMs offer high maximum stake and prize sizes, where an individual can bet up to £ 100 on a gambling event and win jackpots equalling £ 500 and the fact that accessibility of EGMs are abundant on the high-street, means even inexperienced and leisure gamblers are at risk of increased rate and volume of loss, irrespective of whether they would be classed as PG or not. A rapid speed of play provided by EGMs offer fewer opportunities between bets to break trancelike dissociative states gamblers experience, as well as less time to consider one’s decisions in an informed and controlled manner.
§ The rapid event cycle in EGM play also allows for a high rate and volume of loss, which is allowed to further exacerbate if ones engage in loss-chasing behaviour – as stated above, a core characteristic of PG. Loss chasing may not however, be limited to PGs, and there is potential for the fast-paced characteristic of EGM play to negatively impact on» [13]. In this regard, a recent research (conducted by renowned scientists) has investigated how these EGM characteristics interact with winning and losing outcomes and the resulting gambling behaviour, «as there is wide body of evidence outside of gambling research that suggests gains and losses have an asymmetrical impact on affect and arousal, as well as cognitive capacity and decision makingessential components to controlled and rational gambling decisions [14].
Conversely, losses squarely compared to the bulk of wins, have a larger effect on physiological arousal. Hochman and Yechiam (2011) reported significantly larger pupil diameter and increased heart beat in response to losses compared to equivalent sized wins» [15]. On another hand, if losses lead to a greater increase in psychological arousal, this may result in the gambler´s optimal level of arousal being surpassed, which may be detrimental to rational decision making (crucially important when it comes to cease immediately the gambling endeavours) and lead to a loss of control during gambling, «where the fastpaced and high stakes features of EGM play may exacerbate the harm caused by a loss of control» [16].
Having this body of evidence very firmly in mind, it is very important to implement strategies that enable the gambler to remain in control during the gambling session so that gamblingrelated decision are made in a rational manner. Moreover, that assortment of measures embodies the deemed harmminimisation strategies that the legal side of gaming leisure industry should not forsake.
Background - The Importance of Empirical Evidence in the Context of Electronic Gambling Machines (EGMs) and The Harm Minimisation Strategies: The Pop-Up Messages and The Personalised Feedback
If wins and losses do indeed result in an asymmetrical impact on a gambler´s behaviour during EGM gambling, it is important to implement harm minimisation strategies in a timely manner before harmful behaviour augment or escalate. As a consequence, prior to the implementation of any harm minimisation strategies whatsoever there is a major paradigm shift yet to be undertaken: the problem gambling should be approached in a proactive manner rather than a purely reactive one. Meaning, knowledge creators (medical doctors and scientists) and end-users (gaming leisure industry, governments, lawyers) ought to synergetically contribute to the creation of healthy gambling environments in a timely manner.
Alongside the technological developments, research into cognitive psychology of gambling has shown that irrational gambling-related cognitions and misunderstandings inextricably connected to randomness and probabilities represent some of the key ingredients contributing to the initiation and maintenance of problem gambling in general, and in electronic (or online) gambling specifically [17]. «More importantly, it has been shown that problematic gambling behaviour can be decreased in response to cognitive-behavioural therapy and other cognitive interventions. As a consequence, some organisations and gaming operators are beginning to offer players information about common gambling myths and erroneous beliefs. Furthermore, players can now access general advice on healthy and responsible gambling» [18].
«A small body of empirical research has shown that educational programs about erroneous beliefs can successfully help change the targeted cognitions. For instance, Wohl developed an animation-based educational video regarding the function of slot machines, their results demonstrated that the animation was effective in promoting responsible play as demonstrated by those viewing the video staying within their pre-set limits. The study also showed that animated educational information on slot machines can be an effective to increase user adherence to pre-set limits» [19].
Research conducted in this realm have also shown that the way the information is presented to problem gambler has a significant impact. Several studies have duly investigated the effects of interactive pop-up messages during gambling sessions either taken online or in a simple brick-and-mortar casino. Static (and colourless) messages do not appear to be as effective, whereas interactive pop-up messages and «attractive and coloured» (say animated) information can thoroughly quash both irrational beliefs and behavior [20]. Stewart and Wohl (2013) highlighted that gamblers who have received a monetary limit pop-up reminder were more prone to adhere to monetary limits than participants who did not [21].
Increasingly arising on the horizon of the gambling field is the personalised feedback, developed for responsible gambling purposes. In sum, personalised feedback is a behavioural tracking tool, for responsible gambling purposes. There are several programs that constitute a striking example of it, such as Playscan, mentor, Bet Buddy [22]. Eulogized scholars emphasized that gamblers receiving carefully tailored feedback about their online gambling behaviour are far more prone to swiftly alter their gambling behaviour (as gauged by the amount of time and money spent gambling online or in a brick-and-mortar casino) compared to those who do not receive a tailored feedback [23].
«A recent study investigated the behavioural change in 279 online gamblers that received personalized feedback after they had signed up to a voluntary service (i.e. mentor) at a European online gaming website. Those signing up to use the personalized feedback system were compared with 65, 423 matched controls. The preliminary results of that study show that personalized behavioural feedback within a motivational framework appears to be an effective way of changing gambling behaviour in a positive way (i.e., players significantly reduced the amount of time and/or money they spent gambling after receiving personalized feedback). For instance, if a player significantly increases the amount of money they have deposited over a half year time period, they received the following message: “Over the last 6 months the amount of money deposited into your account has increased. Are you spending more money than you intended? You can check the account you have spent gambling on your account page and use our helpful tools to set a daily/ weekly/monthly limit» [24].
The aforementioned example conspicuously portrays that the messages are non-confrontational, attractive, colorful, personal, and motivational. Additionally, the often-emphasized interactive aspect was taken into account through the use of a pop-up window that has been carved out into the casino operator´s gambling site [25]. Overall, the personalization approaches outlined above strive to significantly alter a person´s behaviour via behavioural feedback. Such approaches are underpinned on both the «Stages of Change”» model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983) and «motivational interviewing». Specifically asserted the paramount importance of carefully tailored information. In their study they have summarized a vast array of motivational psychology literature to develop a motivational framework based on the Transtheoretical (i.e. States of Behaviour Change), «which states that individuals attempting to change their behaviour in some way go through a series of stages (i.e., pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and relapse)» [26]. For each stage, they highlighted the motivational goal (s), and recommendation (s) as to how technologies can motivate sustainable energy usage behaviours by people [27]. In sum, behavioural feedback systems enable an optimistic approach of responsible gambling, as they achieve the targeted goal of helping the players sensibly limit the amount of time and money spent gambling [28].

