#lifelong mystery nerd

[reachexceedinggrasp]

I have a feeling you might relate to this or you might have even related this on your blog already, but I was just thinking of that Ghoul quotation water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

I think probably my favourite, maybe ever, quiet point of characterisation in a sort of villainous or Beast love interest is his or her having a poet's soul... whether that is conscious or unconscious romantic meditation. It's like Kylo musing to Rey when he says 'You have that look in your eyes. From the forest. When you called me a monster' I love that sort of wistful observation, especially because it evokes such potent imagery ('when we fought together in the forest and then you marked yourself on my face'). Or more literally something like Ghoul citing a line of literature, even when none around except for Lucy would know what he's referencing, it's for his own arrestment and amusement, this is how he sees/interacts with the world

I guess in that way, it reveals something new about their perspective on the world, even when they're somebody seemingly cut off from it - monstrous, othered, repellent, ugly - when they're able to articulate a certain beauty which other characters may not remark upon. It's sort of covetous in that sense, but I think it also sort of helps explain what might interest them about a Beauty, after all, there's something they long for and value (spiritual, aesthetic, existential beauty).

I thought you might be able to relate 🥰

Oh, totally. And with Cooper and Ben, specifically, which is a parallel I hadn't actually noticed until you've just pointed it out, we're being shown their sensitivity as characters. Not in the sense of being considerate, but that they're aware and alert to beauty and meaning in the world despite currently occupying a narrative role which might make us think they're simply destructive or nihilistic figures. Despite the cynicism they're both ostensibly espousing.

Cooper quotes or alludes to literature practically constantly relative to how little he speaks, always knowing people almost certainly won't understand him, and that's especially fascinating because he didn't make those kinds of references in the flashbacks. We could take this in a whole direction about how he created the Ghoul as a character to shield himself from the things he had to do to survive and is living within a meta-narrative deconstructing the reactionary anti-hero who overtook the white hat sheriff he used to play in his movies. The anti-hero he never wanted to be. He makes allusions because his life has become a story he's telling himself to stay sane. He's his own wry Dickensian narrator making asides to an imagined audience about dramatic irony and social commentary.

And an important part of his presentation to others before the war was painting himself as not sophisticated. Just a cowboy and then just a guy who plays a cowboy in the movies. He wants nothing to do with politics either in an interpersonal or broader sense, and disclaims any pretensions to being savvy despite being in a very theoretically powerful position as a rich, connected major film star. I think he was genuinely naive, but I also think he often played dumb to avoid social conflict. He was complacent and his image helped him remain complacent. Obviously he was very willing to be confrontational when he saw wrong or injustice right in front of him (he goes after Bud Askins directly to his face about marines getting killed by shitty equipment, he challenges Moldaver when she calls him out), but pre-bombs he mostly uses his empathic perceptiveness and charisma to keep everyone around him happy.

In the wasteland we often see him doing the opposite and deliberately riling people up in order to gather information and assess or eliminate them as threats, but he's also only gotten better at disarming people when he wants to. As a handsome charming film star he pretended not to know anything, as a scary intimidating monster he pretends he knows everything.

What I'm curious about as far as all this goes is whether Cooper had a secret nerdy side and read all the classics as a teenager or perhaps while waiting between shots when he was working as a stuntman or whether he wanted to fit in when he started to make it in Hollywood so tried to become cultured before realising that wasn't what anyone wanted from him. Or if he just spent 200 years alone and read anything he could find as a way to cling to his humanity. We know he was at least a bit intellectually curious before the war, because of his reading and retaining some article about studies on torture.

But YES, him quoting poetry and being so interested and insightful about Lucy, specifically is a huge part of how he's framed as a romantic figure. And he's already by far the most romantic figure in the show. If it were solely about his tragedy, you'd think they would emphasise the contrast between his pre-fallen and post-fallen state by stripping him of his heroic trappings, but they don't. He's actually more romantic post-'curse'.

It also gets me because he's an extremely smart, socially adept person who doesn't let others see him for who he really is both consciously and unconsciously on multiple levels and that layers of identity shit is my crack. He was a profoundly honest person who thought he was simple, but actually he was a glorious maze of contradiction and complexity waiting to happen who is now a master manipulator.

[sunderwight]

TSCTIR-inspired SVSSS AU.

Shen Yuan was just a regular (ehhh kind of) nerd when the invasions began, monsters and dungeons started showing up, and people started "awakening" as RPG-style superheroes with special abilities, enhanced strength/speed/etc, and ranked classifications.

Shen Yuan's older brother awakens as S-classes. His younger sister awakens as an S-class. Shen Yuan?

F-class.

Of course, chronically ill Shen Yuan told himself he wasn't really expecting any different. But there have been people who have awakened as higher classes despite their own lifelong health problems or disabilities, and in many cases awakening cured them, and so he'd hoped...

Well. It doesn't matter what he'd hoped.

The worst part isn't even that he's not some badass dungeon-delver himself (even though he is wildly curious about all the strange monsters and beasts and demons that have been turning up), the worst part is that his siblings have all but left him in the dust. They aren't just busy, he can tell that they've increasingly been avoiding him, until virtually the only time they speak to him is when they catch him trying to go into a dungeon again and then yell at him about it.

(Of course, his siblings have been increasingly aware of the danger SY is in whenever he's in proximity to them, but no one ever accused the Shen family of having strong communication skills...)

Nonetheless, if there is some possible way for Shen Yuan to increase his rank, he won't find it staying at home. And there are too many mysteries to investigate to just keep himself out of it, even if that would be more sensible. So, Shen Yuan arranges to be on various low-level dungeon teams. Often among the more questionable, misguided ones being attempted by the newly-awakened or by people who are just desperate to try and get some kind of windfall. Dungeons are dangerous, but a lucky item drop can still make someone more money in a minute than they could otherwise earn in a year. It's through these jobs that Shen Yuan meets fellow F-class Shang Qinghua, whose motives for entering the dungeons are definitely more financial than academic.

This is also how Shen Yuan ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, in a dungeon that has suddenly gone from low-level to a high-level boss, fleeing for his life. Just when it seems like he's about to become mincemeat, his older brother (Shen Jiu) shows up and takes on the dungeon boss. But it's too much for a lone S-class, even one as determined and vicious as SJ, and Shen Yuan can only watch in horror as his brother is killed by the terrifyingly powerful and weirdly beautiful Heavenly Demon Boss.

But the reason SY survived the initial assault, when no one else did, is thanks to his hidden ability. Which temporarily grants him the powers of anyone he has a bond with who has just died, x2. Previously, he had his bacon saved by Shang Qinghua's traumatic death, and when Shen Jiu dies, SY gains enough power to actually take down this mysterious Heavenly Demon boss.

It's a hollow victory. His brother is dead. His friend is dead. Even the boss monster seems inexplicably tragic to him somehow.

And why did SJ show up anyway? Between his siblings, Shen Yuan thought that his brother had grown the most distant from him, that he even hated him now! Why couldn't he have just... stayed away...?

Despite the traumatic horror of these events, killing the boss monster grants Shen Yuan a boon. It isn't a "raise people from the dead" boon, but it does permit time travel! In fact it seems kind of emphatic on that point, like something has gone really horribly wrong with reality and the world is struggling to hold itself together now somehow. Though that could also just be because Shen Yuan's world is struggling to hold itself together...?

Regardless, this new entity called "the system" refuses to let Shen Yuan go back to a point in time before he awakened, or before the dungeons appeared. But he can go back to a point before his brother died, which is definitely good enough. Accept, accept! Who has time to read the terms & conditions? Whatever it is he'll deal with it! Just send him as far back in time as he can go!

As such, Shen Yuan's memories are sent back five years in time. Along with him go a bunch of weird new unlocked abilities, and the system menu, which demands he fulfill certain tasks and complete certain quests as a stipulation of the time travel boon. Succeed, and he gets more rewards to help him keep himself and his loved ones alive. Fail, and he'll be rebooted back to the bad ending, except to the moment before the Heavenly Demon boss died but without any of his power boosts.

So maybe Shen Yuan should have read the fine print.

Though, even if he had, he still would have made the same choice.

