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myloveforhergoeson · 16 days

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Online Songs - Chapter 1

Find me on wattpad + ao3!

Chapter 1: Must Have Done Something Right ~ 3k

With shaking hands, Daisy-Mae Denton walked into the Clear Creek High School Public Library.

What was usually a quaint, quiet space to read or sketch over her summer break was filled with the hustle and bustle of other students now that their first day had ended. The crisp smell of comfort and old paper swallowed entirely by the pungent scent of bodies, bodies, and more bodies.

Plenty of her fellow classmates had flooded the space, taking up the sage green couches she loved to curl up on as friend groups caught up, sitting on the floor between the endless rows of shelving while she tried to weave through to the non-fiction section, picking things up from their assigned spots and setting them down elsewhere just as she turned the corner down another row of books.

The history assignment she clutched should have been the main source of her anxiety, because a multi-page essay handed out on the first day was never a good sign, but in reality, that was the one thing keeping her together as she passed the others her age, keeping her eyes trained on her brown penny loafers for as long as it took to reach the 970s.

If 900 is History and Geography… And 970 is North American History… That makes United States History-

“Maisie! Duck!”

Just as her fingers reached out to trace the 973 call number at the spine of the first US history book, she processed the words and crouched as quickly as she could. A football spiraled right through the area where her head used to be in a perfect arc from one side of the long, four-tiered shelf to the other. Her heart began to painfully pound as the junior who threw it rushed past her, clad in his blue and silver varsity jacket.

Rory Jenkins. They’d been in the same classes together since elementary school.

Shoulders brushing in the narrow space when Daisy straightened herself upright once more, Rory hurried over to his receiver, who was laughing, “Nice one!”

Cheeks heating, Daisy gripped the paper in her hands tighter, hardly able to register what he’d said with all of the blood rushing to her ears.

He’s laughing at you.

The 973s filled her vision, allowing her to confirm her memory of the Dewey Decimal System as the first title about US history popped up. A book about World War Two; Way too late in the timeline. Mrs. Gruben had barely gotten through her introduction to the course and its extensive quarterly essay project before touching briefly on the settling of the first colony at Jamestown right as the bell rang.

Eyes flicking down the line until she found a title related to colonial times, Rory’s laughter filled her ears again. Her awkward duck couldn’t have been that funny. Neither was his mash-up of her first name.

When she turned to correct him, he and his friend were already at the opposite end of the long shelving, backs turned to her as their shoulders shook. One of the librarians at the help desk held a finger to her lips, shushing them as they walked by.

Though she wasn’t able to shake her feelings of unease, grabbing the first book that looked helpful did get Daisy back on track. She was here to get a jumpstart on her work after all.

Please use three primary sources, five secondary sources, and this YouTube documentary to construct your thesis, the student read from the sheet in her hand. Having the freedom to choose what documents and books to use was reassuring, she had no problem scouring the shelves for whatever she needed, and the original Jamestown site was only about an hour's drive away from her hometown of Chester, Virginia. Gathering the necessary sources would be no problem.

It was the printed-out YouTube link that scared her the most.

Neatly placing the assignment instructions on the book's cover and tucking it between her arm and hip, Daisy kept browsing, picking out any title that caught her eye. Checking out books on a desired topic was a snap, especially with such a nice, full library on Clear Creek’s campus; Her almost perfect memory of the building’s layout from a lifetime of visits with her Nana made it even easier.

Holding all the information she could between the lines of the texts as she stacked them up was reassuring. Everything she should need was filled into the bent, yellowing pages, perfectly spelled out for her and her needs. Far better than some silly online documentary she’d have to keep pausing and rewinding over and over again as she wrote down the facts she’d need in her notebook.

By the time she’d found an empty table and set her impressive stack down, most of the other students had trickled out. Silently, she thanked God she didn’t have to ask someone if she could take the seat next to them, that was always so embarrassing. Her watch read 3:30. Had she really been lost among the shelves for half an hour? Nana would be proud.

Besides, she wouldn’t be expected to be home until her Grandad returned from his art studio around 5… If she were there any sooner her older brother, Jay-Jay, would certainly pester her to help him whip up whatever recipe suited his wild whims. Cooking was his thing, certainly not hers, though she was always happy to partake in his impressive dishes.

So, for the time being, she grabbed her spiraled history notebook from the beige messenger bag leaning on the leg of the plastic chair she sat in, and opened the cover to the first book, Jamestown: A Legacy, and dove back in time.

At least, she tried to, but the keyboard of the computer in front of her was annoyingly large. When she allowed the book to fall completely open, the cover hit one of the keys and the bright blue screen flicked on, reflecting off the lens of her bronze-lined glasses.

Daisy wasn’t a technophobe, as her best friend Makana Aukai liked to call her, but she wasn’t all that fond of the way the computers had overtaken her beloved library over the years. Less space for her note-taking, and more space for a blindingly bright monitor in her face while she was trying to learn. The greatest civilizations in history had gotten along just fine without the internet, all the way from Mesopotamia to Ancient Egypt to the modern United States, so why couldn’t she?

Besides, it seemed like the models changed every year. No one had the time to keep learning how to use these new devices for information when the encyclopedia and reference books worked perfectly fine. Or they did when given the proper space to use them.

Her eyes flicked back to the assignment sheet. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to check out the documentary early now that the computer was awake. It’s not like she had a computer of her own to watch it on at home.

Slowly taking her index fingers to the keys, she typed out her student ID into the first box labeled username. White polish on her nails stood out starkly against the black of the keys.

Password was the stumper. Having set this account up two years ago at the beginning of her freshman year, she had no clue what she’d chosen to protect her account.

She typed out password, as that seemed the most logical choice. It’d be impossible to forget the word if it was right there on the screen. The box wiggled after she pressed the enter key.

A small pop-up filled her vision asking What street did you live on growing up?

Letter by letter she squeezed out Hilltop Avenue.

An image of the large white colonial her grandparents owned filled her vision, picturing the expansive green lawn and gorgeous forest surrounding it. The street Jay-Jay taught her to ride a bike on, the large open spaces they’d build leaf piles in when fall came.

Once that answer was accepted, another question appeared. What was the name of your first pet?

That was an easy one, Poppy.

Daisy’s aging calico was her first and only pet, given to her by her grandparents on her tenth birthday. Originally, Poppy had been a way for Daisy to learn about the responsibility of learning to care for another living being, but the other members of her family were just as obsessed with the cat as she was. Poppy’s toys littered their carpet, her food taking up a whole shelf in the fridge, and her fur clung to their clothing as tightly as their little cuddle bug did when everyone gathered in the study in the evenings to read together.

Also accepted, she was then prompted to change her password, once and for all picking password before she was brought to the desktop - An image of the front of her high school during the wintertime, snow blanketing the gorgeous brick buildings. Now, she had to get to YouTube, which she believed was easier said than done.

None of the icons on the left side of the screen looked like the company logo on the videos she’d seen Makana pull up. Awesome.

Internet Explorer looked promising, so she maneuvered the mouse in that direction and clicked on the blue and yellow icon, waiting to see what would happen. A small outline appeared around the picture, but beyond that, nothing, so she clicked it again. Once more, nothing.

So stupid, she thought to herself clicking on it over and over until something changed. Piece of junk!

A few moments later a larger box appeared in the middle of the screen, the pointer of the mouse icon turning into a spinning wheel for a few seconds before the Google search bar appeared on a white background. Now, this Daisy knew how to do. Whatever she put in the smaller bar under the logo would pull up just what she was looking for.

