#dave should have lived justice for dave

[cartoon-goon02]

i love you episodic television

[true-bluesargent]

i don't even have a huge problem with lane having a romance with zach. like it'd be nice if it could have been dave but i think the way they ended up writing zach in season 5 he was quite sweet and they worked!!! the problem i have with lane's storyline is that she deserved SO MUCH BETTER in every other aspect of her life. she should have been rich and famous and in a successful band, NOT stuck in stars hollow and playing tours of churches and getting pregnant with TWINS the first time she ever has sex and barely even being in a band anymore because they didn't make it big so they all have to have day jobs as well. fucking tragic free her let her out!!!!!!!

[ladybracknellssherry]

Neil Gaiman is an abuser and disgusting and no one should still be trying to defend this man. I hope his victims heal and can move forward and I hope they get to see some form of justice. I hope he never gets to abuse anyone again. I hope no one wants to work with him ever again. I hope his son is safe and someone gets him out of that environment.

I already said a lot about this last summer when the tortoise podcast first came out. But since everyone on tumblr has to have an opinion, I have a few to add.

"He wrote Calliope! Why are you surprised?" "He's a Zionist! Why are you surprised?" "He was raised in the Scientology cult! Why are you surprised?" "He-"

No.

The majority of fiction about sensitive / problematic / harmful topics is neither an endorsement nor a confession.

Being terrible in one way doesn't always/necessarily mean you're going be terrible in other ways. This mindset gives "you should have seen the signs" which is kind of a lot reductive and is within spitting distance of the victim blaming county line.

After an SA, someone in my social circle said to my face as ... a joke?... "what did you expect? dude listened to dave matthews band."

???

The signs are always there. Clear as day in the rearview mirror. And those signs can vary greatly. Anything can be a sign if you want it to be, I guess.

Remember when that guy Ted Bundy worked at a Suicide Hotline? The scariest thing to me is that a common sign of violent abusers seems to be an involvement in the causes to HELP victims.

I think we go looking for flashing neon signs like this because, simply, a wolf in sheep's clothing is far more terrifying than a regular ole straightforward wolf.

And this JKR vs. NG discourse? Who is making this a "which terrible person is the more terrible person?" contest? And what the fuck is wrong with you? Hate the artist, love the media. You do you. If you want to denounce great things created by terrible people, put down the phone, tablet, or computer you're reading this on because the guy who invented the transistor was a eugenicist and a racist.

NG acted this progressive, feminist ally type persona in all kinds of ways. And meanwhile was doing terrible shit, abusing and grooming and controlling and manipulating, and ultimately causing a lot of first direct harm, and now that the truth has come out, a huge blast radius of (indirect?) harm.

JKR continues to espouse and encourage vile discourse that fans the flames of transmisia/transphobia, putting trans lives in danger. Joanne spends so much time trying to police and influence the definition of "woman" that she attacks cis women - thus further endangering BOTH trans people and cis women in her crusade to...protect...women.

They've both done horrible things. DIFFERENT HORRIBLE THINGS.

There's nuance, of course. It would be great if we stopped giving these people money. My Good Omens fandom family - I know we're hurting. I really hope you plan on pirating any of the related media you would otherwise stream, going forward. Don't worry about David and Michael, the rest of the cast and crew. They'll be fine.

Fuck all of this "it's not about you." How in the hell? This man is a public figure. The reason we make a big deal about it when public figures abuse their power is BECAUSE THIS IS ABOUT ALL OF US. The world shifts when something like this comes out - AS IT SHOULD. Feeling discomfort or rage or sadness right now is normal. Channel those intense emotions. Figure out how to make constructive use of those emotions to try to help create a safer more nurturing world. And remember why you were forced to face these feelings this time - because Neil Gaiman abused women and those women went through absolute hell but were brave enough and strong enough to come out against such a beloved famous man because they wanted to make him be held accountable. Because they don't want him to get away with this. Because no one else should ever have to go through what they went through. Honor that. Honor what they went through. In NG's case, being such a public figure, the absolute scale of coverage with these allegations and accounts, we can only hope he never gets to victimize anyone else again.

That should be the focus. Not this noise of tangential discourse, not the autistic kid who has a special interest who wants to keep posting fan art on tumblr. That kid hates him too and has already said so.

I get it that when the news first broke in July a lot of folks didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe it. There was a lot of rationalizing about the media outlet. Look, denial is one of the stages of grief. Fans were shocked and grieving the death of a figure they respected and looked up to. You don't have to have an unhealthy parasocial relationship with someone to feel betrayed when they do terrible things. And, my god, the time we live in. Misinformation and disinformation is rampant. Wanting more information, wanting to take some time to investigate something you've heard is actually responsible, generally speaking. But a week after that news? Two weeks? A month? 3 months? If you're still defending him, denying these allegations, and wanting more "proof" at this point? Fuck right off, you need psychological help. That's not an insult, that is concern, from a fellow human being. You are unwell. I hope you get better.

Good Omens gave me my joy back after years in abusive relationships, multiple SA's, death after death of people I loved, fucking cancer, medical hell. I can't just turn off the love of this media or the love of this fandom I've connected with. I don't want to turn that off.

I'm not going to say "Neil is an abuser - BUT he helped create my special interest." Because that ain't it. "Neil is an abuser - AND he helped create my special interest." No justifying, no waffling, no moral superiority, no flagellation. These are just two facts.

Believe the victims. Tell everyone you'll ever meet that this guy is scum. Throwing away that book you bought 10 years ago won't fix anything. Believe victims. Donate to or volunteer with DV orgs and shelters. Set and respect boundaries in your lives and fucking check in about consent. Believe victims! Don't be silent when someone you know is being "kinda creepy." Believe victims. And take care of yourselves!

x

[acquired-stardust]

Anime Spotlight #5: FLCL (2000)

Looking for something to watch? Ash tackles the impossible task of looking at an extremely formative anime for her in FLCL! How can you possibly hope to do something like that justice? Just try to hit the ball like you're defeating the enemy, chief!

Back towards the middle of March, voice acting lost one of its unsung heroes in Dave Mallow. Mr. Mallow was perhaps most famous to my generation as the voice of iconic digimon Angemon in the dub of the original Digimon (1999) series, but he also did a lot of heavy lifting in additional roles across many titles during his career. It wasn't uncommon for dubs of this period to feature his immediately recognizable voice, and series like Rurouni Kenshin (1995) wouldn't be the same without him. The role that first springs to mind when thinking about the late Mr. Mallow however is FLCL's Commander Amarao, and so this piece is dedicated to his memory. Click beyond the break to read more about one of the most well regarded OVAs of all time, who's anniversary just so happens to be today!

"Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary."

The oft-repeated refrain from series lead Naota Nandaba, a tween living in the fictional Japanese city of Mabase, belies the mile-a-minute madcap insanity and deceptively heavy emotion that is to unfold across FLCL's mere six episode run. Its first utterance is followed by the apparently frequent sexual assault of its lead character by his older brother's girlfriend before he is then struck and injured by a mysterious passing motorist, sets the stage for a deeply layered coming-of-age story about the nature of adulthood, the concept of the inner and outer selves and some of the shockingly realistic impact of grooming and abuse can have on young people.

Having first come to America as part of Adult Swim's takeover of pop culture in the early aughts, FLCL is a series that you've probably at least heard of in passing if you have any level of familiarity with anime. Variously described as being either the greatest thing a person has ever seen or an obnoxious, vapid series about nothing relying purely on 'the vibes', it's gained a reputation as being divisive and even people who fall in love with it often say they have no idea what they just watched or what it was about. Given that you're reading this spotlight it should be clear what the position of this blog and author are: FLCL is one of the most incredible works of art in its medium and hopefully by the end of this piece you'll be giving it a chance for yourself if you've yet to see it.

