#2016 Classics Challenge

[michele-apricity]

𝓭𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓪𝓬𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓶𝓲𝓪 ˙⟡🪶─

𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒗 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Some of my favourite movies and tv shows that I keep rewatching literally all the time, also fit the dark academia aesthetic...

𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔

Dead Poets Society (1989)

A timeless film about the power of literature and the consequences of challenging societal norms in a boarding school.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

A psychological thriller drenched in luxury, deception, and the pursuit of identity.

Kill Your Darlings (2013)

Follows young Allen Ginsberg and his entanglement in a murder during his time at Columbia University.

Atonement (2007)

A visually stunning film about love, betrayal, and regret, with an air of intellectual melancholy.

The Imitation Game (2014)

A story of genius and tragedy, focusing on Alan Turing’s work during WWII.

The Riot Club (2014)

A dark examination of privilege and elitism among Oxford students in a secret society.

Harry Potter Series (2001-2011)

Especially The Prisoner of Azkaban, which captures the darker, atmospheric tones of the series.

Crimson Peak (2015)

A Gothic romance with haunting visuals and themes of mystery and intellect.

The Oxford Murders (2008)

A mystery set at Oxford University, blending logic, philosophy, and crime-solving.

The Theory of EVerything (2014)

A poignant biopic about Stephen Hawking’s life, featuring beautiful academic settings.

𝒕𝒗 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔

The Umbrella Academy (2019-2024)

While more fantastical, its themes of family, ambition, and intellectualism align with dark academia. (we're going to act as if the 4th season never happened)

Sherlock (2010-2017)

A modern take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories, with a focus on intellect and mystery.

The Queen’s Gambit (2020)

A visually stunning series about genius, competition, and the pressures of academia-like environments.

Penny Dreadful (2014-2016)

A Gothic series weaving together classic literary characters with dark, intellectual themes.

How to Get Away with Murder (2014-2020)

A thrilling blend of academia and crime, revolving around law students entangled in murder mysteries.

Derry Girls (2018-2022)

Though comedic, the show captures an academic setting with themes of friendship and youthful rebellion.

The Magicians (2015-2020)

A fantasy series with a dark academia feel, featuring a secret university for magic and complex moral questions.

His Dark Materials (2019-2022)

A richly intellectual fantasy series set in an alternate, academic-focused world.

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

While lighter, it captures the love of books, academia, and witty intellectual banter.

Shadow and Bone (2021-)

A mix of dark fantasy and the kind of rich world-building that appeals to dark academia enthusiasts.

Let me know your favourite movies and/or tv shows that I should watch.

-michala♡

[dancingontheblades]

quad revolution in YOI

I'm still thinking about this discussion about quads in YOI and which character would attempt a 4A or generally add more quads to their portfolio.

By the time, YOI aired, the first ratified 4F and 4Lo had just been landed in competition by Shoma Uno (4F, April 2016) and Yuzuru Hanyu (4Lo, Autumn Classic, the week before episode 1 aired). While the 4F remains special with Viktor and later Yuuri being the only skaters who can land it, the YOI creators went ahead by including a quad no one had ever landed in competition by the time the storyboards and the fs programmes were created: the quad loop. In YOI, JJ, Emil, and Seung-Gil jump the 4Lo in competition like it's nothing, and Viktor once jumped it at a gala, which is a whole different level of badassery due to the lighting conditions.

Figure skating is constantly evolving as athletes challenge themselves, pushing their physical limits and the boundaries of the sport. Once triple jumps became the new normal, quad jumps become next frontier. As a piece of fiction created by two avid figure skating fans, YOI anticipated the quad revolution. Comparing the history of figure skating to the fictional world of YOI, I expect some characters adding more and more quads to their programmes while others focus on artistry, and the first skater landing a ratified 4A in competition some seasons before Ilia Malinin landed the first ratified 4A irl.

Of all quad jumps, the 4A has the highest difficulty because it's the only quad that has 4.5 rotations. If I think about which skaters would join the race for the 4A, JJ, Yurio, and Emil come to mind. All three are young enough to take up the challenge. JJ and Yurio have ambition and Emil would be in for the fun of it. And I think of Yuuri for three reasons:

the Axel is his best jump

he is physically resilient due to his high stamina and rarely ever suffering from injury

his ambition: by including the 4A in his programmes, he could beat Viktor in score and technical difficulty.

So, what about Viktor?

By the time Viktor picks up his career, he is 28. In competitive singles skating, that's bordering geriatic. Coming back to competition after a hiatus is hard and his admiration of Yuuri’s stamina and physical health suggest that he struggled with stamina and injury in the past. Getting back to his old shape and being able to compete at the top would be his priority. Staying in the air for four-and-a-half rotations? Maybe not so much.

Of course, we have no information on whether Viktor practised the 4A in the past. Many skaters practise jumps they don’t show off in competition to play it safe. Being able to quadruple all the other jumps, he might have been tempted or even jumped the 4A for funsies. However, Viktor wouldn’t have won worlds and the GPF five times in a row if he hadn’t played it extra safe during those seasons, even more so if he is prone to injury. Injury just has the potential to mess up a skater's entire season. Viktor seems too considerate to embrace the risk of adding rotations, whereas I can totally see younger and more reckless skaters like JJ or Yuuri eventually go for the 4A. And because of that I don’t see Viktor pursuing the 4A as a real goal, especially not post-comeback. I’d rather expect him surprise the audience with a 4Lo than endangering his comeback by going for four-and-a-half rotations.

[thatrickmcginnis]

DAVID BOWIE live in Toronto, 1990

I downplay my concert photography mostly because I don't really care about it that much. I worked hard at it early in my career because it was a challenge, and because working for music magazines meant shooting a lot of gigs. But I learned pretty quickly that anyone with a decent camera and a photo pass would take pretty much the same pictures as I would if they were standing near me. But there were some subjects that I only got close to with a camera while shooting a show, and prime among them is David Bowie, who I photographed while on assignment for NOW magazine in March of 1990 at the cavernous Skydome (now the Rogers Centre), a baseball and football stadium.