Back five years in the past, he's got some thinking to do. Five years is a decent chunk of time. His siblings have both awoken, and begun distancing themselves from him, but their positions are still pretty different. Shen Jiu and his childhood friend Yue Qi had a falling-out over something (they wouldn't say what) at this point in time. Shen Jiu signed on with the Qiu Collective, one of the initial rich adventuring guilds that hired people to go into dungeons. But the Qiu Collective was corrupt even by the standards of a lot of dungeon-oriented corporations, and though Shen Yuan was never made privy to the details, he knew they mistreated Shen Jiu badly and that there were a lot of investigations. The collective ultimately went under when their office was destroyed by a rogue rampaging monster, after an undiscovered dungeon opened nearby. Dungeons that open but aren't found are especially dangerous, as the threat levels will steadily increase without anyone to clear them out, until the result is a dungeon break -- monsters escaping the dungeon and emerging in the normal world, causing havoc and Godzilla-style rampages.

According to the official reports, that was what caused the destruction of the Qiu Collective's head office and the death of their CEO.

Yue Qi, on the other hand, joined the Cang Qiong guild, which had fared a little better over the five year span. Yue Qi eventually even took over the guild, and after the Qiu Collective went under, Shen Jiu made up with him enough to join him there. Shen Yuan had hoped they would reconcile and maybe even answer some of his calls, but things remained strained between all of them even afterwards.

Shen Ying, his little sister, was sheltered and trained by their older brother until she was old enough to join Cang Qiong as well, but despite being S-rank, her youth and inexperience kept her more on the sidelines. Shen Yuan had thought they might bond over being kept out of the loop, but his last conversation with his sister had made it clear that as far as she was concerned, he was still world's away from her level.

(Read: Shen Ying told him he should keep away from dangerous things, was clumsy about it, and unwittingly fed some of Shen Yuan's worst insecurities.)

On top of that, though, was another consideration:

Luo Binghe.

Among the guilds that could rival Cang Qiong five years hence, the biggest one was Demon Path. Luo Binghe would start out as a member of Cang Qiong guild, recruited shortly after awakening. Shen Yuan had thought he was pretty cool, actually, but there was some bad blood between Luo Binghe and Shen Jiu, and it got bad enough that when Luo Binghe made his solo break he got Shen Jiu embroiled in some kind of legal investigation (something about the wrongful death of another guild member) on his way out. Demon Realm and Cang Qiong remained thoroughly at odds afterwards, and things only got worse when Demon Realm surpassed Cang Qiong's count of S-rank members, and conducted a successful merger with Huan Hua guild. That is, until Luo Binghe just mysteriously vanished altogether from the public eye.

Though Luo Binghe of course wasn't the dungeon boss that actually killed Shen Jiu, he had certainly been trying to destroy him before Shen Yuan reset the timeline.

But going five years back in time... Luo Binghe had been a prodigy, the youngest to become a guild leader. Five years hence, he'd be around twenty years old.

Which means that right now, thanks to the rewind, he is fourteen or fifteen years old and hasn't even awakened yet.

It would be possible to take him out of the equation altogether.

Then, there's Liu Qingge. An S-rank who died in a dungeon under suspicious circumstances, which provided the crux of the investigation into Shen Jiu. He and Shen Jiu had also never gotten along, although once again no one had confided the details to him. Shen Yuan refused to believe that his brother had actually murdered Liu Qingge, though. If Shen Jiu was going to murder someone he'd be a lot less obvious about it.

But it would probably be better if Liu Qingge didn't die at all.

Lastly, there's the matter of Shang Qinghua.

According to Shen Yuan's mental math, Shang Qinghua won't have awoken his abilities yet either. Five years into the future, extensive research and several regrettable moves on the part of various governments and guilds would reveal that even though it was supposedly impossible to increase someone's rank after awakening, how a person awoke their abilities could have a great deal of impact on their rank.

Shang Qinghua was a textbook example of a bad awakening. His skills were mostly oriented towards stealth and item drop bonuses, but his awakening had been violent, prompted by a shady center that promised people an avenue to adventure and riches only to use mortal terror to trigger the awakening process. Being in extreme danger would work fine for those with combat skills, but wasn't so good for everyone else. A lot of people had their awakening stunted by such early methods, which were not only a bad way to go about it but also traumatic to boot.

Shen Yuan has a suspicion that someone like Shang Qinghua would actually be incredibly valuable for stealth missions and item farming, if only he'd awoken at full potential. Instead, he'd struggled to make anything of his abilities due to his lack of durability or access to the kind of high-level items that would compensate for it.

Gathering all this foresight, Shen Yuan sets about altering the future to protect his siblings.

Step one: find Luo Binghe.

Shen Yuan's initial thought was to just kind of, nudge Luo Binghe towards something different from Cang Qiong altogether. Maybe if he started out with Huan Hua guild, he could contain all his trouble there. But when he finds him, Binghe is in a bad situation. The kid's living in foster care with abusive caretakers, his adoptive mother has recently died, and he's waiting tables and picking up trash instead of going to school. His clothes are threadbare, he's too skinny, and he looks like he's been beaten.

Between a rocky introduction and an attack from a Moon Python Rhinoceros thanks to a nearby dungeon break, Shen Yuan manages to convince Luo Binghe to hire him as his agent (fee = 0% of all Binghe's dungeon earnings plus 0% from contracts), and determinedly takes over. The System seems to wildly approve of it.

Creepy. And suspicious.

But Binghe is actually a total sweetheart, as it happens, to the point where Shen Yuan can't imagine what inspired the enmity between him and Shen Jiu. This kid truly is a diamond in the rough. He just needed a little help and some actual guidance, that's all!

With Binghe on the road to a less antagonistic fate, the next most chronologically urgent item on the list is Shang Qinghua. Shen Yuan has a new ability that lets him awaken people to their full potential, and his chosen guinea pig is his own formerly deceased bro. Somehow, awakening Shang Qinghua's abilities ends up involving a near-miss with rescuing him from debt collectors, and running into (and rescuing) the S-class Mobei Jun, who had joined Demon Realm as Luo Binghe's subordinate back in the original timeline.

It's actually quite fortuitous, though, because Shang Qinghua's treasure-hunter and stealth abilities are best suited to him being accompanied by a high-ranking hunter who can pick up the physical slack. Shen Yuan had been thinking that at least awakening Shang Qinghua as a D-rank would make him durable enough to handle some dungeons without turning to sketchy organizations for back-up, but with Mobei Jun, the ice prince can ferry the man right to the most valuable loot!

Shen Yuan's on a roll!

He discovers that some of his new abilities have utility as beast-taming skills, and tackles several dungeons successfully with the help of Luo Binghe, Shang Qinghua, and Mobei Jun. They even manage to rescue A-class Sha Hualing from a sticky situation, and Shen Yuan learns that his abilities can, in fact, help other awakened level up their own rank (previously believed impossible). With enough of his influence, Sha Hualing could become S-rank one day.

But of course, it can't be too easy.

When Shen Yuan moves to intervene with the dungeon break that wiped out the Qiu Collective, and seemed to start all the controversies against his brother, he instead finds that there is no dungeon at all. Yet, clearly some kind of attack on the building is underway.

He finds out why when he comes across his brother in a fugue state, murdering his way through his own guild.

Turns out, most S-ranks creep people out. Most average people can barely tolerate being around them even before they awaken. But afterwards? Their oppressive auras and sheer strength tend to trigger everyone's flight-or-fight reflex. Shen Yuan never noticed, because he's grown up surrounded by S-ranks his whole life. Even upon watching Shen Jiu kill the Qiu members, Shen Yuan's chief source of upset is that they were apparently treating his brother so badly that they inspired a murder spree from someone ordinarily much more calculating and clever than that.

Apparently, Shen Yuan should have been taking the opportunity to move against them a lot sooner, rather than just mitigating the whole supposed dungeon-break disaster and then investigating after. His own fault. He thought that keeping his distance would help his siblings, but clearly, letting them hoard their secrets and do whatever they think is best isn't the way to go either.

Does he even know what's really happening with his sister? Or to Yue Qi over at Cang Qiong? At this point in time, his friend had stopped contacting him altogether for several months in a row. When he came back, he was definitely more subdued and even more distant than he had been before. And that's the same guild that Shen Jiu and Shen Ying will eventually join as well, presumably with its own skeletons packed into the closet.

Shen Yuan's going to have to adjust a lot of his plans, it seems.

But first -- he's got a murder spree to help cover up, and an older brother to take home and, uh. Calm down. Or something?

Damn. Maybe Shen Jiu did kill Liu Qingge on purpose. He's going to have to thoroughly figure that situation out too, if he wants to handle it right...

