#or all the alumni or decades long fans watching

[pbpsbff]

sorry guys i'm straight man posting again anyway seeing the huskies down 13 to 34 in the last cfb game before the pac 12 is dissolved is a lil depressing

[madamspeaker]

Bob Weir was cold.

It was a partly cloudy July night and temperatures were falling as Dead & Co. played before tens of thousands of fans in San Francisco, ancestral home of the band’s legendary forebear, the Grateful Dead.

Typical summer weather in the city, and Nancy Pelosi knew what to do.

Socks, she told the Birkenstock-shod guitarist on a visit backstage. And a hat.

It may be easier to picture the former speaker, still one of America’s most influential women, surrounded by suits and wingtips than beads and sandals. But Pelosi, who grew up listening to opera waft through the streets of Baltimore’s Little Italy, is a genuine tie-dyed in the wool Deadhead, as cultists and aficionados of the group are known.

She’s friends with Weir and drummer Mickey Hart, having seen the Dead and assorted iterations more times than she remembers. On several occasions, the elegantly styled lawmaker has been seen dancing in the wings, 4-inch heels and all.

It wasn’t certain she’d make the band’s valedictory performance that night, one of the last of Dead & Co.’s recently concluded farewell tour. The House of Representatives was pitching another fit, with balky Republicans acting up, must-pass legislation stalled and restless lawmakers anxiously eyeing the exits.

But in the end, the House approved the necessary defense spending bill with time to spare and Pelosi easily made it home for the Friday night show, mingling with the band and scoring the evening’s set list as a souvenir.

When Weir returned for the second half he was still sockless.

But he had on a hat.

Going through a closet not long ago, Pelosi came across a “Deadheads for Dukakis” purse from the 1988 presidential campaign; she was a freshman lawmaker at the time.

Nearly 20 years later, several of the band’s alumni played at a Washington gala celebrating Pelosi’s path-breaking election as speaker. (A review describes an uptight audience mostly sitting on its hands, though “Iko Iko,” the New Orleans standard, finally got some of the Beltway slugs moving.)

Hart was in the House gallery watching as Pelosi claimed the speakers’ gavel for a second time in 2019.

How and when did they meet? “I haven’t the faintest idea,” she says. Over the decades, San Francisco’s yeasty music and political scenes have blurred together, though, no, it’s not because of some bad acid.

It’s been a long, historic trip.

“They’re wonderful musicians,” Pelosi said of the Dead and company, putting a lie to the notion — propounded mostly by haters — that the group’s kaleidoscopic catalog can only be enjoyed in a drunken stupor or chemically induced haze. (Pelosi doesn’t drink and has never used drugs.) “It’s great music.”

Maybe it’s a congressional Democrat thing.

The late Harry Reid, another teetotaler and a Senate leader when Pelosi was speaker, had a Dead poster signed by the entire band hanging in his home in Searchlight, Nev. He called it his “prize possession.”

Perusing the menu at San Francisco’s Delancey Street Restaurant — a favorite of local politicians, staffed by ex-convicts and recovering addicts — Pelosi savors the freedom of life as just another member of the House.

“You have to remember,” she says, “that for 20 years, either as speaker or [minority] leader, I was responsible for everything that happened on the floor ... in terms of what happened with the Democrats ... and I didn’t even realize that it was a burden until it was gone and I was like, ‘Oh, my God. What a relief.’ ”

She continues studying the menu.

“I still, obviously, take an interest in the legislation,” Pelosi goes on, “and I still raise money for the Democrats,” though not the $1 million a day she pulled in as speaker. “It’s a completely different story.”

Other diners crane to see the celebrity in their midst, seated in a booth slightly away from the main dining area.

Orders are placed. Soon lunch arrives, an international smorgasbord of latkes, kale salad, a chicken quesadilla and matzo ball soup.

“Liberated” and “emancipated” are words Pelosi often uses in her new incarnation. She’s started on a book — not a memoir, but an account of certain decisions. Her husband, Paul, continues healing from the ghastly hammer attack by a QAnon crazy who broke into their San Francisco home last fall, looking to take the ex-speaker hostage.

Will she run again next year for a 19th term, something many in this politically hyperactive city are panting to find out? “I have to make up my mind,” Pelosi responds, purposely opaque, “and then see what I want to do.”

Back to music.

She ran a finger along the crumpled set list pointing to several favorites — “Fire On The Mountain,” “Ramble On Rose,” the trippy sound-collage “Drums/Space” and “Standing On The Moon,” with its indigenous lyric:

Somewhere in San Francisco/ On a back porch in July/ Just looking up to heaven/ At this crescent in the sky.

So beautiful, Pelosi rhapsodized, “I could listen to it forever.”

When it comes to music, Pelosi says, she’s something of an omnivore, with an appetite for “everything from rap to opera.” Drake, Taylor Swift, U2, Keith Urban, Elton John, Metallica, Stevie Wonder.

The Democrat is on a first-name basis with Bono and Cyndi Lauper as well as the other Paul and Nancy. (That would be McCartney and his wife Nancy Shevall.)

She’s hard-pressed to pick a favorite show of all time, but recounts seeing Bob Dylan with the Rolling Stones in Argentina — the “Bridges to Babylon Tour,” Pelosi specifies. She brought along a fellow Democrat, former New York Rep. Nita Lowey, who was seeing her first rock concert. (Naturally the performance included “Like A Rolling Stone.”)

At one point during the show there was an announcement, Pelosi says, seeking donations to fight HIV and AIDS. A young man circulated through the crowd and after receiving a contribution from Lowey, handed her a thank-you gift. “She’s like, ‘I don’t know what this is,’” Pelosi recalls, “‘it’s all in Spanish.’”

A pause.

“Condoms!” Pelosi exclaims.

The dishes are cleared. Time for dessert.

Pelosi considers the profiteroles, but abstains. She had three peppermint patties on the way to lunch, she confesses, and ice cream for breakfast.

These are fraught times. She turns serious.

“I’m a strong believer that the arts are the secret, our best hope for the future,” Pelosi says.

She describes the warm reception she received years ago when she was introduced at a Barbra Streisand concert.

“In that audience ... they’re not there because they’re Democrats. You’ve got a very mixed group of people. And it just completely drove home the point ... which is that [music] is a unifier. People forget their differences, they don’t even think of it. They laugh together, cry together, are inspired together, find common ground together and I do think that’s our hope.”

“That’s our hope,” she repeats.

[itsivyberry]

after the war

Draco Malfoy x f!Hufflepuff!Reader

A blurb, continuing the Tri Wizard Champion series.

request: I'd really like to see another fanfic with Draco showing what happened to them after the triwizard tournament! That would be a great idea! [via @booksmione ]

a/n: HI! Here’s a request! I loved writing this, I usually am not a fan of after-war fics and prefer fics where the characters are still attending Hogwarts, but this makes my heart SOAR I love it. I hope you enjoyed, thank you for requesting this and keeping my favorite (and only) series alive <3

word count: 1160

warnings: mentions of blood loss, crucio, scars, death, war, etc. also fluff LMAOOO

summary: Y/N and Draco managed to find their way back to each other after three years of healing from the well-known Tri Wizard Tournament.

taglist: @drawlfoy @fanficflaneuse @babyhoneystvles @ccelinewritess @nekee-lilac02 @dracofeltonmalfoy

masterlist

read the series if you haven’t already!⬇️

{ 1 } { 2 } { 3 } { 3.5 } { 4 } { 5 } { 6 }

gif credit: @popartism

The war was a massive devastation for the Wizarding world.

Y/N was still grieving the loss of her best friend three years prior. Her school, her home had turned into a place she didn’t even recognize. A prison.

Just as quickly as Hogwarts had changed, she had watched family and friends die within its walls, protecting the students within.

Every single night in her dorm before the Battle of Hogwarts, Y/N would listen to the radio in search of any names listed off that she knew.

Although she claimed she was listening for loved ones, she was really listening for one particular name. Malfoy.

Y/N knew that there was no possible way the Malfoys would be put on the casualties list that grows every day, but she still listened with quiet breathing and a rapid heartbeat to hear the name of the boy she still loved.

From what she could remember, the battle was a blur. A blip in time. Faces that she knew, lifeless on the ground around her. Faces she has grown up with for almost the past decade.

Y/N couldn’t count how many people she loved and held dearly that she had seen dead. Fred Weasley, leaving his other half George. Nymphadora Tonks, a beloved Hufflepuff alumni, and Remus Lupin, Harry Potter’s last standing familial figure and spouse to Tonks. Lavender Brown, the Gryffindor that Y/N had grown quite close to while Hogwarts was under the direction of multiple death eaters. Colin Creevey, the young muggle-born Gryffindor who stood incredibly brave, and another close friend of Y/N’s.

~•.*✰

While attempting to save another young student, Y/N was hit with the Cruciatus Curse, and was severely attacked by multiple Death-Eaters. She could barely feel the pain, when her eyes focused on a head full of white hair that was speeding to wear she lay in a puddle of her own blood in the Forbidden Forest.

“How did you get out here? Why are you out here, Y/N?” Draco’s voice was deeper, aged, yet frantic and shaking. “Oh Merlin, you’re bleeding so much. We need to get you to the Great Hall.”

“Draco?” Y/N’s quiet voice asked. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was trembling, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She touched his face, leaving a bloody handprint behind. She tried to convince herself that he really was here, that he really was trying to get her help, and he wasn’t just a hallucination from the blood loss.

“Close your eyes.” Draco instructed.

A moment passed, and Y/N felt her stomach drop as if she were on a fast roller coaster.

“I need help! Help!” She soon heard Draco screaming, his voice cracking with every syllable. Bustling voices around her had forced her to open her eyes, and she soon realized he had apparated both of them into the Great Hall. Molly Weasley, a dear friend of Y/N’s mother, rushed over as two students behind her carried a cot.

They transferred her onto the cot, working as quickly as they could to heal the wounds without any more blood loss. Y/N was walking the thin line of unconsciousness, but refused to let herself pass out while Draco was still near her.

She knew he worried too much. The creases permanently etched into his forehead told her enough.

With the remaining strength Y/N had, she reached towards him to grab his hand. His eyes snapped down to her the second she made contact with his hand, and he clasped it in both and immediately started planting tear-filled kisses along every inch of her exposed skin.

“You’re gonna be alright. Everything is going to be fine. Please, stay awake. Stay awake for me, Y/N/N. Please.”

~•.*✰

“Wow, so Dad was a softie!” Y/N’s and Draco’s eldest daughter, Lyra, exclaimed.

“Yes, he really was.” Y/N smiled warmly, laying her hand atop Draco’s as they sat on the couch.

“So, that’s how you got that scar? It’s cool!” Scorpius piped in, pointing to Y/N’s stomach, where a prominent white scar lead up to her shoulder, meeting the three scars on her back from her fourth year.

“Mom, you have had some crazy accidents. How did Dad never have heart attacks?” Cassi asked, leaning forward in complete and utter amusement.

“Oh, I can promise you, Dad did have heart attacks. I enjoy keeping him on his toes.�� Y/N winked, leaning back into Draco, who had an arm over her shoulder.

“Can you tell us about the tournament again, Mom? Please?” Scorpius begged, pouting.

“I think it’s about time for you three to go to bed, hm? Mom’s had enough revisiting her very, very dangerous experiences throughout her years at school. Let’s get you all to bed, shall we? Big day tomorrow.” Draco piped in, pushing himself off the couch and helping his children stand from the carpet.

“I’m nervous for tomorrow! First day of fourth year. I wonder if mine will be as adventurous as Moms.” Lyra said, walking slowly to her room.

“And first day of third for me. I hope I get to meet a Hippogriff like you did your third year, Dad.” Scorpius followed his sister through the hallway to their bedrooms.

“And first day of Hogwarts for our darling little Cassiopeia, isn’t that right?” Y/N appeared behind them, scooping her youngest up and planting kisses everywhere on her face. Cassi squealed, giggling loudly as Y/N continued walking to their separate rooms.

“Goodnight, my darling lovebugs.” Y/N said, blowing kisses through each of the open doorways to her children.

“Goodnight, my favorite troublemakers. Get some sleep, or I’ll have the boggarts come scare you!” Draco laughed mischievously, just before getting whacked lightly upside the head by his wife. She quietly scolded him, and he put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Goodnight! Love you the mostest.” Cassi peeped up, flicking her tiny wrist to turn off her lamp.

“Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Dad. Thank you for telling us the story again.” Scorpius yawned, turning on his side and doing just as his sister had done to turn off his lamp.

“Thank you, for reminding us again how cool our parents are. Love you guys.” Lyra said, snapping lightly to turn out her lamp. She always was a bit more advanced than her brother and sister.

Y/N quietly closed all three doors, before heading to her and Draco’s room to finally get some sleep. It wasn’t long before they were both dozing off, Y/N in Draco’s arms.

“Goodnight, my love.” Draco whispered, planting a kiss into Y/N’s hair.

“Goodnight, Dray. I love you.” She whispered back, her eyes closing and letting sleep finally take over.

Even though she struggled to get the happy ending she wanted after fourth year, she could now proudly say she was a part of a loving family with the boy she had loved since she was 14. She was has happy, healthy, and healed as she could be.

And that was her perfect happy ending.

~•.*✰

final a/n: as you can guess, Cassi is named after the constellation Cassiopeia and Lyra is also named after a constellation! I didn’t want Scorp to be an only child, so I gave him an older and a younger sister. I hope you all enjoyed, I really love this and now I’m mad at the lack of storyline after the war for Draco >:( anyways I just like smacked this out in 20 minutes because I’ve been in a Draco loving mood recently?????? Ok lol but I hope y’all enjoyed!!

[popculturebuffet]

X-Men Evolution Reviewcaps: Rogue Recruit

My series long look at X-Men Evolution rolls on as eveyrone’s favorite goth reworking of everyone’s faviorite southerner debuts. The X-Men and Mystique race to bring Rogue to her side after her powers accidently coma a boy. The X-Men try the usual compasion.. while Mystique just tries attempted murder and gaslighting while wearing a wolverine costume. Mother of the year! Meanwhile Kurt tries to get Kitty to likes him, Kitty does something profoundly stupid to prove Wolverine wrong that ends up proving him right, and Wolverine grumbles and is kind of an asshole. Well at least one of those is just an average tuesday for him. We’re going Rogue, Rogue, Rouuuuggeeee under the cut. 

Onto episode 3 though this time I did actually get around to watching a few in a row, so while i’m not MILES ahead of this episode, I do have a better sense of where things are going and where this falls in line with everything else. And this is a big one as it’s the debut of Rogue, easily one of the shows more popular characters from what I can tell and it’s no real suprise. In most incarnations Rogue is a huge fan faviorite, with a tragic but very useful and intresting power that makes for good stories.. and okay in the comics and carton she’s also fanservice incarnate, but that’s not exactly a factor here so moving on.  And here is no exception as naturally, with her goth apperance, and general moody outsider atittude, she was a huge hit with goths and emos one and all! And eveyrone really, it’s a good take despite being almost the oppsite of the angsty but still fesity and funloving 90′s version.. and the ironic part is BOTH are entirely accurate to the comics. And yes like the last time about to dive a bit into the comics.. but unlike the shiar thing this is throughly relevant to how the character is portrayed here and a neat history less for those not in the know, so buckle up. 

What’s intresting is both adapt the character.. just at vastly diffrent points. See most probably think of Rogue as she is now: Bubbly, Scrappy and able to throw a man into a mountain, if still understandably mopey about not being able to touch anyone, thoguh that issues come and gone a dozen times by now because comic books can’t resisit undoing things to meet fan expectations despite most dedicated fans wanting some fucking change once in a while. 

