#i finished watching classic ben 10 at like 4 in the morning

[moxielynx]

tetrax and his weird human son

I like tetrax a normal amount

[duckingpunches]

Random shit about me

Thanks for the tag @galaxy-whiskers !!!! Love you dude x 

1. what is the colour of your hairbrush? I don’t have one! My hair is currently buzzed and has been sort for about 5 years 

2. name of a food you never eat? Oh gosh where to start, I’m a pretty fussy eater. Top of the list would probably be avocado, gross

3. are you typically too warm or too cold? Probably too hot! Especially at night when I’m at university, my boyfriend is a bloody furnace 

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago? Watching Friday Night Dinner with my family 

5. what’s your favourite candy bar? Ummmmm, probably Green and Black’s 70% dark chocolate. That stuff is goooooooood

6. have you ever been to a professional sports event? Yeah! My brother is a gymnast, so I’ve been to his events. I’ve also been to lots of premier league football games as my bio dad is a big fan.

7. what is the last thing you said out loud? Shouting my dog from across the room 

8. what is your favourite ice cream? Either Ben and Jerry’s half-baked cookie dough and brownie or their new ‘Netflix and chilled’ flavour which is INCREDIBLE. It’s peanut ice cream, salted and sweet pretzel swirls with brownie chunks. To die for honestly. 

9. what is the last thing you had to drink? Some Vimto (though Ribena is always superior) squash in my new water bottle. It’s honestly so sick, I bought it off amazon and it keeps my drinks cold all day. For example, I went to work at 4am and when I finished at 1pm the ice cubes I put in that morning were still fully there, excellent purchase. 

10. do you like your wallet? Yeah! It was my first ‘men’s’ wallet and even though it’s starting to fall apart I love it 

11. what was the last thing you ate? A crème egg hahahaha. My work had reduced all of the Easter stuff, so I bought three packs of twelve for less than a pound. 

12. did you buy any new clothes last week? Not last week, but I did the week before. A company I really like called ‘Lame’ were doing an offer where you get a free cap with every hoodie, so I snagged their ‘Satan’s Spinach’ one. It’s super comfy, a lot thicker than regular hoodies, comes in recycled packaging and has thumb holes!!!!!! 

13. last sporting event you watched? Honestly couldn’t tell you 

14. what’s your favourite flavour of popcorn? Sweet n Salted every single time

15. who was the last person you sent a message to? My boyfriend! I’m missing him a lot at the minute with the quarantine, so I mainly send him memes all day

16. ever go camping? Allllll the time as a kid, but less so now. I was in the scouts, so we went a lot and my family used to go on holiday with a few other families when I was younger, we did it for about seven years until all of us kids were older. I do love it though and as soon as I get my car, I’m planning on buying a tent and going a lot more. 

17. do you take vitamins? Not really 

18. do you go to church every Sunday? I used to, then I came out and got kicked out. Not really religious anymore 

19. do you have a tan? Not currently, but whenever I go abroad, or it gets hot where I live, I tan really well.  

20. do you prefer Chinese food or pizza? Hmmm a tough one, but probably Chinese! There are quite a few good places round me, and my sister used to work for a local restaurant so you can imagine we ate it quite a lot 😬

21. do you drink soda with a straw?                                                             Nope! 

22. what colour socks do you wear? Every colour under the sun. I love socks so much. The more colourful and uglier the better 

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit? Nah, I’m still having lessons so my instructor wouldn’t be very happy if I did! 

24. what terrifies you? My friends and family dying. My dog going missing. Never having top surgery. Not enjoying my life. Gah, the list could just go on 

25. look to your left what do you see? My bookcase 

26. what chore do you hate? Probably doing the bathroom or picking up my dogs shit lmao 

27. what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? My ex-girlfriend. Shudder. 

28. what’s your favourite soda? Fanta! Specifically, orange, fruit twist used to be my favourite, but the classic is just peng as fuck 

29. do you go into fast food places or drive thru? Into usually 

30. who was the last person you talked to? My sister, we were talking about how shit dinner is going to be 

31. favourite cut of beef? Not a fan of beef really 

32. last song you listened to? Sweet creature by Harry Styles. My Alexa has his albums on shuffle right now

33. last book you read? I’m currently re-reading ‘call me by your name’ which is one of my favourites 

34. can you say the alphabet backwards? Definitely not  

35. how do you like your coffee? Don’t drink coffee unfortunately 

36. favourite pair of shoes? My Dinosaur Vans. They are wicked and my friend recommended them to me after buying a pair herself and they are super comfy 

37. the time you normally go to bed? If I’m working, 8pm because I have to wake up at 3:50am. If I’m not working, about midnight.

38. the time you normally wake up? If I’m working, 3:50am. If I have a day off, around 9am 

39. what do you prefer sunrise or sunsets? Sunsets, I love watching out of my window, reading a good book with my dog curled up on the bed and a chill album playing. Some of my favourite memories are being on holiday or scout camp with my mates and talking as the sunsets. Very zen  

40. how many blankets are on your bed? My duvet, a weighted blanket belonging to my mum which I have stolen temporarily, a grey blanket and my fish blanket. So many….

41. describe your kitchen plates? Mishmash of my grandparents’ old plates, my ones from uni and a few random ones we have had from friends. We are doing up the house, so we wanted ones we didn’t mind breaking. Our nice Gordon Ramsey plates are in the shed hahahaha. Though we have been doing up the house for about three years now, so I haven’t used the fancy plates in an age. 

42. do you have a favourite alcoholic beverage? Probably the cocktail my sister and I make. It’s vodka, peach schnapps, Malibu, mango juice, mango monster and lemonade. 

43. do you play cards? Not really 

44. what colour is your car? I don’t have one rip 

45. can you change a tire? Yeah! 

46. your favourite province? No idea 

47. favourite job you’ve had? My current job tbf. I work at Waitrose and it’s pretty nice, especially the pay. I have worked at a few places. First being red5 for about 6 months, then I worked at a children’s mental health charity where I loved my colleagues and the groups I ran, but my managers and some of the stuff I had to see and deal with were just terrible. My 18 months there were probably the worst of my life.  

48. how did you get your biggest scar?

TW//////////// Self-harm when I was about 14. I had to have stitches. /////////////////

49. what did you do today that made someone happy? I fed my dog and he was pretty happy about that 😂

I tag @new-brat-in-town @thecrazycreation @yunoaccept @mixmio 

No pressure though!! 

[cabaretcal]

you’re the one that i want - a.i.

I’m finally continuing the broadway series after 2653578 years! I’ve been having writers block, sorry about the lack of posts! This is based around Grease, y/n is Sandy, Ashton is Danny. Basically y/n is new to showbiz and Ashton shows her the ropes, friends to lovers trope, you know how we do.

2.5k words

You paced around your small apartment anxiously: it was callback day. Callback day was the most stressful time for anyone in the theatre world. Today was the day you find out if you made the cut to be apart of Grease or if you didn’t do good enough to make the director even bat an eye. You did a lot of theatre back when you lived in Chicago, but New York was different. More competitive. Thousands watching rather than a few hundred. Tourists traveling and spending hundreds on a good seat rather than some regular Chicagoans buying a ticket for twenty dollars. New York was showbiz central.

