#K League December

[thefigureresource]

Evelynn : K/DA ver [League of Legends] 1/7 scale from APEX coming December 2024.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 17-23, 2023)

Episode 7 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters laid down significant Monsterverse lore, showing the moment Monarch finally revealed itself to the public (under hilarious circumstances) and how the organization's partnership with Apex Cybernetics began. I did not find May's long-awaited backstory super compelling, to be honest, I think because the proto-Apex company was so thinly sketched. And that Frost-Vark better not be dead. :(

An incredible three Godzilla comics released last week: DC/Legendary's Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #3 and IDW's Godzilla: War for Humanity #3 and Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon. The crossover lit a certain section of the Internet on fire with the revelation that Godzilla did, in fact, kill Superman the previous issue. Writer Brian Buccellato chalked it up to Godzilla's atomic breath having "a radioactive signature similar to [K]ryptonite," which as handwaves go is pretty good. Behemoth and Scylla had moments to shine as well, and the issue ended with Lex Luthor discovering a Mechagodzilla eye. Glad Godzilla won't be the only Toho character in the comic; that would've been a bit lame.

Godzilla: War for Humanity remaining a thrilling read, and the Super MOGUERA debuting in this issue is not to be missed. Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon starts with a content warning for depiction and discussion of attempted suicide, which certainly surprised me. It's another strong issue, neither callous nor didactic, and told so efficiently there's plenty of room for the titular bout (which sometimes has felt like an afterthought in Rivals stories). Also, Jet Jaguar talks—something Toho forbade in a comic earlier this year, for whatever reason. Anyway, he's exactly the 'bot you would expect him to be. Hope IDW can keep him chattering in the future.

You've probably seen my flurry of posts already, but it bears repeating: The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, a drag reality competition found on Shudder, aired a kaiju episode. Reality TV isn't my bag, but I thoroughly enjoyed the competitors' kaiju-inspired costumes and performances. I also kept ping-ponging between awe that Americans are just expected to know what a kaiju is now and yelling at the hosts for, say, not naming any kaiju outside of Toho's Big Five.

Hot on the heels of the black-and-white re-release of Shin Godzilla comes Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, which has to be the best title one of these things has gotten. As with Shin, this is no mere filter; each shot in the film was regraded, with director Takashi Yamazaki striving for "a style that looked like it was taken by masters of monochrome photography." It opens in Japan on January 12; no word yet on whether it will play in any other country.

Godzilla will follow in the steps of pop culture fixtures like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars with Godzilla: The Official Cookbook by Kayce Baker, due from Titan Books on September 10. (You can tell it's official because he's actually on the cover.) 60 recipes lie within. It's a given that I'm going to buy something Godzilla-related that's this silly; I just have to pick up another cookbook first so it won't be the first one I ever own.

I was surprised to realize that McDonald's has never done anything Godzilla-related; far less prolific fast-food chains have worked with the monster, from White Castle to Carl's Jr. The first salvo in the campaign was pretty underwhelming—BE@ABRICK figures that can only be won via lottery, with an entirely plain Godzilla. That replica MogeGoji suit looked great in the ad, at least. Tokusatsu is being kept alive in the Godzilla franchise through some truly odd means. The follow-up ad/promo was a lot better, but that's a matter for next week's post.

This is at least kaiju-adjacent—James Wan's long-gestating The Call of Cthulhu movie seems to finally be going somewhere, as revealed in roundabout fashion by a Deadline article. I thought the 2005 silent version was just fine, but presumably this will be produced by his company Atomic Monster, which is long overdue for an actual giant monster movie.

[eretzyisrael]

by Jessica Costescu

In the weeks before and after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, two University of Pennsylvania students were arrested in anti-Semitic incidents that shook the Philadelphia campus. One stormed into the Penn Hillel building, yelled "F—k the Jews," and destroyed furniture. Another stole an Israeli flag from an apartment near campus.

Both incidents generated media attention, and the school released a lengthy statement addressing the Hillel intrusion the day after it occurred. "We unequivocally condemn such hateful acts. They are an assault on our values and mission as an institution and have no place at Penn," then-university president Liz Magill said in a statement. "We are unwavering in our commitment to ensuring our Jewish community feels safe and supported on our campus."

What Penn will not say is what, if any, disciplinary action the students faced and whether they remain students at the Ivy League school. A spokesman for the University of Pennsylvania did not respond to a request for comment.

The incident at Penn Hillel occurred on Sept. 21, and the student was arrested by campus police. Penn has refused to identify the culprit behind the Penn Hillel incident, referring to the intruder in a statement as an "individual" who "was determined to be in crisis." The intruder is in fact a male student at Penn, a Penn Hillel spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon. The school's Division of Public Safety, which oversees the campus police, told the Free Beacon that it could not disclose the name of the anti-Semitic intruder or comment on his enrollment status, because "no individual has been criminally charged."

The second incident occurred on Oct. 28, when 20-year-old student Tara Tarawneh allegedly stole an Israeli flag from a Campus Apartments house before speaking at an anti-Semitic rally in downtown Philadelphia, where she recounted feeling "so empowered and happy" as Hamas's assault on the Jewish state unfolded. Tarawneh was arrested on Nov. 4 for the theft.

Penn has also remained silent on Tarawneh's case. The school on Nov. 11 confirmed the Ivy League junior's arrest and status as a Penn student, but it has given no update on the matter since.

Campus sources, meanwhile, say Tarawneh has avoided disciplinary action. Tarawneh "remains a student at Penn and was back in class by Nov. 28," according to a December court filing, while the New York Post reported that she "was still attending class" as of Dec. 9.

