#tom is a bit of a rock hound

[defilerwyrm]

I got read for filth in @turgid-cucumber 's Saturday morning D&D game today.

He devised a puzzle with me in mind specifically: 4 different gemstone buttons with a push order. He knows I’m a bit of a rock hound and would immediately start thinking about the physical and metaphysical properties of each stone: brightness, color, rarity, hardness, supernatural significance, etc.

The stones were onyx, peridot, emerald, and nephrite.

So while I was, exactly as predicted, busy overthinking it and trying out the kind of orders he knew I would…our wizard/rogue player realized that the first letters of the gems’ names spell out OPEN.

He knows me too well. 🤣 To quote the man himself: “You’re also really good at puzzles. Can’t challenge you by being clever but I can challenge you by being really dumb and slightly silly”

You can't put a price on friends who understand you well enough to pull off shit like this lmfao

#fucking dying lmao #d&d #dungeons and dragons #puzzles #tom is a bit of a rock hound #<- HE LITERALLY QUOTED MY TAG AT US gkvdrhcdkkd #blog together queue alone

[blueikeproductions]

Heathers AU 80’s Pop Culture Interests

Veronica: Loves classical literature, John Hughs movies, and Disney movies. Enjoys an occasional fantasy film like The Princess Bride, Willow and Legend (the Tom Cruise movie where Tim Curry plays the devil btw). can usually be found B Dalton Booksellers at the Sherwood Mall pouring through its collection on the weekend. Developed an interest in Transformers from her friendship with Dan.

Martha: Particularly enjoys cute things. A huge movie fan and a bit of film snob, she loves Princess Bride above all else. Likes Jim Henson projects, Disney, My Little Pony, She-Ra, Peanuts, ALF, Garfield, Heathcliff, and sitcoms like Punky Brewster, Saved By The Bell and Mama’s Family.

Dan: Wears his interests proudly. Transformers, ALF and Disney Ducks, specifically DuckTales, are his top interests. Likes sci-fi and fantasy movies like The Last Starfighter, Wizards, Dragonslayer, The Dark Crystal, The Flight of Dragons, They Live, Enemy Mine, and The Transformers: The Movie. Famously he was the only one in his friend group back in Hawkins, NOT traumatized by the death of Optimus Prime. Can usually be found at Waldenbooks, KB Toys, Hills and Ames looking for books and Transformers. Likes sitcoms like Family Matters, Doogie Howser and Growing Pains.

JD: Likes chaos and dinosaurs, especially when the two go together. Dabbles in classic literature, and likes Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde in particular. His favorite non Slushee thing is the trading card series Dinosaurs Attack!. Likes The Transformers, with his favorite teams being the Dinobots and Terrorcons. He also likes Soundwave’s two dinosaur cassettes Overkill and Slugfest. Enjoys westerns, schlocky monster/Kaiju movies, RoboCop, the Mad Max series, Escape From New York, The Terminator, Hellraiser, Critters, The Dark Crystal (mostly because of how gnarly the Skeksis look), The Secret of NIHM, Rock & Rule, and shooting games like Operation Wolf and Duck Hunt. Also enjoys crime shows like Wiseguy and Hunter.

Red Heather: Enjoys romance and mystery movies like Cocktail, Dirty Dancing, Body Double, The Bedroom Window and Vision Quest. Looks down on those who still watch cartoons at their age like Dan and Specs, despite she herself liking a good Bugs Bunny cartoon once and awhile. Enjoys teen gossip magazines like Teen Beat, ‘Teen, and Super Teen, but doesn’t read much otherwise.

Green Heather: A closet Muppets, Indiana Jones and Star Wars fan. Particularly likes the Ewok spin off movies, but desperately tries to hide this from the other Heathers. Absolutely hates romance movies like Can’t Buy Me Love, and chafes when Red Heather forces her to watch them for movie night. Has a thing for musicals like The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express and Cats.

Gold Heather: Despite her sweet demeanor and appearance, she LOVES horror and slasher movies like Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Child’s Play, Army of Darkness, Creepers, and Fright Night. The bloodier and more chaotic, the better. Red and Green are too disturbed to really judge or comment and just let Gold enjoy herself. She also dabbles in anime because of Specs, owning a Doraemon keychain he gifted her clipped to her purse. When asked by others, she denies knowing what it is and just found it cute in a crude attempt to protect her reputation.

Specs: HUGE Star Wars fan. Had he survived, he would also be a fan of the Prequels and Sequels, mostly happy there’s more movies to enjoy and analyze, despite agreeing the sequels aren’t that great. Big anime fan, enjoying stuff like Space Adventure Cobra, Demon City Shinjuku, Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX, Doraemon, Saint Seiya, Space Warrior Baldos, Robot Carnival, Giant Gorg, Ronin Warriors and Sherlock Hound, but particularly loves Tatsunoko Productions like the various Time Bokan series and Tekkaman.

Kurt: Enjoys stuff like Conan the Barbarian, TMNT, He-Man, Thundercats, Thundarr the Barbarian, Blackstar and Bravestarr, but hides it initially. He-Man is his jam, and is both his “gay awakening” and the reason he started working out and getting into sports. Once admitted to Dan that Prince Adam/He-Man is his idol and who he strived to be, but failed and instead became an Evil Warrior like Two-Bad (in conjunction with Ram). Likes to collect He-Man toys but is often in a disguise when going to places like KB Toys to find them. Similarly likes collecting He-Man and TMNT comics but tries to hide them In between workout and swimsuit magazines. Also reads the gay model magazine Stud Puppy, but isn’t as good at hiding it… Actually got to model for Stud Puppy in his early twenties as part of a personal milestone.

Ram: A big TMNT fan, especially the movies and video games, but initially hides it. Is actually a pretty big gamer when he’s not playing football, and frequents the arcades to play the games albeit in disguise. An expert BurgerTime, Pole Position, Contra, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong player, and is very fond of Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Isn’t particularly great at sports games like ExciteBike and Track & Field ironically. A casual fan of Star Wars, and unsurprisingly his favorite part of Return of the Jedi is the slave Leia stuff. Enjoys testosterone charged movies like Top Gun, The Running Man, Commando, Bloodsport, Big Trouble in Little China and The Warriors.

Betty: Similar tastes to Veronica and Martha. Seems particularly into Care Bears, ironic given her cruelty later on. Likes sitcoms like Family Ties, The Golden Girls and Nightcourt.

Jamie: Shares Dan, Kurt, Ram and Spec’s interests. Big Dungeons & Dragons kid and loves the cartoon. Big movie guy like Martha. Enjoys stuff like V, Quantum Leap, TerraHawks, Poltergeist, Batteries Not Included and Flight of the Navigator.

Thrash: Shares Ram’s interest in testosterone based movies. Big Arnold Schwarzenegger and Slyvester Stallone fan.

Throttle: Like Veronica, he is a bit of a bibliophile, and enjoys classic literature. Likes Steven King and the Dune series in particular.

#heathers #heathers fanfic #heathers au #heathers the musical #veronica sawyer #jason dean #heather chandler #heather duke #heather macnamara #heathers headcanons #heathers oc #blueike productions #heathers 1989

[ajockeynamedpod]

Part 6 polycule sex post let’s goooooooo

Thunder Mcqueen:

PRAISE KINK PRAISE KINK. He’ll cum his pants if you call him a good boy. He likes to know that he’s doing a good job whatever he’s doing. Being treated niceys gets him SO hard but then again so do most things. He’s incredibly easy to please if you’re not mean to him. Tease him and get him rock hard and listen to him whine. He gets real whiny and squirmy real fast, just don’t leave him like that for too long.

Also PLEASE put him in the cuck chair. He loves watching his loved ones go at it, especially if they love each other. He probably has his own special cuck chair in each of his bfs cells.

PET NAMES. Maxx calls him Sugar and Baby Boy, any little names like that get him SOLID.

As for him personally, one on one? He does enjoy some frotting, though his dick is bigger than almost everyone else’s except Viviano (and Tom Ford, sort of. when he’s involved). He makes for a fantastic sub. I mean LOOK AT HIM. This man will do whatever is asked of him and MORE.

Sports Maxx:

Power plays and feet. Maxx is a foot hound, MOSTLY Lang or sometimes Mcqueen’s feet, but he can appreciate any nice feet really. It started out as Lang making fun of him for getting unusually touchy with his feet, and then it wasn’t a joke anymore. Give him footjobs he’ll LOVE it. Pay him in Lang Rangler feet pics.

He’s good at degrading others in bed, Mcqueen eats it up and it’s fantastic and has the desired effect, but Lang gives it right back to him and it’s so hot to him. He never knows what he’s going to hear in return from Lang, to the point where the two of them never express explicit affection, but it’s simply understood between the two of them. Maxx calls him a disgusting lizard man, Lang calls him an ugly rancid smelling freak, they violently make out. It works.

Maxx is fantastic at body worship when he’s in the mood for it. He’ll marvel at Mcqueen or Lang’s body and either compliment it (Mcqueen) or call every part horrendous and sickening (Lang). Either way he gives every bit attention. He’s in charge, usually. Unless Viviano is involved and then it gets physical as hell and he’s putty in his hands.

Lang Rangler:

Lang has some tastes. He treats everyone differently, and he has his preferences, but when it comes down to it he really just wants rough sex. He’s got a tighter hole than everyone else, which can get a little dicey with someone like Viviano or Mcqueen. That takes some doing, but he can’t say he doesn’t love the process. Big men fingering him until they can fit? Yes please.

He prefers to bottom, but he’ll pitch if asked. He just feels weird about it because he’s self conscious about being so lanky and feels like he looks like a baby giraffe if he’s doing the fucking.

He REALLY likes the insults and anti-body-worship Maxx does. He gives it right back. It’s hate-love without actual real hate behind it. But only Maxx can get away with it. Maxx can beat him up during sex and Lang will simply call him a pussy and say he’s losing his touch. If he’s not leaving an encounter with Maxx bruised, he feels unfulfilled.

It’s hard to tell what he actually likes because he responds in such an odd way to just about everything. You never know when you’re going to get a stoic response or lip biting whining or an insult. You’ve got more of a shot with the lip biting and whining if you do some over-the-bodysuit foreplay first. Leave a sticky wet spot in the front of his suit and he won’t argue about a whole lot.

He probably has the least amount of actual fetishes, but that’s because he’s down for most things at least once. He’ll let you tie him up, if you’re into that, he does like that. He’ll even let Maxx suck on his toes if that’s what he wants to do. It’s not like he wants that or anything, b-baka.

Viviano Westwood:

Good lord. He is large and in charge. Head honcho of the polycule, if there is such a thing. Big dick, big thighs, big tits, he’s got it all. This is a man that does not bottom. It’s not his style.

Well. Sort of. You see, big boy over here likes a good dose of CBT once in a while. Usually D+G does this, but Lang and Maxx are pretty good at it too. And there is a LOT there to torture. Even just a very firm squeeze of his balls can get him going if you catch him off guard with it.

He eats ass like a champ and looooooves to have his face sat on. D+G again is his favorite there, but Mcqueen has a fantastic ass too and he’s more than happy to go oral spelunking.

D+G:

HAHA OH BOY. He gets a little slutty with it. Purposely doesn’t wear underwear under his tiny little toga, lets his boobs hang half out of it, every man in the punishment ward has had a turn. Will do favors for extra snacks.

He will not top. He doesn’t like it. It’s too much work. Just like a lazy cop to not wanna do any real work for what they want. That’s perfect for Viviano, who refuses to bottom because he thinks it’s Gay™️ (we have news for you Viv).

He loves to give titjobs, god knows those things are big enough.

Loves having big attractive men piss on him. To him it’s no different than cum. It’s still a fluid coming out of a dickhole.

Has been sent to the infirmary more than once after trying to let men fuck his bad eye socket. He’s very upset that it doesn’t work that way.

He is a MENACE to McQueen. He’ll rile him up and then tell him no and set him loose on the others with a raging boner knowing full well he set a horny whine bomb on them.

