#the pic from 2015 it's much bigger now

[alamwamal]

#there's this blackberry tree //apparently it's called mulberry// outside #it ripes in April and May and the birds are partying so hard from dawn till dusk these days #the recording from a couple of weeks ago in Ramadan when people woke up late so it's quite #the pic from 2015 it's much bigger now #sadly almost everything else got cut a few months after this picture was taken to build apartment complexes #recorded with my 11 years old samsung duos which surprisingly records better than my newer one #cut with wavepad that I keep on my harddisk bc I couldn't find a simple app that just split the audio normally #I downloaded it in 2016 #I could've cut it with the mobile itself but I also needed to convert it to mp3 #I just wanted the first half that didn't contain people voices/noises #I miss when operating systems came with programs and you don't have to pay for everything seperatly sigh

[shredsandpatches]

Teatro la Fenice's new production of Mefistofele (with Alex Esposito in the title role) opens tonight so I've been seeing a lot of preview pics on the bird site, including this one and a video of the chorus from the end of this scene (which does look cool despite the schlubby costumes on the two leads, why are they putting Alex Esposito in sweatpants, come on, they put him in fishnets for Gounod!). ANYWAY it got me thinking about the various props I've seen used for the globe in "Ecco il mondo." For the uninitiated: this scene is set at Walpurgisnacht, the witches' sabbath and the primary event of the infernal social calendar. At one point the chorus presents their sexy demon overlord with a globe, symbolizing his mastery over the world and prompting Mefistofele's aria about the folly of humanity, at the end of which he smashes it. (The original libretto mentions a glass globe, and they did have sugar glass in the 1870s so I think that's probably what it would have been.)

Anyway, if you look at the video from later in the scene you can see that disco ball earth looks substantially redder and more burnt out by the end of the scene, a lighting effect which I am guessing takes place at the end of the aria. Which is pretty cool! I rather like that! Not as much as something that can go boom, but still pretty neat.

Other prop choices I've seen, roughly in order of how much I liked them:

Nothing (Festspielhaus Baden-Baden 2016, ft. Erwin Schrott). Come on. Why would you do it this way. I love this production quite a lot (and I actually otherwise really liked their Walpurgisnacht staging) but sometimes it makes questionable choices and this was one of them. Projecting equations all over the giant stage skull does not count. LET MEPH SMASH THINGS.

Giant blue lighted globe (I forget what production this was, but I saw this scene on youtube and couldn't find it when I looked just now). Pretty attractive visually, and stood out amid an otherwise red-dominated scene. Also the closest on this list to authorial intent (and, let's be real, Boito would certainly have used a lighted globe if it were possible to do safely at the time). However, you lose a lot of the impact if your singer has to carefully drop the prop globe into a trapdoor. This is kind of a common theme in this post and a principle by which I would abide: if you can't break it, use something else.

Cow heart (Bayerische Staatsoper 2015, ft. Rene Pape). Well, it's certainly creatively gross! I'll give it points for that. It was definitely not the worst idea this production had in re: Walpurgisnacht. But there are also a few problems: one is the destructibility issue outlined in the last entry. If you do something gross like that it's not gonna be as effective if it doesn't get to go splat, which obviously the prop cannot do. Another is that it doesn't really go with the symbolism of the aria (why is the world a cow heart, specifically?). A third is that the scene had already placed a bunch of writhing pregnant women downstage which made me worry that things were going to go a LOT darker than they actually did. I neither need nor want to see sacrificial baby yeeting in Mefistofele, but if your production is generally committed to maximum squalor, you probably shouldn't do anything that would make the audience imagine it and consequently doubt that commitment.

Paper globe (Teatro dell'Opera di Roma 2023, ft. John Relyea). A solid choice! He spikes it into an oil drum fire pit and and it makes a nicely scary-looking flame for an instant. It would have looked cooler if it were bigger, but it was definitely visually interesting (unlike most of the scene, alas; Relyea was typically fantastic but the director did not give him much to work with in this sequence beyond dressing him like Mussolini) and appropriately destructive.

Latex balloon (San Francisco Opera 1989, ft. Samuel Ramey). This one sometimes draws sniffs from opera purists for being cheap and tacky, but honestly that's entirely on-theme: behold the world! It's a piece of crap! This staging is iconic for a reason (it's on the cover of the dvd) and the simple balloon is satisfyingly destructible (Ramey dramatically stabs it with a very large pin), easy to bat around before destroying it, and inexpensive to replace. Full marks. Of course, this is a famous enough production that any other one that goes that route will probably be seen to be alluding to it.

Because I am obsessed with this opera and have an unattainable fantasy of directing it I have a lot of thoughts about all kinds of staging details, and so I would definitely return to the "inflatable earth" well, but distinguish it by getting Faust into the act: the second and third verse of the aria, after all, are about how dumb and generally shitty humans are. (And I think it's important for stagings of this sequence not to lose sight of him, which sometimes happens.) I'm picturing Meph dragging Faust up "onstage" and handing the globe off to him, as a representative of said dumb shitty humans (a lot of teasing interspersed with aggressive flirting going on here ofc). At the climactic "Ecco il mondo!" he flicks a finger in Faust's direction, and the globe explodes in his hands, to the great delight of the chorus. It's different, and it's a nice moment for making your singers cooperate in selling it (Faust, of course, has the more difficult job here since he'd have to play startled at a stage effect he is largely responsible for carrying off). My throughline for Mefistofele is that it's fundamentally a toxic, destructive love story that's still somehow weirdly ennobling for the participants on some level, and the Walpurgisnacht scene is a pivotal moment in that arc (it's where Meph's switch flips from "I want to win my wager" to "I want Faust") so that staging choice would be a another little thing that makes that relationship central.

#mefistofele #hot faust summer #faust friday #my imaginary production of mefistofele is fucking amazing you guys #child death for ts #(hypothetical and pretend) #how to destroy the world #opera

[officialtayley]

in general this is pretty crazy that hayley always used to be seen every now and then ever till like AL or post-AL era, but even taylor and jeremy were seen sometimes back in the self-titled era but now there is barely a trace of them in public. either ppl respect their privacy more and don't ask for pictures, or they refuse to take them, or they somehow are less visible, or they go out less. idk! it's interesting because i feel like when they are on a break from tour there are basically no photos of them with fans

and esp like when she was with chad, even if they were in franklin i feel like you'd always see someone in some pics w them or her or they'd have taken pics of them out and about. taylor kinda stopped being seen out much in like 2015 unless it was for like an event so i feel like i've been used to barely seeing him but hayley.... it's a bit strange tbh like whoa she rlly never gets spotted much these days at all. part of me thinks bc nashville is bigger than franklin maybe that's why but also maybe ppl do just try and respect their privacy far more these days

#anon #answered

[sunburnacoustic]

HI MUSE ASKS

2, 11, 14, 32, 36 (I love this question), 45, 51, 59!!

sorry it’s a lot but I’m also not sorry

Hi hi hi @goosetown5! Thanks so much the ask 😊Don't be sorry at all, I'm so pleased to chat to you about Muse!

2. What's a Muse song that sounds better live than in the studio?

Without a doubt, Verona, that's the first song that comes to my mind! I had the pleasure of seeing it live, it's a literal religious experience. Matt lost in the sauce, eyes closed, playing guitar on the verses. My gig had a really good crowd too, so in my mind, I'll always remember Verona now with the chorus of fans singing, "I neeeeed you sooo" in a slight French accent, the reverb around the stadium on Matt's guitar and just how much bigger the song sounds live: you can feel the drums under your skin, in your chest, in your bones. Confetti blasted out into the air just after Matt belts the chorus, blue light lights up the stadium, hands are in the air, ugh. Beautiful. It's an experience just listening to the song in normal everyday life can't recreate. It's a great song otherwise, lyrically it's my favourite on the album, but holy shit you can't return to the studio version after the experience of seeing it live :) I need to experience this song again!

Eyes closed, just lost in the sauce guitar line.

EDIT: My pictures don't half do this moment justice, so enjoy these pics from @prttyinpvnk!

Pretty special, eh?

11. Favourite song that's never been played live?

Falling Away With You. I love that song so much, the way it transitions between the verses and the choruses, such agitation on that chorus, the change from a major -> minor feel, the synths, the lyrics; oh, rip my heart out! I'll never understand why Muse have never played it live. I guess, technically the did almost play it... that one time at an iHeart Radio gig or festival or something in 2018 that Matt began playing its intro on the acoustic guitar and then went "nah, just kidding" and began playing Something Human. Matt why would you toy with our hearts like that </3 They've teased it a few times before.

Map Of Your Head is another. Muse can write such addictive pop songs! (I would also want to say Falling With The Crowd because that's an old one from one of those demos that we have no live footage/audio of, but it was supposedly played regularly in 1997. It's quite fully formed for a song of that era, it's a proper song with verse-chorus-bridge-outro, and I think it's a tune. The problem is, it wasn't played at the one and only 1997 gig we have audio of*, Plymouth's Soundwaves Festival, that was taped by a friend of Muse's off a radio live broadcast locally in Plymouth. And there are no known setlists on which it appears, so has it ever been played live? Who knows.)

*Update, nevermind I found out we have a tiny clip of video footage by someone who saw Muse at a different gig in 1997! It's 50 seconds long, the videotaper seems to have been keener on recording Dom, and it's of the song Boredom. No mention of Falling With The Crowd on the set though. Still, what a treat, it's from so long ago, Matt wasn't nearly the performer he would shortly become. I'll make a different post about that though, so that I actually answer your ask here!

14. Favourite live riff/jam/intro/outro?

I love this question because I've been thinking about it recently! 😊

The improvised, extended Jimmy Jam riff at Wembley before Time Is Running Out. What annoyed me for years is that they split up the clip on the Muse Youtube in ~2015 to separately have the Jimmy Jam riff as one video and TIRO as another, and they fade Jimmy Jam out and that got stuck in my head without the ending. I should make a proper edit of it from HAARP because that jam is my jam, I love it!

Also, how it ends is so cool:

A second favourite is the outro to Assassin played at the Mayan Theatre in 2015 (Theater?), it's so fuzzy it's so filthy, it's so heavy I could listen to it all day. Drones was a good era for Muse's slow-heavy/chugging stuff that The Handler kicked off. I don't know the name of this riff, but it's so good.

And I must mention the riff played during the French 1999 Olaive interview, where the interviewers asked Matt questions and he had to reply by largely playing his guitar, an acoustic, and it was so beautiful despite Matt being really young and nervous, that one of the interviewers told him at the end of the interview that there was magic in his guitar (how poetic the French were, but he's right!). I'm not cheating on this question though, it is a legitimate intro because they brought it back years later and opened Unintended at Wembley with this piece, but transposed higher. It's a classical guitar etude by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer.

(And of course, some classics - Helsinki/Glasgow jam -> bringing bagpipes to a stadium rock gig and then playing Muse fuzzy bluesy hard rock under it is something I admire so fucking much)

32. Have you ever followed Matt's advice to not give a fuck if people think you're a pretentious wanker?

Yes, definitely, and the realisation came for me more from an off-stage moment rather than one on stage, because I guess in some ways you personally can write off on-stage ambition and personas as just something that's easier to do on stage, a place for theatre, but the fact that Matt just lives his life without shame, without feeling self-conscious, without giving a fuck what anyone else may think— I'm learning that from him, and it significantly came from this moment back in 2014:

He's out there living his best life, unbothered. He's knows not to care what anyone else thinks of him (and my respect for him just skyrocketed after this). That made it click for me, just don't give a fuck, don't care if anyone thinks you're a pretentious wanker, cut all the hangups in life—don't be afraid to be yourself! I've kept that in mind since 😊

36. Favourite song to sing along to.

Hm, I suppose it depends on the setting! In a stadium, hanging onto people, bouncing around, headbanging, screaming together "No one's gonna take me alive..." is a life-affirming experience!