[indierpgnewsletter]

New Games From December 23 and January 24

I. Dear Reader Another regularly scheduled roundup of games that have been released on itch.io that caught my eye over the last two months. Usual disclaimer that I haven’t really read or played these games; they just seem cool based on the pitch alone. Also, most of them now come to me by people using this form.

Protect the Child: A Forged in the Dark game about monsters caring for a strange, mystical child. Playtest version. (Mintrabbit, Free)

Aftermath: A solo-friendly sci-fi about a team of first responders trying to make the world a better place after a terrible war. (Ember and Ash)

Space Aces: Voyages in Infinite Space: A comedy scifi sandbox inspired by the Hitchhikers’ Guide. (Stephen Hans)

The Connection Machine: A cerebral scifi game about exploring a dreamlike world and overcoming trauma. (Tanya Floaker & Julia Nevalainen)

Daybreak on the Battlefield: An unofficial set of extra playbooks for Girl by Moonlight, the excellent magical girls game. (Ben K Rosenbloom)

Buried in Ice: A mystery for Apocalypse Keys, the Hellboy-inspired PbtA game. Something trapped in a glacier thaws out and causes havoc. (Morgan Eilish)

Boyfriend Dungeon: Life on the Edge: The videogame gets officially adapted into a PbtA game. Explore your inner psyche, confront you fears, and also smooch swords. (Trumoi)

Like Real People Do: A two-player prompt-driven game about a mage trying to keep secrets in a vault but the vault wants to be a real person. (Meghan Cross)

The Mystery Business: Scooby Doo-inspired mystery solving game with no combat. You beat the baddies by setting traps to catch them. (Greg L)

The Flood Bell Tolls in Saint Magnus: A system-neutral campaign set in a drowning city on the verge of rebellion. (Tempest RPG, PWYW)

Also, cheeky last minute addition, the Showcase Zero bundle features games that came out of my playtest community. It’s got my scifi horror game, This Ship Is No Mother, as well as the mecha game of friendship and war, Spectres of Brocken and more.

II. Media of the Week

People Make Games take a good look at jubensha, a gaming phenomenon in China that started out just as spiffy murder mystery party games but has transformed into much more, including what sounds like scripted larps where everyone cries at the end. Really cool story.

The new season of DiceExploder is back with John Harper talking about Psi*Run, a unique game by Meguey Baker that should’ve inspired a slew of games but inexplicably didn’t.

Please consider joining 100+ other patrons and support the newsletter on patreon to help keep me going.

If you’ve released a new game on itch.io this month, let me know through this form so I can potentially include it in the end of the month round-up.

III. Links of the Week

Reviews

Indie Game Reading Club reviews Stonetop, the community-focused iron age fantasy game from Jeremy Strandberg.

It’s a solid review and also features this neat bit of analysis about how PbtA developed: “Monsterhearts spawned the branch of PbtA games that are concerned with constrained, evocative moves with a strong editorial voice. Dungeon World, conceived as a reverse-engineering of Dungeons & Dragons style play, is concerned with efficiently resolving tasks, boiling down the activity to its core essence.”

Cannibal Halfling reviews Free League’s vanilla-ish fantasy game, Dragonbane: “…when we live in the world of Old-School Essentials (also a translation, though from Gygax to English instead of Swedish to English), there’s clearly recognized value in taking an old system, cleaning it up, and sending it back out.”

Explore Beneath and Beyond has a blog series reviewing and discussing all the early adventures and scenarios published for D&D. This is part one.

Possum Creek Games publish their 2023 year in review including completing the mammoth Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast.

DIY & Dragons explains why we should all probably stick to calling it “Jaquaysing”.

A short post about the oldest ttrpg forums – usenet groups.

Misc

ZineMonth 2024 is around the corner and since the “official” site isn’t ready yet, there’s an unofficial” page listing all the projects being crowdfunded. Take a look and submit your own if you’re doing one.

There’s a game jam to create a megadungeon in honour of Jennell Jaquays.

From the archive

Skerples’ cool blog post about how to portray aliens and alien intelligences in your game, approaching it from a bunch of different angles. (Issue #8, Sep 2020)

[nakanotamu]

Why does Mayu dislike Kokomo?

I wouldn't really say she dislikes Komomo so much as she's disappointed in Komomo, which is of course worse.

There are a few wrestlers in Stardom right now whose like, defining character trait is how much they LOVE WRESTLING, just as like, as a physical artform, the techniques, the matches, the fighting. That's not Komomo. Momo loves Stardom, specifically Stars, extra-specifically Stars from around 2018-19, when they were defined by Mayu/Arisa/Saki/Tam as the core of the unit. She idolizes that era of the unit a LOT - that's why she specifically requested to join Stars, even despite Tam and Unagi rolling out the reverse-psychology red carpet to try and invite her to Cosmic Angels.

But even out of those four, Saki is her #1, her bias, her babygirl. For a while she had this belief that Stars is SO GREAT that she would be able to bring back all the former members just by asking them, though she's pretty much gotten over that. But even with her Oedo Tai ways, Momo's love for Saki has not diminished in the slightest. She's uh. Maybe even a little into it.

Okay, maybe a lot into it.

In their 5 Star match, Saki said Momo could either have a free signed photobook, or she could have the two points from their match. Momo said "Easy, the signed photobook, no question. And then I'll just beat you anyway." Saki tried to make her give the photobook back once she actually pulled it off but it seemed like she just liked that too.

So anyway, despite clearly being the best wrestler of all time, Momo performs pretty poorly as far as actual results. She's not really a rookie any more, not that she's extremely experienced, but she's been wrestling for a few years and should kind of be doing better than she does; the idea is she basically loves Stardom too much to just focus on the fact that she's actually there now and should be trying to win.