Discussion

The implementation of a responsible gaming model does not override an interdisciplinary approach. Quite the opposite, the foundation of a proper and sound responsible gaming model cannot be successfully applied without an interdisciplinary approach. Conversely, in order to embrace such a challenge, a collaborative approach between the knowledge creators (e.g., researchers, medical doctors and academics who effortlessly study the social and medical phenomenon of problem gambling) and end-users [29] (e.g., policy makers, lawyers, gambling industry, regulators, gamblers) is now needed more than ever. A collaborative problem-solving between knowledge creators and end-users ought to be based not only in a science-based empirical approach, as emphasized by the Reno Model, but be shaped through linkage and exchange of knowledge between both sides of gaming leisure industry.
As far as an interdisciplinary approach goes, mutual learning in the gaming industry requires the input of a wide range of stakeholders, as the aforesaid mutual learning has multiple stages such as planning, producing, and applying existing empirical research, and its concrete implementation in practice should not disregard the input of any the end-users or decision makers. An interdisciplinary approach of responsible gaming is a two-way street: researchers produce and gather empirical research and decision makers tend to apply existing or new research in decision-making. Researchers do not successfully transfer their empirical findings without the input of the decision makers; conversely, decision makers cannot benefit from an evidence-into-practice approach if they not successfully engage with the researchers.
An effective knowledge exchange involves, oftentimes (if not always) the interaction of both sides of the gambling industry aimed at accelerating the benefits of global innovation in this realm. Therefore, knowledge creators and decision makers, as they are planted itself squarely in the middle of the gambling industry, play a pivotal role both in the creation and implementation of harm minimizing strategies and, ultimately, in the construction of a functional problem gambling model.
Because of that they are the key players of the process of taking knowledge and converting it into practice; they are the protagonists of a strategic framework that intends to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
The guidelines for the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach of responsible gaming, can be summarized as follows:
a) The deemed Knowledge Exchange (KE) is a process of taking knowledge and converting it into practice;
b) KE is a form of interdisciplinary engagement between the knowledge creators and decision makers;
c) To ensure mutual learning, knowledge creators and decision makers should arrange regular meetings and issue joint statements about the major priorities of problem gambling;
d) Knowledge creators and end-users should provide guidelines and recommendations in implementing harm minimization strategies;
e) The creation of a task-force of specialists in psychology, psychiatry, sociology, law, that should jointly operate inside the casino facilities;
f) This task-force should be primarily responsible for the implementation of harm minimization strategies and complementarily should be also responsible for training the casino staff, as far as spotting, tracking down, identifying and handling the problem gamblers is concerned;
g) The needs of the end-users should be timely identified by the knowledge creators;
h) To facilitate the aforementioned goal, an atmosphere of trust between the knowledge creators and the end-users is needed;
i) To facilitate that reciprocal approach, regular briefings should be held in order to discuss preliminary results of the implementation of harm-minimization strategies, such as the aforesaid, personalized feedback, loss-limits, win limits, pop-up messages;
j) The communication channel between the researchers and the end-users should always be open, as their relationship should be strengthened through linkage, exchange and joint production;
k) The public entities, or governments, should play a pivotal role as well in establishing priorities, preferences, and goals related with the problem gambling;
l) Moreover, governments should create joint structures that, symbiotically, address the issue of problem gambling;
m) Those joint government structures should have an interdependent relationship, and they should hold meetings and briefings in a regular basis with the casino operators and their interdisciplinary teams;
n) In a regular basis, that joint structures should issue joint guidelines, and should issue joint statements in which they set up harm-minimization strategies to curb problem gambling;
o) Governments who depends heavily on the gaming revenue, for instance Macau, should take the problem gaming seriously;
p) As a consequence, a responsible gaming model should be embraced by the government of Macau, and its focus should be geared not only towards the problem gamblers but, likewise, the positive players, those who just play for fun – in the long run, those are the ones that will keep going to the casinos and not the problem gamblers;
q) Therefore, positive play should be, more than ever, an axiom that the government of Macau should take into account.
r) Focus groups constituted by decision makers from the casino industry and the problem gamblers should take place in a regular basis, in order to assess and appraise ongoing harm-minimization strategies.
s) Problem gamblers input should be taken into account; as far as setting up feasible responsible gaming features, their insight is invaluable.
t) Problem gamblers family should also participate in the process of creation of harm-minimization strategies - they are the core of the personal structure of the problem gambler, and they are the ones who can provide the muchneeded guidance and support throughout the whole process of dealing with the problem gambling.

