#for a game that most people play for 40 hours max

[thebibliosphere]

Feeling somewhat called out by my Steam year in review.

ID: A purple screenshot of the Gotham Knights artwork showing Red Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl. The text reads, "You picked up this game for the first time and were immediately hooked."

I'm not telling you how many hours I've sank into this since getting it a few months ago, but needless to say, it's a lot.

#I lied #I've played 204.5 hours #for a game that most people play for 40 hours max #according to steam at least

[herbgroom]

arctic monkeys concert review time, for anyone who cares

so I was under the impression that the concert would start at 5:30pm, so I thought, great! I get there at 12 and I only have to wait 5 hours! WRONG.

the headliners would start at 9:40 PM. I WAITED 10 FUCKING HOURS.

when I got there, there were already so many people. the venue was huge and impossible to navigate, I had to go back and forth a couple of times to understand where I was supposed to go. the one highlight was a security guard who saw the books I was carrying (sartre, lol) and the pins (one was of dark side of the moon) and commented on them. that was nice

so, I arrive at my entry, and I still have a couple of hours to kill, since the gates open at 3pm. WELL. SOME DOUCHEBAG decided to cram up at the front of the gates and everyone followed, I was stuck in the crowd for the remaining hours with no water or food, just a cap, and the scorching sun above me (thankfully I had put on sunscreen beforehand)

the staff was also in a panic as well, it took them a while to check tickets and bags.

but I get inside! and the position I get it's great! just a dozen of meters from the stage, meanwhile people keep coming... and coming...

my friend also manages to get inside and we're finally reunited, we're both a sweaty mess. it is 3:30pm.

the bar is expensive and the water is scarce, it is really difficult to sit down given the amount of people (at max capacity, I heard there were 70-90k people inside)

the waiting game starts, but at about 5pm the first opening act (gli OMINI) comes on stage. they're neat 👍 they played covers of boys don't cry and my generation

another half an hour hour passes, it is getting so fucking hot, but some saint starts distributing water, you have to be extremely lucky to catch a bottle, tho.

second opening act (willie j healey) at about 6pm, they have strong dire straits and 70s soft rock vibes, one of their amps busted, but the crowd was supportive

some more waiting, the venue sponsors come on stage (a national radio) and they start randomly djing and chanting, they throw t shirts and gadgets. I didn't get one.

finally, at 7:40 pm the final warm up act, the hives. they even get a personalised stage with big letters and everything. they're absolutely insane, we didn't catch one breath while they were playing. special shoutout to the guitarist who was dying on stage, you're a true champ 👍

one hour left. and that hour feels like 10. at least the sun has gone down, but the heat remains, given how cramped up everyone is. I'm starting to feel very sick, nauseous and with a headache. I try to sit down the best way I can.

BUT FINALLY!! ARCTIC MONKEYS TIME!!! they come on stage and everyone loses their fucking minds, there's a huge mirrorball on the ceiling and a big circular projector behind them

here's the setlist

I had to literally block my ears a few time cuz the screaming was so so strong

alex speaks some italian and that also causes people to lose their minds, the audience mainly cares only for him. sad! I was cheering you on nick, matt and jamie! you were amazing! also the guys responsible for the moog synthesiser and additional guitars, awesome indeed

funny how everyone sang the most popular songs while barely anyone knew the songs from the car, well I sang those the loudest! mirrorball was fucking awesome, the highlight for me, cuz at the end the real mirrorball started spinning and shining. so so cool

I also screamed REALLY LOUD when they played sculptures, I lost my mind. I had waited for it FOR SEVEN MONTHS.

so, was it worth it?

arctic monkeys were amazing, but all the waiting made it unbearable, I couldn't wait to go home afterwards- and that too took a while because the subway was really far away.

so, there you have it, great concert, terrible experience. an overall 4/10, while the band was 10/10 (I wish I heard them more clearly, it was impossible to hear alex through the screaming)

#arctic monkeys #milan italy

[lassieposting]

Very well. In WoW a “buff” is some kind of bonus/stat increase that you can gain. Most buffs are like a spell some other player character casts on you and give small bonuses that definitely help but aren’t a super huge deal.

However, in WoW Classic, which is a re-released version of the game exactly as it was waaaaay back in 2004 because people don’t want to play the modern version of the MMO anymore and are much more interested in the old version, there are some buffs that are gained from specific sources around the world that confer gigantic bonuses like +15% to all stats, which is a boost equivalent to stepping into the accelerator in SP.

So people at max level pushing difficult content and very strong bosses will try to get all the world buffs stacked on their character at the same time (each one lasts like 2-3 hours and it takes about an hour to get them all) and then go do things like raids (very hard 40-person team content) which are much easier with all world buffs

This never happened back in 2004, but when WoW Classic was opened up (in 2019) players know the game and its technical details inside and out and have better communication, so it’s now the game meta pretty much

And Lassie

These buffs can be instantly removed by some random fucker from the opposite faction (hostile) casting an instant-cast dispel on you

So there are griefers who will deliberately ambush players just to dispel their world buffs, just for the warped joy of kicking over the sandcastle

Like there’s nothing you can do except to not be there to get dispelled, all they have to do is target you and press one button, you can’t dodge in WoW (although 1/100 you might be able to see them and one-shot them before they can dispel you, but that’s very hard to do unless you manage to see them first)

The levels of rage resulting from this were incandescent like burning thermite

Absolutely sublime

Anyway this is one of many unintended consequences of letting 2020 players loose on a 2004 game and expecting them not to find weapons-grade exploits

—

This sounds absolutely chaotic and also very funny

#backyard anon

[gaykarstaagforever]

The Fallout trailer looks good. As in, visually. Not that thay means much. They do good trailers for whatever shows all the time.

Plus I'm a bad one to judge this, because 1) I don't like a lot of shows everyone else thinks are great, 2) this is very Fallout 4 / 76 aesthetic and that's fine, but I don't love it (ghouls aren't gooey enough and the power armor is too big, it's just 40k armor now), and 3) Fallout needs to be a tonal mashup of Dad-humor goofiness and pitch black brutality and madness, and while that works in a game you play over 40+ hours, it isn't going to work on episodic TV. Especially not for most mainstream viewers. So they're going to have to smooth it over and melodramatize it, which means it will probably just be The Last of Us with the occasional wacky robot. And I am the only person who doesn't like The Last of Us.

Why? Because it is dour and everyone is a pouty bitch who spontaneously turns into a murderer because that's 'edgey.' And if everyone is like that, then no one who does that is interesting. There's no fun to be had. It's a post apocalypse with mushroom zombies, and you made that boring...?!

That's why I like Fallout and Mad Max and the Romero movies. There are people who know how to party in those worlds. Yes, they're the absolute monsters. But hey, that's how it works now! It's fun to explore that kind of world. It's cathartic.

If the Fallout show captures that, fine. If instead it is just Westworld with ghouls, meh. Westworld was, over all, kind of meh, because it went on for too long and took itself too seriously. And the same guy is doing Fallout.

Now that I've shit on everything people love, guess I'll stop now. Maybe the Fallout show will be good. Chances are slight, but we'll see.

Also I hope it's not like Walking Dead, because I don't like that, either. Again, no one is enjoying any of the chaos in that world, they're just crying and shooting each-other.

What's the point of a Wasteland if no one is having any fun in the anarchy? Why is unrelenting pretend sadness entertaining?

I might just be too old for this. I'm in between the ages of the people who made the first Fallout games and the younger fans of Bethesda's version. I'm as familiar with the media inspirations for Fallout as I am with Fallout itself. The tone of the first Mad Max movies and A Boy and His Dog, that gleefulness in the face of absolute hell, might be an outdated thing the KIDS TODAY don't care about. I don't know.

...I shouldn't be commenting on a show like this. It isn't made for me.

Meh. Whatever.

#rant #personal #fallout tv series

[beeanddoddi]

ok ok soooo I had no wifi or service for the 3 days and 2 nights we spent in the beautiful ha long bay so here I am to tell you all about it a day late.

----------------------------------------------------------

wednesday the 3rd of january

we woke up early in nihn bihn to head to ha long bay by bus. the lovely people at the hotel in nihn bihn happily made us breakfast early and sent us on our way. it took us about 4 hours to get to the next city.... a long uncomfortable 4 hours but worth it for the sight we were about to see in the bay. after a very confusing check in (they left us no instructions in the booking information) with the help of our lovely crew members aboard our cruise we made it safely and fairly efficiently onto our boat. it was a small bay cruise with only about maybe 40 people aboard max. it was lovely, settled in and with full bellies from the lunch they had waiting for us, we set off for our adventure!

ha long bay (the bay of the laying dragon!! the mythical story for its creation is the most beautiful I've ever heard I'll tell it later) is unlike anything I've ever seen before! these massive limestone mountains rise straight up from the ocean. it did some research (because I'm a nerd) there are about 1269 (I think if my memory serves me well) islands and islets in the bay and they rose from the ocean due to tectonic active thousands of years ago. you can even tell that the ocean was higher at some point because of the layers and erosion on the cliff faces. it's truly incredible.

ok so day one on the cruise we paddled out (ourselves in kayaks) to a floating village and pearl farm. both incredible to witness! also we met some sea puppies (a lot of sea puppies). it was truly incredible to watch how people live their lives on floating towns!! then we went back to the cruise to relax and I read my book and showered.

ok let me tell you about my shower! (ik weird but hear me out) the picture above is my view and the kind of place I was in to shower. idk there's nothing more relaxing then taking a shower with the window wide open as the giant ocean mountains pass you by, letting the cool ocean air in. it was fabulous!

now time for dinner I was shocked at the fanciness that was being served to us: a set course meal with starters and soup and mains and dessert being served to us like works of art. it's a strange feeling when you suddenly feel like you're in the wrong place... idk I'm not rich enough to have ever experienced that it my life. it was cool tho!

thursday the 4th of january

day two was much of the same. we were woken up incredibly early for breakfast and an early start. then we were transferred over to a day boat to head to the day's activities. we were cruising to our destination for about an hour or so and to pass the time we played a few hands of uka and burn (both card games my family is quite fond of). finally arriving at our destination, we set off to pack our kayaks to head to the beach. it was quite a paddle (and the way back was so much harder) but we made it and didn't get lost (yay) and we had a bit of a swim at the beach and made some friends (always nice) and paddled back to the boat. I will admit the paddle back was incredibly hard and I was in a lot of pain because my shoulders kept cramping up but alas we made it and then they fed us wayyyy too much food for lunch but I was hungry and grateful. as the day came to a close we cruised back to the main boat and just chilled on the deck for the afternoon. I read my book (I'm obsessed!) and then we were served yet another like 5 course meal or something haha and plodded off to bed.

friday the 5th of january

now we come to today! today started off earlier than the last with our first stop being these pretty incredible caves (only we got there at about 7:45am which is too early for me haha). there must be millions of caves like this one in these giant limestone mountains that protrude from the ocean depths and this one was pretty incredible I can't imagine what some of the others are like. this is where we head of the dragon legend. in the old times there was a war and this mother of dragons descended from the heavens to assist her people who she grew to like and when the war was over and they had won she decided to lay down in the ocean to form ha long bay (the laying dragon bay). there are two sister bays connected to ha long bay, I forget their names but one is located in the very north of ha long bay and I think it's owned by China and the other to its south. the one we visited (which was still Vietnamese oceans) name ment the praying baby dragons. the story goes that the baby dragons prayed to their mother dragon so they too could lay in the bay with her, creating the other two bays. it's honestly some beautiful mythology!

after our morning at the caves we got back, backed our bags ready for our early morning flight the next day, and headed up to our last meal on the cruise. when we arrived back in the port we boarded yet another bus and headed for the capital city: Hanoi.

honestly I was kinda sad we weren't spending heaps of time in hanoi but after three weeks I'm kinda ready to go home. so we checked into our hotel and went for some lunch and shopping. it's similar to Ho Chi Minh City but the traffic is quieter, it feels a little more touristy and you can see the smog from about 150km away from the city... it's such a pretty city it's sad it's so polluted.

then after some shopping we went to see this spectacular water puppet show with dragons and swans and people and pyrotechnics and fantastic music and story and it was just incredible!

I only had one thing I wanted to do in this city and I hadn't shut up about it since the beginning of the trip. I had to see this train street. it was everything I had hoped for. lined with coffee shops, filled with lights and lanterns and had a train track running right through the middle of it. it was super cool, but the coolest thing was that after a little wait, sitting outside our little coffee shop drinking famous egg coffee, the train arrived! we were what? like a foot away from the train?! it was the coolest yet most terrifying thing ever! I'm so glad I got to witness that little bit of excitement and magic.

tonight is our very last night here so I'm gonna rest up for our early flight tomorrow :)

#travel #travel blog #traveling #travelling #daily blog #adventure #my thoughts #thoughts #lanterns #train street #dragons #dragon bay #mythology #stories #cruise #vietnam trip 2023-2024

[tonkiregister]

Average mortar worktime

#Average mortar worktime full#

Hi, my name is Gresh (Gresham), and welcome to CBNation powered by Blue 16 Media (Web Design & SEO). Thanks to Kerri Jonikas, HomeSmart Realty Group! My clients' happiness is worth the amount of work I put in everyday. While showing houses or selling houses sounds like an easy task there's a lot of work that is done behind the scenes that is necessary for a positive experience for my clients. On average my productive hours are 95 hours per week. Some days I am working through cooking and eating dinner. I take a break for lunch about 15 minutes but most days I work while eating and take a break for dinner about 30 minutes. On an average day my day ends at 10:30 PM with that last phone call or e-mail. My day starts at 6:30 AM everyday with answering e-mails, preparing documents needed for my day (whether that's getting together last minute paperwork for a listing appointment or preparing for a closing), checking the multiple listing service for my buyers. I often hearĬomments that Realtors receive too much money for their commissions. There are so many misconceptions about the amount of work that Realtors do. I am an entrepreneur, business owner, Realtor. Thanks to Nick Disney, Sell My San Antonio House! Most entrepreneurs accept that they will put in more hours than other people and I find that if you keep some balance you can stay productive and happy. After my kids go to bed, I will put in a little more time on my projects and reach back out to anyone that I missed from 6-9pm. From 6-9pm I focus on spending time with my family and avoid emails, calls, and texts as much as possible. I then pack in as many productive activities as I can into my schedule before 6 pm. I get up early so that I can get some productive time in before anyone expects me to be available and then I take about a 45 minute break to help get my kids ready and off to school. 50 gets no special consideration despite being 4 men, and Ostheer support team shouldn't either.I feel like when you are growing a business as an entrepreneur or business owner, you are rarely 100% off because people need you for direction and guidance and because you are always thinking about your business…This being said, I do believe that work-life integration is very important to being happy. 40 MP isn't that big of a deal, and it will make the MG42/ mortar a more meaningful choice and also a more fairly performing per cost one.Īlso, the mortar is not meant to be usued in combat, so if it is being shot at you are doing it wrong. A 20-40 mp cost increase on the MG42 and the Granatenwerfer will let them keep their current effectiveness, while not requiring a buff to the Soviet mortar/ Maxim, both of which are performing per cost (except maybe the maxim). The Granatenwerfer is absolutely a great unit at all ranges, it always does what I need it to do, at all ranges, and is overperforming for cost when compared to the 120mm and the 82mm. A factions advantages or disadvantages are no reason for a unit to be more cost effective per cost. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Soviet mortar doesn't need a HUGE buff, it just needs a reload of 5 seconds.

