#cam groves

[tyra-atm]

soft

[lsdunesarchive]

Frank Iero of L.S. Dunes at Garden Amphitheatre (Garden Grove, CA) on August 11, 2023 | 📸: Cam Feuerstein for Punkaganda Press

[chacha-5]

Garden Amphitheater, Garden Grove, CA, 08.11.2023

by 📸 Cam Feuerstein - punkagandapress.com

[felassan]

Article: 'If Anthem is the "anti-BioWare game", then James Ohlen is correcting the balance'

Text [quote]:

"The hugely influential design director talks Baldur’s Gate, his next RPG, and the abandonment of the BioWare model.

“Baldur’s Gate II set the model, and I obviously loved that model,” says James Ohlen. “But there were a ton of people at BioWare who didn’t like it.” During leadership meetings over the course of the Canadian designer’s 22 years at the RPG studio, he’d sometimes feel totally outnumbered when talking about the importance of story. “Game developers don’t get into the industry to create stories, they get into the industry to create games,” he says. “And so there’s this conflict between game developers and story - my entire career it's been a constant fight.”

Ohlen picked his side early. He was telling BioWare stories even before he joined the company. The meeting of Minsc and Boo, one of the most enduring partnerships in PC gaming, came about in a tabletop Dungeons & Dragons game he ran as a teenager. Then a comic book store manager, he took advantage of his premises to guide no fewer than three concurrent D&D groups through their campaigns. “I didn’t really have much of a life outside of Dungeons & Dragons,” he says.

BioWare programmer Cam Tofer played Minsc in one of those campaigns, “as a guy who’s basically been knocked on the head too many times in fights”. A merchant NPC of Ohlen’s invention sold him Boo, the miniature giant space hamster, in an apparent scam. Tofer ran with it, declaring that Boo would be Minsc’s animal companion, and holding one-sided conversations with the confidant that lived in his pocket. “In my campaign he was just a hamster,” Ohlen says. “I always thought of him as just a hamster.”

Back then, in the early 90s, there were no game design degrees, but Ohlen had dedicated himself to the next best thing. DMing proved to be an intensive training course in giving players agency and immersing them in another world - and his local reputation as a story wrangler landed him a job working on Baldur’s Gate. It’s a similar origin story to that of David Gaider, another D&D head who was plucked from the hotel industry to tell tales about vampires and druid groves.

“Have you ever read Malcolm Gladwell on the 10,000 hour rule? I think by the time I got hired by BioWare, I had done 20,000 hours of dungeon mastering,” Ohlen says. “It was ridiculous. I owe a lot to D&D. My friendships, my career, my mental stability.”

BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka encouraged Ohlen to dig into the huge binders that contained the details of all the player characters and NPCs in his campaigns, and to let them spill out into the world of Baldur’s Gate. “I hadn’t intended to do that,” Ohlen says. “It seemed narcissistic. But he was right. Once I started using them, I started getting things done real fast. All the characters had personalities that I already knew.”

Those tabletop campaigns turned out to be accidental writers’ rooms - producing distinct personalities that reflected the voices of their individual players. From the binders came some of Baldur’s Gate’s most beloved companions, like Minsc and the egotistical conjurer Edwin, as well as its villains - leading all the way up to the sequel’s Hannibal Lector-esque antagonist, Jon Irenicus.

That said, inspiration for Baldur’s Gate II’s much deeper companion stories came from an unlikely source. During a freezing winter smoke break in Edmonton, an Interplay producer named Dermot Clarke mentioned that Baldur’s Gate’s characters weren’t nearly as developed as those in Final Fantasy VII.

“I’m very competitive,” Ohlen says. “I went and played Final Fantasy VII and was like, ‘Oh my good god, these characters make ours look like a bunch of cardboard cutouts. This is terrible.’” The disparity convinced BioWare to up their game, leading to the complex journeys of companions like Jaheira - the grieving wife and activist, whose sense of duty has been shaken by so much loss. Despite Ohlen’s distaste for the way SquareSoft’s RPGs played, he continued to be influenced by their character work - all the way up to Knights Of The Old Republic, which was partly inspired by the twist-laden Chrono Cross. That and Star Wars, of course.

“I actually totally, entirely ripped off The Empire Strikes Back in such blatant fashion,” Ohlen says. “You basically go to face the dark lord by yourself, and then you get into a lightsaber fight with him, and he kicks your ass. And then, after kicking your ass, he does the big twist. Then you don’t die because you’re rescued by your friends on the Millennium Falcon - I mean, the Ebon Hawk. It’s beat by beat the same thing.”

Of course, KOTOR’s plot twist didn’t feel familiar to players because it impacted not Luke Skywalker but them personally. For those who don’t know - and spoiler warning, if so - it revealed that your character was in fact a former Sith Lord, their memory wiped by the Jedi Council. In an RPG genre rooted by knowing your avatar down to their last stat, having your identity ripped out from under you felt genuinely radical. BioWare had succeeded in making its biggest setpiece not a battle, but a revelation. And in the process, it proved that BioWare storytelling was packed with the kind of explosive potential a publisher could bank on.