You took pride in your acting. Back in Chicago, you had countless roles you loved playing: Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Elphaba in Wicked, Zoe in Dear Evan Hansen, and more. But Chicago is way less competitive than the big apple. You knew the theatre world back home, but you didn’t know it here at all.

Your phone rang and you scrambled to pick it up and answer. You contain yourself and say a simple hello. A man's voice is on the other line. You’ve been offered another audition to further your audition process for the part of Sandy. You gladly say yes and end the conversation. You were relieved that you had another audition, but it was still terrifying. You could screw it up and lose your chance. Grease is a classic, and it has to be perfect. Callbacks were the next morning, so you went to bed early and waited for what was to come.

—

You arrived with an open mind. Around ten other girls were there. 10 girls who want to be Sandy. 10 girls who want this role just as much as you. Maybe more than you. If you were lucky you’d get a chorus member at this rate.

A tall man with light brown hair and hazel eyes walks around, greeting the girls. He has a kind smile paired with a silk red shirt and tight black pants, iced coffee in hand. You see him start to walk towards you and you’re slightly confused.

“Hey, how are you? I’m apart of the cast and could possibly end up being your Danny, and we’ll be performing some scenes together for your 2nd audition. I wanted to introduce myself, I’m Ashton.” He holds his hand out and you take it, shaking it and smiling.

“I’m y/n, it’s nice to meet you. Is this your first broadway show?”

He ponders for a moment, “This is my 5th, actually. I did stuff back in Sydney though before I came to New York. You?”

You begin to feel embarrassed. You have absolutely no broadway experience whatsoever. “This is my first broadway show… in Chicago I did stuff though. But nothing here in New York yet.”

“Well you got a callback for the lead so I think you’re in good shape, y/n.” He smiled warmly.

He was different from other actors you’ve met. Many were arrogant and were only there to do their part and leave. He cheered you on despite never meeting you. It was a pleasant surprise.

“Perhaps I am, Ashton.” He smiled and walked to a seat, and you did the same. The director handed out excerpts and began calling names. You watched some of the girls perform scenes and they were all quite impressive. You were very unsure of yourself. You kept growing more and more nervous and you didn’t know if you’d compare to everyone else.

“Y/n! Scene 11, the drive in scene.”

You stand up from your seat and take a deep breath, walking up to the stage.

Ashton cleared his throat, looking at the script then into your eyes, “Hey, you’re not with another guy, are you?”

“No, why?” Your eyes glance down at the script and back into his eyes.

Ashton acts nervous and nonchalant, “No reason… I uh wanted to ask you to take my ring.” He holds out his hand as if there’s a ring there and pretends to put it on your finger. The scene continues, and before you even have a chance to read the stage direction he kisses you. Your cheeks burn and you continue the scene, finishing it out. Ashton smiles at you and goes back to his seat as you do your singing portion of the audition to the song Hopelessly Devoted To You. You go back to your seat, wondering if what you did would be enough.

The last few girls perform and everyone is dismissed. As you put your jacket on, Ashton walks towards you with a soft smile.

“You did really good, I told you it’d be fine. You wanna maybe get lunch? There’s this place down the street you need to try if you’re gonna be a true New Yorker!”

“Sure, why not?” You walk with him to the small restaurant, talking as if you have known him your whole life.

—

“Your favorite movie is Kill Bill? I never would’ve guessed that…” Ashton was sat across from you at the sandwich shop, asking you a series of ‘get to know me’ questions.

“Uma Thurman is my girl crush,” You smirk, “what’s your favorite show?”

“Definitely Brooklyn 9-9. It isn’t deep or anything and it’s just a comedy, but it’s my happy place, what about you?”

“I love Gossip Girl… I know it’s such a girly show but I really like it.” You blush out of embarrassment, but he breaks out into a grin.

“I love Gossip Girl! I watched it with my sister all the time back home. It’s a great show.”

Surprised is an understatement. You never knew a guy could be such a softie. You smile out of relief and drink your tea as He rapid fires questions to you for the next hour.

—

You got the call the next morning. You were officially Sandy. In celebration, he’s hanging out at your apartment and he brought cheap boxed wine.

“What if I’m not cut out for broadway, Ash? What if everyone walks all over me? I don’t know anything about showbiz here in New York.” All you had in your mind was doubt.

“I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. People will be jealous. People will talk about you behind your back. Critics will rip you to shreds. But all that matters is your performance. That dumb, bald critic isn’t the one getting that paycheck and that standing ovation. It’s you. You have to give your all every night. But it’s always worth it. I’ll be with you every step of the way for this show. I’ll guide you. I’ll be like the guy in Pretty Woman! Guiding you through life…”

“Oh Ashton, I’m so lucky you’re my friend. I never thought I’d meet anyone here honestly. You really are the Edward Lewis to my Vivian Ward.” He laughs and clinks his glass with yours.

“First rehearsal is gonna be splendid, darling.”

—

The first rehearsal began at 7:30 am sharp. The first priority was choreography of “Summer Nights”. You met the girls playing Frenchy and Rizzo, and they were very welcoming. Now whoever was playing Jan, however, was a bit snarky. She didn’t even give you a simple hello. You decided to think nothing of it and just go on with rehearsal.

The tech crew brought out some makeshift temporary bleachers for the choreography and everyone got to work. The T Birds and Ashton went to the other side of the stage where the women were all to the other side. You held your music in hand and began your first note while also mirroring the choreographers directions. All was going well until you accidentally stepped on Jan’s foot, causing her to glare at you and yell, “Watch it!”.

You were taken aback. Everyone stopped suddenly and the pianist came to an abrupt halt.

“I’m so sorry-“ you started to say, but was interrupted immediately.

“Maybe you should know what you’re doing if you’re going to be the lead, or were you not aware that you should actually have some experience?”

You mumble barely loud enough for anyone to hear, “I won’t do it again…”

Rehearsal continued, and the room was tense for the remainder of the choreography portion.

“Alright everyone take 5!” The director's voice loudly remarked. Before you knew it, Ashton was walking towards you. His hair was a bit of a mess and his sleeves were rolled up.

“So how was your first choreography session, Sandy?” He grinned, taking a long drink from his water bottle.

You weren’t sure if you should tell him you actually were on the brink of tears. It was way too early to already have complaints, but you were sure that that one girl already hated you and you didn’t even know why.

“It was great, amazing.” You forced a smile and he broke out into a grin. You just couldn’t tell him you were already upset.

“I knew you’d be amazing! I told you it wouldn’t be so bad. We’re doing a run through of the song with everyone next. I’ll get to see you rock it.” He smiled and walked back towards the guys. You sighed, walking back to the group of girls. This would be a long 3 months of rehearsal.

—

You opened the door to your studio apartment and collapsed on the bed, burying your face in your pillow. Then the tears came. You couldn’t believe how upset you were. You didn’t think it would bother you as much as it did, but you felt like you already blew the role of your dreams. You decided to call Ashton, hoping he could lift your spirits.