#Average mortar worktime full#

The German mortar is more than fragile enough to get rid of if it's annoying you to much (and at max range even firing full speed it won't hit much), increasing it's price will just make Ostheer in 1's and 2's even more of a bitch to play early game were your strapped for MP. Jump back to quoted post, 02:26 AM Alexzandvar

#Average mortar worktime

[absolutepokemontrash]

The Brothers and Side Characters Play the Sims

I don’t know what possessed me to make this but WHATEVER. I’ve been playing the Sims since I was a wee little girl, and I’ve seen my fair share of weird Sims stuff that I feel would fit these bozos perfectly.

My Sims have a Functional Family Life Because I Don’t (Lucifer)

God dammit Levi’s obsessed with another game... ugh.

Spends 5 minutes in Create-a-Sim and hops into a starter home.

Lucifer’s the type to start with all the average stuff and then build their stuff up as his sim gets promotions.

It’s just... so peaceful...

...he’s adopting a dog.

Look at his new little virtual family... his sim-kids are self sufficient and getting A’s in school, his Sim spouse MC or Diavolo take your pick loves his Sim-self, his sim-dog-

WAIT NO- THE DOG’S AN ELDER?!

AAAAAAAAAAAAA-

...

He’s fine. It was just a virtual dog. *sniffle*

He’s now spending his free time drinking Demonus and playing the Sims.

What’s a mod? Levi why does your sim have gun?

Behold, My Gorgeous Home... It’s a Box (Mammon)

Mammon, like the rest of the HOL, is mooching off of Levi’s Origin account.

“AW SHIT! This house looks awesome! I’m gonna build it for Sim-me to live in!”

Mammon proceeds to build a box with rooms. Yay...

He just picks the funnest sounding job if he picks any job at all for his Sim. That’s how he ended up making 9 dollars an hour in the criminal career.

Didn’t stop Mammon from buying that solid gold bathroom set from Get Famous... a box with solid gold bathrooms.

His Sim is broke send help-

“Leviiiiiii my sim needs money... the people my sim kidnapped and is forcing to paint aren’t making enough money...” “Ugh... press control shift C and type ‘motherlode’.”

...Levi made a mistake.

“FUCK YEAH! MOTHERLODE!”

His sim’s life is so chaotic, he has a piranha pool that his sim has almost died in twice, the sim is carrying on several torrid love affairs, his sim got struck by lightning, his sim has nearly died in a grilled cheese making accident twice... in the same day.

At least once Sim-Mammon and Sim-MC get married things calm down a little.

Mammon finds out what custom content is and proceeds to download EVERYTHING HE CAN FIND.

And now he’s asking Levi why his computer is running so slow.

Expansion Pack King (Leviathan)

He got into it back when the Sims 2 was new, he’s a veteran fan.

“Bro remember when Agnes Crumplebottom would show up and whack the shit out of your sims if they were flirting?”

“Remember when that witch would show up randomly on the lot you were on if you had Makin’ Magic?”

“Remember when Bella Goth was abducted by aliens and we just... didn’t question it?”

He whines about the Sims4 and how crappy it is but still buys every expansion pack, game pack, and stuff pack.

This boy watches like 40 hours of built tutorials and ends up sobbing over his weird roofs.

“WHY DOESN’T IT LOOK AS NICE AS THE ONE I’M LOOKING AT?! THIS ISN’T FAIR!”

The mod folder is so full istg-

Levi gets custom content for the sole purpose of making his favourite fictional characters.

This is why Henry and the Lord of Shadows are married and Ruri-chan and Sim-Levi are roommates.

Oh my god they were roommates-

Levi also added his brothers to the world and uh... Sim-Mammon died in a tragic pool accident F.

Levi then proceeded to befriend the Grim Reaper.

He’s anxiously awaiting the release of Paralives.

Wait Gameplay? In This Build Simulator? (Satan)

Satan’s here to build and leave. Gameplay who?

Our favourite bundle of rage is a master architect and the amount of followers on the Gallery he has shows it.

He takes up those build shell challenges and always ends up making them look positively perfect.

Asmo’s always using his houses, and Satan often takes requests when he gets bored.

No Mammon, he reserves the right to refuse to build a golden castle for you- YOUR SIM HAS 40 SIMOLEONS-

No mods, no CC, he’s building with what EA gave him.

...and EA gave him debug objects, and he’s not going to explain how to get them.

The one time he did actually play with a family... it was one sim and seven cats.

He tries to play without cheats... and ends up getting frustrated and turns on cheats.

All hail the Pets Expansion Pack.

Custom Content Soap Opera (Asmodeus)

Asmo spends 5 hours in Create a Sim then just... clicks out of the game.

That’s how it goes most of the time, buuuuuut when he gets super invested in a family he’s made, boy howdy is he INVESTED.

Sim A is carrying on an affair with Sim C who’s in love with Sim B who’s married to Sim A but Sim D wants to kill Sim A and C even though they’re the illegitimate child of Sim C-

When Asmo realizes that in the Sims 4 he needs to manufacture all the drama himself and he can’t just sit back with a glass of wine and watch the fireworks, he switches to the Sims 2 and 3.

“...why is this old lady beating up my Sim..?”

He immediately recoils in horror upon seeing how ugly the Sims are pre Sims4.

HE NEEDS TO FIX THIS-

Ah, there we go, perfect. Custom Content to the rescue!

He ends up remaking the entire world just so he doesn’t have to look at weird looking Sims.

Asmo is the only one to have finished a proper Legacy Challenge, but it gets crazy chaotic after gen 3.

“My sim just got abducted by aliens and now he’s pregnant- WHAT?!”

He has about 40 saves and only two he actually plays.

Just a Big Ol’ Happy Family (Beelzebub)

Beel found the game, proceeded to make everyone in create-a-sim to the best of his abilities, and made everyone get along.

That’s why Sim-Lucifer and Sim-Belphie are on a swing set together, they’re friends :D

“Hey Luke do you think you can make this?” “I-is that a cake shaped like a hamburger?” “Yes. Please make.”

He took one look at the cooking options and decided to max out his Sim’s cooking skill to unlock all the options.

Beel proceeded to drool all over his keyboard. Gross...

Boy howdy did he have some crazy dinner suggestions!

Overall, very wholesome Sim-life, except for the time Sim-Levi died because the toilet caught fire, don’t worry, Sim-Beel knows how to make ambrosia.

All is good in the Sim save...

...until Sim-Beel ate pufferfish nigiri and fuckin died-

Wait Did I Not Pause- (Belphie)

Huh, this game looks fine... I’ll play for a little- *SNORE*

Belphie makes some sims, plops them into a starter home, plays for an hour, then falls asleep.

He wakes up five hours later to absolute carnage.

Three sims have died because someone decided to make Mac and Cheese and the oven caught fire, the kids were taken away by social services, and the dog ran away.

“...heheh, holy shit everyone look.”

He doesn’t play often, but when he does, death occurs. He has found out every death method for every game from Sims 2 to 4.

And that INCLUDES the Sims Medieval! You guys remember that game?

Sometimes it’s not intentional, but Belphie got bored with the totally normal life his sims were living and decided to spice it up.

“Why are the ghosts breaking my showers..?”

Help There’s a Bug- (Diavolo)

The Crown Prince started playing when he noticed Lucifer was playing it.

He was immediately obsessed.

Dia mostly plays the Sims Medieval because he likes the feeling of achievement after completing a quest!

“Barbatos... why isn’t my Sim completing their task? The icon won’t show up.” “My lord it appears the game is bugged.” “:(“

No one thought to tell Diavolo that EA doesn’t plan on offering bug support to a game made in like... 2009

This doesn’t matter! Look at how great his kingdom is doing- oh no his hero has the plague-

He plays through the Pirates and Nobles expansion and manages to get the peaceful ending, he’s so proud of himself.

“MC! Look! My Monarch’s sword is permanently on fire and I’m fighting an evil wizard!”

When he does play the other Sims games he’s pretty basic, though, he does a great job at furnishing!

Dia gets crazy sad when his Sims die... he turns off aging.

Builder no. 2 (Barbatos)

Barbie doesn’t have time for this... but when he does, he builds.

No create a sim.

No playing the game as intended.

Just builds.

It’s relaxing, okay? A nice little suburban house he’s never going to play in, maybe a treehouse, maybe a big Hollywood Mansion...

The only time he actually plays the game outside of build mode is when someone needs his help to fix something in-game.

He does download custom content build items if he feels bored by the current selection.

Oh Crap What Am I Doing?! (Simeon)

Help him. Please.

He’s so confused.

“Luke, why is my sim upset?” “He’s hungry, Simeon.” “Oh, how do I fix that?” “...Simeon-”

There’s a toilet in the middle of the living room.

The fridge is facing the wall.

There’s no bathtub or shower.

The house is on fire- there is no god- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Okay, once he gets the hang of it he’s sitting pretty. His sims have good jobs, the kids are getting good grades, everything’s fine.

...

But Simeon won’t forget the nightmares.

What Even is This Save? (Solomon)

Solomon’s save is the definition of chaos.

One sim’s a vampire, the other is a spellcaster that really wants to fight the Callientes for some reason, there’s one normal sim that’s always sick for some reason,

It gets weird, confusing, and horrible.

Just how Solomon likes it.

His house makes no sense, like, what even is architecture?

Money cheats are needed because Solomon‘a goal of chaos and confusion is proving to be kind of expensive.

Square up Mortimer Goth, Solomon’s sims are here to steal your weird knight statue that’s worth a shit ton of simoleons for NO REASON.

He joined the scientist career for the sole purpose of getting to the alien planet and kidnapping adding an alien to the household via cheats.

The vampire ended up dying on their wedding day because Solomon forgot that he gave them the sun weakness.

Oh well, the ghost got added to the household! VAMPIRE GHOST!

The Child (Luke)

Before you say Luke’s too young to play the Sims, you should know that I was nine when I first started playing, and I turned out fiiiiiiiiiine.

He’s just happy to be playing.

Look, his sims are gardening :D

Look, two of them are getting married :D

Look, they had a baby :D

Look, his sims are building a rocket ship :D

Look, his sims’s rocket just crashed-

The concept of death hit the little angel right in the face that day.

“*sniffle*... my sims...”

Don’t worry, with tears in his eyes, Luke quit without saving and everything was fine!

Speaking of My Sims, Luke played MySims Sky Heroes and that was when Luke had his first bout of gamer rage.

MC came over to hang out with Solomon and Simeon, and in the distance they could just hear:

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY TIME WASN’T FAST ENOUGH TO CONTINUE THE STORY!? I’LL SHOW YOU FAST ENOUGH TIME!”

Okay, maybe Simeon should take the game away... just for a bit... he should take heed not to be bitten by the incredibly angry chihuahua.

Bonus:

MC: Why are our Sims married?

*Insert Boy Here*: Uh... that’s weird... I have no clue why they’re doing that...

#Obey me #obey me headcanons #Obey me! #obey me! shall we date? #obey me! headcanons #obey me shall we date #Obey me Lucifer #Obey me Mammon #obey me leviathan #Obey me Satan #Obey me Asmodeus #Obey me Beelzebub #Obey me Belphegor #Obey me Diavolo #Obey me MC #obey me barbatos #Obey me Simeon #Obey me Luke #Obey me Solomon

[pokemoncreepypasta]

My Shining Star

[STORY SOURCE]

Up until some recent events, I used to be an aspiring shiny hunter. Technically I was pretty good at it, too, at least by encounter standards. But even though I was great at finding my fair share of shiny Pokémon , I’ve never been able to keep any of them.

The first one of these shiny Pokémon I found was by a random encounter. I’d gotten lost in Rock Tunnel after forgetting to bring Flash, and spent so long in there that I ran out of Repels. Just as I was giving up hope that I’d be able to escape on my first run, she appeared.

I knew about shiny Pokémon, but hadn't ever thought I'd encounter one of my own in the wild. I was unprepared, and after a moment of staring in surreal wonder, I concentrated on figuring out how to catch her with my limited supplies. Thankfully it wasn't very hard, and soon I had my first legit shiny.

I normally wasn't creative with naming my Pokémon, but I wanted her to have a special name. I asked my mom for help, and she suggested "Star." I liked it, but the name itself seemed short and boring, so I added a couple stars to the ends to give her name a little flair.

I was beyond excited to put my first shiny into my team, and plowed through the rest of the cave. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, and I had to get out to the nearest PC, because I knew a shiny baby Cubone was waiting for me to adopt her.

I quickly fell in love with the little green dinosaur, and soon she was the shining star of my team. I used her more than my starter, and neglected the rest of my party a bit in the process, but still made it through the game alright. Setbacks didn't matter when I had a shiny.

