#ambition (1991)

[stiwfssr]

[phobos-exe]

Reading Wolverine comics after watching the movies has me absolutely falling in love with the "man or animal" motif that follows Logan literally everywhere.

// Marvel Comics Presents (1991): Issue #75

My favourite read so far is the short 4 issue series, Wolverine (1982), which the 2013 Wolverine movie is based on. Bascially it being about Logan trying not to lose Mariko to an arranged marriage and the cultural powers at play to which he isn't privy to. Furthermore, it absolutely dense with character-centered narrative with Logan's inner conflict surrounding the balancing act he must preform between embracing his animalistic side and his desire to be more than the killer he's always been, whilst he struggles with fitting into japanese society and the japanese underground. I could not reccomend it enough. Issue #3 is such a standout for me, all the excerpts provided are from it also.

One of the scenes i think highlight what im getting at with the motif is how Logan actively interprets an event that took place previously in the story. Earlier, he had fought Shingen (Mariko's father) to defend his own honor and for him to overrule Mariko's marriage so they may be together again, ultimately he not only loses but he humiliates and dishonors himself in the process. In this scene, he has a dream about the battle in a sequence that showcases what that humiliation actually meant for him in relation to his internal fight to let go of the animal he thinks himself of.

Despite how undisputable his physical strength is, the defeat he endures against Shingen crushes him and defines his motivations for the entire series. The words Mariko says in his dream, bascially defining him as a fraud and unworthy of her love, and the panel that follows this one saying he is also unworthy of life, is pretty indicative of his fear that his primal instincts- what he defines himself as -negates his noble aspirations to be a better man, overshadowing his morality.

It's also interestingly delved into with how his relationship with Mariko and his following romance with Yukio is contrasted in how they have an effect on Wolverine's internal conflict: Mariko's influence makes him want to strive for self-improvement, to appease her, while Yukio is able to accept who he is

Mariko's influence makes him want to strive for self-improvement, to appease her, while Yukio is able to accept who he is and his nature. The growth and control vs embracing your supposed truth serves as a new perspective to view Logan from. Basically, it's a reflection of how Logan himself is struggling to not only balance both aspects of himself, but also his struggle to accept them in the first place.

Going back to the films, I think they do a good job of adapting this method of symbolizing his self-reflection. For instance, in the origins movie, one of the conflicts I love from it is how this exact concept is adapted to Kayla and Victor. Kayla, being the stand-in for Mariko, motivates Logan to move past his animalistic side, literally telling him "you're not an animal, logan", whilst Victor is the force that wants him to ditch assimilation and embrace his mutations completely, though in this case it's much more violent and psychotic than Yukio's approach in the comic. The film version is a whole new exploration of his characterin its own right since it's more like these two opposing ideas are telling him what he should be, and the consequent struggle between what he should choose.

Though, and this is just my interpretation, what I appreciate most of this theme is that it managed to be so confusing for Logan that it circles back to being ironic. Because yes, he failed Mariko and he failed Yukio, he failed to assimilate to societal standards and he failed to be true to himself- whatever that really is -but I think one of his biggest failings is concluding for so long that he is an animal and therefore not a man, when in reality he has shown nothing but human desires, ambitions to change, to choose. He is an animal, it's just that that animal is a man.

[mari-lair]

Terukaneaoi murderers au! Heavily inspired by @pedi-bug's Camp AU

warning: ooc, murder, violence.

Set in 1991, in a world with no ghosts.

Teru is part of a mercenary family, if a Minamoto gets paid, they kill, and because of this upbringing, he doesn't value human life, with the exception of his family's lives. He longs for playtime with kids his age and attending parties but he doesn’t have the time, he tries his best to have fun on the job instead, developing sadistic tendencies over the years: if he can't laugh with someone, hearing them scream and beg for mercy will do just fine.

It's a bad habit of his, to torture his targets, the clan finds it a nuisance since a quick kill is far less risky and efficient, but Teru is good at taking people to isolated places and making others believe the death was caused by some wild animal, so his bosses reluctantly let him do as he pleases. It annoys them, and the clan knows Teru knows, but he get all his jobs done, they can't do much about it. 

He kills animals sometimes (except cats cause his family owns one and he doesn’t want to kill something that reminds him of his family) but doesn't make a habit out of it, aware his public image need to be trustworthy. He loves praises, so he is a little happy to have fans, he encourages attention and is so loved that no one ever suspects him.

Aoi's family is just her and her mom, she doesn't make any friends but she has been drowning in admirers from a young age. Aoi doesn't like violence (she doesn't like to get hurt) so when she is cornered by the kindergarten bullies and forced into dating the 'king of the playground', she holds hands, gets hugged, and follows the boy around, but she hates being a trophy, she wants to die, she wants to squash her 'boyfriend' like the bugs in her garden, like her mom had gotten rid of her dad.

She puts rat poison on her boyfriend's drink and says is a gift. He dies. She is in shock at first, she only wanted to make him sick, not kill him, but it feels oddly pleasant to go to the kid's funeral, as if she has some control of other people’s life, as if it proved a point that despite her frail body and lack of ambition, she really is above those people.

She wanted to kill someone again but mom said she got lucky she is too young to be suspected, she should stop. She promised her mom she wouldn't kill again but she goes back on her word pretty quickly, unhappy about her life. She didn’t want to get caught though, so she aimed to kill someone that is not perceived as related in any way to her.

Teru caught Aoi in the act when she is fourteen, he is intrigued, able to tell she isn’t trained. They occasionally ran into each other in the dead of the night.