David Bowie was in town for his Sound and Vision tour, promoting a greatest hits box set released by Rykodisc, and he was playing a selection of songs from across his whole career. There was a whole Canadian leg of the tour, performing in sports venues across the country, with two Toronto dates, of which this was the first. I was - and remain - an enormous fan, so I must have been pleased with the assignment even though it was your classic "three songs only" concert shoot for which I might have even rented a lens for my Nikon F3, even though NOW didn't really pay expenses for this sort of gig. The light was bright and by 1990 I was technically up to producing a range of printable shots over two rolls of Kodak's high-speed T-Max 3200 film.

By 1990 Bowie was on the critical outs after a big commercial peak in the early '80s with albums like Let's Dance and Tonight. He'd formed the band Tin Machine, though they could never fill a stadium, and while the Sound and Vision tour might have seemed like a cash grab, loyal fans appreciated him playing all the hits. (This was around the time he issued "Bowie Bonds" - securities backed by current and future earnings that earned Bowie $55 million.) On stage he appeared in the costume of his "Thin White Duke", the persona he toured with when he'd played here at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976, a tour (like the one he did with Iggy Pop in 1977, and the one in 1978) that I wished I'd seen, then and now.

Which is probably why I actually forgot about shooting this show for many years, complaining with regret that I'd never taken Bowie's photo for twenty years until I rediscovered these negatives in my files while working on my old photo blog. They're OK live pics, probably among the best I ever shot, mostly because I was really engaged with a subject that was also a truly charismatic live performer. And perhaps because I suspected they were the closest I'd ever get to Bowie, though years later I did end up photographing his wife, the model Iman, who he met while on this tour later that year. David Bowie died of liver cancer in January of 2016 in his NYC apartment, a rare celebrity death that I found truly shocking and saddening.

[mjdrawsalot]

Jon Kent (pretty much) Complete Reading Order

Compiled first for my personal use and tidied up for @jonkentweek ! Goes up to June 2024 and includes every appearance of this character that I could find. I used ComicVine's archive to track these down, which is both fallible and constantly being updated, so there might be some mistakes. Also, I did my best to highlight the occasions where Jon was a significant character in a story and to skip the ones that were just a non-speaking, one-panel cameo, but those were personal judgements and your mileage might vary.

Color key (and apologies for the eye strain): Red are issues in which Jon is a central character, not just a cameo, Blue are crossover events, Orange are stories that take place in alternate universes/are non canonical

Optional stuff you can read for historical context:

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (1997) a classic possible future story, which is, to my knowledge, the 1st time a character named Jon who is Superman’s kid appears

Son of Superman (1999) a self-contained, now AU, story about a teen Jon Kent, very classic 90s young adult comic with all the tropes that come with that, but enjoyable as the proto-iteration of Jon as an idea

Canon appearances start here

The Final Days of Superman crossover event: Superman (2011) 51-52, Batman/Superman (2013) 31-32, Action Comics (2011) 51-52, Superman/Wonder Woman (2013) 28-29 (This is the origin story of the Clark, Lois and Jon that the comics follow in Rebirth. Largely ignored by writers, as it was written to patch up New52 weirdness, but there are occasional references that might be confusing if you skip it completely.)

Convergence (2015) 5, 8

Superman: Lois and Clark (2015) 1-8 (Establishes Jon and his family in the DCU)

Superman (2016) 1-11, 13, 17-28, 30, 32-36, 38, 40-45, Special 1

Action Comics (2016) 957-972, 974-978, 980-983, 985, 987, 989-1000, 1002, 1005, 1016, 1022-1035, 1042, 1045-1048, 1050-1057, 1059-1060, Special 1, Annual 2023

Justice League (2016) 3-6, 15, 18-19, 22, 28

Trinity (2016) 1-6, 16

Super Sons (2017) 1-16

Dark Nights: Metal (2017) 3, 6

The Man of Steel (2018) 1-6 (central from issue 4 onwards)

Superman (2018) 1, 4-12, 14-16, 20, 29-32

Adventures of the Super Sons (2018) 1-12

Justice League (2018) 9, 23-25, 34, 52, 75, Annual 2022

Super Sons/Dynomutt Special (2018)

Super Sons: The Polarshield Project (AU trilogy of graphic novels)

Supergirl (2016) 8, 30-33

DCeased (2019) 1-6 (what if DC but zombies?)

Super Sons: The Foxglove Mission

Lois Lane (2019) 3-4, 6

Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium 2

Legion of Super-Heroes (2019) 1-12

Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child

Green Lantern: Blackstars 2-3

The Terrifics (2018) 25

Teen Titans (2016) 15, 43, 45-46

DCeased: Hope at World’s End (2020) 1, 4-5, 9-15

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular (in the short Super Sons story)

DCeased: Dead Planet (2020) 1-7

Super Sons: Escape to Landis

Batman/Superman (2019) Annual 1

Challenge of the Super Sons (2020) 1-14

Dark Knights: Death Metal The Last Stories of the DC Universe (2020) (in the Superman short story)

Dark Knights: Death Metal The Secret Origin (2021)

Dark Knights: Death Metal The Last 52 War of the Multiverses (2021) (in the Superman parts of the story)

DC Nation Presents Future State (2020) (intro, information and behind-the-scenes for Future State)

Future State: Superman of Metropolis (2021) 1-2 (Future State is another possible future, meaning that it’s not necessarily canon, but it takes place in the future of the main canon, not in a complete AU, like say, Dark Knights of Steel. Technically not necessary to understand main universe stories, but a few popular characters and characterizations were brought over to the main universe.)

Future State: Justice League (2021) 1-2

Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman (2021) 1-2

Future State: Kara Zor-el, Superwoman (2021) 1

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes (2021) 2

Infinite Frontier (2021) 0 (establishes the main universe status quo from this point on, feat. a synopsis of Jon’s life up to here)

Challenge of the Super Sons (2021) 1-7

Superman: Son of Kal-el (2021) 1-18, Annual 1

Shazam! (2021) 1

Superman Red and Blue (2021) 6 (in the short story The Special, but this mini series in general is cute and I recommend it)

Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes (2022) 1-6

Superman & Robin Special (2022) 1

DC’s Round Robin (2021) 2 (in the short story Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow)

Nightwing (2016) 89, 91-92, 101-104, 110, 112-113

Earth-Prime (2022) 2 (story based on the CW show Superman and Lois)

DC Pride (2022) (in the short story Super Pride)

Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis (2022) (in the short story Team Up)