YouTube, her fingers managed, enter.

This time, an unfamiliar image pulled up in the box, and this was usually where Makana shone, picking out something to show her friend to try and “cure” her “internet aversion.” So far nothing she’d picked had made Daisy want to explore the platform any further, but now that she knew it housed history documentaries too, that might pique her interest far more than the poor excuse for sketch comedy Kana always pulled up.

The search bar was a little tougher to find this time, at the top of the tab instead of in the middle, and Daisy pulled the essay instruction sheet out and began to slowly copy the link Mrs. Gruben had added in. One by one, she read the letter out on the paper and meticulously searched for it on the keyboard. Why the letters weren’t in alphabetical order was beyond her, and it probably took her five minutes to struggle out every single letter, but eventually, she was confident enough to hit enter one more time and wait for the video to pull itself up.

Nightmare In Jamestown sounded awfully intriguing, especially given the sordid actions of the settlers against the Indigenous people who had called the land home long before their boats arrived, but that title didn’t show up on her screen.

Check Yes, Juliet - Kendall K popped up instead, causing her eyes to flicker up to the bar where she’d painstakingly typed out the long link. Apparently, she’d gotten something wrong and it had taken her to the wrong video.

Just as she was about to click away and try again, the small black box changed. In its place, a blond boy who looked about her age filled the screen. Beanie and flannel-clad, he sat on his bed, presumably in his bedroom with a brown guitar laid across his lap. Carefully, he adjusted the black and silver lightning bolt strap across his shoulders and cleared his throat.

“Hey, this is Kendall…” He appeared uncomfortable speaking to the camera, eyes flickering upward from the strings like he was looking right at Daisy.

Her chest tightened.

A few more seconds passed and Kendall cleared his throat, taking the pick clasped between his fingers to the strings and strumming out a quick chord. When he smiled, sheepish, two dimples cut into his cheeks. “My friends dared me to try this out - Here goes nothing.”

The video was loud, probably far louder than it should have been playing in a library, but she had no idea how to turn it down. However, the moment he began to sing the words, fingers flying across the fretboard like it was nothing, she wanted to make it even louder.

Kendall’s voice was beyond captivating, siren-like, she’d argue, and she found herself enthralled before he even hit the chorus. It was clear, yet sultry… Smooth, with a gruff edge. Daisy had never heard anything like it.

He kept looking in different directions as he sang, changing it up when he needed to take in more air or switch his strumming pace, but near the end, he looked back at the camera again and she swore he could see her on the other side of the screen, piercing swirls of green and flecks of yellow coming through even with the poor video quality. It didn’t help that he was singing what sounded like a love song…

Cute… She caught herself thinking, propping her chin in her hand as she leaned into the screen, as if it would give her a better view of him. The wall behind him boasted a handful of posters for people she’d never seen before and a bunch of pictures that were too small to make out. A few medals were tacked up by his headboard, and what looked like a hockey stick was propped up by the wooden frame.

Daisy couldn’t look away, attempting to decipher every pixel of the video she could to learn more about this boy with the beautiful voice. Which was, as she came to realize once he sang out a final, “Forever we’ll be, you and me…” completely irrational. Kendall had made this video to show off his musical prowess, not to be studied by some stranger.

Despite this, she quickly gripped the mouse and shook it over the video until the bar at the bottom appeared and she hit the two bars sitting next to each other. Slowly, she followed along the red line indicating the watch time and grabbed the circle at the end, pulling it back to the beginning and starting the video again. Makana did that at all the funny parts of her favorite videos to see them play over and over.

“Hey, this is Kendall…”

Watching the video again felt like the first time, though this time, she closed her eyes and focused on the lyrics, trying to remember all the parts of his face. And maybe, she imagined he was singing to her for a few seconds, before feeling her cheeks heat and shaking the thought out of her head. He certainly didn’t deserve to be ogled over as much as he deserved to be picked apart based on his bedroom.

But, the sweep of his blond hair into his eyes when he looked down at the strings had her head spinning. She couldn’t help her mind from wandering just slightly.

Besides, seeing him on the screen allowed her to skip the fear of meeting someone new and potentially embarrassing or humiliating herself like she normally did. Getting thrust into social situations against her will was at the top of the list of things Daisy hated, but at least this way, she could watch the video and admire Kendall’s talent judgment-free. It was halfway social, especially if she kept pretending the song was meant for her.

Though… I bet he’s sweet when the camera’s off too…

Daisy pulled at the neck of her brown sweater. The library was never this warm. Had someone turned the thermostat by the bathroom earlier as a prank?

When the song ended, she rewound it. Then again. The stack of history books towering beside her all but forgotten.

“Ms. Denton?” Someone behind her asked, and the girl practically jumped out of her skin. She didn’t even pause the video as she turned in the chair, looking at the older woman behind her. Ms. Peabody, one of Nana's friends, who was also the head of the library, stood over her. “Would you mind putting some headphones in if you’re going to watch something?”

The heat creeping up her face from embarrassment quickly turned into the fires of shame. “O-oh. Of course. Sorry… Sorry.”

Scrambling, her hands were trembling at the unexpected interaction before they stabilized themselves on the plastic mouse. Daisy paused the video as quickly as she could.

Headphones. Why didn’t you think of that? Ms. Peabody’s going to complain to Nana next time they see each other.

“Thank you, dear,” The older woman smiled, flipping one side of her cardigan over the other before she turned to walk away. A second later, she turned back. “Is that a friend of yours?”

Eyes widening, Daisy turned from Ms. Peabody’s intense gaze, only to find her line of sight locking with Kendall’s on the screen. Now she was back to flushing with embarrassment, dropping her view to her shaking hands. “No. I just… found this. I’ll turn it off. Sorry.”

“No? What a shame. He’s very handsome.”

Daisy was about to combust in her seat, heart leaping up and down her throat like the drop dower at the Chesterfield County Fair. Brain freezing, she was unable to come up with anything to say before Ms. Peabody smiled, crow's feet by her eyes crinkling before she headed back over in the direction of the help desk.

He was handsome. So handsome Daisy couldn’t breathe. What did that say about her?

This poor stranger, she chastised herself, about to click off the video, gather her books, and head home, before she noticed a section at the bottom of the video labeled Add a comment.

It didn’t appear as though anyone else had, which was shocking to her, considering his undisputable talent. No one had anything to say about the ease at which he played the guitar or his unique tone of voice? Not even one comment about his choice of song or how cute he looked in that beanie?

No… That last one wasn’t as relevant, but the thought swirled in Daisy’s mind regardless.

What a shame, I suppose I should change that.Lacing her fingers together, Daisy turned her palms outward, cracking them with eight satisfying pops. Swallowing thickly, she placed her index fingers on the keys and slowly began to piece her thoughts together.

eee hi! welcome to the first chapter of online songs - i hope you enjoy! <3 be sure to check out my other works in the btr fandom too :) lmk what you think!!

#online songs fic #big time rush #kendall knight #james diamond #carlos garcia #logan mitchell #kendall schmidt #james maslow #logan henderson #carlos penavega

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bigfootbeat · 2 months

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Patterson-Gimlin Film, Greatest Hoax or Evidence Ever

On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin took the Patterson-Gimlin film. It is now a key piece of both the Bigfoot debate and the field of cryptozoology. The movie was shot in Bluff Creek, California, and shows a big, hairy, two-legged animal walking quickly along the bank of a creek while looking back at the camera. This short encounter, which lasted less than a minute, has caused a long-lasting debate that people are still interested in. For believers, the movie is the most important wildlife video ever made. In their defense, they say that the movie's subject has traits that would be very difficult to fake effectively. Supporters, for example, point out that the creature walks naturally and fluidly, and that you can see muscles moving under its fur. This suggests a level of anatomical detail that would be difficult to duplicate with the technology available in the 1960s.

