#y'know from like 2011-2016

[kitty-pilled-gamma]

2004 - 2008 - only earthling girls can be Cures

2009 - actually girls from other worlds can be Cures too

2011 - actually cat fairies from other worlds can be Cures too

2016 - a god like fairy can also be a Cure. and a teddy bear too

2018 - androids can be Cures too... y'know what fuck it literally everyone on Earth is now Cure

2019 - aliens can become Precure too lol

2020 - don't forget ethereal beings

2021 - and don't forget mermaids too

2023 - boys adults and babies can be Cures now

2024 - DOG CURE

[lettheladylead]

Hi! I was looking through Magica De Spell’s Wikipedia page today and it says that Magica has a sister named the Wicked Witch of the West, who has children named Witch Child and Warlock. I couldn’t find any information of them online so I was wondering if you knew anything about them, if they exist at all.

If they don’t, do you think you could instead do a character post on Magica’s cousin Matilda? Your old family tree posts helped me a lot in understanding Duck lore.

Aw I'm glad those posts help!! I'm still down for making them 'cause it's a lot of fun for me to find old comics and do some research.

So before I talk about Witch Child, I wanna clarify some things that are relevant to the character.

This is another case where Americans can't stop themselves from taking "sister" and "aunt" literally. Aunt can be used to refer to any older woman in someone's life. Sister is frequently used in stories about witches (because a coven is like a sisterhood/sorority, it's a whole thing). Neither imply blood relation! Even "cousin" is often used to refer to friends/neighbors. Different cultures and languages treat words like that very differently than Americans do.

Witch Child, Warlock, & Witch of the West are all from a very specific time period of Brazilian duck comics where Magica and Madam Mim (from The Sword and the Stone) were living together/dating/???? and interacted with other Disney movie characters. In this specific timeline, the ducks live amongst regular humans which is very strange but you just gotta accept it. Magica also lives in Duckburg I think? It seems like she and Scrooge just run into each other randomly so I believe she and Mim have a house in Duckburg for whatever reason

"Witch Child" is not her name and I don't know why she's referred to like that on InDucks/other wikias. Her name in Brazil (where she was created) is Magali, in Italian she's Maghetta/Maghina/Streghella (inconsistent names in translations are very common), and in French she's Seraphine. None of her comics have an official English publication so again idk where "Witch Child" comes from! But I'll probably refer to her as Streghella for the remainder of this post 'cause it's easier that way.

OKAY now for details:

In Streghella's first comic, Magica gets a letter from a friend asking her and Madam Mim to babysit her friend's daughter. Streghella is whiny and rude and a troublemaker. She ruins a magical career opportunity for Magica and it's pretty funny

Then there's a whole bunch of comics where she just appears for no reason, making trouble. She's a surprisingly powerful witch but she just loves to piss everyone off, especially Mim.

Another important note about Streghella - she was only really drawn by two comic artists during the height of her appearances (in the 70s, pretty much). The above drawings were all done by an artist named Jim Fletcher. But she had a lot of appearances drawn by an artist named Glenn Schmitz, who drew her completely differently.

I don't know if I would've realized these were even the same character if it wasn't documented lol but y'know they didn't have the same resources in the 70s that we have now so they did what they could.

Anyway, from what I can tell her personality stayed mostly in tact through most of these comics. Whiny, stuck-up, nosy, but also very funny and magically powerful. She would occasionally interact with Scrooge or HDL but mostly her appearances were in Magica and Mim comics.

Oh there's one comic where she looks like this for some reason?

BUT THEN what's interesting is Streghella making a few appearances years after her comics all came out. First there was one comic in 1995, then twice in 2011 and once more in 2016. There's also apparently a 2020 appearance but I couldn't get my hands on it :(

In her 1995 appearance she looks really cute but her personality is, well. Personality-wise she's completely unrecognizable. Now Magica makes comments about Streghella always trying to be good and getting in trouble for being good all the time.

(Ignore the bad english translation I was just popping pages into google translate lol)

She's still a troublemaker in the sense that she tries to trick Magica and Mim into consuming a potion that will make them good, kind people. But then the comic ends with Magica doing something nice by choice and it's cute but yeah the character is nothing like her original self.

Her first 2011 comic is where she...wants to go to a Jonas Brothers concert and chats with April May & June online to try and make it happen. Something like that. It follows along with "Streghella is too kind and Magica tries to teach her to be evil" from the '95 comic, but for some reason the colorist made Streghella a brunette. Idk! They also forgot her iconic hat!

Next 2011 comic has Huey Dewey and Louie accidentally traveling to a magic academy. It's very Harry Potter-y? I guess? Streghella is friendly and does some magic. You can tell it's her 'cause of the pigtails and bows. But still no hat :(

In her 2016 appearance, she's been reading April May and June's blog and wants to help them with some problem. Magica is like no be mean and Streghella's like no I want to help! You get it.

This comic is pretty fun. Magica turns herself into Grandma Duck and puts a truth potion into some cake Streghella bakes for the Duck Family and gets a bunch of secrets out of them.

There's also a joke at the end where Daisy accidentally reveals Brigitta's age to everyone (we don't get to see it) but according to this comic, Brigitta is much older than she looks lol Not that we didn't already know that.

Anyway so that's all there is to know about Witch Child/Streghella. She's cute!

Warlock time!

Warlock is Streghella's brother. He's only in four comics total and they're mostly very early comics - his real name is just whatever Streghella's name was at the time but with an -o at the end. If she's Maghetta, he's Maghetto. If she's Maghina, he's Maghino. You get it. He'd probably be Streghello if he had a named appearance more recently.

His personality is not very distinct from Streghella's. He's also magical and a troublemaker. In his first comic he arrives in the mail, in a, like...little jail cell? Crate? Idk? And then Magica and Mim eventually box both kids up into the crate and ship them away.

(Yes that's supposed to be him, apparently.)

He appears in the magic school comic as well...

And that's it! There's not really anything else to know about him.

Last but not least...the Witch of the West! Actually, that's a lie. Least. She appears just the one time. And I'm gonna be honest. I don't think she's the biological mother of these bird children.

'Cause yeah she's a human witch. Idk if she's from another Disney property or if she's supposed to be the witch from the Wizard of Oz. Idk man. But Streghella calls her "mama" and she refers to Streghella as her daughter so I'll take those ones literally.

There's nothing much to say about her - she doesn't have a name and all she does is drop her kid off with Magica and then reappear when Mim and Magica threaten to lock Streghella inside a bottle.

NOW if you're wondering...how do these characters connect to the previously known characters that are related to Magica De Spell?

They do not! The fact that Streghella has made a few recent appearances means you can decide how you want her to fit in, but trying to blend these different canons will not be seamless. You just gotta take what you like. Streghella frequently refers to herself as Magica's apprentice so you can always take that route, too.

Aaaaaaaaaand since you asked, I'm happy to talk about Matilda! God there are too many Matildas in duck comics. I have never met a woman named Matilda in my life. It's fine.

Matilda De Spell (not an official name but I call her that anyway) - Magica's teenage cousin! Is she actually, biologically, Magica's cousin? Probably not. But it's fiiiiiiine.

I did actually scanlate all three comics that Matilda appears in, so you can read them if you'd like:

There's not really anything to know about her outside of these comics. She's tomboyish, spunky, fun. Really looks up to Magica. I think their dynamic is fun and I always like to see more teen characters lol I think I've portrayed Matilda as Amelia De Spell's younger sister but that's definitely not canon, just me trying to stick the blondes together.

Anyway sorry this ended up being such a long response. I haven't had the opportunity to research random duck characters in a while. I hope this has the answers you wanted :)

[bigstupid69]

I love your headcanons what kinda horror movies would the choir like - 🐀

Oh boy this is gonna be a lot I bet so I'll put my thoughts under the cut;

I'll give them both horror movie picks relevant to the time period (before and during 2009/8) and ones after

These are all movies I have seen before so I'm sorry about the repeats, and you may not agree.

