#2017/04/30

[thestrangepoet]

The Ninth Life | The Magnus Archives One Shot

Based on @ultramarinaa's Cat!Martin AU, and not upon @coworkerjonathan's soul-destroying tragic version of it. If you want that version, it's here.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Buttocks-clenchingly sweet fluff. 

DISCLAIMER: I, once again, wrote this in an hour and haven't proofread it. Forgive the typos and any “first draft” vibes. 

UPDATE: 30/04/25: Now available on AO3!

──── •✧• ────

[CLICK] 

Oop, yup, it’s on! Right, erm…This is Martin Blackwood, Archival Assistant at the Magnus Institute. I thought it would be a good idea to—

[A VERY LOUD, VERY RASPY HISSING CUTS MARTIN OFF]

[A LONG, WEIGHTY PAUSE FOLLOWS; SOMEONE IS BEING GLARED AT]

What? I-I mean, given the absolute palaver we just went through, shouldn’t we record what happened and how we fixed it? 

[SILENCE FOLLOWS. BUT MARTIN EVIDENTLY GETS HIS ANSWER]

Exactly! Right, so…ah-hem. This is Martin Bla—

[ONCE AGAIN, A LOUD HISS]

What? What is wrong with—No, Jon, you’re going to hit the—!

[CLICK]

[CLICK]

[MARTIN RUFFLES SOME PAPERS, THEN EXHALES LOUDLY THROUGH HIS NOSE. WHEN HE SPEAKS THIS TIME, IT’S SOMEWHAT TAUT]

Statement of Martin Blackwood, Archival Assistant at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding an encounter with a feline-based Leitner book called The Ninth Life. Recorded by subject, October 17th, 2017.

Happy now? 

[LOUD PURRING NEAR THE TAPE RECORDER SIGNIFIES THAT MARTIN HAS INDEED DONE A PASSABLE JOB]

Good, good. Right, oop! Yeah, okay, you can…sit on my lap while I record this. That’s not…that’s not weird at all. Knowing you’re…you’re Jon. 

…You could at least sit like a cat, Jon. No, no, no, don’t get the claws out, it’s fine! Sit how you want! Heh…K-keeping an eye on me, hmm? While I record? Oh, r-right, yeah, ‘Get on with it, Martin’, noted!

So…about ten weeks ago, I came across a book while tidying through some of the old statement boxes. I’m not sure why it wasn’t in the library or in Artefact Storage, but I suppose that’s a mystery for another time. A-anyway, I had a flick through to try to figure out what it was. Could have just been a normal book, you know? E-especially since it wasn’t put away properly, I mean, really, that’s a health and safety risk that wasn’t my fault, and—Ow! Claws! 

R-right, ‘Stay on the subject, Martin’, loud and clear…

Where was I? O-oh, right. So I took it through to the break room, sat down with it, flicked through, read a few…err, well, ten pages to be precise, and basically, it was written like an old fairy tale. Something about a man who turned into a cat to get away from everyone and…W-well, what I’m trying to say is that it didn’t seem like a Leitner! 

I’d probably have finished reading the whole thing, but the microwave dinging made me jump and look up. No one usually uses the microwave outside of lunch hours, but Jon actually makes cups of tea by microwaving mugs of water and then—Ah-ah-ow! N-no, I’m not getting claw-bullied into not telling people the heinous way you make tea, Jon! 

Right, right, fine! Yes, so, microwave dings, I look up from the book, and…I drop the book. And I drop to the floor, a-and the book’s suddenly huge, and there’s Jon, and he’s looking at me, and…

…and I was a cat. I-I-I guess Jon hadn’t noticed me in the break room before putting his mug in the microwave, because he didn’t realise I was me. Next thing I know, I’m being picked up, held over his shoulder, petted and cooed at and—Owwww, claws, claws! Right, okay, no, no one can know Jonathan Sims has a heart, right you are! 

E-erm, so…Yeah. Panicked a bit. I-I tried to make it obvious to the others that it was me, but they just didn’t cotton on. And I couldn’t read the book to figure out if the ending would tell me how to turn back. O-or if I even would turn back. Honestly, in any other situation, I-I might have been really terrified, but it’s hard to keep worrying when people are suddenly stroking you and giving you all this affection. Heh, Jon even named me Champion. 

But, right, I-I really needed to turn back into a human. You know, as lovely as it was to be liked by everyone, I figured, well, it’s deeply unprofessional to turn into a cat at work, isn’t it? And I really didn’t want to be written up for unauthorised absences when I was technically in the room? 

It took a while – I don’t know who moved it, but the book had gone when I managed to slink back into the break room, had to wait for someone to open the door for me, you see – but I eventually found The Ninth Life again. 

It took ages to drag it over to Jon’s desk. And even longer for him to stop laughing and telling me what dedicated little chap I was. He picked up the book though, and I got so excited that someone would finally realise a Leitner was in play that I jumped up onto his desk and…

…and I…erm…I knocked his cup of tea over the book. 

I could feel my heart sinking. What if I’d ruined it? What if the answer was all smudged up? Jon could tell I was upset, and he started trying to pet me and calm me down, mopping up the tea and everything. Took a while before he got back to the book, and, well…the bookplate had been smeared by the spilt tea, I guess, because he didn’t see any mention of Leitner at the front. He started reading the book, and I tried to nudge him to read the back pages first, to get to the answer before the book could turn him into a cat, but he, erm…well, he read it. Five pages, we think. 

And there he was. 

One minute, Jon’s at his desk, the next, there’s a little black cat with too many scars sitting in his chair. 

Well, after he’d stopped hissing, running around the room – Tim thought he had zoomies, ha ha! – and bapping me on the head every time I got close, he realised who I was. 

And then, he bapped me on the head again. 

So. We were both cats! And it’s so funny, because in the office, Tim and Sasha and me, we all say how Jon gives off major black-cat energy? He’s like this poor wet cat in human form, and now that he was a cat, and it turned out, he is…w-well, he’s not very good at being a cat? 

[A LOUD HISS – EVIDENTLY, MARTIN HAS FORGOTTEN JON IS SITTING THERE]

Don’t hiss at me! You know it’s true. I mean, look, you’re literally sitting in my lap now like a human. Cats don’t do that, Jon! It looks weird! 

R-right, okay, let’s, erm, get on with the story – ah, statement, statement! – before I get scratched again. 

S-so, right, Jon wasn’t really getting the hang of being a cat. He kept clambering up onto desks to type on keyboards, trying to tell Tim what was happening. He wouldn’t even jump up onto the desks, he would literally shimmy up the leg like he was climbing a tree. And, yeah, he doesn’t sit in your lap like a cat, all curled up, no no, he sits…like a person sits. So I figured actually, this was pretty good, someone had to realise something was up with this cat that just wasn’t catting. 

But no. No, no, Tim just laughed and named Jon Skrunkly and got on with his day. 

