#date of origin: april 10 2023

[stuntghoul]

I like freak music.

[thelibraryghost]

A Young Person's Guide to 18th-Century Western Fashion

unabridged version at blogspot

General info Cox, Abby. "I Wore 18th-Century Clothing *Every Day for 5 YEARS & This Is What I Learned (Corsets Aren't Bad!)." YouTube. May 10, 2020. Cullen, Oriole. “Eighteenth-Century European Dress.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004. Glasscock, Jessica. "Eighteenth-Century Silhouette and Support." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004. Accessories Banner, Bernadette. "Women's Pockets Weren't Always a Complete Disgrace | A Brief History: England, 15th c - 21st c." YouTube. April 10, 2021. Colonial Williamsburg. "#TradesTuesday: Men's Accessories." YouTube. June 13, 2021. Murden, Sarah. "The Georgian era fashion for straw hats." All Things Georgian. December 6, 2018. Cosmetics & hygiene Cox, Abby. "I Followed an 18th-Century Moisturizer & Sunscreen Recipe & it kinda worked??." YouTube. February 21, 2021. Cox, Abby. "We tried making *5* different 250 year old rouge (blush) recipes || [real] regencycore makeup." YouTube. August 29, 2021. JYF Museums. "Hygiene in the 18th Century | From the Farm to the Army." YouTube. August 21, 2021. Décor Heckscher, Morrison H. “American Rococo.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003. Munger, Jeffrey. “French Porcelain in the Eighteenth Century.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003. Formal wear SnappyDragon. "This dressing gown changed fashion forever : the feminist history of going out in loungewear." YouTube. April 15, 2022. Stowell, Lauren. "The Many Types of 18th Century Gowns." American Duchess. March 15, 2013. Zebrowska, Karolina. "Cottagecore Style Is Much Older Than You Think." YouTube. June 30, 2021. Hair care Cox, Abby. "I made 250-year-old Hair Products Using Original Recipes (and animal fat...)." YouTube. November 7, 2021. Cox, Abby. "I tried a 300-year-old hair care routine for a year & this is what I learned (it's awesome!)." YouTube. January 23, 2022. Cox, Abby. "What's the Deal with 18th Century Wigs? (and why Bridgerton really messed this up)." YouTube. June 1, 2023. Laundry Cox, Abby. "Making 300 Year Old SLIME for Laundry Day." YouTube. June 15, 2023. Townsends. "Historical Laundry Part 2: No Washing Machine, No Dryer, Hit It With A Stick?" YouTube. June 3, 2019. Outer- & working-wear JYF Museum. "Getting Dressed | Clothing for an 18th Century Middling Woman." YouTube. March 18, 2021. Major, Joanne. "The practicalities of wearing riding habits, and riding ‘en cavalier’." All Things Georgian. March 12, 2019. Rudolph, Nicole. "What did Pirates ACTUALLY Wear? Fashion at Sea in the 18th c & Our Flag Means Death Costumes." YouTube. May 8, 2022. Shoes Chin, Cynthia E. "Martha Washington's Shoes." George Washington's Mount Vernon. No date. Murden, Sarah. "18th-century shoes." All Things Georgian. December 15, 2015. Rudolph, Nicole. "Real 18th century Shoes? Historical Shoemaker Examines an Antique." YouTube. December 13, 2020. Textiles Cox, Abby. "18th Century Printed Cotton Do's & Don't's." American Duchess. December 23, 2019. Stowell, Lauren. "Fabrics for the 18th Century and Beyond." American Duchess. June 14, 2021. Townsends. "Oil Cloth - Waterproof Coverings for Your Campsite." YouTube. July 30, 2018. Undergarments Major, Joanne. "Quilted Petticoats: worn by all women and useful in more ways than one." All Things Georgian. November 20, 2018. Rudolph, Nicole. "Making 18th century Stays for the Ideal Body Shape : Historical Undergarments." YouTube. August 12, 2023. SnappyDragon. "RUMP ROAST : Ranking historical fashion's wildest fake butt pads." YouTube. October 27, 2023. Townsends. "Sewing Histories' Most Popular Garment - The Fabric Of History - Townsends." YouTube. September 3, 2022.

[absolutebl]

All BLs from 2023

that I tracked, may not be exhaustive for some regions. Only BLs that ended in 2023 are included in this list.

LAYOUT: Title - sub/alt title - rating/10 - where to find it (with a US IP, if on multiples channels only one listed)

China & Hong Kong

Stay With Me AKA Addicted + fuck you fans - dnf - grey

Stay Still - 7 - YouTube

Japan

Blue Sky Complex - cnf - ?

Can I Buy Your Love From A Vending Machine AKA Sono Koi, Jihanki de Kaemasu ka? - cnf - ?

Candy Color Paradox  AKA Ameiro Paradox - 8 - Gaga

Egoist - dnf - ?

I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai - 10 - Net

If It’s With You AKA Even If I Fall In Love With You AKA  Kimi to nara Koi wo Shite Mite mo’ - 7 - Gaga

Jack o'Frost - 5 - Gaga

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo Tabetai - 6 - Gaga

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 - 6 - Gaga

My Beautiful Man 2 AKA  Utsukushii Kare Season 2 - 8 - Viki

My Beautiful Man: Eternal AKA  Utsukushii Kare Eternal - 8 - Viki

My Personal Weatherman AKA  Taikan Yoho - 9 - Gaga

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi - 7 - Gaga

One Room Angel - dnf - Gaga

Our Dining Table AKA  Bokura no Shokutaku - 9 - Gaga

The End Of The World, With You AKA  Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu - 6 - Gaga

Tokyo in April is AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa - 8 - Viki

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA  Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 - 100 - Gaga

Korea

A Breeze of Love - 8 - iQIYI

A Shoulder to Cry On AKA Comfort the Boy - 4 - Viki

All the Liquors AKA  - Liquor - 8 - Viki

Behind the Shadows - cnf - ?

Bump Up Business - 6 - Gaga

Happy Merry Ending  - 8 - Viki

Individual Circumstances - 7 - Viki

Jun and Jun - Jun & Jun - 9 - viki

Love Class 2 AKA  Love Class Season 2 - 8 - Viki

Love Mate - 8 - Viki

Love Tractor - 9 - iQIYI

Our Dating Sim - 10 - Viki

Our Winter - 5 - YouTube

Sing My Crush AKA  Follow The Wind - 8 - iQIYI

Star Struck AKA Starstruck - 6 - iQIYI

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner - 6 - iQIYI

The Eighth Sense - 9 - Viki

The New Employee AKA The New Recruit AKA Shinib Sawo - 9 - Viki

Unintentional Love Story - 9 - iQIYI

Why R U? - (Korean adaptation of Thai original) - 8 - iQIYI

Myanmar

The Love Ring - dnf - YouTube

The Philippines

Ever After - dnf - YouTube

My Story  - dnf - YouTube

Our Story - dnf - Oxin Films

Stay - dnf - YouTube

The Day I Loved You - dnf - YouTube

Tie The Not AKA Under the Same Sky - 7 - Prime

Singapore

Pure Vanilla - Singapore - 7 - Gaga

Taiwan

HIStory5: Love In The Future (HIStory 5) - 7 - Viki

Kiseki: Dear to Me - (formerly Miracle)  - 9 - Gaga

My Tooth Your Love - 8 - Viki

Stay By My Side - 8 - Viki

You Are Mine - 7 - Gaga

Thailand

609 Bedtime Story - (OhmFluke) - 6 - WeTV

7 Days Before Valentine - cnf - One31

A Boss and a Babe - (ForceBook) - 7 - YouTube

Absolute Zero - 6 - iQIYI

After Sundown AKA Saengrawi - (ZeeNew) - cnf - ?

Bake Me Please - 6 - Gaga

Be Mine Super Star Superstar - (JaFirst) - 6 - Viki

Be My Favorite - AKA You Are My Favorite - 8 - YouTube

Bed Friend - (NetJames) - 8 - YouTube

Between Us - (BounPrem) - 8 - iQIYI

Beyond the Star - dnf - iQIYI

Boyband the series - 3 - grey

Cafe In Love - 3 - grey

Chains of Heart - 3 - iQIYI

Cherry Magic (Thai remake) - (TayNew) - cnf - YouTube

Chiang Mai Adventures - 100 - subscribers only

Colorful Melody - cnf - WeTV

Crazy Handsome Rich - dnf - Gaga

Cutie Pie 2 You special - (ZeeNuNew TutorYim MaxNat) - 7 - YouTube

Dangerous Romance - (PerthChimon) - 8 - YouTube

Dear Kitakyushu - cnf - ?

