#odd that i see this so often. that most of posts about america i see are different from what i've experienced. idk maybe the states i've

[atelier-slime]

DRAGON QUEST'S LOCALIZATION SUCKS, ACTUALLY. PART 1

There's a thread blowing up on Japanese twitter right now about the poor quality of localization. It's the first time I've ever actually seen a japanese perspective on the topic, and it's been extremely gratifying to see a ton people from over there talk about specific translation issues they've seen or learn for the first time that japanese media is often given the short end of the stick here in the USA.

Most of the time over here in the US, criticism of localization gets shouted down as whiny fans who think they know better than the translators. It's been heartening to see that people from japan are also annoyed by it, and its inspired me to write up a whole long-ass rant I've had simmering in the back of my mind for years, so buckle up, long post(s) incoming:

Let's start at the beginning with the first thing that ever caused me to start thinking about localization. This little guy:

If you've played Dragon Quest in the past 2 decades, you probably know this guy by the name "Spiked Hare." Not me though! I got into DQ on the game boy, in the brief window of time where DQ's localization was handled by Nob Ogasawara, the same guy responsible for translating every pokemon game up until Platinum. In the DQ games Nob worked on, he chose to translate this guy's name as "Almiraj." Why the huge difference in translation? I'll get to that in a minute.

The almiraj is an extremely minor enemy in Dragon Quest 3. It's pretty weak, and it's only real defining feature is that it can occasionally cast sleep spells on your party members. It's just one of hundreds of monsters in that game, and aside from it's cute design, it's pretty forgettable. As a weird kid overly obsessed with linguistics though, its name always seemed odd to me. You don't really see words that end with a "J" in english. It stuck out enough that one night, when I was bored, I decided to google "almiraj" to figure out what the name meant. It sent me down a rabbit hole (almiraj hole?) that taught me all sorts of cool shit, and permanently altered the way I looked at localization. The path I tumbled down that night went something like this:

The Dragon Quest almiraj is named after the almiraj, a "real" mythical creature described as a hare with a large horn on its head.

The original inspiration for accounts of the almiraj (as well as the jackalope, wolpertinger, etc.) is likely the Shope papiloma Virus, which causes rabbits to grow weird, horn-like growths on their face and head.

It was described by Zakariya al-Qazwini, an Iranian lawyer, author, and all around knowledgeable guy who lived in the 13th century.

al-Qazwini described it in the Aja'ib al-Makhluqat, a massive cosmographical treatise that attempted to describe basically everything in the known universe at the time. It was so popular in the Islamic world that it was copied and translated into dozens of languages, which meant plenty of copies have survived intact to modern times.

The almiraj was brought into the limelight in modern fantasy when it was introduced in the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons, as a relatively weak and unassuming monster as part of a campaign to expand the game with monster suggestions from fans of the series.

Dungeons and Dragons-style role playing games were brought into the digital world with the release of the first Wizardry game in 1981.

Yuji Horii was a massive fan of Wizardry, which he first discovered as part of a developer exchange program when he visited America in 1983. Three years later, he decided to try and recreate the things he loved from the series for console gamers in Japan, and the the original Dragon Quest was born.

One little name was all it took to open up this entire through-line of history that I had no idea even existed before that night. It's a tapestry of human experiences over 800 years in the making, spanning continents, cultures, languages, and medium. It's probably because I'm the type of person who sits around thinking about stuff too much, but I honestly get a little emotional wondering what al-Qazwini would think if he could see the mythical creatures he described all those years ago as little dudes hopping around inside a computer.

And the thing is the tapestry doesn't end there! Dragon Quest is still pretty niche in the west, but in Japan it's fucking titanic. There's an urban legend that the Japanese government banned Square Enix from releasing Dragon Quest games on a weekday, because so many people would skip work or school that it would impact the economy. (It's not true by the way, but the fact that the rumor exists at all is a testament to how huge the series' influence is over there.) I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that what Lord of the Rings did to modern western fantasy, Dragon Quest did to modern Japanese fantasy. Almost every JRPG, manga, or anime with a fantasy setting has the fingerprints of Dragon Quest on it. Countless other works have been inspired by DQ, and those works will go on to inspire others. A million different threads weaving tapestries back and forth across time and borders, all over the globe. And the almiraj is a part of that! It might just be a single, tiny, white and purple thread, but it's still in there helping to tie things together.

So back to the question I asked earlier: Why is it "Almiraj" in Mr. Ogasawara's translation but "Spiked hare" in the current one? Simple: Nob actually translated the name.

You can see on the DQ wiki that the original japanese name of the monster is "アルミラージ" which is literally just "almiraj" written in katakana:

The current DQ team has instead decided that all monster names should be puns. I'm not against puns or anything. "Spiked hare" for a rabbit with a horn is great! I might even raise my eyebrows and exhale slightly if I read it for the first time. Dragon Quest in general tends to have a lot of goofiness in it, so it's not like puns are out of place or anything. My problem is that, by deciding to replace monster names arbitrarily like this, all the little threads start to come unraveled. You lose the ability to look back down the line and discover all these different connections to history and nature and art that you might not ever learn otherwise. The almiraj isn't the only monster to get this treatment. A huge portion of the monsters in Dragon Quest are taken from mythologies around the world, and many of their names are literally already in English, just written with katakana.

The almiraj sticks out in my mind as a particularly egregious example because of just how much I learned because of the foreign-sounding name, but there's plenty of other name changes that have resulted in straight up confusing, ambiguous, or otherwise stupid outcomes in the current localization.

CONTINUED IN PART 2

[13eyond13]

my online fandom experience in 2007-2008:

-First learned about Death Note by randomly seeing L in an AMV on Youtube in late 2007 and being intrigued by how he looked. Have never watched an anime in my life but wanting to know more about this emo lookin' dude. Found some website where I could stream it, immediately getting spoiled for his death by somebody in the comments on episode 1 (the 2000s was RAMPANT with gleeful spoiler trolls, these were the days of people driving by Harry Potter midnight grand opening lineups for the new books to scream SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE type shit)

-Binge-watched the whole show in a couple of days. Immediately haunted by the "what if"s of Lawlight and start reading fanfiction.net fics about it. Wrote a gushing review on a fanfic and start talking in emails with the writer who writes back to me. I think at the time the most popular Lawlight fic on the site was Poison Apple by RobinRocks (which I didn't read, because I didn't like reading AUs back then, nor did I like the idea of mixing Death Note with Disney princess imagery... my absolute fave fic was Coexistence is Boredom by sakurazukamori6, which was still being updated at the time)

-The Another Note novel and the How to Read 13 were already out, so most of the stuff the fans know now about the characters was already known and being used in the fan stuff by then. I bought the entire manga set at my local bookstore and read the first five volumes of it, but not the rest (because back then I was one of the people who lost a lot of interest in the plot once L was dead)

-Got invited to follow a popular fanfic writer's Death Note LiveJournal where people are doing most of the things you see them doing here, analysis and shipping and fic and memes. However a lot of the journals and communities were private and accessible by invite only, so I only ever saw stuff there as it was filtered through the journal of that one welcoming fandom friend I made

-Got into random private email conversations with the odd fan once I start posting my own fics on ff.net (I wrote one of the very first Beyond Birthday fics). At some point I remember a girl who called herself diane-chan from somewhere in South America emailing me a doujinshi she had scanlated (I think it was called Taikutsu by Balgus REC) and emailing some pics and penpal like letters back and forth. Connecting with other fans was a very slow and individual-like experience compared to something like connecting over social media is now. There wasn't much of anything like online group chats taking place in real-time, per se. I suppose MAYBE you could create one on MSN Messenger or something, but the experience of being in a fandom in general online was just much more fragmented and based on personal individual relationships, I think. Unless you were meeting up with people in person at conventions or something...

-Ships didn't have ship names like Lawlight back then! It was either called L/Light or Light/L, because whichever name came first in the pair indicated who you liked as the top (or the "seme;" people would often say "seme" or "uke "rather than top or bottom back then). They were treated almost like two totally different ships, and you definitely had to tag your fics accordingly or else people would get mad (I am very glad that ship names now exist)

-Omegaverse didn't exist back then either! That was a whole new world I had to get familiar with once I got back into this fandom around 2016 lol (and I still have never really fully got onboard tbh)

-Watched the occasional fan videos on YouTube, often things like Windows Movie Maker slideshows set to music with fanart of the characters or cosplays and the like

-It used to be REALLY hard for me to find clips of the show to use or edit or anything like that. The English dub still wasn't out yet anywhere I could watch it when i was into the show in 2008, but I remember hearing L and Light's English voice clips and thinking that L's was great and Light's was a bit cringe in comparison to the Japanese one. I wanted to watch it again but I didn't want to have to have an internet connection at all times to watch it, so I bought some shitty ripped illegal DVD of the Japanese dub on eBay from China, and it came with extremely lolworthy broken English subtitles (stuff like Light reading that passage out loud in class and the subtitles saying "the wisdom of the sheepus"... that one is burned into my brain)

-Trying to connect with other fans in person about it was not really possible for me where I lived? Being into anime was considered extremely cringe at my school at the time. And other people I knew who had watched or read Death Note either simply weren't that interested in it anymore to the same degree, or were usually straight dudebros who were only into it so far as to think about which character was smarter than which

ANYWAY I say all this just to reminisce, and I will always enjoy how easy it is to connect and share the content with the other fans like it is nowadays, because I remember the days when that was much more difficult hahaha

[seeksstaronmewni]

What happened to Korean animation???

I can not stress this enough, but what is it with the Korean animation on most Burbank-made cartoons produced after 2015 looking so… slow and stiff???

There're LOTS more on 2s animation timing... and less inbetweening, while characters, props and effects are not as loosely drawn as they used to be before 2016.

Look at this example below of what a modern cartoon looks like when animated in Korea:

Bernard Williams ain't selling the acting well now; is he?

That episode of Craig of the Creek, "Creature Feature", was made in 2020; it was animated by Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. — an animation studio founded by Gregg Vanzo as a cheaper means for quality animation on none other than The Ren & Stimpy Show (Don't believe me? Thad Komorowski will tell you).

He's moving too slow. This shot is all on 2s. His arms move stiffly, and his head bobs up and down just a little bit. It doesn't sell the specific emotions he's expressing as richly as they could... compared to something like classic Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon shows of the past. The overseas animators should listen to the audio track, the recorded dialogue. That's what they did on on Ren & Stimpy!

Now let's go back 10 years before Rough Draft animated that episode of Craig of the Creek... to the Sym-Bionic Titan episode "The Phantom Ninja":

LOOK HOW LOOSE AND SMOOTH THIS LITTLE BIT OF ANIMATION IS!

This level of Korean animation quality was normal for TV cartoons back in the 2010s.

This one shot has a healthy balance of on 2s animation and on 1s animation.

It's just Ilana Lunis and Octus doing a bit of a... I don't know... a shrug... giving Lance a certain look. Not even talking in this shot, nor is it an action sequence, and this little bit of acting looks far better than Craig of the Creek ever animated in general.

Rough Draft also animates on Spongebob and they're struggling but usually excelling on the animation quality overseas.

This applies to cartoons made and aired before 2016 where post-2105 episode/content are the same quality as most post-2015 cartoons shows these days that're animated in Korea; examples are Uncle Grandpa, Samurai Jack Season 5, The Venture Bros. Season 6 onward, We Bare Bears Season 2 onward, and even later Disney TVA shows as Amphibia Season 3 and Hailey's On It!, though mostly it involves Warner Bros. Discovery-owned properties (Turner ones namely).

May be that Korean animators just need a break. The Phillippines can deliver better animation (a bit roughly but still better than Korea for the most part)! Perhaps the Korean overseas facilities need more money... more direction... more communication (as if we could actually afford that with today's gas prices?)

Why not animate domestically here in America? In Burbank? What about rigging (puppetry in 2 dimensions)?

