#gazza-the-weird-one

[aqg-arts]

I was wondering if any of your warframes are named 👁️👁️ and if they are, why do you pick that name?

Gara Prime = Gazza, GP, Gamma, PeePeePooPoo Woman and so on :3

I call Gara Prime 'Gazza' cause she's a queen, and I'm Aussie (we have a good way of finding nicknames). Gazza is a fun silly gal and oddly enough, I actually love her a lot lol. Unironically got me through some hard times, which is weird to say, all things considered lmao.

She also gets Gamma cas I like Halo and she's a perfect fit- She's got the Harrabussa Helmet from H3 (idc if I spelt it wrong, just know she slays and the h3 fans are malding).

PeePeePooPoo Woman is a reference to me- I am a God, fear me- but also bc when I first got her, I had no idea what I was doing lmao. Still don't, but we slaying.

UwU

Limbo = Limbean, Limbeanie, Lim Skyealker, SillyGayBoi69, and you can imagine the rest :p

Limbo gets 'Limbean' bc he's just a silly bean 🥺. 'Limbeanie' is also a reference to Houdini (Limbo is a proper space magician). He gets called these cas I think hims a sweetest boi and in need of hugs :3.

'SillyGayBoi69' is his other nickname bc he is a gay boi and silly >v<.

Mag = Maggie, Maggi, Magpie, Magazine, Marbius (it's Marbiusin time), Magnet and Margaret.

Let's do these a hit differently, yeah?

Maggie/Maggi:

Magpie: She's the type of gal that swoops at you between summer and spring (all my Aussies know what I'm talking abt, can I get an amen?)

Magazine: She can read you like a magazine and will make you shite yourself if you piss her off. Queen.

Marbius (it's Marbiusin time): iykyk

Magnet: again, iykyk

Margaret: If she was a few thousand yrs older, a few feet shorter and looking like that sweet old lady, this would be her name.

Excalibur = X's And O's, Ex, Sculley, Nibbler and such.

X's And O's: 'Ex's and Oh's,' is an obvious one I hope lol.

Ex: a nickname of nickname² :3

Sculley: We have this horse up where my own horse is. His name is Excalibur and we all call him Sculley. Well, Sculley loves to-

Nibbler: Yeah, Sculley loves to nibble fingers and flesh lmao. Not bite, nibble. He's a good horse and is gonna be used for schooling when his training is done- He's an extremely calm and intelligent animal, so it's no shocker. This is relevant to the nickname bc I say it is.

Ima add to this list btw, especially cas I just unlocked 3 more warframes :3

[clockend]

ahem hello gnev anon here I love his weird wrinkly face and how m he looks like he’d smell a bit like a ferret. also his old man face and weird twink body and the fact he definitely fucked david beckham at one point. gazza slay!! 😘

yi i am doing this to u for real

[sk8rz-archive]

streets of water, city of history (u could use this if youve been to savannah ga or if u just really like Venice or something)

thts cute !! ty !

send me 6-8 word stories!

[not-poignant]

Hi!

I love names, and I love your characters! Therefore I wanted to ask you what your process is for coming up with names for your characters, for example in FFS with Arden (I had only ever heard that name from Forest of Arden), dr. Gary, Kadek etc. Do they just come to mind, or do you keep lists with alternatives?

P.s. I’m so looking forward to Ice Plague!!

Hi hi!

Tbh a lot of the time names do just 'come to me.' I tend to collect names in the same way I collect words, so I often have favourite names on the backburner that I'm really looking forward to using. The one exception was Mosk, who was originally Amshel. He's been the most frustrating character to name that I've ever met, lmao. t

So Arden's name is literally 'Ardent without the T' (in the same way that Augus' name is 'August without the T'). I knew Arden would love ardently, and I wanted a name that evoked that feeling. I also think it's a name he'd choose for himself, since he legally changed his first and last names. So that wasn't taken from anything in particular, it was 'real word turned into a name by removing a consonant.' Incidentally I do think Augus has an 'august' personality, lmao (not the month, the personal qualities).

Dr Gary Konowalous - the latter name is a surname I actually already knew and decided to use, the first is just that I like the name Gary (though we tend to call people with that name 'Gaz' or 'Gazza' here lmao), and I wanted something that felt personable and warm.

Kadek's name is actually traditional, in that his name was given to him re: where he comes from in Bali. It means 'third born' or 'little brother/sister.' This is actually because I have a few Indonesian friends, but specifically one of who is basically family, and his name means 'first born' and we've had a lot of talks about that. So Kadek's name is a traditional family given name that simply describes his sort of position in the family. That one was easy to pick. I knew I wasn't going to call him my chosen family member's name (Putu) or another friend's name (Ketut) because those would be too familiar to me, and I don't like basing characters off of people I know.

Mika's name was actually because I liked how bright it sounded, and it made me think of mica (the glittery shit that goes into a lot of pigment) which I thought actually matched him nicely while still being a 'real name.'

There's honestly not really much of a process a lot of the time. Dr Gary's name I figured out in about 60 seconds, Arden's took about two minutes, and Kadek's I just had to quickly research the names to make sure that I was getting it right. I don't like to spend a lot of time on names, I am a big believer that if I want to fall in love with a character, I will do that regardless of what their name is, so I don't want to spend much time overthinking it. A character grows into their name over time, and that is what gives the name meaning, ultimately. At least to me.

I've never kept alternative name lists, that's...kind of weird (*obvs not for others if that's what works for them). I don't want to spend too much time on that side of things. I have a 'names I like' list. But I haven't got characters in mind for them and I forget I have it, and only remember to look at it like once every three years, lmao.

(I'm really looking forward to The Ice Plague too!)

[tama1313]

So... basically tonight, I dreamt about a weird mix between The Unwounded Future and Layton's Mistery Journey:

Basically Katielle and Hernest are contacted by their future versions about a big danger incoming.

So they travel into the future (with an actual time machine) with Sherl, Emiliana and Inspector Faslong and they meet their future versions. I don't remember what they told eachother, but I remember when they are back to their real time, something of terrible happened: London is under the controll of an huge mafia-like organization, lead by a misterious figure called "The Magpie who escaped the nest/La gazza fuggita dal nido(I know it sucks as a name, but hey! It was a dream after all)". The most disconcerning this is that one these bands of this organization was lead... by Adult Luke! (Yes, for some reason, he was evil) and I remember he even welcomed our protagonist with a shooting.

