#roderick dunk

[nofatclips]

Universal Child by Annie Lennox from the album A Christmas Cornucopia

[bad-aew-discourse]

AEW Double-or-Nothing Preview

AEW, a company that has been circling the drain for five years, has another premium live event tonight, so I'm going to spend my short time on earth dunking on a show I don't watch.

When Chris Jericho was in WWE, he was a legend and the first ever Undisputed Champion, but in AEW, he's the guy who had a mediocre WrestleMania 18 main event. A title with the prestigious lineage of the For the World Championship shouldn't be defended in a triple-threat match, against a guy with a generic "The Wrestler" gimmick and Hook, who will definitely be in WWE next month. This Shibata guy probably wins because he seems like Meltzer fave and that's the only person Tony Khan books for.

Ugh, Dean Ambrose has fallen so far that AEW had to make up yet another title just to give him something to do. He isn't even defending this made up belt against this guy I've never heard of! 🤣😂🤣 Anyway, this Takeshita guy definitely wins because champions always lose nontitle matches to build to rematches. Obvious. 🥱

Jeeze, will AEW please fire whoever is in their graphics department? They can't even be bothered to color in their Women's Champion! 🤣😂🤣 Anyway, Toni Storm isn't getting a reaction from the crowd, and Deeb, despite being a poor worker, is a natural babyface, so Tony should switch the title here because it is time to shake things up.

An absolute waste of natural superstar Roderick Strong who could be main eventing an important show like Main Event if he had stayed in WWE, yet here he is in the minor leagues babysitting a rookie who tattooed an attendance figure on his arm. I don't know, man. Will Ospreay just isn't developing as a star and really should have gone to NXT. Tony Khan probably puts the title on Ospreay here, even though he is completely not ready to be in that big of a spotlight. Expect a lot of blown spots. At least it will give AEW Botches plenty of content! 😂🤣😂

Why is this a premium-live event match?? These guys go out there and kill the ratings every week (according to the old guy podcast I follow), and and there is a absolutely no story. This is just a match happening to have a match with guys who get no reaction from the crowd. I know, I know, AEW is just indie wrestling workrate garbage, but a little sports entertainment wouldn't kill them. This is a good time to take a bathroom break without missing anything. Orange Cassidy probably wins, continuing Tony Khan shoving his pet projects down our throat

Trios match going to be so boring fr fr 🥱🥱

Another match with zero story?? Classic AEW!! 🤣😂🤣 Edge is an absolute legend who wrestled The Greatest Wrestling Match of All Time with Randy Orton, but he has done nothing since going to AEW. No feuds with his best friend. No being corrupted by Malakai's influence, possibly reverting him to being the evil Master Manipulator he used to be. Zero stakes, but AEW will probably paint over all of their botches with blood. I guess Edge wins, but it's really hard to care with nothing on the line.

Although I'm not watching this show, I'm still boycotting this match. The Young Bucks are the worst thing in wrestling. They can't work. They get zero reaction. And I think it's disgusting how they personally fired Cody Rhodes. Even worse, they are now featuring Jack Perry, a man who went up to famously good dude CM Punk and bullied Punk until the Bucks could personally fire him. Absolutely disgusting behavior, and their partner Kazuchika Okada is some indie loser no one has ever heard of. I feel so sorry for Daniel Bryan. He has to team with some goth kid trying to be Cora Jade and two guys who look like a diet version of The Revival. Let's just get through this mess so Bryan can get back to WWE and get his career back on track.

This match.

What a mess.

Mercedes Mone is a megastar, but her handling in AEW has been so, so bad.

Like, Mone is getting boos. She is your obvious babyface because she is the bigger star, and she is getting booed. Do you know how hard it is to get fans to turn like that?? Either Willow Nightingale has done a fantastic job getting people behind her (which, lol, I can't allow that possibility to fit into my worldview) or AEW is total garbage and will be dead by August. Expect an absolute heatless mess as the crowd hijacks this. Mercedes should win and be booked to be invincible, going over all of these AEW losers, but who knows what cocaine-addled Tony Khan will actually do?

How depressing is this?

Since winning the title last month, Swerve has barely been on the shows. If AEW were really behind him, he would be on practically every show, every week. He would be the focus in the opening segments. They would do countdown timers to his matches. He would be involved, even loosely, with the most important storylines like what is going on with The Elite. He would be facing adversity like having the stablemates he neglected turn on him.

But, no, I have seen none of that happen as I spend my Wednesday nights hate posting.

And, so, Swerve is defending his title against an absolutely heatless tag team wrestler, Christian Cage, who hasn't done anything of note since the TLC matches of the early 2000s. Why would anyone care? Swerve has no history with any members of Cage's Patriarchy, especially not Nick Wayne who got attacked in his own home and bloodied in his dead father's ring last year. Swerve and Cage never lost a high-profile tag team match at AEW's biggest show, which also happened to be the time Swerve turned on his friend AR Fox to side with Christian Cage which might matter if Swerve were doing a redemption arc. Just . . . I don't know. This is a perfect example of why no one in the r/AEWSucks subreddit cares about AEW.

So, there you have it, one more AEW premium live event that no one will care about or even watch. If you want to see some actually good wrestling with stories, you should check out yesterday's King and Queen of the Ring from Saudi Arabia and certainly not AEW Double or Nothing LIVE on PPV and Bleacher Report from Las Vegas, Nevada.

[nimoy]

apologies for ignorance but whats roderick

omg no apologies needed i only found this out like 2 seconds ago lol! but john roderick (singer of the band the long winters) made this long thread on twitter (that has since been deleted) about how his kid was hungry and he basically made her starve for 6 hours because he said he refused to feed her til she figured out how to use a can opener (and framed it as like a teaching moment) and was rightfully dunked on for being a shitty dad and then it came out that hes just like, a horrible racist and anti semite and general bigot so the mcelroys dropped him and are finding a new theme song for mbmbam (link goes to a reddit thread w more info) 

[criticalwinking]

ML Kennedy explains NXT WarGames!

Your guide to Saturday’s NXT: Takeover Chicago WarGames!

 Currently, only four matches are listed. Survivor Series is also this weekend, which is all about (ugh) brand supremacy and hangs over everything like a wrestling Sword of Damocles. It’s Raw vs. Smackdown vs. NXT and is basically like the wrestling pro-bowl. You know, if in the NFL a team of Bears and Packers had to pretend to like each other in order to interrupt a game between the Jets and Dolphins to show the superiority of the NFC North over the AFC East?

 Match one – Standard Match: Matt Riddle vs. Finn Bálor

Matt Riddle is a stoner dude-bro who wears flip flops to the ring and wrestles barefoot. Somehow he is likable enough to be the good guy here. Riddle is also a legit MMA guy who is freakishly strong and has a twitter feud where he dunks on former WCW champ Goldberg.

 Finn is a skinny Irish guy who looks like he has never touched a carb in his life. He’s a former Universal Champion on the main roster who has come back to NXT to get his mojo back. Somehow, this process involves being a dickhead to everybody. You know he’s officially a bad guy because he performed the bad guy NXT ceremony (i.e. beating the shit out of Johnny Gargano.)

 They are fighting because Finn says that NXT has been overrun with children since he left. Man-child Matt Riddle takes umbrage to that statement.

 Match two – Triple Threat: Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain

Pete Dunne is an Englishman who likes nothing more than to break people’s fingers. He is a tough guy and weighs less than 15 stone, therefore he is called the Bruiserweight.

 Damian Priest is a tall, tattooed, and lanky Latino. His gimmick is that he looks like a vampire and shoots invisible arrows (question mark). He’s relatively new to the brand and trying to make a name for himself despite being the oldest guy in the match.

 Killian Dane is basically a human/grizzly bear hybrid from Northern Ireland. He was part of an Anarchist group called Sanity that got called up to the main roster and promptly forgotten about. He likes to hang out in dark rooms and project movies.

 Priest and Dunne have had some matches where each one has won by hitting the other in the dick. Dunne passed Dain on the ramp once, didn’t like how he looked at him, and broke Dain’s fingers. Dain and Priest hate each other because each of them wants to murder Dunne and they are. . . bad at sharing, I guess.

 Match three – WARGAMES: Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox, and Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, and Kay Lee Ray

 This is the first Wargames match. Wargames is like a tag team match, but with no tags. There are two rings next to each other with one oblong cage covering the whole thing.

