#the second part goes to the taco enjoyers

[maxphilippa]

Hey. Listen. II fandom. Look at me RIGHT NOW.

Just because you hate a character, that won't mean that you can ignore their growth and arcs, and deny that they had any of those in the story, or actually changed in the end. You are allowed to not like a character, but denying that they did get better/denying their arc is bullshit, and ultimately not really getting that the point of the story is changing to be better, or losing yourself in your own misery. ESPECIALLY with characters that thought that what they were doing was okay because of UNDERSTANDABLE REASONS and got to understand that they were wrong, and wanted to fix that.

AND ALSO.

Just because you like a character, it doesn't mean that their actions are immediately justified/or that they were just misunderstood, they still did do all of that shit and portraying them as innocent or well intentionated, and missing the whole point of a character in the process, doesn't help either. MUCH LESS when the character in question was fully aware of what they were doing too, saying that "they didn't mean it" or anything is not getting the point

Go big or go home.

[gingerwritess]

captain. james. conrad.

why did you just make me so thirsty for some pilot!reader x Captain James Conrad, anon??

don’t worry i’m still a loki slut i just wanted to try this baby out. i’d love to hear your thoughts?

also sorry no read more tag, i’m on mobile :(

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

You’ve helped him out before, but today seems different.

He stalks across your landing pad with his head held higher than usual and is in your chopper before you’ve even left the pre-flight office, waiting for you with an impatiently bouncing knee. Not that he’d ever actually express his impatience, he tends to stay polite—most of the time.

Brutally honest and possibly even cocky at times, but for the most part, it’s a rugged politeness.

“How we holdin’ up today, Captain?” You yell over the roar of the rudders, clapping a hand on the top of the pilots-side door.

He shouts something back to you, his normally gelled hair fluttering under the wind picked up by the rotors, but you can’t hear a word he’s saying. Holding up a finger, you toss him a clunky headset as you climb into your seat, tapping the microphone on your own with a pointed look to use it.

The headset cackles to life and Conrad’s smooth accent fills your ears: “Haven’t I told you to call me James?”

“Sorry, Cap’n Crunch, guess I forgot.” Your fingers tighten around the pitch-lever and you twist around in your seat to flash him a quick grin.

Those aviator sunglasses block his eyes from you but you like to think that behind those lenses, they’re twinkling with some kind of amusement at your attempt to make him smile.

“Can we just leave, please?” The static in the headset hurts your ears.

“You in some kind of hurry?”

“You could say that.” He raises an eyebrow above the gold rim of those damn glasses—you’re pretty certain he has beautiful eyes. But also pretty sure that you’ve only ever seen them maybe once or twice.

“Fine, fine,” you tighten your belt and flip a few switches, turning around for one last smile. “You might want to strap in, weather’s not looking too promising.”

The captain fakes a sigh and begrudgingly buckles the safety belt around his waist, spreading his arms with a small smile when he finishes. “Satisfied?”

“Alright, remind me not to care for your safety next time, sheesh.”

You feel a teasing flick on the edge of your shoulder from the seat behind you and the strange song of static and that accent cuts through your headset again; “just fly, little bird, I’m a busy man.”

He’s smiling, you can hear it.

“Aye aye, captain.” You reach behind you with a reassuring thumbs-up, and the copter lifts steadily into the air with a deafening roar.

Do something crazy. Flip upside down or something, your flight-fogged brain starts shouting at you once home is out of sight behind you—not a good idea, brain.

But the captain—James, I guess—does seem a little quieter today, a little more somber than usual. You glance down at the coordinates he had given you—huh. It’s just a little bit off the coast of the last island in the cluster on which you live, but it’s just open ocean right around there.

“Where is this, cap—James?” Your headset cracks and sputters as you speak, and you point to the tracker screen. “Isn’t that just water?”

His answer is clipped, but not exactly cold. Just...distant. “Yes.”

“Okaaaay...then why am I dropping you off there?”

You think he’s chuckling, can’t really tell through the speakers.

“Boat drop off, genius,” he explains, leaning forward to tap a finger on the screen. “There will be a ship right there if we timed it right. I’ll hop on and hope to god that it’s not navy, see where they can take me.”

“So you don’t really know where you’re going?” You manoeuvre the copter above a group of particularly tall palm trees.

“Well...not exactly.”

“That doesn’t worry you?”

“Quite the opposite, actually.” When you glance behind you, he’s leaning his head out the open side of the chopper, watching land get further and further away.

Boy, someone’s talkative today.

“You okay, captain?”

His laugh echoes through your headset and you wish you could see his face. “James. I’m fine, thank you.”

“Well, James, I’m...” you pause, already cringing. “I’m, uh, here for you—I mean, I’m here if you want—need! If you need me.”

He might be laughing again, you can’t tell.

“I appreciate that, thank you.”

A few more minutes pass and you get nearer to the drop off, where you’re just going to watch James jump out of your chopper into the ocean and turn right back around to your dreary life of back and forth. Seems wrong, really, to just let him jump into a free fall like this.

Oh well. He’s always been one to toy with death, even in the small amount of time you’ve been flying him around.

You try one more time for a conversation. “How long are you gonna be gone this time?”

He doesn’t respond for a moment and you wonder for a split second if he fell asleep to the lulling rock of the helicopter.

“I don’t know that either,” he finally answers, his voice staticky, disconnected.

“You don’t know where you’re going,” you clarify, worry starting to crease your brow. “And you don’t know for how long...this isn’t another one of your business trips, is it.”

White noise on the other end of the line. You start to think you went too far, got too personal too quickly, but then the headset shudders back to life.

“I’m...looking for something.” He pauses. “Somewhere, I suppose.”

“I hope you find it,” you offer, unsure of what that’s supposed to mean.

“...would you mind if I told you something a bit—a bit personal? Just, you know, before I leave.”

“I’m all ears, captain.”

“I tend to move around a lot. In life, I mean.”

You laugh and try to hold the copter steady as a light rain begins to fall. “That’s pretty obvious.”

“Most of the time, I enjoy my nomadic life,” he sighs, and you can tell he’s struggling to find the right words. “But lately...lately it feels hollow. I feel lost.”

Your grip tightens around the pitch-lever between your knees—you weren’t expecting something so, uh, deep.

Life advice has never been your forte.

The captain’s crisp laugh fills your surprised silence. “I’m sorry. That’s quite personal, isn’t it?”

“N-no, I’m just—”

“Don’t worry about it.” He chuckles and out of the corner of your eye you see him turn to the open door again. “We hardly know each other, I shouldn’t come to you with my problems.”

It’s true. He’s only been on your island for what, a little over a month? And you should’ve known he wouldn’t stay, the reputation of the captain held true. He loses himself, finds himself, and moves on to the next thrill.

You say “your island” like it belongs to you.

Or like you belong to it.

“Well, I’m here to help in any way I can,” you chirp, turning around to give him a reassuring smile. “Maybe it’s better that we have this, uh, ‘strictly professional’ relationship? ‘Cause you don’t exactly stick around much.”

“That’s true.” He goes silent for a moment. “I’m going to miss this place, to be honest with you.”

Miss this place? This lame little island in the middle of nowhere, this tiny little port town where nothing happens, with only one starbucks and about a million taco joints?

“Consider yourself lucky,” you chuckle, starting to even out the copter as you near the drop-off. “You get to leave, go new places. Meet new people.”

“It’s not always as enjoyable as everyone makes it sound.”

For some reason, you flirt with the idea of just turning around and taking both of you back home before he can throw himself out of the chopper for good.

His daunting accent cuts through the static once again. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“Excuse me??”

The copter hovers in place and James unbuckles his safety belt, grabbing his bag and slinging a parachute over one shoulder. An amused smile playing at his lips, he leans over your shoulder to peck a quick, almost nonexistent kiss on your cheek.

The nerve of this ridiculous man.

“You are a pilot.” He laughs at the surprise still on your face from that very out-of-place kiss. “The world is yours, you can leave whenever you want. Why won’t you leave the nest, birdie?”

Keeping the chopper level over the cargo ship he had so correctly predicted would be there, you snap your head over to stare at him—this is more of a conversation than how most of your distracted “where to?” normally goes.

Of course, when he’s about to jump out of your helicopter and never come back.

Great.

“That’s...personal.” You hope the uneasiness isn’t too obvious in your voice.

“Shame, really.” The captain straps the parachute over his chest, tapping a quick finger against your forehead. “I’d have liked to get a little more personal with whatever goes on in that strange head of yours.”

“You’re such a charmer, Conrad.”

“James.”

“Whatever.” You roll your eyes with a teasing laugh. “Maybe if you ever lose your way back around my dumb island, we can go back to that bar I found you in?”

“Fairly certain I found you,” he counters.

“You were too busy schmoozing the bartender for a free shot. One shot, captain, was it worth it?”

Now he rolls his eyes, making his way to the open side of the chopper and bracing himself against the top with both hands to the metal, looking over his shoulder at you. “Says the one who was flirting with every guy in the bar for free drinks. Then you thought I could be swayed.”

“You almost offered...”

“I just needed a pilot.”

“Sure.” You wink at him and flash him a sarcastic thumbs up.

He shakes his head with a small grin and turns around to face you, double checking his chute and tapping a two-fingered salute to his forehead. His smile falters for half a second and you almost miss it...he’s about to jump.

“You could stay,” you blurt when he reaches up to remove the headset, cringing as soon as the words leave your mouth. “We could go get that drink right now, I’m—I’m buying!”

The captain laughs. “You sound like you’re going to miss me, sweetheart.”

“Pshh, no, don’t flatter yourself.”

Uh...hell yes I am??

“Mhm. I’ll miss you too, if that makes you feel better,” he teases, hands playing with the band of his jeans, retucking-in the periwinkle shirt stretched taut over his chest.

“Oh really? Why’s that, oh captain my captain?”

He bares his teeth in a teasing scowl at your little nudge, then crouches near the open side of the chopper, holding on to the side to keep from falling right out. “You’ve been one of the best pilots I’ve worked with.”

The captain smiles at you and takes off his headset, just holding the mic up to his mouth.

“And you always seemed to know how to get me where I need to be.”

Then he tosses the headset back to you, lets go of the chopper, and plummets through the air with the open sea rushing up to meet him.

**not tagging anyone cause it’s not Loki and idk if y’all are gonna like this heh :))**

[hamlets-ghost-zaddy]

it happened during lunch period

Babe Heffron x Eugene Roe 

Summary: (Teacher AU) Bill is a hardworking math teacher with few wants in this world: eating the taco salad made by his wife for lunch in peace being the most reasonable of them (in his humble opinion). However, his best buddy, Babe Heffron and his spiraling panic over the new anatomy teacher, Eugene Roe, would disagree.

The door to the classroom eases closed after the final pack of kids, tottering off in a slow-moving herd to stuff their faces with the cafeteria’s consistently mediocre food, and Bill watches it inching closed slowly, slowly, just a few more millimeters and he can safely reach for his taco salad, it’s almost there—

“Bill!”

The door swings open, banging against the outside yellow lockers outside, and admitting a fast-moving orange-haired blurred into the sanctity of Bill’s classroom. Bill’s eyes don’t properly register the blur or its hair (though Bill has a ground total of two friends in this school who have enough disregard for their own wellbeing that they’d interrupt his lunch hour, and only one of them has red-hair) until Babe Heffron has his palms splayed on Bill’s desk, leaning over to emphasis the seriousness of his declaration: “Bill, we have a serious problem.”

Bill’s not sure when Babe started to use plurals when talking about his personal issues. He can’t say he likes it.

“What?” Bill asks before shoving Babe’s hands off his desk adding, “Remove your grubby mitts.”

Babe doesn’t let Bill’s tone—equal parts exasperated and annoyed, and no parts concerned, which would be truly ideal—deter him. He slumps into a recently vacated student’s desk, dropping his forehead into a hand. “We got to do something. It’s Eugene Roe.”

“Who?” Bill grunts, opening the lower drawer of his desk and fishing out the Tupperware container of taco salad Fran sent to school with him. They traded who was on lunch prep duty every other day and, while Bill is mighty proud of his chicken salad sandwiches (thank you very much), he also will be the first to admit Fran makes a bombass lunch.

“You know, Eugene Roe, the anatomy teacher?” When he’s met with a blank stare from Bill, Babe expands: “The new one?”

“Ah,” Bill grunts, prying the lid off his lunch before fetching out his fork (real metal because Bill loves the Earth, double thank you very much). “Why didn’t you say that to begin with, huh? Expect me to know the science department’s names, Jesus fucking Christ.” The rivalry between the science and math departments—crammed into the same wing of the school the majority of last semester after the Physics teacher, Speirs, allowed his students to catapult a Barbie (a Barbie on fire, no less) into a pipe of the water main thereby flooding the science halls—is well known. And, really, English teacher or not, Babe knows better than to mention a science teacher to Bill.

Babe’s expression is decidedly unimpressed. “Bill, you wanna hear the problem or not?”

Bill considers saying ‘no’ as he crunches into a bite of lettuce, tortilla, and ground beef. Then again, his only other lunchtime entertainment would be grading quizzes, and Babe’s problem is bound to be less depressing than fifth period’s attempts at trigonometry. “I mean, if I have to,” Bill replies.

Encouraged, Babe lifts his face from his hand, only to use to it to wave and illustrate his story. “I’ve gotta say something to the guy, Bill, I just don’t know what; I mean, he’s a new colleague, I can’t—”

“Babe, you’re spiraling,” Bill observes. He learned the term from his buddy, Lewis Nixon, the psychology teacher, during a faculty meeting the other week (in true form, neither were paying actual attention to what the school district’s superintendent, Sink, was saying) and Bill is probably, admittedly, using it wrong. Still, it feels right.

It does seem to do the trick because Babe cuts himself off to heave a sigh. He gets to the point: “The dude has been dropping my packet copies off in my room—like, he even came in during the middle of one of my classes! Like, yeah, he apologized and everything, but it was so unprofessional! And then he showed me these notes he took during the faculty meeting—”

“Wait,” Bill interrupts, mouth full and ranch dribbling down his chin. What can he say: he’s a man of refinement and culture. “He took notes during the faculty meeting?”

“I know,” Babe nods, vindicated. A spark in Babe’s eyes, a spark Bill associates with discussions of Sunday night football, bottomless wing deals from Buffalo Wild Wings, and first editions of Steinbeck novels, lights in Babe’s eyes. “Like, seriously, who the fuck does that?”

Stuffing his face with more taco salad to disguise the slow-growing, shit-eating grin curling his mouth, Bill echoes: “Who the fuck.” (Though, it’s around food, so it sounds more like the caterwauling of a minorly inconvenienced cat).

“It made me look like I wasn’t paying attention,” Babe adds.

“You weren’t paying attention,” Bill corrects, because he can’t let the implication stand: if Bill or Nix—or math department head Joe Toye, or chronically grumpy Johnny Martin—weren’t paying attention, there was no way in fuck Babe Heffron was paying attention. “Plus,” Bill drawls, “He did save your ass; Webster would have dragged you if you couldn’t come up with the name of the new book they’re wanting for Common Core. And he’s insufferable enough as is. Remind me why the fuck we decided to invite him to Tuesday morning coffee?”

Frowning and looking uncharacteristically thoughtful—Bill wonders if smoke will start pouring from Babe’s ears, his brain is working so hard—Babe mutters, “We wanted to give Liebgott someone to fight with, remember?” Pause. “Can’t believe they’re replacing The Great Gatsby with John fucking Green.” Another pause. “Like, seriously, if that’s the administrations idea of author diversity and representation than—”

Sensing a brewing literature rant that will ruin any enjoyment he’ll have eating his taco salad in all statistical probability (especially as he is getting to the guacamole layer), Bill hastily prompts: “Babe, you were griping about Roe?”

“Oh, right,” Babe says, shaking his head as if to physically clear his brain of any further mutterings of ‘manic pixie dream girls’ or ‘romanticizing sicknesses.’ “So as if the copies, the interrupting class, and the notes aren’t enough, this little twerp—” Bill’s eyebrows furrow: twerp? Really? “—goes and fricking—! I mean, get a load of this: I let him use one of my whiteboard markers and instead of giving it back, he buys me a new pack! It was one of my good markers, too!”

“What happened to the original one?”

Babe shrugs. “Roe said some kids exploded it over a Bunsen burner.”

Bill opens his mouth to ask, decides he doesn’t want to know, and instead settles on, “Let me see if I got this straight: he delivers you copies of your lesson material so you don’t have to walk to the copy room way over in the BFE, he helps you not make an ass of yourself by filling you in about the meeting, and not only replaces your shit but gives you more than what you gave him to begin with?”

Nodding furiously through the whole summation, Babe declares a heated: “Exactly!” when Bill finishes, punctuating it. Red has risen in Babe’s cheeks, fiery enough to rival his hair, and his fists have clenched tight. “He’s making me look bad, Bill! Like I can’t function by myself as a teacher or grown-ass adult! I know he’s new and we have to create a welcoming work environment, but, seriously—”

“Babe,” Bill intones, because for all that his friend’s an idiot, this—by Bill’s estimation—is Babe really outdoing himself. He can’t stand how embarrassed he is for him. “Babe, you’re mad because Roe is being nice to you.”

“’Nice?’” Babe echoes, spluttering and choking over the word. The eloquence of an English teacher. “What? ‘Nice?’”

Bill nods gravely. “Nice.” To emphasize his point, he crunches into some particularly crisp lettuce.

“I—uh—what—?” Babe squawks. “Bill, ‘nice?’ What do you mean?”

“You’re an English teacher, Babe, you tell me what ‘nice’ means,” Bill retorts, casting his eyes to his classroom’s ceiling as if asking for divine intervention—or maybe Carwood Lipton’s intervention, his classroom directly above. When he returns his eyes to Babe, he finds the red, formerly staining his skin, drained, leaving Babe gaping like a gutted fish. Taking pity, Bill sighs and tries a different tactic, “Kid, he’s not trying to undermine you. He’s trying to be nice.”

“But, Bill,” Babe protests weakly, “Why would he be that ‘nice?’” The implication of Babe’s dubiousness over if it truly is niceties compelling Roe’s actions heavies Babe’s words. “I mean, he’s not that ‘nice’ to anyone else.”

“I don’t know, Babe,” Bill says, though he knows full well why. “Have you done anything nice for him?”

