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inkribbon796 · 3 years

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Lost in a Lightning Storm Ch. 2: Far from Home

Summary: You shouldn’t talk about people, and not expect them to find out.

Chapters: 1, 2

While Henrik and Anti were talking to Tubbo and Logan, and then subsequently went off to Nate’s house to do some research, Mare went to go find Anti.

Anti was cackling with the Duke on some rooftop, who had escaped arrest after the chaos he had created. The two chaos-loving criminals were laughing and joking.

“Anti! Your boyfriend is getting too brave, you gotta[1] do something!” Mare said as he leaned over a massive air conditioning unit to get into the glitch’s face. Anti was lying on his back on the rooftop.

“Ooooooohhh~ You have a boyfriend?” Remus gave a huge smile, turning on his stomach and kicking his feet up like they were a bunch of pre-teens at a slumber party. “And you didn’t tell your best friend? For shame.”

“Shut up,” Anti kicked him in the face. Then he turned back to Mare. “I don’t got[2] a boyfriend.”

“Oh, yeah, then what the hell is he?” Mare bit back.

“None ‘a yer fookin’ business,”[3] Anti spat back.

“M’kay,[4] whatever,” Mare rolled his eyes. “Point is, he’s trying to find you.”

“I’m right here, let ‘im[5],” Anti scoffed, still lying on the ground.

“No, the old you, the human one,” Mare warned.

“Why?” Anti spat.

“I don’t know, humans are dumb,” Mare spat. “He’s your problem, you deal with him.”

“Fook[6] you!” Anti spat and stormed off.

Directly after he stormed off, he realized that he hadn’t asked Mare where Henrik was. But it was too late to storm off. Mostly because he overheard Remus trying to weedle information out of Mare. Anti was too in his own head to admit to even himself that he was embarrassed.

So he went out to find Henrik. Except he wasn’t at the hospital . . . and Logan didn’t seem to know where he was. He wasn’t at the hospital either so Anti ran around for a little bit and found them in Nate’s house.

For a couple moments, Anti debated on how upset Mare would be if he barged into his territory. Then he figured that if Mare didn’t want him to trespass, he shouldn’t have told him to take care of Henrik . . . and Anti had been in Nate’s house before on multiple occasions.

So Anti tripped about three alarms to get into the house and Nate and Henrik watched him stroll right into the living room where they were.

“Don’t yeh[7] two know not ta[8] talk about someone behind their back?” Anti layered on the glitching and blood as much as he could.

“You are certainly getting better at zat[9] effect,” Henrik complimented.

“You bleed on my carpet and I will stab you with a soul splitter,” Nate threatened.

Anti pulled out his knife, completely offended that they weren’t screaming in terror.

Nate helped up a stake, the wood was etched with runes and spell writing. “Anti, I don’t want to explain to the rest of your friends why you’re in pieces.”

“Why the fook are yeh diggin’ inta my personal shite?”[10] Anti demanded.

“Because zer is much I do not know about you, und I vish to correct zat,”[11] Henrik told him, Nate was on his computer, still looking through old census records and newspaper reports.

“I’m right the fook[6] here,” Anti spat.

“I cannot recall a time ven ve have ever talked about any’zing,”[12] Henrik told Anti pointedly.

Anti glared at him, his nose scrunched up like the demon was about to pull his lips back in a snarl. “Why, though? No point in lookin’[13] fer[14] a dead man.”

Henrik stood up, really studying Anti’s expression, “If it makes you uncomfortable, I can stop.”

Anti sputtered for a moment, “I don’t care.”

“I am serious Anti, if all zis[15] investigation makes you uncomfortable or vas[16] a traumatic experience, I vill[17] stop.”

A myriad of uncomfortable feelings, that Anti refused to unpack or acknowledge, prickled under his skin and boiled his blood. He absolutely refused to be afraid of some past specter he could barely remember. Anti was better than some human who’s only contribution to the world had been dying so that Anti could be brought into the world.

So instead Anti just scoffed, some derisive, forced laugh, “Whate’er yeh two arses wanna dig up some dead bitch that did me the favor ‘a dyin’, go ahead. Here, I’ll e’en help.”[18]

Henrik watched for any sign that Anti was joking or would destroy Nate’s computer. “If you are certain.”

“Oh yeah,” Anti dismissed. “What did yeh shitebags find?”[19]

“Well,” Nate stalled as he watched Anti walk over, he stayed braced with his stake. “Don’t break my stuff.”

“I won’t,” Anti smiled. “Come on, we got some loser ta[8] find.”

“That “loser” is also a past version of you,” Nate pointedly reminded.

“Watch it, meatbag,” Anti warned. “If he wanted ta[8] stay alive, he shouldn’ta[20] died.”

“Eloquent,” Henrik commented.

“Shut,” Anti hissed back.

“Do you remember your country of origin?” Nate asked. “I’ve got several different deaths from lightning storms and factory accidents from the past 150—”

“I ne’er[21] worked in a factory,” Anti huffed, before mentally stalling because he couldn’t remember how he knew that, just that he did.

“Really?” Nate commented without even blinking. “That helps narrow it down. Means you only could have died from lightning if you’re as old as Mare says you are.”

“Mare needs ta[8] learn ta[8] keep his trap shut,” Anti scoffed.

“You were right there when he told me that, and you didn’t say anything,” Nate reminded.

Anti looked away from him, “I don’t remember this, it didn’t happen.”

“Anyways, do you remember where you came from?” Nate turned back to his computer. “I know the Septics first met you in Ireland, but are you from there too?”

“Been ta a lot ‘a places,”[22] Anti shrugged. “How am I supposed ta[8] know?”

“Well it vould[23] make it easier,” Henrik reminded.

Anti rolled his eyes, “I woke up in Australia. I hitched a ride on several hosts until I got ta[8] Ireland. I don’t know if I died there, my first ten years were a blur.”

“You are Australian?” Henrik was staring at Anti.

“No.” Hunching his shoulders up defensively, Anti glared at the doctor, “Maybe? I can’t remember. What’s it ta[8] yah[7]?”

“No, it’s not a bad thing,” Henrik rushed to say. “I just . . . it is a good thing.”

Nate and Anti just stared at him, neither of them sure which direction to take that comment, but Henrik wasn’t looking Anti in the eyes anymore. He was glancing at Anti though, a lot.

But with a country narrowed down, Nate was able to eliminate several different possible candidates. Until there were five people left, four men and one woman. Mostly because it wasn’t unheard of for gender changes to occur when a human became a demon.

“Okay,” Nate said. “We have: Caleb Carson, Hannah Laverty, Brendan O’Heyne, Angus Collins, and Joe Morrin. Does anyone sound familiar, I don’t see any pictures so . . .”

Anti’s brain felt clouded, like there was something wrong but he couldn’t place it. He felt the urge to stab something and run. Like he was in danger.

“Anti? Are you alright?” Henrik asked, there was a look on Anti’s face that the German doctor hadn’t seen on him before.

Anti’s attention drifted towards one of the names in particular. He had no memories left of that person.

Much of that person was gone now, eroded away by time, but snippets remained. Being arrested for something . . . feeling disgusting inside afterwards . . .

. . . Feeling sick as the boat wouldn’t stop shaking the world around him . . .

. . . The heat of the sun burning his skin, almost hot as the anger that burned inside of him . . .

. . . And then a deafening CRACK as he felt like his body was exploding with pain. And how they’d just . . .

“They left me there,” Anti remembered, his form glitching erratically. “They left my fookin’[24] corpse ta[8] rot!”

“Anti‽” Henrik called out but the two humans watched Anti violently shatter apart in a discorporation.

Nate surged up immediately and took out an amulet necklace. One he had once’s a while ago to safely carry Mare around. But he used his magic to scoop up as much of Anti’s aura as possible to keep him from fracturing.

“Vat[25] happened?” Henrik demanded.

“He must have remembered something,” Nate tried to calm Henrik down as he was casting spells to see how violent the discorporation was, “I don’t think it was a good thing.”

Henrik snatched the necklace away, looking at it. “Vill[17] he be alright?”

“He still seems to be in one piece, but it might take a while for him to reform,” Nate warned.

“I zink ve should stop,”[26] Henrik looked over at Nate’s laptop. “If I had known his reaction vould have been zis violent I vould have stopped ven he confronted us.”[27]

“Yeah,” Nate agreed and watched Henrik put the necklace on. “Be careful with him, an injured demon’s a more dangerous one.”

“I vill[17],” Henrik promised, and gathered up his stuff with a stiff thank you for Nate’s help and the doctor went over to his apartment with the necklace. Anti took a couple of days to reform, but he didn’t talk to Henrik. The demon would escape the necklace and then slip back in whenever Henrik was distracted or busy.

After almost a week since the incident at Nate’s house, Henrik decided that, if Anti wasn’t going to talk to him, Henrik would talk to Anti. He started out small, complaining about the coffee machine at the hospital, about how muggy the weather was.

Then, one night, while Henrik was sitting on his couch, watching some TV show, or at least had it on in the background while he was staring down at the necklace in his hands, the doctor decided to be a bit more blunt. He watched the gem, saw almost like glitchy lightning crackling underneath the surface. “I must admit, part of ze[28] reason I went digging vas[16] to get a reaction out of you.”

There was a pause to the energy in the necklace. But after a bit the glitched lightning continued as if nothing had happened.

“If you do not vant to talk about zis matter, I vill not force you,”[29] Henrik told him. “But I had hoped to get a violent reaction out of you, not to actually harm you. For zat[9] I am sorry.”

Anti’s aura shot out of the necklace was just staring at Henrik. “Why was that what yeh were goin’ fer?”[30]

“You have tried to kill me und[31] my friends many times, und[31] I vanted[32] to get you to attack me,” Henrik admitted.

“Why?” Anti scoffed, plopping down on Henrik’s couch. “If I wanted yeh[7] dead, I would’a[33] done it already.”

He took glared at him. “Zat[9] is exactly the problem, you have zis[15] odd stalking infatuation but you have tried to kill me in the past. Not to mention you utterly ruined Average’s marriage und[31] his ability to visit his children.”

“The fooker was gettin’ cucked an’ e’eryone knew it,”[34] Anti dismissed.

“She vas doin’ no’zing of ze sort,”[35] Henrik defended heatedly.

Anti looked away angrily.

The two sat in angry silence for a little while, before Henrik sighed, taking off his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose before carefully putting them back on. “Anti, vat do you vant out of zese interactions ve have?”[36]

The glitch demon decided he would rather talk about literally anything else, but his only other option was talking about his former human life and he wasn’t sure which made him look worse. “I like it when yeh[7] get angry at me.”

“Is it simply ze[28] anger or ze[28] attention?” Henrik asked, genuinely trying to understand.

Anti still wasn’t looking at him, deciding that he’d rather take the human talk. “My name used ta[8] be somethin’[37] else.”

“Vich[38] do you prefer?” Henrik asked.

“Anti,” Anti told him hesitantly.

“Zen[39] you are Anti,” Henrik agreed. “As you said, zat[9] man is dead, und[31] you are here.”

Something in Anti’s chest tightened, he didn’t like it. He didn’t like even the reminder that he was human. But he started leaning over towards Henrik. It was just a little bit of a lean, not enough to even get near Henrik. So the doctor closed the distance for him, lightly resting his shoulder against Anti’s.

“I zink zat you like the attention, vich I am more zen happy to give to you,”[40] Henrik smiled at him as Anti still refused to hold eye contact with him. “Und ven you know vat you vant, you can tell me in your own time.”[41]

For the rest of the night the two of them sat in almost near silence. Anti wasn’t ready to admit anything, but still tantalizingly close all the same. Anti getting closer and close to Henrik until the doctor was pressed up against the side of the couch and Anti was leaning against him. Anti sat next to Henrik as the doctor just ran his fingers through his hair. Anymore and Anti would have started hissing and pulling away. But as he leaned into the touch the glitch decided that he liked this attention.

Henrik occasionally looked over at Anti, smiling at him.

And if, as he scratched his fingers across his scalp, heard him give out very quiet purring sounds, the doctor decided not to tease the glitch demon about them . . . at least not yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Post A/N: Anti in his AU used to be a man by the name of Angus (Jack’s “survivalist” character he made super early in his channel and in this AU Angus was arrested and sent to Australia where he subsequently died from a freak lightning storm, and then cue villain arc.

Side note: Henrik likes Anti’s Australian accent, he likes it a lot! No I will not back down from this extremely unpopular headcanon.

Accessibility Translations:

1. have to

2. have

3. None of your fucking business

4. Okay

5. him

6. Fuck

7. you

8. to

9. that

10. Why the fuck are you digging into my personal shit?

11. Because there is much I don’t know about you, and I wish to correct that

12. I can’t recall a time when we have ever talked about anything

13. looking

14. for

15. this

16. was

17. will

18. Whatever you two assholes want to dig up some dead bitch that did me the favor of dying, go ahead. Here, I’ll even help.

19. What did you shitbags find?

20. shouldn’t have

21. never

22. I’ve been to a lot of places

23. would

24. fucking

25. What

26. I think we should stop

27. If I had known his reaction would have been this violent I would have stopped when he confronted us.

28. the

29. If you do not want to talk about this matter, I will not force you

30. Why was that what you were going for?

31. and

32. wanted

33. would have

34. The fucker was getting cucked and everyone knew it

35. She was doing nothing of the sort

36. Anti, what do you want out of these interactions we have?

37: something

38. which

39. then

40. I think that you like the attention, which I am more then happy to give to you

41. And when you know what you want, you can tell me in your own time.

#Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #birthday post #footnotes #henrik von schneeplestein #antisepticeye #Nathan Sharp #Antistein #Doctor Glitch #Anti trying desperately to run away from his emotions #finally some relationship progress #Anti's just a scraggly alley cat that doesn't know how to get a home #Anti has feels #angst and feels

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white-eden · 3 years

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You know? We, as Adam stans should keep using the ‘Sk8Adam,’ ‘sk8Eden,’ “Edenshipping’ and many more tags to spread the word about the ship and character because if you check the ‘sk8Adam’ tag or related it’s mostly used it for bad stuff :(( which is sad.

Edits, drawings, threads, fics, rp, cosplay, anything is good.

Even the smallest can help.

Our ship is valid, our love for the character is valid and we should be proud because we’re not doing any harm, we are just having fun!

Is that a crime? No.

Is that bad? No, because we know the difference between reality and fiction

I’m just happy to see so many Adam’s stans having fun. I love your drawings, your hc, I love everything you create. All of you are amazing and beautiful people so don’t let weird/ugly/mean people ruin our, YOUR happiness.

And yes I’m aware it can be very hard to do it because of how aggressive they are, the slurs they use to hurt you (they’re dumb 🙄) but you know what? I think you, fan content. You who spend time thinking of what to draw, write, create, YOU ARE AMAZING. YOU ARE A GENIUS and I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THINK THAT. I’m grateful for all the effort you put in creating beautiful content about #sk8Adam or #sk8Ede

I don’t wanna be mean but those antis are ugly, they are party poopers, yuck! 🤢

They’re JEALOUS because you are having fun. You’re doing something that you like, that’s not a crime :)😏 Adam’s stans and Eden shippers are sexy, smart, amazing people.

Do you like what you do about the ship or character? Do you like creating beautiful stuff about Adam or Eden? Yes? Then keep doing it. If an anti try to do something online then block them. If it get serious (because they’re really that crazy 🙄) NEVER hesitate to ask for help!

Your security is a PRIORITY! Have that in mind, please. We don’t know each other, yes, but I want all of you to be safe and happy.

Wanna heard (read) smth funny? They think Adam is a pedo xD they DON’T even know the real meaning of pedo, they have access to internet but can search for it and educate themselves. Also WE know he’s not that.

And yes, WE are aware of his actions and know that some of it are bad BUT we also know why he is like that.

He’s a great villain. Why do you think most of the stories have villains? Because they spice up. They give that flavor to keep the audience in tune.

I personally love the character and even more the ship. Yes, MY OTP is Eden. I love the idea of everyone helping Adam to heal and be a better person. I want Adam to avoid going to jail (same for Tadashi,) and he going to therapy and fix his friendship with Joe and Cherry (no one has trash talked Adam, not even Joe and Cherry)

Adam and Langa make a beautiful couple 💕

Also... DID ANYONE WATCHED EP 5 dubbed? YALL HIS VA IS A FVCKING GENIUS, I LOVE HIM! Adam’s VA’s ARE KAJSKSKSKS AMAZING. The whole cast in either Japanese and English are amazing and very hardworking people, god bless them.

Please take care. Keep doing what you like, keep liking Adam, Eden or both, keep creating the content you want. 💕 💕 💕

Oh. Anti~ You hurt me /hysterical laugh/ ADAM SUPREMACY !!!!!!! EDEN SUPREMACY!!!!!

#anime #langa hasegawa #sk8 #sk8 the infinity #shindo ainosuke #edenshipping #sk8 adam #sk8 eve #edenadam #edeneve #アダラン #ランアダ #sk8eden #sk8 snow #sk8EdenMoments #sk8edenshipping

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ranma-rewatch · 4 years

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Episode 1-The Strange Stranger from China/Enter Ranma

Alright, time to really start this thing off with the first episode, “The Strange Stranger from China”. I...don’t remember that being the name of the episode, but it has been about a decade since I last saw the series.

I feel like I remember what happens in this episode pretty well, it should just be an introduction to (some) of the main cast and kick of the dynamic between the two leads, but I could be wrong. Let’s see after the break, once I have rewatched the episode!

Okay first things first, the Opening. Musically, this song has always sat in a weird spot for me. It’s really freaking catchy and memorable, but it’s also kind of annoying? Like, there is a fine line between a great ear worm and a song you actually want out of your head, and “Don’t Make Me Wild Like You” by Etsuki Nishio is like right on that line. There are parts of it I think are adorably entertaining, like the whistle, and other parts where I kind of cringe. It’s not my favorite opening song of the series, but it’s not bad either.

Visually, it is Okay with a capital O. There is a reason Mother’s Basement has never done a feature on it. It is mostly just the cast running in place over pastel backgrounds, and some of them have the coloring that’s very different from what would end up being used later on once they appeared. That said, I have to give infinite props to Akane’s little snapping dance, because it is freaking adorable and I love ever frame of it.