Several experts, including anthropologists and special effects artists, have looked at the movie frame by frame and concluded that the creature's proportions and limb movements don't look like those of a human and are eerily similar to what one would expect from an undiscovered primate. People who believe the story also point to the fact that Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin have stuck by their story of what happened, even though they have been skeptics and made fun of it over the years. Patterson, who died in 1972, stuck to his story until the end. Gimlin, who initially avoided the spotlight, has also kept his word. Skeptics, on the other hand, think that the Patterson-Gimlin film is a clever hoax that is ultimately flawed. They say that the creature in the movie is just a man in a suit, and that the "muscle movement" and "natural gait" might be possible with good acting and smart costuming. Critics often highlight the role of outfit designers and special effects artists. Philip Morris, for instance, claimed to have sold Patterson a gorilla suit suitable for the movie. Skeptics also look closely at the events leading up to the filming, pointing out problems with the timeline and the fact that Patterson, a Bigfoot fanatic, was working on a documentary about the creature, which some see as an excuse for staging the experience. The lack of supporting evidence, such as more clear sightings, physical remains, or undeniable footprints, makes the case against the film's authenticity even stronger. As technology has improved, the argument over the Patterson-Gimlin film has grown even stronger. These days, digital tools for analysis make it possible to look at the video in more detail than ever before. Certain studies have reinforced the authenticity of the movie by revealing details previously unobservable with outdated technology. Others, on the other hand, have found problems that point to a possible fake. There have been many efforts to definitively prove or disprove the film's authenticity, but it remains a mysterious piece of evidence that neither side can claim for sure.

The Patterson-Gimlin movie had a big effect on culture. It has become a symbol of the Bigfoot story, and it has been the subject of many articles, books, and TV shows. The movie's creature, often referred to as "Patty," has come to represent Bigfoot itself. It doesn't matter if you think the movie is a groundbreaking wildlife video or a masterful hoax; it changed the way people thought about and were interested in cryptozoology. In the end, the Patterson-Gimlin film is a testament to the long-lasting wonder of Bigfoot because it sits at the edge of belief and skepticism. It will always have a place in history, both as a piece of video footage and as a cultural symbol that makes us think about how much we know about the natural world and how creative people can be. People are still amazed and skeptical about the movie, which means that individuals will continue to argue about how real it is and whether or not Bigfoot exists for generations to come.

#bigfoot #sasquatch #hoax #wildlife photography #cryptids #north american cryptid #cryptozoology

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poindexters-labratory · 10 months

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Hurricane William Afton Lore Dump Part 2

CW: discussion of the Vietnam War, American cultural conflicts, nihilism, moral injury, and mentions of drug use

Henry and William continued to work on Fredbear (Fred renamed) and Bonnie, planning out the course of the next few years of their entertainment/restaurant business, William learning business and economics from books (he didn't need to go to an expensive school to learn what he could learn in books he could find at the library for free (well, the library card was about 25 cents)), Fredbear and Bonnie were slowly coming to life. However, the world kept spinning around them.

History Bit: July 28, 1965, President Johnson would send out a national televised speech that he would send 50,000 American troops to South Vietnam. American troop occupation would peak in Vietnam in April of 1969, with over 540,000 troops present.

Henry knew at some point he would get called out to fight, but never knew how to bring it up to William. There was never a right time. Even when he eventually did get his draft call in 1967, he still didn't know how to talk about it, but he had to. William did not take the news well and they had a nasty fight about the frightening situation.

Will thought it was absolute bullshit that Henry had to fight in a place he had no business being in and potentially die, and Henry's only choices were fight in a war or imprisonment. Henry desperately tried to get it through William's stubborn English skull that this is what it meant to be American, and it was his duty and loyalty to his father and grandfather who were veterans to defend his country in whatever way he could, and if he died, then that's what happened. William couldn't do anything to change that.

William joined the anti-war movement soon after and Henry left to be deployed in Vietnam for a year. Whenever Will missed Henry, he worked on Fredbear and Bonnie by himself, so he was in that workshop just about every day.

William does not like things being out of his control. Restrained and infantilized is how he's lived his entire life up until now and his best friend may get taken from him, and he's still leaving him stranded in a strange place for a year. America was a scary place to be in the 60s.

A London teenage boy/young man in the 1960s could live a completely different lifestyle than his post-war era father and they could still have pleasant interactions. William watched people physically fight on the news over "destabilizing American traditions and values" because of the various movements taking place at that time.

(Timeline's video called "1967: The Counterculture Year That Changed the World" covered what was happening in the 60s between America and the UK and the differences between the two countries. That video really gave me a lot of information and insight. It's a 40-minute-long documentary.)

There's something interesting to say about William being English during the height of this cultural divide in America. This is a topic I don't see people in the FNAF fandom talk about other than the odd British joke. William Afton not being American should be a bigger deal than it is in this fandom. He doesn't hold the same values that the American population does around this time. English traditions didn't hold water to the intense American conservatism relating to patriotism, consumerism, and family values. He just so happened to find himself in rural, conservative Southern Utah.

This culture shock was tremendous and terrifying. Being a teenager in London meant being free from having the sort of national responsibility that William's father had thrust upon him in the 40s, and although Edward was bitter about this generational freedom, he wasn't opposed to William having fun and being stupid. Sure, there was conflict between generations, but this was violent. London was bright for the first time in years, hopeful, and the closest he's seen to this kind of fighting was between mods and rockers in the streets.

History Bit: Mods and rockers were an English subculture. Mods (short for modernist) wore suits and were very clean, listened to a variety of music, such as jazz, soul, blues, etc., and rode scooters. The rockers were the rival subculture of the mods, a biker subculture, or a greaser in North American culture. In 1964, there was a national moral panic involving these two subcultures clashing in physical fights within Southern England. William may or may not have been involved in one of these physical conflicts.

Suffice to say, William was a hippie in the 60s. He's always been rebellious, and hey, the hippie community was very accepting, the music was great, and the drugs, fantastic. He grew his hair out, started dressing more androgynously, and the year Henry was gone, he got even taller and matured, now 20 years old, almost 21. He started getting very close with Henry's younger brother, Quincy, who was his age. Michael was three and developing well. Everything was going okay, but he still worried about Henry every day.

Henry was not very pleased with him when he came back, spring of 1968. Having a bunch of people who have never been to war, shaming the efforts he made to stay alive everyday was not great to begin with, now his best friend seemingly agreed with them and looked like them and talked like them. This strain almost broke everything apart, but they held onto each other. They cared about each other, and the massive hug William gave him, crying tears of joy that he came back alive was an experience he wouldn't trade for the world.

Of course, there were still massive differences between the two friends, but it wasn't like they were anything alike in the first place. The differences made them endear the other. But there were some problems, especially concerning Henry's outlook on life after returning home.

Before his deployment, he tended to look toward the brighter side of situations. It's one of the reasons William stuck around for so long while he was facing his "teenage blues". Henry was logical, but he wasn't a cold person. Humanity was a logical positive Henry would always turn to whenever William was drowning in pessimistic dread, pulling him to the other side while his mind lied to him.