“Hey y/n, what’s up?” He had his usual cheery tone of voice and you already felt better.

“I know I said rehearsal was great, but the girl playing Jan was really terrible and hurt my feelings really bad and maybe she’s right maybe I don’t have what it takes, Ash. What if she’s right?” At that point you were crying even more. You didn’t expect to cry even more, but it was happening.

“Woah woah woah. The real Sandy Olsson would never take anyone else’s shit. Y/n, you’re one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. You’ve forced me to come over now. I’m gonna make you feel better. Leave the door unlocked and just be expecting me.” He hung up before you could even argue. But you were glad you didn’t have a chance to argue.

—

About an hour passed and your door opened. Ashton walked in, closing the door behind him. He had 2 pints of Ben and Jerry’s and two 4 packs of Smirnoff in his arms. He kicked the door closed gently and sat at the foot of your bed.

“There’s my favorite broadway sensation.” You mumble from under your covers, grinning when you lock eyes.

“Here I am!” He smiled, handing you a pint of ice cream and a plastic spoon, “I also have alcohol.”

You smile, opening the ice cream and wrapping your arms around him, “Thank you for coming here… I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

“Well I was planning world domination but I’ll get back to that.”

You laugh mad shake your head, “Well… let’s watch Gossip Girl and get drunk then, shall we?”

“We shall.”

—

“She’s just jealous that you’re the lead! Did you see her callback performance for Sandy? It was so half assed! You definitely were the best.” Ashton was on his third drink and there was no hiding it. He was slurring all of his words and laughing at every little thing. You found it adorable.

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.” A blush crept across your cheeks and you looked down at your cup.

With his hand, he pushed your head up from your chin, “I’m not blind, i know a good actress when I see one, silly. Also, it’s cute when you blush,” He smirked when you blushed even more, “I mean if you want we can practice scenes together outside of rehearsal. We could now! I have my script in my bag…”

Before you could even begin to say no, he was already reading out one of his lines.

“I really like you, Sandy.”

You sigh and grab your script, opening to the right page and sitting across from him on your bed, “Danny, take it easy! What are you trying to do?” You glance down at the book, seeing what his next line is and look back up.

“Can I try something out?”

“Um, that’s not your line Ash-“

His hand comes up to your cheek and before you know it, his lips are on yours. Taken aback, your eyes widen, but then slowly close. You wrap your arms around his neck and twirl the hair at the nape of his neck around your finger and his hands grip your waist. He pulls away and you catch your breath. He smiles at you, “But you enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

“Shut up.”

“That’s a yes I take it.”

You weren’t sure if it was the alcohol talking, but you were sure that you were falling. Hard.

—

“You’re the one that I want, you are the one I want, ooo ooo ooo honey…”

Everyone had gotten down the choreography to this scene, so everyone was just doing a run through without instruction. Before rehearsal even started, you talked to Ashton as usual. He didn’t even mention the night before. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was for the best. Some friendships need to stay friendships. And that was fine, but a part of you didn’t want that to be true. But what could you do? You never mentioned it again. You decided it was for the best.

-

Countless deli lunches together passed, dozens of coffee runs continued, about 100 more rehearsals occurred, months passed and the day came. Opening night. It was a full house.

You were in your dressing room, finishing up your makeup. A knock took you out of your trance, and you told them to come in.

Ashton came through the door, “Opening night! Are you ready?” He sat on the couch in the dressing room, wearing a tight white shirt and leather jacket, hair slicked back. He looked so good that it physically hurt.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” You weakly smile, “ya know I heard Rizzo has a thing for you.”

“Too bad she’s not my type… I’m into girls named Sandy.”

“Haha very funny, Ash, I mean like in real life.”

“Yeah so do I. A wise man once said, ‘you’re the one that I want, you are the one I want, ooo ooo ooo honey.” You laugh, and look into his eyes.

He’s not drunk right now. He’s sober. He is in your dressing room, telling you he is into you.

“Break a leg, Sandy.” And then he kisses you. And this time you know it isn’t the alcohol talking.

Summer loving. Happened so fast.

[emilykinneyupdates]

Emily Kinney Questionnaire

1. What are your top 5 albums of all time?

Tell Me I’m Pretty, Cage the Elephant

Mariah Carey MTV Unplugged live album

The Midnight Organ Fight, Frightened Rabbit

Blue, Joni Mitchell

Golden Hour Kacey Musgraves

2. Who are your greatest music idols/influencers?

Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit

Joni Mitchell

Jaymay

Mariah Carey

Regina Spektor

My boyfriend and friends influence and inspire me a lot.  A lot of my best friends are musicians, or artists of some kind.

3. What was your first “I got this” moment as an artist?

Most of the time I don’t feel like I totally know what I’m doing.  I saw my friend Kevin Johnston play at Pete’s Candy Store a long time ago (2007?) at a time when I was singing backup for singer-songwriters and bands, and I knew I had to do that too and start writing songs in a more purposeful way.

4. What are you listening to right now?

Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves, Long Live the Dead by Jordan Lehning, Cigarettes After Sex, Both Ways by Donovan Woods, Kendrick Lamar, Mental Illness by Aimee Mann

5. How do you feed your imagination?

Music, and going for walks, and reading.

6. Are there any causes/charities/nonprofits that you support?

I love Why Hunger and I Don’t Mind.  I would like to to do more with charities that have to do with mental health/suicide prevention and arts programs in schools.

7. What artists shaped you?

Frightened Rabbit, Wakey Wakey, Mariah Carey, Jaymay, Joni Mitchell, Chicago, Fiona Apple, My parents music: Jim Croce, CCR, Jackson Browne, Carpenters etc. classic rock.  

8. Who is your dream collaboration?

I don’t know. I used to really want to write a song with Scott Hutchison, but he passed away.  I like playing music with my friend Hayley Batt and my boyfriend, Paul McDonald.  I think it would be cool to a side project or poetry book with Hayley Batt.  Paul and I have a side project called The Sweetheart Deal and will be playing some shows at the end of the month.

9. Can you describe your creative spaces?

I like to have really empty spaces to write in. So my office I keep with as little clutter as possible. At least at first and then if I leave something out or put something on the wall it’s very purposeful.  Honestly I find I write the best or get ideas on airplanes and in hotel rooms.  I guess having no responsibility to take care of the space frees my mind.  But I always like to have guitar in the living room and then sometimes when I’m watching really stupid, boring tv my mind wanders and I write at the same time.  

10. What is a typical weekend like?

Every weekend is different cause I end up traveling for acting work or going to comic book conventions.  

But, Now that I’m in LA, I like to swim if it’s hot out!!!  I like to hike and I like to go see friends play at little places like The Echo or Hotel Cafe.  If I’m in Nashville, I like to go to Radnor Lake and hang out in East Nashville. I like trying new coffee shops.  I like to watch CBS Sunday morning. It’s news for Grandmas and I love it.  I try to watch it every week.  

11. Are there any specific magazines/podcasts/websites/brands you like?

App called Mend that does a podcast

Lenny letter

Hello Giggles

Teen Vogue

CBS Sunday morning is my dream some day!!

I loved doing the article with Darling.

