#dz crew

[my-mt-heart]

Hi Mt! Hope today was good to you. I liked the poster, but Carol was so much smaller than Daryl which didn't feel too good. It felt like AMC wants me to think DZ will give us canon and I'll tune in only to watch ship bait and a shit fest when Caryl's bond is shredded to pieces because it's a bag of tv tricks to the show runner. I have a question about that: you always say and I've seen some people on twitter say it too that he should be fired. Who would take his place? The other showrunners already worked on TWD when they got the job but the writers of TWDDDTBOC aren't very good. Do we even want one of them? Will the same thing happen? They are part of DZ's crew so they probably think the same thing he does. The Caryl podcast mentioned that MMB didn't have the emotional bandwisth to have a real impact on where the show is going so would the other writers make her uncomfortable too? I want to see her imprint on the show because MMB IS THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT IT!!!

Sorry my response is a few days late. To me, it just feels like AMC is trying to lure in everybody and their dog at this point, so that's not very encouraging. I really wanted a story about Daryl and Carol fighting like hell to get back to each other (because they're each other's one and only choice), but I'm terrified of what the actual story will be.

Zabel should've been fired a long time ago. I'm so sick of the men in this franchise getting away with everything despite their incompetence while the women have to constantly walk on eggshells to keep their jobs. Replacing him with a writer who worked for him or for Gimple won't solve the problem. AMC already knows who can. It's not a matter of hunting for the right person.

The podcast didn't say Melissa doesn't have the emotional bandwidth. It's extremely difficult to be seen and heard when literally everybody else with power from the EPs to the directors to the execs are men, and some of those men are ageist, misogynistic egomaniacs. Look at the panelists for Palyfest and NYCC. Who's names come first? Where is she on the list? She needs a showrunner in her corner who has a deep understanding of Carol's and Daryl's story, treats Melissa like a lead, and also welcomes all of her creative input.

[sapphicbookclub]

White Space series by Elizabeth Bear

(Ancestral Night, Machine)

Haimey Dz thinks she knows what she wants. She thinks she knows who she is. She is wrong.

A routine salvage mission uncovers evidence of a terrible crime and relics of powerful ancient technology. Haimey and her small crew run afoul of pirates at the outer limits of the Milky Way, and find themselves on the run and in possession of universe-changing information.

When authorities prove corrupt, Haimey realizes that she is the only one who can protect her galaxy-spanning civilization from the implications of this ancient technology—and the revolutionaries who want to use it for terror and war. Her quest will take her careening from the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core to the infinite, empty spaces at its edge.

To save everything that matters, she will need to uncover the secrets of ancient intelligences lost to time—and her own lost secrets, which she will wish had remained hidden from her forever.

Genres: science fiction, mystery

Get the book from Blackwell's with free worldwide shipping here! (1, 2)

[universestreasures]

@divinityunleashed Sent: 'Stand up, Vanguard!' for me to tell you what Cardfight Vanguard character I'd think you'd write and why. (Accepting!)

Character Description:

Masanori Iseki, voiced by Shūta Morishima, is one of the major characters in both the Cardfight Vanguard D and DZ series. Introduced initially as Tohya' Ebata's alley, Masanori is a very mysterious character who is often hard to read, especially because he is overly eccentric and calculating. But don't let his being a Buddhist monk fool you. This guy is quite far from being 'holy'. He was chosen to be holder of the Fated One of Taboo card, after all.

This dude thrives off of chaos and breaking down people to their lowest point to reveal their true self. To do this, or to accomplish other goals of his, he is prepared to manipulate and humiliate you with his cunning. He also has a deep sense of curiosity and interest in the unknown as well.

Masanori uses the nation of Stoicheia deck focused on his avatar, Zorga, whose current form is Fated One of Taboo, Zorga Nadir. Zorga is a ghost who was formally a member of Captain Nightmist of Grandblue's Crew and is one of the oldest units on Planet Cray to this day.

Why Do I Think You'd Write Them:

Since you seem to have an affinity for antagonists, anti-heros, and chaotic figures, Masanori fits that bill pretty well. He is a character I imagine one can have a ton of fun writing, from both his chaotic theatrics to exploring his complexities. I think you'd do him really well and would have a blast while doing it! Plus, Zorga is such cool ace card!

[harwood-pmc-official]

As Above, so Below

Part 1

William Chang sat atop the chassis of his Rifleman, looking down at the city below. A look down at his watch told him it was now D-Day plus 1, as the hand slowly swept past midnight. The landing had been hard-fought, an uphill battle from the word go against a far larger force who had been digging themselves into every frostbitten inch of that shithole.