Ocean

I'm so torn between having Ocean be absolutely terrified of horror movies or being like a horror snob. Y'know the type to criticize unnecessary amounts of violence and gore, and only actually enjoy films if there's some deeper meaning out of it. She seems like those type of insufferable people. Like the female equivalent of the men obsessed with American psycho. She definitely hates most campy horrors and slashers as well as things similar to the saw franchise. I think she'd definitely enjoy some of those genres by picking it apart with a feminist lens though. So I feel like she'd definitely be more of a fan of psychological horror, but definitely stuff that isn't absolutely terrifying to watch like Hereditary.

My picks are; Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Stepford Wives (1975)

More modern picks; Last Night in Soho (2021), Midsommar (2019), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

Noel

People who think he wouldn't like horror movies are completely wrong. Considering his ideals in his monologue, he would probably enjoy films with lots of gore. I think he'd definitely be into the saw franchise with Mischa. He'd also probably enjoy a lot of suggestive and or queer coded films as well. Also probably has a guilty pleasure for cheesy romance driven films, but he would not let anyone know that.

My picks are; Repo the genetic opera (2008), Rocky horror picture show (1975), society (1989), Re-animator (1985), the lost boys (1987), I think he'd also maybe be into the buffy the vampire series (1997-2003)

More modern picks: X (2022), terrifier 1 and , 2 (2016-2022), warm bodies (2013), only putting this here since it ran for a longer time but the vampire diaries (2008-2016)

Mischa

Mischa's "canonically" favorite film is Saw 5, so obviously he'd be into the saw franchise and films like that. I think he'd really just also be into slashers, definitely the kid who dressed up as ghost face for Halloween with the mask that could squirt out blood. I think he'd also like horror comedies quite a bit as well.

My picks are: The saw franchise (canon?), scream (1996), sleepaway camp (1983), Friday the 13th (1980), the evil dead, and evil dead 2 (1981/1987)

More modern picks: The cabin in the woods (2011), the purge (2013), the scary movie series (both modern and time accurate 2000-2013)

Ricky

A mix between cheesy/funny classics and pretty much anything sci-fi. Not sure if he's into that much gore in the films but definitely isn't as picky as Ocean so it's not a complete turn off. Regardless his favorites are pretty much anything sci-fi but he makes exceptions.

My picks are: Rocky horror picture show (1975), little shop of horrors (1986), Alien (1979), lifeforce (1985), mars attacks (1996)

More modern picks: Annihilation (2018), Nope (2022), color out of space (2020)

Constance

I also think she'd really be into horror, she'd definitely be more into campy films and also have a soft spot for classic horror movies from her childhood. She's definitely not innocent and does probably enjoy some more fucked up ones on occasion however.

My picks are: scream (1996), Jennifer's body (2009), Coraline (2009), Shaun of the dead (2004)

More modern picks: Wendell & wild (2022), Anna and the apocalypse (2017), the babysitter (2017), happy death day (2017)

Penny

I feel like she would watch a lot of varying horror movies. she'd enjoy ones she could connect to in a way, but also just enjoy less meaningful ones to her and are just full of camp. Along with Constance she also enjoys a lot of horror movies from her childhood especially because of being slightly detached to it because of everything she's gone through at such a young age. (headcanon but also kinda true)

My picks are: Carrie (1976), Coraline (2009), The shining (1980), all the previously mentioned classic slashers, not a horror film but this is only for my gf; heathers (1988), hocus pocus (1993), child's play series (1988-2019)

More modern picks: Pearl (2022), bodies bodies bodies (2022), Possum (2018), the fear street trilogy

[gobs-o-dice]

If I may wax nostalgic for a moment:

So, yeah, this account got deleted by hackers, which sucks, but I can always rebuild it, bit by bit.

This is way more of a huge personal essay than I'd normally do, especially on this sideblog, but it's about this blog specifically, so I think it's really only appropriate that it goes here.

(Rambling got long-ish, so putting in a cut to keep your dashboards clear of clutter - Because it turns out I have some feelings about this blog)

(TL;DR: Thank you all for your kind words and support over the years. This blog meant something to me, it still means something to me, and I'm going to keep working at it - Rebuilding it one piece at a time. I look forward to continue engaging and re-engaging with you all again as I do so)

I had my main tumblr account for something like 5 years by the time I started this sideblog. And I never really had any sort of focus on my main, I was just your general nerdy blogger.

But at some point - 2016-2017, judging by my photos timeline, I started getting really into collecting sets of dice. In as much as I was accumulating them at a much, much faster rate than I'd ever done so before.

My first set was bought when I was still in high school, probably no later than 2003-2004. I know I had at least 5 total sets by the time I finished my first undergrad degree in 2009 and moved across the country for a job. I'm pretty sure I got the 6th set on a trip back home to visit friends during that year I was working. The 7th, I honestly can't remember. Maybe 2011 at a con? That seems like something I'd do.

My 8th set was definitely purchased in the lead-up to my sister's wedding in 2014 - I specifically bought it to match their purple and blue colour scheme because we used the d20 to stop people from clinking glasses to get them to kiss (if people wanted to get them to kiss, they'd have to roll 10+, otherwise, they'd have to find someone to kiss, themselves).

I wasn't taking photos of sets as I got them yet, so this has been a bit of guesswork and memory.

I can confirm that by the end of 2016, I had bought my 15th and 16th sets. I started showing off my shinies, probably here and on twitter. I think even some basic photos made it to facebook/instagram before I realized not many friends and family cared too much about them over there.

2017, I can see set #23 appears in a photo, among others previously.

By September 2018, Sets #44, #45, and #46 were bought at a convention - These are the three sets you can see in the mouth of the yarncraft mimic in my profile picture (also bought at that convention). So, yeah, definitely a steep acceleration in my dice-buying (this was about the time I started buying dice online rather than just in physical stores, I do believe). Overall, a huge shift in my approach and drive towards collecting dice around this point.

It's around here I really start taking photos of my dice, playing around with my flashlights and such for different lighting effects - Basically the first forms of the kind of photos that would become my "brand", such as it is. I think it's here too that I started aspiring to make a character to pair to each individual set (While I do have many, many characters, I can tell you that some of these first sets still don't have characters for them yet. So, y'know, I'm nothing if not consistent in my inability to focus).

The first bunch of these sort of photos were posted to my main, but eventually I decided to start doing the dice posting on a sideblog, so as not to completely flood my main with not only my dice, but all the dice I was reblogging, as through my posts, I had found that there was indeed a community here of dice fans - Often posting their own creative photos.

Now, I've never been exactly quiet about what was going on in my life at that time - The summer of 2018, I had to take a medical leave of absence from my PhD program in university, because my migraines had been worsening from episodic to chronic over the past year or so. I had thought that maybe it was burnout, and I'm sure that's not an insignificant part of it, along with the then-undiagnosed adhd, I was just unable to function in general.

So, I took that summer off, then was genuinely feeling better and came back and tried to pick up again - But as the stress of getting back into things picked up again, it was clear that I was not in fact better. And the meds I was on at the time put me in a near-permanent brain fog, so I just was not able to function on an intellectual level like I had been. I could muddle my way through reading ecology papers that presented broad, easily-followed narratives, but highly technical microbiology and genetics papers, which were a slog at the best of times, became literally impossible to meaningfully read and acquire the sort of information I needed from them.

So, January 2019, I made the painful decision to withdraw from my PhD program. And I was utterly crushed by this point - Y'know, with whatever energy I had left to feel emotions. There is nothing quite so gutting as believing you're better and can handle things, and then finding out that you absolutely cannot, and feeling like you're letting everyone down because you can't keep up with even the bare minimum of responsibilities. I truly do not want this sort of thing to happen again, hence why I really do want to get my migraines under control before I consider going back to school or work - And it's been basically 5 years now. My education and experience have absolutely atrophied, possibly to the point that I'd essentially be starting pretty fresh and need to be brought back up to speed on so much that I'm not sure its something I want to ever tackle.

Anyway, that was where I was when I decided to make this sideblog. It was always, first and foremost, a place where I could post my nerdy photos, ramble about my characters, and just generally go whole-hog in on my nerdy TTRPG-related hobbies. And if other people found what I was posting enjoyable, well, it was all the better.

