#john langley tumblr

[john-langley-bristol-blogger]

Language, Gen X, LGBTPQRS - whatever!

Having already lived through 'ist' and 'ism' being tagged to almost everything by the millennials, my awareness of just how much our language has become diluted - When familiar terms misappropriated so as to become a catch-all, rather than being specific to origin became luminously apparent. This degeneration of a generation appears to have continued as if hereditary, with terms such as 'hatred' and 'hate speech' now having the broader translation of disagreeing by means of simply feeling offended, which, in itself, can mean all things to all people, as if, somehow, feeling offended is mandatory.

The fact that we were all born with free will and the ability to make choices seems to have been conveniently bypassed in favour of feelings towards something, or someone, and plain common sense that we would normally apply in such circumstances is bordering on non-existent nowadays. If I happen to strongly disagree with a female's perspective on something for example, then another catch-all term comes into play - 'misogyny,' and I'm somehow prejudiced against women. Utter bollocks!

I've also noticed quite starkly how nowadays it's become almost de rigueur for people to take it upon themselves to be offended on behalf of another, without realising just how patronising that can be in practice, with white, middle-class, young people engaging in a BLM march and it becomes all about them, and how they feel, when bizarrely they outnumber those who are black, as just one example. The overbearing sense of entitlement by Gen X in particular, from one point of view could be argued that it reflects a sense of freedom of expression and confidence in belief. Although conversely, there is also the perspective of this being more of an underlying insecurity in an increasingly less secure world Notice how terms such as 'crisis' and 'emergency' have become popularised so as to yet again be attributed to anything where 'situation,' or 'challenge' would otherwise suffice.

You see, going back a generation, or three, the pre-millennials were, by and large, brought up to be more robust, resilient, and stoic because pre- World War two it was almost embedded into the bloodline that nothing was handed down on a plate, there was no bank of mum and dad, parents were parents - and not 'friends' to their children: and nothing in life came easy. Now, while I'm no advocate for war, I cannot help but think that maybe another widescale war would hit the reset button. Because as things stand right now, if there was a war Gen X would be lining up to buy adult nappies off the shelves, so to speak.

It's become a very selfish world, I've noticed. A world of self-entitled, me-me's. None potentially worse than that faction of the LGBTPQR whatever movement: and more particularly the 'T' element. Now, to set out my stall from the get-go, I have absolutely nothing against trans people per se, for several years I had around 180 trams (MtF) friends who were regular visitors to my home and would come and stay for days at a time. On occasion, I've administered their hormone injections when asked and offered advice when relevant questions that would further enable and empower their journey forward were put to me.

To all intents and purposes, these were chics with dicks, and despite them all having received breast implants they were always very vocal as to still being male through bone density, pelvic shape, and muscular strength. Yet, see them in the street and you would absolutely believe that they were female in every sense. So, it came as no surprise that their comments towards what we see as Gen X, 'faux' trans, scruffy appearance wannabees, with facial growth while wearing a dress kind of gender centaurs, were less than favourable in content. Do people have the right to dress as they choose? Absolutely! It's arguably just their seemingly visual indolence that sets them apart from the 'real' trans people. So, if anyone chooses to dress like a female, good on them, just at the very least put some bloody effort into it because, generally speaking, women, for the most part, take pride in their appearance, wash their hair regularly, and don't go out looking like a WTF!

This, and other factors when it comes to Gen X heavily suggest a general malaise towards life where it's believed through learned helplessness, that self-entitlement is the magical key that opens the door to nearly everything, and in its naivety of such belief, the Gen x trans faction has created a degree of toxicity towards itself. Why? In the main because their entire world appears to be all about 'me'. Now, this is where we get down to 'brass tacks' interesting because it reverts back to language and how it's been manipulated to whatever collective narrative suits at that time, and it it doesn't fit people will soon find a way to shoehorn it in. So, people choose to 'identify' as …………

The keyword here is 'identity,' and identity is something we assume based on, for the most part anyway, the immediate environmental influences that we accept as most resonating with us as we grow through the various stages of our lives. So, as a for instance, when I was a child I clearly remember playing various roles as a doctor, fireman, soldier, and cowboy because those were the roles I identified with, largely due to television, and as I grew older my identities evolved again, and again, and again to where I am now as an older adult. However, identity does not make us who we are because identity is a construct: an idea or theory containing conceptual elements, and therefore entirely subjective because there is no empirical evidence to support it, other than it being someone's fantasy world: and based on life being a big stage in which we all play a part, the Gen X trans would be there in costume, and possibly look like something between the audition rejects of the Rocky Horror Show, and a drag queen's worst possible nightmare. Basically, the misfits.

Now, remember when I referred to the Gen X trans faction creating a "degree of toxicity towards itself"? Well, It will come as no great surprise that the reason for this is due to their mission creep to manipulate the law into believing that their concept is real. So, from that, my question is how can an entirely fictional concept ever be regarded as affording people equal rights, and the politicisation of such? Because if it does we're suddenly finding ourselves in a never-never land where the law of this country is concerned.

Let's say that tomorrow I decide to identify myself as a dwarf, and change my name by deed poll to 'Mini-Me.' Now even though I'm a little over six feet tall, as this would now be my legal identity, if anyone dared to challenge that I would be within my legal right to claim that I'm being discriminated against under the Act, and put forward an argument to say that compared to those who are far taller than me I'm dwarfed by comparison, because there is no counter-argument against that. It's an incontrovertible fact.

Okay, while I fully accept that was a random example straight off the top of my head while typing and there are far better examples of the point I'm making, you'll be intelligent enough, I hope, to envisage where I'm going with this.

There are people around the world who have paid thousands and thousands, if not their entire life savings to look like their favourite celebrity, and they'll walk, talk and adopt every possible mannerism of that person. Does it transform them into their favourite celebrity? Absolutely not.

Again, it's entirely conceptual. So, while I'm not in any way uncomfortable with people living the life they choose to live and for them to be happy with it, the message is for Gen X to check their egos and not get carried away with their delusional selves. Out of all the genuine trans people I've known, not one of them has ever made a big deal about it, would never dream of politicising it; or expecting some kind of special treatment by being trans. In fact, they are predominantly the most confident and happiest people among those I've met from all walks of life.

#john langley #bristol #john langley blog #john langley author #john langley bristol writer #trans community #john langley tumblr #death's door diaries #lgbtq community #lgbt pride #queer #queer community #nonbinary #gen x #gen xers #millennials #baby boomers #gen x here #self identity

[simply-ellas-stuff]

I remember hearing or reading once a criticism about The Tudors TV show [I don't remember who by but I think it was either from someone here on Tumblr or someone on Tiktok, dunno, don't quote me on where from] and their opinion on the whole Buckingham plot because "There was no living Duke of Buckingham during Henry 8's reign" and its always bugged me.

Did you forget about Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham?? Nephew of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV. Son of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (executed by Richard iii) and Katherine Woodville.

Dude was executed for treason in 1521. Henry personally gathered the evidence against him, he was tried before 17 people, and convicted. He was accused of listening to prophecy about the kings death and intending to kill the king.

Like yes, he's majorly fictionalized - technically and a shit load of key facts are missing from The Tudors portrayal but the guy did exist. He was executed by Henry.

In The Tudors, he claims to be a descendant of King Edward III, which means he has a claim to the throne, which is True. Edward III -> Thomas of Woodstock -> Anne of Glouster -> Humphrey Stafford (1st Duke of Buckingham) -> Humphrey Stafford (Earl of Stafford) -> Henry Stafford (2nd Duke of Buckingham) -> *Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham*.

And technically speaking, I do believe that does in fact give him a claim by blood, but Henry's father won the throne by battle then legitimized his claim via marrying Elizabeth of York - she herself a granddaughter of Edward III via his sons Lionel and Edmund :: Edward III -> Lionel of Antwerp (Duke of Clarence) -> Philippa (Countess of Ulster) -> Roger Mortimer (Earl of March) -> Anne de Mortimer [m. Richard of Conisburgh] -> Richard Plantagent (3rd Duke of York) -> Edward IV -> **Elizabeth of York** -> *Henry VIII*

/

Edward III -> Edmund of Langley (1st Duke of York) -> Richard of Conisburgh (Earl of Combridge) -> Richard Plantagent (3rd Duke of York) -> Edward IV -> **Elizabeth of York** -> *Henry VIII*.