Also, the title. What I said it was earlier, “The Strange Stranger from China”, was what Hulu has it listed as, and from what I can tell that was what it was listed as on DVD. From what I can tell from my expert translator, Mr. Google Translate, it’s kind of similar to the Japanese title, which says it is “He's from China!! A little weird!!”. But in the episode, the dub says the episode is “Here’s Ranma” which is what I remember it being. So...yeah. Apparently at some point they wanted to retcon the english title of the episode, but never changed the dub track to match.

So, what’s the episode about? Hell, what is this show even about? Well, the episode starts with a feminine person with red hair fighting a panda in the street, arguing about being betrothed to someone against their will, while onlookers watch in confusion. Then the panda knocks them out, and carries them away. Cut to the Tendo family estate, where Soun Tendo has received news that Ranma Saotome and his father Genma will soon be coming, and gathers his three daughters to explain the situation.

You see, in addition to being fairly well off in general, Soun is the owner of a dojo for the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and his best friend and fellow practitioner of the same art, Genma, made an agreement years ago to bind their families in marriage. Thus, Ranma will marry one of Soun’s three daughters. From oldest to youngest, they’re Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, who is the only one of the three to practice martial arts herself. When Soun reveals he has never met Ranma and has no idea what he’s like, his daughters are kind of pissed that their dad promised one of them would have to marry him, which is pretty fair.

Instead of the middle-aged man and teenage boy they expected, the red-head from before is dragged in by the panda, and they explain they are Ranma Saotome, to everyone’s confusion. Based on their body, everyone assumes Ranma is a girl, and Ranma and Akane actually become fast friends, sparring in the dojo. But after Akane has a surprise bathroom encounter with a very masculine Ranma that involves him seeing her naked, and vice versa, they learn the truth.

See, Ranma and his dad were in China training when they visited Jusenkyo, a seeming hot spring tourist trap, only to each fall in a different spring while practicing fighting there. Turns out all the water there is cursed because things kept drowning in the springs a long time ago. Now they’re both cursed. They each transform when cold water is poured on their heads, into a feminine body for Ranma and a panda’s body for Genma, and turned back with hot water.

Once that’s all out in the open, everyone except Ranma and Akane thinks that, since Akane doesn’t like guys, she would be the perfect fiance for Ranma since he is ‘half girl’. Akane is still upset with Ranma, both because she has a lot of issues with men and feels betrayed that Ranma never said he was really a guy, and also because he saw her naked. Ranma claims it isn’t a problem because he can look at himself anytime and he’s more stacked, and the dynamic of Akane hitting Ranma for the asshole-ish things he says is born.

So, lots of stuff to talk about for an analysis. I think I’ll go with a compliment sandwich, bundling up what was rough for me around what I liked or thought was particularly interesting. To start with, aside from a few places where there was clear corner-cutting of reusing animation and kind of needless flashbacks, I liked the animation. The original mangka, Rumiko Takahashi, has really great character designs, and I love seeing her personal art style brought to life by the animation of Studio DEEN, a group I am not super used to complimenting.

In terms of plot, I think it’s a pretty strong opener. It introduces a lot of the main cast, even if some of them are depicted fairly broadly and not shown as the characters they’d one day become. This might sound odd, but I also really appreciate how female nudity is handled. Maybe it’s just because, if anything, the way most anime handle ‘fanservice’ has just gotten more and more over-the-top as the years go by, but the way Ranma 1/2 handled it feels like a breath of breath air.

See, in most modern anime, full blown nudity of either sex is never shown. Instead, feminine characters’ bodies are incredibly sexualized, with lots of emphasis put on the breasts and other body parts, without ever giving the full game away. By contrast, this episode contained several example of the feminine form shown completely nude, but it wasn’t treated like some mind-blowingly sexy thing, it was just kinda shown without much fanfare. I’ve currently watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam, which came out around the same time, and it actually does the same thing a few times. It feels more similar to how nudity is treated in, say, paintings or sculpture, more tasteful, and I just kind of think it’s neat.

What is definitely less neat...is the music. If I had to throw out right away my biggest gripe with the show, it is the OST. Not all of it, there are a few bits near the end of the episode that are actually really good, they’re the kind of music I remember being in the show. But the more silly, goofy tracks more common in the first half of the episode really don’t work for me. They remind me of the generic ‘Silly Person’ theme songs from the Ace Attorney games, and maybe it’s just me, but those kind of background music always take me out of the experience and grate on my nerves. That’s actually my only big issue so far, but it did make both times watching this episode genuinely hard to get through at points, it annoys me that much.

Now, I will say right now that I will be referring to Ranma using male pronouns regardless of whether he’s in his cursed form or not, and I won’t call him a ‘girl’ or a ‘woman’. If you didn’t know, sex and gender are not actually the same thing, so even if his physical sex is changed to fit someone who would be Assigned Female at Birth, his internal gender doesn’t change. No matter how Ranma looks, he thinks of himself as a man.

Corollary to that, it was this time going through this episode that I realized something that I’d never thought of before: Ranma’s experience in this episode, and in some ways throughout the series, is actually a lot like that of a transgender man’s. Ranma shows up at the Tendo’s estate and they all see him as a girl because of how he looks, only for him to reveal his actual gender. When he’s hanging out with Akane, and she thinks he is actually a girl, and they’re getting along, there’s a part where she tells Ranma that she’s so happy he turned out not to be a boy, and you can see Ranma’s facial expression, he doesn’t want to hear that. Clearly, yes, you can read that as Ranma wincing at the fact that she’s in for a rude awakening later on, but it also gives off the same kind of vibes closeted trans people experience when they’re misgendered by people they know.

In fact, when you think about how his curse really affects Ranma, when he’s in his cursed form, he effectively is a trans man. He still identifies as a guy, but his body has been changed so that it no longer represents who he sees himself as inside. It just felt like an interesting real life parallel in this episode, and I’m interested to see if I feel it shows up more later on. But for now, let’s move on to character spotlight.

For the first spotlight, I thought I should center on the titular Ranma Saotome. Obviously this won’t be the only time I focus on him, he’ll get more spotlight pieces as the series develops, so right now I’ll try to focus on the Ranma we see in just this one episode.

To start with, who plays him? Well, that’s a funny story, actually. Not only does Ranma, due to his curse, have different voice actors in each language for his cursed and non-cursed forms, but in the English Dub they recast his masculine body’s voice actor after three seasons. I’ll talk about that voice actor, Richard Ian Cox, once we get to when he actually becomes Ranma’s voice actor, so let’s start with the masculine form’s VA’s.

Now, the Ranma I first met when I was a teenager was Sarah Strange, a Canadian Voice Actress who is not known for much else. Her Ranma has mostly been the one I think of in my head when I think of the character. A little nasaly, her take on the character is very average joe, very ordinary high schooler. There’s some brashness to it, sure, but it’s actually kind of a subdued version of Ranma. Looking at it now, I actually feel like both of Ranma’s masculine form’s voice actors don’t quite fit the character, but for opposite reasons. Sarah Strange’s voice is so normal sounding that it dampens the more extreme parts of his character, Ranma at his most arrogant and egotistical. Like I said, I’ll cover Richard Ian Cox when he takes over the role, but I’ll say in brief here that his version of Ranma is the polar opposite, too over-the-top and aggressive.

In contrast, his original Japanese voice actor, Kappei Yamaguchi, feels a lot better to me, at least so far. Again, this is basically my first time seeing the series subbed, so I’ve only heard him for one episode as opposed to the 3 seasons I had with Sarah Strange. Still, Kappei’s take on Ranma is just as normal sounding as Sarah’s, but I felt like I could already hear a little more of the more emotional side of the character I felt Sarah never quite managed to capture properly.

As for Ranma’s cursed form, I was kind of confused, because the voice I was hearing in the episode wasn’t the one I remembered. For a while, I thought she must have just grown into the role over time, but it turns out that is not the case. For the first six episodes of the show, he was played by Brigitta Dau, who was then replaced with Venus Terzo. Now, I did not know this until literally right now, as I am typing this, so I feel like I don’t actually have much to say about Brigitta. Her performance felt a little off to me, but not bad. Venus, though, really owns the role once she takes over. Her performance as red-headed Ranma has always felt perfect for me, selling the idea that this is a teenage guy in a feminine body, and she’s really good at selling Ranma at his most dickish.

In Japanese, this form of Ranma is played by Megumi Hayashibara. Now, I would never ever say she did a bad job, but from what I saw of her in this episode, I don’t know how much I actually like her as Ranma. Maybe it’s just the pitch of her voice, but she doesn’t sound quite to me like a guy in a feminine body, but just like a very emotional teenage girl. Of course, I do not speak Japanese and it’s a lot harder to really judge acting in a language you don’t understand, so I could be spouting utter nonsense, but that’s my thoughts on her as of this episode.

In terms of Ranma’s character, they don’t really give much away with this first episode. We know he’s a good fighter, has a difficult relationship with his father, doesn’t like his curse and wants to get rid of it, and has enough stubbornness to butt heads with Akane and stand his ground. I also felt like they did a good job telegraphing Ranma’s general fighting style during his sparring match with Akane. He spent the entire time dodging her attacks with incredible ease, which emphasizes his speed. Generally speaking, I’d describe Ranma as a very agile, thinking-on-his feet kind of fighter, but that’s something we’ll see more of in later episodes. I was going to do a big thing about his personality, but I feel like anything more than what I’ve said hasn’t really borne out in what we have, so I’ll wait for another time to do that.

Like I said in my Introduction post, I will be ranking each episode as they appear, and as this is the only one I’ve seen in the rewatch, it is both the best one and the worst one so far. The real question is how it will stand up next time, when I’ll be able to compare it to the second episode, “School is No Place for Horsing Around”. See you then!

#episode 1 #here's ranma #the strange stranger from china #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #lgbtq #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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deadcactuswalking · 3 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 13/02/2021 (Digga D, AJ Tracey, Cardi B)

It’s not as big of a week as it is just a confusing one, so there’s no pre-amble. Olivia Rodrigo spends a fifth week at #1 with “drivers license” and let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

I started writing this a bit later than usual so I just want to rush through most of what’s here. The songs dropping out of the UK Top 75 are either debuts from not long ago like “Notorious” by Bugzy Malone featuring Chip and “Lo Vas A Olvidar” by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA, or songs that have been here for a while, like “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber, “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper and “Dynamite” by BTS. We even have some #1 hits dropping out of the Top 75 this week, like “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, “WAP” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion and “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. In terms of fallers, we have, seemingly, some of the older Winter cuts being replaced, as we see “Sweet Melody” by Little Mix getting a harsh streaming cut down to #30, “Whoopty” by CJ down to #33, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and remixed by DaBaby down to #34 (although this could rebound given the album release), “you broke me first” by Tate McRae at #37, “SO DONE” by The Kid YAOI at #57, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #61, “Looking for Me” by Diplo, Paul Woodford and Kareen Lomax at #62, “Train Wreck” by James Arthur at #63, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #64, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #65, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #68, “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi at #72 and “Golden” by Harry Styles at #73, as well as some more recent debuts, including the entirety of Fredo’s album impact from last week, as “Money Talks” with Dave is at #11, “Ready” with Summer Walker at #31 and “Burner on Deck” with Young Adz and the late Pop Smoke at #32. “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Apricots” by Bicep aren’t faring that well either, at #51 and #56 respectively. When I said these songs are being replaced, I wasn’t overestimating anything as we have our new crop of hits seemingly all surging, as “Martin & Gina” by Polo G is at #54, “Be the One” by Rudimental, MORGAN, TIKE and Digga D is at #49, “Best Friend” by Saweetie featuring Doja Cat is at #42, “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max is at #35, “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” by Jason Derulo and Nuka is at #27, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals is at #24, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S is at #23 (it’s honestly starting to grow on me), and “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd is somehow back up to #20. Speaking of the top 20, we also have “Friday” by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself up to #16, “Save Your Tears” also by the Weeknd at #15, and two new top 10 hits, both songs with basically the same chart run and genre. “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott, remixed by HVME, remixed by Travis Scott is at #10, becoming HVME’s first and Travis’ fourth top 10 hit here in Britain. We also have “The Business” by Tiesto grooving up to #7, becoming Tiesto’s fourth top 10 hit. I honestly feel bad for the still completely uncredited vocalist. We also have a third new top 10 entry but that’s a debut that we can discuss later. I should also note that “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek is back at #74, and a winning Eurovision song, “Arcade”, by Dutch singer Duncan Lawrence is also back at #39 off of the back of some TikTok traction. I think this is the most streamed Eurovision now – I’d watch out for this being a big hit. Welp, time to get into our really, and I mean REALLY, varied and weird crop of new arrivals, starting with...

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 – “Roadtrip” – Dream and PmBata

Produced by Banrisk and Perish Beats

Okay, so this is a song by Minecraft YouTuber Dream, or at least that’s who I think he is. I think there was some kind of scandal related to him, and a couple people got involved and someone got doxed... listen, I don’t care. Not only is this song really not worthy of reviewing on the principle that unlike Wilbur Soot a couple weeks ago, Dream has never been a musician, which is clear from how involved no-name singer PmBata was in this, but I care for my private information not being made public so... What ridiculous excuse do I have to not review this? Okay, 1997 reggae-rock classic “Doin’ Time” by Sublime returns to #75 after Boris Johnson made a TikTok in the Houses of Parliament where he says “Pogchamp, Brexiteers, I just got tested for COVID-19” with the song in the background, and Joe Biden is on a Zoom call with him a few seconds later visibly annoyed because he prefers the New Radicals. Sure, let’s go with that. What was this entry about again?

#71 – “Goodbye” – Imanbek and Goodboys

Produced by Joris Mur, Imanbek and Goodboys

Everyone’s favourite Kazakh house producer Imanbek is finally back on the charts with his collaboration with British pop trio Goodboys, who you may know from their carbon-copy hits made with MEDUZA. After listening to that EP he made with Rita Ora, I’m slightly less impressed with Imanbek’s production, but that EP’s impact, if any, will be seen when the lead single featuring David Guetta and Gunna debuts low next week. Yes, seriously, all four on the same track. Anyway, this song, “Goodbye”, is actually pretty okay, with a generic deep house groove and fake hand-clap effectively saved by the Goodboys’ really intriguing vocal delivery and processing, which ends up in a Travis Scott-like Auto-Tune harmony that’s honestly pretty endearing right before the anti-climactic slap-house drop. The song’s lyrical content probably isn’t worth talking about, but it’s about a generic struggle with a break-up, and how hard it is for one of these good boys to say good bye. The build-up with the pre-chorus before the blue-balls second drop is kind of genius, and that’s probably my favourite part of the song outside of the abrupt vocaloid drop at the end. For what it’s worth, it takes more risks than most of these house-pop songs, most notably by having only a single verse in the middle of the song, and being really short, clocking in at less than two and a half minutes. It’s not as infectious as “Piece of Your Heart”, but this is fine. I’m glad it’s here if it’s going to give Imanbek another non-Rita Ora-assisted hit.

#60 – “Little Bit of Love” – Tom Grennan

Produced by Jamie Scott, LOSTBOY and Daniel Bryer

Tom Grennan is an English singer-songwriter who released their debut record in 2016 and was crowned by the BBC as the “Sound of 2017”, before dropping off the face of the Earth. He was brought to fame by a guest feature on a Chase & Status song that didn’t even do that well and now he’s back with the lead single from his upcoming sophomore effort, and his highest ever charting song. Well, is it any good? I mean, I like OneRepublic too. The rising strings here in the intro and chorus are pretty cool, and I’ll give it to Grennan for having an interesting voice but the odd level of grit in it does not fit well for this plastic production, which quickly devolves into vaguely danceable synth-mess that’s just not interesting. The content is mostly about unconditional love, particularly one that feels not particularly reciprocated, although some of the detail in the second verse feels like it’s going somewhere. I’ll admit, the chorus is catchy, but this mix puts way too much emphasis on a flawed vocal take from Grennan, which really detracts from the pathetic excuse for a bridge. I do enjoy how this feels like a flash-back to the mid-2010s, where happier, synth-based pop was this prominent, and I do love how the strings come back in the outro, but good production can’t do much to save a song that just feels under-cooked and definitely under-written. The OneRepublic comparison feels particularly fitting here too because their stuff tends to be just as stagnant, not to mention the lyrical riffs off of “Counting Stars”. I mean, when you start your first verse – in the first 10 or so seconds of the track – with the most recognisable part of a very recognisable song, I think Ryan Tedder deserves at least some royalties.

#58 – “Astronaut in the Ocean” – Masked Wolf

Produced by Tyron Hapi

Masked Wolf is an Australian singer and this song is actually from June 2019, just gaining enough traction, presumably off of TikTok, to debut on the charts this week. The song got a 2021 reissue and I assume a remix and, well... for God’s sake. The Kid LAROI should not have been an entry point for Australian trap, because outside of a second or two of distortion in the intro, this is far from unique. It has a guitar-based trap instrumental with dark 808s that even Gunna would pass up on, and an Auto-Tuned delivery from Masked Wolf, clearly trying too hard to replicate Drake in the intro and bridge, Kid Cudi in the chorus, G-Eazy in the first verse, Eminem AND Kendrick on the second verse, to the point where he even directly references Kendrick Lamar’s much better music. He suffers from the same problems as all of these artists combined, with lyrics that seem like they’re building up off of something interesting about depression before going into aimless flexing like a mid-tier Kid Cudi track, flows that sound as meandering and checked-out as Drake’s, the failed attempt at some kind of white-boy swagger that G-Eazy hasn’t pulled off successfully since 2016, the substance-less content hidden behind fast flows from Eminem and... oh, my God, this guy’s just like Australian Logic. I don’t like American Logic, why do we need this guy too? Yeah, this is bad, and there’s not much worth nitpicking in this mix or even the lyrics to even point out. I guess the worst bar is when he says he believes in G-O-D but not a T-H-O-T. So he’s a slut-shaming NF now? Jesus Christ, I’d take a full album from The Kid LAROI over this.