February 2019, before I moved back home, is the first folder that I can distinctly say I did a series of hoard photos. I wasn't using the term hoardscape yet. And they weren't styled exactly like that, but the genesis of the idea is there - I'm calling these pre-hoardscapes as I do my daily image re-upload. May 2019 was the first time I consciously set out to take photos of the hoard all mixed together. There's some weirdness as I included minis and other nerdy things in this first batch, but the overall style was now something I was fully enjoying - Photoing the dice from angles that made them look like rolling hills or other styles of heaps/piles emerging from one main pile - ie: Trying to make it look like I was taking a photo of a landscape made of my entire dice hoard. I have these labelled as "Hoard Shots" in this folder, but my numbering of them starts there. The next batch, June 2019 was where I started labelling them with the term "Hoardscape". I'm glad that people liked this term and it got used beyond just myself.

In total, I took over 1200 hoardscape photos between 2019 and 2021, not including the photo sessions where I did specific arrangements of specific die-types, since I had to sort them all before putting them away again anyway. So over three years of material for daily content, in addition to the shots I did of individual sets and other flights of fancy I'd have.

It'd be hyperbolic to claim that these "saved my life" or some other cliche like that. But they probably saved my sanity at least a little bit. They've given me something to do that was novel and creative. Something engaging, something to aspire to do, something to look forward to that wasn't the same "wake-up, watch tv, surf the net, play video games" routine I found myself otherwise in. Something to have some tangible ambition towards, however ultimately frivolous it is. Something with a schedule and structure that I felt compelled to adhere to.

This sort of stuff was great for me too, in that I could work on creative projects according to my own, quite nocturnal, inconsistent schedule (You'll notice that pretty much all of my photos of individual sets are also done at night, which was eventually also partially so that the lighting could be consistent). I could work for a few hours at a time, according to however much energy/focus I had. And if I had a bad day, I wasn't obligated to do any specific amount of work at it each day or anything. It was work, in the sense of something productive to do. And honestly, I thoroughly believe you need something that at least feels productive to work at (at your own pace), so that you don't go completely batty with boredom. And that the photos resonated with people out there was absolutely fantastic too. I was honestly a little surprised and always utterly delighted when people would mention my style of dice photos as inspirations for their own creative works - Their own photos or otherwise.

Heck, at one point I had great ambitions to maybe start turning hoardscape-type shots into jigsaw puzzles. Well, that kind of fizzled - We did do one small session using my brother's actual, serious camera instead of my camera phone, and got a jigsaw puzzle made from that high-res shot, but in terms of actually making puzzles from my photos consistently? Well, not so much. Unless, like, some company picked up and licensed my/our photos or something for printing themselves, there was no way we could feasibly afford getting enough made up to sell at any sort of reasonable price. And as fun as it was, to make this, puzzles, I really didn't think it'd be practical to order 1000 of any single design, let alone more than one design to have some variety, and then try to find some market to sell them in.

But hey, this is a fun little treasure of my own to have, even if it was, like $60

Admittedly, as much as I loved doing these shots, there were things that made them increasingly difficult to keep doing new ones of - The way it took over the family room area with my hoard meant that I really only wanted to do them when the rest of my family was gone for long stretches of time - Over a week or so, to give me enough time to get a decent amount of new material and then go through the process of re-sorting and repacking my dice after getting those photos, but also getting any sort of bonus shots - Like once I got the actual stage, taking photos with it, instead of just on the mug warmer (The mug warmer was a decent stage for someone operating with no real budget and still focused on getting more dice, okay? :P). But then the hoard continued to grow and swell (because I'm a sucker for buying more and more dice, after all), which meant that the cleanup process took longer and longer. I mean, it eventually got to the point that the table I used as an auxiliary for sorting was too small for everything to be on there period, let alone with any real clarity to which set was which. And it was more and more painful - Sitting there hunched over, searching and sorting for hours to get everything back to its proper home in my storage bins left my back, neck, and shoulders utterly stiff and sore for days afterwards, which isn't exactly fun. The final big one is that in 2021, for my mom's birthday, my family got a new kitten for the first time in years. As much as I loved Ollie , I knew he absolutely could not be trusted with a big pile of dice just left out in the open. And after his tragic passing [RIP poor Little Bud. Sometimes biology just plain sucks, and it sucks that you apparently got dealt a bad hand], we eventually got Lilah, who much the same, is a cat. And leaving small, shiny things they can bat around out in the open is just a bad idea if you don't want to lose those things.

That's not to say that I've closed the door completely on doing more hoardscapes ever again. It's just that I'll definitely have to think about my approach carefully. One thing with my family having moved into the home that was my grandma's farm, is that I have a much bigger room now I could theoretically set up a table or something in here and keep it closed off, mostly solving the cat and "taking over a communal space" problem.

But, I guess for now, I think I have a pretty large amount of back-content to get back through - I'd even been reposting my old hoardscapes for quite a while now, and I guess I'm starting from the very beginning. So, new hoardscapes are not necessarily going to be something I rush to do. But it's not a hard-"absolutely never again" situation, either.

Anyway, I'm doing much better overall now (better meds/treatment/management, other diagnoses, living at home where I don't have to worry about day-to-day stuff falling by the wayside, etc.) , but still haven't returned to school or work because the migraines still are such that they're really not conducive to participating in capitalism - Most places are unhappy if you take more than the equivalent of 1 day per month off. I have constant low/mid-level headaches, with spikes into the upper end of the scale as the weather shifts. I can't recall a month that I haven't had at least three of those "absolutely not"-level days since all this started. In addition to them not being a consistent, predictable schedule. It just doesn't really provide a good work schedule. And the lingering fatigue is often more generally-limiting than the headaches themselves - Especially when combined with the adhd, so efforts towards self-employment/productivity of any sort are similarly sabotaged - As you no doubt might have surmised from my wildly inconsistent surges of creative output. So basically, for now, I'm still not really going to be working in a traditional sense. At most, I might pick up some of those online gig-type-things at some point, but that'll depend heavily on how that interacts with the government support payments I receive.

If nothing else, there's a good chance I'll get little projects from my family - I already transcribed my grandma's old cookbook to send around to my family, and am just waiting on my mom to help do some final edits for the text stuff. If I get really ambitious, I might try making as many of the dishes (mainly the baked goodies, lol) in there as I can to add photos into it for extra style points (and yeah, if I set out to cook everything in there, it will absolutely be a thing I make another sideblog about, and probably something I even upload content to instagram or youtube about - But that's all probably a long ways off from now). There's other stuff of my grandma's that I'll probably work on transcribing and organizing - Her "red book", as we call it, all the family history and such - Essentially a wiki before wikis were a thing (Note to future self: Is there a wiki-type thing you could use for this? It might be a more intuitive way to link entries).

Nevertheless, now that my hyperfixation seems to have swung back this way, towards creating D&D-related stuff, I'm going to keep at it. I've decided to spin off my character/lore posting to a new side-sideblog (@gobs-o-cs), and since I don't think I'll be reviewing each set of dice as I upload them again, I'll try to keep the individual set posts to a more *aesthetic*-look.

Honestly, the individual set uploads are the most I've lost with these blog resets. those comments (along with those on dicemails and such) are lost, because I generally just wrote them here and didn't think too much about backing them up anywhere.

All of the lore stuff I generally have saved in various other spots. The biggest loss on that front was all the work I'd put into organizing sub-pages on my blog for a character list and pages for individual characters. I'll definitely have to look into less-fiddly ways of keeping things sorted (Honestly, if I get really ambitious, I might have to look into those wiki-style things for writers/creators).

Okay, this was a lot longer (and maybe only a bit rambly-er) than I was planning for it to be.

(Although, when you do stream-of-consciousness-type essays rather than setting out with with any sort of specific plan, that's what'll happen. Hopefully I haven't left too many orphaned paragraphs as I've jumped around to different thoughts, lol).

The long and short of it is that this blog was exactly the sort of project I needed to give myself at a time when I was pretty much bottomed out in life. This was never a huge internet presence or anything, but I know there were quite a few people following towards the end of things. I certainly would be intimidated if I were standing up in a room and giving a presentation to well over 1000 people, not to mention other people who would reblog or like things even if they weren't specifically followers. But it was never about having a huge audience or anything like that. It's something I enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy and keep at for now. And if it re-finds its audience and continues to find an audience, well then, that's all the better.