Adores Viviano and they have both kinky freaky sex and loving body worshipping sex. He loves the others too but Viviano is different. It doesn’t help that he loves how much Viv fills him up.

To outsiders, he seems almost stoic. But that perception fades pretty quickly when the toga comes off.

Like Lang, he’ll try anything. He’s less picky than Lang about certain things, and a lot more enthusiastic. Bring him a pudding cup or a bag of goldfish crackers and you can do whatever you want. Even in GDSP, he’ll find a way to live in (relative) luxury.

#part 6 polycule #ns///fw

[frankendykes-monster]

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, two former animation directors for MGM’s Tom & Jerry theatrical shorts, all but revolutionized animation on TV. By focusing on character models and backgrounds and limiting actual movement, Hanna-Barbera were able to create dozens of hours of television cartoons. They began with kids comedies like The Huckleberry Hound Show and Yogi Bear; then they transitioned to primetime sitcoms like The Flintstones and The Jetsons. Eventually, beginning with Jonny Quest in 1964, they’d also do action series. By the end of the ’60s, H-B gave audiences possibly the weirdest of these series: The Herculoids.

Jonny Quest proved you could do action animation without much, well, action or animation. The series got by on its amazing, comic-book-like designs and tableaux. While Quest only lasted one season in primetime, it proved the studio could appeal to a young audience in the market for action, adventure, a little bit of horror, and science fiction. Hiring character designer and eventual series creator Alex Toth, H-B gave the world Space Ghost and Dino Boy, a half-hour timeslot made up of two mini-episodes of Space Ghost and one of a much less interesting show, Dino Boy in the Lost Valley. Toth would similarly create Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.

In both instances, Toth’s talents created a superhero series with unique and offbeat villains fighting a stalwart hero. Whether patrolling space or Earth, Space Ghost and Birdman were typical superhero-types fighting against various baddies. But The Herculoids, which premiered in 1967, the same year as Birdman, was different. It was almost like Toth wanted to see if he could make a series entirely about character design, with hardly any world building or “rules” as such.

The show’s opening narration bears this out. Its first line—spoken by voice actor Mike Road, who voices basically every adult male and creature on the show—is exceptionally vague. SOMEWHERE OUT IN SPACE LIVE THE HERCULOIDS.

That’s it! That’s all we know before we get a rollcall of characters.

"Zok, the laser ray dragon; Igoo, the giant rock ape; Tundro the tremendous; Gloop and Gleep, the formless, fearless wonders; with Zandor, their leader, and his wife Tara and son Dorno. They team up to defend their planet from sinister invaders. All strong, all brave, all heroes. They’re…The Herculoids!"

That is literally all we ever get in terms of who or what the characters are. Zandor, Tara, and Dorno are all humans who look vaguely like Robert E. Howard barbarians. But those other weirdos?! They don’t look like they’re from the same planet, much less the same team. Zok is just a dragon. You know dragons. Igoo is a gorilla made of rock. Tundro is a six-legged mix of a rhino and an armadillo who shoots energy balls from its horn. And Gloop and Gleep are just blobs of stretchy goo with two black eyeballs. Certainly very iconic designs, but not of a piece in any way. We don’t even know what a “Herculoid” is and why this group are them.

Moreover, all they do is fight off planetary invaders. But why these interlopers want the planet (which is either called Amzot or Quasar depending on the episode) is never established; it looks for the most part like a primeval world full of jungles and rocks. It’s not until the ninth episode that we even see other people on the planet, as the Herculoids help some villagers who are under attack from raider apes. Sometimes there are castles on the planet, sometimes just grass huts, other times no signs of life at all.

And the villains are all, for the most part, way better equipped. Invading armies or robot death squads, each with armor and laser guns. And yet a man with a shield and a slingshot (yes really) and his gang of weird beasts that don’t talk always win. Each of the 18 episodes of the series consists of two usually unrelated adventures. There’s nothing like a central narrative at work throughout any of them, and each adventure is pretty much the same, save for a new villain or threat. Only one baddie ever even recurs. You can essentially watch any episode in any order. And yet, all of these very strange disparate elements totally work for me. This was a show designed to keep kids engaged for 20 minutes at a time and it’s fully watchable as such. In its gorgeous Blu-ray edition from Warner Archive, I can just throw on a disc and hit “play all” and just enjoy myself while I do other things. It’s got monsters fighting robots and stuff, man! What more could you want?!

The Herculoids gained a fervent cult following over the years, mainly due to its undeniably cool character designs. In 1981, Hanna-Barbera brought them back as part of their Space Stars block along with Space Ghost and two additional space-themed hero shows. I remember my dad being so excited to introduce me to The Herculoids when we got Cartoon Network in the ’90s; this was the peak of animated action when he was growing up.

Toth was a lot like the Jack Kirby of animation. He let his imagination run wild with characters and designs, and for several years, he was the king. If nothing else, The Herculoids occupies a special place in the history of Hanna-Barbera animation in the pre- Scooby-Doo 1960s. And without The Herculoids, Hanna-Barbera offshoot Ruby-Spears Productions would never have produced Thundarr the Barbarian, and that show absolutely rules. Oh wait, that’s right; Kirby and Toth designed those characters too.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Elvis (2022)

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis tries to cram too much into its running time, omits aspects of Elvis Presley's life and features a deliberately eyebrow-raising performance by Tom Hanks. Nonetheless, it works. There’s so much energy in Austin Butler’s performance and the musical sequences are so well done that just about anyone who attends will leave a fan.

In 1997, Elvis Presley’s former manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), reminisces about how he met the future King of Rock 'n' Roll. He helped the simple child of Mississippi become an icon, and in the process, made millions.

Smartly, Elvis does not shy away from showing the influence Black musicians/music had upon The Memphis Flash's career. The origin of Hound Dog, gospel music and the musicians of Memphis’ Beale Street come up several times. It’s hard not to be reminded of Straight Outta Compton when Elvis defiantly stands on stage and begins gyrating despite knowing he will be arrested for indecent behavior if he does. It's not as angry as N.W.A.'s Fuck tha Police but when spliced with shots of Senator Jim Eastland (Nicholas Bell) it feels equally defiant.

If it seems absurd that a young man dancing on stage was scandalous enough to make newspaper headlines, wait until you see how Baz Luhrmann shoots Austin Butler. As he swings his hips, lunges towards the crowd and thrusts, you’ll see why the women in the audience were thrown into a frenzy. I suspect he cut out keyframes to make the movements seem that much bolder, more sudden. It works spectacularly. You can see the Australian filmmaker’s electric touch all over the place but he also shows restraint at key points. There are few noticeable musical anachronisms and his razzle-dazzle style returns in full force during the montages of Mr. Sideburns performing to his adoring fans. His relationship with his mother Gladys (Helen Thomson) and his wife Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) are tender and tragic.

This picture is the next best thing to jumping in a time machine and seeing the King in person. You see why the man became a legend right away: the (diegetic) musical performances and the man's presence. Or, in this case, Austin Butler’s performance. If he doesn’t become a name after this film, it's because someone’s put a curse on him. Speaking of performances, this brings us to Tom Hanks. The accent he gives the Colonel is strange and hard to pin down. It’s almost as if it’s some made-up fakey voice used to seem extra foreign. Give it time. You'll see that's exactly the point.

My first criticism centers around Parker but it’s not the acting, it’s the choice to tell this story through his viewpoint because it only does so halfheartedly. There aren’t any scenes where the man tells us one thing and we can tell he’s delusional, for example. It’s as if, because he played such an important part in Elvis’ career and wound up outliving him, he had to bookend the picture, I guess?

The other criticism is that the film packs in so much it can't help but leaves some glaring and juicy bits of information behind. Elvis was notorious for his weird appetite - look up the Fool's Gold Loaf, for example. You’d think - since Parker establishes himself as a full-on villain by the time the story is over - that he would bring his cash cow’s unhealthy habits a lot more to try and make himself look good by comparison. The film was smart to follow a single thread: the relationship between Parker and Presley to avoid trying to tell an entire life within one sitting... but then sort of abandons its novel angle in favor of just covering everything.

You’ll want to see Elvis on the big screen with as many people as possible. Despite the sometimes unfocused and episodic plot, it’s so visually dazzling and Elvis was such a compelling person you kind of fall in love with him even without the songs. As for the music, it's in a league of its own. It’s imperfect but kind of a masterpiece too. (Theatrical version on the big screen, July 4, 2022)

#Elvis #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Baz Luhrmann #Jeremy Doner #Austin Butler #Tom Hanks #Olivia DeJonge #Helen Thomson #Richard Roxburgh #Kelvin Harrison Jr. #David Wenham #Kodi Smith-McPhee #Luke Bracey #Elvis Presley #2022 movies #2022 films

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

BOOMERANG – 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (1992)

Starring Eddie Murphy, Halle Berry, Robin Givens, David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Geoffrey Holder, Eartha Kitt, Chris Rock, Tisha Campbell, Lela Rochon, John Witherspoon, John Canada Terrell, Leonard Jackson, Jonathan P. Hicks, Tom Mardirosian, Irv Dotten, Melvin Van Peebles, Rhonda Jensen, Alyce Webb, Louise Vyent, Frank Rivers, Angela Logan, Chuck Pfeifer, Raye Dowell, Reginald Hudlin and Warrington Hudlin.

Screenplay by Barry W. Blaustein & David Sheffield.

Directed by Reginald Hudlin.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures. 117 minutes. Rated R.

After starting his film career on a huge high – his first three films 48 Hrs., Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop were not just big hits, they were critically beloved – Eddie Murphy’s career as a comic actor came crashing to Earth soon enough. In the 40 years after his explosion out of the gate, Murphy has made an extraordinarily long line of bad films. Every once in a while, he’ll sneak in a fairly good one – like Coming to America, Bowfinger, Dreamgirls, Dolemite is My Name and animated roles in Shrek and Mulan. (Sorry, I know The Nutty Professor is also considered by many to be a high point for him, but I couldn’t stand that movie.)

Boomerang is another one of the fairly good ones. It is very much a product of its times – the entire company where the film takes place would be in for a weeks-long sexual harassment seminar if HR ever found out all the crap that was going on there.

However, it’s mostly funny, entertaining and has a strong, diverse cast. (Among the co-stars were the then fairly unknown Halle Berry, Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell.)

And it had a spectacular soundtrack, spawning several big hit singles – “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men, “I’d Die Without You” by PM Dawn, “Love Should’ve Brought You Home” by Toni Braxton, “Give U My Heart” by Babyface & Toni Braxton, and more.

The pleasant surprise, 30 years down the line as the film gets its first Blu-ray release, is that the film has aged pretty well. (As a movie, as noted before it’s way off sociologically in the #MeToo era, but its casual view of sex – from both genders – is also sort of entertaining in a nostalgic way.)

Murphy plays Marcus Graham, a high-powered advertising exec at a major beauty conglomerate. He is also a complete hound with the ladies. (Literally, the film soundtracks his doubletakes checking out women with a “woof.”) He’s known as a player, and also known for dumping women flat the second he gets them to bed. He’s the type of guy who will pretend he’s lost an imaginary dog to get in with a gorgeous dog lover. He’s also the type of guy who will dump that same woman flat after sex because he decides she has ugly toes.

You know that he is due some comeuppance, and that comes in the form of his new boss, Jacqueline Broyer (played by Robin Givens). Jacqueline is the same type of predatory lover as he is, and quickly is using him for occasional booty calls, but mostly ignoring him. Marcus is not used to being on the other side, and soon he is as needy and insecure as any of his exes, which, not surprisingly, is merely pushing her away even more.

And then there’s her gorgeous assistant (played by Halle Berry), who is sweet, caring and becomes Marcus’ friend.

You see where this is going, don’t you?

Okay, it’s not the most original storyline, but surprisingly it works pretty well. Murphy is a bit more empathetic than he normally allows himself for be on screen, and he has great chemistry with his two best buddies (David Allan Grier and Martin Lawrence). And while there are a few kind of embarrassing supporting roles played by older stars (Grace Jones, Geoffrey Holder and Eartha Kitt), for the most part it still works surprisingly well.