But that’s due to years and years of character development: When Chris Claremont first intorduced her, in an avengers annual no less.. she was a villain, a member of her adopted mother Mystique’s brotherhood of evil mutants, and unlike here, we’ll get into that, she was a fully willing member at first, gleefuly following her mama’s orders to drain the powers of one of Mystique’s most hated enemy: Carol Danvers, aka Ms Marvel and the future Captain Marvel. Yeah this one takes some explination for you non-comic fans, and even some of you comic fans who might not get how one of the more iconic x-men villians has personal beef with Carol.... granted i’m pretty sure half the marvel unvierse has personal beef with Carol in present day after Civil War II, especially tony for murdering him, but story for another time.  It’s actually pretty simple: Chris Claremont was writer of x-men for a decade and easily the most important x-men writer period who created a ton of iconic and well loved characters and shaped Cyclops, Charles Xavier and Magneto into the characters fans know and love among others. And around the same time as his x-men run’s early years in the late 70′s, he was writer of Ms Marvel, and took Carol from a half hearted girl counterpart to the first Captain Marvel with a wonky two identties gimmick, into the asskicker and feminist icon we know today. As such Mystique debuted there and when that book ended, Claremont slided her over to the x-men and the rest is history. And this wasn’t an isolated incident: Sabertooth, aka wolverine’s arch enemy and one of hte more famous mutant baddies, debuted in, of all comic books, iron fist, with Claremont bringing him back years and years later as part of the mutant massacreing Marauders, while Misty Knight and Coleen Wing were breifly supporting characters in x-men inbetween Iron Fist’s cancelation and Iron Fist becoming bros for life with Luke Cage and forming the heroes for hire, bringing the two along as supporting characters in the process. It’s a process writers have contiuned to this day; Bringing a character from other unrelated comics in to keep them out of comic book limbo and one i’m in favor of: as long as their writing the character well and they fit why not.  And like her momma Rogue DIDN’T debut in the pages of X-Men, but in Avengers Annual #10. And no Chris wasn’t writing avengers, though it wasn’t really unusual for another writer to hop in for one annual to pinch hit for the regular writer for whatever reason, with Chris Claremont being one of the few who wrote every annual himself for his run on X-Men. What was is he did so for one reason and one only: To get justice for Carol Danvers after a recent story had screwed her over BAD. Two things before we start: If you haven’t heard of this debacle, my apologizes and rape and abuse trigger warning. If you want to skip this portion of the review just ctrl f HIGHER FASTER FURTHER MORE and you can move right on past this clusterfuck and the aftermath. Anyways in Avengers 200, Carol gave birth via terribly contrived mystical pregnancy to Marcus, son of avengers foe and sometimes ally immortus and creepy asshole. Marcus is revaled to have brainwashed carol into loving him , and making love to him so yeah he raped her physically and mentally and the story ends iwth the “Happy ending” of him whisking carol away with him to his limbo dimension while everyone else is fine with it despite him admitting to using the “subtle manipulations of his machines” to make her love him. So yeah, he kidnapped carol to his limbo dimension, mind controlled her, had his way with her, had her give birth to him so he could come to earth then took her back with him.. and not ONE avenger raced a hand, shield, repulsor or hammer, and yes the big three avengers were very much present for this debacle and very much cuplable. IT’s a throughly disgusting hideous story i’ve only see played out thanks to Linkara, long time comics reviewer and all around sweet guy, reviewing it, though with the panels show to show yes all of this is there, and have no intrest in EVER reaading this vile piece of garbage. If your still curious or after just hearing about it want to see it torn to shreds, here’s the review for you. 

It’s terrible for a variety of other reasons. Naturally Chris, who’d put a LOT of time into building up carol and like any creator who sees their character throughly dragged through the mud, was PISSSSSED.. and so were fans who rightly rioted at the issue, so editorial was more than happy to let one of thier biggest draws  right the ship and also allowed him to take Carol back home to the x-men with him. As for how that happened, after Rogue stole her powers, Carol fell in a river and was rescued by her best friend and fellow Chris Claremont alumnis Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, who brought her to the x-men since she was a friend of theirs, where charles fixed her mind, though Carol was left with no emotoins attached to most of her memoreis. When the avengers, after scrapping with the brotherhood in some neat bouts, came to visit their friend.. Carol instead laid into them for letting Marcus take her, poitned out just how fucked up it was as well as how, and this actually happend, the avengers downplayed her concerns and tried to get her to connect with her demon spawn instead of worrying about her while others made jokes. Basically just one long page of chris claremont unloading on the issue and Carol unloading on her former friends before staying with her new ones. And to the issues credit the rest of the team. .takes it, is utterly devistated to realize what they’d done, and reflects on if they can ever make up for it or if they even deserve forgivness. She would eventually, mostly because people wanted to forget this story after that for good reason, but it’s still a damn cathartic moment.  HIGHER FASTER FURTHER MORE.. so yeah Carol was now with the x-men, who did end up meeting Rogue during a mission to wipe themselves from goverment records for good reason. And to his credit Chris not only used Carol’s lack of emotions tied to her memories for good drama but gave carol a huge power upgrade as binary, if your curious as to where her glowy headed distctrugion of an entire starfleet in her solo film came from. So okay after about a paragraph not really involving her we get into why this is so important to rogue’s character; Rogue now had Carol’s personality and memories trapped in her head and her mind was blurring between them, something this episode would use, and was falling apart as a result and with her moms Mystique and Destiny unable to help a despearate scared and repetnant Rogue went to her last hope for help saving her sanity and her soul: The X-Men. The X-Men, having both fought her and bonded heavily with her victim, naturally were less than pleased about this, and Colossus outright attacked Rogue before charles stopped him, not unresonably given the circumstances. However after talking with her and realizing both how badly she needed her help and how genuinely she wanted to change, going from a brat in love with her own power to a scared young woman terrified of what she’d done and what she was becoming, decided to roll her into the x-men. And everyone revolted: Carol was understadanbly piss and famously punched Rogue into orbit, while the rest of the x-men threatned to walk. Charles however refused to back down and gave one of his finest speech and one of the characters best moments:

To me this is Charles Xavier, a man who will accept and try to help anyone, regardless of their past, because it’s the right thing.. because they deserve a chance and he will GIVE IT TO THEM. It’s a powerful and well done moment and the x-men relucntantly take her in as a result, eventually seeing her as family as she proved herself.  So yeah  THAT is why I took so long to get here and went through ALL of this: Because this series adapts this period in it’s own unique way, taking out Rogue’s outright villiany mind, but leaving in her being a moodier, more closed off person who is constantly afraid of once again stealing someone’s very soul. She still has her confidence, as idd the comics version, it’s just tempered by a wall she puts up between her and everyone else that wasn’t as present by the time the 90′s series adapted her. And there are other bits i’ll get to as we go and in future episodes, I just felt this story was important as it colors Rogue’s journey here, hence me taking a good portion of the review to dive into it and even then I have more bits to give as we go. So with all this exposition that’s probably lost ya’s out of the way, this is Rogue Recurit. Pitter Patter.  We open in the mighty Missisipi, neighbor to my home state of missouri and home of the deep fried shoe. No wait that’s connecticut my mistake. We meet our unfriendly neighborhood goth moping outside, not really enjoying the dance and probably only having gone because her mom told her not to.. Destiny not Myistque mind. More on that in a minute. She’s being watched by two guys: Cody, who if you know your x-men lore you know this never ends well for him, and his friend uh.. let me check my noootes (Checks wiki while shuffling papers to simulate notes) Ty. Turns out Cody’s been starring at Rogue all week but dosen’t even know her name which to be fair, minus the muscles and being on the football team, is pretty much me in high school and is just as pathetic in 2000 as it would be from 2007-2010. I mean if I just went for it I PROBABLY would’ve been shot down, and the one time I did I indeed was, but at least I would of went for it and maybe learned more about women and not been such a dipstick for the next decade.... “sigh”

Point is Cody awkwardly asks Rogue to dance but like most cool kids, including the kind I hung out with in high school and tended to crush on, she’s there to look COOOOL and mope a bit.. and again tell her mom she can’t tell her what to dooooo. But Cody’s awkwardness and sincerty gets her to say why not, he means well.. a little pity dance can’t hurt. So they dance and then Ty causes this entire episode, yes really, by shoving Cody into her because they happen to be dancing seperatley because Cody’s a goddman gentleman ya maroon, and is respecting her personal space, and IS actually hitting it off as she seems to be enjoying herself. Had he not done that, he at least MIGHT have gottne a kiss before what happens next.. during the fall he accidently touches her skin, which had been mostly covered up and goes into a Coma while Rogue is now stuck in a stupor wondering who she is. Yeah as I omniously hinted at Cody is the guy in every version of Rogue’s origin story,  including I assume the 2000′s one where until doing some research i.e. going to wikipedia then letterboxd to find out if his name was given, who she has her first kiss with.. and thus the poor sap who first gets hit with her absorbtion power and traumtizes her. And here it’s no exception. Cue the opening credits. Which despite this setting up the slow arc of Rogue joining htem.. has Rogue in an x-men uniform with the team. Not that the arc is particuarlly subtle about hiding it, we’ll get there but still.  After the credits Ty is wondering what she did to him.. even though she barely moved when he fell on her, and Ty shoved Cody into him, and for all we know Cody just went into shock. He also easily could’ve fell on an epi pen or something.. I mean she could’ve stabbed him wiht one but that’s more of a candian thing than a southern thing. 

So Ty, who while understandably given Mutants aren’t public and Rogue herself had no idea still casued this by shoving Cody into her without thinking about if either had any medical conditions or if Rogue you know WANTED to phsyically touch him that soon, and yes diffrent standards and all but even 2000 this was stupid, decides to mess up things further when Rogue tries to run and tries to block the way. Now granted I get it on some level: For all he knows Rogue drugged his best friend and she needs to be there anyway to answer the police.. but counter arguments 1) She may have a record (She dosen’t) and while not having DONE anything may get brought up on charges anyway.  2) If she DID drug cody with a needle of something WHO SAYS SHE DOSEN’T HAVE MORE AND CAN’T JUST STAB YOUR DUMB ASS 3) she’s got a VERY distinctinve haircut with a white streak, wears a very specific outfit she probably son’t have time to change out of , and everyone there saw her. YOu can tell the police what she looks like. They will find her.  No instead she tries blocking her and she football tackles him.. because Cody is a footballer because this show, much like Tommy Wiseau, weirdly loves football. though unlike the room most instances it comes up, the first episode, cody being one here, and a future episode where the objective is to get the ball from your opposing x-man, all make some sense versus “Let’s go put on tuxes and play football because that’s what friends do huhhhhh?”. But yeah THIS is why I brought up Rogue’s past: becuase this episode heavily uses the part where she had Carol’s memories.. and would occasionally get messed up between who she was, with one issue having her lapse into being carol to rescue her ex from capture, which he dosen’t take well for obvious reasons. This episode uses something similar with Rogue’s brain a bit fried from taking in cody and thus not being sure where she ends and he begins, which is a very intresting idea and was a cool wya to go about having her powers activate. I mean sure it’s the second time in two episodes a mutant’s powers have traumatically awkaned. but both were distinct and interesting and it’s a staple of x-men stories to have this sort of thing happen. 

Meanwhile Rogue’s caretaker Destiny, who we flashed to a bit during the awakening of her powers, calls Mystque. I mentioned her ealrlier in jokes but for those unaware both here and in the comics Destiny is a pre cog, although sh’es an elderly woman in the comics, or rather was having died decades ago in real life, meaning she can see the fuuuuttureeeeee. And thus she saw what was about to happen but couldn’t prevent it. Mysitque is apparently railing her out on the other end over it.. and not in the fun way they usuallly do. And that’’s not crude ininsiuation.. in the comics.. Chris Claremont wrote them as a gay couple and only didn’t explicltly say anything because Jim Shooter was a homophobic moron, even if he had the common sense to stop the kitty and colossus thing because dear god why was that a thing, chaste or not dear god why. The point is Chris fully meant both as lesbians though Mysitque became bisexual under other writers, and the two finally kissed on panel, in flashback last year and Msique wanting her revivied, the x-men can come back from the dead now in comics and Xavier and Magneto refusing for complicated reasons I won’t go into here, and Desitny herself knowing they might not and telling her to burn Krakoa to the ground if she dosen’t get to come back is a major bubbling plot point that got set up earlier this year. So yeah I fully see them as a couple here. ANd yes mistue was with her even as an old lady, it’s really sweet and misty is also immortal so they’ve been together a long time. Also fun fact you probably dind’t need to know: Chris Claremont FULLY inteded to have it turn out the two were Nightcrawler’s biological parents. Mistque is a shapeshifter and can become a man after all.. I like to think that’s what happened here since thankfully the show decided NOT to go with the “kurt’s dad is a demon” explination from around the same time.. and yes that’s a thing and yes it’s fucking stupid and only ever worked under jason aaron who made Kurt’s dad into a pirate who raided heaven and lead to the x-men pirating up alongside a about to come back from the dead nightcrawler to kick his ass. And yes much like the misqute shapeshifting a dick to make a child being shopped around, this actually happened. Comics are awesome sometimes and I genuinely wish Destiny was kurt’s mom. Also yeah spoilers Mystique is nightcrawler’s mom here as usual, including possibly in the movies but it’s kept vauge in both timelines. 

Destiny explains that while she kept Rogue’s powers under wraps, giving her a phony skin condition and having her wear skin covering clothes, she couldn’t keep her away from teenage things forever and figured she’d be fine.. she was wrong but hey her precontion isn’t something she can control and she can still see the fucking future, so it’s not like it’s a bad trade off. Myistque is of course coming to collect her but Destiny warns her that, naturally, the x-men are going to be there soon. 

Speaking of the X-Men, Wolverine is breaking into the x-men mansion in a ninja costume while storm tries to thrwart hm. Yes there is actual context to this and he is a trained ninja so this fits.. yes really he apparentlyt rained with ninjas as part of his backstory and later had a samurai sword fight iwth his girlfriends dick of a dad twice and has had many since then since even with his claws the image of wolverine wielding a sword is fucking awesome. He crawls through the vents but Storm freezes them and he’s forced to enter the danger room and then tears some machines apart because chuck stops him because APPARENTLY their expesnive.. even though he can afford to buy his teenage son a sports car and himself a fucking rolls, so no Chuck I don’t see why Logan would assume you can’t afford to buy more death machines. 

Scott rightly asks what the hell their supposed to learn from one of their teachers putting on his ninja robes and trying to sneak into his own house while another teacher tries to murder him. And yeah with enoguh episodes I can fully say my assement was accurate, and not only that this scott has a bit of a temper at times, being a bit quicker to fly off the handle while also having a clear sarcastic streak, something his comics counterpart would thankfully soon pick up and that’s come back in full under jonathan hickman:

It’s.. a long story.. a bunch of racist genocidal scientests decided to inject themselves with devolving serum to protect their project from the x-men.. okay maybe not that long a story. BUt I LIKE that this scott is flawed, but not enoguh to make him unlikeable just enough to round him out: He’s charming, empathetic and a tactical genius.. but he can also be hot headed, sarcastic and impulsive. I’ts a nice ballance that dosen’t prevent him from being likeable or useful to the team, but keeps him intresting and gives him room to grow.  What I really am liking about the series so far is the team is fairly fleshed out.. except Jean and Storm unforuntantley as Storm really hasn’t gotten enough screne time to shine like her comics counterpart and Jean is just sort of “popular girl type a who’s sweet to everyone, but also still badass”. She’s still better than the 90′s cartoon, as she can actually do stuff more often and is a vital member of the team, and has mor eof a personality, but I hope we get more to her as we go. But otherwise the characters are layerd, flawed but likeable, and enjoyable to watch, and it helps with these earlier more awkard episodes, papering over the weaker aspects with strong character. 

Anyways Logan explains why they did all this: both to show the kids how to infiltrate big complexes, which given most x-missions are “investgate a base of some sort wher eno good is coming of anything”, case in point the mission in the picture above, it’s a valid and useful skill, and to test the mansion’s security, suggesting since the vents are crawlable to electrify them and add poision gas. Storm objects to the poision gas part as well.. their only enimies besides mystique are two teenagers who while dicks don’t really deserve to choke to death. Wolverine’ relucntantly agreers.. he’ll get em next security update. Next timeee.  Kitty meanwhile wonders if anyone else is freaked out and just gets blank stares.. a great gag and a great bit of character as she just joined and had a fairly normal life before all this. Kurt assures her she’ll get used to it, but his telporting over and offering popcorn fails to impress her and she nopes out of there, though Jean reassures him chicks will dig the fuzzy eventually. This is a nice nod to the comics where , with Kurt being the only non-human passing x-man, Kitty was afraid of him for some time, but slowly came around going from being horrified to him to defending him to evelangenlical lunatic reverend stryker, he was a preacher in the comics but no less vile or murder happy, telling him that kurt was one of the noblest souls she ever met after he angrily lambasted him as not in god’s will because you know, he looks like a demon.. and apparently is half of one but let’s ignore that bollocks shall we? Here i’ts more he’s coming on a bit strong on top of that, but it still works reconfigured like that.  Anyways enough teen romance, to me my x-men as Charles needs the full team for a mission and it’s the first time we’ve HAD a full team mission which makes sense: Episode one only had two active x-men and one who just joined and episode 2 only needed a smaller team for both subplots so we split the team minus storm in half. Here we have our first full mission: To find Rogue as Xavier believes she’s a danger to herself and others.. which isn’t exactly wrong when her power can abosrb at a touch and she has two entirely diffrent minds overlaping in her head. I do questoin however going in full combat gear, as they do. Bringing it, no sweat what if someone shows up to attack them, their apparently aware of the brotherhood as of next episode... which makes little sense but whatever. But when they land they go out in full superhero gear which not only ends up playing into myistques hands , more on that in a bit but makes htem look super supscious. And this could just be wanting more costume action early on which would be fine.. if the previous episode hadn’t had jean in plain clothes to talk to kitty, because yeah most people freaked out about their powers probably wouldn’t assume the best of someone in tactical gear iwth a big x on their costume! Gah. I”m glad I went ahead simply to know the x-men do get smarter.. a little. 