The future of quality TV/non-theatrical 2D animation may be in the hands of Canada's and Ireland's finest riggers. Mercury Filmworks, Boulder Media, Lighthouse Studios, Snipple Animation, and Jam Filled Entertainment can deliver better animation through rigging than Korea can do for most hand-drawn shows!

That is unless it's the Spongebob Squarepants franchise of course... that and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? and... pretty much anything animated by Yearim or Yeson (most of which are adult cartoon sitcoms with rather restricted animation so as not to distract from their comedic wordplay, since those shows are more script-driven anyway).

I asked some people about the current condition of Korean animation to see what they think about that. Maxwell Atoms had a good bit to say...

The What's in My Head? podcast interview with Randy Myers largely benefited from a question I suggested about the animation quality differences classic Powerpuff Girls and 2016-2019 PPG episodes.

Ariel Vracin-Harrell tweeted that overseas animators often follow the storyboards "religiously", and tiny little micro-poses in storyboards can result in the animation looking "laggy and odd". (Perhaps those Korean animators view the storyboard animatics as key animation?)

Lauren Faust says that you shouldn't animate you storyboards.

I'll expand more on this post later.

Tweet thread version here.

[placegrenette]

Thoughts on the Astana concert (because who knows how much more often we'll get to do this).

I was talking to friends today who serve the valuable and underappreciated role of I'm Not Into This Thing You're Into But I Love When You're Into Things So Tell Me More, and pointed out that I know of maybe—maybe—one or two other people in the entirety of North America following Ninety One. So the burden falls to you, Tumblr. I have Thoughts and you have to hear them. Feel free to mute and let me howl into the void.

First let's get to the very important topic of men in suits:

(Photo taken without permission from the Instagram feed of an Eaglez who was there, apologies, I haven't seen professional photos yet.)

It's easier to tell from video but Bala in red looks terrific; Alem's yellow suit is belted at the waist, which reads (to me) as slightly daring on a man, and therefore very appropriate for him; ZaQ looks dignified; and Ace is a damn sack of potatoes. And y'all know I don't hesitate to criticize Bibotta's work so let us note, for the record, that she is not to blame for this round: when she posted on Instagram about her pride in her work and the team as a whole (as she should!), Eaglez came into her comments to say, "yeah but Ace looks like a sack of potatoes," and she replied that the man himself feels more comfortable in oversized clothing. Which hopefully is about physical comfort and not about body image and self-criticism, YOU LOOK FINE, HONEY, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE MODEL-THIN TO WEAR FITTED CLOTHING, ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU OTHERWISE CAN GO SOB USELESSLY INTO THEIR SCREENS. BIBOTTA HAS PROBABLY ALREADY HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH YOU MORE THAN ONCE, LET YOUR TALENTED AND TRAINED FRIEND DO HER THING, UNLESS YOU ARE COSPLAYING AS DAVID BYRNE CIRCA 1982 THERE IS NO NEED TO LOOK LIKE A SACK OF POTATOES. I HAVE SPENT WAY TOO MUCH TIME OVER THE LAST SEVEN YEARS CONTEMPLATING YOUR PHYSICAL IMAGE ALONGSIDE THOSE OF YOUR BANDMATES, TRUST ME, YOU LOOK GOOD.

...sorry. I'm a little frustrated with these dudes these days.

So is this the next-to-last concert? Maybe? Probably? They've got something scheduled with Irina Kairatovna in October (I think?) and then possibly, IIRC, a date booked at Rixos Water World in Aktau, which they've played several times before. The fansite weloveninetyone posted an excerpt from the concert suggesting strongly that they are still talking about some sort of hiatus. I've been monitoring their social media output as best I can, not being able to understand anything, and they've seemed pretty cheerful, but who knows if that's relief or a show or something else altogether. I will go ahead and predict (and remember, my predictions are usually wrong) that more will be said at the end of the Almaty concert next week, and if they really are bidding a public farewell to Eaglez then it will be accompanied by some onstage crying. (From most to least likely to cry: Bala, Ace, Alem, ZaQ.)

I'm frustrated for obvious reasons: if they really are calling it quits after next week, more or less, then my odds of ever getting to see them live, already small, drop to indistinguishable from zero. I like their music and their goofiness and their willingness to think out loud. Are we really losing all of that? But also: they have a whole company to take care of now, that produces one product! They have staff members who've been working hard on this concert: the dancers, Bibotta, the merch team (there was merch! finally, there was merch!), whoever was in charge of putting Jeff-Koons-esque imagery up on the big screen. Is all that hard work and knowledge going to atrophy now? And is it all going to atrophy because our lead foursome didn't do decent worst-case forecasting and ZaQ got pissy DJ Khaled-style? Like, you guys overcame repeated threats of actual physical violence to get here, you're really going to leave us with the impression that you're taking your creative ball and going home because Eaglez didn't stream "Ego" enough?

I'm also frustrated because I know how much I don't know. Which is a lot. No one should ever have been satisfied with some random woman from Atlanta being the one to try to broadcast about this group. I've got multiple Kazakh-language resources here and haven't been able to prioritize learning the language enough to actually make any progress beyond a couple words here and there, or understanding that suraqtar is a plural noun. There's so much left to do! And learn! And it's vanity, admittedly, but part of me is now wondering whether if I'd worked harder, or been a more conventional (read: younger) superfan, whether it would've made more of a difference, whether they'd have more of an English-language following now.

But y'all feel free to ignore my grumpiness. We'll see what happens in a week. And if the Almaty concert really is the end of an era, well, the guys never owed me or any other fan anything. It's going to have to be one of those "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" moments. Baqytty bol, us to them, them to us.

[jedisceptile]

15 years ago when I was half the age I am now, on 23 December 2008 I made an account on a forum. It was bulbapedia's forum, called BMGf for short, to discuss all things pokémon on. While I initially only made my account to win a fanfiction contest with what must be the most cringe story ever written (needless to say I did not win the contest), I started posting regularly and must have been an active poster on there for about 5 years. I feel like by the time XY rolled around I wasn't that active anymore. I made over 10 thousand posts, was personally responsible for popularing the mafia forum game, got made a mod and made over 200 friends if my friendlist was to be believed. They were some very formative years for me on the internet before the advent of social media.

I thought it would be a fun excercise for myself to see which people I am actually able to remember from that website. What impression did they leave on me looking back, who can I even remember from that long ago? Maybe 2 of my followers will read this and not know any of these people, maybe no one will read this at all. But I still feel like it's more fun to post this online on the off chance one of these persons actually reads it than to just keep it in a word document where I know for a fact I will be the only person to ever lay eyes on it.

I will go on an alphabetical order for readability, though this is not the order I started recalling in.

Aladar - I don't know his first name. He was a regular in a chat thread I frequented, he loved star wars and I think we had the same brand of humour. Though he must have become inactive on the forum years before I did and never played mafia with me, it's interesting he left an impression on me nonetheless.

America - Killi, I think this was her username but she'd change it so much I don't remember. I think we mostly bonded over the forum game mafia, but we also watched all of fmab together and were pretty close for a while, chatting often. Apparently she was manipulative and a bit of a gremlin to other people (called abusive etc.), but she was normal around me so I didn't let it bother me. I guess she felt a bit like a younger sister to me in that regard.

Archaic - Liam, as the website owner I was never really close with him but I've spoken with him a few times and in hindsight he was the most normal person on the entire site. He would host contests on the websites that I'd win, over the years I've gotten like three pokemon games from him.

Baron Brixius - an enigmatic kid with an odd sense of humour which overlapped a bit with my own, I liked egging him on. He ended up breaking the forum by naming himself <undefined> and got permanently banned when he did it a second time. He clearly had some issues going on but was never too open about it.

Buoy - don't recall his first name. Some of my friends were obsessed with him for his really weird sense of humour (and the fact he was a few years younger), though in mafia games he could be surprisingly sharp. I think we never really liked each other but we could get along if a mafia game needed us to.

Crackfox - Hayley, I feel like she was a bit mischivous in personality on the forum, but Hayley was brought into a chatgroup I was in a bit later so I remember her more from that. To me it seemed like she always felt like she was a bit of an outsider. I feel like she felt closest to me out of anyone else, I at least dm'd with her a lot on skype. In mafia games on the forum we would also team up almost always. In hindisght I feel like I maybe never truly understood her, one day she just upped and disappeared and I lost a close friend.

Croag - Emily, I guess she came across as kind and a bit reserved? I was in a skype group with Emily for multiple years and got to know her a lot better thanks to that, making it harder to remember my initial impression. Emily presents herself a bit distant with an ironic sense of humour in these group chats but I've met her irl and she where is very genuine and kind. I still talk to her to this day, though not as much as I maybe should.

Emi-chan - Another sister-I-never-had to me as she was a few years older, I really looked up to her and her artistic skills when she started frequenting the chat thread. Though we got along just ok, unfortunately I always felt some distance between us and couldn't really get close to her, before she moved on from the forum. She was into a touhou-esque series called .hack and to this day I've never encountered another fan of that.

Falcon Doveowl - Cara, another person who frequented the chat thread that I got along well with but was not super close to I think. I feel like I may be mixing her up to some extent with Luminosity in my mind, though I chatted with cara a bunch on skype as well I think which I don't think I did for luminosity.

Feralize - I forgot their name, they were always really calm and a force to be reckoned with in mafia games. I think I talked to them a few times on tumblr but I can't recall if they're still active.

FinalArcadia - Haley. I think she was the older sister of two twin girls one of which liked me and the other didn't, but I don't remember their usernames. I believe we got along ok. Someone who frequented a thread where people were all hetalia obsessed and would also play mafia occasionally. We're still mutuals here!

Gaskhan - or was it Ghaskan? I don't remember her name but she was from Portugal, she was a bit of a wallflower whose calm demenure got her promoted to supermoderator. She played mafia a bunch and posted in the chat thread occasionally, but in hindsight I wish I had gotten to know her better.

Gatorage - Axel was generally cocky, though I was in a chat group with him for years I don't recall his personality beyond that all that much. From what I recall while we weren't that close we barely ever got into arguments with each other either, which was rare for me at the time as I got into arguments with everyone.

Ghetsis-Dennis - The most obnoxious person I ever met online, he had a very strong belief system about what characters would be added to the next smash bros (Dawn and Zoaroark among others) and would not shut up about it. The only person I blocked on skype because he would not leave me alone.

Ghost - don't know his name, I feel like he looked up to me as I was a bit older. He was always rather stoic in how he expressed himself but as a chat thread regular we became friends. We both got really into gpx+ at the same time and would talk a lot about that, but I think eventually we just sortof stopped interacting as much even though we were both still active on the site.

Greece - Erin. Was her username actually Greece or am I mixing people up? I think she was a bit demure and we chatted sometimes, but I don't remember her that well. There was a lot of hetalia fans on the website who would change names and avatars so much I wasn't always able to tell them apart that well. I still feel like I'm forgetting someone I talked to a lot on this list, but I can't remember them. Maybe it was Erin, who knows.

Hellion - Don't remember his name. Incredibly cocky know-it-all guy during mafia games, was made a moderator together with me and seemingly always disgreed with me. Awful personality really, I still don't really understand how some people liked the guy.

Humonity - Ruben, from Malta. I felt like he looked up to me for a while, perhaps for my stylish way of playing mafia? He could be a bit eccentric at times but still very fun to talk to, I still talk to him about eurovision every year.

Hunter Blade - don't recall their name. A chat thread regular with a good sense of humour that I got along well with, they're one of the few people from this website that still follows me on here and reblogs my posts occasionally. I should talk to him again sometime.

Hurristat - David. Someone I got along really well with unti he became a moderator and went mad with the power. One day in a skype chat unrelated to the forum (it just had a lot of people from the forum in it) we got in an argument and he tried to to use his authority as a moderator to get me to shut up, which the angry teen I was I refused to give into and caused him to have a meltdown over his own powerlessness. Served him right, jerk.

H-con - Hakon from Norway. Someone from the chat thread I was befriended with, but I can't recall too much about them. I still have them on my switch friendlist (imported from the 3ds friendlist) as I do with some others on this list, and see him online playing games sometimes.