Teru is infuriating to Aoi, she hates how easily he can find her, how incompetent he makes her look, she hates him. She had felt ashamed when she killed her first adult and couldn't get rid of every evidence fast enough, so Teru had to help her, saving her from being caught. Sometimes he gives her murder tips, happy he can talk with someone about his job, even if Aoi doesn’t share his passion for blood, preferring clean murders, usually poison based, her talks about flowers and the ways she occasionally relates gardening with murder (both give her the power to decide if a living being will flourish or die) makes him curious.

Their meetings are the closest thing to a game Teru has ever played, he loves to find who her next target is, and try to end them before her. It is frowned upon in his clan to kill without being financially compensated for it but 'playing' with Aoi left him happy enough to finish his kills quickly, no longer going out of his way to destroy all his targets.

One day they are sent to a summer camp and Aoi sets her eyes on the son of the owner, a friendly boy who helps everyone in need with a smile, so kind, so determined, so lovable, he is everything she wishes she could be, even his name, Akane Aoi, seemed to mock her. 

She wants him dead.

Akane is rarely alone, he is perceptive and smart, but Aoi wasn’t too worried at first, noticing he is a trusting fool and well aware people love to help a cute and delicate girl, it would be easy to pretend she is having trouble with something and isolate him where he could have a tragic accident.

Unfortunately for her, Akane gets wary of her and teru way more easily than anyone else, eager to help but keeping their interactions short from the get go.

It’s odd.

Aoi is frustrated, she never liked to work too hard, but at this point it would be a bruise to her ego if she gave up. She tried inviting him to paint her nails, having prepared toxic paint to do his nails back, but he picked the same nail polish color as hers so they matched, she tried to drug his drink but he always seemed to notice when it got spiked, throwing it away.

Teru is intrigued by the challange, he calls Akane to help build his tent and tries to lure him with manual jobs to separate him from the group, but his plans never quite work, Akane doesn't get tired no matter how much he works, he doesn't hesitate to call Teru out on task he should be able to complete on his own, and is too fast to fall in any traps. He also sees better than Teru in the dark, a very rare feat.

It's the first time a mutual target lasted more than a week, and the two talk about it a lot, even if Aoi refuses any of Teru's offers to team up, she does agree to share any information they get on him.

Akane is a half-blood vampire in an era where vampires are basically instinct. He can age, go in the sun, and eat human food, his retractable fangs helping him feel like a normal boy, but he still craves blood and his senses are inhuman, he cannot help but feel dazed and suspicious of Aoi and Teru. He thinks Aoi is really cute and sweet, so he drops his guard with her sometimes, being genuine and gentle with her, but his guard always comes back when he catches a hint of poison under her flowery scent.

Teru smells like blood, the mercenary has been so soaked in it since he was a child that it became a part of his scent, he cannot fool a vampire’s nose. He kills wild animals during camp sometimes, and Akane never catches him in the act but he can smell it, it drives him crazy, he wants to bite Teru so bad that he avoids him, his wariness mixed with hunger. Teru can feel his eyes on him, and he is as wary as he is intrigued by the attention Akane gives him, which is different from the strange switch between favoritism and distrust he has with Aoi.

Aoi is conflicted when Akane reprimands anyone who harasses her and shows genuine worry for her well being, yet refuses to have a hike alone with her, it bothers her to the point she finds herself fake smiling less to catch his attention every time she tries to poison him. Teru gets easily attached to Akane, cause the boy can fight well and he heals fast when Teru hurts him. Akane is willing to play even the most basic of games with him too, and many of his murder attempts get pushed aside so they can play hopscotch, a more violent version of tag, 'never have I ever', and many other games he had heard his peers play years ago.

He forces Akane to stay with him a lot, much to the vampire's displeasure, so Akane kills some animals to satiate his thirst, throwing their corpses in the lake so the drained bodies don't scare anyone.

Akane realizes they are only trying to kill him out of the whole camp, so he is convinced they know he is a half vampire, and feels a little anxious that they will out him. He also thinks Aoi and Teru are dating since they disappear together many times and come back without smelling of murder or poison, but he isn't sure, he is mostly confused by whatever their relationship is.

In two weeks Teru and Aoi are already attached to Akane, their murder attempts are more half-hearted.

They realize Akane has a big weakness when a hiking accident results in an ugly cut on a camper’s leg. Akane is very hesitant when bandaging the camper, hyperventilating at the sight of so much blood and clearly distracted, excusing himself later and claiming the sight of blood can make him sick.

Aoi doesn't like to get hurt, but Teru does not hesitate to cut himself while peeling an orange to test Akane's claim, amazed by the way Akane got even more dazed and anxious with him than with the injured camper, to the point others got worried, and Lemon decided to be the one to bandage Teru so his friend could calm down.

The two are hit with a golden way to kill Akane, but they procrastinate it, deciding to kill their friend on the last day of camp. Is not like they'll see him again after camp even if he stays alive after all.

[ohsalome]

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, discussions emerged about the imperial nature of the war. Scholars who spoke up about it were quickly dismissed in certain Western academic and political circles.

Some, especially the self-professed “anti-imperialists”, claimed Russia was “provoked” and portrayed Ukraine’s resistance as a “Western imperial” plot. Others considered analyses of Russian imperialism as having a pro-war, hawkish agenda or being a reflection of narrow ethno-nationalist sentiments.

But for scholars from the post-Soviet space – from places that have suffered from Russian aggression and imperialism – these reactions were hardly a surprise. They had been ignored and dismissed before.

[...]