Destiny Seeker - (EarthBank) - 8 - WeTV

Dinosaur Love - Buddy Line Y Animal AKA Buddy Line Y(aoi) Animal - dnf - iQIYI

Friend. Boy Friend - cnf - ?

Future the series - 7 - YouTube

Hidden Agenda - (JoongDunk) - 8 - YouTube

Hit Bite Love AKA  - Hit Bite Lick - 3 - YouTube

House of Stars - dnf - iQIYI

I Feel You Linger in the Air - 9 - grey

I Will Knock You - 5 - Gaga

La Pluie - 9 - Viki

Laws of Attraction - 9 - iQIYI

Love in Translation - 6 - iQIYI

Love Syndrome III   - characters from Unforgotten Night - 100 - WeTV

Low Frequency - 6 - iQIYI

Make a Wish - 8 - grey

Man Suang - (MileApo) - cnf - ?

Middleman’s Love - (TutorYim) - 6 - iQIYI

Moments Of Love - cnf - ?

Moonlight Chicken - (EarthMix) - 8 - YouTube

My Biker - cnf - ?

My Blessing - 2 - YouTube

My Dear Gangster Oppa - 8 - iQIYI

My School President - (GeminiFourth) - 9 - YouTube

My Universe - Casanova Begins - 2 - iQIYI

My Universe - Fake Love - 4 - iQIYI

My Universe - Pisces of Me - 4 - iQIYI

My Universe - The Camp Fire - 5 - iQIYI

My Universe - Marry Go Round  - 5 - iQIYI

My Universe - Right Time, Right You - 5 - iQIYI

My Universe - You Are My Soulmate - 6 - iQIYI

My Universe - Lucky Love - 7 - iQIYI

Naughty Babe  - (MaxNat) - 8 - iQIYI

Never Let Me Go - (PondPhuwin) - 8 - YouTube

Night Dream - dnf - YouTube

Only Friends - (ForceBook) - 3 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: A Boss and a Babe - (ForceBook) - 6 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: A Tale of Thousand Stars - (EarthMix) - 8 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: Bad Buddy - (OhmNanon) - 8 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: My School President - (GeminiFourth) - 8 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: Never Let Me Go - (PondPhuwin) - 8 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: Star in My Mind - (JoonDunk) - 8 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: The Eclipse - (FirstKhao) - 8 - YouTube

Our Skyy 2: Vice Versa - (JimmySea) - 6 - YouTube

Pastsenger AKA - Past-senger  - 4 - Gaga

Remember Me - (JaFirst) - 5 - Gaga

Senior Love Me - 3 - YouTube

SHADOW - dnf - x

Step By Step - 9 - Gaga

The Luminous Solution - 3 - Gaga

The Promise - 4 - YouTube

The Whisperer - cnf - ?

Till the World Ends - dnf - grey

Tin Tem Jai  - 5 - Gaga

Tin Tem Jai special - 4 - YouTube

Venus in the Sky  - 5 - iQIYI

Wedding Plan - 7 - YouTube

Vietnam

Love Bill  - source title: - LỜI HỨA MÙA HẠ - dnf - YouTube

Mr Cinderella 2 - dnf - YouTube

Stormy Honeymoon - dnf - YouTube

Stupid Genius - 7 - YouTube

The Star Always Follow You - Lấp Lánh Tựa Ánh Sao Trời - dnf - YouTube

Vian the series - (Bah Vinh) - 4 - YouTube

cnf = could not find

dnf = did not finish

requested by @guzhu-furen

[effypcfcwrites]

The Owl House

(Originally posted on my personal Facebook dated April 25, 2023)

This is probably the first time I'll be posting a detailed review of a piece of media that I like, so witness me sing all of my praises for this animated series from the House of Mouse, because wow, I've never been so invested in a Disney show after rewatching Gravity Falls.

For those unfamiliar, The Owl House revolves around Luz Noceda, a teenage girl who stumbles upon a portal to an alternate world called The Boiling Isles, meets a witch named Eda Clawthorne, learns magic under her tutelage and eventually enrolls in Hexside, a magic school where she makes many friends and goes on multiple adventures.

I binged this whole show in a span of weeks and even stayed up all night on my day off to finish it up to Season 3, the first 2 Seasons being on Disney+ and the latter on Disney Channel's YouTube page.

Simply put, I love it so much! I love how it reminds me of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and, dare I say, Harry Potter, which it even poked fun at, at times. Well-deserved, considering J.K. Rowling’s transphobic views and HP’s underlying anti-Semitic undertones.

I loved the pop culture references to Thor: Ragnarok, Howl's Moving Castle, Metal Gear Solid, and even Hades, among many others! I thought those were very clever and funny, and just a treat for fellow nerds, geeks, and fans of fantasy stories, anime, and video games.

I love the LGBTQ+ representation all throughout the show, which was such a bold move considering Disney’s iffy stance on the subject. None of them were antagonized for it, and it was treated as something normalized in both the Human and Demon Realms. The show featured 2 gay dads, non-binary and aromantic-asexual characters, and one of the internet’s favorite sapphic/WLW couples Lumity, which is the ship consisting of canonically bisexual Luz and implied lesbian Amity Blight, whose rivals-to-friends-to-lovers relationship was just so wholesome, so natural, and very healthy, considering they're both teenagers. Suprisingly, there was very little melodrama, not once were they petty towards one another whenever either party did something wrong, and they never got tired of showing affection towards each other. I found myself shamelessly gushing over how cute, adorable, and supportive they were together, and tearing up a lot during key moments of their relationship, especially when they both found themselves in dire straits as the story progressed.

I love the writing and the character development of them all! None of them felt static, they all grew throughout the series, maturing, getting better, and healing from their own insecurities, trauma, and guilt. The humor and comedic timing was a nice touch, and I was really taken aback by how S2 ended on such a dark cliffhanger with all stakes raised to the roof, similar to A:TLA S2 and The Empire Strikes Back, as mentioned earlier. That season wasn’t afraid to have such a grim ending, with such a great payoff by the end of S3 which is worth celebrating.

I love the animation and art style, which blended colorful and whimsical with eerie and ominous in just the right amounts. As a sucker for animated movies and series such as Adventure Time, The Prince of Egypt, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, it was just such a delight watching it.

I love the overarching message of the show, which is to be truly yourself, to embrace your quirks, and never to limit yourself and your potential based on what the majority of society and the powers-that-be expect from you. All throughout, you’ll find the characters challenging pre-established norms and roles, and it’s just so satisfying seeing them all win.

11/10 top-tier show. Don’t @ me, it’s hard for me to find something I disliked about the series. It's definitely a must-watch, especially if you're sick and tired of all the bleak nihilism of modern adult animation, and you just want to baby your inner child and escape to a whimsical fantasy world with characters you can all relate to. Betting my bottom peso you'll all be hooked, like I was.

[offender42085]

Post 1258

The victim's father expressed compassion for the young defendant, who stood to the side of the courtroom in prison garb, with his hands cuffed.

Alan Faynzilberg, New Jersey inmate 821030E, born 1997, incarceration intake December 2017 at age 20, released November 2023

Vehicular Homicide -- Reckless Driving, Manufacture/Distribution/Dispense of Controlled Substance

In October 2017, a Belleville New Jersey man was sentenced to eight years in prison for a drunken head-on collision that took the life of a young father of two in May 2016.

During a somber afternoon hearing in Superior Court in Newark, the judge said he had seen other victims' family members express forgiveness toward their loved one's killer. But none, he added, had ever done what Pietro Davila did following the death of his son, 33-year-old Luis Davila.

"I've never had a victim's family member come before me and request that he be put on the defendant's visitation list," said Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler.

And while Wigler wished defendant Alan Faynzilberg, 20, success in eventually turning his life around, the judge was not as forgiving as Davila's family, and refused to reduce the 8-year sentence recommended by prosecutors in a deal that led to Faynzilberg's guilty plea earlier on June 26.

Faynzilberg was jailed for 10 months following the incident, then released, but has been back in custody since the prior week, when he turned himself in on what was supposed to be his original sentencing date.

Pietro Davila, 59, of Jersey City, was one of three people who made victim impact statements. But rather than condemning Faynzilberg, DaVila expressed compassion for the young defendant, who stood to the side of the courtroom in prison garb, with his hands cuffed.