Anyways, that stupidity aside on the jet Kurt is flying for the first time with Scott proud of his skill saying he’ll be an ace.. and taking it back when Kurt starts driving with his feet.. even though to me that’s just as impressive as while he has that classic arms behind the head relaxed pose, he is still paying attention, has his feet on ten and two and, and it’s a fact that I forget sometimes: His feet are just as, or at least, almost as good at gripping as his hands. It’s why he can wall crawl like spiderman. Their llike gorilla feet but better. So yeah that joke dosen’t really land.  Meanwhile it’s time for what an older man thinks two teenage girls talk about.. and I just noticed looking at the credits this episode is written by Simon Furman, one of the more renowed transformers creators and write of the UK comics and later the US comics, as well as the first few mini series and one shots for the first idw continuity.. granted the latter is a bit infamous for what he did to arcee, which I both don’t know enough about and don’t have enough time to get into here, nor have I read enough of his work to gush, but I sitll felt it worth mentioning. ANd it’s not uncommmon for comic book writers to write for animation: Greg Weisman started in comics before moving to animation with Captain Atom’s post-crisis solo series, Dwayne McDuffie had a rather sizeable career in comics as a writer and editor and returned to writing comics in the 2000′s for a stint, and Marv Wolfman helped make the treatment for beast machines, while Peter David’s done scattered episodes of various shows, most memorably for me Ben 10. So not a HUGELY uncommmon thing but still worth noting.  Anyways legend or no, he still makes the rest of this scene awkward as Kitty fawns over scott, Jean ends up agreeing and in annoying fit of jealously kurt ports to the roof to do .. some sort of stunt to impress kitty and end sup having to come back in due to wind resitance, teleproting on her by accident and pissing her off. It’s not a terrible scene, as it shows some vunerablity in kurt and furhters the jean scott love triangle but in revisiting it it just feels a tad awkardly put in there, especially since so far kitty having a crush on scott goes nowhere and love triangle wise it’s more Jean, Scott and Rogue.. more on that next time. Wolverine mutters about kids in annoyance.. so for the first and probably last time in my existance I feel the exact same as wolverine for one shining moment. 

Mysitque arrives and is angry at her wife for letting their daughter get away, Irene reitrates the dance thing.. you get it. Luckily having a precog for a wife is handy for more than timing your orgasms to happen at the same time, and Irene knows she’s going to Cody’s hosue which she thinks is her own and that’s where we see her next. Now while this episodes quality is mixed... I do like this element of Rogue torn between two identites not sure which is her.. it’s thorughly intresting and hasn’t been used enough in adaptations, though the 90′s series did do a good job with it’s own take of having Carol and Rogue fight for Rogue’s body. 

At any rate wolverine attacks.. wow jesus wolvie I know you don’t like kids but this is a bit far.... at least go back home and take it out on duncan if you need to murder a teenager sheesh. Of course it’s actually mysitque whose trying to make her afraid of the x-men, shifting into storm next. It’s not a terrible tactic.. it has specific faults i’m saving for the end, but in the short term using the x-men in costume to scare her, then having Irene show up and tell her their mutant hunters.. it’s not bad. It also nicely back fries when the x-men arrive, charles unable to pointpoint her due to her brain being scramble, and end up going down the alleyway with Wolvie in tow causing her to book it. 

Kurt, whose really on the ball outside of the plane stunt this episode, comes up with a better plan than “Chase the frightened teenager around missiipi and hope it works” and realizes since she’s clearlys cared of logan, even if they don’t know why he can try talking to her while in inducer form. Logan relucntantly agrees but tells kurt to keep an the rookie, i.e. kitty which pisses her off. Remember this for a second from now. 

So Kurt.. actually succeeds in calming her down, pointing out he like her was once freaked out, that being diffrent is okay etc, usual line but it works.. then ... yeah that second from now is now now as Kitty decides “she dosen’t look so tough” AND TACKLES ROGUE. Who they know has the power to absorb things by touch even if she’s mostly covered, and who was about to turn to their side. Just because Logan, it turns out CORRECTLY, insulted her. Just.. jesus this is bad writing.. Kitty isn’t this obnoxious or usless later on and while she could sometimes fuck up in the comics..it was less noticable since she was the ONLY teenager, and still once fried a demon with a jet engine. Here? She hasn’t done any of that so she just comes off as a dumbass brought on a mission too soon who causes her friend to not long after this get his powers absorbed by rogue.. though weirdly she dosen’t get his blue skin, which annoys me a bit but whatever. Animation budgets. Point is kitty lost their target and got kurt comaed.  Kitty paniced realizes she can reach the professor telepathically, and we do get a great gag of her doing so too loud, while Logan grumbles about not going with them.. which is a godo point.. why didn’t he just.. you know take the costume off. even if she panicked if she learned who he was later, they would at least have her on the plane and could easily knock her out gently, especially logan since he recovers fast and would the instant his healing factor came back, and then deal with her panic and her fear of them they didn’t know about back home versus here. He didn't even have to come with her just hang towards the back in plainclothes. Instead his telling Kitty she sucks caused her to prove that assessment accurate. So Charles goes to help while Storm, Cyclops and Jean continue the search They find her and Jean shows her empathy again, and I have to admit the character really isn’t that bad in moments like this.. the only reason I ragged on her coming to kitty last time is she made the rookie mistake of telling Kitty about her telepathy, which, while better sooner than later, was done so clumsily it backfired. Here.. she genuinely and softly talks to Rogue, and offers her a communicator which looks like a neuralizer for some reason.. seriously why not just hide it in a compact or a watch or something Chuck? But that aside i’ts a nice moment.. that storm accidently ruins by showing up and terrifying her away. Yeah that’s PART of my problem with the episode right there is jwhile it changes up setting and what not it’s still just “The x-men find Rogue , get her calm, then she runs when one of the x-men mystique traumatized her with shows up”. It just gets old fast despite some clever switches here and there. 

Thankfully we’re at the climax and since Mystique saw all that she shifts into Cyclops.. and up until now I haven’t mentioned this but it becomes a glaring issue here: Mystique’s dialouge when shapeshifted when coming up is basically variations of I’M GOING TO KILL YOU. Which not only is a bit dull, as she apparnelty knows the x-men and at least could make them sound like evil versions of the people we know but also REALLY dumb... again i’m saving this for the end of the episode because it all comes together with her endgame for Rogue, but even if you haven’t watched the show given what’s happened with Toad and Avalanche you can probably guess. But yeah while watching I WAS going to lambast her for not using Jean.. but she’s actually clever here, using Scott who Rogue hasn’t met to unerve her already, then shifting into Jean to take back the chance she offered. IT scares Rogue out who naturlaly books from Jean. 

Rogue then touches storm.. and Cyclops promintently craps himself as he realizes “Oh shit an already scared and psonically scrambled teenager just got an omega mutant’s levels power but with none of the experince and 80 times the angst”. So yeah Rogue’s powers spin out of control in what’s a great sequence and she hit sa transformer but ends up running. Xavier decideds to call this one a wash, and can’t find her anymore anyway as Cody has faded and decide she has to come willingly. Kurt reawakens to Kitty’s delight. Yay that mildly annoying subplot is done.  We end at the school and this is what i’ve been building towards folks: Myistque enrolls Rogue in the school, comersrates on magneto on a job well done and Rogue looks at her commincator. And now for the reason I was a bit patient on this: Mystique’s plan is really shortsighted and dumb. Now pretending to be the x-men, that works.. but her impersinations are so shallow, ESPECIALLY for an experinced shapeshifter that the minute Rogue gets to know any of the x-men, her entire facade will start to crumble. Or if she touches one of them and gets their memories.. which never happens even when she borrows one of their powers next time but hey. Instead of making the x-men seem like gaslighting manipulators she makes them seem like petty murderous villians.. when 5 minutes with Scott or jean or just watching either will cure that. And sure as we see next time she TRIES keeping her from talking to them for too long.. but as we also see school projects happen and she can’t control EVERYTHING without raising some red flags with her faculity. She’s principal, if a teacher’s supscious she’s abusing a student she brought in, they hopefully won’t hesitate to call someone to look into it and as a shapeshifter running a dodgy mutant milita made up of students you brought in that’s the last thing you fucking want. It’s really not even a remote surpise this only lasts three episodes before she turns, and makes me question why do this arc if it’s going to be so half assed? In the comics Myistque was not only a master planner, even getting her team jobs as goverment enforcers when she realized being anti-human terrorists in a very racist climate was just going to get them all killed, but she also CARED about Rogue and her using empathy and kidness on TOP of the manipulation would make Rogue trusting her so much make more sense than “Well it’s you or the attempted murderers”. It’s just really fucking sloppy and to it’s credit Wolverine and the X-Men ended up doing this sort of plotline 80 times better, with Rogue being a villian for a while AFTER the x-men had broken up, left her with nothing, and things had only gotten worse for mutants.. and I think bein ga double agent, it’s been a while, but her reasons for turning there feel natural in comparison to this. The x-men aren’t much smarter as they only connect the dots that maybe it’s a shapeshifter, a shapeshfiter I belive xavier, storm and wolverine alread know about and coul’dve told the students. Gah. 

Final Thoughts:  This episode isn’t very good and in reviewing it I really realized it when it took me 4 or so diffrent sessions to finish this thing. While it has good parts, like a lot of ROgue’s stuff, the danger room break in, it’s held back by stupid decisions, a stupid villian plot, and a waste of great POTETIAL stories for a half assed one from a writer who clearly can do better and a show that will soon enough. Glad to finally be done with this one.. I might not come back to evolution for a second, but when I do I promise it won’t take this long. 

Next Time on X-Men: Evolution: Blob debuts, crushes on jean to an obssesive and quickly very stalkery degree and also nearly murders duncan with a locker... so he’s clealry a mixed bag. Meanwhile Scott and Rogue get paried up on assigment and Paul wears out his welcome Like this if you enjoyed it, I have other x-men evolution reviews in the x-men tag on my blog, as well as other animation goodness, and if ther’es an episode of another x-men show, including the gifted and legion as i have hulu, or marvel show in general you’d like me to cover just drop me a pm to comission it for a reasonable fee. ANd until next time, courage. 

[moviesrotbrains]

George A. Romero Day

I was nine or ten when I first saw Tom Savini’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) remake. It wasn’t my first horror film. FRANKENSTEIN (1931) was an early memory, and a giant life-sized poster of his monster1 protected my room from nightmares. I’d often dream of Freddy Krueger despite never having seen any of his films at that point. Horror was everywhere in the 1980s.

I was in awe of LIVING DEAD ‘90. The idea of being trapped in a house with evils lurking outside. The paranoia that brewed among the humans… how the humans became monsters long before they were even bit. It was heavy stuff at the time. I don’t know if I drew parallels to all of this or simply thought, “Wow, those intense zombie fights that would make a cool NES game!”2

Savini’s redo was probably my first actual zombie experience. Again, I had seen zombies in other media, most like Scooby Doo or whatever other Saturday morning cartoon cribbed and remixed the undead concept to sell toys or comicbooks.

It was a few years later that I finally got to see George A. Romero’s original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968). I can’t recall if I first saw it on TV or an actual repertory screening of it. Memory is weird that way. I do remember being thoroughly blown away by it, despite more or less having memories of the plot from that remake.

I never had a problem with Black & White movies, having already been a full on film-junkie at that point, but somehow that black & white depiction of old school zombies felt hyper real. Unsettling. Fucking cool as hell. Unerving. Or maybe I was just a dumb kid. Oh, I definitely was a dumb kid, and still am, but that moment cemented George Romero in the pantheon of cinematic greats. Didn’t matter what else he did, he made NOTLD. He made a weighty zombie film full of social commentary and subtext.3 He popularized zombies. He didn’t need to do anything else.

Oh, but he did. He so did. 

It was around the time I was starting to consume more horror4 that a classmate had cut some scenes into a film project we were working on. My jaw was on the floor when I first saw the gory display of gritty carnage.

“This is from the 70s?” 

I knew so little. I definitely didn’t know those effects were also by Tom Savini, but everything was coming full circle, and that was one of the key moments that I fell in love with Savini without even knowing.

“You never seen this? Here, man, I’ll loan you it.”

And that was when I first saw Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978). Take some people of various walks of life and have them take refuge in an empty mall-- only to find the Zombies have returned to the place they frequented most.

“WHEN THERE’S NO ROOM IN HELL, THE DEAD WILL WALK THE EARTH!”

DOTD ‘78, The brutal and hilarious takedown of consumption and mall culture. Social Commentary, Zombie Gags, and Sick Kills. A film that’s loved by both critics and horror junkies. A film that said something and also entertained. George Romero in a nutshell.

A film that also became my gateway drug to Good Horror. And to Bad Horor. Again, I already loved horror. I loved the aesthetic, the vibe. Always drew monsters. Always collected weird monster toys. If a film was playing on a movie channel, I’d watch it. 

But Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD was THE film that made me WANT to actually seek them out. The film that made me want to rewatch my older brother’s old worn Betamax tapes of classic 80s horror flicks. A film that introduced me to Dario Argento.5 A movie that got me into the music of Italian Horror Prog Rock legends, GOBLIN. The life changing event that made me a nut for Savini and every 80s fx guru around. A story that made we want to watch every zombie film I possibly could. Good or Bad, and there’s a lot of bad out there. But there’s also a lot of good. So much good.

Romero’s DAY OF THE DEAD (1985) is one of those good zombie films. I saw a midnight screening with my dad at that same repertory cinema.6 This was Romero’s third DEAD film and took place on a military base. It introduced the concept of the military studying, training, and weaponizing the living dead. It also has one of the freakiest scenes involving hands and walls that still rattles me to this day. It has a stomach churning scene involving a ripped stomach. It’s wonderful, largely in part to once again utilizing Savini’s talents, as well as Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger-- who years later brought THE WALKING DEAD to your homes. Romero’s legacy still felt to this day.

That being said, Romero’s legacy was far more than just Zombie films, of course. He made a film, that’s rather timely now7, about a plague that made people crazy called... THE CRAZIES (1973).  There was another about a vampire wannabe named MARTIN (1978). A spectacular 80s horror anthology film series called CREEPSHOW8 (1982 & 1987). And a wonderfully bizarre film about a homicidal monkey named, appropriately enough, MONKEY SHINES (1988). I saw that last one before I even knew who he was but I never really forgot it. And those are just a few. 

He revisited his LIVING DEAD films with additional sequels in the 2000s and 2010s and was working on another up until his death. I was very lucky to briefly thank him during a convention, a year or so before he passed. Thanked him for the films. For everything.

He didn’t just impact me, of course. He impacted the people he worked with, who’ve gone on to impact other people in turn. He’s impacted the fans who got into horror because of him. He’s impacted the horror fans who weren’t even fans of his, because they most definitely liked something that was made by someone who was inspired by George Romero. 

You’ll see it with a DOTD’s actor cameo in a Rob Zombie film, or a gruesome creature effect in a micro-budget classic. You’ll see it in a modern classic like TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016) or while laughing your guts out at SHAWN OF THE DEAD (2004).

We aren’t just talking about movies, we’re talking books, music, and video games. 90s SIMPSON’s references. We’re talking art, tattoos, and comics. RPGs, Board games, Toys, and Funko Pops. Those Halloween decorations you keep in your home all year long . The clothes you wear. Your creepy and kooky badass goth aesthetic. A lot of what we love about horror today is thanks to George A. Romero.

He didn’t create zombies… but he certainly gave them life. He did more than that. He made horror important again.

I can’t do justice to George A. Romero with words. His work speaks for itself. So today, on what would have been his 81st Birthday, watch some Romero. If you’re out there quarantining, staying at home, under a curfew, and fearing the unfathomable, infectious dangers lurking outside your door… definitely watch Romero. 

This decade is off to a weird start, luckily we have Romero’s influence to get us through it.

Happy Birthday, George! And thank you for infecting me with horror.

-Theo Radomski, MOVIES ROT BRAINS

photo via Global News

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ENDNOTES FROM THE GRAVE

1. And you know what? I still call him Frankenstein. Because he’s essentially his son. That’s his creation. And Victor would have had the hubris to name his creation after himself if he had not abandoned that poor schlub. But I digress… 

2.  Actually, that’s exactly what I thought. And about 30 years later, Zombies are still a staple of modern video gaming, from Resident Evil and Doom still going strong after three decades, to Call of Duty and Red Dead Redemption still having Zombie mods. To every friggin’ game out there that has any undead horror creeping about. The nine-year-old me is having a blast right now.