So she teams with Mayu in Tag League this year. It's a dream come true for Momo and she is SO DETERMINED to make Mayu proud. Mayu is... supportive, basically saying she thinks Momo has potential, but lacks discipline, so she's not sure how it'll go. At one point she says "Komomo could be my best tag partner ever or my worst tag partner ever, that's up to her."

They do... okay? I'd say, better than you'd expect from a "one of the strongest people in the company and an underperforming rookie" team. But Mayu knows Momo's trying, and that's what counts. They do get some wins that are decent for them, but some disappointing losses too.

But their opponents on the last day are Team We Love ToSpo, Saki and Fukigen Death, and Momo shows up looking like this:

(In case you can't make it out, her extra gear all says "Saki Kashima" and "LOVE")

They actually win the match, thanks to Mayu "I definitely don't pay attention to or care about Saki Kashima" Iwatani pinning Saki with her own move, but Mayu is PISSED at Komomo for going into this match where she is supposed to be her tag partner completely decked out in Saki stan gear. Saki Kashima, who did betray her horribly. She says she's not taking it seriously enough, that the rest of Stars give her dirty looks for this stuff, that this is why Hazuki gave up on training her.

Komomo is gutted. She says this is who she is but she doesn't want to let Mayu down and doesn't want Stars to hate her, so she'll reflect on it and work really hard to make them proud. She enters Triangle Derby alongside Mayu and Hanan, and it's not quite clear whether she specifically asked for that to be their team, or if she's just happy with the team she was assigned. Hanan constantly assumes everything in Stars is great so she's happy as a clam. Mayu is pissed though, and while she seems to feel maybe a little bad for coming off so harsh after last time, she also REALLY doesn't want to deal with that shit again.

Idk if you've seen the gifs/clips, anon/readers, of Hazuki slapping the absolute shit out of Komomo in their match in December, but that's what it was about. Komomo was so excited to wrestle against Stars and got caught up doing the kuma dance with Koguma, and Hazuki slaps the daylights out of her not because she hates her or something, but because she's being a Stardom stan first and a wrestler second AGAIN.

So so far, that's been Komomo's story in Triangle Derby. She's trying SO, SO HARD to squash down the stan part of herself, and is managing to try really hard and wrestle seriously! They fought Saki's team, Gold Ship, in their very first match, Momo specifically volunteered to go first, AND tried to call out Saki to prove she would fight her seriously this time. (Saki ignored her, obviously, but once they were in the ring together Komomo did pull it off!) They also fought their Stars teammates again, and once again this time Momo took it very seriously instead of getting caught up like she did in the past. H&M's lost both times, but Hazuki said she could tell Momo was really trying to win and that's the part of her she loves to see.

But it hasn't translated to success. H&M's are the only team in the tournament, aside from Lollipop, Waka Tsukiyama's team, that haven't won a single match yet. And if you know who Waka is you know their goal is literally just to win one match, so that's a pretty pathetic comparison for the team that has Mayu in it.

And that being the nature of tournaments, that's where things are at now. We'll have to keep watching to see how things go for Mayu and Komomo. Personally, I really, really want Momo to fail at keeping her ultra stan aura down and absolutely explode on Mayu, brutally turning on her and at the same time finally getting the full, complete Stars experience. I'm kidding, mostly, but I do hope she leaves Stars. I think if the story ends up just being "she squashed down the part of herself that loves this more than anything and eventually started winning" that would be a major fucking bummer.

As for where she could go if things do shake out that way, I would accept pretty much anywhere. I think lots of people see her joining Oedo Tai to be with Saki, and I wouldn't complain about that at all. However, if I can be selfish and just pick one, well, there's one team that loves weirdoes who are too passionate about the things they care about, that she's teamed with before, that have her old friend with them, that even invited her to join them once.

I don't know how likely it might be, but there's not a shred of doubt in my mind as to where I hope she ends up.

Anyway thank you for reading, have some Komomo pics I love her so, so much that's my WIFE

[shinigami-striker]

September 2024 Birthdays | Sunday, 09.01.24

Here are the upcoming birthdays in the month of September 2024 down below:

Sunday, September 1

Dave Wittenberg (voice of Kakashi Katake in the English dub of the Naruto anime and its video game tie-ins since 2005)

Monday, September 2

Faye Mata (voice of Aqua in Konosuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! and Ling Xiaoyu in Tekken: Bloodline)

Keanu Reeves (official voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024 movie) premiering on Friday, December 20, 2024 in North America)

Tuesday, September 3

Khoi Dao (25th birthday coming soon) (voiced Mauro Abelard in the 2021 video game, Shadowverse: Champion's Battle, which is based on the 2020 anime of the same name)

R. Bruce Elliot (current voice of Captain Ginyu since the 2010 release of Dragon Ball Z Kai through Funimation)

Wednesday, September 4

John DiMiaggio (voiced Bender in Futurama, Bobo Haha in Generator Rex, and Jake the Dog from Adventure Time)

Morgan Lauré Garrett (voiced Shiki Misaki in The World Ends With You: The Animation and Nadeshiko Kagamihara in Laid-Back Camp)

Thursday, September 5

Max Mittelman (voice of Saitama in One-Punch Man)

Friday, September 6

Idris Elba (voiced Knuckles the Echidna in both the Sonic live-action movies since Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022 movie) and Knuckles the Series)

Robin Atkin Downes (voiced Gary in Regular Show and Emperor Nefarious in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart)

Tuesday, September 10

Amanda Celine Miller (voiced MAGES. in Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory in 2013 exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console)

Thursday, September 12

Shelby Lindley (voice of Tsumugi Kotobuki in K-On!)