Soviet coloniality was dismissed also because knowledge about the Soviet Union in the West was Russocentric. The Soviet Union was often referred to simply as Russia. There was little knowledge about non-Russian people. Non-Russian émigrés who fled to the West and wrote about Soviet coloniality with firsthand experience of Soviet imperialism were dismissed as anti-Soviet conservative ideologues.

Importantly, the Soviet Union also became a space of projections for those who looked for ways to criticise capitalism and Western imperialism. Those who blamed capitalism for oppression believed that eliminating capitalism would end all forms of oppression. For them, the Soviet Union was an internationalist project that brought equality and freedom to formerly subjugated peoples.

Violence against various nations and ethnic groups was either ignored or treated as a necessary evil of the transition to communism.

Western scholarship also overwhelmingly focused on the Soviet metropoles – Moscow and Leningrad. They knew very little, if at all, about the Soviet peripheries, which meant that nobody really understood the uprisings in Central Asia, the Caucasus or the Baltics from the late 1980s onwards or the bloodshed in Tajikistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and later Chechnya.

[...]

In Russia itself, the dominant narrative was one of victimhood. Russians learned to see themselves as a special nation that sacrificed its own wellbeing for the sake of non-Russians in the Soviet Union. “Let us stop feeding them” was the slogan Russians used to explain Moscow’s decision to let the colonies go in 1991.

[...]

This is how late Professor Mark von Hagen recalled in 2016 the political atmosphere back then: “Again, George Bush … was defending Gorbachev until the very last possible moment because he and the United States government at that level, with a few dissenting voices, wanted to keep the Soviet Union together because they were so afraid of the kind of crazy, fascist nationalism that they thought the Ukrainians represented.”

[...]

That is why Western academia and political circles had little to say about the genocidal wars Boris Yeltsin and his successor, Vladimir Putin, led in Chechnya. Rather than seeing people claiming sovereignty and nationhood, the West readily bought into their portrayals of Chechens as bandits, nationalists and terrorists. That is why they also failed to see Russian imperial ambitions in Eastern Europe – the 2008 war on Georgia, the annexation of Crimea, etc – as such.

[skullythefriendlyskullface]

My sister told me I needed to add batok tattoos to my rottmnt oc. And she's right

I normally try to avoid complex details in character design but I just couldn't pass this up. These traditional tattoos are also very symbolic, so I'm going to explain their meaning:

The tattoos on her arms illustrate mountains and ladders. They signify strength, sturdiness, achievement, and the ambition to reach the heavens.

The tattoo on her back illustrates the sun and moon. This signifies life.

I was considering giving her chest tattoos but considering how young the fandom tends to be I decided against it. They would have signified her status as a warrior.

I'm also considering naming her Pinatubo (Pina for short) after the volcano that nearly killed my mom back in 1991.

Character turnaround below for those who didn't see my original post:

[bitter69uk]

“Marlon Brando is one of the most brilliant and charismatic artists of the twentieth century. Like Elvis Presley, he is a supreme sexual persona, an icon who has entered our dreams and transformed the way we see the world. All contemporary American actors owe a debt to Brando and are in some sense in his shadow. He took the self-analytic and ensemble-based Stanislvaskian “Method” of the New York Actor’s Studio to Hollywood and helped put an end, for good or ill, to the old paternalistic studio system, with its corporate populism and army-like cadres of polished technicians. Today’s young white actors, emerging from comfortable respectable homes and lacking access to the hardening experiences of factories, freighters or battlefields, search for masculinity by aping Brando … Arrogant and manipulative, seething with raw sensitivities and burning rage, alternately harsh and kind, selfish and generous, Brando is a monumental personality of profound complexities and contradictions. He must be approached from the direction of other Western artists suffering spiritual conflicts and thwarted ambitions: Byron, Keats, Caravaggio, Michelangelo.”

Pop culture theorist Camille Paglia on Marlon Brando (3 April 1924 – 1 July 2004) in 1991, who was born 100 years ago today. I particularly love Brando’s performances in the 1953 juvenile delinquent / motorcycle gang flick The Wild One, opposite Anna Magnani in the underrated Tennessee Williams film adaptations The Fugitive Kind (1960) (pictured) and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967).  

[wrathofbloodeye]

a letter from dennis nilsen to brian masters, 23 August 1991. as the two have similar components in their cases, nilsen provides his opinion on jeffrey dahmer’s motives and psyche.

Dear Brian,

Thanks for the (all too brief) visit. My first observation of D is that he had two primary social factors working against him. The first is that obviously recurring theme of being “a loner.” The second is that (to use the American phrase) he was born on the wrong side of the tracks. I guess that in his most early formative years his immediate household may have been female-dominated (with or without the presence of a passive male adult). As is often the case with serial killers “he always secretly wanted to be someone” as an adjunct to his lifelong world of fantasy (where he is already powerful and potent). In “real” society he feels that he is a dispensable “nobody” as insignificant as those whose remains adorn his private world (his apartment).

The dichotomy is that his power aspirations are not easily transferable into the real world because he has not been endowed with the overt powers of viable drive and ambition in interpersonal relationships in the real world. He achieves “sexual” fulfillment by acts of power of conquest to render the threatening potency of another man into the absolute and manageable state of passivity. He “fears” the potency of real men because he is by nature a wan and socially shy personality. His need for feelings of self-esteem are usually satisfied only in his fantasies (imagination) because he cannot garner such fruits from live people. He needs a totally unresisting, passive model of a human being in order to “cross the bridge” temporarily into “society.” (Being human he needs “fulfillment” in the human three-dimensional world of real flesh and blood.)