 The first team are the goodies and the second team are the baddies.

 Rhea Ripley is the team captain of the goodies. She’s a badass, kinda butch lady who wears a leather jacket to the ring. She’s the tallest one of these ladies at 5’9” and has a pair of shoulders like Captain America. (It’s a trick though, she’s Australian.) She was the women’s champ on NXT UK, which is a thing, and now she is on NXT USA which is just called NXT. She wants a shot at Shayna’s NXT women’s title.

 Candice LeRae is a blonde lady and a very good wrestler. She’s finally been allowed to be a character on the show aside from Johnny Gargano’s concerned wife. She’s a white meat babyface who likes to stand up to bullies or whatever. LeRae was helping out Io Shirai when Shirai was feuding with Shayne Baszler. Io lost that feud and snapped, which lead to Io beating the hell out of Candice and turn full supervillain. Candice had a shot at Shayna’s title, but came up a little short.

 Tegan Nox is recently back from a long-ish injury. She’s Welsh, likes to kick, and has an infatuation with Kane. She is friends/ partners with a fellow kick enthusiast named Dakota Kai. (Kai was not invited onto the team because Shayna Baszler always eats her lunch and has done some sort of long term psychological damage to her psyche. Nox’s response to this was basically, “sorry your mom wouldn’t let you go to the prom, anyways here is my dress.”)

 Mia Yim is a black and Asian lady with blue hair. She calls herself HBIC and pretends the B stands for Baddie. Yim basically took Dakota Kai’s spot by not being afraid of Shayna Baszler. Yim came close to beating Shayna a few months ago by taking every short cut in the book and basically cheating her ass off. Shayna has previously offered Yim a job as one of her flunkies. (Shayna has two flunkies, neither of which she trusts enough to put on her WarGames team.)

Shayna Baszler is the captain of the baddies. She’s a badass, kinda butch lady who wears a leather jacket to the ring. Shayna is Ronda Rousey’s friend and basically better than her. She has been champion forever now, and hasn’t really lost a match to anybody that is still in NXT. Shayna is my birthday twin and sounds like Binky Barnes (1) when she talks. She’s the best.

 Io Shirai, the genius of the sky, is a tiny Japanese lady who is basically the most dangerous person on the show. She will murder you. She hates Candice LeRae because Candice tried to be her friend. She recently busted up Mia Yim’s nose with a ladder. She and Rhea have been in each other’s faces a lot as both think they deserve to be number one contender to Shayna’s title. I would not expect her to work well with others.

 Bianca Belair is the E S T of NXT. She calls herself this as she proclaims to be the greatest, strongest and other words that end with those three letters. She is incredibly strong and athletic, and she will whip you with her long ass braid if you get on her nerves. She also thinks she should be the number one contender to Shayna’s title and came as close to beating Shayna as anybody not named Kairi Sane. She’s egotistical but not really malicious.

 Kay Lee Ray is the NXT UK women’s champ. She doesn’t even go to this school. She is Scottish, skinny and a third thing. She wants to be on the baddies team for reasons.

 Match four – Men’s WarGames: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong) vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and TBA

 Individually, the second team (the goodies) would seem to have the advantage. However, the Undisputed Era (the baddies) have an edge due to the power of scumbag friendship. (Friendship is a bad guy quality in WWE for some reason.)

 The Undisputed Era is a team of 4 different kinds of douchebags. They currently have all the men’s championships in NXT. I’ve heard them described as Millennial nWo. But unlike the original, each member of the Undisputed Era seems to both enjoy wrestling and be good at it.

 Adam Cole is their leader and the heavyweight champion. He’s skinny, has long hair, and says “baby.” He’s the sort of guy who would bring a signed photo of himself to the Christmas party’s pirate exchange.

 Fish and O’Reilly are the tag champs. O’Reilly is basically a white version of Genan Shiranui (2) from Samurai Shodown minus the Freddy Kreuger glove. He likes to strum his belt like an air guitar and is affectionately (?) referred to as Scumbag Kyle. Fish has a hipster mustache. . . and. . . is also a member of Undisputed Era.

 Roderick Strong has the look and personality of a K-mart ripoff version of a 1980s action figure, and is almost as tall. He wrestles like an annoying AI in a WWE video game. He does 100 different versions of a backbreaker and is thus called the “Messiah of the Backbreaker” which is a nickname that I think is part of the war on Christmas.

  Leading the good guy team is Tommaso Ciampa, evil made flesh. But, he’s recently back from an injury and is thus a good guy. He’s bald, has a beard, and loves violence more than god, family or country. I believe if you shot him with a cannon, he would still kick out at 2.

 Keith Lee used to play defensive end for Texas A&M. Picture a guy who used to play defensive end for Texas A&M, now make no changes to that image. He’s 6’2” over 300lbs, can do just about anything in a wrestling ring, and by all rights should be able to toss any member of the Undisputed Era into the upper balcony any time he wants.

  Dominik Dijakovic is Keith Lee’s blood rival. He’s 6’7” 270lbs and is basically Sagat (3) from Street Fighter if Sagat from Street Fighter was from Worcester, Massachusetts.  

 The fourth member of the team is as yet unannounced.

 ***

There you have it! No titles are on the line, every match is people who dislike each other are going to settle their differences through violence, even if they have to team up with people they hate.

 Also, there are two other rosters worth of wrestlers in town ready to fuck shit up for no reason other than brand supremacy.

 What could go wrong?!

 (notes:

1.  https://arthur.fandom.com/wiki/Binky_Barnes

2. https://snk.fandom.com/wiki/Genan_Shiranui

3. https://streetfighter.fandom.com/wiki/Sagat

[crystalelemental]

So, how’d those refines turn ou-JESUS CHRIST, MATTHEW

Are you serious?!  It wasn’t enough that Lilina’s inheritable dagger got Gunnthra’s tome effect, now Matthew’s unique weapon does the same, and buffs defenses of himself and all allies in two spaces?!  Seriously now, when is Gunnthra getting a refine, she deserves this.  They can’t fuck her over like this and not give her a refine.  Ugh.  This is so irritating.  I know Gunnthra has a natural advantage because of her kickass B-slot skill and holding Res Ploy which is incredibly rare, but come on.

Raigh...honestly, I don’t know what to think.  He mostly just keeps strong against Cavalry, but now also eliminates foe’s buffs, so shuts down Blade tomes too, I guess.  That’s actually kinda nice.  Really optimized for Aether Raids, you know.  Oh, except for the fact that Reinhardt exists alongside those Blade Tome cav units, so like...good luck, kiddo.  His refine also gets him the Owl tome effect!  So...yeah.  I’d say he’s the clear loser, but, well...we’ll get to that.

Roderick is the other winner alongside Matthew.  They let him have a unique Firesweep Lance.  I’m so pissed.  Yes, I know it’s literally one extra point of damage, that’s not the point.  I hate Firesweep weapons so goddamn much.  And now he’s got an even stronger one, with built-in Darting Blow, because fuck you I’m gonna double.  I think we can safely say that Roderick is probably the strongest lance cav in the common pool.  As if he wasn’t already, which you know, he kinda was, but moreso now.