Elle women in music issue.

Paper mag

Busy Phillips is going to have a new talk show. I follow her on instagram.

The New Yorker, they always have poetry.

New York mag

LA times

12. What are your favorite brands for equipment/tech/headphones/speakers/etc

Audio Tech.

Sonos

Macintosh

Bose

13. Can you name a few key life experiences that most shaped who you are?

Moving to NYC. The Lion’s Club talent shows when I was little really hooked me into music and making it my thing.  The theatre department at Wesleyan in Lincoln, Nebraska instilled a real sense of discipline and work ethic when making art that has really stuck with me my whole career whether music or acting.

I used to run away a lot but it would just be around to the other side of the lake at my grandparents house or to the car. I’d bring coloring books and a caboodles box with stuff.  I think I realized early on that I really needed space to hear my own thoughts;  that other people around me really affect me and I’m very empathetic.  I think writing songs by myself or being on stage is a way to turn down all the noise of the world.  I love being with my friends and family but creative time to myself is really soothing to me.

14. Do you collect anything?

I like band merch. I buy a lot of snack food protein bars, and just hoard it in my cupboards.  Gummy candy.    

15. How would you describe your style? Who are your style icons?

Growing up and still, I’ve always really loved Gwen Stefani, but  I wouldn’t say I necessarily dress like her.  I also like Lana Del Rey.  I feel like my style is in transition right now.  But I like my hair super blonde as possible. I like a lot of t-shirts and torn denim and overalls and onsies and cool jackets. White shoes. Delicate jewelry if any. Really into mascara and lashes and eyeliner.

16. How has your acting career influenced your music?

Every time I have to be a new character and go to a set in a new place, I have new stories and a new environment that can spark song ideas.

Some acting roles (like Walking Dead and Spring Awakening have lead people to my music.)  And having audience is obviously important for fueling a music career.

17. Are there any artists you look up to whose career you would like to emulate?

I used to think so, but now I sort of feel like I’m doing my own thing that makes me happy. Creative careers are sort of unpredictable no matter how much you try to shape them.  I think I’m happy to just keep getting work whether it be in music or televison or theatre. I’m happiest while I’m making stuff and finishing stuff.  

18. How is ‘Oh Jonathan’ an evolution from ‘This Is War’?

How have you grown as an artist in the years since? I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting.  I was actually working on a completely different album called “Shadows’ or “Shadow in a Room” and I have all those songs so maybe I will eventually finish that record, but ‘Oh Jonathan’ just sort of naturally wrote itself.  I think emotionally I had to feel that relationship had to be seen or hold some weight and it never got that in real life, so maybe that’s why I felt a strong desire to write all these songs.  

Many of the songs on my last album This is War I had played out with a band before recording.  These songs on Oh Jonathan, I created in the studio just me and Ben Greenspan the producer, so that was a big difference.  

19. Can you tell us a little bit about inspiration behind the “Boy Band Hero” video?

Well I really wanted to work with Jason who directed it and I really like simple videos so that the images support the song and you listen to the song closer rather than the image overtaking the song and the song becoming soundtrack.  We did this in a one shot with a very slow pull back, and mixed in images from when I was growing in Nebraska from various sporting, school events. I found the Kinks shirt on e-bay.

20. Can you describe the album in five words?

Daydream windy whispers lost muse

21. Which song do you find to be the most autobiographical and why?

They are all extremely autobiographical, most of the scenes I describe really happened tho maybe not in exact order or specifics or maybe some I exaggerate.  

22. What are the most prevalent ideas/themes/inspiration on your album?

Wanting companionship, isolation, unrequited love, imagination, immaturity, growing up, sobriety

23. Were there any current/world events that influenced you or that you specifically wanted to address on this album? How did they translate into the songs?

I think social media makes it very difficult to move on from a past relationship, past life.  I think you can make up a lot of stories in your head and feel isolated but also inspired in certain ways because of social media.  I don’t directly address social media in my songs but I think they played into the creation of them.  

24. What is the most interesting thing about this album to you?

The trumpet solo in Loser.  

25. What did you learn about yourself during the making of this album?

I recognized time passing in a different way and aging, I learned more about gratitude and steadiness and process.

[thedarkestgreys]

Thank you for the tag @bythunder :) The tag was to answer eleven questions and then ask eleven of your own. 1. What would you sing at Karaoke night? Probably some classic Britney Spears or maybe Taylor Swift. 

2. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done? Oh man. So maybe not “daring” but my husband and I flew across the country to meet @jillypups last year and it was so much fun but also a little terrifying at first. 

3. What was the last book you read? I have a bad habit of reading several books at a time, so I’m not entirely sure the last book I finished was. Um. I am currently reading Morning Star (book 3 of the Red Rising Trilogy) and Yellow Brick War (book 3 in the Dorothy Must Die series) but I’m not sure what the last one I finished was. 

4. What was your first fandom Oh my goodness. Anyone remember the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire? Because little 10/11 year old Bex first started writing fanfiction for that show and posted it on FF.net hahaha. I was really proud of myself and it was probably horrible and unreadable but what can I say?

5. Your favorite place you’ve ever been, where is it? Is it lame to say Disney World? Nothing makes my heart as happy as when I’m at WDW and if that’s lame than I’m okay with that. 

6. Tell me about your pets if you have any. If not, tell me about any you had and/or want. Roxy the do, she’s a yorkie/chihuahua mix. Milo and Kit are my kitties and I am obsessed with them. 

7. If animals could talk, which would be the rudest? Cats probably! Or ya know, I feel like monkeys would be quite rude. 

8. What movie/s scared you as a child? So uh... The Little Mermaid is my FAV and all but the part where Ursula dies used to scare the shit out of me as a kid. 

9. What is the funniest joke you know by heart? Why can't you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom? Because the "P" is silent! (I’m sure @riahchan would enjoy this one!)

10. Do you have anything from childhood that you’ve ‘outgrown’ but refuse to let go of? My teddy bear. Her name is Benjamina (I called her Ben) and she currently lives in my bedroom closet. 

11.  What’s your “go to” video or gif for a laugh? Either Bad Romance feat. Nigel Thornberry or Taylor Swift Trouble (Goat Remix) Now for eleven of my own questions! 1) If you were a color, how would you describe it?  2) Who would win in a fight, a Hippogriff or an Acromantula? 3) If you had to eat either a cupful of mayo or a stick of butter, what would you pick?  4) What is your favorite euphemism? 5) What is your all time favorite fanfic? (any fandom!) 6) Have you ever watched a movie that was so terrible that when it ended you wished you could get those twoish hours of your life back, and what movie was it? 7) Were you Team Edward or Team Jacob (everyone had an opinion okay?) 8) What is your favorite song from the year you were born? 9) What is your favorite constellation?  10) Spaghetti-O’s or Instant Ramen? 11) What is your favorite part of any holiday meal? tagging: @beyondmythought-s @jillypups @dialux @sassyeggs74 @vanillacoconuts @sarahcakes613 @sweetaprilbutterfly @youkindofblowmeaway or anyone who feels the need to answer these questions of mine. 

