#eric abidal

[peligrosapop]

Merci, Eric Abidal. 💙❤️

[ace-with--a-mace]

watching saw but everytime they mention eric matthews i think of my boy and not the cop

[demifiendrsa]

Batman: Caped Crusader - Official Trailer 

Batman: Caped Crusader will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on August 1, 2024.

Poster

Cast

Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne / Batman

Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent / Two-Face

Michelle C. Bonilla

Krystal Joy Brown

Jamie Chung as Harley Quinn

John DiMaggio

Dan Donohue

Minnie Driver

Mckenna Grace

Tom Kenny

Christina Ricci as Catwoman

Reid Scott

Toby Stephens

Eric Morgan Stuart

Jason Watkins

Gary Anthony Williams

Paul Scheer

David Krumholtz

Haley Joel Osment

Synopsis

Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the BATMAN. His one-man crusade attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications.

[batmannotes]

Poster & 1st Trailer For Batman: Caped Crusader

Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the BATMAN. His one-man crusade attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications.

Starring Hamish Linklater as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and featuring a star-studded ensemble cast including: Christina Ricci, Jamie Chung, Diedrich Bader, Minnie Driver, Mckenna Grace, Eric Morgan Stuart, Michelle C. Bonilla, Krystal Joy Brown, John DiMaggio, Paul Scheer, Reid Scott, Tom Kenny, Jason Watkins, Gary Anthony Williams, Dan Donohue, David Krumholtz, Haley Joel Osment and Toby Stephens. From the minds of executive producers J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Bruce Timm, season one of Batman: Caped Crusader arrives August 1 on Amazon Prime Video.

Premieres August 1 on Amazon Prime Video

[doamarierose-honoka]

Batman is back with a vengeance. Three years after HBO Max and Cartoon Network first announced Batman: Caped Crusader — the adult-oriented animated series that was eventually canceled by the since-renamed Max streaming service, only to then be picked up at Prime Video — the new Batman TV show is about to hit the small screen. Set in 1940s Gotham City, Caped Crusader is described as "a reimagining of the Batman mythology through the visionary lens" of executive producers Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond), Matt Reeves (The Batman and The Penguin), and J.J. Abrams (Alias and Lost).

"We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City," Timm, Reeves, and Abrams said when announcing the series in 2021. "The series will be thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman's noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world."

Below, ComicBook is shining the Bat-Signal on everything we know so far about Batman: Caped Crusader, including the voice cast, release date, and the rogues who will populate the first solo Batman animated series in more than a decade.

Where Can I Watch Batman: Caped Crusader?

To watch Batman: Caped Crusader on Amazon's Prime Video, you'll need either a Prime Video subscription ($8.99 per month with ads, or $11.98/mo for ad-free) or an Amazon Prime membership ($14.99 per month with Prime Video ads, or $17.98/mo with ad-free Prime Video).

Batman: Caped Crusader Release Date

All episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader will premiere Thursday, August 1st, on Amazon Prime Video.

How Many Episodes Is Batman: Caped Crusader?

Batman: Caped Crusader season 1 consists of 10 episodes. In 2023, Prime Video announced a two-season order for the new series.

What Is Batman: Caped Crusader About?

The official description: "Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human — the Batman. His one-man crusade attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications."

Who Voices Batman in the Batman: Caped Crusader Cast?

The Batman: Caped Crusader voice cast includes Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass) in the title role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets) as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Jamie Chung (Gotham) as Harley Quinn/Dr. Harleen Quinzel, and Diedrich Bader — a DC veteran whose credits include episodes of Batman Beyond, 2006's The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and the Max adult animated series Harley Quinn — as Two-Face/Harvey Dent.

Announced cast members in as-yet-unrevealed roles include Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Toby Stephens (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Reid Scott (Venom), Dan Donohue (For All Mankind), Gary Anthony Williams (Hailey's on It!), Jason Watkins (The Crown), John DiMaggio (Futurama), Krystal Joy Brown (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Michelle C. Bonilla (9-1-1: Lone Star), Eric Morgan Stuart (Fallout 4), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), and Minnie Driver (The Witcher: Blood Origin).

Batman: Caped Crusader Villains

A cast announcement video revealed Linklater's Batman voice and the Dark Knight's rogue's gallery: The Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, the pyromaniac Firebug, Natalia Knight (in the comics, a reformed career criminal with photosensitive skin known as Nocturna, the mistress of the night), the phantom criminal called Gentleman Ghost, and Clayface (the Golden Age Clayface of the 1940s was Basil Karlo, a once-famous character actor and makeup expert turned costumed killer). Caped Crusader reimagines Dr. Harleen Quinzel as Asian American — and Bruce Wayne's psychologist. Here, her alter-ego as the jester-costumed Harley Quinn is independent from the Joker, who is noticeably absent from the roundup of Batman characters.

Batman: Caped Crusader Characters

Batman – A cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man. Forged in the fire of tragedy, every fiber of his being is dedicated to the eradication of crime. (The Batman suit is influenced by the character's earliest appearances in Detective Comics, by creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, with longer, narrow ears, a collared cape, and with black gloves rather than the original purple.)

Bruce Wayne - To the public at large, Bruce Wayne is a shallow dilettante, apparently wasting his parents' vast fortune on frivolous pursuits and hedonistic pleasures. In fact, he's an elaborate facade, carefully constructed to divert attention from his activities as Batman.

Selina Kyle / "Catwoman" – Selena Kyle is a blithe and pampered heiress whose family lost their fortune after her father was imprisoned for embezzlement. Despite having the silver spoon yanked from her mouth, Selina refuses to quit living in the lap of luxury and becomes Catwoman as a "fun" way to maintain her lavish lifestyle.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel / "Harley Quinn" – Despite a personable and bubbly demeanor, Dr. Harleen Quinzel is a brilliant psychiatrist who treats some of Gotham's elite. However, as Harley Quinn, she is a different person, entirely. A creepy, quiet, calculating menace who secretly dispenses her twisted justice to the truly despicable among her elite clientele.

Commissioner Jim Gordon – Former beat cop close to retirement, Gordon was hired to play along with the corrupt system and run out the clock till he can draw a pension. But they've sorely underestimated Jim Gordon. His unassailable character brings him into conflict with dirty cops and crooked politicians, alike. Not to mention, he has to reckon with a deranged vigilante beating up Gotham's criminals.