And hey, remember when Faye was really bad, and they gave her a kickass bow and an enhanced Quick Riposte refine that made her like...the champion of ranged defensive combat?  Remember when that felt like it was setting a standard for refines of the Gen 1 units that are still 5* locked despite being completely outclassed?  Well say goodbye to that hope, because here’s Luke.  He gets the usual 11 might with a unique brave weapon, but that refine.  That’s the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.  Gives him +6 Attack/Defense, but only if the opponent does not have an active buff.  Does not.  Like, at first, I misread it.  At first, I thought it was “if you’re buffed, you get the added buff.”  You know, like the recent summer units.  I was convinced it was something like that.  But no.  The opponent has to not be buffed at all for him to get anything out of it.  This might actually be the worst refine effect I’ve seen added since I started playing, rivaled only by Seth’s tactics effect.  Like, is this a prank?  Did the developers just hate him so much that they decided, hey, fuck it, instead of not giving him a refine ever, let’s give him something that’s potentially useful, but so unlikely to ever work that it’s guaranteed to make him stay the worst unit in the game?  I’d actually argue this, I’d say with this refine, he is now actively worse than Mist.  Mist at least has a lot of support options as a healer, and the potential to someday get a unique weapon or refine due to her status as a 5* locked unit.  But this has sealed Luke’s doom.  It’s hysterical that they think that making it active in both phases will make sufficient difference.  He still folds to any magic unit due to shit Res and the -5 speed from his Brave weapon.  And really, who doesn’t have active buffs on a team?  I’m actually asking.  Cav emblem, Flier Emblem, or Dragon Emblem team?  All run active buffs.  Mixed team?  Probably has tactics.  Hell, plenty of teams I’ve made have active buffs on accident.  All of them now negate his effect.  Oh, don’t worry, I get where they’re trying to go with this.  43 HP and Panic Ploy, right?  But man, 43 HP won’t hit half the main meta threats nowadays anyway, and Panic Ploy is not exactly hard to dodge around.  You could increase that with merges, but being 5* locked makes that difficult, and considering he was largely considered one of the worst pitybreakers in the game prior to this, who’s going to invest that much for this?  Cherche did a better job than he does at his own game, thanks to a better movement type, higher default HP, built-in Panic Ploy to the weapon that frees up her C-slot, and now access to Sturdy Impact to actually outperform his own weapon’s gimmick.  Dude is just so fucked.  I want to say he got screwed over so badly it’s not even funny, but it’s actually really funny.

So yeah, refines are okay.  Matthew, I think, is the clear winner.  His defensive buffs for everyone are incredibly strong, and this actually makes him a surprisingly good option for CC to keep those buffs in every phase, and allow for way stronger hits next turn in player phase.  He’s already got good bulk to go along with it, so yeah, I definitely think Matthew won.  Roderick is second winner, mostly because he was already a really good unit, and now he’s been made even better thanks to higher damage and built-in Darting Blow.  Raigh straight-up had to copy Deirdre’s tome effect but with cav instead of dragons, and got Owl tome as his refine instead of something more useful, so he’s not really going to see a ton of improvement, but he did get to be a good counter to Gronnblade users, so that’s pretty nice.  But Luke...fucking RIP, buddy.  Just...get dunked.

[rascalbot]

13 and 12! Also 5 bc I know the answer and 1 bc I am mean.

What’s 1?

1. A favorite character you have played. 

you ARE mean!

But it just says a favorite character, and they’re all my favorites so any one will do, right now I’m gonna say Manto because I’m still thinking about the foam grenade and I didn’t really get to talk about her when I was answering Harrison’s questions a minute ago. I’m never gonna do anything that cool again

5. Favorite NPC. 

Berno is also your favorite NPC.

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

Oh boy there’s a lot uhhh the ones I can think of off the top of my head

- when we got ambushed by a bunch of snakes on a Saturday night and then all play had to stop as our long-suffering GM tried to get all the snakes out from under the carpet asset that she had placed, and the tension heightened with every second as we heard her stream of “hang on, I can’t get these snakes out. There’s more snakes. There’s another snake. Okay is that all the snakes? How many snakes are there… no there’s more snakes! hang on, I can’t get this snake out. I can’t get any of these snakes!”

- when Kai rolled to investigate a door but rolled a 2 and James said “you see that there’s a door” and Kai turned to the others, pointing to the door that we all saw, and said “There’s a door here.” Now it’s canon that she’s just extremely proficient at noticing and using doors, and she gets advantage on door-adjacent checks, which I think is a very generous way to dunk on me

- any roughly middle-aged NPC who isn’t trying to actively murder the party is Brynn’s dad by the end of the session

- Ari, one of our Star Wars characters, rolled absurdly well to just get into the walls of our spaceship, so now she just lives there and can navigate them basically at will. She’s such an icon I love her

13. Introduce your current party.

you just want to make me type a lot huh

FRIDAY: We’re a bunch of bad pirates, not bad as in dangerous but bad as in not good at it. We’re not actually pirates but that’s the writing on the wall because we’re out to get everyone because everyone is out to get us, also we’re all a bunch of mutated weirdos and I’ve read One Piece so I know how this goes. There’s Kai, justice-obsessed paladin with a chip on her shoulder, Annajane, a ratta wizard who throws peanuts at people to calm them down, Wah!, a jump bird who murders, Roderick, a dwarf who is remarkably calm given the circumstances, and Lucius/Atilan, a HUGE MESS EDIT: I forgot about Lithos, he’s there like half the time because he teleports at random

SATURDAY: We are Your Classic Adventuring Party. Alphabetically we got: Alder, a talkbard who does not fight and we still don’t really know who he is, Avi, a fightbard who wants to be a hero for all the wrong reasons, Eilynn, a sorceress who likes fireballs and her brother, Felan, a paladin who likes animals and his sister and he died once, Gad, a fighter halfling who talks, Liberio, a wizard who has like three dead bodies on him at all times, and Wybjorn, a fighter with a big sword and a big heart. We have also been joined by NPC Flii, a goblin ranger whose pets keep dying and I feel pretty bad about it honestly

SUNDAY: Here in the soul searching found family destiny road trip campaign we save gods and punch fascists! We got Talia, bard and mom-friend by default because her party members are goddamn idiots, Otto, cleric and dad-friend by default because he’s deeply emotionally invested in keeping the girls safe and alive and happy because of Backstory Reasons and also because he is 20 years older than the rest of us, and Brynn, Disaster Daughter and reluctant prophet who wants to fix the world all by herself but also not talk to anyone while she’s doing it.

STAR WARS (Intermittent): We’re just a bunch of grad students basically – we know really specific shit but can’t apply a lot of it, we have no money, we’re living out of our car. Here we have Ari, my personal hero and teenage rebel who lives in our walls and kicks horses into the sky, Brink, who is fed up all the time but we overrule him by being loud, Kev, the dadfriend and good natured about us insisting on calling him Kevin, Manto, who only loves one thing and it’s grenades, and Thoryn, who is trying really hard to make everyone their best selves which must be pretty disappointing for him because our best selves are still very bad

BARD TO THE BONE (Intermittent:) We’re just here to play music, guys, we’re not here to fight anyone, we’re just here to have a good time, but we are actually pretty good at fighting since you mention it. Band members include Avi, again, still wanting to be a hero for all the wrong reasons but this time with 100% more live music, Elba, extremely dramatic half-orc musician who puts her craft above all else, and Mel, a warforged who probably keeps everything they’ve stolen in a cool chest compartment like inspector gadget, and literally doesn’t have anything that they haven’t stolen, and neither does anyone else. There’s a fourth band member but we haven’t met him yet!

AND THAT’S EVERYONE! Thanks for coming, I play too many games

[goodqueenaly]

Do you think GRRM misstepped with the Brackens? There is a clear message against feuding and about how violence begets violence and so on. Yet it is the Blackwoods who marry Starks, smash Lannister armies aged 14, gain godlike powers and get the likable book worms, dignified Lords and badass Ladies and of course the cool Raven aesthetic. The Brackens have Bittersteel and otherwise show up when an asshole is needed in the background. Even Bittersteel is more impressive than sympathetic.

On the one hand, it’s very clear that the narrative has openly favored the Blackwoods over the Brackens. They’re a family with cultural, religious, familial, and magical connections to the Starks, as obviously hero-status as a single family can be in ASOIAF. Nearly every time the Blackwoods and Brackens crop up in a conflict, it’s the Blackwoods who are on the winning (or losing-but-clearly-protagonist) side and the Brackens who come across as the scheming losers: Lord Lothar Bracken betrays bold and defiant Lady Agnes Blackwood to the Hoares; the Blackwoods side with the spirited Queen Who Never Was and her son at the Great Council of 101 AC; the Blackwoods side with the blacks (the narrative’s favorites) in the Dance, and Lady Alysanne Blackwood not only leads her own archers but marries Cregan the One-Day Hand; Melissa Blackwood was the kind-hearted and beloved mistress of Aegon IV, while Barba and Bethany Bracken have fared poorly in historical reputation; it’s a Blackwood who marries Aegon V, the Egg we’ve come to love in the Tales of Dunk and Egg; Tytos Blackwood is the courteous, respectable, raven-cloaked Lord of Raventree Hall who dotes on his only daughter, while Jonos Bracken is caught fucking someone in his tent when Jaime comes to reward him. We’re being directed to cheer for the Blackwoods, which to some extent does affect the power of the long-running family feud: if both of them are in the wrong as the narrative wants to suggest, then it seems like the Blackwoods get to look much better in the wrong than the Brackens.