But war put Henry in a more nihilistic mindset if anything. Nothing truly mattered in the grand scheme of it all. War made him feel like the smallest possible thing on Earth. His entire life he's held a passive view on the world around him, that he couldn't possibly make a difference because he's just one nobody guy from New Harmony, Utah. His involvement in the Vietnam War made these feelings worse as he watched disaster unfold in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it.

William told him that maybe he couldn't make a difference to the rest of the world. But he did make a difference in Will's life.

Together, they worked in making Fredbear and Bonnie come to life, William charmed (and scared the shit out of) the bank's loan officer, bought and renovated a building in town, advertised, attended business and robotics conferences (and the odd art festival), watched Michael grow up and get a baby brother, there were setbacks and accomplishments, and finally, the day came. Summer of 1971, Fredbear's Family Diner was opened.

Intermission of William Afton Fun Facts!!

William's liking for rabbits came from having an imaginary anthropomorphic rabbit friend when he was little that looked like a shadow with very white eyes and teeth. It disappeared whenever someone came around. Probably unrelated.

He's always wanted to perform either in a circus or in ballet

One of his legs is longer than the other, causing some discomfort while running that got worse as he got older

Will knows how to tumble some, taught by Claire, who was a gymnast. Don't let him anywhere near a trampoline, he'll overdo it. This almost means he's done many backflips off the Diner's stage. Some have been unsuccessful, but most of the time, he lands them.

William can play guitar by ear. Very well.

He is very high energy, under-stimulated most of the time, so he is almost as rambunctious as his children. Making him a great dad to play with.

He listens to a wide range of music, having an insane amount of music selections. Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aretha Franklin, Three Dog Night, Janis Joplin, ABBA, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, The Animals, James Brown, The Mamas & The Papas, Jimi Hendrix and a whole lot more. He loves music. (Projecting)

His favorite movies Alice in Wonderland, Bambi, Monty Python skits, 101 Dalmatians, West Side Story, Aristocats, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grease, The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, The Fox and the Hound, and The Sword in the Stone (he's a Disney adult)

Part 3 ->

#fnaf #william afton #fnaf hurricane #henry emily

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rabbitcruiser · 1 year

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Tag der Deutschen Einheit

German Unity Day is celebrated on October 3 to commemorate the unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic into a single federal Germany on the same date in 1990. A public holiday, the day is characterized by concerts, communal meals, speeches by politicians, and fireworks.

History of National Unity Day

After WWII, Germany was divided into four military sectors, each controlled by France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was formed and, on October 7 of the same year, the German Democratic Republic (also known as the DDR — ‘Deutsche Demokratische Republik’) was formed.

The political tensions in post-war Europe did not allow much interaction between the people of the two countries. The DDR exercised strong resistance against repression of its political opponents. Thousands of people were kept under surveillance by the German police.

On September 4, 1989, a peaceful protest was carried out by the people of Leipzig against the DDR government. More such demonstrations in other DDR cities took place calling for political reforms and the opening of the borders. And on November 9 that year, the checkpoints between the two German countries were opened and people could travel freely once more. This date marked the ‘fall’ of the Berlin Wall.

Democratic elections further paved the way for the people to come together in the DDR. Finally, in August 1990, the leaders of both countries signed the Treaty of Unification, and Germany’s unification was made official on October 3, 1990.

The Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate are two very important symbols of Germany’s division and the unification of Germany in 1990. Images of both of these are put on display on German Unity Day all across Germany. The day is celebrated as a three-day festival around the Brandenburg Gate and at the Reichstag around Platz der Republik.

National Unity Day timeline

May 23, 1949

Federal Republic of Germany Forms

The German sectors of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States come together to form the Federal Republic of Germany.

October 7, 1949

German Democratic Republic

The sector controlled by the Soviet Union becomes the German Democratic Republic (also known as the DDR — ‘Deutsche Demokratische Republik’).

November 9, 1989

Berlin Wall Falls

On November 4, an estimated 50,000 people gather for a mass protest in East Berlin — five days later, the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbles.

August 31, 1990

Unification Treaty is Signed

The Unification Treaty is signed, allowing a reunited Germany to become fully sovereign the following year.

National Unity Day FAQs

What is German Unity Day called in German?

German Unity Day is called ‘Tag der Deutschen Einheit’ (The Day of German Unity).

What does German Unity Day celebrate?

The Day of German Unity is Germany’s national holiday. It commemorates the German reunification in 1990 and is celebrated with a festival around Platz der Republik, Straße des 17.

What is closed on German Unity Day?

German Unity Day is a public holiday in Germany so post offices, banks, and many businesses are closed. Nearly all stores are closed, although a few may be open in some city areas.

How To Celebrate German Unity Day

Celebrate the local cultureCelebrate with all the locals at the Charlottenburg Palace. Experience the neighborhoods of Berlin while taking a stroll through Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, and Mitte.

Watch films and documentaries about GermanyThere are many famous documentaries about Germany and the Berlin Wall. Some of them include “Busting the Berlin Wall,” “Stasi – East Germany’s Secret Police,” “After the Wall: A World United,” “Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall,” and more.

Visit the specific city of observanceA famous feature of German Unity Day is the observance of the day in one of the 16 states’ capitals every year, which hosts the celebration.

5 Interesting Facts About The Berlin Wall

Two walls: The 27-mile barrier separating Berlin into east and west had two concrete walls that had a 160-yards-wide ‘death strip’ in-between with watchtowers, guard dogs, floodlights, machine guns, and more.

Death on the Wall: More than 100 people died while trying to cross the Berlin Wall, by gunshots, fatal accidents, or suicide.

The great escape: More than 5,000 people escaped by either going over or under the Berlin Wall.

Berlin in Vegas: A piece of the Berlin Wall is now in the bathroom of the Main Street Station Casino in Las Vegas.

In memory of Ida Siekmann: The Berlin Wall cycle route has a glass plaque honoring Ida Siekmann who was the first person to die while trying to cross the wall and flee to East Berlin.

Why German Unity Day Is Significant

It celebrates the unification of Germany: The establishment of Germany as a federal country after years of division since 1945 and the unification of East and West Germany is worth celebrating.

Fall of the Berlin Wall: It commemorates the day when the wall dividing communist East Germany and West Germany crumbled. This was just five days after almost 50,000 people gathered in a mass protest in East Berlin.

Dissolution of the German Democratic Republic: The date marks the dissolution of the German territory controlled by the Soviet Union and the day it joined the Federal Republic of Germany.

Source

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miraclemaya · 6 days

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I wanted to like 'to the stars', I really did. I tried to read it on a couple different occasions, and I think its core concept of "military sci fi in the wraith timeline" genuinely has some potential, but it's just

it's so fucking boring.

it's not for everyone. the prose is very slow and sometimes mechanical, but i remember enjoying it. people often criticize it for after the first few chapters spending an entire arc with mami watching a history documentary, but personally i enjoyed that as it just immediately demands from you participation within the world it has created.

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toiletpotato · 5 months

Text

Get to Know Me Game!

Do you make your bed?

Yes. It is part of my morning routine!

What's your favorite number?

3 or 5 or 42

If you could go back to school, would you?

Yes, absolutely! If I could afford it, both time and money wise, I'd love to just study and learn everything I can. If it were more worth it I'd love to be (an academic, not medical) Dr. Potato. Perhaps in another life/world/universe/timeline.

Can you parallel park?

I have never tried it! It is a skill I have yet to learn.

A job you had that would surprise people?

I have yet to be employed!