Lots of time and multiple trips through the Elite Four later, I proudly turned ★Star★ into a level 100 Marowak. She was the first Pokémon I ever raised to level 100, and I couldn't have been prouder of her.

It had been a couple years, and I was starting to feel unsatisfied with just ★Star★. I was itching for more, and felt like I probably should have found some other random encounters by now, with all the time I'd spent playing.

Feeling inspired by all the shiny hunter videos I'd been binging on YouTube, I decided to start taking up shiny hunting. I was feeling ambitious, and decided to go straight to hunting for a shiny legendary Pokémon. I was a weird player who didn't really bother going after the birds or Mewtwo in my HeartGold, since I planned on transferring up my legends from my LeafGreen. I decided to rework ★Star★'s moveset for capturing legendary Pokémon.

The moveset I settled on was Bonemerang, False Swipe, Stone Edge, and Swords Dance. I decided to keep her moveset mostly offensive because she was still a member of my team, and not just a shiny-catcher. I planned on replacing False Swipe with Aerial Ace at some point, but I never got the chance to.

I decided to pick Mewtwo as my target. Lots of people find green shiny Pokémon overbearing and unattractive, but ★Star★ made me fond of them. Plush, Mewtwo was awesome, and I thought the two of them would look great together.

I spoke to ★Star★ aloud, saying, "Are you ready to do some shiny hunting, ★Star★?"

"★Star★ let out a roar!"

I thought she was just as enthusiastic as me.

I made it to Mewtwo, saved my game, and started the tedious process of soft resetting.

I’ll spare the details of how long it took, but eventually I came across the sparkling green Mewtwo.

I led with my team's Ampharos to paralyze it, and switched to ★Star★.

I remember being very lucky with this fight at first, with Mewtwo being fully paralyzed every turn.

I used Swords Dance to fully buff ★Star★'s attack stat so False Swipe would do as much damage as possible.

But even though I swore that I had chosen to use False Swipe, ★Star★ proceeded to use Bonemerang.

Shocked, confused and distressed, I watched as ★Star★ mercilessly beat the shiny Mewtwo down, knocking it out in one hit with her increased stats.

I felt crushed and dejected as I went back to the overworld. I blamed myself, thinking I had misclicked the wrong move and killed the Mewtwo myself. In my wave of disbelief, I absentmindedly talked to ★Star★.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I decided to go back to square one and start over.

A dozen thousand resets later, I saw it sparkle again and I was shaking with anticipation. Part of me felt twitchy and paranoid, like I should have used my Master Ball right away.

I decided against it because I wanted to hunt the birds later, but decided that if the Mewtwo seemed like it would run low on moves, then I'd use it as a last resort.

I probably should have listened to my guts though, because the same thing happened all over again. I knew for certain this time that I had chosen False Swipe, but the game purposefully made ★Star★ use Bonemerang. I saw it completely clear.

After seeing the Mewtwo go down a second time, I just cursed and slammed my desk a bit. I glared accusingly at my Marowak.

I decided to put my shiny hunting on hold. I used an Escape Rope to leave, and decided to place ★Star★ in the PC, quarantining her in an empty box for a time-out.

As I dejectedly hunted for a third time, I thought to myself what was wrong with my game. I wondered if it was just glitchy, or if I was misinterpreting the situation. I decided to convince myself that it was a mistake on the game's part; otherwise I wouldn't have been able to handle killing the Mewtwo twice in a row.

Finally, it sparkled one last time. I decided not to screw around while reclaiming this shiny. I had hunted it twice before, and decided to just use the Master Ball on it.

I had earned this.

After the initial rush of finally obtaining the shiny, I decided not to nickname it until I thought of something good, and watched as it got sent to the PC. I excitedly saved my game, and made my way out of the cave and to the nearest Pokémon Center.

But when I got there, the Mewtwo wasn't anywhere to be seen.

I shouted curses in confusion as I scrolled through every box in a state of denial. Where did it go, what could I have possibly done? I thought of all the ways I couldn't possibly messed up, did I have an evil hacked Pokémon from the GTS that deleted it, was this actually a bootleg game and Nintendo's anti-piracy revenge was to delete my legendary?

After a few minutes of searching, I gave up. My Mewtwo was gone.

I scrolled back to ★Star★'s isolated box and looked at my only green shiny in mourning. Obviously it wasn't something wrong with just her, but the game itself. In a game as glitchy as this, I was seriously worried that I might lose her, too.

After looking at her for a bit, it seemed like she might've been looking at me? I wasn't sure if she was supposed to do that, but in a game that was acting up like this, I didn't doubt it.

I took her out of the PC and put her at the front of my party to talk to her, to see if anything else was up.

"★Star★ nodded slowly."

She only did more random friendly things after that. Quite chipper for someone whose life might be threatened, I thought.

I decided to trade her over to Platinum for safe keeping. I wasn't sure what to do about the rest of my Pokémon on HeartGold, but ★Star★ was the most important one to me right now.

As I traded her over, I noticed that her eyes were red now, instead of the green I was just looking at. I was off-put by this inconsistency, especially with the recent events surrounding her. I forced myself to brush it off, however, notice I could do about it.

Even though I had an unfortunate experience with my HeartGold, my thirst for more shinies still persisted. Maybe it was the fact I had lost my shiny three times that I really had to fill the void, now.  A couple weeks later, I found out about a method of shiny hunting called chaining, and wanted to try it out. I felt a little more at ease, since if you accidentally killed a shiny with this method, the chain wouldn't break, and you could keep going. Plus, Platinum should've been fine.

I chose Route 208, as it had a good selection of Pokémon for me to choose from. I wasn't picky, so I just started chaining whatever Pokémon I liked until I got a decent chain. I heard that the shiny odds max out at a chain of 40, so after that you can just keep resetting the radar until the grass sparkles.

I landed on Roselia, and sent out my shining star Marowak.

I started with False Swipe, since I wouldn't need to buff up ★Star★ for a LV. 19 Pokémon.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

Oh no.

I panicked as memories of the last incident came flooding back, and how it had started out with her disobeying. Not giving her a chance to kill it, I frantically switched to the items menu to start throwing PokéBalls instead.

(Name omitted for personal reasons.)

I had plenty of them, so I stared throwing Ultra Balls, since they had the highest odds. At least one of these would probably work.

" blocked the Ball!"

"Don't     !"

I tried throwing one, but it failed, as if I tried using it on a trainer's Pokémon.

I had no idea what in the world was going on, what could be stopping me from catching a wild Pokémon? Was my Platinum glitched out too? Was I cursed??

I tried using different balls, but nothing would work.

Eventually, I ran out of PokéBalls to throw. I'd failed the shiny.

Frustrated, but not enough to kill the Roselia, I fled the battle.

I had no idea what to do after that, and was exasperated. I wanted to berate myself, and that I should've tried test catching a normal Pokémon in Platinum first to make sure it was going to work okay. But really, how was I supposed to know that was going to happen? And always, conveniently when I was in the middle of hunting a shiny. I thought of berated my parents instead, if they had bought all my Pokémon games for me on eBay.

Was it really my games, thought? I don't even know if you can trade Pokémon from fake games. Was it my DS could it have been hacked? Can you even bootleg a DS? I tried going to the Internet for answers, and read some Reddit and random Pokémon forum posts about glitches and bootlegs for an hour, but gave up without finding a real conclusion.

So, I'd given up hunting for some time. But, I hadn't gotten tired of Pokémon. I bought Black for myself, and played through the story just fine.

I found out you could get a Shiny Charm if you completed the Pokédex. That made me excited, until I remembered my past luck. Was it worth trying again?

Shortly after transferring up all my Pokémon, I decided, yes. It was. I went for the hatching method this time, since the Pokémon ends up right in your party afterwards- no catching, no PC transfer. It would be my final test, and if THIS didn't work, I would officially give up on ever getting nice things.

Foreign Ditto in hand, I went to work. I went for a shiny Flygon, since they were one of the best looking, and it'd be a nice addition to my competitive team.

One long hunt and a really late night later, eyelids barely able to stay open, I saw it.

I'd never seen anything more beautiful.

Skipping the nickname, I rushed to immediately save my game, wasting no time. I checked my party to see my Trapinch was still there, and chalked it up as a success. I was an official shiny hunter now.

Since ★Star★ was level 100, I figured she could battle for my baby Trapinch until she could hold her own in battle. I only wanted to take her up a few levels, so I could personally train her afterwards. Just raising her immediately into a Flygon would be too soon.

I attached an Exp. Share to her, and started running around in the tall grass. After a little bit of grinding, my Trapinch made it up to level 8 before I accidentally stepped into the thick grass and triggered a wild double battle.

Knowing the wild Pokémon were too strong for the underleveled baby Trapinch, I wanted to flee, but I first noticed ★Star★'s sprite as it asked me what to do.

The end of her bone facing the wild Pokémon was no longer symmetrical, being sharpened at the end of it. I'd seen her sprite enough times to know it wasn't supposed to look like this.

I tried to flee, but it failed.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

"The wild Pidove is watching carefully!" 

"The wild Patrat is watching carefully!" 

"Trapinch is watching carefully!" 

★Star★ had started using moves on her own. Stunned, I tried to switch out.

"★Star★ can't be switched out!"

Giving up, I told ★Star★ to use Stone Edge on the Pidove, and told the Trapinch to use Bite on Patrat.

"★Star★ ignored orders!" 

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

I gasped as she struck my Trapinch instead.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

As soon as I read that text, it hit me. This wasn't any ordinary friendly fire.

"Trapinch fainted!"

It finally allowed me to run, so I immediately tapped the button and rushed to my party to see the damage.

My Trapinch was gone.

I tried resetting to bring her back, but it was hopeless. My shiny new baby had been murdered.

Connecting all the dots in my head, I realized the reason I'd failed every encounter was because of ★Star★.

My grief and fear quickly turned into outrage. I couldn't believe she'd done this to me. She'd made me suffer hunt after hunt, just to take every shiny away from me.

This was the source of my games acting strange, and I knew there was only one way to correct it.

Feeling rash, I rushed over to the PC and hovered over the "Release" option for a few minutes.

"★Star★ was released."

It hurt to let her go, but I didn't want my game behaving strangely with her around.

"★Star★ came back!"

"★Star★ will never leave you."

But she refused.

Resorting to desperate measures, I did the only other thing I could think of.

I traded the stubborn Marowak over to my nearly empty White version that I never got around to playing, and deleted the save file.

"Deleting all saved data... Don’t turn off the power."

"★Star★ will n"

Sayonara, ★Star★.

After deleting the save file, I thought things would start working like they should. Sometimes, I'd replay other Pokémon games just for the fun of it, hoping I'd find other shiny Pokémon with ★Star★ gone.

Almost comically, I somehow thought it would be a good idea to go full circle and try hunting on HeartGold for a shiny starter. I had heard from other shiny hunters that it was an easy hunt, and it was, only taking a few days.

I affectionately named him "Chico."

My first step into the tall grass, and...

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I had never been so unhappy to see a shiny.

I guess she's been out in the wild all these months. And looking at her sprite, I can only wonder what she's been up to. I wonder how she feels to see me again?

Oh, no.

“Can’t escape!”

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

"Chico fainted!"

Of course, Chico was no match.

The game froze after I blacked out.

I figure it was because ★Star★ killed my only Pokémon.

"The save file is corrupted. The previous save file will be loaded."

My save file, corrupted with the loss of my starter's data, brought me back right to this spot that I was all too familiar with. Through frustrated tears, I begrudgingly went to pick a normal starter so I could play the game normally.

“I dare you to love again.”

And I’ve never found a shiny since.

#Pokepasta #Pokemon Creepypasta #Marowak #My Shining Star

[paralleljulieverse]

‘Gentlemen like you are few...’: A Supercentenary Tribute to Irwin Kostal

1 October 2021 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Irwin Kostal, the musical arranger, orchestrator and conductor whose work helped shape the sound of the post-war American stage and screen musical. In this post we look back at the career of this remarkable 'music man’ with a particular focus on his collaborations with the equally remarkable Julie Andrews -- who, as it happens, shares the same birthday, so this post is doing double birthday honours.

A gentle, unassuming man, Kostal or ‘Irv’ as he was known by associates, was not one for the limelight. It’s possibly why he gravitated to the ‘behind-the-scenes’ art of musical arranging. Unlike composers, performers, or even conductors, arrangers seldom loom large in public perceptions of professional musicianship. They are, for the most part, the ‘invisible artists’ of the music industry: their contributions to the sound and experience of music are immense, but they remain largely ‘uncredited in records, liner notes or books or records’ (Niles 2104, p. 4). That Irwin Kostal would ultimately prove a rare exception to this tradition of thankless anonymity -- becoming sufficiently well-known to have his own name not only included on recordings, but emblazoned on the front cover alongside those of the ‘star’ vocalists with whom he worked -- is a testament to the singularity of his talents. 

Born the son of first generation immigrant parents in Chicago in 1911, Kostal claimed he was instantly ‘smitten’ by music when he saw a piano at the age of two-and-a-half, but his family was too poor to afford such luxuries. Moreover, his father -- a hard-drinking Czech with a fiery temper -- was ‘rigidly opposed’ to his interests in music and ‘could see no future in it’ (’Irwin’ 1962, p. 70). So Kostal initially had to content himself with listening and absorbing as much musical knowledge as he could indirectly. When he was eleven, his father finally brought home a broken player piano salvaged from a removals job and it provided the young Kostal with the launch pad he needed. 

Kostal devoted himself to his musical education with single-minded zeal. His formal training was intermittent -- enabled by a supportive mother who ‘surreptitiously managed to save money from her weekly allowance for my musical instruction’ (’Irwin’ 1962, p. 70) -- but he was a passionate autodidact who would spend countless hours studying and practising on his own. By age 15, he was already playing professionally with local touring bands, while also offering his own services as a piano teacher with, at one point, more than 40 pupils (ibid.).