[A LONG, LOW MIAOW OF CONTEMPT IN THE BACKGROUND]

Nooo! You’re not skrunkly at all, Jon! You’re a very handsome little kitty!

[A HISS]

Right, right! Back to work! Erm, yeah, so, there I am, trying to teach Skr–err, Jon how to act more like a cat. Not because it would help get us back to normal, but because I was worried? He kept falling off stuff, not landing on his feet…jumping and missing things…He was having a really hard time, and I figured if we were stuck like this indefinitely, it might help to, you know…teach him a bit? 

And then, one day, he just…vanished. I wandered in one morning from the canteen, ‘cause Sasha had snuck me a plate of milk, and I couldn’t find Jon anywhere. Tim realised pretty quickly that something was up, that I wouldn’t settle down, and then he noticed Skrun–err, Jon, was missing. 

It took days for me to sniff him out. Which is…a really weird thing to say out loud. On record. Erm. I sniffed my boss out. But it’s insane, as a cat, the difference in senses, a-and to be honest, my eyesight was dreadful because I obviously couldn’t wear my glasses. A-anyway, sniffed him out, and realised he had somehow fallen into the tunnels through the trapdoor? Which is weird as well, ‘cause the trapdoor is always closed. No one would have opened it? 

[ANOTHER LOW MIAOW, BUT THIS ONE SOUNDS STRANGELY LIKE SKRUNKLY IS TRYING TO SPEAK – IT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE HE’S SAYING ‘SASHA!’]

I know, Jon, you’ll tell us when you, erm, get back. 

So, now I knew where he was, I went into full hyperkitty mode. I was zooming around, miaowing, pawing, jumping on Tim, jumping at Tim, launching myself off bookshelves, you name it! Somehow, I managed to get the message across, and Tim went to open the trapdoor. 

I…I hate going into the tunnels. I really, really hate it. But Jon was down there, and as far as we knew, he’d been down there with no food and water for days! So, down I jumped, with Tim clambering after me telling me to slow down. I kept sniffing, and it was actually pretty easy to find him after that! 

There he was, curled up and shaking near a wall, and I ran towards him, miaowing my head off so he knew we were coming to the rescue, and…

And I…changed back. Right there. Just pop! There I was. 

Tim, erm…Tim screamed. Jon hissed and nearly ran away. It was chaos, and…I’m actually surprised all three of us made it out. Especially with Jon going wild on Tim and clawing him every time he tried to pick him up. What was that about, anyway, we were helping you!

[ANOTHER GRUMBLING MIAOW – DID SKRUNKLY SEE SOMETHING IN THE TUNNELS? OR SOMEONE? WAS HE TRYING TO TELL THEM?]

We got back up to the office, Jon in tow, and now that I could speak, Tim, Sasha and I managed to hash out a theory. 

Basically, we figure that there are a lot of Leitner books that kind of do different things depending on how much you read of them. S-so we have one on record, A Disappearance, if you read one line, you disappear for a bit. But, if you read the whole book, you disappear from the world for good. 

I read ten pages of The Ninth Life, and I was a cat for ten weeks. Checks out! So we reckon Jon read about five pages, and it’s been three weeks, so…two weeks of Skrunkly to go!

Right, think that’s it. Yeah! So, erm, if you’re looking for a cure for The Ninth Life, just enjoy your time as a kitty and wait it out! U-unless you read the whole book, in which case, erm…I-I really hope you enjoy your life as a cat. 

End recor–Ow! What did I miss off this time? 

[SEVERAL LIGHT THUDS SOUND]

Why are you pawing the book, Jon? I…oh. Right. 

Erm…I think Jon wants it on record that, erm…the book is eleven pages long. And…and I read ten pages. 

[THUD-THUD-THUD!]

Yes, yes, all right, you microwaving your tea saved me from an eternity as a cat! That does not mean I am going to let you continue to ruin perfectly good cups of tea like that!

[A LOUD MIAOW OF PROTEST. MARTIN SIGHS]

Recording ends. 

[CLICK]

[melonramune]

2017-04-30

[thealieninhiding]

The Katie McGrath Archives (WIP)

A repository of my ongoing digital archeology & archival work please contact me if you have anything to contribute and buy me a coffee if you value my content

Updates

(last updated 2025-01-14)

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Scans:

2008-10 InStyle (LQ)

2009 DRAMA Magazine (LQ)

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2010-10 Tatler

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(Un)likeminded 2x02 How to Survive The Apocalypse

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2017 Katie McGrath interview [CW|KMcGsource]

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Audio:

Interview - 2009-07-17 Katie McGrath Mr Media interview

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Events - 2009 TV Choice Awards Digital Spy interview

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Archived interviews

2008-12-07 Tribune Magazine - What Katie Did

2011-10-14 What's on TV - Merlin's Katie McGrath- 'Bad girls have more fun!'

2012-12-03 Fanhattan Blog - Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath and Bradley James on Season 5 and The Series Finale

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Audio

HHush samples

Interview - 2009-2011 Sci-fi Talk rewind merlin the series specials episode 1

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Magazine scans

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2013-04-06 Irish independent

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Video:

Fans - 2012-04-16 Merlin4 [carlospyrrhus]

Fans - 2017-08-30 Supergirl cast together on set [Joyce Law]

Interview - 2009-09-?? Merlin S2 audio interview with Katie McGrath [BJsRealm] part 1

Interview - 2010-09-06 Merlin Series 3 - BBC Radio 1xtra Interview with Angel Coulby & Katie McGrath [BJsrealm]

Interview - 2011-10-14 Merlin S4 Colin Morgan, Eoin Macken Katie McGrath on The Late Late Show

Interview - 2012-07-15 Colin Morgan and Katie McGrath at SDCC 2012 - innerSPACE [merlinnetwork2]

Interview - 2012-07-18 Katie McGrath Talks Merlin At Comic Con 2012 [ThinkHeroTV]

Interview - 2012-10-25 BBC Radio 1 Breakfast - Colin & Katie part 1 & part 2 [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Merlin S5 Katie McGrath interview international press day [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Colin, Bradley, Katie phone interview [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2013-11-09 Katie McGrath on BBC One Saturday Kitchen [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2019-07-22 ENTREVISTA SUPERGIRL Elenco fala sobre a nova temporada [Warner Channel Brasil]

Interview - 2019-07-23 Melissa Benoist Teases Directing An Episode Of 'Supergirl' [ET Canada]

Interview - 2020-02-21 ‘Supergirl’ Celebrates 100th Episode [ET Canada]

Panels - 2011-07-28 Merlin Comic Con 2011 Panel [ThinkHeroTV]

[russanogreenstripe]

So many good moments in Ep 5 of Burrow's End, but this is the one that sets my mind buzzing the most. The idea that community predates identity. We know mama, dada, and baba before we know not only their names, but our own names. And in the season all about family, community, in-group versus outgroup? This feels like such an important idea, and it was came up likely on the spot. It's fascinating to think about, and touches on such big themes about Burrow's End in general.