"I feel content, because we are Christian," Davila said through an interpreter. Turning to Faynzilberg, he added, "This young man, Alan, on my behalf I forgive him."

The victim's sister, Giselle Davila, was equally compassionate, telling Faynzelberg, "I hope that when you complete your sentence, you change your life for the better."

Assistant Prosecutor Betty Rodriguez said during the hearing that Faynzilberg admitted using alcohol, marijuana and the tranquilizer Xanax prior to the crash. She told the judge that in that and prior arrests for drug-related offenses, Faynzilberg had repeatedly shown "a complete disregard for the law."

With his lawyer, William Fitzsimmons, at his side, Faynzilberg made an emotional plea for leniency.

"Let me express my deepest and most sincere apologies for May 27, 2016," Faynzilberg said, sobbing at that point and others during the hearing.

"I'm sure it was sincere," said Wigler, the presiding criminal judge in Essex County.

That said, Wigler told Faynzilberg that, under his plea deal, the prosecutor's office had already agreed to downgrade the vehicular homicide charge against him from first degree to second degree, sparing him several years in prison under sentencing guidelines.

Wigler added that Faynzilberg's prior record included two drug arrests, one in which he avoided a criminal conviction by being accepted into a pre-trial intervention program, or PTI, on April 15, 2016 -- just six week before the drug-fueled crash that killed Luis Davila.

"What's concerning is you don't learn from your past mistakes," Wigler told Faynzilberg. "And a family was destroyed."

A friend of the Faynzilberg, Alexandra Roth, made a statement on his behalf, assuring the court that he would have the loving support of his family to help him overcome his drug dependence and reintegrate him into society upon his release.

"The level of remorse that he felt was not of the kind, 'What's going to happen to me?' but truly of the magnitude of what happened," Roth said.

4y

[siriuslydaz3d]

Home || Peter Quill

Summary: Peter goes home

Warnings: Uhh none, I think?

AN) this is a rewrite of something I did after Endgame! if you enjoy, please let me know! Also yes, there’s a reference to his bisexuality because fuck it, we need bi rep and so many people forget Peter Jason Quill is bisexual. 

Peter looked down at the stack of letters he had been writing for (Y/N). He felt nervous, guilty even for returning after all these years. He hadn’t purposely left, he was abducted. He isn’t even sure if she remembers him. Was it possible?

To (Y/N) August 1989

The oldest letter in the stack, written the year after he was taken. It explained what his life was like now. Telling her about his first year in space. Asking her what it was like in 4th grade. Apologizing for being gone. Promising to see her as soon as he could. An ‘I love you always’ sloppily written at the bottom as he rushed to finish it.

To (Y/N) October 1990

10 year old Peter wished her a happy halloween, asking her what’s popular on Earth. The ramblings of a child excited about being gifted his very own spaceship. He made it a point to tell her it was named after Alyssa Milano. He told her all about Yondu and the ravagers.

He wrote to her at least once a year. His handwriting slowly improved as he aged. He smiled down at the aged stacks of paper, thinking back fondly to his childhood. Peter shuffled through the letters, quickly glancing at the dates on each of them.

To (Y/N) May 2006

To (Y/N) July 2012

To (Y/N) August 2014

To (Y/N) November 2014

He paused on that one. November 2014. He wrote about his relationship with Gamora. He wrote about how he met his biological father, who just happened to be a planet. He wrote about the death of said father, and the death of the father that actually raised him. Yondu. 

To (Y/N) April 2023

The most recent one. He’d written it after they’d all returned. He wrote about the death of Gamora. He wrote about battling Thanos on Titan. He wrote about being back on Earth, about the massive battle in New York. He wrote about Tony Stark’s private funeral. He wrote about wanting to see her.

Peter organized the letters back in the original order. He’d asked Pepper for help, giving her what information he had on his childhood friend in hopes of tracking her down. Pepper had come through with plenty of information. (Y/N) actually lived in New York. She worked from home in IT. She was single. She had survived the blip. He was just down the street from her apartment, nerves taking over as he looked in the direction of her home. He took a deep breath, and continued down the street. Peter chewed on his lip as he knocked on her door. A faint ‘Just a minute!’ could be heard from the otherside, and at that moment, it took everything in him not to run away.

The door opened. “Hi, can I help you?” She spoke, his blood running cold and his throat felt tight. 

“You’re totally not going to believe this, but it’s me, (Y/N).” Peter rushed, causing her to raise her eyebrow. “I’m back. I-I’m Peter. Peter Quill from Missouri.” 

“This isn’t funny. I don’t know how you know about my connection to him-” She started, but Peter was quick to cut her off. 

“When you were in kindergarten, you got in trouble for having a pocket of worms. I got in trouble with you because I ate one of them in class. Nastiest taste in the world, but it amused you.” He chuckled, running his fingers over the envelopes. “If that didn’t convince you, I remember the huge crush you had on Mark Hamill after we watched Star Wars. I bullied you for ages about it.” 

“Peter..” She whispered, hand coming to cover her mouth. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at him. “It’s been 35 years, where the fuck have you been?” 

Peter stuck the worn pile of envelopes out in front of him. “Funny enough, these probably explain it better than I could. I wrote to you frequently. I’m gonna be completely honest, I wasn't even sure if I was ever coming back. I was convinced I was wasting time, but y’know all the funky shit that happened kinda forced me back.” 

(Y/N) took them and flicked through the pile. “I never stopped looking for you. When they said you disappeared, I went looking everywhere we’d gone. I thought you’d just run away, but rumors began that maybe you’d died and I just.. I knew you weren’t dead.” Her eyes met his face and she smiled. “I’ve missed you, dumbass.” 

Peter stepped forward, wrapping his arms tightly around her as they stood there in an embrace. “I’m sorry for leaving, and again, you won’t believe this but I’ve got a pretty insane reputation in space.” 

The woman pulled away and raised her eyebrow at him. “What? Peter.. You mean outer space right? Like up there?” She asked him, pointing up at the sky. He nodded, a childish grin plastered on his face. 

“Ask me about my reputation.” 

“I’m afraid to know.” She sighed. 

“C’mon.” He cooed, swaying them slightly. “You know you’re curious.” 

“What’s your reputation, Peter?” 

He looked down at her with his signature smirk. “On Terra, I’m just little old Peter Quill. A boring, apparently presumed dead, nobody. In space, I’m the legendary outlaw turned hero of the galaxy known as Star-Lord, lover to all.” He winked, making (Y/N) roll her eyes. 

“Lover to all, huh? How many alien STDs do you have?” She laughed as he groaned. “Do aliens have STDs?” 

“I don’t have any that I know of, and I’m assuming they do. I don’t just go around asking aliens if they do or not!” He replied, as his childhood friend doubled over with laughter. “I missed hearing you laugh.” 

“I missed you, Peter. It’s nice to have you back, even if it’s temporary.” She huffed, looking up at him. “I don’t know how long you’re staying, if you are, but would you like to have dinner with me? I want a chance to properly catch up with you.” 

“Are you asking me on a date?” 

“Never in a million years, space boy.” She spoke, stepping aside and motioning him in. “C’mon, I make a mean ass pot of chili and I’m assuming you haven’t had any in ages.” 

Peter happily stepped inside, shrugging off his coat and tossing in on the closest chair. He looked around her apartment, the walls covered with photos from her life and movie posters he didn’t recognize. A photo of him and her on Halloween hung beside a framed drawing he’d made for her back before he was abducted. 

“Hey, (YN), what the hell is Revenge of the Sith? And why do you have a big ass poster of it?” 