“Well there was that one time I bought him coffee, and I, uh, I told him his tie is nice, and…” Babe trails off. Bill watches with perhaps too much interest as Babe grows yet paler. He hadn’t thought it possible and, if Bill didn’t want the entire science department to drown in a Second Great Barbie Tsunami, he would have reported this preternatural phenomenon to them. Babe’s rambling thoughts, meanwhile, only allow him to get out a single: “Oh. My. God.”

Shoveling more ground beef into his mouth, Bill intones: “You’re spiraling again.”

Babe drops his forehead into his hands—both of them this time—and lets out a long groan. “Oh my god,” he repeats, “Do I have a crush on Roe? Does he have a crush on me?”

Eating the last of the taco salad, Bill confirms: “Definitely spiraling.”

[hippychick006]

5.02 - Good God Y’all

I’d forgotten about this one, but on re-watch, there’s so much to love about this episode.  Even with all the angst, there’s so many broments which show us how well Sam and Dean work together, even when they are at odds with one another.  The story is a good one, great guest stars and lots of clever little details that make it enjoyable to watch.  

For anyone skipping these, I will say that this episode addresses Kripke’s view of Jo and Ellen being hunters.  

Sam and Dean appear to be pretending that everything is okay after the drama of the last episode.  So fine, we’ll do that too.  Dean arrives to join Sam outside Bobby’s hospital room.  He’s been to radiology and “got some glamour shots.” Sam looks at the chest x-ray which shows Dean’s ribs are covered in sigils. Cool effect.  

Sam’s phone rings.  Sam answers “Hello… (then confused) Castiel?”. All we hear is Sam’s side of the conversation as he says where he is. This sounds like the first time Castiel has ever called either of them so Sastiel for the win!.

Cass appears walking down the corridor a few seconds later. Dean questions the use of the cell phone. Cass reminds that they are hidden from all angels (which includes him) so he’s having to resort to phoning to find out where they are.  

Bobby interjects with the line “enough foreplay”. I squint, is this pandering?  I think it is (but if so, I’m claiming wincestiel for the win!). Amazing that back then it didn’t annoy me, but after several years of hellers and their nonsense, I’m more aware of it. Bobby demands to be healed (as he’s now in a wheelchair). Castiel says he can’t as he’s cut off from heaven’s power. There’s certain things he can do, and certain things he can’t (let’s try to keep an eye on Cass’ powers changing, depending on the plot).  Since Cass can’t heal him, Bobby has no further use in him and goes back to staring out the window.

Cass says he doesn’t have much time, but they need to talk.  I like their talk, which is basically Castiel telling them their plan to kill Lucifer is foolish and cannot be done.  Dean: “Oh, thanks for the support.  Castiel does have a solution though, he’s going to find god.  Dean can’t get his head around this.   Dean: God? Castiel: Yes.  Dean again: God?  Love it.  Castiel insists that if God isn’t in heaven, then he has to be somewhere (which is a fair point).  Dean tells him to “try New Mexico. I hear he’s on a taco”

Castiel (perfectly serious): No, he’s not on any flatbread.

Dean and Castiel have a debate about whether God even exists and if he does, he doesn’t care about anyone.  The debate ends with Castiel advancing on Dean (again, this is not anything other than an aggressive move on the part of Castiel.  “I killed 2 angels this week.  My brothers.  I’m hunted. I rebelled. I did it for you, and you failed.  You and your brother destroyed the world… (Sam looks guilty)… And I lost everything for nothing, so keep your opinions to yourself.”

Okay, excuse me for ten minutes, while I bitch-slap Castiel to the Empty!  WTF even?  Did you forget your own part and the bigger angel’s part that the whole reason there is a freaking apocalypse that needs to be stopped in the first place is BECAUSE YOU ALL ORCHESTRATED IT!  But no, let’s continue to blame the 2 humans that would have preferred to have nothing to do with it, thank you very much.

It’s very interesting that Sam is silent throughout all of this.  I don’t want to burst the Heller bubble, but it has nothing to do with the non-existent chemistry between Castiel and Dean, and everything to do with Sam keeping his head down and staying out of the way.  Particularly, in any conversations where he would be at risk of disagreeing with Dean right now (as we know he has faith in God and would likely be in agreement with Castiel here that it’s a good option to follow).

Sadly, none of them call Castiel out on his bullshit version of events and instead ask what he wants. Turns out to be a very rare and powerful amulet that burns hot in God’s presence.  Bobby says he has nothing like that, and Castiel agrees “I know, you don’t”.  He looks at Dean, then down at the Samulet.  Reluctantly, and after a debate, Dean eventually hands it over, on the condition that Cass does not lose it (and nope, I will not think about the end of Dark Side of the Moon right now, I’ll get to that episode soon enough).  

Rufus is back!  Love him.  He looks to be in a shootout.  He pulls a young man that’s been shot behind a car for safety, quickly administers field first aid, then makes a phone call.  I want to point out that Rufus pressed a single number, so he obviously has Bobby on speed dial!  The connection is bad, but we manage to ascertain that Rufus needs help – and we know straight away that things must be bad if Rufus is asking for help.

Sam and Dean go to help.  The bridge to the town is down.  Sam checks his phone and doesn’t get signal. They’ll have to hike in which gives us all a good opportunity to listen to Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum as they walk down the street.  I absolutely love this scene as they silently work together, taking in their surroundings; including a sporting goods store, the deserted streets, a crashed car in the middle of the street and an abandoned one further up.  I also love that the quality of the sound of the song changes from being crystal clear as part of the soundtrack, to that of a tinny sound coming from the radio of the abandoned car as they reach it.  Brilliant. Sam reaches in and turns the engine off and the music stops.  And it’s these details that made the show stand out for me.

They pass under a banner which says “75th anniversary of Pioneer Day” so the streets really should be a bit busier than they are, but there’s no one around.  

They also pass a red Mustang, and I love, love, love this.  Sam moves on when he sees there isn’t any risk, Dean stops and admires it.  Again, it’s just the little details like this that remind me of how good this show can be.

They continue on and out of nowhere, someone appears behind them and they hear a gun click.  Dean’s reflexes are good, he swings around, gun raised. Sam’s just lucky it turns out to be Ellen.

Ellen says, “Hello boys”.

Wait, did Crowley steal that line from Ellen?  

Ellen’s welcome consists of spraying Dean in the face with holy water, hugging him, then slapping him and giving him a lecture for not keeping in touch. Sam gets let off lightly with no holy water, no hug and only a glare during the lecture. Ellen brings them up to speed, Rufus was originally investigating omens, then the whole town got possessed, with the exception of the people in the room she’s brought them to. She and Jo were nearby.  Dean checks: “You’re hunting with Jo?”  Ellen confirms yes, but they got separated and can’t find Rufus either.

Sam looks around and says they’ve got to get everyone out (it’s clear the people aren’t hunters).  Ellen says they’ve already tried once and that there used to be twenty of them.  Sam and Dean do a quick headcount and only ten remain (excluding them).  After a discussion, they agree they’ll need the civilians to arm up to give them a better chance of getting out. Sam and Dean will head to the sporting goods store they passed earlier to get more guns.

Dean stops Sam and suggests that Dean goes himself while Sam starts teaching “Shotgun 101”.   Sam logically says Ellen. (as in Ellen can teach them). He tries to leave again but Dean stops him saying it will be a lot faster if Sam stays and helps.

Sarcastic!Sam alert: While you go get guns and salt and look for Jo and Rufus? That’s stupid.

Dean says he can handle it.

Sam’s face as he realises what’s going on.  “You don’t want me going out there.”

Dean: I didn’t say that

Sam: ...around demons

Dean: I didn’t say that

Sam: Fine, then let’s go                                                                    

They get to the mini market, Sam suggests he get the salt, while Dean get the guns from the sporting goods store.  Dean says they’ll go together.  Sam’s getting a little miffed at this point, “Dean, it’s right there, can we at least do this like professionals?”

Sam is behind a shelf, bagging up the salt when two demons come into the store.   Sam originally tries to exorcise the first demon but soon has to give up and stab him. He also stabs the second.  If this was my first watch through, I’d be questioning if the budget had been cut for the orange flashing when the demon killing knife is used, but I already know why those effects are missing.     Sam looks at the blood on the floor and then on the demon killing knife and seems mesmerised.  He stops when he hears someone else come into the store.  He hides behind the shelves, but then hears “Sammy” from Dean.  He stands in relief.  Dean gets closer and sees what’s happened and we get a look from Judgy McJudgerson.   I do completely understand though why Dean would have trust issues with Sam in terms of the demon blood drinking. He’s just going about it the wrong way.

Back at the hideout, I hope no one will need to rely on Roger the businessman – who can’t even put the shells into the shotgun, let alone shoot it. Sam’s helping the pregnant couple who seem to be doing slightly better.  Dean’s with another guy who he asks if he knows his way around a weapon. The guy (Austin) expertly strips down the gun he’s been given, and Dean asks where he served because he’s clearly military.  Austin in turn asks where Dean served, Dean says hell.

A little later, Dean sees Sam sitting alone so he goes to join him.  He knows Sam’s brooding about something and asks him what’s wrong. Sam’s upset about the teenagers he just killed.  Dean says that Sam had no choice, and Sam agrees, but wishes he could save people like he used to.

Dean: What, you mean when you were all hopped up on demon blood?

Sam: I didn’t say that.

Ellen interrupts the broment. She wants to go and find Jo.  They both stand up and Sam says he’ll go with her.  Dean has something to say about that.  They go slightly outside the room and Dean says, “you’re gonna go out there again?”

Sarcastic!Sam alert: Well, crap doesn’t hit the fan with coffee breaks.

Dean suggests he’ll go, but Sam says he’s got it.   Dean: “Why’s it got to be you?”  Sam rolls his eyes, and says, “Oh, that’s right, I forgot.  You think I’ll take one look at a demon and suddenly fall off the wagon, as if, after everything, I haven’t learned my lesson.

Dean (pause): Well, have you?

I’ve got to question sometimes whether Dean really does know Sam as well as he thinks he does, as even I know that’s going to cause a reaction.  Sam shoves Dean but otherwise stays clear.  Ellen hears and looks over. Sam continues, “If you actually think I…”. He stops and walks away.

I think I’m supposed to see there are still anger issues with Sam in this scene, but since I remember episodes like 4.04, with perfect clarity, it’s not working on me.

Ellen and Sam talk as they search the streets. Or rather, Ellen talks as she asks Sam what’s going on between him and Dean.  Sam says just stresses of the job and changes the subject.  This next bit is very important for when we were having a discussion a while back about Jo and Ellen being “wannabe hunters”

Sam:  Kind of surprised you and Jo hunting.  Weren’t you always saying she couldn’t hack the life?

Ellen: She can’t.  But if she’s gonna do it anyway…

Sam: You want to keep an eye on her

Still score of 0 on the wannabe hunter front.

They see smoke and go to investigate.  They see a demon at the window of a house.  Sam says demons don’t get cold and wonders what they are burning. As Sam moves forward to investigate, Ellen is yanked back, and a fight commences. We see Jo and two other demons, both of whom concentrate on Sam, while Jo and Ellen fight.   We see Jo’s eyes turn black.

Ellen: Don’t you hurt her, don’t you…

Jo: Give me my mom back, you black eyed bitch!

Wait what?  Ellen also looks confused and she shoves Jo back and hits her with the rifle. Sam tells her to run as he cocks his rifle, but he’s hit from behind.  We get a lovely shot of Sam looking up at his attacker, it’s Rufus and his eyes are black. The camera focus goes woozy as Sam loses consciousness and I like this effect.

Love, love, love this next scene. Sam comes to and he’s tied to a chair. Rufus and Jo are in the room (eyes are still black).  Sam struggles to get free, but Rufus is a proper hunter (apart from the whole lighting the fireplace thing, which, really Rufus?).  He says there’s no way Sam’s getting out of those as he tied the ropes himself.  He calls Sam an evil son of a bitch and backhands him. Jo follows up with holy water. Jo looks confused when nothing happens. Rufus isn’t taking chances and steps forward.  We don’t see what he’s holding, but Sam does, and he starts pleading, “no, wait, wait, wait…”. Rufus grabs Sam’s head forcing it back with Jo’s help. Sam’s still pleading, but Rufus pours salt down Sam’s throat while exorcising him.

Dean’s pacing, a knock on the door and he rushes to answer it (don’t worry, he checked the spy hole first). It’s Ellen, alone, and predictably, Dean asks, “Where’s Sam?”  Ellen shakes her head.  Dean does what he always does, grabs his gun to go after Sammy.  Except he forces himself to stop and comes back, saying they need a plan first and for Ellen to tell him everything.

Back at where Sam is being held. Rufus and Jo are still trying to exorcise him. They see nothings happening so stop.  Sam’s still pleading with them, telling them that something isn’t right. Jo throws the water in Sam’s face again.  When she goes to get something else, we see Roger, the businessman (from back at the other hideout) at the door, and he should not be there.  We see him twist his ring (which he has a habit of doing).  Sam looks confused that he’s there. He looks around and sees the demon trap above him.  He tries to get Jo and Rufus to listen, but they are having a conversation about why the exorcism isn’t working.  Rufus looks back at Sam, we see that Sam’s eyes are now black and Rufus’ eyes are not. Sam implores them again that something isn’t right.

Back at where Dean is, Ellen tells Dean that one of the demon’s is inside Jo and they need to get it out without hurting her.  She says it called her a bitch.  Dean says Ellen’s bruising a little easy, and Ellen elaborates that it called her a black-eyed bitch.  They can’t figure out what kind of demons they are dealing with since salt and holy water don’t work and that “my daughter may be an idiot, but she’s not stupid. She wears an anti-possession charm…”

Wait, you’ve remembered about these have you?  Then why in the last episode (written by Eric himself) was Bobby possessed by a demon, without explanation?  

Ellen asks Dean what his instinct is, and he says to phone Bobby or Sam.  Ellen responds “Well tough!  All you got’s me and all I got’s you.  So, let’s figure it out.”

I’ll take this moment to say that although Sam and Dean are separated in this one for part of the episode, they are both with guest stars that are watchable, and the story is entertaining and interesting.

Together, along with a priest and one of the survivors (but mainly Dean), they figure out they are dealing with Revelations eight ten.  “And there fell a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was Wormwood.  And many men died.”  This predicts the four horsemen. Dean asks which one rides the red horse.  Clever, clever boy.  The pastor responds War.

They work through the information they now have and figure out that War might just be messing with their heads; that no one is a demon and they are all just killing each other.

Pastor: Wait, back up.  It’s the apocalypse?

Come on Padre, try to keep up!

Back with Sam, Roger walks in to the room. Sam straightens up as he assesses Roger and I love how Jared does these simple moves with his body, Sam’s not messing around, “Who the hell are you?”  Roger takes off his glasses and Sam amends, “What are you?”  This whole scene between them is amazing and kudos to the guest star.  

Fake!Roger fesses up to being caught. He just popped in to watch.  The real Roger is buried in a ditch.  Fake! Roger closes the door and pulls over a chair. Sam asks again who he is.

Fake!Roger: Here's a hint. I was in Germany. Then in Germany. Then in the Middle East. I was in Darfur when my beeper went off… I'm waiting to hook up with my siblings…. I've got three. We're going to have so much fun together.

Sam nods: I know who you are.

I love that Sam and Dean are separated, but both come to the same conclusion about who they are dealing with.

War says he didn’t have to do much to get the people to attack each other.  Sam says no, this is all War’s doing.  People are only stabbing each other, because he made them see demons.

War: Honestly, people don't need a reason to kill each other. I mean, you seen the Irish? They're all Irish!

Sam: I'm gonna kill you myself.

War (laughing): Oh, that's adorable, considering you're my poster boy.

Sam: What's that supposed to mean?

War: You can't stop thinking about it, ever since you saw it dripping off the blade of that knife.

Sam says the demon is wrong, but we can see that he isn’t.

War: Save your protests for your brother. I can see inside your head. And man, it is one-track city in there. Blood, blood, blood. Lust for power. Same as always. You want to be strong again. But not just strong. Stronger than everybody. Good intentions—quick slide to hell, buddy boy. You feel bad now? Wait till you're thigh deep in warm corpses. Because, my friend, I'm just getting started.

And this is where I get annoyed with the narrative. We keep getting told that people can see inside Sam, that he has a lust for power.  And I’m…? Show me that lust for power or get Sam himself to talk about it.  Because if he does have it, then Sam Winchester is a lot stronger person than anyone is giving him credit for, because he’s never used it, for anything other than to try to do good.

War stands up and puts his glasses back on.  He twists his ring. Blood flows down his forehead. He kicks over his chair, drops to the floor, and screams. Rufus kicks the door open, Jo is right behind him. War says “He did it!”  Sam protests, but all Rufus sees is a demon.  Sam is not helped by War who is still causing drama saying the others are coming to get us. Sam gets backhanded again.  

Roger goes back to the original hideout to cause trouble there.  He says he saw the demons and they said they’re going to pick everyone off one by one (and they let Roger go because?).   Dean argues there are no demons, Austin disagrees. Dean tries to get them to stop, but War twists his ring and says Ellen and Dean are demons.  The survivors turn on them and Dean and Ellen have to run.  

Back where Sam is, Rufus and Jo are preparing defences with pipe bombs.  Jo says pipe bombs won’t kill demons.

Rufus: Right.  But in my experience, demons come at you slower if they’re in a body with no limbs

Jo reminds Rufus that one of them is Ellen and he says he’ll do everything he can, that Ellen will be okay.

Jo (nodding): Unless she comes through that window

Awkward silence.

A little later, the pipe bomb explodes.  They investigate, Rufus gets pulled through the blown out window and Jo is attacked from behind.  It turns out to be Dean and Ellen.  Dean fights Rufus, and eventually gets him to see that he’s not a demon.

Austin is leading the civilians on an attack on the other house.  Not sure why he’s doing this and not trying to lead them to safety. Anyway, he shoots at the house.

Dean: Damn it! Where's Sam?

Rufus tells him upstairs and Dean goes to get Sam. This next bit is winsync

Sam: Dean. It's not demons.

They speak together: It’s war.

Dean says he just can’t figure out how war is doing it, and Sam says the ring.

Great moments spread all the way through this episode that show the brothers are better when they are working together, rather than at odds with one another.