And Henry ViI obviously had a claim himself from Edward III as well, but it was considered a 'weaker' claim because it came from his mother and not his father. Edward III -> John of Gaunt (Duke of Lancaster) -> John Beaufort (1st Earl of Somerset) -> John Beaufort (1st Duke of Somerset) -> Margaret Beaufort -> **Henry VII** -> *Henry VIII*.

They all have claim. Henry VIII's is older actually, because his claim come from the three elder siblings of Buckingham's claimant-ancestor. [Lionel of Antwerp, John of Gaunt, and Edmund of Langley were all older the Thomas of Woodstock].

And as far as I can tell, Buckingham was never actively going against Henry VIII, but he was charged for treason. He was executed. That was not made up.

The Tudors has a LOT wrong with its accuracy but you can find better things to complain about. This one, while very fictionalized and dramatized is technically accurate.

#The Tudors #The Tudors inaccuracies #The Tudors accuracies #Henry Viii #Henry viii of england #Henry Tudor #Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham

[incorrectxfiles]

Tag what you're majoring in/intend in majoring in

Scully: Respecting women

Mulder: Bat man

Reyes: Youtube

Skinner: In the tags guys

Krycek: Fuckin weed

William: W

Doggett: Criminal justice and psychology

Byers: I'm terrified I'll lock myself into an interest that I'll no longer be passionate about in a few years like all the other areas of study I've pursued over my life

Frohike: Minecraft

Langley: Minecraft as well

#submission #source: tumblr #dana scully #fox mulder #walter skinner #alex krycek #monica reyes #john dogget #william #richard langley #melvin frohike #john byers #thank you this is hilarious lmaoo

[fandomdancer]

Too Far

(Trying to be braver and posting work here on Tumblr.

Fandom: The Flash (Arrowverse)

Work in progress. Name edit: Roslyn's friend is named Gilbert (was originally Garrick). May change again.

Summary: Roslyn is having a fight with her best friend Gilbert. The topic is Eobard Thawne. Roslyn can't figure out why Gilbert is so focused on him. Gilbert can't believe Roslyn doesn't see what's right in front of her. And what happens when Gilbert's insulting of Eobard goes too far?)

______________________________________

(c. Fall 2168, Central City High School)

“He’s not the kinda guy you should be wastin’ time with.”

Gilbert stood close enough to her that the hairs on her body stood up and she could smell the detergent his clothes had been washed in. Normally, being cornered by Gilbert Haustveld was something most girls Roslyn’s age would enjoy. But she had the advantage of being his best friend for several years, and so his pouty lips and striking blue eyes did nothing to fuzz her brain or make her forget the argument they were currently having.

She ducked under him and grabbed his arm, dragging him away from the pillar and the group of curious students…a group that included the topic of their current conversation…listening in on them. “I don’t care,” she whispered, “who you think I should hang out with. I’m not part of any group or clique that has preexisting expectations.”

“He makes you look bad,” Gilbert pushed, not bothering to lower his voice.

“Oh please,” she scoffed. “Like anyone at this school cares about the image I portray. I’m a tree-hugger, remember? I don’t influence anyone.”

“He does,” Gilbert said. “He’s influencing you and you don’t even see it.”

Roslyn threw up her hands. "This is going beyond a friendly warning, Gilbert . What's your problem with him, really?"

"His parents had him genetically engineered." The words dripped with disdain as Gilbert spat them out, still uncaring of his volume. Roslyn tried to drag him further away, but he planted his feet. She swore softly and glared at him.

"Who cares?"

"Come on, Rosie, don't be thick. The technology's new enough that most of the plain Janes and Johns can't even consider it. Those that scrape together enough do it to stop their kids from being born brain deficient or from getting sick later on life. But the Thawnes? They not only gave 2.0 over there enhanced intelligence to make sure he wasn't average, but they added a specific look!! They literally engineered their heir to the empire, right down to the color of his hair and that cleft in his chin! You can't tell me that isn't disgusting."

Roslyn struggled not to look in Eobard's direction. "You mean to tell me that your parents, if given the opportunity, wouldn't do the same thing to you?"

"Please! My parents are human. They realize they have to take the responsibility of raising a son to respect and learn their business. They're not going to spend ridiculous amounts of money manufacturing a lifeless Ken doll with the right I.Q. so they don't have to be concerned about the harder parts of being a parent."

"Perhaps they should." Eobard's velvety voice broke into the conversation, making both of them jump and turn, Roslyn with a mortified look on her face and Gilbert with a smirk. "It's highly improbable that someone with your deficiencies will live up to anyone's expectations, parental or romantic."

Roslyn flinched as Gilbert's smug smirk vanished. The students around them 'ooooh'ed, making others turn to look.

"Just what is that supposed to mean, Bardo?" Gilbert sneered.

Eobard stepped gracefully up next to Roslyn, and she felt the heat of his hand hovering near the small of her back. It sent a strange tingle through her body, and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from shivering as her skin warmed. A strange look crossed Gilbert’s face, horror and betrayal and anger all mixed into a few micro-expressions that flashed by almost too fast to be seen. It was enough to bring Roslyn’s eyebrows together into a confused furrow. What just happened?

"My I.Q. far outstrips yours, so I'll be sure to use small words," Eobard said softly. "You. Are. A. Moron."

Gilbert swung. Eobard moved swiftly, shoving Roslyn backwards as the boy’s fist flew right past where she had been. It looked as though Eobard’s cheekbone was about to feel the full force of the punch, but the slender boy ducked smoothly, slipping around Gilbert’s other side. When he came back up, his haughty, smug expression had faded to a bone-chilling glare, his eyes sparking with an awakened power and his clenched jaw showing the beginning of bared teeth. Whooping erupted around them as the students circled up, eagerly anticipating the fight.

"Face me!" Eobard still managed to speak in a purr, but now the fury in his voice made the air crackle around them. "You'll see, Haustveld, that I am anything but...lifeless."

Gilbert didn’t hesitate, lunging forward. Eobard braced, his lips pulling apart into a mad grin that sent chills down Roslyn’s spine. She opened her mouth to scream at Gilbert to stop, but in the next instant Eobard had shifted his weight and was twisting sideways as Gilbert barreled straight through where he had been a moment before. The students dodged wildly in every direction to get out of his way, and in the blink of an eye Eobard was beside Roslyn again, his hand now very boldly on the small of her back and his lips by her ear, whispering. “We need to go.”

The feel of his breath on her skin sent a paralyzing wave of goosebumps over her, and when she looked up, his face was much too close to make sense. She pushed her words through, determined to defend Gilbert no matter how deserving he was of Eobard’s insult. “My friend isn’t a moron, Eo. He’s wrong about you but he isn’t---”

The impact cut off her words, Gilbert’s shoulder slamming into her and shoving her aside as he tackled Eobard. Roslyn tried to shift her weight to keep her balance, but her foot came down on a rock and her ankle twisted wildly. With a cry of pain, she fell to the ground, her mind briefly blanking out from the shock and surprise.

Heavy thumps and thuds filled the air nearby, punctuated by grunts and groans of pain. The two boys were tussling only a few feet from her, Gilbert pinning Eobard to the ground and raining blows onto the boy’s chest and head. The students cheered them on, with a few of them shooting Roslyn sympathetic, concerned looks. She struggled to sit up, her ankle throbbing harder with the motion, and she put her hands around it, wishing she could stop the pain.

“How dare you?” Eobard suddenly roared. Roslyn looked over to see both of them looking at her, Eobard with growing rage and Gilbert with a dawning expression of horror.