Once again, thank you all very much for popping in here. Thank you to all of those who have liked and reblogged the silly dice photos I post, the stories I tell, and the random thoughts I follow to whatever conclusion they end up at. Especially thank you to everyone who's ever left a kind word on any of my posts - In the comments, in the tags, wherever.

I'm so glad you've all enjoyed my strange little hobby so far, and I hope you'll continue enjoying it as I work to put it all back up here, piece by piece.

[freakingoutthesquares]

Now Then Magazine - A Magazine for Sheffield

Russell Senior: Freaking Out The Squares by Ebony Nembhard, JANUARY 2016 Original article here

Released almost two decades after he left Pulp and over four years since the reunion back in 2011, Freak Out The Squares: Life In A Band Called Pulp is Russell Senior's honest and witty depiction of his life in Pulp, which details various encounters throughout his time in the band, through uphill struggles and the dizzy heights of stardom. "It probably reads as if it was written very quickly, but it took a long time to write. I mean, it's a bit like writing a pop song. You know, those effortless, three-minute, naturally seamless songs. It takes a lot of craft to make things sound effortless," says Russell in between taking sips from his pint. 

What was the initial driving force behind your decision to publicly release such personal, intimate thoughts in the form of an autobiography? And why now? It was a book I always felt I should write, but it was too close to the events and I suppose I had too much baggage at certain points. I kind of thought somebody ought to write it and that I'd probably be the best person to write it. However, the thing that really spurred it was the reunion tour in 2011. I was keeping a diary over the course of that, and so throughout that journey it prompted quite a lot of reflection on the whole shebang. So I had my structure - my diary - and I got transported into that other world when I was writing about it. It was such a natural thing. And y'know, the story of Pulp is this big - the chronicle would be an incredibly tedious thing - and the other thing was, try not to say anything to horrible. The story of Pulp is a rambling, epic tale. I've been pressed at various point to 'expose'. Expose what? I'd have to be hyping it up, certainly in terms of shagging groupies. This was not going on to any extent. I mean, Pulp were quite prudish, not prudish but perhaps more respectful towards women. I mean, the women around were our friends, not prey. People always want that reveal, like shagging groupies and crocodiles at the same time. In a way I wish we had. One of my great regrets is getting to the age of 30 and having a partner before any offers really came my way. The reality is, we weren't shagging groupies, we were doing our ironing. 

How crazy did the prospect of a reunion seem after 14 years? It was an alien intrusion on my life, as my life had very firmly put that behind. I mean, the first time I typed 'Pulp' into the internet was when I was researching this book, after I'd written it, to get some of my facts straight. I'd had no idea if they'd split up or not, so I'd really switched off from it. I also coincidentally lost my filofax shortly after leaving, so all the people that I might have been in contact with, you know the guys from Suede that I got on with or whatever, I didn't. I kind of fell off a cliff completely, and then all of a sudden there's this guy saying come back to this thing. On the one hand it's very frightening, but on the other hand it's like, 'Oh, but what if?' I miss the buzz of going on stage. It's frightening - simultaneous panic and temptation. 

You discovered Pulp through reviewing one of their shows back in 1980 for your fanzine and ended up joining three years later in '83. Did you envisage becoming a part of the group back then? What were your initial thoughts of Pulp? They weren't the group I wanted to join, to be honest. They weren't my favourite group in Sheffield. In a way, I didn't join the band, as they had actually split up. I did a play that had Jarvis in it and started doing music again, which is how it all started. So in a way, to me there's a complete separation between those two incarnations of Pulp. Obviously, to someone else it doesn't seem like that, but for me it does. There were ten other groups in Sheffield that if they'd asked me to join them, I would have bitten their arm off.  As for Pulp at the time, I thought they were sort of a pleasing, entertaining comedy band and then they went all windy and po-faced, and I didn't like that at all. In short, I didn't really take them very seriously. 

You famously left Pulp back in 1997, at the height of the band's newly found fame and mainstream success. Would you do things differently second time around? No. It was like a weight was lifted from me. I was no longer defined by being in this band and was able do other stuff, have a family life. I really don't regret it, and I suppose nowadays, I might not have had the courage to do that. I think it was a brave thing to do, like that cartoon, Roadrunner. He walks off the end of a cliff without realising, then he looks down and sees this drop. In a way it feels like I was doing that, walking off the end of a cliff, but it was okay in the end. 

Back in 2012, you co-wrote Two Tribes with Ralph Razor, a musical about the miners' strike of '84. You also became heavily involved in industrial action yourself on the frontline at the time. How have your political interests influenced your music? That's a good one, a difficult one and one that I'm not sure exactly how to answer. I think in Pulp, I was probably the most politically active and was sort of bringing that in. However - and, I think, rightly - we didn't become an issue-based band. Even when I was at my most active, I would like to think that I appreciated the separation of art and politics. Otherwise it becomes propaganda. The irony is, after I left, Jarvis became political and started writing songs about the miners' strike and I encouraged him to go on a demo for the first time in his life. I've got less left wing as he's become more left wing, 20 years too late. I wonder what we'll be up to in 20 years' time.

Despite rejoining Pulp for the reunion tour back in 2011, you chose not to continue with the band after that. What were your reasons for bowing out? First off, it was a romantic idea. The idea of resuming a career, that was kind of on the cards. There were a lot more offers than I'd accepted, but I like the poetic beauty of having every show special. In a way that seems kind of prissy, as it ended up with me not playing Sheffield Arena, as I don't enjoy it as a venue. In fact, I was trying to organise something up at Park Hill, but the timings were off. This is not about being a precious artiste. In that book we did an arena tour and I can't remember a thing about it, solely due to the fact it wasn't at all memorable. Whereas those little connections, like that guy in Strasburg, some schnapps after the show - that's what it's all about. It's very human stuff. Pulp was all about the human stuff, the smaller details. I will turn down more money than I've ever made in my life - and have - to maintain that purity. There you go, fuck it. I'm still poor! 

What is the one thing that you want readers to take away from the book? I'd like them to feel that they got lost. I hate flashback stuff. There are also points where I don't remember where I was at a certain time. So I want people to get lost and feel like they're in it. I wanted people to walk in my shoes. I lead a normal life. I don't have a helicopter landing pad, I live in a three bedroom house, yet this massive thing happened. Imagine if it's you. You're about to go onstage. You're this middle-aged bloke and you've done this thing, used to be kind of glamorous. I also (and probably didn't succeed in this) didn't want the book to rely on too much 'hip inside knowledge', so that someone in 100 years time from now in Japan can get a sense of it, because it's sort of universal. 

Freak Out The Squares is out now via Aurum Press. 

[bogkeep]

hello! 6, 12 (if you have one handy), 14, 16 if you haven't answered them yet!

6 - warm colors or cold colors confession: i'm not 100% certain where distinction goes! like i understand the base premise of warm and cold colors, i understand that blues are cold and reds to yellows are warm, but i have no idea where to draw the line y'know??? like i understand how a purple can be on the cool side or the warm side. but can you... draw a warm blue?? like a warm summer sky??? is that a warm color or is it still cold because it's blue??? or when i use soft pinks for that very snap cold winter morning?? IT'S VERY CONFUSING TO ME EVEN THOUGH I ALLEGEDLY LEARNT ABOUT THIS IN ART SCHOOL. anyway i love too many colors to choose a side haha 12 - show us an old drawing ...sure! i've had this blog since 2011 so there's lots to choose from :D

this one is kinda cool though.