My mind keeps trying to read "name" as "self," and come up with something like "we have to know others before we know who we are," but I think there's a fundamental error in that idea. Neurologically, we just start off with just "Me" - one of our basic senses is what is "Me" and what is "Not Me." That's fundamental to further categorization, and faults in that sense is where things like depersonalization / derealization come from. Names are just labels, and they're not even the first labels we have for them.

This ties into another point that a lot of people had when watching the trailer at the end of Ep. 4 and during the live reaction of Ep. 5 - the idea that because Sybil was so reluctant to say her brother's name after he died, that it was the result of some top-down oppression within Last Bast and further proof that it's not as idyllic as it seems. Now, Last Bast almost certainly isn't a utopia, and I'm sure we're going to learn more about that in the next episode. And it's possible that it is a top-down enforcement that Sybil, having been raised in Last Bast, has internalized. However, there's a chance this isn't the case.

Less than 30 seconds on Google turns up several cultures that have taboos around speaking the names of the dead - Aboriginal mortuary rituals, the Apache of the Southwest US, the Tolowa tribe of California, the Yanomami on the border of Brazil and Venezuela, certain Romani/Irish Traveller groups, and almost certainly more. While it initially seems unfathomable to Western cultural mores around remembering and memorializing the dead, it's just as possible possible that instead of a method of social control, it's simply a cultural taboo.

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/gravematters/2017/04/18/aboriginal-mortuary-rituals/

And as Aabria has commented both during the live discussion and general discord channels,

Aabria's a smart cookie, and I trust that she's done plenty of worldbuilding and put tons of thought into how Last Bast's society works. We've seen she's great at her cultural analysis while in the DM's chair in both Misfits & Magic and in A Court of Fey and Flowers. Culture and society are interwoven in all of her games, and where does all that start? With family.

[theforbiddeneden]

SLEEP TOKEN SPEECHES, INTERLUDES, INTERVIEWS, MAGAZINES, ART & LORE (FANMADE)

LORE OF SLEEP TOKEN (FAN MADE):

THE LORE OF: Sleep Token - Translated ENG TO PTBR

PART I - SUNDOWING SIGILS - SLEEP TOKEN LORE - FAN MADE - ENG TRANSLATED TO PTBR

PART II - SUNDOWING SIGILS - SLEEP TOKEN LORE - FAN MADE - ENG TRANSLATED TO PTBR

INTERVIEWS:

Who and what the hell are Sleep Token? / Qual é a história por trás do Sleep Token?

An Offering From Drumeo | Sleep Token II

HQ:

[HQ] Sleep Token: Teeth of God 2024

MAGAZINES:

2017 - 2019 - SLEEP TOKEN MAGAZINES

2018 - Kerrang Magazine 01/08/2018

2023 - Metal Hammer Magazine December 2023 Enter The World Of Sleep Token - Revista Metal Hammer Dezembro 2023 Entre no mundo do Sleep Token

2023 - 2024 - SLEEP TOKEN - REVOLVER MAGAZINES COVERS (2023 - 2024)

2024 - 2024 Kerrang - Sleep Token: “Our identity is represented through the art itself” - Translated ENG TO PTBR

2024 - Metal Hammer issue 388 May 2024 The 100 Songs that Changed the World

2024 - EDITORIAL SLEEP TOKEN PICTURES FOR MAGAZINES by ANDY FORD

2025 - Metal Hammer Magazine May 2025 - Sleep Token - Translated to ENG to PTBR

INTERLUDES:

NORTH AMERICAN RITUALS TOUR (30/09/2023): INTERLÚDIOS

NORTH AMERICAN RITUALS TOUR (30/09/2023): INTERLÚDIOS -PART I

NORTH AMERICAN RITUALS TOUR (30/09/2023): INTERLÚDIOS -PART II

TEETH OF GOD US TOUR(30/04/2024): INTERLÚDIOS

SPEECHES:

FROM THE ROOM BELOW - LAFAYETTE - SLEEP TOKEN - 29/04/2022

SHORT VIDEOS:

THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR TOMB - PREVIEWS

THE TEETH OF GOD TOUR 2024

Sleep Token - Short Videos - THE TEETH OF GOD TOUR

EUROPEAN TOUR 2024

SHOW FLYERS:

SLEEP TOKEN - FLYERS SHOWS

COINS LIMITED EDITIONS:

SLEEP TOKEN COINS - LIMITED EDITION

MASK EVOLUTION:

SLEEP TOKEN - MASKS

SLEEP TOKEN II, III & IV MASK BY LANI MASK

ARTS:

Take Me Back To Eden I BY LUKE PREECE

Take Me Back To Eden II BY LUKE PREECE

Snake Vessel by Alex Tillbrook

German Teeth of God Tour by Alex Tillbrook

Sleep Token Art by NEMESIS

SLEEP TOKEN T-SHIRT & HOODIES DESIGNS BY MARC HOLT

SLEEP TOKEN T-SHIRT & HOODIES DESIGNS BY CHRIS HARDY

SLEEP TOKEN T-SHIRT & HOODIES DESIGNS BY RACHEL

IMPERICON - SLEEP TOKEN - EUROPEAN TOUR 2024 - EVENT EXCLUSIVE MERCHANDISE

EVEN IN ARCADIA ART BY ALEX TILLBROOK

Even In Arcadia By Marc Holt

Even In Arcadia By Marc Holt II

SLEEP TOKEN STATUE(ACTION FIGURE):

SLEEP TOKEN VESSEL LIMITED EDITION STATUE BY KNUCKLEBONZ

ALBUM COVER & LYRICS:

EVEN IN ARCADIA

TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN

THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR TOMB

SUNDOWNING

TWO

ONE

SINGLES - Hey Ya, Jaws, Is it Really You?

ALL ALBUM COVERS

ALPHABET:

Take Me Back To Eden - Alphabet symbols deciphered

RANDOM:

THE RESEMBLANCE OF TMBTE GOD AND THANATOS THE GOD OF DEATH/A SEMELHANÇA ENTRE O DEUS DE TMBTE E THANATOS O DEUS DA MORTE

Analysis of “Atlantic” by Sleep Token / Análise de “Atlantic” por Sleep Token

[aonokongen]

🎉🍰 04.02 - happy birthday to Makoto!

Makoto Nanaya 1/7 scale figure (december 22, 2017), arc system works/bellfine.

sculpted by Zenko, this pvc figure was originally a resin kit by circle Iousen. here’s a list of events she was available for purchase as a resin kit:

02/19/2017, Wonder Festival 2017 (winter)

05/05/2017, Treasure Festa in Ariake 17

05/06/2017, Hobby Round 17

07/30/2017, Wonder Festival 2017 (summer).

she was later produced by bellfine as pvc, and was available for order on their site 12/22/17 & 03/27/19. additionally, this figure was also on sale at storia cafe’s GGXBB collaboration cafe, which took place 05/04/18-05/31/18 & 06/01/18-06/15/18.

collaboration cafe - https://web.archive.org/web/20190111210953/http://www.gg-bb.com/

and here is makoto in her resin kit form, for those curious

[autumnslance]

LynMars's FFXIV Write 2024 Master Post

We're back again! The list and links for all of my completed prompts for this year's FFXIV Write. Stats and ramblings about writing will go under the Read More cut. Eventually these will be revised in some manner and tossed onto Ao3.