Can you drive a manual car?

Not yet! (But I found out today that apparently learning how to do so is in my future).

Tattoos?

Not yet! I'd love to have something floral one day, preferably by an artist of colour/someone with experience tattooing colourful pieces on brown skin.

Favorite color?

I love all colours! Though I'm quite fond of bright colours or pastels. Especially pinks, purples, and oranges!

Do you like puzzles?

Yes, I do!

Any phobias?

I have many that I would rather not share. Many of them are common.

Favorite childhood sport?

I was not good at it in the technical sense, but I enjoyed soccer. I received a certificate for the fact that I never stopped smiling.

Do you talk to yourself?

Yes, a lot! Sometimes I have my own potatocast, which no one can listen to as it only exists in my mind.

What movies do you adore?

Oh, I love a documentary that discusses the history of a particular medium, or ones that discuss relevant social history. I also love musicals and comedies, and musical comedies. I love exploring international cinema as well. Oh! Also, fun theatrical adaptations. I love movies that reflect experiences of the diaspora. Some actual titles: Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, Badhaai Do, Four Samosas, Theater Camp, and The Wiz

Coffee or tea?

Coffee as tiramisu and tea with a frightening amount of condensed milk. (Secret third answer: milk or juice or water).

First thing you wanted to be growing up?

A firefighter. I do not want to be a firefighter any more.

Next up:

@emo-and-dumb @thottybrucewayne @theinfinitedivides @re-lunastos @snixx @unholybinchicken

#(Psst... if anyone knows where one can watch any of Marlon Riggs' documentaries... my askbox is open)#(my uni isn't giving me access to it via kanopy or proquest unfortunately :( )#thank you for the tag; Ice - this was fun!#these are no pressure tags by the way! if you don't want to do it - no worries :D!!

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beatle-yee · 8 months

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what do you think of this alternate timeline where gen 4 of the rockafire gets released in the early 00's?

Rockin' into the New Millennium: Gen 4 Rockafire Explosion (Early 2000s)

In this alternate timeline, Creative Engineering Inc. unveils their most ambitious project yet: Gen 4 of the Rockafire Explosion in the early 2000s. This iteration explodes onto the scene, pushing the boundaries of animatronics and entertainment while staying true to the band's original spirit.

Technological Spectacle:

Servo Revolution: Gone are the limitations of hydraulics. Gen 4 boasts advanced servo motors and early AI, enabling lifelike movements, fluid dance routines, and expressive facial features.

Immersive Stage: Lasers, synchronized lighting, and interactive projections transform the stage into a multimedia extravaganza. The audience becomes part of the show, triggering effects and animations through touchscreens and voice commands.

Musical Evolution: The band's repertoire expands beyond classic rock, incorporating popular hits from the 2000s, remixing their own classics, and even dabbling in genre-bending mashups.

Holographic Collaborations: The show features special guest appearances, not just with live musicians, but also with holographic projections of iconic music legends, creating a mind-blowing visual experience.

Character Evolution:

Amplified Personalities: While retaining their core traits, the characters' quirks are cranked up to eleven. Billy Bob becomes the ultimate hype man, Looney Bird's inventions become even more outrageous, and Dook's spacey antics reach interstellar levels.

Dynamic Costumes: Their iconic looks get a modern makeover, incorporating trends of the early 2000s. Rolfe dons a hip-hop-inspired outfit, Mitzi rocks a colorful cheerleader uniform with a futuristic twist, and Fatz sports a bold new hairstyle.

Individual Showcases: Each character receives dedicated solo segments highlighting their unique talents and personalities. Fatz showcases his beatboxing skills, Rolfe pulls off impressive magic tricks, and Mitzi leads the audience in interactive dance routines.

Beyond the Stage:

National Tour: The Rockafire Explosion embarks on a nationwide tour, performing at major venues and children's festivals, captivating audiences across the country.

Interactive Website: A dedicated website allows fans to interact with the band virtually. They can vote on song requests, play online games featuring the characters, and even submit their own jokes and ideas for future shows.

Merchandise Mania: A wider range of merchandise is released, including plush toys with hidden voice chips that play iconic soundbites, video games featuring the band in interactive adventures, and behind-the-scenes documentaries showcasing the creation of Gen 4.

Showbiz Transformation: Showbiz Pizza undergoes a complete overhaul, becoming a themed entertainment complex. Interactive exhibits allow guests to learn about the history of the Rockafire Explosion and even create their own mini-animatronic characters.

But it doesn't stop there:

Animated Series: A new CGI-animated Rockafire Explosion series airs on popular channels, introducing the band's adventures and humor to a whole new generation of fans.

Theme Park Attraction: A dedicated Rockafire Explosion ride is built at a major theme park, transporting guests on a thrilling musical journey through the characters' world.

Charity Partnerships: The band partners with children's charities, donating proceeds from merchandise sales and even hosting special benefit concerts.

This is just a glimpse into the possibilities of Gen 4 Rockafire Explosion in the early 2000s. This timeline shows how the beloved characters could have evolved and adapted to a new era, staying relevant and engaging for a new generation of fans. What other exciting twists and turns would you like to see in this alternate timeline? Perhaps a virtual reality concert experience, a robotic pet version of Billy Bob, or even a Rockafire video game with interactive stories? The possibilities are endless!

Actually an interesting concept however this timeline does expand on what would happen if we were past Gen 2. Since this is in the early 2000’s I could see them sporting that cool look like CEC avenger era plus them expanding into theme parks is also and unique concept.

#the rock afire explosion #alternate universe #alternate timeline

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screaminlonglive · 1 year

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Karma is an Album

In defense of evidence of Taylor Swift’s lost album

Alright, Swifties. It is time for a master post. There is too much evidence to support the theory of the lost album Karma, and it is time to put it all together in one place. I have done everything in my power to include any small indication of the existence of Karma, but please feel free to dm / comment with evidence not included in this post, and I will update as needed. I am going to create this document in as close to a chronological timeline as humanly possible. Strap in.