Friday, September 13 (Friday the 13th)

J.G. Quintel (creator and voice of both Mordecai and High Five Ghost in Regular Show)

Sunday, September 15

Ben Schwartz (voiced Dewey Duck in DuckTales (2017 TV series), Leonardo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Sonic in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie series since 2020)

Colleen O'Shaughnessey (voiced Jazz Fenton in Danny Phantom and both Miles "Tails" Prower (since 2014; replacing Kate Higgins) and Charmy Bee (since 2010) in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games)

Scott McNeil (voiced Wolverine in X-Men: Evolution, Guts Man in the English dub of Mega Man NT Warrior, and Voltar in League of Super Evil)

Tuesday, September 17

Charles Martinet (voice actor; former voice of Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Toadsworth in most of the Super Mario games between 1992 and 2022) (succeeded by Kevin Afghani starting with both Super Mario Bros. Wonder and WarioWare: Move It! and onward since 2023)

Friday, September 20

Sarah Natochenny (voiced Ash Ketchum in the English dub of the Pokemon anime between 2006 through 2023; replacing Veronica Taylor)

Saturday, September 21

Erin Fitzgerald (former voice of Noire/Black Heart in the Hyperdimension Neptunia video game series between 2011 through 2016; replaced by Erica Mendez since the 2017 release of Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online due to complications with the SAG Contracts at the time)

Sunday, September 22

Michelle Ruff (voiced Tsukasa Hiiragi in the English dub of Lucky Star and Crimson Viper in Street Fighter 4)

Wayne Grayson (50th birthday coming soon; voiced Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series) between 2003 through 2009)

Wednesday, September 25

Mark Hamill (voiced Skips/Walks in Regular Show between 2010 through 2017)

Friday, September 27

Alicyn Packard (45th birthday coming soon; voiced Mistress Death in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Hinaichi in the English dub of The Vampire Dies in No Time)

Debi Derryberry (voiced Jimmy Neutron in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and formerly Coco Bandicoot in several Crash Bandicoot video games between 2001 and 2021)

Jad Saxton (45th birthday coming soon; voiced Itsuka Kendo in the English dub of My Hero Academia and Chika Fujiwara in the English dub of Kaguya-sama: Love is War)

[runningout-of-words]

Let your Spotify predict your 2024! Shuffle your repeat playlist and the first twelve songs represent your 2024

Thanks for the tag, @artofdoubt!

Welp, it looks like my On Repeat playlist is currently the Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies soundtrack. So. Those are the only options. Maybe I'll do a second set with my Top Songs 2023 playlist.

January: Carelessly

February: Grease is the Word

March: Sorry To Distract

April: World Without Boys

May: Think Pink

June: I'm In Love

July: Take The Wheel

August: Good Girl Act

September: All In

October: Crushing Me

November: Election Song

December: Pointing Fingers

So there you have it. Based on song title I'm excited for April and June. Based on song content, I'm more excited for September and October. The fact that both gay songs weren't included is homophobic. November's song choice is eerie.

If any of y'all humans are interested in watching Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies and have/make a Plex account, DM me. :) I recommend it. Fuck Paramount+. <3

Just so I can have something with some variety that's probably more in the spirit of this thing, here's the version with my top songs 2023 playlist:

January: first death - TK from Ling tosite sigure

February: Cloudy Day - Tones And I

March: Maniac - Conan Gray

April: Better With - Friday Pilots Club

May: Velodrome - Dessa

June: The Edge - Grant, Nevve

July: POP/STARS - K/DA, Madison Beer, (G)I-DLE, Jaira Burns, League of Legends

August: All Good People - Delta Rae, Vocal Rush

September: Slow Down - Madnap, Pauline Herr

October: Apartment 402 - girl in red

November: Just Fucking Let Me Love You - Lowen

December: forever fifteen - MOTHICA

Well that took a dark fucking turn in December......anyway all these songs are great and you should definitely check 'em out. Lil' bit of a spoiler but content warning on forever fifteen for teenage suicide (hence the name).

Big thanks again to @artofdoubt for tagging me, it's always fun to get interaction from an account that isn't a bot or someone I know in real life. That never happens lol.

For those who feel like it, I'm tagging: @sir-alexander-rowan-knox, @curlzmaster2259, @bioeco, @lepetitmortician, @redfoxraccoon, @escapefromthoughts, @vatican-graffiti :)

[hexenfleur]

Let your spotify predict your 2024! Shuffle your on repeat playlist and the first twelve songs represent your 2024

thank-you for the tag! @tawnyowll sorry it took me 1000 years

January: blister in the sun - mxmtoon

February: Scientist - The Dandy Warhols

March: Green (Secret Songbook Sessions) - Ivory Layne

April: Unaware - whatshisface

May: GIANTS - True Damage (League of Legends)

June: New Face - Psy

July: Get Some - Ghosted, KAMILLE

August: overwhelmed - Royal & the Serpent

September: Vampire - The Orion Experience

October: LION - (G)I-DLE

November: BABY SAID - Måneskin

December: THE BADDEST - K/DA (League of Legends)

tags: @kirythestitchwitch and whoever else would like to

[hansoheeglobal]

Here’s everything you need to know about the 1945-set Korean drama

Netflix’s upcoming K-drama Gyeongseong Creature mixes lush historical drama and mystery for a period piece you won’t forget when it debuts on Netflix in December.

Set in early 1945 when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, the series centers around two young adults who encounter strange creatures born from greed, and then must battle for survival in the city of Gyeongseong — now known as Seoul. But it turns out, there may be something even more dangerous out there than the creatures themselves.