Clayface – Thanks to his "unique" facial features, screen actor Basil Karlo has been forever typecast as a B-movie heavy. Frustrated by the limitations his appearance put on both his career and personal life (he fell hopelessly in love with his co-star), Karlo turned to an experimental serum that promised to change his face. However, not only does this serum ultimately disfigure his face, but it ruptures the last of his sanity – creating the tragic, vengeance seeking villain, Clayface.

Batman: Caped Crusader Creators

Batman: Caped Crusader comes from Warner Bros. Animation (My Adventures with Superman, Bat-Family), Abrams' Bad Robot Productions (Lovecraft Country, the Star Trek films) and Reeves' 6th & Idaho (2022's The Batman, The Batman – Part II). Along with Abrams, Reeves and Timm, Batman: Caped Crusader executive producers include head writer Ed Brubaker (DC's Batman comic, Gotham Central), James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited), Daniel Pipski (The Penguin), Rachel Rusch Rich (Castle Rock), and Sam Register (Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One and Part Two).

[xpuigc-bloc]

When the Verdict Came In, Donald Trump’s Eyes Were Wide Open

Witnessing the moment the former President became a felon.

When the Verdict Came In, Donald Trump’s Eyes Were Wide Open

Witnessing the moment the former President became a felon.

By Eric Lach

Donald Trump sits at a table in the Manhattan Criminal Courtroom. Two NYPD officers stand behind him.

Photograph by Justin Lane / Reuters

It didn’t take long. At 4:20 P.M. on Thursday, the jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal trial sent the judge a note: “We the jury have reached a verdict.” A few minutes later, Judge Juan Merchan read this note aloud in his courtroom, on the fifteenth floor of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. Some of the reporters in the packed gallery gasped. Moments before, Merchan had said he planned to dismiss the jurors for the evening. It had seemed that they would need another day, or maybe another week, to come to a decision. How much time could it reasonably take to decide whether or not to brand a former and maybe future President a felon? Not quite two days, it turned out. Trump, sitting at the defense table in a blue tie, looked on impassively. For once, he was abiding by courtroom decorum without any fuss. He’d been sitting at that table for just over six weeks, listening to witnesses and the evidence against him. For much of that time, he seemed to doze, eyes closed, demonstrating nothing but contempt for the thirty-four felony counts he was facing. But now his eyes were open. This wasn’t Michael Cohen shit-talking him or Stormy Daniels describing spanking him with a rolled-up magazine. This was a jury of his peers, ready to render judgment.

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

Honey's Writing Pot!

Current Events: 2024!

Kinktober 2024

12 Days of Smutmas 2024

2024 Writing Lineup

DONE

2025 Writing Lineup

Sandman

Active Writing:

🐦‍⬛ Fever Dreams (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Depravity of the Sea (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Tender is the Night (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Slither (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ When You Wish Upon a Star (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Washed Up (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Let Love Abide, Till Death Divide (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Under Moonlight (Orpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Shatter Me (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ The Light You Stray From (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Once Upon a Memory (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ A Shade of Green (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ What is the Function of a Rubber Duck? (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ How Bad Do You Want It? (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Instincts & Desires (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ A Girl Without Dreams (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Gemini (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ My Eyes Are Up Here (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ To Catch a Dream (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ Once Upon a Dream (Morpheus) 🐦‍⬛ How to Become a Step-Mother in 4 Easy Steps (Morpheus)

One Piece

Active Writing:

☠️ Chronicles of a Current (Shanks) ☠️ Harbinger of Pain (Ace) ☠️ A Warlord's Treasure (Mihawk) ☠️ A Tu Vera (Rosinante) ☠️ Heart of Ice (Aokiji) ☠️ Gaslight and Glory (Caeser) ☠️ Lady Warlord (Bogard) ☠️ An Apple a Day (Hongo) ☠️ Tipple, Tangle, and Tango (Smoker) ☠️ Petal Pushing (Shanks) ☠️ Silken Web (Doflamingo) ☠️ Chromatic (Doflamingo) ☠️ La Reina (Doflamingo) ☠️ Collar of Thorns (Doflamingo) ☠️ Thrall and Feather (Rosinante) ☠️ Among Brothers (Rosinante) ☠️ Dressed to Disarm (Rosinante) ☠️ Fine Print (Rosinante) ☠️ 24 Hours (Mihawk) ☠️ Relish the Hunt (Mihawk) ☠️ Shattered (Mihawk) ☠️ The Golden Hummingbird (Mihawk) ☠️ Tolerable Tensions (Mihawk) ☠️ Legacy (Ace) ☠️ Of Mice and Mayhem (Lucci) ☠️ Snow Leopard Zoan UNTITLED (Lucci) ☠️ Cradle Robber (Rayleigh) ☠️ Wingboys (Rayleigh) ☠️ Dark Prince (Rayleigh) ☠️ Two Men, One Ship (Rayleigh & Shanks) ☠️ Pollen Series UNTITLED (By Character) ☠️ Hanahaki Disease Disease (UNTITLED)

Events:

Kinktober 2025

12 Days of Smutmas 2025

HOPEFUL WRITING:

Aquaman

Active Writing:

🔱 Seven Nights of Karathen (Orm) 🔱 Uncharted Waters (Orm)

True Blood

Active Writing:

⚰️ Our Lovely Hearts (Eric) ⚰️ Venus (Eric) ⚰️ Dark Horse (Eric)

Baldur's Gate 3

Active Writing:

🔮 Coming soon, maybe? I need ideas...

Last Edit: 9/25/24

[deans-baby-momma]

Law & Love Chapter 3

THEN

Y/N it's not what you think. Please call me (406)321-5879

NOW

I don’t call him when I clock out. I don't call him while I take a cab home. In fact, I don't call him at all. 

I am angry! Angry at myself for letting him in and angry at him for asking me out when he is clearly unavailable. 

I don't know how they do stuff here in Montana but I was raised to be faithful and true.  That's probably why I endured Eric's lack of attention and overlooked his cheating for so long.

Yes, I knew my boyfriend was out fucking anything with a vagina almost weekly. I discovered it when I found a hotel receipt in his pocket. 

I did a little amateur sleuthing and found out that he had used that certain hotel for years. He had an open account with the seedy fleabag accommodations; he paid after the use of their room, usually with cash that I still didn't know where it came from. So, I tolerated his cheating and laziness because that's what I was taught to do. 