Ok, after this, I remember only two things:

1) At some point they learn Layton was dead (or said dead)

2) Luke wasn't actually evil. He was just forced to take some kind of pills who made him become like that (but I don't remember if Katrielle and Co. saved him at some point)

...

At some point (right in one of the most tense scenes) I woke up,Urgh! Ok, now I don't wanna brag but I can say my dreams sometimes are better that actuall movies (it's not the first time I have creative with an interesting story, either about my fandoms or something else)

Now I really hope I can dream the whole ending (vain hope I guess?)

[teal-deer]

Abarat -- Absolute Midnight (spoilers)

ok hello fellow uh... 5? fans? of abarat? on tumblr, I got the interlibrary loan of Absolute Midnight WITH ILLUSTRATIONS and I finished it and here’s some thoughts These will sound like whining or like I hated it, but I actually did enjoy it, I just also have Some Problems and I wanna rant.

1) who the fuck is Gazza? Gazz? Whatever his name is? I hate him. What the fuck is the point of this character? He feels randomly shoehorned in just to give Candy ANOTHER goddamn love interest and I’m like MALINGO IS RIGHT THERE? WHY ARE YOU DOING THE YA LOVE TRIANGLE THING? And unlike Malingo (or arguably Letheo who I felt was going that way in book 2, or Chris Carrion or Finnegan Hob who I felt Barker was going with until he remembered that they’re each a minimum of 16 years older than Candy and then went WHOOPS), I literally have NO IDEA what Gazza looks like, I don’t think he gets a single illustration. He comes out of nowhere, he oscillates wildly between “huge asshole” and “infatuated with Candy,” the ONLY thing I can remember about him is that he was  fisherman, I guess. He has no development, and Candy just... instantly falls in love with him despite having one (1) conversation with him which began with him trying to stab her. And I confess -- I’m an asexual grey-romantic 34 year old, so yeah, romance is always confusing to me, but this one realllly strains credibility. And I’m kind of feeling justified because I haven’t seen a single fanart of this guy, ever, and I’ve seen fanart of *all kinds* of minor characters.

And like I’m not normally a shipper. But holy jeez. Malingo: a truly wonderful person who clearly loves candy and is also very attractive, who had instant chemistry with Candy when they met and a very well developed backstory who has been around for 3 books, who smells like pumpkin spice and looks like a friendly joyful jack-o-lantern... and then HELLO SUDDENLY A RANDOM ASSHOLE who we don’t even know what he looks like.

I’m just. I’m upset about this! What the hell, Barker, why did you feel the need to shoehorn in a Typical YA Love Interest? (Possibly, I missed something? Some part where he got character development or a backstory beyond “random fisherman”? Is he secretly the Commexo Kid or something? the small child that gets killed to show how evil Mater Motley is had more character development than this dude). I kept kind of hoping that she’d have her love at first sight crush and he’d then get killed just to prove Carrion’s point about loving and losing because he was *so* annoying but no, he’s just still there at the end, whining about everything, negging Candy, and generally just being arbitrary.

2) As usual for Abarat Barker suffers from Too Much Stuff Happening Gotta Get It All Out ASAP so nobody gets to rest and we just careen as fast as possible from Thing to Thing AAAAAAAAAAAAAAa but that’s okay because it’s mostly pretty cool & interesting

3) Boa Is Evil. I’ve seen some people complain that this wasn’t foreshadowed well and it came out of left field, but... having just re-read the other two... I do think Barker didn’t foreshadow it very well and he could have done a lot more, annnd I think he hadn’t quite started down that line of thinking until Days of Magic: Nights of War, B U T, I will say that there were weird mysteries about Boa we didn’t know of from the first time we learned of her, and I’d always gotten the feeling that a) Christopher wasn’t just a spurned entitled man, that something else was going on there and b) there had to be more to Boa than just Pretty Sparkle Perfectly Good Princess Embodiment of All Goodness (TM). I do think she gets wayyy too far into Cartoonishly Evil though, like, she went from Perfect Princess to Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain, and I can’t tell if this is just Clive kinda writing badly, or if there was a “real” Boa who was somewhere between and that removing her more just removed the “bad” parts and everything else was absorbed into Candy. Or something. You know it’s bad when Mater Motley is the more nuanced villain here... Also, the Fantamoya have some SPLAININ to do as to why they saved this bitch in the first place, with the power they have they HAD to have known she was Like That, but also had to have had some other reason for doing so. I feel like they did more to Candy than just put Boa there...

4) The illustrations in this one are a lot more foreboding and a lot more abstract. And I get it, this is the darkest of the three books, but at the same time it’s at the expense of things like... well, what the hell does Gazza even look like (is that even his name, I can’t remember, I had to return the book to the library). At this point, I wish Clive would do a Dramatis Personae thing, sort of like the Almanac he did in Book 1, because there’s A LOT of characters now and I’m starting to lose track.

5) If you’re gonna give Chris Carrion a redemption arc -- and I am HERE for it -- he’s gotta start doing good acts. Starting with going up against his grandma and against Boa. But I *am* here for the possibility -- I actually thought he was a nuanced character in Book 1 even, and I normally hate dudes who go “she broke up with me so I’m now gonna be eeeevil” but hey! turns out it was way more complicated than that and he was actually justified in trying to assassinate her.

6) Did Letheo die in book 2? I actually can’t remember o_O

7) That’s a HELL of a cliffhanger to end on, wow! I wonder, also, if the Abarat is a kind of inverted torus of a sort, like... a multi-dimensional shape, so at the edges the water still appears to fall down, but there’s really two sides to the “plate” (the other side being wherever Candy, Malingo, and That Guy just ended up), with the Twenty-Fifth being a column in the middle that connects both; possibly where the Izabella “comes back” from falling off the edge.