As part of Geeked Week 2023, stars Park Seojun and Han Sohee announced that the series will premiere in two parts in December and January 2024 on Netflix.

Gyeongseong Creature was written by Kang Eunkyung (Dr. Romantic, Kang Chi, The Beginning) and directed by Chung Dongyoon (Hot Stove League).

Who’s in the Gyeongseong Creature cast?

Park Seojun (Itaewon Class, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim) plays Jang Taesang, the wealthiest man in Gyeongseong and the Master of the city’s biggest pawn shop. While Taesang is someone who puts money before justice, all that changes when he crosses paths with Yoon Chaeok while investigating a series of missing person cases.

Han Sohee (My Name, Nevertheless) plays Yoon Chaeok, a famous sleuth who can track down missing people, even ones who are dead. Chaeok possesses a sharp eye and agile survival skills learned from her rough childhood roaming across Manchuria and Shanghai with her father.

They’re joined by Claudia Kim (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marco Polo), Kim Haesook (The Thieves, Start-Up), Cho Hancheul (The Outlaws, Vicenzo), and Wi Hajun (Squid Game, Little Women).

When does Gyeongseong Creature premiere?

Part 1 debuts Dec. 22, while Part 2 will begin streaming Jan. 5, 2024.

[theygotlost]

2023 book log/year in review!

here is a comprehensive of breakdown of every book I read this year!!

Terry Pratchett's Discworld

this was THE YEAR OF DISCWORLD for me. I read more disc books than non disc books. I'm probably gonna take a break from the series for a few weeks to get my breath back. I read my first ever disc book, Going Postal, in december of 2022 so it doesn't technically count as being part of this year, but here's every one that I read starting in january, in the order I read them:

Making Money

Raising Steam 

Guards! Guards! (x2)

Men at Arms (x2)

Soul Music

Feet of Clay

Mort

Jingo

The Fifth Elephant

Night Watch

Wyrd Sisters

Faust Eric

The Wee Free Men

Witches Abroad

Thud!

Monstrous Regiment

The Truth

Lords and Ladies

Hogfather

Rereads

The Fourth Bear is kind of whatever but rereading all the others has cemented them as some of my favorite books and I'm really glad I got to experience them again because I hadn't read them in years 😁

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

How I Killed Pluto (and Why It Had It Coming) by Mike Brown

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams

Other Books

It's kind of embarrassing to see how this list pales in comparison to all the disc books but I WAS reading other stuff I swear!! look!!

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

Sacrifice by Mitchell Smith

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Did Not Finish

Some of these I got through more of than others. the really bad ones I dropped only after 50 pages or so. im sorry women.

Closing Time by Joseph Heller

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde 

The Real and the Unreal, vol. 2: Outer Space, Inner Lands by Ursula K. Le Guin

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Total Stats

Books started: 36

Books finished: 31

Books finished that I hadn't read before: 26 (19 Discworld, 7 not)

I PROMISE I'm not trying to be one of those "30 books in 30 days!" type booktok people, I wasn't aiming for any specific number. I only read this many books because i genuinely really loved them and couldn't stop reading them!!!!!!!

Reading List for 2024

I have an even longer list than this with a bunch of books that I saw or were recommended to me and I thought "oh that seems interesting maybe I'll check it out" but who knows if I will actually get to them. this list below is basically a new years resolution, books that I fully intend to read this year:

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (already currently reading this one, just need to finish it)

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami by Gretel Ehrlich

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Maus by Art Spiegelman

Discworld Reading List

Yes, I am keeping this one separate. I don't necessarily intend to get to all of these by the end of 2024, just some time in the future (I probably will end up reading them all next year anyway LOL). Once I finish these, only the Rincewind and Tiffany Aching series remain. I'm not as interested in those based on the small sampling I got of them, but I'll probably read them all at some point just for the sake of completion.

Moving Pictures

Snuff

Reaper Man

Pyramids

Small Gods

Equal Rites

Maskerade

Carpe Jugulum

it's kind of scary to think that this is all thats left..... idk what im gonna do after that man..... kill myself? start over from the beginning? I guess ill just have to cross that bridge when I get to it ☹

happy new year everypony!!!!

[akwardlyuncool]

Spotify Wrapped 2023

So I'm here to talk about my hella basic year in music lol. If you're new here I got 2 Spotifys, which means I compare them every year to see which one I think is more accurate.

Basically I got my daily driver,  what I use most often and what’s signed in on my phone and then the Spotify I use for/while I’m working on projects on Akwardly Uncool. Anyway the LEFT side is the Daily Driver and the RIGHT is AkwardlyUncool.

So I'mma Start By Proudly Waving My Basic Card:

I might be wrong, but I feel like everybody who was even slightly in the Pop-Punk, Midwest Emo, Post Emo space had Hot Mulligan in their top 5, either artists or songs for 2023. It was just bound to happen and I ain't mad at it, cause have you listened to them?! Just had to acknowledge that real quick lol.

Minutes and Hours and Just Time:

15,850 minutes. About 264 hours. 11 Days.

Not gonna lie, based on some personal calculations, this was a shorter year for consuming music for me. (If you stick around for ACF 2024 I might divulge some of that reasoning, but for now I'll just say, It is what it is and I know why.) That being said I'll try to beef up my numbers again next year.

Top Artists:

Now don't get me wrong I love The Wonder Years down, however I made a collaborative playlist of The Wonder Years and Hot Mulligan with a friend and basically didn't turn it off lol (it was definitely a shower mix for sure) and that's how they ultimately won the award on my main account.

