#the jellyfishes blobs in agreement

[eliduck]

Monomon teasing Hornet is my favorite flavor of HK, no if ands or buts, lollll

Agreed!

[trigun-floopers]

Backstage Interviews

Tell me more about the 'Jellyfish Snuggie' (Nai, Vash, Nicholas):

Everyone chuckles at Nai's fierce enthusiasm when he starts to demonstrate.

He brings his legs up into the snuggie, curling his huge frame into a pearly, silver blob perched on the chair. "This is, like, the best. thing. ever," he accentuates, beaming.

Vash snickers. "Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?"

Nai tightens the hood around his face so just his eyes and nose peek out.

Vash continues, "Look how happy this boy is. We call this 'blorbo mode'. The kids love crawling in whenever they get the chance, and he's the sweetest chook."

Nick grins. "Let's be honest, they're not the only ones. We actively compete with them. I think Meryl was the first adult to get in?"

Nai nods, freeing his mouth to speak. "Yeah. I was waiting in between takes for the stunt guys to test the harnesses, and Meryl rushes in, looking all frantic, and bolts towards me, pulls the hem up and hides under there, curling up in my lap. She was running from these two-" he pointed a thumb either side at Nick and Vash- "for god knows what."

Nick laughed. "But she ended up liking it, so the jellyfish snuggie came to be."

Nai huffs in mock exasperation. "And from there on everybody felt entitled to just... come in, and aggressively cuddle me."

Vash smirks. "Shut up, you love it."

Nai blushes slightly, then sighs, defeated. "Ya got me. It's my weakness. I'm The Cuddle Blorbo."

"It's so cozy and warm in there, mate! Plus, you're a walking furnace," Vash says while Nick nods in agreement.

"Night scenes in the desert are complicated," Nick adds, "the temperature drops like crazy."

"Who gets up in there the most?" asks the interviewer.

Nai points accusingly, "The most invasive one is Nick."

Nick opens his arms wide in a sweeping self gesture. "I'm sorry, good Sir, have you seen my outfit? I'm tits out there bro, my nipples become popsicles within thirteen minutes from sunset!"

Vash doubles over, "How is that timing is so oddly specific?"

Nick smiles knowingly at him, then crosses his arms, looking seriously over at Nai. "You do know they're not gonna let you keep that after we finish the series, right?"

All the color drains from Nai's face. "Are they not?" he whispers, devastated.

Vash throws his hands up, "Nice one, Nick. You just broke him."

[captainhuggermuggerus]

Medusa of the Deep

This was getting ridiculous.

           There were ten fishing boats in the village, with three to seven people on each. Well, there had been. Now there were only enough people for three of the boats, because the rest were all dead of jellyfish poisoning.

           As to the rest of the men, who were supposed to handle this kind of thing. They had all refused to go back out into open water and deal with whatever was reaching up and killing their own. That left the women.

           They were meeting at the church, supposedly to decide who they were going to make sweaters and socks for, since not everyone could get yarn and winter was coming. However, it was also to discuss the jellyfish problem.

           Meg was the oldest, a short woman whose husband, while he lived, had told her she was never allowed on his boat lest she capsized it. She had gotten her revenge by not letting him in the house until he’d washed off every bit of fish smell.

           The joke was that Meg had no sense of smell.

           Meg was sorting scrap yarn from their indulgent summer projects. “Has anyone actually seen it, though? The jellyfish? Must be massive. And how do they keep catching it?”

           “They’re idiots,” was Suzanne’s comment. Suzanne had gotten married last year and was expecting her first baby, which made her irritable. She loved children but hated being fat. Her husband sometimes slept at the pub because she was more upset as she got bigger.

           Laurie rolled her eyes. She was the village teacher. “We know that. My husband says they keep catching her in the nets, and trying to put her back.”

           “Oh, a her?” Meg asked, putting down the soft yellow yarn. “And how did he know the gender of a jellyfish? They’re blobs!”

           That gave them all pause, and they stopped, looking at each other.