If you can watch the Miss Americana documentary, I highly recommend that you do so and listen very carefully to Taylor Swift when she addresses the timeline surrounding this possible experience. I also will reference and recommend that you watch the long pond studio sessions. Understanding the timeline from Taylor’s perspective and hearing the way she addresses the timeline really helps put you into her shoes and understand what she could have been experiencing and what she may have gone through that may have caused her to scratch an entire album. What is Karma? For many years, Taylor Swift fans have speculated that Karma is the name (or even code name of - consider that she revealed she uses code names like with the woodvale chaos) the album that Taylor Swift was set to release in 2016. Fans theorize that Karma was shelved following the Kanye drama and Taylor Swift disappeared from the public eye for nearly a year in November of 2016 instead of releasing her sixth studio album. Taylor “rose up from the dead” in August of 2017 to release the lead single from her album, “Look What You Made Me Do.” As much as it pains me to detail this drama, let’s recap 2016, as this is truly where the foundation of where our story begins. First, let’s talk about the Kimye drama. Unfortunately this is critical to how the Karma story plays out, so let’s take a quick review. During the VMA awards in 2009, a 19 year old Taylor Swift was accepting her moon man for Best Video of the Year. 32-year old Kanye West infamously got up on stage, took the microphone from Taylor, and said “I am really happy for you and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” They are seen together in 2015 at the Grammys, but we won’t go too deep into the Kanye/Taylor timeline. Let’s flash-forward to February of 2016, where Taylor Swift and Kanye have seemingly mended fences to a certain extent. Kanye debuts his song “Famous,” which has the lyric “I still feel like me and Taylor might have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous (goddamn).” Facing backlash from twitter,Kanye reveals that he got permission from Taylor. (we later learn in a statement that Taylor’s publicist Tree Paine put out that they spoke in January of 2016.) Although Taylor herself does not explicitly address the lyric, her friends come to her defense. Her younger brother Auston posts his “spring cleaning” video, trashing Kanye merch. Taylor makes history as the first woman to win AOTY twice at the grammys for 1989, and seemingly addresses how she feels about the Kanye drama in her speech. She says “"[A]s the first woman to win album of the year at the Grammys twice," Swift said, "I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame." She continued, "If you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment." Although we do not see much public drama, we can assume there was some going on behind closed doors over the next few months. Things get messy again publicly in June/July 2016. Kim Kardashin interviews with GQ and support’s Kanye's claim that he called and got Taylor’s approval for the song. Tree Paine releases a statement denying the claims, and Kanye drops the music video in late June and Kanye also appears on SNL and is recorded backstage calling Taylor “fake.” Controversy was re-ignited by the audio clips from the 2009 VMA incident included on the video as well as most memorably, the nude wax figure of Taylor Swift Kanye is seen in bed with. Kim discusses the making of the video and the ongoing controversy in the July 17 episode of KUWTK, which is the date we reach the absolute peak of this drama. Kim also releases footage of the Taylor/Kanye phone call to her snapchat account in what’s known as “snapchatgate.” This footage is clipped, and paints Taylor out to be a liar. Kim throws more fuel on the fire with her famous “national snake day” tweet the following day, and followers flood Taylor swift with snake emojis. Taylor finally publicly explicitly address the Kanye drama with her instagram post that concludes “"I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009” #KimExposedTaylorParty begins to trend on twitter, followed by #TaylorSwiftisoverparty. Kanye denies that he was trying to “take down taylor” in his 2016 VMAs speech.

So what is Taylor up to during this time?

It is important to note that up until the 2016 drama with Kimye, Taylor Swift released new albums every 2 years like clockwork: Debut- Oct 24, 2006 (last thursday in october)

Fearless- Nov 11, 2008 (second tuesday in november)

Speak Now -Oct 25, 2010 (last monday in october)

Red - Oct 22, 2012(last monday in october)

1989 - Oct 27, 2014 (last monday in october) It is kind of interesting that with the exception of Fearless, they are all even released during the last week of October - numerically within 5 days of one another. Her last three albums were released EXACTLY two years apart if you consider that all three albums were released on the last monday of october. I also want to point out that although Friday releases are standard, Taylor Swift has released many singles on this date, she did not adhere to this “standard” when releasing her albums.

Taylor likes to debut a change in hair / look and this had come to signify the start of a new era in Taylor’s career. For example, she let vogue cut her bangs for the first time going into the red era and she had her hair cut at the end of red tour to signify going into 1989.

The 1989 tour ended 12 December 2015, the day before Taylor’s 26th birthday. The Grammy’s was a couple of months later, and spring of 2016 became known as the “Bleachella” era - Taylor went to coachella for the first time with her extremely bleach blonde hair - Vogue wanted to debut her as a “Rock ‘n Roll Chick” for the May issue (6 months pre-expected karma drop date). This is also the same cover that she does the 73 questions interview where she says “Karma is real.”

During this time, Taylor also wrote ‘This Is What You Came For’ under pseudonym for then-bf Calvin Harris (we will discuss this later in rep era).

Taylor performs only once this year and it is known as “The” 2016 concert for this reason. She performs a “greatest hits” concert for Formula 1.

Taylor also was a co-chair for the 2016 Met Gala where she met Joe Alwyn this year. We can discuss Tom Hiddleston as well, but let’s just thank him for inspiring Getaway Car and move on with the timeline. Thanks, Tom. And of course after meeting earlier in the year, Taylor and Joe began to date while Taylor was in hiding. Following her timeline from the Lover Diaries, she writes that they had been dating for three months as of Jan 3, 2017. It is interesting to note that other than this entry and the entry that she made in 2016 stating that “this summer is the apocalypse,” the lover diaries are devoid of any entries after 2015. She makes no mention on the process or lyrics of reputation or lover in the way she gave us insight into other eras of her life. It could have been “too close.” at the time, but since we are going to be thorough, I felt that it was worth noting when I searched for clues in the diaries I found nothing notable other than the lack of any content from this time period. Consider the dichotomy of the experiences that Taylor was undergoing in 2016. She was simultaneously on top the world for this incredible achievement for not only a second AOTY grammy win, but in another genre. But if you listen to her describe this time in the Miss Americana Doc, you realize how incredibly alone she feels at the time. We also know that Taylor basically spent the entire year constantly biting her tongue while kimye continued to take public shots over and over again throughout the year.

Taylor has always written songs - she may have taken a short break but this could have been more of an issue with her record label not letting her release the kind of music that she wanted to. This was going to be the last album that she recorded with this record label and she had to be extremely **”calculated”** in her decisions surrounding TS6.Taylor was much older and wiser than when she first signed the BMR, and you cannot convince me she didn’t know what could happen to her masters. Taylor took surprise songs and RAN with them on the rep tour, and no one can ever convince me otherwise: Taylor knew that could be a sort of “bye for now,” because she had no idea what was at the end of her contract with BMR. Taylor left easter eggs about stolen masters in LWYMMD because that did not happen overnight. It may have been a wildest nightmare for Taylor, but she is smarter than to have been completely utterly shocked at how that situation played out. But let’s go back to 2016.

Fans theorize that Karma is more of a punk / rock album and possibly was a little more aggressive and possibly angry than her previous work. She was in the business of reinvention. (Also if you haven’t seen the live “rock” version of Bad Blood,” please go do yourself a favor and watch that and then come back. We will wait.) But with her reputation plummeting, it seemed increasingly obvious as the year progressed that it would have been a bad idea to put out an album with that kind of negative vibe at that time. This could have been her label’s decision, her decision, or a little of both.

We do know that she was very likely writing songs while she was on tour, as we know touring and being with her fans inspires her. Whether she made an entire album yet, we couldn’t say of course. But we know that Taylor never stops writing songs. It is one of her greatest outlets. To those who argue that Taylor told us “I don’t know what’s next” - are you really telling me that she was going through some of the most difficult parts of her life and not writing songs? Please. She was writing songs. You’ll note that Reputation did not have any deluxe tracks, and it is a very carefully selected, sonically cohesive 15 songs. No further explanation. Taylor created other music in this time, and no one would ever be able to convince me otherwise.

Following the peak of the kimye drama, Taylor Swift disappears from the public eye entirely for nearly a year. She is also said to have begun recording reputation at this time as well (September 2016). Although we have considered that her Earth, Wind, and Fire cover may have referred to an anniversary with Joe, the “28th night of September,” could really represent any one of many “transition moments” happening in her life simultaneously. - possibly the moment she decided to shelve karma and create a concept album for reputation.

Fast forward through the dark Taylor-less ages because as we know, the world moves on another day, another drama, drama.

Taylor Swift’s social media accounts are all famously wiped clean and she starts the reputation era with a literal blank slate. She teases and releases the lead single, Look What You Made Me Do. Let's take this point to go over the (known) easter eggs for Karma in this video, followed by …Ready For It? And Delicate. There are so many easter eggs in reputation - she didn’t give public interviews during this era. In her first interview for the lover era, she stated that she wanted to communicate with fans and she left SO MANY easter eggs in the reputation era. Particularly she notes that she likes to leave easter eggs on clothes.