Otherwise at home, on your own, a really satisfying vocal part to sing... I'd say a lot of Matt's falsetto bits are so much fun to try and do because you can lose your head and turn into an absolute diva for 20 seconds, I highly recommend trying it with no shame (refer to Q. 32!) And have I tried Micro Cuts out loud? Yeah, while fearing for my life I have lmao. Don't need neighbours calling the paramedics on me! Supermassive Black Hole is fun to try and sing along to (multiple parts). I Belong To You is nice. Showbiz is fun. Undisclosed Desires is another, Screenager too. Dead Inside is so good to sing along to! (and we haven't even got into singing riffs live, something Matt noted Muse fans do a lot live :D)

You're so right, I love this question too!  😊 (Side fun fact, a singer friend of mine told me that Time Is Running Out sung properly is actually quite technically difficulut— it's an acceptable Grade 5 piece to perform on Trinity College vocal exams (the rockschool ones))

45. Tell me a little-known fact about Muse

Oh, yes please! (not the song :P) I've been hoping someone would ask this one :)

Here's one I've decided on at random: Muse played a gig away in North Devon on Matt's 17th birthday. Someone found a poster for the gig years later in like 2008, look at how Muse sometimes stylised their name—quite psychedelic! This was on 9 June 1995, in Torrington.

51. Dom - bleach blond era, 90s slacker-band, wraparound shades era, surfer dude era, Drones black hair era, 2022 'pornstache' baby blue hair era, or 2006 aviators era?

Do you know what, I'm partial to aviators Dom. I'm so fucking partial to aviators Dom. But I think we all know which picture from Dom's Instagram I had in mind when I typed up "surfer dude-era Dom", don't we?

59. Favourite Muse accessory? (Matt's OOS era thick necklace, the guitar-pick necklace, any rings, etc.)

Very partial to the pick-necklace! Independently of Matt, I'd been doing it myself for years, so I was delighted to find that Matt had a pick necklace phase too (except mine is very DIY: it's a pick held together to a chain with paperclips lmao. I haven't lost the pick in 7 years so clearly it works... happy to show pictures of it if you like!)

Matt's 2006-era braces are a top notch accessory too, that was a really good look! I picked up a fondness of scarves from him too, which was also mostly BHAR-era photoshoots as well. Glitter in Matt's hair, A+ accessory; love it.

That time someone stuck a star on Matt's forehead

And of course, Matt's sunglasses. I wouldn't be the "Matt wearing his sunglasses on his head like my mum" blog if I didn't mention that.

(^3 pairs! of sunglasses!)

(This got quite Matt-heavy, didn't it? I love Dom's ever-expanding shades of trousers too! Orange is the latest one the WOTP tour has blessed us with :) Not really an accessory though, is it? Otherwise I'd be able to openly drool over Matt's cool jackets.)

#this was fun! #asks #muse asks #it's (not) too much to ask #niche muse asks #muse nitty gritties asks #muse band #musers #muse #long post #but utterly fun to do :) #hey thanks for this! 😊

[badhockeymom]

I posted 4,424 times in 2022

561 posts created (13%)

3,863 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@coffeeandgunpowder

@badhockeymom

@sethjarvy

@andreisvechnikov

@swish-swish-nyoom-nyoom

I tagged 3,989 of my posts in 2022

Only 10% of my posts had no tags

#canes - 1,013 posts

#sebastian aho - 444 posts

#canes lb - 230 posts

#teuvo - 198 posts

#svech - 170 posts

#avs - 149 posts

#dallas stars - 134 posts

#roope hintz - 128 posts

#artturi lehkonen - 100 posts

#mikko rantanen - 98 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i'm going to ignore them playing my team at finnish prime time this weekend i'll block my ears and bake korvapuusti or go to sauna or watch

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

62 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

#4

Has Pekka ever had a bad day?

"Not many. Sometimes, after a bad game, when we haven't played well, he has occasionally thrown the goalie mask around, and it's funny how it changes the vibe in the locker room. Everyone just freezes, they don't even dare to move, they're so shocked."

(Juuse Saros, Total NHL Forever podcast, December 28, 2021)

64 notes - Posted January 4, 2022

#3

Roope Hintz: on skating, style and growing up

So, the episode of the Finnish podcast Total NHL Forever with Roope Hintz was full of so much pure gold that I want to share some of it here. The episode came out on Tuesday 15 February, 2022.

This is a big chunk of text, sorry for that, but if you're interested - here you are:

Roope is from Nokia, the neighbouring town of Tampere. He started his actual hockey career in Tampere, playing for Ilves. (Yes, Nokia is also the home of the rubber products (boots and tyres) factory that later became an international tech giant and is now the name sponsor of the new hockey arena in the bigger Tampere.)

He got a big boost for his skating when he played in Florida for a team called Tampa Bay Juniors in EMJHL in 2012-2013, after junior high school (yläaste), at approx. 16 years of age.

"I wasn't a great skater when I was a kid, but I went to Florida to play hockey, and we had a Russian lady who coached some of us in skating 3 or 4 times a week, teaching us skating technique. The level of the game in the league wasn't too high, I don't know what Finnish league to compare it with, but it was good to get out there, see the world a little, learn the language, and the skating coach helped me develop a lot. I shared an apartment with a couple of players and attended online classes, and I had an English tutor a couple of times a week."

Ilves Tampere was his junior team growing up, and he played a little over one season for them in the men's Liiga team before moving to Helsinki to play for HIFK in 2015, after his NHL draft.

"I wanted to challenge myself in a bigger organization, and a lot of players have moved on to the NHL from there. Also, I got to live on my own, move away from home. HIFK has the reputation that you grow from boy to man on that team, and I thought that it is a challenge that I want to take. The finances [Ilves was near-bankrupt at that point in time] had nothing to do with it. I made the decision based on where I thought I would personally develop best and what would be the best next step for me. I had great mentors there, Juhamatti Aaltonen and Siim Liivik for example. Liivik took me under his wing, he was kind of a big brother for me, and we have remained good friends."

About WJC 2016:

"The team spirit was great from the start. We all knew each other, we had been on the same path [the youth NT development program] from very young, and it all peaked in the home tournament, and we got the brightest medal, it was amazing. The fan thing after that was so huge, we'd be asked for pics and autographs everywhere after that, got recognized on the streets even though we were only the junior team. But you learned interacting with fans there, it's just a thing that you do, take the pics, sign the autograph, and go on to do the thing you're there to do."

"I have some kind of contact with everyone from that team basically, and of course with some the contact is more frequent. When we play each other, we'll at least meet up after the game. Lately we haven't had the chance to go to dinner because of the corona situation, but that's what we usually do."

The closest friend(s) from the WCJ team:

"I have pretty many. Pulju, Pate, Sepe, Mikko, Kassu. [Jesse Puljujärvi, Patrik Laine, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen, Kasperi Kapanen] I'm very close with all of them."

About the NHL:

"My mindset was that I'll play that one season in the AHL but I want to be ready to play in the NHL after that. I went back and forth on the next season, and I was never told what I should specifically focus on improving, the message was just that they want me to get more minutes."

"Little by little I got more responsibility and playing time on the Dallas Stars. In this and the previous season, we have found a good line and learned to play well together."

On playing with Robertson and Pavelski:

"We see the game similarly. We all are like, when you pass to the other guy, you know there's a chance you'll get the puck back. I try to use my speed to our advance, and Pavelski is a magical goalscorer, he is one of the best close to the goal in the whole league. And Robertson, he's not necessarily the fastest guy on the ice, but when the computer he has starts to run, his game IQ is just ridiculous. When I know that he has the puck, and find the space for us, I know that he will find his way there.

Pavelski is special.

"He's easily the best golfer on our team, and his hand-eye coordination is amazing with the puck. He practices his shots every morning. I have noticed that his will to win is outstanding. When the stakes are high, there is a big game or a clutch moment, he has the ability to play his best game right at that moment. He can do things that not everyone can. He's not too over-the-top pump you up hype guy, but he will say "we're doing fine, let's just keep going." I'd say he's the biggest leader of our team, in the locker room and on the ice.

Who leads the Finnish Mafia?

"Miro on the ice, in the locker room we Finns are not the loudest. When we're just Finns? I don't know, maybe Esa, he's been here the longest, but we stand our ground against him pretty well when we need to. It's unique to have 5 finns on the team. When I was in the AHL team, I was the only Finn. It's great to be able to communicate on your own language, and we are all alike and like the same things, we like hanging out together. We all except Esa live in the same building, Esa has his house a little further away."

The hardest D-men to play against: Makar, Hedman, Josi. The hardest Finns to play against: Last year it was Hakanpää.

The most stylish player in the NHL [when it comes to their game I think]: Patrick Kane and Panarin.

"Panarin is always a threat when he has the puck. He can pace and control the game, and he's pretty skilled too."

About style and fashion off the ice:

"Style is important to me. I like to wear clothes that not everyone has, I pay attention to that kind of stuff. I have been like that ever since a kid, I have always paid attention to my outfits. We have to wear suits on game days. The dress code was looser last season but now it's suits again. I think it should be the same as in the NBA, you can choose what to wear. I liked last year, you could choose more freely and express yourself with your clothes a bit."

"You've got to love how Pate (Patrik Laine) comes to the arena in his yellow glasses and different hats. Pate is who he is, he's himself, he doesn't ask what other people think."

"Older players like it too, that younger players dress differently and show personality. Out of older players, Radulov is really stylish. When he puts his teeth back in his mouth after the game, he's a totally different looking guy."

See the full post

80 notes - Posted February 28, 2022

#2

Sepe's Backyard Spa

Sepe denies the cameras his athletic body* because he doesn't like to go to sauna or the hot tub before game days (*their words not mine)

Seth was very punctual, If Sebastian said they'd leave at 9 am he'd be ready and waiting for the ride at the bottom of the stairs 8:59

Seth was a little wary about the sauna the first time, "He crouched down when I and Teuvo kept throwing water on the heater, is this normal, but he got a hang of it soon and started suggesting it himself, would it be a sauna night this evening."

"He became a half Finn, I wouldn't be surprised if he moved to Finland after he retires."

Says that there is a lot of leadership in the team, many guys are hard workers but cool and fun off the ice

Doesn't remember what he says to opposing players on the ice, "some curse words can be exchanged in a heated game"

The stuff stays on the ice, the hothead guys aren't the same outside the game. "Tom Wilson is a good example, he plays rough and sometimes testing the rules, but we were teammates at the All-Star game and he was an awesome guy."

See the full post

107 notes - Posted May 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

294 notes - Posted March 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #long post #me #i'm so self absorbed lol number 2 reblogged: me

[mirika]

In June 2023 I went to the first edition of the summer variant of Dutch Comic Con. They moved it from May to June and it was terrible as it was WAY too hot to function, it was the first time I didn't even go in cosplay. Either way, I always post, so here goes.