It is significant that a common view of the Stone Age depicts a potent male clubbing a sexually desirable female into unconsciousness and “wedding” her by an act of copulation with her passive body. Here we have the ingredients of power/violence rendering the desired person into a state of extreme passivity followed by sexual release for the conqueror. It is the opposite poles of gross action and gross passivity that attract. This is the constant in the serial-killing conundrum whether the victim is male, female or child. Dahmer’s “buzz” comes from the whole continuing ritual exploitation of the victim’s passivity. Each expressive sequence in the ritual gives sexual and self-esteemed satisfaction. It is a grossly perverted psychosexual act of copulation and like normal acts of copulation the satisfaction is of relatively temporary duration. The ejaculation is merely the biological release of inner pressure as is necessary for this human cycle of peaks and troughs.

D is buzzing with excitement and power (his heart rate is pounding at maximum speed) as he “lives out” his omnipotence. (It’s the only time in his life when he feels in his fantasies.) This is while he is stripping, washing and handling his unresisting spouse. These are all acts of possession and expression of extreme dominance. Perhaps subconsciously he is regressing back to his first (and only) memories of human touch, dependency, security and comfort. (As a very small boy being soiled, undressed, washed, powdered, dressed and “laid out.”) After this brief and early period of clear identity and security he drifts away into the wan growing little boy devoid of warmth, touch and comfort. As all humans will do if they cannot satisfy their needs in reality he has drifted to a substitute world where his imagination creates false fodder to feed his hunger. As conditioning advances he finds it less and less easy to relate to other people. Psychologically speaking Dahmer becomes both victim and predator (an easy accomplishment in one’s imaginary world). Brian, this is what you described in me as “virile male in performance and passive female in spirit” (an ungovernable mess of contradictions).

His unfolding aberration escalates in accordance with to what degree he is detached from reality (for example, what is termed NECROPHAGY is an extreme example of extreme detachment). This is manifested in “going all the way” in eating the heart of one’s victim/spouse. (If you have the power to eat a man’s heart this demonstrates your extreme power to possess and his extreme passivity.) The painting and display of the victim’s skull is a constant reminder of one’s potency.

The paradox is that D cannot hate his victims because his objective is achieved by exercising his will to sexual power and potency. The need is “love” for him and death for the hapless victim. Dahmer is “forced” to unnaturally seek to accede to the demands of his natural instinctive drives. He is perhaps partially aware that his “love” is really for himself or a created entity within his deranged personality. It seems clear that his personality will remain disordered in the absence of a self or presented therapy to help him come to terms with the engine of his acts.

P.S. I’m still in the dungeon.”

full source

[lostinpleasantview]

The Altos are one of the founding families of Pleasantview, and their roots in the region stretch back to when the area was previously known as Sunset Valley. Despite this, fifty years have passed since the pinnacle of their political and economic dominance.

Gone are the days of Vita Alto, matriarch of the Alto Family who served as chairwoman of the National Center Party who dominated SimNation politics for nearly sixty years; her storied political career included a forty years within SimNation's Congress, where she served as a congresswoman and senator. Her political career culminated in a stint as Ambassador of Salvadorada, where she played a decisive role in brokering a peace agreement that ended the Salvadoradan Civil War and began Salvadorada's transition to democracy. (Less discussed are Vita's political failures—her three failed primary campaigns to become the Center Party's presidential candidate in 1960, 1968, and 1972; or her financial and material support for the anti-communist Salvadoran Officer's Movement in the 1950s, which helped lead to the troubles in Salvadorada that she later "solved").

If Vita stood as a behemoth, then fewer still recall her husband Nick Alto, patriarch of the Alto family who served as head of Alto Industries—a sprawling business and industrial conglomerate founded by Vita's forebears. Nick's heading of the company allowed Vita to remain above the fray and focused on her political career—though millions in federal funds and subsidies still trickled towards Alto Industries.

Aside from their legal endeavors, there were also their illegal ones: Vita was heiress not only to a legal business empire, but an illegal one as well: the Alto Crime Family, an old-school mob racket. Vita and Nick's years were the golden era for the Alto's... yet it all floundered through the lack of an heir.

Vita and Nick had a daughter, Holly. Holly was everything that her parents were not: sensitive, artistic, and certainly with no taste, acumen, or ambition for a career in politics, business, or even heading the family's sprawling criminal enterprises. By 1980, things were slowing down: Vita's storied political career had come to an en following her tenure as ambassador, and there were rumors of federal regulators preparing to investigate Alto Industries for labor violations. Rather than allow their hard work to be squandered, Vita and Nick arranged that their daughter should marry one of the Alto Family's highest ranking Capos, a man known as Damien.

Shortly after Holly and Damien's wedding, Damien was formally recognized by Vita and Nick as the future successor of the Alto Crime Family. This recognition was finalized when Damien was added to the Alto Family Trust, which in 1980 had funds in excess to 200 Million Simoleons. With the faith placed in him, Damien immediately turned against his in-laws... or so the story goes. Both Vita and Nick died in a very suspicious car-crash in 1981, leaving Damien in control of the Alto crime syndicate. Alto Industries elected an interim CEO—who soon found himself ensnared in a series of corruption scandals and federal indictments, which wrecked the company's valuation—by 1989 Alto Industries would file for bankruptcy. Black Monday in 1989 proved a shock to the Alto's wealth, and the Alto Family Trust lost nearly 100 Million in value.