Conclusion

Problem Gambling is now so ingrained in the culture of gaming industry as a whole that it will not cease to be a part of service industries anytime in the foreseeable future. For this very reason, an interdisciplinary approach to problem gambling poses a considerable challenge to the casino industry as a whole. For the sake of long-term sustainability of gaming industry as a whole, such a challenge should be timely embraced.

Trip report: four nights at Encore for anniversary for $8500

2018 Album of the Year #24: Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino

Artist: Arctic Monkeys Album: Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino Released: May 11th, 2018 Listen: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

THE LUNAR SURFACE (Where It All Started)

The year is 2016, Alex Turner has returned home from 30th birthday celebrations to discover a brand-new Steinway Vetregrand piano. It was a gift from his manager, and it opened a whole new world for him. “Looking back now it seems really... significant. It changed everything really.” He states about it within an interview from Mojo Magazine. He was correct. The piano sparked everything to life becoming the “centre of the universe” for the album. Guitars were just not giving him ideas anymore, but the piano was. Stored in a spare bedroom within his LA home, this became “The Lunar Surface” his almost makeshift recording studio. The name coming from the theory that Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. Alex even stating to Radio X that, “It was amusing to say, “I’m going down to the Lunar Surface.”” The makeshift studio also helped shape the album title, it was “instrumental” to the process. But the piano wasn’t the only thing within the makeshift studio. There was a drum kit, a Vox Continental organ, and a Tascam 388 eight-track recorder. The eight-track recorder would serve as a substantial part in making the album. “I sat with all my instruments and recorded the songs into the machine. That way, I could hear everything at once, whereas in the past it was all in my imagination until I could play the songs with the band.” He also considered it “a writing tool” as much as a recording tool. Working in isolation, he recorded tapes that would later remain on the record in forms of elements such as vocals and various instrumental parts. The eight-track even served as part of the album cover with the “lobby model” of the Hotel + Casino sitting overtop of it, with an earlier version of the record as the tape on it. The model itself was constructed by Turner. The model itself was birthed from the album title and the fact that this is the 6th Arctic Monkeys album. Thus, explaining the hexagon imagery, 1 side per album. The model first started as cardboard, left over scraps from this model can be seen in a photo from inside the Lunar Surface shot by Zackery Michael. Then it was built more and more until we arrived at the model showcased on the album’s cover. The model has a rotating sign bit that was inspired by the House of Pies rotating sign.

VOX, LA FRETTE, & BRINGING IT TOGETHER (Enter the Others)

Upon assembling some of the track, Alex took them to fellow bandmate, guitarist Jamie Cook. Jamie is considered the “gatekeeper” to band, almost like the human bullshit meter. Alex almost feared that he would underwhelmed with it. But Jamie was the one told Alex, “This is definitely what we should be doing.” This led to the pair adding guitar parts to the songs. The majority of these, like the demo tape vocals, stuck with the album. From here they took the album to Vox Recording Studios on Melrose Ave. in LA, in May 2017. This is where the first full band sessions were recorded. Some of the “more interesting” keyboard sounds within the album came from these sessions. But this did not really work out for the band. So, later in September, the band went to La Frette Studios, a residential recording studio on the outskirts of Paris. This was where the album really came together. The band spent about 5-6 weeks recording here. This was Jamie’s idea. La Frette ended up seeing the band bring in an extra 9 musicians to play with them. This also led to a ‘Pet Sounds’ style of recording. This was a large ensemble recording style with these multiple musicians and the band themselves on multiple different instruments including multiple of the same type. So, 2 drum kits, 3 guitars, a couple of pianos. This did not work for every track but did work for a few. (Specifically, The Ultracheese, but I will talk about this more later) Alex stated to BBC Radio 1 that, “A lot of the energy I feel like came from that session. It was all like together in La Frette.” Some of the La Frette sessions can be seen in the Warp Speed Chic short film shot by Ben Chappell.

THE ALBUM (Natural Progression and Influences)