8) That Glyph at the end was super dope

9) How many world-ending cosmic horror factions can one universe hold anyway!? Jeeeeez

10) I’m really glad I got spoilered for Malingo surviving because I might have just given up there what with What’s His Name coming on the scene and then Malingo apparently getting fridged. Also, his head flapping around is really funny. I wonder how long it’ll take him to grow a new body? Also I am amused by Geshrat giving birth to flappy severed heads, apparently, but also like “that’s probably less trouble than giving birth to a whole baby actually if the head is baby sized”

ok rambling rant over

[macybeckham7]

Tattooed Heart - Jack Grealish

tagged: @luc-57x @cinnnabaee

Part Two 

Jack was sat watching as Yn dancing on the table with Tyrone, the two had the biggest smiles on their faces as they danced, they were holding hands as the footballer spun her around before they swayed from side to side. Jack smiled as he saw how big their smiles they had one their faces. It was one of their teammates birthday party which was 90′s themed. He raised his glass up to her as she spotted him and instantly said something to Tyrone before making her way over to him.

‘There’s my favourite’ she giggles as she sits beside him, instantly stealing his drink and taking a sip and instantly grimacing in somewhat pain as she didn't like how strong, and the burning sensation running down her throat.

‘That’s what you get for stealing my drink asshole’ he mutters making them chuckle with each other. 

It had been a few months since Jack did the tattoo on her, and they had been nonstop talking, he would text her ever morning hoping she had a good day, and every night asking her how her day was and to sleep tight. They would have hours long facetime calls, where Jack was working out while Yn was drawing some tattoo details, while the other weren’t looking the other found themselves just in complete awe of the other. Yn always texting Jack wishing him well for the game ahead, and often finding a photo of her IG story of her either at home or in the shop and showing that she was in fact watching. Jack had invited her to a few games, especially the game against Chelsea which she brought her dad along. After the game he took her onto the Villa Park pitch, the two playing under the flood lights as they both had massive smiles on their faces as Jack was somewhat surprised at her skill. She scores and instantly jumps into his arms as they celebrate as if it was a goal in an important match. Yn had often been midway through a design when a delivery guy had popped in and brought either her favourite smoothie or a doughnut from her favourite place or a bunch of flowers with them all having a little slip with a small J writing on it in mark, making her feel butterflies in her stomach. 

They had countless sleepovers together, but nothing really happened between them, a few kisses here and there but then they finish the night just snuggled up with each other, just enjoying being close to each other. 

As the two sat watching Tyrone now dancing on the table with one of his teammates girlfriends, Yn rested her head on his shoulder as they both laughed and tried to get the other to hear what they were trying to say. Jack followed her outside as she looked through her little clutch bag and pulled out a cigarette, he watched as she placed it in between her lips and flicked the blue lighter and burnt the end and took a long drag, he watched her as she exhaled. 

‘So are you coming home to me tonight?’ he asked with a small smirk.

She walks towards him and gently places the cigarette in his mouth as they looked deeply in each others eyes. She gently caressed her cheek before kissing him softly. 

It was currently 2am in the morning, YN had her  heels in her hands as she walked carefully along the road. They both had McDonald’s milkshakes as the two laughed and joked with each other. The two getting a few weird glances from people, as they probably looked like they had just walked out of a time machine and was lost in the present day Birmingham. They both were being pretty rowdy and every so often they brought out a rather questionable dance move, or started playfighting, which ended up with YN dropping her milkshake which she wasn't too happy about. The two of them felt like they were best friends, but also could be something more. With Jack he had never had a feeling for something like this before and it kind of scared him. Previously his other relationships had finished because he had always put his career ‘first’ and he didn't want to fuck anything up with YN, because how cheesy it sounds he doesn't want to think about his life without her in. 

The two stumbled into his house, as they were in a heavy make out session, he pins her to the wall as his mouth moves along her jaw, he picks her up and takes her to the bedroom. He lays her down on the bed and undressed her, his eyes took in her beautiful body before her starts leaving a trail along her skin, making a gentle moan escape before she bites down on her bottom lip. He leaves a small kiss on the tattoo on her hip bone before he looks up at her and sees her smiling at him. He pulls off her panties and pushes her legs apart, he leaves a kiss along her inner thigh making her whimper. He moves closer to her as he watches her reaction to his touch, her back arches as he slots to fingers inside her, before he starts to eat her out, she enjoying how good he was making her feel and the how good his stubbles feels against her skin. 

…..

YN was feeling somewhat fragile as she entered the tattoo complex, she waving to her dad who laughed at how she was feeling as he saw the Mr Bump plaster on her knee. Which she got last night from tripping over a few times. Her first client was already sat on the sofa filling out a form, so she luckily didn't have time for a grilling from her family. She quickly set up and called her over, the two girls with her came along and sat next their friends. YN wasn't as chatty as she usually was but tried to make the best experience for them, her mum appearing and offering drinks and snacks which she usually does.

‘Are you the girl who is dating Jack?’ the girl asked as YN was getting the area ready.

She looked up shocked about the question. ‘Grealish’ she mutters, as if she had to be certain she knew which Jack they were on about.

The other piped up, mentioning that they had been seeing you on Jack’s and Tyrone’s IG accounts, with even the #40 mentioning in a recent video ‘imagining being with a tattooist and not getting freebies’. YN couldn't help but giggle as she knew that was such a Tyrone thing to say. She decided to keep quiet as she focused on getting the tattoo stencil on. 

‘You’re really pretty’ she smiled. 

YN only had a half a day and she felt like she had spent the whole day talking about Jack, either clients mentioning him and gushing how cute they were or how they met, or talking about the Villa captain might be moving away to Manchester United, YN just keeping quiet as she listened to everyone’s comment. 

They didn't see each other till the weekend, when Villa had a game, YN wore his jersey and went to Villa Park to support the boys. She felt her heart in her throat as she saw him get clattered into and was left on the deck on the floor, she could tell he was hurt, luckily the ref stopped the game. She felt like she didn't breath until she saw him get up, he winced but managed to carry on in the game. After the game they both were at his house, YN showing some attention to his ankle, his eyes trained on her as she gave soft delicate touches. 

‘Can you tattoo me..’ he mutters. 

Her eyes meeting his as she looks at him questioningly, the two jumped in the car and drove down to the shop. He wanting her to free hand draw a heart on his ankle. She asked a few times if he was sure with him nodding and telling him to colour it in too. He noticed her hand shake slightly before she took a deep breath and started the tattoo gun, she looked at him again before leaning in and concentrated as he was going to have a piece of her art on him forever.  

She looked at him and saw him wincing in pain, his thigh tight as she could see his muscles contracting. She decided she needed to get his mind off the pain 

 ‘Do you feel the pressure to be the captain to your childhood club?’ YN asked. 