[monarchisms]

so, with rt having their anniversary on april 1st, they decided this year to celebrate for 20 whole weeks for their 20th anniversary. with one episode a week on fridays starting in march and ending in july, they've released one-off mystery episodes of their shows and products that have been cancelled, put on hiatus, or otherwise ended naturally. the exceptions are on the spot and camp camp, the former of which is coming back later this year, and the latter having a new season premiere later next year in 2024, both having been confirmed at rtx 2023.

it makes sense for rt to build up such a major milestone by teasing what they're doing to celebrate, but i think the way they've done it is...

not great.

that's why i'm just gonna put what each mystery video is, with links to youtube because the rt site fucking sucks for convenience!

week 1 (march 17th) | ahwu week 2 (march 24th) | rage quit week 3 (march 31st) | million dollars, but... week 4 (april 7th) | achievement h.o.r.s.e week 5 (april 14th) | on the spot (was originally streamed live)* week 6 (april 21st) | master & apprentice week 7 (april 28th) | rt docs (at least, a ~15 minute parody of one from funhaus) week 8 (may 5th) | AH gta iv: cops and crooks week 9 (may 12th) | AH: theater mode (the youtube version got cut down from around 1 hour 40 minutes to close to 30 minutes, which is cringe) week 10 (may 19th) | rt recap week 11 (may 26th) | rt shorts week 12 (june 2nd) | music video: dusk boys: u.f.whoa week 13 (june 9th) | chump (was originally streamed live)* week 14 (june 16th) | immersion week 15 (june 23rd) | p.a.n.i.c.s week 16 (june 30th) | hard mode: uncomfortable guess who?* week 17 (july 7th) | lazer team: boot group (animated video) week 18 (july 14th) | [trailer] a simple walk into mordor: part 2 week 19 (july 21st) | camp camp week 20 (july 28th) | [prologue] red vs blue: restoration (series finale)

an asterisk (*) means there's bonus content for the labeled video that's unfortunately exclusive to the rt site, with hard mode's bonus video being behind a paywall, for some reason

note: the rvb restoration prologue came out on youtube on july 8th, but i chose to keep the date as the 28th because that's when it was supposed to come out. i didn't know it was released earlier on purpose until i was lucky enough to see an explanation from an rt employee on reddit, of all places:

[nejishadow]

31 Days of Sonic: Day 10 - Magic

Creation date: April 24th 2023

Featuring @shadowfreak98's older Amy design. Card design based on IDW plus the set of cards they sell

Originally this day was gonna be Merlina but the sketches were just not working out.

Very minimal fixes to a traditional sketch, just didn't have the energy to do much more.

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Wave Up High! You're the Most.

I have been curious about this one for a bit, and have seen a little discussion on it. Why does W's sign off in "News" change?

The different sign offs we have seen:

Happy New Year, neighbor! Now make like Barnaby and have a ball! (1/13/2023) Related to New Year's, "drop the ball"

Have a wonderful day! Show the world your best smile! (1/15/2023) Maybe we just haven't established it yet?

More information will arrive as we prepare for this exciting installation! Stay tuned and remember to wave up high! (2/25/2023) 1st instance of the phrase, "remember" isn't what I think when I think of this phrase. The first time I visited was in March of 2023. Maybe closer to April. I think the guest book was still open at that point.

So many guest signatures… So many of them are trying to communicate. What are you telling me for? Do you think I can answer. What are you trying to do to me. I’m closing that guest book, I’m not playing this game anymore. The ringing is enough. (Unknown) Too sad to sign off properly? W is pretty upset.

We believe that concludes everything our beautiful website has to offer in this most recent update! As always, thank you for your patience and have a wonderful day! Don’t forget to wave up high! (7/22/23) Here we go, that's the one we expect. This is the first big update I was here for.

Until then, have a happy Halloween! Don’t forget to wave down below! (10/13/2023) This just seems a twist on the phrase for Halloween? Demons and whatnot.

Don’t forget to wave up high! Ho ho ho! (12/25/2023 stated date, but actually between then and March 9. I think on the update, it was updated either immediately or the next day. Based on awayfrompryingeyes.net, it is in March 2024) Back to the general statement.

Please remember to wave! (3/9/2024) From the post "Mistake." They are thrown off in this one, having realized the date was wrong. Also, they blame someone else for the mistake. No, they refer to themself as a separate person. "I assumed it was still December." to "the individual posting this must not have been paying proper attention." Are they trying to duck the blame? Is there more than one person in their person? Or are they suggesting that someone else wrote it, they posted it, and neither of them knew it was March?

On Away From Prying Eyes:

Don’t forget to wave up high. (3/2024) On this post, they are back to the most common statement of the phrase.

This is a hard one. It is interesting that it starts with something else entirely. In my mind, it was always "don't forget to wave up high." I always assumed it was supposed to be some kind of slang from the time period, in the same way "you're the most" is.

This interesting theory believes it is a reference to puppeteers: https://www.reddit.com/r/WelcomeHomeARG/comments/15m4j5b/dont_forget_to_wave_up_high_and_wallys_eventual/

And that does make sense, given the orientation of the puppeteer--

(Got to love those bell bottoms. I wonder if those are adidas or k-swiss?) Any dancing of the puppet, and some dialog have to be a wave for the puppeteer. Henson was known for several kinds of puppetry, but this style here was often called a "Hand-rod muppet." For more information about muppeteering, visit: https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Puppetry_Techniques.

So, the important point is this: if it is a phrase that puppeteers would use, is W a puppeteer? Was that their original interaction with the material? I don't think it is referenced outside of the "News" section, or hasn't been so far.

The Most

I can't find a history of the phrase "the most" but it is agreed that it evolved in the beat subculture from the late 40's to the 50's. People in the movement were known at "beatniks." Based on a quick search, some consider them different movements. But a common representation of them are like so:

This is Danny Kaye in White Christmas doing the number "Choreography," which is a lighthearted jab at the new generation and their art movements rejecting tap for interpretive dance and popular music for jazz (though in truth, they were already exploiting the heck out of jazz during this period in mainstream entertainment).

Anyway, Audrey Hepburn famously played a beatnik at least once. The trappings are: black beret, turtlenecks, winged eyeliner, bongos, coffeehouses, smoking, jazz, snapping instead of clapping, cool cats you dig, and a general sense of being unwashed. This movement is a counterculture, darker way than the bright and happy hippies, that focuses on deep thought and creation of important art instead of common entertainment, most likely built on the model of the Parisian coffeehouse movement of the 18th century.

Far too much detail just to say that "the most" is an old term even for the run of the show, in the late 60's to early 70's. I wonder why Wally would make such an old term his phrase? Looking up slang from the show's period, we have such gems as "what it is?" (though, like a lot of slang that gets popular, it was originated in the African American community) "peace out," or "keep on steppin'." If he wanted to be current, then he'd go with "groovy."

I wonder if it isn't just that old slang doesn't anger parents, whereas old folks tend to judge the up and coming generations harshly.

I’m curious about other indicators of the time placement. Could Wally be an older puppet than the others?

[crewfu]

Hi ! I'm new around here, do you or anyone else have a crewfu primer to get to know the main people a bit more? Thank you! Xo

this is a big ask but i will do my best:

So we will start with “Crewfu” itself. I think the more used/accepted name for the group is the Morning Lobby. They are a group of streamers/content creators that met through playing Among Us. I'm not 100% on the start date but it was some time in Oct/Nov 2020 - April/May 2021. They had a reunion in June 2022 and continue to play Among Us every Wednesday since. I'll write a short synopsis for each current regular but the otv and friends wiki has a great list of the people who played in the morning lobbies. I also included some links to clips of some of the streamers that I really like.

Crewfu vods/videos I would recommend:

Crewfu panel at twitchcon 2022 edited / full vod

Crewfu plays pico park edited: hafu Dumbdog / full vod (steve)

Hafu’s birthday stream full vod

Hafu: She is the crew’s Mom. She set up the original morning lobbies daily for months. She’s a legend in the gaming community and has been streaming/playing games competitively for over 10 years. Choose any competitive game over this time period and Hafu has probably mastered it. She is married to another streamer called dogdog and they live in Las Vegas with their dog Jubbs.

dakotaz (dk): One of the og members of the morning lobby. He helped set up the lobbies with Hafu at the start due to the frustration of trying to find and play in lobbies at the height of Among Us popularity. Currently streams Fortnite almost daily. He has an alt stream where he sometimes streams Among Us and Valorant and any other games he feels like. He hits those, he's in his 30s, and he's petty all the time. He briefly lived in Vegas but he is a true Florida man and moved back after a short time.

5up: His twitter bio says “rank 1 among us player” He was a rival to Hafu in the og lobbies and was known for his big brain Among Us plays. He also acted as the substitute teacher during the original lobby run and held things together after hafu stopped playing among us in 2021. He commissioned a team to create a custom Among Us map called the submarine map. He plays a lot of competitive games currently like League of Legends, Valorant, TFT as well as MCC. He also travels a lot and he has a lot of friends in many different streaming circles like OTV&F, the minecraft community, etc.

stevesuptic: He was “poached” from a ChilledChaos lobby where he met Hafu and Dumbdog for the first time. He impressed Hafu with not only how funny he was but also with how bad he was at the game. He makes and produces his own music under the artist name "SUGR?" He's been a part of too many youtube channels to list but is probably most well known for Sugar Pine 7. He currently streams valorant and variety content pretty much daily. In May of 2023 he announced that he is roommates with Janet/xChocoBars, another member of the Morning Lobby. In July 2023 he got his own kitten named Olympus or Oly for short.

