#Cameron Heathcliff

[emipips]

The Captain of the Skies

[bihrds]

Gifs are from @1liv

[vangoghsmissingearr]

A Lockwood and co × Wuthering heights au where Mr (Anthony) Lockwood arrives at Wuthering heights to deal with the ghost of Catherine Linton.

Oh or like he meets Catherine Linton (Lucy Carlyle????) And falls in love with the ghost or something like that I'm really sleepy this just came into my head it probably doesn't make any sense bye

[travllingbunny]

Who is your all time favorite ficitonal character?

It's impossible to narrow it down to just one.

Some of my top favorites include (literary characters first!) Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games trilogy),multiple characters from A Song of Ice and FIre (Sansa, Arya, Dany, Sandor, Jaime, Brienne...), Tess from Tess of D'Urbervilles, Nastassia Filipovna from The Idiot, Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights (blah blah they are awful people who cares?)

Of the TV characters: Joe MacMillan and Cameron Howe (Halt and Catch Fire), halt and catch fire,Spock, Kira Nerys (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Buffy, Spike, Faith and Darla from the Buffyverse, Nora Durst (The Leftovers), Jonas Kahnwald (Dark), Elizabeth and Philip Jennings (The Americans), Logan Echols (Veronica Mars), Kendall and Shiv (Succession)...s I would've counted Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake from The 100 if the show hadn't ruined their characters...

and one character that not many people will recognize, but who may just be my favorite ever character, and she certainly was for a long time, is Anna Forbes, played by Daniela Nardini, in the UK 1990s drama This Life.

(No, this is not Fleabag! I know that Phoebe Waller-Bridge kinda looks like her, and there's some similarities, but Anna came first, and is still the best)

[euthanizedthatdog]

Wait Cameron Boyce shot the heathcliff dude???

[thetimelordbatgirl]

DC OCs Masterpost

New Titans Verse:

The New Titans: Summary of Series: TBA.

Name: Sparrow/Primrose ‘Prim’ Davis.  Side: Good.  Love Interest: Jadestar/Tessond’r.  Voiceclaim: Hailee Steinfeld. 

Name: Jadestar/Tessond’r.  Side: Good.  Love Interest: Sparrow/Primrose ‘Prim’ Davis.  Voiceclaim: Christina Valenzuela. 

Name: Dark Omen/Coraline Cameron.  Side: Good.  Voiceclaim: Sofia Wylie. 

Name: Tidebreaker/Rickey Dalton.  Side: Good.  Love Interest: Night Bolt/Esmeralda Tindol.  Voiceclaim: Seth Green. 

Name: Seaspray/Mickey Dalton. Side: Good.  Voiceclaim: Brandon Mychal Smith. 

Name: Timber/Silas Alexander. Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: Mark Hamill.

Name: Bloodwing/Tobias Cameron. Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: Josh Keaton. 

Name: Razor/Varick Joseph.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: Booboo Stewart. 

Name: Firehunter/Iando’r.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: Sean Astin. 

Name: Karma/Serenity Carrier.  Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Green Lantern/Danielle ‘Dani’ Archer.  Side: Good.  Love Interest: Hawkwing/Ketor Vael.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Kaisa/Aurora Raymond.  Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Jumpbug/Carlos Hernandez.  Side: Good.  Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Wasp/Christian Mennings.  Side: Good.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Hawkwing/Ketor Vael.  Side: Good.  Love Interest: Green Lantern/Danielle ‘Dani’ Archer. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Silver Hornet/Baxter Harkmen.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Seeloh.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Keres/Natalie Lewis.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Mind Bender/Hailey Baker.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Hawkmoth. Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: BA.

Name: Lazeph.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Samara.  Side: Good.  Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Night Bolt/Esmeralda Tindol.  Side: Neutral.  Love Interest: Tidebreaker/Rickey Dalton. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Ember Girl/Hestia Sonnet.  Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Frost Boy/Aspen Sonnet.  Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Vine Master/Wilfred Romer. Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Dark Shade/Terrence Vixen.  Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Falling Inside The Black: Summary of Series: TBA.

Name: Black Hood/Andrea Kyle.  Side: Neutral.  Love Interest: Balthazar/Eric Larson.  Voiceclaim: Selina Gomez. 

Name: Balthazar/Eric Larson. Side: Neutral. Love Interest: Black Hood/Andrea Kyle.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Storm Girl/Connie Heck.  Side: Neutral.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Trick Girl/June Driver.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Purple Obsidian/Dorothy ‘Dot’ Dixon.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Malestorm/Percy Heck.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

The New Outlaws: Summary of Series: TBA. 

Name: Cybershot/Violet Davenport.  Side: Good.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Fantasia/Cameron Parsons. Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Rosethorn/Julia ‘Julie’ Heyde.  Side: Good. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Warped/Karl Findley.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Magnum/Jared Newton.  Side: Evil. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Darkstar. Side: Evil.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Stories in their own universes:

Heroes of Gotham Academy (Next Gen): Summary of Series: TBA. 

Name: Robin/Dalia Wayne.  Parent(s): Damien Wayne and Mia/Maps Mizoguchi.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Martin Wayne.  Parent(s): Damien Wayne and Mia/Maps Mizoguchi.  Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Purple Starling/Kale Grayson.  Parent(s): Dick Grayson and Starfire.  Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Oscar Mizoguchi.  Parent(s): Olive Silverlock and Kyle Mizoguchi.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Supergirl/Joy Kent. Parent(s): Jon Kent. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Dark Aura/Freddy Ray. Parent(s): Pomeline Fritch and Heathcliff Ray.  Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Mind Girl/Willow Quinn-Isley.  Parent(s): Harley Quinn and Pamela Isley (adopted). Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Gavin Rivera.  Parent(s): Colton Rivera.  Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Patrick Karlo.  Parent(s): Katherine Karlo (Adopted). Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Erin Jorgenson.  Parent(s): Eric Jorgenson.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Victoria Grey.  Parent(s): Tristen Grey.  Voiceclaim: TBA.