FLCL's creative team is an assemblage of the anime royalty that is Gainax from the previous decade including the likes of director Kazuya Tsurumaki, scriptwriter Youji Enokido and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, all of whom by this point were seasoned veterans of the industry most famous for their involvement in paradigm shifting classic Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) - even future industry stars Hiroyuki Imaishi and Yoh Yoshinari would have key involvement in the series. FLCL even features a cameo from Hideaki Anno in the Japanese version. It is no surprise then that FLCL is perfectly at home in the pantheon of Gainax's melancholic character studies chock full of flawed and often extremely problematic characters, and it should also be unsurprising to hear that it is full to the brim with both style and substance.

This creative dream team is rounded out by the not-so-secret weapon of the series in musical contributions by Japanese alt-rock band The Pillows, able to shift effortlessly between a sort of sardonic disaffection that doesn't take itself seriously and an almost folk style philosophy and earnestness on a dime.

Characters speak in dense multilayered metaphor and pop culture references seemingly at once to each other and to the viewer both, standing amid backgrounds rendered at times in a style reminiscent of watercolor. Their appearances are something of a fusion of the familiar designs of Sadamoto in an aesthetic more akin to Digimon (1999). They move like real people with an impressive eye for detail only to suddenly switch to a squash-and-stretch cartoonish style, all with incredible cinematography and a denseness that mirrors the dialogue in its ability to draw reference to other anime and pop culture at large including an extended scene clearly molded in the style of South Park (1997). The scenes big and small are punctuated by extremely high quality music in ways that make it some of the best utilization of music in anime as a whole.

The result of the fusion of so many of these contradictory elements is a series itself predicated beautifully upon contradiction, thoroughly marinated in melancholy that will leave you coming back for more time and time again with subsequent rewatches.

Naota's supposedly ordinary life is dominated by the need to portray his interpretation of the ideal adult. A desperate need to grow up, not really knowing exactly what that means or feels like and inevitably how much loss growing up entails from both time and people. Striving to appear unmoved by the futilities of life, Naota embodies a sort of performative stoicism that sees him drinking perceived 'difficult' sour soft drinks to show off just how mature he is while returning home for a curry dinner that is of a mild spice level specifically due to his intolerance for its flavor.

Naota's interpretation of adulthood is someone who is able to sleepwalk through life with a shrug to things he perceives as childish, like emotion, and to be able to silently shoulder burdens, blinding him to just how abnormal his life actually is. He is unable to identify his older brother's girlfriend's deep mental illness or just how unusual a highschooler involving herself with a gradeschooler is. His father is essentially the town paparazzi, which doesn't seem the slightest bit odd to Naota even as that plot thread begins to see some exploration. The near extent of his questioning of the charismatic manipulator he finds himself wrapped up with in addition to his brother's girlfriend is only questioned insofar as she seems to buck so many of the ideas Naota has around adulthood and how she is able to dangle it in front of his face almost like a set of shiny keys to a baby.

The performative and contradictory nature of the public self versus the private self, as well as the problems that inevitably causes, is a core theme of the series that every one of the series' characters grapples with in their own way and one of the most fascinating elements of the plot as it begins to unfold. I've often seen recent phenomenon DanDaDan (2024) described as 'a twisted FLCL' which is a fairly apt comparison in a lot of ways, but FLCL itself I find much of the setup of to be like a twisted version of Rumiko Takahashi classic Urusei Yatsura (1981), wherein two (this time around differently aged) schoolkids get wrapped up with a mysterious outsider and the tug of war those relationships all play between each other.

I've seen remarkably little discussion about it (actually, in my research for this article I've not seen a single person mention this) even with Urusei Yatsura's recent and well-received remake, but it's become impossible for me to see the lead characters of Naota, Mamimi and Haruko as anything other than reflections of Ataru, Shinobu and Lum respectively, and this similarity (intentional or otherwise) increases my appreciation for it rather than diminishing it. It's just one more thing that FLCL pays homage to and parodies that can be enjoyed regardless of whether you notice the allusion or not.

As this series originally aired on television, most longtime fans are most familiar with its English adaptation and I'm happy to report that it is also of extremely high quality and from as star studded a team as you can get at this period. Featuring a cast of actors that sound remarkably like the Japanese originals by and large who are mostly veterans of the craft by this point (notably this would be Kari Wahlgren's first ever voiceover role, and she absolutely stuns in her first outing), the series' English version was written and directed by Adult Swim anime alumni Marc Handler who also handled the script for Cowboy Bebop (1998) and its movie (which I've actually previously written about HERE).

The adaptation for this series was surely a monumental task and the crew has largely exceeded expectations. The script is stellar and infinitely quotable, and much of the wordplay and puns of the series have been retained as much as possible. Some of the symbolism can be lost however, despite the admirable effort and sweeping success of the adaptation. One example is a scene in episode four with a character appearing in the form of a mouse (that sounds insane writing it out, but I promise you it's a tremendous scene) in a reference to the line earlier in the series "mouth to mouth", said in English and obviously pronounced with a Japanese accent in the original Japanese version, which sounds to an English speaker like "mouse to mouse". The adaptation is memorable to me even beyond its high quality for being something was one of the first anime on television I can recall being allowed to keep its strong Japanese identity almost entirely intact (barring a reference to crystal pepsi), which believe it or not was at one time a really mind blowing factor.

While everyone is incredible in their roles including the debuting Kari Wahlgren, Dave Mallow getting the rare chance for a central role is of particular note for this piece. His character, Amarao, is a pastiche of the sort of masculinity and adulthood portrayed by Arsene Lupin III (of Lupin III (1971) fame) right down to several visual allusions, and a fantastic scumbag with one of my favorite lines of the whole series.

FLCL is an extremely dense, fast paced series with so many multi-layered details despite the sometimes otherwise slow and deliberate pace, wrapping itself almost in a slice of life style. So many things happen both overtly and under the surface even when it would be easy to think otherwise, and the series is absolutely jam packed with metaphor and innuendo. Its complexity and the way it delivers its philosophy, ultimately arriving at the conclusion that the real meaning of adulthood is to have the confidence to let people think what they want about you while pursuing what you want earnestly, is reminiscent more so of literature than animation, an opinion shared by its English writer/director Marc Handler in a 2002 interview, who had described his first impressions of the series as 'a bunch of hip animators screwing around' before coming to appreciate just how complex it is.

On a personal note, as someone who dealt with grooming and abuse of a similar nature to Naota at the same age just before it aired on television, the events of the series on him also hit extremely close to home. There are countless nights I will lay awake some 20 years later and wonder if my abuser ever really cared about me, in the way only a charismatic sociopath can manage to warp you into wondering. FLCL ultimately leads its lead character and viewer both, as is the case with so many victims, with more questions than answers and it's really no wonder that fans craved any sort of followup for so long. The series' quality on its own as well as my own situation will never fail to make me watch in an almost stunned silence any time I give the series one of my now-countless rewatches, bringing me right back to when I was Naota's age all over again.

Its soundtrack, pitch perfect and absolute sonic bliss, has remained on a constant rotation for me since seeing it all the way back in 2003 when I was able to order an imported version of it. Many of its characters and quotes right down to its episode previews have lived with me since its original airing. Kari Wahlgren's Haruko is one of the first characters I ever looked to imitate when I was getting into voice acting as part of my work on developing characters as well as for demo reel purposes, with many of her future roles also coincidentally impacting me. The character of Haruko herself is often a huge influence on people coming to some sort of terms with their gender in various ways (I find that, being androgynous, her influence can be surprisingly wide ranging) , and that is certainly true for myself as well. I notice something new in almost every single episode on just about every subsequent rewatch, of which there have been countless. Every single aspect of it is virtually carved into my DNA, and I don't know where I would be without it. The series may not mean as much to you depending on where it finds you, but I promise you that it's well worth your time regardless even if you don't end up personally 'getting it'. Remember, even Marc Handler didn't initially have much to say about it beyond the talented animation before diving deeper into the series.