In theory, DZ Gold was supposed to be a walk in the park. A clear LZ, only a forested ridge between the Harwood forces and AA battery SUMER, then an assault on Coen City from the high ground. In practice, it was a nightmare.

When the bay door opened to drop the ‘Mechs, it opened to a scene of hell, the gray clouds boiling in rage as SUMER spit death into the sky, lances of hellish light streaking past the open door with a sound like a banshee’s wail. Chang had been the first off, as he usually was, stepping into the empty air with his rotary cannons spinning and Medium lasers primed. The drop itself was uneventful, as there was only a handful of seconds between the drop point and the elevation where the ridgeline would provide cover. However, the second their feet hit the snow, the world erupted in crimson fire.

Despite what the intelligence reports had said, it seems like the Blakist had prepared for an assault on SUMER, and the SLDF had sent Harwood straight into the meat grinder. The hill was covered in pillboxes, trenches, and enough machine gun nests to make an Atlas think twice.

He’d ordered the complement of heavies and assaults to the front, to block fire and shield the Light and Medium mechs until they could close. However, in the end, they’d been able to secure the LZ after a grueling march up the hill, destroying bunker after bunker, sending waves of death down every trench.

By the time the DropShip was unloading troops, there was nothing left on the ridge but blackened foliage and burning corpses strewn about their ruined defenses. From there, it had taken a quarter of an hour to unload the entire force from the ship, Four companies of infantry and three mechanized assault companies, not to mention the 36 Mechwarriors already deployed.

At H-Hour plus 2, they set out, moving up the ridge as fast as they dared, keeping a careful watch for any more surprises from the Blakist forces. As they crested the ridge, it was easy to see SUMER below, like a steel hydra spitting poisoned death. The assembled Harwood forces came down the ridge like a tidal wave, Mechs and tanks and infantry all rumbling towards the compound.

Chang himself was at the head, as one of the few heavy mechs left relatively unscathed, unleashing a storm of fire from his rotary cannons and lasers as the walls drew closer. From the massive gate came WoB battlemechs, three Celestial-pattern machines accompanied by several smaller figures that looked to be the Blakists’ exosuits and cybernetic soldiers. Given his Rifleman’s weaponry, Chang chose to focus on the infantry, letting the mechanized units and Roswell’s Warhammer take the lead in reducing them to dust.

By the time they’d reached the wall of the compound, at the edge of the dense forest that separated Coen City from the military zone, the fighting had reached a fever-pitch, the Blakists never giving an inch of ground they didn't have to, while Chang directed his forces like a chess player, exploiting gaps in the constantly-shifting front line to drive then closer and closer to the wall.

200 meters, a Celestial was slamming into the right flank until a brilliant beam of light from a tank's cannon silenced that threat.

180 meters, the Manei Domini had managed to get a heavy machine gun into a position to attack the infantry until a twin blast of rotary autocannons silenced them.

150 meters, a super-heavy tank blasted a massive shell into one of the medium mechs, sending the mech and its pilot careening to the snow.

120 meters, and two more Celestial frames came marching in on the left. Two tank crews and an anti-armor infantry team would solve the problem.

At 100 meters, they jumped. Jump jets flaring with ionized gas, the mechwarriors who had the capability launched themselves into the walls of the fortress, bent on eliminating SUMER itself. It stood towering above them now, a 20 meter obelisk of foreboding steel, spiked with weapons that spelled doom for the Aurigans and other mercs landing in the second wave.

He gave the order, and every mech who'd made the jump opened up on it with the fury of a dying sun. Bullets, particle beams, lances of concentrated light, all came together in twenty seconds of blinding brilliance, reducing that ominous pillar to nothing more than smoking slag.

One the battery itself was out of commission, the Blakists had run fairly quickly, seeing the battle was lost in the face of the more numerous and better-equipped Harwood mercy. Three hours later, and mop-up operations had completed, leaving only the unpleasant business of peeling up the Bandage and taking a look at the damage.

In the fighting, they'd lost four mechs, two to the level of complete destruction, and five armored vehicles had been destroyed in the assault, with 4 more at various levels of damage. The infantry was harder to make an accounting of, but once every man was tracked down and accounted for, only 23 men had been lost from the four companies, with Dog company being hit the hardest.

That left Chang where he was now, surveying Coen City through the trees, peering through the binoculars and straining his eyes for any sign of movement. In truth, he'd rather be with the men, taking a couple of hours of rest to prepare for the next day's assault on the city itself, but he knew that he'd only dampen the mood. After all, he was Chang the Robot, Chang the Freak. Who would want him around when grieving a fallen brother?