           “Idiots,” Laurie muttered. Although she wasn’t clear as to whom she referred.

           Meg started cackling. “They keep catching the same mermaid!��� she chortled.

           “Well, why don’t they stop doing that?” Suzanne grumbled.

           Meg finally stopped laughing. “We need to go talk to her, see what can be done.”

           “Why did they say jellyfish if she’s a mermaid?” Suzanne asked.

           Meg was back to sorting the yarn. “The first ones anyone met were the ones with the long fish-tails, those were mermaids, but no one knew about the other kinds of tails for ages. She’s still a mermaid, she just probably has jellyfish tentacles instead of a tail.”

           “And we will be able to talk to her…why?” Laurie asked. “Since she’s been attacking people?”

           “Well, we aren’t going to drop nets and try to catch her!” Meg was scandalized. “We are going to be civilized about it, and discuss what’s going on, and come up with a solution.”

           They all took a moment with that, realizing that, while they loved their husbands, they could be a bit dumb, and it had gotten several people killed.

           Suzanne sighed. “We’ll have to go out at night.”

           “I’m packing food,” Meg added. “Laurie, can we use your husband’s boat?”

           Laurie shook her head. “Engine’s broke.”

           “Suzanne?”

           “It’s one of the new ones, I have no idea how it runs. What about you, Meg?”

           “I sold Ted’s boat to pay off the house ages ago. I have a rowboat, though.”

           “I’m not rowing anything,” Suzanne was final.

           “I can,” Laurie added.

           “So can I,” Meg decided. “You and I will row. Suzanne will keep things from falling overboard while we do.”

           “Are you sure you should?” Laurie asked, concerned.

           “I’m eighty-two, not dead. We’re bringing sandwiches. And apples.”

           And so it was decided.

.           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .

           Suzanne was not impressed by the rowboat.

           “It’s got seaweed growing on it!”

           “That happens,” Meg agreed. “Hop in and hold the basket so we can push it out.”

           Once they were out on the water, Meg and Laurie rowing-and Meg was trying to get Laurie to understand the actual rhythm-and Suzanne was clinging to the side with one hand, and the basket of food clutched the other.

           They rowed out into the bay, Meg deciding where they should stop.

           “Do you think the mermaid speaks English?” Laurie asked. “Because this could get complicated.”

           “Well,” Meg thought it over. “Usually, they have some idea of local human languages. If not English, maybe she knows some Swedish or Danish, I know a little of those. Anyone else know any other languages?”

           “French,” Laurie offered. She was a teacher, after all, French was a sign of a well-taught teacher, and also a governess, which she had been as well.

           “What about you, Suzanne?”            Suzanne seemed focused on not getting dumped overboard, even thought hey were barely tilting. “Gaelic.”

           “Seriously?” Laurie was incredulous. “I didn’t think anyone knew that anymore!”

           “Me either. Where did you learn?” Meg added.

           “My great-grandmother, when I was little. Why are you pitching this thing every way imaginable?” she added, strident.

           They were barely moving. “Sorry, dear,” Meg offered. “We’ll be more careful.”

           Having reached the middle of the bay, they stopped rowing, and Meg lit the other lanterns they had brought, so they were in a blaze of light.

           “Now what?” Laurie asked.

           “Now,” Meg told them. “Now, we wait. Who’s hungry?”

           They were happily into the sandwiches when the water suddenly bubbled up.

           Meg put her sandwich down. “Oh, lovely, that must be her. Suzanne, lean to the port side, would you? Thank you. dear.”

           The water bubbled up and the surface tension broke, revealing a dark head and two dark eyes, narrowed.

           “Good evening,” Meg greeted her. “Would you like a sandwich?”

           Eyes stayed narrowed.

           “We wanted to talk to you, about what’s been going on in the bay, but like civilized people, over food,” Meg continued, fishing out another sandwich. “Do you like apples? I’m Meg, these are Laurie and Suzanne.”

           Still nothing, but Meg offered her the sandwich anyway. Suzanne sighed deeply.