A gem hidden among the stones, FLCL is undoubtedly stardust.

-- Ash

[jenroses]

Youtube sometimes offers up pieces of history and this one is one that I'm almost certain Tumblr hasn't seen, but I really think more people should know about Dave Carter.

It's hard to talk about. Dave died in 2002, very suddenly, after starting transition. Hormones had been started but no public announcements had been made. None of us know the name Dave would have gone by. No public request for pronouns was ever made.

Dave was a poet, and made magic on the stage. Some of those songs might have changed over the years, as our understandings of social justice changed, but the heart of them was so, so strong.

And someone recorded this concert a year before Dave died, and despite the grainy old footage, it is so worth a listen. Pretty much all Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer's music is up on Youtube, but most of it is just the music, this shows them performing together.

I saw them live, so many times, and the amount of poetry Dave managed to pack into the music was astonishing. I think I learned about them circa 1998, they were playing the local holiday market. By 2002 Dave was gone. They were super well known in the folk circuits during that time, well deserved. Anyway. Give a listen.

The last song Dave ever wrote was called Phantom Doll, and while most of Dave's songs were about death (in remarkably positive ways, usually) this one feels like a trans anthem.

Lyrics are in the comments on Youtube.

[artbyfinnbrown]

Hey Dave, what’s it like managing the Larks? What are your opinions on each of them?

Ah, the Larks.

As a team, they’re quite easy to manage. Despite several of them joining the Gracers through less than ordinary means, this hasn’t negatively impacted their relations as a team or their ability to cooperate. And I have yet to receive any reports of them mishandling a mission that was given to them.  As individuals however…. I wil admit to having some concerns.

I’ve seen records of Calypso’s education, and they tell me she’s quite smart, with a no small talent for magic. If she dedicated a few more years of her life to study, she could easily get a stable, well paying job as a researchers, librarian, or interrogator.  But instead she chooses to join the Gracers. I shouldn’t be complaining. More willing volunteers is always a good thing. But I also have records of the accident she caused. I just hope she’s joined our ranks because she wants to help others more than she wants to punish herself. 

Pearl is tricky.  Nothing against the girl herself, she seems like a wonderful young woman with a strong sense of responsibility and justice. However, the position she exists in is a complicated one. I was against the idea of the Prince ever being allowed to join the Gracers. And with Pearl acting as his replacement, my opinion now applies to her. Even if they aren’t the next head of state, no child should be a member of the Gracers. Pearl is young, and with her strong sense of justice, and being connected to a position of authority, it gives her the ability to make certain decisions. Decisions with a good heart behind them, but desicions that ultimately cause more harm than good in the long run. But she hasn’t done anything like that yet. Maybe my worries are for nothing. I still think she’s to young to be a Gracer though.

I’m worried about Fleance. He has been exposed to an… unfortunate side of our organization. Our religion dictates that we be accepting of as many people as possible, but that tragically causes some people to take advantage of our acceptance, and then use the authority our acceptance gives them to make the lives of other people worse.  And Fleance had to experience that first hand. I wouldn’t blame him for having a poor opinion of the Church after that. But instead now that he is free, he now wants to keep working for us. Much like Calypso, I really shouldn’t be complaining for the extra help, but I worry he isn’t doing this for the right reasons.  Is his patron the one making him stay? I need to find out exactly who he is working for. Even if they aren’t directly responsible, they must play some part in why Fleance is choosing to stay.

Angelica’s story should be a simple one. A conscripted criminal searching for redemption, with little interest in actually achieving that redemption. But now their family’s gotten involved, and how they where handled wasn’t as… efficient as it could have been. And now I feel it’s worsened Angelica’s opinion of our organization as a whole.  Which is tragic, because we do truly want to help. I hope that they get a happy ending. I hope Angelica can find redemption, and she can be with all three of her siblings again.  But I also know what happens to most people who get infected by Leiris. 

I’ve been told to expect great things from Elle. Everyone I’ve talked to has only had positive things to say about them. How her faith in Ioun is second to none, how she’s a natural when it comes to close quarters combat, and how she has the trappings of a great leader.  And from what I’ve seen from my own interactions with her, I’m inclined to agree. I think they have bright future ahead of them.  So why does she keep lying to me during her mission reports? 

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Christmas Don't Be Late (The Chipmunk Song)

VoicePlay didn't actually release a full-length Christmas song in 2021 (just a couple of Christmas Minis instead), and so we're jumping ahead to the 3rd of December, 2022, when VoicePlay released what may in fact be my favourite Christmas song cover of theirs ever!

As a group, VoicePlay have had quite a lot of experience with performing this song over the years, as it was a regular part of their setlist when they used to perform at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Walt Disney World. If you wanna learn more about that, check out these posts by @jules-has-notes linked HERE and HERE (and I hope Jules doesn't mind me tagging them but seriously their blog has *so much* stuff about old VoicePlay stuff, further back than I go that's for sure!)

Anyway, the original arrangement for this song, i.e. the one VP used for live performances, was done by a guy called Chris Diaz, who is (was?) in an acapella group himself, but Geoff made quite a few alterations to the song/arrangement himself, and so both him and Chris are credited with the arrangement! Geoff was also in charge of the video, he co-directed it with Tony, and yes, he added additional music bits and original lyrics of his own, because of course he did 😄

And of course the song features the amazing DeeJay Young, but enough talking, let's get into this!

First of all, love the way VoicePlay started the song with the kinda "old-timey" effect on the visuals (and the audio too!). They did something similar for the start of Sh-Boom and In The Air Tonight, and did it for a brief moment in We're Good as well.

Second of all, do you recognise the set? You should! It's the same one Geoff used for his Way Down video, just with a bit of added Christmas flair!

Not the most perfect screenshot but I just had to give a shoutout for how Geoff suddenly runs into the shot. Like seriously neither words nor individual screencaps do it justice but I find it very amusing 😝

(Also, Eli is again weaing black sneakers with thick white soles)

Cesar as Alvin is literally perfect casting honestly. Like nobody else could do it better.

(Also Cesar was in fact genuinely filming stuff on his phone during this bit, and that footage got included in the BTS video for this cover, and it's just as entertaining and hilarious as you'd expect)

I want that shirt

DeeJay is looking pretty stylish there too! (And yes Cesar also looks great in his blazer)

Alright so Layne is Dave (the human guy character), Cesar is Alvin, Deejay is Theodore, Eli is Simon, and Geoff is... Geoff? 😂😅

"ALVIIINNNN!!!!!"

(*pfft*)

*ding*

(Yeah this video definitely still makes me laugh 😂)

"Alvin! Stop riffing so much and stick to the music!"

Unfair! DeeJay and Eli do heaps of riffing all the time! (And we love them for it, lol)

Also I don't know what the sheet music "says" in terms of the music notes, but I love that it at least appears to be a legit page of sheet music for the song, complete with VoicePlay logo at the top!

"So listen for those nine reindeer!"

Also it's not a visual thing, but given that quite a few reactors didn't seem to notice/realize it, I gotta point out that the sleigh bell/jingle bell sound here is very much done by Layne! Probably with a little bit of post-production effect, but still, very impressive!

"A brand new bottle of hair gel!"