When he wasn’t playing, Kostal would be found in the local library poring over musical scores and reading about the greats of the classical canon. He was particularly intrigued by orchestration and the possibilities it offered for varying the sound and feel of music. He recalls how he would take orchestral scores home and study all the parts learning ‘about musical instruments I never knew existed’ (Suskin 2009, p. 56).  He progressively worked his way through the music of the masters, going alphabetically: 

‘Bach...Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Elgar, Frank, Gounod, on and on through the alphabet...I tried to absorb everything. By the time I came to Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Wagner, I knew quite a lot about music in a jumbled way’ (Suskin 2009, p. 57).

While still in his teens, Kostal started to experiment with arrangements of his own, scoring a high school production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin with multiple variations on the American folk melody ‘Way Down upon the Swanee River’. ‘By taking away the rhythmic aspects and playing it in a minor key,’ he recounts, ‘I found lots of ways to play this song, making it fit the dramatics of the half-hour long story’ (ibid., p. 56). Thus, Irwin Kostal the arranger was born.

Throughout the 1930s and early-40s, Kostal honed his talents in a professional capacity, working with various big bands, before finally landing a job as a resident arranger for an NBC radio affiliate in Chicago. Following the war, Kostal moved to New York where, after a rocky start, he secured regular work as conductor and arranger on a number of long-running radio and TV variety shows including Your Show of Shows (1950-54), Max Liebman Presents (1954-56), and The Garry Moore Show (1959-63). It was demanding, fast-paced work with Kostal having to arrange and orchestrate hundreds of score pages a week, but it consolidated his musical versatility and capacity to work across a wide range of styles and forms (Suskin 2009, pp. 57-60).

Throughout this period, Kostal was also orchestrating for Broadway shows, racking up over 52 credits on theatre productions big and small (Allen 1995, p. 18). Many of these assignments were done in a ‘ghost-writer’ capacity including contributing work to such classic musicals as Wonderful Town (1953), The Pajama Game (1953) and Silk Stockings (1955). A major breakthrough came when Kostal was contracted to work in a credited capacity as co-orchestrator on the original Broadway production of West Side Story (1958) -- collaborating with Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Sid Ramin. It earned him his first Grammy Award and a subsequent invitation to arrange and orchestrate a string of other big Broadway musicals including Fiorello! (1959), Sail Away (1961) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962).

The success of West Side Story also saw Kostal do repeat honours on the film version (1961) which would, in turn, earn him an Academy Award and kickstart a hugely successful Hollywood career. In 1963, Kostal was invited by none other than Walt Disney to take on the major job of arranging the songs for Mary Poppins (1964) which had been written by the in-house Disney composing team of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman. The Sherman Brothers claim to have suggested Kostal because they were fans of his Broadway work and they wanted a bright theatrical sound for the score. However, Walt Disney demurred. He reasoned it was a period film and they needed someone who could write music for any style or era, suggesting they get the musical director from The Garry Moore Show instead. Cue mutual delight when it was discovered they were all referring to the same man, Irwin Kostal (Sherman & Sherman 1998; Suskin 2009, p. 65).

Kostal’s work on Mary Poppins catapulted him to new heights of mainstream success. It not only secured him another Academy Award nomination -- he lost to Andre Previn for his work on My Fair Lady -- but it also brought him a tidy fortune in royalties from the film’s best-selling soundtrack album (’Kostal’s’ $65,000′, 57). His fame -- and fortune -- skyrocketed even further the following year when Kostal was contracted to arrange the score for The Sound of Music (1965). His dazzling efforts on this box-office blockbuster confirmed Kostal’s status as Hollywood’s presiding musical wonder-boy and saw him walk home with his second Oscar. A string of other big screen musicals followed including Half a Sixpence (1967), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). 

Many of these films were repeat collaborations because Kostal favoured working with people he knew and with whom he clicked personally and creatively. He would for example continue as the de facto ‘house’ arranger for Disney well into the 1980s, working on various assignments for the studio including Pete’s Dragon (1978), Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) and the controversial re-recorded 1982 release of Fantasia (1940/1982) (Tietyan 1990). Kostal would also maintain a long association with the Sherman Brothers, acting as musical arranger for all their big screen musicals including the aforementioned Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), as well as Tom Sawyer (1973); Charlotte’s Web (1973); and The Magic of Lassie (1978) (Sherman & Sherman 1998).

The other great collaboration of Kostal’s career was of course with Julie Andrews. Perhaps it was the fact that the pair shared the same birthday but Kostal had an extraordinarily sympathetic relationship with Julie and he would work with her more than any other vocalist. Long before they teamed on Poppins and The Sound of Music, Julie and ‘Irv’ were making musical magic together. Kostal was the arranger and conductor for Julie’s first two solo albums for RCA: The Lass with the Delicate Air (1957) and Julie Andrews Sings (1958) where his sensitive facility with a wide range of musical idioms from English classical to Broadway and Tin Pan Alley came to the fore. Reviewing the first of these albums at the time of its original release, one music critic lauded it as ‘a record to charm every member of the family...[with] a combination of sincerity and simplicity and wholesome sweetness...Thank goodness arranger and conductor Irwin Kostal met the challenge and set the ballads winningly without overpowering Miss Andrews’ light pure tones’ (RRS 1958, p. 5A). In a similar vein, another reviewer praised the second album for ‘its charming unforced version of standards, well known and almost forgotten...Miss Andrews still sings naturally and purely [and] the deft accompaniments played by an orchestra under Irwin Kostal are agreeably restrained’ (Masters 1959, p. 11).

In this early period Kostal also worked with Julie as guest star on several episodes of The Garry Moore Show, where he was resident musical director. In this context, Kostal was pivotal in helping establish the legendary teaming of Julie and Carol Burnett which came out of the Garry Moore appearances. He would go on to act as musical director for their breakout 1962 TV special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall which would earn Kostal his first Emmy (Taraborelli 1988, pp. 172-79). He would secure his second Emmy a few years later working with Julie again on the 1965 variety special, The Julie Andrews Show (1965) where, among other highlights, Kostal scored a series of stellar song-and-dance medleys for Julie and guest star Gene Kelly. The same year, Kostal teamed up with Julie on yet another recording with the 1965 edition of the annual Firestone Christmas albums. 

It was however their combined work on the two big musical mega-hits, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, that secured the Kostal-Andrews partnership a place in the history books. A cultural phenomenon of the highest order, the soundtrack recordings for these two films remain among the most successful albums of all time. Mary Poppins held the #1 spot on the US national music charts for 14 consecutive weeks in 1964, beating out Elvis Presley and The Beatles (Hollis and Erhbar 2006, pp.72ff). The album for The Sound of Music sold over 9 million copies in its first four years of release alone, remaining in the Billboard Top 100 for an unbelievable five-and-a-half years, and becoming the highest selling LP of all-time in the US up to that date (Murrells, 1978)  The Sound of Music continued its record-breaking run abroad, dominating the international charts and holding the #1 spot for 75 weeks in Australia, 73 weeks in Norway and 70 weeks in the UK, becoming in the process the single biggest selling album worldwide of the 1960s (Harker, 1992, pp. 189-91).

Commentators have frequently singled out the combination of Julie Andrews’ soaring vocals and Kostal’s dynamic arrangements as instrumental to the phenomenal success of these two albums. ‘Miss Andrews glows--positively glows--right through the record groove, vinyl disc, amplifiers, speakers, and all other mechanical barriers,’ enthused one contemporary reviewer of the Mary Poppins soundtrack, noting how the ‘songs that Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman have written’ and ‘the handsome arrangements by Irwin Kostal have the perfect balance ‘of lilt and flair to provide Miss Andrews with an effective working basis’ (Wilson 1965, p. 109). Apropos The Sound of Music, another critic pronounced it ‘as good a reproduction of a score as has ever been made’, noting how it ‘presents Julie in a most appealing role and given the splendid musical direction of Irwin Kostal, her talent comes shining through...as a treat beyond measure’ (Moore 1965, p. B6). 

In total, Julie Andrews and Irwin Kostal would work together on six recordings, two musical motion pictures, two television specials, and a host of other TV appearances representing some of the very best of Julie’s musical work during her heyday of the 1960s. Considered alongside the wealth of Kostal’s other work across film, stage, television and recording, it’s hard not to concur with Disney’s Nelson Meecham who, on the occasion of Kostal’s passing in 1994, eulogised: ‘He brought the joy of music to more people than it is possible to count’ (Allen, p. 19).

Sources:

Allen, John F 1995. ‘Remembering a Music Man: On the life and work of Irwin Kostal.’ Boxoffice. August: pp. 18-19.

Harker, Dave 1992. ‘Still Crazy After All These Years: What was popular music in the 1960s?” Cultural Revolution? The challenge of the arts in the 1960s. Bart Moore-Gilbert and John Seed, eds. Routledge, London and New York: pp. 186-200.

Hollis, Tim and Erhbar, Greg 2006. Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

‘Irwin Kostal: Music in all its many forms is his life.’ (1962). The Province. 2 June: p. 70.

’Kostal’s’ $65,000 Poppins Score’ 1965. Variety. 10 March: p. 57

Levy, Charles 1964. Mary Poppins: About the stars and photo-story features [Press kit]. Buena Vista Distribution, New York. 

Masters, John 1959. ‘Off the Record: Enchanting Music.’ The Age. 7 January: p. 11.

Moore, Robert 1965. ‘Record Turntable: Julie Andrews out in front again in film album of”Sound of Music”.’ The Arizona Daily Star. 7 March: p. B6.

Murrells, Joseph, ed. 1978. Book of Golden Discs: Records that sold a million. Barrie & Jenkins, New York.

Niles, Richard 2014. The Invisible Artist: Arrangers in popular music (1950-2000). BMI, London.

Oliver, Myrna. 1994. ‘Obituaries: Irwin Kostal; Film, TV Orchestrator.’ The Los Angeles Times. 1 December: P. B8.

RRS 1958. ‘On the Record: ‘Lass with the Delicate Air.’ Bristol Herald Courier. 9 February: p. 5A.

Sherman, Robert B &  Sherman, Richard M 1998. Walt's Time: From before to beyond. Camphor Tree, Santa Clarita, CA.

Suskin, Steven 2009. The Sound of Broadway Music: A book of orchestrators and orchestrations, Oxford University Press, New York.

Taraborelli, J. Randy 1988. Laughing Till It Hurts: The complete life and career of Carol Burnett. William Morrow & Co, New York.

Tietyan, David 1990. The Musical World of Walt Disney. H. Leonard, Milwaukee, Wis. 

Wilson, John S. 1965. ‘The Lighter Side’. High Fidelity Magazine. 15: 4: pp. 107-111.

© 2021, Brett Farmer. All Rights Reserved.

#julie andrews #irwin kostal #musicals #classic film #the sound of music #mary poppins #Disney #Sherman Brothers

[djarinslover]

Countdown

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​! I hope you like this Secret Santa Max Phillips fic. He might be a little OOC because I wasn’t sure how exactly to write him. Just imagine he’s still an ass, just not an ass to you 🥰

Everyone has a soulmate. On a person's 21st birthday, a timer appears on their wrist. This timer counts down the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds until you come in contact with the soulmate. The timer then disappears forever. It fills everyone with anxiety, because who wants to count down the exact time they’re going to meet the love of their life?

01:00:17

That was currently the time on your wrist. It made anxiety and giddiness spin in your stomach. You were so excited to finally be with your destined person and you couldn’t wait until they showed up.

You were hosting a New Year party at your apartment, sipping on a mocktail drink. You were also cheering on Tim, a college friend, who was shotgunning the nastiest combination of beer, whiskey, vodka and strawberry soda. 

‘He’s gonna have the worst hangover tomorrow,’ you thought.

Xenia, your roommate, bounces over with her soulmate, Zabeth, in tow. “Hey, we’re gonna play Just Dance. Wanna join?” Her words were slurred and she stumbled slightly as Zabeth reached to steady her. 

You laugh, nodding. “Yeah, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“In your dreams!”

00:30:10

You were greeting Evan, Amanda and Frank at the door, letting them in.

“Sorry we’re so late,” Evan apologized. “Frank had to stop for more Redbulls.”

He points at the man chugging a Redbull, who gives you a thumbs up. You giggly, shaking your head. “It’s no problem. Still have a few more minutes until the new year.”

“Our boss, Max, is coming soon. We tried to be discreet about it but he has the hearing of an owl. I hope you don’t mind,” Amanda said.

“Not at all!”

You usher the group farther into the apartment, swiping your arm around to gesture at everything. “Please, help yourself. There’s plenty of drinks, snacks and games. I think Tim was just kicking Zabeth’s ass in Just Dance.”

“Oooh, sweet!” Frank bounces off towards the group of people watching the dance competition. 

Evan turns to help himself to a drink while you and Amanda talk.

“Soo, why is your boss coming?”

“Well, he heard about Tim talking about it, you know how loud he is. And Max decided he’d crash. He also said it just felt right, like he should be here.”

You frown, tilting your head. “Felt right? That’s odd.”

She nods in agreement, thanking Evan as he brings her champagne. You lead them to the balcony to talk without having to shout.

00:02:00

You were feeling so anxious you thought everything you had during the party was going to come right back up. It was two minutes to the new year and two minutes until your soulmate walked right through your door. Xenia popped over your shoulder, breath smelling of booze.

“Heyyy, you’re so close!” she slurred, grabbing your wrist.

“And you’re so drunk,” you laugh.

“Best way to party, babe.”

You roll your eyes as you nod, smiling. As everyone begins to crowd around the tv to watch the ball drop, you take a step outside for some fresh air. You needed a moment away from the sweaty, boozed up partiers. 

You look at your wrist quickly.

00:00:40

Your heart stops, the breath stolen from your lungs. Only forty seconds. You couldn’t wait. You look at the night sky, at the twinkling stars and glowing moon. You take the moment to savor the excitement you felt one last time. Everyone began to count down.

“10!”

You head back inside.

“9!”

Your timer was counting down as well.

“8! 7! 6!”

Your lip was caught between your teeth so hard, you were afraid it was going to bleed.

“5! 4! 3!”

The anticipation was killing you.

“1! Happy New Year!”

You were swept into a pair of arms. The person dipped you and pressed their lips against yours. You squeak, eyes wide and hands fisted in the person’s shirt collar. When the person pulled back, you saw the most handsome man you’d ever seen. He was grinning down at you, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Hello, darling. Sorry I was almost late.”