The album overall is 11 tracks. Many believe that the album is a concept album revolving around the Hotel + Casino, but that is not the case. Each one is a “short story” in the words of Turner. Four Out Of Five and the title tracking being the most connected of the collection. "But in other ways it does seem like a collection of short stories and we named the collection after one of the stories which is this one [Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino]. The other ones belong in the same place as this." (Radio X Track by Track interview). The title of the album itself came from a variety of things. The two most prominent being: the fact it is a “place”, and the location of the Apollo 11 moon landing. One thing should be known about the idea of the hotel and casino being a place, Turner loves to think of albums of places. “I think of some of my favorite records as places that you can go and stay for a while, and sort of spurred me on to give this record the name of a place.” (iHeart) The other part of the name itself coming from the Apollo 11 landing may be considered more interesting. This is due to the fact it may have come from cups themed with the lunar landing. The title of course is not the only interesting thing about the album. The sound itself is a departure from their last, AM. But the band all feel like this was natural progression. But the AM era was where they felt they had went a little too far. Bassist Nick O’Malley told Mojo Magazine that he felt that they had lost the “realness” in a sense with that era. “I think we'd gone as far as we could go. I had these crazy ‘80s hair metal leggings on-stag. I'd worn ‘em on Halloween, which I'd done dressed as Macho Man Randy Savage, the WWF wrestler. That was a big sign that it was time to have a break.” And with that they took a break, a five year long one. Turner himself was also aware that he could not do what he did on AM again, “I was aware of the idea that, I don’t think I could have been singing about the things I was singing about on AM anymore.” (Studio Brussels) This was not the first time the band has faced this “challenge” of switching it up. The same thing had happened with their 3rd album Humbug. Drummer Matt Helders states, “We’ve had that challenge before, after the first album success where we had to just get on and make the second, or else forever be dwelling on it. But this one didn’t feel like that. I mean, maybe there’ll be fans we gained from AM that will be a bit confused now. Like, that was their first experience of the band... ‘and now they’re going this?’” (Mojo Magazine) But the band did not want to make AM 2.0. Guitarist Jamie Cook stated to Mojo Magazine, “If we were worried about that we would never have made Humbug. And to disappear for a couple of years then come back with AM2? I think people have been, ‘Fuck off.’” But of course, this move was not met without criticism. Many fans and critics found themselves in a state of “What the fuck happened to Arctic Monkeys?” upon their new era and album due to the departure of sound from AM. But Turner himself does not see this a full-fledged departure, “There’s an idea that this album’s radically removed from where we’ve been. I can sort of see that, but I don’t think it’s as much of a move as people suggest.” (LA Times)
The album takes multiple film influences, science fiction influences, and musical influences from film scores to help make these “short stories”. Science Fiction inspired Turner to explore other worlds to create the album. Worlds he made up as he went along. Three films from Jean-Pierre Melville served as main influences on the album. The films being Un Flic, Le Cercle Rouge, and Le Samouraï. The films mostly center around a jazz club. The set interiors of these films piqued Turner’s interest. “So, when I would sit at the piano and play these types of chords, I was thinking about those Melville interiors a lot.” (Pitchfork) Overall, the sci-fi influenced led to Turner accessing sort of a “vocabulary” to say, that helped paint this picture of this hotel and casino on the moon.
The album also has this “magic” that they just could not get upon other recording sessions. This led to many of the demo tapes and early session elements making it to the file cut. They wanted to make an intimate experience but just could not get it to be as intimate as some of the early recording.
The album itself is also “autobiographical” in a sense. Turner sees it as him talking to himself all throughout the 11 tracks. But this wasn’t his first time trying to write things towards himself. “I tried to write this kind of thing before, I just didn’t know how to, really. I think I tried and recognized, thankfully, that I wasn’t ready. It's like the natural place to have gone, after that first record, was somewhere around ‘ere.”