[mrsbsmooth]

Love is Blind

Clayton "Blaze" Jackson is a firefighter, his real name is Clayton but he’s ex military. He has a dog named Daisy and she’s a Dalmatian

Nico Tarentelli is Italian, grew up on a winery but moved to the States to be a stunt person. very sexual but looking for a partner who's his best friend (also ready to settle down and put his old ways behind him)

Kieran Walsh is an ex-professional (american) football player, now coaches kids, very sweet and family-oriented. His parents have been together for 30 years, grandparents for 60.

Zayid (surname??) is from Jordan, speaks Persian, went to Princeton, very charitable, started his own business and recently sold it. He's very sweet, his Dad died before he graduated. [side note he’s definitely the prince lol]

Danny Ramos previously had cancer, has a twin sister. Owns a beachfront dive bar in Malibu with her called Danny's Dive. Has a cat named Opal. He is funny, but humor is important to him because he said if he could laugh through that, he could do anything. He also has a dad bod not a six pack

Gee is a gym bro and a fucking douche

Jimmy wants to smell you

Nate is a mama's boy

Parker is up himself, way too forward, and kinda rude.

Choosing your route:

I've gone through and replayed the original questions multiple times (mapped them out, God I'm a nerd.)

The only choice that matters is the very first one.

Find True Love: Your first date will be with Gee. Your second date will be with Blaze.

Be a Star: Your first date will be with Nate. Your second date will be with Keiran.

Experience New Things: Your first date will be with Jimmy. Your second date will be with Nico

Make lifelong friends: Your first date will be with Parker. Your second date will be with Danny.

Regardless of which option you pick:

The 'Mystery guy' will be your second date

You cannot meet Zayid until later (Tell me if someone figures out how to get him because I've played every route through to this point and couldn't get him).

Later, whichever guy you pick to “further your relationship” with is the one who will offer you the ultimatum

[millipedish]

On wembling, convincing, fawning, and the antichrist? A Convincing John deep dive.

I wrote this over the course of a week, trying to sort through 13 years of obsession. Why is Convincing John my favorite character, anyway? Content warning for talk of organized religion, a subject I try to stay neutral on. While my experiences with church are mostly negative, someone I know values it because of the community it gives him, while still criticizing the same things I do about organized religion. I'm trying to come to this with that point of view.

In 2011 I was out of college and employed on the weekends. There was a new channel on TV called The Hub. Essentially it was created by Hasbro to market its toys right into the brains of little kids with shows based on its properties, but it also had a number of reruns of old shit, particularly, including a big chunk of the Henson catalog. I think this is where my adult interest in Henson began. There were no muppets, of course, that was Disney, but there was a lot of the weirder, experimental stuff that no one talks about. Like Good Boy!. Does anyone remember Good Boy!(2003)? It’s a. It’s definitely a movie.

While other nerds my age were discovering My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I was watching Fraggle Rock in syndication. It immediately drew me in with its sets. Mossy caves with rainbow lighting were beautiful but also a little unnerving. Unknown creatures would bounce and slither in the background- nothing to do with the action, they were just there. It was contemplative and mysterious.

Then suddenly a girl was alone in a cage, singing about rivers and sunlight and her desire for freedom. That song had me totally enraptured. That’s the moment I became a lifelong Fraggle Rock fan.

I went on youtube and I looked up the song just to hear it again and to confirm that it was as good as I thought it was. Then I was down a rabbit hole watching more videos from the show and absorbing more songs. 

And that’s how I first stumbled upon this rat preacher guy singing about human beings and doozer towers. Comments sections could not be turned off back then, and I scrolled down to see some weird comment about the character’s initials. Keep in mind that that particular upload has been deleted and the comment has been lost to the void, but it was something like this:

Convincing John is JC reversed, the reverse of Jesus Christ! Convincing John is the antichrist! Or at least that’s what those crazy 80s parents groups said about Jim Henson’s character back in the day. Those silly conservatives! But what if Jim had a message with this character? Makes you think, doesn’t it?

For the record, there is nothing to back that up. Not even anything about conservatives getting mad at the show for John’s character. I checked with the people who know. But, put a pin in that idea. 

Mokey(AKA, the girl in the cage) was my favorite at first! I loved her singing voice, and I loved her complexity. Calm, but insecure. Generous, but vain. Pacifistic, but spiteful. Because she was my favorite, I wanted to see all the episodes about her, so naturally I learned the context of that Convincing John song. 

And I tell you, the way Fraggle Rock introduced him was effective. For context, this is the episode where Mokey is trying to convince the fraggles to stop eating doozer towers. Frustrated that she can’t change their habits, Mokey declares that she’ll ask Convincing John for help, and when she mentions him, there’s a musical sting and her friends gasp.

The next two minutes are spent hyping up this character. “He can convince the rocks to change color” “he’s the type of fraggle no one goes to see”. We don’t even see Mokey talk to him, but we see what he’s done to her: he’s convinced her to wear plastic cups on her hands, and he’s convinced Red to walk around blindfolded. This is a fraggle, not a gorg or a poison cackler. He has the ability to make the girls make decisions that are clearly not in their best interest. Is getting him to change the will of their whole community really a good idea? It feels like making a deal with the devil. Even Mokey calling him a ‘nice man’ makes him seem more ominous. 

If he has that kind of power, what kind of person is he? I mean, yeah, I’d already seen the song, but putting myself in the shoes of someone watching this chronologically. Two thirds of the episode in and he finally shows up, and he’s just about the ugliest fraggle you’ve ever met! I mean that affectionately. He has a cheap suit, and teeth! Teeth built right onto the puppet! They resemble that time Kermit had teeth but not quite as bad. He proceeds to sing his very upbeat, very silly song, which does indeed change everyone’s minds. 

John was played by Jim Henson himself, along with Cantus the minstrel, and they were very much based on the facets of his personality- the hippie and the salesman. 

In The Preachification of Convincing John, John himself is more of a force than a character. We, the audience, always see him when he’s performing, even though we know Mokey talks to him in more private moments. That would change in season 2, episode 14, The Secret of Convincing John.

When his name is brought up, it’s only Boober who seems to display the same amount of fear as he inspired in Preachification. Gobo sounds in awe of the man, but he has other things to take care of. Boober is dreading the experience, and asks Wembley along, but Wembley already made other plans with Gobo. We’ll later see that it was Red who summoned him to make her community wear clown noses, and Mokey is along for the ride. I have to say, of all the fraggles, I’m most surprised that Mokey has not learned her lesson about John. 

But then again, this showing seems to have lower stakes. The Clown Concierto is a party song, and John will only be singing one verse. The Fragglettes exposit that one verse makes for a temporary convincing, ‘perfect for pajama parties’. So this is kind of like a temporary, group hypnosis. Mokey seems enamored with the idea of ‘wearing the nose, and believing in it’.

When Wembley sees Boober, of all people, wearing a clown nose, he resolves to have Convincing John convince him to stop wembling, and this is where the danger comes back to the situation. Making people wear clown noses for a pajama party is one thing, but changing your personality? So it seems like the fraggles fear isn’t so much for John himself but the way he uses his powers. 

When the Fragglettes speak to Wembley, they once again bring up the number of verses. One verse will make him a little confident, two verses will make him totally confident in public but still have doubts in private, and three verses will make him arrogant. But the choice doesn’t matter to Wembley because, in true Wembley fashion, he does not choose the treatment for himself. But this time it’s not his fault: Convincing John leaps in and starts singing over him.

John gets through two verses before Wembley stops him and the Fragglettes, and rather rudely, too. Now his voice is brassier. He says he doesn’t need John’s services anymore. When he returns to his friends, he informs them he changed his name, and starts ordering them around. He’s so definite that his friends dislike him and they think he’s going to hurt himself. It seems John’s convincing worked VERY well on him. Put in a pin in that, also.

His friends force Wembley to see John again to reverse the damage, but this is where the secret comes in. Because they catch John in the middle of a song- a song about his own wembling! It seems John’s choice paralysis is even worse than Wembley’s. And honestly? This is the moment John became my favorite rock character. These twenty minutes of television changed the course of my life forever.

Gobo and the others are surprised by this, naturally. John says that wembling is the secret to his success, although the way he delivers it it sounds like bullshitting. But I tend to think that there’s something to that! 