But now? Now was different. I am not that same girl I was then. I was aware of the obscenity of the world and knew very few people abided by the 'old ways'.

So, I'm not about to let some philandering womanizer get the best of me. He cannot have his cake and eat it too! 

It’s been a few days since the sheriff and his girlfriend/wife/whatever had visited the diner and I was ever so grateful. I didn’t want to see his cheating, conniving face at all! Everytime I thought about the audacity he had to ask me out when he was clearly taken, my blood pressure skyrocketed. The nerve of him! The gall to manipulate the situation to his advantage was mind boggling. 

After the lunch rush was over, I set about getting the remaining tables and chairs back into their proper order when the bell rang and someone stepped in. I smile as I see who I know now is a regular at this time of the day, Joey. Joey would come in when the rush was over and keep Deb and I amused with his stories of different things. He seems to be a nice guy who lived alone and simply desired social interaction.

I smile at him as he walks to his usual spot and settles in. Deb writes up his normal order. As I pass by headed to the kitchen, Joey smiles and speaks. “You look nice today, Y/n.”

“Thanks Joey.”

Deb and I listen to Joey as he regales about the time his uncle took him and his cousins fishing at Park Lake Campground, southwest of town.

"So, here we were standing alongside the lake. We could practically see the fish swimming around, waiting for us to throw our lines in. Marco and Luis were baiting their hooks as ole Uncle Paul was sliding the earthworm onto mine.  He didn't trust me not to try to eat the lure." He pauses as Deb and I give him a look of disgust. He laughs and continues.

"Ladies, I was 4 years old okay! I probably would've tried to eat it," he laughs. "Anyway, he gets the hook ready and hands me the pole. I watch my cousins cast their line out into the water so I pull back and throw……hook, line, sinker and pole. It floats on the water for a second before it sinks. Uncle P starts yelling and running toward the water. No one caught anything that day."

The bell over the door rings and a woman walks in with a brown paper bag with handles. There is no writing on the nondescript back. She smiles at us and asks for Y/N. I groan as I realize exactly what that means.

The fucking sheriff has sent me another goddamn gift. I mask my irritation and I step forward with a smile and take the bag.

Inside is a stuffed animal. I pull it out to see it's a gray squirrel holding an acorn in its paws. On the acorn are the words "NUTS FOR YOU".

Yea, he's nuts if he thinks I'm going to keep accepting his little gifts and trinkets. Not when he's a two-timing jerk!

I stuff the stuffed animal back in the bag and take it in the back room, where we keep our personal items.

After my shift, I'm making a pitstop at the Sheriff's office and putting an end to his treacherous ways, once and for all!

The taxi driver can tell I’m on a mission as soon as I slide into the backseat and utter, “Take me to the sheriff’s office.”

As we pull up outside of Helena P.D. I can see the red truck that I know belongs to the sheriff sitting alongside the other cop cars in the lot. I can’t help but sneer at it as I pay the cabbie and exit the vehicle.

I open the door to the building and am met immediately with the smell of donuts and coffee. I want to laugh at  the plain and simple stereotype of it all but before I can even twitch my lips, I look through and see Sheriff Arlen and his companion through the glass that divides the front of the station with what is apparently his office. They are both smiling and talking and I see him throw his head back and laugh at what she just said.

“Can I help you?” 

I bring my focus back to the front to see the same officer that had come to collect the sheriff and his companion that day at the diner; the day I realized just what a swindler the man in charge is.

“I need to speak to the Sheriff, if you can pull the lovebirds apart,” I jeer. The man looks at me questioningly and goes to open his mouth but evidently Beau has noticed my presence and comes out of the room.

“Y/N?” he calls as he approaches, a smile on his face. What the fuck is he smiling for? Does he not realize I know what a fraud he is?  His ‘whatever she is’ is standing right there behind him, leaning against the door frame of his office. Her arms are crossed over her front and her head is sort of cocked to the side. Does she know who I am? Does she know he asked me out when he is obviously involved with her? Why is she not fuming? Why does she look as if she could care less?

Beau finally gets to the front desk and he nods at the officer who was still standing there. “I got this Popcorn.”

‘Popcorn’ nods and heads back to his desk.

“What’re you doing here?” the Sheriff asks. “Having more troubles?”

I clear my throat and straighten my stance as I pull the brown gift bag from my purse. I reach inside and grab the stuffed animal and remove it. I look at it one more time before I lift it and throw it right in his face. 

“I don’t want your stupid gifts! I don’t want anything to do with you! How dare you try to take advantage of me in my time of need! You’re a fucking asshole and a cheat! Fuck. You!”

I turn to leave but not before I notice the look of confusion on the sheriff’s face.  As I push the door open, I hear his voice. “Y/N! Wait!”

@lostinaseaoffictionalbliss @spnbaby-67 @tftumblin @sea040561 @delightfullykrispypeach @larajadeschmidt13 @atc74 @vicariouslythruspn @squirrelnotsam  @sandlee44 @blacktithe7 @hoboal87 @mogaruke @deanwanddamons @supraveng @deandreamernp @akshi8278 @lyarr24 @kazsrm67 @chriszgirl92 @fanfic-n-tabulous

[mswyrr]

Fascinating article in the NYT about the last two Shakers (gift link from Eric Conrad on bluesky). I've long wanted to write an FF historical romance about two women in the group. Beyond that, I think they're an important case in showing how *when* historical people were radically egalitarian it was in their own terms, not because they were somehow "modern" or "like us" -- they found their way to it using their own cultural tools.

Too many "historical" stories depict a historical person with egalitarian ethics as basically a person who thinks in "modern" terms - as if "modern" is the pinnacle of human beings (and which "modern" do we mean exactly?) given all the wrongs we're embedded in. It really sacrifices something important, which is realizing how truly different people can think even while trying for good ends.

Some neat quotes:

The youngest Shaker in the world is 67 years old, and his name is Arnold. He lives alongside Sister June, 86, in a magnificent brick building designed to sleep about 70 — the dwelling house of the last active Shaker village in the world, at Sabbathday Lake in Maine. Together they constitute one of the longest-running utopian experiments in America. It’s a triumph, as utopian experiments aren’t known for their durability, though the impulse — to start afresh apart from the mess of mainstream society, to reinvent society with like-minded people — has always been strong here. Out of the many that America has fostered, this is one of the most abiding. Out of the tens of thousands of Shakers who have lived out their faith in the last quarter-millennium, these two remain.