After the sale of the company to EA in 2007, Ohlen was put in charge of creative development on a Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic. It was BioWare’s next great hope, and an enormous undertaking - involving the founding of a brand new studio in Austin, Texas. At launch, it featured eight story campaigns which unfolded across 19 planets. In 2011, executive producer Rich Vogel told Fast Company that The Old Republic hosted “the most content in a video game ever”. Looking back, Ohlen views that as a fundamental problem.

“If open-world is the enemy of storytelling, multiplayer is the arch-villain,” Ohlen says. “If I was to go back in time to give my 2006 self some advice it would be, ‘Don’t try to make the game so long that you can fill up 200 hours. Instead, keep it shorter.’” With less ground to cover, the Austin team could have committed more resources to its Flashpoints - story-heavy missions which forefronted the difficult decision-making and tight encounter design that had elevated previous BioWare games. “Everyone wanted Knights of the Old Republic Online, and it felt more like World Of Warcraft with Star Wars spray-painted on it and some BioWare juice thrown in,” Ohlen says. “Even though the Metacritic was pretty good, it wasn’t new enough to really take off.”

At this point, a Knights Of The Old Republic 3 directed by Ohlen would be “not great”, he says. “Because I’m all Star Wars’d out. I have nothing else to say about Star Wars. But if a whole new studio does KOTOR 3 that loved KOTOR, that could be an amazing game. So hopefully Disney makes that happen. But probably not, because executives around there are all probably going, ‘It’s too hardcore.’” Ohlen still remembers the efforts he made to convince EA boss John Riccitiello that fantasy was a genre that could sell. “I had this whole PowerPoint presentation,” he says. “We have Lord Of The Rings! We have World Of Warcraft! We have Diablo!”

The year after The Old Republic’s launch, with the arch-villain of multiplayer still undefeated, development of Anthem began - and BioWare fought that increasingly costly battle for the better part of a decade. Those at the studio tired of the Baldur’s Gate model had the backing of EA, since a live service looter-shooter in the mode of Destiny could unlock years of long-term revenue beyond the reach of a single-player RPG. Or so the theory went. “It was always chasing the gigantic successes instead of leaning into what BioWare was good at,” Ohlen says. “It wasn’t just EA leaning on BioWare - there were lots of people in BioWare who wanted to do something different.”

Ohlen understood why others at the company would want to get away from a formula that empowered old hands like him and Gaider, and embrace one that empowered them instead. And he knew first-hand that freedom to experiment was what had set BioWare on the path to success decades before. Yet this new direction felt like an abandonment of the studio’s strengths. “Anthem was the ultimate expression of that,” Ohlen says. “It got away from everything. It’s kind of like the anti-BioWare game.”

Ohlen left in 2018, intending to retire from videogames altogether. “The big games have a formula and they don’t adjust it too much,” he says. “It’s very production driven, and I was like, ‘I’m not gonna get to make a game that I want to make at EA.’” He returned to the tabletop, putting together a new Baldur’s Gate adventure book featuring Minsc and the gang. But then Wizards Of The Coast called and flew him up to Seattle to discuss starting a new studio. Ohlen didn’t need or necessarily want a videogame development team under his wing - and that proved to be a perfect negotiating position.

“My demands were, ‘I only do this if I get to start my own studio in Austin, I get to choose who I hire, I get to choose exactly the kind of IP I want to make, no one’s gonna tell me anything about how to make the game.” At this point, Ohlen adopts a megalomaniacal tone, as if he were Baldur’s Gate baddy Sarevok, ascending to the throne of the dead god Bhaal. “I want control over absolutely everything! I want all the power!”

To his surprise, Wizards said yes, and Ohlen has been happily presiding over Archetype Entertainment ever since, building a new sci-fi RPG world without interference. “If you’ve seen the games I like to build, it’s that style of game,” he says. “But then it leans into the people and technology that I have available.” Ohlen won’t elaborate on what’s in his toybox, for fear of spilling secrets - but it’s worth noting that Mass Effect legend Drew Karpyshyn joined Archetype in 2020 as lead writer. “The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare,” wrote Karpyshyn on his blog at the time. “I can feel the magic in the air.”

Magic and Wizards and science fiction - it’s the kind of atmosphere in which you could believe a hamster isn’t just a hamster, but something altogether sillier and more exciting. An act of collective imagination is happening, the binders are filled to bursting, and all we have to do is wait."

[source]

[wellthebardsdead]

Lucy: *walking along side commander Zhalk as he proudly lines up some of his best men, the cambion visibly confused as his arch duchess stops and asks each of them their names and makes small talk before moving on* Yes. These men will do nicely. Listen up! When you reach the shadow cursed lands, and you will know when you reach them, trust me. Keep your moon lanterns high, guard the tieflings with your life and thus is very important. If you encounter a group called the harpers. Do not kill them! Ask them to guide you to Last light inn. Allow Zevlor or even the children to vouch for your entry if a woman named Jaheira is suspicious. And if you encounter a group of cultists belonging to the absolute. Kill on sight. No mercy. You’ll know them when you see them. But-… if a drider, is amongst them. Capture him unharmed. I need to talk with him. Alright?