On the other hand, I do have some sympathies for the Brackens, even if the author is not so subtly nudging the audience to side with the Blackwoods. For one, I think the Bracken history about the family origins comes closer to the truth than that of the Blackwoods: each family claims that it was the original ruling family and the other its rebellious vassal, but given that the Brackens seem to have been natives of the Riverlands and the Blackwoods (per Maester Yandel) nothmen exiled by the Starks from the blackwood wolfswood, I think it more likely the Bracken version of history is nearer right (if still certainly exaggerated for emphasis). While the Brackens did side, disastrously, with King Harwyn Hoare, the Blackwoods had not exactly been loyal to their old lieges either: after all, Lord Roderick Blackwood had made an alliance with his Durrandon kinsmen, agreeing to have them invade and overthrow Lord Blackwood’s extant liege, House Teague, and establish him as King of the Trident. Poor Bethany Bracken was groomed (the very idea is so gross) to win the king’s favor away from Melissa Blackwood, and then almost literally shoved into the bed of a man already literally rotting to death. Of course, anyone who reads my stuff knows how I feel about Bloodraven; in fact, I think he and Bittersteel have more in common than they, or their maternal relations, would care to admit. 

Now, GRRM has room to adjust our perception of the Brackens, though whether or not he will remains to be seen. I’d like to think that Hoster Blackwood and whichever Bracken daughter are sent to the capital as hostages start a sweet little romance, giving hope to a new era of peace for the two quarreling sides (until they whole capital goes up in the jade holocaust, of course). “The Village Hero”, which I’m all but certain will be the story of a Bracken-Blackwood conflict turning the village of Pennytree into a royal fief, also has the potential to give deeper insight into both families: if Septon Sefton’s prediction that Bloodraven may act “to help his cousins bring the Brute [of Bracken] to bay” comes true, then we might see rather more ambitious and scheming Blackwoods, and Brackens who, if led by a rather brutish figure, will argue for justice (against the tyrannical move of Aegon IV giving away Pennytree and the Teats). We shall see.

[verdiprati]

PSA for British-based Sarah Connolly fans

This post is for Sarah Connolly fans who live in Britain and generally catch her performances there instead of traveling overseas to see her perform. As I looked over my very unofficial tracking of her performance schedule recently, I realized that all her “home” engagements in the 2017-18 season—up until she returns to Glyndebourne for Giulio Cesare next summer—are concentrated in a three-week period between September 29 and October 20. So, if you want to see Dame Sarah in live performance this year without traveling to the Continent, here are your chances (that I know about so far):

Recital at Wigmore Hall, London, September 29, 2017. With Malcolm Martineau. The program includes songs by Strauss, Zemlinsky, Eisler, Korngold, Copland, and Britten.

Elgar, Sea Pictures, Royal Tunbridge Wells, October 1, 2017. With the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra conducted by Roderick Dunk. In a concert with orchestral works by Kodály and Brahms.

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde at Kings Place, London, October 14, 2017. With Andrew Staples and the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. Das Lied will be played in an arrangement by Iain Farrington for sixteen instruments. 

G. Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, plus songs by A. Mahler, Zemlinsky and Korngold at the Oxford Lieder Festival, St John the Evangelist, Oxford, October 20, 2017. With Eugene Asti. This recital program perfectly fits the festival’s theme for 2017, “The Last of the Romantics—Mahler and Fin-de-Siècle Vienna.”

Book now for your autumnal Connolly binge! Dame Sarah’s recitals at the Wigmore and the Oxford Lieder Festival have a history of selling out.

The usual disclaimers apply: I’m just reporting publicly-available info about future performance dates that I’ve rounded up from the internet. Cancellations can happen at any time, for a variety of reasons. It’s also possible that I’ve overlooked a performance date (drop me a line if you have something to add to the schedule!) or that Dame Sarah will be drafted to stand in for another artist at some point in the year.

[bthump]

Guts 14, 5 Roderick 7,8,20

Dancing headcanon - Guts

Guts cannot dance and has zero desire to try. If he did try he might actually be pretty good at it, I mean fighting is like dancing in some ways right? But it doesn’t matter bc he’s never gonna try.

Bathing/showering headcanon- Guts

Guts doesn’t give a fuck, he’ll dunk himself in water when it’s handy but he’s not going to go out of his way to seek out a bath. It’s fantasy medieval times, everyone’s used to BO.

Kissing headcanon- Roderick

Dude just goes for it. He’s confident in himself and suave and experienced so he relies on his charms to sweep ppl off their feet and seal the deal with a kiss at the right moment.

Sex headcanon- Roderick

Probably good in the sack, he seems to know what he’s about. tbh he’s got to be one of the v few Berserk characters who’s had good sex multiple times. Also he brags a lot about women but I’m gonna say he might go for women on land but at sea he’s happy with dudes.

Relationship with/thoughts on _____ headcanon - Roderick

You didn’t specify so anything so I’m going with thoughts on getting swept up in the whole thing with Guts and co.

Bc tbh I like his attitude - genuinely enjoying the adventure, impressed by everybody but knowing he’s got his own skills to match, heroic and cool and mostly unfazed by all the monsters.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

ESPY Awards 2017: The Complete Winners List

The 25th annual ESPY Awards celebrated the best in sports on Wednesday night, with a star-studded list of nominees including Serena Williams, Tom Brady, Simone Biles and more. Hosted by Peyton Manning, the sports award show was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. 

Check out all the big winners below:

Best Male Athlete Kris Bryant, MLB Sidney Crosby, NHL Michael Phelps, Swimming Russell Westbrook, NBA *WINNER*

Best Female Athlete Simone Biles, Gymnastics *WINNER* Katie Ledecky, Swimming Candace Parker, WNBA Serena Williams, Tennis

Best Championship Performance Tom Brady, Super Bowl Kevin Durant, NBA Finals *WINNER* Shay Knighten, WCWS Deshaun Watson, CFB National Championship

Best Breakthrough Athlete Giannis Antetokounmpo, NBA Laurie Hernandez, Gymnastics Aaron Judge, MLB Dak Prescott, NFL *WINNER* Christian Pulisic, Soccer

Best Record-Breaking Performance Bill Belichick most Super Bowl wins by a head coach Michael Phelps extends his own record of most gold medals/most Olympic medals *WINNER* Diana Taurasi breaks WNBA career scoring record Russell Westbrook most triple doubles in a season

Best Upset Clemson defeats Alabama, CFB National Championship Denis Istomin over Novak Djokovic, Australian Open 2nd Round Mississippi State defeats Connecticut, Women's NCAA Basketball Final Four *WINNER*

Best Game Cubs vs. Indians, World Series Game 7 Patriots vs. Falcons, Super Bowl *WINNER* Federer vs. Nadal, Australian Open Final

Best Comeback Athlete Matt Bush, MLB Roger Federer, Tennis Jordy Nelson, NFL *WINNER* Candace Parker, WNBA

Best Play Julian Edelman Super Bowl catch vs. 16. Noah Brown TD catch around defender Morgan Williams buzzer beater vs. UConn vs.15. Larry Nance dunk Aaron Rodgers to Jared Cook *WINNER* vs. 14. Lamar Jackson hurdles defender Northwestern buzzer beater vs. 13. Edwin Encarnacion walk off HR Russell Westbrook buzzer beater vs. 12. LeBron James dunk off the backboard Chris Coghlan leaps over catcher vs. 11. Sidney Crosby one-handed goal Olivier Giroud scorpion kick goa l vs. 10. Warriors jump ball transition dunk Mario Mandzukic goal in UEFA Final vs. 9. Jarrod Dyson catch

Best Team Chicago Cubs, MLB Clemson Tigers, CFB Golden State Warriors, NBA *WINNER* Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL New England Patriots, NFL South Carolina Gamecocks, Women's NCAA Basketball US Women's Gymnastics

Best International Athlete Canelo Alvarez, Boxing Usain Bolt, Track & Field *WINNER* Katinka Hosszu, Swimming Conor McGregor, MMA Cristiano Ronaldo, Soccer

Best NFL Player Tom Brady, New England Patriots Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys Khalil Mack, Oakland Raiders Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers *WINNER* Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons

Best MLB Player Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels *WINNER*

Best NHL Player Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins *WINNER* Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