14 - digital or traditional i like both, but i haven't had the Space to work as much traditionally as i used to! i filled over 30 or 40 sketchbooks with pencil drawings while i was still in school, but i'm not in school anymore, so i'm no longer in that specific position of attending a class and needing to do something with my hands. i only picked up digital art properly around 2014-2015 and it took me quite a while to get fully comfortable with it, and most of my skills are transferred from my practice and familiarity with traditional tools. i DO love the convenience, accessibility and versatility of digital art very much! but there's also something very satisfying and grounding about working traditionally. that said if i never have to paint with acrylics again i will be very content. 15 - if digital, what program do you use i used mainly clip studio paint from 2016 - early 2020, and it is a very good very solid art program i absolutely recommend! in 2020 i started using procreate on ipad, and it's what i've been using since then. it's very good, but the main reason i'm using it is 1) CSP is a one time purchase on computer but a monthly subscription on ipad, and 2) i have found the perfect linearting brush in procreate (it's called mercury, it's one of the default inking brushes) and it's made doing lineart not only bearable, but FUN for me

[winterbirb]

care to elaborate on the reasons you like him

Because he's a pathetic rat bastard man and I say that affectionately like I'm insulting a cat, if anyone else insults that cat I'm gonna throw hands.

(Oh my god look at that smile, his eyes,,,)

Ok I got 4 hours of sleep last night, buckle up.

Oh and I forgot to mention this in the prev answer but basically he's this kickass PR-manager/dramatic emo guy.

It's complicated. I have reasons but it's hard to explain them, y'know?

I learned abt him in the Hell Season of 2020 (Somewhere between Sept-Dec, when things were just... so bad). This means that 1. I was already in the 2020 mindset and so I didn't have the same reaction as some people pre-2020 who seemed to blame all the chaos in the world, or at least their new knowledge of the chaos, on him or something 2. I missed all of the smear campaigns against him by not learning about him in 2011-2016, ergo, I don't see him as an evil mastermind who's puppeteering the innocent Medvedev and I also don't see him as the man who single handedly destroyed Ukraine and/or American democracy.

Well, so far I'm just listing reasons I don't dislike him. The guy's controversial.

I like him because he, and other people around him, have built this air of mystique and intrigue, painting him as some shadowy machiavellian figure. But like smoke and mirrors, that picture disperses once you look closer and give him the benefit of the doubt. He's just a guy, an interesting guy, but just a guy who got pulled into the craziness of the 90s/00s. He wasn't raised in one of those establishment politician families. He went to uni for a year, dropped out, later went to theater school for three more years, got in a fistfight and got expelled, started working for Khodorkovsky in the mid/late 80s when they were both only 21-22, and that's how he got pulled into the madness of the 90s.

He's very overdramatic, grandiose. I mean, in the 2000s, there's basically this 30-something emo guy running around the Kremlin. He quite literally wrote and performed rock lyrics with a band in 2003 and 2006. So he funded political organizations with Kremlin money, so what? He was transparent about where the money came from, and, well... it was the 00s. Iraq. Do I need to say much more? There wasn't going to be true liberal democracy in Russia, I think he was a closet liberal, but understand, the conditions in Russia at the time were the perfect conditions political scientists cite as what causes the rise of Fascism. Okay, I don't really feel like going into a tangent about conditions in Russia in the 90s/00s on this post, I can explain more if you want bc it's important to understand what they were, and how the world we want isn't always the one we get/have to make practical decisions in.

And in 2008 Putin's two terms ran out so he needed someone to be president so he chose Medvedev, who was loyal and unambitious. Medvedev was more liberal, and he ended up stepping on a lot of siloviki's toes with his anti-corruption, pro-freedom of expression policies. And so they started bitching about him. But when Putin became president again in 2012 (after massive protests after after announcement in 2011 which Slava was blamed for and demoted), Surkov still stuck by Medvedev, until he resigned a year after the 2012 inauguration, supposedly because the Administration was being too hard on the Government (now led by PM Medvedev) about not meeting policy goals, and so Slava took the fall. But apparently he was pidsed about a corruption investigation into a tech project Medvedev poured his heart into. So, he resigned.

By the way, I heard somewhere that he opposed the "homosexual propaganda" bill, which also got him in trouble, because the 2011 protests convinced Putin and the siloviki to go for a more conservative route. The propaganda bill ended up only being passed after Slava resigned (resigned may 8th 2013, bill passed early June 2013).

He was rehired September 20, 2013 as a top political aide to the President, and I'm hoping that's bc someone at the Kremlin realised that they needed his advice re: things like the propaganda bill, which was predictably extremely unpopular. Also, turns out a bunch of asshole conservative siloviki are shit at PR, who woulda thunk?

One of his new duties was being an aide abt Ukraine, which has gotten him blamed for Everything Bad In 2014 but that's stupid for reasons I could get into but don't really want to unless someone already knows about: GRU, FSB/Siloviki mindsets, Yanukovich, Poroshenko, Strelkov (Girkin)'s role, John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, Victoria Nuland, the geopolitical situation in Ukraine, etc. Most people don't care about any of those factors or how each person has influenced things. So instead they just paint a picture of Surkov as this machiavellian asshole who destabilized Ukraine.

So obviously I think he's given a lot of unfair treatment. But what's interesting about a lot of Western articles about him presenting him as this Machiavellian villain is that they almost always mention a funny joke he made, or his fashion sense, or how people have complimented his hands, his eyes, his smile.

Also, he's relatable af. I'm also a rat bastard disaster. I think the way he uses PR is hilarious. It's getting american capitalists Big Mad even though he's an Americanophile blatantly appropriating American political campaign techniques.

In 2017 he looked unhealthy in a photo and was surprised that people cared about his health. This is after he'd been used as a punching bag for more than a decade.

[coll2mitts]

100 Best Musical Movies Review Compilation Post

Links to my reviews of the 100 Best Musical Movies of All Time (per Rotten Tomatoes, which... y'know, is a mixed bag) are below the cut.

Visit my ko-fi page if you'd like to request a movie I haven't yet covered on this list to be bumped up the queue!  Or request one not on the list at all :)

78/100 Posted

+ 2 Extra Features!

100 Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)

99 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

98 God Help the Girl (2014)

97 Were the World Mine (2008)

96 Meet the Feebles (1989)

95 Dancer in the Dark (2000)

94 Purple Rain (1984)

93 Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

92 Labyrinth (1986)

91 Cry-Baby (1990)

90 The Jazz Singer (1927)

89 Head (1968)

88 Tommy (1975)

87 The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

86 Carmen Jones (1954)

85 The Wayward Cloud (2005)

84 Les Misérables (2012)

83 The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

82 Into the Woods (2014)

81 Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

80 The Saddest Music in the World (2004)

79 White Christmas (1954)

78 8 Women (8 Femmes) (2002)

77 Grease (1978)

76 Moulin Rouge! (2001)

75 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

74 Going My Way (1944)

73 Gigi (1958)

72 The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

71 Bugsy Malone (1976)

70 Dreamgirls (2006)

69 Oliver! (1968)

68 Fame (1980)

67 Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

66 Pennies From Heaven (1981)

65 The Beauty and the Beast (2017)

64 Chi-Raq (2015)

63 Viva Las Vegas (1964)

62 Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

61 All That Jazz (1979)

60 The Meaning of Life (1983)

59 The Blues Brothers (1980)

58 Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

57 The Lure (2017)

56 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

55 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

54 Sunshine on Leith (2013)

53 Funny Face (1957)

52 Help! (1965)

51 Oklahoma! (1955)

50 Hair (1979)

49 Mama Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

48 Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

47 The Muppet Movie (1979)

46 Topsy Turvy (1999)

45 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

44 Easter Parade (1948)

43 The Sound of Music (1965)

42 Chicago (2002)

41 Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

40 Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

39 Guys and Dolls (1955)

38 The Music Man (1962)

37 Royal Wedding (1951)

36 The Sapphires (2012)

35 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

34 Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

33 Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

32 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

31 On the Town (1949)

30 Funny Girl (1968)

29 The Cocoanuts (1929)

28 Hairspray (2007)

27 The King and I (1956)

26 Enchanted (2007)

25 The Court Jester (1956)

24 Victor/Victoria (1982)

23 Cabaret (1972)

22 42nd Street (1933)

21 My Fair Lady (1964)

20 West Side Story (1961)

19 The Muppets (2011)

18 Once (2007)

17 The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

16 French Cancan (1956)

15 A Star is Born (1954)

14 Sing Street (2016)

13 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

12 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

11 Mary Poppins (1964)

10 Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

9 An American in Paris (1951)

8 Swing Time (1936)

7 Rocketman (2019)

6 A Night at the Opera (1935)

5 La La Land (2016)

4 A Hard Day's Night (1964)

3 Top Hat (1935)

2 Singin' in the Rain (1952)

1 The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Bonus Reviews:

Super Mario Bros. (1993)

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

[wastefulreverie]

Phanniemay18 Day Twelve: Callback

Day Twelve: Callback*/Summoning

*Callback is the selection of any previous Phanniemay theme. Summoning is Day 26 for Phanniemay 2016.