So, he would sit. And he would watch, until it was time to move out once again.

[usafphantom2]

Kelly Johnson, leader of the Skunk Works, was devastated, when Ray Torick a 30-year-old engineer, who had just joined Lockheed in 1963, drowned on July 30 1966. What happened was the D 21 lifted slowly off of the PYLON then suffered and un start during launch suddenly rolled sideways and dove into the M-21! Keith BESWICK was filming the launch from Article 134 could only watch horror as his airplane sistership, pitched up and disintegrated raining debris all over the Pacific when article 135 broke apart at the speed of Mach 3.25. The forward fuselage and cockpit section snapped off at the wing root and began to tumble decelerating rapidly. Miraculously the crew managed to eject despite the wild gyrations. Bill Park was picked up by a chopper he was floating, his life raft in the Pacific Ocean. Ray Torrick drowned, rescuers picked up his body. Most of the aircraft wreckage sunk into the deep water, and was never recovered, decided after the M-21 crashed that he would no longer use his M 21 (it looks just like an SR 71); he suggested they use a B-52.

This meant they would switch from supersonic to subsonic launch after the drop from the B-52H. Remember, the maximum speed for a B-52 was 639 mph. Kelly asked Lockheed Propulsion Co. in Redlands, CA, to develop a booster to be mounted on the drone's underside. The booster would allow the drone to accelerate to Mach 3. The rocket motor was called DZ 1 with a rocket motor, Avanti.

A Marquardt B-4 ram-air turbine drove the drone. The drone course was preprogrammed after mission D 21B would fly to a friendly territory and jettison. It’s a camera package for a mid-air recovery before automatically self-destructing.

One of the purposes for this drone was overfly of China. The United States had sent U-2 piloted by Taiwanese, but China had managed to shoot down at least four of them. What we needed was information about the Chinese nuclear arsenal. President Kennedy and Johnson were so upset by the idea of the Chinese having an atomic bomb that they seriously thought about bombing China to get rid of the arsenal.

To read more about this read the book” Dreamland: The secret history of Area 51” by Peter Merlin. The last remaining M 21 was placed in storage in Palmdale . Today it is on display at the museum of flight Seattle, Washington.

Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[dizzy-canine]

Ask and you shall receive! 

Introducing: Serial Designation DZ! (Often times called “Daisy”).

Info: 

- Betrayed her crew early on.

- Hates other murder drones. Though, if she ever met N, I’d say they’d be good friends. 

- Lives in a cave like the hermit she is.

- Worker drones occasionally visit her, she doesn’t bite, don’t worry.

- Jacket + scarf = warm and cozy! Worker children occasionally fall asleep while visiting her. 

- Her “ears” are just modified hair tufts. 

- Doesn’t talk much.

- Gets most of her oil from scavenging, though some drones are kind enough to donate their oil.

- They do this because she protects them from other MDs. 

- Once witnessed a whole family being slaughtered while they begged for mercy. It was at this moment where she realized workers were sentient and flew off, refusing to hunt live drones after that. 

- She killed her leader.  

- Doesn’t like to kill, but will not hesitate to do so if you give her a reason. 

- VERY traumatized. 

- She still has the drone equivalent of nightmares about the family and thinks about what she could’ve done to save them. 

- She never forgave herself for letting that happen. 

- All she remembers from her worker drone life is a warm embrace from someone close to her. She can’t even remember the face of said entity (it was definitely a drone tho).

[lgbtlibrary]

Ancestral Night

by Elizabeth Bear

Storygrah // Bookshop.org

Haimey Dz thinks she knows what she wants. She thinks she knows who she is. She is wrong. A routine salvage mission uncovers evidence of a terrible crime and relics of a powerful ancient technology, just as Haimey and her small crew run afoul of pirates at the outer limits of the Milky Way and find themselves both on the run, and in possession of ancient, universe-changing technology. When the authorities prove corrupt, it becomes clear that Haimey is the only one who can protect her galaxy-spanning civilisation from its potential power - and from the revolutionaries who want to use it to seed terror and war. But doing so will take her from the event horizon of the super-massive black hole at the galaxy's core to the infinite, empty spaces at its edge. Along the way, she'll have to uncover the secrets of ancient intelligences lost to time as well as her own lost secrets, which she will wish had remained hidden from her forever...

lgbt++library summary:

This romp of a space opera takes you along for a wild ride in a sci-fi vision of the future where humans and aliens co-exist and keeping your emotions in check is aided by technology. Intertwined with the space adventure are snippets of Haimey's toxic relationship with her ex, complicated relationship with her biological family and her touchstone friendships with her found family crew (including their ships AI). For fans of space adventures, grumpy lesbians, cats and reluctant heroes!