So the next two songs are ones I’ll actually need to somewhat lump together, as they are consecutive on the chart and both from the same album, and the same washed-up band.

#53 – “Waiting on a War” – Foo Fighters

Produced by Greg Kurstin

We have two songs from Dave Grohl and friends here from their latest album, Medicine at Midnight, technically three if we count the entire top 100, which means, yes, the UK just had a Foo Fighters album bomb. I’ll focus on the album as a whole with the next song because this is easily the worse track here and the worst track on the album purely out of how misguided it is. Dave Grohl wrote this song because he felt inspired by the current hell-scape of the political climate, reminding him of his own youth when he was surrounded by rising Cold War tensions. His young daughter asked him if there was going to be a war and naturally this song came out of it, reflecting on the fears he and his daughter have and that everyone deserves a future and a lifetime not taken away from them by conflict and fear. This is a good song idea but it absolutely does not work, and that’s partially down to the production. When I first heard this track on the album, I genuinely grimaced at the vocoder-mumble that Grohl takes on against the scratchy acoustic guitars. The whole point of the instrumentation is that it builds tension with rising strings, multi-tracked acoustics and eventually some electric guitars and powerful drums, yet because of how slow-paced the song is, it fails to mirror the rising tension of the prospect of there being a war. Instead, it’s a slog and its pay-off by the end feels unwarranted in the most boring way. Sure, the squeals of the guitars in the back of the mix sound good, but surely a song like this should not end like any of the Foo Fighters’ other pop-rock anthems, especially not as abruptly as it does. Wouldn’t you want a more subdued outro to comfort your daughter’s fears that at least right now, everything’s okay? That would make the most sense to me, but that’s thrown out of the window, with pathetic songwriting, with verses that play word association with the blandest of rhymes, seemingly irrelevant pop-song-generator filer and a chorus that is mind-numbingly repetitive but ultimately fails to build tension because of the content asking us to wait, constantly, even when it gets into its heavier rock tone. We’re supposed to wait for something that is only implied to never come, because there isn’t finality. Sure, that could work as a way of saying that Grohl is just as uncertain and scared as his daughter is about political conflict, but that would imply this song gives off any further emotion than the fact the Foo Fighters felt the need to cut a vaguely political track out of necessity. As a song, and as an album, Dave Grohl is utterly confused, and “Waiting on a War” is way too slow and non-specific to act as a protest song, as well as being way too on-the-nose for it to work as a ballad. Let’s talk about this next single.

#52 – “Making a Fire” – Foo Fighters

Produced by Greg Kurstin

What the hell is Greg Kurstin doing here? This is the first track on the album and is supposed to make some kind of gripping impact but is instead just a snoozefest. The choral female vocals sound bored, but at least it’s not as strained as the struggling Dave Grohl trying and failing to yelp over a stiff groove which has its momentum killed by drumming too slow and mixed too oddly to make this pre-chorus even coherent, not helped by Grohl’s butt-rock delivery and non-descript lyrics. There could be a guitar solo here, to make this track feel memorable, but no, it’s hidden under a pre-chorus with an extended gospel bridge that doesn’t build up effectively to a chorus that just comes crashing in and hence has no effect. Maybe I just can’t listen to arena rock in a quarantine context, but I can’t even imagine this making much of a fuss in a packed stadium without desperately needing tweaks in the songwriting and especially the production, because this just sounds stunted. It’s telling that Grohl made his best tracks as the Foo Fighters on his own and those first two records, alongside a pretty decent 2014 comeback in the form of Sonic Highways, are still great. I’m not denying that Grohl can write a good song, or that the Food Figures can’t play, because they’re all talented guys. This is just one album in many that leaves me with the feeling that these guys just can’t do much more outside of their comfort zone than fail miserably. These songs won’t stick around, and thank God for that.

#50 – “Believe Me” – Navos

Produced by Tom Demac and Navos

Another week, another... okay, but we already had a generic pop-infused deep house track from a couple EDM randos, do we really need another? Okay, well, this one is even less interesting than Imanbek’s effort as it doesn’t even try for a verse, instead going for a deep house groove I’ve heard countless times before, drowned out by some square synths and, yes, you guessed it, 90s piano loops and an uncredited female vocalist repeating basically the same couple lines over and over. This is made for the clubs, but I feel like even regular club-goers would tire of this vocaloid drop and cloudy production two minutes in. There’s nothing worth discussing here, because this probably took as many minutes to make as it did to listen to. I have no idea why Navos debuts a song so high, but I’ve got to assume TikTok’s to blame. Apparently this guy makes tech house, where’d any of that skill or intrigue go here?

#21 – “Up” – Cardi B

Produced by Sean Island, DJ SwanQo and Yung Dza

Anyone else surprised at how such a big name gets production from people I’ve never heard of before? Not that it matters, it’s just odd. Anyways, this is Cardi’s new single, presumably from that ever-elusive second album, debuting around 20 spots lower than it will in the US, and it’s going for a more gangsta-rap content than the hyper-sexual “WAP”, but does she keep the same energy? Well, yes... in fact, after all the mediocrity, I’m glad to have a genuinely great song debut this week. This is a great, bass-heavy beat that gives a Memphis phonk feel in the dark keys as well as the hard-hitting 808s and spacey percs and sound effects that add some needed distortion, even if there’s going to be some brief clipping along the way. Cardi brings some necessary energy from the brilliant opening lyrics and continues with a fast-paced, chanting flow that accentuates some of her funnier lyrics with her charisma that she always brings to a trap track like this. I’d say that this is maybe too repetitive – with very little of the verses to speak of – or even somewhat derivative of her previous song, “Money”, but there’s a lot better lyrical content in this one, not to mention how well she complements a more straight-forward but still killer beat. Oh, yeah, and Cardi’s stacks are Shaq-height as she dismisses haters with an impressive level of swagger and confidence, that carries the refrain, but that’s not to say the lyrics aren’t really great in the verses. There’s genuinely funny and sexy wordplay here, especially in the second verse, and also some great liners: “hoes speakin’ cap-anese”, accusing her haters of having pink-eye and their breath smelling like “horse sex”. This is a short, probably underdeveloped song, but it’s the type of surreal, high-energy trap I kind of really love and I hope this sticks around further in the UK.

#19 – “Latest Trends” – A1 x J1

Produced by ShoBeatz

A1 x J1 are a British rap duo with no other songs. Yeah, something’s fishy here: this is their only song on Spotify that blew up from a 15-second clip on TikTok, and their Spotify bio is trying to decide whether they’re the next D-Block Europe or the Beatles, as well as really emphasising how the song grew “all organically”, even though they’re already signed to Universal... yeah, there’s nothing subtle here, so I won’t buy this TikTok fame schtick, but does it matter when the song is good? Well, not really, and honestly, I’m kind of into this guitar-based drill-R&B fusion in the beat, but it doesn’t really help the fact that J1’s Stormzy impression is janky and unconvincing, especially if he’s going to try for some shallow wordplay, and that A1’s Auto-Tuned croon is just boring, reminding me a lot of A Boogie wit da Hoodie, but with a less recognisable voice and delivery, even if the first verse contains a funny line about a woman making that ass clap “for the NHS”, although he totally took that from Swarmz anyway. Yeah, I’m not a fan of this fake attempt at an organic pop-drill crossover, but unfortunately, I can very much see this working, though I’d be happy if the British public will see through this dishonesty as soon as possible.

#5 – “Bringing it Back” – Digga D and AJ Tracey

Produced by TheElements and AoD

Now for a rap duo that makes more sense to debut this high and are actually, you know, separately successful rappers, therefore they debut in the top five, which is impressive. The whole concept of this song is that Digga D and AJ Tracey are using old flows, those that would be nostalgic to their deeper fan base, to spit bars on a new track called, fittingly “Bringing it Back”. The flow AJ Tracey brings back is from his overlong “Packages” freestyle, a five-minute track from 2016, that works more as a freestyle than it does as a song, where he uses a familiar UK drill flow to go off for a really long time, and, yes, it is pretty impressive but the flow becomes stale too quickly. Digga D uses his flow from his “Next Up?” freestyle from 2017, a similarly badly-mixed UK drill freestyle but with a much more palatable length. Digga D’s flow he uses in that track is arguably slicker but honestly one that I see used a lot in UK drill and by Digga D, so I’m not sure it’s not worth “bringing it back” when you could come up with a new, catchier flow. I’ll admit that “Bringing it Back”, however, is a pretty damn good song, with Digga D’s more technical and fluid flow allowing for a lot more intricate internal rhymes that sound really great over the triumphant, string-heavy drill beat, as he trades bars with AJ Tracey’s slower but more confident, laid-back flow, which allows him to spit some more specific, interesting bars, some of which really hit, like when he says he “locked up the food for the kids like Boris and then I let it go like Rashford”. Hey, I respect it, I haven’t heard a more clever way of intertwining political commentary with cocaine smuggling since Pusha T last released a record. The way AJ Tracey and Digga D play off of each other’s lines is really smooth, and especially how Digga D plays with the beat, as while his lyrics may be less interesting, they mash perfectly with the beat’s frantic fades in and out, especially in his last lines before the first chorus, where he asks for the track to literally be turned off... and it is. So, yeah, I’m pretty damn happy with this debuting so high off the energy alone, even if Digga D is going to pronounce “LOL” like a one-syllable word. I’d say this is actually a really good starting point for people who want to get into more UK drill because it has a lot of the grit and menace of the genre in a more accessible, catchy form, even if it may run a bit too long for my taste.

Conclusion

Wow, what a weird, weird week... and a lot of it was straight garbage. I’m giving Best of the Week to “Up” by Cardi B, with an Honourable Mention to Digga D and AJ Tracey for “Bringing it Back”, though Worst of the Week is pretty much a toss-up. I’ll give it to the Foo Fighters for “Waiting on a War”, with a Dishonourable Mention tied between “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Masked Wolf and “Believe Me” by Navos for just both being worthless. Anyways, here’s our top 10:

The UK Singles Chart is honestly kind of chaotic right now – even more so than usual – and I don’t see that changing. Even if I don’t like all of the songs, it’s at least compelling. Anyways, thank you for reading and you can follow me @cactusinthebank on Twitter if you want. I can’t really make any predictions for next week other than Taylor Swift re-recording her own music and I guess some impact from Rita Ora and Imanbek, or hopefully, slowthai. Regardless of what happens, I’ll see you next week!

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creepercraftguy · 4 years

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If Danganronpa: Another Despair Academy had an English cast

So I recently made a post very similar to this where I talked about who a hypothetical English voice cast for Our World Is Ended would be. I kind of enjoyed making that post, so I decided to do something similar with the cast of a Danganronpa fan game that has been featured prominently on my chanel and that’s the Danganronpa: Another series. Being a Korean fan game, the original dub of Danganronpa Another has barely any dialogue to speak of. In fact, the only two characters in the series who speak often are Yuki and Sora, the protagonists of the two games, but that’s when they’re in trials. As of right now, a group of people is working on an English dub for the second game. This is why I’m specifically going to talk about the first game in the series, and bare in mind 2 things.

1) There will be some pretty heavy spoilers that I talk about in this post, so if you’re going to read it, please play the game, watch a playthrough or read up on it first.

2) If by any chance the first game gets a dub and the following people I do mention end up voicing the characters, I assure you it is purely coincidental. I wouldn’t even call this a hypothetical scenario so much as I’d call it a basic thought process of my weird weird mind.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

Yuki Maeda: Yuri Lowenthal

In the current dub for the second game, Yuki is being voiced by a user by the name of Soluri, who is pretty talented in their right, but my thought process for an alternative voice actor would be this. Yuki as a protagonist takes a very similar standing as Makoto Naegi and Hajime Hinata, whom are voiced by Bryce Papenbrook and Johnny Yong Bosch respectively, so if I was given a choice to choose who could voice act him, then I think Yuri Lowenthal would be a fitting choice, since he’s also often voiced protagonists. Being someone who often does work in famous franchises, his voice work includes Marth from Fire Emblem, Yosuke Hanamura in Persona, Ben Tennyson in many Ben 10 works, Klavier Gavin in Ace Attorney, Simon in Gurren Lagann and Suzaku from Code Geass. However, he’d also be a fitting choice since I believe he’d be able to do a good job as both the somwhat cowardly and submissive Yuki as well as the mysterious and somewhat stoically dangerous Utsuro, as he is also the main VA for Sasuke in Naruto and Alucard in Castlevania.

Akane Taira: Monica Rial

Akane’s basic character throughout the majority of the game is that she’s lighthearted and even though the killing game is getting to her just as much as everyone else, she still finds a way to lighten the atmosphere, and is a usually cheery and kind person, if a little scary when angry. However, her true nature is something much more freakish, being, in actuality, the mastermind behind the aforementioned killing game that she spends a lot of the game seemingly fighting against. For an English VA, I think the best bet is Monica Rial, who has previously voiced in Danganronpa as Sayaka Maizono in the Danganronpa anime. The reason for my choice is she has previously voiced usually nice, if a little stern, characters like Bulma from Dragon Ball, Tsuyu Asui from My Hero Academia, May Chang from Full Metal Alchemist, Tsubaki from Soul Eater, Kayano from Assassination Classroom, Mirajane Strauss from Fairy Tale and Sakura from CardCaptor Sakura. However, she’s not one to shy away from maniacal villains, or generally creepy characters either, also voicing Tanya from Saga of Tanya the Evil, Krul Tepes from Seraph of the End or Stocking from Panty and Stocking. Also doing the voice of Misaki Ayuzawa from Maid Sama and Mey-rin in Black Butler, she’s not new to voicing maid characters.

Tsurugi Kinjo: Crispin Freeman

Having already done voice work in a main Danganronpa game, albeit for a very unlikable character, I ruled out Matthew Mercer for this one. I can only really describe Tsurugi as the Nagito Komaeda of this series. He has good intentions, but a really messed up way of thinking, even at times quite self-deprecating and reflecting on his own incapabilities to stop the killing game and catch the mastermind. Like I already said, he seems like he’d be voiced by a deep voiced character like Matt Mercer, but when it comes to characters like that, Crispin Freeman is a safe bet. Some of the rightous and/or badass characters that he’s lent his voice to include Winston from Overwatch, Kyon in the Haruhi Suzumiya series, Tsume in Wolf’s Rain and more, but can also do a pretty good crazy character every once in a while, like Alucard from Hellsing, Itachi Uchiha from Naruto and Firefly in the Batman Arkham Series.

Rei Mekaru: Laura Post

Admittedly, I was considering Monica Rial for this crude and shrewd character too. Mature and professional to a fault, barely showing any sort of real emotion and often insulting the other killing game participants for seemingly no reason, Rei is basically Another 2′s Byakuya Togami, intelligent, but rude. Having previously voiced condescending characters, Laura Post is a pretty good choice. I’m referring mostly to characters like Kill La Kill’s Ragyo Kiryuin and Fubuki/Blizzard from Hell from One Punch Man, as well as Diana Cavendish from Little Witch Academia and one of her first ever performances, Queen Nehelenia from Sailor Moon. However, Laura Post has also voiced rather gentle and friendly characters before, which would be a good way to highlight Rei’s secret soft side. Characters like Nozomi Tojo from Love Live and her most recent role, Kasumi Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal.

Haruhiko “Haru” Kobashikawa: Sam Riegal

The minute I was introduced to him, I immediately thought, “Ok, he’s going to be the Kazuichi of this game isn’t he?” And to be honest, I don’t think I was that far off. However, even so, he seems more like Kaito if Kaito wasn’t necessarily a central character. Haru’s important, but he’s on the same level of importance as a character like say...Game 1 Toko. A sociable person who’s only goal is to get along well with everyone, he’s cheerful, laid back and more often than not pretty amusing to watch. Someone I believe to be fit for the role, having previously voiced a repertoire of pretty dorky and likeable characters, is Sam Riegal. By that, I mean he’s done the voice work of Teddy from Persona, Phoenix Wright in Ace Attorney, Emperor Awesome in Wander of Yonder, Kanata from Trinity Universe, Shirou Emiya from Fate/Stay Night and Donatello in a large number of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles works.

Teruya Otori: Kyle McCarly

Teruya is a character that returns for the second game, and his voice actor in that is NuzikVA. I was really stuck on this one, since Yuri Lowenthal, whom I picked for Yuki, was my main option for Teruya too, but my second option for him would be just as viable. One of Teruya’s most important aspects to his character is that he has a pretty unique western accent despite being Japanese, since his Ultimate Merchant talent means he’s travelled the world and picked up on a few things. On top of that, he’s pretty adorkable and a little childish. I’ve heard Yuri Lowenthal do accents before, which is why I considered it, but I figured anything Yuri Lowenthal can do, Kyle McCarly can do just as well, if not better. He’s a voice actor who’s lines are packed full of expression and some of his previous work includes 9S from Neir: Automata, Hyde in Cross Tag Battle, Hal in Astral Chain, Gatekeeper in Fire Emblem Three Houses and Narancia in JoJo Part 5.

Satsuki Iranami: Deva Marie Gregory

While she was a character that I found initially very irritating and she was definitely the one I had to warm to the most, I won’t deny that Satsuki Iranami is like 70% of the humour and happiness in this game. Similarly to Ibuki, she tends to act childish and make jokes in very tense situations and as described by Yuki as “a person that makes you tired just by talking with her” or something along those lines. Now, this might seem like a pretty obscure and strange choice for a VA, but my choice for a voice is Deva Marie Gregory. It’s obscure, since she is relatively new to the voice acting industry, only voicing one character in one franchise so far. However, that character is Flayn from Fire Emblem Three Houses, arguably one of the characters with the more comedic dialogue. I can totally picture her playing an “In-your-face” practical joker character like Satsuki, making common wisecracks, and it’s something I’d really like to bear witness to.