I went for a whole weekend with my bestie Eneath, which was fantastic, because we could go by car instead of train. It was a delight. However, the weather was not great.

I do not have a lot to report though; I did not take any photos with other cosplay, also due to being insecure about not being IN cosplay myself. On day 1 I did visit with hobbit vibes in mind, and on day 2 I went more casual than I had ever been at a Comic Con I think? I don't actually remember how I went.

I did take some pics though!

These are some dice I bought! Tiny dice because they are CUTE as hell, dark glittery dice because they are COOL as hell, and a box of d10s in ace colours (in my opinion) because I thought it was awesome except I did not realize they were just d10s, rofl! All good though, just a bummer as I thought it was a whole set.

I went absolutely insane with finances this time around though. I bought a fan with my favourite Genshin Impact character on it, literally using the element anemo to cool myself down... a bunch of Digimon stuff that I can build and some TCG, and on my bag you can see a geo vision from Genshin Impact. The vision is actually why I made a new friend at my local grocery store, he recognized it from the game and now we chat on occasion LOL. Also a bottle of mead, sadly apple cinnamon, because they had no cherry cinnamon.

A bunch of artist alley merch as well. As always, love me some Miraculous Ladybug. I also got two fake Pokémon cards, gorgeous Ninetales, my favourite Pokémon... a sticker of The Last of Us, my favouritest game ever, and some Genshin Impact stickers... now also including Kaveh, another character I really like.

Also... gosh I love this so much, look:

Ellie and Joel figurines! Also a Kazuha waterprint art below it rofl. I ended up not liking the fanart as much so I kinda forgot I owned it.

And uh, super random but I fucking loved that they introduced an onigiri stand and I am *starts foaming*

The one on the far right was vegan, the two on the left are tuna. I had to try both, haha.

Last but definitely not least, they had a little Lord of the Rings thingamajig that we visited, where you walked a little bit through the journey. I remember being at the verge of tears somehow because I felt overwhelmed, but I'm a pro at holding in emotions sometimes. Here is the pics I took. Let me test this new feature, if it sucks I will edit the post.

They should all be clickable for bigger. We'll see.

That is all I have to report on this Comic Con. The next post will be absolutely epicly, because it was a huge staple in my life and it still brings me emotions. Thank you for reading!

— DCC - 2023 - no real cosplay WDCC - 2022 - scuffed Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) DCC - 2022 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) / scuffed Ellie (The Last of Us) RCC 2020 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) WDCC 2019 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) / Mimi (Digimon) ACC 2019 - no report, little happened

DCC 2019 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) / Mimi (Digimon) DCC 2018 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) ACC 2018 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) DCC 2018 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) RCC 2018 - Mimi (Digimon) WDCC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) ACC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) DCC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) RCC 2017 - Mimi (Digimon) ACC 2016 - Hook (Once Upon A Time) DCC 2016 - Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug) DCC 2015 - Sunday - Hobbit (Lord of the Rings) DCC 2015 - Saturday - Ellie (The Last of Us)

#mirika #mirikalj

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 38 - Discovery of new geoglyph in the Nazca lines.

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome....

J: Ask me about it..haha

K: Wha..?

J: Ask me about it.

K: .....Today..

J: Haha, no no no. Hellooo? *points at  Tokyo Sports hoodie that he is wearing* Look, look, look, everyone. Tokyo Sports have...actually, where are you selling this again?

T: Don Quijote.

J: Its a collaboration with Don Quijote.

T: Yeah.

J: Have a look. *Shows off hoodie* 'UFO caught in power lines'. I don't know why this scene has been chosen for it though. I've put it on straight away.

K: I've got one too. Its cute, right?

J: It is cute!

T: Oh, that makes me happy.

J: Anyone can get this if they go to Don Quijote?

T: Yep.

J: By the way, how much is it?

T: Its about ¥2000.

J: This is..

K: Its good.

J: Yeah it is.

K: Its good for this time of year.

J: This is great for just going to the convenience store.

Kami: Its cheap. 

K: But isn't ¥2000 a bit expensive for Kami?

T: haha

Kami: Well, its cheap.

J: Honestly, its a bit loose in the body.

K: You don't have to say that.

J: Hahaha

T: No matter when it gets dirty..

J: Its okay? kinda thing?

K: On the otherhand, its easy to wear.

J: Easy to wear! Thats it. Easy to wear.

K: Yeh yeh.

J: Ah, its thin so its easy to wear, haha.

K: Great for when its just a bit chilly outside.

J: Just right for that.

T: Exactly.

J: So by all means, everyone, this is currently on sale at Don Quijote.

T: Thank you very much.

J: This is a super hot item.

T: Thank you.

K: Speaking of Tokyo Sports news, this week's story is..

T: Yeah. A new geoglyph in the Nazca lines has been discovered.

J: I've been waiting for this!

T: Another mystery to unfold.

J: Yeh, a mystery.

T: On the 16th of this month, Peru's Ministry of Culture announced that a group of archaeologists doing maintenance work in an area of the Nazca lines discovered a new geoglyph measuring at 37 meters. Its from an earlier era than any of the other geoglyphs that we know of. It hasn't been visible up to now because it was drawn on the side of a steep slope. But it has become possibe to get footage of it using drones etc, which means more discoveries like this might also be made from now on.

J: Its amazing, isn't it?

T: Did you see it?

J, K: Yeh yeh.

J: It looks like a cat.

K: The moment I saw it, I thought it was a fake.

J: Hahaha. Out of all the topics so far, your enthusiasm for this one is kinda different, right?

T: Its crazy, right? A cat...

J: It looks like that giraffe that Tasai drew recently.

K: haha, yeh.

J: I wondered if Tasai had drawn it.

T: Yeh, like presenting my own work.

J: Yeh yeh yeh. But then you probably didn't have time to go to Peru and do a 37 meter drawing.

T: Well, yeah. Looking at the design of the cat, Im not sure whether ancient people drew this.

J: What do you think, Kaoru?

K: Well, when I first saw it, I thought it was fake news.

J, T: Hahaha

J: It looks like it, doesn't it? It looks like a joke.

T: For sure.

K: It makes you think, 'Eh? Really??'

J: Yeah. Maybe they left it there as a joke.

T: The other designs in the Nazca lines, the birds and things, are drawn very precisely, aren't they? This one has a different touch to it.

K: This one is older than those though, isn't it?

T: Yeah, its older.

K: Maybe it all started from there.

J: Yeah. Its like the very beginning of the Nazca lines. It could've been like a practice attempt.

T: So like, it started from there, and became many different designs?

J: Yeah, that kind of thing, maybe?

T: I wonder.

J: But its said the Nazca lines have loads of mysteries about them. These days, in terms of technicalties, you would draw a small image first, and while looking at that, like when making a map, go equally to various places and leave stakes in the ground. And then gradually make it bigger. If you increase the size by the same amount, no matter what the angle, it eventually turns into that kind of shape, right? But to make that kinda of image back then, with all the obstacles that they faced, there is the theory that it could have been aliens. Its quite a deep rooted theory. What is Tokyo Sports' theory on this?

T: Well, there is the aliens theory, but also former AKB member, Kojima Haruna....Kojiharu, right? She drew a picture of a cat at some event back in 2015, or was it a tiger? It was a tiger. It looks exactly the same as this.

J: Hahaha

K: *looks at pic on Tasai's phone* Well...

Kami: You're talking about Kojiharu's drawing?

T: Yeah, like did she draw this? 

Kami: Oh right. Um, I also..A long time ago, I drew a picture at Tottori sand dunes with a friend.

J, K, T: Ehh?

Kami: It was like a male symbol..I competed with my friend over the size.

J: Kami, how did you draw it, this male symbol?

Kami: Well, I got a tree, and trees are kind of thick, right. I found a really thick one, and went back and forward with it many times. We were saying to each other, like 'Mine is bigger'. Stupid, right? Haha.

T: Kami's type of fun is interesting.

Kami: Yeah, we went to Tottori sand dunes, it was fun though. I wouldn't be allowed to draw it now though, that type of thing.

J: Ah, is it banned there?

Kami: Well, these days its all about public decency. Maybe that was my fault.

K: Definitely.

J: Yeah. Its due to your excesses, Kami, now it has become like this.

Kami: Yes.

J: Stop it!

Kami: Its like as a god, I was the creator of these new rules.

J: Haha

T: I see.

J: Yeh, I see.

Kami: Yes.

K: He puts it very well.

J: He does. So, what do you think about this Kojiharu theory?

T: Well, we got a good response from her. She said something like 'Tokyo Sports, stop being stupid', haha.

K: Tokyo Sports gets about doesn't it?

J: Its great isn't it? haha. Imagine Kojiharu speaking out to them about the Nazca lines.

T: Also, the Major League player, the pitcher Maeda Kenta (Maeken), there has been talk that it looks like it was drawn by him.

K: Basically, the picture is not very good then.

J: Haha. So, Tokyo Sport's conclusion is that this geoglyph is old, but in terms of skill, its not that good?

T: Yeah. Well, because aliens did it to help them relax.

K: Ahh, I see.

J: Like, a drunk alien drew it or something?

T: Yeh yeh. 

J: Ah, there are many possibilities.

K: Its great that there are still others that havn't been discovered yet.

J: Yeah.

Kami: Um, will it be said that I drew it if they find a vulgar drawing?

K, J, T: Hahaha

J: Hang on, you're  a god, so it wouldn't be strange to say you were alive when the Nazca lines were made, right?

Kami: Right.

T: It wouldn't be that odd to find one or two vulgar ones would it?

J: Well, as I said earlier, they could start with a small drawing, and then gradually extend it, but the question is what did they make these for? I can understand that kind of big bird being related to a religious custom or something, but I'm interested in what this funny cat was made for.

T: Yeah

K: Well, I don't mean big ones, but they are a lot of small ones like this, done by people a long time ago, right?

T: Ah yeh.

J: Ah, I see. Yeh yeh.

T: It wasn't that unusual for ancient peope to draw random doodles, like symbols or religious images and stuff.

J: Ah, yeh. Its interesting.

Kami: Joe, I really understand what you said about expanding the drawing equally bit by bit.

J: Oh really?

Kami: Yeh, at Tottori sand dunes, the picture I drew was only circles and a line, but i made it bigger in the same way.

J: Oh right, yeh.

Kami: Yeah, I did.

J: So does that mean you really knew how to draw?

Kami: No, I didn't know how to at all. It just came naturally.

J: Naturally?

Kami: Yes.

T: Incredible.

J: Of couse, you are a god. I somehow wish you'd drawn something more decent. Haha

Kami: Well, I have a knack for that type of thing.

J: Haha, do you? Like, this is you?

Kami: Yes. Im just a vulgar guy.

J: Ah, you're vulgar? A vulgar god.

Kami: Yes.

K: Well, anyway, it will be interesting if they find any more of these.

J: Yeh, im looking forward to that.

T: I wonder if there are any more?

J: Oh, there will be more.

T: Hmm, yeh.

J: Well, I don't remember exactly, but in the place where the Nazca lines are, there is a characteristic type if soil quality, like if it rains, or is windy, the geoglyphs don't disappear.

K: Well, yeah.