Asterisks again mean there's wolship nonsense happening.

01. Steer - Vignettes of less sociable times over Aeryn's life. 02. Horizon - WoL at the end of Ultima Thule, EW 6.0. 03. Tempest - WoL returns to Amaurot to contemplate, EW 6.4. 04. Reticent - C'oretta & Dark Autumn have a chat. Sort of. 05. Stamp - Aeryn finds a memento while cleaning, post-EW 6.0 06. Halcyon - Tanzel, Emelia, & understanding grief. Backstory. 07. Morsel - Zenos heading to Camp Broken Glass, EW 6.0. 08. Free Day! 09. Lend an Ear - Emperor Varis is very much alone. StB patches. 10. Stable - Hydaelyn as the avatar of Light. Endwalker. 11. Surrogate - Weird West AU. Unexpected new roles for the Strikers. 12. Quarry* - Dominants AU. Thavnair comes to Tural's aid. DT 7.0. 13. Butte - Dark Autumn versus seedkin in Xak Tural. DT 7.0. 14. Telling - WoL reflects on Emet-Selch's expected reaction. EW 6.0. 15. Free Day! 16. Third-Rate - Aeryn's annoyed by the Unbound. DT Role Quests. 17. Sally - Dark pays a final visit to a traitor, post-StB 4.1. 18. Hackneyed* - Aeryn, Thancred, & terrible literature. 19. Taken - A young wood warder tries to save his sibling. Backstory. 20. Duel - Wuk Lamat's challenge does not go as expected. DT 7.0. 21. Shade - WoL ruminates on some of their ghosts. Thru DT 7.0. 22. Free Day! 23. On Cloud Nine - A chocobo & her Warrior of Light. End ShB 5.0. 24. Bar - 2 different adventurers starting out. Legacy & ARR. 25. Perpetuity - Aeryn, Deryk, & questions of faith. EW 24man raid. 26. Zip - C'oretta helping out Hamon at the Coliseum. Technically DT. 27. Memory - In a future, music makes Iyna remember. EW Patches. 28. Deleterious - Aeryn & Shale discuss regulators & history. DT 7.0. 29. (Free) Deleterious 2* - Thancred & self-recrimination. ShB 5.0. 30. Two Heads are Better than One - Gulool Ja Ja muses. DT 7.0.

Previous years: 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Ended up a touch Aeryn-heavy this year, though Generic WoL, various NPCs, the other OCs, forays in the FC's AUs, and some supporting family cast members make appearances. There's even a callback to a previous FFXIV Write entry. Lots of Endwalker and Dawntrail due to recency bias, but it manages to span the spectrum from backstories through various expansions.

I only did 1 Free Day, due to having 2 solid ideas I ended up writing for that prompt. It was right at the end of my annual birthday vacation week, so I was pretty rested (may also be why they're among the longer entries!). Unusually, the rest of that week's works are not any longer than the others.

I'm also still working on some original writing, though, so that did cut into fanfiction time.

Below 500 words: #2 Horizon (347), #3 Tempest (415), #7 Morsel (499), #10 Stable (400), #13 Butte (477), #14 Telling (355), #17 Sally (464), #20 Duel (499), #24 Bar (462).

500 - 1,000 words: #1 Steer (944), #4 Reticent (581), #5 Stamp (588), #11 Surrogate (964), #12 Quarry (844), #16 Third-Rate (564), #18 Hackneyed (577), #19 Taken (915), #21 Shade (764), #23 On Cloud Nine (728), #25 Perpetuity (958), #26 Zip (592), #27 Memory (810), #30 Two Heads are Better than One (500).

Over 1,000 words: #6 Halcyon (2,479), #9 Lend an Ear (1,326), #28 Deleterious (1,099), #29 Deleterious 2 (1,231).

Shortest: #2 Horizon Longest: #6 Halcyon

Total: 20,382 words. Not my shortest but far from my longest. Comparing with the previous years, I can see a clear improvement in my grasp of both NPC and OC voices, and more confidence in general.

Even so, "Butte", "Sally", "Bar", and "Zip" were the hardest for me this year, and I may need to warm up to them. I love "Halcyon" for a lot of reasons, and am also fond of the lighter offerings in "Duel" and "On Cloud Nine." I like a lot of the others, particularly when trying to get into NPC heads (even if they're really weird places to be ffs, Zenos).

Not too many shippy entries this year, one of them for one of the AUs, one mostly talking about it rather than seeing it, but I like "Hackneyed" a lot as it's been awhile since I've written about Aeryn & Thancred's literary tastes (and opposite ways of treating their books).

These will eventually be revised and added to Ao3, and then we await next year!

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Venus enters retrograde zone

Timeline

Friday, January 10, 09:59 UTC - transiting Venus’ greatest eastern elongation, 7°35’ Pisces

Tuesday, January 28, 20:22 UTC - transiting Venus enters retrograde zone, 24°37’ Pisces

Tuesday, February 4, 07:57 UTC - transiting Venus enters Aries

Sunday, March 2, 00:36 UTC - transiting Venus stations retrograde, 10°50’ Aries

Sunday, March 23, 01:07 UTC - Sun-Venus inferior conjunction, 2°39’ Aries

Thursday, March 27, 08:41 UTC - transiting Venus retrogrades back into Pisces

Sunday, April 13, 01:02 UTC - transiting Venus stations direct, 24°37’ Pisces

Wednesday, April 30, 17:16 UTC - transiting Venus re-enters Aries

Friday, May 16, 06:04 UTC - transiting Venus exits retrograde zone, 10°50’ Aries

Sunday, June 1, 07:34 UTC - transiting Venus’ greatest western elongation, 25°14’ Aries

*+=+*+=+*+=+*

Let me warn everyone right now - this is probably the only stand-alone post I’ll make about Venus Rx in 2025. What I plan to do instead is write more about each step in my weekly forecasts. So if it’s important to you, screenshot that timeline and write the dates down in your planner!

Astrologically, the timing and placement of this particular Rx Zone just boggle my mind. Here is Venus moving back and forth over late Pisces/early Aries - as the Lunar Nodes move from early Aries/Libra to late Pisces/Virgo - as Saturn and Neptune begin their year-long transition from Pisces to Aries - and as transiting Mercury gets in on the action, having its Rx Zone cover exactly the same Zodiacal ground beginning the day before Venus stations retrograde.

JFC.