Holly, though trapped in a loveless marriage, was freed by the death of her parents. Her husband provided liberal funding for her music career, and by the late 1980s Holly Alto would be a household name in SimNation as one of the nation's most famous pop stars. Her tours earned millions; in the midst of her busy musical career, Holly gave birth to twin girls: Venice and Verona. Holly's marriage entered a rocky phase in the late 80s; rumors of divorce were squashed when Holly discovered that Damien would be able to claim a portion of the Alto Trust for himself.

Damien was assassinated in 1991 by faction of disgruntled members within the Alto Crime Family. His death tore the Alto's illicit business empire to shreds, with squabbling factions competing for turf and territory. A moderate faction looked to Holly to take the reigns of the criminal enterprise, but she resolutely refused—allowing the faction still loyal to her family name to be governed by a series of well-meaning but ultimately hapless deputies. Holly and her daughters continued to receive payouts from the family's criminal enterprises throughout the 90s, but these ceased by 2002. Holly found herself forced to sustain her lifestyle and expenses through the family trust, as well as through whatever income she could generate through her musical career, which entered a slump by the mid-2000s. By 2005, SimPop magazine declared Holly a has-been; by 2015, the online blogosphere branded Holly a flop after a poorly advised stadium tour in Salvadorada was marred by technical difficulties, poor performances, and protests.

Family troubles also carried into the next generation: Venice and Verona were complete opposites, and though they were friends in childhood, they drifted apart as teenagers. This distance became venomous when both girls attended Sim State University: both ended up placed upon Academic Probation. Though Verona succeeded in getting her grades together and graduating with decent grades, Venice ended up flunking out. Both of Holly's daughters have now returned home to the nest, Villa Alto—as Holly grapples with severe financial issues that threaten to send the family from their luxurious manse into the poorhouse.

Venice continues to shop and spend like there is there no tomorrow, and dreams of an entertainment career of her own... as an actress. Verona, meanwhile, has recently picked up a gig as a Physic Phone Pal... though a group of cadres affiliated with the Alto Crime Family who remain loyal to the family have reached out to her, clamoring for her to take her rightful spot as her father's heir.

Can Holly keep her squabbling daughters together and keep a roof over their head? Will Venice strike big and win in the fame games? And what about Verona? Will she embark on her own path, or will the tug of the past pull her in another direction?

[ummick]

Mick Schumacher Fully Lives His Adventure At the 24 Hours of Le Mans With Alpine

Mick Schumacher is preparing to make his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For this 92nd edition of the Le Mans classic, he is driving the Alpine A424 #36 from Alpine Endurance Team entered in the Hypercar category. He shares his impressions at the start of this great adventure.

After having competed in single-seater championships, first and foremost the Formula 1 World Championship, Mick Schumacher (25 years old) entered endurance and therefore the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The German driver joined Alpine's hypercar program last winter. He pilots the A424 #36 alongside Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere. He approaches the biggest endurance race in the world after showing strong performances in the previous three rounds of the FIA ​​WEC World Endurance Championship. "When we arrive at Le Mans, it's always with the ambition to shine and do the best possible. Being with Alpine, which is a French brand, gives another dimension," recognizes the man who competed in 43 grands prix between 2021 and 2022. Schumacher experienced the previous rounds of the FIA ​​WEC as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. "Everything is new to me. What is obvious is that people come here because of their passion for car racing, and that's a real pleasure. On a more personal level, I can't wait to race, to see what it's like to be on the go for 24 hours, because I've never had this experience. There is always something happening here, there is constant traffic, so being in the wrong place at the wrong time can be costly. This is an additional challenge. You have to constantly have a strategy in mind to be sure you can finish your relay."

One of the many special features of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is night driving, a new experience for Schumacher and one that he appreciated last night during the second free practice session. "Frankly, I didn't find the exercise that difficult," he tempers. "During the tests we conducted in Jerez, it seemed much harder to me than here. To be honest, I really liked it. This gives different sensations. My teammates have experience of night driving and I'm going to learn a lot from them. The race is going to be exciting, that’s for sure." He can count on the valuable advice of Nicolas Lapierre, who has sixteen participations. "We spend a lot of time with Mick. With the other drivers, we talk about traffic or slow zones, which can be quite tricky. The point of alertness that I specifically pointed out to him is sunrise. I advised him to stay focused because, seeing the day dawn, you almost have the impression that the race is over, so much so that attention is relaxed and that's when we see a lot of errors occurring," explains the leader of the drivers of the brand with the A arrow.

Given his experience in Formula 1, Mick Schumacher cannot escape the comparison with endurance. He is categorical: "It's not comparable. I strive to separate the two, not to create a bridge in terms of driving style, to be 100% on one side or the other. A hypercar is heavier, but it's still fun to drive. The car is made for Le Mans, so every time I get behind the wheel it's a joy." Schumacher is therefore preparing to add a new string to his bow. Between technical challenges, adaptation to night driving and constant learning, this race promises to be a decisive step in the young pilot's career. Remember that his father, Michael, took part in the Le Mans classic in 1991 at the wheel of a Sauber Mercedes C11 which he shared with Karl Wendlinger and Fritz Kreutzpointner. This unique participation resulted in fifth place in the general classification and the best lap in the race. We bet that Mick would happily sign up for such an assessment next Sunday at 3 p.m.