Ino-chan - Tony. Frequented the same chat thread I did. Had a unique deadpan sense of humour which I thought was hilarious. Posted a picture of herself once, and never again. Had a male first name and a male mii on the 3ds and wiiu. I still wonder once in a while, is she trans or did she catfish us for all those years. I think I was sort of close with her, but her distant personality made it hard to really get to know her.

Insana Dana - Dana, I don't think I was that close with her but we got along in various skype groups. I feel like she's one of the few persons who despite being in various fandoms would never get into arguments with others.

jda995 - Joel. Funny guy that I played some mafia games with but mostly know from being in a skype group together with. Very sassy, sense of humour comparable to Croag.

Leafeon800 - Alex is my bff to this day. On the forum we got paired up once in a program meant to introduce new people to each other. I thought our conversations were a bit shallow, and eventually we both got put in a skype group for people who owned mario kart 7 on the 3ds to race together. At first Alex was one of the people in the group I felt least close to, but as hormonal teens the people in that group (including me) were constantly creating drama and fighting. One day the drama was among the other members and I messaged Alex along the lines of "get a load of these guys", starting a trend of us dm'ing each other more and slowly becoming the best of friends. I can't even really remember what caused us to have such a good connection with each other, but I'm really glad it happened.

Leggo - don't remember her name, leggo was always very kind but a bit enigmatic in how she presented herself. Like she was both full of quirky personality but also rather stoic at all times. Such an odd combination. I wonder if she's still like that.

Luminosity - Not Clara, did I ever know her name? She didn't stand out too much, but enough for me to remember her. I think she was older than me and got along quite well with themissingno. I may have gotten some older sister I never had vibes from her, but my memory is fuzzy. I played mafia with her a few times.

Mariowie - Mario? A pretty reserved personality, I chatted with him in the chat thread a few times and the main things I remember is that he's Dutch and lives on an ostrich farm. I still interact with him on twitter, where he often ends up being the only person liking the single tweet I make once every 6 months.

Midorikawa - Ariana, a girl with such a strong personality that we would constantly argue with each other. However when we were on the same side arguing together with someone else I would feel a rush like nothing else. Almost developed a crush on this girl, but thankfully we disagreed more with each other on things than we agreed. She was very conservative.

Mintaka - Hyemin or Min was one of the people I felt closest to on the forum, a girl a few years older than me. She was a student in Seoul, very kind and a bit quirky sometimes and I actually feel bad I don't remember as much about her as I feel like I should. I met her and her family irl when they were on holiday in the Netherlands.

Neonsands - don't remember his name. A lot of mafia board frequenters would eventually start talking to each other on skype but I think neonsands was never one of them. I mostly talked to him during mafia games and he was either an opponent to fear or my favourite ally, a game where I was mafia with neonsands and sourcandy remains one of my favourite and most succesful ones ever. In hindsight I wish I had gotten to know him better.

Neosquid- I don't remember his first name. Neosquid was a bit of a weird kid who was a few years younger than me and appeared to look up to me. I chatted with him a lot and I think we shared similar humour, but unfortunately it's not the clearest in my mind anymore. I think he was dealing with some mental stuff, like how when he was 16 he dated someone 8 years older than him who then broke up with him because he was allegedly being abusive. Hope you're doing ok neosquid.

Paperhorse - Claire, she was like everyone's mom friend. Very warm and kind, but unfortunately I can't remember that many specifics about her. She loved harry potter I think and got married a few years ago, if she has children now I'm sure she'd be a great mom to them.

Phoenicks - a young republican who loved debating more than anything else and therefore also mafia games. We liked each other but weren't really friends, I think he respected me as a player but did not really show it a lot during games. Would write the longest post indicting someone as mafia which annoyed me a lot. It still annoys me when people are making arguments in really lengthy ways when they could be much shorter about it tbh.

pkmngreen - Frank, another person who I chatted with so much I don't recall my initial impression of them. In chats he was a bit cocky and I got into arguments with him sometimes. Thinking back I think Frank was more emotional than he'd like to let on and the jerk that I was I would sometimes take advantage of that to push his buttons. All done with love of course.

Pokemoll - Molly was 10 years old when she joined the forum and got made a moderator at 11, insane in hindsight. After I left the forum I followed her on tumblr and twitter a bit (and still do), watching her grow up in that sense made her a bit of a distant little sister to me. She's kind and not afraid to stand up for herself and while we don't talk to each other that frequently I think we have a mutual respect for each other. I always like seeing that she's doing well when I happen to catch a glimpse of her social media once in a while.

Pichuboy - don't recall his name, he was like the rival of buoy and I didn't like buoy so I liked pichuboy better. He was cocky but in a more serious way than buoy, but I never got that close to him. He was a bit younger I think and babied by some staff members.

Rayne - don't know his first name, rayne pushed for me to become a moderator which I could not hold onto long due to my online anger issues. But it was nice to have a guy trust in you like that. He was older than me and always came across as very chill, apparently he is a hardcore furry.

Revolvingscott - Scott, this guy must've been on the forum for a year at most with only around 800 posts (noob numbers) but as he posted in the chat thread I frequented he left an impression. He was gay and flamboyant about it and I loved his sense of humour, I think we liked egging each other on. One of the few people who would compliment my selfies which did wonders for my self esteem.

Ryuutakeshi - I feel like his name may have been Kevin, but it may not have been. He was a theater kid and though he was a few years older than me I never got older brother vibes from him. It was ok chatting with him but I don't think we ever got that close. He ended up dating someone from the forum who I also chatted with sometimes but wasn't that close to, I think her username was kayori-chan.

$aturn¥oshi - Steve, this guy was like 30 years old moderating the chat thread, always stoic and chill with seemingly almost no sense of humour of his own but happy to go along with the flow set up by others. He was gay, lived in a basement, owned two cats and was obsessed with michael phelps to the point I thought those were pictures of him. I wonder if I ever knew what his day job was.

Secretive Trainer - Danny, whose personality I don't remember that much on the forum, I think just pretty normal and down to earth in general. I've chatted with him more directly and I remember he's gay and loves all things nintendo, so we get along just fine. He reminds me a bit of my brother.

Shiay - Don't remember he name, didn't interact much with her but am including her for the female represntation of this list. She was obsessed with Morty from pokemon gold/silver, a big fujoshi and into brother/sister incest despite having an older brother herself. One of the first persons that made me realise there are some weird people on the internet.

Shiny celebi - Brenna was a lot older than me and always rather demure on the forum, like she had no personality of her own at all. I think that was a symptom of her autism. She seemed rather fond of me, as she would often send me messages on discord with her concerns about sjw-ideology making me hate myself for being a man. It felt a bit smothering.

Sourcandy - Don't recall her name if I ever knew at all, Sourcandy was feisty and a truly genius chaotic mafia player. I would often clinch with her during these games and people on the forum would jokingly ship us for it. I think we were rather fond of each other and could've been good friends, but due to mental health issues she would unfortunately often disappear for months at a time and we could never really become close with each other.

System Error - This guy used the blog add-on of the forum like social media before social media existed, writing multiple short blogs every day. Meanwhile I put effort in all of my blogs, making them all funny like some sort of amateur stand-up comedian and I'd consider my blog failed if it got less than 7 comments on it. These blogs truly were the social media of its time.

TheCapsFan - I chatted with him in some threads, he played mafia sometimes, and now he pretty much runs the forum I think. Unfortunately my final few years on the forum are a bit fuzzy to me and that includes what I talked about with Caps.

Theflamingbooger - Zach, I think. A chat thread regular, I idolized this guy for reasons I can't quite recall. Maybe a brother I never had kind of deal as he was like 8 years older older than me. He had a bad webcomic and became really into mlp later. He didn't really have a great sense of humour from what I remember, but was just averagely himself in the chat thread which was a nice chance of pace from the other whackos who posted there.

Themissingno. - Steve, a regular in our chat thread on the forum. Steve was truly like the older brother I never had, often teasing me, egging on my emotional outbursts (which would cause the mods to warn me to his enjoyment) with an odd sense of humour. But I don't think he ever did these things in bad spirit and was actually very fond of me. When I was whisked away into a skype mario kart chat he was actually a bit jealous which is pretty cute in hindsight. I met him irl once which was very fun.

Unown Lord - Guy who would only be in speculation forums for new games and post entire essays about how the next games should be prequels featuring apricorn pokeballs. If you told him his ideas were insane he'd write another essay on why you were stupid for disagreeing with him. He must've jizzed his pants when arceus legends was announced. Wish I didn't remember this guy.

Zeb - Liam, this guy hated my guts. I don't know why, I think he had issues. But by hating me he just gave me considerable power over him, any argument he started with me would inevitably lead to him having a meltdown. He was added to a skype group chat I was in and left after some time, probably because he couldn't take being around me any longer. I doubt he got far in life.

Zenax - a good mafia player who had the same age and birthday as my brother. Unfortunately I don't remember much else about him, I think he was a moderator at some point as well.

Zima - Zima might be the most wildcard person I've met on the site, obsessed with hetalia and I'm pretty sure she had some mental issues. They'd leave, come back, leave, changed her name constantly. She frequented a different chat thread than I did where I think people disliked her, but I was always quite fond of her.

While it's surprising to see I still remember a lot of people, it's also sad to see how many memories of those people have faded away. Some people have even blended together in my mind, making differentiation harder.

[desertfangs]

DA here, oddly specific poll for the ages!!! I mean the dancer thing lives in a penthhouse in my mind rent free because that's a WHOLE person they took care of for an undefined period of time like... what did he look like? what was the nature of their relationship with him? did they have any memorable nights out together? have they kept in touch with him or attempted to track him down in modern times? I have SO many questions. Anne was wild for that. But also! Armand gifting Daniel expensive jewerly, diamond tiara included (imagine Armand putting in on Daniel's head for the first time), them collecting "specimens" (I'm guessing animals/insetcs/spiders of some sort? plants?) and microscopes and obsessing over them, them just randomly interviewing people on the street (an overly excited teenager and a young reporter stop you in the middle of the street and start asking you insane questions?? for seemingly no reason??), Armand filming all kinds of weird shit ahem 👀🔥, them hanging out in Latin America for a while, going to fortune tellers/tea readers(?) in NYC... it just goes on and on and on jfc chapter of all time😭 

Oh my gosh, right, it really is a The Chapter of All Time. I fully admit I crowd-sourced some of the options for the poll and there are so many that I might have to do a second one!

The Dancer thing is so wild to me. It's just this throw away line and yet it could mean so many different things! Was it just some dancer they financially supported, Armand leaving envelopes of cash on their doorstep? Was this person a friend who hung out with them sometimes?

I'll tell you, I think it was someone who ran in the same social circles and I like that idea because as hectic and chaotic as their life together was during those years, I absolutely believe they had social circles in the art scene, people they routinely saw at galas and shows, people whose parties they attended, bars they frequented enough to be regulars. I spend so much time thinking about the connections they made, and even if they kept people at a distance, imagine the number of lives impacted? Of people who knew Armand and Daniel as that slightly odd couple who love art and music and conversation, even if one of them is often sneaking off to smoke a joint or hit the bar? I definitely think they left their mark. (And imagine how many of those people read QotD and thought like... how funny, aren't they like that couple we used to know who ran all over the city to see all of our art shows? I wonder if the author knows them?)

But that dancer, oi! That has kept me up at night for sure.

The tiara thing is so funny, I like to picture Daniel wearing it around for the rest of the night before he has to turn it in for cash. And like at that point, Daniel had been existing with and living with a vampire for what, 6-7 years? Like it's hardly the weirdest thing ever but having your boyfriend hand you priceless works of art and piles of jewels so you can fence them during the day... Daniel deserves whatever wedding ring Armand gets him post-canon.