3. I had definitely caught on the subtext and themes by that point that I may have missed while watching the remake as a kid. Still a dumb kid, though.

4.  Thanks in part to HBO’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT reruns on FOX. Expect another nonsensical rambling piece on that show and the 50s comics that inspired it sometime in the future.

5.  And that opened the doorway into Giallo, Fulci, and a whole slew of Italian Exploitation and American Slasher films and that’s a whole other long screed for another time.

6.  My dad was another reason I love this genre. He loved horror movies. I still hear his voice in my head saying, “Ooooh, It’s a Scary Movie!” in his German accent.

7.  Actually, aren’t they all?

8.  Which has also had a revival in the form of Shudder’s excellent new CREEPSHOW anthology series made by Romero’s DAY OF THE DEAD Alumni Greg Nicotero! See how it’s all connected?

[papermoonloveslucy]

ELLEN CORBY

June 3, 1911 - April 14, 1999

Ellen Hansen Corby was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1911, just two months before Lucille Ball. An interest in amateur theater while in high school led her to Atlantic City in 1932, where she briefly worked as a chorus girl.  A year later she moved to Hollywood. She spent 11 years as a script clerk and doing extra work. Corby is best remembered for the role of Grandma Walton on the CBS series “The Waltons” (1971-81) for which she won three Emmy Awards. She was also nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Aunt Trina in I Remember Mama (1948). That film also featured “Lucy” performers Florence Bates (Mrs. Pettebone) and Rudy Vallee. 

In addition, she appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), Sabrina (1954) starring William Holden, and the perennial holiday favorite It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) with Lucy character actors Charles Lane and Sheldon Leonard. 

Besides being the same age, Corby started film acting in 1933, just like Lucille Ball, and entered television around 1950, just like Lucy. Both became two of the medium’s most cherished female stars. 

Lucy-lovers fondly remember Corby as Miss Hanna, Lucy McGillicuddy’s high school drama teacher from Jamestown in “Lucy Meets Orson Welles” (ILL S6;E3) in 1956.  

Miss Hanna traveled to New York City just to see Lucy perform Shakespeare with Orson Welles - not knowing that she is merely the assistant in his magic act.  

Two years before her Oscar nomination for I Remember Mama, Corby did two films with Lucille Ball. 

In The Dark Corner (1946), Corby she played a new maid who meets a nasty ending her first day on the job.  

In Lover Come Back (1946), she played Lucille Ball’s secretary. The cast also included Charles Winninger, who played Fred Mertz’s old vaudeville partner, Barney Kurtz. 

During the first season of “The Lucy Show” in 1963, Corby played a Woman in the Park (with Benny Rubin), who watches in disbelief as Lucy Carmichael (in her bathrobe and slippers) wildly chases an escaped butterfly, wreaking havoc as she does!  

A few months later, Corby returned to “The Lucy Show” at the start of season three (now filmed in color), to play Miss Tanner, Danfield Bank secretary. This episode also marked the debut of Gale Gordon as Mr. Mooney. 

Corby and Ball were both in attendance for “The All-Star Party for Carol Burnett” on December 12, 1982. Corby was essentially ‘in the audience’ and did not speak, while Lucille Ball was there as a former honoree and Burnett’s mentor. 

When CBS celebrated their 50th Anniversary with a week of specials titled “On The Air” the Sunday night, March 26, 1978, kick-off featured CBS stars from each evening of the week in a grand parade. Naturally, Lucille Ball represented Mondays, while Corby joined the Thursday group representing “The Waltons.” 

The Corby Connection!

During her long run on “The Waltons” Corby acted opposite several “Lucy” alumni.

Helen Kleeb played Miss Mamie Baldwin on 47 episodes of “The Waltons” but first she played Mr. Reilly’s MGM secretary in “Ricky Needs an Agent” (ILL S4;E29) in 1955. 

John Ritter played the Reverend Fordwick in 18 episodes of “The Waltons” and later played himself on “Life With Lucy” in 1986.  

Peggy Rea played Rose Burton on 3 episodes of “The Waltons” but first played a member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in several episodes of “I Love Lucy” and was also a member of Lucy Carter’s Bridge Club on “Here’s Lucy.” 

William Schallert played Stanley Perkins on four episodes of “The Waltons” but played Mr. Cresant, Danfield Tigers Little League Manager, on season one of “The Lucy Show.” Like Corby, he also returned for at start of the more colorful season two. 

Lucy’s good friend and frequent guest star Mary Wickes played Cousin Octavia in a May 1981 episode of “The Waltons” (opposite Helen Kleeb) but unfortunately Ellen Corby was not in the show that week. 

In an even weaker connection to Corby, just after Desi Arnaz Jr. left “Here’s Lucy,” he was in the 1971 film Red Sky at Morning starring future John Boy Walton Richard Thomas. The film also featured “Lucy” character actors Strother Martin (“Off to Florida”) and Richard Crenna (“The Young Fans”). Before marrying Desi Arnaz Jr. in 1980, Linda Purl starred in two episodes of “The Waltons,” one of which featured Corby. 

In 1963, Corby did an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show,” filmed on the Desilu backlot, and later did two episodes of its spin-off, “Gomer Pyle USMC” - one in 1964, and another in 1969. “The Andy Griffith Show” was a spin-off of “The Danny Thomas Show” which did a rare TV cross-over with “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” titled “Lucy Makes Room for Danny” in 1957. In return, Lucy and Desi turned up on Thomas’s show as the Ricardos. In 1966, Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) made a cameo appearance on “The Lucy Show,” which means that both Lucy Ricardo and Lucy Carmichael both exist in the same world!  

"I can't go anywhere without meeting someone I worked with. When the children on 'The Waltons' heard that I worked with Laurel and Hardy, I was in". ~ Ellen Corby

In 1934, Ellen married Francis Corby, a director / cinematographer who was two decades her senior; they divorced in 1944. The marriage did not produce children and she never remarried. Following a stroke in November 1976, Corby was supported by her partner, Stella Luchetta, whom she met in the 1950s and who lived with her until her death in 1999 at the age of 87.   

[lildevyl]

Could someone explain the appeal of wrestling?? Not that I think it’s bad, I’m just confused how it’s just the most popular thing lately?! I can understand other sports but how is WWE so huge?? I’m so, confused? How would you describe it?

Well, I can’t really answer “How is WWE so huge?” because it’s been like seven?  Ten?  Years since I’ve watched WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

But I’ll glad to geek out about Wrestling!!!!!

Okay, so a little disclaimer here.  One, I am not in shape, way, or form, what someone will call a professional. I am a fan.  Also, this is just my opinion on this subject matter.  I’m a huge fan of wrestling going all the way back when I first started watching in ‘95!  And finally, I am not sponsored by any of these companies.  Ghoul, I wish!!!!

Alright so with that outta the way.  Let’s begin!!!!

Wrestling in itself is a very old and traditional sport going all back to the early eighteenth century.  Where wrestling in the Traveling Circus/Carnivals were very big and popular.  Now, during those days, they would have a very big and strong guy, usually around the 6 feet to (I think but don’t quote me on this) six foot six inches tall.  Now, back then that was extremely tall and big for man!!!!  Now, days the average height for a guy is around the five feet ten inches to six feet range.  During that time period, wrestling was a “Side Show.”  A way to draw in the big crowds by having their “Champion” take on any takers and see if they could defeat him or last I think it was five minutes in the ring with him.  If that won, they would win the big money.  I think it was a hundred dollars which would be around a thousand or so today.

Over the decades wrestling became more of a profession for a lot of people.  The 1940′s and 1950′s had so many legends during their days!  Some of the most famous ones are the Fabulous Moolah.  Moolah still to this day holds the World Record of the longest-reigning of the Women’s Championship.  1956 (when she first won it) - 1984 (when she lost it).  We also were introduced to Mae Young!  Another incredible wrestler then turned trainer for many young aspiring girls.  For the male side, we had Gorgeous George.  This man literally made the promoters of the 1940′s & 1950′s money!!!!  Buddy Rogers, one of the famous NWA Heavy Weight Champions and trainers there was.

Now, before Vincent McMahon Jr. came into the picture when he took over his father’s company in the 1960′s.  WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation), NWA (National Wrestling Association before was known as the National Wrestling Alliance), AWA (American Wrestling Association), ECWA (Eastern Championship Wrestling Association) and many others were known as Territory Promotions.  Meaning in many states you were only allowed to broadcast or work in that company and defend their Championship.

So, I don’t want to bore you with all these cool and fascinating details about all these companies and how some of them are still around and others faded out.  So, let’s fast-forward here.  Vincent Kennedy McMahon Jr. took over his father’s company and along the way literally re-institutionalized and re-visioned professional wrestling!  Now, we go to the 1980′s!

The 1980′s-1990′s we had quite a war!!!   WWF was literally the very first company to ever invent the term and the way to use it of pay-per-view!  And did their very first ever pay-per-view live!  WRESTLEMANIA!!!  I’m sure you know a lot of the wrestlers from that Era such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jesse “the Body” Ventura, Ric Flair, The Four Horseman, Srg. Slaughter, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Sting, “The Brain” Bobby Heenan, Andre the Giant, “Classy” Freddie Blassie, The Ultimate Warrior, and many others.   But there was also another huge wrestling company that was also making its waves into the sport.

WCW (World Championship Wrestling).  This one you had many different wrestlers but the big thing that many people remember of WCW was the fans all-time favorite wrestler Hulk Hogan made a huge decision and it made headlines.  He left WWF and went to WCW (WWF’s competition).  When that happened many people started to tune in and watch.  Then Ric Flair also came by and the Four Horseman reunited.  Sting made his presence known and still many people remember his “Crow” face-paint and his vigilantly like style.

But the big thing that a lot of fans remember is when the “Face of the Company” the “Fans Hero” the “Face/Hero” turned on all the fans and joined the enemies!  Alright so let me fully explained this!  When Hulk Hogan left to join WCW two other wrestlers from WWF decided to give WCW a chance: Kevin Nash (aka Diesel) and Scot Hall (aka Razor Ramon).  When they jumped they truly made an impact (pun intended)!  When Nash and Hall came to WCW they were literally invading.  Crashing the broadcast booth, mocking the commentators “So, this is where the big boys play huh?  Well, we challenge any of the WCW guys to the two of us and our mystery partner”

Everyone including me was scrambling to figure out who the mystery partner was.  Every kind of theories was going around from another wrestler jumping ship to someone from WCW who was going to help Hall and Nash.  The big moment came at Bash at the Beach.  Hall and Nash cleaned house and Hogan came down the ramp and everyone including the announcers and commentators were cheering with fans upon seeing Hogan!  (I admit I was secretly bouncing in my seat).  But then, we all bared witness to the shock of all shock!  Hogan turned on WCW and joined Hall and Nash!  Forming the NWO (the New World Order) taking one anyone and everyone, taking over and seeking to bring down WCW.  This was a really good story-line and it was one the biggest swerve and one of the biggest story-lines that worked so well!

Now, I’m sure you saw me mention another wrestling company earlier in this post and might or might not have sounded familiar.  ECWA (Eastern Championship Wrestling Association) now, this company is still around.  It’s pretty big in the Indie Circuit (Independent Wrestling Promotions Circuit).  But in the 1990′s it was also known by another name thanks to the “Evil Genius” Paul E. Hayman.  ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling).  This was the first time that “Hardcore Wrestling” came about in the United States that was televised!  For the first time ever blood was actually seen on television!!!  Now, ECW was more than just the hardcore aspect and the blood.  It was all about giving the best show with very little money and minimal equipment.  Think, developing a fan-made movie and then post it on YouTube.

They didn’t have the money for lights, pyro, and all that jazz.  But what they did have was high-quality talent in wrestlers, best interviews, great promos that didn’t need a lot of effects.  Many of the fans really enjoy ECW and yes, the 2200 Arena is known as the ECW Arena.  That’s why when many companies perform out of there and they may have an ECW alumni wrestler, the fans will chant “ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW!”  ECW literally helped reshape wrestling today.

Okay, so that’s the history there.  As for why wrestling is so popular.  It’s basically a life story coming to life.  You have the faces (heroes) that the fans truly love to cheer for.  They’re the ones that you want to rally behind and believe in and are the face of the company in a way.  Then you have the Anti-Heroes.  They’re the ones that basically do what they want to do.  They’ll follow the rules if they wan too and at the same time they have no problem in breaking every single rule in the book!

Then you have the heels (the villains).  They’re the ones that break every single rule in the book known to man.  They don’t care about being liked.  They don’t care how they’re seen or portrayed.  They don’t care about lying, cheating and stealing they’re way to victory so long as they’re the ones on top!  Now, I’m not going to lie.  Sometimes, the villains are actually cheered when they’re not supposed to be.  Some examples are, Tripple H, The Undertaker, Kane, Abyss, The Main Event Mafia, LAX (Latin American Exchange) The Elite, Bullet Club, The Broke Hardy (although they were more the anti-heroes then villains), you get the idea.

Many, companies today like ROH, AAA, MLCW, New Japan, AEW, MCW, literally have sports of wrestling.  Where you get to see the pathetic abilities and the “Mic Skills” during promos and interviews and a combination of story-line to give the fans and viewers the best show there is.

Hope this helps.  And sorry for the long post.  If you can’t tell.  I’m a huge wrestling fan!

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 417: Forgetters s/t

Blake Schwarzenbach is a victim of his own past---every new album is met with complaints and criticisms about how his current work measures up to his classic albums. And it’s always been that way. Early Jawbreaker fans who fell in love with sophisticated pop-punk of Unfun hated the sad, protracted ballads and noise squalls of Bivouac. The folks who found solace in the rough hewn heart-on-sleeve poetry of 24 Hour Revenge Therapy felt betrayed by the major label bombast of Dear You. The criticism got even harsher when Blake started Jets to Brazil, and though their debut album sold well, every subsequent album seemed to shed fans. I was guilty of playing into this pattern: I initially hated Dear You and I thought Jets to Brazil were boring the first time I heard them opening for The Promise Ring in Seattle back in ‘98 (also on the bill: Pedro the Lion, Jimmy Eat World, and Sensefield... jeezus). For the record, I have since come to love the entirety of his catalog.

Things seemed a little different for his project Forgetters. After living in relative anonymity for the better part of a decade in Brooklyn, Blake quietly announced his new band with a self-released double 7″. One of the common gripes with Dear You and the last couple of Jets to Brazil records was that they were too grandiose and polished, which seemed at odds with the scrappy browbeaten street poet vibes of Blake’s classic albums. So to hear that he was working with the original drummer of Against Me! and the bassist of No Idea! alumni Bitchin’ on a bare-bones trio seemed very promising. I bought the double 7″ and liked it, and then I went to see them play a packed show at The Vera Project in Seattle back in 2011. 

They were absolutely phenomenal. I remember them playing one song in particular---a slow building ballad with the chorus “you die by your own hand / or kill what you can’t stand”---and feeling completely humbled by it. How often do you hear a band play a new song and immediately have it stuck in your head? I found YouTube footage of the song a few days later, converted it to mp3, and listened to it countless times while waiting for its appearance on their upcoming LP. But Forgetters is a long album---perhaps too long for a single LP---and “Die By Your Own Hand” only made the cut as a digital bonus track. It still stands as their best song, and in 2012 I couldn’t fathom why they’d relegate it to bonus content. I liked the remainder of the album, but I couldn’t shake the disappointment. Much like Dear You and Orange Rhyming Dictionary, it felt like a noble misstep. But also like those albums, revisiting the album in subsequent years completely switched my opinion of the album. Forgetters is classic Schwarzenbach---sadness, anger, poignancy, and hope channeled through a literary scholar’s typewriter and a handful of distorted minor chords.

I moved to Brooklyn shortly after this LP came out, and sometime during that first year in NYC I went to see Forgetters play at Death By Audio. I was excited to see the trio in their hometown, and given that the LP hadn’t quite clicked with me yet, I was excited to see these songs played live in the hopes that it would untangle their riddle and reveal their power to me. And I wanted to hear “Die By Your Own Hand” again. But the set was almost entirely new material. Blake was once again looking forward and leaving the past behind. I recognized one or two songs, but ultimately it felt like I was watching a band rehearsing new material. Maybe all the other Brooklyn punks knew something I didn’t, because there were only a couple dozen people in attendance. It was a strangely defeating show, and as far as I know, Forgetters never played live again.

There’s always been a lot of sadness around Schwarzenbach, and given the vibe in the room that night I suppose that bleak aura isn’t entirely a put-on. I saw Blake a few times in subsequent years, stoically pouring drinks at a pub down by Prospect Park. And then a few years ago he reunited Jawbreaker because “he couldn’t even get a job as a dog walker.” And now, Blake’s original maligned band is back and playing the biggest shows of his career.

I just hope Jets to Brazil and Forgetters get the same justice. 