J: If you drew a picture in regular ground, it would disappear when it rained, right? So, did these ancient people knew about the soil quality in this area, and draw them there deliberately to preserve them, or did they draw them in lots of different places, and only these ones have survived? Im not an expert, so I don't know, but it makes you imagine things when you see them.

K: Yeah.

J: Isn't it great?

T: There must be more..

J: Yeah.

T: Mysteries in this world.

J: Yes, I think so.

Kami: Isn't there any theory about them drawing graffiti with friends?

J: Well, there may be that kind of theory.

T: Yeah.

Kami: Is there?

K: We just don't know what happened.

J: Right, we don't know. Yeh.

T: That cat does just look like a prank.

J: Yeah.

T: There is no message in it.

J: No, there isn't. Haha.

K: How did they draw it though?

J: As for that Tokyo Sports Tshirt, I wonder if anyone holds copyright for the Nazca lines images?

K: I don't know, haha.

T: How about that? Hmm.

K: I don't know.

J: If its a press photo though, you can use it anywhere as long as you credit it, right?

K: Well, in that case, Tasai's drawing is better..

J: Oh, that?!

T: Hahaha

J: Lets make it!

K: Hahaha

J: How about that with 'The Freedom of Expression'.

T: That sounds good.

J: Kaoru did not seem to agree, haha.

K: No, lets just think about it a little more.

J: Yes, ok.

K: Ok, well lets finish here. Please subscribe. Thank you very much.

#the freedom of expression #tfoe #dir en grey #kaoru #薫 #nazca lines

[vetteldixon]

For a bit of juxtaposition from the cottagecore moodboard that was Seb’s charity auction photo contributions: Nico Rosberg’s! For when you like yourself, but you like some other things too?

Caption for the bottom pic, which like Seb’s features ein bisschen Denglish:

The podium in Monza was a very emotional moment. My first victory there, everywhere the incredible Tifosi. We sung together, which was pure goosebumps-feeling. Afterwards I asked Sebastian if we could do a selfie together with our physios. Spontaneously he said yes which lead to this great snapshot. 

Rest of them below the cut, including some melodrama over IP law

from top left, clockwise:

Singapore is one of my favourite races. I love the atmosphere and that´s why I have chosen this picture. The picture was taken just when we go to the driver’s parade with all the classic cars. My driver is already waiting for me. Here you can see the beautiful grid girl, later on the starting grid in general you don’t notice this because there are so many things to do just before starting the race. The highflyer you can see in the back. It’s always special, when the race starts in the light and later it’s becoming dark when the night comes. Singapore has become like a second Monaco in the calendar. I have a good friend living in Singapore and I therefore like the venue very much. I always spend more than a week in this amazing city.  (2013)

At the wheel of the 1938 W 154 in Stuttgart. Self portrait. (2014)

For the German Grand Prix I just wanted to praise the German National Team with a special German helmet design. I asked my designer Jens Munser to put the World Cup trophy on the top and the famous 4 stars. I loved this helmet design, so I put it on Twitter to show to my fans. I thought, the Trophy belongs to all football fans in the world. But also the FIFA legal office saw my post and asked my management to remove the trophy due to branding rights. We tried to persuade them, but there was no chance. So on Thursday at Hockenheim Jens had to make some changes. He just did the 4 stars a bit bigger and removed the trophy. I was happy with the outcome at the end, because the fourth star nobody can take away from us…  (2015)

Like every year, I visited the Earl of March in Goodwood. It was the morning after my 30th birthday, but the celebrations had not been too wild because my wife was pregnant at the time. I really love the Festival because I very much like oldtimers. I was sitting in the library when Valentino Rossi joined me and we ate lunch together. Before I had to get to my F1 car, we took this spontaneous selfie. We get along very well and it is rare to have time to chat in a relaxed atmosphere. (2016)

(all of these make me wish I was a fan of his when he was racing. I get it now, he is just shy and earnest and thoughtful which aren’t very stereotypical F1 traits...but he made the best of it)

#nico rosberg #f1 #britney #the monza pic is adorable tho #antti kontsas #daniel schloesser #sebastian vettel #valentino rossi #italian gp 2016 #german gp 2014 #singapore gp 2012

[kaisoounderground]

The Apartment Post

The post I did not want to have to write

Okay, I have looked over everything and even done more research. So I am going to just say that in my opinion, it’s not Kaisoo’s apartment, it never was, it was always a dorm. It makes me sad in a way, and I know  some of you hoped I would find a way to say otherwise but I can’t. 

The apartment was always a theory, based on real evidence, mind you, but only the truths we knew at the time. There was plenty to theorize about in that place as it just being a dorm room didn’t add up. But in light of new info, there is no other conclusion I can personally reach.  This is just my opinion, so do with it what you will.

Here’s how I know:

Urban Myth: EXO lives in Super Junior’s old dorms - what my research turned up this last week and why it matters

Clearly the livestreams and videos are not the Suju dorms at all, but somewhere else. It doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface but to me, this was huge, and threw my theories into question undeniably. My being convinced about that room being an apartment was that I knew, after lengthy research, that it was NOT the SuJu dorms and since EXO lived in those dorms, the place in JI’s live streams, was definitely NOT in EXO’s dorms, and might be the apartment we’ve all heard about for years.

SuJu’s dorm (top pic) versus Exo’s dorm (below):

Had EXO moved at some point? Why would they? And when?

It made no sense to me that exo would move, in 2016, to SuJu’s large, high security dorms (with 8 bedrooms) and then, within a year, maybe less, move again by 2017, to new dorms, with the same configuration/benefits that SuJu’s dorms offered. I decided to do a deeper dig to find out what was going on here. Here’s what I found:

EXO living in SuJu’s old dorms in the Star City complex (11th and 12th floors) was widely reported and accepted since at least February 2016 when Kyuhyun from Super Junior, talked about EXO living in SuJu’s dorm.

BBH, on Idol Men, in July 2017, solidified this further: he discussed that EXO, did indeed have dorms on two floors, with Junmyeon, Sehun, PCY and Jongin living on the lower floor (which matches what Kyuhyun said - the 11th) and CBX+Kyungsoo living on the upper floor.

This room arrangement matched perfectly with the layout of SuJu’s apartments, so there was no reason to question “where” EXO lived. They validated, in every interview where they talked about the dorm, that they lived where it was reported. All of my “kaisoo apartment” research started with this accepted fact, therefore all my conclusions that JI’s live streams were not in the SuJu dorm were correct. But...

It seems that EXO living in SuJu’s dorms turns out to be a kind of “urban myth” that is still out there. According to the research I did this last week, it appears that EXO never took over both SuJu’s dorms. They reportedly did move into one of the dorms but SuJu never gave up the other one and continued to use it to at least mid-2019, by all that I can find. I did read about two members moving to a smaller apartment with a manager on the sixth floor, but that would have a completely different floor plan and the bigger apartment, that Suju still has, has remained the same since 2015.

What appears to have happened is that Kyuhyun talked about EXO living in the 11th floor dorm and that morphed into EXO taking over both dorm apartments (11th AND 12th floor), with BBH’s comments helping to cement that idea. See below:

So if EXO only moved into one of the dorms then it was a temporary arrangement. Even if we could argue that they temporarily lived in both SuJu dorms, it was still short-lived, as the dorms we are seeing in the videos and live streams are not SuJu’s old dorms and we know that EXO got their own rooms by late 2016.

The two new spaces in JI’s live streams and how they factor in to the apartment debate (especially with the added PCY video):

I keep reiterating that they live in the dorm (part-time) so Jongin in a new dorm room is not really a big deal in the scheme of things for me. I knew it was a dorm room from how crowded it was - items that would normally be elsewhere in an apartment, were all in his room. 

But what was suspect was that items (the tv, the lamp, desk, chair, etc.) from the “apartment” were now in his new dorm room. Were they transferred from apartment to dorm? Or dorm room to dorm room? When combined with what is shown in all the videos, which I discuss down below, the evidence is too convincing in favor of dorm room to dorm room.

What about the live streams that show JI in a new apartment?

The PCY video of the dorm and JI’s live stream from a new apartment appear to be mirrored spaces - suggesting that the configuration is just the same as BBH said the dorms were, one up and one down. Ugh, but not the SuJu dorms.

I’ve already done a post showing the differences in the upper/lower apartments here.

Ji being in the upper apartment makes sense as I believe he said that he had moved into Minseok’s room(?). That would be the upstairs dorm apartment that houses KS+CBX so the interior items would be different. Since KS and Minseok are gone, that means JI shares only with BBH, who actually lives elsewhere and these days would most likely only be there for schedules with either EXO or SuperM (so it makes even more sense why he moved upstairs). 

BUT, I need to stress that I am theorizing here because it does leave a question about what happens when Minseok gets back and he has schedules with CBX? Do they double up somewhere? Does he sleep on the couch? IDK.

The PCY + JI’s birthday Videos: These showed me everything I need to know to be convinced - it was always the dorm.

In Ji’s birthday video he walks into the room that I thought was the secret Kaisoo apartment. When he does this, you see that at the end of what I thought was a wall is actually a door. Beyond the door you can see that this is now just a room in a larger place, rather than an apartment itself. 

In watching the PCY video, I could see right away that it appears JI is walking past the room Junmyeon comes out of (see photos below) to come in to blow out the candles on his cake. The key is the black boxy thing and its placement in both the dorm and and how it is seen from the room. By knowing where it is in the dorm, it lines up with the mystery room perfectly:

Also in the gif below, watching the shadows on the floor, where the light appears to come from and the angle that JI moves from to come in to the room. It appears to me that he is coming from the dining area in the dorm, which is on the other side of this room.

So given the above, I am going to theorize that the place that I thought and hoped was the apartment is the room across from the room that Junmyeon comes out from (which I also theorize is PCY’s room - I will talk about that in a future post) and is a dorm room after all.

Further evidence that this is the dorm: I noted that the door to JI’s room opens in to the left. So does the room I pointed to above.

And the final but compelling piece of evidence: the sliding glass door. SuJu’s dorms had no balconies, so I always knew it was not there. Also, it didn’t seem like a balcony or terrace, but rather another room (more about that in a future post) which many of us kind of thought, and I worked hard to prove, was a kitchen in their apartment. However, I don’t think that is the case. I think it’s a closed-in balcony area which so many korean apartments have. See below:

You can see that the doors are the same color and type. The sliding door on the left is at the end of the kitchen, the same end that JI’s room would be. So that means that his room would also open up on the same balcony as we see here.

So there you have it. After really hoping that my theorizing stood up in light of so much new information, I must conclude, for myself at least, and for those of you that believed with me because of the things I posted, that it was always a dorm room and not an apartment after all.

I am sorry to have brought you all along with my lengthy theory posts, encouraging you to believe in something that was never true. Truth be told, had I known then about the role that the SuJu dorms played in all this, I would have never embarked on the theory that that was Kaisoo’s apartment at all. 

I always said that if I was wrong, I wanted to be corrected as I didn’t ever want to perpetuate an untruth. 

So, I stand corrected. I did the best with the evidence I had at the time. And to be fair, Kaisoo having an apartment has been rumoured forever and theories have been around forever too. I was most definitely not alone in posting the apartment theories as there were many of us, some reaching the same conclusions, some not, but all of us enjoying the idea that this might be the place where Kaisoo gets away from it all and that JI was sharing it with us.

But fear not, he shares so much with us anyway. And just because this wasn’t THE apartment, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It just means that it’s still a secret. Good for them and bless all those who know where it is and have kept it to themselves.