The specimens and the science stuff is gold too! We talk a lot about Armand and gadgets but what about Armand and entomology and astronomy? Daniel and Armand did so much weird science! The camera thing is so funny too, like what I would pay to see those tapes (not even necessarily the smutty ones... but I'd also like to see those, thanks! 🥵) Just the idea of them standing on the street corner interviewing strangers and Daniel being like "I used to do this a job and now it's my immortal boyfriend's hobby." I think he enjoyed it though. Honestly I think Daniel enjoyed most of this stuff and had a blast with him, and it's part of why Daniel loves him.

The South America stuff too! The treasure hunting! The mansion in Florida they abandoned for the Night Island. All brilliant tidbits.

You could write a hundred fics to try and flesh all this stuff out and never be done. How Anne managed to pack so much into those pages is a mystery and an incredible feat for sure!

[celticwolfie]

Okay, So I wanna finally post something for the little event/compition that @laurzzz  has for their fic, WWITS. I’m tossing my hat into the ring! Pun not intended.   Because I don’t want to be too long with the post I have a small summary with more information that will be under a keep reading line. ^^;;  She is a character with piebaldism. Her hair and skin is white in certain places and she was raised by her grandparents as long as she could remember. Her family would not tell her what had happened for her parents to not be able to see her. Anyway, as she grew up she started hearing about the expansion west and followed the route to see if she could try to get more money to help out her grandparents. Being a minority in America in the 1800's made it hard for them to get good jobs and they soon started work as a person that broke horses. She soon started to be able to understand the behavioral differences in each horse which made it easier for them to break them. Essentially, she started being better with their balance and started to do trick riding without a saddle.

AAAAA More information is under the keep reading line!  I still wanna thank @omenofthevoid​ and @venomous-qwille​ For the art that’s there!

I wanna let everyone know that the amazing @omenofthevoid did the art work and that I fully thank @venomous-qwille​ for commissioning her! BTW I’m sorry the image is a jpeg because my computer is dumb and keeps only saving images as thaaat. ;;

Bakari Williams  Stage name:   Equineox Appearance; Stands at 5’8” and her hair is black with her eye color being hazel. Her hair and dark skin is covered with white splotches as she has piebaldism. Making her have white strands of hair and white patches of skin. Preshow, she wears jeans, a solid color button up shirt and regular cowboy boots that have been tended to several times. This all allows her to tend to the horses for the show and move them to where they need to go. Showtime attire: Normally a short skirted lime green leotard with multi colored glass beads sewn into the waist and choker. She has a white lace collar that latches in the back. Backstory; Born with an odd pigment mutation, Bakari Williams was seen more of an outsider to most. Knowing more sympathy and kindness from her limited family that had helped raise her in such a small home in the city. She was taught how to fend for herself as she wasn’t afraid to really fight for herself. Though, her violent ends to conflicts were often reprimanded by her grandparents who raised her. Which she cared for deeply as she knew them more than her own parents, whose fates she never knew. All she knows of them is what was told to her from family members. As she grew up, stories of others making it big in the west. She traveled west when they became an adult. Mainly to help with some of her family’s financial struggles. However, being a woman of color and an unheard mutation of the skin, many did not want to give her work. After consistent bothering of one of the locals, she finally found work. It unfortunately was to break horses, the man who had hired her hoped to scare her off with the more wild mustangs on the land. However, that wasn’t what happened. With pure determination and will to prove something of herself, she kept with the work. Being more stubborn than a mule, she had managed to tame every stallion and mare that was given to her. As time went on, she was able to tell the body language of the horses and work on her body strength to keep on the horse, allowing her to break them faster. Eventually, she was able to not only raise money for her family, but pay for a better horse to travel with and practice her skills. Soon, she was able to work on simple tricks at first, but as she practiced more and more, she was able to do more amazing feats of balance and tricks. From balancing on one hand, to jumping from one equine to the next, to a backflip. All while the horse continues to move. Personality: Tends to keep to herself as she's tending to the horses for the show. However, if anyone makes any of her friends or family upset or uncomfortable, she will roll up her sleeves to smack some sense into whoever is causing any issues. That, and she's very stubborn as she is used to trying to bend equines to where she needs to go (Or want to go). So she's headstrong, proud and kind. Her act includes feats of acrobatics while on horseback. Front balancing on posts strapped to the horse back, to backflipping and leaping from one horse to another while in full gallop. I’m not good at full descriptions and talking about the character’s biographies. ^^;;

[dg-outlaw]

All About River City

This post is for anyone interested in knowing more about River City and/or why I chose it as the setting for my latest and last story in my "A Few Sparks Before The Fire" JaySteph fanfic series. *Spoiler Free*

Why River City?

I wanted this story, and Jason and Steph’s case, to be outside of Gotham so I could isolate them and build on their romance away from the rest of the Batfam. I also wanted to find a city without a lot of canon content so I could play a bit with worldbuilding as I’d like to write a non-fanfic story someday. When looking up various cities in the DC universe I came across River City and noticed it fit my criteria for a somewhat blank canvas. Outside it being the home base for a minor character from back in the day, Odd Man, and a one-time random meeting spot for a Jimmy Olsen storyline, it seemed like a great sandbox to play in. It also has connections to Gotham as an older version of Odd Man and his daughter, Debbie Stoner, are involved in the Mother Panic comic.

Where is River City?

Based on the connections mentioned above I assumed it was close to Gotham, relatively speaking, but in the Jimmy Olsen comic he mentions it taking him all day to get there. In this regard I decided to go with headcanon and say it’s somewhere between Gotham and Metropolis (and if it took Jimmy all day, then maybe he took the bus and the bus broke down somewhere along the way or his flight had lots of connections and delays). Trenton, New Jersey is the approximate distance marker I’ve used in the story, since it’s near the Delaware River (a “river city”) and would be somewhere between Gotham and Metropolis if we’re saying Gotham is in southern New Jersey and Metropolis is near NYC (though I know it’s previously been in Delaware). 

So is River City a fictional Trenton, NJ?

No. River City is not a substitute for Trenton as that’s just one reference I’ve used. I’ve also referenced bits and pieces of other nearby cities like Philadelphia and New Brunswick, NJ. Most of my references are for climate, architecture, and imagery for my own creative musing as well as the promo postcard image for the story along with a few other things. Basically, River City is its own fictional place and that’s why I picked it as it can be whatever I make it while still having a general base as a small city on the east coast. 

Who are the characters in River City?

For the sake of the mystery I’ve created a bunch of OCs, though there are a few easter eggs for known DC characters connected to River City. Anyone else not from canon is completely made up. Maybe they’re suspects, friends, allies, enemies, all or none of the above. Again, this is me stretching my creative and worldbuilding legs. Also, any names, likenesses, etc. not associated with DC comics are completely made up and not in reference to anyone living or dead. So my apologies if a name pops up and it’s your name or someone you know. They’re random and I tried to come up with unique names and names that immediately don’t pop-up as someone famous or well-known in a Google search. 

What’s River City like? Is it more like Gotham, Metropolis, or someplace else?

You’ll just have to read and see. What I will say is that I wanted it to feel a bit cozy. It’s not as big as Gotham or Metropolis, thus no real superheroes in town, but I wanted it to feel big enough to be spread out. One reference that is often in my brain is Central City from the CW series ‘The Flash’. Minus whatever opinions of the show one might have, I really liked the cozy feel of what was created on that show, especially Joe West’s house and later Barry and Iris’s apartment in the city. So yeah, that’s the vibe. Also, I know a lot of that show was filmed in Vancouver (on the other side of North America), but hey… vibes.

Will there be more fics set in River City?

At this point, I don’t know. I don’t have any real plans for revisiting River City, except for one, but that’s a bit of a spoiler for a future series. As mentioned above, River City is me having fun doing some worldbuilding and playing around with Jason and Steph in a new place for the holidays.

Any other questions I missed or that you have on your mind?

Just drop me an ‘Ask’ I’ll see what I can and can’t answer… either because it’s a spoiler or I really don’t know.

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 7dec23

I know what you're doing

I see it all too clear - Duncan Shiek

Colorado investigates “unprecedented” scheme by drivers paid to transport Medicaid patients hundreds of miles a day

Registered nurse Michelle Papa hands out cups of methadone to patients at the Denver Health methadone clinic on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

The patients flocked to metro Denver methadone clinics in mid to late summer, five or six to a car. Most were users of illicit opioids, including fentanyl. Many were homeless. And all were from Pueblo or other parts of southern Colorado, driven up Interstate 25 by independent transportation contractors who suddenly had flooded the state’s Medicaid system. As clinics scrambled to process the patients, some told The Denver Post that they thought it was odd so many were coming from outside of metro Denver — especially while clinics were open and waiting in southern Colorado. Providers at the methadone facilities, which are tightly regulated and highly stigmatized, made note of the vehicles dropping off these new patients: new SUVs with temporary tags, driven by men who often spoke accented English and who all had enrolled in a lucrative program that paid them to drive patients to the doctor. State officials now believe the drivers were part of a coordinated Medicaid scheme that exploited the most vulnerable Coloradans and the medical system designed to keep them healthy. Seth Klamann reports.

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Related?

Rep. Claude Pepper of Florida held a hearing in September 1987 to investigate the abuse of senior citizens placed into court-ordered guardianship. “It is, in one short sentence,” he said during his opening statement , “the most punitive civil penalty that can be levied against an American citizen, with the exception, of course, of the death penalty.” Pepper, then 87, was outraged at what the so-called protective system had morphed into. Judges got petitions asking that they assign a guardian to a targeted senior who was deemed unable to care for themselves. In a secret court session, the target was promptly declared an “incapacitated ward,” although frequently no medical evidence of infirmity was presented. The ward’s money and property were immediately confiscated and put under the control of a court-appointed stranger — the guardian.*** After eight years of investigating and writing about abusive guardianship cases , I can report that abuses still happen today, but on a much larger scale. Nearly everyone has heard of the Britney Spears conservatorship which lasted nearly 14 years, but the public doesn’t realize there are an estimated 2 million Americans currently living under this court control. The precise figure is unknown because no entity keeps track of guardianship cases, despite numerous Government Accountability Office reports outlining the criminal abuses taking place and the urgent need for a centralized database to understand the breadth of the problem. Some guardianships are certainly necessary, and many work out well, especially if a loving family member is named as guardian. Many professional guardians are truly dedicated and compassionate, but too many are not. In recent years, judges have routinely ignored family members and appointed stranger guardians who can charge the targeted person up to $600 an hour. The caregivers they hire to help further drain the ward’s bank account. Since state courts confiscate ward’s estates worth a combined $50 billion every single year, is it any wonder the unscrupulous are attracted to work within the system?*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/guardianship-a-50-billion-magnet-for-predators

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Babylon Bee -

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The good news is your Mustang beat the Vette as it should.

*** Jacob Steven Michael Carmack, 23, of Ocala, was identified as the driver of a Ford Mustang involved in the street-racing incident on Nov. 18 in Marion County, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a news release. FOX35 Orlando reported that Carmack is employed as a correctional officer with CoreCivic in Citrus County. The silver Mustang and white Corvette were street racing around 8:30 a.m. on State Highway 200 when the Corvette struck a Toyota Prius, careened off the road and slammed into a power pole and tree. First responders arrived to find the Corvette ripped "in pieces," Marion County Fire Rescue said at the time.*** https://www.foxnews.com/us/correctional-worker-arrested-street-racing-crash-injured-corvette-driver-ripped-car-apart

The bad new is you're going to the jail where you work.

***

Predictable

***"Not enough change has happened since the 2020 Uprising," [Michael Latt] wrote in June 2022. "We’ll continue to fight and stand up against police violence and White supremacy until true justice is real in this country."*** Latt's website shows him pictured alongside public figures including the rapper and actor Common, Georgia progressive Stacey Abrams and U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Latt comes from a well-connected Hollywood family. [His mom, Michelle] Satter is a founding director at the Sundance Institute; Latt's father, David Latt, is a movie producer; and Latt's brother is the head of talent at CAA, according to Deadline.*** https://www.foxnews.com/us/hollywood-social-justice-warrior-killed-by-homeless-woman-own-home

"36-year-old Jameelah Elena Michl allegedly broke into his home and allegedly shot him in the head" on Mon, 27nov23.