Anyway, during Venus retrograde times, we are meant to reflect upon our sense of self-worth and our relationships. Can’t have one without the other...? It’s comparable to the stories of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna descending to the Underworld (most likely woven around Venus’ Rx cycles) - Inanna ends up stripping herself (or being stripped) of all her outer accoutrements, in order to be reborn.

Some general warnings about this time period, based on Venus’ areas:

Arts - without fail, every time Venus has an RZ, I get an idea for some grandiose, complicated project for knitting or crocheting. And without fail, every time this grand project ends up abandoned. It’s okay to continue working on the art projects you already have going, but hold off on starting anything new.

Beauty - how many impulsive, disastrous makeovers have occurred during Venus Rx, I wonder? DO NOT CHOP OFF ALL YOUR HAIR. Instead, consider ways to revamp your wardrobe and image. Consider, but don’t act until Venus is direct again.

Love - traditionally, this is a time when past lovers reenter our lives. Equally traditional is the end result, namely, asking ourselves in horror, “What was I thinking?” Some love karma may not be quite as paid off as we presumed. It’s a good time to search out what it was we were supposed to learn from the experience.

Money - get-rich quick schemes based off our own gullibility. Throwing money away on whatever is our escapist vehicle of choice - booze, drugs, food, TV, gaming, the list goes on and on.

Look to the house(s) in your birth chart, which contain the sliver of Zodiac between 24° Pisces and 10° Aries, to see where the action will be. Natal 2nd House? Pay attention to your budget! Natal 7th House? Beware those returning past partners!

And since Venus Rx is cyclical, think back eight years to February-May 2017 - Feb-May 2009 - even Feb-May 2001 - and review what happened then. (These RZs are in my natal 5th House, and sure enough, I was exclusively concerned with my kids and their drama during those times.)

We have a week of Venus/Pisces before she moves on to Aries - a week of wistful daydreaming. Take note of what seems to pop up; you’ll revisit it during the next few months. Something wonderful you don’t want to let go - something wonderful you don’t dare believe could be meant for you.

There is also a spectacular set up between February 1-3, when Venus, Neptune, and the North Node all are conjunct in very late Pisces - joined on Saturday the 1st by the Moon attaining her Crescent phase, and all of them semi-square the Aquarius Sun. What Pisces-type quality are you lacking, or maybe have too much of, that holds you back?

[toyboxcomix]

Random Old Comic: Brutal https://www.toyboxcomix.com/2017/04/30/brutal/

[staydandy]

Candle in the Tomb 4: The Lost Caverns (2020) - 龙岭迷窟 - Whump List

List by StayDandy Synopsis : Hu Ba Yi, Shirley Yang and Wang Pang Zi explore a mysterious tomb in the Shaanxi region. Shirley Yang travels to the Longling Maze Grottos to investigate unusual patterns on fossil fragments. On the way, she crosses paths with Hu Ba Yi who along with Wang Pang Zi have just escaped from the ancient city. The trio become companions in another tomb-raiding adventure. (MDL)

Whumpee : Hu Ba Yi played by Pan Yue Ming (3rd from left) • Wang Pang Zi played by Jiang Chao (far left) • Thomas played by Zach Ireland Splittgerber (small top group, torch) • Zhe Gu Shao played by Gao Wei Guang (small top group, blue light stick)

Country : 🇨🇳 China Genres : Action, Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Bromance

Notes : This is a Full Whump List • Adapted from the 2nd volume in the novel series "Candle in the Tomb" (鬼吹灯) by Zhang Mu Ye (天下霸唱). • End credits song : 乾坤暴躁-《龙岭迷窟》影视剧主题曲 by 潘粵明, GAI周延 • TW : Arachnophobia

Related Lists : Candle in the Tomb 1 (2016) - Full List • Candle in the Tomb 2: The Weasel Grave (2017) - Full List • Candle in the Tomb 3: The Wrath of Time (2019) - Full List • Candle in the Tomb 5: The Worm Valley (2021) - Full List • Candle in the Tomb 6: Kunlun Tomb (2022) - Full List

Episodes on List : 10 Total Episodes : 18

*Spoilers below*

03 : Hu Ba Yi & Wang Pang Zi knocked around on a ship in a storm, Pang Zi falls overboard.. Ba Yi exhausted after fighting a monster

04 : Ba Yi & Pang Zi in a fight

05 : (near end) Ba Yi & Pang Zi fall into a cave, tumbling down through a tunnel system

08 : [past] (this story with Thomas is so funny lol) Thomas slapped (Zhe Gu Shao getting shocked 😆).. poked in the stomach & force fed a medicine (all comedic) … Zhe Gu Shao & Thomas hallucinating, Thomas falls into a ravine, saved

09 : [past] (@ 1:30 this whole exchange is so funny 😆 - he's definitely one of the better english actors I've seen for a while in a chinese drama) (near end) Gu Shao spits up blood … Thomas falls & hurts his leg, Gu Shao's arm is eaten off by bugs (would totally watch a whole show of just Gu Shao & Thomas!)

11 : [present] Pang Zi captured, tied up, beat up [not shown].. knocked out … locked in a cage, bit by piranhas

12 : TW: arachnophobia @ 12:10-27:30

13 : (@ 2:05 😆 hahaha I knew it 😆) (TW: arachnophobia @ 2:14-2:22, 3:34-9:28)

14 : Ba Yi tries to hold a stone door dropping down.. Ba Yi & Pang Zi trapped in a room filling with mercury.. Ba Yi dizzy

15 : (TW: arachnophobia @ 21:18-32:53 (end of ep)) Ba Yi & Pang Zi fight a group of monsters; Ba Yi thrown by an explosion

16 : (TW: arachnophobia @ 1:30-8:16) Hurt/exhausted from fighting monster, helped to walk … passes out briefly

17 : Has to climb freestyle, barehanded up a wall with little to no experience.. exhausted … (TW: arachnophobia @ 32:16 (end of ep))

18 : TW: arachnophobia @ 1:32-2:11

[jiinjiinjarra]

// RUN BTS! ᯓ (ง ˙o˙)ว - Jin & Jungkook Links //

ᯓ 2017 year

★ Ep. 11 - preview [ 2017-01-31 ] // episode [2017-02-02, 03 ]

★ Ep. 12 - preview [ 2017-02-28 ] // episode [ 2017-03-02 ]

★ Ep. 13 - preview [ 2017-03-07 ] // episode [ 2017-03-10 ]

★ Ep. 14 - preview [ XXX ] // episode [ 2017-03-14 ]

★ Ep. 16 - preview [ 2017-03-28 ] // episode [ 2017-03-29 ]

★ Ep. 17 - preview [ 2017-04-12 ] // episode [ 2017-04-13 ]

★ Ep. 18 - preview [ 2017-04-18 ] // episode [ 2017-04-19 ]

★ Ep. 20 - preview [ 2017-05-23 ] // episode [ 2017-05-24 ]

★ Ep. 21 - preview [ XXX ] // episode [ 2017-06-02 ]

★ Ep. 22 - preview [ 2017-10-02 ] // episode [ 2017-10-05 ]