There’s shooting between Ellen’s survivors and the ones Rufus had.  Rufus is trying to stop them, but it’s too late and the Pastor gets shot. Ellen goes to help but is attacked by Austin.  He pulls the trigger but luckily for Ellen, he’s out of bullets, but he does have a back-up knife.

War is making his escape to his car.  Dean and Sam grab him.  While Dean holds War, Sam pulls out the demon killing knife.

War: Whoa. Okay. That's a sweet little knife. But come on. You can't kill war, kiddos.

Dean: Oh, we know

Sam grabs War’s ring hand and cuts all the fingers off.

We see Ellen’s eyes are no longer black, Austin stops trying to kill her.  

Dean picks up the ring that had fallen on the ground,, War and his car (and I think his severed fingers) have disappeared.

Dean and Sam are sitting at a picnic table, Dean holds up the ring.  Dean: So, pit at Mount Doom?  Heh!  That doesn’t get a smile out of Sam though. He goes to speak but Dean stops him.  Sam pushes on though, says it’s important, that he knows Dean doesn’t trust him, but Sam goes on to say he doesn’t trust himself either.

Sam: From the minute I saw that blood, only thought in my head...and I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good, and it, it feels true, you know? But I think, underneath...I just miss the feeling. I know how messed up that sounds, which means I know how messed up I am. Thing is, the problem's not the demon blood, not really. I mean, I, what I did, I can't blame the blood or Ruby or...anything. The problem's me. How far I'll go. There's something in me that...scares the hell out of me, Dean. In the last couple of days, I caught another glimpse...

Okay, so finally, we’re hearing from Sam himself that he’s scared of what’s inside him.  That’s all I’ve been asking for.  This is a good admission on Sam’s part that he’s struggling and he’s still not right.  This is where Dean’s detox went wrong.  Step 1 is always for the person themselves to admit they have an issue.

The remainder of the conversation is probably one of the most honest ones the brothers have ever had.  Sam admits he’s not fit to hunt and needs to take a step back.  He suggests they go their separate ways. 

Dean thinks about that and says: Well, I think you're right.

Sam: I was expecting a fight.

Dean: The truth is I spend more time worrying about you than about doing the job right. And I just, I can't afford that, you know? Not now.

Sam nods and says he’s sorry.  Dean:  I know you are, Sam.

Sam moves to stand up and Dean asks if he wants to take the Impala.  Sam says it’s okay and walks away, turning back and tells Dean to take care of himself.  Dean: Yeah, you too, Sammy.

We watch as Sam walks to the Impala, grabs his gear and hitches a lift with a truck parked at the picnic spot.

I think this is a good move on the brothers part.  If they had continued working together the way they are, their relationship might be in danger of becoming irreparable, so space is a good thing right now for both of them.

Onwards to Free to be you and me.  

[alizaarzoo]

Get Cooking With These Simple Tips And Tricks

When you are able to cook meals for your family, you can control all the ingredients and make sure the food they consume is healthy. Few things are more enjoyable than sitting down to a delicious meal and preparing the meal yourself elevates the enjoyment. Unfortunately, many people are less than successful in the kitchen. This article will give you some suggestions on how you can be better.

It is fine to alter recipes. Do you like more cheese than what is called for? It's fine to add more. Do you think onions would be good added in? Try it! Adding your own special twist to a recipe can help make a meal one of a kind!

Microwaving a lemon or a lime for a few seconds can release the juices. Sometimes the citrus at a grocery store is not as fresh as it could be, making it difficult to juice. If you microwave it for 10 seconds and then roll it between your hand and the counter it will release more juice.

Ensure that your baked fish is moist and tender by cooking "en papillote". This is a French technique that refers to fish baked in a parchment-paper packet. Place the fish and vegetables of your choice in the center of a large piece of parchment paper. Bring the edges of the paper together, crease them tightly to form a seal, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 450 degrees. The fish and vegetables steam in the packet, keeping them moist and tender, and creating a tasty, healthy dish. (Clean-up is just as easy - simply throw away the paper after eating!)

Keep track of ingredients when baking. Sometimes, when you are adding a lot of dry ingredients to your mixing bowl, it's easy to lose track. An easy solution to this is to place each ingredient in a different part of the bowl. That way, every dry ingredient you add can be seen and counted.

You want to cook healthier meals, and one place to consider with regard to changing your menus is in sauces and dressings. Rich, creamy dressings and sauces tend to be extremely unhealthy. You do not need to eliminate these meal-toppers entirely; simply learn how to make lighter, healthier alternatives. Healthier sauces and dressings can go a long way towards making your entire diet healthier.

Basic seasoning of the food you prepare goes a long way in proving your skills in the kitchen. Don't be afraid to taste your food as you work and adjust seasonings accordingly. Typically, some of the most expensive cuts of meat, as well as many many varieties of seafood, are rather dull without some help. Your guests will appreciate a well-seasoned dish that they don't need to shake salt on until their arms go numb or twist the pepper mill over for an hour to make palatable.

Cooking tip "� a sweet treat for smelly fingers! Cleaning fish or shrimp is a messy task and leaves a distinctive smell on your hand for at least a day. There is an effective way of removing the smell. Squish a few fresh strawberries between your fingers for a couple of minutes and rinse your hand with soapy water. The smell will disappear instantly!

Keep dental floss handy in the kitchen to cut or slice soft foods or ingredients. Unflavored dental floss works better than a knife when it comes to cutting soft cheeses, cake, pie, or other soft foods or ingredients. Just unwind a length long enough to allow you to stretch it across the item to be cut and apply even, downward pressure for clean, neat cuts.

No one can really say that they enjoy a dry hamburger. Instead of serving dry tasteless burgers at your next barbeque add some cold water to your beef before you grill. Try about 1/2 cup per 1 pound of meat. You will leave your guests amazed with your burgers every time.

Every six months to one year, replace spices that have grown dull. If a spice is kept for a long time, it could lose some of its flavors. If you have spices that you don't intend to use any time soon, give it as a gift to someone who will use it.

Blender

To avoid wasting chipotle peppers when you need only a couple from a can, puree the remaining peppers and adobo in a blender or food processor, then transfer the puree to an ice cube tray lined with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. When the puree is frozen, move the cubes to a freezer bag. You can use the chipotle cubes in soups, sauces, taco meat, and more.

To reduce prep time as well as wear and tear on your blender, freeze your smoothie fruit instead of using ice. Not only does using ice water down the flavor of your smoothie, but if you freeze your fruit first the step is entirely unnecessary. As an added bonus, frozen fruit blends much easier than ice.

Fry Pan

When sauteing ingredients in a frying pan ensure that you don't overcrowd the pan with too much food. Trying to cook too much at once will only lower the temperature of the pan and lead to steaming instead of browning. It is wiser to saute the ingredients in two separate batches, if necessary, and this will maintain the quality of cooking.

As you can see, cooking can be easy. With the right techniques, creating delicious dishes for family and friends can suddenly become a breeze! Now that you have been introduced to these great tips and tricks, you just need to take the time to go and give them a try!

[weightlossfitnesssinfo]

75 Tips to Reduce Food Waste

It takes about 460 gallons of water to provide 1/four pound of beef and 13 gallons of water to provide a single orange. Not to say the added gasoline, processing and packaging earlier than it even touches the cabinets.

Tossing these outdated leftovers or moldy strawberries might not seem to be an enormous deal, however in response to a 2012 NRDC report—Americans throw away 400 lbs of meals per 12 months… per particular person!

That’s lots of wasted vitamins, assets, cash and energy—on prime of the environmental influence of all that waste going into landfills. 

By decreasing your meals waste, you’re guaranteeing on a regular basis, power and assets that went into producing that meals, just isn't wasted. You can lower your expenses AND scale back your carbon footprint by decreasing your meals waste.

So what are you able to do about all this? Start by studying our 75 tricks to scale back your meals waste from planning to purchasing to storage and extra. Start small and select a pair to begin with to cut back your meals waste at dwelling.

75 tricks to scale back meals waste

Plan meals forward of time – This can save time and may also help preserve you on monitor. Have a plan for the whole lot you purchase.

Plan a leftovers evening – Plan one evening of the week to eat up or repurpose leftovers. Enjoy leftover meals, or get artistic with these odds and ends. 

Use what you have already got – Old carrots and wilted greens? Chop them up for pasta, frittata, or a soup or salad.

Can it – Learn easy methods to can recent produce. It’s best to begin with meals like salsas, jams and jellies. Here’s your canning 101.

Befriend your freezer – Bought too many inexperienced beans? Berries appears unhappy? Wash, lower, and freeze on a baking sheet. Once frozen, mix in a container they usually’ll final for months. Same goes for wilted spinach and herbs — even attempt creating herb and olive oil “ice cubes”. 

Revive wilted greens by inserting them in an ice tub for a pair minutes.

Eat the skins – Fruit/veggie skins include lots of nice vitamins and fiber. You can eat the skins of cucumber, potatoes, peaches, apricots, zucchini, eggplant, kiwi, and the checklist goes on.

Store tomatoes on the counter and on the vine so long as doable, vine facet down.

Save the seeds – When carving out pumpkins or squash – save these seeds for a crunchy baked snack. 

Save your scraps – Save veggie ends, cheese rinds and rooster bones for a straightforward do-it-yourself inventory. Store the whole lot in a freezer bag till you will have sufficient for inventory.

Plan to make use of delicate produce first (greens, tomatoes, peaches), whereas hearty produce can last more (beets, potatoes, cabbage).

Use clear storage containers and make a behavior of clearing out the fridge earlier than shopping for extra. 

First In, First Out  – Use your oldest meals earlier than going for the newer ones you simply purchased.

Proper produce storage – wrap greens in a towel, preserve potatoes away from onions, and separate bananas and peaches (and different ethylene-emitting fruits like apples). 

Buy much less + store extra typically – Shop sensible by solely shopping for what you want, particularly perishable meals. Plan to hit the farmer’s market or grocery retailer as soon as every week as a substitute of as soon as a month to get your recent meals.  

Buy from bulk bins – this doesn’t imply it is advisable purchase massive quantities, however you should purchase simply what you want. Also carry your individual bulk luggage! Look for bulk bins in your grocery retailer. You can even try the BulkFinder app for shops with bulk in your space. 

Write an inventory – Reduce impulse shopping for and purchase simply what you want with a easy checklist.

Buy frozen meals – Frozen fruits and veggies can have mainly the identical nutrient content material as recent, however they last more and may also help scale back meals waste, particularly you probably have bother getting by the recent variations earlier than they go dangerous. Keep in thoughts, frozen does include packaging so be aware of your purchasing habits.

Pack leftovers for lunch – Make further for dinner so you will have leftovers for a wholesome lunch. 

Turn further or mushy apples into applesauce, apple chips or scrumptious baked apples.

Use the blender – mushy berries, wilted greens, and brown avocados are all nice smoothie additions. Our newest smoothie concoction: bruised peaches with cucumber juice – you'll be able to add absolutely anything to a smoothie…

Date objects to maintain monitor of what must be used first.

Embrace ugly produce – The growing older apple, bruised banana and crooked carrot nonetheless want properties too, they usually’re nonetheless completely edible!

Regularly clear out the fridge – I’m positive you’ve heard the saying “out of sight, out of mind”? Search the entire fridge for hidden meals. Don’t let these berries tucked within the again go dangerous earlier than you notice. Prevent meals spoilage by holding issues clear and visual. 

Understand meals labels – Use by, promote by, and finest by all imply various things. Also know, these labels aren’t regulated (aside from child components)and there aren't any universally accepted descriptions used on meals labels for relationship so you should definitely use your senses.

Use your senses – Look for modifications in shade, odor and texture and use your finest judgement. Also bear in mind, when doubtful, throw it out..

Don’t end your plate when you’re full – overeating just isn't the answer for meals waste. Store further for leftovers or reassess the meal measurement for subsequent time.

Pickle it – cucumber, inexperienced beans, cauliflower, beets, carrots, radishes, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, even watermelon rinds. 

Save citrus peels – they work nice to taste water or make a pure family cleaner. 

Compost – This is an effective way to show these meals scraps into an incredible soil modification. There are plenty of methods to compost: a yard arrange, bokashi, vermicomposting, using metropolis composting, and even asking if a farmer composts and may take the meals scraps. 

Used espresso grounds make for an important hair or face masks, act as a wonderful exfoliant or can fertilize crops.

Use “past-their-prime” produce for self pampering. Use overripe avocado for a face masks or used tea luggage to cut back under-eye puffiness.  

Make an excessive amount of? Share extras with associates and neighbors.

Store grains, cereals and crackers in hermetic containers to maintain from going stale.

Make positive your fridge and freezer are set to the proper temperatures and have safe seals to maintain them on the correct temperature. (fridge 33-38 levels F, and under zero for the freezer).

Take the “Food: Too Good to Waste” problem to maintain good meals from going dangerous.

Shop out of your fridge, freezer and pantry first. If you will have any objects left from final week, be certain to plan your meals round these objects. 

Share plates when eating out – This may also help preserve portion sizes in verify. You can even get a to-go container (or carry your individual!) for straightforward leftovers.

Use the FoodKeeper app for info on storing meals correctly to take care of freshness.

Create an space in your fridge for “need-to-use” objects which might be about to go dangerous. Make some extent to eat these first. 

Follow the 2-hour rule. Don’t preserve perishable meals out at room temperature for greater than 2 hours (1 hour if it’s hotter than 90 levels F). Harmful micro organism can develop quickly at room temperature. Food poisoning just isn't enjoyable. 

Hosting a celebration? Have associates carry their very own containers to take dwelling extras. 

Serve smaller parts and have folks get seconds in the event that they’re nonetheless hungry. 

Be life like together with your meal plan – Plan for fewer days and deplete leftovers first. 

If you will have extra meals than you want, contemplate donating to a meals pantry or meals drive. 

Have a mishmash of things and don’t know what to make? Try soup, tacos, pasta, salad, stir fry, or a frittata.

Buy in bulk – It might be price efficient, however be aware of portions. It doesn’t lower your expenses if you find yourself throwing it out.A value efficient approach and simple zero waste strategy to purchasing meals.

Freeze lemon zest and juice for straightforward use later.

Keep monitor of what you throw away – then you'll be able to assess and make modifications. Do you end up throwing away full gallons of milk? Go with a smaller container. Find your bread typically moldy earlier than you'll be able to eat all of it? Store half within the freezer till you want it. 

Use the whole lot! Use the broccoli stems and cauliflower leaves. Don’t throw out these beet and carrot greens. If you peel potatoes, roast the skins for a crispy snack. And use the rooster bones in inventory.

Buy the entire merchandise – carrots with greens, the entire rooster utilizing further bits for inventory.

Keep mushrooms in a paper bag or one other breathable container.

Grow your individual meals – By rising your individual, you'll be able to seize simply what you want as a substitute of shopping for the entire bunch. Like selecting simply sufficient mint leaves as a substitute of the packages you can by no means appear to complete. 

Keep a working grocery checklist – Just ran out of rice? Write it down! Makes subsequent week’s grocery checklist that a lot simpler.

Prep objects forward of time – grab-and-go snacks and a few easy meal prep.

Use lemon juice on an opened avocado or sliced apples to sluggish browning.

Stale bread? Make the bread into croutons, crumble into bread crumbs or bread pudding.

Store sliced carrots, asparagus and celery in a jar with water to maintain them recent and crunchy.

Freeze brown bananas – you’ve obtained future banana bread, banana pancakes and banana ice cream!

Store berries and cherries with small towel, unwashed within the fridge in a sealed container to take care of freshness.

Store woody herbs like rosemary and thyme rolled up in a humid towel, sealed in a container within the fridge.

Plan meals that double up on components – use cabbage in your bun mi sandwich and within the slaw to your tacos so that you don’t find yourself with half a head of cabbage going to waste.

Don’t retailer milk and eggs within the door of the fridge – the temperature fluctuates most frequently right here. 

Store delicate herbs like basil, cilantro and parsley in a glass of water on the counter, altering the water day by day.

Create clean-out-the-fridge meals – meals like pasta, soups and buddha bowls are nice for this.

Use the customarily forgotten stems and leaves out of your produce – roast or saute kale/chard stems and use celery leaves in your salad or as a garnish.

Dry recent herbs and use them dried.

Wilty herbs? Make a pesto or chimichurri.

Buy dried mushrooms, and rehydrate to be used so that you at all times have mushrooms available with out them going dangerous.

Know your quantities. Include portions in your purchasing checklist to forestall shopping for an excessive amount of.

Dehydrate meals for longer storage, or backpacking meals!

Don’t store if you’re hungry – this usually ends in extra impulse buys.

Utilize expertise – attempt apps like foodkeeper app, waste no meals, spoiler alert. Check out these 16 apps that may assist forestall meals waste.

Learn all you'll be able to in regards to the meals system and what you are able to do to assist scale back meals waste in your neighborhood.

Start small – select one factor you can begin doing at this time to assist scale back your meals waste.

Want some recipe concepts for utilizing up scraps? Check out our scrappy cooking recipes like Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto, Roasted Squash Seeds and Homemade Bone Broth.

How do you're employed towards decreasing your meals waste? We’d love to listen to!

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[adventures-of-mum]

No one has written this story

*** I wrote this last year whilst pregnant and am only now finally getting round to posting it. Rather than update it, I’ve kept it as I wrote and felt all those months ago ***

My first child is due in February. I am certainly not the first woman to say that my experience of pregnancy so far has - at times - been overwhelming, in more respects than one. I expected to feel overwhelmed, but what I didn’t expect was that the books, websites and articles written to supposedly reassure me, would turn out to be the most overwhelming aspect of pregnancy.

By the end of the second week of my pregnancy I knew, by heart, the NHS advice on what to eat, what not to eat, and what to eat no more than twice a week. Unfortunately, I hadn’t read that advice a year before my husband and I started trying to have a baby and it turns out that eating swordfish is not advised for twelve months before trying to conceive. Too bad then, that I had eaten swordfish tacos four days before my positive pregnancy test. Aside from that unfortunate blip, the NHS web pages are informative and straightforward, and have now become my only required reading on pregnancy.

Knowing my tendency to overthink, worry and try to control things, I told my husband early in the pregnancy that I was just going to select one carefully researched book and that would be it. We would not be filling up another bookshelf or taking perfectly enjoyable novels to the charity shop to make room for a library of pregnancy books.