[trespeak]

What's your favorite house album?

Wow, that’s a toughie. Might just have to give you a list instead.

This ended up being pretty long so I’ve put all the big descriptions I wrote for each of ‘em under the cut, but here’s the gist:

Daft Punk, Discovery (2001)

Kaskade, Fire and Ice (2011)

deadmau5, For Lack of a Better Name (2009) and 4x4=12 (2010)

Phantoms, Phantoms (2017)

Justice, † (2007) 

Lazy Rich’s singles

Porter Robinson/Virtual Self – Spitfire (2011) and Virtual Self (2017)

I like a lot of deep house and electro house, so most of my picks here are within either or both of those subgenres (as well as progressive house, in deadmau5′s case).

For more of my thoughts (and there are many!), see below.

Daft Punk, Discovery (2001)

Accept no substitutes. For Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo and Thomas Bangalter, making quality tunes seems to just be second nature. Their second album replaces the underground, city-street feel of Homework with a shiny, discotheque-ready sound that stands on the shoulders of giants but does so as a means of updating and widening the reach of their own influences (with “Harder Better Faster Stronger”’s use of “Cola Bottle Baby” as a perfect example thereof). My favorite track on the record, “Digital Love,” perhaps only barely qualifies as house, but between the earnestness of the vocoded lyrics and the heart-stopper of a guitar solo, I don’t even mind – who cares about genre conventions when you’re a smitten robot? It’s utterly brilliant and its era exists as the gold standard for many DP fans, myself included among them.

Kaskade, Fire and Ice (2011)

Ryan Raddon’s seventh album and the one I hold the most nostalgia for. An ambitious effort on Kaskade’s part, Fire and Ice is a double album, with original tracks on one side and remixed, chilled-out versions of the same songs on the other (geddit?). The ICE mixes are something of a mixed bag, with some having more reason to exist than others, but the Fire side of the album earns it a place here on its own, with Skrillex and Raddon giving us their own brilliant take on a classic track from Guy Manuel de Homem Christo on “Lick It,” as well as the smooth vibes of Ryan’s collaboration with his band Late Night Alumni and Inpetto on “How Long.” Another standout track: “ICE,” a big, bumping jam Ryan made with Dan Black and Dada Life.

deadmau5, For Lack of a Better Name (2009) and 4x4=12 (2010)

Oh, Joel. These days he’s earned a controversial status as full-time internet troll alongside his career as a musician, but he’s still had a palpable impact on the industry at large (pop juggernaut Marshmello more or less owes his entire career to the allure of the man in the cute mask, and while Daft Punk did it first, Mello’s own interpretation is particularly and explicitly influenced by the way deadmau5 did it). These two albums dropped when I was twelve/thirteen and still opening my eyes to the wide world of electronica, and I think they’re particularly significant as the point where I went from being a casual fan of it to a devotee, sparking an investment in the Scene® that I still have to this day. The degree of control Joel flexes over his work at its peak was unprecedented for the time and still holds up now – “Strobe,” the album closer on For Lack Of, is particularly notable in how it makes ten minutes feel like no time at all in how it builds and shifts with just a few simple, powerful elements in play at a time. “Ghosts ‘n Stuff” earned Joel and vocalist Rob Swire a crossover hit, and “Raise Your Weapon” stands as an early illustration of what the North American take on dubstep would sound like in the years to come. 

Phantoms, Phantoms (2017)

Kyle Kaplan and Vinnie Pergola’s debut record is a clever mission statement for their work. Their deep house tunes are infused with pop sensibilities, placing them in company with contemporaries like Jamie xx and Disclosure as house DJs making an effort to bridge the gap between the radio airwaves and the dance floor. My favorites include “Just a Feeling” with Verite, a modody track called “Downtown,” and the utterly brilliant “Need You Closer,” a collab with Hayley Kiyoko that easily converted me into the Church of Lesbian Jesus. (Their recent work is also worth a nod as well – they’ve been building up singles to drum up interest in a new EP, including one of their best tracks to date, a driving progressive house tune called “Designs for You.”)

Justice, † (2007)

Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay’s debut record remains their best. There’s so many iconic tracks on this one: The slick vibes of “Genesis” and “Newjack,” the ever crowd-pleasing “D.A.N.C.E.,” the pumping “Phantom” and its sequel, the nu-disco sleaze of “DVNO”, and the ear-splitting delight of “Waters of Nazareth.” The record earned them a positive, if daunting, comparison to fellow French house pioneers Daft Punk, and while their work on it shares an obsession with taking diverse samples and reconfiguring them into their own image, Justice’s fascination with the macabre aesthetic of 70′s horror films and the rock ‘n roll ethos of T. Rex earned them a distinct spot in the pantheon of electronic acts with this record (as well as its followup, the different-but-still-great Audio, Video, Disco).

Feed Me - Feed Me’s Big Adventure (2011) and Calamari Tuesday (2013)

Jon Gooch was one of the earliest musicians to emerge under deadmau5′s mau5trap label, and still shines as one of its leading acts today (High Street Creeps, released earlier this year, has jams for days). While he started his career making drum ‘n bass tracks as Spor, the bulk of his work since 2009 has been under the Feed Me alias, where he’s dabbled in all manner of electronic but mostly hews close to the realm of electro house. Gooch’s experience in making complex tunes meant that Feed Me came out swinging, with tracks like “Grand Theft Ecstasy” and “Muscle Rollers” exhibiting a confidence and technical skill from the outset that most producers would kill for on their first record. By the time his first proper full length released two years later, he’d developed a consistent feel that made collaborations with indie bands (”Love Is All I Got,” with Crystal Fighters) and soulful singers (”Last Requests,” with Jenna G) feel as natural as hard-hitting bangers (”No Grip” and “Death by Robot”). Mix in a little bit of both and you get “Ophelia,” a anthemic ballad made with YADi – my favorite song from the record, and a earworm that still sticks with me six years on. Love, don’t let me drown…

and some honorable mentions!

Lazy Rich’s singles! Richard Billis is a Canadian DJ who retired from producing tunes in 2017, but for the decade or so he was releasing music, the electro house singles he released were nothing short of iconic. Songs like “Blast Off” (with Hirshee and Lizzie Curious) and “Flash” (with Hot Mouth) are energetic, breezy and danceable. There’s nothing quite like a good Lazy Rich drop; his beats hit the dance floor with the weight of a truck, and have a sonic diversity among them that would predict the electronic scene’s shift toward the dynamism of future bass. It makes me sad that we won’t get any more of them, but Billis left behind such an evergreen catalog of singles that it’s hard to be down for very long. (I used to use his remix of Zedd’s “Stars Come Out” as a theme song of sorts on an old website where you could be a DJ with your friends. The fond memories are strong with this one.)

Porter Robinson/Virtual Self – Spitfire (2011) and Virtual Self (2017) – Leave it to Porter Robinson to carve out a completely separate musical persona just to hearken back to his halcyon days as a young producer. My initial introduction to him was just after he’d emerged from the hands-up scene, while he had his eyes set on stardom through what he called “complextro,” and it was surprising to find that his work not only lived up to its genre classification but actively carved out a market for its sound, even before Porter had dropped an album. If the dubstep and house feel of Spitfire was a revelation, the DDR vibes of the Virtual Self EP are a revitalization; similar in ethos, but with an owned, Serial Experiments Lain-styled technological aesthetic. Porter does a lot of work to keep the two projects separate (even going as far as to delineate live shows between the aliases), but rather than fragmenting his work the distinction only ends up strengthening his catalog, in much the same way Jon Gooch’s work as Feed Me complements his earlier collection as Spor.

JOYRYDE’s singles and upcoming album - John Ford Jr. is an English DJ who knows what he likes: fast cars, bumping house beats, mean-muggin’ rap jams, and making tunes that blend all of the above in one way or another. His JOYRYDE project is only a few years old, emerging in 2016, but it’s very much the culmination of years of diggin’ in the crates and building a sound that blends the hip-hop influences of trap with the boogie-bounce sensibility of house. No sooner is this evident than the “parental discretion is advised” warning (and subsequent punchy opening bars) that welcomes you into “HOT DRUM,” though his other tracks (including “MAXIMUM KING” and the Rick Ross-assisted “WINDOWS”) share that kinetic energy. He’s one to watch!

Also worth your time:

Oliver’s Mechanical EP and their album Full Circle

Mord Fustang’s All Eyes On… compilations

Botnek’s singles from 2016 onward

Chris Lake’s releases with his label Black Book Records

Self Help by Walker and Royce

pretty much everything by Ellie Herring and Chrissy (Murderbot)

Fantasmas by Zavala

anything Wolfgang Gartner has made (particularly his early 2010s singles)

That’s all I got for now. If you made it this far, you’re an angel. Thanks for indulging me :)

[tysonbearie]

this weeks newsletter is late because i wanted to let all-star weekend actually close out and also because i was out of town

This week there’s a special spotlight on the Edmonton Oilers and whatever is going on with the water there. Also All-Star Weekend happened so there’s that.

Weekly Recap:

On Wednesday, the Edmonton Oilers officially announced that GM/President Peter Chiarelli had been fired. Earlier this season the Oilers also fired their coach and brought in Ken Hitchcock.

There was slight concern that Erik Karlsson might miss the All-Star Game due to injury, but luckily he was able to participate.

Hockey legend Pavel Datsyuk is coming up on the end of his KHL contract and his agent says he’s not ruling out an NHL return.

In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, Tyler Seguin (Dallas Stars) has made a surprising change is his pregame routine with Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets) by exiting the ice without putting up a fight. Both Scheifele and Seguin prefer to be the last player off the ice after warm-ups which has, in the past, led them to rock-paper-scissors and, most recently, trickery. More on this next week.

Connor McDavid won Fastest Skater for the third year in a row at the All-Star Skills Competition. All Skills Comp results can be found at nhl.com.

Brianna Decker of the US National Women’s Team was among those who demonstrated for the All-Star Skills Comp and her time was faster than that of Leon Draisaitl, who won the competition. This prompted fans to tweet #PayDecker, as the winners of Skills Comps get paid for winning them and fans felt that Decker, who had the fastest overall time, had been cheated. CCM announced they would #PayDecker the full amount.

The NHL announced that they would pay $25,000, the amount of the prize money for competition, to all four demonstrators from the US National Women’s Team; Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Renata Fast, and Rebecca Johnston. The money will go to the charity of their choice.

The All-Star MVP Award was given to Sidney Crosby for his performance in the All-Star Game.

Additional All-Star coverage and news can be found at nhl.com.

AHL All-Star Classic results can be found at theahl.com.

Play of the Week:

Kendall Coyne Schofield of the US National Women’s Team became the first women to compete at All-Star Weekend. She replaced Nate Mackinnon in the Fastest Skater Competition on Friday.

Players to Watch:

Forward Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils currently has 11 goals and 37 points in 33 games played this season. He has a career total of 202 goals and 511 points in 562 games played. Hall was drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2010; he played six seasons in Edmonton before being traded to New Jersey in exchange for Adam Larsson.

Forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers currently has 16 goals and 46 points in 50 games played this season. He has a career total of 135 goals and 359 points in 507 games played. Nugent-Hopkins was drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2011.

Forward Jordan Eberle of the New York Islanders currently has 11 goals and 23 points in 45 games played this season. He has a career total of 201 goals and 464 points in 633 games played. Eberle was drafted 22nd overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2008; he played seven seasons in Edmonton before being traded to the Islanders in exchange for Ryan Strome.*

(*Ryan Strome was recently traded to the Rangers in exchange for Ryan Spooner, who was sent down to the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League.)

Prospect Watch:

Forward Kailer Yamamoto, drafted 22nd overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2017, has 2 points in 17 games this season in the NHL; he has 5 points in 26 games played in the NHL. He has 4 goals and 8 points in 13 games played with the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League this season. Before being drafted, Yamamoto played with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League where he tallied 105 goals and 291 points in 230 games played.

Forward Ryan McLeod, drafted 40th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2018, currently plays for the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League; he previously played for the Mississauga Steelheads, also of the Ontario Hockey League. McLeod has 14 goals and 46 points in 41 games played this season between the two teams. He has a career total of 56 goals and 178 points in 239 games played.

Team of the Week**:

The Edmonton Oilers, who are currently 7th in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, were founded in 1971 but didn’t play their first game until 1972 as one of the founding teams in the World Hockey Association and were originally supposed to be one of two Alberta teams along with the Calgary Broncos, who relocated to Cleveland, Ohio before the WHAs first season. Because the Broncos relocated, the Edmonton Oilers were renamed the Alberta Oilers, though they did return to their original name the following season. The Oilers joined the NHL in 1979 when the two leagues merged. The Oilers have won five Stanley Cups, most recently in 1989-90. The Oilers very famously played from Rexall Place (Northlands Coliseum) from 1974-2016. They now play from Rogers Place. Notable alumni include Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Grant Fuhr, Adam Oates and Jacques Plante.

Outside the NHL:

The National Women’s Hockey League All-Star Weekend will take place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville February 9-10.

The American Hockey League All-Star Classic was hosted by the Springfield Thunderbirds January 27-28. Results can be found at theahl.com.

Weekly Thoughts:

The Edmonton Oilers have been struggling this season, which has been a theme for the franchise for this decade. The Oilers have had four first overall picks in the last 9 years; in addition to this they have had Top Ten picks four separate years in the same span. Many blame former GM/President Peter Chiarelli for the poor state of the franchise, despite the fact that his career with the franchise started in 2015, which is long after their struggles began.

Prior to be hired by the Oilers, Chiarelli worked for, and was fired by, the Boston Bruins. In his time with Boston, he drafted Tyler Seguin second overall in 2010, but traded him to the Dallas Stars in July of 2013. Seguin became one of the top producers in Dallas as well as a fan favorite; there are those who view this as a bad trade, and those who do not.

While working for the Oilers, Chiarelli drafted Connor McDavid first overall in 2015. He also worked out a trade with the Islanders which resulted in them gaining the draft pick that gave them Mat Barzal, who won the Calder this summer. Chiarelli also dealt Jordan Eberle to the Islanders in exchange for Ryan Strome.

Chiarelli also traded defenceman Justin Schultz to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who went on to win the Stanley Cup two seasons in a row.

The summer after drafting Connor McDavid, Chiarelli dealt Taylor Hall, the first overall pick from 2010, to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Adam Larsson. This is still a hotly debated trade.

Chiarelli has also signed several frankly outrageous contract extensions. Milan Lucic at 28 was given a seven year, $42 million extension. Goaltender Mikko Koskinen, 30, was recently signed to a three year, $13.5 million extension after only appearing in 31 NHL games.

While Peter Chiarelli made mistakes and ultimately harmed the franchise, he is not the source of all their struggles. The franchise has been on a decline for a very long time and it might be time to just toss the whole front office and start fresh. This would, of course, steal even more time from Connor McDavid who honestly deserves a team that is doing well, seeing as he already carries the weight of the franchise on his back.

Weekly Vocabulary:

Toe Drag: Dragging the puck along the ice with the end (toe) of the stick blade on the ice as opposed to pushing with the bottom edge.

Poke Check: Using the stick to poke the puck away from an opponent.

Deke: When a player handles the puck or himself in such a manner to fool the opponent into moving out of position, allowing the player to get past. Originated from the word decoy.

Dangle: When a player does a series of dekes in a row to get around the opposing players.

Wheel: Typically referred to when there is time and space to skate with the puck, sometimes is said to tell someone to skate faster.

Snipe: A powerful, accurate shot used to finish plays.

Celly: Short for celebration. A player may celly after scoring a goal.

Weekly Trivia:

The first NHL All-Star Game was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on October 13, 1947. The Maple Leafs played against a team of All-Star players from other teams in the league. The All-Star team won 4-3. The idea of the game originated from the Player’s Committee and was approved on May 23, 1947. The proceeds from the game were divided between Toronto charities and the Player’s Emergency (Benevolent and Disability) Fund. At a meeting in September, players agreed to set up a pension fund, to which players gave $900 each and 25 cents per every playoff ticket sold and two-thirds of the All-Star Game proceeds.

Weekly Standings:

Eastern Conference

Metropolitan Division

New York Islanders -- 63 points

Washington Capitals -- 60 points

Columbus Blue Jackets -- 59 points

Atlantic Division

Tampa Bay Lightning -- 76 points

Toronto Maple Leafs -- 62 points

Montreal Canadiens -- 61 points

Western Conference

Central Division

Winnipeg Jets -- 64 points

Nashville Predators -- 64 points

Minnesota Wild -- 55 points

Pacific Division

Calgary Flames -- 71 points

San Jose Sharks -- 65 points

Las Vegas Golden Knights -- 62 points

*Note: All information was obtained prior to 12pm on Saturday January 26. Information occurring after the 12pm deadline will feature next week.