“Come at me all you want!” Eobard growled before pulling his fist back and smashing it into the side of Gilbert’s face. “But. Don’t. Touch. Her.” Each word was punctuated by a fist, pounding the words home, until Gilbert was scrambling to get off of him and Eobard was rolling and springing to his feet. Before Gilbert could regain his balance Eobard had tackled him, knocking him flat on his back. The smaller boy straddled him, and then brought his fists down. He didn’t punch Gilbert’s face, but rather his stomach, his solar plexus, and his neck. He even boxed his ears, turning the boy beneath him into a choking, writhing mess, too stunned to fight back.

Teachers were now fighting to get between the students, some of whom were too engrossed in the action to register that authorities had arrived. Others started yelling: “Teacher, teacher!” and ran.

“Thawne! Haustveld! Break it up!” Mr. Corio had no hesitation about grabbing Eobard and bodily hauling him off of the coughing Gilbert. Ms. Steinway ran to Roslyn, helping her up. Roslyn allowed the world to sink into a cacophony of sound and swirling images as she tried to master the agony slicing through her ankle up her leg. She managed to look over at Gilbert, who was restrained by Mr. Langley. He was still wheezing for breath, his fists weakly swinging at the air, his brain unwilling to accept that the fight was over. Mr. Corio was restraining Eobard, who was favoring his right foot as blood dripped from his nose and mouth. One of his eyes was beginning to swell closed and a bruise was darkening his cheekbone. But his good eye was locked on Gilbert, and the hatred burning in it was palpable.

“This isn’t over!” he snarled.

“K…kill…you!” Gilbert shouted back, choking on the words.

“Enough!” Mr. Corio yelled, shaking Eobard and making him groan in pain. “Both of you, cool it, now!”

“He sta….-started….started…”

“You started it!” Roslyn shouted, cutting Gilbert off, outraged by his feeble attempt to shift the blame. “You tried to hit me!”

“Not….you! Him!”

“Everyone quiet!” Mr. Langley interjected, his soft voice a surprising entry into the conversation. “We will sort all of this out. Right now, all three of you are going to the nurse’s office and if any of you try anything, all three of you will be suspended. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Mr. Langley,” Roslyn murmured.

“Yeah,” Gilbert breathed.

“Sure,” Eobard said.

#oc: roslyn sherwood #eobard thawne #the flash #the flash fanfiction #fanfiction #work in progress #wip #oc: gilbert haustveld

[archasquirrel]

Sorry for the awkward trimming ^^; Wanted it to be able to fit into a tumblr-friendly size, but if you wanna see it in its whole form, here’s the link to the deviantART post!  Anywho, been a while since my last sketchdump and to say they’ve piled up is an understatement xD Credits under the cut! Hoping to eventually get some of these done ^^;

Some of these are paintings of real people so uhhhhh not gonna include them in the credits?? XD idk lol

Brown AU OC, Eevee OC, Annabelle, Brooklyn, Iris, Squirrel, Lilly, Darci, Keith, Jo'Vasha, Brent, Purple, Katie, Raziel, Krasnyy, Beth, Fyrah, art (c) Me

Twelve, Clara, Doctor Who (c) BBC

Pokemon (c) Nintendo

Langley, Frohike, Byers, Mulder, Scully, The X Files (c) Chris Carter

Deacon, Fallout, Skyrim (c) Bethesda

Supernatural (c) Eric Kripke

Dragon Age (c) BioWare

Wings of Fire (c) Tui T. Sutherland

Jul (c) PersephoneMuse

Lucifer / Morningstar (c) Vertigo, Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Tom Kapinos (plus a load others <3)

Deacon St. John, Days Gone (c) SIE Bend Studio and Sony

Quentin, A Nightmare on Elm Street (c) Wes Craven, Wesley Strick, Eric Heissere, and Samuel Bayer

Kagome, InuYasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

Hades, Lore Olympus (c) Rachel Smythe

#TripleAArt #TripleASketches #Among Us #Fanart #art #digital art #sketches #Eevee #Pokemon #Annabelle #Brooklyn #Iris #Squirrel #Lilly #Darci #Keith #Jo'Vasha #Brent #Brown #Purple #Katie #Raziel #Krasnyy #Beth #Fyrah #Hiisihound #OC #Dragon Age #Fallout #Skyrim

[twiststreet]

I don’t think this is really a story about Tom King.

UPDATED HERE. SEE RESPONSE HERE.  

I.  TRAINED TO BE GHOSTS

So, the other day, DC Comics announced a new publishing initiative called DC Rebirth.  

(The other day was 2016).

And when DC Rebirth was announced, DC also announced that the new writer of one of the Batman comics would be a fellow named Tom King.  

What struck me as a little daffy at that time about the DC Rebirth hype was that it wasn't trumpeting King as a wordsmith with a track record of praised books under his belt. King had a respectable reputation at that point, books received with some polite applause, a critical mass that they could've focused on.  

But instead of focusing on any of that, the announcement was instead that “King will be using his experience in counter-terrorism to bring new threats to Gotham.”

Counter-terrorism was the centerpiece for how King’s Batman work was promoted.  For example, Newsarama published an article entitled "REBIRTH BATMAN Writer TOM KING On His Own 'Rebirth' From C.I.A. To Comic Books," where King explained that he was 

"... supposed to go into law school and then 9/11 happened and I did this CIA thing.   [...] I was big into counter-terrorism, loved going overseas and that’s a very good job and very rewarding, but I had a kid and to be really good at that job, you have to be around 15 hours a day. With the counter-terrorism you have to be able to go 24/7. So those were the options I was looking at."

The interviewer was awed by King's counter-terrorism credentials, asking some perfectly lovely questions like "Were you at headquarters in Langley" and "given your past as a C.I.A. operative, the stress level has to be somewhat lesser than that, right?"

In other words, rather than ask King about his plans for Batman, comic interviewers were asking him to judge the job of writing The Batman on a scale of 1 to CIA counter-terrorism.

This is “a thing”, now.  I remember seeing a lot of fans excited about how Charles Soule was an Actual Lawyer.  Fans similarly seemed overly-excited that Gerard Way was formerly in some ska band. Or if I understand recent comics news correctly, a lot of fans are thrilled that comic books about talking toads are being created by a Real Life Cryptofascist.  Fans suddenly want comic creators to have impressive resumes outside of comics now-- perhaps a logical consequence of an era of aggressive comic creator self-branding.  

And so King mentioned his CIA credentials often. It was part of his whole sales pitch to comic fans -- it was why he was qualified to write about their favorite heroes.

But as I was reading all this hype about how Tom King's past in the CIA had prepared him to write Batman comics, I found myself asking myself a pretty simple question:

Did I really believe that Tom King was an actual CIA agent?

II.  RED LIGHT!  GREEN LIGHT!

By 2016, I'd spent some time writing a kind of schlocky psuedo-commentary on comic news.  

None of this writing was very impressive or interesting, according to Very Serious Comic Fans on the internet.  If you missed it, you suffered no great loss.  But I had wanted to explore the following premise: that maybe there was a toxic stew around the North American comic book industry of dishonesty, male insecurity, neediness, relentless careerism, selfishness, and silence, that (a) encouraged and excused bad conduct and (b) was therefore ultimately more significant in understanding why so many comics are terrible than anything one could learn reviewing some inconsequential issue of the Discourteous Avengers.

And it had turned out that there was plenty to write about.  Constant sex scandals-- the grodiest kind, frequently overlooked by the same comics creators who lectured fans online day after day.  Intellectual property theft, that comic creators happily participated in.  People claiming they were at the vanguard of creator rights, who had ripped off their co-creators.  Creepy "male allies" and other curious, charmless do-gooders. 

Dumb scams.  Lazy writing.  Bad apologies.  

It all grew very tiresome.  I’d rather review some issue of the Discourteous Avengers now, please and thank you.

But did I believe Tom King was a CIA agent?  

*Could* I believe that after what I'd written about?

...But of course, what did it matter what I believed?  

Did it matter if I found it all a little odd, that some funny-book writer would super-casually volunteer that he had a history of being a CIA counter-terrorism agent just to sell Batman comics?  

Of course, it didn’t matter.