Mitsuhiro “Mitch” Higa: Joe Brogie

Possibly my least favourite character in this game, he’s essentially a worse version of Leon Kuwata from the first game. He’s genuinely kind of a chill guy, but his status as the Ultimate Soccer Player and his world fame makes him more than a little arrogant and cocky and often ignores people who he doesn’t care for. Joe Brogie is my choice for him, despite being a relatively new voice actor. His previous work includes the player character from God Eater 3, Linus from Fire Emblem Heroes, Donatello from Injustice 2 and Sylvain Jose Gautier from Fire Emblem Three Houses. However, despite his few roles and lacking history of voices, he’s talented and capable nonetheless.

Kizuna Tomori: Tia Ballard

Kizuna can be described in the following words: Cutesy, flirtatious and distrustful. I know those phrases sound mutually exclusive to each other, but trust me, it’s true. Obviously, her nature just changes depending on the situation, since she’s lighthearted and merry more often than not, but in a tense situation becomes suspicious, snappy and even physically violent. I picture her having a high voice, and when taking her character into account, I think the best bet is Tia Ballard. The main reason for my choice is that Tia’s most common voices belong to generally “moe” anime girls, but she voices them in a way that doesn’t sound annoyingly high pitched like how Stephanie Sheh does with Mikan in Danganronpa 2. If Ballard voiced Kizuna, she could pretty much perfectly land the “cutesy at first, but angry when provoked” attitude that Kizuna has. Some of her previous work includes Marron from Dragon Ball, Happy from Fairy Tail, Chiho Sasaki from The Devil is a Part Timer, Takao from D-Frag, Zero Two from Darling in the Franxx and has actually voiced in Danganronpa previously as Daisaku Bandai in Danganronpa 3.

Mikako Kurokawa: Brittany Cox

Extremely similarly to my choice for Satsuki, my choice for Mikako has also only ever been in one game, and it’s the same game as my choice for Satsuki actually. Mikako is a quiet person and she isn’t much of a talker, and when she does she sticks to short replies after long periods of silence, often causing people to forget she's around or becoming surprised when she eventually speaks up. She is unresponsive in a conversation and avoids making eye contact with anyone she talks to which seems rude, but her past explains why. The character Brittany Cox plays in Three Houses is Ingrid Galatea, who is generally a pretty merry, if a little serious and motherly, character, who’s personality isn’t a quiet one. However, while her voice acting is really good, Brittany Cox has a bit of a stoic, monotone and quiet voice, that I believe would fit Mikako perfectly.

Kinji Uehara: Robbie Daymond

There were a few reasons why I chose this person for this characters voice, but I’ll talk about those in a moment. Kinji is the good type of priest, one who is serious and quiet, but is a good listener, and respectful of people to a point where he doesn’t force his religious ideals onto others. However, when put under immense amounts of pressure, he can break down and turn somewhat psychotic. Hence my choice for his voice actor. Robbie Daymond is a personal favourite of mine, since he has a special talent of playing characters such as Goro Akechi and Hubert Vestra, from Persona and Three Houses respectively; characters who for the most part are calm, reserved, quiet and in Akechi’s case, somewhat kind. However, after certain points in the games stories, the two characters turn inexplicably evil and crazy, and the voice work and the shift in tone has such an amazing range that it’s hard to believe it’s the same guy. Seriously, look up Daymond’s work as Akechi, it’s honestly amazing and is the type of voice I’d honestly expect for Kinji when he breaks down. Alongside those two roles, Daymond also voices Prompto in Final Fantasy 15, Reinhard in RE:Zero, Professor Willow in Pokemon, Gilthunder in Nanatsu No Taizai and Mumen Rider in One Punch Man.

Kiyoka Maki: Colleen Clinkenbeard

A girl with a personality that doesn’t match her talent, Kiyoka Maki is outgoing and carefree and doesn’t have an awful lot of care for her talent, being way more interested in more effeminate things than guns. When I first saw Kiyoka and was introduced to her character, for some reason I thought “This is the type of character Colleen Clinkenbeard would voice.” Originally I was going to cast Clinkenbeard as Teruya before I realised Teruya wouldn’t necessarily have a child-like voice. Clinkenbeard however, does have experience of voicing male anime characters, and a lot of characters that scream a lot, Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece and Young Gohan being the prime examples. Alongside that, she’s also voiced another gunslinger in Full Metal Alchemist as Riza Hawkeye, as well as Momo Yaoyorozu in My Hero Academia, Rachel Moore in Case Closed, Erza Scarlet in Fairy Tail and previously in Danganronpa 3 as the loveable Chisa Yukizome.

Ayame Hatano: Karen Strassman

Ayame is a stoic and strong-willed person. Although she appears to be perfectly calm in most situations, she admits that she can be awkward especially during conversations, and as a result, she has a tendency to ramble and wander off in her own, or not talk much at all. To me, she seems like a character that someone like Karen Strassman would lend her voice to, since she’s played several characters with those personality traits before. To name a few, there’s Aigis and Nanako from Persona and she’s also voiced Anna in several Fire Emblem games. She’s also played Kallen Stadtfeld in Code Geass, Miyuki Takara in Lucky Star and Rouge the Bat in several Sonic the Hedghog games.

Kanata Inori: Felicia Angelle

I was also considering casting Tia Ballard for this character too, but unlike Kizuna, Kanata genuinely seems like a moe character that would have a high voice. Kanata is a sweet girl who wishes nothing more than the comfort of her patients and everyone else around her. Exceedingly formal and polite, she addresses her classmates as Mr or Ms, like how Hifumi Yamada does in the first game. My choice for her is Felicia Angelle, who’s repertoire consists of both cute and geeky anime girls, as well a little bit of the scary stuff too. This includes Tohru Hagakure from My Hero Academia, Perona from One Piece, The Supreme Kai of Time from Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Shinoa Hiragi from Seraph of the end, Shaltear from Overlord, Georgie from Maid Dragon and has previously been in the Danganronpa anime, playing Aoi Asahina.

Kakeru Yamaguchi: J Michael Tatum

I have a pretty good reason for this cast. Becoming a legal prodigy when he was quite young, Kakeru is a character who seems to have a split personality, but on a level way less extreme than that of Toko Fukawa. Essentially, he’s usually quite a timid and shy person, that finds it hard to hold a conversation, but when he’s in the courtroom or a class trial, he becomes quite loud and brash in a way similar to that of Nekomaru in the second game. His personality reminds me that of characters like Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia and Rei Ryugazaki from Free! both of whom are voiced by J Michal Tatum, whom is my choice for Kakeru. Tatum has also voiced Zarbon from Dragon Ball, Commander Erwin from Attack on Titan, Rintaro Okabe from Steins:Gate, Scar from Full Metal Alchemist, France from Hetalia and Sebastian from Black Butler.

Yamato Kisaragi: Max Mittleman

Yamato is almost as crazy an inventor as Miu, sans the whole sexual and perverted invention parts. Being a character who’s introduced a little later into the story, Yamato is pretty quirky, energetic and honestly friendly, but that leads people to be a little doubtful of him, Tsurugi in particular. His energetic character and his genuine feel make me think that someone who could voice him is Max Mittleman. Mittleman’s previous voices include Plag from Miraculous Ladybug, Ryuji Sakamoto from Persona, Saitama from One Punch Man, King from Natatsu No Taizai, Meruem in HunterXHunter and more

So that’s what I got. If you liked this, then leave me a heart and repost if you want. If you have any other recommendations for Japanese exclusive projects I should assign voice actors to, then let me know.

#danganronpa #danganronpa another despair academy #dra #yuki maeda #akane taira #tsurugi kinjo #rei mekaru #haruhiko kobashikawa #teruya otori #satsuki iranami #mitsuhiro higa #kizuna tomori #mikako kurokawa #kinji uehara #kiyoka maki #ayame hatano #kanata inori #kakeru yamaguchi #yamato kisaragi

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rgr-pop · 4 years

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Re: canvassing for Bernie. I guess mostly advice on being effective. I went canvassing in Va before Super Tuesday and felt pretty ineffective, we used the minivan app which just showed us dem voters which makes sense right before the election but I’m wondering if I should widen the net going forward? Idk I’d be canvassing in md and wv thanks in advance you truly are the only smart person on this site

i actually did not have the best experience today, but some of my friends did. my friend the one from flint who went on msnbc to tell chris hayes he didn't vote for hillary because he's from flint, he had a really good day and he felt really good about everything. he gave me some good points, which i will share with you in a second. the reason you didn't feel effective in VA is because everyone in VA is a CIA asset and you shouldn't internalize that. i'm thrilled that you get to talk to people in WV and I think policy and talking points are really going to be on your side, and the people are going to be cool as hell (even if they are not-already bernard voters).

i think bernard kinda fucked over michigan in a few ways this year (no beef but it's true), but i am lucky because my city has some extremely experienced campaign people, and i have never really had to experience doing canvassing for any kind of campaign that wasn't run by them, so i was kind of confused about how little direction you were given. they keep asking me to do higher-up stuff like drawing up the voter lists and strategizing and hosting canvasses, but i keep being like, put me on the doors dude that's where i belong. (my palestinian libra dirtbag is exactly the same, he did like three turfs today lol.) i can probably ask my campaign people for tips if you feel like you don't have any guidance.

since we're so close to election day, we'd normally be only targeting likely/confirmed voters to get out the vote, but because things are so crazy, we're also hitting up voters identified as undecided or previously soft-opponent or i think even independent and we're actually still trying to change minds. this is not super usual but it's crisis time! so, to answer your question, i would say i think you should widen the net, especially in WV. the dem voter problem isn't a huge issue where i am because people in lansing flint and detroit are literally just always democrats no matter what, but in other states i think it's more nuanced.

most of the following advice pertains to actually talking to people, but it should cover the range of voters you may encounter. i think i feel the least effective when i "fail" to engage people in a conversation, so i recommend talking to them in more open-ended ways. i share some of our script down below, but in general i like to ask people questions to draw them in, rather than telling people what we're about. get them to talk about themselves, and they will remember bernie sanders as the candidate that listened. i swear to god that works.

today they gave me a sheet (i gave it to a new girl so i can't remember exactly, but) that focused on swinging those voters. it's still "don't shittalk opponent" territory but it's a list of ways to explicitly contrast sanders and biden on the policies, and it made me realize that we're extremely lucky to be put in this position because those contrasts are stark, and they are convincing to poor people in particular.

what's interesting is that i'm no longer leaning into medicare for all to do my arguing, and i think that's gonna make me more effective. obviously bernie is stronger (literally: strongest) on this issue, but the messaging around biden's work on the ACA and his recent dodging about the issue doesn't help us convince anybody. healthcare is the most important thing on the table but it remains inscrutable: i would say dig into it with voters only if they bring it up as an issue that matters to them, or if they're healthcare workers (non-doctor probably), or if you are going to talk about an experience of your own. when you do talk about healthcare, especially in WV, remember bernie's position on medical debt. this is one of his clearest contrasts with biden. make sure you're familiar with biden's history with bankruptcy and debt, because i'd be willing to bet that that's something that's gonna resonate with WV and MD voters.

the trade deals and NAFTA are, simply, the most important thing to talk about at this point, and imo (based on the critical states, michigan most of all) that's what's going to win us this election, if we talk to people about it. hillary clinton lost the election because she did NAFTA--simple as that. biden, too, did NAFTA, but the thing about him--as i'm sure you're noticing--is that people seem to forget absolutely everything about him, and no one knows that he did NAFTA. joe biden is behind loads of policy that was outright bad for industrial workers and ruined lives. it is simply enough to argue "bernie sanders did not do NAFTA" but you'll want to look into his trade deal positions and history, contrast these with both biden and trump. if you're worried about the xenophobic underbelly of this problem, frame it as exactly what it is: a position that resists giving corporations free reign to do whatever they want, to abandon communities, and stomp all over workers.

look over some of bernie's positions on unions and labor in general. neither of the states you are going to are strongly right-to-work states right now, but where i live that's a really important thing. both biden and bernie, interestingly, have proposed a ban on right-to-work laws (it rules that we are in a place where this was mainstream for candidates, but it remains to be seen who will actually pursue this! the literal birthplace of the UAW went right-to-work while biden was VP soooo.) bernie also wants to end at-will employment and has a slate of proposal to strengthen unions. you should tell this to almost everyone. biden claims to support many similar plans, but he has not historically been especially strong in these areas, and his plans are generally less encompassing.

you should be prepared to confront concerns that bernie's strong environmental positions will hurt workers in WV. talk to people about a "just transition" and really emphasize the point that industry, and coal companies in particular, have been empowered to come and go as they please without any consequences. bernard's plans in general are job creators, and the idea is to bring sustainable--as in, sticking--jobs to appalachia and the rust belt, as well as universal healthcare for people made sick by their jobs. universal healthcare is an engine for jobs.

the war in iraq, support for veterans, and social security are extremely huge issues for poor people, probably specifically in WV.

you will also talk to another major electorate: people who just want to beat trump. this is advice from the msnbc friend, who knows: give them all the bernie beats trump lines. only bernie beats trump. convince them that biden will have all the same problems hillary clinton had against trump. if they bring up the alleged low youth turnout on super tuesday, remind them that the south has particular voter suppression issues that impact young and college voters, and that thus far young people actually have been turning out in the north and west. and the youth turnout on super tuesday was still higher than average! remind them that a democrat without the so-called youth vote has never beat a republican in the general in this century. most importantly, remind them that because of our flawed electoral system, you could win every single person on the west coast, but you're essentially never going to win the election if you can't win macomb county, michigan. and macomb county, michigan is full of working class voters who were really hurt by the policies of joe biden and hillary clinton and, increasingly, donald trump, and they are interested in bernie sanders, and it's life or death for them. tell them you have a friend in michigan who has seen this first hand :). (hoping march tenth bears this out for us lol.)

gonna round out the hard issues section here by suggesting you read this, which i think is pretty convincing: https://newrepublic.com/article/156819/rebooting-bernie-sanders

today i talked to a guy who said, "bernie sanders, i think i heard obama likes him." and i said, yep, bernie worked really hard to pass some of obama's best policies. and that's true :)

in general, the sanders campaign relies really heavily on the "bernie story," the personal narrative. i think it probably works. it really works for me, because i can talk to people about the stuff that isn't just the green new deal and loan forgiveness--although you will definitely also end up talking to educated people who will need to be reminded that bernie sanders wants to forgive their loans and joe biden wants them to be saddled with them until the end of time. remember to talk to people about where you work and where you live. work and homes is the most important thing to absolutely everyone. tell them you have a teacher friend lol. talk to people about other people you've met. tell other people's stories.

in case you need guidance in this area, try a script that looks something like this (sorry if this is condescending and you already have seen the scripts, but i kind of modify them based on my strengths as a canvasser):

i'm so and so and i'm with the bernard sanders campaign and we're out reminding people to vote on [date].

do you plan on voting? do you know who you're voting for? can we count on you to vote for bernie? [remind people of the stakes of the election, it's gonna be a close one, talk to your friends and family.] [then get them to think about their election day plan: do you know where your polling location is? what time are you going? do you have transportation?] [try to have support info available for them if they do not have these things. if they're worrying about not being able to get off work, commiserate/be empathetic and don't blame.] [let them know how they can get involved in the campaign.]

if they say they are not voting, sometimes you can respect that (shoutout to jehovah's witness), but if they're on your list, they're probably registered, so you can ask them what kind of issues prevent them from voting. a lot of people will tell you that voting is stupid. you should agree with them (they are right). remind them that you would not normally be canvassing for a democratic candidate or any presidential candidate. you're working with tons of people who never canvassed, or maybe never even voted before. this is the first time in my entire life that i had the opportunity to vote for a candidate that addressed the issues that weigh on me on a day to day basis. a major candidate that hates the two party system and refuses to submit to democratic party nonsense. who has a plan that might actually work. a candidate that has a plan to make everybody's life better, even people who aren't out here canvassing for him. poor people. remind them that bernie sanders is the strongest candidate among non- and first-time voters! this area is a strength of mine because all of this is 100% true for me. i hate electoral politics and i hate the democratic party! if they have other reasons for not voting, see if you have any info that can help them. also remind them that this is a close race, an uphill battle, a difficult fight, and their vote is going to REALLY make a difference. but if we try, we will win.

if they say they "think" they know who they're voting for, they're probably thinking about someone else. you'd be surprised--i am so surprised--how many people have no idea, even up til they get to the polls, or they change their mind last minute. try to prepare a few sentences that are really personal but probably relatable that they can chew on. mine looks something like this: i'm from flint michigan and i've seen the way the government has started to let companies get away with absolutely anything, abandon families that have worked for them for generations, and weaken unions. i want fair wages, fair taxes and for companies to be accountable to their workers and the communities that make them run & make them rich, and that's the bernie sanders platform, and i fear joe biden's ideas are moving us in the same direction that we're already moving. my husband's family worked for GM for four generations but we can't get jobs in flint much less find a place to live. being from flint, and in my own working life, i've watched the power of unions just totally erode. i myself am in a teacher's union and just recently, for the first time in my life,i feel like we can move in a direction where workers have real power in their workplace. especially watching teachers and support staff rally behind sanders, or these huge strikes. sometimes here i also say something about schools! etc.! ! sometimes that's all you get, but sometimes people want to hear more! in either case, this will stick with them.

if they say they are undecided, ask them what kind of issues motivate them to vote, or ask them what they think about sanders. refer to all of the above, but don't argue, use bernie's positions to add to what they are saying, be a good empathetic active listener etc. but also make sure they know that you have shared experiences, agree with them. 99% of the time their issues will be better addressed by bernie, if they are working class people. sometimes they will reveal that they are nervous to vote for sanders. remind them of the size and energy of the base, and the electability arguments listed above. one of the reasons we want to canvass is to remind people--especially in conservative communities, where their neighbors may not even be voting in this primary--that it's okay and in fact very popular to vote for bernie, and we're competitive, and if we make it to the general we're gonna win. but it's not going to be easy [talk to your friends and family get involved go online etc.]

if they are leaning biden but undecided, sometimes it's fine to ask them why, ask them for a pitch. you can tell them that you agree, and that we have had a really strong contest this year, and maybe in another year biden would have been the strongest choice, but bernie's just better in all these areas, etc.

please lmk if you want more ideas! i'll try to take a picture of some of our documents tomorrow when i'm out.