** Previously the featured teams have been from the Original Six Era and I had planned on finishing those six teams out before I featured any of the other 25 teams but Edmonton is just such a hot commodity in news right now that I felt it best to feature them this week.

[tdcatsblog]

Drarry fic recs: Brought to you by guest curator Marshview, Part 2

Part 1 here. Thank you @torrancelim!

As always, check the author’s tags before reading. They’re there for a reason.

Hermione Granger's Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run by @waspabi (93.4K) - 'You're a wizard, Harry' is easier to hear from a half-giant when you're eleven, rather than from some kids on a tube platform when you're seventeen and late for work.

“I’ve done half the things I’ve done because I thought you were fit and I wanted to impress you.”

Harry smirked. “Thanks, mate. I think you’re okay-looking too.”

“You really don’t care?”

Harry shrugged. “I believe that you believe that.”

Draco wanted to kick him in the shin again. “It’s true!”

“Yeah, well, you’ve got a pretty casual relationship to the truth, so to be honest I’m going to go with what I think.”

The Hogsmen by jamie2109 (15.4K) - Ginny throws Harry over for, of all people, Millicent Bulstrode. Harry doesn't mind; he likes Bulstrode, but he doesn't know how to break it to the kids. Widower Draco Malfoy runs The Hogsman, a sort of gentleman's club for Hogwarts Alumni of the male variety and here, they run into each other once more.

It’s just a pity that the snotty little arsewipe was bloody gorgeous.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never wanted anyone except Ginny but I’m not blind. Despite my stupid glasses and the fact that Malfoy was pale and pointy and when his hair was slicked back he looked like an albino lizard, I could still see and, in certain lights, he made my heart jump. Probably indigestion – the food at Hogwarts was often far too stodgy.

The Light More Beautiful by @firethesound (81.3K) - Thirteen years after Draco accepts Potter's help escaping the horror of his sixth year, he returns to England where he makes the unfortunate discovery that Potter is still as obnoxious as ever. And worse, more than a decade overseas hasn't been enough to dim Draco's obsession with him.

It’s about a five minute walk to the shop they’re meant to watch tonight, but they move cautiously and keep to the shadows so it takes them closer to ten. The night is clear and cold, the moon is a bright curve overhead and the few stars that aren’t washed out by the lights of London sparkle like crushed glass. Weasley had scoped out this area on Friday afternoon and shared the pictures with Draco. Together, they’d come to the conclusion that there wasn’t a good place to set up their surveillance. There are no convenient alcoves or shadowy doorways in which to linger, and there’s several bars on this street which mean crowds of people so they can’t just Disillusion themselves and sit on the pavement or they’ll risk Muggles literally tripping over them.

Jumeaux by VivacissimoVoce (19.7K) - Draco and Blaise own and operate a luxury spa resort together, and the Ministry's Auror department has scheduled a full service three-day retreat. Guess who's on the guest list?

His gaze practically had fingertips, and it was like being stroked from head to toe.

A Madness Most Discreet by @sophiefrench77 (82.4K) - Being an Auror is not easy: the long hours, the stress, the paperwork... Add to that a loud and smug partner, whose favourite past time is to make fun of you by reading the most ridiculous excerpts from your fan mail out loud, and you have an idea of what Harry has to go through every day. Except that Harry doesn't really mind. In fact, he almost hates himself for finding the whole thing rather endearing.

He revelled in Draco's touch, in the soft lips opening to him, and in Draco's tentative, slightly shaky hand on his hip. 

The Peacock Paladin and the King of the Emerald Court by @penmaries (11.3K) - Harry suffers from chronic headaches, and it affects his work and relationships. New pain-management techniques (and their provider) may just be the relief his life needs.

Time crawled towards them and then raced ahead. Minutes spun into hours and twisted back to seconds. The sun above disappeared and stars wheeled against the lush blanket of night. 

A Thousand Beautiful Things by geoviki (104.6K) - Draco Malfoy struggles with changed fortunes, shifted alliances, an ugly war, and an unusual spell, with the help of a concerned professor, an insightful house-elf, and an unexpected Gryffindor friend.

Her voice had dropped to a near-whisper, as though she were imparting the secret of the ages. "House elves is knowing that every wizard and witch, every centaur and giant, every being that is having thought in its head - they is all serving something. Goblins is serving money. Vampires is serving shadows. And elves is serving something, too. Humans. Sometimes it is being hard to do, but we is learning a long time ago how this is keeping our hearts from the dark. We is filling our hearts with caring, and darkness is not finding a home there."

tissue of silver by @fearlessdiva930 (76.1K) - A love story concerning possessed furniture, black silk pyjamas, courtroom drama, premonitions of doom, assassination attempts, Death Eater yoga, absinthe, bare feet and a sensible werewolf. Beware: coarse language, brief drug use, some sexual content, and consideration of issues of sexual consent.

Trust Malfoy to make buttering toast an operation requiring surveying equipment. 

The Vanishing Department by @dictacontrion (47.6K) - The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, even if that involves a lot more form-filling, bickering, covert glancing, miscommunication, and flying furniture than we might expect.

“Please, Potter. Muggles are one thing, Americans another.”

Waiting by an Open Door by @femmequixotic & @noeeon (29.5K) - Draco starts following Potterwatch secretly during the War. He wishes Potter would come save him too. But that sort of thing only happens in fairy tales, and Malfoys don't get fairy tale endings, do they?

Potter stops, the jumper still clutched in his fingers, and Draco knows Potter sees the pale spiderweb of thin, silvery scars twisting over his chest, across his shoulders, onto his back. He meets Potter's gaze.

"It's my other Mark," Draco says quietly. "The one that binds me to you."

[sportsminorityreport]

It’s The End of the (college football) World as we know it.

About a month ago I had the equivilant of a bout of hyperventilation thinking about the implications on the college football world  of my Texas Longhorns moving to the hated Southeastern Conference.

For decades I have followed realignment in college football and debated it with other students of that minutia. I started at UT in college watching UT orchestrate a planned but failed controlled demolition of the Southwest Conference after the fall of the College Football Alliance’s media revenue sharing deal was torn up in the courts.

For years I was a follower of Matt Peloquin’s Grid of College Football Realignment, often protesting his conclusions with him and other really advanced realignment thinkers--- sometimes I was right and sometimes I was wrong ---  But I learned a lot of basic things about realignment there.  And these thoughts chill me today..

#1 - Realignment starts at the top of the conference pecking order and works it’s way down.

In very simple term, Academic Stature, fan attendance, alumni donations, and media weath control the pecking order.   In the 1960′s, athletic programs were funded by home ticket sales and alumni donations.  In the 1970′s and 1980′s that was supplemented by equal checks handed out to Division I football programs.

In that era, the pac 10 and Big 10 were dominant. With everything else being equal, the academic dominance of the research programs at those member schools made them the elites of the elites.

The Pac 10 was poorly suited to handle the new world of conferences negotiating their own TV deals.

1/3 of the us population is in the western US; 2/3 in the east.  

This meant that the Big 10 and SEC had a competitive advantage on the rest of the nation’s conferences just based on having established highly attended games on their campuses and being broadcast in the part of the country where most of us live during pime time.

The Big Ten and SEC rose,  The Big 12 and Pac 10 fell. The ACC sold thier soul to ESPN and ate the Football Big East to appease it’s demonic mouse eared master.

For the last 10 years or so the conference pecking order was:

1) Big Ten

2) SEC

3-5) the regional power conferences...if pressed Big 12, then Pac-10, then ACC.... but the money differences between each conference was not enough to entice members from one region to bail to another region.  There was nothing financially that would entice say Arizona to the Big 12, Kansas to the PAC or ACC or Virginia to the Big 12/

6) The American

7) The Mountain West

8) Conference USA

9) The Mid- American (arguable)

10) The sun belt. (arguable)

When movement occurred or was available, the elites would decide whether or not a move was called for and then all the other conferences would try to tread water in the wake...the ripple.

There was really only one piece that could unravel that tapesty....If the centrally located University of Texas left the Big 12.  

If they became an Independent, then the Big 12 would fall to a level between the haves and have nots.

If they joined the PAC or ACC, they would elevate those conferences into finances rivaling the Big 2.

If they joined the Big 12, they would permanantly cement that conference as the nation’s elite conference.

And if they joined the SEC...well they would never do that as the academics at UT long ago pronounced that conference academically beneath them...

But apparently no longer.  Now apparently UT is a a totally equal peer of Missippii State and Kentucky.

This was a the biggest of boulders tossed into the waters of realignment.

The Big Ten could content themselves that even though the SEC had a near chokehold on the nation’s best areas for football recruiting, the Big Ten was making more money from TV than the SEC. Even though it was difficult for the Big Ten to watch their partners in the Pac 12 struggle with finances, the Big Ten themselves at least were still at the top of the conference pecking order.

Missouri may have joined the SEC, but everyone knows if the Big Ten asked, Missouri would join tomorrow because the Big Ten is filled with elite research schools.  The SEC regurgitates knowledge to their students.. The dominant research schools of the Big Ten create knowledge. That is a huge and important distinction to the academics who run universities.

But UT joining the SEC means the SEC will have a near total chokehold on the nation’s football recruiting, something which statistically ensures they will dominate the playoffs. Plus UT ensures member schools of the SEC will end up making more than schools in the Big Ten.

In real terms UT, a national research power, chose being an equal member the SEC over being one in the Big Ten.

I don’t think this is a ripple the Big Ten can or will ignore.

You can’t have 3 of 4 of your kings with recruiting deficits that don’t allow them to be real playoff factors and fall to number 2 in revenue behind the conference winning all the titles, can you?. 

So what options are out there to meet the Big Ten’s needs for more money and improved recruiting access?

Tumblrs’s space limitations demand I tell you in my next article.

[stunudo]

BAU Prep School AU

A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction

Alumni Association

Welcome to the Frederick Buchanan Institute located in scenic Quantico, Virginia, a senior high academy that shapes the best and brightest minds. Its motto is “Behavior, Analysis, Unity,” the mascot the Submariners, colloquially “the Unsubs”. The small school supports the most accomplished faculty from across the country. 

May 20, 2017 5:47pm

He had had the grand entryway repainted just in time, the students had been corralled through the side entrances the entire week prior. The spring air wafted through the propped opened doors while Mr. Anderson was checking the center pieces, leaning over the set up crew’s shoulders as they finished the place settings. The kitchen help were bee lining through the hallways, mentally preparing for the focused intensity that Chef Rossi refrained from nearly every other day of the year.

JJ stood barefoot, double checking with Penelope that the seating favors were easily distinguished atop the welcome table. Each woman had yet to change into their formal wear; a perk of having locker and dressing rooms on site. Grant approached the pair, trying to keep his anxieties at bay. “Is this really happening?” He covered his mouth with his hand, unable to hide the obvious.

“Yes and it is going to be fabulous, trust me, goofy!” Penelope insisted.

“How are you the calm one?” JJ teased, rolling her shoulders. “I am nervous and I won’t even make it all night.”

“Because this is like a fairy tale! I get to dress up, extra dress up,” Penelope clarified before Grant could point out her bedazzled glasses. “Everyone is going to be in a good mood because of the di-vine food and the alcohol. My babies are performing all night long and if there is anyone you need to avoid, easy.” She held up a handful of masks that had yet to be claimed by the attendees.

“She’s thought this through,” Grant murmured to JJ.

“That’s the understatement of the year.” JJ snarked.

“Hush, I don’t need any comments from the cynics in the peanut gallery, thank you very much,” Penelope stood to move on to the next item on her checklist. “JJ, when are you getting ready? I need help with my gown.”

“Probably thirty minutes,” She supposed, checking her watch. “I want to check in with Hotch and Kate before I let my troop off the hook.”

“Actually, I think I have a job for a few of them if they’re bored?” Grant suggested, watching Cissy and Zachary giggling over something on her phone.

6:25pm

Even though Camille Murphy was playing with the jazz band during the after dinner dancing hours, she had volunteered to prep and clean the kitchen. She wasn’t sure it was worth the tension. Despite the fact that she had been accepted to every one of the schools she applied to in the fall and graduation was a mere two weeks away, she was still logging volunteer hours. She felt good giving back, and if she was being perfectly honest, she wanted to soak up every insane moment the Gala induced. She would never be able to experience it from behind the scenes again, because all too soon, she would be an alumna, not a student.

David Rossi had to stop and remind himself he was working with volunteers, only three of which were professional chefs or caterers. He was getting too old to deal with children, he thought for the four hundredth time this month.

“Alright, salads need to be carted from the cooler. Guests arrive any minute, but none of you are to step foot out of this kitchen until we have the all clear. Do you understand me?”

Nearly a dozen voices replied with a harmony of ‘Yes sirs’ and ‘oui chefs’ drenched in both fear and irony.

“Camille, how’s my dessert?” Chef Rossi looked over his shoulder.

“Three minutes left,” the thin girl answered quickly.

“No, take it out now, start with that oven.”

“What? Okay…” She grabbed the potholder and started pulling tray after tray out of the massive ovens before her.

“Hmmmm, alright, these should cool in time for decorations.” Chef Rossi looked concerned at each batch of brownies.

“Chef? We’re ready for you.” Coach Morgan interrupted the dessert examination, earning a side-eye from the old Italian.

“Alright, then, Camille, don’t cut anything until I am back. Bailey? How are my steaks?” Chef Rossi listened to his sous chef as he took in Derek’s white tux and tails. After getting nearly the answer he was hoping for, he followed the football coach into the hallway, where the football and soccer teams were lined in matching suits, as if in a line up, or military formation.

“Gloves, let me see them.” Rossi began another round of inspections.

6:45pm

The coat check station was bombarded with the arriving guests. Dr. Reid half sat, overseeing the logging of tickets, a precaution he insisted on after too many drunk alumni had lost their halves his first year working the booth. The stand was created along the main office hallway, leaving the entryway to be the focal point of awe upon arrival. The chandeliers shimmered in the extra lighting, every inch of the school accented to the most decadent detail. It was very aesthetically pleasing, the science teacher thought.

“Dr. Reid!” a chipper voice greeted him.

“Mrs. Hotchner, how are you this evening?” Spencer smiled without teeth.

“Great, thanks. You look quite handsome,” Haley leaned forward, straightening his bow tie for him.

“Thanks, I like your dress too.” Spencer self consciously pulled at the bottom of his tux jacket.

“Have you seen Aaron?” She asked after verifying her ticket for him.

“I thought he was overseeing valet?” Spencer’s eyebrows furrowed, confused.

“He delegated that, apparently, one of those headmaster things.” She explained. “I’ll find him, eventually. Oh, save me a dance?”

“I don’t really-”

“Thanks!” And Haley was off, rushing to give Monica a hug before Spencer could set her straight.

“Dude, you can’t dance with Hotch’s wife.” Jake Hernandez leaned in, trying to save his chaperone from the social complexities of high society.

“I can’t dance, at all, Mr. Hernandez.” Dr. Reid zoned out in concern as Jake took the next beckoning alumnus.

7:03pm

“Good evening!” Stephen’s deep voice began the festivities. “I am honored to welcome you to another SPEC-tacular Alumni Association Gala.” He was greeted with a warm round of applause, he stunned in a perfectly tailored suit, a silver lined masquerade mask accenting his dark features.

“First of all, I would like to welcome my co-host for the evening, the incomparable– Alexandra Blake!” He threw his arm to the side of the stage, ushering Alex out to another round of applause.

“Thanks, Stephen. Thank you all for supporting our students by your patronage this evening. All of this wouldn’t be possible without two very special people. Grant? Penelope? Can we get a spot on the coordinators?” Alex stepped back, her gown glittering with the ambiance, and waited for the tech crew to find the pair in their assigned seats along the outer rim of tables. The audience took over, showering the groundskeeper and guidance counselor in an uproar of gratitude. Alex joined in, thumping her microphone with gusto.

“Now, I know Chef Rossi already has the salads going out, he’s more punctual than we are.” Stephen chided.

“That depends on who you’re asking,” Alex joked, earning a round of laughter.

“Well, I think it’s time?” Stephen glanced back at his coworker and partner in crime. She shrugged, tilting her head. “It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight–”

Suddenly the sound system erupted with the familiar Disney fanfare, and Stephen even added the accent to his rendition of Lumiere. They each walked in time, off of the stage and into the rows of circular tables, spotlights following them. They got all the reactions they could have hoped for, Alex emoting as Stephen kept driving the song’s momentum.

Once Alex’s cue sped in she turned on Mrs. Potts, patting guests’ heads around a table as if playing Duck, Duck, Goose with her lyrics punctuating, “It’s a guest, it’s a guest!”

They rushed back to the stage for a small ensemble of students, to appear in waitstaff attire, to join in for the final chorus.