After all, it's not like I could write a letter to the CIA, asking them if Tom King was a spook!

...

I'm not a Republic serial villain.  

I wrote to the CIA nearly three years ago.

III. THE LIST IS IN THE OPEN

I prepared a letter, and I faxed it into the CIA.  I did it for the only reason really worth doing anything-- I thought it'd make for a good goof for my prestigious tumblr blog.  Here's my letter:

And perhaps you'll notice something in my letter-- something that I had noticed when researching the topic:  

People do this!  

People make up being in the CIA for personal benefit.  And they don't just do it in small ways-- they go on FOX NEWS-- they lie big-- they lie that they're ex-CIA in spectacular ways, and at a spectacular cost.   It's kooky, but this is a thing that happens.  

It happens so often that it has its own name:  "Stealing Valor."  

And if this is a thing that happens, I guess that means you can't just take people at their word when they say they've been in the CIA.  I guess...?

So, that evening, I sent my paranoid little letter off to the CIA.  Then, I had dinner, and then I went to sleep, not expecting anything.  

Heck, I probably forgot that I'd even sent it-- it was just a moment of tumblr-spurred mirth, after all.  I had the notion that the CIA won't actually tell you who its Secret Agents are.  If you've ever wondered if Tom King was fibbing about his CIA career, you probably didn't take that extra step of writing the CIA because (a) you have that same notion, that being a Secret Agent is, uh, a secret, and (b) unlike me, you tragically don't have a sufficiently prestigious tumblr blog that you needed goofs for.  

But I needed that goof-fuel, darling. 

I certainly didn't expect the CIA to write back!

...

Then, the CIA wrote back:

First, let me note that it's an extremely odd feeling to get a letter in the mail from the CIA.  I always assumed the CIA didn't communicate with people by ordinary mail. Based on a lifetime of bad movies, I just assumed that if I ever spoke with the CIA, they'd have a man in a black trenchcoat meet me in a park.  Or I’m brown, so maybe I assumed that I would meet with the CIA under more “caged” circumstances. 

I never imagined the closest my life would come to a spy novel would be “I got a form letter about a Batman writer”.

You kind of do a little "am I on camera?  Is this a Jamie Kennedy experiment?" move before opening an envelope that has “The CIA” on it, too, which is great fun.  All in all, I recommend having the experience.  

Also an “extremely odd feeling”?  

"We do not have a record of the individual."

.... what?

But wait.  Wait-- wait!

There had been news articles.  News articles about how he was in the CIA! Actual journalists had looked at this-- not just schlocky commentariat that the Very Serious Comic Fans on the internet frowned upon.  Real, entertainment journalists-- the kind that write recaps of TV shows!  

Entertainment journalism-- that's a proper thing, right?  Isn’t that a thing?

This was an e-mail exchange I had in April 2016 with a journalist for a general-audience internet publication-- not a writer for a comics-focused website.  Let me type out the interesting bit, in case that’s a little fuzzy for you:

He and Geoff Johns mentioned that he’d worked for the CIA during the creators announcement at WonderCon.  From that, I did an interview with Tom at the convention.  It was a quick turnaround.  All of it was taken at his word and supported by DC.  There have been comic press articles in the past mentioning that background, though it wasn’t the main focus.  If you have reasons to believe his claims aren’t true, I’d be interested in hearing.

Oh dear, "entertainment journalism" might not actually be a thing, you guys!

This was an e-mail to someone who had written an article with the word “CIA” literally in its headline, essentially asking me (a random person e-mailing them) if perhaps *I had any information* about whether Tom King was really in the CIA.  

Is that how journalism is supposed to work?  I suppose that I don’t know.  What the hell do I know about journalism? I just know what you know-- that if you have lunch with Bari Weiss, apparently the thrilling taste of a shrimp salad sandwich and the pleasure of her company will somehow magically make you forget how completely noxious and toxic her contribution to public life is.  

But maaaaaaybe, instead of “entertainment journalism,” all we really have are clickbait farms that are so desperate for "content" that they put a minimal effort into any kind of fact-checking, in order to more quickly churn out articles.  In which case, we can't rely on any of the shit that gets published as actually having journalistic merit, as having been checked or double-checked, as having been vetted or verified-- especially when it comes to a "who really gives a shit?" industry like comics, since the point of the articles is just to generate clicks from a historically disrespected audience, not to challenge them.  

And maaaaaaybe that's a situation getting infinitely worse since even talking about the wrong guy could get you sued, including where comics are concerned.

But wait, wait, wait, wait-- look, there's DC Comics.  The entertainment journalist I had contacted said DC supported King’s story-- Geoff Johns himself had vouched for that story.  It’s not like DC would do all that without checking-- right?  It's not like DC Comics would allow one of its star writers to steal valor-- right??? 

Sure, we could say DC Comics has an imperfect history when it comes to "women" or "treating women like human beings" or "looking the other way for years and years after getting complaints that its employees mistreat women" or "hey they never fired any of the high-level executives who looked the other way for years and years while one of their editors preyed upon women, even though those high-level executives had thereby created an unwritten company policy to tolerate and thus ratify sexual misconduct, irreversibly damaging the culture around comics". 

Heck, we'd all say that they’re terrible people enabled by cowards, where that topic is concerned.  All of us.  Every single one of us.  No hesitation.

But who is saying that DC Comics has a history of not catching that one of its writers was lying about having served his country?  

...Oh, except True Believers might remember:  DC Comics tooooootally has a history of failing to catch that one of its writers had lied about having served his country! 

Back in about 2004, there was a comic called Stormwatch, and the writer of that comic claimed to have liberated Panama while working for the Army Rangers.  All of which was true, except (whoopsie-doozy!) for the part about a comic book writer having liberated Panama while working for the Army Rangers, because duuuuuhhhh of course that wasn't true-- were you dopers all stoned on grass??? He was some frumpy comic nerd; that was obvious bullshit; he got caught (though not by DC, who did not give a shit, not enough to check); it was remarkably embarrassing.

But this is completely different than that.  

This isn't some comic guy ridiculously claiming to have liberated Panama while being an Army Ranger.  

This is a comic guy claiming to have liberated Iraq while being a CIA Counter-terrorism agent.  

Completely different!

But wait a second, Tom King also wrote for Marvel Comics.  And it's not like Marvel comics has a history of letting writers lie about who they are...  

...except for when Marvel's editor-in-chief lied about who he was, when bizarrely impersonating an Asian man, astonishingly without there being any real consequence for having done that, whatsoever.

So... 

...

... what?

IV.  RELAX YOUR CRACK, FOGHORN

Anyways, after I got this letter from the CIA, nearly three year passed. 

(Let's just say if your question as you read this is "why didn't you do better comics journalism", the very most I am able to answer that question at the moment is to just wave my hand vaguely at those three years and then kind of shrug confusedly. The reasons for that will presently have to remain as secret as the truth about the CIA’s contact with UFO’s).

Three years is enough time to take a deep breath.

Is this letter I received from the CIA three years ago evidence of... anything, really?  

The answer is obviously no.  

After all, the CIA also checked a box that says "A release was not provided from the individual.  Please provide his/her authorization and resubmit the request."

Because my letter didn't attach some kind of release from Tom King authorizing the release of his personal information, perhaps the CIA was not in a position to really answer my question. Maybe they have to say they don’t know an employee if the employee hasn’t provided a release. Who knows?  I don't know how the CIA works.  What do I know about the CIA???  I just know what you know-- that George HW Bush had them invent AIDS.

Obviously, some form letter plus me fussing about comics history are alone not sufficient evidence to conclude anything.  Not really.

Or when the CIA suggests that it doesn’t know anyone named “Tom King” -- heck, maybe he didn't use the name Tom King while he worked for the CIA.  Maybe he had a cool spy name, like spies have in the James Bond movies.  Maybe the CIA knows Tom King only by his Official Spy Name of Patty Myvagina or Vani LlaNipples.  Or maybe Tom King is just his pen name, and his real name is Tommy Godemperor-- maybe Tom King is his more humble pen name.  