Let’s look at Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Season 1, episode 10, Wembley the Spokesfraggle. The doozers make towers using a material that tastes horrible to the fraggles, and they simply aren’t touching them. An advertising specialist named Jack Hammer says they need a spokesfraggle for their cause, and when he sees Wembling wembling, he chooses him. Wembley goes to become, dare I say it, very convincing as he sings the praises of the weird, pink sticks. It could very much be that Jack sees Wembley as someone easy to mold, but Wembley really does become a good spokesfraggle. 

This arc very much feels like a shoutout to Convincing John. Wembley gets a tie and three backup singers to go with his new role. His friends even deny that someone as charismatic as he has become could still be a wembler. Remind you of anyone? I also love that this is about people to convince people to eat the towers instead of to stop eating them.

So here’s where I get into my theory. I feel like wemblers are just sort of, kind of different fraggles. They are easier to convince, at least initially. In The Secret of Convincing John, Wembley became a jerk after only two verses of John’s song- something that was not meant to happen. In the Wembley the Spokesfraggle universe, Wembley was easily molded into what Jack Hammer wanted him to be. But as soon as Cotterpin told him what the fraggles were really doing with the sticks, he had his doubts.

You might ask for an example of it happening for John, and I would argue that every time we’ve seen John so far he’s been susceptible. You’ll notice, we haven’t seen him so ‘no’ to a convincing job, no matter how disastrous the results might be. More on that, later.

So Wemblers are easily swayed, but they are also particularly compelling speakers. Now, I do have to mention that in Wembley the Spokesfraggle, people seem to particularly trust him because of his reputation. He’s known for his honesty and the careful way he goes about decisions. When he starts telling fraggles that the pink sticks are good, actually, its *themselves* that they doubt. 

But John doesn’t have an honest reputation- quite the opposite, actually! Fraggles are afraid of him because of what they know he can do to them. John’s convincing feels like some kind of spell, and the way they talk about the number of verses affecting the effectiveness makes it feel moreso. Even the convinced fraggles express confusion over why they did the things John convinced them to do. 

So yeah, I totally believe wembling is the secret to John’s success, even if he doesn’t. Now lets examine how his powers work. 

First of all, his convincing can cross the species boundary. Wembley encountered several doozers wearing clown noses on his way to see John. Tests would have to be run to see if he could convince gorgs and silly creatures. 

When Wembley returned to his friends, they were no longer wearing the noses. The Clown Concerto was temporary, just as the Fragglettes promised. So, if John sings one verse, it just wears off on its own. I think we can conclude that the song he sang to Mokey about cups on her hands only had one verse, then, as she no longer wears the cups a few days later. 

So, three verses must be very potent, right? In Preachification, the fraggles got three verses. They pressure Mokey to let them out of the solemn oath. She eventually does, but you’ll notice that they don’t touch the towers until John sings another verse. It makes me wonder if they needed his spellbinding song in order to eat them again. What would have happened if he hadn’t shown up? Would they be able to eat the towers? Or would they find themselves compelled not to do it, despite their own desires? No wonder the fraggles are afraid of John.

So only one verse of the song to break the three-verse spell, and to break a two-verse spell requires a challenge. Maybe. Perhaps Wembley's nature as a wembler means John needed to try harder or use a softer touch to break the spell.

And sure, we don’t know. Wembley might have come to his senses on his own, eventually, and maybe the fraggles really did only need for Mokey to release them from their oath. But giving John all this power- its just a fun headcanon! So that’s the one I choose.

The third thing we know about John’s powers is that they do not seem to work on himself. Despite lamenting about his own wembling in song form, John has not convinced himself into being a definite fraggle. Not as far as we know, anyway. Even more concrete evidence was the fact that he bit into a tower right before singing a reprise of his anti-tower song. 

Now I understand why some random youtube commenter called him the antichrist. Convincing John has this much power, so he must be evil. But is he really? In a show like fraggle rock, where empathy and cooperation is the key, is there really any room for evil characters?

I honestly feel like John is just a guy who loves doing what he does, and he believes that he is really helping people. We also don’t see him say ‘no’ to any convincing jobs, even if they could spell disaster for his home. Is it ever his sole idea to convince someone? Well, he wasn’t told to convince Mokey to wear cups on her hands. Or was he? We don’t see the scene play out. The girls were also there, and likely so were the Fragglettes as it’s established they live together. So the idea could have come from any of them.

Makes one wonder what would happen if Marlon or Pa Gorg asked for John’s help. He kind of comes across more as a people pleaser than this plotting manipulator. And, maybe there’s something to that?

Let's talk about Wembey for a minute. He displays traits of fawners. In Back to the Rock, season 1, Episode 4, Four Wembleys and a Birthday, Wembley begrudgingly agrees to all of his friends’ ideas for how to spend his birthday, even though he doesn’t want to do any of one of those activities. He even justifies it by saying “But, as long as my friends are happy, maybe that’s enough.” 

Wembling’s fawning is especially evident in Fraggle Rock season 1, episode 2, Wembley and the Gorgs. It’s foreshadowed when he’s especially agreeable to Gobo’s suggestions. “If it’s OK with you, it’s OK with me” is a repeated mantra. With the gorgs, his interactions are kind of the literal definition of fawning as a defense mechanism in action. Wembley is in a dangerous situation with people who want to hurt him, and there’s no way he can escape. So when Pa Gorg says he wants to be saluted, Wembley agrees with no question. 

In Four Wembleys and a Birthday, Wembley actually pulled himself so thin that he split and became invisible. Indeed, when you fawn, you can lose your identity. Your whole existence is about other people, not yourself. After the events of the Wembley and the Gorgs, he reflects on his experiences. “I mean, it didn’t seem like I was a slave. I guess some slavery feels like freedom.”

And that's another thing about fawning- it's still your idea. Wembley saluted Pa, his whole heart was in it. There was no part of his brain that was consciously thinking “I’m doing this so that he won’t hurt me.” It was not a conscious decision, even though it was still his idea. It’s kind of hard to explain but when you fawn, you really are totally in it. For the moment, you totally believe whatever it is you’re agreeing to. 

There’s a misconception that fawners are manipulators because of the way we seem to change our minds so quickly, or even because we say ‘what people want to hear’. As if we’re politicians, not just regular people navigating our own lives. I promise you, we aren’t out to lie to and manipulate you. We are constantly operating under a fear protocol and when the fear becomes too much, our brains default to the behaviors that kept us safe when we were children. It harms us more than it harms you, and it takes a very long time to unlearn the fawn response.

Fawners also tend to be fawners because they learned that it kept them safe. They often grew up in situations where they could not always get away from danger, and appeasing their abusers was what they needed to do to survive. I think it’s possible that Wembley was in an unsafe situation before he met his friends. But with their support, he’s learning to say ‘no’ more and more, and especially when its important. Most of his arcs are about finding his voice. In Four Wembleys and a Birthday, he does manage to recombobulate and he tells his friends what he really wants. 

I propose that John is a fawner, too, but it's better at hiding his low self confidence. He is a performer, after all. And he makes a good foil to Wembley. Even his purple fur is a nice foil to Wembley's yellowish coat. John is mirror of what might have happened to Wembley if he hadn’t met supportive friends. If he had met Jack Hammer before and continued down the path of a spokesfraggle. Wembley is a fraggle with a lot of inner strength, but without power. John is a fraggle with a lot of power, but without strength. 

To some things, Wembley agrees full heartedly. Like in The Secret of Convincing John, when Boober asked him to join him for the Clown Concierto. The only reason he didn’t go is because Gobo reminded him that he had previously committed to helping Gobo get his uncle’s postcard from outer space. 

But he doesn’t always jump on everyone’s suggestions. There are times when it’s clear that Wembley does not want to say yes, but he struggles with saying no. So he kind of stalls, saying things like “Oh wow Gobo, you think so? Huh, maybe we could try that?” Even when he does tell people in a direct way that he doesn’t want to do something, it takes him a long time to get there. An example of this is Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Season 1, Episode 2, Red and the Big Jump.

(A brief aside but- hello- Red and the Big Jump is *brilliant*. Not all of the responsibility should be on Wembley to always speak up, it should be on his friends to listen, too. John Tartaglia, who wrote this one, understood that perfectly. As you can probably tell, Wembley is the member of the Five I identify with the most, and I’m so glad he was the catalyst for the episode about consent. People aren’t always able to just say no. The Trash Heap makes it clear that the absence of the ‘no’ is not a ‘yes’. That’s a message that even adults seem to have a hard time understanding, which is why it’s so, so important we teach our kids these things from a young age. I’m so glad Red and the Big Jump exists.)