[zigzagziggyyy]

I found the movie ‘Ambition’ online!! It took me forever but I finally found it. It has subtitles that I couldn’t remove but I’m so glad it’s not in a different language the movie 😅

[stiwfssr]

[distantlaughter]

Nico Rosberg and Maro Engel: a non-exhaustive compilation of their friendship over the years

"My friends are all Italian, I grew up with their mentality and get along with it best. But my best friend at school was Maro Engel, who now drives in the DTM. He, his family and another family friend were the only Germans I really had contact with." (2008)

Question: "Nico Rosberg also grew up in Monaco. Did you have much contact? Two German teenagers in a foreign country with the same passion, racing…" Engel: "It was through Nico that I got into racing in the first place. We were in the same class together at school, became best friends very quickly and then also went on vacation together. There, his father Keke bought Nico a go-kart for his birthday and asked my father if he wouldn't like to buy me one, too. That's how the whole thing started." Question: "When was that exactly?" Engel: "That was in 1991." (2008)

What happened subsequently? Maro Engel: After that, we used to have fun, messing around in the mini karts. We then took them back home to Monaco, where I would practise with Nico at weekends. Our parents eventually started up a kart team together, and we contested our first races with the team at around ten years of age. We then went our separate ways from a racing point of view. I competed in junior kart races in Germany and Nico in Italy. (2017)

Becoming a racing driver in Monaco seems to have come naturally. My parents had nothing at all to do with motorsport, my father found it quite interesting and watched it in front of the TV from time to time. I got into it through my friend Nico Rosberg. His father Keke said it would be cool if the boys played kart together. Nico Rosberg is your childhood friend? I was in kindergarten with him. We became close friends very quickly from then on and started karting together. We started on his father's track in Ibiza. Keke had a property there with its own kart track. We were on vacation there together, and Keke gave Nico a kart for his birthday. We are two months apart, Nico's birthday is June 27 and mine is August 27. We were turning six at the time. So your father was under pressure? Yes. Keke asked him if he wouldn't like to give me a vehicle like that, so the kids could do something together - and the parents could enjoy their vacation. That's how it turned out. Nico and I also went to school together in Monaco and later to the English school in Nice. Our friendship lasts until today. My fiancée Steffi gets along excellently with Nico's wife Vivian. (2017)

Nico (1st) and Maro (3rd) on the podium together for the Formula BMW ADAC Championship, Hockenheim, Germany, 5 October 2002. Motorsport Images, xpb images

Nico visiting Maro at the DTM in Hockenheim, 22 October 2011. xpb images

Nico and Maro at the DTM in Hockenheim, 27 April 2012. Imago Images/Hoch Zwei

nicorosberg: 2day 30km roadbike timetrial with MaroEngel, dantheman, juan. Managed 2 win with 40kph!12sec ahead of maro. podium pic attached

nicorosberg: Backgammon with @maroengel. Best game in the world.

Nico, Vivian, Maro, and Maro's wife Stefanie on vacation in Ibiza together, August 2016 (1,2)

Who also cheered loudly was Nico Rosberg. The Formula 1 world champion is currently on an inspirational trip to the USA and was hugely happy for his kindergarten buddy. "I'm very pleased that Maro's perseverance and ambition prevailed. I know these qualities only too well from many backgammon games," Rosberg told Auto Bild Motorsport. "It's great to see that Maro never gave up after his DTM debut in 2008 and has now been rewarded for it. Hopefully many more victories will follow," he said. (2017)

[thatravenpuffgirl]

Hermione Granger x Fred Weasley headcanons I adore Part 1

Fred and George's first interaction with Hermione was as early as the train ride to Hogwarts in 1991, just as Hermione was starting her first year

Hermione had been helping Neville find his toad, Trevor, and had been asking people in the carriages about him

She'd then walked into a carriage Fred was in alone, with George having gone off to be with Angela Johnson and their mate Lee Jordan scaring students with something he had in a box

And as soon as she stepped into the carriage and introduced herself, Fred had been intrigued by her

Not just because she was admittedly quite nice looking - even for an 11-year-old- but also cause Hermione had been able to tell the twins apart immediately

And Hermione had found her being a bit sassier than usual, which Fred loved, and they had talked for a little bit

But then of course George had to come back. "Oi brother, are you really recruiting my replacement already? I was only gone for like half an hour" George also definitely noticed that his twin like this wide-eyed brunette girl

Fred was annoyed at George's interruption but tried to hide it, especially once Hermione left the carriage a few minutes later

They ran into her later though, when the train had arrived at Hogsmeade Station, and Fred had comforted her a little cause she'd been worried about which house she'd get into

And then again later at the Great Hall, Fred had clapped quite loudly when Hermione had been sorted into Gryffindor and his grin got even wider when she sat only a few seats away from him.

Fred would have definitely loved to become friends with her, but then he saw how she had grown closer to her younger brother and Harry Potter, and his insecurities got in the way, so they didn't really talk about that, although Fred obviously heard about her adventures in her 1st and 2nd year of school, and always noticed her in the halls and in the Common room

Then, a few years later the twins started to spend more time with Hermione during third year while Ron was mad at her, thinking Crookshanks had eaten Scrabbers.

They were also the conspirators of a string of pranks to teach their little brother a lesson, both hating that he made Hermione so upset over some silly thing

Hermione was obviously mortified, whacking them both on the shoulders when she find out

But she was also secretly grateful and impressed with their cleverness, which she would never admit

Fred teased Hermione for weeks after finding out about her obsession with muggle music of the time, such as ABBA, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and the rolling stones, amongst others, after finding her secreting listening to them one night in the Gryffindor dorm.

But, Fred secretly fell in love with muggle music and the muggle world after that, and frequently asked for song recommendations, and for her stories about the muggle world, even laughing when Hermione told him the story of a boy biting her father during a dentist appointment, which meant her father had to get ten stitches, although George and Ron and most of their friends didn't know what she was going on about

But, after that, they became even more close, with Hermione showing Fred her secret hobbies and insecurities, and Fred did the same.