He shook his head. ‘No I think I thrive with it’ he mentions. 

She smiles as she wipes the tattoo. ‘How did you get into football?’ 

‘I think any boy gets thrown into football’ he smiles. ‘But I just wanted to be Gazza’ he explains. There was something about YN for Jack, where he thought he could just talk to her about anything and she wouldn't judge him like someone else would because they didn’t understand him. He felt safe with her and that kind of scared him. 

A few weeks had past and just like YN said the tattoo was coming alone nicely, YN and Jack are still at the awkward ‘what are we’ point, both set of friends kept trying to get them to ask the other one out and questioning ‘what is the worst that could happen?’ and for them both they both couldn't help but think what if they had read signs wrong. It was only really behind closed doors and when they were alone when they would show any affection to each other, when they were around anyone else they just casually flirted with each other. 

It was a nice summers day when YN suggested they should go on a bike ride and have a little picnic together. Jack invited his sisters as they enjoyed the day together. 

YN was laying on the blanket as Jack was watching his sisters mess about, Jack gently leaned down and kissed her. 

‘I like the new hair colour’ he smiled as he gently played with her hair, as he noticed his two sisters watching them. 

He had already got a grilling from the two of them, they were getting attention from his fans, a few of them turning up at her store, having to stop with her clients with a few people wanting to know if she was dating Jack. She didn't understand how people even knew where she worked, because she kept her IG separated from the business IG. A few just choosing her just to spent a few minutes with her. He knowing this was all new to her and was probably scary, he kissed her again with their lips moving perfectly insync with eachother, the two not caring about the pressure or anything else in the world when they were with eachother.

[wolfandwild]

Garrosh Hellscream for the character ask! :)

Honestly not a character I have thought a lot about, but I’ll do my best! Why I Like Them I might be biased cause Mists of Pandaria is my favourite expansion, but I really liked Garrosh as a villain. He’s one of those villains that while I obviously disagreed with his actions, I understood how he got there given the enormous internal and external pressures he was under, and that’s compelling to me. I also like that he could have very easily gone the other way to be a great hero had a few things turned out differently, and overall I find him quite a tragic character. Why I Don’t I feel this one is pretty self-explanatory - he didn’t need to drop a nuke on Theramore, that was a dick move. Favourite Episode/Scene/Season/Movie I’m going to combine this question because none of them really fit Warcraft being a video game, but I will differentiate between games and books. In the books - I love his duel with Cairne in The Shattering, as I think this was a real turning point for his character, and I enjoyed his conversations with Anduin in War Crimes as an interesting deconstruction of both their world views. In the games - the Secrets of Ulduar patch cinematic where he squares off against Varian, and the Pandaria cinematic where he bitch slaps Taran Zhu. While I was happy to fight Garrosh in Siege, Taran Zhu kind of annoys me so I wasn’t too sad about that one. Favourite Line A bit topical as it’s just been removed from the game, but I actually always loved “Watch your clever mouth, bitch”, and I’m kind of sad it’s gone. Patrick Seitz did a great job (as always). Favourite Outfit The Tusks of Mannoroth are iconic. I’ve also always really liked his tattoos; overall his visual design is pretty great. OTP I don’t really have a ship for Garrosh, there’s never really been anyone I’ve felt he’s had that specific kind of chemistry with. I also tend to headcanon him as aroace though so that may be influencing my reading of his character interactions a bit. BroTP I think Thrall is the obvious choice here. I think they could have had a really genuine and sincere mentoring relationship if Thrall had taken the time. Garrosh’s issues aren’t solely everybody else’s fault, but he does have a point that Thrall kind of dumped a lot on him without any support or guidance and then went all Surprised Pikachu when that didn’t turn out great. Headcanon See OTP above. Unpopular Opinion I honestly don’t know enough about what is considered a ‘popular’ Garrosh opinion to know if my opinions regarding him are unpopular! A Wish Not that this will ever happen, but that we get a high-res cutscene render of his duel with Varian in Wolfheart. An Oh-God-Please-Don’t-Ever-Happen This is more of a general desire rather than one about Garrosh specifically, but I hope that he is mostly left alone in Shadowlands. I’m really excited about the expansion so far, but it’s my one general fear is that we’ll end up with a weird hit parade of long-dead characters that retroactively have their stories made worse by tacked-on additional endings. I don’t want death to essentially become meaningless. If Garrosh does get a redemption arc, I hope it’s given due time and he really has to work for it. Five Words to Describe Them Proud, driven, clever, stubborn, lost. My Nickname For Them Well, I’m in an Australian guild, so we mostly just call him Garry or Gazza.

[terrebus-fc]

how do all y'all recommend getting into football for a newcomer? just pick a team and start watching them? or like watch previous tournaments or something?

first of all, welcome to football :3

there’s some similarities to the terror so i think you might find it quite familiar:

get ready for some rambling below the cut!

i think it’s easiest to start by watching a bigger international tournament while it’s happening. the world cup, obviously, is the biggest event in football, but other tournaments like the european championships or the copa américa (or whatever is going on where you’re from) also work well and are happening sooner (in 2020). follow the country you’re from if they qualified or pick any other country you like, really, and… just watch.

the advantage of those tournaments are that you’ll usually get to see a good mix of teams that are actually playing to win, that it all happens within the span of a month and that there will be extensive media coverage of the matches, part of it tailored to new viewers. don’t worry too much about the details of all the rules, you’ll get into the important ones quite quickly after watching some matches. part of being a football fan also is angrily disagreeing with the rules so not much knowledge is required. the emotions are the important thing. when the tournament is over you can follow the players you got to know during it back to their clubs and slip nicely into watching club football and selling your soul to the beautiful game.

of course you can also start with club football and randomly see what sticks. football is all about irrational attachments so… whatever works. (if you’re looking for club matches, this is a good site to find a stream!)

we agreed on our discord to each recommend a past match and an upcoming one to watch. i’ve thought about it for a bit and always kept coming back to the same match that’s a classic one and though it’s cliché i’m biased enough not to care. so. world cup 2014 semifinal between germany and brazil. i promise you the pay-off is very good (unless you support brazil).

for an upcoming match there’s a women’s football match between england and germany happening on 9th november. i know we’re all here for guys being lads but if you feel like it, check out the women playing, too.