Next Justice League: Heroes of Tomorrow (DC version of Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow): Summary of first book: Whenever the forces of evil have threatened mankind, Earth's First Line of Defense, The Justice League, were there to stop them- until they made the ultimate sacrifice in their final fight with the New God, Steppenwolf. Now the time has come for the children of the Justice League to rise as the new heroes of tomorrow and to avenge their parents' deaths. Holly (daughter of Batman and Catwoman), Damen (son of Wonder Woman), Lara (daughter of Superman), Nora (daughter of the Flash) and the arrow-slinging daughter of Green Arrow and Black Canary along with the will powered daughter of Green Lantern have to come together along with any help they get to finish Steppenwolf off as the next Justice League! Quotev Link

Summary of second book: In wake of the defeat of the New God, Steppenwolf, the world is slowly being freed from the control of Parademons, as the new Justice League are slowly working on returning the world back to normal. But, just as they think they on the route to a better world, another New God named Darkseid, arrives and plans to take over, with the new Justice League being at the top of his enemies list. Having to face a new enemy, the new Justice League, with the help of new allies, find themselves facing the ultimate test as the new Justice League. Quotev Link

Name: Holly Wayne.  Parent(s): Batman and Catwoman. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Damen.  Parent(s): Wonder Women. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Lara Kent. Parent(s): Superman and Lois Lane. Voicclaim: TBA.

Name: Nora Allen. Parent(s): Flash and Iris West. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Green Arrow II/Layla Queen.  Parent(s): Green Arrow and Black Canary. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Green Lantern/Nova Jordan. Parent(s): Green Lantern and Carol Ferris. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Young Justice: Legacy:  Summary of Series: Its the year 2036, and by then, the YJ team that had once been founded by so called sidekicks had become fledged heroes, some in the Justice League, some still solo, and some having retired already- and all in their own way have their families. When a new Lantern ring flies to Earth and attracts the attention of Cadmus and even the Light though, new Heroes must step up to the call, and continue the legacy of their parents/mentors....even it means dealing with enemies of the past, and new.... Quotev Link  NOTE: WAS WRITTEN BEFORE S3 AND THEREFORE, ANYTHING S3 IS NOT IN IT. 

*Nightingale/Phoebe Grayson- child of Nightwing and Zatanna.  *Aura/Justin Grayson- eldest child of Nightwing and Zatanna.  *Fate/George Grayson- child of Nightwing and Zatanna.  *Kid Flash III/Hope West- twin child of Wally and Artemis. *Impulse II/Faith West- twin child of Wally and Artemis.  *Kid Martian/Brandon Kent- eldest child of Miss Martian and Superboy.  *Supergirl/Eleanor Kent- middle child of Miss Martian and Superboy.  *Speedy II/Arya Harper- middle child of Will and Jade Harper.  *Aqualad/Horatio- adopted child of Kaldur’ahm.  *Aquagirl/Phillida- child of Kaldur’ahm.  *Hornet/Anthony Duncan- eldest child of Mal and Bumblebee.  *Yellow Wasp II/Carlos Duncan- child of Mal and Bumblebee.  *Kid Lantern/Ryleigh Croft- Green Lantern in training. 

*Red Hood/Lian Harper- eldest child of Will and Jade- take on canon character. *Orange Lantern/Dominic Croft- Orange Lantern currently.  *Edward Grayson- adopted child of Nightwing and Zatanna.  *Serenity Kent- youngest child of Miss Martian and Superboy. *Sawyer Harper- youngest child of Will and Jade. *Cooper West- child of Wally and Artemis.  *Luna West- youngest child of Wally and Artemis. *Harrison Duncan- child of Mal and Bumblebee.  *Genesis Duncan- youngest child of Mal and Bumblebee. 

The New Adventures of Batman Beyond: Summary: TBA.

Name: Robin AKA Anissa Holmes.  Side: Good.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Dark DC Universe:

Justice League: Twisted Morals:  Summary of Book: TBA. 

Name: Phantom Spectre/Enola Rhodes.  Summary: TBA.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Peacebringer/Ophelia.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Green Lantern/Rowan Astor.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Super X/Caleb. Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Wavepool/Kadrex.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Blur/Lincoln Lauder.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Unnamed Universe Currently:

The Kids Aren’t Alright: Summary of Series: TBA.

Name: Robin I/Pandora Dallas.  Summary: TBA.  Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Name: Robin II/Ruth Rowley.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Red Robin: Summary: TBA.

Name: Red Wing/Bianca Mitchell.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Red Hood: Summary: TBA.

Name: Hit Girl/Natalia Trevino.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

Teen Titans: Next Generation: Summary: TBA.

Name: Nightstar/Mar’i Grayson. Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Nightingale/Venus Grasyon.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Jake Grayson. Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Shifter/Trevor Logan. Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Rose Logan. Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Crow/Michael Roth.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Azure/Christina Roth.  Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Dragonfly/Edwin Stone. Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA.

Name: Danny Stone. Summary: TBA. Voiceclaim: TBA. 

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

There were two female directors who had blockbusters in the 2000s.  Catherine Hardwicke directed the number eight box office hit of 2008, Twilight.  Catherine was born in Cameron, Texas and has 22 directing credits, from Thirteen in 2003 to  three films now in production.  Despite Twilight’s original success, she did not direct any of the Twilight sequels.  Catherine is pictured with Twilight’s stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson promoting the film on the film festival circuit.

Vicky Jenson was co-director of Shrek (2001-2) and Shark Tale (2004-8).  Vicky was born in Los Angeles and has 10 director credits, from four episodes of The Baby Huey Show (1995), her first feature, Shrek, to a film now in pre-production. She began in the art department on tv’s Heathcliff and the Cadillac Cats (65 episodes in 1994), and another 65 episodes of He Man and the Masters of the Universe, 65 episodes of The Original Ghostbusters, 93 episodes of She Ra:  Princess of Power, and 60 episodes of Jem.  She is pictured with Shrek co-director Andrew Adamson, and Shark Tale co-directors Bibo Bergeron and Rob Letterman, who also co-wrote.

Keenan Ivory Wayans became the first black director with a blockbuster hit.  His Scary Movie was the 10th biggest grossing film of 2000.  Keenan was born in New York City and has eight director credits, from 1988 to a 2012 tv episode.  He is best known for appearing on 96 episodes and writing 71 episodes of In Living Color (1990-2001).  He is seen here on the set of Scary Movie.