The cambions: *nod* Yes your grace!

Lucy: hm, Sczark. Repeat my orders back.

Sczark: *a cambion at the end of the line, smaller than the others but still capable, quickly stands to attention* Moon Lanterns high, protect refugees, spare harpers, get to last light, kill cultists, capture drider.

Lucy: very good. Right, I’m satisfied.

Sczark: *giddly nudges the soldier next to him* she remembered my name!

Lucy: *looks to Zhalk* the cult cam hypnotise targets if they’re not careful. Make sure they’re all prepared.

Zhalk: You needn’t worry my lady. You have my word… *looks to the refugees* this is… a perplexing situation for me, you understand… You are, the polar opposite of Zariel.

Lucy: well I’ll take it as a compliment.

*several days later*

Lucy: *arrives to last light seeing everyone made it alive and safe, her cambions all flying over to greet her and the group, and all immediately drawing their weapons on jaheira as she tangled her in vines* STOP! HALT! YEILD! STAND DOWN! DROP WEAPONS! WHATEVER ELSE JUST DO IT!

Zhalk: *snarls looking equally confused and enraged at jaheira before lowering his sword along with his men*

Lucy: *sighs with relief* you sensed the tadpole right? You have one, in a jar?

Jaheira: indeed I do?… *holds it out watching it squirm*

Lucy: watch… *snaps her fingers blocking the connection*

Jaheira: how did, how did you do that?… it stopped reacting?

Lucy: I can block out the signal for now. Put it to sleep sort of… but I need it if I’m going to get into moonrise. The elderbrain these things are spawning from is there-

???: What in the hells do you think you’re doing?!

???: oh gods let them go right now!

???: they’re the ones who saved us!!

Lucy: *looks up and smiles as tears well in her eyes seeing everybody alive and coming to save them* It’s okay, I’m alright.

Zevlor: she’s the one who saved us and the emerald grove! Her cambions are the ones who brought us here!

Mol: yeah! She saved two of my friends! One from a harpy! And one from a mad druid! Didn’t leave a goblin standing neither! She didn’t make a fuss about thieving either! I pretty much trust her with my life!

Lia: You let her go right now or I’ll take you all on myself!

Rolan: that’s a terrible idea lia but- we are alive because of her… so let her go.

Cal: can everyone please just calm down-

Alfira: Calm down?! This lunatics about to kill our only hope of making it out of here alive!

Lucy: Nobody is killing anybody… not yet at least. There’s a traitor in your numbers and I know who. And I can prove it. With that very tadpole.

Jaheira: … *releases her* Let’s head inside, you’ve earned yourself the benefit of the doubt.

Lucy: *sighs with relief and nods* thank you. Let me check in with everyone and make sure they’re alright and I’ll meet you inside.

Jaheira: very well. *walks off*

Lucy: *watches them go before spotting a very worse for wear cambion amongst the numbers* Sczark? Oh sweetie pie what happened?!

Sczark: *somehow a brighter shade of red than he already is* y-you still remember me your grace?!

Lucy: of course I do what kind of boss would I be if I didn’t remember your names at Lea- oh right- *pulls out the bag of soul coins she’s accumulated, each randomly appearing for every enemy she’s killed and hands a couple to each of the cambions* here your payment- I don’t know the value is that enough?

Zhalk: *staring wide eyed at them in his palm* y-yes your majesty-

[dangertoozmanykids101]

6:30a Coyotes yipping & yapping behind our house to the left.

sound only-cant see 'em

The video of my bone dry neglected back yard doesn't really count as "video". This was about recording the coyote sounds. No visuals of the coyotes. They're somewhere in the brush of the open space land behind us. A mix of chaparral shrubland and grasses.

The coyotes just kept talking and talking and talking. What's funny is that an ambulance drove by on the main road down the hill. You guessed it - the siren totally set them off. At first the siren was louder, but I had to do a double take because I swore that the sirens sounded like a whining animal. As the ambulance got further away, the coyotes continued yipping for at least 10 to 15 minutes maybe.

I took video for about a minute, then hubby and I just sat there, ate breakfast and listened to these little guys yip up a storm.

I've never heard coyotes so close to the house before. A couple lots behind us are vacant and across the street from those lots open space continues up the hill and connects as corridors between several large Open Space Preserves, so we have lots of wildlife. One of our neighbors has even caught a mountain lion on their dash cam several months ago. WHOA! So exciting!

You can also hear a red shouldered hawk in the video. Can't see it, but you can hear it. A pair lives in the grove of eucalyptus trees across the street from us. I have enjoyed listening to them daily since the day we moved in 19 years ago.

I've tagged a few buddies who I think might get a kick out of hearing my morning coffee chatter. Specifically — our beautiful community lives all over the world. I feel strongly that the tiny details of our lives make us the same and make us different, and I love to share those. In fact I'm head over heels anytime someone shares little details of life somewhere else: slice of life details. My excitement is both from a personal perspective as well as from a writing and reading perspective.