“You . . . are?”

“Max Phillips. The love of your life.”

Everything began to click into place. You felt so comfortable with this man, so warm and safe and cared for. You place a hand on his cheek, stroking it softly. You introduce yourself, not realizing everyone around you was staring. Max lifts you back up onto your feet and Xenia starts cheering. 

“I guess I put on one hell of a show,” Max said with a smug smirk.

You ignore everyone, pulling Max in the direction of your room. You pull him inside, locking the door behind the two of you. He crowds you against the wall, eyes dark and hazy.

“Moving pretty fast, aren’t we?” he asked. “Not that I mind. I want nothing more than to fuck you into your mattress.”

You flush deeply, cheeks hot and mouth dry. You shake your head, huffing out a laugh as you push him away gently. “No, Max. I’m not ready for that. I’d like to get to know you better. We have all our lives to make love.”

“Make love . . .” he muses over the wording, shredding his jacket. “Not what I would say it would be, but . . .”

Giggling, you gesture for him to turn around. With a raised eyebrow, he reluctantly turns to let you get into your night time clothes. You lay down in bed before letting him turn back around. He sheds his pants and shirt, leaving him in just his boxers. You blush but he strokes your face.

“I’m not going to do anything you don’t want.”

You smile, patting the empty space. He lies down, letting you curl into his arm and lay on his chest. He plays with your hair as the two of you just lay in silence.

“I do have something I need to tell you,” he said softly.

“Go ahead.”

“I’m a vampire.”

Silence rings loudly in the room. You don’t move for a while, just processing what you heard. Max was as still as a statue, not moving or breathing. You sit up slowly, shifting to look at him in the dim moonlight. 

“I’m sorry if that changes anything, if it makes you-”

You cup Max’s face gently, brushing a thumb over his bottom lip. “I don’t care if you’re a vampire or if you have one day left to live. You’re mine and I’ve been waiting too long for you.”

He seems to melt into your touch, reaching up to bring you down to his lips. He kisses you so softly, so passionately that you forget about anything else in the world. You completely forget about the party raging on in the apartment. The night was lost in the touch of your soulmate.

You wake up groggy and warm. Almost too warm. Your eyes open as you try to figure out why you felt so hot. As you roll over, a pair of arms tighten around your shoulder and waist. You come face to face with Max, who was sleeping peacefully. Right. You finally met your soulmate last night. You lightly touch his face, admiring his features. He’s the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen and you couldn’t believe he was all yours.

He stirs, eyes slowly opening to meet yours. A smile crosses his lips.

“Good morning, handsome,” you whisper as you stroke his hair.

He squeezes you closer to him, nosing down your neck and groans. “You smell so damn good in the morning.”

“Me or my blood?”

“Both.”

He nuzzles into your neck, making you giggle as the two of you just hold each other. You suddenly feel teeth at your neck, marking you up but never fully biting into you. You shove at him lightly, startling him.

“Sorry, got carried away.”

“Let’s talk about you drinking my blood after coffee.”

“Let’s talk about turning you, too,” he murmurs into your ear.

The thought of you being a vampire makes your heart rate kick up. Max kisses the top of your head, whispering, “Only if you want.”

Being together forever with your soulmate didn’t sound like much of a debate or a lose-lose situation. You snuggle further into his grip, brushing the thoughts aside. Those were a later morning talk. Right now, you just wanted to enjoy finally holding the person you’ve been waiting for.

#max phillips #max phillips x reader #max phillips fluff #pedros12daysofchristmas #bloodsucking bastards #soulmate au #soulmates

[justgillespie]

Missing (3/?)

Summary: Your next door neighbor, Luke Patterson (a.k.a. your longtime crush) has gone missing, and you think you could help finding him.

Word count: 2.9k

Warnings: None!

Author’s note: So the third part just needed to be edited and now here it is! When I said as soon as possible, I meant it lol xo

Part 4

•

“This better be good. I was in the middle of a game-.”

“I have news”

At last, you decided to call Max first.

“I have one of the band members’ phone number.” You added.

“What?! How?”

“My sister gave it to me. Long story. Should I call now?”

“Well, yes obviously!”

“Okay, okay I’m on it. I’ll call you later.”

You finally dialed the number and patiently waited.

“Hello?” You heard a male’s voice.

“Hello, um...” It wasn’t until that moment that you realized: you didn’t know who you were calling, exactly.

You decided to improvise.

“Is Alex home?”

“Alex?”

The confused voice made you panic.

“What about Reggie?”

The silence made you add “Bobby?”

“Sorry, wrong number.”

The man hung up before you could say anything else.

You groaned.

I’m gonna get so pissed if Tamra was playing with me, you thought, but you wanted to believe that that was not the case.

“What if Tamra wrote a wrong number?”

Max asked once you called him back and explained what happened.

“Don’t think so. She told me the guy gave it to her.”

“Maybe he wrote it wrong.”

“I don’t know.” You sighed. “I guess we’ll just call it a night. See you tomorrow.”

He said goodbye back and you hung up.

“So? How did it go?” Tamra asked from the couch, when you were heading to the kitchen.

“It was a wrong number. Were you just making fun of me?”

She scoffed. “I’m not that bored. No. That was the number he gave me. Maybe he changed it.”

“Thanks anyways.”

You went to grab a popsicle from the freezer and went to your room.

The only idea stuck on your head was to go to the Patterson’s. And you knew pretty well there wasn’t much they could give you. The other idea was to convince Max to stop being complicated and just ask people in his school about the band.

You would go for the second one. You rapidly came up with a plan, and the next morning, you were ready.

Max woke up pretty early for school because he took the school bus, around the corner.

That morning, you woke up thirty minutes earlier than usual (and before anyone else), got ready as fast as you could, and, in a blink, you were next to a sleepy Max in the bus stop.

“What the-? What are you doing here?” He asked once he saw you.

“Going to school. With you.”

“Are you asleep? You do know we don’t go to the same school, right?”

“Oh, I know.”

You faced the street in front of you, pretending to wait for the bus.

“First of all, I barely believe you will get away with getting into my school. And second of all, why would you want to go?”

“Because if you don’t wanna talk to your classmates about Luke, then I will.”

“You can’t be serious.” He said, just when the bus was turning the corner to their street.

“You better believe I am.”

The bus stopped in front of them and you decided to take a step ahead Max and get into the bus, but he stopped you on the steps.

“Y/N.” He said laughing nervously. “You can’t go to my school, that’s insane.”

“Kids, come on. I don’t have all day.” The bus driver said from his seat.

“Then talk to people! We can finish this as soon as possible if you at least try!” You talked despite the man’s warning.

“Oh my gosh! Why do you insist so much?!”

“Are you serious?! We’re talking about a missing person!”

“I’m leaving.” The bus driver said, and you took one more step before Max stopped you again.

“Fine. Fine! I’ll do it. Okay? Just, please stop this and go to YOUR school.”

You squealed and hugged him, and you finally left after thanking him.

Your heart was still racing even after you silently entered your house from the backdoor and you rested against it. You sighed, a laugh in between. You did not know what would have you done if your plan didn’t work. Maybe you were trusting Max too much. He could’ve just said he would do it for you to leave the bus.

But your optimistic self didn’t mind that thought.

You went back to your room, and as soon as you lied back down on your bed, your usual alarm went off. You stopped it. You were ready anyways, so a little bit more of sleep didn’t harm anyone.

Except yourself.

You fell asleep and you didn’t hear your parents calling you until your mom went up to wake you up.

“Y/N-.”

You snapped your eyes open.

“I’m so sorry! I’m going downstairs now, I’m all dressed, I-.”

“You’re not going. Your sister already left.”

You checked your alarm clock. It was 7:57. You always left at 7:40.

“I can’t believe her sometimes. I told her to come call you. It was weird you were still asleep.” Your mom rubbed her temples. Then, she looked back at you. “Your dad and I are going to work now. You’ll stay here, okay? And go to the Pattersons’ for lunch. I’ll call Emily.”

“Mom, I can cook for myself.” If calling Nito’s Pizzeria counted as cooking. “You don’t have to bother Mrs. Patterson.”

“You’re going.” She demanded. “I’ll see you later, okay? Take care.”

She kissed your forehead and left the room.

Well, you had a lot of free time now.

You smiled. This was good. You could continue your investigation.

You got up ready to get started but then you realized. You didn’t know what to do. You still counted on Max to get the important information. And unlike you, he did go to school. You had plenty of time before he came back.

You lied back down on your bed, looking at the ceiling.

You were going to the Pattersons’ house.

You knew you weren’t gonna get out of there with much information but, maybe there will be something...

You got up and opened your window.

Luke’s room was the same as the last time you checked it. Which was last night. Now, it was neat. You figured Mrs. Patterson must have cleaned it.

You focused on the Sunset Curve poster. Why was it so hard to find any of them? If only you could see his room a little closer, maybe you could find something there that could help you.

His room.

A smile slowly appeard on your face.

You were going to Luke’s house today. Maybe you could ask Mrs. Patterson to check his room...

You shook your head. That was something weird to ask. Even if you had good intentions. At least you had the first step done, which was going to his house.

You decided to show up earlier than expected, hoping Mrs. Patterson didn’t mind.

“Oh, hi, sweetie!” Emily said when she opened her door. She was clearly surprised.

She looked tired, but still managed to have a smile on her face.

“Good morning, Mrs. Patterson. I hope it’s okay I come earlier than my mom told you I would”

It was just 8:30. You weren’t supposed to be there until four hours later.

“Oh, no, it’s totally fine! It’s nice to have some company. Come in.” She motioned for you to get into the house and so you did.

You looked around, curious. It was a really nice household.

“Mitch goes to work early and I stay here pretty much all day until he comes back. So I’m really glad you’re here.” She smiled at you again. “I was actually now deciding what should I make for lunch. Does lasagna sound good to you?”

“Sounds perfect.” You smiled back at her. “Do you need any help with that?”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. You make yourself comfortable. Oh, and for dessert I was thinking that maybe we could bake some cookies?”

You immediately gave her a big smile and Mrs. Patterson chuckled.

“I think I have my answer. I’ll call you to make the dough once I’m finished with lunch, okay? You can turn on the tv if you want to. I’ll be right there.” She pointed the kitchen.

You thanked her before she left.

So, you were there. You were at Luke’s house. The next step was to get into his room. You could sneak in but, would that be fair to Mrs. Patterson, who’s been super sweet to you? But how were you supposed to ask to get into her son’s room?

You bit your thumbnail.

But you were there already. You couldn’t just lose that opportunity.

You visualized some framed photos around the living room and you took one with your hands to see it closer. It was Luke, when he was a baby. You smiled and felt embarrassed for being excited about baby pictures of a boy who you barely knew.

You shook your heard. Remember rule number 1, you thought.

Still, you couldn’t help but keep watching the rest.

There weren’t many in sight. They probably kept way more in photo albums. If you didn’t know that Luke had some issues with his parents (and you didn’t until a few nights ago), you could’ve never tell there was something going on. In every single picture, Luke wore a beautiful smile. He seemed happy. And not only in the pictures.

He looked happy when he was singing, when he was playing the guitar, when he said hi to you on his way to who-knows-exactly-where...

Of course, it could be quite suspicious the fact that he wasn’t home most of the time. But still. How many times did he probably come out of his house after a fight with his mom, and still managed to pretend that anything happened?

He’s been suffering by himself.

It was then when you noticed the flyers on the sofa. A picture of Luke was plastered on it, with the word “Missing” on top of it.

Your heart skipped a beat. You forgot your mom said they were hanging flyers if Luke didn’t come back yesterday. You felt the urge to shred them and throw them away.

He will be back. You will find him.

You left the living room and made your way to the kitchen.

“Everything okay, sweetie?” Mrs. Patterson asked when she saw you. She was boiling something on the stove.

“Everything’s perfect, Mrs. Patterson. Thanks again, for letting me come.”

“Oh, it’s okay, really. You’re always welcome.” She smiled at you and went back to stirring whatever was in her cooking pot. “Your mom told me you fell asleep.”

“Yeah... I was a little extra tired today.”

She chuckled. “I understand. At least you set your own alarm and get ready by yourself. I have to fight Luke to just wake up. And don’t get me started on getting him out of bed.”

You chuckled, not adding anything else. The moment was very fragile, and you didn’t want to say anything wrong.

“You do dance, right?” She asked then.

You nodded, thinking that maybe your mom told her something about that too.

“I figured. Of course, Sandra told me something but it’s easy to tell you’re a dancer by the way you’re standing.”

You smiled shyly, knowing what she meant. You were standing in a nice third position, ironically, because dancers your age don’t even use that position.

You talked about your dance experience and after a while, you both were just talking about everything. You felt at ease with Mrs. Patterson pretty quickly. She just made it feel that way. You helped her making the lasagna, after all, and after putting it into the oven, you both started making the cookie dough.

“I usually bake with my sister. We both have a sweet tooth.” You commented, cracking two eggs into the bowl Mrs. Patterson had in front of her.

“Oh, me too. Dessert is completely mandatory in this house. A rule that I made, of course.” Mrs. Patterson said and you laughed.

“I should make a similar rule in my house. We only have dessert on birthdays or holidays.”

“I encourage you to do so.” She chuckled, mixing with a whisk the batter in her bowl.

She then asked you to hand her the vanilla and baking powder.

“You guys seem close.” She said, still mixing in her bowl. “You and Tamra.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess.” You leaned your head. “It’s just been harder to hang out ever since the start of this year. It’s her senior year.” You said, although you thought she might’ve known that already. “But I guess I get it. I’m sure she just wants to enjoy her friends before going to college. Her family will always be here but her school friends won’t. She’s going to Berkeley, by the way.”

You thought about it, but you didn’t mention how glad you were she didn’t want to leave the state. You didn’t want your parents to transform Tamra’s room on a gym (something they never actually talked about, but you saw it on a movie).

Mrs. Patterson added the flour and she let you add the chocolate chips, before mixing again.

“Sandra told me so, I’m really glad... here. You can start to shape them into little balls. I’ll grease the stray.” You obeyed and she also did her task. “How old is Tamra, by the way?”