[gilbertineonfr2]

Hacktivity 2017 Wrap-Up Day 2

Let’s go for more wrap-ups. The second day started smoothly with Haroon Meer’s keynote. There was only one track today, the second room being fully dedicated to hackerspaces. Harron is a renowned speaker and the title of his keynote was “Time to play ‘D’”. The intro was simple: Nothing new, no 0-day, he decided to start his keynote based on his previous talks, especially one from 2011: “Penetration testing considered harmful“. Things changed considerably from a hardware and software point of view but we are still facing the same security issues. Example: a today’s computer is based on multiple computers (think about the MacBook Pro and its touch bar which is based on the same hardware as the Apple watch). Generic security solutions fail and an AV can still be easily bypassed. He gave many good facts and advice. Instead of buying expensive appliances, use this money to hire skilled people. But usually, companies have a security issue and they fix it by deploying a solution that… introduces new issues. He insisted and gave examples of “Dirty Cheap Solutions”. With a few lines of Powershell, we can easily detect new accounts created in an Active Directory. Aaron gave another example with a service he created: canarytokens.org. You create files, URLs, DNS records that are linked an email address and, in case of breach or unexpected access, an alert is sent to you. Another one: regular people don’t use commands lines ‘uname’, ‘ifconfig’ or ‘whoami’. Create alerts to report when they are used!

The first regular talk was given by Tobias Schrödel: “Hacking drones and buying passwords in the Darknet“. What’s the relation between them? Nothing, Tobias just accepted to cover these two topics! The talk was very entertaining and Tobias is a very good speaker… The first part (drones) was made in a management style (with a tie) and the second one with a t-shirt, classic one. Why hacking drones? In Germany, like in many countries, the market for drones is growing quickly. Small models (more classified as “toys”) are using Wireless networks to be controlled and get the pictures from the camera. Those drones provide a SSID, DHCP and are managed via a web interface. So they can be compared to a flying router! There are different ways to take down a drone. The safest solution is to use eagles because they can drop out the drone out of the zone that must be secured. The attack he demonstrated was a simple de-auth attack. The second part of the talks focused on the black market. Not a lot of people already bought stuff on the Darknet (or they hide it) but they are nice webshops where you can buy passwords for many official shops like eBay, Zalando, Paypal, etc… But why a company should buy passwords on the Darkweb? A few years ago, Dropbox suffered from a mega leak with millions of passwords in the wild. That’s bad but even more when corporate email addresses are present in sensitive leaks like Ashley-Madison. In Germany, a big company found 10 email addresses in this leak. If employees are free in their private life, this could have a very huge impact in case of blackmailing: “Give us access to these internal documents or we make your wife/husband aware of your Ashley-Madison account. This is a way to protect its business.

Then, Adrian Vollmer presented “Attacking RDP with Seth – How to eavesdrop on poorly secured RDP connections“. Adrian explained in details how’s working the RDP protocols to authenticate users. In the past, he used Cain & Abel to attack RDP sessions but the tool is quite old and unmaintained (I’m still using it from time to time). So, he decided to write his own tool called Seth. It exploits a misconfiguration in many RDP services. RDP security is similar to SSL but not exactly the same. He explained how this can be abused do downgrade from Kerberos to RDP Security. In this case, a popup warning is displayed to the victim but it is always ignored.

After the morning coffee break, I expected a lot from this talk: “A heaven for Hackers: Breaking Log/SIEM Products” by Mehmet Ince. The talk was not based on ways to abuse a SIEM via the logs that it processed but based on the fact that a SIEM is an application integrating multiple components. The methodology he used was:

Read the documentation

Understand the features

Get a trial version

Break it to access console

Define attack vector(s)

Find a vulnerability

He reported three cases. The first one was AlienVault. They downloaded two versions (the latest one and the previous one) and make a big diff in the files. Based on this, three problems were found: object injection, authentication bypass and IP spooking through XFF. By putting the three together, they were able to get a SQL injection but RCE is always better. They successfully achieved this by created a rule on the application that triggered a command when an SSH denied connection was reported. Evil! The second case targeted ManagEngine. The product design was bad and password to connect to remote Windows systems were stored in a database. If was possible to get access to a console to perform SQL queries but the console obfuscated passwords. By renaming the field ‘password’ to ‘somethingelse’, passwords were displayed in clear text! (“SELECT password AS somethingelse FROM …”). In the third case, LogSign, it was more destructive: it was possible to get rid of the logs… so simple! This was a nice talk.

Then, Ben Seri & Gregory Vishnepolsky presented “BlueBorne Explained: Exploiting Android devices over the air“. This vulnerability was in the news recently and is quite important:

5.3B devices vulnerable in the wild

8 vulnerabilities,  4 critical

Multiple OS: Android, Linux, Windows, IOS

No user interaction or auth

Enables RCE, MitM and info leaks

They reviewed the basic of the Bluetooth protocol and the different services (like SDP – “Service Discovery Protocol”). They gave a huge amount of details… The finished with a live demo by compromising an Android phone via the BNEP service (“BT Network Authentication Protocol). Difficult to follow for me but a huge research!

After a lunch break and interesting discussions, back to the main theatre for the last set of talks. There were two presentations that I found less interesting (IMHO). Anto Joseph presented “Bug hunting using symbolic virtual machines“. Symbolic execution + fuzzing a winning combination to find vulnerabilities. Symbolic execution is a way to analyse the behaviour of a program to determine what inputs cause each part of a program to execute. The tool used by Anto was klee. He made a lot of demos to explain how the tool is working. It looks to be a great tool but it was difficult to follow for my poor brain.

The next talk started late due to a video issue with the speaker’s laptop. Dmitry Yudin presented ” PeopleSoft: HACK THE Planet^W university“. By university, we mean here the PeopleSoft Campus Solutions which is used in more than 1000 universities worldwide. The main components are a browser, a web server, an application, a batch server and a database. Multiple vulnerabilities have been found in this suite, Dmitry explained the CVE-2017-10366. He explained all the step to jump from one service to another until a complete compromise of the suite.

After the last break, the day finished with two interesting presentations. Kirils Solovjovs presented “Tools for effortless reverse engineering of MikroTik routers“. Mikrotik routers are used worldwide and can be considered as a nice target. They are based on Linux, but RouterOS is based on an old kernel from 2012 and is closed source. So, we need a jailbreak! Kirils explained two techniques to jailbreak the router. He also found a nice backdoor which requires a specific file to be created on the file system. He explained many features of RouterOS and also some security issues like in the backup process. It is possible to create a file containing ‘../../../../’, so it was possible to create the file required by the back door. He released on the tools here.

To cloture the day and the conference, Gábor Szappanos talked about “Office Exploit Builders“. Why? Because Office documents remain the main vector of infection to drop malwares. It’s important to have “good” tools to generate malicious documents but who’s writing them?  Usually, VBA macros are used but, with a modern version of Office, macros are disabled by default. It’s better to use an exploit. Based on a study conducted two years ago, APT groups lack of knowledge to build malicious documents so they need tools! Gábor reviewed three tools:

AKBuilder: Active since 2015, typically used by Nigerians scammers and cost ~$500

Ancalog Exploit Builder: Peak of activity in 2016, also used by scammers. Price is ~$300 (retired)

Microsoft Word Intruder: used by more “high” profile, it can drop more dangerous pieces of malware. Written in PHP for Windows, its price is ~$20000-$35000!