[micoc84]

Shows 1980s Family Ties (82) - nbc, OH, GGoldberg 176, michael fox Silver Spoons (82) -nbc, NY Martin Cohan 116, ricky schroder Cosby Show (84) - nbc, NY, Phylicia Rashad 201, malcolm warn Who's the Boss (84) - abc, CT, Martin Cohan 196, tony danza Growing Pains (85)- abc, NY, Neal Marlens 166, kirk cameron Alien Life Form (86) - nbc, LA, Paul Fusco 102, max wright Full House (87) - abc, San Fran, Jeff Franklin 192, bob saget Wonder Years (88) - abc, NY, Neal Marlens 115, fred savage Family Matters (89) - abc, Chicago, WBickley 215, regi veljohn Magnum PI (80), Dukes Hazzard (79), Great American Hero (81), Knight Rider (82), Remington Steele (82), TJ Hooker (82), A-Team (83), Miami Vice (84), Hunter (84), Robin Hood (84), Highway Heaven (84), MacGyver (85), 21 Jump Street (87), Star Trek NG (87) || Webster (83), Charles in Charge (84), Facts of Life (79), Diff'rent Strokes (78), Punky Brewster (84), Mr. Belvedere (85), Small Wonder (85), Golden Girls (85), Hogan's Family (86), Different World (87), Degrassi (87), My Two Dads (87), Married with Children (87), Roseanne (88) Heathcliff (80), Astroboy (80), Smurfs (81), Spiderman (81), Danger Mouse (81), He Man (83), Alvin Chipmunks (83), Dungeons Dragons (83), Inspector Gadget (83), Fraggle Song (83), Reading Rainbow (83), Transformers (84), Snorks (84), Rainbow Brite (84), Muppet Babies (84), GI Joe (85), Voltron (85), She-Ra (85), Jem (85), Thundercats (85), Wuzzles (85), Care Bears (86), Ghostbusters (86), Gummi Bears (85), TM Ninja Turtles (87), My Pet Monster (87), Ducktales (87), Garfield Friends (88), Count Duckula (88), Winnie Pooh (88) Bosom Buddies (80), Trapper John MD (79), Hart to Hart (79), Dynasty (81), Hill Street Blues (81), Cheers (82), Newhart (82), St. Elsewhere (82), Fame (82), Mama's Family (83), Night Court (84), Murder She Wrote (84), Moonlighting (85), Twilight Zone (85), Looney Tunes (85), Designing Women (86), Matlock (86), Garry Shandling (86), Thirtysomething (87), Unsolved Mysteries (87), Max Headroom (87), Murphy Brown (88), Kids in Hall (88), China Beach (88)

Seinfeld (89), Doogie Howser (89), Saved by Bell (89), Life Goes On (89), Rescue Rangers Chip D (89), Beetlejuice (89), Paddington Bear (89), Babar (89), Simpsons (89), Coach (89), Baywatch (89), Quantum Leap (89)

_______

Beverly Hills 90210 (90), Fresh Prince (90), Blossom (90), Parker Lewis (90), Home Improvement (91), Step by Step (91), Clarissa Explains (91), Nanny (93), Boy Meets World (93), Party of Five (94), My So called life (94), Third Rock (96), Sabrina Witch (96), Moesha (96) Seventh Heaven (96), Dawson Creek (98) North Exposure (90), Twin Peaks (90), In Living Color (90), Bobby's World (90), Tiny Toon (90), Darkwing (91), Ren Stimpy (91), Batman (92), Mad about you (92), Larry Sanders (92), Frasier (93), XFiles (93), Lois Clark (93), nypd blue (93), Animaniacs (93), Rocko's Modern (93), Walker Texas (93), Babylon (93), Gargoyles (94), Dr. Quinn (93), Ellen (94), ER (94), Friends (94) || Hercules (95), Xena (95), Madtv (95), Sailor Moon (95), Nash Bridges (96), Buffy Vampire (97), King of Hill (97), South Park (97), Ally McBeal (97), Daria (97), That Seventies (98), Will Grace (98), Family Guy (99), Freaks Geeks (99)

[robinallender]

The Space Between Us

Earlier this year Felix Classen asked me if I would be interested in writing a little bit of blurb to aid with the promotion of the new Lonski & Classen album, The Space Between Us. I went several words over the count and several months over the deadline, but got there in the end. This being 2020, it ended up being less about the album and more about my state of mind in the current state of the world. 

The album has been a great consolation to me this year. You can buy it from Lonski & Classen’s bandcamp page.

In the photo I am sitting with Lukas and Felix in Cassidy’s pub, Dublin in 2010. We’re going to play a gig at The Village later that evening: me in Yann Tiersen’s band, Lukas and Felix in the support act, Lonski & Classen. As I write this, it’s almost ten years to do the day since the photo was taken.

I’m a very nostalgic person so looking at a photo of myself in a pub in the past is not exactly a new activity for me. Indeed, I have often found myself looking at a photo of myself in a pub in the past while actually sitting in a pub in the present.

But 2020 has brought with it a kind of enforced nostalgia for me and for everyone. After all, at the moment, it’s fairly easy to argue that life was – provably, empirically – much better in the past than it is now.

Why is nostalgia such a powerful illusion though, even before a global pandemic made it de rigueur?

I think it’s because when you look back at the past you can forget all the boring bits and remember only the good bits. You can remember a moment in the past without recalling what got you there or what came after it. With nostalgia you can disregard the thousand looping thoughts that strafe across the waking day. Those fretful, jagged seconds of the present can be smoothed away or blurred out until what you’re left with is a golden memory. I’ve always felt the present was over-rated – as did Sylvia Plath: ‘God, what a life – living in the future and the past and existing merely in the present.’

Wouldn’t it be good if life actually had the quality of memory? To live life as a kind of montage of best bits and snapshots. Imagine it. This is me visiting the Scottish highlands in a camper van and sleeping out beneath the stars... Here I am hiring a car and driving coast to coast across America...

But of course life can’t all be like that. There’s too much waiting around and worrying. And besides, you know who I’d have to take along with me if I did decide to drive to Scotland in a camper van, don’t you?

Me.