LWYMMD released 24 August 2017 (monday)

-Digging up different iterations of herself - “digging up the grave another time.”

-dead taylor dug herself out of her grave and then buried her other self.

-Nils Sjöberg is pictured in the cemetery as well (anagram of ringless job?) -last video we saw was herein OOTW video - same dress

-”the world moves on another day, another drama, drama. But not for me, not for me, all I think about is Karma.” -bird cage Taylor dress all in orange -> and sings “they once belonged to me”

-Taylor is physically in the vault and then seen stepping out of it - a representation of her vault tracks being set loose with her re-recorded albums.

-5 cats in the vault including taylor - blue, pink, red, yellow. We do not see them take their masks off, but they follow Taylor out of the vault unmasked. - the person in the Orange shirt last in line

-vault within the vault in the background

-unchained handcuffs in scene where taylor hits pile of money with a baseball bat -no speak now Taylor in the tower

-TS6 with a new Taylor - grounds the plane and it becomes “reputation” instead.

-different Taylors at the end

Delicate - Taylor isn't being seen

Orange columns in subway station graffiti with “Track 5”

Ready for it

Spider boy - “I see how this is gon’ go” - Scooter is the spider boy

“Naked” taylor in glass closet resists change - chaining her at first but then empowers her

-same imagery we see on the eras tour during the LWYMMD set - with different Taylor’s in glass closets. When they break free to come after her, she is already rising above them all

The Orange Vault Taylor becomes sort of the first “symbol” of orange as the color representing Karma. She releases two magazines, one of which is orange. Taylor also released an orange limited pressing of reputation on vinyl. Some fans theorize this is an easter egg and some think that it could have been “leftover” from the karma plans and something taylor “used up.” Since we spent all of that time talking about Kanye, I want to point out something I did not realize until I started the research for this post. I am not myself a Kanye fan, so when I saw the album cover for “Life of Pablo,” I audibly gasped. Not only does the print remind me of half of the reputation cover, the color is strikingly “karma”orange.

Now that Taylor is back and in full force, let’s enter the lover era. Taylor makes her directorial debut with “The Man,” and we are first introduced to “The Man Wall.” in 13th street station.

In the Lover music video, we were shown different rooms in different colors meant to represent different eras in Taylor’s career. The yellow Fearless room is upside down, much like Fearless is written backwards here. Although fans did not know what it meant at the time, many people concluded that this is how Taylor would signify where she would begin her re-recordings. She emphasized that “it’s a clock,” and at the time of this writing, the rerecords have been announced in this order: Fearless, Red, Speak Now. If the announcements continue to follow the clock, Taylor would announce reputation, Taylor Swift (possibly?) and end with 1989. You’ll notice the other word written on the wall is the word “Karma,” once in blue and once in orange. Fans speculate that the blue Karma represents the single and the Orange at the midnight position represents the Album. Following the clock, the release schedule would go 199 -> Karma, as Taylor always intended. Note that the word “MISSING” appears atop the poster on the karma wall. Here’s where it gets even more interesting. karmaonthewall.com redirects to Taylor Swift’s website. You are greeted with a page that says “OOPS... LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING'S MISSING!” and the www. Becomes “https://www.taylorswift.com/aftermidnightsitstarts” …. after midnights, it starts. Of course we know that she has an album called midnights. Track 11 of midnights is Karma - a sleepless night, or many sleepless nights. Some fans speculate that each thing she “lists” in the song” could correlate to a song on her lost album of the same name. There’s yet another theory that says these lists refer to other artists under scooter’s control. It is interesting to point out that Karma is Track 11 and if she released Karma after Midnights, it would be the 11th album. When Taylor announced the track for Karma in MMWM, she broke her “usual release cycle” of videos - much like she broke her usual release cycle of the album in the first place. The “Larger Than Life” Taylor that appears in the antihero music video and in the eras tour is wearing the same outfit she wore in the MMWM announcement video for karma. This could represent many things, but I think it could nod to something “bigger” than just a song called karma. This is also a truly vintage 70’s shirt that she is wearing, not a modern iteration of an older fashion. The spotify canvas for the song Karma is arguably orange. Blake Lively made an instagram post that mirrors “The Man Wall” with an orange background. Let’s talk about the Eras tour a little. I don’t know exactly how to describe how it felt to watch the moments leading up to the opening, but I felt a wave of immeasurable emotion at her song choices in the leading moments. When I first heard Lady Gaga’s Applause I was immediately a little sad. I thought about how Taylor was pop culture so much that pop culture became her and of course “I live for the applause,” brought up echoes of Taylor in Miss Americana talking about how all she lived for was approval. I am not gonna lie, I almost cried, and not because Taylor was coming soon. And then the countdown clock started and You Don’t Own Me came on and I felt yet another crashing wave of emotion at this choice as well. I should stop here and note that people have had many different reports on when the countdown clock starts. I have caught very few live streams in time, but I have seen 02:23 a few times and this could mean a lot of things - even representing the year she is doing this tour. I saw a fan online theorize that 02:29 could represent the leap year upcoming in 2024, but I haven’t seen a 02:29 countdown. I don’t know what it means, but I did think it was worth mentioning. Taylor would do something as completely unhinged as plan to release a skipped album on a leap day, so do not put it past her. Although, I don’t think that’s a clown car I ride in, don’t forget the “it still feels like March '' written on an orange sticky note from her spotify advertisement during the pandemic - could that be a clue? The extra day in February could refer to something that “feels like March.” Back to eras tour. It’s important to note that Taylor concludes the tour with the song Karma and walks through an orange door at the very end of the show. Much in the way that Taylor dives into her midnights era on the tour, she also walks into her karma area just after the midnights era ends.

Let’s talk about the green folklore outfit. It’s a custom Alprerta Ferelti - the original is orange. She debuted this as well as her orange 1989 outfit at her first show on the 13th. She also performed Speak Now this night, which would soon be announced as her next re-record. I think it's safe to say Taylor is signaling with the color changes of her costume changes, and equally safe to say that no one has yet deciphered the pattern yet. I still think this is worth nothing, as Orange has become a symbol for Karma. We also need to discuss Rebekah Harkness. Yes, that one. Her third husband nicknamed her Karma. Taylor said she wanted to write the Rebekah Harkness story for a long time on long pond, and this could be a call back to many things - mostly a nod to the fact that she’d been researching and thinking about Rebekah for a long time - likely since she bought the house, aka just before Karma would have been thought of. Taylor wore a white jacket with her albums emblazoned on it at her AMAs performance to accept her artist of the decade award. She was joined on stage by 8 kids, seemingly representing each of her albums, but only 7 albums that we knew of existed. We now have the Karma music video since the time of initial writing, and so many other easter eggs to unpack here. I love the countdown clock in the final moments of the video, but this entire post was inspired by the first few seconds of the song Karma, and that’s what I will conclude with. I have been completely baffled that in all of my research on Karma, I haven't seen a single person point out that the beginning of the track sounds like an old album or like a dusty record. My partner picked up on this clue immediately because it was so obvious to us as older millennials. However, I didn’t see anyone point it out online. Taylor visually emphasizes this at the beginning of the music video for those who didn’t hear it automatically when listening to the track. Whether or not you believe in Taylor’s lost album, I hope you enjoyed reading the evidence I have compiled here today - and will continue tacking onto this post as time goes on. I can’t possibly have found all of the easter eggs, but I have been as thorough as I could in the making of this post. Please feel free to comment or message me with things I may have missed, because I want this to be a true master post. Much like the ten minute version of All Too Well was once a myth but is now a reality, there is a chance you, like me, believe that Karma is real…

#taylor swift #karma #karmaisreal #taylurking #karmaisanalbum

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drjohnweston · 2 years

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Being Human Q&A 17th December 2022

Everything I can remember from the Q&A, under the read more because it's pretty long!!