Best Driver Ron Capps, NHRA Lewis Hamilton, Formula One *WINNER* Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR Simon Pagenaud, IndyCar Martin Truex Jr., NASCAR

Best NBA Player Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors James Harden, Houston Rockets LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers *WINNER* Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

Best WNBA Player Tina Charles, New York Liberty Elena Delle Donne, Washington Mystics Maya Moore, Minnesota Lynx Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks *WINNER*

Best Fighter Terence Crawford, Boxing Gennady Golovkin, Boxing Demetrious Johnson, MMA *WINNER* Conor McGregor, MMA Andre Ward, Boxing

Best Male Golfer Brooks Koepka Sergio Garcia *WINNER* Dustin Johnson Rory McIlroy Henrik Stenson

Best Female Golfer In Gee Chun Ariya Jutanugarn *WINNER* Lydia Ko So Yeon Ryu Lexi Thompson

Best Male Tennis Player Roger Federer *WINNER* Andy Murray Rafael Nadal Stan Wawrinka

Best Female Tennis Player Angelique Kerber Jelena Ostapenko Monica Puig Serena Williams *WINNER*

Best Male College Athlete Ian Harkes, Wake Forest soccer Frank Mason, Kansas basketball Matt Rambo, Maryland lacrosse Zain Retherford, Penn State wrestling DeShaun Watson, Clemson football *WINNER*

Best Female College Athlete Inky Ajanaku, Stanford volleyball Kelly Barnhill, Florida softball *WINNER* Kadeisha Buchanan, West Virginia soccer Kelsey Plum, Washington basketball Zoe Stukenberg, Maryland lacrosse

Best Male Action Sports Athlete Oystein Braaten, Ski John John Florence, Surf Nyjah Huston, Skateboard Mark McMorris, Snowboard *WINNER*

Best Female Action Sports Athlete Lacey Baker, Skateboard Anna Gasser, Snowboard *WINNER* Kelly Sildaru, Ski Tyler Wright, Surf

Best Jockey Javier Castellano Mike E. Smith John Velasquez *WINNER*

Best Male Athlete With a Disability Will Groulx, Cycling Mike Minor, Snowboarding Steve Serio, Wheelchair Basketball *WINNER* Brad Snyder, Swimming Roderick Townsend, Track and Field

Best Female Athlete With a Disability Oksana Masters, Nordic Skiing Tatyana McFadden, Track and Field Becca Meyers, Swimming *WINNER* Shawn Morelli, Cycling Grace Norman, Triathlon

Best Bowler Jason Belmonte *WINNER* Francois Lavoie EJ Tackett

Best MLS Player Andre Blake, Philadelphia Union Stefan Frei, Seattle Sounders FC Matt Hedges, FC Dallas David Villa, New York City FC *WINNER* Bradley Wright-Phillips, New York Red Bulls

Best Male US Olympic Athlete Ashton Eaton, Decathlon Ryan Murphy, Swimming Michael Phelps, Swimming *WINNER* Kyle Snyder, Wrestling

Best Female US Olympic Athlete Simone Biles, Gymnastics *WINNER* Allyson Felix, Track & Field Katie Ledecky, Swimming Simone Manuel, Swimming

[simchiyin]

One of my images of religious life in China accompanies this slam-dunk review by the legendary Chinahand Roderick MacFarquhar of the Pulitzer-winning writer Ian Johnson's fascinating and important new book "The Souls of China". In The New York Review of Books. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/06/08/chinas-astounding-religious-revival/ Redux Pictures VII Photo Agency

[junker-town]

ESPY Awards 2017: Time, TV channel, and awards and nominees for Wednesday night’s ceremony

Who will win some of sports biggest honors?

The 2017 ESPY Awards will honor some of the best athletes in the world, as well as athletes and fans who have had an impact of the world and our lives.

This is the 25th year of the awards show and, as always, it boasts some of the biggest names in sports and culture. The show will be hosted by former MVP quarterback Peyton Manning, and will feature presenters like Bryan Cranston, Eddie George and Danica Patrick.

How to watch the 2017 ESPY Awards:

Time: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 8 p.m. ET

TV: ABC

Online: Watch ESPN

Awards and Nominees:

BEST MALE ATHLETE

Kris Bryant, MLB

Sidney Crosby, NHL

Michael Phelps, Swimming

Russell Westbrook, NBA

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE

Simone Biles, Gymnastics

Katie Ledecky, Swimming

Candace Parker, WNBA

Serena Williams, Tennis

BEST CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE

Tom Brady, Super Bowl

Kevin Durant, NBA Finals

Shay Knighten, WCWS

DeShaun Watson, CFB National Championship

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Giannis Antetokounmpo, NBA

Laurie Hernandez, Gymnastics

Aaron Judge, MLB

Dak Prescott, NFL

Christian Pulisic, Soccer

BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE

Bill Belichick: Most Super Bowl wins by a head coach

Michael Phelps: Extended his own record of most gold medals/most Olympic medals

Diana Taurasi: Broke WNBA career scoring record

Russell Westbrook: Most triple doubles in a season

BEST UPSET

Clemson defeats Alabama, CFB National Championship

Denis Istomin over Novak Djokovic, Australian Open 2nd Round

Mississippi State defeats Connecticut, Women’s NCAA Basketball Final Four

BEST GAME

Cubs vs. Indians, World Series Game 7

Patriots vs. Falcons, Super Bowl

Federer vs. Nadal, Australian Open Final

BEST COMEBACK ATHLETE

Matt Bush, MLB

Roger Federer, Tennis

Jordy Nelson, NFL

Candace Parker, WNBA

BEST PLAY (16 NOMINEES VOTED BRACKET-STYLE)