Oh God, no. Not that guy. I hate him. With his prattling thoughts and bilious fears.

And, anyway, he can’t even drive.

So, how can we, as Malcolm Lowry wrote, escape the dreadful tyranny of self

Well, one way is to look back into the past. It feels like we look back fondly at the past because it’s almost like we were a different person then – stuck in time, a figure in a landscape. That’s why nostalgia is so intoxicating; we are different, better people when we’re twilit by memory.

Looking at old photos I sometimes find myself thinking, is that really me? It’s like hearing a recording of your own voice – do I really sound like that?

This distancing effect is made worse by the kind of corruption of our pasts that is taking place via social media. As with black and white photos where it’s difficult to imagine that life wasn’t actually in black and white at the time, so there is something similar going on with the low-res images of early social media. The badly pixelated photos of early Facebook. The indefinable 2009-ness of your first selfies. I find myself thinking: was the past low-res?

The past is a different country, alright. Golden and unreal, pixelated and distorted by time and memory – and yet simultaneously so close I feel like I can touch it. Like Heathcliff trying to will Cathy into being, I can look at that photo of Cassidy’s in Dublin in 2010 and nearly – nearly – reach out and take a drink from that pint. It sometimes feels like I could walk back into that pub in 2010 and carry on having the same conversation as if I’d just popped outside for a moment (for a breath of fresh, fragrant 2010 air).

That moment in Cassidy’s feels so tantalisingly close, and yet here I am, a whole decade on. Now that’s what I call the dizzying momentum of time! My friend once said about New Year’s Eve: why are people celebrating the fact that it’s about five years later than it should be? Time really does speed up as you get older, as Geoff Dyer confirms:

I contemplate the most remarkable thing about getting older: the sheer acceleration of time. Sometimes I just sit for an hour, feeling time almost as a physical force. Even sitting motionless at my desk I can feel it blowing back my hair as though I’m in an open-top car, careering towards oblivion.

Could I really walk into Cassidy’s in 2010 and continue our conversation as if nothing had changed? It was a different world back then. What would we have talked about? How we couldn’t possibly imagine a worse British Prime Minister than David Cameron? Or perhaps we could have complacently discussed the UK’s seemingly indissoluble membership of the European Union? Maybe we could have blithely chatted about the perilous nature of a musician’s career and whether it would ever be threatened by a global pandemic?

What happened to that pint that’s just beyond reach? What happened to all of those pints? What would happen if that pint had somehow survived the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and been left behind on a counter somewhere and not evaporated, become mildewed and stagnant, and I could taste it now? Would I find myself back in that pub?

What actually did happen to that pint? It was swallowed and weed out and divided into its million constituent droplets as it swam down the river of time and evaporated up into the clouds, before raining down and being siphoned off and brewed into ever more pints and pints and pints – and so the circle of life continues.

It’s with thoughts like these that I’ve found myself preoccupied this year, in between scrabbling around for work and staring out of the window feeling scared.

I also listened to a lot of music this year. I started a podcast about The Beatles with a friend so I listened to them a lot, possibly to the point of over-saturation. I also listened to a lot of Neu! and, probably because of confirmation bias (and being really tired), I started to notice a lot of similarities between the two bands. Not musically of course, but both bands were borne out of an incredible eruption of post-war energy; to listen to either band from this point in history is to be moved by the feeling of boundlessness and opportunity that they represent. Neu! reflected a period in Europe of division, yes, but also of shimmering optimism. They created the sound of utopianism – driving forwards, always forwards.

All of which brings me back to another German two-piece band, Lonski & Classen, and their latest album The Space Between Us, which I’ve been lucky enough to immerse myself in this year.

Perhaps Lonski & Classen are a Neu! for our times. Alt! maybe. If Neu! looked forward with optimism, Lonski & Classen seem to stand in the uncertain present, looking backwards with nostalgia (of course) and forwards with apprehension.

So much has happened since the tour with Lonski & Classen in 2010. Not least the paralysing effects of COVID on the livelihoods of all musicians and artists. With music in particular, COVID has only served to show what was already there: that the industry was and is in a perilous state, barely supported by the pitiful revenues from streaming.

I know Lonski & Classen never intended to write a ‘pandemic album’ but, hearing it in 2020, I have found it consoling and almost impossibly moving.

In the world of permanent, enforced nostalgia, life feels like this description of Gormenghast:

It was as though the castle was recovering from an illness, or was about to have one. It was either lost in a blur of unfocused memory or in the unreality of a disquietening premonition. The immediacy of the castle’s life was missing. There were no sharp edges. No crisp sounds. A veil was over all things, a veil that no one could tear away.

How refreshing to hear crisp sounds and feel sharp edges again. Into this year of unreality Lonski & Classen’s new album asks the tremendous and always necessary question: why not?

Why not have songs slowly collapse until there is nothing but the softest drone, interrupted by a delicately flowering synth?

Why not leave acres of space, acres of silence, for the sound of a nightingale, slowed down beyond recognition?

Why not indeed?

It’s an album of space, of in-betweenness, of distances. Literal distances and the distances between us too – our failures of understanding and communication. The lyrics seem to embody the Beckett line that, ‘there are many ways in which the thing I am trying in vain to say may be tried in vain to be said’; they are full of references to being unable to explain, of the wide-open space between us, of asking questions that aren’t understood. It’s an album made up more of questions than of answers. One memorably unsettling interlude features Lukas asking the ever-expanding universe if he should stop smoking.

And it’s all so beautifully sustained that, as the songs recede into that beautiful drone, you find yourself wondering if the album has always been thus. Maybe you dreamt those songs at the start?

It’s an album of exquisite dynamism, poised with a precision that is reminiscent of Mark Hollis’s finest recordings.

It was recorded with astonishing sensitivity and attention to detail at Yann Tiersen’s Eskal studio on Ouessant, the rugged island off the coast of Brest. Ouessant is at the edge of Europe, situated as it is within Finistère, the département whose name literally means the end of the world.

What’s beyond the edge of Europe? Well, the UK is about to topple calamitously over it so I suppose we’ll find out soon enough. Which adds another layer of sadness and nostalgia to the album. When Lukas sings about distances and failures of communication, it’s difficult not to think of Brexit. How close Europe used to feel, and how distant it feels now, as the UK isolates itself more and more in its act of woeful self-sabotage.