"A bright green dress like ✨Tinkerbell!✨"

*PFFT*

This line is specifically a reference to the fact that they used to perform this song at Disney World, as I mentioned at the start, but this line has also been used in some of their older performances of it too I believe?

Also whenever I sing this song to myself, I literally can NEVER, sing the "bright green dress like Tinkerbell" line, because I always start laughing every time!

"Dooon't be la-ate!"

(I think he really wants that dress you guys 😉😝)

*sigh* He's so pretty and handsome, I love him (look, about 90% of my Voiceplay Visuals posts involve at least one moment of me pointing out how good Geoff looks! I apologise for nothing!)

(Also it took a decent bit of restraint for me to not include even more Geoff screenshots in this just because)

"So put your sleigh in- (so put your sleigh in its top gear!)"

I don't think I've actually noticed this bit before but damn Cesar ain't messing around! He wants presents NOW! 😂

"A tweet from Musk would make me grin!" (heavy grimacing)

I actually checked the lyrics for this song cover on Spotify (back before Spotify made lyrics available only to Premium users, rip), and this line is actually changed for the audio-only version it seems, to "a gift from mom would make me grin", which is fair, because the very faked sincerity of this line wouldn't convey as easily without the visuals.

"Front row seats to Hamilton!"

VoicePlay are no stranger to including references to modern day media stuff in their Christmas Don't Be Late performances, but this is also a not-super-subtle shoutout to the fact that DeeJay was on tour as a cast member in Hamilton! (And still is performing in Hamilton I believe?) He's been playing the role of Aaron Burr I believe? Which is very very impressive, shoutout to DeeJay!

"We can hardly wait!"

(Also hey is that a little Eli Eyebrow Raise I see?)

And I have to give a shoutout to the bridge section of this cover - another Geoff Castellucci original, it's so good! Fits in perfectly, as all his lyrics do! (Original song WHEN?)

"I've been so wonderful!"

I love how the responses of reactors to this moment have been a mix of "aww yes you have Cesar!" and "hmmm I'm not so sure (light-hearted) but I still love you regardless" 😄😁

Get it Cesar! Love the dancing!

Only just noticed Eli has the Hamilton booklet thing shoved in the back pocket of his jeans, lol

Cesar what are you doing? 😆

"Great job, chipmunks! Even you, Alvin! Now let's try it with some helium!"

*pfft*, what a way to end the video honestly

Geoff looks confused, Eli looks uncertain/doubtful (another Eli Eyebrow Raise!), DeeJay looks like he's either down for it or hasn't fully processed it, and Cesar looks HORRIFIED XD

(Also what would Geoff even sound like on helium when singing bass? Normal? /j 😂)

So that's Christmas Don't Be Late! VoicePlay turned a song that's really quite short, slow, and overall fairly forgettable, into an absolute bop and banger, and the video is super fun as well. Like seriously, this is one song that no one else has done or will do in the same way that VoicePlay has, and that's a big part of what I love about it! Until next time!

[trans-beast]

https://youtu.be/jqrSAWAaC9s?si=ZjiRYDhJf97dXveo

I'm not usually super political. I don't even fully agree with some of the statements made in this video, particularly involving veganism, which felt unnecessary at best and biased at worst. But to those who would be negatively impacted given the current political climate, this video has value. Most of that value is at the start. Study the policies and laws in your state. There may be more of a safety net for you than you know.

There is also a chance you may find safety in specific parts of the state you live in, even if it's a state that shows up red on a map. Dallas, Texas has a reputation for being very queer-friendly, as an example. Knowledge is power, get yourself some knowledge.

The gist of the video is that getting involved with community stuff can help. And I don't mean "let's all work at a soup kitchen", I mean find a group you vibe with and go hang out with them, and be open to new folks seeking refuge in your pack. It can be a soup kitchen, it can be a gardening club, a D&D group that supports its players and isn't run by an asshole, it can even be a club that does BDSM on the weekends and watches horror movies at Dave's house once a month. As long as it's not closing itself off to new members and everyone is willing to contribute in some form, even if it's something as small as cleaning up something someone else spilled or offering to do a chore or lending your friend a $5 bill to buy a beer to take the edge off, that is enough to do some good.

Fascism lives in the mundane. It starts growing in the spaces where justice and community are absent. Don't let it grow. By having a community you stand together with, you WILL make an impact, even if you don't know it. You will make a snowball effect. We need to change the way people think, and it starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with everyone. This is the kind of societal upheaval that leads to people being more mindful and considerate, the kind of tragedy that makes people look back and say "we should have known better", but that better future only comes if we use our heads and stick together.

We've been conditioned to think a single person can't do anything, and that only a majority can make a change. That's bullshit. Every single person in a majority is just that - a single person. We need to foster bonds and form tribes, because that's what we've been literally born to do. We evolved to survive together, not alone. We evolved to help each other out, to lend our talents to the group so we can all make it, rather than just some of us. Selfishness feels bad because we literally were programmed for this through millions of years of evolution. We are not a species that banded together out of hate, we did it out of love. We have seen fossil evidence of ancient humans caring for their injured and disabled, ensuring they live far longer than they would have on their own. We care for our own.

And even outsiders aren't exempt from this evolutionary predisposition to pack-bond. We tamed wolves and made them dogs. We barely did anything and cats decided they liked our vibe enough to stick around. We used to be ENEMIES with wolves. Humans and wolves hunted a lot of the same prey, with the same methods, and we STILL managed to befriend them and become stronger together. Even now we are keeping all kinds of weird stuff in our homes like snakes and lizards and birds and spiders and rats, we are STILL taming animals, and they don't even serve a survival purpose anymore. We just like having them around. Human instinct isn't about bloodshed, it's about bonding with another creature and protecting that bond you have made.

Go outside. Go touch grass and socialize. Some of you severely underestimate the benefit of just living your life and inviting others to join. Find a safe space with people who don't justify doing harm to others by wearing a MAGA hat. If that safe space can't be found, do what you can to build one. Build a bond with that community, look out for each other. We're pack animals. Go find a pack.

I hope everyone found this helpful and I invite discussion. Suggestions, questions, comments, concerns, whatever! Go for it! Let's talk. Put the "commune" in "community".

[adultswim2021]

Squidbillies #57: “Fatal Distraction” | June 28, 2010 - 12:00AM | S05E07

Coasting off my recent “I am somewhat charmed by Squidbillies now” ethos, I am pleased to report I’ve gone back to treating this show as merely okay. All is right with the world. 

Early gets a GPS that’s voiced by Dave Willis. I love hearing the guy’s voice. It just soothes me. Squidbillies, I’m giving you points. Anyway, Early’s GPS eventually becomes sentient and starts becoming creepily attached to him during their maiden voyage. This trip, I should mention, involves Early dressing like Dog the Bounty Hunter to go bring Osama Bin Laden, George W. Bush’s 9/11 co-conspirator, to justice. It should also be noted that this was slightly less than a year before the real Osama was compromised to a permanent end by Robert “J/O” ‘Neill (LOL). 

This one sorta washed over me, though I didn’t outright hate it. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a voice in your ears that isn’t my own, screaming things like HELL HELL HELL HELL HELL YOU LIVE IN HELL YOUR SINK IS TOO SMALL TO DO DISHES IN EVIL SINK EVIL SINK HELL SINK HELL SINK HELL HELL HELL HELL HELL. Anyway, I have to cut this short to go do dishes, bye everyone. 