Julian Edelman Super Bowl catch vs. 16. Noah Brown TD catch around defender

Morgan Williams buzzer beater vs. UConn vs.15. Larry Nance dunk

Aaron Rodgers to Jared Cook vs. 14. Lamar Jackson hurdles defender

Northwestern buzzer beater vs. 13. Edwin Encarnacion walk off HR

Russell Westbrook buzzer beater vs. 12. LeBron James dunk off the backboard

Chris Coghlan leaps over catcher vs. 11. Sidney Crosby one-handed goal

Olivier Giroud scorpion kick goa l vs. 10. Warriors jump ball transition dunk

Mario Mandzukic goal in UEFA Final vs. 9. Jarrod Dyson catch

BEST TEAM

Chicago Cubs, MLB

Clemson Tigers, CFB

Golden State Warriors, NBA

Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL

New England Patriots, NFL

South Carolina Gamecocks, Women’s NCAA Basketball

US Women’s Gymnastics

BEST INTERNATIONAL ATHLETE

Canelo Alvarez, Boxing

Usain Bolt, Track & Field

Katinka Hosszu, Swimming

Conor McGregor, MMA

Cristiano Ronaldo, Soccer

BEST NFL PLAYER

Tom Brady, New England Patriots

Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys

Khalil Mack, Oakland Raiders

Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons

BEST MLB PLAYER

Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs

David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox

Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals

Mike Trout, LA Angels

BEST NHL PLAYER

Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks

Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs

Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

BEST DRIVER

Ron Capps, NHRA

Lewis Hamilton, Formula One

Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR

Simon Pagenaud, IndyCar

Martin Truex Jr., NASCAR

BEST NBA PLAYER

Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors

James Harden, Houston Rockets

LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

BEST WNBA PLAYER

Tina Charles, New York Liberty

Elena Delle Donne, Washington Mystics

Maya Moore, Minnesota Lynx

Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks

Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks

BEST FIGHTER

Terence Crawford, Boxing

Gennady Golovkin, Boxing

Demetrious Johnson, MMA

Conor McGregor, MMA

Andre Ward, Boxing

BEST MALE GOLFER

Brooks Koepka

Sergio Garcia

Dustin Johnson

Rory McIlroy

Henrik Stenson

BEST FEMALE GOLFER

In Gee Chun

Ariya Jutanugarn

Lydia Ko

So Yeon Ryu

Lexi Thompson

BEST MALE TENNIS PLAYER

Roger Federer

Andy Murray

Rafael Nadal

Stan Wawrinka

BEST FEMALE TENNIS PLAYER

Angelique Kerber

Jelena Ostapenko

Monica Puig

Serena Williams

BEST MALE COLLEGE ATHLETE

Ian Harkes, Wake Forest soccer

Frank Mason, Kansas basketball

Matt Rambo, Maryland lacrosse

Zain Retherford, Penn State wrestling

DeShaun Watson, Clemson football

BEST FEMALE COLLEGE ATHLETE

Inky Ajanaku, Stanford volleyball

Kelly Barnhill, Florida softball

Kadeisha Buchanan, West Virginia soccer

Kelsey Plum, Washington basketball

Zoe Stukenberg, Maryland lacrosse

BEST MALE ACTION SPORTS ATHLETE

Oystein Braaten (NOR), Ski

John John Florence, Surf

Nyjah Huston, Skateboard

Mark McMorris, Snowboard

BEST FEMALE ACTION SPORTS ATHLETE

Lacey Baker, Skateboard

Anna Gasser, Snowboard

Kelly Sildaru, Ski

Tyler Wright, Surf

BEST JOCKEY

Javier Castellano

Mike E. Smith

John Velasquez

BEST MALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY

Will Groulx, Cycling

Mike Minor, Snowboarding

Steve Serio, Wheelchair Basketball

Brad Snyder, Swimming

Roderick Townsend, Track and Field

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY

Oksana Masters, Nordic Skiing

Tatyana McFadden, Track and Field

Becca Meyers, Swimming

Shawn Morelli, Cycling

Grace Norman, Triathlon

BEST BOWLER

Jason Belmonte

Francois Lavoie

EJ Tackett

BEST MLS PLAYER

Andre Blake, Philadelphia Union

Stefan Frei, Seattle Sounders FC

Matt Hedges, FC Dallas

David Villa, New York City FC

Bradley Wright-Phillips, New York Red Bulls

BEST MALE US OLYMPIC ATHLETE

Ashton Eaton, Decathlon

Ryan Murphy, Swimming

Michael Phelps, Swimming

Kyle Snyder, Wrestling

BEST FEMALE US OLYMPIC ATHLETE

Simone Biles, Gymnastics

Allyson Felix, Track & Field

Katie Ledecky, Swimming

Simone Manuel, Swimming

As always, the ESPYs look to be an exciting night of honoring the great achievements in sports. Check back here for updates on winners as the night goes on.

[wavenetinfo]

After nearly a 30-year hiatus, the Battle lines are being drawn again. Battle of the Network Stars will return to ABC on June 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and the times have changed, which means it won’t be only network stars competing but also those hailing from cable (and even first-run syndication). One hundred stars will be split into themed teams and will compete against each other in a set of athletic challenges like tug of war, archery, kayak relay, an obstacle course, and the dunk tank. (Warning: Their white socks may not be jacked up as high as the ones worn by their predecessors.)

Who are these “stars” that the show title promises? They come from all corners of the television universe, and from series that aired across several decades, including The Brady Bunch, Good Times,  Growing Pains, Charles in Charge, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Melrose Place and Private Practice. What’s that? Get more specific with the names? They range from Vivica A. Fox to Kevin Sorbo to Lou Ferrigno to Taye Diggs to John Barrowman to Lacheys Nick and Vanessa to no less than five Baywatch actors that are not named David Hasselhoff or Pamela Anderson.

Below, EW reveals 60 of the contestants and six of the match-ups. (Actors listed in italics competed in the original version.)

TV Sex Symbols (Keegan Allen, Traci Bingham, Rosa Blasi, Brant Daugherty, Galen Gering) vs. Variety (Joanna Krupa, Nick Lachey, Vanessa Lachey, Gilles Marini, Jack Osbourne) 

TV Sitcoms (Todd Bridges, Leigh-Allyn Baker, Dave Foley, Willie Garson, Jenna von Oy) vs. Cops (Erik Estrada, Larry Wilcox, Kelly Hu, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Lorenzo Lamas) 

TV Moms & Dads (Chad Lowe, Greg Evigan, Ted McGinley, Lesley Fera, Jackee Harry) vs. TV Kids (Jimmie Walker, Mackenzie Phillips, Jonathan Lipnicki, Krista Marie Yu, Jeremy Miller)

Famous TV Families (Danny Bonaduce, Barry Williams, Beverley Mitchell, Willie Aames, Charlene Tilton) vs. Doctors (Thomas Calabro, Taye Diggs, Rachelle Lefevre, Deidre Hall, Benjamin Hollingsworth)

TV Lifeguards (David Chokachi, Brande Roderick, Parker Stevenson, Nicole Eggert, Gena Lee Nolin) vs. Troublemakers (Vivica A. Fox, Paul Johansson, John Barrowman, Julie Benz, Catherine Bach) 

Sci-Fi Fantasy (Lou Ferrigno, Vinnie Jones, Charisma Carpenter, Kevin Sorbo, Jill Wagner) vs. Cops (Marisol Nichols, Roma Maffia, Adrian Zmed, Fred Dryer, Ryan Paevey)

Nineteen episodes of Battle of the Network Stars aired on ABC from 1976 to 1988. (Bravo aired a version titled Battle of the Network Reality Stars that lasted for six episodes in 2005.) This revival of Battle of the Network Stars will include 10 episodes. MMA fighter Ronda Rousey and former NFL player DeMarcus Ware will serve as team captains, while Mike Greenberg and Joe Tessitore will handle hosting duties.

Byron Cohen/ABC

Byron Cohen/ABC

Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Byron Cohen/ABC

Byron Cohen/ABC

Byron Cohen/ABC

12 June 2017 | 2:00 pm

Dan Snierson

Source : Entertainment Weekly

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); June 12, 2017 at 08:30PM

[verdiprati]

Upcoming Performances by Dame Sarah Connolly

[NOTE: this post is now out of date. Check the schedule tag on my blog for the most recent version of this list.]

After the jump: an unofficial schedule of Dame Sarah Connolly’s future performances. Those of you in Britain may catch a performance in London, Oxford, Worcester, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Buxton, Deal, or Lewes. Those on the Continent may see her in Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, Barcelona, Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Bordeaux, Vilabertran (near Figueres, Catalunya), or La Foce (Siena). Plus, Dame Sarah’s agency has mentioned future performances in Paris, Madrid, and New York, though no details are available yet. Don’t live near one of these places? Take in a concert from afar: I am adding online broadcast and livestream details as they become available.

This is not an authoritative list. These are the upcoming performances by Dame Sarah Connolly that I have been able to learn about from Dame Sarah's website (not currently being updated), her agent's website (Askonas Holt), Operabase, Bachtrack, Dame Sarah's Twitter, and generally ferreting around the web.

Some of these listings are not yet officially confirmed; you should of course check official sources before making plans and be aware that cast changes and cancellations can happen at any time.

I have added links to venue, ticketing, and broadcast information where available. Tips on new information are always welcome! Please contact me via email (verdiprati [at] selveamene [dot] com), Tumblr messaging, or ask box (plain prose only in the ask box; anything with links or an email address will get eaten by Tumblr filters) with corrections or additions.

Brett Dean, Hamlet (Gertrude) at Glyndebourne, last performance on July 6, 2017. Also starring Allan Clayton (Hamlet), Barbara Hannigan (Ophelia), Rod Gilfry (Claudius), Kim Begley (Polonius), and John Tomlinson (Ghost of Old Hamlet). With the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

[Livestream] The July 6 performance of Hamlet is scheduled for livestreaming to cinemas and online; the online stream will be free to watch and will remain online for a week. The streaming of the first part of the performance will be delayed about an hour in order to avoid imposing Glyndebourne’s traditional 90-minute “long interval” on online and cinema audiences; the second part will be relayed live or with minimal delay, according to my understanding. Hat tip to Avis Melodia for mentioning the livestream in the Sarah Connolly fan group on Facebook.

Recital at the Deal Festival, St George’s Church, Deal, Kent, July 8, 2017. With Joseph Middleton in a program titled “Love and Life.” Update: although Dame Sarah’s recital is still listed on the festival website as of this writing, the Astor Community Theatre has announced that she has withdrawn from the festival on advice of her doctor. Ruby Hughes will appear in recital with Joseph Middleton instead. Update update: although the recital date has come and gone, I want to note that I belatedly found an announcement about Dame Sarah’s withdrawal and Hughes’ substitution on the Deal Festival website.