In the unreality of 2020 we might ask ourselves what purpose does music have, the whole rigmarole of making an album: writing songs, recording and mixing them, promoting them, playing them live... How can it continue to exist? How can it survive?

Maybe it won’t – I sometimes give into nightmarish fantasies of the future, where the UK has been ravaged by COVID and Brexit. But maybe, in this disastrous future, a relic of music will somehow still exist, but perhaps it’ll be more like the Punch and Judy shows of Riddley Walker, something whose meaning we can no longer interpret, but that still persists, like a ritual of magic.

Lonski & Classen’s album is a beautiful, elegiac call of defiance against whatever the future brings. Detailed, rich, funny, warm and intensely moving, it’s an album that says: music will survive.

[mourniingdove-blog]

what are some of your fav ships at hs? of yours, and others?

Well I’m literally always here for Ingrid & Theo, my Cathy and Heathcliff, they were my first real ship here at hs, and their dynamic is messy as hell but the idea of two people who love each other and hate each other but can’t stay away is always fun to play out — they’re both emotionally invested in each other and as much as Theo may disagree, Ingrid has grown a lot because of their relationship. Plus I will always love con-artist-falls-for-the-mark plots lmao. As for Ingrid, I’m always gonna have a wistful appreciation for Ingrid & Ezra just because they were super sweet and it was like Theogrid tipped on its side, as Ingrid was the aggressor/pursuer in that relationship, and I love to explore plots where the usually meek girl gets to be the Top I guess lmfao. Another for Ingrid, Ingrid & Landon, since I love to pair Ingrid up with men who are bad for her lol, plus I think Ingrid could really show her inner strength against him. Ingrid & Jesse is another fucked up dynamic but I mean who hasn’t been interested in guys that are bad for them, right?? RIGHT???

Finn & Cameron is like, my married couple that I love so much, since they’ve slowly fallen in love with each other without even realizing it? And while they are so supportive and adorable, there’s also this undercurrent of the other shoe about to drop, I suppose? In terms of her past and his alcoholism, like those are things that are obviously gonna come up in their relationships but for now they’re all crossword puzzles and hiking. Another ship of mine, that should come as no surprise, is Vasiliy & Kyuri, for reasons I’ve already mentioned yesterday. I’ve also got a huge love for Vasiliy & Rhiannon, at face value you could say there are similarities between those two ships, y’know good girls falling for bad guys, but their dynamics are incredibly different in the details, and Kyuri indulges his bad parts while Rhiannon ignores them, until it’s too late for both of them; they’re in the spider’s web. Also a quick shout out to Becks & Cosima, people haven’t seen it yet but they’re so incredibly in love and idk its nice for a damaged, abandoned guy from the blue collar rust belt like me to be loved so unconditionally like that. Amadeus & Vasiliy was a relationship that didn’t really develop but I’ve still got a crackship little flame for them, but lbr I ship every character I’ve ever had with every character Luna’s ever had, so. Marlee & Vikram was another little ship that didn’t blossom much but I still like to think what if.

As for other ships, I think Ashley & Mason are incredibly adorable, tho the Finn inside me (lmao ew.. for you guys, fun for me ;]) is also in protective brother mode and wants to make sure Ashley doesn’t hurt him even if she’s such a little cupcake, it will probably be the other way around lmao sry girl. This is a major, major, majooooorrrrr throwback but Piper & Edmund was the first relationship that I really got invested in and read every reply like it was the morning newspaper, all the way back in 2015. Another throwback, lesser but still a throwback, was Eden & Eden, if anyone remembers them as well lol, since both muns haven’t been part of the rp for a long time. I didn’t really ship them in a romantic way but I really enjoyed the dynamic between Aster & Lennon, tho lbr the True Aster OTP is Aster & Ashley ;). (A different Ashley than G’s lmao, I had one a long time ago but he was a hockey player and wouldn’t shut up abt it which is pretty standard of hockey players.)

I think I’m gonna wrap it up here but yeah, if your relationship is either sweet as candy or fucked up and dysfunctional I’m there, no in between!

[biofunmy]

What’s on TV Friday: ‘Mrs. Maisel’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’

THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL Stream on Amazon. Mrs. Midge Maisel is back for another season, but this time … she’s on tour. Accompanied by her sidekick/manager Susie (Alex Borstein), Midge — played by Rachel Brosnahan — accompanies a musician on his tour across the U.S. As she enjoys glamorous cities and navigates the challenges of life on the road, Midge’s husband and parents are adjusting to the courses of their own lives. But one thing remains abundantly clear: Mrs. Maisel has no intention of slowing down. “This show is nothing but momentum,” James Poniewozik wrote of the previous season in his New York Times review. “It jabbers, it twirls, its heels click across the room,” he added. “It would love to stay and chat, but it’s gotta get somewhere.”

FULLER HOUSE Stream on Netflix; rent on Amazon, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. When D.J. Tanner-Fuller found herself newly widowed with three sons, her sister, Stephanie, and best friend, Kimmy, moved in to raise their families together; and so started this continuation of the hit series “Full House” (1987-95). Five seasons later, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) now has a baby, Kimmy (Andrea Barber) is raising her teenage daughter, and D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure) has a new love interest. It’s a fuller house, for sure.

THE FAVOURITE (2018) Stream on HBO Now and HBO Go; rent on Amazon, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman star in this unsettling, darkly comedic drama set in 18th-century Britain. Queen Anne (Colman) is neurotic, self-pitying and in failing health, yet is wildly spirited. She finds a lover and adviser in her lifelong friend Sarah Churchill (Weisz). But when Sarah’s cousin Abigail Hill (Stone) appears at the palace looking for work, it isn’t long before Abigail rivals Sarah, politically and romantically, for her position with the queen. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the film “is a farce with teeth,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times, “a costume drama with sharp political instincts and an aggressive sense of the absurd.”