As for the "side" account, which felt like the main this year, Winnetka Bowling League is just one of those groups that's so good to put on and let run. Now of course I have my repeats, that I've been talking about for the last few years and then I added more and so whether it was going to their page and hitting play or seeking out my repeats, I totally get why they won there. They're coming out with a full album next year, so get used to me talking about them 90% of the time. And if you hop on their train, remember I'm the conductor.

As for the other artists who touched the top 5, I saw 3 of them in concert this year, so naturally their numbers are going to be higher. Also Watsky made it cause Intention is not on CD, hopefully yet.

Genre Sandwiches and Top Tracks:

It's Pop-Punk season mixed with Winnetka Bowling League and Watsky, so both sides reflect that. That being said, the main diver is where I play the majority of the R&B, Neo-Soul and the likes, so they're rarely reflected on my second. But KNOW, I am a mix of Pop-Punk and Neo-Soul, always!

Again it's Pop-Punk season or rather Hot Mulligan season and I spent a lot of time learning every word to those two tracks that won, but are too long for me to desire to type out now. "Draw and quarter a stranger to feel some blood on your fingers. You take away, robbery follow trends as a hobby, find flaws in everything else because you don't like yourself. Woe is me!"

Collector vs Alchemist:

They both say essentially the same thing which is that I make and listen to my own playlists more than anything else, but anyone who works with me could have told you that lol. Geniuses.

Winner? Winner? Chicken Dinner?

Again they basically say the same thing this year, which is that we listened to a lot of Hot Mulligan, Relient K is still my favorite band and if i see you in concert you tend to show up on my Wrapped for the year. I will say though that I'm hella surprised that this is the first year Lyfe Jennings didn't show up on my Wrapped and although that makes way for other folks, it's still a little sad lol.

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Hey we made it through Spotify Wrapped Time and now must move on to the more nuanced and obviously better Akward Class Favorites 2023. If you don't know, it where I just go through my year in movies, music, online content consumption and other things of the like, so better lol. Don't have an ETA on when that will go up, but I've taken the notes, so hopefully before the end of December.

[beardedmrbean]

A poll published on Friday by farmer's union circular Maaseudun Tulevaisuus (siirryt toiseen palveluun) shows Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Green) as leader in the outlet's presidential poll.

Out of nearly 1,000 respondents, 17.3 percent said they supported Haavisto to succeed Sauli Niinistö at the next election in 2024. After two terms in office, Niinistö is constitutionally barred from running again.

Following Haavisto was the Centre Party's Olli Rehn, current Governor of the Bank of Finland, and Mika Aaltola, Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

Compared to the previous MT presidential poll in early July, Rehn in particular has lost popularity. In the summer, Rehn received 20 percent of the vote, but now his support is just under 14 percent.

Aaltola, who has not declared any possible candidacy, has been in the public spotlight this year because of his foreign policy expertise, making many television and media appearances. Since the last MT poll this summer, his support has risen from five to eight percent.

Haavisto's support remained unchanged at 17 percent. The Green League MP has previously run for president in 2012 and 2018, losing out to Niinistö on both occasions.

An Yle poll from March showed a similar ranking to the MT poll from July.

A plurality of respondents, 28.8 percent, said that they could not say who they wanted to see as the next president. Other names rounding out the list were Jussi Halla-aho (Finns) at 5.8 percent and Alexander Stubb (NCP) at 4.5 percent.

The poll included 16 candidates from different parties who had received support in previous polls. Respondents were also asked to nominate the candidate of their choice. Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SPD) received the most mentions. Marin has previously announced that she will not run for president in 2024.

The presidential poll was conducted by Kantar TNS Agri between 2 and 7 December with 1,029 individuals responding to the survey. The margin of error is +- three percentage points.

Ex-Centre secretaries react to popularity crash

Ilta-Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) covered doom and gloom within the Centre Party, as its support dipped to 9.0 percent in an Yle poll published on Thursday.

Former Centre Party secretaries Seppo Kääriäinen and Jarmo Korhonen gave their views on the situation to IS.

"There is always work to be done, there is always work to be done. The party leadership, the ministers and the parliamentary group will hopefully now stop [and think] in the face of reality," Kääriäinen told IS.

In the 2019 election, the Centre Party collapsed from being the party of the prime minister to the fourth most popular party, and since then its support has fallen below 10 percent.

The party is now polling behind the Green Party, nearly on par with the Left Alliance.

"The Centre must admit that it has failed completely under a green-left government. The Centre Party must change its line and announce where it will seek support in the elections," Korhonen suggested.

He added that the party's stances are unclear which has whittled away its popularity.

The Centre Party has traditionally relied on rural voters, with much of its support coming from outside of Finland's major population centres.

Despite the current forecast for the Centre Party, the former leaders maintained a shred of hope for the coming parliamentary election in April. This parliamentary term has seen three Centre Party leaders, Juha Sipilä, Katri Kulmuni, and the current chair Annika Saarikko.

Kääriäinen used a colourful Finnish idiom to urge his party comrades not to give up.

"Let's not throw the axe into the well on the basis of a disastrous, dismal election result. We must rally the ranks and get our spirits up! The electoral situation and mood are largely decided during the last month, when people then vote," Kääriäinen said

Nato praise

Finland's Nato application might not be moving forward as quickly as hoped, but behind the scenes Finnish defence forces continue their cooperation efforts with the alliance.

On Friday Helsingin Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) reports on a major Nato cyber exercise that saw Finnish forces join western counterparts for exercises in digital resilience.

The Cyber Coalition 2022 exercise took place last week in the centre of the Estonian capital Tallinn and focused on how the alliance would face potential threats from cyberspace. Of particular significance was the resiliency of critical infrastructure such as energy grids in light of Russia's strategy in Ukraine.