Boomerang is not as good as Murphy’s original classics, but still it’s one of the few examples that he has still got “it” that has come in the past few decades. Like I said, it’s definitely a movie of its time, but it actually makes for some relatively enjoyable time traveling.

Dave Strohler

Copyright ©2022 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: June 28, 2022.

#Boomerang #2022 #Movie Review #Eddie Murphy #Dave Strohler

[sevilemar]

All the songs I can play, and where I'm at with each, for my own reference.

Walk the Line (easy) with alternate picking and boom chica strumming is clean most days, don't get sloppy. Surfin' USA is clean now, still haven't learned words of third and fourth verse. Three Little Birds same thing, and Mad World (finger style), though the riff in the chorus needs to be a bit faster still. Hound Dog is good, could be faster.

Schlaflied für Anne (fingerstyle, with picked out melody bits) is coming along, needs to be cleaned up, especially Am to Dm in the beginning, and the melody bits.

Country Roads with picking bass notes for verse and Old Faithful for chorus is coming along, though bridge and mini-F needs work still.

Jolene (fingerstyle) needs to be faster and more consistent, want to try more complicated pattern soon.

Breakfast at Tiffany's with slower strumming is mostly clean, want to try faster variation soon.

Made a lot of strides with 99 Luftballons. Namely, I found a good way to mute my strings while strumming, and it flows a lot easier now. It's still buzy sometimes, and I need a way to uncouple the singing from the strumming, because it sounds robotic in some parts. Also completely off-key, like most of my singing, but that is a problem for another day.

I need to memorise the chord sequence to Über Sieben Brücken, and get a grip on the strumming pattern/melody bits. Sometimes I have it, sometimes I don't. Also, mini-F and mini-B.

The first part of Son of a Preacher Man is coming along well with fast strumming, and I need to figure out the bridge next.

The Joker is coming along way easier without a pick. Needs to be consistent, though, including beginning riff.

No work on Kaulquappenschule, Working Class Hero, Tabaluga, I'm a Believer, Save Tonight, The Gambler, Rock Around The Clock.

Songs I want to learn: Major Tom, Streets of London, Aint No Sunshine.

#learning the guitar #two months in

[shesyourcocaine]

Thanks for your lovely reply—I look forward to getting to know you, too! I tend to get really into a few artists at a time, and they might stay my favorite for years at a time, so my musical knowledge is quite narrow—I confess that from what you’ve named I’ve only properly listened to Bruce Springsteen. Having said that, he is by far one of my favorite artists!! Do you have any particular favorite songs/albums of his? And I love folk music too!! I got to go to a folk festival with my best friend this year, and it was honestly incredible.

Also, I’ve been curious to check out Kate Bush for a while. If you feel like recommending a favorite album or some favorite songs, I’ll give her a listen :D Same with Tori Amos, honestly.

As for me, I didn’t actually get into classic rock until a few years ago. I mostly grew up on what my parents played around the house, which tended to be pretty indie/acoustic (I still have a very soft spot for that type, although I don’t put it on much these days). So I guess for a while rock music just felt like … a bit too much? But I’ve really grown to love it the past few years, especially The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Bruce Springsteen. The non-rock artists I listen to the most at the moment are probably Carly Rae Jepsen, Delta Rae, and Hozier. 

Hello again :) It’s cool that you got to go to a folk festival - It sounds amazing! I’m so glad you like Bruce Springsteen. I really got into his music last year and he’s really become one of my favorite musicians. My favorite kind of music is really narrative-based and Bruce is such an amazing storyteller. His songs just make you feel so emotional about people that don’t even exist and make you relate to situations that honestly aren’t even relatable to me. Like I’m not a blue collar worker filled with angst about the turmoil of working at a factory ,but you can just feel it in the songs you know.  I think my favorite album of his is Ghost of Tom Joad. It’s one of his solo albums that’s basically just him and a guitar ,but it’s the best example of his storytelling I think. It’s a lot like Nebraska but I think he pushes that idea to a full concept album in Tom Joad. There are so many characters and stories in the album and they are all different but all have such a depressing bleak undertone to them. I think my favorite song from the album is Highway 29 and it's basically just a story about “man falls for woman, man commits crime for woman, they run away and die in a car crash. Weirdly, I think it’s a very beautiful song. I like his other songs and albums as well. You really can’t go wrong with any of them. Although I think I've heard Thunder Road one too many times where I don’t really prefer it anymore. I think I’d have to wait at least 2 years before I can listen to it again lol.

Kate Bush doesn’t have any bad albums so you could start with any of them honestly! I think most people start with listening to Hounds of Love which I think is probably her most popular album. My favorite is The Dreaming. It's weird but fun. I made a playlist with some of my favorite songs on it from the artists I mentioned before if you wanted to listen! I thought it would be quicker than trying to explain it all lol. I included some of my favorite Kate Bush and Tori Amos songs plus some extra songs I enjoy. I tried not to go overboard and make it too long but I got excited. 

 I recognize Hozier and Carly Rae Jepsen but I’ve never heard of Delta Rae! I’d love to know some of your favorite songs and albums too if you want to share :) Thanks for the questions! Hope to talk to you soon.

(Sorry if you don't have spotify! I could also make one on youtube music if you cant use the link. )

#srs22 #sorrry its a been long i like talking about bruce lol

[akirameta84]

rip to amp, but another animal makes an appearance in saiki's life. the only shocking difference compared to the rest of the animals is that this one has psychic powers! he takes it upon himself to watch this little beast to make sure it doesnt cause any trouble. you can chose type of animal, what powers it has, if saiki can read its mind, etc ^_^

i cant say when any other prompts will be done >.> got ahead of myself with school and whatnot. but heres the second one!! had a shit ton of fun writing this. also maybe not proofread but shhh

also i dont know what "short drabble" means since the first prompt was 1.5k words, and this is a bit over 2k lmfao

hope you enjoy desta <3

also posted on ao3

It was truly annoying to have a peaceful weekend disturbed.

Kusuo had finally found a moment of peace after being harassed all week by his classmates, hounding him to go out for ramen or to hang out at their houses.

That wasn’t even including the many times during school itself where a lunch period or break was ruined because Kaidou just happenedto need help with his homework, or Nendou just happenedto find a cool rock in the courtyard.

But finally Kusuo had been able to sit down on his bedwith a nice book, a cup of coffee jelly freshly taken from the fridge to eat, and his parent’s wereout on some lunch date– unable to bother him orlet his classmates know he was home.Just when he was about to slip on his germanium, telepathy canceling ring to enjoy blissful silence for the first time this week, though, the thoughts of that horrendously annoying stray cat flooded his mind.

Amp, nowadays, generally stuck to only bothering Kusuo’s father, and not the teen himself. It was just a pity his dad wasn’t home to take care of this – as Amp’s screaming thoughts of panic were not the only giveaway that he was in distress, since Kusuo was starting to hear high pitched yowls flooding through even his closed window.

He sighed and slammed his book shut, setting it considerably more gently on his bed.

He would count to ten. Maybe, by then, the idiot cat will have died.

Not that he wanted Amp to die, but he was currently too grouchy to prevent it from his current location.

As he mentally reached five, he sighed again, harder this time, and bitterly slid off his bed and stood.

The mental cries of ‘It’s going to rip my pelt off!!’ were getting too irritating to hear anymore. He’d take care of the other cat or dog that was trying to eat Amp and return to his formerly peaceful, relaxing,and delightful afternoon. Amp better be ready to give him some favors in return.

After a quick check with clairvoyance to make sure nobody was outside to witness him, Kusuo teleported to his house’s front gate, not taking long to locate the yowling nuisance.

The tabby-tom cat was crouched against the garden wall of Kusuo’s neighbor, hissing at air as his head whipped frantically from side to side. Kusuo teleported himself directly in front of Amp next, enjoying the way the cat jumped and puffed up in sudden fright.

The feline’s eyes refocused on him, and his thoughts immediately switched from incoherent panic to speaking to Kusuo.

‘You! Cat human! Help me!’

‘Cat human’ was the term dubbed to him after he interacted with Amp one too many times in his cat form, allowing the idiot to figure out it was him. He didn’t actually know if Amp knew his name or not, now that he was thinking about it.

Regardless, he quirked his eyebrow from where he stood towering over Amp, indicating he needed more information than that.

‘I am being attacked! Get rid of it!’

Again, that wasn’t the most helpful considering there wasn’t a single other person or animal in sight. Yet another sigh left his mouth.

Amp’s head continued frantically whipping around, and the cat realized whatever was attacking him was no longer present…if it ever had been to begin with.

‘No no no! It was right here! You have to believe me!’

His thoughts were getting annoyingly frantic again, and Kusuo took the time to actually look around himself, in case this “attacker” was hiding somewhere Amp couldn’t see. Once again, however, not a single soul in the vicinity.

“There’s nothing here. Why are you so worked up?” He finally projected directly into the cat’s mind, making sure annoyance coated every mental word.

‘It was right here! You seriously have to believe me! It just vanished! Right as you were coming to solve the purroblem!’

Somehow a pun had worked its way into Amp’s millionth plea for help, ruining any desperation that might’ve nearly convinced Kusuo’s stone cold heart.

But, either way, this must just be someway to gain Kusuo’s admiration…even if he couldn’t figure out how Amp being desperate and groveling for help would benefit that plan.

Just as he was considering whether to leave and throw Amp into the sun while he did so, or just to leave and ignore the feline all-together, a suffocating presence made itself known abruptly.

It was like nothing he’d ever felt before, with it feeling what a brick being shoved into the back of his head must feel like for a normal person. The air itself grew heavy. Was this how Aiura felt people’s aura’s? If so, he actually had to offer some condolences. This was awful, even just for the five seconds Kusuo had experienced it.

His senses burning and Amp moved to the least pressing priority, he took the time to make a fool of himself and whip his own head in search of something.

Nothing at all like before, but he swore there was a pair of eyes looking at him from a nearby tree, actually seeming to maybe almost be getting bigger in size-

-And then something slammed into his face.

It was gone as quickly as it had originally appeared, Kusuo’s vision returning and a tinge of something unknown and mildly uncomfortable on his cheek, and Amp was back to yowling.

The stray cat was laying against the sidewalk, thrashing and screeching as he was pinned by the weight of…a barn owl?

If Kusuo wanted to be specific, it appeared to be a Japanese scops owl, but that only added to the confusion he was now feeling.

An owl pinning down a cat might not be the most unusual considering how good of predators they were, but this particular owl wasn’t even half a meter tall, and likely weighed under a kilogram, less than a fifth the weight of Amp. In normal people terms, this pigeon sized owl should not be able to hold an angry, squirming cat down, or hit Kusuo’s face with such a force that it surprised him.

But it was, quirking its head from side to side as minor scratches leaking droplets of blood were scratched into Amp’s back, due to its tiny talons flexing back and forth.

‘Ha! Stupid stupid cat. That’s what you get. I worked so hard on that nest.’

Ah, now that he was tuned into the tiny bird’s thoughts, it was hardly a surprise that Amp had instigated this.

Still, he didn’t fancy explaining to his pitiful excuse of a father why Amp was no longer showing up for food, and so he gently lifted the owl off of Amp with his telekinesis, his most recent sigh as its thoughts joined the chorus of mental yelling staying restricted to his own mind.

‘Unhand me! Unhand me! I am not a prisoner! I will eat you too!’

How had this owl been planning on eating Amp to begin with, let alone Kusuo, considering its stature? Well, it didn’t matter too much. All animals were prideful and angry like that at times. It didn’t seem too surprised by Kusuo lifting it up without physical contact, actually, but he was just thankful that wasn’t being added to its internal complaints.

‘Ha! I have injured you already, human! Maybe if I convince him I’m hurt, he’ll let me go inside his home, and I can finishhim off there!’

What a convoluted plan to…what, eat a human that was a hundred times bigger than itself?

And, injured? It had hit Kusuo impressively hard, sure, but his skin was too strong to be effected by physical injuries, especially if they came from tiny birds and not, as a hypothetical example, giant energy powered tanks.