It turns out there was no need for me to do any research to find that one right book for me. Everyone, it has seemed, has the book for me. Everyone prefaces their recommendation with ‘I know everyone says this, but…’ before going on to tell you why ‘this is the one book you simply must read during pregnancy.’ This is usually followed by a rationale for their position: ‘it takes you through the pregnancy, week by week,’ or ‘it tells you what to expect during birth’ and ‘it tells you what’s normal for each stage of the pregnancy.’

All of this is fine if your experience of pregnancy goes according to the gospel of the specific book you are reading and if your pregnancy allows you to tick every one of the boxes in the ‘normal pregnancy checklist’ that your particular book has decided to include. While the phrase ‘every woman’s experience is different’ is wheeled out repeatedly, ultimately you only have your own experience to naturally, and predictably, compare to what you’re reading. So far, this natural tendency to compare has brought me nothing but unnecessary worry.

A friend whose judgement I trust entirely recommended me a book. I opened it on a random page and looked down at the alarming heading ‘pollution and your baby’. Pollution can be harmful to my baby, I’m told. Better to walk on a route that avoids main roads, I’m advised. My walk to work takes an hour along busy main roads in London. Reading the chapter, I started to question if I should continue walking to work. Maybe getting on the bus each day would reduce the amount of pollution that I, and therefore my tiny unborn child, might be exposed to. I closed the book. My walk to work is the only route to work- I cannot change it. I need to stay active and walking helps me both mentally and physically. This book was not the one for me.

I tried another book which advised women who have not had morning sickness by weeks seven or eight to see a doctor, as this could be a sign that something is wrong. What a way to deflate a woman who feels super lucky to have avoided one of the most crippling symptoms of growing a little human.

Fast forward a few more weeks and another very good and thoughtful friend bought me a book about staying calm and present during pregnancy. I put aside my initial reaction when I saw the book was authored by a man and took it on holiday with me.  My mum saw the book and commented ‘that’s a bit like bringing homework with you’ and I agreed. I read five novels instead before finally deciding it was time to do my homework and be the good committed mother–to-be that I felt I should be, with a brain full of knowledge that would in some way stop me from being anxious and help keep my baby alive at the same time.

At this point I was early into the second trimester. I was already working hard to ignore the ‘oh the second trimester, it barely felt like I was pregnant’ and ‘are you enjoying your new lease of life?’ comments. The author helpfully informed me that by now my hair and skin should be better than ever, that I should feel full of energy, and – my favourite part- that during this time in the author’s wife’s pregnancy he could honestly say that he had never seen her looking so healthy and glowing. What a treat to read whilst I contemplated why my skin was worse now than ever and why I still remained in need of a lie down most days. Someone else’s wife looking great is of little relevance, or help, to me. Or anyone else. I closed the book and made my decision. No more books.

Of course I will read. I will read the information sheet about water births provided to me by my midwife. I will read the Tommy’s and NHS advice on keeping active, and how to get a good night’s sleep. And each week I will read what fruit or vegetable I can compare my baby’s growing size to- because learning you’ve something the size of ‘one head of an endive’ inside you is rather amusing. But I won’t be trying to overcome the worries that pregnancy can plague expectant mums with by reading books. The intentions of those writing, and recommending, these books are entirely noble, especially those sharing women’s experiences. But when you read one experience you immediately risk comparing your experience – and no experience will ever match yours.

Access to information is an important part of having an informed and empowering pregnancy and birth. But information and knowledge, and other people’s experiences, won’t give me control of this rather spectacular thing which is taking place inside of me. Instead, finding the balance between being informed enough to make the right choices for my baby whilst not constantly comparing myself to the experiences written about in countless books, is what is important. I’ve decided to let my body and my baby do their thing. No one has written this particular story – our story - and I won’t read about it anywhere. I’m going to do my best to sit back, let it happen, and marvel at what is taking place.

[geekade]

Before Their Time: Invader Zim

In the annals of imaginary planetary invasions, few can claim to be more charming or more addictively bizarre than Invader Zim.

Conventional wisdom says we’re living in a Golden Age of Television. And the conventional wisdom isn’t wrong. But if (sigh) you’re my age, you remember another golden age. While not as fraught and heavily serialized as shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, or Game of Thrones, the best shows of this era enjoyed their own kind of sophistication, as creators felt emboldened and inspired to experiment, pushing the limits of their medium. I’m speaking, of course, of the golden age of animated television, that sweet spot in the 1990s and early 2000s when animators emboldened by how much The Simpsons seemed to be getting away with – on network prime time, no less! – felt inspired to test the limits of their medium, and network executives hoping to cash in on a similarly “edgy” craze felt inclined to let them. This convergence produced shows that still hold up today, and while their humor may not be as brash as adult animation like Archer or The Venture Bros., it’s that much more impressive for its ability to subvert and evade kid’s show censors. One of the most notable examples of this genre is of course Batman: The Animated Series, whose Art Deco Gothic aesthetic and heavy themes opened the door to animated shows that weren’t just for kids anymore.

Cable wasn’t about to let network TV have all the fun, and Nickelodeon introduced its own animated shows. In the early aughts, as the censors began to catch on to choking the chicken jokes, the subversive animation boom began to wind down, sanding down some of the harder edges that had snuck past in shows like Rocko’s Modern Life and The Tick. One of the last shows to benefit from – and suffer through the end of – this confluence of funding, fandom, and executive inattention was Invader Zim.

Invader Zim is just what it sounds like on the tin: a show about an alien’s attempts to take over Earth. Zim is a little green member of a race known as the Irkens, whose raison d’etre is the invasion, domination, and assimilation of other planets. Their MO is pretty straightforward – arrive incognito, camouflage yourself as a local until you’ve gathered enough intel to conquer the whole planet, and then WHAMMO! Instant world domination. Zim, our titular Invader, shares his compatriots’ zeal for dominance but leaves something rather to be desired in the competence department. After he jumps the gun (er, mecha-destroyer) on an Important Invasion (by accidentally invading his own planet), Zim’s superiors bust him down to invading a planet far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy armed with only a standard invader ship and a malfunctioning android helper named GIR.

After their noisy arrival to a decrepit Earth goes unnoticed by its dispirited populace, Zim builds a very approximate facsimile of a typical Earthling’s home and fits GIR and himself with Earth-appropriate disguises. Disguised as a manic green boy with a hairstyle that might have been procured from a distorted photo of Elvis or a 50s Impala, Zim enrolls in the local school (AKA The Skool) and begins reconnaissance of what he imagines will be a quick and spectacular trip back into the Irken leaders’ good graces. GIR’s cover is less a disguise than a revelation: It’s impossible to watch him zipping around in that stuffed dog outfit, a green to match his master’s, without wondering whether the delightful creatures we call dogs aren’t just all lazily programmed alien joy and eating machines.

However, no sooner has Zim embarked on his plan than he discovers Earth has more protective mechanisms than he bargained for, and perhaps even more than some of the planets who might have been expecting an Irken invasion. For one thing, the populace’s general refusal to acknowledge any strangeness they can’t process both insulates Zim against discovery and thwarts his plans. For another, one of Zim’s classmates is an aspiring paranormal investigator named Dib, who twigs immediately to Zim’s alienness. Adults and peers alike shrug off Dib’s repeated attempts to out Zim, and the general populace’s indifference alternatively thwarts and protects each of them. The truth is, Dib is not very convincing and Zim is not very good at invading, and the two square off in a series of zany gambits that never quite succeed at outing Zim or taking over the planet.

Zim’s not helped by the fact that his ostensible wingman is less interested in invading Earth than in eating all of its finest junk food and watching as much TV as possible. GIR’s obsessions with tacos and TV afford the show opportunities to lampoon the absurdities and kitsch of TV pop culture and the horror and irresistible allure of fast food. His bottomless appetite also makes him the most charming character on the show, a sort of manic K-9 who has gleefully discovered the canine homeworld.

It’s hard to say what made Invader Zim such a cult favorite, but after GIR and his antics, my favorite part of the show were the space battles and the zingers, especially those winks to the drudgery of adult life. With its protagonist a newcomer to Earth, Zim has to learn mundane rituals like riding the bus (“You expect me to pay to ride this filthy machine? Have you the brain worms?!”) to navigating Parent-Teacher Night at school (“Oh, I will bring my "parents", and they shall be the greatest, most parental parents EVER!”). Even more enjoyable than those are the occasions when Zim must jockey with other races for control of the planet, during which the show takes the opportunity to animate surprisingly riveting spaceship battles. Although the reasons for its premature cancellation are the subject of spirited speculation even today, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nickelodeon eventually balked at the cost of animating meticulously choreographed dogfights and airborne gags.

Invader Zim ran for about a year before Nickelodeon cancelled it in the middle of its second season. The Internet houses some spirited speculation, mostly over possible creative differences between the show’s creator and Nickelodeon’s producers. Without getting too far into the weeds, it seems safe to say Invader Zim succumbed, as so many shows do, to that fatal intersection of unsatisfactory ratings and budgetary quibbles. One blogger has argued, plausibly, that Nickelodeon and Jhonen Vasquez was always a doomed marriage, with the latter’s style tending to a humor too dark for the network’s tastes and desired demographic.

Inspired by the show’s cult following, Nickelodeon has belatedly realized their mistake. In April they announced that the gang – including Vasquez and the original voice cast – was getting back together for an animated movie. The Zim faithful can enjoy one more story about Zim.

It’s hard to say what attracted such a loyal following, but Zim united bizarre storylines and juvenile gags with a dark and almost existential sense of humor. Much like The Venture Bros., Invader Zim is a show about delusion and failure, about what happens when outsize ambition runs up against limited ability. If current events have taught me anything, it’s that the story of incompetence running up against ambition remains relevant. With any luck, this movie will give Invader Zim the fresh push into visibility it deserves, and the show can finally take its rightful place alongside The Venture Bros. and Silicon Valley, a timely monument to the hilarity and inevitability of failure.

[theworstbob]

yellin’ at songs: 1997, part one

the songs that debuted on the billboard chart between 11 january and 8 march 1997

that may seem like an arbitrary cut-off, and that’s because it is, my sleep got hella fucked and i couldn’t focus on listening to these songs for more than like three at a time (bob we know sgdq was last week) LET ME BELIEVE I TRIED MY BEST, but i have a soft deadline of tuesday for these posts and DIDN’T WANT TO SHORT YOU so here are 50+ reviews and i will do my darndest to catch up with 1997 by the end of the week

1.11.1997

65) "In My Bed," by Dru Hill

oh gosh this just kicks it off right. this is the epitome of '90s cheese: an absurdly talented man singing a song about heartbreak and/or lovemaking over a thousand chimes. bravo, everyone that could have made this happen. i expect i'll get as tired of slow-jam r&b tracks a thousand chime noises as i am of dumb meathead trap songs by the time i get to week 27 of 1997, but right now, it's a treat to hear a singer who is legitimately good at singing.

85) "What They Do," by The Roots

You know, I've never actually checked out a full The Roots album. I've always understood they would be something I like, and I understand it's something of a tragedy they're relegated to a sideshow for Jimmy Fallon (of all people, Jimmy Fallon), like, I'm familiar enough with them that listening to this song was like... Like, I went to a friend's birthday party a few months back, and it was at this bar I hadn't heard of. I'm not usually the sort of person who goes to bars, and I haven't been back since, but something about that bar just instantly felt like home to me, like, maybe the tacos, or maybe the atmosphere, or maybe the fact I nearly smoked weed for the first time with the chef, but I left that bar thinking, "This is the sort of place I'd like to be a regular." That's what listening to a 20-year-old Roots song is like. It's like instantly knowing you're home.

96) "Tears," by The Isley Brothers

"God so loved the world/That he blessed us all with you/Then he gave me a heart/And now I'm giving it to you" THAT IS AN AMAZING LYRIC AND THAT SINGLE-HANDEDLY SALVAGED THIS SONG AND THIS REVIEW. Like I was struggling with how to say this song was boring, but then that line just dropped into my lap, and it... It's as if the Christian god God so loved the world that he gave this lyric to us all, and then he gave me a heart so I could give it to this song. That is quality corniness, right there.

1.18.1997

62) "It's All About U," by SWV

1997 is batting 1.000 right now. This isn't quite an absolute jam, but there's some solid harmonies, a really fun funk-influenced track, and what sounds like Jay-Z going "unh" once every few seconds. This is a good time! 1997 is so much more fun than the other years, is the snap judgement I am making twenty minutes in. 2017 is the confused goth kid who mistakes being dark with being interesting, and 2007's a chill dude with the right person but kind of a stiff sometimes, and 1997's just the life of the party.

84) "Firestarter," by The Prodigy

Pobody's nerfect, 1997. Solid start, but even the best fall down sometimes. This dude describes himself as twisted in the chorus and in one of the verses, and when someone has to insist that they're twisted, that's how you know they're crazy. Oooh, this dude loves fire, that's not a trait this dude shares with a thousand teenage boys who all think they're funnier than they are. (Speaking from experience.) Such a wondrous mind to be so tortured! Truly the Kanye of his generation!

90) "Colour of Love," by Amber

OK. OK, so, this was an unpleasant thing to listen to, but man, listening to this song while having the video on in the background was an assault on the senses. The video is pastel in all the wrong ways, and I was heretofore a believer that there is no such thing as a wrong way to use pastel, but ye gods, the awful color scheme and the aggressively cheery song (LOVE IS GOOD. YOU WILL AGREE THAT LOVE IS GOOD. THIS IS HAPPY NOISES FOR HAPPY THOUGHTS.) made this potentially the most unpleasant listening experience i've had so far for YAS. 1997 has established a high ceiling and a frighteniningly low floor.

1.25.1997

11) "Wannabe," by Spice Girls

This song has 58,236 dislikes on YouTube. Mind you, this song is 20 years old. YouTube, to the best of my knowledge, does not allow you to view a video at random, though I'll cop to not knowing the full extent of YouTube's features. But to have listened to this song on YouTube, you had to go to YouTube intending to listen to this song, which means there are nearly 58,236 people on this planet who intentionally went to the official "Wannabe" music video on YouTube dot com solely to hit the dislike button. There are, obviously, more worthless people; I doubt that the entire Republican party is on YouTube. Hitting the dislike button on this video, though, is still a demarcation of general worthlessness. Anyway, this song, it's not as good as you remember or as bad as you want it to be. It's just a bad pop song elevated by memory. Also, none of these girls could sing. Like I didn't expect SWV-level work, but man, this was disappointing to listen to. Like, I watched Space Jam once as an adult because I was awake at 1 AM and wanted to fire off some tweets, only to learn that Space Jam wasn't like an amazingly bad movie it was just a lazily-written and poorly-acted and boring-bad, and hearing this song made me feel the same disappointment I felt watching Space Jam.

32) "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down," by Puff Daddy ft./Mase

I talk a lot about The Game's 1992 because it's an amazing album, but like the entire time I was listening to this song, I couldn't stop hearing the hook for "Orange Juice." Mostly because it's easy to ignore Mase. Not a good rapper, this man! Nor is P. Diddy! It's a classic track, and I am glad someone else made a better home for it.

33) "On & On," by Erykah Badu

This seems like one of those songs that sort of defies the point of this whole enterprise, because it demands a deeper listen and more thought than I, needing to cram hundreds of pop songs into a few hours spread across a few days, an able to give. This seems like a track that'll reward multiple listens, and Erykah Badu's on the same musical to-do list as The Roots, and it does not seem like a good track to gloss over so we can get to whatever trash is next. Leah Andreone, always a good sign when you don't recognize the name.

79) "It's Alright, It's OK," by Leah Andreone

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. MOM WHERE DID YOU PUT MY ALANIS CDS. OH MY GOD DON'T EVEN JOKE, IF YOU REALLY THREW THEM AWAY I'LL BE SO SAD. UGH, YOU'RE RUNING MY LIFE! This song is as wonderfully bad as I wanted "Wannabe" to be. Like, some of the pained noises she makes with her voice are making me laugh out loud. My goodness. SHE WAS 24! Man, I mean, this really puts Tay Tay into perspective a little bit, y'know? Like, Tay Tay wrote a lot of bad songs, but she never wrote anything so dumb as "Her ideas need expression/Her wounds never bleed/Her beauty lives in my eyes/Too bad she can't see." Like, the same age this woman was when she made this song, Tay Tay made "Style." We take Tay Tay for granted, is what I'm trying to say. "Cloudy diamonds freebase fun house." Just say meth, dude.

87) "Setting Sun," by CHEMICAL BROTHERS

You could give me a thousand hours and I wouldn't be able to tell you how this was meaningfully different from "Firestarter."

89) "Stand Up," by Love Tribe

This is a dance track I can get behind! Not some awful thing with noises meant to evoke darkness and mosery, a song that says "Hey, dancing is fun! Get out there and do it! Don't feel bad about it!" It's still Eurotrash, but at least it's the fun Eurovisiony side of the genre, not trash trying to disguise itself as recyclable materials.

91) "Another You, Another Me," by Brady Seals

...You know, I don't like that I had to listen to a Charlie Puth song for YAS 17, because Charlie Puth is a boring dude and his songs are bad, but at least Charlie Puth has something akin to a personality. "Marvin Gaye" is a song devoid of creativity, but at least I can identify Charlie Puth as someone who enjoys Marvin Gaye. Milquetoast white dudes in the '90s were just boring fucking white dudes. They didn't have to have ANYTHING like a personality, they could have a nice haircut and sing about love and that was it! I can't believe someone out there loved this song enough to keep it with them and uploaded it to YouTube. I can't believe someone remembered this song and uploaded it to YouTube.

92) "Don't Stop Movin'," by Livin' Joy

So all the dance tracks have been boring and don't really move my needle, but at least electronic music in the '90s wasn't trying to infuse itself with sensitivity or artistic ambition. It was just trash to dance to. None of these songs are "Something Just Like This." The Livin' Joy Wikipedia page states, "Sadly Livin' Joy never managed the same level of success from their first two singles," and I am glad there is a page on Wikipedia being so neglected that some subjectivity can sneak in. That "Sadly" speaks volumes about the state of Livin' Joy's Wikipedia page.