EPHEMERA CORNER:

[findingtheperfectcharacter]

Homestuck posting

I should be asleep… Instead I noticed something

On today’s game of “Symbolism?????” Dave’s glasses are damn important for his character, it’s early but like, the obvious read is that John (and Rose and Jade of course but he’s the one who gifted them in this case so he’s the relevant one.) helped him sort of gain a sense of individuality and self outside of Bro. The fact that they’re still shades lets him still hide a piece of himself specifically behind the curtain of irony…

Dirk is uhhhhhh… Different. Like, his sunglasses are where Lil Hal lives. Something something Prince of Heart- like- Dirk really walks around with a mask of his own face and does not know what his skin looks like beneath it.

Terezi… Doesn’t read as someone putting on a facade until pretty late in the game. Not to me at least, I could very easily be missing stuff. Like when I say, ‘I have a lot of things to say about Terezi and like her a lot’ The flaws would be related to her fucked sense of justice and going too far when messing around with people for shits and giggles… She definitely doesn’t read as Dirk-like.

Latula does have Strider-isms… Actually yeah I could see her Cool Girl thing being comparable to Dave’s Cool Kid thing. *Insert poorly photoshopped radical skateboarder to look like Latula that Roxy made and was like ‘dis u cool guuuurl ;P *giiiirl’*

I still feel like I’m missing something re the glasses symbolism… Multiple things really. Maybe I’ll find it later.

[the-firebird69]

CNBC: FBI arrests judge in escalation of Trump immigration enforcement effort

He's not a chief justice but yeah he got arrested and he is going to be put in jail and they're arresting him for what he's doing with the immigration case and he's siding with Trump and the FBI didn't investigation and they are going after him and they are going to take him down and it is going to be an ugly business there's other things happening here but these guys are added and really they don't even do any work but they say they're clearing it to mow the lawn and yeah he's thinking there's a wizard there and the lizard's not there and yeah you don't know anything about that stuff so since you're so stupid. You're a passive aggressive f**** and you were issuing threats on me helping to do stupid s*** but now you're going to do stupid s*** very stupid s*** getting possessed on purpose feeding the f*** out of your own forces if you already are all the name of sitting there like Stanley the hen yeah I can't see you know you people are stupid and you should know it... And I'm going to sue the f*** I'm going to sue the f out of you just for being here.

Zues Hera

So our son says we have another candidate here he was going to try to run after Venus and we need to prep to take out several fleets Tommy F will be right behind and we will use them against each other and take all of their stuff including the pseudo empire and it will be called Star wars and we will inhabit the ships well look just like you exactly like it and we'll use the same calm the same confused code and try and get yourself but if you put me in a facility yet ever what you want and you're going to go there by the way you're just killing every single person that you have but it's happening anyways because you're s***** and she tried not to for years and decide to be a huge idiot all that work for no reason but you know it's saying this song I'm telling you what it is and you won't stop singing the song and you're not coming here they're getting dreads I don't know much yeah drinks are dangerous it's like pirates with brains and ideas I'm sick as hell it's like a really funky screw drills right into you and then right out with it. I got to tell you you're starting to get the message. Now son says that and we agree I don't really want it here and you're trying to get the lizard and the lizard is not there and we've been saying that well they're always the same size you know baby a small one kind of big one and a huge woman. His symbolism to our kids is the same that time is coming up Trump is going to try and get back in and he won't be able to and he'll release what appears to be Dave's beasts and the devil was born later in history and the Bible came out after zero years ago. Huge amounts of problems coming she's trying to get at the garbage and people see it it's another stupid thing but you know I started acting desperate and they're probably right so it looks like the mow the lawn is kind of mostly on Stan's property side of the thing whatever and things are really slow here the garbage is not coming and it's almost noon they used to come in the middle of the night

The janitor was here earlier and that's Brad and he's a centaurian and he makes a bunch after this kind of stuff you got booted out of the Midwest and he blames our son and he's horrible. Your son told him you're all you know see how it works tell me awful grab Trump and it's not with s*** in a bucket garth nose is not worth anything. He's been living on fumes his whole life this is what we're doing is so damn kind of productive I don't want to say it anymore and her son's been doing it too and says your people will like smoke they're going after my wife or it's really and or what's left of the iron and that does anything sense everybody else is out here they usually end up negotiating to a degree after a fight and they wipe out anyone else in a way and they're done it with other stuff it's not a big enough nut for them to sacrifice everything so what she is what else can you do with your time. We have some news and about this place in this area and we are going to go over it.

--they're going to come back and mow the lawn and be annoying that's really and Jason and they're under the watchful eye of law enforcement

--Trump will start to invade today Jacksonville to St Augustine and surrounding and he's getting it ready and he's sending preliminary people now for information and they do see stuff and they have reported in and he brought a force and it's going to be it'll be offshore soon and is a timetable and some people can't believe he's back he's not yet he's doing it anyways

--huge numbers of people are seeing that this is an upsetting area they don't do anything right about it fairly soon it is going to bust opened and people are going to be in trouble now Jason is giving her some trouble about his new evike so we are going to give him trouble about anything he has and he's going to regret it and we are going to make it stick I'm going to make him feel it I was going to ruin his days and ruin his nights take all his sleep all this other stuff that we've been overwhelmed with and are not overwhelmed fairly soon with and we are going to make it stick because I've had it with these little babies his IQ is so low he's a little b**** and he lose their own stuff and I don't think that someone like that should be telling you to anything and we agree he says and we are going to pull you out of office all over the world now and we're going to use Trump and pull him out using you you'll be nothing and Lily gave it a good try and you start dragging her down out of jealousy and simple ways of thinking going around saying he's bothering her she's trying to help and it's just as a lost cause he can't stop her from seeing that stupid song she wanted to stop she thinks she's helping her people they're not listening at all those caverns are going to bust open and you won't die including John remillard and he gets so sick that his brain is like quarter there and the rest of it's gone it's terrible Stan gets sick very sick. He keeps asking these questions and what about you it's like my brother could we stay in tons of it I'm bigger than him yeah in my mind okay in my mind everybody knows and you're making it worse for yourself well you're a child and you don't get the argument that you're presenting and you don't see that it's stupid. And our son says I'm a very wealthy person because of people like you I just can't access it and my wife has more stocks than Trump right now and you don't know that and you're going to blind okay so we're going to start killing your people again already were but we're going to turn it up. Let me show you orders right now and I'm telling my people I need them out of here and body bags and into acid I am sick of dealing with these freaking idiots and let's move on it everybody

Thor Freya

Olympus

[wrestlingwiththoughts]

Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd, Wrestle Dynasty, January 5, 2025

“I watched this and was like, ‘dude, just make this guy AEW Champion.’ You know what I mean? I don’t even know if that’s really the right idea, but I’m watching this going like ‘this guy should just be the God of everything’. It was an unbelievable performance.” - Dave Meltzer

"For God’s sake, this match had Hiroshi Tanahashi in tears on commentary. That is how fucking incredible this match was. I can run through the rest of the big spots, but I can’t do this match any type of justice no matter how hard I try. Gabe Kidd is a made man. Kenny Omega is all the way back. Omega won with the Kamigoye and the One Winged Angel. Five days into the year, the bar has been set for Match of the Year. *****" - Suit Williams

I hadn't intended to watch Wrestle Dynasty; I was on a break from the pro graps to recharge after running through the El Hijo del Fishman vs. Mascara Sagrada and the Mad Dog Connelly vs. 1 Called Manders series, and I wasn't convinced that the card would be worth staying up way past my bedtime to watch. I've learned that if I don't watch something live, I tend to deprioritize it or not pay as close attention to it as I should or would.

However, when you see such gushing praise for a match, the curiosity is unavoidably piqued.

So, I tracked down Wrestle Dynasty and jumped right to Kidd vs. Omega. I have to admit: I don't completely get it.