What’s on TV

WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1958) 8 p.m. on TCM. A DuPont Show of the Month in 1958, James Costigan’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” has not been seen since the single date it aired: 61 years ago. Daniel Petrie directed this rendition of Emily Brontë’s novel, in which Heathcliff — played by none other than Richard Burton — falls in love with his stepsister Cathy, played by Rosemary Harris. When Cathy instead marries a wealthy man, Heathcliff enacts revenge. Costigan has been “widely praised” for this adaptation, Margalit Fox wrote in The Times.

Sahred From Source link Arts

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[separatewaysads]

foi aqui que pediram um rp de volta no final do ano?? olá, tag! peço licença aqui pra vocês pra direcionar esse recado aos antigos players do SEPARATEWAYSHQ, que tinham chars no rp quando ele fechou: eu tô chamando vocês de volta! ontem eu mandei mensagem para a maioria de vocês pelos meios de contato que eu tinha na app de cada um, porém alguns n��o mandaram nenhum contato na ficha (que coisa feia) ou os links estavam quebrados; enfim, eu não consegui contatar algumas pessoas! por isso, abaixo do read more eu vou deixar uma lista das pessoas que não me responderam ainda, com o apelido que usavam, o nome do char e o fc. por favor, se você tinha um char no SEPARATEWAYSHQ, me manda uma mensagem nesse blog até o dia 12/11 pra falar se você quer voltar a jogar no rp ou não! no mais, o rp vai ser aberto para novos players depois do dia 12. é isso, chuchus, valeu.

isabelle “izzy” carstairs (hailee steinfeld) e jonathan “jon” castellan (tom holland); player: aya

jonathan “jon” keller (thomas doherty); player: barbie

winter “lyn” devlyn carter (avan jogia); player: bibi

bartholomew “bart” sinclair (john karna); player: brela

juliet “jules” anne lexington (dove cameron); player: caroline

arthur hyde heathcliff (dylan o’brien) e theodore “theo” kingston (shawn mendes); player: debbie

diana “diny” breckenridge (bridget saterlee); player: dua

jordin “jo” vanderbilt (sabrina carpenter); player: ella

dexter “dex” breckenridge (noah centineo); player: anie

wesley “wes” patrick denvers (nick robinson); player: gio

francis “french” gardinier (neels visser); player: giu

brianna “bee” violet dawson (sophie turner); player: josie

clara “claire” alina fonteyn (scarlett leithold); player: liza

barbara “barbie” moore prince (danielle campbell); player: liza

faith marie weston (maia mitchell); player: mar

naomi “nana” jenkins (zendaya); player: nalu 

caleb “cal” watson (peyton meyer); player: nalu

amber carpenter (zoey deutch); player: pams

yoona-mi “yoonie” tokugawa (jennie kim); player: nands

hugo “emm” emilio viggiano (frou gutierrez); player: sara

annabel “annie” wright (natalia dyer); player: winter

[travllingbunny]

Thank you for the tag, @ryder616!

This tag game has unexpectedly led to an interesting discussion about what exactly an “Endgame Ship” means... which seems to be largely open to interpretation. I’m still not sure how I see that term, but for the purposes of this post, but to narrow it down and not mention way too many ships, I’ll take Endgame in two different meanings: for “Favorite Ship(s) That’s Endgame”, I’ll take it to mean pairings that were together and in a happy relationship at the end of the story. But for “Ship(s) You Wish Had Been Endgame”, I will take “Not Endgame” to mean that the ship was not treated as these characters’ main romance at the end of the show, or at least there was a lot of ambiguity and/or a rival ship for one or both characters was instead the current one at the end of the story. (A lot of my favorite ships have the tendency to end up unhappily in spite of being portrayed as the main romance of the story..)

Warning: this post contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Agents of SHIELD, The Hunger Games, The Leftovers, The Americans and The 100 (though if you’ve spent any time on my blog, you’ve certainly already been spoiled for the ending of The 100) and .

1. First Ship - When I was about 4 or 5, I was obsessed with Lady and the Tramp (I had a book version with a few pictures and it fell apart from how much I was reading it - it may have been my first book that wasn’t mostly a picture book), so I guess my first ship was two dogs (which is really appropriate, since I love dogs). If we’re talking TV, again going back to my childhood, before puberty and before I even knew what “shipping” was, I remember being pleasantly surprised when Raquel first appeared on Only Fools and Horses as a love interest for Del Boy - the show was an episodic comedy where the two brothers, in the early years, usually didn’t have a serious love interest. I thought “oh, he really is in love with her! And she feels the same, and they are so cute together.” I hoped she’d come back and wouldn’t just be a one episode character but a long-term LI. And then I was so happy when that very much did happen. I guess this can be considered the start of my TV shipping (and also an early sign of my love for contuinity and longer arcs on TV).

2. First OTP - Ignoring pre-puberty: at the age of 12, I was really obsessed with Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff and Cathy and read the book who knows how mny times. Regarding TV, I’ve shipped over the years, but I guess the first TV ship I would really call my OTP was in This Life, a 1990s UK drama about a bunch of 20-somethings in London, which I watched on TV in 2001. which now sadly seems almost forgotten. Anna and Miles had an on-off, love-hate relationship throughout - they were sexy, snarky, and it was painfully obvious that they were in love, but these idiots had trouble admitting it to themselves and even more to each other. If it had been a romcom, they would’ve been certain to end up together, but it was a realistic drama.

3. Current Favorite Ship - Bellarke - oh, what an OTP of all OTPs that was before it was stupidly destroyed out of spite. Over the last couple of years, Dark (season 3 mostly) made me really love Jonas and Martha (the first pairing I’ve made gifsets about), and most recently (last month!), I binged Halt and Catch Fire and fell in love with the show and with Joe and Cameron’s relationship (which, I just realized now, shows that my taste in OTPs hasn’t changed in 20 years).

If we’re talking current as in, in current shows rather than finished ones, then  Kanej (Shadow and Bone), Harlivy (Harley Quinn), Gereon and Charlotte (Babylon Berlin) and  Roy and Keeley (Ted Lasso).

4. Your ship since the first minute - I really rarely ship anything from the first minute (unless we’re talking Morticia and Gomez, who are of course already a perfect couple and nothing ever changes there). It usually takes time for me to fall for a ship. A rare exception is Roy and Keeley - their first one-on-one scene in S1 already had huge OTP vibes. 

