#shellbacks

[solesurvivorpaigeargot]

Ship's cats being A Thing and said felines being Beloved members of the crew, each with a Name and Rank embroidered on a kercheif the same way other members wear their name and rank on their uniforms. The cats get their own versions of advancement celebeations and special induction rituals like that of the A-Gangers.

What's an A-Ganger? The top engineers charged with keeping the power on by way of maintaining and troubleshooting Critical, Cannot Live Without It systems. Becoming an A-Ganger requires not just the aptitude for machines, but the ability to worm around the engine and pipes in the pitch black-- a Worst Case Scinaro where main power has been lost and must be brought back online ASAP.

This test is administered with a bell. In the main engine compartment, there is an old bell with its clapper hanging on a thick length of rope, knotted once to keep the clapper in place and with about a foot more hanging down to grab and swing to ring the bell with impressive volume. It's the Failsafe emergancy alarm- the one that works so long as you've got air to breathe and a hand to ring it.

To pass the A-Gang Challenge as some sailors might call it, you have to ring the bell and escape the room. That's it.

The moment a challenger rings the bell, the lights go out. If a member of the current A-Gang finds the challenger in the dark, they will grapple and wrestle said challenger to the ground and demand their surrender, which is where this ritual overlaps with Hazing behaviors that are... unfortunately common on many ships. Some sailors demand the cruel and violent be barred from advancement until restraint is learned, some encourage that kind of vicious power jockying, as every ship can develop its own sub-culture to the main Floatilla. On some ships, its not being pinned in the dark that they are faced with, but getting beaten into a bloody pulp if they should fail to escape the pitch dark room that is LOUSY with pipes, conduits and cables.

Make it out of the doorway without getting caught, the Challenger passes.

I imagine cats get the Machinist emblem on their kercheif by way of Appearing in the room despite all efforts to keep ships cats out of the engine compartment. Kitty got in? Shit, guess they work here now.

Now, you might ask "Why would a ship need or want a cat?"

A ship's cat has a myriad of benifits, including but not limited to;

-Pest Control. For as long as people have voyaged on the ocean, rodents have followed us on board and get into grain storage. Preserving food stores includes having a cat to guard from small infiltritors.

-Weather Prediction. Because of their excellent senses of hearing and smell, as well as a cat's whiskers enabling them to sense changes in ambiant pressure, cats have Very Recognizable behaviors based on how the weather is gonna Suddenly Change as it is want to do in the middle of the ocean. A cat with the zoomies meant strong winds were on the way and the deck needed to be secured. A cat standing up on its back legs, tail and heckles risen, meant a thunderhead or even Waterspout ( aquatic tornado ) was in the near future. A loafed but fluffed out cat signalled conditions were right for a typhoon and the ship needed to GTFO from the area.

-Morale. A ship's cat improves not only the moods of shipmates, but their care for the ship as the cat's wellbeing is tied to the ship's wellbeing. When the crew all cares for the cat and the ship, team bonds are stronger and fewer miscommunications happen because shipmates built up rapport talking about the cat.

Thinking about a possible Fallout costal group they call Shellbacks who descended from a group of US Naval captains who took their ships and RAN for the open ocean when the news came through that full scale nuclear war was breaking out in 2077. Maybe 2 or 3 ships captains who spoke to their crew and decided 'fuck this, we're on our own' and went completely AWOL, and then found eachother and made a small floating coalition on the ocean, which eventually became a generational flotilla that wanders up and down the long American coast from Alaska down to the southern tip of Chile-- trading ocean resources for mainland ones and famed for their clever engineers who keep 200 year old ships afloat and good places to live. Also keeping a lot of the old sailor superstitions alive, and talking like a bunch of proper salty sea dogs.

The name Shellbacks is from an old Naval tradition, but got more literal as the generational crew started designing new boats based on mutated sea turtles for traversing merky or boggy shore areas where a traditional ship may get stuck-- the 'flippers' allowing for broad maneuvering of the vehicle on land while its propelled by tank treads on the bottom of the 'body', as well as sharp turns and aquatic breaking when submerged.

[arinewman7]

Ridge Church (Study for Shellback)

Andrew Wyeth

watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper, 2004

[fr-familiar-bracket]

[comicwaren]

From Sentinels #001, “Necessary Monsters”

Art by Justin Mason and Federico Blee

Written by Alex Paknadel

[mymelodic-chapel]

Carly Rae Jepsen- E·MO·TION (Dance-Pop, Synthpop, Electropop) Released: August 21, 2015 [Interscope Records] Producer(s): Ariel Rechtshaid, Ben Romans, Carl Falk, Christopher J Baran, Dan Nigro, Dev Hynes, Greg Kurstin, Greg Wells, The High Street, Jeff Halatrax, Kyle Shearer, LULOU, Mattman & Robin, Peter Svensson, Rami Yacoub, Rostam Batmanglij, Shellback, Stint, Stargate, Wouter Janssen, Zachary Gray

[publicacionesdeunachica]

Now we got problems.

And I don't think we can solve 'em.