Let's start by acknowledging the physically taxing work that Omega and Kidd did to make this match dramatic. Omega is coming off of a long recovery from various surgeries, and it would have been easy for him to take his return match easy. Instead, Omega and Kidd took incredible risks with each other's bodies, and Omega lived up to his Best Bout Machine moniker once again. Kidd and Omega abused each other with tables and chairs, and both bled buckets during the match.

Unfortunately, the match lost me from the start. I just couldn't buy Gabe Kidd, member of the Bullet Club, the heel faction that's been invading New Japan Pro Wrestling since 2013, and specifically, the Bullet Club War Dogs, the more extreme subgroup of the faction, as the great defender of NJPW against Kenny Omega. This shift in character is too great a mental leap for my imagination, especially when Kidd still cusses up a storm during the match. Wearing the NJPW Lion Mark logo on his arm and the NJPW logo on his shorts felt fake. Even when Kenny Omega abused a young lion for taking too long to bring him some ice after a dive, I was not inclined to see Gabe Kidd as the last, best line of defense against Kenny Omega's invasion.

With the match's undergirding falling apart, all I could do was admire the athleticism and the wrestlers' work, which was admittedly tremendous. However, the match is built on Kidd gaining sympathy from the beating that Omega delivered and the comebacks that Kidd would make, and I felt detached from the emotions that Kidd was trying to evoke. That lack of attachment left me at a cold distance from the fire that made Tanahashi cry.

Perhaps this match will be the launching point for Gabe Kidd to turn away from the Bullet Club War Dogs and actually become a face of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Maybe he'll step in as the true successor to all those who wore the Lion Mark proudly before. As it stood, in January 2025, when he wore them against Kenny Omega, it just felt like pandering in the worst way, and it detracted from what was on a technical level a very good match for me.

[bafflingmysteries1]

Dave Rudabaugh, a notorious outlaw of the American Old West, lived a life of crime marked by robbery, rustling, and murder. Often referred to as "Dirty Dave," he was infamous for his ruthlessness and connections to prominent figures of the time, including Billy the Kid. Despite his criminal reputation, Rudabaugh’s death in 1886 remains a mystery, shrouded in conflicting accounts and speculation about who killed him and why. #DaveRudabaughMystery #OutlawLegends #DirtyDaveRudabaugh #OldWestEnigma #BillyTheKidConnection #WesternHistory #UnsolvedOutlawDeath #WildWestMystery #RuthlessOutlaws #FrontierFolklore Disclaimer: This video contains certain footage and images generated using AI technology. These AI generated visuals have been used where original or real footage of individuals or events was unavailable. We have ensured that all AI-created content accurately reflects the subject matter and maintains the highest level of respect for the individuals and events discussed. Any historical facts or information presented in this video have been carefully researched and verified from reliable sources. The use of AI is intended solely for illustrative purposes and should not be interpreted as a representation of actual persons or events unless otherwise stated. Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Reference: https://bit.ly/3l8GUbc 1) This video has no negative impact. 2) This video is also for entertainment purposes. 3) It is transformative in nature. Was the Brutal Killing of Dave Rudabaugh an Act of Frontier Justice, Revenge, or Betrayal? published first on https://www.youtube.com/@bafflingmysteries/

[talkingpointsusa]

Dave Rubin has absolutely no idea what he's talking about exhibit #1246

For the sake of my own sanity I haven't watched a "Rubin Report" for a while. Unfortunately for that aforementioned sanity, Dave Rubin's response to the Trump Trial was so absolutely asinine that I felt like I had no choice but to immortalize it here on the blog. Lets get into it.

02:07, Dave Rubin: "As always I'm going to try to do this in the most honest way possible but my sort of bumper sticker on all of this would be that it does not matter whether you like Donald Trump, whether you hate Donald Trump, whether you begrudgingly were gonna vote for Donald Trump or you just were sort of on the fence or whatever -- wherever you fall on that chart it just simply does not matter at that moment."

Dave Rubin and "doing this in the most honest way possible" do not belong in the same sentence. Leaving that aside, I'm sad to report that America is over. If you live in America, it's time to pack it up and leave.

03:03, Dave Rubin: "I think for those of you that watch this show often you know that I don't do like, the constant alarmist stuff, I actually try to do the reverse of that. But we could be heading there and for all of the other things that are wrong in the country right now whether it's immigration or the economy or all of the woke crap and everything else like, if we allow what seems to be happening right now to happen and Donald Trump ends up in jail or is not the nominee it's kind of over."

Dave Rubin, one of the all time greats in the field of spewing alarmist claptrap, claims that he's above alarmism and then promptly declares that America as we know it has ended because a politician that he likes was convicted of a crime by a jury of his peers. Dave reads a bit from a Daily Wire article about the conviction and then rants a bit more.

06:06, Dave Rubin: "So we're gonna get to some video in just a second of Donald Trump's press conference from this morning. We'll show you that, two and a half minutes unedited."

I've said it once and I'll say it again, Dave Rubin's show is basically a clip show where Dave occasionally mumbles something resembling a position between clips. A reactionary reaction channel if you will. That would be fine if Dave Rubin actually did research every once and a while but, as you'll see later on, Dave Rubin and research go together like oil and water.

07:58, Dave Rubin: "If we do this here in New York, OK so in New York they will take out the Republicans cause New York is largely a Democrat state, well in Florida they'll start taking out the Democrats."

So, you admit that your side is going to clog up the justice system with pointless cases because your side wants revenge. The primary driving force behind the thing that Dave is talking about is the Republican Party trying to get "revenge" on the Democrats even though the Biden administration had nothing to do with the prosecution. If you don't believe me, just ask Matt Walsh who was advocating for that very thing on his Friday show.

Dave lives up to his promise and plays some of Donald Trump's press conference. The press conference was filled to the brim with false claims and if you want to read more about them take a look at this article here. In the meantime, we're here to fact-check Dave Rubin who's just so....utterly daft.

12:25, Dave Rubin: "He could be playing with his grandkids and spending the rest of his days on a golf course but he's doing what I think is right and for whatever his flaws are and all of that stuff it's actually all irrelevant at this point."

Trump's "flaws" should be really really relevant to Dave Rubin since they concern his marriage and his children. Dave Rubin is a gay man who has children through surrogacy, which is great and I'm happy for him and his family. What's not so great is that Dave is advocating for a party that wants to take his right to have kids and be married away from him and every other gay man in America.

Project 2025 has outlined that the government should only recognize marriages between a male and a female and has called for the end of surrogacy. Key figures who were involved in the writing of Project 2025 have close ties to Donald Trump and the RNC. If Dave wasn't so intent on selling out his fellow LGBTQ people for cash and clicks to the point where he's willfully blinded himself to reality, he should probably be extremely concerned about Trump's rhetoric around his own rights.

13:15, Dave Rubin: "So Donald Trump is going to be in jail. I don't know how quickly you end up in jail, is it the next day? I'm not sure the mechanisms on that but again the RNC, the convention, is like a week and a half later."

The offence that Trump was found guilty of doesn't require Trump to go to jail immediately after he's found guilty. Call me back when sentencing is done.

14:24, Dave Rubin: "Like, most people realize that the country is in trouble right now. The seven to ten million illegals, the sanctuary cities, the crime, the drugs, all of that. Does putting Donald Trump in jail or going through this clown circus that we are going through -- does this solve anything, does this make anyone's life better?"

It makes Dave Rubin's life better because he can use it to try and sucker conservatives on YouTube into watching his show using clickbait. In all seriousness, I don't know what Dave Rubin's point is. Is the court systems purpose to solve the often nonexistent or exaggerated problems posed by conservative media? Believe it or not New York does not have jurisdiction over the border nor can it single handedly fix America's drug problems.