Genre: Suspense

Words: 2011

The three anxious figures sat on the cold, dusty floor of Casper High's basement, eyeing each other warily. They were sitting in a triangular formation, all surrounding a sketchy chalk sigil on the floor lined with sickly, odorous candles purchased from the Skulk and Lurk. The light from the candles cast cryptic shadows onto their faces, intensifying the already abhorrently somber mood.

The first figure of the trio, Lester, spoke first. "A – are we sure we want to this? We don't really know what we're doing here, a – and it might be really dangerous! What if we get hurt or – or-"

"We don't really have a choice," the second one of them, Star, declared boldly. "We screwed up, pretty badly, and according to that weird box man, this 'Ghost King' is the only person who can help us."

"But, we don't know i – if he'll be okay around humans," Lester reasoned. "After all, the last Ghost King invaded the city and sent us all to die in another dimension!"

"I don't like any of this ghost stuff, and I'm gonna be honest: all of you Amity Park people are nuts for sticking around here!" Elliot, previously known as Gregor, seethed. Today, he donned a varsity jacket in lieu of his goth guise. "But... Star's right. We made a big mistake, and even I recognize that what we did was really wrong. So if this King or whatever can help us, I'm in for it."

Star made a 'tsking' noise, "Sorry, Lester. It's two against one. And if we don't do this, what would we have done? Do you really want to live with our screw-up for the rest of your life? It's already bad enough as it is."

"This Ghost King is the only person who can hopefully save us," Elliot agreed.

Lester slid his hand against his face before giving a resigned sigh. "Fine," he said in a small voice. "You guys are sort of right, but you have to admit that there's a lot that could go wrong."

"If something goes wrong, I'm sure Phantom will save us," Star said confidently.

"He's a ghost. Wouldn't he, y'know, have to obey the king too?" Lester argued.

"Guys, stop fighting and let's just do this already!" Elliot proclaimed impatiently.

"Alright," Star resumed. "According to this weird book you had, Elliot, all three of us have to say the incantation at the same time for the summoning to work. I printed out a copy for each of us."

She handed her two accomplices two separate scripts.

"Is this Latin?" Lester squinted at the text. "I don't know if I can even say this."

"Well, practice it under your breath so you don't say it wrong," Elliot deadpanned. "It'd suck to summon the wrong ghost or something from a different dimension."

"Wait, are there different dimensions?" Lester's eyes widened.

"Hell, like I'd know," he rolled his eyes. "I only posed as a goth for a year, I'm not that smart."

The three of them read the incantation a several times in their head until they all felt confident with their recitation. Seeing no reason to further postpone, the trio finally put the final preparation in order to proceed with the summoning.

"Alright," Star said, "we'll all say it on the count of three, agree?"

"Yep," Lester nodded, still visibly nervous.

"Let's get this over with," Elliot groaned.

"Three... two... one..." The three teenagers spoke in perfect unison, "De industria mortuorum et gratia, qua invocaverimus te petitionem, Ghost King, vocamus tibi de interitiónibus eórum!"

The first change in the room was very subtle. As soon as they finished the incantation, the temperature slowly plummeted at least ten degrees, before the candles surrounding the chalk sigil on the floor blazed with at least three times more intensity. A gust of air threatened to push each of them backwards, before changing direction and spiraling into a visible funnel of wind in the center of their circle. In the eye of the small cyclone a cluster of green lightning originated, quickly expanding and forking outwards. The trio of teens sat paralyzed at the immense display, and only moved backwards when the lightning flashed rapidly, forming the vague silhouette of a ghost. Slowly, the form of the ghost materialized, and the lightning and wind vanished, leaving only a solid figure in the center of the now dimly lit basement.

Star, Lester, and Elliot were undertaken by unforeseen surprise as the figure made it's identity immediately known. They exchanged equally confused glances when they realized that what they had summoned wasn't a ghost, nor any kind of king, but a seemingly normal human boy. Not just any boy, but their infamously weak classmate, Danny Fenton.

He was crouched down on his knees, wearing a slightly overlarge NASA shirt and tattered jeans. As usual, there were dark circles under his eyes, tainting his unnervingly pale complexion and there were a few spotty bruises along his arms, presumably from Dash Baxter, but none of that was out of the ordinary. All in all, the kid looked a little disoriented, but there was no doubt in the trio's mind that it was still him. And it didn't make sense.

The spell was specifically supposed to summon a ghost, the ghost king himself! And Danny Fenton, who was notoriously afraid of ghosts, was clearly not one! Nothing added up!

"Ugh," Danny groaned, not yet noticing the three boggled teenagers, and apparently talking to himself. "That felt weird. That's like the third time this month too..." he looked up from where he'd been 'summoned' and instantly spotted Star, Lester, and Elliot staring at him in perplexed terror.

His expression equally rivaled their state of surprise. "Oh... shit. This uh... isn't what it looks like! Uh – how much did you guys... how much do you know? Besides, why are the three of you together?"

"We don't owe you any kind of explanation, Fenton!" Elliot spat, defensively. "We were trying to summon the Ghost King and instead we got your freaky ass! So what the hell?!"

"A – are you the Ghost King?" Lester whimpered in fear.

"Fenton's not a ghost, geekwad," Star frowned. "But something is reeeallly wrong here. And Elliot's right, you owe us an explanation, freak!"

"Don't yell at him!" Lester protested. "What if he's dangerous!"

"Danny Fenton is not dangerous! He's just a grade-A loser!"

"But – all the lightning and wind and – and-"

"You're not helping, Lester!"

"Will all of you just SHUT-UP?!" Danny cried. If only for a moment, their smallest fears were confirmed when Danny's eyes glowed a fluorescent green, before subsequently returning back to their normal baby blue. "I... you say you summoned the Ghost King, right?"

All three of them nodded with new-found silent fear.

Danny thoughtlessly rubbed against the back of his neck, "Well I, um, you can't tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you, promise?"

"How do we know you're not gonna lie to us?" Elliot challenged.

"You don't. Unless you can think of something that makes more sense," Danny replied, keeping his composure open. "But, you guys can not, under any circumstances tell anyone. Not Paulina," he looked to Star, "not Mikey," he gestured to Lester, "and you can't post it on the Internet like a douchebag," this was thrown at Elliot. "Oh, and not even my parents can know. No one."

"F – fine. Please don't hurt us," Lester pleaded, still convinced Danny was hostile.

"I'm not gonna – oh, whatever," Danny shrugged, seeming unaffected instead of his internal panicked mindset. "Anyway, the thing you absolutely can't tell anyone is that sometimes I help the Ghost King. I know him personally, and I'm sworn to secrecy, so I can't tell you who he is. If my parents ever found out I was connected to some ghost, they would kill me, and for everyone's safety I have to make sure that no civilians know as well. But how it works is..." he paused, coming up with a reasonable story, "I pretend to be afraid of ghosts, but I'm actually just getting more information on them for the Ghost King. You could call me an informant. Like, I just keep tabs on the ghosts that attack the human world like Skulker, Technus, Johnny 13, oh! – and Phantom too."

"Nice story," Elliot crossed his arms. He was pretending not to be scared of Danny, but in truth, everything odd about the boy he'd never noticed was starting to unnerve him, starting with how his eyes had flashed green moments earlier. "But how does that explain the fact that you appeared out of thin air, when you're not even a ghost?"

"Well, the Ghost King can't control if he's summoned or not, but he can send somebody in his place?" Danny answered, weakly. However, the perturbed teenagers didn't notice his slight contending tone and seemed to accept his faulty explanation. "So... uh, why were you trying to summon the Ghost King anyway?"