Amp finally got the memo and darted away without even a single mental thought directed at Kusuo, and the owl went limp in his telekinetic grasp, curling in on itself midair.

Ah, yes. Absolutely convincing. What a pitiful sight. It made him want to weep.

To truly show his sympathy, Kusuo decided to release his telekinesis, and the owl let out a shriek as it fell straight towards the ground, up-righting itself immediately after. He crouched down to his knees in front of it, about to project his telepathy in order to speak to it. Just before he could, however, he felt something dribble over his lip.

How in the world was he sweating? Sure, it was the middle of summer, but he had too much control over his bodily functions for something as disgusting as sweat to happen.

He wiped a hand across his mouth while simultaneously grabbing the little owl with his powers when it tried to flee.

Bright and visible in front of him was a streak of red on the side of his hand. It was tiny, and probably would have only come from a paper cut on a normal person, but he wasn’t a normal person. He did not bleed. He alsodid not have cuts randomly appear on his skin for no reason.

Wait…

Pressing a finger against his cheek, a minuscule sting was his response right where the little bird’s talons could’ve nicked him when it had flown into his face. The tiny, smaller than a pigeon, owl.

The sensation of knowing there was blood on his face was beginning to make his skin crawl, so he stood back up and floated the owl alongside him back into his house, the little creature still flailing uselessly and using up what little movement and energy his powers allowed it to use in his grasp.

Reaching the bathroom and turning on the sink, there was, indeed, a minuscule scratch on his face, a faint trail of dried blood flowing out of it. If a normal person had been hit in the face by a bird this size, this is the type of injury that likely would have appeared.

But that was exactly the problem.

He splashed the cut with water, watching the tiny bits of blood fade away. Was he supposed to do more for the wound? It wasn’t as if Kusuo had experience with this scenario. It was so tiny, though, that it would probably be just fine as is.

He finally set down the owl on the counter, who’d given up and was laying midair in his grasp, even its mind fallen quiet, and dried his face with a quick blast of pyrokinesis.

“Hey, bird,” Kusuo projected into the animal’s brain, watching as it popped right up in surprise, feathers fluffing up.

‘Human! Who! Who are you to imprison me as such!’It closed its eyes and lifted its beak to the ceiling in what Kusuo guessed was an impression of a sneer.

“Did that orange cat destroy your nest?” He questioned immediately, not willing to let the bird-brain derail the conversation into nonsense.

‘Yes, he did! The evil beast woke me up in the middle of the night and jumped on me, shredding it. I’ve bravely chased him since! You’re going to eat him for me now, right?’

He wasn’t surprised that yes, Amp had totally instigated the situation. The owl was perfectly justified, having its home destroyed, and likely nearly on the other end the eating each other scale. Kusuo almost felt pity for the tiny ferocious beast.

There was something weird about the way it’s thoughts reached him, actually,thinking on it. Less like they passed by and floated into his head for him to hear, and more like they were being forced into his head. It was reminiscent of what he imagined other people unaffected by his mind control felt when he spoke.

Tying that train of thought together with the way the owl had seemingly appeared out of thin air earlier, it was forming a strange theory in Kusuo’s mind. It shouldn’t be possible…but, well, if two random kids in his same age range could also have psychic abilities, then who was he to say an animal couldn’t? Humans were technically animals anyways.

‘You! Who thinks too much! If you won’t give me revenge, then I command you to let me stay here! It will rain soon and I have no home!’

He gave a mental snort at its boldness, and silently opened the bathroom door. The bird glanced at him curiously, before ignoring him and immediately darting out and into the living room.

Now, for a mental count…It seemed likely the bird possessed teleportation, telepathy based on it remarking he thought too much, and maybe some form of precognition. Any of those could be disastrous for an animal driven by instincts to possess, not even considering it may have more, seeing as it had managed to pierce Kusuo’s skin.

Kusuo stepped out of the bathroom himself, sending a quick note to the bird to do its business in the white bowl in the bathroom and not anywhere else, and watched as it pecked at the couch cushions.

Keeping the owl here for now would be beneficial in making sure any abilities it possessed were controlled, and not because he felt pity on it loosing its home.

Purely beneficial for the world.

He was nodding to himself when his dad began to unlock the door, his mind having been too distracted to notice him coming home from work.

It was also too distracted to warn his dad of the curious owl that had begun to hover in front of the front door when it burst open. And to protect his dad from its shocked claw swipe to his face.

Yeah. Kusuo would keep it under his own watch for now.

#saiki k #saiki kusuo #the disastrous life of saiki k. #saiki no psi nan #akira scribbles #writing #fanfiction

[childotkw]

About Palace of Bardo "I'm getting strong ideas about this already." 👀...What ideas? Do tell

Hngh. Okay. Something along the lines of:

Tom isn’t so much Salazar’s descendent as he is his reincarnation. But he remembers nothing of his old life.

Harry, however, is the reincarnation of Salazar’s lover - the one he had when they were first building Hogwarts. The one he spent nights whispering sweet nothings to and sneaking through the slowly expanding dungeons to enjoy each other away from the amused and exasperated gazes of Godric and Rowena and Helga.

The one he ached for on a level he could not quantify. There was a reason Slytherin’s colours were that shade of green, after all.

Harry is the reincarnation of the fifth, unknown and unacknowledged founder, because he died young and in an attempt to run away, and no one ever knew the truth.

Because over the years, Salazar became darker and angrier. Possessive of Harry and his attention to the point of insanity. Unwilling to let Harry do even the most basic things alone or without his explicit permission.

It was suffocating and heartbreaking, the lengths the man was willing to go to - had already gone to - to keep Harry under his thumb.

So Harry left, and he escaped, but only through death. And as he lay dying, Salazar made him an oath. One that stole the last bit of warmth from Harry even as all of his blood pooled out on the rocks around them.

I will find you in the next life.

Harry died afraid of the man holding him so tenderly.

Centuries passed, and eventually Tom Riddle is born with a gaping hole in his heart but no idea what is meant to fill it. He grew and went to Hogwarts - not understanding why a soft voice in the depths of his mind sang ‘home’ when he first laid eyes on its magnificent form. He loved the castle and the magic that sent shivers down his skin, but he still felt that emptiness inside him.

He had to find something, he knew, but he didn’t know what. And he spent decades trying to fill that hole with power and dark magic and influence but nothing fit.

He started a war, all in his quest to understand.

Harry Potter is born - reborn - as silent as he had been when he died. He opens his eyes - green as emeralds, as poison, as the Slytherin common room - and it’s only then that he screams because nonononono he didn’t want to come back.

The terror he felt that All Hallows’ Eve, when he saw the reincarnation of his lover, his tormenter and murderer, nearly stopped his heart. Only the sharp relief that Salazar didn’t seem to remember comforted him.

So, Harry grew up an orphan, but with the memories of a lifetime plaguing him. He tolerated his muggle family’s abuse with a bitten tongue, promising himself that things would be different when he got to Hogwarts.

And different they were.

No one knew why Harry Potter seemed to know every passage way and room in Hogwarts, why the stairs never stalled for him or why doors opened without the need of a password. No one knew why the House ghosts spoke to him - equal parts adoring and sad - with such frequency. And no one knew why his knowledge of magic eclipsed even that of some of the professors.

Harry kept his head down as much as he could, even with the fame and attention that hounded his steps. He confronted his lover once, twice, each time giving him more confidence that Salazar - Tom, and wasn’t that hilarious? Such an ordinary name this time around for such a pretentious man, Harry knew he’d hate it if he knew - did not remember him. Did not remember them.

But it all changed in fourth year. Because ritual magic was powerful, and Voldemort feels complete for the first time in his life after young Harry’s blood revived him.

And those green eyes glaring up at him through pained tears are...so familiar.

#anonymous #potential AU #tomarry #I don’t know where this is going #but it seemed fun!

[palmett-hoes]

I like your meta and I got to thinking about all the stuff in these books that requires the suspension of disbelief to roll with and tbh the biggest thing Nora ever asked us to overlook is Riko's entire schtick. Tell me who in real life looks at a short, West Virginia college freshman, even the ones who are good athletes, and says 'oh yeah they are definitely the authority on who should be thought of as the best players in the league, the tattoos are normal, he's normal' Like !??? Hello???

yea i personally have a lot of questions about the moriyamas as they’re presented to us in canon. i think they’re a very confusing detail, and also a not-exceptionally well-considered one on account of the unfortunate racial implications

personal take: the moriyamas should have been russian bratva instead of japanese yakuza. it would change absolutely nothing about the story, but would fix a dozen small details that i’ve been leaping through flaming hoops to justify watsonianly in how i flesh out the extended universe

nora is VERY much a character writer, not a world-builder. her characters are SO nuanced and life-like, but her world-building often feels random, disjointed, and unaddressed

that being said though, i don’t think riko’s schtick is really one of these details

calling riko just a “short, West Virginia college freshman” is very uncharitable to exactly what he is. riko is a celebrity, the ward of a celebrity, and he’s been in the media eye since he was born. it would be accurate to compare him (and kevin) to people like blue ivy carter and north west kardashian, children of a-list, instantly-recognizable celebrities who got added to their guardians’ brand as children. blue ivy is nine-years-old and has already won a grammy

(i don’t want to imply that either the knowles-carter or the kardashian-west family, or any other celebrity i might mention here are abusive like the moriyama family. while there are plenty of concerns about the psychology of child stars, i’m not talking about their personal lives or the way these children are being raised, because that’s none of my business. i’m talking about them from the perspective of their media visibility and the legitimacy that gives them with the public)

journalists LOVE celebrity kids. every argument and wardrobe choice is headline news in a-list houses, and why some celebrities (like famously michael jackson) have to go to such extreme measures to give their kids even a modicum of privacy, because they're hounded by reporters and photographers every time they step outside.

tetsuji, however, took much more of the joe jackson approach and turned his nephew and ward into a public brand and set them loose on the media circuit as soon as he was able

you have to think about exy as a global movement, one with two distinct figureheads at the helm. it came out of nowhere and completely reshaped the world of sports in an extremely short amount of time. think of kayleigh and tetsuji as being like mark zuckerberg or steve jobs: innovators and figureheads

and even if they’re “just” sports celebrities, they’re sports celebrities on a tier with people like babe ruth, michael phelps, tom brady, serena williams, usain bolt, lance armstrong, the rock, muhammed ali, john cena. people whose sports celebrity is SO great their names enter the mainsteam. that’s the MINIMUM level of fame and influence they have

it's no stretch of the imagination for me to think that the Princes of Exy brand was inextricable with the rapid growth and popularity of the sport. kevin and riko were mascots, ambassadors, and symbols, not just for the ravens but for exy itself. the sport viewed as coming of age alongside them

even if it seems ridiculous to us from outside their universe, inside it people have been hearing about the Perfect Court for over ten years. it’s something their sportscasters and news anchors talk about. you’ve heard it on every early-morning and late-night talk show. it’s a tagline on the covers of magazines and up on billboards. every little league kid who picks up an exy racket dreams that they’ll be the next pick and wear that three or four on their jersey

riko and kevin may have been two of the most famous children in the world

and with celebrity comes extensive forgiveness of... “eccentricity.” remember when jared leto started a cult and everyone just,,, let that happen? gwyneth paltrow’s new age wellness pseudoscience brand? tom cruise is literally a scientologist? even if it’s absolutely ridiculous, it’s okay if a celebrity does it

in-universe, riko isn’t just a “good athlete,” he’s a house-hold name with a consistent vision, every tool at his disposal to get it done, a massive platform of people listening to his every word, and the mainstream media spreading it for free

some tattoos at 16? that’s nothing. ESPECIALLY if they’d been drawing them on for years before

once you think about these things in the context of things that are familiar to us, rather than strange and random and contextless the way they (admittedly) come across in canon, riko starts to make a little more sense

also, while i think it could have been pushed more, i think that nora actually did a pretty decent job of conveying this idea of Celebrity as a theme in the books. there are a lot of very consistent references to kevin and riko’s fame and influence. however, because of how much of an unreliable narrator with such a narrow scope of interest neil is, it’s a detail that can slide past you especially if you haven’t read the books in a while and you mostly engage in the fandom. fandoms tend to be character driven, not theme driven, so a lot of the recurring themes and imagery of a work tend to get lost over time

however i try to keep in touch with the canon. the last time i fully read the books was less than a year ago (and i’ve been in the fandom for like,, 5 years?) and i fact check it often for posts, meta, and fic beta-ing. at some point i’d really like to do a series of scene breakdowns and literary analysis of the lesser-acknowledged themes bc ideas like Celebrities In The Public vs Private are interestingly approached and i think we’re missing out a bit by only talking about them from a character-first perspective

i think one thing i would LOVE about getting some kind of visual-media adaptation of aftg (animated series or visual novel preferred) would be all the passive worldbuilding we could get that neil declines to describe to us. things like billboards and magazine covers and t-shirts and commercials for exy and the Princes of Exy in particular. i really think it would push so much more dimension and context into the story for us to really SEE these things

#aftg #tfc #kevin day #riko moriyama #kayleigh day #tetsuji moriyama #meta #my posts #my meta #im talkin #long form post #ask

[defilerwyrm]

It’s no big secret that I love pretty rocks. I have a whole tag for it (#tom is a bit of a rock hound). I collect them when I can. I display them with great joy. I like to admire them, hold them up to the light, feel their warmth or chill and their textures.