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hysteria-when-youre-near · 5 years

Text

Def Leppard in Vegas, 8/29/19

Back from Las Vegas!! The whole experience was incredible--I really just loved the atmosphere of Vegas for reasons I can’t even describe, and the trip as a whole was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. And the show itself was, of course, perfect.

I don’t have many pics of the show because the venue, being indoors, was very dark, and my camera does not take good pictures in the dark. I have two comically bad ones I’ll post later, and my mom took some that were actually good but she hasn’t sent them to me yet.

A few notes on the experience though:

I was sitting General Admission Right (right being my right, stage left) and I got there early enough that I was essentially the second ‘row’ in the standing only space. There was one row of people directly at the barrier, then me. I picked a spot near the end of the runway stage so I wouldn’t be behind the band for the acoustic part, so I was far-ish from the main stage, at least within the context of the GA area--still more than close enough to see the band without looking at the screens, though.

Overall, I think I had a good spot. One of the people in front of me was like constantly waving and trying to get the attention of the band, which weirdly gave me some degree of anxiety, and another nearby person was headbanging, which... is this really a headbanging band? You do you though. Also a lot of people between me and the main stage had their cell phones out and up, which was, I gotta say, annoying, since the phones are so bright. You people could at least put your video on youtube, lol. That’s the only reason I don’t absolutely lose my shit about it, is that I do benefit from people filming during the show, but still.

The show was intense as hell. Like, I knew it would be two full hours but I didn’t realize what two full hours would feel like. I was standing for over three hours, in line and then in the venue waiting for the show to start, too, which contributed to the fatigue of just being an audience member, I’m sure.

But it was also a completely packed, no filler show. No intermission, no breaks, no down-time, barely any talking between songs. Joe spoke a little during the acoustic part and then maybe a sentence here or there otherwise but mostly it was song into song into song. I think they played 3-4 before he said a single word.

I knew what the setlist was, roughly, but it still felt very different to listen to versus the setlist from last year. More than I thought it would. I’m familiar with all of these songs, even the rare ones, and if something has been played live before ever I have heard a live version of it, recorded, you know? But it’s different to be there. Not being quite sure what’s going to be played next and then it’s Promises or Now or Excitable or Mirror Mirror, it’s something else.

Speaking of setlists, on my night they played Foolin’, Mirror Mirror, and Let It Go, and there was no Billy, Slang, Too Late for Love, or Paper Sun. I was a little disappointed not to hear Billy or Slang, but my mom really enjoyed Mirror Mirror--and I must admit, it probably is one of the rarest songs to hear in a way.

And Let It Go???? I wanted them to play Let It Go when I heard it come back during the Euro tour in the summer, but then I figured from the setlists coming out I wouldn’t hear it. And then Phil comes out to the center of the stage and does that opening riff and at first I was like--wait--is that???--and then it was!! That song is such a powerhouse live, they should play it more.

The stage was really, really huge. Like I know they said it was huge, but when I first got into the venue, I didn’t think it was that big. Then I saw it in comparison to the band. From where I was standing on the side I could never see everyone at once. I could see people on the runway part of the stage and people at the center and anywhere on the right (my right), but people on the far left were hard to impossible to see. I was thinking about it, actually, and I think it’s pretty impressive that Leppard filled the stage as well as they did, since probably a lot of performers at Planet Hollywood have backup dancers or whatever--they’re literally five people, only four of whom can move during the show, and they still owned it.

I also really liked how they used the screens behind the stage and the lights. A couple of the screens were the familiar ones from last year and previous tours (the Vegas signs behind Animal, the Hysteria screen with old pics/video of the band), just on a larger scale, but often they were just large video of the band as they played, the simplicity of which I appreciated. Similarly, the lights/lasers were obviously super complex, but they weren’t distracting. The lasers during Love Bites were insane and during Switch 625, Phil and Vivian, and then Rick, were highlighted in a cool way. (Rick finally got his cone!) The photos of the band they used during Photograph included some really rare ones that I’d never seen before.

The acoustic set worked really well and I’m so glad they did that... I wish even more that I could see a whole acoustic show from them... Maybe someday. Joe introduced the band members with how long they’d been in the band (’veteran of x years’), and pointed out that they had new chairs for this show, decorated on the back with the Vegas logo (with the dice) and with their names on them. I was sitting so that I was even with Phil, a little ahead of Rick, and behind Joe and Sav. Vivian was also even with me but facing away. But Phil would turn around a lot to look at my side of the audience, or sometimes behind him at Rick, and Viv turned all the way around to look at us, too. At one point, he literally stood up mid-song and handed a guitar pick to the person in front of me (Phil threw one at the end of the acoustic set and the end of the show and I think Sav was throwing them at the other side, but this was the only time I saw one handed to a specific person.) I seriously, like, memorized Phil’s arm I think. He had on bracelets, and his shoes were high top boots that he’d only laced to the ankle and then just wrapped the laces around.

Speaking of outfits and shoes: Viv had his lucky leopard print sneakers, Joe had on Vans, and Sav had sparkly black sneakers. I am fairly sure he and Joe coordinated outfits, because Joe’s jacket for the second half of the show matched Sav’s outfit imo. And for the encore Joe broke out the star shirt from the R&RHOF press tour.

I thought the sound was really good--better than in VA Beach, where I couldn’t really hear anything, from my seats, because it was so loud it was distorted, although this could have been exacerbated by Journey’s set, by which I mean I had already temporarily blasted out my hearing before Leppard even started to play. I could hear the vocals really well in Vegas (Joe really does sound better than he has in a long while imo), although I felt personally like I couldn’t hear the guitars as well as I wanted, versus the drums.

My overall impression was that this was a show for hardcore fans, for certain. I guess it has to be, since aside from people who live in Vegas, everyone in that audience traveled to see them, when generally, it’s the other way around. The rare songs, the length, the lack of filler, etc.

A few quick notes on small observations:

Phil mouthing ‘hi’ to an audience member during one of the songs;

Sav playing around a lot to the audience (you can see this in a video of Let It Go on youtube);

Sav in general looking like he was having a lot of fun, even skipping across the stage, as he does

Phil messing up during the Hysteria solo, I think--I thought I heard a couple notes that were off and then I caught him smiling at Viv in that ‘whoops, fucked that up, oh well’ kind of way;

Viv poking Phil under the arm as they passed by each other;

Phil singing into the microphone with Joe, and the audio was clear enough that I’m pretty sure I could actually pick out Phil’s voice;

David Coverdale and/or someone else from Whitesnake might have been in the audience--not sure, but the security guy was very chatty and at one point I noticed him saying something to someone in front of me, and then I heard her say to the person next to her something that included the word “Whitesnake.” So. I didn’t see anyone but it’s possible??

...So, yes. That was my experience! It was wild, exhausting... I sort of wish I could do it over to pay better attention at some parts lol, and just take even more out of it than I could at the time. But I’m so glad I went. It was a totally unique show for sure, and I’m so impressed with them. I can’t imagine doing that a dozen times, or twice in a row like they do on the weekends.

#def leppard #joe elliott #rick savage #phil collen #vivian campbell #rick allen #the band #vegas 2019

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caphayzardous · 5 years

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*taps idly* ... well, upon request of no one, I wrote out 1,460 words explaining some of the reasoning behind the songs on Vasraen’s playlist (LINK), excluding the Elton John ones because I’ll admit that was just a pretty brief phase and they don’t really suit it anymore. Read if ya want. No pressure.

Vasraen’s Playlist – Caution to the Wind

Tangled Angel by Coda

Lilting strings and plucks, this song embodies its title. Delicate, fluttering, and despairing; swooning, swooping, and falling. I think the mood of this piece really suits Vasraen. I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s angelic, but I also wouldn’t say angels are innocent. The song captures naivety, airy and loving, thrown into turmoil by fate of one’s own carelessness. Tumbling on down.

Love Over Gold [Live] by Dire Straits

Lyrically, this song is just perfect for him. I personally love the lyrics and it has some beautiful lines that have always stood out to me. From the start, there’s dance – and.I have always interpreted that as literal rather than metaphorical, have always imagined Love Over Gold as a song to and about a dancer or performer,

You walk out on the high wire, You’re a dancer on thin ice. You pay no heed to the danger, And less to advice.

With the context of the song I take this to mean personal danger (including emotional). The safety of Vasraen’s companions is paramount to him – but his own safety can be an afterthought, mostly because he often has full faith that he will succeed through diplomacy (and he’s not the best judge of how he may endanger others should he fail). Love Over Gold also follows Tangled Angel in the theme of naivety; Vasraen knows bad people exist, but often believes that he can still sway them with kindness alone, and this belief definitely persists against the advice of others.

Your footsteps are forbidden, But with the knowledge of your sin You throw your love to all the strangers And caution to the wind.

Didn’t I say it was perfect? This works very literally for Vasraen. Be it from Lolth or Vhaeraun, Vasraen has gone off course, and his every step away from his home in the Underdark is ‘sin’. So, knowing this, what does he do? Throws his love to all the strangers, and caution to the wind…

It takes love over gold, And mind over matter, To do what you do that you must. When the things that you hold Can fall and be shattered They can run through your fingers like dust.

I’ll admit, in both a regular interpretation and a Vasraen-specific interpretation, that I deviate into metaphor for this one. The song is even called Love Over Gold and should cement that the final lines refer to the fleetingness of material – alas, not how I hear it. I always imagine it not as the shattering of material things, but rather, memories and relationships and whole swathes of the life you have known, lost, changed, gone forever. And Vasraen, well…

Creature Lives by Mastodon

And now, something almost lyrically irrelevant. This was chosen more for the mood of it, as well as the blunt empathy, and the hopefulness. The friend who introduced me to this song said it was something like his ‘you’re gonna be alright, kid’ song, something that could make him feel better.

I saw the creature fall, Into the swamp from which he spawned I heard them laugh and say They never liked him anyway

I tried to talk to them To help you on your feet again They laughed and said to me The swamp is right where I should be

The creature lives The creature lives The creature lives The creature lives

Make Love by Daft Punk

Just a relaxing synthy song for someone who likes to make out.

Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen

This was chosen for Vasraen by the DM, and it’s basically in the title. This song is spectacularly candid and endearing, so unabashed and light-hearted. Makes some disgustingly clichéd and capitalized romance tropes seem fun.

Heart Upon My Sleeve by Avicii

The titular phrase suits Vasraen, but otherwise I can’t explain why this instrumental tracks stands out to be me as a fit. I think it adds some bass and depth to playlist, and so can allude to that in his character. Heart Upon My Sleeve doesn’t strike me as any kind of ‘happy go lucky’ song, either. It sounds a little tumultuous or desperate, a bit like striving or trying.

Baby We’ll Be Fine by The National

Again, I’m already a big fan of this song, it really strikes a chord with me. It speaks of a whole-hearted and desperate façade, it’s trying really hard to be okay, it’s trying really hard to convince yourself and others that you’re okay, it’s a near-manic energy pulled taut over something broken and tired and ready to fall apart at any moment. Projecting outwards and refusing to turn inwards lest you cave in entirely – and you do cave entirely.

Green Theme by Baroness

I’ve already spoken before about Baroness’ double album Yellow & Green, “drowning in brine”, “bile, tides, and resignation”, “shallow waves”. Green Theme is on the calm shallows and resignation side of things. Nothing too deep to this one in terms of Vasraen, just a calm song for him.

Sexy Boy by Air

I removed this from the playlist for a time, but felt it’s absence. Musically it just sits so perfectly adjacent to the other songs. The lyrics are mostly in French; I’ve looked up a translation before, but forgot. The key idea is ‘Sexy Boy’. That’s about it.

Wake Up Your Saints by Tha National

I’ve seen this song interpreted as not, in fact, about any such faith in saints, but faith in a partner. From the bridge and chorus:

It’s easy to lose your grip It’s easy

So I walk through the streets I love And I’m led to the house I built So I walk through the streets I love And I lay in your bed again

Wake up your saints, Jenny, I need them Jenny, I need them Today

Kind of like having faith in a person’s practical nature, rather than any practice itself. That context aside: For Vasraen, I mostly just love the jaunty pep, and candid and practical voice of it. “Wake up your saints” as a phrase just seems very parallel to his candid (if still awestruck) relation to Eilistraee and his clerical powers in general. As a bonus, there are some other select lines that are appropriate, including this opening,

I had a hole in the middle, where the lightning went through,

Vasraen of course has a Lichtenberg scar right over his heart. And later,

She said you’re right, it’s a living, but you’re wrong for the life, You know you never should’ve listened to my father’s advice.

Vasraen was perfectly successful at his pursuits and mission before leaving the Underdark and running away. The second line is less relevant, but depending on the voice, or by changing the relation, it could fit. (Eilistraee – my brother’s advice. Perhaps Vas himself, his own father’s advice. Perhaps Yterra, her mothers advice.) It doesn’t need to be exact to communicate that Vasraen had a lot of influences to deviate from.

with love by Elbow

This song is just a bit nice, though my feelings toward Elbow can change now and then (at times they are utterly boring to me). Put simply, with love is just about friendship:

When your dentures prevent your smile These adventures will fill your eyes With love

Les Champs-Elysées by Joe Dassin

What can I say, this song is about fun and love along The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, in Paris. It’s got nothing to do with him. It’s just a fun song.

Gramofón as performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the National State Teleradio Company of the Republic of Belarus

The DM played this song during a dream/dance/religious vision sequence Vasraen had with the goddess Eilistraee.

Vienna by Ultravox

This means nothing to me This means nothing to me

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!

I just think he’d like it. I think he’d like George Michael. What I mean is that I love this song and George Michael and it suits Vasraen and his playlist because I say so. I can’t yet dance like George Michael does in this video, but Vasraen could.

I Am Sound by The Dandy Warhols

Less so the chorus, the verses in this song are all extremely fitting. I also like the vibe of it.

For have I, I’ve built a castle Upon believing before I doubt. I have suffered but my friends say I have learned from it. And for have I believed the snow could Not be freezing upon the ground Now my ass is blue and black, but I am sound.

And for have I belonged to no one More than fleetingly and in doubt, I have had what now is gone, But still I’ve known them.

#vasraen #vasraen ma'aun #goblinsquad dnd #caphaytext #sorry if you open this to my blog on desktop the tiny font is night unreadable sorry sorry #nigh*

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sierrabinondo · 6 years

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summer tour 2018 - days 1 - 4

welp tumblr i am back again with a new tour recap!!! people liked this last time so here i am i guess

this tour recap is mostly for my own reasons. there’s something different about documenting something life-changing and important to yourself on a social media site you’ll probably be subject to visiting again without trying, as opposed to writing it by hand which hurts after a while or in a word document that you’ll never open.

my band with sails ahead just embarked on our longest tour ever. 11 shows, no off days. we somehow still got sleep, ate well (and went broke for it), and didn’t get sick. it wasn’t perfect every night, but it was still rewarding even in the smallest possible ways.

i decided to recap this across several posts as an easier way to read everything instead of one long one that would serve as a painful, arduous read. so here are days 1-4.

day 1 - asbury

our tour kicked off in asbury, so we were home for our first day. it was sort of difficult to get in the mindset for tour but once destination dimension arrived i was good.

in asbury i always passed this storage trailer-looking building with palm trees all around it. it turns out it’s called outpost city, and it’s an oasis for touring musicians to come hang out while on the road. it’s invite-only (i think?? PLEASE check me), and we were contacted a week before tour started to go check it out. i already promised work i was going to work a full day my last day but hooooly we could not turn this down. this place had a lounge area, a small demo studio, free wifi, and a general store with product placed in there by brands that you could grab FOR FREE. as long as we tagged the brands on all of our social media the stuff was ours. we spent a few hours there before the brewery show and it was really fun. i had to do work the whole time as a result of leaving work early haha, but i still enjoyed it a lot.

Photo: Julie Yi Photography

the brewery show was awesome. i didn’t play the greatest set so i was super bummed haha, at least i don’t think, but we had a great turnout. the line-up was awesome and we got to see a lot of friends. sound was amazing and as always the brewery is just the coolest venue. really grateful we could finally play here. i was so glad people showed up early to see destination dimension so that they at least had a crowd. a lot of my friends cared about making it in time for them which was nice of them. it was incredibly weird to have ryan watch us while another drummer was playing with us, we all felt so bad. we were so distraught leading up to this tour about him not joining us due to his carpal tunnel, but we had no choice. our friend and fill-in drummer matt shindle killed it and the show made us excited for the rest of the run. i think i said a cool and inspiring thing that made everyone yell very excitedly but then i followed it up with some lame shit so it ruined the moment lmao.

Photo: Julie Yi Photography

i returned back to my house in brick with destination dimension and jeremiah came with so that we had one more night together before i left. i was feeling a little better about leaving but i wouldn’t actually be excited until we were finally in the van.

day 2 - falls church, va

after waking up mad early on like 5 hours of sleep only, i got ready to leave as julie was dropped off at my house to drive up to bandago together. i cried as jeremiah said goodbye to me because i’m a big dumb baby and never ever spend time apart from him haha.

the drive to virginia took forever. i was so exhausted but for some reason it was impossible to sleep in the van. and then i led us to the wrong holiday inn; our actual hotel was so far that we just had to check in late and go straight to the show. the vfw was actually a pretty cool spot. it was nice to be in falls church again; the last time i was there was when i was a kid and my aunt and uncle lived in an apartment way before they had my cousins.