2.1.1997

19) "Every Time I Close My Eyes," by Babyface

This was fine. It's nice to dip back into the sexy R&B slow jamz, it'd been a week, I was worried maybe the trend was over, but nope, here it is, slow and sexy as ever. Well met. ...I think I might be exaggerating the slow jamz, looks like it may be a couple weeks before we get another one, I dunno, I just couldn't come up with anything fresh to say about this song. Guy loves his girl and sings well about it. Great!

52) "Things'll Never Change/Rapper's Ball," by E-40 ft./Bo-Rock

As a longtime enjoyer of podcasts on the Maximum Fun network, I have long been aware of E-40 from all the times Jesse Thorn has upheld the virtues of San Francisco rap. This is probably not a great introduction to E-40. I would not have guessed E-40 would have made a message song based on all the descriptions of him I had heard. It's not a great message song, it's like "What It's Like" but with a weirdly bouncy beat and a weaker condemnation of the listener ("some things will never change/that's just the way it is/when will we ever learn" are we supposed to, what, accept that things don't change? what do you want from me, song. how am i supposed to help).

76) "Watch Me Do My Thing (From All That)," by Immature ft./Smooth & Ed from "Good Burger"

It's kind of amazing that All That was ever a thing. It's a show that presumes that: 1) children would want to watch sketch comedy, 2) specifically sketch comedy performed by other children which are just incredibly silly things to presume. No child should be watching sketch comedy that isn't going to grow up to be a sketch comedian. This song, made with one of All That's most beloved recurring characters, is about as good as any song made by 10-year-olds for 10-year-olds is ever going to be. Well done, congrats, oh hey Marques Houston you pop up ten years later great for you!

77) "Let Me Clear My Throat," by DJ Kool

This song is one verse and then a man shouting at people for three minutes. I thought I listened to the live version on accident, but nope, this is the actual song, this is the canonical version, one verse and then A THOUSAND EXHORTATIONS. Ah! Ah! Ah ah ah! That means I want to party like DJ Kool and his friends. Ah! Ah! Sorry, sorry, he just told me to say "Ah!" after he said "Uh." He said that when he says freeze, he wants me to stop on the dime, so I guess I have no choice to obey him! I feel involved in th

93) "Runnin'," by Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Radio, & Dramacydal

oh whoa a song with tupac and biggie on the track, that's crazy, i wonder if anything else happens in 1997 that would bring tupac and biggie together? Technically, this song is a 1995 release that people happened to purchase in 1997 for whatever reason, so despite being rather dope, I do wish I had found a reason to disqualify it from any consideration. I wouldn't have heard this song, but I would've saved five minutes and also not had to make the decision on whether I, someone mostly ignorant of hip-hop history, should write about the Tupac/Biggie feud. ...I mean, we're not done, not by any stretch of the imagination, but one less Tupac/Biggie-centric song would've been nice.

94) "My Baby Mama," by QT

So okay. Okay. This song, okay, this song? It's amazing. Like, let's get this out of the way, this song is the awesome bad the '90s knew I would one day need, like criminy, but this song? This song. This is a song about a man telling the mother of his child that she can always count on him, but also he pretty clearly left his baby's mama at some point, so she can't actually count on him. This song is so weird! This is the most loyal disloyal man alive. He sees his baby's mama at the mall with another man. "He was touching my baby/I went crazy/I shoulda beat that." DON'T BEAT UP YOUR BABY'S MAMA'S NEW LOVER AT THE SHOPPING MALL FOR TOUCHING YOUR CHILD, JEEZY PETES. Maybe QT isn't the greatest male role model for his kid to have. Gosh, I'm glad this song got put into my life.

96) "Whateva Man," by Redman

nothing like enjoying a classic hip-hop song and then they describe the effect the marijuana they are smoking is having on them by declaring themselves "chinky eyed." that's such a delightful turn of phrase, i hope we never get rid of it, it's so comfortable to think about and consider. also, "I smoked with a lot of college students/Most of 'em wasn't graduatin' and they knew it." that's a quality line. it's no chinky-eyed! it's still pretty great.

2.8.1997

66) "Please Don't Go," by No Mercy

This is absolutely solid. It's a fun Latin twist on the standard '90s pop song, like not 100% Latin pop, just a normal pop song with enough Latin influence to make it more unique than that Amber nonsense from a thousand years ago. Just a grand old time, better than most of the things I've had to listen to so far to be sure, if maybe not great enough to justify the enterprise. We will unearth a classic, and not an ironic one like "My Baby Mama," we will find something that didn't deserve to be forgotten, and we will find it in this post!

75) "I Always Feel Like (Somebody's Watching Me)," by Tru ft./Ice Cream Man (Master P) & Mia X

If you'll permit me to grade this song based on what it isn't, this song was not a cover of the Rockwell song with a lazy rap verse attached, and I am ever grateful for that. As for the track: neat! All involved did fine work! Mia X's verse was particularly worthy of note, that young woman was out her mind, and I appreciated it. Good work! This also is not the classic I was hoping to unearth, this isn't the nugget we're hoping to find, but flakes in our pan are nothing to sneeze at.

78) "We Danced Anyway," by Deana Carter

Hey! Country! Welcome! This is pleasant. Week 5 of 1997 has just been pleasant, not great, just nice songs by nice (hopefully) people that I can accept.

95) "Fired Up!" by Funky Green Dogs

House music, you just have to ruin everything good, don't you? Quick note about YouTube comments: the YouTube comments under every other genre are "man, my preferred genre of music was way better back when music still sounded good to me," but for house, you don't see people trashing the Chainsmokers or whatever, you just see comments like, "Man, this song was playing the first time I took mushrooms. What a trip!" and it's like, good on ya, house music people. Your music is horrendous, but y'all good people.

98) "Passion," by K5

YouTube Comments Under Shitty Dance Music, Vol. I Commenter: I shuffle skate to this almost every Saturday, the high point of my week Uploader: Wish they still had skatin rinks around here man. Miss those days. Someone in this exchange is the sadder person, but I can't tell if it's the only person whose single-greatest joy is derived from a weekly trip to the roller rink or the person who can't make time in their schedule for the roller rink. We had a good thing going with this set of five songs, and now I'm just sad for these people who love roller skating too much.

2.15.1997

56) "What's on Tonight," by Montell Jordan

"I pray that you're wearing Victoria's Secrets/Oh, that blows my mind" That's acceptable! I enjoy the image of a woman wearing lingerie that this song brings to mind! I agree with this song so far. "Now what should I bring/Strawberries I'm thinkin/Or some honey for your toes" I'm out. Nope. You can't get me to sway to your foot thing. I refuse. I'm not gonna do it. How dare you even try, sir. Gosh. We had something really great going, and the -- don't talk about toes! Not on the single, man! Sir, this is NOT how we do it.

78) "I'll Be," by Foxy Brown ft./Jay-Z

BABY JAY! This song is phenomenal. I don't really think about how deep the roster of female rappers was in the '90s, but man, the woman on "I Always Feel Like" and Foxy Brown have both killed it. Like, I defy anyone to come away from this song thinking Jay-Z badly overshadowed Foxy Brown. He overshadows her, yeah, it's Jay-Z in a moment where he was getting mighty close to the peak of his powers (if he wasn't already there), but Foxy Brown more than holds her own, and the realtive equality at play makes this song a complete jam. Highlight of the year so far!

79) "It's in Your Eyes," by Phil Collins

Ugh.

87) "Take Your Time," by Tre ft./Krayzie Bone

this was cool and also it faded from memory as soon as the song ended also i'm trying to find out more information about Tre but apparently the band doesn't exist and they have a name with really poor seo. like, the wikipedia page for krayzie bone's discography doesn't even mention this song, and i find it hard to believe this was the most forgettable song krayzie bone ever featured on. the wiki lists two songs where some entity named Damizza is the lead artist, but omits tre from the complete record of krayzie bone history. this is weird, like the song is forgettable beyond the "take. your. tiiiiiiiiiime" chorus, but it deserves better than complete erasure!

88) "The Theme (It's Party Time)," by Tracey Lee

This is chill. It's as disposable as any of the rap tracks in 2007 or 2017, no one is pointing to this basic party jam when arguing the virtues of '90s hip-hop, but not every song is going to be a classic, and this song wasn't intended to sound like something more than a red Solo cup. OK work, sir. Congrats on making an accpetable song.

92) "Without Your Love," by Angelina

...look, i've been writing these posts for 27 weeks, and i'm more than a month deep into 1997. i don't claim to know every word i write, but i know i have not used this word before, because i don't believe it has critical value, but i'm listening to this song, and i can't tell if i have the right version, but i'm with this song, and, like, the beat sounds like farts. i'm sorry. but that's the most accurate descriptor available. there are fart noises on this track. people played this song on the radio! it has been seven months and i've made myself listen to multiple piles song, i am entitled to point out that a song sounds like farts when it legit sounds like farts. i'm sorry, angelina. you seem nice. your song is unpleasant.

93) "Drop Dead Gorgeous," by Republica

ye gods, it's as if they mashed everything bad about '90s music into one song. all it's missing is an allsuion to a foot fetish, and it would've checked every box on the list of things i hate about doing this to myself so far.

2.22.1997

10) "Discotheque," by U2

You can't tell me white privilege doesn't exist when we live in a world where U2 was allowed to continue making music after making this song. What the hell is this. If Apple tried to put this on our Apple-brand devices, they would have gone bankrupt. This is... How is dance music so fucking hard? You make a fun song that sounds like it'd be fun to dance to. That sounds simple. I don't get how every single band in the '90s trying to make dance music got it so wrong. Oh no he just went "ha! ha! ha! ha!" in the awful Bono falsetto. Mistakes were made.

17) "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," by Madonna

Man., at least when 2007 gave us Broadway, they gave us Jennifer Hudson's rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." Who asked for this. Who was buying Madonna singing Andrew Lloyd Webber. I mean, I guess that's not the craziest decision one could make with their money, but like these people probably also paid for the full soundtrack and for tickets to see the movie and likely the VHS copy, specifically to see Madonna performing Andrew Lloyd Webber, and like, I get it, but also, I don't.

37) "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," by Az Yet ft./Peter Cetera

There's a riff about halfway through the song that nearly made me get out of my chair and shout, like I don't usually feel that way about people doing things with a collection of voices outside of Pentatonix songs, but there is absolutely a moment in this song that gave me chills. I miss this! I miss when people could sing, when the most impressive vocal feat on a song wasn't someone trilling their rs when they say "skrrt."

47) "Barrel of a Gun," by Depeche Mode

DAMNIT EVEN DEPECHE MODE IS BAD. All electronic-influenced music in the '90s was bad, and they even infected Depeche Mode. Depeche Mode is an entity I always understood to be good! This is disappointing. I thought this would at least be something I could get into the Brandi Carlisle or Paramore song I could claim was #1 over far more deserving or iconic tracks, but nope, it's just pointless noise. I'm bummed.

53) "Just Another Day," by John Mellencamp

So a ton of these songs have been absolutely awful. I don't think there's a single week in 1997 so far that would win, and despite weak weeks for the 21st century, it's not looking good for 1997. But this song is a reminder that what doesn't kill me doesn't kill me, so fill me up for just another day IT ONLY HURTS WHEN I BRwrong "Just Another Day" sorry, sorry. This "Just Another Day." It's OK. Look, it's John "Cougar" Mellencamp with another rockin' jam about small town America, I'm sorry, I don't, fuck do you want me to say about this? Just, like, some days I feel like dying, when I'm really only trying to get through "Just Another Day."

57) "Say... If You Feel Alright," by Crystal Waters

Every single house song has the exact same goddamn drum line and it's the fucking drum line from "I'm So Sexy" and it makes me angry every time it starts playing. Everyone who feels nostalgia for this is wrong. There's a comment under the video that just says "The Streetboys," and it has one like, so I'm glad someone agrees with Nairda on this topic.

73) "I'm Not Feeling You," by Yvette Michele

I haven't made the Top 20 yet but I wouldn't be surprised if the entire 1997 Top 20 is just R&B. This year got one thing right, and man, it got that thing incredibly right. Even the slow jamz, they're endless, but only one of the many has been outright awful so far, and even that was tolerable until the allusion to the foot thing, which is still incredibly upsetting I know it's 2017 and I should be desensitized but maybe let's not mainstream foot things, 1997? I'm not focusing on this song, which is amazing and I love it and is '90s in all the best ways. There's a spoken outro! A SPOKEN OUTRO! An absolute classic. It's criminal this only peaked at #44 on the US charts, absolutely criminal.

80) "The Freshmen," by The Verve Pipe

Is this legit the first alternative rock song? How about that, I thought 1997 would be teeming with this sort of thing. Depending on the day, this is either the pinnacle of post-grunge or a combination of everything silly about the genre. It can be all things to all people. The guy has a pleasant growl and it's a song on a heavy subject that treats that subject with respect, and at the same time, it is exceedingly dour and there's 30 seconds of the dude just going "yeah" like in every '90s alt-rock song.

94) "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)," by Bill Engvall ft./Travis Tritt

Sometimes I think I'm not where I'm supposed to be in life, and then I remember that Jennifer Lawrence used to be a series regular on The Bill Engvall Show, and I remember I'm supposed to be on a journey home. Oh, this song? Well le -- oops! My fingers accidentally typed "electrolite" into the search bar, well no sense arguing with fate!

96) "Electrolite," by R.E.M.

This is slight. Like, I was worried I was judging this against the rest of R.E.M.'s ouevre? Because obviously, if I haven't heard of an R.E.M. song before, it's because it's not good, but judging any song based on whether or not it's better than "Losing My Religion" is dumb. But like this is just a nice alt-rock song that isn't packed to the brim with Meaning. It was a pleasant four minutes and I'm sure it made a fine closing track for whatever album it was on, but it wasn't really much of anything.

3.1.1997

31) "I Want You," by Savage Garden

Yo this song is kind of perfect? The "chic-a-cherry cola" in the verse is instantly memorable, I thought I hadn't heard this song before but then he said "chic-a-cherry cola" and I shouted "I TRIED TO MAKE THAT NOISE SO MANY TIMES!" which was a fun thing to do at 4:30 AM on a Tuesday, neighbors were happy. That's also a really dope bass line, maybe I just get irrationally excited every time a bass does more than exist on a song, but that bass kills. This was great. I'm trying to put into Smart Words what makes this song great, but I keep writing "something something propulsive," but I'm having trouble, which is usually when you can tell a song is great, because your brain doesn't want to think about why it's great, it just wants to accept it's great. But this song just, I dunno, it moves forward. It's up-tempo, but with these rap-like verses and that bass line, it's like the song is trying to rush through the wanting stage and actually get to the person? I need more time but I gave myself a deadline of Wednesday MOVING ON love this song

42) "Return of the Mack," by Mark Morrison

In the eighth week, 1997 delivered two absolutely perfect songs, and I am so pleased. This is one of the best "HELL YEAH, I'M SINGLE!" songs of all time, like it's up there with "Since U Been Gone," except it's a little more well-rounded. There's an actual story arc in this song -- a man who used to be a real playa found a woman he could settle with, build a life with, but then she broke the trust, and after allowing himself to be depressed, Mark Morrison has regained his confidence and is determined to show that living well is the best revenge. He is ready to return to his former self. Like "Since U Been Gone" is just "fuck you, dude," this song is "STRIKE ME DOWN AND I SHALL RISE STRONGER THAN I HAVE EVER BEEN." I honestly don't know why we've been wasting our time listening to other songs, this is it, this is The Song.

62) "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)," by Aerosmith

The true miracle of "Return of the Mack" is that it's a song that could be a novelty. Like, I had to kind of make sure I wasn't treating the song like pure '90s kitsch. It's, as far as I can tell, a debut single with the word "Return" in the title, and it's made by a dude who had top ten singles in the UK called "Moan & Groan" and "Horny." But "Return of the Mack" absolutely holds up, it's not just some '90s ridiculousness, it is a legitimate masterpiece of a pop song. Everything works well. It's just, y'know, perfect. I want to think about it forever.

76) "Cupid," by 112

Because who wants to think about love songs? The people in love songs have lives outside of the love songs. How did they get in that bed? Who is that person they brought to bed? Is it really true love? "Return of the Mack" answers those questions for any slow jamz he might've made (because he's The Mack, it doesn't matter, and probably not but he will love her truly for a night), but when I listen to 112 say that Cupid doesn't lie, it sort of sounds like Cupid was just haphazardly spraying his arrows any which way and one of them happened to land on these people and I don't know who they are but I'm certain they're finna fuck. And that's OK. But, again, I hate to belabor the point, I could have listened to "Return of the Mack."

79) "Do G's Get to Go to Heaven?" by Richie Rich

This dude looked at the VHS cover for All Dogs Go to Heaven and before his eyes the word "Dogs" separated and he saw "Do Gs Go to Heaven" and he was struck with inspiration, and now that I know the song title is a pun I am fine saying this song is awful. It's a song about how bad life in the street is, but as long as there's reason to believe the song title is a play on All Dogs Go to Heaven, there is no reason to listen to it. There are no puns in "Return of the Mack," FWIW.

81) "Talk to Me," by Wild Orchid

The bronze medal this week is nothing to be ashamed of. Hey: how come there's only one girl group of note in 2017? We have plenty of boy bands (or maybe it just feels that way because of all the many directions), but only Fifth Harmony holding the mantle for girl groups. Seems silly. 2017 could be doing a lot of things better, but specifically the girl group thing is something to be highlighted for at least one second.

90) "King Nothing," by Metallica

Metal music is impressive on a purely technical level -- I mean, have you fucking heard "Through the Fire and the Flames?" That's amazing, that people can make music that sounds like that. But this is post-"Enter Sandman" Metallica, which isn't metal music as I understand it, is just shitty slightly-darker buttrock, so I'm not even listening to a sick as hell guitar solo, I'm just getting some bullshit I could get from Candlebox or whatever else was active.

3.8.1997

21) "Big Daddy," by Heavy D

"What do people like about The Notorious B.I.G.?" "That he's arguably the best rapper of all time at this point in music history?" "Hm... Maybe... But what else?" "I dunno, he's a big dude?" "That's it! Just find me a big dude, and we'll make him a STAR!" And this is why I'm listening to a Heavy D song 20 years later.

55) "Let It Go," by Ray J

This is a six-minute song and I just, I don't understand why this would need to be six minutes? I only got, what, three and a half minutes with "Return of the Mack," and yeah I understand I could've said nuts to this project and been listening to "Return of the Mack" this whole time, but it seems unfair I would have to put in effort to listen to "Return of the Mack" for six minutes but just let this song mosey along while looking at Prime Day deals. Happy belated Prime Day, everyone.