And you know what. I really fuckin’ miss wearing them, too.

The sorry state of men’s fashion is that the only Pretty Rocks I get to wear are opaque bead bracelets. Don’t get me wrong, I do love my lava rock & tiger’s eye bead bracelet.

But I miss wearing amethyst and amber and aquamarine. I miss wearing chunks of onyx and alexandrite. I want to wear tanzanite and emerald and iolite and peridot. I want to wear big shards of bright, clear gems that catch the light. I want to hear cut crystals clinking when I shake my head.

But the only options for those are women’s jewelry and fucking cufflinks, and I’d rather go barefoot on hot asphalt than wear a goddamn suit.

And it’s a bad fucking gender feel knowing that the only options for these Pretty Rocks are the ones that make everyone who sees them think “woman.”

And I live in a place where a man wearing accessories that make people think “woman” will get him jumped, and not in the fun way.

So they stay on my shelves and on my wall, and I look at them, and admire them, and that’s all that I can do.

IDK man. I just think men’s fashion needs to get with the fucking gemstones. Let me wear my damn Pretty Rocks in a masculine way.

#gender #just little ftm things #transgender #lgbtq #tom is a bit of a rock hound #trans matters #gender feels #don’t mind me #homophobia #queerdom

[hellosaltysaladcollectionstuff]

In the '80s and '90s, a lot of things were turned into cartoons. We saw a long list of animated shows based on live-action movies and more than a few that existed simply to sell toys. One interesting subgenre you might not remember, though, is when an animated series would age down an established set of fictional characters. All of a sudden, characters you were used to seeing as adults were portrayed as children on another show.

It happened more often than you may think and, honestly, some of the properties that did this to squeeze a little extra money out of their intellectual property may surprise you. At the end of the day, they all had something that made them entertaining enough to stick to the back of our minds.

Let's jump in the time machine and revisit 18 of the absolute best animated shows that age-flipped characters you knew and love--and maybe a couple you were downright terrified of. Also, make sure to check out our list of movies that were based on beloved cartoons. He-Man, eat your heart out.

1. The Tom and Jerry Kids Show

It's not that Tom and Jerry Kids was a bad show, it was actually pretty good. However, the most memorable thing about it is its fantastic theme song. The series also included a kid version of Droopy Dog, in addition to little Tom and Jerry.

2. Muppet Babies

This is easily the most beloved and iconic example of this trend. Jim Henson's Muppets were portrayed as babies when they became a cartoon--complete with onesies, baby talk, and a parental figure named Nanny that was only ever shown from the legs down. Muppet Babies is hands-down one of the best cartoons of the 1980s. What's more, the recent reboot on Disney Channel is also quite fun, even if it doesn't cast tiny versions of your favorite Muppets in movie franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

3. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

This was another show with a very memorable theme, though it's a confusing one. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo first debuted in 1988, and yet its theme sounds like a doo-wop song from the '50s. Regardless, this show is a blast as a young Scooby gang hunts monsters and solves mysteries, and of course, feeds the titular dog Scooby Snacks to keep him motivated.

4. Flintstone Kids

Flintstone Kids was good, but what makes this entry on the list special is the show-within-the-show. Captain Caveman and Son were shorts that aired as part of Flintstone Kids. Originally, Captain Caveman was a character that debuted in the 1977 animated series Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. On Flintstone Kids, he teamed with his son Cavey Jr. to fight the forces of evil. As for the little Flintstone gang themselves, that part of the show was also very fun, though you might remember it most for the public service announcements that aired during the episodes.

5. Tiny Toon Adventures

This one is, admittedly, a bit of a cheat. The kids on Tiny Toons weren't actually the kid versions of Bugs, Daffy, Taz, and the rest of the gang. It doesn't get much closer, though. Baby and Buster were clearly a younger take on the different sides of Bugs Bunny, while Plucky Duck has Daffy's temper, Dizzy was the spitting image of Taz, and Hampton was so close to Porky Pig it was scary. What's more, sometimes the classic Looney Tunes characters made appearances on Tiny Toons, seeing them team up with their younger proteges.

6. James Bond Jr.

This is another one that sort of works, but only if you stretch the premise a bit. James Bond Jr. was the nephew of James Bond and a spy-in-training and, along with his prep school friends, was fighting the forces of evil just like his infamous uncle. What you may not know, though, is James Bond Jr. has his own novels. The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003½ was first released in 1967, written by an author under the pseudonym R. D. Mascott. Interestingly, the actual author of the book has never been officially revealed, though several names have been theorized.

7. Baby Looney Tunes

First debuting in 2001, this is a much newer series than Tiny Toons. What's more, it actually delivers what you might have been looking for in that show--this is the actual Looney Tunes characters as babies, in case the title of the series didn't hint at it enough. This series essentially Muppet Babies, but with Bugs Bunny and friends. What's not to love?

8. Yo Yogi!

If you've actually heard of this one, congratulations. You're as nerdy as we are. Yo Yogi! debuted in 1991 and only lasted for 12 episodes. It was the most over-the-top version of the '90s you could expect, complete with a neon-colored makeover of Yogi's clothes. The series casts the bear and his pals--Boo-Boo, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Cindy Bear--as 14-year-old crime fighters. What else would you expect these animated teen animals to be?

9. Jungle Cubs

Yes, Disney's The Jungle Book for the kid treatment, even though the main character in the movie is already a kid. This version doesn't feature Mowgli at all. Instead, the animals are all kids, living it up in the jungle. They aren't crime fighters of ghostbusters or anything like that. Instead, they're just friends hanging out. Oh, and we have to mention the theme song, a hip-hop version of "The Bare Necessities."

10. Clifford's Puppy Days

If you were a kid in the early-aughts, you might remember Clifford's Puppy Days. Before he was Clifford the Big Red Dog, he was Clifford the normal-sized puppy that wasn't a menace to keep and maintain.

11. The New Archies

Before Riverdale turned Archie and his friends into a Twin Peeks-flavored murder party of teenage angst, The New Archies made them little kids. The gang is in junior high and, well, not much else has changed. It lasted 13 episodes and was still the incredibly wholesome Archie Comics you knew back then before it went full-CW.

12. Sabrina: The Animated Series

The animated Sabrina series was a spin-off of the live-action version starring Melissa Joan Hart and featured the titular teen as a 12-year-old. She was still learning her magical ways and getting into all sorts of trouble with her spells. In this series, Sabrina is voiced by Hart's little sister, Emily Hart. However, the original Sabrina does play a role, voicing Sabrina's aunts Hilda and Zelda.

13. Camp WWE

What if WWE did its own take on South Park? That's Camp WWE, an animated series that's definitely meant for adults. All of your favorite WWE superstars, including "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, and The Undertaker, are little kids at a summer camp run by Vince McMahon, his teen daughter Stephania, and her boyfriend Triple H? That's all you need to know about WWE. It pokes fun at WWE and professional wrestling as a whole, is filled with more adult language than you'd find on Raw or Smackdown, and it actually one of the most entertaining WWE Network originals.

14. Ewoks

Yes, this is real. There's honestly no telling how old the Ewoks are in Return of the Jedi. But who cares? In this Star Wars animated series, viewers follow a younger version of Wicket and his friends before the events of A New Hope and, for some reason, they speak English now. Originally, this series aired with the half-hour show Droids for The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour, otherwise known as the coolest one-hour block of TV you'll ever experience.

15. Iron Man: Armored Adventures

This is the most recent series on the list, but need to be pointed out. Iron Man: Armored Adventures followed Tony Stark as a teen Iron Man, alongside a similarly-aged Pepper Potts and Rhodey. If you thought Stark might have less of an ego as a teenager, guess again. Still, this take on Iron Man was entertaining and it managed to introduce a long list of popular Marvel characters--from Black Panther to MODOK.

16. The Mini-Monsters

So, The Mini-Monsters wasn't a show. It was, however, a segment within the animated series The Comic Strip. The segment featured the children of the classic Universal monsters, including Frankenstein's son Franky and the Invisible Man's son Blanko. It's utterly ridiculous, with a premise of a pair of siblings (one of which is voiced by Seth Green) being sent to a summer camp filled with the children of actual horror villains for a year. This is the oddest entry on the list, but one of the best.

17. The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show

While this is a list of cartoons that turned adult characters into children, it didn't always work out that way. In some cases, the process goes backward, and this is a perfect example of that. On The Flintstones, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm were the kids of Fred and Barney, respectively. That series ended in 1966, though, with The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show following in 1971. In that series, the two titular characters were teenagers, attending high school together and starting a band. What was the band called, you ask? The Bedrock Rockers. This sequel series only lasted 16 episodes, but it remains a cool idea that most cartoons won't dare touch. Bart Simpson has been in elementary school for three decades, and chances are that won't be changing anytime soon.

18. All Grown Up

This series also aged up popular baby characters. All Grown Up revisited the world of Rugrats. This time, though, Tommy Pickles and his friends were preteens and had more fleshed out personalities. It lasted five seasons on Nickelodeon, airing between 2003 and 2008.

from GameSpot - All Content https://ift.tt/2ZG6o5a

#Blogger

[massmurdera]

2019 & 2010s Best/Worst

Because I like lists and cataloguing the dumb shit I cared about. As my brother once said after seeing and reviewing NOW YOU SEE ME on a lazy Sunday, ‘Some would say it was a waste of time, others might say it was a colossal waste of time.’     

I’ll admit, it’s a bit over-the-top. Particularly including the Pats, but yeah, in the Tom Brady era that started when I was 14 as a Freshman in high school to 33 years old now and wrapping up soon-ish (?), there’s not a chance in hell I’ll care as intimately about this shit. I grew up with it at just the right time.