I believe that John has his own way of stalling to avoid saying no. We didn’t see it, but we did see the results of it. Mokey with cups on her hands, and Red wearing a blindfold. He’ll convince people to do silly things instead of giving them a direct ‘no’. He initially did this with Mokey, but only got through one verse before she convinced him.

So was that youtube person way back then correct? Is he the fraggle antichrist? I mean well. No. Not at all. But. Being generous, I think there is something interesting to be said about John and religion. Because I left something out when I talked about his inspiration- he’s a reference to Jim’s personality, but he’s modeled after televangelists. He’s got the bad hair, the flashy suit, and the backup singers, and his debut episode is even titled the Preachification of Convincing John. 

Even the language his song in that episode echoes some phrases you might hear from a preacher on TV. “There’s a mighty day a-coming”, “extra-good-as-gold”, “for eternity”. It’s very interesting to me that in this version, the reasons John gives all have to do with the fraggles’ well-being and not the well-being of the doozers, as this Mokey prime concern. As a preacher, his strategy seems to be ‘scare-em-straight’. It’s not about what the doozers need; it’s about how horrible things will happen to the fraggles themselves if they eat the towers. This is also a hallmark of bad actors in these fields who rely on the fear of damnation rather the love of one’s fellow human beings to compel their flocks to act.

Convincing John features in one last episode, The Secret Society of the Poohbahs. In the story, Mokey seeks to gain entrance into an “Exalted, high, holy, order”. She becomes very stressed out as she believes she’s breaking the rules of the club, but eventually realizes that it’s all very silly. By design! 

John is one of the leading members of the club, and at one point he states that he doesn’t know what ‘innocent’ means. “Doesn’t it have something to do with lambs?” That feels like a vague Bible reference. Honestly, the Poohbahs could easily be fitted into some commentary about religion. A group of people with their strange rituals who are quite scary but when you look close, they’re just your friends and neighbors. 

So, it may not have been intentional, two out of three of John’s appearances had elements that were poking fun at organized religion in a tongue in cheek way. Like everything on Fraggle Rock, it paints a nuanced picture. It’s wrong to scare people to the ‘right’ path, and don’t get so hung up on scripture. Church is meant to be about community, and if it loses that in rituals and rules, then its not right. It’s a light in a tunnel. In a world where kids might have had a preacher tell them they were going to hell if they kissed certain people, this must be a breath of fresh air. 

So why do I love John so much? He reminds me of me. He’s a fawner. He wants to be liked, but the way he goes about is probably not the best, and it leads him to being feared. And John is full of other contradictions. The ugliest fraggle in the rock, but the most charismatic as well. Outwardly confident but inwardly unsure. Powerful but easily swayed. As much a snake oil salesman as he is a preacher. Not good or evil, but certainly flawed. A complex, well rounded character, in other words, who I would love to know more about. 

Scratch that. It’s the teeth. It’s definitely the teeth.

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

It's the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party!

Let's do some nonsense.

According to the Boston Tea Party Museum, colonists dumped the following teas into the harbor.

The black teas were:

Bohea - 240 chests

Congou - 10 chests

Souchong - 60 chests

And the green teas:

Singlo - 60 chests

Hyson - 15 chests

Yes, green tea was a thing! It accounted for about 22% of the shipments volume and 30% of it's value. (I did not know this until I was gifted a set of teas from the Boston Tea Party last year.)

Ben is our Congou*. This denotes a tea made with "highest mastery or skill." It's toasty, smooth, sweet, and has "the flavor of unsweetened baked apples." That sounds pretty All-American to me (as much as Chinese tea can be, I guess.) The high mastery needed to produce this tea without breaking the leaves reflects Ben's lifelong quest to master the various skills he would need on the treasure hunt--American history, engineering, salvage diving, and so on.

Hyson, a green tea was, on of the most popular green teas of the 18th, and a favorite of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Obviously the honor of this tea will go to Abigail. It is picked in the spring "before the rains" as its Chinese name denotes, resulting in a pungent, full-bodied brew that is golden "with an edge of sweet character". To me this represents Abigail's refusal to be a passive witness to the events of the film, instead inserting herself into the treasure hunt, taking no bullshit from Ben or anyone else, but ultimately revealing her own sweet edge when she gets fully invested in the hunt.

Riley will be our Souchong. The 18th century variety was more mild than today's pinewood smoked Lapsong Souchongs, but still possessed a smoky aroma from the drying process. The smokiness is "meant to compliment the natural taste of black tea," just as Riley is meant to compliment the history nerds in his role as comic relief. Whether he overpowers them is up to you. The smoke can also represent the air of mystery around Riley, given that we know the least about him of the three leads. Souchong "lacks the bitterness that can come with other black teas" as so does not need to be sweetened. Despite his practical pessimism, Riley also lacks bitterness, will help Ben in any way he needs, and sweetens the group with his hilarious presence.

For Patrick, we'll go with Singlo. This green tea was "picked later in the season" than Hyson, and "tended to spoil sooner." The older leaves can represent how Patrick is a generation older than our main trio. And spoiling sooner represents how Patrick soured on the legend of the treasure sooner than Ben, John, or any of the other Gates men (that we know about.)

*Except for @emmi-kat. For you, Ben can be Bohea, a ubiquitous tea in the colonies that was "faint, frequently smokey, but always unpleasant." : )

[tolkiens]

tagged by @southsaturndelta & @desert-rambler

ten books that have stayed with you in some way — they don’t have to be greats, just the ones that have touched you.

as always anyone is welcome to do this <3

1. the silmarillion — tolkien

when the jackson trilogy came out at the movies, it was talk of the playground in the wholesome and exciting way things are when you’re a child but it wasn’t until i read silm that everything changed for me!

2. a little hatred — joe abercrombie

not my fave abercrombie but the impact it made on me was so welcomed after my asoiaf burnout. in it for the long haul with joe abercrombie, looking forward to the devils (sound of the summer)!

3. macbeth — shakespeare

fave shakespeare which i own several copies of. i worked on lighting for a production back in 2014-15 and my copies are heavily annotated with production notes & codes

4. just kids — patti smith

beautiful and heartbreaking. there’s a longer story to it but patti signed a copy for me when i met her and it is deeply treasured <3

5. emma — jane austen

my favourite austen <3

6. the storyteller — dave grohl

i have an enduring lifelong love for him, he is undeniably charming — witty, silly, and filled with warmth. the audiobook version is the best.

7. le lai de lanval — marie de france

technically not a full book, but i think about this short arthurian tale and the mystery of marie de france quite a lot!

8. the subtle knife — phillip pullman

absolutely my fave from the HDM trilogy which also influenced a lot of my interest in sci-fi/fantasy. cried for hours when i finished reading it as a child.

9. ariel — sylvia plath

a collection of her poetry that is quite confronting when you realise how young she was, and how you're approaching that age. reflectins on motherhood, feminism, depression and marriage right up until she died.

10. the fourteenth year of chenghua — meng xishi

detective case fiction and political intrigue for history buffs. i hear meng xishi is quite popular now but i've never read any of her english translations. her chinese prose is so utterly beautiful and her writing is so rich with historical and cultural notes i worry they won't translate across. romance takes a back seat in this one. it's clear she's a history nerd; writes extensively about it in her notes, how it influences her, her interpretations etc. i am aware i am bravely attempting to pitch

[aphrogeneias]

i have always been a slightly more than casual fan of the Beatles but the past year or so i have been really getting into the Beatles but also i feel so like lost when I try to learn their history or lore i guess lol. i know you're a huge fan and was wondering if you had any suggestions of where to start?

all right, bucke up, babe. i have some lifelong knowledge to share with you.

if you haven't already watched the anthology series, that's where i'd recommend you to start. it's pretty comprehensive, there's a cohesive timeline from start to finish, and it's told by the beatles themselves (sans john, unfortunetely, for obvious reasons). i think you can easily find it through torrent, but there's some bits on youtube as well. another documentary that is pretty introductory is the compleat beatles from 1982, which you can watch for free here. there's also the more recent ones like eight days a week, which is about their touring years, and get back, but i believe you must have watched at least one of them by now (but if you haven't, you absolutely should).

oh, and their movies as well! and yes, even magical mystery tour. that's unskippable, i'm sorry. do it for the music clips.