           “We don’t have nets or anything boneheaded like that,” she offered. “We’re in a rowboat, for heaven’s sake.”

           The mermaid raised one brow at that, a brow that didn’t have hair but the faintest suggestion of scales. Then, carefully, she extended one arm, and took the sandwich, raising her body halfway out of the water. To brace herself, she exposed a few tentacles, making sure to keep them outside the rowboat.

           She took a bite of the sandwich. Meg had made egg salad sandwiches for all of them except Suzanne, who hated egg at the moment. She had gotten chicken salad.

           “Thank you,” The mermaid’s voice was a deep rumble. “I’m Anya.”

           “A pleasure to meet you!” Meg agreed.

           Anya took a bite of the sandwich, and her eyes lit up. “This is good!”

           “Egg salad,” Laurie offered. “Meg makes the best egg salad sandwiches.”

           After they ate, Meg gathered the napkins up. “Now, we need to talk about the idiot men and what’s been going on out here. We’ve heard everything they’ve said-what about you? What’s been going on?”

           Anya leaned on the rowboat, her tentacles curling underneath and up the other side so the little boat wouldn’t capsize. “I’m not sure. I got caught in a net, and they pulled me out, usually people apologize and let you go, but they seemed to think they could give me away? I hit someone getting off the ship. It was hard-tentacles don’t work too well out of water.”

           Suzanne shook her head. “Idiots. Our husbands are idiots.”

           “We knew that, though,” Laurie told her.

           “And I thought that would be the end of it, since I hit someone with my tentacles, and I know they’re poisonous, and I went further offshore, so I wouldn’t interfere with their fishing. And they kept coming back, and I started to use my tentacles to defend myself, and I’m afraid people got hurt.”

           “People got killed,” Suzanne offered.

           Anya slunk down in the water. “I grew up in these waters. They’re my home, too.”

           Meg reached over and patted her hand. “There, now, dear. We aren’t trying to make you leave. We need to provide a solution, that’s all. And your family was probably here alongside ours for years, and no one ever noticed the other. So, how did that work?”

           “We had an agreement. We would drive the fish upwards, to the nets, and in return we would not be caught in them.”

           “That sounds great,” Laurie commented. “We’ve had such trouble getting in good catches for a while now.”

           Anya nodded. “And I don’t mind! I only eat the little fish, or the eggs. But I don’t want to be carted off somewhere.”

           Meg was thinking hard. “We need to talk to the actual fishermen, but since they’ve been idiots and half of them are dead, they will appreciate the help. Even if we have to smack them with spoons. Can we meet back here in two nights?”

           “Sure. Can you bring another sandwich?”

           Meg patted her hand. “Of course, dear.”

           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .

           It took rather a lot of persuasion on Laurie and Suzanne’s part to get the men tot listen, and finally Meg was so irritated that she came into the church where they were meeting, threw a basket of partially thawed fish guts on the floor with a bang, and glared at all of them.

           “You’re idiots,” she informed the now-silent church.

           “Look, there are places down south that---”            “Young man,” Meg narrowed her eyes. “Before Laurie came back with her fancy degree to teach-I love you, Laurie, you are a boon to this town, this has nothing to do with you at all-I was the teacher here. I took you outside and tanned your backside myself when I found out you were declawing all the cats based on one book that you should never have gotten. You are not allowed to make decisions like that. You have no respect for life. Anya-that’s her name-is a mermaid. She’s from here, just like we are. Her family used to drive the fish up for us, back when this town actually had money. She’s come back. If we work with her instead of acting like idiots, we can start to have something again.”

           He opened his mouth, bright red, and then closed it. He really wished Meg would forget the declawing thing.

           “So, she wants to not be caught in the nets. I think we can all agree that, since she will help-driving the schools of fish to the nets-we can all do that? This is a very simple equation, you know.”

           The men looked at each other, somewhat shamefaced.

           Laurie and Suzanne high-fived, knowing Meg had made the point for them.

           “Good,” Meg announced. “We’ll go tell her. Don’t a single one of you make us liars.”