DumbDog: Despite his name he is generally known for being good at most games. He met Hafu through NorthernLion on the NLSS. He was a semi-regular participant in the original morning lobbies but I think he’s the only person who has been in every single lobby since the reunion. He recently bought a house and adopted a cute husky puppy named Artemis or Artie for short. He is a frequent member of the variety lobbies and plays with Steve and their group almost daily. He is a furry and as part of a sub goal he commissioned a fursuit and it was finished this year. 

xChocoBars or Janet- She is a Canadian variety streamer and a regular in both current and original lobbies.  She plays lots of group games with friends and is often addicted to certain games like APEX and TFT and streams them a lot. She has 2 cats named Hazel and Baton and recently became roommates with Steve.

Angelskimi or Kimi (formerly known as plushys): She is an ASMR artist who was a regular in the og lobbies and plays almost weekly now. She is a pretty irregular streamer but does upload on her ASMR youtube channel weekly. Despite her claims of being “so angel” she is an innuendo queen. She lives in LA with her dog Pix and her cat Snowball.

Ellum: He is one half of daft and dafter with Koji being the other half. He is one of the regulars from the UK. He calls himself the smoothest brain on twitch which may or may not be true. He streams variety games on most weekdays. He lives in London with his girlfriend (CaptainPuffy) and they have a corgi named Pudding together.

koji: He is the other half of daft and dafter. He is known for being a very wholesome streamer. His content oscillates from really cozy games to horror with occasional group gaming streams with friends. He is vegan and lives with his longtime girlfriend Abby and their 2 dogs Miso and Bugs.

Smajor / Smajor1995 / dangthatsalongname / Scott: He currently plays quite frequently in the morning lobby but his specialty outside of that is minecraft content. He is on the Empires server, organizes MCC, the life series, etc. I personally watch more of his youtube content than his streams. He lives in England but he is from Scotland.

Junkyard129: He is a new regular to the morning lobbies and has been playing every week for the last several months. He is the oldest person in the lobby and is often the butt of a lot of jokes because of it. He has probably been creating content longer than anyone else in the lobby as youtube says his first video was uploaded 16 years ago!! Currently streams variety gaming solo and with the Chilled group quite often. He also has regular streams from his woodworking shop where he makes cutting boards, coasters, etc to sell. He has a special dance that he performs when he gets raided.

vGumiho: She is a variety v-tuber who currently plays both in the morning lobby and with the Steve variety game group. She started becoming a more frequent regular when the crew started playing Valorant but plays most weeks for the Among Us lobbies currently. She has a dog named Kazu. She organizes ppsat lobbies which used to be weekly but are less frequent now.

Ovilee: She is an esports commentator who currently plays with the morning lobby most weeks. She also streams and she presented the morning lobby panel at twitch con.

[animesavior]

“Find your dream, Akira. Find the biggest one you can. Your dreams keep a man solid; don't you ever forget that.” -          Teruo Tendo, Zom 100 (Ep. 12)

“If that's the case, I think it's time I leave the village. If what Shizuka's said was true and the zombies are caused by a virus, I'll travel the country and look for a cure to it. they'll convince dad to get surgery for his hemorrhoids, yeah. Do your best to help humanity and do what you can for the world. Those were dad's last wishes after all.” -          Akira Tendo

This Toonami Trending Rundown is a double feature for June 28 & 29-30 and July 5 & 6-7, 2024, as these two weeks marked the season finale of Zom 100.

In regards to trending, during both Toonami Rewind broadcast of June 28 and July 5, #ToonamiRewind would trend in the USA. And for both nights of June 29-30 and July 6-7, #Toonami would trend in the United States alongside My Adventures with Superman and Zom 100. #Toonami would also trend on Tumblr during the latter week.

The Zom 100 manga continues on Akira, Shizuka, Kencho, and Beatrix’s storyline, which is also being published stateside by Viz Media, which is still going strong with 17 volumes and 67 chapters and counting. Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on when and if we’ll see a second season of the Zom 100 anime as of now. As previously mentioned, the anime saw numerous production issues and setbacks that regularly delayed the release of episodes during its original Japanese run, most notably with the final three episodes being delayed for over three months. So even if a second season is already greenlit, it’s quite understandable that the animation studio might need some time to get things back together. Nevertheless, Zom 100 sure was a fun ride, and hopefully we’ll see this show return in the future. In the meantime, feel free to check out the manga, in addition to a live action film by Netflix, that has been on their service since August 3, 2023.

This week’s feature was a game review of Animal Well, a platformer developed by Shared Memory and published by Bigmode. It received an 8/10 score.

During the Production I.G panel on the Saturday of Anime Expo 2024, the panelists revealed the voice cast of the upcoming anime adaption of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki. The English cast will include:

Abby Trott as Kirie Goshima

Robbie Daymond as Shuichi Saito

Cristina Vee as Azami Kurotani

Doug Stone as Kirie's father

Aaron LaPlante as Shuichi's father

Mona Marshall as Shuichi's mother

Max Mittelman as Katayama

As for a potential release date, In an interview with The Japan Times released on June 29, Ito revealed that “the first of four episodes is complete, and lives up to his expectations.” The article also mentioned that Uzumaki is set to air later this year. During San Diego Comic-Con, Toonami announced that Uzumaki would indeed be premiering this September 28, 2024 at 12:30 a.m., following premiere episodes of Rick and Morty: The Anime.

Speaking of Comic-Con, we also got some news regarding several original productions and acquisitions. We got a new show announcement in Rooster Fighter by Shū Sakuratani. Rick and Morty: The Anime will also be premiering on Adult Swim on August 17, with the Japanese with English subtitled version of the episode premiering on Toonami starting August 19. Lazarus by Shinichiro Watanabe will be premiering in 2025. And finally, Aniplex has announced that Toonami will be airing Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village arc on August 10 at midnight, with successive episodes airing on 12:30 a.m, at least until September 28.

Crunchyroll has revealed a new trailer, key visual, and release date for the third and final season of Fire Force. Season 3 will be split into two cours (roughly around 24-26 episodes combined), the first half premiering in April 2025, while the second premieres in January 2026. In terms of trending, #FireForce would trend in the USA as a result.

As I attended San Diego Comic-Con in person, unfortunately, we’re running a bit behind on posting the most recent trending rundowns. We’ll have the trending rundown for the rest of July, featuring the season finale of My Adventures with Superman, up in the coming days. And be sure to tune in tonight for the premiere of Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village arc. Until next time, stay gold, be sure to register to vote for this year’s elections if you’re eligible and haven’t already, and let’s go Team USA.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

June 28, 2024 Toonami Rewind Trends

United States Trends:

#ToonamiRewind [#13]

Tweet Counts:

#ToonamiRewind [1,435 tweets]

#Naruto [6,288 tweets]

June 29-30, 2024 Toonami Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [Trended with #MyAdventuresWithSuperman]

#MyAdventuresWithSuperman [#5]

#Zom100 [Trended with #MyAdventuresWithSuperman]

Tweet Counts:

#MyAdventuresWithSuperman [3,128 tweets]

July 5, 2024 Toonami Rewind Trends

United States Trends:

#ToonamiRewind [#24]

Tweet Counts:

#Toonami [1,218 tweets]

#SailorMoon [3,321 tweets]

July 6-7, 2024 Toonami Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [#8]

#MyAdventuresWithSuperman [#9]

#Zom100 [#9]

Tumblr Trends:

#Toonami [#5]

If you wish to send me a tip for the work on the trending rundown, donations can be sent to https://paypal.me/DanielLimjoco.

Secrets upon secrets. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

[dotty-literati]

So one fun thing you’re able to do is check the archives of newish Tumblr users and pinpoint a specific Twitter Event that caused them to join. For your convenience, I've compiled a timeline of notable Twitter Events.