there's also other more specific documentaries like mccartney 3, 2, 1 on hulu and living in the material world which is about george harrison's life and was directed by scorcese. i highly recommend both. there's also "the u.s. versus john lennon" which is a bit a controversial but a must watch in my opinion. same with movies like nowhere boy and two of us.

i also recommend doing a lot of reading. when i was younger i used to read a lot of rock magazines and that's where i got a lot of information about the bands i liked, but those aren't really a thing anymore, unless you look for them online. for example, rolling stone has a really good article about the beatles's break up from 2009 which you can read here, and it gives you some pretty good insight into that moment of their lives. if you want, you can search for more articles that are available online.

as for books, my absolute favorite book about the beatles is called "dreaming the beatles: the love story of one band and the whole world", by music journalist rob sheffield. it's a beautiful book and also a pretty chill read, i highly recommend it, i think it's gonna make you fall in love with them even more. the biography by bob spitz is considered to be the best, most complete one, so i'd recommend that one as well. "revolution in the head: the beatles records and the sixties" is also a favorite of mine.

there's also other books by people who were close to them, like geoff emerick who was their sound engineer, and mark lewisohn who wrote a ton of books on them, i recommend those as well, hunter davis too. there are a ton of books who go song by song and tell the story and recording bits of each of them, that can also be fun if you're more into the details of how their music was made.

the thing about the beatles is that given how huge they are, and how beloved they've been for decades, there's no shortage of content about them. you could search for fan content as well, there are plenty of podcasts out there that are made by huge beatles nerds with all kinds of lore you can find, there's blogs, there's independent publications. you really have to dig in, but there's a whole world of things beatles-related to find out there.

there might be stuff i'm missing out here because, honestly, my introduction to beatles lore was my grandfather telling me those stories when i was a kid, and then when i got more seriously into them when i was a little older i already a pretty solid base of basic knowledge, but i hope i could help somehow <3

[r-prakash]

What Does It Take to Be a Successful Data Scientist in India?

So, you want to dive into the exciting world of Data Science in India? Well, grab your thinking cap and get ready for a rollercoaster ride through the data jungle! Here's the lowdown on what it takes to succeed:

1. Get Your Math Game On: First things first, you need to be buddies with math and stats. It's like the secret handshake of the data club.

2. Learning is a Lifestyle: Data Science is like that ever-changing friend who always has something new up their sleeve. So, be prepared to be a lifelong learner. Online courses are your BFFs.

3. Code Like a Pro: Learn Python and R – they're like the cool tools in your data toolbox. You'll use them to cook up amazing data dishes.

4. Sherlock Holmes Mode: Develop a superpower for problem-solving. You'll be the Sherlock Holmes of data mysteries.

5. Dive into a Domain: Choose a domain – like finance, healthcare, or e-commerce – that tickles your fancy. It's like picking your favorite ice cream flavor in the world of data.

6. Picasso of Data: Learn to paint pretty pictures with data. Tools like Tableau or Power BI will help you create data masterpieces that everyone can understand.

7. Pet Projects: Get your hands dirty with personal data projects. It's like gardening but with data. Showcase your green thumb in a portfolio.

8. Make Data Friends: Network with data nerds. Attend meetups, conferences, or just chat with fellow enthusiasts. You might find your data soulmate.

9. Mu Sigma Magic: Mu Sigma is like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory of Decision Science. They offer golden tickets to data lovers. Check out job openings at Mu Sigma and see if it's your golden ticket.

10. Soft Skills: Your charm matters too! You need to explain data stuff to folks who don't speak binary. Communication and teamwork are your secret weapons.

11. Be a Chameleon: The data world changes faster than a chameleon's colors. Be ready to adapt and embrace new challenges and tech like a pro.

In India, the data science scene is sizzling hot! There are plenty of juicy job opportunities, whether you're fresh out of college or a seasoned pro. So, gear up because it's time to rock the data world and make some sense out of the chaos, one byte at a time!

[cassguardia]

Task 11: Intro & Connections

Name: Cassandra Guardia Age: 27 Gender: Cis woman (she/her) Occupation: Ex-cop and shadowy minion Sexuality: Lesbian Birthplace: Unknown Redwood Hollow Residency: Lifelong resident

FULL BIO | MUSINGS | HEADCANONS | ALL MUSES

TL;DR BIO:

Up until the age of 4, Cass was raised by a woman named Esther Gothel, who abandoned her at a bus stop while kidnapping Rachel Crowne.

She was found by a Redwood Hollow Police Officer named Richard Guardia, who ended up adopting her.

The entire experience was extremely traumatic, to the point where she repressed her memories and spent her childhood acting out. It didn’t help that Richard hid all evidence of Esther and never spoke about it.

Due to her misbehavior, Cass was sent to boarding school. Determined to show her father her worth, she followed in his footsteps to become an officer.

Her prickly attitude and bad behavior made it so that she spent years in the RHPD training program, never being promoted to a full officer.

During her training, she was assigned to the Rachel Crowne kidnapping case. The two became best friends, with Cass developing rather intense feelings.

After some triggering events, Cass began to unlock her repressed memories, mostly through dreams. When asking her father about it, he shut her down, making her have to take matters into her own hands.

Given a tip by a mysterious “C.B.”, she broke into the RHPD files and found her own case file, revealing the truth of her origins. When the precinct found out about this, she was promptly fired.

She approached C.B. who revealed (some) of his plans, and offered her an unknown potion. After taking it, she was in a coma for two weeks, where she unlocked further memories of her true identity.

Cass now works for C.B. and his crew, doing whatever is asked of her. She’s paid well and lives in the Neverland Hotel until she can find a new living situation.

PERSONALITY:

Easily frustrated, eternally annoyed, and ever the grump, Cass does not tend to get along with people. There are a few rays of sunshine who have managed to worm their way into her cold, dead heart but her default mode is grumpy and snapping.

At one point in her life, Cass genuinely wanted to help people. There’s a part of her that still does. But she’s been embittered by recent events. Still, if someone is in danger, she will jump in without a thought.

She has a secret, softer nerdy side to her, with a passion for medieval times and all that comes with it--archery, fencing, falconry, and needlework.

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

Enemies: Lbr, you’re more likely to be an enemy than a friend. Whether your character is nice or a hardass, it’s likely Cass will start a fight for no reason.

Ex-girlfriends: Cass has a history of relationships that don’t work out. Maybe they just flirted, maybe hooked up, maybe even dated. But they’re certainly exes now, and most likely bitter ones at that.

Locals: Cass grew up in Redwood Hollow most of her life. Although she did not go to school in town, she did spend her summers at home. It’s likely she’d know other people who grew up here, especially around her age.

Nerds: Cass’s secret is that she’s really into medieval history and renaissance faires. Looking to connect with fellow nerds who may have caught her in the act.

Rachel: Have you interacted with Rachel Crowne? Cass probably wants to have a word with you.

Flirtationship: Cass probably won’t flirt with you, but it is really easy to get her flustered by flirting with her (women only)

Thank you, next: Maybe your male character has supremely bad gaydar and tries to hit on her.

Zoo pals: Cass frequents the zoo because she has a parasocial relationship with an owl. Run into her there.

Smoke break: Cass has a habit of vaping and smoking, and can be found in areas where she can do that peacefully.

WANTED PLOTS:

Criminal Comeuppance : Cass used to be part of the police department and even though she was a trainee, she was also a hardass. Maybe she gave your character a hard time for one reason or another, but now she’s been fired and the shoe is on the other foot. Time for gloating.

Roommates: Cass needs somewhere to live that isn’t a hotel. Although she’s being paid well, it’s probably not well enough to live entirely on her own. If your character needs a roommate (and a grumpy one at that), she will at least always pay rent on time.

Angsting Bar Buddies: Bordering on alcoholism, Cass has been spending a lot of her free nights at bars. She is the perfect person to have a bitching session with, so feel free to get drunk and pour your angst on her. Maybe you’ll even get some in return.

Main Plot Shenanigans: If you want to get your character involved in the main plot of C.B. and regaining memories of your former life--first, you need to message the main. But after you get Gemma permission, immediately come to me for Cass plotting!