- frauke

past match: my past match recommendation is Germany vs England, World Cup 2010, Round of 16. I think it’s a beautiful example of football at its best (Germany’s incredibly fluid style of play, feat. one of my favorite goals of all time) and worst (a referee completely failing to call a goal: a farcically monstrous error on the world stage). I love this game because despite everyone’s tactics, despite everyone’s efforts, the entire game arguably hinges on one incredibly stupid, incredibly human mistake, and what comes after. In a way it is a little bit like the Franklin expedition! And even nine years later the thought of what could have been evokes hilarity in some (three fifths of this mod team) and despair in others (one fifth of this mod team). That’s football babey! [WATCH IT HERE]

upcoming match: I’m gonna recommend a club match for this one! I’m a fan of German football and the Berlin derby (Union Berlin vs Hertha Berlin) is coming up this Saturday (Nov 2) at 5:30PM GMT! This is the first time these teams will be playing each other in the top league of German football, and it’s likely to be a good example of what rivalries in club football can be like. Union Berlin has a great underdog story–this is their first year ever in the Bundesliga–and it should be a lot of fun all around! Also, one week later, on Nov 9 at 4:30PM GMT, Borussia Dortmund take on perennial juggernauts Bayern Munich. Over the last decade or so Dortmund’s fast-paced, attacking football has been the only real challenge to Bayern’s throne, and with Bayern (my team, for better or worse) not playing nearly as well as they should this season, this could shape up to be an exciting match!

-ireny

past match: so i heard you like this very english show about these very english boys? you also like to suffer? FANTASTIC! croatia vs. england, the world cup 2018 semifinals, is the only match that matters on the planet and you should watch it immediately. underdog narratives on both sides! nobody expected either team to make it as far as they did – england because they’ve got a long history of disappointing in national tournaments, croatia because they’re considered a small country in football terms and because they hadn’t gotten past the group stages since 1998. england scored early, croatia equalized in the second half to drag them to extra time – their third game in a row that went to 120+ minutes – and despite how ragged and exhausted the team was, my #1 player of all time ever mario mandžukić scored the winning goal that got croatia through to their first ever world cup final. it was a truly transcendent moment. no matter whose side you’re on (i mean, there is only one right side, but who am i to judge) it’s a thrilling, scrappy game to watch. i want you to watch it so badly, i have a link for you.

upcoming match: outside of frothing at the mouth about my national team, i watch the italian league religiously. if you’d like to try out club football, this weekend has a couple high profile games in italy. on saturday (nov. 2) at 7:00 AM PT, you can watch roma vs. napoli, which are two teams that are considered hipster to like despite the fact that they’re actually massive. napoli are, regrettably, usually very good, but have had a poor start to their season, so they’ll be looking to dominate on-fire roma. it should be a shitshow, i can’t wait! meanwhile, at 12:45 PM PT you can watch the derby della mole, torino vs. juventus. juve is the most successful team in serie a, and torino are their cross-town rivals who are EXTREMELY lovable but also Not Very Good At Football. watch it and root for torino and have your heart broken (and then come talk to me about either team/any players you like because i can prime you equally on both!) (not ronaldo.)

- caitlin

past match: W O W do the attacks against england just keep coming and coming huh just like Tuunbaq huh!!!! Aside from that, the perennial sense of crisis, setback after setback, English people suffering, madness and disappointment, and betrayal of everything you hold dear are also some of the ways in which England resembles The Terror and therefore why you should also watch us. 

In the spirit of England, I’m going to recommend a match in which we lose: England 1-1 West Germany, 4-3 on penalties, at the 1990 World Cup. We lose to Germany a lot. (Pls hold: 1966, babey.) But 1990 was the first time that we reached the semi-finals since ‘66, and it was crazily emotionally charged; our coach Bobby Robson was leaving amidst a scandal, there’d been fights between the police and fans, and of course there was a palpable sense of christ, we could actually do it. (I say ‘we’ as in the way football fans say ‘we’, since in 1990 I was -5 years old.) The game is rip-roaring, furious, dramatic - look for Gazza’s Tears - and also introduces you to the concept of extra time, aka sitting in your seats for a full half-hour more than you expected, and penalties, aka something we are so famously bad at that when we finally won a penalty shootout last year we celebrated as if we had won the cup itself.

upcoming match: The Engl attacks made me defend myself and I couldn’t recommend a club game, which I would otherwise have (United 2-1 Arsenal ‘99, for those interested) because my club’s current football is SO DIRE I would not recommend it to anyone unless I wanted to turn them off of football forever. You might want to tune in next week for Liverpool Vs Man City (4:30 PM GMT, 10 Nov), a giant clash with probably entertaining football for everyone except United fans, who will desperately be cheering on Team Sinkhole.

- rach

I have something to add, which is that football has a weird and wild history, and I recommend looking up something like ‘the 10 most inexplicable moments in football’, or ‘five of the most unhinged things the most unhinged managers have ever said’ to get a taste. The sport is about enjoying the actual movement of the ball across the grass, but it’s also about basking in the massive array of bizarre personalities.

past match: a lot of good bases have already been covered re: Germany so I won’t pile on by recommending our 4-0 battering of Argentina in 2010 :3c I present to you instead the FA Cup final from 2014, Arsenal-Hull City. (Have a link!) Arsenal hadn’t won a trophy in nine years. The fan discontent with iconic manager Arsene Wenger was getting nasty. Hull City was the decided underdog. An underdog who promptly scored twice in the first ten minutes. Through a mix of lovely skill and scrappy luck the match ended happily for Arsenal, and even knowing that the Wenger story wasn’t entirely on the up and up after breaking that long drought, seeing the sheer joy and relief on everyone’ faces still makes me feel a whole lot of things.

upcoming match: that aside, Arsenal are currently playing as though they’ve got lost in a damp paper bag and have yet to soggily wander their way out. Despite that I’m going to recommend Leicester-Arsenal next weekend (9 Nov, 18.30 CET). Leicester have been absolutely swanning about (they annihilated Southampton last week 0-9 in the joint-largest prem league scoreline ever) and Arsenal at the moment, with their negative confidence and cotton wool defence are precisely in position to be smashed. But we’ve also done historically quite well against Leicester, and it could be the sort of match where Arsenal get their heads up and deliver the kind of easy-passing, smooth-running performance they’re supposed to be known for. It has great potential to be either a misery or a cheer-up charm for me, and regardless it’ll be a good time for you.