Dark Crisis (2022) 1-7

Dark Crisis: Young Justice (2022) 1

Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League: Superman (2022) 1

DCeased: War of the Undead Gods (2022) 1, 4-5, 7-8

DC’s Terrors Through Time (2022) (in the short story Trick or Treat)

Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green (2022) 1

The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special (2023) (in The Life of Superman short story)

Dark Crisis: The Dark Army (2023)

Superman: Kal-El Returns Special (2023) (in the short story Distractions)

Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton (2023) (in the short story Electric)

Batman (2016) 131-132 (in the Tim Drake Robin chapters)

Superman (2023) 2-3, 9

Lazarus Planet: Omega (2023)

Power Girl Special (2023)

Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent (2023) 1-6

Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow (2023) 1 (edited version of the story in Round Robin)

DC Pride (2023) (in the short story My Best Bet)

Titans: Beast World (2024) 3-4, 6

Titans: Beast World Tour: Metropolis (2024)

Trinity Special (2024) (taken from the backups of Wonder Woman 2023 plus some extra)

[notwiselybuttoowell]

The verdict against the environmental group Greenpeace finding it liable for huge damages to a pipeline company over protests has been described by advocacy groups as a “weaponization of the legal system” and an “assault” on free speech and protest rights.

A North Dakota jury decided on Wednesday that Greenpeace will have to pay at least $660m to the pipeline company Energy Transfer and is liable for defamation and other claims over protests in the state in 2016-2017.

Rebecca Brown, the president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) issued a statement highlighting the threat the decision poses to free speech and the right to protest. She says the verdict is “a calculated attack on the sovereign rights of the Standing Rock Sioux and all indigenous peoples defending their land and water. This case is a textbook example of corporate weaponization of the legal system to silence protest and intimidate communities.”

ClientEarth, a non-profit and partner to Greenpeace, said that the verdict highlighted the growing trend of big polluters using the legal system to intimidate and silence critics and that corporations want to send the message that “no organization that challenges the polluting industries is safe” in a statement on social media.

Energy Transfer was “frivolously alleging defamation and seeking money damages, designed to shut down all voice supporting Standing Rock”, Janet Alkire, the tribal chair for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said in a statement.

“The case is an attempt to silence our Tribe about the truth of what happened at Standing Rock, and the threat posed by DAPL to our land, our water and our people. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will not be silenced,” the statement said.

Energy Transfer’s counsel during the case, Trey Cox, said that the verdict showed that Greenpeace’s actions had been unlawful. “It is also a day of celebration for the constitution, the state of North Dakota and Energy Transfer,” he said following the decision.

Kevin Cramer, a Republican senator for North Dakota, also celebrated the verdict on social media, writing: “Today, justice has been done with Greenpeace and its radical environmentalist buddies who encouraged this destructive behavior during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests with their defamatory and false claims about the pipeline” in a post on X.

But experts and non-profit groups expressed alarm over the verdict and what it means for constitutional rights in the US.

EarthRights, another non-governmental, non-profit group, says that the Dakota Access pipeline protests were “overwhelmingly peaceful” and that the organization “proudly joins Greenpeace USA in speaking up against brazen legal attacks and ensuring that the environmental movement only continues to grow stronger, despite the appalling result in North Dakota”.

The case is being described by legal experts as a classic example of a Slapp – a form of civil litigation increasingly deployed by corporations, politicians and wealthy individuals to deliberately wear down and silence critics including journalists, activists and watchdog groups. These cases often result in significant legal costs for the defendants, which is viewed as “a win” for the suing entity even if they don’t win the lawsuit.

Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, said it was a “devastating verdict” that set ��an array of deeply damaging precedents on the rights to freedom of speech, association and peaceful protest and puts the very future of Greenpeace at risk”.

“It has severe implications for Indigenous peoples, and other environmental defenders and climate activists who tirelessly work to protect human rights. There is no doubt that it will have a chilling effect on those campaigning to expose wrongdoing by powerful companies in the United States and all over the world.”

Greenpeace says it plans to appeal the verdict, and some legal experts say they have a good case to do so. The appeal would go straight to the state supreme court, as North Dakota does not have an appellate level court.

Kelcy Warren, Energy Transfer’s billionaire founder, is a major donor to Donald Trump.

[goblincow]

CATS or What Is This RPG or Setting The Table

So I just heard about CATS courtesy of the good folks in the PlusOneExp discord server. CATS was written by Patrick O'Leary for the 2016 200 Word RPG Challenge.

It's nice and short (200 words even) and it's a compelling formula for the classic What Is This TTRPG segment that warrants a page at the front of every good RPG book.

I find it particularly interesting that this is imagined as a micro-RPG in its own right, a table activity for the start of game night that sets out to address what I have always found to be the most painful aspect of playing any TTRPG (besides tedious and arcane character creation rituals – I'm looking at you 5e PHB 👀): the friction that arises from players having discordant, conflicting, contradictory or incompatible expectations during play.

We can formulate the basic strucure of CATS in a variety of ways: Concept/Aim/Tone/Subject Matter, What/Where/When/Who/Why/How, Premise/Overview/Goals/What You Need, etc. all of which can be applied in two immediate directions:

In a What Is This RPG section, these are just codified methods for teaching the player/reader (more of my thoughts on the player/reader here) how to read and communicate everything that comes next in a way that's both more focused than a blurb (which might basically constitute the Concept/Premise/Hook) and more comprehensive than an elevator pitch.

As a launchpad for table play, these structures guide the conversation to establish the pillars of the shared fiction, and I especially appreciate CATS for the fact that it ends on Subject Matter. It could be the consequence of a tortured acronym, but having set the stage in every other way it seems appropriate to hop into safety tools as the final as the final negotiation before play, once all context is provided but nothing is yet set in stone.

That's all he wrote on CATS.

In THE PERILOUS PEAR & PLUM PIES OF PUDWICK I wrote a conversation guide to the meat of the adventure on pg. 11, following an introductory segment of the game that functions as a session 1 prologue of sorts before delving into the hexflower "dungeon" microsetting, inciting incident et al. It's interesting for me to look back at the way I structured this from the perspective of CATS.