TAKEN CONNECTIONS:

Friends: Rachel Crowne @adropofgoldenrachelx, Freddie Slothmore @flash-hundredyarddash

Enemies: Toulouse Beaumont @beaumont-ague, Flynn Rider @flynnxrider, Oz Borror @ozborror-highroller, Remy Reinhardt @remy-reinhardt, Colt Phillips @colt-phillips

Complicated Ex: Honeymaren Nattura @honeymxren

Ex-coworkers: Woodward Pride @woodwardpride, Nick Wilde @n-ickywilde, Buzz Lightyear @rangerbuzzlightyear

Shadowy coworkers: Myra Lemures @magnificentmyra, Mirage @imattractedtopower

OTHER:

Would love to have a Maximilian, hot on the trail of Cass and C.B. figuring out the town’s mysteries

Would love to see other Tangled: The Series characters, such as Varian or Zhan Tiri

[allison-dedecker]

about me:

Hello! I'm Allison (she/her); a US-based writer, mom and lifelong nerd. I love stories of all kinds, though fantasy and sci-fi are my favorites. I also enjoy historical fiction as well as the occasional mystery or romance. Here on Tumblr I'm open to ask games and things of that sort, so feel free to tag me if you'd like!

my work:

As a writer, my main focus is currently poetry, though I am starting to branch out into flash fiction as well. (I do have 11,000 words of a story that I started one fateful Nanowrimo, but I got a bit stuck- maybe being here will help me with that!)

Common themes in my writing include: mental health, relationships, aspects of everyday life, classic literature and mythology/folklore, fantasy and some science fiction.

(More info and tag guide beneath the cut)

this blog:

The majority of the work I post will be what has been published elsewhere in literary journals/magazines.

I may also post some original pieces now and again, as well as responses to various writing challenges and prompts.

Outside of OC, I also reblog art and writing that I enjoy/that inspires me, as well as (of course) memes and funny writing-related posts.

tag guide:

#published works for published pieces which have appeared in literary magazines or journals, both online and in print.

#my writing for all my work; both published and unpublished

#my poems for poetry

#my stories for prose pieces

#flash fiction and #micro fiction for stories under 1000 words

#visual poetry for poems utilizing a visual components such as photography, collage, etc.

*special thanks to @syreheaders for the lovely blog header!

and finally...

↪️here

[dollycas]

Special Guest Marla A. White - Author of Framed For Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) #Author Interview / #Giveaway - Great Escapes Book Tour

Framed For Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) by Marla A. White I am happy to welcome Marla A. White to Escape With Dollycas today! Hi Marla, What are three things most people don’t know about you? - I love musicals - I’m a bit of a neat freak - I give my cars names (currently Hugh Fitzcairn after the Roger Daltry character in the “Highlander” TV series.) What books/authors have most inspired you? So many different ones for so many reasons! Louise Penny for her personal story of overcoming obstacles in her life and creating amazing characters. Jim Butcher for introducing me to fantasy with snark. I’ve been a lifelong fan of Dick Francis, growing up loving mysteries and horses. Leslie Charteris, who in “The Saint” books gave me a charming rogue and (at least in the early ones) a strong female romantic interest who could hold her own. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? I don’t do a lot before I begin a book, but I do a ton as I go along. The internet is a wonderful tool, but I also try to talk to people if I know of any who have hands on experience with whatever I’m trying to figure out. This morning I spent an hour Googling “hot male hockey players” to get a picture of how to describe my character. Best. Job. Ever! Do you ever suffer from Writer’s Block? I won’t say never, because I have so many projects going on right now there’s always something to write. But I have been guilty of neglecting a project in favor of writing something that’s easier. What advice do you have for someone who would like to become a published writer? What’s the old joke about the best way to make a million dollars as an author is to start off with two million? Don’t get into it for the money! My best advice is to write every day. I had been kicking around, trying to fit writing in with a full-time job and other responsibilities, and would use lack of time as an excuse. Then I had the honor of sitting in a meeting with Janet Evanovich, who talked about getting up at five in the morning to write. I realized that if I was serious about finishing a novel, I needed to drag my butt out of bed at five a.m. Schedule a time, form a writing habit, accept no excuses. When you are not writing what do you like to do? Reading is the first obvious one :D  Seriously, to be a writer, you need to be a reader. I write in a few different genres so I immerse myself in books in whatever one I’m writing at the moment. I also love jigsaw puzzles, but not those ridiculous all-one-color kind. I want to see the picture, that’s the fun part! Also, mystery puzzles where you get the clues to solve the murder from the picture. Gardening is also a passion. It’s been cut back quite a bit since I’m in a condo now with no lawn, but I still have some fruits and veggies in pots. I’m so excited that my blood orange tree, Vlad, has several tiny green fruits! If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why? That’s such a tough question! Friends who have been to Italy make me want to go there for the wine, art, and food. But I loved the time I spent on horseback riding trips in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so going back would be amazing. New Zealand would be like stepping into a “Lord of the Rings” movie and I would so nerd out over that! Yep, too many choices to make just one. What is next on the horizon for you? Well, now you’ve got me thinking about travelling… LOL I’m working on a hockey romance series with a friend of mine. It’s my first foray into the romance genre and I’m having a blast! I’ve been talking about writing a textbook about how to write script coverage, the course I teach at UCLA Extension so maybe this summer I’ll actually sit down and write the proposal. And naturally, I’ve finished a draft of the next Pine Cove book and am very excited to see what my editor thinks! Thank you Marla for visiting today! ____ Keep reading for more information about Marla and her new book, Framed for Murder. About Framed for Murder Framed For Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) Cozy Mystery 1st in Series Setting - California Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Wild Rose Press, Inc. (June 17, 2024) Print length ‏ : ‎ 284 pages Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D18C415T After a life-changing injury, Mel O’Rourke trades in her badge for bed sheets, running a B & B in the quirky mountain town of Pine Cove. Her peaceful life is interrupted when an old frenemy, the notorious and charismatic cat burglar, Poppy Phillips, shows up on her doorstep, claiming she’s been framed for murder. While she’s broken plenty of laws, Mel knows she’d never kill anyone. Good thing she’s a better detective than she is a cook as she sets out to prove Poppy's innocence. The situation gets complicated, however, when the ruggedly handsome Deputy Sheriff Gregg Marks flirts with Mel, bringing him dangerously close to the criminal she’s hiding. And just when her friendship with café owner Jackson Thibodeaux blossoms into something more, he’s offered the opportunity of a lifetime in New Orleans. Should she encourage him to go, or ask him to stay? Who knew romance could be just as hard to solve as murder? Great Escapes Praise for Framed For Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) by Marla A. White I highly recommend Framed for Murder for its humor, well-written characters, cozy setting, and mystery! ~Christy's Cozy Corners Framed for Murder contains the essential number of suspects, motives, and red herrings to make it an appealing read. My curiosity has been piqued and I'll be on the lookout for future installments of this mystery series. ~Book Club Librarian With a lot of wit, engaging characters, and entangled relationships FRAMED FOR MURDER is a delightful start to a new series. ~Cozy Up With Kathy Set in the small town of Pine Cove and featuring former police officer Mel, Framed For Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) by Marla A. White was a fun read! ~Sarah Can't Stop Reading More About Marla A. White Marla White is an award-winning novelist who prefers killing people who annoy her on paper rather than in real life. Her first full-length mystery novel, “Cause for Elimination,” placed in several contests including Killer Nashville, The RONE Awards, The Reader’s Favorite, and finishing second in the Orange County Romance Writers for Romantic Suspense. Originally from Oklahoma, she lived in a lot of other states before settling down in Los Angeles to work in the television industry.  She currently teaches at UCLA Extension and gives seminars about the art of script coverage. When she’s not working on the next book, she’s out in the garden, hiking, cheering on the LA Kings, or discovering new craft cocktails. Fun facts Something readers might find interesting about this book: The quirky Babbling Brook Bed-and-Breakfast is loosely inspired by the Silver Pines Lodge in Idyllwild. Highly recommend staying there if you’re even in that neck of the woods. A fact about me that readers might find interesting: I share Mel’s nearly debilitating fear of heights. Well, not to the same extent, I can climb a set of stairs, but looking down more than a few flights? No way 😀 There’s a scene where Mel does a singing bowl session. I’ve done that and honestly, it’s pretty cool! I accomplished the dream of becoming a published writer in my late fifties after helping other writers craft their stories for thirty years. Social Media Links Twitter/X    Instagram    Facebook   TikTok   Goodreads    Bookbub   Amazon    Substack Purchase Links Amazon - Barnes and Noble – Apple Books  Also written by Marla A. White TOUR PARTICIPANTS June 17 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT June 17 – eBook Addicts – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT  June 18 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW June 18 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT June 19 – Christy's Cozy Corners – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST June 19 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT June 20 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT June 20 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST June 21 – Book Club Librarian – REVIEW June 21 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – AUTHOR GUEST POST June 22 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT June 22 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT June 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW June 24 – Sarah Can't Stop Reading – REVIEW   June 25 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – SPOTLIGHT June 25 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW June 26 – Novels Alive – REVIEW June 27 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT June 27 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT June 28 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW June 29 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST June 30 - Boys' Mom Reads! – REVIEW a Rafflecopter giveaway Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today! Want to Book a Tour? Click Here Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Escape With Dollycas. Read the full article

[oddvolumebookstore]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Historical Fiction -Rascals in Paradise.