2019 MOVIES  TOP TIER 1) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2) Uncut Gems 2nd TIER 3) Knives Out 4) Parasite 5) Little Women 6) Midsommer 3rd TIER 7) John Wick III 8) Ready or Not 9) Marriage Story 10) Joker 11) Irishman 12) Shazam! 13) Us UNDERRATED Ready or Not TOO LONG John Wick III; Irishman SOLID El Camino GOOD BAD 6 Underground OK 21 Bridges; Avengers: Endgame; Dolemite is my Name; Dragged Across Concrete; Fighting With My Family; Hustlers; Knock Down the House; Longshot; the Report; Two Popes MEH Always Be My Maybe; Death of Dick Long; High Flying Bird; Spiderman: Far From Home; Standoff at Sparrow Creek DISAPPOINTING Hobbs & Shaw; Toy Story 4; Triple Frontier SUCK Laundromat; Under the Silver Lake OVERRATED Ad Astra; Booksmart; the Farewell FUNNIEST SCENE Dicaprio flipping out in movie trailer BEST CLIMAX/ENDING Once Upon a Time; Uncut Gems HAVEN’T SEEN 1917; Apollo 11; Beach Bum; Dark Waters; Ford vs Ferrari; Honey Boy; Jojo Rabbit; the Lighthouse; Star Wars 2019 TV  TOP TIER 1) Succession 2) Fleabag 3) Watchmen 2nd TIER 4) When They See Us 5) Barry 6) Unbelievable 7) Chernobyl 8) Sex Education DAMN GOOD Big Mouth; the Boys; Brockmire; Derry Girls; Euphoria; Loudest Voice; Mindhunter; Pen15; Righteous Gemstones; Veep WATCHABLE Atypical; Bosch; Dark; Goliath; Karate Kid; Kominsky Method; Mandalorian; Mr Robot; Mrs Fletcher; Russian Doll; Warrior HIGH/LOW I Think You Should Leave SHIT END FOR ALL-TIME GREAT Game of Thrones HALF-WATCH Living With Yourself; Raising Dion; the Society NOT UP TO STANDARD Stranger Things; GLOW; Killing Eve; True Detective BAD Luther; Shameless; Silicon Valley; SNL SUCK 13 Reasons Why; Big Little Lies; the Witcher FUNNIEST Desus & Mero DOCS 1) Fyre: both  2) Ted Bundy Tapes 3) American Factory 4) Leaving Neverland STAND-UP SPECIALS 1) Burr 2) Chappelle 3) Jeselnik 4) Birbiglia 5) Gulman BEHIND ON SHOWS I DIG Brooklyn 99; Catastrophe; Corporate; Expanse; Good Place; It’s Always Sunny; Letterkenny 2010s TV  DRAMA 1) Breaking Bad 2) Game of Thrones 3) Justified 4) Mad Men 5) Hannibal 6) Banshee ANTHOLOGY/LIMITED SERIES 1) Fargo SII 2) True Detective SI 3) When They See Us 4) People Vs OJ Simpson 5) Chernobyl 6) Show Me a Hero 7) the Night Of 8) Honorable Woman COMEDY 1) Atlanta 2) Fleabag 3) Veep 4) Big Mouth 5) Parks & Rec 6) Rick & Morty 7) Nathan for You 8) Review 9) American Vandal HIT/MISS Black Mirror OVERRATED Boardwalk Empire; House of Cards; Peaky Blinders; Westworld UNDERRATED Banshee; Brockmire; Hannibal FUN HATE-WATCH Newsroom DOWNHILL Homeland; How I Met Your Mother; Legion; Sons of Anarchy HATED Girls; Leftovers; Rectify UNWATCHABLE Twin Peaks BEST ENDINGS Breaking Bad; Justified; Fleabag; Parks & Rec DUMBEST ENDING Dexter; Sons of Anarchy LATE NIGHT Desus & Mero POLITICAL John Oliver 2010s MOVIES 2010 Social Network Animal Kingdom; the Fighter; Four Lions; Inside Job; Jackass 3; MacGruber; Shutter Island; Toy Story 3; True Grit; Winter’s Bone 2011 the Raid Descendents; Drive; Fast Five; the Guard; Mission Impossible 4; Take This Waltz; Warrior 2012 Magic Mike 21 Jump Street; Argo; Cabin in the Woods; Chronicle; Django Unchained; Goon; Looper; Queen of Versailles; Silver Linings Playbook; Skyfall 2013 Wolf of Wall Street Before Midnight; the Conjuring; Gravity; Her; Inside Llewyn Davis; Prisoners; Short-Term 12 2014 John Wick the Drop; Edge of Tomorrow; Gone Girl; the Guest; Lego Movie; Nightcrawler; the Raid 2; Whiplash 2015 Mad Max 7 Days in Hell; Big Short; Brooklyn; Creed; Ex Machina; Fast 7; It Follows; Logan; Magic Mike XXL; the Martian; Me and Earl and the Dying Girl; Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation; Sicario 2016 the Nice Guys Deadpool; Edge of Seventeen; Everybody Wants Some!; Green Room; La La Land; Manchester By the Sea; Moonlight; OJ: Made in America; Popstar; Sing Street; Weiner 2017 Get Out Blade Runner 2049; Coco; Dunkirk; Lady Bird; Logan; Thor Ragnorak; Tour de Pharmacy 2018 Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse BlacKKKlansman; Den of Thieves; Hereditary; If Beale Street Could Talk; Minding the Gap; Sorry to Bother You

THE BEST Mad Max BEST DOC OJ: Made in America FUNNIEST DOC Tickled UNDERRATED DOC Weiner HORROR Hereditary FAVORITE/FUNNIEST PERFORMANCE Ryan Gosling (Nice Guys) DESERVED 5 SEQUELS the Nice Guys SUPERHERO Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse WAR Dunkirk BEST FIGHT SCENES the Raid UNDERRATED any Lonely Island project NICE TRY Dark Knight Rises; Inception; Interstellar; Widows STAND-UP 2010s FAVORITE Bill Burr NEXT BEST Ali Wong; Anthony Jeselnik; Kyle Kinane; Bert Kreischer; Marc Maron; John Mulaney; Patton Oswalt; Rory Scovel; Tom Segura COMEBACK Chappelle DOWNFALL Louis CK DIED BEFORE PRIME Patrice O’Neal, Greg Giraldo UNDERRATED Joe Derosa MUST-SEE LIVE Robert Kelly  PODCASTS 2010s  BEST/FUNNIEST/UNDERRATED Walking the Room RUNNER-UP 600 Dollar Podcast ONE-MAN RANT Bill Burr Monday Morning Podcast SPORTS Pardon My Take RIFFING Bodega Boys HISTORY/COMEDY Dollop HISTORY DEEP DIVE Hardcore History MOVIES Rewatchables HATE-WATCH CRITICISM West Wing Thing POP CULTURE/FILM Frotcast MIXED Revisionist History GOOD/BAD Joe Rogan: GOOD: propping up comic friends; BAD: useful idiot for propping up bad faith fascists who should be put out to pasture INTERNET CURIOSITY Reply All LEFTIST POLITICS Chapo Trap House TRUE CRIME In the Dark ADVICE Don’t Take Bullshit From Fuckers LAME Pod Save America OVERRATED Missing Richard Simmons DIDN’T LIKE S-Town SERIAL Season 3>Season 1 TRUMP Trump, Inc SPORTS SCHAUDENFREUDE Fuck the Chargers OKAY Bill Simmons WTF WITH MARON good when he talks to comics MURDER My Favorite Murder OTHER GOOD ONES Hound Tall; Press Box

2010s MUSIC  FAVORITE anything Brian Fallon ROCK BAND Menzingers SONG Robyn-‘Dancing On My Own’ POP-PUNK BAND Wonder Years LIVE ALBUM Horrible Crowes-‘Elsie’ HEAVY BAND Every Time I Die ELECTRONIC Chvrches SOLO Rihanna COVER ALBUM Dustin Kensrue-‘Thoughts on a Different Blood’ GO-TO AT GYM Story So Far OFF THE INEVITABLE & IRRECOVERABLE DEEP END Kanye KIND OF LIKE THE MUSIC/HATE THE PERSON: LIKE KANYE Taylor Swift, Bieber THOUGHT I’D HATE BUT DOES NOT SUCK Lana Del Rey; Post Malone OTHER FAVES 1975; Arctic Monkeys; Beach Slang; Black Keys; Bon Iver; Carly Rae Jepsen; the National; Thrice MIXED Chance the Rapper; Kendrick Lamar I’ll be honest I spent far more time listening to podcasts nearly all the time and just listened to mostly the same couple of things I liked. 2010s PATRIOTS  2010s BEST GAMES 1) Seahawks Super Bowl 2) Falcons Super Bowl 3) Ravens 2015 Divisional 4) Chiefs 2019 AFCCG UNDERRATED CLASSIC Ravens 2015 Divisional BRADY/GRONK GO DOWN LIKE CHAMPS 1) 2018 Eagles Super Bowl 2) Broncos 2015 AFCCG: Brady’ offensive line was a sieve EITHER WAY Giants Super Bowl: game changed when Brady’s shoulder got fucked up by Tuck FAVORITE PLAYER TB12 MOST FUN/DOMINANT Gronk HEART OF TEAM Edelman BELOVED Wilfork ROCK SOLID 1) Hightower 2) McCourty 3) James White 1st BALLOT HALL OF FAMERS 1) Brady 2) Gronk 3) Revis LATER BALLOT 1) Edelman 2) Scarnecchia 3) Welker 4) Wilfork 5) Slater MAKING AN ARGUMENT Gilmore PATS HALL ONLY 1) McCourty 2) Hightower 3) Mankins 4) White 5) Gostkowski 6) Mayo 7) Chung UNDERRATED/GOOD VALUE 1) Amendola 2) Vollmer 3) Ninkovich 4) Chung 5) Woodhead DESERVED BETTER Welker UNSUNG Slater OVERRATED 1) Solder 2) Brandin Cooks NO-SHOWS Dolphins (Dec ’19); Jets Divisional (Jan ‘11) BEST REGULAR SEASON WINS 1) 2013 Broncos 2) 2017 Steelers 3) 2013 Saints BEST REGULAR SEASON LOSSES 1) 2012 49ers 2) 2016 Seahawks 3) 2014 Packers 4) 2015 Broncos LOL Miami Miracle: saved by winning Super Bowl LEAST TALENTED TEAM 1) 2013 by a mile 2) 2010 3) 2011 4) 2018 BEST TEAM 1) 2014  2) 2016 BEST PLAYS (NON-GRONK) 1) Butler INT Seahawks 2) Edelman TD pass vs Ravens 3) Buttfumble Jets 4) Edelman catch vs Falcons 5) Walk-off TD vs Falcons 6) Dan Connolly kick return 7) Brady TD pass to LaFell 2015 Divisional POUNDED TABLE TO DRAFT 1) Lamar Jackson 2) Kittle 3) AJ Brown 4) Honey Badger 5) Stefon Diggs WANTED BUT OUT OF REACH 1) Aaron Donald 2) Quenton Nelson 3) Derwin James 4) Hopkins 5) TJ Watt 6) Saquon 7) Keenan Allen 8) McCaffrey 9) Gurley WOULD’VE WON IT ALL IF NOT FOR INJURIES 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017. That’s football HEALTHIEST SEASON 2018 ROPE-A-DOPED/GOT BY ON VETERAN GUILE 2018: Belichick’s best coaching FAVORITE PICKS AT THE TIME OF GUYS I WANTED 1) Gronk 2) Hightower/Chandler Jones 3) Shaq Mason MOVES I HATED THAT I WAS WRONG ABOUT 1) Stephon Gilmore 2) trading Jamie Collins MOST IMPROVED Marcus Cannon BEST FIND Kyle Van Noy MOVE I LOVED getting Blount back the 2nd time IF BUTLER WASN’T BENCHED, DO THEY BEAT THE EAGLES? Yes 100%. If only because, if nothing else, he can tackle BUTLER’s INT KILLED THE ‘LEGION OF BOOM’ SEAHAWKS WOULD-BE DYNASTY Yes DRAFT REACH THAT MADE NO SENSE Jordan Richards: Tavon Wilson 2.0 BAD DRAFT MOVES 1) Dominique Easley 2) Cyrus Jones 3) Dobson 4) Mallett DIRTY SECRET Belichick sucks at drafting in 2nd round WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD IF HE STAYED HEALTHY Malcolm Mitchell HATE TO SEE WALK BUT COULDN’T AFFORD 1) Trey Flowers 2) Chandler Jones 3) Jimmy G 4) Talib 5) Akiem Hicks DEFLATEGATE fraud/power trip job by Goodell/owners BRADY OR BELICHICK MORE VALUABLE Brady 100% DISAPPOINTING/GAMBLES 1) Ochocinco 2) Michael Bennett: got him 2 years too late 3) Fanene signing 4) Haynesworth BEST SHORT-TERM 1) Martellus Bennett 2) Chris Long 3) Revis 4) Brian Waters SUSPECT CHARACTERS/EDGY PERSONALITY MACHINES Brandon Spikes; Brandon Browner…SERIAL KILLER Aaron Hernandez PERSONALITY DISORDER DISASTER Antonio Brown: bad signing/unexpected HOW THE FUCK DID WE LOSE TO THAT GUY? Eli Manning/Nick Foles LIFESAVER Scarnecchia MCDANIELS Frustrating—but continuity matters REFS FUCKED OVER Gronk  MISCELANNEOUS 2010s GOOD/ENJOY Bernie Sanders/AOC: people who actually want to get good done that’s long overdue…Lebron James; Stephen Curry; Kawhi; Zion Williamson; Luka Doncic...Lamar Jackson; Pat Mahomes; JJ Watt; Marshawn Lynch…Coach Ed Orgeron...David Ortiz…2011 Bruins…memes…Don Winslow crime novels…David Roth writing on Trump…David Grann non-fiction…’Book of Mormon’ DID NOT ENJOY Kyrie Irving…Deflategate…LeBron on the Heat…Bobby Valentine DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE ‘Between the World and Me’…Elon Musk…Lin Manuel-Miranda/’Hamilton’ INDEFENSIBLY AND INFURIATINGLY BAD THE MORE YOU LOOK AT IT Facebook…Obama Presidency/Democratic Party Leadership EVERYDAY DISASTER Media: CNN; Fox; MSNBC; NY Times Op-Ed…Trump/Republicans: Trump presidency was basically 2010s 9/11 for inevitable disastrous fallout & consequences my generation will never recover from…Grifters Trojan horsing way in shamelessly (Trump administration; Ben Shapiro; Alex Jones; Milo; Jordan Peterson, Tomi Lahren, etc.) and no repercussions...Republican Party basically one goal: to troll libs even with shitty ideas that suck FAVORITES WHO DIED Bourdain; Elmore Leonard; Garry Shandling; Muhammad Ali; Robin Williams; Tom Petty BEST TALENT CUT SHORT Philip Seymour Hoffman SHITTIEST PEOPLE WHO DIED Antonin Scalia; George HW Bush; John McCain; Osama; Steve Jobs; Whitey Bulger I FORGOT THAT SHIT HAPPENED Charlie Sheen loses it JEFFREY EPSTEIN did not kill himself WHAT DEFINES 2010s Amazon/Bezos…Climate Change/Gun Violence inaction…Journalism being taken over by Bane Capital-esque vultures/local places dying...one-sided Class War by the uber-rich…#MeToo…Netflix…Opioids…Outrage/Cancel culture…Police Injustice…Silicon Valley…Social Media…Superhero shit…Your mom