More than 30 countries were involved in the exercise with over 1,000 participants.

HS wrote that the Nato exercise in Tallinn was shaped by recent events in Ukraine as Russia targets critical infrastructure to try and cripple Ukraine's power network.

"However, the real-world scenarios we are training for here, we are currently seeing in Ukraine," Colonel Bernd Hansen of Nato's Allied Command Transformation (Act) told HS.

Major Markus Riihonen, a cyber defence specialist from the Command and Control Systems division of the Finnish Defence Command, was present in Tallinn.

The Finnish participants practised incident management in power distribution systems, air traffic control systems and port logistics systems, he told HS.

In total, about 25 Finns from the Finnish Defence Forces and other authorities took part in the exercise, many of them remotely from Finland.

Riihonen said that the cyber battlespace is a concern every day in the real world, both in Finland and in Ukraine. It can be about intelligence, crime, harassment or even state influence.

"It's a game that's going on all the time, and we're part of it, whether we like it or not," Riihonen said.

Commander Charles Elliott told HS that Finland and Sweden are quite competent in this field and bring a lot to the exercise and to NATO in general.

"Their experience is excellent."

Elliott illustrates the capabilities of Finland and Sweden by recalling another NATO cyber exercise, Locked Shields, in which the countries compete against each other. This year's winner was Finland, last year Sweden.

Deputy Secretary General David van Weel believes that Finland and Sweden will integrate into NATO in terms of cyber activities "very quickly and very easily".

"We look forward to welcoming Finland and Sweden into our innovation ecosystem to maintain our technological edge," van Weel said to HS.

[maxverstepponme]

Unrelated but I think that Nelson Piquet jr’s girlfriend is soooo out of his league . Like my boy looks rough and she’s gorgeous // it's because he's a 37 year old guy who drinks and smokes while his girlfriend is a 25 year old athlete (she's an equestrian) who from what she posts, doesn't like to drink much alcohol, doesn't smoke and eats healthy. Jr is the wag of the relationship, haha. A few weeks ago she was on the podium of a race and Jr posted more stories of her than K posts of Max when he wins. I follow her on IG and she seems like a nice woman, but which nice woman would date Jr? Haha. Not to mention the timing of their relationship is a bit sus. Last November Jr was supposedly still with his ex Paloma, in December he had this new girlfriend. Remember that the brazilian press said that Jr cheated on his other ex, Gabriella, with Paloma. Jr and Paloma denied it, but it reminds a lot of the situation between Charles, Giada and Charlotte, because Gabriella and Paloma were friends (not as close as Giada and Charlotte were, but still, they were friends). By the way, almost all of Jr's girlfriends have the same background: they come from wealthy families and their parents are Nelson's friends. That's how Jr meets them

I don’t understand how someone would date Nelson lol. Even if women don’t know he’s problematic before dating him, he’s a very embarrassing guy 💀

[keiraxlucy]

So here are some reasons why I think they are still together and I think we can all agree it’s looking quite good with all the content we have been getting🤭

1. Lucy posting twice in a row with Keira and K commented and reposted. You wouldn’t post your ex on your instagram for everyone to see it

2. Sharing clothes, bags and shoes. Exes do not do this

3. Seems like Lucy was wearing bracelet K made when she had this power house project

4. They were around each other basically all the time after they got the trophy and took pics with the trophies, that got posted by L - thanks to all the people who filmed these moments

5. After party for the Liga f celebrations - you can see them sitting on the same table and on the pic Lucy is standing behind K

6. Keira comforting Lucy when she looked a bit down

7. Hanging out with Demi, her fiancee and their child + Demi and her fiancee posting pics of themselves with K and L

8. The international kiss day video - no way you would do this with your ex

9. The camp nou video when they were promoting the game and K jumped on Lucy’s back

10. The way Lucy looked at k when she got her POTM at Wembley in April

11. In general, they are often around each other after games (especially the game in mid march but they are with each other basically after every game)

12. Lucy always mentions Keira in interviews, even if she doesn’t get asked about Keira

13. Lucy showing a picture of Keira in an interview that she sent to Sarina in February

14. Tracy likes many tweets about Lucy and she commented under Narla’s post recently

15. In December, Tracy liked a tweet about K and L and how happy they seem at Barca

16. I think it’s possible that Lucy took the picture of K, Leah, G and ellie that G posted

17. Watching the World Cup together

18. Basically every time they are next to each other, they smile big at each other, giggle a lot and talk to each other

19. In December after L scored the winning goal last minute, L put her hands on K‘s arm and hand and held her

20. The way they look at each other

21. A family member commented under Lucy’s surgery post and under the posts with the of to the final

22. Lucy posted a story for K’s first goal at Barca

23. Lucy put K twice in her 2022 recap

24. Barca posted a pic of K with the caption KW on the 30th of December and L liked it

So here are a ´few´ reasons why I think they are still together. Obviously I don’t know but I think there are so many signs pointing to it and we all know how much they care about their privacy and after the euros, everything got crazy and they got tagged in weird edits and stuff like that and privacy seems to be really important for them. And exes do not act like the way those two do even if you break up on good terms, cause a like that break up hurts like hell

Anyway, I hope you all liked my little rant:)

Thank you for sending this in anon I love it, really fuels my hopes (or delusions? 🫣). Agree with all the stuff about privacy and they definitely deserve for those boundaries to be respected, but also agree about the breakup thing - I find it so hard to believe that exes would be doing some of these things, so quite often I look at it from that perspective instead. I try not go crazy about the little things on here (I know I completely fail at it, I know) but I would also like to add to the list:

K putting her hand on L's arm to get something off her shoe after winning the league (I know it was a small thing but it just seemed so natural, she didn't ask and L didn't really react, and I don't really think you'd be that comfortable with an ex of such a long relationship??)