If you're curious about TPPAPPOP and want a sneak peak of what you can expect, here's that segment from pg. 11, Inside The Tree:

Resources: the insects of the tree live in darkness and have varying weird diets – you might decide that tracking resources like light and food is important, or maybe at this scale adventurers can survive on the honeydew, leaves and strange meats that the insects eat. Sights and Sounds: footsteps might sound like earthquakes, voices like distant thunder. What are the twitches and mannerisms of the chittering language of insects? How does artificial light disturb the denizens of the tree? Setting and Tone: to adjust the game to your group's preference, you might lean into the existential conflict of intruding on and potentially dooming these fledgling societies, or downplay the crawling horror of an insect world to allow its cuter side to shine through.

[fannyyann]

matthew lore: childhood friends & teammates

AKA a vaguely chronological list of current NHL players Matthew knew before he ever played an NHL game

This is already a massive list, so in an effort to keep it as short and organized as possible, I have bolded the names of guys who appear in multiple categories and have only included those who have played at least a full season’s worth of games in the NHL.

For a comprehensive list of his teammates that have ever played an NHL game, this invaluable tool will provide you that information dating back to his first season in the NTDP (2013-2014).

CASEY FITZGERALD gets to go first and uncategorized, because he’s known Matthew longer than anyone else on this list, seems to be the cousin he’s closest to, and is one of the three childhood teammates that became one of Matthew’s NHL teammates. (And roommate!)

THE ST. LOUIS BOYS

LUKE KUNIN is THE guy. Their families are friends (Matthew’s whole fam was at Luke’s wedding, Luke’s whole fam was at Brady’s), and they were teammates for fourteen straight seasons before finally getting separated after their time at the NTDP, which is so long Luke's literally known Matthew longer than Taryn has.

Of the six St. Louis guys drafted in 2016, Luke and Matthew were the only ones born in 1997, so the following have all played with Matthew significantly less than Luke.

CCM Motown Classic 2005

TRENT FREDERIC From what I can find, Trent only played with Matthew during the 2005-2006 St. Louis Rockets season, but he played with Brady and was coached by Keith in the same Junior Blues hockey program, was one of the family friends that got to come around and play mini sticks with David Backes as a kid, and his time at the NTDP overlapped with Matthew’s in the 2014-2015 season (Trent U17, Matthew U18).

2010 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament

CLAYTON KELLER played in the 2010 Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament with Matthew and likely more but trying to find youth hockey rosters from before 2015 is a herculean task. But he was one of those U17 guys that got to play up with the U18s his first year in the NTDP and played with Matthew for 16 games and then went on to win gold together at the U18 Men's World Championship in 2015.

LOGAN BROWN Other than the 2010 tournament, Logan seems to have played more with Brady than he did with Matthew, and wasn’t in the NTDP like the other guys, but does train with them in the summer.

2011-2012 U15 AAA Junior Blues Team

2013 U16 National Tier One tournament champions

JOSEPH WOLL Unlike the other St. Louis boys, Joseph seems to have played exclusively with Brady, but his time at the NTDP overlapped with Matthew’s the same as Trent’s did. It’s unclear if he trains at the same place as the others during the offseason, but along with the rest of the 2016 St. Louis Draftees, his signed draft day photo is framed in Matthew’s bedroom at his parents' house because of course it is.

THE 1997 JUNIOR BRUINS

This Athletic article is about all the NHL players who played for the 1997 Junior Bruins tournament team over the years, but from what I can find, Matthew only played on the 2010 team with Casey Fitzgerald, NOAH HANIFIN, CHARLIE MCAVOY, COLIN WHITE, and the ever present, Luke Kunin.

Matthew is still close friends with all these guys, but Noah in particular is a Noted Best Friend and with him being from Boston and the Tkachuks having a house in Cape Cod, their summers overlap a lot even when they aren’t teammates.

With Casey, he and Colin White are the only childhood teammates to play with Matthew in the NHL.

THE NTDP BOYS

Okay, this section is where it gets a little chaotic so I split it between the guys who played with Matthew and those he went to school and was familiar with because their time at the NTDP overlapped.

2013-2014 NTDP Teammates Including the gold medal teams for the 2014 U17 World Hockey Challenge & the 2015 U18 World Championship

ZACH WERENSKI

Repeat: Noah Hanifin

2013-2015 NTDP Teammates Including the gold medal teams for the 2014 U17 World Hockey Challenge & the 2015 U18 World Championship

JORDAN GREENWAY

CALEB JONES

CHRISTIAN FISCHER spent his youth hockey years playing against Matthew, and when they both headed off to the NTDP, their parents split billet duties. He is one of Matthew’s best friends, attended Matthew’s draft, and even went with Matthew to Brady’s draft.

JACK ROSLOVIC was linemates with Matthew (and Auston) in the 2014-2015 season and when Matthew went to the 2015 Draft to support all his 1996 boys, Jack was the one he chose to sit with. The next summer, Jack returned the favor (see photo with Christian at Matthew's draft above).

AUSTON MATTHEWS is another family friend. He was Matthew’s center in 2014-2015 and when he broke his leg the previous year, Keith got a bunch of NHL guys to reach out to Auston , and he’s the one who gave us the best story about Matthew texting his own highlights to his friends.

Repeats: Luke Kunin, Casey Fitzgerald, Colin White, Charlie McAvoy

2014-2015 NTDP Teammates Including the 2015 U18 World Championship

TAGE THOMPSON

TROY TERRY

Repeat: Clayton Keller: played up 16 games as a U17

Teammates for a handful of games:

TOMMY NOVAK: 2 games for 2013-2014 U17 team

JAKE OETTINGER: 3 games for 2014-2015 U18 Team, and was part of the team but did not PLAY in the 2015 U18 World Championship

MAX JONES: 2 games for 2014-2015 U18 TeamRYAN DONATO played 4 games for 2014-2015 U18 Team and is now part of the extended Tkachuk family due to Emma, Brady’s wife, being his cousin.

NTDP Overlaps

2013-2014 U18s:

JACK EICHEL

ALEX TUCH

DYLAN LARKIN

2014-2015 U17s:

JOEY ANDERSON

ADAM FOX

RYAN LINDGREN

KAILER YAMAMOTO

repeats: Max Jones, Clayton Keller, Joseph Woll, Trent Frederic, Jake Oettinger

2015-2016 LONDON KNIGHTS

ROBERT THOMAS is practically a third Tkachuk brother at this point. But before Robbie lived with the Tkachuks, his own parents opened their home to Matthew while he trained at Gary Roberts’ the summer of his draft. Then when Robbie’s rookie season came along, it was Matthew who then suggested Robbie live with his parents too.