[cameracrew-blog1]

So begleitet die DZ BANK ihre Kunden im Auslandsgeschäft.mp4 from Camera Crew Hong Kong on Vimeo.

[schoenes-thailand]

Nong Bua Lamphu: CNN-Journalisten wegen unerlaubter Berichterstattung in Abschiebehaft

Die Polizei in Thailand nahm Ermittlungen gegen ein CNN-Team auf. Das TV-Team des US-Senders hatte in der Kindertagesstätte gefilmt, in der zuvor viele Menschen getötet wurden. Die CNN-Ream soll sich einem Bericht zufolge unerlaubt Zutritt zu der Kita verschafft haben. Ein thailändischer Reporter hatte in sozialen Medien ein Foto gepostet, das zwei Mitglieder des Teams beim Verlassen der Kita zeigt: Eine Person klettert gerade über den niedrigen Zaun um das Gelände, die zweite befindet sich bereits außerhalb, vor der Absperrung der Polizei. In der Kita waren 36 Menschen getötet worden. Danaichok Boonsom, Leiter der Ortsverwaltung, erklärte am Sonntag, er habe seinen Bericht über unerlaubtes Betreten von Regierungseigentum eingereicht, die Polizei habe Ermittlungen aufgenommen. Auf Screenshots im TV war zu sehen, wie die CNN-Korrespondentin aus einem Kita-Raum berichtet. Auch in einem Onlinebericht des Senders werden Eindrücke aus dem Inneren der Einrichtung geschildert. CNN International twitterte, die Crew habe das Gelände betreten, nachdem die Polizeiabsperrung entfernt worden sei.

Der Crew sei von drei Mitarbeitern des Gesundheitsdienstes, die das Gebäude verließen, gesagt worden, dass sie im Inneren filmen könne. Das Team habe etwa 15 Minuten lang Aufnahmen gemacht und sei dann wieder gegangen, twitterte CNN. In der Zwischenzeit sei die Absperrung wieder errichtet worden, deshalb habe das Team über den Zaun klettern müssen. Journalistenverband nennt Vorgehen "unethisch" Der Tweet war eine Reaktion auf Kritik des Clubs der Auslandskorrespondenten in Thailand (FCCT). Er hatte sich kritisch über die Berichterstattung von CNN und die Entscheidung, den Tatort von innen zu filmen, geäußert. "Das war unprofessionell und ein ernster Verstoß gegen journalistische Ethik bei der Berichterstattung über Verbrechen", teilte der FCCT mit. Der thailändische Journalistenverband bezeichnete das Vorgehen von CNN als unethisch und unsensibel. Thailand sei traumatisiert von der Tragödie, hieß es in der Stellungnahme. Es sei ein "weites Anliegen gewesen, unangemessene Bilder nicht in klassischen oder sozialen Medien zu veröffentlichen", allein aus Respekt gegenüber Angehörigen der Opfer. Der Vizepräsident und Geschäftsführer von CNN International, Mike McCarthy, bekräftigte später in einer Erklärung, das Team habe die Erlaubnis eingeholt, das Gelände betreten zu dürfen. Dem Team sei aber inzwischen klar geworden, "dass diese Beamte nicht befugt waren, diese Genehmigung zu erteilen". Sie hätten niemals beabsichtigt, gegen Regeln zu verstoßen. CNN strahle den Bericht nicht mehr aus und habe das Video von seiner Website entfernt, hieß es in der von CNN auf Twitter verbreiteten Erklärung McCarthys. CNN bedauere den Vorfall zutiefst. Journalisten nun in Abschiebegewahrsam Der stellvertretende nationale Polizeichef Surachate Hakparn gab bekannt, die beiden Journalisten seien mit Touristenvisa nach Thailand eingereist, die ihnen nun entzogen worden seien. Sie seien in Abschiebegewahrsam genommen worden. Später sagte er, ersten Ermittlungen zufolge sei die Crew offenbar in die Kita hinein gewunken worden und habe geglaubt, sie habe eine Erlaubnis zum Betreten des Geländes. Möglicherweise erhielten die beiden daher nur eine Geldstrafe wegen unerlaubter Arbeit mit einem Touristenvisum, sagte Surachate. Ein wegen Drogenvergehen gefeuerter Polizist war am Donnerstag in der Kita Amok gelaufen. Nach Polizeiangaben kamen 36 Menschen ums Leben, darunter 24 Kinder. Die Tat löste im Land Entsetzen aus. Zu Trauerfeierlichkeiten in Uthai Sawan wurde am Sonntagabend auch der thailändische Ministerpräsident Prayuth Chan-ocha erwartet. / DPA/DZ Read the full article

[dzcrew]

Dolph and Drew in Saudi Arabia

[justdorka]

Ok so I fucking love Seth, but I love Dolph just as much. My heart is so torn right now. I want so bad to have Dolph as champ for a long time, but at the same time Seth was so fucking awesome as champ. Gahhhh. 2 of the hardest working guys imo. Put on 2 great matches, and I know there's more to come, but damn my heart hurts right now. 💔💔💔💔

[usosbellasshield]

Dolph liked the top one on my instagram @ usosbellasshield

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “In the Ambience.”