Unfortunately, due to Covid, Kate Bracken was unable to attend the event.

Toby Whithouse on being asked why he had selected Making History 4.07 as the episode to be shown: "It was the most ambitious series where we changed the genre slightly, having two timelines running alongside each other with one happening 25 years in the future. This was the episode where those timelines converged."

They then aired the episode before Toby was joined onstage by Jason Watkins and Damien Molony.

Question to Toby: “Where did it all start?"

Toby had been asked to write a TV series about 3 university friends buying a house together, which after struggling to come up with ideas, eventually evolved into a person with anger management issues, a person with agoraphobia, and a person with addiction issues sharing a house, with one of the characters being named George.

At the same time TW had also written a short film romcom about a werewolf named George. The two ideas merged together to give the characters a story and the connections were made between agoraphobia and being a ghost and addiction and being a vampire.

The very first draft of the script was written purely as a sitcom and the second draft of the script was written as if it was an independent American short film.

At first people could not understand that it was a combination of horror, comedy, and drama, but Toby Whithouse thought that this was much more representative of real life, where we are never confined to one genre.

TW also spoke about how the stories he connected with the most were the ones that took place in our world. He said that “The best escapism was into stories that could take place around us.” And that “I was writing for 14-year-old me.”

On the subject of Being Human spanning genres, Jason Watkins added that in reality, at their most horrific moments, people make jokes. He also said that there was “Something colloquial, speakable, domestic, and modern” About the Being Human script.

Q: Were there any references to favourite vampires when creating the show?

TW spoke a little about the mythology and the limitations they were under. “If you can have the vampires only appear at night that is a production nightmare, a scheduling nightmare.”

He also spoke about two new pieces of mythology added in series 4 and how one they thought was perfectly logical and that they would get away with, and another that they thought there was no way the fans would forgive them for and would accuse them of “making shit up.” However, when the series aired those two pieces of new mythology, toxic werewolf blood and Rent-A-Ghosting vampires were received completely the opposite way around and TW was shocked that people hated toxic werewolf blood as a concept so much.

Q: What was it like for Damien Molony joining the series and how did he prepare?

When he went for his audition, he had been acting in the play Tis a Pity She’s a Whore and was spending every night being covered in fake blood from head to toe “like in Carrie”. He said that when he travelled down to the audition, he’d been unable to clean off all of the fake blood and thought that might have helped him to get the part, that the casting agents probably went “wow that guy’s really method.”

After getting the role, Damien watched all the previous series of Being Human and was sent 10 DVDs of vampire films to watch as a crash course 5 days before filming started. He was also given a playlist of music that Hal would listen to and talked about OCD and dominoes.

Later in the QA, an audience member asked specifically how he prepared to show Hal’s OCD, to which Damien replied that he watched lots of documentaries on channel 4 on demand (as the service was called back then) and that he used to spell out the name of the old American actor Hal Holbrook on his fingers on set.

He also added that the domino spiral was set up on set 2 weeks in advance of filming and that everyone on set had to resist the temptation not to touch it and had to tip toe around so as not to accidentally knock it, causing hours of work to put it back.

Another anecdote from Damien Molony came after being reminded about how much beetroot juice he had to drink when they were filming Making History, with 10 litres of beetroot juice having effects that caused him to phone his doctor dad with some worried questions.

The Q&A moved back to Jason Watkins, airing a clip of Herrick in the isolation chamber with Mitchell, George, and Annie in Bad Moon Rising 1.06. Jason was asked “How did you approach a character with such a black heart”

Jason spoke about Herrick’s complete enjoyment of all the things that he does, his psychopathic nature. “As a villain, he has a pure appetite for it. He ticks all those awful boxes.”

Toby Whithouse added that Herrick “has one mode, summed up by the line “You’re a shark, be a shark.” He never has a single moment of doubt.

Jason Watkins also talked of Herrick as a “paternal figure, he has these sort of sons.” And how he needed to have people like Mitchell in that position, because he needed to be in control, describing it as “having control over somebody and needing that control to know where you are in the world.”

This prompted Ruby, the interviewer to ask about the relationships between vampires and their makers, pointing out that we had just witnessed a twisted version of that relationship in 4.07 between Hal and Cutler.

Damien Molony described Hal as a “straight-jacketed, terrified loner being suddenly confronted with the victim turned master” in Cutler. There was much praise from the panel for Andrew Gower’s performance as Cutler.

Another question to Damien: “As we as fans often see good Hal and Bad Hal and separate people, like Angel in Buffy”, do you see them as different” Damien described good Hal as closed off, straight-jacketed (again), and very controlled. Whereas he said that bad Hal is at ease and open.

Back to Jason Watkins who was asked “Could Herrick be redeemed if he shared a house with Annie Sawyer?” Jason started to go into a longer explanation, but Toby Whithouse replied with a simple no.

Back to the question about relationships between vampires and their makers, Jason Watkins brought up the existence of a script for a scene that was never filmed about Herrick’s recruitment (this is still accessible via the old official Being Human Blog archives and there is a link on my blog).

Jason also recalled the time they were filming Herrick’s resurrection for the end of series 2. Which was not filmed in an empty snowy field, but in a park in the middle of Bristol with a group of elderly people from a local care home watching from the side-lines.

Lastly from Jason Watkins, replying to an audience question about what he took from the role of Herrick, he spoke about how “it was a bit of a break for him” (career wise) and how Herrick’s confidence “was him on a really good day,” and that by playing Herrick it increased his own confidence in his work and performance.

As both members of the cast on the panel had played vampires, the questions had been more focussed on them.

Speaking about the werewolves, Toby said “Werewolves become boring after they’ve transformed, they just become a thing. … It’s all about the tension, the lead up and the aftermath.” That’s the interesting part.

An audience member asked if Toby could discuss the ghosts, saying “they are the glue of the show, how did you come up with them?”

Toby responded that actually, the ghost episodes had always been the hardest ones to write and that he tended to lean more into the comedy aspect with them, because both Lenora and Kate were good at comedy. He said that he always paired their characters up with more experienced ghosts, because both Annie and Alex were new to that world. But he also said that he had to start to break his own rules and bring Annie out of the house as “Ding Dong, it’s a ghost” turning up at the door as a plotline would have gotten old very quickly.

He shared that he and Gilbert had the same musical taste, and that it meant he could “write jokes about people like Marc Almond that only he (toby) would find funny.”

And finally, one audience member asked, “Did you ever see things online and think I wish we would have done that?”

Toby Whithouse replied “the online community I absolutely loved. It added another layer of joy. During series 2 airing someone came up with the idea that Professor Jaggat was a werewolf and that was why she wasn’t there at during the (first) transformation, and I thought oh that’s a really good idea.” He went on to add “You can’t pay too much attention to audience feedback.” And spoke about writing what audiences need rather than what they might necessarily want to see. But that he would read the (official) blog because it was fun and so many lovely things were said.

#being human #being human uk #toby whithouse #jason watkins #damien molony #herrick #hal yorke #please forgive any errors I haven't proof read it

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