- Sabina

[timberfins]

💎 and 💕 for the special interest asks! :D

Okay so I’m gonna go with music, specifically classical/orchestral music (although I surround myself with and obsess over all types of music, just saying “music” is very broad and a bit hard to talk about)

💎 When and how did you discover your special interest?

My parents raised my siblings and I with a lot of music. We took some classes when we were really little, and they picked our school based on the strength of its music program as well as its academics.  The school had a strings program for Year 3 kids, and I started playing the cello (which, if you didn’t know, is the Most Gorgeous Instrument Ever and that is a Fact), and had a pretty swell time. A combination of musical upbringing and the sheer luck of having perfect pitch meant that I excelled in music right around the time school started getting really hard for me, and it was really nice to have something I was good at and confident with.  I started playing in a community orchestra, and that was probably the first time I ever played proper classical (that wasn’t just arranged to be easier, I mean). It was super hard and I nearly cried during the first rehearsal, but up until that point I had rarely been challenged, so I kept at it and had a great time. (I still remember which piece it was that nearly destroyed me—Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra Overture.) So that’s how I got invested in classical!

💕 What’s your fav thing about your special interest?

Okay so there’s two main things I want to cover, for music as a general thing. 1) I really love discovering new stuff! Recently I’ve been following my YouTube recommendations down the rabbit hole of really cool, unconventional artists  and albums (Hawaii Part II is a big one for me right now because it’s so weird and cool and goes through about twenty different genres and aaaaaaa!). I’ve also spent a lot of time trying to expand my genre horizons, and gotten a little bit obsessed with Konnakol, which is "the art of performing percussion syllables vocally in South Indian Carnatic music” (Wikipedia). It’s a totally different musical framework than Western music has and it’s just very very cool. I’m also a little bit obsessed with microtonal music, which is basically the spaces in between the notes of the Western scale. I’d highly recommend Rhythm and Xen by Sevish, because that album RIPS. Anyway tl;dr I just love discovering new shit. It’s awesome to hear other people use music in ways I’d never considered. 2) I love love love that music is looking to be my career!!! I’m doing a lot of songwriting right now, and I have a mentor helping me make a career out of my songwriting and performance, which is just so splendid and I’m really excited! I was meant to be doing a lot of gigging this year but I’m starting to do music livestreams which is a good start. V proud of myself!!!!!

[hops1982blr-blog]

Weekend Football

Welcome to my first blog. I’ve chosen an incredibly original subject to write about, that being men’s association football, seeing as nobody ever talks about it and it’s seldom seen on TV.

 However, despite this, I am going to try and look at it from a different angle including TV coverage. I’d like to use the word ‘irreverent’, but this just reminds me of an irritating, try-hard ‘comedian’ who’s just got his (or her) own vacuous show on some late-night slot on BB3 (RIP) or ITV2.

 A little about the author. I’m a cantankerous, cynical sports fan, born in the 80s, a misty-eyed romantic, harking back to ‘the good old days’ of football in the 90s, when players like Shearer, Gazza, Baggio and Weah were my heroes. When social media and being ‘woke’ wasn’t a thing; players weren’t trying to make side careers in broadcasting, making clothes, giving themselves nicknames like ‘J.Lingz’ or being cool and looked like the supporters on the terraces.

 And so, as you’re losing the will to live, onto the football. The weekend started (for me, at least) with the lunchtime kick off at the Olympic Stadium for West Ham vs. Tottenham. Of course, all the talk was about Jose’s return, and I’ve a feeling he took the Spurs job simply because the first game was the welcoming prospect of facing West Ham; like returning from holiday and getting a hug off your mum, this was as nice a comeback as is possible.

 The downside of the lunchtime kick-off is that we’re forced to watch the game on BT Sport. From the annoying, smarminess of the presenter Jake Humphries, a man who’d probably show you his bank balance on a night out, to the twee, cockney geezer analysis of Joe Cole. How appropriate that this match featured the ‘Ammers, because the latter always reminds me of a member of Albert Square.

 The game itself was as underwhelming as Joe’s hairline, with West Ham playing up to their ‘mumsy’ role and allowing a Spurs team with only one away Prem win in the last 12 months to romp into a 3-0 lead, before showing some sort of commitment and getting a couple of late goals back. In truth, 3-2 flattered West Ham, who were so bad in the opening 45 minutes, that it prompted the pundits to laud Dele Alli, who is now apparently ‘back’, a conclusion that was drawn primarily from one on-the-floor back flick to Son which brought about the second goal, and not much else in the way of hard evidence.

 Accordingly, Mourinho had a part to play with a fantastic bit of man management in which he supposedly asked ‘Dele’ if he was the real person, or if it’d been his brother playing for the past year. With insight like this, why is ‘The Special One’ (I hate that nickname, so please read it with the highest level of cynicism humanly possible) wasting his time managing Tottenham and not involved in the Brexit negotiations or middle east peace negotiations? It baffles me.

 Fast forward past Gillette Soccer Saturday, which is now becoming trite given that Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson are still on our TVs every week. With a similar, baffling level of ubiquity, they’re like a football version of Ant & Dec, but without any of the wit, charm or entertainment value. Nicholas still thinks he’s living in the 80s with his poncey haircut and daft earring, and Thommo is just annoying, spitting out heavy clichés with his guttural scouse accent for six hours each and every grinding Saturday afternoon.

 Saturday tea-time brings us the delights of crisis club (again, find that sarcasm level and ramp it up to 11) Man City at home to Chelsea, who, as many before me have remarked, have become weirdly likeable. I guess when John Terry isn’t involved with a club, they immediately become 1,000 times more affable and it feels acceptable to not hate them.

 The game itself was dull, with not much to talk about except the disallowing of Raheem Sterling’s goal because his armpit was offside. Thank God for VAR, otherwise the heinous, egregious error to award Sterling that goal would've stood. What a time to be alive and how grateful we should all be that this fantastic piece of technology has been brought in to 100% improve the world's greatest sport. Truly joyous. As is probably obvious, I hate, hate, HATE VAR. It’s sucking the life out of football, with its sanitation and cleansing of passion. I’d rather see 100 incorrect decisions per season that be forced to spend five minutes watching the fun police disallowing a goal because a striker’s pubic hair is beyond that of the last defender.