[allthingsdarkanddirty]

HOT NEW RELEASE 

We are thrilled to celebrate NERD MEETS CURVY by A.C. James is NOW LIVE!

#1ClickHere: https://acjames.com/products/nerd-meets-curvy

Coralie dreads starting over, but Mystic River beckons her home like a siren's call. Armed with determination and a toolkit full of DIY magic, Coralie sets out to revive her grandmother's worn-down house. If anyone can breathe new life into the old walls, it's her. And with lifelong friendships awaiting her, she has a support system as sturdy as a bear shifter's embrace.

Little does she know that her homecoming will launch her into the wildest roller coaster ride of midlife dating and a mating bond that makes her head spin faster than a tornado. Coralie certainly hadn't signed up for this level of excitement, but here she was, courtesy of the enigmatic mastermind herself, Mrs. Wilde. The queen of matchmaking and the architect of the notorious Peculiar Hearts Dating Agency promises Coralie a spicy rebound for her upcoming high school reunion.

Enter Jax, a scorching hot bear shifter haunted by a love that's gripped him since high school. Just when he finally has a shot at settling down, a pesky ex-harpy swoops in, flapping her wings and causing more drama than a forest full of squawking birds. Tired of the chaos, this bear is ready to throw in the towel and hibernate for good!

But as they say, fate has a wicked sense of humor.

Beneath the surface of his chance to make things right and rewrite history are secrets that could detonate like a ticking time bomb, threatening to shatter their fragile bond. Coralie holds a haunting secret buried deep within her heart. It shapes the choices that molded her into the fierce, curvy woman she is today. As for Jax, his past is a murky labyrinth of pain and darkness. Lives and love swing on a high-stakes pendulum as danger closes in.

Can Coralie and Jax beat the odds, untangle the mystery of the danger stalking them, and build a future that defies the limits of their pasts?

[leelee120000]

My Voice: 10 Years of Gravity Falls

June 13, 2022

Gravity Falls premiered June 15, 2012 and ended February 15, 2016. Ten years ago this week. Shocking – I know – 2012 was ten years ago. Gravity Falls was fundamental to my middle school and high school self.

It’s no secret that I love cartoons and that fandom culture is a major part of my life. Gravity Falls directly contributed to my discovery of this. Everything and everyone that came from the show I still keep up with. For context, the show started right before one of the most traumatic events in my entire life. I clung to it like a life preserver in the ocean. Being one of my major sources of joy, Gravity Falls meant everything to 12 year old me and still inspires nearly 22 year old me.

I saw so much of myself in the Pines twins and their world, I was immediately invested. The concept is simple enough, twin kids Dipper and Mable Pines are sent to live in the mysterious small town of Gravity Falls in the middle of nowhere with their Great Uncle Stan for the summer. But it’s so much more. With themes of trust & betrayal, authority & rebellion, and exploring growing up the show never talked down to its audience. If you’ve never watched, and I’m not kidding, do so asap. Even if you don’t enjoy cartoons. It’s two seasons of perfection.

Gravity Falls skirted censorship with an expertise almost unseen in this generation of cartoons. The crew never backed down and the show shined because of it. They would submit episodes with rule breaking scenes, let the censors demand they be changed, and change them to what they actually wanted. Basically making the outlandish appear tame and playing the censors to get what they knew the show needed. This was a kids show that managed to be both hilarious and dramatic in a way most ‘adult’ shows can’t balance. Disney higher ups hated them for it and the crew loved pushing the line. The only real loss the crew had was that Disney’s censors succeeded in forcing the removal of everything LGBTQ+ from the show. However, the crew was good at sneaking it in anyways. (Side characters in implied relationships, quick double meaning lines, etc.) That the fandom immediately picked up on. 

Being in the fandom was and is spectacular. The lifelong friends I made from a pocket of nerds on the internet obsessed with a Disney cartoon still amazes me. The creativity unmatched: fanfics, fanart, AUs, voiced projects, cosplays, etc. – all still, actively, being created a decade later shows the passion of the fans. This world starches such a particular itch that’s hard to find in most media. As a writer myself, I mean it when I say I can’t sing the praises of the intricacies of Gravity Falls enough. This show had actual hidden codes and an entire secret puzzle with an ARG that was solved by a global team of fans. What other show on television can say the same? This show is a mystery anyone can enjoy diving in.

LeAnne McPherson

[sciencestyled]

Science Education: A Whirlwind of Wonders and Whys

In our merry band of enthusiasts, we've always been fascinated by the marvels of science education. It's like a never-ending storybook, where each page reveals a new surprise, a twist, or a delightful conundrum. Let's spin the globe of science education and see where it takes us, shall we?

Science education isn't just about spouting facts or memorizing the periodic table, although, let's be honest, who doesn't love a good element joke? It's about cultivating curiosity and the art of questioning. From the tiniest atoms to the vastness of space, it uncovers the secrets of the universe in a way that's as exciting as finding a hidden treasure in your backyard. It's like being a detective, but instead of solving crimes, you're unraveling the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything in between.

The potential of science education is as boundless as the universe. It opens doors to careers that haven't even been invented yet. Imagine telling someone a hundred years ago that you could be a data scientist or a renewable energy engineer. They'd look at you as if you had two heads! Science education is the launchpad for these futuristic careers, equipping learners with a toolbox filled with critical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to adapt to the ever-changing technological landscape.

Now, let's talk about the impact of science education, and no, we don't mean meteor impacts, although those are pretty cool too. We're talking about the kind of impact that changes lives and shapes futures. It's about empowering people with the knowledge to make informed decisions, whether it's about their health, the environment, or the latest tech gadget. Science education doesn't just fill your brain with facts; it gives you the lenses to see the world differently.

As for its importance, well, where do we start? In a world brimming with misinformation and "alternative facts," science education is the shining beacon of truth. It teaches us to seek evidence, question assumptions, and not believe every conspiracy theory we stumble upon online. It's like having a built-in nonsense detector. Plus, in a time when climate change is knocking at our door, understanding science is no longer just nice to have; it's a necessity for survival.

Let's not forget the wide array of examples that highlight the wonders of science education. Remember when you first saw a volcano eruption in a science fair? Or when you learned about the birds and the bees, and no, we're not talking about the awkward talk with your parents. These examples show how science education isn't confined to the four walls of a classroom. It's everywhere! It's in the stars we gaze at, the food we eat, and the air we breathe.

Who is the audience for this fantastic show? Everyone! Science education isn't just for the nerds in lab coats (though we love them too). It's for the young, the old, and everyone in between. It's for the artist who wants to understand the science of colors, the chef interested in the chemistry of cooking, and the kid who wonders why the sky is blue. Science is for all, and education makes it accessible to everyone.

Now, let's address the elephant in the room. Science education can be tough. There are times when it feels like trying to solve a Rubik's cube in the dark. But that's part of the charm! The challenges make the victories sweeter. Every time you understand a difficult concept, it's like winning a mental marathon. And the best part? There's always more to learn. Science never stops evolving, and neither does its education. It's a lifelong adventure in learning, exploring, and growing.

In conclusion, science education is a kaleidoscope of opportunities, adventures, and eye-opening experiences. It's not just about learning facts; it's about learning how to think, question, and explore. It prepares us for the future, empowers us to make informed decisions, and keeps us in awe of the wonders of the world. So, let's raise our beakers to science education, the unsung hero in the saga of human knowledge. Here's to more discoveries, more questions, and a whole lot more fun!

[violivs]

Sam Hardy has an older sister whose Nancy Drew books he used to steal when he was between installments of Hardy Boys. He had a crush on Ned Nickerson that he will never tell anyone about because he now knows Ned is a little boring, but he couldn’t have crushes on the Hardy Boys because he imagined himself as their third little brother tagging along! It is his dearest wish to find just one decent mystery series with an MLM lead. Because come on!