[racefortheironthrone]

Thoughts on Powers of X #1

Well, I did this for the one, might as well do it for t’other...

Well, any thought that this mini-series might be less weird than its companion was completely blown away by the very first page, which revealed that Powers of X (pronounced Powers of Ten) is going to be taking place in four different times:

Year One (X^0)

Year Ten (X^1)

Year One Hundred (X^2)

Year One Thousand (X^3)

...with each segment increasing by a power of ten, because apparently Hickman has decided he’d like to drive us all mad with math puzzles. That first page is a doozy of design, I must say, laying out four key moments (and four or three key players) in the past and future of mutant-kind, with the layout suggesting a parallel between all of these characters (as well as a suggestion that the guy in the Cerebro mask shares Charles’ lower facial features exactly.

Year One

We then get an un-interrupted six page sequence which, on the surface, seems the most normal but is anything but. The first page shows Charles Xavier strolling through a fair and sitting down on a bench to enjoy the weather and his good mood, although the symbolic connection between the dwarf ringmaster and the strongman and Xavier’s dream of mutantkind is quite ominous. Then someone who looks a lot like Moira McTaggart sits down next to Xavier, and this is where x-fan’s expectations all of the sudden get flipped upside-down. On the face of it, Charles meeting Moira around the same time that he first has his Dream of mutant/human co-existence would be quite normal...except that Moira’s tarot cards are depicting people and places in the Year One Hundred (more on this in a bit), and Moira is talking to Charles very familiarly, but he hasn’t actually met her yet. 

This is where a little alarum bell goes off in my mind shouting “TIME-TRAVEL SHENANIGANS!” 

This much-hyped scene turns out to be Charles reading Moira’s mind, but it’s very clear from what we’ve just seen that this is not the Moira we know. And if this Moira is a clone from the future (I’ll get into that in a bit), the publicity tag-line would make sense: after all, time travel to avert a bad future goes way back in X-Men, and often that time travel has involved things happening to Charles Xavier before he could get his X-Men off the ground. 

However, we’ve never see anyone go back just to tell Charles what happens in the future, even though that would profoundly change the timeline just by changing his mind. Is this what turns Charles Xavier into the be-helmeted man in Year Ten with the very different dream? Or would informing him of the future change or prevent the events of Year Ten?

Year Ten

Probably the most straightforward sequence - and the best argument for why HoX and PoX should be viewed as two halves of the same story - this sequence shows us exactly what happened to Mystique after she went through the Krakoa portal in Washington Square Park in HoX #1. 

It turns out that, as much as even Magneto is feeling the “hope-y, change-y” vibes, he, Mystique, and Professor X all have their own agendas regarding the information - note the running theme of the issue - that she pulled out of Damage Control’s servers. 

Further ominous notes: Charles Xavier has never been a telekinetic, and yet here he clearly uses telekinesis to grab Mystique’s thumb drive. That’s very ominous, especially given what we learn about cloned mutants have multiple, spliced-in mutant powers. Also, Professor X’s comment about “everyone who would live in...a better mutant world...owes something” echoes ominously with the interstitial material’s description of Omega class mutants as a natural resource for the state.

Year One Hundred

The most conventionally super-heroic segment, this section shows us an all-too familiar dystopian scenario, with cyborgized humans and cerberus-like sentinels working together to not merely kill mutants but violate their minds and bodies. Further signs of what they’ve been up to comes in the literally black-brained ex-Hound who was genetically designed for infiltration and subversion of her own people. 

A sign that mutants have adapted to this conflict by abandoning moral principles as well comes in the fact that the dead mutant in question is not only programmed to mind-wipe on death, but is repeating Professor X’s speech from Year 10. In a parallel to that era, it turns out that the mutant group who’ve been interecepted were downloading information from the Nexus 

We also meet our two main characters in this epoch - the red-skinned Nightcrawler lookalike Cardinal (whose Tarot card is the Devil, “the red god and the lost cardinal of the last religion” (no idea what that means)) and the metal-skinned Soulsword-slinging Rasputin (whose Tarot card is the Magician, “the metal metapmorph, the great sword, and the girl with one foot in two worlds” (no idea what that means)). As we will learn later, these are not names but clone-types, because war has its own way of getting us to dehumanize ourselves in the pursuit of victory. 

Important Interstitial #1: The Sinister Line

It wouldn’t be a Hickman comic without infographics, and this one was a doozy: at some point after Year 10, a crisis rocked the mutant nation which caused “the almost universal death or disappearance of senior leaders.” This crisis apears to have been engineered by none other than Mister Sinister in order to motivate the remaining mutant leadership into approving “breeding pits” located on Mars, where he could breed and clone mutants for “aggressive, militaristic traits,” to counter-balance the humans’ HOUND program. That’s a hell of a fall from grace.

We then learn that there were four generations of Sinister clones before the whole thing fell apart in a horrific calamity and yet further declension occurred:

First generation: straight-up clones of existing x-men, although the language of “divergent copies of a...pure, uncompromised X-gene” is as disturbing as you might expect from a Victorian eugenicist. (Are these the mass-produced units following from the prototypes we saw emerging from Krakoan cocoons in HoX #1?) Anyway, they all got turned into child soldiers to defend Krakoa until it eventually fell 30 years later. (Keep this date in mind.)

Second generation: combinations of only two x-genes, “mostly predictable.”

Third generation: combinations of up to five x-genes, apparently were wildly successful against the “Man-Machine Supremacy” and about to win the war, when...

Fourth generation: apparently were “produced with a corrupted hive-mind,” went rogue, destroyed 40% of all mutants, destroyed Krakoa, and then killed themselves taking out Mars and the Sinister pits therein.

And now we learn what our protagonists are: Rasputin is (seemingly) a fourth generation mutant with the combined powers of Quentin Quire, Piotr Rasputin, Unus the Untouchable, Kitty Pryde, and Laura Kinney, rather than Kitty and Colossus’ kid as some had feared. Notably, however, Rasputin doesn’t have the same gifts in the same strength as her progenitors: she’s half as strong a telepath as Quire, half as good as phasing as Kitty, half as good at healing as Laura, and about half as good at force-fields as Unus. The only places where she equals them is in turning into organic steel. BTW, if those powers seem somewhat redundant - why would you need to be intangible, made of organic steel, force-fielded, and self-healing all at the same time rather than focusing on just a few of those - well, clearly the intent was to create a tank and a half.

Meanwhile, Cardinal is a (seemingly third-generation) “outlier,” a failure in the breeding program that gradually got worse and worse. All Cardinals - and it’s not clear whether all Cardinals look like Nightcrawler - are pacifists and have “an obsession with creation myths,” and are extreme communitarians who reject individual identity. (Incidentally, Cardinal is where we get the religious through-line of the issue.)  One question: if he’s a pacifist, why is he carrying a rapier? Genetic holdover from Kurt Wagner?

Which raises an important question...given that more than 60% of generation four were pacifists, how exactly did they carry out so thorough a massacre of their own people?

And finally we learn that all of this was Mister Sinister’s plan...which ended with his execution. I remain skeptical, because while I absolutely buy that Mister Sinister would arrange things so that he could run his eugenics programs, I don’t get why he’d self-sabotage in order to defect to such an unrelentingly hostile enemy. 

Year One Hundred, Part 2

Here’s where we see the structure described as “the ower, the axis, the pillar of collapse and rebirth, the monolith of ascension.” (Keep your eye on that word.) Here we meet Nimrod the Lesser and Omega, and see the other side.

And what we find is a society where the machine is clearly beginning to become the dominant part of the Supremacy, despite a formal pretense at equality, a society where Nimrod makes polite noises at decency (”I am embarrassed and ashamed at what we did in the name of both expediency and annihiliation”), but then claps with childlike glee at the thought of getting to turn mutants into biological databanks.

(In a much less important interstitial, we learn that the HOUND program turned out to be a failure, with the scary ones being “ineffective hunters of their own kind,” and the majority of the black brains defecting en masse.)

Finally, we see an old man Wolverine, along with a green-suited Magneto, a very tree-like Black Tom Cassidy, and a Xorn, rendezvousing with the team to receive the data and bring them in touch with “the Old Man.” Which raises all kinds of questions as to when this happened vis-a-vis Mister Sinister’s betrayal.

Important Interstitial #2

In the wake of the fall of Krakoa, we learn that the once-burgeoning mutant population has been reduced to less than 10,000 refugees living in Shiar protected territory, with only 8 mutants left in the solar system...presumably the group we saw in part 2. 

Year One Thousand

And now we find out what happened to our poor Hound, namely that she’s been stuck in a tube for 900 years, a crumbling historical manuscript beyond the ability of the Librarian to preserve.

As we move outside, we learn something critically important: that the “human-machine-mutant war” ended, with humans reduced to zoo animals kept in a nature preserve. Does this mean mutants won? Or did the machines do away with both their enemies and their allies? 

#xmen #xmen meta #powers of x #spoilers #hoxpox

[camillemontespan]

the enigma [olivia nevrakis interview]

Drake’s Interview

Maxwell’s Interview

@jovialyouthmusic @pug-bitch @sirbeepsalot @moonlightgem7 @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @notoriouscs @be-still-my-aching-heart @katedrakeohd

Warnings: Mentions about sex toys. This is Olivia, after all. 

              **************************************************************

I am waiting for my interview subject to finish modelling for our cover shoot. We are shooting in a manor just outside of Cordonia and the room is filled with flowers, ornate chairs, glimmering chandeliers, fashion assistants, catering staff and our enthusiastic photographer. 