...The Shakers have been breaking bread in this manner since before the Revolutionary War. In 1774 a blacksmith’s daughter named Ann Lee led a small group of refugees from Manchester, England, where they had been jailed and beaten for following her heretical teachings: that God was both male and female, a Father-God and Mother-God. She taught that true virtue required sacrificing individual desires for the collective good, including total celibacy. She preached pacifism and the equality of the sexes and races. (Black Americans were welcomed as early as 1790, and communities purchased freedom for their enslaved members.) Her followers lived together in largely self-sufficient communal villages, everyone a brother and sister to one another. To join, prospective Shakers had to divest themselves of their worldly attachments — property, marriages, debts — and dissolve their families: Husbands would live with the brothers, wives with the sisters, and children would be raised separately by the brethren assigned to child care. Shakers believe their calling is to manifest the kingdom of God on Earth, and their Millennial Laws, first drawn up in the 1820s, specified that every detail of their built environment should express that vocation. They organized their lives around the belief that work is a vehicle for the divine: When early Shakers planed wood for a barn, or designed that barn, or sheared sheep, or rolled out a pie crust, they understood themselves to be worshiping. Every day, through their labor, the flawed world in which they lived could be made more whole.

Though it’s hard to get a precise count, at Shakerism’s height in the 19th century, the community numbered roughly 5,000. Over its history, 19 Shaker communities spread out from New England as far west as Ohio and south into Kentucky and Florida. Now some of the most tangible products of their philosophy — the furniture — are more well known than the religion itself. Their chairs are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; knockoff replicas are sold in big-box stores. The traditional Shaker “aesthetic” is so popular that The New York Times’s Style section ran a 2022 feature on the influence of Shaker design on contemporary “tastemakers.” When I mentioned to a friend that I was writing about the Shakers, she replied, “Are those the furniture Christians?”

...Once, after supper, I asked Brother Arnold, “What makes a good Shaker?” He was in the recliner in the corner of the kitchen, looking at his phone. He told me about the willingness to labor, both physically and spiritually, in perpetuity. This is what it takes. Not everyone can do this work knowing that they might never see the fruits of their labor. “The idea that we need to see results in our lifetimes — that’s not how the Shakers actually teach us to think about those types of achievements,” Graham pointed out to me. “That’s man’s time, not God’s time.” Brother Arnold said to me more than once that Shakers live “in the eye of eternity.”

There are a lot of people around Sabbathday Lake striving to labor in the eye of eternity these days. Maybe a new Shaker will come this year; maybe not. But in the Meeting House this summer, people are singing. Lavender is drying from the eaves of the old sisters’ shop; future harvests will hang in the new herb house. A concept of survival and flourishing that isn’t primarily concerned with linear time or material gains may be the most radical thing about this historically radical American religion, and the one most resonant with a world that is experiencing, constantly, its own existential threats and calamities. It is obvious by now that everyone and everything is dying and living all at the same time, that failure and hope are all mixed up, and still the sheep are lambing and the roof has sprung a leak again and you’ve been snappish and petty even though you swore you’d be better and someone has to make breakfast and even breakfast can be a gesture of belief in the world as it could and should be.

[jichanqz]

CARREFOUR • ERIC SOHN

MEMBER tbz eric

WORD COUNT 1.1K+

GENRE fairy!au, fantasy, romance

which is better, or which is worse? having no power among those who do or having your power used against you?

PREV PART | NEXT PART

He sets foot into the small town once the tint of orange of the sky fades into those of wisterias, along with the other townspeople starting their busy day.

Ulfora, his journey here last night was smooth, much to his relief. The moon was on his side. The tides seemed to abide by his course, remaining calm and dormant, ensuring his journey underwater to be so waveless it was almost odd, but he believes the protection of the celestial being along with the blessing of the full moon.

Eric opted for a journey by sea to the corner of the kingdom, in his quest of fulfilling the king’s order. He needs his identity to remain a secret, and travelling by land will do least to nothing at keeping his identity under wraps.

He’s the most aware of the temperament of the ocean; the rise and recede of tides along with the people of the water, which makes the ocean by far the safest path for him to trek.

Dressed in plain tunics with a leather satchel latched across his shoulder, Eric succeeds at fitting in among the people of Ulfora, looking like much of a commoner rather than royalty himself.

His first stop is at the small eatery located at the hollowed-out tree trunks. Owned by an elf, Eric assumes. Besides stuffing his stomach, he wants to wend his way across the town to every place that has highly likely been trodden by the person he’s looking for.

Settling by the window, his assumption is made certain as he registers that most of the workers at the eatery are elves, while some of them being the vampires.

The customers entering and exiting the eatery are of all races; there are elves, vampires, and even the werewolves. Everyone is interacting in harmony; smiles could be seen plastered on their faces, they are even sharing tables. And the least that some of them do are minding their own business.

Segregation of races is non-existent. Their relationships are valued beyond their differences. Despite being a small town cloistered far at the edge of the country, the people seem to be much more accepting and unprejudiced towards each other.

Only if the people of the royal town were like this.

“Can I get your order?”

Eric is put out of his trance when a waiter approaches his table. His eyes register the appearance of the waiter before him. Black hair, hazel irises, sienna skin.

Not the one.

The waiter’s wings twitch ever so slightly but don’t go unnoticed by Eric. A sign of uneasiness.

“Mister?”

He cleared his throat as he realised he stared a little bit too long.

Not so courteous, Eric.

“Sorry. Um, may I have buttered toast with avocado and a soft poached egg? And also hot chocolate.”

“That’s all?” The wooden pencil in her grasp dances swiftly across the vellum in her other hand, jotting his order down.

“Yeah, that’s it. Thank you.”

He runs his hand through his brown locks, his shoulders sagging against the hard chair.

Pull yourself together, Eric. You got this.

>>>

He walks in and out of every store in the town, pretending to window shop and asking around for things while his eyes are scanning the faces of every people he stumbled across. He even purchased a few things to avoid suspicions, but he is yet to find the elf he’s been looking for.

He continues his walk, now aimless, but his hopes are still high. It's only his first day here, and he had only been to the town. He has not yet meandered around the housing area. He will surely find the elf, sooner or later.

As he walks past the rows of shops, he notices that the people passing him were staring, and they do little to hide it. The conversation between them comes to a halt as their eyes lay down on him, which is then followed by whispers among them.