Or maybe the CIA forgot who Tom King was-- maybe the CIA was just really hammered while he worked for them.  Bitch, you don't know the CIA's life-- you don't get to judge us!

Or after that Stormwatch fracas, maybe DC Comics actually learned a lesson and put in place some kind of system (any kind!) to make sure none of its writers were possibly engaged in stealing valor before supporting and vouching for their service, rather than just trusting in the “moral character of comic book writers.”  Maybe that's a no-brainer that they should have such a policy given their history of dealing with some rather scummy-sounding individuals. And therefore, maybe it'd be extremely unusual if they were unable to answer (a) whether such a policy existed or (b) how Tom King's claims about being in the CIA were checked on by them (if at all).  Maybe that’s what this story would actually be about, in an ideal world!  

(Put me down as being hypothetically curious about that, if anybody wants to ask, as I would sure expect that DC would be extremely cooperative with promptly answering such reasonable questions!)

If you stop and think, there's a million reasons why some CIA form letter is potentially meaningless-- a million ways  I could be made to look offensively stupid, in short order.  Pay stubs!  Medals and certificates!  Employee ID!  Friends from the service!  Or maybe the CIA already has said something contrary to their form letter, that I somehow missed, or Tom King put some evidence out already that I’m blissfully unaware of.  All in all, Tom King and/or his super-fans can most probably make me look very small and very foolish, very easily.

So am I saying you should not believe Tom King’s story or “official” biography? No, I am unable to say that, and am definitively not saying that, at this time. You are urged to continue to believe whatever it is you may have believed heretofore.

(Based upon the foregoing, and in order to make the foregoing again 100% clear, here is a little DISCLAIMER, affirming that I am neither stating nor implying that I have any substantive knowledge of any unique kind as to Tom King's affiliations with the CIA or the veracity of his representations relating thereto, or DC Comics's actions with respect to that subject, or the knowledge of any party in relation therewith.  At best, I am offering only mere opinions on this topic (which I understand to be a matter of public interest) and in fact, my ultimate opinion on this topic is that any documents attached hereto are unreliable.  Such documents and opinions are presented herein purely for entertainment purposes, and not to be relied on beyond the purposes presented herein, within these United States or elsewhere, from now until the end of time.  I am further adding that though I have quite disliked the one or two Tom King comics I have read at present date and may have said so in an animated fashion for entertainment purposes, I have no personal malice towards Mr. King and in fact, wish him the best, in all of his future endeavors.  Nothing contained herein shall be deemed as a waiver of any of my rights at law or in equity, all of which are hereby expressly reserved).

V.  A RADAR TOWER IN ALASKA

And so once this gets properly snope-d, (*if* that should happen... shrugs confusedly), it’s more likely than not that 

the CIA's form letter will be proven to be an innocent mix-up; 

my suspicions will be proven paranoid, disgraceful, dull;

DC will be happy to explain all the things they did to properly investigate Tom King's claims before vouching for them in the media;

I'll somehow be made to look even more buffoonish than ever before-- which is no small feat.  

It will be a great day for everybody -- except terrorists, who would have to continue to fear the writer of The Batman, day and night.  

(And I guess I'll have made an enemy of a counter-terrorism specialist-- Jack Bauer might take a break writing about the Penguin to set up a perimeter around my one-bedroom apartment.  That might suck, but wheeeee, life's an adventure!)  

But regardless of what happens next, regardless of what embarrassment may be coming my way, I will say this:  watching Tom King for the last three years, and getting to ask "But What if He Weren't" has been delightful. Just getting to ask that question has been a gift.    

“There used to be a bounty on my head from the fucking Taliban-- I can deal with a few Twitter followers.”

These quotes have been weirdly entertaining for me, in a very dark kind of way, difficult to verbalize.  I've gotten to see these (possibly innocuous) statements as fun clues to a Mystery that other people weren't even trying to solve. Does this sound like a real-life CIA Agent to the rest of you??  How am I the only person going “W-w-wait a second” here??? But maybe that is what a CIA agent sounds like-- probably that’s what we ultimately learn from all this!  After everything, why would I expect the Deep State would sound any better than that???  Wheee!

It has been a singular experience for which I am enormously grateful to the CIA and Mr. King.  It’s been a real crack-up.

The part that I actually keeping coming back to, though, the part that's been the most interesting part for me hasn't been what job some guy had before writing Batman.  No, the part I keep coming back to is the part we started at: 

Why do comic fans want Batman to be written by a CIA agent?  

Why is that a selling point?

"What does it take to be good at writing?  Oh, a career in counter-terrorism."  -- Charles Dickens.  

Wait, wait, he never said that because that's not a thing people go around saying!

And yet comic fans seem to believe it. Why?  

Counter-terrorism experience has very little to do with the job of crafting characters, believable dialogue, solid plotting, interesting page layouts, etc.  I don’t read his comics, but I’m not sure I understand how dreaming up “What if Batman got engaged to Catwoman?” ever necessarily required a jaunt to Mahmoudiyah, how one informs the other. It just seems to be a non-sequitur.   

During those same nearly-three years, some left-leaning guy was fired from writing GI Joe, allegedly because he clumsily expressed some (very dumb sounding) 9/11 sentiment online (though IDW disputed that).  And Marvel Comics during that same time tried to publish a team-up comic with military contractor Northrup Grumman, that it had to cancel after a backlash.  

Maybe for comics fans, having a leftist write G.I. Joe wasn't America enough, the Northrup Grumman comic book was too-America in ways that it's uncomfortable to think about, while the guy who writes Batman being a CTU agent is just America-enough, in some kind of psycho Goldilocks scenario.  

I subscribe to a certain level of "Support the Troops", at least as I define that phrase for myself.  I don't know how positively I feel about the CIA's history generally or in Iraq specifically (some of that torture stuff sounded pretty uncool!)-- I don’t know what I make of our foreign policies generally. But I had a Midwestern upbringing and as such, I suppose that I do believe to some extent in certain old-fashioned ideas about sacrifice and there being a respect owed that. At least, I had a friend who didn’t quite survive Iraq, not really, so I feel a certain way about that. And perhaps that’s a feeling or an experience shared by many comics fans.  

But my gut's saying that's not the whole story, though, about why fans would get so turned on by the idea of a CIA Batman writer.  

Comics-- you pick up sometimes on a lot of messy relationships with the concept of masculinity.  People might not remember, but comics used to have these utterly grotesque message boards where comic people would yell "LOOK AT ME, I LOVE WHISKEY" at each other, night after night, role-playing He-Man at each other.  And it certainly bleeds into the contents-- it's a lot of characters solving problems through fight scenes; a lot of orphans who never knew their dads because OH EXQUISITE PAIN; a lot of women who have to die because they don't understand how hard it is to Man.  Ahhhh, to Man-- so difficult! 

You pick up on this being a hobby particularly beloved by people with damaged relationships with their father figures.  

Maybe a story about the writer of Batman being a CIA agent gives those fans some feeling of being macho-adjacent, that fills some hole for them, that satisfies some fantasy, for reasons maybe too dark to really talk about much.  

VI. THIS TAPE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT

But I don’t think this is really a story about Tom King.  

When you look at the whole structure of things, when you look at How the World Is, with comics, with anything...

How much do you see a system that can be easily gamed?  

Put another way:  do you believe you live in a world where people have it in them to be dishonest?  Do you live in an ecosystem that gives people a motive to lie?  

And if so, do you believe you live in a world where our systems work, and our institutions work, a world where dishonest people will be caught and not allowed to promulgate falsehoods without being stopped?  Do you believe you live in a world with journalism in it and not just hot takes?  Do you believe you live in a world where anyone's checking the hype, besides creeps on tumblr who Very Serious Comic Fans all gave up on eons ago?

Do you believe you live in a world where the truth matters to anyone?

And if not, if your answer to any of these questions is no, then who do you trust? Who can you trust if you fear that you live in a world where dishonesty is a winning strategy?  Why trust anyone?  Why trust anything?