Photo: Julie Yi Photography - us with pulses, destination dimension and a couple members of timberbrooke!

turnout wasn’t huge at all (a pattern that would repeat itself lmao) but all of the bands were super nice. of course, we were extremely stoked to play with pulses. i felt bad because i kept screwing up faces, names and bands at first but it ended up being fine. our friends said i played more confidently this show than the night before but it didn't feel like that. i felt like i sounded like shit and i looked like an idiot lmao. on stage, there’s actually a million things going through my head while i'm singing. i almost wanted to throw the microphone at one point but can’t do that!!! i also apparently sounded better but i still have issues believing people when they say i sang well, because people lie to other musicians all the time and tell them they're great just to be polite. i warm up before every show and do diaphragm exercises but if my throat fucking feels like shit from my allergies and tight and dry there's nothing i can do. the humidifier doesn't help. there's not a day where i don't practice. i wish my body wasn't so unforgiving haha.

well the korean BBQ spot next door was cool lmao and there was a dog at the show. our hotel room was nice but the furniture was so oddly arranged. it was difficult to make room for the air mattresses but we made it work. i shouldn’t talk though because hotel rooms on tour are a luxury haha.

day 3 - greensboro, nc

the drive to greensboro was just a little stressful because of the torrential downpour, and a car accident happened right in front of us at one point lmao. but mostly, the drive was so serene and beautiful. we drove through the blue ridge mountains and listened to the new anthony green album. this is what i love about touring, getting to see these beautiful sights. i think i almost cried hahaha.

we arrived to greensboro and the block we were on for the gig had some sick spots. we got vegetarian food at this place called boba house. the food was incredible. and then the venue, new york pizza, had $3 craft beer!!! insane. i didn't drink the last tour and i said i wouldn't this time but i remembered we were going to be in a position to try some region-specific foods and beers, so i let myself have a sunshine gose from birdsong brewery after our set. it was soooo good. yeah funny thing was, i actually drank A LOT this tour. last tour i was super sheepish about it, but this time i was going to be in too many new places to not try local beers. it didn’t affect me as much as i thought it would but i believe it still did to *some*extent. i also couldn't resist the touch tunes juke box and helped myself to playing santana again like the last tour hahaha.

the turnout was decent but everyone the headlining band brought (and the band themselves) stood outside for every band. at one point joe went outside as we were about to go on and yelled at everyone saying “hey guys we drove a long way to play the show come inside” i was mortified lmao. sadly, you cannot make people care about you, they have to show interest on their own. BUT, obviously he was saying what we were all thinking. listening to a band play from outside the venue does not always mean you are paying attention to the bands. they didn't even come inside for one single song for any band. if you can’t make the people you bring stay for the bands, fine, but why play the show at all if you don’t care about the touring bands?

Photo: Julie Yi Photography

chris, the vocalist of destination dimension, was a huge huge help to me on tour. he gave me really great honest criticism and it helped me work on some bad habits i have while performing. i know i’m a big baby and all but i can take critique and i wish more of my musician friends were more honest with me. it shows they care because they don’t let me blindly wander around just repeating the same awful habits. for the first time i also wore both earplugs in while singing but it only lasted two songs. i know it’s foolish to not wear them, but i cannot stand how i sound with earplugs in, it fucks me up just as bad. i used to use earasers but i was sick of pissing away $40 everytime i lost them. and i'm not capable of not misplacing something, i know i'll lose them again. i wasn’t too happy with my performance this show either but the people watching us were cool and attentive. wes was so kind to hook the show up for us, and we loved the dudes in impersona. really fantastic band.

later that night shindle realized he left his laptop charger at the venue. we were using his laptop for interludes and his click tracks. it was too late to go back so we decided we’d go back in the morning before leaving to go back to charleston. but sadly the venue didn’t have it and we absolutely had to move on to the next city. i felt so bad. however we were able to make our tracks still work on my personal laptop that i brought.

day 4 - charleston, sc

charleston was a little rough lmao, but still fun. as always we arrived just in time to check in to our hotel, get food and pull up to the venue for load in. we stayed at a holiday inn, and we were hoping since it was a hotel that the room would be nice and big but it wasn't. the beds were huge though. after checking in we noted that a counter service-type grits restaurant was across the parking lot. i was going to try to only buy one meal per show day but it looked like the next day i'd be buying grits for breakfast haha.

it was an insanely hot day. in fact, the hottest day on tour. it was bad. it was at least 90 degrees or more out especially with the humidity but whatever, we were heading to the venue soon so we would hopefully find relief there. something i was ABSOLUTELY adamant about was that we ate cookout. for anyone who doesn't know, cookout is a chain based in the south that serves southern food and super cheap, filling meals. you can get a “tray” which is like one main meat or dish, two sides and a drink for $5.29. the tour package met there to eat before load in. stopping made us late, but there was no way in hell we weren't going and i was making sure of that lmao. and it was worth being a lil late i think, i think everyone liked it. santino bought twice the amount of the tray he ordered hahaha.

so we finally get to the venue, which is tua lingua - and

there's no

air

conditioning

we had zero idea this place had no central air. i had no idea the place didn't have it!!! but otherwise the venue was a very sick spot. like out of the blue in cambridge (rip), but much much bigger. they had numerous amazing art pieces, a dark room and an interactive bubble exhibit. the staff was very nice. we did our best to play the best set we could with the heat. at certain points it was even cooler outside the building because the hot air just wasn’t moving out. we almost cut our set short out of fear of not being able to handle the heat but we made it through. we also had to play without our tracks but that was fine. a couple people named jesse and fianna came to the show because they heard about it from the hemisphere facebook group!! so awesome. zacoma also made us a custom copy of their CD based off our tour marketing it was so fucking sweet of them!! i don’t have the photo of it otherwise i would have shared it but when i get it i’ll post it. them and hollow notes made the show a great one, i highly recommend both bands. i bet tua lingua is sooo sick to play in cooler weather just not in the summer haha.

photo credit: julie yi photography LOOK AT HOW SWEATY I AM.

because the show ended massively early (THE DREAM), i suggested going to the charleston waterfront since we had time to explore! santino was wary because the poor guy was starving, but he agreed to spending 30 minutes of walking around. so the tour package drove out to the waterfront/rainbow row and we walked around for a while. it was sooooo beautiful out, i was so happy to see the town again. a guy jumped in the pineapple fountain as we were dipping our feet in to dig for change and he was in there for an hour HAHA. we also ended up staying an hour because we were having so much fun. there was another fountain nearby you could actually walk through. maybe it wasn't actually allowed but there were no signs so whoops!! we went from just sticking our hands in the jets to santino and jaime sticking their whole fucking heads in i was screaming laughing hahaha. it was a very happy and pure moment.

on this tour i learned a lot of new things about santino, one of which is that he apparently really likes milk LMFAO. and we had to like run around to try to find somewhere open that would have milk and cookies but everyone settled for taco bell. we went back to the hotel to watch aggretsuko but netflix kept glitching and the screen would black out whenever subs were on the screen i was so pissed. but we enjoyed a very wonderful night of going to bed early.

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newagesispage · 3 years

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NOVEMBER 2020

PAGE RIB

Let all the good, kind and warm thoughts of the universe descend on our Jax and keep him safe. May the love see him to a speedy recovery.

*****

Check out Trumpty Dumpty wanted a crown as read by Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Joseph Gordon Levitt.

*****

The Good Lord Bird is getting good reviews. It is very intense.

*****

Lori Loughlin began her prison sentence.

***** Filthy Rich was canceled and it had just gotten started. It is a shame because I was digging it, good performances by all!!

*****

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost are married.

*****

Yamiche Alcindor has gotten the International Women’s media foundation Gwen Ifill award. YES!

*****

Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick and Nell Campbell appeared on Halloween with Wisconsin Democrats for the Rocky Horror show livestream. Donations will help Biden/ Harris.** Tenacious D reminded us to vote with a time warp tribute that had many great cameos!!

*****

Keith Richards has given us, ‘Hate it when you leave.’

*****

Days alert: The show is building up to a who killed Jan Spears mystery.** I am ready for Phillip to leave town. ** We needed a good prison break story just in time for Halloween!!** There is talk of bringing EJ back but James Scott has retired from show biz . People are making suggestions for another actor? Who should it be? Trevor St. John?** So Hope is just gone? No big send off?? Huh?

*****

I’m open to the possibility that there are Culkin siblings we don’t even know about yet. –Conan O’Brien

*****

Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy looks great. The award talk has begun.

*****

Sandra Oh and Awkwafina are set to star in a Netflix film about sisters.

*****

Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for Trump was indicted for foreign lobbying and he pled guilty.

*****

Actors in Mclean, Va. are performing a drive thru drama for spectators. They will lead you thru a mystery and then ask you to solve it at the end. Fun!

*****

The competing town halls were quite a spectacle. FU NBC. 2 candidates not debating just pushes us deeper into our own bubbles.** JJ Abrams, Ava DuVerney, Mariska Hargitay and about 100 others sent a petition to NBC. # NBC Blackout ** At least Ms. Guthrie did ask the tough questions.

*****

Clue dolls have arrived!!

*****

Del Monte has brought us the pink glow pineapple for $49

*****

NFL player Dana Stubblefield got 15 years for rape.

*****

Imagine if Trump cared about coronavirus as much as he cares about Joe Biden’s son. – Ezra Klein

*****

Word is that tenants are leaving condos at a loss to themselves just to get out of Trump tower.

*****

The Dodgers won the World Series.

*****

Jeffrey Toobin is being investigated after he allegedly exposed himself and masturbated on a zoom call with the New Yorker staff. He has also been taken off CNN.** Bill Maher has coined the expression ‘toobin’ as the word we will use when Zoom meetings that were so boring, “I was toobin.”

*****

Jeff Bridges has announced that he has lymphoma.

*****

Mexican farmers armed themselves with sticks, rocks and shields and ambushed soldiers to take over a dam. The Mexican government has been giving the little water they had to Texas per a prior deal. 1 protester was shot and killed by a guard. One farmer , Victor Veldervain said, “ This is war.”

*****

I may not be able to change my Father’s mind but together, we can vote this toxic administration out of office. –Caroline Giulliani

*****

Be not afraid of the accusations that you’re a voter suppressor. –J. Christian Adams

*****

A “liberal oasis” is how Pine Lake, Ga. is known. They aren’t as fair minded as they sound for the city is 100% funded by traffic tickets that are mostly given to people of color.

*****

Court packing ? Really? Mitch McConnell refused to seat 100+ Federal judges for Obama. Not to mention Merrick Garland.

*****

Justices Alito and Thomas are letting it be known that they want to overturn Obergefell and stop marriage equality.** Barrett was confirmed to the supreme court with Susan Collins voting ‘no.’** Lindsey Graham advanced 5 lower court nominees out of judiciary committee which breaks rules. One of those, Kathryn Mizelle has been rated not qualified!

*****

Much of our Covid money has went to fracking.

*****

It looks like the Philip Guston art exhibit which was set to appear in 4 museums will be postponed.

*****

The Pope has installed the first African American cardinal, Wilton Gregory.

*****

An Illinois cop killed Marcellis Stinnette and wounded Tafarra Williams after a chase. The cop with no name was fired.

*****

Ken Kurson, good friend of Kushner’s was arrested on a cyberstalking charge.

*****

Jonathon Alter has given us the book, Jimmy Carter, A Life. It shows us just how good we had it if we would have paid attention. The man passed 14 environmental bills.

*****

Sean Hannity has set up a camera outside of Joe Biden’s house to what.. stalk him I guess??

*****

The Executive order on creating schedule F: Is this true?( It is always amazing that these old white men act so stupid on the front lines while behind the scenes they are always thinking. )Trump signed an executive order to fuck with the Pendleton civil service reform act. By changing the word ‘competitive’ to ‘excepted’, it gets rid of an employee’s ability to appeal dismissal and changes it to the pleasure of the President. Essentially, if he finds a civil servant disloyal, they could be dismissed and replaced by whomever. This act removes the career merit program. The deadline for review of these people is January 19. If he chose to he could fire many that are working today and replace them with his own people even if he loses. The order applies to about 9 million confidential, policy determining, policy making and policy advocating servants. Biden can come in and try to change things but it won’t help that many Federal courts have new appointees from the current administration.

*****

I like Presidents who don’t get Covid-19. –Sean Penn** The WH seems to have been infested with virus. Did Hope Hicks start all of this? The rumors keep flying about an affair. It has been confirmed that those rallies are a public health hazard. The whole Amy Coney Barrett crap started with a super spreader. What an Omen!** When Fauci saw that he said, :Nothing good can come out of this.” The WH has blocked the CDC from requiring masks on public transport.

*****

New information is coming out about the Mueller investigation. The WH sort of threatened the team about their investigation. If the people being investigated can kill an investigation, we don’t have a democracy. If the WH is suing about everything that is being looked into, how can anyone really look into it? Most people would not cooperate for they know if anything is found, they would be pardoned so why put it out there.

*****

Fox news works so hard at skewing. Headline: Hunter Biden investigation connected to probe. That means nothing. Headline: After debate cancellation, they will finally debate again. No mention of why debate cancelled. ** Trump stranded rally goers in the cold in Omaha.

*****

Tim Hutton and a friend have been accused of the rape of Sera Johnston in 1983.** 7 more sexual account charges have been added to the Ron Jeremy case.

*****

Why God repeatedly lies to Pat Robertson, I will never understand. –Eugene Mirman

*****

Love Springsteen’s line about “more respect for the integrity of our ship” than personal issues. He was talking about the E Street Band but it works for so many things.** Check out his new album. Letter to you.

*****

The Proud Boys had merch up right up after the debate. The group (the name a reference in the Aladdin play is ready to stand back and stand by.** The Governor of Puerto Rico has endorsed Trump.** The Biden team put out a flyswatter after the next debate just as quickly!! ** Did Pence really act like a man in charge of the pandemic response??

*****

Facebook has banned QAnon.

*****

Father of the Bride part 3ish was very cute. I have been saying for years that the next installment should be sort of a Father of the Groom and it finally happened. The cast gave advice for the pandemic, moved the story along and introduced DeNiro to the family. Hooray Kieran!!

*****

Gretchen Witmer was nearly kidnapped when some yahoos wanted to take over the government. This civil war idea gets more real every day.** A man in Maryland was arrested for threatening to kidnap and kill Biden and Harris.** We must never forget that a militia is subject to the rules and laws of our Government. Without those rules, they are an illegal paramilitary organization.

*****

A judge has ruled that the Trump rape case may proceed after the DOJ was caught lying.

*****

Trump walked out of a 60 minutes interview. Kayleigh McEnany gave Leslie Stahl a large book that was supposed to show the work the administration had done on health care. The book had words but not about health care.** Seth Meyers had a hilarious take on the way Trump is bitching about the interview: The TV lady was very mean to me. That could be said about a few interviews lately. He can dish it out but…

*****

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it. –Adolf Hitler

*****

Keith Raniere has been sentenced to 120 years in prison.

*****

Fuck the bloated Nazi. –John Cusack

*****

The FBI announced Iran and Russia are meddling in our election. I think we know that. Now back to the secret Chinese bank account that Trump has.

*****

Sasha Baron Cohen is back with Borat and a nice op ed in Time magazine.

*****

Benedict Cumberbatch will be in Spiderman 3 as Dr. Strangelove.

*****

Lindsey Graham was on Fox begging for $ after Harrison, he opponent brought in big $.

*****

Trump supporters support him because of the way they see the world and their place in it. – Hillary Clinton

*****

Scary Clown 45 told his Senate to stop talking to the Dems about stimulus then tried to walk it back a bit. He is just doing everything he can to not get elected. What a big FU to the country.** Major news outlets the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post are keeping their reporters safe and not sending them on the Trump trail.

*****

Glow was suddenly cancelled. What??

*****

Cecily Strong has a new show with Keegan Michael Key, Alan Cumming, Kristen Chenowith and Fred Armisen on Apple tv.

*****

The first town hall with Biden was good. How reassuring to hear a level headed leader. Why does the audience always think they have to ask a 5 min question? Let’s move it along so we can get somewhere. And, really.. who in this country has not made up their mind who to vote for? I guess that is why candidates have to campaign for 2 years. Biden seemed like the camera man got a little under his skin but it had to be filmed. He said that we should make Roe a law. ** NBC decided to give Trump airtime on the same night as Biden’s town hall. The conspiracy President cancelled the debate so at least we will hear what Biden is saying. At this point, they should both be put behind glass to keep them and the rest of us safe.** Stay calm after the election and remember that the election is not even certified until December.

*****

The last debate showed a very restrained Trump. He actually said, “I appreciate that” when he was allowed to talk another minute. He actually did shut up and listen. It’s pretty sad when we praise him for behaving normally. Biden sounded quite regal and made sense but more detail would have been nice. I am not sure why Scary Clown got on Biden for selling pillows and sheets.

*****

The anonymous man that everyone was trying to figure out in 2018 has been revealed. Miles Taylor wrote a NY Times op ed and book, A Warning that gave insight to the Trump administration. Taylor, who was critical of Trump was the chief of staff to Dept. of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielson. He played a part in separating the immigrant children from their parents.

*****

Pence’s fly is on a ventilator. –Bill Maher

*****

Farmer welfare will reach a record $46 billion this year.

*****

Trump was upset that Biden was asked the question, “What flavor of ice cream did you get?” after leaving a shop. It really seemed to stick in his craw.

*****

Quibi is shutting down after 6 months.

*****

Niecy Nash is getting a talk show.

*****

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are engaged.

*****

Tatum O’Neal allegedly tried to commit suicide.

*****

The Animaniacs are coming back. ** Dexter will be back with 10 new episodes.

*****

Larry David married Ashley Underwood.

*****

Samuel L. Jackson’s series Enslaved is riveting. The informative show teaches us about the African slave trade and the ships that sunk trying to take them to slavery.

*****

Engaging with assholes on the internet is like trying to down a vampire with your own blood. –Andy Richter

*****

Ya gotta check out the Ramona Fradon cartoon with Trump and Wonder Woman.

*****

Critics are raving about Michelle Pfeiffer in French Exit.

*****

Suburban women, will you please like me? – Donald Trump** How could Iowa possibly still be half for Trump? WTF?

*****

R.I.P. Jack Legend, Bob Gibson, Lillian Brown, Irma Dryden, Johnny Nash, Tommy Rall, Desiree S. Anzalone, covid -19 victims, Margaret Nolan, Tom Kennedy, Jeff Tolbert, Saint Dog, Roberta McCain, Rhonda Fleming, Erin Wall, Joe Morgan, Bert Quint, the Amazing Randi, Spencer Davis, James Redford, Viola Smith, Murray Schisgal , DeOndra Dxon, Maurice Segal, Ming Cho Lee ,Eddie Van Halen, the victims of Nice, victims of the typhoon Molave, victims of the Senegal shipwreck, Lou Pallo, Sean Connery, Billy Joe Shaver and Conchata Ferrell.