A nice presentation to close the day! So, this closes the two days of Hacktivity 2017, the first edition for me. Note that the presentations will be available on the website in the coming days!

[The post Hacktivity 2017 Wrap-Up Day 2 has been first published on /dev/random]

from Xavier

[flauntpage]

Your Monday Morning Roundup

The Birds flew across the country and took home the win yesterday against the Los Angeles Chargers. It certainly was not the prettiest of wins.

Re-live the nail-biter with Chris’s Game Thread.

As you look at some of that content in the thread and videos online today, you’ll think it was an Eagles home game, but apparently the Chargers have given up on trying to sell seats.

The crowd that did show up, predominantly Eagles fans, loved seeing LeGarette Blount’s career-long 68-yard run that allowed the Eagles to score a much-needed touchdown to aid the winning effort. It was a Herculean effort– hearing Merrill Reese calling it, is just as good as seeing.

Eagles fans came out early and supported the team and Jason Peters stopped by to sign a special autograph:

WATCH: Eagles LT Jason Peters signs wounded Warrior's leg!!

Marine tells @6abc he lost leg in Afghanistan http://pic.twitter.com/OxonU5LQdc

— Jeff Skversky 6abc (@JeffSkversky) October 1, 2017

The amount of Eagles fans in attendance, thousands of miles from Philly, resonated with Malcom Jenkins:

Malcolm Jenkins says in his 9 years in the NFL he really hasnt seen anything quite like #Eagles🦅 fans taking over today http://pic.twitter.com/xawQSJx6L3

— John Clark CSN/NBC (@JClarkCSN) October 2, 2017

The Monday after an Eagles win is always good, but it is even better when the Cowboys and Giants lose. The Redskins play tonight against the lone undefeated team left in the league, the Chiefs. The Eagles winning and rest of the division losing? I LOVE it.

Now, let’s recap what went down on a jam-packed weekend.

But first, a word from our sponsors:

Legal. Check out Krasno, Krasno and Onwudinjo when you need a workers’ compensation or social security attorney.

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Fresh. The best meal delivery service, without question. Sign up for Hello Fresh now and get $40 off your first two boxes.

Amazon. If you shop Amazon, support your favorite website and use our link.

The Roundup:

The Phillies wrapped up their season on Sunday, with a lopsided win over the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. The team’s performance in the final few weeks, mainly fueled by the talent of the young prospects, kept the Phillies from losing 100 games and also having the worst record in baseball, a title they held for a majority of the 2017 season. That belongs to the Detroit Tigers. The Phillies finished third worst.

Also, Sunday was Freddy Galvis’s 162nd game of the season, making him just the sixth Phillie to play in every game of a season.

Sunday’s season finale was also the final game for manager Pete Mackanin. The team announced on Friday afternoon that he will no longer manage the team, but will stay with the organization. Personally, I am surprised, but regardless there will be a new manager in 2018, so now what? That’s the question BWanksCB posed.

Whoever does manage the Phillies next year will coach the ballclub in the 2018 edition of the Little League Classic.

—

The excitement for the Sixers is starting to build even more after this weekend when the team held its Blue-White scrimmage at The Palestra, which featured Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid, with the former two actually playing in the contest. You can watch the whole thing here.

Heading into the scrimmage, at the conclusion of training camp, our Kevin Kinkead compiled some copious notes on the team.

Although Embiid did not play, he did dance:

We are live!

| https://t.co/f1zzH4KFmQ http://pic.twitter.com/tLEWOJozL1

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 1, 2017

While Joel dabbed, Ben dunked:

.@BenSimmons25 jammin' and the people love it. http://pic.twitter.com/7uXvpP6FQO

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 1, 2017

The Sixers open the regular season in 17 days and this video of Brett Brown mic’d up should get you ready:

Coach Brett Brown prepares the @Sixers for the 2017-18 season! #SixersAllAccess http://pic.twitter.com/cyKj6ujILr

— NBA (@NBA) September 29, 2017

While the team preps for the season, its CEO Scott O’Neil appeared on Bloomberg’s Business of Sports podcast.

—

The Flyers battled the New York Islanders on Sunday afternoon in the team’s preseason match-up before opening up the regular season on Wednesday. Now they need to trim the roster before battling the San Jose Sharks in Game 1.

Our Flyers reporter, Anthony SanFilippo, predicted who he thinks is making the roster on the defense side. The team has yet to announce the official, final roster, but did make an announcement about three players. The team tweeted that Oskar Lindblom is heading to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to start the season and that both Nolan Patrick and Robert Hagg are sticking around as they have made the team going into opening night.

The puck drops at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday with the Flyers starting the 2017-18 campaign on the west coast.

—

No. 4 Penn State football battled with Indiana on Saturday in Happy Valley early before pulling away with the 45-14 win. The latest AP Top 25 was released, on Sunday, and the Nittany Lions held steady at that fourth position.

Saquon Barkley, who has the be the clear frontrunner for the Heisman this season, was the subject of a great feature about what he did at a high school track meet. I covered that track meet for a local paper and it was a special moment:

Here's a story about @@PennStateFball's Saquon Barkley that you may not know. And it says plenty about the Heisman candidate. http://pic.twitter.com/9DuzvZyK9a

— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) October 1, 2017

The 5-0 PSU squad battles Northwestern on Saturday at noon.

—

Unlike Penn State, Tennessee football is struggling mightily and many are saying that head coach Butch Jones’s days in Rocky Top are numbered. Who will replace him? The odds on favorite is Chip Kelly.

—

LSU’s homecoming was this weekend and they paid Troy $985,000 to come play them in hopes of an easy win to keep up with the festivities of the weekend. The Tigers lost both on the field and on Twitter:

Hey @LSU, thanks for having us down for homecoming! We really enjoyed it!

— Troy University (@TROYUnews) October 1, 2017

—

Back to the professional ranks, the NFL was in London again and the Jay Cutler of old made the trip across the pond:

Jay Cutler didn't move or give a single f*** during this wildcat formation. http://pic.twitter.com/zkOZlCgEvQ

— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 1, 2017

The Dolphins lost the game.

—

The Ravens lost to the Steelers and were booed throughout the game for their poor play. Its home crowd booed them pre-game as well, for kneeling:

—

On a somewhat related note, FiveThirtyEight broke down the political affiliation of every NFL team’s fanbase. The Eagles fanbase leans heavily democratic, compared to the rest of the league.

—

The MLB playoffs starts Tuesday night. Here is your guide for when the games are and where to watch them:

Postseason start times announced through Saturday, October 7th. #Postseason http://pic.twitter.com/PmIYErqLvl

— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) October 2, 2017

—

Sunday was CSN Philly’s 20th anniversary:

It's our 20th birthday today, and while our name will change, our mission remains the same.