THE TRACKS

STAR TREATMENT
Opening the album, we have Star Treatment, an almost 6-minute-long track. The track itself beings with the line “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes.” A polarizing opening line for a polarizing album. This lyric was originally meant to be replaced, but Turner kept it in. He was using the “Scrambled Eggs” method for the album. The “Scrambled Eggs” method comes from Paul McCartney where he used “scrambled eggs” as temporary lyrics while writing The Beatles’ song ‘Yesterday’. This just happened to be one of those lines. But he took a liking to it the more time went on. The Strokes of course were a big influence on the band, they were even coined “The British Strokes” upon debut. But truth is, time has passed since then. About 12 years to be exact. “But when I circled back around to it I felt like it was right where it ought to be because of how it makes me think, “Shit. The last 12 years just flashed by.” There’s an honesty and a truth to it.” (Pitchfork) The passage of time is a constant theme within this track, with references to the ‘70s, the ‘80s. This track was the first thing Turner had written for the album. It came about during the last run of The Last Shadow Puppets (Turner’s side-project with Miles Kane). But this is also the most direct Turner was with himself on the album. Specifically, about songwriting. Lines like “The golden boy’s in bad shape,” refer to the fact he was lost with his songwriting and did not know where to go. But like how the track had started before the album itself had started, there’s a particular line that had existed since 2009. “Here ain’t no place for dolls like you and me,” That was the line. He had tried giving it away to others to put in a track, but no one would take it. So, he saved it because he didn’t have “follow up” per say yet but found it within this track. Another focal point for the track is the lounge singer and his backing band. This lounge singer theme can be seen through, but this is where it starts. This is where the lounge singer gets the name for his band. “I think I like the idea that there would be a longue singer sat at a bar, overhearing somebody being cut off from having another martini and hearing them say “Who are you to cut me off? The martini police?” and then this lounge singer thinking “That would be a good name for my backing band.”” (Radio X) But this track serving as the opening track overall sets a tone for the album. Upon sharing the music with others, they decided this would be the best place to start the album, a way to get people to hear it first and foremost. The other way to do this would have been releasing it as a single. But they took what can be seen a controversial move in this era of streaming and singles being more prominent than albums to release no singles. Like how this track led to Turner writing the rest of the album, it leads you, the listener, into the rest of the album.
ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE
One Point Perspective is the shortest track on the album, but it does pack quite a bit of a punch. With the title coming from a filming style, specifically one used a lot by Stanley Kubrick, a main influence on the album, we dig a bit more into the sci-fi roots. The track itself focuses on conversations, dreams, and how they are often interrupted. “It was informed perhaps by conversations I may have heard or been involved with. Under the influence of some narcotic draft or another. And fragments of those things are appearing the lyrics on this tune.” (Radio X) The track also focuses briefly on a made-up documentary called “Singsong ‘Round the Money Tree”. “I think specifically in the case of this documentary, there was something else there. And it came from the “If I’m gonna end up singing to a quiet room, like what comes before that.” Perhaps someone had told me they’d been singing along to a score or something.” (Radio X) Of course this brings us to the quiet rooms. What exactly are the quiet rooms? Well they’re exactly what they sound like, literal quiet rooms. But they also refer to isolation experienced by Turner while recording the album. With the vocal takes, especially the early tape ones, it would just be him, alone in the Lunar Surface with his eight-track. Of course, there’s also the line “Bear with me, man, I lost my train of thought.” This one is followed by a pause in the vocals and is usually played up for the live shows, but it represents that spot in a conversation where you really do lose your train of thought. Maybe it’s your mind wandering, maybe it’s that you are being interrupted and then trying to resume what you were talking about but forgot. But, it’s a universal feeling that ties together this track.
AMERICAN SPORTS
American Sports is an interesting track. Not just musically, but lyrically. Music wise an organ plays a main part in the track. The organ though was strangely organized upon recording. With Turner doing one bar, recording it, stopping, doing another bar. Eventually in later recording sessions they attempted to play it all together but just could not get the same effect/sound as the one from the eight-track tape, so they stuck with that. The vocals were also from the eight-track tape. Lyrical wise the track was pulled together by a line given to Turner from his grandfather. “I visited me Granddad one day and he said to me, ‘You know, I often think of phrases even there that I think you might be able to do something with.’ And I sort of went ‘All right.’ He likes to watch the horse-racing, and he began to tell me that whenever there’s what’s called a ‘steward’s inquiry,’- All you ever hear back after the steward’s inquiry is the phrase ‘the trainer's explanation was accepted by the steward.’ Which, as he said it I just thought was loaded.” (iHeart) This was what sparked the rest of the track. But there’s one question left, what the fuck is Lola? Well, a Lola is his writer’s block. Seen within the chorus with the line “And I never thought, not in a million years, that I’d meet so many Lolas.” He gives the writer’s block a bit of a personification. The track also gives us more callbacks to technology, another overlapping theme within the album. The narrator describes a video call with God, and a virtual reality mask stuck on ‘Parliament Brawl’. The parliament brawl also allows this track to get a little political. This can be seen heavily within the first line of the second verse, “Breaking news, they take the truth and make it fluid,” mostly referring to the phenomena of ‘Fake News’. Overall, the track makes for an interesting take combining writer’s block, political problems, and technology.
TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL + CASINO
The title track serves as the fourth track to the album. Opening with imagery of Jesus in a day spa. But the track itself is built upon the idea of the character Mark. Mark of course is a character in the track who answers phones, mostly stating the name of the hotel and casino while asking where he can direct your call. First Turner pictured Mark at this phone, then he pictured where the phone was after that. This led of course to the album title, but it also leads back into the track itself. This of course is played off well in the video, but we’ll get to that in a bit. As the track builds you a bit more of this world of the hotel and casino on the moon, it also leads to some interesting lines. One in particular being “Kiss me underneath the moon’s sideboob.” Question of the year being, what the fuck is the moon’s sideboob? Well, the term was coined by guitarist Jamie Cook. “There was a really thin crescent moon in the sky, which Jamie from the band described as the moon's sideboob and I thought that was like quite profound.” (Studio Brussel) Another odd line within the track is “Technological advances really bloody get me in the mood”, this is a bit of a satire. But is also a slight observation. This observation being that technology sometimes changes society, especially when advances are made. These changes can be reflected in the way we talk to others, the way we act, and many other aspects of our life that we may not fully realize at first. For the record though, technological advances do not turn him on.