He soon registers that a fairy walking around this town is not something common. The fairies are the rare inhabitants of this corner of the kingdom, so his presence is very much easily noticed.

That is when loneliness catches him in its embrace. He has always been on his own in the palace which made him used to the feeling. But now even in the crowds, he’s alone, and the feeling thickens.

He shrugs it off, not wanting the emotion to take control of him.

I came here for a reason. He reminds himself.

He continues walking until the number of shops decreases and the greeneries condensate. He then hears the soft sound of waves crashing upon the shore before the body of salty water comes into his sight.

“Whoa.” He didn’t notice that the sea is that majestic last night that he was there. Now that he is here in broad daylight, Eric is beyond astonished.

It takes a good few minutes of walking to get there, which explains how void the ocean is of any creature. Being alone with the clear sky roofing above his head and warm waves nibbling at his feet, allows him to think, to fully be with nature.

Eric takes his time to really take in the sight before him. The thistle sky blends into alice blue where it kisses the water. He settles into a spot on the seaboard, allowing himself to be engulfed in the warmth of the sand against his skin.

The beach was separated by a layer of lush foliage from the town, making it a perfect spot to escape from the busyness trap of day-to-day life and seek solace.

Welcome back.

Eric is dragged out of his stupor when he heard it, sending his head swivelling to the side. It was too loud to be a whisper yet only loud enough for him to hear it.

He looks around to see no one else but him along the coastline. He is certain that he was not being delirious. The whisper was prominent enough for him to be hallucinating.

Eric rises to his feet, glancing around to see no one else but himself along the stretch of the coast.

Let’s end this.

The calm waves before him suddenly become choppy, the serenity is now gone. The waves are screaming, seeming so turbulent as if it is going to pull everything in their way with them.

Let’s end this. The whisper reverberates within him, and though confusion latches its fingers on his mind, he doesn’t seem to question it. Eric doesn’t move a muscle, as if his feet were nailed down in the coarse sand.

He takes in the chaos before him, but he does nothing, entranced. The nearby trees fail to oppose the course of blowing wind thus tumbling upon each other, and the crashing sound drags Eric back to his senses. Only then, terror strikes.

CONTINUE READING

please consider reblogging, thank you ♡

PREVIOUS PART | MAIN MASTERLIST | NEXT PART

[themauvesoul]

do you know why apparently lots of spn fans dislike neil gaiman? everything that's happened today has been so confusing

I don’t have time to unpack all that but. Spn fans (deep mutual disrespect between us and virtually everyone involved in making spn. Every day is a competition to see who can clown on Eric kripke the hardest) vs gomens fans (omg we have to abide by Neil’s wishes!!!! Stop posting the leak!!!!!!!!). It’s a culture clash. Gomens fans are simply not used to the disrespect spn fans bring to the table. Also I have no respect for Neil for many reasons but currently the funniest one is that it’s extremely cringe to beg your fanbase to stop posting a single still from a promo video. Like what is this a marvel movie. Let the people post!!

[justforbooks]

Ryuichi Sakamoto was not a man cut out to be a pop star. As a teenager, he liked the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but his abiding passion was New York’s underground avant garde art scene – Joseph Beuys, Fluxus, Andy Warhol – and its accompanying experimental music: he was fond of pointing out to interviewers that he was born the year that John Cage composed 4’33. At university, he studied the work of modern composers Boulez, Stockhausen and Ligeti; he had a particular interest in the challenging electronic compositions of Iannis Xenakis. The first album to bear Sakamoto’s name, 1975’s Disappointment/Hateruma, was a collaboration with percussionist Toshiyuki Tsuchitori that consisted entirely of free improv. If he was going to have a role in the Japanese pop world at all, it was in the background, using his keyboard skills and interest in the fast-developing world of synthesizers to find employment as a session musician.

But a pop star was exactly what Sakamoto became, at least for a time. A 1978 session for singer Haruomi Hosono led to the suggestion that they should form a band with drummer Yukihiro Takahashi. Yellow Magic Orchestra went on to become both the biggest band in Japan – inspiring a degree of paparazzi attention and screaming fervour among fans that Sakamoto seems to have loathed every minute of – and the first Japanese artists to find more than novelty or cult status in the west.

Yellow Magic Orchestra were successful, but they were groundbreaking too. The convenient shorthand was that they were the Japanese Kraftwerk, although in truth, YMO didn’t really sound like Kraftwerk at all. Alongside the synthesizers, they used guitars, bass and acoustic drums. They were more straightforwardly aligned to disco: their debut album even featured an electronic version of the deathless “ooah ooah” whoop from the Michael Zager Band’s Let’s All Chant. You could detect the influence of jazz fusion and, later, the UK’s ongoing ska revival. Like Throbbing Gristle, they appeared fascinated by the kitschy 1950s exotica of Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman, which had featured traditional Japanese instruments and quasi-“oriental” melodies; Yellow Magic Orchestra’s biggest international hit was a version of Denny’s 1959 track Firecracker.

Equally, you could see why the Kraftwerk comparison stuck. Both bands shared an obsession with technology – Yellow Magic Orchestra were pioneering in their use of sequencers and samplers and they introduced the world to the sound of the Roland TR-808 drum machine – and a belief that being cutting-edge experimentalists didn’t preclude them from writing fantastic pop songs. The Sakamoto-penned Behind the Mask, from 1979’s Solid State Survivor, was covered by Michael Jackson, ostensibly for inclusion on Thriller, although it was dropped from the final tracklisting; it was eventually turned into a UK hit by, of all people, Eric Clapton.

Both YMO and Kraftwerk were interested in the detournement of Anglo-American pop: just as Kraftwerk borrowed from the Beach Boys on Autobahn, so YMO covered the Beatles’ Day Tripper and Archie Bell and the Drells’ Tighten Up, the latter in cartoonish Japanese accents. They also shared a dry sense of humour, which in Yellow Magic Orchestra’s case usually fixated on western prejudices and fears about east Asians. On the cover of Solid State Survivor, they dressed in red Mao suits, enjoying a drink with an effigy of the late dictator. While the US fretted about an influx of Japanese cars and technology damaging their economy, 1980’s X∞Multiplies featured a series of sketches, one featuring a sinister Japanese businessman signing a contract, another featuring an American who realises his Japanese host can’t understand English and lets rip with a torrent of racist abuse: “The Japanese are pigs, yellow monkeys, they have small cocks and short legs.” As a moral panic erupted over the deleterious and addictive effect of the Taito Corporation’s Space Invaders games, Yellow Magic Orchestra’s records literally sounded like arcade games: their eponymous debut album was packed with interludes featuring their bleeping noises and tinny Game Over death marches.