Thanks to EVERYONE who has made CSN special. http://pic.twitter.com/1dXQskuad3

— CSN Philly (@CSNPhilly) October 2, 2017

It was also the last day of CSN Philly. Today it is now known as NBC Sports Philadelphia:

🤔 http://pic.twitter.com/6oCdpHSu6B

— Kyle Scott (@CrossingBroad) October 1, 2017

—

In non-sports news…

There was a knife attack in France on Sunday that killed two people.

Nokia is bringing back its old classic cell phone…alert your parents!

Horrible events in Las Vegas.

—

Happy Monday, make it a good week!

Your Monday Morning Roundup published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[100prompts]

1. Show the video footage of former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, being heckled by pro-Palestinian activists at U.C. Irvine. Ask students: How does this make you feel?

 2. Throw a bagel to every person in the room. Ask: In what ways does this bagel represent and embody the Jewish experience and in what ways not? Consider in chevrutah.

 3. Give every student $7. Challenge them to donate a dollar a day for one week. Come back a week later and discuss.

 4. Read the Bereshit account of Jacob wrestling with the “angel”. Ask students: In what ways has Jewish history embodied or reflected this origin as “wrestlers”?

 5. Read the morning prayer, “Elohai HaNeshama”. Ask students: What comes up for you when you read this prayer? What might it mean to say that the soul is “pure”?

 6. Give everyone a copy of “Modeh Ani” and have folks recite it upon arising every morning for one week. Come back together and discuss.

 7. Watch the Israeli band A-WA’s single “Habib Galbi”. Discuss.

 8. Watch a quality version of Bob Marley’s “Exodus”. Ask students: To what extent is this a “Jewish” song – To what extent does it present the tropes and themes of the Jewish story – both historically and spiritually? To what extent not?

 9. Study a map of the Land of Israel that includes both major Jewish and Arab population centers as well as clearly delineates the “Green Line”. Ask students if they have any questions.

 10. Invite students into a private Facebook group entitled “Gratitude Reflections” and challenge each member of the group to post three “things” they’re grateful for each day.

 11. Bring a group of students to a rally or protest. Have them create signs and posters based on values from their Jewish tradition. Following the rally, go get pizza and discuss.

 12. Bring a group of Muslim students to meet a group of Jewish students. Have dinner and then have each group generate as many questions as they’d like to ask the other. Come back together and take turns going back and forth, answering as many of the questions as possible.

 13. Watch the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, “Palestinian Chicken”. Ask your students to explain the last scene.

 14. Invite Erika Davis (author of the “Black, Gay, and Jewish” blog) to visit a group of students.

 15. Purchase every student a copy of Heschel’s “Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity”. Read any essay. Discuss.

 16. Find an online description of the Chofetz Chaim’s stringent rules around gossip and Lashon Hara. Ask students what role gossip plays in their lives and if they can understand the rabbi’s stringencies?

 17. Host a Tu B’Shvat seder. Download the Hazon “haggadah” for the occasion. Real wine is a must.

 18. Pass around a lulav and an etrog. Discuss.

 19. At the start or end of a semester, study the midrash of Nachshon ben Aminadav. Ask students in what ways that embodied the chutzpah of Nachshon over the past semester and in what ways they wish they had embodied his chutzpah.

 20. Watch the short (30 min.) Israeli movie “Barriers”. Ask students to name ten different types of barriers represented in the movie. Discuss widely.

 21. Read the entirety of the Shema. Ask students: How would you relate to the 2nd paragraph if you were a Cambodian sustenance farmer? How would you relate to it if you were “ancient man”? How do you (might you) relate to it as you yourself?

 22. Borrow a handful of sets of tefillin and a bunch of tallitot and gather a bunch of students for whom these ritual items are not familiar. Have everyone take turns “wrapping and donning”. Discuss.

 23. Gather ten students in an open space for the sunset. Recite the evening “Ma’ariv” prayer. Sit in silence.

 24. Look at a collection of hanhagot from various Jewish writers. Have students compose their own hanhagot – based on the language and style of the historical ones.

 25. Open up the claf of a mezuzah. Ask students to explain this ritual technology. Have students compose their own mezuzah scroll – give them pushpins to affix these original scrolls to their doorposts.

 26. Gather a small group of really intellectually intense students. Purchase each of them a copy of Buber’s “The Way of Man”. Gather on several occasions to read a chapter from this small book.

 27. Read the original “10 Commandments” and then read Archie Gottesman’s “New Ten Commandments for the Jewish People”. First discuss. Then have the students compose their own individual ten commandments. Discuss.

 28. Cut up a whole lot of little slips of paper. On half of them write, “The entire world was created for me”. On the other half write, “I am nothing but dust and ashes”. Give one of each to 10 students. Ask them to pull out the former when they’re feeling glum and to pull our and read the latter when they’re feeling overly proud. Have them do that for a week. Gather and discuss.

 29. On Erev Shabbat, have students go around and fill in the following blanks: This Shabbat I want to unplug from ________. This Shabbat I want to plug into ________.

 30. Introduce the Kabbalistic practice of gerushin (wanderings). Take a handful of students and walk aimlessly around campus for an hour trying to get in touch with the exile of the Shekhinah. Discuss.

 31. Give a tutorial on various online Israeli and Jewish news culture websites. Let students survey them on their own for a while. Present favorite articles.

 32. Read the first chapter of Bereshit – slowly. Discuss as you read.

 33. Study Rav Yosef’s statement in the Talmud (Ketubot 48a) that “There must be close bodily contact during sex…” Ask students why Rav Yosef insists on two people being naked? What’s up with nakedness?

 34. Study the midrash’s story of Noah planting a vineyard with Satan. Prepare to answer questions about the Jewish Satan. Ask students: What’s this midrash trying to communicate to us about the complexity of getting drunk and being stoned?

 35. Get a bunch of siddurim and have students flip through the section of Birkat Nehenin. Tell them they are on a “Brachot Scavenger Hunt”. Can they identify one blessing that is surprising? One that they have recited at some point in the past? One that they find beautiful? Etc.

 36. Cut up the weekly parsha verse by verse. Place all the verses in a hat. Pass it around – everyone randomly selects a verse. Have students go a sit alone for 15 minutes reflecting on how the verse speaks to them and “where they’re at” in life. Come back together and share in chevrutah.

 37. Study the very first mishnah of Mishnah Berachot.

 38. Read A.B. Yehoshua’s critique of diaspora life published in Ha’aretz several years ago. Discuss.

 39. Print copies of the summary of “the PEW poll”. Give students 15 minutes to peruse and discuss in small groups. Come back together. Discuss.

 40. Give students 30 minutes to answer the question “Why be Jewish?” Answers must be fewer that 50 words. Do the same exercise but require answers to be 20 words or less. Do one more time – 5 words. Then 1 word.

 41. Read Matisyahu’s Twitter post (along with accompanying photo) from 12/13/11. Discuss.

 42. Gather a group of students. Ask them how we might understand and relate to the idea of angels. Chant “Shalom Aleichem” (as a niggun, without the words) for 15 minutes. Discuss.