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Really?

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Babylon Bee

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Payback is a uh.....

George Santos

@MrSantosNY

Monday I will be filling an official complaint with the Office of congressional Ethics against

@NMalliotakis

regarding her questionable stock trading since joining the Ways and Means committee this Congress. Before joining the committee the congresswoman didn’t have an active trading habit or a high volume stake. The question is, what set of information is she trading with?

11:48 PM · Dec 1, 2023

2.8M Views

We have Pub.L. 112–105, 126 Stat. 291, ‘‘Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012’’ or the ‘‘STOCK Act’’ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-112publ105/pdf/PLAW-112publ105.pdf

Doesn't apply to family members

15 USC Ch. 2B.

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Philly says no face, no case

Wearing a shiesty -- a.k.a. ski mask or balaclava -- in certain public areas throughout Philadelphia will now be a finable offense. On Thursday, among a number of bills, Philadelphia's City Council approved legislation to ban the wearing of ski masks in places such as schools, day cares, rec centers, parks, inside city-owned buildings and on public transportation. The bill passed with a vote of 13 to 2. Those who violate the new ban will face a $250 fine. And, those who wear one during the commission of a crime will be hit with a $2,000 fee -- on top of any other legal ramifications following the act. The move comes after SEPTA announced a similar ban on public transit.*** In supporting the ban, Councilman Anthony Phillips of the city's 9th councilmanic district, said the bill would return "both power and safety to the people" including thousands who were not in attendance at the day's hearing. "It aims to create a safer, more transparent and loving community," Phillips argued. At large councilmember Isaiah Thomas said that he supported the bill as a way to help law enforcement officials identify those who engage in criminal activity "I'm all for trends and things that are cool for young people. Very supportive of that stuff," he said. "But, what am I supposed to say to a parent when we leave a basketball game and harm is done to a child and there's no way to tell who did that harm or why that harm was done? "Young people, you got to take them jawns off," Thomas said, punctuating his comments. "Seriously."*** Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier of the city's 3rd councilmanic district, voted against the bill as did Councilmember at large Kendra Brooks. Gauthier said that she couldn't support a bill that could further marginalize and criminalize young men throughout the city. Instead, she called for more support for young people. "It's incumbent upon us as a city to deliver that support and to prioritize that over making enforcement harsher on young Black men in our city in ways that might not even be Constitutional," she said.***

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-city-council-bans-wearing-ski-masks-in-public/3709560/

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A snitch did it? Perfect....

Federal prosecutors announced Friday attempted murder charges against an Arizona inmate and ex-FBI informant, a week after ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times inside a library at the Tucson penitentiary where they are both inmates. John Turscak, 52, is also facing multiple assault charges and inflicting serious bodily injury with an "improvised knife" around 12:30 p.m. on Black Friday – a day the suspect allegedly told investigators he picked to symbolize the "Black Lives Matter" movement, which spurred months of protests around the country in connection with the death of George Floyd – who Chauvin was convicted of killing. Federal corrections officers intervened "immediately" according to court filings, dousing Turscak with pepper spray. He allegedly told the guards he would have killed Chauvin if guards hadn't reacted so fast. When he waived his Miranda rights, he allegedly told the FBI about the Black Friday symbolism and said he'd planned the attack for a month.***

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Fentanyl and weed?

CARMEL, Maine—An astronomical electricity bill was the first tipoff that something unusual was going on at a former chicken farm in this town of 3,000 people off Interstate 95. A Massachusetts-registered construction company had bought the 5.5-acre property in 2021. But instead of construction equipment moving in, a new power pole sprang up. Electricity use jumped to nearly $7,000 in December 2022 from $600 a month a year earlier. In June, after neighbor complaints, the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office said it carried out a search warrant of the property, seizing some 3,400 marijuana plants and 111 pounds of processed marijuana. The state said it was prosecuting two Chinese nationals and two naturalized U.S. citizens of Chinese origin on charges including illegal cultivation and trafficking of marijuana. State and local officials identified the Carmel property as one of many unlicensed marijuana-growing operations throughout Maine that are run by Chinese networks. According to court documents, one of the defendants in the case told police that from Exit 130 to Exit 244 on I-95, a stretch of more than 100 miles, "all the Chinese people are growing marijuana."*** Oklahoma has shut down nearly 1,000 marijuana farms since late 2020, with about 80% to 90% of them linked to Chinese organized crime rings, said Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. "It's an open all-cash business that requires large land purchases," he said.*** Chinese-operated marijuana farms often rely heavily on Chinese immigrants working under conditions indicative of human trafficking and forced labor, said Aaron Halegua, a lawyer representing Chinese workers who say they have been exploited in the cannabis industry. In New Mexico, state prosecutors are investigating a licensed marijuana farm for alleged wage theft and human trafficking, according to workers who say they are cooperating with the probe. One worker, who said he fled China in March after a crackdown on the underground church he was a member of, said he reached the U.S. after a treacherous journey through Central America and first found a restaurant job in New York City. When a job-placement agency promised him $150 a day for a job making herbal medicine in New Mexico, he paid more than $600 for a flight to Albuquerque in early August.***

Qi, L. (2023, Nov 30). How Chinese Marijuana Operations Cropped Up in Small-Town America; From New Mexico to Maine, Chinese networks cash in on cannabis legalization. Wall Street Journal

***

Quick - arrest the law abiding homeowner!

A Granada Hills homeowner shot and killed an attempted home invasion burglar early Saturday morning and authorities believe another suspect who fled the scene was also possibly shot.  Los Angeles Police Department officers responded around 5 a.m. to a "hot prowler" call in the 11400 block of Swinton Avenue near Rinaldi Avenue and found the suspect dead inside the home.  During a Saturday morning news conference, LAPD Valley Bureau Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said preliminary investigations show that a suspect who was armed with a weapon confronted the homeowner and that's when the shooting happened.  "During that burglary, multiple rounds were fired by the homeowner and the homeowner struck one of the burglary suspects," said Hamilton.  The suspect suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say he was in possession of the victim's property at the time of the shooting. *** On Monday, authorities identified the suspect whom was shot by the homeowner as 20-year-old Inglewood man Abednego Adre. At the time of the news conference, Hamilton said all three family members were at the Devonshire Station as the homeowner who shot the burglar underwent questioning.  A neighbor spoke about the incident and said he was not surprised the shooting happened because burglaries occur daily in the neighborhood. *** https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/granada-hills-homeowner-shoots-and-kills-attempted-home-invasion-burglar/

***

Why don't you go freakin' live there?

A former senior U.S. diplomat who served in U.S. embassies across Latin America was accused of spying for Cuba's intelligence service for decades in one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting security breaches of the U.S. government, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. Victor Manuel Rocha, a former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday. The unsealed complaint said that the 73-year-old Rocha had worked for Cuba as a covert agent since at least the early 1980s until now. "Rocha secretly supported the Republic of Cuba and its clandestine intelligence-gathering mission against the United States by serving as a covert agent of Cuba's intelligence services," the complaint said. To do so, Rocha provided false information to the U.S. and traveled outside the country to meet with Cuban undercover agents, according to the complaint. At a court hearing in Miami on Monday, Rocha was dressed in a tan jumpsuit. A lawyer for him didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Former diplomats said this likely to be the worst breach by Cuban intelligence of the U.S. government, surpassing that of Ana Belén Montes, a senior Cuba analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency who pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba in 2002. She was released from prison in 2023. "This is ten times worse. It was a great coup for the Cubans," said John Feeley, a former U.S. ambassador to Panama. He said Rocha was his mentor when he entered the foreign service. "He was the chargé d'affaires in the Cuban mission with access and security clearance to everything."*** Throughout the meetings Rocha referred to the U.S. as "the enemy." He praised Fidel Castro as the "comandante" and referred to his contacts in Cuban intelligence as his "compañeros," according to the complaint.

de Córdoba, J. (2023, Dec 04). U.S. Ex-Ambassador Charged as Secret Agent for Cuba; Victor Manuel Rocha, who served in U.S. embassies across Latin America, is accused of spying for Havana's secret intelligence service for decades. Wall Street Journal (Online) 

***

House explodes in Arlington, VA 4dec23. Occupant had fired flares at neighbors. Police attempted to execute search warrant.

***

But those hats were really cool, so it's ok.

A Macy’s security guard was killed and another wounded in a double-stabbing by a man who allegedly tried to steal multiple hats from the Philadelphia department store Monday morning, authorities said. The guard was fatally knifed about 15 minutes after unarmed security prevented the suspected killer from stealing the merchandise around 10:45 a.m., according to Philadelphia police. The suspect was allowed to leave following his attempted theft but returned to “immediately” attack one of the guards before redirecting his violent rage toward a second guard.*** Both guards were rushed to Jefferson Hospital. A 30-year-old guard was stabbed in the neck and pronounced dead there. A 23-year-old guard was stabbed in the face and arm. He was recovering Monday night.*** https://nypost.com/2023/12/04/news/2-macys-security-guards-stabbed-1-fatally-by-man-trying-to-steal-hats/

***thurs

BabylonBee

***

A 34-year-old man was identified Wednesday morning as the suspect in a central Texas shooting rampage that unfolded over eight hours on Tuesday in two large cities and left six people dead and several others injured, including two police officers, authorities said. Austin police investigators "strongly believe" the suspect, Shane James, is connected to the violent string of incidents and was charged with capital murder, authorities said, adding that more charges were pending. Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said the chain of events occurred at four different locations in the state capital on Tuesday and one near San Antonio. She said the deadly crime spree began Tuesday morning with the shooting of an Austin Independent School District police officer near Northeast Early College High School, prompting a lockdown of the school.

Austin PD

***

Other officers chased the suspect who crashed at an intersection and was taken into custody, Henderson said. James was booked at the Travis County Jail on a capital murder charge and an outstanding assault with injury family violence warrant, according to Henderson. Following James' arrest, Austin police contacted the Bexar County Sheriff's Office and informed them that the suspect had a connection to a residence near San Antonio, which is about 80 miles southwest of Austin, said Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar. Salazar said deputies sent to the house to do a welfare check on the occupants found a "grisly" scene and the bodies of two the victims, a man and a woman, both believed to be in their 40s or 50s, with fatal gunshot wounds and "wedged inside very small room." Salazar said James' link to the two victims remains under investigation. Salazar said investigators believe the killings near San Antonio happened before the suspect went to Austin to continue his alleged killing rampage.*** https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-arrested-after-shootings-austin-san-antonio-leave/story?id=105412955

***

Guts

Presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted Tuesday he flew on late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet twice, not just once as he previously claimed — and that his then-wife had a “relationship” with madam Ghislaine Maxwell.*** On Tuesday night, Kennedy told Watters that the public should have a complete accounting of Epstein’s social and political connections, as outlined in his “little black book” of names and phone numbers of the rich, famous and powerful. “I agree with you that all of this information should be released, and we should get real answers on what happened to Jeffrey Epstein and any of the high-level political people that he was involved with, all of that should be open to the public,” he said. “It should absolutely be transparent, and I don’t see why any of those records would have any redactions in them,” he said.  “Why would we be hiding that from the American public?”*** https://nypost.com/2023/12/06/news/rfk-jr-admits-he-flew-on-jeffrey-epsteins-jet-twice/

You don't think it has anything to do with money, do you?

***

Untreated mental illness is not our friend

The Virginia man presumed to have been killed when his house exploded while cops tried to serve a search warrant had posted rambling conspiracy theories — and filed frivolous lawsuits, including one accusing his “witch” ex-wife of committing him “against his will” in New York. James Yoo, 56, fired a “flare-type gun” from inside his Arlington home into the neighborhood more than 30 times at about 4:45 p.m. Monday, local Police Chief Andy Penn said. When police tried to execute a search warrant and breached his door, Yoo fired several gunshots, Penn said.*** He publicly aired grievances against many people in his life, including posting paranoid rants about his neighbors and a former co-worker on his now-disabled LinkedIn account. He spread rambling and at times incoherent conspiracy theories against government officials, law enforcement, media outlets and his neighbors, whom he accused of being spies and collecting his personal information for unspecified handlers, CNN reported.*** Yoo also reportedly referred to his wife as a “witch” and spewed anti-US slogans, including “F— America,” and quoted Noam Chomsky, the famed linguist who is a leading critic of American foreign policy and US involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.*** https://nypost.com/2023/12/06/news/virginia-man-presumed-dead-in-house-blast-spewed-conspiracy-theories-unleashed-rants/

***

You'll be shocked to learn he has a record.