@ladyoftheteaandblood @nildespirandum @caffiend-queen @acidcasualties @gigglingtiggerv2 @americasass81 @muddyorbs @mochie85 @talklokitome @emeraldrosequartz @latent-thoughts @mooncat163 @devikafernando @so-easy-to-love-me @lokisgoodgirl @kind-of-crazy-butthatsokay @myoxisbroken @jtargaryen18 @imanuglywombat @redfoxwritesstuff @bluestaratsunrise @alexakeyloveloki @boredbrooder @mastreworld @nonsensicalobsessions @deceitfuldevout @punemy-spotted @georgiapeach30513 @spectre-posts @wiypt-writes @wolfsmom1

If you don't want to be tagged on my random ramblings like this, just holler. If you are interested in my rabbit holes of the day and want to be tagged, just holler.

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

Ford Mustang Mach I

A Cammer-Powered 616 HP Ford Mustang Mach 1 – “The Sin City Shaker”

This unusual Ford Mustang Mach 1 is fitted with a rare Ford 427 “Cammer” engine, a V8 with single overhead cams per bank allowing higher RPM operation. Ford originally developed the engine to take on Chrysler’s 426 Hemi in the world of NASCAR.

A Mach 1 Mustang fitted with the 7.0 liter Ford pushrod V8 is a quick car by any standard, particularly in a straight line, but the use of the Cammer 7.0 liter V8 with its SOHC takes it up a few notches – from 335 hp to 616 hp.

Fast Facts – The Mach 1 And The Mighty Cammer V8

Ford developed the “Cammer” V8 in just 90 days in the early 1960 using their existing 427 FE pushrod V8 as a starting point. Their goal was to take on the Chrysler 426 Hemi V8 in NASCAR.

The final production Cammer engine had a single overhead cam per bank spun by a 6 ft long timing chain, and they produced 616 hp at 7,000 rpm and 515 lb ft torque at 3,800 rpm – up to 657 bhp with improved carburetors.

The Ford Mustang Mach 1 was introduced in 1968 as a higher performance version of the standard Mustang. It came with competition suspension and front and rear spoilers, but much of the package was focussed on the car’s looks.

No Cammer V8 engine was fitted to a production car by Ford in period, but this hasn’t stopped enthusiasts from doing their own engine swaps. The car you see here has been professionally converted, looking like a factory-built Cammer Mach 1 might have, had Ford ever built one.

The “90 Day Wonder” – Ford’s Cammer V8

When Ford engineers set out to develop a new V8 to challenge the Chrysler 426 Hemi V8 in the fiercely competitive world of NASCAR racing they knew they had their work cut out for them.

To both simplify and speed up the development process they started with a preexisting engine block – the race-proven 427 FE pushrod V8. The block was modified and a pair of new heads were designed that, very unusually for an American V8 at the time, had a single overhead cam per bank.

Single and double overhead cam engines had largely been the realm of the Europeans, specifically the Italians, Brits, and Germans. Compared to pushrod engines, overhead cam engines typically tolerate higher RPM operation, opening up additional power when designed well.

It was this additional power that Ford engineers were chasing. They took the FE block and modified it to accept the new heads they have developed, the overhead cams would be powered by a 6 ft (1.8 meter) long timing chain and a slew of other minor changes would be made to the engine to safely permit higher-RPM usage.

The length of that timing chain would quickly become a problem for the engine, it necessitated that one cam be a mirror of the other, and under high-RPM usage the cam timing could vary by 7º or more due to the chain stretching.

Sadly, before the engine could even turn in a single lap, it was banned by NASCAR along with the Chrysler Hemi engine as part of a crack down on “special racing engines.”

The Cammer Goes Drag Racing

Rather than dump the Cammer project Ford continued to develop the engine in the hopes of changing the minds of those making decisions at NASCAR, in the meantime they sent the engine off into the world of drag racing – where it proved wildly successful.

Many of the big names in 1960s drag racing were putting the Cammer to good use, including Bill Lawton who won the AHRA and NHRA Winternationals in 1966. Other Cammer pilots included Mickey Thompson, Gerry Schwartz, Tommy Grove, Tom Hoover, Pete Robinson, Connie Kallita, and many others.

1967 would see Connie Kalitta’s Cammer-powered “Bounty Hunter” slingshot dragster win the Top Fuel events at the AHRA, NHRA, and NASCAR winter meets – becoming the only “triple crown” winner in the history of American drag racing.

These successes should be no great surprise, as many drag racing outfits were getting over 2,500 hp out of their supercharged Cammers.

The Cammer Mach 1 Shown Here – “The Sin City Shaker”

The car you see here was nicknamed “The Sin City Shaker” thanks to its combination of a Ford Cammer V8 engine and a shaker hood.

The shaker hood was offered as an option on the Mach 1, it comprises of a hole in the hood and a special air scoop mounted directly to the top of the engine. The air scoop rises through the hole in the hood when the hood is closed, and when the engine is running the scoop can be seen to be shaking – hence the name.