 43. Print out copies of the Rambam’s enumeration of the 613 commandments. Give students 15 minutes to explore the list. And give them a set of scavenger hunt questions to guide their exploration. A commandment that’s surprising. One they already were familiar with. One they’d like to find the time to perform. One that is morally troubling.

 44. Watch the “Double Rainbow” Youtube classic. Pair this with a Heschel text on “wonder”. Discuss.

 45. Invite a Jewish LGBT activist to visit with your students.

 46. Invite a young Orthodox Jew to meet with your students for a session entitled, “What’s going on in the mind of a young Orthodox Jew?”

 47. Sometime around Hannukah, read David Brooks’ piece, “The Hannukah Story,” in the NYTimes from 12/10/09. Discuss.

 48. Look at the commandments prohibiting tattoos. Ask students: What right does the Torah have to tell you how to live your life?

 49. Place a bacon cheeseburger in the center of a group of students. Discuss.

 50. Play Omer Avital’s song, “New Middle East”. Ask students: What does this song mean?

 51. Read Allen Ginsberg’s poem, “Jaweh and Allah Battle”. Read it again. Discuss.

 52. Have students try and retell the Purim story.

 53. Ask students about the personal significance (or lack thereof) of fasting on Yom Kippur.

 54. Ask students to make sense of the fact that many Jews who eat cheeseburgers all year long abstain from bread during Pesach.

 55. Have students consider Kaplan’s statement: “The ancient authorities are entitled to a vote, but not a veto”. Discuss.

 56. Consider the mitzvah of Kibud av v’em / Honor your father and mother. Break students into chevrutot to talk about the depth and possible limitations of this commandment. Have students write letters to their folks.

 57. Have students look at the calendar of Jewish months and holidays. Answer questions.

 58. Have students read the liturgical text for Amelioration of Bad Dreams. Ask students: What power (of lack thereof) might dreams have in your life? Get into chevrutot and share a dream that has “stuck with you”. Why?

 59. Read the Rambam’s “13 Principles of Faith”. Discuss.

 60. Bring a Sefer Torah into a room with a group of students. Allow them to hold it and sit with it. Kiss it. Open it up and roll it from start the finish – pointing out unique “typographic” and narrative moments in the text. Answer questions.

 61. Bring in falafel – with all the “salatim” fixings. Have a student facilitate a “Felafel Tutorial” demonstrating how to properly stuff a pita.

 62. Read the Torah’s narrative about Moses not being permitted to enter the Land of Israel. Ask them to reflect on a time in which they too were not able to make it to a long desired “destination”.

 63. Invite a Russian Jewish immigrant to tell his/her story.

 64. Ask students if the institution of Bar/Bat Mitzvah should be nixed – or significantly altered. Should it be postponed until the age of 21?

 65. Ask students: What does the title “Birthright” mean? Do you have a “Birthright” to the Land of Israel? Discuss.

 66. Have students attend Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat davening as “Religious Ethnographers”. Over Shabbat dinner, discuss findings.

 67. Watch “Kourtney and Kim Take New York” episode, “True Colors” in which Scott Disick has a mini Jewish awakening. Ask students: What’s going on for Scott? Discuss.

 68. Watch Alicia Keys’ music video, “No One”. Ask students: What is this song about? About a relationship between two people? Or about a relationship between a person and God? What evidence in the music video might suggest the latter? Bring in some Kabbalistic poetry. Ask students: What’s the relationship between spirituality and eroticism?

 69. Consider several cases of medieval Jewish martyrdom. Ask students: Would you choose death rather than “forsake” your Jewish identity?

 70. Find an interesting analysis of “Jewish American Princess”. Have students read it together. Ask students how they feel about this terminology and its function.

 71. Have students consider the injunction in Vayikra, “Reprove your neighbor”. Bring in some commentary from interesting sources. Break students into chevrutot and have them think about whom in their lives deserves careful reproach of this sort?

 72. Take students to a mikvah. Allow them to immerse (privately) if desired. Discuss.

 73. Read the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Discuss.

 74. Read George Washington’s “Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport”. Ask students: Do they identify primarily as Jewish Americans or American Jews?

 75. Ask students to talk about their “Hebrew Names” – their origins, etc. Lead a discussion about any subject, where students must refer to one another by using their Hebrew names.

 76. Have students tell each other their “Jewish stories” by describing a 1) person, 2) experience, and 3) Jewish idea that have had major impacts on their lives.

 77. Play a good version of the “Hora” and have students lift each other one by one up in chairs. Discuss.

 78. Using their cellphones, have students take portraits of one another with different facial expressions for a variety of Jewish “things” – including, Yom Kippur, Israel, the Shoah, Bnei Mitzvah, etc. Post pictures on Facebook.

 79.  Have students explore Ritualwell.org. Break students up into groups of 4 and have them design new rituals for “Upon a Hard Break Up”, “Upon Acceptance into College”, and “Upon Leaving Your First Year Dorm room”.

 80. Watch an interview with Rabbi Menachem Froman z”l. Ask students: What does Rav Froman mean when he says he lives in “the state of God”?

 81. Ask students: Are Jews white?

 82. Watch a collection of recent videos showing police abuse of people of color. Ask students: Considering the injunction in Devarim, “You must not remain indifferent”, what actions have they considered taking to address the injustices that continue to surround race in America?

 83. Watch the video of two Israeli police officers beating a Jewish Israeli of Ethiopian decent. Watch videos of the ensuing Ethiopian protests in Tel Aviv. Discuss.

 84. Have students turn to one another in chevrutot. Ask them to discuss their relationship with and experience of God.

 85. Have students write a list of “10 Contemporary Plagues” that impact our global society. Have them read this list at their family seders.

 86. Have students read Rebbe Nachman’s short tale, “The Turkey Prince”. Discuss.

 87. Ask students if they’ve received particular “messaging” from parents or grandparents about the need to marry a Jew. Discuss.

 88. In a group of students, read selections from Jean Amery’s essay, “On the Necessity and Impossibility of Being a Jew”. Discuss.

 89. Ask students: Is it cool to be Jewish? Discuss.

 90. Have students interview their oldest living relative about what being Jewish “means to them”. Each student will present.

 91. Have students perform a “Welcoming Assessment” for a selection of campus Jewish organizations and institutions. Students present findings.

 92. Read “The Epistle of the Baal Shem Tov” with a group of students. Discuss.

 93. Instruct students to light a menorah (during Hannukah) in a public space in order to “publicize the miracle”. Come back together and process the experience.

 94. Watch the Israeli movie, “Sallah Shabati”. Discuss.

 95. Watch “Fiddler on the Roof”. Discuss.

 96. Consider how the Torah describes all generations of Jews as having stood at Sinai at the giving of the Torah. Read Merle Feld’s poem, “We all Stood Together”. Ask students to envision what they would have been doing, how they would have been feeling, where they would have been standing – at Sinai.

 97. Teach students how to give a “Dvar Torah”. Then give them all various short selections from Torah. They have 10 minutes to develop “Divrei Torah”. Present.

 98. Facilitate a “Lechayim Tutorial”.

 99. Have students compose their “Jewish Soul Resumes”. Present.

 100. Teach students the lyrics of “Hatikva”. Sing together as a group. Discuss.