The perverted son of a California Airbnb host was sentenced last week to more than three years in a federal lockup after he secretly filmed a guest getting out of the shower and later threatened to share part of the footage with her loved ones, prosecutors said. The prison sentence was handed down to Kevin James Strutz, 52, on Nov. 27 after he pleaded guilty to trying to blackmail the victim into sending him a sexually explicit video during a twisted harassment campaign over social media. Strutz and the woman both lived at Strutz’s mother’s house in the city of Ceres, where the victim rented out a room in February 2020, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said. The victim, a traveling occupational therapist, abruptly took off the same month when she spotted a creepy drafted message on a smartphone left in a shared bathroom, prosecutors said.*** Strutz continued to contact the victim through multiple Facebook accounts, including one that had a false identity. He then threatened to send nude pics of the woman to all of her contacts and attached an image of her naked from the waist up if she didn’t send him a video of her touching herself, the complaint states. In an interview with the FBI, Strutz admitted to filming the woman using a cell phone in a basket, but claimed he wasn’t going to send it to anyone else, the complaint states.*** Strutz had a history of arrests dating back to 1991 and as recently as 2018, the feds said. Among the charges were stalking, violating court orders to prevent domestic violence, burglary, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. https://nypost.com/2023/12/05/news/kevin-strutz-sentenced-to-prison-after-filming-airbnb-guest/

***

UNLV shooting - 3 dead, prof shooter

CNN — The gunman in a Wednesday mass shooting on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus that left three dead and a fourth wounded is a 67-year-old career college professor with connections to colleges in Georgia and North Carolina, a law enforcement source told CNN, but it’s unknown what connection he had with the school where the shooting took place. At a Wednesday evening news conference, Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the identity of the shooter, who is dead, will not be released until his family has been notified.*** https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/06/us/university-of-nevada-las-vegas-campus-shooting/index.html +++

Anthony Polito was identified as the 67-year-old college professor and active shooting suspect who opened fire at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus. The suspect is deceased, Las Vegas Metropolitan police wrote. Polito was first named by ABC News, citing sources. Authorities have not formally named him. ABC7 reported that he lived in Henderson, Nevada, and that authorities were scouring his writings, which included a fascination with the Zodiac serial killer. On a website using the name Tony Polito, the suspect claimed to have solved the Zodiac killer’s famous cipher, naming a well-known suspect. He also wrote that he had “lived in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming. In my travels, I especially enjoyed Jackson Hole, The Outer Banks, Key West … and, of course, Durham.” His strongest academic ties appear to have been in North Carolina. In a section on his website about cracking various mysteries, he posted an article he wrote called, “What Really Happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.”*** https://heavy.com/news/anthony-polito/

***

No person is illegal, unless he lacks gender neutral toys

[shortkingshapeshiftr]

Spirituality in Seekers? A Very Quick Ramble

Ok so this is definitely not gonna be a fully-fledged post, seeing as I'm only on the second book in the series and on chapter 23. But... I have to talk about the spiritual/cultural metaphors in Seekers.

Edit: I wrote most of this yesterday and I'm finishing it today. Definitely not a "quick ramble" lol.

It's mentioned plenty of times throughout the first and second books about spirituality. While there isn't necessarily a named or defined religion, all three bear species maintain a similar belief system. After a bear dies, they live within the various parts of the Earth, like rivers, glaciers, trees, etc. All three bear species go on pilgrimages to sacred places, such as the Great Bear Lake like the title of the second book suggests. Especially in the second book around chapter 19 and onward, we see the bear's spirituality and real-world events at odds with each other.

I think it's fair to say that an underlying theme behind the Seekers books is man-made climate change and the destruction of the Earth at the hands of humans. We are shown that the bears of North America, grizzlies, black bears and polar bears, are suffering both physically and spiritually due to these changes. Rivers are drying up, forests are disappearing, the ice is melting faster, fish are scarce, etc. In the views of many bears, the bear spirits are angry with them and that is why they are suffering. We are also shown that, since everything has been getting worse, the younger generations are beginning to challenge the idea of there being spirits in the first place, often times disrespecting their elders. Mostly adult to elderly bears are the ones who still believe in spirits, and pass their stories down to their young ones.

I can't help but think about what this says about the real-world, and what implications these moments have. I think what really piqued my interest was Kallik's brother, Taqqiq, and Toklo's rival, Shoteka. Both share this idea that the weak must be taken advantage of, especially in these trying times, and that they don't belong in bear society. In short, they need to be gotten rid of. It reminds me vaguely of fascistic ideas, that the weak must be exploited while they're still around but must eventually be destroyed. Both of these characters, among others like them, are also depicted as being strongly "godless," unbelieving of the spirits and maintaining a deeply cynical attitude about life. It just makes me wonder about how we are supposed to compare this to real life, what connections can we make? What are we supposed to learn? When the bears listen to their spirits, are we to do the same? Is that a metaphor for the Earth in general? I'm not quite sure, as I haven't completed the second book or the series as whole, but I'll be sure to write about it the best I can.

Ok, I'm done with my ramble. I swear I'll complete the second book today!

[world-cinema-research]

Week 5 Blog Post - Chloe Ziegler

The movie I watched this week was E.T. It is a science fiction movie about a young boy who finds an alien in his backyard. As the story unfolds, they realize he needs to get back home and rush to help him before it’s too late. The movie came out in 1982, starring young Henry Thomas as Elliot and directed by Steven Spielberg. As soon as the movie came out it became an immediate success, and surpassed many other hit movies at the time. In the box office the movie has earned almost 800 million dollars while the production budget only cost them 10.5 million. In all of its success, many awards were presented like the Academy Awards, Golden Globe awards, and the Saturn Awards to name a few. 

Many critics would agree with each other that this is an instrumental film in the success of Hollywood blockbusters. It was widely loved when it came out so they even re-released versions of it that included unseen footage many years after. One famous movie critic, Roger Ebert, mentions that "the whole movie is based on what moviemakers call "point of view." Almost every single important shot is seen either as E.T. would see it, or as Elliott would see it. And things are understood as they would understand them." It points out many of the camera angles which I found odd throughout the movie. The movie presents itself from a child’s point of view and that’s what makes it unique. From any of the adults' points of view, E.T. would’ve been weird or scary but the curiosity of Elliot makes it what it is. 

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/et-the-extra-terrestrial-2002

The year 1982 was huge for both America and the world as a whole. In this year there were many technological advancements. One of the events that happened this year was when a man received the world's first artificial heart. The man who received the artificial heart remained alive for 112 days after the surgery. This is significant because it shows us that the world is growing rapidly and so is our innovations and technology. In terms of the film industry, during this year sci-fi movies excelled and E.T. being at the top of that list. E.T. reflects many of these innovations though through the use of CGI and animatronics which hadn’t been seen very often.

E.T. is a unique movie in all aspects. The story is about an alien and a young boy becoming friends while they have to avoid the authorities. The way it’s filmed allows the viewers to understand the kids who feel like they have to avoid adults and authorities. It opens our minds up because that is what we would predict to happen but those seem to be the people who hurt E.T. It is not like other films either. Steven Spielberg does a great job of making a science fiction film but he also plays into the emotions of the viewers by allowing Elliot and E.T. to have both a physical and emotional connection to one another. At one point the kids learn that Elliot has a home too though that he needs to get back too and he says "Phone. Home. E.T. phone home" as he points through the window at the sky. Many of the scenes of the adults in the film are recorded from their waists down which is how a child would see them and I think that is also very interesting.

The themes presented throughout the movie include adventure, eeriness, excitement and most of all curiosity. These are mostly brought through the music and the acting which create the atmosphere we see. The movie takes place in a suburban town and is familiar to many people’s own homes in that sense. Some of Hofstede’s cultural elements present in the movie include the power distance index and individualism vs. collectivism. These are seen in the way that the kids feel like they must avoid the authorities and work alone to help E.T. It is specific to kids and how they perceive the world but it attracts a wide audience because it is relevant to many cultures.

This is definitely a more conventional film in the story line but there are several unconventional aspects present. It follows the direction of the kids making a discovery, having to solve the problems they encounter, and then help E.T. to have a happy ending. Elliot even says to E.T. at one point “You could be happy here, I could take care of you. I wouldn't let anybody hurt you. We could grow up together, E.T.” But, they know he can’t stay. Throughout the movie we only really see the kids' perspectives, we see E.T. and Elliot have a connection to one another’s body, and we see Elliot lose E.T. in the end. It works though because while we don’t see the authorities, we are able to piece together the ideas that E.T. is being searched for and that E.T. is becoming more attached to him. Overall, it is a unique story that was different for its time and had only been seen a few times before but became a huge hit.

[chocolatebananapancake]

Our final stop: Buenos Aires

After a quick two hour flight we were in Buenos Aires, the big city. Pre-trip, Buenos Aires was probably the place we were least excited about. We thought it would be less different, less interesting and just be like other major cities we've been to like New York or when we lived in London. And it was. But that's why we really enjoyed it.

After a few weeks of smaller places it felt good to be in a huge metropolis. Throughout the trip Vicky has had to compromise on food a bit. Whilst we were always able to eat, the vegetarian options weren't very exciting. Most menus were very similar and only had two options; mushroom risotto or vegetable pasta. She never complained but being back in a major city meant a lot more variety of foods she could have. As it turns out, Buenos Aires has a really good amount of veggie/vegan restaurants.

After arriving at our (very basic) hostel (we wish we'd splashed out a bit on our last place) we went for a wander enjoying the buzz of the cities and seeing all of the bars and restaurants nearby. We had lunch at a good vegan burger place and spent the rest of the day exploring the streets and deciding what to do on our next two days.

We still had some US dollars left over that we needed to exchange to pesos so that was our first move after a nice breakfast at a trendy mexican coffeeshop down the road. There's a very busy narrow road called Florida Street which is in the financial district. It's infamous for its money exchange places and dozens of people shouting a chorus of 'cambio' (Spanish for change). We'd read that you can get a bigger exchange rate by avoiding the brick and mortar shops and going direct with the Cambio people but also heard that some people get shafted with fake notes so we felt it wise to go to a more legitimate place. The rate was still good anyway, better than we when had to exchange in El Calafate when we first got to Argentina.

After sorting the money we headed down the the port area for a stroll along the water. As we were walking past an old style ship I glanced at the information board and a word jumped out at me: Birkenhead. We were stood next to the ARA Uruguay which was built at Cammell Laird's! What are the odds. We had to board the ship, totally worth the 40p entrance fee. Unfortunately most of the information on board was about the ship post-build but it was still cool. A birko boy onboard a birko ship in Buenos Aires.

As if we haven't had enough nature, after this we popped into the nature reserve nearby. The area used to be used for industry but has now been started on a restoration project to grow different plants and support the local birds and fish.

After exchanging our dollars we had some pesos to burn, they'd be useless outside of Argentina so decided we could treat ourselves for our time in Buenos Aires. We stopped at a very fancy vegan restaurant for lunch which was probably the best meal we had all trip (apart from an amazing pizza in chalten).

Afterwards we walked to the main square and just so happened to be there at 15:30 on a Thursday exactly when the 'mothers of plaza de mayo' were beginning their demonstration. After their children went missing during the 'dirty war' in the late seventies these mothers have been protesting the Argentinian government every week demanding answers. It is said that the government 'disappeared' up to 30,000 young people but it has never been admitted to.