2022

Elon plans to buy Twitter

- April 4: Musk formally discloses a 9.2% stake in Twitter

- April 14: Musk offers to buy Twitter for $44 billion

- April 25: Twitter accepts the offer

- July 8: Musk withdraws offer citing issues with spam bots

- July 12: Twitter sues Musk to enforce the deal

- July 29: Musk countersues

- October 4: Musk revives the original deal to avoid a trial

- October 26: Musk carries a bathroom sink into Twitter HQ

- October 27: The acquisition is complete & Twitter goes private

Mass layoffs and resignations

- October 27: Musk fires several key Twitter executives

- November 4: Twitter lays off half of its employees

- November 4: Twitter decimates its communications department

- November 10: Security, privacy, & compliance leaders resign

- November 15: Musk fires employees who criticized him on Slack

- November 17: Hundreds of Twitter’s remaining staff resign

- February 2023: Twitter lays off 10% of its remaining employees

Twitter banlist updates

- November 18: Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson unban

- November 19: Donald Trump unban

- November 20: Kanye West unban

- November 21: Marjorie Taylor Greene unban

- November 24: General amnesty for past banned accounts

Blue check mark arc

- October 30: Musk announces monthly verification subscription

- November 9: Twitter launches verification subscription

- November 11: Twitter suspends verification subscription

- December 12: Twitter relaunches verification subscription

- December 12: Twitter announces removal of legacy verification

2023

Blue check mark arc (continued)

- March 23: All accounts must pay for verification starting April 1

- Late March: Celebrities and organizations refuse to pay

- April 11: 4/20 is the final date for removing legacy verification

- April 20: Musk reveals he pays for certain people’s verification

- April 22: W/o legacy, verified becomes status symbol for losers

- April 23: Accounts with 1+ mil followers receive free verification

Spring cleaning

- May 8: Twitter plans to remove accounts inactive for 30+ days

- May 11: Musk announces he's stepping down as Twitter CEO

- June 1: Ella Irwin, head of trust and safety, resigns

- June 4: Linda Yaccarino becomes Twitter's new CEO

Summertime madness

- June 30: Twitter requires users log in to see tweets/profiles

- July 1: Twitter limits the number of daily tweets users can read

- July 5: Users are now able to see tweets without logging in

- July 23: Twitter rebrands to X

- July 26: Brands must buy ads or lose X verification

- July 28: X opens ad revenue sharing for verified creators globally

- August 2: X Blue users can now hide their check marks

- August 18: Musk says "Block is going to be deleted as a 'feature'"

- Sep. 2: X will limit poll voting to verified users

- Sep. 4: Musk threatens to sue ADL for alleged ad revenue loss

Fall

- Oct. 9: X Blue users can limit replies to verified accounts

Winter

- Nov 29: Elon Musk tells advertisers: ‘Go fuck yourself’

Miscellaneous Events (mostly Twitter)

- January 10: Musk’s net worth dropped $182 billion in 2022

- January 10: Algorithmic “For You” page is now the default

- January 24: Users can now set chronologic timeline as default

- February 1: Twitter moves to discontinue free access to API

- March 26: Twitter reports parts of its source code leaked

- March 27: “For You” page will only show verified accounts

- March 27: Only verified accounts will be able to vote in polls

- March 29: Twitter introduces three tier system for API access

- April 3: Musk changes Twitter logo to Doge

- April 20: SpaceX Starship launch concludes with explosive finish

- May 12: Tesla recalls 1.1 mil cars in China citing safety concerns

2024

TBD

ye

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - A New Entry My Top 10 BLs of All Time

March 2023 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Bed Friend (Sat YT, GaGa & iQIYI uncut) ep 7 of 10 - the plot remains much the same and I am getting very concerned they extended this one as it’s starting to flag. Might have been my first high heat 10/10 candidate if they had kept it at 8 eps. Bummer. I mean it’s still good and I’m still enjoying it, but... character development is a thing.  

Future (Thai Sun YouTube & Gaga) ep 2 of 5 - Drunken gathering is such a hallmark of this franchise. Tiny bit of James flirting! (He’s my fav character ever since Love Mechanics original and the punch). Fuse is right to be worried about getting drunk bc he wants to be able to take care of Ana. I love the actor who plays Top (the ex). I’ve said it before (Remember Me) I really want him to get his own series. Also adventures in translation, Top did not say “I can’t believe you’re dating this man”, he said “I can’t believe you’re dating this kid/child”. These two are the ULTIMATE over dramatic college gays. Their relationship has NO drama but they will make it anyway. 

Pastsenger (Thai Weds Gaga) 4 of 12 eps - I like it more and more each new ep. The leads are developing a fun playful relationship. It’s a bit slapstick for me but it’s not offensive or boring. 

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 5 of 12 - I don’t know. I’m just finding this one kind of boring now. Although, it looks like we are getting cute boyfriends next week so that might be nice. 

Tin Tam Jai (Tues Gaga & iQIYI) ep 6 of 12 - Side couple advanced into lap sitting and tongue kisses out of nowhere. Good tongue kissing, even if surprising. Higher heat! Yay! They’re a great pair, but would it kill Thailand to give us character development with our high heat?

Chains of Heart (Sat iQIYI) ep 7 of 10 - the confusing whateverness of waisted chemistry continues to confuse. 

The Promise (Thai Weds YT) ep 5 of 10 - I don’t know what’s going on with this show. That’s it? He just fell in love with bestie and then punished bestie for his own feelings? Seriously? WTF. ON HIATUS UNTIL APRIL 19. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dating Sim (Korea Thurs Viki) eps 7-8fin - Absolutely wonderful. There is a time laps but it’s the good kind - NO SEPARATION. Couple of moments when I doubted they could pull it off. But CONGRATZ! We have a new entry into the very rare 10/10 club. I have go change all my best of lists but this was worth it. Final thoughts below. 

Unintentional Love Story (Korea Thurs iQIYI) 5-6 of 10 - (here’s how I’m getting it) KBL rarely gives quality sides dishes but these two are legend. Poor tattooed player hottie is always getting punched. Don’t get me wrong the leads are great too. It’s fun to watch two sets of bisexual identity crisis being handled entirely differently because of good characterization. I say “ouch” a lot while watching this show. Also “awwwww.” I do worry their cafe has no customers tho. 

The Eighth Sense (Korea Weds Viki) eps 1-2 of 10 - With 10 episodes of about 40 minutes each this has got to be one of the longest BLs Korea has ever given us. However from tone, filming style, opening credits, and trailer I am guessing this could be sad. If its KBL doing JBL style then we are in His the series territory, but it could be more in the Blueming vein. I’d give it 50/50 odds. There’s always a chance it wants to be “taken seriously” which is the death knell of BL. Also if a lead smokes it means that one or both will cheat. (I don’t make the rules, the Japanese yaoi gods do.) OK, but do I like it? Yes, actually, it’s... interesting. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, the acting is great, characters complex, good chemistry and tension. It’s a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBL (do I detect a touch of Taiwan?). This one is deploying BL tropes (messy eater, shoulder sleep, protective seme, there’s even some hyung-slinging) but it isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges, we may get a coming out sequence or even a bashing. It certainly will stay interesting. But proceed with caution. 

A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea Tues Viki & Gaga) eps 5-7fin - What both these kids need is a little affection and a lot of therapy, not romance. The punishment for flirting in class thing was funny. They are such boyfriends by ep 5 - Sitting together, sharing a glass etc…Terrible awful grueling confession rejection. 2 year time gap. Much needed in this case. Then another 2 before the epilogue. Honestly, the most unlikely thing about this show (after the casting) was the prospect of an out gay Korean cop. No kisses for us. Narrative indicated that there should have been at least a fish kiss, but not happening with them in the same Kpop group. I’m starting to think I really just prefer KBLs where they use actors and not idols (Semantic Error excepted, of course). I’m assuming the next 2 eps are bts. Final thoughts below. 

It’s Airing But ...

Love Syndrome (Thai Sat WeTV) stopped at ep 2 of 12 - I’m just not into any aspect of it (except Lee Long Shi and I can watch him in Tin Tem Jai - see above pic, awesome side dish action) - saving to binge if the end is solid.

Venus in the Sky (Sat YouTube) pilot/tester?) 0 of 10 - not entirely sure what’s up with this one distribution-wise, but the pilot was cute, classic university-set pulp. I hope it happens because the leads are cute with good chemsitry and I thought it was fun. However, it totally holds together as it’s own little short story too. 

Cafe In Love (Thai ???) 10 eps on Ch3+ - Thai pulp, about trying to save a coffee shop. FairyGodBLer came through for me, but I’m collecting to binge just in case. It’s my new policy with the grey stuff. 