Wagner, Das Rheingold (Fricka) at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusets, July 15, 2017. Update: as of July 4, Dame Sarah has been replaced by Stephanie Blythe in the role of Fricka. The BSO site has been updated to read, “Due to ill health, and on the advice of her doctor, Dame Sarah Connolly regretfully has had to withdraw from the BSO's performance of  Das Rheingold.” Operawire took note of the withdrawal and WBUR has published a short interview with Blythe about her stepping in. In a concert performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons. Also starring Thomas J. Mayer (Wotan), Kim Begley (Loge), David Cangelosi (Mime), Jochen Schmeckenbecker (Alberich), Morris Robinson (Fasolt), Ain Anger (Fafner), Malin Christensson (Freia), Jacqueline Echols (Woglinde), Catherine Martin (Wellgunde), Renée Tatum (Flosshilde), Patricia Bardon (Erda), David Butt Philip (Froh), and Ryan McKinney (Donner).

[Broadcast] As usual, this Saturday night concert by the BSO will be broadcast live by WCRB [update: without Dame Sarah’s participation] and presumably will be made available for listening on demand afterward.

Recital at the Buxton Festival, Buxton, July 22, 2017. Update: Dame Sarah is no longer listed on the Buxton program; she seems to have been replaced by Sir Thomas Allen, who will be performing in recital with Joseph Middleton.

Solo performance in a fundraising concert for Common and Kind, Union Chapel, Islington, London, July 25, 2017. Update: Common and Kind has tweeted that “Sarah Connolly has a bruised cord and is unable to sing indefinitely,” which I take to mean that she has withdrawn from this performance. 

Torsten Rasch, A Welsh Night at the Three Choirs Festival, Worcester, July 26, 2017. Update: Susan Bickley’s name now appears on the Three Choirs website in place of Dame Sarah’s. In a concert with Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. Conducted by Frank Beermann. A newly orchestrated version of Rasch’s song sequence A Welsh Night will be premiered at the 2017 Three Choirs Festival; Sarah Connolly performed the original version for mezzo-soprano and piano with Joseph Middleton at their 2015 Three Choirs recital.

Recital at Incontri in Terra di Siena, La Foce, Siena, Italy, August 5, 2017. With accompanist Julius Drake. Songs by Mahler, Berlioz, Poulenc, and Debussy. This is a small festival and advance booking is recommended.

Recital at the Schubertíada Vilabertran, Vilabertran (near Figueres), Catalunya, August 24, 2017. With Malcolm Martineau. Songs by Strauss, Zemlinsky, Eisler, Korngold, Copland, and Britten. Broadcast possibility: many recitals from the 2015 Schubertíada Vilabertran, where Connolly made her festival debut, were broadcast either live or deferred on Catalunya Música. There is a PDF on the CatMúsica website showing this recital on the schedule of summer festival recordings being made by the radio station, but it does not give an air date; the recital does not appear on this PDF schedule of broadcasts for July and August. We’ll have to keep an eye out for it in the coming months.

[New!] Songs by Bridge and Brahams in a joint recital with Nils Mönkemeyer (viola) and Marcelo Amaral (piano) at the Liederhalle, Stuttgart, September 14, 2017. Sponsored by the Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie.

Mahler, Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, September 20, 2017. Vladimir Jurowski conducts and Maria Bengtsson sings the soprano part. Also with the Rundfunkchor Berlin. Tickets go on sale July 17, 2017.

[Broadcast TBC] No details yet, but the Deutschlandradio Kultur logo appears on the page under the phrase “Concert with,” so I am assuming the concert will be broadcast either live or deferred.

Recital at Wigmore Hall, London, September 29, 2017. With Malcolm Martineau. The program includes songs by Strauss, Zemlinsky, Eisler, Korngold, Copland, and Britten.

Elgar, Sea Pictures, Royal Tunbridge Wells, October 1, 2017. With the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra conducted by Roderick Dunk. In a concert with orchestral works by Kodály and Brahms.

Mahler, Symphony No. 3 at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, October 6 and 8, 2017. With the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the women of the Chœur de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux. Conducted by Paul Daniel.

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde at Kings Place, London, October 14, 2017. With Andrew Staples and the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. Das Lied will be played in an arrangement by Iain Farrington for sixteen instruments. This concert, oddly enough, is part of the orchestra’s “Mozart’s Piano” series, pairing Das Lied with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 11.

G. Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, plus songs by A. Mahler, Zemlinsky and Korngold at the Oxford Lieder Festival, St John the Evangelist, Oxford, October 20, 2017. With Eugene Asti. This recital program perfectly fits the festival’s theme for 2017, “The Last of the Romantics—Mahler and Fin-de-Siècle Vienna.”

Wagner, Tristan und Isolde (Brangäne) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, November 28 and December 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, and 15, 2017. With Stefan Vinke (Tristan), Iréne Theorin (Isolde), Albert Dohmen (Marke), Greer Grimsley (Kurwenal), et al., in a production directed by Àlex Ollé and previously seen in Lyon. Musical direction by Josep Pons.

Handel, Ariodante (title role) at the Wiener Staatsoper, February 24 and 26 and March 1, 4, and 8, 2018. With Chen Reiss (Ginevra), Hila Fahima (Dalinda), Christphe Dumaux (Polinesso), Rainer Trost (Lurcanio), and Wilhelm Schwinghammer (Il Re di Scozia). In a new production directed by David McVicar with music is supplied by Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie. Note: although Christie, LAF, and many of the soloists from this Ariodante will be performing the opera in a concert tour following its staging in Vienna, Dame Sarah is not scheduled to join them; Kate Lindsey has been announced to take over the title role for the tour.

[Livestream] The opera is scheduled for livestreaming on Sunday, March 4. There is a fee of €14 to watch the livestream.

Mahler, Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand” at de Doelen, Rotterdam, March 23 and 25, 2018. With the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The other soloists are Angela Meade, Erin Wall, Lisette Oropesa Erin Morley, Mihoko Fujimura, Michael Schade, Markus Werba, and Christof Fischesser. On choral duty are the Groot Omroep Koor, Rotterdam Symphony Chorus, Orfeon Donostiarra, and Nationaal Kinderkoor. Tickets go on sale May 15.

Mahler, Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand” at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, March 24, 2018. With the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; same details as the Rotterdam performances listed above. Broadcast possibility: this concert is part of the 2018 Klarafestival sponsored by the Klara radio station, so it seems like a good candidate for broadcast.

[Masterclasses] Teaching duties for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, England, March 23-April 1, 2018. A course on Handel’s Theodora to be co-taught with conductor Christian Curnyn. Although this doesn’t really count as a performance by Sarah Connolly, I am adding it to my “unofficial schedule” of her work with the thought that fans who live in the area might want to attend some of the public masterclasses Sarah Connolly will be teaching or the culminating performance by young artists she will have coached. (Note that the first weekend of this program clashes with the Mahler 8 concerts in Rotterdam, above; it is possible the students will start out working with Christian Curnyn and will pick up with Sarah Connolly a few days into the program.)

Handel, Giulio Cesare (title role) at Glyndebourne, June 10 through July 28, 2018. In a revival of the legendary 2005 production by David McVicar, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by William Christie. With Joélle Harvey as Cleopatra, plus Christophe Dumaux and Patricia Bardon reprising the roles of Tolomeo and Cornelia respectively; also starring John Moore (Achilla) and Kangmin Justin Kim (Nireno).

Wagner, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (Fricka in both) at the Royal Opera, London, September 24 through October 28, 2018. A revival of Keith Warner’s Ring Cycle, with Antonio Pappano conducting. For cast and date details, see the ROH web pages linked above.

[Details TBA] Future appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra national de Paris, and the Teatro Réal in Madrid are mentioned in the current bio that can be downloaded from Dame Sarah’s page on the Askonas Holt website (click “Publicity Pack”).

Previous versions of this list can be found under the schedule tag on this blog. This version published on July 2, 2017. Edited July 4 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from the Deal Festival and Tanglewood, and to add a link to the Saint John the Evangelist website. Edited July 7 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from the Common and Kind concert and to add the Operawire link to the Tanglewood entry. Edited July 8 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from the Buxton Festival. Edited July 10 to reflect the replacement of Lisette Oropesa by Erin Morley in the Mahler 8 tour and to (belatedly) add a link to the Deal Festival announcement of Dame Sarah’s withdrawal. Edited July 15 to add the Stuttgart recital and some updates to the Tanglewood entry. Edited July 23 to reflect Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from the Three Choirs concert. Edited August 4 to confirm that Dame Sarah’s recital with Malcolm Martineau at Vilabertran is scheduled for recording. Edited August 10 to add that it does not appear on the CatMúsica broadcast schedule for August. I may continue to edit this list if I receive new information.