"You're not him, so why does it matter," Star stated. "He's the only one who can help us with our problem."

"I'm his informant, remember? I can tell him, and then he can help you," Danny said. "I promise. You get it, right, Lester?" he called upon the weakest link of the group.

"Well, uh..." the boy stammered. "It's a p – problem with another g – ghost."

"What kind of problem?" Danny pressed.

"Said her name was Desiree," Elliot explained. "She grants anyone's wishes. And the three of us... sort of made the same wish."

"I know Desiree," he nodded. "Usually the results of her wishes are really obvious. What did she do? What did you wish?"

Lester gulped nervously, while Star and Elliot shared skittish glances.

"Nobody remembers but us," Star began. "There's this kid in our grade, and he's like super annoying. He wouldn't stop asking me out, over and over and over-"

"He humiliated me in front of all my friends because I thought World of Warcraft was a movie series instead of a video game! I'm not a geek, I'm just a nerd. I don't do video games," Lester explained. "But this guy... he just kept rubbing it in my face like he was salting a wound."

"He ruined my chances with your friend, Sam," Elliot growled. "If it wasn't for him sabotaging all our dates with his stupid commentary and gross vibes disrupting our romance, I totally would've gotten her to fall for me."

"Ew," Danny said reflexively. He looked threateningly at Elliot. "Sam's my best-friend, don't talk about her that way."

"Yeah, Elliot," Star hissed, smacking the white-haired boy in the arm. "Shut-up. So, where were we?"

"The three of us were running away from a ghost attack," Lester said. "So we hid in this alley together. Thanks to Phantom, we ended up being trapped there for a while because a bunch of debris blocked the exit... and then..." he got a spacey look on his face, "we started talking about how we all hated that guy from school."

"It was an accident," Star said quickly. "We didn't know Desiree was still around! But she heard us and someone said 'I wish' and... and..."

All of them seemed to have trouble to continue the story. Elliot looked down, admittedly ashamed.

"He got wiped completely from existence," Elliot finished quietly. "It's like nobody even remembers he existed. I mean, I didn't like him, but... what we did was practically murder."

The other two remained silent.

"Who was he?" Danny asked, softly. He'd made plenty of mistakes with Desiree before, and if the wish wasn't automatically reversed when she was captured in the thermos, things were usually pretty bad. Not irreversible, but still bad.

Moments later, Star looked at him with teary eyes and gave a reluctant reply.

"His name was Tucker Foley... he was... your best-friend. You have to get him back, please, Danny. Tell the Ghost King to help, we beg you."

Suddenly, things got a lot more complicated.

1 | 2 | 3

[midnightiscoming-kasabian]

Kasabian: 'Newer bands aren't good enough for headline slots'

The group, who headlined the Isle of Wight Festival on Friday, explain why new bands aren’t breaking through 

Kasabian made a triumphant return to the Isle of Wight Festival on Friday, playing their first headline set there since 2011.

Tom Meighan and Serge Pizzorno from the Leicester band told Sky News it felt particularly good to come back to the event because the weather was so bad last time they played there.

"It rained and rained and rained, it rained from the Friday to the Sunday night and it was hard work," Pizzorno admitted.

Meighan agreed: "It was horrific, it was like a thunderstorm, the whole place collapsed."

The weather was far more clement on Friday night when they took to the main stage and played the show they had been waiting to perform.

"When this (booking) came in, we felt like we had unfinished business in this place, so when it came through it was like thank god," said Pizzorno.

"Because it was like we feel like we owe a show, we owe something."

Kasabian have been making their way up the bill since the release of their debut self-titled album in 2004.

The other headliners at the Isle of Wight festival were Depeche Mode, who formed in 1980, and The Killers who have been together since 2001.

I asked Meighan why newer bands aren't making it into the coveted headline slots - something he thinks is simple to answer.

"They ain't good enough, I don't think they've got many big songs, you know what I mean?" He explained.

"If you're a big band you have big songs, it's simple as that isn't it, that's how I look at rock and roll, it's obvious isn't it?"

Pizzorno believes plenty of acts release exciting debuts, but struggle to keep their trajectory going.

"It's the follow-up record, it's amazing debuts and amazing starts but the second and third it starts to… it's hard for everyone though, anyone that's a songwriter, anyone that's in a band, to maintain at a level," Pizzorno explained.

"It's not easy, but it's there, if anyone wants it it's there, you've just got to come and get it."

But he thinks there is potential in a band Kasabian recently shared a stage with.

"We played with The Slaves, did a tour in America, and they're a phenomenal band," Pizzorno said.

"If I was a betting man, they won't be too far away [from headlining] in the next couple of years - maybe this album, maybe album after, they're an unbelievable, incredible band."

It's not long since Kasabian released their sixth studio album.

For Crying Out Loud came out in May 2017, and Pizzorno is coy about how much he's thought about their next record.

"There's always things going on," he said.

"We've got a nice little tour, we've got a beautiful European tour, we got South America, and then we'll see."

The band are known for being big supporters of Leicester City, and played two concerts when the club won the Premier League in 2016.

Meighan admitted he's caught World Cup fever this summer - and has high hopes for England.

"They might win it probably, they're sneaky, they might sneak through it," he said.

"There's always one team that surprises everyone and it might be England's turn this year," Pizzorno added.

"I didn't say they'd go all the way - I feel like they're definitely going to progress, probably get past the quarters.

"It would be nice."

Meighan agrees: "It would be great for the country as well, coz of spirits, it lifts everyone up, y'know."

Kasabian are continuing festival season from next month when they play Espacio Mad Cool in Madrid.

They return to the UK for shows in Edinburgh and Belfast in August.

https://news.sky.com

[undeadsnorlax]

Earth-4213

when canon is your playground, you fling yourself off from the swings onto the climbing frame and yell loudly

aka I needed somewhere to dump this timeline for my Marvel fanfiction universe lmao,, this is still kind of WIP (as I post, there is a bit of a gap in the dates where logically things COULD happen and also it's kinda fluid, y'know)

also very much focuses on characters I like because I'm like that

1940s

- Steve Rogers becomes Captain America. Disappears three years later.

- Bucky Barnes (who served as Cap’s sidekick) goes missing the same time – taken by HYDRA and gets Winter Soldier’d.

1970s-1980s

- An ‘original’ Avengers is formed. Members include Ant-Man (Hank Pym), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) and Black Panther (T’Challa’s grandfather). Headed by Nick Fury Sr. Have to break up because of too much government interference in their work. No other real hero teams form in this time.

- Matt Murdock has the accident that blinds him.

- Young Peter Quill is abducted by the Ravagers moments after his mother’s death.

1990s

- Charles Xavier opens his school for mutants mid-90s. The X-Men is formed a few years later.

- Marc Spector is admitted to a youth psychiatric hospital until he’s eighteen. Is in and about for much of the next decade after.

- Frank Castle marries his wife, serves his first tour with the army.

2000-2004

- Fantastic Four are formed.

- Bruce Banner is involved in the accident that turns him into the Hulk.

- Tony Stark becomes Iron Man.

2005-2010

- Tony Stark openly admits to being Iron Man.

- Luke Cage is experimented on whilst in prison and is given his powers.

- Steve Rodgers is found and brought off ice (2008)

- Marc Spector’s father dies. He later joins the army to escape home. (2009)

- Avengers mark 2 is formed by Nick Fury Jr (2010) – Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow make up the core team.

- Wilson Fisk starts to climb up in the criminal underworld of New York.

- Jessica Jones finally manages to break free of the hold the Purple Man has had one her for the last five years

2011

- Hawkeye (Clint Barton) joins the Avengers, after being a brief antagonist of them.

- Nelson & Murdock’s law firm is formed.

- Daredevil comes onto the scene.

- Peter Parker is fifteen and bitten by a radioactive spider after a visit to Oscorp. Spider-Man is born!

- Uncle Ben dies :(

- Marc Spector is discharged from the army after they find out his mental health past. Found by Frenchie and becomes a mercenary for hire.

- Danny Rand arrives back in New York after a 20+ year absence/disappearance, with the powers of the Iron Fist.