★ Ep. 23 - preview [ 2017-10-17 ] // episode [ 2017-10-18 ]

★ Ep. 24 - preview [ 2017-10-24 ] // episode [ 2017-10-26 ]

★ Ep. 25 - preview [ XXX ] // episode [ 2017-11-01 ]

★ Ep. 26 - preview [ 2017-11-07 ] // episode [ 2017-11-08 ]

★ Ep. 27 - preview [ 2017-11-14 ] // episode [ 2017-11-15 ]

★ Ep. 28 - preview [ 2017-11-21 ] // episode [ 2017-11-22 ]

★ Ep. 29 - preview [ 2017-12-05 ] // episode [ 2017-12-06 ]

★ Ep. 30 - preview [ 2017-12-04 ] // episode [ 2017-12-05 ]

★ Ep. 31 - preview [ 2017-12-12 ] // episode [ 2017-12-13 ]

★ Ep. 32 - preview [ 2017-12-23 ] // episode [ 2017-12-24 ]

★ Ep. 33 - preview [ 2017-12-26 ] // episode [ 2017-12-27 ]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jinkook 'Traffic Lights' Photo Indicator:

green star '★' - there is 'ultimate' jinkook photo in the post (only 🐹🐰 on the picture - no other members)

orange star '★' - 'if you crop - you see jinkook'

red star '★' - only solo or 'far far away' group photos

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Occupy the Democratic National Committee

Picks and Shovels is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.

Back in 2017, the Democratic National Committee's lawyers submitted a legal brief that didn't just say the quiet part out loud; they bellowed it: "[The DNC can] go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the [presidential] candidate that way":

https://observer.com/2017/05/dnc-lawsuit-presidential-primaries-bernie-sanders-supporters/

The brief was submitted in the lawsuit between Bernie Sanders and the DNC. Sanders sued over the DNC changing the rules midway through 2016 process in order to sideline him and give the nomination to Hillary Clinton. The DNC's response boiled down to, "Sure, we cheated. So what? We, the committee, are ultimately answerable only to ourselves, and we can choose anyone to lead the party into any election."

The DNC is a weak institution, in other words. There's a universe in which that would be OK. After all, there's a lot of overhead that comes with making strong institutions, all those checks and balances and oversight and transparency soak up resources that you could be using to do other stuff. In an ideal world, a badly run Democratic Party would be spurred to improve after it lost elections, which would result in the defenestration of bad party bosses and the ouster of bad candidates:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/

But the US political system is not an ideal world. In the real world, it's possible for party bosses who pursue disastrous strategies that result in key electoral losses to remain in power. The Democratic Party still rakes in massive donations from people who hate Trump more than they hate the Democratic Party's incompetence. Candidates in gerrymandered safe seats can be wildly incompetent and still hold onto power for improbably long timescales, despite the manifest evidence of their total unfitness for office:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Lipinski

In the absence of real consequences for corruption, incompetence and utter moral turpitude, the Democratic National Committee needs some other form of discipline to get it into fighting form. We need to occupy the DNC, strengthen its institutional safeguards, and turn it into an election-winning, fascism-fighting, extinction-rebelling, worker-defending powerhouse.

Three weeks from now, the DNC will meet in National Harbor MD to elect its new president and officers. Who gets to vote on that? The 448 members of the party's national committee. Who are they? As Micah Sifry writes for The American Prospect, it's a secret, even to the committee members:

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-01-10-opening-dncs-black-box/

No, really. While nominally, members can request a list of their fellow members, the DNC stalls and stonewalls and does everything it can to prevent the committee from communicating in any way they can't control. This is incredible, but it's true. Which is why Sifry has published a leaked list of all 448 members:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bQKIP3W1NWChRjSbsE0O5k5s7OdgXrJi5-CMfFECIBU/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Looking at the spreadsheet of members, we get a rare glimpse inside the Democratic sausage factory. There's te 73 "at large" members who were voted on as a single block after being handpicked by outgoing president Jaime Harrison. These members are a mix of great people and terrible people, and that's by design: it meant that Sanders and Warren voters could only get their people onto the committee if they voted for some of the most disgusting corporate shills you can imagine.

The fact that the national committee's membership is secret and their communications must pass through a DNC chokepoint means that they get up to all kinds of shenanigans, like at the 2023 summer meeting where they voted themselves the power to throw out any bylaw amendments passed at a national party convention. The vote was whipped by paid DNC staff, creating an atmosphere so poisonous that Jessica Chambers (a rep from Wyoming) called the DNC "the least democratic organization that I’m involved with."

Sifry's breakdown is really useful: he identifies the minority of members who are elected by the party rank-and-file, calling them "the people most responsive to what the base of the party cares about." He also calls out the corporate shills who "buckrake as lobbists," like Donna Brazile, "a partner at “corporate reputation strategy firm.”

But even where state party organizations have elections for their committee members, some states keep the results of those elections a secret. Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have 69 members, but the identities of all but 14 of them are a secret.

This is a rotten institution, and that's by design. If you want to know why we can't have nice things – or, you know, a world that's not on fire and haunted by creeping fascism – this is why. The takeover of the DNC won't be easy, but it can't start until we know who the DNC is.

Check out my Kickstarter to pre-order copies of my next novel, Picks and Shovels!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/10/smoke-filled-room-where-it-happens/#dinosaurs

[seoul-bros]

Jikook Week 25 Complete ✔️(28/05 - 04/06/2024)

Their twenty fifth week in the military is now complete and time to celebrate this milestone with a look back at this week in 2017.

BTS had just made a landmark win at the BMA's winning Top Social Artist (22/05) and were receiving lots of attention in the press.

TwiX Post

There first appearance after getting back from the US was a KBS news conference on 29/05. They posted on TwiX beforehand.

Watching the news conference I realized that the SK press has never made it easy on BTS. There was only cursory mention of their win and a huge emphasis on their responsibility as role models for youth and ambassadors for South Korea.

It's just all a bit too much and I don't remember anyone talking to One Direction or Take That in quite the same way. The only other similar example is possibly the Beatles who did get quite a bit of the establishment press looking down the nose at them in interviews. No wonder Joonie got so fed up after dealing with it for so many years and we are blessed with Groin (I'm using any excuse to post about RPWP at the moment) as a result.

After the press conference they headed to the airport. Jimin is so striking in this outfit. Shame JK's good looks were hidden behind that mask. They were off to play three nights at the Osaka Jo-Hall, Japan (30/05, 31/05 & 01/06) as part of the Wings Tour.

The Osaka concerts come at the beginning of this Memories of 2017 video between 0.00 & 10:35 mins. What comes over is how cohesive they are as a team and how much affection there is between them all. Look at jinhopekook all glued together after the show. Whose hands are resting on JK's shoulders? I think you know.

Finally it was FESTA 2017. There was a gift for ARMY every day from 01/06 to the 14/06.