5. Ship(s) You Wish Had Been Endgame - Do I even have to say it? BELLARKE. A hundred times Bellarke, who were portrayed as endgame before the showrunner decided to retcon and ruin them together with the show overall.

Others: Jessica and Luke in Netfix Narvel shows, May and Andrew on AoS, Willow and Oz; or, depending on how you interpret Endgame, Willow/Tara (some argue that it is Endgame as Tara is definitely portrayed as the love of Willow’s life regardless of everything else). Spuffy (again, there are different opinions as to its status as both the show and the comics ended ambiguously and tried not to have a clear Endgame pairing for Buffy’s character), Xander/Anya (if you take comics into account).

6. Ship You Wish Was Canon - Some would say Bellarke, again, but I tend to consider it canon. It’s debatable, for sure (if you only consider making out/sex and/or “I love you” as markers of canon, it is not canon; if it is enough for the show to make it so blatant in the first 6 seasons that you have to actively search for ways to deny it to make it sound platonic, and for actors to confirm it was portrayed as romantic- than it is.)

So my answer would be: Kastle (Netflix Marvel shows), QuakeRider (AoS), and Octavia and Diyoza (The 100) and maybe Faith and Buffy (mostly in the sense that canon could have explored the nature of Faith’s feelings for Buffy a bit more and a bit more openly).

7. Ship that Most of the Fandom Hates, but You Love - Angel and Darla, May and Andrew, Coulson and Rosalind (hated how it ended though). Miller and Bryan (because they were more interesting than Mackson, and Bryan had a personality), Though “ships that most of the fandom ignores” would be a more apt term. The one that most of the fandom does hate and I like it is Octavia/Ilian - I liked it for what it was, two damaged people finding comfort together in what could have grown into something more - instead of the “we’re ve just met and talked to each other once and we’re already IN LOVE!” trope that the writers of The 100 were so fond of.

8. You Don’t Even Watch the Show, but You Ship It - Why would I ship something from a show I don’t watch?

9. Ship That You Wish Had A Different Storyline -  BELLARKE (duh - the ending). Veronica and Logan (the ending, again). Coulson/Rosalind - they had such an interesting and fun dynamic that could have been explored much more; instead, the writers opted for one of the worst tropes there are, and I hated that entire plotline for so many reasons. Tyrol and Boomer on Battlestar Galactica - what they did with Boomer was crap. Baltar and Caprica - all the bad writing in season 4. This is a weird example of a ship that I shipped so hard for 3 seasons and that was given Endgame in every sense of the word, but, by that point, I barely cared anymore, because the writers forgot about their relationship throughout the final season and made it seem like they didn’t even remember each other, and then slapped a last minute happy ending. Plus they retconed/explained their connection in such a stupid and anticlimactic way that ruined it retroactively.

10. Favorite Ship(s) That’s Endgame - Everlark, Nora and Kevin (The Leftovers), Philip and Elizabeth (The Americans), and Josh and Della on Night and Day (a really obscure early 2000s UK show that was watched by maybe 100 people.) Some others worth mentioning: FitzSimmons, Niles and Daphne, Tim and Dawn (original UK The Office), Jake and Amy, Memori (the only bright spot in a rubbish ending). And of course, there’s Morticia and Gomez, though they are less Endgame and more AlwaysGame.

Tagging: @jeanie205 @kizo2703 @poppykru @sheigarche @weareagentsofnothing @sometimesrosy @misskittyspuffy @otp-armada @carrieeve @sexy-zeitreise-detektiv @jonaskanwalds @immortalpramheda @ladyofthefrostfangs @tennyo-elf @fandomkru @natassakar @hadrianvonpaulus @sillier-things @angearia @thekawaiislartibartfast @foolishnymeria @erikiara80 @heartbellamy and anyone else who sees this - sorry I didn’t tag you and please consider yourself tagged. :)

[junker-town]

It’s the 20th anniversary of one of the worst trades in baseball history

The Mariners thought they were building a bullpen, but they were helping the Red Sox build a championship team instead.

The Seattle Mariners, bless them, have enough funny trades in their history to do an unbelievable power ranking. There’s the time they gave up Adam Jones and Chris Tillman for Erik Bedard, sure, but I’m not convinced that even rates. Not when you compare it to the time they gave up Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-soo Choo within four days of each other to build a stunningly mediocre first base platoon.

That introduction was deliberately inserted so that most of the Mariners fans reading would close the tab. We need to talk frankly about an awful Mariners trade, and that was an endurance test. If you’re still here, well, good for you. More punishment lies within.

Two decades ago, the Mariners needed relievers. They traded for relievers. It didn’t work out.

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to point and laugh at the Heathcliff Slocumb trade because it didn’t work out. The Mariners got an erratic reliever for a season and a half, and the Red Sox got Derek Lowe, Jason Varitek, and two World Series championships. But that’s not entirely fair. There’s some context to explore. While it seems devastating in retrospect that the Mariners traded a future franchise catcher and a pitcher who made an All-Star team as both a reliever and a starter, and it seems inconceivable that they traded them for a closer with a 5.79 ERA who had allowed 95 baserunners in 46⅔ innings, it’s not like ...

Actually, there’s no way to gloss over that part. Literally 95 baserunners in 46⅔ innings. Holy moly.

But there’s still context to explore.

The Mariners’ bullpen really was awful

Just as important: The rest of the team was amazing. This was a roster that had Ken Griffey, Jr. in his prime, Edgar Martinez demolishing the league, a 21-year-old Alex Rodriguez, and Randy Johnson at his best. Those are four Hall of Fame-worthy players in their prime, all doing things together, and that’s before you get to the complementary players like Jay Buhner, Jamie Moyer, and Jeff Fassero. This was a team with one of the best middles of any order you’ll ever see, and they had three postseason-caliber starting pitchers.

And the people watching this team had to sit through blown save after blown save.

Norm Charlton was absolutely dreadful, with a 7.85 ERA just before the trade deadline, and the worst part was that he still hadn’t lost his job as the closer yet. He had allowed runs in seven of the 11 games he pitched in July, with multiple runs allowed in four of them. Behind him was Scott Sanders (bad), Bob Wells (bad), Bobby Ayala (pretty okay, considering!), Greg McCarthy (bad), and Felipe Lira (bad). The Mariners were 60-47 at the deadline and in first place, but they had the worst bullpen in baseball.