2012

- Frank Castle returns home after his third tour, on leave until further notice after an intense mission. Six months later, his family is killed, and he becomes the Punisher. Three months on, he is put on trial for killing those responsible and is arrested.

- Marc Spector returns to New York with the Moon Knight alias, after being brought back to life by Khonshu.

- First modern sighting of the Winter Soldier.

- Jessica Jones starts Alias Investigations

2013

- Frank Castle escapes from prison and becomes the Punisher full time.

- After an encounter with Castle not long after his escape, Billy Russo becomes Jigsaw.

- Scott Lang is released from prison and, through a series of events, ends up becoming the new Ant-Man under the guidance of Hank Pym. Later joins the Avengers, along with Hank and Janet Van Dyne’s eldest daughter, Hope, who becomes the new Wasp.

- Sam Wilson joins the Avengers.

- Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Danny Rand and Matt Murdock team up properly for the first time. Jessica and Luke start dating not long after.

2014

- Clint Barton leaves the Avengers due to disagreements, fakes his own death, and takes up the anonymous mantle of Ronin in the meantime.

- Kate Bishop takes up the Hawkeye alias with the formation of the Young Avengers.

- Bucky Barnes is un-brainwashed (??) and given a government pardon. Semi-works with the Avengers, mostly with Steve and Sam. Mostly trying to recover.

2015

- David ‘Micro’ Lieberman is fired from his job after leaking company info and exposing them. Enforcers come for him and severely injure his son. Micro fakes his own death then tracks down the Punisher to work with him, seeking revenge.

- Age of Ultron-y stuff

2016

- After it comes out that he didn’t actually die, Clint Barton rejoins the Avengers and begins working alongside Kate Bishop, both using the Hawkeye name.

2018

- Peter Parker, now graduated from college and dating Mary Jane Watson, starts teaching science at a local high school.

2019

- Miles Morales (fourteen years old) is one of Peter’s students and has an oddly similar encounter with a radioactive spider. Peter realises this and takes him under his wing, offering support and training him to be another Spider-Man.

- Due to several ~mysterious gas leakages~ around the world, more and more Inhumans are popping up. This includes Kamala Khan, who becomes the new Ms Marvel.

[cozymochi]

(Sorry if this has been asked before) When/what got you into liking Yamcha? I wish to hear your fan-story.

OH DON’T WORRY I LOVE TELLING THIS STORY 💙💙 💝It’s kinda long tho since it did involve when I first got into DBZ through my five year break up until this point. (So I’ll try to summarize the first part- and finally tell some pieces I never got to. And “we” refers to me and my siblings) 🌸💕

Sometime in 2011 DBZ Kai was airing on Nicktoons and it was pretty much the highlight of our “about to deal with school” morning. It showed up in the afternoon too, but during this time there was a hiatus before new episodes could air I think- but this was in the early morning. We came into it blind with no fandom knowledge or influence.

Anywho, after a few days of watching we finally managed to be early enough to see the damn [kickass] opening. And right at the end card, we spot some cool-looking guy in the back with long hair and scars and we’re over here like “OH! Who’s that guy?? When are we gonna see that guy??”

Cut to like, some random ass Namek episode in the afternoon where King Kai reveals that the other Z-Fighters made it through Snake Way. A.K.A holy shit, its the other characters from the OP. THAT was the technical first time I saw Yamcha on screen and speaking (and also learned his name finally). I thought he sounded weird when he spoke cuz I did not expect that …I guess “surfer” type of voice to come out of him. (I don’t think any of us did tbh- and I still don’t really like it) But shoot, I remember one of us saying “[GASP] IT’S THAT ONE GUY!!!” Homie was gone as quickly as he showed up, but he appeared sporadically.

Cut to a random Kai marathon from start to wherever they left off on Namek and wheee~ During the Saiyan Arc, we finally get to see Yamcha fight. And it was wonderful. I don’t know if it was the animation (it was) but it was pretty hype. And based on that single fight alone my approval rating certainly went up significantly- as first impressions go for fighting it wasn’t a bad sight. Tho, since the first time we saw him was with a halo we knew at SOME point that he was gonna die. He died right there via sneak attack explosion. Final thoughts at that point: “DANGIT I WANTED TO SEE MORE OF THAT GUY”

Spoilers: We didn’t see more. Not a lot anyway. Not in this show… (Well not until the Cell stuff in which case we shit ourselves in worry and fear of possibly not seeing him AGAIN when he got impaled by Dr. Gero.) I just know every time we (or I) saw Yamcha pop up, It was always a happier time.

Anyway… To be honest, Vegeta was actually my top favorite character in the entire show up until watching the Cell Saga (on tv). In which case, I found him to be… kind of annoying. He had some badass moments, but I think I liked him for what he was in the Saiyan/Namek stuff. Maybe I was sorta in the position of “Theres way too much of this good thing, so I’m getting tired of it…” (I.E, Vegeta was that good thing, but at the same time seeing him so much was kinda draining for me. He certainly complained a lot. Lord knows I also drew a fuckton of him too lol There was a good chunk of him on Namek but dammit, he was great in that) I liked Yamcha too, but he was more of an afterthought around Vegeta. Not like we saw him that much…

[insert discovering Dragon Ball here , buying and binging season 1 of that with a sibling, and pretty much everything else in essence about this whole series is absorbed and the awful personal year of 2011 ends and in 2012 the apocalypse happens]

I just know I DID leave DBZ for a while without much of a favorite character anymore. I just remember by the Cell stuff, most characters I stopped caring about (at that point anyway). I also didn’t think about the series as a whole for a while. Minus watching and keeping up with TFS, I just know I wasn’t swayed by any of the comments that talked shit on Yamcha for some reason. Though, at those points I couldn’t deduce why exactly I wasn’t swayed lol I just thought “He’s still ok to me??” (I’m sure I tried looking for reasons, but nothing really came about)

CUT TO LATE 2016, @since-the-900s got back into it and via many a conversation where I had to keep recalling my previous knowledge in order to converse, by extension so did I. And my first thought AFTER ALL THE YEARS OF NOT REALLY THINKING ABOUT IT SERIOUSLY- was that Yamcha was my favorite character. I just knew that for some reason, and was so sure about that. Recalling more info about him, that got solidified even more.

So, we’ve come full circle.

Based on EVERYTHING HERE, I can probably assume that I liked him the moment I first saw him (thanks in part to his design that kinda stood out), and I always have. I just didn’t really notice until recently when all of my thoughts finally settled and collected as… I guess I’m an adult.

Yamcha didn’t show up enough when I watched the show for me to ever get annoyed by him, so whenever homie DID show up it was always really nice. I WANTED to see him, and I wouldn’t get that much. So maybe that helped…

When we watched DB he was great in all of that- especially with the shocker that “Holy crap? He was a MAIN CHARACTER at one point??” It was quite the contrast from what little was shown of him in Z (Well it was Kai but still, bear with me). The only info about him in Z was off-hand comments made by Bulma that weren’t really flattering to say the least. But …considering every time he did show up he… he seemed pretty okay…? And…what kind of guy whose goal is to be married would even… But y'know.. ☕️(Even now, a piece of me DOES want to believe what she says, honest to God I do, but… really nothing supports those allegations at all, so I can’t bring myself to)

He was also shat on constantly by fans for reasons that I could never fully figure out (then I realize those “reasons” weren’t even real reasons). As far as I could tell watching the show, he didn’t really do anything to warrant so much disdain. (Shoot, he wasn’t even PRESENT [in Z] long enough to do much of anything, period) Being obstinate as fuck, who cares what they think? Especially on youtube comments. A lot of ‘em can’t even spell.

BUT YEAH THATS MY BIZARRE AND LONG ASS STORY. Just a bunch of weird factors… I get annoyed rather easily, but Yamcha was just on my good side rather consistently. He’s a cupcake that doesn’t get much of a shot to REALLY shine. (I mean, he shined before briefly, but I mean to full-extent where more people could see that)

Just another case of “I didn’t realize how much I liked this character until I really thought about it more.” If that makes any sense.

I’ll be damned if I don’t let it be known that I LOVE TF OUT OF YAMCHA.