Hermione told Fred that when she went to muggle school, she wasn't a good student and struggled with all her classes, and she'd get picked on because of it. But when she got her letter to Hogwarts, she thought it was a second chance, so she worked hard to read all the books and memorise as much as possible about the Wizarding World so it would seem like she was a good student, and she'd always worked so hard to keep her grades practically perfect so she wouldn't feel stupid again

Fred told Hermione that although he and George were quite popular because of their pranks, he's often felt insecure about how other students perceived him, sometimes wishing they'd be taken more seriously, as clever and ambitious teens following their ambitions, not just the class clowns and pranksters of the school.

Hermione also shared that she had a secret love for playing the piano. She'd practised in the Room of the Requirement (which she'd known about for ages) secretly, even letting him come into the room of requirement to watch her play a few times and also helped him learn a few piano notes, and Fred had admired her greatly for her talent

Hermione would hang out with Fred and George quite a lot, even after she'd made amends with Harry and Ron

They'd given her nicknames such as Mia, Mi and Mione and Granger

Hermione was still one of the few people who could actually tell them apart

The twins would often share their plans for future pranks, and Hermione wouldn't tell on them, because she did actually enjoy watching how excited they'd get as the two would explain their next big plan to her, and she'd even add in her own suggestions sometimes

Fred had taken to making sure that Hermione was okay after she told him she was using a time turner to take so many classes

He'd make sure that she was eating and drinking enough, but bring her snacks and hot chocolate anyway, just in case

He seemed to be the only one to notice how Hermione would disappear suddenly after being someplace only a minute ago.

Fred always kept an eye on Hermione, helping her in the mornings by putting up her hair and doing other little things for her, and other than herself, he was the only one that could tame her usually bushy hair into a ponytail

She'd also given him a copy of her timetable, so whenever he knew they both didn't have classes he'd go and check on her

He'd even managed to convince George to help him study with Hermione so she wouldn't have to stay up so late, and he'd stop Hermione as soon as she'd tried to argue against their assistance

Hermione, in turn, attended every one of their Quidditch practices and matches to support them (and Harry! Of course, mainly to support Harry, definitely) even though Fred insisted that wasn't necessary, knowing she was under a lot of stress anyway, but Hermione was just as stubborn and insisted upon it

Goerge teased his brother about his sudden obsession with a certain brown hair and brown-eyed girl, but Fred shrugged it off every time, saying he was only helping and caring for her

But then one day in Potions class, when he was studying the potion Amortenia, Fred smelt leather-bound books, roses, and the odd smell of Crookshanks, instantly knowing it was the scent of Hermione

He was so embarrassed and didn't tell anyone, not even George

Even though George had already known about Fred's affection for Hermione for years even if Fred himself didn't realise it.

But after that, Fred definitely saw Hermione in a different light, realising that he'd always sort of cared for Granger in a certain way

And Fred had obviously been very worried after he heard about what had happened to the trio at the Whooping Willow

Hermione would roll her eyes at his concerns but also secretly found it sweet

They hadn't spent too much time on the train ride back home at the end of the year, but the twins did give Hermione their farewells, and Fred was relieved that Hermione was dropping some of her classes and giving up her Time Turner next year

And Fred had actually been the one to invite Hermione over to the burrow and to the Quidditch World Cup that summer, after remembering she once told him she enjoyed camping, and her parents had taken her on annual trips before she went to Hogwarts

*****

Thanks for reading these Fred and Hermione headcanons, Part 2 will be coming soon!

Also disclaimer: I do not own the harry potter characters mentioned in this post, however, all these headcanons are my own, and I did change/add a few things to the characters of Fred and Hermione that aren't canon, but again these are all my own thoughts

[demifiendrsa]

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves｜Announcement Trailer #2

B. Jenet Character Trailer (English version)

B. Jenet Character Trailer (Japanese version)

Vox Reaper Character Trailer (English version)

Vox Reaper Character Trailer (Japanese version)

Key visual

Screenshots

Latest details

About the Game

SNK’s beloved Fatal Fury series first hit the market in 1991, spearheading the fighting game boom of the 1990s that swept the industry thereafter. Garou: Mark of the Wolves (released in 1999) has, for some time, served as the franchise’s most recent installment. But that is all about to change: 26 years on, a brand-new entry—Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves—is set to arrive on the scene!

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves features a unique art style that stimulates the senses, an innovative REV system that supercharges the excitement, plus a host of other battle systems even more robust than before. The game also breathes new life into the series by introducing two distinct control schemes (ensuring fun and excitement for newcomers and veterans alike) as well as other fresh features and elements.

The streets of South Town are a hotbed of action, wild dreams, and even wilder ambition. Here, at long last, a new legend is about to unfold…

New Characters

Vox Reaper (voiced by Erik Ransom in English, Toshiyuki Toyonaga in Japanese) – This street assassin is dispatched to hunt down and eliminate Kain R. Heinlein. Though the attempt was thwarted, he emerges from the encounter hardly worse for wear. Kain’s bodyguard Grant, having realized the youth’s talent and potential, decides to take him under his wing thereafter. Afforded a new lease on life, and intent on fulfilling his dying master’s wishes (not to mention Kain’s own grandiose ambitions), Vox stalks the bloody battleground that is South Town—a demon reborn.

B. Jenet (voiced by Amber Lee Connors in English, Mikako Komatsu in Japanese) – Captain of the Lilien Knights, a crew of virtuous pirates, B. Jenet makes an altogether uncharacteristic decision. With Kain and Grant weighing on her mind during and after the events of the previous tournament, she chooses to stay in South Town, if not for a short while. Strangely unable to express her lingering thoughts out loud, she sees the upcoming KOF tournament as a true blessing in disguise: a chance to speak through action instead of words!