Power is provided by a rare, original Ford 427 cubic inch Cammer V8 producing 616 hp at 7,000 rpm and 515 lb ft torque at 3,800 rpm. Power is sent back through a 4-speed manual transmission to the rear axle.

As a Mach 1, the car has that distinctive livery on the outside, including side stripes, a matte black hood with hood pins, a front lip spoiler, and a rear trunk lid spoiler. Inside you’ll find a black-on-black interior and a Hurst cue ball shifter.

Ben Branch

Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.

Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

[theofficialdramallama]

Maybe it's just me, but I'd love to see the Cam and Bobby friendship (were they even friends or did they simply put up with each other while competing for Jamie's approval?) during the youth group era, and how fractured their relationship became after Bobby's accusation.

I want the show to give us a timeline of when/how things all fell apart. Like, according to Jamie, Bobby 'burned down' the youth centre, and then accused Jamie - so knowing what we know now, Jamie assaulted Bobby, then Bobby accidentally/purposely set fire to the youth centre as presumably a cry for help, and then found the strength to put in the accusation. How did Cam react? Seeing his initial reaction to seeing him again in the hospital, he was clearly manipulated by Jamie into thinking that Bobby was the problem, that he was twisted and targeting the perfect Jamie who could do no wrong.

Maybe I've watched way too much Byker Grove and kdramas with angsty bromances in them, but I love the setting of a youth group for all of this to occur. In real life, the harsh and horrible reality is that it happens much too often between mentor/mentee relationships, but from a dramatic/storytelling POV, the setting allows for so much angst and character development.

I know it won't happen in the show itself (the most we'll probably get is Bobby and Cam arguing about the past), but there's definitely fic potential there (and rp potential, but I don't think there's many detailed Casualty rpers out there).

[dusksimulacre]

all of the Maxis children

Miki Akiyama/ Taku Akiyama/ Katarina Astle/ Orange Bailey-Moon/ Trinity Barron/ Atom Beaker/ Ceres Beaker/ Elsa Bjergsen

Bash Boiler/ Smash Boiler/ Johnny Brock/ Lucy Burb/ Pierce Delgato/ Ximena Diehl/ Kyle Flynn/ Betsy Giordano

Paxton Giordano/ Gabe Gonzalez/ Alexander Goth/ Wren Grove/ Buck Grunt/ Gideon Harris/ Nanami Ito/ Billie Jang

Abbey Keye/ Olivia Kim-Lewis/ Adrien Landgraab/ Todd Landgraab/ Jace Laurent/ Daesung Lee/ Karmine Luna/ Tomi Markovic

Leonardo Martinez/ Sofia Martinez/ Atlas Michaelson/ Bristol Muller/ Lucas Munch/ Eddie Newbie/ Edna Newbie/ Tane Ngata

Karan Parikh/ Karishma Parikh/ Carina Piper/ Kent Platt/ Amy Prescott/ Jayden Price/ Bobby Purdue/ Cali Purdue

Parker Rockwell/ Cam Sadya/ Chase Schwarz/ Christie Sigworth/ Marie Simmons/ Jill Smith/ Olive Tinker/ Cecilia Valentino

Max Villareal/ Leila Wainscott/ Imran Watson/ Maira Watson/ Michael Zhao/ Tiffany Zhao

Teachers: Jean Barnes/ Dylan Flynn/ Vivian Lewis/ Zoe Patel

The Llamas/ The Outsiders/ The Butterflies/ The Pterodactyls/ The Picassos/ Matisse/ The Brainiacs/ The Whiz Kids

[khorren]

Camdinn, or just Cam for short, emerged from his pod in 1314, so he’s 11 at the start of the personal story.

His first few years he wasn’t sure of much and stuck to the Grove mostly, but would travel outside, mainly to Lion’s Arch or Divinity’s Reach to see if he could find his place in the world. He befriended Amarilis as she tried to work out her issues with destiny. When she left the Grove, forsaking her Wyld Hunt, he traveled with her for a bit until he decided he’d try to settle in Divinity’s Reach. He found work in a house of nobility, training the children of the house in sword use (and dagger use when the parents weren’t looking). After some time he moved on from Divinity’s Reach to Lion’s Arch when his employer was more interested in parading Camdinn around like a show pony than treating him as a person.

After a few incidents in the pirate city, Cam was recruited into the Order of Whispers. He gets wrapped up in Sienna becoming a ward of the Whispers and involved in her care, trying his best to keep her out of danger and drama while the higher ups figure out what to do with her. They become good friends and when Sienna is assigned to working with the Commander, he tries is best to go along on missions so he can spend more time with her in between Whispers business.

It’s not until Post EoD that the pair can truly settle down with each other and have their own adventures together.

[lsdunesarchive]

Anthony Green of L.S. Dunes at Garden Amphitheatre (Garden Grove, CA) on August 11, 2023 | 📸: Cam Feuerstein for Punkaganda Press

[chacha-5]

Garden Amphitheater, Garden Grove, CA, 08.11.2023

by 📸 Cam Feuerstein - punkagandapress.com

[theflirtmeister]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

this is so cute, thank you so much!! <3 I'll do one per fandom, otherwise we'll be here all day.