Never forget:  🐻 ⌚️ 🐧

Fighting!  💖

#kaisoo

[lastsonlost]

Oh gasps, I'm shocked.

Who would have thunk it?

The story:

Updated with Sunday figures: In the wake of Terminator: Dark Fate’s failure at the B.O., and Paramount’s recent decision to make Beverly Cops 4 for Netflix, we have the further breakdown of cinema IP in Sony’s Charlie’s Angels reboot, which is tanking with a God-awful $8.6M domestic opening, $27.9M worldwide (from 26 markets), 3 Stars on Screen Engine-Comscore’s PostTrak, and a B+ Cinemascore.

The Elizabeth Banks-directed-written and produced pic is also opening in 27 offshore markets,

China being one where it’s also bombing,

with a $7.8M 3-day take in third place behind No. 1 local title Somewhere Winter ($13.1M).

All of this is primed to further spur a WTF reaction and anxiety among film development executives in town in regards to what the hell exactly works in this have-and-have-not era of the theatrical marketplace. Many will make the hasty generalization that old, dusty IP doesn’t work, or is now deemed too risky when it’s not a superhero project. However, moviemaking is an art, not a science, and annoying as it might sound, good movies float to the top, and this Charlie’s Angels reboot didn’t have the goods going back to its script.

<Maybe somebody should have been working on a good story instead of pushing an agenda.

We’re going to break down for you what went wrong in another graph, but we don’t want to bury the success of Disney’s release of Fox’s James Mangold-directed Ford v Ferrari, which looks to be coming in at $31.5M, well ahead of the $20M+ many were seeing, with an awesome A+ CinemaScore and 4 1/2 stars and a 68% definite recommend on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak. After a franchise-laden summer which buried originals, now an original pic is sticking it to the IP.

When it comes to the bombing of Charlie’s Angels, the takeaway is this is what happens when you have IP, but there’s no reason for telling the story.

In the walk-up to developing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and in the wake of its near $1 billion success, a fever broke out at the Culver City lot in the post-Amy Pascal era to reboot former Sony franchises or extend them, i.e. Zombieland: Double Tap (well over $103M at the global B.O. now), the upcoming Bad Boys 3, and, of course, Spider-Man, the latter electrified by Disney’s Marvel. Development studio executives define their being by getting films greenlit, and whenever that happens, it’s 90% of the job.

And the pressure is on to fill a 10-12 picture annual slate in a world where Disney vacuums up all the best IP. A third Charlie’s Angels with McG directing and Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu starring, wasn’t made immediately after the second chapter, 2003’s Full Throttle, as the sequel turned out to be 29% more expensive than the 2000 original at $120M, and also made less worldwide, $259.1M to $264.1M. With Elizabeth Banks coming off her hot feature directorial debut with Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2 (which over-indexed in its stateside opening at the B.O., going from $50M projections to $69.2M, and finaled global at $287.1M); after she expressed interest in September 2015 in taking on a Charlie’s Angels reboot with a modern feminist spin, there was no question in Sony’s mind that the project should move forward.

<Yeah Sony, how's that working out for you? You think they would have learned their lesson...

Guess not.

Back to the story.....

However, there were script problems, I hear, that could never be resolved. A few months after Banks boarded, Evan Spiliotopoulos came on to write. By the time cast was assembled in July 2018, Banks had penned the latest draft off a script by Jay Basu (The Girl in the Spider’s Web), and earlier drafts by Craig Mazin and Semi Chellas. Andrea Giannetti oversaw the project on the lot. However, I hear that the script for Charlie’s Angels didn’t really attract top talent, i.e. Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Margot Robbie (a trio that would have potentially jazzed up business). Hence, why the production opted to go with largely a fresh face cast outside of Kristen Stewart. While we overwrite that stars mean nothing at the box office, they do, sometimes, when it comes to propping IP, and unfortunately and arguably, no one in Middle America knows who British actress Ella Balinska is, and they’ve only became recently acquainted with Naomi Scott from Disney’s Aladdin and Lionsgate’s Power Rangers. Stewart, who is hysterical in the movie and even needed more funny bits, is in a different place in her career professionally, publicly, and privately. It’s unfair to think that she could delver her Twilight fans now.

Had she done Charlie’s Angels promptly in the swell of the Twilight whirlwind (like Snow White and the Huntsmen) then maybe it would have popped.

But she has largely been dormant from popcorn wide releases for the last seven years since 2012’s Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, busy excelling and wowing in specialty awards season and festival fare like Clouds of Sils Maria, Still Alice, and this year’s Seberg, to name a few. Stewart needed to be paired with equal or bigger-name actresses.

was a one quadrant movie, eyed at women 13-39, especially given its lack of action scenes, and wisely limited their exposure to what I hear is 50%, with co-finance partners 2.0 Entertainment and Perfect World. Sony claims the budget is $48M net; we’ve heard in the mid $50Ms. Tax incentives were taken in the pic’s Berlin and Hamburg shoots. Perhaps Sony should have spent more, because Charlie’s Angels biggest problem is that it has very low-octane, we’ve-seen-it-all-before action scenes. Heck, there’s more action in a 1980s Chuck Norris movie. After watching Charlie’s Angels earlier this week, I put the first two McG movies on Netflix, and it was like watching Star Wars in comparison to this reboot, with his sharp production design, camera movements, unique action, and comedy set pieces, and, of course, the first movie blasted Sam Rockwell out of a cannon. Understand that the first two movies in the series were able to compete and hold their own in an action space where, yes, Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious (the first two films came out in 2001 and 2003) also thrived. Mission and Fast sequels distinguish themselves on multiple 10-minute action sequences that we’ve never seen before on screen; it doesn’t matter who the villain is. This Charlie’s Angels doesn’t have that. And not even a super-duper hit song “Don’t Call Me Angel” for the movie from Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Ray can trigger lines at the multiplex; the music video clocking over 116M views on YouTube, per entertainment social media monitor RelishMix.

Some will claim that Banks’ version was never intended to emulate the meat and potatoes version of McG’s films; that this version was expected to be more comedic, and more feminist. Unfortunately, after McG set the table here with the franchise as an action film, you can’t reverse it. You can only outdo him. And with a franchise movie like Charlie’s Angels, you can’t make it for a one quadrant audience.

The film arrived on tracking with a $12M-$13M start, and really never budged, but sank. That means marketing didn’t work. I heard that a $100M global P&A was first planned on Charlie’s Angels, with the studio now reducing that overall cost greatly to around $50M and pulling back on expensive ads. Another hurdle in activating the young girl demo is that much of the pic’s cast isn’t on social media. RelishMix says that Banks is the social media star with over 6.6M followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with Scott counting 3.4M.

Sony kept pushing Charlie’s Angels, which in hindsight means there were development issues. In May 2017, a release date was announced for June 7, 2019. When the cast was locked down in July 2018, Charlie’s got moved to Sept. 27, 2019. In October 2018 when Warners pushed Wonder Woman 1984 from the first weekend in November to summer, Charlie‘s took over the autumn spot, which was the same exact place the original 2000 opened. However, when Terminator: Dark Fate moved onto the same first weekend in November, Charlie‘s relocated to this weekend as they vied for a China release which they ultimately got.

Charlie’s Angels drew a 66% female crowd, split between 36% over 25 and 30% under 25. But both demos respectively graded it low at 68% and 79%, with men at 35% giving it a 68% grade on PostTrak. Diversity breakdown was 52% Caucasian, 21% Hispanic, 14% Asian/Other, & 13% African American. Charlie’s Angels best markets were on the coasts and big cities. But again, nothing to brag about in Friday’s $3.2M gross, which includes $900K from Thursday and Wednesday previews.

Says RelishMix, which also foresaw this disaster approaching on social media chatter, “Angels is the latest example in a ‘woke’ effort to reboot a franchise that many were not all that interested in to start with. In fact, many references to the 2000 version get a call-out as a reason this one doesn’t seem to compare – whether it’s the cast or the action teased from the film.

And, as observed with other recent films, some action/adventure, unfortunately fans say they’re steering clear of this one because of its ‘girl power’ messaging.”

[yenafmd]

— aesthetic 003 & headcanon 001: tattoos

over the years, yena has slowly been collecting more and more ink. it’s definitely a leisurely development, mainly because of the arguing back and forth with management that every new piece takes, needing thorough permission every single time. it might be a gruelling process and yena mourns having to cover them up for performances but at the end of the day, she doesn’t regret any of her pieces,  neat little bits of self-expression scrabbled across her skin. one day, she will be able to get more of them at her every whim, just because she feels like it. for now, she will keep fighting tooth and nail to keep slowly expanding her collection.

headcanon word count: 1,034

general: over the years, yena has slowly been getting tattoos, adding up to a total of 8 at this point. below you can find them listed in chronological order of when she got them, detailing the moment and reason she got them. their placement might differ slightly from the reference images but all in all, the aesthetic should give a solid idea of her tattoos, this headcanon truly just goes a little more in depth.

the crescent moon on her wrist: her first tattoo, one she got in 2014 inbetween ‘female president’ and ‘speed up’ promotions. the specific design doesn’t hold too much significance other than that she thought it was pretty. she’d been braining on the idea of getting a tattoo for a while but having only turned major of age that year, there hadn’t been much opportunity to get one done. with calypso’s change in concept to a more sexier look rather than their cute and sometimes silly image, dimensions was a little more lenient with letting her get her tattoo.

the butterflies along her underboob: on the one hand, dimensions was a little bit more laid-back letting her get a tattoo that would never end up on camera due to it’s private placement. on the other hand, asking dimensions if she could get an underboob tattoo was quite an awkward affair. she got the tattoo done in mid to late 2015, a period that was quite low on schedules for calypso giving her plenty of time to get the piece and let it heal up without any scheduling conflict. the butterflies are placed a little more snugly to her underboob than the reference picture and there are a few more of them but the idea remains the same, fanning outward until they reach her side. they’re meant to symbolise freedom, yena remains a bit of a wild child at heart after all but she also just really thinks the placement is pretty. yena loves a good sexy tattoo.

the dandelion on her ankle: this one yena got the afternoon after extending her contract with dimensions entertainment in 2017. it’s something of a good luck charm to her, a silent wish for calypso to make a turn-around in their second contract and finally gather some more attention. they still haven’t and at this point, yena isn’t quite sure if she still believes in it but she doesn’t regret the tattoo. it’s still a good luck charm in the broader sense of the word, good things have still come to her after getting the piece and yena is just superstitious enough to believe her tattoo has had some influence on it

the hearts on her finger: a birthday present she gave herself for her 22nd birthday back in 2017. it’s just a small tattoo, two overlapping hearts, one red and one black that, unlike the reference photo, are actually placed along the side of her finger and a little bit further down, closer to the knuckle. the tattoo is located on the ring finger of her right hand, leaving the left hand for any potential marriage reasons later down in life. yena has gotten the tattoo touched up just last year in 2020, something she will probably end up doing every few years but she doesn’t mind, it’s pretty.

the cherries above her elbow: another tattoo that yena kind of just got because, her favorite tattoo artist posted the sketch of it somewhere and yena liked it so much that she asked her to put it on hold for her for a bit while she went to bicker with management why she most definitely needed another tattoo. eventually she got permission and the rest was history. contrary to the reference pic, the tattoo is actually located on the side of her upperarm, just slightly above the crook of her elbow. together with one of the two hearts on her finger, it’s one of her only tattoos with color, giving it a nice little pop in the entire composition of her pieces.