MITCH MARNER

EVAN BOUCHARD

VICTOR METE

Repeats: Max Jones, Christian Dvorak

2016 WORLD JUNIORS (bronze medal team)

NICK SCHMALTZ

BRANDON CARLO

BROCK BOESER

WILL BORGEN

ALEX DEBRINCAT

ANDERS BJORK

ALEX NEDELJKOVIC

SONNY MILANO

Repeats: Auston Matthews, Zach Werenski, Christian Dvorak, Colin White, Ryan Donato, Charlie McAvoy

HONORABLE MENTIONS

None of the Hughes brothers played with or overlapped with Matthew in the NTDP, but the two families are friends, and as far as I can tell, first met in 2010 when Quinn played on Brady’s Junior Bruins tournament team.

QUINN HUGHES is Brady’s best friend from billeting with him and Keith while in the NTDP and is on this list because Jack called Brady and Matthew QUINN’S BOYS, their families are friends and met at the latest, in 2010 when Quinn played on Brady's Junior Bruins tournament team. On top of that, Quinn he once included Matthew in his answer about watching Chris Tanev play after he got traded to the Flames for no reason at all other than to say he likes to watch him play too.

And last, but certainly not least, is CONNOR MCDAVID.

Matthew spent multiple summers, including the summer before his rookie season, training with Connor at Gary Roberts’ and the two of them are what I like to call STAR CROSSED TEAMMATES. Not only does Matthew swear the Oilers almost drafted him—and there’s certainly enough reports and predictions from before his draft to back up that being the plan—but Connor could’ve been a 1997 Junior Bruin if Brain McDavid wasn’t out to get me.

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen Talk Finding Their ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ on Broadway: ‘It’s a Really Charming, Kind Little World’

It’s best to let Darren Criss describe the simply complex story of Maybe Happy Ending, the new musical he co-stars in with Broadway newcomer Helen J. Shen. “There’s what the story is and then there’s what the show is about,” the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning singer/actor/songwriter tells Billboard in an interview you can watch above.

“Those aren’t necessarily the same things,” he notes about the musical love story from Will Aronson and Hue Park, in which the former Glee star and Shen appear as obsolete Helperbot robots who meet cute and fall in love. “Thematically, it’s about two elderly people in hospice who decide to break out of the situation to go connect with their family,” says Criss about what sounds like a potentially dark theme.

And while that “grim, depressing construct for a show” doesn’t sound like the stuff of uplifting Broadway magic, Criss promises that the musical’s creators have somehow morphed that idea about the chilly march of time and hard lessons about love and life into a “really charming, kind little world” filled with Helper robots who are living embodiments of our iPhones and other digital assistants.

Because many of us imbue our inanimate digital devices with human-like qualities, sometimes holding on to them well past their best-by use date, Criss says the musical asks what happens when those objects become more like us?

Shen makes her Broadway debut in the play alongside theater/TV/movie veteran Criss, 37, after turning heads last year in the ensemble of the Off Broadway musical Teeth. She says one of the most exciting parts of performing in the show is the chance to take the lead in a completely new piece of theater not based on any existing intellectual property or a reboot/revival, but something that theatergoers have never seen before.

“It’s super overwhelming. The idea of it has been something that I’ve dreamed about my whole life,” says Shen, 24 of originating a character on Broadway. “And to have it come to fruition with this particular story, with this particular group of people I just feel… abundance. I feel so lucky and grateful.”

Both say they feel really blessed to be part of the show, with Criss noting that he has typically starred in “iconic” roles in his previous Broadway runs, including as Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical, J. Pierrpont Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, among others. “These are things people know and love,” he says of those classics.

“[Which] were great, with or without me. I now go in there trying to do my own thing and make it my own and there’s the excitement of the challenge, but also the pressure of living up to a certain thing and wanting to do your own thing,” he adds about trying to find something of yourself in a well-known role people may have seen many other times with other performers. “Whereas this, it’s an open canvas, not only for us, but for the audience. They don’t have any preconceived notions. That’s the best thing about this.”

Because it is a new experience, audiences don’t know what to expect, which both actors say makes attendees really listen and sit up in their seats to take in all the nuance of the show that also heralds the Broadway debuts for creators Aronson and Park; it began its life on stage in Seoul, South Korea in 2016 and was later produced in Japan and China as well.

Maybe Happy Ending, directed by Michael Arden (Parade), is open now at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway.

[nowtoboldlygo]

twenty books in spanish, tbr

for when i'm fluent!! most with translations in english.

Sistema Nervoso, Lina Meruane (2021) - Latin American literature professor from Chile, contemporary litfic

Ansibles, perfiladores y otras máquinas de ingenio, Andrea Chapela (2020) - short story collection from a Mexican scifi author, likened to Black Mirror

Nuestra parte de noche, Mariana Enríquez (2019) - very long literary horror novel by incredibly famous Argentine journalist 

Canto yo y la montaña baila, Irene Solà (2019) - translated into Spanish from Castilian by Concha Cardeñoso, contemporary litfic

Las malas, Camila Sosa Villada (2019) - very well rated memoir/autofiction from a trans Argentine author

Humo, Gabriela Alemán (2017) - short litfic set in Paraguay, by Ecuadoran author

La dimensión desconocida, Nona Fernández (2016) - really anything by this Chilean actress/writer; this one is a Pinochet-era historical fiction & v short

Distancia de rescate, Samanta Schweblin (2014) - super short litfic by an Argentinian author based in Germany, loved Fever Dream in English

La ridícula idea de no volver a verte, Rosa Montero (2013) - nonfiction; Spanish author discusses scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie and through Curie, her own life

Lágrimas en la lluvia, Rosa Montero (2011) - sff trilogy by a Spanish journalist

Los peligros de fumar en la cama, Mariana Enríquez (2009) - short story collection, author noted above

Delirio, Laura Restrepo (2004) - most popular book (maybe) by an award-winning Colombian author; literary fiction

Todos los amores, Carmen Boullosa (1998) - poetry! very popular Mexican author, really open to anything on the backlist this is just inexpensive used online

Olvidado rey Gudú, Ana María Matute (1997) - cult classic, medieval fantasy-ish, award-winning Spanish author

Como agua para chocolate, Laura Esquivel (1989) - v famous novel by v famous Mexican author

Ekomo, María Nsué Angüe (1985) - super short litfic about woman's family, post-colonial Equatoguinean novel; out of print

La casa de los espíritus, Isabelle Allende (1982) - or really anything by her, Chilean author known for magical realism; read in English & didn't particularly love but would be willing to give it another try

Nada, Carmen Laforet (1945) - Spanish author who wrote after the Spanish civil war, v famous novel

Los pazos de Ulloa, Emilia Pardo Bazán (1886) - book one in a family drama literary fiction duology by a famous Galician author, pretty dense compared to the above

La Respuesta, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1691) -  i actually have a bilingual poetry collection from our favorite 17th century feminist Mexican nun; this is an essay defending the right of women to be engaged in intellectual work (& it includes some poems)

bookmarked websites:

Separata Árabe, linked by Arablit

reading challenge Un viaje por la literatura en español

[doamarierose-honoka]

Ten years ago, musician Usman Riaz grabbed a pencil and started to sketch.