Destiny Seeker (Tues WeTV Thailand) 10 eps - it’s not on any WeTV I can get ahold of. Bad Buddy the pulp rebirth meets Japanese handsome host club action. Same as above.

Make a Wish (Thai Weds ?) from WaGa Creative staring Fluke Natouch (OhmFluke UWMA etc...) & Judo (The Miracle Of Teddy Bear) in a medical-fantasy. It seems to be a light-hearted romance with a comedic flair. About a doctor who sees ghosts and a deity who resides in a Bodhi tree that earns merits whenever he fulfills a wish based on a y-novel by Sammon (Manner of Death, Triage). Too hard to find.

Finished this week

Our Dating Sim (Korea Viki) I enjoyed every aspect from the casting to the very simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s very low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle. This is a fuzzy blanket of a story. Do we call this cozy BL? Why not? This one is going to live in my rewatch pile, I can tell already, and you know what’s best about it? Every single episode is in that pile. There’s no skipping with this one, it might be good natured and calmly sweet but it’s tight and the pacing is excellent. It perfectly suited KBL’s short-length tendencies. Full review. 10/10 I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS SHOW HIGHLY ENOUGH

A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea Viki & Gaga) - Adaptation of a manwha, high school set bully romance, staring Jaehan & Yechan BOTH from Kpop group OMEGA X, so no kissing. All in all this was a painfully awkward watch for me, and while beautiful and decently acted, the story and characters rendered it ultimately disappointing. I think we shouldn’t let Korea do bully romance. 4/10 FATALLY FLAWED 

Jack O’Frost It was fine. I never really cared about the characters or their relationship. Not to slag off the acting (which was superb) but the narrative bored me. 5/10 WATCH ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO 

In Case You Missed it

Ai Long Nhai got a special ep on iQIYI. 

Eternal Yesterday is getting a movie version with additional content if you want extra suffering. 

A few things have been announced but mostly Thai, Japanese, and 2 (yes, 2) Chinese Omegaverse (Desire and Couple or Not). It’s doubtful these will pass censorship, so I’m not gonna bother tracking until they actually get international distribution. For Thailand, I’m excited about Waterboyy 3, which NOT a remake (hally-fucking-luya) but a new installment, and stars KaownahTurbo (Love Stage!!! et al). Although why the fuck they don’t put Est Supha (swim champ) into one of these is a mystery to me. For Japan, they’ll start airing sooner rather than later, so expect me to start tracking those. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

04.06 Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Gaga) - I AM SO EXCITED I LOVE THE MANGA 

04.07 My Beautiful Man Eternal (Japan ????) - 3rd installment, movie which means it’ll be a pain to get hold of. 

No proper post for April but remaining releases are: 

04.14 Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Gaga) - not really my thing but yes I’ll watch it 

04.15 My Story (Pinoy YouTube) - not my fandom but I will give it a go

04.18 Step By Step (Thai WeTV) - office age gap, I am all in! Even though it’s WeTV. Sigh. 

April is looking a bit slender so I might start watching Destiny Seeker or Cafe in Love, or both. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

Adventures in Captions

Ai Long Nhai special both reviewing its own plot and having fun with English. 

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

The danger in dating an older boy. (Future) 

Love triangle in one photo! (Promise) 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? Nada, the comebacks have been disappointing recently. 

[octopuscityblues]

Kafkaryan, The Wrath Of Cod

June 2024 Progress Report

TLDR: Unfortunately we had to push back our planned release date again. We don't have a new date yet, but we're trying our best to bring you Octopus City Blues as soon as humanly possible. We're very sorry about that. The rest of the update will go over some of the things we've been working on and provide additional context for the delay.

Progress

Starting in April, Marina (benevolent tentacle artist) and I (Firas, malevolent snail) significantly changed the way we work. Previously, art and development were mostly done independently and we communicated on a weekly or biweekly basis. We switched to a virtual office kind of setup where we dedicate fixed hours to working together every day. It's been going great so far and we feel much more motivated and productive.

Our current target is the Robot Graveyard, the lawless wasteland at the base of Gold Tower. We're mainly working on the remaining interior locations such as the Conman's shop or the cyborg club.

By the way, we recently released yet another demo update, based on all the quality-of-life and interaction improvements made since the previous one. These include:

🦔 Kaf the Hedgehog is now 33% faster and has 100% more walking frames! 

🖼️ Intuitive top-of-the-line settings menu to crank up your sim's colors to 11. 

🎨 New text background colors to make your eyes bleed. From the grimy "Jungle" to the ominous "Caput Mortuum". 

💬 Switch between the gossip and item menu modes like a pro using Q/E keys or the gamepad's shoulder buttons. 

🎮 Say goodbye to gamepad confusion! The simulation will reliably remember the most recently used controller. 

🍄 Beetles crave mushrooms. Drop the right item in the plaza and watch the little critters go! 

😷 You no longer have to "touch" dirty objects or people to interact with them. Standing close by is sufficient. 

🤖 Sacrificing Mom to science will pay off sooner.

🪲 And numerous other fixes, copy editing changes, and a host of new potential bugs for you to discover!

I'm also happy to present one of several music tracks that the newest addition to our team, Shannon (omnibenevolent troubadour), has been working on:

There's a lot more happening behind the scenes. For example, Julia (unambivalent wordsmith) went over and helped improve large portions of the script, while Karl (ambivalent doodler) is practicing card tricks.

The Delay

Octopus City Blues has had a long and rocky journey over the years, so I apologize if the following is too long and boring. Nevertheless, you all deserve an honest explanation for the delays. Back in late 2021 when I was pitching the project to the Midgame Fund, the plan looked something like this:

Early 2022: Demo play testing

Late 2022: Release of Act 1 in Early Access.

Mid 2023: Steam Next Fest demo

Late 2023 / Early 2024: Release of Act 2

Later in 2024: KS reward fulfillment, possible localization and console ports

After getting funded, the helpful investors at Midgame Fund advised against Early Access and recommended releasing both acts together. Much of 2022 was spent on discussions, planning, and extensive play testing that took place in two main rounds. The testing feedback showed us that we still had much to do, particularly when it came to guiding the players.

By early 2023 we were struggling to follow the original plan as we addressed all the testing feedback. That's why I decided to cut a lot of planned content and rewrite the story so that it no longer had two acts. The original acts were separated by a 10-year gap, which would've required a lot of art editing and writing completely new responses for every character.

The next play testing round coincided with the Indigo event. Even after all the changes made, some players were still struggling with certain parts or running into bugs. That's why we decided to participate in the October Steam Next Fest edition instead of the June one. The release date was pushed back to Q1 2024.

The Next Fest event itself was a great success. After years of neglecting marketing, we used 2023 to promote the project and make it more viable financially. On the other hand, the event left us with even more feedback, some of which we were still addressing in January (2024). The release date was pushed back to Q2.

In early 2024 the Q2 release plan was still feasible. However, things temporarily took a turn for the worse after our last update. The first roadblock was due to real life developments and personal circumstances that impacted the availability of key team members. Thankfully, everything is back to normal now.

A more general problem is that the more we get done, the more work we end up creating for ourselves. The complex branching quest design means that the amount of testing needed can grow exponentially. Automated testing and play testing rounds can only take us so far.

The next obstacle had to do with the 2023 rewrite. Taking a story with many characters and intertwined elements and completely rewriting major parts of it turned out to be much trickier than expected. Some major plot elements simply didn't work in the new framework, and I had to make additional changes to improve the story's overall pacing and consistency.

At first I thought we could still release the main parts, and then slowly restore some content after release.  That would've meant early adopters and our biggest supporters wouldn't get the complete intended experience. There are also many more things we'd like to tackle after release (Kickstarter rewards, localization, porting) instead of adding more content.

To be clear, there are some things that we still plan to add after release (as free DLC). In particular, there are the arcade games and the quests related to them. While not part of the main story, they were in our original pitch (and much of the art is already done).

All of this brings us to our current plan. The story is still in one act, but some previously cut areas and quests will be restored. As mentioned in the previous section, we've adopted a new way of working since April and have been slowly adding the remaining areas and characters to the simulation. While things look promising, it's hard to tell what will happen tomorrow or if additional play testing will require even more changes.

OCB is something that particularly benefits from these play testing rounds, because the more we can anticipate the player's actions (e.g. trying to combine the knife and baby items), the more fun and immersive the experience feels. Obviously, we can never get rid of every bug or address all feedback before release.  That's why we'll just have to find the right balance.