The Locked Tomb: psalm 3 - griddlehark - drabble Alecto witnesses.

Saw: light between stitches - coffinshipping - 2k “You look like shit,” Strahm says. Hoffman tries to bite his fingers. Strahm almost allows him the pleasure.

The Batman (2022): turn on the camera (let's just talk) - riddlebird/riddlebat - 7k Bruce Wayne stumbles across the Riddler's cam show. It's enlightening.

Original Work: girls with straw teeth - m/f - 1k They draw straws to see who’ll deliver food to the witch.

Hemlock Grove: streamed straight to the bone - romancek - 1.6k “Shut up.” Roman says. “I thought you hated me. I thought you do hate me.” “I’m sleeping in your fucking bed, how could I hate you?” Peter asks, exasperated. “I could have torn out your throat and left you for dead. But I didn’t.” “It would have been easier if you had.”

[theorangerangers]

Hello! Hope your day is going well. I was wondering if for the Compresses Power Rangers Timeline AU, if you could list the teams, who's on each team, their rough age and what they do(and possibly the town's name-or would it make sense to use Angel Grove?). I really want to make a one shot of a typical day in this town for the AU, but I only know Ninja Steel, Dino Charge, Samaria and MMPR. I want to make this as accurate as possible. Thanks! Have a great day!

It’s organized by season. And yeah it’s angel grove since that town was a mess

Mmpr

Students: Jason, Kim, Billy, Zack, Trini, Tommy,Aisha, Adam, Rocky, Kat and sometimes Tom (the copy of Tommy) all of whom are seniors. Bulk and skull are juniors

Staff: Ernie is a lunch lady

Aquatar

they are in human disguises but are also students at the school and are members of the swimming team. all seniors.

Zeo

Students: Tommy, Kat, Adam, Rocky, Jason, Tanya, trey (all seniors)

Turbo

Students: Tommy, Kat, Adam, tanya, Rocky(only in emergency cases where Justin can’t fight though).

Justin:a freshman.

TJ, Ashley, Carlos, Cassie are juniors

In space

Students: TJ, Ashley, Carlos, Cassie

Teaching assistant for math: Andros

Teaching assistant for gym: Zhane

Lost galaxy

Librarians: kendrix, Karone

Music teacher: maya

Calculus teacher: mike

Freshman math teacher: Leo

History teacher: Kai

Shop teacher: Damon

Lightspeed rescue

Head school nurse: Dana

Sophomore gym teacher and gymnastics couch: Kelsey

Freshman science teacher who lets students call them his first name and teaches kids how to safety set things on fire: Carter

Latin teacher and wrestling couch from hell: Ryan

Senior year bio electives teacher and swim couch: Chad

Sex ed and general wellness co teachers: Joel and Dr. Fairweather

One of those military recruiters that talk about joining the military to play for college to high schoolers: captain Mitchell

Time force

custodians at the school: Jen, trip, Katie, Luke, wes

Private security due to the shear number of rich people's kids and celebrities go to this school: Eric

Wild force

Portuguese teacher: Cole

Senior gym and track couch: Taylor

Home Ec teacher: Danny

Gym TA (under Taylor’s guidance of course): Max

American history teacher: Alyssa

Ninja storm

Sophomores: Dustin, Tori, Shane, Blake, Hunter

One of the the office secretaries: Cam

Class pet in the 8am section of sophomore bio: sensei guinea pig (it’s Carter’s class room)

Dino thunder

Freshmen: Connor, Kira, Ethan, Cassidy Devin and Trent

Tommy is still a senior but also their STA for extra credit so he can graduate on time

Haily is a junior

Anton is one of those parents that threatens to sue the school if his kid doesn’t get his way

Elsa is the principal

Spd

Definitely older than the typical college students but still in their 20s working school security: bridge, Z, Sky, syd, Jack

Gets shoved in a storage closet in their base so they don’t work at at or go to the school due to time travel shenanigans (also because the time force might arrest him): the omega ranger

Stays in the base due to being alien furries: Crugger and Kat

Janitor: Boom

Mystic force

Juniors: Nick, Vida, Xander, Leelee, Claire, Maddie, Chip

PTA moms: Udonna and Necrolai

Best Latin teacher ever (or at least less terrifying than Ryan): daggeron

Janitor: pheus (or whatever the troll goblin hybrid was called it’s been a while since I’ve seen it)

Operation overdrive

Physic teacher: rose

French teacher: will

Drivers Ed teacher: Ronny

English TA: Mack

School nurse: Tyzon

Drama teacher: Dax

Anyone not listed has their normal jobs

Jungle fury

Lunch ladies: RJ, Casey, Lily, Theo, Fran, Dom

Camille occasionally is disguised as the repair person for the industrial kitchen stuff

RPM

Lunch lady: ziggy

Auto shop TA: Dillon and Scott

Senior English teacher: summer

World history teacher: Flynn

Child development: gen and Gemma

Head of science department: Dr. K

Samurai

Sophomores: Jayden, Emily, Kevin, Mike, Mia, Antonio

Assistant principal: Lauren

Overbearing Parent/guardian who are always at the school to “complain” about something leading to meeting with the assistant principal: Gi

(Due to skull being a high schooler) toddler in the teaching day care program at the school that somehow always manages to find them at inopportune monuments: Spike

As said before bulk is a junior

Super mega force

Freshmen: Troy, Emma, Gia, Noah, Jake, Orion

Stuck being a tiki head in the base: gosei (fun fact the cave Gosei is in shares a wall with the Dino thunder cave in this au!)