Onto the video, this was the second single from the album, and the second video. The video was released on the 23rd of July. Directed by Ben Chappell and Aaron Brown, the video continues an overlapping Kubrick inspired theme. Unfortunately, Turner is the only one from the band who fully makes an appearance in the video. The others are briefly shown through footage from their BCC Maida Vale Studios session appearing on displays though out the “sets”. Throughout this video there’s sections where the track and video break a bit for some flashing red lights followed by some “doots” taking over the audio, like the Four Out of Five video. The video was filmed at the Peppermill Reno, a hotel and casino within Las Vegas, Nevada. The Peppermill Reno were nice enough to write a blog post about the video breaking down the locations of the video. The video took two days of film to shoot within the area. The first location they filmed at was the Fireside Longue. This is the first time Turner, playing out the character of Mark, is handed a phone. The phone was handed to him by a worker from the Café Milano within the hotel and casino. Two different suites are featured throughout the video. The first being the Safari Adventure Suite. This is home to many of the hot tub scenes. The other being the Roman Opulence suite, this was the all gold room. There’s also the elevator shots that came from the 17th floor elevators. The wandering around the hotel and casino shots, mostly shot within the cube bar and the island buffet. And some phone call answering with the Tuscany Tower’s courtesy phone. There’s one other particular phone scene within this video I decided to save for last due the fact that it is going to come up a bit later. The second phone call is answered within a replica of the 1966 Batmobile via the Batphone. This serves as a nice callback to one of the later tracks on the album titled, Batphone. During these shots he also is fake driving with a projected image of a tunnel in the background, this also comes up in the Four Out of Five video, but we’ll get into that on that track.
GOLDEN TRUNKS
Believe it or not this the “love song” on the album. Yeah. The track is described by Turner as being a conversation between him and an unnamed female character he is falling for. But that all gets overshadowed by the semi-titular line, “The leader of the free world, reminds you of a wrestler wearing tight golden trunks.” The line does steal the show for being out there in a sense. The beginning of the line is a bit cumbersome to say the least, but it is almost melodic in another sense via the delivery. But this overall is just another part of the conversation with this female character. It may even be part of her imagination, you know, something she’s saying. Almost giving us a retrospective into her thoughts, feelings, and sense of humor. This all leads towards the bridge of the track. “Bendable figures with a fresh new pack of lies, Summat else to publicise, I'm sure you've heard about enough.” Almost showing us how fast the conversation is moving along. But also showing that you get to a point where you don’t know what to believe in the conversation or really what to believe in the track. The bridge also brings another interesting point forward. The words in particular, ‘Bendable Figures’ was almost the track’s title. “Which was because, someone got me a toy Batmobile, and it came with bendable figures of Batman and Robin, I assume, among others possibly. I’ve made a bit of a name for me since, and I mean, I am a fan of the old Batman book. I remember looking at this box and on the box it said ‘bendable figures’ and I don’t know. The news might have been on in the background, and here we are.” (iHeart) Another interesting point of the track is how straight the narrator and this female character are with each other. They both are basically telling each other that they fantasize about each other. She says it by whispering in his ear, he says it by responding to her straightly.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE
Another track with an interesting open, this one was originally different lyric-wise. Originally the words were ‘Karaoke and raspberry beret, in imaginative ways, and I get signed right then and there by a hotshot executive / I wasn’t expecting it that easy.’ Quite a departure from the final version that appears on the track. Four Out of Five served as the first single to the album. The track describes a taqueria on the roof the Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, and more particularly how it is boasting four stars out of five. Mostly just how perfect scores are unattainable so a four of five is great enough, “Because the people that are in charge of giving the scores, they never give a perfect hundred.” (Beats 1) The taqueria itself is named “The Information-Action Ratio” this comes from Neil Postman's book ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’. “I was attracted to the idea as soon as I heard that phrase; even though it was in this book from [1985] it still seemed relevant—more relevant than it probably was when the guy made it up.” (Pitchfork) The phrase itself explains that we don’t need the vast amount of information we receive and that we don’t do much about this information. But it’s a great name for a taqueria on the roof of a hotel and casino on the moon. The track itself also gives us more of the story about the hotel itself. Mostly its location, other than the moon itself. We learn that the entire moon is getting gentrified due to an exodus. There’s also a really cool play musically where the last chorus literally is lifted up another semitone after it’s said at the end of the bridge.
Onto the video for this one, the Kubrick fantasy filming begins here. Directed by Ben Chappell and Aaron Brown, the video was released on the 13th of May. The video was filmed at the Castle Howard in Yorkshire and the Munich Marienplatz station in Munich, Germany. The video starts with Turner playing a piano but then stopping to go look at the model of the hotel and casino. Throughout this video there’s sections where the track and video break a bit for some flashing red lights followed by some “doots” taking over the audio. Then, the video sees Turner taking the role of a director for some “Video Lifestyle Packages” for the hotel and casino. But it also gives us two different Turners. One with a beard, one without. The two doing seemingly parallel tasks within different areas. The other band members are also seen within the video, mostly jamming out. Especially with the nice little jam session with beardless Turner in the end. Due to the fact there’s two seemingly different Turners this has led to fan theories surrounding the video. Some stating that maybe the hotel and casino is some cover up for a mental hospital, another stating that maybe it’s both sides of his life (regulaprofessional). Assistants are also seen throughout the video setting up sets and other things, almost as if this was a film set. There’s also one scene in particular I’d like to touch on, the car scenes. This one is a bit important because it almost calls back the “haunt you via the rear-view mirror” line from Star Treatment. This scene was originally intended to be used in a video for Star Treatment, but they used it here instead. Overall, the video a bit of a visual treat with its cues from Stanley Kubrick and was more than a fitting visual return for Arctic Monkeys going into this era.
THE WORLD’S FIRST EVER MONSTER TRUCK FRONT FLIP
Yeah that’s a title to get your attention. The title comes from the actual event of the world’s first ever monster truck front flip. This was something that had caught Turner’s interest and will probably catch yours too upon just reading it. Sure, he may have only watched the video once, but the headline itself was what caught his attention. Later on, he used it create the base for what he was imagining with the track. “I think I imagined a sort of old presidents’ men style news room with just enough men in there. And sorta trying to get the editors attention like “You'll never believe it, somebody's done it forwards” and I think going off in my mind, perhaps and I thought, I don't know... It seems like that's where were at now innit, that sort of things are happening." (Radio X) The track itself lyrically describes TECHNOLOGY. More specifically, how people love their devices. “You push the button and we’ll do the rest” a repeating line that refers to how we’ve gotten so far that you can just push a button, and something will happen. Whether it be something within an app or data storage. Data storage is another important theme within the track. Our data is being stored everywhere. The track uses the data storage as a metaphor in many ways, with things like someone trying to breach into it. But overall the track itself just shows us how technology is changing us, references to technology changing us lie throughout. But we also see a bit of a jab at how no one wants to explain what the technology is exactly doing, “There are things that I just cannot explain to you, and those that I hope I don’t ever have to.” This wraps everything back around because it ties into the theme of just pushing a button and having everything done for us. We don’t see the background process, we don’t know what exactly they do, we just know that we can push a button and it will be done.
SCIENCE FICTION