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loving-jack-kelly · 7 years

Text

Today I saw Bandstand, the matinee of September 16

y’all, i entered prepared to cry

I stood in line to get my ticket scanned and snapped the group chat that I was gonna cry

and I cried more than I thought I would

this post ended up as mostly plot details I’m passionate about so wait for the next one for production stuff and acting stuff

I walked in, the theatre was smaller than I thought, but the stage was gorgeous

the set was super simple walking in, and there wasn’t a curtain, so you just saw a super simple bar/club scene, a small stage and counter and the open dancefloor

the back of the “buildings” was open, and you could see through to a brick wall

then the lights were AMAZING

the lighting design alone made me cry probably more than I’m willing to admit, but let’s generously round down to like fifteen

the stage was just barely lit up before curtain, so you could see the set but it clearly wasn’t active, dim lights and almost the ambiance of a closed club, which was perfect

also, they were playing big band swing over the loudspeakers in the background, so it was just lovely and nice

then the show started and oh my god

oh my god

if you’ve listened to the soundtrack (if you haven’t do it’s amazing) you know Just Like It Was Before starts out with The Drumbeattm

However, the show actually starts with gunfire and bombs falling and slowly getting louder until you’re hearing the dirt rain down, and the lights go up

on Donny and Michael using the stairs of the set stage like their trench, and Julia in the foreground, putting flowers in a vase, completely oblivious to her husband’s coming death

then Donny is having a rough time, almost like he was disassociating, and Michael is trying to get him involved and back in his own head with the “there is a train” bit

Donny yells “Get Out!” and as that happens you realize Michael, who you actually don’t know is Michael yet I don’t think, died and that Julia is his husband because you see Julia get the telegram and collapse

honestly just this song could have it’s own post but anyway

so Donny gets home and tries to find work to the chorus of “It’ll be just like it was before!” and at first he was genuinely happy to be home and optimistic, but he slowly starts drinking more and more and is getting angrier

after the guy says “try the community theatre guild” Donny gets mad and pushes a box out of his hands and get’s beat up by security, which I didn’t realize, and he sings the “that’s what they tell me/why not believe it” section on the ground sort of nursing his bruises, curled up, clearly desperate

and he loses it more and more during the song until he has a really bad flashback (flashbacks get their own section it was so well done) and has a panic attack, which leaves him on the ground next to his piano

but when Andre Barouche gets on the radio, every time the music lifts Donny pulls himself up a little more, until you see him pulling himself together during Donny Novitski

I Know a Guy was hilarious and then it was emotional

Jimmy is a nerd, he wore a sweater vest

He knew Michael before the war, and they used to play together. Also, you learn Michael was killed by friendly fire, but Donny doesn’t elaborate.

also you learn that Michael was known as “Rubber” and I didn’t get the joke until Donny and Julia talked about it later, but it was a condom joke because their last name is Trojan, and apparently Michael has had that nickname since high school

Davey constantly makes Shakespeare references and has the best one liners, although Johnny is a close competitor for that one

Ain’t We Proud was incredible. I’m not usually much of a fan of trumpet solos but Joey Pero managed to convert me. It was insane. All of them were amazing musicians

also, scene transitions usually featured ensemble members dancing across the stage in cute little mini scenes, like a soldier and his girl walking holding hands, only swing dancing. I loved it

So until this point, you’ve only seen Julia, not met her, and Donny promised Michael he’s check on her, but it takes him until then to screw up the courage to go and he almost walks away but she said “aren’t you a little old for ding dong ditch” so he came back. I love Julia and Laura Osnes a lot.

also, for the record, I said I’d cry when Corey and Laura were on stage. I cried as soon as they were on stage.

Donny’s clothes for the first few songs were loose, like he wasn't eating well or sleeping much, which we knew, but as soon as he was performing again they fit better

Who I Was takes place after Julia invites Donny to come for dinner, and June tells her not to ask about how Michael died because Donny might not want to talk about it

Donny comes for dinner, Beth Leavel shows her incredible comedic timing, and somehow the script and acting are perfect enough that I went from laughing to crying in .2 seconds so kudos to the Bandstand team for that one

Donny 100% tricked Julia into singing with them, he invited her to watch their set and then called her up to sing

but she agrees to join, which leads to Breathe and You Deserve It

awesome fact: in You Deserve It when they sing “I look to my left, I look to my right” they are only talking about each other, everyone dancing to their song freezes

Donny wanted to use You Deserve It as their contest song, but Nick was gonna leave and join the Dwight Ansen Band because he thought they had a better chance of winning, and they get into a physical fight over it. Donny can’t stand the thought of Nick leaving the band created by vets for vets

Love Will Come and Find Me Again is actually a poem Julia wrote that Donny set to music, and Nick stayed with them when they chose that song

They won the Ohio contest! But then they found out they had to pay for their own train and hotel, which triggered another panic attack from Donny

actually, all of them did, but they all showed it in different ways, which was so cool

Donny fell over and was clearly having an actual panic attack, Davey started cracking jokes but very aggressive ones, things like that

Donny starts Right This Way in a panic attack, just like how he sang in Just Like It Was Before

Corey Cott is so talented, everyone is talking about Ben Platt crying while singing but Corey is not only crying he’s on the ground curled up in a ball, breathing weird, crying, and still managing to belt beautifully

The Drumbeat

The Drumbeat is incredible okay it’s so good, and Donny was singing to himself more than anything about the train, because it was a promise between him and Michael, who had been his best friend during the war, that one day they’d make it home and take the train to New York, first class

even when the whole band is singing in Right This Way, Julia isn’t until the final stanza, when she takes her place in line and sings alongside them

Nobody was amazing go watch the Tony performance and multiply that amazingness by like ten

at one point a guy slid on his chair until it was literally on the edge and stopped just in time and he looked very smug about it too

I Got A Theory was adorable, the scene before it was Donny and Julia hanging out and Julia makes up the song on the spot after Donny and her talk about Michael and you learn they played together to get the troops going and Michael kept saying “faster” until he yelled “now sing” and it was both touching and funny

Julia plays the ukulele throughout the whole song again I love her and Laura Osnes

Johnny! My Boy! he’s so good!

“I’m one of the lucky ones...because I don’t remember” I cried

Joe Carroll’s comedic timing was insane? every one of his jokes landed and it was amazing

even though he’s “on brain matter, shy” he really isn’t and he does the math in his head

after that, Donny is walking Julia home and earlier they fought about her changing her name and going by Adams (her maiden name) and she said no because so much of her life with Michael had been erased she wasn’t erasing his name too

and she pushes Donny to talk about what happened and he Explodes

and this scene is probably where I cried the most, it was just the two of them onstage, no music at all even from the orchestra, gentle lighting, and both of them were sobbing

Donny tells Julia how Michael had been in a trench on a hill for three days, no sleep, with Donny and the rest of the men you saw in the very beginning. Michael had thrown a grenade that night, while it was raining, desperate to make some kind of progress, and Donny had tried to do the same. When Donny pulled the pin, he dropped the grenade, and it got lost in the mud. Neither of them could find it, and Donny yelled “Get Out!” and dove away into another hole down the hill, but Michael wasn’t next to him. He spent the rest of the night trying to keep whatever was left from washing away, but there wasn’t even a body to bury.

Julia ran home and didn’t show up the next night to play, and Everything Happens is right after than, when Donny calls to see if Julia is coming

I still hold that Everything Happens is super important, even more so now after seeing the show. June knows what’s up.

Julia writes Welcome Home as a sort of apology poem to the band, and Donny puts it to music

Donny sings probably about a verse of it alone on stage, and the chorus, and I nearly sobbed audibly

He also changes the lyrics to be a love song, still Welcome Home but from the perspective of a girl seeing her soldier come home

a good speech from Donny at the VA hall where they perform that version: “I’m sure when we hear them say hero, we don’t know who she’s talking about, cause none of us feel like one”

Oliver, the owner of one of the clubs, got enough money together with the help of the city to get them to New York and cue a freaking EPIC set change that changed my life I swear but I think I’m gonna make another post about set and lighting bc this one is already long and it’s mostly just plot

so they go to New York and get told they do get to perform, because NBC tricked them so they had to go through another audition before getting to perform, and Donny and Julia have to sign a paper saying they can air the song, and they’re planning to sing Love Will Come and Find Me Again

then comes This is Life, and the entire thing is sung softly in front of Julia’s hotel room door and they were super close and like hugging and it was soft and adorable until they pulled away because they decided they couldn’t have a relationship with the baggage they share about Michael

then right before they perform, Jimmy is missing, and he shows up and reveals that NBC tricked them into giving away the right to Love Will Come and Find Me which is when Donny decides to do the original Welcome Home, the one about what it’s really like to come home from the war

The raw emotion of Welcome Home was crazy. The entire cast was insane. I cried again. Alot.

They don’t actually announce the winner, it goes right from them about to announce it to the Donny Nova Band leaving the movie theater, but you find it it was Illinois who won, but their band is doing well.

it was so good and now I’m gonna make another post about production and acting because it was incredible but this post is already so long

#Asper talks too much #txting #bandstand #uhhhhhh i'm dead and my cause of death is Bandstand on Broadway

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flyingsassysaddles · 7 years

Text

Top Secret: Delaware’s Clubs

(Inspired by @askaphmaine and their drawings because I love Maryland and the world always needs more Delaware in general)

Classification: Top Secret clearance needed

Subject: State of Delaware

(Warning: the following names and descriptions of memberships and close clubs of the United States of America Representative State Congress may have been altered because D.C read this just as I was about to finish and now I have to make it sound like a goddamn legal document, because god forbid a state write anything that doesn't sound like Terms and Conditions contract. But I changed them anyway because screw D.C and I can do what I want.)

Alright, so you think Delaware is some backwater state who can’t tell right from left and is a weirdo who can’t tie his shoes? You can’t find Delaware on a map because he doesn’t sound important? Do you find it odd that sometimes Delaware refers to himself in the third person? Well, I’m here to clear up some of those stupid Yankee or redneck misconceptions and make you understand how great I truly am! And to do that, I’m going to give you a list of all the clubs and caucuses and whatnot that I’m a part of! Then you’ll see how awesome and genius I truly am and NO I’m not part of freaking Pennsylvania. That’s how you spell it right? I always forget.

Okay, let’s start!

The Chicken Duo:

Members: Me and Rhode Island

Purpose: I kinda forgot, but I think it’s mostly so Button (that’s my adorable blue hen that’s an absolute sweetheart) can have a friend. Rhode has a chicken too, but it doesn’t like to fight or anything, so we can’t have cockfights like in the good old days when it was legal. I think it was to counteract the Northern Cardinal Club that just grows more and more by the day (pick something original for god’s sake). And the Turkey Club, but all they do it make turkey puns.

The I-Don’t-Have-A-Single-Mountain Club:

Members: Me, Louisiana, Florida, D.C sometimes, Rhode Island, and Mississippi

Purpose: No idea, but hey I’m in it! I’m number one cause I’m the most um, flat I guess? I ain’t got any mountains at all, and California keeps telling me that I’m going to be the first one to die in global warming. Yeah, I’ll make sure to say hi to Florida when that happens, Ms. Fake Nose.

The I-Was-Named-After-An-Old-White-Guy Troop:

Members: Georgia (the poor bastard), Me, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Jefferson when we’re feeling generous. Though we’ve been thinking about expanding it to old white ladies too because Maryland keeps nagging us and Maine is super scary when she wants to be, but then we have to change the name from old white guy to old white person, which I think makes it sound less funny.

Purpose: To talk smack about all the other states who got to be named after Native American words and just hang out I guess.

The I-Was-Technically-Named-After-A-River Club:

Members: Colorado (his name literally means red, how sucky is that?), Mississippi (duh), and Me. They keep trying to throw me out because I’m part of the White Guy Naming club, but I was named after a river which in turn was named after an old white guy. So I fit in both, technically.

Purpose: We go fishing a lot, and basically talk about rivers and stuff. Though they keep throwing me overboard and bet how long I can swim before having to be pulled out. And they say conservatives and liberals don’t get along. God, I hate being short. Oh, and we smoke a ton of weed.

The Mason-Dixon Line States:

Members: Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Me. No, West Virginia and New Jersey don’t count. Though I’m not sure Pennsylvania does either, but we can’t throw him out cause then it would be just me and Maryland, and we both have like SUPER bad impulse control, so we’d probably end up dead or something. I’m pretty sure none of us want a repeat of the skateboarding goat incident (even though that was super funny and I got stupid rich from all the bets placed against the fact I could throw a goat into a lake and it could still ride a skateboard better than Alaska when he’s hungover).

Purpose: Argue about the Mason-Dixon line agreement, fight, talk smack about everyone, and wonder what side of the Civil War we should've been on (sorry, that’s just me and Maryland, PENNSYLVANIA has it all figured out). That’s about it. We also go to parties and stuff, but I try to avoid Pennsylvania like the plague because he never lets anything go and I practically see Maryland every day.

The Democratic State Caucus:

Members: I’m too lazy to list them all, but basically all the democrat states plus me.

Purpose: To vote against the Republican State Caucus and talk about how great it was when Obama was around. (I miss Joe Biden though, my one true awesome vice-president. Obama too I guess. But JOE was awesome. He was my senator for forever you know. I have him on speed dial cause he’s so awesome. Joe, Joe, Joe of the Jungle, watch out for that Republican filibuster, PLOP. I’m getting off track, aren’t I?)

The I’ve-Been-A-Democrat-For-Forty-Years-And-I’m-Never-Going-To-Change Club:

Members: Me, Hawaii, California, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, Maine, wait, how many of us are there? Holy pajamas that’s a lot.Yeah, I’m not writing them all down. They have too much of an ego anyway.

Purpose: Just talk about how stupid Republicans are and where the country’s going. Basically, a group where you can talk about your opinions and stuff without being yelled at by Texas or the I’ve-Been-A-Republican-For-Forty-Years-And-I’m-Never-Going-To-Change club.

The Smaller-Side-Of-The-Spectrum States:

Members: Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Hawaii, and Me.

Purpose: “I am NOT short!” - All of us at once. That pretty much sums it up.

The I-Was-Once-Part-Of-Pennsylvania-Club:

Members: Delaware

Purpose: To talk about great Pennsylvania is and- wait, how did this get here? This isn’t my handwriting. What even is this? The I-Was-Once-Part-Of- GODDAMNIT PENNSYLVANIA!

The No-Counties-Club:

Members: Me, Rhode Island, and Hawaii

Purpose: To complain about our counties and ignore the fact that they only have 5 and I only have 3. Yes, THREE! And they’re all annoying (please don’t let them know I said that).

The Tax Evasion Buddies:

Members: Nevada, Alaska, and me.

Purpose: “To find a legal team to make our laws better,” is what Nevada says, but not for me, no sir. Tax evasion makes me stupid rich, and where else are all the big companies going to go? DuPont and no-sales-tax for the win!

The Am-I-South-Or-North Trio

Members: West Virginia, Maryland, and me. W. Virginia keeps saying that he’s “Appalachian” or Southern or whatever, but we’re not letting him leave cause then it’ll just be me and Maryland and again we both have like the WORST impulse control, and W. Virginia is the strictest guy I know so he has to balance us out or else bye bye humanity.

Purpose: To find comfort in the fact there are other states that feel like they don’t belong in the North/South dynamic in the Original Thirteen. Me and Maryland had it rough in the beginning, so we formed a club as a sort of “Middle” between the North and South, and once Western Virginia escaped from Virginia in the Civil War, we had three! So there’s that, I guess. Also it gets pretty lonely in the O13 if you aren’t a New Englander or a Southerner, so banding together helps. God, now I’m depressed.

The First-States:

Members: Just me and my awesomeness.

Purpose: To fulfill a dare that Maryland made that I wouldn’t make a club just for the First State (which I am) because I talked about it so much. Well in your face Mary Mary Quite Contrary, I actually did it! A club just for the First State, because I was the first person to sign the Constitution and I am NEVER letting that go. Ever. So screw the State Congress’s club rules, Delaware, the First State, gets what he wants baby. It also helps that I got all of the major lobbies on speed dial. Why? None of your damn business. *cough* tax evasion *cough*

Del-Mar-Va Trio:

Members: Virginia, Maryland, and Me.

Purpose: I don’t even know anymore. Maryland and Virginia fight like rabid dogs and they just never get along and I’m stuck in the middle of it and it’s just a huge soap opera. Last time I checked Maryland sent one of her crabs to tear up one of Virginia’s dresses and Virginia retaliated by making her foxhound follow Maryland around until she apologized, and as far as I know, that dog is still following her because Maryland’s as stubborn as a mule sometimes. I think we originally were trying to see if we could make a new state or something, unifying the whole Delmarva peninsula under one banner, but honestly, that scares me a bit. I mean, Virginia and Maryland have other territories than just the peninsula, but me? That peninsula is all I got. If we formed a new state, Delaware would cease to exist. And I’ve been through way too much crap to die in a sucky way like that. I’m going to go out in a blaze of glory with my state anthem screaming in the background with Maryland chucking crabs out of her crab-launcher and Pennsylvania screaming in terror behind me during the apocalypse or something. Now THAT is an awesome way to die.

(Executive Edit: This has been an informal draft sent to the Executive State Oversight Committee of the United States of America Representative State Congress in an attempt to “educate” the states on the committee, and to provide evidence that the state of Delaware was not, in fact, a main conspirator in the disastrous scandal now know as Skateboarding Goat-gate, and that this article proved his innocence. The trial overseen by the United States of America Representative State Congress has since found Delaware to be guilty. In turn, all of his previous writings have been confiscated and placed under high classification. - Democratic leader of the United States of America Representative State Congress, the State of California. And I do not have a fake nose, you little shit.)

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theliberaltony · 6 years

Link

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

micah (Micah Cohen, politics editor): Greetings, colleagues! For your consideration today: Do Democrats need to win the special election for Alabama’s Senate seat in order to have a chance to win control of the chamber in 2018?