You made a really deep cut.

And, baby, now we got bad blood.

[superstar49]

actually yeah reblog this and tell me in the tags who your favourite producer is

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

Reading through all these older interviews and seeing just how much Scott and the label believed in Taylor and supported her makes the sale of her masters even more painful.

[petruchio]

max martin once again proving he is irreplaceable like idk what he put in the original 1989 songs but these are just like. yeah they’re the same but they’re not the same they just don’t have that same sparkle

[heckcareoxytwit]

A preview of Sentinels #1

SENTINELS #1

WHO ARE THE NEW SENTINELS? The original Sentinel Program was human supremacy and fear coded into circuitry. But now their legacy falls into the hands of mutantkind! Powered by cutting-edge nanotech, this new generation of Sentinels protects a fragile peace between mutants and humans. But when being a Sentinel is your job — your life — is it possible to stay human? Mount up as Alex Paknadel (CARNAGE) and Justin Mason (SPIDER-PUNK) bring you a brand-new team of heroes that will take on the most heinous mutants! Their first mission: Capture Omega Red!

Written by: Alex Paknadel Art by: Justin Mason Cover by: Justin Mason Page Count: 40 Pages Release Date: October 9, 2024

[itspileofgoodthings]

Taylor bringing blank space into the record studio pretty much entirely melodically formed and then recording it for all to hear was a FLEX

[thegentlesurvive]

Who is "the professor"?

I’ve read discussions on the professor in “The Manuscript,” but haven’t seen the 2021 NMPA Songwriting Icon acceptance speech mentioned yet (though I’m sure it has been!) where Taylor thanks “my professors and teachers,” some of them by name.

Transcript (emphasis mine):

“Thank you, David, for that beautiful introduction. I’m really, really honored to be receiving this award because it honors the part of my job that is so magical and mystifying to me still. I love songwriting so much, because there's an element to it that's still really mysterious. Like, I think any songwriter will tell you, when you get an idea, you're not quite sure where it floated down from, um, but if you can grab onto that idea and turn it into something – a piece of music – that's where craftsmanship comes in, and that's where you have the opportunity to learn and to nurture that craft, and I, I want to take a moment to thank the people who were my professors, my teachers of the craft of songwriting. First of all anyone who wrote with me in Nashville when I was in like 8th or 9th grade, that is insane insane that you did that; I am so lucky that I got to learn from some of the best writers um on Music Row. Liz Rose is someone who spent hours and hours and hours with me when there was absolutely no sign that anything would happen in my career. Um, my dance card was not full, I was fourteen, and she wrote with me so many times and taught me how to edit my, my ideas down to something more concise that packed an emotional punch. Then I got to work later on in my career with Max Martin and Johann Shellback who I learned so much from, just about, you know, from a melodic sense, and i will carry those lessons with me for the rest of my life – I will learn more lessons from them next time we work together – and i just feel really lucky that they've been a part of my life. Jack Antonoff is such a wonderful creator and such a nurturing um presence with any artists, with his own art, with with other artists, he’s just so versatile, and, um, and such a wonderful friend. Um, Aaron Dessner came into my life recently, and he's such a prolific creator. All of these people changed my writing and helped shape it. There are so many others, though and so if you've ever sat in a room and co-written with me, thank you so much. Um anybody who's ever wanted to produce one of my songs, any collaborator I've ever had, I've learned from all of you. I want to say thank you to Troy Tomlinson for always being excited to hear new songs of mine, and um Jody Gerson for being such a champion of female songwriters throughout the industry. This is something that I am so proud to receive and um, you know the fans who are out there who care about my lyrics—you have no idea how much that means to me that you dissect them, and and and copy them into your journals, and, and care about the things that I write, the words that I write. Um, there are amazing songwriters that came before me, who deserve this. There are incredible songwriters coming up now who are just so impressive and amazing i have such an affinity and respect for all of you, and I am honored to receive this. Thank you so much.

For the record, I don’t think it matters who specifically Taylor refers to in “The Manuscript” as the professor, or if it is even one person, a composite, or just a way to put that quote in. Still, it is fun that she has referred to certain people as her professors of the craft of songwriting before.

[fr-familiar-bracket]

[mcxcuseme13]

Can't wait until people find out Rep and 1989 were mainly done by Max Martin and Shellback (some of if not the greatest pop producers of all time) and Jack only did 3 or 4 tracks for 1989. So no, I (nor anyone) didn't fall in love with Jack's records actually

[taylorsredversion]

I'd kill to have Max Martin and Shellback return for reputation tv and produce Dancing With Our Hands Tied again

[churchofsatannews]

Infernal Legion Podcast #043

On this episode of the Infernal Legion podcast, we are joined by one of our newest #WickedWarriors, Citizen Kimberly Campos! Kim recounts her 14-year career in the U.S. Navy, battling Somali pirates, becoming a Golden Shellback, breaking away from herd conformity, and discovering Satanism in the digital age—after being fooled by pretenders to the throne. Stream Episode #043. Download Episode #043.