There weren’t a lot of relievers traded at the deadline

The Mariners absolutely knew what they needed. They needed to go to the reliever store and fill up the cart like they were on a game show.

The only problem is that there weren’t a lot of relievers traded. Scott Service was traded in a minor deal. Roberto Hernandez was traded in a major deal that involved Wilson Alvarez and six of the Giants’ best prospects, so you can understand how it would have been hard for the Mariners to worm their way into the middle of that.

There should have been a lot more relievers traded. Todd Jones was on a listless Tigers team. Jeff Montgomery wasn’t doing the Royals much good, and you would have figured the Rangers would have been eager to trade John Wetteland and his contract after the season started falling apart. Ugueth Urbina, Ricky Bottalico, Dennis Eckersley, Jeff Shaw, and about a dozen other relievers on bad teams would have been dealt in today’s trade market. The pitchers with team control would have been especially popular.

Back then, though, there were just a couple relievers traded, and the Mariners got most of them. Which brings us to the next section.

Mariners fans were LIVID ... at a different trade

If you’ve never explored baseball newsgroups from the ‘90s, I heartily encourage it. It’s absolutely necessary perspective to read lengthy missives from people who are absolutely freaking out because their team traded Hancy Drendelaza. You realize that nothing matters, prospects always disappoint you, everyone is wrong, and baseball keeps moving on.

I used to have opinions on Jason Bay, if you can imagine.

And for my money, it’s hard to get a better freakout than Mariners fans had over Jose Cruz, Jr. being traded for Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin. Cruz was ranked the top prospect in the Mariners’ system in 1996 and 1997, and he started his MLB career hitting dingers, with a .268/.315/541 line in his first 198 plate appearances.

That part up there, where there weren’t a lot of relievers on the market? It totally hosed the Mariners, who walked into a shady reliever bazaar wearing a sandwich board that read, “WE NEED RELIEVERS. PLEASE, HELP US.” The Blue Jays kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and the Mariners didn’t have a lot of alternatives. Waste the prime of Griffey, A-Rod, Martinez, and Johnson, or give up one young outfielder? Who would even notice?

Mariners fans noticed. And they were too busy freaking out about the Cruz deal to notice. Look at them tearing each other apart! There were a few posts about Slocumb (with cameo appearances from a teenaged Dave Cameron sprinkled throughout), but everyone was mostly concerned with the top prospect in the system being traded for two middle relievers.

They weren’t wrong. While Cruz was more mercurial than expected, he was still a solid player for years. Timlin and Spoljaric left in free agency after the 1998 season, and only Timlin was above-average, so it wasn’t exactly a good trade. It just wasn’t one of the worst in history like the other one.

Jason Varitek’s stock was down, and so was Derek Lowe’s

Varitek was a hyped college prospect who was drafted in the first round in two straight years, and his agent was Scott Boras, who made life difficult for the drafting teams. That means he came into the minors with a reputation and lofty expectations, but he didn’t hit a whole lot.

Because of the holdouts and chicanery, he was 23 when he started his pro career, hitting for a 701 OPS in Double-A. He was only incrementally better the season after that, and by the time he was in Triple-A, he was 25 and an average hitter for the league. He was still a prospect, but he wasn’t good enough to supplant Dan Wilson, who was still in his 20s and an All-Star the year before.

Lowe was a top-100 prospect before the 1993 and 1994 seasons, but he stalled in Double-A in 1995, and he wasn’t much better the following season in Triple-A. He made nine starts for the Mariners in 1997, and he was absolutely pounded, allowing 11 home runs in 53 innings, good for a 6.96 ERA. He was 24, and the prospect sheen was wearing off quickly.

They were still young, and there were still reasons to hold out hope for them. But they weren’t Jose Cruz, Jr.

In 1997, people didn’t freak out about strikeout-to-walk ratios like they do now

Front offices were still looking at ERAs, even for relievers, and Slocumb was generally solid in that department. He walked a lot of guys — his career BB/9 was 5.1 — but he had a fastball of note, and he had a lot of saves. He was a widely respected closer. Why would anyone care that he had 36 strikeouts to 34 walks in 46⅔ innings right before he was traded? He was excellent in 1996, after all.

And it was easy to wave his bad outings away because they were mostly concentrated in one stretch. He had a 3.00 ERA in his first 12 outings with the Red Sox (not a bad ERA in 1997), and he had a 2.41 ERA in his final 20. In between, there was a mess, but it looked like a since-fixed mechanical glitch

Heathcliff Slocumb really is a badass name

People don’t talk about that anymore.

This is all the context for a trade that set the Red Sox up for years, and it makes the deal slightly more understandable. On the other hand, Slocumb had ...

a 5.79 ERA

allowed 95 baserunners in 46⅔ innings

allowed 95 baserunners in 46⅔ innings

allowed 95 baserunners in 46⅔ innings

and he had allowed 95 baserunners in 46⅔ innings

If there was a scout who signed off on Slocumb’s arm, he should have felt bad relatively soon after. While he wasn’t too bad for the Mariners for the rest of the season (4.13 ERA, and just 41 runners allowed in 28 innings), there were still dozens and dozens of red flags, even if the prospects they traded away never panned out.

That they both panned out was especially cruel. When the trade was made, the Mariners franchise was about the same age as the Rockies are now, so it wasn’t that big of a deal that they hadn’t won a pennant yet. The sympathies of the baseball world was with the historically cursed franchises, like the White Sox, Cubs, and Red Sox.

Twenty years later, after helping one of those teams get over the hump, the Mariners are still waiting for their first pennant. And while there are a lot of reasons for that, here’s hoping you’ll take a moment to remember them making one of the worst trades in baseball history. It didn’t make that much sense at the time, and it doesn’t make that much sense now, even if you spend a thousand words or so trying to make sense of it. Did you know that Slocumb had allowed 95 baserunners in 46⅔ innings before the trade?

Seems like that’s an overlooked part of a deal that was overlooked at the time, but certainly isn’t 20 years later.