Had a conversation on discord last night where I became aware that I left Sunny and Adam’s interactions at a place where it was sort of nervous and awkward. So thank you DZ for talking that through with me.

I am not really well versed in writing relationships, and I didn’t want it to overshadow the rest of my writing, so I pulled back from it, but I think I pulled back too hard. So if you care about the Sunny/Adam dynamic, I wrote a story this morning to acknowledge that. Hope you like it, and I hope you all have a great day. 

She got up in the dark, with only the dim ambience of soft blue lighting to accompany her. She stretched all four arms, and rolled her neck. It struck her as mildly interesting in that moment, how something so small could connect them to humans, The thought was fleeting as she took another step forward to kneel down on the floor. There, in a little alcove in the wall, she had set a volcanic rock from Anin, dried moss, and other paraphernalia from her home world. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath resting her hands together.

Praise and respect to the spirits of Anin. Praise the fathers and mothers of war gone to their rest below the moss and the earth. Praise their spirits that watch from the sky and peer through the ether down upon us.

She continued the slow mantra in the style of Prayer learned from Naktan and pulled her concentration to her core ignoring anything and everything around her. A deep state of meditation overtook her. She would never have done this if she  thought there were any chance that she was in danger, but below she knew Earth glowed like a sphere before their orbiting ship. There was no worry of invasion.

She thought she heard something at one point, but chose to ignore it as she continued her mantra.

Eventually, and after an unknown amount of minutes, she stood and turned slowly to find-

She stopped, and crossed her arms over her chest.

“What are you doing.”

Adam burrowed his way further down into her blankets nuzzling his head up against her pillow, “So warm, and comfy!”

She tried not to smile, “You dumbass.”

He pulled the blankets tighter around himself, “You know, I did come here to talk to you, but I actually really am comfortable, so come back in two hours.”

“I-”

He closed his eyes and pretended to snore loudly.

She rolled her eyes as she watched him theatrically pretend to sleep. She looked around mildly for a moment before picking up another pillow and glancing at the door. She casually walked over, dropped the pillow on his head and then held it down as if she intended to smother him.

That got him up and moving.

Before long the two of them were grappling for the upper hand, him trying to put her in a choke hold, and her using her lower arms to pinch him.

He yelped, “Ouch! Pinching is illegal.”

“SIssy.”

He clamped his legs around her lower arms pinning them in place. SHe struggled for a minute and then went limp.

SHe could feel his smug smile, “I win, I beat the saint of Anin. Everyone bow at my feet.”

“You say that, but if this were a real fight, you’re the one with a self destruct button.”

“Self-destruct button…?”

“Meaning if this were a real fight, I would have punched you in the balls.”

“Please don’t”

Finally he let her go, leaving the two of them to lay on her bed, sheets scattered on the floor around them, and her pillows in disarray. Adam put his hands behind his head and sighed.

She glanced over at him, “I don’t suppose you came to just hang out. Here on Admiral-ly business?”

He groaned pulling one of her pillows over his face, “Please smother me for real this time.”

SHe leaned up on one of her elbows, “Why?”

“I don’t wanna be an adult anymore,” She tilted her head to the side watching in amusement as he attempted to throw a childlike tantrum, but only really had the energy to kick his feet once, “It’s boring and lame and they wont let me wear heelies to important meetings…. Children don’t have to pay taxes.”

She laughed, pulling the pillow from his face, “Adam you are many things, but ‘adult’ is not one of them.”

He grinned slightly, “True enough.” He sighed again and rested his head back against the pillows, “I just want to get back to what we are supposed to be doing, exploring the universe and making cool alien friends.” He threw up his hands in frustration, “But Suddenly I find myself embroiled in stupid annoying politics that I don’[t understand, being used by people who are, lets face it, WAY smarter than me, constantly finding myself getting manipulated.”

She huffed, “They aren’t smarter than you Adam, they’re just manipulative, and you aren't.”