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will launch in early 2025 for unannounced platforms.

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Obituary: The son who soared: Jeff Buckley

Date: June 6, 1997

From: The Guardian (London, England)

Publisher: Guardian News & Media

Document Type: Obituary

Byline: ADAM SWEETING

FEW ROCK business careers began more tantalisingly than that of Jeff Buckley, who has drowned in the Mississippi river, aged 30 (his body was found on Wednesday this week). In 1991, record producer Hal Willner, known for assembling imaginative, star-studded tributes to Charles Mingus and Kurt Weill, put together a tribute concert for Jeff's father, Tim Buckley, at St Ann's Church, Brooklyn, New York. Tim had died of a heroin overdose in 1975, aged 28, but his early death ignited a slow-burning musical legend. It was founded on his recorded legacy in which soul, blues and jazz influences mingled freely, the process stirred by his arrestingly elastic vocal style.

His son Jeff, born in California during Tim's brief marriage to Panama-born Mary Guibert, had always been ambivalent about his father. Tim left Mary when Jeff was six months old, and his son was brought up by his mother and stepfather during a peripatetic childhood. 'We moved so often I had to put all my stuff in paper bags,' Jeff recalled. 'My childhood was pretty much marijuana and rock 'n' roll.'His decision to participate in Willner's tribute event launched Buckley Junior as a new phenomenon on the New York music scene, and simultaneously affirmed his quasi-mythic credentials, particularly when he performed his father's song Once I Was. 'It bothered me that I hadn't been to his funeral, that I've never been able to tell him anything,' said Jeff. 'I used that show to pay my last respects.'

Thus launched in public, Buckley was rescued from a string of odd jobs by joining the avant-garde combo Gods & Monsters, which featured Pere Ubu's ex-bassist Tony Maimone and Captain Beefheart's erstwhile guitarist Gary Lucas. But it was more a loose group of individuals than a real band and Buckley quit in early 1992 to pursue a solo career.

He began performing at small Manhattan clubs, particularly the Cafe Sin-e, where record company executives and A&R men were soon arriving by the limo-full, waving chequebooks. 'I went into those cafes because I really felt I had to go to an impossibly intimate setting where there's no escape, where there's no hiding yourself,' he explained.

Buckley's remarkable voice (his most obvious inheritance from his father) and movie-star looks left nobody in doubt that he was a star in the making, though the eclecticism of his shows confused some listeners. Buckley would pluck songs out of the air as the mood took him. It might be something by Van Morrison, the Hollies or Big Star, or a tune made famous by Nina Simone or Mahalia Jackson.

With a hippie-esque suspicion of large corporations, he turned down several deals before signing with Columbia at the end of 1992, apparently because he knew and trusted the label's A&R man Steve Berkowitz. The company previewed their new acquisition with a live EP, Live At Sin-e, following which Buckley travelled upstate to Bearsville to start work on his debut album, Grace.

The disc was released in 1994 to instant critical adulation. The sleeve pictured Buckley clutching a microphone and looking poetically dishevelled, while the music inside was a cornucopia of rockers, ballads, hymns and even a bold rendition of Benjamin Britten's Corpus Christi Carol, by no means standard rock 'n' roll fare. His voice was wild, passionate and sensual. If his music was hard to describe in a soundbite, it was bursting with hidden depths and infinite potential. Grace won Buckley the Best New Artist award from Rolling Stone magazine in 1995.

Buckley's inquisitiveness and musical ambition earned him acceptance across a broad spectrum of fellow performers. Elvis Costello brought him over in 1995 to perform at London's Meltdown Festival, where he easily held his own among string quartets and jazz ensembles, and last year he featured on Patti Smith's comeback album, Gone Again. He was also a fan of Eastern music, particularly the Islamic devotional Qawwali songs of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Buckley had been in Memphis since February, recording new material. He decided to go swimming in the Mississippi, fully clothed and carrying his guitar, but was apparently pulled under by the wash from a passing tug.

Jeff Buckley, rock singer, born August 1, 1966; died May 29, 1997

[bitter69uk]

“Marlon Brando is one of the most brilliant and charismatic artists of the twentieth century. Like Elvis Presley, he is a supreme sexual persona, an icon who has entered our dreams and transformed the way we see the world. All contemporary American actors owe a debt to Brando and are in some sense in his shadow. He took the self-analytic and ensemble-based Stanislvaskian “Method” of the New York Actor’s Studio to Hollywood and helped put an end, for good or ill, to the old paternalistic studio system, with its corporate populism and army-like cadres of polished technicians. Today’s young white actors, emerging from comfortable respectable homes and lacking access to the hardening experiences of factories, freighters or battlefields, search for masculinity by aping Brando … Arrogant and manipulative, seething with raw sensitivities and burning rage, alternately harsh and kind, selfish and generous, Brando is a monumental personality of profound complexities and contradictions. He must be approached from the direction of other Western artists suffering spiritual conflicts and thwarted ambitions: Byron, Keats, Caravaggio, Michelangelo.” 

Pop culture theorist Camille Paglia on birthday boy Marlon Brando (3 April 1924 – 1 July 2004) in 1991. I particularly love Brando’s performances in the 1953 juvenile delinquent / motorcycle gang film The Wild One and opposite Anna Magnani in The Fugitive Kind (1960) – one of the most underrated Tennessee Williams film adaptations. Pictured: young Brando photographed by Art Shay in 1950.