 Talking of fun police, in the studio are Roy Keane and Jamie Redknapp, a couple of pundits whose opinions are polar opposite in terms of validity. Keano could tell me that Primark made the world’s best garments, and I’d believe him. On the other hand, Redknapp would, for me, struggle to sell water to a man dying of thirst. He should be put out to pasture now, free to pursue his interests, which no doubt include heading into town after the match to see how young a woman he can pull (to be clear here, I’m not suggesting he’s the new Adam Johnson, just more that he’s probably a bit of an old sleazebag) and trying on as much aftershave as possible.

 Saturday ends with Match of the Day, which is still the only way to watch Premier League highlights. If you don’t enjoy watching and listening to the obvious dad jokes of Lineker, then you’re probably someone who votes for the Brexit party and can’t see past your right-wing views. On the other side of that weird, low table they have are Danny Murphy and Alan Shearer.

 Murphy, for me, always looks like he’s just stepped out of Burton’s menswear but is annoyed at himself for once more going back in after being disappointed with his previous purchases. I heard a BBC commentator/presenter once say that Murphy is ‘hilarious and great company’. That same commentator also spent some time in a correctional facility in the early 2000s, so his gauge of fun and good company might be somewhat skewed. Shearer is Shearer. As a Blackburn fan, I won’t say a bad word against him, and his punditry has drastically improved over the years, but he does have a habit of, have a habit of repeating himself, which is his idiosyncrasy that I find quite endearing.

 As I’m writing this, Sheffield United are playing Man United. In the studio, Graeme Souness and Brian Deane are both dressed like country gents who are about to go shooting pheasants and grouse at Sandringham (with Prince Andrew and Jamie Redknapp, perhaps?), and on the field, another Blackburn connection is Phil Jones, the gift that keeps on giving, handing the Blades the lead with a fantastic piece of misjudgement that allowed the striker Lys Mousset the opportunity to pull the ball back and give his team the lead. The final 25 minutes was chaos, with two mid-table sides scrapping it out to a 3-3 draw with awful defending getting the assists.

 That’s all I can muster this week. If you managed it, congratulations on getting to the end. What will football bring us next week? I can hardly contain my excitement at the prospect.

[sk8rz-archive]

orange Corn hair monster destroyed my life (7 word story)

thats very specific

//send me a 6-8 word story !!

[terrencetheycallme]

How do your Wardens handle the final "pass through the fire" test of the Gauntlet?

The thing about this is that my group of Wardens is split upat this point because it just seems prudent to leave some of them behind atRedcliffe to defend the castle in case any darkspawn show up, or there arestraggler zombies, while another group goes off to find the urn.  

But I’m going to include all of them anyway because it’s funand I like thinking about this stuff for all of them!

Aja Amell: Aja normally would be extremely embarrassed abouthaving to disrobe in front of others, and while she still does feel that in asense, her encounter with the spirit form of Jowan has left her feeling guiltand shame that translates to her view of this trial.  Essentially, for Aja, this is just anotherway in which she is forced to lay herself bare (literally, this time) andreveal her worst mistakes to her companions. She carefully looks down at the ground after disrobing, and tries tocover herself up with her arms as much as she can.

Velyn Mahariel: Velyn would go through this trial with themost demonstrative defiance he could muster. He would disrobe easily and efficiently (not having the sameself-consciousness of his own body as a result of the way the Dalish haveraised him) and stare down the Guardian with his chin raised and his eyesnarrowed.  Let this shemlen goddess orprophetess or whatever she is judge him. His shame is his own, his failures for himself and the Creators to know,and she has no place in that.

Gundhram Aeducan: Gundhram is eminently practical about thewhole thing.  Similarly to Velyn, he doesnot have a sense of shame when it comes to his body because his culture doesdiffer from the humans, and when one has been on expeditions in the Deep Roadsfor days at a time, one’s modesty tends to take a hit.  Gundhram is of the mind that if it gets themout of the Gauntlet, it’s worth it to try. Besides, there have been far worse things he’s endured than undressingbefore comrades.

Tristan Brosca: Tristan is actually very similar to Gundhramon this issue.  He has no concern forshowing his body to his companions because there is very little in the way ofbeing shamed that he has not experienced, as a casteless dwarf.  He’s learned to care nothing for the thoughtsof others, and it serves him well in situations like this.  Besides, he just wants to get the hell out ofthat weird place, where the lyrium feels wrong and off, and spirits try to tellhim his deepest regrets.

Ila Tabris: Having lived among a bastardized version of bothhuman and elven culture, Ila’s response would be informed by an odd mix of thetwo, and though she would feel uncomfortable with disrobing so easily in frontof companions who she does not deem close enough to see her in such an intimateway, she bites back that discomfort, knowing that this is the only way to passthe final trial of the Gauntlet. Secretly, she also is curious what Andraste would see in her as she is,with no layers to hide behind 

Gazza Cousland: Gazza would be very uncomfortable with this,and her discomfort stems entirely from the condition she has which prevents thegrowth of hair anywhere on her body.  Shewas teased for that as a child, when she had no hair on her head and noeyebrows, and she’s been self-conscious of it ever since.  She also bears a brand on her shoulder, leftbehind from when a crazed chantry sister thought she was possessed and tried toburn the demon out of her.  Gazza is veryafraid of revealing either of these things to her companions, and though shetries to hold herself proudly, she can’t meet anyone else’s eyes and can’tquite stop her hands from shaking as they await the final judgment.

[26ja]

About Me A-Z

ABOUT ME A-Z: 
I was tagged by: @silverloreley (thanks!)

Rules: Copy this post into a new text post, remove my answers and put in yours; and when you are done tag up to 10 people and also tag the person who tagged you… And most importantly, have fun!