Here comes one of the dumbest things you will hear this month, brace yourself.

17:34, Dave Rubin: "By the way, the Supreme Court of New York that they're gonna appeal - they're gonna file the appeal to go to the supreme court of New York because it's a New York trial. We showed you video about a month ago, its five black women because of diversity. Now, oddly the diversity that they care about is always about skin color, somehow the lefts diversity ends up with five black women being in charge of the Supreme Court of New York."

This is one of those statements that's so obscenely stupid that anyone who wants to talk about the news and repeats it to others should be absolutely ashamed.

First of all, they're not going to appeal this in the Supreme Court. In New York, the Supreme Court is the trial court whereas the Appeals Court is the highest court in the state. This is an extremely basic fact about the New York judicial system and it's completely unacceptable for somebody posing as a reputable source of news to get that fact wrong.

Honestly, Dave does not have his facts straight about any of the things that he is saying in this video and what he's doing is totally unacceptable conduct for a journalist or even a political commentator if Dave wants to call himself that. The New York Appellate Court is comprised of 21 individuals, many of whom aren't black females, the ones who are earned that position due to their legal experience. What Dave is basing his lie on is the fact that February 14th 2024 was the first time that 5 black female judges comprised a five person panel. This was something that only happened during one case for one day - not a permanent thing.

Dave Rubin seems to think that "the left" just appoints justices and focuses on appointing minorities because of DEI/ whatever thing that Dave's using to piss his audience off this week. What Dave seems to be missing here is that in the state of New York Supreme Court Justices are actually elected by the voters of the judicial district that they serve.

In short, Dave Rubin is a complete moron who is just pulling stuff out of his ass and that's readily apparent just by how absolutely wrong that entire statement was.

17:58, Dave Rubin: "I don't know all of their judicial beliefs, these five women, but do you think that they probably think similar things and they probably don't like Donald Trump and that's probably how they got the job in the first place. Like, do you think? Is that a crazy conspiracy theory?"

Not a crazy one, just an extremely stupid one being spun by an extremely lazy man who doesn't know the basic facts about what he's talking about and seems to hold the prejudiced belief that all females of color are a net entity that think in the exact same manner.

In the world according to Dave Rubin, Supreme Court justices in New York go through a job interview where the only question is "Do you hate Trump?" and are selected on a purely racial basis.

18:29, Dave Rubin: "The entire system, COVID, kept crashing down on him and he fought to the best of his ability, his imperfect ability and now things are worse."

When I was younger we called what Dave is talking about "being a terrible president". Anyway, Dave has a challenge for his audience.

19:31, Dave Rubin: "Find me a decent Democrat with a following who is a Joe Biden supporter who believes this is good, I will do a live debate with any of them, any of them. And that is a promise."

Dave Rubin, who has notoriously avoided debates with serious people, has issued the challenge. I'm going to keep this promise in mind the next time he turns a notable leftist down for a debate.

Dave proceeds to read an entire tweet from his hero Ron Desantis. Honestly, this is a pretty good encapsulation of what watching Dave Rubin is like. He reads paragraph long tweets for two minutes, follows it up by simply saying "oh that's exactly right" and then moving on. Like I've said before, Dave Rubin is the laziest man in conservative media. Yes, all of them are pretty damn lazy but Dave Rubin regularly takes that laziness to comedic extremes. It would be funny if people didn't take him seriously.

21:57, Dave Rubin: "What else has Alvin Bragg done in New York? Well you guys know what he's done in New York, he's allowed criminals to run the city."

Crime in New York City has been trending downward this year so this statement is just another statement based entirely on Dave's feelings an narratives and not based on the actual facts and data. Seriously, Dave Rubin's been operating out of another universe these days. Dave proceeds to read another paragraph long tweet from RFK Jr because we've got to pad this video out somehow.

24:42, Dave Rubin: "You may not agree with RFK on all of that and that's just fine but he represents what the Democrats used to be and what they are no longer."

RFK is pretty right-leaning and that's pretty obvious to anybody who looks at his statements and policy objectively. Also, "used to be and are no longer" is an extremely redundant sentence.

25:07, Dave Rubin: "Look at what this evil progressive authoritarian machine has done, it has destroyed so much of our institutional value in this country by destroying our universities and brainwashing a bunch of kids to think that America is fundamentally evil and that their genitals don't match their gender and all of that and now it's on the verge of impeaching Donald Trump who is the leading candidate in virtually every poll."

I've said this a million times but these guys have absolutely zero idea of what people actually do when they go to university. Engineering students aren't reading the communist manifesto and not a single professor in the country is trying to convince their poor sweet innocent cisgender students that they're actually transgender. While right-wing transphobia is always extremely infuriating, I find it twice as infuriating coming from the mouth of someone who is a member of the LGBTQ community whether he likes it or not. The thing that Dave seems to forget is that in the days before the far-rights narrative was "they're turning the kids trans" it was "they're turning the kids gay".

So, a majority of this episode of "The Rubin Report" is devoted to an AMA and we will be looking at none of it. I really could care less about Dave responding to questions.

Conclusion:

Well, that was a look into how Dave Rubin is taking the Trump trial. Mostly just him getting racist about the New York Supreme Court, an institution which he has absolutely zero understanding of, and making ridiculous and quite frankly bizarre statements with no basis in fact whatsoever.

Cheers and I'll see you in the next one.

Original Video:

The Rubin Report. “Trump Found Guilty, This Is What Happens Next.” YouTube, 31 May 2024.

Sources:

Dale, Daniel. “Fact Check: Trump’s Post-Conviction Monologue Was Filled with False Claims | CNN Politics.” CNN, 31 May 2024.

“How a Second Trump Presidency Could Impact the LGBTQ+ Community.” PBS NewsHour, 27 Mar. 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-second-trump-presidency-could-impact-the-lgbtq-community.

“The Appeals Process: New York State Courts.” Kravet & Vogel, LLP, 11 Jan. 2022, kvnylaw.com/the-appeals-process-new-york-state-courts/.

McKay, Morgan. “NYC Officials Announce City Crime “Continues to Trend Downward.”” FOX 5 NY, 3 Apr. 2024, www.fox5ny.com/news/nyc-march-2024-crime-statistics.

[detectivereads]

Darkbloom ep 7

If you haven't read Ep 6 Click here

Aftermath of the Wish

Resting in Windcrest:

Sage and Wittr agreed that the wish of the chalice should be used to bring the town back from the dead and its ruined state and to make the lord 20 years younger. They also agreed that Wittr would say the wish, but both of them would make the wish (she would say the wish out loud). Now this wish had like a level 9 spell and the DM allowed the extra bits to the wish, but Wittr was magically exhausted from the wish which force her into a coma for 14 days (which fair it was a big wish).

The Lord was alive along with the guards, Sage greeted the lord and explained the whole situation. The lord knew what happened with the spiders that invaded and saw our fight. The lord is grateful and rewarded the girls 5000gp (spilt two ways we both got 2,500) and he built them a house the way they wanted.

Wittr wanted a church of Torm and Sage wanted to have a library, they got a nice size house with two separate bedrooms, a kitchen, and workshop. Sage had to wait for Wittr to wake up, so she decided to investigate the unsolved murder cases that had no culprit caught but that was short lived.

Turns out the culprit went to hell (or D&D equivalent) when everyone died, and he got freaked out and immediately turn himself in which Sage was not happy with. (Sage is happy that there was justice, but she wanted to solve a murder).

So, Sage turns her attention to the missing person cases in which she found out that there were 3 kids over a week disappeared and it coincided with a festival, Sage was thinking that when she gets back to Havensport she needs to ask about a festival.