He might have hoped, but didn't know at the time, that it would start him on a path to making history.

That initial drawing became The Glassworker - Pakistan's first ever hand-drawn animated feature film.

It follows the story of young Vincent and his father Tomas, who run a glass workshop, and a war that threatens to upend their lives.

Vincent's relationship with violinist Alliz, the daughter of a military colonel, begins to test the bond between father and son.

Usman tells BBC Asian Network the characters ultimately come to learn "that life is beautiful but fragile, like glass”.

He describes The Glassworker as an "anti-war film" set in an ambiguous and fantastical world that takes inspiration from his home country.

“I wanted to tackle issues and themes that would have been difficult to tackle if it was based in Pakistan," he says.

The country doesn't have the thriving film industry of neighbouring India and there is no government support or incentive for budding creatives like Usman.

So The Glassworker was a passion project, he says.

“These 10 years for me have just been purely driven with passion and obsession.

“Since I was a child, I have loved hand-drawn animation and there's something so magical about it.

"The beauty of the lines drawn and painted by the human hand always resonated with me.”

Usman says he travelled the world looking for mentors and his search took him to Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.

The influence of the Oscar-winning artists behind classics such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke can be seen in The Glassworker's own style.

Usman says the industry veterans at Ghibli were also the ones who encouraged him to start the production himself.

After raising $116,000 through a 2016 crowdfunding campaign he founded his own studio, Mano Animations.

From there it's been a painstaking process, especially since full production started in 2019.

“What you are watching is essentially a moving painting,” says Usman.

“Every single frame you see, whether it's a background or the character moving, it's all drawn by hand.”

Usman says that, so far, he hasn't made any money from the project and has been unable to pay his wife Maryam and cousin Khizer, who he recruited to help him.

But there's hope that the labour of love could be the start of something bigger.

Usman Riaz says he's always been a fan of animation

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is another experienced industry figure Usman turned to for advice about getting The Glassworker off the ground.

She directed 3 Bahadur, a computer-generated tale that was Pakistan's first-ever animated feature film.

On its 2015 release it broke box office records, even surpassing US imports and dethroning previous record-holder Rio 2.

Her studio was also the country's first female-led animation studio, and she understands the challenges of getting started better than most.

“Everything in Pakistan is driven by passion” she says. “I had to run pillar to post.

“We're a country that has limited access to electricity and our industry is heavily taxed.

"We're unable to import computers and hardware needed for animation.”

But Sharmeen – who is going to direct upcoming Star Wars film New Jedi Order – says The Glassworker could be a “monumental step” for Pakistan’s animation scene.

If it finds commercial success, she believes it will “ignite” something in the country, but there are barriers to home-grown animation becoming a red-hot trend.

The Glassworker is partly about the romance between characters Vincent and Alliz

Arafat Mazhar from Lahore-based Puffball animation agrees that “the technical skills are already there” in Pakistan despite there being “no formal training or schools available”.

But “how do you not censor yourself?” he asks.

It's a question facing any Pakistani filmmaker who has to deal with its strict board of film censors.

“Every time there's a good film that comes out that's sincere, the state ends up censoring it,” says Arafat.

He doesn't believe the rules are likely to relax soon.

Akira Toriyama: Fans reflect on Dragon Ball creator's legacy

Stranger Things season five teaser excites fans

Is Hollywood finally doing anime right?

Sharmeen agrees the government will only encourage the domestic film industry to grow if they work to "provide opportunity to create a level playing field for us to compete with the rest of the world".

“There is a lot of scope in Pakistan for animation," she says. "We've just never been given the opportunity to create it."

She shares Arafat's pessimism about the pace of change.

"Unfortunately, it will just be a few filmmakers who have that passion, who will continue to create films," she says.

But Sharmeen says she is eager to see how the world embraces The Glassworker.

"I know that there is so much in there that will touch people's hearts," she says.

Usman says The Glassworker has an anti-war message

Usman will finally get to find out how audiences react to the work he's spent 10 years pouring his energy into as The Glassworker goes on general release.

He says he hopes to “put Pakistan on the map” and show it can stand up to the giants across the border in Bollywood.

But he admits the process has been “gruelling”.

“It is extremely difficult, but we've done something nobody has ever done in the country before," he says.

"I think we've created something special that can stand toe-to-toe with the rest of the animation produced in the world.”

Listen to Ankur Desai's show on BBC Asian Network live from 15:00-18:00 Monday to Thursday - or listen back here.

[poorlittlegreenie13]

Five films about Black queer & trans culture to watch this pride month—

1. Paris is Burning (1990)

Classic documentary that depicts the Black & Hispanic drag-ball culture that used to exist in New York City. It also traces the roots of many phenomenons now considered mainstream like voguing & throwing shade back to the Black queer communities that they originate from. The subjects are so likable and it’s also so visually beautiful.

2. Shakedown (2018)

Another fantastic documentary that depicts lesbian sex work culture, specifically a series of lesbian strip clubs that existed in LA. This challenges the mainstream media’s sanitation of lesbian sexuality very well and respectfully shows the lives of the sex workers it studies.

3. Tangerine (2015)

Loses points for being directed by a straight white man, but this is a beautiful story of friendship between two black trans sex workers through the Christmas Eve they spend together one year. It’s really hilarious. The two leads make the film with their comedic timing & it’s just really great.