“She’s turning nineteen in a few weeks. She failed first grade, so she’s a year behind.” You explained, as soon as you saw the confusion in Mrs. Patterson’s face.

“Really?”

“Yeah... back then they just came from Texas due to my parents’ job, so they were with lots of stuff like bringing all of their belongings, they also had to work and on top of all that, they had to take care of Tamra. They didn’t want her to grow up with a nanny, so they would take her with them everywhere. She would ditch school a lot, and therefore she didn’t have a great time at exams.” You placed several dough balls in the tray.

“I think that’s pretty sweet. There are kids that grow up with practically strangers and then go against their parents for that.”

“Mhmm.”

She took the tray and put it in the freezer.

It was 12 p.m. when you both sat on the table and had lunch.

“Your mom... told me about what you’re doing. That you’re helping to find Luke.”

Your heart raced. And you thought that maybe she noticed the panic in your eyes, because she rapidly added something else.

“I just wanted to say thank you, Y/N. Because... I know you guys weren’t close. I don’t think I ever even saw you talking but... you’re still doing this, and I can’t thank you enough. And I just wanted to say that if you need anything, don’t hesitate on calling me.”

She had tears in her eyes which immediately softened your heart, and made you tear up too.

You squeezed her hand.

You knew she said all of this for two reasons. She meant it, but she also knew you were just a sixteen year old, after all. You were aware of that too. How much could you possibly do? But you were willing to do anything. Even when the adults around you didn’t exactly believe you could.

“Just promise me you won’t forget about school or dance while you’re at it. That you will take care and will not go through this alone.”

“I promise.”

She had a doubtful look on her face for a moment, but at last, she spoke. “You know, we haven’t talked to the police yet. But I think we might soon. I just... I didn’t want to call them because I know Luke is safe. I know he’s smart enough to go somewhere he’ll be okay. But he hasn’t come back. And I just can’t help but be worried. I wanna see him. I wanna talk to him. I know he might be in a friend’s house. I suspect it might be someone from his band... Oh!” She sobbed. “I just wish I supported him more. I wish I was more interested on the people he was seeing. Maybe that way we could’ve found him already...”

You got up to hug her from behind, around the shoulders, while she stayed on her seat. “It’s not your fault, Mrs. Patterson. When he comes back, you’ll have another chance. I promise I’ll do anything I can to help you get that second chance. Maybe you won’t even need to call the police.”

“Oh, dear.” She hugged your arms. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

You then pulled back and went to your seat.

“What a mess.” Emily chuckled, cleaning her face with a kitchen cloth. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You looked like you needed it.”

She nodded. “I really did. Thank you.”

A comfortable silence grew between the two of you after that conversation, while you finished your food.

“Mrs. Patterson, actually, I was thinking on asking you something...”

“Sure, sweetheart, what is it?”

Your heart pounded against your chest again. You were doing this.

“I just wanted to know if... if I could check Luke’s room? It’s all for the investigation, I promise I’m not a creep.”

For your surprise, she chuckled, and then looked down for a second.

“Luke really didn’t like people getting into his room... but I guess this could be an exception. It is a peculiar situation, anyways.”

#luke patterson x reader #luke patterson #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms x reader

[shannendoherty-fans]

TV Guide, February 13, 1988

No Sassing Grandpa!

Our House's Shannen Doherty, 16, is concerned about her character's behaviour–and its impact on viewers.

By Helen Newton.

Shannen Doherty hunches over her high-school algebra textbook, reluctantly penciling problems in her least-favorite subject. Her teacher hovers over her. The two are alone in a small, dingy trailer that, despite a tacked-up poster and a forlorn bit of artwork, lloks nothing like school. This is the location classroom for NBC's Our House, whose three child stars (Shannen, 16, Chad Allen, 13, and Keri Houlihan, 12) are legally bound to squeeze three hours of daily lessons between scenes.

"It must be difficult," comments a visitor to the teacher, "going to school like this, all alone,no friends, no football games . . . ."

"Are you kidding?" interrupts the teacher. "They love it. What kid in his right mind wouldn't trade six hours in school day after day for this?" She gestures broadly at the controlledhubbub that fills the city park around her.

Just then an assistant director knocks on the door. "Time to get ready, hannen," he calls, and the actress, saved from solving for "x," bounces happily down the steps of the schoolroom, up the steps of her dressing room and into a costumer's impossibly conservative version of a punker's get-up.

Shannen's character, Kris Witherspoon, normally tends toward preppier attire–she does have her heart set on attending the Air Force Academy–but in this episode, she's trying to teach her crusty grandfather, Gus (played by Wilford Brimley), not to judge people ony by appearance. In Our House, one resident or another learns something uplifting every week.

"With our audience [young teens and families], I think we have a responsibility to set good examples," Shannen says earnestly. "There are drugs and so many other things that kids can get into trouble with that Ithink, if we can help, we should." But then good examples seem to come as naturally to Shannen as they do to Kris. Earlier this season, for example, she confronted a script that had Kris casually mentioning condoms. "It wasn't important to the plot. It was just a casual thing," says Shannen, her cheeks hinting at a blush. "I was uncomfortable with it and I thought Kris would be too, so I asked if they would take it out." They did. And Shannen tells of a scene in the episode being shot today that called for her to scream angrily at her grandfather. "I don't think Kris would sass her grandfather. She's let him know she was angry, but she'd be more respectful." Out came the sass.

Shannen doesn't believe in sassing her mother either, though she has ample opportunity: Rosa Doherty is with Shannen every day, all day, beginning with the hour's drive from their San Fernando Valley home. California law requires the presence of a parent or guardian until a child actor reaches 16, but Shannen, who will turn 17 in April, has asked her mother to stay on for at least another two years.

They're close, these two. "My mom's my friend," says Shannen unaffectedly, and you believe her. The two share a lot–beyond a mutual enthusiasm for Laura Ashley wallpaper, animals and their Baptist church, there's obviously their dedication to Shannen's career.

Rosa watches over Shannen carefully–what ordinary mother can confer with her child's teacher several times a day?–and she adamantly opposes allowing her daughter to work longer than the 10 1/2 hours required daily. But when Shannen is busy, Rosa finds plenty to occupy herself. Everyone on the set knows her: she joshes with the costumer, the hairdresser, the other children's mothers. She lays plans with Shannen's publicist and manager. And she readies Shannen's fan mail so Shannen can answe ir. ("A lot of kids ask me for advice," Shannen says. "Kris is so together that naturally she'd know what to do. Meanwhile, I look at the mail and think, 'Oh, no, what do I say?´")

But Shannen does know what to say–like the time two years ago at the beginning of ninth grade when she announced to her mother that she wanted to go to school like a regular kid. "It was the beginning of high school, and I wanted to get situated," she says. One semester was enough, however. "There are plenty of kids around work for me to be friends with," she says, when asked whether she misses the social experiences of high school. "There are Chad and Keri, and on the Lorimar lot there are the kids from Valerie's Family. And I met my boy friend"–she says this slihtly shyly, as if unaccustomed to the term–"on the set of Max Headroom." (Since then, Shannen has decided to attend school in her senior year. She plans to fit her TV work around her academic schedule.)

The next week, the next episode, the next location–this time 40 miles north of Los Angeles on the woodsy shores of a lake. It's lunch time; long tables are set up above the lake and Keri trails Shannen around and between them as they play with the two assistant directors' walkie-talkies. Shannen's handle in this game is "Sugarplum," a nickname some of the truckers who worked for her grandfather in Memphis called her when she was little. The assistant directors look benignly, almost paternally, on.

"We feel lucky," says Rosa. "This show is like family. The crew is great. And Wilford really cares about people." Although Brimley refused to talk about his young colleague, citing a dislike of publicity, Shannen and Rosa say the show's star is generous in other ways. They've been guests at his Utah ranch. Shannen, sharing Brimley's interest in horses, bought one from him two years ago, though she's since sold it back to him. "It was a quarter horse,and I'm more interested in Thorough-breds," she says. And Brimley takes a deep interest in the health of Shannen's father, Tom, who, like Brimley, is a diabetic.

The week before, at the city-park location, Tom had shown up, clearly almost as at home on the set as Rosa. "Everyone loves my dad," says Shannen. "He likes to cook, and sometimes he brings food for the crew."

Belying his hearty appearance now, Tom Doherty suffered a stroke in 1983. Although Tom says it was the best thing that ever happened to him because it forced him to slow down, Rosa says, "It was very hard on the famiy, but we got through it as a family. the children came to occupational theraphy with us so they could understand and support the process." Shannen adds, "I used to draw him a picture every day and hang them all around. It cheered him up. It was pretty scary, seeing him not able to do a child's sorting game." Now almost completely recovered, Tom says, "I have an easy job that allows me to do things like stop by the set occasionally and spend more time with our son, Sean." Sean, 20, is ambitious, too,but his area is politics. A conservative, he's actively involved in his local Youth Republicans group. In 1986, he was elected a GOP official in Los Angeles. "Our son needs attention, too," Tom says, 2and sometimes his mother doesn't have time."

Rosa's timefirst became a rare commodity when Shannen was 10 years old. Over her mother's initial objections, Shannen became active in a children's theater company, where she was spotted by an agent. He arranged an autition for the role of Drucilla Shannon in Father Murphy. "It was like fate, because I have this lucky doll named Drucilla and my name is Shannen and I was determined to work with Michael Landon [creator of Father Murphy]," Shannen recalls. Drucilla the doll went along on the audition, though she stayed in the car, and sure enough, Shannen got the part. She also won the continuing interest of Michael Landon, who cast her in Little House: A New Beginning and in an epiode of Highway to Heaven.

"I'd like to work with her again sometime if she's available," comments Landon. "She's got a good head on her shoulders. She's very conscientious and determined." Those qualities were, in fact, what drew him to her when Shannen was a 10-year-old. "Even then you could see that she treated this as a business. She really wanted the job for herself. It was not a case of a parent wanting a show-business career fora child, which is often the case. I'm very proud of her."

William Blinn, co-executive producer of Our House, echoes Landon's thoughts. "Shannen is like her character. She's a very dedicated kid." With the show now in its second season, Blinn hopes the work will continue to be there for her. Our House has the unenviable task of taking on CBS's warhorse 60 Minutes. "It's counter-programming to the max," says Blinn of his show's effort to attract a young audience. And so, while the ratings have not been spectacular (the highest so far this season was 14.5), Blinn says NBC is pleased to be a solid second in its time period.

Whether the show has a long run or not, Shannen intends to. Like Kris, she has goals in mind, and if co-star Deidre Hall (Shannen's TV mom, Jessie) is right, "she'll get anything she sets her mind on." With her manager and her mother, she's looking into various film and TV projects. "I plan to get into feature films and eventually to direct," Shannen says confidently.

A visitor asks her what sort of actress she sees herself becoming in the future–the next Ally Sheedy, perhaps, or Molly Ringwald?

"The next Shannen Doherty! I'm one of a kind," she declares boldly, then lapses into a self-conscious giggle. "Really," she says, more seriously, "the person I try to model myself on is Katharine Hepburn. She's really into her work."

But before stardom, there's college. A California university makes the most sense if she wants to work at the same time, Shannen says, but there's still something about the sound of Harvard, Princeton or Yale. . . .

"Really?" says her teacher later. "That's ambitious. She'd better get to work on that math."

#1988 #Shannen Doherty #1988 TV Guide #news #1988 article #TV Guide Feb13 1988 #gene trindl #1987 photoshots #1987 gene trindl #1980s #1988 acting career #Our House #1980s acting career #1980s article #1980s Shannen Doherty #1980s TV Guide #1988 Shannen Doherty #1980s quotes #1988 quotes #quotes #Rosa Doherty #Tom Doherty #Michael Landon

[pikaflute]

hi, sudafed cleared my sinuses long enough to think so here’s a giant post about most of my charles headcanons

Playlist

OH btw here’s my 4 hour and 23 minute playlist for Charles. Enjoy. Yes I know I’m insane: https://open.spotify.com/user/pikaflute24/playlist/4DBxaaxbqsmJt9Fvl8AgwZ?si=OcXlYCdFRzOhuKa4p_HdUQ

General Headcanons

He was born November 24 1965. He’s currently 56, but I usually write him in his late 40s in most fanfic and content I make. So there’s this middle aged man....

He has hazel eyes. Sometimes they look green, sometimes brown. Sometimes they’ll be white but that’s when he’s using his magic so mind your business

Gear brand over his heart >:)c

:) i think he has piercings and tattoos, a skull (dead man teehee) on his upper arm, a tattoo of a date (the date pickles and him first met TEEHEE) on his left arm also has a tattoo on his arm of the day he “died” on his right. had his ears pierced when he was a teen.