He sighed, “Fair enough.” Then he looked at her, bright green eyes reflecting the soft ambient blue light, “I just, I miss this, I miss us, I miss hanging out and doing stupid shit, and all of the things I could do when I wasn’t so important and this operation was smaller.”

She smiled rather sadly reaching one hand over for his, lacing the four of her fingers through the five of his, “Well someone has to do the hard things, who better than you.” 

He glanced over at her raising an eyebrow, “Or you, miss saint”

She rolled her eyes again, “Can’t seem to get you off of that. I’m still the same person I used to be.”

“But with power.”

She elbowed him gently and he grinned, “But really, I am proud and impressed and…. Let's be honest super super smug that ‘I’ know you personally.”

“I know, I am pretty terrific.”

The two of them laughed for a minute before settling down again. He glanced over to her little shrine on the wall, “What were you doing just then?”

She looked up at the ceiling, following the lines of metal and rivets with her eyes, “Praying to the spirits of Anin.”

Embarrassed, he shifted, “I didn’t know you were….. Well I didn’t think you were all that religious?”

SHe shrugged, “Don’t feel bad, it’s sort of a new thing. Back before all this, it was sort of just stories to me. Like I believed it because that was what everyone believed, but I didn’t really accept it, or feel it the way I do now. After everything with my mother, it was hard to feel connected to something I felt I wasn’t a part of….. But then after visiting my mother, after becoming a saint for a religion I never really followed…. Well it started to make more sense. It feels real now in a way that it never did.” She turned to look at him, finding him watching her, the UV blue stripes in his skin glowing blue.

“I believe in the spirits of Anin more than I ever have.”

He smiled at her and squeezed her hand, “I’m glad to hear it.”

They lapsed into silence for a long moment staring up at the ceiling before, inevitably he broke it, “So this makes you like, space Moses.”

She frowned and turned to look at him, “What is a Moses?”

He grinned, “A guy from one of the Earth Religions. You know guy follows god’s directions to lead his people away from slavery, climbs a moutain, recieves the word of god, comes down to give it to the people, that sort of thing.”

Sunny tilted her head slightly to the side, “Are you religious?”

He paused, frowning, “I…. well I…. don’t really know. My family has been some flavor of Christian for a long time.”

“Christian?”

“Uh yeah, The general idea is that there is one all powerful deity who created everything. He has rules and laws that you are supposed to follow, The general tenants of this specific religion mostly boil down to, love everyone and don’t be a dick, which humans are notoriously bad at. You sin you go to hell, a very bad place after you die, and if you are a good person you go to heaven. Problem is everyone is a sinner and breaks the rules, so really no one was going to get into heaven.”

“That sounds bleak….”

“Well that's where the other stuff comes in. Basically this all powerful deity sent down his son in human form to live a perfect life, so when he was martyred he took on the sins of all of humanity and paid for them in the greatest act of mercy to open the gate for the rest of us into heaven.”

Sunny shifted as he tilted to the side to lay in the crook of her arms, “Of course that is just one religion among tons on earth, we aren’t really as cohesive in our beliefs as Drev are….. As for me…. I’m not really sure.”

She tilted her head to the side, cheek resting against his hair, “After seeing space, I become more and more convinced of some….. Thing that created everything, but beyond that it's sort of a tossup.”

She ran one hand through his hair, course but still soft somehow.

“You know my name comes from that religion.”

She turned her head to look at him, “Oh.”

“Adam was the first man.”

“WHat do you mean.:”

Adam shrugged, “He was supposedly the first man that god created, from the dust of the earth…. I think?”

She gave him a sidelong glance, “Look, and you get to be the first idiot in space.”

He snorted and poked her in the ribs.

“There were PLENTY of idiots in space before me, believe you me.”

“Mmm I don’t know, you are pretty dumb.”

He laughed, grabbing a pillow and hitting her with it. She rolled over so she was lying on top of him and then went limp.

He struggled, “Get your big ass off me.”

“Oh no, I have been attacked by a sudden acute case of the, my spine doesn't work anymore disease.”

“If you don’t move, you’ll suddenly find yourself with a case of fist in your face disease.”

She laughed and rolled off him, making su7re the hard parts of her carapace were sticking down for maximum discomfort. 

He grunted.

They returned to lying down next to each other in the half darkness. Sunny reached over and turned on some quiet music in the background as the two of them sat and talked, and laughed.

“I can’t wait to get back to deep space.” He closed his eyes and hummed softly at the thought, “Just the crew and the darkness and nothing ahead of us but an endless frontier.”

Surprisingly, she found the thought to be more than a little comforting, and closed her eyes thinking about the vast reaches of blackness and the endless spinning galaxies. 