4. The Watermelon Woman (1996)

One of my Letterboxd top four for a reason! This is perhaps the best exploration of archival erasure of queer culture ever to be made. It follows a young Black lesbian filmmaker as she obsesses over & researches an old Hollywood Black film star who was only credited as “The Watermelon Woman.” Alongside the research plot, there’s also a romance & it’s just such a cute & beautiful film about finding your culture.

5. Moonlight (2016)

This list wouldn’t be complete without Moonlight. It’s a heartbreakingly beautiful portrait of a young boy finding himself & coming of age. It perfectly captures the loneliness of realizing you’re queer at a young age & having to hold it in all the time. The ending of this movie is so perfect & such a gut-punch in the best way—I sobbed. Watch it!

[autolenaphilia]

"Furthermore, where guitar rock was dependably masculine, synthpop’s presentation of gender was distinctly hazier. Reynolds argues that within American indie scenes, the predominantly English synthpop surge was associated with queerness – detractors scorned the genre as mere “art-fag” music, and an indignant response to the Trouser Press article characterized its performers as “elitist closet queens.” The genre displayed unabashed sensuality, sometimes through instrumentation alone – for instance, “Don’t You Want Me” and Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” both feature chilled, slinky riffs that suggest the push and pull of selfish desire. But these themes could be made lyrically explicit as well. Depeche Mode’s “Master and Servant” declares, “Domination's the name of the game / in bed or in life / They're both just the same” over wonderfully unsubtle whip-and-chain sound effects, while Soft Cell’s campy “Sex Dwarf” goes even farther with its yearning for “you / on a long black leash” and moan-laced titular refrain.

Artists also challenged the era’s sexual orthodoxy through their public images – ranging from Martin Gore sporting skirts and leather bondage gear to Marc Almond and Phil Oakey’s penchant for eyeliner and lipstick and Dead or Alive’s Pete Burns’ chameleonic, surgically augmented appearance. Androgyny was a common motif for female artists as well, evident in Annie Lennox’s signature suits and the strikingly Amazonian airs of Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley. Alongside the synthesizer’s ability to evoke space-age sonic precision, these aesthetics suggested a utopian future – specifically, one where gender performance could be a free and unconditional choice.

While more chauvinistic purists could cite these representations as further proof that synthpop was somehow unnatural, the “gender-bending” nature of the genre encouraged female and/or LGBTQ audiences who felt alienated from the machismo of mainstream rock culture. It seems fitting, too, that new wave and synthpop directly stemmed from the contributions of Wendy Carlos – a transgender woman who, in addition to popularizing the Moog synthesizer with the revolutionary classical-electronic 1968 album Switched-On Bach and composing the scores to A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron, was also one of the first public figures to disclose undergoing gender reassignment surgery and later spoke openly about her dysphoria. For all synthpop’s connotations of Reagan-era corporatism and homogeneity, any closer look at the genre would place it firmly on the opposite side of the culture wars."

-Aline Dolinh, 2017

[neoplatinum]

note: this is a small rant with talks of political and social issues you have been warned.

now normally i don't get on this platform to speak on issues that i have opinions on about the political status of the world. nor do i try to make my page a place for discourse about the tragedies that befall all people, no matter race, gender, sexual orientation, background etc etc. only because i wish to provide a sanctuary outside of the tiring realities of everyone's daily life if they need it.

being someone that lives and resides within the united states of america, i think its important to note that recently the country held an inaguration for a two-time impeached, convicted r*pist, and a failed businessman with 6 bankruptcies, as well as NO level of experience working within any body of government prior. whether that be at the local, state or federal level before his presidency in 2016.

i'm reminded that no matter how tiring or exhausted we are as people under this repressing dictatorship (yes i will call it that) its important to please please please stay educated on the socio-political issues that affect you and those around you. read more literature, embrace new stories that challenge your world view. keep going and keep trying.

read the classics like george orwell's 1984 or animal farm, read fahrenheit 451. read up on facism, oligarchies, plutocracies, studies on capitalism, class consciousness, intersectionality, gender studies. form better opinions, keep the conversation going with your peers on how you see the world and most of all also take care of yourself.

im not here to incite fear or violence, im here to tell you that it takes very little effort to fall into views that are served to you on a plate, the more you challenge the ideas and opinions you hold, the less susceptible you are to fall to propoganda. take the time to analzye the media that is fed to you, do your research. there's a reason why the ability of critical thinking is so emphasized in education, its a broader skill that can be applied anywhere.

finally, a silver lining is that history has its rhythms and even in the darker times, the oppressed never lose their spirit and i hope you don't too. during some of the hardest times is when the work needs to be put in to show that there is a light and a road ahead past the hurdles that face us. we have seen some of the more hopeful advancements in equality come to light even with hate and oppression existing. keep pushing forward no matter what. stay safe and stay healthy everyone!

[pinkhairblackheadband]

These Kids are Cooler than You: Backstage at the Tranzac

I’m backstage trying to have my Almost Famous moment. My palms are sweaty as I balance two smartphones, I’m flipping to my questions in my notes app as I awkwardly interject to ask questions to a group of kids I don’t know. The band members are laughing with each other, unaware of my eagerness to tell their stories. 

At the border of the West-End and Downtown Toronto lies Tranzac Club, which has been referred to as "Toronto's living room." Tonight, three bands from Etobicoke School of the Arts, Her Machine, School the Band and Bebe and Oona, came to perform. 

The backstage is crammed full of teenagers. The room fits five but more than fifteen are there. The vintage outfits, shaggy haircuts and Converse shoes are giveaways that these kids go to an arts school. 

The majority of the band members have been playing since they could walk. Simon, the guitarist from Her Machine, says sarcastically that “I’ve been playing the tambourine for ten years.” He then adds, trying not to laugh, that he’s also played guitar for the same amount of time. Some of the musicians are classically trained, others self-taught and play for fun. 

Since 2016, School the Band has faced many obstacles. Scheduling challenges arose to create their latest EP, “Dioxide,” and the production process was expensive. Their families chipped in. 

Many of the musicians plan on attending university, unsure if music will be their career path. Beatrix, from Bebe and Oona, said “I wouldn’t want to feel the pressure of having to make a living based on my music. I think that’s why the idea of being a professional musician scares me.” For tonight, that does not matter. 

A couple months later, I reviewed the footage from their performances, attempting to write about the night. The bands are playing at eleven. The camera pans out to kids in chains and platform shoes jumping and shaking their heads. The camera pans out further to the corner of the venue, parents smiling while recording, promising each other to send their videos.