One of those gifts was JK & Jimin's version of We don't talk anymore which was released on 03/06. I love this version of the song.

There was also this rather chaotic exclusive fan cam on the 04/06.

Oh to have been around when all this stuff was dropping. I have festa envy. I'm looking forward to some new music on the 07/06.

Post Date: 04/06/2024

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 30/04/2024

guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​?

Season 2 Featured on: Haltmann's Highest Quality Video Game Rips

Ripped by alden wolf

Requested by eg_9371! (Request Form)

It's Gonna Be May!

Saying that SiIvaGunner has in-jokes is perhaps the most obvious statement of all time - it is an in-joke upon which the entire channel is built upon. Yet there's obviously always different LAYERS to each joke, how obvious each of them are - and even today, there are many running gags on the channel that fly over people's heads despite having followed along for so long. Indeed, such is the case today with guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​?, as requestee eg_9371 made me aware of a channel in-joke that's been running quietly in the background for the better part of seven years as of today. All of it built on one simple truth - tomorrow, it's gonna be may.

To reiterate - beyond the funny ha-ha memes we all know like Mr. Grand Dad and more, the SiIvaGunner channel is filled with little nods and gags that oft go overlooked. I of course covered 5 Nights of Snop Dog recently which is a great example of one, there's how rips like Kill & Learn (Recut Ver​.​) reference a running joke by long-time mashup artist Triple-Q about how Sonic Adventure 2 and Kill la Kill have an immeasurable amount of similarities, rips like Kermit in the Ocean being spiritual successors to very specific years-old rips on the channel - you get the jist. Some of these gags eventually get special attention on the channel through specific channel events, but such has not yet been the case with guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​?'s joke - it's a gag that's stayed in the background since its very beginnings, and is only being kept running by a select few rippers. If you're listening to the rip now and it still hasn't landed yet, you may need to be enlightened to the ways of hit boy band *NSYNC. Or, well, really the band itself matters very little compared to the song of choice - It's Gonna Be Me.

Boy band music has a pretty interesting track record on SiIva in general, honestly. One Direction, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, *NSYNC - to me the typical audience that obsesses over these kinds of bands feels at odds with my image of the average SiIvaGunner fan, and yet whenever they're prominently pushed I get reminded of just how good their music can be when wielded by good rippers. We've had two explosively quality events focusing on two bands in particular, the Big Time Rush takeover of Season 5 with Famous Surprise and the One Direction day of Season 7 with Beautiful Dreamer. *NSYNC hasn't had the same explosion of notoriety, but It's Gonna Be Me in particular has stealthily appeared on the channel every year since 2017 on April 30th. The joke is originally an ancient Tumblr meme from 2012, based on the way singer Justin Timberlake (yes!) pronounces the titular line in the song as "It's gonna be May" - the joke writes itself, and so Tumblr users have annually celebrated the day-before-May in Timberlake's honor.

eg_9371 writes in his request for this post that he's actually one of the most active rippers in keeping this joke going on SiIva for all these years, which I find extremely commendable, and it all started in Season 2, with guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​?. It's a rearrangement of the song in the style of Donkey Kong Country 2's Mining Melancholy, a track most notable for its rhythmic percussion of steel drums sounding like steadily-working pickaxes deep in the mines. Its a fantastic track on its own, yet that percussion especially is a shockingly natural fit for the harpsichord(?) backing prominent throughout It's Gonna Be Me. Mining Melancholy's usual percussion and other parts of its melody stick around for large parts of the rip, making it more of a melody swap/mashup of the two than a full rearrangement a la Sog-Gee Ambiance - but it only serves to enhance the two tracks used, giving It's Gonna Be Me a more melancholic sound and Mining Melancholy a more self-assured feel in return, a super interesting blend of moods. I don't think the It's gonna be May bit would have worked nearly as well if the rip it was paired with wasn't of high quality, and guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​? clears that threshold effortlessly - its a great rip that's made me appreciate the quality in both songs used.

*NSYNC rips have, again, continued to show up in all the years since, always on the dot, often even deliberately placed as the LAST rip of April 30th to drive the joke home. I think it's really sweet that the joke has stuck with eg_9371 in particular, likely in part due to alden wolf's initial contribution to the bit - he's even made It's Gonna Be Me rips on dates completely unrelated to the beginning of May, just because its a genuinely fun song to listen to. There's tons of these "secret" gags left to find on the channel, reoccurring dates or rips that reference jokes from other rips that are years-old by now - and really, a huge part of the fun in running this blog is getting to discover so many turning gears of the channel that I'd never been made aware of. Keep an eye out for these gags yourself - and keep an eye out on SiIvaGunner channel itself later today, to see if It's Gonna Be May for yet one more year.

[black-arcana]

SPIRITBOX Announces Spring 2025 North American Tour With LOATHE, DYING WISH And GEL

Two-time Grammy-nominated progressive metal band SPIRITBOX has announced the "Tsunami Sea" North American tour. Kicking off April 3 in Dallas, Texas, produced by Live Nation, the 24-date tour will hit cities across the U.S. and Canada with LOATHE, DYING WISH and GEL as support.

Tickets will first be available through a Citi presale starting today, December 3. The official artist presale begins on December 4 and will include a special Spiritboxoffice pop-up event in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Palladium from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. where fans can purchase tickets and meet the band. Additional presales will follow on December 5, ahead of the general onsale and Citi Cardmember Preferred Tickets, beginning Friday, December 6 at 10 a.m. local time on Spiritbox.com.

The tour wants to give fans, not scalpers, the best chance to buy tickets at face value. To make this possible they have chosen to use Ticketmaster's Face Value Exchange. If fans purchase tickets for a show in the U.S. or Canada and can't attend, they'll have the option to resell them to other fans at the original price paid. To help protect the Exchange, the tour has requested all tickets be mobile only and restricted from transfer. This applies to all shows except those in Colorado, Illinois, and New York where Face Value Exchange cannot be mandated. Please note, a valid bank account or debit card within the country of your event is required to sell on the Face Value Exchange.

Citi is the official card of the "Tsunami Sea" North American tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday, December 3 at 12 p.m. ET until Thursday, December 5 at 10 p.m. local time through the Citi Entertainment program.

The announcement follows SPIRITBOX's second consecutive Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance" ("Cellar Door") which no woman has ever won this sole category. The tour announcement also follows the reveal of their anticipated sophomore album, "Tsunami Sea", slated for release on March 7 via Pale Chord / Rise Records. The album's first two singles, the heavy hitter "Soft Spine" and melodic "Perfect Soul", showcase the band's dynamic range and their ability to seamlessly fuse diverse sonic influences, offering a glimpse into the depth and ambition of the forthcoming record.

In addition to SPIRITBOX's headline U.S. and European tours in 2025, the band will jump on select dates of LINKIN PARK's world tour, joining the rock icons for performances in Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K.