Also their weird science teacher is still their weird science teacher IDK his name though

Is often shoved into janitor closets when he shows up at the school to hide him because he doesn’t go there and also the RPM and Zeo rangers tried to fight him once: robo knight

Dino charge

Child development TA: koda

IT guy: Tyler’s dad (I forgot his name)

World history TA: philip

American history TA: shelby

Biology TA: Tyler

Physics TA: Riley

Office secretary who is in charge of making sure everyone is registered for their correct classes : Kendall

Guidance counselor: Heckyl (no one is sure how or why)

Sex ed TA: chase (he likes to joke that Joel and Dr.F are his work parents)

Any non human team members not listed above are shoved into the base and kept there due to the number of rangers that mistake them monsters at random moments

Ninja steel

Sophomores: Brody, Sarah, Hailey, Preston, Calvin

Senior: Levi, Monty, and victor

Vice principal that ends up doing most of the work anyway (due to Elsa and Lauren constantly running off): Ms. Hastings

Beast morphers

Janitors : Ben and Betty

Senior : Nate (Dr.K’s favorite student)

Electric electives teacher: Devin

Special Ed teacher: zoey

Art teacher: Ravi

Former pottery teacher that suddenly vanished: Roxy

Former substitute gym teacher that suddenly vanished: blaze

Devon’s dad is still the mayor and Ravi’s mom is still in charge of grid battle force

Dino fury

Music TA: Javi

Electronic sciences TA: Ollie

Human psychology TA: Amelia

Senior: Izzy, and Fern (fun fact Izzy was the prime suspect for evil green ranger for mmpr before they realized it was Tommy)

Library assistants: Ayon and Zayto (Ollie have them a crash course on the Dewey decimal system and hoped for the best)

Fashion teacher: ms. Garcia

Mr. Garcia keeps his regular job but also gives Javi less of a hard time because music teachers are supposed to be able to play a bunch of different instruments and it looks like he has good chance to take Maya’s place when she leaves the school

Solon remains in the base because she is a dinosaur

Extra notes I came up with on the fly

K is growingly more paranoid due to the number of ranger teams she has evidence have robots in their ranks especially the beast morphers since that’s the team their closest too

Preston was “bullied” out of the magic the gathering club by the mystic rangers due to Vida trying to accuse him of being an evil wizard without blowing their cover. Vida’s exact words were “we don’t don’t want your kind around here”. The ninja steel team now thinks the magic the gathering club is homophobic towards Preston and hates them. Ironically the mystic rangers all love the blue ninja steel ranger and the ninja steel rangers really life the mystic force.

Summer after spending the entire night fighting vengix and exhausted as she walks in the door and Mack the day after he found out he’s a robot. “Summer would you still be my friend if I was a robot?” “Absolutely not” cue Mack having a break down in the janitor closet only to be found by Ben and Betty who assure him they would still be his friends even if he was a robot

Mick is the impromptu medic to most of the robotic rangers

Tyzon is not sure what normal human anatomy should look like so he just copies a lot of what he’s seen Dana do but also does know someone from aquatar when he sees one and treats their injuries accordingly and the aquatar rangers just think he’s a human whose really good with secrets

The teachers are youngish (most haven’t hit 30 yet) and I use TA as a short hand for teachers in training so they’re earlier 20s. And then most of the students besides Justin and Nate are between 14-18 with Justin and Nate both being 12.

Generally everyone else is around the age they are in the show

[blissfulalchemist]

pre-relationship 3, 4 general 11, 12 love 9, 10

for two ships of your choice!

Hey Cam! Remember when you sent this in? Apologies for the time it took but I gave you NatexAria and SibxThancred. Thank you so much for sending this in!!!

3. Who felt romantic feelings first?

Nate, but Aria will tell you she was first. However the way she views and feels things like romantic and sexual attraction are different due to being on the ace spectrum. To get to a point where it feels natural and not so forced takes longer than it does for Nate.

4. Did either of them try to resist their feelings?

Not really. They were young and the world was their oyster so there weren’t too many plans for the future that scared them. The resistance of feelings didn’t come until after Nate was a moving object in Aria’s life.

11. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear in public?

Nate more so. He likes to see her get a little flustered in public. He’s also the one cracking the jokes much more often than her.