           That last, she added with a finger-shaking.

           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .          

           Over the next three months, the town had greater catches of fish than in the previous ten years. They were able to rebuild the library and fix up the school.

           Meg also made sure they rebuilt the promontory walk over the deep part of the inlet. That was where, when she was a girl, the mermaids would come up to the surface, and people could talk to their aquatic counterparts. For a while, it was simply her and Anya. Then other people started coming.

           And other mermaids.

           When Meg saw ten of them, some medusas like Anya, others with fish tails, or wrapped in kelp, talking to the children that Laurie had brought down for the day, she knew the town was going to be all right.

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[thebravetheboldandthebeautiful]

Raindrop This Cake on the Ground by Jordana Levine

Photo Courtesy of Maisie Mansfield Greenwald You can find this cake at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn for $8 Constantly being compared to a jellyfish, a contact lense, and most popularly a breast implant, the raindrop cake has been taking over Smorgasburg, the widely popular food buffet (which is unfortunately not all you can eat). Brought to the United States by Darren Wong, it is said to be made out of mineral water and agar, a gelatinous substance taken from seaweed. The blob like substance is supposed to represent a raindrop for your mouth, inspired by the traditional Mizu Shingen Mochi from Japan. 

Having visited Japan not to long ago, I love the culture and the food. But I am in no ways a sweets or gelatin fan, which is common in their desserts like Mochi. So as predicted, I did not care for the so called cake. The cake has been described as tasting like water. But being a person who drinks at minimum 48 oz of water a day, I can assure you that it does not in fact taste like water. As water is commonly described, the raindrop cake has various claims that it is tasteless. To add a little flavor, the aesthetically pleasing blob is accompanied by sugar syrup and roasted soy flour.

In Nicole Perry’s April 23, 2016 article from PopSugar titled, “Is the Raindrop Cake Freakout-Worthy?,” she shares her experience and thoughts on the raindrop cake. Her ultimate answer to the big question is no; the raindrop cake is not freakout worthy. Perry and I are in agreement, the cake, “doesn't bring much to the table, besides the novelty of digging a spoon into a dessert that somewhat resembles a silicone breast implant.” The texture as she states is nothing exciting or worth bringing attention to nor are we in favor of having seconds. The first time for this raindrop cake is most likely the last time as well. 

As a cake lover, Claire Lower cannot accept this raindrop cake’s disguise for not being what is expected. In her April 5, 2016 article from xoJane titled “I Don't Care What Foodies in Williamsburg Say, ‘Raindrop Cake’ Is Not Real Cake,” Lower expresses how she is unimpressed with the cake itself, but is impressed by the technique and skill used to form this trending blob. But she and myself included, do not even find it worth it to make to begin with. Save your time and make real cake. 

Chelsea Frisbie’s April 7, 2016 article from Mashable titled “The raindrop cake: What is it and why are we obsessed?” features Diep Tran, a Vietnamese journalist, who is familiar with foods made with the same substance the raindrop cake is made with. Tran wants people to know that this is in fact not a new trend. It has been very popular in Asia for quite some time, especially in Vietnam. Even more fun than the clear bubble, these “cakes” are colored. Ultimately, he deems the raindrop cake to be a result of marketing and adding to new fads just waiting to be Instagrammed. He is not wrong. Obviously visiting Smorgasburg for those in the tri state area is a lot easier than visiting Vietnam, but you get the idea. Increased social media activity adds to the hype of the raindrop cake regardless if it is tasty. 

The upside to this new trend is that it is vegan and has absolutely no calories! Healthier than normal cake, that’s for sure. Additionally, it’s something new and fun for you and your friends to seek out or Instagram. If the raindrop turns out not to be for you, luckily Smorgasburg is filled with tons more vendors with other tasty treats. Ultimately, this allows for people to try something new that they might not otherwise get the chance to try and makes for a fun experiment. Who knows? Everyone has different tastes so maybe you like the clear jellyfish contact lense breast implanted food!