“And while we are out we can drop Conn into a pulsar.”

He snorted,

“That billowy bastard would survive and you know it.”

She huffed, “Still though, if I have to hear one more smug lecture how he has a child with you, I’m gonna wring his scrawny neck.”

He grinned teeth flashing blue in the light, “Is someone;.... Jealous?”

Sunny laughed, almost tipping him off the bed and onto the floor with her mirth, “Yes Adam, I am totally jealous, really I am. I mean who wouldn’t want to have a child with YOU, big dumb, dork. Really the perfect place to put my superior genes.”

“Superior genes, says someone who can’t reach the top shelf.”

She kicked him foot clanging off his prosthetic, “I am a foot taller than you.”

He placed his hand next to his ear, “What was that, I can’t hear you over how short you are.”

Sunny shook her head, “At least I have binocular vision and both my knees.”

“And weird neck nostrils, don’t forget about those.”

“Oh yes so I can house them on my face like you and your bigass nose.”

“Low blow, low blow.”

“There are…. Lower things…. I could make fun of.”

He snorted, “Can’t make fun of it if you’ve never seen it. You on the other hand, walking around in the nude.”

“You’re welcome. Who wouldn’t love.” Sse gestured to herself, “This.”

“Mmm yes,.... chitin , very sexy.”

“I am a gift to the universe, and should be appreciated by everyone.” He brushed a hand through his hair, “Well I find that real gifts are gift wrapped, so jot that down.”

“Oh yeah, like a prank gift when you put something lame in a box for something cool.”

He frowned at her, “You wound me,. My feelings are so very very hurt. I might even cry.”

“I drink human tears.”

“That, that’s really gross.’

She laughed and then they lapsed into silence. She could hear him breathing quietly next to her in the darkness, his chest rising and falling under the ambient blue light. She looked across the room to where her saint armor was hanging in it’s climate controlled case illuminated to a pearly sheen.

“Adam.”

“Yeah.”

“You know I’m just kidding about calling you dumb riught.”

“Yeah I know.”

“I’m proud of what you’ve been doing.”

Adam turned to look at her rather incredulous, “Me, of what? I haven’t been doing shit.”

“So we are just going to ignore you overthrowing a maniacal politician while simultaneously piloting a 2,000 year old spacecraft?”

“That was more Conn and Eris than it was me,”

“It was your idea.”

“Lets not forget Admiral Kelly.”

Sunny pulled him closer, “I am sorry, I will not be accepting anything other than you acknowledging that you did a good job.”

“Screw you.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you.”

He sighed, “You’ve been talking to Ramirez WAY too much.”

She was only slightly smug as she rested her head back against the pillow, “I really should get up and train.”

“We should.”

Neither of them movies.

“Alternatively we could just…. Lay here…. All day and do… nothing .”

She looked up at the ceiling for a long moment and pretended to be in deep contemplation before “Well it’s official, you have convinced me. You and your silver tongue.”

“I am a master negotiator.”

He shifted position putting one arm behind his head, “Think about it, by this time tomorrow we will be back to space exploring and doing what we should have been doing all along. I can’t wait.”

“That makes two of us.”

[therappundit]

***Best of the 1st Half of 2021: ALBUM EDITION ***

...From the better late than never files...

I realize one or two weeks in real world time is the equivalent of two or three years in music consumption time, so there is a better than average chance that most of you have not thought of what the best rap projects are for the first half of 2021 since July 4th weekend...

And full disclosure, I wrote the paragraph above way back in July and then immediately got sidetracked.  Whoops. 😬

Now here we are, summer’s over and A LOT of new music has dropped since 7/1, with plenty more to come!  So perhaps now is a great time to remind folks of some of the fantastic work that dropped in the first half of 2021?  This is more of an act of housekeeping for me, because it helps remind me of great albums that should still be considered new works of art, but per the social media cycle, they unfairly fall into the geriatric bin by year’s end.

SO HERE ARE / WERE MY PICKS FOR THE BEST RAP PROJECTS OF THE FIRST HALF OF 2021* (top 50 + oodles of Honorable Mentions)

[*projects had to be released by June 30th in order to receive consideration]