Has a sweet tooth so hard. Smuggles in treats into the drawers of his desk just to snack on during the day and has a mini fridge just filled with ice cream and also sorts of other goodies. He loves brownies and cookies the most

Likes to work out and keep himself in shape. it takes his mind off of stressful things like work and the boys, and just take his morning practice sparring and doing various exercises in the mordhaus gym. 

he’s uh also very flexible so he does yoga a lot when he exercises. don’t. look too deep into that

cannot cook to save his life. he almost burned mordhaus down trying to make himself a sandwich

he can play guitar! he used to play it more often when he was younger but he rarely has the time to play it nowadays. when he does get to play it, it’s usually in private (and mainly songs by dethklok), or it’s to show off to a certain lead guitarist that yes he is playing that solo wrong

he’s ambidextrous but prefers using his right hand. he’ll use his left hand to spar in order to go easy on his opponents because hes a smug cunt

he’s 5′7 but intimidation factor adds a couple inches doesn’t it

has a scorpion named princess as a pet. he lets her sit on his desk sometimes and it scares the shit out of dethklok which makes charles laugh on the inside

hes also a cat person. one time toki brought a cat home and it settled on charles’ lap and he almost cried

loves to be a smug asshole and relishes in it. will not take shit from anyone, especially from some asshole who is trying to pull one over on him

he has no idea how social media works at all. will print memes out to show to dethklok, he’s very fond of cat memes specifically (i can has cheeseburger type beat)

he has no idea what any internet memes means he isn’t going to start learning. he is going to misuse internet phrases. are you boys, ah, finding the imposter? [cue five groans from dethklok]

knows a lot of languages. not a comprehensive list but: french, swedish, norwegian, spanish, italian, japanese, chinese, german, russian and korean

is very competitive. scarily competitive. once he starts losing in smash or mario kart all hell will break lose

very bad at showing emotions or affection, when he gets compliments he gets all red and quiet and mumbles a thank you. 

weird about being touched as well and will usually avoid it unless it’s with someone he trusts

speaking of, his love language is acts of service :)c

hates being called charlie or chuck, unless the right person calls him it ;)

he’s autistic. was nonverbal for most of his life and only talked to certain people, or anyone at all. he stims with his hands and uses his pens to fidget.

has a collection of novelty socks. he likes the ones that have polka dots or stripes

sleeps with a garfield plushie he had since he was younger. it helps him with the nightmares

when any of the boys need help sleeping (usually toki or pickles), he’ll sleep with them in his bed. after dying he had trouble sleeping some nights, so dethklok returned the favor and all piled up in his bed and helped him sleep. he didnt have nightmares after that night

hes nearsighted, and prefers to wear glasses over contacts

lactose intolerant, hes still eating mac n cheese and paying the price

metalhead but pretends to not be just to mess with his boys

crippling addiction to match 3 games. also loves to play minecraft.

overly self sacrificial. puts ones he love needs before his own, results in himself being very isolated and distant from those he cares about because he’s afraid of hurting them

his favorite colors are black and purple

coffee kinda guy. black coffee or bust

has a lot of cute novelty mugs to put his coffee in. he ones from places where dethklok tours, dethklok official ones (the only two that aren’t adorned with spikes), some cat themed ones, a couple that have ties and math references, and one from his boys that says “most brutal manager”. he drinks out of that last one the most

he has a couple of grey hairs and wrinkles, but he keeps them because they remind him that he’s human. also pickles said old men were hot but you didnt hear that from me

likes to play chess but he can never find a good opponent. all the klokateers are too scared if they win and dethklok is too distracted to ever play with him or they end up losing to quickly if charles plays against them

really wants kids. he babies his sister’s sons and daughters a TON (uncle charles always brings the best gifts :) ) and also treats toki like his own son in a way. toki doesnt mind, he really appreciates the love

speaking of, toki does call charles dad once and it makes charles cry for like. a week and a half

his favorite dethklok song is the gears :)

he likes to collect knives as a side hobby, his favorite of his collection is a sleek black one with skulls on the handle

he has a motorcycle and likes to drive it around sometimes to just be alone with himself. it’s all black with a red gear on it

lightweight but only if he drinks the amount dethklok drinks. can hold his alcohol fairly well if he drinks like a sensible human, prefers brandy and wine

he can smoke cigars to be sexy for me and me ONLY

likes to read in his spare time. he likes mystery novels and science fiction

he has soft spot for cheesy sitcoms, they’re his guilty pleasure

his favorite youtuber is lockpickinglawyer. yours should be too

usually sleeps in only his boxers but will wear a shirt if its’s cold. he tends to sleep on his side (also wants to be the little spoon when cuddled but he will never admit that)

takes vacations sometimes away from the boys despite his worry that something will go wrong (it will!). many of his vacations are usually going to visit his family and going to the shore with them, or travelling to somewhere new for a change (cue charles being a yakuza substory on his one vacation per year)

he can sew pretty well. learned from his mom and used to sew the whole his sister use to put through her soccer uniform.

can also do makeup, and usually does it for one of the boys of there’s no one else around to help

bites his lip when he’s nervous. which is a lot

likes chococat and gudetama. he’s a man of tastes

laughs really loud if you catch him off guard. he snorts sometimes too. he’s embarrassed by it, but i think its’ cute

loves law and order obviously 

he likes men

has a lot of pent up rage. very good at compressing it. sometimes

as high priest, he stays up very late trying to decipher the ancient prophecies that dethklok needed to fulfill. he doesnt sleep very much when he starts out because he misses home, so the band makes him come back (or else)

also as high priest he becomes more intune with magic granted to him after he died and he mainly uses his magic to protect his boys when they go back to being a band. also to fuck with them

the band he managed before dethklok was a band named savior who said they were a metal band with a unique sound, but that unique sound was actually just being a christian metal band that were bad at playing music. they also treated charles like shit and blamed him for them doing so poorly with sales and shows. had an unfortunate “accident” with a tour bus after charles had enough of their attitude towards him.  he denies he had anything to do with it (he did.)

Family/Childhood

He’s the baby of the family. Spoiled rotten to the max. He doesn’t admit it though but whenever he comes home you know he abuses the “:)c im the favorite” card

He has 4 older sisters: Caroline who is a high school civics teacher, Cynthia who is a librarian, Callie who is a coach for a soccer team, and Charlotte who is a lawyer/manager who manages Ladyklok, which gets awkward (and funny) when Abigail starts dating the lead singer Natalie

charles is actually one of the tallest in his family. his dad is 6’1 and his older sister Callie is 5’11. cynthia is 5’6, caroline is 5’6, and his mom and charlotte are 5’5.

his mom is a doctor and his dad is an accountant. his mom’s name is giovanna and his dad’s name is elijah

caroline is the oldest sister, followed by cynthia, callie, charlotte then charles.

Charlotte and Charles are sworn enemies since they were born on the same day a year apart and basically have the same job. They do love each other though

His father calls him Charles. Caroline and Cynthia call him Charlie. Callie calls him Chuck. Charlotte calls him Charles (derogatory). His mom calls him a whole slew of nicknames that she made up when he was young (she calls him cheese ball and he turns red)

caroline has a wife (lauren who is a chef) and two kids (evan and shelby)

cynthia is dating a coworker (viola)

callie has a husband (john who is a stay at home dad) and they have three kids (brenda, melissa, and jeff)

charlotte is dating ladyklok (and abigail). this is a weird flex on charles i think.

He had a race car bed when he was like 5

He also was also one of those kids at family game night. He almost killed Cynthia over a game of monopoly

Always got to lick the spoon first after his mom baked brownies

He grew up in North Jersey (derogatory) (also yes im projecting state shot)

He’s also Italian (derogatory)

He got bullied in middle school for a little bit but once his older sisters found out, oh boy did all hell break loose

Was in band in high school. He played flute (DONT TALK TO ME I LIKE PROJECTING), he was of course a soloist and incredibly smug about it

Took gymnastics as a kid. Can do a backflip on command. Also very flexible.

First manager gig was helping his sisters sell girl scout cookies. They raked in a lot of profits when baby bro was behind the scenes. His cut was eating thin mints for free

Loved Star Trek when he was a kid

Was incredibly gifted, and taught himself to read at a young age. didn’t talk that much though

was always sick when he was little. he would always get sinus infections and colds if someone even sneezed weird

was in mock trial in high school. one guy on his team was a jerk to him so charles made it a point to be this poor kid’s nemesis

was on the student council, treasurer of course.

was also in nhs, and he was treasurer there too

was that kid who insisted on doing the group project by himself because he didn’t want to wait on anyone to finish their part

was super rowdy as a kid, always got into trouble but his mom was a little lenient of punishment (hes a mommas boy)

when he was like super young he bit people cause he was just a little monster (charles' sisters: mom charles is biting again. charles, biting one of them: im not :/ sheesh)

wanted to be a lawyer since he was 7

put his own siblings and parents on trial and would win every trial and would always get the last cookie or a higher allowance

he shared his room with his sister Charlotte and they would set up a pillow fort on one of the beds and stay up late reading together 

loved going to the beach as a kid, his mom still has his collection of shells from the beach

on the boardwalk, he would dominate at claw machines anad carnival games. he won a bunch of plushies from himself (and his sisters obviously)

his dad and him have a super close bond. they watched star trek together and also like to watch how the stock market would do. his dad was also sometimes the judge in charles’ mock trials at home

they were very supportive when he came out as gay, he was also the first of his sibilings to come out of the closet

College

Got his masters in business management at rutgers and a JD (law degree) from seton hall law.

Started college when he was 18 (1983) and ended college when he was 26 (1991)

Wasn’t a party guy. Never got invited to many, but he never went unless a certain redhead was in town

Sustained himself off of ramen, coffee, and SSRIs to get his masters (hey man i feel ya)

Did weed like three times. Three of those times were because of, you guessed it, a certain redhead

Speaking of, his first time having sex was in his dorm with Pickles. Pickles also kicked him off of the bed (those beds are fucking tiny) while they slept, and almost burned Charles’ dorm down trying to make toast the next morning

Absolute did not do essays until the night before. Bad habit that made it’s way into Dethklok managing when he’s forced to write a legal brief before 12 am.

Loved calculus 2 for some reason. Nerd

Had a mullet. Pickles thought it was hot (still is) while Charles would rather die than remember anything about that horrid hairdo

Also went through his goth/emo phase while in Law School. He stuck out amongst the sea of sweater vests and polo shirts

Was in a band with his fellow college bandmates. The band was called Habeas Corpses and he was the lead singer who also played guitar. Their sound was kind of similar to TWRP’s first two EPs (The Device and 2nite). they had a grunge aesthetic, and yes charles dyed his mullet black (with a purple streak), for the band.

his bandmates were all fellow law students. dillan was on drums, margaret was their bass guitar, and nick was their keyboardist. all three of them also got tutored by charles while in law school. they are still best friends and write to each other sometimes

Was on the debate team, but uh kicked off due to be very competitive (he threatened to punch the opposing debater)

Was also in the chess club, also kicked off for being too competitive (lunged at a kid for cheating)

After being kicked from the two previous clubs, he joined fencing, his very competitive nature made him the best in the state

nick (the guy in charles’ band) was charles’ roommate the whole time they were in college. they may or may not have had a brief relationship before they realized they would be better as friends

nick also has a nes and charles loved to played zelda and wrote an entire guide for himself because he’s was that into the game (nerd)

occasionally would be found sleeping in the library on campus

wanted to be an RA but the resident association at his schools thought he was a little much. charles took this as a compliment

worked out a lot between studying and classes. a lot of jocks underestimated him because of his size but charles was just :) [casually lifts something heavy]

a lot of fellow classmates thought he was super cool cause of the leather he wore, and how cool and quiet he was, too bad they didnt know he was a huge nerd

tried skateboarding. once.

had a cadillac that barely started and drove like a piece of shit but that was charles’ baby

pickles tried to have sex with charles in said car btw, charles almost killed him for even daring to suggest to tarnish his beautiful baby

has damaged his back permanently because of all the books he used to carry around in his crappy back pack

did some modelling for one of his friends in college. he was very attractive and got some other modelling job through it. he tries to hide that from the boys in the future because he thinks it’s embarrassing

Relationship with Dethklok

Pickles - he’s known the drummer the longest out of any other member, and if you couldn’t tell by now, he had a brief relationship with the drummer back in the 80s (and maybe also still has a crush on him :)). charles respects and admires pickles’ talent as a musician and sometimes they play together when they have time alone. he tries to be there when pickles has a relapse in either emotions with his family or something else, but still tries to maintain a distance because he thinks that pickles doesn’t feel the same as he did in the 80s. (he does btw). nothing could break the bond these two share. not even death

Nathan - understands nathan’s quiet nature (nonverbal kings!) and strive for perfection in everything dethklok creates because he is the same way. their similarities allow them to connect on a level that allows nathan to open up about his feelings that he likes to lock away. nathan also gets charles to open his feelings up and actually care for himself for once in his damn life. charles also helps nathan with the depression he develops after charles dies and how to deal with it despite it being not brutal. nathan wants to give back and he does by becoming one of charles’ closest friends (and maybe even lovers hehehe)

Toki - charles has taken it upon himself to be toki’s father figure after seeing the way toki’s family has left him for essentially dead. ever since toki joined the band, charles has made it a point to be there for him whenever he needed it. even if it meant spending late nights reading to toki or sleeping over in toki’s room to help him sleep, he’ll do it. he blames himself for toki’s disappearance but toki assures him that he did the best he could. toki calls him dad a lot after doomstar. it makes charles cry.

Skwisgaar - unstoppable asshole meets immovable object. skwisgaar sees himself above everyone else like he does with the other dethklok members but with charles, skwisgaar knows that charles isn’t intimidated by him nor will he bow to the guitar god in anyway. this develops a game of cat and mouse between the two, with skwisgaar trying to no subtly push charles’ buttons and to see what makes him ticks, while charles resist him at every turn with a smug ‘:) is that all you got’ and it delights him to finally see the guitarist squirm under pressure.

Murderface - at first the two are very. distant to say the least. murderface used to see charles as unemotional robot and charles was fine with that and accepted the distance. overtime however, and especially after charles died, murderface warmed up to charles confiding in him things he hasn’t told the band, mainly things about his insecurities because charles is ‘fucking smart with crap like this’. and charles helps him and is happy to see him work out his problems and not bottle them anymore like the rest of his bandmates. charles also enjoys murderface’s company as a friend as well. and….he’s gonna help murderface the most with the whole traitor stuff too.