True to the title, the track explores the themes of Science Fiction. Science Fiction is the “lobby model” of the album, as in it brings it all together. The track started with the idea of exploring Sci-Fi further and exploring worlds created from this, same with the album. One of the things in particular that sparked this was the Fassbinder film ‘World on a Wire’. Sci-Fi takes these themes and attempts to connect them to the real world and even Tranquility Base. Continuing the overarching theme of technology, this one takes the focus on how we’re viewing society due to technology, again. Making light touches on religion, we can see how in this “area” per say, science has won. But we also see how it feels like Sci-Fi is taking over in the form of a reality that feels strange and almost fictional at points. Technology keeps becoming a bigger part of our lives to the point where it almost disconnects us in a way. The narrator in this track wants to avoid that, he wants to stay within the life of his love. But it’s hard with things changing so much and society also changing. He states that he wants to make a “simple point” about peace and love but not too obviously. And this track almost feels like that point. But then it takes a bit of a turn at the end. We see the narrator take this back a bit and Turner begin to doubt if he’s wandering on too much with the track itself. “So, I tried to write a song to make you blush. But I’ve a feeling that the whole thing, may well just end up too clever for its own good.” Describing it as too clever shows that he feels like he’s overthinking it all. With a track with an almost double meaning like this it is a bit easy to understand why it may be “too clever”.
SHE LOOKS LIKE FUN
Ah yes, the rock and roll song of the record. Or well, the rock and roll without the roll. IT’S ALL ROCK MUSIC TO ALEX TURNER DAMMIT. This track has been described as frenzy but controlled. The structure of the track itself reflects that, “It goes like 3 verses in this tune before anything else changes. And I think like by that third one you get this sense of like you shouldn't be doing it again, it's time to move somewhere else. And eventually it does happen.” (Radio X) The main idea for this track came from the fact we almost create these “characters” within the virtual world. You know, your online presence through social media. The title itself is refrained throughout the track as the chorus and refers to how we just look a photo and decide what people are like. In this case the female titular character of the track is described to look like “fun”. Furthermore, this is joined but what may seem to be a non-sensical string of words. But, it’s meant to represent scrolling through a social feed like Instagram. “As far as the “cheeseburger” line, I was actually watching an episode of the show “High Maintenance,” and there’s a part where the person’s taking their picture with a cheeseburger and posting it and all this.” (Pitchfork) The verses focus more on the internet culture and the behavior of those within. Whether this behavior be something like a VR experience of New Year’s Eve at Bruce Wayne’s Manor or being a dickhead to someone. It’s about how we can almost do whatever we want with almost no restrictions in this virtual landscape. The bridge brings it to a point where we realize, it almost feels like everything is online nowadays. This follows by some lines of Turner criticizing himself for constantly talking about marital arts to people in bars. This mostly draws from Turner’s frequent kickboxing sessions. “Maybe sometimes I put stuff into a song to stop myself from doing it - I think I’m just realising that’s true. Like there’s a line in the middle of She Looks Like Fun about waffling on to strangers about martial arts in bars, and that was definitely something I was doing a lot of and was aware I needed to stop doing.” (Mojo Magazine) Also this marks the second time within the album where he says something regarding the music and it happens. This time being in the form of a key change. The last chorus features a key change that is in time with him stating it in the track.
BATPHONE
The all mighty Batman comes into a focus theme upon this track! Okay... Barely. A “Batphone” in the sense of this track is a direct line to Turner via his phone. The track deals with analysis and criticism of technology all at once. Opening on Turner realizing that he can just use a search engine to find a more interesting word to describe what he’s trying to say. Which, it wasn’t always like this, there was a time where you’d have to go through whole thesauruses to find this interesting words or phrases. Now they’re just a click/tap/touch away. Moving along we see that the narrator in the track specifically is of high class, stating that there’s much to discuss over a game of golf. Of course, that is phrased better within the track itself but for simplicities sake I’m just going to leave it at that. Then he gets into the fact life is a “spectator sport”. Through social media we sit and watch other people’s lives unfold like watching a sport almost. Then we get to a line that may seem more polarizing that it is. “I launch my fragrance called ‘Integrity’ I sell the fact that I can’t be bought.” Upon hearing this line for the first time you may think “What the fuck kind of pretentious bullshit is this trying to be?” Well, that’s exactly where you’re wrong. The idea of a fragrance called ‘Integrity’ is literally just that. “With something like that, I can’t sit here and tell you I wanted to make some comment about integrity and my relationship to it, and then make a fucking perfume out of it and write a smart-ass line like that. It’s more like I see the shape of the letters of “integrity” on the perfume bottle in my mind’s eye—once you know what that font looks like, then it writes itself after that.” (Pitchfork) Yeah, the line came from the visualization of perfume literally called ‘Integrity’. (Which, hilariously, there is one now called that.) Back to the lyrics, we see Turner talk about how he got “sucked into a hole” through a handheld device, this means his phone. Of course, we do all get a bit sucked into our phones now and again. It happens. And now it’s easier than ever. This being due to things like updates to make it easier to access things. The glow of the low beams within this track may be the car lights of your lover. But we do know that he will be by the Batphone if you need to get a hold of him at all. With our phones so close to us at all times, it’s almost like we all have personal Batphones. Then we get into how phones have changed over time. Coining them as “re-decorated” with new lights and sidebars upon them changing. Back the chorus again we see Turner sitting in his living room, with blinds closed, watching the lights of cars going by, but knowing that he'd know those of the car of his lover. Ending upon the panoramic windows again. These are said to be “looking out across your soul”, this is simply just our phone screens. They’re glass, windows are glass. But we look and see things on display including our souls, you know, our lives. Thus, making your soul being put on display through these “windows”. Sure, it’s not just your own soul, there are other people in this world, but it’s important you know that it is yours first and foremost on display. Always remember, whatever you put online, others will see.
THE ULTRACHEESE
Our closing track is a something that could be called Turner’s “Default Position” at this rate. But that does not mean it’s a bad thing. This track in particular is one where we see the Pet Sounds influenced recording style come to life, with multiple drum kits, multiple guitars, and pianos within the recording. The track sees Turner reflect on his past and how things have changed overtime. The title comes from the fact that the track may be a bit too “Cheesy” for everyone except himself. Songwriting of course has changed over time the most for him, upon talking about old tracks he stated, “It feels like we’re doing a cover or something when we play the first album, really, but that’s fine. I don’t hate doing that. It’s just come to the point where I play ‘Mardy Bum’ or something like that and it doesn’t even feel like mine anymore.” (BeatRoute) He feels disconnected from his old lyrics, which is sad but true statement. Of course, this track also touches quickly upon the themes of technology and politics throughout the track. But overall, it’s more just a personal reflection upon everything. Turner even describes himself as not being deep in thought, even if it looks like he was. He’s just living his life, good or bad, it’s just how everything is going down. The track ends the album on the line “I’ve done some things that I shouldn’t have done, but I haven’t stopped loving you once.” We all have things we regret in our lives. Sometimes that shit gets us out of nowhere and ends up on our minds. But we also see Turner telling his lover that he just loves them throughout it. Throughout all the good, the bad, the dirty bullshit, he still loves them.