And, like Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra proved vastly influential – or rather, it took the rest of the world a little while to catch up: there was something telling about the fact that Solid State Survivor wasn’t released in the UK until 1982, at the height of the synth-pop wave that YMO had presaged. By then, their music had found its way into the collections of DJs and producers in New York’s burgeoning hip-hop scene – they were apparently astonished when the audience on Soul Train began breakdancing when they performed Computer Games – although it was a track from one of the solo albums Sakamoto had begun releasing concurrent with his career in YMO that had the biggest long-term impact. Riot in Lagos, from 1980’s B-2 Unit, had been recorded in London with reggae producer Dennis Bovell, and was apparently inspired by the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti. It remains an astonishingly timeless and effervescent piece of electronica: if you didn’t know it and were told it was released last month, rather than 42 years ago, you’d believe it. Abstract but funky, it cast a considerable shadow over dance music: it was big club hit on release, helped shape the sound of electro and turned the head of hip-hop producers including Kurtis Mantronik. Drum n’ bass producers Foul Play sampled it, and you can hear its influence in the music of 90s electronic luminaries Aphex Twin and Autechre.

Yellow Magic Orchestra split in 1983. If Sakamoto had left it at that and returned to modern classical music, he would already have earned himself a place among the era’s greatest pop innovators. But with the release of Nagisa Ōshima’s film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, in which he also starred, he began a career as a soundtrack composer that clearly suited his temperament far better than the Beatlemania-like scenes Yellow Magic Orchestra had provoked at home. It would lead him to work with Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodóvar, Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone, among others, and be showered with awards, including an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

But the vocal version of Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’s haunting main theme, retitled Forbidden Colours, also cemented a partnership with former Japan vocalist David Sylvian that had begun with the 1982 single Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music. Along with Can’s Holger Czukay and experimental trumpeter Jon Hassell, he became part of Sylvian’s repertory company for a series of extraordinary albums that attempted to reimagine 80s pop in a more expansive, exploratory and pensive way.

They seemed to reflect Sakamoto’s own position within pop after Yellow Magic Orchestra. Sakamoto’s solo albums largely contained music that existed at one remove from whatever else was happening, in a space where he could follow his own path. On 1989’s Beauty and 1991’s Heartbeat, it sometimes seemed as if he was constructing his own brand of the exotica that had entranced YMO, blending eastern, western and African influences together, assembling eclectic and improbable guest lists that, on Beauty alone, included Youssou N’Dour, Robbie Robertson, Robert Wyatt, Brian Wilson and Prince protege Jill Jones.

It wasn’t as if Ryuichi Sakamoto needed to be at the centre of pop culture in person: thanks to sampling, the centre of pop culture was never that far from his music. In recent years, it’s been borrowed by the Weeknd, Justice, Burial, the Beastie Boys, Jennifer Lopez, Brandy and Freddie Gibbs.

In the late 70s, the other members of Yellow Magic Orchestra had called him the Professor, a jokey nickname that contrasted Sakamoto’s intellectual bearing with his unwanted role as the group’s main heart-throb. It was a title Sakamoto seemed to grow into more and more in his later years: recording minimalist albums with German artist Alva Noto, providing ambient scores for art installations, releasing live orchestral and solo piano recordings of his compositions. There are clips of Yellow Magic Orchestra in the 2017 documentary Coda, which showed Sakamoto returning to work following a diagnosis of throat cancer, but it’s still hard to square the young pop star who stares imperiously down from his apartment wall in a portrait by Andy Warhol with the man in his late 60s, learnedly discussing classical organ chorales, the purity of the sounds he recorded during a trip to the North Pole and whether a piano going out of tune represented “matter struggling to return to a natural state”.

The album Coda depicted him working on, async, was released in 2017. It combined Bach-inspired piano pieces with monumental drones, distorted synthesisers and ambient field recordings. The artists who lined up to remix its tracks came from the leftfield cutting-edge of electronic music: if you wanted evidence of how widespread Ryuichi Sakamoto’s influence was, the fact that his work was clearly an inspiration for the likes of Arca and Oneohtrix Point Never and had been sampled by Jennifer Lopez on a US No 1 single seems a reasonable place to start. Contemplating his mortality in 2017, Sakamoto said he wanted to make “music I won’t be ashamed to leave behind – meaningful work”. By any metric, he already had.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[boaringoldguy]

Trump Cannot Participate in Closing Arguments in NY Civil Trial, Judge Engoron Says

This is wrong in so many ways!

NTD

5–7 minutes

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron indicated to attorneys on Jan. 10 that former President Donald Trump likely won’t participate in closing arguments for his civil fraud trial.

Emails posted to the court docket show Justice Engoron telling Trump’s attorney Chris Kise: “Not having heard from you by the third extended deadline (noon today),” I assume that Mr. Trump will not agree to the reasonable, lawful limits I have imposed as a precondition to giving a closing statement above and beyond those given by his attorneys, and that, therefore, he will not be speaking in court tomorrow.”

President Trump’s lawyers, who have already appealed unsuccessfully for a directed verdict on the grounds of prosecutorial bias, will make their case on Jan. 11.

The email chain shows Justice Engoron telling Mr. Kise repeatedly that he needed to state whether the former president would abide by limitations he sought to impose.

“As I have already indicated to you, if Mr. Trump wishes to speak … you will have to tell me NOW that he will agree to the limitations I have imposed, which go without saying and apply to everyone, and he will have to agree to do so tomorrow, on the record,” Justice Engoron said in an earlier Jan. 10 email to Mr. Kise, the New York attorney general’s office, and other Trump attorneys.

Justice Engoron initially approved the unusual request, saying he was “including to let everyone have his or her say.”

But he said Trump would have to limit his remarks to the boundaries that cover attorneys’ closing arguments: “commentary on the relevant, material facts that are in evidence, and application of the relevant law to those facts.”

He would not be allowed to introduce new evidence, “comment on irrelevant matters” or “deliver a campaign speech”—or impugn the judge, his staff, the attorney general, her lawyers, or the court system, the judge wrote.