“ Course by course, one by one ‘Til you shout, “enough I’m done!” Then we’ll sing you off to sleep as you digest Tonight you’ll prop your feet up But for now, let’s eat up Be our guest Be our guest Be our guest Please, be our guest”

They earned a standing ovation, defying all etiquette as it was a dinner. They quickly bowed, allowing the lively mood to continue as conversations erupted around the hall . Alex’s face was flushed from the performance, she quickly found her spot at the nearest of the staff tables. She smiled down at Tara before indelicately gulping from her water glass. Dave watched from the doorway, the anxiety floating away as he saw her shine. She was going to be alright and dinner was off to a good start; he couldn’t ask for more.

Monica clapped as Stephen plopped down beside her, “Good job, baby.” She kissed his cheek.

“Well, done, Stephen,” Erin Strauss raised her water glass to him from across the table, accidentally hooking her masquerade mask’s handle on her bracelet. “Oh bother,” she rolled her eyes as her husband handed it back to her.

“Thanks, my pleasure,” Stephen started to chuckle, but cleared his throat. Soon he was able to let the meal take him out of the spotlight, however briefly.

7:40pm

Emily was kicking herself for not eating before showing up tonight. The heavenly aromas had been taunting her since she had lost her line to the first course. She was on the second tier of the foyer, which she appreciated as it was the least accessible bar. However she was closer to the restrooms, giving her enough foot traffic to stay on her toes.

“Brown, Emily? Really?” Her mother’s tone sent her haunches up.

“Hi, Mom, what’ll it be?” Emily wiped her hands on a towel as she went in for a whisper of a hug.

“G&T please, light on the T,” Ambassador Prentiss aimed to enjoy herself this evening, apparently. Emily set to work on her mother’s cocktail as she half listened to the run down of which members of her class were in attendance and how few people could make time this year.

“I am sure if anyone wants to say ‘Hey’ they know where to find me,” Emily sidestepped the gossip route.

“Leon! How are you?!” Emily played the polite barkeep as her mother rubbed elbows that had gone un-shined over the past year. Eventually the conversation drifted and Elizabeth Prentiss looked over her shoulder, almost shocked to remember that it was her daughter serving her.

“Oh, you remember my Emily? Best damn English teacher this school’s had in years.”

“Yes, hello there, Emily,” Leon Whatshisname nodded with an easy smile.

“Uh, can I get you something? It’s all for a great cause,” Emily plastered her face with the high society smile she brought out only for her mother. Leon ordered a Scotch and went back to whatever story Elizabeth was feeding him. Her father, eventually, found himself at his wife’s side with little more greeting to his daughter, than a shared glance and a wink.

Meanwhile, JJ was making her way up the stairs, rubbing her belly, trying to alleviate the pressure on her bladder. She was grateful that her table location made it easy for a quick getaway as she had already had to duck away while the main course had barely been placed within the utensils. She heard a forced laugh that she knew better than most, her eyes instantly settled on Emily across the balcony, playing nice with the alumni. The way a woman was talking, JJ suddenly realized who she must be. The man at her hip had given Emily her profile while the woman had given her her poise.

JJ’s watched them as she made her way down the hall, pleased her flats weren’t too noisy. She straightened her back unconsciously. When it was time to head back downstairs, Emily’s parents had moved on. Unfortunately, Emily was still there and still breathtaking. JJ watched her make a few more drinks, her smile softer now, relaxed and nearly genuine. JJ bit her thumb, and grabbed the handrail, reminding herself to put one foot in front of the other.

JJ had been lingering at the top of the stairs, which Spencer could see from his post at the coat check. There was something off about her expression, something all too familiar. It was longing, he slowly walked to the base of the curving staircase, following her stare. It was in that moment that he knew two things without need for further evidence, one, JJ was still in love with Emily and, two, Spencer wasn’t looking at her the way she was looking at Emily.

He was apart from it now, just a casual observer, a sympathetic one at that. He turned to head back to his duties, until the students were done with their meals and he could enjoy his own.

8:22pm

“Alright, let’s hear it for Lucas and Kimi!” Alex’s voice called out into the audience. Many of the crowd were on their feet, having found the dance floor once the entertainment had returned to the stage. “We will be having a short break and next up will be the most versatile performer of the night!”

A round of applause drifted away into some comfortable background tracks, keeping the dancers on the floor. President Strauss had approached the young couple giggling with the long awaited date night.

“Mind if I cut in?” She asked boisterously, Haley grinned, slapping Aaron on his chest.

“He’s all yours, watch out for his left feet,” Haley warned before she left to find Derek and his tray of champagne.

“This is fantastic, Aaron,” Erin Strauss exclaimed, finally able to turn off her business tone.

“It’s all Penelope, well, Grant and Dave, too, of course,” Hotch smiled, swaying to the old R&B track.

“I am continuously blown away each year, treat her well!” She smiled behind a pointed finger.

“Trust me, I am keeping her as long as she’ll have us.” Hotch cleared his throat, “I hope we can continue to work together, more, amicably, after graduation.”

“You mean once my daughter is out of our hair?” She raised a knowing eyebrow. “Trust me, I am ready for her to move on too.”

“So that’s a truce then?”

“You keep the ship sailing, I’ll make sure your way is clear,” She nodded.

9:37pm

Michel had finished their numbers for the night, finally able to exclaim over Ms. Garcia’s gown and tiara adorned mask. Penelope beamed, gushing over their songs and how well the set had flowed. Derek approached the duo, snaking his arm around Penelope’s waist casually, now that pressure from the Regents had finally dissolved into the smoke that it was.

“Nice job, Foyet,” Coach Morgan agreed, falling into old habits.

“Thanks, so, Ms. Garcia, how’d everything go? How much did we make?!” The junior excitedly asked, banking on the student leadership retreat to keep them from a grueling summer abroad.

“Well, I don’t have final numbers until the bars close and the silent auction items are settled, but the masks alone raised…. eighteen hundred dollars!” She held on to the words in elation.

Michel stomped in approval, patting their cheeks as the smile burst into a flush through a squeal. “Oh my gee! Penny, I  mean, Ms. Garcia. That’s am-a-zing!”

“I know! Right?!” She hip checked Derek to share in the celebration.

“Hey! I knew you would do great, I don’t get surprised,” The man played stoic, kissing her temple.

“Awwwww, you guys are sickly sweet,” Michel rolled their eyes. “Okay, I need to find Cissy and May before their parents show up. Later!”

“Bye Michel, mon cher!” Penelope waved with her mask.

“So, I may have run out of champagne,” Derek whispered, hoping not to distress Penelope this late into the event.

“Oh, no, that was intentional,” she giggled, raising her eyebrows. “I am not having a repeat of last year, the bars and the cases were purposely limited. Besides, now I can sneak in a dance or two with the sexiest wine steward around.”

Derek grinned at her plotting, sticking his elbow out to walk her out onto the floor as Stephen Walker wailed on his trombone on stage. “At your service, mama.”

10:14pm

A lazy haze had fallen across the foyer turned ballroom, Kate and Emily’s wares lulling the benefactors into muted contentment. The jazz band was winding down the night with a sultry musical rendition of “Summertime.”

“Hey there, Reid. Help a tall girl out for a minute?” Tara Lewis leaned over Spencer’s shoulder, surprisingly close, yet not touching him.

“Sure?” Spencer replied, eyes wary and intrigued. He stood to follow her away from the secluded staff tables.

“Alright, this dress was useless without heels and you’re close enough in height that I think we can manage.” She kicked out her leg and held out her arms.

“Manage what?” Spencer’s neck was beginning to itch, it must have been the champagne Derek had been slipping him.

“Dancing, don’t be shy.” Tara grabbed Spencer’s elbow and dragged him to the center of swaying couples. “Everyone is too drunk to notice us and I love this song.” 

Tara was almost pouting and Spencer felt trapped, but the second his hand fell on her waist and she hummed the rhythm to him, leading into the steps, all that faded to the back of his mind. She grinned, a teacher’s pleased grin, meaning that he had impressed her and that this was completely platonic. Another thing not to worry about, Spencer thought.

Tara knew this was going to be tough, but there were few things she refused to deny herself and dancing was one of them. Spencer was like a wooden puppet, but he tried and took her direction well. She had learned to lead a long time ago, as her height had found her early. She swayed with her hands linked around Spencer’s neck, just enjoying the elegance of the evening.

“Is every year like this?” Tara asked, appreciating the chandeliers, her mask was left at the table, while his gold fringed mask was attached with string and was holding back his bangs.

“Last year was an oceanic theme, the favors were pearled coin purses and tridents that doubled as back scratchers.” Spencer explained enthusiastically.

“You’re joking?” Tara’s nose scrunched up in amusement.

“Well, they weren’t intended as back scratchers, but necessity is the mother of invention.”

“Plato.” Tara identified.

“I should have been more obtuse, I forget I’m dealing with a true academic, after all.” Spencer complimented, his eyes mischievous.

“So, Greenaway, what’s the story? Is she doing okay?” Tara changed the subject with the song, a lively rhythm in contrast to the more intimate conversation.

Spencer nodded, then shifted from foot to foot. “I think so? I get an occasional letter, and as honest as she is working on being–”

“So much is lost without the non-verbals.”

“Precisely. But, thanks for asking. I was afraid she had become the next Gideon, gone and forgotten in the span of a few weeks.”

“No, Elle did her job, she loved these kids. She did what she did because she cared.” Tara explained.

“Wow, you really don’t miss a thing, do you?” Spencer admitted. “Also, how can you dance in heels? I can barely move on solid ground and you’re, just, mesmerizing.”

“Practice, besides, confidence makes anyone look like they know what they’re doing.” Tara nodded toward Derek and Penelope in the corner, being more than friendly. The African American woman glanced back at the skinny white man and they both had to break away from the dance floor, because they were laughing so hard.

After the chaos

Long after the students were freed from their assignments and the band had wrapped for the evening. After the Hotchners were caught necking in his office by Andrew Heathridge and Amelia Turner, who were also searching for privacy, and just after Emily and Kate divvied up the remaining alcohol between the staff.  The school shined on, the gold accents and long lost feathers, remnants of the grandiose night behind them.

Grant was always the last person on site the night of the Gala, it made him apprehensive to leave his school full of strangers. David had sent the caterers home with a huge portion of the leftovers, for their efforts. He double checked everything was wiped down and the linens were bagged for the rental company. Penelope had insisted that Derek go ahead of her, wanting to total the funds before locking them away until she could deposit them on Monday morning. They were like the shoemaker’s elves, working through the night to ensure the school flourished. Grant kicked Penelope and Dave out after one, they all needed to rest. Penelope gathered her dress up and wiggled into her driver’s seat, her heels long discarded.

“Goodnight, my heroes!” She waved enthusiastically, having reached the level of exhaustion known as slap-happy. The two men shook hands and drove off, leaving the details for another day.

Just for Fun!

Alex’s dress

JJ’s dress

Jordan’s dress

Penelope’s dress

Kate’s dress

Emily’s outfit

Tara’s dress

President’s Strauss’s dress

Haley’s dress

Monica’s dress

Ashley’s dress

Very Special Thanks to Cassie @mentallydatingspencerreid,

Meg @imagicana , and Loki @jodiewhittakers!!!

@ddreammcatcher @ultrarebelheart @lightbluelester @criminal-anatomy   @captainreid  @thebadyears @amarislestrange @shaelyn102 @badasprentiss @fl0werb0nes18 @inestava @sam-carter-in-training @wonderboygenius @fortheloveofpearlet @valentina-pendragon-blog @imarockstar45 @chocok22 @cynbx @fairymega @madamredwrites @doctorspencerreidrp @mindsunleashed @dontshootmespence @bookofreid @marvelfanlife @welp-there-it-is @ilikeitwhenyousleepforyouareso   @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @original-criminal-fanfics @derpyprentiss @olicia-leeshy @lookwhatyoumademequeue @veroinnumera @sarahkay-19 @sammles27 @lesbian-asajj @teatimewithtiya @braziliangirlonasharkcity @alienlynz @janam03 @nobravery @clockworkballerina @whymesswperfection  @hagridsmumhasgotitgoingon @brooke0297 @xxmaddhatter39xx  @gurliest @handpaintedgalaxy @kxlley @krazykendraisnotinsane @bat-crazydoll8 @hownottobeaheartbreaker @captainreid @beereadsthings @prettyboysjello @megsi98 @criminal-prentiss @eternaldarknessiscool  @loadingdelete @tinydancer26 @sydneymikayla @blabla412 @pleinemoon @pebblesinthelake @iamaquaria @megsi98 @prettyboysjello @tleighstone12 @nerdyowlbookfreak @ratclanqueen @cloroxchloe @lilacandr0se @happilydeflatingalpaca @babyxbelle @creative-i-guess @lashtonspicelatte @smolldork

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Watch Her by Edwin Hill

Hester Thursby Mystery #3

 Book three of the series sees Hester and Morgan cohabiting and caring for his niece Katie as they work, live, and love one another. Their relationship has weathered nine years so far and Morgan wouldn’t mind having Hester more than a roommate. This is a story of family and secrets…HUGE secrets. This story is complex, dark, sometimes grim, filled with strong characters, and very hard to define in a paragraph. I will contemplate it for a while, I am sure.

 What I liked:

* Morgan: intelligent, caring, intriguing, interesting, patient, and wise

* Katie: precocious, young (5), loving, brings lightness to the story

* Hester: inquisitive, excellent researching skills, outgoing, conflicted, good friend, complex, shows growth in each book.

* Getting to see some of the characters from previous books

* The past as it impacts the present in more than one life

* That characters are deep and well structured with more than one layer

* That some characters that seemed unlikeable had hidden traits that I came to understand and admire

* The way the many threads finally came together

* That though I felt it was “slow” in the beginning it was well worth reading

* Seeing the relationship between Morgan and Hester move forward in a positive way

* Angie’s situation…intrigued me for some reason

* Barrett: I found this person interesting and complex…wonder how it will work out ultimately in their life.

* Maxine: Not sure that I *liked* her but I did want to learn more about her. Felt the same about Jennifer as I read more of the story.

* That it seemed “real” in all of its dark gritty glory

* It wasn’t an easy read and it left me thinking even when I finished…what would *I* have done if in the shoes of some of the characters.

 What I didn’t like:

* The secrets and how they were used negatively

* The coverups…and the impact they had and may have in the future

 Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series/by this author? Yes

 Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 4-5 Stars

     BLURB

While attending a gala at Prescott University’s lavish new campus, Hester Thursby and fellow guest, Detective Angela White, are called to the home of the college’s owners, Tucker and Jennifer Matson. Jennifer claims that someone broke into Pinebank, their secluded mansion on the banks of Jamaica Pond. The more Hester and Angela investigate, the less they believe Jennifer’s story, leaving Hester to wonder why she would lie. When Hester is asked by the college’s general manager to locate some missing alumni, she employs her research skills on the family and their for-profit university. Between financial transgressions, a long-ago tragedy, and rumors of infidelity, it’s clear that the Matsons aren’t immune to scandal or mishap. But when one of the missing students turns up dead, the mystery takes on new urgency. Hester is edging closer to the truth, but as a decades-old secret collides with new lies, a killer grows more determined to keep the past buried with the dead. . . .

   “Complex…a masterly mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews Fans of Ruth Ware and B.A. Paris won’t want to miss this complex psychological thriller from an acclaimed author about a powerful Boston family desperate to keep their darkest secrets from coming to light.

  “Hits that elusive sweet spot yet again with an impeccable blend of intelligent and relatable characters confronted with a dangerous and complex crime in a fascinating setting. Hill masterfully ratchets up the tension until it's impossible to look away. Hester Thursby fans will not be disappointed!”  —Karen Dionne, award-winning bestselling author of The Wicked Sister   “Suspenseful…a grade-A mystery.” —Publishers Weekly

[aion-rsa]

Cobra Kai Season 4: What to Expect

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This article contains Cobra Kai season 3 spoilers.

“Hey. Long time,” Kreese (Martin Kove) says at the end of Cobra Kai season 3 when he calls someone mysteriously, as if to ask a favor. Now just who could it be?

The most likely candidate is Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), Kreese’s war buddy and the main villain from The Karate Kid Part III. Season 3 of Cobra Kai explored Kreese’s backstory, adding credence to this postulation. We see Young Kreese’s (Barrett Carnahan) traumatic experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and how he saved his friend that he nicknamed Twig (Nick Marini). It’s implied that Twig is Silver. In The Karate Kid Part III, Silver was a rich CEO of DynaTox Industries, an unscrupulous nuclear waste disposal company. He helped to fund the Cobra Kai schools and was a major sponsor of the All-Valley Karate Tournament. Since the season 3 finale reveals that season 4 is headed to another yet showdown this tournament, Silver would be a good play. 

And here is everything else we might be able to glean about Cobra Kai season 4.