K trying to get L to dance after winning the Brazil game

In the Camp Nou locker room vs Chelsea when there was a space set up for L and her crutches next to K (I know that doesn't indicate much but I thought it was cute 😅)

Also sorry for taking so long to reply to this I know you sent it in almost straight away but some things came up 🫶

[leothil]

2 & 12 🎶

Ah thanks Jay! ✨

2. three last songs you listened to

Lorna @capseycartwright shared a very funny video Taylor Lautner made so I went to check up some related songs.

Mean by Taylor Swift Dear John by Taylor Swift Back to December by Taylor Swift

12. three favourite songs from video games

Ohhh dang this was actually hard!

Still Alive from Portal - a certified classic for good reason!

POP/STARS by K/DA, which was made for League of Legends. Cesspit of a game unless you play with a full team of friends, but it had excellent lore (until Riot decided they were gonna stop with that part of it, rip), and this song is amazing to play in Beat Saber!

Force of Nature by Miracle of Sound feat. Sarah Murray. This is cheating a bit since it's not from an actual game soundtrack, but Miracle of Sound is an artist that makes music based on games he plays and likes, and this one is based on Horizon: Zero Dawn. And it's awesome.

Three songs asks! 🎶

[noloveforned]

no love for ned is back on the holiday train after ten years! tune into wlur at 8pm tonight for four hours of holiday hits. we'll be rebroadcasting the 2012 holiday show at 8pm followed by two hours of new holiday hits at 10pm. if you miss it tonight, don't fear as they'll both re-air (in reverse order) next friday!

last week was the annual 'best of twenty year ago' show. over the course of four hours we heard from over sixty different records released in 2002. if you enjoyed the show, you can also check out the previous six retrospective shows spotlighting 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996 and 1995.

no love for ned on wlur – december 9th, 2022 from 8pm-midnight

artist // track // album // label evil wiener // koo koo // evil wiener presents billy sugarfix's lost gumdrop kingdom // smith level tullycraft // twee // beat surf fun // magic marker dressy bessy // there's a girl // sound go round // kindercore luna // lovedust // romantica // jetset spoon // the way we get by // kill the moonlight // merge the guild league // jet set... go! // private transport // matinée the national splits // afternoon was tight // the national splits // kittridge dear nora // on to september // the new year ep // magic marker darren hanlon // hiccups // hello stranger // candle belle and sebastian // scooby driver // storytelling // matador bikeride // fakin' amnesia // morning macumba // hidden agenda masters of the hemisphere // anything, anything // protest a dark anniversary // kindercore the sinking ships // out of key harmony // out of key harmony // darla track star // feet first // lion destroyed the whole world // better looking esg // it’s not me // step off // soul jazz yo la tengo // nuclear war (version two) // nuclear war ep // matador the blow // jet ski accidents // bonus album // k ugly casanova // things i don't remember // sharpen your teeth // sub pop vermont // ballad of larry bird // calling albany // kindercore matt pond pa // measure three // the green fury // polyvinyl azure ray // the new year // burn and shiver // warm electronic aarktica // nostalgia = distortion // or you could just go through your whole life and be happy anyway (bliss out, volume eighteen) // darla sigur rós // vaka // ( ) // mca múm // green green grass of tunnel // finally we are no one // fat cat the notwist // one with the freaks // neon golden // domino family fodder // tender words // tender words ep // dark beloved cloud flin flon // chicoutimi // chicoutimi ep // teenbeat the capricorns // the new sound // in the zone // paroxysm the apples in stereo // rainfall // velocity of sound // spinart the flaming lips // fight test // yoshimi battles the pink robots // warner bros. of montreal // jennifer louise // aldhils arboretum // kindercore jason anderson // astronaut, astronaut! // something/everything! // k sleater-kinney // oh! // one beat // kill rock stars rhett miller // this is what i do // the instigator // elektra guided by voices // back to the lake // universal truths and cycles // matador elvis costello // forty-five // when i was cruel // island brendan benson // you're quiet // lapalco // startime the arrogants // the distance between us // nobody's cool ep // shelflife cinerama // careless // torino // manifesto saturday looks good to me // diary // love will find you // whistletap acid house kings // sunday morning // mondays are like tuesdays and tuesdays are like wednesdays // labrador the brunettes // holding hands, feeding ducks // holding hands, feeding ducks // lil' chief mirah // cold cold water // advisory committee // k destroyer // this night // this night // merge june panic // see(ing) double // baby’s breadth // secretly canadian doleful lions // surfside motel // out like a lamb // parasol unbunny // swans are fainting // black strawberries // two-ton santa julie doiron // all their broken hearts // heart and crime // jagjaguwar jeffrey lewis // the chelsea hotel oral sex song // the last time i did acid i went insane // rough trade little wings // look at what the light did now // light green leaves // k lambchop // the daily growl // is a woman // merge beck // guess i'm doing fine // sea change // dgc johnny cash // hurt // american iv: the man comes around // american richard buckner // born into giving it up // impasse // overcoat songs: ohia // blue factory flame // didn’t it rain // secretly canadian the mendoza line // the triple bill of shame // lost in revelry // misra okkervil river // westfall // don't fall in love with everyone you see // jagjaguwar the mountain goats // the best ever death metal band in denton // all hail west texas // emperor jones dqe // i'm your girl // i'm your girl // dark beloved cloud swearing at motorists // this flag signals goodbye // this flag signals goodbye // secretly canadian low // in the drugs // trust // kranky