I'm not a comics journalist (generally)-- comics journalism probably just gets you sued.  And to the extent I might have liked for actual "comics journalism" to have been done here, (waves hands at three years and shrugs confusedly).  

But maybe we can both at least marvel at what's possible, how much might be possible, in these confused times, among these sometimes-troubling people.  All the bizarre and uncanny possibilities, in this strange place where we hope we are awake.

UPDATED HERE. SEE RESPONSE HERE.

#Worst Hobby or Worstest Hobby? #Nerd Business.

[castoffcrown]

Here is my entirely-too-late and favourites-poorly-collaged roundup from what I finished reading in October, in order of when I completed them. Asterisk = fav. Here's the whole list: Spider-Island: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, issues 1-3 by Antony Johnston Batman: Last Knight on Earth by Scott Snyder Kaijuu no 8, vol. 4 by Naoya Matsumoto Blue Period, vols. 1-2 by Tsubasa Yamaguchi* Grappler Baki, vols. 1-2 by Keisuke Itagaki Diamond no Ace, vols 9-10 by Yuji Terajima Star Wars: High Republic, vol. 1 by Cavan Scott Dr. Stone, vols. 2-5 by Boichi & Riichiro Imagaki* The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Captain America vs Iron Man: Security, Psychology by Travis Langley, et al Lilith by Sirius Tenohira no Netsu, vols 1-2 by Eiichi Kitano BRZRKR, vol 1 by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt Yozakura-san Chi no Daisakuseu, vol 2 by Hitsuji Gondaira Seven Killers by Gu Long Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn* Initial D, vol 4 by Shinichi Shigeno* Soldat by Siegfried Knappe* The Black Hawks by David Wragg* Dragon Daddy Diaries, vol 1 by Aneko Kaeruda The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green* The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin Chainsaw Man, vol 6 by I Forgot To Look This One Up But You Probably Already Know About This One A Madman's Diary Lu Xun* Grifter, issues 1-3 by Steven Grant 100 Prized Poems by William Sieghart, et al Asylum by Mark Allen Gunnels Amazing Spider-Man, vol 4 by Dan Slott Daredevil: The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller Clown In A Cornfield by Adam Cesare Overall, I'm happy with my reading at the minute and glad to see I only broke my New Year's Resolution to get my Average Pages Read on @goodreads higher than last year, in October. #bookstagram #booksta #booksbooksbooks #books (at Halifax, West Yorkshire) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWnyykIMsd4/?utm_medium=tumblr

#bookstagram #booksta #booksbooksbooks #books

[mandarake-en]

★Mandarake Latest Store Topics★ August 21 12pm Update Nakano - 2F - Cosplay-kan - Everyday Auctions Information - It has sent a 'PEACH JOHN / PJ × EVA / Evangelion / Reshiidoresu / Asuka Langley model / black / M size' https://t.co/8ii3NBM6rO #Mandarake https://t.co/TWPDVFakWu Mandarake Twitter: http://twitter.com/mandarake_en Mandarake Facebook: http://facebook.com/mandarake (Automated Tumblr Post)

#Mandarake #Japan #anime #manga #toys

[jamest541975]

Reposted from @bdisgusting Universal Pictures has teamed up with Peacock to close a $400 million-plus “megadeal” to buy a new Exorcist trilogy, reports The New York Times. “Donna Langley, the film studio’s chairwoman, teamed with Peacock, NBCUniversal’s fledgling streaming service, to make the purchase, which is expected to be announced this week, according to three people briefed on the matter. These people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the still-private deal, said the price was in the vicinity of the $465 million that Netflix paid in March for two sequels to the 2019 whodunit Knives Out. Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton, Knives Out 2) will star in a new Exorcist trilogy that is confirmed to be directed by David Gordon Green. “I’m telling you that ‘thing’ upstairs isn’t my daughter.” In more surprising news, Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn will reprise her role as Chris MacNeil from the 1973 classic, mother to the possessed and tortured Regan MacNeil (played by inda Blair). As for story details, “Odom Jr. will play the father of a possessed child. Desperate for help, he tracks down Ms. Burstyn’s character.” The casting confirms this new Exorcist trilogy won’t be a remake but a successor, similar to what Green did with John Carpenter’s Halloween. Green went on record about the film just last week. Blumhouse is producing with Morgan Creek Entertainment. The first film in the trilogy is expected to arrive in theaters in late 2023, adds the site. “Under the terms of the deal, the second and third films could debut on Peacock, according to one of the people briefed on the matter.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CRzn15KMvAc/?utm_medium=tumblr

[deadlinecom]

[nasa]

This Week @ NASA--April 14, 2017

Cassini and the Hubble Space Telescope, two of our long-running missions, are providing new details about the ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Hubble's monitoring of plume activity on Europa and Cassini's long-term investigation of Enceladus are laying the groundwork for our Europa Clipper mission, slated for launch in the 2020s. Also, Shane Kimbrough returns home after 171 days aboard the Space Station, celebrating the first Space Shuttle mission and more!

Ocean Worlds

Our two long-running missions, Cassini and the Hubble Space Telescope,  are providing new details about “ocean worlds,” specifically the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. 

The details – discussed during our April 13 science briefing – included the announcement by the Cassini mission team that a key ingredient for life has been found in the ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus. 

Meanwhile, in 2016 Hubble spotted a likely plume erupting from Jupiter’s moon Europa at the same location as one in 2014, reenforcing the notion of liquid water erupting from the moon.

These observations are laying the groundwork for our Europa Clipper mission, planned for launch in the 2020s.

Welcome Home, Shane!

Shane Kimbrough and his Russian colleagues returned home safely after spending 173 days in space during his mission to the International Space Station.

Meet the Next Crew to Launch to the Station

Meanwhile, astronaut Peggy Whitson assumed command of the orbital platform and she and her crew await the next occupants of the station, which is slated to launch April 20.

Student Launch Initiative

We’ve announced the preliminary winner of the 2017 Student Launch Initiative that took place near our Marshall Space Fight Center, The final selection will be announced in May. The students showcased advanced aerospace and engineering skills by launching their respective model rockets to an altitude of one mile, deploying an automated parachute and safely landing them for re-use.

Langley’s New Lab

On April 11, a ground-breaking ceremony took place at our Langley Research Center for the new Systems Measurement Laboratory. The 175,000 square-foot facility will be a world class lab for the research and development of new measurement concepts, technologies and systems that will enable the to meet its missions in space explorations, science and aeronautics.

Yuri’s Night

Space fans celebrated Yuri’s Night on April 12 at the Air and Space Museum and around the world. On April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagrin became the first person to orbit the Earth.

Celebrating the First Space Shuttle Launch

On April 12, 1981, John Young and Bob Crippin launched aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-1 a two-day mission, the first of the Shuttle Program’s 30-year history.

Watch the full episode:

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

#sts-1 #yurisnight #yurigagarin #studentlaunchinitiative #spacestation #shanekimbrough #oceanworlds #nasa

[personal-stxff-blog]

The Phoenix

Hey everyone! So, here’s another x-files college au with a weird twist. It’s also on AO3 so I’ll link that here (so far there’s seven chapters but I’ll post them all up here in one bulk - sorry ‘bout that). If anyone on here is interested I’ll continue to update on Tumblr, although I might do that anyway to be honest. Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Here you go! 

It wasn’t Mulder’s idea of a great night out, but they dragged him along anyway.

Ringo had been the one to suggest going, and for once Melvin had actually agreed to one of his ideas. John seemed impartial and rolled with what they were saying. Fox, however, wasn’t too keen on it. They had pored over movies on TV and at the cinema - nothing. None of them were hungry and the angry old farmer at the top of the hill had caught them UFO-spotting a few nights ago and had told them that if they came back one more time he’d set his dogs on them. It didn’t seem to leave them many more options.

“I just don’t see why,” Mulder huffed. “Since when have you guys been into brawling and street fighting? In fact, when have any of you cared about any variety of sport?” Ringo Langley - who, like the other two, preferred to be addressed by his last name - grinned and tapped his nose.