Potential Villain Cameos for Season 4

There are some other possibilities for a potential Cobra Kai season 4 villain for as we’ve already seen, Cobra Kai Easter egg clues can be intentionally misleading. Tory’s (Peyton List) mom was an expertly played red herring, which we’ll come back to in a moment. The writers know that their audience is watching the callbacks closely and are game to toy with our expectations. 

With the season 2 cameo of Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), Cobra Kai has exhausted all the villains from The Karate Kid Part II except for Sato (Danny Kamekona). At the end of that film, Sato had mended his ways so he wouldn’t have returned as a villain anyhow. In season 3, episode 4 ‘The Right Stuff,’ Sato is mentioned when a villager explains the changes at Tomi Village to Daniel (Ralph Macchio). But in the following episode, ‘Miyagi-Do,’ Chozen reveals to Daniel that he inherited the Miyagi-Do artifacts when Sato died. 

Sadly, Kamekona died in 1996, so even if Cobra Kai wanted to revisit him, he would have to be digitally reincarnated like Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) in Rogue One, and that doesn’t seem likely. Those episodes also revealed that Yukie (Nobu McCarthy) died too, which is appropriate since McCarthy died in 2002. But back to villains, Chozen had some dojo-mates, Toshio (Joey Miyashima) and Taro (Marc Hayashi), who helped him harass Daniel (Ralph Macchio). However, they were tertiary henchmen roles. Few fans would recognize if they reappeared in Cobra Kai and Kreese had no ties to the Okinawan Miyagi-Do villains so he wouldn’t call them. 

The other great villain from The Karate Kid Part III was ‘Karate’s Bad Boy’ Mike Barnes (Sean Kanen) although he was Silver’s guy, not Kreese’s. Both Kanen and Griffith are still alive so maybe they both can return. Kanen is still acting with movie and TV roles as recent as 2019. Griffith retired from acting about a decade and a half ago and shifted to writing. Most recently, he was a writer for the NBC TV series Grimm. Regardless, he’s still in the business. What’s more, Barnes had two henchmen, supplied by Silver, Snake (Jonathan Avildsen) and Dennis (William Christopher Ford), but they were peripheral characters like Toshio and Taro. They wouldn’t have much impact without Silver or Barnes. Most fans wouldn’t even remember their names if not for the Internet. 

One other wild card for Kreese’s call recipient is Dutch (Chad McQueen) from the original films. When the Cobra Kai dojo-mates reunited in season 2, episode 5 “Take a Right,” Dutch was the only one missing from the original line-up. During that episode, the rest of the gang raise a toast to him, explaining his absence as due to his incarceration in Lompoc Federal Prison. Perhaps in season 4, he’ll be released. 

McQueen is the only son of Steve MeQueen. He retired from acting around the turn of the millennium and has devoted himself to racecar driving since then. In 2010, he founded the custom car company McQueen Racing. There were rumors that Cobra Kai reached out to McQueen to reprise his role as Dutch in “Take a Right”, but he was too busy with McQueen Racing at the time. Dutch was arguably the worst bully of the original Cobra Kai members. When Kreese beat Johnny (William Zabka) after he lost at the All-Valley Karate Tournament, the gang abandoned their sensei, but Dutch could have remained loyal. 

Mysterious Parents

One of the best red herrings of Cobra Kai was the identity of Tory’s mom. Most fans thought it was Ali (Elisabeth Shue) because Tory introduced herself in Season 2 as “Tory… with a ‘Y’” echoing Ali introduction to Daniel in The Karate Kid when she said “Ali… with an ‘I.’” Tory’s mom is bedridden due to health issues, forcing Tory to hold down two jobs while in high school to support her family. Her mom was offscreen in a scene in Season 3 which further stoked suspicions. But later in the season, we discover Ali is back and healthier than ever, and her two kids are Lucas and Ava, not Tory.

So, who is Tory’s mom? The only potential remaining lead female characters from the original films are Jessica Kennedy (Robyn Lively) from Karate Kid Part III and Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank) from The Next Karate Kid. Both actresses are still active in TV and movies. Tory had some martial arts background which she may have received from her parents (Tory’s dad could be in play too, but her mom has already been presented, albeit hidden from view, so she’s a more likely reveal for Season 4). Jessica wasn’t a student of Miyagi, but Julie was. So maybe Julie is Tory’s mom. 

Fans are split on the possible return of Julie. The Next Karate Kid was a critically panned flop, so it is generally disdained by the fanbase. It was Swank’s first lead role, and she shines despite the awkwardly bad script. Swank went on to win two Oscars, two Golden Globes and was named one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine. She is the most successful alumni of the Karate Kid franchise. What’s more, if Cobra Kai should bring Julie back into the canon, it opens the possibility of The Next Karate Kid villains, Colonel Paul Dugan (Michael Ironside) and his school security squad, the Alpha Elite, including Ned Randall (Michael Cavalieri). 

Beyond Julie and Jessica, there weren’t many other women in the original films. Ali had some high school girlfriends in The Karate Kid, Susan (Juli Fields) and Barbara (Dana Andersen) but like Toshio, Taro, Snake and Dennis, they were peripheral characters. The dramatic impact of one of them being Tory’s mom would be minimal. 

The other mystery parent is Miguel’s (Xolo Maridueña) father. His mom Carmen (Vanessa Rubio) describes him in Season 3 as “a very bad man.” Perhaps he could be Barnes or Dutch (Silver should be around Kreese’s age because they both served in Vietnam so he’s too old for Carman, although it’s noteworthy that despite playing his elder, Griffith is a year younger than Macchio). If Miguel’s dad is Dutch, that could really mess with Carmen and Johnny’s blossoming romance. 

Return to the All-Valley Karate Tournament

A key figure to bring back at the All-Valley Karate Tournament in what will probably be the season 4 finale is the Referee (Pat E. Johnson). Johnson was the martial arts master behind the original franchise, a noted master of Tang Soo Do. And in season 3, episode 6, ‘King Cobra,’ Captain Turner (Terry Serpico) tells Young Kreese that the martial art he will learn is Tang Soo Do. This confirms a theory that many martial artists have held about what martial art Cobra Kai really practices – it’s Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art often labelled as Karate. Following the original movie, Zabka continued to train under Master Johnson. Coincidentally, Johnson also taught Steve McQueen and along with several other notable celebrities. Now in his 80s, Johnson still teaches Tang Soo Do. It would be so fitting to honor Johnson with a cameo because he was largely responsible for the Karate in the franchise.

One character we’d like to see developed in season 4 is Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro), Sam’s (Mary Mouser) punk little brother. So far, he’s only been a nuisance for the LaRusso family, the one slacker, but he has untapped potential for a more significant role. He appeared in almost every episode of season 1, but his role diminished to just two appearances in season 2. At least he’s still in the cast for season 3. Aisha (Nicole Brown) and Raymond (Paul Walter Hauser) were major characters who simply vanished in the third season. 

A huge wild card might be a cameo from Dre Parker (Jaden Smith). In the 2010 redux of The Karate Kid, Dre was the reinterpretation of Daniel’s role, the bullied outsider who finds redemption in the martial arts. While many hardcore fans of the original reject this as part of the Miyagi canon because there’s no connection of any of the characters to the original films, there’s no reason Dre can’t be integrated. After all, if Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) can meet Spock (Zachary Quinto) from the Kelvin timeline in the Star Trek redux, anything is possible with franchise reboots. Admittedly, the plot of Cobra Kai doesn’t include time travel (except for an overdose of nostalgia), however that doesn’t exclude the possibility of Dre existing within the world of Cobra Kai. More intriguingly, it would open the door to a cameo from Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). That would really raise the bar on the martial arts of Cobra Kai. And most significantly, Will Smith is an executive producer of Cobra Kai. Smith’s company, Overbrook Entertainment, acquired the rights for The Karate Kid to make the reboot and retained them for Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai has been incredibly witty with its homages to the original film franchise, but with more seasons to come, it will need to expand its scope lest it exhaust its supply of those golden Easter Eggs.

For years, there have been persistent rumors about a sequel to the Jaden Smith/Jackie Chan version of The Karate Kid. The film was by far the most profitable installment of the entire franchise, earning $359 million from a $40 million budget, more than all the original four films combined, so it is surprising that Hollywood hasn’t pushed harder for a sequel. But Jackie Chan is a busy man. There have been unconfirmed rumors of his involvement with Rush Hour 4 and Shanghai Dawn for years too and those are no closer to fruition. Nevertheless, a Dre cameo in Cobra Kai would be a good steppingstone for a redux sequel. And Dre could fit right in with the cast easily. Jaden Smith is the same age as Tanner Buchanan (Robby).

One of the reasons that Cobra Kai left YouTube Red to go over to Netflix was because YouTube wouldn’t commit to a fourth season. Given how the show has played out, the writers seem to have the underlying story arc sketched out, at least as far as season 4. With the escalating surprises that Cobra Kai has already brought, season 4 should be even more fun. 

Cobra Kai never dies! 

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Cobra Kai season 3 is available to stream on Netflix now.

The post Cobra Kai Season 4: What to Expect appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[ieleoelei]

And then we wonder WHY WE HIRE THE WRONG PEOPLE...

Image: Gerd Altmann, Tumisu & MagicDesk from Pixabay

Businesses are all about people. Besides money, we all know that that one crucial aspect for the success of your business is… THE STAFF. Your business idea can be the goose that lays the golden eggs; you can have all the resources, a very positive market research result, a perfect financial and cash flow forecast, the most suitable and creative sales and marketing plans and strategies, and all the investors ready to put the money on the table, and anything else you can imagine but if you don’t have people to run it... forget it... it’s going to be a failure for sure; and not just people but...THE RIGHT people. Finding employees to cover a position is a good start, but finding those stars that seem to have been made for that specific job, can lead your project further beyond than what you ever imagined.

Sometimes we take recruiting for granted and forget that, in fact, it is a whole science. It’s actually not surprising that there is an entire academic field, and a whole industry behind it. (Very profitable by the way!). So the question here is: why the heck after so many decades of recruiting experience we still select the wrong people? Why even after having spent thousands in headhunting services Mary quits after three months. And why after a ten-steps process including interviews, polygraph, psycho-technical tests, case study solving tests, and even blood and urine sample analysis, we still have to fire John after we all happily signed the working contract and celebrated with a champagne bottle!

I discussed this issue once with the General Manager of a pretty big company that provides medical and pharmaceutical goods to entities in the health industry, and he told something like: “well… we cannot forget that the business of all these headhunters is just finding someone, not finding the perfect, star match. Once they have found a person for you that could possibly do the job they charge you for their service and they’re done and gone. But they rarely commit to find a perfectly matching candidate; this would be actually not profitable for them. They just want to find somebody quickly, and get their part of the business. So… they are to blame!

However, that is not the main cause of the issue. In fact, part of the answer has always been right under our nose! It might sound stupid but, haven’t you ever stopped to think that, in general, HIRING PROCESSES ARE A BIG THEATRE STAGE WHERE EVERYBODY LIES?! And we actually seem to be pretty good actors but in the end, very deeply, we know very well that we are all playing a not-so-funny game. To start with, we have our outstanding candidates who all seem to inflate their resumes by making “objects in the mirror be bigger than they appear” by actually including false information, especially in those gap periods where “you should NEVER show that you went through unemployment months”. I remember once attending a recruiting talk at my university given by HAYS, one of the biggest worldwide known recruiting firms, where the speaker, a senior recruiter, shared how he randomly started once asking to interviewees what percentage of theirs CVs was invented or false... AND A LOT OF APPLICANTS CAME UP WITH PERCENTAGES! He was shocked, just as we all were in the audience. Now, after having submitted the CV, during the interview we all describe how we are the best: of course we have done that thing we are asked if we’ve done, we have experience in the field, this has been our dream job since we were kids, we are fans of the company we’re applying to, our biggest weakness is being perfectionists and the worst mistake he have committed is that we should have been more ambitious that time when we set the sales increase rate at 50%. In the end, we are just perfect! Of course, right?!

HIRING PROCESSES ARE A BIG THEATRE STAGE WHERE EVERYBODY LIES!

On the other hand we have our heavenly organizations, where jobs couldn’t be more interesting and exciting, that offer us incredible working conditions: a great atmosphere, promising careers, additional benefits, off course not extra hours and never in a million years extra workload, all of that for a very competitive salary, in a company committed with its customers and whose input to the world is important. And of course, the job description is totally clear. I mean... come on!!! AND THEN WE WONDER WHY WE CHOOSE THE WRONG PLACES TO WORK!

So why does this happen? Easy: if we all said the truth people might never choose our places to work and our HR departments would never choose them to work for us; just like if a presidential candidate said the truth... well, no one would vote for him, right? So we all prefer to invisibly agree to go for a common delirium. Crazy, huh? Mentioning our “dark sides” is a big taboo but it is also the most important thing to know!!! If there’s something sure is that we will work in imperfect environments with imperfect staffs, and that include all of us. So, why not approaching that with less fear? At least we would be consciously choosing the imperfect. What if we just said the truth? How many years will have to pass until we have mature, honest and transparent recruiting encounters? Daring to say the truth and face the reality could help us both find a better person for the company and a better workplace for the candidate, and avoid the costly, wasteful, regretful, long and painful experience of having decided for “the wrong one”.

Mentioning our “dark sides” is a big taboo but it is also the most important thing to know!!!

Read more…

YES… OF COURSE I, MYSELF, HAVE LIED IN INTERVIEWS

I might have lied more, but I especially remember this one time; I went to an interview at the French well known cosmetic company Pierre Fabre, in Castres (if I remember well). And here’s the one and only lie on my CV: very hidden, at the bottom of the resume on the “Other Interests” section I had written that I was proficient in Adobe Photoshop (haha!). Well, guess what, the senior manager that interviewed me said that he was glad I was good using Photoshop since it was going to be very useful for the position (it was a communication role). You can imagine what I was feeling when I was listening to those word! The funny thing is that … a couple days after, I received a call saying that I had been chosen for the job!!!! Shame on me.

AND YES… THEY HAVE LIED ME TONS IN INTERVIEWS

Hasn’t it happened to you that your boss asks you to do tasks that where never mentioned as part of your responsibilities but that are his/hers? Typical, right? I my case I ended up doing the most boring duties ever, including gathering all his yearly business trips receipts and preparing the tedious formalities for their reimbursement, among many other off-position tasks. And this was at a very prestigious multinational company. Dumb of me to not have complained!

Now “Lie” might be a strong and wrong word, because in some other cases it is not always about lies. Sometimes it’s just that the position is not even clear for the company, and sometimes they just happen to have a blabber mouth. In other of my positions I was clearly told that I would have a top management position with full decision power an autonomy (I could not move a finger without asking my boss, not to mention the budget management ban which affected the core of my position), where I would have to design a project (everything was already designed, I just had to deploy what was settled), that 70% of the position would be strategy and 30% operative (it was actually 10% strategy 90% operative), that I was going to get a monthly bonus based on performance (only happened half of the times), that I was going to have a discount on my health insurance and benefits for my family members (never happened), that I was NOT going to work “that many” extra hours (it was a daily thing… no kidding), that weekends I was going to be off (hahahaha!). OHHHH!... and they forgot to tell me that I HAD to work on bank holidays. Except for Christmas or New Year where I had the lucky chance to choose one to be off. Yay! (Yeah… this is called crossing the line… no wonder why I quit).

YES… I HAVE HEARD CONFESSIONS OF HOW PEOPLE HAVE LIED IN INTERVIEWS

Here are some:

“They only part where I lied was where they asked me if I already had experience in that. I said yeah, and actually came up with an example.”

“I had the job description, so I researched about the methodology expertise they were looking for, and read about it during three entire days, and… during the interview I just invented an experience where I used that methodology as part of one of the roles that appeared in my CV. J!

BIG SCANDALS ABOUT LIES IN RESUMES

The previous Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa (whom I do not hate… I’m just bringing this example as it is accurate) was discovered to have lied in his CV, having added among his education titles a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D that he never did!!! (I know…. I was also like “Really??!!!!”).

Talking about Colombian politicians, it is common for some (including our current President!!!!!!!!!!!) to say they are Harvard Alumni, which is not entirely false… it’s just that they have taken a one-week course or even a couple-days seminar…

TRENDY: INTERVIEW LIES IN OSCAR-WINNING MOVIE!

The topic appears in the double-oscar-winning movie that made history in February 2020! The first non-English-language film that ever gets the Best Movie award!!!

The movie starts with a lie in an interview and... Nobody would ever imagine what lying in an interview could lead to!!!! Watch it! You'll be shocked! Congrats to the winning team!

#BreakingTaboos #NoMoreLying #Hiring #HiringChallenges #HiringSuccess #HiringAdvice #HiringAdvices #HiringStrategy #Recruiting #RecruitingChallenges #Parasite #Oscars2020 #SouthKorea #BongJoonHo