Something we often do when we're abroad is go to the cinema. Some people might say it's a bit of waste doing it abroad but we think it's a good option for an evening when you don't fancy drinking. We've been the cinema in Thailand, America, Slovenia, and now Argentina. It was little challenging finding a suitable showing as most of the English language films here are dubbed into Spanish but luckily we found one subtitled showing of the Super Mario Bros movie. It wasn't the best movie but it was a nice change of pace.

So it came to our last full day in South America. We visited the old cemetery La Recoleta, hailed as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. Sounds like a weird place to visit but it is a tourist hotspot. It contains many elaborate marble mausoleums in art deco, neo gothic styles. It was a cool place to visit, even if it was a little creepy.

We still had a good amount of pesos left so had to do something we don't normally like to do: go shopping. We found a little market and were able to get some nice souvenirs, and I bought a Boca Juniors top and Vicky got a couple of pairs of jeans. It's a bit cheaper here than at home so it just made sense. We had some nice mexican street food for lunch and headed to the botanical gardens for one last bit of nature. That evening we were to an extremely fancy vegan restaurant for a slap up meal and enjoyed some cocktails and wine. After dinner we had space in our bellies for our final drink at a kinda cool kinda cheesy speakeasy. We had time in the morning to have breakfast before heading to the airport for our flight home, it was a very foody visit to the city.

So that was it! Twenty-nine days in South America (and one in Paris): twelve days in Chile, sixteen in Argentina, and one in Brazil. A really amazing trip. Simultaneously a very long time to be away and somehow also not long enough! We've been lucky enough to see so many amazing things and we are already planning our next big adventure.

Daniel

[eulascl]

Fantastic four 3 amazing spider man 4 ant man comic

#Fantastic four 3 amazing spider man 4 ant man comic full

#Fantastic four 3 amazing spider man 4 ant man comic series

#Fantastic four 3 amazing spider man 4 ant man comic series

The series was cancelled with that issue, but response to the character was so positive that a solo title, "The Amazing Spider-Man", was launched with a March 1963 cover-date. Spider-Man first appeared in the comic book " Amazing Fantasy" #15 (Aug. "The Amazing Spider-Man" is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the superhero Spider-Man. henry pym fantastic four flash thompson george bell george roussos giant-man hulk human torch invisible girl iron man jack kirby jane foster johnny storm journey into mystery larry lieber loki marvel universe mr.Caption ="The Amazing Spider-Man" #1 (March 1963) Tags amazing spider-man ant-man art simek aunt may avengers bucky captain america chic stone cold war dick ayers don heck dr. Next Next post: Fantastic Four #18 Search site Search for: Search Menu Flint Marko inmate at island prison escaped hid in atomic devices testing center caught in nuclear explosion.Sandman knows Spidey’s nickname is “Amazing Spider-Man”.Sandman can turn into sand, can be basically untouchable, can turn his body hard, can change his shape can turn his finger into a key.Spider-Man plays prank on Jameson, leaves webbing on his seat.Sandman already has a reputation, wanted in many states.I read this story in Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection vol. The final panel of the issue again has Peter reflecting on “great power”, a callback to the ending of his first appearance. The villains, the action, the supporting cast, the art… but it’s also the most philosophical. Actually, it’s very unethical.Īs I have emphasized, this comic is much better than all the other ones we are reading. He deserves to be fired and to never work in journalism again for that. He did not get any actual photos of Spider-Man fighting Sandman. He is walking the line of journalistic ethics and crosses that line here with a pretty serious breach. Now, Peter is becoming a serious photojournalist. And thus Sandman goes on a crime spree…īefore the battle, we got some cool heroism from Peter’s principal on display. Spider-Man can’t fight the Sandman because his mask needs sewing and Aunt May thinks he’s sick. We’ve come a long way from the larger-than-life godlike superheroes of decades past. Aunt May selling shoelaces is an oddly specific concern. His face mask rips, so has to quit the battle.Īnd we learn what Spider-Man thinks will happen if his secret identity gets exposed. Spider-Man just has all kinds of problems. Jameson is running a whole series of articles: “The Spider-Man Menace!” Spider-Man responds by leaving webbing on his seat. We have more of the conflict between Spider-Man and Jameson. This attention to detail is at odds with everything we’ve seen prior to this series. But they make it clear they are on top of their internal continuity within this one series at least, and that Jameson is the publisher of both a magazine and a newspaper. I thought this would be like that and we’d just forget about Now Magazine. Blake’s nurse was Jane Nelson before she was Jane Foster. The Fantastic Four were in Central City before they were in Manhattan. They often reveal something, forget, then reveal something different and the new thing sticks. By the second, it was the Daily Bugle, a newspaper. In the first issue, Jameson was described as the publisher of Now Magazine. As my friend Bret recently put it, “Upside down Spider-Man is the best Spider-Man.”

#Fantastic four 3 amazing spider man 4 ant man comic full

This issue is full of firsts for Spider-Man. Check out the first 3 panels of nifty poses. But he should have waited until they robbed the place. He sees crooks about to rob a place, so he attacks them. A common theme of Spider-Man is that he’ll try to do the right thing, but mess up. That’s 5 enduring villains, and at least 3 iconic ones. Lee and Ditko share the credits for this issue with a simple “By”, rather than breaking up who did the story and who did the art. But it effectively shows off the range of Sandman’s powers. It’s not a common artistic choice, perhaps because it forces the images to be smaller. The covers so far have mostly been single images.

[emilieautumnarchives]

Happy New Year from the Asylum, and Rare Posters!

Posted: December 28, 2009 Archived from the Official Asylum Forums

Dearest Plague Rats,

Have I taken the time to thank you properly for being there with all of us lunatics on the N. American tour? If I have not, THANK YOU!!! From the bottom of my plague-ridden heart, thank you. As I said so many times on stage, you have proven me right and everybody else wrong (we have no audience in America? Really???), and I love you for that. Many of you drove for hours to see us, and god knows we drove for hours to see you;), and I now sit in a cell surrounded by letters and paintings and poems and rats and tokens of remembrance given to me by you, but the most cherished gift of all is that you sang with me. You sang with me, and you knew every word, and I will never forget that. My girls and I saw MANY of you beautiful Muffins coming to show after show after show, and in the end we felt like we were singing to old friends…and don’t think I don’t realize that a lot of you had waited more than five years to see me, and I thank you sincerely for not giving up on me that I would ever come to you, because I know for some time it seemed that I would never make it back to the homeland. I thought perhaps you would have forgotten me, but I didn’t give up on you, and we made this happen at last, both of us hoping and praying that the other would be there, and the magic is that we all were! So, is the economy down? Yes. Are ticket sales down more than 60% for all concerts in America no matter the artist? Yes. But did we all make it happen, and do what it took to find each other at last, despite these odds, AND dress up in our finest Asylum best? YES. Should I stopping asking myself questions? Yes.

Of course, for my VIP Book Reading PRs (you know you are all VIPs to us, PRs): You gave me your time and your love each and every night. You cried with me. You watched me bleed. You heard things about me that my closest friends don’t know, and you accepted them with open ratty hearts. And you sang “My Fairweather Friend” with me and gave new and happy memories to a song I had only before associated with sadness. I adored meeting you, I adored holding you in my arms and taking beautiful sexy crazy photos with you, I adored singing with you, I adored teaching you all about leeches (THE AMAZING LEECH!!!), I adored sharing out secrets, and we ALL enjoyed the tea cookies many of you made for us;)…we had some sweet after-show bus parties with those!

Lastly, I want to thank all of the parents (and there were many) who took their young Plague Rats to see us. Some of you knew about us and wanted to sing along too, and others just went because you saw how much it meant to your little ones that they could be there that night, and you may be sure that it meant just as much to me and the Crumpets, because (a) we recruit early;), and (b) there is something in the Asylum for everybody, regardless of age (we’re pretty much a dinner theatre children’s show anyway…). I saw (and was happy to meet many of you) mothers and daughters (often both dressed to the nines), fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, fathers and sons, (no, I won’t go through every genetic combination here) fathers carrying tiny daughters on their shoulders so they could see…having a four-year-old with a heart painted on her cheek call out “I’m still innocent!!” after the song “I Want My Innocence Back”…well, it just doesn’t get much better than that.

Now, Europe…N. America has raised the bar, so get ready to fight like a girl, because we are coming for you;)…and we can hardly wait!!!

Final note: Sir Edward and the Asylum presents a very limited number of Autographed German “Opheliac” Promotional Posters on eBay. These are up for one day only, and are a bit special if I do say so myself as they have never been made available to the public for sale, but were used for promotional store use only. They are also really big, and the ratties want to have them for dinner, so get them before they do…

So, for the moment, I wish all of my little rats all over the world a very Happy New Year of Plague spreading! I am so proud of us all;)!!!

With Love & Bloody Crumpets from the Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, Block B, Cell W14, Inmate A,

EA, Sir Edward, and Basil

P.S.

The Asylum Army: Are You Committed?

P.P.S.

The Plague: Get it. Feed it. Spread it.

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[jortsaaaaaaart]

To Be Forgotten Amongst Friends chp1

Omega! Reader x avengers

Hello all! I revamped my story "ikaros" and this is the new story! Also the name is long rip.

Trigger warnings (later chapters mostly)- ptsd, noncon, kidnapping, human experimentation, Stockholm and lima syndrome

The following chapters will be posted on- https://archiveofourown.org/works/33890977     (seriously- may not post here that often cause i hate the tagging system- go check out ao3)

It's a beautiful day in New York and you're a terrible, no good, thief. 

You were considered New York’s very own Robin Hood. Two hundred ATM robberies in two years, the money flying out of the machines and into the hands of people who needed it. The banks, collectively, had lost over $300,000 from the ATMs alone. But of course, it wasn't just the ATMs. A rash of robberies had spread over the East coast. Most were digital, companies funneling their own money to offshore accounts that wanted nothing to do with U.S. intervention. The FBI were notified, then the CIA, and eventually- after a daring cyber attack against the DOD- SHIELD itself turned it's one eyed gaze onto you.

Nick Fury saw something the other agencies didn't. You had certain gifts that made your line of work incredibly easy. Whether they were natural mutations or some sort of superpower, they allowed you to break into some of the most secure networks known to man. He had almost found you when SHIELD fell and his resources vanished. After the dust cleared he was forced to start from scratch. Hunting you and the remnants of Hydra down at the same time wasn't easy, but, in a strange twist of fate, he found someone else that was searching for you too.

+++

New York was filled with so many people. Most of them were good, in your opinion. (Well, maybe half, actually.) You spent most of your off time working on "projects" or walking around the city. You had become a fixture at the local Bodega. Single omegas were extremely  rare, marked single omegas were almost unheard of. The mark gave you certain freedoms other omegas, sadly, didn't have. It drove away most potential suitors and the ones who were particularly bold would be given a taste of your powers. Once the burrow had gotten used to your presence they saw you as a generous person, but a secretive one. Someone who took no shit even with their designation. You gave to the community and different Omega rights groups in the area. After years of watching you quietly go about helping people you had been welcomed into the burrow's heart with open arms.

You loved helping people in your own way. You loved it just as much as you hated corporations and the police, but when you could make an ATM spew it's contents out into the poorest streets of Brooklyn or make Fox News send a million dollars to Planned Parenthood, you could have the best of both worlds.

At least, for a time. All good things had to end, right? That's what you told yourself as the redhead picked her way through the crowd towards you. 

Seeing an avenger in your neighborhood was an odd occurrence. It was a poorer part of town, untouched in the battle of New York, and too out of the way for any super villain origin stories. In fact, you seemed to be the only mutant in the entire block. You'd always thought, if someone was going to come for you, it would be a couple of FBI agents and not the fucking Black Widow. Your brain and heart went into overdrive as you tried to remember doing anything worth the avenger's time. But there was nothing. The DOD hack had been almost a year ago and all you did was release government files showing attacks on civilians overseas. It hardly seemed like an avengers worthy crime, especially when Black Widow herself had leaked government secrets before.