[verdiprati]

Upcoming performances by Dame Sarah Connolly

[NOTE: this post is now out of date. Check the schedule tag on my blog for the most recent version of this list.]

After the jump: an unofficial schedule of Dame Sarah Connolly’s future performances. Those of you in Britain may catch a performance in London, Oxford, Royal Tunbridge Wells, or Lewes. Those on the Continent may see her in Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, Barcelona, Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Bordeaux, or Vilabertran (near Figueres, Catalunya). Plus, Dame Sarah’s agency has mentioned future performances in Paris, Madrid, and New York, though no details are available yet. Don’t live near one of these places? Take in a concert from afar: I am adding online broadcast and livestream details as they become available.

This is not an authoritative list. These are the upcoming performances by Dame Sarah Connolly that I have been able to learn about from Dame Sarah's website (not currently being updated), her agent's website (Askonas Holt), Operabase, Bachtrack, Dame Sarah's Twitter, and generally ferreting around the web.

Some of these listings are not yet officially confirmed; you should of course check official sources before making plans and be aware that cast changes and cancellations can happen at any time.

I have added links to venue, ticketing, and broadcast information where available. Tips on new information are always welcome! Please contact me via email (verdiprati [at] selveamene [dot] com), Tumblr messaging, or ask box (plain prose only in the ask box; anything with links or an email address will get eaten by Tumblr filters) with corrections or additions.

Recital at the Schubertíada Vilabertran, Vilabertran (near Figueres), Catalunya, August 24, 2017. With Malcolm Martineau. Songs by Strauss, Zemlinsky, Eisler, Korngold, Copland, and Britten. 

[Broadcast TBC] There is a PDF on the Catalunya Música website showing this recital on the schedule of summer festival recordings being made by the radio station, but it does not give an air date; the recital does not appear on this PDF schedule of broadcasts for July and August. Performances recorded at previous iterations of the festival have sometimes been held for months before broadcast. We’ll have to keep an eye out for Dame Sarah and Malcolm Martineau’s recital in the radio listing in the coming months.

Songs by Bridge Schumann and Brahms in a joint recital with Nils Mönkemeyer (viola) and Marcelo Amaral (piano) at the Liederhalle, Stuttgart, September 14, 2017. Sponsored by the Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie. Repertoire details seem to have disappeared from the IHWA website but can still be found here.

Mahler, Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, September 20, 2017. Vladimir Jurowski conducts and Maria Bengtsson sings the soprano part. Also with the Rundfunkchor Berlin. Tickets go on sale July 17, 2017.

[Broadcast] This concert appears to be scheduled for deferred broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur the following evening, September 21.

Recital at Wigmore Hall, London, September 29, 2017. With Malcolm Martineau. The program includes songs by Strauss, Zemlinsky, Eisler, Korngold, Copland, and Britten.

Elgar, Sea Pictures, Royal Tunbridge Wells, October 1, 2017. With the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra conducted by Roderick Dunk. In a concert with orchestral works by Kodály and Brahms.

Mahler, Symphony No. 3 at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, October 6 and 8, 2017. With the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, the women of the Chœur de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux, and the Maîtrise Java Jeune Académie Vocale Aquitaine. Conducted by Paul Daniel.

[New!] Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde at St George’s Bristol, October 11, 2017. With Andrew Staples and the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. Das Lied will be played in an arrangement by Iain Farrington for sixteen instruments. This concert, oddly enough, is part of the orchestra’s “Mozart’s Piano” series, pairing Das Lied with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 11.

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde at Kings Place, London, October 14, 2017. Same details as the Aurora Orchestra concert in Bristol on the 11th.

G. Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, plus songs by A. Mahler, Zemlinsky and Korngold at the Oxford Lieder Festival, St John the Evangelist, Oxford, October 20, 2017. With Eugene Asti. This recital program perfectly fits the festival’s theme for 2017, “The Last of the Romantics—Mahler and Fin-de-Siècle Vienna.”

[New! Deferred broadcast TBC] Dame Sarah’s recital at Spivey Hall in March 2017 was recorded for deferred broadcast. I have found a schedule for the program “Spivey Soiree” indicating that Dame Sarah’s recital will be broadcast on October 31, 2017, at 10:05 p.m. local time on WABE in Atlanta. The document is not deep-linkable but you might be able to find it by going to the Audio-Video Club of Atlanta website and clicking on the button for “Spivey Soiree.” The information on this document does not quite align with the weekly scheduling information currently published on the WABE website so I will attempt to confirm that the Spivey Soiree schedule on the A-VCOA website is accurate when we get closer to the broadcast date.

Wagner, Tristan und Isolde (Brangäne) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, November 28 and December 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, and 15, 2017. With Stefan Vinke (Tristan), Iréne Theorin (Isolde), Albert Dohmen (Marke), Greer Grimsley (Kurwenal), et al., in a production directed by Àlex Ollé and previously seen in Lyon. Musical direction by Josep Pons.

Handel, Ariodante (title role) at the Wiener Staatsoper, February 24 and 26 and March 1, 4, and 8, 2018. With Chen Reiss (Ginevra), Hila Fahima (Dalinda), Christphe Dumaux (Polinesso), Rainer Trost (Lurcanio), and Wilhelm Schwinghammer (Il Re di Scozia). In a new production directed by David McVicar with music is supplied by Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie. Note: although Christie, LAF, and many of the soloists from this Ariodante will be performing the opera in a concert tour following its staging in Vienna, Dame Sarah is not scheduled to join them; Kate Lindsey has been announced to take over the title role for the tour.

[Livestream] The opera is scheduled for video livestreaming on Sunday, March 4. There is a fee of €14 to watch the livestream.

Mahler, Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand” at de Doelen, Rotterdam, March 23 and 25, 2018. With the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The other soloists are Angela Meade, Erin Wall, Erin Morley, Mihoko Fujimura, Michael Schade, Markus Werba, and Christof Fischesser. On choral duty are the Groot Omroep Koor, Rotterdam Symphony Chorus, Orfeon Donostiarra, and Nationaal Kinderkoor. Tickets go on sale May 15.

Mahler, Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand” at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, March 24, 2018. With the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; same details as the Rotterdam performances listed above. Broadcast possibility: this concert is part of the 2018 Klarafestival sponsored by the Klara radio station, so it seems like a good candidate for broadcast.

[Masterclasses] Teaching duties for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, England, March 23-April 1, 2018. A course on Handel’s Theodora to be co-taught with conductor Christian Curnyn. Although this doesn’t really count as a performance by Sarah Connolly, I am adding it to my “unofficial schedule” of her work with the thought that fans who live in the area might want to attend some of the public masterclasses Sarah Connolly will be teaching or the culminating performance by young artists she will have coached. (Note that the first weekend of this program clashes with the Mahler 8 concerts in Rotterdam and Brussels, above; it is possible the students will start out working with Christian Curnyn and will pick up with Sarah Connolly a few days into the program.)

Handel, Giulio Cesare (title role) at Glyndebourne, June 10 through July 28, 2018. In a revival of the legendary 2005 production by David McVicar, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by William Christie. With Joélle Harvey as Cleopatra, plus Christophe Dumaux and Patricia Bardon reprising the roles of Tolomeo and Cornelia respectively; also starring John Moore (Achilla) and Kangmin Justin Kim (Nireno).

Wagner, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (Fricka in both) at the Royal Opera, London, September 24 through October 28, 2018. A revival of Keith Warner’s Ring Cycle, with Antonio Pappano conducting. For cast and date details, see the ROH web pages linked above.

[Details TBA] Future appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra national de Paris, and the Teatro Réal in Madrid are mentioned in the current bio that can be downloaded from Dame Sarah’s page on the Askonas Holt website (click “Publicity Pack”).

Previous versions of this list can be found under the schedule tag on this blog. This version published on August 10, 2017. Edited September 10 to add the deferred broadcast of Dame Sarah’s Spivey Hall recital. Edited September 15 to add the Bristol date of the Aurora Orchestra Das Lied concert and to belatedly correct the composers for the Stuttgart concert (based on info here). I may continue to edit this list if I receive new information.