Abigail - mlm and wlw hostility. but seriously they’re good buds. he sympathizes with having to deal the moronic actions of dethklok on a daily basis and also thinks she’s really intelligent and overall fun to hang out with. they take lunch breaks frequently together and like to make fun of people at dethklok dinners together as a fun activity together. abigail will bully his ass once she finds out she’s dating charles’ sister and WILL bring up those baby pictures to get a higher raise thank you very much

Knubbler - can you say coworker besties! like abigail, he gets along because they both have to deal with dethklok being, well dethklok, but with knubbler, charles can relax a little more. the two cause problems on purpose just because they can. the two are also close friends and knubbler tries to get charles to relax for once in his life, and despite charles protests and objections, he sometimes caves and hands out with his friend (maybe boyfriend OOOOO who knows)

Sex Headcanons (IM SORRY)

um maybe he can have a giant dick (10 inches for me), it do be swinging though

daddy kink (everyone stay on this side, ill take care of him….come to daddy ;)c)

likes to do roleplay. he has a lot of costumes prepared for when his partner wants to do a scene with him

likes to bite and be bitten during sex. after a very long night, he’ll be covered in bite marks, it’s kinda hot

no gag reflex ;) he likes to deepthroat but good luck trying to get him to go down on you without him teasing

remember how i said he was flexible like eight times? yeah he uh, uses that a lot to his advantage. likes being fucked in weird positions because of it

the suit stays on during sex

he likes topping because he likes to be in control of everything he does all the time, but really wants to be told what to do sometimes and will let those he trusts do that for him

he has a dick piercing i know it

he's a very busy man, so he relies on his huge collection of toys he keeps in his bedroom and office

really good with his hands. as soon as those hands are on you, its game over

he loves to do it on his desk, makes him feel powerful. when he gets blown under his desk, it really takes all of his willpower to not cum immediately

really sensitive in weird places, specifically his ears

he likes to cuddle after sex, hes the little spoon :)

likes to be tied up, sometimes he’ll get tied up under his suit

mating press and riding are his favorite positions, giving and receiving

size queen, likes large toys and well ;)

has a private room that he sometimes goes to relieve stress, it has a fucking machine that he likes to use often when his job gets too stressful

he’s sucking people off at the klokateer glory hole, he’s uh, very good at what he does

likes to be spanked and like to spank

uses collars and leashes

maybe the klokateers can fuck him, if they’re good ;)

freeballing

likes cum on his face but doesn't seem to realize that means he’ll get cum on his glasses and will need to clean them

he can wear a chastity belt :) for me

likes being came in but will still complain about being gross after

pretty much up for anything, he’s not picky, he just wants to be in control and get off

#metalocalypse #charles foster offdensen

[obeyme-kaidii]

Obey Me Card Strategy Guide, (2/4)

The Long Version, part 2 - Grimm Efficiency 

(Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4) Now that we’ve established the importance of making use of the type boosts for each level, let’s take a look at another important aspect of game play - cost effectiveness. 

Personally, I think this is the one that trips people up the most and causes the most stress, especially for f2p players who are trying to make every single Grimm count. Grimm is pretty hard to come by since it takes 8 hours to earn just 20,000 Grimm (G), so for the sake of your own sanity, you need to make sure you get the most bang for your buck.

For this example, I’m going to look at 3 different UR Envy cards.

Levi, at level 60 with 5 stars, plus an unlocked Devil’s Flower.

Lucifer, at level 60 with 4 stars.

Satan, at level 1 with 0 stars. 

The question we are going to answer is this - 

Should I level up my Levi card to level 90? Or would it be better to level up my Satan card to level 50? 

And to do that, we are going to use math! 🤓

Disclaimer - all values will be rounded up for the sake of easy to read math. Since I’m including screenshots of the actual values, you can check the math for yourself if you are so inclined.

Let’s start by taking a closer look at Satan.

At level 1, Satan has a total of 11,000 strength (S).

If I raise him to level 50, he will then have 34,000S and it will cost 172,000 Grimm (G).

By subtracting the S at level 1 from the S at level 50, we will learn how much S Satan gained when leveling up.

34,000S - 11,000S = 23,000S

And since we know it took 172,000G to increase Satan’s S by 23,000S we can then determine the amount of G it cost to raise S by 1 point. 

172,000G / 23,000S = 7.5 G/S

This value is an extremely important one, and the key to understanding why it’s better to level up your cards evenly rather than beefing up a single card at a time.

What this number means is that in order to raise Satan’s S by 1, you need to spend 7.5G on average for the first 50 levels.

Now let’s compare that to Levi.

Levi currently has 45,000S at level 60.

If I were to raise his level to 90, he would then have 58,000S and it would cost me 482,000G.

58,000S - 45,000S = 13,000S

When going from level 60 to level 90, Levi gains 13,000S. So if we divide the total cost of G by S gained, we will once again learn the G/S value.

482,000G / 13,000S = 37 G/S

Meaning it’ll cost you 37G for every 1 point of S that Levi gains from level 60 to 90, on average. 

That’s a huge difference compared to the mere 7.5 G/S that Satan requires! 

Which brings us back to our original question - 

Should I level up my Levi card to level 90? Or would it be better to level up my Satan card to level 50?

The answer for this example of course is that raising Satan to level 50 is the best way to spend your G. Not only will you spend less G, but your overall S will be higher than simply raising Levi’s level to 90. 

If raising Satan to 50 -

34,000S + 45,000S + 43,000S = 122,000S (Satan + Levi + Lucifer)

If raising Levi to 90 - 

11,000S + 58,000S + 43,000S = 112,000S (Satan + Levi + Lucifer)

Another way to look at it is to compare how much S you can get with a set amount of G.

Let’s say you only have 100,000G to spend. And you’re trying to decide if you should make Levi stronger, or begin powering up a third card (Satan).

As stated before, Levi has 45,000S at level 60. With 100,000G I can raise his level to 68, which increases his S to 48,000S.

48,000S - 45,000S = 3,000S

So for 100,000G I gain just 3,000S.

100,000G / 3,000S = 33 G/S

Which translates to 33 G/S.

As for Satan, he starts out with 11,000S. By spending 100,000G on him, we are able to raise his card to level 40. Which in turn raises his S to 29,000S.

29,000S - 11,000S = 18,000S

This means that for 100,000G, Satan gains 18,000S.

100,000G / 18,000S = 5.5 G/S

At only 5.5 G/S for Satan, compared to 33 G/S for Levi, it’s clear to see that leveling up Satan is a better investment than adding additional levels to Levi. 

So to recap - 

SSR cards are viable in battles, even at higher (normal) levels

Power up your Demon & Memory cards evenly (levels and stars)

Type Advantage is extremely important, don’t ignore it

Aim for a team of 2-3 Demon cards and 2-3 Memory cards per type

If you are just starting out, and don’t have many cards powered up already, then you can stop reading here as we’ve covered all the important things for figuring out how to spend your Grimm wisely. 

But if you have some cards that are already maxed out, then things become a wee bit more complicated going forward, as more factors come into play. Parts 3 and 4 of this guide will explore those situations in more depth.  CONTINUED IN PART 3

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me strategy #obey me help #obey me advice from kaidii

[fyeahnix]

I am a biased casual and I do think that Pro opinions should be weighed slightly more than the casual fanbase for a few reasons:

When the game feels "too catered to casuals," the Pro gamers leave the scene. If the skill ceiling is too low, it's basically punishing people for being good at the game. That's not exactly healthy imo. Back in Season 6 with the armor changes, they stated that they wanted players with better positioning and map control to have a clear advantage, and that when other players outplayed you with superior mechanical skills, that feels bad. UHM HELLO??? IF YOU PLAY THE GAME WELL YOU SHOULD BE REWARDED FOR THE TIME YOU SPENT GETTING BETTER IS THAT NOT HOW IMPROVEMENT WORKS. Good players are good because they're good. They didn't cheat to get there and their work and improvement shouldn't be undermined by circumstances completely out of their control. If a team loses to a player or players who are mechanically more skilled than them, tough shit? Get better. The longer a fight goes on, the more the pendulum swings in favor of those who are mechanically more skilled and who make better decisions. Lowering the time to kill in that season made it far easier for worse players to defeat better players. That's not improvement.

Pro players generally have hundreds of thousands more hours invested in the game than most casual players. That time spent on the game is a lot more valuable knowledge and experience that can be used for feedback purposes. This does present a minor problem. Pros play the game much differently than casual folks. Their perception is just straight up different than ours. This is a good thing imo ultimately, but it's why you cannot take their opinions as fact 100% of the time, and why the devs shouldn't JUST listen to them.

More Pro players and higher skill ceiling means more interest in the competitive scene. More interest in the comp scene means more eyes on the game, means more people who may want to try the game and play it, means more casual players. Yes casual players make up like....98% of the playerbase, but through the competitive scene being broadcast on twitch in the tens of thousands like it has been, that's more potential new blood for the game. If the game doesn't reward practice, mechanical skill, and learning the inner mechanics of itself, the pros, who are VERY interested in this and improving their play, aren't gonna stick around. Pros don't stick around, there's no comp scene. No comp scene means they have to find other avenues to convince new players to play. Pros need casuals sure, but the casuals need the Pros and the crowds they bring as well.

Disagree if you want. That's just imo. I was firmly in the "game should cater to casuals" camp for a while but a short conversation I had with a streamer I support changed my mind.

Do I think pros/top players should be the SOLE source for feedback and all their ideas should be implemented? Absolutely the fuck not. As mentioned earlier, they approach and the view the game slightly differently because of comp play. I also don't think casuals should be solely listened to either. What can a person who plays the game for like...5 hours per week max tell you better than someone who plays for 20-40 hours per week. Not much.

But I DO think that given pro and top players' playtimes and experience with the game, their opinions should have more weight when it comes to considering changes to make to the game. Keyword here is CONSIDERING. The devs shouldn't implement every complaint any player has. But just keeping them in mind when decisions do need to be made.

#Apex Legends #blame tumblr formatting for the numbering

[surprisebitch]

my experience playing Arknights for one week

i said i wouldnt pick up another gacha... but i really had to find out i could re-roll for SilverAsh.. and fast forward, it has come to the point i really want to play this game a lot and love it that i have to talk about why it’s so good

GACHA ASPECTS

first, the gacha is generous. you will always get a 5-star from every banner within your first ten rolls. you can also buy a standard 5-star and/or 6-star operator from the shop with in-game currency you either have to farm or save for with yellow certificates. these come when you roll a new operator from the gacha or from a weekly game mode called Annihilation. they dont come easily though but you can save for them

you get to recruit new operators for free too, you just gotta wait every 7 hours and 40 minutes if you want a 3 to 5 star. then if you get a special tag, set it to 9 hours so you can get a guaranteed 4 or 5 star

Annihilation is a mode you can do to get originium, LMD, and battle records depending on how many enemies you kill in a single run. so the game incentivises you to power up your operators so you can roll more since.

the reason why you would probably whale or be made to roll and save is getting copies of the 6-star because the more copies you get, the more they’d be cheaper to deploy. that is not a necessity though. another is sanity/stamina. people buy gacha currency to either play more, farm more, or speed up factory production

every operator is viable including the lower rarity ones. so dont feel that you wasted on one leveling them because they would all be investments especially. dupes can also make them cheaper to deploy so the more copies you get for them, the more they would most likely be in your squad for a while. once you get more than 6 too, they become currency which you can use. also cheap to raise with early to mid-game investment. they also learn a trait which can be a great asset for your RIIC or base! for example a maxed out 2-star can have the best type of base buff

the husbandos albeit few are eye candy. i hope as time goes we get more new sexy male operators. but honestly, the advantage is it will be easier to save for their banners. there’s also no male tax because they arent underwhelming and are really great units. in fact the S+ tier unit to this date (in NA at least) is SilverAsh and he is a catboy husbando who you can re-roll for free. you wouldnt get to experience his full glory though until you’re far enough which is level-gated by a well-leveled arsenal of operators

SO MANY REWARDS and give-aways!!! like this game is so generous. it has a cumulative login, consecutive login, monthly login, weekly login, campaign login, and event login omg. you also get rewards from missions and leveling servants. so many incentives are given to power-up your servants. its so newbie and f2p friendly

GAMEPLAY

when you have to farm experience or materials, there’s the auto-deployment function. so if you perfectly cleared it (3/3 rating) without using a support, you can just start the node with the function and leave it on the background. this may not guarantee 100% success though as sometimes your operators could die from a stray crit but luckily you can take over if an error risk is detected. so you dont have to go through the tedious process of doing it all over again. you can also overwrite that error

the difficulty spike happens not too far into the story that you will be forced to level up your servants and try out different strategies going out your comfort zone. this includes improving your base, leveling specialists, etc. you’d also be encouraged or forced to think outside the box because some maps can make certain specialists shine, so dont underestimate your crowd-control and shift operators as they can make the defense easier.

the game is so flexible. there isnt a fixed strategy, it’s well-balanced where every team could flourish. it really depends either how properly leveled they are and your gameplay.

you cant get carried by an S-tier support and you are forced to be independent. for one, their max level is scaled to your highest level operator. a friend support can only go so far but it’s your whole squad that matters so make sure they’re all properly leveled and youre proactive in activating their skills, withdrawing one, replacing, managing timing, etc. also, clearing without a friend support is what will allow you to auto-farm the node

you can practice any fight! so if the node seems to be difficult, you get 30 free practices per day, so you can assess or simulate if your operators are ready for the challenge. and if by chance you fuck up your official run when you start it officially the first time, you can leave and the game refunds all the sanity/energy you used! it will only start deducting sanity the more you try so use your practice drills wisely

besides the tower defense main gameplay, there are many things you can do to diversify your experience from setting up your base, designing your dormitory in your base with furnitures, etc. managing your operators and maintaining efficiency and workflow. a great base is what will help you generate income and experience to level up your operaots

many materials but nothing too overwhelming. the game gives you a good idea and guides you on where to farm them or how to get them. you can just click the material and it will tell you where to get those if you have completed the map. it will also tell you what node to complete if you havent. so you will never get lost

ART and SOUND

the ART! it’s so pretty omg from the backgrounds to the operator designs. also despite being predominantly filled with waifu operators, their designs are not fanservice. there’s like hardly any tiddy window. their body proportions are realistic. they’re all dressed up practically for battle

the soundtrack is sooooo good! i really love the vibe even the home page. it’s relaxing to hear you can leave it on the background. the battle music is also really nice

STORY

it is really engaging!! it is rather a slow burn and everything seems to set up to a battle every time but it does not feel too repetitive as we learn new things and the game is able to make these encounters realistic and connected to the story. the events are fun and make you learn more operators who are featured too. it’s very thought-out

TL;DR:

there are so many aspects about Arknights that makes it a cleverly designed Tower Defense Game: generous rewards/gacha, interactive gameplay, well balanced operators, farming convenience, aesthetically pleasing art, etc. If you are looking for a game that will get your mind working, Arknights is so worth it. Give it a try cause I wish i joined sooner, but hey, it’s never too late!

(cred: artist)

#arknights #damn i WISH i played this sooner