SPIRITBOX with LOATHE, DYING WISH and GEL 2025 North American tour dates:

April 03 - Dallas, TX - South Side Ballroom April 04 - San Antonio, TX - Boeing Center at Tech Port April 05 - Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center April 07 - Atlanta, GA - Coca-Cola Roxy April 08 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live April 11 - Washington, DC - MGM National Harbor April 12 - Pittsburgh, PA - UPMC Events Center April 14 - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore April 15 - Montclair, NJ - The Wellmont Theater April 18 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom April 19 - Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall at Fenway April 21 - Montreal, QC - M TELUS* April 23 - Toronto, ON - Great Canadian Casino April 25 - Chicago, IL - Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom April 26 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee April 27 - Grand Rapids, MI - GLC Live at 20 Monroe April 29 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant April 30 - Des Moines, IA - Vibrant Music Hall May 02 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium May 03 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex May 06 - Vancouver, BC - PNE Forum May 07 - Tacoma, WA - Temple Theatre May 09 - San Francisco, CA - The Masonic May 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium*

* Without GEL

Formed in 2017 in the picturesque-yet-isolated region of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, by singer Courtney Laplante and guitarist Mike Stringer, SPIRITBOX became a household name in rock circles in the summer of 2020 with the release of their blistering breakout single "Holy Roller", along with a host of other captivating singles shortly after, resulting in a media firestorm of hype.

With new and existing fans eagerly watching their next move, SPIRITBOX exceeded every expectation imaginable in 2021 with the release of their genre-defining debut studio album "Eternal Blue" via Pale Chord/Rise Records. "Eternal Blue", which debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, kicked open the doors of the heavy metal scene and rewrote the genre's playbook with 12 stunning tracks that incorporated everything from djent and post-metal to infectious synth-laden pop sensibilities and cinematic arrangements, brought fully to life by the inimitable Laplante's ethereal and commanding vocal performances.

The album cycle for "Eternal Blue" saw SPIRITBOX not only grace the covers of esteemed music publications such as Revolver, Alternative Press, Rock Sound and Kerrang!, among many others but would also solidify the band as one of the most in-demand groups in live music today with their one-hundred percent sold out, first-ever headlining tour in support of the album which saw ticket sales over 40,000. The band would also share the stage with seasoned metal veterans such as LIMP BIZKIT and GHOST and win "Best International Breakthrough Band" at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards.

In 2022, SPIRITBOX secured highly-coveted spots at numerous major U.S. rock and metal festivals and were nominated for two Juno awards, respectively. SPIRITBOX would also round out their current lineup with the inclusion of drummer Zev Rose and bassist Josh Gilbert in addition to releasing their sonically experimental EP "Rotoscope" in June of that year as well as a cross-genre collaboration with dubstep artist Illenium for the track "Shivering".

During another whirlwind year for the band, including a U.S. tour with SHINEDOWN and PAPA ROACH, SPIRITBOX wrote and recorded their critically acclaimed EP "The Fear Of Fear", released in November 2023. The EP features the single "Jaded", which was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 66th annual Grammy Awards. In the same month, the band would make another genre-bending splash with a high-profile collaboration with rapper Megan Thee Stallion for a remix of her song "Cobra".

Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner

[meddlingmaez]

Hadestown (in 4 Acts)

The invariable problem of being a Hadestown fan is deciding which soundtrack to have your friends listen to first. Each soundtrack has it's advantages, and with such drastic song & character & story differences between productions, the soundtrack you choose to show a friend may lastingly shape what they think of the show. First impressions are everything.

Fan-compiled Spotify & YouTube playlists have been an answer to this problem, though a limited solution, as the show's story beats may not make sense when simply intercutting between the best versions of songs from different productions. Not to mention the best versions of some songs are not found on Spotify or any officially released soundtrack.

So, three years ago I made a fan edit of the soundtrack that included the lyrically best/most dramatically useful versions of each track (in my opinion) backdropped with minimalist visuals to help a new viewer understand the show's plot, aesthetic, and structure; cutting out certain small story beats to gel individual songs within the context of all other tracks used. The end product is a sum of parts that creates a new shape and whole to my fav broadway musical.

This is Hadestown (in 4 Acts), a semi-visual fan edit of the Hadestown soundtrack made with the intention of being the most accessible version of the show for someone who hasn't seen or listened to Hadestown before. This was made for you to send to your uninitiated friends, to be their first experience of the show.

Give it a listen and tell me what y'all think! 😊

(( i intended to publish this three years ago when i originally made the edit, but alassss, when i uploaded it to youtube the vid got an immediate copyright strike :\ figures. but !! i just discovered that at some point in the last three years the copyright strike was removed? idk why and i'm not gonna question it 😅. i'm pumped though to finally be sharing the edit [albeit three years late] !!!

i've thought in the years since about how i might make different editing choices [especially since the release of the west end soundtrack]. but unfortunately I lost the original premiere pro files on an old hard drive 😭💀😭 so this is sadly the final version. ))

Here's a work cited for the media used:

~ Font: Kraft Nine

~ Flower animation: from the Hadestown website

~ Background: from the Hadestown website

~ Songs:

01 – We Raise Our Cups (Instrumental) – uploaded to YouTube by EJM Instrumentals

02 – Road to Hell – 2019 Original Broadway Cast Recording (OBC)

03 – Any Way the Wind Blows – OBC

04 – Come Home with Me – OBC

05 – Wedding Song – OBC

06 – Epic I – Bootleg of 2016 New York Theatre Workshop Production

07 – Livin' it Up on Top – OBC/2017 New York Theatre Workshop Live Recording (NYTW)

08 – All I've Ever Known – OBC

09 – Way Down Hadestown – OBC/NYTW

10 – A Gathering Storm – OBC

11 – Epic II – NYTW

12 – Chant – NYTW

13 – Hey, Little Songbird – OBC

14 – When the Chips are Down – OBC

15 – Gone, I'm Gone – OBC

16 – Why We Build the Wall – OBC

17 – Way Down Hadestown (Reprise) – OBC

18 – Flowers – OBC

19 – Wait for Me – OBC

20 – Our Lady of the Underground – OBC

21 – Come Home with Me (Reprise) – OBC

22 – Papers – OBC/2010 Righteous Babe Records Concept Album

23 – Nothing Changes – Bootleg of 2016 New York Theatre Workshop Production

24 – If it's True – Phone recording of 2011 America Sings Hadestown Tour uploaded to YouTube by AugustWynde

25 – How Long – OBC

26 – Chant (Reprise) – NYTW

27 – Epic III – NYTW

28 – Lover's Desire – 2010 Righteous Babe Records Concept Album

29 – Promises – OBC

30 – Word to the Wise – OBC

31 – His Kiss the Riot – OBC/NYTW

32 – If You Wanna Walk Out of Hell – OBC

33 – Wait for Me (Reprise) – NYTW

34 – Doubt Comes In – NYTW

35 – Road to Hell (Reprise) – OBC

36 – We Raise Our Cups – OBC