72) "Gangstas Make the World Go Round," by Westside Connection

1997 Week 9 is all about songs that play at a pleasant clip that are extremely listenable, not outright classics, not songs to sing from the tops of mountains, just great soundtracks for the rest of your day. I say this knowing full well it's going to make me listen to Kenny G, but hey, three B+s are nothing to complain about.

83) "Call Me," by Le Click

...I guess if I have to dive into Europe's garbage, I should be thankful to find something which either possesses some value or is edible. This song is OK, and yeah it kind of sounds like "Hamsterdance" or "Axel F" or whatever early-Internet meme you prefer, but there's a solid vocal performance and it's not aggressively awful, it's subtly awful, the awful takes a backseat to things that sound like music on this one. I am glad to have found a dance track that didn't make me want to quit.

95) "Havana," by Kenny G

You know, Kenny G is something of a cultural punchline, but I gotta say, he earned his status.

Top 20 for weeks 1-9 (33% of the way there!) 20) "Call Me," by Le Click (3.8) 19) "Whateva Man," by Redman (2.1) 18) "Stand Up," by Love Tribe (1.25) 17) "Gangstas Make the World Go Round," by Westside Connection (3.8) 16) "Take Your Time," by Tre ft./Krayzie Bone (2.15) 15) "My Baby Mama," by QT (2.1) 14) "We Danced Anyway," by Deana Carter (2.8) 13) "The Freshmen," by The Verve Pipe (2.22) 12) "I Always Feel Like (Somebody's Watching Me)," by Tru ft./Master P & Mia X (2.8) 11) "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," by Az Yet ft./Peter Cetera (2.22) 10) "It's All About U," by SWV (1.18) 9) "In My Bed," by Dru Hill (1.11) 8) "Talk to Me," by Wild Orchid (3.1) 7) "Please Don't Go," by No Mercy (2.8) 6) "On and On," by Erykah Badu (1.25) 5) "I Want You," by Savage Garden (3.1) 4) "What They Do," by The Roots (1.11) 3) "I'm Not Feeling You," by Yvette Michele (2.22) 2) "I'll Be," by Foxy Brown ft./Jay-Z (2.15) 1) "Return of the Mack," by Mark Morrison (3.1) 1997 looks pretty thin, but hey remember when 2017 had two Big Sean songs in the top 20? THE BEST IS YET TO COME apart from the fact it probably has, seriously y’all “Return of the Mack” owns but then again “Hypnotize” okay scratch that i ever scratched that THE BEST IS YET TO COME because THE BEST IS YET TO COME

[spicynbachili1]

Review: Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition

Uncontrolled chaos

When NFL Blitz first hit the scene some 20 years in the past, my younger thoughts was blown away by the sheer over-the-top violence the sport featured. Certain, this was a time when the NFL itself embraced this tradition of hard-hitting brutality, however the recreation actually simply took the ball and ran with it. It was insanity. It stored simply sufficient of the principles of soccer and turned them the other way up to make the sport acquainted however zany. Briefly, it was a managed type of chaos that distilled the spirit of the game into an arcadey and cruel bundle.

Mutant Soccer League is a successor in spirit if not title. The violence and mayhem stay with some further bells and whistles thrown in to make the bundle a bit extra sturdy, however one thing finally simply feels lacking.

Mutant Soccer League: Dynasty Version (PS4, Swap [Reviewed], Xbox One) Developer: Digital Goals Leisure Writer: Digital Goals Leisure Launched: October 30, 2018 MSRP: $59.99

Mutant Soccer League: Dynasty Version is a repackaging of the bottom recreation that includes all of the DLC, and in addition marks the franchise’s first look on Swap. If you happen to’re acquainted in any respect with soccer I will not have to explain the gameplay a lot — you run, throw, and defend such as you would in a standard recreation, the catch right here being every little thing is extra excessive. Hits are more durable, strikes are extra flashy, and you may assault gamers between performs to whittle down their well being, ultimately killing them.

There’s additionally a gameplay characteristic referred to as Soiled Tips, the place you’ll be able to leverage cheats to be able to acquire a aggressive edge. You may bribe the ref to make sure the opposing crew will get a foul penalty (usually after touchdowns to negate them), throw a cross that actually cuts proper by defenders, improve your working again to change into just about unstoppable for an excellent 30 yards, and extra. You may flip these options off (or simply ignore them fully) to have a barely extra conventional expertise, however in sure recreation modes, they’re more-or-less crucial to be able to win. They’re cool to see the primary couple of instances, however actually ring a bit hole and really feel too gimmicky to actually ever resonate with the precise gameplay.

To the purpose of the gameplay, it is right here the place I really feel most disillusioned within the recreation. Blitz was a shallow expertise, for certain, however every little thing got here collectively to only work out in a satisfying manner. The violence was tremendous satisfying largely to the spectacle of the entire thing; hits landed with a gratifying crunch, and the suplexes and straight-up maimings that served as tackles had been well-animated and flashy. Right here, you might have basically the identical precise recreation, mechanically, however nothing fairly nails to touchdown. Hits haven’t got sufficient oomph to actually stand out, and tackles are fairly tame as compared — to the purpose that the majority might function tackles in a Madden recreation. For one thing that brandishes its violence as a promoting level, it is actually not all that violent.

And taking part in the precise recreation feels rote at instances, perfunctory even. You may have a restricted turbo that may be activated as soon as throughout the play (and does not refill like in Blitz) and a few strikes whereas working, however that is about it. You may have three receivers mapped to the left, prime, and proper face buttons, and that is about it. And on protection, you’ll be able to leap in the way in which of a cross and deal with…and that is about it. Nothing in regards to the fundamentals of the game is modified to a level to make the gameplay stand out in any discernible manner, which is barely compounded by the disappointing nature of the violence. It ends in an expertise that is not boring, per se, however is not by any means thrilling.

I spent most of my time for evaluation functions in Franchise Mode, one of many DLC items added into this bundle in its re-release. If you happen to’ve ever performed any franchise mode in a sports activities recreation, it’s going to really feel principally acquainted right here. You may commerce gamers, choose up free brokers, play by a number of seasons — it is all right here in kind of working order. Particular person gamers have season targets to be able to acquire expertise and stage up, and also you as a supervisor have the identical.

The most important drawback right here is that you just begin out at a hilariously low stage as a crew. I began out utilizing the New Goreleans Zombies as a result of I needed to make use of their high-powered offense to relax and have some enjoyable. The crew’s base score in different modes is an 84, however in Franchise Mode you begin at 48. The opposite groups within the league retain their common score. This makes the early days of the mode an absolute slog as you get your ass handed to you by even the worst groups within the league till you perceive the right way to cheat the system.

Bear in mind earlier how I discussed Soiled Tips? Understanding how they work and when to make use of them is a necessity to be able to win these early matchups. It took me about six video games to totally perceive the system (as there isn’t any correct tutorial to clarify the ins and outs of it) and at last begin profitable video games. It is advantageous, I assume, however the one option to earn cash and new performs on your franchise is to win video games. You have bought a price range and working the crew every week (together with resurrecting your starters that are principally assured to die every week) takes away from that; run out of cash and it is recreation over. Having Soiled Tips to make use of in a pinch is one factor; having to make use of them simply to win together with your crew that had its scores lower in half for no obvious motive simply appears like unhealthy design. Quickplay modes, in fact, haven’t got this drawback, nevertheless it actually appears like Franchise Mode (which once more, got here as DLC for the bottom recreation) is the majority of the content material. Once more, this ends in an expertise that is not actually all that enjoyable for lengthy durations of time.

The aesthetics are actually what drew me to the sport. I am a sucker for horror-themed stuff, so the concept of working round as skeletons and killer robots in wacky monster worlds actually appealed to me, in order that half was enjoyable, not less than. There’s actually no distinction between any of the totally different races aside from their seems, nevertheless it’s nonetheless enjoyable being a werewolf working again working by an offensive line of orcs. And the humor undoubtedly is not for everybody, however once more I am a sucker for puns. Throwing passes from Drew Sleaze to Alvin Kilmora towards the likes of the Malice Hellboys and Scarolina Panzers is correct up my alley, and it is all the time enjoyable making an attempt to guess what actual gamers names they spoofed to give you their monster names.

The commentary goes to be equally divisive when it comes to humor. The unique NBA Jam and NFL Blitz commentator Tim Kitzrow offers play-by-play in his standard style, which for me was a pleasant deal with. His tongue-in-cheek sarcasm actually shines right here, plus he says fuck every so often which is fairly humorous to listen to contemplating I’ve all the time heard him commenting on way more family-friendly titles. The colour commentator, nonetheless, is borderline obnoxious. The 2 have a good backwards and forwards at instances, however man, the second voice is simply shrill and largely annoying. Some jokes will land, and a few will not, however that is actually to be anticipated any time comedy is concerned.

Total, it simply appears like there are loads of missed alternatives in Mutant Soccer League: Dynasty Version. The gameplay definitely works, however there’s actually nothing all that spectacular about it. The violence is there, nevertheless it simply feels tame even compared to a cold 20-year-old competitor. The sport modes are all genre-standard, however there’s actually nothing to separate it from a standard sports activities recreation. The aesthetics are cool, however there actually are not any variations between gamers and races aside from cosmetics. It is punny, however not likely all that humorous. It is a recreation that is finally dragged down by too many buts to actually stand out and make a reputation for itself.

At the least they’ll use “Too Many Butts” as a crew title in MFL 2020.

[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

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      Mutant Soccer League: Dynasty Version reviewed by Wes Tacos

6

ALL RIGHT

Barely above common or just inoffensive. Followers of the style ought to get pleasure from it a bit, however a good few can be left unfulfilled. How we rating:  The destructoid critiques information

        from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/review-mutant-football-league-dynasty-edition/

[nomadicbard]

San Diego

If I were to hazard a guess, you may be a bit confused at the moment.  "I clicked on a video about San Diego," you're saying. "I wanna see beaches, tacos and palm trees.  What's with all this snow?" Your confusion is warranted. What you're seeing on your screen is most certainly NOT San Diego.  This is Denver, Colorado - my hometown. On March 13th, 2019, Denver was hit by an ominously-named "bomb cyclone". Effectively the equivalent of an inland winter hurricane, gusts of wind north of 90 miles per hour were recorded, along with multiple feet of snow falling inside just a few violent hours.  Don't get me wrong - I love Denver, and Colorado in general. I think we all feel an obligation to never speak or think ill of our homeland, wherever it may be. But there are definitely times where I look around and wish I was somewhere else. Somewhere sunny, fun and laid back; teeming with culture, delicious food and interesting things to do.  I'm dreaming of escaping this currently-frozen void of a city for somewhere better. Somewhere like San Diego.

Welcome, my friends, to your new home away from home.  True freedom from your average everyday life. Many things can be said about San Diego, but chief among them is that life here moves at an ideal pace.  I've spent time all over California - wandered the forests of Mendocino, strolled amongst the cozy Victorians of San Francisco, and lived it up in the City of Angels.  But while there's gems hidden all over the state, each place seems to have its own issues. Be it affordability, accessibility, overpopulation - it's always something. And that is where San Diego truly shines.  As a travel destination, it is all things - exciting, relaxing, engaging, easy to traverse, and relatively affordable (at least compared to other cities in the Sunshine State). Whether you're a history buff, a foodie, a night owl, a beach bum - it's all here, nestled amongst marinas, perfect weather and stunning California coastline.  

A fantastic place to start your visit here is the historic Old Town neighborhood.  It’s of particular interest to anyone interested in learning about San Diego's colorful past.  The neighborhood split into two main areas. The first area is dubbed the Old Town Historic State Park, but calling this intriguing living museum a simple park is a complete undersell.  Wandering amongst perfectly-preserved colonial buildings, you can observe a variety of fascinating displays of how life was lived when San Diego was founded in the 1800s. There's ample opportunity to teach and inspire the younger generation if you happen to be traveling with kids.  There's also a variety of markets, providing ample opportunity for shopping. Working your way down connects you to the more modern side of Old Town, which features an excellent selection of restaurants, shopping and activities for all shapes and sizes. It’s definitely one of the more touristy areas in San Diego, but that does nothing to make the experiences on offer here any less enjoyable.   It's a must-see site for anyone curious about the city's history, and a no-brainer if you have little ones in tow.

Moving south from Old Town takes us to another landmark of this sunny seaside city - the expansive Balboa Park.  Featuring vast swaths of rolling California forest, it's the perfect place to get lost in the middle of the city.  Meander among endless trails studded with all manner of flora, or take a peek at the revered Rose Garden. But nature walks aren't the only thing on tap here.  Balboa Park is also home to many of San Diego's world-renowned museums, including the legendary San Diego Zoo, the Museum of Man, and dozens of others. It's also the prime location for festivals and gatherings of all types.  It's easy to explore for hours and hours here, enjoying the contrast between secluded forest hikes and pristine collections of art and historical curio.  

While many activities in the city are great fun, it wouldn't be Southern California without beaches.  San Diego features too many excellent spots to count or include in this short film, but the ones closest to downtown can get crowded fast.  So take a piece of advice from a local - get yourself north to the comparatively sleepy La Jolla. It's a few extra miles up the coast from the easier spots, but the extra cab ride is more than worth it.  Gorgeous coves like this are in abundance here, as are San Diego's most famous residents - adorably floppy sea lions and amusingly loud seals. La Jolla is the perfect place for getting up close and personal with these hilarious creatures.  Beyond these fabulous examples of the local fauna, nothing is more relaxing than posting up in a quiet cove to soak in the rays and meditate to the soothing sounds of beach life on the Pacific coast. It’s an experience that is truly to be revered.

Now that you've logged your beach time, wandered Old Town, and learned many new things, you must be starving.  And good Lord, are you in a great city to be hungry. As a serious foodie myself, I can attest - the rumours are true.  San Diego is a gourmand's paradise. And while any food on Earth can easily be had here, there are a few particular areas San Diego excels at.  This city is home to arguably the best coastal Mexican cuisine in the world outside of Mexico, and the seafood in general here is second-to-none.  Two words you'll get very used to, friends - street tacos. Say it with me now. Street tacos. Whatever your preferred contents, these foldable beauties are available in every corner of this city, and they are almost universally stunning.  Either shrimp or fish are the best options by far. But even if fish tacos aren't your jam, San Diegans are deeply proud of their culinary culture, and pretty much any plate of food you order here will be made with equal parts skill and love.  You really can't go wrong.  

San Diego is also legendary for its nightlife.  But when sun goes down and you're looking for an evening out on the city, here's another piece of advice - skip the more expensive tourist areas around the marinas and downtown.  There's lots of cool stuff to do on the waterfront, but prices are higher and pretty much everywhere is packed. Instead, head north to the sleepy surfer village of Pacific Beach.  A longtime favorite of locals, PB provides excellent and extensive dining and nightlife options. Start your evening at the Fish Shop, an incredible local eatery serving the freshest seafood around.  It's guaranteed to be packed with locals enjoying the catch of the day, and while the prices are a bit steep, it's worth every penny. After that, head down Garnet Avenue to visit any of PB's excellent bars, clubs or music venues.  It's the perfect place to cap a long day of sightseeing, museum visits or beachfront excursions.

As I explored the streets and beaches of this gorgeous city, it made me think.  As humans, we are generally expected to take pride in wherever we happen to be from.  I've always been a bit perplexed by this notion - what exactly does birthright have to do with our preferences for climate, or geography, or culture?  Should someone born in Alaska be scorned for fleeing their homeland due to their hatred of frozen mountain peaks and meter-deep snow banks? I don’t think so, personally.  Regardless, I do think most of us feel a sort of duty to love the place we were born. But that does not mean that we never look with fleeting envy to our neighbor’s backyard, even if just for a moment.  And when I look at San Diego, I see grass that is definitely greener than anything on my side. The people are warm and friendly, the food is incredible, the beaches are endlessly relaxing. There's history, culture, and and a boundless vibe of authentic Cali chill.  There's a slice of life to be enjoyed by absolutely everyone here. I think that no matter where you're from, you should at least be thankful for the land that bore you. But next time you find yourself looking around and wishing for somewhere just a bit warmer, more fun, more beautiful, more relaxing, more exciting - San Diego should be squarely at the top of your list.   Last time I checked, there's nothing wrong with wanting a perfect escape from the ordinary.