“Ever since we started watching Gladiators,” Frohike sighed, smiling to himself. “Natalie Lennox is an absolute babe.” Langley glanced up from his computer with a frown, opening his mouth to protest immediately.

“Uhh, have you seen Marisa Peré?” he argued. “She was the original Lace -and she was the best!”

“Lennox is way hotter - what are you talking about?” Frohike persisted, throwing his hands up dramatically. “And besides...”

Mulder tuned out the sound of their ceaseless bickering as he approached the crumpled poster on Frohike’s desk. It was torn and dog-eared from some sort of excessive reference which Mulder preferred not to consider. “Got what it takes?” was slapped at the top of the paper in vibrant red writing. He continued down the page, skimming through the information. “The Combat Zone proudly presents...Fight-And-Fantasy REDUX!...Old and new acts every week...sign up if you think you’ve got what it takes...winner wins $500, losers win a broken nose...$10 a ticket. The more the merrier.” Mulder shook his head in disbelief. Did he really have nothing else to do but waste ten bucks watching a bunch of amateur fighters and scantily-clad women beating each other up?

Apparently so. The argument had been cleared and the three boys were reaching for their coats by the door. Byers glanced back at him hopefully. “You coming, Mulder?” With an internal sigh, he nodded, grabbing his jacket from the chair behind him. How bad could it really be?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pretty bad.

They were stuck in a stuffy room with crowds of people who were primarily drunk or terrifying - sometimes they found men and women alike who happened to fit into both categories. Mulder had never felt so small in his life, or so excruciatingly young. They were the youngest around by far, the rest of the people in the cramped bar/arena starting in their late twenties and drifted into the thirties, forties, even fifties. Many of them looked as though they were part of some type of biker gang. If this bothered the Three Stooges who dragged him through the scary masses, they hadn’t shown it. They smiled and excused their way past the bar and shuffled into a tiny booth with a surprisingly fair view of what was supposedly the ‘ring’. A rickety wire cage that snaked all the way up to the ceiling, the sides concealed by thick curtains that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a theater. Maybe that’s what this place used to be, he thought, staring around absently. It wouldn’t surprise him.

“One of our favorites is coming on tonight,” Byers said excitedly. “She’s called the Phoenix. Just wait ‘til you see her, Mulder. She’s such a fantastic fighter. Nobody knows who she is, or where she came from. That’s why they call her that - she just rose out of nowhere, like out of the ashes, or something. We’ve heard that even the managers and coaches have no idea who she really is.”

“She’s hot, too,” Frohike agrees, sipping on his drink. “Wait until she comes on, she’s got a body like you’ll never believe.” Mulder rolled his eyes, a gentle huff of laughter breaking between his lips. The mention of cute girls made this entire idea seem a little less ridiculous, though he wasn’t willing to admit that to anybody just yet. He wasn’t necessarily pleased with the idea of them beating the crap out of each other.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The widespread clamor of everybody yelling over each other dwindled into eager murmuring as a voice boomed out of the tinny speakers. Mulder opened his mouth but Langley quickly nudged him into silence, his eyes rooted to the spindly cage. He looked around; everybody was hypnotized, under some sort of spell, by the looks of things. He momentarily entertained the idea of witchcraft and laughed to himself. “It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for, for tonight we have some wonderful people with us. We’ve got a vicious fight between the deadly Viper and her arch-rival Nemesis -” The audience cheered and clapped, drinking in the MC’s voice. Mulder cringed. “Then we’ve got the Lion and the Wolf up against one another in the second round -” More whooping and hollering. Mulder couldn’t help but wonder if they all had such embarrassing names. Talk about wannabe wrestlers. “And there’s plenty more where that came from folks, but I know what you’re all here for... The ultimate showdown between our much-loved killer queens - it’s the Phoenix and the Widow, fighting once again for the grand prize of $500!”

The room was filled with ear-splitting screams and shouts. Most people seemed to be hollering in the Phoenix’s honor, although there was a scattered undertone of people screaming ‘Widow!’ hysterically. Mulder wondered if he’d even be able to make it to the final fight without taking a couple of painkillers in the bathroom, or just straight-up walking out. His head was pulsing already.

“Is it always this loud?” he yelled into Frohike’s ear, who also happened to be whistling and cheering on the Phoenix. He nodded, patting his friend’s shoulder and laughing. Mulder held his own face in his hands, void of hope.

“Our first fighters of the night are new to the ring, so be nice,” the MC teased through the speakers. Everyone roared with laughter. He introduced them slowly, bringing up fabricated backstories and leaving everyone hanging as he called out their names. “Iiiiiiiiit’s... Storm!” and “Heeeeeeeeeere she is: it’s Athena!”

Mulder watched them both saunter into their corners, throwing furtive looks to the crowd and blowing kisses at nobody in particular. His three friends lapped this performance right up, their tongues practically hanging out of their mouths. He raised his eyebrows and sunk further back into the leather seating. Surely any movie would’ve been better than this, right? Did we really have no other choice?

The fights came and went without provoking any other emotion but pure, consistent boredom from him. It suited his friends, who designated him as the one to buy more cans of Coke and Sprite from the bar. This didn’t improve his mood in the slightest, for he needed to push past all the tough biker guys to get to the bar, which was also tended by a pretty scary looking man. As much as he wanted to leave, he found himself hanging around. There was no real reason why. He felt at though sticking around would be the polite thing to do, but that never normally kept him from running away from whatever his friends had planned out. Screw politeness, there was something else. He figured he’d stick around until the end. Maybe he'd been a little too harsh on the guys, maybe he was making a big deal over nothing. Maybe something good would come up somewhere.

Emphasis on ‘maybe’.

The evening dragged on and the acts were all the same; cute, flirty girls with feisty attitudes and beefy men with cocky smiles and bulging muscles. Blood was spilled on more than a few occasions and hastily wiped away in the intervals between brawls. Lion spat out a piece of broken tooth into the audience mid-fight and it landed at Langley’s feet. Mulder wasn’t a particularly sensitive person but he drew the line after watching Viper’s nose break and seeing her getting carried off the stage screaming and wailing for help. He picked up his jacket and nodded at his friends. They immediately looked disheartened.

“What’s the matter, Mulder?” Byers asked. “The Phoenix is about to come on! Don’t you want to see what all the fuss is about?”

“Not particularly,” he mutters, hurrying his coat on. “It was great guys, but I think I’ve had enough gore for one day. I’m actually surprised you three survive in a place like this.” They have the dignity to look offended.

“Sit down,” Frohike insists. “Trust me. She’s way hotter than Lennox and Peré combined.” Well now I definitely want to stay, Mulder thinks sarcastically. Yet against his better judgment, he sinks into his seat again, propping his elbows up on the table and resting his face on them like a sullen schoolboy. He concentrates on deliberately ignoring the stupid MC bigging the girls up, delving into their non-existent stories. His focus slips, however, and he finds himself listening in on snippets from the Phoenix’s introduction. She swanned out of nowhere, out of the ashes, as Byers said. Young, fiery, not to be messed with. He scoffed under his breath - not that anybody would’ve heard him. The roars of her fans were deafening as she was introduced into the cage.

Mulder squinted, waiting for her to appear so he could see what all the fuss was about. This had better be worth it, he complained internally. He leaned forward, his head resting on his knuckles.

There she was. The Phoenix.

The first thing he noticed about her was that she carried herself differently to the other girls who had previously been. She didn’t flaunt, she didn’t have any flair or glamor or anything that marked her as something of a show-off. She walked like she meant business - like she knew what she was doing. He found himself impressed, for some reason, and found himself sitting up a little straighter in his chair. The second thing he noticed was that she didn’t need to prove her sexuality to the audience, not deliberately at least. Her legs were dressed in skin-tight leather, accentuating every curve of her lower half. Watching her felt wrong, somehow. It felt almost obscene. He found his face flushing, though no one could see for the only lights were those illuminating her arena - and it definitely was hers. She had her audience hanging onto her every movement. She was wearing a tight black vest too, but he tried to skim past for the sake of keeping some illusion of being a gentleman. Then he remembered that they weren’t the only ones in the room and felt stupid. He didn’t look anyway; his shirt wasn't long enough to pull over his lap.