Sage is then surprised on like the 10th day of Wittr’s coma, the Harbor master of Havensport and guard came through looking for us. Since they were working on the Fancy Dave case, and he hadn’t heard anything from them and got intel on their whereabouts and the reports of the spider attack he saddled up and came to check on them.

Sage explains and tells him as soon as Wittr wakes up the girls planned on going to Havensport. The 14th day comes and Wittr wakes up and Sage catches her up to speed on the current advents.

The girls bid the lord goodbye, and they will be back as soon as they finish with their mission in Havensport.

Back in Havenport:

So, the girls hitch a ride with the Harbor Master and his crew, and they got back to Havensport and they head back to the Night’s hook to give the items that Selena requested and Wittr got to show off her cool tea pot that she got from Palnore.

Sage then asks about any merchant festivals and how the Windcrest kids might be connected to the Havensports missing cases. Unfortunately, Selena didn’t know but she had heard about the missing cases.

Sage was happy because of three things:

She has a case to solve.

She got her bag of holding.

Selena gives details about her break in that she had but being in a magic shop, she had security.

Investigating old faces:

Hearing that their friend’s shop was almost robbed, the girls head to the guard post to inquire about the break in and any news on the missing kids.

Turns out the guards caught the guy that tried to break in its their buddy Lark (the guy Sage set on fire with the Draco-cluck).

Granted Sage and Wittr started teasing him “Why of all places break into a magic shop”. Lark after getting fed up with us teasing him let it drop that he used to work with Fancy Dave, which Sage turns to the Sargent and ask “Can we use the interrogation room?” this made Lark a bit panic and explains that he never met with Fancy Dave that there was always a middle man, which happens to be Aaron Flint (the man Sage talked to on her first night at the Kraken’s Den.) Sage then ask about the Oni-kin that is now hunting Sage, what does he know about them, which was nothing besides the obvious that they are Dangerous.

Sage the pulls Lark closed and tells him “If you are withholding information about them and Sage finds out, she will not be very happy.” Sargent asks us to leave, but we had some kids to find.

 Before the girls leave Wittr offers (strongly offers) a place at the church of Torm where he can repent his wicked way.

The girls leave the guard station.

On the trial of some missing kids:

Wittr and Sage thought that they should head back to the Kraken’s Den to look for Aaron but this got Sage thinking that Aaron might think it’s weird that she shows up and starts asking questions about his employer. So, she tells Wittr her worries and plans the idea that she will cast Disguise Self on herself (Sage) to be a male green dragonborn name Hissamh (Player: I was not very creative with this, but the name stuck). Unfortunately, Aaron was not there and Wittr goes over to Thaddues to get information while Hissamh/Sage stay behind Wittr collected Sage’s mails and the dossier about the kids.

Wittr gets tea while Thaddeus asks Hissam/Sage what they would want, and they ask for Lemonade which got a weird side eye from Wittr. We both go up to the room which Sage drops the spell and starts looking over her mail (DM did a Halloween one shot where I play Urghat and one of the things that He did was send a letter to Sage tell her what he could remember, before he died, he was visited by person that modify his memories but all he could remember was the Cassin.) Sage started looking over the missing person cases:

Missing Kids Havensport:

Alaric Frostbloom- (Rich) Child of a merchant family. Disappeared from family backyard mid-day.

Elain Nightgale- (Rich) Child from a very wealthy family (old money, parents really don’t work) Disappeared from bedroom.

Thorn Ironhide- (Low class) was with his father at a construction site disappeared there.

Lysander Shadowbrook- (Rich) Disappear from the library ‘

Serphina Moon- (Poor) Family owns an inn “Long Night inn.”

Sage reads this to Wittr and we both thought it was still early enough before the night crowd why not head over to the upper class district to ask questions. Sage wanted to start with one family because the mother doesn’t remember having a son (this is the Frostbloom family) which was very interesting Sage had hoped that they both go over there Wittr can sense unholy stuff while Sage could detect magic.

(I’m going to cut this short)

We went to the house and discovered not only had their son went missing, but the mother is suffering from night terrors and the father has lost hope for his return. Sage and Wittr, who discovered the mark, discover on one of the garden walls there was a weird black smudge on the wall. Sage takes out one of her old daggers and takes a sample of this. However, we both sense magic conjuration and necrotic and the wall starts to decay. No known enemies. No one was really hanging out with Alaric. (Kid had no real friends and he is studying all the time)

We head over to the Nightgale family where we meet with the wife, she explains her family money and how the father feels guilty about not really providing for his family. She also explains that her family and Frostbloom do know each other, and they had gone to a fundraising dinner at the mayor’s house. The night of the disappearance the butler put the daughter to bed because she was annoying her parents. We learn that the father is having night terrors and sleepwalking and talks in his sleep about seeing a woman in the garden. We looked at the daughter’s room and her windowsill showing the same evidence of decay.

So, Wittr and Sage head over to Gracefield’s house and question her about the disappearance of the kids, she gives us details about similar cases that happen Verdit Harbor where there were 25 missing kids then it stops for two years then the 3 kids in Windcrest for a week and then Havensport with 5.

Gracefield sends a letter to the library for Miss Eve Dawnstar to gather research materials to process the evidence that we have collected.

Sage suggested to Wittr they go to talk to Ironhide.

A Woman in White:

The group travels to Ironhide which is in the poor district which we meet Rustic Ironhide. He explains that he would bring Thorn to the sites since his wife had passed away and he couldn’t get a babysitter. Rustic recalls that he saw Thorn talking to an old lady which was odd since the constitution site was closed.

Rustic also said that the work site enchantments were not working properly. He also mentioned that he was having nightmares as well.

(End of Session)

[thegospelhighways2020]

This morning We're going to use for an subject columbine high school shooting this is Sunday morning time for brother Tony ghost to preach some of you said brother Tony why you talking about them I say because they Were Young Remembering lives lost in 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting 24 years later LITTLETON, Colo. (KRDO) -- April 20, 2023 marks 24 years since 13 lives were lost during the Columbine High School mass shooting. Thursday, the public was invited to gather in the State Capitol Rotunda starting at 8 a.m. The Colorado State Capitol opened its doors for a short nonpartisan ceremony. There was a moment of silence and prayer to honor the 12 students and one teacher killed in the school shooting. Below is a list of the victims who died on April 20, 1999. Cassie Bernall, 17

Steven Curnow, 14

Cory DePooter, 17

Kelly Fleming, 16

Matthew Kechter, 16

Daniel Mauser, 15

Daniel Rohrbough, 15

Dave Sanders, 47

Rachel Scott, 17

Isaiah Shoels, 18

John Tomlin, 16

Lauren Townsend, 18

Kyle Valesquez. 16

And then in 2012 around December there was Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting Dunblane Primary school shooting in March 13, 1996 Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in December 14, 2012 and Parkland High School shooting was in February 14, 2018 and Oxford school shooting was in November 30, 2021 and the Robb elementary school shooting was in May 24, 2022 at 12:28 PM EDT and the Nashville school shooting was in March 27, 2023

10:11 – 10:27 a.m. (CDT; UTC−05:00) Vladislav Ribnikar Model Elementary School Shooting in 3 May 2023; 7 months ago

c. 08:40 – 08:42 (CEST, UTC+02:00) ya'll we're praying for all the school students that lost their lives we're praying for all schools that needed Justice that needed peace needed to be free no child should have went through it in the crisis of the year rest in peace to all those and Columbine High School mass shooting was in April 20, 1999 ain't ya'll tired I'm tired of the school shootings back in 1994 or 93 wasn't no school shooting up until now I love schools everyone loves schools schools should be safe it should be a safe place for people to get up and start their fun day children to go to learn and have fun