the heart on her sternum: yena’s manager is a poor woman that’s very, very tired of yena’s boob inquiries. not only did yena already have a tattoo located around the area, she had already gotten both her nipples pierced at that point (because yena has double nipple piercings, that doesn’t go here but it felt very important to point out anyway). still, yena insisted she absolutely required another one, just to finish off the area, have it all tie in together nicely. it’s a simple outline of a heart symbol, right on the bottom of her sternum. neither it’s placement or it’s shape are very anatomically correct but it’s pretty and truly, shouldn’t that be enough?

the rose on the back of her arm: in size, it’s probably yena’s biggest tattoo. which doesn’t say much, most of her tattoos are pretty small and this one doesn’t stand much taller than 7 centimeters at the most. it’s probably the tattoo that took the most bickering with management to get approved, especially because she already had a handful and this one was just a little bit bigger. the original plan to get it had been made in 2020 but it wasnt until spring 2021 she actually got permission to go for it. roses are, as cliché as they are, probably yena’s favorite flowers, both because of how beautiful they are and their romantic connotation, truly making it only a matter of time before she got one tattooed.

the flame symbol on her hipbone: dimensions should know better than to let calypso go on year long hiatuses, they’re the perfect opportunity for yena to get all the random tattoos she could possibly think of. the flame symbol she got was probably her most impulsive tattoo (as impulsive as something you have to get permission for can be) and almost no one knows she got it done to begin with. while she has hinted at having more tattoos than fans know she has, this one has been from after that time. it’s just a sexy little secret and while few people know about it, most who do seem little surprised at the notion, it really suits yena.

#✿ — aesthetics. #✿ — headcanons.

[lanottedellastrega]

Out of the Shadows

Metal Hammer, Summer 2015. Transcript behind the cut.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS Poised to release their third album, Ghost have returned from their unholy slumber to reveal how their conversion mission is progressing - and when their end times might come... Words: Chris Chantler. Pics: John McMurtrie

Surely this can't be right. Hammer is awaiting an audience with a Nameless Ghoul from the Swedish Devil-worshipping cult of Ghost, half-expecting to be blindfolded and ridden to the ruins of a deconsecrated church for a clandestine rendezvous with the masked and robed envoys of Satan. Yet we're in the executive lounge of a Kensington hotel, and there's an extremely polite, alarmingly youthful-looking short-haired man in a leather jacket being introduced as "the author of Ghost." Hammer experiences some cognitive dissonance, imagining that this is a hoax, that Ghost are slyly pretending to have human faces and interpersonal skills to divert attention from the true nature of their esoteric origins or seduce us into foul practices. The only visible clue to this young man's role as Ghost mouthpiece is the symmetrically matching pair of skull-and-crossbones patches on his leather sleeves. Yet when he starts talking about Ghost's third album, the majestic Meliora, it's clear this guy knows what he's talking about.

"The first album [2010's Opus Eponymous] was about the impending doom of a more old-school Biblical sort, where death and destruction will come in the form of locusts and dark fog: it was the coming of the Antichrist," he explains in soft, measured tones, choosing his words with care, maintaining near-constant eye contact. "The second album [2013's Infestissumam] was about the presence of the devil, taking place aesthetically in a 1700's milieu with a more Baroque theme. Whereas this album is the absence of God. It's a futuristic, pre-apocalyptic record. The cat is out of the house and the mice dance on the table. But at some point, the cat comes home..."

Meliora is a godless state, where Ghost's totemic frontman-cum-sigil Papa Emeritus wields power and terror with fearful impunity. And like his spiritual predecessor, Iron Maiden's Eddie, he's renewed with each new phase of band activity, so we're now on Papa III. His city bears more than a passing resemblance to the world we live in.

"Meliora is the metropolitan landscape in which this album takes place; a backdrop that looks like a big city with a lot of hopeful people living in fear of not succeeding," he explains candidly. "Many of the lyrics on this album deal with ambition. It's ridden with a certain degree of self-loathing. I really hate ambitious people - that's why I live in a place where there's not a whole lot of them."

Ghost may not have had any grand ambitions, but five years on from their debut demo, single and LP, some of their original concept has had to be compromised by unimagined levels of growth and demand. For example, talking openly and earnestly to the press in his street clothes, his face and voice undisguised (rumours suggest he's singer-songwriter Tobias Forge, but his real name is politely unconfirmed) is something the Ghoul never intended to do. But he admits that the success of the band thus far - and the enthusiastic patronage of superstar superfans such as James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo and Dave Grohl - has greatly surprised and humbled the men behind the masks.

"Contrary to popular belief, we did not know that we were gonna get that much heat," the Ghoul affirms. "It's fun to play high horse and say it's just a trick and we're fucking with everybody, which we obviously are not. We had no idea. When we were rehearsing our debut, we had a conversation with Rise Above and were contemplating whether to make 500 or 1,000 copies. And maybe we could do a show at Roadburn. It was very innocent - even though that's a word I've never used in terms of Ghost! We've had to grow with it, and we had a lot of catching up to do between the first and second albums. But aesthetically a lot of things we're planning on doing are things we had on paper to begin with."

Realizing something magickal was happening, Ghost made a concerted decision to spread their message of Satanic arch camp horror out of the underground, moving from cult indie label Rise Above to Spinefarm, an imprint of Universal, the world's biggest major. But from their first recordings, Ghost were a musically accessible, traditional, melodic pop-rock showbiz act with influences from some of the biggest bands of the past (Kiss, Abba, Blue Oyster Cult), a strong visual identity and a mischievously lurid theology; it was clear this band needed a level of production above the average low-key doom band.

"In order to present ourselves in the way that we intended, we needed a larger setting," agrees the Ghoul. "We want Papa's hat to not touch the ceiling. We want the band to look like we're performing a mass rather than in a punk squat. What we saw in our minds was something that looked and felt solemn and larger than life."

From their earliest pronouncements, Ghost were demanding the world's attention, and with "a lot of touring," they made sure they got it. But the question of how long they can hold it for is one that the Nameless Ghoul is acutely aware of.

"We have our figure. We have our concept. We can work with that. But we're just on our third record. Out of all our favorite bands, where were they on their third record? They sure weren't chickening out and doing the same safe shit. That's not how you make a third record; that's not how Master of Puppets or Number of the Beast got made. You have to build and be as bold as you can be, even though it feels a little scary. Because we know, we can fuck this up. Especially on the third record, when you're supposed to take a big step. Are we gonna go down to the basement again? You don't know how many chances you get. This might be our last one."

To make that all-important leap forward on a pivotal album, as Metallica or AC/DC can tell you, the secret often lies in the choice of producer. Although there's a great metallic crunch to the music on Meliora, and a psychedelic audacity, Swedish pop savvy is the band's trump card. To further that end, Ghost employed knob-twiddler Klas Ahlund, best known for his songwriting collaborations with Britney Spears, Kylie, Katy Perry and Madonna.

"We felt, 'Maybe we should work with someone who can really help us redefine what we're doing,'" the Ghoul reasons. "He was keen to find a rock band with their own material, and we were looking for a producer with more of a songwriting skill, so it was a good match. As much as we could drive a car on the energy of thinking we're the best band in the world - a very small car! - we knew there must be things we can do better. Every band with self-respect should work with someone who can really challenge what you're doing, and we did that with Klas. When you're on a major label with bigger expectations, you have the opportunity to get a yes or now from people you'd like to work with. But early on we realised, as much fun as it is to look at records we love and say, 'Let's get Mutt Lange!' or 'Let's get Bob Rock!' it felt like we should get our own man. Many of these big producers weren't big producers until they did that big record that we associate them with."

As they await the world's reaction to Meliora, Ghost have already amassed "the ground basics of what will become the next album." Nevertheless, for a band with such clear vision and attention to detail, it's tempting to wonder if they've planned an exit strategy.

"I had one vision two years ago and I have another vision now, and I may have another two years from now," muses the Ghoul. "We can catapult our concept around a few times, into different eras and spheres, but it has its time and place. I don't think anybody would enjoy having us around doing this forever; when there's nothing more to say, I hope we're sober enough to yank out the cord. We're not going to use Ghost for every musical dream we have. It's all fun and games to be in robes, but it's also lots of fun playing three-piece punk rock in your t-shirt."

However, with the musical development evident on Meliora, happily Ghost look set to continue expanding their sound and mythology. Have you joined the cult?

---

WHO IS PAPA III? Three things we know about our new, mysterious leader...

Papa Emeritus III is younger than his brother, Papa Emeritus II, by three months. Nameless Ghoul: "There are several Mamas. And one big, old, really, really bad Papa. That might give you an indication of what's gonna happen in the future. There's one shark in the water you haven't met yet..."

He controls his followers in Meliora. Nameless Ghoul: "Papa is the authoritative religious leader among his followers. He comes into the vacuum of the godless contemporary world and manipulates the people. We are, together with our fans, agreeing that you are here to worship us, and we are telling you what to do. And in this era, it's all taking place in the futuristic dystopian city of Meliora."

He was inspired by Sir Christopher Lee. Nameless Ghoul: "From Scaramanga to The Lord of the Rings, Sir Christopher Lee played a large role when it came to the concept of Papa. A scary, sophisticated, handsome older man who inflicted terror and arousal. I greatly admired him."

#metal hammer #the band ghost #papa emeritus iii #interview #tobias forge #meliora #meliora era #transcript added

[handmadecp]

Small, Ladies ‘Satchel Style’ Shoulder bag.

Hi guys, been a while what with all this Covid Lock down stuff going on, been helping a lot of folks out that couldn’t get out so haven’t been able to do much, then came along a quite big extension to our current layout in the workshop so with all that I’ve been pretty busy, but..finally, I am back in the workshop doing what I enjoy. I was half way through a small bag build so some of you may/ or may not have seen a few pics already, but it’s all good. here is a short series of pics showing the build along of this particular bag. Apologies if it’s not in the same kind of detail I am generally known to show but as already stated its been hectic. If any of you give this one a go and you feel there is something missing from this build along please feel free to ask..I don’t bite and I welcome the interaction with other Makers. Lets go.

Pic 0 : The black dyed Veg Tan shoulder.

Pic 1 : I purchased a nice ready dyed black veg tan Shoulder 3- 4mm, nice strength and flexible too. I also purchased a pattern for a ladies small shoulder bag based on the old UK satchel bags school kids used to have, but a smaller version. All credit for the original design and pattern goes to ‘Craftsmangus’, they have a great YT channel and they make coold patterns. I purchased, downloaded, printed, cut out and transfered all the pieces to the leather as shown in this first pic, using a paint pen refill as usual as it comes of.

Pic 2 : After cutting the sections out I also used the pattern to mark all the holes on each piece and then followed up with a stitch hole punch as shown until all pieces were cut out and had the required holes. I will point out that if you buy this pattern from Craftsmangus and intend to make this bag a sI have done it there is a sklight change on mine to the video they have showing the build. on their video they are seen to cut one buckle strap...I decided to do the version with two buckle straps as you will see. Decide at the cutting out stage how many of each piece you will need for the version you want.