P.S. This is optional!!! you do not have to do it if you don’t want to or don’t have the time! that is A-OK!!

a- age: you are all so young, whyyy  I’m 26, don’t feel like it though, stopped counting years somewhere around the time I got in my 20s  b - biggest fear: staying, becoming? (not sure what’s the right word here) alone, not in I’ll never find myself a person kind of way but more in I lose everyone I even have now   c - current time: 13:02 when I got to this question, finished it a lot later  d - drink you last had: water, I guess (and before that sauerkraut water:)) e - every day starts with: not entirely sure,  probably opening eyes and deciding whether I’m getting up right now or later f - favorite song: too many to choose from, something form Nickelback that’s for sure, maybe How you remind me ‘cause that’s first one I heard from them and it made me fall in love with them, or Follow you home because that’s the one that always helps me or... I could go on and on, I love them all so let’s just say it’s likely something from Nickelback g - ghosts, are they real: on one hand it’s like - in a world where electricity exists, anything is possible, on the other hand - I don’t even want to think about that - this world is just too weird even without ghosts h - hometown: I’ll pass that one, sorry i - in love with: great music and great stories and my fave band probably j - jealous of: people who’ve got their life together, people who are genuinely happy, who are doing in life exactly what they wanted, people who get to go exactly where I wanted but didn’t... and probably lottery winners k - killed someone: nope l - last time you cried: almost yesterday but managed to stop myself m - middle name: don’t have one, it’s not common here n - number of siblings: two o - one wish: I have a lot more than just one  p - person you last called/texted: my brother, probably? q - questions you’re always asked: usually - what’s new? r - reasons to smile: getting tickets to the thing I wanted to see and lot more which I’m not gonna list ‘cause I might forget something important s - song last sang: I can’t sing so I only sing when I’m alone. I believe last song I sang was from musical Na skle maľované (Painted on glass) - Keď zbojník umieral, lístie opadalo (When highwayman was dying, leaves fell), but only male part) I love this musical so much, it’s amazing, haven’t heard it in long time and suddenly few days ago felt such a need to listen to it again, was actually lucky enough to see it live twice. In this song the highwayman is speaking to Death and it’s so beautiful (How should I death /hey/ how to honour you, for you honouring me /hey/ honouring me so)  t - time you woke up: around 8 o’clock u - underwear color: black v - vacation destination: Italy w - worst habit: avoiding people, not answering messages, not exercising enough and you know how when something happens and you’re like nope, not gonna tell X about this, it’ll hurt them, gonna act all noble and martyr like keeping the thing to yourself and the next thing you know you’re babbling the thing to the person and hurting them in the process? yeah, I need to stop doing this as well x - x-rays you’ve had: teeth and arm y - your favorite food: again: too many, I really like carrot made with peas and potatoes in almost any form and I have also massive sweet tooth, so there’s definitely chocolate in the list...

I tag: @flamingflyingv @nb-peace @gazza-ladra @deedo2313 @fionarhiannon @society-u-ok and anyone who feels like doing this:)

[anitabyars]

I would like to thank Author Amy Andrews for her insight into the Aussie terms I have come to love in her Stories.

G’day Mate and other Aussie slang. Streuth! Dinky di. He lives out past the black stump. A dead ringer. You little ripper. Check out those budgie smugglers. What a bogan. He’s built like a brick shithouse. Tie me kangaroo down. Yes. We Aussie authors write funny. Well…we don’t actually. We write Australian. Which came to us via some English toffs in big ships and boatloads of convicts and free settlers. But, like all languages, we’ve developed our own vernacular over two hundred years of colonisation, peppered with slang and idioms of which many of us have no clue about the origin. Throw in the fact that we also spell some words differently and stone the flaming crows- one star review nightmares! Yes, we know it can be confusing. We know this can turn non-Aussie readers off. But… we’re writers, right? Writing Australian landscapes and Australian characters. So we like to be able to reflect that, to colour these book worlds with the familiar, to paint a picture of our country and identity. Yes, we say bikkie instead of cookie, fairy floss instead of cotton candy and arse instead of ass. But never fear, in an effort to save readers confusion about both the Aussie-isms and the footy in my new rugby series, I’ve popped in a handy glossary which can be found at the back of the book. It’s a work in progress. Each book will have more words added as I get braver and braver about getting my Aussie on. Ryder my country guy is probably going to use the most weird and wonderful language of all. The glossary, it seems, has been a bit of a hit with readers so I thought I’d share it. For education, for interest and hell, just for laughs, really. Or, just for shits and giggles as we say around here. Drum roll please…. Footy – We love this term in Australia. The confusing thing for most non-Aussies is they never know which game it refers to because we have three separate but distinct codes of football in Australia: 1. Rugby League (Jarryd Hayne played this code before he went and played Gridiron for the San Francisco 49ers). 2. Rugby union – The code the Sydney Smoke play and the one this series is based upon (Jarryd Hayne tried his hand at this code for a bit after the whole Gridiron thing didn’t work out but is now back playing Rugby League). 3. Aussie rules football – Different altogether. Tall, fit guys in really tight shorts. There is also soccer but we don’t really think of that as football in the traditional sense here in Australia. The confusing thing is we refer to all of them as the footy e.g. “Wanna go to the footy, Davo?” And somehow we all seem to know which code is being referred to at any given time. Even more confusing, the ball that is used in each code is often also called the footy e.g. “Chuck me the footy, Gazza.” Haka – A ceremonial dance performed by all Polynesian cultures but made famous by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team who perform it before every match in an awesome, spine chilling display of power, passion, and identity. I’m sure it’s only coincidental that it’s also crap-your-pants scary. There are few things more fearsome than an advancing All Black haka! WAGs – Wives and girlfriends. These are partners of the dudes that play rugby. Although we also use the term here in Oz to refer to partners of our cricket players. I think in the UK WAGs is also a term used for football (soccer) partners. Pash – Not a footy term but one I used a couple of times which confused the heck out of my editor. A pash is a kiss e.g. “Did you pash him, Shazza.” It’s the Aussie equivalent to the British term snog. Akubra – an iconic Australian brand of hat worn by country guys and gals. Vaguely similar to the Stetson but I’ll probably have my nationality revoked for saying so! It has a distinctive shape that’s about as Aussie as vegemite. Chocolate topping – this is what we call chocolate syrup and you put it on your ice-cream. Although I’m fairly sure it gets put on other things as well. None of them food. Right. Clear as mud? If you want to learn some more weird and wonderful Aussie phrases this is a good placed to start - http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html And I’ll see you around cobber! 5 More Days Till This Is Live!

[fobencyclopedia]

the llama monsters have the maniacorp website in their instagram bios now, and if you click the logo on the website it takes you to a page that says "we're working on it" (not sure if this is new or important news, im just trying to be helpful)

the link in the bio isn’t important news, but it is something we haven't addressed! as for the “we’re working on it” it has been that way for quite some time. I suspect it won’t have any more information on it until after the album’s release, if at all.