The only thing missing was a face, an identity. She was looking away from the audience; all he could see was a burst of flame which just so happened to be her cropped red hair. As though reading his mind she turned suddenly and abruptly. The only glitzy part about her was the glitter dashed against her cheeks and lips; it sparkled under the lighting like embers.

No wonder they called her the Phoenix. She didn’t just look like fire, she was fire; she was a burning flame, passion, desire, life itself. Mulder found himself captivated, suddenly enthralled by the idea of street-fighting so long as she was involved. She had pulled him into the most wonderful inferno imaginable and he never wanted to leave, only to be surrounded by everything she represented.

He found that he was gaping and immediately stopped himself, trying to regain his composure. Of course, the others had already noticed but they had also fallen into her trap. They were gazing at her like they couldn’t believe their own eyes. Mulder pinched himself. This is not a dream.

He may or may not have been in love, in a wonderfully starstruck kind of way. He decided that the combat zone wasn't so bad after all.

#my writing #my work #my fanfics #writing #the x files #txf #txf fanfic #txf college au #college au #fanfiction #fanfic #msr #mulder x scully #fluff #i write things #ao3 #dana scully #fox mulder #review if you can guys! #it means a lot

[billybennight]

After our dinner at Musso and Frank’s Grill Liz was up for a mini photo shoot. First a few dinner shots followed by a simple approach using my iPhone 11 Pro Max to capture her Liz at her best. Liz loved the old phone booths at the back of the restaurant. The lighting was very good for Nior shots. Once we finished there I suggest we go to the front to John Langley’s reef. The Hollywood Walk of Fame commemorates and honors the passing of those alumni who have a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star with a reef of beautiful flowers. It’s usually set out about 1:30pm on the day of their passing. I think it’s a lovely sentiment to commemorate an entertainers and their life’s body of work. I got some stunningly beautiful shots of Liz with John Langley’s reef. @pulptart @mussoandfrankgrill https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwe9Q9DNKw/?utm_medium=tumblr

[megaalexmark]

Investigators have learned that Obama CIA Director John Brennan ran a secret task force out of Langley with its own separate budget to investigate Trump campaign

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/investigators-have-learned-that-obama-cia-director-john-brennan-ran-a-secret-task-force-out-of-langley-with-its-own-separate-budget-to-investigate-trump-campaign/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[mikemortgage]

As Vancouver drivers suffer gas-price pain, carbon-tax backers go suspiciously quiet

While British Columbians mutter profanities as they watch gas prices soaring as high as $1.79 a litre, carbon-tax advocates who should be popping champagne are instead quietly avoiding eye contact.

Anyone who wonders if gas prices matter to ordinary people should spend an afternoon watching a busy border crossing. British Columbians are flocking to Washington State to fill up, where, even after the exchange rate, they’re saving about 50 cents per litre.

For a vehicle with a 70-litre fuel tank, that works out to saving $35 per fill up. Multiply that by two fill ups a weeks for the average commuter family in Langley (not a lot of people can afford to live downtown with outrageously high housing costs) and suddenly you’re looking at either spending in Canada or saving in the States $70 extra per week — or $3,600 per year.

Terence Corcoran: Carbon tax trial full of alarmist political diversions no court should fall for

William Watson: Forget the post-automobile future. Turns out ‘green’ millennials are car crazy

Instead of clubbing them with carbon taxes, Ottawa might try co-operating with provinces

A little further down the road in Seattle, the price of gasoline is even cheaper, at about $1.15 (Canadian) per litre, proving that a major city in the Pacific Northwest can indeed exist without prohibitively high fuel costs.

With these record prices coming just weeks after the introduction of the new federal carbon tax in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan, federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer was keen to highlight B.C.’s high prices as a glimpse into the future for all Canadians under steadily rising carbon taxes.

Some carbon-tax backers immediately pounced on the argument, noting that B.C. has had a carbon tax for over a decade and that B.C.’s high prices didn’t have anything to do with the new federal tax. They’re actually missing the point.

It’s true that taxes are not the only factor that determines gas prices, but they are among the biggest. In B.C., different types of taxes accounted for about a third of the entire price, including the provincial carbon tax that works out to 9.8 cents per litre with GST.

Carbon-tax advocates should be very happy about this state of affairs. Based on the logic of carbon taxes, The causes of higher fuel prices are irrelevant; it only matters that prices are high enough to discourage consumption. Carbon taxes are just meant to ensure that prices stay higher, even when the market price is lower. So you’d think such high gas prices would deliver the punishment carbon-tax advocates keep saying is necessary to reduce emissions. They should be cheering themselves hoarse.

Instead, carbon tax disciples don’t seem too keen to boast about high gas prices. It’s almost as if they’re afraid it will make carbon taxes even more unpopular.

That seems to be the conclusion drawn by B.C. Premier John Horgan, who in recent weeks was musing about offering “relief” from high gas prices. That’s strange, since the B.C. NDP are big fans of carbon taxes. In fact, the B.C. government just jacked up the provincial carbon tax again on Apr. 1. Did no one tell the NDP that the very point of carbon taxes is to drive up prices? Were they not aware that high gas prices — or more accurately, high everything prices — are not a bug, but a feature?

Indeed, when the B.C. Liberals first implemented the carbon tax in 2008, they promised it would stop rising at $30 per ton, be revenue neutral, and lead to a plethora of affordable alternative energies, all while reducing carbon emissions.

Ten years later none of those things are true.

Interestingly, now that they’ve had a chance to sober up on the opposition benches, the B.C. Liberals are throwing their lot in with embattled commuters, saying that provincial gas taxes are too high and they’re demanding relief too.

No average commuter family could be expected to absorb $3,600 in additional gasoline costs and not feel the hurt financially. But suddenly, carbon-tax cheerleaders don’t seem so keen on championing that pain in the wallet.

Scheer is simply pointing out the obvious: whatever their direct relationship to the carbon tax itself, high gas prices in B.C. are an expensive sneak preview of just the kind of future that the Trudeau government, with its rising carbon tax, wants for all Canadians. The government wants your gas to be more expensive, period. What carbon-tax advocates don’t want you to realize is that it will be just as unpleasant as what Vancouver drivers are dealing with now.

Kris Sims is the British Columbia director and Aaron Wudrick is the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

from Financial Post http://bit.ly/2Gx2L7f via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

#IFTTT #Financial Post

[soorasaab]

Amid a bitter stand-off with Britain-based micro-chip company Imagination Technologies, Applesent a stern message by opening an office in its proximity.

The tech giant planted its flag by renting a 22,500 square-foot office in St Albans just a few miles from Imagination's headquarters in Hertfordshire village of Kings Langley, the Telegraph reported on Saturday.

The company plans to use the office to develop its own graphics technology for Apple devices after it announced termination of its partnership with Imagination.

The development has led to fears in the Imagination camp that Apple will poach its talented staff.

In recent months, Apple hired a string of Imagination employees, including its former Chief Operating Officer John Metcalfe.

Imagination had earlier accused Apple of breaching ethics when the latter claimed that they would no longer need to pay royalties as they plan to stop using the Imagination graphics technology.

The Chief Executive of Imagination, Andrew Heath had challenged Apple's claim that it will be able to develop its own technology without infringing on Imagination's technology.

Imagination's technology currently forms the basis of the graphics chip featuring in every iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Disputing Imagination's claims, Apple maintained that they had sent two years' prior notice regarding the end of partnership.

"We valued our past relationship and wanted to give them as much notice as possible to adapt their future plans. We're disappointed in their response, which has been inaccurate and misleading," a spokesman of Apple was quoted as saying.

According to analysts, Imagination is not a viable business without royalties from Apple. The company had put itself up for sale last month.

#SooraSaab #Soora #Facebook #News #Gadgets #Technology #sports #Automobile #blog #youtube #smartphones #top #Tumblr

#IFTTT #Blogger