10. TIME by Your Old Droog

9. Free Dem Boyz by 42 Dugg

8. Unlearning Vol. 1 by Evidence

7. Death and the Magician by DJ Muggs & Rome Streetz

6. With The Shifts by Maassai

5. All The Brilliant Things by Skyzoo

4. Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler, the Creator

3. Haram by Armand Hammer & The Alchemist

2. Disco! by MIKE

1. Pray For Haiti by Mach-Hommy

***Rest of the Top 50***:

11. Akai Solo & Navy Blue

12. Nappy Nina & J Words

13. Rahiem Supreme x Al.divino

14. Navy Blue - Navy’s Reprise

15. Lloyd Banks - COTI

16. Good Gas x Fki 1st x Band Gang Lonnie Bands

17. Real Late by Peter Rosenberg (and Various Artists)

18. Bruiser Brigade - TV62

19. Mother Nature & Boathouse

20. SIDESHOW

21. Wiki & Nah

22. al.divino x Mr. Rose

23. MAVI

24. Durk & Baby

25. Breeze Brewin

26. Akai, YL & Roper

27. Lil Yachty

28. Sleeper Sinatra

29. J. Cole

30. J Scienide & Kev Brown

31. Lord Apex

32. Ransom

33. Valee & Kiltkarter

34. Pap2oo4

35. Kipp Stone

36. Jay NiCE & Machacha

37. Namir & L’Orange

38. Jim Jones & Harry Fraud

39. Babyface Ray

40. Asun Eastwood

41. Raz Fresco

42. BYAKUGAN! by Estee Nack

43. Young Nudy

44. Pro Zay

45. Hus Kingpin

46. Mfn Melo & squeakPIVOT

47. Teller Bank$

48. Gucci Mane

49. Big Ghost & Conway

50. Tee Grizzley

Honorable Mentions (all belong in my Top 50, but I can only pick 50) - in no particular order:

Curren$y, Rome & Ank, Dolph & Key Glock, WTM Daemoney, La Maquina, Dark Lo & Harry Fraud, Mimz the Magnificent & Dunn - Infinite Lawn, David Bars, RIM, Tedy Andreas, Lou From Paradise, Big YAVO, Wrecking Crew, Lukah, Premrock, Monday Night & Russo Beats, Estee Nack Mini-Mansion, Ayun Bassa & Jacob Rochester, YL, Czarface, Roadrunner Glockboyz, Van Buren Records, Huey Briss, Khrysis, God's kitchen, Foogiano, Uptown XO, CRIMEAPPLE.........

Ty Farris, Medhane, Valee & AYO (Disco), J.U.S., Bruiser Wolf, Anakin & Siifu, Mello Music Bushido compilation, Fat Ray, Kenny Mason, Larry June, Nutty & Los (group projects and solo projects), Duke Deuce, Knowledge the Pirate, 22gz, Moneybagg Yo, Baby Money, Planet Asia, Trapland Pat, Asun Eastwood (2 projects), Don Perrion, Jae Haze, Cee Gee, Fire in little Africa..........

Kai Fortyfive, D Flowers, Saga Asad, Vic Spencer, Four50, Lil Heart, Bvngs, VRN Hayes, Big Jade, Marcellus, LORD JAH-MONTE OGBON, Young Crazy, T.F, NappyNappa, CHASETHEMONEY, Drakeo the Ruler, Ralfy the Plug, Lando Bando, Teejayx6 & Lex Luger, Lil CJ KASINO, Rollin Ajay, Lil Eazzzy, Tafia, Young Stoner compilation, Beneficience, Fmb DZ, K.J., Bronze Nazareth, Agallah, Amani, Graymatter** & Alchemist** (**neither projects had enough songs to warrant consideration).

See also:

https://therappundit.tumblr.com/post/656020494530854912/best-of-the-1st-half-of-2021-song-edition

https://therappundit.tumblr.com/post/649527317251670016/best-of-the-1st-quarter

https://therappundit.tumblr.com/post/638904640503726080/the-best-rap-songs-of-2020-great-songs-that

[higherfruits]

This is what happens when I look through the photos that higher brothers have been tagged in ... most are from littleladylana INSTA

[booksforthegays]

“Ancestral Night” by Elizabeth Bear

Description: Haimey Dz thinks she knows what she wants. She thinks she knows who she is. She is wrong. A routine salvage mission uncovers evidence of a terrible crime and relics of powerful ancient technology. Haimey and her small crew run afoul of pirates at the outer limits of the Milky Way, and find themselves on the run and in possession of universe-changing information. When authorities prove corrupt, Haimey realizes that she is the only one who can protect her galaxy-spanning civilization from the implications of this ancient technology—and the revolutionaries who want to use it for terror and war. Her quest will take her careening from the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core to the infinite, empty spaces at its edge. To save everything that matters, she will need to uncover the secrets of ancient intelligences lost to time—and her own lost secrets, which she will wish had remained hidden from her forever. 

Representation: The main character, Haimey, is a black lesbian and Connla, another major character, is a pansexual man.

Genre: Sci-fi Length: 515 TW(s): PTSD, mention of abuse