Pic 3: Stitching the small gusset to the outside small pocket using a saddle stitch. I find it difficult personally to use a stitch pony when doing the bags and doing it ‘free hand’ where it flops all over the place can be a bit annoying, but..just chill your beans, take a deep breath..smile and carry on, it’s the only way.

Pic 4 : Here you see the small gusset attached to the front pouch pocket ready to be stitched to the front of the main body. ignore the white marks dotted along the stitch holes..I count the holes to be sure there are enough on both pieces as I’ve been caught out before and end up with 18 holes on one piece and 16 holes on the piece it’s being attached too...you can see the problem. So I count and I use the paint refil pen and drag it across the holes as I go, that is the only reason it looks that way, just my personal choice..and I would recommend if you buy patterns, never just assume that the required holes are correct..check them.

Pic 5 : Hand stitching the other side of the front pouch gusset to the main body using a saddle stitch.

Pic 6 : Ta daaaa...done, the outside small pocket is now attached firmly to the main body and the stitches are consistant all the way round.

Pic 7 : Outside holes all counted, ready now to stitch the Bigger gusset to the front of the main body. all the stitching on this bag is saddle stitching. If it ever changes I will let you know.

Pic 8 : Using a few super strong clips I held the gusset in position as I stitched and moved them along as I went, it helps a lot to keep the holes aligned. Some times I will glue a gusset into position before I stitch but that can sometime leave holes out of line and also leave some glue on show when finished, so I pick and choose when to use it now, but if its a help to you do it..Sometimes I do...sometimes I don’t. Here you can see the clips holding it in position and the gusset laying along the edge as I stitch it.

Pic 9 : Large gusset attached to front section .

Pic 10 :

Pic 11, close up of the attached gusetts....so far.

Pic 11A Marking positions for the buckle and clasp straps to be glued and stitched.

Pic 12 : It’s a simple matter to cut out the buckle straps..I made two for my bag, then punch the stitch holes if not already done. rough the leather a little under where you will glue the strap (s), glue that small area , glue the back of the strap and glue...then stitch into position, before doing that bit, dont forget to make some holes for the buckle pin and force your strap through the buckles, on the other end which in this pic is under the buckle...you will need to attach a magnetic closure. Very easy to fit, just use the pins on the magnetic clasp to mark where you will put them,,then cut very carefully two small slits to pass the magnetic clasp ‘pins’ through, then bend the pins down to secure.

Pic 12A : using the clasp pins to mark where to cut the tiny slits to pass them through. Be careful when making the tiny slits you dont push so hard you make a ‘big’ slit.

pic 12B : Fitting the magnetic clasps.

Pic 13 : another view shows the underside/inside of the stitching when done. note the two ‘marks’ on the back section. just inside the bag, those are where the ‘D’ rinds are attached using the same method, thread the small strap pieces through the ‘D’ rings, rough a little and glue together then glue to the bag, this time I used a stitch awl to push the stitch holes all the way through and then hand stitched.

Pic 13B : gluing the buckle straps on ready for stitching I used evo stick 528 contact adhesive.

Pic : 13C positioning the ‘D’ rings.

Pic 14 : shows the magnetic clasps used, very easy to do and if you follow the video on YT from ‘Cratsmangus’ then you should have no issue with them. The next part of the project is to stitch the back section to the rest of the bag by saddle stitching to the other side of the gusset. I find you can’t really use a stitch pony for this as you need to get your hand inside the bag and it is quite a ‘fiddly’ part of the build but again..patience pays of.

Pic 14A : positioning the gusset to stitch the back section on. you could glue this on but I prefer to be able to move it around if the holes don’t alighn which I can’t do if it’s glued together. Your choice.

Pic 14B : sewing the back section to the main gusset.

Pic 14C : almost there...fingers getting sore, ouch.

Pic 15 : The strap making is simple, just like making a small belt. I used my strap cutter which can be bought online for a few pounds and is very worth the money, but you can do it with a sharp knife as I used to do. But for those of you here for the first time, there is a picture coming up that shows my strap cutter better. I then used an ‘English’ point strap end punch to cut the end shape, then held the strap to my partners own bag to get a decent length...cut to length, punced some holes for the buckle, attached the buckle by folding one end of the strap, cutting out a small area of the very tip of the strap (as bent over) to create a hole for the bucle pin to go through...attached it, then roughed, glued and instead of stitching I chose to use silver double headed rivits to match the buckle. All of the other clasps, clips, buckles on my bags are done in the same way, if you are new to leather craft there are more detailed instructions in my archive photos on other bag builds, belt builds and strap builds should you need more information. This bag, I would say..is for a person with the basics already sorted such as stitching, gluing neatly, strap cutting, buckle fixing etc however it could be achieved by a complete newby, but please be warned,,,use cheaper materials until you are confident in what you are doing...leather is expensive, especially here in the UK. You have been warned.

Pic 16 : And basically once the back is stitched on and the strap has all it’s clips and buckles on...that’s it. The only other thing I have done is to go around the edges with a fine sand paper to smooth the edges a little but not too much as I feel the unburnished ( or unpolished for the newbies ) edge adds to the overall look and appeal of this tough looking but smart little shoulder bag. Also I have added my own ‘Shaman’ Tag to it which I think sets it off just right. The following pics are just to show it from different angles.

Here you can see the wooden strap cutter I use, a simple, cheap easy way to cut nice straps.

I hope you like this latest project, as I’ve said many times before, I started my blog in 2015 when I picked up my first piece of leather to document my own Journey into this amazing craft little realising how passionate I would become about it and whilst I am by no means a novice now I still have much that I can learn and as I learn I share with anyone who might be looking and thinking...there’s no way I could do that..but it looks cool. Well...check out my archives my earlier attempts are a little ‘rocky / shakey’ and my stitching took practice. If you are willing to not let mistakes make you quit and choose to use failure as a lesson on how ‘not’ to do it, then you too can do this. Give it a go, just get a cheap piece of leather to begin with , find a smaller project and go for it. Please feel free to ask questions that is why I started this blog to share knowledge that others have shared with me. Many more projects to come guys so watch this space and as always..’Stay Crafty’. P.s..to any of you guys wondering about my little old workshop and what it was that took me so long these next few pics will explain. Thanks for sticking around.

This extension to my partners area of the workshop, lower work surfaces for sitting.

Extensions to my work area for lower surfaces for sitting, last year I did a lot of standing..this year it time to sit a while especially if stitching by hand.

The brown table you can see is no longer there, my partner and I now have plenty of room for standing work or sitting work, as with all things it took time, but it’s done and we can get back to business. I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest build, thanks to everyone who follows my little blog I appreciate it and if it was your first time seeing it I hope you will check out the archives and come back again. till next time ..take care guys.

[sometownie]

get to know the simmer: s2 edition! 

I was tagged by @episims​. Yes. Yes I was. 

Your name: Noora. 

Languages you speak: Finnish, English. And some Japanese. Like I can understand and speak and write simple sentences and could probably hold a simple conversation.

Are you a mermaid?: I’ve loved mermaids ever since I was a kid. Like, no lie, I’ve always wanted to be one. I’m planning on having the 1975 Reader’s Digest version of the little mermaid tattooed at some point, it’s the one mermaid movie I have always loved. (Surprisingly, I have never been too into the Disney one. I love Part of Your World but that’s about it.) My first long story plans were mermaid stories.

Your play style: The best hoods and families I’ve had have always started in a spur of a moment. And I keep changing everything all the time, deleting lots and switching from subhood to subhood, but my sims stay! I grow ridiculously attached to my babies and play them with love. I love all the general gameplay aspects of the game: building and decorating and the gameplay itself. All of it. I play in weekly cycles. ALSO for someone who claims to love the game I play extremely rarely. But when I do, I play for several days straight. 

Your Simself picture: It’s my user pic and the mobile header but here’s one from that shoot:

Stories or gameplay, builds, look books, edits or CC: Gameplay, builds, edits, I guess. 

Your favorite age state: Adults.

Your favorite season: In sims, spring and summer. In real life, fall and summer. 

Your favorite holiday: It’s a cliché, but out of all the holidays I do like christmas. The christmas eve is one of my favorite days in a year. 

How was your day?: Very good, actually! I woke up around 8 am after sleeping a little badly, but then I started the day by baking bread buns and continued on to do some school stuff that have been waiting for me to do them (university has been kinda overwhelming lately). In the evening we made pizza, I played some Fallout 4 and now I’m here. A good day, all in all! 

Your favorite career: I love so many! Criminal, definitely. Also Military and Law Enforcement. And Adventure!! And Paranormal. I can’t choose one. 

Your favorite aspiration: Knowledge and family. 

Your favorite EP, GP and SP: I think my favorite expansion is Nightlife. It was the first expansion I got. Out of stuff packs I’m gonna say the glamour one. The stuff packs aren’t anything special imo, though. 

How old is your simblr?: Oh, wow. I’ve made my first post in October 2015. It’s my 5 year anniversary this year! 

Have you WooHooed?: Sure.

Your favorite skill: To be honest, I like all of them equally. But I’m gonna say.... Fitness (Body?).

The size of your mods folder: 8,57 G! I was expecting it to be bigger!

Your 3 favorite mods: Most mods I have are fixes and stuff that remove annoying behaviour. Visitor Controller is new to me but it’s a life saver! Also I’ve really liked how the Romance mod is working in my game, but I have also been thinking about getting ACR. Other than that it’s hard to say. 

Your interests (other than Sims): Writing, drawing, video games. 

Your favorite Sim (picture if possible): GUESS WHO!

IT’S GRETA ♥

(Crowd pretends to be surprised)

But to be honest, I kinda wish to gain a new favorite sim some time soon, since Greta has now passed on from my game! Rayna Limestone is very close to being my favorite, and I have high hopes for Ruby Limestone once she grows up!

Which Sims games have you played (including mobile games)?: Games 1-4 on PC, however I gotta add I only used to play TS3 on my sister’s computer (even though I do own it and multiple expansions), and I never really got into TS4 (I only play it to recreate Greta for the millionth time lol). I LOVE the PS2 version of TS2 as well as The Urbz! I have the PSP version of TS2 as well, but I haven’t played it much. I’ve tried all the mobile games but tbh I hate them. Oh, and I bought Life Stories but I haven’t played it yet. 

Propose a crazy scheme: OMG I’m going to second epi’s idea: let’s break into the EA headquarters and steal TS2 source code. Just imagine what people could do with it. 

Best part of simblr: My experience has only been good, and I like the uplifting mood of the community. 

Worst part of simblr: To be honest, it’s the fact that Tumblr is not the ideal way to follow a lot of blogs, and I think it sucks that I don’t see all the content I want since I follow so many blogs. 

What other games you play?: Far Cry 5 has been my major obsession lately, but to name a few all time favorites: Saints Row 1-2, The Long Dark, Mass Effect, The Batman Arkham games, Dishonored, Skyrim. Lately I’ve been playing Fallout 4 and I’m still new to Bioshock (Infinite) and The Outer Worlds. I think there’s a theme here......... I like 1st/3rd person action/role playing games. To be honest I’m kinda picky with my games. It’s either love a game with all my heart or forget about it after first play. 

Other websites or accounts (Origin, Twitter, etc.): I guess only one worth mentioning is my Dreamwidth and I don’t even use it, lol. Whenever I get those simstories up and running they will be posted on Dreamwidth though! Also check out my personal blog @notsometownie​.