We still have to finish the following parts: Graveyard (in-progress), Big Beef, Turkeys, and the ending. Of those, Big Beef is the most involved one. I changed the planned release date on Steam to simply 2024 because that's our goal, but please keep in mind that it's not a release date either. We'll only announce a concrete release date once all of these areas are done and work primarily shifts to testing and polishing.

If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read all of that! We remain as committed to this project as we were on day one, and we're genuinely trying our best as flawed and naively optimistic humanoids. We owe it all to your continued support and understanding.

[conradscrime]

Florence Sally Horner

October 22, 2023

Florence "Sally" Horner was born on April 18, 1937 in Camden, New Jersey to Russell and Ella Horner. Sally's father took his own life when Sally was only 5 years old, and Ella raised her daughter as a single mother with the help of Sally's older half sister, Susan.

Sally was in the 5th grade at Northeast Elementary School and was an honours student.

In March 1948, Sally, who was 10 years old at the time tried to steal a notebook from a local store as a dare by some of her classmates. However, Sally was caught by a man named Frank La Salle. Frank had told Sally he was an FBI agent, and threatened to send her to a reform school unless she reported to him.

On June 15, 1948, Frank La Salle abducted 11 year old Sally. He told her to tell Ella that he was the father of two of her friends at school and she was invited on a week long vacation to Atlantic City.

Originally, the plan was to have Sally write her mother letters to let her know their vacation was going to last longer than expected, but on July 31, 1948, the last letter was received by Ella. Ella contacted the police, who found out the sender address for the letters was in Atlantic City.

On August 4, 1948, investigators found the home empty, besides two packed suitcases and a studio photo of Sally sitting on a swing. Ella told investigators that Sally and Frank were also travelling with a "Mrs. Robinson" who according to Frank was a 25 year old secretary. She left them after they arrived in Atlantic City supposedly.

Over the next 21 months, Frank and Sally moved through multiple US states under different names, with Frank claiming Sally was his daughter. Throughout this time, Frank would rape Sally repeatedly.

The pair first stayed in Baltimore, Maryland, where Sally went to Catholic grammar school under the name "Madeleine La Plante." Frank would always carry a handgun on him to stop Sally from trying to escape.

In April 1949, Frank and Sally were living in Dallas, Texas, and Sally was going by the name "Florence Planette." It was here that Sally ended up telling a friend her secret. Sally also confided in a neighbour, Ruth Janisch, who was becoming suspicious of Frank.

Ruth thought Frank had an extremely possessive attitude toward his supposed daughter. Ruth did not know that Frank also regularly molested her 5 year old daughter while Sally was at school.

In March 1950, Ruth and her husband moved to San Jose, California, to find work, encouraging Frank. to do the same so she could still have contact with Sally.

Eventually, Ruth was able to get Sally to tell her the truth about Frank, and Ruth got Sally to phone her family from Ruth's house. Sally attempted to call Ella but the line disconnected, as Ella had recently lost her job and was not able to pay her phone bill. Sally then called her sister Susan and was able to get in contact and tell her to get the FBI on it.

On March 22, 1950, Frank was arrested but continued to say Sally was his daughter. Authorities in New Jersey were able to confirm that Sally's real father had died 7 years previously. On April 1, 1950, Sally was reunited with her mother. Frank was sentenced to 30-35 years in Trenton State Prison on April 3.

Frank La Salle was 51 years old. at the time he abducted Sally. He was a known sex offender and went by several aliases. It is unclear where exactly he was born or even his date of birth. Most commonly the names used for his parents were Frank and Nora, and he was most likely from Chicago or Indianapolis. The most frequent date of birth he gave was May 27, between 1890-1901.

He had an extensive criminal record, beginning in June 1938. In 1944, Frank was convicted for the molestation and sexual assault of 5 underage girls in 1943. He was getting illegally married under false names and had many charges against him. He was released on January 15, 1948, only 6 months before he abducted Sally Horner.

Sally's story ends tragically, as on August 18, 1952, she died in a car accident near Woodbine, New Jersey due to breaking her neck in the crash. She was only 15 years old. Frank had actually sent a bouquet of flowers to Sally's funeral from prison, but they were not displayed.

Frank La Salle died on March 22, 1966, exactly 16 years to the date of when he was arrested for the abduction of Sally Horner. He was 69 years old.

[pwlanier]

1927 Bentley 3-Litre Sports Project

Registration no. YF 2654

Chassis no. TN1566

Engine no. TN1567

• Originally an Offord-bodied coupé

• Matching chassis and engine

• Family owned since March 1957

• Garaged unused for some 50-plus years

• 'Barn find' offered for restoration

With characteristic humility 'W O' was constantly amazed by the enthusiasm of later generations for the products of Bentley Motors Limited, and it is testimony to the soundness of his engineering design skills that so many of his products have survived. From the humblest of beginnings in a mews garage off Baker Street, London in 1919 the Bentley rapidly achieved fame as an exciting fast touring car, well able to compete with the best of European and American sports cars in the tough world of motor sport in the 1920s. Bentley's domination at Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930 is legendary, and one can only admire the Herculean efforts of such giants as Woolf Barnato, Jack Dunfee, Tim Birkin and Sammy Davis, consistently wrestling the British Racing Green sports cars to victory.

W O Bentley proudly unveiled the new 3-litre car bearing his name on Stand 126 at the 1919 Olympia Motor Exhibition, the prototype engine having fired up for the first time just a few weeks earlier. Bentley's four-cylinder 'fixed head' engine incorporated a single overhead camshaft, four-valves per cylinder and a bore/stroke of 80x149mm. Twin ML magnetos provided the ignition and power was transmitted via a four-speed gearbox with right-hand change. The pressed-steel chassis started off with a wheelbase of 9' 9½", then adopted dimensions of 10' 10" ('Standard Long') in 1923, the shorter frame being reserved for the TT Replica and subsequent Speed Model. Rear wheel brakes only were employed up to 1924 when four-wheel Perrot-type brakes were introduced.

In only mildly developed form, this was the model that was to become a legend in motor racing history and which, with its leather-strapped bonnet, classical radiator design and British Racing Green livery, has become the archetypal Vintage sports car.

Early success in the 1922 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, when Bentleys finished second, fourth, and fifth to take the Team Prize, led to the introduction of the TT Replica (later known as the Speed Model and identified by the Red Label on its radiator ) on the existing 9' 9½" wheelbase, short standard chassis. Bentley had made approximately 1,600 3-Litre models when production ceased in 1929, the majority of which were bodied by Vanden Plas with either open tourer or saloon coachwork.

Dr Clare Hay's authoritative work, Bentley, The Vintage Years, records the fact that chassis number 'TN1566' (with engine number '1567') was completed in April 1927 on the long standard 10' 10" wheelbase chassis with coupé coachwork by Offord. Hay records that 'TN1567' was first owned by one W A Thompson and registered as 'YF 2654', noting: "Now 2 seater on 9' 0" wheelbase." It is not known when this modification was carried out.

The next ownership record we have is an old-style buff logbook issued on 1st June 1950 listing four owners: Arthur Ratcliffe Ainsworth of Dorking; A B B Woodburn of Bolesworth; Bursledon Autos of Sholing; and one Miss Mary Louisa White, BSc, who registered the Bentley on 2nd March 1957. Miss White appears to have been a most enthusiastic owner, a view supported by the numerous Bentley Drivers Club membership cards on file, mostly dating from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, while there are also some spectator's passes, an RAC membership card and a VCC official's badge. According to the deceased's family, Miss Mary Louisa White passed away in 2005 and was the last known person to drive the Bentley in the late 50s or early 60s. 'YF 2654' was then left to Miss Nicola White, (the last recorded keepers' niece) along with the property where the Bentley was kept. Miss Nicola White passed away in July 2023.

Additional documentation includes assorted correspondence, sundry bills, insurance paperwork, a later buff logbook (1963), an old-style V5 registration document, and four MoT certificates, the most recent of which was issued in 1964. The most recent tax discs on file date from the 1960s, so it seems reasonable to conclude that the Bentley was taken off the road sometime towards the end of that decade. It has remained in the owner's garage ever since, concealed beneath a variety of non-Bentley-related clutter, and is presented in 'barn find' condition, ripe for sympathetic restoration. Sold strictly as viewed, 'YF 2654' represents a wonderful opportunity to bring a long-forgotten 'W O' Bentley back to life.

Bonhams