THE B-SIDE (Anyways)

Yeah I was not finishing this without talking about the B-Side that was released with the title track on the 7” single. The B-side is titled ‘Anyways’ and was cut from the album. “I had a song that didn’t make this record with lyrics that mentioned both Bing Crosby and Randy Newman. And I just thought, You can’t do that. You can have one or the other. Just fucking calm down! You don’t want to make a song too lumpy.” (Vulture) Anyways here means the topic of a conversation and trying to change it. The narrator keeps trying to change the conversation. This can be seen throughout the track with a change in subject seemingly every few lines. One minute talking about toga parties, the next asking about if Mum and Dad are doing well. It’s just topic after topic in this “race” to Anyways. Technology appears again, with a quick mention of oversharing, something that is prevalent throughout the world of social media. Going back the Four Out of Five video from earlier we have a quick mention of a double life. This of course being the public/personal personas or home/professional personas. Much of the rest of the track just shows Turner bearing his all out there for everyone to see and making light of this. “You sort of reveal a piece of something as you’re writing and recording it. Then you find what you’re attracted to, scribble away a bit more of the dust and discover a bit more of the picture. Gradually, it becomes what it is. Each time you reveal another bit of it, it commits you to take the next step.” (BeatRoute) Some argue that this would have made a more “fitting” close for the album than The Ultracheese, other argue that it could have fit in literally anywhere on the album. Overall, I’m just glad it did get released it in the end.

REFLECTIONS IN THE SILVER SCREEN (An Outro)

I first listened to the album when it leaked. Shit on me all you want but I was just so curious. The whole no singles thing intrigued me alongside the sci-fi theme. I was looking for something different and I found it with this album. At the time did I know this was going to be my album of the year? No. Fuck, I barely knew anything about AM at the time apart from Do I Wanna Know?. I coined it as something along the lines of “What Death of A Bachelor could should been.” Turner constantly describes this album as one where he wanted to take people to a place, to this imaginary hotel and casino, and I was taken there upon first listen. I felt like I was sitting, watching a longue singer belt out tunes about his life. Of course, now on the right night I can recreate that feeling, but not always. But the album has just stuck me. Sure, many upon first hearing it found it off putting, but I loved it since first listen. If anything, this album was what made me a fan. This is what me look at AM and go “There’s something here I was missing.” Sure, it did take me months to act upon that, but I’m glad I did. Do I know where AM are going to go next? No. I don’t think any of us really do anymore. This album proved how unpredictable it is to calculate Arctic Monkeys in a way. Maybe the next record will be guitar based again, maybe not. We’ll only know when it comes, no matter how far away that is.

GOLDEN BOY’S NOT IN SUCH BAD SHAPE (Nominations)

Album:

2018 Mercury Prize Nomination
Best Alternative Music Album (Grammy Awards)

Four Of Five:

Best Rock Performance (Grammy Awards)

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Midrange Highlander Mage - A New and Proactive Take

The Demon Hunter destroyer - Legend with Secret Stealth Rogue

Introduction

Decklist

Deck Discussion

Matchups

Mulligan

Conclusion

Slow and Steady Wins the Race. $150 turned into $10k playing baccarat. [Long]

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Problem Gambling: An Interplay Between Law and Medicine and A Platform to an Interdisciplinary Approach to This Mental Health Disease- Juniper Publishers

Introduction

Background - What is Problem Gambling?

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Trip report: four nights at Encore for anniversary for $8500

2018 Album of the Year #24: Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino

THE LUNAR SURFACE (Where It All Started)

VOX, LA FRETTE, & BRINGING IT TOGETHER (Enter the Others)

THE ALBUM (Natural Progression and Influences)

THE TRACKS

THE B-SIDE (Anyways)

REFLECTIONS IN THE SILVER SCREEN (An Outro)

GOLDEN BOY’S NOT IN SUCH BAD SHAPE (Nominations)

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