Are you single?: You know, I have never been an adult and single at the same time. And I’m 28. (Means me and gf have 10 year anniversary this year.)

Okay since I wasn’t really tagged to this, I’m not gonna tag anyone. But if you want me to tag you then just let me know and I will!

#challenge tag

[badhockeymom]

Roope Hintz: on skating, style and growing up

So, the episode of the Finnish podcast Total NHL Forever with Roope Hintz was full of so much pure gold that I want to share some of it here. The episode came out on Tuesday 15 February, 2022.

This is a big chunk of text, sorry for that, but if you're interested - here you are:

Roope is from Nokia, the neighbouring town of Tampere. He started his actual hockey career in Tampere, playing for Ilves. (Yes, Nokia is also the home of the rubber products (boots and tyres) factory that later became an international tech giant and is now the name sponsor of the new hockey arena in the bigger Tampere.)

He got a big boost for his skating when he played in Florida for a team called Tampa Bay Juniors in EMJHL in 2012-2013, after junior high school (yläaste), at approx. 16 years of age.

"I wasn't a great skater when I was a kid, but I went to Florida to play hockey, and we had a Russian lady who coached some of us in skating 3 or 4 times a week, teaching us skating technique. The level of the game in the league wasn't too high, I don't know what Finnish league to compare it with, but it was good to get out there, see the world a little, learn the language, and the skating coach helped me develop a lot. I shared an apartment with a couple of players and attended online classes, and I had an English tutor a couple of times a week."

Ilves Tampere was his junior team growing up, and he played a little over one season for them in the men's Liiga team before moving to Helsinki to play for HIFK in 2015, after his NHL draft.

"I wanted to challenge myself in a bigger organization, and a lot of players have moved on to the NHL from there. Also, I got to live on my own, move away from home. HIFK has the reputation that you grow from boy to man on that team, and I thought that it is a challenge that I want to take. The finances [Ilves was near-bankrupt at that point in time] had nothing to do with it. I made the decision based on where I thought I would personally develop best and what would be the best next step for me. I had great mentors there, Juhamatti Aaltonen and Siim Liivik for example. Liivik took me under his wing, he was kind of a big brother for me, and we have remained good friends."

About WJC 2016:

"The team spirit was great from the start. We all knew each other, we had been on the same path [the youth NT development program] from very young, and it all peaked in the home tournament, and we got the brightest medal, it was amazing. The fan thing after that was so huge, we'd be asked for pics and autographs everywhere after that, got recognized on the streets even though we were only the junior team. But you learned interacting with fans there, it's just a thing that you do, take the pics, sign the autograph, and go on to do the thing you're there to do."

"I have some kind of contact with everyone from that team basically, and of course with some the contact is more frequent. When we play each other, we'll at least meet up after the game. Lately we haven't had the chance to go to dinner because of the corona situation, but that's what we usually do."

The closest friend(s) from the WCJ team:

"I have pretty many. Pulju, Pate, Sepe, Mikko, Kassu. [Jesse Puljujärvi, Patrik Laine, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen, Kasperi Kapanen] I'm very close with all of them."

About the NHL:

"My mindset was that I'll play that one season in the AHL but I want to be ready to play in the NHL after that. I went back and forth on the next season, and I was never told what I should specifically focus on improving, the message was just that they want me to get more minutes."

"Little by little I got more responsibility and playing time on the Dallas Stars. In this and the previous season, we have found a good line and learned to play well together."

On playing with Robertson and Pavelski:

"We see the game similarly. We all are like, when you pass to the other guy, you know there's a chance you'll get the puck back. I try to use my speed to our advance, and Pavelski is a magical goalscorer, he is one of the best close to the goal in the whole league. And Robertson, he's not necessarily the fastest guy on the ice, but when the computer he has starts to run, his game IQ is just ridiculous. When I know that he has the puck, and find the space for us, I know that he will find his way there.

Pavelski is special.

"He's easily the best golfer on our team, and his hand-eye coordination is amazing with the puck. He practices his shots every morning. I have noticed that his will to win is outstanding. When the stakes are high, there is a big game or a clutch moment, he has the ability to play his best game right at that moment. He can do things that not everyone can. He's not too over-the-top pump you up hype guy, but he will say "we're doing fine, let's just keep going." I'd say he's the biggest leader of our team, in the locker room and on the ice.

Who leads the Finnish Mafia?

"Miro on the ice, in the locker room we Finns are not the loudest. When we're just Finns? I don't know, maybe Esa, he's been here the longest, but we stand our ground against him pretty well when we need to. It's unique to have 5 finns on the team. When I was in the AHL team, I was the only Finn. It's great to be able to communicate on your own language, and we are all alike and like the same things, we like hanging out together. We all except Esa live in the same building, Esa has his house a little further away."

The hardest D-men to play against: Makar, Hedman, Josi. The hardest Finns to play against: Last year it was Hakanpää.

The most stylish player in the NHL [when it comes to their game I think]: Patrick Kane and Panarin.

"Panarin is always a threat when he has the puck. He can pace and control the game, and he's pretty skilled too."

About style and fashion off the ice:

"Style is important to me. I like to wear clothes that not everyone has, I pay attention to that kind of stuff. I have been like that ever since a kid, I have always paid attention to my outfits. We have to wear suits on game days. The dress code was looser last season but now it's suits again. I think it should be the same as in the NBA, you can choose what to wear. I liked last year, you could choose more freely and express yourself with your clothes a bit."

"You've got to love how Pate (Patrik Laine) comes to the arena in his yellow glasses and different hats. Pate is who he is, he's himself, he doesn't ask what other people think."

"Older players like it too, that younger players dress differently and show personality. Out of older players, Radulov is really stylish. When he puts his teeth back in his mouth after the game, he's a totally different looking guy."

What do the Dallas Stars need now?

"We need consistency, and we have to be able to win the best teams on the road."

#translation #finnish media #total nhl forever #tnf #roope hintz #hifk #joe pavelski #jason robertson #miro heiskanen #patrik laine #long post #dallas stars

[useraew]

enemies to lovers

Colson Baker x Female Reader 

a concept: reader is also rapper and she and mgk are enemies (like him and eminem or he and g-eazy doing diss to each other) so when they start dating this surprises everyone

It didn’t help that we’re both from Ohio and both up and coming rappers. I was from Columbus and he was from Cleveland. I didn’t think he was a bad rapper, it was just fun for me to start dissing him in my raps and watch my platform grow as did my fans. After he heard my diss on him, i figured he’d be shocked that for one a girl was dissing him and not someone that was much bigger than me. 

Kells responded to me and i wasn’t gonna lie it was wasn’t bad for a diss. As the year went on we ended up becoming enemies. Most people believed we both hated each other. Honestly i didn’t hate him and i hopped he didn’t hate me. I was doing this for the use of building my career. That might come off as a bad thing to most of the fans maybe but i was also learning from him to become a even better rapper. This is what i wanted to believe for myself if anything anyways. 

As both of us were kinda of over the dissing each other phase, i went back to writing songs about my relationships and love and other dark thoughts i had about my past. I got into a new relationship that was nice for the for year at least. By the time it was 2015 that relationship that i had with Logan ended and i made a song about him to help me cope through. Another thing to make me forget Logan was hearing that my so called enemy finally dropped his second album, General Admission. 

Listening to it for the first time and all i could think of was how great it sounded. Song after song it was fire and i just fell in love with everything. In these moments i felt as if i was becoming a fan unexpectedly. As i listened to this album more and more my friends could see that i was invested in him now. 

After about a two months of listening to this album, i wouldn’t shut up about it and annoyed everyone from my friends,to my band, and my family. One night my friends took me out to hang and they ended up bringing me to a tattoo parlor. “Y/n I dare you to get a Mgk tattoo” Rolling my eyes i looked through the books filled with different designs. After the begging and pleating for me to get a mgk tattoo, i found myself getting one. After another hour or so i walked out of their with Est on the side of my body.

before the night was over a pic of my tattoo got on my instagram with a caption like “I guess i’m Est For Life”  

As the fans liked it and the comments blew up i noticed lots of confusion as to why i got it. Ignoring the hate i was planning to get which of course i got. I had heard from others in the whole rap world Kells thought it was hot. Not wanting to believe that mainly because it seemed like a joke. 

-- 

By the time the next three years went by both kells and i both dropped our third albums and he had a number one and a Ep out and i thought it was amazing for him. Of course for me my album made it to the top ten which was mind blowing. To celebrate for myself i found myself walking into a a coffee shop for an iced coffee. As i grabbed my coffee i found myself a seat and looked through social media. I could sense people looking at me as the thought of them being fans. But as i looked up i noticed the one man that i didn’t expect see in person in front of me. 

I saw him walk over and he smiled at me which i was glad to see, knowing i was scared of what he thought of me now. “May i sit with you?” I nodded my head yes as he sat with me. As i pulled my hand out for him he gladly shook it back. “Nice to finally meet you after all these years” He laughed at my comment as he agreed. “I wanted to know something though” I watched him as he he licked his lips before continued his thought using words. “why did you diss me in the first place?” 

Thinking of an answer to Kell’s question i sighed. “Well, i think i heard something about you that i didn’t like and just went for it and then you replied” He shook his head again as i took a sip of my drink. Their was a short pause before i spoke up “I hope you don’t hate me” He laughed at me as i watched him scratch the back of his head. “I don’t hate you y/n” I let out another sigh of relief as i pulled up the side of my shirt. “Good i got a tattoo in 2015 that says other wise” As i showed him my tattoo his eyes lit up as he bit his lip. 

-- 

It was 2019 now and i started to date kells. The fans didn't really understand why we were together. As we walked outside holding hands and on our way to get lunch, the normal feeling of being in a relationship came back. I never expected him to ask me out or even get to know him and really see what his life really was like. Meeting the people he surround himself with, it felt so funny to years later have the fans consider are self as enemies to lovers. 

Once we found a seat to sit at out the restaurant we decided on. I find myself hearing outside noise of paparazzi out the window. Glaring outside i could see flashes making my eyes blink a couple times. The feeling of Kells hand making me give him attention distracted me. “babe ignore them, i want to spent time with you not those dick heads” As i giggle at his comment as ordered are food and spent some time together. 

Finally finishing are lunch the feeling of anxiousness filled me as we stepped out of the restaurant. Holding Kells hand as he protected me from all the paparazzi that was surrounding us. “Y/N HOW COULD DATE YOUR ENEMY” “WHY DIDN’T YOU PICK EM’S SIDE?” All the screaming and shouting continued as i tired to get through the crowd with Kells help. Once we got to the car my window was still open and as i saw a man come close with his camera in front of my face. Quickly i pushed the camera to the ground hopping it broke as i yelled back. “FUCK OFF” 

The sound of my window going up as Kells drove off, and seeing pissed off people as i got far away from the paparazzi. Kells looked at me to see if i was okay as he could tell i was overwhelmed. He placed his other hand on my lap for comfort as i held it for the rest of the drive. Once we got back to his place, i found myself laying on the couch and Kells joined me. My head was on his lap as he stroked my cheek with his thumb. His lips kissed my forehead and then my nose and then down at my lips. “7 years later and you ended up being the one” Kells whispered to me as i watched him laugh as well making me smiled. 

After another small pause i whispered back “and i wouldn’t have it any other way”                                                                                                                              

#sammie's writings #mgk imagine #machine gun kelly imagine #colson baker imagine