Any hope of her not not looking for you was dashed when her eyes locked onto yours. She tilted her head, asking a silent question. 

The burst of adrenaline sent you careening through the lunchtime crowds. You couldn't feel anyone on the rooftops but there was a large form blocking your path, trying to box you in. They were stronger and faster but you knew the environment. You ducked into Charlie's, your sneakers skidding on the asphalt as you took the sharp turn. The person behind the counter lazily looked up as you walked to the back. They knew you well enough to not care, they also weren't paid enough to care. The alley would open up into a busy side street. More people meant a better chance to blend in and get away. You were almost to the end when the door opened behind you. Black Widow and fucking Captain America stepped into the alley. For a moment the three of you stood in something akin to a standoff. 

You felt wildly undressed for this life-threatening situation.

"We just want to talk, (Y/N)" Captain America told you, hands raised. The unmistakable stink of an alpha radiated from the captain. You were momentarily thankful for your mark dulling its effect on you. Though, the blonde's scent was tinged with something hauntingly familiar. Something you didn't want to recognize.

Behind him, Black widow's free hand went to her ear. "Target is in the alley between 31st and 32nd," A twitch of your finger and the line went dead. Her hand dropped to the gun at her hip.

"I'm feeling pretty under equipped for this 'conversation'," You replied, slowly raising your hands as well, wondering if they could feel what you were doing. They didn't react and you slowly let your power seep from you.

Natasha was the first to react, drawing her gun and spinning around. Steve looked at her with confusion as her wide eyes scanned the alley as if she was seeing ghosts. She was afraid he realized, a cold feeling settling in his stomach. He moved towards her and you took off running. You felt him hesitate then take off after you, gaining on you with an embarrassingly low number of strides. You tried your powers again, stronger this time, but his focus was unwavering. He was almost to you now and you were running out of options. That’s when the alpha in him came out.

“Omega!” He snarled, “Stop!” Your feet slowed down immediately. It wasn’t as strong as your own alpha’s command would be, but the super soldier certainly commanded respect and obedience. You were forced to stand still, eyes burning holes in the asphalt, as the alpha’s footsteps grew closer. You really didn't want to do this but it looked like you had no choice. Your jaw clenched, and you spun around when his hand grabbed your arm. The blonde's eyes widened as you placed a palm to his chest. 

He barely had time to glance down at your hand before the electricity hit him.

The 1,000 volts you sent into him were supposed to stun him or send him flying, allowing you to escape. However, his muscles spasmed just a bit stronger than you intended. In an instant his grip crushed the bones in your arm and sent the two of you careening backwards into a brick wall. Natasha would find you a moment later, passed out on top of the super soldier, a sizable hole in the wall.

You woke up in an unfamiliar bed, a few blurry white shapes milled about in the corners of your vision. You couldn't remember how you got here, or where here was. All your senses seemed to be dulled. Your wrist was throbbing and each time you opened your eyes the room came in and out of focus. You closed your eyes, opting to ignore the funhouse effect and focus on the sounds around you. The beeping of the monitors, footsteps on concrete, and two low voices.

"She's alright, Buck, I promise." Steve's voice wavered in and out of your consciousness bringing with it the memory of how you got into this bed. "She did something to Nat and ran before I could explain. I wasn't expecting her powers to be so strong."

"I should have come with you," Another voice snarled. Your heart skipped a beat at the low growl. You knew that voice. It evoked a sickening combination of need and terror and you couldn't remember why. "She wouldn't have gotten hurt if I had. What idiot doesn't know omegas are fragile?!"

"It was an accident!" His voice raised slightly before sighing. "I know you're worried, but she's fine."

The scent you had smelled on Steve earlier swirled around the room. Metal and burning pine, it affected you just like the voice had, triggering both panic and yearning. You knew it somehow. The memory was there somewhere, tucked away where it couldn’t hurt you. Where it should have been forgotten.

The scent grew unbearably strong as he leaned over you, placing a gentle kiss on your forehead. When he pulled back he wasn't expecting his eyes to catch yours. 

His expression softened as soon as he realized you were awake. "Omega," Bucky whispered reverently. Stormy blue eyes stared down at you with love and adoration, watching the color drain from your face. "Doll?" 

Somewhere in the back of your mind you could hear the panicked beeping of the machines and Steve trying to calm you down. But it didn't matter. All that you could feel was the need to get far, far, away from this man. You didn't know how you knew him but you knew he was dangerous. You knew he had hurt you. That's why, as he reached out to gently cup your face, you slapped his hand away. 

"Get away from me!" You gasped, voice breaking. You scooted back and tried to back up as far as possible. Your shaky legs barely held your weight as you slid off the bed. Pure terror coursed through your veins, it was the only thing keeping you on your feet. You found yourself pressed into the corner of the room while the men stared at you in shock. Steve and Bucky gaped like you had just told them the Germans had actually won WWII. Eyebrows knit together, blue eyes wide and frantic, Bucky looked like he was in emotional turmoil.

“(Y/N), doll, it’s okay. It’s me. It’s your alpha.” Bucky reached out to you carefully as a low purr rumbled from his chest.

You felt the purr relax you and dull your senses even more. It was nauseating. “I don’t have an alpha! And I don’t know who the hell you are!” You tried to shout and grit your teeth but the words came out in broken sobs, betraying your weakness. Who was this? Why was he the most terrifying thing you had ever seen?

Your teeth were bared at this point but the man kept coming towards you. The tunnel vision and rapid shallow breaths were the only warnings your body gave you as it reverted to its animalistic omega framework. Bucky watched as, in slow motion, your eyes went blank as your body gave out. 

+++

Your alpha held your body to his chest in disbelief. He had expected some shock at seeing him but this went far beyond his expectations. It had been over three years since he'd last seen you. Since he'd last been able to drink in your scent. He'd figured you might not recognize him at first. He had changed a lot over the years. No longer under Hydra's control his physical appearance, demeanor, and scent had changed. But your body should've known your alpha. 

"What was that?" Steve asked. "Why did she react like that when she has your mark?" The two alphas were on edge. Seeing a vulnerable omega drop triggered their protective instincts. Steve desperately wanted to take you and hold you close, ease you out of the drop. If the alpha holding you was anyone other than his closest friend and packmate he would have ripped you out of his grasp immediately. For now he'd have to hold himself back.

"She didn't remember me." Bucky nuzzled his head into your neck, nursing your mark softly. After a moment he pulled back and gazed at your unchanged features. He couldn't wake you from this drop that easily. He pressed in harder this time, teeth lining up with the scar perfectly, but there was still no change. No purr, command, or bite was waking you up.

"We should let her rest, Buck. The pain meds will wear off soon and we'll try again. . . Bring her to the den. She'll need to get used to everyone's scents sooner or later." Steve laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. It was a gentle but firm suggestion. He knew tensions were high, the den, with it's heavy curtains and plush blankets, would calm down his friend and the omega. With little argument the brunette lifted you up and carried you to the den. It was aptly named and extremely well constructed thanks to Stark. Curtains blocked off all light from the windows, mattresses were inlaid into the ground, and the temperature was always cool. It was one good thing about being in a pack with that narcissist, Bucky thought dryly.

Steve led them into a cozy corner of the room. The captain hummed happily as they moved the pillows and blankets, creating a makeshift nest for the three of them. The feeling of the omega pressing into his chest was addictive. He couldn't wait for you to remember your alpha.

The sooner you remembered your bond with Bucky the sooner the rest of the pack, Steve included, could court you.

[wilczachannn]

⊱ ⸾⤻🅹𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐘 𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐘, ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ ‧₊˚ :

𖠳 ꒰ 𝘪𝗇 𝘸𝗁𝗂𝖼𝗁 ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ₊

ⵌ you are jealous over ranboo & tubbo’s friendship.

𖠳 ꒰ 𝘨𝖾𝗇𝗋𝖾 ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ₊

ⵌ platonic // angst

𖠳 ꒰ 𝘸𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ₊

ⵌ one swear word, jealousy.

just some info, if i ever finish writing a chapter before monday, i will post it on friday.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER, NEXT CHAPTER, MASTERLIST.

you wanted to throw your phone across your room, all the girl on instagram, twitter, and other apps, girls who were prettier than you, the ones you couldn't even be compared to. their teeth white as snow, bodies perfect. you wished you never cared about any of them, it wasn't like you lacked anything, but as you started to think about it more, it felt more and more like it. all the pressure of wanting to be like them like spiders clang onto your back, and you couldn't let them go.

you were shown on ranboo's streams sometimes, however it didn't matter when, you were always compared to the person you despise the most, tubbo. you shouldn't care about all the comments ranboo gets about you, all of them were written by kids or teens who didn't know any better, besides, they didn't know you in person, so how could they compare you to someone? they can just assume how you are in real life, because when they see on camera, isn't the same you as in person.

when you looked at mirrors, you were grossed out about who you saw. the [name] you were now was so different than the one you once knew. the [name] who was now standing infront of a broken mirror stopped caring about their looks, they stopped doing their make-up, they stopped their skin care, they just didn't give a single shit. it was overwhelming to keep in touch with everything. you would rather be anyone else, but not yourself. that's when jealousy found it’s way to start following you.

and right in that moment you saw a screen shot on twitter with ranboo and tubbo in it. together in a room. he was too busy to come for you to uk, but for tubbo he was free? betrayed. that's how you felt. but you couldn't help to feel happy for him, then again you truely weren't. all the photos of ranboo and tubbo together crushing your heart into million pieces, tears, who were more often seen on your face, started flowing out of your eyes, all of the pain coming out. you couldn't stand their happiness, it was all to much, which made you sound more crazy every minute. their win wasn't your loss, you knew it.

you couldn't help, but be jealous over how fast their friendship was growing, it was unbelievable at this point. it was like he absolutely forgot about you, his bestfriend. he, in fact, didn't forget you one bit, he was just too busy to spent time with you on the phone, because he was constantly going places to film vlogs and meet  new people. however, he didn't know how you felt inside about all of this. he used to be an observant person, who could tell if something was wrong, so, what happened? you were hurt by his actions, by his ignorance, he didn't even notice what he was doing. his friends were definitively cooler than you, that's why he was busier, he replaced you with people who were more popular, and who had everything they ever wanted.

there was even a clip of him, tommy and tubbo in someones car, yep, they were living their life. you knew how ranboo looked like without his mask and glasses, he was very pretty, which led you and many people complimenting him a lot, especially when you were still in america. he was always the center of attention, no one ever noticed you really. you felt like the ugly, overused piece of shit who was never appreciated or wanted in this case. that was also the time when you started to hate how you looked, many thoughts circled around about your body being too "fat" or "chubby". you were the odd one out, like always. tubbo was beautiful too, as much as you would hate to say it to his face. you wanted to be him so bad, though you didn't even know him.

everywhere on social media all you could see was girls being happier, prettier. you were positive, all you would ever get is jealousy.

although you weren't shown on streams anymore, you still watched their streams only to see people still compering you to tubbo, and how he is better than you.

user1: damn, tubbo should've always streamed with ranboo! [name] was way to annoying anyways.

user2: finally, no [name].

user3: tubbo is way prettier than [name]🤮

you were overthinking about all the comments, but they made you sick to your stomach. you never did anything to deserve the hate that you got, because all you did was stream with your friend, that's all. even ranboo ignored the hate targeted towards you. he simply ignored it. you never felt more alone until now. he should've addressed the hate and say that it wasn't okay, he should've protected you.

your home life wasn't the best either. you are left alone for days only for your parents to come back home with attitude, causing you to feel worse. just like ranboo, they weren't always like this, they used to be sweet and kind, especially since your ther only child. as expected, nothing lasts forever.

"welcome home, mother." you greeted, she walked pass you without a word. she's probably tired, don't let her get into you you reasoned in your mind. to think they hated ranboo for being bad influence on you.

and once again, you were stuck in a room, this time with a new friend. jealousy.

𖠳 ꒰ 𝘵𝖺𝗀𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍 ໒꒱ ⋆ﾟ₊

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