Implicit in that question, obviously, is: Can Democrats win the Senate in 2018?

So let’s start off with this, from friend-of-the-site Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics:

I would buy the bejeezus out of "Democrats to take the Senate" right now if I were involved in the market.s

— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) November 10, 2017

He says he would buy Democrats to win the Senate at 30 percent. And that it would be 50-50 if Democrat Doug Jones wins in Alabama.

Would people buy at 30 right now?

clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): Yes. While I don’t think it’s a sure thing by any means, this environment is a lot friendlier for Democrats than Republicans.

harry (Harry Enten, senior political writer): Ohhh boy. I tell ya. This is where a formal model would really help. Here’s what we know: Incumbent senators of the opposition party (the party that doesn’t control the White House) rarely lose in midterms, and Democrats have two clear pickup opportunities in addition to Alabama (Arizona and Nevada). They need a net gain of three seats to get the majority, so the math is there. Of course, the Democrats are defending seats on some very red turf, including in Missouri, North Dakota and West Virginia, to name just a few.

natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): Answer the question, dude.

micah: You answer it, Nate!

natesilver: A-N-S-W-E-R. T-H-E. Q-U-E-S-T-I-O-N. H-A-R-R-Y.

micah: Clare is the only brave one here.

natesilver: I’d hold at 30.

micah:

harry: Holdin’ Nate.

micah: HARRY!

natesilver: HARRY WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

harry: Fine. Fine. I’ll sell at 30 percent and buy at 25 percent.

micah:

natesilver: Oh, give me a break.

micah: You’re holding, in other words.

natesilver: You’re like, “We don’t have a formal model, blah blah blah,” and then you’re parsing the difference between 25 and 30 percent.

micah: Clare, why would you buy?

And how contingent is your buy on Jones winning in Alabama?

Like, if I told you that Republican Roy Moore is going to win, would you sell at 30 percent?

natesilver: I’d just point out that if Moore wins, he’d probably get expelled, which would compel another special election.

clare.malone: As I said above, before all the bullshit equivocating, I think the Alabama thing, if it happens for Democrats, could really build some momentum.

Would I sell?

No.

micah: My prediction: Moore wins, he gets expelled. He runs again in the new special election and wins.

natesilver: Then gets expelled again?

micah: No.

I’m not convinced Republicans would even expel him to begin with.

clare.malone: It feels a bit like an intimidation tactic right now.

micah: Yeah.

natesilver: Moore would be a huge problem for Republicans if he stays in office. He’s not going to be cooperative at all with the GOP leadership. And he’s basically every liberal’s worst stereotype of a Republican, which isn’t great for the GOP brand. I think the expulsion threat is pretty real.

harry: Read up on your Powell vs. McCormack. Adam Clayton Powell was expelled by the House of Representatives, then elected again and seated.

micah: But here’s my argument for buying Democrats at 30 percent: They basically need one seat in addition to Arizona and Nevada. They might get that in a month. And even if they don’t, if it’s a super Democratic-leaning year, as we think it will be, I’d bet Democrats in red states will be mostly safe.

Moreover! I think people think too narrowly about what states could be in play.

Like, if Democrats have a +10 advantage on the generic ballot and it’s an anti-incumbent year, who’s to say Ted Cruz won’t be in trouble in Texas?

A VA gov '17 turnout and support pattern would bring Texas to the edge of true competitiveness https://t.co/YFDrPXMljB

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 10, 2017

clare.malone: Welcome to Team Buy, Micah.

micah: TEAM BUY!

Defend yourselves, Team Sell!

natesilver: I’d buy at 30 percent on Democrats winning three or more seats. But they also have a lot of their own seats to defend.

I’m not Team Sell, by the way, I’m Team Hold.

micah: You’re Team Sell, Nate.

natesilver: I’m Team Hold, Micah.

clare.malone: The coward’s choice.

micah: You’re Team

harry: I mean, it’s pretty simple why you wouldn’t buy. Other than Arizona and Nevada, the most Democratic-leaning seat that’s up in 2018 and has a Republican incumbent is Texas. Beyond that, where can Democrats pick up a seat? There aren’t good choices. Maybe they have a shot in Tennessee if the Republicans nominate an archconservative and Phil Bredesen, the former governor, wins the Democratic nomination.

natesilver: Given that there are approximately 6 jillion Democratic seats up for re-election and only a few Republican ones, I think Democrats having a 30 percent chance of taking the Senate is pretty good.

harry: What Nathaniel Read just said.

natesilver: The fact that it’s as high as 30 percent indicates that things are going pretty bad for Republicans.

micah: The Cook Political Report rates the Texas Senate race as more solidly Republican than the one in Tennessee.

natesilver: So, traditionally people place a lot of weight on incumbency. Tennessee is an open seat, and Texas isn’t.

I think that incumbency is maybe a little overrated. The incumbency advantage has been dwindling. (We’ll have an article on this soon.)

micah: What if Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch retires, then Mitt Romney wins in Utah and caucuses with Democrats?

clare.malone: He won’t caucus with Democrats.

harry: What if my mother’s dog starts talking, Micah?

micah: So, Nate, you basically think Democrats need Alabama?

natesilver: No, I don’t. I think Texas is plausible-ish. And I think a second Arizona seat could open up for obvious reasons.

clare.malone: OK, what are seats that Democrats hold that we think they are in danger of losing?

Missouri.

micah: Indiana.

West Virginia.

I mean, here are the Cook ratings on Democratic-held seats:

clare.malone: Yeah, I mean … they could DEFINITELY get cut up in some of those.

natesilver: I think Missouri and, to a slightly lesser extent, Indiana are the biggest problems for Democrats.

The reason being that Claire McCaskill and Joe Donnelly had the benefit of running against really poor opponents last time.

clare.malone: Yeah. “Legitimate rape.”

micah: Joe Manchin may have enough of his own brand in West Virginia to be in OK shape. Right?

natesilver: Manchin is still fairly popular there, yeah.

clare.malone: But there’s also the fact that Team Trump could go all out and pool support against Manchin in that state if they wanted.

harry: I wouldn’t discount Florida myself, given that Rick Scott could spend more money than most Americans dream of seeing in a lifetime.

natesilver: Yeah, Florida — you could see Bill Nelson blowing that race, somehow.

Or Sherrod Brown in Ohio.

And to the point earlier about the incumbency advantage diminishing — that could hurt “generic” Democratic incumbents like McCaskill who don’t have their own brands carved out.

micah: I don’t really buy Florida. If it’s a really Democratic-leaning year, why would they lose Florida?

Ohio is more believable. But I think even that would go blue in a blue-wave year.

clare.malone: The Republican candidate in Ohio (Josh Mandel) is … not super likeable. But who knows.

harry: Democrats in Florida are heavily dependent on a Latino vote that may not show up for a midterm.

natesilver: Democrats probably wouldn’t lose Florida, Micah. And it’s true that all of these outcomes are correlated. But sometimes individual races deviate from the trend, like when Democrats won by a huge margin in Michigan in 2014 despite having a really bad year everywhere else.

New Jersey is also a trouble spot for Democrats with the Bob Menendez trial.

clare.malone: Yeah, Menendez is very unpopular there.

natesilver: He’d probably lose a primary challenge — New Jersey Democrats tend to be fairly pragmatic — but it’s a wild card.

harry: My guess is New Jersey ain’t gonna happen for Republicans. It has a powerful state party that will get Menendez to lose the primary or step aside if necessary.

natesilver: So maybe there’s a 50 percent chance that Democrats win 3+ seats, but some of those times, they also lose one or more seats of their own. Which puts us at 30 or so.

If I were actually betting on this stuff, I’d also want to know how the contracts handle post-election party switches.

If Maine Sen. Collins switched parties, for instance, I think it would be right after the midterm and not before.

Sorta like Jim Jeffords or Arlen Specter after the 2000 and 2008 presidential elections.

clare.malone: Do we think Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski would switch parties post-midterm? Or caucus with the Democrats?

micah: That would be exciting!

harry: And to think, in 2011, I believed that politics had become boring and predictable.

natesilver: Collins is more likely, just because she’s more out of step with the Maine GOP, which is getting more like Gov. LePage.

clare.malone: Yeah, that’s true.

We’re just considering WILD CARDS!

natesilver: But if the Senate balance is 50-50 after the election — and let’s say the Republicans have really gotten slaughtered in the House, so the mood of the country is pretty clear — it becomes very tempting to switch if you’re a pivotal Republican senator. You arguably have more power that way (although you have a lot of power either way).

micah: OK, so party-switching and wild cards aside, does your read on Democrats’ Senate chances basically come down to how you think red-state Democrats will fare?

harry: I think that’s right.

natesilver: I mean, it also comes down to Alabama, where I’m slightly more skeptical of Jones’s chances than the consensus.

And it comes down to where you come down on Arizona and Nevada, on the spectrum between “toss-up” and “leans Democrat.”

I think both are leans Democrat, for what it’s worth.

micah: So, my read, to take just one example, is that Harry and Nate are looking at these races like gubernatorial races, which tend to be more about state-level concerns. But we know Senate races tend to be more nationalized, and the odds are that Trump is going to be super unpopular in 2018, perhaps with a much-ramped-up Russia investigation.

clare.malone: I’d agree with that.

micah: Why wouldn’t we expect the to hit the Senate?

natesilver: Even if you have a wave, Democrats might only gain two seats.

That’s the point.

In a non-wave year, they might lose six seats.

So the wave is what takes them from -6 to +2.

It’s a realllllllllyyyyyyy bad map for Democrats

micah: That seems circular to me.

natesilver: OMG

harry: I’ll just drop this in here.

micah: “Democrats will have a really hard time winning races, so they won’t win many races.”

OK, so let’s go back to Alabama …

harry: I love Alabama.

micah: Imagine it’s Dec. 13, and Doug Jones is the senator-elect from Alabama. I give you even odds that Democrats take the Senate back in 2018. Buy, sell or hold?

And remember, if you hold, you suck.

clare.malone: I’m holding and then selling once all the suckers in the betting markets get amped.

micah: That’s the right answer.

natesilver: 50 percent seems in the right range to me, if Jones wins.

harry: Apparently, you suck.

natesilver: Apparently. But it’s actually pretty hard to estimate this stuff without a model

because of how the outcomes are correlated, etc.

micah: We should build a model.

natesilver: Too soon.

harry: We should build a motel.

clare.malone: OK. Let’s cut through the crap: Do you guys think Jones is going to pull this out?

micah: Yes.

natesilver: If there’s no write-in bid, then I think Moore is still the favorite.

harry: Wait. That’s trash. Do you think there will be a write-in bid?

natesilver: Well, I have a whole freaking article about that, which I’m filing to Micah.

Basically, I think all the other outcomes are so bad that it doesn’t hurt the GOP to try a write-in bid, even though it probably helps Jones.

harry: For those wondering, PredictIt has Jones shares selling at 42 cents, as I’m writing this. Moore is at 41 cents, Luther Strange at 6 cents, Mo Brooks at 2 cents and Trip Pittman at 1 cent.

So the conventional wisdom seems to be that Moore won’t win?

micah: Final question: Does the outcome in Alabama matter solely in terms of the seat math? Or would a Jones win tell us something about the political environment? Or would it have more nuts-and-bolts consequences?

harry: Moore would win this race if the environment was neutral to pro-Republican.

clare.malone: I think a Jones win — which might be dependent, as Nate said, on McConnell and national Republicans trying to screw over Moore — would be yet another little battle in the “establishment vs. Bannonites” or whatever we’re calling that emerging wing of the party.

The wing that now makes the tea party look moderate in tone.

natesilver: Right. It would tell us a little something. But, again, mostly it would tell us things that are consistent with what we already know. And people are liable to over-interpret the difference between, say, a 3-point Moore win and a 3-point Jones win — both of which would count as a really bad performance for Republicans, but either of which could sort of be blamed on Moore also.

So basically I think the actual consequences of the Alabama race are larger than the predictive info it contains. In contrast to, say, the Georgia 6th or something.

harry: Right, I think Jones winning is both a sign of the environment and of candidate quality. But yeah, one Senate seat is worth a whole lot when the majority party is at 52 seats.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #A FiveThirtyEight Chat

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‘Another white guy in the race’: Dems perplexed by Tom Steyer’s run

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‘Another white guy in the race’: Dems perplexed by Tom Steyer’s run

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer has raised the battle cry for impeachment, but some elected Democrats wish he would dial the tone down. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

2020 elections

Some Democratic lawmakers wish the billionaire impeachment advocate would drop his presidential bid.

Tom Steyer’s eleventh-hour presidential bid is confounding Democrats. And some party officials are ready for him to butt out.

The billionaire environmental activist is antagonizing Democratic leaders, whacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi for going on August recess and criticizing House Democrats for not immediately impeaching the president.

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And as Steyer vows to spend as much as $100 million of his own money in the primary to boost his long-shot candidacy, Democrats are growing frustrated that he’ll only further clog the crowded campaign — particularly if he can buy his way onto the debate stage this fall.

“It’s very difficult for me to see the path for Tom Steyer to be a credible candidate,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who has endorsed Pete Buttigieg. “So yes, I would rather that he spend his money taking back the Virginia House, the Virginia Senate and supporting people who can win.”

“I wish he wouldn’t do it. Especially at this late date,” added Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. “Things are set except for those who are going to drop out.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio observed that Steyer is basically “another white guy in the race,” albeit a wealthy one who is “a major progressive player.” Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was mostly perplexed by the wealthy Californian’s entry when asked about it: “I kind of wonder why?”

Steyer’s entry into the 2020 race — which he had previously passed on — further complicates an already complex relationship with the Democratic Party.

Some lawmakers know him personally and have been beneficiaries of his largesse. Democrats have also praised his efforts to combat climate change. Others are less pleased to see another self-funding ex-businessman trying his hand at politics when the stakes are so high.

And many lawmakers are familiar only with his ads demanding impeachment — or his visits to their congressional districts to pressure them with town halls pushing Donald Trump’s ouster.

Given how wrenching the impeachment issue has been for Democrats, there’s not a lot of love for Steyer in the House Democratic Caucus.

“Do I think he’s wasting his money on [impeachment] ads against me? Yes,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who has not endorsed a presidential candidate and declined to comment on his presidential run.

Steyer has already used his multimillion-dollar impeachment campaign to target prominent House Democrats, including Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York and Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland. And he’s floated the idea of turning his financial firepower on Democratic leadership, including Pelosi.

Steyer issued a blunt statement directed at the speaker last week after Democrats voted to kill an effort to immediately launch impeachment proceedings against Trump. Then he dinged Congress on Monday for “going on vacation for six weeks,” calling on Pelosi to cancel the House’s August recess.

“Whether it was pushing for Donald Trump’s impeachment, demanding a more robust plan to address climate change, or insisting that Democrats protect Dreamers, I’ve been willing to stand on principle even when it is at odds with my party,” Steyer said in a statement for this story, vowing to help whoever wins the nomination but acknowledging: “I understand that our message makes some insiders uncomfortable.”

In the past, Pelosi has tried to privately contact Steyer — one of her constituents — to urge him to knock off the public impeachment campaign. But Steyer has refused, instead funneling millions more dollars into an effort that Pelosi and other House Democrats have derided as a “distraction.”

A spokesman for Pelosi declined to comment for this story. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also declined to talk about Steyer.

But Steyer can’t simply be written off.

He’s a formidable figure in the Democratic Party, able to bury what he sees as weak-kneed Democrats with pro-impeachment ads and still have enough money left over to fund his own presidential run.

Steyer’s focus on climate over the years could also be an asset, some Democrats argued, especially since he may have more resources than other candidates to climb in the polls.

“As a climate hawk, I think it’s good for climate. I don’t think Jay Inslee has got much traction,” argued Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), referring to the Washington state governor.

Whitehouse has criticized the slew of candidates running for the presidency that could be pursuing winnable Senate seats in red states, and he notes that Steyer isn’t among them.

“Between his sincerity and his not being a drag on Senate races and his likely enhancement of the climate issue? I’m pretty glad he’s there,” he said.

Less glad are Democratic presidential candidates. For one, they argue a billionaire in the race paints the party in a bad light.

In an interview, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leading presidential candidate, took a shot at Steyer when asked about his candidacy.

“All campaigns should be grassroots funded in a primary. This is our chance to build our coalition that not only is going to help us win in 2020 but also help us make change come 2021,” Warren said. “Everyone should be doing grassroots funding. Everyone.”

And it’s easy to see how Steyer could be a problem for lower-tier presidential hopefuls.

Steyer can spend inordinate sums just to get donors to pitch in $1 to his campaign, which could lift him to the debate stage despite his late entry. A number of his competitors will struggle to accrue the 130,000 donors and 2 percent polling bump needed to make the fall debates.

“People’s votes can’t be bought,” argued Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), whose presidential campaign is running on a small-donor insurgent strategy to stay on the stage.

Though Steyer may pose a short-term threat to some Democratic candidates, his overall effect on the race may be muted, according to interviews with more than a dozen prominent Democrats.

He’s likely to press his competition on impeachment and climate change, potentially helping elevate issues that are hot on the left. But his own candidacy probably has little chance of catching fire, elected officials in Washington said.

“There is always going to be a lane in a Democratic primary to run on impeachment. So I don’t know whether he can capture that lane,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “Had he gotten in the race six months ago, when he was the only person calling for impeachment, maybe he would have [had] a different impact than today.”

“It really makes it hard because there’s so many candidates. Steyer gets in, it’s just another candidate to get in of many. He just happens to have money,” added Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “But it’s going to be very difficult for these folks that are on the bottom tier.”

Perhaps the biggest issue Democrats take with Steyer is that he’s fueling a negative narrative in the primary: that their field is cartoonishly large and only growing.

On July 8, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) dropped out of the race and for the first time it looked like the field of two dozen was finally shrinking.

Yet exactly one day after Swalwell left, Steyer got in. In an interview, Swalwell predicted Steyer’s spending would get him in at least one debate and registering in the polls.

But he also had a pointed warning to the newcomer.

“It’s rough out there,” he said.

Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.

#Foreign #perplexed #Politics #Steyer

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