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

7 Superior Cocktail Recipes to Combine Up This Summer time – LifeSavvy

http://tinyurl.com/y4b72gdk Cabeca de Marmore/Shutterstock Summer time season is cocktail season. Listed below are among the finest cocktail recipes to get you began. There’s nothing like lounging within the solar, drink in your hand, not a care on this planet. However, you have to be ingesting the fitting drink. When you’re going to dwell your finest life, you have to be ingesting the very best drinks. A pleasant chilly cocktail is an ideal companion to your summertime enjoyable. Whereas the avant-garde finish of cocktails can get sophisticated, all these classics are straightforward to make at dwelling. Until in any other case famous, every recipe is for a single drink so scale up as mandatory. Common Cocktail Ideas Earlier than diving in, let’s go over a number of issues. The standard of your cocktails is (up to some extent) immediately in proportion to the standard of your elements. You can also make a margarita with low cost tequila, however your head won’t thanks the subsequent day. Alternatively, you completely shouldn’t make a margarita with a superb sipping mezcal—you’re losing it! For many cocktails, you’ll get the very best end result with an honest premium liquor—the type of factor you see first rate bars making cocktails with. Whereas you can also make cocktails with any gear, a correct shaker makes issues simpler. Equally, a jigger for measuring pours goes a great distance in direction of conserving your cocktails constant. A set like this has just about all the things you want for the cocktails on this checklist, although additionally, you will want a blender if you wish to make frozen cocktails. And, after all, whereas alcohol is authorized and enjoyable nearly in every single place, it’s a drug that’s often abused. Drink responsibly. Cocktails are usually fairly potent (and their sweetness usually masks how sturdy they’re) so be additional cautious to not have one too many. Traditional Daiquiri The traditional daiquiri is certainly one of my all-time favourite drinks. It’s one of many easiest cocktails potential—simply rum, sugar syrup, and lime juice—however owe the way it works with the bitter limes offset by the candy sugar and rum. Components 1.5 ozwhite rum 1 ozfresh lime juice 0.5 ozeasy sugar syrup Lime Instructions Pour the rum, lime juice, and easy syrup right into a cocktail shaker with customary ice cubes. Shake effectively and pressure by way of a bar sieve right into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime. Channel your inner-Hemingway and sip away. Frozen Daiquiri Whereas the frozen daiquiri could be a staple of awful theme bars, a effectively made one remains to be a scrumptious method to calm down on a scorching day. You’ll be able to both go away them purely lime flavored or add strawberries for a fruitier possibility. Components 1.5 ozwhite rum 1 ozfresh lime juice 0.5 ozeasy sugar syrup 0.5 oztriple sec 0.75 cup of crushed ice 1 cup of strawberries (non-compulsory) Instructions When you’re making a strawberry daiquiri, first put the strawberries in a blender and mix right into a puree. Pressure the puree with a sieve to take away a lot of the seeds. Put aside for later and clear for later. Add the rum, lime juice, easy syrup, triple sec, crushed ice and, if you happen to’re utilizing it, strawberry puree, to a blender. Mix till you’ve acquired a slushy-like consistency. Pour right into a glass and drink with a straw. Margarita Mexico has given the world loads of wonderful issues. The 2 most pricey to me? Scrumptious delicacies and tequila. I’ll be having tacos for lunch, however for now, let’s take a look at the classicist tequila cocktail of all of them: the margarita. Components 1.5 oztequila 1 oztriple sec or Cointreau 0.5 ozfresh lime juice 1 lime wedge 1 tsp of salt Instructions Run the lime wedge across the fringe of your cocktail glass then roll it in salt that you simply’ve unfold on a saucer—this provides your glass that traditional margarita salt rim. Add the tequila, triple sec, and lime juice to a shaker with ice cubes. Shake effectively and pressure by way of a bar sieve into the glass. Garnish with the wedge of lime. Frozen Margarita If an everyday margarita isn’t hitting the spot, you’ll be able to flip the temperature one other notch cooler with a frozen margarita. It’s a lot the identical drink however served like a slushy. Components 1.5 oztequila 1 oztriple sec or Cointreau 0.5 ozfresh lime juice 0.75 cup of crushed ice 1 lime wedge (non-compulsory) 1 tsp of salt (non-compulsory) Instructions Rimming a glass with salt is non-compulsory for a frozen margarita because you’re most certainly to drink it by way of a straw however, if you wish to keep conventional, run the lime wedge across the fringe of your cocktail glass and roll it in salt to coat. Add the tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and crushed ice to a blender. Mix till you’ve acquired that slushy-like consistency you’re in search of. Serve, and revel in. Sangria Goskova Tatiana/Shutterstock Sangria is a Spanish traditional for a superb motive. This candy, fruity punch is finest served within the shade with cheese and charcuterie for the total expertise, nevertheless it goes down a deal with any time. Be warned: this recipe is for a bowl of punch. It requires a whole bottle of wine, so don’t plan on ingesting the entire thing your self when you’ve got something to do in the present day (or tomorrow). Components 1 bottle of fruity pink Spanish wine. Suppose one thing like a Rioja or Tempranillo 1 massive orange 1 massive apple. Observe, you’ll be able to substitute the apple with seasonal fruit like pears or melons 1 small lemon or lime 1 cup orange juice three Tbsp of natural cane sugar half cup brandy. Rum will also be used Instructions Chop all of the fruit into small chunks leaving the rinds on. Put in a big pitcher with sugar and muddle or crush with a picket spoon for a couple of minute. Add pink wine, brandy, and orange juice. Combine effectively for about 30 seconds. Style, and add extra orange juice, brandy, or sugar as mandatory. Add ice to sit back. As soon as chilly, serve with a ladle. Alternatively, if you happen to’re in a rush, serve over ice cubes in a glass. Cuba Libre Tasty cocktails can take time to make, so it’s value having one thing fast and scrumptious in your bag of methods. Cuba Libre matches the invoice completely. Not only a rum and Coke, it is a celebration of Cuban revolutionary spirit—and lengthy summer season days. Components 1.5 ozspiced rum three ozCola 1 lime Instructions Add ice cubes to a tall glass. Minimize two wedges from the lime and squeeze into the glass coating the ice with lime juice. Add the rum then the cola. Stir softly to combine. Viva Cuba Libre! Aperol Spritz The Aperol spritz appeared to take over the world final summer season. Whereas the frenzy has light a little bit, it’s nonetheless a traditional summer season drink, and there’s no motive to not make it an enormous a part of your summer season ingesting plans. Components 2 ozAperol 2 ozprosecco Sprint of soda Orange Instructions Fill a wine glass with ice cubes and add the prosecco and Aperol. High off with the sprint of soda and garnish with a slice of orange. Now you’ve made your very personal Aperol spritz! Cocktails are among the tastiest drinks round. These summer season classics are straightforward to take pleasure in on a scorching day—or hiding inside from the rain. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');fbq('init','267914477473431');fbq('track','PageView'); Source link

[digitalmark18-blog]

25 Creative & Engaging Examples of About Us Pages by @alexanderkesler

New Post has been published on https://britishdigitalmarketingnews.com/25-creative-engaging-examples-of-about-us-pages-by-alexanderkesler/

25 Creative & Engaging Examples of About Us Pages by @alexanderkesler

Your About Us page is vital.

It’s often the first stop in any user’s journey through a website or blog.

It also shouldn’t be their last, because first impressions count online just as much as they do in the real world.

If your visitors aren’t impressed, you can expect them to leave without reading your awesome content or completing a conversion action (e.g., signing up for your newsletter, making a purchase).

What Makes a Solid ‘About Us’ Page?

Your About Us page should be:

Informative. It doesn’t always have to tell the whole story, but it should at least provide people with an idea of who and what you are.

Contain social proof, testimonials, and some personal information that viewers can relate to such as education, family, etc.

Useful and engaging.

Easy to navigate and accessible on any device.

That may all sound complicated, but it really isn’t.

The main purpose of your About Us page is to give visitors a glimpse into the identity of either a person or business.

As users discover your brand, they need to distinguish what sets you apart and makes you… you.

This often requires finding the right balance between compelling content and a design carefully planned to look the part.

Conveying your identity in a fun and approachable – but also reliable and informative – way is challenging.

If you know who you are and your goal for your site, the About Us page should come naturally.

However, if you’re looking for some inspiration, you can always check out these 25 examples of creative and engaging About Us pages.

These excellent examples will help you build a personal and engaging website journey.

ToyFight is an award-winning creative design agency.

You’ll find the About Page at the top of the menu under the Who section.

This page has a unique feel, thanks to the deconstructed action figures representing the founders, Leigh Whipday and Jonny Lander.

The great attention to detail and interactivity also reflect the company’s 16 years of experience.

To sum up, this page stands out by providing the perfect mix of fun and information.

Band is a multidisciplinary creative studio based in the Pacific Northwest.

Their About Us page stands out because they used handwritten type.

This adds a unique personal touch to the design.

The clean, simple look and feel are what make this page one of our top picks.

This might be the most distinctive website we’ve come across.

Anton & Irene is a design agency based in Manhattan.

Why are they a distinctive web presence?

Because their page takes parallax scrolling to the next level.

The snowy effects, bold colors, and quirky visuals create a truly captivating experience

Pierro Caron is a French artisan sculptor.

Want to know our favorite part about his page?

The honesty.

Here is a man with great respect for wood and handcrafted sculptures that “tell a story and testify to the richness of one of our most precious resources.”

His website is light, easy to read, and filled with inspiring quotes and photos of his labors of love.

Who doesn’t love a good bio?

Especially one that starts with “I was born in good ol’ Madison, Wisconsin. The son of a Librarian and a Researcher.”

It also goes on to tell you how he and his family survived Hurricane Andrew and how his sister was born that night.

Who is this guy?

Blake Suárez is an illustrator and designer with a fantastic sense of humor.

His quirkiness comes through thanks to his humorous tone and goofy picture.

The page, while minimalist in design, offers a glimpse into Suárez’s colorful personality and his impressive block of work.

If you were a “super awesome” video business, what medium would you choose to show people what you do?

Video, of course.

LessFilms is a video production company based in Florida with clients and team members all over the world.

On their about page, you’ll find a humorous 50-second video along with a short list of facts summarizing their love for tacos, travel, and karate – a theme which certainly permeates most of the content on the website.

DoomTree’s page starts off as a coming-of-age story about how “a mess of friends” built the record label that made them a household name in Minneapolis.

However, it’s really the audio and the visuals that got us hooked.

Why tell, when you can show, right?

Explore their About Us page to meet the crew, listen to their songs, and get the latest news.

On this website’s main page you will find everything lifestyle related – fashion, food, beauty, home decor and more.

But it’s the About section that introduces you to the team that makes this website an endless source of inspiration.

The page introduces founder Emily Schuman, as well as her blog, books, and fashion collection.

Want to stay in touch?

No problem – the page also features useful links to her social media pages, as well as her online shop.

NOWNESS is a video channel providing the best in global arts and culture.

Therefore, it’s only natural that their About Us page features a compilation of various videos they host.

The content’s diversity and the team’s curatorial expertise are another reason to keep you browsing.

To stay in line with their video-centric aesthetic, the text on their page is short and concise.

However, it still provides enough guidance for browsing the website and even contributing.

Access the awards section and see why NOWNESS is currently a powerhouse in online film and video.

Millions of people use MailChimp every day to create, send, and track email newsletters.

That’s the clever part behind MailChimp’s About Page.

It’s a great example of how to use such a page as a sort of pre-sales platform.

It’s simple, fun and effective, quite colorful, and displays a welcoming mix of diverseness.

Tate’s About Us states that their mission is to “increase the public’s enjoyment of British art […] and international modern and contemporary art.”

So said, so done.

How come?

Because this page eases the journey for any reader seeking to take them up on their mission.

Scroll down to find out who they are, how to stay in touch and everything in between.

Yellow Leaf Hammocks is trying to save the world one hammock at a time.

Their goal is to break the cycle of extreme poverty by empowering local artisans in Thailand to earn a stable income.

The brand’s About Page is filled with uplifting stories of impeccable craftsmanship and tight-knit communities.

As a result, it’s just as inspiring as their devotion to sustainable change.

You had me at “hello.”

Well, that’s exactly how the About Us section of Eight Hour Day starts – a welcoming greeting.

For that reason, it also made us browse for more.

Why?

Because as much as you love good design and inspiring illustrations, you also want to meet the people that curate all the content for you.

Furthermore, it’s equally rewarding when you realize that they are just as eager to start a visual dialogue with you.

Nathan Strandberg and Katie Kirk are doing what makes them happy, and this is obvious throughout their page.

You know you’re about to hop on a journey when a website’s About Us page tells you to “Just go.”

This is a website for travelers, so the layout is perfect for those eager to explore.

As you scroll down, you discover what Lonely Planet stands for, and their visual aid offers a preview of their services.

The perks?

You see everything in one go and decide for yourself what you take on your journey.

Will it be their apps, their printed guides, or their website?

In any case, every resource becomes an inexhaustible well of travel inspiration.

So, are you ready to go?

Gummisig is a freelance web designer who likes to talk about himself in the third person.

He also makes great use of over-sized text to bring attention to his work in a humorous manner.

Perhaps what’s striking about this page is that it introduces Gummisig’s portfolio, but also reflects his free spirit and commitment.

And while he mentions the household names he worked for in the past, he remains approachable and open to new collaborations.

Scroll down to discover his preferred action items.

Hint: he wants to know your secrets!

Perhaps the most striking feature behind this page is that it acts as a preface to the designer’s portfolio, mirroring his free spirit and a remarkable passion for design.

While he proudly states the companies he has worked for (IKEA is just one of the bigger names to pop up) he does so in a manner that is not boastful.

Amnesty International is more than an NGO.

It is a global movement of more than 7 million people that are campaigning for a better world, where human rights are central.

It is no wonder that the pronoun we is prevalent throughout their page.

Filled with quotes, videos, and testimonials, their page makes you believe that you can hope for a better world. And they have the facts to prove it, too.

If you scroll down, you can access all their accomplishments on the road toward better social change.

After you understand their global footprint, you should also imagine – imagine the possibility of a world where human rights are at the center of discussion.

Good enough reason to stay in touch, no?

The top part of the Chattanooga Renaissance Fund page aims to attract entrepreneurs into the Chattanooga area of Tennessee.

How?

By describing its history and the companies that already invested there, such as Amazon or Volkswagen, to name a few.

Which begs the question: what prompted these companies to move there?

Find out by reading more about the fund’s members and how they contributed to its growth.

This is especially reassuring because they are also here to help you.

Whether you’re a startup, investor, or third party, the page has a dedicated section for all its users.

All you have to do is prove that you want to turn ideas into existence.

This website started off as a photography blog founded by Garance Doré.

Eventually, it became a place for inspiration with a growing team that’s eager to question everything.

Whether it is style, femininity, or modern dilemmas, no topic remains off limits.

Ready to contribute to the discussion? By all means, you are most welcome.

The team reads all your comments and is ready to turn your thoughts into their command.

Not sure where to start?

Scroll down to see their work in videos and use the pictures at the bottom to access their Instagram page.

How can you convince men to delve into skincare?

You bring their best friend on their side – a dog.

Meet Bulldog Skincare, the company that aims to make skincare options dedicated to men readily available.

To have you sold, their About Us page greets you with the adorable mug of a bulldog.

This quickly becomes your guide to finding the products that will help you look and feel your best.

As you scroll down, you are growing familiar with the products and are slowly but surely befriending the brand itself and its values.

Their skincare is made from a mix of natural and carefully-selected man-made ingredients.

It’s also vegan and certified by Cruelty Free International.

Their page is so good, it’s no wonder they have a ‘Shop Now’ button every step of the way.

Don’t mind if I do.

Navigating through Couro Azul’s About Us page is like a journey through the unknown.

The kind of journey that keeps you scrolling down for more.

The company makes leather upholstery for cars and trains, and its history and trajectory are equally fascinating.

In addition to the visual delight, the page is also interactive and engaging.

Why?

So that you can understand what the company values from a first browse: 100 percent in-house products.

Their certificate for ecologic distinction attests to their commitment to environmental best practices.

The entire Girlboss website underwent a complete makeover just a few months ago. Now it’s more inspiring than ever.

Sophia Amoruso’s brand aims to redefine success for millennial women.

Girlboss empowers them by providing the tools and connections they need to own their futures.

Furthermore, every bit of content you’ll find on this site oozes with passion, humor, and resourcefulness.

These key traits are sewn into the fabric of Amoruso’s success.

If you want people to understand your company’s values, then put them in bold black and white print – just like Purple, Rock, Scissors did.

Their entire website is a technological marvel.

With its quaint background animation, concise content, and creative visuals, this page is definitely an eye-catcher.

There’s also an openness about it that will unfailingly draw you in.

It’s not often that you see an About page that puts so much emphasis on its “meet the team” section.

Each member is portrayed with a short description and an almost full-body shot, complete with their social media accounts.

Boasting big, bold elements and sharp colors, this page excels at making a great first impression.

There are many things we love about this website, but for brevity’s sake we’ll narrow it down to two.

First, their main page is highly interactive.

The simple act of pushing a key or moving the mouse reveals a key piece of info about the brand. Because of that, it feels like watching a modern silent movie.

The second thing is the way 6tematik introduces us to its team. Each member is portrayed by a minimalist caricature that is defined by one obvious trait. Some have long pink hair, others a bushy beard or big glasses.

These traits add a touch of personality to each member’s portrait, without giving too much away.

Made by artists for artists, Bigcartel is an online platform that makes it easy to build and manage an online store.

The simple yet impactful mission statement and the candid employee photographs make this About page refreshingly different.

Each photo in the gallery is unique and personal.

As a result, you won’t find any staged or boring ID-badge-type photos – just a wonderful display of diversity.

More Resources:

Image Credits

All screenshots taken by author, July 2018

Source: http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/10196882

[theconservativebrief]

Most newspaper restaurant critics are best known to people in the region they write about. But when Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer-winning food critic for the Los Angeles Times, died at the age of 57 on Saturday night, the outpouring of tributes that stretched well beyond LA’s borders made it clear that he was no ordinary restaurant critic.

Of course, Gold — who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer only weeks earlier — was well known to Angelenos. In addition to his writing in the LA Times, he’d written for LA Weekly and Gourmet, and was a regular on KCRW’s program Good Food. His anticipated annual map of 101 great LA restaurants was a fixture for the LA food scene, a guide for locals and newbies alike.

But Gold was beloved far beyond Los Angeles. That’s not to say he “transcended” LA; it’s more that he embodied LA, embedded himself in its culture and, as many people attested following the news of his death, epitomized what Angelenos love about their city:

A very sad day for LA as Jonathan Gold left us. He was the soul of this city and all of its amazing flavors. He was a personal friend and inspiration–there will never be another like him. My heart goes out to the Gold family with the millions of Angelenos who loved him. EG

— Eric Garcetti (@ericgarcetti) July 22, 2018

I have never been sadder. Jonathan Gold is gone.

— ruthreichl (@ruthreichl) July 22, 2018

“I write about taco stands and fancy French restaurants to try to get people less afraid of their neighbors and to live in their entire city instead of sticking to their one part of town.” — Jonathan Gold. RIP to a hero and a giant. I love this city because he did.

— Andy Greenwald (@andygreenwald) July 22, 2018

yesterday I had lunch alone at Zankou Chicken, where a Gold quote about the garlic sauce is posted on the wall, and was thinking about how Zankou and Jonathan Gold are exactly what LA means to me

— Molly Lambert (@mollylambert) July 22, 2018

Yet the praise went far beyond those who lived in Gold’s city, spilling over to other artists, writers, and critics who work in various media all over the country.

Gold’s evocative prose sparkled in ways that were enjoyable to read even if you were far from LA. NPR’s tribute, for instance, cited a passage from his writing in which he “described mole negro, a Mexican dish, as so dark that it seems to suck the light out of the airspace around it, spicy as a novella and bitter as tears.” Gold continued writing until just a few weeks ago, which means you can read, for instance, his June 15 review of the new Israeli restaurant Bavel, which contains passages like this:

You will be drinking salty island wines from Sardinia and the Canary Islands. Your date will barely hear you above the din. You will wonder whether there is a point to an old-fashioned made with lamb-fat-washed bourbon or a pisco sour with pink peppercorns, and you will decide that there might be. You will probably be having a very good time.