12. Do they hide anything from each other, big or small?

🙃 Nate hid what he actually did for a long while, which also prompted to tell her that he sought her out to get access to the Huntington Library. While it was a ruse to start he didn’t expect her to approach him first and for her to be someone he just clicked with. Didn’t expect to be so kind to him and just comforting. He was still fresh off of leaving Rafe behind and his brother’s death that he needed the space to just feel and work through the pain of the loss of Sam and here she was offering him a place to do so with no obligation. Why wouldn’t he want to stay? With that said he did kind of lie about Sam but Aria caught on quick that something was amiss and he was grieving having witnessed her mother grieve many times over, but she never pried just would sit with him, in total silence even if that’s what he wanted.

9. What reminds them of each other?

A lot of little things really, it just differs on how it comes out and often. Aria when he first left it was EVERYTHING, you could not got one conversation without her going “You know Nate….” and then maybe start crying, it wasn’t a fun time for her friends at the time. She got better and angrier especially just before the events of U1 when all his secrets came out so it was silent reminders, like changing the station because “Smooth” came on, no more going to that one sandwich shop, etc.

Nate on the other hand was much more the quiet one to start. He pushed the thoughts away when she came up, by U3 he’s talking about her more and telling Elena some of the stories from when they lived together. With the U4 events it’s become apparent that their time in the previous game events brought up unresolved feelings, but by then Aria had told him to lose her number, cut her out of his life, and be happy with Elena because she was done and he clearly loved Elena more. It was his turn to have almost everything remind him of her in some capcity.

Common themes between them are: “Smooth” by Santana, citrus groves, drunk karaoke nights at western themed bars, and pulp adventure movies.

10. What do they like best about each other?

They complement each other and neither ever pushed the other to be someone they weren’t yet. Aria loves the way he tells stories and never talks down to her when she brought up differeing opinions or corrected him, how he knew just the kind of fun she needed, easy to talk to, and just someone she felt comfortable being herself around. Nate loves how she can be the more level headed one to his impulsivity, she always is there for him even when he far from deserves it, she’s smart and has this wonder that lends itself well to exploration, and mostly that she let him mourn and come to terms with Sam’s death in his own time even when she knew that something was very obviously off about him, she didn’t expect anything from him.

3. Who felt romantic feelings first?

Siberite was the one to have romantic feelings first. When she first started to get to know Thancred she was not a fan, but he’s attractive and she’s very idealistic and has the romanticised idea of what it means to be a hero and so she belived him to be the happily ever after of her tale. She was a bit early to say the least.

4. Did either of them try to resist their feelings?

In the beginning Thancred more so because he wasn’t really ready for that kind of commitment. After A Realm Reborn its both. Sib more because she’s angry and upset with him and honestly he’s still in and out on his being close to her. Thancred because she could do better and its probably safer that they not act on them anymore.

11. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear in public?

Thancred a little more, but only because he was more likely to in the beginning, after that Sib....is much more like him in that department so she will also whisper inappropriate things to him. And admittedly there was one case where it was the wrong time but she’d be damned if she didn’t point it out.

12. Do they hide anything from each other, big or small?

By the ending of Endwalker there really isn’t anything that’s hidden between them anymore. For most of their relationship it was their feelings, past, and doubts about the world. They both have always been easy to talk to about things so really when they aren’t being stubborn they’re very open with one another.

9. What reminds them of each other?

Their weapons of choice, the Walking Sands, the Crystal Tower, and their personal flowers that were cultivated by Anthea even after the first Final Days. The flower for Thancred was rarer due to the fact that it was created in those early days and Anthea forgot to ask Azem’s familiar if what they made reminded them of the man she was “fascinated” with (no Anthea didn’t put it past Azem to create a familiar that could become infatuated and fascinated with other beings, how very kind of her). And this is very Sib specific but the perfume bottle that was the first gift from Thancred, she wears it on her person as much as possible.

10. What do they like best about each other?

That they both are willing to stick to what they believe in and fight for the right thing even when it gets hard. Their perseverance, the way they just care for the other unconditionally, their jokes and fronts lend to putting the other at ease so it makes it easier to let their talks flow, and how neither will let the other do something incrediebly stupid (despite the fact their ideas are not what others deem as such). Love is about being there, showing up when needed, and listening to them, something they both needed in their lives even if they didn’t know it at the time.

[enactivewebs]

19.4

Visit to the rakau with pov go pro and 360

Cool air in the autumn afternoon

Slight breeze on my neck and getting broken by my jacket

An overwhelming sense of calm in the grove , as always

Sounds of rush hour traffic down the hill, an engine or motor of some kind, people chatting, man playing with his dog, some magpie birdsong

Leaves rustling gently

Smell of fresh cool, but not cold air

Nice late sun

Embodied reflection

More aware of my movements with head cam on

Climbing the rakau and enjoying the sense of movement and balance walking on his huge branches

Almost like a dance performance - aware that I am 'representing/presenting' my movements

Some unnatural movements with my head and neck, craning backwards to show canopy on camera

Straining the sinews in my neck

Enjoying touching the bark of the rakau gently and feeling the texture, lots of great hand hold and footholds to climb with and walk on

Sense of envelopment in the grove and

tree - like entering another realm

Late sun filtering through leaves

Branches reaching out and twisting

Colour and texture of the bark up close

Taste of my gum and texture of the saliva and matter in my mouth