The one person who isn’t enthusiastic is the model herself.

Olivia Nevrakis is lounging on the floor, silk and satin sheets beneath her with flowers strewn around the feet. She is wearing a pink and white gown with pink taffeta underneath the layers; she looks like she is wearing a rose. 

‘I hate pink..’ Olivia grumbles in between photos. She holds an open book in her hand and flashes that famous Nevrakis stare at the camera. I look at the screenshots and can’t deny it; she may hate pink but she makes the outfit look regal. 

‘You look gorgeous, darling!’ the photographer exclaims. Olivia arches an eyebrow. ‘Oh, I know..’ she purrs, before striking another pose. 

Once the photographs are taken, Olivia is helped to her feet by an intern. ‘Get me a coffee,’ she orders him. The intern nods, clearly nervous. ‘Um, black? Latte? Cappuccino?’

‘Ask someone else your impertinent questions..’ Olivia drawls, before striding over to where I’m standing. She holds out a hand which I shake. ‘Let’s do this, shall we?’

I am also rendered speechless. Olivia has an air about her that is intimidating. I’m not the first journalist to feel nervous about interviewing her and I doubt I will be the last. She stalks ahead of me and I watch as she takes her hair clip out of her bun, shaking her red hair out so it falls down her back like a waterfall. We enter a private room and Olivia pulls off her pearl bracelet, tossing it onto a table. There is a Chinese screen in the room, which she goes behind and starts to undress. I stand awkwardly as I see the pink dress flung over the screen, landing heavily on the floor. 

Olivia comes out from behind the screen wearing a red lace bodysuit and black stilettos. She is tall, creamy skinned and as she moves, I can see her muscles flexing under her skin. I know that she is trained in taekwondo; in clothes, her muscles aren’t obvious, it is only when she is bare that you can see the effect her training has had.  She shrugs on a red silk dressing down and ties it up before settling down on the chaise lounge in front of me. 

‘I feel much better now,’ she breathes, eyeing me. I clear my throat and set the dictaphone down on the table between us. The door opens and the intern comes in holding a tray with three coffee cups on it. ‘I wasn’t sure which one to get you so I thought, be safe and pick all three of our choices,’ he babbles, setting the tray down. Olivia looks down at the coffees, her nose wrinkled. She takes the black coffee and adds two sugars. She looks at me. ‘Do you want one of these?’

I take the cappuccino and smile at the intern. He leaves the tray on the table with the extra latte. The door closes behind him and I turn to Olivia, who has a Cheshire Cat grin on her face. 

‘I know I may come across as a bitch to you,’ she tells me, ‘but in this world, you kind of have to be. See, extra coffee.’ She indicates the latte that is still on the tray. ‘That intern was too scared to bring me just one coffee so he brought me different kinds in case I bit his head off.’

I am immediately wanting to ask her why she views the world like this. I want to find out about her upbringing and her parents, her life as a Duchess. I bite the bullet and ask her. 

‘My parents were killed,’ she tells me point blank. ‘I had nobody but servants for company.’

I tell her it sounds lonely. 

She shrugs, brushing off my concern. Olivia then reaches down into her bodysuit and brings a dagger out from her cleavage. She twirls it around her fingers; I slowly edge away. 

Olivia grew up alongside King Liam. He is so kind and gentle, it is hard to imagine the two of them being friends. ‘I like to think we compliment each other actually..’ she says quietly.  ‘He tries to make me a little nicer, a little more understanding, while I try to get him to be less gentle, less of a pushover. More of a badass.’

I ask if Liam is a pushover.

‘Oh god, yes!’ she laughs. ‘He hates conflict. When we were growing up, say it was his birthday, if his brother asked for the biggest slice, Liam would give him the bigger slice even though it was his own birthday. If it was me, I’d have shoved the cake in Leo’s face. In fact, I think I did once.’

Leo. The King’s older brother. Leo had been the king first but then abdicated and left Cordonia to do God knows what. He is often seen as the party boy royal, kind of like Britain’s Prince Harry before he grew up. I have heard he is charming flirtatious and makes women go weak at the knees.

Olivia rolls her eyes. ‘Yeah, whatever..’

I ask jokingly if she has ever gone weak at the knees when confronted by Leo. She bristles and raises her chin defiantly. ‘I’m not that kind of woman, in case you hadn’t noticed. I’m not pathetic.’ 

I go quiet. Clearly, I’ve hit a nerve. Olivia takes a sip of her coffee, her eyes studying me from above the rim of the cup. ‘You’re a woman,’ she says to me. ‘Do you go weak at the knees over men?’

I ponder her question.  I have interviewed many swoonworthy male celebrities. I tell her I met Tom Hardy and the way he called me ‘pet’ made me giggle. She looks like she has swallowed something inedible and wants to throw up. 

‘The only time a woman should go weak at the knees over a man is when he leaves her alone in the bedroom with a rampant rabbit and comes back with champagne on ice,’ she tells me dryly. 

I’m shocked at how quickly this conversation has turned to talk about sex. But this is a woman’s magazine, sex is a topic we cover widely, so why not? Let’s talk about sex with Olivia Nevrakis. 

‘I mean, men are good for some things,’ she relents. ‘But most of the time, no. If I want something done, I do it myself and that goes for everything, not just sex. I love being independent.’

I ask if she’s ever had a boyfriend. ‘Nobody I deemed important enough to give that label,’ she says shortly. 

Has she ever had a crush on anyone?

‘Sure. I’m not a total ice woman.’ 

I ask if she’s seeing anyone now. She stares at me, her face unreadable. ‘I’d rather not say.’ 

She definitely is. Whoever he is, he has got to be some guy. An alpha who can challenge her but also someone who can keep up with her. I think about her circle of friends and wonder if any of the men in that group are secretly dating her. I always thought she would be well suited to the Duke of Valtoria, Drake Walker, but he married Camille Montespan last year. 

‘What the fuck? Me and Drake?’ she asks in disbelief. ‘You are aware that I’m good friends with Camille, right?’

I nod, feeling my face go red. 

‘Good. Now wash your mouth out with soap. They are so well suited, anyone who says otherwise is a moron.’

I tell her it’s only because Olivia and Drake are both outspoken and Drake is often pictured looking.. well, grumpy. Pissed off. Like he doesn’t like anything. 

‘Drake is actually a sweetheart,’ she tells me. ‘He only gets pissed off because of the constant paparazzi stalking him and Camille. Fuck, I get pissed off when I’ve got photographers hounding me. You would too.’

Since the King was crowned, there seems to have been a new obsession about him and his friends; this new generation of young Cordonian nobility who are making a difference to the country. 

Drake Walker spreads awareness for mental health - he launched a successful campaign called Mind over Matter which aimed to get Cordonian men together, outside, trekking, abseiling, rock climbing etc., while talking about their struggles with depression and anxiety. The country could donate money to the campaign which was dispensed to various mental health charities.

Duchess Camille re-introduced Open Houses, a dormant feature from 200 years ago in which she and Drake open their doors for their citizens, who visit to discuss issues and the Duke and Duchess work with them to help. 

Cordonia is becoming more modern and all the better for it. This brings me to why I am interviewing Olivia. 

Because as cold and harsh as she may be, Olivia Nevrakis has a heart. She has been working with the King to make foster care more prominent in the country. 

Cordonia is known for being traditional. Anything outside of the typical family dynamic of two parents and 2 children is seen as radical; this means that adoption and foster care is not prevalent in the country. As an orphan, Olivia is keen to change this. 

‘As I said, I grew up surrounded by servants in an old, crumbling manor. I had no parental guidance, which forced me to grow up very, very quickly.’ I see that she is opening up more now; gone is the hard stare, the bored drawl. She is now animated and gesturing with her hands to discuss this topic. 

‘When Constantine ruled, I saw orphans out on the streets, playing barefoot in dirty clothes. Most people avoided them; they would literally cross the street to stay away from them. I didn’t. I would offer them money so they could buy food or a drink.’

I did not see that coming. Olivia shrugs. ‘I don’t want children to grow up desperate. I know I brushed off your concern before, but that is just how I deal with things. I brush off people’s pity.  But fine, I’ll be honest. I hated being an orphan. I hate that feeling of being helpless so I taught myself taikwondo and defence skills. My parents had already instilled in me from a young age to know it is important to fight. Lythikos is a cold, tough place; if you have no survival skills, you’re a goner. I learned how to look after myself and I’ll admit, I picked up some fucked up ways of thinking. Like, I always carry a weapon. You saw my dagger just now. I don’t trust anybody as far as I can throw them.’

I sit in silence, scared to speak in case I lose her sudden honesty. ‘So, when Liam ascended the throne, we talked and I asked him to consider the orphans of Cordonia. Now, we’re developing a programme which is open to adults who have a job but also free time to raise a child, and offering them the option to foster these orphans. By taking in a child, the King will give them a monthly income to help pay for the child’s upkeep and that way, it’s a child off the streets.’ 

I am sceptical. Surely, some adults might take advantage and abuse this? Foster a child so they earn extra money.

‘The adults are tested about their knowledge of raising children. They have to prove they want to help a child, not to do it for their own gain. They have to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. So more families can take in orphans, more single adults can do it too.’

I ask if she would consider launching a defence training course for children. She grins. ‘Maybe in the near future..’

The foster care programme launches next month and is named ChildKind.  Olivia smiles and nods when I confirm the name and leans into the dictaphone. ‘Tell your readers that I say, ‘sign up, bitches.’ 

She is more humorous now, more easygoing.  It seems that it takes a while for Olivia to relax in interviews but once she is over that hurdle, she is easier to talk to. We go back to different topics and she is more forthcoming now. 

I ask how she deals with sudden celebrity that she has commanded since Liam came to the throne. ‘I have set up four restraining orders for four different photographers,’ she says wearily. ‘It can be exhausting. But last month, I got away from it all with Camille and Hana.’

From Hana’s Instagram feed- which I urge you to check out, it’s so pretty-  photos were put up of a girls trip. The three women went on a girls break to Mykonos. ‘We rented a villa, it was so secluded. Just a week of sunshine, drinking cocktails and swimming in the pool.’

I ask if any debauchery was had. She smirks. ‘What do you think?’

I imagine Hana is the quiet, sensible one. Olivia bursts out laughing; real laughter. ‘You would think that! Oh my God, give that girl a Tequila Sunrise and she is on the table. Nah, she is the wild one when she lets go. Camille is the mom of the group; she makes sure we’re wearing suncream, have drank enough water... she still got wasted though.’

Duchess Camille is always pictured looking elegant and sophisticated with her usual uniform of pencil dresses, nude heels and chignon hairstyles. I can’t picture her wasted. 

‘She is a fun girl, always,’ Olivia tells me. ‘But she does need to let loose now she’s a Duchess. Plus she’s from New York, of course she’s not going to be elegant 100% of the time.. Bertrand taught her well about etiquette and royal duties, but there is still a crazy New Yorker in there. Put her with Drake, who loves a whiskey, and they become more American as the night goes on.’

How?

‘I swear I heard Camille say y’all in all seriousness..’ she tells me, groaning. ‘Of course, she says she was joking, but I think she genuinely said it. She forgot she was talking to me.’ 

I ask what Drake does to be more American. ‘He has a tipsy habit of saying ‘fixin’ to. Like, ‘I’m fixin’ to get another whiskey. It means he’s about to get another whiskey. Why not just say that? He’s so Texan sometimes. His voice becomes more of a drawl when he’s been drinking.’ 

I wonder what Olivia is like under the influence. She smirks. ‘Am I hell telling you that.’

That is when I get it. Olivia is an enigma; she has these walls up which are hard to climb over and she won’t discuss anything too personal. She will happily make fun of her friends or talk about important causes such as ChildKind. She will talk about sex- hell, she mentioned rampant rabbits in this interview- but she has layers which she deliberately hides. I know she is kind and engaging, I can glimpse it. I just feel that she would rather show her true self to someone who is deserving of it. Someone who is prepared to deal with everything that she is.  Anyone else is just lucky to see above the surface.

#olivia nevrakis #trr fanfic #the royal romance