[theanticool]

Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha 2 | TUF 23 Finale, 2016

For my money, the best women's UFC title fight in history. For women's history month, let us look back at the 2016 rematch between champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and challenger Claudia Gadelha. Strange to think there are "hardcore" fans today who haven't seen this fight (which is almost a decade old?!).

The UFC strawweight division was introduced in 2014 with a season of TUF deciding the inaugural champion after the UFC bought the red hot Invicta FC strawweight division. But, for those paying close attention, it seem pretty certain that the actual best strawweights might not be on the show.

Strawweights Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha got signed separately and were competing in the UFC as TUF was playing out. Joanna Jedrzejczyk was a former kickboxer who had made waves in Europe, beating up WMMA legend Rosi Sexton. Gadelha was a hard nosed wrestle-grappler coming out of the esteemed Nova Uniao camp in Brazil. The first time these two met was in 2014, in a #1 contenders bout to decide who would take on the recently crowned Carla Esparza for the title first. Jedrzejczyk would controversially win out as she managed to score a huge knockdown that swung the fight to her favor (though many believed Gadelha was robbed). Like I said, it was heavily believed that the winner of that fight was the actual best 115lber on the planet and JJ proved it by destroying Esparza with relative ease. Once she won the belt, it was only a matter of time before these two clashed again.

And so, in 2016 the two met again. This time for 5 rounds. And it was an instant classic and was on the shortlist for best fight of 2016.

[jacqueline-p-rose]

In this year I finally ditched Spotify for good in favour of rebuilding my music library offline and, since May, I have been collecting again the music that was lost to time in the great iPod crash of 2016. 98% of the music I listen to now are mp3s on my phone (using the Poweramp app), and most of those songs are ripped from CDs bought cheaply and secondhandly from eBay. I feel that I listen to music differently from the yoothes in that I put on an entire album and listen to it through, so in light of the recent flight from Spotify in hand with my unsuppressed FOMO, I've decided to give you my top ten albums of 2024. So hear, my Not-ify Wrapped 2024!

1 - Antemasque - Antemasque

This is the real reason it's a list of top ten albums and not top ten songs, because the top 12 most played songs on my list are the 12 songs on this album. It's great, not only my favourite album of (2014) 2024, but one of my favourite of all time. I wrote a little more about why here if you're feeling read-y.

2 - London Grammar - If You Wait

A classic of a specifically difficult time in my life, brought back into another increasingly difficult time of my life. "Interlude" specifically gets to me and makes me cry, and you KNOW how I love to cry!

3 - Soundgarden - Superunknown

When I first heard Soundgarden as a pre-teen I remember thinking it was a bit too heavy for me, like... Too metal. It's taken being in my 30s to finally appreciate this bad boy. I don't know what I was thinking back then, maybe I was as soft as un-moulded jelly, but it's now one of my favourite albums of all time.

4 - Le Butcherettes - Sin Sin Sin

A prize for accepting the challenge of trying new things. I love how perfectly this slots in alongside The Dead Weather, while being far more interesting. Beautiful, beautiful, wonderful thing to come into my life.

5 - Boys Next Door - Door Door

Nick Cave was a better father to me than my real father. This album (along with Henry's Dream with the Black Seeds) I have plucked from the nostalgia of dads cigarette-ridden Pajero and claimed as my own. I hope my children have a more positive memory of it in future.

6 - Made Out Of Babies - The Ruiner

Made Out Of Babies is my answer if someone were to ask me what my favourite band is, so it's a little surprising to me to see it so low down on the list, although it's really an even match for play count with most of the other stuff on this list. The Ruiner and Trophy are a fantastic extrapolation of 90's grunge into the new millennia. Coward I don't like so much, maybe I'll appreciate it the same one day, but it is not today.

7 - Warpaint - Warpaint/Exquisite Corpse/The Fool

Really it's only Warpaint that is this high on the list, but I'm including the other two because I often play them all in a row. These are very new purchases to be on the list at all, but my partner likes it so I can get away with playing it during the day. Drone-pop my beloved.

8 - Spectacular Spectacular - Blur

This album is always left off those lists of trans musicians that get shared about tumblr, which is a shame. It's not screamy punk or noisy synth so maybe it gets overlooked amongst the GLOSS and HERS and Against Me! types, but there are other trans experiences and expressions, and this is one. Beautiful and heartfelt, a must listen when I'm sad about boys (which is often).

9 - Audioslave - Audioslave

Though often thought of by the cool kids as less than the sum of its parts, I really dig Audioslave. Just because it plays on the radio doesn't mean you can't enjoy it too, loose your grip on ego and enjoy yourself, I know I am.

10 - Portishead - Portishead/Dummy

Some guy I used to work with put on Portishead one day and was crestfallen when I said "I used to cry to this as a lovesick teenager." He clearly thought he had found something super obscure and was proud of himself for showing it off. Serves him right for playing "Sour Times" the day after I broke up with my girlfriend.

Honourary mention - Adam And The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

The reason I say 98% of my music is offline is because I listen to Adam Ant a lot on Youtube. This album seems impossible to find as a CD for some reason, even though it was reissued in 2004. It's on Spotify, but I've been struggling to find a copy of it off the streams, so while it's not in my top 10 from Poweramp, it is top 10 in my heart.

So there you have it, my top 10 albums of 2024. There are at least another five albums I would have thought would be on this list and aren't, but I guess the stats don't lie. In an era where Spotify doesn't pay artists unless they get over 1000 listens, and even then their cut is split with the giants till it's almost nothing, I think there's no better time to cut the umbilical to constant access and be more intentional about the music we listen to and the artists we support. I buy digital albums from Bandcamp when I can, but even when I'm buying old CDs at least I'm actually getting something for my $15 a month. The wait for them to arrive in the mail and the space they take up means that I have to be very deliberate about what music I enjoy and will actively choose to listen to, and that makes me enjoy them more. Sitting with the album cover reading through the booklet as it rips onto my hard drive and plays in the background is very grounding, in a way it gives me confidence in other life decisions, it's small practice in making choices and expressing intention, and being rewarded for it. I highly recommend you to try this too, and maybe next year your wrapped will be music you have had a connection with and felt something about, and not just a bunch of songs you listened to without thinking.