But another factor that extended Gold’s fame past LA’s borders was the release of the acclaimed 2015 documentary City of Gold. The New York Times critic A.O. Scott wrote that the movie “transcends its modest methods, largely because it connects Mr. Gold’s appealing personality with a passionate argument about the civic culture of Los Angeles and the place of food within it.”

City of Gold, directed by Laura Gabbert and currently streaming on Hulu, follows Gold as he drives his green pickup truck through his beloved Los Angeles, eating at a handful of hole-in-the-wall, strip mall restaurants that most people just blithely sail past, talking about his career and his approach to his work. It’s an illuminating portrait not just of a writer but of a city, and as Scott put it in his review, it is “worth attending to even if you think you have no interest in food, California or criticism.”

For a critic in any medium — even, say, a New York-based film critic like myself — City of Gold is also a kind of masterclass in the things that good critics do. As many noted over the weekend, a hallmark of Gold’s writing is that he wrote not just about eating, but also about culture and about being a person, and that’s what the film underlines well.

That’s why, watching City of Gold, I actually fist-pumped a few times, as the film pointed to a lot of what made Gold such an important critic. Two in particular stuck with me, qualities that good critics aspire to, no matter what they’re writing about.

City of Gold often shows visually, on a map, the LA neighborhood in which the restaurant Gold is about to visit is geographically placed. And — as a number of people note in the film — it shows how Gold’s work often helped Angelenos connect the seemingly disparate parts of their sprawling city.

“I’m trying to get people to be less afraid of their neighbors,” Gold said in a 2015 interview.

A prime example of this is Gold’s 1998 essay “The Year I Ate Pico Boulevard,” about his experiences eating his way down a main drag that cuts across LA. It’s an essay about food, but really it’s about the culture that gave rise to that food, and the ways the connecting flavors and experiences work as a cipher for the broader city and its history.

Jonathan Gold in City of Gold. Sundance Institute

Of course, restaurant criticism is one of the few areas of critique that is expressly tied to physical locations, and thus the restaurant critic’s “mapping” job is literal.

But it’s part of other critical pursuits as well. As a film critic, for instance, I partly think of my job as “mapping” the movie terrain for the reader. Different critics do this in different ways: some are better at drawing the map on the ground of film history, others through the politics of the industry, and others through the technical and theoretical aspects of it. Some, like me, like to figure out where the paths the film carves into the cultural landscape intersect with other regions, like literature and religion and philosophy.

All critics, though, do some mapping work, and you should walk away from a good piece of criticism understanding more than just that a work of art exists, but where and how it exists. Critics are cartographers.

A distinction City of Gold makes is between the idea of writing about food and the idea of writing about eating. Gold wrote about eating.

That’s a small distinction that might not seem too important, but to the critic it’s everything. Critics can’t view things “objectively.” We’re humans. What we can do is pay very close attention to our experience with a film through the lens we bring to the table (or the screening room or the gallery or the concert), then articulate it as carefully as possible. When we’re successful, the reader feels freed to have their own experience with the film.

Gold was the living manifestation of this way of thinking about criticism. His writing, particularly in the latter part of his career, was often positive and devoted to a democratized range of restaurants. A good meal could be had anywhere, no matter the trappings. In the film, he remarks that he often went to a restaurant five times or more before writing about it, and that he doesn’t take notes because he wants to be able to absorb the experience.

Sundance Institute

Then, when he writes about it, it reads like poetry — full of descriptions that draw on a cross-pollinated blend of mediums and references. (Before he wrote about food, Gold wrote about music, and especially hip-hop.) It’s hard to evoke tastes and smells in words, but Gold pulled it off by appealing to all the senses.

Of course, what you got in his writing was Gold’s palate, not your own. But by putting words to his own experience, you got a taste of what he had experienced, and the urge to go try it for yourself. And that carried over for the experience of the chefs, too.

In the documentary, Roy Choi (of the BBQ taco truck Kogi and fast-food restaurant Locol) tries to explain: “The weird thing about my first interaction with Jonathan is he helped me figure out what I was trying to do. When he writes about me, he understands and is able to articulate the little kind of secret tangled webs I have inside that I’m trying to put out into the plate — he understands it. And I’ve never explained it to him.”

That’s what critics are after. It’s a glorious feeling to not just articulate one’s own experience, but help an artist put words to what they experienced as they made the work, too — whether it’s a movie or a painting or a song. A critic can’t read minds, but often artists aren’t able to fully explain what they’ve made, either. In an ideal situation, working in concert, criticism helps expand the art, and the art expands the critic, too.

Doing this requires a mastery of the critic’s own form, which is writing, and Gold was a master at this as well; in one of my favorite passages in the film, one commentator (performing an act of criticism, one might say) explains how Gold harnessed and used the second person point of view — that its, addressing the reader as “you” — to make his writing even better. Reading Gold, you can hear a well-read mind in love with language turning over phrases till they sparkle.

So Gold’s work does exemplify the best of what criticism has to offer. (It’s no mistake that he is, to date, the first and only restaurant critic to receive the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.)

City of Gold helps show how and why that’s true — and why, in the wake of Gold’s passing, the world could use a lot more critics, eaters, and neighbors like him.

City of Gold is available to stream on Hulu and to digitally rent on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, iTunes, and Google Play.

Original Source -> Jonathan Gold wrote about food, but his approach to criticism was universal

via The Conservative Brief

[averagemagicalgirl]

Monthly Media: May

Last month I shared my first ever Monthly Media post on my WordPress blog so I thought this month I’d share to both! 

MOVIES

I really wanted to see Infinity War which meant sitting down for some well deserved MCU entertainment. Note: I was VERY behind when this month started.

Spiderman: Homecoming ~ Coming from a place of never liking Spiderman I found this movie to be enjoyable, well paced, and interesting. I wish it had included more "backstory" but I think we all know how Spiderman came to be at this point. Looking forward to more character development in the future. Peter Parker is a treasure and needs to be protected at all costs.

Black Panther ~ Straight up loved this movie. I can see why a lot of people on my various social media feeds went crazy for it. A pure joy to watch and would definitely want to watch again/own in the future.

Thor Ragnarok ~ Thor has always been my favorite Avenger from this first movie. Despite his flaws he seems to be a genuinely good person who just wants to do the best he can. I laughed through this entire movie, everything was connected and nuanced in such a way that the comedy came from organic situations, none of it seemed contrived. I watched this at my friends house at least twice more.

Civil War ~ Rewatched to try and catch up a bit for Infinity War. Not my favorite movie in the MCU but tolerable. The problem is that everyone wants to be right or wrong about Captain America or Ironman that I think they miss the main message of "Life is never black and white", and therefore make the movie somewhat enjoyable for those of us who can see and appreciate the grey spaces between issues.

Ant Man ~ I like Scott Lang. He seems like an ok dude. I am looking forward to the "Ant Man and Wasp" movie that will be coming out shortly so this seemed like a good one to watch.

Infinity War ~ I HAVE LOTS OF FEELINGS. Lots of threads, little resolution, feelings everywhere. I know that a lot of people still haven't seen the movie so I'll be brief: I would recommend seeing it in a theater if you can BUT I wouldn't see it a second time until the 4th movie was ready to come out. That being said I am now also looking forward to several movies coming out in the next few years.

The Greatest Showman ~ Watched it 3 time, memorized all the songs, will buy it in the near future and turn up the volume so I can sing along without bothering anyone. The Honest Trailers dudes at YouTube did a pretty accurate job with this one. I watched it before the movie and found myself less moved by the actual story line and more by the secondary characters themselves. That being said, still loved it.

The Hobbit ~ I actually only watched the first one and not the extended edition when I was visiting my friend. Wish we'd watched the other two or at least the other edition but I still really enjoyed the movie as I did when I first saw it come out. It was nice to go back to Middle Earth even for a brief time and it reminded me that I really should download The Hobbit to my kindle to read it again since all my books are still packed away from my move.

Psych: The Movie ~ Overall disappointed. I was expecting something little more than an hour and a half-ish long episode. I'd like to watch it after finishing the series though, I think that might change my mind. Nothing against the characters or the actors, they were just the same with a little more years on them but I think the writing wasn't as good as it could have been.

TELEVISION

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Seasons 1-3) ~ This was a rewatch for my friend and I because she'd introduced me to Kimmy and her gaggle of pals a couple years ago. After watching the first two seasons together I watched the third one on my own last year. I'm looking forward to season 4 because last season was disappointing in a lot of ways narrative wise but I thought overall it was a great setup to what has already been announced as the last season. Sustainably I feel like that was the best choice. Had things worked out a bit differently in Season 2, this last season could have been the end. Anything beyond 4 would be a mistake in any case.

New Girl (Somewhere around Season 2) ~ I've been watching New Girl on and off for a while and I lost track of where I was so I just picked up where my friend had left off. Still find it cute in a lot of ways but I'm NOT thrilled about Nick and Jessica being together. Maybe my feelings will change, they literally just got together from what I saw but I feel like she could do so much better...fingers crossed though. Nick has a lot of potential as a character and as a person so hopefully Jessica can help bring that out in him.

Galavant (Seasons 1&2) ~ 4th time through watching it. Still love it. The characters have GREAT growth through 2 seasons and it all feels equal throughout the cast, even among the minor characters. The music is a treasure that I will sing forever. Favorite character continues to be Madalena with a dash of Cook/Jester thrown in. It's a great feel good show with lots of action and romance.

History's Greatest Hoaxes (Season 1) ~ I love all sorts of weird conspiracy theory/hoaxy stuff so this was naturally right up my alley and I binged the whole season in one day. It was quite fascinating all together and they did a good job of balancing those who were defending the so-called "hoax" and those that advocated for the reality of the situation.

BOOKS

As I mentioned a few times above I went to see a friend this month for a couple of weeks, I was planning to try and get some quiet reading time with her boys as part of their "summer routine". It didn't really turn out that way so I'm still stuck on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Lost World". I did however, get to read a lot of different children's books and have realized they're a little more sassy than when I was a child. Some of my favorites included: "Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus", "The Book without Pictures", "Dragons Love Tacos 1 & 2", "The Interrupting Chicken", & "Robo-Sauce"

I also read a story to my 7-year-old Nephew as part of his homeschooling curriculum  called "The Toga Detectives" by Henry Winterfield. As a story book to read out loud to a child it was incredibly awkward. I often found myself shortening things so that the narrative sounded smoother than it actually was. I think part of the issue was that the books listed publish date was in 1953 and translated from the original German. That being said as a book for take-home reading in a classroom setting to then assign vocabulary words from I found it to be exceptional. There were a lot of great words to pull from in each chapter and the story really picks up after chapters 5/6. My nephew begged me to keep reading in certain points because it had gotten so exciting.

IN PROGRESS

GAMES ~ Pokemon Soul Silver (I need something but it's day specific and I keep missing it), Pokemon X, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (I LITERALLY JUST STARTED THIS YESTERDAY I AM STOKED)

TELEVISION ~ Just started watching the Netflix Lost in Space series so we'll see how that goes...

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 31. Move II. Part II. Home

Alright, where’d we leave off with the last post?

Part I was Japan, our first week after leaving the UK. Part III will conclude with our arrival in Sydney. That means Part II will be the time in between. The awkward middle brother, or Jeff, of this three-part moving post. Included in Part II: Christmas in Dallas, New Year’s in Woodinville, and reunions in Seattle.

Over the past two years, most of my posts have been about our travels around Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and soon-to-add, Australia. That said, I still like to add our trips back home, specifically because I want them to be included when Chelsay converts this blog into a book. I’ve done all the writing and uploading, so she can handle eventually turning this into a NYT’s best seller.

That was a joke (except not, she definitely needs to make this a book). The real reason I want to write about our trips home is the same reason I write about any of our travels: I don’t want to forget.

As I wrote in my wedding post, this blog should be a time machine. 20 years from now, I’ll open the book that Chelsay publishes and place myself back in what will likely be our most adventurous years. Young D’Derek (or whatever weird name Chelsay decides on for our first) will be learning to drive, and Diana (the classic, sensible name I choose for our second) will be taking piano lessons, while Papa Mike heads back to Iceland or Morocco or Jordan or Japan via these posts.

That said, as exciting as our travels to new places have been, some of our favorite memories will undoubtedly come from our returns to the familiar. I’ve written about our first trip home in March 2016 (Chapter 7) and our second trip home that Christmas (Chapter 15), so now, without further ado, here is our third trip home: Christmas 2017.

Oh, one more note first: because there are so many moments I want to remember from this third rendition (and because I’m three months behind in writing about this long move), I’ll structure this post in bullet form.  Okay, now: Christmas 2017.

Highlights from Texas:

Our trip began in Dallas, and as all trips to Dallas begin, we started with Chick-fil-a. It might just be fried chicken and a pickle, but I’d take it over a 18 oz steak any day.

While Chelsay, Liv, and my mom got mani/pedis, my dad, brothers, and I headed to Top Golf. Not even the dumping rain could stop Matt & I’s pin-seeking in our 2-on-2 match up.

The Kerns play a lot of games. Pictionary is always a family favorite, while the meme game seemed slightly inappropriate for this crowd. A few new additions to the game arsenal were Matt’s e-games, where we all come up with funny responses to various prompts, then vote on the best (my mom’s “Shmule” response was an all-timer). One surprise favorite was also one of the simplest: Uno. The unexpected enjoyment actually had nothing to do with the game, but more to do with someone inevitably making a fart joke. (You can tell it was a fart joke in the picture below because my mom is not amused).

Bocce, and braving the frigid temperatures to complete undoubtedly the worst matches those courts had seen.

Another Kern family tradition: back-and-forth putt-putt battles between the kids and parents (+ Chelsay).

It doesn’t even matter who won.

It was definitely the kids.

Christmas cookie making, with some highlights being Matt’s Grinch, Chelsay’s wreath, and Liv’s stocking. Definitely the worst cookie goes to Jeff (”Someone’s in here”).

Pasta on Christmas Eve. Continuing our tradition of informal Christmas Eve meals (grilled cheese, Italian beef sandwiches, tortilla soup, sloppy joes), the family decided on homemade pasta this year. Chelsay made a phenomenally hearty Bolognese sauce, while the family spun out rolls of al dente linguine.

The Christmas Day photoshoot.

After a delicious Christmas beef tenderloin, my mom shared the basics of piano playing with Chelsay, while Matt, my dad, and I took a long, cold, sunset walk down the Trophy Club fairways.

THREE successful Escape Rooms, including a near record-setting win with 24 minutes remaining. Based on our experience, we now get free Escape Rooms for life!

Countless gut-busting meals, including Feedstore ribs, Anamia’s taco salad, Christina’s queso, Mi Cocina sunset fajitas, and i Fratelli thin crust pizza.

On a sad note, Abby’s memorial, where we followed my dad’s heartfelt but humorous eulogy by saying goodbye to the cutest, strangest, best dog any family could hope for.  

Highlights from Seattle:

Playing with Miles. His favorite games: Monster Auntie Chelsay (he got so excited that he pooped), Bucket Flights through the house, and Uncle Mike Express, where I delivered my little passenger to Grandma Helen Station or Papa Sum Pass.

Din Tai Fung & Lucky Strike with Chelsay’s whole family, which included shot-caller Chris destroying the record high score in pop-a-shot.

Runs around Crystal Lake. Dan & June have been in this house for years, but the setting blows me away every time I see it. I loved going for chilly runs around the lake, quietly taking in the massive trees, charming homes, calm waters, and beautiful surroundings.

Ringing in New Year’s 2018 with Chelsay’s family, Dev, Babs, Auz, Kels, and our new friend Harvey.

The second annual virtual golf showdown with Danny. Similar to Chris at Lucky Strike, we set some high scores (high scores are good in golf, right?)

Saturday nights with Auz, Dev, Hanan, Tiin, ALoh, Trav, Ben P, Rob Sooz, and Andy Lit at the 5715 House (aka STZ Pad 3). That house has to be one of my favorite places in the entire world. You can visit the Eiffel Tower or Sahara Desert, but it’s hard to beat watching the NFL playoffs on that shitty couch, bumping all the hits from 2011, embarrassing ourselves with throwback beer pong, or epic 3 AM battles in Hockey.

Catch up drinks with Chelsay’s friends, including Officer Nicole, El Gringo (Will), and the Doctors (Matt & Shiva).

Busy season JC meetings w/ Mark Fitz, and the occasional bucket with him & Dev at Bellevue Muni.

Dan and June’s first Escape Room, overcoming some of the hardest puzzles we’d ever faced to escape on their first attempt.

Chelsay and I’s triumphant one-day return to the city. This was my favorite day in Seattle. Although I had a few trips to the city for nights at the 5715 House, Chelsay and I mostly stayed around her parents’ place  in Woodinville. On the weekend before her flight to Sydney though, we went with her parents on a reunion tour through the city. We ate breakfast at Portage Bay, walked through South Lake Union, took in the Space Needle views from Kerry Park, visited Pike Place Market, returned to Green Lake for cookie cakes, and enjoyed a nightcap tasting to top it all off from Woodinville Whisky. Our January in Seattle was largely about reconnecting with friends and family, but this day was Chelsay and I’s reunion with the city.

Countless gut-busting meals, including Firenze Amatriciana (possibly my new favorite dish in Seattle), Pink Door Bolognese, La Carta tacos, Great State burgers & crispy crinkle fries, more Chick-fil-a, and of course, Juju’s home cookin’.

Chibi just trying to sleep through all of this.

Alas, our six week return to the States was just a tease, a brief glimpse into our former lives.

Like this blog, life is a collection of different chapters, and each chapter has its setting. Most of Chelsay and I’s story has taken place in the US, though our past two years were set in London and our next two will be in Australia.

Throughout our story, we understand the importance of remaining present in each chapter. Sometimes it’s fun to reminisce or look ahead, but Chelsay and I always come back to the present and appreciate our current setting while we can.

As I write this, it’s been three weeks since I left the US, so Chelsay and I are well into our new lives in Sydney. The next & final post in this trilogy will show how much we’ve already enjoyed our latest life chapter, but this post is a reminder that nothing can ever replace the love I feel for our story’s first setting: Home.