Trump attorney Christopher Kise responded that those limitations were “fraught with ambiguities, creating the substantial likelihood for misinterpretation or an unintended violation.

At 11:40 a.m. ET, Mr. Kise told Justice Engoron that he was being “very unfair.”

“You are not allowing President Trump, who has been wrongfully demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated Attorney General, to speak about the things that must be spoken about,” he said.

Justice Engoron responded: “I won’t debate this yet again. Take it or leave it. Now or never. You have until noon, seven minutes from now. I WILL NOT GRANT ANY FURTHER EXTENSIONS.”

Justice Engoron had denied Mr. Kise’s request to postpone closing arguments after President Trump’s mother died.

In their closing arguments, Trump’s legal team is expected to emphasize critical points from the direct examination of such witnesses as Rosemary Vrablic, a former Deutsche Bank managing director closely involved in efforts to grow business between the bank and the Trump Organization, and Eli Bartov, an expert on real estate accounting practices who spoke on the meaning of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as applied to loans and insurance.

Since the trial began on Oct. 2, 2023, attorneys for New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office have attempted to build a case that in preparing SFCs to seek loans and insurance policies for Trump properties, members of the Trump Organization inflated the value of assets in a manner that involved conscious wrongdoing.

Throughout the government lawyers’ direct examination and cross-examination, they pulled up images on a courtroom screen of statements of financial conditions, emails, letters, contracts, and memoranda bearing the signatures of Mr. Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, Mr. Weisselberg, Mr. McConney, and President Trump himself. The court heard witness after witness testify as to the content of conversations and email exchanges from as far back as 2012, and heard expert testimony about GAAP and whether the documents on the screen adhered to such norms and standards.

Ms. James, a Democrat, who had previously sought a $250 million settlement—almost one-tenth of President Trump’s estimated net worth of $2.6 billion—has announced that nothing less than $370 million will suffice as a penalty for inflated valuations of his assets.

Ms. James also seeks five-year bans on the former president’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., taking part in any real estate deals.

President Trump blames the attorney general for what he sees as a politically motivated prosecution of the GOP’s 2024 front-runner.

He has also argued that Ms. James is going after him without real legal ground as crime surges on New York’s streets, and that her actions will drive businesses out of New York and deter others from operating in the city.

The Associated Press and Michael Washburn contributed to this report.

From The Epoch Times

[geekcavepodcast]

Batman: Caped Crusader Season 1 Trailer

"Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the BATMAN. His one-man crusade attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications." (Prime Video)

Batman: Caped Crusader stars the voice talents of Hamish Linklater, Christina Ricci, Jamie Chung, Diedrich Bader, Minnie Driver, Mckenna Grace, Eric Morgan Stuart, Michelle C. Bonilla, Krystal Joy Brown, John DiMaggio, Paul Scheer, Reid Scott, Tom Kenny, Jason Watkins, Gary Anthony Williams, Dan Donohue, David Krumholtz, Haley Joel Osment, and Toby Stephens.

Batman: Caped Crusader season 1 hits Prime Video on August 1, 2024.

[beardedmrbean]

The overwhelming majority of New York voters blame President Biden for letting the migrant crisis spiral out of control, a new poll released Tuesday reveals.

The Siena College survey found that a stunning 84% of voters consider the influx of migrants a serious problem, with 57% identifying it as a “very” serious problem. Only 12% of respondents said the problem is not serious.

“It’s a sad case and Biden doesn’t even care. This is a federal problem and has always been a federal problem,” said Maria Ortiz, 37, works in retail and says she constantly sees migrants begging on the train with their babies.

“I’m not voting for him. I voted to get him in office and it’s [been] my biggest regret since,” she said at Jamaica Station in Queens. 

Nearly two-thirds of voters — 64% — flunked the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant influx, while only 29% approved.

The poll suggests the crisis at the southern border that has swamped the Big Apple with the thousands of asylum seekers is dragging down Democrat Biden’s popularity even in blue-leaning New York.

“While other issues in Washington and abroad have largely driven the news cycle over the last few weeks, the influx of migrants to New York remains top of mind for voters, with 84% saying it’s a serious – 57% very serious – problem for the state,” said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said.

“Seldom do we see an issue where at least 79% of Democrats, Republicans, independents, men, women, upstaters, downstaters, Blacks, whites, Latinos, Catholics, Jews, and Protestants all agree – that the migrant influx is a serious problem.”

The survey indicates that even immigrant-friendly New York has reached the breaking point with the unrelenting crisis.

Nearly two-thirds of voters, 64%, say New Yorkers have done enough for new migrants and must now work to “slow the flow” of migrants from the border, compared to 29% who say the state should accept and work to assimilate them. That’s a higher figure than the 58% of voters who said so in August.

Mayor Eric Adams was roundly criticized for saying the migrant crisis would “destroy New York City” without aggressive federal intervention. But 58% of voters said they agreed with Adams’s statement, and the support of his dire claim was consistent from all regions of the state.

54% of voters said migration has been more of a burden, while just 32% said it’s a benefit, a worse figure than in the prior August poll.

Biden, 80, has trouble with his own base. A majority of New York Democratic voters — 52% — said they want a nominee other than Biden to be the party’s standard bearer for president. Only 41% of Democrats said they want him as the nominee for re-election.

Thomas Barnes, a 44-year-old transit mechanic, predicted a “huge red wave” in the 2024 contest.

“If this election goes any other way, I think it is time for the American citizens to take a good look at our election system.“ 

“Biden’s funding two proxy wars, Americans are not only broke, it’s getting worse — the crime rate is sky high. Law abiding citizens are afraid for their lives. I’m a transit worker, I see shit every night. Democratic policy is what got us to this point,” he said, while adding he also blamed Republican Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot for sending migrants to sanctuary cities.

“The working class is getting squeezed to nothing. We got nothing left. It’s our tax dollars, not the rich. I think Donald Trump has a really good shot [with] demographics that have historically voted Democrat — it’s all over social media. Black people are done with the Democrat party. It’s promise after promise during election season. Tons of pandering and no follow through. No delivery.” 

His favorability and job approval ratings are underwater and he leads former Republican President Donald Trump — who is fighting four indictments — just 46% to 37% in a hypothetical matchup, with the rest of the voters undecided. His lead over Trump is shaved to 7 percentage points if Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West run on minor party lines.

Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who has fought the opening of migrant shelters on her Staten Island turf, said, “New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of Democrats’ open borders.

“From President Biden to Governor Hochul to Mayor Adams, they have created an unsustainable and unsafe crisis at the expense of their own citizens,” Malliotakis continued.

“Senators Schumer and Gillibrand should stop holding up our Border Security Act that passed the House in May and end this madness.”

Former Democratic Rep. Max Rose, who lost his seat to Malliotakis three years ago said the president “can’t ignore” the migrant issue.

“The Biden administration and Democrats have to show they can effectively and humanely manage the migrant issue or face serious election consequences,” said Rose.

“This could make the 2022 backlash over riots and crime look like a walk in the park,” he said.

Rose predicted Biden will carry New York in the presidential race next year because of the overwhelming Democratic vote in NYC. But Democratic candidates for Congress could lose if Biden fares poorly at the top of the ticket in the suburbs and upstate, he said.

In terms of popularity, 52% of voters said they had an unfavorable view of Biden compared to 45% who had a favorable view. Similarly, 51% of respondents disapproved of his job performance while 46% approved.

A staggering 65% of New Yorkers say the United States is going in the wrong direction under a Biden presidency, while just 25% said it’s on the right track with the remainder undecided.

Felix Ramos, a 26-year-old security worker, said if the polling trend continued, Biden would have to blame himself. 

“New York might just become a red state, and that’s when you know you did a bad job as a president.” 

Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-1 and the last GOPer to carry New York in a presidential race was Ronald Reagan in 1984. But last year, Republican Lee Zeldin ran a competitive race for governor against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the GOP picked up congressional seats.

“And also true is that right now, Biden has his worst-ever New York favorability and job approval ratings,” said Siena’s Greenberg. “The good news for Biden is the election is more than a year away. The bad news is there’s more bad news,” Greenberg said.

“While 70% of Democrats view Biden favorably, and 70% of Democrats approve of the job he’s doing, 52% of Democrats say they want a different presidential nominee in 2024.”

Zeldin, for his part, said “President Biden should start preparing a concession speech” if the trend continued.

“If New York is close, you can only imagine where voters are heading in swing states,” the former Long Island congressman said.

“There is an intensified desire for a correction over disastrous one-party Democratic rule in New York.”

Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams’ handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.

Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.

Only 37% of respondents statewide approve of Hochul’s handling of the migrant crisis, while 52% disapprove.

Public safety remains a major concern — 59% of voters statewide say crime has gotten worse over the past year, while just 9% said it’s gotten better and 28% said the same.

In New York City, 51% of voters said crime has gotten worse, while 33% said the same and just 12% better.

That’s a potential problem for Adams, who made bolstering public safety his top campaign pledge for City Hall in 2021.

The survey of 1,225 registered voters was conducted from Oct. 15-19, after the terrorist group’s Hamas invasion and slaughter of Israelis and Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza. It has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

The poll found that 57% of New Yorkers support providing more military and economic aid to Israel, compared to 32% opposed.

Meanwhile, 51% of responders back providing more military and economic aid to Ukraine while 38% were opposed.

“New York needs help and we have been asking for help but all [Biden] does is send help to other countries and lounge on the beach. Pathetic,” said Ortiz, the Queens straphanger.

On the Middle East war, 50% of voters agreed with the statement that Israel must do everything it can to get back the hostages taken by Hamas, but Israeli attacks in Gaza will largely hurt innocent Palestinian civilians more than anyone else

But 32% of voters agreed with the statement that after the surprise terrorist attacks Hamas carried out on Israeli civilians, Israel must do everything it can in the Gaza territory to make sure it never happens again, regardless of casualties.

[adultswim2021]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force #99: “Larry Miller Hair System” | April 26th, 2010 - 12:00AM | S08E11

Carl receives a knock on his door from famous actor/comedian Larry Miller. You might remember him from various motion pictures directed by Christopher Guest (which he mentions in the episode), his various stand-up sets on late night television (also mentioned), or his appearance in the Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job episode entitled “Hair” (not mentioned; a black stain on his filmography). 

Larry is selling a hair system, of which he only has one. It’s a metal pompadour you graft to the scalp. Carl is lead to a van where he is treated to a video simulation of his life if he had hair. We see he’s a god-fearing, law-abiding family man who has a beautiful and pure-hearted wife and two children. He’s thoughtful, well-adjusted, and a sterling example of what you can achieve with a good attitude and a good work ethic.

Real life Carl is disgusted, and when Larry abandons him to go gambling (he is a degenerate gambler with a lot of debts, which is the reason he’s hawking this), real Carl starts talking to simulation Carl. It turns out they can speak to and hear one another! Carl goads simulation Carl into behaving more like IRL Carl, and forces him to lose his job and ditch his family. Simulation Carl is basically just having a psychotic break, believing IRL Carl to be the voice of god. After browbeating simulation Carl into shaving his scalp and pasting some of the hair to his upperlip, simulation Carl simply blows his own brains out. Carl, whose genuinely self-destructive nature has caused him to be numb to the existential implications of what he's done, shrugs it off, declaring that it was fun.

The episode ends with Carl having the hair system installed to his scalp, which is now infected. As he boasts about his new doo to the Aqua Teens (who only appear in this one scene), we cut out to a scene in which the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past From The Future is playing this video to an army of robots, declaring that they are to be tasked with compromising Carl, who he believes is a robot. Hey, those robots look like the same robots robbing the bank from the Aqua Teen theme song! WOW! I am impressed!!

This one’s reasonably funny, and I’m happy to see Carl episodes on the show. I don’t know if I was laughing so much toward the beginning; Carl’s abrasive nature wasn’t really yielding too many laughs at first and sorta felt like a lot of the same. Luckily it eventually went somewhere. Say what you will about Carl, even when he’s not particularly funny, the writing rarely fucks him up as a character. The writing and performance always honors who he truly is. What a beautiful thing. 

Also, I am struggling to name another show or movie that has this exact concept going for it. Sure, cartoons break the fourth wall and argue with narrators or storytellers all the time. That’s an invention of the golden age of animation. But I can’t recall a movie or episodic piece of television that’s just about a guy fucking with a simulation version of himself for no good reason, and it happening in a sorta unexpected way. This was a really good concept and I wish the writing were a little better. If they wrote funnier jokes for this, this episode would be a bonafide classic. Not too bad, though. It came within spitting distance.